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Man Charged In FL Trump Assassination Attempt Back In Court; Syria's Rebel Leader Says Countries Should Not Fear War As Israel & Turkey Strike Military Targets There; Fire Tears Through Malibu, Forcing Thousands To Flee. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired December 11, 2024 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[13:30:00]
SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: And I think people, the average person is looking at that and they're saying, all right, Trump is you know, he's stepping back a little bit and let the process work out.
MEGHAN HAYES, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Yes. He's playing relatively low key and quiet. He's not doing, you know --
(CROSSTALK)
HAYES: He did one interview last week.
(CROSSTALK)
HAYES: I don't know about that.
(LAUGHTER)
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: We'll see. The process is young yet.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Yes, exactly.
SINGLETARY: I'm not going to bet on that, Brianna.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: Shermichael, Meghan, thank you both. Appreciate the conversation.
Coming up, the man accused of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump in Florida last September is in court. Why he's asking a federal judge to delay his trial.
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[13:35:00]
SANCHEZ: Ryan Routh, the Hawaii man accused of trying to assassinate Donald Trump in September at a Florida golf course, was back in federal court today for a hearing. His attorneys have tried to delay the start of his trial by several months, from February to the end of next year.
KEILAR: The alleged would-be assassin is appearing before Judge Aileen Cannon, who, of course, is the same judge who dismissed Trump's classified documents case.
Routh has pleaded not guilty to five counts that include the attempted assassination of a presidential candidate and an assault on a federal officer.
CNN crime and justice correspondent, Katelyn Polantz, is here with more on what's happened at this hearing today.
Tell us.
KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME & JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is a moment where the defense team for Ryan Routh, some federal public defenders down in Florida, are overwhelmed.
And they've gone to Judge Cannon to tell them there is just so much evidence that the feds have gathered about Ryan Routh, about this alleged attempted assassination of Donald Trump, that they just can't get through it.
And they can barely make out the time to meet with him in the prison where he's being held, or in the jail where he's being held in Miami as he's awaiting trial.
So right now, the trial is on schedule for February, February 10th. And that's five months from his being arrested and charged. That's not a lot of time.
And the prosecutors even say, sure, we would be OK with you moving this trial date back. But the defense team, they want the trial for Ryan Routh to not take place until a year from now. So that is quite a long period of time.
Judge Cannon didn't make a decision today. But one of the highlights in this discussion over the trial time and how much time the defense needs to prepare, is just the -- the incredible amount of information that the feds picked up on Ryan Routh.
They say that they we're doing it because they needed to assess the threat against Donald Trump.
But then he had a massive amount of electronics, 17 of his own cell phones that the FBI has had to go through. There we're computers, tablets, additional things.
And then, of course, a large amount of body camera footage of the law enforcement that tracked him down that day after he was found on the Mar-a-Lago golf course -- or the international, the Trump International Golf Course.
KEILAR: Yes. It's boggling all of that.
Katelyn Polantz, thank you so much. We do appreciate it. And coming up, the leader of Syrian rebel forces has a message for the
world. What he's now saying about the possibility of another war after toppling the Assad regime.
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[13:41:57]
SANCHEZ: New today. Syria's rebel leader is vowing to bring stability to the war-torn country. Mohammad al-Jolani, who was just appointed as Syria's caretaker prime minister, tells reporters the Assad regime is no more, that his people are exhausted and that foreign governments should not fear a war with Syria.
But fighting continues in the country's north and east and across its borders. Israel says it struck Syria nearly 500 times in just two days, while Turkish state media says this drone strike destroyed military equipment that had been seized by a Kurdish group.
Joining us now is retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling.
General Hertling, thank you so much for being with us.
Despite the ouster of Assad, some of the rebel groups that joined forces to unseat him are directly opposed to each other. And with him out of the way, do you foresee a period of peace in Syria, especially given that some of these Kurdish forces and Turkish-backed fighters are at odds?
LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, Jolani has a couple of tasks in front of him, Boris. The first one is to gather the groups together that have been fighting. And it has been an unbelievable spectrum of people who have been fighting in Syria, all pointing guns at each other over the last 10 years.
So he's said publicly that he's going to try and pull all those groups together. Some are extreme terrorists. Others are just freedom fighters.
But there's also, right now, a whole lot of churn. Russia has been sending their forces out of the area drastically trying to get out of the area.
As you just mentioned, the Kurdish forces are bumping up against the Turkish forces. And Turkey -- Turkey always considers any Kurdish forces to be its enemy.
So you're going to see some additional churn going on over the next several days and weeks while Jolani tries and pull the government together.
As I said the other day, you know, whenever you mention the two words, "regime change," you're going to have a lot of chaos right after the -- the statues are pulled down and people are firing celebratory gunfire in the streets. That's what we're seeing right now. SANCHEZ: And often, as we see that chaos, you see the attempts by
foreign governments, perhaps to influence what happens and to and to seek opportunity.
To that point, do you think that Recep Erdogan sees this moment as a chance to hurt those Kurdish rebels in the north? Should we expect more from Turkey and it's fighters in the region, and more aggression towards the Kurds?
HERTLING: Yes. All -- all of that is happening.
Plus, you add to that the Israeli strikes that have occurred over the last two days, 350 strikes by Israel against key ammunition and naval targets of Syria to ensure that they don't come back.
But getting back to the Turkish piece, yes, I think you're going to see that. Having spent a little bit of time in northern Iraq and see how much there is a desire to destroy some of the Kurdish - the -- excuse me -- the Kurdish fighters by the Turkish government.
[13:45:03]
I think you're certainly going to see that from the political angle here in northern Syria as -- as the Kurdish fighters try and, you know, basically, secure their autonomous region, which they claim goes all the way from Syria through the northern parts of Iraq and even into Iran.
I mean, they see this as a potential opportunity as well. But Turkey is certainly going to oppose those over the next couple of weeks.
SANCHEZ: Yes, that will be one angle to watch, for sure.
I do want to ask you about the U.S.'s role, because the United States maintains some 900 troops in northern Syria. And their mission has shifted over time. What role do you expect they're going to play now?
HERTLING: I think they're going to continue to play a role of counterterrorism. Those 900 forces there, along with some of their security forces, have always been geared toward fighting against ISIS regenerating along the Euphrates River Valley. That's the concern.
You know, Boris, it's interesting because this area has a long history of shuttling terrorists to and fro, between Iran all the way to the western border of Syria and into Lebanon. It was there when I was there 10 years ago, and it still exists.
This is a terrorist rat line that goes all the way through Syria and into the northern Nineveh Desert of -- of Iraq. And I think it's going to be very challenging to try and stop those terrorist activity, both Shia and Sunni, going into the various countries in the Middle East.
This -- this is a hotbed of terrorism. And it's going to be hard to shut it down. And that's what the U.S. forces are going to do.
But in addition to that, I think the administration has said they're going to do everything in their power to help secure a new government within Syria and work with the -- the new Syrian government under Jolani to bring about, you know, a normalization in ties. And I think that's a good thing as well.
SANCHEZ: Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, great to get your analysis. Thanks for joining us now.
HERTLING: Thanks, Boris. Thank you.
SANCHEZ: Of course.
Brianna?
KEILAR: And now to some of the other headlines that we're watching this hour.
It would have been the biggest supermarket marriage in U.S. history. But now Alberton's is suing Kroger after the latest court blocked their $25 billion merger, arguing that it would hurt competition.
Albertsons is alleging Kroger did not do enough to support the deal, while Kroger says Albertsons is deflecting its own responsibility.
And in California, officials are investigating a possible cause -- a case, I should say, of bird flu in a child who drank raw milk. The child went to an emergency room last month with a fever and vomiting and tested positive for Influenza A.
California health officials are warning about the risks of raw milk, which can carry listeria, salmonella, E. coli and bird flu virus.
And a kayaker, who faked his own death and fled to eastern Europe, leaving his wife and three children, is now in police custody in Wisconsin. A local sheriff says he is cooperating.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK PODOFF, SHERIFF, GREEN LAKE, WISCONSIN, SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: It was one thing that -- that worked -- worked in our favor. We brought a dad back on his own accord.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: The sheriff says the district attorney is reviewing several possible charges. We do expect to learn more in a court hearing in the 3:00 p.m. hour.
[13:48:24]
And still ahead, fire crews in California are struggling to get the upper hand on a fast-moving wildfire that is tearing across Malibu. Nearly 4,000 acres have burned, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes. We'll take you there, next.
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[13:53:18]
SANCHEZ: Right now, dry, gusty winds are fanning an explosive wildfire that's forcing thousands from their homes in Malibu, California. The Franklin Fire erupted on Monday and, since then, it's burned nearly 4,000 acres and destroyed a number of structures.
That's forcing officials to issue evacuation orders and other warnings for about 18,000 people. Fortunately, so far, no deaths or injuries have been reported. But at last check, this fire was just 7 percent contained.
CNN's Nick Watt is on the ground with a look at how crews are fighting it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Around 1,500 firefighters, as well as helicopters and fixed wing aircraft dropping water, all trying to get this fire under control.
You can see the flames in the hills behind me. That is a seafood shack right there. This is the PCH, the Pacific Coast highway, which is currently closed. Pacific Ocean, just a few feet behind us.
Now the issue, the terrain, obviously, as you can see. And the winds. The Santa Ana winds whipping 60, 70 mile-an-hour gusts. That is the problem. Those winds pick up, embers can carry them for miles.
We have seen some people trying to spray down water onto the roof of their Houses so that if an ember doesn't land, it doesn't ignite the building.
So the fire, we are told by fire officials, is stubborn because of the wind, because of the low humidity, and just because of all this fuel, this dry chaparral that just gets that fire going.
At its peak so far, this fire was consuming maybe five football fields. Structures have been destroyed. People have been forced to evacuate. Amongst them, Dick Van Dike and his wife and one of their cats. He turns 99 on Friday.
[13:55:05]
By then, officials are hoping that the conditions improve, that the humidity gets higher, that the winds drop, and that they can actually get this blaze under some sort of control.
Nick Watt, CNN, Malibu, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Our thanks to Nick Watt for that report.
Coming up, we have new details in the shooting death of the UnitedHealthcare CEO. Authorities piecing together evidence as the suspected killer fights extradition to New York. CNN NEWS CENTRAL is back in a moment.
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