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Trump Renames Institute of Peace; Suspect Arrested in D.C. Pipe Bomb Investigation; Admiral Briefs Lawmakers on Boat Strike. Aired 11- 11:30a ET

Aired December 04, 2025 - 11:00   ET

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

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Happening now: breaking news. Sources tell CNN that FBI Director Kash Patel is expected to speak in the coming hours after his agency arrested a man suspected of planting pipe bombs around D.C. nearly five years ago. What we know about this development in what had been a cold case.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: We want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

Happening now, Navy Admiral Frank Mitch Bradley is up on Capitol Hill briefing lawmakers about a September attack on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean. The Trump administration is contradicting earlier reports, saying the admiral, not the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, directed a controversial follow-up strike after the first one failed to kill everyone on board.

BROWN: All right, let's go live now to CNN's Arlette Saenz on Capitol Hill.

Arlette, what have you been hearing from lawmakers who were in that briefing?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pamela, Admiral Frank Mitch Bradley is currently briefing lawmakers about these double tap strikes that occurred in the Caribbean on an alleged drug vessel back in September.

And we have started to hear from some lawmakers who met with him this morning. He started his day here on Capitol Hill meeting with members of the House Intelligence Committee. And Congressman Jim Himes, who is the top Democrat on the committee, told reporters that what he saw when he watched the video of this strike in that briefing and heard from Admiral Bradley was one of the most troubling things that he's seen in his time in public service.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JIM HIMES (D-CT): Admiral Bradley defended the decisions taken. And Admiral Bradley has a storied career, but what I saw in that room was one of the most troubling things I have seen in my time in public service.

You have two individuals in clear distress, without any means of locomotion, with a destroyed vessel, who were killed by the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: So I think it's especially important to note that these lawmakers did see the video of these strikes. That is something that an official had told our colleagues covering the Pentagon that would be shown from Bradley in these briefings.

And it comes as lawmakers have said that they want to see this full video, hear the full audio of how this strike transpired, and potentially release this to the public. That is something President Trump expressed some openness to releasing this video just yesterday.

But this all comes as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have intense scrutiny and questions for Admiral Bradley, who was also joined up here by the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, as they are trying to ascertain more information about how these strikes played out.

Now, our team that covers the Pentagon reported earlier today that people briefed on the strike said that the Defense Department was arguing that these survivors were still considered to be -- quote -- "in the fight" because they had radioed for help and theoretically could continue to traffic any drugs that had been on that boat if they were rescued.

It was expected that Bradley would offer this explanation to lawmakers up here on the Hill. But I think one of the big questions we will have for lawmakers after these briefings are whether or not they believe the administration did have the legal authority to take these strikes, this double tap strike, and whether there will be any other oversight or investigations into this matter going forward.

BROWN: And Secretary Hegseth has said that he did not order this second strike, but that he supports Admiral Bradley. Are we hearing anything else from lawmakers about what Admiral Bradley said in regards to Hegseth's role in all of this?

SAENZ: Well, that was a question that was asked of Congressman Jim Himes when he came out of this briefing. He was specifically asked what Hegseth's role was.

And one thing that Himes noted was that Hegseth did not say to kill them all. That was some reporting that had been out there. But I think there's still a lot of questions from these lawmakers about how exactly this order played out, whether there were any contingency plans at the beginning of these strikes as they were weighing how to approach this if there were any survivors from an initial strike.

But, certainly, these are all questions that will continue, these lawmakers will continue to ask Admiral Bradley throughout the day as he is briefing the top leaders on many of the important committees up here, Senate Armed Services, Senate intelligence, and others as well.

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BROWN: All right, Arlette Saenz, thank you so much.

And joining us now is Democratic Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey. He serves on the Senate Foreign Relations and Judiciary committees.

Senator, thank you for coming on.

So, CNN is reporting that the Pentagon officials have been making the case for that controversial follow-up strike because survivors were still -- quote -- "in the fight and radioing in for help." Is that enough to give you confidence in the legality of the Trump administration -- Trump administration strikes on these alleged drug boats?

SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): No, I mean, let's take a step back from this one incident is, what is your justification for blowing up boats?

Now, they're saying they're at war, but we know the Constitution says that they need to come to Congress because only Congress can declare war. So if this is not a war action. These are, in my opinion, criminal actions or should be investigated as such.

What is their justification for blowing up -- we have done drug interdictions on the high seas for a long time, where you have due process, where you arrest people and you try people. But these actions they're taking should be alarming to all Americans as a militaristic expansion like we have never seen before.

So this one incident needs to be investigated. But this whole actions that they're taking to me are unjustified and should also be investigated as well.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: So, Senator, who do you hold responsible for that controversial follow-up strike? And should there be consequences, legal or whatever, for that person, if it turns out that the survivors of the first strike did not pose a real threat to the U.S. military, but were attacked again anyway?

BOOKER: Look, there's a lot -- so much of a noble tradition in our military. And one of the reasons why is because we have processes for investigating people who take actions that are unjustified or illegal.

We need to do this investigation now. The facts to me that I'm hearing are not satisfactory, raise considerable concerns, and should have -- if my concerns are not addressed or the concerns of others, should have real consequences. There needs to be a full congressional investigation. And that is one of the big problems we have right now in our nation,

is that we have Republicans in control of the House and the Senate, who have shown no willingness to investigate, to provide checks and balances to the executive. We have had such serious problems in the United States military, from their failures to pass audits all the way to their -- Signalgate, which we see coming back into the news today with the inspector general report.

Why have the Republicans in Congress continued to give a pass to the Trump administration without holding hearings or investigations? We are in a serious crisis right now. Our constitutional intent should be that Congress should be providing checks and balances and oversight, and we are not doing that.

BLITZER: The president, President Trump, says the U.S. military's efforts are -- quote -- "much beyond" a pressure campaign on the Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro.

How concerned are you, Senator, that the U.S. is headed for potentially a full-blown war, including a ground war, with that country, as President Trump weighs striking Venezuela right now, not just from the air, but from the land as well?

BOOKER: This should outrage all Americans that this kind of adventurism, military adventurism, of this president, who said he was going to be a peacetime president, who said he would stop wars and conflicts, is ramping up to do the exact opposite.

This should concern all of us, and we have seen this play out in our history in the past, where presidents who had war ambitions started what were unjust wars or military action. And so, again, where is Congress? Where is the Republican-controlled Congress?

We know that the Republican base does not want this kind of military intervention or military action. We know the Republican base does not want these billions of dollars being spent for military conflicts. And so where is the investigation?

We should all be demanding congressional hearings, investigations, and holding Donald Trump accountable for what it seems like he's doing military buildup to do.

BROWN: You had mentioned earlier the so-called Signalgate. According to sources familiar with that Pentagon watchdog report looking into it, Secretary Hegseth risked endangering U.S. troops by sharing sensitive war plans on that messaging app Signal back in March.

Well, the Pentagon, for its part, paints the report as a -- quote -- "total exoneration" of the secretary. Between this finding and the controversy surrounding these boat strikes, do you believe Secretary Hegseth should resign or be removed from his office?

BOOKER: Well, first of all, you could put lipstick on a pig and it's still a pig. I don't care how they describe this. This report exposed incompetence.

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We have a secretary of defense who is unqualified, who is incompetent, and who is dangerous. It's one of the reasons why you saw so many significant high-level military career people resigning and leaving the military, because they will not work or serve under someone they find so dishonorable.

So, should he resign? Yes. Should he be fired? Yes. Should Congress be holding hearings as to his qualifications? Yes. And this is not happening. So, again, I am very concerned that the most powerful military on the planet Earth in the history of humanity is being led by someone who is so obviously unqualified and dangerous.

BLITZER: On another very sensitive issue, Senator, while I have you, we're watching these immigration operations in both New Orleans and in Minnesota right now, Minneapolis-St. Paul.

I want to play what President Trump said about Somalis in the Twin Cities area in Minnesota, including Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These Somalians have taken billions of dollars out of our country. They have taken billions and billions of dollars. They have a representative, Ilhan Omar, who they say married her brother. She should be thrown the hell out of our country. And most of those people -- they have destroyed Minnesota, OK?

She should not be -- and her friends shouldn't be allowed -- frankly, they shouldn't even be allowed to be congresspeople, OK? They shouldn't even be allowed to be congresspeople, because they don't represent the interests of our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And he went out to call them garbage. What's your response to that?

BROWN: Uh-oh.

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BLITZER: I think we just lost our connection. But what the president said about these Somali citizens -- almost all of them are U.S. citizens right now. Many of them were actually born in the United States. Calling them garbage, really awful.

BROWN: And now you have ICE going to Minnesota with this expanded immigration crackdown.

So we're going to have to move on. Unfortunately, we lost the senator there, but there is more breaking news this hour.

BLITZER: Law enforcement sources telling CNN that the FBI arrested a man who investigators now believe planted pipe bombs near both the Republican and Democratic National Committee headquarters here in Washington the night before the January 6 Capitol riot back in 2021.

The arrest follows an almost five-year probe to uncover the identity of the bomber, who has only been seen so far in grainy surveillance video shrouded in a hoodie, gloves, and a face mask.

BROWN: All right, let's go live now to CNN senior justice correspondent Evan Perez.

Evan, you have some new information about the suspect.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Pamela, this arrest was made earlier today in Woodbridge, Virginia.

And, as you pointed out, this is a nearly five-year investigation that has really consumed the Washington field office of the FBI,because the alleged bomber has eluded a lot of effort by dozens of agents. They have looked at tens of thousands of video clips. They have looked at and they have done interviews of hundreds of people.

And you can see the grainy video there, the video, surveillance video that the FBI has released trying to get the public to try to help. And because of the pandemic at that era, he was wearing a face mask, wearing a hoodie on a cold winter night, there's not been a lot of tips that have helped.

But in the last few months, we know the FBI brought in a new team, some fresh set of eyes, to look at some of the evidence that they have gathered over the last few years. And that appears to have made the difference. They managed to get a number of new clues that led them to today's arrest.

Now, we expect to hear a lot more about this in the coming hours from the FBI, from the Justice Department. We expect that there's going to be charges that will be announced against this person.

But, again, just to underscore how much effort has gone into this, you will remember that one of the things that was stood out was the Air Max, the Nike Air Max shoes that this suspect was wearing. The FBI went to the Nike. They found about 25,000 of those shoes had been sold around the -- by the time of this incident.

And, yet again, they still ran into a wall as far as trying to find a suspect. So, again, we expect to hear a lot more from FBI officials and from the Justice Department in the coming hours about exactly who this person is and what -- perhaps what was a motivation, because you remember that happened right just before the crowds of Trump supporters broke into the Capitol on January 6 of 2021 -- Pamela, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, I remember. I remember very, very vividly.

Are you hearing anything, Evan, about why this arrest took nearly five years? PEREZ: You know, that has actually bedeviled a lot of agents. And one

of the things that we understand is that they really just could not get through any of the tips. They developed a number of persons of interest, and all of those ended up being dead ends.

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What changed, Wolf, in the last few months was this new team, a fresh set of eyes. This is what happens with cold cases sometimes. Sometimes, somebody who is not -- has not been involved in the case takes a new look at the same evidence and develops some new leads. And that's what they believe made the difference in this case.

BROWN: Wow.

BLITZER: And at least they arrested someone. I remember very vividly, when we learned about those pipe bombs, it was so disturbing and could have killed potentially a lot of people. Thank God it didn't.

BROWN: Yes, and now this arrest was made not far from D.C., right?

BLITZER: Yes.

BROWN: Woodbridge, Virginia.

Evan Perez, thank you so much.

PEREZ: Thanks.

BLITZER: And still ahead: why "The New York Times" wants to take the Pentagon to court over a policy shift with widespread implications.

Lots going on. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

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BLITZER: All right, happening right now, President Trump is meeting over at the White House with the presidents of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The gathering is intended to help advance a deal to end the decades- long conflict in Eastern Congo. President Trump has repeatedly boasted of his role in mediating a long-awaited peace agreement between the two countries.

Alayna Treene is over at the White House for us.

Alayna, Congo and the Rwandan rebel group M23 signed what's called a framework for a deal last month in Qatar. Are we expecting to see a final agreement today?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: We are expected to see them sign a peace agreement today, and they will do that later after they finish meeting here at the White House, Wolf. Look, I'd remind you that this is actually not the first time we have

seen both of these leaders at the White House. I should note they did arrive, both the president of Rwanda and the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, shortly ago, around 11:00 a.m., and they are now meeting, we're told, with the president and his team.

But they were also here back in June. And this meeting today and the peace deal that they're expected to sign later on after they finish meeting here is really an advancement of this deal to end, as you put it, a devastating and persistent conflict between these two nations and one that the U.N. has actually said has resulted in seven million people being displaced.

Now, the agreement that they came and signed back in June was more of an economic agreement. And you heard the president back then really celebrating and touting this deal, specifically the investments that we we're going to see and the minerals that the United States was going to see from Congo. Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're getting for the United States a lot of the mineral rights from the Congo as part of it. They're so honored to be here. They never thought they'd be coming to -- look, this is a very tough part of the world. They never thought -- they were just telling me they never thought they'd ever be coming to the White House, and they're so honored.

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TREENE: Now, Wolf, as you heard him say there, and really in the months since, he's been frequently boasting about this peace framework, this peace agreement between these nations that have long been rivals, but a lot of people have argued that some of that celebrating has been premature.

And I note, even today -- or just -- excuse me -- just yesterday, we saw heavy fighting near the border of Rwanda. And so there's been some questions as well about how stable and long-lasting this framework could be. So keep that in mind.

But to give you a sense, Wolf, of what we're going to see when they do sign this, they're actually not going to be signing this peace framework here at the White House. They're going to be traveling to the Institute of Peace for it.

And just to give you a sense of what's in it, this peace framework is supposed to include the release of prisoners, the resettlement of refugees and humanitarian access. It's also supposed to include an investment to attract billions in Western investments.

And so one thing that's interesting, though, about them having this signing at the Institute of Peace, one, we should note that they just renamed it, the Trump administration, to the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace. But it's also an independent agency that the administration had gutted

earlier this year in part of their efforts to have these widespread costs across the federal government. And so it's going to be an interesting thing to see.

An independent agency that this administration has effectively tried to help shutter, this is where they're going to be having this big announcement with the president's new moniker atop it today. So stay tuned for all of that.

We're hoping we are going to get a chance to have some reporters inside the room to ask both of these leaders, as well as the presidents, questions. But it'll be a full day of events for the three of them, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, it's a beautiful building indeed, that Institute for Peace now called the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace. You have been there, I'm sure. All of us have driven by there, near the State Department, the Lincoln Memorial. It's really -- a really fabulous place.

And it's now going to be called the Trump Institute of Peace.

BROWN: That's right, right.

Yes, Alayna Treene at the White House for us, thank you so much.

And coming up right after the break here in THE SITUATION ROOM, the Minneapolis police chief joins us to discuss the anxiety there as the Trump administration looks to target the Somali community.

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BLITZER: Happening now: The Trump administration has launched its latest immigration crackdown, the target, New Orleans.

Video taken in one of the city's suburbs shows two men standing on a roof as federal agents surrounded a home. They appeared to wait the agents out and came down after they left.

Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, who's leading the administration's immigration enforcement, was seen with dozens of agents in the parking lot of a nearby Home Depot. Bovino spoke about the operation while walking through New Orleans' French Quarter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREGORY BOVINO, EL CENTRO SECTOR U.S. BORDER PATROL CHIEF: We have got several hundred agents spread across the New Orleans area. So it's not just us. So we have got a lot.

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