Return to Transcripts main page

CNN This Morning

Congress Passes Bill To Avert Government Shutdown; Strike Involving Contracted Amazon Delivery Drivers Enters Third Day; United States Scraps $10M Bounty For Syrian Rebel Leader; Stopgap Bill Includes $100 Billion In Disaster Aid Funding; Apple Urged To Remove A.I. Feature After False News Summaries. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired December 21, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Christmas, but sure.

MJ LEE, CNN ANCHOR: I have some feelings about zoos, so I have some feelings about this situation, too.

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: All right. President Joe Biden, First Lady Jill Biden visited Children's National Hospital in Washington, D.C., Friday.

LEE: The First Lady read The Night Before Christmas out loud as the president interacted with the children, he thanked the families that joined them and encouraged them to keep fighting, telling them that they are in his prayers and that things are going to get better.

BLACKWELL: All right, the next hour of CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

LEE: Top of the hour here on CNN THIS MORNING. Thanks for being with us. I'm MJ Lee in for Amara Walker, happy first official day of winter.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Thank you very much. I've been looking forward to it. I actually pulled out a coat this morning. I had worn since the winter.

I'm Victor Blackwell, good to have you along this morning. Here's what we're working on for you this morning. Congress narrowly avoided a government shutdown after lawmakers were able to strike a deal in the final hours before the deadline. What is in, what is out of the spending bill, and what those chaotic 24 hours tell us about President-elect Trump's influence on his party.

LEE: And we are also following developments in Israel, where Houthi forces say they hit Tel Aviv with the hypersonic ballistic missile. We're on the scene where that missile landed with a look at the damage.

BLACKWELL: The U.S. is sending its condolences to Germany after that deadly attack at a Christmas market that left five people dead, plus the new details we're learning about the suspect.

LEE: Workers at Amazon and Starbucks hit the picket lines just days ahead of Christmas. Could that impact your holiday packages or your morning coffee run? That's just ahead on CNN THIS MORNING.

All right, today, President Biden is expected to sign the stopgap funding bill that Congress passed late last night in order to avoid a government shutdown. After a very chaotic 24-hour scramble on Capitol Hill, Speaker Mike Johnson brought a stopgap bill to the floor late Friday that did not include a debt limit suspension.

The bill passed with only 34 Republicans voting against it, and all but one Democrat voting for it to pass, even without President-elect Donald Trump's request to suspend the debt limit included in the bill, Speaker Mike Johnson called the vote a win that will set them up for when Trump returns to the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): This is America first legislation, because it allows us to be set up to deliver for the American people. In January, we will make a sea change in Washington. President Trump will return to D.C. and to the White House, and we will have Republican control of the Senate and the House. Things are going to be very different around here. This was a necessary step to bridge the gap, to put us into that, that moment where we can put our fingerprints on the final decisions on spending for 2025.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So, what's in the bill? Well, about $100 billion in disaster aid funding that should help Americans trying to recover from the hurricanes and wildfires that have plagued the country over the past two years. Also, extends the farm bill includes 10 billion in economic aid for farmers, a sticking point in negotiations earlier this week. CNN, Betsy Klein is outside the White House today. So, Betsy, how in the end, did this all come together?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, we can't kick off the holiday season in earnest without a little bit of drama on Capitol Hill. And that lived up to that as House Republicans voted overwhelmingly to pass that government funding bill and avert a shutdown just hours before that midnight deadline.

The Senate followed suit a few hours later, just after midnight, and now we know it goes to President Biden's desk for his signature, expected just a few hours from now, but it wasn't without a little bit of unnecessary drama, and that is because you know, any sources on the Hill would tell you earlier this week, it was all but a certain deal, a bipartisan deal, to fund the government, until President-elect Donald Trump weighed in, and he said that he would not support it.

So, that really left legislators scrambling to come up with something that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle could support. What's in it? As you mentioned, it's going to be a stopgap bill to fund the government through March, and what that means is that Congress is going to have to do this all over again in just a few short months, but now under President Trump's watch.

And it's also got about $100 billion in that much needed disaster relief for those who are still recovering from extreme weather over the past few years, as well as a ten billion Farm Aid Bill. What's not in it, most notably, is a suspension of the debt limit, and that really tees up a fight with President Trump coming up in the next several months. But I just want to say both leaders on both sides of the aisle taking a victory lap. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNSON: I was in constant contact with, with President Trump throughout this process. Spoke with him, most recently about 45 minutes ago. He knew exactly what we're doing, and why, and, and this is a good outcome for the country. I think he certainly is happy about this outcome as well.

[07:05:13]

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): House Democrats have successfully stopped extreme Maga Republicans from shutting down the government crashing the economy and hurting working class Americans all across the land.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KLEIN: Now, this whole episode really offers us a preview of what to expect from Congress in the Trump era, with very narrow margins, and of course, also the influence of Elon Musk. But there are also questions about the future for House Speaker Mike Johnson. He's going to face a conference vote for his speakership in a few weeks on January 3rd, and really, after a lot of criticism from Trump allies, will be watching very closely if he can consolidate that support.

But of course, what was averted here expected shutdown related delays. The museums will stay open. And of course, for those 1.4 million Americans in the federal government who are expected to work without pay, a bit of relief. Victor and MJ.

LEE: All right. Betsy Klein, thank you so much. Joining me now is congressional reporter for Axios, Stephen Neukam. Stephen, thank you for joining us, particularly after I'm sure what was late night for you. So, help us understand the past few days. Why is it that funding the government, which I think, to most people, sounds like something that should be straightforward and simple. Is this challenging for Congress?

STEPHEN NEUKAM, AXIOS CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Yes, well, it's sort of a tale as old as time, they do this almost every time. I think that there's a number of reasons, if you look at this specific case, it's because, you know, as you said, the President-elect sort of came in at the 12th hour and absolutely wrecked the bipartisan deal that Congress had, so they had to sort of scramble back to the table with less than a week left and try to put something together.

And then also, I mean, leaders leave this to the very end, because they know that when, when you hold your cars close to your chest up until the 12th hour, is when you have the most leverage.

LEE: So, let's talk a little bit more about Speaker Johnson. First listen to what he said last night after finally getting the C.R. through the house.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNSON: We are excited about this outcome tonight. We're grateful that everyone stood together to do the right thing, and having gotten this done now is the last order of business for the year, we are set up for a big and important new start in January. We can't wait to get to that point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: OK, so we should note not everyone actually stood together, because 34 House Republicans voted against the C.R., and it passed with Democratic support. So, do you think Johnson is just going to be spending the next Congress constantly fighting to keep his gavel?

NEUKAM: Well, that ever since he became Speaker, when the House Republicans ousted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, that's what he's been doing. And essentially, you know, the first 100 days, I think, of the Trump administration, are going to be a measuring stick for Johnson.

Republicans have a lot that they want to do. They have a lot that they need to do. They have a spending battle that's going to come. They have a debt limit battle that's probably going probably going to come in the summer. They want to do a tax package. They want to do a border package.

All of that with House Speaker Johnson, who has never governed with a Republican president and Senate Majority Leader, incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who has never been Senate Majority Leader. Obviously, outgoing Mitch McConnell was GOP Leader in the Senate for decades, so a lot of inexperience across the table for the GOP in Congress.

LEE: And just as a reminder, Donald Trump did say earlier this week that any Republican that supports the CR that doesn't include a debt ceiling extension will be primaried. So, I'm just curious, Stephen, do you think that every House Republican, minus those 34 who voted against this last night, they are now in trouble with Donald Trump?

NEUKAM: No, I don't think so. I think that look, you can look at this one of two ways. There were a lot of people who were wondering why the President-elect was sort of using this political capital to stage this fight before he's even in office. But I think that this was a bit of a measuring stick for Trump and Vance, just to see where their influence is at before they come into office.

And we see this time, it wasn't as great as they would like it to be. They didn't get the deal that ultimately they wanted. They did get to alter it a bit, so they'll have a pretty good idea of who they need to move in the House of Representatives when they when they come into office.

LEE: All right. And finally, Stephen, you know, you spend much of your time roaming the halls of Congress. I'm curious how much these days, do you hear members of Congress talking about Elon Musk, and what are they saying about him?

[07:10:10]

NEUKAM: Yes, I think you're starting to hear more and more about him from Democrats. I think that when as they're sort of crafting their early messaging of the Trump administration, trying to figure out, you know, points to hit him on Elon Musk is one of them. Obviously, this is a person who has, you know, at least some influence over the president elect was a huge donor to his campaign, and Republicans across the board, the richest man in the world.

So, an incredible amount of wealth to throw around in elections. So, we've heard Democrats call him co president, president, President Elon, President Musk, sort of throwing jabs at the president-elect. I think Republicans are, you know, continue to cozy up to him and are sort of welcoming him to the table at a lot of these policy debates. So, you're starting to see those lines get drawn on both sides of the aisle already.

LEE: Yes, it seems like everybody in Washington is very interested in Elon Musk, Stephen Neukam, thank you so much.

All right, get ready for a busy holiday weekend at airports and on the roads. AAA reports that over 119 million people are expected to travel.

BLACKWELL: And that would make this the busiest year-end holiday travel season ever. So, people who were doing the last-minute shopping getting out there, they need boots. They need an umbrella. What's coming, Allison Chinchar?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Maybe a snow shovel, too?

BLACKWELL: A snow shovel, my, my --

CHINCHAR: It just depends. Just depends on where you talk about.

Yes, we've got two different systems, one on the East Coast, one on the West Coast, and they're going to cause some issues for some folks as they're headed back out later on today. So, we take a look -- again, you can clearly see the one in the northeast, that one's actually going to be ending as we go through the day today.

It's the one on the west coast that really starts today and will ramp up as we go through the next few days. So, let's begin in the Northeast. You can see we still have some snow ongoing, states like Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and even into New York City. Yes, if we zoom down in closer, you can see we've actually got some pretty decent snow bands moving through the city right now.

So, if you've got some travel plans, whether that is by air or on the roads, keep that in mind that you are going to have to contend with that stuff. Other areas where we may see some air delays are also going to be along the Great Lakes, places like Cleveland, where you're still going to have potentially, some of that Blake effect snow as we go through the rest of the day today and into the evening hours, looking at some of the snow that's already falling. We have several locations that have picked up five even six inches of snow.

Now, I want to make it very clear for the folks who live in these areas, five and six inches is not that big of a deal. But remember, folks, you have people coming from Florida, Texas, a lot of southern states, to these northern cities that are not used to driving in four to six inches of snow. So, keep that in mind too. You could end up having some problems on the roadways from people who just simply don't know how to drive in these conditions.

It's also very cold, so that snow is not going to go anywhere anytime soon. It's also very windy, so it's taking some of that snow. It's blowing it into higher totals, maybe 810, inches in some spots, because it's piling up. One thing to note too, it's going to be a while for some of these areas before they finally start to see those temperatures rebound. New York, for example, doesn't even get back to normal until the end of the upcoming week.

Out West, quite the opposite story. Ahead of rain and snow, we're having temperatures that could actually be awfully close to record breaking in some spots because of how warm it is.

BLACKWELL: All right. Well, get ready. Allison, thank you. Still ahead a major chapter in the Delphi case closes. The man convicted in the murders of those two young girls in Indiana learns just how long he will spend in prison.

And some Amazon workers are walking out just days before Christmas and the start of Hanukkah. What are their demands and how could this impact your holiday shopping?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:18:22]

LEE: Here are some of the top stories we are following this morning. Houthi forces, the militant group backed by Iran, has claimed responsibility for firing a hypersonic ballistic missile from Yemen into Tel Aviv, Israel. The group claiming it hit its target accurately and that Israel's interception systems failed to block the attacks several times, while more than a dozen people were injured. No deaths have been reported.

An Indiana man was sentenced to the maximum 130 years in prison for the 2017 murders of 13-year-old, Abigail Williams, and 14-year-old, Liberty German, also known as Abby and Libby. The teens were found dead after disappearing during a hike in Delphi. A judge sentenced Richard Allen to 65 years for Abby's murder and 65 years for Libby's murder to be served consecutively.

This Christmas Eve, someone could be celebrating in a big way. The Mega Millions jackpot is close to $1 billion, the largest December prize ever. The jackpot rose from just over $800 million to $944 million for Tuesday's drawing, the lucky winner has the option of choosing a lump sum of $429 million or receiving the yearly payouts.

BLACKWELL: It's now day three of a strike involving thousands of contracted workers who deliver packages for Amazon. At the same time in three major cities, unionized workers for Starbucks are striking. Both walkouts coincide with the peak of the holiday shopping season, a critical time for a lot of companies and shoppers.

I'm joined now by Benjamin Sachs. He's a law, Harvard law professor and former Assistant General Counsel for the Service Employees International Union. Professor, good to have you this morning. So, let's start with Amazon and the point of contention. They want to unionize, but the company does not recognize their right to do so. Detail where the disagreement is.

BENJAMIN SACHS, HARVARD LAW PROFESSOR: There's two problems that Amazon has with its workers. One is that there's a warehouse in Staten Island that voted to unionize over two years ago, and Amazon is refusing to bargain with that union over the terms and conditions of employment at the warehouse, and that's, that's a legal violation, and that's a violation of the workers Democratic rights to have a union and to bargain collectively. Then, there's the drivers, and this will surprise a lot of viewers, but the drivers that you see all across the country, driving Amazon vans, wearing Amazon vests, are not actually treated as Amazon workers.

Amazon says Those aren't our employees. Those are somebody else's employees, and so we don't have to recognize their union, even though the National Labor Relations Board has said at least in one instance that they are employees and that they do have the right to unionize. So, two ways that Amazon is denying the workers legal right to have a union and to bargain collectively.

BLACKWELL: So, the teamsters union says that they're representing 10,000 workers from 10 facilities, Amazon facilities across the country. That's of the 700,000 Amazon workers at 1000 Amazon warehouses across the country. Is the scope of this broad enough -- you're the expert on these -- to cause the discomfort, intended to bring Amazon to the table.

SACHS: You know, these things, organizing campaigns and strikes, have an internal logic where success breeds success, and so the stronger the workers become, and the better the strike goes, the more likely it is to spread and to ultimately have the kind of effect that you're, you're describing.

You know, it's a shame that workers at the holidays have to go out on strike in order to just assert their basic Democratic rights to have a union. It shouldn't be that hard. It shouldn't be that difficult to have a union in the United States. That's partly a failure of our labor law, which is far too weak and unable to protect workers rights, but it's also a failure of Amazon.

Amazon has tons, and tons, and tons of money and should do better by its workers, and shouldn't force its workers to strike to assert their basic Democratic rights.

BLACKWELL: All right, Starbucks, now you've got the Starbucks, Starbucks employees in three major cities, L.A., Chicago, and Seattle. They are unionized.

They have had, I guess, been working on negotiations for several months now. They're striking because Starbucks has not come to the table to finalize this deal. What's the fight here?

[07:23:19]

SACHS: So, like the warehouse workers in Staten Island, the Amazon workers, Starbucks workers, have waged and won hundreds and hundreds of union organizing campaigns across the country, once there's a union in place, the employer here, Starbucks has a legal obligation to sit down and bargain a contract, and Starbucks is dragging its feet. Has been doing that for years, and the workers are saying it's enough, it's time to cut a deal, and they're insisting that Starbucks do that.

My understanding is that one of the major sticking points in the Starbucks negotiations is just as simple as wages, that Starbucks is proposing a wage increase that's lower than inflation, which means, from the workers lived perspective, they're getting a wage cut. If your if your wages go up slower than inflation, you're losing money. And so, the Starbucks workers are saying this is not good enough, and we want a better deal.

BLACKWELL: Yes, especially in a year where its CEO could make $100 million. Professor Benjamin Sachs, thanks so much.

LEE: Still to come. The death toll rises after the deadly Christmas attack in Germany. Details on that and what we know about that investigation coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:29:04]

LEE: We are following new developments out of Germany. The death toll is now up to five people in that Christmas market attack, and the number of injured is more than 200.

BLACKWELL: CNN, Fred Pleitgen joins us now from the scene. What else have you learned about the victims and the suspect?

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there, Victor. Yes, I mean, there's obviously a great deal of outpouring of support here for the victims, a lot of grief here, also in the city of Magdeburg. In fact, I'm going to get out of your way for a second, and you can see that there's actually a sea of flowers that continues to grow here at one of the main churches in Magdeburg. You can get out of your way and show you there's so many people who are coming down, laying down flowers. A lot of people who are in tears here.

You can see some of the people also applauding as they're speaking here as well. But a lot of outpouring of support for the victims. And indeed, we have heard from the German authorities, from the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, but also from the state governor of the state that the city of Magdeburg is in that the -- there are now 200 people confirmed to have been injured in all of this.

[07:30:00]

But what's really troubling about all of these guys, is that Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, came out and said at least 40 of those people are so severely injured that they do fear that the death toll in all of this could rise significantly.

That's something that Olaf said -- earlier Olaf Scholz said earlier today as he visited the scene where all of this happened, and I was actually able to get into that street, on that Christmas market that, that car plowed through, and I can tell you, it looked like absolute carnage there, with a lot of the stalls badly damaged. And you could see that for the people who were there, the place was jam packed when all of this was happening. There was really no way to escape, because on either side, you had these stalls, so, they couldn't go to the sides. And at the same time, you obviously can't outrun a vehicle that is going at that pace. So, there is obviously a lot of anger and a lot of grief here in the city of Magdeburg.

And Germany, itself, also, the Germans are saying that, of course, in the future, they are going to have to see how to better secure Christmas markets. It's been an ongoing topic here in this country. The Christmas market industry is gigantic in Germany, but from what we're hearing from the local authorities, is that they say, for right now, for them, this is a time of mourning. This is a time to remember those who are still fighting for those lives and those who have lost their lives as well, and not a time to think about what security things may have failed.

One thing that I think we need to point out this has been really important also from the authorities, is they say, the timing of all of this was absolutely key, and also devastating as well.

It happened at 7:00 p.m. on a Friday evening, when you obviously had a lot of people were sort of doing the last Christmas shopping, but also a lot of families still on that Christmas market as well.

Of course, we know among the five who were killed is at least one toddler, and again, a lot of people still in the hospitals around the region here fighting for their lives as well guys.

BLACKWELL: Sad to hear that Scholz believes that death toll is going to rise significantly.

Fred Pleitgen, thank you for the reporting. The U.S. is now lifted the $10 million bounty for the leader of the Syrian rebel group that overthrew the Assad regime. That announcement was after a meeting between the top U.S. State Department official Barbara Leaf and rebel group leaders in Syria.

LEE: The meeting was the first acknowledgement of direct contact with the rebel group, and it could be the start of a new age of engagement between the United States and Syria.

CNN's Alex Marquardt has more.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. announced on Friday that it is removing the $10 million bounty for the leader of HTS, which is the group that just led the overthrow of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

The announcement was made by Barbara Leaf, who is the top State Department official for the Middle East. She visited Damascus on Friday, part of the first high level us visit to the Syrian capital in years.

Leaf and others sat down with the head of HTS, Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose group is still designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization. Leaf said the meeting was good and productive. She called Sharaa pragmatic and noted his moderate statements, but she said the U.S. will quote judge by deeds, not just by words.

Sharaa and others are calling for the U.S. to lift its sanctions on Syria to help jump start the economy.

Meanwhile, these U.S. officials also raised the case of Austin Tice, the journalist who has been missing in Syria since 2012. The head of hostage affairs, Roger Carstens, says that he has been amazed by the number of secret prisons in Syria being uncovered, and he said that in their search for clues, they are focusing on around six facilities where Tice may have been held.

Carstens acknowledged limited resources and suggested that American investigators, including from the FBI, could join the search on the ground soon.

But for now, sadly, there is no news about Tice's whereabouts. Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.

LEE: All right. Disaster relief funding was a major sticking point in that government spending bill that finally passed last night. People hit by Hurricane Helene say they desperately need that help to rebuild.

[07:34:00]

We will speak to one of them next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Overnight, lawmakers averted a government shutdown after days of chaos on Capitol Hill. Stop gap spending bill extends government funding into mid-March.

LEE: It includes $100 billion in disaster relief funding for Americans impacted by several natural disasters. That, of course, includes Hurricane Helene, which caused billions of dollars in damage to North Carolina in September. Residents there say they desperately need more help. Joining us now is one resident, Jessie Dean, the founder and owner of the Asheville Tea Company. This was completely destroyed after Helene.

Jessie, it is great to talk to you. How are you feeling this morning, first of all, given this news overnight? is there a sense of relief? I have to imagine you were probably a little bit nervous at different points when it didn't seem like things were going to go very well.

JESSIE DEAN, FOUNDER AND OWNER, ASHEVILLE TEA COMPANY: Absolutely. Good morning. Thanks for having me. Yes, this has been a nail-biting experience for me and so many others for the past three months, to be honest, but especially the past few days. So, we are very relieved. I'm very relieved.

BLACKWELL: I wonder how you felt as you watched the bill that had the money for aid, kind of blow-up mid-week, and as you saw that it was in jeopardy, not only the government shutting down, but any support for you and your 11 employees was in jeopardy.

[07:40:07]

What were you feeling, what were you thinking?

DEAN: Well, it was a really just kind of scary and disappointing experience, to be honest. We are working so hard as a community to beat the odds here and try to rebuild. By beat the odds, I mean, FEMA reports that 40 percent of small businesses don't recover following a natural disaster, and so, we are this kind of creative, resilient, strong community trying to beat those odds, and we are helping each other, and many, many individuals across the whole nation are helping us in western North Carolina. So, we feel -- gratitude. And at the same time, we really, really needed this federal spending package to pass, because so much more is needed. I mean, so much physical and economic damage has been done.

LEE: And the building that your company was in completely washed away. And the floods, we are playing some of the footage there. It's just totally devastating to watch. Our understanding is that you lost basically everything, right? All the equipment, all the inventory. Give us a sense of how the rebuilding is going so far.

DEAN: Thank you. It has been a really difficult time, I guess I should say. So, we are a tea company, and we make craft teas that blend tea with local ingredients -- grown by local farmers. We're really passionate about what we do, and we did lose everything.

I mean, our whole facility was lifted off its foundation and washed down the Swannanoa River here in Asheville. We lost all of our equipment, all of our inventory, and offices, everything.

And, you know, so it's been this path to really try to rebuild our community. There is -- there is been a lot of loss here. And, you know, there is a lot of beauty in that as we rebuild. Beauty and the support that we're receiving, I mean. But also, there is still parts of town that are covered in debris. And, you know, we're just trying to do our holiday shopping and errands around town and things like that, you know, driving around some really horrific scenes still.

And that -- and that's parts of town. There are other parts of town that are doing well. You know, downtown is open again, and visitors are starting to come back, which is wonderful. We need visitors, so, please come.

So, it's this really strange kind of interesting duality that we are living through right now.

BLACKWELL: What help, if any -- I don't want to assume, have you received from the federal government?

DEAN: So far, we have not received funding from the federal government, specifically, for small business.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

DEAN: So, that's been challenging. The SBA has not been funded since the hurricane. And so, there are so many of us. I mean, I am one of more than 20,000, as reported by Appalachian Community Capital and Mountain BizWorks, 20,000 small businesses impacted in western North Carolina by Helene.

And so, we've been waiting for three months to have some of that bigger relief come through so that we can rebuild.

BLACKWELL: And, of now, that it's headed to the president, what we know is that, you know, once he signs it, it becomes law, that, that mean the money is sent to you immediately.

So, hopefully, you there in -- you and the other businesses and families in Asheville can hold on until the federal aid comes.

Jessie Dean, thank you so much for being with us for just a few minutes. And enjoy your Christmas. Thank you so much.

DEAN: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.

BLACKWELL: Sure.

Ahead, why Apple is now being asked to remove a new feature on its phones?

LEE: And Anderson -- Andy and Anderson, excuse me, are back for the biggest party of the year. Be sure to join us for "New Year's Eve Live".

[07:44:11]

Our coverage starts at 8:00 on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEE: Apple is being urged to remove its new A.I. feature, Apple Intelligence, after it produced fake news headlines. The A.I. tool is supposed to summarize news stories for users. But last week, a notification from Apple Intelligence sent to users falsely, summarized a BBC report.

BLACKWELL: So, the false report claimed that Luigi Mangione, he is the suspected a healthcare CEO shooter had shot himself.

Well, that didn't happen. The BBC did not report that it did.

CNN's Hadas Gold has the story.

HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Victor and M.J., This case shows how A.I. is really cool and it can do some really fascinating and helpful things, but it is still quite unreliable.

So, what happened is, in Apple's new Apple Intelligence, it's their new A.I. feature on the newer iPhones, a newer operating system, it can send push alerts that are summaries of some of the news. But the issue here is that it was pushing incorrect headlines, but making it seem as though it was coming directly from the news outlets themselves.

We know of at least two cases, and last month or so. Last week, there was a case where it was pushing something meaning -- making it seem as those coming from the BBC, saying, Luigi Mangione shoots himself.

There was another case last month that a ProPublica reporter recently highlighted that made it seem as though the New York Times was reporting that Netanyahu -- Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, had been arrested.

[07:50:03]

Now, in these cases, it seems as though the A.I. may have been conflating several stories or potentially misreading the stories.

In the case of the Israeli prime minister, an arrest warrant had been issued for him by the International Criminal Court, but he himself has not been arrested.

Now, the issue with this is that the publishers have no control over what the Apple Intelligence shows the users. In other cases, they might be able to write out what they think should be sent as a push alert.

But in this case, the publishers do not have any control of what the users see, even though, on their screen, it will make it seem as though it's coming from some of the most trusted name and news, from the BBC or from the New York Times.

So, the BBC has formally complained to Apple, asking them to fix this. Apple, thus far, has declined to comment. One of the issues with this also is that in this case -- in these cases, it was incorrect information. But what if it was incorrect information that could have a public safety issue at hand? Such as incorrect report of an active shooter somewhere.

That's why you are hearing from groups like Reporters Without Border is, we are encouraging Apple to completely scrap this project. They are saying, in part, that this is a blow to the outlet's credibility and a danger to the public's right to reliable information on current affairs.

All goes to show you that if you have some sort of A.I. integrated into your phone with this new Apple operating system, be wary. Just like with any sort of new A.I. system, go directly to the primary source and double check it.

Victor, M.J.?

BLACKWELL: All right. Good information. Hadas, thank you.

Coming up, the new era of the college football playoff is officially here.

LEE: Andy Scholes is live in Columbus, Ohio. Andy, any early thoughts?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Guys, such a great atmosphere yesterday in South Bend for the first ever 12-team college football playoff game between Indiana and Notre Dame. We'll show you how all that went down.

Plus, preview the three more playoff games we got coming up today. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:56:29]

LEE: The new, expanded, and highly anticipated 12-team college football. kicked off at one of the cathedrals of the sport, Notre Dame Stadium. And the Irish celebrated the occasion with a blowout win over Indiana.

Joining us now from Columbus, Ohio, ahead of the big game between Ohio State and Tennessee tonight. Andy Scholes.

Andy, you got to -- you got your mitts on. You got the gloves on. How was the weather out there?

SCHOLES: Yes. Victor, M.J., it's like 20 degrees. It is going to be a cold one here today in Columbus for the first ever home game at the Horseshoe in December for Ohio State.

Very similar weather here today that we saw yesterday in South Bend, where Indiana and Notre Dame kicked off the 12-team College Football Playoff.

And the Notre Dame players sent in a message from the start that they were not going to be bothered by the frigid temperatures. They were warming up shirtless before the game.

And, you know, despite being less than 200 miles apart, these schools, they had not played each other since 1991. And this game, though, dominated by Notre Dame. The teams, they traded interceptions early, and then, it was Jeremiyah Love, he had the play of the game. A 98-yard touchdown run that just sent the entire stadium into a frenzy. That run actually tied a school record.

The Irish would end up winning 27-17 to get their first ever playoff victory.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCUS FREEMAN, HEAD COACH, NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH: I've never been a part of an environment like that. It was -- it was special. The crowd played a factor. The noise played a factor. You know, it was -- it was -- it was a special thing to be a part of.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is special for us, and, you know, a lot of us, me, being a guy who, you know, my freshman year, I went three and nine and didn't have -- you know, was just begging to make a bowl game. To be -- to be playing in the sugar bowl right now. You know, I got to kind of go full circle now. And you know, it's really cool.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes. So, Notre Dame now moves on to face Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on New Year's Day. Meanwhile, here in Columbus, it's going to be Tennessee, taking on Ohio State for the right to take on Oregon in the rolls ball.

And Buckeyes' head coach, Ryan Day. Well, he says, he's had his squad out here in the cold, practicing to get ready for this game, and he says they cannot wait to take the field for the first ever playoff game on campus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RYAN DAY, HEAD FOOTBALL COACH, OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY: It's like playing in the playoffs. Talk to them about being a Kansas City or up in Lambeau or Buffalo Bills and AFC championship game. I mean, that's what it's all about is playing these types of games in December. Right?

Our guys are excited about it and excited about being at home. And I think they are excited about the weather too because we are practicing it now for a few weeks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: All right. So, the temperature at kickoff tonight is going to be 25 degrees here in Columbus. Going to be about the same for Penn State and SMU. That game will kick off. The action today at noon Eastern. Then, it's Texas hosting Clemson. You can watch both those games on our sister network, TNT, or stream them on Max. And the night cap is here in Columbus for Tennessee and Ohio State.

And guys, it's a football bonanza today. You got the three college football playoff games. You got two NFL games as well. Texans Chiefs, Steelers, Ravens. Great day to be on a warm couch.

LEE: All right.

SCHOLES: Or outside here in 20-degree weather.

LEE: Andy, have a great time. I'm a little worried about you. Stay warm. Thank you.

[08:00:02]

All right. "FIRST OF ALL" is up next with Victor Blackwell.

Victor, what do you have coming up?

BLACKWELL: So, Congressman James Clyburn is here to react to the deal to avoid a government shutdown. He was the majority whip for the Democrats in the House.

END