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Lawmakers Demand Answers, Action on Unexplained Drones in NJ; Trump Considering RFK Jr.'s Daughter-in-Law as CIA Deputy Director; Most Americans Approve of How Trump is Handling Transition; Syrian Families Search For Loved Ones in Damascus Morgue. Aired 7:30-8am ET

Aired December 13, 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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[07:31:02]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Lawmakers and residents in New Jersey, they're angry and frustrated right now. Dozens of mysterious nighttime drone sightings over the last month and still no concrete word on what is going on.

Here's one New Jersey state lawmaker now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN BERGEN, (R) NEW JERSEY ASSEMBLYMAN: So you would think if it was Amazon or FedEx or UPS testing something or an insurance company checking out roofs for assessments, somebody would say something by now. But nobody.

So law enforcement, in my opinion, and the whole government, state police, Department of Homeland Security, the governor, they need to take this way more seriously and find out what's going on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: So the White House said yesterday there's no evidence the drones pose a national security or public safety threat. The FBI and DHS, they actually put out a joint statement saying pretty much exactly the same yesterday as well, adding this, "We are supporting local law enforcement in New Jersey with numerous detection methods, but have not corroborated any of the reported visual sightings with electronic detection.

'To the contrary, upon review of available imagery, it appears that many of the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft operating lawfully. There are no reported or confirmed drone sightings in any restricted airspace. Still, people are very clearly on edge."

Still, people are very clearly on edge.

Let's talk about this. Joining us right now is Rick Smith. He's a Founder and CEO of Axon, a private airspace security company that helps safeguard clients from drones. Thanks for coming in, Rick. I appreciate your time.

What -- first and foremost, give me your theory. What do you think is going on here?

RICK SMITH, FOUNDER & CEO, AXON: It's a little hard to tell exactly what's going on in New Jersey, but I can tell you it's good that this is drawing attention to a bigger problem.

Just in the past year, we've detected over a million flight violations with drones near airports, critical infrastructure, NFL stadiums, and those sorts of things. So this is a really -- it's a much bigger issue than even what's going on in New Jersey. And this attention hopefully is going to drive lawmakers to take some -- some rapid actions here to empower law enforcement with the tools they need.

BOLDUAN: Yeah, I want to talk about the bigger issue because that's something you've got a lot of experience in basically. I mean, this is your entire business. But first I want to play for you what the White House said more specifically when asked about the situation in New Jersey.

Let me play this for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY, NATIONAL SECURITY COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: 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. We have not been able to, and neither have state or local law enforcement authorities, corroborate any of the reported visual sightings. To the contrary, upon review of available imagery, it appears that many of the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft that are being operated lawfully.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: The FBI says it's still investigating, Rick. Do you find it surprising, though, that they haven't figured it out or haven't said so publicly yet? Because as you can see, it's creating a lot of concern for a lot of people.

SMITH: Yeah, well, here's the underlying problem. The vast majority of our aircraft management technology in the United States is built to manage airplanes. In fact, our laws are built to manage airplanes because drones didn't exist several decades ago. And you need different types of equipment, and that's what we've been building at D-Drone is the ability to track smaller aircraft because we saw things like drones were going to be an issue, and now they certainly are an issue.

And so the same radar and tracking system you use for a 747 just doesn't work. And so that's why law enforcement is beginning to deploy these. But there's also some regulatory hurdles because the laws that regulate aircraft are not built to empower police to deal with the drone. So if your local state fair has a drone coming towards it that police

believe might be dangerous, right now there's nothing they can do about it. But I think that's going to change pretty quickly.

BOLDUAN: And that -- I wanted to ask you about that because we have a member of Congress coming on shortly who is proposing some legislation on this.

[07:35:05]

We have seen it many, many times over the years. Technology always outpaces laws and regulation. What is -- what is most needed here in order to correct -- it's a bigger problem, there are many facets of it. But when you are looking at it from your perspective, what kind of change, what kind of regulation, what kind of legislation is most needed to start here?

SMITH: Well, the first thing I would say is this is actually a bipartisan issue. There have been bills the last couple of years from both Republicans and Democrats that seek to give state and local law enforcement, state police, and critical infrastructure operators, so people that might be running a nuclear power plant or something like that, these new laws that have been in Congress seek to give them the ability to both track and mitigate drones.

Right now, only certain federal agencies can do it, and there's just not enough of those people. Like, clearly, those capabilities were not in the area of interest right now.

And so I think that is likely to come through next year. Again, it's empowering your state and local, the same people that are having trouble answering what's going on here, giving them the right and authority to use the tools they need to protect their local airspace.

BOLDUAN: Because who has the authority now?

SMITH: Right now, it's folks like the Department of Defense or various federal agencies can do it, but no state and local or no critical infrastructure operators are yet authorized to be able to intervene if there's drones coming into airspace.

And again, we've detected through our sensor network, we operate around 50 cities. Just with what we have alone, we've detected over a million drones flights in the past year that have been too close to airports, too close to critical power infrastructure, you know, major sports stadiums. And that's where -- look, we've been really lucky. If you look at what's happening in the world, the deadliest weapons in the Ukraine war right now are small drones that are easily converted from consumer drones or hobbyists.

The same thing is true in the Middle East. We just saw drones play a big role in this revolution in Syria. Luckily, it hasn't happened here in the U.S., and we certainly hope it doesn't. But those are the types of threats we need to prepare for.

And again, I am so grateful that this is bringing attention to this in a way that so far seems like, you know, it's -- nobody's been hurt.

BOLDUAN: That's exactly right. And it gives us an opportunity to bring on experts like you to help us understand a little bit better.

Rick Smith, thank you so much for coming out.

John?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. This morning, we had new developments in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Overnight, two new court dates were set in Pennsylvania as accused killer Luigi Mangione fights extradition in New York.

Hearings will now take place on December 23rd and 30th. This, as "ABC News" reports, New York prosecutors have begun presenting evidence to a grand jury, which would be the next step in obtaining an indictment.

Sources tell CNN as many as three search warrants have been executed in New York, including one on the backpack found in Central Park, the burner phone found along the suspect's escape route as well.

Overnight, UnitedHealthcare confirmed Mangione was not covered by their insurance group. Police say, Thompson may have been targeted because of the company's size. There are new details on Mangione's life for much of the last year and his increasing isolation.

The "New York Times" reports about a trip alone to Japan last April, which included some of the last known correspondents with friends, quote, "I want some time to Zen out, Mr. Mangione said in the recorded message on April 27th." This is "Times" reporting. "His voice quiet and contemplative." 'I would be one of his last -- it would be one of his last communications before he abruptly cut ties with a wide range of friends and family."

Then with late April, according to the "Associated Press," the suspect advised a Reddit user with back problems to, quote, "keep trying different surgeons." He added, "We live in a capitalist society. I found that the medical industry responds to these keywords far more urgently than you describing unbearable pain and how it's impacting your quality of life."

So a lot of new developments here, Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah, there really are. Thank you, John.

A second Kennedy could join President-elect Donald Trump's administration in a high-ranking role. Sources are telling CNN Trump is considering picking the daughter-in-law of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for a senior spot at the CIA.

Amaryllis Fox Kennedy managed RFK Jr.'s presidential campaign. Sources tell CNN she's met with Trump and with the man who could be her boss at the CIA if he's confirmed, John Ratcliffe.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is joining me now from West Palm Beach. What can you tell us about Amaryllis Fox Kennedy? KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Sara, as you mentioned, she is the daughter-in-law of RFK. Unsurprisingly, RFK is one of the people who is pushing her heavily. RFK has become really one of the inner circle with Donald Trump, so it is also unsurprising that this seems to be working, that she has sat down with both Trump and John Ratcliffe.

[07:40:01]

Now, some of the things that we know about her other than the fact that she ran her father-in-law's campaign is that she is a former CIA official. There have been some concerns among members of the CIA that John Ratcliffe didn't have enough experience. But I do want to caveat this, we are still looking into her time at the CIA. It's unclear how exactly she would play into this model of being a former CIA official, whether or not she was a rank-and-file member, et cetera.

The other thing to point out is that because she's a Kennedy, there is some belief among the more MAGA disruptor crowd that she herself would be a disruptor, which is something that John Ratcliffe is not considering. They wanted to mix it up a little

bit.

Now, one of the other very fascinating components of all of this is the fact that RFK Jr. has long said that he believes that the CIA was involved in the assassination of his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, and Donald Trump, while he was on the campaign trail, said that he would release any other files on that investigation as soon as he was elected president. Obviously, he's been elected president, so we'll see how that goes.

Now, not everybody is thrilled with this idea of Amaryllis Kennedy. Tom Cotton, who's going to chair the Senate Intelligence Committee, obviously a very big position, he apparently, behind the scenes, has been pushing back, talking to Trump directly about this.

We'll see how -- who wins in the battle of pushing back in Trump ally land, whether it's RFK Jr. or Tom Cotton.

SIDNER: Kristen Holmes from a very windy West Palm Beach, Florida. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

John?

BERMAN: With us now is Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware. Senator, thank you so much for being with us.

We get regular reporting on the Trump transition. If you are there, I'm wondering, sir, what letter grade would you give the transition so far?

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): I'd give it a C, maybe a C minus. Here's the most positive thing I can say. President-elect Trump has moved very quickly to suggest a very wide range of folks who he intends to nominate once he's sworn in as president. But the degree to which there's been background checks done on them, the degree to which they've been vetted, I think has fallen far short of what our nation's security and economy, what our public needs. He's just thrown people out more like it was a reality TV casting call than these are serious nominees. And he's already had to withdraw several folks before the nomination process even formally begins.

So look, the last time Trump was president, he put forward a number of very serious qualified folks. For example, General Mattis, who was his secretary of defense, a four-star Marine Corps general, decorated combat veteran, who got 98 votes. This time, Pete Hegseth is someone, a Fox News host, who's had all sorts of controversies swirling around him in the weeks after he was first suggested.

He may well get confirmed, but it will be after a lot of controversy. He has had to walk back a number of his statements. He has said publicly previously that having gays serve in the military is a Marxist conspiracy, that women should not be allowed to serve in combat. He has just walked those back yesterday.

So I'd say for a transition, there's more drama than substance, and it's a bit of a distraction given everything that's going on around the world and here at home.

BERMAN: But you still would give them a passing grade. A C, C minus is a passing grade. I happen to know that firsthand.

COONS: C minus, it's not a great grade in my book, John, in fact.

BERMAN: Listen, it's --

COONS: That's about as low a grade as you can get.

BERMAN: It's passing. I know that for a fact as I stand here today, Senator. Listen, are you going to vote to confirm Marco Rubio as Secretary of State?

COONS: I may very well. I've known Senator Rubio for 14 years. We've served on the Foreign Relations Committee together. We've legislated together. We've traveled together. I was just talking with him yesterday. I have not had a formal interview with him yet. We haven't gone through the confirmation process yet. I will do that with every one of the nominees who's in the jurisdiction of the committees on which I serve, and as many as I can.

And I think that's just part of our job in the Senate, to meet with nominees, to ask them probing questions. And as was the case last time, where they are qualified, they have the right character, and I can support them in terms of what they intend to do with the agencies they're nominated to lead, I will vote for them. But this is a far more troubling group of nominees than last time.

BERMAN: President-elect Trump says he is going to pardon January 6th rioters, we don't know which ones or how many, in the first hour after he is inaugurated. How do you feel about that? COONS: I think that is a terrible idea. These are people who have been duly tried and convicted in a court of law of having assaulted police officers, swarmed, stormed into the Capitol. In many cases, attempted directly, physically, and violently to interrupt the peaceful transfer of power.

[07:45:07]

These aren't folks who just committed some minor infraction, and they certainly aren't folks, as Donald Trump has repeatedly suggested, who are hostages. They have been convicted of breaking the law in a very serious event. Probably the only storming of our Capitol in modern American history, and one that had grave consequences.

So to simply pardon them all, I think risks unleashing a group of folks who have already committed political violence. I hope that if he does in fact do this, that these folks will not continue acts of political violence, but I don't think there's any guarantee they won't.

BERMAN: On the subject of pardons, there has been discussion about whether President Biden should issue some kind of preemptive pardons. Maybe for people on the January 6th committee. Maybe for other people who've gone sideways with people in the incoming Trump administration.

Sarah Isgur, who worked in Trump's first Justice Department, but apparently upset some people in current Trump world. She wrote an op- ed today in which she noted that Kash Patel in one of his books had listed her among people that should some -- have some kind of action taken against them.

She writes today, "I'm on Mr. Patel's list. I don't want a pardon. I can't speak for anyone else on the list, but I would hope that none of them would want a pardon either. If we broke the law, we should be charged and convicted. If we didn't break the law, we should be willing to show that we need the trust and fairness of the justice system that so many of us -- so that we trust the fairness and justice system that so many of us have defended."

She also said that if she were to be prosecuted by the Trump administration, it would embarrass them somehow. How do you feel about President Biden issuing preemptive pardons?

COONS: John, I respect the quote you just read from one of the folks on Kash Patel's enemies list. I'll just remind you that to be investigated by the FBI, prosecuted by a U.S. attorney, can cost a defendant hundreds of thousands of dollars, even millions of dollars, and can be profoundly disruptive to their lives.

I spoke to Senator Schiff this week on the floor, and he has made similar statements that he, and I think Liz Cheney, former Congresswoman Liz Cheney, has also made this statement that they don't want to be pardoned because they've done nothing wrong.

And I admire their determination to trust our legal system and to stand up to the bluster and the threats of Kash Patel and President- elect Trump. But I think part of why there is some consideration being given to proactive pardons is the cost and the disruption, and frankly, the disrespect for the work of Congress that underlies a threat to try those who served on a committee of the House of Representatives.

BERMAN: So you think it'd be a good idea for Biden to do it?

COONS: I think the president's got to weigh a lot of different factors. How seriously he believes that Kash Patel, the nominee to be FBI director and the other nominees to lead the Trump administration's law enforcement agencies, how seriously they are determined to go after their enemies list, and whether or not some of those who are on that list and who are reasonably foreseeably going to be investigated want a pardon.

If they talk through this issue and decide that there's no one who is seeking a pardon, that will lead them down one path. If there's others who are petitioning urgently for some relief, I think you should seriously consider it.

BERMAN: Senator Chris Coons from Delaware, thanks so much for being with us. I appreciate it.

Kate?

BOLDUAN: How a brand-new artificial intelligence model could actually look even deeper into the future to more accurately predict weather. We've got a deeper look into that for you.

And rapper Ludacris doing his civic duty. How he showed up for jury duty and almost no one knew it was him.

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[07:53:23]

BOLDUAN: Today marks the first day of Friday prayers since Bashar al- Assad was thrown from power in Syria. And it remains a very uncertain time as the rebel factions that overthrew the Assad regime are now trying to figure out what comes next. The interim rebel government's plan really unfolding day by day.

But CNN is on the ground and CNN's Clarissa Ward and her team are now discovering the evidence of torture from Assad's brutal regime.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A woman wails on the floor of the Mujtahid Hospital.

My mother, she's been missing for 14 years, she says. Where is she? Where's my brother? Where's my husband? Where are they?

Dr. Ahmed Abdullah (ph) shows us into the morgue, where about 35 bodies have been brought in. Discovered in a military hospital days after the regime fell, they are believed to be some of the last victims of Bashar al-Assad.

Take a look, this is the crime of the regime, he says. Even in the Middle Ages they didn't torture people like this.

Another man points to their tattered clothing. Evidence, he says, that most were detainees at the much-feared Sednaya Prison. Even in death, they are still only identified by numbers.

Everyone here heard about the horrors that took place in Assad's notorious prisons, but to see it up close is something entirely different.

WARD (on camera): A lot of them have bruises, have horrible wounds that seem to be consistent with torture. I just saw one woman retching as she came out of the other room. Families are now going through trying to see if their loved ones are here.

[07:55:11]

WARD (voice-over): There's not enough room for all of them in the morgue. So, a makeshift area has been set up outside. More and more families stream in, the light from their cell phones the only way of identifying the dead.

My only son, I don't have another. They took him for 12 years now, just because he said no. 12 years, my only son, this woman shouts. I don't know anything about him. I ask Allah to burn him, she says of Assad. Burn him and his sons like he burned my heart.

A crowd swarms when they see our camera. Everyone here has lost someone.

WARD: All of these people are asking us to take the names of their loved ones, to help them try to find them.

WARD (voice-over): It is a mark of desperation. Such is the need for answers. But finding those answers will not be easy.

At the military intelligence facility known as the Palestine Branch, officers burned documents and destroyed hard drives before fleeing. But their terror was on an industrial scale. Troves and troves of prisoner files remain. It will take investigators years to go through them.

Below ground, more clues, etched on the walls of cells that look more like dungeons.

WARD: So, you can see this list of names of it looks like 93 prisoners here. There's also a schedule for keeping the cell tidy and just graffiti everywhere, people trying to leave marks for someone to find.

WARD (voice-over): Down here, insects are the only life form that thrives. It's clear that anyone who could survive this will never be the same again.

The cells are empty, but the doors are finally open. The quest for answers is just beginning.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right, a new record for the youngest chess world champion ever. Gukesh Dommaraju, an 18-year-old prodigy from India, beat the defending champion after a close match that seemed to be on the verge of a tie. Apparently, it was basically a huge mistake that decided the whole thing.

What one headline called one of the worst blunders in the history of chess. And chess has been around a while. The old champion took his rook from F4 to F2, trapping his bishop.

I don't have any idea what that means, but it's apparently wicked bad.

All right, a Japanese sake company is trying something completely new, making sake in space, because apparently there's a huge demand for that. They plan to send the ingredients to the International Space Station, hoping to make the first ever space-brewed sake. If it works, the company plans to sell a small bottle for more than $650,000. They say they also hope to learn more about fermentation in space. Noble goal.

A jury and jury duty applies to every American, including celebrities. Legendary Atlanta Rapper Ludacris reported for jury duty incognito. He used his real name, Christopher Bridges, and wore a face mask and sunglasses.

But after being dismissed, his cover was almost blown by a fellow juror.

CHRISTOPHER BRIDGES (LUDACRIS), RAPPER AND ACTOR: Jury duty. Juror Bridges is excused.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The male puppy is excused.

BRIDGES: Excuse us. I don't nobody know who the hell I am.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're Ludacris.

BRIDGES: Oh, what?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You look like Ludacris.

BRIDGES: I wish. I wouldn't be here. I'll tell you that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, sure. Ludacris from Atlanta.

BRIDGES: Really?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think.

BRIDGES: I think so. You know, you might be right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: That's kind of awesome. You might be right.

All right, so we also have this. Forget the 10-day forecast. What if you could reliably check a 15-day forecast? That is what new artificial intelligence weather models are aiming for.

Google's new GenCast, just beat traditional forecast models at their own game for the first time. That is, it's not available to the public yet. And there are still some critical limitations to discuss.

CNN's Chad Myers has a closer look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, we've all seen weather maps that look just like this. But how do we know it's going to be clear in Texas?

Well, the weather models tell us this. We look at them. And this is one that I made a long time ago. I was an intern with the National Weather Service in Silver Spring, Maryland 39 years ago.

And this is what the weather model looked like. Now we use some human intelligence and sorted that Celsius to Fahrenheit and kind of figured some things out and knew it was going to be a 55-degree low.

But then supercomputers took over and everything changed. It wasn't just digits. It wasn't just numbers. Now we could make graphics. Now we could take all of this data and push it forward. Five --