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House Bill To Avert Shutdown Appears Headed Toward Passage; Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) Speaks After House Passes Bill To Avert Shutdown; Officials Say, Two Dead, Dozens Hurt In Car Attack On German Market; Luigi Mangione At Federal Facility With Long History Of Holding High-Profile Detainees; U.S. Removing $10 Million Bounty On New De-Facto Syrian Leader. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired December 20, 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: And welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer and you're in The Situation Room.

We're following major breaking news right now. The U.S. House of Representatives appears to be on the verge of approving a bill to avert a federal government shutdown. The paradigm plan now winning support from both Democrats and Republicans after Donald Trump set off a scramble here in Washington when he tanked a previously negotiated bipartisan deal.

Let's get right to our Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju is up on Capitol Hill. Manu, update our viewers on the very latest.

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. This is on the verge of passing, Wolf, averting a scare at the last-minute government shutdown just on the horizon in a matter of hours. But now the House is poised to pass this bill well over the threshold. A two thirds majority needed to pass this bill that would keep the government open up until mid-March.

Right now, it's at 366 to 34 vote. That's well over the 290 votes that would be needed, assuming all members are here and present, so that in right now, it looks like more -- it looks like it's broken down a lot of Republicans in favor of it. Well, 170 Republicans voting in the affirmative, just 34 voting against it. And the Democrats -- more Democrats have supported this, in fact, 196 Democrats. There's not a single Republican Democratic no vote.

Now, this came all after a scare over the last several days. And then the aftermath of Donald Trump intervening late and scuttling a separate bipartisan deal that had been reached. It appeared to be on a glide path to becoming law. Trump demanding major changes, including to include an increase of the national debt limit, something he wanted off the table so he won't have to deal with it in the next Congress. That is a perennially difficult issue for Congress to deal with. He didn't want to have to handle it. He said, deal with it now.

But Congress had a very difficult time in responding to that demand. In fact, one of the proposal backed by him yesterday failed. That went down with the opposition of 38 Republicans and Democrats because of that demand of Donald Trump's to include the national debt limit. So, today, all day long, they've been negotiating behind closed doors trying to figure out how to placate Donald Trump's concerns and win over Democrats as well.

And it looks like, Wolf, the gavel just came down and that this bill has, in fact, passed the House of Representatives. It will be go over now to the Senate, and that's where they'll act on this later tonight, Wolf. And so at the moment, this bill, which was includes an extension of government funding up until mid-March, also aid to farmers, about $10 billion for farmers hit hard by different difficult conditions around the country and $100 billion or so for communities ravaged by natural disasters, all part of this bill.

But that issue of the national debt limit was taken apart out of this bill and sent to deal with in the next Congress, putting that on Donald Trump's plate and really defying Donald Trump's public demands over that issue over the last several days. But Trump simply did not have the votes. The final vote, Wolf, was 366 to 34, passing this bill out of the House of Representatives just moments ago. 34 Republicans voted against it and one Democrat voted present. The rest of the Democrats voted for it.

So, an overwhelming vote in the House of Representatives just hours before the shutdown deadline and now on to the Senate, which will expect it to give overwhelming passage later tonight. Wolf?

BLITZER: So once the Senate passes it, this legislation later tonight, it'll then go to the White House and then President Biden has to sign it into law. So, it looks like it's a done deal that there won't be a federal government shutdown.

RAJU: And very much so, Wolf. And despite the scares here and the question is going to be here about how Donald Trump was placated, was he placated by the decision by the speaker of the House essentially to pull out that demand of Donald Trump's to increase the national debt limit? That was a red line for Democrats. They did not want to give in on that because they want to -- they see that as leverage they can use in the next Congress to fight the Trump agenda.

And Donald Trump wanted it off the table. He said -- he, in fact, threatened to go after Republicans who opposed him on that issue and threatened them with primary challenges in their next elections.

[18:05:04]

But some Republicans simply ignored that request, showing the limits of Donald Trump's power here on Capitol Hill.

The question is going to be, how is Donald Trump -- is he okay with the speaker taking that step? And what will the speaker -- what is his own path to power, to stay in power in the House? January 3rd, a key date to watch in just a couple of weeks, that's when the speaker's race will occur on the floor of the House. A lot of Republicans were unhappy, particularly those on the far right of this House Republican conference, unhappy with his handling of all of this.

Several of them who I've talked to on the way up to votes would not commit to voting for him on January 3rd, Wolf. And he can only lose a couple of votes on the House floor to be reelected speaker. So, we'll see if Donald Trump says anything about this bill, says anything about the speaker's handling of this, or backs him for reelection for speaker, as he's done in the past. That's going to be a huge question as Republicans now grapple with the incoming president and Trump grapples with the fact that some Republicans defied what he had demanded over the last couple of days.

BLITZER: Very interesting, indeed. Manu Raju, a very busy guy up on Capitol Hill, thank you very, very much.

I want to get some analysis from our political experts who are here with me in The Situation Room. Jeff Zeleny, a whirlwind 48 hours up and down, now it's up. It looks like it's going to pass. There will not be a federal government shutdown. Give us your sense of how significant this is.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, I mean this was yet one more example. We've lost track of how many recent examples there have been of spending bills. They come just to the brink of a government shutdown. But one thing that people know since the government shutdown of the first Trump administration, they are not good politics, particularly right before Christmas. This was something that obviously both sides have viewed was not a good thing.

But we learned a lot from the last 48 hours or so that will be instructive heading into the next year. One, Speaker Johnson, how weakened is he by all of this? We don't know quite yet. He's obviously hoping that, you know, some holiday charity perhaps steps in here and people forget some of this come January 3rd, but we'll see about that. But we also learned that Elon Musk is clearly much more influential than we even assumed.

So, look, as the Senate passes this this evening, presumably, obviously they want to get out of town as well. We know that in the Trump era, it is going to be a challenge to govern. And the debt ceiling, we know why the president-elect wanted to get it out of the way now. But it is not -- this is going to be a huge cloud and a challenge that's going to be awaiting him next year.

BLITZER: Once he's sworn in as president on January 20th. Kristen Holmes is with us. Kristen, earlier today, Trump posted this. Let me read what he posted. If there's going to be a shutdown of government, let it begin now under the Biden administration, not after January 20th under Trump. This is a Biden problem to solve. But if Republicans can help solve it, they will. What are you hearing right now of the reaction from inside the Trump camp?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, of course, Donald Trump and his allies want to pin this on the Biden administration, despite the fact that even Republicans have said publicly, some of them, that it was Donald Trump himself and Elon Musk who tanked this bill. They were expecting it to pass and then he tweeted out that anyone who voted for it should be primaried.

So, the idea that this would fall on Biden, particularly when we haven't really seen Biden in the spotlight at all on this, it seems pretty farfetched. But, of course, this is Donald Trump trying to posture, trying to say that it's not going to fall on him.

The one thing I do want to point out here, I think it's interesting, is I want to go back to what Jeff was saying about Speaker Johnson, because I really think this is going to be one of the most interesting dynamics here, particularly when it comes to Johnson, Trump and Elon Musk. A few moments ago, Elon Musk seemingly was posting support of Johnson, saying the speaker did a good job with what he had.

We know that usually what Elon has said in the past has come from Donald Trump. But then I got a text from a senior advisor essentially saying that this was Johnson's fault, not Donald Trump's fault, that Trump had mentioned that he wanted to deal with the debt ceiling early on and that this was something that Johnson knew before putting forward this negotiated bill.

The reason why that's interesting is that, clearly, they're throwing Johnson under the bus. So, how this dynamic actually ends up playing out and where Trump's head is at, that'll be interesting to see as we go into the speaker's race.

BLITZER: A lot of questions still remain. Lauren Tomlinson, let's talk a little bit about the impact this is going to have on your party, the Republican Party. You're a Republican strategists. What is the state of chaos in the Republican Party right now?

LAUREN TOMLINSON, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I think what you're seeing is, you know, it's a unhappy coalition right now, and it has been for a while with the Republican Party of the new members coming in, more of the Trumpians and the establishment. And I think we're going to see this type of push and pull, especially as these new members come in in the next Congress.

I also think it's interesting because Johnson -- I kind of agree with you on Johnson's going to get the blame for this.

[18:10:02]

He hasn't been able to lead his people throughout this. We've had lots of little scares like this throughout the past year. And I think this says a lot about what he should have done, which is he should have taken this head on, not just with the debt ceiling and negotiating with Trump early, but also passing the 12 appropriation bills in order. He had time to do this throughout the year. We could have had a lot of these debates before now.

So, I think that what you're going to see is it was a wish list for them to clear the decks for Trump to come in and have an aggressive agenda, but the honeymoon period is over. So, Trump is now going to have to move from his campaign promises to what he's actually able to accomplish with a government that, at least in January, he'll have full control of. BLITZER: What does it say to you, Ashley Etienne, that more Democrats voted for this legislation tonight than Republicans?

ASHLEY ETIENNE, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT BIDEN: I mean, it says that Jeffries has the strongest hand in any negotiation. Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader, has the strongest hand in any negotiation, and will as we move into the next term. The Republicans are going to have the smallest majority, second smallest majority in American history after January. So, it's a new day for Donald Trump and Elon Musk. They're going to have to adjust themselves.

But here's two really big takeaways for me, Wolf. One, this is Donald Trump's first loss. That cannot be overstated. His party bucked him, and the reality is they need Democratic votes. The second is, I feel for Jeffries. I used to work for Speaker Pelosi. And what you need when you're governing is a level of certainty, especially from the White House. So, the question is, who's in charge? Who's in control? Is it Elon Musk? Is it Donald Trump?

I mean, you know, the question, the outstanding question there leaves, I think, Johnson in this perilous position going forward. And that's really going to really put on full display the fact that Republicans have a sort of a lack of an ability to govern.

So, it's just going to be a tough new world for Elon Musk and Donald Trump that they're going to have to adjust to. You might have the majority in both chambers, but they're so slim that you're going to have to make concessions. And Democrats are going to have a strong hand.

BLITZER: Do you agree, Jeff?

ZELENY: I mean, I think there's no doubt about it. I mean, this was a preview of -- I'm looking back or thinking back to the 38 Republicans who voted last night against Donald Trump. I was not expecting that to happen until much later in his time as president. So, look, a lot of them will be on board for policy matters, but the issue of spending, it is just to be doubled this Republican conference.

And Donald Trump is not a fiscal conservative. He's never really acted like he was. He's shown, you know, really zero interest in entitlement reform or other things, but a lot of Republicans on the Hill are. So, I think those 38 Republicans, it's going to be fascinating to see the willingness to confront the new president.

BLITZER: Do you have any doubt that this is going to pass the U.S. Senate tonight in order to avert the midnight deadline and keep the government operating?

ZELENY: No doubt at all. I mean, the Senate, obviously, the adults in the room largely, A, the time is running out before Christmas. They want to be back in their districts. I have no doubt that this will pass the U.S. Senate.

BLITZER: And how's Trump going to react to all of this? HOLMES: Well, that's a big question, right? And I think that's what Jeff was getting at too, particularly with these 38 Republicans who voted against him last night. And that came after Elon Musk essentially said that anyone who voted against or voted for the bill that, you know, against the second Trump-endorsed proposal will, should be primaried. Then it seemed as though people --

BLITZER: Hold on one second, Kirsten. The speaker is speaking right now. Let's listen in.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): We are really grateful that tonight in bipartisan fashion with overwhelming majority of votes. We passed the American Relief Act of 2025. This is a very important piece of legislation. It funds the government, of course, until March of 2025. That was a big priority for us. This is America First legislation because it allows us to be set up to deliver for the American people.

In January, we will make a sea change in Washington. President Trump will return to D.C. and to the White House, and we will have Republican control of the Senate and the House. Things are going to be very different around here.

This was a necessary step to bridge the gap, to put us into that moment where we can put our fingerprints on the final decisions on spending for 2025.

We also, in this bill, as you know, took care of Americans who desperately needed and deserve the assistance. We had a record hurricane season. Hurricanes Helene and Milton in particular did dramatic damage across at least six states, the Carolinas, Virginia, from Florida, Tennessee, all the way through. And they have been waiting for the federal government to assist. We did that tonight in this bill.

We also took care of our farmers, many of whom were on the brink of collapse, because of Bidenomics, frankly. Because the inflationary cost of their inputs and the inability they have right now to get loans from the banks and the lenders to put their crops in the ground, to put the seeds in the ground in the spring, so we had to take care of that, and we did.

We are excited about this outcome tonight. We're grateful that everyone stood together to do the right thing, and having gotten this done now as the last order of business for the year, we are set up for a big and important new start in January.

[18:15:07]

We can't wait to get to that point.

We encourage swift passage in the Senate now. They need to do their job, as the House just did. We will all go home.

I want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year, because I hope not to see you until we get back after that. So, we -- I was in constant contact with President Trump throughout this process, spoke with him most recently, about 45 minutes ago. He knew exactly what we were doing and why, and this is a good outcome for the country. I think he certainly is happy about this outcome as well.

Elon Musk and I talked within about an hour ago and we talked about the extraordinary challenges of this job. And I said, hey, you want to be speaker of the House? I don't know. He said this may be the hardest job in the world. I think it is.

But we're going to get through this. We are going to unify this country and we are going to bring the America First agenda to the people beginning in January. We cannot wait to get started. I hope you all have a great holiday.

BLITZER: All right. The speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, not answering reporters' questions but making an important statement, praising the decision, the vote that just occurred in the House of Representatives, averting a government shutdown, which would have gone into effect at midnight tonight, federal employees would stop being paid. It would have caused enormous damage, enormous problems for the U.S. But now it'll go to the Senate, where it's almost certainly going to pass. Then President Biden will sign it into law, all of that happening before midnight tonight. There won't be a government shutdown.

Let's get your reaction. Let me start with you.

ETIENNE: Yes. No, I think it's a great thing for America that we're passing this bill. A shutdown is incredibly devastating. The last time we had one was under the Trump administration was the longest in American history, 35 days, costs more than $11 trillion to the American public. So, I'm glad that they came together in a bipartisan way to pass this bill.

But what happened today, this whole debacle, really foreshadows the chaos and the uncertainty that we can all come to expect in this next term. And, you know, and I think the American people need to become sober and clear-eyed about, again, not just who's in charge, but how it affects their lives. So, again I'm glad they came together in a bipartisan way to pass this.

BLITZER: I thought it was interesting, Lauren, that the speaker, Mike Johnson, said earlier today, he spoke with both Trump and Elon Musk. He was basically, seemingly equating the two, and he said Trump was happy about what was going on.

TOMLINSON: Yes. I'm so -- I was -- I think there was a lot of anxiety and excitement about how Elon Musk and DOGE were going to operate within Washington, because it wasn't an official capacity, right? I mean, they had no official powers. I think we saw that, how they're going to react today. It's an influence campaign. They're going to be making recommendations. And I think that through X through social media, they will be pushing government to do things and then also using the amazing amount of money that they have for a lot of these primaries and other things to pressure members into votes that they want. So, that was interesting to me.

But I think that Elon Musk is going to have a harsh awakening at some point because Trump is not going to want to share the spotlight with Elon Musk forever. So, it's really just a question of how long this will go on and how long Elon will continue to have as much power as he does at this moment.

ETIENNE: I was just going to add, I've worked for two presidents. And, you know, when you work in the White House, the one thing everyone says is no one gets ahead of the president, and Elon Musk got ahead of the president. So, I think it's going to be interesting to see whether or not Democrats, my advice to Mr. Jefferies would be to play their egos against each other, right, and to create a separation and divide, but continue to raise this question. Is the world's most richest man running our government?

BLITZER: Two very, very big egos right now.

ETIENNE: Absolutely.

BLITZER: Everybody stand by. There's a lot more. We're watching. We're going to stay on top of this breaking story. We're also going to talk to one Republican Congressman who voted no on this bill.

And there's another breaking story, major breaking story we're following right now, a deadly attack on a Christmas market in Germany. Police say a man plowed his car into a crowd of people. A live report on the death toll and the investigation with the suspect in custody, all that coming up.

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[18:20:00]

BLITZER: More now on the major breaking news we're following. The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly voting to avert a government shutdown after days of panic here in Washington and indeed around the country.

Joining us now, Republican Congressman Rich McCormick of Georgia. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

I know you're one of the 34 Republicans who voted against this spending bill. Why did you vote against what the President-elect Trump wanted?

REP. RICH MCCORMICK (R-GA): Well, in my opinion, there has to be a conservative conscience. And I believe that us 34 kind of were the original DOGE, if you will. We're the people who are conservative. We believe that the C.R.s that we keep on voting for are really, in this case, an omnibus, or a minibus, if you will. We've done nothing in two years.

And when I came up here, I promised to address the debt crisis, and it is a crisis. As a matter of fact, right now, that trillion dollars of interest we're paying this year is taking up a considerable amount of the money we spent in Congress already. And then add to that. In about nine years, 45 percent of our entire budget will be spent on interest payments on our debt if we continue what we're doing right now.

We simply can't do that anymore. Our children deserve better. I'm trying to save Social Security from bankruptcy. They'll have an automatic cut of 21 percent in about nine years. And actually, even sooner than that, because just two weeks ago, we voted to increase spending by $300 billion in a recent bill that a lot of Republicans voted for. I just don't think that's sustainable.

BLITZER: So, let me just be precise, Congressman On this specific issue, you disagree with Trump?

[18:25:00]

MCCORMICK: I specifically disagree with this bill. When I look at bills, I don't say who's for it, who's against it. I know what's right, I know what my people want me to do. I know what I was sent here for. It's not a matter of having input from people outside of my staff and my constituency. To me, it's about doing the right thing for America's future.

And if we don't do that, why are we even here? There's always a great cause to spend money on. But if we keep on doing what we're doing, we will bankrupt Social Security. We will bankrupt Medicare. We will bankrupt Medicaid. We want to be a country of the past if we continue doing what we're doing. We're leading the world, other than Japan, we're leading the world in debt to GDP ratio, when the GDP of $27 trillion, that should be scary to people. We should realize that we are the world standard of currency. If we continue to do what we do, we won't be anymore.

BLITZER: Elon Musk just posted just a little while ago that the House Speaker Johnson did a good job handling all of this given the circumstances. Do you agree with Elon Musk?

MCCORMICK: I think he's done his best job. I don't think that this is an easy job at all. You have a very narrow majority in Congress. Even going into next year, you'll have a bigger majority in the Senate than you will in Congress. So, I get it, hardest job in the world. I totally understand. I watched his interview right before I came on. My heart goes out to him.

There's no easy answers for this, but to fulfill our promises. It starts with having a win. In two years, I have not seen any decrease in the deficit spending. As a matter of fact, we've increased it. I've seen several times where we didn't just pass a C.R., we passed an omnibus. And that's not what we promised to do.

BLITZER: Don't you worry, Congressman, what would have happened in our country in the coming days if this legislation had failed and there would have been a federal government shutdown, the implications for millions and millions of Americans out there?

MCCORMICK: I worry about America's future in general. I want to see the budget done the right way. You could have done to pay-for. You can't tell me that the 40 percent of FEMA that we spent this year was spent on COVID, which was over two years ago. I'm an E.R. doctor. I've been there, done that. My last E.R. shift was two years ago, almost to the day, and that has been over for two years, yet we're still paying 40 percent of our FEMA. That's what we just bailed out in this one. $113 billion more added to the debt on top of the $300 we just added a couple of weeks ago, that's another half a trillion to your children's debt that they'll have to pay for future generations. And we did that knowing that the COVID money shouldn't have been allotted for that, but 40 percent.

And guess what's going to happen in 2025? We just voted to do that again. We could have had to pay-for, we could have saved money. You know there's a ton of waste, fraud, and abuse in government, but we did not address that. We chose to do it the easy way instead of the right way.

BLITZER: Does Speaker Johnson, Congressman, have your vote when he's up for re election on January 3rd? Do you think he will survive this whole ordeal?

MCCORMICK: I think he has a pretty good chance if he has President Trump's support. I don't want to go through what we went through last time. I don't want to waste time with that. I want to have us come to a consensus on a speaker right away so we can get to work, because we have a lot of work to do.

BLITZER: Congressman Rich McCormick of Georgia, thanks so much for joining us.

MCCORMICK: A pleasure, thank you.

BLITZER: Coming up, we're also following breaking news in Germany right now, where at least two people are dead and dozens more injured after a car attack on a Christmas market. We'll have the latest details, that's coming up next right here in The Situation Room.

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[18:30:00]

BLITZER: All right. Let's get to another major story we're following right now, the breaking news out of Germany. A vehicle attack in the city of Magdeburg killing at least two people and injuring dozens more, many of them seriously, at a Christmas market only a few days before Christmas.

Our Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Matthew Chance is gathering details for us. What's the latest, Matthew?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, absolutely horrific scenes just five days before Christmas in that German -- sorry, that German city, about 200 miles to the west of the capital Berlin. There's video of the moment a vehicle, a black car, struck a crowded Christmas market in the town, sending sort of bodies flying left, left and right, leaving a trail of destruction behind it. We're not showing that video because it's just simply too horrific, but lots of casualties, we're talking about 68, possibly more casualties, at least two people killed. And, of course, the fear is that that death toll could rise because some of the injuries are said to be extremely serious.

Now, the police who have obviously arrived there in some force have taken into custody the driver, the suspected attacker. He hasn't been named, but he has been identified as a Saudi -- you know, somebody from Saudi Arabia. But it's -- apparently, he's been living in Germany since 2006, so, you know, nearly 20 years. So, he'd be considered German by most Germans, I expect.

But nevertheless, you know, it helps to perhaps start to paint a picture of what's gone on here, because this isn't the first time. You know, we don't know exactly what the motivation is, obviously, yet, but there's not the first, you know, that there's been previous attacks in Germany on Christmas markets by organizations like the Islamic State back in 2016, more than a dozen people killed when a Christmas market was rammed by a truck back then, dozens more people injured as well.

And I think the probability is that we're looking at a similar modus operandi on this occasion, but we're waiting for police to confirm that.

BLITZER: Yes. And one of those killed was a little toddler. So heartbreaking, indeed.

[18:35:02]

Matthew Chance, thank you very much for that update.

I want to get some insight from our panel of experts, and, Kevin Baron, let me start with you. Police have not confirmed if this was an act of terrorism. But based on the video, based on what you've seen so far, what do you think?

KEVIN BARON, FORMER EXECUTIVE EDITOR, DEFENSE ONE: Well, it sure sounds like to follow the pattern of Christmas market attacks that we just heard about, you know, in Germany, this has been a new story leading into the holiday of people asking for more protection for the markets and if they're safe. And the reality is, you know, we're in this period, or this phase where, you know, markets, if this is -- it's just one way to carry out an attack with the vehicle. You know, we went through periods of bombings and mass shooting attacks like the Bataclan in Paris years back.

But between France, between Germany, between other countries and the E.U. elections this year, there's a lot of far right animosity going on. There's a lot of hate toward the migrants and immigrants in those countries. So, we could speculate if it comes to be that this is similar to the previous attacks, it might be right in that vein.

BLITZER: Peter Neumann is with us as well. Peter, as we heard in Matthew Chance's report, the driver has been arrested. German officials say he's a 50-year-old man, originally from Saudi Arabia, a doctor, actually, and had been living in Germany since 2006. What does this description tell you?

PETER NEUMANN, PROFESSOR OF SECURITY STUDIES, KING'S COLLEGE LONDON: So, the profile is actually quite unusual. It's a middle aged man, 50 years old. Typically, when we speak about this kind of terrorist attack, we suspect younger, people in their 20s or even teenagers. He's a well-established man in Germany. He's a doctor who earns a living. He's highly qualified.

And here comes the really interesting thing. Just in the last minutes, the German authorities released the name of the person. And if you read his Twitter profile, he has a Twitter profile, it is actually not what you think. It's someone who is a militant atheist, who considers himself to be an ex-Muslim, and who believes that Germany is Islamizing Europe. So, it's actually the opposite of what you consider to be an Islamist or a jihadist or someone who is a supporter of ISIS.

So, I would say at this point, if it turns out to be the person that we're talking about, the motivation is very unclear.

BLITZER: I just want to point out that CNN, at least so far, has not confirmed that reporting that you just mentioned, very significant, potentially, reporting. We haven't confirmed it, at least not yet.

Kim Dozier, you recently actually, I'm told, visited a Christmas market in Germany. You were in Berlin. Set the scene for us. What are these markets like?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, the one I went to in the center of Berlin was, from my perspective, really well protected it was set up in an area with traffic cones, traffic bollards, the type of traffic barrier that prevents a ramming attack like this. Once you got inside those bollards, it was very packed.

I got to say, the moment I heard these reports, I thought back to being packed in that crowd and wondered how I would find cover if a car came screaming at me there. But it's a place where people let their guards down, even though the German interior minister earlier this year, this fall, was saying, Christmas markets are a potential target, but she didn't, at that point, report any actual intelligence, anything to indicate that there was a specific plot.

And what we've seen so far, if you add in what Peter's saying about this social media account that may or may not belong to assailant, it raises a question. Could this be related to ISIS, to Gaza, or to a person who is an extremist who just saw a method that he copycatted from previous terrorist attacks to express himself?

BLITZER: And as we've noted, there's a history of these kinds of terrorist attacks at these Christmas markets in Germany, very disturbing indeed.

All right, guys, thank you very, very much. We'll stay on top of this story, to be sure.

Just ahead, it's now up to the U.S. Senate to pass a bill to avert a federal government shutdown after the House of Representatives just approved a last minute measure, all this happening just before tonight's midnight deadline. We'll talk with Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy. There you see him. He's standing by live.

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[18:40:00]

BLITZER: I'm going to get some more reaction right now to the major breaking news here in Washington. The U.S. House of Representatives passing a plan to fund the federal government and to avert a federal government shutdown just hours before tonight's midnight deadline.

I want to bring in Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut who's watching all of this, like all of us are. Senator, thanks so much for joining us.

You and your colleagues in the Senate now are expected to pass this bill tonight to avert a government shutdown. What's your reaction to today's dramatic turn of events?

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): Well, I'm reviewing the legislation right now, but it's really stunning what 24 hours. You have seen the power that these billionaires have over Donald Trump. What matters is not what's good for the country. What matters is what these billionaires want.

What we understand happened today that allowed for the passage of this bill through the House is a deal between Trump, his billionaire advisers, and House Republicans. That deal was that there was a promise that the House would cut $2.5 trillion mostly from Medicare and Medicaid, that's healthcare for seniors and poor people, in next year's session.

[18:45:01]

That's extraordinary. That is what the billionaires, like Elon Musk, were demanding apparently to free up room so that they could also pass a massive tax cut for the very, very rich. So nobody wants to shut down the government during the holidays.

And so I trust this bill is going to pass tonight. That's good news. But it's very bad news that this deal was struck in which Republicans look like they're going to cut Medicare and Medicaid, really important programs for really vulnerable people to the bone next year.

BLITZER: But, Senator, in the House, what does it tell you that more House Democrats than Republicans voted in favor of this bill?

MURPHY: Well, the bill did not include the thing that Donald Trump and Musk and Ramaswamy were asking for. The billionaires wanted for the debt ceiling to be raised that would allow them to borrow trillions of dollars next year. All that debt on the backs of average workers in America in order to fund that tax cut for billionaires and corporations.

So I assume that many Republicans in the House voted against it tonight because it didn't include the greasing of the wheels in the way that Trump wanted to pass that tax cut next year for the very, very rich. There was this side deal in which they agreed to cut funding for the poor, but maybe that wasn't good enough for Trumps allies in the House.

BLITZER: So when the House passed bill comes up in the Senate tonight, how are you going to vote?

MURPHY: Well, I'm still reviewing it. I don't commit my vote until I've read the bill and the house just sent it to the senate. So we'll all make a decision in the coming hours as we read the legislation. Obviously, none of us want the government to shut down for the holidays. I'm going to be predisposed to keep the government open, but I want to -- I want to read what the House has sent us first.

BLITZER: Elon Musk, the world's richest man, after being the first to try to tank the original spending bill, a bipartisan compromise just posted on X, praising how Speaker Johnson handled all of this. What do you make of that?

MURPHY: Well, listen, I think that Musk and all these billionaires are part of Trump's orbit right now because they're trying to influence the rules, rig the rules in their favor. Listen, there was a provision in the original version of the continuing resolution that would have made it harder for Musk to do business in China.

Obviously, Musk makes a lot of money off of his car business in China. That provision was eliminated. And the bill that went through the House was much more favorable to some of the billionaires' business interests. I think that's what next year is going to be.

The billionaires that surround Trump are going to weigh legislation based upon whether it makes them more money. And, you know, maybe the reason that the billionaires supported the final package today is that it made it easier for them to outsource jobs to China.

BLITZER: President Biden, as you know, was essentially nowhere, at least publicly, to be found in all of this debate that's been going on, even though he, of course, is the sitting president of the United States who will ultimately later tonight, assuming it passes the Senate, have to sign this into law, this bill. We've heard and seen the president very little in recent weeks.

Is he ceding a lot of ground right now already to the President-elect Trump?

MURPHY: Well, President Biden is still very involved. He's speaking to members of Congress individually, and the White House has, you know, made their feelings about this legislation known. I do think it's pretty traditional after, you know, a president has either lost or has finished his final term to kind of take a big step back as the transition is happening.

So I think what you're seeing today is not necessarily very different than what happens in these circumstances. But the White House, you know, has been in active communication with the Democratic leadership. I know, in the Senate and the House about their feelings about these different proposals. The truth of the matter is, you know, Democrats haven't had much to say here because this has mostly been an internal fight within the Republican Party about how they best want to get ready for their priority next year, which is a tax cut for corporations and the very, very rich.

BLITZER: Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, thank you so much for joining us.

MURPHY: Thank you.

BLITZER: And coming up, a United States delegation goes to Syria to meet with the day facto leader who had a multimillion dollar bounty on his head. The latest on the renewing diplomatic relationship that's emerging right now with Syria. That's next.

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BLITZER: Tonight, Luigi Mangione is being held at a federal facility in New York with a history of holding very high-profile detainees. The suspected killer joining a long line of current and former celebrity inmates, including Sean "Diddy" Combs.

CNN's Brynn Gingras has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From Ivy League rich kid to inmate number 52503-511.

That is Luigi Mangione's new identification inside the walls of Brooklyn's notorious Metropolitan Detention Center, commonly known as MDC. The 26-year-old is the latest high profile inmate at the federal detention center. Former inmates include sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein's accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, pharma bro Martin Shkreli and R. Kelly.

Currently, Sean "Diddy" Combs is also being held there on federal charges, including sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. Mangione and Combs, also sharing a lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, who was working on Mangione's case with his wife and lead counsel, Karen.

MARC AGNIFILO, ATTORNEY: I'm going to try and minimize the amount of time he spends in very, very difficult and I believe, inhumane housing conditions in the -- in the special housing unit of the metropolitan detention facility.

[18:55:05]

GINGRAS: Agnifilo recently argued to move the music mogul before trial because of the conditions at MDC. While the department wouldn't confirm details of any specific inmate, policy shows upon arrival, they undergo a 21-day evaluation to determine in what unit they will be held. Because Mangione's case is high profile, it's likely he will be housed in what's called the SHU, a unit where inmates are separated from the general population largely for safety reasons.

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: His interactions will be limited. I think the oversight will be far more significant. I think he'll be subject to a lot less dangers.

GINGRAS: Donald Trump's former fixer, Michael Cohen, spent a short time there and explained what it's like to CNN.

MICHAEL COHEN, FORMER TRUMP FIXER: He's waking up on a steel bed with a 1-1/2 inch mattress, no pillow in an eight by ten foot cell that, I can assure you, is disgusting.

REP. DAN GOLDMAN (D-NY): We are pushing for basic humanity.

GINGRAS: In recent years, inmates, attorneys and activists have sounded the alarm on issues like violence, overcrowding, staffing shortages, even power outages. In September, a federal judge condemned the facility's conditions, prompting the bureau of prisons to appoint an urgent action team to, quote, take a holistic look at the challenges at MDC Brooklyn.

JACKSON: So, it was a big deal, and I think that tells you all you need to know with respect to what's happening there.

GINGRAS: As for Mangione, a Bureau of Prisons' handbook outlines daily life behind bars, including a 6:00 a.m. wakeup call for breakfast, sweeping and mopping his cell, a new change of clothes three days a week, and a chance to shop in the commissary once every two weeks where he can buy candy bars, crossword books and deodorant.

In Pennsylvania, more than 150 donations were made to Mangione's commissary account. The Bureau of Prisons won't comment on inmates accounts.

Brynn Gingras, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And thanks to Brynn Gingras for that report. Appreciate it very much.

Meanwhile, in Syria, the United States is removing a longstanding $10 million bounty on the country's now de facto new leader. That decision comes after an American delegation actually sat down with the former jihadist, a meeting U.S. officials are calling -- and I'm quoting them now -- productive. The U.S. delegation also received a commitment to help find Austin Tice, an American journalist detained in Syria now for more than a decade, all of this as some Syrian refugees are looking to return home after years and years in exile.

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Before Ahmad Morjan hugs his mother for the first time in 13 years, they both kneel in prayer.

(CRYING)

ABDELAZIZ: Gratitude for a reunion they never believed would come.

This is one of many emotional homecomings across Syria after the sudden fall of the Assad regime.

At just 19 years old, with security forces hunting him down, Morjan fled his family's home in Aleppo. Here he is in 2016 --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!

ABDELAZIZ: -- reporting for an opposition based-media network as barrel bombs rained down from the sky. Later that year, Morjan filmed the exodus as thousands withdrew from the last remaining rebel enclave in Aleppo.

We are leaving with our dignity, Morjan says in this clip, and we will return one day. That promised return is now finally on the horizon. Morjan says he is planning to move back to Aleppo from Gaziantep, Turkey, where he currently lives with his wife and their two young daughters.

What is your dream now for Syria's future?

I'm optimistic about the future, he says. And I have huge hope that the country will be better than before.

But not all are keen to hurry back to an unstable country with an uncertain future, says this human rights defender.

HUSSAM KASSAS, SYRIAN ASYLUM-SEEKER: There's no sustainable peace. And which makes me really afraid of getting back there.

ABDELAZIZ: Hussam Kassas, who is seeking asylum in the United Kingdom, is among tens of thousands of Syrians whose applications for asylum were suspended after the UK and other European countries paused the process to reassess, now that the threat of Assad is gone.

For years, Kassas has documented potential war crimes committed by all major parties to the conflict. If he goes back, he says, his family could be targeted or worse.

Why do you not feel safe to return?

KASSAS: We expected a lot of revenge-killing will happen.

Those soldiers will seek revenge from the people who were trying to hold them accountable actually.

ABDELAZIZ: Many Syrians in the diaspora longed to return and rebuild, but this moment of great hope brings with it great uncertainty.

Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And our special thanks to CNN's Salma Abdelaziz for that report.

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

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.