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Soon, Preliminary Arraignment for CEO Killing Suspect; Soon, Authorities Update on CEO Killing Suspect; CNN Inside Assad's Notorious Prison After Syrian Regime Falls. Key GOP Senator Touts Positive Meeting With Hegseth Says He Will "Support Pete Through This Process"; Official Briefing After Arrest Of CEO Killing Suspect. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired December 09, 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, breaking news, the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson is now in custody. We're standing by for the 26-year-old to be arraigned in Pennsylvania after he was arrested at a McDonald's following a tip from an employee.

And CNN is on the ground in the Syrian capital of Damascus one day after the shocking fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime. This hour, we'll share our report from inside the ousted president's notorious prison known as a human slaughterhouse.

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 the breaking news right now, the arrest of the man suspected of gunning down a powerful corporate executive on a Manhattan sidewalk last week.

CNN's Brian Todd is joining us from Altoona, Pennsylvania. That's where the suspect was apprehended today, and our Shimon Prokupecz Shibam standing by live in New York.

First to you, Brian. Police say the man, now in custody, was found in possession of several pieces of evidence connecting him to the killing.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. And just a short time ago, he was processed and questioned here at the Altoona Police Station, and we were just told that he has been transported from this police station, very likely to the Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg, just a short distance from here, this capping off a very dramatic day with this capture here in Altoona.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice over): At this McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, authorities believe they captured the suspect in last week's New York City sidewalk shooting. COMMISSIONER JESSICA TISCH, NEW YORK CITY POLICE: At this time, he is believed to be our person of interest in the brazen targeted murder of Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, last Wednesday in Midtown Manhattan.

TODD: Authorities say a McDonald's employee called the police while the suspect was eating in their restaurant around 9:00 A.M. this morning. Police say they found in his possession a gun and suppressor, consistent with the weapon used, a fake New Jersey I.D., consistent with the I.D. used by the suspect, clothing, including a mask, consistent with those worn by the suspect. And --

TISCH: Officers recovered a handwritten document that speaks to both his motivation and mindset.

TODD: Police identify the suspect as Luigi Nicholas Mangione, age 26, born and raised in Maryland, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2020, last known address in Honolulu, and no prior arrests in New York.

JOSEPH KENNY, NYPD CHIEF OF DETECTIVES: All these endeavors took a huge amount of courage.

TODD: Graduation video suggests Mangione was valedictorian at his all-boys high school in 2016. Authorities say the note found in his possession railed against the healthcare industry.

KENNY: We don't think that there's any specific threats to other people mentioned in that document, but it does seem that he has some ill will toward corporate America.

TODD: It said, quote, these parasites had it coming and I do apologize for any strife and trauma, but it had to be done, according to a police official who has seen the document.

The note says he acted alone and that he was self-funded, and it asked why we have the most expensive healthcare in the world and yet are ranked 42nd in life expectancy. Authorities also investigating other writings of his online.

As to the gun --

KENNY: The gun appears to be a ghost gun, may have been made on a 3D printer, the capability of firing a nine millimeter round.

TODD: Police did not have the suspect's name until today, and say tips from the public were crucial to finding evidence and making this arrest, along with old fashioned detective work.

KENNY: It really comes down to the video canvas that we did. We used every source of video that we could collect, hundreds and hundreds of hours from hundreds of sources.

TODD: Also helping authorities --

MARY ELLEN O'TOOLE, FORMER SENIOR FBI PROFILER: There are a number of mistakes that this shooter made to include leaving forensic site evidence behind, the DNA, all the videos taking off his mask.

TODD: One hypothesis --

MICHAEL ALCAZAR, RETIRED NYPD DETECTIVE: With his manifesto and everything he's done so far, the letters on the words on the bullets, right, you know, the Monopoly money, this guy, I think he wanted to be captured eventually.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (on camera): Just a short time ago, we saw New York City police officers coming in and out of this building.

[18:05:03]

We're told they took part in the questioning of the suspect. We're also told that the NYPD will eventually seek his extradition to New York. Wolf?

BLITZER: Brian Todd in Altoona for us, Brian, thank you very much.

For more on the story, I want to bring in CNN Senior Crime and Justice Correspondent Shimon Prokupecz.

Shimon, Mangione is scheduled to have a preliminary arraignment in Pennsylvania, perhaps this hour. When can we expect him to appear in a New York courtroom?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Right, Wolf. That preliminary arraignment is ongoing now, we believe. So, we should know soon. It all depends on what happens in court. Does Mangione waive extradition? If he waives extradition, there's, you know, the possibility that he could be returned to New York City late tonight. It all depends on what the judge decides, on what he himself decides, and then the process would unfold after that, but it's expected the NYPD would drive him back here at some point soon.

BLITZER: Shimon, in addition to the gun and the fake I.D.s, Mangione was also found with a handwritten document, as we heard in Brian's report. What are police saying about that?

PROKUPECZ: Certainly, it's something that is very concerning for them and disturbing, and they're looking at it as the potential motive here, where in these handwritten notes that they have now been able to review, he writes allegedly that he calls what he calls parasites and that they had it coming. And then he says that he wanted to apologize for any strife and trauma, but it had to be done.

Listen to the head of the NYPD detectives describing how they're looking at his at Mangione's beliefs and views.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KENNY: That document is currently in the possession of the Altoona Police Department as part of their investigation. But just from briefly speaking with them, we don't think that there's any specific threats to other people mentioned in that document, but it does seem that he has some ill will toward corporate America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PROKUPECZ: And, Wolf, there are also other writings believed to be from Mangione that police have discovered. It's on a Goodreads profile where he's talking about, actually, writings from the Unabomber, Andrew Kaczynski, that those writings, he says, he calls him a political revolutionary. It's Ted Kaczynski, I should say. Sorry, Wolf.

The other thing I want to say to you is that the NYPD is there on scene, but also the FBI is on scene there in Pennsylvania. So, it is potentially possible that he could face some federal charges as well. Wolf?

BLITZER: We shall see. All right, Shimon Prokupecz in New York for us, thank you very much.

Let's get some analysis from our experts right now. John Miller, you've been watching this very, very closely, working your sources. What are you hearing from your sources right now? And what else are you learning about this gun found with the suspect?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, the gun is interesting. It's a ghost gun, which means it's not a gun that was manufactured by a gun manufacturer, like Smith Wesson or Colt or something like that. It's based on a Glock kind of model, but you put it together yourself. And investigators believe that this particular gun, and you see it there with the slide pulled back and a magazine, which is probably capable of holding 14 rounds in the box there, they believe that this was created by a 3D printer.

Now, it's interesting because Mangione is a guy who graduated from UPenn with a master's degree in engineering and it's something he might have an interest in making his own gun, but when I talk to firearms experts in New York, they say one of the reasons when he went to commit this murder, we see the gun apparently malfunction three times, is that suppressor, the silencer, which was also reportedly homemade or self-manufactured, actually altered the balance of the gun and probably caused those malfunctions.

So, getting the bullets fired through this gun that they have in custody now and comparing them to the shell casings and bullets they have on the scene is going to be critical because that will be the smoking gun moment, if you will, in the case. Do they match the gun that was found allegedly by police on his person today?

BLITZER: Yes, that's going to be critically important. The former Philadelphia Police commissioner, Charles Ramsey, is with us as well. Chief Ramsey, walk us through how police will continue to try to tie the evidence recovered to the suspect now in custody.

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, John mentioned the firearm, which is a crucial piece of evidence, but they also recovered from the scene DNA. They recovered a print, whether it's a full print or partial print. I don't know. [18:10:03]

But certainly with him in custody now, even though he wasn't in the database before, he is now. And so they'll get a search warrant, they'll collect DNA, they'll take prints, they'll do all the things they need to do to once again to the crime scene.

And so there's still a lot of work that has to be done. They have to build that criminal case now because this is something that's going to go to trial. But, you know, my hat's off to the employee of McDonald's that had the presence of mind to call 911 when she saw this individual. And I think by putting out the photographs, particularly the last group of photographs that the NYPD put out, because one thing I noticed about him was he's got very distinctive looking eyebrows. You didn't see that when you had the other photos of him with the hood on. But when they showed the picture of him in the taxicab, you could clearly see that part of his face. That may have made a difference in terms of the I.D.

BLITZER: Yes, clearly releasing those photos were instrumental in making this arrest.

Juliette Kayyem is with us as well. Juliette, Mangione was found with a ton of evidence on him yet he evaded capture for nearly a week. Does that surprise you?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: It was surprising only because of all the -- they had some pictures. It was a cold blooded killing and at least with some daylight. And as we've been talking about last week, he seemed particularly sensitive, if not sort of aware of how the police might react in this instance. And so he was sort of, in some ways, evading what we might call the surveillance state in terms of cameras in terms of no credit cards, everything's in cash, multiple modes of transportation. He staked out New York.

So, there's a lot of talk about he is from an affluent family. He went to some of the best schools in the country in high school and college. He's a smart guy. He has studied technology, engineering, all the things that now make it more understandable how he was able to do that.

His reference to Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, people remember also was a well educated man who evaded police for a very long time in a campaign that was also anti, you know, big brother, big man. So, I can see where he would view his connection to Kaczynski and the Unabomber in terms of that sort of mythic aura that these people create, want to create around themselves and that social media and people on social media were more than willing to run with.

BLITZER: The former New York mayor, Bill de Blasio, is with us as well. Mayor de Blasio, what do you make of his arrest today and his background as an anti-capitalist Ivy Leaguer?

FMR. BILL DE BLASIO (D-NEW YORK CITY, NY): Well, this young man seems filled with contradictions. I mean, obviously, he grew up in privilege and I can't make rhyme or reason of why he decided to go after this one individual and, you know, say it had to be done and then express remorse at the same time for the human cost. It just -- it's incoherent.

But I'll tell you what we are seeing in this incident is three things jumped to me real simple, one, outstanding work by the NYPD, an amazing job finding him and involving the public, two, the person who called in the tip. This is a classic example. If you see something, say something. That really matters, Wolf. I mean, people should understand this country how much one person can make a difference in solving crime and stopping other crimes. So, this is a good day for that example.

And then the reality of the ghost gun, you know, this is something we're all aware of and we should be more worried about. These are untraceable, they're obviously profoundly dangerous, and we're going to need to figure out ways to have some kind of better approach because, God forbid, some young man is off in his room creating a gun and look what happens.

BLITZER: Yes. We're showing our viewers that fake New Jersey driver's license that he walked around with as well.

John Miller, police say they didn't have the suspect on their radar before today. Did they get lucky here?

MILLER: Well, you know, the harder you work, the luckier you get, I mean, to key off Mayor de Blasio. When you consider the construction of this case, a man with a mask, in the dark and predawn hours, using a gun with a silencer, and no witness who can identify him, shoots a man, steals off into the night on a bicycle, and disappears into Central Park.

Doing the video canvas out from the scene with dozens of detectives, which then became hundreds of detectives, tracing his every step, and when they went and lost track of him, they would go down another street until another camera picked him up, and they would go from there, every block, every house, every camera, every video, hours and hours of it, until they found the one moment, the single moment, where the video canvas took them to one street and they decided to go over another street even though he hadn't been captured on video and visit that hostel and say, does this guy look familiar?

[18:15:15]

Can we look at your cameras? That's when he showed his face.

Taking the taxi that picked him up and actually going into the database of saying what taxis drove by here, who picked up a passenger, where did they drop him off, how do we find that cab, download that video, and getting that shot where you can see his eyes, I guess when you work that hard, you can get lucky.

But as Chief Ramsey said, you put those pictures out, and you put them out again and again, and then we come into play, you know, the national media, telling people they're not just looking for him in New York, they're looking for him anywhere in the country, that McDonald's person was the first one who said -- not the first one who said, I think he's here, he matched the description, but the first one who called the police and then they tossed his stuff and found out that they thought they had the right guy. So, it's lucky, but it's not just luck.

BLITZER: It's hard work, indeed, and getting that picture out to the media and showing it, not just in New York, but around the country, was critically important as well.

Everybody stand by, we have much more coming up on the breaking news. And once again, we're awaiting a news conference in Pennsylvania following the suspect's preliminary arraignment. We're going to bring you that. That's coming up live.

Plus, CNN is inside Damascus, where uncertainty is the only thing that's certain. Rebel forces now in the process of forming a government after toppling Syria's brutal dictator.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:20:00]

BLITZER: Let's get back to the breaking news. We're expecting an update from state and local officials in Pennsylvania after the arrest of a suspect in the killing of healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. We're showing our viewers some live pictures. That's where the news conference will take place. We'll have live coverage. Stay with us for that.

But right now, I want to bring back our experts. And, Juliette Kayyem, the document found on Mangione includes these two quotes. These parasites had it coming and, quote, I do apologize for any strife and trauma, but it had to be done, close quote. What stands out to you from that?

KAYYEM: Well, it has to be taken in the context of sort of what we know about him so far. This seems to be a person who was showing no signs of this kind of behavior. And then friends described him as sort of being unaccessible and they didn't even know where he was.

So, it is clear that he's what we would call radicalized in some ways. And we tend to think of radicalization as sort of purely about politics or right or left. But sometimes this can be focused on an idea or sort of, you know, the nature of healthcare in America. He has taken on an issue, whether it was personal based on his own medical history, we can't confirm yet, and then focus it on an individual, why he chose Thompson. We do not know.

The other thing is he is aware of regret. He expresses regret. He knows the moral -- that he knows that what he's doing is immoral and wrong. So, that's going to go to an insanity defense. And he sort of made that more difficult for him to claim in court.

What we don't know is, was his possession of the gun and his anticipation that he would be caught, because he kept the manifesto, mean that he had other targets? And that's what we get hints of from the NYPD right now. But he may be have been a person who wasn't going to stop with Thompson.

BLITZER: Interesting. John Miller, how could prosecutors potentially use these writings from the suspect in an eventual prosecution?

MILLER: Well, the writings tell a story, and the story that they tell is, from his point of view, that the healthcare industry is greedy, that it doesn't care about its patients or its clients, that they're in it for the almighty dollar and that, you know, simple protest isn't enough, violence, you know, is all that will work. And, you know, why Brian Thompson, why UnitedHealthcare? Probably because UnitedHealthcare is the single largest, you know, healthcare insurance provider in the country at a $371 billion business of which, you know, if you looked at him online, he's worth tens of millions of dollars worth of that stock. So, he's a personal target, but he's also a symbolic target to this kind of offender.

And I think, you know, Juliette raises that interesting point, which is, why are you carrying this manifesto? Is it because when you say parasites and you say it in the plural, you're on your way to another target, and you're going to leave it at the scene, or you're going to mail it to the media, or you're going to send it to the cops? What is its purpose? People say he wanted to be caught. I don't think he wanted to be caught, but I think by having that and the gun with him, he was either prepared to do something else or at least prepared to be caught with an explanation.

BLITZER: All right, good analysis. Everyone, thank you very, very much. We're staying on top of this story and we'll have live coverage of that upcoming news conference. Stay with us for that.

Also coming up, CNN is on the ground in Syria. Our CNN team is there as questions loom over the country's future, as rebels take power in one of the world's most fragile and volatile regions.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:25:00]

BLITZER: These are live pictures. We're following the breaking news. We're awaiting a news conference from state and local officials in Pennsylvania, Altoona, Pennsylvania, after the initial arraignment of the suspect in the killing of the insurance CEO, Brian Thompson. We will have live coverage for you. That's coming up.

In the meantime, I want to turn to the swift and stunning fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria. The ousted president's infamous prisons now being emptied after years of torture and abuse against political dissidents.

Our Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The stream of families never stops, climbing towards Syria's most notorious Sednayah prison, pushed on by reports that thousands of people imprisoned by the regime of Bashar al-Assad are still trapped alive in a section underground.

The red section of the prison, they've been trying for days to reach it, Maysoon Laboud (ph) tells us.

[18:30:00]

There's no oxygen because the ventilation went out, and so they all may die. For the sake of Allah, help them.

Is someone from your family in the prison?

My three brothers and my son-in-law, she says.

The roads are choked with cars full of people looking for loved ones. As soon as they see our camera, they approach, holding lists of names of those who vanished inside Assad's dungeons, never to be seen again.

We have to get them out before tomorrow, this man says. They don't have food, they don't have water.

Everybody's just started running. It's not clear if they have managed to get into this part of the prison.

My God, my God, the woman prays, my God, as the crowd surges towards the prison.

So, it looks like they think that they have managed to get access. A lot of celebratory gunfire, people now just flooding in.

After the initial jubilation, an agonizing wait for confirmation from the rescue workers. Many here have been waiting for decades. Hope was something they didn't let themselves feel until now.

Rescue workers with Syria's white helmets break through the concrete looking for a way in. No one is certain where this red section is or if it even exists.

Inside the prison, family members are searching too.

You can see people everywhere just combing through all the papers and records they can find, looking for names, seeing if maybe their loved ones are there.

Tens of thousands of Syrians were forcibly disappeared in Sednayah, lost in the abyss of a prison that was known as a slaughterhouse, industrial scale, arbitrary detention and torture, all to keep one man in power.

They call this the white area of the prison, because they say the conditions here are much better than in other areas. But you can see it's still miserable.

In the center of the prison, another frantic rush, someone thinks they have found a tunnel. They desperately try to get a look inside. Others look on helpless. Not knowing is agony.

Assad may be gone, but the legacy of his cruelty remains.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Clarissa Ward reporting for us, thank you so much, Clarissa, and your team for visiting the prison.

By the way, the Association for Detainees and the Missing in the Sednayah Prison and its team present inside the facility have now confirmed that it is empty of detainees in all of its buildings. The Association of the Detainees and Missing Persons of Sednayah Prison have confirmed as well that the release of the last detainee from the prison has just taken place. We're staying on top of all of this.

And joining me now, CNN's Fareed Zakaria. Fareed, thanks very much for joining us.

We saw those really chilling images of the Sednayah Prison in Syria, where innocent people were horrifically tortured over the years. How does Syria recover from decades of Bashar al-Assad's brutality? And what are you watching for as a new government in Syria forms?

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST: You raise a very important question, Wolf, which is how broken is Syrian society. What we discovered in Iraq was that after decades of Saddam Hussein's brutality, Iraqi civil society was broken. It was very difficult to form any kind of real political parties, associations, all of that. And what happened is people reverted to their ethnic or sectarian tribes. And that became the basis for tribal animosity, hatred and a huge civil war.

So, the thing I worry most about, Wolf, is exactly the answer to your question. Is there enough of a sense of Syrian civil society left or are we going to see a replay of what happened in Iraq? Remember, Syria, in many ways, is similar, which is to say the Assad regime was a minority regime in Syria. It was -- Assad belonged to the Alawites. The Alawites are a minority sect. The Shia -- the Sunni majority, sorry, is largely responsible for ousting him. Also in Syria, like in Iraq, you have the Kurds who essentially want to separate in some way or the other.

[18:35:03]

And so in all of this, if everybody retreats to their sectarian, tribal, ethnic identities, you're going to see a lot of strife, you're going to see perhaps conflict. So, my great fear is that this is just the beginning. And what we are going to now see play out is a kind of low grade civil war. I hope for the best, but that's my fear.

BLITZER: Let's hope for the best, indeed. As you know, Fareed, Israel has taken control of its so-called buffer zone with Syria along the border up there. Turkey is moving to be a key player in Syria's future as well. How do you see Bashar al-Assad's fall reshaping the balance of power in the Middle East?

ZAKARIA: The most important thing that has happened is the collapse of Iranian power, and the collapse not just of Iranian power but of the power of what it used to call the axis of resistance. That is this group of militias that helped keep Iran's power intact and its influence intact and put the anti-Iranian forces, you know, groups Israel, the Saudi Arabia, essentially kind of America's allies, put them on the defensive, keep them on edge. I think that strategy is threadbare at this point.

So, what you are likely to see is a stronger Israel that is going to take an even more assertive role and as it's just done in essentially securing a buffer zone for itself. You're also going to see a stronger Turkey. My guess is Saudi Arabia will continue to sit on the sidelines, but it has enormous, you know, kind of financial power.

The interesting thing to watch here is that this Arab country and the Arab world in general is now being shaped largely by non-Arab powers, Israel, Turkey and the United States.

BLITZER: Fareed Zakaria, thank you very much. An important reminder to our viewers, Fareed Zakaria GPS airs Sundays at 10:00 A.M. Eastern right here on CNN.

And just ahead, we'll get back to our top story this hour. We're awaiting a news conference from the governor and state police in Pennsylvania after the initial arraignment of the suspect in the killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:40:00]

BLITZER: More now on our top story, the manhunt for the New York CEO killer comes to an end in Pennsylvania with the arrest of a 26-year- old suspect.

CNN's John Miller is back with us, also joining us for some analysis, CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig.

John, let me start with you. Walk us through what charges you expect to be unveiled from this arraignment based on the evidence you've been closely following.

MILLER: So, I think they are going to bring a gun charge. He's got possession of a gun, which is a ghost gun. So, there may be a charge for the gun if he's not licensed to carry in Pennsylvania, or if he's not licensed to carry in another state where Pennsylvania has reciprocity right now, he doesn't appear to be a resident of Pennsylvania.

And then there's the ghost gun factor. Pennsylvania passed some ghost gun laws in 2024 that could be applicable here. But I think the idea is to get him in front of a judge, get him a bail hearing where he's going to be held over because he's considered a flight risk in all likelihood and they may mention the potential charges he's facing in New York. And that's a holder until New York can show up with charges.

BLITZER: Yes, we're awaiting this news conference from the authorities over there in Altoona, Pennsylvania. We'll have live coverage of that.

Elie, how are prosecutors, from your perspective, going to use the evidence, from the suspect, for example, his manifesto and his ghost gun in an eventual case against him?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Wolf, it's important to understand, there's really two sets of police and prosecutors who I would imagine are working frantically right now. First of all, as John said, this arraignment that's about to happen is going to be in Pennsylvania court. And it sounds like from the reporting of John and others, the charge there will be a gun charge.

But bigger picture, that's just a placeholder. What's going to happen presumably soon thereafter, maybe tonight, maybe early tomorrow morning, is that prosecutors in New York are now trying to make a definitive link between this suspect and the murder scene. So, they're looking at things like the ballistics, for sure, the shell casings, the bullets themselves. They're looking at DNA evidence. They're looking at fingerprint evidence.

And given what I know about the way prosecutors work and the way police officers work, once they make a definitive hit on one of those things, I think we should expect to see a murder charge lodged in New York State. And then the New York authorities will take custody of this person from Pennsylvania, transport him over to New York State, and that's where he'll face the more serious murder charges.

BLITZER: Interesting. All right, John, what more do you expect to hear from authorities coming up very soon when they update us on the CEO killing suspect, and that news conference expected any moment now?

MILLER: Well, what I expect we will hear from authorities in Pennsylvania is the actual story, how they got the call, what they found when they responded, how they came to discover that he was in possession of the weapon, allegedly, the silencer for the weapon, was it attached or not attached, the manifesto, as we call it, or the document, where he talks about his criticisms of the healthcare industry and the need for violent reprisals. I think we'll draw that out.

I think what will not do, unless New York authorities are there with them, is going to great detail about the New York case.

[18:45:02]

I think they'll talk about the experience that Elie described of what they have to hold him with right now.

BLITZER: Elie, what remaining questions do you have about the suspect and his motive?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, number one, I think we should all be looking to see what the specific charges are. Another question that I think we should watch for here and this relates to the question of motive, Wolf, is will this be charged by state authorities in New York or federal authorities or both? Now, typically this kind of murder is going to be a state crime. You

have to show certain specific types of motives in order to get it over into federal court. But it could be depending on what his motive was, if there was some element of murder for hire here, we've not seen evidence of that, but that's an example. If this was done in furtherance of some organized racketeering activity, again, there's not evidence of that.

But also there is a way you can charge this federally if it involves traveling across a state line in order to commit a violent felony.

So I -- what I'm keeping my ears out for here are number one, what exactly is he charged with in Pennsylvania? But hopefully soon we'll find out what's he charged with in New York. And then secondarily, is this going to be handled by state authorities, federal authorities or both?

BLITZER: Well, we'll be getting answers to those questions fairly soon.

Elie Honig and John Miller, thanks to both of you.

Coming up, a live report from Capitol Hill where a trifecta of Trump picks are meeting with U.S. senators including the first visits for Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:50:39]

BLITZER: We're looking at live pictures coming in from Pennsylvania, where this news conference on the suspect in the killing in New York is about to be -- he's been arraigned. But we're going to get new information.

We're standing by for live coverage of that. So stick around. It will be fascinating to get more answers to critically important questions.

In the meantime, other news we're following, Donald Trump's pick to lead the Pentagon. Pete Hegseth appears to be closing in on winning the support of a key Republican senator regarded as a crucial swing vote.

I want to bring in CNN's Manu Raju. He's up on Capitol Hill.

Manu, what are you -- what are you hearing? What are you learning?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, a lot of Republican senators are falling in line behind Donald Trumps more controversial picks, including Pete Hegseth, to lead the Pentagon.

One key senator, Joni Ernst a pivotal swing vote, someone who has pointedly refused to say if she would back his nomination had met with him for a second time. That second meeting occurred today. Afterwards she told me and other reporters that she, quote, supports him going through the process. Would not say if she's a yes yet, but she sounded very positive as

Pete Hegseth made some key assurances to her going forward.

Now, there are also others as well, including a Senator Lindsey Graham, who just met with Tulsi Gabbard, Donald Trump's pick to lead the department -- to be the director of national intelligence. Graham has a different view on issues like Ukraine and issues like Syria, but coming out of that meeting, Graham sounded positive about Gabbard's nomination.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): We've had policy differences. I know her, I like her, you know? She wanted to stay in the JCPOA. I thought that was a mistake. But, you know, she'll be serving Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: And, Wolf, also, Kash Patel, who is picked -- Donald Trump's pick to be the new FBI director as Donald Trump is essentially threatening to fire the existing FBI Director Christopher Wray, even though that's a rather unconventional and very controversial move to fire the existing FBI director.

There are very few Republican senators who are pushing back. In fact, a lot of them are falling in line behind Kash Patel, including the incoming Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley, told me earlier today that he is essentially supportive of some of the things that Kash Patel assured him in their private meeting today and others, including Senator Joni Ernst, who I mentioned there earlier, is also back signaling she will back Kash Patel.

So, overall, a positive day for Donald Trump's picks on Capitol Hill -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Manu Raju up on Capitol Hill, thanks very much, Manu.

Coming up. There's breaking news in the investigation into the Manhattan CEO killing as we await an update from state and local officials.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:57:44]

BLITZER: Back now with the breaking news.

That news conference about to start in Pennsylvania. I want to bring back our senior legal analyst, Elie Honig, and CNN's Shimon Prokupecz to give us a little bit of background information.

Let me start with you, Shimon. What do you expect to see and to hear? SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly, wolf, were hoping to hear more details about the encounter and the arrest of this individual. But I want to just let our viewers know we just got our hands on the police.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to go through an incident.

BLITZER: All right, hold on a second. Shimon, they're starting to talk. I want to listen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At 9:14 a.m., Altoona police officers received a call of a suspicious male at a local restaurant.

BLITZER: It looks like we've just lost that connection, but well try to get back to that connection and update our viewers.

Shimon, I interrupted you, but go ahead and make your point.

PROKUPECZ: No, what I was saying, Wolf, sorry, while I put my microphone back up because we were going to switch out reporters here. But what I was going to say to you was, we have more information about the arrest and the encounter with police. A couple of very significant points. He was sitting in that McDonald's as we've been reporting, at around 9:15 this morning.

He was wearing a blue medical mask. He was sitting down looking at a silver laptop. The backpack, he had a backpack that was on the floor. The police asked him to pull his mask down and then they realized who he was very significant. Here is that the police --

BLITZER: All right, hold on another second. Sorry to interrupt you, Shimon, but I think we can hear what he's saying now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was transported to the Altoona police department. Once at the Altoona Police Department, that male was searched incident to arrest. It was discovered that he had a United States passport that identified him as, excuse me, Luigi Mangione.

From their continued search of his property, a firearm was located and a suppressor was also located. There are also other items of evidentiary value that were located that would assist in this investigation.

At this time, I'm going to turn it over to Governor Shapiro for some words.

GOV. JOSH SHAPIRO (D), PENNSYLVANIA: Thank you, Deputy Chief Swope.

And let me acknowledge and thank the law enforcement who I'm joined with today --