holiday. >> i came all the way from glendale, so i had to do it. i had to do it, you know, because why not? i mean, it's once in a lifetime no matter what. if i do win? boy oh boy, what a day, what a day. >> what a day. indeed. and the odds of winning are slim. even though this jackpot is so big. in fact, it's won in. ready for this? 302,575,350. and just to put that into context, wolf, you have a higher chance of winning the u.s. presidency or becoming a movie star. but, you know, someone's got to fill those shoes. someone's got to eventually win. and tonight people are hoping that it's them. >> we'll see if someone wins tonight. maribel gonzalez, thank you very, very much. and to our viewers, thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in the situation room. i hope everyone has a very,

very happy new year. erin burnett outfront starts right now. >> out front next, a fatal error. >> a u.s. official telling cnn that russia may have confused the passenger jet that crashed for ukrainian drone. as we hear from passengers who survived the terrifying crash. >> plus a second stowaway on a second delta flight. >> this time, the person was caught just minutes before takeoff. >> so how does this keep happening? and breaking news. >> president-elect donald trump tonight with a last minute request, asking the supreme court to save tiktok, at least for now. let's go up front. >> good evening everyone. >> i'm kate bolduan in for erin burnett outfront tonight, a deadly mix up. >> cnn is learning tonight that russian forces may have confused the passenger jet that crashed on christmas day for a ukrainian drone. that is, according to a u.s. official. video shows the jet plunging to the ground in kazakhstan and

then bursting into flames. >> 38 people were killed. we know around the same time, the azerbaijan airlines jet was scheduled to land in southern russia. >> there was in fact a ukrainian drone strike in that area. >> and today the white house national security council spokesman, john kirby. he pointed the finger directly at russia. >> we do have have seen some early indications that would certainly point to the possibility that this jet was brought down by russian air defense systems. do you have actual some kind of intelligence or information, whether it's like infrared or something that's beyond just sort of the the informed speculation we've been seeing? >> short answer to your question. court, is, is yes yet russia appears desperate to try and shift blame anywhere else. >> now suggesting the pilot of

the doomed jet is at fault. >> just listen to one top russian aviation official tonight. >> the aircraft commander made two attempts to land the aircraft in grozny, which were unsuccessful. the commander was offered other airports, but he decided to proceed with the aktau airport. >> so that's the angle from russia, from azerbaijan, where the flight and airline originated. >> its preliminary investigation says that the crash was caused by, quote, physical and technical external interference. >> and now we're hearing for the first time from passengers who who survived that crash. >> yilmaz tunc al-awda about 20 or 30 minutes after takeoff, we felt two explosions. >> the plane was supposed to land, but it didn't. >> something exploded inside twice. a man's hand was injured. we panicked. >> unbelievable. nada bashir is outfront live in london for us tonight. and not a more. survivors of the crash are

speaking out and sharing harrowing accounts of what they experienced. >> what more are you learning? >> that's right. we've been hearing harrowing accounts, kate, but also seeing video footage filmed just moments before the crash took place. and these videos will be crucial for investigators as they continue to examine evidence to try and piece together what exactly led to this plane crash. we've been taking a look at one of those passengers who recounted those final moments, both on board the plane and then, remarkably, as he survived and received care in a hospital. take a look. ted sarandos muhammad rahimov thought he was plunging to his death. he said he heard a bang before oxygen masks dropped, reciting the shahada. the muslim proclamation of faith. he says what he had thought to be his final prayer according to azerbaijan airlines, the plane had faced physical and technical external interference as the pilot

attempted an emergency landing, the plane burst into flames upon impact. 38 people on board did not survive. >> allahu akbar. >> remarkably, rahimov was among 29 people who survived the crash. after the bang. i already had my mind set that something bad would happen, because it was clear that the plane had received some damage. rahimov says. and when the plane started behaving unusually, then it became 100% clear. i realized then that it was all over and decided i should film my final minutes. accounts from survivors like rahimov give a rare first hand glimpse into the terrifying final moments of the flight, and potentially what may have caused the crash. azerbaijani sources and a u.s. official say preliminary evidence suggests the plane may have been hit by russian air defenses. a possible case, one u.s. official told cnn of

mistaken identity with the russian city of grozny. the flight's intended destination under ukrainian drone attack at the time. for those on board, it was a terrifying physical and emotional ordeal. for a brief moment, passengers thought they were out of danger. but when the caspian sea appeared, the clouds dispersed and the plane began to behave unusually, rahimov says, the feeling of tension began to increase, both for other passengers and for myself. russian authorities have yet to respond to allegations that their air defenses may have played a part in the fatal crash, but clear perforations in the fuselage point to shrapnel or debris hitting the plane while still in the air, according to several aviation experts. the hope now is that recovered black boxes will provide more definitive information regarding the plane's final moments.

>> we have what we see. >> i was conscious when i felt the impact. i was thrown up and down and back up again. i was strapped in, yet i was being thrown back and forth, rahimov recounts. it all lasted for a few seconds. then everything went quiet. there was silence. everything was calm. and i realized that that was it. we had landed. and we have been getting updates throughout the day, one u.s. official telling cnn that the whole scene in the fuselage and the wreckage are consistent with potential shrapnel damage as a result of an explosion. so further leading into that speculation that this may have been caused by russian anti-aircraft air defense systems. but again, it is still up to investigators to continue to examine the evidence at hand. and of course, with regards to those black boxes that have been recovered, authorities say it could take around two weeks to complete their assessment. >> kate. and we focus on those on the investigation. >> but my goodness, hearing

those accounts, it is just unbelievable that they lived through what they did. >> not a thank you so much for your reporting. >> and out front with us now, cnn aviation analyst miles o'brien, retired army major general james spider marks and seth jones, national security expert and senior vice president at the center for strategic and international studies. >> miles, i want to start with you with the latest of what we're just learning about this plane crash. you hear those remarkable, terrifying first hand accounts from that survivor of the crash. >> what stands out to you? >> well, first of all, what a remarkable kind of clear eyed, cool headed account from a passenger who's been through an amazing, harrowing ordeal. it's just it's frightening to even think about what he's been through. but for him to relate what he had done for us in such a factual way was, was helpful, i think. but you know what? i've been thinking about a lot this afternoon, kate, is the

decision to dispatch that aircraft. the airline does have a lot of responsibility in all of this. it was not a secret that those drone attacks were occurring in the grozny region. it was not a secret that in order to thwart a drone attack, you jam gps, which of course is an aid to navigation for civilian airliners. it was not a secret that this was, you know, for all intents and purposes, a battle zone. and for that matter, the russians should have closed the airspace, but they did not. so the fact that that aircraft was even in that area stands out to me right now. there are a whole sequence of events which led to what we're seeing here right now on top of that. but like any accident, it's always a series of events. and if you pull one of those events out of it, oftentimes it doesn't happen. >> and russia also now miles is suggesting it was the pilot's fault because they were given different landing options. >> and russia says they didn't take it. you know, a second

black box from the plane has now been recovered. is is is that interaction some clarity on that? i mean, is that what the black box could provide? >> it? uh, it never hurts when you're a guilty party to blame a dead pilot. frankly, they don't refute the claim to blame the pilot. and this is, uh, beneath contempt. frankly, what they did was, in my view, rather heroic. they tried to land in bad weather conditions. the gps probably made it even more difficult. they probably flew an abnormal flight path as a result of the missed approach. mistaken for another aircraft. a hostile aircraft shot down and then or shot at and then were able to limp that aircraft across the caspian sea. an extraordinary bit of airmanship, in my view. >> yeah. >> miles, thank you as always. it's very good to see you. i really appreciate your time tonight. >> i want to go now to spider

marks and seth jones. >> spider, how easy should it be for a military to distinguish between a drone and a commercial airliner? >> what does it say if the russians couldn't tell the difference? >> well, essentially, kate, there are there are two ways to do it. one is you're going to do it by radar. you're going to have some type of a return on a screen. and then secondarily, you're going to have visual. identification. >> um, and what it appears at this point and again, realize this is all conjecture on our part until all the facts are in, is that it looks like as a result of the aborted attempted landing at grozny, they were close enough to the ground and ground based air defense systems, which are dumb weapon systems. >> you're essentially shooting bullets into the sky. managed to hit the target. at least that's the initial view that we have right now. but a drone is going to have a much different, frankly, a very

erratic pattern in order to do what it's trying to do relative to a commercial aircraft, which is a very predictable low slow, at this point kind of approach into an air. airfield. so trying to as, as miles indicated, victim blaming. blaming is a very cheap way out of this thing and probably a very predictable narrative that we're going to see. but it wouldn't be confusion on the ground. it's it certainly is just the combination of an incredibly capable military, the russian military, which is immensely led by feckless leadership. that combination is incredibly dangerous. and we're seeing that right now. >> yeah, seth, you say that it will be telling if it turns out russia's military was at fault, why? >> well, kate, one of the things that's been interesting is i've had multiple conversations over the last two weeks with senior ukrainian officials, including ones involved in building their drone program. >> and what we have seen is a

notable increase in domestically produced, although parts are coming from outside drones that the ukrainians are using for long range strike with higher payloads against russian targets in russia itself. so things like air bases, uh, logistics hubs, weapons depots and some of the the drones that they're using actually are small airplanes that they've pulled out the manned components and put in components to allow them to be remotely controlled, put on high volumes of explosives, and then use them for essentially suicide attacks into targets. so, you know, in, in a sense, there there's sort of this interesting psychological effect that it's having that it may be having on the russians where they're a little trigger sensitive right now because they're they're seeing so many of these drones target

various aspects of russian territory. >> mm. and spider, do you think that russia will hold anyone accountable if it is on them? >> and will russia be held accountable by the international community if it is on them? >> well, the international community, let's be a little bit cynical about this, has little capability to hold anyone accountable. they have no enforcement mechanisms. so there may be an attempt to identify how this came together. and then i and then if russia is in fact, let's just give them the fact that they shot this thing down. there's very little promise that anybody will be held accountable. russia, on its part, might hold a bunch of folks accountable and make that very visible. but that's all internal for a domestic audience. the external audience in that case should be very, very cynical about that result. >> and speaking internally, seth, you've been analyzing how russian state media is covering this crash.

>> what are you seeing? >> well, it's very interesting and very telling and not surprising looking at russian propaganda over the last several decades. frankly, multiple decades, the russians have a concept which we can call a fire hose of falsehood. so they they used it, for example, during the malaysian airlines 17 crash, where they put out high volumes of information on multiple channels. so i was looking at sputnik and rt, a number of social media platforms, raising questions about whether it was other causes. so we've seen pilot error. we saw just earlier. we've seen weather related issues, including fog. we have seen ukrainians blamed on multiple platforms. we've seen an oxygen tank come up in russian propaganda. all of these are designed with kind of a basis in psychology to confuse individuals watching. and just to be clear, this is

misinformation. this is these are blatant russian media lies to try to confuse individuals both internally but also externally about the causes of this, because they certainly do not want to take responsibility. so this is classic russian propaganda staying true to form. >> gentlemen, thank you both so much. it is good to see you this evening. outfront for us next. >> another stowaway busted for sneaking onto a delta flight. how does this keep happening? >> and what does it say about the security at america's airports right now? >> plus, breaking news, president-elect donald trump going to bat for tiktok tonight, asking the supreme court to postpone next month's ban. so why now? >> and one democrat with a simple solution on how to start winning again, he says act like a normal human being. is it just that andy, it has been one wild year. >> i know that home live stream was crazy. what? oh, wait, you mean the rumors about me and the french pole vaulter? who's

saying that? is it everybody? >> i have zero idea what you're talking about. >> and you think i'm the one that doesn't follow the news? >> i did like that one new song about coffee. >> espresso. >> oh, i'd love one, actually. oh, sweetie, 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 live on max. >> everyone's running to subway for three. all new spicy footlongs. wait, subway did what? that's right. they're bringing the heat with creamy sriracha, jalapenos and all new ghost pepper bread. but hurry, these subs are only here for a limited time. >> vision insurance doesn't do you any good if you don't use it. >> just like this treadmill i bought that. i keep saying i'll use, but never do. yeah, with hundreds of frames to choose from, you can put your vision insurance to good use at america's best. book an exam today. >> 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. >> 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. >> why do nfl players choose a sleep number? >> smart bed. i like to sleep cool and i like to sleep even cooler. >> and i really like it when we both get what we want. >> introducing the new sleep number climacool smart bed. >> sleep up to 15 degrees cooler on each side. >> visit a sleep number store near you. my moderate to severe crohn's symptoms kept me out of the picture with skyrizi feel symptom relief. at four weeks, many people were in remission at 12 weeks at one year, and

even at two years. >> don't use if allergic serious allergic reactions, increased infections, or lower ability to fight them may occur before treatment. get checked for infections and tb. tell your doctor about any flulike symptoms or vaccines. liver problems leading to hospitalization may occur when treated for crohn's. control is everything. >> ask your gastroenterologist about skyrizi. >> mhm. 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. >> lease a 2024 tiguan for zero

dress shirts at $69, suits 399. download the tailor app or visit. >> mar-a-lago. >> com today. hurry, hurry. >> tonight, another stowaway

caught on another delta flight. this one headed to hawaii. airport officials tell cnn the stowaway managed to get through security without a boarding pass the night before, then boarded the flight the next day. they were discovered while the plane was taxiing for takeoff. it is the second stowaway incident with delta in just really the last month. right around thanksgiving, you'll remember. a russian national and u.s. permanent resident bypassed security and made it all the way from new york to paris. carlos suarez is outfront for us now. carlos, walk us through what happened this time. >> well, kate, there are so many questions tonight about what happened, including just how much time this unticketed passenger spent at this terminal before boarding this flight. there's also, of course, the question of how this person was able to get past a tsa security checkpoint without a boarding pass in the first place. the night before this flight on christmas eve. and then there's also the fact that when the flight crew realized that there was a

stowaway on board that aircraft and they decided to turn the plane back around, when that aircraft gets back to the gate, we're told that this person managed to run out of the airplane before law enforcement arrived. and so we're told that authorities actually had to rely on surveillance video from the airport in seattle to figure out exactly where this person was. they were able to detain the person inside of a bathroom. here now, is another passenger that was on board that flight, describing this entire ordeal. >> we were kind of left in the dark. >> it's kind of scary if somebody just sneak on the plane like that. i don't think delta did everything they could to protect people on the flight. >> all right, kate, it's important to note here that according to the tsa, this passenger did not have any prohibited items. of course, delta airlines as well as tsa, is still trying to investigate how all of this could have taken place. >> kate, clearly great to see you. thank you so much. carlos. juliette kayyem joining me

right now for more on this. juliette, how has this happened? twice in one month with the same airline? >> yes. >> well, let's start with delta. >> it clearly is a delta issue. >> right now it might apply to other airlines. >> so we have to examine whether delta has recently changed any procedures or its employees under tremendous stress. >> what happened with that plane on the 25th that the guy was able to get off? there's a lot of issues around delta specifically that have to be addressed. but to be clear, this was a lot of failures, not just delta's, because at airports there's two sort of separate security aspects. i mean, the first is what's called identity verification. that's when you and i give our, uh, our i.d. and the tsa agent determines whether we are, in fact, you know, juliette kayyem. the second one, though, is called the boarding status station. that's the one where you're getting onto the plane. that's ensuring that you have the right tickets. in both cases,

very rare, but but in both cases, in relatively recently, both systems seem to have broken down. and this, you know, give give the faa and airlines some credit. i mean, there's about 2.9 million people daily, according to the faa on in aviation. so this is still a small part. but, you know, these are the last lines of defense. so they really do have to be tightened up. >> there also seems to be another security issue is when they brought the person, brought the plane back to the gate, and then the person was able to run off the plane before security arrived. >> yeah, that one is the one where i'm sort of like, what? like, i mean, i literally i cannot answer that one for you. generally, i try to give you an explanation. this one is some you don't have someone who does not have a boarding pass. you don't know what he has brought, what he has brought on. uh, who he is, whether he left something behind. did he check anything? you know, the other passengers? deserved that

person being apprehended. and to determine that that wasn't a present security risk. instead, he's allowed off the plane. it's that piece of it is just absolutely inexplicable. i i'm not giving excuses. it was christmas day. maybe some systems were a little bit weaker than they normally are, but that one is sort of inexplicable to me. >> so then what needs to be done? like what is the prescription here? because something should be fixed. if there are these levels of security and the system has failed. yeah, yeah. >> so i mean, we do have to go back and figure out something specifically with delta. that's something that's happening at their borders. boarding status stations. it's allowing people in is i'm curious, is there new technology? what were they using? old tickets. we'll learn all of these things to to try to get on a more generally the system is under stress. we know more people are flying. so that's going to mean that we're going to need probably more personnel. look, this is not just impacting the people on the plane. i mean, the ripple effects of global aviation. if

you have a delay in seattle, that's going to be felt in asia in a couple of minutes, right? becauto control the airspace. and so we really do have to tighten it up here to ensure that it doesn't impact people all over the world. >> yeah. and that's even beyond the beyond the scary security threat that that could potentially pose. it's great to see you, juliette. juliette, thank you so much for coming in front for us next. breaking news. president elect donald trump throwing tiktok a lifeline for now. what he's now asking the supreme court to do. plus, a civil war erupting inside trump's party as maga takes on elon musk and vivek ramaswamy over immigration you only come across an artist like luther vandross once in a lifetime. >> he was a boss from the beginning. >> luther said, i have a sound in my head. i got to get it out. you are my shining star. >> it was the most exciting time in the world. >> his life had extremely joyful moments and some really

difficult moments. >> if we were to be able to talk to luther as fans, we'd be able to say, we just love you, luther. never too much. new year's day at aly vance louis park. >> more mud action louis. louie got mud on her face. louie. okay, everybody, that's lunch. >> mud mask. >> no no, no. compare hotels in the hotels.com app. >> this is not a drill. subway dropped the price on all their subs. 4% off any sub, any size. >> subway did what any sub? yep. >> for a limited time, you get 20% off when you order in the app. hurry and get this deal before it's gone. >> i've got this. >> hey, susan. toothbrush. >> big interview, huh? >> nice new suit, new haircut,

ancient bristle stick. >> make the sonicare switch. all right, now go knock em dead, boss. can i get the wi fi? am i hang here now? >> taxes is getting the turbotax app and filing your taxes yourself 100% free. if you didn't file with us last year. now, this is taxes filed free in the app by 218. when you switch to turbotax, do it yourself. mild moderate to severe crohn's symptoms kept me out of the picture. now i have skyrizi. i've got places to go and i'm feeling free. >> controlling my crohn's means everything to me. oh, control is everything to me. >> and now i'm back in the picture. feel significant symptom relief at four weeks with skyrizi, including less abdominal pain and fewer bowel movements. skyrizi helped visibly improve damage to the intestinal lining. and with skyrizi, many were in remission. at 12 weeks at one year, and even at two years.

>> don't use if allergic serious allergic reactions, increased infections, or lower ability to fight them may occur. before treatment, get checked for infections and tb. tell your doctor about any flulike symptoms or vaccines. liver problems leading to hospitalization may occur when treated for crohn's. >> now's the time to take control of your crohn's. >> control is everything to me. >> ask your doctor about skyrizi, the number one prescribed biologic in crohn's disease. >> why do nfl players choose a sleep number bed? >> i like to sleep cool and i like to sleep even cooler. >> and i really like it when we both get what we want. >> introducing the new sleep

you, call one( 800) 269-9522. that's one( 800) 269-9522. >> new year's eve live with anderson and andy. live coverage starts at eight on cnn breaking news tonight. >> president-elect donald trump urging the supreme court to pause the controversial ban on tiktok, set to take effect the day before his inauguration. it's

>> saying that the supreme court currently needs to weigh as whether or not this band would violate first amendment rights. donald trump's brief and his team purse brief today did not really

get into, you know, whether or not this violates the first amendment and what this case poses. >> but he did argue that essentially he wants this pause on the ban so that his incoming administration can try to negotiate some sort of deal with tiktok. now, one thing that is clear is that tiktok is, of course, very popular in this country. it has 170 million users and monthly users, i should say. and donald trump has wavered on this in the past, but it's clear that recently he said that he wants to save the app, that he is warming to it. and as you mentioned, he did meet recently with tiktok ceo kate. >> yeah he did. elena, thank you so much for that. also tonight, the only person to ever lead both the cia and the fbi speaking out and saying that donald trump's picks to lead two critical intelligence posts are not fit to serve. we're talking about william webster. he writes in a letter to senators that will be considering the nomination that the close relationship between donald trump and kash patel has his who is his pick to run. the fbi raises serious concerns. he also writes that tulsi gabbard

has a profound lack of experience for the director of national intelligence post. webster served under presidents carter, reagan, and george h.w. bush. katelyn polantz out out front for us now in washington with much more on this. and caitlin, what else does he say in this letter? >> well, kate, william webster is one of the most esteemed people in law enforcement and national security in american history. and he is saying he is deeply concerned about these two choices of donald trump kash patel to lead the fbi and tulsi gabbard to be his choice to be the top spy. the director of national intelligence. webster says he's concerned about the impartiality of the people in these roles. he reminds senators in a letter on thursday that whenever he was serving under president carter and president reagan, there were one time each for each of those presidents where they reached out to him, and he made sure to tell them that his agency, the fbi at the time, would need to be independent and impartial. what he says about patel is specifically with this. patel is somebody

who has said he wants to investigate the investigators, has been encouraged to investigate the january 6th committee on the hill and webster writes, while mr. patel's intelligence and patriotism are commendable, his close political alignment with president trump raises serious concerns about impartiality and integrity. statements such as he's my intel guy and his record of executing the president's directives suggests a loyalty to individuals rather than the rule of law, a dangerous precedent for an agency tasked with impartial enforcement of justice. his issue with tulsi gabbard. it's a little bit different. he seems to have an issue more with her level of experience in handling intelligence. former army national guard veteran is what she is, as well as a former democratic congresswoman, he writes. congresswoman gabbard's profound lack of intelligence experience and the daunting task of overseeing 18 disparate intelligence agencies further highlight the need for seasoned leadership. this is no time in world history for a

novice in the field to learn this role. both of these people have been on capitol hill meeting with senators, and it's ultimately going to be up to the u.s. senate to decide whether they will be confirmed as the nominees. kate. >> caitlin, thank you so much for laying it out for us. joining me now, former democratic congressman mondaire jones and shermichael singleton, both here with me. thanks, guys, for being here. shermichael. that is a strong warning and a very clear description of why he thinks that they are not qualified from a man with singular experience, the only person to have ever led both the cia and the fbi. do you think patel and gabbard are in trouble? >> i think gabbard is going to have a tough uphill battle, in part because of some of the statements we've seen from many republican senators on some of her positions on national security. i think that all of the other nominees will probably ultimately get confirmed from some of the things that i'm hearing a lot of republicans do believe that trump was given a mandate to sort of act in a certain way in terms of appointments and

ultimately confirming those appointments. it's very rare, kate, that you'll see the party senators of the party, of the president elect vote against all of his nominees. maybe 1st may not get past maybe two at most. uh, you know, there's historic precedent for that. but beyond that, i just don't see that happening. so again, i think kash patel, i think pete hegseth. i think even rfk could probably get confirmed. tulsi, i'm not necessarily sure, but everyone else, i think they'll probably ultimately go and lead and they'll follow the directive from the president elect, as they should. >> i think that's part of the a little bit, part of the issue that webster is taking here is following directives rather than being than impartiality. i mean, we'll see what kind of impact this letter has. but, congressman, you also heard the reporting from alayna treene, this breaking news that donald trump, um, making a formal request to the supreme court to basically pump the brakes and pause on the tiktok ban. i mean, we all covered how many times this was talked. republicans, democrats, they all agreed on this. biden signed this into law. mitch mcconnell signed a brief and

just sent it to the high court saying, please don't block this ban. it's entirely consistent with the first amendment. and then there's this. it's kind of trump's at odds with a lot of people on this one. i mean, does he face headwinds? who knows what the court will do? but just his reaction to this. >> yeah. this is the most billionaire thing ever. >> the things i don't say often the the incoming president, a billionaire, cares very deeply about what the billionaire major investor in tiktok has to say. >> his name is larry ellison. he's been lobbying the president to put a pause on this. and so that's why you see the reversal in donald trump's position. in fact, he's taking a strong definitive position now in opposition to this, you know, forcible sale of tiktok. and it passed under a republican majority in the house of representatives with bipartisan support for reasons of national security. yeah. >> and because this was long debated, i mean, it was talked about for quite some time.

>> it was it was vetted in the press, i would say. >> i would say so. >> it was controversial. people were lobbying on both sides. members of congress didn't all agree on this. but what happened was it was a robust process and there was a result. and because someone who hosted a major fundraiser for the incoming president and who got a the president and ceo of a company he founded to also donate, i think, about $125,000 in addition to everything else that larry ellison has done for the incoming president. donald trump has reversed his position, and we're going to see that a lot. he is surrounding himself with people like elon musk. vivek ramaswamy, and others who care very deeply about any number of policy positions and who have helped him financially. >> it's unclear, though, what the what the pause and let us try to negotiate this beyond a ban would mean. but i mean really interested to see what the what the supreme court decides here and then shermichael then

there is, as axios put it, a maga world civil war erupted. this is one thing that we started talking about this last night. i did not see it becoming as big as it has. i guess my news judgment is completely off. elon musk and vivek ramaswamy are now pitted against a i'm going to just like, generalize the rest of maga world, but everyone gets my drift here. over. well, immigration. but the long missive essentially calling american workers mediocre and worse and using that as a defense for foreign worker visas, musk tried to come to his rescue today. it does not look like they are calming down any of the anger that is coming at them over this. the one person who has not weighed in is donald trump. should he? >> i think he should. like, i'm vehemently opposed to what vivek ramaswamy posted. and the defense of vivek by elon musk, who i respect for his ingenuity. i thought it was frankly insulting what he wrote about americans. i've traveled

all across this country, rural towns, appalachia. i've seen a lot of poor white families with very talented, incredible kids. i've been to a lot of inner cities and rural towns, a lot of black kids with poor families, and i've seen a lot of talent and ingenuity there. and the one thing that i that i see missing, the common theme is a terrible education system. the lack of guidance, the lack of mentorship. and so what that tells me is that if we're able to reform our education system, which i would argue most americans would agree, it needs to be reformed, we are falling behind by every metric in some very key areas, particularly as it pertains to stem. let's invest in those places. i get the argument of saying, well, look, that's going to take time. we do need some foreign workers to fill in the void. i'm okay with that. filling in the void does allow us to put a microscope on the areas where we are struggling, but i strongly believe in championing the policies, kate, that that that sort of reinvest in the american workforce, that that returns that pride that restores that pride of american ingenuity. >> it seems antithetical to to

making america great again. yeah, that's what i'm saying. >> yeah, that's the premise of my argument here. absolutely. you can't do that by saying, well, let's just flood in by bringing in other people. that's not what i want. and so i think a lot of americans, a lot of trump supporters look at this and they beg the question, well, what about access to the american dream for our kids, for our grandkids? and when you see that message, i don't see that that line, that message. and what vivek and what elon musk are arguing here. so i'm opposed to it. and i think the president elect needs to come out and set the record straight that they do not speak for him or his immigration policy. >> well, i mean, you know, the president will definitely say that no one speaks for donald trump, right? but he has been silent and i don't know, what do you think of this? >> look, i'm not surprised at all. the modern day republican coalition is one of the most counterintuitive coalitions. i think in a long time. yeah. the most obvious example of that is you got a lot of white working class voters voting against their economic interests. it's always been a party whose business elites have really set the policy agenda and so on.

this issue that matters a great deal to people who own companies, who run companies, and especially in silicon valley, where the incoming president has made significant inroads, at least after this last presidential election cycle, you're going to see real tension on this issue. >> if nothing else, vivek ramaswamy seems, i guess we'll call it tone deaf in that message. and that delivery. great. >> that's why that's why i didn't do so well in the republican primary. that's exactly why he didn't do well, because of his lack of message and understanding of where the american people are and their expectations about the future. we have inherited an amazing thing as americans, and it appears to me that we're not handing off what we've inherited to the next generation. and so, again, the question for us, that burden for our leaders is, what can you do to make sure that the future generations can compete against other countries, such as china? bringing in more people is not the answer. it's a band-aid to a longer term problem. >> well, one thing we do know if you read vivek's missive, is he does a good job using the

word venerate a lot. so you can definitely you know, we're working on our vocabulary words. so i really appreciate it, guys. thank you. up next, the man who wants to run the dnc says he knows how to win back the white house. his advice? it seems like a no brainer. he joins us next. plus, they've been key to putin's successes in ukraine. and tonight we take you inside one of russia's rapidly expanding drone factories. stop. >> luther. never too much new year's day at eight. >> why do nfl players choose a sleep number bed? i like to sleep cool and i like to sleep even cooler. >> and i really like it when we both get what we want. >> introducing the new sleep number climacool smart bed. sleep up to 15 degrees cooler on each side. visit a sleep number store near you. >> everyone's running to subway for three. all new spicy footlongs. wait. subway did what? that's right. they're bringing the heat with creamy sriracha, jalapenos and all new

ghost pepper bread. but hurry! these subs are only here for a limited time. >> best part of the party? snooping in the bathroom. ooh! party fell. not listening to your dentist. make the sonicare switch all right, champ, be gentle, be effective. be you. i love you. >> i wish i could go to emma's. my dad's working late. i gotta watch the boys. long shift tomorrow. so much homework. breathe. we could get them clothes for christmas. no, i can just make something. is this all that's left? i know we have beans. that'll work. i don't need this one. hungry? i'm not that hungry. we're fine. i can get him to bed. i can do my essay. no, no. what do i do? not again. i don't need to wash my hair. turn it back on. breathe. you're fine. my dad will pay the water bill. need water now. you really need groceries. breathe. he works so hard. it's okay. we're in this together. everything's okay. these tips will help, but only a little. maybe i could get a second job. my dad has a second job. we

don't need help. we have each other. i'm so tired. we've made it this far. but what if they could help? we don't need this. >> hi. what's your name anna. >> anna. how are you? >> i'm okay. yeah. what brings you to the salvation army? >> liberty mutual customizes my car insurance, so i saved hundreds. but the money i saved, i thought i'd get a wax figure of myself. oh, right in the temporal lobe. beat it. punks only pay for what you need. >> liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty. you weight loss is changing for so long i felt stuck on repeat. >> i tried and tried again. lost weight. gained it back. >> but z-band means change z bounds for adults with obesity to help lose weight and keep it off. >> activating two naturally occurring hormone receptors in

my body. zip bond works differently. it's changing what i believe is possible when it comes to weight loss. it's changing how much weight i lose up to 48 pounds. and it's changing what happens? >> don't take if allergic to it, or if you or someone in your family had medullary thyroid cancer or multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome. type two. tell your doctor if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, stop southbound and call your doctor if you have severe stomach pain or a serious allergic reaction. severe side effects may include inflamed pancreas or gallbladder problems. tell your doctor if you are experiencing vision changes, taking a sulfonylurea or insulin. having suicidal thoughts if you're nursing pregnant or plan to be, or taking birth control pills. side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting, which can cause dehydration and worsen kidney problems. >> zelle bound means change, and when it comes to weight loss, change is good. >> discover the weight loss you

could be bound for. talk to your doctor about zep bound. >> you're seeing skechers famous glide step footwear everywhere. and now that famous design is available in hands free skechers slip ins. get the comfort and style of glide step now with the convenience of slip ins, with no bending down or touching your shoes. try glide step skechers slip ins for ben and erin. >> the work's never done. i'll never stop 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 night at eight on hgtv. >> acting like a normal human being. does that sound like a wild notion? well, that is the exact prescription that democratic senator brian schatz actually says his party needs from its next presidential nominee. it's also a similar message that we have heard from one dnc chair, candidate, james skoufis, who is also a new york state senator. and he joins me right now. it's great to see you. so you want this top job

at the dnc. you want to run the party in the coming cycle. you told brian kilmeade in a recent interview. noteworthy also interview with brian kilmeade. you said we as democrats have a lot for a lot of voters have become unrelatable. >> how so? yeah. >> so first, thank you for having me. now, when you're the first step, when you're in a hole is to put down the shovel and stop digging. and i think we have to be honest with ourselves. yes, tim walz was absolutely correct when jd vance was nominated. he is weird. he acts weird. he sounds weird. but if we're being frank, we can sound weird too. sometimes as democrats and the senator from hawaii is absolutely correct in that we can sometimes be a little bit more overly interested in placing voters into academic categories and buckets than we are talking to the working class concerns that people have here in america. and we saw some of that this past election. there's no question about it. >> you have the you've said you have the 40 signatures from members that are required to take part in the candidate forums. it starts the first one

is in just ten days. it's an opportunity for you to really introduce yourself in a broad way to dnc members. it's an important moment. what is your brand of democrat senator and how is it different from the others who want the same job? >> so the next dnc chair, i believe, and this is what i'm running on, has to be focused on one thing and one thing only. and that is throwing out the stale, ineffective dc playbook. and look, i come from a district that donald trump just won by 12 percentage points. he's won it now three times. and we have to do a lot more listening and a lot less lecturing with voters and do a lot less listening to the dc consultant class. i spoke with a dnc member just a few days ago who told me that she was getting upwards of 16 mailers a day in arizona in the heat of the campaign. we're literally lighting money on fire, so we have to reorient organizationally within the dnc to our party loyalists, our boots on the ground, send those resources to human to human contact, partnerships with organized

labor. but within the party, broadly speaking, we need a national democratic party that, you know, that addresses this trust gap, this reputational deficit that i think we've developed, unfortunately, whereby over the past four years, we were telling people the economy was doing well, when in fact, when they went to the supermarket, they saw for themselves it was not we've got to be speaking to the issues that they care about, not running away from them and pivoting and trying to convince them whatever is in our mind on our agenda. >> part of it is how are you going to address, deal with, fight against or talk about the president elect and donald trump? we had other candidates that are running for the same job robert hutton was on, and martin o'malley have been on recently on the show, and they both have very different views on donald trump. let me play this for you. >> we also need someone who will agree with president trump when he's right, and there's a reason why he had that decisive victory, because he was right on so many issues. >> do you see anything trump is doing right? >> governor, i really cannot see anything that he's doing

right. >> who do you agree with? >> i certainly agree a lot more with martin o'malley. i'm not running for dnc chair to agree with anything that donald trump is doing or saying. he's hoodwinked a lot of people. he lies day to day. basically, i we saw that for four years when he was in office. we're going to see it again for the next four years. and let me be clear, the circus is already apparent to most american voters in the electorate. he's nominating a wrestling executive to run our nation's education system, an anti-vaxxer to run our nation's health care system. that is all going to be apparent front and center, if it's not already for voters. the democratic party, though, can't just be the anti-trump party. we have to get back to putting our values, our working class values, front and center. >> that reminds me you're not anti-trump. >> we've heard democrats recently, joe manchin, former democrat, saying the brand is toxic. liz smith, big democratic strategist. she says that the the brand is in the toilet. what's your one word of what the democratic party brand is right now? >> i don't know that i want to put it into one word, but we

have to do better. i think that's got to be with contrition. we've got to go to some of these voters who were once under our big democratic tent that are now on the outside looking in, and we've got to go to them with some contrition and say, hey, we haven't done we haven't met your expectations completely. we're going to do better. this is a new democratic party moving forward. >> who cares where it is? you got to do better. thank you so much. nice to meet you. thank you very much for coming in. thanks for the time out front for us next. incredible new details tonight on the perks that putin is now offering in order to get people to produce drones for his war in ukraine. >> one of those soccer, swim and softball after school kind of days, huh? don't stress. hellofresh has dinner covered with tons of delicious recipes you can pull together in no time, no matter what your week looks like. so even on a barely time to eat type of day, you can still get a homemade meal on the table that the whole family will love. hellofresh

homemade made easy. >> now taxes is getting the turbotax app and filing your taxes yourself 100% free. if you didn't file with us last year. pay $0 when you file by 218. all tax forms, all 100% free. now this is taxes file free in the app by 218. when you switch to turbotax, do it yourself. >> everyone is running to subway for three. all new spicy footlongs. wait, subway did what? that's right. they're bringing the heat with creamy sriracha, jalapenos and all new ghost pepper bread. but hurry, these subs are only here for a limited time. >> your parents have given you some amazing gifts. but what about the inherited ones? celebrate them with ancestry dna. the simple test that shows

your deep family roots from your mom's side and your dad's side with some serious detail. trace the journeys and history that shaped who you are today and see the traits they pass down. your connections to the past are all waiting. see just how gifted you are for only $39. >> i've got this. >> hey, susan. toothbrush. big interview, huh? nice new suit, new haircut, ancient bristle stick. make the sonicare switch. all right, now go knock em dead. boss, can i get the wi-fi? i'm gonna hang here. >> mhm. >> 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, lease a 2024

for the. >> memory. >> anderson cooper 360. next on cnn. >> tonight, new details about a rapidly growing facility fueling putin's war. clare sebastian is out front with the caption, my mom's reaction when she found out i earned more than her cat videos, tiktok memes, all part of a recruitment effort funneling workers into russia's ever expanding drone program. >> the videos are made by elabuga polytechnic, a elabuga polytechnic, a technical college based at the alabuga special economic zone in southern russia. the same site identified by the white house last year as russia's domestic shahed factory producing iranian designed drones. in february, the u.s. slapped sanctions on alabuga, noting it, quote, exploited underage students from an

affiliated polytechnic university as laborers to assemble these attack uavs. david albright, a former nuclear weapons inspector, has been tracking alabuga since 2022. >> the only benefit is is the high salary. but the males get exemption from military service. and so that that's a drawing card. >> a ukrainian intelligence officer only authorized to speak to cnn anonymously told us those perks come at a cost. >> to all students involved in the production of these uavs live at a separate limited access compound. once employed, they sign ndas. their contracts say they produce motorboats. >> and yet, as recruitment efforts step up, this video from july allowed the facade to slip. thinking of starting 10th grade, says the voiceover, joined the super elite program, air navigation and drone programing at alabuga polytechnic and help the stalin's falcons. that's a new drone unit in the russian

military. pause here and you see the distinctive serial number of the russian produced shahed and the unit emblem. in july, russia fired 422 shahed or similar drones at ukraine. by november, it was almost six times that. analysis of air force reports and official data show. to meet that demand, shahed production at alabuga has more than doubled this year, say cnn sources. in ukraine's defense intelligence. and there's a new product. this is the gerbera, a much cheaper copy of the shahed pictured in a video posted in july by the stalin's falcons. that same drone unit. for this volunteer air defense unit in kyiv. it's clear the cheaper copies are fueling bigger attacks. >> now they send. russia sent every day. a lot of drones. more of them are not even with the explosive things. it's just

very cheap and very simple. >> drones for yuri chumak, a serving supreme court judge by day. there's no denying the decoys are working. >> we cannot detect what it is. you just see that it's drone. so you shall use missile or you shall use machine gun to shut down it. >> cnn sources in ukrainian defense intelligence believe alabuga will produce up to 10,000 gerberas this year alone. analysis of downed drones shows russia has also adapted the original shahed, making it tougher, more weatherproof and in some cases, deadlier. in late october, experts in kyiv found traces of thermobaric munitions on downed showerheads, there were several of them. >> their effect is that they're used as incendiary munitions in a certain radius. they disable all equipment and people. >> ukraine has tried hitting back. this april strike using a modified small aircraft blew a

hole in the roof of a worker dormitory at alabuga. but neither that strike nor international sanctions could stop the breakneck pace of expansion here. between march and september this year, two entirely new buildings appeared next to the original ones. and this image from late november seems to confirm they're connected. new covered walkways link old and new buildings. another looks set to join the factory to the worker dormitories, now fully repaired. >> they started to create, we thought, drone cages over the buildings. and then as the as they built other buildings, it looks like they're expanding the security perimeter. >> nato told cnn it is, quote, well aware of alabuga and expects it to ramp