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Manhunt Continues For Brown University Shooter; New Jeffrey Epstein Photos Released; Multiple Deaths in North Carolina Plane Crash. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired December 18, 2025 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:02]

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: "And President Trump was a fan of his."

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: I was surprised he didn't hit him for amnesty and immigration and separate from Reagan on that.

(LAUGHTER)

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: I don't really care much about, like, the kind of surface-based stuff that a lot of people get fixated on or care about.

That includes the East Wing thing. He's president. He can do whatever he wants. This is just embarrassing. I'm sorry. It is. It's ridiculous. It's kind of a debasement of what it's supposed to be, but not all -- not surprised either.

CHALIAN: Never mind that it's not accurate history, right? Like, I don't think it would pass...

(CROSSTALK)

MATTINGLY: Oh, yes, so that's threaded into my thinking.

BASH: It's not history. It's opinion.

OK, thank you for joining INSIDE POLITICS.

"CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Multiple people have died in a plane crash in Statesville, North Carolina. The airport where the plane was attempting to land is home to aviation facilities for Fortune 500 companies and several NASCAR teams.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And House Democrats releasing never-before- seen photos from the Jeffrey Epstein estate, as the DOJ faces a Friday deadline to release all its files on the late sex trafficker.

Plus, six days into their investigation and police in Rhode Island are turning to the public for crucial evidence in the Brown University shooting manhunt, as a gunman is still on the loose.

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

KEILAR: We do begin with our breaking news.

A private jet has crashed in North Carolina, and the local sheriff says several people have been killed. This happened as the small plane was landing at the Statesville Regional Airport around 10:30 a.m. local time. A witness capturing that video there moments after the impact.

It appears to show where the plane skidded across the ground.

SANCHEZ: With us now, CNN transportation analyst Mary Schiavo, who served as an inspector general at the Transportation Department, and CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean.

Pete, first to you. What are you learning?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is a very active and fluid situation right now.

And we're getting more information all the time here from Bill Hamby at the Iredell County Sheriff's Department. He says that there were fatalities on board the small private jet that crashed at the Statesville County Airport, the Statesville Airport, in North Carolina about three miles southwest of the town there, 40 miles north of Charlotte, just west of Raleigh.

This happened at 10:06 a.m. local time, according to the flight track from FlightAware. And this flight appeared doomed from the start. A Cessna Citation jet, seats between about six and eight people, only made it about 2,000 feet above the ground. You can see the flight track of the plane departing on Runway 1-0 there to the east, turning towards the Southwest, and then only about four minutes into this flight the plane making a beeline almost straight back to the airport.

Something was clearly very wrong here, and attempting to land there back at the Statesville Airport. This plane was very clearly on fire as it made it back to the airport, and some video shows skid marks on the road outside the perimeter of the airport, so a lot for investigators to put together here.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate this. We do know there have been fatalities involved. And a federal source tells me that somebody associated with NASCAR was on board this plane, remember, not far outside of Charlotte, very small and tight-knit community.

The NASCAR world hit time and time again by fatal plane crashes. Dale Earnhardt Jr. escaped with his life from a plane crash involving a private jet similar to this one back in 2019. So this is something that this community is not unfamiliar with.

So many people now watching to see who exactly was involved in this crash, a lot of intrigue here, although still very scant, basic details coming out, as we're just getting video from the scene of this crash that occurred around 10:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. Of course, a lot of questions here about how this occurred and if there was an emergency on takeoff or immediately after takeoff that necessitated this plane to come back almost right away. It sounds like this may have also been impacted by the weather here as well, not great at the time of this crash. Some rain was moving in, low cloud ceilings, poor visibility.

Of course, the National Transportation Safety Board will look at the airplane, the pilot and the environment as this all is unfolding right now in Iredell County, North Carolina, Statesville Regional Airport there.

KEILAR: Mary, tell us what you're seeing in these videos.

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN TRANSPORTATION ANALYST: Well, what I'm seeing is obviously,based on the videos, of course, it does not appear to be a survivable crash.

I did check some online flight tracking Web sites, and this plane had filed a flight plan to do several flights later in the day. It was going to go to Fort Lauderdale. It was going to go to the Bahamas. It was later in the day then -- going to make about three or four stops. It was going to then return to Statesville.

[13:05:13]

So it is possible this was just the beginning of the trip to pick up people, which would mean that some of those seats were empty, we can hope. And then, otherwise, if it was returning people, that would make a difference too. But flight tracking -- online flight tracking Web sites do have several flights were planned for the day.

But with this kind of a fireball, obviously, that -- usually, a fire makes a difference between survivability and non-survivability.

SANCHEZ: Yes, and important to have that context as we look at video from the scene.

Pete, this a Cessna C550. Talk to us about the track record of that kind of plan and safety record.

MUNTEAN: More commonly known as a Citation jet. It's very easy to fly. It has a straight wing, which makes it very similar to other airplanes in the Cessna line, this airplane 41 years old. These business jets are aging. And so they're easy to acquire, relatively cheap to buy.

But because they're getting old, they can be expensive to maintain. So,of course, the National Transportation Safety Board will look at the maintenance records of this airplane, required by the Federal Aviation Administration for everybody to keep meticulous records, not only of the airplane, but also of the experience of the pilots.

The Citation does have sort of a spotty history, because so many people can get into them so easily, you can buy them so easily, that it does sort of have a varied track record when it comes to crashes, not necessarily a problem with the plane, per se, although it's something that the investigators will look at here.

Of course, they will want to dig into the maintenance records of the plane, especially considering the fact that the flight track is already telling us a story of what appears to be a problem right off the bat.

KEILAR: Mary, what are investigators going to be looking for here?

SCHIAVO: Well, first and foremost, they're going to look at the maintenance record of this plane, in addition to the weather, as Pete said. That's always a concern. But they're going to look at the maintenance records because, while it is a 1981 plane, just as Pete said, it had some major work done in 1999, and then there were some certificate changes just this year.

So the investigators are going to want to be looking at what was done to the plane, what the maintenance record show, the fueling, who was flying, the experience, just everything that they can find on the paper. And that will give them a lot of clues, especially since we already know there's a report of an engine problem.

So, usually, they look to the last maintenance and the last time that these engines were worked on. And it's really surprising how many cases I have worked, crashes, where an accident happens on the first or a flight soon after maintenance. And so investigators will really be on the lookout for that.

SANCHEZ: Mary Schiavo, Pete Muntean, thank you so much for tracking this with us.

We'll, of course, they on top of this news, multiple deaths reported after a crash in North Carolina.

Still to come: new, never-before-seen images from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein just released by House Democrats, the release coming just one day before DOJ is set to release the full Epstein files, or at least that's the deadline to do so.

KEILAR: And it is day six of the manhunt for the shooter who killed two students at Brown University -- the new evidence that police are hoping could lead to a capture.

Stay with us.

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[13:12:27]

SANCHEZ: On the eve of the Justice Department's deadline to release the Epstein files, House Democrats just released more never-before- seen photos from the Epstein estate.

KEILAR: One of the disturbing images is of a female's foot with a quote written on it from the book "Lolita," which, of course, is about an older man's sexual obsession with an underage girl. Another image shows a text exchange reading -- quote -- "I don't know.

Try to send someone else. I have a friend scout. She sent me some girls today, but she asks $1,000 per girl. I will send you girls now. Maybe someone will be good for J?"

Also included is a partly blacked out picture of a female's Ukrainian passport.

SANCHEZ: The lawmakers didn't provide any additional context on the photos, and we can't say when or where they were taken or who took them, but the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee saying -- quote -- "These new images raise more questions about what exactly the Department of Justice has in its possession."

We're joined now by Sarah Fitzpatrick, a staff writer at "The Atlantic" and an investigative reporter who covered Epstein extensively.

Sarah, just a few days ago, we were here talking about other photos that had been released. What do you make of these?

SARAH FITZPATRICK, STAFF WRITER, "THE ATLANTIC": I think these continue to add to this clarity that we have about exactly how much -- how clear this sex trafficking operation was, that any idea that this was not a well-known endeavor, a true criminal enterprise -- you see in that text message -- that's the one that really I think jumps out for me, which is so specific about ages of the girls, scout looking for the girls, their measurements.

I mean, that level of detail is what was going on here, which really flies in the face of any discussion of this being a hoax or that this was somehow -- sometimes, Epstein's lawyers in the past had tried to argue to me that, well, these women, they were all above age and anything who wasn't, that was just a mistake.

The level of detail that we see in these images -- in that text message reflects the totality of what investigators have known for a very long time, which was a very well-planned, well-thought-out criminal enterprise with a lot of adults who participated to enable it.

KEILAR: Yes, you see the age, right, Schengen, right, the Schengen visa.

FITZPATRICK: Exactly.

KEILAR: Really interesting there.

So tomorrow is this deadline, right, for DOJ to release documents and go along with what Congress has asked for it to do. What's the feeling among the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein at this point?

FITZPATRICK: You know, I would say it's a mix.

[13:15:00] There's a real level of -- every time some of these disclosures come in, even just this disclosure of the photographs today, like, that is painful for these women. And these women really do live in a state of fear. And it's not an unfounded fear, because Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, other associates used to say, used to threaten, we are going to come get you. We are going to harm you. We are going to harm you or your family.

And so I think that there's a fear that, any time information is going to be released, they don't know what's in it. No one has prepped to them for that. There has been no outreach from the White House to survivors about preparation, what -- this might happen.How can we mitigate any of your security concerns?

So I think there's a feeling of fear, but also a sense of relief. This is such a great example of the democratic process working. A group of women got together, organized and pressured Congress to take action, and we're going to see the result of that hopefully tomorrow. So I think there's a feeling of excitement and that perhaps hard things are possible.

SANCHEZ: It seemed like you were looking for wood to knock on...

FITZPATRICK: Yes.

SANCHEZ: ... saying hopefully.

I'm curious about this last-minute effort by Ghislaine Maxwell to try to overturn her conviction. She's arguing, having filed this herself, not through her lawyers, that the prosecution against her was somehow tainted, that her conviction should be overturned. Is there a chance that in some way that prevents DOJ from releasing everything?

FITZPATRICK: I don't think there's -- kind of, on the substance, I think the way that this has been written really makes it clear that, if something is not going to be released, they have to explain why. So we will at least have a sense of how much is being redacted, why it's being redacted.

I don't anticipate that that's going to be a major concern, but, again, we don't know. And I think this is what -- why I was thinking about, if these files are released, there's just so much uncertainty.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

FITZPATRICK: I mean, I have been in touch with the Justice Department regularly. And even in the building, there's a lot of uncertainty about how this is going to go down.

And so I think we have to wait and see. But the fact that we have so little knowledge from our own Justice Department, again, makes this so suspect, which is why we're talking about it today.

KEILAR: In this "Vanity Fair" piece earlier this week with Trump's chief of staff, Susie Wiles, there's a lot about Epstein in there. But I wanted to ask you specifically, as Wiles talks about Ghislaine Maxwell, she said that it was Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche's suggestion to go himself to interview Maxwell in Florida, that the president was ticked and mighty unhappy -- that's how she described it -- about Maxwell subsequently being moved to a lower-security prison.

What did you think reading that?

FITZPATRICK: I was shocked and it seemed kind of hard to comprehend.

First of all, everyone is serving, especially in this White House, at the pleasure of the president. So the idea that someone is acting unilaterally without his knowledge seems extremely suspect. And that's a fact that we hopefully someday will be able to know, right?

Like, if you need to move someone within the justice -- within the prison system, there's a lot of documentation, there's a lot of paper. Someday, that will be released. Someday, we will have the answer to that.

But I think, again, it goes to the fact that do they -- it's a narrative that's being spun. But it shows a lack of interest here. And I think that's what has vexed everyone around from Capitol Hill to the survivors to even people who work in the White House.

Why, given that they -- this is a problem of their own making, a public relations, you could argue, problem of their own making, aren't you curious what's in those files? Aren't you curious why Ghislaine would suddenly be moved? Aren't you curious what those circumstances were?

That the president is not trying to find out those answers, I think, is also a major factor that I and other journalists will be digging into for a long time.

KEILAR: Yes, a lot of questions. Important to note Trump has not been accused of wrongdoing in the Epstein case. He has denied involvement, but the questions about, obviously, this, as we see all these pictures so much. The victims have a lot of curiosity about what else is going to come out. We're going to see tomorrow. Those questions abound.

Sarah Fitzpatrick, thank you so much for being with us. Really appreciate it.

Still to come: The manhunt continues for the Brown University shooter, as police release a map showing the movements of the person they're looking for.

SANCHEZ: And later: Some military families are outraged over the removal of funds for IVF treatments from the latest national defense policy bill. We will get into the details in just moments.

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[13:23:48]

SANCHEZ: Police searching for the Brown University shooter are now turning to the community for key evidence. The gunman is still on the run after ambushing a classroom Saturday, killing two students and injuring nine others.

Police released a map showing the movements of the person they're looking for before and after the attack. They're now asking for additional video evidence from that area that might provide critical clues.

KEILAR: We're also getting our first look inside the classroom where the attack happened; 18-year-old Muhammad Aziz Umurzakov, one of the two students killed, texted this photo with a friend shortly before the attack, saying he got dragged into the Saturday study session, even though he wasn't taking the course.

CNN's chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst, John Miller, is with us now.

John, police are urging people to share any footage that they may have with investigators. What does this tell you about where the investigation is right now?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, it tells us that they've vacuumed up a lot of video on their own, but they know that they are missing these moments, these gaps where, in between this camera and that camera, there may be an image that extends that map that we show that talks about his route.

I mean, ultimately, they have a good deal of his travel before the shooting, less after the shooting. And why is that important? Because the after the shooting part is the place that could trace him to something that's traceable, for instance, a car. So I think that focus is there.

[13:25:15]

But, as far as the rest of it, hundreds of leads, teams going out on those, but you also have two or three what I would call prime leads. These are actual people they're looking at, seeing which one of these might, might develop into a prime suspect as they're either able to eliminate them by brushing facts away, by proving otherwise, or enhance them by making those connections.

SANCHEZ: We have also learned, John, that detectives believe the suspect might have been in the area much earlier than initially thought. They're actually asking for videos going back at least a week. That suggests a way deeper level of premeditation. But, also, does it make you ask whether he was specifically targeting someone on Saturday?

MILLER: Well, it does.

And that's -- the chief of the Providence Police Department says, our experience with other crimes, burglaries, robberies show that they're in the area before the crime. But going back one, two, three days, that's when you can often see the earliest signs of preoperational preparation, or casing, as you refer to it.

KEILAR: And in the map released by police, it's pretty interesting, John, because it shows a lot of movement by the suspect before the shooting, not much movement after the attack. Why is that?

MILLER: Before the shooting, he takes a circuitous route. He actually covers ground he doesn't have to.

Now, we have to ask ourselves, is that because he's learning the area, he's selecting an escape route, selecting a direct escape route, or is that because he has a specific time he wants to strike, and he's basically killing time without getting too close to the target? We don't know the answer to that

But, as you point out, it seems like he did select a much more direct route out of that box than he used while he was in it. And that's why they want to see, can we extend that? Can we follow him further out there where we're tracking that image to see, where does he go? Who does he speak to?

And who does he speak to, that's that last piece. Yesterday, they introduced us to not a person of interest, but someone who encountered their person of interest in the street, to see if they can identify that person just as a witness to say, did you speak? Did he say anything? Can you describe him? Did you get a better look?

SANCHEZ: John Miller, thank you so much for the update. We are expecting officials to brief reporters again later this afternoon. We will stay on top of this story. Thank you so much, John.

MILLER: Thanks.

SANCHEZ: Ahead: In a rare prime-time speech, President Trump insists the economy is doing great, despite growing concerns about affordability.

We will discuss next.

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