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House Ethics Committee Releases Gaetz Report; Health Care CEO Murder Suspect Arraigned; Paul Whelan Discusses His Time In Russian Prison; Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired December 24, 2024 - 04:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[04:00:00]

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Victim A and Representative Gaetz had sex twice during that party in 2017. The House, says Matt Gaetz was completely in violation of the standards of conduct.

KARA SCANNELL, CNN REPORTER (voiceover): Mangione entering a plea of not guilty to the 11 New York State counts he is facing. His attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo telling Judge Gregory Carro that Mangione was being used like, quote, "political fodder".

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: U.S. Marine veteran Paul Whelan is speaking out about what he faced during more than five years while imprisoned in Russia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL WHELAN, FMR. U.S. MARINE: Staying in touch with the English language, staying in touch with authors that I was familiar with. It was quite important.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST: And a good day to you wherever you're joining us around the world, you're most welcome. I'm Richard Quest. In London, it's nine o'clock in the morning and we begin with the fallout from the Matt Gaetz ethics report as MAGA Republicans are now urging the former GOP congressman to fight for his political future. All this despite the salacious details and evidence that was unveiled by the U.S. House Ethics Committee in the report released on Monday. It concluded that Gaetz paid women thousands of dollars for sex that included a 17-year- old girl. It all happened while he was a sitting member of Congress and he used our possessed illegal drugs on multiple occasions, according to the findings. And yet even with this damning report, Donald Trump's former advisor Steve Bannon said on his War Room podcast that Gaetz and his words must return like Trump returned. And Bannon urged him, "Don't back down, double down."

Gaetz, of course, was Trump's initial choice to be the next U.S. Attorney General. These allegations ultimately doomed that nomination. He has long denied all of it and he has tried but failed to block the report from being released. CNN's Katelyn Polantz breaks down the evidence that's in the report.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: The House Ethics Committee publicly released this long-awaited report on former Representative Matt Gaetz, someone they had been looking at for 19 months and he just resigned from Congress just a few weeks ago. And the findings here, they are searing. They're about behavior that Matt Gaetz had or was engaged in when he was a sitting member of Congress, especially between the years of 2017 and 2020. One of the things that the committee found and they documented in their report with witness testimony, with tracing payments, with text messages, is that Gaetz at least 20 times, was meeting with women who were being paid for sex and for drugs to the tune of hundreds, if not thousands of dollars.

That includes what the committee says they believe could be statutory rape under Florida law because of a party in 2017 that summer where he had sex with a woman, then girl, who was 17 years old. The committee spoke to that woman with testimony from her becoming part of this report. And they write that they found the committee received testimony that Victim A and Representative Gaetz had sex twice during that party in 2017, including at least once in the presence of other party attendees.

Victim A recall receiving $400 in cash from Representative Gaetz that evening, which she understood to be payment for sex. At the time, she had just completed her junior year of high school. There were other women that the committee spoke to as well who told the committee that they generally knew that there was a clear expectation to be having sex and they were getting money from Matt Gaetz. One person saying they were getting more than $5,000, another person getting a trip to the Bahamas. So all of this coming together in that House Ethics Committee report, where the House says Matt Gaetz was completely in violation of the standards of conduct, doing things like engaging in prostitution, illicit drug use, and then that alleged statutory rape.

Now, Gaetz had been investigated by the federal authorities, the Justice Department, on this. They looked at the possibility of federal sex trafficking violations and found, no, he would not be charged with any crime. So Gaetz has never been charged with anything. And he continues to deny these allegations that the House is putting out there against him. One of the things he tried to do was bury the report on Monday by running to the court system. That lawsuit fell flat very quickly. And now he just is saying publicly that he believes his reputation is very likely to be harmed by this.

[04:05:15]

QUEST: There I spoke to Richard Johnson, a senior lecturer in U.S. Politics at Queen Mary University of London, about the House investigation, and he explained what strategy the former congressman might use following the explosive report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD JOHNSON, SR. LECTURER IN U.S. POLITICS, QUEEN MARY UNIV. OF LONDON: Like Trump, as Steve Bannon was saying, Gaetz will follow a similar strategy here, which is to deny the allegations, to denounce the moves against him as politically motivated, and then to distract or to deflect and to point the finger at someone else or to pick up on another story. And yes, these are very serious allegations. But I think we live in a political ecosystem now where there are many people around who support President Trump, who believe that his allies are being targeted for political reasons. And even though we might say, look, this is a Republican-led committee, this was a Republican House of Representatives that looked into this, that may not be seen as particularly relevant by the type of people who are active in the Republican Party and who vote in Republican primaries.

And so I think as long as Gaetz feels that there is still a constituency within the Republican Party who votes in primaries in Florida, then I don't think we can count him out.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Now there are just a few weeks of the presidency left, and President Biden has now commuted the sentences of 37 death row inmates to life in prison without the possibility of parole. It's a decision that leaves only three federal prisoners awaiting execution. Robert Bowers, who killed 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018. Dylan Roof, for gunning down nine people in 2015 at an historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina. And one of the Boston Marathon bombers, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

President Donald Trump, who is an outspoken proponent of capital punishment, returns to the White House next month. Former President Bill Clinton's undergoing testing and observation at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington after developing a fever. A spokesman said the 72 year -- 78-year-old is doing fine and in good spirits and hopes to be home by Christmas Day. Mr. Clinton had quadruple bypass heart surgery two decades ago and has since had two stents inserted to open an artery in 2010. He was active on the campaign trail this year and has been traveling to promote his new book, Citizen My Life after the White House.

The man charged with killing the UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson has pleaded not guilty to murder and terrorism charges in New York. Luigi Mangione faces 11 counts in New York alone. They are both first and second-degree murder. Mr. Thompson was shot on a crowded New York street earlier this month, a crime which has since revealed public anger and discontent with the U.S. Health care industry. CNN's Kara Scannell reports on Mangione's arrangement.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCANNELL (voiceover): Luigi Mangione accused of shooting and killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson arriving to a New York City courtroom. Escorted by police officers, his wrists and ankle shackled. Mangione entering a plea of not guilty to the 11 New York State counts he is facing, which include murder in the first degree and murder in the second degree as a crime of terrorism.

KAREN FRIEDMAN AGNIFILO, DEFENSE ATTORNEY FOR LUIGI MANGIONE: I'm very concerned about my client's right to a fair trial. Like every other defendant, he's entitled to a presumption of innocence. But unfortunately, the way this has been handled so far, his rights are being violated.

SCANNELL (voiceover): His attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo telling Judge Gregory Carro that Mangiane was being used like, quote, "political fodder".

AGNIFILO: He's a young man and he is being treated like a human ping pong ball between two warring jurisdictions here.

SCANNELL (voiceover): Saying last week's now infamous perp walk with Mangione stepping off a helicopter surrounded by heavily armed law enforcement officers and New York City Mayor Eric Adams trailing behind was inappropriate.

AGNIFILO: Frankly, your honor, the mayor should know more than anyone of the presumption of innocence.

SCANNELL (voiceover): Noting Adams own legal problems over federal charges, including bribery, to which he has pled not guilty.

AGNIFILO: I submit that he was just trying to detract from those issues by making a spectacle of Mr. Mangione.

SCANNELL (voiceover): Agnifilo also asking for expedited discovery, but prosecutors warning that may not be so easy.

[04:10:03]

JOEL SEIDERMANN, NEW YORK PROSECUTOR: I have never seen a case with such volume of evidence.

SCANNELL (voiceover): Saying there are thousands of hours of video tracking Mangione. Mangione is also facing four federal charges, including murder through used of a firearm.

SEIDERMANN: As we understand that we have primary jurisdiction and we have been informed by the U.S. Attorney that they intend on allowing us to try our case first, we will comply with our ethical obligations with respect to trying this defendant's guilt in this courtroom, in this courtroom alone.

SCANNELL (voiceover): Mangione has not entered a plea yet on the federal charges. Prosecutors could decide to seek the death penalty in that case. Members of the public filling four rows of the courtroom to watch the hearing unfold, while outside protesters rallied in support of Mangione and against insurance companies like UnitedHealthcare. Kara Scannell, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Now, earlier I spoke to the attorney and legal affairs commentator, Areva Martin about the case. Given the sheer amount of evidence against Manjione, I asked her whether there's any possible way you can avoid being convicted.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AREVA MARTIN, ATTORNEY AND LEGAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: When you plead not guilty, you're not necessarily saying you didn't commit the crime.

QUEST: Correct.

MARTIN: It's just a way for your team to negotiate potentially a plea deal. And in this case, because you have the prospect of the death penalty with regards to the federal, the not guilty plea may give the defendant some leverage in terms of having that case not go away, but definitely not having the death penalty be an issue. The reality is there is overwhelming evidence that places Mangione at the scene of the crime. There's forensic evidence that is stacked against him. So I don't think there's going to be any question about whether the prosecutors can prove that he committed this crime. It's just going to be a question of is there something short of the death penalty that will be the sentence for him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Prosecutors in New York have now charged a man with murder after he set a woman on fire inside a subway car and then watched her burn to death. The authorities claim that the 33-year-old Guatemalan man was in the United States unlawfully. He's been charged with first and second-degree murder along with first-degree arson.

On Sunday, he's accused of approaching the woman and igniting her clothes without saying a word. Surveillance video shows him sitting on a bench watching the woman burn. Immigration officials say the accused killer was removed from the U.S. in '18 and then returned unlawfully on an unknown date.

A funeral has been held for the teenage -- for the teacher. Beg your pardon? For the teacher killed in last week's school shooting in Madison in Wisconsin. Family, friends, and community members gathered on Monday to remember 42-year-old Erin Michelle West, who is survived by her husband and three daughters. She has been described as a trustworthy and generous and devoted member of her church. The service comes two days after the funeral for the 14-year-old Ruby Patricia Vergara, a student who was killed in the attack. Six people were injured.

Three people fell into the ocean after the California pier partially collapsed during a major storm. Two of them were rescued and the third swam to safety. The authorities say heavy surf was brought on by hurricane-force winds which pummeled the state's central coast.

Residents were warned to steer clear of low-lying areas near Santa Cruz, around 100 kilometers south of San Francisco as the storm rapidly gained strength. The mayor says no one was seriously injured.

As we continue, Or Levy was kidnapped by Hamas on October 7th. He's still being held captive and his family ripped apart. We'll hear from his brother about the negotiations in a moment.

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[04:16:08] QUEST: Israel's prime minister is telling the Knesset that negotiators are making some headway in hostage talks. According to Israeli officials, a hundred captives are still believed to being held in Gaza, most of whom were kidnapped on October 7. At least 36 of the hostages are thought to be dead. Several Israeli families say they've received signs of life from their loved ones. According to the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, the prime minister says Israel is hoping to bring them all home.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (voiceover): I want to tell you cautiously that there is a certain progress, and this certain progress is due to three main reasons. There is progress. I don't know how long it will take. We will continue to operate in any way and without a pause until we bring them all back home from the enemy's land.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Earlier, I spoke to Michael Levy, his brother, Or is one of the hostages still in Gaza. And I asked him what he made of Mr. Netanyahu's report of progress in the negotiations.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL LEVY, BROTHER OF HOSTAGE OR LEVY: As long as you're dealing with a terror organization like Hamas, you cannot be 100 percent sure even after you sign a deal. So I'll be happy only when I'll see my brother and the rest of the hostages home.

QUEST: Do you believe that the government, I understand that they say they want to bring the hostages back and that it is a priority. Do you believe now that it is the priority?

LEVY: I believe that they are aware, exactly like every person here in Israel and the same, and I heard the same declarations from President Trump and President Biden that there is nothing more to achieve and there is nothing more important than to bring the hostages back. And I think that's the only way to save the Middle East and to get to the Abraham Accords and to start some kind of a peace process somewhere in the Middle East. Everything has to start with bringing back the hostages.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Now, for the first time, Israel has admitted it was behind the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas. He was killed by an explosion outside a guest house in Iran's capital in July. In the months since Israel had refused to confirm or deny its role in his death.

On Monday, Israel's defense minister acknowledged Haniyeh's killing and used it as a warning to Israel's enemies.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ISRAEL KATZ, ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER (voiceover): We will damage its

strategic infrastructures and take off the heads of its leadership just like we did to Haniyeh, Sinwar and Nasrallah in Tehran, Gaza and Lebanon. We shall do in Hudaydah and Sanaa. Those who raise their hand against Israel will have their hand taken off and the IDF's far- reaching arm will hurt them and hold them to account.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Turkey's Interior Ministry is reporting at least 12 people have been killed in a blast at an explosives factory. At least four people have been injured in the explosion which caused the building to collapse. Authorities are working to determine how many people were inside at the time. According to local authorities, who tell Sin and Turk they've ruled out the possibility of sabotage.

The Ukrainian military is accusing Russia of trying to conceal the fact that foreign fighters have joined Vladimir Putin's battle against Kiev. Ukraine says North Korean soldiers fighting for Moscow are being given fake military documents bearing Russian names and birthplaces. And they say the documents lack the official stamps and photos and bear Korean signatures. Intelligence estimates from Ukraine, the U.S., and South Korea put the number of North Koreans fighting in Russia between 11 and 12,000. And those troops seem to be paying a heavy price on the battlefield.

[04:20:30]

VOLODOMYR ZELENSKY, UKRANIAN PRESIDENT (voiceover): There are already more than 3,000 wounded and killed North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region. Russia simply disposes of them in assaults. No normal person on earth can answer why Koreans should fight for Putin. And unfortunately, the world is doing almost nothing to counteract the criminal collaboration between Russia and North Korea.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: President Zelensky's estimate of North Korean losses is higher than that provided by South Korea's military, which on Monday estimated 1,100 North Korean troops had been killed or wounded in Ukraine. The U.S. Marine veteran Paul Whelan has been speaking about what he faced during more than five years being imprisoned in Russia. Whelan was arrested by the authorities there six years ago this week. He was then imprisoned on charges of espionage, which is always vehemently denied. Now, the U.S. State Department designated him as a wrongful detainee in May of 2020. Whelan was convicted and sentenced to 16 years in prison, then transferred from Moscow to a remote prison camp. From there, he began a personal campaign for his freedom, which included phone calls and writing letters to a CNN reporter.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Government secured his release in one of the largest prisoner exchanges since the Cold War. Paul Whelan sat down with CNN's Anderson Cooper and Jennifer Hansler, the department, the State Department reporter who reached out to him. And here's their conversation or part of it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHELAN: I sent, you know, I sent more than 2,000 letters to my parents. We've got a stack of them at home. I sent letters to the Congresses or to the House and the Senate, the parliaments in Canada and England and Ireland. And they were all the same sort of thing, you know, talking about the restrictions, how the prison was doing things, how I was. It's interesting to see because there's some of my usual jocularity in these as well as, you know, some serious things.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR, AC360: How much were you able to kind of remove yourself from your surroundings through writing letters, through reading, through anything else.

WHELAN: You know, staying in touch with the English language, staying in touch with authors that I was familiar with. It was quite important. I had books, English books coming in from the consulates, through my family. I had a lot of mail that came in. When Brittany was released, she had people write hundreds of letters to me. That was extremely important. I mean, at one point, Jennifer and I were just discussing this. I was writing out ridiculists. Do you remember your ridiculous? I would write out, you know, the 10 reasons why I wasn't a spy or the 10 reasons why, you know, Putin need to get needed to go. All of these kind of funny things that kind of, you know, sprang to mind. I've still got some of them written down. But that was an important part of, like, staying sane.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Santa's annual sleigh ride is about to begin. In fact, some say it's already started. He's preparing to deliver gifts to children around the world. So he's leaving the Arctic Circle, and he's on his way. And we'll see where he is now.

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[04:25:53]

QUEST: It's said to be a stormy Christmas Eve in the U.S. Potentially making holiday travel a lot less jolly. I've always wanted to do the weather. Now a storm system is moving across from the Pacific over the west coast and will bring heavy rain and snowfall to large parts of the region. And it's a similar story across the eastern part of the country with Chicago, Detroit, and cities farther north set to receive rain and snow, particularly coming down. As you see From Canada.

Nearly 200 flights have been delayed either into or out of or across the United States, according to FlightAware. And at least a dozen flights have already been cancelled. You can see the worst is over in San Francisco and was down in Dallas.

No matter what the weather is, I guarantee you nothing will stop one of the world's most highly anticipated trips. Santa Claus is packing up his sled with gifts and setting off from his home in northern Finland. Don't start that argument about where Santa lives, please. Honestly don't. Let's say Finland for now ahead of the Christmas holidays. Now the crowds have been gathering for to help him on his way as he

gets ready to begin. It starts at the Arctic Circle. For 24 hours he will go around the world. And before they left, he had an important message for children all around the world who are getting ready for Christmas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANTA CLAUS: I think it's impossible to be good and nice all the time. Yes, it's too much to ask. You should just try to do your best as in all things in life. And if you can be quite good almost all the time, don't worry about the gifts. It's time to relax.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Don't worry about the gifts. Accordingly, last year NORAD Track Santa, he delivered nearly 8 billion gifts. And as you can see, here is the NORAD tracking current weather at the Condit North Pole. Good weather for flying. We will follow Santa around the world in the hours ahead. He leaves one hour from now. Thank you for joining me here in the newsroom. I'm Richard Quest. World of Wonder is next. After a quick break.

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