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Isa Soares Tonight
U.S. Government Shutdown is Hours Away Unless Congress Agrees on Spending Bill; Democrats Blame Trump and Musk For Looking Shutdown; U.S. Delegation Meets With Syria's New Leader in Damascus; Speaker Johnson: There Will Not Be A Government Shutdown; At Least One Person Killed At German Christmas Market; U.S. Government Shutdown Is Hours Away Unless Congress Agrees On Spending Bill. Aired 2-3p ET
Aired December 20, 2024 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:02:08]
JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome. I'm Jessica Dean in for Isa Suarez tonight. U.S. lawmakers have not yet approved a new funding plan.
That deadline is now just hours away. The threat of a government shutdown has House Republicans scrambling to find a path forward. And here's what
one Republican Congressman told my colleague Brianna Keilar just a bit earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN MEUSER, U.S. HOUSE REPUBLICAN: I think the odds are that there will not be a shutdown. We will have a vote, it looks like soon as Manu was
explaining on suspension, we would need two thirds on what largely was the bill from last night without the debt ceiling language or if that doesn't
pass by the two thirds, we then go to rules. We have various procedures and there's a pretty good chance before midnight.
We have a majority vote on another bill, CR into March, which would also include the disaster relief and economic assistance, but without some of
the other things that were in the last yesterday's bill. So we have two shots at it here. Hopefully we get the first one done. I think we have a --
I think it might go by suspension.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: The White House says the drama on Capitol Hill could have been avoided if Republican lawmakers had passed the original bipartisan spending
deal that Elon Musk and Donald Trump tanked on Wednesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: What Americans need to know is that you have Republicans in Congress, in the House who got in a way, who stopped a
bipartisan agreement. They got in the way. They created this mess.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: Trump posted on social media. If there is a shutdown, then Congress should let it happen now before he takes office next month. A shutdown
would have wide ranging impact on government services. Hundreds of thousands of federal employees would be furloughed. More than one million
workers would have to keep working, many without pay.
For now, House Republicans are wanting to hold separate votes, one for that three month stopgap, one for $100 billion disaster package, another for $10
billion in aid for farmers, and then hold off on that debt limit vote. The wrinkle is that's what President Elect Trump has been pushing for.
CNN's Annie Grayer is tracking all of this from Capitol Hill. Annie, this is very fluid. What is the latest as of right now?
ANNIE GRAYER, CNN REPORTER: Well, Republicans are meeting behind me as they try and build consensus to put something on the floor that they can agree
with. And as I continue to talk to lawmakers and sources in the room, it's unclear what that agreement is. There are a lot of different plans floating
around, as you mentioned, Jessica, and where -- where it seems like we're going for sure is that the debt limit suspension is going to be taken out
of the government funding conversation and dealt with separately.
[14:05:02]
And that's against what Donald Trump and Elon Musk had been pushing for. But we saw that plan dramatically fail on the floor last night. 38
Republicans went against House Republican leadership and Trump and Musk by voting against the plan that would include debt ceiling with government
funding.
So Republicans are back at square one. They've been meeting all morning. House Speaker Mike Johnson had a meeting with Vice President Elect J.D.
Vance, some of the Republican holdout lawmakers and Trump's pick to lead OMB. So lawmakers think they got consensus out of that meeting. They're now
trying to shop this idea around to the broader House Republican conference. We know the goal is to hold a vote today, but the question is going to be
still exactly on what?
DEAN: On what and when that vote might be. Meantime, Annie, what are House Democrats saying about all of this because they voted in opposition to this
last night? What are they thinking they're going to do if this is indeed broken down into these, you know, individual issues?
GRAYER: Well, Democrats seem more open to this idea of taking separate votes, but they are very frustrated. And I cannot be said enough because
there was an initial bipartisan deal that was negotiated between House Speaker Mike Johnson, Hakeem Jeffries, the top Democrat in the House as
long -- as well as the top Democrat, and Republicans in the Senate.
And Johnson pulled that deal to try and put something on the floor that was more aligned with what Donald Trump wanted. So Democrats have been out of
the negotiating room and table for a while since that first bipartisan deal was reneged on. So they're very frustrated that they are not involved in
what discussions are being made now.
But Democrats met this morning and sources tell me that Jeffries said that he is ready to reopen the lines of communication with Republicans because
he feels like this new idea of separating all of these different issues is something that more Democrats can get behind. But there's still a lot of up
in the air here, and it's unclear how many Democrats are behind this. And Republicans are going to need a lot of Democrats on board to make anything
happen to keep the government open.
DEAN: That is the -- the key here. They're going to need Democrats to help get this over the line. Annie Grayer with the latest from Capitol Hill.
Thank you so much.
We're going to continue this discussion with our next guest, Bryan Lanza. He's a Political Strategist and former Senior Adviser to the Trump 2024
campaign. Brian, thanks so much for joining us.
BRYAN LANZA, SENIOR ADVISER, TRUMP 2024 CAMPAIGN: Thank you for having me.
DEAN: I just want to start first with your thoughts on if this is a fight worth picking for President Elect Trump and Elon Musk, with 38 Republicans
voting against that package yesterday, and now they're trying to figure out how to move forward.
LANZA: Well, first of all, I would say Elon doesn't sort of matter in this conversation. There's only one president. That's President Trump. So the
question is, is the fight that President Trump wants to engage on? I say you almost have to engage on it. If you look at the pork that's been put
into this bill at the end, a lot of health care policy, a lot of things have been done to sort of straddle President Trump's options as he comes
into office.
And that was intentional. And that was what it took to get some of the Democratic votes that Speaker Johnson needed. And it was a mistake. And so
we're down this path primarily because we're doing the CR. We should have done an omnibus. He should have dealt with the criticism early rather than
delay it.
And now, we're at the very end where the only way he can pass this is with Democratic support. And that's going to require a tremendous amount of
horse trading. And that's not what President Trump wants. And that's not good for the first start of the first hundred days.
DEAN: Right. And yet there was already an agreement. There was this bipartisan agreement. I understand President Trump's explanation was he
wanted this debt ceiling dealt with. He wanted that suspended for a couple of years, but why not just let them go forward with what they'd already
agreed upon?
LANZA: Yeah, because a bad deal is a bad deal. I mean, the difference between a businessman and a politician, a politician will take a bad deal
just to go home for Christmas. A businessman will actually fight and work for a better deal. And that's what President Trump thinks the caucus should
need to be doing. They should be fighting for a better deal and not just take this bad deal because of bad decisions on behalf of the speaker, you
know, several months ago.
And so, you know, President Trump is holding Washington to accountability even before he was sworn in. And that's a good thing. And so the criticisms
that exist are criticisms that should exist solely on Speaker Johnson, because President Trump is saying, no, we do not want to saddle my
administration with all these policies. You know, this gift basket for the Democrats at the end, that's not what the American people want. That's not
what the American people voted for.
They voted for Republicans to have a spine and push things forward. And, you know, the only reason we're in this spot right now is because Speaker
Johnson didn't have, you know, the intestinal fortitude to hear the criticisms with respect to an omnibus. And now, we're jammed up at the end.
And this lays on Speaker Johnson's shoulders, not President Trump, for wanting better policy for the American people.
DEAN: But respectfully, he came in at the 11th hour to blow up this deal that Mike Johnson had negotiated with Democrats. And in the end, if -- and
it is very fluid, as my colleague just reported.
[14:10:02]
In the end, if all they can get is a clean CR, that push kicks this forward until March. Is that -- is that a winner? Is that a better deal?
LANZA: I think -- I think it's still too early to say. As you said, there's a lot of ifs.
DEAN: Yeah.
LANZA: It's -- it's way too early to say what the final product looks like and say if Trump achieved his purpose and his goals. But what we've known
from his first-term is that when he set market down, he wants people to hit it. And Speaker Johnson and the House Republicans know what the marker is.
Don't -- don't saddle up a bunch of pork enough, you know, more -- there's more pork in this bill than in Iowa right now.
And that's not what should be happening to the American people as they go for Christmas. They should be going for Christmas celebrating what's been a
relatively good year, celebrating change in America, not saddling themselves with hundreds of billions of dollars of debt and policy in the
middle of the night. And that's what's happening here. And whether it's the 11th hour or whether it's the 11th hour and 59th minute, President Trump
has a responsibility to put shock, put sunlight on bad policy. And that's what he's doing.
DEAN: And -- and you're saying you don't -- they don't want to saddle Americans with debt, but we have the President Elect asking for this debt
limit to be suspended for two years. Typically, Republicans have been fiscal conservatives, and the kind of way it typically goes is they fight
Democrats to stop raising the debt ceiling because they're concerned about out of control spending.
In this case, though, it's the Republican President Elect who wants to eliminate that. And to be fair, some progressive Democrats have said they
also want to eliminate it. So he's almost meeting progressive Democrats with something they want.
LANZA: How very populist of him, right? I mean --
DEAN: Yeah. I mean, it is different, right?
LANZA: Yeah. And then that's what you want. I think what President Trump is saying, listen, the kabuki dance with respect to the debt ceiling,
everybody, you know, trying to create a controversy, trying to create a fake system in our government that creates this inflection point that
causes damage to our economy. President Trump is saying, enough. No corporation operates this way. No other country operates this way.
We understand what Republicans have claimed to be, and that's fiscal conservatives. The reality is, if you look at the record, they weren't
fiscal conservatives during Reagan, they weren't fiscal conservatives during Bush, and they certainly weren't fiscal conservatives during
President Trump. So why --
DEAN: Right. I mean, his tax policy added, what, a quarter to the deficit?
LANZA: Yeah. His tax policy also helped create jobs and help create an economic system that the world had never seen. So, yes, usually tax policy
does create deficit, but if you also look at in the long-term, it also creates a tremendous amount of growth. With this respect, it was stunted by
COVID and by Joe Biden's bad policy, which is why he's no longer going to be in office.
DEAN: All right, Bryan Lanza, thanks so much for your thoughts on this. We really appreciate it.
LANZA: Of course. Have a great day.
DEAN: You, too.
The first U.S. official, U.S. delegation to visit Syria since Bashar al- Assad's fall met with the country's new leader in Damascus today. Assistant Secretary of State Barbara Leaf calling the talks, quote, "Quite good, very
productive and detailed." She also says Ahmed al-Sharaa came across as, quote, "Pragmatic."
The former jihadist is trying to ease international concerns about his interim government. He is the head of HTS, an Islamist group previously
designated a terrorist organization by the State Department. And we've just learned the U.S. will remove its $10 million bounty on al-Sharaa after
today's talks.
CNN's Alex Marquardt has been following these developments from Washington. And Alex, we are getting these new details really just in the last few
moments.
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Jessica, I think this was a remarkable meeting on several levels. I mean, first
stepping back, the U.S. cut diplomatic ties with Syria back in 2012. So this was the first high level diplomatic meeting in quite some time. These
are senior diplomats, three of them from the U.S. State Department, meeting with someone who has until today had a $10 million bounty on his head.
The group that he belongs to, HTS, is still a designated terrorist organization. But Ahmed al-Sharaa, which is how he's being referred to now,
as opposed to the name -- as opposed to his jihadist name that the U.S. has been using for quite some time, did have this meeting with Barbara Leaf,
Roger Carstens, who's in charge of hostage affairs, as well as Daniel Rubenstein, who is a newly named envoy for Syria.
So by all accounts, this was a productive meeting. It lasted for quite some time at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It seems like they covered a lot
of ground. Certainly al-Sharaa wants the Syrian economy to get up and running again, which means asking the U.S. to remove sanctions.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is pushing for an inclusive representative government that will include women, minority, different sex. And that's why we're
hearing Leaf talking about sort of moderate and pragmatic responses.
Of course, another focus during this meeting, during this trip, Jessica, is the search for Austin Tice. That is something that the U.S. has been very
much focused on in the two weeks since the downfall of Bashar al-Assad.
DEAN: What more are we learning about the search for Austin Tice?
MARQUARDT: Well, we did get some new detail from Roger Carstens, who said that he was actually amazed by the number of secret prisons that they have
since -- learned about since Assad fell.
[14:15:03]
He said there are around 40 of them, but that the U.S. for now, is focusing on six different facilities where they believe Tice has been held.
He said that they have rather limited, the U.S. has rather limited resources because you don't have U.S. officials on the ground. They've been
working with allies, partners, different organizations to try to track down evidence. He thinks that the search will expand to other facilities and
eventually more U.S. officials will get in there.
But Jessica, for -- for right now, they are still looking for evidence. In fact, they're looking for any shred of evidence that could lead them to the
whereabouts of Tice. But sadly for now, there does not appear to be anything new, that this search is still very much ongoing. Jess.
DEAN: All right, Alex Marquardt with the latest for us. Thank you very much. We're going to have much more on Syria ahead in the show, including
emotional reunions like this one as tens of thousands of Syrian refugees return home after the Assad regime's collapse.
Turning to Ukraine now, military officials say at least one person has been killed, 12 others wounded after an intense Russian missile attack on Kyiv
early Friday. One of the strikes damaged six embassies housed in the same building. That's according to Ukraine's foreign Ministry.
And it comes a day after Russian leader Vladimir Putin challenged Ukraine to a duel in his end of year conference, prompting some choice words from
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who posted on X the Ukrainian President said of Putin, quote, "People are dying and he thinks it's, quote, "interesting",
Dumbass." We have more details now from Nathan Hodge in London.
NATHAN HODGE, CNN FORMER MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: Jessica, today's attack on the Ukrainian capital comes just one day after Putin's marathon annual
press conference in which he boasted about the capabilities of his new nuclear capable missile, the Oreshnik. And suggested that it could be used
in a sort of 21st century duel against Ukraine and its Western backers, saying that it could be test fired against that city and in a test of the
capabilities of the air defenses that the U.S. and its allies have provided to Ukraine.
Now, the Oreshnik was not used in Friday's strikes against the Ukrainian capital, but Ukrainians have become increasingly familiar with and of
course hardened to these frequent missile attacks. And the capital has come under both missile and drone attack in recent weeks and months.
But this comes at a time of escalating rhetoric and an increasing war of words between Putin and the west, with Putin basically positioning himself
in the run up to a new administration coming in in Washington that has pledged on the part of President Elect Donald Trump to bring Ukraine and
Russia to a peace agreement.
And what we see here, both with this strike as well as with the escalating rhetoric from the Russian side, from the Kremlin leader, is an apparent
effort to boost Russia's bargaining position, to make it appear stronger in the days and the weeks before Trump takes office. As well as following on a
serious foreign policy setback for Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose client in the Middle East, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was forced to
flee to Russia after being ousted by Syrian rebels.
So clearly what we see is not only just a very lethal display of force by Russian forces, but as well an attempt of Russia and by Russian President
Putin to position himself on the world stage ahead of a possible negotiation over the war in Ukraine. Jessica.
DEAN: Nathan, thank you.
Let's turn now to some breaking news. We are learning from the AP and local media that a car drove into a group of people at a Christmas market. This
happened in the German city of Magdeburg, about two hours west of Berlin. The driver of the car has reportedly been arrested. Of course, we're going
to continue to follow what is still a breaking story. As soon as we get more details, we will bring them to you.
In the meantime, a stabbing at a school in Croatia has killed a seven-year- old girl. This happened earlier today in an elementary school in the capital city of Zagreb. CNN affiliate N1 says the attacker is believed to
be a 19-year-old former student who entered a first grade classroom and began stabbing the teacher and several students. Eight people were injured
in the knife attack. The attacker's mother told local media her son had been admitted to a psychiatric ward several times and the woman said she
begged doctors not to discharge him.
Still to come tonight, workers at two of America's largest businesses walk out. Strikes at Starbucks and Amazon could impact the holiday season.
That's just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:22: 27]
DEAN: Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, is now in a federal detention center in Brooklyn. On
Thursday, he appeared in federal court where he faced new charges, including a murder count that carries the potential death sentence if
convicted.
We're also learning new details about the notebook found on Mangione when he was arrested. The federal complaint says entries show Mangione targeted
UnitedHealth care. And an Oct. 22 entry allegedly discusses the investor conference and an intent to, quote, "Whack the CEO."
Staff at two of America's largest businesses are taking action amid concerns over wages and rights. Members of the union, Starbucks workers
united are staging their first part of their strike today in three major cities, including Starbucks hometown Seattle, as well as Chicago and Los
Angeles. The union described these metropolises as key markets for the company.
Meantime, thousands of Amazon drivers walked out in four states. Both strikes coming, of course, just days before Christmas, one of the busiest
periods for shopping. And for more, our business and politics correspondent, Vanessa Yurkevich is joining us now live from New York.
Vanessa, what more can you tell us about these strikes?
VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, well, first, over at Amazon, we are now learning that there are supportive
protest strikes happening at 199 Amazon locations in addition to the seven authorized strike locations. So this is expanding at Amazon. You have
thousands of Amazon drivers who are third party contractors to Amazon on the picket lines.
And essentially the Teamsters, which represents these workers, is saying that they're on strike because they want Amazon to come to the negotiating
table. However, Amazon says we don't have to because these are not union members as recognized by the National Labor Relations Board. I spoke to the
national spokesperson for Amazon just last night and I asked her about this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YURKEVICH: Will this impact shipping and deliveries for average Americans right now?
KELLY NANTEL, AMAZON SPOKESWOMAN: We're not expecting any delays to customer orders.
YURKEVICH: Do you consider this strike illegal?
NANTEL: There is no strike. This is a protest that has been facilitated by the Teamsters. There are no Amazon employees and no third party drivers who
pay dues to the Teamsters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YURKEVICH: But many of the workers that are on the picket lines very much feel that they are Amazon employees and they are fighting for better wages.
[14:25:01]
Listen to two of them on the picket line in Georgia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRENTON KNIGHT, AMAZON DRIVER: You look at other companies like UPS. I mean, they are doing a lower volume now and they're getting paid. We're
getting more volume and less pay. That doesn't seem fair --
SAMANTHA THOMAS, AMAZON EMPLOYEE: We already came to that conclusion that we were not recognized. Even though we are the face of Amazon. We wear the
uniform, we drive the trucks. When we pull up to your house, you say, oh, that's Amazon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YURKEVICH: And Amazon says that they have made millions of dollars in investments into their third party driver program and are hoping to get
those folks up to about $22 an hour. But a lot of those workers say that's not good enough, especially the long hours, the tough conditions and the
pressure they say they feel from the company to do things more efficiently and faster, especially during this holiday season. Jessica.
DEAN: All right. Vanessa Yurkevich, with the latest there. Thank you very much for that.
And still to come tonight, U.S. lawmakers scrambled to pass a spending bill with just hours to spare ahead. What a shutdown would mean for federal
workers and everyone else?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DEAN: Now to some breaking news. We're learning from the APN local media. A car has driven into a group of people at a Christmas market. This happened
in the German city of Magdeburg about two hours west of Berlin. The Driver of that car has reportedly been arrested. We're going to follow this story.
We'll give you more details on this still breaking story as we get them.
U.S. lawmakers now have less than 10 hours to pass a funding bill or face a government shutdown.
[14:30:03]
It comes after the Republican-led House failed to pass a funding plan backed by President-elect Donald Trump Thursday.
So, what would a shutdown look like? Well, it would delay paychecks for more than a million federal workers, including active duty military and
federal law enforcement. National parks would likely close, and certain governmental services, like environmental and food inspections, would be
put on hold.
The U.S. House Speaker, speaking about these negotiations just a few moments ago, here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): But I expect that we will be proceeding forward. We will not have a government shutdown, and we will meet our obligations
for our farmers who need aid, for the disaster victims all over the country, and for making sure that military and essential services and
everyone who relies upon the federal government for a paycheck is paid over the holidays. I'll give you the more details here in just a few moments.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you talk to President Trump about --
(CROSSTALK)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: Larry Sabato is the director for the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, an editor of a Return to Normalcy, the 2020
election that almost broke America. He joins us now live from Charlottesville.
Larry, it's great to see you. We just heard there from House Speaker Mike Johnson. I think what was important there was he said, I don't want to
telegraph the specific details of that yet because I've got a couple things I've got to wrap up in a few moments upstairs, but I expect that we'll be
proceeding forward.
LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Is this -- we don't know what's going to happen. I don't have a crystal ball.
You don't have a crystal ball. But is this just a preview of what we can expect when Trump takes office?
I think there's a pretty good chance of continued chaos throughout the entire four years. And not just regarding the federal debt or the budget.
That's just the way Trump governs. And of course, he's got a co-president now in Elon Musk who is pretty much the same way. He's a chaos agent. It's
helped him out in business. I don't know that it works terribly well in government. So, we never know how long this is going to last once it
starts.
Now at the moment, we're in an optimistic moment. That was a change from this morning when we were in a deeply pessimistic moment. And who can say
an hour from now whether we'll be optimistic or pessimistic about this resolving itself? If I had to guess right now, I'd say probably it will be
resolved, but as usual, it will be by the skin of our teeth moments before the actual shutdown goes into effect.
DEAN: Yes, and it appears again as you just reflected, we don't know what the moment will be an hour or two hours from now, but at this moment, it
appears like they are increasingly moving toward separating all of this out and not to get to in the nitty gritty for people, but essentially voting on
just only what would be called a clean CR, but just only extending this funding through a certain amount of time, maybe March is the time that has
been kind of kicked around. And that is probably more palatable to Democrats, right?
SABATO: Yes, it probably is. Although remember, they had a number of items in the package voted on in past hours that would have provided them with
some goodies for their states and their constituents, and they were dropped. Now they're in favor of the -- of the aid to the hurricane
victims. They're in favor of the farming. But there were a lot of things dropped that had been negotiated with the Republicans, and that was an
agreement. They had all come to agreement until the bomb was thrown into this by Elon Musk and Donald Trump.
So, as I say, nothing is certain until it's done. And we're not done yet. And we've been through this many times now in the last several decades, and
they often -- the agreements often come apart at the end. I hope this one does it because the idea --
DEAN: OK, Larry, I'm going to have to interrupt you. I'm so sorry. We've just got some breaking news, but thank you so much. We'll see what comes on
that. I do want to turn to our breaking news now that we are learning from local media. At least one person has died after a car drove into a group of
people at a Christmas market. It happened in the German city of Magdeburg. It's about two hours west of Berlin.
Now, the driver of that car has reportedly been arrested. Fred Pleitgen is joining us now from Berlin. Fred, obviously we're still getting details on
this, but just a horrific, horrific thing to happen.
FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, an absolutely horrific thing to happen. And there's certainly some very dramatic video
that is coming into CNN apparently showing the aftermath of that car that plowed into that Christmas market in the city of Magdeburg, which is the
capital city of that local state there. It's fairly large town. And you can see that people obviously in complete distress there. You're absolutely
right.
But so far, what we're getting from the local media and also from the local police there as well is that apparently one person at least has been killed
and several people have been injured. Now, it looks to us looking at that video as though the amount of injured people could be considerably high and
there could be a lot more people who could be seriously injured than the police know at this moment.
[14:35:15]
Obviously, they're very much themselves at the scene getting to the scene right now. You can see ambulances at the scene as well. What the local
government has said is that the governor of that state is on his way to the scene right now.
One of the things that we have to keep in mind about Christmas markets in Germany that several years back, there was a severe attack on a Christmas
market here in the city of Berlin where I am right now where someone plowed into the Christmas market with a truck killing several people back then.
So, the safety and security of Christmas markets, they are a big thing in Germany, is definitely something that was a huge issue as the winter
approach here in this country.
Of course, as Christmas approached as well, a lot of these Christmas markets were secured specifically more than usual with barriers with other
things as well to specifically prevent cars and trucks from plowing into these places. So, certainly this is definitely going to be something that
is going to be on the minds of the German government. I certainly expect that there's going to be statements coming out from the German government
very shortly because this was definitely a hot topic issue leading up to the Christmas season here in this country.
DEAN: Yes. And Fred, as you're talking, we're watching this video that's coming into CNN. Again, if you're just joining us, we know at least one
person was killed when a car drove through this German Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany. And Fred, we're seeing what appeared to be so many
people injured, laying on the ground. It is not a good scene there.
And it is very interesting that you note that Germany takes security of these markets so seriously because of what happened in Berlin just a few
years ago. And certainly, you know, when you're at a Christmas market walking through and you're a pedestrian, you are at risk there.
PLEITGEN: Well, you're at risk and you're very much a soft target. And I think one of the things that we're seeing here on that video and that you -
- we know from here in Germany, from being at Christmas markets quite frequently, is that very often, especially on a Friday evening, those
Christmas markets, and of course it is the Friday evening before Christmas as well, that these markets are packed. They're absolutely packed.
And the sort of aisles and gangways between the stalls are very, very narrow as well. So, you will have large crowds of people. And of course,
those stalls, they're made of wood. They're not very sturdy. And if a car plows into that, then it is going to do a lot of damage and there really is
no way for a lot of these people to try and jump out of the way and get into safety.
And that's one of the reasons why the Germans had said that they'd been putting up these barriers around these Christmas markets in so many places.
And I've looked at some of them in the Christmas season this year because this was such a big issue in Germany. And a lot of them are pretty high-
tech with barriers that lower and come up. A lot of them electronic in some cases, also just really large pots that are put in the way to make sure
that cars cannot get into there.
So, this is definitely going to be someone where the authorities are going to have to explain and see what went wrong here and how it was possible
that this could happen. And of course, at this point in time, we don't exactly know what was behind this. We don't know whether this was done
deliberately or whether there was something else going on.
We do know from the local media and the police that apparently the driver of the vehicle was arrested on the scene apparently. So, no doubt right now
the police are going to wait for things to calm down, interrogate that driver, see what exactly -- what is going on, how this could happen. But
then of course, the whole safety issue around Christmas markets is going to be very big in the coming days.
DEAN: Yes. And as you know, questions around the motivation here, what exactly happened and an important detail that the driver of that car has
been arrested there in Germany. We are going to continue to follow this Fred. Stay with us. We're going to take a quick break. We're going to have
more breaking news for you, more details on the other side.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:41:41]
DEAN: Let's go back to our breaking news. We are learning from local media that at least one person has died after a car drove into a group of people
at a Christmas market. This happened in the German city of Magdeburg, about two hours west of Berlin. We know the driver of that car has reportedly
been arrested. You see video that is just coming in to CNN of the aftermath of what happened after that car drove through the Christmas market there in
Germany.
We are going to continue to follow this story. And as soon as we get more details, we will of course bring them to you.
In the meantime, I want to get back to Capitol Hill in the United States. Republican lawmaker Dusty Johnson saying it would be "exceptionally stupid
to not fund the government." And he joins us now live.
Congressman, thanks so much for being here with us. Do you think that they are, you all are going to pass this bill on -- under suspension today?
REP. DUSTY JOHNSON (R-SD): We are going to get this issue resolved. Listen, it's taken us too long, but welcome to a highly divided America and a
highly divided Congress. We're going to make progress, but it's always going to be more difficult than any of us want it to be.
But yes, we're going to get this done. We're going to get a one-year farm bill extension. We're going to make sure we take care of the disaster
victims. We are not going to shut down government. And we're going to make sure that we kick this issue into March so that a new President Trump can
work with Republicans in the House and the Senate to make the kind of big spending and reforms that we have to make. We cannot continue this
ridiculous spending.
DEAN: And you told my colleague, Manu Raju, not too long ago, you said there are shutdowns and then there are shutdowns. I mean, a 10 day shutdown
is obviously very different than a 10-minute shutdown. You think that it could potentially come up to that where it technically does shut down but
not for a prolonged period of time?
JOHNSON: And we're one of the only countries that has this shutdown theater. I mean, if you don't get your work done in Germany or France, they
just continue under the existing funding plan kind of carried forward. But here we all get -- there's sort of an outrage narrative out there. Oh my
gosh, we shut down at midnight.
Well, listen, if the Senate ends up voting at 3:00 a.m. to make sure that we fund government and President Biden signs that at 7:00 a.m., what did it
really affect? And so, I know the word shutdown generates all kinds of drama. The reality is we're going to take care of our business as we
should. And let's move forward to the next things.
We've got to secure the border. We've got to cut spending. We've got to knock back some unreasonable regulation. That's the real target we have to
focus on.
DEAN: Do you think it was appropriate for President-elect Trump and Elon Musk to step in and bust up what was the pre-negotiated bipartisan deal
yesterday that's now kind of led us to this place?
JOHNSON: Well, I mean, the First Amendment means every American citizen gets to share their opinions on what their Congress is doing. And yes, I
think it's appropriate. The reality is this deal that we're ultimately going to cut that I helped negotiate is going to be much better than the
one that we were facing on Wednesday. I mean, the 1,500-page monstrosity we were looking at had too many unrelated provisions. It did not get the job
done.
And so, yes, this is a stronger final deal because of President Trump's engagement. And I get it. He has an unorthodox style. He can be a
disruptive force. But what we've been doing for 40 years hasn't worked very well. So, I think most of us are really open to trying to see some
disruption that I think on net will move us in a much better position long term.
[14:45:09]
DEAN: And I also wanted to ask you, part of this was that he wanted to suspend raising the debt ceiling. You mentioned that we're the only country
that -- or one of the few countries that do this government shutdown. The debt ceiling is kind of a similar thing. Not every country does that. We
do. Do you think -- well, how do you think that is going to play out? Do you support suspending the debt -- that whole -- that whole situation, the
debt ceiling?
JOHNSON: Well, first we want to be honest with one another. The debt ceiling is a leverage point that is often used by Republicans and
appropriately so to try to force some action in bending these spending curves in the right direction. It's worked sometimes. It hasn't worked
other times.
But there in anybody think that we're never going to raise the debt ceiling again. I mean, we are $2 trillion upside down every year. That is
unacceptable. We are not going to get out of this hole overnight, though. We need to put on our big boy and big girl pants and make the kind of hard
decisions that over time we'll balance this budget. But there isn't anybody alive who's serious, who thinks that we're not ever going to borrow another
single dollar.
And so, yes, it can play an important role. But there isn't anybody who doesn't think that we're not going to ever -- that we'll never touch the
debt ceiling again. It clearly is going to continue to be a factor.
DEAN: All right, Congressman Dusty Johnson, thank you so much for your time on what is a very busy day up there on Capitol Hill. Thanks so much.
JOHNSON: Thanks for having me.
DEAN: We'll be right back.
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DEAN: Back to our breaking news now, as German media is reporting at least one person has died after a car drove into a group of people at a Christmas
market. This happened in the German city of Magdeburg about two hours west of Berlin. We know the driver of the car has reportedly been arrested.
I want to go now to the video that we're just getting in. This is the aftermath of this Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, about two hours
west of Berlin. You see people on the ground clearly injured. At this point, we know one person has been killed. Clearly, many were injured in
this car driving through a Christmas market in Germany.
It's worth remembering a little bit of context here as we're looking at this new video that in 2016, a similar situation happened in Berlin where a
car drove through a Christmas market there. In that case, it was ISIS and it was an act of terrorism. In this case, we currently don't know what the
motivations were of this driver who has reportedly been arrested.
But as you look at these videos, you can see how narrow a lot of these corridors are in between the actual little stands that are set up. And we
also can tell you right now that the prime minister is on his way there to the site in Germany.
Our Fred Pleitgen was reporting just a little bit ago that authorities there in Germany and the government, of course, trying to wrap their arms
around the response, trying to figure out exactly what happened here, get there on scene. We know based on these videos that, of course, first
responders are there helping tend to the injured.
Again, reminding everyone at this point, we know one person was killed in this incident just five days before Christmas, the Friday before Christmas,
as what appeared to be a very large crowd was walking through this Christmas market.
And as Fred was explaining to us after that incident that I was talking about in Berlin back in 2016, more security measures were put into place at
Christmas markets throughout the nation of Germany. So, this was something that they had really focused on trying to ensure that people could be safe.
So, the fact that this has happened when they have put extra security measures in place is worth noting. And it is certainly a soft target with
people jammed in there together, not a lot of space to get away should a car go through a market like this.
So again, the top lines we are getting right now is that this happened Friday night in Magdeburg, Germany. This is about two hours west of Berlin.
This car went through this Christmas market. You see the aftermath. This is video we're just getting into CNN with a number of people on the ground
looking quite injured. We know at least one people were killed. We also know that local police have put in extensive police measures. We see them
there on scene and that there have been extensive police measures now put up.
This driver has been arrested. So, one hopes that at least they will begin to get some answers in the coming minutes and hours as to what exactly was
the motivation here. But the bottom line is it was incredibly destructive and fatal for at least one person. And as we look at these images, you see
that people do again appear to be quite injured after this car has driven through this Christmas market in Germany.
Going back to that incident in 2016, as I mentioned, that at the time was an ISIS attack. We don't know at this point yet what was the motivation
here. All we know is the destruction and the human toll that we are looking at as these images come in from this Christmas market in Germany.
So, we're going to of course continue to follow this breaking news. There is more information coming out of Germany. The latest we know is that the
prime minister is on his way to that location and we will continue to get updates on the injured and hoping for no more fatalities. But again, we
will wait to see if that number goes out.
We're going to go now to CNN domestic. Thank you for joining us. We'll continue our coverage there.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: German media says that at least one person is dead, and the driver has been arrested.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: CNN's Fred Pleitgen joins us now over the phone. He is live for us from Berlin. Fred, you are familiar with these kinds of
attacks having covered them before, specifically one in 2016 that killed a dozen people and injured almost 50. Could you give us an idea of what that
situation was like in contrast with this one?
PLEITGEN: Well, in fact, it was actually fairly similar. We're in the evening hours. We got news that apparently a car -- a truck had plowed into
a Christmas market. It turned out back then that it wasn't a car, but it was actually a very large truck. Now, in that case, it was actually an
Islamist terror attack where someone with that motivation had killed the driver of a truck and then driven that truck into one of the main Christmas
markets in Berlin, as you say, killing a dozen people there.
And that person wasn't arrested immediately. He was actually on the loose and was then later arrested in Italy. Right now, of course, you know that
the driver has been arrested. But certainly, if you look at the video from back then of the aftermath and some of the video that we're seeing it right
now, that is all very similar because one of the things that was ascertained back then by the German authorities is that with the Christmas
markets as packed as they are with those stalls close to one another as they are, the people, they are essentially soft targets. And that set off a
wave of Christmas market security being -- here in Germany being increased.
And one of the biggest political issues or a huge political issue here in this country in the run-up to the Christmas season was the safety of people
at those Christmas markets. New types of barriers any way to try and improve the safety to make sure exactly what happened tonight does not
happen as it did in 2016.
So, certainly, it's going to be a lot of people were going to have to -- a lot of questions to answer because this was a big political issue here in
this country. And again, right now, the authorities are saying that at least one person has been killed. It seems as though dozens of people have
been injured and we know that the governor of that state is now on the scene as well, of course.
All right. And we are waiting more information as authorities are going to update us. Huge concerns here about what kinds of injuries and if the
casualty number here is going to grow in Magdeburg, Germany. Very alarming, at least one person dead, several hurt after a car plowed into a crowd at a
Christmas market in Germany on a very busy Friday evening.
We'll get in a quick break. We'll be right back with more on our breaking news.
END
