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New Details Emerge about Home Life of 15-Year-Old Female School Shooter in Madison, Wisconsin; Luigi Mangione Charged with First- Degree Murder and Terrorism in New York for Killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. : House GOP Calls for Cheney Investigation Over January 6 Committee; Biden, Lawmakers Say Nothing "Nefarious" in Drone Sightings," Two People Killed in Small Plane Crash in Hawaii. Aired 8-8:30a ET.

Aired December 18, 2024 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: -- compromise on certain matters. For example, appears to be more willing to allow Israeli troops to remain along that Philadelphi corridor during the first phase of the deal. That was a major sticking point that ultimately helped to collapse these negotiations back in August, as the Israeli prime minister insisted that troops must remain there, and Hamas demanded the opposite.

So we are seeing progress. We are seeing exchanges of ideas. And again, the positivity is coming not only from some of the mediators, from the United States, but also Hamas, which yesterday said that they believe a deal is possible. A separate Hamas source saying that there was a positive and optimistic atmosphere about these negotiations. But they were also cautioning that new Israeli demands could stall any further progress. And that is indeed a consideration.

In the meantime, though, the war is very much continuing in Gaza. In just the last 24 hours, the Palestinian ministry of health has reported that 38 people have been killed and 203 people injured. The fate of those 100 hostages still hanging in the balance as well.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much for your reporting.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: We have new details about the 15-year-old girl who is accused of killing a teacher and a fellow student at her Wisconsin school. Her home life in a new spotlight right now as investigators are searching for a motive.

And now charged with first degree murder, Luigi Mangione indicted in New York where prosecutors now say his alleged crimes amounted to terrorism.

Today, the attorneys representing three of Sean Combs accusers is speaking out. His clients, all men, say Combs drugged and sexually assaulted them. That attorney is our guest. I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman and Sara Sidner. This is CNN NEWS

CENTRAL.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, new insight into the Wisconsin teenage girl who carried out a deadly school shooting on her school. A photo taken by her father at a gun range and posted on his social media page in August. She is wearing a black shirt with the name of a band whose lyrics were cited by the Columbine killers in 1999.

Also this morning, new reporting in "The Washington Post" on the teen's, quote, "turbulent family life" and therapy that she may have been involved in.

CNN's Whitney Wild in Madison, Wisconsin, with the latest on the investigation. Good morning, Whitney.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

We are learning a little bit more to put into a more clearer picture of this child's experience here at the school as well as her personal life. And what we're learning from court records obtained by "The Washington Post" is that she had a turbulent childhood, John. Her parents married and remarried at least three times. There was a separation agreement that required joint custody, and as part of that, John, she was shuttled between houses every few days. She would spend two days with one parent, two days with another parent, three days with another parent. And so the picture that is coming into clearer focus now is one of a pretty disjointed home life.

Further, CNN has spoken with a student whose locker was right next to Natalie Rupnow's. And what we know from law enforcement is that she went by Samantha, and this child who spoke with CNN said she didn't even know that her name was really Natalie. She called her Sam, and she described her as having -- not really having a friend group.

And so, John, what this taken together all suggests is that she had this very difficult home life. She seemed to be, according to this child, somewhat alone at school. And as we know, this all ended in an absolute tragedy.

One of the big questions here, John, is whose gun was it? Law enforcement tracing that firearm. Police have not told us who that gun belonged to. And the other question, John, is, of course, how she got it. And then further, whether or not anybody specifically inside that building was targeted. Police addressed that very question yesterday, saying that as far as they're concerned, everybody was a target. Everybody was an equal danger. And the ripple effect here for parents and students will continue. Here's what one father told CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLEN LEWIS, FATHER OF FOUR STUDENTS AT ABUNDANT LIFE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL: The students knew what to do, and they hid in the corners of their classrooms. My third-grade son mentioned that his teacher stood between the door and where the kids were hiding with scissors, ready to do whatever she had to do to defend the kids in that class. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WILD: John, roughly 48 hours after that shooting happened. This is still a community deeply grieving. Back to you.

BERMAN: All right, Whitney Wild, we appreciate you being there and the work that you're doing. Thank you very much.

Kate?

BOLDUAN: Prosecutors in New York, they now say that the murder of Brian Thompson, UnitedHealthcare CEO, was an act of terrorism.

[08:05:06]

In an 11-count indictment just handed up by a grand jury, prosecutors now charge Luigi Mangione with first degree murder with an intent to commit terrorism, a rare charge in New York. Tomorrow, Mangione is set to return to a courtroom in Pennsylvania to face a judge there once again.

CNN's Danny Freeman is outside that court in Pennsylvania with much more on this. It will be a very busy day there tomorrow, Danny. Talk us through these charges, first and foremost.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It's going to be incredibly busy here at this courthouse tomorrow morning. But really, these new charges, these new counts in that lengthy indictment that the district attorney in Manhattan released yesterday, this really escalated the case against Luigi Mangione. That indictment, including that rare first-degree murder charge, and rare because it really requires special elements related to the crime and can come from just a narrow list of aggravating factors. That's why it was so serious, what we heard from the D.A. yesterday.

Mangione also indicted by a grand jury for murder in the second degree, Kate, as a crime of terrorism. So right off the bat, I want you to take a listen to how D.A. Alvin Bragg really described the severity of these charges that he's bringing against Luigi Mangione now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALVIN BRAGG, (D) MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEY: This was a frightening, well-planned, targeted murder that was intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation. This was a killing that was intended to evoke terror.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: And now, Kate, meanwhile, we're also learning some more information about Luigi Mangione's interactions with the outside world since he's been in prison, or perhaps better said, the outside world's attempt to interact with him since he's been behind bars. A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, Kate, we learned as of yesterday, Luigi Mangione has received 157 deposits into his prison commissary account. We also learned as of yesterday morning, Mangione received 33 emails and six pieces of hard mail. That's up from just two pieces of mail that we reported he'd received back on Monday night. Still, though, the only visitors he has had has been his attorneys.

But, Kate, I want to turn now to what we're expecting to see tomorrow. Like I said earlier, this whole court area is probably going to be very, very busy tomorrow because Mangione is expected to have two hearings early tomorrow morning. The first one is going to be on those lesser Pennsylvania charges, and then the second hearing is going to happen right after its expected to be on extradition.

But CNN's Kara Scannell reported that Mangione is expected to waive this extradition hearing. And then that means that he could be on his way back to New York basically as soon as court is over. So we're going to see what ultimately plays out tomorrow. But this Pennsylvania chapter of this story may conclude tomorrow morning. Kate?

BOLDUAN: All right, Danny, thank you so much for staying on top of it for us.

Sara?

SIDNER: All right, joining us now is CNN senior law enforcement analyst and former deputy director of the FBI, Andrew McCabe. I want to first start, actually, with what happened in Madison. We were hearing from parents and students who are having to deal with yet another school shooting. The police chief, Shon Barnes, says a combination of factors appear to be the motive of the shooter. Give me your sense of the profile of that coming into view now that we're getting some details about the 15-year-old girl and her family life.

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Good morning, Sara.

So we are getting a few details, but the operative word there being "few." I think that the police have been extraordinarily disciplined in limiting the amount of information about motive that has gone out so far, except that one hint that they think there were multiple factors. It is interesting that we have a writing that is yet to be authenticated, so we can't really rely on the details of that just yet. We know we have a female shooter, which is a bit of an anomaly, very rare that we see a female shooter. But my suspicion is that once we actually get the granularity of what went -- what she was thinking, and you get that from looking at writings, you get that from talking to friends and associates that she might have revealed things to. You get that from looking at her. The search history on her internet connected devices.

And once we have that, my guess is we're going to see a lot of the same things we see with male school shooters across the spectrum, and that is an experience characterized by isolation, possibly being the victim of bullying, having an unstable or unsure environment in the home. We have some supporting information for that now because of "The Washington Post" reporting this morning that her parents had a somewhat, I guess, on again, off again relationship and one that forced her into a joint custody agreement in which she was constantly moving houses every couple of days.

[08:10:00]

Any one of those factors by itself, probably not enough to push a 15- year-old to take such an awful step to make the decisions that she did. But it's the cumulative effect of many of those things on what may have been a fragile person to begin with that ultimately led her to this point.

SIDNER: I want to talk about one detail that a lot of people noticed, and of course, investigators as well. There's this picture of her at the shooting range, and you see it there. She's on the righthand side of the screen, and she's wearing this t-shirt. It is the same t-shirt that was worn by both Columbine shooters. She wasn't even alive when that shooting happened 25 years ago. Does this give us a clue? What does it tell us, this small detail here, about her, if anything?

MCCABE: Well, it's really fascinating that the picture tells us two things, really. The first is that we know she had some familiarity with weapons. We know that her father and his comment to the picture indicated that he and his daughter attended the shooting range frequently. None of that is necessarily nefarious. All kinds of children across the country are taught about firearms by their parents. But nevertheless, it shows a baseline level of familiarization with weaponry.

But the t-shirt, I think, is really significant. The chances that her interest in that band, which as you mentioned, is an older actor who was popular long before she was born. The chances that her interest and the interest of the Columbine shooters in the same band is a coincidence I think are infinitesimal.

We know that the Columbine shooters are revered by young people who are interested in or focused on the subject of school shootings, certainly the ones who go on to actually commit school shootings. Many of them refer to Columbine. They have a history of researching Columbine. Some of them actually visit the site. So if we find that this t-shirt act is an expression of an interest in and maybe research of those school shooters, that tells us a lot about what she was thinking in the days, months, maybe even longer time period before the shooting took place, that it was a level of premeditation and planning that went into this. So I think it's a very disturbing detail at this point.

SIDNER: Andrew McCabe, it is always a pleasure to talk to you. Thank you so much.

John?

BERMAN: All right, new this morning, calls to charge Liz Cheney for her role on the January 6th Committee. Donald Trump says she could be in trouble over allegations of witness tampering.

And TikTok set to disappear from phones across the United States in just weeks. New reporting on how Americans are feeling about the upcoming ban. And is social media literally rotting your brain cells? The short

answer -- yes.

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[08:17:31]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, House Republicans have concluded their own investigation into the January 6th attack on the US Capitol, and their conclusion, Donald Trump is right, and they go directly after former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney, who led the bipartisan committee that originally investigated that attack.

The Republican report, nearly 130 pages, claiming Donald Trump is not to blame, but rather that Liz Cheney should be prosecuted. And the Republicans' conclusion to this report "... numerous federal laws were likely broken by Liz Cheney."

And overnight, Donald Trump reacted, saying in part that Liz Cheney could be in a lot of trouble.

CNN's Lauren Fox has much more for us on this.

And, Lauren, what are you hearing about this report?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, I think we have to really put this in context.

This report was released after Donald Trump was on "Meet the Press" and made comments about how he believed that members of the January 6th Committee should be prosecuted for their actions.

I just want to play that sound from a couple of days ago. Here is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think those people committed a major crime, and Cheney was behind it.

For what they did --

KRISTEN WELKER, NBC NEWS: Yes.

TRUMP: Honestly, they should go to jail.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOX: Now we have this report that was released yesterday, and it really does follow in some ways what Donald Trump was arguing should happen.

You also have some early reactions now. You have Liz Cheney saying in a statement "January 6th showed Donald Trump for who he really is, a cruel and vindictive man who allowed violent attacks to continue against our Capitol law enforcement officers while he watched television and refused for hours to instruct his supporters to stand down and leave."

You also have Bennie Thompson, who was the chairman of the January 6th Select Committee, saying: "There is no escaping the reality that Donald Trump bears the responsibility for the deadly January 6th attack, no matter how much Mr. Loudermilk would love to rewrite history."

Now, I will just point out that today on Capitol Hill, Kash Patel, who is Donald Trump's pick to lead the FBI, is going to be back on Capitol Hill meeting with Republican senators, and you can expect that this is going to be a course of questioning for many of them.

You know, last week when Kash Patel met with John Cornyn, who is a leading Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, I asked Cornyn, are you confident that Patel is going to be able to push back against Donald Trump if he asks you to do something you don't agree with, or if he asks you to break the law? And you know, one thing that Cornyn said was that he wasn't sure that it was a strong question to ask, that time would tell.

[08:2009]

And I think that that is just going to be a really interesting thing to watch this morning. Does this come up in these meetings that Patel has on Capitol Hill? How do Republicans, especially those on the Judiciary Committee, how are they going to react to this -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, key questions, Lauren. Great to see you. Thanks so much for putting it together for us -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, this morning, we will speak to the attorney representing three men who are accusing Sean Combs of drugging and sexually assaulting them.

Also, "It is an absolute clown show." Frustrated lawmakers are not satisfied with the answers they've been given about the drone sightings over New Jersey.

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BERMAN: All right, this morning, we are getting some new details from lawmakers who attended a classified briefing on the drone sightings over New Jersey.

This is what they said after.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JIM HIMES (D-CT): You know, there is a lot of rumor out there that this is radiation sniffing or chemical sniffing. This is not a federal government operation. We are very, very confident of that.

REP. JOSH GOTTHEIMER (D-NJ): There is no imminent threat to public safety. REP. CHRISSY HOULAHAN (D-PA): They haven't found anything that would indicate that there is foreign influence, foreign actors or even little green men.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, with us now from New Jersey Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia, not nefarious, not any kind of US government operation, not any foreign threat. These are from people who were briefed on this by the Intelligence community. How satisfied are you with those answers?

DAWN FANTASIA (R), NEW JERSEY GENERAL ASSEMBLY: Absolutely not satisfied.

In the state of New Jersey, we have been witnessing this now going on week five.

And from a state legislative standpoint, one week ago today, we were briefed at the New Jersey State Police ROIC. However, that was a briefing called by Governor Phil Murphy, who did not show up to the briefing.

We were informed that the FBI at that time was the lead agency on this situation. The FBI was not present. We did have Department of Homeland Security and our own office of Homeland Security and Preparedness there, along with the State Police.

Since then, it has been one week and we have gotten radio silence other than hearing about this congressional briefing that happened and my question is really quite simple: If there is nothing to be concerned about in any capacity, why does it require a classified briefing of such to tell us they are hobby drones, they are airplanes. I call nonsense.

BERMAN: Well, that is a fair question why is a classified briefing necessary? And what is the difference between what they would say in a classified briefing and say publicly.

Publicly, John Kirby of the National Security Council has said they've been up there with all this technology. They've determined it is, they say, hobby drones, largely; commercial aircraft, largely. There may be a hundred or so things they haven't been able to identify that they are still running down.

And I know that's not nothing, but by and large what they say is it is stuff that is up there legally. Why -- I mean, is that not satisfying to you?

FANTASIA: No doubt that those are up there legally. Think about it logically.

When the tragedy happened in 2001 with 9/11, explain to me if there were regular airplanes in the sky? If there were helicopters in the sky? Of course there were, but it does not negate the possibility that there is something that poses a danger to the residents of New Jersey, and now it is widespread. Tell the residents of Roxbury, New Jersey, which is one of the towns that I represent when they see a dozen the size of SUVs. That is not a convenience store drone that somebody rolled into Wawa here and bought for their kid. That is insulting.

And I feel like the response -- the crisis communication response, it took weeks to get all of the agencies on the same page to issue one joint statement. I don't find that to be acceptable at all.

BERMAN: Have you proposed any laws or regulations to ban flying drones? Right now, it is legal to fly drones. It is illegal to shoot them down, but by and large, it is legal to fly drones at day and at night. Would you like to pass some measures that stop that? Because that would take some of these lights out of the sky.

FANTASIA: I don't believe so, no, because then that infringes upon the ability to fly a drone.

Flying a drone in and of itself is not in any way illegal. However, flying a drone at night without registration, turning your lights out as reported by the New Jersey State Police during their surveillance, there in -- a New Jersey State Police helicopter flew over top a drone that was described as being six feet in diameter and when they reached the spot above the drone, this drone turned its lights off and was not able to be detected.

It took the federal government nearly a week to get us more sophisticated detection equipment. We now have those three units, and we still have no answers.

BERMAN: Is it a requirement that drones have their lights on when they fly?

FANTASIA: Absolutely, yes it is. In 2023, when the FAA allowed for nighttime flying of drones, drones must be illuminated in flight.

BERMAN: All right, well, look, there are still some questions I know you want answered. There have been some answers coming. We will see if there is anything at this point, the federal government can or will do that will satisfy some of these questions.

New Jersey Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia, thank you very much -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, two people on board a small plane have been killed after it crashed into a building in Honolulu, Hawaii. This video, taken from a car dash cam, look at that there, on a nearby highway shows the plane in the sky just moments before that huge plume of smoke and explosion.

The Cessna had been on a training flight near the Honolulu Airport and we now have audio from the last communication the pilot had with Air Traffic Control.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

PILOT: We have -- we are out-of-control here. AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL: Okay, Kamaka 689. If you can land, if you can level it off that's fine. Any runway, any place you can do.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

SIDNER: That's terrifying sound. No one was inside the building that the plane crashed into. Officials have not yet identified the two people who were killed in that crash.

All right, new details on the Madison school shooting ahead. How did students who were just feet away from the shooter manage to protect themselves?

And one senator now promising a top to bottom review of the science behind vaccines after meeting with Donald Trump's controversial pick to Health and Human Services secretary.

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