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South Korean Investigators Suspend Bid to Detain President Yoon; New Orleans Terror Attack; Palestinians Struggle to Survive Second Winter of Gaza War. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired January 03, 2025 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: South Korean investigators have suspended a bid to arrest President Yoon Suk Yeol. It's really a political battle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was an act of terrorism. It was premeditated and an evil act.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A change in theory and a brand new timeline laid out one day after the deadly attack on Bourbon Street.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 2024 saw ISIS attacks spike.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They've resumed efforts to export terrorism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Christina Macfarlane.

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from around the world. I'm Christina Macfarlane. It's Friday, January 3rd, 9 a.m. here in London, 6 p.m. in Seoul, Korea, where the country's impeached president has dodged a legal bullet as the threat of detention looms over him.

Just hours ago, investigators tried to serve an arrest warrant to Yoon Suk Yeol at his official residence as hundreds of his supporters rallied outside. But the official came face-to-face with his security detail, and after a dramatic standoff, the operation was put on hold for safety reasons. The arrest warrant for Yoon is still active, 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.

Mike Valerio is standing by near the presidential residence, where Yoon's supporters are taking a bit of a victory lap, so to speak -- Mike.

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I would say that's absolutely right, Christina, and you know so many of them have been here since that arrest warrant was issued Tuesday night, and they've gone back and forth to their homes or camped out. So to show you the tableau, this is the goal all along from South Korea, suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol, and the whole myriad or multitude of people who are gathered here. They wanted to form a human wall in front of the president's official residence to make it harder for investigators to come in and arrest South Korea's president, which would be a first.

We have never here in South Korea, a democratic bastion of East Asia, ever had an elected president arrested while the president was still in office. So what you see here is definitely a victory lap, and people on the stage way, way, way in the background are absolutely saying that we have to keep fighting. So really, the question, Christina, is what happens next?

This was a move by investigators and prosecutors to have the suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol be accountable, be held accountable for declaring martial law one month ago tonight, the evening hours of December 3rd, around 10:30 at night, into the early morning hours of December 4th, martial law across South Korea for all of six hours.

So now, I think that so many people we've talked to here, Christina, they aren't confident that this is over yet. They are pretty convinced that prosecutors and investigators are going to try to arrest the president again.

So we're going to see a whole host of people stay here or make trips to and from their homes, because this has certainly engulfed South Korean society, and it's not over yet.

MACFARLANE: And, Mike, it's interesting to see in the crowd behind you there some U.S. flags flying alongside the South Korean flags. What's that all about?

VALERIO: So, you know, a lot of conservatives across South Korea, they see the relationship with the United States as core to the nation's identity. The United States for them stands as a beacon of freedom and democracy. And, you know, as we look through the crowd, and I think that the control room in Atlanta and London has some images that we want to show of both stop-the-steal signs, and we also managed to see some hats for sale in the crowd that look a whole lot like MAGA hats back in the United States. But they say, to the effect in Korean, against unconstitutional impeachment.

So what we're seeing, Christina, a long story short, is a mirroring of conservative rhetoric in America, and now here in Korea, stop-the- steal signs. There was an election in April. The conservative party thinks that they won more seats than they did. A whole host of people disagree with the conservative party. So now the conservative party is saying, we have a president that may be stolen from us.

[04:05:00]

So it has been fascinating. I mean, America is home for me. To be here on the other side of the world and see the conservative rhetoric mirroring each other, you know, I think that they are definitely taking a page out of the GOP playbook. And, you know, this effort is not ending. These people are certainly standing behind South Korea's suspended president, who represents their values, their conservative values that they staunchly want to defend -- Christina.

MACFARLANE: Yes, that is a fascinating reflection. Mike Valerio there, live for us outside the presidential residence. Thanks very much, Mike.

Well, in the last hour, I spoke with Duyeon Kim, an adjunct senior fellow at the think tank Center for New America Security. And I asked her, given everything that's going on, are South Korean institutions working the way they should?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DUYEON KIM, ADJUNCT SENIOR FELLOW, CENTER FOR A NEW AMERICAN SOCIETY: 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, 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, you know, there will have, you know, 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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Well, we're still waiting for updates from the Constitutional Court, which was scheduled to hold a second pre-trial hearing on Yoon's impeachment today.

New developments in the New Orleans terror attack. A private security consulting firm warned back in 2019 that Bourbon Street was at risk, particularly for mass shootings and vehicle attacks.

The tourist attraction reopened on Thursday with additional security. Authorities have revised the death toll from the New Year's Day attack down to 14. The FBI released new pictures of the suspect, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, walking around the French Quarter in the hours before the attack.

One shows a blue cooler, which investigators say contained one of the two improvised explosive devices he planted in the area. The law enforcement source tells CNN, FBI agents and local police found precursor chemicals typically used to make explosives at Jabbar's residence in Houston, Texas.

The White House says it has seen no evidence of foreign direction or involvement in the New Orleans attacks, but the FBI is focusing on the suspect's apparent interest in ISIS. CNN's Ryan Young reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTOPHER RAIA, FBI DEPUTY ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: This was an act of terrorism. It was premeditated and an evil act.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A change in theory in a brand new timeline laid out one day after the deadly attack on Bourbon Street.

RAIA: We do not assess at this point that anyone else is involved in this attack, except for Shamsud-Din Jabbar.

YOUNG (voice-over): The FBI now saying they believe the suspect acted alone. After initially saying Wednesday, they believe he was not solely responsible for the deadly attack. Shamsud-Din Jabbar first rented the white pickup truck in Houston, Texas on December 30th.

RAIA: He then drove from Houston to New Orleans on the evening of the 31st, and he posted several videos to an online platform proclaiming his support for ISIS.

YOUNG (voice-over): New ring video obtained exclusively by CNN from a New Orleans resident shows the suspect unloading the white pickup truck at an Airbnb just hours before the attack.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The white truck was parked right in front of our place.

YOUNG (voice-over): The FBI also revealed dark details about Jabbar's Facebook videos the morning of the attack. His last one posted at 3:02 a.m., just moments before he plowed down crowds on Bourbon Street.

RAIA: Jabbar explains he originally planned to harm his family and friends, but was concerned the news headlines would not focus on the, quote, war between the believers and the disbelievers, end quote.

YOUNG (voice-over): And the FBI is sending an important message to the public.

RAIA: So far, we have received just over 400 tips from the public. Whether you know Jabbar personally, worked with him, served in the military, or saw him in New Orleans or Texas, we need to talk to you.

YOUNG (voice-over): Investigators revealed that two laptops and three phones were recovered, linked to the suspect, and are being reviewed for leads.

[04:10:00]

And more evidence was released about the reported explosives found near the site of the attack.

RAIA: FBI bomb technicians also recovered two IEDs in coolers, one from the cross section of Bourbon and Orleans Street, and the second at an intersection approximately two blocks away.

CHIEF ANNE KIRKPATRICK, NEW ORLEANS METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT: New Orleans is a resilient city. We have every resource nationally, locally, statewide. We are a team.

YOUNG (voice-over): A much needed sentiment for a shattered community.

YOUNG: What message are you trying to send?

KIRKPATRICK: Presence and making sure that people know that we're confident that we can keep them safe.

YOUNG: So you can hear some of the sounds of Bourbon Street back. There are families out here. There are tourists who are walking down this famous road.

Once again, one of the things you will notice, though, there is extra police protection here. And as we walk back this direction, the barricade that was down that night is up. They've been having technical issues with this.

They wanted to make sure this was up. They have a big truck blocking this way as well. And the sidewalk is blocked. So no truck could ever make it through here again.

We know the city will be focused on security from here on out. And that's something that we'll continue to follow.

Ryan Young, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: 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?

GLENN SCHOEN, SECURITY MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT: Yes, I mean, on the one hand, everybody's looking at what can 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.

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. 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. 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 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.

[04:15:00]

But, Glenn, we appreciate your thoughts on this. Thank you for joining us.

SCHOEN: Thank you.

MACFARLANE: Well, we're also following developments on the Cybertruck explosion outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas. The U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security says there's no evidence so far linking the New Orleans attacker to the person believed to have caused the explosion in Nevada. But he says they shared some similarities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, U.S. HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Both individuals rented their respective vehicles from an app. Both individuals were U.S. citizens who have served in the military. But that doesn't necessarily draw a connection between the two events other than similarities of characteristics.

We're going to refrain from drawing assessments and conclusions until we learn more evidence. We owe that. That's a responsibility of a careful and thorough investigation and, quite frankly, a responsibility we owe the public not to be premature in our conclusions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well, the Cybertruck driver has been identified as Matthew Livelsberger, a decorated active-duty U.S. Army sergeant and a new father. He was on leave when the attack happened. Investigators are still trying to determine his motive.

Police shared video of Livelsberger before the explosion, driving on Las Vegas Boulevard, passing the Trump Hotel, then circling back and parking at the entrance. They say they believe he died of self- inflicted gunshot wound before the explosives in the trunk detonated.

Now ahead, in the incoming U.S. president politicizing the New Orleans terror attack with false information and Donald Trump's allies are following suit.

Plus, displaced Palestinians struggle to survive the elements in addition to the fighting in the second winter in the war in Gaza. Stay with us.

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[04:20:16]

MACFARLANE: Israel's Prime Minister has approved sending negotiators to Qatar to continue talks for a Gaza ceasefire and release of hostages. Benjamin Netanyahu's office says Israeli security and intelligence officials are expected to travel to Doha, Qatar for the talks.

Meanwhile, Palestinian officials say an Israeli strike in southern Gaza killed 11 people, including the head of Gaza's police and 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-Mawasi, was previously designated by Israel as a humanitarian area, but has repeatedly come under attack.

Meanwhile, in Israel, sirens rang out across central Israel early Friday, as the country's military says it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen. Shrapnel fell in between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, though there were no reports of injuries at this time.

Well, the U.N. Agency for Palestinian Refugees is calling on Israel to allow more aid to Gaza, as the winter sets in with heavy rain. Let's go live now to Jerusalem. Our Paula Hancocks, who's standing by.

And Paula, just first on these Israeli negotiators heading to Qatar, I mean, we have been in ceasefire deadlock for so long now. How encouraged should we be by that move?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christina, what we're being told is this is a professional level delegation. So it's sort of a level down from the high level, which is when the individuals who can actually agree to the deal and sign on the dotted line go to continue these indirect talks. So we're not at the point yet where we are expecting a deal to be imminent.

But we have heard from sources within Israel and also Hamas that there is some cautious optimism that they would be able to reach a ceasefire deal. So the fact that they are going to Doha today has to be a source of optimism. It certainly is for the families of those hostages still being held within Israel, saying that there is no time to lose.

But of course, there are many in Gaza who are desperate for a ceasefire, not least the Palestinian civilians who are now in a second winter, as you say, of this war. You've got some 90 percent of Palestinians who are displaced, according to the United Nations. Hundreds of thousands of them are living in tents or makeshift shelters.

And the cold weather, and we have had storms in this region, are becoming deadly for the younger generation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANCOCKS (voice-over): I did everything I could, my son. I swear I did.

A father seeks forgiveness from his 20-day-old baby. Juma froze to death in a tent in Gaza. His twin Ali is fighting for his life in intensive care.

His father says, I came from the north, from Bethlehem, because of the Israeli bombing, only to come here and watch them die from cold and hunger.

Juma is one of at least five babies to have died from hypothermia in Gaza in recent days. As funeral prayers are recited above two tiny bodies, children look on, trauma buried in eyes that have seen almost 15 months of horror.

Ali is fighting sepsis. His doctor says he is in critical condition.

They live in a tent, the doctor says, in this freezing winter weather. Even adults suffer from the cold, so imagine the severe threat to young children. Juma's mother folds up clothes he will never again wear. She shows a

heating device given by a U.N. agency the day before he died. She never had the chance to wrap him in it. Since Juma's death, conditions in Gaza have only worsened. Storms and torrential rain making surviving in makeshift tents almost impossible.

This man from Jabalia camp stands outside his flooded tent. He says it collapsed under the weight of the rain. His family's bedding is soaked. As children walk by, he says, more water comes in.

This barefooted boy tries to dig a mud defense for his family's tent, but the sheer volume of water makes most barricades worthless.

[04:25:00]

Despite the heavy, heavy rains transforming streets into rivers, drinking water remains scarce, causing chaos at the stations when the water trucks arrive.

Some try to see the fun side of the rain. Shoeless children run in between the waterlogged tents. But the misery is acute.

This newborn baby, Sila Mahmoud al-Faseeh, froze to death on Christmas Day. The cruel irony, she died in a tent in al-Mawasi, an area Israel has designated a humanitarian zone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HANCOCKS (on camera): Now the U.N. is calling for more winter supplies to be allowed into Gaza, saying that they have blankets, warm clothes and mattresses sitting just outside the Gaza Strip waiting for approval to be allowed in -- Christina.

MACFARLANE: Such appalling conditions there, Paula, for children in the Gaza Strip. I appreciate your reporting on that. Thank you.

Ukraine has made good on its promise to halt the transport of Russian gas to Europe after a key deal with Moscow expired on Wednesday. The country's refusal to renew the transit deal was expected, but a symbolic move after the close of three years of full-scale war with Russia. Europe had already drastically cut back on Russian gas imports.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the move, quote, one of Moscow's greatest defeats, and he expressed hope the U.S. would increase its supply of gas to Europe.

Now, warnings about a lone wolf attack in the U.S. may have been missed. What the FBI and Department of Homeland Security said about vehicle rammings just last month, that's next on CNN.

[04:30:00]

Plus, we'll take a look at how the Bourbon Street attack ties with a possible re-emergence of the terror group ISIS.