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CNN This Morning
Key U.S. Air Force Base Closes Airspace Amid Drone Sightings; Netanyahu Says He Spoke with Trump About the Need for Victory As Israeli Government Approves Plan for Golan Heights Expansion; Mitt Romney Bids Farewell to Senate But Says MAGA is Now the Republican Party. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired December 16, 2024 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:00]
KASIE HUNT, ANCHOR, CNN THIS MORNING: It's Monday, December 16th, right now on CNN THIS MORNING.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's so many things in the sky right now.
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HUNT: Eyes on the sky. More mysterious drone sightings, this time forcing a critical U.S. base to close its airspace. And --
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: I gave them the Golan Heights and they never even asked for it.
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HUNT: A quote, warm conversation. Israel's Prime Minister details a recent call with Donald Trump as tensions rise over a buffer zone with Syria. And --
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SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): MAGA is the Republican Party and Donald Trump is the Republican Party today.
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HUNT: Romney's farewell. The one-time standard bearer for the GOP gives a final assessment of his party as he exits the stage. All right, 5:00 a.m. here on the east coast, a live look at Capitol Hill on this Monday morning. Good morning everyone, I'm Kasie Hunt, it's wonderful to have you with us.
Concern, confusion and calls for military intervention. New drone sightings reported on the east coast over the weekend. And it's become a disruption to critical agencies. Drone activity forcing officials to close airspace over one of the country's most critical Air Force bases. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is outside Dayton, Ohio, and it was closed for almost four hours late Friday and early Saturday.
And New York's Stewart International Airport was forced to temporarily shut down its runways Friday too. Federal officials urging calm in the face of growing criticism about the lack of answers that they're providing, although they insist the sightings pose no security threat.
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ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY, UNITED STATES: 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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HUNT: The lack of clarity about these drones and who might be behind them has lawmakers on both sides of the aisle lashing out at the federal response.
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REP. MIKE WALTZ (R-FL): And I think Americans are finding it hard to believe we can't figure out where these are coming from. And I can tell you from the Defense Department's standpoint, you know, they're focused on bombers and cruise missiles, and it's pointing to gaps in our capabilities and our ability to clamp down on what's going on here.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): If you see a drone in your air over your home, you should not have to shake an eight ball to see what it is.
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HUNT: All right, CNN political analyst Margaret Talev joins us now. Margaret, good morning --
MARGARET TALEV, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, I'm wearing drone green in case you've been in New Jersey, you got green, gold and red in the sky -- drone green.
HUNT: Oh, I hadn't thought of it like that. That's Chuck Schumer for you.
TALEV: Yes --
HUNT: Right, with props.
TALEV: That's some high tech property there that will get to the bottom of it.
HUNT: Oh, it is. You know, there does seem to be a sense, I think that people feel that the federal government must know more about these drones. TALEV: That they know -- they really know more about it. And they're
not saying what it is, right?
HUNT: Yes --
TALEV: That's one of the threats here. Look, this has got all the elements of -- like a close encounters of the third-kind story, right? Is it the Iranians? Is it a secret Intelligence security check by the government? It's classified so they can't tell you about it. Is it one of 800,000 drones that are registered to the FAA that are flying around largely unregulated?
You know, so, the bottom line is, there's been no definitive, decisive explanation about this yet. There is a bunch of legislation that either regulates it or would expand authorities for different parts of the federal government to regulate or to deal with the mitigation of drones.
And this is all coming to a head at the end of one administration and before another takes over. So, you've got Joe Rogan saying now he's really worried, and Donald Trump, President-elect Trump saying, shoot him down, and all of these sort of theatrics are -- they're getting the public ramped up, but they still don't really address the question of what's going on here.
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HUNT: Right --
TALEV: So --
HUNT: And so, speaking of shooting down, Mayorkas; the Homeland Secretary was asked --
TALEV: Yes --
HUNT: About this as well.
TALEV: Yes --
HUNT: Let's listen to what he said about the prospect of shooting down these drones.
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MAYORKAS: I think there are more than 8,000 drones flown every day in the United States. With respect to the ability to incapacitate those drones, we are limited in our authorities. We have certain agencies within the Department of Homeland Security that can do that and outside our department. But we need those authorities expanded as well.
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HUNT: So, basically, he says, we can't do that. TALEV: I think it's even a more complicated explanation than that,
right? There's the Pentagon, and the Pentagon does have the ability to deal with drones that are over military base space. So, if there's a drone that's flying over a military space and it's not supposed to be there, the military has the ability to do something about that. But once you get outside the space of a military base, the U.S. military can't just go around doing operations in the --
HUNT: Yes --
TALEV: United States, OK? Also, if you shoot something down over a civilian area, like that stuff is going to go somewhere and it could hurt people. So, there are dangers to just shooting things down. And of course, you'd want to know, was it really a drone or is it a plane? If it's a manned aircraft, you don't want to go shooting something down unless you know -- unless you've given warnings and that sort of thing.
It's also a complicated patchwork of regulation, because to Secretary Mayorkas' point, DHS has authorities in some spaces and the Justice Department, there's legislation that would expire, I think, around December the 20th, that they're looking to extend and expand, that would cover the management of drones in the sky.
And then, there's the FAA's regulatory space, and there's another piece of legislation moving around in Congress that would expand the FAA's ability to regulate drones. And then, there's what the Pentagon can do. And then, there's what governors can or can't do. And you've seen a number of governors now including Democratic governors and states like New York, saying, hey, Feds, we need the drone technology because we need to be able to deal with this in our space.
So, part of this, I think is the reality of the fact that there are thousands and thousands of drones that are actually allowed to be in certain airspace --
HUNT: Right --
TALEV: That do recreational stuff, agricultural stuff, business stuff. And then, on top of it, there's whatever this is. And then on top of it, there's a lot of planes, but now there's a public frenzy. So, any time anyone sees something in the sky, it's like the drones are coming for us. So, it's a perfect combination of the holidays, a change of administration, some opacity by the federal government about what's actually going on.
And then I think a lot of people really not knowing everything that's in the sky, and that's a problem.
HUNT: Yes, for sure. All right, Margaret Talev, always great to have you --
TALEV: Thank you --
HUNT: Thank you so much for being here this morning. All right, straight ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu detailing a, quote, "very warm conversations he says he just had with President-elect Trump. Plus, Nancy Pelosi undergoing surgery after taking a fall on a trip abroad.
And support for Pete Hegseth growing after he has apparently said he'll release his sexual misconduct accuser from her non-disclosure agreement.
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SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): He's given me his side of the story, it makes sense to me, I believe him, unless somebody is willing to come forward, I think he's going to get through.
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HUNT: Welcome back. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirming he had a, quote, "very warm" phone call with President- elect Trump Saturday night. Their discussion included their takes on Israel's effort to secure victory over Hamas in Gaza and bring home the hostages. And Netanyahu's new plan to expand settlements in the occupied Golan Heights after the fall of Syria's President Bashar al- Assad.
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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER, ISRAEL (through translator): A year ago, I said a simple thing we will change the Middle East, and indeed, we are changing it. Syria is not the same Syria, Lebanon is not the same Lebanon, Gaza is not the same Gaza. And the head of the axis, Iran is not the same Iran.
I discussed all of this again last night with my friend, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. It was a very friendly, very warm and very important conversation. We spoke about the need to complete Israel's victory, and we also spoke at length about the efforts we are making to free our hostages.
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HUNT: All right, CNN's Max Foster joins us live now from London. Our man in London, Max Foster, thank you for being here. Let's talk a little bit about what this means. I mean, we have seen Donald Trump in many ways operate almost as someone who was already President of the United States.
It's rather remarkable and the way these conversations are going with foreign leaders is a big piece of that, even though, of course, Joe Biden is still President of the United States. What did you make of how Netanyahu characterized this phone call in terms of -- I thought it was interesting that he talked about the hostages in particular.
He's come under criticism for that from his own people in Israel. And there's also this question about, you know, how much pressure there is on them to finish the war, have a ceasefire before Donald Trump even takes office, because Trump's allies have pretty clearly said that the President-elect doesn't want to deal with this problem initially.
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MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: It's interesting, isn't it? Obviously, Donald Trump would like to have this dealt with. He'd be like -- like to be the one to deal with it. So, what we're seeing from Netanyahu is this language where he --- you know, he's got this -- he's had this quite obscure goal of victory over the Iran's axis of evil.
And that does cut across Hamas, Hezbollah and Syria. And you can see him there starting to talk about reaching that victory, which is a point where perhaps he could agree to some sort of peace deal. There is talk of a more political momentum behind a peace deal for Gaza, for example.
And, you know, if you take all of this in context, maybe that could be seen as part of this wider fight against Iran and the axis of evil, as he calls it. So, some of the language from Netanyahu is certainly changing, and it does suggest that, you know, peace -- a peace deal is more likely at this point.
And we also know that Hamas has shifted slightly, there seem to be indications that they would accept Israeli troops remaining in Gaza, which was a big block for them up until now.
HUNT: Yes, Max, let me also ask you about the Golan Heights because of course, we've seen Netanyahu vow to double the population there. What's the impact of that?
FOSTER: Well, it's largely seen as a violation, certainly from Jolani who is running Syria right now, also from the United Nations and European Union. The buffer zone is meant to be a buffer zone, as in, you know, a space between Syria and Israel. But it's now effectively being occupied by Israel. Some of those positions that were occupied by Syria, also, they have been seen within Syria itself as well.
Now, talk of, you know, greater numbers of settlements. It does clash slightly with what the Israeli defense forces chief said. We aren't intervening in what's happening in Syria. We have no intention of administering Syria. But, you know, this is Syrian territory, and if there are settlements there, they will have to be administered.
So, we're just going to have to see how it's playing out. Having settlements there is a very different argument from the one that they've made up until now, which is securing the buffer zone, because you can see why Israel would need to do that in many ways, because it wants to -- it's worried about what's going to emerge in Syria.
But you know, settlements are a different debate, and other countries have a much stronger view on that.
HUNT: All right, Max Foster for us this morning, sir, always grateful to have you, thank you so much.
FOSTER: OK, Kasie.
HUNT: All right, see you soon. Still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, Mitt Romney's farewell message to the Republican Party.
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ROMNEY: Give him a chance to do what he says he's going to do and see how it works out.
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HUNT: Romney was the last man not named Trump to be the Republican nominee for President. What he sees for the GOP's future. Plus, a tornado in California in December? We have that coming up in our morning roundup.
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HUNT: All right, 20 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi is on the mend after undergoing hip replacement surgery following a fall in Luxembourg. She was airlifted to a hospital in Germany after tripping and falling on stairs while attending an official event. We're glad she's OK.
"ABC News" reached a settlement with Donald Trump in his defamation suit against the network. "ABC" will pay $15 million to a presidential foundation and museum. Trump sued "ABC News" and anchor George Stephanopoulos when he used the word rape instead of the phrase sexual assault when referring to E. Jean Carroll's lawsuit against Trump.
A rare California tornado touches down in Scotts Valley. The EF one tornado hit the area on Saturday with winds reaching 83 miles an hour.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To be honest with you, I thought this could be the end of my life. It was that strong.
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HUNT: The storm prompted San Francisco, which is about 70 miles away, to issue the first tornado warning in its history. But fortunately, it never touched down there. And that brings us to weather, because California, not yet in the clear from severe weather, heavy rain and high winds hit the northern part of the state this morning. Let's get to our meteorologist, our weatherman, Derek Van Dam. Derek, good morning!
DEREK VAN DAM, METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Kasie. Let's be clear. There's not a threat of tornadoes today along the west coast. So, let's get that out of the way right away. But what we saw this weekend was phenomenal to see and witnessed the first-ever tornado warning in San Francisco's history.
That's really saying something just to the south in Scotts Valley, there was a confirmed tornado, you can see it here. And even though, it was only on the ground -- forget this, five minutes, it was enough to overturn vehicles, cause injuries, stripped leaves off of trees and take down power lines as well, very short-lived tornado, but very destructive tornado within that particular section.
So, here's what's happening now as we start our Monday morning, we've got what we call an atmospheric river, you've heard us use that term several times. Basically, this plume of water vapor and moisture that's going to allow for a considerable amount of precipitation over the coming days. So, a lot of mountain snow that will be measured in feet, not inches, and then rainfall for the lower elevations, especially along the coastline of Washington and Oregon, into northern sections of California, could be 2 to 4 inches, locally higher amounts as well.
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But I want to show you what's happening on the east coast. So, as you wake up this morning in the major metropolitans, Philadelphia, New York, just south of Boston, a quick moving but impactful storm will impact your morning commute as you head out the door today -- look at Long Island, lots of rain. You work your way in-land, slightly higher elevation. That is snowfall. That's why we have that Winter weather advisory in place for the region for a quick 2 to 4 inches of heavy, wet snow for the interior today. Kasie?
HUNT: All right, Derek Van Dam for us this morning, Derek, thank you, see you soon.
VAN DAM: OK, yes --
HUNT: All right, coming up here on CNN THIS MORNING, Senator Lindsey Graham reveals Pete Hegseth's promise as he faces scrutiny amid his path to the confirmation process as Trump's pick for Secretary of Defense. And federal officials in the hot seat as more people report seeing unexplained drones in the skies.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It can't be the wild western drones out there in Jersey or anywhere else. We've got to get to the bottom of this, and people deserve answers.
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