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Justice Department Releases New Epstein Documents; Helene Weiss is Interviewed about the Epstein Documents; New GDP Shows Economy Accelerated Last Quarter; Kevin O'Leary is Interviewed about the GDP Report; Top Ten Sports Stories of 2025. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired December 23, 2025 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:30:44]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, breaking news this morning, tens of thousands of documents in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation just released by the Justice Department. We're working through them. There's a lot of sort of activities and mixed signals coming in that we're trying to get to the bottom of.

Some of what's out there seems to be raising concerns inside the Trump administration. We'll get to that in just a moment. What we have seen so far, there was a 2020 email, an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York wrote that Donald Trump traveled on Epstein's private jet many more times than previously reported, at least eight times between 1993 and 1996.

And then just a few minutes ago, and it's not at all clear whether this statement is related to that fact we just told you about. The Department of Justice put out a release saying, quote, "some of the newly released documents contained," quote, "untrue and sensationalist claims about the president."

We want to get right to CNN's Katelyn Polantz, who is part of the team going through these documents this morning, which is hard enough. And then to get this statement from the Department of Justice, this very defensive statement from the Department of Justice. Where are we? What's going on here, Katelyn?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: A defensive statement, but, John, it makes clear that this morning's release, there are a lot of mentions of Donald Trump. And they are new and noteworthy.

The one that we have been reporting on this morning so far, it is an email that a U.S. attorney, so someone who would be working on the case against Ghislaine Maxwell, the co-conspirator of Epstein, the criminal case. This assistant U.S. attorney wrote to apparently supervisors or others within the Southern District of New York U.S. Attorney's Office that they realized Donald Trump was in the flight records traveling with Epstein alone and with only small groups of passengers, including women and someone who was then 20 years old. What this person writes, what this prosecutor writes, it comes during

the time that Trump was president and while those prosecutors were working on the case against Ghislaine Maxwell, looking forward to a possible trial against her. And here is exactly what was said in this letter or this email within the U.S. attorney's office. "The flight records we received yesterday reflect that Donald Trump traveled on Epstein's private jet many more times than previously had been reported, or that we were aware, including during the period we would expect to charge in a Maxwell case." Those flights would have taken place between 1993 and 1996. And this prosecutor says that there were eight flights that Donald Trump appeared to be on the flight records on with Epstein and with Maxwell.

Also, the prosecutor writes, they didn't want any of this to be a surprise down the road to the Trump administration, the Justice Department. So, an internal communication that we have not seen before that is pretty notable.

The other thing is those Justice Department responses so far. So far there's been a tweet or a post on the social media platform X from the Justice Department's official account, just about 7:30 in the morning, them saying that they've "released nearly 30,000 more pages of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein." And then they make their public statement about Trump. Quote, "some of these documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election. To be clear, the claims are unfounded and false, and if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already." And then the Justice Department says that they are releasing these documents because they are legally required to, and that they want to be transparent.

These are documents that are publicly available on the Justice Department website now. And we are still going through them to see what else we may be able to tell you about what's in them and about what's in them specifically about the sitting president, Donald Trump.

BERMAN: Yes, clearly more work to do here. I think the statement from the Justice Department indicates that there will be more that we learn as we continue to dig. Thirty thousand pages is a lot.

[08:35:00]

Katelyn, you and your team are going to be busy. I'll let you get back to it. Thank you very much.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. And in the meantime, joining us right now is attorney Helene Weiss. Her firm represents several survivors of Jeffrey Epstein, including Maria Farmer. Maria was the first woman to publicly report Jeffrey Epstein for sexual abuse back in the 1990s.

It's good to see you again, Helene.

HELENE WEISS, ATTORNEY; LAW FIRM REPRESENTS EPSTEIN SURVIVORS: Good to be here.

BOLDUAN: So, your goal for your clients is accountability. And from that -- and to get there, it's this disclosure, that more and more documents that have been coming out. What has been -- and we're going through this latest batch very clearly, very carefully. But I'm curious as to your -- what your take is on the defensive nature and the defensive posture from the Justice Department in the statement that they put out this morning about this latest batch, without context of what claim they're discussing, having to do with Donald Trump. I'll read it one more time for everyone. It says, "some of these documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election. To be clear, the claims are unfounded and false. And if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against the president -- against President Trump already."

What do you make of that statement from the Justice Department, who you have been pressing to release more -- release all of the documents?

WEISS: Yes, Kate, first of all, thank you for having me back.

BOLDUAN: Of course.

WEISS: It's troubling to say the least. This is a release from the Justice Department that we've been waiting for. As you know, it's a release that we were promised on December 19th. And the documents that we received in this release, again, were heavily redacted. They included some very inappropriate redactions. And the statement now from the DOJ being on the defensive when it was really their job to release these documents, their job to properly redact victims' names, that they completely failed to do, it was their job to provide us with documents with appropriate redactions, which they completely failed to do. So, the statement from the DOJ now, it's a little confusing and concerning in the context of what we're really seeing happening and what the DOJ has delivered to us, which is, quite frankly, a complete mess.

BOLDUAN: When you talk about the complete mess, I was -- have it -- some of the reaction from survivors, they, like, more than a dozen have put out a statement and, on one hand, they said that this is abnormal and extreme redactions with no explanation.

WEISS: Right.

BOLDUAN: You have survivors who found it difficult to impossible to get -- to search any materials relevant to their own experiences, which was the entire point as they want --

WEISS: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Maria wanted -- Maria is the only exception.

WEISS: Of course.

BOLDUAN: With the -- that her 1996, you know, police report is out. But that doesn't even seem to be sufficient, which has been released.

WEISS: Right.

BOLDUAN: And then CNN spoke to one survivor who has only ever chosen to be identified as Jane Doe, and she found her actual real name disclosed multiple times in the documents. Still up even after she asked the Justice Department to take it down.

As someone representing many survivors, what does this mean? I mean do you -- what do you do with this material that's come out if it is, as in your view, such a mess?

WEISS: Kate, the inconsistencies that you're talking about right now are exactly the problem. What we've seen, and Maria Farmer, as you mentioned, she's the exception. We received, in the batch from Friday, a document that's an FBI report from 1996 that says Maria Farmer reported her child sexual -- her sexual abuse by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell to the FBI. But this was just one document. We don't have Maria's interview notes. We don't have additional notes from 2006. We've received them before, but this new tranche didn't reveal notes. We also know that many survivors have interview notes. Dozens and dozens of survivors have reported that they were talking to the FBI, they interviewed with the FBI. Where are the victim interviews? Where are all of the victim interviews that we were promised?

BOLDUAN: This -- I mean just real quickly, because this gets to this statement that we got.

WEISS: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Justice spokesperson put out a statement yesterday, kind of asked about the nature -- what's going on with the nature of this release.

WEISS: Sure.

BOLDUAN: And the statement was, "as the attorney general has stated, the Department of Justice has been in contact with victims, their lawyers and victims groups. The DOJ and SDNY are undergoing an arduous effort to protect victims through redactions as documents are released."

With all -- do you believe them?

WEISS: You know, we have heard that there are some representatives that are being contacted. I know that my firm has not been contacted and asked about our clients or certain disclosures. And so, we're very troubled and we're very hesitant to believe what's happening, especially considering the Jane Doe redactions and the fact that her name and her privacy was completely disrespected. And it's incredibly disappointing to see. It's hard to trust. And that's the whole thing, government accountability, trust in institutions is at an all-time low.

[08:40:02] And we were really hoping this would restore some of that public accountability and public trust in institutions. And right now, it's a very disappointing time for almost every single survivor that's been waiting for so long.

BOLDUAN: As -- with every batch that comes out, you need to -- you need to kind of weed through it --

WEISS: Right.

BOLDUAN: Let it settle. And then I'm very interested to get your take and what impact this has and what this -- any -- all -- any and all of this means for the victims as it continues to settle in. And what it -- and what it brings to them. Thanks for coming in again, Helene. I really appreciate it.

WEISS: Thank you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you, Kate.

Breaking moments ago, a report just out on a core indicator on the health of the U.S. economy. An initial reading of third quarter Gross Domestic Product showed the economy grew at a faster pace than expected last quarter.

CNN's Matt Egan joining me now.

All in all, that sounds like good news.

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, Sara, look, the U.S. economy grew at a surprisingly strong pace last quarter. GDP, it's the broadest measure of economic activity, clocking in at 4.3 percent during the third quarter. Now, this was unexpected. We were bracing for a slowdown from 3.8 percent in the second quarter. The consensus was just for 3 percent in today's report. But that did not happen. We got this unexpected acceleration here.

Now, I do want to note that this report was delayed by almost two months due to the government shutdown. And it's possible that the government shutdown caused some measurement issues here, as it has in other economic reports. So, we do have to dig in here a bit. And also, economists say that we could see some bigger than usual revisions to the GDP report, again because of the government shutdown.

But let's get into why GDP accelerated. Well, one of the reasons is because consumer spending accelerated during the third quarter. It clocked in at 3.5 percent. That's up from 2.5 percent during the second quarter.

However, we don't know who was doing this spending. And economists say that a lot of times this spending growth is being driven by those higher income households because we are in this k-shaped economy.

Another factor here is trade. When you look at the recent trend in GDP, again you can see the acceleration on the right side of the screen. But one of the other factors in this report today is trade. High tariffs have caused imports to plunge. And when that happens, you get this mechanical acceleration in GDP. So, that's why economists like to look at core GDP, which strips out government spending and trade. And on that front, it came in at 3 percent. So, not the 4 percent at the headline, but still a solid number.

And one last point for you, Sara. Everyone wants to know what's going to happen in the current quarter, the fourth quarter. And economists are bracing for a slowdown in GDP due to the government shutdown.

Back to you.

SIDNER: All right, Matt Egan, thank you so much for that.

John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now, Kevin O'Leary, CNBC contributor and chairman of O'Leary Ventures.

Kevin, let's just take the top line number here, 4.3 percent growth. That's a big number. Bigger than expected. Your initial reaction?

KEVIN O'LEARY, CNBC CONTRIBUTOR: Stunning. Very rarely do you get a miscalculation like this. I mean, if you're the administration, you're loving this number. This is a huge upside miss if you want to look at that -- look at it that way.

So, we're actually waiting for the recession that never comes. This is an extraordinary situation. It's been a remarkably long number of years since we've had a recession. And yet these numbers tell you it's a long way off.

BERMAN: Yes, I mean, the funny thing about the recession that never comes, you bring up, is, you know, for much of the Biden administration that's what people were bracing for and it never came. And now, at the beginning of the Trump administration, another expectation with the tariffs and whatnot. But this number seems to be indicating that it's not happening, not at least now.

What are your hopes for 2026 economically, and what are your concerns based on the various numbers you've seen?

O'LEARY: I'm an optimist for 2026. There's a few reasons.

Number one, the productivity and margin enhancement of A.I. in all 11 sectors of the economy is just starting to be felt. That's one of the reasons the market hits new highs. It's evident that everybody's using it and we're -- in the first inning.

Number two, I am hopeful that we will get the entire tariff situation sorted out. We still don't have that nailed down yet. So, I'll give you an example. Housing. Softwood lumber is still at 25 percent tariff. That's unnecessary. We don't have enough of our own softwood lumber. Tariffs on things like pineapples and bananas. Why bother? We don't make those. So, why tariff ourselves? There are several countries that still have extraordinarily high tariffs. I would assume they'd get worked out.

[08:45:00]

Tariffs are inflationary. That's the other problem in the economy. We're still at 3 percent inflation on average. And you're here -- and you're hearing that, quote, "affordability." That's the problem. We've got to get affordability nailed down and get the protein (ph) costs for everyday goods and services people buy down towards 2 percent. A lot of that has to do with tariffs.

And I understand the administration claims they don't matter. They matter. It's an input cost, but it's something they control, so it can be fixed. But overall, these numbers really, really paint an optimistic picture for the economy in the United States.

BERMAN: You bring up productivity and affordability, which are fascinating and huge subjects and actually interconnected because one of the possibilities here that economists are discussing is you have this really robust economic growth now, but not necessarily being felt by the average American. Why is that? Because a lot of it's coming in productivity in A.I. and is not helping the jobs market. Unemployment up to 4.6 percent. Isn't necessarily leading to wage growth, because you don't need to hire more workers to keep up with that expanding economy.

So, how do those things impact themselves? And when do you think that average Americans, if the economy continues to grow like this, will feel it?

O'LEARY: Well, you bring up a very valid point. I mean depending on who you listen to, they're blaming about 55,000 jobs against A.I. In other words, those jobs were lost because of automation to A.I. in all 11 sectors.

However, we've gone through these technology cycles before. And everybody loathes and fears them. As far back as television wiping out radio. That never happened.

I tend to believe the economy absorbs these new technologies as tools that create new jobs. In this case, removing the low-paying jobs, the redundant jobs that you can replace with A.I., tech support jobs, for example, on the phone with A.I. agents, and then makes room for much higher paid jobs, the engineers that design the agents and all of the tools that you can develop with A.I.

Someone showed me an example last week I was just blown away by. They have a company that flies drones over large retail roofs, like a Walmart, a Target, a McDonald's. And the A.I. goes straight up. It's a photograph in six k. It goes up to a satellite, analyzed by an A.I. compute platform, and tells you whether the air conditioning of the chillers have changed over the last 12 months and need repair, without ever sending someone up on a ladder to risk their lives up there in cold climates. All done with drones and A.I. This is the kind of productivity that nobody even knows about yet that's happening, that enhances the lives of people. The guy that used to go up the ladder is now flying the drone at three times the salary. I rest my case, your honor.

BERMAN: Kevin O'Leary, again, the top line number, 4.3 percent, economic growth, GDP, and a quarter that ended in September, but a much higher number than was expected.

Kevin, up there in Toronto, much closer to the North Pole, have a merry, merry Christmas. We appreciate it.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, ahead, children tell police they use YouTube to learn how to steal a car, when they actually did that. See what happened. And a hint here, it didn't go too well.

And trophies, trades and scandals. We're looking back at the top sports moments of 2025.

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[08:52:36]

BERMAN: From sports gambling scandals, to a trade that rocked the NBA, to the Yankees failing to win a pennant yet again, our Andy Scholes has a look at CNN's top ten sports stories of the year.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, 2025 delivered some of the most unforgettable moments in sports. Championships, heartbreak, history and headlines that shook the entire sports world. Here are the top ten moments that defined the year.

At number ten, we start in college football, where Ohio State climbed the mountain, winning the first ever 12-team playoff. And the timing of the expanded playoff could not have been better for the Buckeyes. They were the eight seed and won four games, culminating with a victory over Notre Dame to claim the ninth title in school history.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I think this is just what a player dreams of.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't put it into words. It's the best feeling.

SCHOLES: And the drama of college football continuing even after the 2025 regular season as Lane Kiffin's coaching decision captivated the entire sporting world. In the end, Kiffin left Ole Miss right before their first trip to the playoffs to take the head job at LSU.

LANE KIFFIN, COACH, LSU: Leaving Ole Miss was extremely difficult. An extremely difficult decision.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news of a massive sports gambling investigation. Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers' head coach Chauncey Billups have been arrested in connection with that probe.

SCHOLES: At number nine, the sports world continued to grapple with gambling scandals.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Here's another betting scandal that is rocking professional sports. And this time it's two Major League Baseball pitchers who are accused of fixing the outcome of so-called prop bets. Emanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz of the Cleveland Guardians have been indicted and could face years in prison.

SCHOLES: More athletes faced investigations and leagues partnered with sportsbooks to limit specific wagers, a sign of just how fast the landscape is changing.

At number eight, we have "the Great 8," making hockey history. Alex Ovechkin breaking what many thought was an unbreakable record. In April against the Islanders, Ovechkin scored his 895th goal, breaking Wayne Gretzky's all-time record.

ALEX OVECHKIN, WASHINGTON CAPITALS: A special moment. It's great for hockey.

SCHOLES: A Stanley Cup final in June was a rematch between the Panthers and Oilers, and it would be Florida going back-to-back, winning the series four to two.

[08:55:04]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a champion right here.

SCHOLES: Number seven, the Florida Gators pulling off one of the best comebacks in national championship game history, rallying from 12 down against the Houston Cougars in the second half to win their third title.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're thrilled, man. It's a heck of a moment. An incredible opportunity to be here. And the fact that we finished it up means everything in the world.

SCHOLES: On the women's side, nine years after claiming their last title, the UConn Huskies returning to the mountaintop. In her last collegiate game, Paige Bueckers leading UConn to a win over South Carolina. For head coach Geno Auriemma, it was his 12th national title.

GENO AURIEMMA, UConn HEAD COACH: I don't know that any program's meant more to their sport than what UConn has meant to women's basketball.

SCHOLES: At number six, Lionel Messi does it again, this time in America. The Argentinian legend leading Inter Miami to their first ever MLS Cup title. Messi's the most decorated player in the history of soccer, winning 47 team trophies. Will he add another World Cup? Argentina are the defending champions for the World Cup that is set to take place the summer of 2026 in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

At number five, the Chiefs' quest for an historic third straight Super Bowl was thwarted by the Eagles. In a rematch from two years ago, Jalen Hurts and company getting the best of Patrick Mahomes, and the Eagles dominating winning Super Bowl 59 40-22. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It feels good, man. You see the smiles. You see what family, brother, I'm happy, man. This is what it's all about.

SCHOLES: And before the current NFL season, tragedy struck the NFL offices in Manhattan.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: New details on the deadly mass shooting in New York City. A police officer and three others are dead after a man walked into a busy midtown office building with an assault-style rifle, opening fire.

ROGER GOODELL, NFL COMMISSIONER: There are no excuses for those senseless acts. They're hard for all of us to understand.

SCHOLES: At number four, 2025 was an incredible year for golf. Rory McIlroy finally having his green jacket moment and getting the fourth major that had always eluded him. Rory winning the Masters with the win, joining an exclusive club, becoming just the sixth golfer ever to complete the career grand slam.

RORY MCILROY, PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: It's the greatest year of my professional life. I don't know how I'm going to top this.

SCHOLES: And the grand slam club could soon get a new member, Scottie Scheffler, with an incredible 2025, winning the PGA Championship and the Open Championship. Scottie now has won four majors and is only missing the U.S. Open for the career grand slam.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER, PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: Life out here is pretty cool right now. This is a lot of fun.

SCHOLES: And 2025 was also a Ryder Cup year that saw the European team jump out to a huge early lead, despite a raucous and sometimes offensive crowd at Bethpage Black in New York. The U.S. made a run on Sunday, but it would be Rory and the Europeans winning their second straight and first on foreign soil since 2012.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Five and a half hours. That's how long it took to seal one of the wildest comebacks in French Open history.

SCHOLES: And number three, in 2025, we saw one of the greatest tennis matches of all time. Carlos Alcaraz saved three match points and rallied from two sets down to defeat Jannik Sinner in a five set thriller at the French Open. Alcaraz and Sinner would split the men's grand slams this year, setting a foundation for what is now the best rivalry in men's tennis.

CARLOS ALCAREZ, PROFESSIONAL TENNIS PLAYER: It's a bitter taste when you win a grand slam or a tournament, when you beat the best player in the world.

SCHOLES: On the women's side it was a big year for the Americans. Madison Keys won her first grand slam at the Australian Open, and Coco Gauff claimed her second at Roland Garros.

COCO GAUFF, PROFESSIONAL TENNIS PLAYER: I'm just glad to get another title to my resume

SCHOLES: At number two, we have the trade that rocked the sports world. Dallas fans waking up February 2nd to find out that the Mavericks had traded their hero, their star, Luka Doncic, to the Lakers. The trade was so shocking it sparked protests outside the Mavs arena.

CROWD: Nico, Nico got to go.

SCHOLES: The Oklahoma City Thunder then finished off a dominant season, beating the Indiana Pacers in seven games to win their first ever NBA title.

And at number one on our list is the Los Angeles Dodgers edging out the Toronto Blue Jays in one of the most dramatic World Series of all time. The Blue Jays, an inch away from winning it all in game seven. But the Dodgers coming through in the clutch thanks to amazing performances from Japanese stars Yoshi Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's kind of amazing, crazy, and I'm just glad we won.

[08:59:51]

SCHOLES: And the Dodgers will look for the three-peat in 2026, which will be one of the busiest sports calendars in a long time, with the Winter Olympics in February and the World Cup kicking off in June.

(END VIDEOTAPE)