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Coast Guard Scandal; Duke Accuser Recants Allegations; Nancy Pelosi in Hospital; Drone Drama. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired December 13, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:24]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Bright lights, big drones and even bigger questions, the mystery in New Jersey and neighboring states sparking fears and demands for answers, as attempts by federal officials to calm concerns are not working.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Plus, a new twist in the killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO. The insurance company now says the suspect, Luigi Mangione, wasn't actually insured by United. So why did he go after Brian Thompson? Ahead, how this impacts the search for a motive.

And an admission 18 years too late. The woman who falsely accused Duke lacrosse of raping, igniting a national firestorm, is speaking out for the first time about her lies.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: The mystery widens. Today, people in the New York metro area are reporting a growing number of drone sightings in their communities following a wave of mysterious drone appearances in the skies over New Jersey.

This is sparking significant concern among residents and local and state leaders. The White House and the FBI says there is no evidence that the drones pose a national security threat or have a foreign connection, but that's only adding to the confusion. So far, there are no explanations as to what they are, where they're coming from or who is launching them.

For weeks now, the drones have been spotted over homes, critical infrastructure and sensitive government sites. Today, frustrated lawmakers have gone from asking questions to demanding answers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOSH GOTTHEIMER (D-NJ): New Jersey can't become the Wild West of drone activity. No state can become the Wild West of drone activity. I have made this very clear to the FBI, the Homeland Security and the FAA, the agencies chiefly responsible for monitoring drone activity. They must immediately disclose more information to the public.

It's totally and completely unacceptable that you have all this drone activity going on that people are seeing with their own eyes. The fact that the federal agency is responsible for briefing the public have not come forward in a clear way is unacceptable. There has to be some explanation to the public for all this increased activity and they must do so now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Let's discuss these mysterious drones with former FBI supervisory special agent Tom Adams. He actually helped pioneer the FBI's counterdrone program used to respond to threats from unmanned aircraft.

Thank you so much for being with us, Tom.

First off, what do you think is behind these drones? Do you think it's more likely to be some kind of concerted surveillance effort, an issue of misidentification or copycats?

TOM ADAMS, FORMER FBI SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT: Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.

I think we're looking at a few different things. First, I do believe that there are probably some legitimate visual drone sightings by alert residents and law enforcement in New Jersey. Now, what these drones may be doing, if they're nefarious or not, we don't know. Are they are or not following FAA rules and regulations? That's up for debate.

I think we're probably seeing some copycat drones flying up in the air with all the media attention. So we're seeing a combination of that. And I do also agree with the DOJ or the FBI and DHS assessment that some of these Blinken lights in the sky are actually crewed aircraft that are navigating the airspace.

During many operations that I was involved with, as well as investigations into suspected drone sightings at critical infrastructure, it was common for things like planets, believe it or not, low-Earth orbit satellites and crewed aircraft to sometimes be misidentified.

But I think the big point here that we're seeing is that the vulnerability is being demonstrated that current federal laws and regulations really limit the types of tools and technologies that owners and operators of critical infrastructure can deploy, as well as state and local law enforcement.

So we haven't had any meaningful counter-UAS legislation since 2018. So I think we're well past due for lawmakers in Congress to get to work and to shore up some of those vulnerabilities that we have.

SANCHEZ: I want you to expand on that. But, first, I'm curious about how officials can make the determination that there isn't a public safety threat if they don't actually know whether some of these drones may be nefarious or not, or conducting nefarious activity.

ADAMS: Yes, so you can't look at a drone or a blinking light in the sky and really determine whether it is or is not a threat.

[13:05:05]

I think that some of these suspected sightings, when you look at some of the videos, they look like smaller drones or they potentially look like crewed aircraft that may be landing in nearby airports. I mean, that area in corridor of the East Coast is full of aircraft flying up and down the East Coast to major airports and to Europe and beyond.

So, aside from any specific threat information or specific identification of drones or where they may be coming from, I don't think you can really say that they're a threat. So I think there's still a lot of information gathering to be done so we can get some definitive answers.

SANCHEZ: Got it.

So talk to us about these federal laws and regulations that are currently in place that make it more difficult -- that hamper efforts to figure out what this is. What specifically do you think needs to change?

ADAMS: Well, there's a couple big things that need to change. There's a Senate bill that came out a couple years ago, Senate Bill 1631, and it was very promising.

It was based on the Biden national action plan for Canada or U.S., or largely based on that. There's two big things that I think can really impact this. One is that owners and operators of critical infrastructure, as well as public safety agencies, should be able to start to use a wide variety of drone-detection technologies, including some R.F. detection technologies that would otherwise be illegal for them to use, so that they can gather relevant information from those signals to determine where the pilot is, where the drone is, drone telemetry information, things like that.

That's extremely important. The other piece that needs to happen is right now state and local law enforcement don't have any authorities when appropriate and to use. They don't have any ability to use any drone-defeat technologies.

And the DHS and DOJ have been deploying these types of technologies hundreds of times since 2018 very successfully, so it's time to start evolving our laws, so that we can successfully protect our critical infrastructure.

SANCHEZ: So I just want to clarify a point you just made. Would you say that you agree with Congressman Gottheimer, Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, the sound bite that we just played?

He was on CNN this morning talking about local officials being given the authority in certain circumstances to shoot drones out of the sky. Would you say that you agree with him?

ADAMS: I -- well, right now, current federal law -- and when I'm speaking of current federal law, I'm speaking of the preventing emerging threats act of 2018.

That law specifically does not provide DOJ or DHS the authority to delegate that authority to any other entity. So, right now, current federal laws are really handcuffing our federal agencies. So that's why we really need to expand our laws to allow for this type of activity under the right supervision and training.

SANCHEZ: Tom Adams, we have to leave the conversation there. Thanks so much for the time.

ADAMS: Thanks much. I appreciate it.

SANCHEZ: Brianna.

KEILAR: We do have some breaking news.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been admitted to a hospital in Luxembourg after she sustained an injury during an official engagement. That is the announcement that we're being told about. This is according to a statement from her office.

CNN's Lauren Fox is with us now on this story.

What do we know about Pelosi's condition here?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this statement is long.

It still does not include a lot of detail about what specifically happened. But in this statement, they say -- quote -- "While traveling with a bipartisan congressional delegation in Luxembourg to mark the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi sustained an injury during an official engagement and was admitted to the hospital for evaluation."

Now, it goes on to say that: "She is continuing to work and she regrets that she's unable to attend the remainder of the CODEL's engagements to honor the courage of our service members during one of the greatest acts of American heroism in our nation's history."

It goes on to say that she looks forward to returning home to the U.S. soon. Now, Pelosi and other members of Congress often go abroad to sort of mark these very important occasions. They also go abroad in bipartisan groups to meet with foreign leaders. This is not an unusual action.

But, obviously, she's continuing to recover. We are still waiting for more detail. And I will note that, according to people who are with her, they are hoping that she recovers quickly.

KEILAR: Yes.

FOX: They're sending her their best wishes.

KEILAR: Yes, certainly, we are too.

Lauren Fox, thank you so much. We appreciate the update.

Ahead this hour on CNN NEWS CENTRAL: a stunning admission. The woman who accused three Duke lacrosse players of rape 18 years ago now says she lied. Hear from her why she's speaking out now and her message to the men that she falsely accused.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:14:09]

SANCHEZ: It was a colossal scandal nearly 20 years ago. And now the woman who accused three Duke lacrosse players of rape admits she lied about the encounter.

Crystal Mangum was an exotic dancer in 2006 when she accused the players, David Evans, Collin Finnerty, and Reade Seligmann, of rape, igniting a national firestorm. But a lack of evidence and inconsistencies in Mangum's account of what happened ultimately led to the charges being dismissed.

Now, as part of a podcast interview, she's asking for forgiveness in her first public confession.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRYSTAL MANGUM, ACCUSER: I testified falsely against them by saying that they raped me, when they didn't. And that was wrong. And I betrayed the trust of a lot of other people who believed in me and made up a story that wasn't true because I wanted validation from people and not from God.

[13:15:14]

And that was wrong, when God already loved me for who I was. Regardless, I didn't need to seek validation from him, because I already had validation from him. I just didn't know it.

And I hurt my brothers. And I hope that they can forgive me. And I want them to know that I love them and they didn't deserve that. And I hope they can forgive me, and that I hope that they can heal and trust God and know that God loves them and that God is loving them through me letting them know that they're valuable and that they didn't deserve that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: CNN's Jean Casarez reported extensively on this case and joins us now live.

Jean, this confession kind of came out of the blue. How did she finally acknowledge that all of this was a lie?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, she's in prison right now on a murder conviction. And she said that she has turned to God and to the Bible. And then this podcast came up. And it just became a part of the

podcast. But the reality is, in 2006, when she made these allegations -- and she was graphic in the allegations. She was specific in the allegations.

I was down in Durham and these three Duke lacrosse players, right, were charged, but they were university students at Duke University. And they were on the lacrosse team. And the team had a great future. They were going to have an excellent season and that was canceled, the coach was fired, and they were charged with felonies, that they could be in prison for the rest of their lives.

And from my observation being down there, everyone supported her. And if you supported innocent until proven guilty even, you didn't talk about it. You kept that quiet. And so the support went to her. The outrage went to these young men.

And that spread across the country. And their names and their faces became recognizable everywhere. You would -- Collin Finnerty, you knew that name. You knew, oh, that's one of the Duke lacrosse players. Well, a year later, the attorney general exonerated them.

And, at the time, there was a statement, there was a press conference, but then there was a trial of the district attorney, Mike Nifong, and I was in the courtroom for that trial. And so were these three young men. They were in the courtroom also. And we really heard the truth during that trial.

And it was one of the defense teams had a young attorney who had just graduated from law school. This was his first case, basically. And he would stay up at night and read all the forensic DNA analysis that they had gotten from doing the tests on Crystal Mangum.

And what he found in a small paragraph embedded within thousands of pages was that the DNA of the three Duke lacrosse players was not a match to any of the DNA of all of the items that they tested along with Crystal Mangum herself. And that's what exonerated them.

But it was the defense team that found it. And Mike Nifong, the district attorney, was charged for criminal contempt and for -- losing his bar license. It was about a weeklong trial. And he was convicted and he lost his bar license.

But the stigma -- so they truly now have an apology, because she stuck to her story for all these years.

SANCHEZ: And, Jean, what about any potential legal ramifications? Could she face any charges for this?

CASAREZ: Well, she was never even charged with perjury, number one. She is in prison. So I'm sure any monetary means would be sparse at this point.

There were some civil actions of the three young men, who are now men, against Duke University, against Durham, the city of Durham, for what the prosecutor's office did, because that was Brady material that they should have gotten that the defense team found.

So as far as where this will go at this point, I think this may be it. I don't see an action being filed again because they were exonerated based on that DNA evidence. But it's something to watch. And this just came out of the blue. It's amazing.

[13:20:00]

SANCHEZ: Jean Casarez, thank you so much for that update -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Now to a CNN exclusive, a former leader of the U.S. Coast Guard speaking out for the first time about why he withheld from Congress an internal report that documented years of rapes and sexual assaults at the Coast Guard Academy.

Former Commandant Karl Schultz says, although he stands by his decision, he kept the report from Congress because he did not trust lawmakers to protect the privacy of victims. His comments are in response to the House Oversight Committee releasing a memo Thursday about the matter.

CNN chief investigative correspondent, anchor Pamela Brown has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Talking publicly about why he did it. Karl Schultz, who led the Coast Guard until 2022, buried an internal investigation known as Operation Fouled Anchor.

That secret investigation, which was revealed by CNN, showed dozens of rapes and other sexual abuse allegations had been mishandled by the Coast Guard. Instead of releasing that report to the public and to Congress, Schultz made the decision to conceal it.

But he now tells CNN in an exclusive interview off camera he did so to protect victims and that he still stands by his decision.

Now, I want to note that CNN have been asking him for an interview for many months. He is only speaking after Congress from the Oversight Committee released this memo detailing what he told the committee about concealing this report.

Now, when CNN first reported on Operation Fouled Anchor last year, it sent shockwaves through the military. Dozens of credible allegations of rape were treated as minor misconduct by Coast Guard Command. One of those victims came forward to talk to CNN last year.

COAST GUARD ACADEMY CADET: I often find myself wondering what my future would have been like. Time and time again, the academy and the institution, the policies that are in place don't protect their people. And this is supposed to be a lifesaving service. But, in reality, it took my life away from me. So it did nothing to save me when I was asking for help.

And it's devastating. BROWN: Well, multiple congressional committees and the Coast Guard

investigated the cover-up, and now the House Oversight Committee released this highly critical memo detailing an interview that it did with Schultz.

The memo says Schultz -- quote -- "personally made the decision to withhold Operation Fouled Anchor from Congress."

Schultz stated: "That was a decision by me. I own that exclusively," and that Schultz acknowledged he -- quote -- "missed an opportunity for transparency" and wished he could have a mulligan. Schultz claiming he was misrepresented in that interview.

So I asked a member of the House Oversight and Intelligence Committees, Democrat Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois, for his reaction to Schultz's withholding.

REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D-IL): I think that his reason for withholding that report, I would say concealing that report from Congress is equally absurd.

He said he was trying to protect the victims of the persistent harassment and the rapes in the Coast Guard Academy. I think he was trying to protect the perpetrators. That's what he was trying to do. He was trying to basically prevent them from facing accountability, and I think he himself needs to be held accountable.

BROWN: Schultz told CNN that his interview was taken out of context, and that he feared sharing the report would eventually reveal victims' identities.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Our thanks to Pamela Brown for that report.

Coming up: building a case, detectives armed with search warrants now looking for key evidence against suspected UnitedHealthcare CEO killer Luigi Mangione.

We're going to have the latest on the investigation just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:28:38]

KEILAR: Sources are telling CNN authorities have executed as many as three search warrants investigating the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

One of them was for that backpack that was found in Central Park, another for a burner phone found along the route by which police say the shooter fled. The findings from the warrants could be part of what grand jurors are seeing now.

ABC News is reporting that New York prosecutors have already begun presenting the evidence to a grand jury, which would be needed to get an indictment against second-degree murder suspect Luigi Mangione. Mangione's next court hearing is in 10 days to address the charges he's facing in Pennsylvania. He then has a hearing on December 30 about his fight against extradition to New York -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: And there's another twist in this murder case.

UnitedHealth Group says that Mangione was not actually insured by that company, and nor was his mother. As New York investigators try to learn why CEO Brian Thompson specifically was targeted, Luigi Mangione sits in a state prison in Central Pennsylvania inside a cell that's roughly 100 square feet.

CNN's Jason Carroll reports that the 26-year-old high school valedictorian is mostly keeping to himself.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Luigi Mangione is fighting extradition to New York.

While that happens, this is the prison where he's being held. It's the State Correctional Institution at Huntingdon, the oldest operating state prison in Pennsylvania. Mangione's cell looks much like the one you see here.