Return to Transcripts main page

The Lead with Jake Tapper

Mike Johnson was Re-Elected Speaker of the House; New Warning About Potential Copycat Car Ramming Attacks; Las Vegas Police Release New Details About Cybertruck Suspect; Host Nikki Glaser Previews Sunday's Golden Globes. Aired 5:00-6p ET

Aired January 03, 2025 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: All right. Congressman Keith Self of Texas had originally voted for fellow Freedom Caucus member Congressman Byron Donalds of Florida. Congressman Ralph Norman voted for Jim Jordan, but they both switched their votes. Let's talk right now with Doug Heye.

Doug, you used to be leadership aide for Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia. What did you see happen today? What's your interpretation? What's your analysis?

DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, since it's snowing outside, it's a bit of reindeer games. And this is typical of what we see usually from Freedom Caucus members or even before there was a Freedom Caucus, sort of the genesis of that. But ultimately it's getting attention. You're going to be able to go back to your district or to CPAC and things like that and say, look at me, I was a fighter. Nobody fought harder than I.

You don't necessarily have to have results. You just have to show your willingness to fight because there aren't really any clear results here other than Mike Johnson winning. Clearly there are enough now, nine people that they've demonstrated that they can, you know, put a gun to Mike Johnson's head whenever they want to politically. But is there any real satisfaction that they can get from that tangibly? At this point, no.

TAPPER: So let's talk about what they want to do. Right. They want to shrink the size of government and they want to reduce the debt and the deficit. Shrinking the size of government, that's an opinion. The debt and deficit is actually a legitimate problem.

I'm not saying the size of government isn't, but that's subjective. The deficit, I mean, the United States spends so much just on interest on the debt that we could be spending on helping veterans or helping children or whatever. I mean, that's empirically a problem. If they wanted to actually solve that problem. Right?

I mean, there's a 60 vote threshold in the Senate. Unless Republicans have 60 votes in the Senate and the White House, they have to deal with Democrats. They just have to. So there is a way to do this, but it requires bipartisan work and work that would be painful and arduous as opposed to, you know, these demonstrative little show votes. HEYE: Look, there's a very legitimate point. Even Matt Gaetz's stand against Kevin McCarthy had the substance of this spending that we're doing is unsustainable. Our debt and our deficit --

TAPPER: It is.

HEYE: -- is unsustainable.

TAPPER: That's correct. It is unsustainable.

HEYE: But then there's nothing else that really comes with it because what we see is, and we can get into sort of legislative nerd talk is we don't have a working appropriations process. We don't have these members --

TAPPER: That's because the Senate didn't take up the appropriations bill that the House passed, right?

HEYE: Well, but in the House, you know, we don't pass the 13 bills that we're supposed to do.

TAPPER: Right.

HEYE: We will combine them in omnibus bills, and that's not good enough for a lot of those members. But they're not voting for the individual bills either. So ultimately we can't find the what is good enough. And so I think for a lot of the Freedom Caucus, it's not that nothing is ever good enough. It's that nothing can ever be good enough.

Charlie Dent said to you earlier, they're always trying to be the right of whatever the most right is. So that goalpost keeps moving further and further, and there's no end in that.

TAPPER: Yes, I mean, I just think they have a point.

HEYE: They do.

TAPPER: But it's a lot easier to do these protest votes than actually --

HEYE: Without question.

TAPPER: -- the work that requires, you know, getting seven Democrats in the Senate on board and actually forcing legislation.

HEYE: Yes. And look, passing a Labor, HHS or Commerce, State Justice Appropriations bill isn't really a sexy thing that you're going to sell back home. But standing up and fighting and not letting this get through, and I'll shut the government down if it doesn't get my way, that is sexy and that does sell.

TAPPER: Wow. You and I --

HEYE: It's sad.

TAPPER: You and I have different definitions of sexy, but I hear what you're saying.

Let's go straight to CNN's Manu Raju, who's live on Capitol Hill.

Manu, what can you tell us about this dramatic vote and what convinced these two Republicans, Norman and Self, to back Johnson at the last minute?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they got phone calls from former -- President-elect Donald Trump, who called both Ralph Norman and Keith Self on the House floor. Talk to them actually multiple times through the course of the day, urged them to get behind this effort. But also, what wasn't just Trump, it was Mike Johnson himself. These members had raised concerns about some of Speaker Johnson's handling of some key issues, namely how to fund the federal government, especially the end of last year. They got some commitments, they said, to allow some of those hardliners like themselves to be part of the negotiations in the months ahead, particularly over the big ticket agenda items as part of Donald Trump's efforts to enact the major part of his agenda.

Now, in catching up with Congressman Ralph Norman, he indicated that Johnson said that there would be some changes in how he approaches the job.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RALPH NORMAN (R-SC): Just said more conservatives will be at the table on negotiations. No four corners deal that we get at the last minute. Let's put people like Chip Roy. I'm just using him as an example. Like other people who are true -- know how to negotiate and will fight and will put things to the American people.

RAJU: What did Trump say to you? He said that Mike Johnson is the most likable person.

NORMAN: He said, look, I'm in the middle of a golf game. That was the first time I talked to him. Then he said -- Mr. President, I hate to. He said, well, you did vote for Nikki Haley. I said, yes, sir, I did.

[17:05:08]

We're with you now. And I said, we will be with Mike Johnson.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: And Trump went on to tell him that they should simply get the job done. That was the essentially the message that he gave Congressman Keith Self as well, indicating that Self told me afterwards that they had a, quote, "lively discussion over a couple of times today," ultimately deciding to side with president -- with former -- with President-elect Trump behind Mike Johnson. But there are some warning signs, Jake. Some of those members on the hard right are still demanding a number of commitments on dealing with federal spending, the like.

And Chip Roy, one of the ones who initially did not vote for Mike Johnson but came on his side, I just caught up with him as well. And I asked him why he decided to not initially announce his support for Mike Johnson on the floor. He said he wanted to send a message. And he also said if those changes are not made, he said, quote, "there will be consequences." Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Manu Raju on Capitol Hill, thanks.

Interesting that President Trump bringing up that South Carolina Congressman Ralph Norman endorsed South Carolina former Governor Nikki Haley as if that was a relevant issue today. Let's recap again what happened today.

It appeared as though Speaker Johnson was going to lose on the first round of voting. There he is watching those last initial roll call votes come in. Looks a bit defeated with the Republican defections, two more than he could afford to lose with this narrow majority. We were about to proceed to a second vote. But we should note the final vote tally was never called because the gavel never came down because negotiations were still apparently happening.

That's what happens in Congress. Time can stop in its place if the House leadership wants it.

We did see Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene on the phone there. Other members were huddling together, talking. Then Congressman Keith Self of Texas, Ralph Norman of South Carolina flipped their votes to Speaker Johnson, which made his victory official. It's a win for President elect Trump as well, who strongly endorsed the House Speaker.

Here now is Republican Congressman Dusty Johnson of South Dakota. He was a key player in these negotiations to avoid a government shutdown last month, he's supporting Mike Johnson for speaker.

Congressman Johnson, good to see you. So shortly after the speaker vote, there was a moment that we're going to show on the -- on T.V. right now. You kneeling down and huddling with now Speaker Johnson on the House floor. What were you guys talking about?

REP. DUSTY JOHNSON (R-SD): Well, I've got a good relationship with a number of the holdouts. I try to have good relationships with every single Republican in the House. And I had been talking to them about some of their concerns and we were just huddling, the speaker and I, about how do we move forward and get a win. Ultimately, Speaker Johnson did get a really big win today.

TAPPER: What, I mean, I don't want to say deals because then people will get their backup. But like what was agreed to. We heard Congressman Norman saying that Republicans will be at the table for some negotiations. What did the speaker say, OK, we can do that?

JOHNSON: Well, I think we all understand that garden variety dysfunction, the kind of thing that this town is famous for, is simply not going to work for the next two years. Our margins are too tight. We are not going to unveil 1500 page bills and try to shove it down people's throats at the last minute. It's not going to work. So we got seven or eight of us who trust one another in a room and we talked about how are we going to work together to put the Trump agenda into play.

And ultimately people's confidence level went up that Mike Johnson was in a position to deliver.

TAPPER: Six of your House Republican colleagues. We're going to put them up on the screen now initially did not vote at all during the roll call, but then at the end, before it closed, they did vote for Speaker Johnson. It looked to me from the cheap seats like these six in addition to the other three, especially given the new rules saying that nine Republicans or nine members can offer a motion to vacate the speakership. It looks like they were flexing their muscle a bit. How did you interpret it?

JOHNSON: Of course, I know all these guys have a good working relationship with all of them. I don't know that it was so much flexing of muscle as them just making a bold statement, which is business as usual is not going to get it done. We want to make sure that this is honestly a collaborative environment. We're not going to deliver conservative victories if we're bickering. So let's have the conversation now.

Ultimately, we did have that conversation. They've been ongoing for the last few weeks, but I think they really came full flower this afternoon. And as a result, we got a first ballot win for Mike Johnson.

TAPPER: Right. But they were asking for, the Freedom Caucus members, they're asking for Chip Roy of Texas to be made the Rules Committee Chairman, right?

JOHNSON: Yes, they were. And listen, Chip Roy is not going to be Rules Chairman, but he is going to be a hugely important part of our successes over the course of the next two years. And that's just a reality. I mean, we need 218 votes to get anything done in this town, in that chamber, in that room. We got 219 or 220 Republicans.

And so everybody is going to have to be on board every single day. Chip Roy is as good as almost anyone and understanding what kind of policies can actually get the votes to move forward.

[17:10:08]

TAPPER: But that's to move forward in the House, right? If you guys actually want your legislation picked up in the Senate where you have the majority now, but what is it, 53 seats? So you're going to need seven Democrats to be on board to break the filibuster 60 vote threshold. So, is the future of legislation adhering to getting all 219 Republicans or 218, you know, if Thomas Massie decides to vote no for the rest of the year or to look to House Democrats? Because you're going to need Democrats in the Senate and maybe by moderating that much a teeny bit to the left, or at least from the far right to the medium right, you can get it through the Senate.

Is there any computation like that?

JOHNSON: I think the big wins of the 119th Congress this next two year period are going to come in the reconciliation package. That's how Democrats put into place Obamacare. That's how President Trump put into place his Trump tax cuts. There are going to be big changes on the border, on American energy, on the tax cuts that are going to come probably with overwhelmingly Republican votes. I hope we get a few Democrats to come along, of course.

Now you're right, Jake. There are going to be other instances where maybe the coalition to get some other blocking and tackling bills done may look a little different. But when the American people give the Republicans control of the House and of the Senate and of the White House, I think they're sending a pretty strong message about what they want these legislative packages to look like. And that is going to be conservative victories.

TAPPER: So, and just to translate for our viewers at home, reconciliation is a process by which a bill goes from the House to the Senate and does not need 60 votes to proceed to the floor of the Senate for a vote. It only needs a majority, simple majority, 51, they have 53 Republican votes. How much legislation is going to be done through reconciliation?

JOHNSON: There is a robust appetite to be really aggressive on the border. We have to secure the border. And that's like an 80, 20 issue across America. So, hopefully we can bring some Democrats on board for that. We're going to be really aggressive on the border. We're going to be really aggressive on unlocking American energy.

And we're going to be really aggressive in making sure that we don't force American families to have a $5 trillion tax increase, which is what will happen if we don't get our work done.

TAPPER: All right. A lot of reconciliation to come. Republican Congressman Dusty Johnson, Happy New Year to you and thanks for joining us, sir.

JOHNSON: Thanks much.

TAPPER: So let's talk more with our panel. SE Cupp, happy New Year. The start of the 119th Congress marks an unprecedented moment in American history, American politics. As Bill Kristol writes today in the Bulwark quote, "what we're about to see is something new. Not just Trump rising, but Trump ascendant.

And not just Trump ascendant, but Trump triumphant. And not just Trump triumphant, but Trumpism triumphant." Almost a Susian (ph) there.

SE, Trumpism may be triumphant, but Speaker Johnson is going to oversee the narrowest House majority nearly 100 years. How is this going to work?

SE CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. And it's not going to get any easier, right? We've got at least two House members supposedly going into cabinet appointments. So, it's only going to get harder. But he had a very good day, I thought.

Considering the current climate of the Republican Party, he seemed to vanquish the attention seeking missiles in the Freedom Caucus pretty easily. But I find the Trump of it all really interesting because I don't have to remind you, Trump is as much an arsonist as those Freedom Caucus guys can be. He did not have to endorse Mike Johnson for Speaker. He could easily have said, no, I want the speaker fight. Remember, he didn't get that debt limit deal that he wanted.

He could have done that for political reasons or just for fun because, you know, he likes to sort of watch the destruction. He didn't. And maybe, maybe, that indicates that he is, as Dusty Johnson was saying, laser focused on his agenda passed. And maybe that trickles down to Republicans in Congress and maybe that limits some of the chaos and dysfunction that we've been used to. I don't know, I'm trying to be less jaded in 2025.

TAPPER: Oh, I like your New Year's resolution.

Jamal, take a listen to South Carolina Congressman Ralph Norman, one of the key holdouts until he wasn't. Here's what he told CNN's Manu Raju about why he ultimately voted for Speaker Johnson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: What did you get?

NORMAN: I didn't get anything personal other than a commitment that things are going to change over the last 14 months will be a drastic change from the next 14 months.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: What do you think, Jamal? Do you see Democrat -- did Democrats see any opportunities to exploit the divisions among Republicans?

JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Of course there's going to be some opportunities. The margins are just too narrow. And as you just mentioned a minute ago, when you think about passing bills through the Senate, they're going to have to dance with the Democrats. This is just the way legislation is going to work.

I got to tell you, though, I was encouraged by what Leader Hakeem Jeffries said today because he didn't just talk about what Democrats were against, which is obviously cutting Social Security and Medicare. He also talked about lowering costs for families. And that's going to be the measure, I think, for this administration.

[17:15:14]

Look, the MAGA people have all kinds of things they want to do. They want to do retribution, they want to go after, you know, their enemies and all the things they want to do. But here's the thing I think that matters for most American voters who were the ones who were swayed by Donald Trump, they just want the economy to get better. They want to have a little extra room in their paychecks. And I think they thought Donald Trump would shake things up enough to do it.

Democrats say they want to work with them on it. And if that happens, then both parties may succeed. If it doesn't, I think Donald Trump's going to be the one that pays the price for it.

TAPPER: All right. Thanks to both you. Appreciate it.

The next few weeks are turning out to be extremely bittersweet for President-elect Donald Trump. Before he takes office on Monday, Congress will certify his election. And then Friday, he's now scheduled to be sentenced in that criminal case in New York, the hush money cover up case. What a judge is saying today about that conviction, that's coming up.

Plus, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper is live in New Orleans after this week's Islamist terrorist attack. He's going to come up with the latest from that scene. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:20:00]

TAPPER: In our law and justice lead, 10 days before being sworn in to be president of these United States, Donald Trump will face sentencing for his having been found guilty of 34 counts in New York of falsifying business records allegedly to conceal $130,000 in hush money payments to adult film star and director Stormy Daniels. But there is some good news here for the president-elect. Let's go to CNN's Kara Scannell.

Kara, what does the judge in the case say?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jake, So the judge is sentencing Donald Trump on January, but the judge is also saying that given the practical considerations of this issue, that it's 10 days before Donald Trump is about to be sworn in as the next president of the United States, that he says that he is likely, he says, you know, he's inclined to not sentence Trump to any incarceration and that his sentence would be one of unconditional discharge, which in real language means that there wouldn't be any sort of penalty. There would be no time served at any jail or prison. There would be no probation that Trump would be required to abide by. It would just be that the case is over, the judgment is entered, and that would allow Trump to then begin to try to appeal the conviction itself.

You know, he has been taking all these steps to try to get the verdict thrown out, to try to get the indictment dismissed. And the judge, Judge Juan Merchan, has repeatedly dismissed those efforts, including today. But he's now going to, assuming that Trump does not postpone the sentencing here January 10, would be final judgment. And that would allow Trump to continue to try to appeal it, although Trump's lawyers have indicated for months that they will try to stop Donald Trump from being sentenced. So their next moves would be to try to go to an appeals court to get an emergency action to stay this sentencing, to postpone it so that Trump is not facing any sentencing before he is sworn in as the next president. Now the judge in this decision, in addition to saying he's weighed these various factors, he says that he was not going to dismiss the indictment, calling -- focusing on both the jury's verdict and the sanctity of that verdict, but also rejecting a number of Donald Trump's arguments, especially ones that Trump had made about the strength of the evidence in this case. You know, saying that it would be -- it would cause immeasurable damage to the citizenry's confidence in the rule of law if he were to dismiss the indictments on some of Trump's arguments about the strength of the case. So while it is bad news for Trump that he is scheduled to be sentenced in this, certainly good news for him that the biggest concern that he could face potential jail time, potential other sort of remedies against him. The judge signaling here that he will not sentence Trump to any incarceration, will not put any restrictions on him, including probation, as he assumes his second term as president. Jake.

TAPPER: And we should note that Steven Cheung, who will be the White House communications director in President Trump's next term, issued a statement saying, quote, today's order by the deeply conflicted acting Justice Merchan and the Manhattan DA witch hunt is a direct violation of the Supreme Court's immunity decision and other long standing jurisprudence. He calls for the -- he says the Constitution demands it be immediately dismissed.

Kara Scannell, thanks to you. Appreciate it.

Police in Las Vegas just released some new information after that explosion in a Tesla Cybertruck. What investigators are saying about the driver who caused the explosion and his writings before the blast? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:27:16]

TAPPER: Back with our national lead. You're looking at scenes in Harris County, Texas today where the FBI is back searching the home of the New Orleans terrorist attack suspect. Federal officials now believe that he acted alone in his Wednesday morning ISIS inspired car attack that killed 14 innocent people. Let's get right to CNN's Anderson Cooper in New Orleans.

And Anderson, CNN just authenticated some audio recordings belonging to the suspect where he mentions Satan. Tell us more.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: That's right. These are several audio recordings that were uploaded to the audio platform Sound Cloud about a year ago, in which he talks about various sort of evolving religious beliefs he had. One of which was that he talked about music as being Satan's voice, that it was something that he believed was leading people to things like drinking and drug use. Whether that has any reflection on why he chose this target, why he chose Bourbon Street is unclear, but that's something that has come out.

But look, investigators, Jake, as you know, are -- they are trying to build a portrait of the last several years in this man's life to try to understand what the evolution of his life was, how it got to to this stage, when it was that he had a religious conversion, when it was that he was inspired by ISIS, and to what degree he pledged allegiance to them. And where he learned -- you know, there's obviously a lot of information that a group like ISIS has put out online about conducting an attack like this. Very specific instructions which he seemed to follow quite closely in this attack.

TAPPER: Then you just spoke with the brothers of one of the victims. Tell us about that.

COOPER: Yes, I talked to Jonathan and Jeremy. Their brother Matthew was killed here. They are really just in shock. The entire family is in shock. They're still don't know a lot of the details of exactly what happened.

They believe their brother had a gunshot wound. They were -- a family member was told by the -- they said they were told by a coroner -- the coroner that he died of a gunshot wound. But they are -- I mean, they're just clearly in shock. Here's some of what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Was it your parents actually going to the hospital and that's how they found out?

JEREMY TENEDORIO, BROTHER OF BOURBON STREET ATTACK VICTIM MATTHEW TENEDORIO: Yes.

JONATHAN TENEDORIO, BROTHER OF BOURBON STREET ATTACK VICTIM MATTHEW TENEDORIO: That's when they finally found out. Yes.

JEREMY TENEDORIO: Yes, we called all the hospitals asking if they had any patients with his name and couldn't get any answers until my parent, they went to the university medical. They had a conference or something set up to identify victims. And -- and that's when they told my mom that they had him in the morgue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: It's Jason and Jonathan -- Jonathan Tenedorio they -- that family is now planning the funeral for -- for their brother. Jake?

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Yes. He was 25 years old. Just awful. Anderson, thanks so much. We're going to look up more of your reporting tonight on AC360 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time only on CNN.

Joining us now to discuss CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst, John Miller, and Jamil Jaffer, the former counsel to the assistant attorney general for National Security. John, let me start with you. Some are -- are blaming local officials for failing to secure Bourbon Street. The incoming New Orleans City Council president said they need more federal resources and he told CNN he was frustrated with the FBI. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JEAN PAUL MORRELL, NEW ORLEANS COUNCIL MEMBER-AT-LARGE: Troubling to many of us that during the FBI briefing yesterday, it was made public that this individual posted on social media, on places like Facebook well before the attack that he intended to do something and that this was not flagged.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Clearly, there's a lot of blame flying. What's your takeaway on the security failure?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: My takeaway is that the city council president isn't paying attention. He's talking about the briefing where Chris Raia, the deputy assistant director of the FBI, talked about five audio and video posts to Facebook that occurred between 1:29 a.m. and 3:02 a.m. when the attack was at 3:15 a.m. I'm not sure who he believed from the FBI would be sitting on a random Facebook account of somebody who was not in the threat matrix at 3:00 in the morning in time to turn that around.

But Jake, I think what we're also seeing here is New Orleans officials are a little uncomfortable about the fact that they had plenty of warnings coming out from DHS and FBI about ramming attacks. We saw an actual ramming attack before the holiday season overseas and that they had a giant crowd in a narrow street and did not do enough to secure it if you were securing it from a ramming attack.

Now, today the FBI, DHS and National Counterterrorism Center put out a law enforcement bulletin to all their local and state law enforcement partners saying that the FBI, DHS and NCTC are concerned about possible copycat or retaliatory attacks, pointing out that during the surge of ramming attacks we saw in 2016 and 2017. And Jake, you remember when I was the head of counterterrorism in New York City, we had such an attack on the bike path on the west side highway, ISIS inspired, which caused us to make changes that because of -- because of that, when there is a successful ramming attack, particularly in the west, that it may inspire more.

So what they're saying to 6,000 local law enforcement partners that the FBI director had on a -- on a call today is we really need to look at further locking things down beyond the warnings they gave before the holidays.

TAPPER: Yes. And -- and Jamil, there's renewed concern, whether copycats or not, that there are going to be more of these low tech ISIS or al-Qaeda inspired lone wolf terrorist attacks with simple things like a car or maybe something that's very easy to get in the United States, a gun. What can the Trump administration and what can -- can state and local authorities do to try to get ahead of it?

JAMIL JAFFER, FORMER COUNSEL TO ASST. ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR NATIONAL SECURITY: Look, it's a really tough problem when you've got people who are committed to attacking others, willing to give up their own lives to do it and do it in a low tech way where they're killing a relatively small number, 15, any one innocent dead is too many. Fifteen dead is terrible, right? But if you're conducting these types of attacks, it's very hard to combat.

Now, the ways you can go around -- get -- get around it is, one, try to identify these people ahead of time. That means surveillance, right? That means identifying these people. We have a lone wolf authority that used to be in law, expired four years ago. Congress failed to reauthorize it. We have Section 702 that allows us to identify foreigners located overseas, terrorists and -- and -- and spies and the like that's going to expire once again and in just a few months from now extended by Congress just for a short period. That needs to be reauthorized. But that's not it.

Besides the intelligence you need be able to action it. How do you identify the actual real threats from all the noise as John Miller was just talking about? It's a very difficult problem, not an easy one to solve.

TAPPER: Yes. All right. Jamil Jaffer and -- and John Miller, thanks to both you. Appreciate it.

[17:35:00]

Also on our National Lead, authorities in Las Vegas have just wrapped up a briefing laying out the new deals -- details of the driver suspected of blowing up a cybertruck outside of a Trump Hotel.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF KEVIN MCMAHILL, LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT: Can we definitively identify why he chose the Trump Hotel Tower location as well as Las Vegas? And the answer is no. In fact, I think when you look -- read through some of that, you might find that there were some other considerations as well for other locations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Let's go right to CNN's Natasha Chen, who's in Las Vegas for us. And Natasha, you've been following the briefing. It ended just a moments ago. What more do we know about where that investigation now stands?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, as the person just mentioned, there were other locations being considered, including potentially the Grand Canyon, the border. There were a lot of details revealed about potential motive here. The authorities have just scratched the surface of going through the data on Livelsberger's devices. And they say that they found some writings that describe political grievances, issues about conflicts elsewhere, domestic issues, societal issues, personal challenges, evidence of a lot of mental health challenges.

And the law enforcement authorities wanted to share a few expert -- excerpts from the writings they saw on the notes app on Livelsberger's phone to sort of help give the public a little bit of context for why this might have happened. And let's share some of that with you now. In one excerpt, it said, time to wake up. We are being led by weak and feckless leadership who only serve to enrich themselves. Another excerpt says, why did I personally do it now? I needed to cleanse my mind of the brothers I've lost and relieve myself of the burden of the lives I took. And yet another excerpt says, we are the United States of America, the best country people to ever exist, but right now we are terminally ill and headed toward collapse.

So there were a lot of writings there that police say were sort of a daily log of activities in the 10 days leading up to the explosion that happened right behind us. And I should not forget to mention that there were seven people in the vicinity injured. And authorities did say that all seven -- seven of them have been released from the hospital. Jake?

TAPPER: Did police say anything more about a possible motive given that this happened outside a Trump Hotel?

CHEN: Yes, that's what everybody wants to know. It's a cybertruck Tesla truck that Elon Musk makes outside of Trump Hotel. Here's what one FBI agent said about further motive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've found that the subject held no animosity towards the President-elect. That's something that's also been reported. Investigative steps have discovered. And information with the army indicates that he likely suffered from PTSD. And we are also aware that there were potential other family issues or personal grievances in his own life that may have been contributing factors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN: In fact, some family members, relatives, spoke to CNN about Livelsberger, saying that he had a lot of respect for the president and had praised him in the past for what he had done to help the military. Jake?

[17:38:14]

TAPPER: All right. Natasha Chan in Las Vegas for us, thanks so much. We're going to squeeze in a quick break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: In our Pop Culture Lead, she is the roastess with the mostest. And now she's an award show hostess. Nikki Glaser will -- will hold the Golden Globes this Sunday. It is a famously thankless job. So CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister sat down with her to ask if she's ready to be roasted herself for the job she does.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIKKI GLASER, COMEDIAN: I'm going to be a little bit -- in some of the jokes. There's no harm in that.

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Oh, boy. Comedian Nikki Glaser couldn't resist a little raunch in her sit down interview with CNN.

GLASER: Let's get this party started.

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): But she insists she'll keep it mostly classy when she takes the stage as the first solo female host of the Golden Globes.

GLASER: Watch out, watch out. No expensive equipment.

Like, nine minutes of Angelina Jolie's life is spent listening to me talk. That is wild.

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Hosting the 82nd annual show is a pinch me moment for Glaser.

GLASER: You have seven rings. Well, eight now that Gisele gave hers back. But --

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Who says her breakout roast of Tom Brady on Netflix is the reason she was invited?

GLASER: It's before and after that moment. I really feel like I woke up the next day and was just more recognizable to people.

WAGMEISTER: Is this going to be a roast?

GLASER: I was hired because of the Tom Brady roast. I can't, like, not deliver on that a little bit, but I just would, if any celebrities are seeing this, I promise you I am not out to ruin your night. You know, Tom Brady signed up for a roast. He knew what he was getting into. These people are just going, they're nominated. You know, they're not even -- they're not signing up to be roasted at all.

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Is Hollywood bracing for Glaser to be Ricky Gervais 2.0?

RICKY GERVAIS, ACTOR: It's the last time. Who cares?

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): The five time host unapologetically skewered stars in the room for his final Globes monologue.

GLASER: I think everyone's like, you got to do what Ricky did. And I'm like, that was his last year. He knew it was his last year and that's why he did that. He was like, I don't care. I don't care. He kept saying that after every joke and it was like, but I do care. I want to go to the after party and still be able to, like, have a good time.

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Ahead of her big night, Glaser said she's heard from comedy royalty Seth Rogen, Seth Meyers, past host Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, and of course Ricky Gervais.

GLASER: He told me, remember that you are not one of them. You're a comedian. That's what you're there to do. Don't get in your head. Like, you're -- don't get high and mighty. Like, don't try to buddy up with them.

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Glaser says she can't wait to meet one of her comedic heroes, Martin Short.

WAGMEISTER: Is there anyone that you're super excited to see?

GLASER: Who else is there? Like, Glen Powell's hot. I don't think that was your question.

WAGMEISTER: Who's -- who else do you think is hot? Come on. Let's talk about it.

[17:45:01]

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): She doesn't care about the scrutiny that comes with hosting the Globes. She stopped reading social media comments years ago.

GLASER: I have been sober from comments since 2000 like 18 or something. Like they ruined my life and so I don't get to have them just like I don't get to have alcohols. Other people can handle comments. I can't.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: She is hilarious. Or -- or break a leg to Nikki Glaser. Break a leg. And our thanks to Elizabeth Wagmeister for that great piece.

Sunday night on CNN, it's a big night for The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper. The program will feature CNN's Kyung Lah, who went to South Korea for a closer look at K-Pop. She went behind the scenes of the wildly popular genre to see what it takes to become a K-Pop star. The Whole Story Sunday night at 8:00 Eastern here on CNN.

Coming up next, one of the most popular New Year's resolutions is losing weight. The extra help many of you may get with that is not a physical trainer. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:50:30]

TAPPER: To our Health Lead now in a dramatic new warning, the U.S. Surgeon General now pushing for alcoholic beverages to carry similar caution notes as you find on a pack of cigarettes. Here to help us understand this new advisory is Dr. Richard Carmona, the 17th Surgeon General of the United States serving under President George W. Bush. Dr. Carmona, thanks for joining us. So how impactful will this surgeon general advisory be? Do you think it's necessary? Do you think it's going to lead to congressional action?

DR. RICHARD CARMONA, FORMER U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: I think it's necessary, Jake, based on the science that's been shown to -- to connect alcohol with disease, including cancers. And so I'm not certain what will happen with Congress, but certainly it's a call to action by the surgeon general for raising awareness that alcohol and increasing dosages can cause cancer and other diseases.

TAPPER: Let's say that people take these findings seriously and they stop drinking. Can the damage of their previous drinking be reversed?

CARMONA: Well, it's like anything that you take that's causing inflammation in your body. If you stop doing that, it may not reverse it back to the baseline, but it'll certainly make you better. A lot of the chemicals that from metabolism of alcohol are known to be carcinogenic as well as it causes inflammation as the breakdown products circulate in your body.

So minimizing the amount of alcohol is probably a good thing. And as you can see in the information that Surgeon General Murphy put out, it's directly related to the dose.

TAPPER: So what do you say to somebody out there who says, hey, I thought that drinking red wine in moderation was good for me. What gives?

CARMONA: Yes. I -- I think the important thing is, as you said, Jake, moderation. And I think that people should talk to their primary care providers and find out what is realistic for them. People that are senior citizens that have chronic diseases may want to take in less. A younger person may tolerate more. So I think these are things that you should be discussing with your primary care provider to find out what would be a safe level for you in your particular state of health.

TAPPER: All right. Former U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Richard Carmona, thank you so much. Appreciate it, sir. We're going to stay in the Health Lead now and talk food noise, food noise. It's a big deal if you're trying to lose weight. Dr. Sanjay Gupta will explain next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:56:39]

TAPPER: Sticking with our Health Lead. A lot of folks kick off the New Year's with resolutions, and one of the most popular is a pledge to lose weight. That might be hard for some of you, especially if you're faced with what is called food noise. What's food noise? Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here to explain and tell us how some popular new drugs might cancel out the food noise and could even also help with things like quitting smoking or drinking.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): About four months ago, Sharon Mann's doctor prescribed her Mounjaro, a GLP-1 medication. The goal was to treat her type 2 diabetes and help her lose weight.

SHARON MANN, MOUNJARO PATIENT: I lost seven pounds in the first week.

GUPTA (voice-over): But Sharon also experienced something unusual, a side effect she didn't even know was possible.

MANN: Pretty much the next day, after starting with the Mounjaro, I no longer had food noise. And all of a sudden, I didn't have the cravings for, I'm going to say the junk food or the sweets. The cravings were gone.

GUPTA (voice-over): Food noise is now a term that is widely used to describe persistent, intrusive thoughts about food, compelling people to eat regardless of whether they are full or not.

MANN: For example, one of my go to reward places would be Chick-fil-A, you know, if I'd be on a diet like, OK, Chick-fil-A isn't a good idea. And then the next day something would happen like, oh, my gosh, I had some extra stress having Chick-fil-A today because I never forgot about the fact that the day before, I didn't go to Chick-fil-A when I really wanted to.

GUPTA (voice-over): Dr. Giles Yeo, a biologist who studies obesity, says the amount that each of us eats to feel full is in part a function of our genetics.

DR. GILES YEO, GENETICIST AND OBESITY RESEARCHER: It's sort of like a thermostat, OK? Where for some people, a thermostat is set at whatever temperature it is in a house, OK, whereas for other people, that thermostat has set slightly higher, slightly lower.

GUPTA (voice-over): But the thing is, the environment has changed as well.

YEO: All these things are suddenly available. The susceptibility that's hidden is suddenly unmasked. So the genes have remained the same. The susceptibility has always been there. The push has only come now. And because of the push, we can now see the susceptibility. And for many people, that is obesity.

GUPTA (voice-over): Now, the medications can't change that environment, but they might change what's in our heads. And not just for food. A study by scientists at Penn State and Dartmouth suggests that these medications, GLP-1s, may dampen food noise by acting on the reward pathways in the brain. And now scientists are studying whether these drugs impact on that reward response could also curb cravings for alcohol and nicotine.

For Sharon, laying that food noise to rest has been life changing.

MANN: I have lost 29 pounds. The food no longer has an emotional component.

GUPTA (voice-over): Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: And our thanks to Dr. Sanjay Gupta for that report.

And our Last Lead today, Vice President Kamala Harris swore in senators of the new 119th Congress. Take a look at New York -- New Jersey Senator Andy Kim there with his family. He's the first Korean American to be sworn into the Senate. His kids brought their own business cards for the Vice President.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Marine biologist and science guy, Mathex. Oh, this is so good. And you even have a -- you have an e-mail address.

[18:00:02]

SEN. ANDY KIM (D-NJ): So now I can stay in touch.

HARRIS: So now I can stay in touch.

KIM: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Coming up on Sunday on State of the Union, we're going to talk to Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Republican Senator Jim Banks of Indiana and Democratic Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, Sunday morning at 9:00 Eastern and again at noon only here on CNN.

If you ever miss an episode of The Lead, you can listen to the show once you get your podcast. The news continues on CNN with Wolf Blitzer in The Situation Room. I will see you Sunday morning. Happy New Year, everyone.