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U.S. In Active Pursuit of Third Oil Taker Linked to Venezuela; Trump to Make Announcement With Hegseth, Navy Secretary in Florida; 22 Percent of GOP Responders Want J.D. Vance to Run for President in 2028; Epstein Survivors Slam DOJ's Extreme Redactions. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired December 22, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: -- but all of us, those who are different from each other can all come together during the holiday season. And I wish you and yours a very great seasons greetings. Back to you, my friend.

ERICA HILL, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": A beautiful message from the very lovable, Harry Enten. Happiest to you as well, my friend. A new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": In pursuit, the U.S. is chasing down a third oil tanker in international waters after President Trump's blockade of all sanctioned oil ships coming into or out of Venezuela.

HILL: And aging helicopters, inexperienced pilots, a new report in the New York Times reveals the widespread concern about the airspace around Ronald Reagan National Airport. Concern that has existed for years before the crash that ultimately killed 67 people. Plus, is Putin's war in Ukraine killing Santa's reindeer? (Inaudible) for a surge in recent deaths in a region known as the official home of Santa. Stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

Big questions today as the U.S. military is actively pursuing a third oil tanker in the Caribbean right now. This is a ship that the U.S. military confronted off the coast of Venezuela. It's said to be sailing in international waters this hour.

HILL: So that pursuit actually came after a different vessel was seized over the weekend. That would make it the second tanker to be seized and it comes of course, after President Trump talked about this blockade against sanctioned oil and a pressure campaign against Venezuela's leader, Nicolas Maduro.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is joining us now. So Kristen, the president set to make an announcement today alongside the Secretary of Defense, the Navy Secretary as well. All eyes right now on this current escalation. What are we expecting in the announcement?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, sources told our Kevin Liptak that the announcement is going to be about shipbuilding. Now, this does have a direct correlation to Venezuela. If you look at what we have seen in terms of the intense naval buildup in the Caribbean, all part of this pressure campaign against Maduro, and just the latest being this active pursuit of this tanker. That is now a real escalation. So, let's talk about how exactly we got here.

We know that the vessel was sailing towards Venezuela to pick up oil. It didn't have any cargo on it. They didn't get there. The Coast Guard tried to intercept it. They tried to board but they were essentially rebuffed. The vessel kept sailing. Now the ship was under U.S. sanctions because it had been previously tied to Iranian oil and this, of course, coming as there has been a total blockade ordered.

So after the Coast Guard was essentially rebuffed, they just started this pursuit of this giant tanker, the Bella 1. But as you noted, this is now the second or third, excuse me, after the seizure of the tanker called the Centuries. We obviously knew about the Skipper. This would now be the third tanker that the U.S. is trying to pursue and trying to seize. Here is where this gets really dicey.

We now know that Maduro has responded to the seizure of these tankers by essentially ordering his navy to escort some of these tankers to Venezuela. Because remember, this last tanker didn't even make it to Venezuela, so it hadn't even gotten the crude oil yet. That just raises the possibility of an armed confrontation between the U.S. and the Venezuelan Navy, if they are actually going out to escort these tankers.

Now, one U.S. official was painting this all as a success, saying the fact that this tanker wasn't even able to get the Venezuelan crude oil, that was great. But again, this is causing a lot of nerves in that area of the world and even just for Americans who are watching this happen, as to whether or not we are looking at a potential escalation or escalating situation.

HILL: Yeah, a lot of questions surrounding this. Kristen, appreciate it. Thank you. Joining us now to discuss, CNN National Security Analyst, former Deputy Director of National Intelligence, Beth Sanner. Beth, it's good to have you here. I mean basically picking off where Kristen left off there. There is a lot of confusion in this moment as people are trying to figure out what's happening, what could this lead to, just being in pursuit of this oil tanker. What does it actually mean?

BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST, FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Just one oil tanker is not exactly the whole show, right? I mean it's part of a pattern here, right? And so the real question is, they're heading in the other direction. So the chances of an escalation coming off this tanker, there's not going to be a confrontation with the Venezuelan Navy. It's very small, can't go very far from shore.

The question is whether any of these other tankers, and many have turned around because they see what's happening and they're like we don't want to go there and have this happen to us. So the question is whether there will be more tankers coming in and out and whether they will be escorted. And you know, in my mind, I actually think that maybe they want, maybe the administration wants to have a bit of a confrontation. Maybe they want the Venezuelan Navy to shoot at them because then it provides a pretext.

[14:05:00]

KEILAR: This attempting to board the third ship, the Coast Guard, right?

SANNER: Yeah.

KEILAR: And it refusing to stop. What kind of complicating factors does that add to the situation here?

SANNER: Danger, because if it keeps going, it's a lot harder to land, you know, on it. You have to physically stop it and rappel down onto a moving ship is hard, even though it's not moving that fast. And so the risk of someone getting hurt from the U.S. military, Coast Guard side is quite high if you're in a confrontational situation.

And that's why, you know, you ask the ship to stop and then you ask to board it and you know, you hope for that. These guys aren't doing that. And so you know, I think that just in order to save face, I mean I can't imagine us pulling back. And I think that this is where we are in terms of our whole thing that's going on with Venezuela right now.

There is a lot of sunk cost in this operation. How would it be at this point that the Trump administration could say, never mind, and walk away without Maduro stepping down? And so, I really do feel like we are headed towards some kind of inflection point where something has to give here because, otherwise, it will look like the Trump administration is losing and I just don't think that that is possible right now.

HILL: To that point, I mean we heard from Senators over the weekend talking about, I mean, you know, you talk about there could be a potential provocation if there are Venezuelan Navy vessels out there. But just what's happening, right, we heard from Senators over the weekend -- I think we have some of that sound -- raising their concerns about what they're already seeing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAND PAUL, (R-KY): I consider it a provocation and a prelude to war and I hope we don't go to war with Venezuela. It isn't the job of the American soldier to be the policeman of the world.

SEN. JAMES LANKFORD, (R-OK): We've supported the opposition leaders, the past two opposition leaders in Venezuela.

KASIE HUNT, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: And would you support it with arms --

(CROSSTALK)

LANKFORD: We put sanctions on them. Biden did that. HUNT: -- with American arms, boots?

LANKFORD: Arms is a different issue. That's a very different issue on that, Kasie. If you break it, you buy it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: That's an important part of this here, right, is what is the plan after. I mean it's not really clear what the plan or the provocation is quite -- or sorry, the reasoning is right from day one. We've gone from strikes on boats to keep drugs out to, now, it seems the president is really leaning into, yes, this is about oil and this is about regime change. But if, to your point, if at some point Maduro is out, then do we buy it, right? Do we have to then, we being the United States, what is the plan?

SANNER: So that I think is the big question and I actually think that if there was more explanation of what was going on and purpose to sell the idea of why we're doing this, I think it is something that can be sold to the American people, you know, in a reasonable manner but that's not happening. And so, you know, we're still in the situation where there are more military assets than are needed to do these kinds of operations, but not quite enough to actually invade.

So, I think the plan right now is we're still in the gunboat diplomacy realm. We still have a buildup of forces and I noticed that we have more KC-35 aircraft tankers, these Stratotankers that are designed for aerial refueling. We have 38 in the region 28 at MacDill in Florida, that is -- think about that. Think about how many tankers that is. Why would you need that many tankers there?

So I think that there is a preparation for a further escalation, this promise of something on land, not boots on the ground. The stage has been set for this ratcheting up because the whole point is to keep turning the screws until they can get either the military to abandon Maduro or they -- and/or they get Maduro to cry uncle and agree on a plan out. I'm not ruling that out at all.

KEILAR: How do you sell American public on that though? I mean the fact that the narrative has gone from drug trafficking to, now, you have Lindsey Graham talking about regime change. The president is talking about regime change. That's actually an indication that this sort of entry point to this wasn't regime change because they know people aren't about that, right? So how -- how does that shifting rationale or that sort of reticence to even go there initially, with the rationale, complicate all of this?

SANNER: It really does and I think it really -- it exposes. I'm not sure that regime change wasn't the intended purpose of at least some people in the administration from the get-go, but this administration is probably divided on the purpose, probably not President Trump although maybe his views have shifted, I don't know. But clearly, the Republican base is divided on this and they don't want another forever war.

[14:10:00]

And therefore, you can't talk about it that way.

KEILAR: Yeah.

HILL: I mean, the president ran on no more forever wars.

SANNER: Exactly, so --

KEILAR: The base knows one when they see one, though, a lot --

(LAUGH)

KEILAR: You know? So they're going to know. Beth, great to have you on, great perspective on this. Thank you so much.

SANNER: Thank you.

KEILAR: And ahead this hour on "CNN News Central," Charlie Kirk's widow endorsing J.D. Vance for president during an unusually tense event, one that's raising questions about the conservative movement's future. Plus, a new report in the New York Times detailing years of widespread concern involving army helicopters flying over the nation's Capitol well before that deadly crash that killed 67 people at DCA Airport.

And then later, how Russia's war in Ukraine could be killing reindeer in Finland. We'll have that and much more coming up on "CNN News Central."

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[14:15:13]

HILL: Less than a year into President Donald Trump's second term, many Americans are already looking ahead to the 2028 election. According to a new CNN poll, half of Americans say they've given at least some thought to the race, most though said they don't have specific candidates in mind, but a third of them said they do.

KEILAR: Among Republican and right-leaning respondents, 22 percent say they want to see Vice President, J.D. Vance run. Vance hasn't formally launched a bid and President Trump hasn't endorsed him. But this weekend, in a major signal to Republicans, Erika Kirk, Charlie Kirk's widow and the new CEO of Turning Point USA, fully backed the vice president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERICA KIRK, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, TURNING POINT USA: We are going to get my husband's friend, J.D. Vance, elected for 48 in the most resounding way possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Let's bring in CNN Chief National Affairs Correspondent Jeff Zeleny to talk about this. All right. Vance hasn't acknowledged the endorsement. Does this endorsement though, what's the effect of that on President Trump? How do you see this playing out?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, he certainly can't like the idea that people are already talking about 2028. We've heard Republicans throughout the year kind of treading very carefully, even going to Republican dinners in say New Hampshire or Iowa, not wanting to effectively say the quiet part out loud that Donald Trump is a lame-duck president. He does not like to hear those words but it happens to every president in their second term. But the endorsement of J.D. Vance in Phoenix this weekend, so interesting and not surprising at all, of course, because Erika Kirk and her late husband were very close to J.D. Vance.

But the question is, does it mean anything? Like all endorsements, there are people who decide to go their own way. But at this conference over the weekend, we had some very interesting sort of illuminations on the on the deep divisions inside the Republican Party and the conservative movement, but Donald Trump Jr. perhaps explained it best when he said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP JR., DONALD TRUMP'S SON: You see the manufactured attacks on J.D., myself, my father, anyone who understands that this isn't the Republican Party anymore. It's the America First party. It's the Make America Great Again party and we are not going back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: Well, that's very much an open question but he definitely laid out the divisions there between MAGA and the Republican Party, so that kind of sets the table, if you will, for the conversations and growth in the Republican Party over the next year. But it's unclear if the -- there are some people who would like to bring the old Republican Party back. My guess is, it will evolve in a different way all together.

HILL: Yeah. And part of it depends on who's the loudest in some ways and what we end up talking about. When we talk about the divisions there too, I mean even just these divisions over the way that the party is seeing, which you know Donald Trump Jr. was touching on there, but even J.D. Vance. I was struck by some of what he had to say specifically, talking about -- talking about fractures talking about what he sees. J.D. Vance leaning into Christian nationalism. I want to play that moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, (R) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We have been and by the grace of God, we always will be a Christian nation. In the United States of America, you don't have to apologize for being white anymore.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HILL: So there was certainly talk about race, about divisions from J.D. Vance. Also from Vivek Ramaswamy, two incredibly different messages.

ZELENY: Without a doubt and Vivek Ramaswamy, of course, is running for governor of Ohio. Should he win, my question is does he become a leader of the party in a different way? But his comments yesterday, at this gathering, were so different than the vice president. The vice president intentionally tried to walk a fine line, not take sides in this ongoing debate over is there too much anti-semitism in the Republican Party? Is there -- is this white nationalism taking over the conservative movement?

J.D. Vance did not weigh in on that. That is going to be a challenge going forward. We saw Ben Shapiro just a couple days ago, at this same forum, the conservative ,influencer and he basically called the party out. He said there are charlatans inside this party embracing conspiracy theorists of all kinds. He named names from Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens and others, J.D. Vance did not want to get in the middle of that but, like it or not, he is in the middle of it and that is what is going on ten years on into the Trump era.

KEILAR: Yeah, a lot of tension. Now, the polling shows Democratic voters are actually less unified than Republicans on who they want to see on the 2028 ticket. I mean it's possible that is some kind of opportunity for them, but do they have a clear leader? Is there a strong bench of talent?

ZELENY: At this point, there is a big bench of talent, there's no doubt about that. I'm thinking back to the beginning of 2020, I think there were 27 candidates at one point at the very beginning. There will probably be as many this time around, a lot of governors, there's no doubt.

[14:20:00]

Governor Gavin Newsom of California, not surprisingly, was the top in our poll and this was asking people to just name someone off the top of their head, not given a list to sort of choose from. So Gavin Newsom has been in the news a lot. He was the top vice president -- former Vice President, Kamala Harris was second. But look, whoever is hot now, we have no idea what they will be like in '27 or going into a '28. So this will be the most wide-open Democratic contest since 1988 with not a clear front-runner or big fish, if you will, among the list of candidates.

HILL: It would be interesting.

ZELENY: Yeah, it will.

HILL: Exciting.

(LAUGH)

ZELENY: We love it.

HILL: You should be very busy.

KEILAR: Yes.

HILL: Jeff Zeleny, good to see you, thanks.

ZELENY: Good to see you guys.

HILL: Still ahead here, dangerous flooding right now hitting California, all this of course coming just days before Christmas. Take a look at this road, that was completely washed out and the threat understandably far from over.

KEILAR: Plus, a major blackout proves Waymo's driverless cars really, really don't like blackouts. We'll talk about that ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:25:32]

KEILAR: Powerful storms are slamming parts of California and they could bring months worth of rain in just a matter of days. We've already seen some major flash flooding. Officials say at least one person has died after floodwaters inundated the city of Redding.

HILL: We're also following reports of washed-out roads, entire blocks being under water, I mean look at some of these pictures here. Much of the state at this point is now under a flood watch and this marks the start of what is expected to be a really hazardous holiday week. CNN Meteorologist, Derek Van Dam is tracking these storms for us. So, walk us through what's happening now and also what's to come.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: OK. So we're looking at video from Redding, so we're talking about Northern California. But this is all part of the atmospheric river that's going to fluctuate north at first and then come crashing south, and it's going to target portions of Southern California including the greater Los Angeles area just in time for Christmas Eve, not the greatest news. But it's something we need to face, the reality of what is coming.

This is some impressive aerial video, very, very bad inundation here across the Redding area and unfortunately, this is just kind of a drop in the bucket of what's potentially to come. Here's our atmospheric river. There's a lot of dynamics in the upper levels of the atmosphere that's going to help form a low-pressure system that's already in its kind of infant stages of development, but it's going to crash ashore as we head into Wednesday and Thursday of this week, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Now, with the current atmospheric river, we've already totaled over a foot of rain in the past 72 hours, a lot of that kind of narrowed in on this band of moisture that's been streaming in across the San Francisco Bay region, stretching inland towards Sacramento, northward towards Redding. You saw in the video, the flooding video just a moment ago. But this flood alert map from the National Weather Service really paints a larger picture. Look at Southern California, including Los Angeles included in this, and as far east as Las Vegas and western portions of Arizona. That is because the main event is still to come. So, here's today's slight risk. There's tomorrow, inclusive of the transverse ranges here in Southern California, but look how this ups to a Level 3 or 4, a moderate risk in and around Los Angeles, some of those flood-prone areas. Of course, the recent burn scars causing more misery there with the potential for mudslides and landslides.

Starting to sound like a broken record, but this is a real threat as we head into the middle part of this week. We get this surge of moisture that's going to come in from the eastern Pacific and it will direct this river in the sky at Southern California and due to that mountain range that's located within this region, the transverse range, it's going to bring out all of the available moisture and some of the rainfall totals here could exceed a half a foot, quite easily in fact.

A lot of snow, impactful snow for the high mountain passes here across the Sierra Nevada, but again, the main show will be for Wednesday and Thursday when we get this surge of moisture from the south. Look at these rainfall totals across the state of California, specifically in the Southern California, yeah, that's nearly off the charts. Some of those areas could pick up 10 inches, you can see that according to the legend of the top portion of your screen. So, a dynamic situation. We're monitoring it very closely, but the flood threat here is real across Southern California for Christmas Eve, unfortunately.

KEILAR: All right, Derek, thank you so much for keeping your eye on that. Next, Jeffrey Epstein survivors are slamming the DOJ's handling of the Epstein files release. They're calling the redactions made by the Trump administration "extreme" and they're saying they're struggling to find information on their own cases in the documents.

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