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CNN Goes Inside Secret Prison in Syria; Support for Suspect Luigi Mangione Exploding Online; Anonymous Sean Diddy Combs Accuser Speaks Out for First Time; Saudi Arabia Awarded Tournament Amid Himan Rights Concerns. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired December 12, 2024 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Searching for loved ones in Syria's notorious prisons that have been operated by the Assad regime. CNN's Clarissa Ward went inside one of them and made an incredible discovery behind a cell door.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Deep in the belly of the regime's Air Force Intelligence Headquarters.
WARD: These are English letters.
WARD (voice-over): We are hoping to find traces of Austin Tice, an American journalist held captive in Syria since 2012. It's one of many secret prisons across the city. This specific branch was tasked with surveillance, arrest and killing of all regime critics.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are all cleaned up.
WARD (voice-over): We don't find any hints of Tice but come across something extraordinary.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't tell, though. It might just be a blanket, but it's the only cell that's locked.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is he going to shoot it?
WARD (voice over): The guard makes us turn the camera off while he shoots the lock off the cell door.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lights up.
WARD (voice-over): We go in to get a closer look. It's still not clear if there is something under the blanket.
WARD: Oh, it moved. Is there someone there? I thought I saw it move. Is someone there? Or is it just a blanket? I don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Touch it. There is someone. Hello?
WARD: OK. Let me just (INAUDIBLE). UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I told you. It's OK. It's OK. It's OK. It's OK. Journalist, journalist, journalist, journalist.
WARD (voice over): I'm a civilian, he says. I'm a civilian.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's OK. It's OK. It's OK. It's OK.
WARD (voice over): He tells the fighter. He's from the city of Homs and has been in the cell for three months.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
WARD: OK. You're OK. You're OK. You're OK. You're OK.
WARD (voice over): He clutches my arm tightly with both hands.
WARD: OK. Does anyone have any water? Water?
OK, it's water. It's water. OK. OK. OK. You're OK. You're OK. You're OK.
WARD (voice over): We start to walk him outside. Thank God you are safe. Don't be afraid, the fighter says. You are free.
This is the third prison they brought me to, he says, the third prison. After three months in a windowless cell, he can finally see the sky.
WARD (voice over): Oh, God the light, he says. Oh, God, there is light. My God there is light.
WARD: OK. OK. Sit, sit, sit. OK. You're OK.
WARD (voice over): Stay with me, stay with me, he repeats again and again.
WARD: OK.
WARD (voice over): For three months, I didn't know anything about my family, he says. I didn't hear anything about my children.
The fighter hands him something to eat, barely lift it to his mouth. But his body can't handle it.
WARD: OK. You're OK.
WARD (voice over): His captors fled during the fall of Damascus, leaving him with no food or water, that was at least four days ago.
I'm shaking. My face is shaking, he says. The rebel tells him there's no more army, no more prisons, no more checkpoints. Are you serious? He says. Syria is free, he tells him. It's the first time he has heard those words.
He tells us his name is Adil Khurbal (ph) and that officers from the much feared Mukhabarat Intelligence Services took him from his home and began interrogating him about his phone. They brought me here to Damascus. They asked me about names of terrorists, he says. Did they hit you, the fighter asked. Yes, yes he says.
As a paramedic arrives, the shock sets in.
[04:35:00]
There's nothing. Everything's OK. The Red Crescent is coming to help you, this man assures him. You are safe. Don't be afraid anymore. Everything you are afraid of is gone.
Tens of thousands of Syrians have disappeared in Assad's prisons. Up until 15 minutes ago, Adil Khurbal (ph) was one of them. He is still petrified.
Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid, the ambulance worker reassures him. Every car I got into, they blindfolded me, he says. It is the end of a very dark chapter for him and for all of Syria.
Clarissa Ward, CNN, Damascus.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: What a story, and just one of them as well.
America's top diplomat is on his way to the Middle East for talks on Syria. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will arrive in Jordan today, where he'll meet with King Abdullah and top officials before leaving for Turkey later in the day.
He's expected to discuss four key principles the U.S. expects of a new Syrian government, which includes respecting the rights of minorities.
South Korea's president has lost support of his own party as he fights to keep his job. On Wednesday, the ruling party made a U-turn and decided to get behind attempts to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol.
He's been facing calls to step down after imposing a short-lived martial law last week, which was quickly overturned by lawmakers. The ruling party initially opposed an attempt to impeach him, hoping he would step down, but it changed course after the president made it clear he's not going anywhere.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YOON SUK YEOL, SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We must prevent the forces and criminal groups that have led the paralysis of government administration and disorder of national constitution from taking over the state administration and threatening the future of the Republic of Korea no matter what. I will fight to the end.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: It only added to the street parties against the president, continuing, as you can see, even though he now says he never meant to dismiss the legislature. Lawmakers could hold a new vote to oust him as early as Saturday.
Brazilian President Lula Inacio Lula da Silva is expected to undergo a second surgery today to treat bleeding on his brain. He had an operation on Tuesday, which drained the fluid. Lula fell in October, but on Monday, he complained of a headache. The emergency surgery added to health concerns about the 79-year-old president. His doctors stress he didn't suffer a brain injury. They say he's doing well with no complications. He's walking and has received visits from his family, too.
Support is growing on social media for accused CEO killer Luigi Mangione. What's behind the hype for the man some call a modern-day Robin Hood? Just ahead.
Plus, one of the people accusing music mogul Sean Diddy Combs of assault is sharing his story with CNN. That's just ahead.
[04:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Let's get you up to date on our top story this hour. Police in New York saying they have analyzed the gun found on CEO shooting suspect Luigi Mangione and it matches shell casings recovered from the crime scene. They also say Mangione's fingerprints match those on a water bottle and a Kind bar found near the shooting site.
Mangione is facing murder charges but his attorney is fighting extradition from Pennsylvania to New York. Mangione's attorney says he has yet to see the evidence reported by the NYPD and that there's no question his client will submit a not guilty plea.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THOMAS DICKEY, ATTORNEY FOR LUIGI MANGIONE: What we're talking about is fingerprint evidence and some ballistics. Those two sciences in and of themselves have come under some criticism in the past relative to their credibility, their truthfulness, their accuracy, however you want to do it. So that's why as lawyers we need to see it. We need to see how do they collect it, how much of it matches.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, a vocal group of supporters is coming to Mangione's defense, especially on social media. CNN's Randi Kaye has that part of the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's accused of cold- blooded murder on a New York city street yet support for Luigi Mangione is exploding online.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If we let OJ off the hook, why can't we let Luigi off the hook?
KAYE (voice-over): On TikTok, the #FreeLuigi is inspiring videos like these.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need to go ahead and get down to business and figure out how we're going to help my boy, Luigi. We need to put some money on the man's books, make sure he can have honey buns for days, OK, while he's in there.
KAYE (voice-over): This TikToker echoed frustrations, writing, people are tired of being treated like a number.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People get into these jobs and positions and forget that these numbers that they're interacting with affects actual people's lives.
KAYE (voice-over): Others offering themselves up as alibis.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Listen, Luigi Mangione could not have killed that CEO that morning. I know, because he was on a Zoom call with me organizing a fundraiser for kids and canines with cancer. Free Luigi.
KAYE (voice-over): The propping up of Mangione is so outsized, one TikToker even suggested Time Magazine should make him their Person of the Year.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Free my boy. He didn't even do it.
KAYE (voice-over): Mangione has inspired merchandise too. Online retailers are selling Free Luigi Christmas ornaments, sweatshirts and coffee mugs, one emblazoned with the words, I'm in love with a criminal.
Mangione's lawyer told CNN that people have been reaching out to his office offering to pay Mangione legal bills. He's not sure he'd accept the money.
DICKEY: Obviously, my client appreciates the support that he has, but it just doesn't sit right with me.
KAYE (voice-over): A legal defense fund has also been set up on behalf of Mangione. By Wednesday afternoon, the fund had reached over $30,000. Some of the anonymous donors included the words "deny, defend, depose" in their message. At least one referred to Mangione as an American hero.
In Altoona, Pennsylvania where Mangione was arrested at a McDonald's after an employee called police, support for him has given rise to threats in the community.
CHIEF DEREK SWOPE, ALTOONA, PENNSYLVANIA POLICE: We have received some threats against our officers in the building here. We've started investigating some threats against some citizens in our community. We're taking all those threats seriously.
KAYE (voice-over): The McDonald's is being targeted too. Fake reviewers online writing: Never eating at this McDonald's again. Imagine going to grab a Big Mac and witnessing officer Snitchy McSnitch, employee of the month calling the feds on a hero -- referring to Mangione.
Another fake review reads: Why go here when Taco Bell is just across the way and knows how to keep their mouths shut?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning to everyone other than the person that snitched to my dog Luigi. Like you -- didn't your mother teach you snitches get stitches?
[04:45:03]
KAYE (voice-over): Back in New York City, so-called wanted posters have turned up, possibly suggesting some sort of rallying cry. The posters show faces of executives and CEOs, including Brian Thompson, who Mangione allegedly gunned down. His is marked with a red X. It's unclear who is behind the posters.
Randi Kaye, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: For the first time, we're hearing from one of the anonymous John Does, who have accused music mogul Sean Diddy Combs of sexual assault. Combs is awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking and racketeering, conspiracy. He's also facing some 30 civil lawsuits filed in the past year, several of which allege the rapper and producer committed sexual abuse.
One of those accusers is speaking exclusively to CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister. A warning, this interview contains graphic content.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: According to your lawsuit, you were hired by a security firm to work security at one of the infamous white parties that was thrown by Sean Combs in the Hamptons. What was that experience like?
JOHN DOE, ACCUSES SEAN DIDDY COMBS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT: At first, he was incredibly friendly, very gracious.
WAGMEISTER: So you had a friendly chat and then, according to your lawsuit, at some point later in the night, Sean Combs himself offered you a drink. This didn't come from staff or someone holding a tray of drinks. It came from him directly.
DOE: Correct. The first drink started to have some effect on me, and I just thought, wow, these are really strong drinks. It wasn't until the second drink, and it was already too late, that I realized that there was something wrong with the drinks.
Sadly, Sean Combs was waiting in the wings. He was watching from some sort of vantage point, and once I was in a helpless position, and he was sure that he was in a position of power, he then took advantage of the situation.
WAGMEISTER: You allege that you were forcibly pushed into an SUV by Sean Combs. That act alone, according to your lawsuit, left you in considerable pain. And then once inside the vehicle, your lawsuit says plaintiff was held down by Combs, who overpowered him while he struggled to escape due to the effects of the drugs in his system. And it goes on to say that he sodomized you.
DOE: I was screaming. I was telling him to stop. It was incredibly painful, and he was acting like it was nothing. And he seemed to be disconnected from it. It was abusive beyond belief.
WAGMEISTER: Now, you heard in that piece that Combs' attorneys denied that he has ever sexually assaulted anyone. And back in October, when John Doe initially filed his complaint, I reached out and they gave me a blanket denial statement but did not respond to those specific allegations. After our interview, I went back to Combs' attorneys and gave them the opportunity to respond to the specific allegations laid out in his lawsuit and that he discussed with me in the interview.
They did not respond to his specific claims of being drugged and allegedly being sexually abused. But they did take issue with a number of inconsistencies between our interview with John Doe and John Doe's original complaint that was filed over two months ago.
For instance, in that October complaint, it said that these alleged incidents occurred at the White Party in the year 2006. But in our interview, John Doe told me it was 2007.
You also heard that John Doe told me that he was married at the time and that things were too traumatic for him to ever tell his wife. But his initial complaint said that he had never been married.
After our interview, attorneys for John Doe refiled an amended complaint and they acknowledged that mistakes were made when they initially filed. Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: A Wisconsin man who disappeared for months after faking his own death is now in police custody. Ryan Borgwardt has been charged with obstructing the investigation into his own disappearance. Authorities say he vanished during a kayaking trip, leaving his wife and three children to go to Eastern Europe.
Borgwardt told authorities last month that he faked his death because of personal matters. Investigators say the search for his body lasted more than a month and cost at least $35,000. He willingly flew from Europe back to the U.S. and turned himself in to police.
Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 FIFA World Cup despite concerns raised by human rights groups. We'll take a look at their multi-billion dollar effort to improve their public image.
[04:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Human rights groups are raising red flags after the announcement that Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 World Cup. The Saudis have pledged to spend billions on the tournament, promising to build or renovate 11 stadiums and 185,000 hotel rooms. But rights groups are warning of the human cost, especially to migrant workers who will work on those projects.
There are also concerns about press freedom, the treatment of LGBTQ plus groups, and the rights of women, amongst others. One expert says being awarded the World Cup is the culmination of a plan to rehabilitate its image on the world stage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN COCKBURN, HEAD OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL JUSTICE, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: Saudi Arabia has invested tens of billions of dollars over the last five years into sport, whether it's football, boxing, golf, the World Cup. And that's, you know, part of that has got domestic objectives in terms of its economy. Part of that has got diplomatic objectives in terms of its relations in the world.
And part of that is about sports washing, about laundering its reputation. And you just have to think back. It was only five or six years ago when Saudi Arabia was being shunned by the world after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi's.
[04:55:06]
And six years later, it's being awarded a World Cup. The transformation in its standing in the world has been huge, and sport's been a very big part of that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: One of the winningest coaches in pro football history is going back to college. Bill Belichick will be the next head coach of the University of North Carolina Tar Heels. The school says they've agreed to a five-year deal.
The 72-year-old Belichick won six Super Bowls as the New England Patriots head coach and two more as an assistant coach for the New York Giants. He says he would like any college team he coaches to be a pipeline to the NFL for players who have the ability. Belichick's father, Steve, was an assistant coach at North Carolina in the 1950s.
Actress and singer Selena Gomez announced she's newly engaged to music producer and songwriter Benny Blanco. She shared this picture of the two on Wednesday with the caption, forever begins now.
A slew of celebrities have commented on the post, including Taylor Swift, rapper Cardi B, and actresses Jennifer Aniston and Gwyneth Paltrow, all expressing their well wishes. The pair collaborated on music as early as 2019 and went public with their relationship about a year ago.
Now to a contest showcasing wild animals in all their amusing glory. It is the Nikon Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards, and this year's top prize winner is Stuck Squirrel. Photographer Milko Marchetti found just the right moment as a squirrel, a red squirrel, was jumping into a tree trunk. Marchetti says it makes audiences explode with laughter.
Other notable entries include a praying mantis, looking like a flamenco dancer, a fish jumping out of the water to hunt an escaping bald eagle, and a smiling frog completely splayed out in the water with his head stuck in a bubble. There he is.
Thanks for joining me here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster in London. CNN "THIS MORNING" is up after the break.
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