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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Trump to Give Primetime Speech as Polls Show Popularity Dipping; FCC Chair Says FCC is Not an Independent Agency; Trump Says Dan Bongino Plans to Step Down as FBI Deputy Director. House Republicans Pass Healthcare Bill, Let Key Obamacare Subsidies Expire As Deadline Nears. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired December 17, 2025 - 18:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[18:00:00]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper.

This hour President Trump, is set to address the nation from the White House this evening in a speech the White House says will highlight his actions from his first year back in office and lay out his priorities for 2026. So, will he bring up affordability? Will he discuss new ways, new ideas to lower prices, or the fight over healthcare subsidies with just days before the deadline? What about the new actions Trump is taking about Venezuela? I'm going to ask a Senate Republican and key ally of the president's, what we can expect in moments and what he wants him to say.

Plus, the son of Rob and Michele Reiner made his first court appearance today after being charged with their murders. We're going to tell you the only three words that son, 32-year-old Nick Reiner, said today inside the courtroom and what we learned about the next steps in this case.

Also, First Lady Melania Trump drops the first trailer for her upcoming documentary, which Amazon reportedly paid an unprecedented $40 million for. Is there going to be anything in this documentary that doesn't seem like a Jeff Bezos ploy for the president's favor?

And deck the halls, our small business series is back. You met my guest tonight earlier this year as he warned about how President Trump's tariffs could impact the prices your family pays for Christmas decor. So how much of that became reality? We'll find out.

Lead tonight, we're just hours away from President Trump's prime time address, while he will unveil his 2026 agenda to a nation that's been not so hot on his 2025 agenda, at least according to recent polls. Voters' top issued today is the same as it was when Trump won last November and took his oath of office on January 20th, it's the economy.

But as the president continues to tout, plunging prices, his signature tariffs and call affordability a hoax, what's in store for Americans tonight?

Let's bring in CNN's Kaitlan Collins at the White House. Kaitlan, what are we expecting?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, we know the president is going to be speaking to the nation tonight, one of his final primetime evening addresses as the year comes to a close. And right now, the White House has been touting this as a moment for the president to look back and reflect on what they say are his victories, his accomplishments over the last year since he returned to the Oval Office. And so expect him to talk about that, things including the border, as Karoline Leavitt, his press secretary, teased in an interview yesterday previewing what this speech is going to look like.

But, obviously, Jake, as these new numbers have come out and new polls about his standing with voters and Americans when it comes to the economy, everyone is going to be watching to see what exactly the president says about that and how he frames it, especially after the speech he delivered last week in light of recent Democratic victories and Republican losses on affordability.

And I was talking to a former key ally of the president's, Jake, last night, Marjorie Taylor Greene, who obviously has had an acrimonious split with him in the last few months, but I asked her what she wants the president to say in this address tonight when it comes to Americans who are hurting economically in the country. This is what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): What I would like to see from the President is empathy for Americans. Donald Trump is a billionaire and he's the president of the United States. When he looks into a camera and says affordability is a hoax and just totally tries to make nothing out of inflation, he's talking to Americans that are suffering and have been suffering for many years now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: And so, Jake, that'll be a key question and a key moment in tonight's speech in terms of how the president threads that needle of what he's been saying. Last week, he declared that there was no inflation, even though obviously there is inflation. How does he speak to those concerns that voters do still have about the state of the economy while also touting his own accomplishments, his own record on the economy? That is going to be something that key Republicans will obviously be watching for in tonight's address as well.

TAPPER: All right. Kaitlan Collins at the White House, thank you so much. And, of course, Kaitlan's going to have full coverage of President Trump's speech tonight on her excellent show, The Source with Kaitlan Collins. That's tonight at 9:00 Eastern only on CNN.

And joining me now is Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin from Oklahoma. Senator, thanks so much for joining us.

So, a brand new poll from Quinnipiac University shows that 92 percent of voters, 92 consider the cost of living to be a serious problem. And most voters, 57 percent, no longer blame Biden for the state of the economy.

[18:05:03]

They consider it to be the responsibility of President Trump. We know President Trump doesn't accept that. He continues to call affordability a Democrat hoax and his administration continues to blame Democrats on the Biden administration for inflation and the state of the economy.

What is your advice to him tonight when it comes to striking a tone about the economy that will resonate with the reality that so many Americans in Oklahoma and across the country are feeling?

SEN. MARKWAYNE MULLIN (R-OK): Well, I'm not here to give the president any advice. I mean, he's the president of the United States. But when you really want to talk about facts of where we were at and where we're at today, he can tout those. I mean, you start looking at the job reports that came out today, with very strong private sector jobs, beating expectations. I think there's been a quarter of a million private sector jobs created just since August. You have strong financial reports that are coming in, even after a 43-day shutdown.

You start looking at the inflation. Inflation underneath Biden high was 9.5 percent. We're averaging 2.4 percent now. You look at energy cost in Oklahoma, gas was over $4 a gallon underneath the Biden administration. Yesterday, it was at $1.89 a gallon. And we know that energy is the backbone of the economy. You have to factor in the energy cost on making a product and delivering a product based on energy. You start looking at what Walmart CEO said that groceries are down by 20 -- over 20 percent.

We see proteins are up a little bit. As a -- you know, as a rancher, you kind of have mixed feelings about that. When you start looking at what the one big, beautiful bill is going to do for the American people in the first quarter, they're going to see those effects go into place. No tax on tips. You're going to see no tax on overtime. 86 percent of the recipients of Social Security is going to have no tax on the Social Security. That's real income that's going to be falling back into the economy.

You consider the middle class that's coming back with the trillions, literally trillions of dollars that's been invested and to back into manufacturing because of President Trump's leadership.

TAPPER: Yes.

MULLIN: So, everything's moving in the right direction.

The thing is sometimes the American people, they get impatient because, as I like to make the comparison, I like to go to the lake on the weekends in the summer with my family, and I try to throw them off a tube and my boat, I can turn around on a dime, but an aircraft carrier compared to our economy, an aircraft carrier takes a mile to turn around. And we've got the largest economy that the president had to pick up the wreck pieces from the Biden administration, start putting them together and move us in the right direction. And that's exactly what is happening.

And so it's amazing what the Biden administration took four years to destroy, President Trump's been able to build it back in 11 months and we continue to see better reports every month.

TAPPER: All right. So, it does sound like you have some thoughts on what the president might want to consider saying.

Let me ask about a different subject. President Trump last night ordered a total and complete blockade of sanctioned oil tankers coming to and leaving Venezuela, which does seem to suggest that his military pressure campaign in the Caribbean is not solely about heading off drug trafficking into the U.S.

You said yesterday after Secretary of Defense Hegseth and Secretary of State Rubio's classified briefing to the Senate that regime change was never a conversation. What do you mean by that? Because this move by the president is spurring questions, and, of course, Susie Wiles in that Vanity Fair interview did say that the strikes against those boats were one of the goals was getting Maduro to step down.

MULLIN: Well, what I said was, is during the briefing, that conversation about regime change never took place. Now, it's been very clear, we want Madero to leave. There's no question about that. We want him to leave. The Venezuelan people want him to leave. There was an election that he lost overwhelmingly, and he still won't leave. The one that won the election, the Maduro regime has been trying to kill her, and she's having to live in hiding. And so we see that, but that isn't what this is about. You got the narco boats that are that are literally poisoning our streets. I've used this number before. They've killed more individuals in 2024 on our streets because of the drugs are bringing into our states. And then we lost in the entire Vietnam War with the U.S. personnel.

So, there's a huge terrorist attack that's happening on our streets, and the president's being very proactive. When you start looking at the boats, these crude ships that are shipping illegal -- this is illegal because it's been sanctioned, illegal crude across the ocean, we have the right to intercept those because they have been sanctioned. And these aren't legal boats. These are ghost boats. They're being flagged from a false country. Well, a real country, but a false flag. They're not using the technology of location and the location they're showing or showing them 1,000, 1,500 miles, 500 miles away from where they're at.

[18:10:00]

And so we're simply going after the illegal cartel or the legal cargo that's on that ship. And all this is to once again enforce the laws and the sanctions that that we need to do.

And so we're being very proactive. The president is being very proactive on the legal activities. It's been honestly past administrations have turned a blind eye to.

TAPPER: So, we only have about a minute left, but I want to get your reaction to the fact that over in the House, a handful of Republicans crossed party lines to sign on to this Democratic effort to force a vote on extending the Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year for three additional years. Would you be willing to allow a vote on a bill that would extend Obamacare subsidies? Would you be willing to vote for it if it was reformed in some way?

MULLIN: Yes. Jake, the vote already took place and it failed in the Senate. So, that's a mute deal. However, the reforms, that wasn't part of the deal that came to the Senate floor. It was a three-year clean extension. According to GAO, which the kind of Governmental Accountability Act, they submitted, let's say, a hundred claims, out of a hundred claims that were false claims, by the way for insurance, using false Social Securities, false addresses, false names, 90 percent of them were accepted, only a 10 percent coverage. So, 90 percent of this premium tax, if they're wanting to extend at a cost of $83 billion, according to GAO and their own study, 90 percent are fraudulent claims. That's a huge, huge problem.

And so without even having reforms to this, there's zero chance I'll even consider it. That is not us taking good care of the taxpayer dollars that are being sent to Washington, D.C.

TAPPER: Oklahoma's Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin, thank you so much, I appreciate your time, sir.

MULLIN: Thanks for having me on.

TAPPER: Just moments ago, FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino confirmed that he is going to leave his job in the coming days after months of drama and infighting within the agency, reportedly. So, what does this mean for the former Secrets Service agent turned conspiracy theorist podcaster, turned FBI deputy director?

Plus, the head of the FCC on Capitol Hill today, his first hearing since the fight with ABC and Disney over Jimmy Kimmel. Hear what Brendan Carr said about the agency's independence or lack thereof. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:15:00]

TAPPER: In our Politics Lead today, in his very first Senate hearing since threatening to pull ABC's broadcast license because of comments Jimmy Kimmel made about Charlie Kirk and the MAGA movement, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr faced a barrage of questions about whether or not his agency acts independently.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BEN RAY LUJAN (D-NM): On your website, it just simply says, man, the FCC's independent. This isn't a trick question, okay?

BRENDAN CARR, FCC CHAIR: The FCC is not, is not --

LUJAN: Okay. So, is your website wrong? Is your website lying? CARR: Possibly. The FCC is not an independent agency.

LUJAN: If I could just submit the printout of the homepage of the FCC into the record matter and says it's an independent agency, and if it's not true, then change it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: That FCC homepage that the Senator is talking about, while CNN Media Analyst Sara Fisher says she took before and after screenshots of the FCC website at 11:52 AM Eastern Time. Fisher says, the site explicitly stated that the FCC is, quote, an independent U.S. government agency overseen by Congress. Then Fisher says, 25 minutes later, the site was changed. The word, independent, was disappeared.

Democratic Senator Andy Kim of New Jersey also pressing Chairman Carr about this today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ANDY KIM (D-NJ): You swore an oath when you came into your job, right? Does the oath have the word president in it?

CARR: Senator, again I'm not tracking this line. What I'm saying is every decision --

KIM: Do you remember the oath that you took?

CARR: Yes. Every --

KIM: Do you swear an oath to protect what?

CARR: Sir, every single decision made --

KIM: What is it that you're protecting?

CARR: -- in this job will be based on the facts of the law.

KIM: The Constitution of the United States.

And when you cannot tell me directly that Trump is not your boss of the American people, your boss, I do not trust you that you can make these decisions with the independent mind that is needed and by directed by Congress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, appointed by former President Biden, was also in today's hearing and she joins us now. It sounds like quite a show. So, first, what is your reaction to the removal of the word independent from the FCC website?

ANNA GOMEZ, FCC COMMISSIONER: Well, the deletion of the word independent from our website does not change the fact that Congress created the FCC to be an independent agency, and it did so for good reason. Back when it created the Federal Radio Commission, it thought about putting the job of the FCC in the Department of Commerce, but Congress decided it was too risky to have the most important medium of the time, which was radio controlled at the whim of one person. And so it created an expert body with a multi-member commission in order to protect that.

So, right now, we have the regulator that is the most powerful regulator of the most important communications medium of our time. And this administration wants to say that we are not independent, even though that's how Congress set us up to be.

TAPPER: So, in your testimony, you accused the Trump administration of acting on a campaign to try to censor content, control the media and any of its critics. We all -- the Jimmy Kimmel episode got the most attention but there are others, right? There are other moments where it seemed like Brendan Carr was trying to stifle speech. Tell us about those.

GOMEZ: Yes. This administration has been weaponizing whatever levers of power it has in order to engage on this campaign of censorship and control. And what the FCC has done is it has leveraged its authority either over approving mergers and acquisitions or starting enforcement proceedings, or reinitiating enforcement proceedings against broadcasters. And it's sending a clear message. The message is, if we don't like the way that you are reporting on this administration or what you are saying, or we don't like one of your comedians, then we're going to take action against you and we're going to harm you.

[18:20:10]

TAPPER: So, Chairman Carr keeps talking about how the FCC has a public interest standard. You said that the FCC needs to define what it means by operating the public interest. Tell us more about that.

GOMEZ: Yes. So, when we license broadcasters, we license them to operate in the public interest. We want them to serve their local communities of license, but we don't regulate the content of the broadcasters broadly under this public interest standard. But what this administration is doing is it's using that public interest as a way to define anything it doesn't like.

TAPPER: Right. He talked about that, Brendan Carr, I think, when he was talking about. Jimmy Kimmel's remark, that's not serving the public interest, you said, right?

GOMEZ: Yes. And there's nothing in the public interest standard that allows us to ignore the fact that we have to abide by the First Amendment, which means we cannot interfere into lawful content by broadcasters, by Americans, the government cannot do so. The Communications Act prohibits us from censoring broadcasters.

So, the public interest standard is not some free-willing ability to tell broadcasters how they should be reporting on this administration or what kind of content they can have.

TAPPER: Chairman Carr also kept bringing up broadcast hoaxes. What was he talking about? GOMEZ: So, we do have a broadcast hoax rule. The broadcast hoax rule was put in place after Orson Wells --

TAPPER: War of the Worlds.

GOMEZ: -- had the War of the Worlds incident. And it's basically a prohibition and having some kind of content like that will alarm the public and create really mass chaos,

TAPPER: Think that Martians are coming to kill us, right.

GOMEZ: Exactly.

TAPPER: What was he talking about?

GOMEZ: I don't know. He says three things. He says public interest standard, broadcast hoax, and the news distortion policy. And the most of the complaints that have been raised have been raised under the news distortion policy. I'm not aware of any complaints being raised under the broadcast hoax rule because we really have not had to wheel that in decades.

But even news distortion, it is a policy of the FCC, but it's very narrow what the FCC can do and really probably is not even maybe that we should have -- continue to have that under the First Amendment.

TAPPER: Yes.

GOMEZ: It requires intentional distortion of news by the station management of the local broadcaster. So, that station management has to say, we know that we are going to be reporting false information and we don't care. We want to do it for whatever reason it is that we want to do it. Mistakes are not part of the news distortion policy and satire is definitely not part of the news distortion policy.

TAPPER: Commissioner Anna Gomez, thank you so much. And a reminder to Chairman Brendan Carr, there's a seat here waiting for you anytime you want to come and talk about these issues.

Former Special Counsel Jack Smith was also on Capitol Hill today testifying behind closed doors where he admitted it was his decision to charge President Trump in both the January 6th case and the classified documents case. What else we're learning from his testimony, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:25:00]

TAPPER: This just in, in our Law and Justice Lead, Dan Bongino announced last hour that he'll be stepping down from his role as the deputy director of the FBI beginning next month, January.

Joining us now to discuss, CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig. Elie, today, President Trump told reporters that Bongino wants to go back to his show. He had a podcast. What is his legacy going to be at the FBI, do you think?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Jake, this was never a good fit. This was always destined to fail, and here's why. Over history, if you look at the FBI director, those people have come from various backgrounds. You've had former prosecutors, former judges, you've had political types, but the deputy director traditionally has been an FBI lifer, somebody who has come up through the ranks, who spent a career at the FBI.

Now, Dan Bongino did have some law enforcement background, he was with the NYPD, he was with the Secret Service up until 2011, but he just simply did not have that background within the FBI. And when you combine that with a director like Kash Patel, who essentially had next to no relevant experience, then you're setting both of them up for failure.

So, you can only hope that whoever replaces Bongino will get back to that historical model and will bring some institutional experience and ballast back to the FBI.

TAPPER: All right. Let's turn to another story today. Former Special Counsel Jack Smith met with members of the House Judiciary Committee in a closed door deposition to talk about his investigations of President Trump. Smith's opening statement, as obtained by CNN, says, in part, quote, I made my decisions in the investigation without regard to President Trump's political association, activities, beliefs, or candidacy in the 2024 presidential election, unquote.

What do you make of what Smith is saying here in the opening statement? He's obviously fending off lots of claims from Republicans that this was an entirely political investigation.

HONIG: Yes. I don't think it was entirely political, and I credit Jack Smith's claims that he followed the facts in the law and that he had a good faith basis to bring those indictments. However, I think Jack Smith's claim that he never thought about Donald Trump's candidacy is demonstrably false. It was easily observable from the outside, and it's since been confirmed by reporting from inside Jack Smith's office that he was singularly possessed with accelerating this case to get Trump tried before the 2024 election in a way that you would never do. You would never rush a case with 13 million documents to trial in just a few months, like Jack Smith was willing -- was looking to do.

[18:30:05]

So, if Smith wants the claim, yes, I was trying to get him tried before the election and I had good reason, fine, that's a fair debate. But I think for him to say, never thought about the election at all, I think there's some hypocrisy there and I think he loses credibility.

TAPPER: Smith has said that Jack Smith has said he's open to testifying publicly. What's the likelihood of that happening, do you think?

HONIG: Well, he certainly can request that and Congress, I guess, has the authority to bring him back for an open door session. I doubt they're going to do that because Republicans don't want to give Jack Smith the opportunity and the platform to give the opening and closing addresses he never got to give to a jury. So, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that to happen. But, remember. Jack Smith can call a press conference. He can go on the steps of the Capitol. He can come into your show, Jake, and talk about whatever he wants now. So, if he wants to tell his story to the public, he can go right ahead.

TAPPER: CNN's Elie Honig, thanks so much, I appreciate it.

The youngest victim of that anti-Semitic terrorist attack in Australia will be laid to rest soon. We're going to go live to Bondi Beach next, as the community remembers ten-year-old Matilda and the other victims.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:35:00]

TAPPER: In our Law and Justice Lead, Nick Reiner made his first court appearance in Los Angeles today. Reiner has been charged with two counts of first degree-murder in the stabbing deaths of his parents, film director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele. Nick Reiner, did not enter a plea saying only three words, quote, yes, your Honor, to confirm that he was waiving his right to a speedy arraignment. The judge ordered him held without bail. His arraignment is set for January 7th.

In our World Lead, it has just passed 10:30 in the morning in Australia, and very soon, ten-year-old Matilda, the youngest victim killed in Sunday's Bondi Beach massacre, will be laid to rest. A funeral service for the oldest victim is also today, Alex Kleytman, an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor who was killed trying to shield his wife, Larissa, from one of the gunmen in this horrific act of anti- Semitic terrorism.

CNN's Will Ripley reports from Sydney where Sunday shooting is just the latest anti-Semitic attack that is keeping all of Australia on edge.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The hearse has just arrived with the body of one of the rabbis. Let's just pause for a moment to take this in.

Funerals are now underway for the 15 people killed in Sunday's terror attack, and some of the hardest scenes are here in Redfern, where family and friends gathered to remember the youngest victim, ten-year- old Matilda. She leaves behind not just her parents, but her younger sister, Summer. Sunday, the day of the attack was the day of face painting, playing with goats and having fun with her parents who say they were just briefly separated in the crowd, a moment that turned into a nightmare.

VALENTYNA, MOTHER OF VICTIM: Like she's laying ground happy, and then second, what I see before my eyes is she is lying on the ground. And I just can't explain how it happened and just --

MICHAEL, FATHER OF VICTIM: I rub my shirt and I was talking to her because she was --

VALENTYNA: she was in shock.

MICHAEL: She was in shock. She was telling me that she -- it's hard to breathe.

RIPLEY: As the city mourns families here are left with the same questions, how this happened and why.

ELLIOT, EYEWITNESS: It's our loss, it's our community's loss.

RIPLEY: Elliot was there. He knows many of the victims.

What's it like to grow up as a Jew here?

ELLIOT: So, you just live in like utopia here. This utopia has just turned to dystopia.

RIPLEY: Have you noticed a rise in anti-Semitism since October 7th, 2023?

ELLIOT: Incredibly. I mean --

RIPLEY: Here in Australia?

ELLIOT: Incredibly.

RIPLEY: October 7th is when Hamas attacked Israel. The retaliation that followed has killed or injured more than 10 percent of Gaza's population in the last two years. An independent U.N. inquiry said Israel is committing genocide. Israel denies that. There have been protests worldwide, including here in Sydney.

During this period, Australia, like many places, has seen a massive spike in anti-Semitic attacks.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: We want to stamp out and eradicate anti-Semitism from our society.

ELLIOT: The restaurant we're coming up to here was burnt down. There's a school, there's a daycare that was also burnt down. There's been anti-Semitic graffiti. There's been kids having eggs thrown at them. There's everything. It kind of has gotten lost, not to us. We've been begging our government. We've been telling them.

Swipe that way.

RIPLEY: Okay.

ELLIOT: You'll read some of them.

RIPLEY: He shows me the comments to social media posts about the attack. Can you guys see this? Ha, ha, ha, rot in hell. Rest in Bondi Beach piss water, you ardent genocide defender. Oh my God, I can't go on, actually,

ELLIOT: Yes, I don't even need to comment on that because --

RIPLEY: And this is -- I mean --

ELLIOT: This is constant. I mean, this is everywhere.

Look at this view.

RIPLEY: I see what you mean by utopia.

ELLIOT: Things are going to be okay, because at the end of the day, the one thing they can't take from us is that we live in the most beautiful place on Earth.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RIPLEY: And here at Bondi Beach, the sea of flowers behind me just continues to grow. And, of course, here is this beautiful young girl, Matilda, the splitting image of her heartbroken mother.

Sorry. It's very heavy here, Jake.

[18:40:00]

She's going to be buried today and the funerals for all 15 in the coming days, painful time here. A lot of love. Hopefully the love outweighs all that hate online.

RIPLEY: Will Ripley, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RIPLEY: Our Politics Lead, just hours from now, President Trump plans to address the nation from the White House. Administration officials say that the president will tick through his biggest accomplishments as he wraps up his first year back in office. It could require a lot of convincing, and new poll shows on key issues Americans are giving the president low marks right now, 38 percent approved on immigration, 37 on trade and foreign policy, 31 percent on the economy, 29 percent on healthcare.

The panel's here. Marc, what would you like to hear from the president? Tonight, what does he need to do to get those numbers up, especially the economy number?

MARC SHORT, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO V.P. MIKE PENCE: Well, I think he should remind Americans of what he has accomplished in the first year, Jake.

[18:45:03] I think he should talk about passing significant tax relief extension earlier this year. He should talk about the dramatic comparison in the border between the Biden administration and his administration. He should talk about temporarily dismantling Iran's nuclear program with his strikes.

All those things are great accomplishments. But at the same time, as you know, a lot of polling shows that affordability remains a concern for a lot of Americans. And I think it would be wise to spend some time talking about how he's going to shift policy to address that. And I think that his trade agenda continues to drive up prices.

And so, if he were to revert back to some of the policies he advanced in the first administration on the economy, I think in addition to talking about what he's achieved, that would be helpful.

TAPPER: Do you think that Democrats, Arshi, are capitalizing sufficiently on the weaknesses that exist for President Trump at this one point in time? Who knows what's going to look like in a year? But right now?

ARSHI SIDDIQUI, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I think absolutely. Because if you recall, I mean, at the beginning of the administration, he owned the airwaves and Democrats couldn't even get any coverage anywhere.

Now, I think Democrats really doubled down on health care. They were very focused, disciplined. And that issue has permeated. If those premiums have gone up and Democrats hadn't been focused on that, then basically Republicans would have been able to blame Obamacare for those premium hikes.

But now, because they've been disciplined and they've focused on these affordability issues, it's -- they're much more in the mix, at least on the debate.

TAPPER: This is a very different White House than the one you worked at when you worked for Vice President Pence.

One example ahead of the big speech, the White House installed more plaques on President Trump's presidential walk of fame. Here's one for Joe Biden. It says, first of all, the photograph is of an autopen, and the plaque reads, sleepy Joe Biden was by far the worst president in American history, taking office as a result of the most corrupt election ever seen in the United States. Biden oversaw a series of unprecedented disasters that brought our nation to the brink of destruction.

Again, this is -- this is on the wall in the White House. Bill Clinton's plaque notes, quote, "In 2016, President Clinton's wife, Hillary, lost the presidency to President Donald J. Trump."

The part on Reagan says something about how Reagan was an admirer of Trump and on and on, some not so nice stuff about Barack Obama, too. What's your take on this?

SIDDIQUI: I feel like he may be missing the moment in terms of looking backwards, not forwards, and past grievances. So, at the same time, you know, when you talk about whatever his accomplishments are, he could focus there. He could focus also what he did accurately on the campaign is really recognizing that there was such an affordability crisis and people were hurting and in pain.

And looking backwards, it just -- it feels like not -- not appropriate for this moment for American families.

TAPPER: So, Marc, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNN, quote, the plaques are eloquently written descriptions of each president and the legacy they left behind. As a student of history, many were written directly by the president himself.

Yeah. No kidding. I mean, I could tell that from the weird -- the weird capitalization. What's your take on this?

SHORT: Look, I think that they throw a lot of chum out to see who bites. And I think that if we're spending our time talking about the plaques instead of the fact that unemployment ticked up to a four year high, or prices remain elevated, then I think the White House is probably pleased that that's where devotion is. I think a lot of his base finds, you know, that entertaining.

And for a lot of the left they get pretty exercised and upset and it drives attention, which they want. But I think it also diverts from some of the challenges they face right now.

TAPPER: I just think of it in the context of how other presidents have behaved. And you know, how Republicans were outraged when President Obama criticized the Citizens United decision in front of the Supreme Court, and how quaint that seems now, based on this.

SHORT: I probably take more offense to the Rob Reiner tweet than --

TAPPER: That was something else. Yeah, absolutely.

First Lady Melania Trump dropped the trailer for her upcoming film documentary, "Melania". It's about the days leading up to Trump's second inauguration. Here's a clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELANIA TRUMP, U.S. FIRST LADY: Here we go again.

Everyone wants to know. So here it is.

Hi, Mr. President. Congratulations.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Did you watch it?

M. TRUMP: I did not. Yeah, I will see it on the news.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So, this is, I think, a $40 million project. She's getting some of that money. She signed a multimillion-dollar deal with Amazon as first lady.

What's your take on this?

SHORT: Well, look, I think she's an incredibly graceful first lady. And I think it's fine that she released a documentary at this time, Jake, but I -- I do believe as well there's been a lot of pay for play in the second administration. And I think that is a bigger story still.

TAPPER: Yeah. And I mean, I think that's the criticism. Not that she would allow a documentary team to film her. I mean, that's great. You know, first ladies have written books, et cetera, et cetera. Done TV specials. But this is her being paid by Amazon, which has a huge financial stake at the decisions that the White House makes.

[18:50:02]

SIDDIQUI: It's an interesting dichotomy, too, because in the clip, she's trying to distance herself from the president in some ways, but she's benefiting from being his -- being the first lady.

So, and I think it's an interesting dynamic that she finds herself in. So --

TAPPER: Yeah, before we go, Republican donor Miriam Adelson was at the White House for Hanukkah event yesterday. She said something very interesting. I want to play.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIRIAM ADELSON, REPUBLICAN DONOR: I met Alan Dershowitz, and he said the legal thing about four more years. And I say, Alan, I agree with you. So, we can do it. Think about it.

TRUMP: Alan is here someplace. Where's Alan?

She said, think about it. I'll give you another $250 million.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Constitutionally, he can't run for a third term.

SHORT: There's not going to be a third term, Jake. Miriam's been an incredibly generous donor to a lot of Republicans and a lot of conservative causes, and certainly a lot of pro-Israel causes. And she's been one of the president's biggest benefactors. But no, there's not going to be a third term.

TAPPER: All right. Thanks so much. Appreciate both of you.

My next guest warned earlier this year that Trump's tariffs could impact how much you spend on Christmas decorations and decor. So just one week away from Christmas, how much of those increases actually came to fruition? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [18:55:33]

TAPPER: We have some breaking news for you from Capitol Hill. House Republicans, led by Speaker Johnson, have passed a bill that they say would lower health care costs for some Americans in the future. It does continue to let key Obamacare subsidies expire at the end of this year, which could theoretically double premiums for many of those enrolled as of December 31st deadline nears.

This legislation now heads to the Senate. It will not get a vote before lawmakers leave town for the holiday recess, we're told.

In our money lead, our "Business Leader" series, where we highlight small businesses and how they are being impacted by the economic policies of the Trump administration, especially the tariffs. We're bringing back Balsam Hill. That's a global retailer specializing in holiday decorations, known especially for their pre-lit Christmas trees. This time of year is traditionally its busiest.

Company founder and CEO Mac Harman is back with me.

And, Mac, you last joined the show in August. You said you were experiencing lower demand. Has demand picked up now, back to normal levels?

MAC HARMAN, FOUNDER AND CEO, BALSAM BRANDS: You know, demand -- it's interesting. I've said lower demand. And what we realized actually is the demand is there. The shoppers are coming. We're mostly digital company. They're coming to our website, Jake, but they're not clicking buy.

So, the purchase demand hasn't been as strong this year in the U.S. It's actually really interesting. Globally, we sell all over the western world. We're up about 30 percent double digits in every single country except the U.S. were down five to 10 percent. We sell the same products. Obviously, the main difference are the tariffs.

TAPPER: Huh. You also said you were forced to pass on some of the cost of the tariffs to the consumers. Is that still the case? Is that is what is driving down sales in the U.S.?

HARMAN: Yeah. So, in the U.S. the prices for our items on Balsam Hill are up 10 percent or more. It depends on the individual item and that's across the whole industry because 90 percent of Christmas decor last year came from China, almost 100 percent of Christmas decor comes from outside the U.S. so all the big retailers, whether that's a Lowe's or Home Depot or Balsam Hill, we're all facing these same costs for importing the goods into the United States this year.

TAPPER: Since August, there have been many developments, with tariffs rising and lowering erratically. How have you been able to plan and prepare for the holiday season?

HARMAN: Well, it's been a challenge. We actually started shipping goods for this Christmas, the day after the election in November of 2024, to bring as much in as we could at no tariffs when there wasn't a tariff announcement on day one of the inauguration, we and many retailers brought as many goods as we could in before April 2nd.

And so, we really tried to manage those tariffs as best we could on the different ups and downs of the rates by country, diversifying our supply chain. For next year, though, we don't have as many options. While we can still source from different countries, the tariffs from Asia, which are where most Christmas goods come from, are 19 or 20 percent from any country that we or others might import Christmas decor from.

TAPPER: How much of your business is November and December?

HARMAN: It's about 85 percent. It is a very seasonal business, for sure.

TAPPER: Yeah. Are you concerned about making it through the next six months, or is the increase in sales to countries outside the United States helping you?

HARMAN: Well, we found for our business is our international business is performing so well this year. That's helping kind of buffer the losses in our domestic business. And so, we're ready to fight another day and ready for next year. We're just concerned with the tariffs now being 20 percent for everything that we're going to import next year.

We are really hoping that the president steps in and saves Christmas like he did back in 2019, providing tariff relief for Christmas decor. If he does that again soon for '26, then I think well be in good shape and we're optimistic that we will. He will. We know he loves Christmas, but we start shipping Christmas '26 on February 1st.

So, we don't have a lot of time until those tariffs start to rack up for us.

TAPPER: I guess we'll see if he's going to save Christmas or be the grinch. The company website for seasonal decorations again is balsamhill.com, balsamhill.com.

Mac Harman, thanks so much. Merry Christmas to you and everyone at your business.

A live look now at the White House. President Trump is about two hours away from a major primetime address. The White House says the speech will highlight his actions from his first year back in office, and lay out his priorities for 2026.

You can watch President Trump's address live right here on CNN at 9:00 Eastern and on the new CNN streaming app. If you ever miss an episode of THE LEAD, you can watch the show on the CNN app.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.