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CEO Murder Suspect Fighting Extradition To New York; Suspected CEO Killer Denied Bail As He Fights Extradition; CNN In Syria After Rebels Topple Assad Regime; Residents Flee Malibu As Wildfire Explodes In Size; Netanyahu Assails Media As He Testifies For the First Time In His Long-Running Corruption Trial. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired December 10, 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 HOST: Happening now, breaking news. Suspected CEO killer Luigi Mangione is fighting extradition to New York. Today's hearing in Pennsylvania getting off to a dramatic start, as Mangione had a major outburst while arriving at court, yelling out to reporters, and struggling with police.

All of this as we learn new details about Mangione's background, what people who know him are telling CNN about his privileged upbringing in a Baltimore suburb, and what might have motivated him to allegedly commit such a brazen crime.

Also tonight, terrifying wildfires spreading across Southern California. Right now, thousands of residents are under evacuation orders as fast moving blazes threaten Malibu.

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

The breaking news tonight, Luigi Mangione tells a Pennsylvania court he intends to fight efforts to send him back to New York City, where he allegedly gunned down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last week.

CNN's Cara Scannell is standing by in New York with all the latest developments and CNN's Brian Todd is near Mangione's hometown in Maryland gathering new details about his background.

Kara, we just heard from Mangione's defense attorney. What did he say? And take us inside the extradition hearing.

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. We're just hearing from Luigi Mangione's attorney, Thomas Dickey. He spoke to reporters saying that he expects Mangione will plead not guilty to the gun charges in Pennsylvania. And he says when these murder charges are filed in New York, he anticipates he will plead not guilty to those as well. Here's a little bit more about what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS DICKEY, LUIGI MANGIONE'S ATTORNEY: I haven't seen any evidence that says that he's a shooter. So, that's you know, like I said earlier, and I wasn't kidding around. A couple of things, if you're going to report something, report it accurately, and remember, and this is not just a small thing, the fundamental concept of American justice is the presumption of innocent, and until you're proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt, and I've seen zero evidence at this point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCANNELL: Now, those comments came after the court hearing. But right before it got underway, our cameras captured Mangione walking from police custody into the courtroom. There was a bit of a scuffle, and he shouted words to a reporter. Take a listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people. It's lived experience.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCANNELL: Wolf, once inside the courtroom, Mangione entered wearing an orange prison jumpsuit. His collar was ruffled. He was shackled by the hands and at his feet. And he sat down at the table. He had a piece of paper with him that he unwrapped that was kind of crinkled.

Now, he didn't speak much inside the courtroom, despite what his outburst outside of it. He only confirmed to the judge that, yes, he understood that he had a right to I'm here to contest these charges. Now, his lawyer did most of the speaking. He said that they would fight extradition. He also tried to get bail from Mangione, saying that some of the evidence that was found on him, including the mask could be possibly be explained, saying maybe it was about COVID. Some of the foreign currency, his attorney suggested it could possibly have been fake. And he asked the judge to release him on electronic monitoring bracing.

Now, prosecutors opposed that running through the litany of evidence that they obtained, including ammunitions and a silencer. Wolf?

BLITZER: So, Kara, what happens next for Mangione?

SCANNELL: So, the judge set out a schedule here giving Mangione 14 days to file briefs related to this extradition issue. He's also said that prosecutors have 30 days to submit what is known as a governor's warrant, and the district attorney in Manhattan, Alvin Bragg, said that he will seek that warrant, and New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she will sign that warrant.

So, those papers will all come back to court. The judge will then likely schedule another hearing in this case, all as part of this effort to get Mangione back to New York to face these murder charges. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Kara Scannell reporting for us, Kara, thank you very much. Our legal and law enforcement experts are standing by. They're joining us right now. John Miller, what do you make of Mangione's attorney saying he hasn't seen any evidence that his client is the shooter and that his client will plead not guilty to the Pennsylvania charges?

[18:05:09]

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: I think as my two colleagues both know, he's telling the absolute truth because he showed up basically for a routine court appearance and has not received any of the discovery material, which would include the evidence that they've gathered. So, while he's saying he hasn't seen any, he knows better than to suggest there isn't any, he just hasn't seen it.

BLITZER: Laura Coates, from what we've heard from Mangione's attorney, what's your sense of how he will defend this case?

LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: Well, certainly, you would expect a defense attorney to try to begin their case in the court of public opinion, one in which the court of public opinion has weighed in very strongly on this matter, that probably is making prosecutors a little bit weary of what a voir dire and jury selection would look like, given the backlash towards the actual victim of this crime. And so they're going to have to go through an investigation process now.

The questions really start to begin the motive, building the case, figuring out what evidentiary details of the minutiae they're going to need. But, fundamentally, he does have a presumption of innocence. But there is seemingly, at this point in time, a lot of evidence to suggest that there is more than probable cause to have made this arrest, that this is the person who is not only a person of interest, but the sole person of interest in this matter so far.

And now the case for the prosecution has to be building that even further with an eye towards putting him before the court where the crime occurred, and that is extraditing to New York.

BLITZER: Elliot Williams is with us as well. Elliot, Mangione's attorney, as we all heard, said he was hired to represent the suspect that dodged a question about whether Mangione's family retained him. What did that tell you?

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: He's entitled to have representation, however, he gets it. Now, certainly, Wolf, if Mangione could not afford an attorney, the state would provide one for him.

Now, you know, the question of who's paying for it sometimes raises issues of bias and, you know, as a person influenced in a certain way -- as an attorney, influenced in a certain way based on who's paying them. I wouldn't read too much into that question. It is a fundamental right. And, quite frankly, having competent representation in courts makes the system work better and work faster so that the public can be assured of justice, whatever the outcome may be. BLITZER: Let me get back to John Miller. On his way into the hearing, John, Mangione shouted that something was, quote, completely out of touch, and he added, and I'm quoting him again, an insult to the intelligence of the American people. What do you take away from that? Was that a calculated move?

MILLER: I mean, it could be, if you think of the theatrics of that moment versus his calm entrance yesterday or his calm departure today even after that outburst, it could be a display that he hopes may show him as an unglued defendant with mental health issues that maybe would not be fit to stand trial.

But if you look at it just a different way, if you read his three-page letter, where he talks about corporate executives as mafiosi who have gotten away with it too long, parasites that have it coming, that this murder is something that had to be done, there's a lot of anger there and a lot of personal belief, deep, passionate personal belief that he is right, and if you accept the note as evidence, all powerful and justified to take human life. So, one would denote there's a lot of anger going on.

BLITZER: Yes. And, Laura, the district attorney there in Pennsylvania laid out in court today some of the evidence against Mangione, including a forged license, a gun, a silencer, and ammunition, thousands of dollars in cash. How strong is the case against him?

COATES: All of what you described is what is a nightmare for a defense counsel to be able to suggest that their client should not be the person of interest. If you're the prosecution, you're looking at all these different aspects of it. You are weaving this story already in your mind for the jury pool to suggest. Is this coincidental? Maybe one, but two, three, four or five different jigsaw puzzle pieces, all pointing to one particular suspect, you want to bring that out in great detail.

Now, the most important one, perhaps, is that handwritten manifesto of sorts that speaks to not only motive, of course, but speaks to why it can be linking him directly, also the idea of the gun being in his possession, a similar license that used allegedly for the hostel. All of these trails, they did not run cold, even though for five days he alluded captivity. Now you're talking about it all coming together. And for the prosecution, this is really an embarrassment of riches.

But the defense still is right to try to make sure they prove their case even right now before you've got the official trial beginning.

[18:10:03]

BLITZER: And, Laura, let me follow up with you. Do you expect Mangione to be federally charged and would that represent a New York case?

COATES: He very well could be, again, the idea of planning in another state, or using another state's resources, or being in a different jurisdiction. Trying to commit a crime, planning or otherwise, he has had cases, of course, in Pennsylvania, in the sense of not actual criminal charges, but instances where the cops were able to suggest that he had fraudulent documents or otherwise, that could be used.

Now, this is going to be a little bit of a contest in some respects between the prosecutors in New York who want their homicide suspect brought to where they are to try to make it right in their jurisdiction. But the feds could very well act as a backdrop in the event that there are federal charges that are brought. But, normally, the homicide would govern and it seems that's the priority charge.

BLITZER: It certainly is. And, John, is Mangione's decision to fight extradition to New York more about the charges against him or his possible treatment in a New York City prison?

MILLER: I think it's a combination of both. He has hired a local lawyer who is near that courthouse fighting extradition or not waiving extradition, gives him more time and proximity to his newly hired attorney. But as you point out, the choice of being in the Blair County, Pennsylvania jail versus New York's Rikers Island, which has a reputation of being a very unpleasant and somewhat dangerous place, is probably a smart pick for a kid who comes from a wealthy family who's in a high-profile case.

BLITZER: Yes, good point. All right, everyone, thank you very much. And a note to our viewers, Laura Coates will have much more on this story later tonight on her program, Laura Coates, Live at 11:00 P.M. Eastern. We'll be watching.

And just ahead, what we're learning about the suspect's personal life, including new reporting that his mother had recently reported him missing.

Plus, dramatic and very fast moving developments from our CNN team inside Syria as the country faces an uncertain and fragile future after the fall of its brutal dictator.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:15:00]

BLITZER: Back to the breaking news. We're learning new information tonight about the suspected CEO killer, Luigi Mangione, and his wealthy family background.

CNN's Brian Todd is joining us from outside one of the exclusive properties owned by Mangione's family, a country club in Maryland. Brian, what are you hearing?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, we've been combing through this area near Baltimore talking to people who know the Mangione family, who worked for them. What emerges is a portrait of a family with enormous wealth, influence and power.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD (voice over): In a suburban Baltimore community, people who know the family of alleged shooter Luigi Mangione are struggling to come to grips with what the 26-year-old is accused of. They believe his family is traumatized as well.

THOMAS MARONICK JR., FORMER RADIO HOST FOR MANGIONE FAMILY-OWNED STATION: They're shocked. That's what they said in their statement. They're horrified.

TODD: Mangione, an Ivy League graduate, comes from a background of wealth and influence. He grew up in an affluent Baltimore family, whose local real estate empire included nursing homes and two country clubs, attending the exclusive Gilman School near Baltimore, becoming valedictorian of his class in 2016.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you for all the time and love you have put into our lives.

TODD: Today, about 150 miles away, a much different picture, in handcuffs, under arrest, and charged in a brazen murder, seen yelling and struggling with police as he was taken into court.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And an insult the intelligence of the American people.

TODD: Tom Maronick, Jr. worked for the Mangione's for over 20 years as a radio host at their family owned station, WCBM. He says the suspect's family has enormous influence in the Baltimore area.

MARONICK: They carry a lot of weight. Mangione family is one of the prominent families of Baltimore County. They own a lot of real estate. They own golf courses. They're just a very well-respected name.

TODD: A family that includes Nino Mangione, a Republican state delegate in Maryland, who is the suspect's cousin.

Luigi Mangione attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 2020 with master's and bachelor's degrees in computer science. He was a member of the Phi Beta Psi fraternity, social media photos show. He later worked as a software engineer for the online car sales company, TrueCar, according to his LinkedIn page. His most recent address was in Hawaii.

FREDDIE LEATHERBURY, FORMER CLASSMATE: There was -- nothing came off weird about him. He had great friends. He had a lot of female friends as well. He was a relatively unassuming kid, he was down to earth. He was smart, well-adjusted socially.

TODD: He maintained an active social media presence for years, posting smiling photos from his travels and gatherings with friends. Then suddenly his social media went cold. Posts from X this past October show concern from friends. One says, quote, hey, are you okay? No one has heard from you in months. And apparently your family is looking for you.

In recent years, Mangione suffered from back pain and underwent surgery for treatment. His injury grew worse after an accident at a surfing lesson in Hawaii. Details emerged from his former roommate, R.J. Martin. R.J. MARTIN, FRIEND AND FORMER ROOMMATE OF LUIGI MANGIONE: He was in bed for about a week. We had to get a different bed for him that was more firm, and I know it was really traumatic and difficult, you know, when you're in the early 20s and you can't, you know, do some basic things.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (on camera): Luigi Mangione was the subject of a missing persons report filed in San Francisco by his mother on November 18th, according to The New York Times. CNN has reached out to the San Francisco Police Department. The NYPD has said that Mangione did have ties to San Francisco, but the exact time that he was there is unclear. Wolf?

BLITZER: Brian Todd reporting for us, Brian, good report, thank you very much.

Let's take a closer look right now at Luigi Mangione with criminologist Casey Jordan and former FBI Agent Bryanna Fox.

[18:20:02]

Bryanna, you heard about Mangione's wealthy family and his health problems. As the NYPD says, this alleged killing was driven by anger against the health insurance industry and corporate greed. What story is coming into focus here?

BRYANNA FOX, FORMER FBI AGENT: I think that's exactly right. And we had a lot of little breadcrumbs and clues that were leading up to this moment. But I think all together, it's clear that there's a lot of anger directed towards the healthcare industry. I'm sure that this back injury problems that he was facing in life, maybe even stressors and adjustments, all of that's accumulated in this anger but is uniquely directed towards the healthcare industry and specifically UnitedHealthcare's leadership.

BLITZER: You know, Casey, it's interesting, the NYPD is investigating whether Mangione's back injury last year played a role in the CEO killing. His cover photo on X, formerly known as Twitter, appears to show some kind of X-ray with pins in a spine. How much do you think these health issues could have radicalized Mangione?

CASEY JORDAN, CRIMINOLOGIST: To a certain extent, I think the back issues, assuming that image that he actually shared with a friend of his in Hawaii by text, assuming it really is his back, it is completely legitimate to assume he was in a great deal of pain. But how that translates to his anger at the insurance industry is still unclear. Many times young people are on their parents' insurance coverage until they're 26. But when they get 26, they have to go find their own insurance coverage.

I don't know that we have any evidence of whether he had insurance company coverage or not or who it was with. So, a direct attack because he was denied, you would have seen him perhaps going for, I don't know, a medical care practitioner who he felt wasn't giving him pain meds or something.

So, the fact that he went after the insurance industry is curious because he comes from an affluent family. The cost of his medical care probably is not an issue for him. So, how he picked the insurance industry to have a big beef with is still unclear to us.

BLITZER: That's still a good question. Bryanna, Mangione had an outburst, as we all know, on his way you. Pennsylvania today, yelling that something was completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence, his words, of the American people. What do you think he was talking about?

FOX: Yes. There's -- obviously he just has this pent up anger. And to Casey's point, I think that he's been building this up and he just picked an outlet for it. There may not even be a direct link. He may not have been denied claims, or he could have afforded to pay for his, let's say, back treatment. The point is that he just has this builds up anger, obviously, towards the healthcare industry, but I think there's also a distrust towards society.

Otherwise, I think he would have gone to nonviolent means to try to remediate whatever he saw as his anger against healthcare. And he may have been even successful at that if he pursued that, but I don't think that was gratifying to him in this hyper angered state that he was in immediately before the murder.

BLITZER: Casey, how does the online discourse supporting Mangione and his apparent vendetta against the healthcare industry play into all of this?

JORDAN: Well, unfortunately it feeds him as his anger is legitimate. He would fall into simply the disgruntled customer citizen patient category and very often these disgruntled citizens turn out to be mass murderers. But he targeted the insurance company on purpose.

So, his anger issue that insurance companies are corrupt, I think, in his little manifesto, he called them the mafioso. When we have all the online affirmation of that and, you know, in fairness, the conversation clearly needs to happen because he's tapped into something that many Americans are outraged about.

The question is, is this going to be the result of premeditation on a particular person for a particular reason, or is he angry in general? I think he referred to it as a symbolic action to basically raise up the American citizenry to do something about the insurance industry. And whether we -- and it's a horrible thing what he did, but many people are reacting in a way that will affirm that the conversation did need to happen. And he's going to feel very correct in his action by our affirmation. So, we should be very careful of what we say online.

BLITZER: Important points, indeed. All right, Casey Jordan and Bryanna Fox, to both of you, thank you very much for joining us.

Coming up, CNN is live in Syria right now, our team going into a Damascus suburb as Syrians try to chart their way forward in an uncertain future.

[18:25:00]

Plus, a live look at heavy smoke pouring from a massive wildfire burning right now in Malibu, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Now to some news from Capitol Hill here in Washington. Republican Senator Mitch McConnell is recovering tonight after falling. According to a statement from McConnell's office, the senator cut his face and sprained his wrist when he tripped. It's one of several high-profile health incidents for McConnell in recent years, including another fall at a Washington hotel in 2023 that led to a concussion.

[18:30:00]

We wish him a speedy recovery.

We're also following dramatic developments in Syria right now, as civilians come to grips with the sudden fall of Bashar al-Assad's brutal government to rebel forces.

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh reports from Damascus.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): What's left of Darayya tells of the horrors that unfolded here. Every corner scarred by a ruthless regime's fight for survival. This Damascus suburb rose up peacefully, demanding freedom. More than a decade on, a shattered Darayya and its people are finally free.

This was for our children, Firas (ph) tells me. It's so they don't have to live under the tyrant's rule. Her story of loss and pain so unfathomable for us, yet so common in this place, that for years endured some of the most brutal tactics of the Assad regime, besieged, starved, and bombed into surrender.

Firas says they came out asking for freedom and they were met with bullets and tanks. She says, we're not terrorists and they did this. And imagine, she says, there were women and children living in these homes.

So many men, like her husband, Mazen (ph), detained and disappeared. Two years later, a released prisoner told her he saw him in jail. They beat him so much, his wounded leg was infected. He was in so much pain, she says. There was no medical care in prison. And because of all he was going through, he lost his mind. The prisoner last saw him taken away crying and screaming hysterically. She went from one detention center to the next searching for him until they broke the news to her in the most cruel of ways. They handed her his belongings and told her to register his death. There are no words to describe how I was feeling when I left, she says. I was holding on to the hope he would be released and our family would be reunited. They didn't even give me his body.

This is the last photo she has of Mazen and his youngest boy, Raith (ph), doesn't remember his dad. Noor (ph) was six and so attached to his father. Every day he would wait by the door for him to come back.

When I would hear someone calling baba, dad, it was torment for me, Firas says. What did these children do to be deprived of their father? She has to be strong for her boys, she says. She is all they have.

Her father also disappeared into the black holes of Assad's jails. Like her husband, their only crime, she says, was being from Darayya.

She says, I'm just one of thousands and thousands of stories, and that's just in Darayya. And just imagine how many more there are across Syria.

With the end of this dark chapter in their history, a new life, a new Syria emerges from the rubble of their broken lives.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KARADSHEH (on camera): And, Wolf, the final siege of Darayya was back in 2016. And going in today and seeing it as someone who covered that remotely, we were not allowed into this country by the Assad regime to cover what was going on at the time, and as someone who covered it day in and day out, like other parts of the country that were under siege at the time, seeing that level of destruction was just shocking. It's on a scale that we did not really expect to find in a place like Darayya.

And people there were telling us that much of that destruction that you saw in our piece was caused by barrel bombs. This is really something the Assad regime, Assad forces were using so much and these are basically barrels that they would fill up with explosives and scrap metal, and they would just throw them out of helicopters indiscriminately at civilian areas, as you saw there in that piece.

And today, while we were there, Wolf, we saw people who had returned to these destroyed homes, these barely standing structures, where they had nowhere else to go, and they were basically living in these destroyed buildings you see in that video.

BLITZER: Jomana Karadsheh live in Damascus, Jomana, thank you for your excellent and courageous reporting.

Joining us now, Republican Congressman Mike Lawler of New York. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

HTS, as you know, this group that overthrew Bashar al-Assad is listed by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization. Do you see any reason to be hopeful about this group now leading Syria?

REP. MIKE LAWLER (R-NY): Well, first of all, let me say, after 53 years, the Assad family's reign of terror is over on the Syrian people. And, obviously, over the last decade-plus, we've seen this civil war resulting in the death of many Syrian citizens at the hands of a brutal dictator backed by Russia and Iran.

[18:35:09]

So, this is welcome news to see Assad's regime finally overthrown. However, obviously, there is concern about HTS, their ties to Al- Qaeda, their ties, of course, to terrorism. They are a designated terror group. And as President Biden pointed out, we will see, you know, what they do with their actions. Their words, obviously today, very different than in the past but their actions matter.

And, you know, there's no question that given the turmoil in the Middle East and what has happened and what Israel has been able to do taking out Hezbollah's leadership and Hamas' leadership, weakening Iran and their air defenses and Russia's obvious, you know, continued focus on Ukraine, this was possible for Assad to be overthrown.

So, obviously, it is a step in the right direction but time will tell, and we have to be cognizant of this. You know, we are in the most precarious place since World War II. The world is a tinderbox under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. And we need to get back to a place where obviously we are governing in the mantra of peace through strength, but more importantly that these conflicts come to a conclusion, because this is a very dangerous time especially in the Middle East and in Eastern Europe.

BLITZER: Very dangerous, indeed. President-elect Trump's pick to be the director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, the former U.S. congresswoman, has a long history of defending Bashar al-Assad, met with him back in 2017. She went to Syria. Do you think it's a good idea for Tulsi Gabbard to be the one deciding what intelligence the president, for example, will see every day in his daily briefing?

LAWLER: Look, obviously, she served as a member of Congress, has served in our armed forces. The president feels she is an important member of his team. And there will be a confirmation process by which she will go through and can very clearly articulate her views and perspectives and be asked about previous statements and positions. So, that's why we have a confirmation process and I certainly feel that that process will ensure that, if confirmed, she will do the job effectively.

So, I'm not concerned. Obviously, at the end of the day, President Trump has the right to have his most senior advisers be people of his choosing and go through that confirmation process.

BLITZER: We'll see how that unfolds. On another sensitive issue, as you know, Congressman, President-elect Trump is reiterating his call for your colleagues who served on the January 6th select committee, the assault on the U.S. Capitol, he's saying they should be jailed. What crimes did they commit? And do you agree they should be jailed?

LAWLER: Look, what happened on January 6th was wrong. I've been very clear about that. It never should have happened. But we have litigated these issues, obviously, through this election. The American people have spoken. They elected Donald Trump overwhelmingly to another term. The focus has to be on the American people and that is where my focus is.

I'm not interested in re-litigating January 6th or the January 6th committee. Obviously, if there were things that were done untoward or done in violation of law, then, sure, show us that and we'll deal with it as it comes.

But I for one believe the American people are more focused and more interested in us addressing the challenges facing them and their families, from the affordability crisis to the border crisis, to the crime and public safety crisis that we see and these international crises that we're dealing with. It's been one disastrous calamity after the next under the Biden-Harris administration. That's why Donald Trump won overwhelmingly. And that's what the American people want us to focus on when we get back to D.C. in January.

BLITZER: Congressman Mike Lawler of New York, thanks very much for joining us.

LAWLER: Thank you.

BLITZER: Just ahead, what we know about the so-called ghost gun used by the suspect in the Manhattan CEO murder and just how easy they are to make and to keep hidden.

[18:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: All right, let's turn back to our top story right now, the suspected CEO killer, Luigi Mangione, in court today in Pennsylvania, as he fights efforts to extradite him to New York. Among the evidence found on Mangione after his capture, a so-called ghost gun allegedly used in the shooting.

Let's get some analysis right now from Jennifer Mascia, a senior writer at The Trace. Jennifer, thanks so much for joining us.

Help us, first of all, understand exactly what ghost guns are.

JENNIFER MASCIA, SENIOR NEWS WRITER, THE TRACE: Ghost guns are any gun without a serial number. That could be a scraped off serial number, but a lot of times ghost guns are, these days, because of technology advances, you can make one in a 3D printer that you can buy online for a few hundred dollars, and it's the same plastic that's found in Legos. You can also buy assembly kits, where you assemble the parts. And until very recently, those were unregulated.

[18:45:04]

President Biden actually issued some executive orders in 2021, directing the department of justice to require that these ghost gun kits have serial numbers and that they're basically treated like fully completed firearms. And that was in response to a rapid rise in the number of ghost guns recovered on the street -- the number of ghost guns sent to the ATF for tracing between 2017 and 2021, went up by 1,000 percent.

So there was a real need to try to regulate these weapons in the marketplace.

BLITZER: Did Mangione break the law by building a ghost gun?

MASCIA: No. See, we have a long tradition of gun making in this country. You are allowed to make your own weapons and make DIY firearms. Basically, what you cant do is sell it without a serial number or really take it in public. So, you know, people all over have been making their own ammunition as well. But the second you bring it out in public, there are some safety measures. And according to the Gun Control Act of 1968, you have to have a serial number on a gun to sell it.

BLITZER: Jennifer, I know you cover gun violence. What about this particular shooting stands out to you?

MASCIA: This feels like a mass shooting. I feel like I'm covering one of the many mass shootings that we see here in America. The profile is very similar. This is somebody who wanted to do something on a public stage. He could have gone to the Brian Thompson house in Minnesota. He went to midtown Manhattan with 60,000 cameras. The biggest stage on Earth, really, and he perpetrated this horrific act.

This seems like a very public display of anger. And that's what we see a lot of times with mass shootings.

BLITZER: Jennifer Mascia, thanks so much for joining us.

MASCIA: You bet.

BLITZER: And coming up, CNN on the scene of news unfolding right now in California. A wildfire exploding in Los Angeles County, prompting evacuations along the Pacific coastline.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:51:15]

BLITZER: Right now, we're tracking a very dangerous situation in southern California, where a fast moving wildfire is forcing people to flee their homes.

CNN's Veronica Miracle is in the fire zone.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Malibu scenic hills ablaze after a fast moving wildfire exploded overnight.

LYNDA MICHEL, FLED HOUSE SURROUNDED BY FIRE: From a 1 to 10m it was like a 15. Like scary. MIRACLE: The Franklin Fire tripling in size in just one hour, at one

point scorching the equivalent of five football fields every minute since it ignited late Monday evening, prompting evacuation orders.

MICHEL: Everything. All these mountains were covered in flames, just covered like you took a crayon and just colored everything.

MIRACLE: Linda Michel is a caretaker who lives on a property with horses in the evacuation zone. She says she awoke to a wall of flames surrounding the area and had to scramble to save the animals.

MICHEL: Woke everybody up. Got everybody in the car. It was all nobody had time to get dressed. Everybody jumped in the cars like, get out of here. And then after that, I must have had like 30 minutes to run around and, try to get the horses.

And we didn't know what we were going to do. Like, we could not leave them in the barn. Thank God we didn't leave them in the barn because the barn burned down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can see the wind down there.

MIRACLE: The inferno fueled by dry conditions and southern California's infamous Santa Ana winds, creating what fire officials call a, quote, particularly dangerous situation. Some wind gusts reaching 40 to 60 miles per hour. The flames destroying some homes and threatening businesses, even the iconic Malibu pier.

GABRIELLE SALGADO, PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY STUDENT: It has definitely been a stressful and very tiring night.

MIRACLE: Hundreds at nearby Pepperdine University had to shelter in place for hours in the campus library. Classes were canceled on Tuesday.

SALGADO: I called my friends, found whatever friends I had in the same residential hall as me, and I just packed a bag. We look out the window and you know the sky is red.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MIRACLE (on camera): And, Wolf, there is zero percent containment around this fire right now.

And as you can see right behind me, this plume of smoke, its exploded in just the last hour. This is happening right behind the apartment complex that we're standing in front of the flames overtaking a canyon right behind us. That is a big concern for firefighters.

Also, another concern is the winds are expected to pick up this evening. So firefighters are racing to get a handle on this fire -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Veronica miracle in Malibu, California, for us -- Veronica, thank you very, very much.

And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:58:14]

BLITZER: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finally took the stand today in his corruption trial. He's facing criminal charges of bribery and forgery from a 2019 indictment.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond was inside court -- Jeremy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the Israeli prime minister made history today, although perhaps not the kind of history that he would like to be making. He became the first sitting Israeli prime minister to testify in his own defense in a criminal trial.

The Israeli prime minister took the stand for nearly six hours today, taking questions from his own defense attorneys.

But really, what it ended up being was the Israeli prime minister issuing long diatribes on everything from foreign policy to his attacks on the media, all as he tries to defend himself in a series of cases that effectively boil down to corruption allegations.

These are three cases, Case 1000, 2000, and case 4000 that have been lumped together. They include charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. They stem from allegations that the Israeli prime minister did favors for businessmen in exchange for lavish gifts, hundreds of thousands of dollars, for example, in gifts like cigars, champagne and jewelry. And also that he did those services in exchange for favorable media coverage.

And beyond the history, this is also quite an extraordinary moment because of the timing. This is a sitting Israeli prime minister testifying during wartime. That's part of the reason why the proceedings today were held in Tel Aviv instead of Jerusalem, because this courthouse has an underground courtroom that effectively served as a bunker for the prime minister's testimony.

He will be testifying over the course of several weeks, as many as three times a week, for as long as six hours per day. Initially, he will be taking questions from his own attorneys, but then things will quickly turn to the more serious cross-examination by these prosecutors.

Again, the Israeli prime minister denying all wrongdoing. This case, though once a verdict is issued, something that could take some time, he does face the possibility of several years in prison and if convicted, he would have to resign as prime minister -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv, thanks very much.

And to our viewers, thanks very much for watching.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.