Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

CNN International: Manhunt in New York for Killer of Unitedhealthcare CEO; Bleak Outlook in Southern Lebanon as Tenuous Truce Holds; Hegseth Vows to "Fight like Hell" for Defense Secretary Job; Narges Mohammadi Given Brief Prison Reprieve after Surgery; FBI Arrests Paris Flight Stowaway after Return to U.S. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired December 05, 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]

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Omar Jimenez, and this is CNN Newsroom. Just ahead the fallout from a dramatic week in South Korean politics. Police are investigating the president for possible treason, while he also faces an impeachment vote for declaring martial law.

And things are changing fast in Syria, Bashar Al-Assad's army withdrawing from one of the country's biggest cities, as rebels continue their advance. And a manhunt in New York, we've got the latest on the chilling murder of Unitedhealthcare CEO in Manhattan.

A martial law declaration was only in place for a few hours in South Korea, but the political aftershocks continue to rattle the country. President Yoon Suk Yeol's declaration Tuesday night was met with shock and anger. The leader of the opposition spoke with CNN earlier today and says he was certain the announcement was a deep fake.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEE JAE-MYUNG, LEADER OF DEMOCRATIC PARTY: My wife suddenly showed me a YouTube video and said, the president is declaring martial law. I replied, that's a deep fake. It has to be a deep fake. There's no way that's real. But when I watched the video, the president was indeed declaring martial law. Yet I thought to myself, this is fabricated. It's fake.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: But it, of course, was real. And as you've seen images throughout the week, thousands turned out to protest that declaration in Seoul, and they're now calling for the president to step down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What would you like to say to President Yoon?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- if we don't speak up as a citizen who lives in Korea, then he will keep repeat the same situation, and it will be harder and harder for us to deny him as our president,

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: And South Korean National Police have launched a treason investigation into President Yoon and other lawmakers. There's even a push to impeach him with a possible vote as early as Saturday. Mike Valerio is following the story from Seoul.

And Mike, you are reporting obviously, in the initial early hours of this declaration, as people were trying to figure out what was going on, and people were descending on the national parliament building there. I mean, how have things changed over the course of the week? What is the latest there, now?

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey Omar, good to see you, my friend, across 14 time zones, no less. Well, I think that people have certainly grown angrier and the process has grown a little bit more confusing. So, let's pick up where you left off talking about impeachment.

So right now, it's unclear what the impeachment path is going to be. And we say that, Omar, because we have President Yoon and his political party. So, the Head of President Yoon's political party is saying in, you know, paraphrasing here, Omar. All right, we think that you need to go.

You need to leave the party President Yoon. But the leader of the party is saying he is against impeachment -- and against impeachment because he does not want the country to delve into further disarray, further chaos. But I will tell you, Omar, we have new public polling that is out, being shared throughout media outlets across South Korea that's saying that upwards of 70 percent of the population here wants impeachment.

So, we're waiting to see there is a vote that we're thinking is going to be, in all likelihood, around 07:00 p.m. on Saturday for impeachment, Saturday evening. And we are waiting to see if eight members of the president's party join the opposition and vote for impeachment.

But right now, we're not really sure, Omar, if those lawmakers are going to join the opposition and go down that road of impeachment, because what the leader of the party is saying, again, he is saying new today, that he's against impeachment.

Meanwhile, we haven't heard anything from President Yoon. He gave a more or less one minute statement after he rescinded martial law, saying, all right, I've heard the will of the people, did not apologize, Omar. But I'll tell you, if this impeachment vote looks like it's going to fail, we see on the screen images of candlelight protests.

Those protests will likely increase by several magnitudes, protests and echoes of loudspeakers emanating across Seoul. And of course, it's so important because we're talking about a key American ally. 28,500 U.S. troops who are stationed throughout South Korea.

[08:05:00] Political stability is paramount when we're talking about such a key. U.S. ally and predictability. So, we're waiting to see what does the impeachment outlook appear to be. And right now, it's a little murky, Omar, how it's going to happen, or even whether it's going to happen?

JIMENEZ: And of course, the president's popularity had been falling leading into this declaration. And to your point, members of his own party would be needed for this impeachment, and while they did vote to lift the martial law, voting for impeachment is another step further.

So, we will have to see. Mike Valerio appreciate the reporting as always. All right, I want to turn now to new developments in Syria, where rebels have entered the strategically important City of Hama. Now that's forcing the army to redeploy outside of the city. We're getting that from a Syrian military statement.

Now you can see the territory under rebel control in green there. Losing control of the strategic City of Hama would be a massive blow to the Syrian regime. I want to bring in CNN's Ben Wedeman, who is tracking the developments for us and joins us live. Ben, can you just give us some perspective on what this actually means?

And obviously, over the past week or so, likely even before that, we have seen a reinforced rebel offensive in Syria as well. Just catch us up to speed here.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Just to keep it in perspective, Omar, in the space of essentially a week, the Rebels have taken control of Aleppo, Syria's second largest city, and now Hama, which is Syria's fourth largest city. These are the two northern most cities on the M5 highway that links Aleppo with Damascus.

Basically, they now control about half of that highway. And it really is underscores just how much of a paper tiger the Syrian army has turned out to be. Now, surprisingly, a very frank statement coming from the Syrian army today, acknowledging that they were coming under attack from a variety of directions in Hama and pulled out of the city.

They said, to avoid civilian casualties, which is uncharacteristic, with an offer an army with a lot of blood on its hands, but nonetheless, clearly, they were incapable of defending the city, and what we're seeing on social media is that they've abandoned a military air bases full of jet aircraft.

They've abandoned a prison, according to the opposition, they've managed to -- the regime has managed, rather, the rebels have managed to take over the central prison of Hama. And you need to sort of keep in perspective the history of this city, back in 1982, Rifaat al- Assad, who was the brother of the father of Bashar al-Assad.

Hafez al-Assad led Syrian forces surrounding Hama, which was at the moment, at the time, in the course of an uprising against the regime. They surrounded the city, pounded it with artillery, then went in and slaughtered at least 10,000 people in that city. So, there is a lot of bad blood in among the residents of Hama toward the regime. And it really was a symbol of the oppression of the Assad dynasty, which has been in power in Syria since 1971 so the fall of Hama after the fall of Aleppo within just a week represents a real collapse of the regime so far. It doesn't seem to be able to depend upon the Russians to provide any more than occasional air strikes on rebel targets.

The Iranians don't seem to be anywhere in evidence in making any difference in resisting the rebel onslaught. And of course, Hezbollah, by and large, seems to have pulled out altogether as a result of its war with Israel. So, I think today, we are seeing the Assad regime at its weakest point since the outbreak of the revolution in Syria in 2011, Omar.

JIMENEZ: Ben Wedeman, appreciate the reporting and perspective as always, I want to turn now to a scathing and really highly significant report from Amnesty International, the human rights group it is accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. Now, Amnesty says the conclusion is based on plentiful evidence pointing to continuous and often indiscriminate aerial and ground attacks, the forced mass displacement of people and Israel's obstruction of humanitarian aid.

Now, the group says all of this illustrates what it calls, quote, genocidal intent. Now, unsurprisingly, the Israeli government's denial of genocide is strong and loud here.

[08:10:00]

At the same time on the ground in Gaza, the Israeli military says it carried out what it calls a precise strike on senior Hamas militants in the humanitarian zone of Khan Younis. Now a local hospital says at least 20 people have been killed, 11 of them children. I want to bring in CNN's Jeremy Diamond live from Jerusalem.

Jeremy, obviously a significant report here. But even as this report happens, there are real military strikes happening on a daily basis. What do we know about that latest strike, and do we have a further sense about how Israeli officials are reacting to this report from Amnesty International?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, these strikes are incredibly deadly. The one you were just talking about happened in the humanitarian zone of Al Mawasi near the City of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. We see this enormous fireball emerging following the Israeli strikes.

The Israeli military claims that there were secondary explosions as a result of its strike, indicating the presence of Hamas weaponry in the area and effectively blaming Hamas for some, at least some of the deaths in this strike. As you mentioned, Nasser hospital says that of the 20 people who were killed in this strike.

11 of those were killed. Eyewitnesses describing an absolutely horrific scene, bodies dismembered and burned. Some eyewitnesses saying that the majority of the people who were killed appeared to have died as a result of the burns from the fire that engulfed the tents in this area.

And it is important to note that this strike did happen in an area where there were tents where people were told to flee to from other parts of the Gaza Strip and where they had hoped to find at least some sense of safety, but instead finding out, as all too many have in Gaza already, that nowhere is truly safe in Gaza.

Now, as for that, Amnesty International report, Amnesty International is now saying that they believe that there is, quote, sufficient evidence to believe that Israel's conduct in Gaza amounts to genocide. It is a 296-page scathing report from Amnesty International, based on evidence that they have gathered over nine months of this war.

They say that Israel has committed three out of the five of prohibited acts under the UN's Genocide Convention. The mass killing of civilians, causing serious bodily or mental harm and deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about people's physical destruction in whole or in part.

They cite the indiscriminate attacks, the destruction of civilian infrastructure and the forced displacement of Palestinians, 90 percent of whom are displaced from their homes at this point in the war. The Israeli military calls this report from Amnesty International, quote, entirely baseless.

They say that these allegations of genocide are not only unfounded, but they also argue that it ignores Hamas' violations of international law. Amnesty International noted that while that violations of the laws of war by Hamas do not preclude Israel from its responsibility not to violate those same laws of war.

It is also important to note that Israel at the International Court of Justice has been defending itself against allegations of genocide leveled by South Africa, and they have, of course, wholly rejected this notion that there is any basis for genocidal intent in this war Amnesty Israel.

We should also note a branch of Amnesty International issued a dissent, saying that many in their branch have doubts regarding proving unequivocally and beyond any reasonable alternative this question of intent, meaning not just the acts that have been committed, the killing and the dismembering and the displacement of Palestinian civilians.

But saying that there is not sufficient evidence in Amnesty Israel's view to establish the intent of genocide, they do not, however, dispute that the conduct of the Israeli military in Gaza raises serious suspicions of crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing, Omar.

JIMENEZ: Jeremy Diamond, thank you for the reporting as always. Meanwhile, in France, the political crisis there is deepening, one day after lawmakers of the left and the right joined forces to topple the prime minister's minority government. Now, French media says Michel Barnier is expected to submit his resignation to President Emmanuel Macron this morning. That could come at any moment. But this was the prime minister's convoy arriving earlier at the Elysee, the Presidential Palace. On Wednesday, the National Assembly ousted Barnier by backing a no confidence motion, the first time that's happened, by the way, in more than 60 years.

President Macron is set to address the nation in the coming hours. Meanwhile, in New York City, CNN has obtained surveillance video showing the moment a gunman shot and killed the CEO of one of America's largest health insurance companies. We want to warn you, the images are graphic.

We're not going to show you the entire video, in part because it's too disturbing, but Brian Thompson, the CEO of Unitedhealthcare, was gunned down outside a hotel in midtown Manhattan.

[08:15:00]

You see right there froze it at the moment of when those first shots actually break out, and what authorities say was a targeted attack. Now, police are still searching for the gunman. They found a phone and a bottle of water near the scene that they believe belong to the shooter.

And another potential clue in the case, law enforcement sources say the word depose was discovered on a shell casing at the scene, and delay was written on a live round.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSICA TISCH, NYPD COMMISSIONER: Every indication is that this was a premeditated, pre planned, targeted attack.

JOE KENNY, NYPD CHIEF OF DETECTIVES: We're reaching out to law enforcement in Minnesota, and we're also interviewing his co-workers and family members to see if there have been any specific threats against him in the past. As far as who was he in the hotel with? We're doing a search warrant in his hotel room right now. That might lead us, give us some more information.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: I want to bring in CNN Chief Law Enforcement Analyst, John Miller, with more. So, John, obviously, a lot of people are wondering, where is this person? What was the motivation here? Can you just lay out sort of where we are in this case, and what might be so difficult at this point in trying to track this person down?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT & INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, he's gone to a lot of trouble, Omar, to make sure we don't know what he looks like, because if you look at him here in the Starbucks, he's wearing the hood, he's wearing the mask, as most people did during COVID, you can see his eyes during the shooting.

You can see he where he's wearing what appears to be white rubber gloves. So, he's trying to not tell us who he is. At the same time, he is trying to send us a message. The idea that, depose was written on one of the bullets he fired, delay was written on another one of the bullets.

That is something investigators believe is a variation that you find in internet chat rooms about insurance, insurance claims, fighting insurance companies. Of the saying, deny, delay, defend, which is a legal maxim of how insurance companies try to slow down payment of claims.

So, these are the investigative questions now, Omar, which is, is this an individual who had a personal experience with United Healthcare who was targeting the CEO for revenge? Did he lose someone? Was he sick? They're looking at that angle, or is this an individual who has a larger gripe with insurance companies, health care companies in general.

And this was a crime of opportunity, because it was known the CEO was going to be at that hotel. This is a nine-millimeter bullet. It's the bullet and the shell casing together, but when you consider the trouble, you would have to go to actually write something in this space that would survive being fired through a gun.

This is someone who went to a lot of trouble to make sure that those rounds would be discharged, that they would be found, and that police would pick up that message when they took a closer look.

JIMENEZ: And John, you know, I think when this video hit the internet, you know, everybody took looked at it in a different way, saying, oh, this was an organized killer. This was, you know, jumping to various different theories. I wonder, when you look at that video, is there anything that jumps out to you, whether it's the posture the rechamber of the gun? I mean, just what hits you when you see that video?

MILLER: I mean, it speaks to a lot of planning on the front end, the fact that he covers himself up, the fact that he walks slowly up to his target, the fact that he's placed himself in exactly the right spot to meet his target. Even though that's a big hotel with a lot of entrances, how did he know to be exactly there?

Did he know that his target was staying in the hotel across the street, and this is the route he would have to take, if so, how did he have that information? And when he opens fire and he experiences what appears to be a jam with the gun, how quickly and calmly he clears that and resumes fire.

JIMENEZ: All things look this is why we keep your eye on this. John Miller, keep us posted on what you know. Appreciate you for being here.

MILLER: Thanks. Omar.

JIMENEZ: All right. Still to come. CNN is asking people in southern Lebanon about their hopes for the future amid a fragile cease fire. We're going to tell you what they had to say. And later, Donald Trump's pick to run the Pentagon says he's going to fight for the job. There are signs Trump may be ready to pick someone else for defense secretary. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:20:00]

JIMENEZ: Welcome back, everyone. America's top diplomat says Israel cease fire with Hezbollah is holding. Now, Antony Blinken made the comments in Brussels on Wednesday, even as both sides accuse each other of violations. Blinken said he believes that fundamentally, Israel and Hezbollah want the truce to succeed. But when pressed on whether the U.S. has assessed if there had been any violations, here's how he responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We get reports of violations, we look at them, we engage the parties. And that's exactly what we've done. The mechanism that we established with France to make sure that the cease fire is effectively monitored and implemented is working.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: Now on the ground in southern Lebanon, civilians have been caught up in the middle of this and are picking up the pieces after months of relentless attacks. CNN's Clarissa Ward has been speaking to those affected, and she joins me now live in Beirut. Clarissa, you've been speaking with some of these folks. I mean, what have they been telling you?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Omar, we visited a city in the south of Lebanon called Tyre, it's one of the oldest cities in the world. It's mentioned many times in the Bible, and people are just starting to return now, almost one week into this shaky cease fire.

They're trying to rebuild their lives, but very few of them have faith that even if this cease fire holds for now, that there can be any form of lasting peace. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WARD (voice-over): From the balcony of his apartment, a man gazes out at his city. Tyre, once renowned for its glittering waters in ancient ruins, now in ruins itself. Moose Assad (ph) has lived through many wars in Lebanon, but none like this. 25 years we have been here entire he tells us.

An Israeli strike pulverized the next-door building where his neighbors once lived. Their clothes still hang ghost like in the closet. Imagine a person was sleeping here. The building collapsed on that. Everyone died, a woman and her children, all of them dead, why for what he says. America did this to us. Not Israel. It's America that goes like this, like she didn't see anything and she didn't want to know anything.

Lebanon is a country where loyalties are divided, but bitterness towards the west for its support of Israel is everywhere. In villages around Tyre, Hezbollah flags fly proudly. No community has been spared. The Melkite Greek Catholic Church had been a refuge for displaced people when it was hit by an Israeli missile on October 9th, eight people were killed.

81-year-old church caretaker, Milad Ilya (ph) has prayed here as long as he can remember. This is my house, he says. Next to the church, a mosque connected by a shared hall for events.

[08:25:00]

If our homes were hit and the church stayed, it would be better, he tells us. If the church is gone, there is no coexistence between people here. Tyre is one of the world's oldest inhabited cities, mentioned several times in the Bible. As the light falls, Kamal Istanbul (ph) does what fishermen have been doing here for thousands of years.

For 60 days during the war, Israel's military barred boats from going out on the water. Of course, it was tough, he says, We fishermen must work every day to feed our families -- What's your dream for the future? We don't have a future here, he tells me. With Israel as your neighbor, occupying your land, there's no future for you.

There's just war after war, destruction after destruction, and the country collapses and collapses. A bleak outlook shared by many in this historic city, even as a shaky cease fire continues to hold.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WARD (on camera): Now, Omar the IDF has said that it has repeatedly targeted Tyre and the Tyre region because it is a Hezbollah stronghold. The IDF claims that many attacks against Israeli forces have been launched from the Tyre region. And one other thing I think is really worth mentioning, Omar.

And you won't find anyone here who will say this to you on camera, because of the situation, because of the tension, but there are a lot of people in Lebanon who truly despise Hezbollah, who feel that they have been dragged into this war, and they have no love at all for Israel either.

And so, they find themselves sort of trapped almost between the devil and the deep blue sea, between two powerful actors who do not represent their needs and their desires and their fervent wish that there will be a lasting peace in Lebanon and across the region, Omar.

JIMENEZ: And all the while, people caught up in the middle of it, as you just showed us, but 10s of thousands, even beyond, displaced as these two sides fight. Clarissa Ward in Beirut, thank you so much. Still to come, I'm going to be talking with one of America's top political analysts about Donald Trump's latest troubled Cabinet picks. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) JIMENEZ: Welcome back, everyone. Earlier in the hour, we told you of the news that the Syrian army has withdrawn from the key City of Hama. Now we've just got new video in of an activist celebrating there. Take a look.

[08:30:00]

Now this is in Hama, but we don't know when this video was shot. The activist is addressing the camera and says, guys, my country is being liberated. I swear to God, we are inside Hama City. It's been a surprisingly fast turn of events in Syria, after years of civil war, Hama is the second major city after Aleppo that the rebels have taken in the last week, and it's one more step on the road to Damascus for these rebels. So, we'll continue to monitor that situation that has been very fast moving over the past couple of weeks.

Now in the United States, Donald Trump's troubled pick to run the U.S. Defense Department is vowing to fight for his confirmation. Pete Hegseth met with Republicans on Capitol Hill Wednesday as some of his former colleagues from Fox News took to the airwaves to defend him. Now, Hegseth has been accused of mistreatment of women and having a drinking problem. He told Former Fox Host Megyn Kelly that all this is being blown out of proportion and has denied all wrongdoing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, DONALD TRUMP'S PICK FOR U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: What you're seeing right now with me is the art of the smear. Take whatever tiny kernels of truth, and there are tiny, tiny ones in there, and blow them up into a masquerade of a narrative. I owe an answer to the members of the United States Senate who are going to vote for a confirmation here.

And my meetings with them have been fantastic. No one has looked me in the eye and say, I have concerns and I can't vote for you. In fact, most have said, Let's take a picture, and I'm behind you all the way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: Now, amid that, there are reports that Trump is thinking about dropping Hegseth and replacing him with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. I want to bring in CNN's Kristen Holmes is tracking the story for us. Kristen, OK, what is the latest with Hegseth? Do we know if even Ron DeSantis would be interested if something in something like this, if he was approached with it?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Omar, we are told by sources that Ron DeSantis would be interested in a position like this, but it's not clear that that's exactly where we are yet. Hegseth is back on the Hill today. He has about five meetings with more of these critical Republican Senators before we even get to a position where Donald Trump is talking about another candidate.

Now, I was told that Donald Trump has told Hegseth specifically to keep fighting. This is obviously very different from what we saw with Matt Gaetz. When Matt Gaetz went on the Hill, Donald Trump was talking to these Senators personally, and essentially called Gaetz the next day and said, there is a math problem here. You are not going to get confirmed. And that was when Gaetz withdrew his name.

They don't believe right now that they have the same exact math problem. They think that there is still a pathway for Hegseth. That is something that they're keeping very close tabs on. That's why they're watching all of these meetings intently. But as you said, there are a lot of allegations swirling right now. There are a lot of reports, particularly around his excessive drinking now, he did go on Megyn Kelly and address that head on. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEGSETH: First of all, I never had a drinking problem. I don't never -- no one ever approached me and said, oh, you should really look at getting help for a drink. Never. I've never sought counselling, never sought help. I respect and appreciate people who do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now he's saying that, of course, he did not have a drinking problem, but we also know that this has come up in multiple meetings with various Senators on the Hill, and we expect it to come up again today. He has denied all of the accusations of the womanizing, all the accusations of the alcoholism.

But again, this is all going to come down to one, a math issue with Senators and two, how long Donald Trump decides to stand by Hegseth? As I have said, and as these advisers are telling me right now, he remains all in on Hegseth. He, of course, is mulling other names. He understands that they could become a time in which he no longer has the votes to get confirmed, but right now he's still standing by him.

JIMENEZ: Yeah, these meetings continuing. Kristen Holmes at Mar-a- Lago, thank you so much. For some additional perspective on the Trump transition, I want to bring in Larry Sabato. He's the Director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. Good to see you.

Let's start where Kristen left off with Pete Hegseth. He had his round of meetings on Capitol Hill yesterday. And one of the meetings I think a lot of people were looking at was Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa, combat veteran who some have floated as a potential pick for Defense Secretary, but who also is a sexual assault survivor and has worked to combat military sexual assault.

She said of their meetings, and I'll put up the quote here, I appreciate Pete Hegseth's service to our country, something we both share today as part of the confirmation process. We had a frank and thorough discussion, a conversation, and just left it at that. I mean, is it realistic to think Hegseth will get the number of Senators needed for confirmation if someone like Ernst is sort of leaving it non-committal at this point.

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA CENTER FOR POLITICS: Well, if Joni Ernst comes out against Hegseth anyhow, she's not going to vote for him. I think that's pretty much the end of his nomination. And remember, there are going to be 53 Republican Senators.

So that's an advantage for Hegseth that is for any nominee by Trump. Having said that, though you don't have to convince many to go in another direction. And Joni Ernst is the one that I think others like Susan Collins from Maine and Lisa Murkowski from Alaska and others are looking to make the first round of decision, let's say.

[08:35:00]

And now Ernst herself has been mentioned as a possible Secretary of Defense, and by the way, I think she'd be almost unanimously confirmed if she were chosen DeSantis. Governor DeSantis of Florida has also been very prominently mentioned. I think he would end up winning confirmation. So, there's no question that Trump has fall backs.

But what's significant to me is just about everybody yesterday was predicting that Hegseth would fall. Well, he didn't, and he's still out there meeting with Senators, mainly Senators who are inclined to strongly support anybody that Trump nominates.

So, he's alive. His nomination is alive. There are still negative things coming out about him. By the way, surprisingly large number from Fox News. They don't put their names on it, but a lot of these sources are from Fox News. That's a problem for him, but he's still living. He's still his nomination is still alive.

JIMENEZ: Yeah. Look, he's vowed to fight. He's going to seems like he's going to fight until it's taken from him, or if he continues forward. So, we will see what happens there. Some non-Senate confirmed spots here, Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk are going to be -they are going to on Capitol Hill today as part of their government efficiency efforts for meetings with House and Senate Republicans to talk about ideas for reform.

Look of all the bureaucracies in the world, U.S. government has to be near the top, if not the top, for bureaucratic reasons, but also some inefficiencies as well. But how much of an impact you actually see these two making on the government process?

SABATO: They certainly have the president's backing, President-Elect Trump's backing, and that's going to help, since there are Republican majorities, though in the House, very, very thin. And they -- the Republican legislators, will be inclined to vote for what they propose or what the president proposes to them.

Having said that, something I've learned over many decades, every tiny little government program as a constituency, and they know how to fight and they know where the pressure points are to get what they want. So, it's not going to be easy to eliminate -- you know the tea board, much less something that's substantial and would save hundreds of billions of dollars.

JIMENEZ: And -- you know I think it's the classic situation to where sometimes politicians come into office with all these ideas, and they meet sort of the workings of a government that slow down, maybe some that some of the implementation of those ideas. I want to stay with Elon Musk here, because obviously he runs Twitter,

has been close to Trump, but also Mark Zuckerberg wants to take an active role in tech policy conversations. According to Meta, Jeff Bezos has even said he'd be open to helping Trump reduce regulation, but also that he wants to persuade Trump that the press is not the enemy.

Bottom line, what do you think the role of the tech sector is going to be in this next Trump Administration, and how will that play up against the politics of some of Trump's contingency of those who are maybe against so called big tech?

SABATO: Well, the fact that you have so many of these tech billionaires, and I don't remember ever seeing so many billionaires being appointed to high offices, including the cabinet, including major ambassadorships, such as the one to United Kingdom, they're everywhere in this forming Trump government.

And in general, they will work with the tech sector to do what the tech sector wants. They're of a piece. They all are rivals, but they're of a piece in terms of their general interest. So, this will be interesting. I don't know that average members of the MAGA group, "The Make America Great" group that forms Trump's base, will necessarily be thrilled that some of these people are involved, but that, after all, is the group of Trump's peers, or what he likes to think of as his peers.

JIMENEZ: Well, and Trump doesn't have to run for office again, and so at this point, he has a little bit longer of a leash, maybe than he did the first time around. Larry Sabato, always a pleasure. Thanks for the time perspective.

SABATO: Thank you, Omar.

JIMENEZ: Of course. All right, the U.S. Supreme Court appears likely to uphold a controversial law from Tennessee, which bans gender affirming cares for minors. We say likely at this point, because we have not gotten an official decision, but the case is seen as a major test of transgender rights.

And as I mentioned, decision isn't expected until the middle of next year. But in oral arguments Wednesday, the court's conservative majority seemed reluctant to block the ban. CNN's Paula Reid has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH PRELOGAR, SOLICITOR GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES: If you change the individual sex, it changes the result and a law like that can't stand on bare rationality.

[08:40:00]

PAULA REID, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar arguing Tennessee's ban on medical care for transgender minors amounts to sex discrimination, which is unconstitutional under the equal protection clause, but Tennessee argued their law protects minors from irreparable harm.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Its application turns entirely on medical purpose, not a patient's sex. That is not sex discrimination. The Equal Protection Clause does not require the states to blind themselves to medical reality.

REID (voice-over): Conservative Justices like Samuel Alito focused in on how other countries such as the United Kingdom and Sweden have recently shifted policies to limit access to treatments for transgender youth.

SAMUEL ALITO, JUSTICE: I wonder if you would like to stand by the statement that you made in your petition, or if you think it would now be appropriate to modify that and withdraw the statement that there is overwhelming evidence establishing that these treatments have benefits that greatly outweigh the risks and the dangers.

PRELOGAR: If the court wants to go ahead and look at what's happening in Europe, the UK has not categorically banned this care. Sweden, Finland and Norway, the other jurisdictions that my friends point to, have not banned this care, and I think that's because of the recognition that this care can provide critical, sometimes life-saving benefits for individuals with severe gender dysphoria.

REID (voice-over): But liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor highlighting potential harm of withholding treatment.

SONIA SOTOMAYOR, JUSTICE: Some children suffer incredibly with gender dysphoria, don't they?

PRELOGAR: Yes, it's a very seriously medical condition.

SOTOMAYOR: Some attempt suicide.

PRELOGAR: Yes, the rates of suicide are strong, and it's a vulnerable population.

REID (voice-over): And both sides closely watching Chief Justice John Roberts a potential swing vote as he suggested the court should leave questions of medical nuance to the states.

JOHN ROBERTS, CHIEF JUSTICE: Doesn't that make a stronger case for us to leave those determinations to the legislative bodies rather than try to determine them for ourselves.

REID (voice-over): That line of questioning concerning Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

KETANJI BROWN JACKSON, JUSTICE: I'm worried that we're undermining the foundations of some of our bedrock equal protection cases.

REID (voice-over): ACLU Attorney Chase Strangio sharing those concerns as he made history as the first known openly transgender person to argue before the Supreme Court.

CHASE STRANGIO, ACLU ATTORNEY: Tennessee claims the sex-based line drawing is justified to protect children, but SB1 has taken away the only treatment that relieved years of suffering for each of the adolescent plaintiffs.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

REID (on camera): The incoming Trump Administration is expected to reverse federal support for transgender care for minors, which means the justices could dismiss this case. But there is another appeal out there asking the court to consider whether parents should have the right to make medical decisions for their children.

So, a similar question with just different framing that has divided conservatives, and on Wednesday, both sides agreed that question is one the High Court could still consider, no matter what they do with this case. Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.

JIMENEZ: Thank you, Paula. Still to come for us. The lights are slowly coming back on for millions of people in Cuba. We're going to have more on the power grid failure just ahead. And Iran's parliament adopts a strict new modesty law. Why the president, though, has to sign off on the law, even though he has voiced opposition to the move? Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:45:00]

JIMENEZ: Power is said to be returning for much of Cuba after the island plunged into darkness on Wednesday. Officials say the electrical grid came back online just before midnight, but it's just the latest in a series of near total blackouts affecting the island nation. The government blames U.S. economic sanctions, while critics say is due to a lack of government investment in infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Iran is one step closer to toughening its already harsh modesty laws. The hard-line Iranian Parliament adopted the new Chastity and Hijab Bill earlier this week. It would significantly tighten existing clothing restrictions with new penalties for violations that include fines and prison sentences for women, this includes banning tight outfits and wearing the hijab incorrectly.

For men, it bans any exposure below the chest and above the knees as well as the shoulders. And now goes to Iran's President for his signature. And while he has expressed opposition to the bill and called it vague, he also acknowledged he has to implement it.

A woman well-known for her fierce defense of human rights in Iran has been allowed to leave prison temporarily after treatment for suspected cancer, but her family argues her release didn't come soon enough. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A brief reprieve from Tehran's notorious Evin Prison. Iran's most prominent human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Narges Mohammadi released for 21 days to recover from a serious surgery. The 52-year-old is in excruciating pain after a piece of her bone from her right leg was removed due to cancer, fears. It is too little too late, her family says. But even as she departed jail by ambulance, she remained defiant her son told reporters.

When she left Evin Prison, she left without the obligatory hijab and with only one phrase on her lips, women, life, freedom, he says. Mohammadi has been punished time and time again for her activism. She is serving multiple sentences totalling more than 30 years.

She stands accused of violating national security and spreading lies against the Islamic Republic. Her punishment, she says, for defending political prisoners and standing up for women and girls. Her temporary release comes as one of her long-standing battles, opposing the mandatory hijab is yet again in the headlines.

Iran's Parliament recently passed a bill that significantly tightens existing dress restrictions and imposes harsher punishments on any scene to violate the new so-called Chastity and Hijab Law. Iran's President, elected last year on a reformist platform, warned it could foster discontent.

MASOUD PEZESHKIAN, IRANIAN PRESIDENT: From an enforcement perspective, the hijab law, which I am required to implement, is vague. We should not do anything to disturb the harmony and empathy of society.

ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): His fears of unrest stem from an anti- government movement sparked by the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini while in the custody of the morality police for allegedly wearing her headscarf improperly. Anger quickly spread and fueled nationwide demonstrations while authorities scrambled to crush dissent with brute force.

From behind bars, Mohammadi joined the chorus of voices on her nation's streets by organizing protests inside Evin Prison. She sent CNN this recording last year of female prisoners chanting anti- government slogans. Her decades long struggle for freedom earned her the Nobel Peace Prize last year.

But it has come at the cost of her own freedom and health. And as her family scrambles to get her the medical attention she needs in the limited window, given the tireless work to campaign for her full and unconditional freedom, continues. Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: Thank you for that reporting. We're also following a brutal government crackdown against protesters that is intensifying in Georgia.

[08:50:00]

Now, an opposition party says one of its leaders who you will see in this scrum of police officers -- officers there Nika Gvaramia was severely beaten by police and detained. You see them carrying his limp body there. Georgia's interior ministry tells CNN, the opposition leader was arrested on a charge of disobedience to the police. But you can see lots of protesters -- the protests over how he was

carried out, but also massive protests began last week after the ruling party Georgian Dream suspended talks to join the European Union. Critics are accusing the government of moving towards authoritarian and pro-Russian positions.

Still to come for us, the woman who boarded a flight to Paris without a ticket is back in the United States, where she could be facing jail time. We're going to tell you how she managed to sneak past multiple security checkpoints just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIMENEZ: The woman who stowed away on Delta flight to Paris is expected to make her first court appearance in New York this morning, where she faces at least one federal charge. 57-year-old Svetlana Dali returned to the U.S. on Wednesday after boarding a flight without a ticket last week during the U.S. Thanksgiving rush. Now, Dali is expected to be charged with being a stowaway without consent, penalty that could bring up to five years in prison. CNN's Polo Sandoval has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Delta stowaway is back in the U.S. where it started, touching down Wednesday night at New York's JFK Airport.

PATRICIA KOLEMAN, PASSENGER: We saw police and all kinds of officials waiting at the gate, which is something that you just never see.

SANDOVAL (voice-over): Svetlana Dali, a U.S. permanent resident and Russian national, escorted by French security officials on the flight back from Paris, seated in the middle of the last row. She listened to country music and walked around the cabin during the eight-hour flight. CNN on the plane as it flew to New York without incident.

It's a drastic change from the first attempt to return the 57-year-old to the U.S. on Saturday, when she caused this disturbance and was removed from the flight before take-off, a second attempt to send her back on Tuesday ended when Delta refused to fly her.

TSA now confirms Dali bypassed ID checks without a boarding pass during the busy pre-Thanksgiving travel rush, and using a lane reserved for flight crews, then slipping into the regular screening lanes. The agency says, while they did not check her documents, Dali and her bags were screened.

A senior law enforcement official tells CNN Dali blended in with a large family boarding the Paris flight to get past the gate agents and onto the plane. She then hid in the lavatories in flight until she was discovered. Why Dali is trying to get to France remains a mystery.

According to records, she lives in Philadelphia and petitioned for asylum in France years ago, but was denied. A long list of questions and possible criminal charges meeting her today at JFK as investigators want to know more about how she bypassed layers of security, exposing vulnerabilities in one of the world's busiest international airports.

In their first statement since the original stowaway incident last week, Delta Airlines said that -- what it describes as deviation from standard procedures is what allowed that stowaway to board that plane last week to Paris. They did not elaborate on what kind of deviation, only that they are addressing the matter.

[08:55:00]

Meanwhile, on the federal front, we do understand that dolly is expected to be charged with being a stowaway on a vessel or aircraft without consent, a crime punishable by up to five years in prison if she's convicted. Polo Sandoval, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: All right. Thank you, Polo Sandoval for that reporting. And speaking of New York, if you haven't heard it is the holiday season. I can say that officially in the U.S. now that Thanksgiving has passed. But what would New York be without this glowing holiday tradition?

A large crowd took to the scene as the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center blazed to life the annual event. Look at that beautiful. That, to me, is synonymous with the holiday spirit in the United States. So, this tradition has been around since 1933.

This year's tree is more than 22 meters tall, weighs about 11 tons, and is decorated with more than 50,000 LED lights. The tree will remain up and lit for visitors until the middle of next month. And thanks for joining me here on CNN Newsroom. I'm Omar Jimenez. Good to see you all. Have a great day. "Connect the World" with Erica Hill up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:00:00]