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NY Gov. Says "This Has Gone Too Far" As Drone Activity Temporarily Shuts Down NY Airfield; Lawmakers Demand Answers, Action On Unexplained Drones In NJ; Tech Founders Making $1m Donations To Trump's Inauguration Fund; White House Reaffirms South Korea Support After President Impeached; Blinken: U.S. Has Been In Direct Contact With Lead Syrian Rebel Group. Blinken: U.S. Has Been In Direct Contact With Lead Syrian Rebel Group; Pelosi Has Hip Replacement Surgery Following Fall In Luxembourg; Woman Who Accused Duke Athletes Of Rape Now Says She Lied. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired December 14, 2024 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN ANCHOR: -- Mediha is a tribute also to human resilience, to hope, and the power of healing through narrative.

That's all we have time for. Don't forget you can find all of our shows online as podcasts at CNN.com/audio and on all other major platforms.

I'm Christiane Amanpour in London. Thank you for watching and see you again next week.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone, thank you so much for joining me this Saturday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Right now, fears and frustrations are rising across the Northeastern U.S. after weeks of mysterious drone sightings. This morning, New Jersey officials are demanding answers and blaming the federal government for not being more forthcoming. As witnesses see drones, some the size of cars reportedly hovering around residential neighborhoods, restricted sites, and critical infrastructure.

But the White House says there is no cause for concern, claiming they know of no threat or of any dangerous activity. Despite those assurances, there are new reports of drones spotted flying in parts of Pennsylvania now and New York. And Connecticut officials say they are deploying a drone detection system to investigate reported sightings there.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino and Julia Benbrook are tracking all the latest developments. Gloria, let's go to you first. Moments ago, we heard from New York Governor Kathy Hochul. What is she saying?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fred, we just heard from the governor in the last few minutes with a new reported activity of these drone sightings here in the state of New York, which according to the governor, resulted in a local airport having to shut down its airspace last night because of these sightings.

We have a statement from the governor, which in part reads, quote, "This bill would reform legal authorities to counter-UAS", that's unmanned aircraft systems, "and strengthen the FAA's oversight of drones and would extend counter-UAS activities to select state and local law enforcement agencies. Extending these powers to New York State and our peers is essential," she continued.

"Until those powers are granted to state and local officials, the Biden administration must step in by directing additional federal law enforcement to New York and the surrounding region to ensure the safety of our critical infrastructure and our people."

Now, Fred, let me just explain a little bit of what the governor is talking about here. She is expressing support for a piece of federal legislation that would empower state and local authorities to counter these drone flyovers and these reported sightings.

Right now, local governments have said that they are feeling a little bit hamstrung by the fact that the federal government has to come in and essentially deal with this. So there is a lot of frustration, not only because of the lack of information that's coming out from the federal government right now, but also because the local authorities are not empowered to respond.

And that's what the governor is referring to here. She said that last night's activity had simply gone too far, and she is calling on the Biden administration to take additional action.

Now, these drone sightings have been reported over the skies in the New York City metropolitan area, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. Take a listen to Governor Josh Shapiro talking about what his state has reported.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

GOV. JOSH SHAPIRO (D), PENNSYLVANIA: We're obviously aware of the drones, and we're taking it seriously. Homeland Security at the federal level is determined, and these are their words, not mine, that they do not pose a national security risk. I've directed Colonel Paris and the Pennsylvania State Police to look into this further.

I know they'll be flying helos, they'll be flying helicopters to try and determine where these drones are originating from and what the purpose of these drones are. We've been conducting exercises. We'll be doing more this evening as well and try and get to the bottom of it here in Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

PAZMINO: Now, Fred, some of the frustration from these federal officials has come because some of them have received briefings by federal authorities, and some of them have said that the government is not being forthcoming enough. We have heard from some federal officials who have said that so far there is no indication that these drones pose any sort of danger or threat to the public. Fred? WHITFIELD: All right, Gloria Pazmino, thank you so much.

In fact, let's go to the White House now. Julia Benbrook is there. Julia, we know the Homeland Security Secretary did say no threat. They're on top of things, but that shooting down any of these drones would also be a security, a public threat to security. So what are you hearing from the White House?

[12:05:12]

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, federal agencies are facing intense pressure to give more details about these mysterious drone sightings. And lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, local, state level, and here in Washington are pushing for more answers, and they're asking for more transparency, especially after these sightings were near residential areas, restricted sites, and critical infrastructure.

Federal officials have said there's no evidence of a threat to public safety. During an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer last night, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was adamant that there was no threat or nefarious activity, that his agency had found no threat or nefarious activity.

He went on to say that they deployed state-of-the-art technology as well as experts to New Jersey to investigate. And that technology had not found any evidence of these reported drone sightings, but they had found some evidence that some of those drone sightings that were reported were actually small aircraft.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: We believe that there are cases of mistaken identity where drones are actually small aircraft and people are misidentifying them. They're very well maybe drones in the sky, of course, but those are commercially available. One can go into a convenience store and buy a small drone. There are also commercial drones as well.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BENBROOK: Mayorkas pledged to be transparent and said that he would provide an update if his team found that there was any cause for concern. He also said, quote, "It's not as though anyone can just take down a drone in the sky. That in and of itself would be dangerous".

So speaking about how complicated it would be if one was confirmed. Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right. Julia Benbrook, Gloria Pazmino, thanks to both of you, ladies. Appreciate it.

All right. For more now on all of this, let's bring in Brett Bruen. He is the president of the Global Situation Room and a former White House Director of Global Engagement under President Obama. Great to see you.

So as you look at all of this and hear from a variety of people, how concerned are you about what people are claiming to see?

BRETT BRUEN, PRESIDENT, GLOBAL SITUATION ROOM: Well, Fred, let's start with the fact that the Biden administration is not doing a great job of reassuring not only the public, but as your reports suggest, local officials, Democratic officials. They have got to get out ahead of this.

They've got to be more transparent about how do we know that these aren't a threat? Simply, you know, saying, well, take our word for it. It isn't a threat, doesn't do it these days. So I think --

WHITFIELD: Meaning what? I mean, how --

BRUEN: -- we've got --

WHITFIELD: -- many more specifications are you, you know, calling on them to provide?

BRUEN: Well, as a former member of the National Security Council, I think you've got to go out with as much information as you can to the public. How did you make that determination? Reassure the public these are the kinds of steps that we're taking to evaluate and also from a both deterrent standpoint, and you heard there, a detection standpoint, because we're getting a lot of reports.

Some of them, in fact, may be drones. Others may, as Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas suggested, be other flying objects, including planes. But we just have to get more information.

WHITFIELD: So, since you, you know, did work during the Obama administration, I'm wondering, I mean, help people understand is this administration caught between, you know, a rock and a hard place, meaning, they don't want to reveal too much about their surveillance or the tools at hand for surveillance, yet at the same time trying to blanketly reassure people that these are not threats. I mean, how can they be more specific without undermining intelligence or surveillance?

BRUEN: Sure, there's part of that, Fred. You don't want to reveal all of the tactics, the methods that you use, because obviously, we've got adversaries or just folks who, quite frankly, like to goof around with drones and fly them near places they shouldn't be.

So you want to hold some of that back. But I think the problem is we're just not getting enough information that people feel like they know what's going on. And so whether it's John Kirby, the spokesperson at the National Security Council, saying, no, you know, there is no foreign threat. Well, OK, you got to give us more than that, because without it, we're going to hear more of these rumors and more of the speculation.

I think the other part, Fred, is we've got to see more action. I'm not seeing enough from the Biden administration showing what they are doing because you've got concern from the governors, from the local officials saying we aren't getting enough.

WHITFIELD: This is how New Jersey lawmaker Erik Peterson sees it. He spoke to CNN this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

ERIK PETERSON, NEW JERSEY ASSEMBLYMAN - DISTRICT 23: We don't have street lights. We don't have anything. It gets dark at night. You can see very clearly we're not in any flight path for any airlines or other craft.

[12:10:06]

And you can look up in the sky and see these drones. And the way that they're moving, they move forward, they stop, they hover, they move sideways, they stop, they hover, they move backwards. So they're just lying to us that there are -- we're not seeing what we're seeing. And more importantly, they're lying to us that it's not a safety threat.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

WHITFIELD: He says they are being lied to. Would you go that far?

BRUEN: No, look, I think we -- and we need to see more responsibility on all sides here. Local officials have to not generate that level of fever pitch in the anxiety. I also think we have to see more responsibility, including from the next president, when it comes to dumb ideas like, let's just shoot them down.

Because as was suggested in that piece, you know, you're going to have these objects, some of them very large objects, flying and falling from the sky. That's going to put a lot of not only people, buildings, infrastructure, power lines at risk.

So everyone needs to calm down. Everyone needs to get more information. And then let's stop just, you know, suggesting that people take matters into their own hands and start shooting at these objects.

WHITFIELD: All right, Brett Bruen, we'll leave it there for now. Thank you so much.

BRUEN: You bet.

WHITFIELD: All right, still ahead this hour, President-elect Donald Trump and his allies are heading to Maryland for the annual Army-Navy football game. Details on the controversial guests set to join them.

Plus, 1.5 million people under ice storm warnings as a dangerous winter storm sweeps across the Midwest.

And a stunning admission. The woman who accused Duke lacrosse players of rape back in 2006, now saying it was all a lie. Why she now says she is changing her story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:16:36] WHITFIELD: All right, President-elect Donald Trump is soon to head to Maryland for the 125th Army-Navy football game, which kicks off in just a few hours. This is the fifth time Trump will have attended the clash between the nation's service academies. It's also the first time in over a decade that America's game is being played back in the shadow of the nation's capital.

CNN's Steve Contorno joining us now from West Palm Beach near Trump's Florida home. Steve, what more do we know about Trump attending the game and what kind of role might he be playing?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Fred, he will be joined by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who himself is a Navy veteran. And it's also someone who has been at times at odds with Donald Trump. Obviously, they ran against each other for the Republican nomination, but also someone lately he has considered as a potential replacement if Pete Hegseth's nomination falters.

Now, some of that chatter has subsided in recent days, but it's still interesting to see these two together at such a stage. And he will also be joined by his Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, who invited to the game Daniel Penny. He is the former Marine who was acquitted this week on charges in Manhattan that over the case where he fatally choked a homeless person to death, has become somewhat of a contentious figure, someone who has been celebrated by the right and vilified by the left.

And J.D. Vance posting on social media about inviting Penny saying, quote, "I hope he's able to have fun and appreciate how much his fellow citizens admire his courage". Fred?

WHITFIELD: OK. And then Trump's inauguration, just over a month away, he's getting some financial help from some tech giants. What's that all about?

CONTORNO: Yes, the warming between Donald Trump and Silicon Valley continues. Take a look at all the individuals who have given him and his train -- excuse me, his inauguration fund a million dollars. They include Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, Mark Zuckerberg's Meta, and as well, Jeff Bezos, who we just found out the Amazon founder gave him $1 million as well.

And obviously, some really interesting names because Trump has clashed at times with The Washington Post, who Jeff Bezos owns. Also, Sam Altman is someone who has had a contentious relationship with Elon Musk, who has become a very important figure in Donald Trump's orbit.

And also, last night, we learned that Donald Trump dined with Apple CEO Tim Cook, someone who he has had a relationship with over the years. Just showing you how important these tech CEOs feel having a relationship with the former president and now President-elect Donald Trump is, especially given how contentious the relationship has been in the past and how much Donald Trump has criticized the tech sector over what he said has been unfair treatment of him.

But now, given how important Trump and the role he will play in regulating these industries going forward, we don't really know what his plan is, for example, of artificial intelligence. So that donation from Sam Altman, really interesting, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Very. All right. Steve Contorno, thank you so much.

All right, coming up, in South Korea, the parliament voted to impeach the president.

[12:20:00]

Members of his own party turning on him after he refused to resign over his attempt to impose martial law. What's next for that country?

And accused killer Luigi Mangione hires a high powered attorney as he faces second degree murder charges in the killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, new today, the White House reaffirming its commitment to South Korea after the parliament voted to impeach its president earlier today, telling CNN in a statement, "We appreciate the resiliency of democracy and the rule of law in the ROK. Our alliance remains ironclad and the United States is committed to the peace and security of the Korean peninsula".

CNN's Ivan Watson has more on today's dramatic events.

[12:25:13]

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Lawmakers in South Korea's National Assembly made history on Saturday. More than two-thirds of them voted to impeach the country's president, Yoon Suk Yeol. The announcement triggered scenes of jubilation outside the grounds of the National Assembly, where a huge crowd of demonstrators had gathered in support of impeachment.

It turned into a giant, freezing cold dance party. Meanwhile, inside the halls of the legislature, here's what one lawmaker told CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a victory of the Korean democracy. The, you know, world is -- has been watching this, but we finally won, even if it's the beginning, but it's a good beginning. So we will go through this with people.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

WATSON: This impeachment vote took place just a week and a half after President Yoon made a surprise announcement that shocked South Korea, declaring emergency martial law. And he deployed soldiers on helicopters to the same National Assembly to try to stop lawmakers from gathering there.

They failed, and the lawmakers managed to vote in the middle of the night to overturn the martial law declaration. So since then, there have been calls to basically prosecute the president and his top aides on charges of insurrection and treason.

His former defense minister is already behind bars. He tried to commit suicide earlier this week. That did not succeed. President Yoon has come out with his own statement saying, quote, "I will stop temporarily for now, but the journey to the future that I've walked with the people for the past two years should not stop. I will not give up".

However, he loses the powers of the presidency. Those now go to his prime minister, who serves as acting president. A constitutional court will have 180 days to decide whether or not to uphold this parliamentary impeachment. And that will then pave the way for elections.

Eight years ago, South Korea impeached another president on corruption charges. She ultimately ended up being prosecuted and ending up behind bars. That could be in President Yoon's future as well.

Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thank you so much, Ivan.

All right, and this just into CNN, the U.S. has been in direct contact with the lead rebel group now in control of Syria. That's according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is on the second day of his Middle East visit. The group known as HTS is a U.S. designated terror group, but that doesn't preclude direct contact with them.

Thousands of Syrians poured into the streets on the first day of Friday prayers since the Assad regime was deposed a week ago.

Joining us now is Frida Ghitis, she is a CNN World Affairs Columnist and a contributing columnist for The Washington Post. Always great to see you. And she's also just written an opinion piece for Politico on the consequences of the Hamas war.

So good to see you. You know, as it pertains to, you know, the Assad regime, for it to crumble like this, how is it that this family, which ruled with brutality, repression and corruption for 50 years, would suddenly crumble?

FRIDA GHITIS, CNN WORLD AFFAIRS COLUMNIST: You know, it's an amazing thing because this family not only ruled for 53 years, there has been a war against Assad, an effort to topple him since 2011, 14 years almost of war, and then suddenly he fell in two weeks.

It's an amazing thing. And I think, you know, obviously there were many factors, but in my view, the most important factor is what was unleashed by Hamas in Gaza, which just goes to show how the law of unintended consequences plays out in the Middle East.

We saw in October, October 7th, 2023, Hamas launched this assault on Israel by -- from all the information we have, from the documents that were found in Hamas's tunnels, they were hoping for an onslaught against Israel from all the proxies of Iran, all their allies, Hezbollah, the Houthis, the Palestinian groups inside of Israel and in the West Bank.

And they expected that there would be a massive regional war against Israel. And what happened was that there was a transformation in the region, but the fire that they started ended up burning all their allies. And it just shows how you can see these elements, one after the other, collapsing.

And, you know, Iran, the patron of Assad, had spent decades putting together this axis of resistance, this network of proxies encircling Israel. And with Hamas's move, basically that entire structure just unraveled, especially when -- when Hezbollah, which is an -- an Iranian proxy in Lebanon, started attacking Israel from Lebanon in -- in support of Hamas. And Israel responded with, you know, devastating assault on -- on Hezbollah. Basically, we remember that the -- the -- the pager explosions and with that, the -- the rebels in Syria had no defense.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Wow. So elaborate on that further, if you don't mind, you know, and the connections here, because in -- in its targeting of Israel last fall, you know, Ham -- Hamas had intended consequences of changing the entire equation. I mean, that's how you write about it. And, you know, the equation has changed, but not quite like it had intended. So give us a little bit more detail on that.

GHITIS: Well, you know, Hezbollah, which is or was the most powerful militia pow -- power, most powerful non-state actor in the entire Middle East, was -- was built up by -- by Iran and it basically took control of much of Lebanon. They were the supporters of Assad during the civil war. They supported Assad alongside Iran and Russia. Russia got in, in 2015.

So when -- when Israel told Iran -- told Hezbollah in Lebanon to stop shelling its -- the northern towns of Israel and -- and Hezbollah didn't -- didn't stop, Israel launched an -- an attack on Hezbollah. It started with, you know, they -- they first launched the -- the -- these kind of science fiction operations where the pagers exploded, the walkie talkies exploded.

And then when -- in a really extraordinary moment, the -- the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, who had -- who been been such a powerful figure in the Middle East, admired, respected, who had helped build up the Houthis, who had helped build up the -- the pro Iran militias in Iraq, suddenly he was also killed.

And the -- the militias in -- in Syria had been waiting for their moment. And that moment came after -- after Hezbollah was basically decimated. And that's why they were able to -- to attack, to go after Assad and -- and succeed so quickly, because Hezbollah was just basically incapable of -- of helping Assad.

Russia is tangled up in -- in Ukraine. Iran is in no position right now to offer a lot of help. And -- and Assad looked very, very weak. His own -- his own army was not -- was not prepared to fight for him. And, you know, as a -- in -- in a really extraordinary turn of events, what Hamas did in Gaza resulted in not just the destruction of -- of this axis of resistance, but the humiliation of Russia, which had made its -- its saving of Assad alongside -- alongside Hezbollah, that inter -- intervention in Syria, it had turned that into a huge boost to its international standing, to its ability to project power.

Russia has -- has or had a couple of very important military bases in Iran, on the Mediterranean Sea, really important for Russia's efforts to -- to launch operations in Africa, for example. Now we don't know what's going to happen with that. It -- it doesn't look like that base is going to survive. Iran -- Iran and Russia suddenly look like patrons that cannot -- cannot defend their client states.

WHITFIELD: Wow. I mean, extraordinary connections there. So now how will these Syrian rebel groups, because right now, collectively, they have to try and keep the peace with each other under this new leadership in Syria. How is that going to happen?

GHITIS: Well, that's, you know, that's -- that's the, you know, the -- the uncertainty that we face now. You know, we've seen the jubilation in Syria. Assad was a brutal -- brutal -- brutal dictator. Half a million people were killed during the civil war, most of them killed by Assad alongside Hezbollah and Russia. But these rebels, you know, we can't ignore the fact that they come, especially the principal one, you know, HTS, Hayat al-Sham, Hayat Tahrir al-Shams, they have their origins in ISIS and al-Qaeda.

We can't just ignore that. But they -- they -- they say that they have changed their stripes, that they want a unified Syria. And that's what we heard the people chanting in the streets yesterday. They were chanting Syria as one. Syria is a country that's made up of many different religions and sects and ethnic groups. We have, you know, Sunnis and Shiites and Alawites and Christians, Druze, Kurds.

You know, the Kurds, who are the biggest, the most important allies of the United States and -- and Syria, they are now facing a pushback from -- from militias allied with Turkey, which is one of the -- the winners so far in this -- in this commotion. So we have to see. So we have to see to what extent the -- the leadership of this -- of this group. The -- the main leader, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, he is -- is he really sincere about his new -- the views that he -- that he claims to espouse now?

[12:35:10]

His -- his parents support for -- for pluralism, respect for other -- other groups. We will see if that happens. If it -- if it doesn't -- if it doesn't, we may see the -- his rival militias start pushing against him and we could see the civil war -- war reignite in Syria, which is something that nobody really wants.

WHITFIELD: Wow. I mean, so appreciate your breadth of knowledge on this. Frida Ghitis, thank you so much.

Up next, she set off a national firestorm in 2006, falsely accusing three Duke lacrosse players of rape. Nearly two decades later, Crystal Mangum admits it was all a lie. Why she's finally coming clean? (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:40:31]

WHITFIELD: All right. This just into CNN, former speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, has had surgery in Germany after a fall yesterday. CNN's Julia Benbrook is at the White House. Julia, what are you learning?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're learning that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had hip replacement surgery earlier today and a representative from her team said that the surgery was successful and that she is well on the mend. This fall happened during an international trip. And according to three sources, Pelosi had to fall on the stairs during that trip. The 84-year-old was medevaced from Luxembourg to Germany and that's where the surgery took place.

She was at a regional medical center -- medical center, that's a major military hospital and for years has treated U.S. troops who were injured in combat. Now her team did expand in this statement. We're going to pull up part of that for you now. They said, quote, Speaker Pelosi is enjoying the overwhelming outpouring of prayers as well wishes and is ever determined to ensure access to quality health care for Americans. What they did not touch on though is how long she may be in the hospital and when she plans to return to work. Fred?

WHITFIELD: Oh my goodness. OK. Well, we are all wishing her well and full recovery. Julia Benbrook at the White House, thank you so much.

All right. The man accused of killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson has retained a high powered attorney. Luigi Mangione, who is now facing a second degree murder charge, will be represented by Karen Friedman Agnifilo. She is a former prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney's office and also served as a CNN legal analyst but has declined to comment on taking the case.

Mangione remains in custody in Pennsylvania on gun related charges as he fights extradition to New York. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said there are indications that Mangione may waive his extradition next week.

And a stunning revelation in a rape case that once captured the nation's attention. Nearly 20 years ago after accusing three Duke University lacrosse players of rape, Crystal Mangum is now coming forward saying she made the whole thing up. In 2006, the three players were arrested. Duke's lacrosse season was cancelled, the coach fired. A year later, with no evidence to back up the accusations, North Carolina's then Attorney General and now Governor Roy Cooper dismissed the charges, but the stigma lingered.

CNN's Rafael Romo is following these developments. Rafael, I mean this was a huge story. This disrupted and impacted a whole lot of lives. So now what? What's been the reaction?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. A lot of repercussions as many of us remember that --

WHITFIELD: Yes.

ROMO: -- because it was just so big and it's a case, Fred, that ignited a national firestorm. It happened in 2006. That's when Crystal Mangum, a then exotic dancer, accused three Duke men's lacrosse players of rape. Now, 18 years later, Mangum says it was all a lie. In an interview for the web show "Let's Talk with Kat," hosted by Katerena DePasquale, Mangum said she testified falsely.

The interview took place at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women, where the 46-year-old woman is serving time for a 2013 second degree murder conviction for stabbing her boyfriend two years before. This is the part of the interview where she asked forgiveness for lying about what truly happened. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRYSTAL MANGUM, ADMITS LYING ABOUT BEING RAPED BY LACROSSE PLAYERS: I testified falsely against them by saying that they raped me when they didn't and that was wrong. I hope that they can forgive me and I want them to know that I love them and they didn't deserve that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann, the three then Duke University students who were wrongly accused, paid a heavy price for Mangum's lies. The three were arrested following the woman's allegations of sexual assault at a party. Their lacrosse team was forced to cancel its 2006 season and their coach, Mike Pressler, lost his job as a result. A year later, in 2007, the state's then Attorney General, Roy Cooper, now North Carolina's governor, reviewed the case and exonerated the three men who reached the settlement with Duke University after the charges were dropped. Asked about this new development, Governor Cooper said it was important for him to get to the bottom of the case when he worked on it back then.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[12:45:07]

GOV. ROY COOPER (D-NC): As Attorney general, it was important for me to take that case from the local prosecutor, do an investigation to find the real truth. It is why I dismissed the charges and took the extra step to declare those players innocence of those alleged crimes. That's why I did that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: Now, Jim Cooney, one of the former players lawyers at the time, told the AP that Mangum's allegations caused an enormous tornado of destruction for countless people involved, including the accused men who were wrongly vilified nationally as, in his words, racially motivated rapists. It's going to be a part of their biography for the rest of their lives and part of their obituaries, Cooney said of the three men.

We reached out to the three former Duke University lacrosse players, but we haven't heard back from them so far and nobody would blame them if they didn't want to talk about it after so much that's happened.

WHITFIELD: Oh my gosh. I mean, it was -- it was an incredible set of allegations and investigation and story at the time. And one can only imagine what their lives have been like.

ROMO: Right.

WHITFIELD: The lives of all these people involved and many whose names we don't know, but we're intricately involved in some way in this journey. Incredible. All right, Rafael Roma, thank you so much.

All right. Still to come, for the first time in recorded history, downtown San Francisco experiences a tornado warning. A look at the latest forecast after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:51:18]

WHITFIELD: All right, we're watching a new storm system that is now threatening to bring not only bone chilling cold to much of the Midwest today. The National Weather Service is now issuing an ice storm warning as well. CNN's Elisa Raffa is tracking this new weather threat. Oh, just in time for that holiday travel, huh?

ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. And ice storms are so dangerous --

WHITFIELD: Yes.

RAFFA: Because it's hard to see, you know, where that ice is accumulating. It can look like not a lot, but it's incredibly slick. So here are the alerts across the Midwest, the core of the ice storm warning for parts of east and southeast Iowa, from Waterloo down to Ottumwa, Davenport, the Quad cities where we've had ice accumulation more than a quarter inch. Again, it's a quarter inch of just ice on trees, on roads, on power lines. That gets heavy. It weighs things down, causes some problem, especially if there's some wind involved as well. So Ottumwa, over a third of an inch there of some of that ice.

So you can see the rain and there's all that pink where you have some of that warmer air upstairs in the atmosphere that's able to melt some of that what would be snow into some of that ice and get you that freezing rain deals with borderline temperatures. When you're kind of borderline around freezing, it's 29 degrees in Davenport, 33 in Ottumwa. And again, that's where you kind of get the borderline conditions of some of the freezing rain and this fleet.

We'll continue with some more minor ice accumulations as we go through the rest of the day. And then it shifts to the east. This whole storm system moves east and takes additional rain and icy conditions into the Appalachian Mountains.

As we go into the rest of the weekend, you can see some of that snow across parts of Pennsylvania and then some of that icy rain. You already have some winter alerts there from Roanoke up towards Pittsburgh where we could have some additional snow and again, maybe some icy conditions.

WHITFIELD: Real winter is now upon us. All right, Elisa, thank you so much.

All right. The countdown to kickoff is officially on. Army-Navy, and if we say any more, it's the 125th gridiron clash between these two historic service academies. It's about honor, it's about duty, and let's be honest, it's a little bit about some trash talking. CNN's Coy Wire is live for us in Landover, Maryland, ahead of today's matchup. He doesn't do the trash talking, but a lot of the players and the fans will be. How are you doing?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: No doubt about it. Great, Fredricka. The 34th President of the United States, Dwight Eisenhower, who played for Army West Point, said Army and Navy are the best of friends 364 and a half days of the year. But this one Saturday afternoon, they are the worst of enemies. This rivalry is loaded with tradition and pageantry.

One of the more recent and fun traditions has become the special uniforms made specifically for this game. Navies will honor the Jolly Rogers aviation unit with their iconic skull and crossbones, insignia, coloring and striping that represent the iconic look of the Jolly Rogers aircraft. The Jolly Rogers are celebrated as the most lethal and history rich squadron in the U.S. Navy. Fear the bones can be seen on the collar.

Now armies, they'll honor the 101st Airborne Division. Nearly 80 years ago, the Screaming Eagles raced into the town of Bastogne in response to the Nazi offensive that became known as the Battle of the Bulge. Encircling -- encircled by enemy forces, they endured three weeks of relentless close combat and freezing cold weather. These players love honoring those who've come before them.

Now, another great tradition is the prisoner exchange. Six midshipmen and cadets from each academy, they're exchange students each year and they're swapped back just before Army Navy game. Navy midshipman Tucker Smith has been at younger brother Cooper's Army West Point this semester as part of the exchange program. I asked Tucker what it was like being in enemy territory at his younger brother's school. Listen.

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[12:55:04]

TUCKER SMITH, U.S. NAVAL ACADEMY CLASS OF 2026: It's incredible. You got to spend a semester at the second best service academy in the nation with the second best service academy football team. Yes, it was terrific. Good to hang out with my brother over here.

WIRE: What's it mean for you guys to take part in this one of these awesome traditions of this game?

COOPER SMITH, ARMY WEST POINT CLASS OF 2027: Well, I think it having family on both sides of it really makes it a lot more meaningful because you got, you know, the service academy is competing in like a good friendly competition with the game, but really it's all about like, serving the country and like, putting yourself out there with the team. And, but having a brother on the other side, that -- that makes it all the more meaningful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: House divided. You heard that -- that trash talking you were talking about, but also a little bit and a lot of that respect, Fredricka. Ten sitting U.S. Presidents have attended Army-Navy game. President-elect Donald Trump scheduled to attend Vice President-elect J.D. Vance representing the U.S. Marine Corps, many other dignitaries celebrating this -- this game kickoff for one of the greatest sporting spectacles in the world just hours away.

WHITFIELD: Yes, a lot of excitement. Can't wait. All right, Coy Wire, in the middle of it all, thank you so much.

All right, when we come back, more on the search for the source of mysterious drones as more sightings are reported in the New York area. Now the state's governor is saying this has gone too far. Stay with us.

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