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Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) is Interviewed About the Epstein Letter; Nick Akerman is Interviewed About Epstein Files; Americans Travel for the Holiday; Flu on Rise as People Gather for Holidays. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired December 23, 2025 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:31:12]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: The breaking news this morning, disturbing new details in the trove of nearly 30,000 pages of documents in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation just released by the Justice Department. One thing that stands out, a handwritten letter, 2019 prison letter, Epstein sent to fellow notorious sex offender Larry Nassar, the disgraced former doctor for the U.S. Gymnastics team convicted of sexually abusing scores of women and girls. And a warning, some of the content is lewd.

Trump was president at the time when Epstein wrote, quote, "dear L.N. As you know by now I have taken the short route home. Good luck. We shared one thing, our love and caring for young ladies and the hope they'd reach their full potential. Our president also shares our love of young, nubile girls. When a young beauty walked by, he loved to, quote, grab, snatch, whereas we ended up snatching grub in the mess halls of the system. Life is unfair."

Last hour, before this was reported, the Justice Department released a statement saying some of the newly released documents contained, quote, "untrue and sensationalized claims" about the president. It is not clear if that letter is what they were talking about.

Joining me now, Congressman Brad Schneider, Democrat of Illinois. He is a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

We will get to some of the foreign affairs in a minute.

But first, I need to know what you think of this latest released piece of the Epstein file investigation.

REP. BRAD SCHNEIDER (D-IL): Well, Sara, thanks for having me.

And look, the law was clear, Congress passed -- overwhelmingly passed, only one person voted against it, a law that said that the Justice Department had to release all the files. And the administration is in violation of the law. That's the first thing to know.

And what's coming out is incomplete. What has been released has been heavily redacted. And we should know not just what's being redacted, but why. But that's also missing the point. What this story is about, why do we care about it, is the fact that rich and powerful men took advantage of young and innocent girls. Not even women, young girls. And they need to be held to account. And so the reason we're asking for the release of these files is to defend and protect and get justice for these young women.

SIDNER: I'm curious what you think about this particular letter that was just released. The DOJ has said that it hasn't been releasing all the documents as fast as they are required to do because they are trying to redact information to protect victims. So, why do you think this letter, with no victims in it, there are no pictures of victims in it, was held back?

SCHNEIDER: I can't get into the head of Pam Bondi or the other people controlling the release of these documents. But you just look at this on its face and it's disgusting. You have two convicted sex abusers who were taking advantage of young women over whom they exercised extraordinary power and influence, having developed trust and then abuse that trust. And, you know, it's disgusting.

But again, the purpose of getting these files out, and what we have to do is get justice for these young women and hold the individuals who took advantage of these women to a -- to account.

SIDNER: What do you think should happen with the DOJ? There has been some talk of going after Pam Bondi. What would you be willing to do in this case to try and make them stick to the letter of the law?

SCHNEIDER: They need to get the files out. And, you know, the -- it's notable that the files were supposed to be out last Friday. All of the files. They started, rather than finishing their release on Friday, and they continue to hold things back.

Congress comes back into session on January 5th. And if these aren't all out by then, then everything should be on the table, whatever it takes to implore, to induce, to demand that the Justice Department follows the law.

[09:35:08]

SIDNER: All right, now I want to follow some foreign affairs. There are a lot of issues out there.

The president was asked about his actions against Venezuela and the oil tankers that the U.S. is in pursuit of as we speak, and those that have been seized. Here is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: The oil that has been seized, the United States seized 1.9 million barrels of oil on December 10th.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to keep it. We're keep.

REPORTER: Where -- where is it -- are we going to sell it or put it in the strategic oil reserve?

TRUMP: Well, maybe we'll sell it. Maybe we'll keep it. Maybe we'll use it in the strategic reserves. We're keeping it. We're keeping the ships also.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: With this and other threats the president has made about hitting Venezuela by land, for example, what do you make of this? Is this heading towards war? What are your concerns?

SCHNEIDER: Again, follow the deflections. This started out as an effort to protect Americans from drugs that are coming into this country. I think everyone agrees that the government needs to do everything possible to keep drugs off our streets, to keep our people safe. We've questioned how the administration has gone about attacking those boats. What the legal justification was. But we've moved from attacking boats that were reportedly carrying drugs to now taking oil tankers. And at the end of the day, what you're seeing is it's about enriching Trump and his friends. They've already talked to companies about taking this oil. It just raises a lot of questions.

And fundamentally, we need to have trust in our government that they're taking the steps necessary to protect our national interests, to ensure our national security, and, at the same time, to make sure that our forces are men and women who put on the uniform to defend this nation, are able to exercise and complete their duties under the law with the full protections.

SIDNER: I want to lately ask you about something the Trump administration has done, which they have the right to do. The president has recalled more than two dozen ambassadors from their posts abroad. What are your concerns about this?

SCHNEIDER: It goes back to the same thing we're talking about in Venezuela. This administration and this president seems to be running foreign affairs, running the entire government as his own personal playground. And, you know, our diplomats, not just our ambassadors, but every diplomat who goes to places around the world defending American interests, working to promote American priorities, we need to make sure that they are exercising their responsibilities, but they're also given the resources and capacities to do so. And what the president's doing is trying to build a loyal following and hold people to a different standard. And it should scare us all.

SIDNER: Congressman Brad Schneider, thank you so much. And I hope you have a happy holiday. I do appreciate it.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we want to go back to the breaking news. These 30,000 pages of documents from the Epstein files released overnight, including one which was a letter sent by Jeffrey Epstein, apparently in the days before he took his own life, to convicted sex abuser Larry Nassar, who again convicted of abusing so many U.S. gymnasts over the years. In that letter, Epstein wrote to Nassar, "our president," and he was

referring, it seems, to President Donald Trump at the time, "our president also shares our love of young, nubile girls."

I want to bring in Nick Ackerman, former assistant special Watergate prosecutor. He joins us by phone.

So, Nick, a letter like that from Jeffrey Epstein in the days before he took his own life. Epstein, of course, who had a plea deal from years before and was accused of sexual abuse at the time he wrote it, a letter like that written to another sex abuser, does it have any legal significance?

NICK AKERMAN, FORMER ASSISTANT SPECIAL WATERGATE PROSECUTOR (via telephone): Well, I don't know how much legal significance it has. It certainly corroborates what we've heard from other victims, that Donald Trump had an inclination to grab women and misuse his position in various ways before he became president. And it's consistent with all these other people have said. And it's also consistent with Donald Trump's 50th birthday wish to Jeffrey Epstein.

So, whether or not this would be admissible in a court of law is a whole different story. But certainly from a political standpoint and from the fact that this is something that Jeffrey Epstein is saying, we know that they were very close and they're very good friends. And that this is pretty damning. I mean, to go on with this letter, it says in that letter, when a young beauty walked by, he leapt to grab snatch, whereas we ended up snatching grub in the mess halls of the system, meaning the prison system. And he signed it saying, life is unfair, yours, J. Epstein.

[09:40:03]

So, you've got two essentially abusers that are writing to each other. And in the course of that, Jeffrey Epstein references Donald Trump, who has gotten away with all of this.

BERMAN: It is worth noting, obviously, that President Trump, or Donald Trump, not charged with anything in connection with Jeffrey Epstein at all. It's also possible that Jeffrey Epstein was trying to stick it to Donald Trump, who had -- was president at this point, the moment that the letter was written.

Of greater, perhaps, legal significance, Nick, is the other information that came out overnight. A letter written by an attorney for the Southern District of New York, which indicated, and this is a verbatim, that "Donald Trump traveled on Epstein's private jet many more times than previously had been recorded, or that we were aware. And at times, on two of the flights, two of the passengers were women who would be possible witnesses in a Ghislaine Maxwell case."

Now, again, this letter was written at the time during -- late in Donald Trump's first term when he was president. But the idea that Trump had been on a plane with two people who were witnesses, potentially in a federal case, what's the significance there? AKERMAN: Well, the significance is that Donald Trump would, of course,

be a potential witness as well, which means that he could have been called at the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell. So, that's pretty shocking, the fact that he could have been called as a witness. That's something that I don't think has been reported before.

And it also goes to Donald Trump's knowledge of what Epstein was doing. I mean, don't forget, he's been backing off at every point he can, claiming that he had no idea that Jeffrey Epstein was doing anything illegal. But as these Epstein files come out with the drip, drip, drip, we have learned that Donald Trump knew a bit more than he's acknowledged. For example, there's the email of April 2, 2011, where it reflects an email between Epstein and Maxwell, where it says that Donald Trump spent hours in Epstein's house with Virginia, who is one of the victims of Jeffrey Epstein's, you know, sexual escapades.

BERMAN: Of course, Virginia Giuffre, before she died, said that Donald Trump did not do anything wrong or untoward. And it's also worth noting that the plane trips in question here between 1993 and 1996, a time before Epstein was charged with anything.

Nick Akerman, a lot of context here, a lot of new information coming out. CNN continues to sift through it. Thank you very much.

All right, breaking news overnight, the end to a manhunt for three escapees. One of them suspected of murder. How were they able to break out?

And then, did you buy a Powerball ticket? If you did, you didn't win, again. No one did. Which means an even bigger jackpot you won't win next time.

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[09:47:20]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: In case you haven't looked at the calendar, tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and the holiday hustle is on. Some good news for you, there is less than 60 flight cancellations across America today, according to FlightAware. And then, of course, the bad news. The roads are about to get very, very, very busy. AAA says to get on the road before 10:00 a.m. So, pack it up, kids. About 120 million people are expected to travel over the next two weeks.

CNN's Pete Muntean live at Reagan National Airport, just outside of Washington, where we love to see you most.

What is happening?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, the good news is that things are moving relatively smoothly here right now, Kate. Although the traffic into the airport was definitely higher coming in today. And you ought to follow the AAA advice, book your parking at the airport ahead of time if you can.

A bit of a mixed bag, though, when it comes to weather, East Coast and West Coast. Some weather moving into New York. The Federal Aviation Administration warning of delays. Newark, LaGuardia, Boston. Also Aspen, San Francisco on the list of concern along with San Diego, Indianapolis and Memphis.

Today is the second biggest day, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. At least what they were expecting leading into the holiday in terms of the number of flights. Here's the departures board at National Airport. Counting about a half dozen delays right now. All told, a pretty good day for travel. And I've been talking to travelers who say, they're really sort of taking it all in stride, trying to control what they can, not be too focused on others and embrace a little Christmas spirit.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERNICE NIEVES, PASSENGER: Everyone is just trying to make it to their families or whoever their loved ones are and that, like, helps me to give people more grace because it's Christmas and, you know, it's the time of hope and joy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: Traffic to the airport. That is the big thing. And we saw it get really, really busy here over Thanksgiving. The line to get into the airport was about a mile long, stretching on to Route One, a busy thoroughfare here through northern Virginia. Of course we're getting closer to the worst time to drive for the day, typically between 1:00 and 7:00 p.m. So, if you can hit it soon, good. If you can wait till later, that's better, although it's going to be a lot busier on the roads. Because schools are off, doesn't mean that work is off. So, intermixing a lot of holiday travel with a lot of work travel. Still a work day for many.

BOLDUAN: Yes, something I've had to remind my children every day this week. And, Pete Muntean --

SIDNER: He's flown away.

BOLDUAN: I don't know -- I don't know, we've gone to plaid is what it feels like, from "Spaceballs."

But, Pete, I assure you, is fine.

Sara.

SIDNER: I like that he gave us the Olan Mills picture. Remember that?

BOLDUAN: He was perfect. He's so cute.

SIDNER: The Olan Mills picture from the '80s? I love it.

[09:50:01]

BOLDUAN: Got to love Pete Muntean. SIDNER: All right, thank you, Kate.

Just moments ago, the opening bell on Wall Street. Stocks opening lower after a new GDP report showed the economy grew at a faster pace last quarter. Today's open coming after markets closed higher Tuesday, driven by strong performance in tech stocks specifically related to A.I. development. Not only is A.I. helping rally the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, but we could see upward momentum starting tomorrow when the so called Santa Claus rally officially begins. It's the period spanning the last five trading days of the year, and the first two of the next. It's a little jargon there for you. We'll be right back.

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BOLDUAN: In Georgia, three inmates who escaped from a jail just ten miles east of Atlanta, they are now back in custody. The jailbreak was first discovered Monday morning during a routine security check. One of the inmates was being held on murder charges. A manhunt ensued. All of them recaptured overnight. The sheriff's office is now investigating how they made that escape.

$1.7 billion would certainly be a very good Christmas gift. That is how much the Powerball jackpot is worth right now. Soaring once again after another drawing with no big winner.

[09:55:01]

It is now the fourth largest jackpot ever in U.S. history. The next drawing, tomorrow night.

Sara.

SIDNER: That would be a really nice present for the holidays. I'm just saying.

All right, this morning it is the holiday, so expect presents. Expect some cheer. And germs. The most recent CDC data shows that seasonal flu continues to increase across the country.

CNN's Jacqueline Howard is joining me now.

All right, how bad is this flu season expected to get?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: I know, Sara, but flu is definitely spreading.

What we know from the latest CDC data is that about four percent of all doctor visits in the week ending December 13th, so this is just recently, four percent were for respiratory illnesses. And that same week, nearly 10,000 people were admitted to the hospital with flu.

So, this is a virus that we know is going around. And sadly, so far this flu season, Sara, three children have died from flu. So, this is just a reminder that as we all gather for the holidays, just to be vigilant. And if you do have symptoms, definitely test early to see whether it's just a common cold or whether it is something more serious, like the flu. There are at-home tests that you can take. And once you do test, and if you do test positive, definitely talk with your doctor because they could prescribe flu medications, which you want to take early.

And also it's not too late to get your flu shot. So, for those of us who haven't had our flu shots yet, definitely look into that as well, Sara.

Those are my takeaways for the holidays.

SIDNER: All right, thank you so much, Jacqueline Howard. Do appreciate you.

Get your flu shot. That's all.

BERMAN: Pretty sure -- pretty sure I'm not infectious.

SIDNER: Oh, OK.

BOLDUAN: Pretty sure.

SIDNER: Wow.

BOLDUAN: Well, we still -- I mean, that will be the first time in how many months that I wouldn't be. So, yay!

BERMAN: Thank you all for joining us. This has been a very hygienic CNN NEWS CENTRAL "THE SITUATION ROOM" is up next.

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