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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Epstein Survivors Slam DOJ's Partial Files Release; Holiday Travel Rush Expected To Break Records This Year; Singer Barry Manilow Reveals Lung Cancer Diagnosis; CBS News Abruptly Shelves "60 Minutes" Story On Deportations; Gut-Healthy Pet Food Company Fighting Toll Of Tariffs. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired December 22, 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]

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN HOST: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Phil Mattingly in for Jake Tapper.

This hour, the Justice Department is denying accusations of a cover-up in the Epstein files. How the department is defending itself, even as many documents critical to the understanding of the case have yet to appear.

Plus, a CBS News 60 Minutes correspondent is accusing her bosses of censorship after CBS Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss suddenly shelved a 60 minute segment.

Also a look at the state of holiday travel as AAA is expecting record- breaking travel numbers this year.

And a brand new CNN investigation uncovers a chilling campaign of ethnically motivated violence carried out by Sudan's army.

The Lead tonight, as we wait for the release of more material related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, fallout over the material that has been released, it's growing. Now, lawmakers are threatening legal action to hold the Justice Department accountable. And today, more than a dozen Epstein survivors along with the family of Virginia Giuffre issued a joint statement slamming the Justice Department's slow rollout of documents and, quote, abnormal and extreme redactions with no explanation.

We start things off with CNN's Crime and Justice Correspondent Katelyn Polantz. Katelyn, what is the latest in this very rolling story at this point?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Very rolling, Phil, both on the release side and also the response to the Justice Department, widespread dissatisfaction with how this has been handled by the Justice Department to release all of those files after Congress passed a law demanding transparency with few carve outs.

Now, the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, he's already threatening legal action when the Senate returns to Capitol Hill after the holidays. There's also been discussion from members of the House about potentially holding the attorney general in contempt, if they can even do that. But the way the Justice Department has defended themselves here, Phil, is they've said they're putting the victims first. They want to protect them. And, indeed, there are laws that protect crime victims, especially related to the crimes of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, who do have cases in court, criminal cases that create victims with those needs.

But there's still a lot of questions too, is, did the Justice Department make additional choices correctly? And if they didn't, who could enforce this law for transparency? We already saw the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, publicly stepping up in his letter to Congress on Friday saying, yes, we're going to give you redactions, a list of what we kept out of these files within 15 days. We're still going to keep working on the files we have. It's a very tall task. But Blanche also said that the Justice Department believes they can black out things that are privileged, just deliberations within the executive branch, work product of investigators over the years, or even attorney-client communications.

Who could go up and tell a court or anyone else that's the wrong decision? We're just going to see what plays out in the coming days.

MATTINGLY: And, Katelyn, the Justice Department has released several photos of former President Bill Clinton with co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, and individuals with redacted faces. Today, a spokesperson for Clinton also criticized the Justice Department.

POLANTZ: Yes, Phil, this is just putting on blast more of this question of did they do it right. The spokesperson for Clinton pointing out that there are a lot of photos of Clinton in that first release, but saying it might have been selective in a way that is, quote/unquote, about insinuation, using selective releases to imply wrongdoing about people. And then the Clinton spokesman said you should release everything that you have on Bill Clinton, not just the ones that came out on Friday. Trump after that was pretty quick to say, well, we're both in the files. Phil?

MATTINGLY: Katelyn Polantz, as always, I appreciate you, my friend.

Well, here now is Jennifer Freeman, a lawyer representing victims of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. I very much appreciate your time.

To start with today's several of the Epstein victims you represent signed onto this joint statement, the statement that says in part, quote, numerous victim identities were left unredacted causing real and immediate harm. No financial documents were released. Grand jury minutes though were approved by a federal judge for release, were fully blacked out. What would you like to hear from the Justice Department and what can be done to hold them accountable?

JENNIFER FREEMAN, ATTORNEY REPRESENTING EPSTEIN SURVIVORS: I would like to hear that they are releasing all of the Epstein files with the most minimal redactions, only the ones allowed by law.

[18:05:05] There's specific exemptions, whether it's victim identities, national security, or ongoing investigations. Those are the categories on which they're permitted to withhold. But they withhold -- it sounds like they're withholding more than that.

And, I mean, just you look at one of the clients that I have as Maria Farmer and they released on Friday. Thankfully, I've been looking for it for a long time, Maria's been looking for it for decades, a document confirming that she, in fact, went to the FBI in 1996 and, of course, had the government done their job, we wouldn't be sitting here today, wouldn't have over 1,200 victims, we wouldn't have 30 years of trauma to have to worry about and deal with.

But what did they do with that? They did redact that document. I mean, that's crazy. We've been asking for those documents for a very long time, waived Maria's privacy many years ago, and yet they redacted that and didn't redact actual other names.

MATTINGLY: I'm glad you brought Maria up. Jake Tapper on Friday spoke to her sister, Annie, also one of the victims you represent. Here's some of her reaction to the initial and incomplete release of the Epstein material. Take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNIE FARMER, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: Just to see it in writing and to know that they had this document this entire time, and how many people were harmed after that date, it just -- you know, we've been saying it over and over, but to see it in black and white that way has been very emotional.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: I think one of the things that survivors have been invaluable in sharing how they feel in this moment, which I think captures something that often gets missed in the discussion about the politics of things or the Justice Department actions of things, what are you hearing from other survivors?

FREEMAN: Well, what I heard from Maria, Maria Farmer, was that she was shedding on Friday when we showed her the document, tears of joy and tears of sorrow. Because on the one hand, tears of joy, because, finally, she's getting this information that we've been seeking for the longest time, and tears of sorrow because she had to wait so long and so many people suffered as a result of this.

And that's sounds like it's very -- it seems very across the board that there's very mixed emotions. It's been emotional for me too because I've been working on this so long and I've been with Maria and Annie and the other survivors every step of the way. And it's magnificent to get this document at this time but also incredibly painful to actually know that what we've been saying for so many years is accurate, that they didn't do their job and had they done their job, this would never have happened, all this terrible trauma.

MATTINGLY: The deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, he's attempted to defend the limited release of documents up to this point. Here's what he said on NBC's Meet the Press. Listen,

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD BLANCHE, DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: the reason why we are still reviewing documents and still continuing our process is simply that, to protect victims. So, the same individuals that are out there complaining about the lack of documents that were produced on Friday are the same individuals who apparently don't want us to protect victims.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: What's your response to that?

FREEMAN: Well, no one's called me. I represent Maria, Annie, and many other survivors, and no one from the Department of Justice has said boo to me. So, if they're at an effort to try to deal with survivor interests, they should be contacting the survivor representatives.

MATTINGLY: Yes, it is a disconnect that I haven't quite gotten my head around yet.

Jennifer Freeman, I really appreciate your time in sharing your perspective. Thanks so much.

FREEMAN: You bet.

MATTINGLY: Let's turn out to Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell from California. He's a member on the House Judiciary Committee. He's also a candidate for governor. Congressman, I appreciate your time.

Just to start things off, Republican Thomas Massie said, the Justice Department is, quote, flouting the spirit and the letter of the law. He and Democrat, your colleague, Ro Khanna, the two congressmen really behind the bill here that President Trump signed into law, a near unanimous vote in the House, said this yesterday about holding the Justice Department accountable. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): The quickest way, and I think most expeditious way to get justice for these victims is to bring inherent contempt against Pam Bondi.

REP. RO KHANNA (D-CA): We're building a bipartisan coalition, and it would fine Pam Bondy for every day that she's not releasing these documents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: How feasible is that?

REP. ERIC SWALWELL (D-CA): Well, it's feasible and everything should be on the table, including, you know, defunding some of the department's efforts that they're using right now to weaponize government. They have the power of the purse and we have a mandate in Congress, Phil. As you said, nearly every member, 434 out of -- I'm sorry, 534 out of 535, essentially, between the House and the Senate voted to have these files released.

[18:10:07]

Now stepping back, it appears that they're doing this to protect Donald Trump. We know Trump has mentioned 1,500 times in the Epstein files. Not surprising, as Epstein has been described by some as one of Trump's best friends. But here's where we stand. Democrats fought for a year for Trump to release the Epstein files. Instead, he released George Santos. The House and the Senate voted overwhelmingly for these to be released. I see it as the best disinfectant is sunlight, but sunlight will not work when all the names have been blacked out.

So release the files. We have a lot that we could do if Republicans want to join us, trust that the Americans are mature enough to handle it. We can handle the truth regardless of who's in it, Republican or Democrat. That's what the victims deserve.

MATTINGLY: Yesterday, the Justice Department posted a fact sheet. Here's what it says about the current review of the hundreds of thousands of pages that have yet to be released, saying, quote, more than 200 lawyers are working around the clock reviewing each individual file for release. This is an arduous process as each document and photograph must be individually reviewed for potential redactions to protect victims or potential victims. Is that valid to you?

SWALWELL: It's not good enough, no. They've known about the existence of this issue for a very long time. In fact, I have been told by people at the FBI that hundreds of agents at the beginning of the year were pulled off of important cases to look through the Epstein files, particularly to look at Donald Trump's involvement in those files. They knew this was coming. This is just an effort, again, to buy more time.

I'm very concerned, Phil, about a memo I saw that was released. It was a phone memo for Jeffrey Epstein and it said the caller had females available for him and the name of the caller was blacked out. Doesn't the president of the United States believe the American people should know who was the name of the caller seeking to provide a female to the world's most notorious sex trafficker?

MATTINGLY: Before I let you go, I want to get to another topic, which is, last month, the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Bill Pulte, launched a mortgage fraud probe against you. I think you're like this fifth or sixth Democrat, or somebody on the wrong side of Trump politically who has faced something from Bill Pulte or where Bill Pulte has been kind of the originating factor.

You've sued the administration, deny any wrongdoing. Now, Reuters reports that Pulte appeared to source a conspiracy theory website as the basis for that probe. What's going on here?

SWALWELL: Well, the Reuters story shows that what Pulte is doing to me and Adam Schiff is completely nonsense. My lawsuit against Pulte is not. And I'm going to stay on offense. It's the only way you can take these guys on. I've brought a suit against Pulte for a First Amendment violation, for a privacy law violation. We're going to have some news on this as well. We're expanding who we believe has information on this. But you have to stay on offense with these guys.

And so as I look at Californians who are running through the fields where they work or who have troops in the streets or cancer funding that's been canceled by the administration, you have to be on offense. That's the only way you can defend the most vulnerable people in our community. Otherwise, they won't get the message.

MATTINGLY: Congressman Eric Swalwell of California, discovery would be interesting, no question about that, thank you very much for your time, sir. I appreciate it.

SWALWELL: My pleasure, Phil. Thanks.

MATTINGLY: Well, coming up, a look at the best and worst days to travel on the road or in the air as we are now in the thick of this holiday season.

Plus, legendary singer songwriter Barry Manilow reveals that he's been diagnosed with lung cancer. We'll ask a lung cancer specialist what sort of treatment may lie ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:15:00]

MATTINGLY: In our National Lead, this is probably not the week to start testing the limits of airport arrival times. AAA is predicting Americans will set a New Yearend travel record over the next two weeks. Now, take a look, this year's projections of 122.4 million travelers surpasses last year's record of just over 119 million.

CNN's Pete Muntean is monitoring the start of the season at Reagan National Airport, just outside Washington, D.C. Pete, how's it looking?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Phil, travelers are telling me what they almost never say, that things are going pretty smooth for a Monday leading into the Christmas holiday. In fact, the number of cancelations has remained relatively low, the number of delays have remained relatively low, and the FAA has warned of possible ground stops bleeding into today, although a lot of those have not come to fruition.

Just to look at the lines here. This is the baggage drop off point for American Airlines here at Reagan National Airport. This is a huge hub for American Airlines. The numbers have been pretty strong, although the cancelations here remain low, only one cancelation in the last 24 hours here at DCA.

I've been speaking to travelers. They tell me you should pack your patience, keep a good attitude, have a little bit of festive holiday spirit, because there are so many people traveling right now. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was great.

MUNTEAN: Really?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it was fantastic. Got to the airport, got there early, the airline was like able to get us on an earlier flight. It was fantastic.

MUNTEAN: Nobody ever says it goes great.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was great today. It was lucky for us.

MUNTEAN: What's your advice?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Definitely get to the airport early, you know, plan, pay attention, download your airport apps because that gives you bag, gate, all that information that comes right there and just communicate and have a smile. Something goes wrong, it's not their fault. Everybody's trying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: The Federal Aviation Administration has warned of flight delays on both coasts in Seattle and Southern California and San Francisco. A lot of those really did not come to fruition because of low cloud ceilings. There's also been a warning by the FAA for wind at the New York area airports and in Boston.

If you're going to be driving to try and skip all of this mess, then the worst times to go are between 1:00 P.M. and 7:00 P.M. local time, according to AAA. And on Monday and Tuesday, AAA warns that that could be especially bad because it's not a holiday for a lot of folks. Most people who work the holiday really starts to fall on Christmas Eve, so you might be intermixing holiday traffic with work commute traffic. That is when it becomes really tough. Phil?

MATTINGLY: Pete Muntean for us, thanks so much.

Well, for decades, iconic singer, songwriter Barry Manilow has brought us classic songs with his classically soothing voice. But Manilow has been forced to cancel some concerts after revealing a serious diagnosis.

[18:20:00]

That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MATTINGLY: Sad News. In our Health Lead, Singer Barry Manilow is revealing that he's been diagnosed with lung cancer. The 82-year-old Copa Cabana singer made the announcement on Instagram saying he's canceling his upcoming concerts as he undergoes treatment, and writing, quote, the MRI discovered a cancerous spot on my left lung that needs to be removed. It's pure luck and a great doctor that it was found so early. That's the good news.

Let's discuss now with Dr. Roy Herbst, the deputy director of Yale Cancer Center and a lung cancer specialist. Just start with, for folks watching at home, huge fans, many of them, I'm sure, how serious is this sort of cancer for someone who's 82 years old, and what kind of recovery would Barry Manilow be looking at here?

DR. ROY HERBST, DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF YALE CANCER CENTER: Well, lung cancer is a tough disease. It's the number one cause of cancer death worldwide. That said, the fact that this was found early is really good news and hopefully he'll be able to have some local treatments, including surgery. And then once we know a little bit more about the cancer, we're now treating him, you know, figure out how to treat it and give him the longest possible life.

MATTINGLY: I was struck by Manilow calling it, quote, pure luck that the cancerous spot was even detected. Can you explain that and is this something others should be on the lookout for as well?

HERBST: Absolutely. It's not uncommon that someone's having another procedure, another symptom, you're having cold and flu symptoms, and you get an X-ray and you see something early.

[18:25:01]

And the key thing is to then pursue that. Because it could be something benign, something that will just go away, but it could be a cancer. And in this case, he's found the lung cancer and it sounds like it's at an early stage where it can be cut out.

You know, one of the most important things will be prevention of this disease, there are many people who are eligible for prevention who don't have it done. So, I think this tells us that it really is important to find this disease at the earliest possible time.

MATTINGLY: Yes, a critical message to convey. The diagnosis itself in terms of Manilow's ability to perform, I understand that's not the most important thing, but friends of mine, notably Dana Bash, my colleague, who is more dedicated to Barry Manilow than just about anybody I've ever met, what does this say for the future of his ability to perform?

HERBST: Well, in the best of all circumstances, this is can be removed by surgery. There are some amazing techniques now, minimally invasive, where you can use video assisted techniques, robots, and hopefully it can be removed. And, hopefully, if he's in good physical shape, he'll recover quickly.

Then, of course, we need to know what is it about this cancer, what's causing it to tick? What are the molecular drivers of the cancer because that might predicate whether he needs additional therapy, whether it be a chemotherapy, what we call targeted therapy that targets the very workings of the cancer or even immunotherapy.

But the good news is when lung found early, and we use all these different modalities, bringing surgery, radiation, and all these scientific advances together, the prognosis can be quite good. But, again, we need to wait and see.

But I think it is good that he found this at an early stage, always better before it spreads.

MATTINGLY: Yes, no question about that. Dr. Roy Herbst, I really appreciate your time. Thanks so much.

HERBST: Thank you.

MATTINGLY: Well, last month, President Trump pledged to end the war in Sudan. Just ahead, an exclusive report reveals just how bad things are. CNN finding evidence that Sudan's army carried out killings based on ethnicity.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:30:00]

MATTINGLY: Our World Lead takes us to Moscow, where Russian officials are working to determine if Ukraine was behind the apparent car bombing of a prominent Russian general in southern Moscow neighborhood this morning.

General Fanil Sarvarov killed in the attack was in charge of training Russian forces. It's the latest in a string of top Russian officials killed by explosive devices far from the frontlines. Ukraine still hasn't offered an official comment.

Also in our World Lead, President Donald Trump last month pledged to end the war in Sudan as part of his efforts to play peacemaker and conflicts across the globe. A bloody civil war has been raging in the country for more than two years with almost 12 million people displaced, according to the U.N.

In this CNN exclusive, Nada Bashir uncovers a chilling campaign of ethnically-motivated violence carried out by Sudan's army and its allied militias. CNN reviewed satellite imagery and obtained rare testimony from survivors and whistleblowers.

We need to warn you, there are some disturbing images in this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Sudan is in the grip of a brutal civil war. The government-aligned Sudanese armed forces are fighting for control of the country against the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF.

Almost three years of bloody fighting has led to the world's worst humanitarian crisis. And in recent weeks, atrocities committed by the RSF appear to have reached new extremes with thousands reportedly killed.

Under the command of rival generals, both sides have been accused by the United States and the U.N. of war crimes, but abuse is carried out by the Sudanese armed forces who are under the command of Sudan's de facto leader have been largely unreported and left in the shadows.

Now, a joint investigation by CNN and investigative newsroom, Lighthouse Reports, has uncovered a campaign of ethnically-fueled atrocities targeting non-Arabs carried out by the Sudanese Armed Forces and their allies across Sudan's Jazira State.

The evidence is harrowing, bodies like in this video thrown into canals, some stripped, others with their hands tied, other victims buried in mass graves and farming communities torched.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anyone who appeared to be Nuba from Western Sudan or from the South was immediately shot.

BASHIR: It's a campaign that was orchestrated from the top, four well- placed sources, including service security officials, tell us. They say an official within Sudan's General Intelligence Service was involved in coordinating the attacks in Jazira State, and one of those sources told us Army Chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan was made aware of the killings.

January 2025, Jazira State, the Sudanese Armed Forces are advancing to recapture the strategic city of Wad Madani from the RSF. But as they converge on the city, atrocities are unfolding. Video geolocated by CNN shows advancing troops stopped in the village of Keriba. Here, they detain and assault young men, accusing them of belonging to the RSF.

As troops advanced towards the outskirts of Wad Madani, the violence continues to intensify. We verified several videos captured at this intersection known as Police Bridge over a period of days, reconstructing evidence of an eventual massacre.

In this video, we see deadly clashes between army forces and RSF fighters who were ambushed as they fled Wad Madani.

The aftermath is distressing, bodies scattered across the street, some wearing the light fatigues of the RSF. Others are dressed in civilian clothing.

In another video, a man is seen beaten and bloodied on the ground surrounded by soldiers. He is injured and appears to be unarmed. Just seconds later, he is hit by a volley of gunfire.

The fate of others captured at Police Bridge is unclear. Many appear to have been detained and driven away, their whereabouts unknown.

The next day, fighters are seen relaxing in a courtyard beside Police Bridge. We can tell it was likely filmed in the morning from the cast of the shadows on the ground.

[18:35:02]

The intersection appears to be cleared of the bodies seen earlier, suggesting that the Sudanese Army has regained control and armed combat in the area is now over. But in just a matter of hours, this, the same courtyard becomes the scene of a massacre. The bodies of at least 50 young men all in civilian clothing and unarmed, some are lined against the wall, pools of blood beneath them, gunshot wounds visible to the head.

In this clip, a fighter claims the men are foreign, accusing them of being from other countries. The execution of civilians or unarmed combatants is a war crime under international humanitarian law. We were able to track down a whistleblower from within the senior ranks of Sudan's General Intelligence Service.

Speaking anonymously for fear of reprisals, the official told us that victims killed at Police Bridge were then buried in mass graves, civilians alongside RSF fighters, an allegation we then verified through satellite imagery reviewed alongside the Yale School of Public Health's Humanitarian Research Lab. Here, you can see five new patches of disturbed earth at Police Bridge in the days following the alleged killings.

And in this image, white objects consistent with wrapped corpses are visible in one of the graves. In subsequent imagery, the bodies appear to have been covered with dirt.

But mass graves were not the only method used by the Sudanese armed forces and their allies to dispose of the bodies of their victims. We spoke to a second whistleblower from Sudan's Intelligence Service. He told us that some of those accused of collaborating with the RSF were shot and then thrown into canals.

Just four miles away in the village of Bika, the whistleblower said bodies were thrown into the water, some while they were still alive. Days later, Sudan's de facto leader, al-Burhan, addressed his forces behind the very canal where, according to the official, the bodies were dumped.

Satellite imagery captured in May after water levels receded shows what appear to be dozens of bodies on the canal bed, meters from where the army leader had stood.

Some 50 miles downstream, at least eight bodies are seen lodged along the same canal system captured in videos posted one week after the army seized control of Wad Madani. The Sudanese Armed Forces in January condemned what they described as individual violations after the recapture of Wad Madani and announced an investigation into the attack.

CNN has asked the Sudanese Armed Forces and its leader, al-Burhan, about the outcome and about the allegations within this report.

These horrifying attacks along the road to Wad Madani, however, were not isolated. They formed part of a wider campaign of ethnically- targeted assaults carried out on at least 39 villages across Jazira State, which targeted the Kanabi, a non-Arab farming community often labeled by Arab-aligned militias as Black Sudanese.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They agreed they don't want any black people here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They said, we want to kill everyone. We will not leave anyone. They were shot in the chest, near the heart, and in the back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every few days, the canal would bring one or two bodies.

BASHIR: A member of a U.N. fact-finding mission described the military campaign to CNN as a, quote, targeted extermination of people along ethnic lines, in some cases amounting to what they described as ethnic cleansing. It's an allegation that has also been laid against the RSF during this war.

Months after the atrocities in Jazira State, there is no sign of accountability. And for now, justice for the victims remains out of reach.

Nada Bashir, CNN, in London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: Our thanks Sonata and her team for that report.

Well, CBS Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss pulled a "60 Minutes" segment just hours before it was supposed to air. Is there any merit to her reasoning? We'll discuss with our political panel next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:40:00]

MATTINGLY: In our Politics Lead, the newly minted head of CBS News is pushing back against claims of corporate censorship. Now, this all stems from a complaint made by 60 Minutes Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi after CBS announced just hours before it was set to air yesterday that Alfonsi's piece would be shelved until a later date. Her report detailed the Trump administration sending Venezuelan migrants to a notoriously brutal maximum security mega prison in El Salvador.

In an email to her colleagues, Alfonsi wrote, quote, our story was screened five times and cleared by CBS attorneys and standards and practices. It is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now after every rigorous internal check has been met is not an editorial decision. It is a political one. The public will correctly identify this as corporate censorship.

In a statement to The New York Times, (INAUDIBLE) wrote in part holding stories that aren't ready for whatever reason that they lack sufficient context, say, or that they're missing critical voices happens every day in every newsroom. I look forward to airing this important piece when it's ready.

My panel joins me now. And, Sara Fischer, I want to start with you, one, because this is your world and you've broken a ton of news on this throughout the course of the day, but also because this isn't happening in isolation. When I say this is your world, this is also happening in the midst of a major corporate hostile takeover involved CNN, I am not directly involved in it, way above my pay grade. Explain what's actually happening here. SARA FISCHER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: Okay. So, Paramount, which is the parent company to CBS and CBS News, has waged a hostile takeover bid for Warner Brothers Discovery, the parent to CNN as well as HBO Max and Warner Brothers Pictures. And there is a sense that in order to get that merger possibly approved from a regulatory perspective, if their bid gets selected by Warner Bros. Discovery, it's so far been rejected that they would need to cozy up to the administration.

[18:45:02]

So, you have that happening at one sense, and then in the other, you see this interview the administration. So, you have that happening at the administration. So, you have that happening at one sense, and then in the other, you see this interview getting yanked from the air on Sunday.

The woman who yanked it, CBS New editor in chief Bari Weiss, says that she wasn't canceling it. She just was delaying it until further reporting was done. People look at that move of pulling this at the 11th hour and they say, wow, that seems like it could be politically motivated that the owners of Paramount wanted to shelve this interview critical of the Trump administration to possibly get a waiver of their deal.

Personally, I've done a lot of reporting of this. I've talked to a lot of people here. I think that those two things actually are happening a little bit in isolation of one another.

I think Bari Weiss got a look at this on Thursday. She saw that it did not include comment from Trump administration officials, even though, according to my reporting, they did provide comment ahead of air. The State Department, the DHS, and the White House all provided comment that wasn't included. And so that's why she decided to spike it.

Now, could she have handled it differently? Sure. And we can discuss that with the panel. But I think the problem is that even if you have good reason to delay a segment like that, people don't trust your reasoning, given the political climate.

MATTINGLY: I want to dig in on that in a second, but just real quick. You said spike it or delay it or whatever. Do we expect that this is ever going to run at this point?

FISCHER: Well, a leaked copy of it is out. So, I have reviewed that video and I've -- if you go to axios.com, I have a piece explaining everything that's in it.

But essentially, I don't know how you run it now that it's all over YouTube and TikTok and X, the leaked video shows a 13-minute segment shows the correspondent from "60 Minutes," Sharyn Alfonsi, interviewing someone from Human Rights Watch, students at the University of Berkeley that worked with Human Rights Watch on data, and two prisoners that were held captive in CECOT. It does not include any administration officials on the record except for a few cut videos, one from Kristi Noem, the DHS secretary, and Karoline Leavitt. And I don't know how you run the segment now that its been leaked out

like this. I think what happened was a Canadian broadcaster inadvertently ran it because you yank it so last minute. Sometimes people don't get the memo. Someone recorded it with their phone and now it's viral.

MATTINGLY: And now you have it, which is actually the natural progression of things. For somebody who breaks all the news that you break.

Well, I think a lot of people probably shared initial reactions of uh- oh on some level. After listening to all that and kind of how this has played out throughout the course of the day, where are you on kind of how this all transpired?

MO ELLEITHEE, FORMER DNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: I don't know. I mean, this whole thing seems like its a huge mess, right? But I do think Sara brings up one really important point. Well, many important points, but the one that really resonated with me is that there is a trust issue right now.

We were talking in the green room earlier when these big corporate entities are making plays to buy large news companies and those corporate entities either have business that they're trying to put before the administration or a political agenda sometimes. I mean, when the Ellisons first said that they were taking over CBS, President Trump praised it because these guys were big supporters of mine. He said, right?

And so, I -- the -- this challenge that we have with trust in the media seems to be getting exacerbated, not resolved by some of the moves that we're seeing take place out there.

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, look, I see this with two different directions. I agree with Sara's point. I don't know how you run a story without getting someone from the administration, a high ranking official on the record, on camera, not just a mere statement from someone like a press secretary, but someone like a Stephen Miller on camera and say, look, we want to get your thoughts on our reporting and maybe you can't pull that off at the last minute. Maybe you got to schedule that a month in advance, and maybe that does indeed delay the story.

So, in that vein, I would agree, you got to get somebody on the record, in my personal opinion. And by the way, I would have the same expectation if it was a conservative leaning outlet covering a Democrat. I would say, look, guys, we need to get someone from the other side, from the administration on the record on this before we just run this story.

Two, I agree with every single thing that Mo said. The general public has got to understand that major corporations have a singular fiduciary responsibility as it pertains to finances. And when you're buying an organization, even if it's a news one, you're going to be guided your decision making at the -- at the end of the day is by the finances. And so, if you're going to make a decision that may abruptly disrupt

what a major corporation is trying to do vis a vis buying CNN buying Warner Bros., et cetera, as a CEO, I'm going to say you need to can that because this is not in the interest of our long term goals. And by the way, you got a board. And that board is going to more than likely tell you to do the same thing, whether people like it or not. It's all about the finances.

FISCHER: I would just push back on that in that there is a lot of money to be made in really good quality journalism.

SINGLETON: Sure.

FISCHER: "60 Minutes" is the number one news program in America for 51 seasons consecutively.

[18:50:01]

Obviously shows after football, but it still speaks to the fact that you have a very lucrative program here that you don't want to be messing with. And so, I do think that I hear you, Shermichael, but I also think that actually the -- sometimes the fastest shortcut to success is actually taking no shortcuts. And in this case, if you had just let the -- if you let the journalism be independent, I actually think that's the best business case.

SINGLETON: And in fact, just real quick, I agree with that, Sara. But I would say under the circumstances where the president pretty publicly in the past several weeks have made some very interesting statements about Skydance, the parent -- the parent company of CBS, where it appears that he may not be on board with them purchasing Warner Bros. Discovery, they're probably thinking, hey, maybe we need to be careful here.

FISCHER: But they have really, really good lobbyists. They know. It actually doesn't matter. Like the president can try to push his DOJ to sue to block any deal, ultimately.

And I sat in court for the AT&T Time Warner case. Ultimately, it's going to come down to you need to convince an independent judge that you have a case. And so, the president doesn't actually have that much sway over the CEO.

SINGLETON: Are they thinking about it that way, though?

FISCHER: Yeah, yeah, yeah, 100 percent.

MATTINGLY: Can I just follow one thing real quick? I was sponsored as well, to be very clear. And I think Alfonsi says this in her email. They reached out, they asked to have somebody on camera. They did not get any response to have somebody on camera, whether they got response.

I think to Sara's point, to have somebody on camera, which I think was one of the critical aspects that they felt was missing. And let's be honest here, for people who don't necessarily understand how this works, administration officials or the side that you're writing about decides not to put somebody on camera precisely to try and undercut or make it difficult for you to complete a story, at times. That is a strategy and an intentional one at that.

And so, like the idea of like, well, if you don't have anybody on camera, we can't run the story. If the administration knows that, they're going to say, we're not running this story.

ELLEITHEE: We just got written, written comment from them if that's, you know, indeed the case, they -- she didn't have to pull the story. She could have just included the written comment, right? As -- you know, the written response.

So, the whole thing was sloppy. It was messy. And it feeds into the political, you know, stuff that which the president himself fuels constantly.

MATTINGLY: Yeah. There's a -- this is complicated. And it also underscores why there's a lack of literacy into what we do that is really hanging over all of this on some level.

Appreciate your great reporting. Appreciate you guys, as always. Thank you very much.

FISCHER: Thank you.

MATTINGLY: The dog days of tariffs are eating into the profits of one pet food business. The founder joins us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:56:23]

MATTINGLY: We're back now with our "Business Leaders" series, where we talk to small business owners from coast to coast about the impact of President Trump's tariffs.

Bundle and Joy pet food and treats hit shelves three years ago. It's a brand dedicated to gut healthy and allergy friendly products for dogs, and one of the only female founded pet food companies in the U.S.

Founder Jess Berger joins me now.

Just really appreciate your time.

Just to start, kind of top line, how have tariffs impacted the growth of your business this year?

JESSICA BERGER, FOUNDER & CEO, BUNDLE X JOY: Well, we're really proud that this year in 2025, we'll grow nearly three x to last year. As a three-year-old company, we've already hit the shelves of retailers like Walmart and PetSmart.

Unfortunately, this year, a small section of our business was impacted by tariffs. We had committed a retailer by, which means over a year ago we had committed to product going into a store, and I got the call that the tariffs were suddenly being hiked up to 145 percent, and all of a sudden, I had a $200,000 bill. I was not prepared for it.

MATTINGLY: What's your response? I mean, I'm trying to think through how a small business owner would be able to react in that moment. What do you do when you lose capital like that?

BERGER: Well, you know, in that moment, immediately I was like, what can I do right now? Right? I was calling my broker. I was calling my manufacturer. Can I delay picking up this product?

You know, it was in the moment where 145 percent tariffs were a reality, and I was given no options. I wasn't able to find alternate methods to get my products here.

And so, I was basically told that I didn't have options. This year, that $200,000 may not sound like a lot, but as a small business, it is entirely impacted our operating cash flow. We've had to take on more debt. Weve had to lay off employees. We're a small team of five, and even though were growing, it has put such a cloud on our business this year.

MATTINGLY: Looking forward, there has been -- you talked to administration officials who say, look, there's some stability now, some certainty now about the path forward. Obviously, 145 percent has been dropped on some pretty significant amount. How durable that is. We'll see over time.

Do you feel like you're able to plan to expand at all, or are you still kind of in the same place of uncertainty?

BERGER: Complete uncertainty this year, we've had to take a subsection of our brand. You know, luckily, a lot of our products are nutrition products are all made here in the U.S., but we haven't known how to pivot or how to move forward in our pet toy business. For example, the pet industry has already seen a 30 percent increase. In toys, supplies, things that structurally just don't make sense to manufacture here in the U.S.

And so for us as a small business, we've had to completely set aside a portion of our business, find ways to make up that revenue. And candidly, we've been in a holding pattern because how do I commit pricing to retailers a year from now, having no clue what's even going to happen in 90 days?

MATTINGLY: Just real quick before I let you go, if there's one thing you could tell the administration or policymakers, what would it be?

BERGER: You know, I continue to hear that the tariffs really, you know, stuck it to somebody else. And the reality is I'm a small business owner, and I stand before you to say I'm the one that was impacted by those tariffs -- my community, my team. And we're still struggling.

We're a very strong small business. And I'm trying to pursue the American dream. And I'm still struggling. And I don't know when and if I'll ever see those funds come back. But I'm going to move forward and I'm going to, you know, persevere despite that. But I feel for a lot of small business owners this year that weren't able to turn the corner.

MATTINGLY: Well, we really appreciate your time, and we want viewers to know you can buy Bundle and Joy pet food at Costco, Petsmart, Walmart, Whole Foods and Sprouts, and online at Amazon and Chewy.

Jess Berger, really appreciate it. Thanks so much.

BERGER: Yeah, thank you so much. Happy holidays.

MATTINGLY: Likewise.

Well, you can follow the show on X and Instagram @TheLeadCNN. If you ever miss an episode of THE LEAD, you can watch the show on the CNN app.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts now.