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Mystery Over Drone Sightings On The East Coast Putting Everyone On Edge; Rara Tornado Hit In California; Anger Towards Health Insurance Industry Sparke By CEO Murder. Syrian Christians Hold First Sunday Mass Since Assad's Fall; Miss Netherlands Pageant Scrapped; CNN Reports On The Fight For Measles Vaccine Skepticism. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired December 15, 2024 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

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JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You're in the "CNN Newsroom." I'm Jessica Dean in New York, and people on the East Coast still on edge as night after night mystery drones buzz over their backyards. The federal government says there's no threat, but a lot of elected officials are angry as they feel like they're effectively being told to calm down. Listen to what the Secretary of Homeland Security said about it this morning.

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ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: There's 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.

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DEAN: All of this is we're now learning two men were arrested Saturday night in Boston, accused of conducting a hazardous drone operation near Logan Airport's airspace. CNN's Gloria Pazmino is joining us now. Gloria, more questions, still not a lot of answers here.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A lot more questions than answers, Jessica, but this arrest out of Boston is actually really interesting. And the reason I say that is because of what the Boston Police Department has told us helped them make the arrest. In fact, we learned that on Saturday an officer first spotted this drone activity dangerously close to Logan International Airport.

So that officer deployed some drone detection technology that enabled him to pinpoint the location of where the drones were and where they were being operated from. They were coming out of Boston Harbor Island. That's an uninhabited place not far from the city of Boston. And once police arrived there, they were able to capture two people who initially tried to flee on foot. One of them had a drone in their backpack. A third person is believed to have fled on a small vessel.

Now, we don't know yet just how much more we're going to learn as a result of these arrests or what these people could tell us about what they were doing. But the piece about the technology is interesting because so many lawmakers, state and federal officials, have been calling for more resources.

Here in New York, we heard from Senator Chuck Schumer calling on the Biden administration, as well as the federal government, to increase resources to different localities, and specifically calling on them to use a type of radar technology that would help local police departments detect and prevent some of this drone activity. Take a listen.

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SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): If the technology exists for a drone to make it up into the sky, there certainly is the technology that can track the craft with precision and determine what the heck is going on. And that's what the Robin does. Today we're asking the DHS, the Department of Homeland Security, to deploy special detection systems like the Robin, which use not a linear line of sight, but 360 degree technology that has a much better chance of detecting these drones.

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PAZMINO: So Jessica, now the question is, what kind of help will New York be getting? We know that the state of New York is getting some help. We heard from Governor Kathy Hochul earlier today. She issued a statement saying that federal officials have responded to her request and that our federal partners are deploying a state-of-the-art drone detection system to New York State. She says this system will support state and federal law enforcement in their investigation.

The question here is, is New York about to get a version of this Robin type radar system that Senator Schumer was describing that remains unclear? I have asked for details. I've been told that as a matter of national security, they cannot tell us exactly what this technology is or where it will be deployed, but we will be looking to learn more and seeing whether or not these reported sightings continue in the coming days. Jessica?

DEAN: All right. Gloria Pazmino for us. Thank you so much for that reporting. And with public concern very high over these drones, let's talk to an expert about this. Former FBI counter drone chief Rob D'Amico joining us now. Rob, thanks so much for being here.

[17:04:56]

I first just want to get your thoughts on kind of this -- it's not aligned in terms of the public interest, the public concern, and also from local officials. I talked to a mayor yesterday, very concerned, and really minimal answers or explanations from the government. What do you make of all of that?

ROB D'AMICO, FORMER FBI COUNTER-DRONE UNIT CHIEF: There's so much to unpack here. One, I think it started with a couple of incidences that I truly think 99 percent were manned aircraft, low flying satellites or planets, because looking up at the sky, it's so hard at night to figure out what a drone is. But then I think the hysteria has now caused people to start flying drones, either fine drones or really to add to the chaos.

Now you're getting a bunch of politicians just, you know, cause they don't feel like they're being informed, throwing stuff out there, like the governor in New York was talking about this radar system. Radar alone doesn't work. Our systems in the FBI, we used ones that had radar that had RF, radio frequency, had a visual because there's so many gaps in how drones are detected. You need a multi-sensor thing.

I was an advisor for a company called D-Drone that combines all of them to one common site picture that really needs to be trained on. And in the FBI, we went to Congress asking them to provide funds to train state and locals because it's such an advanced technology that we thought the FBI could train the state and locals to do it. But it gets into such a mess now, but I think the one good thing coming out of this is people are starting to get attention to drones are going to be an issue, especially when big companies like UPS and Amazon want to do deliveries by them.

DEAN: Yeah, the drones really will be an issue. I also want to ask you, we just heard in that clip that Gloria was reporting on, the current Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer talk -- asking the government to deploy what he was calling the Robin. Would something like that make a difference?

D'AMICO: Okay, the Robin Radar, so when we incorporate a radar system to our counter drone system, you have to really fine tune it. We were discovering like AC units on top of buildings. because the radar was picking up the spinning of the fans as propellers. So again, one system alone, one sensor alone does not work. Radar, RF, visual, and you can have some other ones in there that as technology gets more advanced, you plug it in and they all need to work cooperatively to look at all the pictures.

So if it picks up radar, the video camera gets slewed to it and you can confirm it by visual if it's a drone or RF is picking up the controller and the drone. Again, the video would slew to it, the radar would slew to it. So it's a multi-sensor approach that gets very complex. It needs -- you need a lot of training for it, but it is out there, but it's just not one thing at all that's gonna fix this.

And we talked about the radio frequency gaps. We had our own FCC saying that we couldn't even look at some radio frequencies that maybe foreign assets use for their drones.

DEAN: And so I think also too what you're getting at here is it takes a lot to really figure out what these drones are doing, where they come from to identify them. And I think that's where people are getting so frustrated is it seems like we should know more and we really don't. We don't know where these are coming from.

D'AMICO: That is a problem. But it's also hard to prove a negative because I still think the majority are false spotting. Everything that they've been looking at is when they line it up with the flight plans, we used to use an app, Flight Radar 24, and it shows all the planes over your area, including government and commercial and small planes. And it's amazing that how many airplanes can be over one single area.

They might be set off by altitude, but from the ground, they all look the same. Or if they're all coming in, I saw one video where they're saying that drones were lined up. Well, that's planes in an approach pattern. They're miles apart, but when you look at them from a certain angle, they look all on top of each other. So again, it's tough and it is a technology.

I had the best guys out there that were working because that's all they worked was counter drones. That training can go to state and locals, but it's gonna take some time and funding. And I think Congress really has to get ahold of in order to go in the future with what drones are gonna be used by. They talk about drones being able like taxis to go pick someone up. You're going to have to figure all this out and what that airspace looks like to deconflict.

DEAN: Yeah. And it sounds like what you're saying is regardless of what the outcome is here, we're not properly prepared for the future with drones that we need -- that you think that more should be done, more funding, more training, all of these things.

D'AMICO: I do. I mean, even with the systems that the FBI had for special events, and that's what the bureau is looking at, is weaponized drones. There were still gaps in that technology.

[17:10:00]

I'm not gonna go into them. I don't want to give that away, but there's still gaps in there that you have to account for. And you have to have a layer of defense. You have to have multi-layers sensors and you have to have multi-layer mitigation systems to be able to control all those drones that may pretend -- provide a threat to something.

DEAN: All right, Rob D'Amico, thank you. We appreciate it.

D'AMICO: Thank you.

DEAN: Cleanup efforts are underway in the aftermath of a rare tornado in California.

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UNKNOWN: Let's go home, let's go home.

UNKNOWN: Holy (BLEEP).

UNKNOWN: Oh my god. Okay. Oh my god. Oh my god no.

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DEAN: That tornado ripping through the town of Scotts Valley Saturday, that's about an hour south of San Francisco. You see their cars flipped over, trees and power poles downed. At least five people were injured. CNN's Camila Bernal is in California. Meteorologist Elisa Raffa is in our weather center. Camila, let's start first with you. Look, those are scenes we typically see more in the middle of the country, not in California. Give us an idea of the extent of the damage.

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, absolutely not in California. Nobody really expecting that in the Bay Area. And when it comes to damage, and you were also talking about the cleanup efforts, which is what's happening now because of the damage. You had a lot of downed trees, a lot of downed power lines, power outages, and cars even flipping over. You heard some of those residents there just terrified of what they were seeing as these wind gusts were coming in.

At the peak in that tornado, 90 miles an hour or so. And so of course, that's really what caused a lot of the destruction. You also mentioned some of the injured, several people, a lot of it because of those flipped cars. And authorities just telling people to be, essentially to stay away from this area where the damage happened as they continued to assess all of this and try to clean up.

And in terms of the people that were injured, we know they were taken to the hospital. We do not have updates on their conditions, but it was clear that everyone there within the community just sort of helping each other despite how scary the situation was. Take a listen.

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UNKNOWN: To be honest with you, I thought this could be the end of my life. It was that strong.

UNKNOWN: I heard someone scream, there's a tornado. So I ran out to the window to see and there were things flying around, people screaming, cars making a bunch of noises.

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BERNAL: And people scared because they just don't see that in the Bay Area. And another very interesting part of this storm was that it put the downtown area in San Francisco under a tornado warning as well. That was the first time in history that that happened. And so again, a similar scenario where you had downed trees and a lot of rain and power outages.

But in that area, the National Weather Service saying they did not find evidence of a tornado. And they also did say that there were winds at around 80 miles per hour. So just severe weather and a lot of cleanup still going on in the Bay Area, Jess.

DEAN: Yeah, just really incredible images to see there in the Bay Area. Camila, stick with us. Let's go to Elisa Raffa. Elisa, I know just seeing that is incredible as they deal with that in California. We also know ice making travel difficult in parts of the East today. So we've got a lot, a lot going on.

ELISA RAFFA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, and the tornado in California just been so mind boggling. California averages nine tornadoes in the entire year. There's some places in the country where you get that in an entire event. EF1, 90 mile per hour winds, only on the ground for five minutes and it did all of that damage that Camila was explaining.

Here's a look at some of those wind gusts, 78 miles per hour in Monterey, 83 mile per hour gusts in San Francisco and that was part of that tornado warning that was issued for San Francisco that has never been issued before. Straight line winds of 80 miles per hour came through there, not a tornado. We've got this storm that's continuing to move on shore. The one from yesterday kind of exited out and then we have a new one that's going to prompt a new atmospheric river as we go into the work week.

We're talking about a level four out of five when it comes to the moisture that's going to come onshore that could be potentially hazardous with how much rain we're going to get all at once. We could be looking at two to four inches of rain for places like Eugene, Oregon, some places up to six inches and you can see just how many rounds of rain and snow coming in because we're not just talking about the rain, we're also talking about one to two feet of snow possible in the mountains. Jessica?

DEAN: All right, Elisa Raffa for us. Thank you so much. And our thanks to Camila Bernal as well. Still ahead, the CEO murder suspect, Luigi Mangione has been garnering sympathy and support on social media. The outrage and the fury, as the outrage and the fury against healthcare insurers is growing. And now Senator Bernie Sanders is weighing in. We'll hear what he had to say. You're in the "CNN Newsroom."

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DEAN: The killing of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson has led to an explosion of outrage about the health insurance industry in the United States. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders weighing in on this earlier today. Here's what he said.

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SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): Well, I think has happened in the last few months is that's what you have seen rising up this is people's anger at a health insurance industry which denies people the health care that they desperately need while they make billions and billions of dollars in profit.

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DEAN: And joining us now is CNN political commentator and Republican strategist Brad Todd and democratic strategist and co-founder of Lift Our Voices Julie Roginsky. Thanks so much to both of you for being with us on this Sunday evening. Julie I just want to start first with you kind of picking up where Bernie Sanders was there and just the fact that we've seen this outpouring of support for someone who is accused of murder and what we have seen coming from people all across the country, their reaction to this. I'm just curious, in terms of a -- from a political standpoint, do you think this is a reflection of our times, what we're seeing in politics, how does it connect?

JULIE ROGINSKY, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Oh, absolutely, and I think this crosses party lines. I think Republicans long ago decided that the institutions that this government and our private sector were in charge of were not working for them, and that's when Donald Trump came on the scene and became a disruptor. And Democrats are arriving at that point too, and I think it's not just healthcare. It has everything to do with our politicians, our legacy media, and so on and so forth.

I think voters across the board just are not buying what our institutions are selling anymore. And, you know, that's not to make excuses for somebody taking somebody's life into their own hands because there's no excuse for that whatsoever, but I think it is a reflection of how absolutely angry and frustrated people are about the fact that the people and the institutions to which we were supposed to have looked up for so many decades are letting us down.

DEAN: Brad, I'm just curious your thoughts on that same topic.

BRAD TODD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I mean, first off, of course, this murder is unacceptable. The coarsening of our society for some people to praise this is just sickening, frankly. And to see politicians like Elizabeth Warren try to then say, but, well, you know, they were pushed to it, is something that's not okay. There certainly is a rising tide against corporate America, especially the health insurance industry.

The health insurance industry is one of the only industries I know of that makes it its business policy to not deliver the product that it told the customers it was going to deliver. And I think Americans are frustrated by that. But the Affordable Care Act by Barack Obama helped set this up. They sort of blessed this oligopoly that we have with health insurance companies. And I think that increasingly we're going to see companies like UnitedHealthcare come under more scrutiny from Republicans because of this unholy alliance with the federal law.

DEAN: And Julie, how much does income inequality and just kind of where we are today play into this anger? Just the fact that the middle class continues to get smaller, and under, you know, for all politicians trying -- and both parties trying to address those concerns?

ROGINSKY: Well, first of all, it sounds like, Brad, you're in support of Medicare for all if you don't like the healthcare oligopoly that's been set up. But I will also say that, of course, it matters. Look, when you see oligarchs effectively running our country, setting up right now to be the majority of the cabinet that's coming into the next administration. When you see somebody like Elon Musk, who has no experience in government, is effectively in charge of cutting potential benefits, like Social Security and other things, for people who rely on it to get through the day and to get through their lives, I think that anger is only going to grow.

And I think we are only -- this is the tip of the iceberg as to what we're about to see. Ultimately, I think that hopefully there are people out there who understand what we're on the precipice of. Because as I said, I don't think this is a party issue. I don't think this is a partisan issue. You have a tremendous amount of anger from the middle class and the working class. You saw that in the last election.

You saw that when Democrats in my party were telling people the economy was doing well. They weren't believing their lying eyes. And we saw the consequences of that. And that's only going to get worse if Trump does not address this immediately. And I don't see that the steps that he's taking and who he's surrounding himself with will address those issues. They may be cosmetic, but they're not going to actually address those issues at the core.

DEAN: Yeah, Brad, how does he do that? How does he address issues at the core?

TODD: Well, the ultimate monopoly power is the government itself. The federal government is a big monopoly, and Democrats have chosen to take that monopoly power and put it in more and more sectors of our lives. That's what people have rebelled against. And the answer is competition. The answer is competition and small companies having the ability to sprout up as green shoots in our economy.

I think President Trump's administration is going to be favorable to the underdog. They're going to be favorable to the middle class. They're going to be favorable to small businesses. Big business has made its bed with the Democrats really over the last 15 or so years, stretching back into the Obama era. Small business has always been at odds with both big business and with the government.

That's the real populist schism you've seen. That's one reason populism has moved over to the Republican side after being on the Democratic side for the previous 50 or so years.

[17:25:01]

DEAN: It is interesting though because so many big businesses and really big companies also donate to Republicans. Julie?

ROGINSKY: Yeah, I mean look, you only need to see who's bent the knee to Trump and who's high tailing it down at Mar-a-Lago to kiss the ring, right? And you see that from Disney effectively yesterday conceding that they gave $15 million to him. For what? I'm not sure. They claim to settle a case, but the reality is I think it's more so that he doesn't come after them.

You see Mark Zuckerberg, who he used to call Zuckerbucks, and who he's threatened with life in prison, high-tailing down to spend the night before Thanksgiving with him. All of these companies from Meta to Amazon to, you know, Jeff Bezos and so on, donating to his inauguration, to try to curry favor with him. These are not small businesses, Brad. These are people -- these are the richest, and certainly Elon Musk, the richest man in the world. These are the richest people -- these are the richest people among us. And they, ultimately, are the ones who are bending the knee to Donald Trump. Now, is he going to support them or is he going to support the little

guy that can't settle with him for $15 million-- settle with him for $15 million or is he going to support the farmers out there? Or is he going to support the Elon Musk's of the world who wants to cut these subsidies to the farmers who put Donald Trump in office? So, we'll see what's going to happen.

But ultimately, I think you see which way the wind is blowing because you see who he surrounds himself with, the largest class of billionaires coming into any administration. He's not picking the small business owner to go be, you know, the Secretary of the Treasury. He's not picking the small business owner to go be the Secretary of State. He's picking people who have given money to him, to his campaign, to all of his different enterprises.

And he's picking people who can afford to do that because they're multimillionaires, if not billionaires. And that's what you're seeing with this administration. And for people who voted for him, thinking he was going to lower the cost of their eggs or whatever else he promised to do, he's already conceded he's not going to do that. So you get what you voted for.

TODD: But Julie, wait a minute. Mark Zuckerberg worked really hard to beat Donald Trump four years ago. Facebook, Amazon, Disney, these companies have been in bed with the Democrats for a long time. The fact that they're going to Mar-a-Lago is because they're trying to get out of trouble. They're trying to get out of trouble because they've been with the Democrats in Silicon Valley have been thick.

ROGINSKY: But that's not free.

TODD: Thick as thieves.

ROGINSKY: But look, that's -- by the way, what you're talking about is not capitalism. You're talking effectively people who are terrified that the government in the body of Donald Trump is going to penalize them. That's not the free market that you rave about as a Republican. To be clear, that's a kleptocracy. That's the kind of thing that you see with Putin, with oligarchs running to Russia to bend the need of Vladimir Putin. I saw this in the 1990s in Russia.

TODD: I am shocked.

ROGINSKY: I saw this with Orban. I mean, this is exactly the opposite of what Republicans have always espoused, which has led the free market do its thing. This is a kleptocracy.

TODD: I am shocked. I'm shocked that Democrats --

DEAN: Brad, I'm going to give you -- we're running out of time. I want to give Brad one last word there. Go ahead.

TODD: Well, first off, the Democrats are so suddenly upset that the people who have been giving them money are giving money to the Trump inauguration. The proof's going to be in the pudding here, though. Donald Trump has been a disruptor. The Republican Party in Congress is no longer sort of in lockstep with big business, in lockstep with capitalism and freedom. I think we'll see that in this next Congress.

DEAN: All right. Brad Todd and Julie Roginsky -- this is an interesting conversation. Thank you very much for being here. We appreciate it.

ROGINSKY: Thank you.

TODD: Thank you.

DEAN: Still ahead, Israel plans to expand settlements further into its buffer zone with Syria, why a backlash is brewing from other Middle Eastern countries.

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[17:30:00]

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DEAN: Christians in Syria holding Sunday mass today, their first since the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad. It is a test of the country's new Islamist rulers who have promised to protect minority rights. Syria is home to multiple ethnic and religious groups.

Joining us now is CNN national security analyst and former U.S. deputy director of national intelligence, Beth Sanner. Beth, good to see you. I just want to first get your thoughts on what this tells us, that we are seeing Christians holding Sunday mass today.

BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST, FORMER U.S. DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Yeah, it's a great sight for anybody who has been watching Syria for a while, just to be able to see these people enjoy. You know, Syria is such an interesting place. As you were saying, Jessica, it's like the crossroads of pretty much anything that exists in our world, right? It's just -- it's this conglomeration of all these different sects and religion.

But, you know, and it's a place that has been seen as, you know, called the cradle of Christianity. It's a place where the apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, you know, were and where popes from a long time ago came from, and for so long under Assad, they were persecuted.

But, you know, what this means in the end, we don't really know. The head of HTS, the group that has, you know, dominated this fall of Assad, is a really Islamic group. But Ahmed al-Shar'a (ph), his new name, he has gone back to his old name from Jolani, he said that, you know, people will be free to have religious services like this.

But, you know, we saw in Idlib, while there were some freedoms, there's also a lot of mixed messages there. This is an Islamic group, and it's an authoritarian group, so, you know, a lot is left to be seen on the direction here, but good early signs.

DEAN: Yeah, and it is interesting to see how this is evolving because there are still -- even as we get these beginning signs, there are still a lot of questions, to your point, about exactly how they're going to do this. And the fact that Assad fell so quickly, you know, they now have -- it's like the car -- the dog that catches the car.

[17:35:03]

Now, they've got to actually put it all together and we have to see what that means.

SANNER: Yeah, and I think that, you know, one of the things that I think is so important is not to isolate this group, that this group, when you think about Syria and the destruction there, I think someone was saying the other day, like half of kind of the buildings in Syria have been destroyed, there's so much rebuilding that needs to be done. And so, they have a huge incentive to reach out to the international community and have that international community help shape what this looks like in the future without trying to be doing nation-building. You know, we don't want more forever war kind of things.

But, you know, this group right now is opening up, and I think it's very important for the international community to try to work with them to encourage the best that can come out of this.

DEAN: Uh-hmm.

SANNER: But it's going to be complicated.

DEAN: Of course. I also want to ask you, just broadening out, as you note for a second, about Israel's new plan to expand settlements into the Golan Heights. They've also pushed past that longstanding buffer zone. How do you expect all of that to play out?

SANNER: Yeah, this is a big unknown. And, you know, Syria is a place where all these great powers and regional powers have put their influence, right? And it's like a proxy war on steroids with so many different groups. Well, now, Israel is one of these places that has bomb Syria hundreds of times in the past week to try to destroy arms caches that could then be used either by Iran, Hezbollah, fall into the wrong hands and attack Israel.

So, Israel has this buffer zone, right? It has this shared border. And the part of the border that they have moved into are the heights. They're the part that overlook all of that part of Syria and where all these different groups that were arming Hezbollah and others were moving through. And so, Syria has this big strategic interest there.

But, you know, I think the problem with Syria and with Israel sometimes is that they have these tactical things that they do but strategically, it's not good. Like in Lebanon, have they turned a lot of people against Israel by doing bombing in a very wide way? And so, I hope Israel kind of calms down now and works in this area.

But look, the Golan Heights is not recognized as Israeli territory by the international community, but it is by the United States under the Trump administration. We said, yep, this territory you annexed in the 80s is yours. No one else actually agrees with that. And so, it is kind of a disputed area. And this is going to be, I think, a point of friction when the Israelis say they want put more Israeli settlers in this place that's also occupied by Druze, some of whom feel like they're Syrians.

So again, very, very complicated, but it's going to be a point of contention, but one that Israel has to like defend against as well. They have legitimate reasons.

DEAN: Hmm.

SANNER: So, I don't know how this is going to go, Jessica.

DEAN: No, listen, it is, as I keep saying, the Middle East is really evolving in such a big way. Just in the last several months, so much has changed. So, we will continue, of course, to keep having these conversations.

Beth Sanner, thank you so much.

SANNER: Thanks, Jessica.

DEAN: Uh-hmm. Still ahead, no more crowns. One country's national beauty pageant canceled. Why? The organizers say it's no longer of this time. You're in the "CNN Newsroom."

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[17:40:00]

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DEAN: The Miss Netherlands Organization is scrapping its beauty pageant. The group says -- quote -- "No more crowns, but stories that connect. No dresses, but dreams that come to life."

Joining us now to talk about this, Arianna Lemus. She was Miss Colorado USA and gave up her crown earlier this year in protest, calling for change in the Miss USA Organization. Thanks so much for being here. I first just want to get your reaction to this.

ARIANNA LEMUS, RESIGNED AS MISS COLORADO USA 2023: Yeah, thank you so much for the opportunity, Jessica. You know, when I resigned in May of 2024, I really saw the injustice within the Miss USA Organization and still do. And I really stand behind my solidarity with Miss USA and Miss Teen USA.

And when I found out about the news of Miss Netherlands and the no longer of this time organization, I saw a hopeful changemaker. And since my resignation, I have embarked on an entrepreneurial route, and I empower women through my podcast, "MiraLA," and my film festival for women of color filmmakers.

DEAN: Hmm. And before stepping down, you said the Miss USA Organization -- quote -- "empowers women to showcase themselves unapologetically." Do you still think that's the case? LEMUS: I do not. I think that upper management needs to be changed. I think there needs to be a lot of changes in the pageant systems as a collective. And I think that with these systems in place, if they don't embark on positive changes, then not only the contestants but audiences will probably leave them because we need to see more stories of women being told, women using their voices and not using false marketing and having contracts that do the complete opposite.

[17:45:05]

DEAN: Hmm. I want to read what the Miss Netherlands Pageant director says about the change. Quote -- "Women are insecure due to the rise of social media and its unreal images of beauty. This leads to negative energy every year." Again, that's the director of the Miss Netherlands Pageant. What do you think? I mean, listen, it's hard not to scroll through a phone and look at social media and start to compare, right?

LEMUS: Right, absolutely. I mean, I have to take mental health breaks from social media. I just took one just a couple of days ago. But I think what the organization is trying to spark a conversation is just the mental health. And I think you can have a positive experience with social media. I very much use it to my advantage to make connections with other women, to get them on my podcast so they can share their stories because that's what I am now. I'm a woman advocate.

DEAN: Hmm. And so, do you think -- what is your sense about America's relationship to pageants compared to what's going on in the Netherlands? Do you think there might be a movement like that here?

LEMUS: I would love to see that. I truly believe that when more women can come together, it's not only empowering ourselves, but the sisterhood. And that's something that I really got from my years of pageantry. I mean, the women that you see here today is a product of the Miss USA Organization. I just no longer resonate with the direction that it's moving in.

DEAN: All right, Arianna Lemus, thank you so much for being here. We appreciate it.

LEMUS: Thank you so much.

DEAN: Uh-hmm. Still ahead, vaccine skepticism is on the rise in the U.S. and at the same time, nearly eliminated diseases are resurfacing and spreading. Up next, we'll hear from nurses on the front lines of the fight against those diseases. You're in the "CNN Newsroom."

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DEAN: Hollywood star Jamie Foxx recovering from injuries after an incident at his birthday dinner on Friday. A spokesperson for Foxx said someone at a restaurant threw a glass that hit him in the mouth. He had to get stitches and is recovering. No arrests have yet been reported. It comes a few days after Foxx released a Netflix special detailing his health struggles from the last year. This morning, he thanked his supporters on social media and urged people to watch his new special.

Doctors and health officials are fighting vaccine disinformation on many fronts, including social media and anti-vax groups attempting to defy years of scientific studies proving vaccines are safe. CNN's Whitney Wild shows us how that's playing out in Minnesota and other areas with the measles vaccine.

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DR. STACENE MAROUSHEK, HENNEPIN HEALTHCARE PEDIATRIC CLINIC: Hi.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Stacene. Nice to meet you. I'm Whitney.

MAROUSHEK: Hi.

WILD: Thank you so much. So, tell us all, what's going on today?

MAROUSHEK: So, um, this is not one of my patients. This is one of my colleagues' patients. They just refuse their measles vaccine.

WILD (voice-over): Encouraging parents to stay up to date on vaccinations for their kids is routine for Dr. Stacene Maroushek at the Hennepin County Healthcare Pediatric Clinic in Minneapolis.

MAROUSHEK: We'll see you back in a year. All right, take care, you guys.

People forget how diseases used to kill kids. We essentially had white measles out in the United States. But then because of the vaccine rates plummeting over the last several years, now once those people come back into a community that has a low vaccine rate, it just goes like crazy and poof, there's your outbreak.

WILD (voice-over): Minnesota is now over its worst outbreak in seven years, health officials say, which infected 70 and sent many to the hospital.

Do you know immediately that's the measles?

JENN DRYER, EMERGENCY ROOM NURSE, HENNEPIN COUNTY MEDICAL CENTER: There's a pretty significant rash that partners with it. So, it would be fever, rash, runny nose, kind of the red eyes. Typically, children are more at risk. It's that significant respiratory infection.

WILD: Have you seen pretty severe cases?

DRYER: Um, yes.

WILD (voice-over): With the bulk of Minnesota's infections in Hennepin County, emergency room nurses and doctors find themselves on the outbreak front line again. What does it feel like when you're like oh, my God, these numbers are ticking up, this could be really bad? What does it feel like for you?

DRYER: You certainly get very anxious. You worry about the supplies that you have on hand. You worry about the staff. Will you have the resources? Is this the outbreak that's going to break you?

WILD (voice-over): Nationally, the CDC says there have been 16 outbreaks in 2024. There were just four in 2023, and more than half of the children under five who got sick had to be hospitalized. And the numbers for kindergartners starting school fully vaccinated are dropping nationwide.

UNKNOWN: One more, last one, last one, last one.

(CRYING)

KADEER ALI, FATHER: She got five shots, including the polio, including the flu, including the pox.

(CRYING)

WILD (voice-over): Her father skipped the MMR vaccine not because of her pain, but because of his fear.

ALI: I've heard a lot of news going around that if someone takes the MMR, get autistic.

WILD: Where did you hear that?

ALI: I watch from YouTube.

WILD: From YouTube?

ALI: Yes. Also, I heard from the parents who have already -- have autistic child.

WILD: That's something you're seeing every day?

MAROUSHEK: Every day, multiple times a day. All perceived fear of autism. Some people, you can talk them into a vaccine. Some people, they're just like, no.

WILD (voice-over): There is no link between autism and the MMR vaccine or any other vaccine. And yet families believe the possibility exists and take the risk.

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ALI: My first son, he suffered from measles.

WILD: Oh, you had a son with a measles?

ALI: Yes, he was in the hospital, in intensive unit.

WILD: The skepticism could further be fueled by incoming President Trump's choice to name a known anti-vax crusader to the head of the nation's sprawling Department of Health and Human Services. What is the biggest risk of vaccine disinformation? I mean, are you worried more people are going to die?

MAROUSHEK: Absolutely.

WILD (voice-over): Whitney Wild, CNN, Minneapolis.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Just ahead, the federal government deploys additional personnel and technology to address drone sightings. What we know about the mysterious drones reported over the East Coast. That's next. You're in the "CNN Newsroom."

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