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Epstein Survivors, American Public Await Release of Epstein Files; New Details in Brown University and MIT Professor Shootings; Heavy Rains in Northwest and Strong Storm System in the East. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired December 19, 2025 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Right now, we are waiting for the Justice Department to hand over a trove of documents tied to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. It's a day that many survivors of the sex trafficker have fought and advocated for, but some say they feel kept in the dark about what may be revealed, and they aren't getting the outreach from the government that they would like to prepare for what's coming. The department is required to provide those files after Congress almost unanimously passed a law in November after months of delay by the Trump administration.

We're joined now by Danielle Bensky, a Jeffrey Epstein survivor. Danielle, thank you so much for being with us today on this important day. Just tell us how you're feeling.

DANIELLE BENSKY, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: Thank you for having me. Yes, tension is high today. You know, there's a lot of anxiety amongst survivors.

We don't know what to expect. We've been preparing ourselves mentally for a long day of no information, maybe some information, and now we know that there are some documents to come out, but there's talk of not all. So again, we have a lot of whiplash.

KEILAR: Yes, that makes sense. DOJ is saying they're not going to have them all, but there are going to be several hundred thousand. But again, it's not all of them.

So I wonder specifically what you're looking for in these files that will tell you that even if DOJ isn't putting all of the documents out today, they are being forthcoming with the kind of documents they're putting out today.

BENSKY: We all know our own stories, and I know we'll be looking for key components to our own stories. And you know, survivors are not a monolith, and we want to make sure that, you know, we are in this together. And we are in this as a unit, and that was what was so beautiful about what we have seen so far.

But now it's time for us to go and do our independent digging so that we really know what we're looking for. We're looking for names. We're looking for pictures, for video. [14:35:00]

We know there to be quite a bit of video that we haven't seen. So just making sure that our memories are accurate.

KEILAR: Yes, and there are so many survivors. Like you said, they're not monolithic. But there are so many survivors who want this information out there.

The how it's put out, though, is also important. In the lead up to this release, House Democrats have been putting out a handful of photos from the Epstein estate, what the committee received from that estate. How have you felt about the release of those photos?

BENSKY: It's been frustrating. I think this last dump, we actually did get more of a heads up, and that felt a little bit better. But, you know, there was a piece that MJ Lee had done so beautifully that really articulated. It is triggering.

And we know that the release needs to happen. That's what we've been fighting for. We've been fighting for the transparency that we're starting to see a little bit of.

But it doesn't feel good when you're scrolling on Instagram and all of a sudden you see a picture where it might not mean a lot to the general public, but to you, you remember being in that very space. And there are certain memories that that picture holds for survivors that you couldn't know unless you're there. I was often getting messages saying there will be a photo dump.

Don't worry. It'll be the Virgin Islands. And then that was the picture of the office where Steve Bannon was.

And it was like, I sat there. I know that room. And it was very triggering to see that without the proper preparations mentally.

KEILAR: Yes, that makes sense. So what do you want lawmakers to know that, you know, you need and maybe other survivors need as their or DOJ as they're going about this? What do you need to feel better about what is a very tough reveal here?

BENSKY: I think just a little bit of a heads up, which we have been getting more of, to be honest. This last photo dump that happened, we got a call or a text message through lawyers the night before that said, just be aware and just make sure that you're taking care of yourself tomorrow because more information is coming out. And just having that little heads up makes all the difference in the world.

KEILAR: That is that is important to know. What do you hope the public learns as they start to digest these files? And what does it mean that they aren't all being released today?

Or is it too soon to be able to say on that part?

BENSKY: I think it's a bit too soon. We require some time here. I think survivors are not bots. We're not going to be able to go through this information, you know, quicker than quick. But together, we will be able to piece it together. And I know we are all looking for our own stories.

So I do think that we will get a more full picture. I think what we've been saying from the very beginning is the importance of exposing it all so that we understand the inner workings of how it functioned like an enterprise, you know. We're talking about different households running almost like different companies.

So how did that happen? Who was complicit? Who was making sure that the bank records were OK?

Who was dealing with the, you know, the legal side of all this? So just making sure that we are really -- we have the full breadth of it is so important.

KEILAR: Danielle Bensky, thank you for being with us. I really admire your courage, and I appreciate your time today.

BENSKY: Thank you so much.

KEILAR: We have some new details about the suspect in the Brown University shootings and the murder of an MIT professor. A CNN senior law enforcement analyst will join us after the break to dig into some crucial evidence in the case.

[14:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Now to the latest on the suspected gunman in the deadly shootings at MIT and Brown University. The shooter found dead yesterday, and according to officials, license plate readers known as flock cameras picked up his Nissan 14 different times near Brown University.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN HOST: Yes, as early as 12 days before the shooting. Now the Providence police chief said that the suspect avoided certain license plate readers throughout the city. CNN's Clare Duffy just spoke to the CEO of Flock.

Clare, what are you learning?

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: Yes, so I actually had a pre-scheduled interview with the CEO of Flock Safety, Garrett Langley, yesterday before we found out just how important its cameras were in tracking down this suspect. And what's really interesting is that this company is known for these license plate reader cameras. They provide networks of cameras to law enforcement that track down and record license plates and other characteristics of vehicles.

And then law enforcement officers can go and search that network of cameras for certain specific suspicious vehicles. And that's exactly what they did that helped them track down the suspect in this case. CEO Garrett Langley, of course, now saying that this was why he started this company.

He told me yesterday that he was really motivated by the desire to make Americans feel more safe and to let people know that if they committed a crime, they were likely to be caught. That's his goal with this company. But Flock Safety has also faced a number of criticisms from groups like the ACLU, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and local community groups.

In some cases, local jurisdictions have ended their contracts with Flock over these privacy concerns. And I asked him about that too, just this idea that these cameras are creating sort of a mass surveillance network. He told me, if people are worried about privacy, a license plate reader is the dumbest way to do surveillance.

You have a cell phone. A cell phone knows your exact location at all times. Google has that location. Apple has that location.

He said, "What people are really concerned about is a trust issue. If you don't trust law enforcement to do their job, that's actually what you're concerned about. And I'm not going to help people get over that."

Essentially saying, it's up to law enforcement to use our technology responsibly. And that is his message. But of course, the company now very grateful and glad that their technology was used to help track down the suspect in this Brown case.

ROSALES: Yes. important reporting as we're seeing more of these Flock cameras popping up all over the U.S. Clare Duffy, thank you.

Well, a law enforcement source says that the suspected gunman had a bulletproof vest in the storage unit where he was found dead. The source says two 9mm Glocks were also found, one with a green laser device, as well as high-capacity magazines. And the jacket matching the one in images that the police released earlier this week.

Now, the U.S. attorney says the suspect rented that unit in Salem, New Hampshire, sometime in November, in a hotel room in Boston later that month.

KEILAR: Officials then tracked him in Boston on December 1st, where they say he rented that gray Nissan and then drove it to Brown University. From that day through to December 12th, the Nissan was spotted several times around Brown University. The mass shooting happened on the next day, and the murder of the MIT professor two days after that.

Investigators are crediting a tipster on Reddit for helping to flag the suspect's car and his movements near Brown.

We're joined now by CNN senior law enforcement analyst Andy McCabe. He's a former deputy director of the FBI.

Investigators, their affidavit specifically pointed to that Reddit post, Andy, in which a user described seeing a gray Nissan with Florida plates, possibly a rental. I mean, a lot of details here near the shooting scene. What do you make of the role of that tip?

But also, is it kind of surprising to you that that person was on Reddit but hadn't come forward to police, or how this all played out?

ANDY MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes, I mean, it's a little bit surprising when you look at it in the abstract. When you put it in the context of the whole investigation, we know that it's the same person who ultimately voluntarily contacted law enforcement when he was aware that they had posted his image -- released his image from a video capture and requested the public's -- but the public's help in identifying him. So I guess for that period when it was nothing more than a Reddit post, it seems kind of odd, but this person did actually go the extra mile, interact with law -- seek out law enforcement and provide the information he had.

Which law enforcement was already looking for him because they had seen him on video interacting with the subject. So it's just an amazing confluence of circumstances. That was the lucky break that they needed in that moment.

ROSALES: And investigators believe the suspect specifically targeted that MIT professor, somebody that he was in the same academic program with nearly 30 years ago, but authorities do not currently believe the two people killed at Brown, the school where he attended a couple of semesters more than 20 years ago, were direct targets there. How are you squaring that in terms of a motive?

MCCABE: Those two crimes initially looked so different on so many levels for just the reasons that you've mentioned. The murder of the MIT professor, an absolutely personal act. We now know that they attended the same school in Portugal.

They were in the same discipline. It's inconceivable that they didn't have some sort of a relationship or a knowledge of each other, and that is clearly a very targeted act to seek someone out in their home and to kill them there.

The shooting at Brown, very different. Someone walks into the engineering and physics building and shoots whoever he finds in the room in which he walks, and we realize that he -- the chances that he knew any of those people were almost zero because the meeting that was taking place was a review session in which no one had to be there. So these were all, like, people who voluntarily showed up.

It's completely understandable why investigators initially thought that these two events were not connected in any way. Then, of course, the whole picture changes when they develop the intelligence about the vehicle, which had also been an item of interest for the folks investigating the MIT murder. So, you know, it just -- it shows you that no matter how well you think you know the situation, things can change drastically at any moment with the revelation of a new witness or a new fact or, you know, some piece of information comes to the forefront, and it can totally change the way you look at the situation you're dealing with.

KEILAR: Could it come down to like a sort of a grievance about both of these targets, Andy? I wonder because he goes to Brown, he tries to get a Ph.D., he ultimately doesn't succeed, and off he goes, right?

[14:50:00]

That's a lot of time, money, and hope that he would complete that program kind of wasted. Then someone that he went to school with goes on to be an MIT professor, very successful, and he targets that person as well. Could it speak to something, you know, in a way? Do those things actually maybe have something in common?

MCCABE: I think that that's not only possible. I think it's likely that both attacks were motivated by some underlying grievance. In the case of the MIT professor, it certainly makes sense when we think about this that the two of them knew each other on some level.

The victim was wildly successful in the field of physics, applied physics, and of course the attacker was not. As you mentioned, he never got his Ph.D., never got the big fancy jobs and the accolades that his fellow Portuguese physicist colleague received.

You can kind of think the same thing about Brown. Brown is a place that he probably looked at as the scene of a failure of his, right? And like most people, he may have thought that, you know, that this was the result. You know, for some reason, it was Brown's fault.

Maybe he's harboring some sort of grievance or anger towards the institution. That also fits with the crimes themselves. The shooting at Brown seems very much more like lashing out at the institution in general, not even caring about which students in the institution you kill, whereas, as we said before, the MIT murder was a very personal thing.

But we got to remember, Brianna, we might never know the exact motive. Sometimes, I'll put as an example, Stephen Paddock, the Las Vegas mass shooter, killed 60 people by firing from a hotel into a country music festival, I think the deadliest act of mass shooting in U.S. history. We spent years trying to unpack everything in his life to understand why he did such a terrible thing, and no one was ever able to draw a definitive conclusion.

KEILAR: Yes, very good point. Andrew McCabe, thank you so much for being with us on this story.

And ahead, dangerous flooding, strong winds, a high risk of fires, details on the severe weather that is impacting millions coast to coast.

[14:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is declaring Sunday as a day of reflection to honor the victims of the Bondi Beach terrorist attack.

ROSALES: He's asking people across Australia to light a candle at 6:47 p.m. as a quiet act of remembrance. That time marks one week since a father and son opened fire at a Hanukkah celebration, killing at least 15 people. Today, thousands of surfers and swimmers formed this huge circle.

Take a look. That's off the shore of Bondi Beach, paying their respects to the victims of the anti-Semitic attack. The paddle out is a tradition at the Sydney Beach after the community suffers a loss.

And as we reach the last weekend before Christmas, many holiday travelers, they need to brace themselves.

KEILAR: Sure, they sure do, because heavy rains in the northwest have led to evacuation orders in parts of Oregon. This is video after a father and five children were rescued from that truck that was caught in flood waters. And there's a strong storm with powerful wind gusts, ready to cause problems in the east.

CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar joins us with more.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it's the combination of the rain and the wind that's causing problems across the northeast. In fact, roughly 70 million people under some type of high wind alert here. Some of these locations, you're talking wind gusts in excess of 50 miles per hour.

Now, it's all because of this system, which is also bringing some pretty heavy rain showers to some areas. Definitely heavy earlier this morning. You're starting to see some folks dry out, and certainly everybody else will by the time we get to the evening hours tonight.

That will allow things to dry back out, but the wind is still going to be gusting at least through the early evening hours. Here again, you can see even about 6, 7 o'clock, you've still got some of these locations, 30, 40, even up to 50 mile per hour wind gusts before it all finally calms back down through the overnight hours. In terms of traveling on Saturday, you can see a couple of yellow spots here where we could have some problem spots, but a lot of them are actually located out to the west, and that's because we have a series of systems that's going to be making their way into the west coast over the next few days.

Through the evening hours tonight, we've still got some heavy rain across Oregon and portions of Northern California. By the time we get into Saturday and Sunday, the focus now actually becomes over Central and Northern California, where we are talking large amounts of very heavy rainfall to come in, and same thing for snow. Look at some of these totals as we take it all the way out through Thursday.

You are looking at widespread totals of about 3 to 6 inches of rain, but it is not out of the question for some of those areas where that rain really gets funneled in to pick up 7, 10, maybe even as much as 12 inches of rain. And then in terms of the higher elevations, places like the Sierras and the Rockies, now you're talking about multiple feet of snow that are expected to come down across the next few days. Again, it will be spread out over a period of about 3 to 5 days, but even still, it's a large volume of moisture that's coming through. So Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, these areas of portions of central and northern California and even the extreme southwestern part of Oregon are looking at the potential for excessive rainfall. And the concern here is not only flooding, but also the potential with that ground being saturated and the wind component of this system to perhaps ...

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