Return to Transcripts main page

CNN This Morning

Weather for your New Year's Holiday; New Orleans Boosts Security; New Eara in New York; Child Care Payments Frozen to Minnesota; Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired December 31, 2025 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:33:50]

BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Brian Abel, in for Audie Cornish. Thank you for joining me on CNN THIS MORNING.

It is 6:33 here on the East Coast, and here's what's happening right now.

This morning, new reporting about the falling out between Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein. "The Wall Street Journal" reports that according to former employees at Trump's Mar-a-Lago spa, workers often made house calls to Jeffrey Epstein's nearby home. But those calls stopped after an 18-year-old beautician reported Epstein pressured her for sex. A manager then urged Trump to ban Epstein from the club, and he agreed. The White House responded saying, quote, "no matter how many times this story is told and retold, the truth remains, President Trump did nothing wrong and he kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of Mar-a- Lago for being a creep."

Meanwhile, "The New York Times" reports that the Justice Department is looking to enlist about 400 lawyers to review more than 5 million pages of Epstein files, according to a person familiar with the matter. They say that could take until at least January 20th. Congress had required the DOJ, by law, to release the files by December 19th.

[06:35:04]

Starting tomorrow, more than a million Americans receiving SNAP benefits will see new restrictions on soda, candy and other foods. Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Utah and West Virginia are the first of at least 18 states to prohibit these purchases. Both the Health and Agriculture secretaries have been urging states to strip foods regarded as unhealthy from the food stamp program.

Israel says it will suspend operations of several international aid groups working in Gaza for failing to renew their registration. That registration now requires organizations to provide personal details of their staff members. The move comes as ten countries warn of a renewed catastrophic humanitarian crisis within the enclave.

Severe weather is threatening to put a damper on two iconic American events this New Year's Eve. Bitter cold temperatures, gusty winds and snow are in the forecast for New York City, where one million people are expected to jam Times Square tonight for the countdown to 2026.

And flooding and mudslides fears are in California, with heavy rain expected Thursday morning during the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena. If the forecast holds up, this could be the first wet Rose Parade in 20 years.

Let's get right to CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam.

And, Derek, what can the people packing Times Square expect tonight?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning. Happy New Year Eve, I should say, Brian. And there's going to be a lot of celebrations in New York. We already know that. But maybe, just maybe, we'll get some snowflakes to mix in with that confetti you saw on your TV screens just a moment ago because, believe it or not, there's a very small chance of very light snow. But look, there's going to be about a million people crowding the streets of Times Square, so this forecast matters.

Caveat to this forecast is it will be cold and the winds will pick up throughout the course of the night as this cold front starts to advance into the greater tri-state area. This is where we anticipate at least a few light dusting of snow, especially into eastern Long Island, parts of Rhode Island, into eastern Massachusetts. That's where we'll see some of the greater accumulations, one to two inches of snow. It will quickly come to an end by daybreak on New Year's Day.

This is a live radar. Looking fairly quiet, with the exception of the favored lake effect snow band areas downwind from Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. They could still pick up an additional couple feet of snow. Syracuse, by the way, had their most snow on any December day ever over the past 24 hours. So, quite impressive what's happening there. And the other story here is how cold it is over the eastern half of the country. This is what it feels like on your skin as you step outside.

What about the rest of the country? Well, you'll be ringing in the new year with below zero wind chill temperatures from Minneapolis to the upper Midwest. Cold into Chicago.

But across the southwestern U.S., that's a whole nother story. We are monitoring the potential for the first wet New Year's Day Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena. We already have flood watches in effect for parts of southern California, including the Los Angeles basin. Light rain through the course of your New Year's Eve. But notice, just as that clock hits midnight tonight, the heaviest of rain starts to fall in and around the greater Los Angeles region, including the Transverse Mountain ranges.

Here's your Tournament of the Roses Parade forecast. And you can see some of the heaviest rainfall right over Pasadena. It will be a wet parade. But that's not going to put the damper on all the festivities.

Enjoy, and Happy New Year to everyone watching this morning. Brian.

ABEL: And, Derek Van Dam, my fellow Grand Rapids colleague, thank you and Happy New Year to you as well.

VAN DAM: Yes, buddy. Bye, bye.

ABEL: Bye. Great seeing you.

Police will also be on high alert across the country for potential threats to New Year's Eve celebrations. In New Orleans, 350 National Guard troops will be deployed to the city's French Quarter after last year's car ramming attack on Bourbon Street killed 14 people. Local police are also boosting their presence in the tourism hotspot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANS GAUTHIER, NEW ORLEANS POLICE: Everything in that square of the French Quarter will be closed. We do have a new gate on Bourbon and Canal, which you've seen throughout the year that is vehicle resistant and truck resistant. Also, we also have our secure guards on Bourbon. So, you can't turn onto Bourbon Street. It's going to be almost impossible to do that without getting your vehicle stuck on one of those. But we will have, as the mayor stated earlier, different departments covering the streets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: And joining me now to discuss, Charles Ramsey, CNN's senior law enforcement analyst and former commissioner for the Philadelphia Police Department.

Thank you for joining me this morning, Charles.

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Thank you.

ABEL: I first want to talk about this assessment that CNN has obtained. It's a joint assessment by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, which finds that lone actors and groups driven by ideology are the, quote, "most significant terrorism threat" to New Year's celebrations.

[06:40:02]

How can -- how does law enforcement prepare for that kind of threat?

RAMSEY: Well, I mean, that is the challenge. And the challenge is across the country. And whether it's New York, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, it really doesn't matter. But that is the biggest threat. And you always enhance your security the best you can. Departments stay in touch with the Joint Terrorism Task Force, which is part of the FBI. A way of being able to gather intelligence and share that information with local agencies.

I know that security is beefed up everywhere in New York, for example. You know, they've got added personnel. They do check people before they come into Times Square. They'll have drones in the air. And there are other cities that are very similar to that.

But the lone actors are the ones that you have to be very, very careful and do the best you can to protect against it.

ABEL: There is, of course, Charles, the big celebration happening in New York, as you mentioned. The police commissioner there talked a little bit about what we can expect to see from the NYPD. So, let's quickly listen to some of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSICA TISCH, NEW YORK POLICE COMMISSIONER: The public should expect to see thousands of NYPD officers deployed throughout Times Square and the surrounding area. That includes officers from our specialized units, including emergency service unit, K-9, the bomb squad, heavy weapons teams, and our harbor teams, our helicopters and our drones will also be deployed during the day to provide comprehensive coverage in real time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: OK, so she was laying out some of that, what the levels of security and planning, though. What levels of security and planning go into securing an event like the ball drop in Times Square? How much is seen versus unseen and then give us an idea of the modern technology factor?

RAMSEY: Well, I mean, the most visible, obviously, are going to be your uniform officers, or maybe some specialized vehicles in the area. It gives people a sense of comfort during these times. But there are a lot of plain-clothes officers. There's going to be a lot of video that's being monitored during this period of time. So, there's an awful lot of technology. They've got detectors that detect increased levels of radiation, for example, or any kind of chemical that might be in the air. So, there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes that occurs in their command center, where everything is kind of coordinated and information flows back out into the field.

But let me just say, as far as New York goes, I mean, I don't think anybody does it any better than NYPD when it comes to handling that New Year's Eve event in Times Square. You're talking about a massive number of people in a very tightly packed area. They have to very carefully screen them. They do it every single year, and hopefully this will be another year where they can do so without any incident taking place.

ABEL: And, Charles, of course, celebrations are happening all over the country and the world. What are the overall, aside from that, lone wolf assessment, what are the overall biggest worries for law enforcement when it comes to protecting these kinds of large-scale events and gatherings?

RAMSEY: Well, I mean, sometimes it's just large numbers of people in a very small area, and you can have medical emergencies, you can have all kinds of things that can possibly happen during that kind of event. But departments, I mean, New Year's comes around once a year. So, departments get very, very well adjusted and adapted to dealing with many of the challenges. You learn from the past. You also pay attention to what's going on in those countries just before you have your midnight celebration to see whether or not there are any events that took place, any problems, anything like that.

And so, we all talk to one another, watch what's going on in other cities, keep abreast of the latest threats. I mean, obviously, Australia had a major threat that took place not too long ago. Unfortunately, with many people killed during a Jewish celebration. So, you learn from all these things. You know, how it happened. What kind of intel kind of information did they have in advance, if any? And so, you know, you pay attention to all these things and hope that people pay attention to what's going on around them because cops can't be everywhere.

And so, people need to pay attention. If they see something that doesn't look right, notify a police officer.

ABEL: And hopefully everybody stays safe this New Year's Eve.

Charles Ramsey, appreciate your expertise, sir. Thank you.

RAMSEY: Thank you and Happy New Year.

ABEL: Happy New Year.

Next on CNN THIS MORNING, when one era ends, another begins. As Zohran Mamdani prepares to be sworn in as the next mayor of New York City, Mayor Eric Adams prepares to shape his legacy as he leaves office.

Plus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you know that you're right? How do you know that all the allegations that you're making are true?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do I know that they're true? Well, we showed you guys the -- we showed you guys what was happening, and then you guys can go ahead and make your own analysis.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:45:04]

ABEL: CNN digs into unverified claims made by a YouTuber about alleged fraud at Minnesota daycare centers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZOHRAN MAMDANI, NEW YORK CITY MAYOR-ELECT: I seek to change not only the measure of the well-being of those who live in our city, but those also tasked with the work of measuring.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: A new era in New York. At the stroke of midnight tonight, the city gets a new mayor as Zohran Mamdani is sworn into office. The 34- year-old takes the reins from outgoing Mayor Eric Adams, who spent much of his last year in office dealing with federal charges, which were later dropped. But after a failed effort to run for re-election as an independent, Adams leaves office with just one term in city hall.

[06:50:07]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D), NEW YORK: As I finish my term, I want to share with New Yorkers, it has been an honor to serve and a great responsibility to look after the safety and well-being of so many New Yorkers and visitors. Thank you for this incredible honor. From patrolman to mayor, I am humbled to have served this city, and I wish everyone a healthy 2026.

And listen, it has been a blast. I'm looking forward to a single malt scotch and a cigar.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: Single malt scotch and a cigar.

Joining me now to talk about this transition and reflect on Adams' tenure is Isaac Dovere, CNN senior reporter.

And, Isaac, what beyond his indictments do you believe Eric Adams is going to be remembered for?

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Brian, it's hard to look past those indictments. He's the first sitting mayor of New York to be indicted. The whole saga over this year of why he was indicted and why those indictments were dropped by the Trump administration and how it affected his re-election campaign, really overshadows everything about the Adams administration.

But there are other things that he can point to. There's a lot of building development in positive ways a lot of New Yorkers feel that happened on his watch. Also, he just announced in the last couple of days, as he's closing out his term, that crime was actually down across the city all through the year. Those are big things and have a lot to do with why he was elected in the first place, but that's not what most people associate with him at this point anymore. And that's a lot because of his own doing.

ABEL: And we do know that Mamdani has made a lot of big promises around resetting the economic situation in New York City. Here's what former Mayor Bill de Blasio said last night about how Mamdani is handling those expectations so far.

Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL DE BLASIO (D), FORMER MAYOR OF NEW YORK: The fact that he has gotten Trump to lay off and back off and focus elsewhere actually gives a lot of space for him to achieve his agenda. The real action is in Albany, our state capitol. And there I think he's laid the groundwork very well. So, I think Mamdani's going to surprise a lot of people. And I also think Democrats are going to learn from him to talk about affordability all day long and produce. And that's actually how we win back a lot of the folks we've lost in recent years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: OK, so all of those promises, what can we expect them to become?

DOVERE: Honestly, we don't know many of the details. Even here we are about 16 hours from Mamdani being sworn in, or a little bit more than, 18 hours. He is coming into office having made a lot of big promises, a lot of things that require a lot of money from the state government, new taxes, new allocations, and major changes to how city government works. And he has not provided a lot of details on how he will do that, either in terms of legislation or even stocking his administration. We are going into his swearing in tonight at midnight, still having a lot of big holes in the administration that he hasn't filled, big roles that are there, but also people who work for them or would work for them once they're hired.

And so, even as we have this mayor who has inspired a lot of people, and we see from polling data continues to be popular among New Yorkers, we don't know what it's actually going to look like in practice. And that's questions that are going to get even harder for Mamdani once he is sworn in, as it is for any mayor once they have to actually take care of doing all the day to day insane responsibilities that come with being mayor of New York City.

ABEL: A lot of responsibility that is.

Isaac Dovere, appreciate you this morning. Thank you, sir. Happy New Year to you.

DOVERE: And to you.

ABEL: The Trump administration is freezing all child care payments to the state of Minnesota, while Homeland Security and the FBI investigate allegations of widespread fraud. It is the latest show of federal force in the state, which is home to the country's largest Somali population. The move comes weeks after ICE launched operations in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area to specifically target undocumented Somali immigrants.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM O'NEILL, HHS DEPUTY SECRETARY: Intrepid journalists have made shocking and credible allegations of extensive fraud in Minnesota's child care programs. We believe the state of Minnesota has allowed scammers and fake daycares to siphon millions of taxpayer dollars over the past decade. Starting today, we require a justification receipt or photo evidence

before we make a payment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: YouTube content creator Nick Shirley posted a viral video now that's claiming to find widespread fraud in Somali-run child care centers. Shirley has created anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim videos in the past. His latest post, which provided limited evidence, was retweeted by Vice President J.D. Vance and Elon Musk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you know that you're right? How do you know that all the allegations that you're making are true?

NICK SHIRLEY: How do I know that they're true? Well, we showed you guys the -- we showed you guys what was happening, and then you guys can go ahead and make your own analysis.

[06:55:03]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're coming -- so we can make our own analysis? Are you 100 percent sure you're true?

SHIRLEY: Yes, I am 100 percent sure I'm true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: CNN is looking into Shirley's claims and has not independently verified the accusations.

The group chat is back to talk about all of this right now.

And, Sarah, I want to go to you first. What do we know, based on evidence, about the alleged fraud in Minnesota and how legitimate and widespread it may be?

SARA FISCHER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA ANALYST: Well, I think a lot of people were very apt to believe Shirley's videos because we had indictments in 2022 when reporting first came out about this issue. It was David Fahrenthold, then at "The Washington Post," who started to unravel all of these claims.

The reason why I think Shirley's post has gone viral amongst some of the conservative community is because Minnesota is a politically convenient target, not just for the president, but for the party. Obviously, the governor there, Tim Walz, was the running mate to Kamala Harris in the 2024 election. Ilhan Omar has long been a foe of the presidents. And you noted up top that the ICE immigration raids on Somalis has been a priority for the president. So, all of this collectively has made this story something that people want to gravitate to.

And then in addition to that, previous reporting that uncovered widespread fraud in Minnesota from years ago also makes people more apt to believe this. Where I think a lot of folks in the media, including you mentioned CNN, which is looking to verify this video, are showing pause and trepidation around Shirley's reporting is just that making sure that it's actually verified that it's showing fraud, in a similar way that we all evaluated the initial reporting that came out in 2022.

ABEL: And, Antjuan, what does it say about the media landscape at this point when a YouTuber with an anti-immigrant past can post a video with scant evidence, we can say, that launches a federal surge into a state?

ANTJUAN SEAWRIGHT, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I think there are different types of media. And I think Sarah's right, truth be told, there has been local reporting on this matter for years. In fact, there were 59 convictions under the Biden-Harris administration, as I understand it. And, quite frankly, while there's a lot of attention on the Somalian community, there's a white woman by the name of Aimee Bock who was convicted, I think, on several different charges, who was considered the ringleader of this. And many of these daycares have been shut down for other reasons, like their ability not to be able to operate properly in the state.

And I think the video, the YouTuber video, points to one of those who had already been shut down in the past. And, quite frankly, I think that the governor has been hamstrung by the legislature for political reasons in order to do more. He was able to shut down the housing stabilization fund, another accusation.

So, this has become politically convenient. And there's currency in this, by this administration, to make this a right-wing, red meat, racial talking point about the Somalians. And, of course, picking on Tim Walz. At the end of the day, I don't think anyone wants to run away from accountability, particularly Tim Walz, who's up for re- election in the state next year.

ABEL: And also, we know, as we mentioned earlier, V.P. Vance, he retweeted Nick Shirley's video. And President Trump has also been stoking anti-Somali sentiment for a while.

Let's listen to some of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Look at Minnesota, where Somalians have taken over the economics of the state and have stolen billions and billions of dollars.

And what's happening in Minnesota with Somalia, where billions of dollars is being stolen right, like, like candy from a baby.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: So, Terry, I'll ask you, where is all this headed, do you think, now that we have this kind of like resurgence in reporting of the situation and as well as the attention from the highest office in the land? TERRY SCHILLING, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AMERICAN PRINCIPLES PROJECT:

Well, I think it's a refreshing change from the Biden administration that was infiltrating catholic organizations like the Knights of Columbus and classifying parents who spoke up at school board meetings as potential domestic terrorists.

Look, this is old. This is as -- I think I saw news stories and videos as far back as 2014, definitely 2018. This -- these claims of fraud are verified. They are credible. They've been trying to do things here.

And listen, I think that our justice system needs to be colorblind because we know that fraud is not -- or, I'm sorry, that fraud is colorblind. This is not about the Somalians. I think the reason that it's being focused on Somalians is because they're the ones committing it. We took these people in as refugees, and it looks like there's billions and billions of dollars of scams.

So, hopefully we can get some convictions here and get some justice because people need this money. People need help with daycare, and no one should be scammed of it, especially taxpayers.

SEAWRIGHT: Well, if I can just quickly add, keep in mind, Trump University is also -- was convicted for fraud. And I would also add that this president has pardoned those close to him who's had -- who's had their own allegations of fraud. So, we should keep that in mind. If we're going to be fraud, let's deal with fraud.

[07:00:00]

ABEL: And we don't want to go tit for tat, but I do appreciate all of your guys' insight. Thank you to our group chat. We have to leave it there.

Thank you also all for waking up with us this morning. I'm Brian Abel. New Year's Eve celebrations from across the world are next.