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Syrians Continue To Search For Loved Ones Long Imprisoned By The Assad Regime; Man Found In Syria Appears To Be a Missing American; New York Prosecutors Presenting Evidence To Grand Jury; New Detail About Suspected Killer Life In Prison; Trump invites China's Xi Jinping To Inauguration. Trump Lays Out Plans in Wide-Ranging Time Magazine Interview; Underage Russians Thrown in Jail after Opposing War; Children Suffer as Toxic Smog Blankets Delhi; FBI, DHS: No evidence that Drone Sightings Pose a Threat; Human Cell Research in Space May Reveal Secrets of Aging. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired December 13, 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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LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Ahead here on CNN Newsroom, the horrors inside Syria's notorious prisons revealed as families desperately search for missing loved ones who disappeared under the Assad regime.
Building the case against Luigi Mangione, investigators execute search warrants in the CEO murder investigation as we learn about the suspect's life behind bars.
And why mysterious drone sightings in the U.S. are prompting security concern.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN Newsroom with Lynda Kinkade.
KINKADE: Efforts to ensure a smooth transfer of power in Syria gaining momentum after the sudden fall of the Assad regime. Jordan is hosting a weekend summit with foreign ministers from Western and Arab nations. A joint delegation from Turkey and Qatar has arrived in Damascus for talks with the caretaker government.
Syria's information ministry says the goals include engaging with Arab and international partners and reviving the country's economy.
They're meeting with rebel commander Mohammed Al-Jolani, the de facto leader of the new administration, and caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed Al Bashir. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is also in the region, meeting Thursday with Turkey's president.
The U.S. backs the primarily Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces who are at odds with a Free Syrian army backed by Turkey. Blinken stressed the need for unity to prevent a resurgence of ISIS. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: ISIS we want to avoid sparking any kinds of additional conflicts inside of Syria at a time when we want to see this transition to an interim government and to a better way forward for Syria. Part of that also has to be ensuring that ISIS doesn't rear its ugly head again. And critical to making sure that doesn't happen is the so called SDF, the Syrian Democratic Forces.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: For its part, the Free Syrian Army has announced a four day ceasefire in the northern Syrian city of Manbij. Rival Kurdish forces have now withdrawn from that area. Many people in Syria are searching for their missing loved ones.
CNN's Clarissa Ward visited a morgue in Damascus where the bodies left behind reveal signs of cruelty inflicted by the Assad regime. We should warn our viewers you may find some moments in the report disturbing.
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CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A woman wails on the floor of the Mujtahid Hospital. My mother, she's been missing for 14 years, she says. Where is she? Where's my brother? Where's my husband? Where are they?
Dr. Ahmed Abdullah shows us into the morgue where about 35 bodies have been brought in. Discovered in a military hospital days after the regime fell, they are believed to be some of the last victims of Bashar al Assad.
Take a look. This is the crime of the regime, he says. Even in the Middle Ages, they didn't torture people like this. Another man points to their tattered clothing. Evidence, he says, that most were detainees at the much feared Saydnaya prison. Even in death, they are still only identified by numbers.
Everyone here heard about the horrors that took place in Assad's notorious prisons, but to see it up close is something entirely different.
WARD: A lot of them have bruises, have horrible wounds that seem to be consistent with torture. I just saw one woman retching as she came out of the other room. Families are now going through, trying to see if their loved ones are here.
WARD (voice-over): There's not enough room for all of them in the morgue, so a makeshift area has been set up outside. More and more families stream in the light from their cell phones, the only way of identifying the dead.
My only son, I don't have another. They took him for 12 years now, just because he said no. 12 years. My only son. This woman shouts. I don't know anything about him. I ask Allah to burn him. She says of ask of Assad. Burn him and his sons like he burned my heart. A crowd swarms when they see our camera. Everyone here has lost someone.
WARD: All of these people are asking us to take the names of their loved ones, to help them try to find them.
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WARD (voice-over): It is a mark of desperation. Such is the need for answers. But finding those answers will not be easy. At the military intelligence facility known as the Palestine Branch, officers burned documents and destroyed hard drives before fleeing. But their terror was on an industrial scale. Troves and troves of prisoner files remain. It will take investigators years to go through them.
Below ground, more clues etched on the walls of cells that look more like dungeons.
WARD: So you can see this list of names of. It looks like 93 prisoners here. There's also a schedule for keeping the cell tidy and just graffiti everywhere, people trying to leave marks for someone to find.
WARD (voice-over): Down here, insects are the only life form that thrives. It's clear that anyone who could survive this will never be the same again. The cells are empty, but the doors are finally open. And the quest for answers is just beginning.
WARD: The one thing the Assad regime did do a very good job of was documenting its own crimes. And so the question now, how long will it be until you start to see human rights groups, investigators coming in to Syria to try to start the vast process of pouring through all that data, and then what's the next step towards getting some sort of justice for these people? Could these Syrians choose to do what the Ukrainians did, which was essentially to open themselves up to be under the jurisdiction of the ICC?
That would be the hope of many Syrians. But the disappointment as well for a lot of people you talk to here is that Bashar Al Assad is very unlikely to ever see his day in court because, of course, he is now in exile in Moscow.
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KINKADE: And thanks to Clarissa Ward, they're reporting from Damascus for us. Firas Maksad is the director of Strategic Outreach and a Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute. Good to have you with us.
FIRAS MAKSAD, DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC OUTREACH, MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE: Thank you.
KINKADE: So what do we know about the efforts made by the U.S. to connect with rebels in Syria to ensure some stability going forward?
MAKSAD: Well, I've said time and again that for Syria and for the region, the collapse of the Assad regime is a moment of great opportunity, but also great peril. The United States here has an opportunity to emerge as the big power in the Middle East at a time of great power competition.
There is a Pax Americana here that is in the making, given that its rivals, Russia, but also the regional power of Iran, are right now on their back foot. The Iranian axis in the region, from Hezbollah in Lebanon to the Assad regime in Syria is essentially faltering.
But the tricky part in all this is that America's allies are not united. And so, the Arabs have an interest of their own, the Turks, a different agenda. The Turks, for example, very much adopting the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood, whereas that poses a threat to American allies in Jordan, the Hashemite royal family, and then certainly within Syria, Kurd versus Arabs, and various movements and trends within those rebel forces.
So it's a moment where all the spokes end up in Washington, which is the only hub that can bring all these pieces together. And this is why it's so crucial that Secretary Blinken is in the region, that American diplomacy remains engaged and that we try to put the pieces of that puzzle together, most of them America's allies, but perhaps not necessarily working together.
KINKADE: So can you tell us about the values of this rebel group and how they will potentially lead this next transition within Syria?
MAKSAD: Well, what we know about HTS, Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham is the fact that it was part and parcel for Al Qaeda, Jabhat Al Nusra (ph), being affiliated with, that it has rebranded. It has gone to great lengths to distance itself from its past. And its leader, known as Jolani, Ahmed al-Sharaa, is saying all the right things about wanting to moderate, wanting to build an inclusive Syria, recognizing the rich tapestry of the various communal groups that make Syria.
And so we ought to put that to the test and American diplomacy. And Secretary Blinken has pretty much issued a list, a checklist of issues for these rebels to try and comply with, beginning with giving up Syria's chemical weapons, which they have said that they're ready to do.
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Governing in an inclusive way and also making sure that the United States and the various forces on the ground remain committed to fighting the remnants of Islamic State.
KINKADE: So you believe that they will be able to unite the country in the way they lead?
MAKSAD: I think the only way to be to have a viable governing system in Syria is to be inclusive. This is a country of various communities. The Druze to the south, the Kurds to the northeast. And even within the Arab Sunni core there is -- there are differences. The Damascenes, the Aleppins, much more cosmopolitan and worldly and liberal, whereas the heartland is in many countries much more conservative and perhaps aligned with the ideology of the rebels.
So this has to be some sort of a coalition government and there is a political process in place that is spelled out through a U.N. Security Council resolution. That's exactly what American diplomacy and American allies will be meeting in Jordan tomorrow to try and push forward that UN led transition process for us.
KINKADE: Firas Maksad in Saudi Arabia. Always great to get your analysis. Thanks so much.
MAKSAD: Of course.
KINKADE: Well, the rebel takeover in Syria has displaced hundreds of thousands of people, worsening the already dire food security situation. The World Food Program says 3 million Syrians need food. Essential items including rice, sugar and oil are in short supply. Food prices have also spiked as the Syrian currency depreciates.
The WFP says over the last two weeks it's provided aid to a about 70,000 displaced people in Homs, Aleppo, Raqqa and Hashaka.
Valeria Gholizadeh is a Syrian County Director for Relief International. She details what the Syrian people need now and in the long term.
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VALERIA GHOLIZADEH, SYRIAN COUNTRY DIRECTOR, RELIEF INTERNATIONAL: Definitely access to basic services. We've been providing for years health support, so supporting hospitals, primary health clinics, making sure that people who are sick or injured they can access free healthcare. That's going to remain extremely essential.
Protection services for women, children, vulnerable population, but also food support. We know that again livelihoods and food production is still problematic inside Syria and therefore this type of assistance will be much needed.
We are now also approaching the winter season with people who are displaced or living in situations that are not meeting minimal standards and therefore they will require blankets and other type of support, probably also new type of shelters and living situation, especially if they're on the move.
So all these type of basic services are still going to be needed for quite some time and then the rest, let's say, of both the humanitarian work and development, we need to be defined. The situation definitely has changed. So we need to check again.
What are the needs on the ground, what the communities want to have implemented and what type of services they will need. So I really hope that we will all be able to coordinate and make sure that we support the Syrian population in this difficult and transitional time.
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KINKADE: A missing American was found walking around Damascus barefoot on Thursday. Missouri native Travis Timmerman says he spent months in a Syrian prison after entering the country as a pilgrim. CNN Salma Abdelaziz has the story.
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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A U.S. citizen that went missing in Hungary has turned up in Damascus. Travis Timmerman, A Missouri native, 29 years old, a U.S. citizen, was found disoriented barefoot in wandering south of Damascus in a field. He has spoken to media. He has spoken to residents in the area. I want you to take a listen to this interview with NBC to get a sense of his state of being after that.
TRAVIS TIMMERMAN, AMERICAN FOUND IN SYRIA: 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. I was sent to a Syrian prison called Philip Philistine.
ABDELAZIZ: Now, as you heard there, Timmerman does admit that he illegally crossed into Syria from Lebanon under the very tight control of President Bashar al-Assad's regime. Anyone crossing into Syria would absolutely be stopped by security forces. That's what took place a few days after he arrived in Syria. Timmerman was then taken to a regime prison.
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He was held there for seven months. He says he was treated relatively well, given food, given water, given bathroom breaks. But he says heard the sound of people being tortured in that prison every single day. Now, when rebels liberated Damascus, he, among others, was able to break out of prison. The U.S. says it is aware of his case and is providing support on the ground. An extraordinary tale and a welcome end for his family. Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINAKDE: The U.S. believes the new reality in Syria could be opening the door for a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza. More than 100 hostages is still believed to be held there, most of them since Hamas launched its rampage in Israel more than 14 months ago.
But now U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan is expressing cautious optimism that a deal can be reached this month. He met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem Thursday. Sullivan says Hamas is negotiating differently now that the Assad regime is gone and there's a ceasefire in Lebanon. He also dismissed suggestions that Israel is waiting for the next U.S. administration to make a deal.
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JAKE SULLIVAN, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: I got the sense today from the prime minister. He's ready to do a deal. And when I go to Doha and Cairo, my goal will be to put us in a position to be able to close this deal this month, not later. Now, we've been close before and haven't gotten there, so I can't make any promises or predictions to you, but I wouldn't be here today if I thought this thing was just waiting till after January 20.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Palestinian officials say close to 50 people were killed and more than 80 others wounded or missing in the latest Israeli strikes across Gaza.
The man accused of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO is not a member of that insurance company, according to their spokesperson, and neither is his mother. Sources tell ABC News that prosecutors in New York have started presenting evidence against Luigi Mangione to a grand jury. We're also learning that investigators have executed search warrants tied to the case.
Sources say the warrants cover a backpack found in Central Park and a burner phone found along the believed getaway route near the crime scene. Mangione's next court appearance related to state charges in Pennsylvania is set for December 23rd.
Well, we are hearing the alleged killer is not interacting with other inmates in prison. CNN's Jason Carroll has more details about what his life is like behind bars.
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JASON CARROLL, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Luigi Mangione is fighting extradition to New York. While that happens, this is the prison where he is being held. It's the State Correctional Institution at Huntington, the oldest operating state prison in Pennsylvania. Mangione's cell looks much like the one you see here, according to a law enforce.
His actual cell is 15 by 6 feet. A Department of Corrections spokesperson says he's in a single cell and not in solitary confinement. He is not interacting with other inmates at this time. He has a bed, sink, toilet and a desk with a seat.
STEVE BOHNEL, PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE: It's always interesting to see, you know, a prison in your backyard that, you know, frankly, most people wouldn't be able to pick out of a map or wouldn't know the name of. And now everyone's interested in the type of food he's eating, you know, the cell block that he's in.
CARROLL (voice-over): Meals at the facility are served three times a day. 6:15, 10:40 and supper at 5:15. On the menu, Mangione has a choice between chicken parmesan and a dish called pizza beans. The Department of Correction says Mangione has taken his meals in his cell and is not interacting with other inmates, adding all inmates are afforded time outside their cells, even if they are a higher custody level.
Mangione's case has received a great deal of national attention, so perhaps no surprise, he's already known to some inmates. That type of notoriety is also an added security concern at a correctional facility.
JUSTIN PAPERNY, PRISON CONSULTANT: Any prison, state or federal, is a predatory environment. And there could be prisoners who are there for a long time, perhaps looking to get in the media, get some attention. So he's got to learn to enjoy his own company in a little cell with a desk, with a toilet, with a little -- with a pen to be able to write with a sink, because he will not be around prisoners, as I see it, for quite some time. The prison just can't risk it.
CARROLL (voice-over): Huntington's inmates have made headlines before Mangione. Cosmo Dinardo, who was convicted of murdering four men and burying them on his parent's property, served part of his life sentence there. Nick Yarris also served time there. Yaris was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death in 1982 on rape and murder charges. His sentence overturned in 2003 due to DNA evidence. He says his time at Huntington are years he will never forget.
NICK YARRIS, Convicted Of Murder, Rape, And Abduction: He decided to send me to Huntington Prison, the hardest prison in America at that time.
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JOE ROGAN, PODCASTER: What was he going to do before that?
YARRIS: I don't know. But he made sure I went to the place that they broke you.
CARROLL (voice-over): Mangione's time there could be measured in weeks as prosecutors push to have him brought back to New York.
CARROLL: The Department of Corrections also says that Mangione is allowed to have visitors there at the facility, but so far, the only person to visit him has been his attorney, and that was Thursday afternoon. Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Well, here's the new Person of the Year. Donald Trump lays out his plans for the next term with TIME magazine. We'll have more on that, next.
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KINKADE: Welcome back. Chinese leader Xi Jinping is expected to send a delegation of senior officials in his place to attend Donald Trump's inauguration, according to sources familiar with the matter. Multiple sources have confirmed that Trump personally extended an invitation to President Xi for the inauguration, and sending a senior delegation may be seen as a sort of olive branch as tensions between the U.S. and China appear to be increasing.
Trump has threatened to slap new tariffs on Chinese goods imported into the US. The threat led President Xi to issue this stern warning. No one wins a trade war. The U.S. Justice Department watchdog report says there were no
undercover FBI agents at the January 6 Capitol riot. The findings reject speculation by Donald Trump allies who have suggested the violence was provoked by federal agents.
The DOJ inspector general says that 26 paid informants were in Washington that day, but none were authorized to break the law themselves or encouraged others to do so. The findings were part of a long awaited report into the FBI's preparations before the 2021 attack.
The U.S. President-elect stepped away from inauguration preparations to accept two big honors on.
That's Donald Trump ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange accompanied by family members and the vice president-elect. The appearance was coordinated with a magazine which named Trump its Person of the Year for a second time. CNN's Brian Todd is more on the controversial issues Trump addressed in his sit down with the magazine.
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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: Thank you.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The now two TIME magazine Person of the Year spared little controversy in his interview. President-Elect Donald Trump saying in his first hour in office he'll look at possibly pardoning people convicted of participating in the January 6 attack on the Capitol, focusing on the nonviolent offenders. Quote, I'm going to do case by case and if they were nonviolent, I think they've been greatly punished. I'm going to look if there's some that were really out of control.
VIVIAN SALAMA, NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: There is a lot of pressure from the base to see this happen.
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People in Trump's base really feel like these people were treated unfairly.
TODD (voice-over): Trump also reiterating to TIME his plan to use the American military to deport migrants who entered the U.S. illegally, a stand that was popular with his base during the campaign.
TRUMP: We will use all necessary state, local, federal and military resources to carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history.
TODD (voice-over): Trump told TIME he'll push to use the military for deportations, quote, up to the maximum level of what the law allows. Although U.S. law says the military can't be used to enforce domestic laws without an act of Congress, Trump said it doesn't stop the military if it's an invasion of our country, and I consider it an invasion of our country. Trump also seemed to be open to the unproven, debunked theory that
childhood vaccines cause autism, an idea often peddled by Trump's pick to head the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an unabashed vaccine skeptic.
ROBERT F KENNEDY JR., TRUMP'S PICK TO HEAD THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: I do believe that autism does come from vaccines.
TODD (voice-over): Trump told TIME he'll direct Kennedy to study the matter and would consider getting rid of some vaccines for children. Quote, we will know for sure what's good and not good.
TODD: How will real health experts react to Trump and RFK Jr. Determining what's good and not good?
SALAMA: Of course there's going to be enormous pushback for If Trump and RFK Jr. are the ones that are assessing scientifically, medically or otherwise, what is good and not good. Every case is different and you need enormous medical research, scientific research to back that up.
TODD (voice-over): Trump told TIME he vehemently disagrees with the Biden administration's decision to allow Ukraine to use American made weapons to strike inside Russia. We're just escalating this war and making it worse, Trump said, fueling worries that his administration might curtail U.S. aid to Ukraine. Trump complaining in a recent interview with NBC about how much the U.S. was paying biggest.
TRUMP: Europe is in for a fraction and war with Russia is more important for Europe than it is for us. We have a little thing called an ocean in between us.
TODD: In the interview with TIME, Trump declined to say whether he's spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin since the election. He was pushed repeatedly on whether he would abandon Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump responded that if you want to reach an agreement, the only way to do that is not to abandon. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
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KINKADE: Ron Brownstein is CNN senior political analyst and a senior editor at The Atlantic and joins us now live. Good to have you with us, Ron.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Lynda.
KINKADE: So Trump name TIME magazine's Person of the Year for a second time, ringing the bell at the New York Stock Exchange. What did you make of the reasons TIME magazine named him again to be Person of the Year?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, look, he did something that hasn't been done in the U.S. since 1892. The president, you know, defeated coming back four years later and winning the White House back. So it's not an unreasonable choice. It's not necessarily a validation or an endorsement of everything that Trump stands for or is propounding. But I think it is a reasonable assessment that of his impact on American life and what's coming in the next few years.
KINKADE: And speaking of what's coming in the next few years, we did read that Trump has reaffirmed his plans to pardon most of those convicted for their actions during the January 6th insurrection. He said maybe in the first nine minutes. That really isn't surprising, though, right?
BROWNSTEIN: Yes. You know, the big message from this interview with TIME magazine, like the interview with Meet the Press, like the other events he's done since the election, is that he intends to do what he ran on.
Now, that, you know, shouldn't sound shocking, but I think it will be surprising to a lot of voters. I mean, you know, there is a sense among parts of the electorate that Trump just kind of spouts off. You know, he kind of says things off the top of his head. In fact, as we've talked about before, the academic research is very clear.
When presidents get elected, they try to do what they said they would do, and, you know, they can't always do it. Sometimes they get stopped by the courts, sometimes they get stopped by Congress, but they sure try and so voters who kind of voted for Trump because they thought he offered them a better chance of economic stability, of bringing prices under control, but really weren't sure about all of the I's and the T's in his agenda, pardoning the January 6th rioters, mass deportation with internment camps and the military, ending the Department of Education, purging the civil service. All of that is coming.
He may not get to, as I said, he may not succeed in all of it. But it is all coming, and it will be roiling the American political landscape in the months ahead.
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KINKADE: Yes, and looking at his inauguration, he invited the Chinese President Xi and was snubbed. And sources tell CNN that he's been inviting other world leaders. What does that suggest about how he wants to be perceived entering his second term?
BROWNSTEIN: Well look, I think Trump is feeling enormously empowered. I mean, think about how empowered He felt when he won in 2016. He lost the popular vote by almost three million. He won the electoral college only by 80,000 votes.
As he noted in the interview today with "Time Magazine" correctly, when he arrived in Washington, the Republican leaders in the House and Senate, Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan, were pretty overtly hostile to him.
The Supreme Court at that point was four to four, with Anthony Kennedy as a very moderate swing justice on the Republican side.
Think about how different the world looks to him today with leadership in both chambers that are extremely reluctant to cross him as we are watching unfold on his nominees.
A 6-3 Republican majority on the court that has already declared him, you know, immune -- effectively immune from criminal prosecution. A popular vote victory, a much more solid electoral college victory.
I think he wants world leaders here because he is feeling his oats. And he, you know, he is ready to move very aggressively, as I said, on the very aggressive agenda that he laid out on the campaign trail in '24.
I think it's just going to be a very different start to this presidency than we -- than we saw then and one in which he is going to push until someone pushes back on a whole series of fronts.
KINKADE: And just quickly, on border security, Trump did say that he wants to use the military to carry out mass deportations, even though the reporter from "Time" said its illegal. Last time last term, he separated children and families at the border, and he hasn't ruled that out this time.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
KINKADE: What are your thoughts on that policy.
BROWNSTEIN: Look, I think, you know, that was the centerpiece of his domestic policy agenda in 2024.
And both he and Stephen Miller, his top kind of immigration adviser, were very explicit that they intended to use the National Guard. They intended to deputize local sheriffs and police departments. And they intended to set up internment camps, all of which he basically reaffirmed today.
And you had Trump, both in "Meet the Press" and on "Time", reaffirm what Tom Homan who is going to be his immigration czar in the White House said. That they will attempt to deport U.S. citizen children of undocumented parents.
As I've mentioned to you before, there are four million Hispanic kids who are U.S. citizens born here in the U.S. who have at least one undocumented parent. And the only way to avoid industrial scale family separation if he really goes through with mass deportation, is to also remove the kids.
And he has made very clear that they intend to try to do that. Now, the courts may stop him. But I think people have to be bracing themselves for the prospect that they will try to not only deport undocumented parents, but citizen kids in potentially large numbers in the weeks ahead.
KINKADE: Yes, this could get very messy.
Ron Brownstein, as always, great to get your analysis. Thank you.
BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me. KINKADE: Well, some underage Russians pay the price for opposing the
war in Ukraine. Still ahead, teenagers end up behind bars as the Kremlin cracks down on the war dissenters (ph).
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KINKADE: Welcome back. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Lynda Kinkade.
The Biden administration is trying to beat the clock and send as much military aid to Ukraine while it still can. That's from a former senior official who spoke at the White House announcing half a billion dollars in new aid on Thursday. And the official says there will be more help in the coming weeks while President Joe Biden is still in office to put Kyiv on a strong footing in its war with Russia.
Donald Trump takes over as president in January, but he's giving no guarantees to continuing to send aid. In an interview with "Time Magazine", he criticized the recent decision to allow Ukraine to use U.S.-made missiles for strikes deeper inside Russia. He says that will only make the war worse.
Well, since the war began, more than 20,000 people in Russia have been detained for standing up against it. A Russian human rights group says more than a dozen of them are under age because people as young as 14 can be prosecuted for such crimes as treason and terrorism.
As Alex Marquardt reports, they learned the hard way what it means to speak out against the war in Russia.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Arseny Turbin was your average Russian teenager, a top student who enjoyed electronics, he built a radio transmitter for a class project.
Today, he's one of Russia's youngest political prisoners, arrested at 15 years old and now facing five years in a penal colony, found guilty on terrorism charges.
He was accused of joining a Russian paramilitary group fighting for Ukraine. He admits he contacted them but denies joining. On Russia's National Day in June last year, he staged a solo protest. Posting on YouTube saying, "I'm against Putin," and "Freedom for political prisoners".
Now Turbin is one of at least three dozen teenagers who are jailed in Russia for political reasons, among Russia's almost 3,000 citizens facing criminal prosecution on political grounds.
Human rights group OVD-Info has tracked these cases and told CNN there are at least 16 teenagers that they know of, but almost certainly more who were detained after Russia invaded Ukraine and the Kremlin dramatically cracked down on dissent, including by minors.
We spoke with Turbin's mother, Irina, in Russia, who had pleaded with her son not to speak out, knowing what could happen.
IRINA TURBINA, MOTHER OF TEENAGE PRISONER ARSENY TURBIN (through translator): Of course I'm terrified for him, and I'm afraid that part of him will break. But I want to believe that he will be strong until the end.
MARQUARDT: You shared some of the letters that Arseny wrote to you from detention, and in one of them he says, "Please, I'm asking you to do everything you can to make sure I get released. I dream of the day when I'll be released and can hug you."
How painful is that for you as a mother to read that?
TURBINA: I cried because I understand that I am doing the best I can already. I knew I couldn't do anything. I have already done and am doing everything I can, but this is not enough for him to be free.
MARQUARDT: In another letter, Turbin wrote, "yesterday after lights out, an inmate pushed me into the toilet. Today he punched me twice in the head while I was in bed. The situation is very difficult."
Kevin Lick knows all too well about the brutality of Russian prisons. After being arrested at 17 years old and sent to a labor camp with a four-year sentence.
KEVIN LICK, FORMER PRISONER IN RUSSIA: They handcuffed my hands with a rope and started to beat me. They put out a cigarette on my hand. There's a scar left.
[01:39:49]
MARQUARDT: They physically abused you?
LICK: Yes. They abused to try to get answers out of me.
MARQUARDT: Lick had taken photos of a military base across from his apartment building. He says he wanted to document history as the Russian military prepared to invade Ukraine.
Pro-regime media published this video of his alleged equipment. Lick was accused of wanting to send the photos to the intelligence services in Germany, where he is also a citizen, but he denies this.
LICK: My first two months of imprisonment, I got held and I was held in solitary confinement. Now, when I'm looking back, of course, it left scars. A psychologist told me that I have PTSD.
MARQUARDT: In prison, he says he was packed into cells with other inmates and lost a huge amount of weight. Then he was suddenly released in August as part of a historic international prisoner swap when "Wall Street Journal" reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan were also freed.
In protesting Putin and his regime's war in Ukraine, charges against teenagers range from arson to sabotage and treason.
The youngest case that OVD-Info has told CNN about is of a 14-year-old unnamed girl accused of desecrating a military symbol.
In late October OVD-Info says that 15-year-old Sebastian Sultanov (ph) was arrested and is now being prosecuted for anti-Putin and anti-war graffiti. He, like both Kevin Lick and Arseny Turbin, are supporters of opposition hero and Putin nemesis Alexei Navalny, who died in February in a penal colony.
Lick marched alongside Navalny's widow Yulia in a pro-democracy demonstration in Berlin just weeks ago. He's now embracing a new life of activism.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: That was Alex Marquardt reporting there.
So far, Russia's federal penitentiary service has not responded to our request for comment regarding the allegations in that report. The Kremlin denies the existence of political prisoners in Russia.
Well, concern is growing over mysterious objects that people have seen flying in the skies over New Jersey for weeks. What federal officials are now saying about those so-called drones and whether they pose a threat. Details next.
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KINKADE: An 11-year-old girl is apparently the only survivor after the migrant boat she was on sank off the Italian coast. It's thought 45 people, also including her brother, were on board. Italian media says she's from Sierra Leone and was fortunately wearing a life jacket.
Yasmine, as she's being called, told rescuers the metal boat she was on capsized in a storm. She was found clinging to tire tubes three days later.
[01:44L46]
KINKADE: Well, tropical cyclone Chido is moving towards Madagascar and is expected to pass to the north of the country by Friday afternoon.
The compact yet powerful storm is not expected to make landfall and is continuing to weaken. But its outer bands have already begun impacting the island country.
Weather officials warn of winds of up to 120 kilometers per hour and sea level rise of up to eight meters above normal.
Well, toxic smog is choking parts of India and seriously harming its poorest and most vulnerable. In Delhi, life threatening pollution has become a regular occurrence during the winter. Children are particularly at risk.
CNN's Hanako Montgomery reports. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For three-year-old Shahar and his baby sister, clean air is a luxury that their parents can barely afford.
MUSKAN, MOTHER (through translator): I feel scared that my children might die. I'm filled with regret when I think about what might happen to them.
MONTGOMERY: Delhi's air is so toxic that Muskan says her kids have needed a nebulizer since birth. She spent months saving up for this machine, rag picking the very trash that's also poisoning her children. Earning just $1 a day.
MUSKAN: During the winter months, their ribs start to hurt. Mucus freezes in their chest. They vomit too.
We're so worried. I have three children. They keep falling sick in this dust.
MONTGOMERY: But her children are the lucky ones.
DEEPAK KUMAR, FATHER: The doctor asked us to buy a nebulizer, but we don't have that kind of money.
MONTGOMERY: When Deepak's daughter struggled to breathe, they rushed to a nearby clinic where he says each breath costs more than his daily wage.
Nights are his worst fear. No doctors, just balms and thoughts of mounting medical costs.
KUMAR: I want to leave Delhi, but I can't because I need to pay off a debt for my daughter's health.
MONTGOMERY: Every winter, toxic smog blankets Delhi, a deadly mix of smoke from crop fires, coal plants and traffic. Officials block cars and close schools as air pollution can hit 60 times the World Health Organization's air quality guidelines.
But like winter, the smog returns every year, and its biggest victims are the tiniest lives.
MANJINDER SINGH RANDHAWA, PEDIATRIC INTENSIVE CARE UNIT CONSULTANT: The human lung also develops until about 8 to 10 years of age.
It's not in its mature form until that time. And a developing lung, if it's exposed to all these pollutants, that is when it causes long term trouble.
MONTGOMERY: While India's poor are bound to these slums, the wealthy rush to hospitals.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But I don't think so that this kind of severity he has. So it might be very painful at that time for me. MONTGOMERY: he wants to send his three-year-old son, hospitalized with bronchitis hundreds of miles away from Delhi to his hometown. But even money can't save these children from the silent killer.
When winter ends in Delhi, the smog will lift. But the impact on India's children permanent and lethal.
Hanako Montgomery, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Well, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the FBI says there's currently no evidence that mysterious drones seen across New Jersey for weeks pose any threat to national security or the public, or have a foreign connection.
Officials say the objects may actually be manned aircraft operating lawfully.
More now from CNN's Omar Jimenez.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So people have been seeing drones. Don't worry, this is one of ours.
But we've been going around talking to people in this northern New Jersey area and really almost everyone you talk to has either seen one or knows someone who's seen one.
LISA ROSSETTO, WITNESSED DRONES: What are they? Who's sending them up there? What are they doing there? Why doesn't anybody know what they are? You know, and why New Jersey?
It didn't sound like an airplane, which is why I went out and looked at it.
JANET MOSNER, WITNESSED DRONES: It was loud, but not any louder than the airplanes, because the airplanes are loud.
PAUL MOSNER, WITNESSED DRONES: Yes, the jets are loud.
J. MOSNER: And there were jets flying over at the same time. They actually flew in a circle around our building, both of them, and then across, and then disappeared.
It still could be somebody playing a trick, but -- which is unlikely because they are so big.
P. MOSNER: Yes. Yes, it's not a ten-year-old flying it, you know.
J. MOSNER: I'll just let the people that are trying to figure it out figure it out.
JIMENEZ: But to this point, no one has, at least publicly. The FBI is now investigating weeks of reported drone sightings over New Jersey. That's according to a document given to state and local officials.
As a growing number of people report seeing drones, some described as six feet in diameter, flying in the skies.
And there have been questions about when they first started popping up. Reports seem to vary, but the Picatinny Arsenal, which is a military installation in northern New Jersey, has confirmed sightings in the area going back to November 13th.
And countrywide, this isn't the first time mysterious drones or something like it have been spotted around military installations.
[01:49:50]
SABRINA SINGH, DEPUTY PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: So specifically Langley Air Force Base did experience incursions of unauthorized unmanned aerial systems last year in December 2023.
The number of those UAS incursions did fluctuate on any given day, but they didn't appear to exhibit any hostile intent.
JIMENEZ: And while with the New Jersey reported sightings, the White House says many have actually been manned aircraft, some witnesses disagree.
NICK TECCHIO, STUDENT WHO WITNESSED DRONES: They'll just change direction. Like go from like 90 to like 270 degrees, just like fly in different directions. And planes obviously can't do that.
Nothing during the day, just completely at night. It's very -- it's odd.
JIMENEZ: And public officials are starting to get frustrated.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're creating so much fear and uneasiness in the public. There's no excuse for us not to know at this point.
BRIAN BERGEN, NEW JERSEY STATE ASSEMBLY: Now is not the time to mess around. It is a time for action.
We're past the point of let's pretend it's not a big deal and try to keep everybody calm while we figure it out.
It's really concerning. And quite frankly, it's not acceptable.
JIMENEZ: Now, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI are pouring a little bit of cold water on this. They released a joint statement saying that they have no evidence that the reported drone sightings pose any national security threat.
And they're continuing to investigate whether these reported drone sightings are actually drones at all, or if they are really manned aircraft.
And they have said some of the cases they've looked into to this point haven't actually been drones, they've been manned aircraft operating legally.
That said, they are continuing to investigate what has been a flood of reports from this area to this point. And while they don't have a definitive answer to all of the cases, that lack of definitive answer is leaving a lot of people here with questions in the meantime.
Omar Jimenez, CNN -- Denville, New Jersey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Well, scientists are sending human tissue into space. When we return an orbital experiment to unravel the mysteries behind the aging process.
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KINKADE: Well, there's a new champion in the world of chess. Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju has become the youngest ever undisputed world champ in classical chess after beating his Chinese rival in a grueling best of 14 final in Singapore.
The 18-year-old is four years younger than the previous record holder, the legendary Garry Kasparov, who won his first world title in 1985.
Gukesh broke into tears as the emotion of his victory sunk in, telling reporters he's living a dream he's had for more than a decade.
Back in India, celebrations broke out for the hometown hero.
Well, samples of human tissue are currently in orbit on the International Space Station. The experiment is to see why the process of aging speeds up in space, and whether age related diseases can be slowed.
CNN's Nick Valencia has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the spirit of exploration --
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Outer space may hold the answer to some of humanity's greatest questions. What causes aging, and can the process be altered?
Human tissue samples called organoids, are now in orbit at the International Space Station, and identical samples are back on earth at Oxford University Space Innovation Lab.
This experiment will allow researchers to compare and analyze data from both samples to study the aging process and the impact of microgravity on it.
[01:54:46]
GHADA ALSALEH, SPACE INNOVATION LAB: So this is a very new project where we work between -- actually the frontier between the space and biology.
VALENCIA: Inside the International Space Station, a box containing human tissue samples serves as a controlled environment.
ALSALEH: They both have a small computer and all the detection material that we need to get the measurements we wanted. And we can actually control that and see all the data coming all the time.
VALENCIA: Researchers don't require assistance from the astronauts aboard the space station, as they can automatically gather the information from their laboratory on earth.
ALSALEH: It could be able to measure few things without interacting anyone.
VALENCIA: Over the years, astronauts have suffered from muscle loss, joint and bone issues, and problems with their immune system.
Researchers found that this is similar to an age-related disease.
ALSALEH: And this leads us to ask the question if the space might provide us with an accelerating aging model and if it is the case, that means we can actually be able to study aging very fast, because this has happened in very short time while aging in earth (INAUDIBLE) different years.
VALENCIA: With future missions planned to send humans to Mars and beyond the impact of space travel on aging will become a key issue.
Nick Valencia, CNN.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good luck. We estimate you've completed --
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Well, Hollywood honored British actor Jude Law on Thursday, giving him a star on the Walk of Fame.
The BAFTA winner has been working for three decades, also picking up an Oscar, Tony and Oliver Award nominations for his roles on the screen and stage.
He's been part of some big movie ventures that includes the "Fantastic Beasts" franchise of the "Harry Potter" Universe and Guy Ritchie's "Sherlock Holmes" series.
A producer of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, says Jude Law's quote, "incredible talent and dedication to his craft have captivated audiences around the world".
Well, thanks so much for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Lynda Kinkade.
CNN NEWSROOM continues in just a moment with Kim Brunhuber after the break. Stay with us.
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