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CNN This Morning

Simon Robert Tice is Interviewed about his Brother Austin Tice; Mark McKinnon is Interviewed about Mitt Romney; Trump Attends Army- Navy Game. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired December 16, 2024 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:30:45]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are mindful that there are Americans in Syria, including those who reside there, as well as Austin Tice, who was taken captive more than 12 years ago. We remain committed to returning him to his family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: All right, with the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria just over a week ago, there is renewed hope that after 12 long years missing American journalist Austin Tice will soon be reunited with his family. Tice was one of the first American journalists on the ground as Syria's civil war grew in intensity, but he was abducted and jailed by Syria's government in late 2012.

Now, over a decade later, the doors of Assad's prisons have been opened and hundreds of Syrian families are searching for long lost loved ones. One U.S. official tells CNN, there's a full court press to find Tice, and Austin's mother says the images coming out of Syria give her family hope for their son.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEBRA TICE, AUSTIN TICE'S MOTHER: For us, you know, this - this kind of chaos, for us it represented a huge opening, a huge opportunity. And especially when people started going into the prisons, finding their families, you know, there was a man that had been held in silence for 34 years, and he was reunited with his family. And so, you know, we just - we're just really excited about being a reunited family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right, joining us now to discuss the search for Austin is one of his brothers, Simon Robert Tice.

Simon, thank you so much for being here.

SIMON ROBERT TICE, BROTHER OF AUSTIN TICE: Good morning. Thank you for having me, Kasie.

HUNT: You told me something remarkable as we were just chatting in the - in the break, which is that you are now - Austin has been missing for so long, you're 12 years apart in age, that you are the same age now as he was when he went missing.

TICE: Yes.

HUNT: What has that time been like for you, and how have you sustained hope for all these years?

TICE: Yes, thanks for asking. It's been - well, to say a challenge would be an understatement. Austin is someone that was such a strong presence in all of us siblings' lives, and especially in kind of guiding us and protecting us and carving a path for us. And so not having him there, especially making big decisions, you know, career- wise or, you know, even what I graduated with in my degree, those would have been conversations I would have had with Austin.

And so, every time that those thoughts of the big decisions happen, I miss him especially. And then, you know, during the times when our whole family is together, I miss him. So, it's just been every day missing him and the hope of having him home again.

HUNT: Explain a little bit about why your family is so confident that Austin is still alive and could be reunited with you.

TICE: Yes, I would say that there's two sources for that kind of hope. One is that everyone in the United States government, even all the way up to President Biden, has said and - that they know that Austin is alive. And then also we have our own independent, vetted source that has told us the same information. And so, we know that Austin has been alive this entire time in his captivity, and we know that he can be brought home. And we're just hoping that that happens soon.

HUNT: There was some remarkable footage of the prison cell where he was apparently held near the end of his captivity that was broadcast on another network because the reporter there had managed to connect with someone who was in a cell across the way. What did your family feel like they learned from that? And where do you think he might have been, if it wasn't there, when the regime fell?

TICE: Yes, I really wish that we knew exactly where Austin was now. That information is still eluding us. But that being said, seeing the footage from inside of the prison, I mean, it's incredibly hard for my family because that's just something that we try not to focus on as much as we can.

HUNT: Yes.

TICE: And we really try to focus on what it's going to look like when he is freed and when he comes home to us, and focusing on that part of the story.

[06:35:01] HUNT: Reuters recently reported on, I mean, obviously, your brother had a military background, former Marine. He had managed, at one point apparently, to escape. What was it like to hear that story?

TICE: Yes, it's definitely challenging to hear about details from Austin's captivity, mostly because those details come so late after the fact. And we really wish that that information would have been acted upon. We've been asking the government for the last 12 years and four months to act on information about Austin. So that's always just been the challenge. And were really just pushing and urging for the U.S. government to do everything that they can with the information that they have to get him free and get him back to us.

HUNT: How do you feel right now at this moment about whether the U.S. government is giving what you would believe to be their all to find him, especially as we're looking at a change in presidential administration?

TICE: Yes. Well, we have had a commitment from the Biden administration to bring Austin home. I would just encourage anyone in the press to continue pushing on the White House about what they are doing to bring Austin home. And then we have had a firm commitment from President-elect Trump that he is very interested in bringing Austin home. And so we just, you know, continue to push for that to be the case and to stay front of mind even during this transition period.

HUNT: Yes. Well, we're always happy to have you come back to talk some more about your brother. He clearly is a really remarkable man. And we wish you all the best in your search, Simon. Thank you.

TICE: Thank you so much.

HUNT: I really appreciate it.

All right, coming up next here on CNN THIS MORNING, a public show of support. Donald Trump brings his key allies along to watch the Army- Navy game in the presidential box.

Plus, Mitt Romney on the MAGA movement and what he expects will happen next for the Republican Party. Mark McKinnon is here to discuss.

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SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): The Republican Party has become the party of the working class, middle class voter. And you've got to give Donald Trump credit for having done that, taking that away from the Democrats.

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[06:41:31]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT) (1994): Have you noticed, Ted Kennedy apparently wants this election to be decided on anything but our differences on the real issues.

Kennedy won't talk about government spending because I'll work to cut it and he can't. The biggest difference? Those fundamental values. If you agree with me, I'd appreciate your vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Since launching his first political campaign in 1994, Utah Republican Mitt Romney still basically looks the same. He's also won the titles of governor, senator, and, of course, he earned the 2012 GOP nomination for president with the help of endorsements from some key people.

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DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENT-ELECT (February 2, 2012): Mitt is tough. He's smart. He's sharp. He's not going to allow bad things to continue to happen to this country that we all love.

So, Governor Romney, go out and get them.

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HUNT: In the years since his failed presidential bid, Romney, a pragmatic conservative known for reaching across the aisle, has found himself increasingly isolated in a party that has embraced Donald Trump.

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SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT) (January 6, 2021): What happened here today was an insurrection, incited by the president of the United States.

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HUNT: He was the only Republican senator to vote twice to impeach Trump. And now, at 77, Romney is retiring from the Senate and departs Washington next month with this prediction about his party's future.

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SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): 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'll be J.D. Vance, all right. He's smart, well-spoken, part of the MAGA movement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right, joining me now, former adviser to George W. Bush and John McCain, Mark McKinnon. He is also the creator of Paramount's "The Circus."

Mark, thank you so much for being here.

MARK MCKINNON, FORMER ADVISER TO GEORGE W. BUSH AND JOHN MCCAIN AND CREATOR, "THE CIRCUS": Good morning. Good morning. I'm going to miss Mitt.

HUNT: I mean it's - look, this is, of course, a campaign I covered beginning to end. I was the AP writer on the plane. You know, traveled in the pools, all the motorcades. I was, you know, there for - we played earlier in the show his concession speech, that announcement that - that endorsement that he fought hard for from Donald Trump in the 2012 Republican primary. I mean, they all did. And there really is something about the arc of his career that helps us explain and understand what has happened to the Republican Party in the last decade.

MCKINNON: It really does. I mean this really feels like the end of an era. He's sort of the last of the compassionate conservatives or pragmatic conservatives, as you mentioned it. So, he's out. Trump's in. And it's - it's a new era. And, you know, I'm struck by - the last time I saw him, I was doing interviewing in his office. And he has this map in his office. It's about five feet. A narrow, long, five feet long.

HUNT: I've seen it. Yes. He's obsessed with it.

MCKINNON: Oh, it's so cool. And the key to it is that there's a little - it's the history of civilization. And at the bottom, like a quarter inch of this five-foot map is American democracy. And it just is an illustration of what a - what a brief experiment this is so far. And Romney's been a big part of it. But it's - it's just - it just reminds us, as he says so eloquently and graciously, you know, democracy means accepting what the American people do. And the American people have said it's time for a change.

[06:45:01]

And the Republican Party that he knew and that I was part of is no longer. It's now Trump's Republican Party. And so, you know, you have to sort of salute democracy and say, OK, it's your turn.

HUNT: One of the other things that he spoke about with Jake Tapper was the differences in how Donald Trump and his campaigns are judged versus how he was judged on the trail and how some of what happened to him was a little bit quaint when we look at it.

Let's watch that portion of the interview. We'll talk about it.

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SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): And I look back at campaigns and think about the angst that surrounded any mistake that I, or a campaign member, made.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

ROMNEY: Some small thing occurred. And it - TAPPER: What about your gaffes, I remember somebody yelling at you.

ROMNEY: Yes. Yes, right, right.

TAPPER: Yes.

ROMNEY: And so these things were blown into huge proportion. And - and in this campaign, and in the prior campaign that President Trump ran, I mean, they talked about flooding the zone with various -

TAPPER: Right.

ROMNEY: Excrement.

TAPPER: Yes.

ROMNEY: It's like, hey, if you make a mistake, just make a bunch more and - and people will forget the first one. It's like - and so we look today. It's like - it's like - that's kind of amusing to see the - the kinds of things that, looking back, look quaint.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: And I have to say, a lot of it does look really quaint. Feels really quaint. You know, I covered both 2012 and 2016. And the things - there were a couple, you know, that were relatively significant. And, you know, I was there for the, what about your gaffes? It was Philip Rucker, by the way, who yelled, what about your gaffes on - at a - a site in Poland. A holy site for the Polish people? I think the - the aid that was traveling with us called it. But a lot of what played out on that campaign were politics by a different set of rules than the ones that we're following in the Trump era.

MCKINNON: Yes, you're right, Kasie. I mean they're - they're really sort of time capsules of how different things are and how different we practice politics today. But I'll also say about Romney is, the thing I always loved about him is that he was like the ultimate public servant, but he was a terrible candidate. He was - he would turn himself into pretzels just because he hated the process so much. You know, he didn't like having to become what you have to do to be a candidate. Trump has no problem with any of that. And that's part of what's different today.

And, you know, I just - I mean Mitt was just so honorable that he just didn't want to, like, bend to the process. And Trump's like, ah, I'll do whatever.

HUNT: Yes, you know, it's interesting you say that because I also remember when that Netflix documentary came out about, you know, behind the scenes of the Romney campaign. I had so many people come up to me and say, I don't understand, this guy in this documentary, he's so accessible and normal and relatable. And I think those of us who saw him day in and day out on the campaign, we didn't find the documentary to be terribly remarkable. We're like, this is the guy that we see all the time. But if you only consumed him - you know, what he was selling on the campaign trail through TV, it didn't line up.

MCKINNON: A hundred percent, Kasie. And that documentary was the inspiration for the show that we produce called "The Circus" on Showtime, which was a documentary effort to show people these candidates behind the scenes and who they really were, because I had the same reaction to that documentary on Mitt. You see that and you go, where was that guy during the campaign? If I'd seen that, that - the outcome might have been different. And I think they made a big mistake when they made a deal to do the documentary and said, you can't show it till after the election. I think if they'd showed it beforehand, it would have had, you know, maybe even made a difference. But it just showed the human side of Mitt and it just showed an authentic side that he was, you know, too buttoned up and didn't want to show, you know, I'm talking about his Mormonism and all that, which as it turns out was really interesting and really showed his humanity.

So, yes, that - I'm glad you brought that up because I thought it was a real showcase and a great documentary that showed the human side of Mitt.

HUNT: He was more willing to be human when he wasn't actually running for office after he lost a couple years later. I'm just going to show you this because it was one of the highlights - it's been one of the highlights of my journalism career. He was willing to do this with me at a charity - it was for charity, right? Maybe that was why. Watch this.

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HUNT: I never actually thought I'd really get to do this (INAUDIBLE).

ROMNEY: Yes.

HUNT: (INAUDIBLE) punch. What do I do?

ROMNEY: Well, you know, you'd (INAUDIBLE) -

HUNT: I just - I have to sneak one in or how -

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Now, Ann was out of frame basically saying, you know what, maybe I should take a chance to box with you. She did not like the trail. But that was the kind of thing he was willing to do that he wouldn't - he wouldn't do that on the - on the campaign trail. But, you know, he did - I think he wasn't sure he was ever going to run for office again when he did this fair - in fair - far to him.

MCKINNON: Yes, listen, I mean, he's just a - you know, he's a pretty buttoned up, formal guy, but he's also just a super decent, super compassionate, genuine human being and just impossible not to like. And - and like I said, I think we owe him a great debt for his public service. And I think we're really going to miss him.

HUNT: All right, Mark McKinnon for us this morning. Thank you for the - taking a walk down memory lane with me. I appreciate it. [06:50:02]

All right. See you soon.

MCKINNON: Thank you. Fun clips, Kasie.

HUNT: OK. All right, let's go now to the latest in the fallout from the murder investigation of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. The office of New York Governor Kathy Hochul is convening a safety summit tomorrow between nervous business leaders and law enforcement. CNN has learned the safety concerns among executives are so widespread, New York state may create a special hotline just for CEOs to call in threats.

Bernie Sanders, the senator, says he could see this coming.

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SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): What you have seen rising up is - is people's anger at a health insurance industry which denies people the health care that they desperately need while they make billions and billions of dollars in profit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right, the panel is back.

This has made the cover of "The New York Post," which is showing a game of whack deck, most wanted CEOs. This is definitely something that, obviously, has a lot of business community talking. But clearly the sympathy level from the American public is not terribly high.

MATT GORMAN, FORMER TIM SCOTT PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER AND REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Clearly not. And what you're seeing is a little bit, I think, Elizabeth Warren, Chris Murphy, Bernie Sanders listening way too much to the online left and stacking these answers, as we've seen, especially over the weekend with, yes, this was bad, and then, but, and then positioning into what - some health care policy debate. Chris Murphy was the one who did it last night in this kind of weird homemade video. He's trying to - I think the senator from Connecticut's trying to start a populist revolution, which is very interesting.

But you're right, like, they are just very lost on this right now, Democrats, and they are just trying to shoehorn a policy argument into a cold-blooded murder. And it's - it boggles my mind.

MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER Biden WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF MESSAGE PLANNING: Anytime you have to have but -

GORMAN: But. Yes.

HAYS: After a statement about a cold-blooded murder in broad daylight, there is a problem.

GORMAN: Yes. HAYS: And these statements are gross and abhorrent, and they should - should not be out there. Two things can be true, right? This is a murder that is horrible and awful. And there also could be a need for a policy debate. Do not use a cold-blooded murder to have that policy debate.

GORMAN: No.

HAYS: It is gross that they are doing that.

GORMAN: And you know what the tell is real quick also. Like Chris Murphy's career defining issue is gun violence and gun control.

HAYS: Yes.

GORMAN: Not once in this video did he talk about gun control at all. Regular (ph) ghost guns.

HAYS: And it (INAUDIBLE) ghost guns.

GORMAN: Exactly.

HAYS: Which there's a policy made about ghost guns in this administration.

GORMAN: Exactly. Right. Like that - it was - it's - that's the biggest tell.

HAYS: Yes.

HUNT: Mark Preston, I mean, I do think that this is the root of this, right, the idea that we, as a political - we, as a nation, should not be having our political debates through violence. And while clearly Americans are very upset about the health care system, to the extent that members of Congress are going to say, well, we got to change this because of violence, it's kind of a dangerous place to be.

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: A dangerous place to be. And I'm' just going to overuse this word, so forgive me, but it's absurd. It's absurd that we're at this point where there's so much anger right now that people are just directing it and supporting it without really knowing quite what the consequences are.

You know what else is absurd, too, is the governor. God bless her for having a hotline for CEOs. But I got to tell you what, what about all the other folks in New York City -

GORMAN: Yes.

PRESTON: Who are facing, like, awful crime every single day, you know, and they can't get any help and the police don't have enough money to police the streets. Let's make sure those CEOs are taken care of.

HUNT: Right.

HAYS: But also, these CEOs and these corporations can hire security. PRESTON: Yes.

HAYS: I traveled with a CEO all over the world.

PRESTON: Right. Yes.

HAYS: We had private security. So, the fact that he didn't have security is also worrisome on a lot of levels. That does not - I'm not by any way saying this is justified, but it - they do not need a hotline to the police. They can hire their own security and work with their - their different protective units in the police department.

HUNT: Yes. I mean in some ways it is this - that privileging of elite -

PRESTON: Right.

HUNT: Problem is a lot of what is driving the populism in our politics today.

GORMAN: Oh, 1,000 percent, 1,000 percent.

HUNT: And even now we - we're just seeing this. Like the backpack maker is getting threats. The CEO of Peak Design because they helped identify the shooter.

PRESTON: Why did the McDonald's workers - why are people threatening them? I mean they did something that was right, but yet we want to like castigate them for it and threaten them for doing the right thing? It's crazy.

HUNT: All right, on that note, 53 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, HHS SECRETARY: If there is any reason for concern, if we identify any foreign involvement or criminal activity, we will communicate with the American public accordingly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas shedding no light on who might be behind all those drones cited over New Jersey and several other northeast states. Late Saturday night, drone sightings temporarily shut down the airspace over Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.

[06:55:00]

President Biden and Vice President Harris thanking campaign donors Sunday night, urging them not to lose hope after their election loss.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our spirit is not defeated. We are not defeated. Let's be clear about that. We are strong.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You're not going anywhere, kid, because we're not going to let you go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Top aides and people close to Harris are divided about whether the vice president should run for governor of California in 2026, or if she should take another swing at the Oval in 2028. It all comes down to whether they believe she could win the Democratic nomination in a sure to be competitive primary.

And -

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTICE KETANJI BROWN JACKSON, SUPREME COURT: Female empowerment. Sick.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson can now add Broadway star to her resume. Over the weekend, she made her debut in a special role in the show "And Juliette." Jackson once wrote in her application essay to Harvard Law School that she wanted to become, quote, "the first black female Supreme Court justice to appear on a Broadway stage." Talk about achieving a goal.

All right, let's turn now to one of college football's most unique rivalries. Navy beating Army this year in the 125th Army-Navy football game. Adding to the pomp and circumstance of the event, President- elect Donald Trump attending the game for his fifth time, greeted by cheers from the crowd when shown on the big screens. Trump using the backdrop as an opportunity to send a message of support for some of his more controversial cabinet nominees, including his defense secretary pick, Pete Hegseth, and choice for director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard. Trump and Vance also inviting former Marine Daniel Penny as a guest. He is the man who was acquitted last week in the controversial New York subway chokehold death of Jordan Neely.

But for the thousands in the stands, politics, of course, not the main focus, but rather football and service.

(VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right, always fun. I love the Army-Navy game. It's a great American tradition. It's funny, I actually went to the Army-Navy game to cover Donald Trump at the Army-Navy game in 2016, right after he won, actually. It's a - it's a - it's a place where he has been repeatedly. But some interesting, you know, signals of support, Matt, from the people he brought with him.

GORMAN: And Joe Manchin was in the box there mulling around too. It was like a cavalcade of like random politicians and things in the back there. I was surprised because in 2016 he went up and did the CBS broadcast

booth for a quarter. I expected him to do that. So, he stayed in the box, whether it was willingly or unwillingly, wasn't as visible to - on the broadcasts of people at home.

I will say this also, for once, it was actually a good game. Like there were two good teams.

PRESTON: Yes.

GORMAN: Normally one of the teams is God awful. They're both really good teams and it was actually a pretty good game. Yes.

PRESTON: Let me be Pollyanna about this and put politics aside, right. If we can watch Army and Navy beat the heck out of each other, OK, but yet these young men and women are going to go off and serve as comrades in arms, I mean, doesn't that say something about where we should be taking our direction from? Perhaps it should be from these kids who are out there, you know, who are going to be protecting us, some of them putting their lives on the line than the politicians that are right up the road from us.

HAYS: I mean I think it's - your feelings about Donald Trump aside, I think it's always important for the commander in chief, the future commander in chief, to go to these - our military is super - extremely important to us and extremely does - their sacrifice to us is unbearable. And most people don't participate and don't join the service. So, I do think it's awesome that they went and all these folks went.

HUNT: Yes, for sure.

All right, well, we've got a minute left here. But, Matt Gorman, we didn't get a chance to talk - I want to circle back to Mitt Romney leaving for just a second.

GORMAN: Oh, yes. Yes.

HUNT: Because, obviously, you and I, you were - you were working on the Republican side when - when this was happening. What are your reflections on Mitt Romney, the man, kind of his version of the Republican Party and where we are today?

GORMAN: I would say this. I - every president leaves their imprint on the party that they lead and win re-election, or win election, and then certainly re-election by - we were saying this about Bush in '04. So, Trump is no different than he's remade the party in his image. And the next president, when they get elected, Republican president, and re-elected, they will do the same thing.

You know, he is such a good man. I saw him the other week. I will never say a bad word about that guy. He's a good man. Truly an incredible, incredible guy. And, you know, I think he deserves a nice, long retirement. But knowing him probably won't last that long. Anne will get a lot - want to get him out of the house and doing something else. So - but, no, he's such a good guy and it's been such a privilege to

be working on this - on his campaign in 2011, 2012.

[07:00:07]

HUNT: Well, and can I just say, may we all age as gracefully.

GORMAN: Oh, I know.

HUNT: As Governor Romney did. I still also - I can't - I covered him in the Senate for a long time as well, but I could never - I was always like, Governor - he always - he went by governor.

GORMAN: Yes.

HUNT: So, it was the title that everybody really knew him by. And just a remarkable, a remarkable career and time on - on - on the public stage.

Thank you, guys, for being with us today.

Thanks to all of you for joining us at home. I'm Kasie Hunt. Don't go anywhere. CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.