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shackled and surrounded by officers to another court appearance. and the house ethics committee confirms it found evidence. former congressman matt gaetz may have committed statutory rape as the final draft of its bombshell report is finally made public. >> plus, as one of his final moves in office, president biden commuted the sentences for all but three federal death row inmates. we're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to cnn news center we begin this hour here. >> the man accused of killing unitedhealthcare ceo brian thompson pleaded not guilty today to state murder and terror charges in new york. luigi mangione was escorted into a new york courtroom this morning, where he was arraigned on those 11 state charges, including first degree murder and terrorism. if found guilty of the top charge, the 26 year old could spend the rest of his life in prison without parole.

his attorney, expressing concerns, though, in court today that new york city mayor eric adams and law enforcement were politicizing her client's arrest and making it difficult for mangione to get a fair trial. >> he's a young man, and he is being treated like a human ping pong ball between two warring jurisdictions here, these federal and state prosecutors are coordinating with one another, but at the expense of him. they have conflicting theories in their indictments. and and they are literally treating him like he is like, like some sort of political fodder, like some sort of spectacle. >> and his attorneys specifically calling out officials for that huge show of force last week during mangione extradition from pennsylvania, calling it, quote, the biggest staged perp walk she's ever seen. cnn's john miller is joining us now. john, today, mangione again walked before the cameras on his way to the courtroom. this comes after that high profile

perp walk last week that we just showed under high security, which included then new york mayor eric adams walking behind him. now, his attorney, john, you know, claims his right to a fair trial is being harmed. but i want your perspective. is all of this standard procedure? >> no, it's quite different. the perp walk, of course, was just simply an effect of they had to fly him in from pennsylvania, and the press knew he was coming into the heliport because when they asked, they were told, the nypd policy is you neither encourage nor discourage the photographing of defendants in public areas. as for today's perp walk, so to speak, that was because they had to go get him from federal courthouse and bring him into the courthouse, into the courtroom. normally, if he had been in state custody, they would have had him in the cell block. he would have come in from the side door. you wouldn't have seen any of that outside the courtroom. so today it was much more about logistics than than last weeks. and last weeks did have a purpose. and it was to show if

you commit allegedly an assassination on the streets of new york city, you will be found and you will be brought to justice. and i think that's why the mayor and so many others were there to show that this case was being brought to justice. >> all right, john, thank you very much for that. for more on this, let's bring in felipe rodriguez, a former nypd detective sergeant, and jennifer rogers, a cnn legal analyst and a former federal prosecutor. jennifer, let's start with you, and let's talk about what happened today. mangione officially pleaded not guilty, just for the record, that was expected, right? there's not really a surprise there. >> oh, for sure. i mean, even if they are working on a guilty plea as we speak, he would plead not guilty at this initial appearance. but there's no indication that they're anywhere close to talking to the police. so, yes, for sure, you plead not guilty, you get discovery, and then his lawyers will go to work trying to figure out what their defense is going to be. ultimately trial. >> all right. felipe, so we heard mangione attorney take issue with this now infamous new york perp walk from the

other week. we'll get to her larger arguments in a moment, but i just wanted to get your perspective. what did you make of that huge show of force from the nypd and the city? and are you concerned that could jeopardize this case at all? >> that is a big concern. one of the main things that i've been talking about from the beginning is we have to give, you know, fairness when fairness is due. at this point, my biggest concern is the concept of jury nullification, which is it doesn't matter what kind of evidence we have the jury doing the way that everything is being done at this moment, you know, feels that guess what? i'm not i don't care about the evidence. i feel that this gentleman is innocent, and we have to be very careful that we're balancing and presenting him in front of prospective jurors. >> all right. jennifer, so in addition to the arguments specifically about the perp walk, we heard from mangione attorney today requesting immediate discovery. she talked about her prejudicial statements and mangione being treated like a human ping pong ball. between these

two warring jurisdictions. do you think that could help the defense's case or the reality of, again, multiple law enforcement apparatuses wanting a piece of him? does that just make it more complicated for his case well, it's certainly more complicated for him. >> and his lawyers are having to defend two different places and two different th the same time. so it's going to be much more work. and ultimately, if he goes to trial in both jurisdictions. one of them that. you hear about the charges. so he can't really help himself in any strategic way. it's really just more of a hassle for them to try to face both of these cases at the same time. and remember, the federal charges potentially carry the death penalty, so that will slow everything down. and it's not at all clear that ultimately death will be sought here, but that makes it obviously a much more difficult case to defend as well. >> felipe, i want to get your perspective on one of the more wild moments that was referring

to something that happened last week. the defense is one of the defense's first arguments was that new york mayor eric adams appeared at that park, perp walk and press conference was about distracting from his own criminal challenges. what was your take? i mean, you know, when you're arguing that this is a politicized circus, is that argument in court going to help mangione? >> at this point? we have so much speculation when it comes to stuff like that. you know, we really we see the mayor is having a very difficult time. it was unprecedented for a mayor to be, you know, present at a perp walk, that that's something that should have been handled by the police commissioner. so i really don't know what angle he's trying to get at, but it is becoming very distracted and distracting at this time. and you know what? let the police commissioner do her job. she's very competent at it. right. she's very well spoken. you know, let the police commissioner basically do what you got hired for.

>> jennifer, we heard the prosecution talk about troves of evidence that it has documents, thousands of hours of video. uh, what is most concerning to you about that? if you are mangione defense attorney? >> wow. all of it. i mean, we've kind of seen in the public eye how this has unfolded in terms of them seeing the videos, identifying him, his capture, the things that he had on him at the time, the gun, the silencer, the writings. i mean, it's an overwhelming case. at least it seems to be on the fact of did he commit this crime? i mean, the crime itself is on video. so, you know, i think you're concerned about all of that. and really, if you're the defense, you're having to shift course a little bit and think about, okay, we're probably not going to be able to prove that he didn't do this. we're going to have to think about was he mentally incapacitated? you know, can we go for nullification here? is there some other way to get out from under this other than you've got the wrong guy? because that

seems to be not a very fruitful course, given the evidence that we've seen so far. >> yeah. it doesn't seem that that is anything they're presenting, at least at the moment. but again, we're in early stages right now. there's going to be a lot more to talk about. felipe rodriguez, jennifer rodgers, thank you both for your time. >> erica, thank you. danny. >> thanks. new today, the house ethics committee releasing a final draft copy of its report on former congressman matt gaetz finding, quote, substantial evidence. gaetz paid thousands of dollars for sex and drugs on multiple occasions, including allegedly paying a 17 year old for sex in 2017. the bipartisan panel concluded gaetz violated florida state laws, including the state's statutory rape law. gaetz has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. katelyn polantz is following all of these developments for us. there is a lot in this report. walk us through what else, what else we learned from this. erica, the big picture here, the house committee is finding matt gaetz was paying at least 20 times for women to have sex with him or for drugs. that is the

bottom line, where they are able to say, then they believe through witness testimony that they've taken through text messages, through tracing payments, that they believe matt gaetz engaged in commercial sex. so paying for sex, engaged in statutory rape, having sex with a then girl, a 17 year old heading into her senior year of high school, having sex with her twice at a party in july of 2017, and then her receiving $400 in cash. they believe that that's statutory rape under florida law, and then also that matt gaetz, while he was a sitting member of congress, was taking illicit drugs. one of the things that the committee writes is they document how many women spoke to them, how many people testified, including that alleged 17 year old victim, quote, many of the women interviewed by the committee were clear that there was a general expectation of sex. one woman, who was paid more than

$5,000 by representative gaetz between 2018 and 2019, told the committee that 99% of the time that they were hanging out, there was sex involved. so all of this is being put together. the details here are quite specific, not just about that party. in july of 2017, where gaetz was having sex with the 17 year old, but also a trip to the bahamas, he was taking with adult women who were being reimbursed for traveling with him. so all of this is being put together. and gaetz, in response, has went to court this morning, his lawyers and he had been denying the allegations against him that the committee was finding he tried to stop the release of the report. that was unsuccessful, and we're waiting to hear if he has anything else to say in court to a judge who is now looking at this as well. there's also, you know, and a little bit of that was up in, in part of what you just pulled there. caitlin. but there were

all of these reports of the sexual encounters. there's also the drugs that were reportedly involved here. yeah. erica, one of the things that the investigation was able to do is give us much more of an idea of how the sex and drugs, that those were going hand in hand in these rendezvous that matt gaetz was having with women. one of the things that the committee writes deep in this report is, quote, while all the women that the committee interviewed stated their sexual activity with representative gaetz was consensual, at least one woman felt that the use of drugs at the parties and events they attended may have impaired their ability to really know what was going on, or fully consent. indeed, nearly every woman that the committee spoke with could not remember the details of at least one or more of the events they attended with representative gaetz, and attributed that to drug or alcohol consumption. now, a very important reminder here. gaetz was investigated by the justice department for sex trafficking. he was not

charged. the justice department did not charge him with any crime. he has not been charged with any crime in the state of florida. what is being found here are violations of house ethics. for the time when he was a member of congress, which of course, he no longer is. caitlin. appreciate it. thank you. also with us, cnn legal analyst jennifer rodgers. so i mean, picking up on that, i think there is so much in here, i have to say, reading through it and the fact that in the report, they say there is substantial evidence here for all of the things that they that they allege happened. and yet the department of justice declined to bring charges. you're a former federal prosecutor. so is it clear to you, based on what we do know, as to why the doj would choose not to charge? >> well, erica, interestingly, the report says that they did not find substantial evidence to prove the federal charge, which was sex trafficking. so what the committee ultimately found is consistent with what doj presumably found, which is didn't have enough to bring the

what they did say was substantially proven was a whole flurry of state level offenses. so doj is not able to charge state level offenses. that would be up to florida authorities who apparently decided not to investigate or not to charge. it's not at all clear whether they could do that. now. there may be statute of limitations, problems with that if they were interested, but in any case, they didn't charge. so it's actually consistent. the report is consistent with what federal authorities apparently decided to do with this case. it's still, of course, is pretty damaging and of former representative gaetz, given that they do find that crimes were committed and house rules were also violated. >> as you noted, it's potential there could be charges in florida, depending on the statute of limitations there. as we wait to see what happens there. when it comes to florida's statutory rape laws, we're just getting a statement, actually, from an attorney who represents two of the women who testified in that

house ethics committee's probe, saying that this investigation and the detailed findings, quote, vindicate my client's accounts and demonstrate their credibility, going on to say how they appreciate the committee's commitment to transparency and releasing the comprehensive report so the truth can be known. there's been a lot of back and forth about, of course, whether this should or should not be released and what that could mean. um, where do you see this going? >> well, it's interesting because sometimes when you see statements like that from lawyers who are representing people involved, witnesses, potential victims, it's really the precursor to a lawsuit. now, i don't know whether there would be grounds for a lawsuit here if this was consensual sex in exchange for money. um, there was a suggestion. maybe it wasn't always completely consensual. so i'm not sure you may be seeing some sort of lawsuits coming after this report. and all the evidence comes out. some enterprising lawyers might be collecting clients in anticipation of some sort of action of that sort. so

we don't know. we don't know also what matt gaetz has in his future as far as elected office and whether it will be impacted by what's been learned today or what he will try to do about this report that's now out there. but i'd watch the courts. we may see some action there down the road. >> well, to that point, matt gaetz had been fighting the release of this report. frankly, up until the second it was posted online earlier today. is there any legal recourse that you see for him? >> i don't know of any. i mean, he could try to sue, i suppose, but the release of the report was by vote of the committee and the usual course of not releasing once someone has resigned. um, you know, it's not a law. there's no legal basis to say that they couldn't release it that i know of. so i suspect he wouldn't be able to succeed in an action against the house or the ethics committee or any individual members. um, if he tried to, to follow that. i think this was about trying to

stop it from coming out. and since he lost that battle, i suspect he'll drop the suit. but i guess we'll see. >> we certainly will. jennifer rodgers, good to see you. thank you. still ahead here this hour on cnn. cnn news central president biden commutes the sentences of nearly every federal inmate on death row. we'll take a closer look at the three prisoners. he very intentionally left out. >> plus, syria's new de facto leader announcing all weapons will now be under government control. just the latest development, as some syrians tell cnn they are wary of returning home even after the fall of the assad regime. and 1 in 3 americans say they will travel for the christmas holiday. so will the weather cooperate with their plans? we're going to take a closer look at those stories and much more just ahead in the next hour of cnn news central. stay with us. >> i want to be the greatest player that i could possibly become.

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commuting today, the sentences of nearly all federal death row inmates 37 in total. that means they will now spend the rest of their lives in prison without the possibility of parole. notably, however, president biden did not commute the sentences for three men convicted of carrying out some of the country's most notorious mass murders. cnn's kelly kayla tausche is live at the white house with more on that. and what more is president biden saying about this decision? kayla. >> erica, the president says that he made this decision based on his conscience and his political experience, writing in a statement, make no mistake, i condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss. but, he says, i am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level. in good conscience, i cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that i halted. the three inmates who will remain on death row are dzhokhar tsarnaev, dylann roof and robert bowers. the men who

are respectively, behind the boston marathon bombing, the shooting at mother emanuel church in charleston and also the shooting at the tree of life synagogue in pittsburgh. now biden in the first year of his term, suspended federal executions, and activists have been warning the white house of a potential spree of executions. once president elect donald trump retakes office. the move also represents an evolution of biden's own views on the death penalty, as well as the parties more broadly. biden staunchly supported the death penalty at earlier points in his career, but the democratic party is not universally supportive of this move, some criticizing the president for appearing soft on crime and also appearing to challenge the authority of the judicial system. here is one of those critics. house democrat mike quigley earlier today on cnn it's concerned with how presidents handle pardons and how they handle commutations for their own reasons, their own personal reasons.

>> and, you know, back to the pardoning of his own son. i heard people say, well, it's the love of a father, i get that, but there's a lot of parents out there whose children are in harm's way in the justice system, and they don't have the ability to do what president biden did. >> the biden administration has been reviewing thousands of clemency petitions and continues to do so. the white house has said that there will be more actions to come as the president winds down his time in office, and it continues to review the possibility of preemptive pardons for some of trump's political opponents remains to be seen. how the president will make a decision on that one. erica. >> kayla. appreciate it. thank you, danny, for more on this, we're joined now by democratic massachusetts congresswoman ayanna pressley. >> congresswoman, thank you so much for making time with us today. i really appreciate it. i want to start here because i know this is an issue you're passionate about. why did you praise this decision by the president today?

>> well, um, mass incarceration is a crisis in this country. it has been for decades. uh, clemency. um, our broken clemency process is one of the reasons why we have a mass incarceration crisis. we have in the office of the pardon attorneys, a backlog of some 10,000 individuals. that's 10,000 families. and so i've commended the president for having the authority and using it, um, using it in the 39 pardons and the 1500 commutations for those on, on home confinement. and today, this decision to commute the sentences of those on death row to life sentences without parole, state sanctioned murder is not justice. it is not a deterrent for crime. it does not. it is not does not support healing. it is not compassionate of our peer nations. we are an anomaly when it comes to the inhumane and barbaric practice, um, of the death penalty. and moreover, in trump's first administration, uh, he executed

more people in the final days of his presidency than have been executed in the last six decades. so we have every reason to believe that that's what he would do for those that in an expedited way, those currently on death row. so president biden's action today is in keeping with the promise he made when he was pursuing the presidency. he's long been opposed to the federal death penalty. he gave me his word that he would not execute anyone on his watch. he honored that. and today he took it a step further. >> congresswoman, a number of families of victims of the pittsburgh synagogue shooting, they spoke out prior to this decision today, hoping that the murderer, their robert bowers, would not get his sentence commuted. ultimately, the president agreed with that and did not commute that federal death penalty sentence. but i'm curious what you would say to members of victims of some of these inmates on death row whose sentences were commuted today? >> well, first, um, you know, in my own family, i have loved

ones that have been murdered, and i still fundamentally hold this position. no community is a monolith, but i've worked very closely with the survivor community, uh, healing is a very nuanced issue. and how people actualize that. every victim that's been impacted by violence deserves a pathway to healing, to justice and to accountability. and in fact, i have a bill that was signed into law by president biden that supports survivors that have been impacted by domestic terrorism and other such crises, to be able to access behavioral and mental health services. um, again, the death penalty has been has not been proven to be a deterrent of crime. uh, state sanctioned murder is not justice. and today, what president biden did demonstrated moral leadership, compassionate leadership informed by his own faith, and a position that he's held for a very long time. and again, when it comes to our peer nations, we are an anomaly in this inhumane and

barbaric practice, which is fundamentally flawed. this broad and diverse coalition momentum has continued to grow to abolish the federal death penalty throughout this country. interfaith groups, activist advocates, and survivors of families that have been impacted. i've also met many exonerees who are part of this movement. death row exonerees because 1 in 25 on death row are innocent. so wherever you fall on the issue of the death penalty, one thing is, is for sure is that whether or not it's people think it's fair or unfair, it has not been applied fairly. it has had a disparate impact on low income people, black people and other marginalized persons. black people make up only 13% of our society, and over 40% of those on death row. >> congressman, i want to turn to some of the other news of the day, especially concerning the hill. right now. i want to talk about this newly released house house ethics committee report on former congressman matt gaetz. now, the investigation found that gaetz paid tens of thousands of dollars to women for sex or drugs, including paying a 17

year old girl for sex in 2017. congresswoman, i just want to get your quick reaction to your former colleagues or the allegations against your former colleague it's a report. >> i'm glad that it was released. and matt gaetz is is clearly unfit for public office. >> well, just going along those lines, several of these allegations would be a crime under florida state laws. do you think the former congressman should be prosecuted? >> the legal process will play out as it should. again, these are allegations. i'm glad the report was released. and he's he's unfit to serve. and we'll let the legal process play out in terms of accountability. >> i want you to take a listen to or let's let's talk about this. president elect, donald trump. he was at an event over the weekend. he had some interesting things to say about a number of topics, including notably the panama canal. let's take a listen.

>> we will demand that the panama canal be returned to the united states of america. in full, quickly and without question. >> all right. for the former president, now, president elect trump also floated the idea of owning and controlling greenland, calling it an absolute necessity. the leader of greenland, meanwhile, says his nation is not for sale, while panama's leader reaffirmed that the canal belongs to his country. listen, the greenland stuff we heard during his last administration, the panama canal, uh, comments are of note. what do you think president-elect trump is trying to do with these demands? >> um, i don't know. and i don't have i don't have any insight into the minds of donald trump, nor do i want it. um, what i'm focused on is project 2025, which is now trump's agenda. um, every it's been my experience

having governed under a trump presidency, that they don't make threats. they do make promises. i have every reason to believe that they will dismantle the department of education, defund, head start, seek to privatize social security and medicare and much more. so i'm bracing for the impact of wholesale harm of a hostile administration, representing one of the most unequal districts in our country that felt the disparate impact of the policy harm of a trump administration, including the fact i just want to lift up since, again, on the president biden's decision today to commute those 37 sentences for those on death row to life without parole in the final days of trump's first presidency, he executed more people than had been executed for the last six decades. so again, i commend president biden. he saved lives. >> congresswoman ayanna pressley, thank you so much for playing ball with us on a number of different issues. i appreciate your time today and

hope you have a good holiday coming up. >> thank you. >> all right. coming up next from an ivy league school to one of new york's most notorious jails. we'll talk to a prison consultant. about what? life behind bars could be like for accused murderer luigi mangione. stay with us. >> andy. it has been one wild year. >> i know that whole new live stream was crazy. what? >> you have been following actual news, right? oh, boy. >> new year's eve live with anderson and andy. >> live coverage starts at eight on cnn and streaming and streaming live. >> hey, grab more delectables. you know that lickable cat treat the lickable delectables. yes. just hurry. mm. >> must be delicious. >> delectables lickable treat deliciously lickable delectables. >> critics and audiences love the fire inside out golden girl. it's one of the best movies of the year. it's this generation's rocky. >> i'm as serious as they come.

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4.99 a month. >> call 1-877-538-3882 or visit homeserve. >> com. >> i'm hanako montgomery in tokyo and this is cnn. >> luigi mangione back in jail after appearing in a new york courtroom today where he pleaded not guilty to state charges. the 26 year old is accused of fatally shooting health care exec brian thompson earlier this month. he is being held in one of the nation's most dangerous federal jails, the metropolitan detention center in brooklyn, or mdc. it's the only federal facility which operates in new york city. one judge has described it as having, quote, dangerous, barbaric conditions and an environment of lawlessness. for more about what things are like there at mdc, justin paperny joins me now. he's a prison consultant who served more than a year in federal prison for

investor fraud and conspiracy, and also the founder of the firm white collar advice. good to have you with us. i mean, this is my colleague kara scannell has also done some reporting on this. to say it doesn't have a great reputation, maybe putting it mildly at this point. there have been a number of issues and concerns about this jail. what is it like inside? >> well, it's so bad. there's an interagency operation taking place right now to investigate all of the problems in new york. and it's understaffed. it can be difficult to get people to work there together with the violence and suicides and what the bureau of prisons not wanting any risk, they're going to confine him 23, 24 hours a day. i can tell you, my partner served 26 years in prison, including eight years in the penitentiary and one full year in the hole. and he said after he got out of the hole, life was measurably easier. so it's difficult. and the hardest part of the experience, going through detention and just serving so much time in segregation. >> there was an ask for him to be separated over concerns about just how high profile

this is. there's there's typically a 21 day evaluation, as i understand it. while they determine where he needs to be in the facility. can you talk to us more about that process? >> well, they're going to evaluate him. and even after 21 days, i suspect they're going to keep him in segregation. there's an irony that he allegedly took out this health care executive due to predatory behaviors. he is now in a predatory environment. so for that reason, the prison system cannot have any additional issues. following the epstein debacle. and all of these investigations. so we have clients right now in this detention center who will say, even though you're allowed to shower a few days a week, it may be one shower a week, brush your teeth once a week. many don't know if it's morning or night, so this will be a very difficult experience for him, and he has to learn to focus on what he can and cannot control. but he should expect to spend a great deal of time in segregation and learn to enjoy his own company and somehow some way find meaning through this very difficult environment he allegedly created. >> this is the same facility that houses sean "diddy" combs,

right? who who, um, is being held on sex trafficking charges. do any of these, especially these high profile folks, when they would be when they would be their defendants in mdc brooklyn? who would they cross paths with, or would all all of these well known defendants, as we look at them on the screen there, would they all have been separated simply for security reasons? >> for security reasons? these high profile defendants are going to remain separated. so food should be brought to their cell. and as much isolation as possible. you can expect people in prison get bored. they want to create some excitement in their day. you saw he was in a prison in pennsylvania. prisoners were yelling outside the window. so having a high profile prisoner brings some excitement to their day. so it's a predatory environment and someone could be looking to make an example out of him to get on the media or potentially go on tv once they're released, or just bring attention to themselves. the bop cannot have problems. for that reason, he will not be spending time, in my opinion. in general

population fraternizing with other prisoners like diddy and bankman-fried and others. he should be alone for a long time in isolation, and it's the hardest part of the experience. i will say. even if he gets sentenced to life in prison, once he gets that ultimate prison, he'll feel like it will feel free compared to what he's enduring right now. this is the hardest part. >> yeah, there is also, you know, a separate conversation to be had about just the way that he has garnered so much public support for allegedly killing a man in cold blood on the streets of new york. and what that says, perhaps on a larger level, about society. when we look at where things are, how much would the general prison population there? how much would other folks who are at mdc actually know about him, and whether they would know that he's there? >> they know that he's there. it gets around. i've been in prison and there's a lot of gossip, so the news will get around pretty quickly, and you can expect some people to be enamored by him. and we tend to be enamored by celebrity in this country anyway. and we have to own. that's what he is, a celebrity. so some

prisoners are going to be enamored. they're going to like it. some are not going to care. others are not going to like that. he's getting this attention. so there will be all i say. when i went to prison, it was easy. nobody knew me. all eyes are on him, so he should adjust accordingly, not try to manipulate this environment to his liking. a lot of prisoners do because they're used to getting what they want whenever they want it. especially if you've been raised with some privilege and background, which is something i can relate to. so if he ever makes it to population, they could offer him iphone drugs, things that can make his state easier. and i would tell him understand what follows. every decision you make on the inside. because certainly people could be looking to exploit and take advantage of you. that's prison. >> justin paperny appreciate the insight. thank you. >> thank you. >> just ahead a moment they thought would never happen. a mother and son reunited after 13 years following the fall of the assad regime. some syrians tell cnn they're wary of returning home. they fear the danger in syria isn't over yet.

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that's one 800 859 2400. >> former army and security force members under the regime of deposed syrian president bashar al-assad are handing over their weapons to the new transitional government in syria. the country's new de facto leader declared all weapons will now be controlled by the state. people lined up by the hundreds to be interviewed and have their mug shots taken by rebel linked officials. hundreds of handguns have been collected, along with ammunition. meantime, the un's refugee agency says up to a million syrians are expected to return home in the first six months of 2025. but that could create a humanitarian crisis of massive proportions. cnn's salma abdelaziz has more. >> before ahmad morjan hugs his mother for the first time in 13 years, they both kneel in prayer. >> oh my gratitude for a reunion they never believed

would come. >> this is one of many emotional homecomings across syria after the sudden fall of the assad regime. at just 19 years old, with security forces hunting him down, marjan fled his family's home in aleppo. here he is in 2016. allahu akbar allahu akbar. reporting for an opposition based media network. as barrel bombs rained down from the sky later that year, marjan filmed the exodus as thousands withdrew from the last remaining rebel enclave in aleppo. we are leaving with our dignity, marjan says in this clip, and we will return one day. that promised return is now finally on the horizon. marjan says he is planning to move back to aleppo from gaziantep, turkey, where he currently lives with his wife and their two young daughters.

what is your dream now for syria's future? i'm optimistic about the future, he says, and i have huge hope that the country will be better than before. but not all are keen to hurry back to an unstable country with an uncertain future, says this human rights defender. >> there's no sustainable peace. and which makes me really afraid of getting back there. >> hossam kassas, who is seeking asylum in the united kingdom, is among tens of thousands of syrians whose applications for asylum were suspended after the uk and other european countries paused the process to reassess. now that the threat of assad is gone, for years, khuza'a has documented potential war crimes committed by all major parties to the conflict. if he goes back, he says, his family could be targeted or worse. why do you not feel safe to return?

>> we expected a lot of revenge. killing will happen. those soldiers will seek revenge from the people who were trying to hold them accountable. actually, many syrians in the diaspora long to return and rebuild. >> but this moment of great hope brings with it great uncertainty. salma abdelaziz cnn, london. >> salma, thank you very much for that. and we'll be right back. 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. >> i'm jonathan lawson here to tell you about life insurance through the colonial penn program. >> if you're age 50 to 85 and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three p's? >> what are the three p's?

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holidays, expect delays. lots of delays. aaa predicting more records this season as more than 119 million people are expected to take to the roads and the skies, but unfortunately, also joining that party will be a series of uninvited storms. so you've been warned. meteorologist chad myers joining us now from the cnn weather center. so, chad, chad, as we look at the map here, where will most of us need to set aside the most extra time to actually get to their destinations for today, at least right now, san francisco has delays with the marine layer, low clouds, and also we're seeing delays in toronto of all places because of some snow there. >> tomorrow, though, things change a little bit for new york city and also d.c., maybe even bwi. here's where the snow is right now, most of it on either interior moving up toward quebec, but we still have that lingering weather that's going to be making its way all the way up and down i-95, philly to d.c. tomorrow morning. the first thing you want to do tomorrow morning is take a quick step, but don't move. don't go down that stair. make sure it's not covered in ice. a little bit of

freezing drizzle possible overnight tonight from d.c. all the way up to philly. you talked about how many people are going to be on the roadways. and here's the deal. it's winter solstice, which means the sun is as low in the sky as it's going to get. if you're driving to the east in the morning, west at night, south during the day, that sun is going to be right in your eyes. please, please, please, i just did it on friday. please clean the inside and the outside of your windshield. it will give you much better visibility, a lot less glare. and you can thank me on monday next week. here's the rainfall for parts of the deep south by the time christmas rolls around. but really, no major storms to get in the way. not a lot of snow going to be expected here. here's your tuesday's delays. there's the new york and d.c. and the rainfall and the snowfall still coming down across the south. here's tomorrow morning. be careful of this little white and pink stuff. that's where the problems could be. erica. >> all right. i have been warned, and i thank you for that. my friend. chad. good to see you. just ahead here, that long

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