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Americans Prioritizing Saving More, Spending Less in 2026; At Least 40 Killed, 119 Injured in Fire at Swiss Ski Resort Bar; DOJ Says ISIS-inspired Nye Attack Plot Near Charlotte Foiled, FBI Charged an 18-year-old; Trump Warns Iran After Deadly Protests Across Country; Italian Pasta Makers to Avoid Major Tariff Hike After U.S. Probe of Underpricing Complaints; Some U.S. Tariff Hikes Delayed Amid Calls for Lower Prices; CDC Says More Than 2,000 Measles Cases Reported in the U.S. In 2025. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired January 02, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

JADE WARSHAW, CO-HOST, "THE RAMSEY SHOW": And then after I've done that, now I can start to look over at my debt. It's just doing one thing at a time. Focused intensity over time creates momentum.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Yeah. So easy to put something on the credit card, maybe not this year. Maybe that's the resolution. Jade Warshaw, thank you so much for being with us.

WARSHAW: Thank you so much for having me.

KEILAR: And a new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

Swiss authorities confirming the likely cause of yesterday's tragic fire that killed at least 40 people at a ski resort bar. We have a live report on the investigation. Plus, the FBI detailing what they call an ISIS-inspired terror plot. They say it would have been a deadly attack on New Year's Eve. And the comeback no one wanted. More than 2,000 measles cases reported across the country in 2025, fueling concerns the country could lose its measles elimination status.

We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central".

We begin this hour with the deadly New Year's fire in Switzerland. Today, some terrifying video from inside the bar is surfacing as investigators confirm, it was sparklers on top of champagne bottles that are likely to blame. And a warning, what you are about to see is disturbing.

This is video that was taken just moments before the flames began spreading so quickly. This is sort of just the initiation of it. You can see a man jumping frantically as he tried to put out the fire. These images appearing to show the moment the sparklers on those bottles came too close to the ceiling. And for the first time, we're also hearing from survivors who were able to escape. Here's CNN's Nada Bashir.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What began as a night of celebration turned into a nightmare. As crowds rang in the New Year, a deadly fire tore through a packed bar in the luxury Alpine resort of Crans-Montana in southern Switzerland. Swiss Police say around 40 people were killed and over a hundred and ten injured, many of them severely. Adding it will take several days to return bodies to families.

BEATRICE PILLOUD, ATTORNEY GENERAL, VALAIS CANTON (through translator): Some hypotheses can be confirmed. As things stand, everything points to the fire starting from sparklers or flares placed in champagne bottles that came too close to the ceiling, which very rapidly led to a flash over fire.

BASHIR (voice-over): The fire broke out just after 1:30 in the morning inside a bar called Le Constellation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): People shouted fire, fire and at first, we thought it was a joke. Then suddenly, there was a very large cloud of black smoke. We could not breathe anymore and in our heads, we knew we had to get out. But there was a crowd and we couldn't leave, so we tried to hide.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): There were people screaming and then people lying on the ground, probably dead. They had jackets over their faces. Well, that's what I saw, nothing more.

BASHIR (voice-over): The bar is located in the heart of Crans- Montana, an exclusive resort town known for skiing, fine dining and nightlife. On Thursday morning, authorities closed the area to the public and declared a state of emergency. They added, the investigation would look into whether safety standards were met. Swiss Confederation President, Guy Parmelin described it as one of the worst tragedies to have faced his country.

Saying on social media, "What should have been a happy occasion on the first day of the year in Crans-Montana has turned into a tragic loss that touches the whole country and far beyond." Few could imagine the first day of 2026 would begin this way. For a resort known for sweeping Alpine views, authorities are now focused on finding answers and preventing another tragedy.

Nada Bashir, CNN, in London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Turning back to Breaking News that we're following out of North Carolina. An 18-year-old man is now in custody for allegedly plotting a deadly ISIS-inspired attack on New Year's Eve. Investigators say the suspect was planning to use knives and hammers to carry out the attack at a grocery store and fast-food restaurant near Charlotte.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES C. BARNACLE JR., SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, FBI CHARLOTTE: What we found was a manifesto which the federal complaint alleges contained detailed plans to execute a massacre on New Year's Eve. The JTTF collected evidence showing he turned his back on his country and his fellow citizens by pledging allegiance to ISIS with the intent of becoming a martyr.

We allege Sturdivant was willing to sacrifice himself by committing a terrorist attack using knives and a hammer to support the murder, torture and extreme violence that ISIS represents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:05:00]

KEILAR: CNN's Dianne Gallagher is in Charlotte with more on the investigation.

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Federal agents say they stopped a teenager who was planning to use knives and hammers in a deadly attack on New Year's Eve in support of ISIS. The 18-year-old who's from Mint Hill, North Carolina, that's just outside of Charlotte, made his first appearance in federal court Friday morning. Christian Sturdivant is charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

Now, the FBI says he planned to use knives and hammers which they found under his bed, along with a manifesto, in a search this week of his home according to their complaint and he wanted to use them to injure and kill shoppers at a Mint Hill grocery store and the nearby Burger King where he works. So, it is important to point out that though this was planned to take place on New Year's Eve, it was not targeting a New Year's Eve celebration.

Still, the U.S. attorney told me that based on notes, it's believed that Sturdivant wanted to target Christians, Jews and the LGBTQ community. Now in December, federal agents were made aware of some TikToks using ISIS ideology from a screen name that they later linked to Sturdivant. They said that throughout the course of the month, he communicated with not one, but two covert online officers who he thought were members of ISIS, but were actually with the NYPD and the FBI.

He allegedly told the NYPD undercover that he would do "jihad" soon and he began talking about the plan specifically, including sending photos of the weapons to the FBI undercover agent. Now in a December 29th search of his home, a warrant indicates that they found handwritten papers, one of them labeled "New Year's 2026 attack" that described a plan to stab around 20 to 21 people before being shot by law enforcement.

And according to the complaint this isn't the first time that Sturdivant has had interactions with the FBI. Back in 2022, when he was just 14-years-old, there was an investigation after it seemed that he was talking with somebody who was purportedly an unidentified member of ISIS in Europe telling him to dress in all black knock on doors and then stab people. He allegedly tried to follow through with that but was stopped by his grandfather. The special agent in charge on Friday, said that investigation in 2022 was closed after the family got him mental health assistance and off of social media.

Dianne Gallagher, CNN, back to you.

KEILAR: All right. Thank you, Dianne, for that. And still to come, a school resource officer will be the first person to stand trial for the deadly school shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. We'll examine the case. Plus, police search for the killers of a couple whose two young children were left alive in the home.

And straight ahead, shoppers have been caught in the middle of President Trump's tariff wars. Where things stand as you go shopping this year from pasta to patio furniture. We'll have that and much more coming up on "CNN New Central."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:12:20]

KEILAR: President Trump is issuing a stern warning to Iran as protests turn violent across that country. The president warning Iran's regime against killing peaceful protesters, saying the U.S. will come to their rescue and that the U.S. military is locked and loaded and ready to go.

Iranian state media says demonstrators stormed a police station in Azna last night. At least three people were killed and more than a dozen were injured. Iran has seen a swarm of protests nationwide over worsening economic conditions.

CNN's Kevin Liptak is in West Palm Beach, Florida near where President Trump is spending his holidays. Kevin, has the White House said how the U.S. might intervene if Iran's regime is cracking down because this is a line the president is drawing here?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, it is and they have not said what exactly is locked and loaded as the president put it, in that Truth that he sent out at three o'clock in the morning. You know, the president being sort of characteristically vague about what actions he is considering. But when you talk to officials, they do describe sort of a hypothetical list at least, many of which stop well short of actually firing missiles into Iran.

One could be sort of akin to what the Biden administration did the last time there were major protests in Iran back in 2022, which is when they sort of used satellites to bolster internet connectivity in the region, allowing some of these protesters to get around the regime's crackdown on information. You could also picture the president using sanctions potentially on figures in the regime or on the oil or banking industries, of course, Iran already has a heap of U.S. sanctions on it, so not clear how effective those would be.

And then the other hypothetical that you hear officials talk about is potentially some sort of cyber action and we've seen the U.S. in the past, use those kind of steps to try and stymie some of the regime's activities. But to be clear, these are all sort of hypothetical options. There doesn't appear to have been a list drawn up for the president to choose from as he makes this threat. But I think, you know, it's clear, the president seems willing to go further on Iran than some of his predecessors have in the past.

He does seem to have a bigger appetite for risk when it comes to that country. We saw the president target Iranian nuclear sites with airstrikes back in June. Even showing support for these protesters is a step further than, for example, President Obama took back in 2009. There was a fear at that point that voicing support for the protesters could give the regime sort of pretext to claim that they were backed by the West. And so, Obama, at that point, said nothing and later he said that that had been a mistake.

[14:15:00]

And so, not precisely clear what the president is envisioning here, but clearly drawing a line that I think is drawing certainly some backlash as well from the authorities in Tehran.

KEILAR: And Kevin, the White House says the president was out doing some shopping earlier today. Can you tell us for what?

LIPTAK: Yes, I can. It's interesting, we've been down here I think for 15 days and the president hasn't gone anywhere except his golf club and to Mar-a-Lago. And so, it was interesting when the motorcade kind of diverted this morning to go to a stone warehouse. He was shopping for marble and onyx for the ballroom that he's building up at the White House. It was kind of on the side of the highway, next to the train tracks, in West Palm Beach and so, the president looking at some of these samples as he's thinking about that massive project that is getting underway back up at the White House.

We just learned in the last couple of days that the White House does plan to bring this ballroom before those boards that would have to approve of it. There are those two boards that the White House, when they began tearing the East Wing down, had not yet consulted with, but have said that as they prepare for this vertical construction that they will go before them and seek their approval. But their timeline is extraordinarily condensed. They say they want to start construction by April. Of course, the goal in all of this is to get this finished by the time the president ends his term in 2028.

KEILAR: Yeah. That would be quite quickly done. Kevin Liptak, live for us in West Palm Beach, thank you. A new year and a new delay on some of President Trump's tariffs and this time, homebuyers and decorators will cheer. The 25 percent levy currently on kitchen cabinets and upholstered furniture will stay at that level, will not jump to 50 percent and 30 percent as was initially planned for the first day of 2026. The White House credits "productive negotiations" with trade partners for the postponement of this. The tariff hikes are now set for 2027, so let's turn out a Business Journalist, Roben Farzad, who hosts the "Full Disclosure" podcast. All right, Roben, this postponement of higher furniture tariffs, do you see it as a walk back because they aren't working or is this a sign that tariffs are working in terms of getting other nations to do what Trump wants?

ROBEN FARZAD, BUSINESS JOURNALIST AND HOST OF "FULL DISCLOSURE" PODCAST: Of course, he wants to say that it's a good faith sign that we're seeing so much progress that I don't have to be punitive in doing this. But I think a more realistic read is that the Supreme Court might just knock all of it down and he's sensing, especially going into the '26 midterms that there's still so much frustration over prices. Nobody seems to be believing me on these things, I'm losing clout, there's diminishing clout on it, so I might as well get some rhetorical gains from it while I can.

And I mean the same thing with pasta. I've honestly lost track since April's Liberation Day. If you remember, how much fear there was this time last year into the interregnum and inauguration and then consummated with April, and then all the different things that he's pulled back and diluted since, it's kind of obviated all of it.

KEILAR: And pasta tariffs set to go up to 107 percent, but the new proposed rates put them in the 25 to 29 percent range, and it actually originated from U.S. companies filing an official complaint that two specific Italian pasta makers were seriously underpricing their product. A commerce official told CNN that Italian pasta makers have addressed many of the concerns. Truly, spaghetti diplomacy? What are you thinking about this?

FARZAD: It's paradoxical, isn't it, that people are complaining about kitchen table issues and especially prices at the grocery. And here we are, the Commerce Department is accusing the Italians of dumping. You're not charging us enough for this, we have to protect our domestic producers as if that's really a thing. I mean, who but the biggest snobs pay attention to where that stuff is coming from you know at a Kroger or a Publix. I mean, shows you I haven't had pasta for a while.

But anyway, I digress. It's also important that he has a friend in Giorgia Maloney, one of his foremost friends in the premier of Italy in that otherwise hostile region to him. So, this seems to be a beginning-of-the-year gift and a concession. Look at the other various other things with rare earths, with Mexico and furniture, for example, might be showing the industry in North Carolina which has been hollowed out that, look, I went to bat for you and we got the revenue and now, we've got the gains and you're competitive again. But I think that remains to be seen.

KEILAR: What does it really mean for consumers? I mean yes, on these specific items. You're buying say a bathroom vanity, maybe you're purchasing, unlike you, someone really likes their pasta. They're buying a lot of bucatini or something, I don't know. But just in general, where does this stand for American consumers when it comes to tariffs?

FARZAD: If you're a consumer coming off of that inflationary shock in '22 and actually, in that in that COVID secondary housing boom where everybody was complaining about furniture prices, fixtures, you couldn't get a washer/dryer and everything.

[14:20:00]

You're happy when China and Korea and the Europeans dumped their hardware on the United States. I mean, you're not -- there's still this notional industry that needs to be protected in the United States. You're happy for China to clone some of the best furniture models that came out of High Point, North Carolina and you're not as worried about the United States getting tariff revenue and protecting some sort of forgotten manufacturer in the United States. That applies to towels. It applies to foodstuffs if you're farmers, you want to export that stuff, you want waivers. So, you're very much at cross purposes with what Donald Trump thinks correct trade policy is.

KEILAR: What if you're a small business owner? Where are you?

FARZAD: Depends. Are you a small business owner trying to turn out you know handmade artisanal furniture pieces for MICAH in the United States? Are you a small business owner looking to buy your wares for a boutique hotel or for a condo that you're dressing up? There are several sides of this trade right there. Some people out there really want protection and are really complaining about this, and others out there saying that I want the benefits of gains from trade. I want that Walmart Best Buy high of getting these things for a fraction of what maybe they used to cost decades ago.

KEILAR: Roben Farzad, Happy New Year to you. Always great to get your perspective on these things.

FARZAD: Likewise, my friend.

KEILAR: And still to come, new numbers showing just how many measles cases were seen nationwide last year and how ongoing outbreaks could cost the U.S. its measles elimination status.

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[14:25:48]

KEILAR: It may be a new year, but a lingering concern remains about measles in the U.S. Now, public health experts fear the continuous outbreak of cases that we saw in 2025 could strip our country of its long-held elimination status. As CNN Health Reporter, Jacqueline Howard reports, it's been decades since the U.S. reported a similar number of measles infections.

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: There were more than 2,000 measles cases reported here in the United States in the year 2025. Now, that number is as of Tuesday, a total of 2,065 confirmed measles cases here in the U.S. The last time we had more than 2,000 cases in the U.S. within a year was in 1992 and that was just a couple of years after health officials updated recommendations to say children should receive two doses of the Measles, Mumps And Rubella Vaccine instead of one dose. So it's been decades since we've seen this many measles cases here in the United States. And because of vaccination efforts in the year 2000, measles was declared eliminated here in the U.S. Elimination means there has been no sustained transmission of the same measles virus strain for at least a year. But because of the measles outbreaks seen here in the U.S. in 2025 and the possibility of those outbreaks being linked, that's why there are now concerns that our elimination status could be lost.

And in October, we asked the World Health Organization what would happen if elimination status is lost. The WHO said this, "There are no formal consequences of losing measles elimination status. However, having measles again as an endemic disease will have a profound negative impact on communities, including preventable deaths among some of the most vulnerable populations."

And countries that lose elimination status, they sometimes are asked to submit an action plan. That plan may lay out vaccination efforts to get more people vaccinated or response efforts, if there is an outbreak, how the country will respond. So, we may see that step taken if elimination status is lost here in the United States.

KEILAR: Jacqueline Howard, thank you so much. And still to come, the FBI releasing details of an alleged New Year's Eve terror attack that was stopped. How this is being linked to an apparent resurgence of ISIS.

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