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Syrian Rebels Enter Aleppo For First Time In Eight Years; Six Democrats Lawmakers Threatened While Home For Thanksgiving; Iowa Trump Voters On What They Expect From His Second Term; Woman Gets On Delta Flight After Bypassing Security Checkpoints; Bird Flu Virus Causes Another Raw Milk Recall In CA. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired November 29, 2024 - 17:00   ET

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

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Work, the colors, the sculptures, everything so lovingly restored, but to new colors and in a way that no one had seen for many centuries. It is restored, in fact, to better than it was five years ago and to as it might have been several centuries ago, Erica.

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: It is absolutely stunning. Melissa, thank you.

Well, you can follow the show on X @TheLeadCNN. Stay tuned. The news continues here on CNN with Alex Marquardt in for Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM." Have a great weekend.

[17:00:31]

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN HOST: Happening now, stunning developments out of Syria where rebels have just entered the major Syrian city of Aleppo for the first time in eight years. This surprise offensive catching Bashar al-Assad's government forces totally off guard. A drastic escalation in the country's civil war.

And we're tracking new threats of political violence, this time against Democrats. Six lawmakers targeted with bomb hoaxes just days after several of Donald Trump's cabinet picks faced similar threats.

And also tonight, investigators in New York are trying to figure out how a woman was able to bypass multiple security checkpoints at JFK International Airport and then board a Delta flight to Paris, apparently stowing away in the plane's bathroom.

Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. Wolf Blitzer is off today. I'm Alex Marquardt. And you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

We begin our coverage tonight with a major flare up in Syria. Rebel forces there making a surprise move into Aleppo, the first time they've set foot in the country's second largest city since government forces recaptured it back in 2016. Let's get all the latest details from CNN Senior International Correspondent Ben Wedeman.

So, Ben, this is quite remarkable. Walk us through how all this unfolded and what's happening right now. BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Alex, this has been a lightning offensive by this coalition of rebel forces. It began only this Wednesday. And what we've seen is that since then, they've been able to take control of about 70 villages to the west of Aleppo. And beginning this morning, were getting reports that these rebel forces had entered western edges of Aleppo proper, Syria's second largest city. And by this evening, we are seeing reports that they are basically in the center of the city.

We've seen video of rebels next to Aleppo's historic citadel. We've seen other videos of what appears to be these rebels liberating prisoners from regime jails. And all of this, as I said, has happened just since Wednesday. It appears that the Syrian government has been completely taken by surprise. Earlier today, they put out -- the military put out a statement saying that they are active on all major battle fronts facing a major offensive.

But for instance, in Aleppo, which has been under regime control since the final months of 2016, there were no battle fronts there until, it appears, just a few hours ago. And in that time, the rebels have gained a massive foothold within the city itself. Now, there have been video posted online of regime tanks leaving Aleppo, but by and large, the Syrian government has been silent about the situation in Aleppo. It has been sort of showcasing Aleppo as a major victory over the rebels. And they have -- the regime has invested a certain amount of money in trying to reconstruct the parts of Aleppo that were severely damaged during the civil war.

Now why this is happening now, it's widely believed it's partly because Hezbollah, which entered the Syrian civil war to bolster the regime and provided the regime with some fairly well seasoned, trained and disciplined forces to fight the opponents of the regime, they've largely pulled out of Syria, gone back to Lebanon. So, what is defending the regime are Russian air assets, but they have been used over the last three days to bomb Idlib Province where the rebels are headquartered. But by and large, they've done very little to stop this rebel offensive that does appear to be making steady progress in Aleppo itself, Alex.

MARQUARDT: Incredibly dramatic moves. Ben Wedeman tracking the story in Syria for us. Thank you so much.

For more on what's unfolding in Syria, I want to bring in CNN's Oren Liebermann over the Pentagon.

[17:05:00]

Oren, you're an old Middle East hand as well. Now at the Pentagon, where does the U.S. stand as this situation unfolds?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: For right now, this is a situation the U.S. will be watching very closely. Anything that affects the Syrian regime and the stability of the Syrian regime means it also affects Russia's presence in Syria, for which, for example, there is a deconfliction line with the U.S. to make sure the militaries don't clash there. And then it also affects the presence of Iranian backed militias in Syria. And all of that is key to the U.S. The U.S. has about 900 troops in Syria as part of the ongoing campaign to defeat ISIS. So, that's the mission of those forces.

And yet they have with some frequency in recent weeks and months come under attack from the Iranian backed militias. They have carried out counterstrikes, including just as recently as this Wednesday. So, the U.S. very much aware that the war torn country is still not a stable place and this only adds to that instability. In addition, the U.S. works with Kurdish forces in a separate part of the country to maintain, for example, prisons that hold ISIS detainees. So that's also part of the U.S. force there.

And the U.S. is well aware of the instability throughout the country, how much the U.S. presence in Iraq is critical to the presence in Syria. So the U.S. will be watching this very closely. We haven't gotten any indications from the conversations I've had today that there is any U.S. involvement in any way in this, but it is certainly a situation the U.S. will keep an eye on as it moves, just as Ben told us very quickly, Alex.

MARQUARDT: Yes, they certainly will be keeping an eye on this. Oren Liebermann at Pentagon, thanks very much.

I want to dig into this with two people who know Syria and its players very well, CNN National Security Analyst Beth Sanner and a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Andrew Tabler. Beth and Andrew, thank you so much for being with us as we watch this incredible story unfold.

Andrew, I want to go to you first. As you know, it's been years since the last major fighting. Now rebel forces entering Aleppo, first time in eight years, they were pushed out in 2016. How did this stunning offensive happen so quickly?

ANDREW TABLER, SENIOR FELLOW, WASHINGTON INST. FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: A number of factors. First, as you're we've been discussing Hezbollah and Iranian forces have been pulled out of the area and back to Lebanon into that weakened front. Also Russian forces, air assets had been pulled back to Ukraine as part of that effort as well. So there was a real skeleton crew of allies. But the real question marks and the ones that were the major shock the last few days is the degree to which the Assad regime's forces are just a paper tiger.

And literally, the HTS opposition, as well as the Syrian national army, have been advancing very quickly through these ranks. There's a counteroffensive on the way, the regime says, with Russian air assets. So --

MARQUARDT: Right.

TABLER: -- it's still early, but the early gains have been just outstanding.

MARQUARDT: So, Andrew, we are also seeing really harrowing images coming out of Idlib Province, which has generally been the rebel stronghold, if you will, Russian and Syrian forces striking there. A bloodied boy crying out for his father. Andrew, to what extent do you think what we're seeing now is a revival of the civil war?

TABLER: It's a revival of the civil war in the sense of the humanitarian suffering. But in a way, the Syrian war stopped being about Syria a long time ago. In what we're seeing now is the Russians, with the regime, exacting a price on Syrian civilians in northwest Syria, which HTS takes care of and sort of oversees. And that's their way of trying to get HTS to stop by making it hurt at home. But many of the people that live in northwest Syria, in Idlib, are actually displaced from Aleppo.

So they support the Aleppo offensive because they've been sitting there for eight years waiting to go home, and they've been unable to do so. And that's been one of the main motivators for HTs to recruit people and to get them to go eastward and to attack and attack Aleppo and to take many of these territories, at least so far back.

MARQUARDT: Beth, you heard Andrew there mention HTS. That's Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, one of the groups part of this mosaic that has attacked Aleppo, that group formerly linked to Al-Qaeda. Beth, if you would, could you please break down the web of players, the different groups that we're seeing here and their respective goals?

BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Right. I mean, this is Syria's one of those places that is just so complicated that, you know, anyone looking at this just wants to throw up their hands and say, like, I'm out. You know, this is too hard. But it is, as Andrew was saying, this place where all these different factors come together. And in fact, like, the Syrian people are the least important, sadly, in this entire endeavor.

You have Russia, that saved Assad from collapse, and Iran. So these are the forces backing up Assad and keeping him in power. Then you have Turkey that has shares the northern border of Syria, and this is where Kurdish forces are. And Turkey has wanted to come in and they occupy a little bit of that north and they've wanted to expand that zone. And then you have the United States also present in the northeast of the -- of Syria as well as our little base in Al-Tanf in the south.

[17:10:28]

And this is on the road between Baghdad and Damascus where all the weapons supply that comes in from Iran, that goes to the Iranian backed militias in Syria, in Hezbollah, in Lebanon, in the west bank and also a lot of problems in Jordan in terms of stability there. And so, you know, it's the counter ISIS things in the northeast, but it's also trying to stop this weapons flow. And now is the time when Hezbollah and Iran is really weak. And you know, all these forces now are starting to kind of move around the chessboard.

MARQUARDT: When it comes to President Bashar al-Assad, Andrew, he has lately been somewhat welcomed back into the diplomatic fold, particularly by Arab states in the region. Now Assad is facing this offensive with two of his biggest -- two of his biggest backers. You both mentioned this, Iran and Russia being essentially distracted elsewhere. How vulnerable do you think this is a moment for Assad? TABLER: It's a vulnerable moment for Assad because his allies have been weakened and they're unable to come to his defense. But the reason -- you know, and you mentioned it about the Arab outreach to Assad. The main problem with Assad, and the Turks have made this pretty clear recently, and many are saying with this offensive and allowing the Syrian national army units that Turkey supports to support this offensive is that the Turks and many parties are sick of Assad going into negotiations and making no concessions. And so the Arabs have been pouring money and effort into this rehabilitation of Assad and bringing him back to the Arab fold. But he hasn't cracked down on Captagon, a narcotic that's been flowing out of the country.

He hasn't been allowing people to return to the country. He's just been doing nothing and maintaining his position. And really I think there was a lot of frustration, that sort of stasis has caused many of Assad's allies who are overstretched themselves to simply throw him to the wolves and to wait and see how things turn out and then around Aleppo.

MARQUARDT: Beth, back when Trump was president the first time he said he considered assassinating President Assad. Now that he's coming back in just under two months time, how do you expect him to handle Syria in this second term, including with those troops who you mentioned are still there.

SANNER: Yes. Well, you know, he has wanted to withdraw from Syria and withdraw the 900 some troops that are there. But, you know, right now, things contextually have changed so much. And so Assad is so important to the entire everything in terms of the stability of Lebanon, for example, and diminishing the influence of Iran. It's absolutely essential that these forces can't move into and be stronger again.

And so, I think that Trump is going to have a real conundrum here. It's going to be hard for him to withdraw because this is at the center of stability -- future stability of the Middle East. And so, you know, as usual, the Middle East will just suck you in. And it is such a complicated place.

MARQUARDT: Yes, it certainly does. And I would imagine that Trump will have pretty strong feelings about the presence of those troops once he gets back into office. Andrew Tabler, Beth Sanner, I'm sure we'll be discussing all of this and a lot more in the coming weeks and months. Thank you both for joining me tonight.

And coming up, new details in the multiple investigations after threats are made against Democratic lawmakers in Congress. Plus, CNN's John King goes back to Iowa and talks with voters about what they want and hope to see out of the next Trump administration. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:18:42]

MARQUARDT: We are tracking new threats against U.S. political figures. Tonight, Democrats are the latest target with six lawmakers receiving bomb threats while at home for Thanksgiving. President Joe Biden has told reporters just today, this afternoon, that his administration is working with the FBI to investigate these threats. CNN's Tom Foreman has been tracking all of this.

Tom, obviously very disturbing. The number of threats is expanding. What more have we learned?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I don't think we know the extent of it at the moment. The number of threats against Democrats has largely been focused in Connecticut so far. Lawmakers from that area, there have been some a little bit further out. I wouldn't be surprised to see more added into it.

We know from the investigators that they're not saying much. They don't want to spread information. They don't want copycats to know too much about what's in there. But Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has spoken up and he has said "These incidents range from detailed threats of a pipe bomb placed in mailboxes to swatting, and all were signed with MAGA at the conclusion of the message."

Now, this is interesting. We know that some of these came through e- mail, if not all of them. So that's something for them forensically to look at. But the MAGA reference at the end, does that really mean anything?

MARQUARDT: Right.

FOREMAN: Well, we don't know. I mean, if you were trying to fool people, you would do that. Investigators, including the FBI, are looking at the question of whether or not some of it came from overseas. Are these some of the same characters that tried to interrupt the election, now trying to interrupt the transition by creating more friction there?

[17:20:10]

And as you know, it wasn't limited to just Democrats. Over the past week, we've had similar targets that were leveled at some of the appointees and the cabinet picks for President Trump, their bomb threats, swatting, that practice of calling police and saying something's going on so someone's house gets unexpectedly stormed by police. We don't really know what this amounts to, but we know that this kind of threat is actually pretty common among members of Congress.

MARQUARDT: Common, but still needs to be taken seriously.

FOREMAN: Has to be.

MARQUARDT: And really worrying because we don't know all that much about its origins.

FOREMAN: Well, and because everyone's so much on edge right now in the country.

MARQUARDT: Right. FOREMAN: And we had the first attempt on a former president's life --

MARQUARDT: Right.

FOREMAN: -- that we've had in a long, long, long time in this country.

MARQUARDT: Right.

FOREMAN: And then another one after that. So I think many people are very much on edge about what could come out of this. So they have to take it all very seriously. Also because even if this were a foreign actor trying to do this, if they get it stirred up enough, if people start reacting enough, you know, they could get a very big payout for a very low investment in terms of stirring the water. So authorities are trying to calm everyone down and saying, as always on both sides of the aisle, violence does not have a place in our politics.

It can't --

MARQUARDT: Right.

FOREMAN: -- because it will destroy politics for everyone.

MARQUARDT: Right. Well, we know you'll stay on it. Tom Foreman, thank you so much for that report.

Joining me now is CNN Senior National Security Analyst Juliette Kayyem.

Juliette, a great rundown there from Tom. What stands out to you from what we know so far about these threats?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So the ones that are based or focused on people from Connecticut seem to have sort of, you know, a clear sense of, in some cases of where they live. I think the focus on Connecticut makes me believe, just based on my experience, that in this case you might be looking at a domestic threat because someone is either from Connecticut or is focused on some of these names or people that you and I, you know, may not know. And so it's important to always be vigilant if you are an elected official or a public official about whether how easily accessible your home address is. What are you putting on social media? I always tell people, you know, don't put your kids on or your kids on in real time, things like that.

And that's the kind of vigilance, I think we're going to have to live with for some time, given that these threats are coming from domestic and as Tom said, also foreign threats are likely -- are a likelihood as well, simply to stir up, you know, this politics of violence that is just part of the way we think about political differences now.

MARQUARDT: Yes, not terribly hard to track down an e-mail address, particularly of a public official.

KAYYEM: Yes. MARQUARDT: So when law enforcement is trying to work to understand whether there's any link between these Democratic -- threats against Democratic lawmakers and Trump's cabinet picks, some of whom are not in government right now, how do they go about that?

KAYYEM: So it's going to be different investigations and then they'll see if there's any linkages. The cabinet officials or the cabinet designees at this stage are in this really weird zone, a potentially very dangerous zone, where their names are out there, their politics and policies are known, their controversies are known, but they don't yet have the protections that you would say for a secretary of Defense. So their vulnerability and their fears are understandable. That investigation will go on, see if there's, you know, you can link to phone calls, burner cells, foreign Internet access or anything like that.

The Connecticut ones, as I said, may be a little bit different because they seem quite localize. In other words, most of these names are not well known names.

MARQUARDT: Right.

KAYYEM: And in that sense, you would be looking to, is there someone who has a vendetta, someone who's gone public, something that you can find on social media? At that stage you would link them. But, you know, I mean, the linkage is the use of platforms to target people or violence or condone violence that we've seen part of our body politic for a long time. We can say it needs to end, people need tone it down, but it's not happen. And so we have -- the only other solution is, of course, is you find these people and you arrest them and you make them sort of the symbol of this is what happens if you take this too far.

MARQUARDT: Juliette, this concept of swatting, in which a call is made to the police and a SWAT team descends on a location, probably terrifying the residents of that location, that has been out there for some time.

KAYYEM: Yes.

MARQUARDT: But how do officials fight that if it's becoming more common against --

KAYYEM: Yes.

MARQUARDT: -- high profile public figures?

[17:25:02]

KAYYEM: Yes, I was at a home, actually, that was swatted. That person was targeted. It was the most terrifying thing I'd ever experienced because at three in the morning you're kind of sort of out of it and you don't know what went on. Fortunately, the law enforcement officials kind of guessed what it was. It takes two things.

I mean, one is law enforcement is getting smarter of understanding what is happening. They're not going in, you know, immediately they're knocking on doors, you know, waking people up in the middle of the night, but making sure that people don't come on aggressively or vice versa. So there's a lot more knowledge about swatting than even than there was two years ago. So if you identify, if you're law enforcement and you see that the house is someone's house and you've been told there's a kidnapping there, you're going to be suspicious from the start.

The other, of course, is if you are a high profile person and that knock comes at three in the morning, you should reasonably suspect that you've been swatted and then, you know, try to lower the temperature as well. It's a phenomenon that, you know, has come out of the Internet. It is absolutely terrifying for all involved, law enforcement and of course the people in the home. And it can lead to, as we've seen in some cases, incidents of police officers shooting someone unwittingly or unknowingly. And that's the worst part.

And you know, just to pick up again on what was said --

MARQUARDT: Right.

KAYYEM: -- what Tom said earlier, it doesn't take a lot and that's the scary part in terms of violence in our body politic.

MARQUARDT: Juliette Kayyem, with the firsthand knowledge of these very scary concepts. Thank you so much, Juliette.

KAYYEM: Thank you.

MARQUARDT: Up next, CNN's John King revisits a group of Americans who voted for Donald Trump. What they want to see during Trump's second term in office.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:31:19]

MARQUARDT: New insight tonight from Americans who voted for Donald Trump on what they want out of his second term. CNN's John King went back to Iowa after the election to see how those Trump voters feel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHANEN EBERSOLE, IOWA VOTER: There's some right at the gate right now.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Shanen Ebersole loves her land and her cows rain or shine.

EBERSOLE: Sometimes if you want to play cowboy, you got to do cowboy things like standing in the rain.

KING (voice-over): Her vote for Donald Trump, a vote to protect her way of life.

EBERSOLE: The vast majority of people who voted for Trump are not the far-right crazies. That is not who we are. We're simple Americans who want to live our lives and do our jobs and make our own choices in our own homes. And we want that for our neighbors who feel differently than us too.

KING (voice-over): You have to be an optimist to run a family cattle ranch. And Ebersole says she hopes Trump sees his mandate as the economy and the border. Hopes he understands a lot of his voters didn't like all that campaign talk about the enemy within and retribution.

EBERSOLE: We have spoken. We are not letting him be a bully, but we want him to stand firm.

KING (voice-over): She is more bullish about Trump now than when we first met. Back then, Trump had competition in the Iowa caucuses, and Ebersole wanted a Republican who could be both president and role model.

EBERSOLE: He didn't bring us together because of the divisiveness, because of my liberal friends that were literally scared for their safety.

KING (voice-over): But when Trump rolled to the nomination, Ebersole's choice was easy because of Biden-Harris farm and climate policies. Trump won 75 percent of the vote here in rural Ringgold County.

EBERSOLE: We felt as though Washington and the far edges of our country were governing the rest of Middle America.

BETSY SARCONE, IOWA VOTER: OK, come over here.

KING (voice-over): Betsy Sarcone is another now proud Trump voter who initially wanted something very different.

KING: So how did you get from, I can't take it. I'll vote for Biden to --

SARCONE: Yes.

KING: -- I'm going to vote for Donald Trump and I'm actually relieved and happy about it.

SARCONE: I think I've come to the conclusion that I don't love Donald Trump as a person. But I do think that he is right for the country right now and that he is going to chart a different course than we're currently on.

KING (voice-over): Sarcone lives in the Des Moines suburbs, says her real estate business is slow, and she hopes Trump somehow helps. Lower grocery prices also high on her wish list.

SARCONE: I'm a mom, single mom, of three kids. So that does make a huge difference in my life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mama Mia (ph).

KING (voice-over): Sarcone finds some of Trump's Cabinet picks disappointing, but she frames it this way. She could not support Vice President Harris, so now, she thinks she has to be patient with a president-elect whose calling card is unpredictable.

SARCONE: The Kristi Noem, the Matt Gaetz, I'm not necessarily excited about it. Worried, I -- I wouldn't say I'm worried. I voted for change as did the majority of the people, and that's what we're going to get. So I don't think worrying about it every day is going to do me any good.

KING (voice-over): The Trump won the popular vote emboldens his most fervent supporters. People like Chris Mudd.

CHRIS MUDD, IOWA VOTER: I think it's important that we round up every illegal and -- and ship them out. And we have to come -- we have to figure out a way to get them back to work. I -- I do believe that we do need immigration. A country needs immigration, it just needs to be legal.

KING: What would you say to Democrats who say that they are literally fearful? They -- that they think that mass deportations are mean spirited or they think his ads about, you know, transgender Americans were mean. What would you say to them?

MUDD: I would say get over it. You know, there's -- I don't believe that there's anything to be scared of.

KING (voice-over): Mudd owns Midwest Solar, a startup that benefited from Biden clean energy incentives. His vote for Trump could hurt his business.

[17:35:06]

MUDD: It's possible, but like I've said since I started talking to you, I sell value. I'm selling, saving money. I'm not selling the green energy side of the business, I'm selling value.

KING (voice-over): Some big solar jobs require parts made in China. But again, Mudd says Trump should go full steam ahead with trade tariffs.

MUDD: Most of our stuff is tariff free. So I want to see more -- more products and services get built in this country. I want to see our pharmaceuticals get produced here instead of in China. I -- I think that we need an American economy that's building things, creating things.

KING (voice-over): Trump's critics call it sloganeering, but the America First thing echoes in the small cities and rural outposts where Trump ran strongest.

EBERSOLE: Why are we bringing Argentinian beef in? Why are we bringing New Zealand and Australian beef in, and then exporting some of our beef? Why don't we first just feed our beef to our Americans?

KING (voice-over): Maisie (ph) helps keep the cows on track in the pastures. Tia (ph) is a show cow. So grooming is an everyday chore.

EBERSOLE: Let me live my life in the middle of nowhere, where there's more cows than there are people. DoorDash isn't a thing. Pizza delivery is not a thing. You can't even get pizza delivered.

Hey, mamas.

KING (voice-over): Ebersole's hope is that Trump changes a lot in Washington. And leaves her happy place just as it is.

EBERSOLE: I just stand here and watch my cows and enjoy it.

KING (voice-over): John King, CNN, Kellerton, Iowa.

EBERSOLE: It's my happy place.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUARDT: Our thanks to John King for that terrific -- terrific report.

Just ahead, the latest on how a woman was able to sneak onto a Delta flight from New York to Paris. And what happened when the airline found her?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:40:59]

MARQUARDT: An investigation is underway over how a woman got on a Delta flight to Paris after bypassing multiple security checkpoints. Apparently the stowaway hid in the plane's bathrooms during the flight. CNN's Polo Sandoval is tracking this baffling story. So Polo, how did this happen?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alex, this case is both baffling as it is alarming given the potential security breach nature of this all here as authorities try to answer that lingering question of how this stowaway passenger was able to not just make her way onto a plane that she was not authorized to be on, but even made it to her destination in Paris, of course, before getting caught by the crew aboard that Delta flight on Tuesday.

Here's what the TSA has confirmed about this woman. She is, according to authorities, in her mid to late 50s. She did not have a boarding pass for that flight. She held a Russian passport and a U.S. Green card. We also know that she had previously applied for and failed to secure asylum in France several years ago, so that may potentially speak to the possible motive here.

Again, no boarding pass for that JFK originating flight. However, she did was -- was able to complete one security checkpoint. However, authorities said that she eventually bypassed two subsequent ID verification stations here. A little bit of what Delta Airlines has -- has shared as they continue to look into how this was possible.

Here, a spokesperson saying nothing is of greater importance than matters of safety and security. That's why Delta is conducting an exhaustive investigation of what may have occurred and will work collaboratively with other aviation stakeholders and law enforcement to that end.

Rob Jackson, which is the passenger that actually shot that video that you just saw a short while ago after that flight arrived in -- in Paris, said that he overheard the crew discussing how this woman was able to do it. And you touched on it briefly at the top here, Alex. She reportedly was able to move from one lavatory to another before eventually getting caught by the crew. That passenger telling CNN that the flight was completely booked so that there were no empty seats aboard that flight.

MARQUARDT: It would be very interesting to see what happens next -- next after breaking all those rules. Polo Sandoval, thanks so much for that report.

SANDOVAL: Thanks Alex.

MARQUARDT: Health officials in California say a second batch of raw milk has tested positive for the bird flu virus this week. This is happening while health officials monitor an ongoing bird flu outbreak in wild birds, poultry and dairy cattle. CNN's Jacqueline Howard has more.

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Alex, more testing is underway as we now see two batches of whole raw milk testing positive for bird flu. These are two batches of raw milk sold by the company called Raw Farm, LLC, based in Fresno County.

And health officials in California say they are investigating this link, a potential link between bird flu in raw milk and the ongoing bird flu outbreak that we're seeing impacting herds of dairy cattle across the United States. Health officials say pasteurized milk is still safe to consume. It's really the raw milk that is a concern here because the pasteurization heating process is found to be effective in killing harmful pathogens like bacteria like viruses like bird flu. So it's really the raw milk that health officials are raising alarm around.

Now, no illnesses have been reported as part of this raw milk recall, but as part of the ongoing bird flu outbreak that we're seeing across the country, there have been 55 human cases reported. Most of those cases are in farmworkers who had direct exposures to infected dairy cattle. And it is interesting, Alex, we are seeing just in general sales of raw milk trending upward in some states here in the U.S.

Nationally, for milk to be sold across state lines, it has to be pasteurized. But at the state level, different states have different rules and regulations around the sale and distribution of raw milk within a state. Some states allow retail sales and farm sales of raw milk. Some states do not. But again, with this ongoing bird flu outbreak impacting dairy cattle, health officials say they're continuing to test raw milk for traces of the virus. Alex?

[17:45:25]

MARQUARDT: Our thanks to Jacqueline Howard for that. Coming up, CNN takes you to Taiwan, where uncertainty is growing over what a second Trump presidency could mean for the future of the island.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:50:14]

MARQUARDT: Russia says its latest attacks against Ukraine are a direct response to the United States allowing Ukrainian forces to strike deep inside Russian territory using long range American made missiles. CNN's Fred Pleitgen has more.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Kremlin continuing to criticize the Biden administration after the White House came out with a statement calling that big aerial attack by the Russians using drones and missiles from Thursday, outrageous. The Kremlin saying that big attack was a direct response to the Biden administration allowing the Ukrainians to use those U.S.-supplied ATACMS surface-to-surface missiles to strike targets deep inside Russia.

Of course, both the Russians and the Ukrainians have confirmed that targets were struck in the western regions of Russia using ATACMS surface-to-surface missiles. At the same time, the Russians definitely ramping up their aerial campaign against targets within Ukraine. The Ukrainians saying that in the early morning hours of Friday the Russians launched about 130 strike drones towards Ukrainian territory. The Ukrainians are saying they managed to take a lot of those drones down. At the same time, they do acknowledge that there was damage caused, especially in the town of Odesa, but also in Kyiv as well.

However, the big thing that the Russians are talking about, that Russian state media is talking about, that the Kremlin is talking about, is Russia's new gigantic intermediate range multiple warhead ballistic missile called Oreshnik. In fact, Vladimir Putin came out and said that missile could have a devastating effect on any sort of positions that the Ukrainians would have on the ground.

And he said several of those weapons paired could actually cause an explosion that is almost the size of a nuclear weapon. So the Russians definitely very much threatening the Ukrainians, of course, trying to dissuade them from continuing to use those U.S. and U.K.-supplied weapons to strike deep into Russia.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Moscow.

MARQUARDT: Thanks to Fred Pleitgen in Moscow for that report.

Turning now to Taiwan and its future, there's a lot of uncertainty over what a second Trump presidency will bring to Taiwan. CNN's Will Ripley reports on how Taiwan is now bracing for potential drastic changes to its democracy and its economy.

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DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: Taiwan, they stole our chip business.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If this is a preview of the next four years, Taiwan better buckle up.

TRUMP: They want us to protect and they want protection. They don't pay us money for the protection, you know. The mob makes you pay money, right?

RIPLEY (voice-over): President-elect Donald Trump's transactional tone rattling nerves in Taipei, raising serious questions about U.S. support for this island democracy, already under relentless pressure from Beijing.

RIPLEY: What do you do when you're on an island with less than 25 million people, with a neighbor like China and a political situation like what's happening in --

CHEN MING-CHI, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, NATIONAL TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY: Oh, we have to -- we have to arm to our teeth. And we have that kind of mentality. We are willing to fight.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Taiwan will need to invest even more in defense. Professor Chen Ming-chi says, including billions of dollars in U.S.- made weapons, despite a $20 billion backlog of undelivered fighter jets, tanks, artillery and missiles.

RIPLEY: Is Taiwan more or less safe during Trump 2.0?

MING-CHI: We don't know. One -- one characteristic of Trump, especially during the second Trump administration, will be the unpredictability. So we don't know we will be safer or more dangerous. But the thing is that we are going to pay higher price for either way.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Taiwan could be caught in a bind, facing skyrocketing defense costs and growing economic uncertainty.

RIPLEY: What are you guys thinking here?

KRISTY HSU, CHUNG-HUA INSTITUTE FOR ECONOMIC RESEARCH: A lot of worries going on. I mean, worries about this post-election may have a big shift of policies towards trade, towards investment.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Kristy Hsu is a top economist in Taipei. She says Taiwan's chip industry is bracing for impact if Trump reshapes trade policy policies or imposes steep tariffs. Taiwan produces most of the world's advanced chips, powering everything from smartphones to missiles.

TRUMP: These chip companies, they stole -- they stole 95 percent of our business. It's in Taiwan right now.

HSU: Taiwan is not actually stealing jobs or stealing business opportunities from the U.S. Taiwan is actually helping U.S. to extend -- extend its semiconductor supply chains.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Leaders in Taipei are publicly optimistic, emphasizing strong ties with Washington. On the streets, feelings are more mixed.

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CHANG CHIA-CHEN, ACCOUNTANT (through translator): Trump doesn't like war, so that's reassuring.

ERIC CHU, STORE MANAGER: In the long run, I fear Trump may put Taiwan's safety at risk.

RIPLEY (voice-over): In uncertain future under Trump 2.0 is pretty much the only guarantee.

Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUARDT: Thanks to Will Ripley for that report.

And coming up, the latest on the Trump transition and a new spat between the President-elect and the president of Mexico. Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

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MARQUARDT: Happening now, President Joe Biden launches his first major criticism of President-elect Donald Trump since the election. Mr. Biden urging his successor to rethink what he calls counterproductive tariffs against Canada and Mexico. Stand by for those new details on the presidential transition.

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