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Letter from Epstein to Nassar; Trump Warns Maduro; Charles Shapiro is Interviewed about Trump's Warning to Maduro; Holiday Storms to Hit Southern California; Brown University Places Police Chief on Leave. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired December 23, 2025 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: And the World Cup kicking off in June.

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SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Our breaking news this morning, droves of new Epstein files released overnight. Stunning revelations from the files shows a letter that Jeffrey Epstein wrote to fellow sex offender Larry Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics doctor. In a letter, Epstein mentions Trump, saying they share a love of nubile girls. The DOJ is racing to defend the president, saying some of these documents contain untrue claims against him. We are digging through those documents as we speak.

Breaking overnight, a new U.S. strike on an alleged drug smuggling boat in the eastern Pacific. At least one person is dead. What the U.S. military is saying about that this morning.

And dangerous weather set to slam California. A high risk of flash flooding as multiple storms could drop a month's worth of rain over just the next couple of days.

I'm Sara Sidner, with John Berman and Kate Bolduan. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And there is breaking news this morning in the new evidence, in this huge trove of files the Justice Department released overnight in the Jeffrey Epstein case. Inside the files released, a jailhouse letter that Epstein sent to another infamous sex offender, Larry Nassar. He is the disgraced onetime U.S. Gymnastics team doctor, convicted of sexually abusing scores of women and girls.

The letter that Epstein wrote to Nassar includes an allusion to President Trump. A warning, some of what is in this is disturbing. The letter does not explicitly name Trump, but Epstein wrote about, quote, "our president," in the message. It was sent in August of 2019, the same month that Epstein died by suicide in jail. This is what Epstein wrote, a quote, "our president also shares our love of young, nubile girls."

Now, in a statement, the Justice Department, again, the Justice Department put out this statement about half an hour ago. It said, "some of the 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 any shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already."

It is not clear exactly what the Justice Department was referring to here. If it was that letter to Nassar. If there are other things in addition to that.

Let's get right to CNN's Katelyn Polantz, part of our team going over these documents.

Maybe a little bit of light about what the Justice Department, what had them so concerned, concerned enough to send out that unusual statement a short time ago.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: John, a disturbing message from Jeffrey Epstein's own hand, apparently, to another person in detention in the federal system, Larry Nassar, who was convicted of sex offenses.

Now, this is a letter, it does bear the postmark on its envelope of being sent three days after Jeffrey Epstein died. I want to read it in full, given what it alleges about the current president, Donald Trump. Epstein writes, "dear L.N," that would be Larry Nassar, who at that time was serving a long sentence in federal prison in Arizona. He writes, "as you know by now, I have taken the, quote, short route, unquote, home. Good luck. We share one thing, our love and caring for young ladies and the hope they'd reached their full potential. Our president also shares our love of young, nubile girls." Epstein then writes another lewd comment about, apparently, Donald Trump, and then writes -- signs this letter, "life is unfair. Signing off, yours, Jeffrey Epstein."

Now, CNN has previously reported that while he was in prison, Epstein did send a letter to Nassar, but we did not know the substance of it. And this is coming in the disclosure overnight and this morning of about 30,000 additional documents from the Epstein files that would be held from all parts of the Justice Department in this part, apparently from the Bureau of Prisons and other federal detention facilities.

The Justice Department, they have, without mentioning this specific letter, this part of the release, they have already publicly said that these allegations in the Epstein files today, many others which mentioned Trump as well, may contain untrue or sensationalist claims.

[09:05:08]

Going to bat, essentially, for the president. The Justice Department tweet, it says, 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."

Now, they weren't in the public domain previously. However, Donald Trump has, in the past, been out there saying that he did have a relationship with Epstein, although he has tried to downplay it, saying that everyone was friendly with Epstein. Everyone knew him because he was very much around Palm Beach.

The other piece of this that has come out this morning is the note from prosecutors in the Southern District of New York saying that they understand that in 2020 Donald Trump was appearing on flight records with Epstein eight times. And this came about because they were seeing flight records they had not been aware of prior to 2020, in January. That is a time when Trump was president. The flight records showed that Trump had flown on a private plane with Epstein between 1993 and 1996, and some of those flights included women, as well as Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted co-conspirator that the prosecutors were preparing to indict and take to trial in the Southern District of New York.

So, a lot new information here. But it is important to know that we're going to work through this. It is disturbing. And it is information that in some accounts is not proven at this time. And there may not be any way to prove it, given that at least in the letter handwritten by Jeffrey Epstein, he is now dead.

John.

BERMAN: Notable also that was not included in the initial batch that, by law, was supposed to be released Friday night, because in that letter there's no protected individual that the law would cover there. No survivor name to be redacted. You know, Larry Nassar, Jeffrey Epstein, certainly not protected by the law there.

Wow. All right, Katelyn Polantz, you got your work cut out for you over the next few hours. All these documents to go through. Make sure to hydrate. We appreciate your reporting on all of this.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, also breaking 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. At least 105 people have been killed now in strikes on suspected drug boats since President Trump began his military campaign off the coast of Venezuela in September. The strikes are part of increased U.S. military action near Venezuela as Trump ratchets up the pressure on the country's leader, Nicolas Maduro. The president was asked yesterday about his endgame with Venezuela. He didn't answer that, but issued this warning to Maduro.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He could 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)

SIDNER: The U.S. notably also going after oil tankers.

CNN's Kevin Liptak is in West Palm Beach, Florida.

What are you learning about all this this morning?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, and this was the 29th known strike on an alleged drug boat.

What the U.S. Southern Command said was that it was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes, and that it was engaged in narco- trafficking operations. Although it didn't provide any evidence for those claims.

When you look at video of the incident, it is interesting, and it differs somewhat from the previous 28 strikes that the Pentagon has put out video of. Those previous strikes you saw, a missile fired from a distance. In some instances you saw a projectile going down towards the boat and the boat sort of exploded immediately. In this case, in this latest video, instead what you see is sort of repeated projectiles. You see sort of short bursts, splashes around the boat before it is eventually engulfed in flame, which does seem to suggest that they're using a different type of weapon for this latest incident.

Now, this has killed 105 people so far. It has drawn scrutiny in Congress and from legal experts who say that the administration has provided scant evidence that the people they're blowing up are actually drug traffickers. They say that it could amount to extrajudicial killings. The White House and the Pentagon have argued that these are drug traffickers.

Now, it also comes amid this continued pursuit of an oil tanker. President Trump says yesterday the U.S. is still trying to chase down the Bella 1, which is the oil tanker that turned around in the Caribbean Sea and began fleeing when the Coast Guard tried to board it.

[09:10:09]

That chase now coming up on 48 hours.

All of this, of course, meant to apply pressure to Nicolas Maduro. You know, when we heard from President Trump down here yesterday, he did not shed a whole lot of new light on what exactly his objectives are when it comes to Venezuela. He was asked if his goal was to oust Maduro from power, and he said he thinks it probably would be. He said it would be smart for Maduro to go and that if he wants to play tough, it would be the last time that he's ever able to do that.

But not, in the end, really explaining exactly what his goals are in all of this. And so that remains to be seen as the president continues these strikes and continues these attempted interdictions of these oil tankers.

Sara.

SIDNER: All the while Congress does have questions.

Kevin Liptak, thank you so much for your reporting.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Joining us right now is former U.S. ambassador to Venezuela, Charles Shapiro, who served in that role during the George W. Bush administration.

Thanks for coming in, Ambassador.

So, it started as striking alleged drug boats. Now also includes seizing oil tankers in terms of the pressure campaign against Venezuela. Why do you think it's evolved to this?

CHARLES SHAPIRO, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO VENEZUELA: Well, if the goal is to get Maduro out of office, blowing up boats allegedly carrying drugs has no impact on Maduro. He doesn't -- they're not his boats. He doesn't own them. He doesn't own the cocaine that's on those boats. So, it really literally has no impact on him, you know.

Seizing oil tankers impacts the state of Venezuela, the nation of Venezuela. The oil company is owned by the nation, by the government of Venezuela. All the money goes into the national treasury. So, it reduces funds that go to the government of Venezuela for everything from paying soldiers and teachers, to paving roads.

The question, of course, is, how does that get Maduro out of office?

BOLDUAN: Exactly.

SHAPIRO: Because as you know, as a reporter, dictators, despite sanctions, are able to hang on. They live real well no matter what sort of economic sanctions are placed on the country. And I don't think Maduro is putting the well-being of the people of Venezuela above his own well-being.

BOLDUAN: And, Ambassador, I mean you've heard some of the statement from President Trump yesterday. You have the Homeland Security secretary also saying, "we're not just interdicting these ships, but we're also sending a message. He needs to be gone." That was from Kristi Noem and the president. Now saying that it would be smart for Maduro to step down.

But you're hitting on the important bit here. You can squeeze a country, and a dictator can hold on for a very long time. What will it take to get Maduro to leave, do you think?

SHAPIRO: Well, that -- that's what the administration is wrestling with right now. I assume the president has been presented with a menu of options to turn up the heat on Maduro. That's what seizing these oil tankers is doing. You know, you and I can speculate about what comes next. But you got to get to the point where Maduro realizes that leaving the country is a better option for him than staying as president of the country.

BOLDUAN: Yes. If he leaves, you were just pointing to it, what then? Because, I mean, then you have the threat, and very real concern over just a power vacuum. I mean what does the United States need to be prepared for in terms of being on the hook to help Venezuela try to move towards a democratic transition?

SHAPIRO: Well, that's exactly the point. Is -- I -- Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, have been in control of Venezuela for over 25 years. That means essentially everybody who works for the government, every soldier, every police officer, every school teacher has been brought up in that system. The people who count the -- everything, from top to bottom.

The opposition assures that, oh, gosh, that this will be complicated, but we can do it. What I suspect, it's going to need a lot of help, and a lot of help from the United States, because the international community, international democratic community is staying hands off. And it will involve exactly what the president and his supporters are saying they're trying to avoid, and that's nation building. I mean making that transition from 25 years of dictatorship and reinstalling democracy and reinstituting a free market economic system in Venezuela, that's not going to be easy. They're going to need support.

And, unfortunately, what you see around the world is that after something like this happens, the people want to see more money in their pockets immediately. They want to see the economy functioning well immediately. Venezuelans outside Venezuela are going to return to the country. They get real frustrated, expatriates, when they return home because they've been living fine in Colombia, the United States, in Spain, and they're going to go home and see what a mess the country is.

[09:15:11]

And that's going to be a real challenge. It's going to need support. And it's going to need support from the United States.

BOLDUAN: Yes, I mean, it's a little bit of, be careful what you wish for, in a very, very, very real and tangible way. The U.N. Security Council is meeting today about this very issue, what's going on between the tension between Venezuela and the United States. The session was actually set as -- at Venezuela's request, backed by Russia and China.

Ambassador, what do you think comes from this?

SHAPIRO: From the perspective of the administration, it doesn't matter what comes from this, because they're going to ignore it. I mean as any U.S. administration would. I mean declarations by the United Nations have no real impact. To go back to Russia and China, Russia is occupied right now in Ukraine. It's got no way to help Venezuela. China, so far as I know, has, you know, no troops in the western hemisphere outside of military attaches and embassies. It's got a -- it's got some spies in Cuba in a listening station that's doing signals intelligence on the U.S., but they're in -- they're in no position to help Venezuela militarily.

BOLDUAN: It's great to have you on, Ambassador. Really appreciate your perspective on this and your years of experience in this. Sincerely appreciate it.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, this morning, southern California is bracing for dangerous heavy rain storms that could create chaos over the Christmas holiday. Today, a rare high-risk of flash flooding is prompting new evacuation orders in the Los Angeles area.

CNN's Derek Van Dam is tracking all of this for us.

Give us a sense of when this may happen and just how dangerous this can be.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Sara, with the millions of residents that call California home, today is the day that you need to travel to family, to loved ones for the Christmas holiday. If you were planning to leave tomorrow, bump that forward if at all possible because things will go downhill overnight tonight and certainly into the day tomorrow being Christmas Eve. We've been talking about the atmospheric river responsible for this funnel of moisture that's going to pinpoint itself right into southern California.

So, let's time it out for you. By 7:00 a.m. tomorrow local time in Los Angeles, heavy rain with upwards of an inch to an inch and a half per hour is possible. And that will accumulate very quickly in the foothills, as well as the mountains and into the coastal areas.

This high risk is a rare thing. The Weather Prediction Center does not issue these lightly. And keep in mind that this encompasses about six million people, but also the recent burn scars from earlier this year. Eaton Fire, Hughes Fire, the Palisades Fire. This makes the ground very, very susceptible to mudslides and debris flows. People in vulnerable communities below those burn scars need to be prepared to evacuate very quickly.

These high-risk days are a big deal. And we elevate them and talk about them like this because they mean that you need to pay attention. We have the most fatalities in terms of flood related fatalities on these high-risk days.

Rainfall totals could be anywhere from six to ten inches in and around the Los Angeles area. Higher amounts, of course, near the Transverse Mountain Range that travels east and west, wringing out the moisture. And then the Sierra Nevadas, virtually impossible travel conditions across this area, with three to eight feet of snow possible in some of those mountain overpasses. So, heads up if you're out west. You need to batten down the hatches and prepare for the long haul. This is a big storm.

Sara. SIDNER: I am.

All right, thank you so much, Derek Van Dam. A lot of danger there that people need to be prepared for in California.

John.

BERMAN: All right, new developments this morning in the Brown University shooting investigation. The university has placed its vice president of public safety on leave as federal investigators begin their probe into the attack.

And then this truly dangerous weather Derek Van Dam was just talking about. It could have a huge impact on holiday travel and, frankly, just on Christmas in general.

And the memorial service, not for a person, but for a coin. Here's a hint, it was held at the Lincoln Memorial.

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[09:24:08]

BERMAN: All right, new this morning, Brown University has placed its vice president of public safety on administrative leave while it reviews the deadly mass shooting that killed two students and wounded nine others. The suspect was found dead days later from a self- inflicted gunshot wound. A separate federal investigation is being conducted by the U.S. Department of Education, looking into whether the school followed federal campus safety rules.

CNN's Danny Freeman, who was in Providence for days covering the aftermath, is here with us now.

So, what does this all mean? Where exactly do things stand?

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, there are a lot of interesting things happening on this holiday week when it comes to this story.

I want to start with the -- basically a surprise announcement that we heard yesterday afternoon that the Department of Education was opening up this formal review, this investigation into Brown. The DOE citing the Clery Act, which basically is an act that states that higher education institutions, they have to comply with certain safety and security standards and data requirements as well in order to get federal aid.

[09:25:05]

So, that's why the DOE is opening up this investigation.

And, John, you were up there as well. We know that Brown faced a tremendous amount of criticism over some of their security practices, not just, by the way, from the Brown community and the Providence community, but we heard it from the president and the White House. Cameras, of course, one of the big things that came up because there weren't any good camera angles in the building where the shooting occurred.

Brown now has until the end of January to provide data to the federal government and basically respond to their letter and the things that they're seeking.

I'll also note, our affiliate, WJR, is reporting that Brown has retained a former federal prosecutor also to help them as they navigate this.

But then I want to get to the then next surprise announcement that we got yesterday evening that the head of Brown's safety and emergency management, Rodney Chatman, was placed on leave. Now, in the interim, the -- a former head of the Providence Police Department, he's going to be stepping in and leading Brown's safety apparatus, essentially.

But Brown's president called this and other actions that they're taking basically all part of a thorough after action review. And the president, Christina Paxson, noted that, "the concerns our community has about safety and security are real, and I share them." That in addition to emphasizing that the university plans to add enhanced security measures in the wake of this tragic shooting up there.

BERMAN: Yes. Most of the questions have been about cameras, which would really help after the fact in an incident like this.

FREEMAN: Yes.

BERMAN: But there are also questions about buildings being locked and whatnot.

Danny Freeman, thanks for bringing us up to speed on all of this.

FREEMAN: You bet.

BERMAN: Great to see you, albeit for unfortunate circumstances.

FREEMAN: Likewise.

BERMAN: Kate.

BOLDUAN: So, the breaking news this morning, the Justice Department has released thousands more documents from the Epstein files, including new detail on President Trump's one-time friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. Why the Justice Department itself is pushing back on what they call untrue and sensationalist claims against President Trump contained in these new files that they released.

Cases of the flu are up nationwide. New reports on what parts of the country are suffering most and what you need to know heading into these holidays.

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