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Luigi Mangione, Suspect In UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson's Killing, Charged With Murder; Syria Rebel Leader Discusses "Transfer Of Power" After Assad Fall; Trump's Controversial Picks Pete Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard Visit Senate For Support; Rupert Murdoch Loses Court Bid To Leave Son Media Empire; China Probes Nvidia For Monopoly After U.S. Chip Export Curbs; China Probes Nvidia Amid Escalating Chip War with U.S.; How the Assad Regime Fell; Israeli Troops Enter Buffer Zone; Thousands Gather in Seoul Demanding Action against President; Jay-Z Calls for Accuser's Identity in Rape Case against Him; Rome Prepares for Record Number of Tourists During Jubilee. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired December 10, 2024 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[01:00:25]
ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello and welcome. I'm Anna Coren. Ahead here on CNN Newsroom, prosecutors charge Luigi Mangione with murder of the UnitedHealthcare CEO.
A transition of power in Syria. Rebel leaders meet with the country's ousted prime minister to determine next steps.
Plus, rapper Jay-Z denies the sexual assault accusations against him and calls for the identity of his accuser to be revealed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Hong Kong. This is CNN Newsroom with Anna Coren.
COREN: We begin with the capture of the man accused of gunning down the CEO of UnitedHealthcare. Last week in Manhattan, New York prosecutors wasted little time charging Luigi Mangione with murder. After five days on the run, the 26-year-old suspect was arrested at a McDonald's in Pennsylvania with police saying he acted noticeably nervous.
We're also told he was found with a weapon and other key evidence linking him to Brian Thompson's murder. Mangione is an Ivy League graduate and high school valedictorian who comes from a prominent family in Baltimore. CNN's Brynn Gingras has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERIC ADAMS, NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: We have a strong person of interest in the shooting that shook our city last week.
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (vice-over): After a five day manhunt, the main suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson is in custody. Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old former valedictorian from Maryland who police believe carried out the heinous act in Manhattan last Wednesday, was caught while eating in a Western Pennsylvania McDonald's.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We did not have his name prior today.
GINGRAS (voice-over): Mangione not on police radar as he had no arrests in New York City or elsewhere.
LUIGI MANGIONE, SUSPECT IN THE KILLING OF UNITEDHEALTHCARE CEO BRIAN THOMPSON: To the class of 2016, a kind of class that only comes around once every 50 years.
GINGRAS (voice-over): Mangione graduated from the prestigious Gilman School, a private all boys high school in Baltimore, Maryland in 2016 where he was top of his class.
MANGIONE: It's been an incredible journey and I simply can't imagine the last few years with any other group of guys.
GINGRAS (voice-over): He went on to college at the University of Pennsylvania where he graduated with a bachelor's and master's in engineering. A former classmate called him, quote, a totally normal guy. Police now trying to figure out what changed.
Authorities say he was carrying a multi-page document pointing to a possible motive. It railed against the health care industry and suggesting that violence is the answer. Quote, these parasites had it coming, end quote. I do apologize for any strife and trauma, but it had to be done. It read.
JOSEPH KENNY, CHIEF OF DETECTIVES, NEW YORK POLICE DEPARTMENT: We don't think that there's any specific threats to other people mentioned in that document. But it does seem that he has some ill will toward corporate America.
GINGRAS (voice-over): Mangione comes from a prominent Maryland family that owns Lorian Health Services, a nursing home chain in the state where Luigi volunteered in 2014, according to his LinkedIn page. They also own country clubs in Maryland. A look into what is likely his Goodreads profile made earlier this year shows he called the infamous Unabomber Ted Kaczynski a political revolutionary. Quote, it's simply impossible to ignore how prescient many of his predictions about modern society turned out, it reads. Authorities sifting through social media postings like this one to glean more clues.
KENNY: We're still working through his social media. We're going to do a complete scrub of that.
GINGRAS (voice-over): This while authorities work to connect Mangione to their crime scene through possible DNA, fingerprints and pieces of evidence like this fake ID, which is also the same one the suspect used to check into a hostel on the Upper West side of Manhattan before the murder. GINGRAS: Investigators still trying to figure out what that motive is.
And they are scrubbing social media accounts like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, hoping that there can be some sort connection learned from those social media accounts. Brynn Gingras, CNN New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Well, the Mangione family released a statement. Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi's arrest. We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved. We are devastated by this news.
CNN Senior National Security analyst Juliette Kayyem is in the U.S. joining us from Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she is also a professor at Harvard. Juliette, always good to see you.
What do the circumstances around his arrest and what he had on his person at the time tell you about the suspect and his state of mind?
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JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes. So it tells us two things, means and motives. So what he -- what we -- what was found was of course the gun. And it looks like it was essentially a sort of 3D printer gun, a homemade gun. It's prevalent here in the United States, although there are some regulations around it.
And then of course his DNA, hair, everything physically that's going to tie him to whatever the New York investigators had. The second is of course, motive. He left a manifesto. That manifesto basically admitted to the crime and why it needed to be done. It also showed that he understood that the crime was wrong and he sort of apologizes for it.
And that's going to get to why in fact did he target the CEO Thompson in this murder and what was going on in his life and his physical ailments, including a back injury that many friends and family are talking -- have now talked about since he was arrested. What did that have to do with why he chose Thompson and essentially hunted him down over a couple of days in New York City.
COREN: This handwritten manifesto that that was with him, I guess, yet talk to us about what it shows to his motivation and does it appear that perhaps he was planning another attack?
KAYYEM: That's what I wonder. It talks about -- it says in the plural these sort of people who are responsible for how bad in his mind American healthcare and the healthcare system is towards Americans. He also kept the gun. And so investigators are going to wonder, did he keep the gun? Because there were other people on his list.
He also references Ted Kaczynski. People, remember, that's the Unabomber, very similar circumstances, very came from a well to do family, was sort of anti-technology, anti sort of establishment, hid for several decades and killed through sending bombs through the mail. The Kaczynski has sort of an aura or mythology around him here in the United States, as did this suspect in terms of what we saw last week with people sort of supporting what he was essentially doing, what his motive was, which is sort of going after these big healthcare companies in the representation or by targeting one of its main CEOs.
COREN: Juliette, from what you are learning, does anything stand out to you about Luigi Mangione's background or at what point I guess he would have been radicalized? I mean, how do you go from Ivy League to, you know, alleged murderer?
KAYYEM: Yes, there's a lot of questions I have. I mean, something happened. You have a person who was not on this trajectory and then obviously we are reading about and hearing about a back injury or back surgery that led to, I think, basically a life in which he tuned out. He moved to Hawaii. He lived in sort of a community facility. Often complained about his back. He seemed estranged from his family or they didn't really know where he was. His social media posts show people who knew him trying to connect with him through his social media. So he sort of drifted off.
And so what was that triggering and how did he become radicalized? I will say some things are answered. As we talked about last week, I thought this was a sophisticated, relatively sophisticated attack and killing, to the extent he was able to evade law enforcement, sort of, you know, not in all sorts of ways, sort of evade the surveillance.
In the end, it was a McDonald's worker who recognized him because of a lot of the investigations that have gone on and a lot of the disclosures by the NYPD. But he was smart, and we know that. And he was into apps and technology and engineering. He understood how, what the surveillance state was like and then how to evade it.
And the one other thing I want to add is his, you know, this is really hard, and I want to be careful here. But his family clearly knew it was him when they saw the pictures. The family did not come forward. So I think we're going to see that narrative come out over the next couple days as well.
COREN: Yes, that's a really interesting point. And, Juliette, just before you go, would you say the police got lucky because, as you said, it was a McDonald's employee who tipped off the police, notified the police that he was there?
KAYYEM: Well, they were lucky that someone came forward and recognized him. But the worker would never have known what they were looking for, who they were looking for, except for the great sort of puzzle pieces that the NYPD put together, the sort of vast array of video technology.
[01:10:09]
So I think in the end it was a later picture, which was that taxicab picture where you see his eyebrows. The eyebrows are a very distinguishing trait that you sort of get a better sense of him than when he was in a hood that then was sent out nationally. And look, almost all great law, a lot of great law enforcement ends
with a community member or a plain citizen saying, wait a second, I saw that the police were looking for that. So the luck came. But that was because of a lot of pieces being put together by the NYPD and other law enforcement.
COREN: Juliette Kayyem, always great to get your insights. Thanks so much for joining us.
KAYYEM: Thank you.
COREN: Rebel groups in Syria are preparing to take control of the country's government after a swift and stunning march to power. The leader of the main rebel group, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, met former President Bashar al-Assad's outgoing prime minister on Monday to discuss the transfer of power.
But a source tells CNN that a decision has not been made yet of who will be the transitional prime minister. The U.S. says it's not planning to review the terrorist designation of the leading rebel group, but the State Department says that could change in the future.
Meanwhile, rebels and civilians are tearing down symbols of the Assad regime. And the rebel coalition says members of Assad's military forces must register with them. They have issued a general amnesty for soldiers conscripted into the military, but that does not apply to those who volunteered.
For civilians life in Syria is starting to return somewhat to normal. In Aleppo, people are back on the streets. Some shops are open and banks are expected to reopen in the coming hours. With Assad gone, ordinary Syrians and the world are getting a look at his luxurious lifestyle. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz has the story.
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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You are looking at the extravagant car collection of the now deposed President Bashar al- Assad, a red Ferrari F50 worth at least $3 million, a Lamborghini, a Rolls Royce, a Bentley among 40 luxury vehicles stored in this warehouse in western Damascus, proving to Syrians what they already believed to be true, that while Assad bombed and brutalized his people, his family reveled in vast wealth.
Inside the Presidential Palace, more signs of luxury, a massive kitchen equipped with an industrial freezer, a pizza oven and piles of food in a country where most go hungry every day. The woman behind the camera reads from what appears to be a draft menu for the former first lady, the madam's food, she says, she hates spinach. Tomorrow we will make her salmon or latakia fish.
Vogue magazine, infamously dubbed Asmal Assad, arose in the desert mere months before her husband used brute and barbaric force to crush a revolt against his dictatorship. But as rebels swiftly advanced on the capital, the Assads were finally dislodged. Fleeing to Moscow, where they received asylum. Overjoyed Syrians celebrated in the streets and ransacked the regime's residences and offices, taking chairs, plates, clothes, whatever they could carry. Is this stealing one person jokes? No, no, it's not. Another laugh.
Syrians have long accused the generational autocracy of pocketing hundreds of millions from the state. Festering corruption was one of the key grievances of the 2011 uprising. The Assad family is estimated to be worth 1 to $2 billion. Epic wealth maintained and cultivated while the regime killed, maimed, disappeared and displace Syrians were plunged into a living nightmare.
Some 90 percent of the population lives in poverty, according to the UN. I came to see what Assad forbade us from seeing, this woman says, we were only allowed to know poverty, deprivation and suffering. Now clear for all to see the grandosity of the Presidential Palace, the callousness of his reign, and the joy that Assad is finally gone some. Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: H.A. Hellyer is a senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies in London. He joins us from Cairo. Good to see you.
I want to start with the main rebel group, this assume power, HTS. It's appealing for calm and assuring the people of Syria it wants a smooth transfer of power. Will store peace and stability. Are you convinced?
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DR. H.A. HELLYER, SENIOR ASSOCIATE FELLOW, ROYAL UNITED SERVICES INSTITUTE: So, good morning, Paula. It's always a pleasure to be on your program. I think that what we have to be here is give ourselves the luxury of being hopeful and at the same time be cautious. The group obviously has a history that we all know, it's not the most idyllic of history countries.
Having said that, they've given some very good signs over the past week. And people who are experts on the group say that it has genuinely changed over the past decade. And I think that right now the responsible thing of the international community is to hold the group to account on the basis of real principles and recognize that what we've seen over the past week has been largely, if not completely driven by Syrians who wanted to have a better future for themselves and their children.
So, nobody should be naive, but I think that we should be realistic about how to move forward and help the Syrians in accordance with what they're trying to do, which is to build a better future.
COREN: As you say, the group has gone from being global jihadists to a local regime governing Idlib, you know, admittedly under hardline conservative rule. Will this style of government, do you think, be replicated around the country, or will it have to become more moderate?
HELLYER: So there are two things, what they would want to do and what they would be able to do. Again, the signals that they've given over the past week. And again, people should be cautious about this and not naive, have been good where they haven't tried to replicate what they did in Idlib anyway and actually have been sending out good signals
. But more than that, this isn't just HTS. HTS was the most powerful group at the head of the opposition, which is no longer the opposition, obviously, but there are many other groups, that's one. Two, that ordinary Syrians across the country joined in this past week, and they're going to have to contend with that. Three, there are scores of Syrians who are trying now to return to Syria, who were refugees and now want to come home.
So it's not as simple as saying that a rebel group that used to be really extreme, which has kind of moderated a bit now in comparison at least, has taken over the country. I think there's many more elements that are in the mix, and there will continue to be experiments going forward.
And I think that the government and the international community in general should look at that at face value and again, try to help in order to make sure that this transition is as bumpy absent as possible. But there will be mistakes. There will be bumps along the way. I think that's inevitable. They're not going to be perfect, but there was going to be no sustainable future with Bashar al-Assad at the helm.
And I think that at the very least, what we see now are the openings of possibilities and opportunities and potentials which simply did not exist before.
COREN: Well, it's offering amnesty for army conscripts, but not for those who volunteered. It's also putting together a list officials wanted for torture. Are you at all concerned about retribution?
HELLYER: So again, we have to wait and see. I mean, I'm trying not to be definitive here or deterministic here, because I think that we see these signals, we see these statements and there have been other statements too, right? There have been statements saying don't look for revenge. They seem to be very keen to make this orderly and not to plunge the country into chaos. OK.
But does that mean that everybody is going to stay on side? I don't know. Does that mean that the amnesty is going to be expanded? And by the way, we see this in many other post conflict or post-regime sort of places like this as well.
When apartheid in South Africa fell, of course, very different, but there was this big question, what do you do with all of these officials and civil servants and, you know, people in the country who are responsible for the apartheid regime?
[01:20:00] What do you do in these post-colonial edifices that are built against the backdrop of a war against colonial rule? And then there were those who stayed behind who were actually involved in atrocities. So these aren't new questions, they're old questions. And I don't think anybody has a perfect answer.
But that's more of a reason, in my opinion, for the international community to build this with, of course, the Syrians, as in, you know, stand by for assistance, not, of course, try to lead anything. This is not that situation at all.
As I said, this is a Syrian affair. But I think Syrians will want external assistance, not lead, but external assistance in trying to reconstruct the country. There's going to be a lot that needs to be done. This is a country of trauma.
I mean, just literally over the last hour, I was looking at updates and the stories from the prisons, what they found in the prisons, the people who have been killed, the people who've been tortured, the people who were in jail for like 30, 40 years and didn't even know that, you know, Hafez al-Assad had passed away, Bashar's father, you know, I mean, there's a lot of trauma that's going to be, that's going to have to be dealt with now. But it would have had to have been dealt with at some point. So sooner rather than later I think is better.
COREN: H.A. Hellyer, we're going to have to leave it there. But thank you for joining us from Cairo.
HELLYER: Thank you.
COREN: Well, some of Donald Trump's most controversial picks for his next administration spent another day with Senate lawmakers looking to drum up support. The latest from Capitol Hill just ahead.
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COREN: U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump hosted a controversial figure at his Florida home on Monday. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban posted pictures on X of his visit to Mar-a-Lago showing him with both the future president and billionaire Trump ally Elon Musk.
The European strongman tweeted USA Today. The future has begun. Orban is a nationalist leader with ties to Russia who opposes military aid for Ukraine, putting him at odds with the EU. He also met with Trump back in July when Orban pushed for a ceasefire in Ukraine.
Well, the FBI is gearing up for detailed background checks on thousands of appointees for Donald Trump's incoming administration, including his pick for defense secretary Pete Hegseth. But these investigations may have little bearing on whether Hegseth and other controversial picks make it into the next Trump cabinet. Manu Raju has more from Capitol Hill.
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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Republican senators began to fall in line behind Donald Trump's most controversial picks, including to run the FBI. That, of course, is a position that wouldn't necessarily need a nominee. But Donald Trump is signaling that he is ready to fire the existing FBI director, Christopher Wray, even though Wray has three more years left on his term and replace him with Kash Patel, someone who has been very much in line with the MAGA wing of the Republican Party.
But a number of Republican senators, including the incoming chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley, who is trying to -- who said in a letter issued on Monday that he has, quote, no confidence in Wray's leadership, told me after his meeting with Kash Patel that Patel actually agrees with his position.
CHUCK GRASSLEY, U.S. SENATE REPUBLICAN: If you will look at a letter I sent to Wray today, that this nominee thinks that those things are wrong, they violate my responsibility of congressional oversight, and he wants to make sure that congressional oversight works.
RAJU: And then there's Tulsi Gabbard, someone who has taken positions on Ukraine that is counter to a lot of Republicans views in supporting Ukraine. Also has went took a trip to meet with Bashar al-Assad, of course, now the ousted Syrian dictator. She met with him back in 2017. Her positions on Syria have caused a lot of concerns as well.
But she met with a number of Republican senators and afterwards, several of them sounded open to supporting her nomination, including Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
LINDSEY GRAHAM, U.S. SENATE REPUBLICAN: We've had policy differences. I know her. I like her. You know, she wanted to stay in the JCPOA. I thought that was a mistake. But, you know, she'll be serving Trump.
RAJU: And then there's Pete Hegseth, of course, he is one of the most controversial nominees because of allegations of past misconduct, including excessive drinking, including allegations of sexual assault, something that he has denied. But there's been some Republican senators who have held out so far, including Senator Joni Ernst. She's a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and has plentifully not taken a position yet on his nomination.
She met with him for a second time. That second meeting occurred on Monday. Afterwards, she indicated she is open to supporting his nomination, saying that she would support him through the process. But they wouldn't say specifically she's a yes yet, but sounded very positive based on some assurances that he gave her.
So, for Donald Trump's key nominees, at the moment, things are looking positive for him, but there's still some time left in this confirmation process, which of course can get bumpy rather quickly. Manu Raju,, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: A court ruling could have a profound impact on the future of the world's predominant conservative media empire. A Nevada commissioner has ruled that Rupert Murdoch cannot amend his family trust to give his son Lachlan full control of his companies, reportedly writing that the pair had operated in bad faith.
Rupert Murdoch wanted to give the more conservative Lachlan all the power, but his original family trust gave his four eldest children equal voting shares upon his death. Lachlan's three more liberal siblings objected to the change and contested it in court. Sources have told CNN the dispute has torn the family apart.
Well, China has opened antitrust investigation into American chip maker Nvidia, according to Chinese state media. The case centers on Nvidia's merger with an Israeli networking company, though China previously approved the acquisition. CNN's claim Duffy has more on the latest escalation in the AI chip war.
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CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: This is an interesting case because the Chinese government actually approved this acquisition of Mellanox back in 2020 and they haven't said what they think this merger may have done to potentially break the law.
So I don't know that this is going to have a significant long term impacts for Nvidia. And look, China is a big and important market for the company, but Nvidia has already been restricted in terms of the advanced AI technology that it can sell to China and as Nvidia has grown, we've seen that the total share of sales that China contributes to the company has been shrinking.
I think the way to view this as part of this larger U.S.-China tech trade war that we've seen escalating in the past few years, we've seen the Biden administration and the Chinese government sort of trading these jabs.
Just last week the Biden administration implemented its third round of tech chip sales restrictions on China, this time on high tech memory chips. China retaliated by restricting the sales of some manufacturing materials that are needed to make chips. At this time when we know the U.S. government is trying to boost domestic chip manufacturing.
Now, it makes sense to me that the Chinese government would go after Nvidia.
[01:30:00]
This is sort of the golden child of the U.S. tech industry at this point. And we'll see how this develops if it escalates.
But China still needs NVidia. This is a company that, you know, continues to outstrip rivals in terms of its ability to build A.I. technology. And even though it can't sell its most advanced A.I. chips to China, it sells them an approved version that gets around those export restrictions.
You have to imagine that China isn't going to want to lose the opportunity to buy that technology.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNA COREN, CNN ANCHOR: Clare Duffy with that report.
Well, still to come, we'll break down how rebels brought down Bashar al Assad's decades' long dictatorship in a matter of days.
Plus, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the Israeli military has entered the buffer zone at the Syria-Israel border to ensure Israel's security. We'll have all the details ahead.
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COREN: Welcome back to our viewers around the world. I'm Anna Coren. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
As Syria goes through a transfer of power, an international chemical weapons watchdog is expressing, quote, "serious concerns" over the fate of unaccounted chemical weapons in the country. And the Pentagon says the U.S. is working with its partners to ensure the chemical weapons don't, quote, "fall into the wrong hands".
Well, Bashar al-Assad was found to have used chemical weapons against his own people on multiple occasions during the civil war.
For half a century, the Assad family ruled over Syria with an iron fist, with reports of mass incarceration, torture, extrajudicial killings and atrocities against the Syrian people. But already the country is showing signs that the era has ended.
CNN's Jomana Karadsheh, who has covered Syria extensively over the years, has this report.
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JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So it's really remarkable coming through the Syrian side of the crossing and finding members of the free Syrian army, one of the rebel groups on this side here who have taken control of the border crossing.
So welcoming, so excited to see foreign journalists coming in. And as someone who spent time in Damascus in Syria covering this country under the Assad regime and knowing what it was like where you would be closely monitored all the time and you needed all sorts of permissions, that's if you were able to get in and to see this sort of change and to see and hear people speaking to us freely in a country where people used to come up and take a risk whispering things to you when you were in the streets or in places in Damascus.
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KARADSHEH: It's just unbelievable. I spent years covering the war in Syria, day in and day out, and we had to do this from outside the country because the Assad regime for the most part, wouldn't allow us into Syria to see for ourselves the atrocities that were being committed.
And at this moment, all I can think about is all the people, all the Syrians that we've met over the years and the stories that we've told. All that they went through, all that they sacrificed, all that they lost to make this moment possible.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Jomana Karadsheh reporting there from Syria.
Well, after 13 years of civil war, Assad's regime suddenly came crashing down.
CNN's Katie Polglase takes a look at how the rebels captured Damascus.
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KATIE POLGLASE, CNN INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: The shouts of freedom. This weekend the Assad regime's decades' long rule over Syria ended with the fall of the capital Damascus.
This takeover was led by multiple groups, with differing ideologies. Now, we don't know yet if this was actively coordinated, but our analysis of more than 100 videos indicates this was a multi-pronged approach with groups swarming the capital from different directions.
Here's how it unfolded.
Rebels under the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham had been capturing key towns in the north of Syria as the week progressed. They started heading south towards the capital, Damascus.
On Thursday, they captured the city of Hama. By Friday, they are still inching their way further south reaching nearby the town of Talbiseh, just north of Homs.
An airstrike hits nearby, but the fighters are undeterred. Cheering after the strike hits,
And now they're not alone. To the south of Damascus other rebel groups are also mobilizing. This is on the road outside Daraa on Friday night, where the revolution started back in 2011. The group filming called themselves the Southern Operations Room.
The next day, fighters from the Druze religious sect are also part of the rebels progress, tearing down a statue of President Assad's father in a town just outside of Damascus.
As the different groups of rebel forces continue to close in on Damascus, regime forces begin withdrawing. Here, they're fleeing on foot.
By Saturday night rebel fighters are in central Damascus and taking control of key sites. This is the Umayyad Square.
By Sunday, civilians are entering the presidential palace, bringing out whatever they can.
Now, several different rebel groups are present in Damascus, and President Bashar al-Assad has fled to Moscow. The question is, will these groups work together? Can they work together? And fundamentally who will be in charge of Syria next?
Katie Polglase, CNN -- London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the fall of the Assad regime has opened a new chapter in the Middle East, and he insists the collapse was the result of Israel's blows against Hezbollah and Iran, both supporters of the Assad government.
His comments come as the Israeli military released a video showing what it said were forces preparing for and then entering Syria.
Over the weekend, Mr. Netanyahu ordered the military to take control of the buffer zone that separates the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from the rest of Syria.
The U.N. confirmed that Israeli troops have entered the Syrian buffer zone, which it says is a violation of the 1974 agreement on disengagement with Syria.
But Netanyahu says Israel will ensure its security by maintaining its presence in the Golan Heights, which it captured from Syria back in 1967.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Today, everyone understands the great importance of our being there on the Golan and not at the foot of the Golan.
Our control of the Golan heights guarantees our security. It guarantees our sovereignty. And the state of Israel is establishing its position as a center of power in our region as it has not been for decades.
Those who cooperate with us benefit greatly. Those who attack us lose big.
We want to see a different Syria both for our benefit and for the benefit of the people of Syria.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: Well, joining me now from Jerusalem is Yaakov Katz, senior columnist at "The Jerusalem Post", a fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute, and author of three books on the Israeli military including "Shadow Strike".
Yaakov, thank you for joining us. Prime Minister Netanyahu is taking credit for what really has unfolded
in Syria. But behind that confidence, I guess, is there genuine concern about what is transpiring across the border?
[01:39:46]
YAAKOV KATZ, "THE JERUSALEM POST": Israel is very concerned, Ana, because as Syria disintegrates and collapses, there's a lot of advanced weapons that Bashar al-Assad and his father before him amassed and accumulated over the years.
Whether its air defense systems and surface-to-air missiles, whether its ballistic missiles including scud missiles or even the chemical weapons, some of which Assad gave up back in 2013 but is believed to have kept a substantial amount of in the years since.
And Israel wants to make sure that as rebels of all different kinds, and no one yet knows exactly what their intentions are going to be towards the state of Israel, or in general towards this entire region, Israel wants to try to take those assets off the chessboard.
So what it has been doing over the last 48 to 72 hours is striking all across Syria, mostly with its air force to eliminate these capabilities, whether it's the air force of the Syrian military that no longer exists, whether it's the chemical weapons suspected sites or missile production facilities, those are the key targets that Israel has been striking.
COREN: Yaakov, this buffer zone, let's talk about that in the Golan Heights. Netanyahu says it's a temporary defensive position. Do you think it could be something more permanent?
KATZ: I wouldn't anticipate that it's going to be permanent. It's also not the first time that Israel has entered the buffer zone. We saw this back in the first iteration of the Syrian civil war back in 2011, 2012, when also there was concern that Syria was disintegrating Israel moved some of its military into the buffer zone, basically more of a symbolic message to whoever is there that we -- as Israel was basically saying, we will not tolerate any violation of the agreement from 1974 that was supposed to see the Syrian side of the border demilitarized.
Israel is basically concerned that whatever happens in Syria is up to the Syrian people. It's up to the international community. This is not something that Israel is going to be able to engineer one way or the other.
But at least along its own border, and I think that Anna, this is even more important in over the last 14 months, when we've seen what happens when Israel neglects its border security, like what happened last October 7th when Hamas barreled across the border and massacred so many people in southern Israel.
Israel wants to make sure that there is no threat that is now emerging along its own border. So what I would anticipate is that it will stay there for a short period of time. It won't be something that's going to be long term. It's going to be there to be able to defend itself for the short term and to send a message to whoever might be taking over the country to the north don't even try to militarize what is supposed to be a demilitarized zone.
COREN: Well, let's talk about that, because until last week Israel relied on Bashar al-Assads regime to ensure that that Syria would not become another launching pad for attacks on Israel. I mean how will Israel deal with the largest rebel group, HTS that is assuming power.
KATZ: This is the big question, Anna. And Israel is obviously concerned. HTS Hayat Tahrir al-Sham is an offshoot or a rebrand of an offshoot of al Qaeda. These aren't exactly liberal progressives who are now taking over Syria.
So Israel is obviously being very vigilant and is watching what happens. But I think that Israel also has to be modest in what -- it can impact, or how it can impact what's happening in Syria. You have now Turkey in Syria, you have obviously American forces. You still have Russian forces. You have the Kurds and the Druze and the Alawites. This is a country that is now fractured into so many different pieces.
But Israel is going to be very -- is keeping a watchful eye, especially on HTS because of its radical Salafi Islamic background and its stated purpose and the way that it has controlled some of the territory in Idlib Province for example, over the last few years.
Israel does fear that they will eventually turn their guns, potentially against the state of Israel. So therefore it's trying to remove those weapons off the chessboard. It's beefing up and bolstering its own defenses and it's going to keep an eye on what happens there in case there is a new emerging threat.
Just after Israel dealt with Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, it actually wants to walk away from war, not have to engage now in another new front.
COREN: Yaakov Katz in Jerusalem, always great to get your analysis. Thanks for joining us.
KATZ: Thank you.
COREN: In Haiti the government says gangs have crossed the red line after being accused of killing at least 184 people over the weekend.
The Haitian Prime Minister's office accused a gang leader of carrying out a massacre in Port au Prince which one human rights group says was sparked by accusations that witchcraft had caused his child's grave illness.
[01:44:52]
COREN: The U.N. says most of those killed were elderly men and women. Officials are promising to bring those responsible to justice.
Well, protests continued for another night in Seoul with thousands gathering to tell President Yoon Suk-yeol sorry is not good enough. The president offered an apology for his botched attempt at imposing martial law on the country last week, a move officials voted to overturn in just a matter of hours.
Well, President Yoon acknowledged it caused anxiety and inconvenience for residents who say the attempt at an apology is not enough.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEONG CHAE-YOUNG, UNIVERSITY STUDENT: The president's statement cannot be that short, and just saying sorry. It's not supposed to end just like that.
The people were so scared that night when martial law was declared. I couldn't sleep well, but he just tried to end it with a few words.
I don't think it's the right way to end that situation, and I'm very disappointed about that.
President Yoon survived an impeachment vote from the opposition-led parliament, but he's been banned from traveling overseas while authorities consider charging him with insurrection.
Well, still to come, rapper Jay-Z is asking for the identity of a woman accusing him of rape, and he had some harsh words for the woman's attorney. We'll have the latest on the civil lawsuit he is facing.
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COREN: Shawn Carter, better known as billionaire rap mogul Jay-Z, has filed a motion asking a court to require a woman accusing him of rape to reveal her identity or dismiss the lawsuit altogether.
CNN's Kara Scannell has more from New York.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TONY BUZBEE, ATTORNEY FOR JANE DOE: The day will come when we will name names other than Sean Combs, and there's a lot of names. It's a long list already.
KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jay-Z is the first celebrity to be accused alongside Sean Diddy Combs of sexual assault, according to a civil lawsuit brought by a Jane Doe.
BUZBEE: The names that we're going to name, assuming that our investigators confirm and corroborate what we've been told, are names that will shock you.
SCANNELL: The lawsuit was first filed against Combs in October, including allegations that Celebrity A also assaulted a minor.
On Sunday night, it was amended to identify Jay-Z whose real name is Shawn Carter as that celebrity. The rapper is accused of raping a 13-year-old girl at an after party
following the MTV Video Music Awards in 2000. The woman alleges she was drugged and, according to the lawsuit, at that point, "Carter began removing plaintiff's clothes as she grew more and more disoriented."
Then the lawsuit alleges, Jay-Z raped her while a female identified as Celebrity B watched.
The lawsuit was brought by plaintiff's lawyer Tony Buzbee, who has filed 20 lawsuits against Combs. Combs has vigorously denied any wrongdoing.
The Texas lawyer said they contacted Jay-Z to try to resolve the matter through mediation before filing the lawsuit.
[01:49:50]
SCANNELL: Jay-Z denied the rape allegations, calling them heinous. He said the lawsuit followed an attempt at blackmail and said Buzbee is a deplorable human being.
"My heart and support goes out to true victims in the world who have to watch how their life story is dressed in costume for profitability by this ambulance chaser in a cheap suit."
The musician, who is married to Beyonce, said his heartbreak is having to explain to his children the cruelty and greed of people.
Buzbee responded on X, saying the alleged victim never demanded a penny from Jay-Z and accused the rapper of trying to bully them into silence.
"We will let the filing speak for itself and will litigate the facts in court, not in the media," he said.
Strong denials from Jay-Z. He said that if these allegations were true, there would be criminal charges, not the civil lawsuit. His lawyer saying this is an attempt to smear the rapper's name. In fact, his lawyer on Monday night asked the judge to require the Jane Doe who brought this lawsuit, to refile it using her real name or dismiss it saying fair is fair.
Kara Scannell, CNN -- New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: One of the Philippines' most active volcanoes has erupted for the second time this year, forcing thousands to flee their homes.
Well, Mount Kanlaon sent a powerful blast of ash and gas up to three kilometers into the sky. About 87,000 people were ordered to evacuate, with more than half of them considered to be in a danger zone.
Authorities say they are preparing for the worst-case scenario and will raise the alert levels again if needed. Well, Rome is gearing up for the Jubilee, a year-long celebration that
sees millions of Catholic pilgrims flocking to the city. How the Italian capital is preparing, that's next.
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The 82nd Golden Globe Awards are just around the corner, with a new batch of films and television shows up for the first trophies of Hollywood's award season.
Well, crime musical "Emelia Perez" leads in film with ten nominations, including nods for Best Motion Picture in both musical or comedy and the non-English film categories.
Also notable nominations a first-time nod for Pamela Anderson and her role in "The Last Showgirl". And the first major Hollywood award nomination in over a decade for Demi Moore for her role in "The Substance".
Meantime, in television fan favorite "The Bear" leads the pack with five nominations, the most of any series this year. The dark comedy is up for Best Television Series in musical or comedy, and multiple categories for its ensemble cast.
Rome will be the global center of the Catholic Holy Year, which begins on Christmas Eve and runs through January 6th, 2026. Jubilees like this normally occur once every 25 years.
CNN's Antonia Mortensen takes a look at how the city is preparing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANTONIA MORTENSEN, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: They say Rome wasn't built in a day, and that was certainly true in 2024, as construction took over the ancient city to prepare for the Jubilee, a year-long celebration that takes place here every 25 years.
And what better way to see how those preparations are going than with our local guide, Ricardo, on a Vespa.
[01:54:47]
MORTENSEN: How are you feeling about the Jubilee next year? Are you ready for a 35 million tourists?
RICARDO ABATE, SCOOTEROMA VESPA GUIDE: Well if you say, if you ask me like that, it sounds like a lot of people, but I think -- I think it's going to be something that we are prepared for.
MORTENSEN: Now we're driving onto Piazza Venezia and ahead of us, you'll be able to see a ginormous hydro mill that's 25m tall, and that is able to excavate 80 meters underground.
What are they building there.
ABATE: Train station underground. MORTENSEN: And here it is.
ABATE: How beautiful.
MORTENSEN: So beautiful.
Rome has been racing to finish on time with thousands of key construction projects underway. Rome's subway system is getting a serious upgrade. And right here in front of the Colosseum, a brand-new station is going to be built on top of Via Dei Fori Imperiali.
As you can see, we're right on top of an ancient city, which makes excavation pretty difficult.
So how has the last year or so been here in Rome with the preparations?
ABATE: It's been busy. It's been chaotic. It's been a little bit frustrating, especially for the everyday traffic. Like being in a car is not fun.
MORTENSEN: So it's actually much easier to get around on the Vespa here in Italy.
ABATE: Really. Absolutely. I wouldn't change that for anything in the world.
MORTENSEN: And perhaps the most ambitious infrastructure project here, not far from the Vatican, this whole area is being turned into a pedestrian zone and all traffic is going to be channeled underground.
And so do you think that Rome is going to be ready on time?
ABATE: I'm pretty sure Rome is going to be ready, yes. I think everyone wants to make Rome look at its best, and it's working.
MORTENSEN: Antonia Mortensen, CNN -- Rome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: And finally, before we go, the Charles Dickens Museum in London is ready for Christmas.
One of Dickens most popular stories, "A Christmas Carol", has had a lasting influence over the culture around the holiday, symbolizing it as a time for both celebration and charity.
The museum is the last surviving home of the author, decorated in an authentic Victorian--style fashion, giving the visitors of Christmas Present a peek into Christmas Past.
Well, thank you so much for watching CNN NEWSROOM and for your company. I'm Anna Coren.
Stay tuned for more of CNN NEWSROOM with my friend and colleague Rosemary Church. [01:57:15]
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