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Azerbaijan Airlines: Flight Experienced "Physical And Technical External Interference" Before Deadly Crash; Suspect In NYC Subway Attack Indicted On Murder And Arson Charges; Brooklyn DA: "Confident" In Case Against NYC Subway Attacker; Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired December 27, 2024 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

MAJ. MIKE LYONS, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Do some investigating inside the fuselage to find remnants of some of the bullets that were fired. And if they do, then it's more proof on Russia.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Major Mike Lyons, thank you. Happy holidays again. Happy New Year, all the above.

LYONS: Thanks, Pamela. Thanks for having me.

BROWN: Well, coming up, the case of a deadly New York subway attack heads back to court. Brand new reporting just in the CNN on the charges the suspect is facing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Well, this just in to CNN. The Guatemalan man accused of setting fire to a sleeping woman on a New York subway has been indicted on charges of murder and arson. That's according to the Brooklyn district attorney who gave an update on the case just moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIC GONZALEZ, BROOKLYN DISTRICT ATTORNEY: And my office is very confident about the evidence in this case and our ability to hold Zepeda accountable for his dashboard deeds.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Joining us now is Alyse Adamson, a former federal prosecutor. So, Elise, great to have you on. Thanks for coming on a holiday week. How strong is the case against this suspect, in your view?

[10:35:01]

ALYSE ADAMSON, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: So thanks for having me on, Pam. From the evidence we know now, I think the case is relatively strong. We have video evidence in this case from everything that's been described through the reporting, we have video of the defendant igniting the victim on fire, fanning the flames. That's very important when it comes to intent. Shows that he kind of knew what he was doing. And then stepping back and watching as the victim died, being engulfed in flames, it's terrible.

BROWN: It's just beyond awful. So we should note that he is an undocumented immigrant. He was deported in 2018 and then reentered the US illegally. How might that factor into this case?

BROWN: So I would say it's not going to factor into the case in chief. That is going to be a case about premeditated murder, about first degree murder, about arson. I think where it's going to be the most relevant is the bond considerations. I think it's fair to say that he will not be getting out on bond. He's a flight risk.

He is undocumented. He's also homeless. He is a flight risk. He also committed a very dangerous offense. So he is extreme danger to the community.

A lot of that evidence about his status, immigration status, would be kept out of the court proceedings, or at least that's what his defense attorney would help, because that's not what this case is about.

BROWN: Okay, gotcha. I just wonder too, because as you know, with Donald Trump and his second administration, so much of the focus they keep saying is we're going to first really put our priority on deporting criminals. And it does raise the question of what might happen in this case if, of course, you know, he is found guilty. So the DA said that Zapata will be arraigned in January. What can we expect from that?

ADAMSON: Yeah, so an arraignment is when he's going to be formally charged. The indictment came down today, and that means that a grand jury has found that there's probable cause to charge him at arraignment. They're going to read those charges out and then he's going to enter a plea of either guilty or not guilty. And then his lawyer is going to make a pitch to have him released on bond. So I think we can expect a plea of not guilty, and I think that he is going to continue to be detained.

BROWN: What possible sentence could the suspect be facing here?

ADAMSON: First-degree murder in New York carries a possible sentence of life in prison. So he could be incarcerated for the rest of his natural life. I think it's also important to note that even if he doesn't get a life sentence, going back to your point about his immigration status, after he finishes serving his time, he's going to be deported back to Guatemala. So he's going to be here in the U.S. to be held accountable for this heinous crime and then he will be sent back. And also to your previous question, I think the court of public opinion is going to try this on his immigration status, even if that information does not come out in a court of law.

BROWN: That's an interesting point. Alyse Adamson, thank you so much.

ADAMSON: Thank you, Pam.

BROWN: Coming up, Democrats bailed out House Speaker Mike Johnson once before, but will they do it again? I'm joined by Democratic Congressman Lloyd Doggett of Texas up next on the fate of Johnson's future and what a potential speaker battle could mean for election certification.

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[10:41:56]

BROWN: Just a week from today, the 119th United States Congress will be sworn in. And while Republicans will retain control of the House, they'll do so with an even slimmer majority and what will be the most closely divided chamber in nearly a century. This promises to amplify divisions that were already on full display last week as House Speaker Mike Johnson raced to avoid a government shutdown.

That saga put him at odds with some of the loudest voices in the incoming Trump administration, casting uncertainty over his future as speaker in the incoming Congress.

So let's discuss now with Democratic Congressman Lloyd Doggett of Texas. He is the incoming vice chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Thanks for coming on, Congressman. We really appreciate your time here. So do you think Speaker Johnson holds on?

REP. LLOYD DOGGETT, (D-TX): Well, you know, you mentioned how closely divided it is. The Congress is essentially tied, and I think many Americans would really like to have a speaker who is about country and not party, who's really reaching out in bipartisan cooperation with both sides to do what's best on the tough issues we face.

Unfortunately, Speaker Johnson really has no free will of his own. He is totally dependent on others. He's got the gavel that's right at the Capitol, but the real power is with those who have the big hammer over him and with Trump's bluster and Elon Musk's billions. Sometimes it's difficult to tell who's the chief and who's the sidekick. But Johnson is always one tweet away from hearing you're fired.

And with that kind of dependency on others, his frequent flyer miles back and forth to Mar-a-Lago to get instructions, we really cannot depend on him.

I think his speakership is totally dependent on what they say. They can eliminate him in a moment. And we have also such a close Congress that he can only afford to lose one more vote. One principled Republican, Tom Massie, has said he will vote against Speaker Johnson, and so he can only lose one more next Friday to remain as speaker.

BROWN: But just to go back to what you said, ultimately with the spending bill, for example, of course, they shelved it after Trump and Elon Musk said they didn't like it. But in the end, he didn't give Trump exactly what he wanted, right? There was no debt ceiling attached to it. And, you know, you have to wonder, given the dynamic you laid out, will any Republican not be in the same situation as Speaker Johnson is in now?

DOGGETT: Well, I think on your latter point, absolutely. It's a near impossible job. It requires total dependency and loyalty to Trump and/or Musk, whoever is running the show over there. And with the margin this close, you cannot pass legislation. You can continue to feed red meat to your red base, but if you're about solving the problems of the country, it's very difficult to do it without some cooperation across the aisle.

[10:45:00]

In order to have that kind of cooperation, you have to have trust. And it's pretty clear that on the budget agreement, months in preparation, trying to work out all the fine details, that trust was breached because Johnson agreed to something that he didn't really have the power -- given his really being essentially a puppet with the strings being pulled elsewhere, he didn't have the power to follow through and he really breached the trust that Democrats placed in him. The final budget agreement wasn't exactly what Trump asked for, but I think as Johnson indicated afterwards, they finally recognized that there are a few Republicans who care about debt and limitations more than anything else. And they couldn't get those last votes needed and they had to drop this, hoping, as I understand it, on a handshake agreement to bring it up later.

BROWN: I want to turn to another dynamic that is happening right now. There is this war within MAGA right now against the co-chairs of Trump's Department of Government Efficiency. They're defending the hiring of foreign tech workers, Musk and Ramaswamy. They're citing a lack of engineers in the U.S. Ramaswamy said that's because what he calls American mediocrity. And Elon Musk echoed that writing, the number of people who are super motivated in the USA is far too low. What do you make of this argument being made by Ramaswamy and Musk and this sort of war going on right now?

DOGGETT: Well, their comments are incredible. I mean, usually we hear complaints by the MAGA group about how lazy these people that come into our country are. And now it seems that Musk and crew are saying Americans are too lazy.

Apart from that, coming from a technology center like Austin, Texas, my lifetime home, I know that we do need some more H1B workers. And of course, we have often done well with highly skilled individuals coming to this country as well as people of all skill levels.

I mean, look at Elon Musk. He wasn't born here in Austin. He's arrived and we're fortunate that he's generated many jobs. I wish he would just stick to that instead of meddling in our politics as he's done this last year.

BROWN: There are some people who argue people like Elon Musk who get a lot of money in government subsidies and contracts, shouldn't receive those if he doesn't want to hire American workers. What do you think about that?

DOGGETT: Well, I certainly want him hiring American workers and hiring people that are here with proper immigration status. But I think that there is clearly a shortage in some segments of the technology industries and for that matter in health care and that an expansion of the H1B visa program would be helpful to continued economic growth. It does run completely counter to the Stephen Millers and the MAGA anti- immigrant crowd. They've opposed really legal and illegal immigration. I think we need a pathway for more people to be able to come into the country.

And of course I disagree with that MAGA crew. We will slow economic growth if we don't have enough talented people here developing artificial intelligence and other aspects of our technology industry.

And we also need workers at all skill levels for construction, for service industries. And the Trump approach, you know, I think that's why he's talking now so much about Panama and buying or taking Greenland. Like every authoritarian figure, when he cannot deliver on his promises to lower prices and meet the needs that he claimed he would do during the campaign, they begin pointing their fingers somewhere else. And that's what's happening already.

BROWN: Congressman Lloyd Doggett, thank you for your time. Happy holidays.

DOGGETT: And to you. Great to visit with you.

BROWN: And all new this morning. Dismissal denied. A judge allowing an alleged rape case against Jay Z involving a 13-year-old girl to move forward. What else? The judge is allowing what this judge is saying about Jay Z's attorney. Up next.

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[10:54:10]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LUTHER VANDROSS, ICONIC MUSICAL PERFORMER: I used to sing background vocals for Roberta Flack on the road. And Roberta sometimes would have interviews and sometimes she'd be unable to show up at sound checks. So I would sing her songs for her in sound checks to test her microphone. What happened is that one day she had come back to theater and I was singing and she came over to me and she said, you know, you're getting a little too comfortable sitting on the stool in the background saying ohs and ahs. I really want you to make your own statement and make your own record, you know. And she in effect, fired me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Wow. Hear Luther Vandross tell his story in the all-new CNN film Luther Never Too Much that premieres New year's day at 8:00pm Eastern and Pacific on CNN. And we have much more on CNN NEWSROOM coming up after the break. But before that, we wanted to share some holiday messages from our military service members near and far.

[10:55:15]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSHU KINGERY, UNITED STATES ARMY MARKSMANSHIP UNIT : Hello, I'm Sergeant First Class Joshua Kingery with the United States Army Marksmanship Unit. I'd like to wish my family back in Tacoma, Washington, a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Go Seahawks. LT. LAUREN PIERCE: Hi, I'm Lieutenant Lauren Pierce with the 6th

Marine Regiment, wishing my family back home in Texas a very happy holiday.

GRADY PIERCE, CAMP OSAKA JAPAN: Good morning. My name is Chaplain Grady Pinnell coming to you live from Camp Osaka, Japan. And I just wanted to say Merry Christmas to my wife and kids in Yelm, Washington. I'll be home soon and I love you guys.

CORYN PIKE, U.S. AIR FORCE BASIC MILITARY TRAINING : Hi, I'm Trainee Pike and I'm currently at U.S. Air Force Basic Military Training at Lackland, Texas. I'm from Foster, Rhode Island. I want to wish everyone happy holidays, Merry Christmas, or anything else. And I can't wait to see my family on the other side. Love you guys.

LT. PHILLIP OLAN: Hello, My name is Second Lieutenant Olan. I'm here with Charlie Battery, second fire's 177 Field Artillery Regiment. I just wanted to give a special shout-out to my family in El Paso, Texas, and wish them a very merry Christmas.

LEANNE DEMBOSKI: Hi, everyone, this is Captain Leanne Demboski with the 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, currently deployed to Europe. Want to wish, Nathan, my friends and family back home a very merry Christmas. Happy New Year. I love you guys. Miss you. Thank you for all your love and support this year. And I can't wait to see you soon.

DANIEL SALAZAR: My name is H1 Daniel Salazar. I'd like to wish my family, friends, shipmates around the world and the great state of Texas a happy New Year.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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