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CNN This Morning
Today: Busiest Airport Travel Day Of The Holidays; Ukraine: Biggest Russian Air Attack Since War Began; Gypsy Rose Blanchard Leaves Prison After Mom Murdered. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired December 29, 2023 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[07:32:30]
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: A live look for you at LAX in Los Angeles. You know, that's a fair amount of traffic at 4:30 a.m. Pacific time. Why? Well, today is expected to be one of the busiest days at airports nationwide. Americans returning home or maybe -- you know what? Maybe they're going off on a really fabulous trip for the new year. It could be that, too.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Your enthusiasm for this part of the show is -- I'm living for it.
HILL: Maybe because I'm jealous and I wish I was traveling somewhere, but I'm not.
MATTINGLY: I think it's because you know who's next.
HILL: OK, you're right -- guilty. I do love Pete Muntean as Pete Muntean knows -- live at his real home. Not his home away from home, his real home, which is Reagan National Airport outside Washington.
OK, busy day coming up here. Pete, give me the goods.
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Erica, you have it exactly right. It is the folks returning home after Christmas and the folks leaving town for the New Year's holiday. That's what makes these numbers really big.
Look at the line earlier here -- the 7:00 a.m. rush here at Reagan National Airport. The good news is right now, people are getting through security relatively quickly, although the TSA tells us today is going to be one of the biggest days of the holiday rush -- 2.6 million people expected at airports nationwide. The FAA and air traffic controllers anticipating handling 48,000 flights. Last Friday and this Monday and Tuesday were really big. They will rival today's numbers.
But what's interesting about those numbers is that they are only five percent off from the all-time air travel record we saw this Sunday after this past Thanksgiving. I want you to look now at the cancellations and delays. Over about the
last week, airlines have operated about 187,000 flights. They have delayed about 36,000 of them. And that number, according to Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg -- he says it's a little high based on what we have seen in the past.
But the cancellations have remained relatively low. We're talking only one percent of all flights canceled over the last week. And we're talking 1,300 flights in total.
I spoke to FAA administrator Mike Whitaker about this. He says the agency is prepared and airlines are prepared and they are in constant communication.
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MICHAEL WHITAKER, ADMINISTRATOR, FAA: Well, we're very prepared. We've been through it before. We have a command center in Virginia that really looks at the entire system where there's potentially weather and where there are delays. We communicate with the airlines and make sure we're running as smoothly as possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MUNTEAN: Of course, a lot of people are going to be driving in this last weekend of the holiday rush. And AAA says the worst times to go are today between 2:00 and 8:00 p.m. That is when many major metro areas, including here in D.C., could see traffic twice the norm. It's the mix of people leaving and coming for the holiday but also combined with the normal traffic because not everybody has this week off, Erica, Phil.
[07:35:17]
HILL: Yeah, that is true. Not everybody has it off.
MATTINGLY: Yeah, that's a -- he makes -- he makes a great point there since we're sitting at work right now --
HILL: Yeah.
MATTINGLY: -- and so is Pete, although that is to some -- Pete, can I ask you a quick personal probing question?
HILL: Oh.
MUNTEAN: Sure.
MATTINGLY: Yeah. Are you a -- are you a clear guy or a precheck guy?
HILL: Oh, this is good.
MUNTEAN: Uh, good question. I am a precheck guy, although I did go to the West Coast over the holidays --
MATTINGLY: OK. MUNTEAN: -- and it has me sort of questioning my choices. It seems like these clear folks get their punch quicker, although I have to say sometimes, the standard line at some airports is now faster --
HILL: Yeah.
MUNTEAN: -- than the precheck and clear line. And that was exactly my experience when I was flying on Tuesday.
HILL: I think it's always -- I have both -- full disclosure. It is always a game-time decision.
MATTINGLY: It's game-time -- you need to be -- you need to be agile and I feel like people aren't.
HILL: I --
MATTINGLY: They're locked in.
HILL: I switched --
MUNTEAN: That's right.
MATTINGLY: But I also feel like we could have lots of conversations about this kind of deep thoughts and now I feel like I'm more informed because Pete -- I know Pete's out of this.
HILL: Jack Handey is with us this morning -- yeah.
MATTINGLY: Pete Muntean, we love you, buddy. Thank you.
HILL: Breaking overnight, Ukraine hit by what it calls the biggest air attack since the war started. Civilian targets hit. Calls growing for help from the West.
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HILL: This morning, Ukraine says Russia launched its biggest air assault since the war began, killing at least 18 people. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying that Russia used nearly every type of weapon -- cruise missiles, drones, strategic bombers. The attacks hit the east, the west, Kyiv, and targeted civilian infrastructure, including apartment buildings and a maternity hospital.
[07:40:13]
Ukraine says the attacks show it needs the world's support. The U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, today, renewed that call for additional military aid. The State Department, this week, announcing a package of $250 million. Congress, of course, though, did go home for the holiday break without reaching a deal on more funding.
MATTINGLY: Also new this morning, we're learning more about an Israeli military report on those three hostages who were accidentally killed earlier this month by IDF soldiers. In the report, the army chief said the troops failed in their mission to rescue the three men and that, quote, "It could have been prevented."
The report also concluded that military command did have information about hostage presence in the area but troops were not aware they could or would be approached.
HILL: Israel's military, meantime, says that Hezbollah has continued to launch rockets from southern Lebanon at Israel as the threat of more violence rises.
Benny Gantz, who is a member of Israel's war cabinet, saying, quote, "If the world and the Lebanese government do not act to cease the fire aimed at northern communities and push Hezbollah away from the border, the IDF will do so."
Joining us now, the former spokesperson for the U.S. mission to the United Nations, Hagar Chemali. And also, former commanding officer of the USS Cole, Kirk Lippold. It's good to have both of you with us.
And Commander, if I could begin with you, Benny Gantz also said this week that the time is running out to reach any sort of a diplomatic solution between Israel and Hezbollah. There is so -- there are so many eyes, rather, watching what is playing out along that northern border.
How concerned are you this morning about an expanding war in the Middle East?
COMMANDER KIRK LIPPOLD, U.S. NAVY (RET.), FORMER COMMANDER OFFICER, USS COLE, NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I think you may see an expanding war only because Hezbollah is very much entrenched into Lebanon. They have been there for literally decades. They're in the government. They are throughout society. And they have had the opportunity over that time period to build up military forces. To watch how the Israelis operate in the northern border area.
And so, consequently, they are well prepared to begin to attack Israel from the north and target all the way to the southern end of the country. They have weapons that can reach that far and they know exactly what they would want to aim for to try and disrupt Israel's capability.
So while Israel may rely on the Lebanese government to try and get them back, Hezbollah is going to drive their own agenda at the behest of Iran to do whatever it takes to prevent Israel from destroying Hamas.
MATTINGLY: Hagar, so much of what we've seen from the Biden administration since October 7, or since Israel's launched its counteroffensive to the terror attacks has been to prevent exactly what we're talking about right now.
What can the administration do to try and maintain keeping this just a Hamas-Israel conflict?
HAGAR CHEMALI, FORMER SPOKESPERSON, U.S. MISSION TO THE UNITED NATIONS, FORMER NSC DIRECTOR FOR SYRIA AND LEBANON, HOST, "OH MY WORLD" (via Webex by Cisco): Right, Phil. As you said, one of their number one priorities is to prevent this from expanding into a broader regional war, which is why they beefed up their military assets in the Mediterranean, in the Red Sea, and in the Gulf.
And so, now what you're seeing is the U.S. also strike back those Iran-backed militant groups in Iraq, specifically, and in Syria to push back on them when they have struck U.S. bases.
In my own opinion, they could be more forceful in those responses because those militant groups are not going to launch a big war. They are unable to. They don't have the capacity to beat the United States at this war. And so, the U.S. does have room there in an effort to prevent something wider-scale. To pursue more forceful attacks in a message that these militants understand. These militants only understand the language of military engagement.
And so, to respond more forcefully -- but not to the point of igniting a massive war with Iran, which I don't think will happen. Then it sends this message of you're not allowed to do these types of attacks or strikes because we're going to come for you, too, on behalf of Israel or in defense of preventing a destabilized Middle East.
HILL: Yeah. I was struck by, as well, this week what we saw. Iran's Revolutionary Guard now saying that the Hamas terror attack of October 7 was actually revenge for the U.S. killing of Soleimani in 2020. Hamas immediately denied that claim.
But the timing, nearly three months after the terror attacks -- what do you make of that timing, not to mention the discrepancy here and Hamas coming out right away and saying no, no, no -- this was a terror attack. We were worried about other things in Israel -- not about that.
CHEMALI: Yeah, they're really grasping for straws here. Now, when Qasem Soleimani was assassinated by President Trump and the Trump administration, Iran quickly came out and said we're going to -- we're going to take revenge and you are going to see we're going to vindicate for the killing of this -- of this -- of this leader. And Qasem Soleimani -- killing him was a big deal.
And we saw nothing after that. We saw, certainly, attempts. There were attempts to assassinate the U.S. ambassador in South Africa. There have been attempts to assassinate Mike Pompeo, former Secretary of State, and other former senior leaders of the Trump administration. But they haven't been able to carry anything out.
[07:45:09]
And now you've had the assassination of another major leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Syria, which Israel has neither confirmed nor denied. And that leader in Syria is the guy in charge of arming Hezbollah and sending missiles to Hezbollah. And so that might be why Iran wanted to come out and say hey, you know what? This is -- we're -- this is -- by the way, this is the revenge of Qasam Soleimani's death. And maybe they feel the need to make up for it given the assassination of this new leader. But the fact is that first of all, Hamas is coming out denying that but it doesn't look -- we already knew that this was not an attack that was deeply executed by Iran. Their support of Hamas made that attack possible but Iran is not the one that made this happen.
MATTINGLY: Commander Lippold, before we let you guys go, what we've seen in Ukraine obviously, a different war but no less complicated in the moment in time, particularly as U.S. -- the U.S. Congress has left without being able to approve more aid for Ukraine.
What does that tell you -- the scale of the Russian attacks overnight that we saw in Ukraine?
LIPPOLD: I think what you're seeing Russia do is try to set the groundwork for what they're going to do during what they're going to have as a winter offensive. They are going to continue to push Ukraine. As you can see, they are already targeting the civilian infrastructure that is going to try and make life miserable for the Ukrainian people.
Once again, Russia is demonstrating they have no respect for international law in the targeting that they are doing. Similar to Hamas, they do not care about the conventions that are out there that prohibit targeting civilians, civilian infrastructure.
But nonetheless, Russia is trying to make sure that they put the conditions into place that may drive Ukraine to have to come to the bargaining table if the United States, in a leadership role, doesn't work with our European partners to ensure that Ukraine gets the weapons they need at the time they need it to do what they need to do, to not only defend against Russian attacks but also push Russia back to the pre-war borders, including Crimea.
MATTINGLY: Kirk, Hagar, we appreciate it as always. Thank you.
HILL: Gypsy Rose --
LIPPOLD: Thank you.
HILL: Oh, sorry.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard, the woman who had admitted to helping her boyfriend kill her abusive mother, has just been released from prison. Just ahead, we take a look back at the lie that launched this case into the spotlight.
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[07:51:11]
HILL: Gypsy Rose Blanchard on parole this morning. That's after serving eight years in prison for admitting to helping her boyfriend kill her mother. Now, until her arrest, she was believed to be suffering from a number of serious health issues.
MATTINGLY: That was until investigators uncovered the abuse she experienced at the hands of her mother.
CNN's Gary Tuchman has more.
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GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Gypsy Rose Blanchard, a little girl whose mother Dee Dee was known as a loving, caring single parent of a profoundly disabled child.
CLAUDDINE BLANCHARD, MOTHER OF GYPSY ROSE BLANCHARD: It's amazing. We're moving to Mayberry.
GYPSY ROSE BLANCHARD, RELEASED AFTER SERVING 8 YEARS IN PRISON: I remember my mom had gave me this little glass house and she said this --- one day this will be real. And now it finally is.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Gypsy and her mother had just moved into a Habitat for Humanity home in Missouri after their house was devastated in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina. It appeared to be a feel-good story for this child whose mother said she had brain damage, leukemia, asthma, muscular dystrophy, and was not able to walk.
But it was all a lie. Dee Dee Blanchard had fabricated it all. Gypsy was victimized by her mother's apparent Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, in which a guardian causes or exaggerates illnesses. Gypsy never went past second grade.
G. BLANCHARD: It just proves that happy endings are not just in fairy tales. They are real and true in real life also.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): The elaborate scheme that Dee Dee concocted did, indeed, get her sympathy, like at this charity function.
G. BLANCHARD: (Singing).
C. BLANCHARD: Thank you. I've always said you're the reason I was born to be your mama.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The State of Wisconsin versus Gypsy Blanchard.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): But then, in 2015, Gypsy and a long-distance boyfriend were charged with murdering Dee Dee. Gypsy told Nicholas Godejohn about the lifetime of abuse she endured. They came up with a plan to kill her mother and Godejohn was accused of stabbing her to death in their Missouri home.
Police reportedly found out about the killing from this violent post on a Facebook page that Gypsy shared with her mother.
TEXT: That (bleep) is dead!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you swear and affirm that the testimony you are about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
G. BLANCHARD: Yes, sir. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you state your name for the record, please?
G. BLANCHARD: Gypsy Blanchard.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And how old are you?
G. BLANCHARD: I going to be 25 October 24th.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Gypsy's boyfriend was found guilty and is serving a life sentence.
NICHOLAS GODEJOHN, SERVING LIFE SENTENCE FOR MURDER OF CLAUDDINE "DEE DEE" BLANCHARD: I would've never did it if it was not for me and her.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Prosecutors felt Gypsy needed to be held accountable but because of the abuse she experienced they agreed to a plea bargain.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She is to be sentenced to 10 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): While in prison, Gypsy talked with TV personality Dr. Phil about how her mother lied to doctors and how her mother handled her medical appointments.
G. BLANCHARD: She told me that I couldn't speak during a doctor's appointment. She would have me sit in the wheelchair, play with your Barbie dolls, and let me talk and don't interrupt. My mother told the doctors that I was mentally incompetent.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Gypsy also said her mother tried to convince her how helpless she was.
G. BLANCHARD: She would always use a medical term for everything that was wrong. That I had microcephaly, which is a small head. That my brain didn't develop right and I'll never mature past a 6-year-old's level.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): After she was sentenced to 10 years in prison, Gypsy was told this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She'll have to 85 percent of her sentence before she's eligible for parole.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): And today, that 85 percent is now over. Gypsy Rose got married while behind bars to a Louisiana school teacher -- a relationship that reportedly began as pen pals. She is now free to be with him to live as normal a life as possible while she and we remember the things she was once forced to say, like this, about her new house.
[07:55:05]
G. BLANCHARD: It's beautiful and it's happy, and it's full of love. TUCHMAN (voice-over): Gary Tuchman, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HILL: Just ahead here in our 8:00 hour, a one-on-one with the election official who removed Donald Trump from Maine's 2024 ballot. Secretary of State Shenna Bellows will join us.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHENNA BELLOWS (D), MAINE SECRETARY OF STATE: The U.S. Constitution does not tolerate an assault on our government -- on the foundations of our government. And that Maine election law and the constitution require -- indeed, obligated to act. But these are decisions that are part of my obligations and part of my duty, and that is what I'm compelled to do by the Constitution.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: Compelled by the constitution, Maine has removed Donald Trump from the GOP primary.
