said in public what they say in private, it would be better for everyone. >> yeah i don't think this helps in terms of trust in institutions. yes presidential campaigns aren't exactly the most important institution, but it does suggest that, uh, democrats and the harris campaign haven't quite figured out why they lost or if they have, they're not talking about it and that doesn't seem good for the party to kind of try to move forward and figure out 2028 is not, in fact, 2026 is not that far away they've got to figure out what their party is going to look like in the next two, four years and how they're going to respond to donald trump's administration. >> tim walz said he was stunned. i mean, in interviews with the local press in minnesota so that he was surprised. >> and by the way, they spent $1.5 billion with a b on something that they really thought it was inevitable. they couldn't have won. >> right. and i also just don't think that they want to look yet. and i think that that's going to be the problem heading into 26, because the democrats have a lot to do to to move voters heading into the midterms. yeah they do.

>> all right. thanks, guys. really appreciate it thanks to all of you at home for joining us as well. i'm kasie hunt. don't go anywhere. cnn news central starts right now breaking this morning. >> historic shifts of power one of the world's most brutal dictatorships has been toppled rebel fighters in syria overthrowing the assad regime so what does this mean for u.s. >> interests, including u.s. troops stationed in that country? >> president-elect donald trump laying out a sweeping list of his biggest priorities on day one of his second term at the top deportations and following up on the january 6th insurrection, rapper jay-z calling allegations he sexually assaulted a 13 year old girl, quote heinous and a blackmail attempt. >> the disturbing accusations leveled against both him and sean combs in a new lawsuit. i'm jessica dean with john berman sara sidner and kate berman are out today. this is cnn news central

all right. >> happening now. celebrations following earth shaking developments in the middle east in the fall of one of the world's most brutal dictators, bashar al-assad, in syria just a short time ago rebel forces were seen ransacking assad's palace breaking overnight, assad and his family they arrived in russia, granted asylum by vladimir putin. this morning president biden calls assad's stunning fall a, quote, moment of risk and historic opportunity. there is no doubt that russia, iran and hezbollah have lost a crucial ally. but the fear as the wall street journal puts it, is that it could, quote create a dangerous vacuum with spillover effects into neighboring countries. the rebel group seizing power sprouted from islamic extremist extremism and their intentions this morning are murky at best. we want to get right to cnn senior

international correspondent fred pleitgen. he's outside the syrian embassy in moscow. an interesting place to be this morning. good morning yeah, it certainly is john. >> and i think some of the things that we've been hearing from the kremlin earlier today, certainly also indicates, at least that the russians are also very much coming to terms with the new situation. it was quite interesting. we were on a conference call earlier today with the spokesman for the kremlin, dmitri peskov, and he confirmed that it was vladimir putin himself who made the decision to grant bashar al-assad and members of his family asylum here in russia as they put it, on humanitarian grounds. of course, for the better part of yesterday, it was absolutely unclear where assad was, but it was the russians who were the first to confirm that assad had indeed left the country. the russians also confirming that they were very much caught by surprise at how quickly the assad regime collapsed. the spokesman for the kremlin saying that he thinks everybody was caught off guard, but one thing that certainly seems to indicate that this new reality has set in even among the biggest

backers of bashar al-assad, is the fact that i'm standing in front of the syrian embassy, and if we pan up, we can see that as of this morning, john the flag of the syrian opposition is flying above this building. so this is now the embassy that is under control of the syrian opposition. we were asking some folks here at the embassy earlier and they have said that the embassy here is operating as normally. so those operations are continuing for the russians. of course, this is a pretty big blow to their operations inside the middle east. we know the russians have their main air base in latakia, near latakia, in a place called khmeimim, with which they project power, not just in the middle east, but all the way into western africa. as well. and of course, a big naval port just last week, the russians had big naval exercises originating from that port, where they fired some really powerful missiles, not just from ships in the mediterranean, but also from on the ground in that naval port in tartus. earlier today, on that same conference call, the kremlin was asked

what will happen to those bases, and they confirmed that they simply don't know. they say they have to see how the situation inside syria is going to play out. who is going to be in power inside syria? the russians claim that they are in contact with all the armed groups on the ground in syria, as well. they did say that their forces inside syria at this point in time are on high alert. they say the situation is calm outside their bases but of course, the existence, the future of russia's military footprint inside syria right now very much in question. >> john, just one of the things in question this morning frederik pleitgen in moscow. and i do have to say that flag, the syrian rebel flag now flying over the embassy, the syrian embassy in moscow, just a sign of how much power and influence russia has lost in the last what, 72 hours in the middle east? fred pleitgen, our thanks to you. >> jessica with just over a month until inauguration day, president-elect donald trump is laying out a sweeping plan for his first days in office. among his biggest priorities, tackling immigration. the

president elect detailing deportation efforts and who would be targeted. also on his immediate to do list, addressing those who took part in the january 6th insurrection and those who investigated it. cnn's alayna treene is joining us now. elena, let's start first with those deportation plans. what more did we learn well, jessica we did hear him kind of double down on his promise to have mass deportations early on in his administration. >> he said that he wanted to start with trying to deport criminals. criminals who are here illegally, but then, you know, take a broader brush to kind of the entire immigration system in this country and have those mass deportations for others as well. he also said that he wanted to end birthright citizenship something he said in his first administration, but then never ended up doing so. doubled down on that as well. but one of the really interesting things that he said and we hadn't heard this on the campaign trail at all, was that he wants to

figure out a way to protect dreamers, children who came here with their parents when they were very young and are still in the united states. take a listen and we have to do something about the dreamers, because these are people that have been brought here at a very young age and many of these are middle aged people now. >> they don't even speak the language of their country. i will work with the democrats on a plan and if we can come up with a plan. but the democrats have made it very, very difficult to do anything. republicans are very open to the dreamers. the dreamers now jessica, look, donald trump has said something like this before in his first administration that he wanted to do something to protect dreamers. >> but again, he had not vowed to do this on the campaign trail. and i think specifically, what was interesting about this was that he wanted to work with democrats on a plan. i'd remind you in his first term, he did actually call and try to end daca, the deferred action for childhood arrivals, a program that was first installed by barack obama

that was later struck down by the courts. but again, this would be a big change from kind of his posture that we've heard so far. and honestly, as someone who attended a lot of donald trump's rallies covered him so closely over the past couple of years, this was really the most sympathetic i've heard him talk about dreamers and immigrants. really. this throughout his entire campaign, he was saying he wanted to deport people. there were no loopholes. he wanted to get everybody out. now he's kind of changing his tune a little bit. and i do think that part of this is, you know, now that he is elected, he's having some of these conversations about what makes the most political sense on this issue. and we're starting to see some of the the contours of that come together now. >> yeah this was very new, a very new tone. and speaking of tone, he has also shifted that on some of his opponents. but elena, we heard a new threat as well that's right. >> i want to start with what he said about pardoning the january sixth. those who were convicted for their role on january 6th in the capitol attack, he said again that he

wanted to issue those pardons he said it would be a day one priority for him, and he kind of painted in this interview with meet the press kind of painted it with a broad stroke. it was unclear, you know, and it's still unclear whether or not donald trump is going to pardon all of the people who were convicted or do this on a case by case basis. when i talked to donald trump's team, you know, there's mixed opinions from different people. if you talk to some of the more hardline critics of what happened on january 6th, they argue that everyone should be pardoned. others are saying it needs to be a case by case basis, especially for the people who you know, maybe not pardoning the people who actually committed violent crimes or attacked police officers. so that was notable. and then also he said that he didn't want to seek political retribution on joe biden specifically, but he also left a lot of room for his different appointees including his incoming or his pick for attorney general pam bondi, as well as kash patel, his pick to lead the fbi to make those decisions themselves. so something to keep an eye on as well, jessica. >> all right alayna treene with the latest from west palm beach, florida thank you so

much for that reporting jay z responding forcefully this morning after being named in the same sexual assault lawsuit that's targeting sean diddy combs. the disturbing allegations from a girl who was 13 when the alleged assault happened. plus, six days on the run. now for the gunman who killed the unitedhealthcare ceo. we still don't have a name or a murder weapon. details on where those search efforts will focus today. and there's a new highest paid player in sports how juan soto just landed a $765 million deal. >> welcome to times square that's not of my life. >> we're was so embarrassing. >> new year's eve live with anderson and andy live coverage starts at eight on cnn. streaming live. >> you didn't get where you are playing it safe. you seek opportunities. others don't. your growing ambition needs a partner built for growth with

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wipe out. >> all new sundays at nine on tbs this morning jay-z is denying allegations he sexually assaulted a 13 year old girl alongside sean combs at a party in 2000. >> he tells cnn the claims are, quote, heinous and an attempt to blackmail him, and he is heartbroken for the impact on his family so the civil lawsuit was first filed against combs in october. it was amended sunday to include jay-z. combs is in prison awaiting trial. cnn's elizabeth wagmeister is doing great reporting on this is here with the very latest. elizabeth. >> so as you said, john, this original suit was filed by a jane doe back in october. it named celebrity a and celebrity b. celebrity a was said to be a male anonymous celebrity. celebrity b was an anonymous female celebrity. now we do not know who celebrity b is, but now we know that that male anonymous celebrity is jay-z so jay-z is alleged to have raped

a woman who was 13 years old, a 13 year old girl. at the time. the allegations are very graphic, but what she is alleging is that she was drugged at an afterparty for the video music awards, the mtv vmas in the year 2000. she says that she felt woozy and lightheaded after having some of a drink. she went into a room to lie down because she didn't feel well, and that is when she alleges that diddy and jay-z and this anonymous female celebrity came in. she says that she was first raped by jay-z who she alleges pinned her down then she says that she was raped by combs as jay-z and this female celebrity watch. now, as you said, jay-z is denying this and he came out very, very strong, saying that he's actually being extorted by the alleged victim's attorney. >> you've also been in touch with, well, you're in touch with all the teams here. elizabeth. what are they saying? yes. >> so jay-z, as i said, he came out very strong. and just to kind of put this into context. jay-z never talks. he never responds to anything. he wrote

this statement himself. this is not something that was written by a publicist. it's very lengthy. so i just want to read you part of what he says. quote, these allegations are so heinous in nature that i implore you to file a criminal complaint, not a civil one. whomever would commit such a crime against a minor should be locked away. would you not agree? these alleged victims would deserve real justice if that were the case? so there he is talking to the attorney for the plaintiff, tony buzbee. is his name in jay-z. actually filed a suit against him claiming extortion anonymously last month. now, i want to read you another part of jay-z's statement where he references his family. he says my only heartbreak is for my family, my wife and i will have to sit. our children down, one of whom is at the age where her friends will surely see the press and ask questions about the nature of these claims and explain the cruelty and greed of people. of course, his wife being beyonce. now i have reached out to a representative for beyonce. she has not responded, but again,

this is very rare for jay-z to comment and come out. and in the lawsuit it was revealed that there were efforts for mediation before. jay-z is calling that extortion. the attorney is saying no, we just wanted to settle it privately. >> all right. there's a lot going on here, a lot more reporting to do. elizabeth wagmeister great to have you here going through this. thank you all right. after years of talking inflation republicans are feeling great about the economy. but has anything really changed? and 152 shows a total of 10.1 million tickets sold. the eras tour is now over. assessing the staggering impact of taylor swift can't fool myself. >> it was the most exciting time in the world. >> his life had extremely joyful moments and some really difficult moments. >> you only come across an artist like luther vandross once in a lifetime. >> luther never too much new year's day on cnn. berwick every year, millions of noses are ghosted by their plugins. >> new airwick advanced our groundbreaking plugin that

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win has republicans feeling great about the economy again. that is according to a new survey from the university of michigan. democrats, however, not feeling the same. cnn's matt egan joins us now. matt walk us through what they found. well jessica, you're right. >> republicans are finally feeling really good about the economy. >> consumer sentiment among self-identified republicans has spiked to the highest level since november of 2020. this is according to the first. yeah, look at this. look at this shift. it started just a few months ago sentiment among republicans was really low. it was in the basement and then the election happened and boom. right. it's like someone flipped a switch and suddenly everyone is feeling very good among republicans, this is the first consumer sentiment survey since the election. now, obviously, not much has changed on the ground, right? unemployment remains pretty low cost of living pretty high. but what has changed is the election. and so we've seen expectations among republicans and democrats completely flip. among republicans expectations for the future has almost

doubled over the last few months to very high levels. but look at this. there's a massive gap between republicans and democrats among democrats. they're feeling the most pessimistic since covid. think about that for a moment. again, all of this changing because of the election. we've seen divides like this before. when there's changes of power in the white house, but still the scope of that divide does speak to some polarization in the country and look at this among democrats. sentiment is now at the lowest level in over two years. back when gas prices were at almost $5 a gallon and inflation was at a four decade high. that's the last time sentiment among democrats was this low. now i know this kind of feels like republicans and democrats are living on different planets. but i talked to university of michigan economist joan hsu who runs this survey, and she told me it's not that they belong to different realities. they're looking at the same reality. they just don't agree on the

implications of policies. and so republicans, they're fired up about the trump agenda democrats, not so much. yeah. >> and it is interesting because not really much has changed to your point in the actual data. it's in the eye of the beholder. now we know that president elect trump has proposed a lot of policy changes, especially when it comes to the economy. he ran on that. what what are getting people the most excited? >> well most attention is definitely far. and away being paid to the trade agenda. university of michigan found that 1 in 5 consumers spontaneously mentioned tariffs. >> that's pretty high for them to just say it. >> yeah, they just said it. they weren't asked about trade. they just said tariffs were on their mind. that's up from 2%. just a few months ago. and what's also really telling is that the percentage of people who say it's a good time to buy durable goods, stuff like cars, appliances, furniture has surged, not because people are feeling better about the economy per se but because they're trying to get ahead of price hikes. that could be coming because of higher tariffs.

>> wow. so they're like factoring that in already. it's already a factor. okay matt egan very very interesting stuff. thanks so much. new photos of the suspect wanted for the killing of the ceo of unitedhealthcare. we'll tell you where police are searching right now and get your brackets ready. the college football playoffs are now set. we're going to tell you more about that in just a moment this cnn business update is brought to you by invesco qxk. >> let's rethink possibility. invesco distributors incorporated car. >> this isn't the way home that's right james. it isn't. >> all right, where are we going? >> we're here the future isn't scary. >> not investing in it is. >> were you in on this? >> nothing gets by you, james. >> nasdaq 100 innovators one etf. before investing carefully read and consider fund investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and more in

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quote, moment of risk and historic opportunity. cnn's arlette saenz is at the white house. >> president biden has cast this as a moment of opportunity for the syrian people as the country is now rid of the crushing regime under bashar al assad. >> but at the same time, the president has acknowledged that there are also risks and uncertainty here managing those risks will be a key priority for president biden and his team in the coming days and weeks. the president is expected at some point to speak with counterparts about the situation, and he will also deploy top u.s. officials to the region now among the top priorities is trying to ensure that there isn't any room for a resurgence of isis. the president, in remarks yesterday said that they acknowledged that isis could try to take advantage of any power vacuum in syria at this time to try to reestablish their capabilities that is something that the u.s. adamantly does not want to see happen. and that is why the u.s. had launched dozens of airstrikes in syria on sunday.

they targeted about 75 isis targets using a range of air force assets in the region, including b-52 bombers and f-15 fighter jets now, in addition to trying to ensure there's no resurgence of isis, the u.s. also has to figure out how they navigate this rebel group, which toppled assad. that group is known as h h t s and it is a group that the u.s. has deemed as a terror organization. u.s. officials have said that they also believe that significant portions of hts also has ties to isis. president biden biden did voice some cautious optimism about the words coming from the rebels, but also said that they will be judging the group by their actions going forward. the u.s. is also concerned about any chemical weapons that could be in syria, and u.s. officials said that that is something that they will be trying to identify and work on in the coming days. and weeks. now, perhaps complicating all of this is that this is playing out as president biden only has six weeks left in office this is an

issue that president elect trump will inherit when he is coming in. so far, he had urged the u.s. to stay out of this matter as the situation was unfolding and really he's offered very few clues for what he thinks the future of syria should be like for president biden's part, he said that that is a decision that is up to the syrian people. >> all right. with us now is john kirby, the white house national security communications advisor. thank you so much for being with us. what a moment with so much going on. first off, 75 strikes yesterday sunday on isis and extremist targets inside syria. any update to that overnight pentagon is doing what they call a battle damage assessment of that john, we don't have a firm indication of of the assessment of each and every one of those strikes. >> they do believe, preliminarily, that they were very, very successful in hitting legitimate isis targets. and further degrading their capabilities the strikes continue this morning well, i think that remains to be seen,

john. i mean, we have kept the pressure up on isis now through the entire four years of this administration through these kinds of strikes. we'll continue to do that as we see valid threats. so i'm certainly not going to rule anything off the table in terms of additional strikes on isis and what is the status of the u.s. >> troops stationed in syria this morning we have good contact with all of them. >> there's not that many. i think, as you know, they are there just to go after isis. and every indication that we have right now is that they are able to continue to prosecute that mission safely, efficiently and effectively. but as the president said yesterday, this is going to be one of his top priorities a to make sure that they can continue that mission against isis, because isis remains a viable threat and b that that their force protection their safety and security can be ensured. so we're going to be monitoring that literally every single day. >> what contacts have there been at this point between the united states and hayat tahrir al-sham? has this rebel group that toppled bashar al assad?

>> yeah, i certainly can't speak to any direct communication that we would have had with the leader i can tell you that we are already in touch with counterparts some of those counterparts have ways of delivering messages to all the rebel groups, not just it's not the only group involved here. and so we are going to be, as the president said yesterday, exploring our avenues to communicate with all of those groups who's running syria this morning that's an open question, right now, the rebel groups are in charge of damascus again yes, it's sort of was the vanguard here, but they're not the only rebel or opposition group in damascus as we speak. and i think they're trying to work that out amongst themselves. but it is an open question. in fact, the the very fact that it's an open question, john gives us concern, as the president said, we're in a period of uncertainty here. and so we're going to be working through all the processes we can, including at the un, to make sure that there is adequate communication with these opposition groups and that we are all working

together on the for the best aspirations of the syrian people how much power have russia and iran lost in that region? >> a lot, frankly, a lot. >> i mean, you look at iran their so-called axis of resistance hamas decimated sinwar is gone. hezbollah their leader's gone, nasrallah is gone. and they now are in a ceasefire with israel and now assad. there are other their other proxy in the middle east gone, and syria's future very much as we said, an open question. iran has also been hurt deeply by the sanctions regimes that the united states has kept and increased on them, as well as our european partners and, of course, they've been degraded militarily by some of the strikes that israel has conducted. so they're looking at a very different middle east when they're waking up today. and it doesn't include one that has them with the ability to, to, to execute any hegemonic ambitions that they had once had russia. the same way russia wanted assad in power, so that they could have

a footprint in the middle east now, that footprint is in question because their their their proxy, assad is no longer there and they need to answer, by the way, john, for why they're harboring assad on on russian soil, a brutal dictator who killed millions of syrian people in a little bit. >> i'm going to have the family of austin tice, the american journalist who's been held in syria since 2012. they will be on with me this morning. i know events have moved very, very quickly here but what is your sense of his status this morning? the president has suggested he'd been held by the syrian government that government is gone. who's holding austin tice this morning? >> but we want to we want to answer that question as quickly as possible as well. as the president addressed this, i think as you saw yesterday, we're not giving up on austin. we're not going to give up on the important task of bringing him home to his family where he belongs and getting the answers that we have been frustrated in getting in the past. so certainly this opens up some

additional uncertainty and some additional risk here. on the other hand, it's not as if we were making great progress with assad to get more answers on austin. so this also could present as much as a risk and a challenge. it could present an opportunity for us to get a little bit smarter here and see if we can't get him home quickly. >> how much do you trust this? the rebel leader abu mohammad al-jolani and ain't about trust john it's not about trust at all. >> it's about. it's about actions. it's not about words. it's about deeds. the president talked about this yesterday. so far, he and other rebel group leaders are saying all the right things about what they want to do and just as importantly, what they don't want to do in terms of instituting some sort of harsh islamic law and really cracking down on on a very diverse, rich historic culture there in syria but we're going to have to watch and see what they actually do, which is why we're having conversations with our counterparts. in the coming days, you'll see the president on the phone with leaders in the region here in coming days, and we're going to be having these same conversations at the un. it is not about trust. it

really is about monitoring and action and deeds, not words. >> all right. as i said quite a moment, john kirby. we appreciate you being with us this morning. thank you very much, jessica happening today, two of president-elect trump's picks for key national security positions are set to meet with top gop senators on capitol hill as they prepare for their confirmation fights. >> they are tulsi gabbard, who's been tapped to be the next director of national intelligence and kash patel. of course, trump's pick to lead the fbi. now, patel is widely seen as a controversial figure with a deep disdain for washington elites. one source saying the former mid-level justice department lawyer now, quote, sees enemies everywhere. cnn's zachary cohen has new reporting now from washington. and, zach, what more are you and our colleagues learning about patel's background? >> yeah, jessica, we talked to more than a dozen people who have worked with patel and some who've known him for years, and they all describe somebody who sees himself largely as an outsider and frankly, carries a large chip on his shoulder as a result of

that. and look, that's really informed his worldview and fueled his rise within trump's universe. and this can really be traced back to his time as a mid-level justice department lawyer, and specifically to an interaction that he had with a texas judge back in 2016. at that time, patel was fresh off a plane from the middle east appeared in a courtroom as part of a case that had been ongoing for several weeks now. and the judge, frankly, was immediately suspicious of patel, saying, quote, who is this patel guy? you're just one more non-essential employee from washington and ultimately issuing an order of ineptitude against the justice department because of her issues with patel specifically and his presence in her courtroom. and this is something that really stuck out to people we talked to about who kash patel is, what fueled his rise from a low level mid-level doj attorney, a public defender, to trump's pick to be the fbi director. one source commenting, quote, thinking back about it now, i can see the arc of him going from this guy who was obsessed with one episode to someone who

sees enemies everywhere. i think he was always like this, an opportunist who feels constantly aggrieved. now kash patel sort of strategy is a lot of people we talked to described was really focused on getting face time with donald trump, and it's one that a lot of them said was obviously successful. as patel sort of coming out of nowhere to be trump's pick for fbi director. now he's going to face a lot of questions on the hill this week. people are going to question his qualifications and some of the things that he said in public about investigating or wanting to investigate trump's political enemies. but kash patel really carrying this chip on his shoulder from the time he was a young prosecutor up until this point. as one of trump's biggest defenders. >> really interesting look at what brought him to this moment. zachary cohen, thank you so much for that reporting. and joining us now cnn political commentator karen finney and cnn political commentator scott jennings. good to have both of you. good morning good morning. good morning. scott i want to start first with you. we just went over patel and also tulsi gabbard going to be on capitol hill meeting with senators and

gabbard. i want to zoom in on for a second, because this is a particularly interesting moment and confluence of events as we saw the fall of the syrian assad regime over the over the weekend and she met with assad back in 2017 and 2019. she said he was not the enemy of the united states. it is quite the timing to really put this into perspective. there are a number of democrats, but also some republicans that have real questions about if she is the right person to be the head of dni, the director of national intelligence, which of course, brings together all of the intelligence threads that those agencies are following. what do you say to them well, look, this is the purpose of a confirmation hearing. >> i mean you get to ask people questions in these preliminary meetings and then ultimately you go to the table and you do it under oath. and so, gabbard who, by the way, we should mention is a current military officer in the united states, served her country honorably, also was a member of congress. i mean, she has a resume here, and she has proven loyalty to

the united states. it doesn't mean she shares all the same foreign policy views. a lot of these members of congress. but, you know, she is a loyal american. i don't think there's any doubt about that but that's the purpose of these meetings and these hearings and all these folks are going to get a chance to answer questions, and we'll see if they can make it or not. she and hegseth and patel and the rest of them all really have the same opportunity to prove yourself. you've got a resume, you've been picked by the president, but ultimately it's on you to prove yourself. >> and karen, so far, senate republicans have and again, these confirmation hearings haven't started yet. that will come next year but so far senate republicans have been very active in this meeting with a number of people. we saw matt gaetz take himself out of the running for ag pete hegseth carries on. despite a lot of questions and controversy around him. but again, as scott points out this is the process playing out and look that is the most important thing that has been happening. >> these meetings are an encouraging sign that suggests that the president rather than trying to do interim

appointments as he had been discussing even republicans on capitol hill seem to be signaling the importance of going through the normal process and for them to be able to, you know, for these nominees to, as scott pointed out, come forward, answer the tough questions under oath. and that's very important. we know that they're all very loyal to donald trump and to his agenda. but we need to know more about their background specifically and their capabilities in in the tasks with which they are being nominated for tulsi gabbard, as you point out, this is a very precarious time given what this change in syria means for geopolitics in the middle east and how it affects russia, and how that will therefore affect other parts of the middle east, as well. >> and we also heard president elect trump talking about immigration over the weekend on nbc news. karen were you surprised to say that or to hear him say that he wants to

work with democrats to figure out a solution for dreamers no. >> look, it was clear that the overall goal of this interview was, you know, his tone was very different than what we saw on the campaign trail. although many of the policies were, if you were listening, they were actually quite similar. but this was clearly meant to try to tone things down. it's been a very chaotic couple of weeks for the president with his very these stories about his nominees. so he was clearly trying to project, you know confidence and a bit of calm. it was good to hear that he would consider working with democrats on protecting dreamers. but again, very disturbing to hear the commitment to trying to overturn birthright citizenship. and there again, the president misspoke. 35 other nations also also have birthright citizenship and it is a fundamental part of our constitution so i think paying attention to what happens on

that and frankly, what his doj nominees will say on whether or not they will seek to find ways to justify that for the president. >> scott, what do you what did you think about his comments on immigration well, i thought he was very measured and i thought his overall interview, by the way, was really good. >> the tone was good. he's clearly focused on the future, not on going back into the past. that was a direct quote from him. he's focused on immigration. he's focused on bringing down prices and energy exploration and energy production in the united states. these are all the priorities that he ran on so i think his projection of that about how his focus and his attention is going to be spent was good on immigration specifically, i thought we got a very measured, reasonable and realistic donald trump he knows it's a problem he's got to solve he knows he needs to work with democrats especially in the senate, to get something done and he knows the american people are tired of inaction on this. and so i thought he hit all the right notes. i mean, he talked to kristen welker for over an hour. we only got to see a portion of it. but i

watched the entire thing. i thought from soup to nuts. donald trump was had a really good weekend, both from his trip to europe and then also on this nbc interview. if he can sort of maintain this kind of problem solving posture, he's going to get off to a really good start in january. >> i do want to touch on what you bring up really quickly before we go this weekend trip, where we saw him in france meeting with emmanuel macron, the president of france, meeting with president zelenskyy from ukraine. scott, i know i talked to you the day it was happening, but it was striking because he is not the sitting president. he is the president elect right now. and yet here he was meeting with these world leaders and really looking quite presidential over the weekend yeah, the country of the united states has moved on. >> the world has moved on. donald trump doesn't take office until january, but you can see the rest of the world is already treating him like he is the power center of the united states. and so i'm glad he went. this cathedral reopening is a huge deal to so many people around the world.

catholics, christians it's a historical moment. it was also a chance for him to talk to some of our biggest allies, people. he's going to have to be coordinating with on some of these problems that joe biden is leaving behind. donald trump is hitting the ground running. i mean, he's already out doing the things that we need him to do to get the country back on track. so between that, between his interview with meet the press, you can see here that donald trump is not going to have a passive presidency. this is going to be an active start to this presidency and the rest of the world responds to leadership. we've not had a strong president. we have one now. everybody knows it. >> all right. karen finney and scott jennings, we have to leave it there because we're out of time. but i appreciate both of you. thanks so much and brand new details on the manhunt in new york, why officials are looking at literal monopoly money found in a discarded backpack and from the godfather to i can't make you love me, a star studded kennedy center honors and a twist how the award ceremony paid homage to a historic stage

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atlanta in connection with the investigation. the nypd released two new images, one appears to show the suspect riding the back of a taxi on the day of the shooting. another shows him walking down the street. authorities say the shooter's backpack was found discarded in central park, filled with monopoly money but no weapon. nypd divers searched the lake in central park this weekend for evidence, including possibly the firearm. with us now, john miller, cnn chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst. let's start with the newest things here. these pictures, these new pictures. talk to us about the significance and the police work involved in getting them. >> well, the significance is, of course, you still have them with a mask and, you know, the top of his head covered, but he's looking directly into the camera practically. you look at that picture and you are looking straight into his eyes. that picture is taken we're told, by people briefed on the case up around 178th street and amsterdam avenue which is to the non-new yorkers in the audience, means way uptown across the street from a park and right next to that bus

terminal where they believe he may have taken a bus back to wherever he came from. the police work is fascinating because he dumps the bicycle on 86th street, so that's 178th street. they run trg trg is the trip record data. it's electronically captured by taxis. how many passengers? where was the pickup? where was the drop off? and they run it from the time they lose him at seven. you know something in the morning on the video canvass and there's a taxi pickup right there, and it ends at 178th in amsterdam. so then they get the the camera data from that cab, which, you know, they usually keep for civil litigation or if there's a hold up in there robbed and they have this incredible picture. >> it really is incredible to go through all this. what does what do police have on this guy at this point? but where does that stop? >> all right there's a print taken off the cell phone that

they found during on the route that he fled from. the from the murder. they have that print that prints been run through afis. no record has popped saying this guy is a convicted criminal or arrested felon. so that print is over here. they have dna that they've extracted from two things a water bottle and a power bar, which he purchased together at the starbucks. but that when they ran that through codis, which is the the dna version of the fingerprint data that didn't pop with anything. so what they have is they have good evidence for when they identify somebody. but first they need that somebody. >> all right. the monopoly money in the backpack. john, what is seen as the significance of that only the killer knows that. >> but the supposition is that a that an individual who killed the head of a health care company leaving behind bullets and shell casings shell casings, that said, deny delayed, deposed is leaving the monopoly money in a backpack that he knew police would find

or assumed police would find. that is a sign he's still telling us a story, and it seems to be a story about money and greed. >> all right, we're six days in. at this point, some developments, but at this point, no closure john miller, great to see you. thank you very much. thanks, john. jessica a tribute to the legendary band the grateful dead at the kennedy center honors last night in washington. >> the recipients of the lifetime achievement awards for artistic accomplishment also included singer songwriter bonnie raitt oscar winning director francis ford coppola, and jazz trumpeter arturo sandoval. they shared the spotlight with harlem's legendary apollo theater, the first performance venue to receive the prestigious honor for recognition for artistic intelligence. the ruby slippers worn by judy garland in the wizard of oz just went for a record $28 million at auction. the iconic shoes, one of only four surviving pairs, were

stolen from the judy garland museum in minnesota in 2005. they were finally found in 2018, and the anonymous winning bid is the most ever spent at auction on a piece of movie memorabilia. and it is the end of the eras tour. taylor swift closing out her final eras tour show in vancouver last night, 152 concerts in 52 countries. the tour didn't just break records, it smashed them, selling more than $2 billion in tickets. swift said she's forever grateful to the millions of fans for their dedication and passion. quite a tour john. >> all right just mammoth sports news overnight. that is the yankees lose. dot dot dot one soto. and we have a new like highest paid player in sports. let's get right to cnn sports anchor coy wire the soto sweepstakes goes to yes the new york mets of all teams reportedly signing superstar

slugger juan soto to the richest deal in the history of sports 15 years. >> john 765 million bucks. it beats out shohei ohtani's ten year deal. he signed with the dodgers last year. >> the deal includes no deferred money and has escalators that can reach above 800 million. >> per espn, the 26 year old heads to queens after one season in the bronx as a yankee, where he helped them get to their first world series since 2009. this comes out to about $51 million per year. john that would be like $140,000 per day every day for the next 15 years. >> it's a good job if you can get it. boy, i have to say, the yankees gave up a lot to get soto for one year and not win a world series but an aside, that's an aside. all right we now have the brackets for the first ever 12 team college football playoff who's in who's out in a shocker. >> your harvard and my stanford did not make the cut john but undefeated oregon. they get the

number one overall seed and a bye. and from there things get a bit interesting georgia boise state arizona state get the other byes. the biggest debate centered around whether alabama deserved to get in ahead of smu. three loss. bama had a much tougher schedule, but didn't make their conference title game. smu had just two losses. one of them to clemson in the acc title game. on a last second field goal, the committee sided with smu. they will go to penn state while clemson plays at texas. the other matchups are notre dame hosting indiana and ohio state hosting tennessee. john, the first round games kick off december 20th and 21st, with two of them on our sister channel tnt. >> i'm super excited about this, but i still don't quite know how to process the whole college football playoff thing coy well, i'm with you. >> i think all of us are just getting the hang of it but a lot more excitement for many more fan bases this time of year. >> and it starts soon. it starts like in a week, which is awesome. all right, coy, thank you very much. brand new hour of cnn news central ar