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Man in Subway Death in Court; Stowaway Caught on Delta Flight; Storms Could Cause Travel Delays; Trump Talks about the Panama Canal and Greenland; Musk and Ramaswamy Slammed on Visas. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired December 27, 2024 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: After today's seismic court settlement.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, CNN ANCHOR: That 6 percent commission real estate agents get for buying or selling a home is now no more.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In a landmark case, the National Association of Realtors eliminated the rules on commissions and paid $418 million to plaintiffs who argued the fees inflated prices of homes.

KEILAR: And analysts expect it to benefit home buyers.

YURKEVICH (voice over): Sellers were saddled with hefty fees and often baked them into the sales price of homes. The historic change could make home prices more affordable. The average home price is $407,200, near record highs.

YURKEVICH: Number one. The richest man in the world, Elon Musk, will soon be a government employee. The ex-Tesla and SpaceX owner went full MAGA.

ELON MUSK: We had one president who couldn't climb a flight of stairs and another who was fist pumping after getting shot.

YURKEVICH (voice over): The multi-billionaire lost a few billion on X, which lost an estimated 80 percent of value since Musk bought it two years ago. But he gained a few billion on Tesla, which has soared since Trump's re-election.

MUSK: We want to have a fun, exciting future.

YURKEVICH (voice over): Trump appointed Musk the co-head of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENT-ELECT: We have a new star. A star is born. Elon.

YURKEVICH (voice over): And he's been advising the president-elect on key cabinet hires. Musk is now more than $100 billion richer than the second richest person in the world, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The man now accused of murder for lighting a woman on fire in the New York City subway is expected in court very soon. We are following developments live on this, this morning.

And a second stowaway discovered on a second Delta flight. This time a Christmas Eve flight headed to Honolulu. What happened? And how did this happen again?

Today is one of the busiest travel days of the year. Millions expected to hit the road and take to the skies. And there is some nasty weather and storms to watch out for.

I'm Kate Bolduan, with Sara Sidner. John Berman is out. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

So, very soon the man accused of burning a woman to death on a New York City subway is due in court. Earlier this week, he was arraigned on charges of first and second degree murder and arson. There's a whole lot going on.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino is here with me now.

This is expected to be getting underway, but what do we expect to happen?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what's going to happen here today, Kate, is that over the past few days the prosecution has been presenting evidence to a grand jury, 23 New Yorkers, who are going to look at whatever evidence they have so far. And they have to decide whether or not there's enough evidence to accuse this person of a crime. That's all that happens in a grand jury proceeding. Twenty-three people. They vote yes or no.

And what is likely going to happen here is that they will hand down an indictment. And then the suspect in this case, Zapeta-Calil, will be indicted on those charges. As we know, they are prosecuting him on murder in the first degree and the second degree, as well as federal arson charges. So, that's what's likely going to happen today.

We are learning a little bit of new information this time out of city hall. Mayor Eric Adams has issued a statement through his - through his spokesperson, saying that he wants federal authorities to get involved.

BOLDUAN: That's interesting.

PAZMINO: Now, that's interesting because we know that Zapeta-Calil is being prosecuted by state authorities, as anyone else who commits or is accused of a crime here in New York does. But because of the immigration aspect of all of this, the fact that Zapeta-Calil is an undocumented immigrant, the mayor is now suggesting that the federal authorities should get involved.

Now, what does it mean? He is directing the NYPD to work with ICE to explore the possibility of whether or not Zapeta-Calil should be charged at the federal level. And more than anything, it really signifies and shows this sort of willingness by Mayor Eric Adams to work with federal authorities when it comes to immigration enforcement. So, we'll see what the federal authorities have to say about it. We're waiting to hear back from them.

In the meantime, the Brooklyn district attorney, who is prosecuting this case, has said they welcome the help, but they also point out that they are prosecuting him on murder in the first degree. The top charge, if he is convicted, he's facing life in prison without parole.

So, that is what we are expecting out of what we believe will be a very short hearing this morning.

BOLDUAN: Yes, but, I mean, a short hearing, and I - will be with or without the federal authorities getting involved here will be a long road now ahead.

[09:05:00]

PAZMINO: Absolutely.

BOLDUAN: It's good to see you, Gloria. Thank you so much for staying on top of it.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, this morning there are still so many unanswered questions after another stowaway without a ticket was able to get through TSA, but caught on a Delta Airlines flight. This time it happened in Seattle. The plane was bound for Hawaii. As it was taxiing out for takeoff, the stowaway was finally discovered.

Just a few weeks ago, right before Thanksgiving, this woman here traveled all the way to Paris after getting onto a Delta flight at New York's JFK Airport.

In this latest incident, the stowaway somehow got through the TSA screening checkpoint, but the night before.

CNN's Carlos Suarez is at Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport. One busy, busy place.

There's so many questions here. How did she get through TSA? How did she get on the plane? How was she discovered? Give us what you know.

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right, Sara. Good morning.

So, we know that this unidentified passenger was able to get passed through that TSA security checkpoint in Seattle the night before that Christmas Eve flight, meaning that this passenger spent some hours in the terminal before being able to get onto that Delta flight again without a ticket.

Now, at some point along this journey, if you will, the air - the flight crew realizes that they have someone on board that doesn't have a ticket. And so they, of course, decide to come back to the gate.

It's at that point that we're told, for reasons that have yet to be explained, that the passenger was able to get off the plane at the gate before authorities got there. And so authorities arrived at the gate and then had to figure out exactly where this passenger went. We're told that the passenger was eventually taken into custody after being spotted in a bathroom.

Now, Delta put out a statement that read, quote, "as there are no matters more important than safety and security, Delta people followed procedures to have an unticketed passenger removed from the flight and then apprehended."

The name of this passenger, Sara, has not been released by authorities, though we're told that the passenger was charged with trespassing.

SIDNER: OK. So, today is one of the busiest travel days of the year. I think Monday is also one of those days. I am seeing a difference between earlier and right now. There is starting to be some serious traffic there. What are things like this morning in Atlanta?

SUAREZ: That's exactly right. So, today is one of the three busiest travel days of the year. Now here at Atlanta's Hartsfield Jackson International Airport, the wait time right now at TSA is about 12 to 15 minutes. So, it's not too bad.

The officials out here tell us that they expect to see well over 357,000 passengers make their way through this airport today. It is the busiest day of the travel year for the folks here in Atlanta. Of course, with the number of people that are traveling across the country, we are starting to see a growing number of flight delays and cancellations.

As of this hour, over 2,000 flights in the U.S. have been delayed, and just about 64 flights have been canceled. A lot of this, in part, because of some of this - some of this bad weather that is making its way through the south.

Here now are some passengers that we talked to just a few minutes ago on why they decided to book an early morning flight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHINITA DAVIS, TRAVELING TO MEXICO: Always in the morning. Never at night. Get an early start. And that way if something happens, you have time at the end to make up for it.

MORGAN HOLL, TRAVELING TO WASHINGTON, D.C.: Arrive early. Be patient. Yes, that's it, really. It's the key to everything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SUAREZ: All right, Sara. So I think booking early morning flights is kind of like when you make an early morning doctor's appointment. When you do it, it kind of sounds great. But then on the day of, you kind of maybe regret it.

SIDNER: You regret it until you see that a bunch of planes have been delayed or canceled because of storms, or there's too many people. So, it's a good thing to - to leave early. But I also hate it, just like you, Carlos.

SUAREZ: Yes, it always (INAUDIBLE).

SIDNER: Like, I get it.

Carlos Suarez, thank you to you and your crew for hanging out with us today.

Severe weather, like this, could cause major travel disruptions for millions this weekend. The video that we're about to show you, I think, is going to show you a tornado. And there it is, in southeastern Texas yesterday. Yikes. Parts of the south could see more tornadoes, as well as damaging wind and large hail.

Meteorologist Elisa Raffa joining us now with the very latest.

Where are the worst storms expected? And I think you told us last hour, they're going to start one place, but there's going to be problems across the country, potentially.

ELISA RAFFA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It spreads east as we go through the weekend. We're really worried about additional strong tornadoes across the south. We're talking Louisiana and Mississippi going into tomorrow. Seeing images like that are just rare for this time of year.

Could have some minor delays from New Orleans to Atlanta and Raleigh today because of some of those storms in the south.

[09:10:01]

We still have the rain and snow that's been nonstop in the Pacific Northwest. Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, all could have some problems.

Here's a look at that severe risk that really ramps up going into Saturday. A level three out of five enhanced risk of severe weather. We're looking at damaging winds, large hail, strong tornadoes. And then you could see all of that shifts east as we go into tomorrow. Charlotte and Atlanta all included in that storm threat as we go into the weekend.

So, the greatest risk for tornadoes, again, across parts of Louisiana and Mississippi. And we could have some strong EF-2 tornadoes as we go through the day.

Now, tornadoes in December, on the rare side of things. It's one of our least likely months for tornadoes. Only about 43 on average for the month. Not near the 200 or plus that we see in March or April. But we are way above average for tornado reports already this year. More than 1,700. So, it's been pretty active. As these storms continue to blow up through the weekend, any flights will need to detour around this. Any storm that is able to produce a tornado would be tall, could have lightning, and you would need to reroute around this. So, something to watch out for. And then all of that rain starts to move east. You could see some problems up and down the East Coast on Sunday.

Sara.

SIDNER: But all in all it's been a pretty mild winter so far, Elisa Raffa.

RAFFA: Yes.

SIDNER: But nobody likes to see storms when they're traveling.

Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, President-elect Donald Trump still fixated on the Panama Canal and on purchasing Greenland. What his advisers are now telling CNN is the real reason behind this obsession.

And breaking overnight, the airline and the crash of the passenger plane that killed 38 people, now releasing its first assessment of what caused the jet to go down.

And why police say a pizza delivery in Florida ended with a woman stabbed 14 times and recovering in the hospital.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:15:56]

BOLDUAN: So, if one thing has become clear this week, it's the president-elect is fixated on wanting to retake control of the Panama Canal, and is also obsessing once again on wanting to buy Greenland. All leading to kind of a constant refrain of, is he serious or is he trolling?

CNN's Alayna Treene has new reporting from West Palm Beach for us.

Alayna, what are you learning?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, Kate, I do think that some of this is Donald Trump being serious. I think the question is, how exactly does he intend to follow through on some of these threats and these taunts that he's been issuing for the past several days now?

Now, I did catch up with one Trump adviser, and they gave me their interpretation of what all of these posts mean when it - as it relates to taking control over the Panama Canal, but also his, you know, revival of his desire to purchase Greenland. Something that I will argue that Greenland's prime minister says that is not for sale. And also these taunts to the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, about trying to, you know, absorb Canada into the United States as its 51st state.

All to say, this adviser told me that they believe that this is part of a larger negotiating tactic, that Donald Trump is really trying to kind of begin planting the seeds for. And essentially, he wants to force foreign leaders to the table to have these kinds of negotiations in ways that Donald Trump believes will benefit U.S. trade and give them better prices on certain deals that they have, but also trying to curb both China and Russia's influence.

Now, as it relates to all of these calls about him, you know, alluding to wanting to take back control over the Panama Canal. I'm told that really, Donald Trump's overarching goal with those - with that messaging is to try and secure lower rates for American vessels that pass through there and to get lower shipping rates, essentially to boost American companies and what they're paying in some of these deals as they go through the Panama Canal.

I will also say that when I talked to this adviser, they said that essentially he believes, Donald Trump, that Chinese companies own a lot of these ports, and that effectively gives them a lot of control over the shipping rates, as well as which vessels are allowed to pass through.

As it relates to his calls for Greenland and him reviving that desire again to try and purchase the country, I'm told that Donald Trump believes that that's really his way of trying to curb Russian influence in the arctic region.

So again, this is kind of Donald Trump's way of trying to strong arm some of these politicians, kind of assert his dominance, but also see if he can bring them to the table and begin kind of laying that all out, even though he's not in office yet and he still has days to go until he is sworn in on January 20th.

BOLDUAN: And we'll see if it works.

Alayna Treene, great to see you. Thank you.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you so much, Kate.

Let's talk politics now with Neil Chatterjee, Republican strategist, and Christine Quinn, executive committee chair of New York's Democratic Committee.

I am going to spare you on this holiday for talking more about the Panama Canal. I think we've touched on that quite a bit. So, what we're going to do instead is look at what has happened with some blowback for Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy after the two of them were talking about wanting to push for more visas to highly skilled foreign workers, Musk is talking about H-1B visas, which allow employers to hire highly skilled foreign workers.

Ramaswamy is facing the biggest blowback because he put this among a very long line of thought - of his thoughts on X, saying, "our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long."

Neil, these words are causing a stir. What do you make of them, and how is the reaction?

NEIL CHATTERJEE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Look, I think what this is, is an attempt to divide MAGA and DOGE because I think there are - the political left is concerned that they might actually be successful. And so they're looking at ways to drive riffs.

I think what Vivek was trying to say was -

SIDNER: But, wait, the left isn't - the left is not the one that's coming after Vivek. It is the right coming after Vivek, going hard on him.

CHATTERJEE: They're emphasizing this is a reason - there's a - there's a reason we're talking about this, this morning, because the left wants to divide President Trump and Elon Musk.

[09:20:09]

And Elon went on and he clarified it and he used a sports reference. He said, this is like going and getting Victor Wembanyama, the number one pick in the NBA draft from France. This is about getting the best of the best here in the U.S.

Look, I'm the son of immigrants. My parents immigrated to this country. They came here to cure cancer. They had a number of vaccines in an attempt to cure cancer. And there is no one more patriotic and loves this country more than my family because that is the American dream. And we're living that dream. That's all Vivek was saying. And what Elon is saying. If not for the fact that they were running the DOGE in an effort to shrink the federal bureaucracy, I don't think this would be an issue. I don't even think this would be garnering attention. This - this is an attempt to basically divide President Trump and, you know, these folks from the tech industry who have been instrumental in his success.

SIDNER: That is one take.

Christine, I see you side eyeing. What's your take on what you saw?

CHRISTINE QUINN, EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE CHAIR, NEW YORK STATE DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE: Well, it's just strange that something that President-elect Trump's really closest advisers, some have called him the unelected president, Elon Musk, he made this statement. It's not like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said this statement. He said it. Directly kind of attacking the quality of Americans, American scientists, American minds. If he is concerned that we don't have a high enough skill level or a high enough educational level, then he should step away from the proposals in Project 2025 that call for eliminating the Department of Education and cutting educational programs. This isn't about the left, this is about the right in a way showing how it really feels about new Americans coming to this country and how it feels about Americans and whether we have enough intelligence here. And it's so curious that they're talking about letting in people with

high educations, but then hard working people who've risked their lives to get to this country, they want to have nothing to do with, when every other time in our country's history that we've had big waves of working class immigrants, they have only improved this country and seen education of their children rise extremely high.

SIDNER: All right. Let's talk about what's happening with the Democrats. We've seen author and former presidential candidate Marianne Williamson is announcing she is running to lead the Democratic National Committee, along with a host of others, including one who is using some of Trump's talking points to win.

Let's first talk about Williamson. What do you make of this? And does she even have a chance?

First to you, Christine.

QUINN: The last thing we needed in the Democratic Party was for Marianne Williamson to run for DNC chair. It's laughable. I think it is not good for the race. We want to have a really strong, intelligent race. We want to hear from candidates about what big changes they would make in the DNC so we can right the ship.

I don't think she has a chance in the same way she didn't have a chance when she ran for president. She certainly brought kind of humor or maybe edibles to that stage. Who knows. But we don't need that right now. What we need is serious, bold leadership that's going to shake things up and get us back on track. And I'm certainly not happy about her candidacy.

SIDNER: Here is one of the candidates, and I'll let you speak to this, Neil. Let's listen to one of the candidates for the DNC, Robert Houton, who talked to our Kate Bolduan last night, and he is making some bold statements that probably have surprised some Democrats.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT HOUTON, CANDIDATE FOR DNC CHAIR: We need bold, younger generational leaders. And none of my fellow candidate chairs are that. We also need someone who will agree with President Trump when he's right. And there's a reason why he had that decisive victory, because he was right on so many issues. And our party drifted to the left. Sanctuary cities, DEI. We need to embrace tax cuts, which will spur job growth. Over 3 million jobs were created when it was enacted in 2017, and it would have created more jobs if the Covid pandemic hadn't hit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Neil, are you surprised to hear a Democrat that's running for the Democratic National Committee say these words?

CHATTERJEE: Yes, I like that guy (INAUDIBLE). SIDNER: Well, of course you do.

CHATTERJEE: I think if the Democrats did - if the Democrats, you know, started to adopt that message, they might have greater success.

No, look, this - this always happens after parties lose elections. I was working in the Senate after Mitt Romney lost in 2012, and the Republican Party had to do a complete reevaluation of where we stood and did really a deep dive to figure out, you know, what was wrong with our message.

[09:25:13]

And I think that, in turn, led to the rise of, you know, kind of working class populism and fed into the rise of Donald Trump in 2016. I think the Democratic Party is kind of where we were in 2012. They just lost an election. They lost the House, the Senate (INAUDIBLE) ran away out of the wilderness. And I certainly think there are folks who are going to say that they need to take a more commonsense approach on some of these issues.

And so, I'm not familiar with this gentleman, but I hope he doesn't win because if he does and he shifts the Democratic Party in that direction, they'll likely have greater electoral success.

SIDNER: Christine is cracking up, so we know where she stands on that.

QUINN: Yes.

SIDNER: Thank you so much, Christine Quinn and Neil Chatterjee for hanging out with us on this holiday Friday. Thank you. Appreciate you both.

QUINN: Happy holidays.

SIDNER: All right, a Colorado - a Colorado couple is now in custody after their one month old baby was found abandoned in a car seat in the median of a busy road on Christmas morning. The baby tested positive for cocaine. More on that disturbing story.

Plus, what a preliminary investigation now saying happened right before that deadly Christmas Day plane crash that killed 38 people in Kazakhstan.

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