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More Mystery Drone Sightings In New Jersey, New York, Connecticut Area; Daniel Penny To Attend Army-Navy Game As VP-Elect JD Vance's Guest; NY State Senator Makes Case For Becoming DNC Chair; American Couple Killed By Gunmen While Visiting Mexico; CNN Goes Inside Syrian Prison After Assad's Fall; Growing Number Of Moms Don't Trust Government On Food, Vax Safety. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired December 14, 2024 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[18:00:58]
JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean in New York, and people all over the northeast are demanding answers as they look up at the sky. What is going on with these mysterious sightings of drones flying overhead?
Federal officials keep saying they are not a threat to public safety or to National Security, but that has not stopped angry demands for answers as more lawmakers and police report sightings.
President-elect Donald Trump has said the public has a right to know or he says it is time to start shooting them out of the sky.
Our Gloria Pazmino is joining us now with more on this, and Gloria, this isn't just everyday people demanding answers, although there are plenty of those, elected officials, local officials also sound angry as well, and yet, no one really can say what is going on here.
GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jessica, it really is as I said earlier today, an evolving mystery. It gets a little bit more strange as the day goes on, and as you said, people from governors to local state lawmakers to mayors and other lawmakers are asking for answers. I should say, even though the current president- elect suggested that these things should be shot out from the sky. There is a lot of law enforcement personnel and public officials who have warned against doing exactly that.
There is actually quite a bit of bad things that could happen if you actually shoot one of these things out of the sky. Some of them are reported to be quite large and could create fires should they be -- should they happen to fall or certainly injure people when they -- if they come crashing down.
Now, here in New York, we have seen several reports of these drones throughout the last several days. The governor, Governor Kathy Hochul here said that last night a local airfield had to shut down its airspace after reported drone sightings over the area. This happened in Orange County, and she too, is calling for federal officials to step in and do more to respond, but specifically to provide the public with some answers about what is going on here. Now, to that end, we heard from some of those federal officials earlier today during a call with officials who are working on their response to these drone sightings and while they tried to say that there is still nothing to worry about, that these do not pose a danger to the public, they said that it is still not known to them whether or not there is a criminal element to these, or if they are actually malicious.
I want you to take a listen to a local state official from New Jersey, another state where sightings have been reported, talking about what he has witnessed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIK PETERSON (R), NEW JERSEY ASSEMBLYMAN, DISTRICT 23: They are lying. Now, why? Why would you lie? Either because the reason that this is happening is incredibly embarrassing to the administration, or it is an incredibly high risk -- security risk for the country and they don't want to tell us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAZMINO: So that is essentially a lot of what the frustration has been sounding like from governors to mayors and assembly people across the tristate area. The fact that they are not feeling like the federal government is being forthcoming with information.
Six states in total have been reporting drone sightings, including Massachusetts, Virginia, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, all of them have reported these sightings in the last several days. Federal officials, again trying to reinforce the fact that there is nothing to worry about, that they do not pose a national threat of any kind. But at the same time, that they are investigating to try and understand exactly what is behind it.
In the meantime, local officials here in New York and in other states calling for federal legislation to be passed so that state and local authorities can do more in order to respond to these reported sightings -- Jessica.
[18:05:10]
DEAN: All right, Gloria Pazmino with the latest, thank you for that.
Since Donald Trump's victory last month, West Palm Beach has become the center of the political universe.
CNN's Steve Contorno is there. He is joining us now with the latest.
We know Trump, Steve is headed back to Mar-a-Lago as he left the Army- Navy game just a few moments ago. He attended that game with the Vice President-elect JD Vance, but also with Pete Hegseth, his pick for Secretary of Defense. What else can you tell us about the dynamics today?
STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Yes, very public show of support by Donald Trump for his embattled Secretary of Defense pick, Pete Hegseth, someone who has gone through a very grueling week of meetings on Capitol Hill.
Trump standing by his side, even amid allegations of sexual assault, and also new information on his past views about women serving in combat roles, as well as gays in the military and this show of support by having him in attendance today with him at the Army-Navy game certainly a sign that Trump will continue to stand by his side in the immediate future.
Other people of note at the game in the box with Donald Trump include House Speaker Mike Johnson, incoming Majority Leader of the Senate John Thune, also Daniel Penny. He was the ex-Marine who was acquitted this week on charges related to fatally choking a homeless man to death on the New York Subway. He also was spotted in Trump's box as well. He has become sort of a figure that Republicans and conservatives have rallied around, while some on the left have criticized him and the justice system for letting him off for what happened in New York earlier this year.
DEAN: And Steve, on his way there, Trump also announcing some new appointments. What more can you tell us about those?
CONTORNO: Yes, literally from the air, Donald Trump named some close advisers and allies to some key roles, including Troy Edgar. He is an IBM executive who will be Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security. He previously worked in the Department of Homeland Security, so he is very familiar with that agency.
Also, he is someone who contributed to Project 2025, that controversial playbook for Trump's second term that he tried to distance himself from during the campaign, but continues to pull people from to fill his administration. Also, Devin Nunes, he is the former chair of the House Intelligence Committee who will have a role on the Intelligence Advisory Board.
It is an interesting pick because he also has some conflicts of interest, just like many of Trump's choices, he is the current CEO of Truth Social, the social media website that Donald Trump launched after leaving the White House, and now, he will stay in that role and also be advising the president-elect on National Security issues.
And then finally, Bill White. He is going to be the ambassador to Belgium. He is a longtime Trump donor, someone who helped fundraise for him not only during this most recent campaign, Jessica, but also after the 2020 election, when Donald Trump was trying to raise money to fight and pay for his legal bills related to trying to overturn the election.
DEAN: All right, Steve Contorno for us there in Florida, thank you so much for that. We appreciate it.
As republicans prepare to take control of both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, Democrats are going back to the drawing board, and with that, my next guest believes he has the playbook to lead Democrats out of the political wilderness in which they now find themselves. New York State Senator James Skoufis is vying to become the next chair of the Democratic National Committee, and he joins us now.
Thanks so much for being here with us. I just want to start with a simple question of why you?
JAMES SKOUFIS (D), NEW YORK STATE SENATOR: Thanks for having me, Jessica.
The reason why I am running is because the single most important thing that the next DNC chair must do is throw out the old stale DC playbook where we basically light money on fire, give way too many resources to the DC consultant class, the folks I am referring to is the cocktail circuit in Washington, and the best way to do that is to bring in an outsider who is aggressive and knows how to win.
And so I come from a district that Donald Trump just won by 12 percentage points while I was re-elected by 14. I am a fresh perspective, a new generation. I don't have the years' long relationships at the DNC like some of my competitors, but I view that as a positive. I will be able to tell the folks who should have been told no a long time ago that we are going to be doing things differently moving forward.
DEAN: And what would that look like? I hear you on bringing in fresh voices, telling people no, but practically, what is your prescription?
[18:10:00]
SKOUFIS: Yes, so one big example that I am campaigning heavily on is I believe that every single vendor contract, for example, at the DNC, should be allowed to expire from the office supplies up to the seven- eight figure deals with consultants, and the reason for that is, a lot of these deals are not based on value or not based on what is being provided to the Democratic Party, but are friends of a friend of a congressman or folks who are otherwise just well connected to the national party.
That has got to stop, and we've got to send a lot more of those resources to the folks in the trenches, the state committees, the county committees, our allies in organized labor. These are the party faithful who are actually able to human-to-human talk to folks and get them back under our once big Democratic tent.
DEAN: And look, it is interesting because running to be the chair of a national party is about as political as it gets. It is a pretty -- to your point, it is pretty insider-y and it requires a lot of relationships around the country, also in DC as well, and you're based here in New York State as a state senator, how do you compensate for maybe a lack of national relationships? Or maybe you think you have the right ones?
SKOUFIS: So certainly between now and February 1st, when the election is, I will be around the country and certainly talking to the 448 DNC members who get a vote on this nonstop. I was in Arizona last week. I just got back from Washington. I was in Boston a few days ago, but it has been a heartening to see that so many of the DNC members understand they know we have to do this differently.
We can't just go with another operative. We can't just go with another product of a party machine. They realize, given the circumstances here, we need to do things differently within the DNC and the National Democratic Party, so the message has been resonating.
Obviously, I am introducing myself to basically anyone who is outside of New York at this point. But so far, the message has been received exceptionally, positively well and I am going to be working hard to earn all the support that I can of those 448.
DEAN: And listen, there are a lot of questions right now. I don't have to tell you, a lot of questions within the Democratic Party that members are wrestling with. What is the best way forward? What values do you cling to? How might you evolve to really speak more effectively to the American people?
And, you know, you can kind of splice it out, this demographic or that demographic, but the fact is, Trump and Republicans really did gain with almost all demographics in this last election.
So how do you start to turn that around in terms of messaging and what values you would be focusing on?
SKOUFIS: Well, we have to recenter to the working class, which is where the Democratic Party has historically always been centered, and we've lost sight of that.
You know, look, everyone knows where the two parties stand on abortion. I don't know that we needed to be spending hundreds of millions of dollars sending out 15 mailers a day in battleground states to talk about an issue that people know where we all stand on.
We should have been using many of those resources to talk about the bread and butter -- affordability, public safety issues that were top of mind for voters that we just weren't leaning as hard into. But make no mistake, I think we have gotten into this, you know, fall into this trap sometimes as Democrats of telling people how to think, telling people how to feel.
We spent the majority of the past four years telling folks the economy was doing well, when in fact they go to the supermarket and see for themselves with their own two eyes, in their opinion, it was not.
And so we've got to stop pushing these sort of white paper talking points onto folks, do a lot less lecturing and a lot more listening. What it really comes down to, reorienting this National Democratic Party again to focus on the working class, the firefighters, the Teamsters.
So many of our traditional allies did not endorse our top of the ticket this past cycle, and the reason for that is we've lost sight of our roots and our roots have always been the middle class and working class. That's where we've got to get back to.
DEAN: All right, New York State Senator James Skoufis, thank you so much for being here with us. We really appreciate it.
SKOUFIS: Thank you.
DEAN: An American couple's vacation in Mexico ends in violence after armed gunmen opened fire on them. We will have more on that story next in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:19:09]
DEAN: President-elect Trump spent much of his afternoon at the Army- Navy football game, flanked by some of his Cabinet picks, including his selection for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and his choice for Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Both are controversial picks who have been working the Hill this week trying to shore up support ahead of what could be uphill confirmation battles.
Joining us now is Toluse Olorunnipa, the Washington bureau chief of "The Washington Post," and Shelby Talcott, a reporter at Semafor.
Good to see both of you guys.
Toluse, let's start first with you and just the optics of who is there with Trump at this game when he knows all eyes will be on him and who is in that box?
TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Yes, president, the former president and the president-elect is someone who is very well aware of how the media covers him and what it looks like to have people around him.
[18:20:01]
He knows that the cameras will be on the box where he is spending his time, and he wants to have the people that he is showing support for very close to him.
When it comes to the former president -- when it comes to the president-elect, proximity is key. He is someone who, if you're close to him, if you're able to be the last person in the room, not only do you have influence with him, you also sort of have the backing of people who are watching his every move to know what he is thinking.
And so for Pete Hegseth, who has been embattled for these past several weeks, to be right there next to the president-elect in the box, it is a sign of support, it is a sign that President Trump has not left Pete Hegseth to fight for himself, that he is continuing to support him, that he is continuing to show up on his behalf.
Just a couple of weeks ago, there was all of these talks and rumors about, you know, the former president, the president-elect bringing Marco Rubio as his Secretary of State and Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida to this game and having them be the people that are close to him and potentially even having Governor DeSantis as the new pick for the Defense Secretary.
So it is clear that President Trump is supporting Pete Hegseth. He wants to showcase that he has his full backing, and these images are a pretty clear indication of where President Trump's head is and where he is going to be spending his political capital in the weeks ahead.
DEAN: And Shelby, look we had both of them up on the Hill, Hegseth and Gabbard this past week. They are definitely -- they've been meeting with a lot of senators. What have you heard? And what is your sense about how those meetings are going and you know, just how much of a challenge it might be to get through a confirmation hearing?
SHELBY TALCOTT, REPORTER, SEMAFOR: Yes. Listen, lawmakers on the Hill are well aware that they have the power in this instance and they are using that, and so we aren't seeing, you know, vast support and everybody coming out in support of these candidates. But at the same time, Donald Trump's team is sort of chipping away, and that's their goal here.
And, you know, I've talked to Donald Trump's campaign and his transition team who have quietly argued that part of the reason that they are really pushing for some of these candidates to get through, like Pete and Tulsi is because, of course, they've already lost somebody like Matt Gaetz and there is a risk if they lose a second major candidate, that the floodgates will sort of open with some of these more moderate Republicans, and so, they really don't want that to happen.
And it does seem like they are making small lee ways with some of these lawmakers who are a little bit critical or a little bit unsure about some of these more controversial picks.
DEAN: Toluse, I also want to talk about President Biden and the pardons that he just granted. What has been the kind of the reaction to all of that, and we are expecting to get more, is that right?
OLORUNNIPA: Yes. The White House has previewed even more pardons and commutations before President Biden leaves office. Now, the big part in that was the most controversial over the past couple of weeks was the pardon of his son, Hunter, and people were saying that he is going to pardon his son, why isn't he offering that same kind of clemency to people who are deserving, people who have been in jail for nonviolent offenses?
And then we saw this past week, President Biden issued a pretty large number of pardons, the largest number on any single day of a president for a number of people who had nonviolent offenses, people who had already completed pretty significant terms in prison, people who had shown that they turned their lives around.
I would expect that the next batch of pardons would be a similar kind of group, and that we would see more of these pardons as President Biden gets closer to leaving office. Now, there may also be some controversial pardons towards the end, as most presidents do. Sometimes they are friends, sometimes people who have influence with them end up getting pardons at the last minute. They save those pardons to the very end because they know they can be controversial. They know they can get blowback.
President Biden doesn't have a lot of friends that have spent time in prison or that have records, but I wouldn't be surprised if you know someone beyond just his son gets a pardon that leads to some controversy, including the idea of preemptive pardons for people who have not even been charged yet, that's something that President Biden is also considering as well.
DEAN: Yes, and of course, that that is one that there is a lot of opinions on, Shelby. The question of potential preemptive pardons, some people who would be -- you know, whose names have been floated said they don't want one. Others, I think, have said that, you know, why not? What is your sense around that?
TALCOTT: Yes. I mean, I think listen, you've heard from Donald Trump's campaign who have pushed back on the idea that they will be going after their political enemies, despite Donald Trump's rhetoric during the campaign. But Donald Trump's rhetoric during the campaign is why we are seeing that sort of a concern.
And so it wouldn't surprise me if Joe Biden ends up pardoning -- preemptively pardoning some of these folks. It has been done before, and so it wouldn't necessarily be out of the realm of possibility, in my opinion. We will have to wait and see, but it is based on those alleged concerns, based on what Donald Trump has said during the campaign over the last two years.
[18:25:07]
DEAN: And Toluse, just the politics -- you kind of brushed up against this, but just the politics around that whole issue.
You have Democrats who certainly, you know, on preemptive pardons, but also the pardoning of his son. You know, you have Democrats who were critical of the pardoning of his son, you know, some that are pushing for preemptive pardons, some that aren't. It really has, again, hit a nerve within the Democratic Party itself.
OLORUNNIPA: And this is not something that is unifying the party and as an outgoing president, you want to leave with a party unified behind you. But right now, the party is riven by not only President Biden's presidency, the choice that he made to run for re-election, and the fact that his presidency has led to Donald Trump coming back into office.
But some of these last minute decisions about whether or not to have preemptive pardons, what his presidency will ultimately mean for the rule of law, these are the kinds of things that Democrats are agonizing over, because they are worried that Trump is going to come in and use his own platform, his own version of the rule of law, and they don't want anything that Biden does to help Donald Trump in that effort by offering preemptive pardons, even the pardon of Hunter Biden, his son, that has led to some people on the right saying now President Trump has the opportunity to give pardons to the January 6th rioters and a number of other people that are close to him.
And so this idea of the rule of law being something that Democrats campaigned on in 2020 and 2024, and now it seems to be a talking point that they don't have as much ability to make, in part because of the actions of the president that has left a lot of Democrats with a bad taste in their mouth and a lot of agony about the legacy of Joe Biden.
DEAN: All right, Toluse and Shelby, thank you so much for being here. We appreciate it.
We will have more when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:31:17]
DEAN: Today, a mass will be held in Mexico's Michoacan state for a California couple shot and killed on Wednesday. The State Department says Rafael and Gloria Cardona were visiting family at the time of that shooting. Their three children were not with them at the time. CNN's Camila Bernal is joining us now.
And Camila, what do we know about this couple and also this attack?
CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So this California couple, Jess, they went to Michoacan on November 30th, and they went to a specific region called Angamacutiro. And we know that authorities say that when they were gunned down, Gloria died at the scene and Rafael Cardona was taken to the hospital but shortly pronounced dead.
You mentioned their three children. We know they were not with them at the time of the shooting, but they are in Mexico, at least the two young ones who are still minors, and authorities saying that they are with extended family. They are also in touch with their adult daughter, the State Department is. So we know that there is communication and there is this investigation both on the Mexican part and on the American side.
We also know that Rafael Cardona's brother spoke to Mexican officials describing the fact that Rafael Cardona's brother-in-law is a local government official there in that area. And he actually took that job after his predecessor was kidnapped and killed. So you see sort of the violence and the connection there. And his brother saying that they were using the van that belonged to the brother-in-law to that government official there in Mexico. But Mexican officials not confirming the motive behind the shooting just yet, Jess.
DEAN: All right. And Camila, does this - tell me a little bit more about that region. I know you touched on that, but tell us a little bit more.
BERNAL: Yes. Unfortunately, this is a region where you have a lot of gangs and a lot of cartels and cartel activity. According to the InSight Crime report, this area is known for growing avocados. But what happens is that the drug traffickers force a lot of these farmers to grow marijuana and other drugs. We also know that the Michoacan area has almost twice the homicide rate of Mexico, of all of Mexico.
And Mexico is actually one of the highest in the world when it comes to that homicide rate, so just staggering and surprising numbers coming out of that area. About 100,000 people in Mexico are missing. Nobody knows and there is no explanation as to where these people are. In this case, we know who they are. We know what happened. But the family, of course, wanting to know why as they held that mass in Michoacan today. But again, just waiting for a lot of those answers, Jess.
DEAN: Indeed. All right, Camila Bernal, thank you very much.
BERNAL: Thank you.
DEAN: Still ahead tonight, freedom for thousands of Syrians who've spent months, sometimes years held in the country's secret prisons. CNN's Clarissa Ward gives us an exclusive look inside one of those notorious prisons, that's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:38:50]
DEAN: Syria's interim government says it's ready to work with the U.S. to locate Americans who went missing during the Assad regime. And that includes journalist Austin Tice, who was abducted in 2012 and was believed to be held by the Syrian government. Tice's whereabouts are still unknown, but a week after the collapse of the Assad regime, prisoners are still being found. CNN's Clarissa Ward takes us inside a secret prison in Damascus, where people had been held captive under Assad's brutal dictatorship.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Deep in the belly of the regime's Air Force Intelligence Headquarters --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WARD (on camera): These are English letters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WARD (voice over): ... we are hoping to find traces of Austin Tice, an American journalist held captive in Syria since 2012. It's one of many secret prisons across the city. This specific branch was tasked with surveillance, arrest and killing of all regime critics.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are all cleaned up.
(END VIDEO CLIP) WARD (voice over): We don't find any hints of Tice but come across something extraordinary.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't tell, though. It might just be a blanket, but it's the only cell that's locked.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is he going to shoot it?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WARD (voice over): The guard makes us turn the camera off while he shoots the lock off the cell door.
[18:40:03]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lights up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WARD (voice over): We go in to get a closer look. It's still not clear if there is something under the blanket.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WARD (off camera): Oh, it moved. Is there someone there? I thought I saw it move. Is someone there? Or is it just a blanket? I don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Touch it. There is someone. Hello?
WARD: Okay, let me just (INAUDIBLE) --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I told you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's okay. It's okay. It's okay.
WARD: It's okay.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's okay. It's okay.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Journalist, journalist, journalist, journalist.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WARD (voice over): "I'm a civilian," he says. "I'm a civilian."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's okay. It's okay.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language). UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's okay. It's okay.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WARD (voice over): He tells the fighter he's from the city of Homs and has been in the cell for three months.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Okay.
WARD (on camera): Okay. You're okay.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language).
WARD: You're okay. You're okay. You're okay.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language) --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WARD (voice over): He clutches my arm tightly with both hands.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language) --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language) --
WARD (on camera): Okay. Does anyone have any water? Water?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language) --
WARD (off camera): (Foreign language), okay, it's water. It's water. Okay, okay, okay. You're okay.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language) --
WARD: You're okay. You're okay.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WARD (voice over): We start to walk him outside. "Thank God you are safe. Don't be afraid," the fighter says. "You are free."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language) --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language) --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WARD (voice over): "This is the third prison they brought me to," he says, "the third prison." After three months in a windowless cell, he can finally see the sky.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language) --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language) --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WARD (voice over): "Oh, God, the light," he says. "Oh, God, there is light. My God there is light."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WARD (on camera): Okay. Okay. Sit, sit, sit. Okay. You're okay.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language) --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WARD (voice over): "Stay with me, stay with me," he repeats again and again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WARD (on camera): Okay.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language) --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language) --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WARD (voice over): "For three months, I didn't know anything about my family," he says. I didn't hear anything about my children."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language) --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language) --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WARD (voice over): The fighter hands him something to eat, barely lift it to his mouth.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language) --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language) --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WARD (voice over): But his body can't handle it. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WARD (on camera): Okay. You're okay.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WARD (voice over): His captors fled during the fall of Damascus, leaving him with no food or water, that was at least four days ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language) --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language) --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WARD (voice over): "I'm shaking. My face is shaking," he says. The rebel tells him there's no more army, no more prisons, no more checkpoints.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language) --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WARD (voice over): "Are you serious?" He says.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language) --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language) --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WARD (voice over): "Suria hura, Syria is free," he tells him. It's the first time he has heard those words.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language) --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language) --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WARD (voice over): He tells us his name is Adil Khurbal (ph) and that officers from the much feared Mukhabarat Intelligence Services took him from his home and began interrogating him about his phone.
"They brought me here to Damascus. They asked me about names of terrorists," he says.
"Did they hit you," the fighter asked. "Yes, yes," he says. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language) --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WARD (voice over): As a paramedic arrives, the shock sets in. "There's nothing. Everything's okay. The Red Crescent is coming to help you," this man assures him. "You are safe. Don't be afraid anymore. Everything you are afraid of is gone."
Tens of thousands of Syrians have disappeared in Assad's prisons. Up until 15 minutes ago, Adil Khurbal (ph) was one of them. He is still petrified.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language) --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language) --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WARD (voice over): "Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid," the ambulance worker reassures him. "Every car I got into, they blindfolded me," he says.
It is the end of a very dark chapter for him and for all of Syria. But so many ghosts remain.
Clarissa Ward, CNN, Damascus.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[18:45:03]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:49:40]
DEAN: President-elect Trump announcing Robert F. Kennedy, his pick to be the nation's top health official, will investigate unfounded claims linking vaccines to autism. Trump saying, quote, "We're going to have a big discussion. The autism rate is at a level that nobody ever believed possible. If you look at things that are happening, there's something causing it."
[18:50:00]
But Trump also said this when it comes to eliminating childhood vaccination programs, quote, I think, "It could, if I think it's dangerous, if I think they are not beneficial, but I don't think it's going to be very controversial in the end."
Despite long-established scientific evidence that vaccines do not cause autism, there are many Americans excited about Kennedy's nomination. And as CNN's Meena Duerson reports, it's not just because of his views on vaccines.
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ZEN HONEYCUTT, MOMS ACROSS AMERICA: Hey, chickens. And that's George Clooney, the rooster.
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MEENA DUERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Zen Honeycutt moved to this farm because she wanted to be able to grow her own food.
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HONEYCUTT: My kids can now eat eggs from our chickens and milk from our goats, even though they used to have those allergies. That just goes to show you, it's not the food. It's what's been done to the food.
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DUERSON (voice over): Her crusade against the food industry started 12 years ago.
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HONEYCUTT: So I was like millions of Moms Across America dealing with allergies and autoimmune issues. I was a very stressed out mother because I thought my kids could die from food. It wasn't until 2012 when I learned about GMOs in the food supply and I was like, this has got to be it.
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DUERSON (voice over): Honeycutt founded Moms Across America.
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HONEYCUTT: Hi, boys.
BOYS: Hi.
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DUERSON (voice over): She's the nonprofit's primary employee and rallies a grassroots network to, quote, raise awareness about toxic exposure from genetically modified foods or GMOs to pesticides.
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HONEYCUTT: I mean, there's a saying goes that a worried mom does better research than the FBI.
DUERSON (on camera): So for you, it's all connected. HONEYCUTT: Yes, it's all connected. Yes. It's vaccines. It's GMOs. It's glyphosate. According to many scientists, National Vaccine Information Center, Bobby Kennedy, the vaccines are actually weakening the kid's immune systems.
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DUERSON (voice over): By Bobby Kennedy, she means Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. He's a former adviser to Moms Across America and has been nominated to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
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DUERSON (on camera): What was your reaction when you saw that President Trump had named him to this incoming position?
HONEYCUTT: I cried. Many other people cried. We were so excited.
Guys, it's happening.
I was, you know, had been a lifelong Democrat.
DUERSON: In this election, did you end up voting Republican?
HONEYCUTT: Yes. I think a lot of our moms didn't necessarily just like run to the right. They felt abandoned by the left.
And when the right said, hey, we're here for you on health freedom, they said that's something that I can align with.
DUERSON: Could another candidate down the line win you back?
HONEYCUTT: Absolutely.
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DUERSON (voice over): Honeycutt now says she's in talks with Kennedy's team about a potential role in the administration.
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HONEYCUTT: There's the Capitol behind me.
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DUERSON (voice over): She's no stranger to Washington. She's been coming to Capitol Hill to advocate for food safety issues for years.
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HONEYCUTT: I don't care if somebody's a Democrat or a Republican, I am visiting them.
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DUERSON (voice over): In 2022, Moms Across America had a lab test, 43 samples from school lunches in 15 states and found detectable levels of chemicals, including the weed killer glyphosate, though below the thresholds deemed unsafe by the EPA.
She brought the data to lawmakers like Sen. Cory Booker, who this fall sponsored the Safe School Meals Act.
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SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): This is a crisis.
HONEYCUTT: Thanks, Hockey Mama (ph). Yes, we do think we rock. We know you rock as well.
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DUERSON (voice over): She spreads the word about her work on social media and her podcast.
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HONEYCUTT: Welcome to the new MDs.
And I'm thrilled to be the M of the new MDs, one of them, anyway. We're all moms here. Many people concerned from the Democrats that the new administration will get rid of health care.
If Kennedy is able to do what he wants to do at the head of the HHS, we won't even need health care. I'm saying we won't be going to the doctors because we won't be sick.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need to get rid of the concept of mandating the vaccines in order to attend school, I believe.
HONEYCUTT: Well, I think the next administration is going to be on board with you with that.
DUERSON (on camera): The claims that you and your group are making, the CDC and the FDA are saying that vaccines are safe. They say that the schedule for kids is safe. The EPA, the FDA and the USDA say that GMOs are safe. The EPA says that glyphosate is safe in the levels that they've approved. The NIH says vaccines do not cause autism. That doesn't move you at all.
HONEYCUTT: No, absolutely not, because I know even though these governmental say that GMOs and vaccines are safe, I have seen too much independent science to say that they are not. Let's be clear no one wants to see polio come back, measles, whooping cough. And the way that we're going to not have those diseases come back is for children to have proper nutrition.
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DUERSON (voice over): Unsurprisingly, the CDC refutes Honeycutt's claims, telling CNN vaccines don't weaken the immune system, while the diseases they prevent against do and the best way to prevent deadly outbreaks or debilitating cases of polio, measles and whooping cough is to get vaccinated.
But her fight against the food industry now has many mainstream allies. Senator Bernie Sanders just held a hearing on the health impact and regulation of ultra processed foods.
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SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): The rate of childhood obesity in America has tripled.
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DUERSON (voice over): The FDA now says it may ban red food dye in a matter of weeks.
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HONEYCUTT: It was the unhealthy truth that's making our children sick, toxic legacy.
DUERSON (off camera): Does any of this make you feel like a conspiracy theorist?
HONEYCUTT: I don't feel like a conspiracy theorist. I feel that the conspiracy is to shut down information in order to protect the profits of the corporations. That's the real conspiracy.
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[18:55:05]
DEAN: Still ahead, how the rivalries surrounding the Army-Navy football game goes far beyond the field and why military leaders believe America's game is forging better soldiers. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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[18:59:55]
DEAN: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean in New York.
New developments tonight in the mysterious drone sightings over New Jersey, New York and Connecticut.
