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CNN This Morning

Search Intensifies For Source of Mysterious Drones In New Jersey; Lawmakers Demand Answers, Action On Unexplained Drones In NJ; Lawmakers Demand Answers, Action On Unexplained Drones In NJ; Midwest Braces For Ice Storms; McConnell Warns Of Undermining Public Confidence In Polio Vaccine; Time: Trump Claims He Would Not Abandon Ukraine. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired December 14, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:33]

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Top of the hour here on CNN. This is a live look at the Vegas Strip, baby. Welcome back, everyone. I'm Amara Walker alongside Victor Blackwell. So glad that you are with us. We are just halfway, almost there until Christmas, and I haven't done any Christmas shopping and I'm so stressed.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: The elves are out.

WALKER: The elves are out, but I literally, I don't use Excel. So, I kind of just drew a grid with both my kids. Yes, well, because I'm better at just manually kind of thinking about what to get them.

BLACKWELL: And I'm not, I'm not grimacing because you don't use Excel. Do people use Excel for Christmas?

WALKER: Well, maybe I'm just thinking of way too many. I'm overthinking it probably is what it is.

BLACKWELL: Here's what we're working on for you this morning.

WALKER: You don't think so?

BLACKWELL: No.

WALKER: Oh, all right.

BLACKWELL: Growing calls for answers and action after more reported sightings of drones in parts of the northeast. The White House says there's nothing to worry about, but that's not enough for state officials. We're joined live by one New Jersey lawmaker.

WALKER: Also new this morning, South Korea's parliament has voted to impeach the country's president after he refused to step down after attempting to declare martial law. We'll have more on the dramatic political showdown coming up in a live report.

BLACKWELL: We have new details in the case against Luigi Mangione, the man accused of murdering the CEO of UnitedHealthcare. The steps Mangione has taken to fight the charges, that's a hit. ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And ice creating dangerous conditions on roadways across several states in the Midwest. We'll detail how long that's going to last coming up.

WALKER: We begin this morning with the search for answers as reports of drone sightings are growing across the eastern U.S. We are learning of reports of suspected drone sightings in parts of New York and officials in Connecticut say they have deployed a drone detection system to investigate reports of sightings in their state. Now, despite the increase in sightings, the White House says there is no security threat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, DHS SECRETARY: We believe that there are cases of mistaken identity where drones are actually small aircraft and people are misidentifying them. They're very well maybe drones in the sky, of course, but those are commercially available. One can go into a convenience store and buy a small drone. There are also commercial drones as well.

BLACKWELL: New Jersey residents have reported seeing drones the size of small cars flying around at night, sometimes in clusters. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has escalated those concerns, formally requesting additional resources from the Biden administration, and lawmakers are demanding the government come clean with the public.

CNN Senior White House Reporter, Betsy Klein, is with us now. So, the White House is trying to downplay the sightings, as we've heard from the governor of New Jersey and increasingly from people in New York. That isn't enough.

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right, Victor. It has been about a month since reports of these drone sightings began in the tri-state area and still so many unanswered questions. Now, the White House is trying to tamp down some of that anxiety as the Department of Homeland Security and FBI investigate.

But they say, for now, there is no national security threat, there is no threat to public safety, and importantly they say at this time there are no known connections between these drone sightings and any federal government or, excuse me, foreign government and other foreign entities. Now, take a look at what Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said to our own Wolf Blitzer last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYORKAS: We have not seen anything unusual. We have not seen any unusual activity. We know of no threat. We know of no nefarious activity. We have deployed our state-of-the-art technology. We've deployed our experts to New Jersey. That technology has not confirmed any drone sightings.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KLEIN: Now, there's so much pressure on the federal government to answer questions like, what are these drones? Who is responsible for them? And as one lawmaker said, to paraphrase him, in the year 2024, with the technology we have, how is it possible we don't know the answers?

Now, I want to take your attention to New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, who wrote a letter to President Biden this week. He thanked the administration for the federal response so far, but he cautioned it has become apparent that more resources are needed to fully understand what is behind this activity. Now, Murphy goes on to express his own concerns about in the vacuum of some of these answers how there is a lot of conspiracy theories filling that void on social media.

[07:05:09]

We've also now heard from President-elect Donald Trump who I should note has started receiving those intelligence briefings as of last month and Trump said in a post to social media overnight, can this really be happening without our government's knowledge? I don't think so. Let the public know and now. Otherwise, shoot them down.

Now, I will say Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas also told CNN that the federal government has been asking Congress for additional authority with respect to control of drones, but as of now, the U.S. government just doesn't have the possibility capability to shoot down drones. Amara and Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right, Betsy Klein for us at the White House. Thanks so much. Joining me now is New Jersey Assemblyman Eric Peterson. Good morning to you, sir. You know, there are some news conferences or briefings that you get the sense sometimes that maybe they know more than they are willing to say or able to say. You were in this DHS briefing this week, did you have a sense after the briefing that Homeland Security is not willing or able to say everything they know or they really have no idea what these, these vehicles are?

ERIC PETERSON, NEW JERSEY ASSEMBLYMAN: Well, good morning, Victor. They're lying. That's the long and the short of it. They're lying to us. First, they say you're not seeing what you're seeing. There's nothing here, nothing here to be seen and then they tell us that they're not, they don't know what it is, they don't know what's happening. It's all a lie.

I've seen the drones myself outside my house. I live in a rural part of New Jersey where there's no lights. We don't have street lights, we don't have anything. It gets dark at night, you can see very clearly, we're not in any flight path for any airlines or other craft. And you can look up in the sky and see these drones and the way that they're moving. They move forward, they stop, they hover, they move sideways, they stop, they hover, they move backwards. It's obviously not an airplane.

It's not a helicopter because it's not making any noise. And so, you know it's a drone. And then there are multiple of them. And then they tell us, you're not seeing drones, you're mistaken identity. So, you go on flight radar 24 and you can see that there's no planes in the area. So, they're just lying to us that we're not seeing what we're seeing. And more importantly, they're lying to us that it's not a safety threat.

BLACKWELL: So, all right, let's break this down. I had a list of questions, but you sent me on a different path. You say that they're lying. You say that they're lying. Is the lie, I've heard you say that they're drones and they're telling you that they're not drones, and you believe that's a lie. But do you believe that they know exactly what they are and who sent them?

PETERSON: You know, that's an interesting question, right? We all want to think that our government, especially our military, is at such a level that they know exactly what these drones are and where they're coming from. And that's why we all think they're lying about that. But if they don't, if they don't, then that's a real big concern for our security because coming from somewhere, flying around here, and they can do nothing about it. And that's a real problem. So, either answer is bad. They're either lying to us or we're incredibly unprepared for a drone attack, which Russia and China and Iran are very capable of doing. And it's right here in my backyard where I represent 220,000 people whose lives are, are in the in the line of this.

BLACKWELL: Yes, and when you say and it's this word lie because I haven't heard other officials say this. I've heard others say give us more information. They're not being completely transparent but to lie say someone's lying is that they know the truth and for nefarious purposes are attempting to deceive. Why would they lie? What's the purpose of lying? I mean we just, was it two years ago, the Chinese balloons that were flying overhead, they told us they were from China, they told us about the payload, they took them down and analyzed them. What would be the motivation from your perspective for the federal government to lie about these?

PETERSON: Well, that's a great, that's a great example of that balloon. They told us it was a weather balloon, blown off course, that it wasn't doing anything, nothing to see here, ignore it, you really don't see what you're seeing. We're look, the American people are not stupid. They see this balloon coming over from China. It's never, ever happened before. Flying low, going over military installations, and obviously it's doing surveillance and picking up data. And the government's telling us, ah, no, it's just a weather balloon. We know they're lying. They're saying the same thing here. Picatinny Arsenal, Earl Military Base, Fort Dix, they have all said that these drones have been flying over and surveillancing their installations. And meanwhile, we're being told that's not happening. Somebody's lying because it can't both be right.

[07:10:59]

The Pixie Teddy Arsenal came out and said, these drones are flying over our installation, and we do not know who's doing it and what they're doing. And then, the Department of Homeland Security comes out and says, those drones haven't been over the military installation. They're lying. Now, why, why would you lie? Either because the reason that this is happening is incredibly embarrassing to the administration or is it incredibly high risk of security risk for the country and they don't want to tell us because you're either embarrassed. Well, they're both going to very embarrassing, and they don't want to do that because they don't have the moral fortitude or the courage to be honest with the American people and tell us what's going on, and that's why I'm standing in line.

BLACKWELL: Another accusation there is that they don't have the courage to tell the truth. I will say that the facility, Earl, in New Jersey says that, according to a councilman there, was that this drone was flying in restricted airspace. But I didn't hear that there was a report that there was confirmation of surveillance. I wonder if you have confirmation of that from either of those facilities, that they have said that there was surveillance. They said that there was in the restricted airspace. Did they tell you, do you have any source that tells you that there was actual surveillance?

PETERSON: My source is common sense. Drones don't hover over military bases in restricted areas. They don't hover over Trump National Golf Course, which is just down the road from me, and just hover over it for extended periods of time, repeatedly, for any other reason than surveillance.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Sure, I'm looking for a little more than that though, a confirmation from one of these facilities. Let me get one more in here.

PETERSON: Well, look, let's be honest with you. Are they going to, look, let's be honest. There's a game plate here. It's called politics, I'm very familiar with it. And when you don't want to admit or do things, say things, you dance around it. Yesterday, I forgot the gentleman's first name, Tobin, I think is his last name, gave a press conference on this. He made it sound like none of the sightings were drones.

And then, when he was called out on it and pinned down, he said, well, I didn't say all of them. Well, it's a game. They don't say that surveillance, but it's pretty obvious that you're not hovering the drones in these specific areas. They're going to specific areas, hovering for extended periods of time. Common sense would tell you that this is planned and that they're doing something and they're not just taking photographs to put up on their Web site of a beautiful installation, government installation.

What they're doing is they're surveillancing. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out. And you know, the hard part here is that common sense dictates that they're doing something. And common sense dictates that when they pick these sensitive installations, water resources, electrical grids that they're doing something other than just hovering around.

BLACKWELL: Well, they're doing something. Hopefully we get some confirmation about that and, and listen we have seen these videos and are asking the questions of the Homeland Security secretary. You've heard from him, hopefully, we get some more answers from the administration soon. Assemblyman Eric Peterson, I thank you for your time this morning.

PETERSON: Thank you, Victor. WALKER: Well, right now, an ice storm is bearing down across parts of the Midwest. Millions of people are under ice storm warnings. Emergency officials warn drivers to expect dangerous road conditions. They are also urging people to prepare for potential power outages. CNN's Allison Chinchar is tracking the storms from our weather center. I mean, if there's ice out there, you don't want to be on the road.

CHINCHAR: No, and the weather service is basically saying that if you don't have to be out on the roads this morning, just please don't, not just for your own safety, but for the safety of the others that may be out on the roads, because they have to be. Here's a look.

[07:15:28]

We've got the two separate systems, the one out into the West and then this other one in the central portion of the country. That's the one that's bringing us the ice. And it's already been coming down for several hours, so you have a lot of these roads that are already coated in a thin layer of ice. You also have that ice on the trees and the power lines in some of these areas. You can see the winter weather alerts extend across several states in the Midwest, well nearly 15 million people.

Then, we focus in even more to the specific areas just under the ice storm warning. Now, this is valid until 3:00 p.m. Central Time today, so this isn't going to be over any time soon. The pink area you see here, that is the ice. That's the mixed precipitation. The white indicates snow, the blue and the green indicates the rain. So, you can see all of that freezing rain kind of crossing over the state of Iowa and will continue to shift eastward as we go through the next few hours.

These temperatures as well, notice they're all right around that 29 to 32 degree range, the perfect conditions for that freezing rain to occur. Some of these areas likely to see up to a quarter of an inch of ice when this is all said and done. Again, that can cause significant problems, not just to the roadways, but again, that weight can pull on the power lines, it can pull tree limbs down as well. As we go through the rest of the day, this will begin to push eastward so areas like Chicago also looking at that wintery mix as we go later into the day, then more of that system continues to spread eastward. Now, you're looking at the Appalachians, the central portion of the Appalachians to also be getting some of that winter precipitation by tomorrow.

WALKER: All right, important to know. Allison Chinchar, thank you. And just ahead breaking news out of South Korea overnight in a dramatic decision, the parliament has voted to impeach the president following his martial law attempts. We are live with the latest.

Also, the man accused of killing a health care CEO on the streets of New York adds a legal heavyweight to his team of lawyers. What this means for his defense as investigators introduce new evidence.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:21:56] WALKER: Our breaking news this morning, South Korea's Prime Minister, Han Deok-su, has now been elevated to acting president.

BLACKWELL: Lawmakers in Parliament voted to impeach President Yoon Suk-yoo. Parliament tried to impeach Yoon a week ago, but they failed. That was in response to Yoon briefly imposing martial law in the country. CNN Senior International Correspondent, Ivan Watson, has been following the historic developments from Hong Kong, joins us now. Yoon had been defiant and refused to resign despite pressure from his own party. Talk to us about the mood there now.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was a giant party outside the National Assembly when the lawmakers voted to impeach the president. I mean, just an explosion of dancing in the freezing Korean air, K-pop, you name it, the bright lights and everything, because this crowd, an enormous crowd, had gathered to see what was going to happen. Two-thirds of lawmakers voted to impeach the president. That's 204 lawmakers which by my count that includes about 12 members of the president's own Party take a listen to what one of the legislators had to say after that historic impeachment vote.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the victory of our great people. Still, I have tons of butterflies in my stomach, and it's hard to believe, but I think it's only a start. We have a long way to go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: Now, Kang Sun-woo, I interviewed her just a couple of days ago. She had been spending every night in the parliament because she was afraid that President Yoon would try to impose martial law again so it's just about a week and a half ago that he tried it late at night shocked the whole country accusing the opposition of basically working with North Korea, and he sent soldiers on helicopters to the national assembly to try to stop lawmakers from convening in voting to overturn his emergency martial law declaration. The soldiers failed, and now you have this push to prosecute the president and top officials in his cabinet. He has come out with a statement saying he will stop temporarily for now, but he will not give up. Victor and Amara.

WALKER: So, then, Ivan, what happens from here? What happens next? I mean, now that Yoon Souk-yeol has been impeached, you know, who's in charge and when are the next elections.

WATSON: As of about two hours ago, he was suspended from all his presidential powers. The prime minister plays up now acts up as acting president and now a constitutional court has to decide whether or not to support to endorse the impeachment the last time the Koreans impeached a president was eight years ago it took the court 90 days to get around to doing that. So, this could take a while and then an election would follow within 60 days of that constitutional court decision. So, we have months to go probably before an election in Korea.

[07:25:07]

BLACKWELL: Ivan Watson, thanks so much. Ivan Watson, thanks so much.

Still to come, accused killer Luigi Mangione hires a high-powered attorney faces second-degree murder charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO, what this means for the defense after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: We have new reporting that the suspect in the shooting of healthcare CEO Brian Thompson may choose to waive extradition from Pennsylvania. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg says Luigi Mangione could be back in New York as early as next week.

[07:30:00]

And it's happening as Mangione has retained a New York attorney as he faces a second-degree murder charge. Karen Friedman Agnifilo is now representing him.

Agnifilo, previously served as a CNN legal analyst. And she would not say who is paying Mangione's legal fees.

WALKER: President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, faces new scrutiny over his alliances.

The FDA confirmed it is reviewing a petition from Robert F. Kennedy Junior's campaign lawyer, Aaron Siri filed a petition in 2022, asking the FDA to revoke approval of the polio vaccine. Well now, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a polio survivor himself, has a strong warning for anyone questioning the vaccine's efficacy.

White House bureau chief for The Washington Post, Toluse Olorunnipa, joining us now.

Good morning, Toluse.

Let's start with Mitch McConnell's statement, and it reads in part, "Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed -- they are dangerous. Anyone seeking the Senate's consent to serve in the incoming administration would do well to steer clear of even the appearance of association with such efforts."

Trump himself has also called the polio vaccine the greatest thing.

McConnell was clearly sending a message to RFK Junior and his lawyer. Could this have an effect on Kennedy's potential confirmation, Toluse?

TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I totally could.

Mitch McConnell is influential in the Senate right now. He's a Senate Minority Leader. He's going to be stepping down from that post, but still going to have a lot of influence with his fellow senators. He's been a part of that body for quite a long time.

Now, he is retiring, so he has a little bit more leeway to break from the party orthodoxy and potentially even oppose some of Donald Trump's candidate selections. And I think he is trying to send a shot across the bow, and let Trump and those around him know that not only is RFK someone that he is not very comfortable voting to support, but that if RFK is going to be confirmed by the Senate, broadly, he is going to need to moderate his position. He's going to need to clarify some of these controversial statements and positions that he's taken in the past and that his associates have embraced.

And so, I think it's very clear that Mitch McConnell is sending a message to Donald Trump that RFK and a couple of these other controversial selections for the Cabinet are not a shoe-in. That the Republicans are not going to rubber stamp everything that Donald Trump wants to do when it comes to some of these more out of the mainstream choices.

And so, this is one of the few statements that we've heard from McConnell since he has decided to step aside from his role as the Senate Minority Leader. But it's important to know that he is putting a foot on the ground and saying that I am not going to support everything that Trump does just because he is the president.

WALKER: Someone who has moderated his positions is also Pete Hegseth, Trump's pick for defense secretary. And it's been fascinating to watch just -- what a difference a week makes and how much his fortunes have changed.

Can you talk a little bit about that, and what was, you know, how effective the Trump pressure campaign has been on Capitol Hill for him?

OLORUNNIPA: It has been a pretty effective pressure campaign on some of these senators that have expressed concern about Pete Hegseth. These concerns raised over multiple different things, first -- including his accusation of sexual assault, his accusation of potentially having a drinking problem, his controversial comments about whether women should serve in the military, all those were strikes against him among some senators that were not too comfortable with the idea of having a Fox News host as the next defense secretary.

But this pressure campaign has been pretty intense on people like Senator Joni Ernst, from allies of Donald Trump, saying that if you go against this pick, you are going to really put yourself in political jeopardy, because we could primary you, we can make your life a living hell, we can make it very difficult for you to be a Republican in the modern Trump-era.

And so, it seems to be working Hegseth's fortune seems to be getting much better. He seems like he is more close to getting confirmed than he was just a week or a couple of weeks ago.

And I think, the other part of this is that Trump realizes that he has slim majorities in the Senate and definitely in the House. And if he allows, you know, one or two senators, or one or two House members to tank his Cabinet picks or his legislative agenda, it's going to make him a weekend president. He is already a lame duck, and he wants to make sure that his Republican Party is in lockstep behind him, because it's going to be necessary in order for him to get anything done legislatively. And that's why you're seeing this pressure campaign.

So far, it seems to be working, but I know a lot of these senators are very independent minded, and they don't like being pressured, so, we'll have to see whether it lasts. But right now, that seems to be the approach that Trump is taking.

WALKER: All right. Toluse Olorunnipa, we are going to leave it there. Thanks so much.

BLACKWELL: Still to come, the Biden administration's latest show of support to Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

[07:34:54]

And why, President-elect Donald Trump says the historic move is a big mistake.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: The Biden administration has announced it is working to deliver a surge of new weapons to Ukraine in its final days in office. A senior administration official told CNN, it plans to move massive quantities of weapons from the U.S. military stocks to Ukraine in the next five weeks.

Their hope is to put Ukraine in a position of strength, heading into 2025. The move highlights a clear contrast between Biden's approach and President-elect Trump's.

[07:40:04]

In a new interview with Time Magazine, Trump said that he vehemently, vehemently disagreed with the decision by the Biden administration to allow Ukraine to strike inside Russia, with U.S. provided weapons.

He went on to say this. "That should not have been allowed to be done. Now, they're doing not only missiles, but they're doing other types of weapons. And I think that's a very big mistake, very big mistake."

With me now is Angela Stent, senior fellow at the Brookings Institute and author of Putin's World: Russia Against the West and With the Rest.

Angela, thank you so much for your time. Let's start with the Biden administration's renewed surge of you know, aid like rockets and armored vehicles, as we all know, this will sustain Ukraine for a temporary period of time.

But talk to me about the strategy here, because, again, this is about bolstering Ukraine. Is it to bolster Ukraine, to put it in the best negotiating position possible when it comes to that potentially under the Trump administration?

ANGELA STENT, SENIOR FELLOW, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: Yes. So, the Ukrainians have been increasingly challenged on the battlefield. The Russians have made territorial gains in the last few months. Ukraine has a manpower problem. So, I think there is the understanding in the Biden administration that the Trump administration will try and force the Ukrainians to sit down and negotiate, and the idea is to put them in the strongest position possible when they sit down with the Russians. And they need this boost if the Russians are not going to make too many demands on them.

WALKER: What is your take from the Time magazine interview with President-elect Trump, and what his Ukraine policy might be and how he might try to end the war.

I do want to read you another part of that interview where he was asked, you know, will you abandon Ukraine? He was asked that multiple times, and he did say, "I want to reach an agreement, and the only way you're going to reach an agreement is not to abandon. You understand what that means, right? Do you understand what that means?

I mean, I think so. You know, he said for months he can end the war in 24 hours. Let's see what he means by that. We don't have too many clues about that. General Kellogg, who is his Ukraine negotiator, designated, has written articles on this.

But the problem is, if you want to have a negotiation, you have to have both parties interested. And we should remember, he keeps talking about Ukraine, but the Russians have to sit down and negotiate too. And Putin and the people around him have said, we're only negotiate -- going to negotiate if the Ukrainians accept our conditions, which is essentially total surrender.

So, I think, we have to wait and see what President Trump is able to do when he comes into office.

WALKER: Yes. Trump's team, and you know, Mike Waltz has picked to be the next national security adviser. They are all waiting proposals to end the war.

But to get, as you're saying, Russia to the table, do you think that it will have to be that Trump will have to, perhaps, pressure Ukraine to cede territory that Russia has already gained during the war in exchange for perhaps a NATO membership for Ukraine?

STENT: Well, so, the Ukrainians themselves, President Zelenskyy have said that they understand there might have to be such a deal, they may have to at least temporarily recognize that Russia is occupying territories that it claims to have annexed, not all of which it controls completely.

But the Russians have said that, you know, NATO membership is an absolute no, no, for them, and it's not clear that even the U.S. would agree to that. So, we are back in a position where the Ukrainians are saying, if we have to at least temporarily cede Russian control of some territory in our country, we need to have water-type guarantees that the Russians will then not, you know, cease -- there will be a ceasefire for a while, and then they'll start the war again.

And so, we really are in a very difficult position for the Ukrainians, because they know that if they don't get at least the promise of NATO membership or these water-type security guarantees, although it's not clear what they would be, that the Russians will, you know, recoup and start this again in a year or two years, where, however long it takes them to restore their military prowess there.

WALKER: And if you could elaborate on, you know, on what you mentioned earlier, that it's been a really challenging time for Ukraine on the battlefield.

STENT: It has been. I mean, the problem is the Ukrainians, they lack the weapons. I mean, now the Biden administration is surging the supply of weapons, trying to put them in the strongest position possible, when they do and if they do have to negotiate with the Russians. They have a manpower problem. They're having a problem mobilizing young people. The U.S. is trying to push them to mobilize young men as young as 18, which would domestically very unpopular.

[07:45:02]

So, they have really been on the back foot for the last few months.

Putin thinks he is winning. He thinks he can wait this out. And the longer he waits, the weaker the Ukrainians will be.

WALKER: Yes. If the Ukrainians have a manpower problem, then you wonder how much all this hardware and weapons will help when they get this surge. Angela Stent, thank you.

BLACKWELL: It's maybe the most unique day in sports, one where you can cheer for both teams. Army and Navy, go head-to-head for the 125th time in America's game. And we'll take you there, live in a few moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:49:58]

WALKER: The College Football Playoff start next weekend. But today, is by far, the most meaningful on the football calendar. It's Army-Navy Day.

BLACKWELL: Yes. This one means a little bit more this year too. This year marks the 125th edition of America's game. It's also the first time in more than a decade it's being played back in the shadow of our nation's capital, and that's where we find Coy Wire this morning. Live in Landover, Maryland. Coy, good morning to you.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Good morning, lovely people. What a great day for this America's game. Dating back to 1890, this game highlights some of the best and the brightest.

10 sitting U.S. presidents have attended. President-elect Donald Trump expected to attend today, along with president -- Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, other dignitaries, celebrity is expected to attend to witness all of the tradition and pageantry.

We're talking the flyover before the game. The March on, the singing of the national anthem by the Corps of Cadets, when players will have tears welling up in their eyes. It has some of this tradition that you just don't see any other place.

We asked the coaches and players about the atmosphere surrounding this, one of the greatest rivalries in the world. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DABA FOFANA, SENIOR FULLBACK, NAVY: It's unbelievably intense.

BRYSON DAILY, SENIOR QUARTERBACK, ARMY: It's extremely special just having both corps there, you know, rock and roll, and just extremely passionate about the outcome of the game.

COLIN RAMOS, SENIOR LINEBACKER, NAVY: It's insane. I remember my freshman year, we were at MetLife Stadium, and just the people jumping up and down, just, you know, the emotions on the field.

BRIAN NEWBERRY, HEAD COACH, NAVY: It's surreal. And always take just a few minutes before the game, just to kind of take that all in, you know, and just extremely grateful to be a part of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Now, this game features some of the most disciplined, brightest young individuals. We're talking about players who are studying thermodynamics, cyber ops, mechanical engineering, and they balance these rigors of the academics and the athletics on the field.

And someone who kind of is a microcosm of how bright these young men and women of the service academy are. Is Alma Cooper. We met her yesterday. She is class -- West Point's class of 2023. She is a first lieutenant in military intelligence officer.

She was just crowned Miss USA, Victor and Amara. We talked to her about what it means to be serving in the -- in the U.S. Army, and also about one of her favorite mantras, and that is that circumstances never define your destiny. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALMA COOPER, ARMY 2ND LIEUTENANT AND UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY GRADUATE: It's so important to me because my mother grew up as a migrant worker in the beat fields of Idaho, and now, is on a path to empower me, my sister, our whole family, to just continue to serve and to be a part of something again, bigger than who we are as individuals.

I'm a firm believer that the only limits you face are the ones that you accept. And that definitely stems from my mother and my father.

WIRE: All right. I got two quick things. When I say, go Army, you say?

COOPER: The Navy.

WIRE: And God, teach me the perfect wave, like these stage wave. COOPER: There you go. You got it. You got it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Miss USA Alma Cooper, her pursuit of excellence is representative of the determination of so many of the young men and women at these service academies, and we'll be seeing some of those players on the field today. Kickoff is at 3:00 p.m. Eastern.

WALKER: So impressive. Beauty, brains, courage, great. She's got it all. Incredible.

And by the way, I was just talking --

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: I thought you're talking about Coy.

WALKER: Just talking about you.

BLACKWELL: So impressive.

WALKER: Andrew, you know, I was just checking the temperature there. You're not even wearing gloves. I think it's 25 degrees tonight. Your teeth are not chattering.

WIRE: Yes. Yes, my mom was already texting me. What are you doing, son? Stay warm, don't get cold.

And Victor, I know you're just cozy now to me, because you want to borrow this hat, my guy, I got you.

BLACKWELL: I was about to say, he got -- he got something on that nogging, though.

God keep it -- got to keep it warm.

WALKER: So handsome.

WIRE: Yes, I do.

WALKER: So, handsome. Good to see you, Coy. Thank you.

WIRE: Thanks, guys.

WALKER: And we will right be, be right back. Just got me a top Twisted.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:58:29]

An American, recently released from a prison in Syria is now in the hands of the U.S. government.

Travis Timmerman is 29 years old, from Missouri. He says he was in prison for months under a Bashar al-Assad's regime, and he told CBS News he entered Syria without authorization for his words, spiritual purposes.

This week, thousands of people, including Timmerman, were freed from Syrian prisons after rebels overthrew former President Assad.

WALKER: A woman who accused three Duke lacrosse players of rape in 2006 has admitted to lying about the attack. Crystal Mangum made her confession during an interview on the podcast, "Let's Talk with Kat".

She spoke from the North Carolina prison where she is serving time for an unrelated second-degree murder conviction.

BLACKWELL: The three players arrested following her accusations have not commented on her admission. Their charges were dismissed in 2007. The district attorney on the case was convicted of criminal contempt and disbarred.

WALKER: All right. "FIRST OF ALL, WITH VICTOR BLACKWELL is next. What do you have coming up?

BLACKWELL: A packed show.

So, the president elect's border czar says that Trump's mass deportation plan will start in Chicago. And if the mayor stands in his way, the border czar says he will prosecute the mayor.

Well, the mayor of Chicago, Brandon Johnson, is here to respond to that threat first on our show.

Plus, why was the Broward County Sheriff's Office in Florida making crack cocaine? It happened real thing decades ago.

I want to speak with the new state attorney there who is now trying to help people who were caught up in the legal system because of it.

[08:00:02]

And later, the Biden administration has just released a plan to fight Islamophobia. But there is some groups that this is meant to protect who are not happy with this. We're going to speak with the leader of one advocacy organization and says, listen, it's five weeks left in the administration. It's too little too late.