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The Situation Room

Police Pursuing Multiple New Leads in Hunt for CEO Killer; Hegseth, Musk and Ramaswamy on the Hill in Crucial Day for Trump Team; Sources Say, Biden White House Considering Preemptive Pardons for Donald Trump's Perceived Enemies. DOJ Finds Pattern Of Abuse & Discrimination By Memphis Police; Tsunami Waning Lifted After Powerful Quake Off West Coast. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired December 05, 2024 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, intriguing new clues in the search for a gunman who fatally shot a healthcare CEO on a Manhattan sidewalk. Sources say police are looking carefully at words written on ammunition tied to the killing, and whether they offer hints about a motive.

Also tonight, a very busy day for Trump's transition up on Capitol Hill, Pete Hegseth holds a fresh round of meetings as some key Republican senators still won't commit to backing him for defense secretary, this as Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy pitch lawmakers on their new government efficiency commission.

And a scathing new U.S. Justice Department report finds a very disturbing pattern of abuse and discrimination inside yet another major American police department. Why federal officials say Memphis needs a serious overhaul.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in The Situation Room.

Let's get straight to our top story tonight, the hunt for a killer in Manhattan. Investigators are tracking down multiple leads right now as they try to piece together the movements of the gunman who fatally shot UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

CNN's Shimon Prokupecz is outside the New York hostel where police say the person of interest in this case the person of interest stayed before the shooting. Shimon, what are the latest clues at this hour?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right. Well, behind me is the hostile that a person of interest that police have been seeking, wanting to question in connection with this murder. They say that the individual stayed here behind me that he checked in on November 30th and was here four nights, the murder happening yesterday on Wednesday.

We've also learned that, you know, he had been here for some time. Police were back at this location today, speaking to people inside, people who've been staying here say that he was staying on the fourth floor. They saw police up there today and also late yesterday, police had arrived here.

The other thing police have now is also video, video from the individual that they are seeking on a bicycle on West 85th Street, leaving Central Park and then heading westbound. What's really interesting about that, Wolf, is that in that video, you don't see the backpack that we saw the shooter with, you know, in the video after the shooting. We don't see that in that video. So, police believe that he ditched the backpack at some point inside. Central Park. And they searched the park. They were unable so far to find that backpack. Those are some of the clues that police are working with and trying to track the movements of this individual. And they have a lot of video at this point.

Also, Wolf, what they have is a water bottle. You know, we have talked about this yesterday. They found a water bottle. They were able to lift a smudged fingerprint, which right now is not providing any kind of clues to them. But they have that. And they also have a cell phone, what they believe is a burner cell phone, perhaps a non-traceable cell phone. And they are still trying to get inside that phone. It is locked. And as we know, sometimes that just takes a lot of police work and a lot of technical work in order for them to do that. So, that is what right now police are working with.

The other thing is, you know, in these photos, police released photos of this individual who checked in to this hostel. He is grinning, from what I can tell from being inside this hostel today. He was at the check in counter. He presented, police sources tell us, a fake New Jersey driver's license. And that is also important, because, obviously, that tells you the level of planning here with this individual. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Shimon Prokupecz on the scene for us in New York, thank you very much.

Let's get some expert analysis right now on what's going on. John Miller, let me start with you. I know you're getting new information from your sources. You're very well plugged in. You're getting new information about this suspect. Tell us more what you're learning.

[18:05:00]

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, they are getting more tips because they were able to release that picture today where he's not wearing the mask. So, you can't see his entire head because he's got the hood up, but you can get a pretty good view of his face. And that has caused a lot of people to call in and say, I think I know that person. I think this is where he is. I think I can give you a name. So, they're working through those leads.

They're also working on the unusual gun that was used in this killing, where it has this giant silencer on the end of it, and it appears to be jamming. They've been investigating a version of basically a weapon favored by assassins that comes with the silencer that is a bolt action weapon. It is extraordinarily quiet. But what we interpreted as jamming may actually be him racking one bullet out as the next one is seated in the chamber to fire. They've recovered the six shell casings, actually three shell casings, three live rounds. And that's where they found these cryptic messages written on them.

BLITZER: Yes, cryptic messages indeed. We'll see if that presents any real clues.

Andrew McCabe, you're the former deputy director of the FBI. Investigators have gathered, as you know, a lot of evidence in the case so far, including pictures of this suspect. How are they making use, do you think, of all this material?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST : Well, Wolf, they're making use of the pictures and what I think is a very effective way by essentially trying to crowdsource the identification of this person. So, it's important to realize they're doing two things at once here. They're trying to identify this person in the photographs, a person on the video who commits the shooting, and they're also trying to find him physically where he is.

Once they can attach a confident I.D. to that person, they get an entire new universe of leads to follow, right? So, they'll be able to quickly locate where he lives. They'll locate family members, associates. They'll execute search warrants on all those places. They'll likely have access to things he left behind, like computer media, other phones, things like that, writings, they might uncover evidence of motive.

So, once they make that crucial identification, things will get much tougher for this person to stay out ahead of them. So, that's why it's so important for people who see this photograph and think they may have recognized this person to call in to the tip line and let them know what you think.

BLITZER: The criminologist, Casey Jordan, is with us as well. Casey, how could the words depose and delay found written on the ammunition used in the shooting actually wind up helping police identify the suspect?

CASEY JORDAN, CRIMINOLOGIST: Well, there's four potential words, depending on the source that we're listening to, that were written on these bullet casings. And you're right, the fact that he may have been intentionally expelling the bullets so that they weren't firing, so that they were found, maybe the live ammunition is the ones that had these words.

The four words that are reported by different sources to be on those bullet casings are delay, deny, depose, and defend. And this is kind of a mantra in the insurance industry for how you get away and keep a profit by simply denying claims. It really does suggest that this shooter is a person who is a disgruntled either employee, but far more likely a citizen customer. In other words, somebody who had UnitedHealthcare insurance and felt that their claim was unjustly denied or delayed, or even took them to court and found that they were deposed and that the insurance company defended their denial. Or if not this shooter, particularly someone very close to him, a family member may have suffered or even died. And in his mind, this directly due to the actions of an insurance company.

It could be UnitedHealthcare is just a token, you know, a symbol of the entire insurance industry, or it could be very targeted specifically to UnitedHealthcare. But I think we're going to find, and I do believe they're very close to finding this suspect, that he has a longstanding beef, a long story that is going to be tied to the insurance industry, because the message on those casings was very intentional. He is angry at the insurance companies.

BLITZER: Very specific, indeed. John Miller, how significant could the fingerprint police took from that water bottle left behind by the suspect actually wind up being? And what other clues might they have that they aren't necessarily releasing publicly, at least not yet?

MILLER: Well, if he handled the water bottle he bought it at the Starbucks before the shooting, he could have left DNA. If he drank from it, he could have left DNA. They've got a swab for that and test for that.

[18:10:01]

The phone that was found, the burner phone, there was a print that was lifted on that phone, but it hasn't matched to anything. But once they get inside that phone, if they got inside that phone, it could tell us in that video we saw where he's walking, talking on the phone, who was he talking to right before that shooting? Was he getting instructions? Is there somebody connected to this? So, they could potentially learn a lot from those things.

BLITZER: Yes, potentially, indeed.

Andrew McCabe, what sort of challenges are investigators facing right now as they try to locate the suspect in this shooting? Is he likely to have left the area, first of all?

MCCABE: Well, he'd be smart if he left the area. That's for sure. The biggest challenge right now, Wolf, is time. Every second, every minute, every hour that ticks by that they haven't identified and located him, he is able to get a little bit further away.

We also know that this suspect is someone who spent a lot of time and care in planning his escape, right? He was in the city for days before this shooting took place. He probably spent most of his time gathering intelligence about the areas he would go to commit the crime and the areas he might flee to after he committed the crime.

We know that he was seen on video carrying the battery for the ebike that he used to escape the scene. It's possible that he pre positioned that bike just where he would need it to be able to get away quickly and to not get snagged in traffic, you know, vehicular traffic problems and things of that nature. So, very smart into the park, somewhere ditches the backpack in a way that we cannot find it, and we see him on video coming out of the park without the backpack.

So, he spent a lot of time thinking about this. The chances are he is not wasting any of that time advantage he has, and he's getting as far away from New York City as he can.

BLITZER: Yes. Casey, police also say the video provides clues that the shooter could be an experienced marksman. How might that help investigators identify him?

JORDAN: Well, the level of expertise that you see him in handling that very specific gun and ejecting those bullets, again, if that was intentional, to make sure the bullets that were marked with those words flew out so he knew they would be found, I mean, it really does show that he has a lot of experience, if not expertise with firearms.

It could suggest that he has experience in the military, or even in law enforcement, but far more likely what we call a pseudo commando, a kind of wannabe, somebody who has consumed a lot of video games with high action and a lot of, you know, shoot 'em up and took that into practice. He has definitely been on a shooting range and practiced what he did over and over again because he was very calm through the entire shooting process.

But then, again, even as Andrew so beautifully outlined all of his planning, he still dropped the phone. He still dropped the water bottle. So, even the best laid plans, they're going to screw up and the mistakes he makes are surely what are going to get him caught, I think, relatively soon.

BLITZER: Let's hope that happens. All right, everyone, thank you very much for your expertise.

Just ahead, a crucial day for the Trump transition, as Elon Musk takes to Capitol Hill, trying to round up support for the president-elect's so-called Government Efficiency Commission.

And there's more breaking news we're following right now, new CNN reporting on conversations happening inside the White House. Top aides to President Biden now discussing potential preemptive pardons for top critics of Donald Trump.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:15:00]

BLITZER: We're following multiple breaking stories on the Trump transition right now, Pete Hegseth's fight to save his nomination to lead the U.S. Defense Department, and Elon Musk's trip to Washington as he pitches key lawmakers on his new Government Efficiency Commission.

I want to bring in our Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju joining us live from Capitol Hill. Manu, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, they're both tapped by Trump for major positions. They were up on Capitol Hill where you are today pushing for spending cuts. How did that go?

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. This is the beginning of a process, Wolf. In fact, they steered clear and a lot of ways from getting into some of the nitty-gritty details, the things that will actually be important for members on Capitol Hill.

Elon Musk, for one, met with the incoming Republican chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which controls the purse strings of most federal spending, and they didn't get into the details of the kind of cuts that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are looking at. They later met with members on the House side of the Capitol and the Senate side.

So, this is the beginning of a process, Wolf. It's unclear if they'll be successful, because talking about cuts is one thing, but actually enacting them, especially in a divided, narrowly divided House and a narrowly divided Senate, is going to be a much more difficult task, Wolf.

BLITZER: Manu, also up on Capitol Hill is Pete Hegseth fighting to save his nomination to lead the Defense Department. Did he make progress today in salvaging his bid?

RAJU: It's still teetering, Wolf. That's because a lot of Republicans are simply not saying how they will vote on this critical nomination. Are they concerned about potential other allegations of misconduct coming out? They're concerned about the reports of his excessive -- alleged excessive drinking, something that Hegseth himself has denied. In fact, after he met had his final meeting of the day with a Republican senator, he emerged from that meeting, he talked to a group of reporters, including myself, and he contended that he is a changed man.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, TRUMP'S PICK FOR DEFENSE SECRETARY: The conversations have been robust, candid at times, with great questions on policy, personality, everything.

I'm a different man than I was years ago. And that's a redemption story that I think a lot of Americans appreciate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[18:20:00]

RAJU: And behind closed doors, he's been telling members of the Senate Republican Conference that if he were confirmed as secretary of defense, he would not drink alcohol at all. He would abstain from drinking. And some Republicans, including ones like Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, someone who's very close to Donald Trump, have brushed off these reports of excessive drinking.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TOMMY TUBERVILLE (R-AL): Is he a drunk? I mean, does he hang out in bars overnight? Does he drink for lunch and dinner and breakfast? I don't -- nobody up here can tell you that. Maybe his wife might know. But, you know, I'm looking for somebody that can do the job.

(END VIDEO CLIP) RAJU: But there are still a lot of questions, Wolf, including an FBI background check that we expect to happen for Hegseth, assuming that this nomination goes ahead, as well as some of the details in that damaging New Yorker investigation that came out just a couple of days ago. In that report it references a whistleblower report detailing allegations of misconduct when Hegseth ran a veteran's group.

I asked Hegseth would he support releasing that whistleblower report, Wolf, and he brushed it aside, and said that was an email from a disgruntled employee, and then he moved on.

BLITZER: In all the years I've covered confirmation hearings, I've never heard a potential nominee say that I won't drink at all if I'm confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Very interesting, indeed. Manu Raju up on Capitol Hill, thank you.

Also breaking right now, multiple sources telling CNN the Biden White House is considering preemptive pardons for Donald Trump's perceived political enemies.

Let's discuss what's going on with Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland, who is the incoming top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

As you know, this would be a truly extraordinary step to blanket pardon people who haven't even committed crimes, haven't been accused of crimes, haven't been convicted of any crimes, to shield them potentially from Trump. Is this the right move?

REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): Well, it's certainly a sign of our extraordinary times where you have, you know, incoming president of the United States who's making threats of prosecution and jail towards private citizens. And so it's obviously something that should be looked at. I mean, members of Congress, of course, are in a somewhat different position because we are covered by the speech and debate clause, which insulates us not only from criminal prosecution for doing our legislative duties but also from civil attack and also not just at the federal level but the state level. And, of course, presidential pardon applies just criminally and it applies only against federal offenses.

So, I think this applies more to people like maybe John Kelly or Mark Milley. These are, you know, former Republicans, former Trump staffers who he has threatened in very vehement ways in different contexts. Those people, I really think -- you know, it makes sense for those people to be considered for whatever kind of protection can be offered to them in the event that a Department of Justice opens up, which views itself as a bureaucracy of revenge and retaliation against the president's perceived political foes.

BLITZER: Senator-elect Adam Schiff, as you know, who Trump Once specifically named as a so-called enemy from within, is against preemptive pardons, telling Politico, and I'm quoting him now, it would seem defensive and unnecessary. Is the alternative that potential Trump targets outside Congress should brace for possible indictments and legal action against them by Trump and his team? RASKIN: I mean, I suppose the argument for it is that even if a person has done nothing wrong, that doesn't make any difference to Donald Trump if he perceives it to be a criminal offense just to cross swords with him politically. And in that event, I can understand the logic of exploring the possibility of protecting people who might be in that category.

There are a lot of former Trump employees, take, for example, Michael Cohen, somebody who Donald Trump and Attorney General Barr oversaw the jailing of, and he was put into solitary confinement for 17 days before a federal district judge in New York ordered that he be released and said that his being put into solitary confinement was clearly an act of retribution and political retaliation.

So, this is not fanciful, outlandish stuff. And I think that I have no reason to believe the Biden administration is doing this, but if they're actually considering looking at helping people in that kind of situation, Lev Parnas might be another one, Mark Milley, John Kelly, as I said, I think that makes sense, you know? And Liz Cheney presumably is covered by the Speech and Debate Clause for everything that she did while she was in Congress.

[18:25:02]

But, you know, I haven't looked at the legal particularities, but there are obviously people in the Trump entourage who are calling for her head in a legal sense. And so I think it would make sense to check that out. Again, I'm speaking without knowing anything about what's going on behind closed doors.

BLITZER: Are you at all concerned about your potential with the incoming Trump administration, as a lot of us remember, you and other leaders of the January 6th select committee were cited by him as violating the law, if you will?

RASKIN: Well, you know, as I said, Wolf, the speech and debate clause is very expansive in its protection of members of Congress doing their legislative duties, serving on a select committee to investigate a violent assault on America. An insurrectionary attack against America is clearly within our legislative duties, so is serving on an impeachment team after the House has voted to impeach the president for inciting insurrection.

So, the Constitution covers what we do in Congress. And, of course, the First Amendment covers what we do outside of Congress. And, you know, again, I would be more concerned with people who worked for Donald Trump who have no protections like that constitutionally other than the First Amendment, who, you know, the incoming president has said he wants to go after. And, you know, that's not a legitimate function of government. It's not a legitimate role of government and we don't want to have a regime of fear and intimidation.

And those of us who are in Congress are going to stand up against that. This is the United States of America and we have constitutional rights and freedoms and liberties and nobody, no matter how high in the government, no matter how low in the government can violate the rights and freedoms of the people to participate in politics.

BLITZER: Important point. You're now running unopposed, Congressman, to be the next ranking member of the very powerful House Judiciary Committee after Congressman Jerry Nadler dropped out. Why did you feel it was necessary to challenge him?

RASKIN: Well, we're in the fight of our lives, Wolf. There is an incoming administration which has vowed to turn the Department of Justice into an instrument of political revenge and retaliation and persecution of individual American citizens. We've got an incoming administration which doesn't seem to care about any constitutional boundaries. They're threatening to impound funds that have been appropriated for particular purposes by Congress and use them for other purposes.

And that was, of course, something that Donald Trump did in his first administration when he redirected money from other lawfully appropriated functions, to building the wall in Mexico, which he had promised the people of Mexico were going to pay for. But, of course, that promise was broken. The people of Mexico, the government of Mexico didn't pay for it. And so they tried to redirect money from other places.

So, you know, I have vowed that I will not allow the Constitution of the United States to be put into any kind of shredder or processor. We're going to defend the separation of powers. We're going to defend the First Amendment, the right of the people to assemble. We're going to defend the lawful prerogatives of Congress. We're going to defend judicial independence, and that's our job, and the Judiciary Committee is the frontlines of that defense.

And so I offer myself to the caucus. Chairman Nadler, whose career is extraordinary, over a half century in New York politics, in the United States Congress, has endorsed me, and, you know, it's just a process that we go through Wolf as we get ready for the next Congress. And I'm thrilled that we're going to have a lot of unity and a lot of focus on defending America against any attacks.

BLITZER: All right. Congressman, good luck with your next challenge and thank you very much for joining us. Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland, I appreciate it.

Coming up, a closer look inside the New York City Police Department and the mountain of resources being used in the manhunt for a killer. We're going to talk with the city's former mayor. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:30:00]

BLITZER: More now on our top story, the urgent hunt for the gunman who fatally shot an insurance CEO in Manhattan.

CNN's Brian Todd has a closer look at some of the enormous resources police are now using in their search.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): There's surveillance video of the shooting itself, with the alleged gunman wearing a mask. Newly released video of what appears to be the man fitting the description of the suspect, walking in the area of the killing on Wednesday morning, video of what could be the suspect on an ebike on the west side of Manhattan, new photos of a so-called person of interest wearing a hooded jacket, but no mask, which CNN has geolocated to a Manhattan hostel where police believe the suspect may have stayed, crucial images, which are among the many resources being used by the NYPD to catch the suspect in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

KATHERINE SCHWEIT, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT: NYPD and the FBI have a great ability to pull together video surveillance and piece it together moment by moment by moment and follow somebody through any camera available. And that's what the goal is first, is from the incident, every moment after that, every moment before that, can we see this individual?

TODD: CNN is told there's facial recognition technology being used. The NYPD's Joint Operations Center is being utilized to deploy field teams and analyze the video coming in. Law enforcement experts tell us another resource police have will help them trace and possibly match the bullet shell casings left at the scene, a shell and a live round with the words delay and depose written on them, reflecting popular phrases in the insurance industry.

[18:35:13]

To analyze the shells, experts say they'll use the ATF's NIBIN system. NIBIN standing for National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, which helps them match shell casings with other crime scenes.

There are other physical resources to analyze DNA from a phone and a bottle of water, which may have been dropped by the suspect.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: That can possibly hold physical evidence, including fingerprints, but also pieces of hair or something else that would disclose who this person might be.

TODD: There's video of the suspect just minutes before the shooting buying water and energy bars at a Starbucks, providing the police with human assets and other resources.

SCHWEIT: How did he make that purchase? Who saw him? Who interacted with him? And what did he do electronically that might have paid for those if he paid cash?

TODD: Witnesses at the hostel where the gunman may have stayed could be a critical resource.

SCHWEIT: Also at the hostel, who interacted with him? What did he sound like? Did he have an accent? Did he have -- did he sound like it was from the Midwest or from the East Coast? TODD: Another important resource tonight, police going back in time to Thompson's recent background.

KAYYEM: What was happening in Brian Thompson's world in terms of the threats that we're hearing about things that the company was worried about, statements made by his widow now about the threats that he was facing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (on camera): Former FBI official Catherine Schweit says one key resource for law enforcement tonight is the alleged gunman's circle of family and friends. And even though we don't know his identity yet, she says, someone in that circle likely knows about his grievances with UnitedHealthcare and could well step forward to help law enforcement tonight, Wolf.

BLITZER: Brian Todd, excellent report. Thank you very, very much.

Joining us now, the former mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio. Mayor de Blasio, thank you so much for joining us.

As you know, the shooting now took place nearly, what, 36 hours ago. Are you surprised that the gunman is still on the loose right now and has not yet been identified?

FMR. MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D-NEW YORK CITY, NY): No, Wolf. I think given the circumstances, it's not surprising. Look, we didn't have a real good look at his face until just hours ago. But the moment I saw that new image, I became convinced he'll be caught quite quickly if he's in New York City. It takes probably longer if he's in other parts of the United States by now.

But I'll tell you my experience working with NYPD, my eight years as mayor, the moment they had a pretty good facial photo, it was almost ballgame over. It was just a matter of time.

And I don't know what was motivating this horrible attack, but I'll tell you, you know, that hostel, I know it well on the upper west side, I used to live near there. I mean, for whatever happened that caused him to let down his guard for a moment and take that mask down, that was the crucial moment, I think, that's going to lead to his arrest.

BLITZER: If you were still mayor, what would be your focus right now as this urgent manhunt continues?

DE BLASIO: Well, just making sure that the NYPD is getting all the cooperation it needs from the rest of the community. And usually that is absolutely the case. NYPD has incredible capacity. And you heard the outline in the report before about how they use not just their own video capacity but that many, many other sources to get video and link it all together. So long as they're getting cooperation from all the surrounding businesses, for example, which is usually the case, they have plenty to work with. And I'm very interested in the interactions in the hostel. You know, that's just about good detective work. NYPD has the greatest detectives in this country. You know, someone had a conversation with that guy that's going to tell us something.

It's a very -- it's a painful situation and obviously a cause for fear, but the fact that it was such a directed attack and the fact that he did some things that obviously gave us more information than we might have had in another situation, it leads me to wonder, he obviously had -- he was fairly professional in his approach, but he wasn't perfectly professional. He left more clues than he might have, and I think that's plenty for the NYPD to work with.

BLITZER: In your experience, Mayor, what sort of challenges is the NYPD facing as they conduct this investigation in a rather densely populated area of Manhattan, the upper west side, presumably as well as Midtown?

DE BLASIO: Yes, really, the biggest challenge is always getting in contact with the people who have information. Sometimes we have situations where a family member, a friend or someone, you know, at the Starbucks, wherever it might be, had information, didn't come forward right away, was kind of questioning whether they should or didn't know which number to call, I mean, sometimes it's just those simple human realities of finding the right person and connecting and making sure they get to the detectives who are working on the case. But that, again, usually get sorted out pretty quickly.

[18:40:00]

There's a lot to work with here.

And I'll tell you, I mean, that for the average American looking at this situation, you might think, well, a guy with a mask and the silencer, you know, seems very professional, he's going to get away with it. I am telling you, having been in our version of the Situation Room in New York City, what is so striking is when you get that much video, when you have that many examples of human contact, when you have, you know, most of a good facial picture, you would be amazed how much that allows NYPD to link together.

And then eventually one of those conversations either leads to someone who actually knows the person or, again, one of those people does call in or they talk to a local law enforcement agency in another part of the country because they saw the picture. And from that moment on, the moment an identity is fully established, things move very quickly towards arrest.

BLITZER: Well, let's hope that that happens, because in the meantime, there's a killer on the loose in New York, someplace, and I'm really worried about that.

Bill de Blasio, the former mayor of New York, thanks so much for joining us.

And just ahead, explosive findings by the United States Justice Department exposing a pattern of excessive force and racial discrimination by police in one of the south's biggest cities.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:45:24]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: The U.S. Justice Department just released a scathing report accusing the Memphis Police Department of a pattern of abuse, especially against Black and disabled civilians.

I want to bring in CNN's Nick Valencia and our legal analyst, Joey Jackson.

And, Nick, take us through this very damning report.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, this report makes very clear that even for the most minor infractions, the Memphis Police Department used excessive force, slamming someone to the ground for loitering, tasing a man with mental health multiple times over a stolen $2 soft drink.

And perhaps the most egregious of them all, an eight year old boy who was handcuffed despite posing no security threat and later slammed against the sofa by a very aggressive officer.

Overall, this report shows that in this majority Black city that Black residents are treated more harshly than white people who are conducting similar and engaged in similar conduct.

Now, what's shocking is not just the results of this report, but also the reaction from the city that's saying -- they're saying that they're not going to enter a consent decree with the federal government.

Listen to the mayor say that they're already making these changes at the local level.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR PAUL YOUNG, MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE: After carefully considering the information that we received from DOJ, we didn't believe that entering into any agreement in principle or consent decree right now before even thoroughly reading the DOJ report, would be in the best interest of our community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: Earlier, I spoke to Dr. Jeff Warren. He's a city council member in Memphis. He supports the mayor and says it would not be wise to enter a consent decree. It just simply would be too expensive. He claims that there's politics at play, but it's not the city playing politics. He claims that DOJ rushed this report, something that normally takes three years. They issued, he said in 15 months because he claims that they're afraid of what the incoming Trump administration might or might not do.

And it begs, reminding our viewers that during his first term, Donald Trump largely abandoned these types of monitoring arrangements that were court issued -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Joey, what do you make of the city of Memphis not immediately agreeing to these reforms?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: So, I mean, it's certainly they have a point, Wolf, to do that. And as much as they're entitled to evaluate the data, they're entitled to assess what the conclusions were with respect to the excessive force, with regard to the unlawful stops, with regard to the discrimination and remember what he said in there was the mayor that is, is not right now. So potentially moving forward, you could see a shift in that.

At the same time, I think there's something to be said for waiting and as much as you do have right as Nick just mentioned, an incoming administration that is not as favorable and is not as favorably predisposed with these consent judgments. And, you know I think if they waited, potentially they could have a whole another climate. Remember, it's the Department of Justice who oversees this.

And so if you have a new mindset with respect to these consent decrees, they could be a world of difference with regard to their implementation.

BLITZER: It's interesting, Joey, I want to quickly get your thought. The police force in Memphis is more than 50 percent Black. The police chief is Black. The five police officers who beat Tyree are Black.

Memphis is a majority Black city. What does this tell you about the department's practices?

JACKSON: It tells you that they're very troubling. I mean, you can argue that the report and the underlying data that you need to review and you need to analyze, but there's a lot of anecdotal evidence which suggests that they were running amok. The bottom line is that you have to institute reforms that are going to respect your community, that you're policing, that are going to give people a sense of empowerment and not abuse. And when you have these situations where there's force being used excessively, where you're minimizing a community, where you're stopping them for pretextual reasons, with no basis at all with this rampant discrimination, something needs to be done.

I think the mayor's point is whether a consent decree that could last ten years is the proper vehicle for that, or whether there could be other reforms that are more immediate that might take something to change this.

But it's certainly concerning and needs to be addressed immediately, and it should.

BLITZER: Joey Jackson and Nick Valencia, to both of you, thank you very much. Coming up, rolling aftershocks across the West Coast after a powerful earthquake hit off the coast of California.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:53:49] BLITZER: Millions on the West Coast are breathing a sigh of relief right now after a powerful earthquake rattled coastal California.

Our meteorologist, Chad Myers, is joining us right now.

So, Chad, what's the latest?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Still a 7.0, although it fluctuated during the day and the depth very, very shallow less than a mile deep. And that was the real concern today. If you have a 7.0 earthquake and if that earthquake moved this way, you were going to get a tsunami.

Well, the earthquake moved this way and we didn't get a tsunami. So what we did get was a lot of sloshing of pools in the area. Probably a lot of land there, the redwoods flying back and forth, swaying. But the canceled, the tsunami warning one hour after issued.

This is 150 miles away. Look at the pool sloshing around here with those secondary waves going up and down into California. Now closer to the coast, there was some shaking and there was some breaking, but really this was really, I would say, 15,000 people felt very strong shaking the really not populated area of California, if there is such a thing.

But it was a strong to a major quake, very strong at 7.0. We get about 1615 of those per year around the globe.

[18:55:02]

But -- so that's one per month, so almost. But typically, Wolf, they're not this close to the U.S. That's for sure.

BLITZER: Yeah. It could have been worse obviously. Chad Myers, thank you very, very much.

And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Here in Washington, President Biden just presided over the final national Christmas tree lighting of his term.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: During this season of reflection and renewal, many of us will sing o holy night. Phrase in that song is, his law is love. His gospel is peace. May I wish for you and for the nation now and always, as we continue to seek the light of liberty and love, kindness and compassion, dignity and decency.

Merry Christmas, America. Merry Christmas to all of you. And may God bless you all and may God protect -- may God protect our troops. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: The 35-foot red spruce from Virginia will remain displayed on the ellipse just south of the White House throughout the holiday season.

I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM. Thanks very much for watching.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.