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Mysterious Drone Sightings Unnerve Local Citizens And Officials; Trump Announces More Administration Picks, Goes To Army- Navy Game; RFK, Jr. Heads To Capitol Hill This Week To Woo Skeptical Senators. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired December 15, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:52]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

And we start with new details about those mysterious drones hovering around the Eastern Seaboard. Boston Police say they have arrested two people for flying aircraft dangerously close to Logan International Airport, and it comes as state and local officials become increasingly frustrated by the lack of transparency about where these drones are coming from or how dangerous they might be.

There are reports of sightings in at least six states now. Reported incidents include drones flying near military facilities and one even causing a New York Airport to temporarily suspend flights. Federal agencies are now facing intense pressure to provide answers.

Today, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas offered this reassurance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, US HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: There is no question that people are seeing drones, and I want to assure the American public that we in the federal government have deployed additional resources, personnel, technology to assist the New Jersey State Police in addressing the drone sightings.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Gloria Pazmino is tracking the latest from New York.

Gloria, what do you have?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, the biggest development so far other than these continued sightings, is certainly this arrest out of Boston. The Boston Police Department telling us they arrested two men after one of their officers recorded some activity not far from Boston Logan International Airport of a drone flying dangerously close, according to the police department.

So that officer deployed some technology which helped him find the drones' flight information, their owners, and where they were operating from that led him to Boston Harbor Island. This is an uninhabited small island near Boston, and once the officer arrived there, he found the two suspects who initially tried to flee on foot. They were eventually captured. One of them had a drone in his backpack, and the third is believed to have fled on a small vessel.

Now, the question here is whether or not this arrest is going to lead to any additional information about some of the drone activity that's been reported over Massachusetts and many of these other states in the northeast, but the question of technology being deployed by a police department is interesting, because that is what we have heard from so many local officials asking the federal government to step in and provide more resources.

To that point, here in New York, we heard from Governor Kathy Hochul earlier this morning, she said that following conversations with federal partners, New York is now getting some of those resources. Here is a statement from the governor. She said, "In response to my calls for additional resources, our federal partners are deploying a state-of-the-art drone detection system to New York State. This system will support state and federal law enforcement in their investigation."

Now, my sources here in New York tell me the governor and the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, spoke twice on Saturday regarding these incidents. We have not learned anything else about what kind of technology this is, specifically. I was told that because it is a matter of National Security, they cannot share more about what these technology or how they work, but we are still hearing a lot of frustration from other lawmakers regarding the lack of information. And what they say is a lack of transparency from the federal government. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JIM HIMES (D-CT): There's a lot of us who are pretty frustrated right now. You know the answer "We don't know" is not a good enough answer. When people are anxious, when they're nervous and this has been true, you know, since we've been a species on this planet, people will fill a vacuum with, you know, their fears and anxieties and conspiracy theories and, oh, my God, there is an Iranian mothership hovering off the coast of Asbury Park or it's the Russians or it's the Chinese.

[15:05:09]

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): The administration has repeatedly assured people that they are safe. However, one, we need a briefing for the members of the Senate to figure out what's going on here. Two, we need more transparency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: So we'll see, Fred, if we start to get some of that transparency that these lawmakers are calling for over the next several days. In the meantime, we will also be tracking whether or not the drone activity continues to be reported, which I should say, some of these federal agencies have said that they believe some of these sightings have actually just been small airplanes and that they are not posing any sort of danger to local communities -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Gloria Pazmino, thanks so much.

All right, let's talk further now with former Congressman Adam Kinzinger. Good to see you, Congressman.

ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good to see you.

WHITFIELD: So you know what do you make of how federal agencies have thus far responded to these sightings so far? Secretary Mayorkas saying, you know, we are looking at them. They pose no national threat at this time. Is enough being said or done to reassure people?

KINZINGER: I mean, look, if people don't want to be reassured, then the answer is no. And, you know, look what I am hearing from Homeland and what I am hearing from FBI is, we don't see a threat here.

And look, honestly, every video I've seen and I've spent the last couple of days looking at every one of these videos, every video I have seen on Twitter, on the internet are all airplanes. They are literally all airplanes.

Some of them will show an airplane that's kind of stable out there and says, that's a drone and actually, it is an airplane flying towards you at 30,000 feet, and I can see the lighting on it.

And if there are drones out there, by the way, and if any of these pictures that they have shown are actual drones, these drones then are complying with FAA lighting requirements, a green on the right, a red on the left with a strobe. And so it is not Iran, it is not aliens if there are drones.

My guess is, if there are drones -- again, because again, all I've seen are airplanes, then it is more than likely some company that's out testing drones or something like that and has no requirement to tell the public that they're doing it because they're actually operating these things legally. There have been no accusations of illegal operations.

By the way, as a pilot myself, I can fly over a military base whenever I want. Those restrictions don't exist.

So I think there is a lot of mass hysteria, and I've heard stories of people pointing lasers at these "drones" and then the drones' lights go off. Actually, let's be clear, I've been lasered as a pilot before, you're supposed to turn off all your lights once you get lasered so that they can't find you because it can actually damage your eyes.

WHITFIELD: Right.

KINZINGER: So, yes, I think there is a lot of hysteria here.

WHITFIELD: So, I am hearing you describe unnecessary hysteria, but guess what? Youve got some lawmakers who have been chiming in who are going as far as saying the federal government is lying to the public about this.

So are matters getting worse simply because people are saying things unnecessarily or without knowledge and making inflammatory statements that are making matters worse.

KINZINGER: Yes. Look, look, my opinion and I obviously served as a congressman for 12 years, when a congressman says something, people take that as an official statement, as gospel.

I want to give credit to Andy Kim. Andy Kim woke up yesterday morning or something and said he saw all of these drones. He is concerned and then later said, look, I talked with civilians who showed me on Flight Tracker that they were all airplanes. I give him deep credit for being willing to say that.

What you have as a member of Congress or as a public official is your people are upset, they are angry. You don't want to be the one to go to them and tell them they're overreacting, because that's not what a politician wants to do. They want to reflect back your fear. So they make a statement saying, gosh, the FBI needs to say more. The FBI comes out and says, yes, we don't see a threat here. I don't know what else to say. We are not seeing the drones that you're seeing, and then politicians say, well, they are lying to us.

And so we are in this catch 22 where, frankly, politicians need to be a little more responsible and tell people like, hey, first off, here's what we do know. It is not Iran. It is not a mothership off the coast of New York and it is not aliens. And they are -- they're very polite and compliant with FAA lighting requirements.

WHITFIELD: And some of that has been said, but that doesn't seem to satisfy still a lot of people.

All right, so then, you know, there was a statement yesterday coming from New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who has urged Congress to pass some sort of, you know, the Counter UAS Authority, Security, Safety And Reauthorization Act, which would empower state and local authorities in managing unmanned aircraft systems.

But you just mentioned, you know, a lot of this stuff are manned aircraft. So Secretary Mayorkas, you know, was asked about working with state and local officials today and this is what he said.

[15:10:08]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYORKAS: We are working in close coordination with state and local authorities, and it is critical, as we all have said, for a number of years, that we need from Congress additional authorities to address the drone situation.

We want state and local authorities to also have the ability to counter drone activity under federal supervision. That is one important element that we have requested, and we've heard it echoed by the state and local officials themselves. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: What would you envision if state and local authorities had more discretion about managing drones, or what they see or deem as mysterious flying things over their airspace?

KINZINGER: Well, there are two points on this. First off, Mayorkas is right. There are drone issues. This has nothing to do with the current mass hysteria we are in. It is -- look, if you're a helicopter flying, there are issues with drones, so many times there are drones that fly over airports, there are drones that fly over military bases that shouldn't, and so to the extent you can give local and state authorities, I guess, some kind of, you know, tools to deal with that or, or opportunities to call something a restricted area, I am all for that.

What you can't do, though, is give local authorities and state authorities the ability to deem airspace rules. And this is like what they're talking about. You can't stop a drone from flying in federal airspace because there is some hysteria going on at the moment.

And look, the thing is, we have a very lax airspace in the United States and that is a really good thing, because it is the reason we have such a rich pilot community and so many people that go and become pilots and why it is so strong.

You can fly without talking to air traffic control. You can fly over military bases. The idea that all of a sudden now state and local is going to have control over airspace authorities, I don't think we fully thought through.

WHITFIELD: All right, Congressman Adam Kinzinger, great to see you. Thank you.

KINZINGER: You bet.

WHITFIELD: All right, still to come, it has become a common trend for President-elect Donald Trump's staff picks, how some of his biggest donors have now secured big roles in his incoming administration.

Plus, Robert Kennedy, Jr. is set to visit Capitol Hill this week looking for support ahead of his confirmation hearing. We will show you how a grassroots network of moms is counting on him to, "Make America Healthy Again."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:17:16]

WHITFIELD: President-elect Trump has made another flurry of picks to join his new administration. The latest announcements came as Trump attended the Army-Navy football game in Maryland on Saturday. He used the high profile event as a show of force, bringing along some of his biggest allies, and he made a public show of support for Pete Hegseth, his embattled Defense secretary pick. CNN's Steve Contorno joins us now from West Palm Beach, near Trump's Florida home. Steve, good to see you. Some of these new picks continue to highlight the benefits of being a big donor, right?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: That certainly seems to be the case, Fred, let's focus on two of the individuals that Donald Trump named yesterday. One of them is Troy Edgar. He is an IBM executive who will be the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security. And the other is Bill White, another businessman who will be the ambassador to Belgium, and like so many other Trump nominees so far, these two individuals donated it to the effort to get Donald Trump elected.

In fact, White contributed more than a hundred thousand dollars to various campaign committees and other groups that are aligned with Donald Trump, and this is a trend. In fact, a CNN analysis found that more than -- nearly three dozen of the picks that Trump has made so far were people who donated to Donald Trump, and it includes eight of his Cabinet members and their spouses, giving $37 million to Donald Trump's campaign or the groups that have been aligned with him throughout this election cycle.

Two other people close to Trump or two other Cabinet nominees, New York Representative Elise Stefanik and Florida Representative Mike Waltz, they also will be in Donald Trump's Cabinet, and they also contributed money to Trump by transferring it from their campaign committees to Trump's aligned committees.

And then also, on top of all that, of course, is Elon Musk, the world's wealthiest man, the Tesla CEO and the person who has been incredibly close to Trump, he gave $262 million of his personal wealth toward trying to get Donald Trump elected this past cycle.

And when we asked the Trump campaign about all of these people giving money to Trump and then finding jobs with him, they said, "Millions of Americans fed up with failure in the White House and federal government joined President Trump in the movement to restore our nations greatness. Some who will work with President Trump are among those millions of people who supported the campaign and helped the president win a decisive electoral victory." -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Steve Contorno, thanks so much.

[15:20:01]

All right, this week, Robert F Kennedy, Jr. will head to Capitol Hill. President-elect Trump's pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services will try to rally Senate support ahead of his confirmation hearing.

Kennedy, a longtime environmental lawyer and vaccine skeptic, has vowed to use the powerful position to quoting now "Make America Wealthy Again."

While many in the medical community say his nomination is dangerous to public health, there is a group of moms cheering on Kennedy.

CNN's Meena Duerson has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZEN HONEYCUTT, MOMS ACROSS AMERICA: Hey, chickens. One, two, three, four, five, six -- seventeen chickens. And that's George Clooney, the rooster.

MEENA DUERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Zen Honeycutt moved to this farm because she wanted to be able to grow her own food.

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.

DUERSON: Her crusade against the food industry started 12 years ago.

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.

DUERSON: Honeycutt founded Moms Across America.

HONEYCUTT: Hi, boys.

(UNIDENTIFIED BOYS answer "hi.")

DUERSON: She's the nonprofit's primary employee and rallies a grassroots network to, "raise awareness" about toxic exposure from genetically modified foods or GMOs to pesticides.

HONEYCUTT: I mean, there's a saying goes that a worried mom does better research than the FBI.

DUERSON: 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.

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.

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.

DUERSON (voice over): Honeycutt now says she's in talks with Kennedy's team about a potential role in the administration.

HONEYCUTT: There's the Capitol behind me.

DUERSON: She's no stranger to Washington. She's been coming to Capitol Hill to advocate for food safety issues for years.

HONEYCUTT: I don't care if somebody's a Democrat or a Republican, I am visiting them.

DUERSON: 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 Senator Cory Booker, who this fall sponsored the Safe School Meals Act.

SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): This is a crisis.

HONEYCUTT: Thanks, Hockey Mama. Yes, we do think we rock. We know you rock as well.

DUERSON: She spreads the word about her work on social media and her podcast.

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 healthcare.

If Kennedy is able to do what he wants to do at the head of the HHS, we won't even need healthcare. 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 agencies 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.

DUERSON: 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.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): The rate of childhood obesity in America has tripled.

DUERSON: The FDA now says it may ban red food dye in a matter of weeks.

HONEYCUTT: It was the unhealthy truth that's making our children sick, toxic legacy.

DUERSON (on 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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[15:25:15]

WHITFIELD: Meena Duerson reporting.

All right, straight ahead, as Syria grapples with the fall of the Assad regime, Israel approves a plan to expand settlements in the occupied Golan Heights along the border with Syria. Why some Arab countries are calling the plans a blatant violation of international law.

And later, last September, a huge chemical fire in Georgia forced thousands of residents to shelter in place or evacuate. And now, a group of scientists are studying the impact of that disaster. The professor leading the study joins me next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:30:13]

WHITFIELD: Ukraine is replacing one of its top generals. The head of the Donetsk Group of forces is being forced out after Russia made significant advances in the region. In recent weeks, Russian forces have come within two miles of the city of Pokrovsk, which is an important transportation hub for Ukraine, losing the city would mark one of the largest setbacks for Ukrainian forces in months.

And new this afternoon, Israel approving a plan to expand settlements in the occupied Golan Heights. Israel began moving further into the longstanding buffer zone with Syria, as the Assad regime fell and troops left the area. Saudi Arabia and Qatar are among the countries condemning the move. Qatar calling it -- I am quoting now "blatant violation of international law."

And it has been a week since Assad was forced out of Syria, and many people are now beginning their search for loved ones who went missing during his brutal regime.

CNN's Clarissa Ward visited a morgue in the capital of Damascus, where the bodies left behind reveal signs of cruelty inflicted by the Assad regime, and we should warn our viewers that you may find the following report disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE wailing)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A woman wails on the floor of the Mujtahid Hospital.

(UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE speaking in foreign language)

WARD: "My mother, she's been missing for 14 years," she says. "Where is she? Where is my brother? Where is my husband? Where are they?"

Dr. Ahmed Abdullah shows us into the morgue, where about 35 bodies have been brought in. Discovered in the military hospital days after the regime fell, they are believed to be some of the last victims of Bashar al-Assad.

(DR. AHMED ABDULLAH speaking in foreign language.)

WARD: "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 (on camera): 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.

(CRYING)

WARD: More and more families stream in. The light from their cell phones, the only way of identifying the dead.

(UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE speaking in foreign language.)

WARD: " My only son, I don't have another. They took him for 12 years now, just because he said, no. Twelve years, my only son," this woman shouts.

"I don't know anything about him. I ask Allah to burn him," she says 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 (on camera): All of those people are asking us to take the names of their loved ones to help them try to find them.

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 (on camera): 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. The quest for answers is just beginning.

WARD (on camera): The one thing the Assad regime did do a very good job of was documenting its own crimes.

[15:35:02]

And so the question now is, how long will it be until you start to see human rights groups and investigators coming into Syria to try to start the vast process of poring 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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:40:26]

WHITFIELD: Residents in one Georgia community are still suffering from health issues after a chemical plant fire released toxic gases into the air near Atlanta.

Back in September, a large plume at the biolab facility in Rockdale County triggered evacuations, school closures, and left neighborhoods shrouded in chemical smoke for several weeks.

And this week, Georgia Tech University in Atlanta was granted a National Science Foundation Federal Grant of just over $86,000.00 to study the impact of these toxic chemicals in the air.

Joining me right now is Greg Huey, a professor of Atmospheric Chemistry, Aerosols And Clouds at Georgia Tech.

Professor, great to see you.

DR. GREG HUEY, PROFESSOR OF ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY, AEROSOLS AND CLOUDS, GEORGIA TECH: Thank you very much for having me.

WHITFIELD: So how are you planning to lead this study? What are you hoping to learn from your research? Are students involved as well?

HUEY: Yes, students are very much involved. In fact, most of the funding for this project will pay a graduate student salary for the next year.

Basically how this transpired is, I was driving in to Midtown Atlanta the day after the fire at the biolab facility in Conyers and you could tell that the air quality was much worse than normal. So I went into the lab, we started up our instrumentation, and we started to measure in midtown, about 21 miles away from the incident, and we wanted to monitor the air as best we could. A couple of days later, the city of Conyers contacted us, looking for help, and we told them we could bring out an air quality trailer and as part of this, we could bring out a special research instrumentation that we could try to measure halogens with, which was one of the key chemicals that was coming out of this plume.

WHITFIELD: So you started some research. Now, you have this federal grant. Why? Did you apply for it? And how is that money going to help further your efforts? What are you going to be looking for that perhaps your existing equipment has not allowed you to detect?

HUEY: Well, the point of this grant is basically to analyze the data that we did take. We obviously weren't funded for this. We didn't anticipate this, but we applied to the NSF Rapid Program, which is designed to get out funding for very timely issues and our program managers are very supportive of this, thought this was very important and we got this grant within three weeks of applying, which is a warp speed for something like this.

WHITFIELD: Amazing.

HUEY: And we have a high resolution instrument in our lab, and we took data for a couple of weeks. And what this grant does is it allows us to analyze the data that we've already taken. We know some of the chemicals that are coming out. We've identified others. We need to calibrate to make sure we can say how much was actually there in the plume.

WHITFIELD: And so some residents in Georgia, you know, have reported breathing issues, blurred vision in the aftermath of this fire. Lawsuits have already been filed.

How are you hoping the information that you gather, based on the data that you've already gathered, how might it either you know, add to or supplement the findings? Will that be made public? How do you see it as being used as an instrument to assist people??

HUEY: Well, first of all, the NSF has an open data policy, and we will be posting all our observations to a website that anybody can download, but what we were able to do is the focus on this original plume, it was mainly on chlorine, somewhat on bromine, we are able to show there are actually other compounds coming out that actually may have some toxicity issues or at least irritants.

And we want to make sure we can identify and quantify as best we can what was coming out of the plume and what people in Atlanta were exposed to.

So we think they can take that data and at least help us know what to look for if something like this happens again, but it does give people information on what actually did happen.

WHITFIELD: So one would imagine there would be EPA, similar air quality studies, state health agency evaluations of air quality. If those things have happened, do you see that your findings might advance similar findings, or might they be in step with that? Or how will it all work together?

HUEY: Well, the standard air quality parameters that people measure are not going to pick up very much that was in the plume. So what we are going to be able to tell you is individual molecules, individual chemical species that were in the plume that you would not normally measure or you wouldn't even think of trying to measure because normally their concentrations will be nothing. So they are not really an air quality issue. This is really an emergency issue.

[15:45:11]

WHITFIELD: When do you expect to have results? You know, when do you all expect to actually get cranking on this and then have results?

HUEY: We are cranking right now. I hope to have at least the major species of the plume identified and quantified and posted to our website by February, and I am hoping that we can get a short initial publication out of this early next spring as well.

We feel an obligation to try to report what we know as soon as possible.

WHITFIELD: Well, congratulations on the grant, and all the best to you and your students who are all involved here and in your pursuit of more information.

Professor Greg Huey, thank you so much.

HUEY: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, up next, in the world's most polluted city, breathing has become dangerous, especially for children. How many suffer as toxic smog blankets India's capital.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:50:50]

WHITFIELD: Pope Francis visiting Corsica, France this morning and warns Catholic priests against spiritual groups that fuel political division.

Attending a conference on religion, the Pope became the first pontiff to visit the French island. He did not name any specific religious groups during his warning. After the conference, he will meet French President Emmanuel Macron.

And it is the world's most polluted city. Every day in Delhi, India, more than 30 million people wake up to thick, burning, toxic smog. The city's Skyline barely visible through the dense air.

CNN's Hanako Montgomery introduces us to children struggling to breathe in India's capital.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): For three-year-old Chahat and his baby sister, clean air is a luxury that their parents cannot 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 (voice over): 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 a dollar a day.

MUSKAN (through translator): 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 (voice over): But her children are the lucky ones.

DEEPAK KUMAR, FATHER (through translator): The doctor asked us to buy a nebulizer, but we don't have that kind of money.

MONTGOMERY (voice over): When Deepak's daughter struggles to breathe, they rush 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 (through translator): I want to leave Delhi, but I can't because I need to pay off a debt for my daughter's health.

MONTGOMERY (voice over): 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.

MAJINDER SINGH-RANDHAWA, PEDIATRIC INTENSIVE CARE CONSULTANT: The human lung also develops, still, about eight to 10 years of age. It's not in its mature form 'till that time. And a developing lung, if it's exposed to all these pollutants, that has when it causes long-term problem.

MONTGOMERY (voice-over): 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 here, so, it might be very painful at that time for me.

MONTGOMERY (voice over): 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)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [15:58:47]

WHITFIELD: ABC News has agreed to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by President-elect Donald Trump against the network and anchor, George Stephanopoulos.

Under the terms, ABC will make a $15 million charitable contribution to a "presidential foundation and museum," issue a public apology and pay $1 million in legal fees to Trump.

CNN's chief media analyst Brian Stelter has the details on this rare legal ruling.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: That's right. It's not every day that you hear about a major network, a TV network paying millions of dollars and apologizing to the president-elect. So this is a headline with real ramifications.

And as you said, it stems from an episode of George Stephanopoulos" Sunday morning news program where he was talking with a lawmaker, I think it was Nancy Mace, and they were talking about the E. Jean Carroll case and George Stephanopoulos repeatedly used the word "rape," saying Trump was found guilty of rape, liable of rape, while in fact the accurate phrase to use is sexual abuse. That is what the New York court found.

But because Stephanopoulos kept using that R-word "rape," Trump filed a lawsuit. He filed a defamation suit. We've talked a lot in recent years about people using the courts trying to seek justice. Remember the Sandy Hook case against Alex Jones?

Well, those defamation kinds of cases can also be filed by someone like the president-elect. So Trump filed a defamation suit. It was working its way through the courts. ABC was unable to get it thrown out initially, and actually in the next few days, Trump was set to be deposed in the case. But ABC is avoiding going any further by settling. They are paying out $15 million plus a million in attorneys' fees.

They say this is going to go to a nonprofit, basically to Trump's future library. That's the idea. But maybe most importantly, ABC is also apologizing, issuing a statement of regret. But ABC is going to say -- basically attach an editor's note to the website saying it regrets and George regrets the statements.

Meanwhile, an ABC spokesperson tells me they are pleased to have reached this settlement, but it is very notable they are both paying out money to the president-elect and apologizing for the misstatements on the air.

[16:01:01]