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Bill House Passes Without Key Trump Debt Demand; Two Dead, 68 Injured In Germany Christmas Market Attack; Democrats Question Whether Elon Musk Is "Shadow President"; U.S. Officials Search For Missing American Austin Tice; Mangione Transferred To Notorious Federal Detention Center. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired December 21, 2024 - 01:00   ET

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

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[01:00:41]

ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to all of our viewers watching here in the U.S. and around the world. I'm Zain Asher in New York. And this is CNN Newsroom.

We are following two big stories this hour. Lawmakers in Washington have now passed a spending bill averting a government shutdown and also a deadly attack on a crowded Christmas market in Germany. We know that at least two people were killed, dozens more, about 68 or so were injured. This video you see here appears to show police arresting the suspect on scene, the suspected driver on scene. And officials are saying that he's a 50-year-old permanent resident in Germany who's originally from Saudi Arabia.

Let's start in Washington, though. We're just after the deadline and after days of a lot of chaos, lawmakers have now averted a crisis. The U.S. Federal government is now avoiding a shutdown after the Senate just passed a stopgap funding bill by a vote of 85 to 11. The House of Representatives passed it earlier as well. The bill now needs President Biden's signature.

The so called Plan C extends government funding into March. It includes disaster relief and farming provisions. But it does not, and this is crucial, it does not include a debt limit suspension, which of course was a key Donald Trump demand. That piece was stripped after a bipartisan revolt on Thursday.

Apparently that frustrated president -- former -- former President Trump, President-elect Donald Trump, so much so that he said to one lawmaker he was disappointed that the deal couldn't include a debt ceiling hike. A source says the President-elect now realizes that there are certainly some issues that conservatives will not budge on, even for him.

Ron Brownstein is back with us. So just in terms of what happens next, the current proposal is going to fund the government up until March 14th. And that sets up basically another showdown in the early days of the Trump administration. I think a lot of people would agree that the system is broken, Ron.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, you know, Congress really has become kind of government by crisis. And as I said to you before, I mean they -- they -- they kind of come up to the brink. And typically in the last few years, more often than not, have found a way to avoid tumbling over into the abyss. But at times they have. I mean, you know, we have seen government shutdowns.

And even before we get to that, maybe around the same time as that, we are going to have another crisis on -- on a more consequential issue, which is the debt ceiling. And, you know, we've had this kind of brinksmanship really, since the Obama presidency on -- on the debt ceiling, with Republicans typically refusing to raise the debt ceiling unless Democrats, Democratic presidents make concessions in terms of spending and -- and being accused of gambling with the entire global economy, because the consequences of a U.S. debt default obviously could be catastrophic, rippling through the world's financial system.

Now, we are in a situation because Trump did not get what he wants, where in all likelihood, virtual certainty, Republicans are going to need Democratic votes to raise the debt ceiling sometime this spring, avoid that kind of cataclysm. And that will be a moment where Democrats may have their -- the most leverage they will see at any point in the early months of the Trump presidency.

ASHER: And just in terms of what all of this means for Speaker Johnson, I mean, it has been a chaotic few days for him. The next election for House speaker is January 3rd, right? So not long. I mean, what -- what's going to happen to his hold on this position?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, look, I mean, we -- I -- I feel like this was a coming attractions of -- of what may be ahead in the second Trump presidency. Because this whole episode brought together reminded us of just how unpredictable and volatile and how many hairpin turns there were when Trump was president from 2017 to 2020, when he would blow up legislative deals like this with a tweet, almost like a basketball guard who would go up in the air and not really know what he was going to do with the ball.

I mean, you know, he would blow up a deal and not really have an alternative plan. Then you layer on top of that the venomous internecine warfare that we saw among House Republicans in '23 and '24 with their narrow majority, which is now narrower. And then you add as kind of like the last ingredient in this kind of Molotov cocktail of politics. Now you have Elon Musk as yet another variable.

[01:05:10]

And what this all points to is just, I think, a high level of unpredictability and uncertainty over these next couple years. Johnson's hold on power is extremely shaky. I mean, his -- his best asset is it's not clear that anyone could do better. And as Lauren, you know, pointed out from the Hill in the last hour, it's not clear that Donald Trump wants a protracted fight over speaker to be overshadowing his -- his inauguration. It -- everyone in the House, every House Republican, is now, you know, the decisive swing vote. Their Machinema, to, you know, take the phrase that was used about Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema having veto power over the Democrats in the last, you know, in '21 and '22. Every House Republican potentially is Machinema at this point.

ASHER: I think we can all agree, though, House Speaker Johnson's job is not an easy one. But as you point out, the best thing he has going for him is, you know, who else, if not him, then -- then who else? Just in terms of Donald Trump and Elon Musk, I mean, obviously we did learn --

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

ASHER: -- as I mentioned to you in the last hour, that there are some things that, you know, even a lot of Republicans will not budge on for even Donald Trump. Just talk to us about that, just the fact that there are limits on the extent of his influence over certain Republican lawmakers.

BROWNSTEIN: Right. I think in general, his position is stronger. He has fewer constraints than he did when he came in 2017. The Republican Congressional leadership is much more deferential to him than Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan. Don't forget, those were the Republican leaders in 2017 who were quite skeptical of Trump. The Supreme Court is more deferential to him. It was four to four at that point with a very uncertain swing vote in Anthony Kennedy.

Now it's a very solid 6-3 majority. His Senate majority is slightly bigger. The media seems a little uncertain. Democrats until this week have seemed quite uncertain, you know, more muted in responding to his Cabinet appointments than we see before. The one place where the shoe is clearly tighter is the House. He had 241 House Republicans when he entered in 2017. Now they have 220 seats. They've won but several vacancies. They might be down to as little as 217 at some points this spring.

And what we saw again this week is that there are members of the kind of the right flank in that Republican caucus who simply are unwilling to kind of make the concessions you need to, to govern even when Donald Trump ask 38 House Republicans voted against the deal, you know, in opposition to giving him a blank check on the debt ceiling. When they had unified control in 2018 and he had to raise the debt ceiling, 67 House Republicans voted no.

So there may be points at which Republicans in the House, some of them will not go for him, but it's --I think, important to understand those are likely to be from the right, not from the center. So to the extent there is pushback on Trump, it is to push him in a more militant direction than in a more compromising direction.

ASHER: You mentioned that Donald Trump has a lot more power this time around than he did eight years ago. Another person who has basically emerged in this much stronger position, of course, is -- is Elon Musk. And we haven't actually seen this before, this idea that a billionaire who doesn't really have a formal role in government exerts that much power. Just walk us, I mean, so much so the Democrats are referring to him as President Musk. Walk us through that aspect of this.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. I don't know if we've seen. I mean, I'm trying to think of examples of, you know, someone from outside the government who was given such an influential role by an administration and certainly showed his ability to intimidate Republicans in Congress. You know, that -- that's real. I mean, Republican -- you know, the Republicans in the House sort of scattered and broke at the -- at the threats from Musk originally. But again, it only went so far.

And I think he is clearly providing Democrats a target and a symbol. You know, I -- I -- I wrote a piece this week, you know, point -- in the Atlantic pointing out that there are many Democratic strategists who think that the strat -- the approach in the first Trump term of kind of panoramically fighting him on every front, you know, Churchillian on the beaches, in the alleys, in the streets, was the wrong approach.

And that Democrats should really zero in on the idea that his economic agenda is tilted toward his rich buddies and not toward the material interest of the voters who elected him. His strong working class support across racial lines. Well, Elon Musk is providing them a very powerful symbol of that. And I suspect that what we saw this week with Democrats really pinning this as much on Musk as on Trump. You're going to hear a lot of that as we go forward.

[01:10:17]

For example, on the tax bill which will cost 4 trillion to extend the Trump tax cuts, with people like Musk gaining a lot more benefit than the average autoworker in Michigan who voted for Trump. So, you know, Musk is an asset. Clearly he was, you know, his efforts, his enormous spending over $200 million was valuable to Trump in the election. But he is not an unalloyed asset. I mean, it -- it is a two sided coin here.

And I think he is going to be a profound target for Democrats not only as a symbol of kind of plutocracy, but also as a walking conflict of interest on so many fronts. You saw one Democrat in the House tonight basically argue that Trump tried to kill some of the provisions in the -- in the original House bill that restricted investment of advanced technologies in China because he has an interest in allowing for exactly those kind of investments with his gigafactory in Shanghai. So he is going to be in the crosshairs in a way that he has not been before.

ASHER: Yes. Perfect fodder as you laid out for four Democrats here. Ron Brownstein, we have to leave it there. Thank you so much. Always good to see you.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you for having me.

ASHER: Well, German officials are working to learn more about the deadly attack on a crowded Christmas market that happened in the city of Magdeburg in Germany. Germany's chancellor is scheduled to visit the city in the coming hours. We know that two people were killed, 68 injured, when a car drove through the crowd. This video appears to show police arresting the suspected driver on scene. Officials say that he is a 50-year-old man from Saudi Arabia and that he's a permanent resident of Germany and he's lived there for about 20 years. CNN's Matthew Chance has much more on the attack and the man suspected of driving the car.

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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the moment a vehicle plowed into a packed Christmas market in Germany, causing horrific casualties. Video from the immediate aftermath in the city of Magdeburg shows the market in disarray with items scattered all around and people tending to the wounded. It's now known an adult and a toddler were killed in the attack about 100 miles west of Berlin, leaving the city on edge.

DORIN STEFFEN, MAGDEBURG RESIDENT (through translator): We are shaking. We are full of sympathy for the relatives. Also, we hope nothing has happened to our relatives, friends and acquaintances.

CHANCE (voice-over): Police say they've arrested the driver of the car, identified by a senior German government official as a doctor originally from Saudi Arabia. The suspect is reported to have lived in Germany since 2006 and to work in the region. A government official says it's believed the suspected attacker acted alone.

REINER HASELOFF, REGIONAL PRIME MINISTER OF SAXONY-ANHALT (through translator): We are currently in the process of compiling all further data and also carrying out the interrogation. According to the current information, it is an individual perpetrator. So there is no longer any danger to the city because we're able to arrest him.

CHANCE (voice-over): It's not the first time a German Christmas market has been targeted. Back in 2016, a dozen people were killed and many more injured when a crowded Christmas market in Berlin was struck by a truck driven by a 24-year-old Tunisian man. That attack was later claimed by the Islamic State. Now the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz is set to travel to the scene of the latest attack as Germany reckons with a horrific act of violence just days before Christmas.

Matthew Chance, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ASHER: All right. Glenn Schoen is a security expert and terrorism experts. He joins us live now from the Hague in the Netherlands. Glenn, thank you so much for being with us. I think what's key -- what's interesting here from a security perspective is the fact that the suspected driver doesn't really fit the profile of what we've seen in the past. I mean, we're talking about a Saudi doctor, obviously very well educated, who has strong ties to Germany. He's not just a permanent resident, but he's lived there for two decades. So really strong ties in the country. Give us your thoughts on that.

GLENN SCHOEN, SECURITY & TERRORISM EXPERT: Well, the -- the news emerging from Germany is that the -- the narrative here is not one likely to be of an Islamist so called attack, but rather that this person had a convoluted worldview in which he thought he was being persecuted by German authorities. So analysis of the last few hours, particularly of social media and past media archives of this person who was somewhat of an activist, clearly shows this is much more of a probable mental health care case than it is a pure terrorism case with a clear political motive. So I think in Germany and threat analysts are today now reconsidering what -- what some of the opening thoughts were, that this might be part of a larger plot.

[01:15:17]

ASHER: Right. So different in terms of profile and likely also different in terms of the motivation that -- that drove this attack. For Germans though, this is going to be traumatic given the history. I mean, I remember in 2016 when we saw that attack on a Christmas market in Berlin. And then of course remember the -- the -- the sort of car attack again in Neuss as well. So just in terms of how you prevent attacks on these soft targets, it's really difficult. How -- how do you do that going forward?

SCHOEN: It's extremely difficult. Well, it's going to be always a combination of measures as were undertaken after the attack in -- in 2016. What we see on the one hand is you're looking at preventive intelligence. You're looking at boosting police presence in -- in places where these incidents might occur, strengthening your capability to respond if there is an incident.

We saw the Germans handled that very capably last night. And then certainly the -- the physical measures. Remember though, that even though we're looking here again at a tragic vehicle attack, we've also had attacks, for instance, with firearms on Christmas markets. So just blocking physical access for vehicles is not going to be the answer, as we saw in December of 2018 in Strasbourg, France, where the attack was with a firearm.

ASHER: And in terms of the investigation, I mean, obviously this is key. They're going to be obviously talking to the suspected driver, but they're also going to want to figure out, I imagine, and you're the security expert, not me, but I imagine a key aspect is trying to figure out the level of planning and the level of thought that went into this. How do they go about that?

SCHOEN: Certainly. Well, it's a combination. Obviously you have to so called peel the onion. So we'll be looking back at was this person sort of planning this for a longer period of time? What steps did we see in this planning? Was this person trained for this planning or self-trained for this planning? How long a process was this? And -- and what was prepared here?

So did this person walk the ground here? Was he familiar with the place that he targeted? Was he familiar with prior Christmas markets? Did he know what the setup was? Did he know what the weak spots were? How to maneuver this vehicle that he apparently rented in order to get the maximum effect that he was after? So I think as the day progresses, we'll be hearing more from German authorities. Just what went into this planning in a first take. After that, it's going to take several more days before we get the details. But you raise a very important point, and that this horrific action, of course, when we're looking at the general numbers, is already one of the worst terrorist incidents in Europe in years in terms of total casualties. So the alarm here for other Christmas markets and of course, also the new year celebrations, traditional mass events in large parts of Europe are already now considered a concern, irrespective of what the motive was, just in case we have other people plotting or in case this may spawn copycats.

ASHER: And obviously, you and I talked at the beginning about the fact that this man's profile was very different from what we saw back in 2016, when ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack on a Berlin Christmas market. But given the fact that over the years, ISIS has been incredibly weakened, I mean, the world does seem to have moved on from ISIS to a certain extent. And these sorts of attacks with somebody driving a truck or a car into a crowd are -- are sort of less common. Does that give rise to a certain level of complacency in the security field? Your thoughts.

SCHOEN: It does, to some extent, in the sense that, you know, absence of incidents always makes security awareness go down. We have seen authorities in the United Kingdom, in France, in Germany and other countries in recent weeks sort of stick up their finger and say, you know, please pay attention, public, because this still is a threat. We still consider it a serious threat. There are indications, including prior arrests in recent weeks in Germany, that we might see these kinds of incidents still coming.

So even if this particular incident might have been driven by a different motive, the concern for these kinds of incidents is certainly still there for the holiday season, unfortunately.

ASHER: Yes, really sad. Obviously, this is a Friday before Christmas, and of course, Germany, as I mentioned, you know, they've been through a high level of trauma with this exact type of attack before. Right, Glenn Schoen, we have to leave it there. Thank you so much.

SCHOEN: Thank you.

ASHER: Israeli authorities say a projectile launched from Yemen struck Tel Aviv overnight. In a rare instance, the city's air defense is failing to intercept a target.

[01:20:13]

These are sirens ringing out over central Israel. At least 30 people suffered minor injuries in the attack with a projectile landing in Tel Aviv's southern Jaffa area. The Houthis say they launched a hypersonic ballistic missile at an Israeli military target. This attack comes about a day after Israel said it successfully intercepted another missile launched from Yemen. Tensions between Israel and the Houthis have escalated for months as Israel has carried out its war on Hamas in Gaza.

All right. Still to come, Democrats are raising concerns about billionaire Elon Musk after helped push for the U.S. government shutdown. We'll have more coverage on that after the break.

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[01:25:17]

ASHER: All right. I want to turn now to our top story. After days of chaos, the U.S. Federal government remains open as Congress adopts a deal to avoid a shutdown. The plan extends government funding into March. It also includes disaster relief, but it does not include a debt limit suspension, something that Donald Trump really wanted. A source says that Donald Trump is disappointed the deal did not include a debt ceiling hike. The deal now requires President Biden's signature. Here's CNN's Lauren Fox with more.

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LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: At the last minute, members of the United States Senate able to avert a government shutdown.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On this vote, The yays are 85. The nays are 11. The 60 vote threshold having been achieved, the bill is passed.

FOX: This happened just a few minutes after midnight. But lawmakers coming together after what has been a whirlwind 36 hours in which Elon Musk and Donald Trump injected an 11th hour request to include the debt ceiling as part of these negotiations.

Ultimately, after a day and a half of Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House, trying to find a way to satisfy Trump's request, Republicans decided to move forward without an increase in the debt ceiling. And instead use just a pared back spending bill that includes $100 billion in disaster aid, $10 million in assistance for farmers. And a spending bill that will go until just March 14th, meaning that lawmakers are going to have to do this all over again in Donald Trump's first 100 days.

On Capitol Hill for CNN, I'm Lauren Fox.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ASHER: Trump's confidant and informal adviser, Elon Musk, helped torpedo a bipartisan deal earlier this week. And a lot of people in Congress see the billionaire as the one who's actually really running the show. Now furious Democrats are questioning whether Musk is, quote, a shadow president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Musk.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Musk.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Musk.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Musk. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Musk.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Musk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: Earlier, former House Democrat Mondaire Jones discussed the relationship between Trump and Musk with our Sara Sidner. He said this is just the start of more political chaos to come.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MONDAIRE JONES, FORMER U.S. HOUSE DEMOCRAT: You got to add the word elect. You know, he's not the -- President Musk is not really President Musk yet. In a few weeks he will be. It's the truth. Donald Trump is not in charge here. He is following the lead of his biggest donor, the rich -- the world's richest man. And it happens to be, sadly, someone who does not understand how government works.

You can -- you can see in real time President-elect Elon Musk learning how government works, how Congress works, certainly. In fact, he says things about bills that are not true and then has to correct himself. It's extraordinary. But this is the kind of dysfunction and chaos that has not just defined the past two years under the Republican majority in Congress, but it's only going to get worse because now Elon Musk is running the show.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: You think this is just what is more chaos to come in 2025 even though the House and the Senate will be Republican led?

JONES: Absolutely. I mean, basically you have the -- the people who are going to be exerting influence formally doing so right now. They're in the driver's seat right now and they still can't get their act together. And I would just say this was a stunning defeat for Donald Trump because he insisted that something be done about the debt ceiling. And it is nowhere to be found, that kind of resolution in this -- in this document.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ASHER: When lawmakers return to Washington in January, the incoming class will be the most closely divided House since the Great Depression nearly 100 years ago. And that's because Republicans will hold a historically narrow margin, leaving them very little room to maneuver. CNN's Phil Mattingly reports.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: All 435 House races have been called and we can say definitively that House Republicans once again have the majority, barely. And what do I mean by barely? I mean to a historic degree, barely. Because when you pull up what the actual numbers are, 220 Republicans, 215 Democrats, that is a five seat majority in the balance of power. And that means House Republican leaders can only afford to lose two of their members in a party line vote and still win that vote. And yet that's actually a lot easier than how it's going to be. What do I mean by that? Well, House Republicans can thank the guy that many of them credit for helping them win the House majority, for making it even harder because Donald Trump is taking House Republicans to be in his administration.

[01:29:58]

He started with Matt Gaetz, picked him to be his Attorney General. That nomination or effort failed catastrophically, as was expected. But Gaetz -- Gaetz resigned. That's minus one Republican. What about Elise Stefanik? A close ally, New York Republican, Donald Trump's pick to be U.N. ambassador. She's expected to be confirmed by the Senate. That's minus two Republicans. And Michael Waltz, national security adviser for Trump, he doesn't have to be confirmed at all. He will start on day one with the administration. That means three House Republicans won't be there for a period of months, likely, which means if you do the math, take 220 minus 3, and this is where you end up, 217 to 215.

If you thought losing two votes was the maximum and that would be complicated, try losing barely one. That would be borderline suffocation for any Republican leader and historically difficult moment for House Republican leaders. What do I mean by that? Put this away for a minute because I want to pull up some context here. If you take a look at majorities at every scale over the course of the last five decades, like right here, you'll see after decades of Democratic dominance post-Watergate, you got 149 seat majority at one point back in 1977, you can track that down hundreds, hundreds, 80s, 70s, back to a hundred, 82. That flipped when the chamber flipped.

Of course, when House Republicans took over in 1994, they didn't have a huge majority, but 26 seats, not bad. 1912 narrow at nine, but then starting to pop back up. And we saw that toggle back and forth as both sides took majorities over a period of years until the most recent period where a new trend started, right about there. Ten Democratic seat majority, then nine Republican seat majority, then five Republican seat majority.

So let's take this away and go back to where we are right now because again, was to 220-215 at some point during this process, it's going to be to 217 to 215. And that makes it really, really hard on one person in particular, this guy, Speaker Mike Johnson.

ASHER: Phil Mattingly reporting there for us.

We'll have much more news in terms of our breaking news coverage of the deadly Christmas market in Germany. Still ahead, world leaders react as investigators dig deeper into the potential motive behind this attack.

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[01:36:49]

ASHER: All right, more now on our breaking news story in Germany, officials are working to learn more about the deadly attack on a crowded Christmas market there. Two people were killed and 68 people were injured when a car drove through the crowd. Officials say the driver was a 50-year-old man from Saudi Arabia who's a permanent resident of Germany.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAMARA ZIESCHANG, INTERIOR MINISTER, SAXONY-ANHALT STATE (through translator): As far as we know now, there have been two fatalities and a large number of injuries. The perpetrator has been arrested. He is a 50-year-old man from Saudi Arabia who entered the Federal Republic of Germany for the first time in 2006. He had a settlement permit and thus a permanent residence and has been working as a doctor in Bernburg. According to our current knowledge, he acted as a lone offender. There is no information about other perpetrators.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: Officials say about 100 firefighters and 50 rescue personnel were deployed to the scene. Here's CNN's Fred Pleitgen with more details.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I want to set the scene for you a little bit. I'm going to get out of your way and you can see behind me is the actual Christmas market. And one of the things that's really interest all this is that there are actually barriers here to try and prevent something like this, exactly like this from happening. We can see those green and red barriers that were put up here and they're all around the perimeter of this Christmas market.

So it's unclear where there might have been a gap in all this for the -- the suspect and the car to get through and then plow through that market because it must have driven in there for -- for hundreds of yards through that market, injuring obviously a lot of people. Very difficult for the people to get out of the way because the stalls there are -- are pretty tight and the space is very small between them.

So a jam packed area, lots of people. Of course, all this happened at 7:00 p.m. on a Friday night, the last Friday before Christmas. And that's also one of the reasons, the authorities believe, why there's so many casualties because obviously this place would have been highly frequented at that time.

ASHER: World leaders were shocked and saddened by this attack. The latest statement came from the Pentagon which offered its condolences and said, quote, our hearts go out to the people of Germany. President Emmanuel Macron of France said that he's shaken by what he called the horror that struck the market in Magdeburg. He also said that France shares the pain of the German people and offers its solidarity.

NATO's Secretary General Mark Rutte described the scenes at the Christmas market as horrific, adding in a social media post that the alliance stands with Germany at this time. While the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that her thoughts are with the victims of this brutal and cowardly act. She said the attack must be investigated and severely punished.

German officials say the suspect rented the car that was used in the attack. Here's CNN's senior national security analyst, Juliette Kayyem, explains that could provide valuable clues to investigators.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, the -- the fact that they have the car is going to tell them a lot, not just the rental, but who rented it, when was it rented, how much thought went into this that then will give you a sense of -- of -- of how much planning and whether others were involved. The assailants -- the killer's ties to Germany were deep. He had been there almost 20 years. You are not talking of the sort of, you know, is it -- is it a Syrian refugee or is it a young person, you know, recently from another part of the country who got radicalized.

[01:40:17]

It's that deepness of -- of ties to Germany, a profession we don't know about family, presumably an income that is -- that is different about this. And so that's what they're going to be looking to. So it might be the top to Saudi Arabia. It might be something related to Gaza and Israel, which has amplified a lot of protests in -- in Europe and elsewhere, or it could be something uniquely German. And that -- and -- and we will determine whether it was politically motivated, given what's happening in Germany, or someone with just, you know, a particular reason for doing this.

So all of those are still open, but it's the deepness of ties to Germany over a couple decades. Either it was a radicalization from afar or it was something different. That that's what I think investigators will be looking for, including his ties to -- to people, contacts in other countries. So there had been sort of secondary weaponry to get the first responders. They come to the car, and then it blows up.

That's just a level of sophistication, a sort of level of knowledge. And also just creating even a rudimentary device would have been planning, why wasn't that captured, you know, why wasn't that caught? So when -- when it was determined that there wasn't one, then people like me and -- and -- and the rest of the panel begin to think, OK, well, was this more spontaneous? Was -- what was this triggered by because it takes absolutely nothing to get into your car. If he lives in the area, he's no -- he knows where there's going to be vulnerabilities in -- in the Christmas area, in the Christmas Village area and to just press the accelerator.

That's the scary thing about these -- these -- these car attacks. And as we enter, not just Christmas, but of course, we're all thinking about it, New Year's and our capacity to stop these cars. Everyone in big cities will experience the protections that are in place. They don't know that it's them, but that's why there's big trash trucks in New York and Boston and elsewhere. Those are just ways to try to limit space, speed and -- and an ability of a vehicle to get to -- to large masses of people that will be ratcheted up in the days to come because of this attack. ASHER: Still ahead, the U.S. looks to forge new ties with Syria and pledges to lift a $10 million bounty on the former rebel fighter who is now Syria's de facto leader.

Plus, the accused killer of an insurance company CEO is now in New York's Metropolitan Detention Center. The conditions Luigi Mangione faces in the notarial -- notorious federal facility coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:47:21]

ASHER: Demonstrations -- demonstrators rather, are holding a rally in South Korea as they prepare for President Yoon's impeachment trial to begin. You're looking at live Ahmed al-Sharaa pictures from Seoul. You remember that President Yoon was suspended from office last week after attempting to impose martial law on the country. Now that shocking decision triggered weeks of unrest and protests. His fate is now in the hands of the Constitutional Court, which has up to six months to decide whether Yoon will be formally removed from the presidency or reinstated to office. The court plans to hold its first pre-trial hearing on Friday.

And the U.S. is taking steps to work with Syria's new interim government after the fall of the Assad regime. The Biden administration is lifting a long standing bounty on the former rebel leader who is now leading Syria's transition. CNN's Alexander Marquardt has the details from Washington for us.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. announced on Friday that it is removing the $10 million bounty for the leader of HTS, which is the group that just led the overthrow of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. The announcement was made by Barbara Leaf, who is the top State Department official for the Middle East. She visited Damascus on Friday, part of the first high level U.S. visit to the Syrian capital in years.

Leaf and others sat down with the head of HTS, Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose group is still designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization. Leaf said the meeting was good and productive. She called Sharaa pragmatic and noted his moderate statements. But she said the U.S. will, quote, judge by deeds, not just by words. Sharaa and others are calling for the U.S. to lift its sanctions on Syria to help jumpstart the economy.

Meanwhile, these U.S. officials also raised the case of Austin Tice, the journalist who has been missing in Syria since 2012. The head of hostage affairs, Roger Carstens, says that he has been amazed by the number of secret prisons in Syria being uncovered. And he said that in their search for clues, they're focusing on around six facilities where Tice may have been held. Carstens acknowledged limited resources and suggested that American investigators, including from the FBI, could join the search on the ground soon. But for now, sadly, there is no news about Tice's whereabouts.

Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington. ASHER: Ukraine says Russia has, quote, unleashed a real hell on the southern city of Kherson. More than a thousand artillery shells hit the city over a period of 40 minutes on Friday, leaving two people dead and 10 others injured. Kherson is just across the river from Russian positions. And officials say Russian troops regularly try to cross over with hopes of reoccupying the city at some point.

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Similar scenes played out in Kyiv, where at least one person was killed and 12 others injured. Ukraine called it a barbaric attack that also damaged several foreign embassies. Officials say that all Russian drones and missiles were shot down or failed to reach their targets, but their falling debris caused damage and casualties.

The man accused of killing an insurance company CEO is expected to be arraigned on murder charges in New York as soon as Monday. State officials say they expect Luigi Mangione's trial there to start before his federal trial begins. This comes a day after Mangione was transferred to a notorious federal detention center in New York. CNN's Kara Scannell has more.

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KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's one of the most dangerous federal jails in the country and the current home of suspected shooter Luigi Mangione, who is facing a federal murder charge for allegedly gunning down the UnitedHealthcare CEO on the streets of Manhattan. Inmate number 52503-511, Mangione is housed in a facility described by one judge as having dangerous barbaric conditions and an environment of lawlessness.

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: All prisons are miserable places to be, but boy, the MDC is maybe the most miserable of all the federal facilities that I've been in. It is dark, it is overcrowded, it's loud, it's too hot in the summer, it's too cold in the winter.

SCANNELL (voice-over): Violence, contraband and drugs plagued the facility on the edge of Brooklyn that has housed some of the highest profile defendants in the federal system.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel really, really bad and regretful.

SCANNELL (voice-over): Among them crypto king, Sam Bankman-Fried, embattled music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs, and Jeffrey Epstein's former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell. Mangione will likely be isolated given his notoriety. A spokesman for MDC Brooklyn tells CNN, for privacy, safety and security reasons, we do not comment on the conditions of confinement for any incarcerated individuals, including housing assignments.

More than 1,100 people, male and female, are currently housed in MDC's notorious cells and dorm style barracks.

HONIG: It's bad enough that various federal judges have actually given reduced sentences or given defendants bail because of the conditions inside the MDC.

SCANNELL (voice-over): In 2019, during a polar vortex, over 1,600 inmates were locked in their cells, some with frigid temperatures, inadequate blankets and toilets that wouldn't flush, according to a lawsuit, resulting in a $10 million settlement with inmates.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We determined that heating issues had been a long standing problem at the jail.

SCANNELL (voice-over): In August of this year, the director of the Bureau of Prisons created an urgent action team to support the warden there and fill staffing shortages.

COLETTE S. PETERS, BUREAU OF PRISONS DIRECTOR: They are certainly riveted with a staffing crisis, which I think is a major driver of some of the issues that are bubbling up out of that institution.

SCANNELL (voice-over): But in September, the DOJ announced five inmates were charged in two separate murders of other inmates. A six was charged with attempted murder for allegedly stabbing another inmate 44 times with a makeshift weapon. Another inmate was sent to the hospital with an ice pick stuck in his back.

A multi-agency sweep of the facility in October found a number of electronic devices, drugs and associated paraphernalia and homemade weapons. And illegal cell phones are common. Federal prosecutors accused alleged gang members of taking photos from inside their cells, posing and showing off their tattoos.

Inmates are not the only criminal offenders. In June, a corrections officer at the jail was sentenced for accepting more than $20,000 in bribes to smuggle drugs, cigarettes and cell phones to inmates, according to the Department of Justice.

SCANNELL: It's unclear how long Mangione will stay at the MDC. He could be back in court as soon as Monday for an arraignment on the state charges.

Kara Scannell, CNN, New York.

ASHER: All right. Amazon drivers continued their holiday season strike for a second day after walking off the job on Thursday. Members of the Teamsters Union are striking at eight facilities across four U.S. states. They say they represent about 7,000 Amazon workers nationwide. Drivers want better wages and benefits and also for Amazon to recognize them as official company employees. Amazon says it's not required to negotiate with them since they are contracted workers. The company is promising the strike won't affect holiday deliveries.

The union representing some Starbucks workers has launched its first strike in 13 months. It's targeting what it calls the key markets of Seattle, Chicago and Los Angeles. Just 12,000 Starbucks employees are unionized, a fraction of the chain's 200,000 employees. A source told CNN that only 10 stores in the city did not open as usual on Friday. The union says it will spread walk out to hundreds of stores across the U.S. by Christmas. That's unless the company honors a framework agreement to reach its first ever union contract.

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All right. Before we leave, we want to give you a quick update now on the breaking news out of Germany, a deadly attack on a crowded Christmas Market. Two people were killed and 68 injured when a car drove through the crowd. It happened in the city of Magdeburg. Germany's chancellor is scheduled to visit the city in the coming hours.

All right. Thank you so much for watching. I'm Zain Asher. CNN continues with my colleague Kim Brunhuber after this quick break.

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