Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

New Images Leading up to the Reiner Murders; Numbers on Congressional Democrats; Inflation Cooled in November; Ken Rogoff is Interviewed about the Inflation Number; Off-Duty Firefighters Save a Veteran; U.S. Strikes Another Boat. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired December 18, 2025 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:30:36]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, convicted Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell has launched a bid to wipe away that conviction. In new court filings, Maxwell claims newly emerged evidence shows she did not receive a fair trial. She was convicted of sex trafficking minors in 2021. Her previous bids challenging her conviction were rejected by courts. Maxwell claims that lawyers for Epstein's victims conspired and colluded with the government, and she says some jurors were biased. The move comes as the Justice Department faces a deadline tomorrow to release its collection of Epstein-related documents.

The youngest victim of the Bondi Beach massacre in Australia has been laid to rest. Eighteen-year-old Matilda was attending a Hanukkah service with her parents on Sunday when the two gunmen opened fire. She was ten, I should say. Matilda's mother said her daughter was running around happy during the celebration, and then she saw her lying on the ground.

All right, this morning, there are new developments in the murders of Rob and Michele Reiner. Authorities say the couple was killed in the master bedroom of their home. The medical examiner says they died from, quote, "multiple sharp force injuries." Yesterday, their son, Nick, made his first court appearance. He was charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

CNN's Nick Watt has new video and images in the minutes leading up to Nick Reiner's arrest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Around 8:20 p.m. Sunday, that's Nick Reiner, wandering into and out of a gas station. This footage was just obtained by CNN.

Moments after he leaves, surveillance cameras in the parking lot pick up police activity. And right there is where Reiner was arrested, as we see in these LAPD photographs. Arrested on suspicion of murdering his parents. They were last seen together Saturday night at Conan O'Brien's holiday party, where Rob and Nick Reiner reportedly argued. CASEY JORDAN, CRIMINOLOGIST AND BEHAVIORAL ANALYST: By all accounts,

Rob and Michele asked Conan if they could bring their son Nick to this party. He was not originally on the invitation list, which shows that they were trying to work with him. They were being inclusive.

WATT (voice over): Homicide detectives would like to speak to partygoers, according to a source.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your honor, if we could, I would like to ask for a continuance.

WATT (voice over): Nick Reiner, now charged with two counts of first degree murder, made his first appearance in court.

CNN's Stephanie Elam was in the room.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nick Reiner appeared very calm in the court. He was seated behind glass and he appeared to be wearing a long blue vest, and his hands were shackled. The only thing that we heard Nick Reiner say was, "yes, your honor."

WATT (voice over): When asked by the judge if he was OK with his arraignment being pushed to January 7th. Here's his lawyer.

ALAN JACKSON, NICK REINER'S ATTORNEY: This is a devastating tragedy that has befallen the Reiner family. We all recognize that. Our hearts go out to the entire Reiner family. There are very, very complex and serious issues that are associated with this case. They just need to be thoroughly, but very carefully dealt with.

WATT (voice over): "Words cannot even begin to describe the unimaginable pain we are experiencing every moment of the day," reads a statement today from Romy Reiner, who found her parents Sunday afternoon, and Jake, the eldest of the three siblings. "We now ask for respect and privacy, for speculation to be tempered with compassion and humanity."

WATT: Now, according to the LAPD, the Reiners were found in the master bedroom area of the house that is right behind me. Detectives, officers looked for anybody else in the house, victims, suspects. They did not find anybody else. And we've also heard from the medical examiners office, according to the records, both the Reiners died from, quote, "multiple sharp force injuries." Stabbed to death.

Nick Watt, CNN, Brentwood, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Nick, thank you for that.

Let's turn here now. New this morning, approval ratings for Democrats in Congress reaching an all-time low. Democratic Congressman Dan Goldman, though, was on talking to John just a little while ago, and he promised that it won't be that low of Democrats take back control of Congress.

CNN's Harry Enten running the numbers on all this, at least where things stand right now.

So, give us a baseline. Where -- what -- how are people -- how are voters feeling about Democrats right now?

[08:35:01]

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes, I mean, Democrats, in the minds of the American public, are lower than the Dead Sea. What are we talking about here? Well, let's take a look.

The net approval rating for Democrats in Congress. You said it, Kate Bolduan, the lowest ever. Look at this. Overall, they are 55 points underwater. Their approval rating is south of 20 percent. It's even worse when you look at independents. Look at this, negative 61 points. That means that their approval rating is 61 points lower than their disapproval rating. Quinnipiac has been polling this question for the better part of the 21st century. They have never found Democrats, at least those in Congress, in worse shape than they are right now.

BOLDUAN: That's independents and overall, but what about Democrats on Democrats?

ENTEN: Yes, what about Democrats on Democrats? So, part of the reason overall is so low is independents are driving it low. But that's not the only reason it's so low.

What about Democrats on Democrats? Democrats' net approval rating of congressional Democrats. I want you to keep in mind, they had never rated Democrats negatively until this year. And right now, what are we talking about? We're talking about a net approval rating from Democrats. This is Democrats on Democrats. Their approval rating is actually lower. Lower than the disapproval rating. And that is quite the drop from October.

I think during the shutdown, there was a bit of a boost for Democrats, right? There was a rallying around the flag effect going on. But Democrats did not like how that shutdown turned out. They have returned against Democrats in Congress.

And you mentioned Dan Goldman in that intro. One of the reasons that Dan Goldman is in trouble right now in a potential primary against Brad Lander, is because, at this point, the Democratic base is so upset with Democrats. So even if Democrats take back Congress, don't be surprised if Dan Goldman ain't there because of numbers like this one.

BOLDUAN: And this is quite a shift that you're looking at here. I mean so this gets to the midterms, of course. What is this -- what does this do to Democrats chances of taking back majorities in Congress?

ENTEN: Yes, you know, we're talking about it. You mentioned it. What is this, 22, six. That's a 28-point decline, falling through the floor.

But, of course, the question is, can Democrats still take back Congress even with their ratings as low as this? The answer is, yes. But in my mind, it's definitely hurting them.

Why do I say that? Because take a look at the generic congressional ballot with a Republican president at this point. Look, Democrats are ahead, but they're only ahead by four points. Historically, that is quite weak. At this point in the '28 -- 2017, 2018 cycle it was more than double that at ten points. The same back during George W. Bush's second term in office, where you saw, of course, that Democrats were also ahead by ten points. So, we're talking about a lead of less than half what we normally expect. And I think that's why, at this point, there are a lot of Democrats who might be thinking, hey, we can spike that ball in the end zone. But the numbers at this point say, hold on just a minute. Yes, you're on your way to a congressional majority, but it's still a long time. With numbers like this, considerably weaker than historically speaking, it might be a tougher road to hoe than normally you would think.

BOLDUAN: Well, especially if you see that change from October (ph).

ENTEN: Yes, if you see -- and when you see your base going a 28-point shift, and when you see numbers like this, you see this overall --

BOLDUAN: A lot can change.

ENTEN: A lot -- a lot can change. And at this point, you know what, Democrats are hoping that Donald Trump's unpopularity can ride them to a congressional majority. But you know what? When you have numbers like this, hold the phone just a second.

BOLDUAN: Thank you, Harry.

ENTEN: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: John.

BERMAN: All right, breaking news just in. We've been waiting for these numbers. Brand new numbers on inflation. You can see the annual rate of inflation down a little bit in November. It was at 3 percent the last time we got a reading. Now it has ticked down, cooling slightly to 2.7 percent.

Let's get right to CNN's Matt Egan for the latest on these numbers.

This is below expectations, Matt.

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: That's right, John, finally some good news on the number one economic issue, the cost of living.

So, the government just put out this new report saying that consumer prices were up by 2.7 percent year over year in November. That is much better than the forecast from economists, which was for 3 percent. And as you mentioned, this is a step in the right direction relative to September, which was at 3 percent.

Now, I can't tell you what it was in October because the government shutdown messed with the collection of data during that month. But clearly this is another step in the right direction. Now, when you look at the trend here, this shows annual inflation over

the last year and a half or so. And you can see that inflation was trending down last year. And then it started to go back up, in part because of the president's tariffs. And that was concerning. And inflation did look like it was kind of stuck at three percent. But now it is moving back down.

Now just to remind everyone, the fact that the inflation rate went down, it does not mean that prices are going down across the economy. It means that they're still going up, but just at a slower pace, right? Getting a little bit closer to that two percent that the Federal Reserve considers healthy, normal inflation.

Now digging into some of the things that got more expensive. The good news is that gasoline was only up by less than 1 percent.

[08:40:03]

And gas prices have continued to fall this month to multi-year lows. Clothes were only up by 0.2 percent year over year. That's very low. Also, we know groceries has been just front and center, a major source of frustration. And groceries were up by less than the overall inflation rate at just 1.9 percent.

However, there were some other disappointing news on the energy front. Electricity, which has become a major source of frustration and a focal point, surging by almost seven percent. That is going to cause some significant sticker shock for people when they open their utility bills. And then also natural gas, that a lot of people use to heat their homes, up by 9 percent year over year. That's a very big jump.

So, look, you put it all together, this is encouraging news. It doesn't mean that prices are down, but it does mean that the cost of living got a little bit better during the month of November because inflation did not go up by quite as much as was feared.

John, back to you.

BERMAN: Yes, inflation heading in a better direction at this point than it had been over the last few months.

Matt Egan, thank you very much for that.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right, let's talk about this important news.

Joining us right now is Ken Rogoff, professor of economics and public policy at Harvard University, former IMF chief economist.

It's great to have you here.

KEN ROGOFF, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC POLICY, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: Thank you. S pleasure to be here.

BOLDUAN: What is your take on what we've just learned when it comes to consumer prices and inflation?

ROGOFF: I mean, I was surprised it was a better number than anyone was expecting.

Look, inflation has been very high. It stayed high. It has not been coming down. But, you know, people were expecting it to be above 3 percent. It was well below 3 percent. I mean I think the president will take this as good news. The investors will think that interest rates will get cut more. So, you know, it was a -- it was a positive news. There's no other way to spin it.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Let's talk about the view from the president that we got last night, especially because the economy was a huge part of his remarks that he made. Also saying this, Ken. He said, "tonight, after 11 months, our border is secure, inflation has stopped, wages are up, prices are down. Our nation is strong. America is respected. Our country is back stronger than ever before."

As part of this, he announced basically the only announcement -- policy announcement that was made on the economy was he's going to be -- the U.S. government is going to be sending checks about just under $1,000 to members of the military. Let me play this for everyone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Tonight, I am also proud to announce that more than 1,000 -- 450,000. Think of this, 1,450,000 military service members will receive a special, we call warrior dividend, before Christmas, a warrior dividend, in honor of our nation's founding in 1776. We are sending every soldier $1,776. Think of that. And the checks are already on the way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: This kind of gets to something that the presidents teased for a long time, which are like a $2,000 rebate for, I think, almost every American. That did not get announced. What is the impact on the economy of this type of a move?

ROGOFF: Well, I was really surprised he didn't announce that.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

ROGOFF: I thought that why -- why he was giving his speech.

BOLDUAN: Like the whole point.

ROGOFF: Because the numbers and the economy have been going a little south. And he's not someone who likes to sit on his hands and handing out $2,000 to everybody.

It also addresses that this has been a two-speed economy. If you're holding stock, especially a significant amount of stock, it's been great. People are spending. But for a lot of people, their wages are going up, but slower than prices. Even at this lower price increase. So, I thought he would be trying to address that, looking ahead to the

midterms. And actually what surprised me about the number we just heard is, I think the president hears that in advance. I thought it was going to be a bad number, and that was why he -- his advisors said, no, don't do this, it'll goose up inflation. But then it was low.

So, I don't know what's going on. But it seemed like something he really wants to do. I don't know what's holding him back.

BOLDUAN: He blamed the Biden administration for over and over again for the economy that -- how the economy is today. From your perspective, when is it -- when does it truly become cause and effect of Donald Trump on the economy? Is it still -- is there any -- is there -- does he have any footing to still blame Joe Biden for what the American people are facing with the economy right now, Ken?

ROGOFF: I mean, less and less. We're almost a year in. So, yes, that's the playbook to blame, you know, whoever was in office when he got there.

BOLDUAN: Exactly.

ROGOFF: But, I mean, now it's his tariffs, the uncertainty, immigration being cut back. The illegal immigration, yes, but legal immigration also.

[08:45:04]

I mean I think a lot of these things will hurt over the longer run. And he's sort of counting on animal spirits, A.I., something to compensate. I'm not sure that's going to happen. I think the downside is ahead.

BOLDUAN: I do want to ask you, you just -- you're out with a new book and really what the focus is, is the U.S. dollar and the long history of the U.S. -- of the dollar's dominance. But I am curious, and it is something that is being talked about much more, your take on, do you see those days as numbered that the U.S. dollar remains so dominant when you look at the competition and challenge coming from China?

ROGOFF: I think it's going to be less dominant. It's not just China, Europe, cryptocurrencies.

BOLDUAN: Right.

ROGOFF: It's part of how we get low interest rates is everybody everywhere is holding dollars. The more they hold, the lower the interest rates. Everybody pays. And I think that's been bleeding for a while, maybe ten years, because China has been pulling away and Asia is half the dollar block. But I -- my take on Trump is probably he's accelerating things.

Now, he's doing some things to help. I mean the A.I., that's probably good. But the loss of soft power, undermining the rule of law, the tariffs, and we could go on and on. There are a lot of things in the other direction. But, you know, who knows. But I would say my take is, we're going to continue to diminish in our market share.

BOLDUAN: So interesting. And it's great to have you. Thanks for coming in.

ROGOFF: Well, thank -- thank you for having me.

BOLDUAN: Really appreciate it.

John.

BERMAN: All right, new this morning, a 70-year-old Navy veteran went into cardiac arrest playing pickleball. Two off duty firefighters on a nearby court rushed to save his life.

CNN's senior national correspondent Ryan Young has this story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The holiday season feels a little more precious this year for Carey Williams and his family.

CAREY WILLIAMS, NAVY VETERAN AND RETIRED EDUCATOR: Every day is special for me now because it came close to me not being here anymore.

YOUNG (voice over): The 70-year-old Navy veteran has been active his whole life and has a particular passion for pickleball.

WILLIAMS: This is all my pickleball gear.

YOUNG (voice over): During a family visit to Ohio in July, Carey suddenly found himself in a life-threatening situation on a court in Cincinnati.

WILLIAMS: And this is actually the paddle I was using that particular day.

YOUNG (voice over): Playing nearby were off-duty firefighters Jacob Myrick and Michael Tankersley.

MICHAEL TANKERSLEY, OFF-DUTY FIREFIGHTER: Before I went to go serve, I kind of took a pause because I saw him fall down.

WILLIAMS: Well, I was feeling a little bit fatigued, and -- because I was on like game six. And I kind of tried to put my hands on my knees and rest a little bit, and I just -- I just fainted.

TANKERSLEY: Jake immediately ran over there. I followed behind him.

JAKE MYRICK, OFF-DUTY FIREFIGHTER: I felt for a pulse. Michael felt for a pulse.

YOUNG (voice over): Carey had gone into cardiac arrest.

MYRICK: So, I began compressions, as well as Michael called out to -- for somebody to retrieve an AED. YOUNG (voice over): An AED, Automatic External Defibrillator. The

pickleball courts happen to have one thanks to a donation.

MYRICK: The AED analyzed him, shocked him, and continued compressions.

YOUNG (voice over): Within minutes, Carey regained consciousness.

MYRICK: Was breathing again and trying to sit up and, you know, kind of shook us off.

TANKERSLEY: You really wouldn't have known that he just went through what he went through.

YOUNG (voice over): At the hospital, doctors discovered Carey needed bypass surgery.

WILLAIMS: I had five blockages. You know, I wasn't far from death for sure.

YOUNG (voice over): In September, Carey was well enough to reunite with Michael and Jacob to thank them.

WILLIAMS: Oh, that was a great moment. That was a great moment. I said, if I could adopt you guys, I would.

TANKERSLEY: We were really excited to see him. It was almost like we'd known each other for ten years when we all got together.

YOUNG (voice over): Back at his home in Georgia, Carey is in cardiac rehab, getting better every day.

TANKERSLEY: The feeling of Carey being able to spend the holidays with his family is very fulfilling.

JAKE: Seeing somebody be able to have the best outcome from one of the worst situations was amazing and a great blessing.

WILLIAMS: They saved my life, and they're heroes to me

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: It's great that they were there and they now have each other. Our thanks to Ryan Young for that.

So, a stolen dump truck and a high-speed chase. What happened at the end, and who exactly cleaned that all up?

And a woman now arrested after allegedly shoving razors inside baked goods at multiple Walmarts.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:53:46]

BOLDUAN: Breaking overnight, the U.S. military says it carried out a new strike on an alleged drug boat, killing four people this time. That attack was yesterday. It was in the eastern Pacific, and is the second deadly strike that's publicly known just this week. At least 99 people have now been killed as part of President Trump's military campaign off the coast of Venezuela since it began in September.

CNN's Zach Cohen has new reporting on this and joins us now.

Zach, what are you learning about this latest strike?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Katie, it appears to be based on similar evidence and intelligence as the previous strikes, as you mentioned, now up to 99, at least 99 people that have been killed since early September when this campaign began. And Pete Hegseth and U.S. Southern Command saying that this strike was carried out based on intelligence that it was -- the boat in question was carrying drugs along a known trafficking route. And not really releasing any other details about that evidence, though, in addition, though, to releasing this short video of the boat exploding.

But this comes as there's new questions about what the actual strategy of this campaign in the eastern Pacific Ocean and in the Caribbean really is all about whether it's about actually trying to stop the flow of drugs from Latin America to the -- to the U.S. or if it's about pushing Venezuelan Leader Nicolas Maduro out of power.

[08:55:05]

That's something we saw Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff say in a "Vanity Fair" interview just earlier this week that she believed this was all about regime change in Venezuela. But again, we're still seeing a lot of questions about both the strategy and the legality of this entire campaign, including the very first known strike that was carried out back on September 2nd. That's the one where the U.S. military appears to have killed two survivors of the initial strike, raising allegations from some lawmakers about a potential war crime.

And in that lawmakers have been pushing for the Pentagon to release the full, unedited video from that September 2nd strike to which Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, has refused to do so.

But interestingly, yesterday, U.S. commanders, including the one who oversaw that September 2nd strike, Admiral Bradley, briefed lawmakers behind closed doors and they were pressed by lawmakers on whether or not there was a problem with releasing that video. And Congressman Jason Crow, a Democrat, emerged from that briefing and said, effectively, no, that they were told that there was no problem.

Take a listen to what Congressman Crow said yesterday when he was asked by Brianna Keilar about this very thing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JASON CROW (D-CO): I was very clear in asking the commanders today whether or not there was any reason they could not release the video. Their answer was very clear, no. They could prepare this video for release, just like they have every other video. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: So, this would appear to contradict what Pete Hegseth has said publicly, claiming that releasing the video could compromise national security. We'll have to wait and see. But this is, obviously, going to raise more of a push to release that unedited video so Americans can judge for themselves.

BOLDUAN: Zach Cohen, great reporting, as always. Thank you so much.

John.

BERMAN: What a high-speed chase with a dump truck, at least I think it's high speed by dump truck standards right there. Police say this dump truck was stolen. It happened in Sacramento, California. You can see the driver ended up losing control there at the end and spinning out. Police arrested the 38-year-old driver.

Police also arresting a woman accused of putting razor blades and fishhooks in baked goods at Walmart. The items were found over the course of 11 days at two separate Mississippi stores. They were tucked inside loaves of brioche bread and banana nut muffins.

And new video of officers in Illinois jumping into a frozen pond to rescue three car crash victims. They were 12 feet underwater by the time that help arrived. The air temperature, just one degree at the time. The driver ended up being charged with driving under the influence.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right, we are just days from CNN's very first holiday variety special, and we, here on the show, got a very, very, very special preview from the host, Roy Wood Jr.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: This is already one of my favorite holiday traditions, and it hasn't even aired yet, Roy. But what are -- what are some of your favorite holiday memories from growing up?

ROY WOOD JR.: I remember watching my mother go to Century Plaza Mall in Birmingham and get into an almost fistfight with another grown woman over the black Voltron lion in 1985, fighting for toys. This is really what tech -- the tech industry has taken away from us, John.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: He is not lying.

WOOD: We used to get together as Americans every Friday after Thanksgiving and fight strangers over merchandise that would be irrelevant in a year. And that was one of the things that I always looked forward to. I looked forward to raising my own child and fighting strangers like "Jingle All the Way," Sinbad, Schwarzenegger style. And now I just go on Amazon -- and it's not fun.

SIDNER: We're getting soft. WOOD: I love holiday shopping. I really love just walking through a store with Christmas music playing. I love waiting ten minutes for a parking space. I love the retail capitalistic aspects that actually should not be what the holidays stand for. But that's what I love. I hate gift wrapping paper though. I like gifts, but like you see how neat and nice all those packages are right there.

SIDNER: Yes, beautiful.

WOOD: I can't do that. I don't like it. It's origami.

SIDNER: It's all right. You can get one of your famous friends to do it for you. I mean, right. John's pretty good at it, I here.

I do want to ask you what gift you'd fight me over this year?

WOOD: I remember when I worked at a radio station in Birmingham we had secret Santa. Any Apple product I'll fight you over.

SIDNER: OK.

WOOD: I think secret Santa is a terrible invention and it's a way just to turn strangers against each other. And I think we need to get our president to file an executive order. He files executive orders for everything else. So, why not throw that one in there and ban secret Santa.

I have a holiday question for you all.

SIDNER: Oh.

WOOD: If I'm coming to your house and I bring wine and you don't open the wine, I can take that wine back home, correct?

[09:00:06]

BERMAN: A hundred percent.

SIDNER: That -- um --

BOLDUAN: Well, now you've just -- now you've landed on a thing I would fight you over.