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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Manhunt Underway For Gunman Who Killed CEO Outside NYC Hotel; UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, Shot and Killed In A Brazen, Targeted Attack Outside NYC Hotel; Hegseth Says Allegations Against Him Are All Rumor, Nothing Sourced; Trump's Team Mulling Options To Possibly Replace Hegseth; Antony Blinken Says Ceasefire Holding Despite Cross-Border Strikes. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired December 04, 2024 - 20:00   ET

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

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They stopped short of saying exactly what that deviation was, only saying that they are currently addressing the matter and finally, on the federal front, multiple law enforcement officials telling CNN that she will likely be specifically charged with being a stowaway on an aircraft without consent, a crime punishable with up to five years in prison, if Dolly is convicted -- Erin.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: The whole situation is so bizarre. All right, Polo, thank you very much, at JFK, where that flight just landed, appreciate that. And thanks so much to all of you for being with us, we appreciate you and AC360 starts now.

[20:00:31]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": Tonight on 360, searching for a killer caught on video, shooting a visiting CEO in cold blood with a pistol and what looks like a silencer in the heart of Midtown Manhattan. Where is the gunman now?

Also, all we're learning about how the victim was targeted and how the gunman got away so far, and what authorities are up to or up against in their manhunt.

Also tonight, what Pete Hegseth is saying in defense of his teetering Defense secretary nomination, when his mom is saying in defense of his behavior and whether any of it will get wavering Republican senators back on board.

Good evening. Thanks for joining us.

And take a look, this is new video just out in "The New York Times". The man you see on the phone, according to the times, is about 14 minutes and just steps away from murdering a visiting CEO. Now, authorities say it was premeditated. Certainly preplanned, a cold blooded assassination this morning outside the Hilton Midtown Hotel on Manhattan's 54th Street at the start of a day that's ending tonight with the lighting of the tree in nearby Rockefeller Center.

Now, these are still photos, apparently the same man, also before the shooting at a Starbucks not far from the crime scene. Now, obviously, if you know who he might be, authorities certainly want to hear from you.

The victim was the CEO of United Healthcare. This man, Brian Thompson 50 years old, married with two kids. He was in the city in New York for the company's annual investor conference at the Hilton, which was scheduled to begin at eight. People had already begun gathering in the conference room upstairs. The video we're about to play is from just outside, and it is startling for a number of reasons.

Now, take a look, in it, you see the shooter's deliberation. That's the CEO, you see the shooters deliberation as he pulls out the pistol. It appears to have a silencer on it, assumes that two-handed firing stance and starts shooting.

Now, just 17 seconds after firing, the first shot, the killer was gone. First on foot, then on what was first believed to be one of those blue and white rental city bikes, which would have been a break because they have GPS trackers on board. Instead, a law enforcement official now tells us it was a regular e-bike, not part of the city bike fleet. The bike was then spotted minutes later in Central Park just a few blocks north of the Hilton.

Now that search, now just over 13 hours old, is turning up new evidence about the getaway. CNN's Shimon Prokupecz is outside the crime scene. What is the latest you're hearing?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, certainly that e-bike is what officials are looking for. They're trying to figure out how this individual escaped, got away from this crime scene, but they also have other things to work with, right now.

They're working with a cell phone, they believe there is a cell phone that may be associated with the gunman that was perhaps dropped, and they are also able to obtain a water bottle. They believe a water bottle that this individual purchased at that Starbucks that he dropped while fleeing. They are working with all this evidence to try and identify the gunman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PROKUPECZ (on camera): At 6:17 AM, the alleged gunman came to this Starbucks, according to law enforcement sources, where he made several purchases just two blocks away from where the shooting happened.

PROKUPECZ (voice over): It's 6:30 AM, a new video obtained by "The New York Times," the shooter walks less than 200 feet away from the soon to be crime scene. He appears to be on the phone.

PROKUPECZ (on camera): At 6:44 AM, Brian Thompson leaves his hotel, which is just across the street. He comes this way to enter the Hilton Hotel, where the conference is and as he's making his way, the gunman is here waiting for him.

JESSICA TISCH, NYPD COMMISSIONER: Many people passed the suspect, but he appeared to wait for his intended target.

PROKUPECZ (voice over): Seconds after Thompson passes him, the gunman begins what police call a targeted attack.

CNN obtained this video, watch as the gunman comes from behind and raises his handgun within feet of Thompson. What happens next is too disturbing to show.

The assassin opens fire, shooting Thompson in the back. Thompson stumbles and looks back at his killer as the gunman walks towards him.

Police say the gun malfunctions, but the shooter clears the jam and continues to fire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE WITNESS: I wasn't paying attention. I was holding my phone. Then I hear the shot. I saw him after he shot him. He ran across the street this way.

PROKUPECZ (on camera): Seconds later police say the gunman flees through an alleyway towards 55th Street, makes a right, and then gets on an e-bike and goes north on 6th Avenue.

PROKUPECZ (voice over): At 6:46 AM, the first 911 call goes out. There's been a shooting outside the Hilton Hotel. Two minutes later, 6:48 AM, officers arrive on scene to find Thompson, a 50-year-old male, lying on the sidewalk, gunshot wounds to his back and leg.

At the same time, the shooter is seen riding his e-bike into Central Park into Center Drive.

[20:05:16]

JOSEPH KENNY, CHIEF OF DETECTIVES AT DETECTIVE BUREAU: The last we see with him on that bike is in Central Park.

PROKUPECZ (voice over): Officers recovered three live nine millimeter rounds and three discharged nine millimeter shell casings at the scene.

TISCH: Every indication is that this was a premeditated, pre-planned, targeted attack.

KENNY: This does not appear to be a random act of violence.

PROKUPECZ: Thompson is transported by EMS to Mount Sinai West Hospital and pronounced dead at 7:12 AM and a citywide manhunt begins.

TISCH: We will not rest until we identify and apprehend the shooter.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: And Shimon, what are authorities saying now about the status of the manhunt?

PROKUPECZ: Well, one of the key things that they're doing, Anderson, is they're trying to collect as much video as they possibly can, surveillance video to try and pinpoint every movement that this individual made, that the gunman made. What's really interesting is that it does appear that for right now at

least, that the gunman knew the movements of his victim because the doors behind me, where all of this happened here, Anderson, those doors where we see the shooting take place, they're closed until eight o'clock in the morning.

So, the fact is, this victim here would have had to walk this entire street onto 6th Avenue, make a right to go in through the main entrance. And as police said, it very much so appears that the shooter was here waiting for the CEO, expecting him to walk up these streets and when he saw him, he shot him.

COOPER: Shimon, do we know, was he staying at that hotel? I mean, do we know why he was -- I mean, he was going for the conference. Was he staying there, do we know?

PROKUPECZ: He was not staying at the Hilton, Anderson. Actually, he was staying -- this is what's also really interesting and that's a really good question because the hotel that he's staying at is directly -- it's kind of half a block from where I am, but it's essentially directly across the street from the Hilton Hotel. He didn't have a lot of -- he didn't need to walk a lot to get inside the hotel.

So, really, you're talking about a block-and-a-half to walk around, to enter the Hilton Hotel. There wasn't a whole lot of walking that he needed to do. And certainly, he was due there at 8:00 AM to speak at this conference. He was going there early to meet with his staff to see some of the people to prepare for the conference, and then, unfortunately, this gunman was waiting for him -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Shimon Prokupecz, thanks very much. I want to, well, actually, before we bring in a law enforcement team, I want to play a brief statement from Brian Thompson's wife, Paulette. She made this to the Minneapolis local station, KARE.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

PAULETTE THOMPSON, BRIAN THOMPSON'S WIFE: Brian was a wonderful person with a big heart and who lived life to the fullest. He will be greatly missed by everybody. Our hearts are broken and we are completely devastated by this news. He touched so many lives. We ask everybody to respect our privacy during this time.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

COOPER: And they have two children.

With me here is CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst, John Miller. Also joining us is from Washington CNN's senior law enforcement analyst and former FBI deputy director, Andrew McCabe.

John, obviously, you worked at NYPD, you've also worked at the FBI. What are you hearing on the latest on this?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, they are focusing on that video canvas they want to see once he goes into the park and that means working through the Upper East Side, the Upper West Side -- where does he pop out and where does he go from there? Because that's something they can keep doing right now.

In the meantime, what they are working on is how do we get into that phone, bypass the lock code and find out what data is in there.

COOPER: Let's talk about the phone. Let's talk about this bottle they found. So, there's the video. We have a photo of him at a convenience store. He's buying two Power Bars, a bottle of water, I believe. Is that right?

MILLER: Right.

COOPER: And later they find that near the scene, they find the bottle near the scene.

MILLER: Right, they find the bottle that's the same brand that he bought at the Starbucks with the two Power Bars. So, they find it near the phone.

So the supposition is at this point that, he's very calm and slow and deliberate during the actual homicide. But then, he starts to run and he's got to put that big gun with the silencer away so the speculation is that's his phone that fell out, that's his water that fell out and that he headed it for that bike.

So, the water could offer DNA. The phone could offer more, depending on -- is it a burner? But we see him using it. Who was he calling? What websites did he see? What searches did he did? Or is it his phone where it would be filled with personal information that could identify him right away.

COOPER: And when we see the -- Andrew, I mean, when you look at this video of the actual assassination, what stands out to you? Because I mean, immediately when I saw it, just the -- you know, who knows what's going on in the, you know, with the adrenaline inside -- with the shooter, but from the outside, he certainly looks like in some form of control.

I mean, he seems to know a little bit about what he is doing. His stance -- he seems, you know, from the outside it looks calm.

[20:10:11]

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: That's exactly right. It looks very disciplined. It looks very organized. It looks like he probably has some degree of training.

You see the stance there with the shoulder-wide separation at the feet. He's got his arms raised up to the level of his eyes. He's got two hands on the grip of that weapon. These are all things that you learn when you're learning marksmanship. His elbows are bent a little bit, which is not perfect but I'm nitpicking a little bit here.

Bottom line is he looks like someone who's had training, maybe law enforcement training, maybe military training, or maybe private training. You can learn those things that way as well.

It's striking to me also that he is so calm. He gets to the set just before within five or 10 minutes before his victim arrives, which also suggests to me that he had some degree of intelligence about when the victim would arrive.

Now, there's many ways that you could get that. You could get that from an insider, which I think is probably unlikely or simply from doing your own surveillance.

He may have seen the victim leave his hotel and then, you know, hustled to get out in front of him. He waits for other people to walk by before he comes out and then he lets the victim pass him before he engages with the firearm, which enables him to set up and take his shots carefully without the victim looking at him and protesting or making, you know, drawing attention or anything like that.

So, all totaled, Anderson, it looks to me to be very disciplined, very organized, well trained, possibly even professional, although we don't know that at this point. But it's chilling. It's an absolutely chilling video to watch.

COOPER: And John, is just -- it's why I asked, Shimon about where the CEO was staying because, you know, the question is how -- was he being surveilled by this person or by other people? Do we know how long he was in town for? Would somebody have been watching him for a while?

MILLER: So, not really. I mean, this is a one-day investor's conference, now he's one of the headliners there so any investor, it's on the website. When you go to their website --

COOPER: It's advertised he will be there, he will be speaking.

MILLER: That's right. But why on that block? I mean the shooter puts himself between the hotel where the event is, where you would assume the people from the event might be staying, and the hotel where he is staying, which is the Marriott Luxe across the street.

Did he have that information? If so, how did he get that information? Because he's right between where that hotel is and the first logical door that he could walk into the Hilton.

COOPER: Right. Because if you heard -- if you had no real information or knowledge of this person, you might think, well, he's staying at the Hilton

MILLER: He could be in the front door, he could be at the lobby.

COOPER: Because he's going to be speaking -- he's going to be speaking at the Hilton. Probably he wanted a hotel, which he felt was a nicer hotel but nearby to actually stay at. But it is a short distance to Shimon's point.

MILLER: Yes, it's right across the street and just down the block.

COOPER: We just learned, Andrew, that the suspect used this e-bike during the getaway, not a trackable city bike, as police originally stated. Obviously, I guess that's a bit of a setback in that there are tracking devices in the city bike.

MCCABE: Yes, that's right, Anderson.

The city bike has a tracker, although I will say it's not quite as helpful as like a tracker on a vehicle, which is readily identifiable. City bikes all look the same. They don't have like license plates on them. So, it's a little tougher to identify.

Nevertheless, he's on an e-bike, which again shows to me a really high degree of planning. It's in many ways the ideal getaway vehicle for Midtown Manhattan, when there likely would be traffic. Hard to get a vehicle -- park a vehicle on the street, move it out of there quickly.

On the city bike, he can really make some, you know, pretty good time there pretty quick. And he can get into the park, which is clearly his chosen mode of escape quickly, blending in with the crowd. He's got the large backpack on which is a very interesting item. It's a backpack from a small company that makes very kind of specialized equipment for outdoor enthusiasts and travelers and things like that. It's not very common.

And it likely is full of clothing that he can use to change his appearance once he's got a second, maybe in the park, maybe behind some cover. And then he can basically walk out of the park into a crowd of New Yorkers, tourists, people walking to work and blend right in. It's really pretty well thought out.

COOPER: John, it's interesting because, you know, Andrew was talking about when we were talking earlier about, you know, from just on the video, he appears calm, or at least, you know practiced to some degree.

Obviously, you never know what adrenaline is like inside somebody, but the fact that he may have dropped his cell phone, he may have dropped his water bottle, even buying something close to the site where you're going to attack somebody, he must have known there are cameras in these stores so, he's not a completely cool customer.

[20:15:27]

MILLER: So, he keeps his hood up. He keeps his surgical mask on kind of COVID style.

COOPER: And the gun jammed multiple times, there's some reporting, right.

MILLER: The gun jams on the first shot. This is what's really interesting is, he clears the jam, just the way you're trained in law enforcement. Just the way you're trained.

COOPER: He doesn't freak out when it's when its jammed.

MILLER: No, he clears it right away tap, rack, bang, and it jams again, tap, rack, bang he clears it again and it jams a third time. Now, that tells us two things. One, he is trained to react immediately to a malfunction of his weapon that suggests that training that Andrew was talking about.

But two, every time he fires around, you get a shell casing, but every time he clears a jam, you get a whole bullet, which is something he might have touched, might have left DNA on.

So, his misfortune with those jams which were probably caused by the silencer.

COOPER: Well, that's what I was going to say. If you have a silencer, doesn't that sometimes cause jams? Because they have to be put on very specifically.

MILLER: So, you thread the silencer and it screws into the barrel. But with these semiautomatic weapons, which are really precision weapons, it can lower the barrel. It can change the balance unless you have a special modification to that silencer, to that weapon it can cause these jams two ways, either altering the balance or sending debris back into the weapon.

COOPER: Andrew McCabe, thanks, John Miller is back shortly with another former veteran New York reporter, Geraldo Rivera, his take on all this.

And next, more on the manhunt from the point where the trail at first seemed to run cold and the getaway bike was last seen. Also, a closer look at the threats against corporate executives in the business of protecting them.

And later, in other news the man who would be Defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, what he said today about the sex abuse and alcohol abuse allegations against him and the backing he believes he has from the president-elect.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:21:03]

COOPER: A video of the suspected Midtown assassin on what a law enforcement official now tells us was not one of New York's familiar, untraceable city bike fleet, just an e-bike. According to this official last seen in Central Park. CNN's Brynn Gingras is just steps away.

How easily, Brynn, could someone disappear in Central Park compared to the rest of the city? Just in terms of the number, obviously, on the street in New York, every store has cameras often on the street. Homes have cameras. In the park, there's cameras on roads, but certainly not as much as on pedestrian streets.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, certainly not, Anderson. I mean, we are talking about nearly 850 square feet of land that this person could have taken off in. Not to mention their subways where you can enter in at the entrance of Central Park.

Also, there is less cameras like you just mentioned, not as many as you would have on the streets.

I am on 6th Avenue right now and I just want to point out for you, Anderson, if I get out of the way and we zoom in a bit you can probably see the sign "Hilton" right there. That is where the hotel where this gunman fired those shots this morning.

So, really not that far since we can zoom in with our cameras and then as we come back out, this is 6th Avenue that we are on, as you guys have mentioned throughout the show, this gunman traveling on an e-bike all the way up 6th Avenue, and that is the entrance of Central Park, where it is believed that he entered at some point this morning. But again, it's so unclear at this point, according to investigators, where exactly he went from there.

There is even, Anderson, as you probably know, an NYPD precinct in the middle of Central Park. So of course, you can imagine those investigators know this area well, know where to look for any video. If there is a video available. These are all, of course, the things that investigators are trying to collect at this point to try to piece together a timeline, but also try to identify who this suspect is.

I can tell you, not too long ago, we actually did see some detectives in this area looking for video as well -- Anderson.

COOPER: Yes, I mean, it's one of the things that police do and obviously like this fan out to every store, to every building and check the security cameras in all those buildings. And if they lose the person then backtrack in different directions in buildings and it's -- you know, it's literally -- you know, you've got to walk the streets, talk to the people in the buildings and start to look at the video.

Brynn, appreciate it.

GINGRAS: Right.

COOPER: We'll check back in with you if the events warrant.

We're going to take a look more now on the light that all this sheds on the business of keeping executives and leaders of large organizations safe from threats.

I'm joined now by former Secret Service agent, Jonathan Wackrow, who has years of experience in private corporate security.

You know, you see the video that we're showing of the CEO walking toward this event, where he was supposed to speak. He doesn't have security, he doesn't have assistants around him. He doesn't have a team around him. Did that surprise you?

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, it did surprise me but, you know, I think this event, you know, really underscores the rising threat that chief executive officers of organizations, heads of companies are facing right now.

Typically, when you and I talk about protection, were thinking about government protection. Secret service, you know, State Department other types of law enforcement. But the threats that are facing corporate leaders today are significant. And if you think about why, it's because they are the face of the organization.

But the threat spectrum is pretty broad when you think about internal issues such as disgruntled employees, workplace violence and then extrinsically, you know, they're faced with criticism from the outside, whether it's because of products or services that they make, you know, individuals who may have a problem with the company, they're going to focus there.

With that context, to answer your question, yes, I am surprised, especially somebody that's in the healthcare industry where there are constant challenges with coverage et cetera that you're going to a public event, your investor day. It's a known location where you're going to be not to have a level of security, whether it's even one agent or officer that is a little bit surprising to me.

COOPER: A source with knowledge of the investigation said that there were concerning threats against UnitedHealthcare Group. We don't really know much more about the nature of the threats, but it's not uncommon, obviously, for threats to be made against a CEO of a company and most companies will have some sort of level of corporate security that tries to analyze the real nature of those threats. Is it just something that someone might actually show up? How do you kind of analyze that? There seems like levels of threats.

[20:25:34]

WACKROW: Well, that's why they call it threat management. And, you know, not to be coy there, but that's exactly what it is. These organizations sometimes are getting thousands and thousands of threats whether they're direct threats, "I'm going to kill you" or a veiled threat against, you know the CEO or other corporate you know, officers within the organization.

Managing those threats is really important. And you do it in really the context of three ways. It's assessing the means, the opportunity and the intent for that threat to actually manifest itself.

Unfortunately, today, what we saw was all three of those elements coming together that then launched this attack.

COOPER: When you see this, you know, obviously, there's a lot of planning that went into it, premeditation, obviously, do you think this person was following this man for some time? Do you think he was just waiting outside where he knew he would ultimately come, or he was staying in a hotel nearby? Do you think it's possible that he was aware of that? And had been following him previously?

WACKROW: The level of sophistication of this attack, you know, from what we saw from the initial videos all the way to the knowledge that this suspect took the bike into Central Park. All of that is an elevated level of planning that requires pre-attack surveillance to understand where the target potentially will go, where you are going to launch that attack, and then how are you going to escape from that attack?

So, I think you're going to see, as this investigation continues that level of pre-attack surveillance and planning is actually pretty significant in this case.

COOPER: Because it is, I mean, it interests me, how would he have known that that Mr. Thompson was not going to be staying at the Hilton Hotel, where the event itself was.

WACKROW: I mean, he could have been in the area the night before seeing the executive out at dinner. He may have an inside source within the organization. There may have been another event previously where he was able to then identify and know that he went back to the other hotel the night before.

So, there's a lot of different ways, but that's tradecraft for an assassin. They're going to look at those patterns of behavior and figure out the likelihood of, where is this person going to be at x time for me to launch my attack.

COOPER: Brian Thompson's wife had told NBC that her husband had been receiving threats.

WACKROW: And that's not uncommon, it's not uncommon for CEOs every single day to get a level of threat. The problem is we don't know the context of those threats. Were those threats associated to this attack or were they more broadly?

COOPER: Jonathan Wackrow, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

WACKROW: Thanks a lot.

COOPER: Coming up, more details on the manhunt. I'll be joined by award winning journalist Geraldo Rivera for his take on the investigation and more with John Miller as well. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:32:10]

COOPER: Well, following the latest developments, the manhunt underweight in Manhattan to locate the suspect in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson. It's been described by investigators as a brazen, targeted attack. It certainly appears that way. For a perspective, I'm joined by Emmy and Peabody Award-winning Journalist, Geraldo Rivera. Also, John Miller is back with us as well.

Geraldo, you used to work near this part of Manhattan. There's often a lot of pedestrian traffic early -- even early in the morning. When you see this video of the shooting, what we're learning so far, what stands out to you?

GERALDO RIVERA, EMMY AND PEABODY AWARD-WINNING JOURNALIST: Well, it is extraordinary that a brazen murder would take place in such a busy part of New York, the heart of Manhattan. I haven't covered a mob assassination or any kind of assassination in New York since Paul Castellano 39 years ago outside Sparks Steak House.

Having said that, it's pretty clear that this killer was a pro who had a plan. Those side entrances locked this guy staying across the street, which is to your left, crosses the street. There's only one way to walk to the main entrance of the Hilton on Sixth Avenue, and that's the way he's walking. So it's easy for this killer to get behind Brian Thompson, and he takes his time to put that first bullet in him. But that's what look -- looks like 20 feet away, so he must have been confident.

And then of course, as you and John have been discussing, the gun jams because of the silencer probably and changing the weight of it, but a cool customer, everything bespeaks a mob hit -- I mean, a hit, an organized killer for hire, not a mob. But I think that really you have to explore more about Brian Thompson's background.

It really seems that there were a lot of people very angry at this guy for insider trading and alleged fraud and making $15 million by keeping a Department of Justice probe of the UnitedHealth quiet, selling his stock, getting out, pocketing that $15 million when the stockholders went home broke. So, this was definitely a lot of people with motive and a pro with opportunity, Anderson, did this dramatic murder in Midtown.

COOPER: John, I understand you're learning some new -- some new information.

MILLER: As they have kind of expanded that video canvas, they've actually gotten to some images that they believe they captured of the suspect before the shooting. So, somewhere in the pre-dawn hours, 5:15 in the morning, they believe they've captured video of this individual on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

It's from a distance, but it appears that he's carrying something which they, they believe is an e-bike battery.

[20:35:00]

So, what does that suggest? They believe he may live in that area. They believe the fact that he carries this battery may be suggestive that the bike was stashed already, pre-stashed near where he planned to do this or that it stored there.

COOPER: So, the idea that he was like charging the battery at home or something?

MILLER: Right. And that he was going to take the train downtown, pre- position the bike, and make sure that -- make sure that the battery was charged for a fast getaway, and then stake out his target.

COOPER: It's interesting, Geraldo, because I mean, again, you were talking about mob hits back in the day when the mob was the power that it was in New York's past. You don't see a lot of this kind of brazen high-profile, pre-planned things. I think back to 2008, there was a bombing at an army recruitment station in Times Square. The guy escaped on a bike and disappeared, made a turn, I think, on 38th Street. And there was a search for a long time for that person.

But, kind of pre-planned organize things like this, you just -- you don't see something like this because there's so many cameras now. It's fascinating to kind of see it all play out.

RIVERA: That's what -- that's the reason, Anderson, because the New York is hardwired. We have the largest police department in the country, maybe the world, I don't know. Certainly, the country, in New York, there is more than that. There are these cameras, not only on the corners, but mid-block often. And I am certain that there were cameras mid-block here. This camera, for example, every business, every big business in New York has a camera.

So, it -- you're committing a crime knowing that you are going to -- your image and likeness, your clothing, your garb, your motive, your weapon and so forth, will all be revealed to the public by the CCTV system that is so widespread, so omnipotent. It just -- this was -- this really takes balls when you consider that this guy know exactly what he is doing.

He has the silencer, he gets behind, doesn't rush it, takes the shot, hits him in the back, and then, as the weapon jams, and I know you've decided not to show the cool, calm, deliberate manner in which he unjams that weapon. But man, I'm telling you, it was a pro at work there and a cold-blooded one, because then he puts the coup de grace, the killer shots or the insurance shots in the victim standing over him and where did the guy over there in the right against the building, isn't that a person also? Where -- what happened to that witness? I want that guy to come forward.

COOPER: Yeah.

MILLER: So, this is very dramatic, very brazen. But, I think that I'm not rushing to judgment. You have a -- that tech exec that was stabbed in San Francisco, the guy that stabbed him, the jury, ironically, is out. We all thought that it was San Francisco anarchy that led to some random killer killing Bobby Lee, the tech executive. In fact, there was a good buddy of his who was partying with him --

COOPER: Yeah.

MILLER: -- who was angry with him because he allegedly did something with his daughter. So, you can't rush to judgment on these, but it does seem fairly obvious that this has something to do with UnitedHealthcare, the stock tanking, people losing money, how they booked this guy to be the keynote speaker in an investor conference. I'd like to know more about that too.

COOPER: Yeah. A lot to be learned. Geraldo Rivera, appreciate it, John Miller as well.

Coming up, President-elect Trump's pick for Secretary of Defense back on Capitol Hill today, meeting with Senators as questions continue and more information emerges about his past and his fitness to serve. Pete Hegseth says he's not going anywhere despite the accusations of sexual misconduct, financial mismanagement at a veterans' organization he had headed, and incidents involving alcohol. More ahead.

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[20:43:15]

COOPER: More breaking news. Tonight, Pete Hegseth, the president- elect's embattled pick for Defense Secretary told reporters today that Trump still supports him and in a separate interview said he's going to "fight like hell." Those words to Interviewer Megyn Kelly came as Hegseth was on Capitol Hill again, trying to shore up support from Republican lawmakers. During the same interview, Kelly compared the stories about his alleged alcohol and sexual abuse to the allegations of sexual misconduct Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh faced during his own confirmation hearing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEGYN KELLY, HOST OF "THE MEGYN KELLY SHOW": Do you think you're being Kavanaugh-ed right now?

PETE HEGSETH, TRUMP'S PICK FOR DEFENSE SECRETARY: I had a member, not 45 minutes ago, looked me in the eye in private, just he and I, and say that's what they're trying to do to you. That's what they're trying to do to you. That's their playbook. Get ready for more and they're going to make it up just like they have so far, all anonymous, all innuendo, all rumor, nothing sourced, no verification, and they're just going to keep doing it because you're a threat to them. You're a threat to their system. You're a threat to all the things in Washington, D.C., the swamp, the things that people have rejected. You're a threat to that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Hegseth's mom made an appearance on "Fox and Friends" this morning as well, attempting to do damage control following reporting from "The New York Times" that she emailed her son in 2018, accusing him of a years' long history of mistreating women.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PENELOPE HEGSETH, PETE HEGSETH'S MOTHER: And I want people to look at Pete and judge people or understand him for who he is today and to disregard the media. That was seven years ago, and most of it is misinformation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: CNN is reporting that allies of the president-elect involved in the transition process have been compiling a list of alternative candidates should Hegseth ultimately fail to gain the necessary support on Capitol Hill.

[20:45:00]

I'm joined down by political commentators from across the spectrum, Special Assistant to President George W. Bush, Scott Jennings; Former Trump White House Communications Director, Alyssa Farah Griffin; and Former Senior Adviser to President Obama, David Axelrod.

David, do you see a point where President-elect Trump decides to just cut his losses and move on with another choice? I mean, you know -- when Gates finally -- Gaetz wasn't going drop out until he dropped out, and very quickly, Pam Bondi was waiting in the wings.

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah. I don't see the president-elect as a sentimental person. I don't think he's going to hang on here if he believes that Hegseth has become a liability to him. And I think we haven't heard that much from him. We've heard what Hegseth said he told him, I'm sure he is waiting to see how this story plays out. There have been a lot of allegations. There was a devastating story in "The New Yorker" over the weekend.

There's another story tonight in "The Washington Post" about the drinking issue. And we're talking, Anderson, about the most important agency in the federal government and -- or certainly the largest and their mission is extraordinarily important. So when you have allegations of financial mismanagement on a much smaller organization or two of them, and a history of drinking and abuse of women, these have to be of great concern to the Senate.

COOPER: Yeah. I mean, Alyssa, the financial -- "The New Yorker" story that David is talking about, I mean, the financial mismanagement allegations, we're talking about two -- one, particularly kind of pretty small veterans' advocacy organization, doing admirable work. I think their budget was like in the $5 million to $10 million range, and was basically pushed out of that because allegedly of financial mismanagement.

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Right. And you're talking about a role as Secretary of Defense, where he'd oversee a more than $80 billion organization with 300 million service members, their dependents, the civilian population, based in countries in over 160 countries around the world. If you take, just responding to Pete Hegseth's kind of pushback today. Listen, he needs to go out and fight.

Donald Trump is going to want to see him defend himself if he's going to stick by him and keep him as his nominee. But the defense of, well, these are allegations. It's like Kavanaugh. If you even set aside the allegation and just look at the simple facts, the lack of credentials to have -- to run an organization of this size. Yes, he's a veteran, but a thin resume overall.

And then the known things, he's on a third marriage. There are documented affairs that are public. Even if you set aside the abuse, all of those things are things that generally you would not look for in a Secretary of Defense. Character, integrity, and experience are paramount at the Pentagon, probably more so than any other agency just because of the stakes of the business that they do every day.

COOPER: Scott, I mean, you know Capitol Hill well. Do you think he can actually continue?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, he could continue and I do think there have been a lot of anonymously sourced things. I think he's right about that. And so if I were in his shoes, I'd want a chance to go to the table and answer questions and clear my own name, and fight for my own reputation. I'm sure he is doing that behind the scenes.

COOPER: Although, some of the veterans' organization stuff, I mean, it's not all anonymously sourced. I mean --

JENNINGS: Well, some of the -- some of the more salacious character based attacks have been anonymously sourced. And there have been a lot of people on the record who have worked with him, either in the military or at Fox News, who have come forward in their name, on the record to say, I've never witnessed any of this kind of behavior and so on.

So, but that's the purpose of a hearing, right? You go to the table, you answer questions under oath, people come and defend you, or people come and make allegations against you. But we're a long way between now and the hearings. My sense is he's still below the line. I mean, he's probably not there right now. And --

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Because I think if he had lost -- if he'd lost three Republican Senators, assuming all Democrats voted against him, yeah, I mean --

JENNINGS: He can't lose many and no offense to the rest of the cabinet, but the Defense Department is different than virtually everything else, and the bar to be Secretary of Defense is going to be very high. And there's a cohort of Republican Senators, this is their main issue.

COOPER: Yeah.

JENNINGS: National security, foreign affairs.

COOPER: David, Incoming Senator, Armed Services Chairman, Roger Wicker said that Hegseth told him he wouldn't drink alcohol if he was confirmed to the job. Republican Senator Kevin Cramer said he wouldn't rule out backing Hegseth if he vows to stop drinking. What does it indicate to you that the bar for leading the Pentagon is to promise not to drink?

AXELROD: I consider that a rhetorical question.

COOPER: Basically, yes.

(LAUGH)

AXELROD: Look, obviously, I mean, the idea that someone who's had a lifelong issue with alcohol and he acknowledges that he's had an issue with alcohol, just asserting that, OK, if you confirm me, I'll stop drinking. When we know there are, yes, they were not sourced. The Fox News colleagues who attested to the fact that they were concerned about his drinking recently, has to be really unsettling. Alyssa is right. I mean, he doesn't have the resume for the job in terms of managerial experience to take over the most complex organization in the United States government, perhaps in the world.

[20:50:00]

But beyond that, how do you put the security of the United States of America in the hands of someone who has potentially has this problem? And how do you accept his word? We know how alcoholism works and I'm not diagnosing him, but we know how these things work. How do you take the word of someone that if you just put me in the most pressure-ful job you can, I'll be fine. I won't take a drink.

COOPER: Very quickly, Alyssa, I mean, Joni Ernst, his name is out there, Florida Senator Ron DeSantis -- Governor Ron DeSantis, Senator Bill Hagerty as well.

FARAH GRIFFIN: The good news for Donald Trump is he has highly qualified options that I would argue are significantly more qualified and more likely to get confirmed than Pete Hegseth.

COOPER: Yeah, but I mean --

(CROSSTALK)

FARAH GRIFFIN: Joni Ernst is somebody who is a combat veteran, served on Senate Armed Services. She would get Democratic support. She'd get a number of Democrats who would support her, and she'd be respected by the force and somebody who --

COOPER: Less chaos.

FARAH GRIFFIN: I think, you know, and she may not look like a Fox News host, but she is somebody who I think is deeply respected by her colleagues.

JENNINGS: He met with Ernst today and she's vital because she's been in the military and she said they had a good meeting, but she didn't commit to supporting him today, which was noteworthy on Capitol Hill.

COOPER: Yeah. Geraldo Rivera, Scott Jennings --

(LAUGH)

JENNINGS: Very similar. We are all similar.

COOPER: Often mistaken.

JENNINGS: See the (ph) mustache.

(LAUGH)

COOPER: Alyssa Farah Griffin, as well as David Axelrod, thank you.

(LAUGH) COOPER: Coming up. Displaced civilians in Lebanon are returning to their homes even as Israel and Hezbollah test the limits of its very still tenuous ceasefire. Clarissa Ward is there. She joins us with that report.

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[20:55:35]

COOPER: It's been a week since the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon went into effect. Today, Secretary of State, Antony Blinken said that it is holding despite cross-border strikes that threaten the deal. Israel threatened Tuesday to go deeper into Lebanon, that came a day after intense Israeli airstrikes, a response to Hezbollah rocket attacks themselves, a response to Israeli attacks.

Today, Secretary Blinken said that, now, they mostly want to see is "people being able to return their homes." Clarissa Ward has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the balcony of his apartment, a man gazes out at his city, Tyre, once renowned for its glittering waters and ancient ruins, now in ruins itself. Moos Assad (ph) has lived through many wars in Lebanon, but none like this.

25 years, we have been here in Tyre, he tells us. An Israeli strike pulverized the next door building where his neighbors once lived. Their clothes still hang ghost-like in the closet.

Imagine a person was sleeping here. The building collapsed on them, everyone died, a woman and her children, all of them dead. Why? For what? He says. America did this to us, not Israel. It's America that goes like this, like she didn't see anything and she didn't want to know anything.

Lebanon is a country where loyalties are divided, but bitterness towards the West for its support of Israel is everywhere. In villages around Tyre, Hezbollah flags fly proudly. No community has been spared. The Melkite Greek Catholic church had been a refuge for displaced people when it was hit by an Israeli missile on October 9th, eight people were killed.

81-year-old church caretaker Milaad Ilia (ph) has prayed here as long as he can remember. This is my house, he says. Next to the church a mosque, connected by a shared hall for events. If our homes were hit and the church stayed, it would be better, he tells us. If the church is gone, there is no coexistence between people here.

Tyre is one of the world's oldest inhabited cities, mentioned several times in the Bible. As the light falls, Kamaal Istanbuli (ph) does what fishermen have been doing here for thousands of years. For 60 days during the war, Israel's military barred boats from going out on the water. Of course, it was tough, he says. We fishermen must work every day to feed our families. WARD: What's your dream for the future?

WARD (voice-over): We don't have a future here, he tells me. With Israel as your neighbor, occupying your land, there's no future for you. There's just war after war, destruction after destruction, and the country collapses and collapses.

A bleak outlook shared by many in this historic city, even as a shaky ceasefire continues to hold.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Clarissa, it's been a week since the ceasefire. What are people saying about the possibility of it holding?

WARD: Well, first of all, Anderson, I just want to mention that in terms of why Tyre has been so hard hit, the IDF maintains that it is a Hezbollah stronghold. They say that there have been many attacks against Israeli forces that have been launched from there. And I think it's also important to mention what a lot of people wouldn't say to us on camera, which is that there are many Lebanese who do not like Hezbollah at all, who feel that they have been unfairly dragged into this war, and who so desperately just want for it to end.

Now, as to your point about the ceasefire, there was another Israeli strike today, the Israeli Air Force saying that they were targeting a launchpad. But we've also heard from Secretary of State, Antony Blinken today saying that it is still holding. And there is a sense that despite the violations which have been happening on a daily basis, that there really is a desperate desire.