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Zelenskyy Shares Revised Peace Plan with the United States; Venezuelan Opposition Leader Uncertain to Attend Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony. Aired 3-3:45a ET

Aired December 09, 2025 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church. Just ahead.

Ukraine's President says he will not surrender territory to Russia as he prepares to share a revised peace plan with the U.S. after meetings with European leaders.

Is the U.S. crackdown on drug smugglers having any effect on the streets? We will break it down.

And how Google is hoping its new A.I.-powered glasses will make you forget all about using your smartphone to get answers.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: I appreciate you joining us.

Ukraine's President is holding firm to his country's red line that it is impossible legally and morally to surrender Ukrainian territory to Russia as part of a U.S.-backed peace plan.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he has the backing of European allies on that. He met with his British, French and German counterparts in London to discuss the sensitive issues in the Trump administration's peace plan. Those include security guarantees and territorial concessions.

Ukraine's President also travelled to Brussels to speak with NATO and E.U. leaders. He says it's critical that Europe and the U.S. work together to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war. And he says he will send a revised peace proposal to the U.S. on Tuesday.

Well earlier, I spoke with Keir Giles, a senior consulting fellow with the Russia and Eurasia program for Chatham House. And I asked him whether Zelenskyy's pushing back on territory concessions would push Putin to threaten war with Europe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEIR GILES, SR. CONSULTING FELLOW FOR THE RUSSIA AND EURASIA PROGRAM, CHATHAM HOUSE: Well, that's one of the few things that we do actually know about the latest shape of this peace plan. And it shouldn't be a surprise that European leaders are backing Zelenskyy and saying, no, we cannot reward aggression with handing over land, as the United States wants to do, because that is an open invitation again to Russia to push forward and do it again if it gets U.S. endorsement.

So we shouldn't be surprised they're standing firm on that. But the other element that's up for question is known, and that is what security guarantees Europe could give to Ukraine in circumstances when the United States and its new national security strategy is not describing Russia as a threat. So it is far past time that Europe were able to go it alone and actually step up and provide a means of providing for its own security and insert itself into the conversation about its own future, as you heard your correspondent just describing.

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CHURCH: The Trump administration's new national security strategy blames European leaders for blocking efforts to end the war in Ukraine. The document quietly released late last week also has some interesting insights on relations with China.

CNN's Mike Valerio has details.

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MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the reaction from China about the new U.S. national security strategy is certainly no celebration, even though the Trump administration appears to reserve its harshest rhetoric for European allies and reframes America's relationship with China as one of mostly economic competition, not a struggle between democracy and autocracy, as former President Biden used to put it.

Commentators and state media in China are largely united in this viewpoint, that no matter what President Trump says, the U.S. is still going to try to do whatever it can to try to contain China's rise. So to that point, Xinhua, China's official news agency, is saying the logic of power politics is clearly reflected in the report.

"The Global Times," a popular state-run tabloid, quotes a Chinese expert as saying the new strategy "repeatedly emphasizes the need to eliminate any external competitors or threats to U.S. interests. This message is quite clear. The mindset of strategic competition with China still exists, but the focus has shifted from a global perspective to concentrating on the western hemisphere."

Now, one of the biggest frustrations from China's perspective is what the new strategy says about Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own. In short, the U.S. wants no change to the status quo, but the White House also says Taiwan and nearby U.S. allies need to spend more to potentially defend the island democracy. Taiwan just agreed to spend about $40 billion on buying additional U.S. weapons, and we asked a political scientist what he's watching for on that front in the year ahead.

Listen.

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WEN-TI SUNG, GLOBAL CHINA HUB, ATLANTIC COUNCIL: I think Taiwan are looking towards Washington to see whether this show of goodwill and responsibility will finally lead to more consolidation and more predictability in a firm U.S. support position for Taiwan going forward.

VALERIO: China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs also said on Monday that militarily defending Taiwan is a red line that the United States cannot cross, with a spokesperson telling reporters the following, quote, "the U.S. should fulfill its commitments made by its leaders, handle the Taiwan issue with utmost caution, and stop condoning and supporting separatist forces seeking independence through force."

That warning coincides with Chinese analysts' assessment on evolving wording about Taiwan from Washington D.C., with one scholar telling "The Global Times" that the Taiwan statements from the White House right now are more explicit, more militarized, and more geopolitical than the first national security strategy that President Trump put out in his first administration in 2017, and also stronger than what former President Biden released at the beginning of his presidency.

Mike Valerio, CNN, Beijing.

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CHURCH: Well, now to the latest fallout from the U.S. military's deadly and controversial double-tap strike on an alleged drug boat.

Top congressional Republicans and Democrats say they want to review the unedited video of that follow-up strike that killed two survivors back in September. Nine people died in the initial strike.

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UNKNOWN: I think it's really important that this video be made public.

KIRSTEN WALKER, MODERATOR, "MEET THE PRESS": Okay, do you think that the video should be released in full to the American public, as President Trump has said he would support?

SEN. TOM COTTON (R-AK), CHAIRMAN, SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: So I personally don't, I don't have any problem with it.

REP. ADAM SMITH (D-WA): They ought to release the video. If they release the video, then everything that the Republicans are saying will clearly be portrayed to be completely false.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT AND "STATE OF THE UNION" ANCHOR: Should it be released?

SEN. JOHN CURTIS (R-UT): I think if you're going to err, in my opinion, you err on the side of transparency. The American people, they like to make decisions, too, based on facts, not just on what we tell them, and the more we can give them that information, the more comfortable they're going to feel.

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CHURCH: President Trump says he'll let Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth decide what to do about the video, and Hegseth is under mounting pressure to release it. A measure tucked into the annual defense policy bill would limit his travel expense budget unless he lets the House and Senate Armed Services Committees see the video.

Sources say Hegseth, along with the Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are expected to brief the so-called Gang of Eight in the coming day. That's the bipartisan group of congressional leaders who are up on national security and classified intelligence matters and help shape policy.

Well as questions mount over the drug boat strikes, and lawmakers press for more transparency, another arm of the government's drug- fighting efforts seems to be making a noticeable impact, the U.S. Coast Guard. As CNN's Paula Newton reports, new funding and deployments have helped drive a staggering surge in drug seizures.

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PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You are watching U.S. Coast Guard video of a takedown mission of alleged cocaine traffickers. This just won in a record-breaking year for the federal agency, seizing more than three times the amount of cocaine this fiscal year to September 30th than the annual average over the past few decades.

REAR ADM. JEFF NOVAK, U.S. COAST GUARD: We had more ships in the transit zone, and then in August of this year, we further surged assets into the eastern Pacific Ocean to increase our effectiveness against narco-traffickers and transnational criminal organizations.

NEWTON: Why a record-breaking year? What have you seen?

NOVAK: Collectively, we've worked to understand where the drug flows are, and then with an increase of resources, we can better align our assets to where potential smuggling routes may be.

NEWTON (voice-over): The surge in resources since January means the Coast Guard has been responsible for some 80 percent of drug seizures at sea this year. In fact, this recent offload in Florida was the most cocaine seized by a single cutter in one patrol in Coast Guard history.

TULSI GABBARD, U.S. DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: This kind of investment is what has set the Coast Guard, has unleashed the Coast Guard to be able to deliver the kind of historic results, again, that these men and women signed up to do.

NEWTON (voice-over): The Coast Guard is the lead federal agency for maritime drug interdiction. While U.S. military involvement has been controversial, it is the Coast Guard that has been most effective in seizing drugs.

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Perhaps more importantly, are any of these missions reducing the amount of drugs on American streets?

In San Francisco, where illicit drug use has long challenged the city, the sheriff says anecdotally he's seen a difference.

PAUL MIYAMOTO, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA SHERIFF: In the effort, either at the federal, state, or local level to help with the infusion of drugs into our communities is helpful and welcome assistance. Regardless of politics, drugs affect everyone in the community, and by making sure that we don't have a flow of drugs into our communities, it's very helpful.

NEWTON (voice-over): Sheriff Miyamoto stresses that a local, state, and federal approach has been key in his city. It's been about collaboration, he says, not only the surge in resources at sea.

And some human rights advocates contend the record-breaking drug trafficking operations will only serve as a Band-Aid to what is an increase in drug production, especially cocaine.

JOHN WALSH, DIRECTOR OF DRUG POLICY, WOLA: The starting point here is to realize that interdiction per se and supply, overseas supply control is very limited and can result in sort of episodic supply reductions and disruptions, but those are almost always quickly overtaken because traffickers adapt.

NEWTON (voice-over): But the Coast Guard says it's adapting too, using the surge of resources, technology, and intelligence to disrupt drug traffickers for the long haul.

Paula Newton, CNN.

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CHURCH: The Nobel Peace Prize ceremony is coming up this week, but it's still unclear if this year's recipient, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Machado, will be attending in person. Her mother and daughter have been spotted in Oslo in the lead-up to the ceremony, and organizers say she is expected at a press conference later today.

CNN's Stefano Pozzebon has more on the reclusive political figure and why she's had to be in hiding for nearly a year.

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STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR (voice-over): If Maria Corina Machado attends the ceremony to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in person, it will be the first time she is seen in public in almost a year. 2025 has been a roller coaster for the Venezuelan opposition leader, from leading mass demonstrations in Caracas to hiding in her own country, and now the world's prestigious recognition.

In between, chasing the goal that defined her life, rescuing Venezuela from the rule of authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro.

MARIA CORINA MACHADO, VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION LEADER (through translator): What they have done is brutal. More than 2500 people arrested, including more than 150 children, imprisoned children.

POZZEBON (voice-over): The Venezuelan government denies these allegations, but the prize committee said the Nobel was awarded for Machado's efforts last year when she defied all expectations to build a movement that challenged Maduro at the polls. Independent observers and CNN on analysis found Machado's candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, beat Maduro by a landslide. And yet Venezuelan authorities claim Maduro had won, without showing evidence and triggering a brutal wave of repression that forced Machado into hiding.

A few days earlier she told CNN that exile was not an option.

POZZEBON: If you consider a plan B, are you open to the idea that maybe one day you'll have to join Juan, Leopoldo, Antonio and everybody else who is abroad?

MACHADO: We will win, we will succeed. And we will bring everyone that has been forced to leave to come back. That's my only plan.

POZZEBON (voice-over): This year Machado's actions sparked controversy as she cozied up to U.S. President Donald Trump and his anti-narco- trafficking campaign. The U.S. claims to have killed more than 80 alleged drug traffickers without showing any evidence. Despite many of them thought to be Venezuelans, Machado has applauded Trump's actions, at times seemingly supporting a military intervention, and dedicating her prize to Trump himself.

Her victory, celebrated by Venezuelans around the world, but silenced at home where Maduro still rules, unabashed.

Stefano Pozzebon, CNN, Caracas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: A plumbing system fault caused damage at the world's largest art museum. Still ahead, how officials are dealing with a water leak at the Louvre in Paris. And what other issues the famous facility could soon be facing.

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CHURCH: Japan's Prime Minister says at least 30 people are injured after a massive 7.5 magnitude earthquake hit the country Monday night. CNN's Hanako Montgomery has more on how the region is coping.

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HANAKO MONTGOEMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A powerful 7.5 magnitude earthquake was reported off the shores of northeastern Japan late on Monday evening. And this earthquake was so powerful that it caused this office building to rattle very violently.

You can see the blinds here actually tremoring in this quake, also piles of copy paper falling to the ground. Now in a separate video you can see surveillance cameras across Japan shaking at the time of this earthquake. And in a separate video also debris fell due to this earthquake causing damage to cars parked in that nearby area.

Now the Japanese government initially issued tsunami warnings for three prefectures after this earthquake. Those warnings were issued to Hokkaido, Aomori and Iwate prefectures. That means that waves up to three meters in height could have been hitting Japan's shorelines.

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However the Japanese government has now lifted all tsunami advisories, all tsunami warnings, which is very good news for the country as the damage might not be as extensive as initially feared. But the Japanese Prime Minister urged residents to remain vigilant, to exercise caution, especially in the coming days. This is what the Prime Minister said.

SANAE TAKAICHI, JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Working closely with local authorities and under the principle of putting human life first, the entire government must devote its full efforts to emergency disaster response.

MONTGOMERY: Now we have to remember that this earthquake hit Japan very late on Monday night, so it was difficult for the Japanese government to ascertain the extent of damage. But now that's daytime here, the government is confirming initial reports of injuries and damage. So far they've said that at least 30 individuals have been injured.

Now we're also seeing reports of some power outages in the northern part of the country where again the biggest damage and the most severe damage was reported. Now also it's important to note that the Japan Meteorological Agency has issued a mega quake advisory for this part of the nation.

Now what that means is in the next week or so residents are expected to exercise extreme caution and stay extra vigilant about a magnitude 8 earthquake or higher. Of course Japan is no stranger to earthquakes, but they're now saying that because of that very powerful 7.5 magnitude earthquake, the chances of a mega quake happening in the next week or so have increased slightly to now one percent probability. But again the Japanese government is urging people not to be alarmed, to remain calm and also again exercise caution.

Hanako Montgomery, CNN, Tokyo. (END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: A water leak at the Louvre in Paris has damaged hundreds of books which will now have to be dried out and repaired. The leak has exposed further issues at the world's largest art museum.

CNN's Melissa Bell has that plus the latest on the investigation into last month's jewel heist.

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MELISSA BELL, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: More difficult headlines for the Louvre Museum here in Paris is the world's most visited museum. It seems had some sort of water leak back in November that caused damage to some 300 to 400 books in its Egyptian antiquities department.

We understand from museum directors that none of these were particularly precious first editions, simply 19th or 20th century books that were consulted by Egyptologists and there is some hope that many of them can be restored. Still another difficult headline just weeks after that spectacular October heist that so captured the world's attention.

Even now the jewels have not been recovered. There have been a number of arrests however, four of the suspected burglars and several of those believed to have been their accomplices have been arrested. The search continues though for the jewels themselves.

There was also we understand in the autumn one of the galleries that houses Egyptian vases and certain offices that had to be closed because of structural concerns and what we saw just a few weeks ago was the publication here in France -- from France's public audit body the Cour des Comptes accusing the museum of having overspent on acquiring art at the expense of refurbishing its ancient infrastructure.

That report of course coming after the heist and really pointing to a lack of deficiencies in the updating of the museum's infrastructure and security and if all that were not enough there will also now be a strike by some of the museum staff on 15th of December. They are complaining about working conditions and the difficulty that comes from that poor infrastructure that I mentioned.

So a difficult few months here for the Louvre Museum in Paris.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: It was a bittersweet celebration as Syrians marked the first anniversary of the fall of the brutal Assad regime. Now a former jihadist rebel leader is being welcomed on the world stage. We will look back at our interview with Ahmed Alshara in the final days of Assad's reign.

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[03:25:00]

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CHURCH: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom," I'm Rosemary Church. I want to check today's top stories for you.

Ukraine's President is shoring up support from European allies as negotiations over the U.S. peace plan continue. Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with European and NATO officials in London and Brussels on Monday. He says Ukraine needs security guarantees and that the country will not surrender its territory to Russia despite Russian demands.

The Nobel Peace Prize ceremony is just a day away and it's still unclear if lawyer Maria Machado will attend in person. The Venezuelan opposition leader has been in hiding for nearly a year in the wake of President Maduro's post-election crackdown.

[03:30:06]

Nobel organizers say she is expected to speak at a press conference later today but she has yet to make an appearance in Oslo.

American farmers could be getting some relief from President Trump's ongoing trade war. Mr. Trump announced a U.S. $12 billion farmer aid package during a White House roundtable on Monday, most of the funds will be directed toward crop farmers through one-time payments. The U.S. Agriculture Secretary says the funds will be dispersed at latest by February 2026.

Israeli authorities have raided the compound of the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees in East Jerusalem. The head of the agency, UNRWA, says Israeli police forcibly entered with trucks and forklifts and they replaced the U.N. flag with an Israeli flag, adding that they cut communications and seized I.T. equipment as well as furniture. Israel says the raid was part of a standard debt collection procedure but the U.N. denied claims of unpaid taxes and denounced the raid.

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STEPHANE DUJARRIC, U.N. SPOKESPERSON: The Secretary-General urges Israel to immediately take all necessary steps to help restore, preserve and uphold the inviolability of UNRWA premises and refrain from taking any further action with regard to UNRWA premises.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: It is a hopeful yet precarious time in Syria, which just celebrated one year since the fall of the Assad regime. Rebels led by Ahmed al-Sharra seized Damascus on December 8th last year, ending nearly 14 years of a brutal civil war and a half-century of iron- fisted rule by the Assad family. CNN interviewed al-Sharra, who is now the country's President, just days before Damascus was captured.

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh takes us back to those revolutionary times. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So this was the last time anyone ever saw this man as he was known as Abu Mohammed al-Julani, a designated terrorist.

People listening to this are going to wonder why they should believe you. You are still a specially designated global terrorist by the United States with a $10 million bounty on your head.

Right after our interview, a statement declared that he would be known by his real name, Ahmed al-Sharra, and just three days later, he would become the President of a new Syria.

We got so many questions after our exclusive interview, and I think now, a year on, it's time to answer some of those questions.

How did we get that interview?

Well, senior producer Gul Tissous and I have covered Syria and the region for many years, and as we watched those lightning-fast advances by rebel forces, we felt this was different.

Aleppo, the second city, was captured in days, and no matter what this was, we knew we had to get in there and see what was happening for ourselves on the ground. Thanks to contacts we built over the years, the two of us and cameraman Brice Lenay made it in. We were the only Western journalists inside Syria during the offensive and the last Western journalists to enter Syria under Assad.

It was a high-risk assignment. It took a lot of planning by CNN, but that's what we do. It was a historic moment, and CNN was there.

Another question I got was why I was wearing a hijab during the interview and not when I was reporting from liberated Aleppo during that same trip. We can now reveal that interview took place in Idlib province, not Aleppo. It's a place throughout the war had been under the control of Islamist groups, and female journalists have always covered our hair out of respect for the local culture and norms.

Al-Julani or Al-Sharaa did not ask me to wear it. His advisors did.

Meeting him and his advisors gave us a glimpse into their confidence and morale. As we were leaving, they said, see you in Damascus, and three days later, they took the capital.

A year on, I look back at this, and it still feels surreal. It was through our interview that the world was introduced to a man who had undergone an incredible transformation from jihadist to now a leader on the world stage.

Syria is still facing a lot of challenges, and some of its minorities have endured a year of horrific events. Al-Sharaa is still promising a Syria for everyone after Assad, but his message has been clear. They need the world's support to make that happen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Imagine getting directions, answering a call or searching the internet without even touching your phone. Still to come, how Google is using artificial intelligence to power its new smart glasses.

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[03:35:00]

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CHURCH: Welcome back to CNN, this is your Business Breakout. Markets in the Asia-Pacific region are mixed in today's trading. Investors around the world are expecting the U.S. Federal Reserve to cut interest rates when it meets on Wednesday.

And these are the business headlines.

President Trump has approved the export of computer chips used to help complete tasks performed by A.I. The Nvidia chips are just one of many chips wanted by China.

[03:40:01]

The President suggested the U.S. government will take a cut of the profit from those sales and says the Department of Defense is working on deals with other chip companies as well.

Paramount Skydance has launched a hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery. It's offering $30 a share for the entire company and that includes its linear networks like CNN and the Discovery Channel. The WBD board accepted a Netflix offer on Friday for Warner Bros. Movie Studio and HBO.

Jimmy Kimmel and his late-night show will stay on ABC through May 2027 after extending his contract for one year. The network briefly pulled "Jimmy Kimmel Live" in September over his comments about Charlie Kirk's suspected killer. ABC's action sparked a boycott of Disney, which owns the network, and a national debate over threats to free speech.

Well imagine being able to look at something and information about it appears right before your eyes. That is the goal of Google's new smart glasses.

CNN's Lisa Eadicicco got the chance to try out a prototype.

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LISA EADICICCO, CNN BUSINESS TECH EDITOR: I had the chance to try out some prototype smart glasses from Google that will be launching next year. The company is working with partners like Samsung, Warby Parker and Gentle Monster to design the glasses.

Google has shown this prototype before but what's new is the software that it was running on. I got an early look at some apps like Google Maps and Uber that gives us a closer look at what the glasses will be like when consumers are able to buy them.

And the idea behind these glasses isn't necessarily to replace your phone but to make certain things easier so that you don't have to reach for your phone as often. And after using these glasses, I can kind of get a sense of what that's like.

For example, when using Google Maps, I was able to look ahead to see turn-by-turn directions and then glance down to see the map. That's just one example.

Glasses like these are also really useful for live language translation. In my demo, I had someone speak to me in Chinese and have the glasses show and also recite translations in English in real time.

Now, this isn't Google's first time trying this. They released Google Glass roughly a decade ago but those glasses largely failed to catch on with consumers for a few reasons. They were expensive, they weren't very functional, they didn't look like a pair of glasses.

But Google and other companies that are in the smart glasses race like Meta especially and Snap believe that things will be different this time around because of A.I., which allows you to do things like look at books on a shelf and ask for details about it and really process information about the world around you and get answers in real time without having to take out your phone.

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CHURCH: And thanks so much for your company, I'm Rosemary Church. Have yourselves a wonderful day. "World Sport" is coming up next.

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