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CNN This Morning
FBI Director Wray To Resign At End Of Biden's Term; CNN Goes Inside Secret Prison In Syria; Hannah Kobayashi "Found Safe" According To Family; NYPD: Fingerprints, Shell Casings Tie Suspect To Shooting. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired December 12, 2024 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:33]
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Thursday, December 12th.
Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTOPHER WRAY, FBI DIRECTOR: This is not easy for me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: No Wray. FBI Director Christopher Wray says hell step down when Trump takes office.
Plus --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSICA TISCH, NYPD POLICE COMMISSIONER: We were able to match that gun to the three shell casings.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: CSI New York. Police say evidence at the scene does indeed match the suspect in the sidewalk execution of UnitedHealthcare CEO.
Plus --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, I'm legitimately concerned for what the hell is going on because that nobody knows.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Eyes in the sky. More drones seen swarming over New Jersey, but no answers on where they came from.
(MUSIC)
HUNT: All right, 5:00 a.m. here on the East Coast, a live look at the Capitol Dome.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
FBI director Christopher Wray reading the writing on the wall, announcing he will step down from his post when President Biden leaves the White House next month, clearing the way for Kash Patel to take over the bureau if he is able to be confirmed. Wray is leaving seven years into a ten-year term. The director says he wrestled with whether or not to resign, given President-elect Trump's desire to replace him.
He ultimately decided to leave when Trump takes office to facilitate an orderly transition.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WRAY: In my view, this is the best way to avoid dragging the bureau deeper into the fray while reinforcing the values and principles that are so important in how we do our work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Trump called Wray's announcement a great day for America, even though, of course, Trump personally appointed him in 2017 after firing the previous FBI director, James Comey.
At the time, Trump sang Wray's praises. Now, not so much.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF TEH UNITED STATES: I believe that we will have a great FBI director. I think he's doing really well and were very proud of that choice. I think I've done a great service to the country.
Well, I can't say I'm thrilled with him. He invaded my home. I'm suing the country over it. He invaded Mar-a-Lago.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Trump's pick to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, has been meeting with Republican senators, trying to convince them he's a worthy replacement, even though he's threatened to use the bureau to punish the president-elect's perceived enemies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KASH PATEL, TRUMP'S PICK TO LEAD THE FBI: We look forward to a very smooth transition, and I'll be ready to go on day one. The senators have been wonderful, and I look forward to earning their trust and confidence with the advice and consent process, and restoring law and order and integrity to the FBI.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. Let's bring in CNN political analyst, Washington bureau chief of "The Boston Globe", Jackie Kucinich.
Jackie, good morning.
JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning.
HUNT: Thanks so much for being here. In some ways, not a surprise, but worth noting that this not being a surprise has a heck of a lot about the state of our politics.
KUCINICH: Absolutely. So, it seems like Wray saw the writing on the wall and has emphasized that this was the best thing for the bureau. But let's not forget how his predecessor was let go. I believe Comey wrote in his book that he saw it on a crayon, and he thought it was a joke.
So it was unexpected and it caused a lot of tumult. So Wray wanted to avoid that.
That said it, whether or not it's Kash Patel, this is unusual, and we should say this. This is -- the FBI director has a ten year term in order to avoid politics in theory. This is someone who serves across several administrations. That is not the case for President-elect Trump, clearly.
HUNT: So, Jackie, let's watch a little bit of what some of the reaction was to this on Capitol Hill yesterday.
Let's start with Senator Josh Hawley, who had some really harsh words for Wray. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): I mean, he's the worst FBI director in American history. He should go. This should not be partisan. By the way, he's a Republican, but he's just been a bad guy.
I think he will be confirmed. I just don't know what the opposition to Kash Patel really is beyond. I understand he's a conservative, and I understand that my liberal colleagues don't like that but --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So Kash Patel -- just conservative or more than that?
KUCINICH: I mean, given -- given his statements about, you know, shutting down the building and turning it into I cant remember what the actual verbiage was, but some of the things that --
[05:05:01]
HUNT: The museum of the deep state.
KUCINICH: Thank you very much. Yes. Thank you. Thank you.
That and as well as, you know, his blind loyalty, frankly, to the president-elect, I think gives a lot of lawmakers pause. There's been a lot of words written about -- about all of the things that he's said that are, you know, that just indicate his loyalty to Trump and Trump's last slate of national security officials, really were worried about Kash Patel, his former CIA director, his Bill, a Bill Barr -- Bill Barr.
HUNT: Yes, yes. The former attorney general said that he would seem appointed deputy director of the FBI, over my dead body.
KUCINICH: Yes, exactly. So there are there are there was lots of flags raised in the last Trump administration about Kash Patel. None of those flags are. None of those people are nominated to serve in this iteration. So perhaps those flags are going on unseen by lawmakers.
We'll see what happens in these confirmation hearings.
HUNT: Have you heard anything coming off the hill that suggests to you that Patel isn't on track to confirmation?
KUCINICH: It's hard to say at this point because there are so many nominees that are kind of in the barrel right now.
HUNT: So to speak, yes.
KUCINICH: Yes. Yeah, exactly. And so I think that well have to wait and see. He hasn't been in the center of it yet, or at least at this point, because you have Pete Hegseth, you have RFK Jr. coming up to the hill next week that a lot of lawmakers have concerns over. It is a kind of a -- really, they've really flooded the zone with some of these nominees that lawmakers have concerns about. If this rises to that level, we'll have to see.
HUNT: All right. Jackie Kucinich for us this morning -- Jackie, thanks so much for starting us off. I appreciate it.
KUCINICH: Thank you.
HUNT: All right. Straight ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, a forgotten prisoner. The stunning discovery by CNN's Clarissa Ward in a notorious prison operated by the Assad regime.
Plus, what the mother of the alleged CEO killer told police about her missing son.
And, unknown drones hovering over New Jersey, leaving residents baffled. Government officials demanding answers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JEFF VAN DREW (R-NJ): These drones should be shot down. They should be shot down. We are not getting the full deal and the military is on alert with this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [05:11:41]
HUNT: Welcome back.
Overnight, Syria's rebel leader telling "Reuters" he would dissolve the security forces of fallen dictator Bashar al-Assad and close the country's notorious prisons. The Assad regime operated several secretive prisons in the city of Damascus.
CNN's Clarissa Ward brought cameras inside one of them and made a remarkable discovery.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Deep in the belly of the regime's Air Force Intelligence headquarters --
These are English letters.
We are hoping to find traces of Austin Tice, an American journalist held captive in Syria since 2012. It's one of many secret prisons across the city. This specific branch was tasked with surveillance, arrest, and killing of all regime critics.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are all cleaned out.
WARD: We don't find any hints of Tice, but come across something extraordinary.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't tell though. It might just be a blanket, but it's the only cell that's locked.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is he going to shoot it?
WARD: The guard makes us turn the camera off while he shoots the lock off the cell door. We go in to get a closer look. It's still not clear if there is something under the blanket.
WARD: Oh, it moved. Is there someone there? I thought I saw it move. Is someone there? Or is it just a blanket? I don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) someone. Hello?
WARD: OK, (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. Oh, that's OK. It's OK. It's OK.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
WARD: I'm a civilian, he says. I'm a civilian.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's OK. It's OK.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
WARD: He tells the fighter he is from the city of Homs and has been in the cell for three months.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
WARD: OK. You're OK. You're OK. You're OK. You're OK.
Clutches my arm tightly with both hands.
WARD: OK.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
WARD: Does anyone have any water? Water?
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
WARD: OK. It's water. It's water. OK. OK. OK. You're OK. You're OK. You're OK.
We start to walk him outside. Thank God you are safe. Don't be afraid, the fighter says. You are free.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
WARD: This is the third prison they brought me to, he says, the third prison. After three months in a windowless cell, you can finally see the sky.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
WARD: Oh God, the light, he says. Oh God, there is light. My God, there is light.
OK. OK.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
[05:15:06]
WARD: You're OK. Stay with me. Stay with me, he repeats again and again. For three months. I didn't know anything about my family, he says. I didn't hear anything about my children.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
WARD: The fighter hands him something to eat. He barely lift it to his mouth.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
WARD: His body can't handle it. OK, you are OK. His captors fled during the fall of Damascus, leaving him with no food or water. That was at least four days ago.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
WARD: I'm shaking. My face is shaking, he says. The rebel tells him there's no more army, no more prisons, no more checkpoints.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
WARD: Are you serious, he says.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
WARD: Syria is free, he tells him. It's the first time he has heard those words.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
WARD: He tells us his name is Adul Hurbav (ph) and that officers from the much feared Mukhabarat Intelligence Services took him from his home and began interrogating him about his phone. They brought me here to Damascus. They asked me about names of terrorists, he says.
Did they hit you, the fighter asks? Yes. Yes, he says. As a paramedic arrives, the shock sets in. There's nothing, everything's OK. The Red Crescent is coming to help you, this man as assures him. You are safe. Don't be afraid anymore. Everything you are afraid of is gone.
Tens of thousands of Syrians have disappeared in Assad's prisons. Up until 15 minutes ago, Adul Hurbav (ph) was one of them. He's still petrified.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
WARD: Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid, the ambulance worker reassures him.
Every car I got into, they blindfolded me, he says.
It is the end of a very dark chapter for him and for all of Syria, but so many ghosts remain.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNT: Just remarkable reporting there from our Clarissa Ward.
Coming up next here on CNN THIS MORNING, a missing woman from Hawaii found safe after a month of searching. The stunning details from the massive search stretching beyond U.S. borders.
And mysterious clusters of drones flying over New Jersey for weeks. Officials now on high alert.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:22:37]
HUNT: All right, 22 minutes past the hour. Here's your "Morning Roundup".
President-elect Trump picked Kari Lake as the next director of "Voice of America". That is an international broadcasting network that's funded by the federal government. Now, Lake was a news anchor in Arizona for more than 20 years before she stepped down to pursue politics. She lost in the Arizona Senate race last month, and in her 2022 bid for governor.
Found safe. That's the update, in the case of the missing Hawaii woman four weeks after her disappearance. Last week, police declared her voluntarily missing after determining that she crossed the border from California to Mexico on her own free will. Her family had been searching for her since last month.
An Illinois man pleading not guilty to a simple assault charge after Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace told police the man shook her hand, quote, aggressively and in an exaggerated manner in a confrontation at the Capitol Tuesday. She says she was, quote, attacked over her efforts to ban transgender women from using women's bathrooms in the capitol.
A Wisconsin man who authorities believe faked his own death and fled to Eastern Europe is now back in the U.S. he is charged with a misdemeanor count of obstructing an officer. Officials say he allegedly staged a kayaking accident in August and took off overseas, leaving his wife and kids behind.
All right. Still coming up after the break. Authorities piecing together new evidence as they search for possible motives in the killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO.
Plus, mysterious drones flying over northern New Jersey have authorities and lawmakers on high alert.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've done states of emergencies when it's about to snow out. Now we have people who are freaking out because the drone the size of an SUV is flying over their house and everybody's going, yeah, we're not sure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:29:21]
HUNT: All right, 5:28 a.m. here on the East Coast, a live look at Buffalo, New York, on this apparently wintry morning up there.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
Police in New York say they now have crucial forensic evidence connecting suspect Luigi Mangione to the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. The NYPD commissioner says a 3D printed gun found on the 26-year-old when he was arrested in Pennsylvania, Monday, matches three shell casings that were discovered at the Manhattan crime scene.
And some of the items he reportedly dropped near the scene of the crime, now proving to be crucial clues.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TISCH: We're also able at our crime lab to match the person of interest fingerprints.
