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Erin Burnett Outfront

Defense Expert To OutFront: "We're Begging" For A Drone Incident; Suspect To New York?; Russians Fleeing Syria. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired December 13, 2024 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:45]

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:

The breaking news, demanding answers. More governors tonight sounding the alarm as the number of reported drones around New York City spikes. And the government admits they don't know what's going on. That's what they say.

Also breaking, New York authorities now saying they may get their hands on the alleged CEO assassin sooner than they expected. As we're learning, the FBI may have known who the alleged gunman was days before he was arrested.

And Putin on the run. We've got brand new satellite images tonight showing Russia scrambling to pull its forces from one battle zone and fast.

Let's go OUTFRONT.

And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.

OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news. We're begging for an incident, those are the words of a former member of U.S. Special Operations Command on the drones flying over parts of the Eastern Seaboard tonight. Authorities across the northeast are right now on guard and prepared for more alarming drone sightings. Sightings that now surround New York City and are dangerously close to a number of sensitive sites, including a nuclear power plant from New Jersey to Connecticut. As you can see there on the map is were showing the number of sightings has been growing. People want answers.

The Democratic Governor Shapiro, Josh Shapiro, spoke just moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JOSH SHAPIRO (D), PENNSYLVANIA: I know they'll be flying helos. We'll be flying helicopters to try and determine where these drones are originating from and what the purpose of these drones are. We've been conducting exercises. We'll be doing more this evening as well, and try and get to the bottom of it here in Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: It's a little unsettling, right? The governor of Pennsylvania trying to figure it out because the federal government so far is not giving answers. At the least, they don't seem to know what's going on.

Here's the secretary of homeland security with Wolf.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: We know of no threat. We know of no nefarious activity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: He says that. But earlier, the White House national security communications adviser John Kirby said the government did not know details about the drones, saying, in fact, that the government is still desperately trying to figure the situation out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY, NSC COORDINATOR FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS: I wish I could tell you exactly why we don't have an answer for you here in the afternoon on the 13th of December, but I can tell you that we are working on it very, very hard to know.

MARTHA MACCALLUM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Why not just take one down and figure out what's going on?

KIRBY: Well, okay. The idea of taking something down again, you want to worry about public safety. First of all, we don't have enough conclusions to take that kind of a policy action. But let's just assume for a minute, Martha, that we did. I mean, you're not going to want to shoot something down where it could hit somebody's house or hurt somebody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: State and federal officials are clearly not on the same page.

And what is clear is that the public deserves more information. I mean, you just heard Josh Shapiro, the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania -- well, the Democratic governor of New Jersey is now sending an urgent letter to President Biden, writing, quote, it has become apparent that more resources are needed to fully understand what is behind this activity. New Jersey residents deserve more concrete information about these UAS sightings and what is causing them.

The mayor of Belleville, New Jersey -- you may remember him -- he was here last night. He tells us that firefighters are now being advised to wear hazmat suits when responding to a downed drone. Police being told to call the bomb squad.

According to the FBI, there have been more than 3,000 sightings in the past week here in New York. Police say they've received, quote, numerous reports of drone sightings over the past 24 hours.

Omar Jimenez begins our coverage here OUTFRONT in New York. And, Omar, this has been happening for nearly a month and now really

escalating. You've got governors of multiple states saying they want answers. They're trying to find them none in the offing from the federal government, which seems to either not know or won't say what is going on.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And that, I think, is a concern for a lot of people who just have questions as to what exactly is going on. As you mentioned, this is now starting to span multiple states with these reported sightings. And as we just heard a little bit from the homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, he says that they have Detroit deployed drone detection technology to the state of New Jersey. And he says by their standards, they have not seen anything unusual and that some of the drone -- reported drone sightings that have come in have actually been small aircraft.

[19:05:01]

That said, there are a lot of reported drone sightings to this point, and it's even led to some military installations in New Jersey, for example, who have had to restrict airspace as a precaution. One of those installations in northern New Jersey, Picatinny Arsenal, they've actually had reported sightings going back a month to November 13th. And I was in that area this week to sort of talking to people, seeing what, seeing what they might have seen. And I couldn't really find anyone who either did not have a story about claiming to see one or knew someone that had seen one. And all of them, of course, had that same question what is actually going on?

And to give people just a little bit of perspective here, there are almost as of October at least, there are almost 800,000 drones registered with the FAA, about even split between recreational and commercial. And so, as investigators at the federal level, state and beyond try to figure out what is going on here, trying to get a through line with that level of enthusiasm already out there with something that now spans multiple states, is just going to be that much more difficult.

But of course, as time goes on, questions continue to rise and were seeing all sorts of proposed solutions come from the federal, state and local levels as to how to deal with what's going on.

BURNETT: All right. Omar, thank you very much.

And I want to go straight now OUTFRONT to the Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, a member of the Homeland Security Committee.

And obviously, state police in your state are also now they say on, on, on high alert over drone sightings there.

So, Senator Blumenthal, what do you think is going on here?

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): I don't know what's going on. Neither do the agencies who have responsibility for it. And that's why I've demanded answers from them at the very least, to tell us what they are doing to determine what's going on.

There is a system of rules relating to the altitude that's permissible for these drones. The kind of remote identification that is necessary when they are flown. There is a whole fabric of restrictions on where they can go in terms of sensitive sites, and there's no explanation for why these agencies the FAA, the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security and others like the FBI have no knowledge about apparently any of these drones.

And now there are hundreds of them. People are texting me. Constituents are alarmed, and I am alarmed as well, as much by the lack of disclosure and transparency as the suspicion about what may be going on.

BURNETT: So when the homeland security secretary says there's nothing nefarious, I mean, I'll note John Kirby says they don't know what's going on, and they're really trying to get to the bottom of it. But the homeland security secretary gave a different perspective. He says, well, he implied they know because he says there's nothing nefarious.

There's, you know, nothing to be concerned about. Do you think he knows what he's talking about and isn't telling us?

BLUMENTHAL: I want the evidence. I want the evidence. I want the facts. I want the systemic results that they have. Make it public. There's no classified information here. Even if there were, they should make something public to assure us about why they have reached. The secretary has reached that conclusion.

And let me just say, you know, there is the valid suspicion that perhaps some foreign adversary is owning and operating these kinds of drones to do surveillance, and they are flying near or over military installations, airports, other sensitive areas. I'd like to know what they're doing to determine who's owning and operating them and what the basis is for the secretary's conclusion.

BURNETT: Yeah, and when you say those are valid concerns, and certainly until there's answers, it seems that way. As I said, John Kirby said he doesn't have an answer. They're working very, very hard on it to figure out what they are.

He was then asked by Martha MacCallum whether about shooting down the drones, right? Shoot one down, figure out what the heck it is, right? So logical to many people.

He was asked that. And here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIRBY: The idea of taking something down -- again, you want to worry about public safety? First of all, we don't have enough conclusions to take that kind of a policy action. But let's just assume for a minute, Martha, that we did. I mean, you're not going to want to shoot something down where it could hit somebody's house or hurt somebody.

MACCALLUM: Well, the Coast Guard says that there are 30 of them following one of their ships in the ocean. So would that work?

KIRBY: I mean, again, we have to develop the policy options based on what we know we're dealing with here, and we just don't know enough to make those kinds of --

MACCALLUM: Wow.

KIRBY: -- to take those kinds of actions. But my goodness, we're going to do everything we can to find out, and were going to share as much as we can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Why do you think they're not -- well, maybe they are and they're not announced. Again, to your point about what they know and what they're saying. But it sort of why wouldn't they be shooting one down to -- to look at it?

BLUMENTHAL: What I've urged is in fact and I'll say it again, if a foreign adversary is operating a drone over sensitive locations, we should take it down.

[19:10:10]

And there are ways to take it down safely. There are ways to remove it from the skies without necessarily shooting it down. And the kinds of means we have to do so, some are classified, some not, are used around the world in sensitive situations.

Now, they may not be applicable here, but one way or the other, we should be in control of the skies over people's homes and businesses and communities and neighborhoods. People expect to know that the skies are safe above them -- for airplanes and medevacs and helicopters, and also for their own privacy. It is a matter of national security. We should be taking action and the public should know what action we're taking to determine who is running these drones, who's behind them, and also what were going to do about them.

BURNETT: All right. Senator Blumenthal, I appreciate your time tonight. Thank you very much.

And as you hear the senator saying, something must be done. And Seth Jones joins me now, national security expert, now senior vice president, Center for Strategic and International Studies. Obviously, former member of U.S. special operations command. And, Seth, I know you've talked about you know, this is begging for an incident. I know you have some new intel about these drones that have now been spotted, frankly, across multiple states up and down the east coast. What can you share?

SETH JONES, PRESIDENT, DEFENSE & SECURITY DEPARTMENT, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: Well, Erin, I think the issue here is this is a national problem. I know the recent focus has been on states like Connecticut and New Jersey, but if you even look at the last month or so, I'll just point to two interesting incidents in November of 2024, there was a man arrested in the Nashville area for an armed drone plotting an attack against an electricity substation. So that's -- that is clearly the use of a drone for an attack and a terrorist attack on U.S. soil, again using a drone.

The second is there was an arrest this week in California of a Chinese citizen illegally, allegedly illegally flying a drone over Vandenberg Space Force base in California. He was arrested for taking photo reconnaissance of a very sensitive location.

So these are just two examples where we have individuals that have been arrested, one for an armed alleged armed attack, the other for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. In addition, we have information of almost 100,000 cases based on sensor pickup of observed drones flying over critical infrastructure in the United States. So there's a big problem here.

BURNETT: A big problem. And Senator Blumenthal saying a valid concern that these specific drones that were talking about here could be some sort of a foreign, right, another country surveilling the U.S. as he's been given. No, no answers to conclude whether that's the case or not.

What's your take on what we're seeing from the government, John Kirby saying they don't know, and they're doing everything they can to figure it out? Mayorkas saying, don't worry about it, there's nothing to see here is the left hand talking to the right?

I mean, the response that we're getting from the federal government is a bit unsettling.

JONES: Yeah, Erin, I think the -- as far as I can tell, talking to a range of senior administration officials, they do not know right now, and that is a little unsettling right now that we do not have good enough intelligence about all of these drones. There are big intelligence gaps. And again, another reason this is a challenge, as we've seen in countries like Ukraine and Israel, drones can be used for very nefarious purposes, purposes for collecting intelligence and strike.

So the fact that we have so many instances where we actually don't know means we've got to find a way to collect better information on it.

BURNETT: Are you confident, Seth, from your sources, that the Pentagon even knows where -- how many drones there are or where they're coming from, or frankly, even what their purpose is at this point?

JONES: No, I do not believe that there is. I mean, I -- my understanding in talking to folks is there are some cases where drones that are flying in and around U.S. bases, they have been identified as legal drones in some cases what's been reported have been actual aircraft. But there are a number of cases where the U.S. military does not know the origin, who's flying the drone, what the purpose is. And again, that gap has to be fixed.

BURNETT: Yeah. And why do you think they're not? And I understand you don't have to use the word shooting them down. But why are they not taking them -- some of those down to look at them. That that's what I think really leaves people confused. That just doesn't make sense.

JONES: Yeah. Well, two things on this, Erin.

[19:15:01]

One is the U.S. government does have the capability. I know because I've seen it overseas in my time in the government to actually use cyber means to take over a drone, literally take it over and fly it and land without using what would you call kinetic means meaning striking it out. So it does have that capability. It's got the cyber capability to do that.

But the second is, is that I think this gets to this broader challenge we have right now within the U.S. government, this strong disagreement between the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security, which are pushing for more national security measures to be taken, and the FAA and Department of Transportation that are trying to protect open skies. And we've got to find a way to fix this.

BURNETT: All right. Seth Jones, thank you very much. Sobering, but important to hear all of that.

And Michael Innella joins me now, professional drone pilot.

Michael, look, you fly drones for a living, and I want to show you here what you filmed. One of the video, a video of the mystery drones that you filmed yourself, and you filmed this using your own drone. Can you tell me what were looking at here?

MICHAEL INNELLA, DRONE PILOT: Good evening. Erin. Thanks for having me.

Yeah, we are showing a drone that I took off earlier this evening, and we were taking off, seeing really what these drones, airplanes are in the air. Really, where they are coming from, what they are doing, where they are going or even where they're coming from. But a lot of the time were seeing now when were up in the air is mainly commercial, private airplanes.

BURNETT: So, okay, when the drones that you do see and I know obviously for many some of these sightings, as Seth was pointing out, many of them are commercial, you know, aircraft, they are some of them are drones, as he says, that they simply do not know where they're coming from. Those are the ones that that are so concerning. When you think about those and given your expertise as a drone pilot, are you able to tell at all what makes any of those different from, you know, from the kinds of drones that you would look and say -- well, that's just an obvious drone that somebody is, you know, some, you know, U.S. citizen just playing with a drone is flying around.

INNELLA: Yeah. No, it wouldn't be some U.S. citizen just flying around with a drone. The drones I fly with are not capable of sustaining the weather, even the time up in the air.

These drones are probably staying up a minimum of two hours. And with the cold, the winds, the rain, it will really affect the battery and not be able to perform 100 percent. And that's why I don't believe that these are just some radio shack rinky-dink dollar store drones. I think these are some government made, high quality drones.

BURNETT: All right, because they are stable. They're staying up for so long in the elements.

When you think about drones like that, that would have that ability tell me what you would think, right? How would they be being operated? And the person that would be controlling them? How nearby do you think that person would need to be with their remote controls?

INNELLA: I think it's being either plugged into a computer or some kind of program flight map that actually has some prestige route or somewhere, because these drones are flying in a nice straight line and going to the destination they're wanting to go to or programmed to, and I don't think that a normal civilian can be flying them that great.

BURNETT: So when you hear officials say that they haven't been able to track down the drones and they're not sure if any of the details about where they're coming from, you know, obviously that implies takeoff and landing, all those sorts of things. Does that add up to you?

INNELLA: No, it's very unsettling not having the answers.

BURNETT: All right. Well, Michael, I really appreciate your time and sharing that. Obviously, from your perspective as somebody who operates drones. Thank you.

INNELLA: Thank you so much. Have a good one.

BURNETT: All right. You, too.

And next, new reporting that the San Francisco police actually provided the FBI Luigi Mangione name days before he was arrested. So then why did it take so long to actually apprehend him?

Plus, where is Putin's friend, Bashar al-Assad, the now former president fled Syria for Moscow but has not been seen since.

And a new clue tonight in the search for American Austin Tice missing in Syria for 12 years. We are now learning that he reportedly escaped from a Syrian prison after being arrested.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:23:51]

BURNETT: Breaking news, CNN learning the FBI got a tip from the San Francisco Police Department that Luigi Mangione could be the man in this photo before his arrest in the CEO murder case -- in fact, well before.

An FBI official telling CNN that agents, quote, referred this and other leads to the New York City police department as part of our assistance to them in their investigation. Now, "The San Francisco Chronicle" has some really significant

reporting. They are saying that the tip came four days before Mangione was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania. And I'm going to speak to the reporter who broke that story for "The Chronicle" in just a moment.

First, though, Brynn Gingras is OUTFRONT.

And, Brynn, you're learning tonight that Mangione could be moved to New York much earlier than expected. This is a real change. What happened?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Erin, I mean, the whole process of extraditing Luigi Mangione back to New York could really be fast tracked. This is all coming from the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, who spoke publicly today and said that he may now waive extradition. It's unclear exactly when that decision could be made or if it's already been made.

But certainly what we're understanding is, according to Bragg, that if Mangione does waive his extradition the soonest he could go in front of a Pennsylvania judge would be on Tuesday. So we're certainly going to be looking out for that. But let's hear more from Bragg himself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALVIN BRAGG, MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Until that time, were going to continue to press forward on parallel paths, and we'll be ready. Whether he is going to waive extradition or whether he's going to contest extradition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRAS: And those alternate paths, of course, are going to be the fact that Bragg is still trying to get an indictment. That means that, like we talked about Erin, he is still going in front of a grand jury presenting evidence, as we have reported, that could include all the evidence that we have talked about so many times ever since this arrest in addition to witnesses in this case.

So, certainly, we're going to wait out for that. But as that is happening, we know that Mangione's Pennsylvania attorney has filed his bail request. This is basically repetitive of what he said in court earlier this week that he believes Mangione should be set free on bail and should have GPS monitoring. But of course, we know that the judge denied that. He'll be back in court on the 30th of December, if not sooner, if he waves that extradition.

BURNETT: All right. Brynn, thank you very much, with those new details.

I want to go to Michael Barba now, the reporter for "The San Francisco Chronicle" as promised.

So, Michael, look, you've got obviously significant reporting here. You're saying that San Francisco police contacted the FBI to tell them that the assassin, the CEO killer could be Luigi Mangione, right? They had the missing persons report. They had seen that they saw that picture of him, and they said this could be him. They gave this name four days before he was arrested.

Can you tell me more about how they recognized him?

MICHAEL BARBA, REPORTER, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: Yeah. You know, that's a really good question. What I can tell you is that it was one day after the shooting that they apparently recognized him, and that was -- that must have been from the surveillance footage that was released of the suspected gunman at the hospital, smiling, as you said, the San Francisco Police Department was aware of Mangione because his mother had actually filed a missing persons report.

And so SVU, he was on their radar. They were looking into this and they made the -- they recognized him and they reported his identity to the FBI.

BURNETT: And obviously that was within one day. And of course, then days passed -- more than four before they apprehended him. They said that they never knew his -- his name, even though you're saying they did. They did receive that. The FBI did. The NYPD said they didn't know the name.

Your paper also broke the news, and you just mentioned it here about the missing persons report that Mangione his mother, reported him missing to the San Francisco Police Department on November 18th, 140 days after she had last spoken to him at the very beginning of July. So tell us what you know about that.

BARBA: So his mother reported him missing in November, and she apparently was of the belief that he was working or had worked in San Francisco at a car listings company called TrueCar. But as far as we can tell, so far, his connections to the city are quite thin. So were still trying to figure that out. But really, just to emphasize and go back a little bit, I think what's remarkable here is that, you know, this is the first known time that somebody recognized Mangione as possibly being the suspected gunman and reported that to the authorities before his arrest.

And, you know, it wasn't friends, it wasn't family. It was apparently a San Francisco police officer, despite the fact that Mangione had extensive social network of friends and family.

BURNETT: Yes.

BARBA: Now, if they reported it, you know, it's possible. We just don't know at that point. This is the first one we know about.

BURNETT: Right.

BARBA: So I think that's interesting. And the other thing too, that you mentioned earlier is that the New York police department had said repeatedly that Mangione that wasn't on their radar, right? That, you know, they'd gotten more than 200 tips. And this name wasn't among in their pile. So the question here, now, we know that the San Francisco Police

Department had flagged Mangione for the FBI. The FBI has confirmed that they passed on that name to the NYPD. So the question becomes, you know, was there some sort of communication breakdown along the way? Did the NYPD take this tip seriously? What action did they take once they got this tip?

So there's a lot of open questions, a lot of open questions. And of course, there we don't know yet whether he was planning to do something additional. Obviously if he did, he didn't get to that point. But every day that was lost could have been a day that something horrific could have happened. So obviously this is hugely significant.

And Michael, thank you very much. As I said, reporter for "The San Francisco Chronicle", breaking this important part of the story.

I want to bring in Andrew McCabe, now former FBI deputy director.

So Director McCabe, can I just start actually with something that Michael emphasized? It's really important. Within one day of the shooting, when we first get that image right, when he's, you know, flirting with the person, checking him into the hostel in New York, that picture goes out. Okay. And within hours, San Francisco police officer calls and says, this looks like Luigi Mangione, okay. Not his mother, not his siblings, not his father, not any of his friends, not anyone else in his family.

It just worth a moment to just, you know, his mother knew he was missing and had reported him and they didn't -- they saw this picture and didn't say anything, at least so far as we know.

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: It's remarkable, Erin. It's something I've been thinking about for days, even outside the context of this tip, you have to assume that there are probably if you if you diagramed out Mangione entire network of friends, associates, relatives, people. He shared hotel rooms with, people he traveled with. You're talking about hundreds of people who were familiar with what he looked like, probably recently familiar with what he looked like.

That photograph was everywhere, and as far as we know, none of those people recognized it or called in. And here you have one isolated police officer or detective in San Francisco who has, you know, knows Mangione only through the report made by his mother, and he's able to pick him out from that imperfect photograph.

Now, he's a professional. He looks at photographs all the time and trying to identify people from them, but it's still a remarkable contrast. I mean, it raises a lot of questions.

BURNETT: It really -- it is remarkable. And then let's get to the detail here. And as I said -- obviously, he could have been apprehended sooner had this name come through. But there was a real question as to whether he was maybe going to plan something else. I mean, something else horrific could have happened that would have happened because of some ball dropping somewhere, it appears. It's unclear.

I'm curious what you think happened here, Director. This San Francisco Police Department detective or officer calls the FBI and says, I think this is Luigi Mangione. Within one day, and then days go by, the NYPD says they were never given the name. It was never in their pile.

What do you think happened here?

MCCABE: Well, Erin, it's really hard to tell without more detailed facts about exactly who the detective in San Francisco spoke to at the FBI. And then what that person or system did with it. When the public calls the FBI through the public tip line, those phone calls or emails or whatever form they come in are very carefully logged and recorded and then distributed.

And there's a -- there's a trail you can kind of after the fact, go back and see how that happens. That's not always the case when someone in the law enforcement community has a piece of information to pass along, and they want to do it quickly, they might just call someone they know in the other agency, or they might call the headquarters office or the field office. So we really need to know more about how that information was handed off. Like a like a baton in a relay, right?

So but clearly somewhere the sort of urgency and that that information should have commanded didn't happen. And that's really important for the NYPD and the FBI to understand how if there was a ball dropped here, how that happened and how do we avoid it in the future.

BURNETT: And do you think well learn more at some point? I mean, again, just to emphasize, you know, his mother said she put the missing persons report in on November 18th by her own account, that was 140 days after she last spoke to him. But she became concerned for whatever reasons at that time.

And then, of course, its only, not -- even barely two weeks later that all of this happens and this young man's face is, is everywhere. I mean, do you think at the least his family would have suspected that this was him when they saw the pictures?

MCCABE: It's hard to imagine how a close family member wouldn't have recognized Mangione from that photograph. Whether or not they saw the photograph is another question. It seems like most of the country did. It was pretty much everywhere on all airwaves at the time.

I think its also interesting to question why make the report at that point? Were there other things they were worried about? Were there concerns that were based on communications or the lack thereof, that they thought he might do something dangerous to himself or others?

There's a lot of this story on what we call left of boom, right before the attack took place that we just don't know yet, and it would be important for us to figure out, to understand what the scope of this threat is.

BURNETT: All right. Well, Director McCabe, I appreciate your time. Thank you.

And next, new satellite images that we have just gotten in show -- well, those are Russian planes.

[19:35:00]

We'll tell you where they are and why those nose cones are up. And we'll take you to Moscow next of where is Bashar al-Assad?

Plus, Nancy Pelosi, hospitalized at this hour. Paramedics rushed to her aid after the former House speaker fell on marble stairs. How is she tonight?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Breaking news: new satellite images tonight showing Putin's military chaos in Syria. We have just obtained these images. Take a look at this.

This is on a key Russian military base. It's in the northwest of Syria. These are Russian jets. And you can see the nose cones basically up in the air. What this suggests is that they are about to be loaded with cargo.

[19:40:03]

Putin has invested massively in military might in Syria, including in the crucial naval base of Tartus, which is his only military presence on the Mediterranean. The reaction from Syrians, as some of this Russian equipment is leaving here by road shows Russians are not welcome.

You look at this video. Syrians have been celebrating and cheering as Russian tanks and military equipment move. As you can see, with great alacrity out of the country and Putin's hasty retreat from Syria comes as the war in Ukraine escalates. Just today, Putin launching a massive strike on Ukraine using 200 drones, nearly 100 missiles, including one from North Korea, according to President Zelenskyy.

This is new video just into our front of some of the strikes there. You can actually see the rockets in this particular video flying overhead.

And tonight, inside Russia growing hope that it may be Trump who actually comes to Putin's rescue.

Our Fred Pleitgen is OUTFRONT tonight in Moscow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): As Ukraine's air defense frantically fights off yet another massive Russian missile and drone attack, just hours after President- elect Trump criticized the Biden administration for allowing Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied ATACMS missiles to strike deep inside Russia, Kremlin controlled TV praising the incoming president. More absolutely sensational news, the host says. Donald Trump condemned the use of ATACMS for attacks on the territory of Russia. He asked quite a natural question, why are we doing it and what are we trying to gain from it? He then answered, we're just fueling this war and making it worse.

State TV also airing an extended segment on Trump becoming Time's Person of the Year, repeatedly depicting an Instagram post from the president-elect's son, Donald Jr., showing Trump kicking Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy off the cover of Time. The Kremlin itself openly saying they like what they hear from the future U.S. leader.

The statement itself completely coincides with our position, the Kremlin spokesman said. So in this case, we share the same vision of the causes of escalation. Of course, it appeals to us.

At the same time, maybe we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves and try to predict his actions before the inauguration. Time will tell.

Right now, "Time" doesn't appear to be on Ukraine's side. Russian forces making major gains both in the east and in the south east of Ukraine, threatening to take several key towns in the Donbas area.

At the same time, the Russians, vowing major revenge after Moscow says the Ukrainians used U.S. supplied ATACMS missiles to hit an aircraft repair plant in southwestern Russia earlier this week, as the Russian capital rings in the holiday season. Some folks we spoke to were skeptical about Trump's diplomatic initiative on Ukraine.

He said he wants to end conflict in Ukraine, do you think it will end soon?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wish it would be the case, but I don't have a strong belief in it, seeing how the situation is developing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope for all conflicts to end around the world, not only between Ukraine and Russia, we love Ukraine and the people there love us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In terms of Trump, he surely can help, but the future of Russia will depend on the situation here and in Ukraine.

PLEITGEN: For the time being, the situation in Ukraine appears to be escalating. Russian troops pushing forward as the Ukrainians struggle to hold on.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN (on camera): And you know, Erin, publicly, the Russians are saying they want to hit the brakes a little bit on any Trump enthusiasm, saying during the last Trump administration, there were actually a lot of new sanctions put forward against Russia. Nevertheless, there are a lot of officials here in Russia who believe that the war in Ukraine could end very soon and that there could be a very good deal for the Russians -- Erin. BURNETT: All right. Fred, thank you very much, in Moscow tonight.

Lieutenant General Mark Hertling joins me now.

And, General, I want to ask you about these new satellite images. They are, you know, incredibly detailed, right.

You're looking at cargo. First of all, there's the road where all the tanks are. And then this picture is at in Latakia. These -- these jets with the nose cones up looking like they're about to be loaded, loaded with cargo. What are you -- what do you take away from what were seeing in this, this, this true scramble that Putin seems to be in, in Syria?

[19:45:01]

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I take away from the fact he's trying to get the heck out of Latakia and Tartus, Erin, and that's been indicated by a lot of open source intelligence. You know, there's not enough airplanes on the runway right now at Latakia to take the amount of equipment at that base. But this is a start.

We also know that the Russian naval fleet has been leaving Tartus over the last several days. So as you said earlier, it is a major withdrawal. They are trying to get out of Syria because they're concerned about security in those two bases.

BURNETT: And Tartus, though I know you've been clear, Tartus is where any kind of front with NATO would be for him.

HERTLING: Yeah, well, Tartus is a critical naval base because it gives Russia access to the Mediterranean. It gives them their only access to the Mediterranean. They have lost some of their capability in the Black Sea with the Black Sea fleet. And now they're losing their ability to continue to conduct patrols and operations in the Mediterranean Sea.

In addition to that, you've got potential damage to some of the Russian ships in a place called Kaliningrad, which is in the Baltic Sea. So Russia is quickly losing some of their footholds in key locations and key bases throughout Europe and the Mediterranean and the Levant.

BURNETT: And obviously, one of the people that Putin may see responsible for that is Bashar al-Assad, right, who Putin just granted asylum to and let come to Moscow. We have yet to actually see Bashar al-Assad in Moscow. Where do you think Assad is?

HERTLING: I think he's somewhere in Russia, probably in Moscow. You know, Mr. Putin has given asylum to a lot of people in Moscow from the former Ukrainian president back in 2014 to some of the extortionists within Georgia in 2008. And now what were seeing is additional potential for frozen conflicts in Syria, where he's giving asylum to Bashar al Assad. He's giving protection to that individual.

We don't know if he's there or not, but I suspect he is. That seems to be an indicator based on earlier films that were shown. And it's the place that Assad would go after his regime has fallen in Syria.

BURNETT: All right. General Hertling, thank you very much. I appreciate it.

And now, Nancy Pelosi in the hospital tonight, we have new details on exactly what happened in Luxembourg.

And the mystery deepening over the whereabouts of American Austin Tice he's been missing in Syria. And we are now learning a crucial detail that he reportedly escaped from a Syrian prison. We'll tell you what we know.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:52:06]

BURNETT: Tonight, new details just in about former Speaker Nancy Pelosi's fall down marble stairs. She was rushed immediately to the hospital where she is we understand now staying overnight. "The New York Times" reporting that Pelosi fractured her hip on a congressional delegation trip to Luxembourg.

The grand duke of Luxembourg posting this picture of her there.

I want to get straight to Lauren Fox, who is learning more details.

And, Lauren, what more can you tell us about how this happened to the former speaker?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, what we know right now is that the 84-year-old former speaker of the House was on this bipartisan CODEL to mark the anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge. It is now the 80th anniversary of that very key battle in World War Two.

And, you know, as part of that delegation, obviously, Pelosi has become a really key person when she's traveling abroad, when she's part of these CODELs, she's often led these bipartisan CODELs. But what we understand is that she did suffer a fall on the stairs.

Now, her office is not releasing many additional details, but they are saying this, quote: Speaker emerita Nancy Pelosi sustained an injury during an official engagement and was admitted to the hospital for evaluation. The speaker is currently receiving excellent treatment from doctors and medical professionals. She continues to work and regrets that she's unable to attend the remainder of the CODEL's engagement. She looks forward to returning home to the U.S. soon.

Now, two key details there. The former speaker continuing to work. Obviously, that is something that does not surprise us who watch her on Capitol Hill every day, despite the fact that she is no longer the speaker, she is still obviously a very key leader in the Democratic Party, someone who has a lot of influence over her Democratic colleagues.

Also, we are not getting key details about when she would return to the United States. I'll tell you, I've been talking to sources all day long back in Washington, and one thing is becoming very clear. Everyone on both sides of the aisle, Republicans and Democrats wishing her a speedy recovery -- Erin.

BURNETT: All right. Lauren, thank you very much.

And next, we have some new details in the search for American Austin Tice who's missing in Syria. Tonight, we are learning that he reportedly escaped from a Syrian prison. We'll explain the details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:59:05]

BURNETT: New tonight, new information discovered in the search for Austin Tice. Tice has been missing in Syria for 12 years. He was captured while reporting on the Syrian civil war.

"Reuters" tonight is reporting that Tice escaped Syrian prison in 2013, a year after he was first captured. That's the last video that his family ever saw of him. He was spotted by locals wandering the street, they say, and is said to have entered the house of a well- known Syrian family. Their names are being withheld right now for security reasons. Tice was then recaptured and there's still so many things we don't know.

This is, though, an incredible new clue. He is right now the focus of a massive manhunt, the U.S. saying it is leaving no stone unturned in their search.

I spoke to Austin's parents, Mark and Debra, this week. They told me that they believe their son will be home soon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEBRA TICE, MOTHER OF AUSTIN TICE: Well, we certainly hope that his release is imminent. We're sort of getting the vibe about, you know, be patient. This could take some time kind of thing, but, you know, whatever. Whenever he walks out, we're going to put our arms around him and we're going to move on and the rest of our lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: This as another American was just freed after the Assad regime's fall. We just learned Travis Timmerman is on his way back to the U.S. He was flown out of Syria by the U.S. military after being released from captivity earlier this week.

Thanks for joining us and have a good weekend.

"AC360" starts now.