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CNN This Morning

Alleged Drug Boat Was Actually Headed To 2nd Ship; Immigration Crackdown Underway In New Orleans; U.S. Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Case Challenging Birthright Citizenship; Daily Low Temperatures U.S. Capital Records Set To Fall From Chicago To New York City; Russia Launches Massive Aerial Assault On Ukraine, Killing 5. CDC Advisors Vote to Bid Universal Hepatitis B Shot for Newborns; FDA in Turmoil After Retirement of Veteran Cancer Researcher; Texas Flood Victims' 911 Calls Capture Their Desperation. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired December 06, 2025 - 06:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:00:30]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: You saw the date there on the big wall Saturday, December 6th. Welcome to CNN This Morning. I'm Victor Blackwell. It's a pleasure to be with you.

And here's what we're working on for you this morning. Immigration crackdown operations have now moved to New Orleans and Minnesota's Twin Cities. We'll take a look at these crackdowns and what the White House is hoping to achieve.

Russia launches another night of deadly attacks on Ukraine. Five people are dead. Some Ukrainians are sheltering in train stations to stay safe again. And leaders from around the world are gathering to try to find a way to end the war.

U.S. Special envoy Steve Witkoff is set to meet with Ukrainian officials in Miami today.

Also, blocking social media for millions of teenagers. One country is set to ban Instagram and TikTok and others for anyone under 16.

We'll talk about the impact that lawmakers say it could have and the clever ways that kids are already trying to find a way around it.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And we're wrapping up our first system across portions of the Northeast. Still some snow and a wintry mix right here in a few spots. But now we're making way for the next system that is set to arrive in the Midwest later today.

BLACKWELL: First up this morning, CNN has exclusively learned that a suspected drug smuggling boat attacked by U.S. forces until every person on board was killed was not actually headed for the United States. First, we give you a warning that the video we're about to show is

disturbing to many. The admiral in charge of the operation told lawmakers the boat was on its way to transfer drugs to another larger ship that was bound for Suriname on September 2.

The deadly U.S. strike is facing new scrutiny because the military hit the vessel several times, ensuring that no one survived.

CNN spoke with military analyst retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton about the new reporting on those boat strikes. And here's part of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: The intelligence picture that they should be working off of is one in which they would have actual knowledge of the drugs going from point A to point B. And if point B is United States, then that's one thing.

But in this particular case, we're talking about a completely different country here. We're talking about the country of Suriname, about the size of Georgia. Most of the drugs that go from Suriname or through Suriname end up in Europe or Africa.

Very few of them end up in the United States. So it makes no sense from an intelligence perspective or from a military perspective to be conducting this operation now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Although it is considered a war crime to kill shipwrecked survivors, U.S. defense officials insist the sailors remain legitimate targets.

The Department of Homeland Security says its immigration crackdown operation has made dozens of arrests in New Orleans. The goal is 5,000. New Orleans Mayor-elect, along with many other people living there, are voicing their displeasure with ICE's presence in the city.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HELENA MORENO, NEW ORLEANS MAYOR-ELECT: This operation is actually causing harm for the city of New Orleans, and it's causing harm for people beyond those who are being targeted. We have businesses that are closing. We have workers afraid to show up. And ultimately there is an economic impact, a negative economic impact that is spreading across our city and also across our region.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: The people there are documenting some of the arrests, like this one. Witnesses say Border Patrol detained a father in front of his kids.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have a warrant? Do you have a warrant? Do you have a warrant? Where is the judicial warrant? Where is the judicial warrant?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: DHS says the man committed a felony and has been removed from the country several times. Now, this video of federal agents chasing a woman you see there on the right of your screen as she's running into her home, it's getting a lot of attention. She is a U.S. citizen.

Coming up on First of All, she'll speak with me. Her stepfather, who comes out of the house to confront those ICE agents will also be with me. Again, that is at 8:00 a.m. Eastern this morning on First of All.

With me now, though, for analysis, Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun- Times.

[06:05:00]

Lynn, good morning to you. Is there any evidence that there is any shift in approach, if there are any lessons learned or if the reaction from the other cities where these ICE operations have been issued over the last several months is fueling what we're seeing in New Orleans?

LYNN SWEET, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: Well, good morning. Thanks for having me. Well, if there are lessons learned from Chicago, and basically it goes to the people in the cities who are being impacted by these deportation actions, remarkably, the MO of Border Patrol and ICE agents have not changed. And we documented in Chicago at the Sun-Times and WBEZ and journalists in these other areas and citizens with or not or people in these communities with iPhones are showing, in a sense, an indiscriminate arrest of people.

If you're still thinking that this action was to get the worst of the worst of people out of the country who should not be here, that is once again playing out, is not to be, you know, an indiscriminate taking into custody of people without either a warrant or without confirming that somebody is or is not a U.S. citizen is a play, Victor, that we see being repeated in these other cities.

BLACKWELL: OK.

SWEET: So there is no lesson learned, it seems, on the part of the federal agents.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And that takes us to this goal of 5,000 arrests, which we heard from DHS. Based on what you saw in Chicago. And again, these cities are not the same size. But based on what you saw there, what's the plausibility of 5,000 arrests if you are keeping it to the worst of the worst, those who already have felony convictions?

SWEET: Well, unless you have a true list of people who you are looking for, where's the number 5,000 coming from? One of the things that we are seeing in these cities are these quotas to get in. And this is not a matter of a traffic cop having to write speeding tickets and you're taking in people who are going 4 miles over the limit instead of 10.

This very serious quota setting helped fuel these more aggressive actions by agents on the ground where they are taking in people first in some instances and asking questions later as to their status and the appropriateness of being detained, much less deported.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk now about this new exclusive reporting from CNN on the destination of the drugs on that alleged drug boat. Again, for those who are just joining us, we've learned that the boat that was attacked on September was going to a larger vessel. That vessel was headed to Suriname, was not heading to the United States.

Fit this piece of the puzzle into what we're learning about that strike. As the scrutiny grows and the questioning of was this an imminent threat to the United States?

SWEET: And that is the very question that is causing cracks in Trump's so far and in so many ways, very solid Republican support up on Capitol Hill. These strikes, these lethal strikes have a political impact and is playing out that is remarkable in that it may cause some Republicans to take even stronger stands against doing these strikes without evidence of drug smuggling into the United States.

You know, we have not only the question of the legality of that double strike a few months ago on the survivors of an attack, but now you have to grapple with the basic question of how did they even pick this target? Where is the evidence?

And I think there is a growing demand by Congress where you have to have Republicans on board in order for this to go forward, where this is finally causing some cracks in the so far uncrackable coalition that Trump has in the Senate and in the House.

BLACKWELL: All right, let's go to the House. There's CNN reporting about growing House GOP dissatisfaction with Speaker Mike Johnson. They want him to be more aggressive about putting bills on the floor, specifically on the economy, about affordability.

Whether he stays on after the midterms may likely be up to President Trump's satisfaction with him. Is there any reason that Trump might want to make a change? Any indication that he is growing as uncomfortable as maybe some members of the Republican Conference?

SWEET: Well, after the midterms, of course, the Democrats take over. It's an entirely different story. But, Victor, I think the thing that Johnson knows, Republicans who deal with Trump knows is that loyalty goes one way in this White House.

[06:10:09]

And so I don't know why Johnson would have any assurance that would be permanent as to having the President back his status. For now, he has survived, but he hasn't been able. He survives basically by doing less, not more.

There's also the practical knowledge that it's going to still be a hard, you know, Senate still needs that 60 vote threshold to pass something. So what you're doing in the House could be just symbolic bills that have no chance of passage in the Senate that gives, you know, that is used as election fodder going into the midterms rather than negotiated bills that can actually pass and get signed by the president.

BLACKWELL: Yes, of course, if Democrats win majority, it'll be a Democratic speaker. The question is, would he remain in Republican leadership after that?

SWEET: Absolutely.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

SWEET: And let me recalibrate what I said. And thank you for clarifying, Victor. The point being that I think President Trump shows no loyalty to people if he thinks that he could get a better deal by switching them out.

Also, if the Republicans stay in charge and they still have the very thin majority they have, you know, will Johnson, even if he does more in the next months on the affordability issue, which is the issue put on the table by the new New York incoming mayor after ironic embrace of that issue. But everybody wants affordability now.

BACKWELL: Yes.

SWEET: Johnson has to not only read the room of his voters, but figure out what Trump wants. And whether Trump wants something or nothing is at issue here.

BLACKWELL: Lyn Sweet, always good to start a Saturday morning with you. Thank you.

SWEET: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: The Supreme Court agreed to decide if President Trump's attempt to end birthright citizenship through executive order is constitutional. The 14th Amendment guarantees U.S. citizenship to anyone born in the U.S. even if their parents were not. The birthright citizenship is widely considered settled law since the 19th century.

But now the justices have decided to revisit the issue after sidestepping it earlier this year. The lower courts have all blocked Trump's executive order, so it has never gone into effect. The Supreme Court will hear arguments on it next year and will likely hand down a decision around the end of June.

All right, headlines this morning, the Attorney General says National Guard Airman Andrew Wolfe can open his eyes, calling him a miracle.

We remember that Wolfe was shot last week in an ambush style attack in Washington, DC. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, who was also shot during the attack, died from her injuries.

Democratic Arizona Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva says that she was pepper sprayed and shoved during an ICE raid. A video here, she described about 14 -- 40, I should say masked agents near a restaurant in Tucson yesterday. She said she was sprayed in the face by a very aggressive agent while asking questions. Homeland Security disputed that. They said that she was not sprayed and she was near someone who was.

Grijalva told CNN that she was seeking answers and criticized Trump era enforcement. She said people were being taken off the streets without due process.

The Trump administration has now changed the holidays that qualify for free entrance to national parks. They removed two that celebrate black history. Now, for years, Martin Luther King Jr. Day in January was the first free day of the year. Juneteenth, which marks the end of slavery in the U.S. was also included.

But now visitors to the 116 parks that charge entrance fees will no longer get in free on those holidays. The list adds June 14, Flag Day, which is also President Trump's birthday, Constitution Day, and Theodore Roosevelt's birthday. Those days will not be free for non- U.S. residents.

All right. This morning, millions of people are under winter weather advisories and it's spilling across the Plains, the Midwest, the Great Lakes, the Northeast. It's a lot of blue. CNN's Allison Chinchar is tracking the forecast for us.

CHINCHAR: Might be easier to list the places where it's right.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Right. It'll be less wintry in this part of the country.

CHINCHAR: Exactly. We've got one system exiting and another one right on the heels of it. So there's going to be some back to back snow here for some of these areas. I get it's winter. But some people would like maybe a little bit of a break before we see that next system.

Here's a look at what we've got in the Northeast. Again, you can see some of that pink and the purple indicating is still some of that winter weather ongoing across portions of the Northeast. But that should be ending here in the next couple of hours.

As for out to the west, we've got the next system that's starting to arrive that's really kind of focused over most of the Northern Rockies. This is what's going to spread into the Midwest as we go later on into the day.

[06:15:03]

You've got all your watches and warnings here out on the map. So this is where it currently is. These watches and warnings are more for what's expected later on today and as we head into the evening. So here's a look at that system.

Again, you can kind of see it making its way off to the east. So later on this afternoon, really going to kind of hit that target point of Iowa, portions of southern Minnesota and even into Iowa -- Illinois rather.

Now, once we get into Sunday morning again, it's that overnight time frame that's really going to impact places like Green Bay, Chicago, and then eventually potentially over towards Detroit by the time we get to the very early portion of tomorrow.

But then take a look yet a third one. Yes, that's true. Another one that is right there that will be arriving as we head into the early week. Overall, most of these areas, you're looking at about 3 to 6 inches in that funnel point right through there, Victor. And that's just from the second system.

BLACKWELL: No rest for the wintry.

CHINCHAR: No.

BLACKWELL: I just came up with that weary.

CHINCHAR: I like that.

BLACKWELL: OK, all right. Exactly. We'll see you in a minute. All right. Russia launched a massive aerial assault on Ukraine hours before the U.S. and Ukrainian delegations are set to meet. Today we're going to talk about a peace plan in hopes of ending the war. We're live with what we should expect.

Plus, newly released 911 calls capture the panic as deadly floods swept through Kerrville, Texas. But the recordings are revealing.

And later, a look at the group draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup will tell you where the U.S. Men's National Team landed. Reaction, coming up.

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[06:21:11]

BLACKWELL: Russia launched one of its largest aerial assaults on Ukraine in months. At least five people have been killed. The Ukrainian air force said it detected 704 air attack weapons overnight across the country. Ukraine's air defense shot down 615 of those weapons.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the main targets of the strikes were energy facilities. And this latest barrage comes as negotiations between top Ukrainian and U.S. officials are expected to continue today. U.S. Special envoy Steve Witkoff cited progress, he says as they head into their third day of talks.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is with me now from Abu Dhabi. So Paula, these talks, they are expected to, as I said, continue today in Miami. What can you tell us?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Victor. This -- as you say, would be day three of those talks. And it comes after a deadly night once again in Ukraine, in Kyiv, the capital, I have to mention. The air raid sirens lasted for some eight hours and that meant that residents were effectively in the air raid shelters all night.

So we have heard from Ukraine's minister of foreign affairs saying that Russia is blatantly disregarding peace efforts even at the time when these talks are continuing. So we know that special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner will be meeting Ukrainian counterparts once again in Miami.

We did hear from the State Department on Friday and they called the talks constructive discussions, saying they're trying to agree on a framework of security arrangements and deterrence capabilities.

Now, this comes just days after those two men were also in Moscow meeting with Russia's president. So we're seeing this shuttle diplomacy from the U.S. side. Certainly that will continue into today.

Now, we also heard from France's Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron, pointing out that the U.S. needs Europe when it comes to these peace negotiations trying to end the war in Ukraine. He was speaking at a university in China. He had said that unity between Americans and Europeans on the Ukrainian issue is indispensable, pointing out it's taking place on the European continent, pointing out that Europeans can talk sanctions, they are the ones that have frozen Russian assets.

It is important that there is more unity. As of this point, though, we do see the Trump administration taking this more unilateral approach.

And also we are hearing this discussed at length at the Doha Forum, which is where many of the players around the world are meeting at this point. We did see one panel where CNN's Christiane Amanpour spoke about the national security strategy from the United States and she asked the European Commission vice president about it, asking whether or not this means that the U.S. is really pulling away from European allies. Let's listen to what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAJA KALLAS, E.U. HIGH REPRESENTATIVE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS: I didn't read it like this. I actually read the European part. I haven't read the rest of it. Of course, there's a lot of criticism, but I think some of it is also true.

If you look at Europe has been underestimating its own power towards Russia, for example. I mean, we should be more self-confident. That's for sure. And you know, U.S. is still our biggest ally. And there I read it as well that we are still the biggest ally and it's in the interest of the United States as well that Europe lost.

[06:25:04]

And that we are really still the ally and working together for these things. I think we haven't always seen eye to eye on different topics, but I think the overall principle is still there. We are the biggest allies and we should stick together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: And Russia, Ukraine, obviously, Victor, one of the main topics at that forum. Back to you.

BLACKWELL: Paula Hancocks for us there in Abu Dhabi. Thank you very much. Potential major shift in childhood vaccination recommendations CDC advisers vote to change the recommendations for the hepatitis B shot for newborns. How critics say that this could put so many babies at risk. Next.

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[06:30:00]

BLACKWELL: We're learning more about the vote by CDC vaccine advisors to end universal Hepatitis B shots for newborns. The vaccine has been recommended for all infants in the U.S. since 1991, and experts warn that this potential change will lead to increased illness. CNN's Meg Tirrell has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, this recommendation potentially upends about three decades of U.S. health policy when it comes to Hepatitis B vaccination of newborns. Since 1991, the country has recommended that all babies get a dose of this vaccine in the first days of life to protect them against a highly contagious virus that can cause chronic infection, liver damage, liver cancer, and even be fatal.

And so, what this recommendation does is essentially split babies into two groups by the Hepatitis B status of their moms. So, for moms who test positive or whose status is unknown for Hepatitis B virus, the recommendation actually doesn't change, and still those babies, they say, should receive the vaccine while they're in the hospital.

It's four moms who test negative for the Hepatitis B virus, where things are changing, and there, this changes the recommendation from a blanket recommendation for all babies to one that they call individual-based decision-making.

So, parents essentially decide along with their healthcare providers, if they want a birth dose of the Hepatitis B vaccine for their newborn, they also suggest as part of this recommendation, the committee suggests that if they don't get a birth dose, that they delay getting the vaccine until at least two months of age.

Now, experts say this is not a science-based recommendation and will put babies in danger of getting infected with this virus. You're also hearing criticism from people like Senator Bill Cassidy, who is a Republican doctor who chairs the Senate Health Committee. He posted on social media, quote, "as a liver doctor who's treated people with Hepatitis B for decades, this change to the vaccine schedule is a mistake.

The Hepatitis B vaccine is safe and effective. The birth dose is a recommendation, not a mandate." So, essentially saying, already it was a choice of what parents should do, it was a recommendation that all babies get this. Now that, that blanket recommendation has changed, experts fear a lot of uncertainty will be introduced. And that means confusion and barriers and maybe more babies being left vulnerable unnecessarily.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right, Meg, thank you. And be sure to stick with us because next hour, Dr. William Schaffner; a former voting member of ACIP; the advisory committee on immunization practices, he'll join us to talk more about all of this.

Also new this morning, the Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary is facing increased scrutiny over the pending departure of a veteran researcher, a doctor, Richard Pazdur, a researcher who pioneered the FDA's approach to cancer treatments, announced his retirement just weeks after accepting a new role.

And sources say that he reached his breaking point when Commissioner Makary pressed him to replace career drug regulators with his own hand-picked hires. Officials are now concerned that this could destabilize the drug review process and erode confidence in the FDA.

This morning, newly-released 911 calls, they paint a dramatic picture of the catastrophic floods that tore through Kerrville, Texas. This was on July 4th. Hundreds of frantic calls poured in within hours, with desperate pleas for help and reports of missing campers. CNN's Julia Vargas Jones has more on the timeline of the rescue effort and what officials say will change before camp reopens.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Hundreds and hundreds of very distressing calls. At least 435 in the first six hours alone, more than 100 between 4:00 and 5:00 in the morning, and what these calls are doing is painting a picture of what was going through the minds of those people who were stranded and who were looking to operators, dispatchers, 911 dispatchers for help as well as a little bit of hope. Take a listen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've got -- the flood is up to our house right now, we're OK, but we live about a mile down the road from Camp Mystic, and we've already got two little girls who have come down the river, and we've gotten to them, but I'm not sure how many are out there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you have the girls at your house?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have -- we have two little girls who have come by in the river, and we've been able to grab them, and that's all we've seen so far.

JONES: And other callers are from Camp Mystic, there's one caller who says there's at least 30 girls missing. She says an entire cabin is missing, as she tells dispatchers the only way to get to them will be via helicopter. Now, we did hear on Friday from the police chief of Kerrville, who said many of those callers did not survive the flood, and to please keep them in our thoughts and prayers as we listen to their voices, their last calls, in many cases.

[06:35:00]

Now, Camp Mystic is set to reopen this Summer, they say, with some changes. One of them is enhanced safety measures that include four flood warning river monitors designed to provide early detection of high water events, two way radios in every cabin enabled with national weather alerts, high capacity generators to maintain power in critical areas of the camp.

This comes after the Texas legislature passed new camp safety laws aimed at addressing those gaps in disaster preparedness back in September. Julia Vargas Jones, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Next week, Australia will kick millions of teenagers off social media, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, they'll all be banned for anyone under 16. Why? And can this be enforced? Also, we'll ask an expert, could the U.S. be next?

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[06:40:00]

BLACKWELL: The groups are now set for the opening stages of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, 48 teams will compete in July for the ultimate prize, an international soccer tournament will take place across the U.S. and Canada and Mexico. Here's CNN's Don Riddell.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (on camera): What a day it has been at the Kennedy Center here in Washington D.C., where the draw was made for the 2026 FIFA World Cup tournament. It was bigger than ever before, 48 teams instead of 32, 12 groups instead of eight. And it was a real collision of the worlds of football sports in general, entertainment and politics.

U.S. President Donald Trump was lauded by FIFA's President Gianni Infantino with its inaugural peace prize. We were serenaded by the operatic legend Andrea Bocelli, and we listened to The Village People who played "Y.M.C.A", and the sports legends Tom Brady, Shaquille O'Neal, Wayne Gretzky and Aaron Judge all helped draw the teams out at random.

And of course, that's really what this was all about. The host nations, USA, Canada and Mexico all received arguably favorable draws, with pundits debating who had been drawn into a so-called group of death. Perhaps it's Group I with France, Senegal and Norway with an unnamed playoff team yet to come.

It's a draw that pits two of the game's biggest young stars, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland against each other, or the group of death might be L with England and Croatia, a repeat of the 2018 semifinal, Panama and Ghana, who are arguably the toughest of the so-called weakest teams. But arguably, there is no group of death this time because most of the third placed teams, eight of the 12, will also progress to the knockout phase.

So, really, the group stage will determine the more favorable routes through the knockout rounds. On Saturday, FIFA will reveal the venues and the dates for all of the games, and in March, the last six playoff teams will be determined to fill out the groups. But the starting gun was fired in Washington D.C., today, the next World Cup is starting to feel very real. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Thank you, Don. Australia is about to find out what happens when you kick every kid in the country off social media. Starting Wednesday, Australia will begin enforcing a ban on children under 16 from using social media platforms. If those platforms cannot show that they're doing enough to block teenagers, they'll face tens of millions of dollars in fines.

Julie Dawson joins me now, she's the Chief Regulatory and Policy Officer at Yoti. This is a U.K.-based digital identity company that advises social media platforms about age verification options. Thanks for being with me. Julie, I cannot imagine what the teenagers under 16 in my life will be doing if they can't be on Snapchat or Instagram or TikTok or Facebook because they're always looking down at their phone. You though, call this a natural progression -- evolution, I should say. Why?

JULIE DAWSON, CHIEF REGULATORY & POLICY OFFICER, YOTI: So, for many years around the world, governments have thought, what is it appropriate to do at different ages? And I think even the platforms themselves have been doing a lot more to think about what is age appropriate access and how can they support that?

So, already many of the platforms, the terms and conditions are from 13. What Australia has decided is that, that should be 16. And many other parts of the world are considering what is the appropriate age, given the different risks of content, contact, conduct entering into a contract if you're under a certain age.

So, you know, that's different if you consider what ages it is to access. Alcohol is 21, in the U.S., it's 18 in most of the rest of the world. Different countries are thinking the guardrails should kick in at different stages.

BLACKWELL: As soon as this was announced, kids, teenagers started trying to find loopholes or break points. How will these companies do it?

[06:45:00]

DAWSON: So, how will companies undertake age assurance? Well, lots of different ways. What the Australian government has done over about a 12-month period was to set up a study of what are all the different ways that age can be checked? So, it was called the AATT trials, and they reviewed over 50 different approaches from lots of different technology companies. And they ranked them in terms of how robust is this technology?

How globally scalable is it? What evidence there is? And so, what the Australian government has done through the safety commissioners say, there's a range of options. This is how platforms you can choose from this range of all of these that they consider to be robust. But I think what's crucial is, there's no penalties for the young people.

So, if a young person slightly under the age does manage to get through, that isn't something that the child is going to be penalized for, it's up to the companies to put in robust age assurance and to continually improve that, and to look at where there are circumvention attacks. And in particular, the Australian E-safety commissioner has said we're most concerned about the really youngest users.

The two to -- however, you know, 2 to 10-year-olds are seeing increasingly much younger access to social media than even the platforms, you know, are designed for. They're designed across the world, mainly supposedly from 13 up, what Australia has said is that they think that, that should be 16 --

BLACKWELL: Yes --

DAWSON: Companies like ours and many others, there's probably 50 or so in the ecosystem are supporting a range of methods.

BLACKWELL: Yes, I was going to say that, you know, the 2 to 10 range is the one that they're most concerned about. When I was 15 years old, I looked 35. So, I probably could have gotten past the facial recognition, and that's a really -- I understand, tricky age to get that right, using the face. But one more question before you go.

For the viewers here in the U.S., what's the plausibility that something like this could spread here? Because we just saw with TikTok, that although it was determined a national security threat, extensions were made, exceptions were made until there was a deal so that everyone could keep it.

DAWSON: So, Victor, just that one last point with the facial age estimation, there is no facial recognition. It's just detecting a face, analyzing and deleting.

BLACKWELL: OK --

DAWSON: So, that's just a really crucial point. But in terms of the U.S., you know, lots of different states, over 40 states at the moment are looking at different measures around age appropriate access and design. Obviously, it will be something that needs to be widely discussed with parents, with civil society, and to look at the specific conditions in the U.S.

But you've already seen that there is a lot of discussion on the Hill, a lot of discussion across all political parties about how to support age appropriate access. And lots of the platforms are doing more and more in this area. You'll have seen recent announcements from Meta with Instagram teens, from Roblox, with different age appropriate access bans from platforms like OnlyFans who around the world are putting in age assurance from the get go.

So, lots of different platforms across dating, gaming, social, are all looking at how can they do more --

BLACKWELL: Yes --

DAWSON: And improve in terms of age appropriate access. And I'm sure you'll see more of that in the U.S. too.

BLACKWELL: Julie Dawson, we will be watching what's happening in Australia, Wednesday is the day. Thanks so much for your time. All right, President Trump doubles down on his affordability message. He's calling rising prices, a quote, "democratic con job". But what do the numbers show? We'll walk you through them next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:00]

BLACKWELL: Final inflation report before next week's Fed meeting shows just how hard it is for Americans to afford the basics. Prices are stubborn. Consumer spending is finally cooling after a Summer surge. Now, what does this mean for you heading into the holidays? CNN's Matt Egan breaks down the numbers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER (on camera): The latest inflation numbers, they really underscore the cost of living struggles that many Americans are dealing with right now. Prices are not skyrocketing like they were a few years ago, but they're still going up way too fast. So, this is PCE, which is the Fed's go-to inflation metric.

And it's showing inflation as of September. This report has been delayed by the government shutdown. It shows that prices were up by 0.3 percent month-over-month. That was slightly higher than expected and flat with the prior month. And it did push up the annual rate to 2.8 percent.

That's significant because that's the highest inflation rate from this gauge since April of 2024. And when you look at the trend, you can see that it's really moving in the wrong direction, right? Moving further and further away from the Fed's 2 percent target, and inflation is higher than it was at this point last year.

So, why is this happening? Well, part of the story is higher food prices. It's also higher energy prices. Thankfully, we know that since this survey was taken, gasoline prices have moved below $3 a gallon. So, hopefully some of the energy pressure has come off. And the good news is that core inflation, which excludes food and energy, it did cool slightly in September. And economists, investors on Wall Street think that this inflation

report was good enough that it seals the deal on an interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve in the coming days. However, there's also some spending numbers out that were concerning, because it showed that consumer spending, it did slow between August and September, and real spending, which adjusts for inflation, came in at zero in September.

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More evidence of how higher prices are really impacting consumers. Now, University of Michigan also put out new numbers on how Americans are feeling right now. The good news is that consumer sentiment, it did tick higher in December, and that was led by less pessimism from younger Americans. So, that, of course, is great to see.

However, big picture -- look at this. Consumer sentiment is almost 30 percent lower than it was at this point last year, and it remains near all-time lows. And the director of the survey, I think summed it up best, saying that the overall tenor of views is broadly somber as consumers continue to cite the burden of high prices.

So, look, bottom line, the President continues to suggest that this affordability crisis is a hoax. But the latest surveys and inflation numbers clearly suggest otherwise.

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BLACKWELL: All right, Matt, thank you very much. CNN Heroes honors five people who are changing the world and reveals the CNN Hero of the Year hosted by Anderson Cooper and Laura Coates. Watch CNN Heroes, an all star tribute. It is tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN and tomorrow on the CNN app.

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