i mean we have a lot of there's and there's anti-vax sentiment on the left as well. of course we don't need to get rid of the polio vaccine. and also of course we do need to look into autism more like the diagnosis of autism is radically on the rise. it would be the best thing ever if the department of health and human services could get spend more resources on diagnosing that problem. >> i think we lost our minds during the pandemic and the as a country and the the fight over vaccines has now led to people seriously talking about ending the polio vaccine. and it's sickening. >> yeah, i'll just say that i would like my children to be able to receive the polio vaccine. um, and i've actually already tried to call mitch mcconnell's office about this. >> your children will, but you like the other children in the class. also, not to be spreaders of polio. >> well, and that's why that's why i asked rfk jr. about mandates, because that is, you know what? what enables public schools to say to their to people, hey, you got to protect your kids to be here. guys, thank you for being here on a friday. i appreciate it. thanks to all of you for joining us as well. have a wonderful weekend. i'm kasie hunt. don't go anywhere. cnn news central starts right now.

with the word from the white house this morning on those mysterious drone sightings over new jersey. >> there's no problem. don't tell that, though, to local lawmakers and residents who still don't know who's behind the aircraft hovering over their communities. they want answers and action from the federal government. >> one of the suspected killers last known messages to friends now surfacing as police reveal new details about the search warrants just executed in the case. >> and this morning, a 125 year old rivalry. >> that's me, john and sarah. just kidding, is now getting ready for the next big battle. army, navy. the game is about to go down. i'm kate baldwin with john berman and sara sidner. this is cnn news central

this morning, the white house is downplaying concerns over a growing mystery in the skies. >> scores of drones spotted flying at night over new jersey, sparking growing fear and outrage. so far, there are no explanations as to what they are or where they are coming from, or who might be launching them. the drones have been seen over homes, critical infrastructure and sensitive government sites for weeks now, and the only concrete thing that local lawmakers and residents seem to be hearing from the federal government so far is they don't appear to pose a threat we have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or a public safety threat, or have a foreign nexus, despite several briefings this week, state lawmakers and members of congress say they don't feel like they're being told much of anything. >> i'm concerned. i issued a letter to ask for more

information, and i think there should be a lot more transparency about that. >> are you hearing from constituents? >> yes i am. >> there are tons of these drones flying over the state of new jersey, and we don't know where they're coming from, where they're going to and who's flying them. >> people got enough on their minds, right? they don't. they shouldn't have to worry about things flying around that they don't know who they belong to. >> cnn's polo sandoval is on the case. he is looking into this. and joining me now. what are you hearing about these drones? because it's been new jersey, new jersey, new jersey, which is a huge population. millions of people. have the drones been spotted elsewhere. >> and that's really where a majority of these sightings have happened. sara, i actually checked in with rockland county, new york officials. so now just across the state line, and they told me yesterday they have not had any reports. so it seems to be that a concentration of those sightings are actually where they have been sighted for the last two weeks or so, about 40 miles west of new york city. here we just heard from the mine hill, new jersey mayor just a short while ago here on cnn, basically accepted that it's quite likely that at

least 50% of these may be airplanes. but what about the other half? so he really is digging his heels in as are other local officials demanding answers, trying to find out a little bit more. also, we're hearing from some drone experts. for example, my wife always makes fun of me for being a big plane geek. so like using flight apps like, like, like flight radar where you can actually track airplanes. so experts recommending, when in doubt, open up some of those applications where you can actually see real time what planes may be flying nearby. but when you hear from some of these, residents will tell you they have used some of these and in some cases, some of the manned aircraft have not appeared on these apps. so this is what sort of fueling that speculation. >> we heard from the new jersey governor earlier in the week who said the same thing. he sort of doesn't believe they pose a threat and yet said that they are sophisticated. so what are residents saying as they hear some of these things from the federal government, from the governor, as some of them are freaking out, like, frankly, online, you know, they have video themselves, but

they're also being told we just heard from sort of dhs and the fbi that perhaps they're missing things. right? they may be manned or unmanned. they're not sure the information that's out there is really frustrating people. >> what's quite interesting about this story, sarah, is that much of it is defined by what we do not know, and that's what's really fueling speculation. and that call for answers. and and when you hear from some of these communities and these new jersey residents, they hear from the white house and they say that is not enough. just hearing that as they try to reassure them, this is not a public threat. but what i also think is interesting in that joint statement that was just released yesterday by the fbi and the department of homeland security, that really sort of the federal agencies in charge here saying that they have deployed personnel. and at this point, they have not been able to corroborate any drone sightings with electronic detection. and i think that's key. i spoke to some other drone experts yesterday, especially specifically an official at dahiyeh drone, which is a private air space company that basically helps clients protect themselves against any sort of drone

attacks. and what they describe is that there are multiple ways that investigators on the ground could actually have this kind of information. they could use radio frequency, for example. the comms between the drone and the remote on the ground. if that drone is not autonomous, they can also use cameras, radar, and finally acoustic, so that lately has become less reliable because drone technology has evolved. and these drones are a lot quieter. so there is sort of this treasure chest of tools that investigators on the ground could be using. and the fbi and dhs assures that they have deployed similar technology to try to get confirmation, but thus far they have not been able to corroborate, corroborate, i should say, with electronic detection. so i think that is really what you're hearing from a lot of the residents there. it's like we want that sort of we want to be reassured. >> i mean, that sounds like serious sophistication. and i know let's listen to sort of what the mayor of one of these towns is saying as people come to him and say, hey, we are seeing this, we're concerned.

yeah that is ridiculous. >> i would invite mr. kirby to mine hill. come on out, mr. kirby. and let's let's go on out. one night about 930, 10:00. i'll go out behind my town hall and you can count them with me all night. >> yeah. there's the mayor that we were talking about earlier of mine hill, new jersey. and again, we just heard from him this morning just a short while ago. and he basically said that it's quite possible that half of these may be airplanes, but what about the other half? and that's a lingering question that's being asked, not far from where you and i are having this conversation. >> and i think he was just responding to to dhs and to the fbi saying that these might be missed sightings. and he's like, no, no, we're seeing something that's odd. polo sandoval i'm glad you're on the case. and i love that you are a aviation geek. it is wonderful. thank you so much. thank you kate. >> so still ahead for us. the president elect is talking about january 6th again. why his statements now are leaving some of his biggest supporters, people who rioted at the capitol that day feeling not so

reassured by his statements and what he's saying about pardons. plus, the woman who set off a national firestorm in 2006 by falsely accusing duke lacrosse players of raping her, is speaking out, and he's already a grandmaster. but we're going to show you a man who just became the youngest ever world chess champion 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 the best part of the party? >> snooping in the bathroom. oh. party fell. not listening to your dentist make the sonicare switch for a champ. be gentle. be effective. be you. i love you. >> 70,000 people are here and

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of male lacrosse players, the accuser now admitting she lied and is making a plea for forgiveness. crystal mangum, who accused three duke men's lacrosse players of rape back in 2006 six, igniting a firestorm, now admitting on a web show that her allegations were false. >> i testified falsely against them by saying that they raped me when they didn't, and that was wrong. and i betrayed the trust of a lot of other people who believed in me. i hope that they can forgive me. and i want them to know that i love them and they didn't deserve that david evans, collin finnerty and reade seligmann were all exonerated of the charges in 2007. >> mangum was never prosecuted, though, for perjury because of her mental health, and the

statute of limitations ran out years ago. she is now, by the way, in prison, serving time for the second degree murder of her boyfriend in 2013. kate. wow. >> there's a lot there. a new cnn report out this morning. defense attorneys for january 6th. rioters. they're right now trying to figure out who's going to get pardoned when donald trump returns to the white house next month. the president elect has repeatedly promised on the campaign trail all along the way that he is going to pardon rioters on day one, but it's not clear who he's talking about. one defense attorney right now is saying this, quote, the statements change every day. the latest is everybody's nonviolent. but who knows what that means? this comes after a new interview with the president elect telling time magazine. it came out just yesterday morning that he will begin handing out the pardons to to january 6th. rioters in the starting in the first hour, he said, maybe even in the first nine minutes he takes office. cnn's katelyn polantz is following this one for us. caitlin, what are you learning

about all this? >> yeah, kate trump is out there saying it's going to be the nonviolent rioters. it's not going to be the people that were crazy. it's going to be the first hour he gets into office. but the bottom line is they just haven't figured it out yet, at least on trump's side, there's a lot of defense attorneys that are representing hundreds of these rioters who are trying to get answers. they just can't get them about how this will work. even though trump is promising to pardon the january 6th defendants, and there's a lot of questions about when they do turn to figure this out, how do they do it? will rioters individually have to apply in some sort of process? will it be a blanket pardon where trump will just say everybody with a certain type of crime or related to this part of the riot? those people are pardoned. and then there's also big questions about where is the line drawn here. so trump in that time magazine interview was talking about nonviolent rioters that

he believes have been punished too severely. he, as the incoming president wants he's the president. he has all kinds of power and authority to pardon however, he wants as soon as he takes office. but there is a lot of question about what about those rioters that are charged with violent crimes, charged with assault? there's about 200 that were convicted of assaults. but even in that group, there's a lot of difference between the people who were very, very violent toward police intentionally and people who may were not in that same category of violence, but are charged with that same crime. so there's a lot of confusion here among these rioters, many of whom are not in jail at this point, but some of whom have already finished their sentences, some of whom have been convicted and are in jail as well. >> have the judges kind of involved in all of this, all of so many prosecutions? have the

judges weighed in on this? >> yeah. even though there are these people who are talking about the pardons and the exoneration of these january 6th rioters, the judges that have handled these hundreds of cases, about 1500 of these cases in d.c., they are making the statement quite clear that they believe that these people are being brought to justice in their system. so judge royce lamberth, at a hearing, i was at last friday said, you know, it is the president's choice if he wants to pardon these. but a reminder, the rioters, they chose to trespass on restricted grounds, destroy public property, assault law enforcement officers and attempt to subvert the will of an electoral majority. conduct such as this is light years outside the ages of the first amendment. every rioter is in the situation he or she is in because he or she broke the law and for no other reason. there was another judge in washington, d.c., carl nichols, a trump appointee to the bench, who said that blanket pardons

for all january 6th defendants or anything close would be beyond frustrating and disappointing. if that is the way that trump decides to do it. but still, a lot of questions there. exactly how this plays out. >> yeah, great reporting as always. caitlin. thank you so much, john. >> all right. thanks so much kate. >> so texas may soon be getting into the bitcoin business. a texas state lawmaker introduced a bill this week that would establish a strategic reserve of the cryptocurrency. if passed, texas would be able to buy and hold bitcoin as an asset, as well as start accepting payment for taxes, fees and donations in bitcoin. an op ed in bloomberg this week argued a bitcoin reserve could be the biggest crypto scam yet. that's a quote there, but supporters are pitching the bill as a way for the state to strengthen its finances and emerge as a leader in the growing crypto industry. so this morning, anger growing as the white house claims, the mysterious drones flying over new jersey are not a threat but have yet to answer what they are or where they're coming from. and a legendary rapper

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assignments of the year, sarah, we're talking about the best and brightest since 1890. >> this tradition has the pageantry and the pomp and circumstance is like no other, really. in sports. ten sitting u.s. presidents have attended. these are the future defenders of this nation. we caught up with some of the players and coaches, and they told us they know this is so much more than just a game. listen. >> this game represents more than just us, the players, all the people that have come before us. they've served this country, they've sacrificed their lives for this country. so it's a great honor to play in this game. it represents a battle between two of the nation's best forces, honestly, um, you know, it's always the most physical battle of the year. it's the most intense battle of the year. and that's what it represents. it represents the epitome of football. it's everything for our program and our guys. and, you know, this is the game we'll remember forever. >> america's game. sarah. and as you heard there, this game is about people who are willing to give up everything for

everyone that's watching. that's powerful stuff. it is a bitter rivalry though, and they get after it some of the hardest hits you'll see in all of college football all season long. sarah. and despite that bitter rivalry, we asked the players and coaches about the mutual respect they have for the man lining up across from them on game day. listen. >> i respect army because they're going to serve this nation. i respect navy because they have a similar military service commitment as us. i respect army because they're going to be our future brothers in arms. i know the young men are doing the same thing that our young men are doing. they took the hard path, um, and they're going to serve their country when they're done here. and so just a tremendous amount of respect for for who they are and the way they do things. >> some of the best and brightest young folks this country has to offer, they are balancing the rigors of being a collegiate athlete. the academics we're talking thermodynamics, cyber ops.

these are incredibly bright individuals, sarah. and they told me that the mutual respect they have for one another, they hope that someday that can be replicated in society all across the country. game time is tomorrow at 3 p.m. eastern. it's going to be awesome. >> but let's be fair. the respect and the kind words that is not going to be what you see on the field because they go to battle and miralax are huge snot snot. >> yeah, yeah, probably more like snot bubbles and things like that that we're going to be seeing from these huge hits. but you got to love it. >> coy wire it's always a pleasure. thank you so much. appreciate it. john coy wire on snot bubbles. >> all right. new reporting that donald trump is floating rfk jr.. s daughter in law for a major role in the cia. and one company trying to sell a small bottle of sake for more than half $1 million. why? because they're brewing it at the international space station

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>> don't let this happen to you. >> download rocket money today. now is not the time to lose faith sisterhood above all doom. >> prophecy. >> streaming exclusively on max lawmakers and residents in new jersey are angry and frustrated right now. >> dozens of mysterious nighttime drone sightings over the last month, and still no concrete word on what is going on. here is one new jersey state lawmaker now. >> so you would think if it was amazon or fedex or ups testing something, or an insurance company checking out roofs for assessments, somebody would say something by now, but nobody. so law enforcement in my

opinion, and the whole government, state police, department of homeland security, the governor, they need to take this way more seriously and and find out what's going on. >> so the white house said yesterday there's no evidence the drones pose a national security or public safety threat. the fbi and dhs, they actually put out a joint statement saying pretty much exactly the same yesterday as well, adding this, we are supporting local law enforcement in new jersey with numerous detection methods, but have not corroborated any of the reported visual sightings with electronic detection to the contrary. upon review of available imagery, it appears that many of the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft operating lawfully. there are no reported or confirmed drone sightings in any restricted airspace. still, people are very clearly on edge. let's talk about this. joining us right now is rick smith. he's the founder and ceo of of axon, a private airspace security company that helps safeguard clients from drones. thanks for coming in,

rick. i appreciate your time. what? first and foremost, give me your theory. what do you think is going on here? >> uh, it's a little hard to tell exactly what's going on in new jersey, but i can tell you it's good that this is drawing attention to a bigger problem. just in the past year, we've detected over a million flight violations with drones near airports, critical infrastructure, nfl stadiums and those sorts of things. so this is a really it's a much bigger issue than even what's going on in new jersey. and this attention, hopefully, is going to drive lawmakers to take some some rapid actions here to empower law enforcement with the tools they need. >> i want to talk about the bigger issue, because that's something you've got a lot of experience in. i mean, this is your entire business. but first, i want to play for you what the white house said. more specifically, when asked about the situation in new jersey. let me play this for you we have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or a public safety

threat, or have a foreign nexus. >> we have not been able to, and neither have state or local law enforcement authorities to corroborate any of the reported visual sightings. to the contrary. upon review of available imagery, it appears that many of the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft that are being operated lawfully. >> the fbi says it's still investigating. rick, do you find it surprising, though, that they haven't figured it out or haven't said so publicly yet? because, as you can see, it's creating a lot of concern for a lot of people. >> well, yeah. well, here's the underlying problem. the vast majority of our aircraft management technology in the united states is built to manage airplanes. in fact, our laws are built to manage airplanes because drones didn't exist a decade several decades ago. and you need different types of equipment. and that's what we've been building at drone is the ability to track smaller aircraft, because we saw things like drones were going to be an

issue, and now they certainly are an issue. and so the same radar and tracking system you used for a 747 just doesn't work. and so that's why law enforcement is beginning to deploy these. but there's also some regulatory hurdles because the laws that regulate aircraft are not built to empower police to deal with the drones. so if you local state fair has a drone coming towards it that police believe might be dangerous right now, there's nothing they can do about it. but i think that's going to change pretty quickly. >> and that and i wanted to ask you about that because we have a member of congress coming on shortly who is proposing some legislation on this. we have seen it many, many times over the years of technology, always outpaces laws and regulation. what is what is most needed here in order to correct? it's a bigger problem. there are many facets of it, but when you are looking at it from your perspective, what kind of change, what kind of regulation, what kind of legislation is most needed to start here?

>> well, the first thing i would say is this is actually a bipartisan issue. there have been bills the last couple of years from both republicans and democrats that seek to give state and local law enforcement, state police and critical infrastructure operators so people that might be running a nuclear power plant or something like that, these new laws that have been in congress seek to give them the ability to both track and mitigate drones. right now, only certain federal agencies can do it, and there's just not enough of those people. like, clearly those capabilities were not in the area of interest right now. and so i think that is likely to come through next year. again, it's empowering your state and local. the same people that are having trouble answering what's going on here, giving them the right and authority to use the tools they need to protect their local airspace. >> because who has the authority now? >> right now it's folks like the department of defense or various federal agencies can do it. but no state and local or no critical infrastructure

operators are yet authorized to be able to intervene. if there's drones coming into airspace. and again, we've detected through our sensor network, we operate in around 50 cities just with what we have alone. we've detected over a million drones flights in the past year that have been too close to airports, too close to critical power infrastructure. you know, major sports stadiums. and that's where look, we've been really lucky. if you look at what's happening in the world, the deadliest weapons in the ukraine war right now are small drones that are easily converted from consumer drones or hobbyist. the same thing is true in the middle east. we just saw drones play a big role in this revolution in syria. luckily, it hasn't happened here in the u.s., and we certainly hope it doesn't. but those are the types of threats we need to prepare for. and again, i am so grateful that this is bringing attention to this in a way that so far seems like, you know, it's nobody's been hurt. >> that's exactly right. and it gives us an opportunity to bring on experts like you, like you to help us understand it a little bit better. rick smith, thank you so much for coming on, john. all right. this morning we got new developments

in the killing of unitedhealthcare ceo brian thompson. overnight, two new court dates were set in pennsylvania as accused killer luigi mangione fights extradition in new york. hearings will now take place on december 23rd and 30th. this as abc news reports, new york prosecutors have begun presenting evidence to a grand jury, which would be the next step in obtaining an indictment. sources tell cnn as many as three search warrants have been executed in new york, including one on the backpack found in central park. the burner phone found along the suspects escape route, as well. overnight, unitedhealthcare confirmed mangione was not covered by their insurance group. police say thompson may have been targeted because of the company's size. there are new details on mangione life for much of the last year and his increasing isolation. the new york times reports about a trip alone to japan last april, which included some of the last known correspondence with friends. quote i want some time to zen out, mr. mangione said

in a recorded message on april 27th. this is times reporting his voice quiet and contemplative. i would be one of his last. it would be one of his last communications before he abruptly cut ties with a wide range of friends and family. then, in late april, according to the associated press, the suspect advised a reddit user with back problems to, quote, keep trying. different surgeons. he added we live in a capitalist society. i found that the medical industry responds to these key words far more urgently than you, describing unbearable pain and how it's impacting your quality of life. so a lot of new developments here, sarah. >> yeah, they really are. thank you john. a second kennedy could join president elect donald trump's administration in a high ranking role. sources telling cnn trump is considering picking the daughter in law of robert f kennedy jr. for a senior spot at the cia. amaryllis fox kennedy managed rfk jr.. s presidential campaign. a source tells cnn she's met with trump and with the man who could be

her boss at the cia if he's confirmed. john ratcliffe. cnn's kristen holmes is joining me now from west palm beach. what can you tell us about amaryllis fox kennedy yeah, sarah, as you mentioned, she is the daughter in law of rfk. >> unsurprisingly, rfk is one of the people who is pushing her heavily. >> rfk has become really one of the inner circle with donald trump. so it is also unsurprising that this seems to be working, that she has sat down with both trump and john ratcliffe. now, some of the things that we know about her, other than the fact that she ran her father in law's campaign, is that she is a former cia official, there had been some concerns among members of the cia that john ratcliffe didn't have enough experience. but i do want to caveat this. we are still looking into her time at the cia. it's unclear how exactly she would play into this model of being a former cia official, whether or not she was a rank and file member. et cetera. the other thing to point out is that because she's a kennedy, there is some belief among the

more maga disrupter crowd that she herself would be a disrupter, which is something that john ratcliffe is not considered. they wanted to mix it up a little bit. now, one of the other very fascinating components of all of this is the fact that rfk jr. has long said that he believes that the cia was involved in the assassination of his uncle, president john f kennedy, and donald trump, while he was on the campaign trail, said that he would release any other files on that investigation as soon as he was elected president. obviously, he's been elected president, so we'll see how that goes. now, not everybody is thrilled with this idea of amaryllis fox kennedy tom cotton, who's going to chair the senate committee. intelligence committee. obviously, a very big position. he apparently behind the scenes has been pushing back, talking to trump directly about this. we'll see how who wins in the battle of pushing back in trump ally land, whether it's rfk jr. or tom cotton. >> kristen holmes from a very

windy. west palm beach, florida. thank you so much. appreciate it john. >> with us now is senator chris a democrat from delaware. senator, thank you so much for being with us. we get regular reporting on the trump transition. if you are there. i'm wondering, sir, what letter grade would you give the transition so far? >> i'd give it a c, maybe a c minus. here's the most positive thing i can say. >> president elect trump has moved very quickly to suggest a very wide range of folks who he intends to nominate once he's sworn in as president. but the degree to which there's been background checks done on them, to the degree to which they've been vetted, i think has fallen far short of what our nation's security and economy, what our public needs. >> he's just thrown people out more like it was a reality tv casting call than these are serious nominees. and he's already had to withdraw several folks before the nomination

process, even formally begins. so look, the last time trump was president, he put forward a number of very serious, qualified folks. for example, general mattis, who was his secretary of defense, a four star marine corps general, decorated combat veteran who got 98 votes. this time, pete hegseth is someone, a fox news host who's had all sorts of controversies swirling around him in the weeks after he was first suggested. he may well get confirmed, but it will be after a lot of controversy. he has had to walk back a number of his statements. he has said publicly previously that having gays serve in the military is a marxist conspiracy, that women should not be allowed to serve in combat. he has just walked those back yesterday, so i'd say for a transition, there's more drama than substance and it's a bit of a distraction given everything that's going on around the world and here at home. >> but you still would give

them a passing grade a, c, c minus is a passing grade. i happen to know that firsthand. >> he's not a great grade. in my listen, that's about as low grade as you can get. >> it's passing. i know that for a fact. as i stand here today. senator, listen, are you going to vote for. are you going to vote to confirm marco rubio as secretary of state i may very well. >> i've known senator rubio for 14 years. we've served on the foreign relations committee. together, we've legislated together, we've traveled together. i was just talking with him yesterday. i have not had a formal interview with him yet. we haven't gone through the confirmation process yet. i will do that with every one of the nominees. who's in the jurisdiction of the committees on which i serve, and as many as i can. and i think that's just part of our job in the senate to meet with nominees, to ask them probing questions. and as was the case last time, where they are qualified, they have the right character and i can support them in terms of what they intend to do with the agencies they are nominated to lead. i will vote for them, but

this is a far more troubling group of nominees than last time. >> president elect trump says he is going to pardon january 6th rioters. we don't know which ones or how many in the first hour after he is inaugurated. how do you feel about that? >> i think that is a terrible idea. these are people who have been duly tried and convicted in a court of law, of having assaulted police officers, swarmed, stormed into the capitol in many cases attempted directly, physically and violently to interrupt the peaceful transfer of power. these aren't folks who just committed some minor infraction, and they certainly aren't folks. as donald trump has repeatedly suggested, who are hostages they have been convicted of breaking the law in a very serious event. probably the only storming of our capitol in modern american history, and one that had grave consequences. so to simply harden them all, i think risks

unleashing a group of folks who have already committed political violence. i hope that if he does, in fact do this, that these folks will not continue acts of political violence. but i don't think there's any guarantee they won't. >> on the subject of pardons, there has been discussion about whether president biden should issue some kind of preemptive pardons, maybe for people on the january 6th committee, maybe for other people who have gone sideways with people in the incoming trump administration. sarah isgur, who worked in trump's first justice department but apparently upset some people in the current trump world. she wrote an op ed today in which she noted that kash patel, in one of his books, had listed her among people that, should some have some kind of action taken against them. she writes, today i'm on mr. patel's list. i don't want a pardon. i can't speak for anyone else on the list, but i would hope that none of them would want a pardon either. if we broke the law, we should be charged and convicted. if we didn't break the law, we should be willing to show that we need the trust and fairness of the justice system, that so many of us are, so that we trust the fairness

and justice system that so many of us have defended. she also said that if she were to be prosecuted by the trump administration, it would embarrass them somehow. how do you feel about president biden issuing preemptive pardons john, i respect the quote you just read from one of the folks on kash patel enemies list. >> i'll just remind you that to be investigated by the fbi and prosecuted by a u.s. attorney can cost a defendant hundreds of thousands of dollars, even millions of dollars, and can be profoundly disruptive to their lives. i spoke to senator schiff this week on the floor, and he has made similar statements that he and i think liz cheney, former congresswoman liz cheney has also made this statement that they don't want to be pardoned because they've done nothing wrong. and i admire their determination to trust our legal system and to stand up to the bluster and the threats of kash patel and president elect trump. but i think part of why

there is some consideration being given to proactive pardons is the cost and the disruption and frankly, the disrespect for the work of congress that underlies a threat to try. those who served on a committee of the house of representatives. >> so you think it'd be a good idea for biden to do it i think the president's got to weigh a lot of different factors. >> how seriously he believes kash patel the nominee to be fbi director and the other nominees to lead the trump administration's law enforcement agencies, how seriously they are determined to go after their enemies list, and whether or not some of those who are on that list and who are reasonably foreseeable are going to be investigated, want a pardon? if they talk through this issue and decide that there's no one who is seeking a pardon, that will lead them down one path. if there's others who are petitioning urgently for some relief, i think you should seriously consider it. >> senator chris from delaware, thanks so much for being with us. i appreciate it, kate. how

a brand new artificial intelligence model could actually look even deeper into the future to more accurately predict whether we've got a deeper look into that for you and rapper ludacris doing his civic duty, how he showed up for jury duty, and almost no one knew it was him just close the doors and you're in a world of your own. >> travel is not just about a destination. >> it's also about how you get there. fly emirates fly better.

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choose what i pay for and let me pause my subscription when i want and have hundreds of free channels. >> sling let you do that too. >> choosing customize your channel lineup or watch for free. sling lets you do that i'm kind of needs to be more squiggly perfect. >> so now do you have a driver's license? >> oh, what did you get us with a click of a pen? >> you can get a new volkswagen at the sign, then drive event. >> lisa, 2024 tiguan for zero down zero deposit, zero first month's payment and zero due at signing. >> limited inventory available. >> all the best. all the worst 2024. thursday, december 26th at 11 on cnn. >> today marks the first day of friday prayers since bashar al-assad was thrown from power in syria, and it remains a very uncertain time as the rebel

factions that overthrew the assad regime are now trying to figure out what comes next. the interim rebel government's plan, really unfolding day by day. but cnn is on the ground, and cnn's clarissa ward and her team are now discovering the evidence of torture from assad's brutal regime. >> reporter a woman wails on the floor of the mujtahid hospital don't go my mother. she's been missing for 14 years, she says. >> where is she? where's my brother? >> where's my husband? >> where are they doctor ahmed abdullah shows us into the morgue. >> where? about 35 bodies have been brought in, discovered in a military hospital days after the regime fell. they are believed to be some of the last victims of bashar al-assad. drum, take a look. this is the crime of the regime. he says even in the middle ages, they didn't torture people like this. another man points to their tattered clothing

evidence. he says that most were detainees at the much feared sednaya prison. even in death, they are still only identified by numbers. everyone here heard about the horrors that took place in assad's notorious prisons, but to see it up close is something entirely different a lot of them have bruises, have horrible wounds that seem to be consistent with torture. i just saw one woman retching as she came out of the other room. families are now going through trying to see if their loved ones are here. there's not enough room for all of them in the morgue, so a makeshift area has been set up outside. more and more families stream in. the light from their cell phones. the only way of identifying the dead my only son. i don't have another. they took him for 12 years now.

just because he said no. 12 years. my only son. this woman shouts. i don't know anything about him. i ask allah to burn him, she says of assad. burn him and his sons like he burned my heart. a crowd swarms when they see our camera. everyone here has lost someone. all of these people are asking us to take names of their loved ones, to help them try to find them. it is a mark of desperation. such is the need for answers. but finding those answers will not be easy. at the military intelligence facility known as the palestine branch, officers burn documents and destroyed hard drives before fleeing. but their terror was on an industrial scale. troves and troves of prisoner files remain. it will take investigators years to go through them below ground. more

clues etched on the walls of cells that look more like dungeons. so you can see this list of names of. it looks like 93 prisoners here. there's also a schedule for keeping the cell tidy and just graffiti everywhere. people trying to leave marks for someone to find down here. insects are the only life form that thrives. it's clear that anyone who could survive this will never be the same again. the cells are empty, but the doors are finally open and the quest for answers is just beginning all right. >> a new record for the youngest chess world champion ever. who dharmaraju an 18 year old prodigy from india, beat the defending champion after a close match that seemed to be on the verge of a tie. apparently it was basically a huge mistake that decided the

whole thing, what one headline called one of the worst blunders in the history of chess and chess has been around a while. the old champion took his rook from f4 to f2, trapping his bishop. i don't have any idea what that means, but it's apparently wicked bad. all right, a japanese saké company is trying to trying something completely new. making saké in space. because apparently there's a huge demand for that. they plan to send the ingredients to the international space station, hoping to make the first ever space brewed saké. if it works, the company plans to sell a small bottle for more than $650,000. they say they also hope to learn more about fermentation in space. noble goal. a jury and jury duty applies to every american, including celebrities. legendary atlanta rapper ludacris reported for jury duty incognito. he used his real name, christopher bridges, and wore a face mask and sunglasses. but after being dismissed, his cover was almost

blown by a fellow juror jury duty. >> juror bridges is excused. >> now he is excused. >> oh. excuse us. >> don't nobody know who the hell i am. wow. >> you. >> ludacris. oh, what? you look like ludacris. i wish i wouldn't be here, i'll tell you that. >> yeah, sure ludacris from atlanta. >> really? >> i think i think, you know, you might be right it's kind of awesome. >> um, you might be right. all right, so we also have this. forget the ten day forecast. what if you could reliably check a 15 day forecast? that is what new artificial intelligence weather models are aiming for. google's new gen cars just beat traditional forecast models at their own game for the first time. that is, it's not available to the public yet, and there are still some critical limitations to

discuss. cnn's chad myers has a closer look. >> well, we've all seen weather maps that look just like this, but how do we know it's going to be clear in texas? >> well, the weather models tell us this. >> we look at them, and this is one that i made a long time ago. i was an intern with the national weather service in silver spring, maryland, 39 years ago. >> and this is what the weather model looked like. >> now we use some human intelligence and sorted that celsius to fahrenheit and kind of figured some things out and knew it was going to be a 55 degree low. but then supercomputers took over and everything changed. it wasn't just digits, it wasn't just numbers. >> now we could make graphics. >> now we could take all of this data and push it forward five, seven days make it so much better. but this was still human intelligence. now we have artificial intelligence. this is what our model looks like right now. this is how good we've come from. just numbers to this. but can artificial intelligence make this even better, make it more accurate? and the answer so far is yes.