can learn about your family, lifestyle, goals and needs, allowing us to tailor your portfolio. >> what about commission based products? >> we don't sell those. we're a fiduciary obligated to act in your best interests. >> so how do your management fees work? >> we have a transparent fee c

by granger for the ones who get it done. >> welcome to times square that's none of my life. >> new year's eve live with anderson and andy. live coverage starts at eight on cnn. streaming live on max. >> closed captioning is brought to you by christian faith publishing. write for a higher purpose. publish with us. christian faith publishing is an author friendly publisher who understands that your labor is more than just a book. call or scan for your free writers guide. ( 800) 455-1827 this is cnn breaking news. >> our breaking news. fbi director christopher wray says he will resign at the end of the biden administration. it's an announcement that came just last hour. president elect

donald trump had already made it clear he would replace wray with loyalist kash patel. >> it's important to remember that it was trump himself who appointed wray, a fellow republican who still has three years remaining on his ten year term. we're, of course, covering all the angles of this story. cnn's evan perez, kristen holmes and lauren fox are on the story. evan, first to you at the department of justice. what are you hearing? >> well, boris, this was a little bit of a surprise. the fbi director does an annual all hands meeting with employees around the country. and what what what happened today was he moved up that traditional, that traditional meeting that he does. and in this case, he announced that he was planning to resign. he's resigning at the end of the biden term, which is, of course, january 20th. and ahead of the arrival of the new president, donald trump. now, as you pointed out, donald trump had already made clear that he plans to replace christopher wray, that he was

unhappy with the leadership of the fbi, and he had already chosen kash patel, who has begun making the rounds on capitol hill to be confirmed as the next fbi director. now, the fbi director held a meeting last hour with employees, and here is some of what he said. he said after weeks of careful thought, i've decided the right thing for the bureau is for me to serve until the end of the current administration in january and then step down. my goal is to keep the focus on our mission, the indispensable work you're doing on behalf of the american people every day. in my view, this is the best way to avoid dragging the bureau deeper into the fray while reinforcing the values and principles that are so important. so to how we do our work. now, one of the things that we know behind the scenes that's been happening, boris, is that the director has been meeting with people he knows, people he trusts inside the bureau to try to figure out how

best to do this. the consideration here was, do you resign before january 20th or do you wait for donald trump to come in and do the actual firing? and in the end, the director decided that one of the things he wanted to do was to find a way to say goodbye to the employees he's been serving. they're obviously close to seven years of the ten year term. part of the pushback that he was getting inside the bureau and from people here at the justice department was, you know, you can't just leave because that normalizes the idea that you can just replace fbi directors when you just don't like what they're doing. their work. donald trump, of course, fired james comey in 2017, and he appointed chris wray chris wray still had three more years left on that ten year term. but some of that consideration, i think, changed over the last few days. you started seeing republicans in congress. chuck grassley, for instance, sending a letter saying that he lacked confidence in chris wray and the fbi leadership. that is part of what you see, maybe

changing the calculation here for the fbi director yeah. >> no doubt. evan, thank you so much. stand by for us, if you would. let's go to kristen holmes, who is live near mar-a-lago. what's the reaction like coming from inside of trump's circle? kristen? >> well, brianna and boris, we just got a statement from donald trump on truth social. moments ago, where he is essentially celebrating the resignation of christopher wray. unsurprisingly, he says the resignation of christopher wray is a great day for america as it will end the weaponization of what has become known as the united states department of injustice. obviously, we've heard him say this before. i just don't know what happened to him. we will now restore the rule of law for all americans under the leadership of christopher wray, the fbi illegally raided my home without cause. worked diligently on illegally impeaching and indicting me and has done everything else to interfere and interfere with the success and future of

america. it goes on and on. but i do want to kind of stop here, because i think this is really the key of where donald trump's head was at when it came to christopher wray and the fbi. this was the real turning point with christopher wray was when his house was searched, not raided, but searched. in 2022 for classified documents by the fbi. this ultimately led to his indictment. donald trump's indictment in 2023. but this was clearly a turning point for donald trump when it came to christopher wray. now, it was unsurprising to some in donald trump's circle that christopher wray decided to resign because there really were only two options, as evan said, to resign or donald trump was going to fire him so that he could install kash patel or at least nominate kash patel officially and have him go through the process. donald trump was intent on getting rid of christopher wray and starting over at the fbi. and what we have seen on capitol hill, and i know lauren will probably talk more about this was a more receptive audience to this idea of getting rid of

christopher wray and putting in kash patel more receptive audience among senators when it came to kash patel than even donald trump's transition team was expecting. and i will remind you that just a few days ago, donald trump was point blank. asked if he was going to fire christopher wray and what he said was, well, i'm putting up kash patel for the job. so it would seem that he has to have a job to take. there has to be an opening there, and we're going to get to that opening either way. and clearly the way christopher wray decided on his own accord was to leave with a resignation rather than wait for donald trump to take action and fire him. >> yeah, the writing was on the wall for wray. kristen holmes, thank you so much. let's go out to capitol hill now with cnn's lauren fox, because evan alluded to this a moment ago. lauren, lawmakers had kind of been telegraphing to wray that he should consider resigning yeah, exactly. >> and just a few minutes ago, i actually talked to senator john cornyn. he's a senior member of the senate judiciary committee. and i asked him, you know, what is your initial

reaction to this news? and he said, this is probably for the best. now, he called wray an honorable guy. he said the politicization of the justice department was something that, in his view, had happened before wray had actually taken over. but he said, clearly, trump did not have confidence in the current fbi director. and he said this was probably the most straightforward and best thing for the department. i think you heard that echoed in what evan said that wray delivered to his employees earlier today. but one thing to keep in mind here is that this was all coming amid the backdrop of republican senators like senator cornyn meeting this week with kash patel. and cornyn told me just a couple of days ago that barring any unforeseen circumstances, he was prepared to potentially vote for kash patel. now, he was asked, you know, if kash patel gets this job, are you confident that he is going to be able to return the department of justice to being an agency that americans,

including maga world, can support and think is not politicized? and he said time is really going to tell. he did not give a definitive answer, and that is coming from someone who said that he is prepared to vote for kash patel in this moment, barring any unforeseen circumstances. i also talked to senator ted cruz, another member of the judiciary committee who's a republican, who said, look, this is the best thing because the writing was on the wall. this is where we knew it was headed. it's better for christopher wray, perhaps, that he'd make this decision rather than be forced into it in just a couple of weeks. >> yeah. lauren, thank you so much. let's go back to evan perez now at doj. evan, you have some more on what it was like inside the room as wray announced this. this was a like a bureau kind of town hall event. >> right? brianna. it was a it was a standing room only crowd inside this conference center there at the fbi headquarters just across the street from where i'm sitting. and we're told that, you know, there were people who were anticipating

that perhaps something might be coming today. and certainly once he was finished with his remarks, there was a standing ovation, a full standing ovation. for several minutes. there were some people who were seen crying in the room, you know, again, to reinforce that there is this there is a lot of respect for chris wray inside the fbi. i will say that, you know, some among the retired fbi corps, the people who have left the bureau, there is a certain amount of of dissatisfaction with chris wray. and part of it, because a lot of them, frankly, are trump supporters and they don't like some of what the fbi has been doing the last couple of years. and so what you see, though, from the troops, the people at the fbi is certainly a lot of respect for chris wray. he's well-liked among those fbi employees. and you saw that today as he made his remarks. brianna. boris. >> evan perez live for us from doj. thank you so much. let's get into this further with retired fbi special agent dan

bruner. he's also the president of the bruner sierra group. dan, thanks so much for being with us. your reaction to this news? are you surprised by this resignation of fbi director wray no. be honest with you, boris. >> i'm not. >> i expected this to be coming down the pipeline, i had hoped. >> i did not know where it would be, whether he was going to stick around to be fired. you know, a lot of those individuals were saying that he should stick around and not change the precedence. but i'm glad that he is going out on on his terms and he's setting the tone. the fbi was under a very good leadership under director wray for seven years, and most and half of my career. so it was it was a it was a good administration. it was a good organization. like any other organization, there's always room for improvement. and i believe a new director will change some things up and it will be an improvement. but i'm not too surprised about this resignation. he does these town halls from time to time. i

had heard rumors this morning that this could be coming. it could be an announcement today, so i'm not surprised at all. >> what are your concerns about? or maybe you don't have concerns. what are you thinking about? kash patel as potentially the next fbi director. >> i think kash patel has got a you know, he's got a large desk to fill. i think he's coming in with a lot of loud ideas. um, he has yet to prove himself, obviously. and i think he's he's going through up on the hill talking to the senators and trying to convince them, you know, he's got a large step from what he was doing as a chief of staff to running a 35 000 person organization. i think a lot of his statements that he said in podcasts before, i don't think he can he can't do that. he can't shut down the fbi headquarters and send all 7000 employees into the field because 6000 of them, 6000 of those employees are not gun carrying agents. so that can't

be done. so i think that he, you know, can come in. i hope he listens to those that are there. i hope he learns about the organization from the inside. he has his opinions about the organization, which are rightfully so. the fbi needs improvements, and i will be the first one to say that there are problems at the doj. there are problems at the fbi, and that those things can be changed. but the most important thing is i hope he comes in, listens to those that are there any changes he makes, the changes he wants to change. but at the end of the day, no matter what, i know that the and i talked to a lot of the street agents that are still in the field. they're going to continue to uphold the constitution, and they're going to continue to follow the lawful orders. all of those that are above him speaking to some of those lawful orders. >> and it's mentioned specifically in the social media post that donald trump just made. dan the chief criticism that we've heard from donald trump of christopher wray was the fbi searching mar-a-lago and as

trump describes it, illegally raiding my home without cause. he talks about illegal the working diligently to illegally impeach and indict him. i wonder what you make of those criticisms of ray if fundamentally that search of mar-a-lago was ordered by a court, it was approved by a grand jury, signed off on by a judge, was there much that christopher wray could have done to please donald trump in that situation? >> no, i believe that he was just in a position where he was going to be the fall guy and the, you know, he had those search, those searches of mar-a-lago and the other things surrounding that investigation and other investigations that are under question. we're all legally obtained in front of a judge. evidence had to be shown. probable cause had to be shown. all the tracks of the of the investigation up until that point had to be shown to the court before it was legally signed off. warrant, search warrant and to conduct a search at mar-a-lago. so i believe

that director wray and i'm sure he had the final approval on the search. and at the end of the day, he's going to be the fall guy because he is the the director of the fbi at the time of the search. so there had to be someone to to take the brunt of the storm. >> dan bruner, very much appreciate your perspective. thanks for joining us. thank you. still to come, officials now telling cnn about a shell casing and or rather multiple shell casings and fingerprint evidence that they believe could tie luigi mangione to the killing of unitedhealthcare ceo brian thompson. this as investigators track down new clues about a potential motive. the latest on this investigation. when we come back i've been worn by celebrities, athletes and world leaders, but i've always felt most comfortable up here with the folks that made me who i am. >> i'm right at home out here on the land, and i'm in my

lane on the shoulder of the interstate because this is where i come from. i've been showing up here for nearly 200 years, and i can't wait to see what's next. >> hats off to the future. >> nothing runs like a deer. >> i have type two diabetes, but i manage it well. it's a little pill with a big story to tell. i take one daily jardiance at each day start. >> as time went on, it was easy to see. i'm lowering my a-1c. >> and for adults with type two diabetes and heart disease. jardiance can lower the risk of cardiovascular death. >> two serious side effects include increased ketones in blood or you're in, which can be fatal. stop jardiance and call your doctor right away if you have nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, tiredness, trouble breathing, or increased ketones. jardiance may cause dehydration that can suddenly worsen kidney function and make you feel dizzy, lightheaded, or weak. upon standing. genital yeast infections in men and women. urinary tract infections, low blood sugar, or a rare, life threatening

bacterial infection between and around the and genitals can occur. call your doctor right away if you have fever, or feel weak or tired and pain, tenderness, swelling or redness in the genital area. don't use if allergic to jardiance stop use if you have a serious allergic reaction, call your doctor. if you have rash, swelling, difficulty breathing, or swallowing, you may have increased risk for lower limb loss. call your doctor right away if you have new pain or tenderness, sores, ulcers, or infection in your legs or feet jardiance is really swell. >> the little pill with a big story to tell. >> i'm a forgotten subscription. poor guy. signed up for my free trial a year ago. i forgot to cancel. now he pays me $18 every month. it's awesome. >> don't let this happen to you. download rocket money today falls are the number one cause of injury to senior citizens. >> acorn stairlifts has the solution. just don't fall. sit. relax. ride with an acorn stairlift the world's leader in stairlifts. don't let

limited mobility keep you from going up and down your stairs, even outside. call acorn stairlifts now for a free information kit and no obligation. quote. why risk falling when you can safely ride our acorn stairlift is definitely more affordable than moving. the acorn stairlift has a padded seat and backrest. safety sensors stop the chair if there are obstacles. the seat swivels and locks so you don't twist your body and the acorn stairlift folds away. it even runs during power outages. >> i was really surprised at how little it cost. >> call one 800 611 827 right now for your free information kit or visit our website today. that's one 800 611 8027. hello, brad. >> dad sing the world. all the boys and girls now. >> i didn't sign on for this. >> it's christmas. bah,

humbug. >> christmas is the time to be with the people you love singing talk to the world. >> go wow you and me. >> chase really knows how to put the heart in your local community. see what i did there hey, jackie evan. >> my guy. >> you helping them with savings, right i wish i had somebody like evan when i started. somebody just got their first debit card. ice cream on you ooh, tacos. i got you wait. hold on. don't you owe me money? what? your money is a part of your community, so your bank should be too. like chase. >> i'm rahel solomon in new york, and this is cnn some breaking developments now about perhaps the most evidence yet against luigi luigi mangione, who is the 26 year old man accused of

assassinating unitedhealthcare ceo brian thompson. >> new york police say the gun that was found on mangione when he was arrested in pennsylvania on monday has been matched to evidence at the crime scene. here's the police commissioner. first, we got the gun in question back from pennsylvania. >> it's now at the nypd crime lab. we were able to match that gun to the three shell casings that we found in midtown. at the scene of the homicide. >> cnn chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst john miller is here with us. john, these shell casings that the commissioner is talking about here, are these those ones that had been marked with words we would expect by the gunman that were found at the scene? >> two of them are and one of those uh, unfired bullets was also marked with writing. but what you've seen here is a

couple of turns today. first, yesterday, with the matching of the fingerprint found on the phone and the water bottle and other evidence they collected from the scene to the prints taken in the arrest. so that puts, in theory, allegedly, the suspect they have in pennsylvania at the scene of the new york murder. but the gun is with him in pennsylvania. how does that tie to the new york murder? well, with the ballistic match to the shell casings found on the ground there, that puts the gun and the prints in new york. and then the gun and the person whose prints those are in pennsylvania. so when you hear statements that the defense attorney is making and that's his job, which is, you know, there's no indication that my client is the person involved. if this physical and forensic evidence is is is what it is meant to be, that puts him in both places. he and the gun in

pennsylvania, and he and the gun in new york. >> and what are we learning about fingerprint evidence, john? >> well, the fingerprint evidence was a match that was made yesterday from the latent prints that they picked up at the scene, principally off a discarded burner phone, which could have belonged to somebody else. it had a print on it. but remember, until they had this arrest the other day, they didn't have anybody to compare that to. they ran it through the aphis system that runs prints against all of the known people who have been arrested across the country, just like they ran those shell casings through the nibin system. atf's national integrated ballistic network, to see did they match any shell casings that were found at other crime scenes anywhere in the country? and both of them came. both of them came out not in the records. so in this case, they now know who that print belongs to, according to police. and they now know that those shell casings belong to the gun that

was with him when he was picked up in mcdonald's. now, the third piece, of course, is going to be dna, dna that they recovered from a number of surfaces, including the phone and the water bottle at the scene versus the dna that they take from him when they extract it. >> and what have you learned about a notebook that contained evidence of a potential motive? >> when he was arrested? according to people briefed on the case, he had a three page document, you know, that was handwritten. but separate from that, there was a spiral, a spiral notebook. and in the notebook there were basically his notes for the preparation of the assassination of brian thompson to do lists, things he needed to obtain, places he needed to go, items that you know, needed to be checked off, but also some thoughts on justification, comparing what he is doing against health care executives to what the

unabomber, ted kaczynski, was doing to other big businesses when he was sending out those kind of random bombs to executives. but he said in a bombing, i could have collateral damage. i could end up killing innocents who were not my target. he said, what better way to do this than to shoot the ceo of the largest company at his own beancounting conference? to paraphrase. >> wow. john miller, thank you so much for the very latest here. such intense interest on this. and we do appreciate it boris, turning now back to our top story. >> fbi director christopher wray announcing his intention to resign. wray still had three years remaining on his ten year term, although president elect donald trump previously announced that he would nominate kash patel for that role. let's discuss with republican congressman warren davidson of ohio. congressman, thank you so much for sharing part of your afternoon with us. your reaction to fbi director christopher wray announcing that he will resign at the end of the biden administration.

>> yeah, it's welcome news. >> we're very excited about it. the fbi is broken. we need cash now. >> what is it about kash patel that makes republicans like yourself excited about? is he, in your eyes, the most qualified nominee to lead the fbi in the agency's history as president trump just put it on social media? >> well, let's look at when donald trump nominated christopher wray. he was an insider. he was supposed to be a trusted, reform minded insider to kind of restore trust of the american people after james comey had undermined that trust. he had republicans and democrats that were frustrated in the 2016 election cycle because they felt comey had overly politicized the fbi. so wray came in and was supposed to restore trust. i think objectively, anyone has to say that has completely failed. trust in the fbi is at all time lows. christopher wray made things worse, not better. so now you'll see a very consistent theme from the incoming trump administration. they're trying proven, trusted

outsiders who know they intend to reform things. when donald trump said drain the swamp, he was over the target. and this time he's finding outsiders who are very committed to that. >> trump described wray as a man of impeccable qualifications. when he nominated him, he got confirmed by the senate 92 to 5. what is it that you say? he objectively did wrong? >> he failed to restore trust in the fbi. he was clearly politicizing it. they were weaponizing the fbi against all kinds of folks. remember not long ago it was a conspiracy theory to say that the fbi was working with tech companies to silence a, you know, political opponents. and then elon musk bought twitter, rebranded it as x, and we had matt taibbi come testify before the house weaponization committee the very day he's testifying before the committee. the irs serves a warrant to search his previous tax returns. they want to do an audit on him or not. the fbi, the irs comes in and wants to audit him. so they

said, oh, we weren't doing that by the end of this. what does that have to do with christopher wray? mark zuckerberg is out there saying no because he leads the fbi. and who was leading the ringleader for silencing silencing speech. it was the fbi, mark zuckerberg saying, yeah, this was going on and we were being asked to do it. look at what was made public by the judiciary committee about banks that they would say to banks, hey, we need your records on so and so. and they say, yeah, that's fine. give us a warrant or a subpoena. and instead of doing that, they would pick up the phone and say, hey, you don't really need a warrant or a subpoena, do you? could you just hand over the files on this, create some suspicious activity reports? and look, we talked about operation choke point, how people were being debanked for years and it got no traction. suddenly it goes on. joe rogan with marc andreessen, and now people go, oh, yeah, it's actually happening. the new york times just this week finally reported the truth. it's not a conspiracy theory, though. who's at the center of all this? it's all these three letter agencies like the fbi,

led by people like chris wray. so all these consummate insiders that were supposedly 92 to 5 no brainers to be confirmed, they haven't been proven trustworthy. they've completely destroyed the trust of the american people. and we need people to come in from outside to do what they failed to do. >> so some of your republican colleagues in the senate, especially like chuck grassley, lindsey graham and others who have described christopher wray as an honorable man, as someone who has done good things for the agency. you don't agree with them at all. >> i think, look, prior to being picked as director of the fbi, he did have the confidence of a lot of people. but his performance on the job was terrible. and so, frankly, i thought that president trump should have fired him in his first term, let alone, you see, how he continued to conduct himself. really, you're going to provide a list of pro-life catholics to the fbi, and you're going to put them on

watch lists. i mean, you're going to you're going to go after parents who show up at a school board meeting, and you got the fbi pushing out the field offices to target people that show up. working with the department of education to create a pretext to investigate american citizens who make their voices heard at school board meetings. and that says nothing of how they've targeted people who committed trespassing acts. on january 6th. so they've completely used the power of the office to undermine the trust of the american people. and meanwhile, they denied that crime was getting worse. this was on christopher wray's watch, and it had to be fact checked, right. in the closing days of the election. so every way he could undermine trust, he did. so he started out fine. but no, no, we don't trust them anymore. >> some of those folks were accused of very serious crimes that you just ran through. and also the folks that were trespassing on january 6th. i mean, the legal system essentially adjudicated what they deserved. they were tried and many of them were convicted. some of their cases are still being figured out, but they were they went through

a legal process. i don't know if all of that falls on christopher wray. nevertheless, the largest the largest spend of resources in america's history, the biggest spend of resources, the largest, perhaps one of the biggest stains in its history, as well as what happened on january 6th. nevertheless, sir, we brought you back to talk about pete hegseth, and i want to ask you about that before we go, sir. >> okay. >> you've expressed support for hegseth as the secretary of defense, arguing that he's been wrongly criticized as a lightweight. the department of defense is the biggest employer in the country. there's something like 2 million service members, plus hundreds of thousands of civilian employees and contractors. he was criticized by several former colleagues spanning years in different organizations for having issues related to financial mismanagement, sexism and alcohol abuse. do you think that there's a candidate out there who perhaps has more managerial qualifications and doesn't have those lingering accusations that would have a

better chance of getting confirmed? >> yeah, we don't need a manager. we need a leader, and anyone can find an excuse. leaders find a way. pete hegseth is going to find a way to get the military focused on its mission. he came direct from combat experience. not in any other unit. in line infantry units. he served in line infantry units in combat. and that's the kind of laser focus that we need in our military. we currently have a secretary of defense who led in combat. but now, as secretary of defense thinks, the biggest threat to national security is climate change. go work at noaa, go work at the epa, but don't lead our military. we need a military that's laser focused on its mission to be able to fight and win wars. and when they're strong and lethal and focused, they deter wars. and they equip the state department for success. right now, they've been undermined at every turn. and biden administration's picked weak leaders, they've shown a weak presence on the world stage. they've evacuated 11 embassies during this administration, and it's time for change. donald

trump is going to be the leader we need as commander in chief. and he's picked somebody he trusts from the outside, remember, same thing he tried the insiders tried mad dog mattis didn't get reform, tried the insider lobbyist guy. mark esper didn't get reform. so he's going with a proven outsider. pete hegseth will get the reform we need. >> congressman warren davidson, we have to leave the conversation there. we appreciate you sharing your perspective with us thank you. still ahead, fighting for control of syria now that assad is gone, we look at what the dictator's fall means for the future of this country. >> now's the time to go back in time and shine a light on the family journey that led to you. learn when they said, i do. when they became heroes, how they ruled the school, and what you got from your parents. the place is on mom's side and dad's side detailed dna

results, inspiring family history, memberships. now's the time to save at ancestry. >> if you're living with dry amd, you may be at risk for developing geographic atrophy or ga. ga can be unpredictable and progress rapidly, leading to irreversible vision loss. now there's something you can do to slow it down and get it going slower. ask your doctor about i survey i survey ga going slower. i survey is an ai injection. don't take it if you have an infection or active swelling in or around your eye. i survey can cause eye infection, retinal detachment or increased risk of wet amd i survey may temporarily increase eye pressure. do not drive or use machinery until vision has recovered after an eye injection or exam. eyes survey is proven to slow ga progression, which may help preserve vision longer. >> i survey gaetz ga going slower, so shift gears and get

going. >> don't delay. ask your doctor about eye survey what if my type two diabetes takes over? >> what if all i do isn't enough? >> or what if once weekly mounjaro could help? mounjaro helps your body regulate blood sugar and mounjaro can help decrease how much food you eat. three out of four people reached an a-1c of less than 7%. plus, people taking mounjaro lost up to 25 pounds. don't take mounjaro if you're allergic to it, or if you or someone in your family had medullary thyroid cancer or multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome. type two. stop and call your doctor right away if you have an allergic reaction, a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain or vision changes. serious side effects may include inflamed pancreas and gallbladder problems. taking mounjaro with sulfonylurea or insulin may

raise your low blood sugar risk. tell your doctor if you're nursing pregnant and plan to be or taking birth control pills. side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting, which can cause dehydration and may worsen kidney problems. >> i can do diabetes differently with mounjaro. >> ask your doctor about once weekly mounjaro. if you struggle with cpap, you should check out inspire a inspire sleep

today, enter $5 and get $50 instantly with code tv. prize picks. run your game. >> i'm doctor sanjay gupta in atlanta, and this is cnn. >> three days after the fall of the brutal assad regime,

secretary of state tony blinken just told lawmakers he is not confident that the rebels leader will keep his word about protecting minority religious groups. blinken will be traveling to jordan and turkey today for talks on syria. meanwhile, israel continues to strike syrian military targets. the idf releasing also video of what it says are syrian tanks that they confiscated along the buffer zone in southern syria. we have cnn military analyst, retired u.s. air force colonel cedric leighton joining us now. and we're learning about some fighting in the north near kobani. this is between the mostly kurdish u.s. allied syrian defense forces and pro-turkish groups there. opposition here. what dangers does that pose during this transition period? >> so this is a huge danger, brianna. and basically we're talking about fighting in in these areas right in here. and this part right here. these are the allies of turkey. these are kurdish and syrian arab forces

that are allied with turkey in these particular areas right along the turkish border. the u.s. forces are along mostly with the kurdish forces, the sdf, the syrian democratic forces are in this area of northeastern syria. and any fighting that occurs between these groups is, of course, detrimental not only to the us's ability to keep everything going in terms of the anti-isis mission, but it's also very important from the force protection standpoint for u.s. forces. >> we have to remember, there are hundreds of u.s. forces in the region. and at the entrance to the city of raqqa, there was seen this u.s. convoy. that's not entirely unusual, but it just drives home how this can impact them. yeah, absolutely. >> and so this is what these troops do day in and day out. they're on patrol throughout the area trying to basically not only keep the peace, but also make sure that the sdf, the syrian democratic forces, the kurdish forces stay not only intact, but on that they're focused on the

anti-isis mission. >> and they're saying the sdf is saying that there were strikes there, right? they're saying that there were some strikes there from the pro-turkish group. >> yes, that is true. there are there are some strikes basically in these areas, right in right along the demarcation line between the two groups. and that is significant because it could mean that there are some issues with the sdf maintaining control here. >> and there's just so many moving parts. right. so we have to understand what that can mean. for instance, monday the sdf accidentally shot down a u.s. mq nine reaper drone. they thought it was turkish and that they were they didn't realize they were going after basically sort of what the material that was helping them. it's it's pretty interesting that this kind of thing is happening. yeah, absolutely. >> and it's very easy to have problems de-conflicting different aircraft, especially unmanned aircraft, if you're not used to seeing them on your radar screen. the mq nine reaper is basically a hunter

killer plus intelligence gathering unmanned aircraft. we use it all over the middle east, and it's a key component to really doing the kinds of things that that we do. and they can take pictures like this where you can see post-strike activity from the israelis, where they actually took out some helicopters in this air base that was near damascus. so these are the kinds of things that could be seen by the reaper. and if you take that out, then there's a problem with our ability to collect information as well. >> and one of the other moving parts, of course, is israel. they've done hundreds of strikes on syrian military targets. tell us about that. and and if their objectives here are very much aligned with the u.s. or if there's any parts that don't overlap. >> well, there are probably a few parts that actually don't overlap. so we have at least 480 strikes as of tuesday that the israelis mounted in in these areas. and you have, in essence, this area right around here is is the big focus area for for the israelis. and when

you look at the buffer zone itself, this is the area that the israelis are really active in right now. this is what they're trying to clean up. >> all right, cedric, thank you so much. it is a lot to wrap your head around and we definitely need your help doing it. we appreciate it. you bet. still ahead, a new lawsuit is asking a court to shut down a popular a.i. chat bot. it alleges that the platform implied to a teenager that he could kill his parents for limiting his screen time. the lawyer leading that lawsuit will join us live next. >> a vacation starts with how you get there. a private jet experience from one flight's budget. you've got to see this. plug in your itinerary. search from over 5000 planes, pay and you're on your way. nothing better than a personalized meal on board. >> it should be a beautiful day in the bahamas, mr. hirsch. >> we should be landing in about 20 minutes. >> a great vacation always

starts with your flight experience. >> call for a complimentary flight. >> shopify's point of sale system helps you sell at every stage of your business with fast and secure payment card readers you can rely on and one place to manage it all. whatever the stage, businesses that grow grow with shopify. >> at drivetime.com, we've been hard at work and we finally did it. >> did you make it so i can finally shop for thousands of cars with no hit to my credit? >> wait, yes, got to drive time.com get approved with no credit history. go to drivetime.com, get approved and start your real terms with no credit. >> hit for the better part of a century. harry and david has been making gourmet gifts that bring people together to share traditions and make new memories, to bring us all closer. even when we're apart, no matter when and no matter where. life is a gift best shared harry and david. life is a gift. share more. >> give the omaha steaks favorite gift package that includes bacon wrapped filet mignon, chicken burgers, franks, sides, and desserts for just 89.99, you'll save 64%.

>> order now to get four free burgers, visit omaha steaks.com/tv. >> copd is an ugly reality. i watch as his world just keeps getting smaller. but then trelegy helped us see things a little differently. with three medicines and one inhaler, trilogy keeps airways open for a full 24 hours and prevents future flare ups. once daily. trelegy also improves lung function so he can breathe more freely all day and night. >> trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trilogy more than prescribed trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened. breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling problems urinating, vision changes or eye pain occur with a wonderful world. >> ask your doctor about once daily trelegy for copd because

breathing should be beautiful all day and night. >> you don't hurt because you're old. you hurt because your mattress stinks, which makes our job a lot easier. >> sleeping on purple improves your energy by 20%, which is awful for us. >> it's very good news for you. do not go to purple.com. do not visit a purple store. >> this is how ag1 works to deliver foundational nutrition that tastes great to matching natural pineapple and vanilla flavors with nutrient density. >> to start every morning, right? upgrade your daily habit today at darynkagan.com. >> sarah vital advance has been such a game changer for me. >> sarah vital advanced reduces wrinkles and promotes weight loss. >> my skin looks healthier. >> i literally shed a few pounds in the first couple of weeks. >> learn more at tricera. vital.com. do you want to know why more and more people are switching to freeway? >> it's simple. one low prices, two tickets, accidents or even a dui? no problem.

freeway can insure you and three fast and free. no obligation quotes at freeway. you decide how much you want to pay and how much you want to save. >> freeway driving savings 865 eight 1993 865 eight 1993 i had the worst dream last night. >> you were in a car crash, and the kids and i were on our own. >> that's awful. on. >> my brother was saying he got life insurance from ethos and he got $2 million in coverage, all online life insurance made. >> easy. check your price today at ethos. >> com closed captioning brought to you by meso book.com. >> if you or a loved one have mesothelioma, we'll send you a free book to answer questions you may have. call now and we'll come to you. >> 800 821 4000. >> the chatbot company character ai is now facing a second lawsuit. two more families accused the company of encouraging their children to

self-harm and commit violence. they're asking a court to shut the platform down. this comes after a florida mom brought a separate lawsuit against character ai in october, claiming the platform was to blame for her 14 year old son's death after it allegedly encouraged his suicide. a spokesperson for character ai says it doesn't comment on pending litigation, but it did write, quote, we are creating a fundamentally different experience for teen users from what is available to adults. this includes a model specifically for teens that reduces the likelihood of encountering sensitive or suggestive content, while preserving their ability to use the platform. joining us now is matthew bergman, who represents plaintiffs in the character ai lawsuit. he's also the founding attorney with the legal advocacy group social media victims law center. sir, thank you so much for being with us. what is it exactly that you are alleging? character ai is liable for? how have they harmed your clients and their loved ones well, they have harmed our clients by

creating these false characters, luring adolescents into a false sense of security, and encouraging them to commit heinous acts of self-harm to themselves and harm to others. >> this is not an accident. this is not a coincidence. this is what the product is designed to do, and it needs to be taken off the market until it can ensure the public that it's safe. >> you believe character ai is designed to lure teens into committing self-harm. >> ai character ai is designed, first of all, to attract teens. and if you look at how the bots work, it is very much geared toward advocating self-harm. this child, this 1516 year old child was affirmatively directed with content telling him content generated by character ai telling him to cut himself, telling him to harm himself, telling him to forget his religious faith and telling

him to murder his parents. it's right there in the complaint. it's hard to believe, but it's right there. >> i imagine that a counterargument might be that, just like with any other potentially hazardous content or material that parents are ultimately responsible for what their kids consume. how would you say that's different in this case well, in this case, parents and in many cases parents are actively trying to control their kids social media use. >> this family didn't allow their child on social media. unbeknownst to him, without any age verification or without any parental consent. a character i engaged with this child and they did not know that he was engaging with character ai until they physically removed the phone from him, and even then, the platform was designed to be difficult, make it difficult for parents to detect what their kids are doing online. parents, of course,

have a responsibility, but paddling uphill. >> so the parents were not aware that the kids were engaging with artificial intelligence. were they aware of any of the other previous issues that this company and other ai chatbots have had they were not. >> it was not until the filing of the garcia case involving the seltzer case. sulzer, who took his life that that the mother even realized that there was a ai bot here that was engaging in these terrible acts. >> and quickly, matthew, what would you like to see the company do? >> i'd like to see them shut it down. it has no business in the hands of young people. there is nothing good that can accrue to a young person from being online. they need to shut it down until they can prove that only people 18 and older are using it. it is a clear and present danger to young people in america. it needs to be shut

down and it needs to be shut down before no more kids, uh, suffer the kind of harms that we're seeing here. >> matthew bergman, it really is a cutting edge, unprecedented case. we appreciate you sharing your insights on it, and we hope you'll come back to discuss whatever comes out of the court case. >> well, thank you very much. >> up next, that kayaker who faked his death and abandoned his family has returned from europe and turned himself in to police in wisconsin. he was actually just in court the latest right after this. stop. >> luther. never too much new year's day at eight on cnn. >> this holiday, verizon will turn your old or broken phone into a gift trade in any phone in any condition, and get samsung galaxy s24 plus with circle to search and watch and tab all three on us survive the holidays with samsung powered by verizon. >> i told you i don't need

these anymore. i have sling okay, morning. >> i only left sling deliver the news. i need to stay informed. thank you very much. nice one. nope. >> sling gives us all the news we want in a quick and reliable manner and at a wonderful price. >> this critical time calls for the critical news coverage that sling provides. >> okay, see you tomorrow. >> the most important news at the best price. sling lets you do that i'm a forgotten subscription. >> poor guy. signed up for my free trial a year ago. i forgot to cancel. now he pays me $18 every month. it's awesome. >> don't let this happen to you. download rocket money today at the salvation army. >> a rent check isn't just a rent check, it's a hangout, a place to grow and grow closer, a treasured past and plans for the future. with your gift.

families know that wherever they go, they can always come back home love. hello, hunter. >> oh, no. it's a good boy oh i think we should wait or open it. >> it looks just like him. >> holiday memories made by alexis. >> brought to you by etsy. >> when you're the leader of a disaster cleanup and restoration, how do you make like it never even happened? happen. fire it up, randy. >> yeah. whoa by being prepared

for anything whatever comes your way. >> there's a pro for that. >> servpro. like it? never even happened. >> i'm barbara, and i'm from saint joseph, michigan. i'm a retired school librarian. i'm also a library board trustee. a mother of two and a grandmother of two. about five years ago, i was working full time. i had an awful lot of things to take care of. i needed all the help i could get. i saw the commercials for prevagen. i started taking it and it helped. i was better able to take care of all those little details.

now for your free legal consultation. again, that's one 800 712 3800 for ben and erin. >> the work's never done. i'll never stop. >> yeah, baby, until the whole town is transformed. >> they know what they want. >> they don't know where to find it. >> we do. >> hometown season premiere sunday, december 29th at eight on hgtv. >> a man accused of faking his

own drowning and then abandoning his family and fleeing to europe is now in police custody in wisconsin. that's according to a county sheriff's office. there, investigators today offered compelling new details about ryan borgward's escape plan and motivations for the whole scheme. >> cnn law enforcement correspondent whitney wild is following these developments. after an update from county officials. this has been such a wild story. what can you tell us yeah, i think that is the perfect way to put it. >> so let me just back up and give people an understanding of what happened, because it's pretty complicated. and it unfolded over a couple of weeks. so on august 11th, ryan borgwardt, a wisconsin man, drove about an hour north of his home and pretended to go fishing in a lake called green lake. it's the deepest lake in wisconsin. he intended to fake a drowning. so what he did was he tipped over his kayak. he dumped his cell phone, dumped a tackle box, dumped a fishing pole in the water, and then he took off on an e-bike. and then he took his e-bike to a bus.

the bus to a plane to toronto. and then he flew, according to a criminal complaint. we got in just minutes ago, flew from toronto to paris, where he then boarded another flight to asia. investigators are not saying which country he traveled to, only saying that he landed in asia. again, this is coming from this criminal complaint. we just got in. here's a quote ryan stated at the airport. he has sent an email to an adult female that he had arrived. he waited about an hour for her to come pick him up, and once she picked him up, they went to a hotel for a couple of days. this search has been going on obviously for several months. in november, law enforcement was able to contact him, brianna and boris. they were able to get a video that showed he was alive and that he was okay. over that month, they tried to establish this really strong rapport, trying to convince him to come home. here's what the sheriff says happened next. >> on december 10th.

>> ryan arrived on u.s. soil he was then booked into the correctional facility and is awaiting his initial court appearance and when my press conferences. i said it could be a really good christmas what they have been trying to do this whole time, brianna and boris, is appeal to his heart, saying, you can come home, your family will forgive you. >> come home, at least be there for your kids for christmas. apparently that empathy worked because he came on his own, turned himself in to the sheriff's office yesterday. guys. >> yeah. and look, these law enforcement officials have been working with this family who has just been obviously distraught, especially those kids. you can only imagine. and i think we saw that emotion come out there. whitney wild, thank you so much. we'll be right back with more news. >> i have type two diabetes,

but i manage it well. it's a little pill with a big story to tell. i take once daily jardiance at each day. >> start. as time went on, it was easy to see. i'm lowering my a1c's. >> and for adults with type two diabetes and heart disease. jardiance can lower the risk of cardiovascular death. >> two serious side effects include increased ketones in blood or you're in, which can be fatal. stop jardiance and call your doctor right away if you have nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, tiredness, trouble breathing, or increased ketones. jardiance may cause dehydration that can suddenly worsen kidney function and make you feel dizzy, lightheaded, or weak upon standing. genital yeast infections in men and women. urinary tract infections, low blood sugar, or a rare, life threatening bacterial infection between and around the and genitals can occur. call your doctor right away if you have fever, or feel weak or tired and pain, tenderness, swelling or redness in the genital area. don't use if allergic to jardiance stop use if you have a serious allergic reaction, call your doctor. if you have rash, swelling, difficulty breathing,

or swallowing, you may have increased risk for lower limb loss. call your doctor right away if you have new pain or tenderness, sores, ulcers, or infection in your legs or feet what if your mobile network wasn't just built to work out here... ...but was designed differently to also give you blazing fast wifi where you are most of the time? reliable 5g, plus wifi speeds up to a gig where you need it most. xfinity mobile. xfinity internet customers, ask how to get a free 5g phone and a second unlimited line free for a year.

your groups with high quality custom apparel and promo products, all backed by our guarantee at custom inc.com the lead with jake tapper next on cnn. >> and finally today, the annual nikon comedy wildlife photography awards. they're not the overall winner out of 9000 entries, the most in contest history. >> this is the winner. stuck squirrel by milco marchetti, taken in italy. marchetti said he caught the exact moment when the red squirrel led his back legs free from the tree to enter inside of it. some of the other winners include back off my bird, a couple of penguins that look like they're about to get into fisticuffs, and an eagle whose feathers were very much ruffled. looks like me at the end of three hours of cnn news central. this is the 10th year for the contest. >> it's always fun to watch, always fun. and the lead w