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CNN This Morning
Syrian Rebels Topple Bashar al Assad Who Flees to Russia in Middle East Shakeup; Search for UnitedHealthcare CEO Killer Continues; Trump Promises Pardon for January 6 Rioters on His First Day. Aired 5- 5:30a ET
Aired December 09, 2024 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:00]
KASIE HUNT, ANCHOR, CNN THIS MORNING: It's Monday, December 9th, right now on CNN THIS MORNING.
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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: At long last, the Assad regime has fallen. The fall of the regime is a fundamental act of justice.
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HUNT: Regime toppled. Ousted Syrian leader Bashar al Assad now in Russia as Syrians celebrate the fall of his brutal rule. The search continues. The suspected killer who shot a health care executive in New York City still nowhere to be found. And --
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: For what they did --
KRISTEN WELKER, NBC NEWS: Yes --
TRUMP: Honestly, they should go to jail.
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HUNT: Jail? The January 6th committee investigators, Donald Trump suggesting just that as he also maintains his promise to pardon January 6th rioters. And new allegations. How Jay-z is responding to a new lawsuit, accusing him of sexual assault in a case connected to Sean "Diddy" Combs.
All right, 5:00 a.m. here on the east coast, a live look at the Capitol dome on this Monday morning, good morning, everyone, I'm Kasie Hunt, it's wonderful to have you with us. The long brutal rule of Syrian President Bashar al Assad is over. The question now is what happens next? The people of Syria flooding the streets, celebrating the end of more than five decades of the Assad family's dictatorship. But we are already seeing how this momentous shift for the country
will further complicate the situation in the Middle East. Early this morning, a CNN team on the ground reports hearing strikes in Damascus. Israel's Foreign Minister confirming the Israeli military struck weapons systems and chemical weapons-capacity.
Since 2011, Syria has been fighting this civil war, and this turning- point catapulted by rebel forces who launched a sweeping offensive capturing key cities in just a matter of days. And with that came the end of Assad's rule. Assad fleeing with his family to Russia, where he has been granted asylum on humanitarian grounds.
He's held power since 2000. President Biden calling Assad's downfall a fundamental act of justice.
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BIDEN: At long last, the Assad regime has fallen. This regime brutalized and tortured and killed literally hundreds of thousands of innocent Syrians. For the first time ever, neither Russia nor Iran or Hezbollah could defend this abhorrent regime in Syria.
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HUNT: Syrian rebel leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani declaring complete victory over the Assad regime. The culmination of a bloody 13-year civil war.
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MOHAMMAD AL-JOLANI, SYRIAN REBEL LEADER (through translator): This victory, my brothers, is a victory for the entire Islamic nation. This new triumph, my brothers, marks a new chapter in the history of the region.
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HUNT: Syrians sweeping into Damascus, ransacking Assad's palace, uncovering a luxury car collection worth millions, including a Ferrari F-50, a Lamborghini, a Rolls and a Bentley. We're joined now by Avi Mayer, he's the former editor-in-chief of the "Jerusalem Post". Avi, good morning, always wonderful to have you on the program.
Let's talk about what happens next here, and of course, this breaking news that has been just in to CNN with the Israelis saying that they struck a chemical weapons capacity in the country. What else do we know at this point? And how are you looking at how this is going to play out?
AVI MAYER, FORMER EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, JERUSALEM POST: Well, Kasie, good morning. I think what we're likely to see is some period of instability and chaos as the country hopefully coalesces into some kind of a coherent, unified future. We hope, of course, that Syria will end up being a liberal democracy that will seek to live at peace alongside all its neighbors including, of course, the state of Israel. But Israel, of course, can't wait for that to happen, which is why you
saw those airstrikes taking place earlier today. Israel hitting chemical weapons facilities and others in order to ensure that they don't fall into the wrong hands and aren't then directed at Israel. It's undeniable that the fall of the Assad regime is good news, not least of course, for the people of Syria, but also for the region and the world.
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And Syria, the Assad regime have been a key pillar of Iran's axis in the region, and the fall of that pillar, I think, significantly constricts Iran's ability to spread its malign influence across the Middle East. But of course, we'll have to see what the next day will bring.
HUNT: Yes, Avi, how do you understand what is the -- driving the rebel forces in terms of -- I shouldn't say what is driving them, but rather how they are going to interact with the people of Syria and what that may mean for the region. We've seen this one rebel commander who said that this will still mean that this is a Syria for everyone, for all religious sects, suggesting there may be some religious tolerance.
But obviously, you heard there al-Jolani say it was an Islamic place. How much does that matter as well in terms of what we're going to see next here?
MAYER: Well, it matters a great deal. It's important to realize that the rebel groups are made up of all sorts of factions, representing all kinds of interests. In the north of the country, you have the Kurds, who, of course, have been a thorn in Turkey's side for a very long time, but are allied with the United States.
South in the country, you have other groups that are also allied with the United States, have been acting to some degree in concert with U.S. forces. But the primary groups in the center of the country really are these Islamist-Jihadist organizations that in the past, in fact, have been allied with al Qaeda or with ISIS.
That, of course, is who al-Jolani represents. And there are, of course, many who have expressed concerns about what that means for the future of Syria. They have expressed in recent days more moderate tones and have expressed a desire to rule in a way that is inclusive and democratic. We have to hope that, that is indeed what transpires, and that is a democratic future for the people of Syria.
HUNT: Avi, we also of course, know that the Americans have been striking in central Syria where we -- you noted, ISIS, right? And that is, of course, why American troops continue to be on the ground in Syria. We also saw the incoming President-elect Donald Trump post about this earlier this weekend.
He said this, "Syria is a mess, but it's not our friend. The United States should have nothing to do with it. This is not our fight. Let it play out. Do not get involved." And then in another post, he talked about Assad, Russia and the ties between Russia, Syria and Ukraine. And he says of the Russians, quote, "they lost all interest in Syria because of Ukraine where close to 600,000 Russian soldiers lay wounded or dead in a war that never should have started and could go on forever."
First of all, do you think that the United States should have nothing to do with Syria? Do you see the strategic presence of the United States as relevant to Israel's security in Syria? And what do you make of the President-elect's comments?
MAYER: Look, I don't think the United States can afford to withdraw from this region. Any vacuum that's formed by the fall of the Assad regime will be filled. The question is by whom? It could be filled by China, Russia, or perhaps even Iran again or it could be filled with more moderate Arab states and by the United States and its allies.
So, we certainly hope that the future of this region is one that, of course, tilts towards a more moderate future. And I don't think that the United States can withdraw entirely -- I'm not really sure that the President-elect intends to do that either. I think he sees this as something of an opportunity perhaps also to constrain Russia's rather malign influence in this part of the world.
And, of course, he was very welcoming of the Assad regime's fall, which he attributed as, by the way, did the Biden administration. Of course, Prime Minister Netanyahu himself to the successes that Israel has had against Iran and its proxies in recent months, basically saying that had Israel not weakened the Iranian axis of what they call resistance across this region, that the rebel forces would not have been emboldened to push forward and bring about the Assad regime's collapse.
So, I think what we see happening is a new future for this region, hopefully a re-alignment of forces and one that brings key forces in this region in a more moderate and pro-western direction.
HUNT: And we'll see. All right, Avi Mayer for us this morning, sir, always grateful to have you on the show. Thanks very much for being here.
MAYER: Thank you.
HUNT: All right, straight ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, a day one promise. The President-elect sticking to his vow to pardon January 6th rioters when he takes office. Plus, searching for a killer. The gunman who murdered the CEO of America's largest health care company, he's still evading police. And then Donald Trump talking about mass deportations.
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WELKER: Is it your plan to deport everyone who is here illegally over the next four years?
TRUMP: Well, I think you have to do it. And it's a -- it's a very tough thing to do. (END VIDEO CLIP)
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TRUMP: They've got to release the J.6 hostages, they've suffered a lot. They've got to release them. I call them hostages, some people call them prisoners, I call them hostages.
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HUNT: A central promise on the campaign trail from President-elect Donald Trump pardoning supporters convicted of January 6th related crimes. Now, with Trump headed for the Oval Office, that's closer to becoming reality. More than a thousand people have been convicted or pled guilty to charges related to the attack on the Capitol in 2021 according to the Department of Justice.
And in his first sit-down interview since his re-election, Trump suggested many of those convictions could be swept away.
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TRUMP: But I'm going to be acting very quickly --
WELKER: Within your first 100 days, first day?
TRUMP: First day.
WELKER: First day?
TRUMP: Yes, I'm looking first day --
WELKER: To issue these pardons --
TRUMP: These people have been there, how long is it? Three or four years.
WELKER: OK.
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TRUMP: You know -- by the way, they've been in there for years, and they're in a filthy, disgusting place that shouldn't even be allowed to be open.
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HUNT: Trump went on to say that there should be people in jail for the January 6th investigation. Certain members of Congress who led the investigation into him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: For what they did --
WELKER: Yes --
TRUMP: Honestly, they should go to jail.
WELKER: So, you think Liz Cheney should go to jail?
TRUMP: For what they did --
WELKER: Everyone on the committee you think should go to jail --
TRUMP: I think everybody on the -- anybody that voted in favor --
WELKER: Are you going to direct your FBI director --
TRUMP: No --
WELKER: And your Attorney General to send them to jail?
TRUMP: No, not at all. I think that they'll have to look at that. But I'm not going to -- I'm going to focus on drill baby drill.
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HUNT: All right, joining us now to discuss, Kevin Frey; Washington correspondent for "Spectrum News" New York. Well, Kevin, good morning --
KEVIN FREY, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, SPECTRUM NEWS: Good morning --
HUNT: Thank you for being here. So, a remarkable statement there --
FREY: Yes --
HUNT: From Donald Trump led to a remarkable statement from Liz Cheney, who, of course, was in discussion there. She -- it's a very lengthy statement --
FREY: Yes --
HUNT: I'm going to read part of it. She says this quote, "was the worst breach of the constitution" -- she's talking about January 6th -- "by any President in our nation's history. Donald Trump's suggestion that members of Congress who later investigated his illegal and unconstitutional actions should be jailed is a continuation of his assault on the rule of law and the foundations of our republic.
There is no conceivably appropriate, factual or constitutional basis for what Donald Trump is suggesting. A Justice Department investigation of the work of a congressional committee and any lawyer who attempts to pursue that course would quickly find themselves engaged in sanctionable conduct."
Basically, she's saying if you investigate a congressional committee, you are going against the rules of -- that the bar sets for you. FREY: Yes --
HUNT: What do you see here? And you could see the anger in President- elect Trump's face there around January 6th that perhaps suggests he is actually going to send his Justice Department to do this.
FREY: Right, I mean, one will point out that this would not be the first time that -- to build off of what Liz Cheney said, that a lawyer for Trump would do something that could be sanctionable and get them disbarred in a certain region. But on top of that, I mean, this is kind of like this weird dynamic and Trump always has operated in this way where he can have a lot of softer tones in different parts of the interview, or try to distance himself with some word-play about -- well, that will be up to them to look into whether or not they'll be doing it.
They'll have to decide, I'm not going to be dictating it to them. But at the same time, very -- this was the one mark where he was very explicit and basically saying they need to be in jail, whereas as opposed to kind of sidestepping some of the issue. Clearly, this is something that is frustrating to him, clearly, he sees this as something that he feels vindicated in doing now that he's won re- election.
HUNT: So, Kevin, the -- obviously, the question to that has been at hand, and there were just -- there was discussion reporting about it last week ahead of these Trump comments was whether President Biden --
FREY: Yes --
HUNT: Is or should issue pre-emptive blanket pardons to people like those on the January 6th committee. Congresswoman Debbie Dingell was on "STATE OF THE UNION" with my colleague Jake Tapper yesterday --
FREY: Yes --
HUNT: And they talked about whether this was a good idea. Let's watch that.
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REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): I obviously think that oversight investigations is one of the most important functions of the United States Congress, a system of checks and balances, and would respectfully disagree with what President Trump has said, that they should go to jail. It will be interesting to watch this play out.
And I also will say to -- I know people are talking about, well, should Biden give them a blanket --
JAKE TAPPER, CNN: A pardon?
DINGELL: Pardon. But a lot of people don't want that to happen.
TAPPER: Schiff doesn't want it to happen -- DINGELL: More than that. I've talked to many members of the committee because it implies that what they did was wrong, and what they were doing was their job.
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HUNT: So, this is the central question because if you're accepting a pardon, you're in many ways acknowledging guilt --
FREY: Acknowledging guilt --
HUNT: Guilt --
FREY: That doesn't necessarily exist or arguably does not exist in this sort of scenario. And this is one of those things where Trump has this incredible ability to float an idea that he certainly has about pardoning himself preemptively or reactively during his own term when he was in power, and talking to his lawyers about it as he kind of explained in this interview.
And then forcing the Democrats who claim to have the moral high ground in all of this, to then in response to Trump making all of these threats, suddenly have to look into breaking precedent, forging new territory and leaving everyone in an uncomfortable position. And then also providing Trump with the groundwork to go ahead and do it himself when he takes office again in a matter of weeks.
HUNT: Really remarkable situation. Kevin Frey, thank you very much for being with us this morning, I appreciate it.
FREY: You're welcome.
HUNT: All right, still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, Jay-z now being accused along with Sean "Diddy" Combs. How the rap mogul is responding to a newly filed lawsuit involving the sexual assault of a minor.
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Plus, how the sudden collapse of the Assad regime unfolded and what it means for Syria and the world moving forward.
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HUNT: All right, 23 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup. Jay-z accused of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl more than two decades ago in an incident that also allegedly involved Sean "Diddy" Combs. The rapper denies the claims calling them heinous. He said in a statement, quote, "I implore you to file a criminal complaint, not a civil one."
After the fall of Bashar al Assad's regime in Syria, President Biden reiterating his commitment to bring home American journalist Austin Tice. Tice has been detained in Syria since 2012. His family says they have evidence that he's alive. The FBI renewing a $1million reward for helping him get back home. [05:25:00]
Lara Trump stepping down as co-chair of the RNC. As for what's next, she tells the "Associated Press", she'd consider running for a Senate seat in Florida, a seat that could be vacated by Senator Marco Rubio if he's confirmed as President-elect Trump's Secretary of State. All right, time now for weather, powerful Santa Ana winds could bring life-threatening fire weather to southern California starting tonight. Let's go to our meteorologist Elisa Raffa with more. Elisa, good morning.
ELISA RAFFA, METEOROLOGIST: Good morning. We have a red flag warning in effect, but this one is being tagged as a particularly dangerous situation. It's a high-end level for this type of warning. That is rare, and it stretches across southern California, and it lasts through Wednesday. So, what we're looking at is extremely low humidity, damaging winds with that very dry vegetation.
We're talking about power outages, possible power lines possibly down, and this is again issued very rarely. And it's becoming more frequent with climate change as our drought conditions become more exacerbated. What's happening is, we have high pressure that's building in, and those winds will wind up swinging through the desert.
But this is a mountainous area, so then the winds just wind up getting funneled in between the mountains, and that will result in some of these very strong gusts that could get 50 to 60 miles per hour. So, the fire weather concerns are critical through the day today, and extreme tomorrow for areas just north of Los Angeles.
We're looking at winds making it up to 40 or 50 miles per hour going into Tuesday, really peaking with the worst conditions on Tuesday, and then improving by Wednesday. Again, relative humidity will be very low, dropping to 20 percent at times, and that could cause some problems, any fires that start would spread rapidly. Kasie?
HUNT: All right, Elisa Raffa for us this morning. Elisa, thank you. All right, still coming up here after the break, after more than 50 years in power, the Assad regime over after less than a two-week offensive by rebel forces. Plus, President-elect Donald Trump pledging to keep his campaign promises with hard-line immigration policies implemented on day one.
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STEPHEN MILLER, INCOMING WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF: President Trump regardless, on day one is going to issue a series of executive orders that seal the border shut and begin the largest deportation operation in American history.
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