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Man Believed to be Missing American Found in Syria; NYPD Says, Fingerprints, Shell Casings Tie Suspect to Shooting; Trump Says " Will Pardon Most Jan. 6 Rioters Within First Hour" Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired December 12, 2024 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:00]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. You are live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

We're following several breaking stories this hour, including the latest on the healthcare CEO murder suspect, but, first, an incredible discovery of a missing American found alive in Syria. This morning, breaking news out of Syria, a missing American has been found alive outside of Damascus. The man is identifying himself as Travis Timmerman of Missouri. The 29-year-old told reporters in Syria that he had been recently freed from jail. NBC News got a chance to interview him this morning and here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REPORTER: How long have you been in prison, and how did you get out? What happened when you got out?

TRAVIS TIMMERMAN, AMERICAN FOUND IN SYRIA: I was in prison for seven months. After that, I entered into the Syrian border illegally. I crossed the mountain between Lebanon and Syria. And I was living in that mountain for three days and three nights. And I was seen by a border guard, whilst I did that. And then that's when I was arrested, and I was sent to a Syrian prison called Falastin.

REPORTER: And you're an American. Where are you from in America?

TIMMERMAN: Missouri.

REPORTER: You're from Missouri?

TIMMERMAN: Yes.

REPORTER: Who are you working for? Which agency are you working? (INAUDIBLE).

You're not a reporter. What were you doing crossing into Syria?

TIMMERMAN: Sir, I was on a pilgrimage.

REPORTER: Pilgrimage to where? TIMMERMAN: To Damascus. My Lord took me to Damascus. I understand.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, I want to make sure, would you like to be in touch with the United States, talk to your family?

TIMMERMAN: No, I'm okay for right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Okay. Do you want to stay here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's with me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Okay. Go ahead.

REPORTER: We can put you in touch with the U.S. embassy very easily.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: Timmerman was originally reported missing by Hungarian police in June and was later found by residents wandering barefoot in a neighborhood just south of the Syrian capital.

Let's go to CNN's Salma Abdelaziz. Salma, what more are we learning? Just an incredible story that this American was found alive in and around Damascus.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: An extraordinary tale, and I think he reveals a lot of it there in that NBC clip. He does admit to crossing illegally into Syria. He tried to walk across from the Lebanese border to Damascus.

Now, everybody knows that under Assad's regime, that is absolutely not allowed without government permission. He goes on to say that he was picked up by security forces essentially a few days after he arrived in the country, taken to a regime prison. He did tell journalists that he was treated relatively well in that regime prison. He received food, he received water, he had bathroom breaks. But he said that he heard the sounds and screams of people being tortured in that prison every single day.

Now, when rebels took over the capital and burst open the prisons across the country, he seems to have, of course, been among those who broke free. He has been wandering apparently in and around Damascus for three days when he was found in a field by a local guard barefoot, disoriented.

Of course, this will be welcome news for his family. He'd originally been thought to be missing in Hungary. So, it may come as a shock to many that he was even in Syria at all. U.S. officials have said that they are aware of his case and are providing support as needed. Jim?

ACOSTA: Yes. And, Salma, we're just hearing in the last couple of seconds that Tony Blinken, the secretary of state here in the U.S. has said that the U.S. is working to bring him home as we speak.

[10:05:06] And it's sort of a complicated tale, is it not? I mean, Hungarian police had reported Travis missing in June. Can you piece that together for us?

ABDELAZIZ: It seems very unclear what happened. As you can hear there, he describes himself as a pilgrim. He says he was on a religious journey, that he made his way to Lebanon. So, there's still a lot of holes in the story, a lot of details that we have yet to confirm.

Now, we did see in one of the social videos that emerged of him, and you can also see in that NBC clip that he seems to be in relatively good health and spirit. So, now, the next step will be, as you said, bringing him home.

He's not the only one. There have been thousands of prisoners that have been freed, some of them from other countries that have been making their way back to their families. He will be among those, of course, probably one of the ones making the longest, if not the longest journey back home.

ACOSTA: And, Salma, because of this evolving situation in Syria, which is just totally unpredictable day by day, I suppose the possibility does exist that we might see other discoveries like this and, of course, the search still goes on for Austin Tice.

ABDELAZIZ: Absolutely. And I think to see him emerging several days after rebels have taken over the capital, that, of course, begins to give others hope, others who are still looking for their families.

It's hard to really overstate just how many Syrians are missing. It is estimated that tens of thousands of Syrians are unaccounted for, potentially a hundred thousand, according to one human rights organization, killed in regime prisons. This was an institutional, an industrial level prison system when you speak about the scale of death and torture inside. So, to see someone emerge healthy, well, relatively in good spirits, it absolutely brings hope to others that there could be more coming home.

ACOSTA: All right. Salma Abdelaziz, incredible story. Keep us posted. Thank you very much. And if anything else develops in this discovery, this incredible discovery, we'll get back to you and more. Thanks so much, Salma. We appreciate it.

And in the meantime, now to the murder of a healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a new evidence bolstering the case against the suspect. Police in New York now say the 3D printed gun that Luigi Mangione was allegedly carrying when he was arrested matches three shell casings found at the murder scene. This comes just hours after police announced that his fingerprints were also found nearby. The Manhattan prosecutor is confident they have Thompson's killer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALVIN BRAGG, MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Obviously, this is a profoundly disturbing, as we've alleged, murder. And we would not charge the person, we didn't think it was the person and we're prepared to go forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Mangione's defense attorney is downplaying these latest developments. Here's what he told CNN.

(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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And this is Mangione moments before he was arrested Monday at a McDonald's in Pennsylvania. Police are still tracking his movements for months before the killing. One law enforcement source tells CNN that Mangione's mother reported him missing last month and had not spoken to him since July.

Let's dig deeper with Kris Mohandie. He is a forensic psychologist. Chris, thanks so much for joining us. What do you make of that, his mother saying she hadn't spoken to him since July? It sounds like something went wrong somewhere.

KRIS MOHANDIE, FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST: Yes, definitely. There seems like there was a substantial change in his psychological well-being that probably started with his back injury. He seemed like he was a joyful young man as he did his valedictorian speech and even his appearance looks different and much more menacing when he's arrested. The fact that his mother, you know, felt that he needed to be reported as missing in November, he'd gone off the grid, suggested there was some sort of deterioration.

Now, that could be consistent with him, you know, deciding to embark upon pursuit of this mission related to this deeply held grievance likely stemming from his own medical complications, but I think that there's an underlying mental issue that we'll discover later on.

Obviously, the forensic case against him is strong. And I believe that what we're going to see is learning more about what happened to his mental state. It doesn't mean that he didn't know what he was doing. It's clear that he did. And he was very focused with that.

ACOSTA: Yes. I mean, and, Kris, when you see that video of him shouting at the news cameras after he was apprehended, it does really show a huge contrast between that and the life of privilege that he was living, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate and so on.

[10:10:03]

MOHANDIE: It does. It was out of character for what people who knew him, their life experience was with him. That agitation, I was surprised to see it. And one could attribute it to the stress of being, you know, pursued not sleeping, you know, on the run and all that pressure, but I think it's something more. I think it represents, you know, an underlying problem that we're going to learn, a significant one. And, again, his appearance, it's substantially changed. The joy was gone from him and it was a much darker appearance that he had. So, I think we're going to learn more about that in the months ahead.

ACOSTA: Right. And he was smiling in that other picture apparently taken at the hostel when he was on that security camera and seemed to be flirting or whatever with the person at the hostel. So, I mean, just sort of a whole range of emotions on display here.

And Mangione was also found with this handwritten manifesto attacking corporate America. And, you know, according to this manifesto that he allegedly wrote, he said that the parasites had it coming. I do apologize for any strife and trauma, but it had to be done.

If his defense lawyers try to do an insanity defense and point to things like this manifesto and perhaps his back condition and so on, I mean, what is your read on that? Is that plausible to you or what do you think?

MOHANDIE: I think it's the only play that they really have. You know, the scientific evidence will be overwhelming. It is overwhelming. He had a so-called manifesto in his possession that underscored his motivation. So, this will be what they'll have to do it.

It speaks to his fixation in it. You'll also see in his writings online, I believe it was his identification with Ted Kaczynski, which we see in people that embark upon targeted violence. They have their grievance. They get immersed in social media and so forth and other sources. They identify with other shooters. But it will be clear that he knew what he was doing and that it was legally wrong. I think this is going to hinge down to the issue of moral wrongfulness. That is an issue in many insanity defenses.

ACOSTA: All right. Kris Mohandie, we've got to run. Thank you so much.

We want to get back to our breaking news coming out of Syria of the missing American who has been found alive outside of Damascus. The man you see here in this image that we're going to show you is his friend, Mouaz Moustafa. You can see him on the right side of the screen. He's going to emerge on the right side of the screen in just a moment. There he is. He's the executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force. I interviewed him earlier this week. He's now back with us.

Mouaz, I understand you're on the phone with us right now. I hope that we've got the connection now. Can you tell us how Travis is doing?

MOUAZ MOUSTAFA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SYRIAN EMERGENCY TASK FORCE: He's doing well. He's doing very well. He just got brand new clothes. He was walking barefoot for about 13 miles before we were able to find him because the revolutionaries kind of went into the Palestine branch, intelligence branch of the Assad regime, where he would be held at, other Americans open house, and they freed him. And then all these prisoners came out, most of them women, but Travis alongside a friend, a lady from Damascus, and another Syrian who was arrested, locked for a while, then he continued on his own. And thank God we were able to find him and then talk to the new Damascus government that brought him in. Got him clothes, got him food, got him water and actually just laying down right now and getting some rest. So, thank God he's safe and sound and, you know, if this regime hadn't fallen, you know, Travis would have remained in jail for a decade like others.

ACOSTA: You're absolutely right, Mouaz. I mean, it's just incredible and it just goes to show you after what has taken place in Syria. There may be more discoveries like this.

But in the meantime, let's talk more about Travis. You've been with him. I understand you were with him in just the last several minutes. How is he doing? How is he coping with all of this?

MOUSTAFA: You know, he's a really wonderful young man. You know, he went through a horrific ordeal. He's happy to be out. He was telling me he couldn't get a hold of his family. So, I hope his family is watching and I hope they all know that Travis is okay and he's doing well, that the government in Damascus and my organization, SETF is, coordinating to ensure that he gets to as soon as possible to the U.S. military. And we can get him, you know, to safety and get him home.

[10:15:01]

But his concern was, you know, getting a passport because, obviously, they took that away. And if you're watching, Travis' family and friends, he's okay. He's safe and he'll be home soon.

ACOSTA: And, Mouaz, we're live right now on CNN, and so forgive me for doing this. I understand you were just with him. Are you with him now? Does he want to say a few words in case his family is watching? I know he's been through a lot.

MOUSTAFA: Yes, he just laid down. And I had asked him before. I think he just a little bit overwhelmed, so he did not want to, you know, comment, you know, in the media. Although once he had just gotten out, you know, a lot of the media that were around kind of converged on him. But, yes, I really -- I try to -- I don't want to pressure him too much, especially when he's so traumatized. But he's laying down a feet away from taking a nap and he feels okay. And he told me what we can speak on my behalf, so I'm happy to.

ACOSTA: Wonderful. Wonderful. And, Mouaz. I mean, this is just so extraordinary, I'm just asking whatever pops into my head here, but does his family have any idea that we know at this point? I know you were just saying a few moments ago of his family is watching, just know that he's okay. Are you under the impression that he has had the ability to speak to them at all or has that not taken place yet?

MOUSTAFA: That has not taken place. I believe he told his family he was in Europe because he didn't want his mother to worry that he was going to the Middle East, because he ended up in Lebanon. And so, you know, I'm sure that he was out of contact for seven months and may be worried now, very worried. I mean, that's a long time, almost a year. And but he has not had a chance to speak with them on the phone. Yes.

ACOSTA: Wow. And, Mouaz, --

MOUSTAFA: And he can't remember any of the numbers.

ACOSTA: He doesn't? Oh, wow. And so, Mouaz, have you heard this story from him that he was apparently reported missing in Hungary over the summer? Has he spoken about that? Do we know the ordeal that he's been through and how he ended up in the hands of these people who are holding him in detention?

MOUSTAFA: Yes. So, I think the reason he was probably reported in Hungary as missing is because he didn't tell his family that he was in Europe. And maybe the last place that they thought he was with Hungary. But the fact is he was in Lebanon. He crossed the border into Syria seven months ago. As soon as he crossed over the border, the Assad regime detained him for absolutely no reason and then placed him in a solitary cell for seven months where he lived in.

It turned out he wasn't tortured. But like, you know, at his door, he said every single day, seven days a week, he heard the screams and the beatings of Syrian civilians.

ACOSTA: Wow. And, Mouaz, before I let you go, does this give us hope that Austin Tice will be found? Does it give us hope that other people who have been missing and perhaps forgotten about may emerge? Is that possible and what we're seeing take place?

MOUSTAFA: Absolutely. It is renewed (INAUDIBLE) come here to -- one of my missions here alongside some of my team members at the SETF was to go look for Austin. You know, we have an idea of some places, some geolocations where he may have been at. I went to one actually yesterday. And what I thought, I didn't find any evidence of Austin being there, but I was in that dungeon looking for people. I'm not making this up. There were pools of acid filled with bones of civilians who, after they were tortured to death, were thrown in there. And it was just a horrific -- I mean, a hellish place.

And this wasn't even a secret prison. It was a building in the middle of the neighborhood where like families are walking around not knowing that below their feet, people were being raped, tortured and then thrown into acid pools. You can't make this stuff up. And if the regime had fallen before, everybody who's held by him would have had an even higher chance. But now, I'm hopeful that most (INAUDIBLE) that Austin Tice, and they are alive, God willing they are, that they are there to be found. And even if they're not, God forbid, that we'll still find them and bring them back home. But I hope that you would by finding this young man who got another chance at life.

ACOSTA: Mouaz, great work, hats off to you.

[10:20:00]

Thank you so much for giving us the latest on Travis Timmerman, a missing American apparently found alive -- not apparently, has been found alive in Syria and taking a nap just a few feet away from you, as you were saying a few moments ago. Thank you so much for helping us fill in some of the blanks, Mouaz. Safe travels. Thanks so much.

MOUSTAFA: Thanks, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. More news in a moment, be right back.

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ACOSTA: New this morning, it's the biggest act of clemency in a single day in modern U.S. history. That's how the White House is describing President Biden's decision to commute the sentences of nearly 1,500 people. The president also issued pardons, 39 pardons that is, to people convicted of nonviolent crimes. The decision comes on the heels of the controversial pardon he granted to his son, Hunter, earlier this month.

Also today, speaking of pardons, President-elect Donald Trump tells Time Magazine he plans to pardon Americans who stormed the Capitol on January 6th within the first hour of his new administration. That will undoubtedly come as a major disappointment to members of the January 6th committee who investigated the attack.

[10:25:02]

Trump's comments come after he said in recent days that members of that committee quote should go to jail.

Joining me now is Democratic Congressman Bennie Thompson of Mississippi. He chaired the January 6th select committee. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

First of all, can we get your reaction to Trump's comments that these January 6th pardons will apparently come right after he's sworn into office? He's saying within the first hour, maybe minutes.

REP. BENNIE THOMPSON (D-MS): Well, that's so unfortunate, Jim. As you know what America and the whole world saw with their own eyes, you saw people breaking into the United States Capitol. You saw law enforcement being assaulted. And ultimately we had several individuals who died because of that attack. And now, all of a sudden, the incoming president is talking about pardoning them and they were heroes and patriots, and that's just not who we are as a country. And I wish he would rethink it, but obviously he's already gone public to say that he would.

ACOSTA: And as I mentioned over the weekend, Trump was talking about the January 6th committee that you used to lead. Let's play some of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: I think those people committed a major crime. And Cheney was behind it. And so was Bennie Thompson.

For what they did, honestly, they should go to jail.

KRISTEN WELKER, NBC NEWS ANCHOR: So, you think Liz Cheney should go to jail?

TRUMP: For what they did.

WELKER: Everyone on the committee, you think, should go to jail?

TRUMP: I think everybody on the -- anybody that voted in favor.

WELKER: Are you going to direct your FBI director and your attorney general to send them to jail?

TRUMP: No, not at all. I think that they'll have to look at that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Congressman Trump is saying you should go to jail. Are you worried about him or the FBI coming after you?

THOMPSON: Well, you know, we are members of Congress. We operated based on our direction from Congress. There are specific laws that give security to member of Congress, and I hope the president would take that into consideration. But to be honest with you, Jim, we've not done anything wrong. What we did was, in fact, what the law prescribed, what the resolution we were given, and we are comfortable with our report. There's nothing that we omitted in the report or anything like that.

So, being in disagreement with a person is not a reason to lock him up. This is the House where we debate issues, where we debate laws. Sometimes you're right, sometimes you're wrong. That doesn't mean you're illegal and it doesn't mean that because you're wrong in the eyes of someone, you should go to jail. That's just so unfortunate. And that's not who we are as Americans.

ACOSTA: And, Congressman, apparently the White House is discussing preemptive pardons for people who may be targeted by Trump when he gets back in office. Do you want the president to offer some kind of pardon to you? As strange as it is to ask that question, I'm just wondering what you think.

THOMPSON: Well, you know, the president, it's his prerogative. If he offers it to me or other members of the committee, I think I would accept it. But it's his choice. I think the staff of the committee who did a wonderful job, I think the witnesses who were primarily Republicans did a great job on the oath. We were not found to have perjured themselves or anything like that. There's nothing in the record that's not already on point. We've had two years of review by Republican chairpersons. They found nothing wrong.

So, there's nothing that we kept out of the record. There's nothing that we took out of the record. So, we stand by the work of the committee. Our committee did a wonderful job. We shared it with the public. And all the public has to do is to read the report that we filed based on our report. ACOSTA: And I do want to ask you about the FBI director, Christopher Wray, announcing that he's stepping down. What's your reaction to that, and how concerned are you that someone like Kash Patel looks like might be replacing him?

THOMPSON: Well, you know, that's for the Senate to decide. Some of the comments that Kash Patel has said, I'd be very concerned about. I'm not aware of any weaponization of the FBI, law enforcement against anybody.

My experience with Director Wray, he's been a straight up person. He's called it like he saw it. I didn't agree with him all the time, but because I don't agree with him, there's no reason to cast dispersions on him or say for whatever reason he needs to be fired.

I think governance requires tolerance. In this instance the governance is not allowing tolerance to prevail. And, ultimately, we'll see a lot of strange people appointed by this president who only have as their mission is to keep him satisfied and the rule of law may or may not prevail.

[10:30:00]