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Justice Department Releases New Batch Of Epstein Documents; FDA Approves Wegovy Weight Loss Pill From Novo Nordisk; Trump Names New Class Of Navy Battleships After Himself. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired December 23, 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: And the breaking news this morning. The Justice Department has just released a new -- a big, new batch of documents from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation -- a release that is now required by law and faced a deadline of full and complete release, remember, by last Friday.

A CNN team is working through this new round of files. So far, we see that they do include new details about President Trump, including this in one memo in a 2020 email.

An assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York wrote that Mr. Trump traveled on Epstein's private jet -- the quote is "many more times than previously reported" or even that the "U.S. Attorney's office was even aware of -- at least eight times between 1993 and 1996."

With me now CNN political analyst and New York Times White House correspondent Zolan Kanno-Youngs. It's good to see you, Zolan.

The president -- last night he did seem --

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES (via Webex by Cisco): (INAUDIBLE).

BOLDUAN: -- somewhat dismayed to the point of feeling almost bad for Bill Clinton, or expressing it that way, about what was being released. Now you have this. How is the White House likely to respond this morning?

KANNO-YOUNGS: Right. So as you said, these -- this -- these latest files just came out so we are still working through them. I did just ask the White House for comment on these files and specifically also that memo that you cited from 2020 from this unnamed Manhattan prosecutor as well. We do not have a response yet, but we will be tracking that throughout the day. This all has just happened.

Moreso to the point of what you said yesterday, we saw the president try and almost have this new strategy of distancing himself from this issue by saying that he was worried about the reputations of those who could be named in these files but have not been accused of criminal wrongdoing. That's interesting because previously he also asked for an inquiry into Bill Clinton's involvement when it came to a connection to Epstein as well. Making unfounded claims as well about the former president. So you're seeing sort of a break there as well.

Look, for a president that has mastered dominating flooding the news and commanding the news cycle this issue will not go away. You have members of Congress and victims of Epstein who have called for accountability and transparency as well. Some of the president's own officials in his Justice Department, remember, during the campaign, also set expectations for transparency on this issue. Democrats have also sensed a political vulnerability.

And now you have a president who cannot defeat this issue and cannot distance himself from it, particularly when you now have this -- these continued document dumps from the Epstein files since he was pressured to sign legislation requiring the release of these files.

BOLDUAN: And add to the group kind of the factors here, Zolan, is you have also victims and survivors who are coming together in a more vocal, more forceful way because they have the support of public figures like folks on Capitol Hill -- certain politicians on Capitol Hill.

And I'm just thinking if you step back with this new release as we work through these documents for the victims of Epstein and Maxwell's abuse this is decades in the making and it is about transparency and accountability. But I wonder with all of this release and how unsatisfied victims seem to be with how the Justice Department is handling this so far, if this -- if there really is any suggestion this will lead to accountability though.

KANNO-YOUNGS: That's certainly what victims and both Democrats and Republicans in Congress are calling for -- a sense of accountability. But I think you saw based off of the documents that were released previously -- there was a deadline on Friday to release all documents with certain exceptions. You saw real disappointment from victims as well as members of Congress because of the amount of redactions that were in the documents that were released here.

[07:35:10]

And then you saw increased scrutiny by those who were calling for this accountability on the administration and their willingness to actually comply with this law.

Now you have this release of documents as well that's making reference to President Trump numerous times, and that's just the documents that we've gone through thus far. That's only likely to ramp up scrutiny and pressure on the administration to comply with this law.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. The bottom line is this is not going away. It's almost -- it's only increasing scrutiny --

KANNO-YOUNGS: That's right. BOLDUAN: -- what will be coming out. And as we're seeing, coming out in -- you know, there's lots of documents but there is a whole lot more still that has not been released.

Zolan, thanks for jumping on. I really appreciate it. Thank you so much -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. With us now is Pete Seat, a former White House spokesperson under President George W. Bush. Pete, great to see you.

Maybe it's the reporter in me but one of the first things I was drawn to with this new document that came out overnight from a federal lawyer in 2020 saying that "Donald Trump traveled on Epstein's private jet many more times than previously has been reported or that we were aware." The first thing I thought of was the timing, which is to say how surprised should I be that this didn't come out during the first release on Friday but seemed to come out as we're getting a lot closer to Christmas, Pete, when fewer people might be paying attention.

PETE SEAT, FORMER WHITE HOUSE SPOKESPERSON UNDER PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER SPOKESPERSON, INDIANA REPUBLICAN PARTY (via Webex by Cisco): Well, it's the challenge in this drip, drop, drip, drop of releasing the Epstein files.

And you might notice just behind me over here, John, an aluminum pole. And why is there an aluminum pole in my living room? Because it's Festivus. And what do we do on Festivus? We air grievances.

And on my list of grievances this year is Congress because they set the administration up for failure by giving them only 30 days to get these documents out. But also on the list is the Department of Justice because it was inevitable that the files would be released. In fact, the Trump administration came into office wanting these files to get out into the public domain. They should have been spending the bulk of this year reviewing, redacting, and preparing for that inevitable day.

So every day that something new comes out is a day that makes the administration's motives look sinister, to your point, and it makes their execution look incompetent.

BERMAN: We'll come back to feats of strength in just a moment in celebration of Festivus, Pete.

Also joining us now is Christine Quinn, the executive committee chair for the New York State Democratic Committee.

And I want to point one thing out here, which is that what this is talking about are flights that Donald Trump took in the '90s with Jeffrey Epstein, which is a long time ago. And it is before any charges were filed or investigations were formally made against Epstein, even in Florida -- the first series of indictments there.

That said, one of the things that came out during this time is that on two of the flights -- this is written by a lawyer -- two of the passengers respectively were women who would be possible witnesses in a Maxwell case. That is the case against Ghislane Maxwell, which happened just a few years ago.

So, Christine, you know, what does that show you in terms of Donald Trump's proximity to some of the legal questions at play here?

CHRISTINE QUINN, EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE CHAIR, NEW YORK STATE DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE (via Webex by Cisco): You know, it is hard to understand why the president and the White House, and the DOJ are acting the way they are. Putting it out and then not really putting out the info -- all it does is raise more questions.

And perhaps President Trump has done nothing wrong, but we don't know. And there's pictures and facts like the one that you just said that raise questions -- really serious questions about what happened and what didn't happen.

And this isn't political. Whether it's Bill Clinton or Donald Trump, or whomever, the facts need to get out. And if you haven't done anything wrong you want to put the facts out. You want to clear your name. He is only making it look, every day, more and more like he has done something wrong.

And why wouldn't you, as a president, want to stand up and say I did nothing wrong? What happened to these women and these girls is unacceptable. I didn't know that was what Epstein was like. Whatever his excuse or reason was for being in those pictures or on those planes, tell us.

And, you know, the White House and DOJ have said the problem is we need more time to redact the victims' names. They have released victims' names already. They should redact the victims' names but that's not their priority because we've seen victims' names be in what has been released.

It just makes you think more and more what is this coverup about and who are they trying to protect.

[07:40:00]e

BERMAN: Pete, if the nature of the release is designed to get it out in the days before Christmas when people aren't paying attention leading up to the new year -- if that's what's going on here -- I'm not saying it is -- but if it is, to what extent do you think it'll work? To what extent do you think lawmakers and people will refocus after January 1 or not here?

SEAT: I'll play the hypothetical. I don't think it works at all. We have something called the internet. As you recall, Al Gore invented it.

QUINN: Right.

SEAT: And these things live forever. So after Christmas, after New Years, people go right back to the well and churn up their conspiracy game all over again. The charade continues for yet another news cycle. So if that is the aim -- I don't think it is. I think it's just the fact that the DOJ was not adequately prepared

for this and they are hastily trying to get these documents out the door -- that mistakes are being made. I don't think it has anything to do with the timing of the holidays.

BERMAN: And Christine -- I mean, I've spoken to -- and Kate has and Sara has, too, spoken to some of the Jeffrey Epstein survivors over the last several days. And Lisa Phillips said to me last night this just comes across as a game. They seem to be playing a game right now.

QUINN: Yeah.

BERMAN: That's how they feel. Whether that's a correct assessment or not, I don't know, but that's how the survivors are feeling this morning.

QUINN: Yeah. It's hard to think it's anything else. And to listen to these survivors that you all have interviewed and other people have interviewed, it's heartbreaking. Most of them were just young girls when they were, you know, groomed and victimized by Maxwell and Epstein.

And it seems like, you know, the DOJ is behaving almost like children. Let's see how far we can get before we get caught. And then when they get caught, they come up with some ridiculous excuse about why they weren't prepared. If they really needed more time they could have stepped up and said we're not going to have it done by this date, but we will have it done by X date. They could be talking to victims and their representatives.

And victim after victim, survivor after survivor -- their lawyers and their representatives have all said no one has spoken to them. If your concern here was to help the survivors and get more information and more justice, you would be talking --

BERMAN: Um-hum.

QUINN: -- to the survivors.

And every time there is another misstep, another delay, it's revictimizing these poor women who have already been through so much. And everyone, whether they're Democrats and Republicans, to date, in government have failed these women and we need to keep the focus on them. And that's why we need to get all the information out.

And I agree with Pete. The holidays are going to have no impact on this. People will come back to this. This is a heart-gut issue for people. It's about how we treat each other. How we treat survivors. How we treat survivors. How we treat girls.

BERMAN: Christine Quinn, Pete Seat, thanks for being with us this morning. Aside from the subject matter we've been discussing let me just say I hope you both have a wonderful holiday. Thank you very much -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. QUINN: You, too.

SIDNER: A tragedy in Texas now. A plane transporting a child burn victim to a hospital crashes, killing at least five people, including a 2-year-old. Officials say a Mexican Navy plane, which was transporting the medical patient to a burn unit at children's hospital crashed in Galveston Bay during -- you can see there -- very foggy conditions Monday. Eight people were aboard -- four Naval crew and four civilians.

Incredibly, a local resident said to have dived into the water, found the wreckage, and managed to pull a woman out alive. A second survivor was also rescued. One person, though, is still missing.

U.S. and Mexican officials are investigating what caused that crash.

BOLDUAN: There are new details now on a pill form of a popular weight loss medication. Patients may now be able to avoid injections altogether, instead swapping to a daily pill as the FDA just approved a pill form of Wegovy.

CNN's Jacqueline Howard has much more on this. And this will grab a lot of people's attention. What is it, one in eight Americans -- adult Americans are -- currently say they are on one of these weight loss drugs? So this is something for a lot of people.

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Oh, yeah, Kate. This is definitely getting a lot of attention.

And what we're learning about this Wegovy pill -- it's very similar to the Wegovy injections that, as you mentioned, have already been widely used and widely available.

So they're very similar. The Wegovy pill -- it also includes the active ingredient semaglutide. And we know the safety and efficacy are similar between the pill form and the injection form.

When you look at clinical trial data, patients who took the Wegovy pill -- they showed an average weight loss of 14 percent over 64 weeks. And the side effects were similar to the side effects we tend to see with the Wegovy injections, which were mostly gastrointestinal.

[07:45:05]

So again, the key difference here, Kate, is how the medication is administered. We know the injections are weekly but the Wegovy pill -- it will be a daily pill, and it must be taken on an empty stomach. So patients are told to avoid drinking, eating or taking other medications for at least 30 minutes after taking the pill, so that's a key difference.

But overall, Kate, this appears to be the same medication and now, soon patients will have an option to take the medication in pill form, Kate.

BOLDUAN: And the price of GLP-1 has been, you know, a problem for so, so many people. I mean, it's really a barrier to end -- for entry for a lot of people to get the medication.

How much is this pill going to cost?

HOWARD: Yeah, that's right. And, you know, when this announcement was made about the FDA approval, the first question was well, how much will it cost? So we do know the starter dose will cost $149 for patients paying out-of-pocket.

But we're still waiting on the cost of the additional doses -- that as you take these medications the first dose is a smaller dose, then you kind of go up in size when it comes to dose. So we're still waiting on the cost of those additional doses and that will be released next month in January, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Very interesting.

Jacqueline Howard, thanks so much. I really appreciate -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right.

Still ahead, good news if you're driving to grandma's for Christmas. Record holiday travel -- yeah, it's annoying, but there are lower prices at the pump. We'll discuss.

And some custom license plates have definitely landed on the naughty list in Illinois.

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[07:50:25]

BOLDUAN: Some breaking news overnight. The U.S. military says it conducted a new strike against another alleged drug boat in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. One person reportedly killed in that strike. But at least 105 people have now been killed in strikes on suspected drug boats since President Trump began his military campaign off the coast of Venezuela back in September.

President Trump was asked about, really, what the end goal is with this campaign and what he wants to see -- he wants to do when it comes to Venezuela and President Maduro. He did not say when asked but did concede eventually that it would be "smart" for the leader of Venezuela to step down, and said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He can do whatever he wants. I mean, we have a massive armada formed -- the biggest we've ever had. Whatever he wants to do. If he wants to do something, if he plays tough it'll be the last time he's ever able to play tough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Also yesterday, President Trump announced the construction of a new class of Navy ships named after himself. The president said that this "Trump Class" of warships would be kind of the centerpiece of what he described as a "Golden Fleet" for the U.S. Navy.

Joining us right now is retired Army Brigadier General Steve Anderson and retired U.S. Army Major Mike Lyons. Gentlemen, thanks for being here.

Major Lyons, on the new Navy fleet -- let's start there -- that Trump just has now ordered. You say that it raises some new questions as he's announcing this. What, and why?

MAJ. MIKE LYONS, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Well Kate, the question is whether or not the battleship has a role in the modern Navy and whether or not it will project power into China -- really, what this is all about.

Battleships were decommissioned back in the early '90s for a reason as the carrier became the center of gravity for naval operations and protecting that carrier and the aviation assets on it.

This introduces a new command center and command control that likely can go closer to shore and perhaps project power there. But it's one big target that the Chinese have an advantage with all -- more ships right now within their -- within their naval fleet.

And again, trying to build something like this in a -- in an environment, right, where we've not been successful in getting out destroyers and other things that are more important right now to our Navy.

So the question is, again, whether it is -- has a role in the modern Navy and whether or not it will project the kind of power that the president thinks it's going to do.

BOLDUAN: It's really interesting.

And General, I understand -- I mean, the president said -- the way he described it is that the United States desperately is in need of ships. And he called the existing Navy fleet -- the way he called it is "old and tired, and obsolete."

What do you see in this announcement?

BRIG. GEN. STEVE ANDERSON, U.S. ARMY (RET.) (via Webex by Cisco): Well, I totally agree with Major Lyons. I mean, I think that a battleship is not the right approach. I mean, a small, agile fleet is something that the Navy needs and could use. But modern warfare has changed, as Major Lyons insinuate.

I mean, now drone technology is paramount. So, I mean, you know, having a battleship -- a big, large, floating target -- I mean, I look back three years ago when the Ukrainians blew up the Russian battleship Moskva using low technology anti-ship missiles and essentially surfboards on remote control loaded with munitions.

I mean, that -- as Major Lyons points out, a battleship is a large floating target. So we need to focus the American industrial base on building drones. The Secretary of Defense has stood up this drone dominance program, which I think is a great step forward. And then we need to focus the American industrial shipbuilding on small, agile ships, not battleships.

BOLDUAN: At the same time, you've got the president's ongoing military campaign in the Caribbean and against Venezuela. And according to the president, they are still pursuing an oil tanker in the Caribbean. This would be the third tanker seized, if they would, in just the last couple of weeks, Major Lyons.

What does this new focus of Trump's pressure campaign against Maduro do, do you think?

LYONS: Well, it's going -- it's extending beyond just the drug trafficking in trying to put economic sanctions and enforce them against Venezuela.

But that strike that you reported about into the Pacific -- that's interesting because that boat did not come from Venezuela. It came from Colombia. And the fact that we're reaching, you know, across the peninsula in order to get targets there shows you that even if we solve the problem of drugs inside Venezuela, we're going to have to deal with what's going on in Colombia as well.

[07:55:00]

And again, this whole entire maritime campaign still won't go anywhere. We won't -- I don't think we'll use any kind of kinetic power until the Army shows up, and the Army is still not involved in this operation. It's purely projecting power from the sea. But if the president -- which again, I just don't see him doing this. If the president wants to actually do something he's going to have to put boots on the ground and that means the Army has to show up.

BOLDUAN: But General Anderson, I mean, the secretary of Homeland Security said yesterday we're not just interdicting these ships but we're also sending a message, saying, "He needs to be gone." That was Secretary Noem on Maduro.

And Trump, while he's not clarifying what the end goal is -- and it seems to be clear that it's evolved from what they said in the beginning, at least -- he did say yesterday that it would be -- his words were "smart" for Maduro to step down.

How important is it at this point -- like, multiple months in, multiple ships attacked, oil tankers seized, a massive military campaign in this -- in this region -- to clarify what is the point here? I mean, from blowing up alleged drug boats to now seizing oil tankers, what is the angle?

ANDERSON: Well Kate, you're spot on. I mean, every sailor down there wants to know what's going on. I mean, they'll do anything that their nation asks them to do but they need to know why -- why I'm doing it.

And unfortunately, we're seeing another example of the Trump administration's schizophrenic diplomacy. I mean, one week we're there to knock out the drug guys. The next week we're talking about regime change. Now we're talking about recovering stolen goods and seizing oil tankers. I mean, you know, it's really sad that we've gotten to this point.

I mean, the strikes essentially, I believe, are illegal, immoral, and un-American, and they're ineffective. I mean, we're -- if we really wanted to have an affect on the drug trafficking, for instance, we'd capture those people. We wouldn't kill them. We'd interrogate them and gather information.

But now we've got 25 percent of the Navy fleet down there and we've got 38 KC-10s essentially positioned in Florida. I mean, what is going on down there? The American people and the sailors that are stationed down there need to know why.

BOLDUAN: General Anderson, Major Lyons, it's great to see you both. Thank you so much, and happy holidays -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Check out this video. A massive sinkhole in England trapped two boats in deep mud after the water drained out of the once shallow canal. A third boat was left leaning over the sinkhole's edge. Officials say rescue crews brought 10 people to safety while dealing with really unstable ground. The canal boats are designed to navigate Britain's system of narrow canals. Historically, they transported cargo, but these days are used for floating homes and for recreation.

All right. Illinois having some fun revealing some of this year's rejected license plates. These are those custom requests that a top state official said did not meet standards of "good taste and decency." Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEXI GIANNOULIAS, ILLINOIS SECRETARY OF STATE: Some of the rejected plates included BBL, which apparently stands for "Brazilian Butt Lift," which had to be explained to me. IBPOOPN -- OK, that one's pretty funny. ICUP -- this one, I guess, you just say the letters. Apparently, a 10-year-old requested this one. SNDNUDZ -- this apparently stands for "Send Nudes." No thanks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: He really carried that off well.

All right. According to the state, there were 55,000 requests for vanity plates this year. More than 550 were denied because they were deemed inflammatory, profane, offensive, or too difficult to read.

John, I know which one you liked of all those.

BERMAN: Well, IBPOOPN was good, but I resent the notion that ICUP was written by a 10-year-old. I mean, you know --

SIDNER: Uh-huh.

BERMAN: -- that's pretty sophisticated stuff there.

SIDNER: Have you made a call to the Illinois Secretary of State's office anytime soon or -- BERMAN: I have never applied for a license plate in Illinois, as far as you know.

All right. This morning gas prices are down as a record number of travelers hit the roads this holiday season.

CNN's Matt Egan is here with me on this. Gas prices are down. That obviously is a good thing.

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yeah. Listen, John, this is one of the rare feel-good economic stories of 2025. Gas prices -- they've been under control really all year and they're ending the year at especially low levels.

So the national average, $2.86 a gallon. That's down by 21 cents from a month ago. It's also the lowest level since April of 2021. Now, gas prices were pretty low a year ago, too, but they're even lower right now.

When you look across the country there's 10 states where the average is below $2.50 a gallon, right, including Louisiana, Texas, Wisconsin, Iowa, Colorado. Oklahoma has the cheapest gas price in the country at $2.29 a gallon.

And this trend could continue, at least for a big. GasBuddy is projecting that the national average on Christmas Day will be just $2.79 a gallon.