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Erin Burnett Outfront
Police Chase New Clues As CEO Killer Remains On The Run; GOP Rep: Musk & Ramaswamy Discussing Government "Naughty List"; Bitcoin Surpasses $100K For The First Time, Extending Rally. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired December 05, 2024 - 19:00 ET
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[19:00:39]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
The breaking news, new major clues tonight in the search for the CEO assassin, exclusive new images of the New York City hostel where the gunman was seen, where he stayed. We'll speak to one man who was staying on the same floor as the suspect tonight.
Plus, more about Brian Thompson. He was estranged from his wife. They were living in separate homes. We are live in his hometown.
And Elon Musk's so-called naughty list. The billionaire making the rounds on Capitol Hill, vowing to slash spending. So what is on that list right now?
Let's go OUTFRONT.
And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news, a cold blooded killer still on the loose. We've got new, important clues, though, emerging at this hour. So let me just share with you what we've got.
Officials are telling CNN right now that they believe the assassin who killed Brian Thompson, the CEO of the largest health insurer in America, used a fake ID when he checked into the building that you're seeing there. And that is a New York City hospital on the upper west side off of Central Park. It is 49 blocks north of the Hilton Hotel, which is where yesterdays brazen shooting took place in Midtown Manhattan.
Now, according to "The New York Times", the killer had been in New York City for ten days prior to the shooting. We still don't yet know where he came from, maybe where he was originally from. But ten days, and according to police, we know checked into the hostel four days before Thompson was killed, two crucial pieces of information that would leave six days of where was he in New York, which is obviously going to be crucial here.
But investigators are now releasing new images of a man that they are calling a quote, unquote person of interest in these images. This person's face is not covered. So these appear to have been taken, obviously, prior to the shooting. One of them, he's smiling. Now, these were actually taken from the hostel, the hostel that I just mentioned on the upper west side of New York City, where he had been staying. Officials say for the past four days.
And just in to OUTFRONT, we have some new exclusive images from inside that hostel, a source telling CNN that the suspected shooter was sharing a room with multiple people. Now it's a hostel so you'll hear in a moment from someone who was staying in that hostel, you could have 4 to 12 people in one room.
He had multiple people in his room. They did not know each other from what we are told, but the man who was staying on the same floor as the suspected shooter shared these images of inside the nearly 200-room building exclusively with OUTFRONT. Two hundred rooms, says it was very crowded.
And investigators are now retracing the suspect's steps following the murder itself. We know after he assassinated Thompson, shooting him in the back at 6:44 a.m., he headed north. Now, he rode a bike towards Central Park, and he goes into Central Park. And then we've got new images of what authorities believe is the suspect again on that Upper West Side. About 15 minutes later, he comes out of the park and rides along West 85th Street, which you see marked on the map there.
That is just off Central Park. And what it would do would be put him right back in that area near the hostel where officials believe he had been staying.
And this is important because we are now learning of a massive search inside Central Park for the missing gray backpack worn by the assassin. Police, we are told, have been scouring garbage cans there, any dumpsters and bushes. So far though, we are told no sign of either the backpack or the weapon.
And Omar Jimenez is OUTFRONT live in New York City. He is in front of the hotel where Brian Thompson was shot, and killed -- the Hilton there in Midtown Manhattan.
And, Omar, what is the latest that you are learning tonight?
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, for starters, this is the second day where we don't know where the suspect is. We don't know who the suspect is at this point. And some of the latest video that were seeing, some of it you just alluded to there, shows the shooter the latest in the day that we see the shooter after the shooting, which is only about 15 minutes or so after the shooting scene on the upper west side here.
But for perspective, that's about 30 blocks from where I'm standing and with the route that could take you through Central Park, which, of course, as we know, is where law enforcement searched and of course, where he is seen on camera exiting, all of this as the New York Police Department is putting out new images tied to this investigation that they believe the public can help with.
[19:05:02] (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIMENEZ (voice-over): New images tonight of what the NYPD is calling a person of interest wanted for questioning. Sources say these photos showing this person unmasked and smiling come from an upper Manhattan hostel where investigators believe the shooter may have stayed before the Wednesday morning murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Another clue as investigators try to piece together the shooter's identity.
MAYOR ERIC ADAMS, NEW YORK CITY: Pieces of the puzzle, they are still coming together, so we are on the right path and we believe we're going to apprehend this person.
JIMENEZ: Police conducted a search at the hostel, and one law enforcement official tells CNN the shooter stayed in a room with two other men. Investigators continuing to ask the public for help and offering a reward for information of up to $10,000. And they continue tracing the movements of the gunman before and after the targeted killing.
ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR: What we do know is extremely well-organized, highly planned, sophisticated attack, from everything we've seen so far.
JIMENEZ: On the day of the shooting surveillance video appears to show the suspected gunman exiting the 57th Street subway around 6:15 a.m. Minutes later, pictures show him at a Starbucks where sources tell CNN he bought a water and two power bars, just two blocks from the shooting site.
Then, at 6:29 a.m., surveillance video from a nearby garage shows the suspected shooter walking down the street while on the phone. Just minutes before he carries out the killing of Thompson at 6:47.
The gunman then makes a quick getaway, and this new video appears to show a person dressed in a similar way. Just ten minutes later, on an e-bike 25 blocks north of where the murder happened.
Investigators also found a phone and a water bottle near the scene of the shooting. A law enforcement official tells CNN. A fingerprint was also lifted from the bottle, but it was smudged also still unknown the motive.
But there are potential clues, sources say a shell casing and live rounds found at the crime scene were etched with the words "delay" and "depose", a possible reference to the phrase "delay, deny defend", which is the way some lawyers have described the tactics insurers use to avoid paying claims.
MCCABE: That would of course, point in the direction that this person was somehow, well, was certainly personally invested in this murder.
(END VIDEOTAPE) JIMENEZ (on camera): Now, we mentioned that route fleeing north of here toward Central Park as we spoke about law enforcement, searched Central Park for the backpack that was seen worn by the shooter in the shooting, did not find the backpack, and no indication of what may have been inside.
And then on the hostel as well, one law enforcement source telling CNN that this person used a fake New Jersey ID to check in, which at this point was days before the shooting. And here outside the Hilton Hotel, life goes on, people walking by as if nothing happened.
But of course, for law enforcement, the priority is not just where this person went, who this person is here.
BURNETT: Yeah, absolutely. Omar, thank you very much.
OUTFRONT now, Matheus Taranto. He was staying in the same hostel on the same floor where police believe the shooter, the suspected shooter stayed.
And, Matheus, I really appreciate your time.
I mean, what a bizarre situation you find yourself in. I know you're visiting from Brazil. You've been staying in the hostel. You've met some people there.
Can we just start with some of the photos you took on the fourth floor of the hostel where - where you were staying? Where -- that where police say he was staying. Can you tell us anything about that? What it's like in there? What those halls look like?
MATHEUS TARANTO, STAYS AT HOSTEL WHERE POLICE BELIEVE GUNMAN STAYED: All right, so the hotel -- the hostel is actually really crowded.
There are a lot of people there, so they divide like rooms to, I think, 4 to 10 people. But in the hallway --
BURNETT: Four to 10 people in room?
TARANTO: Yeah, four to 10 or 12, four to -- four to 12.
Yeah, so the hallway is just simple. It's just the doors that goes to the -- to the rooms the shared rooms. That's it. That's pretty simple how the how the hallways look.
BURNETT: So it would -- it would seem from what you're saying that if, if he was staying on that floor, as they believe he was, that he would have had other people in the room?
TARANTO: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.
BURNETT: Okay. So, now, you've been staying there for about a week.
TARANTO: Yeah.
BURNETT: And you're talking about these rooms that you got 4 to 12 people in a room. So from what you're saying, he would have had other people in the room.
TARANTO: Yeah.
BURNETT: How hard would it have been to, as you see it, to even do something like to have a gun in there or something like that?
TARANTO: I mean, it wouldn't be that hard. Like if he put on like his luggage or something um, because there's no metal detector, there's nothing like that. So I think just go inside and it would be all good, like --
BURNETT: So he could have had something like that.
In terms of seeing him, do you recall seeing -- now, you've seen his picture out there and you talk about the hostel being so crowded.
[19:10:02]
Do you recall seeing anybody that looked like him?
TARANTO: Yeah. I didn't recall anyone looking like that. And people are saying that he always using the mask. So even if I saw him, I wouldn't recognize him because he was always wearing the mask.
BURNETT: Right. And obviously as you were there those few days.
TARANTO: Yeah.
BURNETT: You know, and you talk about the situation, there's no security, there's no -- I mean, lots of people coming and going.
TARANTO: There's like basic security there. Yeah, there's a security like, you can't go inside without a card, so you have to check in to go inside but like gun control doesn't have any. So yeah, that kind of security is none.
BURNETT: Right, right.
And in terms just out of curiosity, but when you pay, you can pay credit, cash in terms of --
TARANTO: Whatever. Yeah.
BURNETT: Any way you want to pay.
TARANTO: Yeah.
BURNETT: All right. Well, I mean, it is -- it is really fascinating. But also important, as you say, that he would have probably had a lot of other people in the room --
TARANTO: Yeah, yeah.
BURNETT: -- where he was sleeping.
TARANTO: I think his room probably like had 4 to 6 people, but I'm not sure because I didn't get to come in there it was locked. But the day that I arrived, there are a lot of cops there. People saw him. People saw the cops there outside the room but, yeah, everyone that was inside the room just went to another room, and I don't know who these people were like, I asked around and they didn't know anyone.
BURNETT: Right. All right. Well, Matheus, thank you very much. I appreciate it.
All right. And now, Tim Clemente joins us, former FBI counterterror agent, Kurt Bolhalter, former NYPD detective, and Candice DeLong, former FBI profiler.
All right. Glad to have all of you.
Tim, can I just start with you? Matheus just shared those photos inside the hostel on the actual floor, right? Long, dark hallway, rooms off the side. He said 4 to 12 in a room. He thinks 4 to 6 in the room. The shooter was in.
"The New York Times" is reporting that the suspected shooter was in New York City for ten days, and we understand that for the four days before the shooting, he stayed in the hostel. That leaves six days currently unaccounted for, if all this pans out.
But what do you make of that, the ten-day period and then the four days in this hostel, what do you make of him having chosen to stay there especially when you hear someone who was ostensibly staying right on the same floor near him, just the sheer number of people, how hard it was to even notice him?
TIM CLEMENTE, FORMER FBI COUNTERTERRORISM AGENT: Well, I think, Erin, he gets great anonymity in a place like that. You stay like, look at the Hilton Hotel where Thompson was headed, you have security obviously. You have a front desk receptionist probably a doorman. So a lot of people would have paid attention to him there.
Whereas in the hostel, he's totally anonymous. Those are people generally that don't want to spend a lot for lodging and go there and share rooms, share a bathroom with a bunch of other people. So it's inconvenient for the average person.
But very convenient when you want to hide and try and hide in plain sight, the fact that he was there for ten days. You know, Erin, I've said it every time we've talked about any kind of attack, that most attacks are preceded by pre-attack surveillance. So, clearly, he was scoping out escape routes from the Hilton Hotel, egress routes, every day when he was doing surveillance on the hotel, probably in tracking Thompson's whereabouts so that he would know when he would be there and what time to strike.
BURNETT: Right. And just to be clear, in case, I misspoke, we know he stayed at the hostel for four days, but he was in the city for ten. So we don't yet know where he was those six days in between. So, not yet, not sure about that yet on the reporting.
But, Candice, we've now seen the face of the person of interest, and actually that was -- that is at the hostel, right? And to Tim's point, you know, you enter Hilton, you have had your picture taken, so many times here. We just have a couple of images, but nonetheless, that's all you need, right?
You know we see the shooting itself and you see the planning that the killer went through. And that's your specialty getting in the mind of the killer, trying to understand what this person was thinking.
What picture of the suspect do you have at this point?
CANDICE DELONG, FORMER FBI CRIMINAL PROFILER: Without question he wanted his target dead, planned to shoot him in the back first, and then approach him and finish him off. And the bullets that he ejected, that apparently had the words on it. That was sending a message.
my sense of what is happening here is that this appears to be a revenge motivated murder. And that the killer especially with the message of the "deny, defend, depose" which is almost identical to a book about how health insurance companies deny coverage and make a lot of money, it's almost like the killer, of course, the victim wasn't going to know that, but the police the public, and in a way it's like, this is why I did it.
[19:15:08]
I want you to know it.
Also, this guy is what I call C3 -- cool, calm and collected. He was fearless.
BURNETT: And that we certainly see that on the -- I mean, the way he acted.
And can I just ask that point of the moment of it, Kirk? We see the suspect on video, on surveillance video about just a few minutes before the shooting. Omar just mentioned this talking on his cell phone. So this means talking on his cell phone at 6:30 a.m., right before he's about to assassinate somebody. You look at that and you think, did that have something to do with somebody else being involved? Letting him know when Thompson was leaving or some sort of detail? It opens up that possibility.
Do you think that that could be what have happened or do you -- are you not sure that there was anyone else involved?
KIRK BURKHALTER, RETIRED NYPD DETECTIVE: Well, I think it's a high likelihood that --
DELONG: Are you asking me, Erin?
BURNETT: Kirk.
BURKHALTER: I think its a high likelihood that either someone was involved or at the very least, someone else knew.
I took that phone call to mean I'm kind of getting ready to do it or whatever the case, and perhaps this is someone just him just notifying someone of his actions something that he had discussed previously or it could go as far as that this was some form of coconspirator, perhaps someone that was going to meet him to tell, to assist him as he egressed from the city.
I don't know if it was a coconspirator. I think if there was, that person would have been a little bit closer and perhaps he wouldn't have had to use a bicycle and stay at a hostel by himself, but at the very least, I think that someone knew of his actions in some way, shape or form.
BURNETT: So as you were speaking, Kirk, we did just get some breaking news. So let me just tell you what this is, because this does add to what we know and what could be a very meaningful way. Tim, we are learning that the suspect came to New York City from Atlanta by bus. Now, I know the New York Times had reported he'd been here for ten days. I can't put an exact time frame on this but we do have this very specific reporting from a law enforcement official, Tim, by bus to New York from Atlanta.
You know, what more does that? And we don't know whether he was with anybody that sort of information is still unknown, but it does add to the very low cost profile that we're seeing.
CLEMENTE: Yeah, we're definitely seeing a frugal traveler but that's great because it covers his tracks. Again, if you drive into Manhattan, you're going through toll booths, you're going to be photographed going through every toll booth anywhere in the along the jersey turnpike or any other route you take that goes into New York. So riding in the back of a bus, you have anonymity.
Now, he had to buy a ticket. Apparently, he stayed at the hostel under a false name with a false New Jersey identification. So this guy's got tracks all over the place that need to be run down.
And NYPD is very likely working with every other agency around the country to find all these leads and dig them out. The fact that he was in Atlanta at possibly a bus depot means there may be other intelligence gathering there in the form of photographs fingerprints, DNA, other things that he left behind that will be helpful in pinpointing where he was when.
BURNETT: Kirk, do you think they know who he is already?
BURKHALTER: I don't believe so, but who knows? I couldn't agree more that certainly the mode of travel where he stayed when he was here is less about costs and more about hiding in plain sight and attempting to be anonymous.
You never know. I don't think the police are going to let the public know all the information they have.
BURNETT: Yeah.
BURKHALTER: I certainly believe, given the release of the photo, someone is going to contact the authorities. Someone already recognized who this person is.
BURNETT: Yeah. I mean, and that's -- that's a crucial question.
Candice, do you -- I know you were talking about the possible motive, but at this point it does seem there are still so many possibilities. I mean, people are talking about whether those words on the bullets could have been a decoy or whether that indicates the shooter himself wanted to send a message or what -- do you feel confident at this point from the information you're getting and profiling him of what the motive could have been?
DELONG: Yes, I do, I -- and the thing that tips the scale for me is the words on the bullet casings, not a decoy. Why would he pick those three words? Those are right off with the exception of one, the title of a book about health insurance agencies doing things that are harmful to clients and people that they serve or choose not to serve.
Yes. I think the killer was following this guy's career.
[19:20:00]
He knew where he was going to be when he was going to be there. It was not front page news that this man, the CEO of UnitedHealth, was going to be speaking at 8:00 a.m. at the Hilton Hotel in Manhattan.
He knew it. And he was there. And he waited and the thing about the Starbucks -- stopping at Starbucks maybe ten minutes before and getting a coffee and -- that tells me he wasn't nervous at all. He felt really good about what he was going to do, and he had nerves of steel, and he did it.
BURNETT: All right. All stay with me as we continue getting more information in here as I said, we've just learned that the suspected shooter traveled to New York by bus from Atlanta.
I also want to let everyone know there will be a special tonight at 11:00 with Laura Coates, a one-hour special on the murder of the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. That is coming up tonight as well.
But as we continue to follow this breaking news, we do have some new details about the CEO Brian Thompson himself. He was estranged from his wife. They were living in separate houses, although nearby. They shared two children. What more do we know about him?
Plus, our John Miller who has the best NYPD sources, is right now on the phone. He's going to get off the phone with the information, bring it right here for you. Breaking details about the search OUTFRONT.
And bitcoin tonight's breaking a record, surging over $100,000 for the first time. Trump celebrating it. So who's buying? Who's benefiting? Harry Enten will tell us something we don't know.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:26:08] BURNETT: Breaking news, new details just in to OUTFRONT about the killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Sources are confirming to us right now that Thompson and his wife Paulette, who has said she is shattered by his murder, were estranged. This is other friends and colleagues are trying to come to grips with Thompson's murder. Police, of course, seeking answers tonight.
And Whitney Wild is OUTFRONT with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WHITNEY WILD, CNN CRIME AND LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Affectionately called "BT" by his friends and colleagues, those who knew 50-year-old Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, say he leaves behind a legacy of compassion and leadership. He spoke to a "Reuters" conference in 2021.
BRIAN THOMPSON, UNITEDHEALTHCARE CEO: These are the building blocks to support the triple aim of higher quality care, lower costs and a better health care experience for the people we serve.
WILD: He's survived by his wife, Paulette, and two children. Sources tell CNN. Thompson and Paulette were estranged and property records show they lived in separate but nearby houses. Paulette has spoken twice since the murder, but declined our request for an interview, instead issuing this statement: We are shattered to hear about the senseless killing of our beloved Brian, the statement said. Brian was an incredibly loving, generous talented man who truly lived life to the fullest and touched so many lives.
TODD COY, PRINCIPAL AT BRIAN THOMPSON'S IOWA HIGH SCHOOL: If you look at his class of '93 classmates, they would all tell you that they knew he was going to going to strive to be something big.
WILD: Thompson's roots run through Jewell, Iowa, where he graduated as the valedictorian of his class at South Hamilton High School in 1993. His former teacher, Todd Coy, still remembers his character and charm.
COY: He was humble, an outstanding student. He was liked by all, which was a testament to why he was probably our class president. He was homecoming king his senior year.
WILD: Thompson graduated from the University of Iowa in 1997, again as the valedictorian. After nearly seven years as a CPA at a consulting firm, Thompson climbed the ladder at UnitedHealthcare, earning the title of CEO in 2021.
ADAM HJERPE, FORMER COLLEAGUE OF BRIAN THOMPSON: He was a champion.
WILD: Adam Hjerpe is the board director of the Special Olympics, and Thompson's former colleague at UnitedHealthcare.
THOMPSON: We're certainly excited. All of my colleagues across UnitedHealth Group to help these athletes prepare for what is the highest level of competition.
WILD: Thompson worked with the Special Olympics several times and was named honorary co-chair for the 2026 games.
HJERPE: You have somebody who was incredibly smart. He was very good at the work he did. He was had this attention and he would get into the details. He also had this great energy.
THOMPSON: We know that millions of our members experienced complex health issues each year throughout the year.
WILD: As the head of a health insurance giant frequently at odds with customers, Thompson's career recently met controversy. Earlier this year, he was the subject of a class action lawsuit alleging insider trading. The lawsuit accused Thompson of dumping 31 percent of his personal UnitedHealth shares, amounting to a $15 million profit, before the public knew about a Department of Justice antitrust probe into the company.
The filing claimed Thompson and others exploited their positions, breached their fiduciary duties and violated the company's code of conduct. UnitedHealthcare did not comment on the lawsuit.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WILD (on camera): Erin, as if this family hasn't been through enough last night, they were the subject of fake bomb threats at both Brian Thompson's house and Paulette Thompson's house, the Maple Grove Police Department saying plainly that was a swatting incident and that it was a hoax -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right, Whitney, thank you very much.
Harry Sandick is OUTFRONT, extensive experience with white collar and securities fraud cases, also former assistant U.S. attorney with the Southern District of New York and was the acting chief of the violent crimes unit there.
So, Harry, I'm looking at this from every perspective, just starting where Whitney finished, though, as they are trying to figure out motive here. There are -- all right, there's people who may have been denied coverage that there's that motive which -- which obviously is front and center here, accused of selling a third of his shares and pocketing $15 million ahead of shareholders, taking a loss on -- on inside information.
[19:30:04]
A lawsuit like that -- I know you think that may not be related to this at all but it does seem like a lot of money.
HARRY SANDICK, FORMER ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: It is a lot of money and what would happen in the case is they would have to figure out if the case were to go forward, sort of what portion of the sale price was attributable essentially to the artificially inflated nature of the stock price, that the idea is that it was higher because there was an undisclosed investigation.
So the lawyers would have to figure out and the judge would have to figure out, well, how much higher. So, these kinds of cases, they're serious, but they're brought every day. Anytime a stock drops, the company is sued, the executives are sued. So it's hard to know if it's more than that. And there are other potential motives there.
BURNETT: All right.
So, now, let's talk about that because you were also acting chief of the violent crimes unit in the Southern District of New York. So a murder like this, I mean, you are talking about the largest city in the United States. You're talking about New York, anybody walking around, Darrin Porcher, a former NYPD was saying last night 100 to 200 times a day, your videotaped.
And this young person, we are now 20, you know, 36 hours later is still on the lam. I mean, have you ever seen a murder like this in New York?
SANDICK: So I've never seen a murder like this. Most murders in New York are either related to other criminal activity, like drug dealing or armed robbery, that's primarily what I prosecuted. Or the district attorney prosecutes murders that are often people who know each other, intimate partner violence, terrible cases.
But something like this is unusual. Now there are cold cases. People commit murder and get away with it. There are unsolved murders. New York is not by far is not the most violent place. It's one of the safest places in the United States. But there are unsolved murders in every city, and those often involve people who covered their tracks, as he at least for the first day, seems to have done.
BURNETT: For the first day.
All right. So, you know, when he walks by that moment, that giant Hilton and you walked across the street from there, and we all know there's just so many entrances. So to know that someone is going in the side door that side door on that place, not on not on that block on this block at this time, and then you see the suspected shooter, a few minutes before the shooting on the phone.
When you look at this, do you think how likely is it that somebody else may have helped him?
SANDICK: It's certainly possible, and it could have been inadvertent. It could have been that he learned from someone who let it slip, the hotel that the victim was staying at. And so he figured, well, if he's coming from that direction, the most likely door he'll use is this side door here on 54th Street.
So it seems at least number one possibility. He did a ton of research to know exactly where he would be or some -- some piece of information slipped to him.
BURNETT: All right. Harry, thank you very much. And next, we've got breaking news from John Miller, learning several significant new developments and more details on this bus ride that we have just learned that the suspected shooter took from Atlanta to New York City. And why at this particular moment, you're looking at your screen right now, those pictures, why the person of interest may have pulled on his mask.
Plus, we're also following new details out of Washington, where today, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy went to Capitol Hill to talk about their specifics on cutting government spending.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): Elon and Vivek talked about having a a naughty list.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:37:51]
BURNETT: Breaking news several significant new developments in the hunt for the CEO killer. The manhunt now closing in on 37 hours. The suspect traveling by bus from Atlanta to New York 10 days before the shooting. Our John Miller reporting this and reporting new details about what happened next.
Tim Clemente is also with us.
Let's start, John, with what you've learned. You've got a lot of new details. So you're reporting that he gets on this bus ten days before the shooting in Atlanta comes to New York. Then what?
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: So we don't know that exactly we know he's on a bus that originates in Atlanta, but they haven't established where between Atlanta and Washington, D.C., you know he got on that bus, they have established at different points where he got off the bus.
BURNETT: Wait, hold on one second. Hold on one second. You're saying the bus was going from Atlanta to New York? But we don't know where he got on.
MILLER: Exactly.
BURNETT: Okay, and that is -- that is very important. I want to make sure everyone hears that because that's a bit different than what I said a moment ago.
MILLER: Okay, so -- so that's a -- that's a factor that they're going to have to work backwards on. They're going to have to figure out at what point he appears, you know getting on the bus for the first time. And that means working with other jurisdictions along that bus route to say, go dump this video go through it. This is what we're looking for. It will come together. It has little to do with, you know, capturing him, but it may have a lot to do with where his trail starts, which could be home. But let's -- let's advance to New York.
BURNETT: Yeah.
MILLER: So he gets here somewhere around the 24th and --
BURNETT: Of November.
MILLER: Right. So, now, let's establish that that puts him here a lot longer than we believed he was here just 24 hours ago before they developed this information. He checks into this hostel, which we've been up to on the Upper West Side and he's assigned to a room where he has these two roommates. So it's a room for four. But he's the third person there.
He talks to the clerk at the desk, and you know, they are chatting back and forth and, you know, she's kind of having a flirty moment with him.
BURNETT: And that's when the smile happens.
MILLER: Let me see your face, take down your mask. And he lowers the mask and gives that big smile, that little flirtation between the two of them in some good humored way actually yielded what is so far the most significant clue to identifying him.
[19:40:05]
He checks out of the hostel after a couple of days, and then checks back in. They have not established investigators, according to people briefed on this investigation, where he was during that kind of odd day, did he try to find another place they have established by kind of starting out at the hostel every day and doing a video canvass that attempts to recreate his trail? Each of those days, that the first place he goes is the Hilton Hotel, way before the night of the murder, so that that suggests from the moment he gets off the bus, he knows about this conference. He wants to do that reconnaissance.
So this is -- this is how they're kind of learning more about the length of time he was here.
BURNETT: Yeah.
MILLER: He takes taxis. He goes to a McDonald's. He's using this fake New Jersey drivers license mask. I put up. And I mean, Erin, when you say wearing his mask all the time, the whole object of the game is where is that weak moment? Where he thinks nobody knows I'm here. Nobody's looking at me, where he takes down the hood and the mask at the same time. And they haven't found that yet.
BURNETT: They haven't found it yet. But looking at this picture of him smiling and what we now know, Tim, we can describe from what John is saying was sort of a flirtatious moment with the -- with the woman at the check in. That in and of itself is pretty incredible that he because of the discipline that he had, keeping it up at all times, that in that moment, knowing that he assuming that he was under surveillance as he clearly did because he kept it up the rest of the times that he took it down, Tim.
CLEMENTE: Yeah well, it is, certainly, a beneficial thing that that he was flirting with this woman or she was flirting with him, and we got that footage and, Erin, as I said to your producer earlier, it would amaze me that they didn't have enough from that one photograph right there that you're showing right now to identify him with, like, Clearview AI or some other similar type of software, because the artificial intelligence now gives the capability to scan the Internet and in milliseconds and find any photograph anywhere including, you know, with law enforcement, you can go through databases, you can go through all 50 states, drivers license databases, visa and passport databases. So it would surprise me that they don't have some matches to that face right now.
BURNETT: John, what do you think about that?
MILLER: So they worked it through NYPD's facial recognition system, but NYPD's facial recognition is fairly regulated and disciplined. It runs against the mug shots of people who are arrested in --
BURNETT: If you already have a record.
MILLER: -- in New York and New Jersey. If he's not in that file, it's not going to pop on that image. Running it through other databases as Tim points out, um they got a lot of vague matches, but not the kind an examiner would say this is a high quality match. So they weren't of real value because, you know, you have the hood up, you have a side view, you have a view that's coming on on down. And it's -- it's not ideal.
BURNETT: Right. But it is interesting as you say, that they did Tim do that. They have a lot but not too many. They have too many.
Tim, what do you make also of the fact that he came the time here that John is now laying out and did continue to go back to the Hilton? I mean, that there was -- I don't know, when you look at ten days, is that extensive surveillance as you see it.
CLEMENTE: Not necessarily because this guy Thompson might have come days or weeks earlier than the conference. He may have had other meetings there beforehand. Meeting with investors or something else. And so it's possible that this guy was targeting him and that pre- attack surveillance was trying to figure out what's the best time and place to do this, that he can get away with it.
And so, if his expectation is that he's only going to be there during the conference, then it sounds like a long stretch to be there in advance, but it's not unusual. I mean, look at the 9/11 hijackers. How many dozens of times they flew the routes they took before 9/11.
BURNETT: Yeah. And of course, now were going an hour, 37 minutes, you know, 7:43 here. So about to about to enter hour 37 where he has been unapprehended. All right. Thank you both very much.
And next, Elon Musk's list. Apparently he's got a new blueprint for slashing government spending and a list so what's on it.
And a record breaking surge for bitcoin. We have been following its historic rise now at $100,000. And it's there. It has finally gotten there and Harry Enten joins us with -- well, a view on where it's headed.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:49:00]
BURNETT: Tonight, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy on Capitol Hill. Musk apparently sorting lawmakers into categories that they're summarizing as naughty or nice as he made his way through Capitol Hill with his toddler on his shoulders for the photo op, vowing to slash $2 trillion from government spending that is, according to Marjorie Taylor Greene.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GREENE: Elon and Vivek talked about having a naughty list and a and a nice list for members of Congress and senators and how we vote and how we're spending the American people's money. I think that would be fantastic.
(END VIUDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Rene Marsh is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELON MUSK, TECH BILLIONAIRE: Your money is being wasted, and the Department of Government Efficiency is going to fix that.
RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Elon Musk arrived on Capitol Hill Thursday touting his young son on his shoulders.
He's co-chair for President-elect Trump's Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE.
[19:50:05]
Vivek Ramaswamy arriving separately for the billionaire duo's meetings with Republican lawmakers.
SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): Now we're just talking about the art of the possible, kind of the metes and bounds of things that we can do quickly, things that will take a longer time, require enabling legislation.
MARSH: House Speaker Johnson setting expectations for the meeting.
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: This is a brainstorming session. MARSH: Musk and biotech entrepreneur and former Republican
presidential candidate Ramaswamy have been vocal on social media about where the government waste is.
VIVEK RAMASWAMY, FORMER GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There's a lot lower hanging fruit in terms of waste, fraud abuse, error, program integrity failures that you got to go after first.
MARSH: But Thursday was their first real strategy session with Republican lawmakers about where to start and how to cut Musk's goal of $2 trillion in spending, something budget experts across the political spectrum say is virtually impossible.
Seventy percent of federal government spending, not including interest, consists of payments to Americans for programs such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and more. If those programs are spared, experts expect dramatic cuts to programs like food stamps, home heating assistance, housing aid, food safety inspections, and infrastructure.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything is on the table.
MARSH: On X, Ramaswamy has mused about clawing back billions in federal loans and grants that the Biden administration is disbursing at a rapid clip to cement his legislative legacy, including a key loan to EV startup Rivian, a rival company of Musk's Tesla.
Do you support clawing back federal funds that the Biden administration is pushing out in these final days?
JOHNSON: They're spending money in our view, recklessly and so, yes, we've had a lot of discussions over the last couple of days about what our authority would be to claw some of that back and to stop it.
MARSH: It's the first time the two men were seen publicly for their joint mission of streamlining the federal government since CNN's KFILE uncovered past comments of Ramaswamy, calling musk a puppet for the Chinese communist party.
RAMASWAMY: You have no reason to think that Elon won't jump like a circus monkey when Xi Jinping calls in the hour of need.
MARSH: The pair will become regulars here on the Hill. Thursday's meeting is the first of many to game out how to dramatically shrink the U.S. government.
MUSK: The future is going to be amazing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MUSK (on camera): Well, on the circus monkey comments, Ramaswamy telling CNN he made them before he met Musk, and now that he's met him, he loves him.
But there are real questions, Erin, on whether these two men can pull off what they are promising. We should note that DOGE is not a government entity. They cannot make the cuts themselves.
So the partnerships that you saw them start to forge here on Capitol Hill are going to be critical to try to get some of those cuts they recommend over the finish line -- Erin.
BURNETT: Yeah, absolutely. Because obviously the power of the purse where you're standing on Capitol Hill.
MARSH: Yeah.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you, Rene.
And next, the major milestone today broken by bitcoin, passing $100,000. How long ago was it 800. So what are people actually doing with it? I mean, when you when you buy the stuff, what the heck do you do with it?
Harry Enten will tell us something we don't know.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:57:27]
BURNETT: Tonight, a new record for bitcoin, surging past $100,000 for the first time. Trump unveiled a crypto-friendly choice to run the Securities and Exchange Commission, seeming to be that final reason. The cryptocurrency on a steady rise since Trump won the election.
And you can see just how dramatically it's grown. Look at that, 749 bucks, eight years ago. That's a great investment, even if the whole thing is a whole lot of nothing. That's real money if you sell it and get out and pocket the real money.
Trump wasting no time in taking credit, saying you're welcome on Truth Social.
Harry Enten joins me now.
Okay, Harry, you talked earlier this week about whether bitcoin would get to $100,000. It was at 96. And here we are.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Yeah, here we are. Here we are up, up and away, as Fifth Dimension once said. I mean the rise of it since Election Day, my goodness gracious. We're talking north of 40 percent growth in bitcoin since Election Day. You compare that to the S&P 500, only up 5 percent. This I think is the whole big thing here. The stock markets up and bitcoin is way out of control.
BURNETT: Yeah, one can use a lot of words for it.
ENTEN: There you go.
BURNETT: Okay. Can I just ask you though a really basic question?
ENTEN: Yeah.
BURNETT: What the heck do people use bitcoin for?
ENTEN: Yeah, they're not actually spending it on anything. They're just holding it. It's an investment. They believe its going to go up and therefore they're buying it.
I mean look at the percentage of folks who say, why are they buying cryptocurrency? The vast majority, over 90 percent, they're buying it because it's an investment. Only 4 percent of folks are actually making online payments with cryptocurrency. They're not actually buying a darn thing.
BURNETT: I will just say that, you know, the making online payments is the only thing ultimately that will make the thing have any value. So there is just sort of that underlying reality.
But, you know, look, I mean, you know, we'll see. I mean we hear a lot about you know, when Trump was obviously talking about cryptocurrency, young white men buying cryptocurrency.
ENTEN: Yeah.
BURNETT: Tell me something I don't know. Is that really the main group?
ENTEN: I mean, yeah, it is young white men. But I think it's this idea, oh, it's these young white men in their basements. They're a bunch of losers. They ain't a bunch of losers.
I mean, look at the folks who are actually buying cryptocurrency. It's not losers in their basement, just poor folks.
BURNETT: Now, you got to have $100,000.
ENTEN: Yeah, yeah, well, now that's exactly true, but this -- but this survey was taken before the $100,000. I mean, its upper income folks who are buying cryptocurrency. Yes, it is younger folks but its younger folks who are worth a lot of money. And what were seeing is a lot of those folks might be worth a lot of money because maybe they got in when bitcoin was at $749, and now it's trading at about $100,000.
So the thing that I tell you that you don't know is that the bottom line is this. Yes, its younger folks, but its younger folks who are worth a lot of money. And now, based upon what we're seeing with cryptocurrency, Erin Burnett, there with a lot more money.
BURNETT: Worth a lot more, and they will continue to be unless it crashes, in which case --
ENTEN: Maybe is it tulip mania? Who knows?
BURNETT: Tulip mania or NFTs? I'm thinking about.
ENTEN: I remember, I think there was an NFT made of me. No, there wasn't.
BURNETT: And if you don't know what they are, that's the warning sign of what the potential could be here. We don't know.
All right. Thanks so much, Harry.
ENTEN: Thank you.
BURNETT: And thanks much to all of you for being with us.
Be sure to join Laura Coates tonight live at 11:00. She has a CNN special, "Manhunt: The Search for the CEO Killer".
Meantime, Anderson starts now.
