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Erin Burnett Outfront
House Republicans Vow To Investigate Biden With New Majority; Just In: DOJ Rejects Trump Claims In Mar-A-Lago Special Master Fight; Russia Pounds Ukraine With New Attacks, Millions Without Power; Search Intensifies For Suspect In Homicides Of 4 Idaho Students; U.S. Braces For Migrant Surge After Controversial Policy Struck Down Aired 7-8p ET
Aired November 17, 2022 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:24]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next, clash of the titans. Less than 24 hours after getting control of the House, Republicans are going after Biden and his family. Is this what voters want?
Plus, ten prominent attorneys with a new 169-page out report tonight. And their conclusion is that Trump should be indicted in the Mar-a- Lago documents case.
OUTFRONT tonight, the legal analyst Ryan Goodman who was one of the authors, he will explain.
And new video of the moment two Russian missile cruise missiles were shot down over Kyiv, as Russia continues its bombardment across Ukraine at this hour.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, showdown. Just hours after clinching the House of Representatives, Republican setting the stage for a long list of investigations against President Biden.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): I want to be clear. This is an investigation of Joe Biden. And that is where the committee will focus in this next Congress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Investigating President Biden is something Republicans have been promising they would do, ever since he took office.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): It's no secret that I've introduced the six articles of impeachment on Joe Biden. REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): If we don't engage in impeachment inquiries
together documents and the testimony, then the information we need, then I believe that our voters will feel betrayed.
SEN. CHUCK GRASSLEY (R-IA): I'm not going to give up on my investigation of Hunter Biden.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: All right. There you hear it from Senator Grassley, the investigation into Joe Biden's son Hunter. It is one of the top probes Republicans are promising tonight. And in fact, it is something that they have been talking about. It goes all the way back to 2019, when President Biden was just a candidate.
Then-President Trump pressured Ukraine's president to investigate Hunter, who had business dealings in Ukraine. It happened during a call about aid to Ukraine, a call, of course, which you may remember, became the linchpin of the first impeachment trial against President Trump.
But here is the thing. In a new Pew poll taken during the midterm elections, Americans ran through the investigation of Hunter Biden at 17 in terms of things that were important to their vote, 17. And yet, Republicans tonight are still moving full steam ahead on this investigation. It's a major power play as they prepare to take over the House. And as Democrats are trying to figure out their next move in Congress, after the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced she is stepping down from her leadership post.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): I will not to Democratic leadership in the next congress. For me, the hour has come for a new generation to lead the Democratic Caucus that I so deeply respect. And I am grateful that so many are ready and willing to shoulder this awesome responsibility.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Sara Murray begins our coverage tonight OUTFRONT in Washington.
And, Sara, what more are you learning about these planned investigations by Republicans?
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, Republicans made it clear today that they just don't want to dig into Hunter Biden. They want this to be broader. They want this to be about President Joe Biden. They began to lay a roadmap for that -- how they plan to do that. And it's very clear this is just the beginning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MURRAY (voice-over): After clinching a majority in the U.S. House, GOP lawmakers are gearing up for the subpoena power they will inherit in January, outlining a broad range of investigative targets. Many aimed squarely at President Biden, his son Hunter and his family's business dealings.
COMER: We would love to talk to people in the Biden family, specifically Hunter and Jim Biden.
MURRAY: Republican Congressman James Comer, set to become oversight chairman, vowing to focus on bank records, known as suspicious activity report or SARs from financial institutions and allegedly related transactions by Biden family members.
COMERS: We will continue to pursue all evidence and specifically the SARs and bank records in the new Congress.
MURRAY: While Comer has claimed has the reports problematic behavior
COMERS: Red flags were raised by banks to account owner or owners indicating suspicious or illegal activity.
MURRAY: Such reports are not conclusive and do not necessarily indicate wrongdoing. Millions of suspicious activity reports are filed each year and few lead to law enforcement inquiries.
GOP Congressman Jim Jordan, set to lead House Judiciary, also teasing plans to investigate the Justice Department and the FBI.
REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): We are going to look at the politics of the Justice Department based on the fact that we have had 14 different -- actually, more than 14 now -- whistleblowers come talk to us.
MURRAY: Comer firing off letters seeking more information to further GOP probes, requesting suspicious activity reports from Treasury, information about Hunter Biden's art sales from a gallery owner, and communications from a former Hunter Biden business partner related to Hunter and Joe Biden's finances, taxes and deaths.
[19:05:09]
The president has repeatedly insisted he had nothing to do with his son's overseas business dealings.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDNET OF THE UNITED STATES: We have always kept everything separate.
MURRAY: And then a 2019 interview, Hunter Biden admitted to poor judgment but not wrongdoing when it came to his business ventures.
HUNTER BIDEN, SON OF PRES. BIDEN: I think there was poor judgment on my part. Did I do anything improper? No, not in any way.
MURRAY: A spokesman from the White House counsel's office slams Thursday's announcement as political revenge, saying, Republicans top priority is to go after President Biden with politically motivated attacks, chock full of long-debunked conspiracy theories.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MURRAY (on camera): Now federal prosecutors have also been investigating Hunter Biden since 2018. They have not brought any charges in that matter yet. And Hunter Biden as broadly denied any kind of wrongdoing related to that. We also reached out to private lawyers for Biden family members today. They did not respond to our request for comment.
BURNETT: All right. Sara, thank you very much for that report.
So, after Sara's reporting, let's now go to Democratic Congressman Gerry Connolly of Virginia because he's running to be the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, which, of course, is a committee that would likely lead many of the Biden investigations. And we know with Comer there talking.
Congressman Connelly, the incoming Republican of your committee says in no uncertain terms the focus of the committee in the next Congress will be investigating Joe Biden. What do you say to him?
REP. GERRY CONNOLLY (D-VA): Well, this is a shop-worn approached by the Republicans in our committee. It involves, you know, some really extraordinary tools in the kickback. You know, insinuation, slander, fabrication, disinformation, conspiracy-based theories that taken nowhere.
And if you look at the history of the Republicans when they are in the majority, last time a Democratic president, President Obama, time and time again they have these breathless headline grabbing investigations that went absolutely nowhere. Benghazi, the IRS, the scandal about right-wing filters and nonprofit status, the Hillary Clinton emails, on and on.
And none of them produced a thing except breathless headlines that gave them the narrative they wanted at the time.
BURNETT: So, of course, there's another way to look at it. This is, when Democrats won the House in 2018 -- right, so you all got control, multiple committees, including the Oversight Committee, launch multiple investigations into Trump and his administration. I think it was something like 35 total, 13 in your committee alone. How is this any different than that?
CONNOLLY: I think the premise of that question really is faux equivalence. To compare Joe Biden to Donald Trump, who, you know, even Robert Mueller suggested had engaged in criminal activity, is worth following up on. And there are multiple ongoing criminal investigations in New York, in Atlanta and at the federal level, at the Department of Justice involving his company, involving his behavior, in terms of trying to interfere with and overturn an election, his incitement of an insurrection -- I don't think there is any equivalence between that and whether Joe Biden has a son who showed good or bad judgment, as he said. I think they are very different things.
BURNETT: So, Speaker Pelosi today announced after being the first and only woman speaker of the House and leading Democrats for two decades, she is going to step down from her leadership post. She said -- you heard her just a moment ago that it's time for a new generation. Now, one named congressman that has been mentioned repeatedly as her likely successor is Congressman Hakeem Jeffries from the state of New York. Does he have your vote?
CONNOLLY: Yes, he does. I think Hakeem Jeffries is just a measured, tested, highly skilled member. I think he can easily agenda the trust across the caucus irrespective of the ideological spectrum. And I think he shows a lot of pragmatic political common sense that will serve all of us very well. So I think Hakeem Jeffries is a superb choice to, again begin to fill the big shoes of Nancy Pelosi.
BURNETT: And now, though, is there any way in the situation -- right, you are going to get a new leader -- Congressman Jeffries, if that's what will be -- but where you have Republicans going down, all these investigative routes that you and they can work together on anything? Is it possible that while they are investigating Hunter Biden and all over the airwaves, doing that, that you are also passing legislation together?
CONNOLLY: Yeah. I think we can, you know, chew gum and walk at the same time. We're going to -- we're going to certainly push back on what we think are completely groundless, so-called, investigations, which are designed for one purpose only, and that is to undermine the legitimacy of the Democratic administration, namely, Joe Biden, as they did during the Obama years.
[19:10:05]
And it didn't work, because we did, effectively, pushback.
But in terms of cooperation, I would point out that the very same gentlemen, Mr. Comer, the incoming chairman of our committee --
BURNETT: Yep.
CONNOLLY: We worked well together on postal reform. We worked well together on some federal information technology legislation to upgrade and modernize technology for the federal government.
So, we actually do have a history of cooperation, where we can find common ground. And we should continue to seek to find common ground.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Congressman Connolly.
CONNOLLY: My pleasure.
BURNETT: We'll take something away from that -- if you have those two things going on at the same time, that is truly watching the meatloaf being made. Incredible if both those two things could happen. Thank, you sir.
CONNOLLY: Thank you.
BURNETT: Let's go to Gloria Borger now.
So, Gloria, let's just start with these investigations, okay?
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah.
BURNETT: The Pew poll, I referred to it at the show, but it had investigations into Joe Biden ranks number 17 on the list of issues voters said were very important to their vote, number 17. I said to Harry Enten last night, who even tracks in order of number 17, things you care about.
So, okay, even if voters did not ask for this, could these investigations do real damage to Biden ahead of the possible presidential campaign in 2024?
BORGER: Well, first of all, it depends on what any investigation would find. I found it interesting that Congressman Jim Jordan, who's the incoming chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said, we would like to hear from Joe Biden, you know, Hunter Biden, et cetera. Everyone there said that.
Well, Jim Jordan himself was asked to testify before the January 6th Committee, and you recall he was subpoenaed. And he did not comply with a subpoena.
BURNETT: Right.
BORGER: So, when he had Mr. Comer say, yeah, we want these folks out there, you know, that's not going to happen. And so it just seems to me to be payback. And it seems to me to be really bad optics, when what the public is asking for is, what are you going to do for us on inflation? What are you going to do about crime? What are you going to do about the problems at the border?
So, when you talk about hurting Joe Biden, I think first of all what, if anything, the committee were to come up with. And as you know, the Department of Justice is investigating Hunter Biden. And our reporting says that Joe Biden is not any part of this investigation. So, we'll have to see what they find.
BURNETT: All right. Meantime, obviously, the House is going to be controlled by the Republicans. You see many in both parties as part of gubernatorial part of congressional, senatorial seats can see the way that they should. But some have not, right? Kari Lake is boasting as much as he can on Twitter to say that that election did not go the way that it should. She is not conceding.
And today, the former President Obama gave a speech, where he issued a dire warning about the threats facing American democracy. Let me play it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT: What is being challenged are the foundational principles of democracy itself, the notion that all citizens have a right to freely participate in selecting who governs them. The notion that votes will be counted. And a party that gets more votes wins, that losers concede, that power is transferred peacefully, that the winners don't abuse the machinery of government to punish losers. And we're going to have to figure out how to live together. Or we will
destroy each other.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: You know, and, Gloria, what was remarkable about that was, in part, the timing, right, coming off of this election where you had election denialism so resoundingly denied by voters -- right, not uniformly, but resoundingly, that he still feels that this is the moment of peril.
BORGER: Yes. I mean, we're talking about it all during the campaign, as was President Biden.
You know, I remember when Bill Clinton used to talk about the politics of personal destruction. And what we hear Obama talking about now is mutually assured destruction.
BURNETT: Right.
BORGER: That if the parties can figure out a way to work together, if the voters can have trust in democracy, that their votes are counted, and that elections are free and fair, what will become of the country?
I think he will continue, I believe, to issue this warning to everybody, saying, look, you have to understand the consequences of all of this. And as you point out, with Kari Lake sitting there, not saying, you know, I lost and conceding, what will become of this country?
What I took away from this election is that we thought it was absolutely fabulous that so many people actually conceded.
BURNETT: Right.
BORGER: And we felt that was progress when in fact, that what should be the way that democracy is conducted.
BURNETT: Right.
All right. Gloria, thank you very much.
BORGER: Sure.
BURNETT: And next, the Department of Justice just now submitting a new filing in the Mar-a-Lago documents case. We're going to tell you if prosecutors are arguing tonight. That's just coming out.
Plus, new video of the moment cruise missiles are apparently shot down over Ukraine and it is stunning to see. This is as Russia continues its mass aerial assault.
And new details this hour about the killings of four students in Idaho. Two others were there in the home during the brutal stabbings and left unharmed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do not have a suspect at this time and that individual is still out there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Tonight, the DOJ just filing a new court document in the Mar-a-Lago documents case, arguing a special master is not needed to review the thousands of documents seized from Trump's property, tearing down his claims that those records are his personal property.
So, it comes as a new report. All right, here it is. By ten prominent legal minds concludes there is, quote, strong basis to charge the former president for his mishandling of government documents. All right, 169 pages. They lay out six charges. In their analysis, the model with the DOJ would likely present if it were to announce the unprecedented indictment of a former president.
OUTFRONT now, Ryan Goodman, "Just Security" co-editor-in-chief. He co- authored this report.
All right. Ryan, our viewers all know. You are in here daily giving your analysis. There is a lot that went into this analysis, 169 pages.
[19:20:00]
So you go through six potential crimes in here that Trump could possibly face. You say some of them are slam dunk cases. What do you -- what is your ultimate conclusion here on those?
RYAN GOODMAN, CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, JUST SECURITY: So, we do the exercise that we imagine that a prosecutors and the Justice Department will do. And what they would want to present Garland, with Attorney General Garland. Every single case that the department of justice has every prosecuted for the same crime that they are alleging, at least there is a probable cause to believe that Donald Trump seems to have been involved in it.
We looked at every single case, and if you look at them all, the kinds of conduct that the Justice Department have prosecuted in the past are far less egregious and in both of those cases than what Donald Trump is alleged to have done, with documents at Mar-a-Lago.
BURNETT: All right, the president would show your charge and you're seeing multiple possible charges.
GOODMAN: That's right and the real question is, do treat like cases alike? What he beat being traded favorably not to charge or to charge? The answer is true like hisses alike. It basically forces the choice. It says you have to charge.
BURNETT: You have to charge, okay. So, I want to follow up on that on exactly what this could mean for him. But first, his defense, he's given a lot of defenses, right? One of them is oh, you would be treating me differently. You're saying no, you went through apples to apples. You would not be treated differently. Actually, he would be if you don't charge him.
GOODMAN: Right.
BURNETT: Okay, they've also said certain things like you, just have to think about it to declassify it. They were declassified and others. Let me just play a few of the excuses that have been put out there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: Remember this. Remember this. Everything was declassified.
They should give me immediately back everything that they've taken from me because it's mine, it's mine.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm concerned that they may have planted something. You know, at this point, who knows?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: She, of course, is one of his attorneys, Alina in this case.
So, you go through each of those. Any of them add up?
GOODMAN: They just evaporate under scrutiny, essentially. And we do try to play some on their strongest ground because there's a lot that's inconsistent. We're trying to maintain all of those positions.
BURNETT: Right.
GOODMAN: We would take them one by one and say, look, if this is the allegation, here's what the law says, here's a bunch of competing facts that dispute their defense. And it falls apart. We rarely tried to do the most serious analysis, giving them the most favorable like, but it just doesn't work.
BURNETT: Right, not even saying, okay, they've contradicting themselves. Just give each argument on its own 100 percent of the input you could end it doesn't add up.
Okay, so then where do you come out on how many charges should, by this analysis, be put forth? And if those charges are come to fruition, right? And are proven, what would be the impact on him?
GOODMAN: So, I think that the lead charge would probably be under the Espionage Act, which reads the statute that applies basically are hand and glove to the activities that we know about.
And then there are some other charges as well. There's another charge that has not really been talked about as much that we investigated and saw the president for it, which is essentially theft of government property. The Justice Department has, in fact, charge people for that for classified documents.
Could this be a second one? A third one? It would be about obstruction. Seems like a very good case of obstruction.
Yeah, so the interesting part of it is that even with very senior officials and lower down officials, they seem to charge. The Justice Department charges the case and when you ask questions, what are the implications for him?
There's also another story to this a bit. Some people get light sentences, but they get light sentences if they plead. They kind of start themselves on the mercy of the court. I don't see Donald Trump pleading guilty and throwing himself in the mercy of the court.
BURNETT: So, this could mean -- you know, in a normal person, this would mean prison time?
GOODMAN: Absolutely.
BURNETT: All right, Ryan Goodman, thank you very much. I hope everybody will go look at this, the prosecution document. Obviously, just security on their blog. You can take a look at this analysis, in all of its detail. Thanks, as always, great to see you.
And next, new video of the moment Russian cruise missiles appeared to be shot down over Kyiv, as Putin bombards Ukraine with more and more missiles.
And the Idaho man hunt. Law enforcement looking tonight for a suspect, a murder weapon, and a motive, any of them. And they're now warning the community to be vigilant days after four students were brutally stabbed to death.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:28:12]
BURNETT: Tonight, an onslaught of missiles. Dozens of them raining down on Ukraine, leaving nearly half of Ukrainians with no power, in the cold and dark. Each missile, delivering destruction and death.
Just look at this -- this appears to be the moment that two cruise missiles were shot down over Kyiv this week. We can't verify the authenticity of the video, but watch this for yourself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We heard an explosion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is it! This is it!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did it explode?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it's an explosion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A missile?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can't see what's shooting them down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can't even see what's shooting them down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're really good at ambush.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: You see that second missile, that speed with which it moves was shot down by Ukrainian air defense.
Tonight, what happened when this is what happened when a missile hit Poland. It's now putting stress on the U.S. and Ukraine. While Ukrainian President Zelenskyy now says, he supports a full investigation into what happened.
At the time of the strike, Zelenskyy immediately claimed a, quote, Russian missile hit Poland. CNN has learned that Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, quickly called Zelenskyy's office to tell him to tread more carefully. But that Zelenskyy was unable to get Biden on the phone.
And early this morning, Mr. President Biden returned from Bali, he had this to say about Zelenskyy's original claims.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: What's your reaction to President Zelenskyy saying that the missiles that landed in Poland were not Ukrainian?
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, that's not the evidence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: That's not the evidence. Very clear.
It all comes at a tense moment for the United States. The U.S. is running low on high end weapons systems and ammunition that Ukraine needs and wants.
This is according to three U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the situation. One of them tells CNN that stockpiles of certain systems are, quote, dwindling. It's a situation that could put America's own readiness at risk.
Fred Pleitgen is out front in Moscow tonight with the latest on the ground there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Russia continuing to hit Ukraine's towns and energy infrastructure, once again firing dozens of rockets and missiles, leaving millions without power or heat as winter has clearly arrived. And the Kremlin, making clear its aerial blitz won't stop.
The special military operation continues, the Kremlin spokesman says, and it's continuation does not depend on climatic weather conditions.
Kremlin-controlled media showcasing the Russian army is targeting of civilian infrastructure as Moscow attempts to freeze Ukraine into submission.
A major pundit even calling for Russians general in charge of the Ukraine war, Sergei Surovikin, to step up the attacks on the energy sector.
VLADIMIR SOLOVYEV, RUSSIAN TELEVISION PUNDIT (through translator): I appeal to Army General Surovikin, a hero of Russia, Comrade, Army General, I ask you to complete the destruction of the energy infrastructure of Ukraine.
PLEITGEN: The Russians accused Ukraine of trying to orchestrate a provocation, after NATO governments now say, the missile that landed in Poland, killing two people, was probably fired from Ukrainian territory. Even as the U.S. and its allies say, Russia bears the ultimate responsibility.
And Moscow is increasingly buckling under Western sanctions. The country is now officially in recession. And while President Vladimir Putin called on Russian companies to help veterans and pensioners, even on state media, a member of Russian parliament with a reality check.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): What will we drive? We have nothing to drive. Are we going to drive real cars? We just need to acknowledge that.
Let's nationalize everything. But what will we drive? How will we make phone calls? What will we do?
PLEITGEN: But in many areas of Ukraine that Russia has illegally annexed, the issues are more existential. Mariupol remains largely destroyed. Many residents, squatting in the ruins and struggling to get by.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): What have they turned into? I'm a homeless bag lady. I don't like myself anymore because of how we look. I've never looked like this.
PLEITGEN: Hope is hard to come by for the folks here, as the toughest winter months still lie ahead.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PLEITGEN (on camera): And, Erin, it's already extremely cold in large parts of Ukraine and generally in eastern Europe. And you know, one of the other things the Russians have said is they claim that the strikes that they're currently conducting are high precision. They took out a bunch of military infrastructure of the Ukrainians. Of course, we know the Ukrainians, for their part, are saying that a lot of civilians have been killed and injured, once again.
BURNETT: Fred Pleitgen, thank you very much. And Fred live tonight from Moscow.
OUTFRONT now, the retired Army Major General James "Spider" Marks.
And, General, I want to start with you and the reporting. Certainly I hope this stuck with people. That we are reporting the U.S. is running low on some advanced weapons and ammunition systems. These are systems that, of course, Ukraine wants. The U.S. has been supplying some of them.
We understand now from U.S. officials that supplies are dwindling. Now, of course, no surprise the Department of Defense, when they heard this report, said, readiness will not be impacted. But this is pretty jarring. What is the risk here?
JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, ARMY MAJOR GENERAL: Well, there is a significant risk, Erin. When you look at it, the supplies that the United States has is based on a number of calculations. You know, how many theater engagements can they afford? Et cetera.
This popped up. This was not one of them. And suddenly, this became the most important thing we were doing. So, that stockpile came down. So, we are not surprised.
In fact, just recently, I think there was a plus up, a funding plus up to make sure that we had the HIMARS, you know, the high mobility artillery rocket system, which has been doing a phenomenal job in supporting the Ukrainians. But we had to increase the amount of ammunition. So, the supplies are necessarily going to decrease. I mean, this is an inevitability.
The problem becomes, as you look across all the NATO nations, they are increasing their support. They've got a challenge, budgetary requirements as well, to make sure that they meet the NATO requirements. And they've got to decrease their supplies as well. So, -- everybody is feeling this pain.
BURNETT: Obviously, you, know it's deeply concerning. We are hearing though from Ukrainian military sources, they're saying that Putin is increasing the number of cruise missile carriers in the Black Sea to three.
[19:35:06]
Obviously, now they're supplied cruise missiles had dropped dramatically. They've got Iranian supply now coming online. But it would be really tripling their launch capacity from the Black Sea. What does this mean for the war?
MARKS: Well, significantly, when I look at this, I look at the Black Sea. The Black Sea is simply a bathtub. There is no place to hide in the Black Sea and there's only one exit, there's only one entrance. So, what Russia does, there what the United States says there, and frankly that's why the United States currently doesn't have a large presence in the Black Sea. Our U.S. navy does not like going into that for that very reason. Why Russia is increasing the presence is beyond logic, in my mind,
because it increases their risk profile and they can launch cruise missiles from -- it'll take a little longer. It does not decrease the precision, but I don't understand why they would be doing that. And oh, by the way, Ukrainians have had a pretty good track record going after those presence in the Black Sea, depending on where it --
BURNETT: Remember the Moskva and, of course, most recently the bridge, the Kerch Bridge.
All right, thank you so much, General. As always, I appreciate you.
And next, we have new video of to Idaho students in the hours before they and two roommates were brutally stabbed to death. Terrifying and utterly bizarre story. Tonight, and entire community is on edge. The killer is still at large.
And a federal judge ending a policy that allowed the government to expel more than 1 million migrants who crossed the southern border to the U.S.
So, are we about to see another massive influx? We are live and on the border tonight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:40:29]
BURNETT: Tonight, the coroner just releasing new details about the killings of fourth students near the University of Idaho. The manner of death listed in the corners report is a stabbing for all four victims. Police say, the suspect is still on the loose. They're still saying that they believe this was a, quote, targeted attack, but warning the community.
Lucy Kafanov is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHIEF JAMES FRY, MOSCOW POLICE DEPARTMENT: We do not have a suspect at this time and that individual is still out there. We cannot say that there is no threat to the community.
LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tonight, with the suspect still on the loose, fear, grief, and growing questions over the brutal murder of four young University of Idaho students.
FRY: The reality is, there's still a person out there who committed four horrible, horrible crimes.
KAFANOV: As police walked back earlier assurances that the community is safe.
FRY: The four were stabbed with a knife but no weapon has been located at this time. There was no sign of forced entry into the residence. KAFANOV: Twenty-one-year-old, Kaylee Goncalves, 20-year-old Xana
Kernodle, 21-year-old Madison Mogen, and 20-year-old Ethan Chapin, we're all friends murdered inside their own home after a night out on the town.
FRY: Ethan and Xana were at a party on campus, and Madison and Kaylee were at a downtown bar. They arrived home sometime after 1:45.
KAFANOV: This video, showing Madison and Kaylee shortly before they were killed. The pair, ordering past up from a food truck at 1:41 am, chatting as they wait for their order, the manager telling CNN, they did not seem to stress or in danger.
What happened after remains a mystery. Police say, all four were killed in the early hours on Sunday. The 911 call didn't come until noon.
BILL THOMPSON, PROSECUTOR, LATAH COUNTY, IDAHO: The investigators are trying to ascertain why there was a delay and what actually occurred, what was heard. That is a question that is still out there.
KAFANOV: Two other roommates were home at the time of the crime. Police, not referring to them as suspects, but also not ruling them out.
FRY: We are not just focusing just on them. We are focusing on everybody that may be coming and going from that residence.
CASEY JORDAN, CRIMINOLOGIST: They may be operating on the theory that the perpetrator is known to at least one person in the house. Maybe somebody who came home with them to party more after the night out they had.
FRY: On campus, students expressed shock and disbelief.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are 100 feet away, you know, how close was this person? Are they still around? I don't know, it's so scary.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody kind of just went back home because they're scared.
FRY: Families and friends who should've been planning Thanksgiving dinner, now making funeral arrangements, grieving the loss of loved ones.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was a privilege to no such kindness. They were both amazing individuals. They had the most warm, amazing hearts.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAFANOV (on camera): The autopsies performed on all four students show that all were stabbed. Their deaths officially ruled homicides, but the moment we got today did not include the autopsy details, which could shed more light on this gruesome mystery, the.
President of the University of Idaho, Erin, also encouraging all the students to do, quote, what is right for themselves. The community, to take time off to process these horrific killings -- Erin.
BURNETT: Unbelievably gruesome. Lucy, thank you very much.
So, now let's go to Charles Ramsey, former Philadelphia police commissioner and Washington D.C. police chief.
Chief Ramsey, this is just horrific and gruesome and bizarre. Lucy, you know, laying this out that the coroner says, the manner of death here is stabbing. We're learning that there were two additional roommates that were there when the killings happened. They were not injured, they were not held hostage. Nor did authorities find out anything happened until many hours after this seemed to have occurred, such as we understand it now.
What do you think happened here?
CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, there are an awful lot of unanswered questions. There's absolutely no question about. That I don't know, obviously, the layout of the house. It's possible for those two people to have been in a remote part of the house, door closed, could not hear anything.
Where with the bodies found? Where the on the first floor? Were they altogether? Or were they separate when they found the bodies?
There are a lot of unanswered questions here. I'm sure right now, the investigators are going through social media, all four victims, to try to find out whether or not there's anything there that could give them a clue.
It is possible, since they were out partying, that someone did come home with them.
[19:45:02]
Maybe the first two that came in, maybe they had a third party. The other two could've walked in on what was going on. We just don't know.
It's really strange to me though that they keep saying this is targeted. So, what is it that makes them think that they were targeted specifically?
BURNETT: They did and that's my question to you. They said it pretty much right away when we first heard about this. They said at that time, they were saying this is an isolated incident, no threat to the public.
Now, they're still on the targeted point, but they're also telling people to be vigilant and aware of their surroundings, which would at least, it seems, right, to sort of contradict that. I mean, what do you think is happening here?
RAMSEY: Well, it contradicts it in a way, I think, because they don't have anyone custody. And remember now, this could be more than one person who is involved in this murder, or murders. So, they just don't know right now, at least we don't know, at this point in time. But because they don't have anybody in custody, they're going to err
on the side of caution and tell people to be vigilant, to be careful. If they see anything unusual, to give them a call, because apparently, they pretty much run into kind of a dead end, unfortunately.
BURNETT: Yeah, it's just so jarring to see that food truck video and they just clearly seem to be, they're just hanging out getting their pasta. I mean, there's just no signs of anything, and then this unbelievable event.
All right, Chief Ramsey, I appreciate your time. Thank you so much.
RAMSEY: Thank you.
BURNETT: All right. Next, waves of migrants already streaming into the United States along the Mexican border because a judge is now, again, ending a Trump era policy that legally had allowed America to turn them away. So they were turned away for a bit. This had slowed down. And now, floodgates appear to be opening again. We are going to show you what's happening there live.
And a touching tribute to Nancy Pelosi today, as she steps away from two decades of Democratic leadership.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:50:53]
BURNETT: Tonight, bracing for a border surge. Migrants lining up to enter the U.S. after a federal judge struck down a policy, okay. And this policy is what allowed the U.S. government to expel more than 1 million migrants. The policies called Title 42. It was a Trump era rule. But the Biden administration has also been using to keep migrants out. It's resulted in notable decrease in migrant crossing in recent months, but now rescinded again.
OUTFRONT now, David Culver. He's on Ciudad Juarez, on the Mexican side of the border.
So, David, now this rule has changed again by the administration, sending mixed messages, they originally wanted Title 42 overturned. Then when there was a massive influx, they used it to keep migrants out of the U.S.
So the federal judges saying, the U.S. has until December 21st technically before it goes away again. What are you seeing now in terms of a surge of migrants where you are?
DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just total confusion here by the migrants who are trying to figure out how to interpret this change. As you pointed out, Erin, I mean, there's been a lot of back and forth. And yet on the ground, they're thinking, perhaps this means that we can go in without any recourse. We can make it through.
That is not the case. As I pointed out, the stay is keeping this in place for another five weeks. But it's not what's been communicated here. So what we initially saw was a surge. You can see now they're still a steady stream. Just the past couple minutes, two people crossing over.
But to give you some perspective, this is a camp that has at its peak, roughly 3,000 people. We know for the past 48 hours or so, 2,000 went across. And it's just one small section along the border.
BURNETT: Wow.
CULVER: So, there clearly was a desire and a hope, for a lot of folks, that the gates are open, we can go. Yet, there's so much humanity that you find here.
We came across a young family, two little kids, spoke to a nine year old, who she expressed to us, the journey she'd been on, through seven countries, remember each and every one geographically that she gone through. She shared with us what is her hope.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CULVER: What flag is this?
UNIDENTIIFED GIRL: Venezuela.
CULVER: This flag?
UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: Estados Unidos.
CULVER: You want to go to the U.S.?
Do you want to go to New York to go to school?
When she's big she wants to be a doctor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CULVER: OK. As we pointed out, people are actually going over, Erin. So, what happens once to get there, it depends on the person. It's very much a case by case scenario. And it's so arbitrary, and that's the frustration.
You have people who are actually able to get through. We know that because their friends and relatives here are in touch with them. And you have some folks who are deported out. The frustration, they're not all brought back to where they started. Some of them are pushed out to places much further from here. And it's almost if you think of it, as a video game, as one person described it, and it's restarting, in front of the start. And yes, this is not a game, it's life. It's real life -- Erin.
BURNET: David, thank you very. It's going to be continuing to bring those reports there from the border. Just something to watch, see where David is sending a look across the U.S. as he's watching people cross. It's pretty incredible, thank you so much.
And next from one strong woman to another, a powerful tribute tonight to Speaker Nancy Pelosi from former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:58:42]
BURNETT: Among the many wishing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi well as she steps away from leadership roles is Gabby Giffords. The former congresswoman writing, Speaker Pelosi, you were there for me after I was shot. You've been there for our country in perilous times. As a friend and as a leader, you have answered the call. Thank you for your service. Strong women get things done.
Almost 12 years ago, Giffords was shot in the head while meeting with constituents on a grocery store. The new CNN film "Gabby Giffords Won't Back Down" shows her life now.
Here's a preview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GABBY GIFFORDS, FORMER U.S. CONGRESSWOMAN: All right, ready?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joining us now is Representative Gabrielle Giffords.
GIFFORDS: It's an idea, is a good idea. It's a good idea.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Congresswoman Giffords was a target of a mass shooting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's beginning several months of rehab.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give me two fingers. All right. Give me five.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are not allowed to quit on me.
ANDRESON COOPER, CNN HOST: Good news about Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. She was discharged today.
GIFFORDS: The words are there in my brain. I just can't get them out.
SEN. MARK KELLY (D-AZ): She laughs at my jokes, even when they're bad.
GIFFORDS: Funny, funny.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gabby Giffords, making her way back to the Capitol --
GIFFORDS: Too many children are dying. We must do something.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT: Nobody could've been more compelling than Gabby was that day.
ANNOUNCER: "Gabby Giffords Won't Back Down", Sunday night at 9:00, only on CNN. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: I hope everyone will watch.
Thanks so much for joining us.
"AC360" starts now.
