A Defiant Suspect
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A defiant suspect knew details about the man police accuse of gunning down the UnitedHealthcare CEO and... We have a menu of options. What we're deciding right now is the sequence of how we run those plays. Trump's game plan: how the president-elect and his allies in Congress are planning to make his promises reality. And assault on Capitol Hill. Police arrest a suspect after Republican Nancy Mace says she was physically accosted by someone she calls pro-trans. Plus...

The winds coming straight down Malibu Canyon like a blowtorch. Out of control, fire crews struggle to get the upper hand against raging wildfires threatening Southern California.

All right, 6 a.m. here on the East Coast, a live look at New York City on this Wednesday morning. Good morning, everyone. I'm Casey Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us. We begin with the suspected CEO killer's first public words since his capture and his possible motivation. 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, defiant, fighting extradition back to New York where he faces five charges, including second-degree murder.

These are new images of Mangione eating a hash brown at an Altoona, Pennsylvania McDonald's moments before he was taken into custody. He was in court in Pennsylvania yesterday where he was denied bail. On his way in, this angry outburst. According to Mangione's lawyer, his client maintaining his innocence and pleading not guilty.

I haven't seen any evidence that says that he's the shooter. So that's, you know, like I said earlier, and I wasn't kidding around, a couple of things. If you're going to report something, report it accurately. And remember, and this is not just a small thing, the fundamental concept of American justice is the presumption of innocence. And until you're proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt, and I've seen zero evidence at this point.

Police say there's plenty of evidence. They have recovered several handwritten pages of Mangione's notebook containing a to-do list. In one passage about the Unabomber, he writes, using a bomb against his intended victim, quote, could kill innocents, end quote, and that a shooting would be more targeted. He also writes it would be better to, quote, kill the CEO at his own bean-counting conference, end quote.

According to people who know him, Mangione suffered from debilitating back pain in the wake of a recent surgery. The suspect even posting his spine x-rays on his social media. Police are examining that surgery and its impact on the suspect very closely.

He was posting an x-ray on his social media showing numerous screws being inserted into his spine. Some of the writings that he had, he was discussing the difficulty of sustaining that injury. So we're looking into whether or not the insurance industry either denied a claim from him or didn't help him out to the fullest extent. He knew that this conference was taking place at that time. The New York Times reporting that Mangione's mother filed a missing persons report on her son in San Francisco on November 18th.

just weeks before the shooting. Our next guest has a unique take on how Mangione managed to elude law enforcement for nearly a week. She writes this, quote, "The gunman has succeeded in avoiding identification in part by understanding how technology is used

And what its limits are. This killing raises the possibility that our surveillance network, an intricate web meant to enhance public safety and private security, has become so obvious and intrusive that criminal perpetrators can figure out how to dodge it.

Joining us now, the author of that Atlantic piece, CNN senior national security analyst Juliette Kayyem. Juliette, good morning. Always wonderful to see you. Can you explain a little bit more about what you're saying here and how some of these surveillance techniques maybe should be updated?

Yeah. So, I mean, basically in those first couple days, what you saw was a perpetrator, we now know it was Mangione, really seemed to sort of evade a lot of the safety and security features that are put into place in New York City and elsewhere to protect cities, including video and electronic surveillance. So basically I call it the surveillance state because that's essentially what it is. You have cameras everywhere.

And he evaded it through, you know, basically using cash, fake IDs. But also in the perpetration of the assassination itself, he really was good at sort of keeping his profile from being identified. His big mistake ultimately, of course, was there were so many cameras that eventually they were able to capture an object.

additional pictures, in particular one in the taxicab. But now that he's been caught, a lot of those surveillance features helped come up with pictures that would ultimately at least be publicized so that the person at the McDonald's was able to identify him. No family member came forward, as we now know, and it was just the sort of see something, say something aspects of this.

I'm not sure what needs to be updated. It does take a long time for the police to put together all those different pieces to come up with a picture that was then eventually identified. But it does show in many ways because

Because now that we know his background, that he used his smarts, his expertise in engineering and technology, his sort of obsession with gizmos and apps and computers to help him in this murder. This was not, he vetted police for a long time.

He sure did. Juliet, can you actually dig in a little bit on that piece where his family didn't come forward? Is that typical in cases like this? I mean, would you have expected? I mean, obviously they were worried about him. His mother reportedly filed this police report about him. I mean, what do you make of that?

Yeah, so I mean, there was a definite break with his past. Six months ago, family and friends we saw were trying to reach out to him. You saw on social media that friends were saying, you know, hey, where are you? That break may have come because of the surgery or some other issue that will probably be explained in his defense. And he is clearly a different person to them. There's no, the family never came forward and I don't want to guess

Why not? But, you know, it is worth raising that those pictures, let me put it a different way. If you were the parent of the person in those pictures, you would know that that was your son. There were enough pictures by the end of the week. Any of us who's a parent are able to pick out our kid. They did not come forward. They were clearly desperate to find him with the mother, you know, looking for filing a missing persons report.

There's no legal duty to rat out your son. There just isn't, unless they actually knew that he had committed the crime or could stop him from a future crime. There's no legal obligation to see something and then say something. It's a gap in the law, but as anyone could guess, it's probably quite complicated morally as well for that family. And we'll learn more about what the family was doing this week. It seems...

IT'S HARD TO BELIEVE THAT SOMEONE IN THE FAMILY DID NOT KNOW THAT THAT WAS HIM. JULIETTE KAYEM FOR US STARTING US OFF THIS MORNING. JULIETTE, THANKS VERY MUCH FOR YOUR TIME. I APPRECIATE IT. THANK YOU SO MUCH. COMING UP HERE ON CNN THIS MORNING, SYRIA IN TRANSITION, THE POWER VACUUM AFTER THE FALL OF ASSAD'S BRUTAL REGIME. CONGRESSMAN JAKE AUCKINCLAS IS HERE TO DISCUSS U.S. INTERESTS IN THE REGION.

Congresswoman Nancy Mace, quote, "physically accosted" on Capitol Hill, a suspect arrested. And Donald Trump's cabinet picks lobby for support, looking to win over key Republican moderates. Are you ready to support him? I had a good exchange and we'll see what the process bears.

You only come across an artist like Luther Vandross once in a lifetime. It was the most exciting time in the world. The CNN film, Luther, Never Too Much, New Year's Day at 8 on CNN. The one thing I can tell you coming out of that conference is Republicans united around making sure that President Trump's nominees are put in place and ready to roll up their sleeves and go to work.

One week ago, several of Donald Trump's cabinet nominees appeared to be on shaky ground. But there is a sense of growing momentum for picks like Pete Hegseth, the president-elect's choice to lead the Pentagon. Just after his announcement, he faced mounting allegations of sexual assault, alcohol abuse, and financial mismanagement at veterans groups.

But a pressure campaign to support Hegseth from outside is breaking through for senators like Joni Ernst, who seems to be softening her initial stance. Mark Caputo writes this in The Bulwark: "Shortly after Ernst offered a chilly reception to Pete Hegseth's nomination to head the Department of Defense, she recognized she was in trouble politically with grassroots Republicans calling for her head.

Quote, how do I make this go away? Flabbergasted Ernst said to an intermediary, according to a top Donald Trump advisor who received the message. Ernst Buckling underscored the choice facing 53 Republican senators in the weeks ahead. Board the Trump train or get tied to the tracks.

Now, another GOP senator who's seen as a potential obstacle for Hegseth's confirmation, Lisa Murkowski, met with the former Fox News host. She's not a yes publicly, but perhaps just as importantly, she's not a no either. I had a good exchange with Mr. Hegseth. Are you ready to support him? I had a good exchange, and we'll see what the process bears.

While the Senate works through Trump's cabinet nominees, it will be up to House Speaker Mike Johnson to push Trump's agenda through what will be one of the narrowest majorities in congressional history.

We have a menu of options. What we're deciding right now is the sequence of how we run those plays. And it's really important. The House and the Senate have different calculations on how that's done, but we all have exactly the same priorities. President-elect Trump and I will be talking about this in depth this weekend before the Army-Navy game. So we're going to come up with a play call that we have consensus on that will work for the American people.

All right, our panel's here to discuss. Annie Linsky, White House reporter for The Wall Street Journal. Jonah Goldberg, CNN political commentator, co-founder of The Dispatch. Kendra Barkoff, former press secretary to Joe Biden. And Matt Gorman, former senior advisor to Tim Scott's presidential campaign. Welcome to all of you. Thank you so much for being here. Jonah Goldberg, when you listen to some of those senators talk about Pete Hegseth, you've watched kind of his public campaign. It does seem to put an incredible amount of pressure on the hearing. But he's also clearly in much better shape than he was. Yeah.

Yeah, I don't think, I think a lot of these guys weren't in as bad shape as it seemed at the time. And I don't think they're necessarily in as good shape as they seem now, simply for the reason that you bring up, which is that this is always going to, for all these guys, the hearing is the make or break thing.

And I think if Tulsi Gabbard has a bad hearing, I think she loses. I think if Robert F. Kennedy has a really bad hearing, he could lose. And I think if Pete Hegseth has a bad one, depends what's brought up, how they react to things, whether there are circuses or not. So, you know, a lot of these senators are just basically saying, I don't want to tell you what I'm going to do one way or the other right now until I have better political cover to do one thing or the other.

Yeah, although it's still, I mean, Gates obviously didn't even get that far. Right, right. Yeah, and I think, look, I mean, you know, this is sort of a race against time for these guys. And one of the key things, particularly with Hegsath, but with all of the people that you mentioned, is does more come out? You know, I mean, if you had some of these women, you know,

making their allegations in person, showing up. I think that could certainly halt his momentum. But the other piece of it, too, is I think you saw with Joni Ernst's statement that there was a conversation between Hegseth and the senator and Joni Ernst about an issue that she cares a lot about, which is women fighting in the military. This is something that Hegseth had talked about on a podcast and said that he does

not support, but afterwards, after their meeting, he softened on that. So you do see a little bit of, you know, trading going on in these meetings. It seems like Ernst is getting something for her softened opposition. - Right, well, and I mean, Matt Gorman, the other dynamic here is that when you're out there by yourself, when you're out there alone, then these forces that, you know, Mark Caputo reported on in the Bulwark,

feel much more intense and have an impact. - Oh, absolutely. I mean, look, there's strength in numbers right now. 10 days ago, right after Thanksgiving, Kash Patel was the one in the proverbial hot seat. Then it was Pete Hegseth. A couple days ago, it was Tulsi Gabbard. It's this shell game where who's getting the most attention at any one moment? In 2016 and 2017, Betsy DeVos, after Andy Puzder, who was the original Labor Secretary, dropped out,

Betsy DeVos got almost all of that kind of left-wing attention. And Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins ended up voting against her. Now, look, I think to the point in the opening, there are different kind of tranches to this. I expect Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins to vote against at least one of these nominees.

That doesn't mean they don't get confirmed. But let's also face it. Susan Collins is up next year or two years in Maine. She needs to have a little separation. So it's when you start getting into the Joni Ernst and the other people where this bleeds past that three vote threshold that it becomes a problem. We're not there yet on anyone as of right now.

Kendra, let me show you what Senator Lindsey Graham had to say because, again, there are different pieces in terms of the Hegseth nomination. Specifically, there was, my sources have told me that the New Yorker piece about his management of veterans groups, some Republicans found, you know, got their backs up over it. But there is this sexual assault allegation that he paid a settlement for. And here's what Lindsey Graham had to say about that. Watch. The accusations about mismanaging money and about

non-consensual behavior. If they come forward, I will listen to those accusations, but they have to be credible and they have to be presented in a fashion that Pete can rebut. So he's much better off this week than he was last week.

What do you make of that piece of this, especially the non, he used the phrase, non-consensual behavior? - Yeah, I mean, if I were a woman in that place, it would be really hard for me to publicly come forward when you see this pressure campaign that's happening on the senators. As a woman, especially one who works in this space, why would I at this point come forward knowing what could face me, knowing what has already been out there? I mean, people have been trashing her left and right all over the internet.

Why would she come forward and do something in this space? It's a really, really tough spot for her to be in. And it's, you know, the American people deserve to know what happened if this man is going to go and lead a 3.4, you know, troops who run an agency with 3.4 million people. They deserve to know. But it's going to be a really tough fight if she does come forward. All right. Coming up after the break here on CNN This Morning. Caught on camera, a mysterious explosion.

A garbage truck suddenly blows up, sending debris across the Chicago neighborhood. That's one of the five things you got to see this morning. Plus, a lasting legacy, how President Biden is trying to emphasize his achievements during his last weeks in office.

All right, 25 minutes past the hour. Five things you have to see this morning. A wildfire threatening Malibu in Southern California. The Franklin Fire has scorched more than 3,000 acres after igniting late Monday night. The fire not contained at all right now. And...

You were looking at a garbage truck exploding just outside Chicago. It was on fire moments before the blast. Two police officers and a firefighter were injured. A 64-year-old hiker who had been missing for two days, now rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard. A ground rescue team heard shouting from a remote area of the Oregon State Park and found her.

A wild deer causing chaos in Pennsylvania. It smashed into the window of a local nonprofit, leaving behind thousands of dollars in damages. Community members came together to raise money to help with repairs. And then this. Took a horse and picked up the mail and delivered it two miles down the road. That's you. I hope you got that on camera. Miles down the road.

That was the Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, covering his ears during a congressional oversight hearing after Georgia Congressman Rich McCormick accused him of overseeing the fall of the Postal Service. I don't know, my toddler does things like that sometimes. I don't know if that's ever happened to you, Jonah. I do things like that all

Oh boy. All right, ahead here on CNN This Morning, speaking out, one of Diddy's accusers speaks exclusively with CNN about his experience at one of the music mogul's famous white parties. Plus, the killer obsession, why the internet seems to be rallying behind Luigi Mangione, the suspected CEO killer.

texting all my friends in New York that I hope they get called to jury duty. God, I want to do jury duty so bad. Well, at least it's stirring up a passion for civic duty, I guess. What is going on?

All right, welcome back. The killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, sparking a flurry of pent-up anger against the health insurance industry. And there are some online that are now casting his alleged killer, Luigi Mangione, as a modern-day Robin Hood. CNN's Jason Carroll reports on what's fueling this reaction.

This Ivy League hottie named Luigi is the Robin Hood that we never knew that we needed. I listened to Luigi's manifesto this morning three times and I cried. Honestly, it's beautiful and I agree with him. At least he left a very powerful message and he highlighted how terrible the healthcare system is in America. I think he'll go down as a hero in history. He had been a named suspect for less than 48 hours and yet within a fraction of that time, many in the world of social media had

already made up their minds about Luigi Mangione. I'm just eating it up because this is like regular everyday person becoming our hero, our vigilante. These types of comments angering law enforcement and public officials. I don't carry your views about health care companies because I don't think they're brave right now either. But you do not celebrate the assassination of another human being who was just doing his job.

But interest in Mangione just continues to grow. On X, before his arrest announcement, he had just 64 followers. Now, more than 320,000 and counting. His initial 827 followers on Instagram grew exponentially Monday as we watched. By 3 o'clock, more than 32,000. An hour later, 53,000. By 5 o'clock Monday, more than 71,000 followers before that account was suspended.

Many of the comments calling for his freedom and calling him a hero. Hear me on this. He is no hero. The real hero in this story is the person who called 911 at McDonald's. That McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, where a worker spotted the 26-year-old eating and called 911 Monday, targeted by Mangione supporters. What am I going to do?

I'm going to stop eating McDonald's. It got so bad, Google had to remove reviews after that location was flooded with negative comments.

Someone hung a banner above I-83 with the words "Deny, Defend, Oppose. Healthcare for All." A reference to bullet casings left at the crime scene. Amazon pulled apparel and home goods featuring the phrase. Online, Mangione may be a folk hero to some, but offline and in person, no shortage of those condemning him. Healthcare is a mess in this country.

But to celebrate somebody's death is sickening. The people in these higher positions, like CEOs, they need to look at the

themselves and their company and ask themselves, why are people so ready to condemn us? Why are they so willing to call someone who supposedly killed another human being a hero? While some suspect support for Mangione is not all about rage against health care, but instead something far more subjective and superficial. It's the halo effect like manifesting in real society.

You really like I truly believe so like people treat people who are attractive like way differently. People are like giving him leeway with this because they are fantasizing him a little bit. But I don't think violence should ever be the answer no matter the circumstance. What this could end up being is a case that just captures the attention of the American public for a period of time. I mean, you look at what's happening on eBay.

where you can find merch related to the case being sold. And the hashtag FreeLuigiMangione has been steadily trending on X. Jason Carroll, CNN, New York. All right, our thanks to Jason for that. And as he noted there, Mangione's arrest has spawned Spotify playlists, fan art, and tattoos that glorify the alleged murderer and his crime. TikTok's nickname for him, quote,

The adjuster, an apparent nod to the healthcare insurance adjusters who process claims. Mangione's lawyer saying yesterday that his office has even received emails with offers to cover the suspect's legal bills.

Obviously my client appreciates the support that he has, but I don't know, I just, I'd have to look in, but it just doesn't sit right with me, really. The Supreme Court says, you know, all these rich billionaires can give all kinds of money to candidates and that's free speech. So maybe these people are exercising their right to free speech and saying that's the way they're supporting my client.

uh jonah goldberg just a remarkable cultural moment uh here um a difficult one obviously i did think it was interesting that when jason went and talked to normal people even some of whom you know who were willing to say like our healthcare industry's got a lot of problems uh they were not saying the things that people are willing to say online yeah so that that's what struck me in the piece too and it proves yet again you know we say this we talk about this a lot in politics

The very online world is very different than the real world. And that said, I find all of this appalling. I agree it's a big cultural moment.

And it says something interesting. I wrote a book where a big part of my argument was that one of the reasons our politics are so screwed up is we're following politics like it's a form of entertainment. When you follow entertainment, you just root for the hero. You want them to win. You don't really care whether they break the rules and all that kind of stuff. And I think that's bleeding out into these other things. We've seen some of this before. D.B. Cooper, some of you might remember, was the guy who hijacked a plane and got all this money and parachuted out famously. They made a movie about him. He had copycats.

And normally I'm one to say that mass shooters and those kinds of people don't have a lot of copycats necessarily, or at least it's overstated sometimes.

when you start calling them a hero and a hottie and all this kind of stuff, it creates a much more perverse cultural incentive structure for somebody else to do this kind of thing. And there is something different going on here too where the algorithms on these social media platforms are rewarding people who are saying the most extreme things. And so those kinds of messages are being amplified, whereas the person on the street from that piece isn't necessarily being amplified. So I really think that plays into how this dynamic is unfolding.

A thousand percent. And I mean, a lot of talk to CEOs and corporate leaders I talked to are very concerned about security in a new way where they were, a lot of them were like Brian Thompson a week or two ago, just being a little bit more carefree about it, being willing to walk around without major security presence. That has changed a major way now. And Jonah's right. Like, if he looked at you or I, Jonah, like, he's not getting the same attention that he would looking, you know, kind of in a subjective way. What are you trying to say? Yes, exactly. But, you know, you're right. You're absolutely right.

But this is also a trend, I think, that you're seeing online across the board where people are very angry with everything. They're angry with politics. They're angry with CEOs. They're angry across the board. And they're taking it out on social media. And I think the fact that people are making him a hero, it is. It's abhorrent. It is ridiculous.

They should not be connecting healthcare with murder. And I think as a society, I mean, not to be the, you know, we just need to be doing better. We need to be, you know, lifting people up as opposed to, you know, trying to do what we do, what these people are doing on the internet.

All right, coming up next here on CNN This Morning, Antony Blinken is gonna be in the hot seat today to answer questions about the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Congressman, former Marine Jake Auchincloss is here to discuss what he wants to hear from the Secretary of State. Plus, an attack on the Hill, Congresswoman Nancy Mace says she was physically accosted on Capitol grounds. And President Biden's warning about what Donald Trump's terror threat could mean for Americans' pocketbooks. - Who do you think pays for this? I believe this approach is a major mistake.

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We have no intention of interfering in Syria's internal affairs. However, we do intend to do what is necessary for our society. As such, I have approved the air force bombing of strategic military capabilities left by the Syrian military so that they will not fall into the hands of the jihadists.

Israel striking Syria 480 times over the past two days and moving its forces beyond the demilitarized buffer zone and into Syria for the first time since 1973. The move, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meant to prevent extremists from seizing the country's strategic weapons stockpiles.

As Netanyahu looks to shape the new balance of power in the region, the White House hoping to contain the chaos, confirming Tuesday that they're in touch with Syrian rebel groups. The situation in Syria reinvigorating a broader debate about the role that the United States should play in the region and the world. I have as much experience in foreign policy as any president in the history of the United States has had. If we're not leading the world, who does? Not a joke. I'm not being wise guy. If we do not lead the world...

What nation leads the world? Who pulls Europe together? Who tries to pull the Middle East together? How do we do the Indian Ocean? What do we do in Africa? We, the United States, lead the world. All right, joining us now to discuss, Democratic Congressman Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts. Congressman, thanks very much for being here. Good morning. Let's start in Syria, where the Israelis have moved beyond this buffer zone and into Syrian territory. There is, of course, concern about, in particular, chemical weapons,

Are you comfortable with how far the Israelis are going? And do you think the US government should be supportive of that? - Yes, America and Israel are on the same page here. We collectively, I think, have three interests. One is the Syrians themselves, the second is our friends, and the third is our enemies.

The Syrians themselves have been under brutal rule for 50 years, and we want them to be able to self-determine and to throw off those shackles. And that really starts with a tolerant regime. It's a multicultural society. And HTS, or whatever group ends up taking over governance, needs to be affording protections for women, for Kurds, for other minority groups.

Number two, Israel needs to be able to defend itself. They're right to be taking out chemical weapons stockpiles or long-range missiles. There's a lot of bad actors walking around Syria right now. Nobody needs their hands on those. And then finally, our enemies, most importantly, Iran. Severing Syria as a transit corridor between Iran and Hezbollah is a major win for the United States and for Israel, and we should be doubling down on that. When your enemy's on their back foot, push them.

We're, of course, going to hear from the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, later on today in front of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The administration seems to have been reluctant to send him to Capitol Hill to discuss the... You know, I mean, there were Americans who died, right, at the gate. And, you know, the administration seems to have been reluctant

We haven't seen him answer for that. What do you expect to hear from the Secretary of State today? And what responsibility do you think he bears for what we saw during that horrible day of withdrawal?

13 Americans died at Abbey Gate, and Secretary Blinken absolutely should be testifying in front of Congress. That is a responsibility that Congress has, is oversight and accountability. I think he really has three jobs to do today. The first is defending the president's decision to leave Afghanistan, which remains the right decision. I would challenge you to find an American right now who's sitting there saying, "Boy, I wish we had 100,000 American troops fighting in Afghanistan against the Taliban," with all the other things that are happening in the world. It was the right call to get out of there.

Number two, he should talk about mistakes that were made. Just because it was a right decision doesn't mean it was executed perfectly. And then finally, he needs to draw a line that protects the generals and the officers who executed the strategy from political retribution under Trump. Because going after officers who swear an oath of the Constitution, who are executing orders given by politicians, is unfair and it demoralizes the military.

On that point, we've obviously had a lot of conversations recently about pardons, the pardon power, preemptive pardons. That's been in the political space. But considering your military background, on that point you make about we have also seen reports about potentially holding some of these officers accountable. Is there anything President Biden could or should do preemptively to protect some of the people that you're talking about? Regrettably, no.

There isn't a lot he can do proactively because when Trump comes in as commander-in-chief, he does have a tremendous amount of authority over the military command structure. That's one of his core responsibilities. And so that's why I think it's important that Secretary Blinken, as part of this testimony today, makes clear that for 20 years, U.S. military officers executed a fundamentally flawed political strategy in Afghanistan. They did so honorably. They did so competently.

And to go after them under a Trump administration would be unfair, and it would undermine the nonpartisan nature of the military.

Congressman, this morning we woke up to news that someone has been arrested after Congresswoman Nancy Mace, Republican, came out and said she was assaulted, that she ended up with a brace on her wrist, and that the Capitol Police had arrested someone. She obviously has been focused on trans-related issues that have raised her profile in recent days. But I'm

My question to you, the Capitol office buildings are open to the public. How concerning is it, do you think, that there has been an incident like this reported of someone assaulting a member? It's concerning, and that person should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. I've been on the Capitol when it was a fortress right after January 6th, and we had fences, and we had very, very tight security, and it really was not permeable to the public. I've obviously been here now when it's much more open. Open is better. It's the front porch of democracy, and Americans should be able to walk through it.

Do you think that there are, do you think this is a sign that America as a country, as a culture, is becoming more inured to violence as a means to

to political ends? I mean, we saw, obviously, we were just having a long conversation about what happened with the UnitedHealthcare CEO and what we've seen online in terms of sympathy for him. Now, something like this, someone coming to Capitol Hill to assault a lawmaker. - Yeah, unfortunately, social media amplifies anger.

That's what gets clicks. That's what draws people in, is the anger of it. And I think that sometimes can crystallize the worst elements of human nature. And then when you add that into the fact that the United States has the most lax gun laws of any developed nation in the world, you get a real recipe for violence. I mean, we make assault weapons purchasable by anybody at a Walmart with very few days of background checks.

We need to, one, condemn unequivocally violence wherever we see it against Nancy Mace, against a health care CEO. And number two, we need to get our gun laws in order so that safe storage, background checks, red flag laws keep people safe. All right. Congressman Jay Cockenclaus, thanks very much for your time today. Really appreciate it. Thanks for being here.

All right, 51 minutes past the hour. Here is your morning roundup. A massive wildfire threatening Malibu has now burned more than 3,000 acres. The Franklin Fire ignited late Monday. It's being fueled by high winds, the fire tripling in size in just a matter of hours. Everything, all these mountains were covered in flames, just covered. Like you took a crayon and just colored everything.

18,000 Malibu residents now under evacuation orders or warnings. One of Sean Diddy Combs' accusers speaking out with CNN. He is a John Doe who filed a civil complaint against Combs in October, claiming he was drugged and sodomized at one of the rapper's infamous white parties in this exclusive interview with CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister. The first drink started to have some effect on me.

Diddy's accuser says he kept the alleged assault secret since 2007, not even telling his wife at the time because of the shame that he felt. Diddy has denied all the allegations.

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrows home broken into while he was away facing off against the Dallas Cowboys earlier this week. The incident comes just a month after the NFL, NBA and NHL all warned teams about being targeted by thieves. In October, both Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelsey's homes were burglarized.

Now this, with just a little over a month left in his presidency, Joe Biden is defending his economic record and has a warning about what comes next. During his 40-minute address, the president took aim at Donald Trump's stated plans to impose tariffs on some of America's largest trading partners, including Mexico and Canada. He seems determined to impose steep universal tariffs on all imported goods brought to this country, on the mistaken belief that foreign countries will bear the cost of those tariffs.

rather than the American consumer. Who do you think pays for this? I believe this approach is a major mistake. Biden also taking credit for signing the $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package into law early in his administration, but also seems to regret not signing something else related to the rollout of that plan. You know, within the first two months of office, I signed the American Rescue Plan, the most significant economic recovery package in our history.

and also learned something from Donald Trump. He signed checks for people for $7,400 because we passed the plan. And I didn't. Stupid. Right, our panel has returned. Kendra, that was kind of a joke? I think it was a joke. But also, I mean, people have reacted to it because...

Maybe he was actually right. I mean, he was stupid not to. Yeah. Look, he's out there. He's talking about the 16 million jobs that he created. He's taking a victory lap. Lowest unemployment rate. I think, you know, if you if you see the facial expression, that is a Joe Biden classic. I am joking. Maybe, you know, kind of.

self-deprecating kind of joke. I think that's exactly what he's doing when he's talking about some really great things that he's done for our country and also sending sort of a sign to Congress about these tax cuts and what it could mean for middle class America.

Jonah, does this not, though, kind of underscore what it is about Donald Trump that has sort of cut through for a lot of Americans who are otherwise disengaged from politics? That like when they all got an economic stimulus check, it had his signature on it? Because President Biden, I mean, he uses the language of Washington. He's been in Washington, you know, for decades and decades. It's a really different approach. Yeah, no, look, I agree. And my own personal theory is that

Joe Biden, who watches another show early in the mornings, famously, on Monday, Bill Clinton gave an interview with Joe Scarborough where he said Donald Trump knew what he was doing by putting his name on those checks. And then, boom, Joe Biden picks up on it. So that's my theory about that. That said...

Yeah, I mean, look, I'm a noted critic of Donald Trump. Doesn't mean I'm a critic of everything that he does. But one thing that you can give him credit for or blame for or whatever is that he does not talk like he relies on focus groups.

And he does not talk like he poll tests his phrases or that he has been inured and shaped by the culture of Washington. And there are a lot of people who pick up on that and who like it. And Joe Biden is a creature of Washington to his core. He's been here longer, I think, than I've been alive. And I think I'm the oldest person on this panel. So, yeah, no, I think your point is right.

I mean, it reminds me a little bit. So when Social Security was first created, they were obviously uncertain about the future. They didn't think it would be lasting this long, right? And FDR really insisted that it be put in people's pay stubs because people thought like if they see it coming out of their money, people will demand it when it's their time. And it's that sort of kind of mindset in a similar way that you see kind of with the Trump checks now. And, you know, sure, you see those infrastructure signs on the highway or at certain places that have Joe Biden's name very prominently. But

it doesn't cut the same way as getting a check in your mailbox. The signs are often right before there's like construction on the highway. After a big highway jam, yeah. I think the Biden people have been really frustrated. They feel like they were good stewards of this economy. They got a really, you know, they came into office when COVID was going on. You know, the country didn't go into a depression. And at least to me, a lot of that speech and then Jared Bernstein was in the room

White House briefing afterwards was about saying, like, look, hey, these are the benchmarks. We're handing over an economy that was in rough shape. We did a lot to get it into, to stabilize it. Inflation is closer now to the target that the Fed wants. So I think that's what they were trying to lay out. But they've never, this White House has always struggled to articulate its message. And again, he also has a problem that he took all of Trump's first term

trade policies and kept them in place, essentially. And so it makes it for -- requires more nuance to explain why Trump is wrong on trade when you took all his policies. -Yeah, very interesting. All right. I'll leave you with this. -Google just released their year-end search, which shows the things people around the world Googled the most in 2024. Yep, it's Google's nice little way of saying, "We're absolutely spying on you." Meanwhile, tomorrow will be way more fun, 'cause they'll be releasing the top searches done with incognito mode.

Google is releasing their spy, oh, I mean search results for the year. Perhaps it's no surprise, the top trending search for the year was the US presidential election. The Paris Olympics also starred heavily in searches this year. The top performance search, yes, you guessed it, the Australian break dancer who went viral for her, shall we say, unorthodox routine. Now how about the top recipe?

- Do you know the Muffin Man? - The Muffin Man? - The Muffin Man. - Oh my God, Olympic chocolate muffins. After a Norwegian swimmers TikToks showcasing those treats at the Olympic Village took off, the village started selling out of the muffins after his viral reviews hailed the muffins as 11 out of 10. - See how I do my makeup for work? Very demure, very mindful.

If you're like me, I had no idea why everybody was suddenly saying demure this year. Oh, guys, come on. You're not giving me enough credit. The people who I do actually know what this is. The term took off after this video from TikToker Jules LeBron. According to Google, the word became the top search for people trying to figure out the meaning of that Internet trend this year. I mean, I guess I guess I did probably have to Google it. I don't know.

You guys have to go to the way. I don't think I would have picked it up. I'm not that cool. All right, guys, thank you very much for being here. Thanks to all of you for joining us. I'm Casey Hunt. CNN News Central starts right now.

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