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CNN International: Missing American Citizen Located in Syria; FBI Director Stepping Down; Officials Investigating Drones Over New Jersey; CNN on Scene the Moment a Syrian Prisoner if Freed; Russia Faces New Reality in Syria after Assad's Fall; Tech Company Builds AI- Driven Robot Companion. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired December 12, 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]
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Fredricka Whitfield, and this is the CNN "Newsroom". Just ahead, a stunning moment inside a secret Syrian prison as families search desperately for their loved ones. CNN's Clarissa Ward makes an extraordinary discovery.
And New York police say they have evidence that ties Luigi Mangione to the killing of Brian Thompson. And 2024 was the year of the U.S. election so it's only right that "Time's Person of the Year" is the winner, Donald Trump. The Syrian rebel group that ousted Bashar Al Assad from power is now trying to shape its future.
Rebel Leader Abu Mohammad Al Jolani says his team is working with international organizations to secure possible chemical weapons sites. He's also promising to dissolve the toppled regime's security forces and shut down the notorious prisons. One priority will be bringing home Syrian refugees.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABU MOHAMMAD AL JOLANI, HAYAT TAHRIR AL SHAM LEADER: We must give Damascus its right. We must give it, it's right by restoring people's dignity and pride and by building it properly. The opportunities are available to us and the people who have emigrated, who have sought asylum, who have been displaced, they must return. All these people must return so that hand in hand, we can build the next Syria, God willing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: The upheaval in Syria is triggering concern in the region and beyond. The U.S. Secretary of State is in Jordan and then heads to Turkey for urgent meetings. Antony Blinken will push for what U.S. officials call an inclusive Syrian led transition to an accountable government.
Inside Syria, the mood is mostly festive. After the collapse of decades of dictatorship, people climbed on top tanks and waved weapons as they pose for pictures. And after years locked behind Frozen Front Lines, the rebel offensive that led to the fall of Damascus took place with astonishing speed, and many Syrians are still in shock. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh reports from the Syrian capital.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Across Syria, we're seeing scenes like this, military vehicles left abandoned on the sides of roads and highways. And if you look around here, you see these troops shed their military uniforms. You see combat boots. You see their belongings everywhere.
And perhaps giving us an indication of how this collapse happened, is it appears these soldiers fled fast, in this location, at least, we're not seeing any signs of them putting up a fight. 72-year-old Bashi Saman (ph) is here with his son and his grandchildren. Did you ever imagine that this day would come?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really, no, no, at least in my few years left in my life, I'm afraid of one thing.
KARADSHEH: What?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let someone come up and say, this is Candid Camera.
KARADSHEH: You still can't believe it happened. Can you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I still feel like I have, like I'm still watched, or something like, is there a camera anywhere?
KARADSHEH: We're seeing a lot of people stopping here for photos, climbing on the tanks, people bringing their children, telling us that this is history, and they want their children to witness it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today we Syrian people are free! Thank God we will always be free. We got rid of the criminal dog Assad and his tyranny. Say "Bashar is a dog".
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bashar is a dog!
KARADSHEH: Syrians still can't believe what they're seeing. The long- feared security apparatus and military just melted away. You can see people are so happy, but at the same time, this is a reminder that their country is awash with weapons. There are so many different rebel factions' arms to the teeth, and it just exacerbates the fears of people about what might be coming next. Jomana Karadsheh CNN, Damascus.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And there are more questions than answers after an American man who went missing in Hungary earlier this year was found in Syria. 29-year-old Travis Timmerman was found wandering barefoot just south of the capital of Damascus. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz joins us now from London with more on what a mysterious journey he's had. Tell us more.
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely! And I just want to begin by dispelling some misinformation, some rumors that were spreading that really rose Travis Timmerman story to the top of the headlines and that is that Austin Tice is still missing.
[08:05:00]
He has not been found. An American who was found is, of course, Travis Timmerman this 29-year-old from Missouri. He was found by a guard, basically barefoot, disoriented. He's been speaking to media outlets, and we have one clip to show you, just you can get a sense of his voice and his state.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRAVIS TIMMERMAN, MISSING AMERICAN LOCATED IN SYRIA: My name is Travis. I'm from the --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One minute, one minute. What's your name?
TIMMERMAN: Travis.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Travis?
TIMMERMAN: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Country?
TIMMERMAN: United States.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: United States?
TIMMERMAN: United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABDELAZIZ: Now, Timmerman has told reporters on the ground that he has been in a regime prison for seven whole months. As you mentioned, he originally went missing in Hungary, which is where he believed he was, but Timmerman says that he crossed into Syria earlier this year by foot from Lebanon.
He described himself as a pilgrim. He said he was on a religious journey to explain to our viewers under Bashar Al Assad's Regime, you absolutely cannot cross from Lebanon into Syria by foot without explicit permission from the regime. Otherwise, you are arrested. And that seems to be exactly what took place.
He says he was picked up by security forces shortly after walking into Syria. He was taken again to that regime prison. He says he was treated relatively well. He was given food, he was given water, he was given bathroom breaks, but he says he heard the sounds of people being tortured in that jail.
He says he heard those sounds of torture every single day. This will come, of course, this news as welcome relief for his family. The U.S. says he is aware of this information and is providing support on the ground. WHITFIELD: Yeah. Incredibly mysterious story. All right. Salma Abdelaziz, thank you so much. All right. Israel is getting criticism from the Arab League and Egypt after launching hundreds of strikes air targets in Syria. Israel says it's destroying Syrian military assets. CNN's Jeremy Diamond has more from Jerusalem.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the dead of night, Syrian naval ships going up in flames. At daybreak, this is all that remains of the Syrian fleet at Latakia, after Israel launched a wave of strikes intended to destroy the strategic arsenal of the newly de posed regime of Bashar Al Assad.
Israeli missile ships fired the fatal blow at Latakia. Many more were carried out by Israeli jets. Altogether, nearly 500 strikes since the fall of Assad's regime.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: We have no intention to intervene in Syria's internal affairs, but we certainly intend to do everything necessary to take care of our own security.
DIAMOND (voice-over): The Israeli Prime Minister says the strikes are aimed at preventing the Assad's regime strategic and long-range weapons from falling into the hands of radical Islamists. Syria's Rebel Leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, better known by his nom de guerre Abu Muhammad Al Jolani, previously led Syria's al-Qaeda affiliate.
And while he has struck a more moderate tone, there is still considerable uncertainty about what this new Syria will look like. Israel Ziv, a retired Israeli general, says Israel has long prepared for this scenario.
MAJOR GENERAL ISRAEL ZIV (RET.), ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: To be honest, we have those plans for over a decade. It took, like, I think, three days to refresh those plans and refresh the intelligence, to make the decision and to go for a very big operation.
DIAMOND (voice-over): The Israeli military estimates that the operation has destroyed 70 to 80 percent of Syria's strategic weapons, including jets and attack helicopters, crews and ballistic missiles as well as air defense systems. It also struck Syria's chemical weapons depots.
ZIV: The strategy now behind the strikes is about taking off any future potential threats that can be shot back at us.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Israel has also sent ground troops into Syria capturing 155 square mile buffer zone that has separated Israeli and Syrian troops for half a century, after Syrian troops abandoned their posts. But Israel is also capturing strategic points beyond that buffer zone, a move it insists is temporary. Israel's actions, drawing criticism from its neighbors.
AYMAN SAFADI, JORDANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: The aggression that Israel conducted against Syria, and occupying this land is a violation and a breach of international law and an unacceptable escalation.
DIAMOND (voice-over): And the United Nations.
GEIR PEDERSEN, U.N. SPECIAL ENVOY FOR SYRIA: We are continuing to see Israeli movements and bombardments into Syrian territory. This needs to stop.
[08:10:00]
DIAMOND (voice-over): Israel very well may, having already accomplished what it set out to do. Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Israeli authorities say they are holding a suspect after a child was shot and killed in the West Bank. They say the 10-year-old boy died Wednesday when a gunman opened fire on an Israeli civilian bus near Bethlehem, three other people were injured. The West Bank has seen a major uptick in violence since the outbreak of Israel's war in Gaza.
And police in New York say they have evidence that could connect Luigi Mangione to the killing of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. The police commissioner says a 3D printed gun found on Mangione when he was arrested matches three shell casings found at the Manhattan crime scene.
Mangione is being held without bail in Pennsylvania where he was arrested, and now police are focused on the months leading up to the shooting. A law enforcement official tells CNN, the suspect's mother told police that she hadn't spoken to him since July, then reported him missing in November.
And now they want to know where he was during that time. Brynn Gingras is joining us now from New York with the very latest. Boy there are a lot of you know, so many unanswered questions, lot of threads to follow here. I wonder if first, you can help answer why is Mangione, kind of fighting extradition to New York?
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Fred. I mean, it's his right. To be honest, there is really no one who has won a fight against extradition. Eventually the extradition actually will happen. So, it's really just prolonging it. But honestly, I've talked to sources here in New York who says they're not in a rush.
Listen, they're able to collect more evidence, build more of their case while they continue this extradition fight. So, as you're seeing right here with this, with the NYPD Commissioner coming out yesterday, and essentially saying, look, we have more evidence to tie Mangione to this crime here in Manhattan.
They talked about the ballistics of the gun that you just mentioned with your viewers, as well as fingerprints matching, saying, they say that matches a water bottle that was thrown out at the scene here, as well as a Kind bar wrapper directly tying, they say, Mangione to the crime scene. And this is the evidence they couldn't wait to get their hands on when Mangione was arrested on Monday. But of course, there's also more evidence that they have been collecting surveillance video from all around New York City. They have that fake ID, that New Jersey fake ID, that was on Mangione, and they say it's the same one that was used in a -- to check into a hostel on the upper west side before the killing.
So, there's a lot of evidence that is still being collected, even still, though his attorney, as I just said, has the right to fight on his client's behalf for extradition, and he says that he's still waiting to see the evidence. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THOMAS DICKEY, ATTORNEY FOR LUIGI MANGIONE: I'm actually using different news reports as my source of information, because nobody is sharing these evidentiary things with me. You know biting at the bit, so to speak, you know, waiting to get my hands on this stuff, so we can start attacking it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GINGRAS: Yeah, and he has, again, 14 days to file a reason why he can prove that Mangione isn't the person that police want to extradite. We also learned from that interview with Erin Burnett, from his attorney, that he wouldn't say if he has actually talked to Mangione's family. So that's interesting there.
In the meantime, Fred, everyone, rather police and really the press, have been trying to figure out the whereabouts of Mangione prior to this killing, and we've learned he traveled abroad. We learned more about that missing persons' report from sources that his mother filed like you said.
She said she hadn't talked to her son since July. She tried calling him. The calls would go right to voice mail. She tried him at work. The phone was disconnected, so she ended up filing a missing persons' report on November 18 at the San Francisco PD because she believes that's the last place, she knew he was and she also told police at the time she didn't believe that he was a threat to himself or to others, Fred.
WHITFIELD: Right, so perplexing. And then there have been friends who have been reported by a number of outlets who said they couldn't have, you know, seen this coming.
GINGRAS: Yeah.
WHITFIELD: You know, in any way that he seemed like he was, you know, very happy. He was very pulled together. He was very aspirational. And now that his mom would say that she had lost contact with him for months, it's also very puzzling.
GINGRAS: Yeah, it really is. And you're right, exactly what the mother says. It's just another example of what we just keep hearing from everyone is that this doesn't make sense. This can't be the guy that we knew, but this is who police have is their main suspect, for sure.
WHITFIELD: Yeah, a lot of families impacted here. All right. Brynn Gingras, thank you so much.
GINGRAS: Right.
WHITFIELD: Still to come, Donald Trump's path to a New FBI Director just got smoother. We'll explain. And people in New Jersey, they want answers. Why are so many drones overhead and who or what is controlling them.
[08:15:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right now live pictures right now. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is in New York, and he is expected to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange in about an hour's time you see him in picture there, soon you'll see him live. Sources say he is celebrating being named "Time" Magazine's "Person of the Year". It's the second time for Trump.
The first was in 2016 after his first presidential election win. "Time" says the title goes to the person who has wielded the greatest influence on global affairs, quoting now for good or for ill. Steve Contorno chatted with my colleagues on the CNN's "News Central" team last hour, just after the news dropped that Donald Trump had been selected.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Donald Trump has a long history, Steve, of caring very deeply about the "Time Person of the Year" cover. Just look back at all of the reporting people remember this any reaction from Donald Trump yet this morning?
STEVE CONTORNO, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: We have not seen reaction from Donald Trump yet, but he is expected to appear at the New York Stock Exchange and ring the bell this morning and sort of accept this award, which he views it very much as an award.
It should be noted this is someone to mark who is the most influential "Person of the Year" for ill or for good, but Donald Trump has long seen this as sort of a mark of someone's popularity and influence. If you go back to 2011, he was tweeting about the results, suggesting that the results had lost all credibility because he was not included on their list of top 100 people.
And then he tweeted in 2015 that he would never win the award. But in 2016, he actually was named "Time, Person of the Year" for the first time. And actually, if you go even further back, he had in his clubs. It was discovered by "The Washington Post". The year after that, he was putting covers that were fake in a lot of his clubs, suggesting that he was "Time, Person of the Year" in 2009.
But here we are now in 2024 and Donald Trump joins a long list of presidents who have been named "Time, Person of the Year" for the second time, including President Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right. Steve Contorno, thanks so much. All right, the man Donald Trump picked in his first term to run the FBI says he won't stay on the job for a second Trump term. Christopher Wray announced on Wednesday that he will step down as FBI Director in January, paving the way for a Trump loyalist to take over. CNN's Evan Perez has more.
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR U.S. JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: FBI Director Chris Wray announced plans to resign at the end of the Biden Administration, almost three years before his 10-year tenure is set to expire, as it became clear that he would be forced out by President-elect Donald Trump.
Trump nominated Wray to run the bureau after firing the previous FBI Director, and he said that he plans to nominate Kash Patel, a vocal defender of Trump, to lead the FBI.
[08:20:00]
Patel this week, has been making the rounds on Capitol Hill, meeting with senators to build support for his confirmation vote next year. Wray held a town hall with employees at the FBI headquarters on Wednesday afternoon. It's a traditional event held around the holidays this time, however, coming a little earlier than normal, and with the news that he plans to leave in order to spare the FBI from attacks that were mostly aimed at him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTOPHER WRAY, FBI DIRECTOR: After weeks of careful thought, I've decided the right thing for the bureau is for me to serve until the end of the current administration in January, and then step down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PEREZ: Now in recent weeks, Wray had wrestled with whether to resign, given Trump's stated plans to replace him, or to wait for Trump to actually fire him once he was in office. Sources tell CNN, that some at the FBI and at the Justice Department had urged him to stay because they didn't want Wray to normalize Trump's penchant for replacing FBI Directors he doesn't like.
The FBI job is designed with a 10-year term to straddle administrations and to be insulated from politics. Trump has blamed Wray for a number of things. He was particularly unhappy with the FBI's court approved search of his Mar-a Lago resort back in August of 2022, this is during the investigation into his alleged mishandling of classified documents and which led to his eventual indictment.
Wray's departure paves the way for Trump to change the entire leadership of the FBI. Deputy Director Paul Abbate, a career FBI agent, will take over on January 20, but he is slated to retire early next year. Evan Perez, CNN, Washington.
WHITFIELD: And another one of Trump's picks for his next government is facing controversy. South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem could be the next Head of the Department of Homeland Security, but she is fighting allegations from people in her state that she misallocated resources and didn't step up to help when major floods hit South Dakota this year. Here is how she addressed those claims.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. KRISTI NOEM (R-SD): That is absolutely not true whatsoever. The CNN report left out some incredibly important information on the 1000- year flood we had in South Dakota this last year, and our response to it immediately, days before the flood even came and hit the state. And so those families went through something extremely tragic, and we're continuing to work through the FEMA process to bring them all the resources that they need.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Noem's office released a statement saying the reason state resources were not deployed was not the cost, but because local authorities never requested them. The White House says Joe Biden has set a record. The U.S. President has commuted the sentences of some 1500 people convicted of crimes in one fell swoop, he also issued pardons to 39 non-violent criminals.
It is the largest single act of clemency in presidential history. Sources said the individuals whose sentences were commuted had been under a home confinement since the COVID pandemic and demonstrated a commitment to rehabilitation and helping their communities.
Citizens are worried. Police have no answer, and even the Pentagon can't explain it. What is going on in the skies over New Jersey? For weeks, there have been sightings of drones flying over the state, and they bigger and faster than the drones that you may be used to seeing. CNN's Gary Tuchman has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Questions abound about what these moving lights in the sky are, but there seems to be certainty about what they are not.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It definitely wasn't a plane because it was too low, and it was also going back and forth and then forwards and backwards.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Mark Taylor is the Mayor of Florham Park, New Jersey.
MARK TAYLOR, MAYOR OF FLORHAM PARK IN NEW JERSEY: They look like a small car to me. Their wing spans are probably six feet across.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): What they appear to be, are drones, clusters of unidentified drones flying much lower than a plane would. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think the creepy part is not that it's just a drone that they're so large.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): In New Jersey's Ocean County Sheriff's deputies took their own video of the drones.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We saw something flying a little low, so we took some video of it, you know, and not really sure what it was, definitely something flying low and fast.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Lower, faster and larger than a recreational drone, says the deputy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was coming our direction. It spun around the 180 degrees went back out the other way, then it kind of looped around and then took off past us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Planes, they have, you know, a white tail light coming from them, and each wing has a different color, whether it be red or green, whatever it is, it's different.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Understandably, there is concern. The drones are occasionally flying near military facilities, but the Pentagon knocked down this social media post. New Jersey Republican Congressman Jeff Van Drew who claimed on X that the drones are, quote, possibly linked to a missing Iranian mothership.
SABRINA SINGH, DEPUTY PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: There is not any truth to that. There is no Iranian ship off the coast of the United States, and there's no so-called mothership launching drones towards the United States.
[08:25:00]
TUCHMAN (voice-over): But it's all still a mystery. Homeland Security and FBI officials in New Jersey have just met with state and local lawmakers. They and the state's governor have stressed the drones do not appear to threaten public safety, nevertheless.
TAYLOR: People are calling myself, my home, you know, just -- it's one of those things where they are alarmed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's definitely something, and we're just going to be looking into it a little bit more to see if we can figure it out.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Gary Tuchman, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And fire officials in Southern California are hoping to get a raging wildfire under control now that weather conditions are improving. The strong winds that were fueling the Franklin fire since Monday have eased, and there could be some rain this Thursday, which could also help slow down the fire. CNN's Meteorologist Derek Van Dam is with me. Is it going to be enough precipitation to make an impact? DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Look, this isn't going to be a de luge of rain, but Fredricka, let's be honest. We'll take whatever we can get in this firefighting battle that we have in Southern California. Speaking of that, there's about 2000 personnel battling the Franklin fire as we speak, this has been a 24 hour a day approach, and this is night time visuals of this rotor helicopter depositing water on top of the flames that are towering several stories into the air.
Look at the embers from this very, very intense fire burning so hot at one stage on Monday morning or Tuesday morning, rather, that it actually created its own weather system. So really incredible to see how it altered the weather there. Now, speaking of the chance of rain, that doesn't look like a lot of rain to me, but it will help, right?
So, we'll see a few drops of rain pass through with this initial front, and then a secondary cold front moves in for the day on Saturday, still 7 percent containment. So, some marginal increases on that containment number since yesterday at this time. But this is interesting. So, the winds here, yes, they've relaxed from the northeast.
That Santa Ana wind that funnels over the mountain ranges and speeds up towards the coastline has basically eased, but the wind direction has changed direction from the more of an onshore component. So, what this will do is will actually bring in moisture from the Pacific Ocean right here, near Ventura and Los Angeles counties.
Los Angeles County is where the Franklin fire is burning, and you'll see that the dew point and the relative humidity will increase. So, this will bring more atmospheric moisture, and that will help aid the firefighters on the ground and in the air as they try to battle this blaze.
So, here's the initial cold front today. We get a reprieve, bit of cloud cover from that, the change in the wind directions, a break, and then a secondary cold front for the weekend, perhaps bringing some additional light sprinkles, but again, not a deluge of rain to help extinguish flames immediately, but nonetheless, we will take what we can get from this incredible fire.
WHITFIELD: Yeah, maybe every little bit does count.
DAM: Yeah. That's --
WHITFIELD: All right. Derek Van Dam, thank you so much. All right. Still to come, the rebel takeover of Syria isn't just a defeat for the Assad regime, but for his allies as well. Ahead, we'll take a look at what this new era means for Moscow.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:30:00]
WHITFIELD: Our top story this hour in Syria, Rebel Leader Muhammad Al Jolani is being beginning to lay out a strategy for the country's immediate future. In a written statement, Jolani told Reuters that he would dissolve the security forces that served the previous regime and shut down all the notorious prisons.
He also said his team is working with international organizations to secure possible chemical weapons sites. It comes as the new caretaker government in Syria says it welcomes three openings of foreign embassies in Damascus. Meanwhile, "Human Rights Watch" says tens of thousands of people who fled to the Kurdish control northeast of Syria are facing dire conditions due to a lack of shelter and basic necessities.
Families in Syria are desperately searching for loved ones who were held in one of Syria's notorious prisons operated by the Assad regime. CNN's Clarissa Ward went inside one of them and made an incredible discovery.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WARD (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 --
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. Is he going to shoot it?
WARD (voice-over): The guard makes us turn the camera off while he shoots the lock of the cell door. We go in to get a closer look. It's still not clear if there is something under the blanket.
WARD: It moved. Is there -- someone there? Is someone there? Or is it just a blanket?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello --
WARD (voice-over): I'm a civilian, he says. I'm a civilian. He tells the fighter he's from the City of Homs has been in the cell for three months.
WARD: You are, OK --
WARD (voice-over): Clutches my arm tightly with both hands.
WARD: Does anyone have any water? My -- OK -- it's water. It's water. 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, they can finally see the sky. Oh, God, there is light, he says. God there is light.
WARD: OK.
WARD (voice-over): Stay with me. Stay with me. He repeats again and again. 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.
[08:35:00]
Barely lifted to his mouth. His body can't handle it. His cap just 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 check points.
Are you serious, he says? Syria -- Syria is free, he tells him. It's the first time he has heard those words. He tells us his name is Adil Khurbau (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. They hit you the fire ass? Yes, yes, he says. As a paramedic arrives, the shock sets in. There is nothing. Everything is 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 Khurbau (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, but so many goes remain. Clarissa Ward, CNN, Damascus.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right. Incredible! Karin von Hippel is the Director- General of the Royal United Services Institute. Joining me right now from London. I wonder, Karin, you, what are your impressions from that report and the experience of that one man who says he's been in prison for three months?
KARIN VON HIPPEL, DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF THE ROYAL UNITED SERVICES INSTITUTE: Well, it's, you know, it's -- we all knew what he was doing. We all knew how many people were imprisoned. I think the concern now is, are there people still in prisons, underground or elsewhere, and there are no prison guards, and we don't know where they are. And so, I think the Syrians are -- sorry -- WHITFIELD: It's OK. All right. The advent of bringing your home to television in the world. So go ahead.
HIPPEL: -- But the Syrians, as we all know, are madly running around trying to find family members. Unfortunately, some of them will be, you know, may have died, but there may still be others that can be found. And it's incredible that your correspondent found somebody --
WHITFIELD: Really incredible. And yes, the search will be arduous and difficult to find so many others, as you mentioned, underground, and where are those locations? So overall, what do you think should be known about, you know, this Rebel Leader Muhammad Al Jolani, and the group that he leads, and what potentially is next?
HIPPEL: Well, you know, it's really hard to say, because he started out as we know, as an al-Qaeda member. He was allied with al-Baghdadi, who was in charge of ISIL until he was killed, but he claims he's changed his views. He claims he's more moderate. It's not just him, and it's not just this group, HTS, it's an assortment of rebel groups that are working together.
Often, when people come together with a common purpose, they can stay together. But then when you know change happens, such as the regime has been overthrown, that's when the concerns are about how things could easily fall apart. Now, so far, he's made all the right noises.
It will respect Christians, other groups in Syria, we're not going to impose Islamic law in the country, as the American Deputy National Security Adviser John Finer recently said, words are one thing, but we're going to watch what they do. And I think that's the right thing to do, but urging them behind the scenes to do the right thing.
Now, I also think Syrians won't tolerate another strict government whatever -- It is religious or not religious, I think they're just fed up and exhausted. And so, I do think that the resilience of the Syrian people is going to shine through. And I really do hope, and I believe that they'll push very hard for some form of a democratic country. I don't know what it'll look like. It's still early, but I'm slightly optimistic. There are always things -- wrong, right, but slightly optimistic.
[08:40:00]
WHITFIELD: Yeah. I mean, "The Washington Post" is reporting that, this group, HTS, as you refer to it, and I hope I pronounce it right. It's Hayat Tahrir Al Sham is what that stands for. I mean, this Islamist group, which led the charge, is promising that all Syrians will, you know, be treated as saying that this will be their country.
You just expressed other ways in which this optimism, you know, is being conveyed. Are Syrians believing that? Or do they feel like they have nothing but to believe in that right now?
HIPPEL: I mean, I think so far, it's been very good news. Normally, when there's a power vacuum, you have looting, you have revenge killings, all sorts of horrible things happen, and that hasn't happened, right? Do you remember in Iraq, after the Americans invaded, after the military part of the campaign was over, there was looting and revenge killings.
It happened in Panama. It happened in so many other places, Kosovo, et cetera. And the fact that that hasn't happened already tells you something. The fact that Jolani has told his militias not to, you know, not to be disruptive, not to attack people and they're doing that, is actually a very good sign.
So, I think you know, the early signs of positive, Syrians are coming back. It wouldn't be coming back if they weren't optimistic. Now, of course, they're nervous, and who wouldn't be, but that optimism can actually really help.
WHITFIELD: What do you believe in the potential relations between now, Syria and Turkey, or Syria and Russia?
HIPPEL: Well, there are -- interesting questions. I think, Turkey has fared better than Russia. Russia, as we all know, arrived in Syria militarily in September 2015. They sent air base, and then they expanded their footprint. Unfortunately, the Americans didn't do anything about it.
I was in the government at the time, and some people were arguing that we should have said to the Russians, if you even leave the airport, we're going to shoot you down. But we didn't, unfortunately, and then they were able to really consolidate control. I don't think the Russians are going to fare well, even if some deal is made with them, because the Syrians remember how many civilians were killed by Russians.
The Russians were involved in bombing with chemical weapons attacks and chlorine attacks on civilians. And so, I think Syrians will remember that. Turkey is in a little bit of a different place, and I think it will emerge stronger. But of course, Turkey might end up just focusing on the Kurdish issue.
They don't want the Syrian Kurds to motivate the Turkish Kurds. So, you know, it's Turkey is a little bit of a loose cannon right now, but I'm hoping you know, they do have good relations with most countries in the region. And so, I'm hoping that you know -- there, of course, they don't want chaos on the border.
Turkey was having been home to over 4 million Syrians, and has welcomed them for many years and paid for them. So, it's in Turkey's interest as well for stability in Syria going forward.
WHITFIELD: OK. Karin von Hippel, Director-General of the Royal United Services Institute. Thank you so much from London.
HIPPEL: Thank you. Thank you.
WHITFIELD: All right, for decades, Russia has been one of the Syrian government's most important allies, and several years ago, its dramatic intervention there turned the civil war in Bashar Al Assad's favor. And now the Kremlin's foothold in the region is uncertain. And the relationship between Vladimir Putin and Syria's de post president may not be what it once was. Here's CNN's Fred Pleitgen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): A warm embrace by two leaders feeding off each other while the Russian President kept Syrian dictator Bashar Al Assad in power, Vladimir Putin became one of the most powerful players in the Middle East.
We are now making no difference between Russian blood and Syrian blood, Assad said in 2017. Now Putin has granted the de post dictator asylum in Moscow, but their relationship is over. Russian Middle East expert Ruslan Suleymanov tells me.
RUSLAN SULEYMANOV, RUSSIAN MIDDLE EAST EXPERT: Russia is no longer interested in Mr. Assad. I am sure that the Kremlin will hide Mr. Assad as Russia wants to build up links with the new government in Syria.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): The Kremlin is indeed refusing to comment on Assad's exact whereabouts, but in a 2019 investigation, the anti- corruption group Global Witness claimed members of Assad's family purchased at least 19 apartments and high rises in the Moscow city area.
PLEITGEN: Moscow city is something like the financial district of the Russian capital, but these skyscrapers don't only offer office space for large companies. There are also residential buildings with very luxurious apartments.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): And the Assad family has been affiliated with the Russian capital for years.
[08:45:00]
The dictator's oldest son, Hafez Al Assad, studying at Moscow State University. We found his dissertation from that university on the topic of mathematics and physics online. This official document from Russia's Ministry of Higher Education showing the dissertation was defended less than two weeks ago, on November 29.
Exactly the same day, rebels took over Aleppo, Syria's second largest city, bringing in the Assad regime's lightning demise and possibly the end of Russia's role as a dominant power in Syria and in the Middle East. The Kremlin today saying to them, the war in Ukraine is what really matters.
The special military operation is an absolute priority for our country, the Kremlin spokesman said. As for Russia and the Middle East, Russia maintains a dialog with all countries in the region, and we intend to continue doing so. Fred Pleitgen CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right. Still to come, the Former CEO Patagonia has shifted her focus from the cat walk to wild cats. We'll explain her interest in Jaguars next.
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WHITFIELD: All right, this week, we've been putting a spotlight on pioneers of business, sport and tech, as part of a new CNN series, "Visionaries" in Argentina. CNN Chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir spent time with Former Patagonia CEO Kristine Tompkins as her conservation team worked towards a milestone, years in the making, transporting a wild jaguar.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the upper corner of Argentina, a team led by CEO, turned conservationist Kristine Tompkins is taking a jaguar name Minnie (ph) into the air.
KRISTINE TOMPKINS, PRESIDENT & CO-FOUNDER OF TOMPKINS CONSERVATION: OK.
WEIR: OK. You want to describe the passenger behind us, Kris?
TOMPKINS: Yes, Bill, you are sitting, I'd say, eight inches from the head of wild female jaguar.
WEIR: Who's awake.
TOMPKINS: Who's awake.
WEIR: If everything goes according to plan and she hooks up with all these other jaguars.
TOMPKINS: Yeah, the --
WEIR: What a story she's going to have to tell now?
TOMPKINS: Yes, she's going to be a big talker.
WEIR: You're not going to believe what happened to me.
TOMPKINS: -- not believe what happened to me.
WEIR (voice-over): Minnies (ph) new home is El Impenetrable National Park, which Tompkins Conservation helped create a decade ago. According to the group this region has the second largest continuous forest in South America. Only the Amazon is larger. And it's also disappearing fast, and with it, a population of jaguars.
WEIR: OK, Minnie (ph) the jaguar.
TOMPKINS: OK, little jaguar.
[08:50:00]
WEIR: We are here.
TOMPKINS: Minnie -- WEIR (voice-over): Ranchers hunted big cats so relentlessly there wasn't a single jaguar spotted in Corrientes for 70 years. That's when extensive work by Kristine and her team began reintroducing the cats. Now there are a couple of males eager to mate, and Minnie (ph) the female is crucial to saving the species here.
WEIR: And so, the stories around jaguars, is it changing? Is it still have ranchers who resent you for this?
TOMPKINS: Not in Corrientes. That was a big thing for us. We were so prepared here in Corrientes when the first jaguars, if, when we could finally release them, which, remember, it took us, I think, eight years to actually release a jaguar. But anyway, it turned out --
WEIR: Because of the politics?
TOMPKINS: No just --
WEIR: Or just --
TOMPKINS: -- so long. And how do you move jaguars? Nobody had ever moved jaguars, and nobody had ever asked Brazil for wild jaguars. So, this took years of work. So now all of that is slick. Things happen very quickly now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: So fascinating! And you can see more from Bill's interview with Kristine Tompkins on "Visionaries", premiering this weekend. All right, you may have the latest gadgets on your Christmas list, but chances are a humanoid robot is not one of them, at least not this year. Coming up, what this guy can do and when he will be running potentially your house.
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WHITFIELD: All right, the rich are getting richer, or at least Elon Musk is in fact. Bloomberg reports Musk net worth hit $400 billion the first person ever to be that wealthy. His fortune got its latest boost thanks to a sale of SpaceX shares, which jacked up the value of Musk's stake in the company by a cool $20 billion.
His next job will be heading up the Department of government efficiency, a government job that probably won't pay as much in dollars, but perhaps still wield a lot of power. All right, imagine inviting a robot into your home to take care of the chores that you hate doing, or even, you know, just to keep you company maybe.
One tech firm is developing what it calls a safe, intelligent humanoid to do all of that. Kristie Lu Stout introduces us to NEO.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): How do you take your morning coffee, milk and sugar, maybe a latte. How about prepared by a humanoid robot for those daily tasks no one likes to do. Tech companies want to be the first to take them off your hands and into the hands of human like droids. 1X is a leader in the home robot -- Its prototype NEO able to handle, as the company's CEO puts it, the simple things.
BERNT BORNICH, 1X FOUNDER AND CEO: -- nothing simple in robotics, but the laundry tithing, general cleaning and everyday kind of household tasks, right? And in addition, it's going to be a great companion. You can talk to it, have good conversations. It can teach you things can be entertainment.
[08:55:00]
STOUT (voice-over): And it all comes back to AI, in NEO's case, an AI brain and an engineered body working together to make the household companion feel more humid than humanoid.
BORNICH: All of this is modern AI applied to robotics. And what really is exciting about NEO and the pilots that are starting to roll out now is to have these systems learn among people.
STOUT (voice-over): NEO can also be controlled by people even from across the world. The CEO of 1X tried living with an earlier version of the company's humanoid. He says it was useful at the time, but it wasn't a product he paid for. Now, NEO's future looks more promising.
BORNICH: We're about to try this again now, and I'm super excited to see the results.
STOUT (voice-over): So how much for your sleek new household gadget? Well, it will cost you 1X says, just imagine what you pay for your average new car. But if you think the practicality is worth the price, you could have a new roommate as soon as 2025. Kristie Lu Stout, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: OK. All right, Donald Trump, guess what he's speaking at the New York Stock Exchange at an event to, oh, well, that's coming up. And when it happens, we're going to take you there, because he was just named the "Time" magazine "Person of the Year". Again, he enjoyed that honor during his first presidency, or after the first election of his first presidency.
All right, thank you so much for joining us here in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Fredricka Whitefield. Connect the world with Becky Anderson is up next.
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