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FBI Investigates Unexplained Drone Sightings in New Jersey; DOJ, Louisville Reach Deal to Reform City's Police Force; U.K. Bans Puberty Blockers for People Under 18 Indefinitely. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired December 12, 2024 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Several senators are demanding answers from the FBI and Homeland Security about dozens of sightings of drones over several New Jersey townships and New York City. In a private briefing today, the U.S. intelligence community and federal law enforcement told members of Congress they do not currently suspect foreign involvement. While local officials are alarmed, the White House says there is no immediate cause for concern.

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JOHN KIRBY, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COMMUNICATIONS ADVISER: We have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or a public safety threat or have a foreign nexus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: And joining us now is the mayor of Middletown Township, Tony Perry. Mayor, thank you so much for being with us. And you did get a briefing that I want to talk about.

But first, can you just tell us what you've seen, what people in your area have been witnessing?

MAYOR TONY PERRY, MIDDLETOWN, NEW JERSEY: Yes, for the last week or so, we've had more than 40 drones over our township, which includes 42 square miles and 68,000 people. And most importantly, in my perspective, aside from the safety and security of our residents, Naval Weapons Station Earl, which is a munitions depot run by the U.S. Navy. So for that amount of time, we've been seeing drones.

In fact, just yesterday, I saw another one right over top of Route 35 near one of our electrical panels, electrical substations here in town. So it's concerning for a lot of residents.

KEILAR: Yes, certainly. And you did receive a briefing yesterday at New Jersey State Police Headquarters. And I know you said that you left with more questions and concerns than when you arrived. Tell us about that.

PERRY: Well, first, I was really concerned at the fact that the FBI was not there to conduct the investigation for because for weeks we've been told and have encouraged our residents that they should be contacting the investigating agency and that's the FBI. So when we all drove out to Ewing Township yesterday in Mercer County, we all sat there and were absolutely confused as to why we were not being briefed by the FBI, but instead by the state police and the Department of Homeland Security. And they said that that was an oversight.

So I think it's a little unacceptable to sit there and not have the investigating agency give you that briefing. And I think it's about time that the federal government realized that it needs to get up and start reacting to what has been now a nearly a month of time that these drones have been hovering over New Jersey.

KEILAR: So you're not satisfied with their response, certainly to you and the folks in your community. But you did mention, I know that you learned in the briefing that the Coast Guard is monitoring the shoreline for possible vessels that could be serving as a base for these drones. Tell us about that.

PERRY: Yes, state police had discussed where the drones might be coming from. They were unable to tell us because they have not been able to chase or pursue any of these drones from the time they launched to the time they land somewhere, which is certainly concerning and that the battery life of these drones is lasting anywhere between six and eight hours. But the Coast Guard is apparently along our 130 mile coastline here in the state of New Jersey, looking for any type of vessel that's able to serve as that platform for these, you know, SUV sized drones to take off and land, which is obviously incredibly concerning because that, you know, obviously shows that this may be more of a foreign actor than anything else.

KEILAR: So NSC spokesperson John Kirby said there's no evidence at this time the drones pose a national security or a public safety threat or have a foreign nexus. Does that give you assurance?

PERRY: Absolutely not. The Pentagon and the state police and everyone else can provide me and tell me that there's no imminent threat until you know the origin and what these drones' intent is. How can you tell me that there's no imminent threat?

And that was the position that most of the mayors in the room yesterday took at the fact that we're tired of kind of this lackadaisical attitude that the federal government is taking. And that's a bipartisan position in that room that why are we just acting as if this is just these Amazon drones that people can buy and fly recreationally?

We're talking about drones that are going upwards of 60 to 70 miles an hour.

[15:35:09]

They're eight six to eight feet long with battery life that's lasting, you know, hours and hours and hours on end. So I'm not sure how anyone can just sit there and say that there's no imminent threat.

I'm not saying that people need to start having a panic, but we can start acting and taking it seriously because I don't think the federal government has taken it seriously to date.

KEILAR: You want answers. A lot of people there do. Mayor, thank you so much. It's certainly interesting to hear what you are seeing and what you're hearing. And we appreciate your time.

PERRY: Thank you so much.

KEILAR: And we'll be right back.

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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: This just into CNN, the Justice Department and the City of Louisville have reached an agreement to reform the city's police force. This follows a federal investigation spurred by the botched raid that left Breonna Taylor dead in her own home. A police report last year found that Louisville police have engaged in a pattern of violating constitutional rights and discriminating against the Black community.

CNN's Nick Valencia is following this story for us. Nick, walk us through what's in this agreement.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, this comes nearly five years since the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor who was shot and killed by a police department officer with the Louisville Police Department while she was inside her own home in the middle of the night.

And as you mentioned, the Fed's investigation found that the police there in Louisville engage in a pattern that's discriminatory against its Black residents and that they often violate the constitutional rights of those engaged in protests.

Now, the mayor of Louisville says that these reforms that the DOJ is asking for will just be added to those that are already in place since her death, Breonna Taylor's death, that is, in March of 2020.

One of those changes, you may remember, includes a city law banning no-knock warrants. Now, some of the other changes that the DOJ is asking for in their report here that we just got our hands on are appropriate de-escalation techniques, an attempt to resolve incidents without force, and also very importantly here, non-law enforcement deflection teams to situations involving people in a behavioral health crisis, so people going through a mental health crisis. It's important here that this agreement is just in principle and still needs to be approved by a judge.

But once that does happen, it's just only, it seems, a matter of time, then a federal officer will be sent to Louisville to make sure and monitor that these changes are put into place. But very significant here in the aftermath, in the wake of the death of Breonna Taylor -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Nick, how long before a judge decrees to approve this deal? VALENCIA: We don't know, and there's been at least a dozen that have been efforted by the Biden administration in the last four years. This is one of the only consent decrees that has stuck. You remember last week, we were reporting here about the consent decree that the Memphis, the city of Memphis was pushing back on.

So it appears that, you know, at this time, the city of Memphis and the DOJ are on the same page. They're willing to implement these reforms. We just don't know about the timeline of those reforms and when they will happen -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Nick Valencia, thank you so much for the update from Atlanta.

Still ahead, the U.K. now banning puberty blockers for transgender minors. We're going to be joined by a pediatrician to talk about the safety of these drugs and why advocates say they are critical for some children.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: The United Kingdom is banning puberty-suppressing hormones for people under 18 indefinitely now. The order cites expert advice that there is an unacceptable safety risk to minors. A freeze on puberty blockers for the treatment of gender dysphoria has been in place since earlier this year in the U.K. And a case involving a similar matter was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court last week. And a conservative majority on the court appeared sympathetic to backing a Tennessee law banning gender-affirming care for minors, specifically its ban on puberty blockers and hormone therapy. Dr. Edith Bracho-Sanchez is with us now. She's a pediatrician at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

Doctor, thank you so much for talking with us about this. First, just walk us through what these drugs do.

DR. EDITH BRACHO-SANCHEZ, PEDIATRICIAN, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IRVING MEDICAL CENTER: Absolutely, Brianna. Thank you for having me. So these medications are known as gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs, which is a mouthful.

What they do is that they block the release of estrogen and testosterone. And those are the hormones that are known to trigger puberty and many of the physical changes that we have come to associate with puberty. So they are puberty-delaying medications that have been used in this country for many, many years.

They've now, of course, come under political scrutiny. But that is essentially what they do, Brianna.

KEILAR: So I do want to point out, and it's hard, I think, for people who are looking for answers here, because the Pediatric Endocrine Society says puberty blockers can carry some risks. More long-term studies are needed. The American Academy of Pediatrics says long-term studies on fertility and bone health are limited and provide varied results.

So what are the risks, at least what is known about them?

BRACHO-SANCHEZ: Brianna, I think you are absolutely right that people may be left feeling confused, right? There's some guidance that's coming out of England. There are different organizations that are weighing in.

Let's focus for a second on the medications themselves and the risks of them, right? So the medications have been used for over 30 years in this country. They're used to delay puberty.

So I have kiddos who I see who are school-age, 5, 6, 7 years old, who are entering puberty too early, too soon. And we need to delay it, right? Imagine a 5-year-old, a 6-year-old entering puberty.

Those medications have been safely used in those kids for over 30 years. We're talking side effects that may include bone density being affected, growth spurts being affected. We're still learning about the long-term effects on fertility. But the medications themselves are generally safe and, again, have been used for many years in this country -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Conversely, you have advocates -- there are advocates for trans youth who say that there are mental health risks for minors who want to use these interventions if they are prohibited from doing so.

Opponents will emphasize physical risks.

[15:50:00]

They say those ones even that you delineated that it's too much, right? They'll also say that warnings about mental health are overblown or they're completely wrong. And then just to show how difficult this can all be to sort out this question of it, in October, the author of a federally funded study said that their study found puberty blockers did not appear to improve the mental health of 95 children ages 8 to 16 who were followed for 2 years to understand their mental and physical functioning, but that she ended delaying publication of some of her results because of fears that they would be weaponized in a heated political climate. And researchers say puberty blockers may have prevented a decline in mental health even if they didn't lead to improvement in mental functioning. That may be a hypothesis, right? We don't know.

So how do you make a call from that kind of data that's available and where you also have folks who are not publishing some data they have?

BRACHO-SANCHEZ: Brianna, I think the conclusion that any reasonable person would reach after hearing you talk about where the data is, is that we need more data, right? But that shouldn't preclude us from trying to do the best that we can do for every single child and every single family, right? So my concern as a pediatrician is when the political debate, the debate in the court of public opinion gets so out of control that now we have to take everybody else's opinion into consideration in the exam room as we're trying to do the absolute best that we can do for every kiddo and every family, right?

So we just have to take a step back and express concern that politics has taken over, that politicians are inserting themselves into our exam rooms. We need more data, absolutely. But I do think that people are looking at this and reaching different conclusions, Brianna, and that many of us have seen some of these medications, when used in conjunction and taken very seriously, right, do good for some kids and some families, some kids and some families when used in conjunction to other things and treatments, right?

So we're not talking about jumping to this. It's something that we take very, very seriously. And really, as pediatricians, we're in the business of listening. We're in the business of caring. We're not in the business of politics. We have no agenda other than to help kids thrive -- Brianna.

KEILAR: And back to the U.K. and that need for more data. A planned National Health Service clinical trial on puberty blockers is allowed to proceed despite this indefinite ban, and the ban's going to be reviewed in 2027, taking any new evidence into account then. How important is that?

BRACHO-SANCHEZ: So important, and I'm so glad you're bringing it up because the headline that we're hearing is the U.K. has banned puberty blockers, right? And what's getting lost in translation and in the headline is that they're continuing to allow it under clinical studies, right?

So they are saying for some kids this needs to be studied. Some kids need to continue to have access to this. So I do think there is an understanding there that for some kids this is beneficial, that there is a need to continue to study this. And they're saying for those kiddos, go ahead and enroll them in these protocols and these studies, which in my opinion, and here's an opinion, right, does pose a number of ethical issues, right?

Like now you have to enroll and the process of consent gets a little bit jeopardized if you want to continue to receive this care. But even in the U.K., which is getting lost in the headline, it is continuing to be available for the purposes of clinical studies -- Brianna.

KEILAR: We should note they're grandfathering in people, and it is a small number of people who are using these interventions as well. Just another sort of footnote. Dr. Edith Bracho-Sanchez, thank you so much for being with us.

BRACHO-SANCHEZ: Thank you for having me.

Boris.

SANCHEZ: Now to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour. President Biden is commuting the sentences of about 1,500 people who were released from prison and placed on house arrest during the pandemic.

He's also pardoning 39 Americans convicted of nonviolent crimes. The White House says this is the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history.

Plus, a month after going missing, a Hawaii woman, Hanna Kobayashi, has been found safe, according to her family, though they did not say when or where she was found.

You might recall the 30-year-old was last seen crossing into Mexico on foot after vanishing during a layover in Los Angeles. Kobayashi's father also tragically died by suicide during the search for her. The family right now is asking for privacy.

And a change in the weather is helping crews battling that raging wildfire in Southern California. The Franklin Fire has burned over 4,000 acres in Malibu, destroying homes and forcing thousands to evacuate. Firefighters say calmer winds are giving them a chance to gain control, but the blaze is still only 7 percent contained.

[15:55:02]

And still ahead, in the midst of that Malibu fire, a story about a legendary actor and a very lucky cat. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: The Franklin fire in California has burned more than 4,000 acres so far and is an inch closer to the Malibu home of actor Dick Van Dyke. He was forced to evacuate with the help of his neighbors.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DICK VAN DYKE, ACTOR: I was trying to crawl to the car. I had exhausted myself. I couldn't get up. And three neighbors came and carried me out and came back and put out a little fire in the guest house and saved me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Unbelievable. But as Van Dyke and his wife escaped, one family member was unfortunately missing. Van Dyke writing on Facebook that their cat, Bobo, had escaped. There was so much interest in Bobo's safety that he says animal control was actually called in to assist.

SANCHEZ: Bobo's safety is of ultimate importance. In a happy update, Bobo was found this morning, though the beloved cat does not look thrilled about his rescue. Van Dyke says that thankfully, he was easy to find, and not harmed.

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Of course, the legendary actor turns 99 tomorrow. So, from our friends here at CNN, happy birthday to Dick Van Dyke. He looks great for 99.

KEILAR: He's doing great. Sounds great. Can we get another picture of Bobo? Put Bobo back up here. Boris, that's just how cats look. Bobo's happy. He's fine.

SANCHEZ: Is he happy? KEILAR: He's just a cat. And "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.

END