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Biden Commutes Sentences for 1,500 People in Largest Single-Day Act of Clemency in Modern History; Police Link Suspect's Gun, Fingerprints to Crime Scene; Mounting Fear, Frustration Over Unexplained Drones Flying Over New Jersey. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired December 12, 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]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Missing for months, the disturbing details the mother of suspect Luigi Mangione told police about her son.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Pete Hegseth facing new questions this morning about past comments. The CNN reporting that he has repeatedly criticized policies allowing gay people to serve openly in the military, just as Hegseth is heading back to the Hill today.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A stunning moment inside a secret Syrian prison. CNN's Clarissa Ward was searching for traces of missing American journalist Austin Tice. The surprise behind a locked cell door all unfolding on camera.

I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan and Sarah Sidner. This is CNN News Central.

BOLDUAN: Some breaking news this morning, President Biden putting his pardon power to use, just announcing he is commuting the sentences for over 1,500 people, including pardons for 39 people convicted of nonviolent crimes. To put it in context, this move is seen as the largest single day act of clemency in modern history.

This big unveil, of course, comes on the heels of Biden's full and unconditional pardon of his son, Hunter, that got so much attention. This is likely to as well.

CNN's Arlette Saenz has much more for us from the White House this morning. Tell us more, Arlette.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, President Biden is using one of the remaining tools available to him in his final days in office to grant clemency to a wide swath of individuals, the president saying that this boils down to trying to give people a second chance.

Now, in all, the president is commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 individuals, the single largest act of clemency in a single day. To put that in perspective, the previous record was set by President Barack Obama when he commuted the sentences for 330 individuals in the final days that he was in office. Now, the White House says that these individuals who will be impacted were placed on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic. And the White House says that they have shown a commitment to rehabilitation and reintegration into their community. On top of that act of clemency, the president is also pardoning 39 individuals who had noncriminal charges that they had faced, that are not violent crimes that they had faced, and that includes drug offenses.

Now, the president in his statement had said, quote, America was built on the promise of possibility and second chances. As president, I have the great privilege of extending mercy to people who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation, restoring opportunity for Americans to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities.

Now, it comes as President Biden has faced significant pressure to grant more clemency in his closing days in office. There are some who are pushing for him to take several dozen inmates off of federal death row.

But this pressure for more acts of clemency really has heightened since President Biden had issued that full and unconditional pardon of his son, Hunter Biden, which really drew fierce backlash from Republicans and Democrats in the president's own party after the president for months had said that he would not do so.

Now, an administration official said that the president's pardoning of his son doesn't really impact his view overall on the clemency power. They say that he's been committed to that. As president, he believes it's a way to make the country a bit more just, also, in some ways, to try to deal with some of the wrongdoings of the criminal justice system in the past. And this is unlikely to be President Biden's final act of clemency. He did say that he is planning to take more steps in the final weeks that he is in office.

BOLDUAN: All right. Arlette, thank you so much, a lot to go through here. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. The gun has been linked this morning. That is just one of the huge new revelations against accused CEO killer Luigi Mangione as he fights for extradition. Police say ballistics show the gun found on him matches shell casings that were found at the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson's murder scene.

[07:05:06]

Fingerprints also, they say, matched a water bottle and Kind bar that was a wrapper left nearby. The suspect's lawyer, though, pushing back on all this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS DICKEY, ATTORNEY FOR LUIGI MANGIONE: Saying you have something and getting that admitted into court are two different things.

We need to see it. We need to see how do they collect it, how much of it matches, you know, like I don't want to get too technical, but fingerprints, they go by ridges, different things like that. And then we would have our experts, we would have experts take a look at that and then we would challenge this admissibility and challenge the accuracy of those results.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Also, some new details about Mangione's past from his mom. July 1st was reportedly the last time they spoke before, she says, she reported him missing in November.

With me now is New York Times reporter Maria Cramer. Maria, tell us what you are now learning about this as the country is really focused on this case.

MARIA CRAMER, REPORTER, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Well, yes, his family about him for several months now. His friends had been wondering why they hadn't heard from him. We know that he had -- communication with his family after suffering a back injury that -- or suffering from severe back pain that had been a result of first having surgery and then a surfing incident and slipping on a piece of paper. These were according to postings he had put on social media.

So, he had definitely withdrawn and his family was very concerned. His mother had filed a missing report in November, you know, underscoring that level of anxiety and concern that they had,

SIDNER: Where are investigators right now? What are they focusing on?

CRAMER: Investigators right now are developing more evidence. They have -- obviously, as you said, they've tested -- they brought the gun back to New York. They brought it to the ballistics department to analyze it. And Commissioner Tisch, she's the police commissioner in New York, confirmed yesterday that the bullets that -- the shell casings that were found at the crime scene match the weapon that was found on Luigi Mangione.

So, they're developing more evidence. They're also looking closely at his writings, the 260-word handwritten note, which many are describing as a manifesto, and that others see as a sort of a claim of responsibility for what happened as well as the notebook that was found on him that detailed killing an executive from UnitedHealthcare.

SIDNER: What do you know about his fight to stop himself being extradited to New York?

CRAMER: This is something that his lawyer has said he wants to do. He plans on fighting the extradition, and this is a process that can take many weeks and we'll have to see how that plays out. But in order to get him into New York, the police have said that, or I'm sure I should say that prosecutors have said that they might have to present a witness who would be able to justify extraditing him from New York as he's facing charges in Altoona for the gun that was found on him, excuse me.

SIDNER: No worries. Maria, do we have any sense of why this extradition fight is happening? CRAMER: No. I don't have any sense of that.

SIDNER: All right. Maria Cramer, thank you so much for giving us the very latest on a case being followed by the entire country, if not parts of the world. I appreciate it. John?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now I'm legitimately concerned for what the hell is going on because that nobody knows.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are literally being invaded by drones and we have no idea who's doing it and where they're coming from.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: This morning, confusion and fear as these huge, mysterious drones fly over sensitive infrastructure in New Jersey.

New video taken just seconds before a plane crashed into a busy highway and then split in half.

And a truly stunning moment, Clarissa Ward's team in Syria searching for any sign of missing American journalist Austin Tice, what they found was something very different.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We go in to get a closer look. It's still not clear if there is something under the blanket.

It moved. Is there someone there? I thought I saw it moved. Is someone there?

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BERMAN: This morning, a combination of confusion, fear, and anger over the waves of drones that apparently keep flying over key locations in New Jersey. A local mayor said they are, quote, literally being invaded.

The Department of Homeland Security says they do not know where the drones are coming from or who is behind them, an explanation that is frustrating New Jersey officials. One lawmaker called a DHS briefing, I should say, a waste of time, adding, they know nothing. Another said, just shoot them down already.

The drone sightings have been reported for weeks flying close to a military base and President-elect Trump's Bedminster golf course.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And here's another one.

Now there's two. So, now I'm seeing things and I'm like, is that a plane or is it a drone? Like what's this?

[07:15:00]

It's another drone. There's a lot in the sky right now, one, two, three.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right. And CNN's Polo Sandoval is with us this morning. What on earth is going on here?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, this is a story that's very much defined by what we do not know. And it's those lack of answers that are really feeling that frustration right across the river in New Jersey. This is where citizens do have and lawmakers and local officials have concerns about what has been reported as multiple drones that have been spotted over New Jersey airspace. These are sightings that go back a couple of weeks all the way back to November 18th in Morris County. It's about 43 miles west of New York City.

Some witness reports to authorities indicated that some could be up to six feet in diameter. The Coast Guard reporting as well over water multiple low flying aircraft near one of their vessels. We reached out to the Coast Guard for more information here. The FBI really leading this investigation with New Jersey State Police and the Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness while the Coast Guard is really going to be trying to address the jurisdictional responses here.

Federal agencies, though, John, I should mention, have ruled out any connections to local, state or federal governments when it comes to these sightings. But I want you to hear directly from a few law enforcement officers in Ocean City, New Jersey, as they describe what they saw when it comes to these report drones.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was coming in our direction. It spun around 180 degrees, went back out the other way. Then it kind of looped around and then took off past us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Planes, they have, you know, a white tail light coming from them and each wing has a different color, whether it be red or green. Whatever it is, it's different.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Different. I have to say, though, after looking over some of these videos, John, there's some resemblance for some of them. In terms of possibility being airplanes, the flight patterns, the navigation lights that are on board, some appear to be, to have some landing gear lights as well. So, there's some questions about whether or not maybe some actual airplanes could be behind those, but not all. And so I think that is really what's fueling those questions happening in New Jersey.

BERMAN: And the questions lead to uncertainty, which lead to conspiracy theories, Polo.

SANDOVAL: Plenty of them, including from one New Jersey representative, Jeff Van Drew. He said, without offering any evidence, that it was a mothership off the eastern coast that was sending these drones.

BERMAN: An Iranian mothership.

SANDOVAL: An Iranian mothership, to be exact.

The Pentagon, though, just yesterday, denying those claims saying that there's no evidence that these are military drones and that there's no foreign entity that's responsible for this. So, I think the more questions get raised, the more we may potentially hear from officials.

BERMAN: We're going to have Jeff Van Drew on a little bit later. We'll ask him where he's getting his information about the Iranian mothership.

Polo Sandoval, thank you very much. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, Time's Person of the Year just announced, what they're saying about selecting Donald Trump for a second time and how the president-elect is reacting.

And Mark Zuckerberg's Meta just donated a big sum to Donald Trump's inaugural fund, two weeks after Zuckerberg himself met privately with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

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[07:20:00]

BOLDUAN: For the second time, Time Magazine is announcing this morning that Donald Trump is their Time Person of the Year.

CNN's Steve Contorno has much more for us on this in studio, no less.

Donald Trump has a long history, Steve, of caring very deeply about the Time Person of the Year cover. Just look back at all of the reporting. People will remember this. Any reaction from Donald Trump yet this morning?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: We have not seen reaction from Donald Trump yet, but he is expected to appear at the New York Stock Exchange and ring the bell this morning and sort of accept this award, which he views it very much as an award. It should be noted that this is someone to mark who is the most influential person of the year for ill or for good, but Donald Trump has long seen this as sort of a mark of someone's popularity and influence.

If you go back to 2011, he was tweeting about the results, suggesting that the results have lost all credibility because he was not included on their list of top 100 people. And then he tweeted in 2015 that he would never win the award. But in 2016, he actually was named Time Person of the Year for the first time. And actually, if you go even further back, he had in his clubs, it was discovered by The Washington Post the year after that he was putting covers that were fake in a lot of his clubs, suggesting that he was Time Person of the Year in 2009.

But here we are now in 2024 and Donald Trump joins a long list of presidents who have been named Time Person of the Year for the second time, including President Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

BOLDUAN: We're going to have one of the Time editor joining us later to talk about the selection and what comes along with it, their views of it and why and all that jazz. But to some other big news that is coming out this morning about the Trump transition, the K-File has new reporting about Donald Trump's pick to be the next defense secretary, Pete Hegseth and more comments he has made in the past about military policies. What are you learning?

CONTORNO: Right. There's already been a lot of focus so far on what he has said about women in combat. Well, it turns out that he has also been very critical about gay men and women openly serving in the military in his 2024 book, which he did a very large media tour around. He said it was sort of a, quote, gateway to liberal ideology and Marxist thinking. Take a listen to what he had to say in June about gays openly serving.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, TRUMP DEFENSE SECRETARY PICK: Now you just have the absurdity of I have two mommies and I'm so proud to show them that I can wear the uniform, too. So, it's just like everything else leftists have done. At first, it was camouflaged nicely and now they're just, they're just open about it. But it did -- I mean it started with Clinton under don't ask, don't tell. So, a lot of the original people who pushed for the overhaul of don't ask, don't tell, are no longer public about it and regret it, because it was really just a costume for a trans agenda pushed into the military, which is full-on, by the way, inside the ranks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:25:11]

CONTORNO: Now, these aren't new views for Pete Hegseth. He has said similar things going back all the way to 2015 and K-File was able to uncover some more additional comments he has made as well.

BOLDUAN: Another headline as well that I was seeing, this one about donations, Mark Zuckerberg's Meta has donated, I think it's about a million dollars to Donald Trump's inaugural fund. What are you hearing about this?

CONTORNO: Yes. What a 180 from the summer, because Donald Trump released this book where Zuckerberg with life in prison over the hundreds of millions of dollars Mark Zuckerberg and his wife made to help support election infrastructure during the 2020 election. Well, flash forward to now, we see Mark Zuckerberg's Meta donating a million dollars to Donald Trump's inauguration, which was confirmed by a Meta spokesperson.

And, look, this is part of a a larger warming between Donald Trump and Silicon Valley. Obviously, there's been this bromance with Elon Musk, but we also saw Mark Zuckerberg dining at Mar-a-Lago earlier since or in the weeks after Trump was elected, so just sort of a similar sort of trajectory for some of these Silicon Valley types.

BOLDUAN: Yes. And things change when you're looking at who's going to be in the White House and who could be, you know, targeting your industry if he so chooses because we have heard Donald Trump has made no secret of that.

CONTORNOW: Absolutely.

BOLDUAN: Steve, thanks so much for all the reporting. I really appreciate it. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Breaking overnight, a missing American may have been found inside a Syrian prison. We're getting new details on a U.S. citizen who has been missing for months. That story is ahead.

And amid elevated threats targeting CEOs, how companies are beefing up security and working to protect corporate executives and their families.

Those stories and more, coming up.

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