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Key U.S. Air Force Base in Ohio Closed Airspace Amid Drone Sightings; DOJ Says, Suburban New York Police Department Violated Residents' Civil Rights; D.A. Says Alleged CEO Shooter May Stop Fighting Extradition. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired December 16, 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: An unauthorized drone shuts down airspace over a critical U.S. Air Force base. Federal officials now frantically trying to calm fears as pressure is mounting on them to do something about these mysterious sightings that have now happened in multiple states.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Accusations of egregious civil rights violations inside a New York police department. This new report details strip searches of nearly every person taken into custody.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And guests at a five star Fiji resort rushed to the hospital after just drinking cocktails. Officials this morning suspect they were poisoned.

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

SIDNER: New this morning, an alarming drone incident that forced one of the U.S.'s most critical Air Force bases to close its airspace for several hours. This happened at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base over the weekend in Ohio. And just in, new air traffic control audio obtained by military news website, the war zone of the moment it happened.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: MedFlight 8 Patterson tower use extreme caution for heavy UAS movement on the base. Security forces is handling the situation and I got to keep the lights down so that security forces can see.

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SIDNER: Ohio now the latest of several states to report drone concerns as scrutiny over the federal response is building. This morning, lawmakers are demanding government officials do more and explain more after weeks of suspicious sightings.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. JOSH GOTTHEIMER (D-NJ): I've had briefings as I've said, that makes me feel confident based on those briefings that there's not an imminent threat to public safety, but it doesn't answer the question where all these drones coming from the people are seeing and why aren't we doing a better job of tracking them and understanding that. It can't be the Wild West of drones out there in Jersey or anywhere else. We got to get to the bottom of this and people deserve answers.

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SIDNER: And ahead, we'll speak to more lawmakers who are concerned.

CNN Sunlen Serfaty is in Washington. Sunlen, what more is the administration planning to do? There are a lot of concerns that have turned to frustration and anger, frankly.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That's absolutely right, Sara. Concern is growing and pressure certainly is increasing on the administration to be more transparent and clear in how they're handling this and distribute the information that they know. This incident at the Air Force base over the weekend, Wright-Patterson, right outside Dayton, Ohio, really increasing the alarm, the fact that that airspace was closed for four hours. This is, as you noted, a very critical airspace, Air Force center at host the Air Force Research Lab, the National Air and Space Intelligence Center. So, certainly concerning that a drone would be flying in that airspace overhead. And it comes as these drone sightings are only increasing now extending beyond New York and New Jersey, but other places, especially in the northeast. So, that only increasing the alarm here.

And we have seen that recalibration of sorts from the administration over the weekend really leaning into this message that they are on it despite, as you noted, some frustration from lawmakers demanding more answers. But we heard from the secretary of Homeland Security over the weekend saying that he is not aware of any direct national security concerns and trying again to tell the public that the administration is on it. Here's what the secretary had to say.

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ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: There's no question that people are seeing drones, and I want to assure the American public that we in the federal government have deployed additional resources, personnel, technology to assist the New Jersey State Police in addressing the drone sightings.

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SERFATY: So, the administration, they're really trying to express that they're increasing some resources to take care of this issue and learn more about this issue.

Meantime, Republican Mike Waltz of Florida, President-elect Donald Trump's incoming national security adviser, really taking issue with where exactly these drone sightings are happening, specifically over military sites and restricted airspaces. Here's what he had to say. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE WALTZ (R-FL): I think what the drone issue points out are kind of gaps in our agencies, gaps in our authorities between the Department of Homeland Security, local law enforcement, the Defense Department.

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It's pointing to gaps in our capabilities and our ability to clamp down on what's going on here. We need to get to the bottom of it. And I think the Biden administration is working to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: Now, lawmakers on both sides, though, Sara, are certainly expressing very vocal frustrations on the part of the administration here for what they believe is not being as transparent as they would like and calling for new regulations over drones. So, this certainly is going to be something, Sara, we are going to see on Capitol Hill this week, all this talk about the drones and the concerns over the security.

SIDNER: Sunlen Serfaty, thank you so much for that good reporting. I appreciate it. Kate.

BOLDUAN: Also this morning, two men are in custody after police say a drone came dangerously close is how they describe it to Boston's Logan International Airport and a third person is now believed to be on the run.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino has more.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We are still waiting to hear more about what was behind these arrests, but what we do know so far is that an officer spotted the drones and then was able to deploy drone detection technology to identify the drone history, the owners and the locations from where they were being operated from.

That led the police department to Boston Harbor Island. This is a largely uninhabited part of Boston. And once police arrived there, they were able to arrest two people. They initially tried to flee on foot, but they were eventually captured. One of them had a drone in their backpack and another is believed to have fled using a small vessel, third person who the police are still looking for.

Now, we don't know how much we are going to learn as a result of these arrests just yet and whether or not it will explain some of the sightings that have been reported in Boston, but the fact that the police department was able to use technology is certainly something that a lot of law enforcement officials and representatives across many of these different communities are talking about.

Here in New York, Governor Kathy Hochul also telling us that the state is receiving some additional resources from the federal government after some drone sightings resulted in an airfield having to be shut down over this past weekend because of drone sightings over airspace at a local airport.

Now, Governor Kathy Hochul issued a statement on Sunday saying in part, in response to my calls for additional resources, our federal partners are deploying a state of the art drone detection system to New York State. This system will support state and federal law enforcement in their investigation.

Now, something we're not clear on just yet is exactly what kind of technology New York is going to be receiving, if it's going to be anything like what Boston deployed and help them. It helped them to find the drones and conduct those arrests. I have been asking about this technology, but I've been told that because this is now an issue of national security, the state is not going to share more information about what the technology is or where it will be deployed.

However, I am told by sources familiar with the conversations that the governor and the secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, held a few phone calls over the weekend to discuss the need for more resources.

BOLDUAN: Gloria, thank you so much for that. John?

BERMAN: All right. This morning, a city police force accused of illegally strip searching nearly every single person they arrested.

A new report shows that homeowners are worth 40 times more on average than renters. So, new details on what is causing the staggering wealth gap.

aAnd if you have not yet shipped your gifts for the holidays, you are almost screwed. I say almost because we have new information for you that might help save Christmas.

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BERMAN: This morning, a shocking new report from the Department of Justice accuses the police department in Mount Vernon, New York, of violating civil rights. The report found officers made illegal arrests and strip search nearly everyone they took into custody.

CNN Crime and Justice Correspondent Katelyn Polantz is with us now. This is a scathing report, Katelyn.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: It really is. The Justice Department looked into the Mount Vernon Police Department in New York, just north of New York City, for about three years. And the finding from the Justice Department on the official side is that the police force was depriving people of rights when they were stopping them and taking them into custody without probable cause.

But, really, John, the shocking part of this is the detail, some egregious retellings of things this police force was doing, including strip searching people regularly the whole way up until 2022. And the Justice Department said they believed that they were curtailing this practice while this was under investigation, but it didn't stop entirely.

One of the examples given in the Justice Department report was that a woman was handing a $5 bill to her husband to buy a lottery ticket. And she was with another woman, ages 65 and 75 were these two women, and police officers stopped them, searched their car, found nothing, believing it was a search for drugs potentially, that these women may have been buying drugs instead of sending money to someone for a lottery ticket, and then took them into the police station and strip searched them, had them fully nude.

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And one of the detectives told them to bend over and cough. At the end of the day, the officers were lying about these women buying drugs and this was the sort of regular practice that was happening in this police force.

One of the things that happened in Mount Vernon since then is that they have been revising their policies. They're offering officers more training and they're working with the city on getting body worn cameras for officers. But the Justice Department says there is still more work to do here. The mayor of Mount Vernon, New York, Shawyn Patterson Howard, a Democrat, he said in a quote recently, we wholeheartedly support our good officers and at the same time will not tolerate and will punish unconstitutional policing.

BERMAN: All right, as I said, this report worth a read. Katelyn Polantz, thank you very much. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Now that healthcare CEO murder suspect Luigi Mangione has a high powered New York lawyer, will he stop fighting extradition from Pennsylvania? And new clues on what his defense may be.

Also a supreme performance, the Supreme Court justice made a Broadway debut this weekend. Do you know which one?

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[07:20:00]

BOLDUAN: This week, we could learn when the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson will be extradited back to New York. The Manhattan district attorney suggests that the suspect, Luigi Mangione, may soon be giving up his fight against being moved from Pennsylvania, where he was arrested. Right now, Mangione remains there in state prison as he's facing charges in both states.

And in the wake of Brian Thompson's shocking murder, there is also a new report out by a security analysis firm warning the widespread support online that the suspect is seeing for the suspected killer for the suspected killer also now risks encouraging copycat attacks.

CNN's Brian Todd has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Along a Seattle area highway, a digital sign says one less CEO, then many more to go. In New York City, posters were put up praising the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson with a red X across his picture. Other posters singled out another executive.

In Florida, police say a woman who was on the phone talking with Blue Cross Blue Shield about recently denied medical claims said to the representative, quote, delay, deny, depose, you people are next. Those words were written on the shell casings found at the scene of Brian Thompson's murder. The woman has been charged with threats to conduct a mass shooting or an act of terrorism.

TAMI LUHBY, CNN SENIOR WRITER, HEALTH POLICY: What we're seeing that has been unleashed on social media and elsewhere is just all of this pent up anger and frustration. I mean, we're talking about people's health. This is a life and death situation.

TODD: The head of the healthcare conglomerate Brian Thompson worked for, UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty, tried to address some of the growing frustration with an essay in The New York Times. He praised Thompson as a brilliant, kind man who was working to make healthcare better for everyone, and wrote, we know the health system does not work as well as it should, and we understand people's frustrations with it. Our mission is to help make it work better.

Witty said his company is willing to partner with anyone to deliver better care at lower costs, but acknowledged, quote, clearly, we are not there yet. Witty did little to appease thousands of people who replied to his op-ed with comments. One person writing, to think that the healthcare providers do not also seek to maximize their profits is simply naive. Another saying, I don't know how he sleeps at night on his bed of blood and suffering.

KEVIN O'LEARY, SHARK TANK INVESTOR: At this point, social media is now the jury. And it doesn't like what it sees. So, if you're an executive, you know, in interim management, UnitedHealth Corp, or any other health company, you got to read the room.

TODD: UnitedHealth Group is a for-profit company that reported over $100 billion in revenue in the third quarter of this year, and is the largest provider of health insurance in the United States. It has been facing a class action lawsuit since before the Thompson shooting, accusing one of its subsidiaries of using algorithms to deny care to seniors. United says that assertion is false. But the horror stories seemingly never end.

Arete Tsoukalas tells CNN she needed a specific drug to treat the leukemia she was diagnosed with. She said her insurer, one of the nation's largest, refused to pay for the drug entirely at first, then said it would pay part of it, but she'd have to pay a $13,000 a month co-pay. Tsoukalas says she went without the drug for three months, then got it with financial help from the drug manufacturer.

ARETE TSOUKALAS, LEUKEMIA PATIENT: No one should have to fight cancer and insurance at the same time. Some aspects of the cancer treatment felt a lot easier to deal with than insurance.

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TODD (on camera): CNN's Tami Luhby says she spoke to several health policy experts who told her the most effective about real change in the industry is if the current consumer outrage is sustained. She says they told her if that dies down, the insurers will have less incentive to make changes.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

BERMAN: Our thanks to Brian for that.

So, quote, they are lying to us. New accusations by frustrated lawmakers as questions about the mysterious drones remain unanswered.

And new ways to achieve the American dream. A new report outlines changes the U.S. could make to allow more Americans to become homeowners.

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[07:25:00]

BERMAN: All right. New this morning, the average homeowner in the U.S. is worth nearly 40 times more than the average renter. This is according to the staggering new report from the Aspen Institute on the wealth gap in the United States.

CNN's Matt Egan is with us this morning. This is something you talk about quite a bit here, but these numbers are just huge.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Yes, John, they are huge. I mean, look, this is what inequality looks like. There's just this staggering gap between the haves and the have not.

So, the median renters net worth in the United States is just over $10,000. That is a small, small fraction of the $400,000 net worth for the median home owner. And those numbers are as of 2022. So, you could imagine that the gap has actually only gotten bigger since then, because we know home prices have gone up.

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And it's not just about net worth. This same Aspen Institute report also found that renters are.