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Federal Officials Face Criticism For Drone Response; Graham: Hegseth Vowed To Release Accuser From NDA; Mitt Romney On The Past, Present, And Future Of The Gop. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired December 16, 2024 - 05:30   ET

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

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[05:30:35]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Five-thirty a.m. here on the East Coast. A live look -- this is for Jeff Zeleny -- Omaha, Nebraska, 4:30 in the morning. Zeleny, of course, the son of Nebraska.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.

Frustrations are mounting over what exactly people are seeing in the night sky and what the government can do about it. Mysterious drone sightings have now been reported in at least six states with many of them centered over New Jersey and New York where officials are calling for federal help in tracking the drones.

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REP. 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.

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HUNT: New York's governor, on Sunday, announced they're getting some federal help, releasing a statement saying, "Our federal partners are sending a drone detection system to New York. But," she added, "we need more. Congress must pass a law that will give us the power to deal directly with drones."

The secretary of Homeland Security also calling for more authorities to deal with drones.

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ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: We are working in close coordination with state and local authorities. And it is critical, as we all have said for a number of years, that we need from Congress additional authorities to address the drone situation. We want state and local authorities to also have the ability to counter drone activity under federal supervision. That is one important element that we have requested.

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HUNT: All right, joining us now retired Major Gen. Scott Clancy, former director of operations at NORAD. Sir, thank you so much for being here.

MAJOR GEN. SCOTT CLANCY (RET.), FORMER NORAD DEPUTY COMMANDER, ALASKAN REGION (via Webex by Cisco): Thank you very much for having me.

HUNT: So you sent us some fascinating background. I have to say some of it I found to be rather alarming. But let's start with, I guess, the less alarming piece of this, which is that you do seem to suggest that there are a lot of things that people may be seeing that are -- that are normal.

But I am curious to know do you think the federal government knows more about these drones than they're telling Americans?

CLANCY: No, I actually don't think they know much more, and this is the place that is causing confusion between the population, the citizens, their representatives, and the officials when you don't have answers to these questions. Obviously, citizens want to know.

But getting ahold of exactly what these drones are is very, very hard. The sensors required to see these low radar cross section things are very localized. And there's very little regulatory help from the FAA or anything else to delineate which of these operators are malicious versus those which are foreign or domestic threats.

HUNT: So fair enough. That also, though, suggests -- I mean, it's potentially a reason to be concerned if you're citizens if the federal government can't figure out what they are.

I mean, what do you think is the most plausible explanation for what's going on?

CLANCY: So I think you're seeing a bunch of things happening at the same time.

First of all, I do think there is a large number of these that are being misidentified as civilian aircraft or military aircraft -- even military drones. And if they were military drones the Department of Defense and the Homeland Security would not necessarily say that they were anyways.

And the things that these are happening at night because you see with respect to the distinction between let aircraft and unlet. You see them at night. Whereas, if that exact same drone was operating in the day, you wouldn't even notice that it was in the sky. But there are a number of unmanned aerial systems, or drones, that are operating out there at night.

The question that everybody needs to be answering -- all citizens and lawmakers or officials -- how many of these are known negligent drone operators versus malicious actors? And that delineation is where the problem space is.

HUNT: Yeah.

So speaking of malicious actors there was a congressman, Jeff Van Drew, a Republican who suggested that there was an Iranian mothership off the coast, right, which the Pentagon flat out denied. They said this is not the case.

But that said, I know in your background at NORAD you did have concerns about the security of the oceans and the ways in which ships off of our coast potentially pose security threats.

[05:35:08]

What do you know about that, and how do you think it might relate to this situation?

CLANCY: So, you know, there's a few things that -- pertaining to the security of the homeland that we need to make very, very clear.

The first one is that successive commanders of NORAD and U.S. North Comm have been stating since my commander back in 2011, Gen. Jacoby, that drones and vessels off of our coastline pose specific threats that have to be dealt with.

It's become to no one's surprise and to lawmakers and officials that there is more funding and development of capabilities required to counter these threats at home because the homeland really is the soft underbelly of our defenses. We're more strong overseas than we are at home. And I speak both as a Canadian serviceman but also having operated significantly the American service as well. We're much stronger on the OA game than we are at home.

And there needs to be real good policy that's associated with homeland defense. Law enforcement needs to be armed with the ability to counter these kinds of systems and they need to be given funding to be able to do these.

Now, pertaining to vessels off of our coastline it is very plausible that a commercial vessel off of our coastline could be hiding a set of drones or a missile system. And we worked at a variety of threats that we trained against on a continuous basis to try and counter even the wildest dreams -- what you could make up.

That is why NORAD was given the maritime warning mission. That is why NORAD and U.S. North Comm, along with the American and Canadian navies and the coast guards monitor all of the vessels off the coastline. But this is difficult stuff to do, and it is -- it constitutes a significant threat.

HUNT: All right, retired Major Gen. Scott Clancy. Sir, thanks very much for being with us this morning. I hope you'll come back if this continues. Thank you.

CLANCY: I'm always ready. Thank you very much.

HUNT: All right, cheers.

All right, let's turn now to this. Stars, stripes, football, and politics. Donald Trump's pick for defense secretary Pete Hegseth enjoying a weekend of public support from the president-elect. Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, and Hegseth appearing side-by-side at Army-Navy, the football game in Maryland, on Saturday.

Hegseth's path to the confirmation process has been a rocky one as he has -- faces allegations of sexual assault, improper workplace behavior.

Now, according to Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, Hegseth has promised to release the woman who accused him of sexual assault from a confidentiality agreement.

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SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): He told me he would release her from that agreement. I'd want to know if anybody nominated for a high-level job in Washington legitimately assaulted somebody. If people have an allegation to make come forward and make it like they did in Kavanaugh. We'll decide whether or not it's credible. Right now he's being tried by anonymous sources. That will not stand.

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HUNT: All right, joining us now Washington correspondent for Spectrum News, Kevin Frey. Kevin, good morning. Nice to see you.

KEVIN FREY, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, SPECTRUM NEWS NY1: Good morning.

HUNT: So this public support of Hegseth from Donald Trump -- in many ways I think the key piece for Hegseth here --

FREY: Yeah.

HUNT: -- because, of course, there was a question there for a little while he seemed to be stepping back and letting Hegseth fight his fight. No longer. Now they're out there appearing in public.

What do you think about what Lindsey Graham said about this NDA means going forward for Hegseth?

FREY: Well, I mean, I want to touch on Trump appearing with him at the Army-Navy game. We know how much Trump values television and camera time, and so that illustrative in a pretty impact way.

When it comes to the confirmation fight -- I mean, look, Lindsey Graham is suggesting in his comments as part of that interview that if there's more information that comes out maybe then I'll have to reassess. But he seems to be now, despite a couple of weeks ago saying that these are concerning reports about Hegseth -- he seems to be on board.

And it seems that after a very rocky road Hegseth seems to be much more on the straight and narrow when it comes to getting to this confirmation. We shall see, of course.

But there is this enhanced pressure campaign that seems to be growing on some of these more moderate Republicans -- the Joni Ernsts, the Thom Tillises of the world -- that are in cycle this election -- or in 2026, rather, that they could face primary challenges if they're not sufficiently loyal to Trump and his nominees.

So there are a lot of factors at play as Hegseth is seemingly getting closer to confirmation.

HUNT: One of the things, too, that's kind of come up here -- and you heard it in that Lindsey Graham interview on "MEET THE PRESS" -- is comparisons to Brett Kavanaugh.

FREY: Yeah.

HUNT: And Graham was actually explicit in making that connection and saying, in particular, that anonymous allegations -- they were not going to allow those to impact their decision. That was what leads to these questions about letting this woman in question out of her confidentiality agreement. Just because they were willing to do that doesn't mean that she is going to come forward, especially after what happened to some of the women that --

FREY: True.

HUNT: -- came forward against Kavanaugh.

[05:40:00]

FREY: Well, I was going to say -- I mean, to that point, she could come forward, but we remember what happened to Christine Blasey Ford. So it's not like this is an easy path for them to come forward and then all of a sudden, the senators will all believe her. That's not necessarily a guarantee based on what we've seen from the Senate in just recent years.

HUNT: Yeah.

So big picture. What are we expecting this week from Trump's nominees on Capitol Hill because it's going to be another week of full court press?

FREY: Right. So Hegseth, assumingly, will be back. But then we also see RFK Jr. starting to make the rounds, particularly with Republicans, this week.

And one of the things that I'm going to be keeping an eye on, particularly, is where does Sen. Mitch McConnell go on some of all of this because of what we just saw from The New York Times on Friday, I believe it was.

HUNT: Yeah.

FREY: This reporting about the polio vaccine that a lawyer that's been helping vet some of the potential members of the -- of RFK's team had been basically lobbying the federal government to no longer allow for the polio vaccine to be -- to be federally backed.

McConnell put out a statement that was pretty blunt for him --

HUNT: Yeah.

FREY: -- about the fact that they are raising questions about the validity of this vaccine.

HUNT: Yeah. He said it wasn't just irresponsible; it was -- he used the word "dangerous."

FREY: Correct.

HUNT: Yeah.

FREY: And, of course, he's a polio survivor. He still has a lot of clout even if he's not going to be the majority leader or not going to be the top Republican within the Senate. Do does he choose in this scenario to weigh in and perhaps being some Republicans with him? That will be one of the dynamics to watch.

HUNT: Yeah, all right. Kevin Frey for us this morning. Sir, very grateful to have you. Thank you.

FREY: Thank you.

HUNT: All right, coming up next here on CNN THIS MORNING a final farewell to the GOP. Mitt Romney's bold prediction for the future of his party in his last days in office.

Plus, a scary hit puts one NFL player in the hospital overnight. We'll tell you about that next in sports.

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[05:46:00]

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SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): The nation, as you know, is at a critical point. At a time like this we can't risk partisan bickering and political posturing. Our leaders have to reach across the aisle to do the people's work. I believe in America. I believe in the people of America.

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HUNT: Wow. Just over 12 years ago -- I was in that room, actually -- Mitt Romney conceded the 2012 election to President Barack Obama. And now he is making his congressional exit following a decades long political career.

The outgoing senator from Utah speaking to CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday, looking back at what has led the Republican Party to where it is today and making some predictions about where it's going.

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ROMNEY: MAGA is the Republican Party and Donald Trump is the Republican Party today. And if you were to ask me who the nominee will be in 2028, I think it will be J.D. Vance, all right? He's smart and well-spoken. Part of the MAGA movement.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR, "STATE OF THE UNION": You said something pretty harsh about him a few months ago, though. You could not have less respect for somebody than J.D. Vance.

ROMNEY: Long ago. I'm not going to rehash history.

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HUNT: "I'm not going to rehash history."

CNN political commentator and former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan joins us now. Sir, thanks for being here. Nice to see you.

GEOFF DUNCAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, (R) FORMER GEORGIA LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR: Glad to be here. Good morning.

HUNT: A remarkable moment from Mitt Romney stepping down. And I actually was -- one of the early assignments I had in my career covering politics and you could really see the arc of where the Republican Party has gone during Mitt Romney's bid from when he and others in the Republican primary were scrambling for Trump's endorsement in that primary. Eventually it goes to Romney. And I remember standing in Trump Tower. It really sort of presaged what was to come.

What do you make of how Romney has -- what he has gone through? And, in some ways, you have been a member of Mitt Romney's Republican Party --

DUNCAN: Um-hum.

HUNT: -- and have found yourself not so at home in Donald Trump's.

But that said, I think this may be the first time I've talked to you aside from right after the election about kind of the sweeping mandate that Trump came in with. I mean, you could hear Romney talk a little bit about that. I mean, he was clearly accepting it in a way that surprised me a little bit.

DUNCAN: Yeah. Watching that interview with Jake yesterday I couldn't help but think what if Mitt Romney had some chance over the last umpteen years to actually be the president and put on display what a genuine leader looks like. What somebody that comes to work every day with a moral compass, with a direction and a vision. But he didn't.

And unfortunately, the Republican Party that I'm a part of and that I hopefully grew up trying to be a part of steering is not the Republican Party I recognize anymore.

And Donald Trump won, fair and square just like Mitt Romney said yesterday. He won and it's a legitimate election. Unfortunately, there's -- other than a few tax cuts and a few other opportunities to maybe cut government spending, there's not a lot to look forward to for a genuine conservative like myself.

I believe Donald Trump has built more of a -- you know, his legacy is more built on a Ponzi scheme -- a Ponzi scheme of populist ideas -- and every day it's going to get a little bit more edgy and a little bit more daring and bombastic. And I think you have to look no further than these nominees to see it as part of that next step in the Ponzi scheme.

If you told me that Donald Trump was building an administration to run a frat house I'd believe you -- not necessarily to tackle the global issues that we're facing, the economic challenges that we're facing, the intensity of the challenges that this country faces I believe are more serious than Donald Trump is.

HUNT: So one of the things that Romney has always put forward as part of his critique of Donald Trump -- and it is character. And that is something that he did not back away from in that interview with Jake yesterday.

Let's look at how Romney talked about that.

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ROMNEY: Policy -- bad policy we can live with. The country has overcome bad policy in the past and it will in the future. Bad character is something we haven't had to live with. And so it's important in our leaders of all kinds that we have people who are honest, and virtuous, and direct in a way that is not based upon personal interests.

[05:50:00]

I'm, as you know, not a supporter of President Trump's. I didn't support him in this election. I didn't the last time he ran either largely for matters of character. And I hope we see better in the coming years.

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HUNT: So, of course, Donald Trump is not the first politician to run our country who has raised questions of personal character. Now, he was the only one who was involved --

DUNCAN: That's the nicest way I've ever heard it put.

HUNT: But there was the insurrection, right -- a challenge to the actual transfer of power, which was unique to Donald Trump.

How much do you think character matters in our leaders?

DUNCAN: Character matters in everything that we do in this country. How we pick our local leaders. How we pick our business leaders. But unfortunately it doesn't seem to matter as much as to how we pick our presidents.

You know, character matters because when you show up and go to work every day you don't know what the actual challenges that you're going to face are. Like, I think back to when Gov. Kemp and I came in we never would have thought we would have faced a pandemic. We never thought we would have faced social and civil unrest, or a 2020 election debacle.

But we measure -- character is something you bring to work with you every single day no matter what the challenge that you face is. And I think that's the dilemma that we face with Donald Trump is that there is no moral compass that points him in the right direction when he wakes up other than what's in the mirror and what helps him.

HUNT: Do you think the American public cares about character in its leaders based on what we have seen?

DUNCAN: I do. I do. I just think we're caught in this vicious cycle right now where just it's a short-term sugar high. Social media is playing a part of that -- just the way that we consume. The way we interact with each other.

And it does matter, and it will matter in the future. And I think that's a tell-tale sign. When we finally -- one of these parties, either the Democrats or the Republicans, figure out how to ignore the fringes and pay attention to the middle, I think is going to be one that ends up surviving the longest after this period of time.

HUNT: Yeah.

All right, Geoff Duncan. Always wonderful to have you. Thank you so much for being here.

DUNCAN: Thanks, Kasie.

HUNT: All right, time now for sports. Week 15 of the NFL season saw its share of incredible performances but there were some brutal injuries to star players.

Andy Scholes has more in this morning's CNN sports update. Andy, good morning.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yeah, good morning, Kasie. So it was just a rough, rough day for injuries yesterday.

The Chiefs -- they were able to beat the Browns to get an NFL best 13- 1. But now all eyes are on Patrick Mahomes' ankle. Mahomes' legs -- they got rolled up on as he making this throw here in the fourth quarter. It certainly looked like it hurt. But he got up and limped off to the sidelines, but he would not return to the game.

And here was Mahomes afterwards on his ankle.

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PATRICK MAHOMES, QUARTERBACK, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS: It's hard to say right now. I mean, obviously, there's still adrenaline rolling and usually it's kind of the day after when you kind of get a good sense of it. But I feel like I could have finished the game in different circumstances. But I thought the smart decision I think we talked about was to put Carson in. And he's played a lot of football, and he finished the game well.

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SCHOLES: So a short week for the Chiefs. They host the Texans on Saturday and then they play at the Steelers Christmas day.

And speaking of Pittsburgh, T.J. Watt -- he also left his game with an ankle injury when they were playing the Eagles. He said he's in a wait-and-see mode for Saturday's huge game with Baltimore.

Seahawks' quarterback Geno Smith, meanwhile -- he also left last night's loss to the Packers in the third quarter with a knee injury. He slammed his helmet to the ground in frustration. Seattle's head coach Mike MacDonald said after Smith's knee appears to be intact but his status for next week is up in the air.

And in Houston, meanwhile, we had a very scary situation. Dolphins' receiver Grant DuBose took a very hard hit on this play right here from the Texans' Caleb Bullock. He was motionless on the field. Medical personnel -- they came in and they removed his helmet and cut off his jersey to attend to him. He was taken to the hospital where he is in stable condition.

Tyreek Hill said after the game DuBose was in good spirits when he talked to him and he's moving, and that's all that matters.

All right. The injury bug also continuing to hit the Lions' defense. They lost two more players for the season, including Khalil Dorsey who suffered a gruesome leg injury on this play. He had to be carted off.

As for the games, Josh Allen pretty much locking up the MVP award with another stellar performance. He ran for two touchdowns. He threw for two as well. The Bills just dominating the Lions winning 48-42 snapping Detroit's 11-game winning streak. Buffalo has scored at least 30 points in eight-straight games.

In Philadelphia, meanwhile, the Eagles and Steelers were squaring off in the battle of Pennsylvania. Jalen Hurts and that Eagles' passing attack getting back on track. Hurts' 290 yards passing, two touchdowns.

The Eagles in the fourth quarter just dominated the time of possession. They got the ball with 10 1/2 minutes left. They ran 21 plays and ran out the clock to win 27-13. Philly -- they've now won 10 in a row.

And finally, it's a rough morning to be a Colts fan. Third quarter, Jonathan Taylor -- 41 yard touchdown run. But wait, he dropped the ball before he crossed the goal line, celebrating early. Just unreal. Instead of taking the lead it's a touchback -- Broncos' ball.

[05:55:00]

Later, this trick play right here did not work out as they had practiced it. Nik Bonitto picking that off and going the other way 50 yards for the score. Denver would end up winning 31-13.

But Kasie, I can't believe that we still have those plays where the players drop the ball before they cross the goal line. That would drive me nuts if I was the coach.

HUNT: Uh, yeah, or a fan.

SCHOLES: Anyone. Anyone.

HUNT: Anyone at all. You know, it's funny. I have to say I don't -- I don't hate watching Colts' screwups because you may have wondered why my sports loyalties are so confusing, but my main football loyalty has always been disdain for the formerly Baltimore Colts who left town in the middle of the night when my dad was a kid. So I ended up an Eagles fan out of that.

Anyway, Andy, thank you.

SCHOLES: All right.

HUNT: I appreciate it. See you tomorrow.

All right, coming up here on CNN THIS MORNING drone drama leading to panic and political fallout. Why some say it's time for the U.S. military to start shooting them out of the sky and why officials warn that is not a good idea.

Plus, new hope for the family of journalist Austin Tice, missing in Syria for 12 years now.

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DEBRA TICE, MOTHER OF AUSTIN TICE, MISSING IN SYRIA FOR 12 YEARS: For us, you know, this kind of chaos -- for us it represented a huge opening -- a huge opportunity.

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