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Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) Discusses Trump Trying To Force Foreign Govts To Bargaining Table, Musk & Vivek Involvement in Government; Suspect Indicted For Allegedly Setting Sleeping Woman On Fire; 35 Condos, Hotels, Other Buildings In Southeast Florida Are Sinking; NATO Ramps Up Baltic Forces Over Damage To Undersea Power Cable; CNN Learns Details Of Russia's Secretive Drone Factory. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired December 27, 2024 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

REP. JAKE AUCHINCLOSS (D-MA): And the Democratic Party has been squarely in support of this program for decades now.

I haven't been paying much attention to this debate between Vivek and MAGA because, frankly, I think Vivek and Elon Musk are consuming far more oxygen than is appropriate right now.

These are not actually policy makers until proven otherwise. They have no mandate. They have no elective office.

I'm focused on congressional leadership. I'm focused on the president- elect because they're the ones who actually wield the levers of power.

And we've got to ensure that Speaker Mike Johnson, or whoever the next speaker is, comes in and actually legislates on behalf of the American people, takes on the health insurance lobby to lower drug prices, takes on fentanyl exports from China, takes on the gun lobby.

Otherwise, I think that we're going to get distracted by, I think, this Elon, Vivek sideshow.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: And yet, Elon Musk was right at the center, along with the president-elect, of blowing up that bipartisan negotiated deal to avert a government shutdown and fund the government.

Did it surprise you how much power he had in that?

AUCHINCLOSS: The Republicans have a trifecta in Washington, D.C. When you have a trifecta, it's easy to break things. I mean, the president- elect can tell his party, I don't want to do this, and they're not going to do it.

Breaking things is not hard in Washington, D.C. Building things is hard in Washington, D.C. And what did they do? They broke something, a bipartisan deal that would have saved $5 billion for taxpayers on drug prices and lowered co-pays at the pharmacy counter. And what did they build? They didn't build anything. So I'm pretty

unimpressed with the ability of this incoming administration to actually work it's will through its own party.

And until I see otherwise, I don't think that Vivek and Elon are actually the center of the policymaking universe right now. I'm looking at the next speaker of the House. I'm looking at the next president trying to hold them to account.

DEAN: And I'm curious, too, they're going to have the House speaker election next week. We famously sat through many, many rounds of voting on Kevin McCarthy a couple of years ago.

How do you think it's going to go this time?

AUCHINCLOSS: Well, I was just on Amazon looking for some paperbacks to bring into the House chamber, because I think it's going to be a long few days.

DEAN: Yes.

And then again, before we go, again, just with your military background, I do want to ask you about this new information that we're getting on this plane crash in Kazakhstan.

Do you expect or have you been briefed on this? Do you think that you'll be getting more briefings on this and the possibility that it was brought down by Russian air defenses?

AUCHINCLOSS: It looks to be right now, to me, the premise is that Russia, indeed, brought down that airliner. And it's not the first time that that has happened. It is an unconscionable tragedy.

And it underscores the barbarity of the Kremlin and the necessity that the United States, our allies in Europe and in East Asia, continue to support Ukraine through to victory over this unprovoked invasion.

That means we need Ukraine to have a secure eastern border and security guarantees. We need Ukraine to have freedom of navigation in the Black Sea. We need Ukraine to be joining the European Union. We have to win this war, not just not lose it.

DEAN: All right, Congressman Jake Auchincloss, thanks again for joining us on a Friday. We appreciate it.

AUCHINCLOSS: Happy New Year.

DEAN: Happy New Year.

Still ahead, New York Mayor Eric Adams is now directing police to explore federal charges for the suspect accused of burning a woman to death on the subway.

Plus, a CNN investigation into a secretive factory fueling Russia's drone war in Ukraine. We'll have new details when we come back right here on CNN NEWS CENTRAL. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:37:28]

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: New today, the man accused of killing a woman by setting her on fire while she was sleeping in a New York City subway car, was indicted on murder and arson charges.

That suspect, Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala, did not appear in court this morning. His arraignment is set for January 7th. He is now facing the possibility of life in prison without parole if convicted.

Gloria Pazmino has been following this story for us from the beginning.

So, Gloria, bring us up to speed here on what more we've learned.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erica, basically, what's happened is that over the last few days, since the suspect was arrested and taken into custody, the prosecutors have been showing evidence to a grand jury, which today decided to indict him on these charges.

As you said, murder in the first degree, murder in the second degree, as well as arson.

What this means is now the case will be remanded, will be sent to the Kings County Supreme Court. And the suspect is going to be arraigned on the charges on January 7th. So the indictment will be unsealed then.

But we know many of the details of the alleged crime from our reporting in the -- in the past couple of days. We know that he is accused of setting fire to a woman who was asleep inside of a subway train.

Law enforcement officials believe that the woman was likely homeless and taking refuge inside the subway train.

Take a listen to the district attorney talking about his prosecution of the case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC GONZALEZ, BROOKLYN DISTRICT ATTORNEY: I want to assure the people of this city that this office will do everything in our power to hold him accountable.

This was a malicious deed. A sleeping, vulnerable woman on our subway system. This act surprised many New Yorkers as they we're getting ready to celebrate the holidays.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: Now, Erica, the woman, the victim in this case has not yet been identified. Officials are still working to do that, in part, by using advanced DNA evidence and in order to identify her.

In the meantime, Mayor Eric Adams here in New York City has said that he is directing the NYPD to work with federal authorities to explore the potential of bringing federal charges against the suspect.

This is relatively rare that you would see the federal government stepping in to bring additional charges on a state case. It does happen. We saw it most recently with the Mangione case.

[14:39:59]

But the mayor showing his willingness to cooperate with federal authorities when it comes to offenses allegedly committed by undocumented people -- Erica?

HILL: Which is definitely interesting.

Gloria, appreciate it. Thank you.

Still ahead, why are dozens of large buildings in southeast Florida sinking by several inches? And just how worried should people be? We'll ask an expert, next.

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DEAN: An alarming study this week highlights how the city of Miami could be sinking. This isn't about climate change, but apparently it is from construction which can cause vibrations leading soil to compact, settle and to sink.

Scientists found 35 buildings that sank as much as three inches over a seven-year period. Buildings which could accommodate tens of thousands of residents and tourists.

HILL: So do they need to be concerned?

Joining us now is structural engineer, Matthew Roblez.

It's good to have you with us.

So, first of all, as I understand it, so three inches over seven years, that sounds like a lot. I mean, we know things settle and maybe sink a little bit. Is the extent of this gradual sinking surprising to you?

[14:45:04]

MATTHEW ROBLEZ, STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: It's very surprising. These buildings are designed because of the soil that they're on to subside over their lifetime anywhere from 50 to 70 centimeters, which is like 20 to 30 inches.

So to see 10 percent of that in three inches over a short period of time is concerning and surprising.

DEAN: Are they safe? ROBLEZ: Yes. They're safe. Again, like I said, they've been designed

to accommodate this type of movement.

But the question is, how long is this accelerated subsidence going to happen? And is it going to shorten the life, the lifetime, lifespan of the building?

DEAN: Yes. And it sounds like the main cause is vibration from construction. And it raises the question, is there too much construction for that area?

ROBLEZ: You know, that is a good question. You know, like I said, the -- the study that was performed showed exactly accelerated subsidence right along coincident with the construction.

And so the question of too much construction, who knows. It's just really surprising that it happened so quickly. And it's something that hasn't happened before. And so it could be very unique to just this one little area.

So for me to say there's too much construction, I don't know. But I can say that it is coincident and is most likely and the study show is causing this subsidence.

HILL: So you say the buildings are still safe, right? But it may be a shorter time frame, I guess, that they are safe.

When we look at this, this isn't necessarily tied to climate change, but I can't help but wonder if there's a connection between the two.

So there's the particular type of soil and the land that's there. But you also have -- I mean, you can't deny the fact that sea levels are rising. And especially in coastal communities, that's an issue.

Are these two things working in concert?

ROBLEZ: They could be. Because, you know, tidal-driven groundwater movements are also associated with cyclic strains. That's very similar to construction issues.

And so raising sea levels and -- and the tidal-driven groundwater movements could be associated with global climate change. And if that is the case, then they are working in tandem together.

The problem is trying to relate the two. Right now, we don't see a connection, but one could draw that conclusion if they -- if they wanted to.

DEAN: Do you think people that live in other coastal areas should be worried about something like this?

ROBLEZ: You know, I don't think they should be. You know, about 20 percent of the United States is underlined by this -- what is called karst, the limestone and sandy layer.

And this is a very unique -- unique to this area. I don't think really anybody needs to be worried.

Because, again, the buildings understand the subsidence is going to happen. It just is on this type of limestone and sand. It's just the lifespan of the building is going to be shorter.

And luckily, it's -- you know, it sounds quickly over years, but we, as structural engineers and the structural community, can step in before we see these strains take any kind of sudden movement.

This is not -- this is not a brittle failure where you're going to - like a -- like a sinkhole where you're going to sink into it all of a sudden. It's gradual. We're monitoring it. So we'll have a lot of early warning before anything happens.

HILL: Well, that is -- that is definitely good news. We will end on that more positive note.

DEAN: Yes.

HILL: Matthew Roblez, thank you.

ROBLEZ: Thank you very much.

[14:48:26]

Still ahead here, fears of sabotage. Finland has now seized a ship, tied to Russia, suspected of cutting a vital undersea cable. We have more ahead on this growing diplomatic spat between neighboring countries. That's next.

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[14:53:03]

HILL: NATO is ramping up its military presence in the Baltic Sea after the suspected sabotage of a critical undersea power cable and Internet lines, which link Finland and Estonia.

Now Finland has seized a Russian oil tanker over it's possible involvement, saying it may be part of Russia's so-called shadow fleet.

DEAN: CNN's Clare Sebastian is here with more.

Clare, what are you learning about this?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so I think there's two key concerns here. One is that, although, of course, nothing is proven yet and accidents are possible in this area, but one is that Russia may be stepping up sabotage.

We've seen all kinds of different elements of alleged Russian sabotage across Europe. Everything from arson to, you know, cyberattacks and things like that, all part of the hybrid war that has gone alongside the war in Ukraine. So that's one concern.

The second, now that we have this allegation, both from the Finnish Customs Service and the EU's top diplomat that this ship may be part of this so-called shadow fleet.

This grouping of hundreds, potentially, of vessels that have mysteriously changed ownership, many of them aging vessels, by the way, that have this sort of murky ownership and are used allegedly to transport Russian oil in circumvention of sanctions.

That this may now be another risk associated with that, that they could potentially be involved in this kind of sabotage. So that is the key concern.

Obviously, this comes after a spate of incidents we saw in November that several undersea telecoms cables were severed within hours of each other. At the time, European politicians blamed Russia, pointed the finger at Russia, but the U.S. didn't see signs of interference there.

But the U.S. had warned several months earlier, several U.S. officials telling CNN that they'd been monitoring suspicious shipping activity in the Baltic and believed that Russia could be getting ready to -- to carry out some kind of sabotage involving these undersea cables.

So Europe is now on high alert. NATO is ramping up its presence. And I think now that Finland -- Finnish officials have actually boarded this alleged shadow fleet vessel, it will be crucial to watch what comes out of that investigation.

[14:55:07]

DEAN: Yes, absolutely.

Clare, I also want to ask you about some of your reporting that you have out today, new reporting about this secretive factory helping to power Russia's drone -- drone war on Ukraine. What have you learned?

SEBASTIAN: Yes. So what we've seen over the last sort of half year is a really exponential increase in drone attacks involving Shahed, those Iranian designed drones, and similar types of drones on Ukrainian cities, civilian areas.

They went from a sort of monthly average of around 400 between May and July this year to 2m400 in November. And we've seen a high level continuing into December, including, of course, that attack on Christmas morning involving 100 drones.

So look, we know why they're doing this. This is a war of attrition. They're trying to wear down Ukrainian air defenses, trying to wear down the resolve of Ukrainian civilians.

But what we've been looking at is how they're doing this. Russia is facing crippling labor shortages. So bringing people into factories like this is a major challenge.

We've seen social media recruitment targeting teenagers at an affiliated Polytechnic University. We've seen that they've been using African women as well.

These satellite images have also shown serious levels of expansion. Construction of two new buildings in the last nine months.

And in terms of sanctions as well, because this facility has been sanctioned now by the U.S., the E.U. and the U.K. How are they getting around that?

Well, we are seeing increasing involvement from China. CNN sources with the Ukrainian Defense Intelligence say that that involvement is ramping up, including a Chinese prototype now being allegedly used for a new type of decoy drone.

So there's a lot going on there that we've been tracking. And we think the expansion is continuing.

DEAN: Great reporting, Clare. Thank you very much for all of that.

And when we come back, another day, another stowaway. Major questions right now about U.S. airport security after another un-ticketed passenger was discovered on board a major jetliner. More coming up.

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