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Brutal Dictatorship Ends In Syria; Backpack Found In Central Park Filled With Monopoly Money; Reports: Juan Soto Agrees To Historic Deal With Mets. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired December 09, 2024 - 07:30   ET

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

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[07:30:05]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We are standing by to hear from the White House this morning after the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. President Biden called it a "moment of risk and historic opportunity."

CNN's Arlette Saenz is at the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Biden has cast this as a moment of opportunity for the Syrian people as the country is now rid of the crushing regime under Bashar al-Assad.

But at the same time the president has acknowledged that there are also risks and uncertainty here. Managing those risks will be a key priority for President Biden and his team in the coming days and weeks. The president is expected at some point to speak with counterparts about the situation and he will also deploy top U.S. officials to the region.

Now, among the top priorities is trying to ensure that there isn't any room for a resurgence of ISIS. The president in remarks yesterday said that they acknowledge that ISIS could try to take advantage of any power vacuum in Syria at this time to try to reestablish their capabilities. That is something that the U.S. adamantly does not want to see happen.

And that is why the U.S. had launched dozens of airstrikes in Syria on Sunday. They targeted about 75 ISIS targets using a range of Air Force assets in the region, including B-52 bombers and F-15 fighter jets.

Now, in addition to trying to ensure there is no resurgence of ISIS the U.S. also has to figure out how they navigate this rebel group, which toppled Assad. That group is known as HTS, and it is a group that the U.S. has deemed as a terror organization. U.S. officials have said that they also believe that significant portions of HTS also has ties to ISIS. President Biden did voice some cautious optimism about the words coming from the rebels but also said that they will be judging the group by their actions going forward. The U.S. is also concerned about the -- any chemical weapons that could be in Syria. And U.S. officials said that is something that they will be trying to identify and work on in the coming days and weeks.

Now, perhaps complicating all of this is that this is playing out as President Biden only has six weeks left in office. This is an issue that President-elect Trump will inherit when he is coming into. So far, he had urged the U.S. to stay out of this matter as the situation was unfolding.

And really, he's offered very few clues for what he thinks the future of Syria should be like. For President Biden's part he said that is a decision that is up to the Syrian people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right, with us now is John Kirby, White House national security communications adviser. Thank you so much for being with us.

What a moment with so much going on. First off, 75 strikes yesterday, Sunday, on ISIS and extremist targets inside Syria. Any update to that overnight?

JOHN KIRBY, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COMMUNICATIONS ADVISER: The Pentagon is doing what they call battle damage assessment of that, John. We don't have a firm indication of the assessment of each and every one of those strikes. They do believe, preliminarily, that they were very, very successful in hitting legitimate ISIS targets and further degrading their capabilities.

BERMAN: Do the strikes continue this morning?

KIRBY: Well, I think that remains to be seen, John. I mean, we have kept the pressure up on ISIS now for the entire four years of this administration through these kinds of strikes. We'll continue to do that as we see valid threats. So I'm certainly not going to rule anything off the table --

BERMAN: Right.

KIRBY: -- in terms of additional strikes on ISIS.

BERMAN: And what is the status of the U.S. troops stationed in Syria this morning?

KIRBY: We have good contact with all of them. There's not that many I think, as you know. They are there just to go after ISIS and every indication that we have right now is that they are able to continue to prosecute that mission safely, efficiently, effectively.

But as the president said yesterday this is going to be one of his top priorities --

BERMAN: Um-hum.

KIRBY: -- a) to make sure that they can continue that mission against ISIS because ISIS remains a viable threat, and b) that their force protection -- their safety and security can be ensured. So we're going to be monitoring that literally every single day.

BERMAN: What contacts have there been at this point between the United States and Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) -- this rebel group that toppled Bashar al-Assad?

KIRBY: Yeah. I certainly can't speak to any direct communication that we would have had with the HTS leader. I can tell you that we are already in touch with counterparts. Some of those counterparts have ways of delivering messages to all the rebel groups, not just HTS. They're not the only group involved here. And so we are going to be, as the president said yesterday, exploring our avenues to communicate with all of those groups.

BERMAN: Who is running Syria this morning?

[07:35:00]

KIRBY: That's an open question. Right now the rebel groups are in charge of Damascus. Again, yes, HTS sort of was the vanguard here but they're not the only rebel or opposition group in Damascus as we speak. And I think they're trying to work that out amongst themselves.

But it is an open question. In fact, the very fact that it's an open question, John, gives us concern. As the president said, we're in a period of uncertainty here and so we're going to be working through all the processes we can, including at the U.N., to make sure that there is adequate communication with these opposition groups and that we are all working together on a -- for the best aspirations of the Syrian people.

BERMAN: How much power have Russia and Iran lost in that region?

KIRBY: A lot. Frankly, a lot.

I mean, you look at Iran -- their so-called axis of resistance. Hamas decimated, Sinwar's gone. Hezbollah -- they're leader is gone -- Nasrallah is gone, and now they're in a ceasefire with Isreal. And now Assad. Their other -- their other proxy in the Middle East gone. And Syria's future very much, as we said, an open question.

Iran has also been hurt deeply by the sanctions regimes that the United States has kept and increased on them as, as well as our European partners. And, of course, they've been degraded militarily by some of the strikes that Israel has conducted.

So they're looking at a very different Middle East when they're waking up today, and it doesn't include one that has them with the ability to execute any hegemonic ambitions that they had once had.

Russia, the same way. Russia wanted Assad in power so that they could have a footprint in the Middle East. Now that footprint is in question because their proxy, Assad, is no longer there. And they need to answer, by the way John, for why they're harboring Assad on Russian soil -- a brutal dictator who killed millions of Syrian people. BERMAN: In a little bit I'm going to have the family of Austin Tice, the American journalist who has been held in Syria since 2012. They will be on with me this morning.

I know events have moved very, very quickly here, but what is your sense of his status this morning? The president has suggested he had been held by the Syrian government. That government is gone. Who is holding Austin Tice this morning?

KIRBY: Well, we want -- we want to answer that question as quickly as possible as well as you -- the president addressed this I think as you say yesterday. We're not giving up on Austin. We're not going to give up on the important task of bringing him home to his family where he belongs and getting the answers that we have been frustrated in getting in the past.

So certainly, this opens up some additional uncertainty and some additional risk here. On the other hand, it's not as if we were making great progress with Assad to get more answers on Austin. So this also could present -- as much as risk and a challenge, it could present an opportunity for us to get a little bit smarter here and see if we can't get him home quickly.

BERMAN: How much do you trust this HTS -- the rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani?

KIRBY: I ain't about trust, John. It's not about trust at all. It's about -- it's about actions. It's not about words, it's about deeds. The president talked about this yesterday.

So far, he and other rebel group leaders are saying all the right things about what they want to do and just as importantly what they don't want to do in terms of instituting some sort of harsh Islamic law and really cracking down on a very diverse, rich, historic culture there in Syria.

But we're going to have to watch and see what they actually do, which is why we're having conversations with our counterparts. In the coming days you'll see the president on the phone with leaders in the region here in the coming days, and we're going to be having these same conversations at the U.N.

It is not about trust. It really is about monitoring, and action, and deeds, not words.

BERMAN: All right. As I said, quite a moment.

John Kirby, we appreciate you being with us this morning. Thank you very much -- Jessica.

KIRBY: Yes, sir.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening today, too, President-elect Trump's picks for key national security positions are set to meet with top GOP senators on Capitol Hill as they prepare for their confirmation fights. They are Tulsi Gabbard, who has been tapped to be the next director of national intelligence. And Kash Patel -- of course, Trump's pick to lead the FBI.

Now, Patel is widely seen as a controversial figure with a deep disdain for Washington elites -- one who are saying the former mid- level Justice Department lawyer now "sees enemies everywhere."

CNN's Zachary Cohen has new reporting now from Washington. And Zach, what more are you and our colleagues learning about Patel's background?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yeah, Jessica. We talked to more than a dozen people who have worked with Patel and some who have known him for years and they all describe somebody who sees himself largely as an outsider and, frankly, carries a large chip on his shoulder as a result of that. And look, that's really informed his worldview and fueled his rise within Trump's universe.

And this could really be traced back to his time as mid-level Justice Department lawyer and specifically, to an interaction that he had with a Texas judge back in 2016. Now, at that time Patel was fresh off a plane from the Middle East and appeared in a courtroom as part of a case that had been ongoing for several weeks now. And the judge, frankly, was immediately suspicious of Patel, saying, "Who is this Patel guy? You're just one more non-essential employee from Washington," and ultimately issuing an order of ineptitude against the Justice Department because of her issues with Patel, specifically, and his presence in her courtroom.

[07:40:12]

And this is something that really stuck out to people we talked to about who Kash Patel is and what fueled his rise from a low-level-mid- level DOJ attorney -- a public defender -- to Trump's pick to be the FBI director.

One source commenting, "Thinking back about it now I can see the arc of him going from this guy who was obsessed with one episode to someone who sees enemies everywhere. I think he was always like this, an opportunist who feels constantly aggrieved."

Now, Kash Patel's sort of strategy is -- a lot of people we talked to described was really focused on getting face time with Donald Trump, and it's one that a lot of them said was obviously successful as Patel sort of coming out of nowhere to be Trump's pick for FBI director.

Now, he's going to face a lot of questions on the Hill this week. People are going to question his qualifications and some of the things that he's said in public about investigating or wanting to investigate Trump's political enemies.

But Kash Patel really carrying this chip on his shoulder from the time he was a young prosecutor up until this point as one of Trump's biggest defenders.

DEAN: A really interesting look at what brought him to this moment.

Zachary Cohen, thank you so much for that reporting. And joining us now, CNN political commentator Karen Finney, and CNN political commentator Scott Jennings. Good to have both of you. Good morning.

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Good morning.

DEAN: Good morning.

Scott, I want to start first with you. We just went over Patel and also Tulsi Gabbard is going to be on Capitol Hill meeting with senators.

And Gabbard I want to zoom in on for a second because this is a particularly interesting moment and confluence of events as we saw the fall of the Syrian Assad regime over the -- over the weekend. And she met with Assad back in 2017. In 2019, she said he was not the enemy of the United States.

It is quite the timing to really put this into perspective. There are number of Democrats but also some Republicans that have real questions about if she is the right person to be the head of DNI -- the director of national intelligence which, of course, brings together all of the intelligence threads those agencies are following.

What do you say to them?

JENNINGS: Well look, this is the purpose of a confirmation hearing. I mean, you get to ask people questions in these preliminary meetings and then ultimately you go to the table, and you do it under oath. And so Gabbard who, by the way, we should mention is a current military officer --

DEAN: Right.

JENNINGS: -- in the United States, served her country honorably, and also was a member of Congress. I mean, she has a resume here and she has proven loyalty to the United States. That doesn't mean she shares all the same foreign policy views of a lot of these members of Congress, but she is a loyal American. I don't think there's any doubt about that.

But that's the purpose of these meetings and these hearings and all these folks are going to get a chance to answer questions, and we'll see if they can make it or not. She, and Hegseth, and Patel, and the rest of them all really have the same opportunity -- prove yourself. You've got a resume, you've been picked by the president, but ultimately, it's on you to prove yourself.

DEAN: And Karen, so far, Senate Republicans have -- and again, these confirmation hearings haven't started yet. That will come next year. But so far, Senate Republicans have been very active in this, meeting with a number of people. We saw Matt Gaetz take himself out the running for A.G. Pete Hegseth

carries on despite a lot of questions and controversy around him. But again, as Scott points out, this is the process playing out.

FINNEY: Um-hum, and look, that is the most important thing that has been happening. These meetings are an encouraging sign that suggest that the president rather than trying to do interim appointments as he had been discussing -- even Republicans on Capitol Hill seem to be signaling the importance of going through the normal process and for them to be able to -- for these nominees to, as Scott pointed out, come forward. Answer the tough questions under oath. And I think that's very important.

We know that they're all very loyal to Donald Trump and to his agenda, but we need to know more about their backgrounds specifically and their capabilities in the tasks with which they are being nominated for.

I mean, Tulsi Gabbard, as you point out, this is a very precarious time given what this change in Syria means for geopolitics in the Middle East and how it affects Russia, and how that will therefore affect other parts of the Middle East as well.

DEAN: And we also heard President-elect Trump talking about immigration over the weekend on NBC News.

Karen, were you surprised to say that he -- or that to hear him say that he wants to work with Democrats to figure out a solution for Dreamers?

FINNEY: No. Look, it was clear that the overall goal of this interview was -- you know, his tone was very different than what we saw on the campaign trail, although many of the policies were -- if you were listening, they were actually quite similar. But this clearly meant to try to tone things down. It's been a very chaotic couple of weeks for the president with his very -- these stories about his nominees, so he was clearly trying to project confidence and a bit of calm.

[07:45:05]

It was good to hear that he would consider working with Democrats on protecting Dreamers.

But again, very disturbing to hear the commitment to trying to overturn birthright citizenship. And there again, the president misspoke. Thirty-five other nations also have -- also have birthright citizenship and it is a fundamental part of our Constitution.

So I think paying attention to what happens on that and, frankly, what his DOJ nominees will say on whether or not they will seek to find ways to justify that for the president.

DEAN: Scott, what do you -- what did you think about those comments on immigration?

JENNINGS: Well, I thought he was very measured. And I thought his overall interview, by the way, was really good. The tone was good.

He's clearly focused on the future, not on going back into the past. That was a direct quote from him. He's focused on immigration. He's focused on bringing down prices, and energy exploration and energy production in the United States.

These are all the priorities that he ran on. So I think his projection of that about how his focus and his attention is going to be spent was good.

On immigration, specifically, I thought we got a very measured, reasonable, and realistic Donald Trump. He knows it's a problem he's got to solve. He knows he needs to work with Democrats, especially in the Senate, to get something done. And he knows the American people are tired of inaction on this.

And so I thought he hit all the right notes. I mean, he talked to Kristen Welker for over an hour. We only got to see a portion of it. But I watched the entire thing. I thought from soup to nuts Donald Trump was -- had a really good weekend, both from his trip to Europe and then also on this NBC interview. If he can sort of maintain this kind of problem-solving posture he's going to get off to a really good start in January.

DEAN: I do want to touch on what you bring up really quickly before we go. This weekend trip where we saw him in France meeting with Emmanuel Macron, the president of France. Meeting with President Zelenskyy from Ukraine.

Scott, I know I talked to you the day it was happening, but it was striking because he is not the sitting president. He is the president- elect right now and yet, here he was meeting with these world leaders and really looking quite presidential over the weekend.

JENNINGS: Yeah. The country of the United States has moved on. The world has moved on. Donald Trump doesn't take office until January, but you can see the rest of the world is already treating him like he is the power center of the United States.

And so I'm glad he went. This cathedral reopening is a huge deal to some many people around the world -- Catholics, Christians. It's a historical moment. It was also a chance for him to talk to some of our biggest allies -- people he's going to have to be coordinating with on some of these problems that Joe Biden is leaving behind.

Donald Trump is hitting the ground running. I mean, he's already out doing the things that we need him to do to get the country back on track. So between that and between his interview with "MEET THE PRESS," you could see here that Donald Trump is not going to have a passive presidency. This is going to be an active start to this presidency.

And the rest of the world responds to leadership. We've not had a strong president. We have one now. Everybody knows it.

DEAN: All right, Karen Finney and Scott Jennings. We have to leave it there because we're out of time, but I appreciate both of you. Thanks so much.

And brand new details on the manhunt in New York. Why officials are looking at literal Monopoly money found in a discarded backpack.

And from "The Godfather" to "I Can't Make You Love Me," a star-studded Kennedy Center Honors and a twist. How the awards ceremony paid homage to an historic stage.

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[07:53:15]

BERMAN: All right. This morning the manhunt for the suspect who murdered UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson -- it enters its sixth day. Officials believe the suspect is likely long gone from New York City. And sources tell CNN New York police detectives are now in Atlanta in connection with the investigation.

The NYPD released two new images. One appears to show the suspect riding in the back of a taxi on the day of the shooting. Another shows him walking down the street.

Authorities say the shooter's backpack was found discarded in Central Park filled with Monopoly money but no weapon. NYPD dives searched the lake in Central Park this weekend for evidence, including possibly the firearm.

With us now, John Miller, CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst.

Let's start with the newest things here -- these pictures -- these new pictures. Talk to us about the significance and the police work involved in getting them.

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMETN AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, the significance is, of course, you still have him with a mask and the top of his head covered, but he's looking directly into the camera practically. You look at that picture and you are looking straight into his eyes.

That picture is taken, we're told by people brief on the case, up around 178th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, which to the non-New Yorkers in the audience means way uptown across the street from a park and right next to that bus terminal where they believe he may have taken a bus back to wherever he came from.

The police work is fascinating because he dumps the bicycle on 86th Street, so that's 178th Street. They run TRD. TRD is the trip record data. It's electronically captured by taxis. How many passengers. Where was the pickup, where was the drop off. And they run it from the time they lose him at seven something in the morning on the video canvas. And there's a taxi pickup right there and it ends at 178th and Amsterdam.

[07:55:07] So then they get the camera data from that cab, which they usually keep for civil litigation or if there's a holdup and they're robbed, and they have this incredible picture.

BERMAN: It really is incredible to go through all this.

What does -- what do police have on this guy at this point, but where does that stop?

MILLER: All right. There's a print taken off the cell phone that they found during the -- on the route that he fled from the -- from the murder. They have that print. That print's been run through AFIS. No record has popped saying this guy is a convicted criminal or an arrested felon. So that print is over here.

They have DNA that they've extracted from two things: a water bottle and a power bar, which he purchased together at the Starbucks. But that -- when they ran that through CODIS, which is the DNA version of the fingerprint data, that didn't pop with anything.

So what they have is they have good evidence for when they identify somebody but first, they need that somebody.

BERMAN: All right, the Monopoly money in the backpack, John. What is seen as the significance of that?

MILLER: Only the killer knows that, but the supposition is that a -- that an individual who killed the head of a health care company leaving behind bullets and shell casings that said "deny, delay, depose" is leaving the Monopoly money in a backpack that he knew police would find, or assumed police would find. That is a sign he's still telling us a story, and it seems to be a story about money and greed.

BERMAN: All right, we're six days in at this point. Some developments but at this point no closure.

John Miller, great to see you. Thank you very much.

MILLER: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: Jessica.

DEAN: A tribute to the legendary band The Grateful Dead at the Kennedy Center Honors last night in Washington. The recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Awards for artistic accomplishment also included singer-songwriter Bonnie Raitt, Oscar-winning director Francis Ford Coppola, and jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval.

They shared the spotlight with Harlem's legendary Apollo Theater, the first performance venue to receive the prestigious honor for recognition for artistic intelligence.

The ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in "The Wizard of Oz" just went for a record $28 million at auction. The iconic shoes, one of only four surviving pairs, were stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in Minnesota in 2005. They were finally found in 2018. And the anonymous winning bid is the most ever spent at auction on a piece of movie memorabilia.

And it is the end of the Eras tour. Taylor Swift closing out her final Era tour show in Vancouver last night. One hundred fifty-two concerts in 52 countries. The tour didn't just break records, it smashed them, selling more than $2 billion in tickets. Swift said she's forever grateful to the millions of fans for their dedication and passion.

Quite a tour, John.

BERMAN: All right. Just mammoth sports news overnight. That is the Yankees lose...Juan Soto. And we have a new, like, highest paid player in sports.

Let's get right to CNN sports anchor Coy Wire. The Soto sweepstakes goes to --

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes! The New York Mets, of all teams, reportedly signing superstar slugger Juan Soto to the richest deal in the history of sports. Fifteen years, John, $765 million. It beats out Shohei Ohtani's 10-year deal he signed with the Dodgers last year. The deal includes no deferred money and has escalators that can reach above $800 million, per ESPN.

The 26-year-old heads to Queens after one season in the Bronx as a Yankee where he helped them get to their first World Series since 2009.

This comes out to about $51 million per year, John. That would be like $140,000 per day, every day, for the next 15 years.

BERMAN: It's a good job if you can get it. And boy, I have to say, the Yankees gave up a lot to get Soto for one year and not win a World Series. But an aside -- that's an aside.

All right. We now have the brackets for the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff. Who's in, who's out?

WIRE: In a shocker, your Harvard and my Stanford did not make the cut, John. But undefeated Oregon -- they get the number one overall seed and a bye. And from there things get a bit interesting. Georgia, Boise State, Arizona State get the other byes.

The biggest debate centered around whether Alabama deserved to get in ahead of SMU. Three-loss Bama had a much tougher schedule but didn't make their conference title game. SMU had just two losses -- one of them to Clemson in the ACC title game on a last-second field goal. The committee sided with SMU. They will go to Penn State while Clemson plays at Texas.

The other matchups are Notre Dame hosting Indiana, and Ohio State hosting Tennessee.

John, the first round games kick off December 20 and 21, with two of them on our sister channel TNT. [08:00:00]