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Brown University Shooting Suspect Found Dead After 6-Day Manhunt; NTSB Officials Expected On Scene After Deadly North Carolina Plane Crash; Rep. David Min (D-CA) On DOJ's Race To Redact Some Epstein Files Ahead Of Deadline. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired December 19, 2025 - 07:30   ET

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

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[07:30:50]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The major breaking news overnight, after six days, a multistate, multiagency manhunt is now over. Officials announcing that the suspect in Saturday's deadly mass shooting at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island was found dead in New Hampshire. They also revealed a stunning twist that they believe that same suspect is also responsible for the deadly shooting of an MIT professor this week.

The suspect identified as 48-year-old Claudio Neves Valente, a Portuguese national that we're told by Brown University he was briefly a grad student at the school years ago.

So many answers, but so many questions still.

Joining me right now is one man who has been at the center of all of this, the mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, Brett Smiley. Mayor, thank you very much for the time -- for your time.

How different does today feel than just yesterday morning?

MAYOR BRETT SMILEY, (D) PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND: Well, I hope my entire city slept a little better last night. Everything about this situation is tragic but at least we know that at least this part of it has come to a conclusion and concern and fear in the community I think has dialed down a little bit. We still have a lot of answers that we're seeking and -- but at least we know that the individual responsible for this has come to his end.

BOLDUAN: Um, obviously, one of the biggest questions, Mayor, is why. Is there any further indication of why this suspect targeted Brown?

SMILEY: Not yet, but we won't give up in trying to answer those questions. I think the Providence community and the Brown community really needs to know that in order to get true closure.

When we made our announcement late last night here in Providence, the FBI was still processing and gathering evidence up in New Hampshire. We don't have any update yet on what may or may not have been in that storage container that he had leased in his own name. And so perhaps, and I think hopefully, there are some answers there because we all want to know the answer to that question.

But as of this morning we don't have a motive. We don't know what the connection was. Why he picked our city and Brown, and this classroom. So, you know, that remains a very unsettling feeling for so many of us.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

A huge part of what kind of unfolded here is the tipster who the attorney general said really cracked the case wide open. And we've heard some different things about this person.

Do you have any clarity on whether he was a Brown employee, a student, an alum? Anything just kind of a in a general sense to understand a little bit better of who this critical person is.

SMILEY: Yeah. We confirmed last night that he is a Brown grad --

BOLDUAN: OK.

SMILEY: -- and -- but not anything more than that. He was, in fact, critical to this and certainly everybody in Providence owes this individual a debt of gratitude.

When we put out the photo of his -- what turned out to be his photo, I think two days ago now, he, within an hour walked up to a Providence police officer and says, "I think you're looking for me," and came in and was fully forthcoming. Provided key details that helped us. We had -- we had disparate pieces of information. And we had strong suspicions that these pieces of information fit together, but it hadn't been corroborated, and he was able to do that for us. And so it was really a critical turning point.

And this was an individual who stepped up and stepped forward for all the right reasons, probably with legitimate fear for what that might mean for his safety, but he did it for all the right reasons. And then approximately 24 hours after that interview we were able to come to a conclusion and make the announcement we made last night. So on behalf of the city of Providence, we are grateful to this guy.

[07:35:10]

BOLDUAN: Is that man the same -- is that man the same person -- is the same person that is critical -- the person that posted on Reddit and the person that is seen in photos that the police had distributed, who then walked up to police that you're talking about -- are these the same people? Because there is -- has been some -- I guess some lack of clarity around that as well.

SMILEY: Yeah. There -- I think there were probably multiple Reddit tips and such but there was a Reddit tip that had to do with the vehicle that turned out to be a central part of this investigation. The tipster, with respect to the vehicle, is the same individual that was in the photo that we released two days ago, which is the same individual who turned himself in there shortly thereafter.

TEXT: Reddit tip on Brown University Shooting.

"I'm being dead serious. The police need to look into a gray Nissan with Florida plate, possibly a rental. That was the car he was driving."

SMILEY: So he provided the Reddit tip initially, anonymously, and then when we put the photo out and put the call out that we needed to talk to this person he then turned up to a Providence police officer and was fully forthcoming. And so it's sort of an amazing sequence of events and -- but really turned out to be critical to our investigation. And again, we're grateful to him.

BOLDUAN: There's a lot still to be learned, as you said, as we're just talking about. Some questions that still need to be answered in the investigation that still continues very actively.

But what is or are the lessons learned from this for you, Mayor, for the city, for the school, after such a traumatic and -- traumatic event?

SMILEY: I mean, there's going to be plenty of time and certainly, I know Brown is going to do it, and my responsibility on behalf of the city, we're going to do a full and complete analysis to think about how we can continue to do better to keep our city safe. Providence is an extraordinarily safe city -- one of the safest midsized cities in the country. Things like this have never happened before and hopefully never will again. But we're always seeking to do better.

I will say, sort of, on first -- on first pass here, not even 12 hours after the announcement last night, video footage turned out to be critical, and it was primarily residents' video footage.

Secondly, the license plate readers turned out to be really integral to -- because the vehicle became so important in the investigation, the license plate readers were an integral part of this.

Next, as you said in the intro, this was a multistate, multiagency endeavor and that cooperation between law enforcement agencies was -- we couldn't have done it without our partners -- the Rhode Island State Police, the FBI, the ATF, and those individuals -- the men and women of those various law enforcement agencies.

We had several hundred folks working in the Providence Public Safety complex, which is not typical. They were all working really well together. There was no ego, no conflict. They were all focused on the task at hand, and they all had a job to do and they got it done. And so that sort of collaboration and cooperation was critical.

And while certainly fear and anxiety were running through my city, generally speaking, the people of Providence were great. And they banded together and they stuck with us, and they were patient when we asked them to be. They shared video when we asked them to share, which I think really in the midst of a tragedy showed the best of my city. And I'm so proud to be able to call Providence home and to have an opportunity to serve it.

BOLDUAN: Definitely a -- the city is waking up to a huge sigh of relief this morning with more critical questions though still to be answered.

Mayor, thank you very much for joining us this morning -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right.

This morning, really breaking overnight, infighting within the Republican Party and the conservative movement was fully on display. This happened at the Turning Point USA conference in Arizona.

Conservative activist Ben Shapiro took the stage and went after people at that conference there by name.

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BEN SHAPIRO, HOST, "THE BEN SHAPIRO SHOW": The conservative movement is also in danger from charlatans who claim to speak in the name of principle but actually traffic in conspiracism and dishonesty.

So, for example, if Candace Owens decides to spend every day since the murder of Charlie Kirk to spew absolutely baseless trash implicating everyone from French intelligence to Massaud, to members of TP USA in Charlie's murder, or a coverup in that murder, then we as people with a microphone have a moral obligation to call that out by name.

[07:40:10]

So, no, Tucker Carlson, it is not an excuse to go silent on Candace's targeting of TP USA --

(Cheers, Applause)

-- or to mirror her bullshit lines and questioning because you love Candace personally.

The same holds true of Megyn Kelly, a person I consider a friend, characterizing Candace as a young mother and thus shying away from condemning her actions or fibbing about them. That is a nonstarter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: This was something and got a lot of buzz overnight in conservative circles.

With us now Democratic strategist and former White House director of message planning, Meghan Hays, and senior adviser to the 2024 Trump campaign, Bryan Lanza.

Bryan, let me start with you. What do you think is going on there, and how much of a threat is this kind of division inside the conservative movement?

BRYAN LANZA, SENIOR ADVISER, 2024 TRUMP CAMPAIGN (via Webex by Cisco): You know, first of all, bravo to Ben Shapiro for saying something that the vast majority of the conservative wants to -- conservative movement wants to say.

You know, Candace Owens is a pariah to our movement and she distorts it. And so when you have people who sort of highlight that and say no, this is not the path of conservatism, this is the path of crazy, and more importantly, this is the path of monetizing crazy, you know, that's a good thing.

You know, there's always struggles within movements. You know, we had this during Reagan. We had this during Bush. There's always factions. But they always seem to unite to the common goal of making sure that this country doesn't move to a center-left direction. We can't say that with Candace because her motivation is not conservatism. Her motivation is strictly money -- outrage money.

So, you know, listen, I think bravo for Ben. I'm disappointed in Megyn Kelly, obviously, and, you know, she has to answer to her thing, to her people about why she's doing this. But I'm glad that there's a voice that's calling out the bullshit.

BERMAN: Um, and Meghan, you're kind of looking at this from the outside. But to see someone on that stage call out Megyn Kelly by name and Tucker Carlson by name for, you know, running cover, I think, to paraphrase Ben Shapiro, for some of the things that are out there. It's not just Candace Owens. It's Tucker Carlson's interview with Nick Fuentes.

MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF MESSAGE PLANNING, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION CONSULTANT, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Yeah. I mean, Democrats are not, you know, immune to infighting either. It's unfortunate. I mean, the incentive structure here is really distorted, as Bryan was saying, I don't -- you know, people arguing things to make money. That is the incentive structure for being an influencer.

And I just think that this happens in parties and there are factions in parties, but this happens in the Democratic Party too and you have more progressives and you have more conservative Democrats.

LANZA: Yeah.

HAYS: So this is not new to just the Republican Party.

And Bryan is right. These things tend to get figured out before elections.

BERMAN: Let's talk about the Democratic Party, Meghan, because there was an autopsy that the party was supposed to do on what happened in 2024 and what went wrong. These things are generally made public. But yesterday, the party announced hey, we're not going to release it because we don't think it will help us to make it public.

What do you think -- and Liz Smith and others have said the reason they're not releasing it is probably the very reason they should release it, if you know what I mean. HAYS: Yeah. I'm not sure of the point of releasing it. I mean, everyone knows what the problem here was. Joe Biden decided to run for president and then dropped out with 107 days left. I'm not sure that there was a lot to have an autopsy on.

I don't think it's worth rehashing the past. I think we see that we Donald Trump continuing to blame the Biden administration. Nobody wants to look backwards. Both Democrats and Republicans want to continue to move forward and work on the -- on the issues of affordability and what's best for the American people. And I think that we, as a party, should be focused on those issues and winning in the midterms and not looking backwards.

BERMAN: On the subject of looking backwards, Bryan, what's going on with this colonnade inside the White House where President Trump apparently, you know, wrote by himself these disparaging comments underneath plaques of former President Obama and former President Biden? You know, this is something that President Trump asked for and it's going on at the same time as the Kennedy Center. You know, his handpicked board voting to rename the Kennedy Center the Trump-Kennedy Center for the Arts here.

Is this hubris and is this helpful, I guess, is my question to you, Bryan, as a loyal Republican?

LANZA: Yeah. Listen, I think the president tried -- likes to troll the media and likes to have the media cover things that are completely insignificant to the daily lives of American people. And clearly, the Kennedy Center renaming for a temporary period is disruptive to nobody's American life. Clearly, you know, this display that he puts over there at the White House -- you know, the media can be outraged, and certain Democrats can be outraged, but everyday Americans don't care about this.

Listen, I think the president knows we know what he likes to do. He likes to throw out tidbits out there that the media can focus on so that they don't focus on other things, and every time the media takes a bite. I suspect we'll talk about this throughout the day and we're not going to be talking about the economic conditions that, you know, need to improve for Republicans to win in November.

[07:45:00]

BERMAN: It's 7:44 and we've been on the air for 44 minutes and 30 seconds. We talked about a lot before we talked about this, Bryan.

And so, Meghan, is this the type of thing that any president should be focused on?

HAYS: No. It's beneath the office of the president. It's disgusting and disgraceful. But Donald Trump -- this is what he does.

And Bryan's right. He does these things. He throws things against the wall to see where they stick. We all talk about it and act outrage but actually it doesn't change the fact that the American people can't afford healthcare, can't afford childcare, can't afford groceries, and that the Republican Congress just left and they're not doing anything about healthcare subsidies.

So, you know, he can do these things to distract from that, but the American people are not dumb, and they see what's going on.

BERMAN: Meghan Hays, Bryan Lanza, great to see you both this morning. Have a happy holiday if I don't see you again. Thank you -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right.

This morning, NTSB investigators are expected to arrive on the scene of a deadly private plane crash in North Carolina that killed seven people. Among them, former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle, his wife, and two children. Surveillance cameras captured -- actually captured the very fiery tragedy as it played out -- just horrible.

CNN's Dianne Gallagher is in North Carolina with much more on this. And this investigation really is just getting underway. What are you hearing?

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. And, you know, Kate, look, there's kind of an ache hanging over Charlotte right now. The NASCAR community is very tightknit. Everyone kind of knows everyone. So there is a shock here.

But the NTSB investigation is underway. Investigators arrived in Charlotte. They expect that investigation to take about a week as they try to determine what happened Thursday morning when the Cessna Citation C550 turned back around shortly after takeoff and then crashed at the Statesville Regional Airport.

That video -- that doorbell video you showed that I obtained -- the man told me that he heard a boom. His entire house shook and then he felt a glow he could see come through his blinds because of the fire from that crash.

Now the families of the seven people who were onboard did release a joint statement expressing their grief and also gratitude for all of the kind outreach they say they have received so far. They requested privacy but they did confirm that Greg and Cristina Biffle and their young son Ryder, and Greg's daughter Emma, Dennis Dutton and his son Jack, and Craig Wadsworth were all killed in that crash.

Now look, condolences have been pouring in from around the motorsports world for Greg Biffle who was named one of NASCAR's top 75 -- greatest 75 drivers in the history of the sport. He's also a NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee.

In a statement, NASCAR talked about the Biff's passion for racing, integrity, and commitment to the sport, calling him a "fierce competitor and a friend."

But what we're hearing about even more today than what he did on the track was off the track. It was his efforts -- he and his wife Cristina. After Hurricane Helene -- they literally -- Greg was a licensed pilot -- went out, rescued people. Put supplies down from the skies. They continued for months after to bring aid to people who were affected in western North Carolina.

And from the governor to U.S. senators, members of Congress, and just fans of Greg Biffle, that's who many people are choosing to remember today.

BOLDUAN: Yeah. My goodness.

Dianne, thank you so much for that. What a tragedy.

Today is the -- coming up for us today is the law-required deadline for the Department of Justice to release the Jeffrey Epstein investigative files. CNN is learning, at the same time, the department is rushing to redact some of the files before this deadline -- before the release. So when could everyone see them and how much will be redacted?

And a major deal is in the works to keep TikTok alive in the United States. The big announcement and what the company plans to do.

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[07:50:55]

BOLDUAN: Today is the day Congress and the public are expected to finally see the Justice Department's trove of documents related to the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. This is now required by law. The DOJ must release them after a movement, you'll remember, among lawmakers to force the issue last month.

What is going to be released? Huge questions around that. The release will come with exceptions, exemptions, and redactions due to concerns about protecting victims, privacy issues, and the potential of jeopardizing any ongoing active investigation. Those are among some of the reasons -- it is written in the law -- that some of the files will be or allowed to be withheld or redacted.

Sources tell CNN that the Justice Department -- attorneys within the department have been working nonstop to make these redactions and prepare the documents to be released, and that it will come down to the wire.

This is all coming on the heels of Democrats on the House Oversight Committee releasing another trove of -- another round of photographs that they've obtained from the Jeffrey Epstein estate -- 68 more photos. Included among them, take a look at this. Multiple photos of a woman's body with quotes from "Lolita," the novel about a man's obsession and abuse of a 12-year-old girl. That's just some of the photos that are being released ahead of now -- this grand massive release that is expected and required today.

Joining us right now is one of the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, California Congressman Dave Min. Thanks for being here.

Let's talk about today first. What are you hoping to get from this release today, Congressman?

REP. DAVID MIN (D-CA): Thanks so much for having me, Kate.

I think we're hoping to get a comprehensive set of documents -- something we've not gotten to date.

And I want to remind the people watching that we actually have a valid subpoena in place, as you noted, from the House Oversight Committee -- something that we enacted back in July. And we still have not gotten anything other than one small tranche of documents from the Department of Justice back in July. They've been completely nonresponsive since then. So all the documents you're seeing right now in the last few weeks are coming from the Epstein estate. So the DOJ has been nonresponsive to a legally binding subpoena.

But what we're really -- I think the smoking gun, as the lead prosecutor Marie Villafana described it -- she described this literally as the smoking gun that would break the case wide open -- is the computer files. The computer records, video evidence. We know that Epstein liked to record everything. Who was coming in and out of his estates. Apparently had cameras in every bedroom and in every room in his homes. That had a lot of potentially incriminating evidence that maybe he was keeping.

And so we need to see that. Apparently, the DOJ has that. They have not produced it to anybody. But that is one of the things that we really need to see. But there's really terabytes of information that they're holding onto that they have not released to date, including to the House Oversight's subpoena.

BOLDUAN: So the law, as I kind of was laying out off the top, allows the attorney general to withhold documents for national security reasons or like having to do with ongoing investigations.

If and when Pam Bondi, the attorney general, says and gives those reasons for why she is withholding documents, are --

MIN: Um-hum.

BOLDUAN: -- do you just accept that or do -- are you going to push back against that?

MIN: Uh, we are going to keep fighting for full transparency and disclosure. The survivors deserve that; the American people deserve that.

And look, the problem with this Department of Justice and Attorney General Pam Bondi is that they have now developed a well-earned reputation for breaking the law and for ignoring laws and norms because of their repeated and flagrant just disregard for the rule of law, including our subpoena earlier this year but so many other issues that have popped up over the course of the last 11 months.

So I hope they do the right thing. I hope they release every responsive document. But are we going to trust them at their word? At this point I'd say hell, no. We have a job to do and that is to find justice for the survivors and make sure that every responsive document. And we have a good sense they're the types of documents that are out there based on some -- what some of the survivors have told us and their attorneys have told us. So we know kind of the scope of what's out there, so we're going to keep fighting and make sure every single responsive document is produced.

[07:55:10]

BOLDUAN: As I also mentioned, Democrats on the Oversight Committee released more photos from the Epstein estate yesterday -- 68 of them.

Why did you choose those photos to release?

MIN: That was a decision by staff, and I think that what they did -- you have to keep in mind that this was a small tranche of documents. We're receiving tranches of documents from the Epstein estate. As I mentioned earlier, we're not getting anything from the Department of Justice at this point.

But they do it through a process of redaction and determining what's responsive to our subpoena. They then send those over and I think our staff then decides what is --

BOLDUAN: But it's released without context. Is it worthwhile, do you think, Congressman?

MIN: I think there's plenty of context in who is in there and whatnot. And so I think that our staff has made the decision that certain documents are responsive and in the public interest to see and know about.

So, you know, I think what these documents show is, again, the wide scope of Epstein's ring. Like, just how many influential, rich and powerful people were in his orbit. And also, how disgusting this was.

BOLDUAN: Congressman Dave Min, this is a huge day for not only the committee and the Congress, the victims of Jeffrey Epstein, and the public who have been demanding accountability and answers. Thank you for your time -- John.

MIN: Thank you.

BERMAN: All right.

This morning new details of how a Michigan police officer saved a 1- year-old boy from choking to death. Officer Matthew Virgadamo happened to be in the area when police an emergency call about a child unable to breathe. He arrived in one minute, administered multiple back blows, and moments later the child was breathing.

All right. A cold case that was cold for four decades is finally solved.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Uh-oh, they're coming for you, Sharon.

DEBRA NEWTON (ALIAS SHARON NEALY), ARRESTED FOR ABDUCTING DAUGHTER IN 1983: They don't want me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They want Reggie.

POLICE OFFICER: Well, we're here for you, ma'am. We're definitely here for you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right. You may have heard the word "Sharon" there. That woman going by Sharon is actually Debra Newton. In 1983, she and her husband Joe were set to move from Georgia to Kentucky. She left early with their daughter Michelle and then vanished.

Debra was placed on the FBI's top eight most wanted parental kidnapping fugitives for Michelle's disappearance. The case was dismissed in 2000 when authorities could not get in touch with Michelle's father for a follow-up.

In 2016, a family member asked authorities to reopen the case. Debra, the mother -- a lot of names here. Debra, the mother, was then spotted in Florida under a different name and was matched with a DNA test from her sister in Kentucky four days after she went missing.

Police made the arrest and broke the news to Michelle -- that's the daughter -- that she was not who she thought she was and that it was time to meet her father.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE NEWTON, FATHER OF MICHELLE NEWTON: I can't explain that moment walking in and getting to put my arms back around my daughter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So Debra -- again, the mother -- was arraigned on a felony charge of custodial interference. Michelle says that she's supporting both of her parents so they can all heal.

A bus driver in Brisbane, Australia spotted a koala, right there, on a light pole and was concerned for some reason that the koala might fall into the road below even though I think the whole point of being a koala is you hold on to things and don't fall. So the driver gave it a free ride on the bus -- you can see it didn't choose a chair -- until wildlife crews were able to get him and release him back into the wild.

All right. New this morning TikTok says it has signed a deal to spin off its U.S. entity to a new group of owners, but does this really wrest control from its Chinese owners as required by a law passed by Congress -- the one that sort of banned TikTok but has not really been obeyed for the last year.

So this agreement not yet a done deal but let's find out what's in it. With us now is CNN tech reporter Clare Duffy. Explain this.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: Yeah. So the TikTok CEO Shou Chew sent a memo to employees yesterday noting that TikTok and ByteDance had signed onto this agreement.

Now, as you said, this is not a done deal yet. There are still things that need to be worked out -- namely, I think, the approval of the Chinese government. They are working towards a close of this deal in early January.

But we also got more information about how exactly this deal is going to work out. And this is not just the Chinese parent company ByteDance selling control of TikTok's U.S. app to an American owner.

BERMAN: Not at all.

DUFFY: This is much more complicated.

What they're doing is they're creating a joint venture to control the U.S. app. This is going to be owned 50 percent by a consortium of investors. You've got tech company Oracle, the U.S. private equity firm Silver Lake, and the Emirati-backed investment firm MGX. They're owning 50 percent of this joint venture. It's going to be 30 percent held by existing ByteDance investors. We don't know who those are. And then less than 20 percent -- 19.9, as required by this law, is going to continue to be held by ByteDance.