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Investigators Defer Suspended President Yoon's Arrest Following a Standoff with Secret Service; 2019 Report Reflects Recent Attack at New Orleans' Bourbon Street; New Congress Opens, Speaker Vote to Begin; Dinosaur Tracks Found in a Quarry in U.K. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired January 03, 2025 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

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CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from around the world. I'm Christina Macfarlane in London, just ahead on "CNN Newsroom".

A standoff in South Korea, with the nation's impeached president able to keep his liberty, at least for now.

New details on a security report from 2019 showing consultants thought New Orleans' famous Bourbon Street was at risk of attack.

And scientists say they're the most important dinosaur tracks discovered in the U.K. in a quarter century. We'll take you to them.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from London, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Christina Macfarlane.

MACFARLANE: South Korea's impeached president is safe from immediate detention, at least for now. Hours ago, investigators tried to serve him an arrest warrant at his official residence amid a boisterous crowd that included hundreds of his supporters. But after a dramatic standoff with his security detail, the operation was called off citing security concerns.

The arrest warrant is still valid and it can be extended. Yoon is facing charges of abuse of power and orchestrating a rebellion following a short-lived martial law he imposed last month. Those charges can potentially carry the death penalty.

Mike Valerio is monitoring those developments, joining us now live from Seoul. From a very chaotic scene, I'm sure it's been, Mike, in the last couple of hours. We now know that investigators have abandoned their attempts to arrest Yoon. The question is, what comes next and will they try again?

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, and nobody knows the answer to that question because if you can only imagine what the prosecutors and investigators are thinking about, Christina, at this hour, they have failed in their attempt to try to hold the suspended president, Yoon Suk-yeol, accountable for throwing this country down the path of martial law one year ago tonight, happened on December 3rd into the early morning hours of December 4th.

So, what do they do now? They have to regroup and try to prevent kind of like a human shield from forming around South Korea's impeached and now suspended president.

But to give you an idea of the tableau, we've gone from the standoff, which happened almost over the course of seven hours, to this mood of celebration.

Everybody who you see in our live shot, Christina, let's say 99 percent of who you see in our live shot, they're all supporters of South Korea's Yoon Suk-yeol, the first person elected to the presidency here in South Korea who's been subjected to arrest, questioning, and potentially criminal charges.

So, we can report that there's the criminal investigation, which is what this arrest was all about. And then we have the impeachment bucket, the political bucket.

And January 14th, not this coming Tuesday, but the Tuesday after, that's going to be the first trial session of the suspended president's impeachment proceedings. So, his detractors, most of this country, hope that he will be removed from office through that impeachment.

And there are so many across this country who hope that he will also face criminal charges as well. But the people who we see in the background all around us, Christina, this is part of the conservative slice of South Korea's electorate who are in favor of his policies.

They might be against martial law, but they see him as a vanguard of conservatism in South Korea, and they are against him being removed and against him being suspended.

So, this is where we find ourselves. South Korea has never experienced this before. A critical democracy in this corner of the world.

And now the question is, with the arrest warrant that is valid until Monday morning, how do investigators try again? And do they try again to arrest President Yoon Suk-yeol?

MACFARLANE: All right, well, we will wait and see what the next few days bring. Mike Valerio there in Seoul. Thanks very much, Mike.

Well, for more analysis, we're joined by Duyeon Kim, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. She is joining us live from Seoul. Thank you so much for your time.

As we were hearing from Mike there, it does appear we are in uncharted territory here. And we know that President Yoon has not only ignored three summonses to appear for questioning, he has now avoided an arrest warrant attempt. South Korean police are saying it's practically impossible to arrest him. So where will this go next? How will this be resolved? [03:05:03]

DUYEON KIM, ADJUNCT SR. FELLOW, CENTER FOR A NEW AMERICAN SOCIETY: Well, thanks for having me back. So, we don't know how this will be resolved, just because this is the first time they've tried to arrest and question a sitting South Korean president.

So, what you have right now, what's going on is that you've got Yoon's lawyers who say that he will definitely go through all the proper legal processes regarding his declaration of martial law, but they're taking issue with the current process.

They're saying that the investigative agency that is leading the investigation and trying to detain him, Yoon's side is saying that it's unlawful, that it's the wrong agency to be doing so.

And so, they're really, you know, the opposition party and Yoon's side and the ruling conservative party, they're clashing over legalities and procedure right now. And so that's what's causing the delay in any motion forward.

MACFARLANE: Yes. As you say, Yoon's lawyers saying that the investigators lack the authority to arrest him. But do we know if loopholes exist here for Yoon to avoid arrest legally?

KIM: Well, so, you know, that's something that legal experts and scholars are debating currently. It doesn't sound like there is a clear-cut answer. Of course, each side says is a clear-cut answer, but that's where the debate and the disagreement is right now here in South Korea.

And so, you know, it's clear that the vast majority here on both sides of the aisle agree that Yoon's decision to declare martial law was wrong, but there is a disagreement over how to hold him accountable and which institution or which agency or which court is supposed to be holding him accountable in that process and the impeachment process, because really the National Assembly has impeached him.

But the constitutional court is now up next to decide his fate, to actually see if he is going to be ousted or not. But you also have the opposition party that wants to conduct this investigation into the martial law declaration as an insurrection.

And so, you have multiple procedures that are happening at the same time. But again, no clear-cut black and white answer as to who has the jurisdiction to proceed various elements of this entire situation.

MACFARLANE: And it is a chaotic picture. Do you see in the midst of this that South Korea's institutions are functioning as they should because what we've seen unfold in the past few hours is the Secret Service police at odds with the prosecutor's office?

And then added to that, you've got the constitutional court with its hand full with a number of impeachment cases. Are each of these institutions functioning as they should in the midst of this chaos? KIM: Well, you know, technically, each component or each actor is

trying to do their job. The Secret Service, their job is to protect the president legally. Yoon Suk-yeol is still legally the incumbent president, even though the National Assembly has impeached him. But again, the constitutional court needs to decide what happens to him.

And so, each side, there are various investigative agencies that are involved, including the police, on trying to detain him. And they're trying to do their job, but they're brushing up against the president's guards and Secret Service.

And so, you know, it really in the grand scheme of things, because there is also, you know, that I mentioned before, the whole debate over the legalities of procedure, that's not black and white. And so, you know, it's easy to question whether South Korea's institutions and agencies really are functioning properly because there does not seem to be a clear-cut path forward right now.

But, you know, the, you know -- another big issue or another big concern right now is on a macro level is, you know, what this political uncertainty, the prolonged uncertainty does to South Korea's national security and economy.

And, you know, the country's economy and national security really are at stake right now with this leadership vacuum and with this prolonged process of a situation where no one really knows how this will end, although it seems like, there will have the Constitutional Court will have to do its job, too, as we'll have to see how the situation plays out there in that court as well.

MACFARLANE: Yeah. And, of course, all of this coming at a very difficult point juncture for the country with that national tragedy of the plane crash just this month as well. Duyeon Kim, we appreciate your thoughts on this evolving story. Thank you.

KIM: Thank you.

MACFARLANE: Now, to the New Orleans terror attack that killed 14 people, a private security consulting firm warned back in 2019 that Bourbon Street was at risk, particularly for mass shootings and vehicle attacks.

[03:10:04]

The FBI has released new images of the suspect, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who was killed by police. They're asking for anyone with information on him to come forward.

The U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security says there is no evidence tying Jabbar to the army sergeant, although thought responsible for the cyber attack explosion in Las Vegas.

Meanwhile, investigators have revealed a new detailed timeline of the events leading up to the ramming attack. Here's CNN's Randi Kaye.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RANDI KAYE, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Around 3:15 a.m., soon after revelers in New Orleans rang in the New Year, a devastating scene.

A white pickup truck accelerated through a crowd on Bourbon Street, mowing down everyone in its path.

JIMMY COTHRAN, WITNESS: A mother twisted up, obviously deceased. We counted around eight bodies very quickly right in our area. One gentleman crushed, had tire tracks across his back.

KAYE (voice-over): Dozens of people were injured and 14 declared dead. The driver of the F-150 truck was then killed in a shootout with police.

ANNE KIRKPATRICK, NEW ORLEANS POLICE SUPERINTENDENT: This man was trying to run over as many people as he possibly could. It was not a DUI situation.

KAYE (voice-over): Mechanical sidewalk barricades had been installed around Bourbon Street, but officials said they were being repaired at the time of the attack. Some eyewitnesses to the carnage awakened in their hotel room by screams and what sounded like an explosion.

ANNICA S., WITNESS: I saw a wheelchair that was sitting there. At first, I thought, is that a motorcycle? My eyes had to strain to understand what I was seeing. And then to see the man from the wheelchair laying in the gutter was heart-wrenching.

KAYE (voice-over): The suspect later identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a Texas-born U.S. citizen and Army veteran who served in Afghanistan. Inside his truck, an ISIS flag.

KAYE: The FBI says Jabbar placed two IEDs in the area before the attack, likely sometime between 1 and 2 a.m. One of those devices was found here at the intersection of Bourbon and Orleans Street. The other, the FBI says, was located just two blocks away.

KAYE (voice-over): The FBI is convinced Jabbar had been planning the attack for days, renting the F-150 in Houston on December 30th and driving to New Orleans on the 31st.

CHRISTOPHER RALA, FBI DEPUTY ASST. DIRECTOR, COUNTERTERRORISM DIVISION: Let me be very clear about this point. This was an act of terrorism. It was premeditated and an evil act.

KAYE: The FBI found five videos on the suspect's Facebook account. The last video was apparently posted at 3:02 a.m. That's just 13 minutes before he terrorized this community and came barreling down Bourbon Street.

KAYE (voice-over): According to the FBI, Jabbar proclaimed in the videos he originally planned to harm his family and friends and that he joined ISIS before the summer.

More than 1,000 law enforcement agents in multiple states are sifting through data and leads. They focused on the suspect's Houston home and an Airbnb in New Orleans, where they believe the suspect stayed.

RALA: We have recovered two laptops and are currently reviewing them for any potential leads.

KAYE (voice-over): Randi Kaye, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Well, within the last day, we have been learning about the people who were killed on Bourbon Street.

We do not have all of their names, but I want to tell you a little about the eight people we do know of.

Drew Dauphin was a recent graduate of Auburn University. His family says he lit up every room he entered and was happiest spending time at the lake with his little brother, Matthew. Drew Dauphin was 26.

We remember University of Alabama student Kareem Badawi. A classmate of his was injured in the attack. The high school in Baton Rouge scheduled a prayer session for both of them.

We also remember Hubert Gathro, who was just 21. He was a graduate of Archbishop Shaw High School in New Orleans.

Reggie Hunter's cousin, Travis, remembers Reggie as a good and pure- hearted person, beautiful inside and out. He was 37 years old and leaves a wife and two children. One is 11, the other just a year old.

27-year-old Tiger Bech was a native of Lafayette, Louisiana, and a former football player at Princeton University. Princeton's football coach remembers him as, quote, "ferocious competitor with endless energy, a beloved teammate, and a caring friend."

Billy Dimaio was 25 and worked in New York City. His company, Audacy, remembers him for his quote, "unwavering work ethic, positive attitude, and kindness."

And 18-year-old Nikyra Cheyenne Dedeaux from Mississippi. She was there with her cousin and a friend.

Matthew Tenedorio's cousin, Zach, remembers him as just a joyful person, telling the local paper, we'd walked to my grandma's house and he just started giggling. He worked at the Superdome as an audiovisual technician and he was just 25.

[03:15:07]

"I love you. Happy New Year. Text me when you get home." Those were some of the last words Cathy Tenedorio would say to her son, Matthew, after he left a family dinner on New Year's Eve.

He was one of 14 people who were killed on Bourbon Street on the early morning of New Year's Day. His parents spoke to CNN recently about finding out their son had died in that horrific terror attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CATHY TENEDORIO, MATTHEW TENEDORIO'S MOTHER: Just one time I woke up. I don't even remember what time, but I just check. And I didn't see anything. But then as, you know, 7:00, 8:00, I started getting concerned.

And then I asked my -- texted my other son who he lives, you know, they live in the same house. If he was home, long story longer, he lives in our home, but we're staying with my parents right now in Slidell. And we live, our home is in Picayune, Mississippi. So, they're all at the house. And he said, mom, his car's not here.

Well, that's when kind of panic starts. And we tried to contact his friends. Couldn't get them on the phone at first. But then I started calling around to the hospitals.

And then I finally spoke with his friend and said, Miss Cathy, I'm so sorry to tell you this. Something terrible happened last night. We were a witness to everything that we were walking down Bourbon Street. And he just told us the story --

LOU TENEDORIO, MATTHEW TENEDORIO'S FATHER: And happened right in front of us, He said.

C. TENEDORIO: Yes, it just unfolded in front. We all -- we got separated.

We went into one bar, you know, one, the other friend, two blocks down into another bar. We can't find Matthew. We, you know, we looked, we went to, we went once we got, the bars were all on lockdown in that area.

Once they were allowed to leave, he went to see if Matthew's car was still parked in the lot that's on Rampart and Bienville.

Anyway, his car was still there. So that's when they knew something. He must be in the hot. He's injured. That's what --

L. TENEDORIO: They kept calling him. No response. We kept calling. No response. Last night, my wife started crying. As soon as we found out, I held my composure and I hugged her tight.

And, and, I didn't really cry. I did for a little, you know, maybe a few seconds. But, you know, I kept my composure and just supported my wife. It's just so hard for me right now. So live with that.

C. TENEDORIO: And I'm the one strong because I'm the oldest of six kids. And, you know, I'm used to everything falling on my shoulders. So I just march on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Ahead, a closer look at that report on Bourbon Street security and why warnings about a probable to highly possible attack may have been ignored.

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[03:20:00]

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MACFARLANE: As authorities investigate whether the deadly New Year's Eve terror attack in New Orleans could have been avoided, a troubling new report has come to light.

In 2019, a private security consulting firm strongly recommended the city fix and improve its barriers to Bourbon Street immediately. Consultants warned mass shootings and vehicle attacks were highly possible whilst moderately probable.

New Orleans officials say they were in the process of replacing the metal posts at the time of the attack. But a source says the city owns temporary barriers that could have blocked access to Bourbon Street, yet chose not to use them on New Year's Eve.

Well, newly released surveillance video shows the attackers rented truck barreling down Bourbon Street at a dangerously high speed while people darted out of the way.

Well, Glenn Schoen is a security management consultant and expert on terrorism. He joins me now from The Hague in the Netherlands. Thanks for joining us, Glenn.

It's particularly galling to learn in the aftermath of this attack that authorities knew a vehicle attack like this was highly probable, according to this security firm.

I mean, as we pore over the aftermath of this, Glenn, what lessons will we learn, not just in New Orleans, but perhaps police departments around the country, the need for protection against this type of attack?

GLEN SHOEN, SECURITY MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT AND TERRORISM EXPERT: Yes, I mean, on the one hand, everybody's looking at what more can be done in terms of prevention and then reaction.

And I think on the reaction side, we saw things go fairly well here in New Orleans, but you're absolutely right, putting the hair on the sword is on the prevention side, the hard security measures.

We've had incidents in the U.S. tied to extremism or terrorism in vehicles in 2016, North Carolina. We had an incident in Ohio in 2016, 2017. We had another one in New York City in 2018; Fort Meade, Maryland. So this is a known threat, both overseas, of course, in Europe, as well as in the U.S.

There's also been for quite a while now, some standards in place from the U.S. DOD, 0201, and one from the ASTM, which is basically an industry standard for safety on what kind of vehicle barriers can you put against what kind of vehicle threat.

So, it's already known what we can do about this, where you can place these, how they might be the most effective, what grade of vehicle will they stop?

The big question has always been, can we make this an enforced standard? Can we make it an industry standard? So local, regional, state, national authorities need to use this, yes or no, at particular type of events, yes or no. And that's still not standardized, and that's part of the big debate now.

MACFARLANE: And as we consider the physical threat of sort of vehicle attack like this, we also have to consider the terror threat of an operation or of an event like this.

[03:25:00]

I mean, when we spoke yesterday, Glenn, you said, or made the point that ISIS is a very do-it-yourself type of organization. And we now note that this event was 100 percent inspired by ISIS. That's according to the FBI.

I mean, federal officials have been warning about a resurgent international terrorism threat since early last year. Do you see this attack as being part of that warning?

SCHOEN: I do. ISIS is resurgent. I mean, if we look at sort of what are the bad things here, other than, of course, the terrible human toll, this attack has pole vaulted ISIS again to the top of the leaderboard in terms of the terrorist threat in the U.S. since the COVID era.

Right-wing terrorism had been seen as sort of the surging threat in the U.S. in the last few years. And this is now, again, with terrible toll, overtaking it right away.

So, you're right in that this, again, it's a principal threat. What's sad is it appears that some of the lessons we should have learned from a few years ago have not, or at least we haven't been disciplined about applying the lessons.

Europe, in some ways, may have learned them better. We see more standardization in more countries around some of these efforts than perhaps in the U.S. It's always sad that we're, have a phase after these attacks of basically the blame game where the lawyers enter the equation.

But I'm afraid we're going to see that here now. And hopefully a positive thing will come out of it. And that is, can we go to greater standardization in the design of security measures in public spaces?

MACFARLANE: Yes, I mean, that at the very least is all we can hope to get out of such a devastating situation. But Glenn, we appreciate your thoughts on this. Thank you for joining us.

SCHOEN: Thank you.

MACFARLANE: Investigators and police tried to serve an arrest warrant to South Korea's impeached president. But when they arrived at his residence, they came face to face with his security detail. We'll tell you how that standoff ended.

Plus, in the coming hours, the U.S. House is gearing up for a potentially chaotic speaker vote. More on that next.

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[03:30:00]

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CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR: A quick update now on a developing story in South Korea. There's a victorious mood outside the country's official presidential residence after investigators put on hold their effort to detain impeached leader Yoon Suk-yong.

They tried to serve him an arrest warrant hours ago, but the operation was suspended for safety reasons after they were confronted by his security detail. The arrest warrant is valid until Monday and it can be extended. Yoon is facing charges of abuse of power and orchestrating a rebellion following a short-lived martial law he imposed last month.

Now, we're following the attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas. And we're learning from the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security that there's no evidence linking the two attackers. The driver in Las Vegas has been identified as Matthew Livelsberger, a decorated active duty U.S. Army Green Beret and new father.

CNN's Natasha Chen has more on this from Las Vegas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATASHA CHEN, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Authorities say they believe the driver of the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded just outside the entrance doors of the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas was 37-year-old Matthew Livelsberger. His body was burned beyond recognition and police are waiting for additional forensic analysis for final confirmation.

KEIN MCMAHILL, SHERIFF, LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT: In how we're trying to identify him and I'm feeling comfortable to give you this information is a tremendous amount of substantial evidence.

CHEN (voice-over): The motive for the bombing remains unknown, but police say Livelsberger died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head just before the explosion.

They found two guns, a military I.D., a smartphone and a smartwatch inside the Cybertruck. They've also identified two tattoos they say Livelsberger had.

MCMAHILL: One of which was on the stomach and one of which is on the arm that we can see bits and pieces of it as in comparison to what it is that we now know he had on his body. CHEN (voice-over): Livelsberger was an active duty member in the Army Special Forces operations serving in Germany with previous tours in Afghanistan. He was awarded five bronze stars and held the rank of Master Sergeant, a senior enlistment according to four U.S. officials.

He was on approved leave when police say he rented the Tesla Cyber Truck in Colorado, arriving in Las Vegas New Year's Day. He drove up and down Las Vegas Boulevard before passing the Trump Hotel.

Livelsberger then circled back and parked the Cybertruck in the entrance driveway just moments before the fiery blast, according to law enforcement officials. Video of the aftermath shows the bed of the Cyber Truck loaded with fireworks, gas tanks and camping fuel.

UNKNOWN: The level of sophistication is not what we would expect from an individual with this type of military experience.

CHEN (voice-over): Police credit the Tesla vehicle's body construction, forcing the blast upward and limiting the damage to the hotel driveway, even leaving the glass doors intact.

Law enforcement officials say they have not connected the explosion at the Trump Hotel to the deadly terror attack in New Orleans in the early morning hours on New Year's Day, but acknowledge the similarities.

Like Livelsberger, the suspect Shamsud-Din Jabbar used a vehicle to carry out the attack, killing 14 people. Both have a military background. Jabbar was an army veteran and served in Afghanistan. They even rented their trucks through the same company, Turo.

MCMAHILL: If these turn out to be simply similarities, very strange similarities to have. And so, we're not prepared to rule in or rule out anything at this point.

CHEN: It was a frightening moment for the seven people who were injured in the immediate vicinity as well as hotel guests inside.

We spoke to a couple of guests who were here at the time, staying between the 40th and 50th floors, who felt the windows rattle and they said smoke was billowing in the stairwells and coming out of the elevator doors.

Now, something investigators are now working on is trying to retrieve any possible footage from any cameras inside the Cybertruck before the explosion happened. Investigators said Elon Musk is sending staff to Las Vegas to help them with that.

Natasha Chen, CNN, Las Vegas, Nevada.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Now, in Washington, Mike Johnson is fighting to keep his job as Speaker of the House. The Speaker's re-election vote will happen in just a few hours.

Johnson is looking to avoid a drawn-out fight as Donald Trump throws his support behind him. Trump is even calling potential holdouts.

Allies say Speaker Johnson is resisting cutting any backroom side deals to keep his position. Whether that stance changes remains to be seen.

[03:35:01]

Johnson can only afford to lose one Republican vote. It's a massive problem for the leader as there is already one known GOP congressman opposing him.

For more details, here's CNN's Lauren Fox.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A critical moment for Speaker Mike Johnson as he tries once again to clinch the Speaker's gavel on Friday.

Now, it's still not clear whether or not Johnson is going to have the votes that he needs in order to win the Speaker's race on the first ballot. But he was confident earlier on Fox Business, making clear that he believes that they're going to be OK on Friday and that he thinks that they may actually be able to get there in the first round of voting.

Now, Johnson can only afford to lose one Republican member. And already, Representative Thomas Massey of Kentucky has said he's going to vote for another candidate in this race.

Earlier on Thursday, Johnson huddled with some of those remaining holdouts and they had conversations about what structurally Johnson could do and promise them now that would ease any concerns they had about handing him the Speaker's gavel once again.

But many of those members, including Ralph Norman, said that they are still weighing their decision for Friday morning. It's also possible that Johnson continues to meet and have phone calls with members who are still on the fence. Obviously, it's a very tight margin when you can only afford to lose one vote.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Well, Natasha Lindstaedt is the Professor of Government at the University of Essex. She joins us now from Colchester, England. Great to see you, Natasha.

So, as we were hearing, there are difficult tasks ahead for House Speaker Johnson. He can only afford to lose one single Republican vote. But we know that not all Republicans are happy with him and some of the bills that he's passed this year.

So, what is your feeling on how many holdouts we're going to see here?

NATASHA LINDSTAEDT, PROF. OF GOVERNMENT, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: It's really hard to tell. So far, we have dozens of Republicans that have not said what they are going to do, that they're sort of keeping things up in the air.

And that's an incredibly precarious situation for Mike Johnson, because as the report already mentioned, he can only lose one vote. And we already know that Representative Thomas Massey isn't going to vote for him.

And there are a lot of Republicans that were upset with the way that he handled the deal to keep the government open, that he had negotiated with Democrats, was trying to negotiate with Democrats, and that he did not get the debt ceiling raised, which was something that was really important to Trump and, of course, Trump supporters in the House.

And there are others that are worried that he spends too much or that he is a neocon, really, and is ideologically not on the same page as many of the Trumpian Republicans.

And what Thomas Massey had said, Representative Massey had said, was that he just doesn't think he can leave, that he doesn't really understand how to get the vote, and that that's going to be really difficult moving ahead.

And so, he's facing all kinds of opposition in the House. And the big issue, of course, if the House doesn't have a speaker, then they're not going to be able to find a way to certify Donald Trump's victory. And that may be what rallies Republicans around Mike Johnson. But there are a lot of challenges moving ahead.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, and I want to ask you about that in just a second. But first, I mean, if we're uncertain about how many holdouts there are going to be, what are the chances here that we're going to see multiple rounds of voting? Like we saw with Kevin McCarthy, where I think it went 15 rounds. I mean, should we be bracing for chaos?

LINDSTAEDT: Exactly. I mean, I think that that's what we can predict. And the case with Kevin McCarthy, it was 15 rounds over four days, and it really looked very chaotic. And then in the end, Kevin McCarthy had to make all kinds of concessions.

And one of the worst of which was that it would only take one person to call a vote to vacate the speaker, which is what eventually led to his ouster 10 months later. And of course, eventually, Mike Johnson became the new House speaker.

From what I've heard, Johnson doesn't want to agree to any of these types of crazy stipulations because it just makes it too chaotic. So, this could be a long, drawn-out process. I still would expect, just because there isn't much of an alternative, possibly someone like Byron Donald could be the House speaker or Jim Jordan.

But other than those two names, I haven't heard of anybody else. And with Trump's endorsement saying, I think he's the only one that's going to have the vote, they may have a long, drawn-out, chaotic process, but they are probably going to end up with Mike Johnson as the next speaker. MACFARLANE: So, to your point that opposing Johnson now could

potentially put the Electoral College certification at risk, what will happen on January 6th if there is no speaker in place?

[03:40:01]

LINDSTAEDT: It's really hard to know because we have never had this happen before. There were some experts saying that they could postpone the vote, but I mean, this is really uncharted territory here.

And there isn't a pro-tempore speaker like last time when there wasn't a speaker for when Kevin McCarthy didn't have the votes. So, there's not really a lot of options.

And that's actually why I think that Mike Johnson will prevail, that without a lot of options, they're going to have to come up with some sort of decision. And he probably is the person that has the most votes.

But I can't imagine that he's going to be able to remain as speaker for very long. I mean, there's 12 spending bills that are upcoming that they have to vote. And I don't know how he's going to manage dealing with the Republicans that are not fully united on every single issue, and the Democrats at the moment who are united.

He's going to have to make some concessions. He's going to have to negotiate with Democrats. So, all these issues are going to make it difficult for him to remain in the speaker place, even if he does get voted in after a few days of mayhem.

MACFARLANE: Yeah. And as you say, he will hold the narrowest House majority in I think nearly 100 years. So, a rocky road ahead, whichever way you cut it. Natasha, great to have your thoughts. We'll see how this plays out.

LINDSTAEDT: Thanks for having me.

MACFARLANE: Now, still ahead. Signs of hope for Gaza ceasefire talks. Israel's government approves a delegation to attend negotiations in Qatar. The latest from the region, next.

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MACFARLANE: Welcome back. Israel's Prime Minister has approved sending negotiators to Qatar to continue talks for a Gaza ceasefire and release of hostages.

[03:45:01]

Benjamin Netanyahu's office says Israeli security and intelligence officials are expected to travel to Doha, Qatar for the talks. Both Israel and Hamas have blamed the other for talks stalling in recent weeks.

Indirect discussions are ongoing, even as official negotiations have been deadlocked for months. The hostages and missing families forum welcomed the renewed efforts for negotiations while adding there is no time to waste for those still being held captive in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Palestinian officials say an Israeli strike in southern Gaza killed 11 people, including the head of Gaza's police and a top deputy. Gaza's interior ministry accused Israel of attempting to undermine law and order, while the Israeli military accused the police deputy of being a terrorist in coordination with Hamas.

The location of the strike, al-Mawazi, was previously designated by Israel as a humanitarian area, but has repeatedly come under attack.

A warning, the next video you're about to see is graphic and may be disturbing to some viewers. Elsewhere, hospitals, officials and relatives say an Israeli drone strike killed at least eight people working at a petrol station in central Gaza.

Well Ukraine has made good on its promise to stop transporting Russian gas to Europe after a key deal with Moscow expired on New Year's Day. The Ukrainian energy minister says the deal was ended in quote "the interests of national security."

CNN's Clare Sebastian has this.

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CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well markets were reacting for the first time Thursday to the expiry of Ukraine's gas transit deal with Russia on January 1st, ending a decades-old supply route.

Now, despite the fact that this was expected, Ukraine had been making it clear for months it would not renew the deal. Parts of Europe are now having to shift quickly to alternative suppliers, even as the weather turns colder. And that's raising concerns about higher prices for consumers.

And it's also highlighting the political fault lines on the continent. The pro-Russian prime minister of Slovakia, which up until now got about two-thirds of its gas from Russia via Ukraine, accusing Europe of putting politics first.

ROBERT FICO, SLOVAKIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Nobody, I repeat, nobody is pushing Slovakia away from the living space, that is the European community. But we must see that selfish national interests of the big ones and meaningless geopolitical goals are beginning to dominate this community. And on the other hand, ignoring the needs of smaller ones.

In world politics, it absolutely applies that it does not matter whether elephants love or fight. The grass always suffers. I do not want Slovakia to be such grass, as we see these days when the transit of gas through Ukraine is stopped, which will have drastic impacts on all of us in the European Union, but not on the Russian Federation.

SEBASTIAN: Well, the only country that seems to be facing immediate shortages is Moldova. It declared a state of emergency over energy supplies in mid-December in anticipation of this. And on Wednesday, the separatist region of Transnistria announced it

was cutting heating and hot water supplies to residents. Ukraine's president calling on European countries to support Moldova through this.

Now, as for Russia, foreign ministry spokeswoman Thursday accused the U.S., now a key supplier of natural gas to Europe, of being behind Ukraine's decision, calling it, quote, "the main beneficiary of the redistribution of the energy market of the old world."

Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.

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MACFARLANE: Now, a chance event at a quarry in England leads to a prehistoric discovery. Ahead, evidence of a sort of highway used by dinosaurs, tens of millions of years ago.

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[03:50:00]

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MACFARLANE: Fans and players observed a moment of silence before Thursday's Sugar Bowl game to honour the victims of the New Orleans terror attack.

The game in which Notre Dame beat the University of Georgia had been postponed a day following the New Year's attack. Those attending paused to consider what might have been and to give thanks for the safety of their loved ones.

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UNKNOWN: There's about close to 100 of us that are down here, family of Riley. And so, it was a check in. Everybody check in. Everybody OK? It was that kind of thing that happened at 7:30 on Wednesday morning. So, it's sad, sad, sad. It's really sad.

UNKNOWN: Me and my girls was actually on Bourbon Street walking until 10:00 that night and so grateful that he didn't decide to do this 9:00 early in the day. So, I'm really grateful and thankful. Grieving for the other families and the people that was with it. But I'm also grateful that my family back in Savannah, Georgia, didn't have to get that phone call.

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MACFARLANE: And ahead of the area's opening or reopening on Thursday, musicians and religious leaders here marching down Bourbon Street in a big easy effort to bring back a little joy after Wednesday's devastating attack brought the city to a standstill.

Now, scientists at the Universities of Oxford and Birmingham are calling it a dinosaur highway, a huge area in the quarry in Oxfordshire, England, filled with hundreds of dinosaur footprints. The tracks were revealed when a quarry worker felt unusual bumps in the muddy ground.

CNN's Samantha Lindell picks up the story.

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SAMANTHA LINDELL, CNN DIGITAL CONTRIBUTOR (voice-over): The footprints you're seeing now are 166 million years old. Researchers say it's the most important discovery of dinosaur tracks in the U.K. for over 25 years.

DR. EMMA NICHOLLS, OXFORD UNIVERSITY, MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: So, these footprints we're talking about are 100 million years older than Tyrannosaurus Rex, which is mind-blowing.

LINDELL (voice-over): Five tracks made of approximately 200 dinosaur footprints were discovered in 2023 by chance at the working quarry.

[03:55:04]

NICHOLLS: Quarry worker Gary Johnson was removing some of the mud from the limestone floor and suddenly realized he was hitting these sort of hummocks.

LINDELL (voice-over): 40 dinosaur tracks were first found in this area in the 1990s. So, the quarry contacted the Oxford University Museum of Natural History to investigate.

NICHOLLS: So, over seven days, we coordinated 100 people to excavate these footprints and what we uncovered was just incredible.

The footprints at the site are from at least two different types of dinosaur. A huge herbivorous dinosaur called a sauropod. Those are the ones with the very long necks and the very long tails, like Brachiosaurus or Brontosaurus. Those footprints are 90 centimeters long, the largest ones.

The other type of track, the fifth track, was made by a carnivorous dinosaur called Megalosaurus. And so, they have the really distinctive three-toed footprints. And they're massive, they're 65 centimeters from front to back.

So, the great thing about what we call trace fossils is that it shows us dinosaur behavior. We've calculated the speeds that they were walking and they were walking at the same speed. They were both walking at about three miles per hour and that's actually the same speed of an average adult human.

LINDELL (voice-over): The trackways lie across the working quarry, so they're not safe for the public to visit. But scientists are figuring out how to preserve them so that people can see the dinosaur footprints in the future.

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MACFARLANE: One small step for mankind, a big step for a dinosaur. Apparently, that wraps up our coverage this hour. I'm Christina Macfarlane, in London. I'll be back in the next hour with Newsroom. Stay with us.

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