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U.S. Officials: Russia May Have Mistaken Downed Jet For Ukrainian Drone; Trump Urges U.S. Supreme Court To Pause TikTok Ban; Musk And Ramaswamy Spark MAGA Backlash By Defending Visas For Skilled Foreign Workers; NY AG Releases "Shocking & Disturbing" Videos Of Inmate's Beating; Suspect In Fatal Subway Burning Facing Murder, Arson Charges; CDC: Risk Of Bird Flu To General Public Still Low. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired December 27, 2024 - 17:00   ET

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

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN HOST: The all new CNN film "Luther Never Too Much" premieres New year's day at 8:00pm Eastern and Pacific only here on CNN.

Coming up on Sunday on State of the Union, Democratic Senator Andy Kim of New Jersey and outgoing Republican Governor Chris Sununu of New Hampshire. That's Sunday morning at 9 Eastern, again at noon here on CNN. The news continues on CNN with Wolf Blitzer in "The Situation Room." Have a great weekend.

[17:00:32]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Happening now, breaking news, investigators dig deeper into the possibility that Russia may be responsible for the deadly crash of a passenger plane. A U.S. official saying Moscow's air defenses potentially misidentified the jet as a Ukrainian drone. This as a survivor is now offering a chilling new account of the disaster.

Also this hour, Elon Musk is at the center of a new feud within President-elect Trump's MAGA base. We're gauging the fallout as Musk joins with Vivek Ramaswamy in defending certain visas foreign workers, putting them at odds with ardent supporters of Trump's immigration crackdown.

And the CDC reveals that the first severe U.S. case of bird flu in humans shows mutations and that could make it easier for the virus to spread person to person, adding to fears of a broader outbreak.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Will Blitzer. You're in The Situation Room.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

BLITZER: Breaking news this hour, fresh indications that Russia may have shot down an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane. Tonight, a U.S. official is underscoring the possibility that Russian air defenses misidentified the jet as a wartime drone launched by Ukraine. CNN's Nada Bashir has more on the investigation and a survivor's new account of the deadly crash. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NADA BASHIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Subhonkul Rakhimov thought he was plunging to his death. He said he heard a bang before oxygen masks dropped. Reciting the Shahada, the Muslim proclamation of faith, he says what he had thought to be his final prayer.

According to Azerbaijan Airlines, the plane had faced physical and technical external interference. As the pilot attempted an emergency landing, the plane burst into flames upon impact, 38 people on board did not survive.

Remarkably, Rakhimov was among 29 people who survived the crash. After the bang, I already had my mind set that something bad would happen because it was clear that the plane had received some damage, Rakhimov says. And when the plane started behaving unusually, then it became 100 percent clear. I realized then that it was all over and decided I should film my final minutes.

Accounts from survivors like Rakhimov give a rare firsthand glimpse into the terrifying final moments of the flight and potentially what may have caused the crash. Azerbaijani sources and a U.S. official say preliminary evidence suggests the plane may have been hit by Russian air defenses, a possible case, one US Official told CNN of mistaken identity. With the Russian city of Grozny, the flight's intended destination under Ukrainian drone attack at the time.

Ukrainian combat drones were mounting terrorist attacks on civil infrastructure in the cities of Grozny and Vladikavkaz, the head of Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency said. Due to this, in the area of the Grozny airport, the Kovyur plan was introduced, meaning all aircraft had to leave the indicated airspace immediately.

Russian aviation authorities claim the plane had initially attempted to land in Grozny twice and was later offered other airport options within Russia, but the pilot rerouted towards the Kazakh city of Aktau instead. For those on board, it was a terrifying physical and emotional ordeal. For a brief moment, passengers thought they were out of danger.

But when the Caspian Sea appeared, the clouds dispersed and the plane began to behave unusually, Rakhimov. The feeling of tension began to increase, both for other passengers and for myself. Russian authorities have yet to respond to allegations that their air defenses may have played a part in the fatal crash. But clear perforations in the fuselage point to shrapnel or debris hitting the plane while still in the air according to several aviation experts. The hope now is that recovered black boxes will provide more definitive information regarding the plane's final moments.

[17:05:15]

I was conscious when I felt the impact. I was thrown up and down and back up again. I was strapped in, yet I was being thrown back and forth, Rakhimov recounts. It all lasted for a few seconds, then everything went quiet. There was silence.

Everything was calm. And I realized that that was it, we had landed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASHIR (on camera): And Wolf, just in the last few hours, we have heard from a U.S. official saying that early indications show that the holes that are seen in the fuselage and the wreckage of the plane are consistent with shrapnel damage from an explosion. So that will be a key line of inquiry for investigators.

And while those two black boxes have been recovered, authorities say it could take around two weeks for a full assessment to made. So we'll be waiting to hear updates from officials taking part in that investigation as to what the official cause is found to be for this deadly plane crash. Wolf.

BLITZER: They got to learn what happened to make sure it doesn't happen again. Nada Bashir reporting. Thanks very much.

I want to get some more right now with our experts on Russia aviation and national security.

And Peter Goelz, our aviation expert, what's your reaction, first of all, to this new U.S. assessment that Russia potentially mistook the plane for a Ukrainian drone?

PETER GOELZ, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, the idea that this was a bird strike has been thoroughly discredited. I think Admiral Kirby's statements today indicate that we -- that American intelligence probably has the evidence that this was in fact a some sort of military response. But what will really tell a story is the cockpit voice recorder. Now that that's been recovered, it will be downloaded. First of all, you'll get the sound of whatever exploded.

You'll be able to identify where it was in relationship to the cockpit, and you'll hear the pilots discussing the challenges that they're facing and why they made the decisions that they did.

BLITZER: That will be critically important information indeed.

Jill Dougherty, what do you make of this new reporting?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR, RUSSIAN AFFAIRS: Well, I'm looking at the Russian reaction, Wolf, and I'd have to say that there's really obfuscation. You know, reports give some facts, but then they leave out other facts. Speaking of the bird theory, flock of birds that's still being bandied about by RT, by the way. And I think this is very -- reminds me a lot about MH17, that Malaysian plane that was shot down by partisans back in 2014 in Ukraine using a Russian missile. And the Russians never admitted it to this day. So I am not very optimistic that they will do it this time, although we'll see. There's a lot of evidence here.

BLITZER: There certainly is.

Beth Sanner, what's your assessment?

BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, you know, Russia has a lot of concerns about admitting it in this case. It's a little different in a way from MH17 where, you know, these were separatists in the Donbas region using a Russian interceptor. In this case, I think it was truly accidental if it is what it looks like, and that they were trying to shoot down drones and they accidentally hit this airliner from Azerbaijan. And this is an area of the world in the Caucasus where Russia has lost a lot of influence. And they are also very dependent on Azerbaijan for exporting and importing and particularly exporting their oil and gas.

So they do not want to become even less popular there. So, you know, I don't think that they're going to admit it unless they have to, but the evidence looks pretty strong as it's coming in.

BLITZER: It certainly does.

Peter Goelz, survivors say they felt two explosions before the crash. What does that tell you?

GOELZ: Well, it may indicate that this was some sort of more than a single missile or perhaps some sort of anti-aircraft weapons that were shooting repeatedly. And now that the survivors are talking, the critical thing, Wolf, is that independently they're all repeating the same story. And that really is quite telling. And that there were, you know, so many survivors is testament to the design of this aircraft and the 16G seats that allowed them to withstand that terrible crash.

BLITZER: Terrible crash indeed. Jill Dougherty, Ukraine's foreign minister now says that Russia, and I'm quoting him now, "forced the damaged jet to cross the sea, most likely in an attempt to conceal evidence of their crime." What do you make of this theory?

[17:10:10]

DOUGHERTY: I read that. I think it's impossible to say at this time that would be pretty serious if they refused them and sent them across the, you know, the water. You know, we're in the middle of a war. It's a very cruel war from both sides. And there's a lot of pressure on the Russians to fend off any type of drone attack.

They're really being hurt by those drone attacks. And so, you know, a combination of these factors. But that is something that I think really we will have to have an investigation to show.

BLITZER: Certainly will.

Peter Goelz, does that theory from Ukraine's foreign minister explain the very weird flight path?

GOELZ: It does not. And you know, the thing that will tell the tale on this, Wolf, is if the Kazakhstani government is allowed to conduct this investigation under the guidelines of ICAO. If ICAO, which has close to 200 signatures, Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are all signatures to this treaty that governs international aviation investigations, if they use that as the guidelines, as they're obligated to, then we'll find out what happened. We'll have a preliminary report in 30 days. But we'll see if the Kazakhstan government can pull that off.

BLITZER: We shall see.

Beth Sanner, can Russia -- do you believe Russia can be trusted to fully investigate this crash?

SANNER: No. And as Peter was pointing out, luckily it didn't crash in Russia. And so there's quite a bit of evidence in the black box that will not be in Russian hands to do the investigation. So, I actually think that we'll have an independent investigation coming out of this.

BLITZER: So important, that investigation.

Jill Dougherty, CNN analysis notes that the flight's original destination was to the Russian republic of Chechnya, which is run by a loyal pro Kremlin warlord. Could this make Russia take accountability?

DOUGHERTY: Well, Ramzan Kadyrov is a unique person and the only comment that I've seen from him is we're prepared for anything. We are always on guard. I mean, this is an interesting place for this to happen because Kadyrov has been sending people to Ukraine to fight. Now apparently they haven't had a lot of action, but he is a loyal supporter of Vladimir Putin. And I'm not quite sure, you know, it's embarrassing, I think, to Kadyrov and there could be repercussions, but it's embarrassing to Putin as well.

So, you know, maybe that evens itself out. But interesting for this to happen.

BLITZER: Very embarrassing indeed. All right, guys, thank you very, very much.

Coming up, Elon Musk versus MAGA. How Donald Trump's government efficiency guru is alienating fans of the president-elect's plans to get very tough on immigration. Plus, new charges for the suspect accused of lighting a woman on fire in a New York City subway car. Stay with us. You're in The Situation Room.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:17:12]

BLITZER: All right, there's more breaking news coming into the Situation Room from the Trump transition this time. The president- elect making a new request of the U.S. Supreme Court. CNN's Alayna Treene is with the Trump team down in Florida.

Alayna, what is the president-elect asking for now?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Right. Well, if we just learned that Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to put a pause on a potential ban on TikTok. That ban was expected to take place on January 19. He is asking the court not to weigh in that to put a pause on this so that his administration can look into this. I want to read you what he wrote in this legal briefing today. He said, quote, he wants the court to put a pause in the ban's effective date to, quote, "to allow his incoming administration to pursue a negotiated resolution that could prevent a nationwide shutdown of TikTok, thus preserving the First Amendment rights of tens of thousands, or, excuse me, tens of millions of Americans, while also addressing the government's national security concerns."

Now, we do know that in that Trump, in his own brief took no position on the underlying First Amendment questions posed, opposed by the case, but again saying that he wants to be able to see if he can find some sort of resolution once he is in office.

Now, to give you a little backdrop on, you know, Donald Trump and his relationship with TikTok, he has kind of been back and forth on this issue. When he was first in office back in -- you know, before leaving office in 2020 or 20, January 2021, he had initially called for a ban on TikTok. However, over his campaign, the 2024 campaign, he kind of vacillated on whether or not he believed there should be a ban. And then earlier this month, he said during a press conference that he's actually warming to TikTok, noting that many young voters who use the social media app voted for him and kind of signaling that he may be reversing course on that TikTok ban that is before the Supreme Court. And then later that day earlier this month, following that press conference, he met with the TikTok CEO on this issue, all to say that there's been a big question about Donald Trump would handle this.

It's very clear now in this briefing to the Supreme Court, which is one of the biggest cases before them right now, that he is saying, let's push pause on this. I don't want there to be a ban. I want to be able to deal with this on my own once I am sworn in on January 20th.

BLITZER: All right, very significant development. We'll see what unfolds.

Alayna, also tell us about this feud that's unfolding within MAGA right now involving the issue of immigration and Elon Musk.

TREENE: Right. Well, it's clear that we're seeing this rift really play out now between know, some of the most diehard, loyal MAGA fans of Donald Trump, many of whom were drawn to him and attracted to him because of his hardline immigration policies. And then some of the more, you know, Silicon Valley newcomers, some of the tech bros who have embraced Donald Trump and supported Donald Trump in this past election, but still kind of rely on some, you know, high skilled foreign workers for their own businesses. And we really saw this play out on Christmas Day and since then with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, two people who are going to be running Donald Trump's new government efficiency initiative, kind of call for and defend H-1B visas and having these high skilled foreign workers come to the United States.

[17:20:24]

I want to read for you some of what they have said. So Elon Musk posted on Christmas Day, he said, quote, "The number of people who are super talented and engineers and super motivated in the USA is far too low. Think of this like a pro sports team. If you want your team to win the championship, you need to recruit top talent wherever they may be that enables the whole team to win." So he's, you know, comparing these high skill workers to, you know, NBA sports players.

He goes on in a different post to say, I'm referring to bringing in via legal immigration the top 0.1 percent of engineering talent as being essential for America to keep winning. So that was what Musk said. I want to read to you now what we heard from Vivek Ramaswamy, some of which drew a lot of ire from people on the far right, including people like Laura Loomer and Ann Coulter. Here's what Vivek Ramaswamy said. He said, quote, "Our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long, at least since the 90s and likely longer.

A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the Math Olympiad champ or the jock over the valedictorian will not produce the best engineers." He went on to cite characters in modern American culture like Cory from "Boy Meets World," Zack and Slater over Screech and "Saved by the Bell," or Stefan over Steve Urkel in "Family Matters," saying they will not produce or that will not produce the best engineers.

All to say we are seeing a lot of backlash from this now on X, on social media, like I said, from a lot of these far right pundits. One person, though, who we've not heard weigh in is Donald Trump. And he as well on this issue has been kind of ambiguous. We know that during his first term he kind of, you know, at one point there was a big decline in H-1B visas. At one point it was totally paused.

But then recently he's also signaled support for having people, immigrants who go to universities in the United States, being able to get a green card to stay in the U.S. So this is obviously something he is going to be confronted with once he is in office. But so far we have not heard what his take on this whole saga has been, Wolf.

BLITZER: I suspect we will fairly soon. Alayna Treene reporting for us from Florida. Thanks very, very much.

Our political panel is joining us right now to weigh in. And Isaac Dovere, let me start with you. Trump has previously wanted to ban TikTok. So what do you make of his reversal now?

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, it's something, as Alayna was saying, that we saw coming down the road during the campaign. The question is why Donald Trump has made this change in his position. Is it because he is embracing a medium that is popular among younger people and saying that's where a lot of his voters were and wants to be popular in that way? Is it because of some arrangement that he wants to have with the company, which has obviously ties to the Chinese government in ways?

What is going on is it maybe related to donations or promises that were made during the campaign? We'll have to find out more of what this is. But there is no question about it. Donald Trump had a clear position on TikTok that is now the reverse of the position that he's taking with the Supreme Court brief.

BLITZER: Let me bring Charlie Dent into this conversation. Charlie, Trump met, as we heard, with TikTok CEO at Mar-a-Lago earlier this month. What does that tell you about the series of meetings that Trump has had with all these tech CEOs since the election?

CHARLIE DENT, (R) FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: Well, Trump clearly is listening to a lot of these tech CEOs. The fact that Donald Trump wants to expand visas for those who graduate from American universities or those with STEM degrees, I think that actually is a good thing, particularly with advanced degrees. But what it's also telling me, too, about TikTok is that Donald Trump, I think, is in a bit of a conundrum.

On the one hand, you know, he wants to be tough on China. And the United States would never -- I should say, China would never allow a company with close ties and National Security Agency to operate freely within China. That's the same argument being made about TikTok in the U.S. that the Chinese government has far too much influence and control over that company and its operations here in the United States access to people's data. And there are a lot of national security hawks within the House Republican Conference and across the whole conference who highly object to allowing TikTok to operate. So Trump's got himself a little bit of a conundrum here, both on TikTok and on this immigration policy, where he espouses a hard line but also acknowledges real needs in terms of bringing in legal immigrants.

BLITZER: Yes. He has publicly said on a few occasions that any foreign student who graduates from college in the United States, whether a graduate school or even junior college, should immediately be granted green cards to be able to stay in the United States legally.

[17:25:01]

Bill de Blasio, you're with us as well. Is Trump's view on this TikTok ban something you believe the U.S. Supreme Court should even consider?

BILL DE BLASIO, (D) FORMER NEW YORK MAYOR: I think President Biden's acting in national interest because there's clearly a national security problem here. So in that vein, I don't think the Supreme Court should be second guessing the legitimate action of the United States president. In fact, I would say Joe Biden's taking the smart step, the cautious step now. And then, of course, when President Trump comes into office, if he wants to modify the policy, he can.

But, boy, you know, Wolf, we are seeing the stark contrast between campaign promises and, you know, living reality. I've been through this. I can tell you it's really easy for Donald Trump to say he wants to be tough on China, but he also has all of his relationships, his business relationships and his other inside deals. But now the rubber hits the road. I think we know TikTok is a danger to national security.

How can you say, let's wait and think about it, let's take more time to try and find a solution when the danger is right now? It's happening right this minute. BLITZER: Lauren Tomlinson is with us as well. Lauren, I want to play something for you and our viewers that Trump said about TikTok earlier this month. Listen and watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: We'll take a look at TikTok. You know, I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok because I won youth by 34 points. And there are those that say that TikTok has something to do with that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So that was this reversal. It seems to be about where he stands on TikTok. Trump thinks TikTok was very helpful to him in winning the election. What's your reaction to that?

LAUREN TOMLINSON, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I think Donald Trump is threading a thin line that while TikTok is a national security issue and you know, his incoming, presumably Secretary of State Marco Rubio, is firmly in the camp that TikTok needs to be banned. Kellyanne Conway showed him some very convincing polling during the campaign that showed that TikTok was super popular among American youth. It's where they get a lot of their news. And it also is where it kind of plays into this theme that the voters and who Donald Trump is speaking to and how he built this unique coalition to win the election is not necessarily listening to legacy media. They're on social media, they're on TikTok, they're on YouTube, they're on all of these other platforms getting their information.

And so he wants to maintain that First Amendment right of people being able to be their own media, as Elon Musk has been saying on X lately. However, I think that when he goes in to take a look at this, he's going to revert back to the same place where all of us are saying that TikTok is still the same national security issue that it has been.

This, to me, says that this is a way to keep his campaign promise by speaking up in defense of TikTok now. And then once there's a review, he can revert back to his original position of TikTok being bad for the country.

BLITZER: We'll see what he does.

Isaac Dovere is with us. Isaac, I want to turn to this divide that has emerged in the MAGA world over these H-1B visas. What does this reveal about the challenges that Trump will face to hold his coalition, this MAGA coalition, together once he takes office?

DOVERE: Well, like as Mayor de Blasio was saying, there is a difference between what you say on the campaign trail and then when it comes to B. Changing the immigration system in this country to the extent that that Donald Trump promised to over and over again on the campaign trail is going to lead to massive disruptions in the way a lot of businesses run, how students come from overseas to be here, how workers come in. If he wants to live up to the promises, he is going to upset a lot of people who were backing his campaign for other reasons. And now he needs to figure out, can he pull this off? This was a question that was asked repeatedly during the campaign, how would you go about these mass deportations? And has been asked since he won of, well, is it going to be separating families again? Are you going to kick out everybody in a family if there's one person in the family who's not a documented immigrant?

How this goes is going to be very, very difficult to pull off, even if not for the political problems of trying to get everybody on the same page. But that is clearly going to be part of this, too. And you see this in the divide right to where Elon Musk is on this. Obviously, Musk, a pretty important and prominent supporter of Donald Trump, breaking with other prominent supporters of Donald Trump. How Trump squares that will, I would assume, be a major part of what he has ahead of him, given that this was a central piece of his campaign.

BLITZER: Yes, good assumption.

Lauren -- I want to get back to all of you. Everybody stand by. We have a lot to review. That's coming up.

Also coming up, just revealed body camera video from a New York correction facility showing officers beating a handcuffed inmate to death. What state officials are now saying about this shocking incident?

[17:30:15]

Also new charges for the suspect who set a woman on fire on a New York City subway car. And watched as she was -- she burned to death.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Truly shocking and disturbing body camera videos released by New York's attorney general show an inmate at an upstate New York correctional facility being beaten to death by corrections officers. CNN national correspondent, Jason Carroll, is joining us right now. Jason, these videos are very, very hard to watch.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Very difficult. There's no way around it, Wolf. I mean, New York's governor has called for night -- for 14 workers at the Marcy Correctional Facility to be fired. This after she viewed the video. New York's Attorney General Letitia James has also opened an investigation into Robert Brooks death. Her office has reviewed the body cam videos, calling what she saw shocking.

[17:35:03]

We want to caution our viewers. Again, the video is disturbing, but we do want to show you some of it. Body cam video shows what happened actually on December 9th. That's when Robert Brooks was transferred to the Marcy Correctional Facility there in Utica, New York. It's a medium security prison. You can see he was carried in there. He's taken to an examination room. He is restrained throughout the entire ordeal. He appears to be handcuffed behind his back once he's there in the examination room. And then we can see the correction officers beat him over the course of several minutes. There you see him being beaten in his buttocks. He is punched in the face at one point.

You can see there as they stuff something into his mouth. He's punched again. Again, I know this is difficult to watch. And again, at one point he is actually held by his neck and lifted up. He's then, you know, he's too weak at one point to -- to walk on his own and he's carried there to the other side of the room where he's held up against a wall as you can see there.

Again, this all happened on December 9th. The very next day, on December 10th, Brooks died. He was 43 years old. He had been serving a 12-year sentence for assault. Again, New York's Attorney General has opened an investigation into his death to ensured what she called transparency and accountability.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LETITIA JAMES, NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL: As in every case, the attorneys and investigators in my office are conducting an exhaustive review of the facts and the evidence. As Attorney General, you have my word that we will use every possible tool available to us to investigate this death thoroughly and swiftly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: Thirteen employees, including correctional officers, sergeants and a nurse, Wolf, have been suspended without pay.

BLITZER: Awful. Jason, what -- what is the union for the correctional officers saying about these allegations?

CARROLL: Well, the union, the labor union, representing the officers has weighed in on this, saying the following. In part, what we witness is incomprehensible to say the least and is certainly not reflective of the great work that the vast majority of our membership conducts every day. Also, Wolf, we should tell you that an attorney for Brooks family has also weighed in on this, saying what we witnessed, as expected, watching the horrific and violent final moments of Robert's life was devastating for his loved ones and will be disturbing to anyone who views the video.

He goes on -- she goes on to say, following its release by the Attorney General's Office, we will not rest until we have secured justice for Robert's memory and safety for the prisoners at Marcy Correctional Facility. They are now waiting for the outcome of the AG's investigation as they now have the grim task of making their funeral arrangements. Wolf?

BLITZER: Awful situation. Jason Carroll reporting for us. Jason, thank you very much. Also in New York right now, new charges of arson and murder today for the suspect who lit a woman on fire on a New York City subway car on Sunday morning. Police say he, quote, fanned the flames and watched the woman burn to death. CNN national correspondent, Gloria Pazmino, has been following this story for us. Gloria, break down these latest charges for us.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, the details are gruesome. And -- and now we know after today that the suspect in this case, Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, will be facing murder in the first and second degree charges as well as arson. That's after a grand jury voted to indict him today.

He is expected to be in court for the unsealing that indictment in January. And we are expecting him to plea during a court hearing at that time. This has been an incident that's gotten a lot of attention here in New York City. It highlights several issues, including homelessness, mental health, public safety in the city's transit system, but of course, also the broken immigration system and how it has affected New York City in the last several months.

Zapeta-Calil is said to have arrived in the United States in 2018, and he had been staying at some of the city's homeless shelters in the last several months. The victim, Wolf, she has yet to be identified. She, too, is believed to have been homeless, likely taking shelter inside of that subway train while she was sleeping. That's when she was set on fire by this man.

So a real collision of different issues that the city has been grappling with for a long time, particularly since the end of the pandemic, something that law enforcement officials have had to deal with, public officials had had to answer to. And now we are seeing this case play out likely in court in the next several weeks. Wolf?

BLITZER: Yes, hard to believe these are -- these crazy, horrible things are going on in New York. Gloria Pazmino, thank you very much.

[17:39:59]

Just ahead, a top White House health official during the COVID pandemic is warning that U.S. Health agencies may be making the, quote, same mistakes with bird flu. We're going to talk to an expert. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The first severe bird flu case in the United States is raising serious alarms right now among some health experts after a new CDC analysis revealed the patient's virus mutated into one that could be more transmissible to other humans. Dr. Paul Offit is joining us right now. Dr. Offit is the director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a key member of the FDA Vaccine Advisory Committee. Dr. Offit, thanks so much for joining us. How concerned should we all be right now about this virus's ability to mutate?

[17:45:00]

DR. PAUL OFFIT, DIRECTOR, VACCINE EDUCATION CENTER, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: Well, all viruses mutate. The -- if you look historically, there are 16 different types of influenza virus characterized by this H protein or hemagglutinin. The only types that have ever caused the pandemic are H1, H2, H3, H5 viruses have -- have never caused a pandemic. And this virus has been circulating for at least 20 years in 23 different countries, about 50 cases a year. There's been a thousand cases. And it has not yet shown the ability of being able to be spread from one person to the next. And that's because this virus has never been able to reproduce itself in the nose, throat or windpipe. And still we have no evidence that that's true.

I mean, I saw the genetic evidence of this Louisiana isolate. But again, there's not clear evidence that this virus can bind to cells in the upper respiratory tract and spread. So until that happens, I think we should be vigilant. But for right now, I don't think there's cause for excessive worry.

BLITZER: So do you think it's possible that this bird flu is on track to become a pandemic?

OFFIT: It's possible. But -- but this virus has never been a pandemic. I mean, influenza viruses have been with us since the mid-1300s. And -- and other than the H1, H2 and H3 viruses, those are the only ones that can bind to and reproduce in the nose, throat and windpipe. H5 viruses have never been able to do that. Could it mutate to that? Yes. Should we be ready for that? Yes. But to date, it hasn't happened.

So what you need to look for is when they isolate these viruses, there should be clear evidence that it can bind to these cells in the -- in the upper respiratory tract. And more importantly, that there's one example of human to human spread which we don't have yet.

BLITZER: I want to play for you, Dr. Offit, and for our viewers what Dr. Deborah Birx, the coronavirus response coordinator under then President Trump, said earlier today here on CNN. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. DEBORAH BIRX, FORMER TRUMP WH CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE COORDINATOR: I flashback to January of 2020 --

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Right.

BIRX: -- and I'm hearing the same words come out of the CDC.

BROWN: Like what?

BIRX: Low risk, low risk, human to human transmission. Our agencies are making the same mistakes they made with COVID.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So are the same mistakes being made. What do you think? OFFIT: I don't think so. I think that the FDA has now been meeting, I'm on the FDA Vaccine Advisory Committee to get ready for or if this does become a pandemic virus, we're certainly looking at these isolates to see whether they are able to reproduce in the upper respiratory tract. So I think I still agree with the CDC that this is a low risk phenomenon.

BLITZER: Let's hope it is. All right, Dr. Paul Offit, thank you very much for your expertise. We are grateful to you.

Coming up, coast to coast storms could make for a rough holiday travel weekend. We're going to tell you where the highest risk storms will be. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:52:21]

BLITZER: This weekend is one of the busiest travel periods of the year. And millions here in the United States will be impacted by coast to coast storms. We're tracking even more possible tornadoes in the south, feet of snow in the west and a deluge of rain in the east. CNN meteorologist, Chad Myers, is joining us right now. So what are you seeing this hour, Chad?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Those things you just mentioned do not go with trouble free travel, that's for sure. It's raining in Michigan, it's raining in Wisconsin and I mean we're talking the end of December. Shouldn't that be snow? No, we actually have the potential for severe weather across the Deep South.

This is a very warm storm for this time of year and we're still seeing some thunder and lightning at this hour. But the big event will be tomorrow, Wolf, down across the south. There may even be tornadoes on the ground. Forecast here is likely, likely even some bigger tornadoes that are going to be on the ground, EF2s and greater. And then on up to the north, that'll just spread the rainfall.

But if we move into Saturday, people are getting on the road. Rain up and down I-95. There's the thunder and lightning across I-20 just to the west there of looks like Nashville and also into Birmingham. But then on Sunday, it doesn't get any better. We're still going to see the rain here across D.C., Boston, New York City. And even if we don't see rain in New York most of the day, it'll be a low cloud day. And that could slow down the airports as well. You know, it doesn't take very much.

Now back out to the west where it has been one storm after another and people may be snowed instead of skiing. And they may just -- they have to take the next week off, too, because there has been so much snow, between 3 and 4 feet of snow in these ski resorts. The problem with tomorrow is that there will be some wind around as well.

But let me move you here. This is today we're going to see the rain and snow and then above about 4 or 5,000 feet, it really begins to snow. So for -- for Casper and Jackson Hole and all the way over towards Steamboat, all the way through Tahoe, of course, because that's a higher elevation, that's when the heaviest snow is going to be occurring. All of these purple spots are above a foot. And some of these mountain passes could be very difficult to get through if you're driving, Wolf.

BLITZER: Certainly awful situation potentially. Chad Myers, thanks very much for that update.

Coming up, more reaction to the breaking news on President-elect Trump's new filing with the U.S. Supreme Court as a ban on TikTok looms. But first, a closer look at the new CNN film looking at the storied career of the legendary artist and singer, Luther Vandross. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SINGING)

[17:55:02]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you're out there on the road, man, you know, you have your good nights and your bad nights. No, man. Every night, every night he was nailing it and expected everybody to nail it also.

(SINGING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We all appreciated the -- the -- the (inaudible) because it was making us better. And we saw year after year how -- how were developing. We were ready to get up every day and go to work for him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Luther Never Too Much Premieres on New Year's Day at 8:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific only here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:59:53]

BLITZER: Happening now, breaking news. President-elect Donald Trump is now urging the United States Supreme Court to pause a controversial ban on TikTok that's set to take effect next month.