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Wegovy Weight Loss Pill Approved; Brown University Reviews Security Procedures; New Epstein Documents Released. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired December 23, 2025 - 13:00   ET

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

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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: An enormous batch of Epstein files just released, and President Trump's name appears in some of the documents, including in references to flight records related to Epstein's private plane. We will bring you the Justice Department's response to this latest release.

Plus, Brown University places its police chief on administrative leave while it reviews the deadly mass shooting that killed two students and wounded nine others. What we're learning about that decision.

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: And the FDA green-lighting a new pill, potentially ushering in a new era for weight loss drugs. We will tell you when it could hit the market.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: Hello. I'm Brianna Keilar, alongside my friend and colleague Erica Hill.

HILL: Great to be with you.

KEILAR: Great to have you here always.

And we begin with breaking news on the Epstein files, the Justice Department releasing 30,000 more pages of documents now four days after their expired deadline. The latest batch that dropped overnight includes references to flights that then-private citizen Donald Trump took on Epstein's plane in the '90s, also a disturbing handwritten letter signed J. Epstein to convicted sex offender Larry Nassar that appears to make a crude reference to President Trump, but does not explicitly name him.

We will note President Trump has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

HILL: The Justice Department, though, also releasing a statement today which reads in part -- quote -- "Some of these documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump," going on to say "The claims are unfounded and false."

One of Epstein's survivors earlier on CNN blasting that defense.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Does DOJ have a point there?

HALEY ROBSON, JEFFREY EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: No, I think their point is moot. There are a lot of missing documents thus far and a lot of redacted, unnecessarily redacted documents that have been coming out. And it's really disappointing. The DOJ is very, very sloppy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Survivor Haley Robson also calling for President Trump to be impeached.

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ROBSON: I redact any support I have ever given to him, Pam Bondi, Kash Patel. I am so disgusted with this administration. I think that Pam Bondi and Kash Patel both need to resign. And I would love to see number 47 get impeached over this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: CNN senior reporter Marshall Cohen joining us now with a closer look.

So, first of all, walk us through this handwritten letter.

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: It's disturbing.

And we have known for a few years that it existed. It was reported a couple years back that Epstein tried to or maybe even did send a letter to Larry Nassar, but we had never seen it before today. Here's what we know and here's what we don't exactly know.

We know that this letter came out of the prison where Epstein was living and that it was signed by J. Epstein and addressed to Larry Nassar. And it was postmarked just a few days after Epstein's suicide. Now, of course, the timing does line up, because not everything that's sent out of a prison is instantly sent out.

Sometimes, they look at it, so no crazy conspiracy there. But what it said was really, frankly, gross and disgusting. I will read it to you.

It says -- quote -- "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."

So, a disgusting apparent message from one convicted sexual predator to another. I should note, though, to be totally crystal clear, that Donald Trump has never been accused by law enforcement of any involvement in any of these abuses. [13:05:00]

KEILAR: And a subpoena from our logo was also in this new batch. What does it say?

COHEN: Yes, we didn't know about that.

This was on the eve of the Ghislaine Maxwell trial. That, of course, is the now convicted accomplice of Jeffrey Epstein, October 2021, subpoena sent by the DOJ to Mar-a-Lago. Parts of it are redacted. We're not 1000 percent clear who they were seeking information about. But we know that they were seeking information about employment records, somebody who had worked at Mar-a-Lago.

And there were some people and some Epstein victims and survivors that had worked at Mar-a-Lago and then subsequently went over to Epstein's estate down there as well.

HILL: I also want to ask you about, as we referenced, that Donald Trump is mentioned in flight records. Talked us a little bit more about not only the timing of those flights, but who else was on board.

COHEN: Well, it's so notable because he'd previously said he was never on Epstein's jet. And now, this morning, we saw for the first time ever an e-mail that a Justice Department prosecutor sent to one of their colleagues in January 2020.

I'm going to just read for you a little bit of what it said: "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."

So it was news to them at that time. And it's news to us now. Eight flights in the 1990s. According to this e-mail, Ghislaine Maxwell was on some of those flights. One of those flights, the passenger manifest was Donald Trump, Jeffrey Epstein, and someone described as a 20-year- old.

And there were also a few of the flights that had passengers on board who were potential witnesses in the Maxwell sex trafficking trial.

HILL: Certainly significant information in this latest dump.

Marshall, appreciate it. Thank you.

COHEN: Of course.

HILL: There are also new developments to tell you about today in the wake of the mass shooting at Brown University now 10 days ago, school officials saying they have placed campus belief chief -- Police Chief, rather, Rodney Chatman on administrative leave effective immediately while it reviews the attack that killed two students and wounded nine others.

Now, according to that announcement, a former Providence Rhode Island police chief will assume Chatman's duties on an interim basis and that person will also be leading the after-action review of the December 13 attack.

KEILAR: The body of the suspected shooter was found days later inside a storage facility in New Hampshire. Authorities say that he had taken his own life.

Brown's preparedness and response to the mass shooting have come under intense scrutiny.

We're joined now by CNN senior law enforcement analyst Andrew McCabe.

All right, Andy, first, just the fact that the chief is being put on leave while they do this postmortem, is that the right move?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: I think it probably is, Brianna, so for a couple of reasons. He's come under some scrutiny for the department's performance with respect to this incident, right.

Their -- particularly students and family members of students have complained that it took 17 minutes before the department put out an emergency message about an active shooter or shooting at all to the rest of the campus. He's also -- he's also being criticized for the fact that his department was allegedly contacted several times by the janitor, who became the key witness in solving this crime.

Apparently, the janitor reached out and said that this -- there had been a suspicious person circling around the area of the building for quite some time, for going on almost two weeks before the shooting itself. So it's absolutely appropriate that they're conducting a review.

And you would not want the chief of police, who is potentially suspected of having not performed up to the level that they expect, there while that review is taking place. You would want to have a completely neutral team standing by.

HILL: So we have a sense of some of the things, obviously,they will be looking into, what you noted there, the response time, obviously those potential warnings, at least the observations from the janitor that perhaps were not heeded.

What else will they be looking into and potentially recommending?

MCCABE: Well, we have -- we were -- we just talked about kind of the individual level regarding the chief and his department.

The next level up is the institutional level. Brown has been criticized and, again, vociferously by some of the family members of the students for not maintaining an adequate enough surveillance, video surveillance network, on campus. Now, of course, they have responded that they have 1,200 cameras.

But when we actually needed video surveillance, really, none of the Brown surveillance was very effective. So, we -- I understand they have already taken steps, to include to install new cameras. But that will undoubtedly be part of the review. And, really, after that, there's kind of a political dynamic to this

as well, because now the Trump administration has kind of reached out to Brown and said they may begin an investigation under the Clery Act, which requires that universities provide a certain level of safety precautions for all students.

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So, the administration -- Brown University really has a lot on their plate right now.

KEILAR: Can you talk a little bit more about that Clery Act investigation they're doing? Is that a standard process? Is that unusual? Can you hear us, Andy?

All right, I think we might have lost Andy, unfortunately. We're going to try to get that reestablished with him.

Obviously, a lot of questions, though, when it comes to Brown University.

HILL: Yes.

KEILAR: I mean, so many cameras, and yet they weren't catching a lot.

HILL: They weren't catching -- and there were no cameras, of course, on the backside of that building, which was essentially the perimeter of campus, which raises questions about, certainly in a spot like that, should there have been?

KEILAR: Yes, really good questions that they'll be looking at here in the days and weeks to come.

And still to come on our show: The U.S. military says it conducted a new strike against another alleged drug boat in the Pacific Ocean, the latest strike adding to what are growing tensions in the region.

HILL: Plus, there is new polling now that shows Americans are closing out 2025 with a pretty gloomy view of the country and also its leaders. So what could that mean as we roll into 2026?

And, also, the holiday hustle is on. If you are heading to the airport later, maybe hitting the road, you might want to stick with us first -- that much more ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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KEILAR: The U.S. military says it has conducted another strike against a boat that was allegedly smuggling drugs in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, and officials say the strike killed one person.

HILL: So at least 105 people have now been killed in these strikes on suspected drug boats since President Trump began his military campaign off the coast of Venezuela in September. Meantime, he is also stepping up his threats and warnings to

Venezuela's president as tensions rise over seized oil tankers in that region.

CNN senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak joining us now with more of the details.

So, Kevin, all of this unfolding as well as the U.N. Security Council is set to meet in just a matter of hours regarding Venezuela. Where do things stand?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, it certainly heightens tensions there.

That strike on the alleged drug boat was the 29th so far, at least that we know of. What U.S. Southern Command says is that this boat was transiting along known narcotrafficking routes and was engaging in narcotrafficking operations, although they didn't provide any evidence for those claims, just as they haven't in any of the previous strikes.

One thing is that -- interesting here is that when you look at the video they have put out, it does differ somewhat from what we have seen previously. Those previous strikes were conducted at some range. You see in some instances a projectile going down and the boat exploding, seeming to be a missile.

What we see in this instance is different. We see sort of individual splashes in the water, individual penetrations, ultimately the boat becoming engulfed in flames, which is suggesting that perhaps they're using a different weapon than they used previously.

When it comes to these oil tankers, what we heard from President Trump yesterday is that the U.S. remains in pursuit of the Bella 1. That's the massive oil tanker that the Coast Guard tried to board before it turned around and essentially started fleeing into the Caribbean Sea. He did say that the U.S. was confident that they would ultimately be able to interdict it.

When President Trump sort of brought in reporters yesterday, tomorrow, logo with the defense secretary and the secretary of Navy, I think there was an expectation that perhaps he would provide a little bit more information about what his endgame was when it comes to Venezuela. But when he was asked whether his goal was to ultimately oust the president there, Nicolas Maduro, he was somewhat equivocal.

Listen to what he said.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He can do whatever he wants. I mean, we have a massive or armada formed, the biggest we have 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) LIPTAK: So, tough rhetoric there but not shedding a whole lot of light on what actually is the endgame when it comes to this dramatic and escalating situation around Venezuela.

KEILAR: And President Trump has also announced the construction of a new class of Navy ships, Kevin. He's named them after himself. Tell us more about that.

LIPTAK: Yes, these will be the Trump class battleships. They're part of this initiative that the president is undertaken to build what he's called the Golden Fleet for the U.S. Navy, replacing what he calls old and tired and obsolete ships with new superior vessels.

He says these battleships will be fitted with guns and missiles at the highest level, cruise missiles, hypersonic missiles, rail guns. He says the most sophisticated lasers in the world. He also said there would be very A.I.-controlled, although he didn't really explain what exactly that meant. He also says that they will just be more aesthetically pleasing.

The president has said in the past that he thinks the Navy's current fleet is ugly. He thinks that it's too rusty and that he will be involved in the design here because he's -- quote -- "a very aesthetic person."

HILL: I'm going to leave it at that.

Kevin Liptak, appreciate it, as always. Thank you.

Still ahead here: tragedy in Texas, five killed after a plane transporting burn victims crashes into a bay.

KEILAR: Plus, three escaped inmates in Georgia recaptured overnight after they broke out of jail. The question that's now facing investigators, how were they able to get out in the first place?

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Stay with CNN NEWS CENTRAL for that story.

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HILL: A potential game changer in the fight against obesity. The maker of the popular GLP-1 weight loss drug Wegovy just got the green light from the FDA to sell a pill version.

KEILAR: Wegovy patients may now be able to swap their weekly injections for a daily pill.

CNN health reporter Jacqueline Howard is here to tell us more.

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JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: This is a major development that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a pill version of the Novo Nordisk Wegovy GLP-1 medication. Now, how does the pill form compare with the injections, which we know

have been widely used and widely available? Well, they're very similar. Both versions of this medication include the active ingredient semaglutide. They're also very similar in their safety and efficacy.

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When you look at clinical trial data, patients who took the Wegovy pill, they saw an average weight loss of 14 percent over the course of 64 weeks. We do know that the side effects are also very similar, mostly gastrointestinal.

So, really, a key difference here is how the medications are administered. With the Wegovy injections, they're given weekly, but with the Wegovy pill, it's taken daily. It's taken daily on an empty stomach. After patients take the pill, they should avoid food, drinks, and other medications for at least 30 minutes.

And there have been questions about how much the Wegovy pill will cost. Well, for the starter dose, that will cost about $149 for patients paying out of pocket. But with GLP-1 medications, over time, you do go up in dosage.

And we don't know yet how much those additional doses will cost. We're being told that those price tags will be announced next month in January.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: All right, Jacqueline Howard, thank you for that.

Now to some of the other headlines that we're watching this hour,

Coast Guard officials say at least five people have been killed in a plane crash in Texas, including a 2-year-old. They say a Mexican navy plane was transporting medical burn patients to a children's hospital in Galveston when it crashed into the bay during very foggy conditions. Eight people were on board, four naval crew and four civilians. Incredibly, a local resident says he dove to the wreckage in the water and managed to pull a woman out alive.

A second person was also rescued. One remains missing at this point. U.S. and Mexican officials are investigating the cause of the crash.

HILL: In Georgia, three inmates who escaped from a jail just outside of Atlanta are now back in custody. The breakout was discovered Monday morning during a routine security check, triggering a manhunt. One of the inmates was being held on murder charges.

The escapees were eventually recaptured overnight. The sheriff's office now investigating how they managed to escape.

And it turns out you still got a chance. Christmas Eve is your next opportunity to win that massive Powerball lottery. The estimated jackpot -- jackpot -- easy for me to say, now stands at $1.7 billion, making it the fourth largest in the game's history. Your one-time cash payout would be just over $781 million. Of course, that is before taxes.

Not a bad Christmas gift, though, although perhaps the Grinch would like to remind you that your chances of winning are one in $292 million.

KEILAR: But even he would admit you have a chance after his heart grew and he turned around.

HILL: Yes, you're right. And he would share if he won, I bet, when the heart grew.

KEILAR: I hope so. I would share with you.

HILL: Yes. I would share with you too.

KEILAR: Ahead: the Justice Department releasing roughly 30,000 pages in the latest trove of documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. CNN combing through this new batch.

We're going to bring you the latest details next on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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