Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Suspect Denied Bail as He Fights Extradition to New York; Accuser Says, Combs Drugged, Sexually Assaulted Me at 2007 White Party; Homeowner Says, We were Fighting the Fire, Surrounded by Flames. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired December 11, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The clues, the courthouse outburst, and the extradition fight. The new details about the suspected CEO killer, including what he was thinking before the shooting, as he now fights to stay out of New York.

SARA SIDENR, CNN ANCHOR: A CNN exclusive this morning, for the first time, hear from a male accuser who says Sean Diddy Combs drugged, then sexually assaulted him at one of those infamous white parties.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The mysterious drones seen flying over New Jersey, not just anywhere, over key infrastructure. Lawmakers want answers, and they want them now.

I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner. Yes, we're all here, it must be big. This is CNN News Central.

All right, happening now, the man accused of killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson is behind bars in Pennsylvania and fighting extradition here to New York. We're getting new reporting this morning on why he's fighting. It can slow the process by weeks. He was denied bail after an angry outburst outside court right there.

Overnight, his lawyer told CNN he has seen zero evidence against his client, but police say they have tons, including new writings in a notebook of a so-called to-do list before the killing. At one point, the suspect wrote about using a bomb, but did not want to, quote, kill innocents.

All this as there is disturbing support surrounding this murder in some circles. This is what the suspect's lawyer told CNN about offers he has received to cover the accused killer's legal fees.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS DICKEY, ATTORNEY FOR LUIGI MANGIONE: Obviously, my client appreciates the support that he has, but I don't know. I just -- I'd have to look in, but it just doesn't sit right with me, really.

The Supreme Court says, you know, all these rich billionaires can give all kinds of money to candidates and that's free speech. So, maybe these people are exercising their right to free speech and saying that's the way they're supporting my client.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right. With us now is Ashley Southall, a New York Times reporter who has been all over this story. You and your team have been doing great work at the Times on this, as has John Miller here at CNN. But I want to ask you, given what we saw in court yesterday, you know, what's next? And what questions do you still have?

ASHLEY SOUTHALL, REPORTER, THE NEW YORK TIMES: All right. So, thank you for having me on. What we think happens next is that the suspect he's fighting extradition. It's rare for a judge to reject extradition, that all the prosecutor has to prove is that he was somewhere in the area at the time of the crime and that he resembles the person that the wanted poster in New York is for.

And certainly, we have seen those images, that face. I mean, they look. And I think that fake I.D. that he showed the officers of Pennsylvania is going to play a critical role in proving his connection to New York City, because a judge is not going to believe it's coincidence that your client happens to have the exact same I.D. and the exact same face. That requires a judge to be a little incredulous.

But best case scenario, we see him back in New York in a month or two. However, with the delays that he's trying to force in this case, it could be slightly longer.

BERMAN: And do you think that would give him more opportunity for more public outbursts like this?

SOUTHALL: I mean, certainly, if he appears in court he might have more episodes like this. It's unclear what's causing him to have these outbursts, if this is something that he's doing consciously, or if there is some sort of mental or psychotic break going on there, but we saw in court yesterday that when his lawyer told him to shut up, that's exactly what he did.

BERMAN: Yes, these are fair questions, but given an alleged suspect who made want publicity, it is interesting that he chose to have those outbursts.

All right, there have been some posters messages all around New York, all around the country, in fact, sort of targeting other CEOs. What's going on here?

SOUTHALL: Yes, this is all sort of the public anger surrounding the healthcare industry. Once it became clear, or at least suggestive that the suspect had done this sort of for symbolic reasons, he had the inscriptions on the on the bullet casings that had words that alluded to healthcare, a book about the healthcare industry and how they extract profits at the expense of patients.

[07:05:04]

And so once it became clear that he was doing this for political reasons, he gained a lot of supporters who have had similar experiences, unfortunately, with health care or with health insurers. And so they rallied around him.

If you want to say a little bit more about the investigation, what goes forward, so while he's fighting extradition and while New York is trying to get him back to the state, there's a really broad investigation going on to close some of the open questions. Who was he on the phone with before the shooting? We have no idea. We've heard that he's been estranged for people for months. So, who would he make a call to? That person's going to be important. The witnesses, the cab driver, the hotel clerk who checked him in and had to remove his mask, they're going to be critical.

And one of the big questions that they are going to try to figure out is where he's been these last few months. He left Hawaii sometime over the spring or summer and we don't see him until he is on a bus bound for New York where he does, where they think he did this killing.

BERMAN: Ashley Southall, thank you so much for being with us this morning, sharing your reporting on this great work.

SOUTHALL: Thank you.

BERMAN: Kate?

BOLDUAN: And we have a CNN exclusive this morning. For the first time, a man accusing Sean Diddy Combs of sexual assault is speaking out about what he says happened. The accuser says he was a bodyguard at one of Combs' white parties in 2007, and says he was drugged and assaulted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first drink started to have some effect on me, and I just thought, wow, these are really strong drinks. It wasn't until the second drink, and it was already too late that I realized that there was something wrong with the drinks.

Sean Combs was waiting in the wings. He was watching from some sort of vantage point. And once I was in a helpless position and he was sure that he was in a position of power, then he took advantage of the situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister has this exclusive interview. She's here with us now. And tell us more about what this man is saying and also why he decided to come forward now.

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRSEPONDENT: Yes, Kate, so I met with this John Doe yesterday at his home in New Jersey. Since the night that he alleges that this happened to him, he has never told anyone, and this allegedly occurred in 2007. So, we're looking at nearly two decades ago. He didn't tell his wife at the time. He tells me that he is no longer married. He hasn't told his family members or his co-workers. But when he saw that other alleged victims were coming forward, you may remember that there is a group of over 120 accusers of Combs who are coming forward. He is part of that group being represented by that legal team. That legal team says that they are representing a child who is the age of nine. He says when he saw the news that there was an accuser who alleged that they were nine years old at the time, he said, if a nine-year-old has the courage to come forward, then I have to come forward. He said he felt like if he had said something before, maybe he could have stopped this alleged behavior from happening.

Now, he did file a lawsuit back in October 14th. So, these allegations that I spoke with him have been out there before, but this is the first time that he is sitting down. In fact, it's the first time that any accuser of Sean Combs is sitting down since he has first been accused a year ago. Let's take a look at what he told me about that alleged abuse that occurred, he says, in 2007.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was screaming. I was telling him to stop. It was incredibly painful. And he was acting like it was nothing. And he seemed to be disconnected from it. But it was abusive beyond Belief.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WAGMEISTER: Now, he says that he thinks about this every single day. He says that it has impacted every single facet of his life. And I asked him, why are you coming forward anonymously? Obviously, as you see there, we shielded his identity. He did file as a John Doe, and he said, I want to keep some semblance of my life. He says he hasn't had a happy life since that night, that nothing has ever been the same. But he said, the privacy that I have, I would like to retain that if I can.

BOLDUAN: How did he come across? I mean, if this is the first time he's ever even spoken about it, I can imagine it was pretty hard.

WAGMEISTER: It was. It was an emotional interview and I was with him. Our team was with him for a few hours to speak about what had happened to him. You know, aside from calling those attorneys when he decided to come forward in his civil suit against Combs, he's never spoken about this to anyone. So, you could imagine talking to a stranger, to a journalist, the first time is scary situation.

[07:10:03]

BOLDUAN: Elizabeth, great reporting. You've been on the front of this entire time. Thank you so much for coming in. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, Kate. A huge out of control fire forces schools to close, burns several homes, and forces nearly 20,000 people to evacuate in one of California's most beautiful and expensive cities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a notorious area. The wind's coming straight down Malibu Canyon like a blowtorch. And so they're in harm's way every time there's a fire over there. After I've seen this one and that one there burnt, I know this is the real deal, and it did hit here hard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Plus, Bengals Quarterback Joe Burrow is the latest in a series of pro athletes to have his home targeted in a break in.

And an attack on a sitting member of Congress, details on that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:15:00]

SIDNER: Right now, a ferocious wildfire is forcing schools to close and threatening thousands of homes and property. Some 20,000 people in and around Malibu have been told to evacuate the rapidly growing Franklin fire. Since it erupted, it has claimed hundreds -- or dozens, excuse me, of homes, is 0 percent contained at the moment, and entire homes have just been leveled. There's nothing left in some of these neighborhoods. Some people stayed behind despite those evacuation orders to try and save what they could on their own.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEC GELLIS, MALIBU RESIDENT: We've been fighting the fire all night. We are surrounded by flames.

Our house had trees on fire, and I those out while this one was catching. And I would have loved to be able to help this house. This is my friend's house, and it's really tragic,

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I just ran out and I looked back and I saw it was orange at 1030. And I just sprinted down the street and bang on everyone's door and was like, get up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Not only trying to save property trying to save lives trying to save their animals as well.

CNN's Derek Van Dam is tracking this fire. What are the conditions like at this point? Because yesterday it looked, really, really, really dangerous.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, well, by no means is this fire consuming the five football fields per minute like it was yesterday at this time. But what's complicating the firefighting efforts on the ground is certainly the rugged terrain, the dry vegetation and also the gusty winds that are still in place. But they are going to get better and I'll show you why in just one moment.

Let's talk about the rugged terrain and the fire perimeter. With this topographical map, you can see the perimeter of the fire as it stands. Here's the buildings that it's actually encroaching upon. And the Pacific Coast Highway, which runs east and west right along the coastline here eastward towards Sta. Monica, parts of the Pacific Coast Highway actually closed because of the fire encroaching on the highway and the local buildings within this region.

Now, you remember yesterday we had wind gusts that top 90 miles per hour. So, these are the overnight winds clocked in some of those higher elevations and in through the peaks in the valleys of the mountain terrain within this part of California.

There is still a red flag warning, and remember this is a certain criteria need to be met for this red flag warning to be hoisted, so still in place for parts of Ventura and into Los Angeles Counties. But this Sta. Susana mountain range, right to the north of Malibu, here's Malibu near the coast, that northeasterly wind, this is where that wind starts to funnel between the peaks of the mountains here, and it can accelerate and actually dry out as it does so. So, that is why we still have this critical fire danger and threat through the course of the morning with low relative humidity values.

But I want to show you the relief that is coming. Notice that the browns get replaced with greens. That is an increase in moisture within the atmosphere, and that is going to help firefighters on the ground. We'll take whatever we can get. There is even a small chance of some light precipitation that moves in late tomorrow with an oncoming cold front that will cool the temperatures, bring clouds and maybe a sprinkle or two. We'll take it.

Back to you, Sara.

SIDNER: No problem. Thank you. That is -- those pictures are devastating. I've been on PCH before when fires have been burning and it really is something to see and something to watch out for. I really appreciate it. Thank you, Derek Van Dam. Over to you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Kimberly Guilfoyle, who has been by Donald Trump Jr.'s side, or had been for years, now has a new job, ambassador.

And a missing father who faked his own death to flee to another country, well he has now been arrested and we have new information about how it all went down. We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

BOLDUAN: There's new reporting today from inside Donald Trump's transition team, the epicenter of which is shifting from South Florida to Washington D.C. Planning for Trump's inauguration fully underway. Trump's allies shepherding his cabinet picks through the gauntlet of meetings and scrutiny on Capitol Hill as they move toward confirmation hearings.

And one of the latest job announcements to come through, Kimberly Guilfoyle. She's the former Fox News host who has had been engaged to Donald Trump Jr. She is now nominated to be the next U.S. ambassador to Greece.

For more on that, let me bring in Steve Contorno. He's got much more reporting for us. What are you hearing today, Steve?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Kate, for much of the past four years ever since Donald Trump left Washington, D.C., he has been running his political operation out of Palm Beach, and most of his aides and advisers have lived within a stone's throw of Mar-a-Lago. Well, that has been the case up until recently, because we are now starting to see the epicenter of his political operation and his transition team shift to Washington, D.C.

Allies are on the Hill walking these nominees through these Capitol Hill, and Senate meetings. We are seeing his advance team scouting out space for inaugural balls and fundraising events and such. Even people who are hoping to have an in, in the administration, groups that have been close to them, they're now renting office space near the White House and people who have been living in South Florida advising Trump, they are now relocating to Washington D.C.

And this is all happening on a much faster timeline than eight years ago, with the hope and expectation of Donald Trump hitting the ground running on day one. We talked to one of top -- Trump's top advisers who told us, quote, part of the reason we're all descending on D.C. so early is because the nominees were landed quicker, the subcabinet is starting to form, policy teams are in place. And so what's left is figuring out where the hell we're going to live and staffing up. Everything is oriented to being as ready as humanly possible.

And I should point out there is one exception to this, and that is Donald Trump himself. He is so far continuing to hold court at Mar-a- Lago, welcoming world leaders, having advisers fly through West Palm beach airport and meeting with him there. And so, certainly, he continues to operate out of Mar-a-Lago, but it's been a very concerted and quick shift to get his team in place in Washington ready for day one, Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right. Steve Contorno, great to see you, thank you so much. John?

BERMAN: All right. This morning, a wave of panic among top CEOs, wanted posters targeting them after the killing of the UnitedHealthcare executive.

And break in at the home of star quarterback Joe Burrow, new concern this morning over this crime spree hitting star athletes while they are on the road.

COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:30:00]