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Justice Department Releases New Epstein Documents; Trump Unveils New "Trump Class" Fleet Of Battleships; Zelenskyy Says Ukraine "Close to a Real Outcome" after U.S. Talks; Ukrainian Draft Dodgers Go to Dangerous Lengths to Flee War; Pulled "60 Minutes" Segment Appeared on Canadian TV App; Mexican Naturalist Revisits Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired December 23, 2025 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Abu Dhabi, this is CONNECT THE WORLD.
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to the second hour of CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Eleni Giokos live in Abu Dhabi, where
the time is just after 7 in the evening.
Back to our breaking story this hour, the Justice Department has released a new batch of the Epstein files that include mentions of U.S. president
Donald Trump. CNN is poring through thousands of documents to bring you the very latest.
Plus, president Trump unveils a new class of battleships named after him.
And the controversy is growing over CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss' decision to shelve a "60 Minutes" story about president Trump's deportation
crackdown. The report is now reaching a worldwide audience online after it aired in Canada.
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GIOKOS: All right. I want to begin with breaking news. CNN is currently digging into a massive trove of files related to convicted sex offender
Jeffrey Epstein, just released by the U.S. Justice Department.
Among the documents, a jailhouse letter Epstein wrote to another infamous sex offender, this man, Larry Nassar. He's the disgraced former U.S.
Gymnastics team doctor, convicted of sexually abusing scores of women and girls.
The letter includes an allusion to U.S. president Trump. And a warning: some of what's in this letter is disturbing.
The letter does not explicitly name Donald Trump but Epstein wrote about "our president" in the message sent in August 2019, the same month Epstein
died by suicide in jail.
Now Epstein wrote in this letter, "Our president also shares our love of young, nubile girls."
A reminder, authorities have not accused Mr. Trump of any wrongdoing or charged him with any crimes in connection with Epstein.
The Justice Department, reacting to this document dump with this statement, quote, "Some of these documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims
made against president Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election.
"To be clear, the claims are unfounded and false. And if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against president
Trump already."
I want to bring in our senior politics reporter, Stephen Collinson.
Stephen, good to see you. I want to unpack the latest news files but I also want to first pick up on that preemptive statement from the Justice
Department.
What does that tell you on how they going about this and the way to insist the claims against president Trump are false?
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think it's difficult to say what the motivations of the Justice Department are with that
statement. Obviously, they understand that this information, while not suggesting wrongdoing by the president, could be embarrassing for him.
This, after all, does have some questions of credibility about it, of course, because Jeffrey Epstein and Mr. Nassar weren't exactly what you
would call credible witnesses and people who wouldn't necessarily in court believe what they said about anyone, let alone Donald Trump.
That said, I think the Justice Department will probably argue that the fact that they put this document out proves that they are not engaged with some
victims. And Democrats say in part of a cover-up.
In some of the other documentation that came out overnight, there are more indications that the president flew on Jeffrey Epstein's jet. We knew that
he'd taken some flights. This talking about eight flights. That seems to be a lot more than we knew before.
Again, there's no necessarily nefarious problems here from the president. There's no sign that he did anything wrong. But it does perhaps suggest
that his descriptions of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein are not necessarily fully accurate.
He's basically said he had some kind of passing relationship with Epstein, like everybody else did. This seems to involve slightly more than that.
But again, there's nothing that we've learned overnight that would counteract the president's claims that he broke off his friendship with
Epstein in the early 2000s or the mid 2000s because of various bustups they had.
[10:05:00]
So certainly embarrassing for the president, something that he would not like to come out politically or personally. But it doesn't really change, I
think, what we know substantially about any exposure he has here.
GIOKOS: Yes, absolutely. I mean, I also want to talk about perceptions. You know, as people start to get this information, as you say, we now know
how many times he was on the private jet. I mean, according to these documents.
But also this very disturbing letter between Epstein and Larry Nassar, as you mentioned. The Justice Department is claiming that is untrue and also
calling them sensationalist. You're talking about the political fallout. Perhaps it's going to be minimal. This is more about him being humiliated
and being embarrassing.
COLLINSON: Yes. And it's the nature of conspiracies that disclosure, conspiracy theories, that disclosure doesn't actually make things much
better. Surely the people who already doubt the president's motives are going to look at this and say, well, just shows, you know, there was more
to come out. There's -- he was trying to cover this up.
So in a way, politically, he can't win. I think it was interesting yesterday, the president was talking about this down at his Mar-a-Lago club
in Florida and he was referring to Bill Clinton. But he was arguing that these kind of disclosures are unfair because they malign the reputation of
somebody that's involved.
That, in fact, is the reason why generally the FBI and the Justice Department don't release information about cases that includes third
parties if there is no criminal investigation, purely because it can tarnish someone's reputation when they didn't do anything wrong criminally.
So the president is making that point. He does, however, seem to be portraying himself and the other people who gathered around Epstein as the
victims here, when in fact there are a real class of victims, the survivors of Epstein's abuse.
And given the fact that these women who were abused when they were young girls, allegedly, have not had justice and it's been postponed so often, I
think you can argue that, in this case, the public interest really does weigh in favor of disclosure.
GIOKOS: OK. So, I mean, the DOJ had a deadline. They were supposed to release all the documents on Friday by midnight Eastern time. They only
released a tranche of that. It was heavily redacted over the weekend. We've been talking about whether this looks like a coverup.
They're saying they're taking the approach of overredaction.
There's a question around whether you know, the attorney general, Pam Bondi, can be held in contempt of Congress. (INAUDIBLE) I mean, we're
learning a lot more than (INAUDIBLE)
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COLLINSON: Yes. I think there's a political question here that's going to play out after the holidays in the United States, that -- these files would
not be coming out were it not for an upsurge in Congress, including among Republicans in a very rare revolt against the president.
Now if the Justice Department keeps dripping out this stuff over the holidays, notwithstanding all those questionable redactions that you were
talking about, is that going to mitigate the anger among Republicans if they don't get all of the information that was supposed to have come out
last Friday?
In other words, when there was a coalition to force the release of these documents, is there going to be a coalition in the House and even in the
Senate to try to compel changes to these redactions?
Are Republicans at this point going to stand up against their own president, his Justice Department, and try to enforce contempt proceedings
against senior officials?
I think that is very much in question.
GIOKOS: All right, Stephen. We have a lot more to get through. I want you to stay with me. I want to go to another story that we are following very
closely today.
Now the United States Coast Guard is still going after an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, a chase that's been going on for two days now. The
Americans say it is part of a shadow fleet transporting sanctioned oil.
The vessel was headed toward Venezuela when the U.S. attempted to intercept it. If successful, this will be the third tanker taken by the Americans
this month as the U.S. continues to pressure Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.
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QUESTION: Is the ultimate goal in Venezuela to force Maduro from power?
TRUMP: Well, I think it probably would. I can't tell him. That's up to him what he wants to do. I think it would be smart for him to do that. But
again, we're going to find out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: All right. So joining us now we've got the former South America director on the U.S. National Security Council, Benjamin Gedan. He's also a
senior fellow and director of the Latin America program at the Stimson Center.
Really good to have you with us, Benjamin. I mean, important day. I want to first start off with this pursuit of this oil tanker. And interestingly, it
was moving toward Venezuela.
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It's called the Bella 1. It actually is flying with Guyana's flag. And it's interesting because the way that the U.S. has positioned this is that it's
a sanctioned tanker.
How are you reading into all of this?
BENJAMIN GEDAN, SENIOR FELLOW AND DIRECTOR, LATIN AMERICA PROGRAM, STIMSON CENTER: Yes, this is part of an extraordinary escalation in the U.S.
tensions with Venezuela.
The latest tactic is to try to suffocate the Venezuelan economy by depriving it of its principal source of revenue, which is, of course, its
oil industry. The so-called shadow fleet of tankers are generally subject to this kind of U.S. law enforcement action, whether they've been helping
Venezuela or Iran or other countries evade U.S. sanctions.
GIOKOS: All right. So you know, the big question that we've been asking, is it about oil?
Is it about the narco trade?
Is it about regime change?
President Trump's social media post last week, I mean, specifically said, "We want to take back stolen oil and stolen land from Venezuela."
He's been very clear about wanting to see Maduro step down.
So what's your calculation?
GEDAN: Yes, I mean, that's been the oddest aspect of this escalation in the U.S. relationship with Venezuela.
You would think, after having deployed an armada of this size, having attacked more than 80 alleged drug trafficking speedboats, killing more
than 100 civilians, demanding regime change in Venezuela, we would have some clear understanding of what the United States really is pursuing.
But it changes almost on a daily basis. Initially, the Trump administration claimed that it was trying to fight drug trafficking. It wasn't a really
credible claim because fentanyl, of course, comes through Mexico with ingredients from China. And Venezuela has nothing to do with fentanyl.
And that is the source of most of the tragic overdose deaths in the United States. Venezuela is more of a bit player, responsible for some cocaine
trafficking. And mainly that cocaine goes to Europe. And so now we've seen the United States pivot occasionally, arguing that it's all about regime
change.
But more often lately saying it's about seizing Venezuelan oil, that, according to president Trump, was somehow stolen from the United States.
GIOKOS: Yes. OK. So I want you to listen to some of the letter that president Maduro wrote and read by his foreign minister. Take a listen to
this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YVAN GIL PINTO, VENEZUELAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): We responsibly warned that these aggressions will not only impact Venezuela.
The blockade and piracy against Venezuelan energy trade will affect oil and energy supply, increase instability in international markets, and hit the
economies of Latin America, the Caribbean and the world, especially in the most vulnerable countries.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: So it's important to note -- and, of course, Benjamin, you know this, Venezuela is sitting on 303 billion barrels of reserves of oil. I
mean, this is an enormous amount according to the International Energy Agency.
It's only, you know, Saudi Arabia's second in terms of reserves globally. It actually exports around 27 million of oils -- about a million barrels of
oil per month. So it's pretty phenomenal to look at these numbers and not ask the question about what the United States ultimately wants to do in
Venezuela.
And how do you believe this is going to be playing out, I guess, in the next few weeks, perhaps months?
GEDAN: Yes, I mean, Venezuela has the world's biggest oil reserves and it once was one of the world's biggest oil producers. It no longer is as a
result of corruption and mismanagement and U.S. sanctions. It's now a much more marginal actor in global energy markets.
Now the United States is actually still importing Venezuelan oil. The oil company Chevron has permission from the U.S. government and is one of the
key actors in the Venezuelan oil industry.
As for the impact that these disruptions will have beyond Venezuela, I'd say they're fairly minimal. I mean, China is unhappy. It is the ultimate
market for many of the -- of the shadow fleet tankers that are taking Venezuelan oil and trying to evade the U.S. blockade and U.S. sanctions.
But broadly speaking, Venezuela's oil industry has shrunk so significantly over the years that taking more of its oil off global markets wouldn't have
a really disruptive effect on many countries; frankly, only on Venezuela, which is the target of these tactics in the first place.
GIOKOS: All right, so president Trump announcing a new Trump class of battleships. A U.S. Navy fact sheet says it will be the most lethal warship
to ever be built, with a length of up to 880 feet and a displacement of 30,000 to 40,000 tons.
They'll also be the biggest surface combatants the U.S. Navy has constructed since World War II. Here's what Trump had to say about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: These are the best in the world. They'll be the fastest, the biggest and by far 100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built.
The U.S. Navy will lead the design of these ships along with me, because I'm a very esthetic person.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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GIOKOS: So what's your understanding of this project, what is it going to look like and whether it can actually come to fruition?
GEDAN: Yes, I mean, I don't think it is related in any reasonable timeline to what's happening right now in the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific with
Venezuela.
But probably the announcement is not coincidental, right?
There's been this buildup now for almost four months of military forces outside Venezuela. And the not-so subtle suggestion is that, at some point,
Trump might be willing to attack Venezuela on the ground, probably not with ground forces but maybe with airstrikes. And that's why we believe he's
been attacking all of these --
(CROSSTALK)
GIOKOS: Do you think that's imminent, Benjamin?
GEDAN: (INAUDIBLE) -- yes.
GIOKOS: Do you think that's imminent?
GEDAN: No, I don't. I think that this is largely what we would call a psyop, a psychological operation. Right. An effort to intimidate the
government of Venezuela into thinking an invasion or airstrikes are possible
GIOKOS: All right, Benjamin Gedan, great to have you with us. Thank you so much for your insights today.
All right. So battleships aren't the only thing Donald Trump has put his name on recently. Last week, his name was also added to the Kennedy Center
building, up ahead of former president John F. Kennedy's, who was assassinated while in office.
His name also appeared on the rebranded Donald Trump institute of peace after he gutted the institution's funding.
Our Stephen Collinson notes just how far this naming binge has already gone, writing for CNN that, "Next year, people will be able to buy
pharmaceuticals from TrumpRx. Parents will be able to open "Trump Accounts" for newborns. Rich foreigners can buy Trump Gold Card visas."
Stephen is now back with us.
And in fact, when I when I read your piece, it was really interesting because you actually started the piece off by saying, "Just call it Trump
America," because basically that's where we headed. So I mean, I just want to start off with this fascination with putting his name on everything and
now those battleships.
How is that landing politically?
COLLINSON: Yes, this is kind of interesting. This tells us a lot about Trump but it does come with political risks. Throughout his career as a
real estate mogul, Trump basically has operated by through branding and franchising, doing deals that put his names on buildings and golf clubs and
hotels and items, consumer items, all over the world.
Now he's doing exactly the same with the U.S. government. Some people believe that this is a symptom of an ego run out of control and part of
Trump's clutching for a legacy that he can control when he's still alive. Many presidents have to wait until they're dead for their legacy to play
out in history.
I think, you know, what is happening here, what is worrying some people, at least, is that there's this sense that this is the action of somebody
that's using unfettered political power across all sorts of arenas. And it also -- it kind of smacks of totalitarianism, a personality cult leader,
something you might see in North Korea.
I think the political risk here for Donald Trump is that it looks like he's obsessing with things that care -- that he cares about, to put his name on,
to build his legacy when many Americans are suffering with a difficult economy, high prices.
His approval ratings are already tanking. His management of the economy is increasingly being called into question.
But I think one interesting point about Trump is that, during his first term, he went to George Washington's estate, Mount Vernon in Virginia, with
French president Emmanuel Macron.
And "Politico" reported at that time that he wasn't too impressed that Washington hadn't put his own name on his own estate.
And Trump was quoted as saying, "You have to put your name on everything, otherwise people won't remember you."
And I think that is what he's trying to do here. He's trying to put his stamp on the present in the United States and history. The problem is,
though, is when you put your name up in buildings, just as it can go up very quickly, it could all get taken down by a future Democratic president.
GIOKOS: Very true. Stephen Collinson, thank you so much for that analysis.
Now I want to take you to Russia. As the war on Ukraine grinds on, some men are risking their lives to avoid the front lines by making a deadly
journey. CNN's report on Ukraine's draft evaders is after the break. Stay with CNN.
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GIOKOS: Ukraine is reeling from what president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is calling a massive attack from Russia. The president says at least three
people are dead, including a 4-year-old child, after overnight strikes hit 13 different regions. The attack left some areas of the country without
power and has injured more than a dozen people.
We've got CNN's Clare Sebastian, joining us live from London for more.
Clare, good to see you. Now this comes after Zelenskyy cited some progress in talks.
Does that still hold after last night's attack?
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, I don't think he will have been all that surprised. This was the second biggest attack in December.
Russia has been launching attacks on this scale, mainly targeting the energy grid, for months now.
It's part of what appears to be a sustained campaign to put pressure on Ukraine to weaken their position in talks and, frankly, to weaken the
resolve of the Ukrainian people.
I think, in terms of talks, what does seem to still stand -- and Zelenskyy said after these attacks that happened overnight into this morning, he said
he had a detailed report from his team that spent the weekend in Miami with the U.S. negotiators.
And he said, look, there's a number of draft documents now. There's the framework of the peace plan. We think that's now 20 points. He said that
has been set out in such a way to correspond, he said, to the objective of actually ending the war and to prevent a third Russian invasion.
And crucially, he talked about security guarantees that have been now put down on paper, it seems, from the U.S. and he said they look quite solid
and dignified. Obviously there's a big "but" in all this. All of these talks so far have been happening on two tracks, the U.S. and Ukraine on the
one hand, with the Europeans occasionally.
And then on the other hand, the U.S. and Russia -- and Russia has signaled very clearly that it is primed to reject any changes to the original 28-
point peace plan that contained many of its maximalist demands. And this is something that Zelenskyy touched on quite clearly in his remarks. Take a
listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): It is important that the American side can also get a response from Russia. Real
readiness on the part of that state (ph), to focus on something other than aggression.
Of course, after so many years of initially hybrid war and now full-scale war, it's hard to believe that Putin can live without killings and
invasions. But lowering the price of Russian oil, strong global sanctions and continued other forms of pressure are what can convince even such a
stubborn person.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SEBASTIAN: So he is using this opportunity essentially to call for his Western allies to get even tougher on Russia.
And I think it's worth pointing out, he talked about lowering the price of oil that -- we have new data from August that shows that the price of
Russian Urals crude oil, that's the benchmark of Russian oil, is actually at its lowest point or around its lowest point of the war so far.
At the moment, don't forget that U.S. sanctions on Russia's biggest oil giant were announced in October, came into force in November and that oil
price has fallen more than 25 percent since they were first announced. So the pressure is ramping up.
Ukrainian sustained strikes on Russian oil infrastructure is also ramping up that pressure. But so far, clearly it hasn't been enough to bring Russia
to the table with any real sense of compromise.
GIOKOS: Yes, pressures mounting on both sides as these talks continue. But I want to talk about the overnight strikes.
[10:25:00]
And, of course, you know, injuring quite a few people. I think that Zelenskyy was hopeful in the next few days we would see some kind of
Christmas truce or at least a ceasefire come into effect. But that seems unlikely, given the level and the rates of strikes that we're seeing
playing out.
SEBASTIAN: Yes. Look, Russia has made it very clear that it is not going to accept any kind of ceasefire while peace talks are going on. It wants
not -- it doesn't want an interim ceasefire. It wants to reach a final peace deal and then eventually, they say, see the violence stop.
So this is all part of that policy. I think clearly what we're seeing is an effort to, as I said, to weaken the resolve of the Ukrainian people, to
weaken their position in talks. It was a widespread attack. Multiple regions were targeted, the energy grid; very deadly, as you say, for
civilians. We know of three deaths, including a 4-year-old child.
So I think all of that plays into this attritional strategy. And it doesn't seem like there's any movement from Russia on the idea of this interim
ceasefire, even though Ukraine, of course, and its European allies continue to push for it.
GIOKOS: All right, Clare Sebastian, thank you so much for that update.
Now as the war rages on, some Ukrainian men are going to dangerous lengths to avoid fighting Russian forces. CNN's Clarissa Ward has that report for
us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN BENGA, DIRECTOR, SALVAMONT MARAMURES MOUNTAIN RESCUE: So what you see on the right-hand side, there's Ukraine.
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dan Benga knows how dangerous these mountains can be. He and his team have
rescued hundreds of Ukrainians who tried to cross them.
BENGA: They don't have the knowledge; they don't have experience.
And they don't have professional equipment. Because on these mountains, you need professional equipment to be alive.
WARD: To survive.
WARD (voice-over): The Carpathian Mountains that cut along Romania's 400- mile border with Ukraine have become a deadly magnet for Ukrainian men fleeing conscription at home and seeking freedom in the E.U.
WARD: You can see how steep these mountains are. It is frankly astonishing that up to 100 Ukrainians are making this crossing still every single week.
WARD (voice-over): The risks are huge. Since Russia's invasion in 2022, the Salvamont Mountain Rescue Service has carried out countless perilous
missions that have saved 377 Ukrainian lives. The longest operation lasted nearly six days. Not everyone makes it.
The Romanian Border Police say 29 Ukrainians have died crossing the mountains and the Tisza River that separates the two countries.
BENGA: This is a job we were prepared. We are training every day and this is a job we are doing. It's not about being Ukrainian or Russian or
American; it's about being human.
WARD: A human being.
BENGA: Yes. WARD: So if you could deliver a message to the men of Ukraine, would you tell them stop trying to cross through these mountains?
It's too dangerous.
BENGA: I really can't say don't cross the mountains. I can say take care of you.
WARD (voice-over): It's a lesson that Dima (ph), who asked us not to reveal his identity, learned the hard way. He made the crossing shortly
after receiving his draft papers early on in the war. Things quickly went wrong when his group got lost.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Minus 20 degrees Celsius, without food, without water.
WARD: No water?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): No.
WARD: No food?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Only snow.
WARD: Just the snow?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I walked 20 kilometers barefoot. I realized I had problems with my feet but at that time, I didn't feel it. I
only felt it when I was already in the hospital.
WARD: And then, did they have to remove all the toes?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Yes. If the rescuers hadn't found me within two hours, I wouldn't be talking to you now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Freedom.
WARD (voice-over): Stories like Dima's (ph) have done little to stop the flow. According to the Romanian Border Police, more than 30,000 Ukrainians
have entered the country illegally since the war began.
Martial law prohibits eligible men between the ages of 23 and 60 from leaving Ukraine. Many see crossing these mountains as their only option.
Numbers are down from their peak in 2024, when the mobilization age was lowered to 25. But even now, as winter sets in, the crossings continue.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Friends, this is the place for a proven, safe, reliable and fast way out abroad for men.
WARD (voice-over): For those who can afford it, some smugglers openly sell their services on TikTok and Telegram; 9,000 euros to get to Moldova,
12,000 euros or around 14,000 to Romania.
[10:30:13]
Artem, as he calls himself, says he helps facilitate these escapes.
ARTEM, BORDER-CROSSING FACILITATOR: We rescued, I think, more than, in this moment, more than 600 people.
WARD: I find it really interesting that you use the word rescue.
ARTEM: , of course, because I see the situation like that. And I think we rescue people who just want to leave, to build their future.
WARD: And what do you say to people who view you and who view those who are trying to leave as traitors?
ARTEM: I don't take care about them, to be honest. I help people, I save people.
WARD (voice-over): Ukrainian authorities see it differently, faced with a manpower crisis as the war heads toward its fifth year. Men caught trying
to leave the country illegally are rounded up. Some have reported being mobilized shortly afterwards.
WARD: Hi, Victor, how are you?
WARD (voice-over): 34-year-old Kyiv taxi driver, Viktor Pinkhasov, has just crossed into Romania.
WARD: I'm glad you're OK. You survived.
VIKTOR PINKHASOV, UKRAINIAN DRAFT EVADER: Yes, thank you.
WARD: How long did it take you?
PINKHASOV: Five days, four nights.
WARD: Five days, four nights, walking through the mountains?
PINKHASOV: Yes, yes, three big mountains.
WARD (voice-over): He says the journey was tough but the decision to leave was easy. His five-month-old daughter, Eva, is in Switzerland and he has
little faith in ongoing negotiations to end the war.
WARD: Do you believe that there is going to be peace?
PINKHASOV: No.
WARD: No?
PINKHASOV: I want to believe but I see nobody wants peace.
WARD: What's the most important reason you left?
PINKHASOV: My daughter, freedom. I want to live and understand that I'm free. I can't go, I can't live in prison. I'm a free man.
WARD (voice-over): It is a bleak outlook shared by many Ukrainian men, willing to leave their homeland behind to take their futures into their own
hands. Clarissa Ward, CNN, Maramures, Romania.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS: All right. Still to come on CNN, an unexpected turn of events. The report that CBS tried to keep off the air has now been seen by many across
the world. We'll explain on that story just ahead.
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GIOKOS (voice-over): Welcome back. You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Eleni Giokos. Here are your headlines.
U.S. president Trump calls the Justice Department's Jeffrey Epstein ongoing document dump, quote, "an effort to distract from his accomplishments."
[10:35:08]
And he's expressing frustration that some high-profile people are under scrutiny for being associated with the convicted sex offender.
The U.S. is chasing an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. The pursuit has been ongoing for over 48 hours at this point. The tanker was actually
headed toward Venezuela when the U.S. Coast Guard tried to intercept it. American officials say it is part of a shadow fleet that transports oil
from sanctioned nations.
The "60 Minutes" piece, pulled by the head of CBS News, has now been seen around the world anyway, because of a streaming slipup. Editor-in-chief
Bari Weiss shelved the segment on Trump deportees at the last minute, saying it wasn't ready because there was no response from administration
officials.
But the episode was published by a streaming platform in Canada and now clips are circulating all over the internet. I want to discuss this
further. We've got CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter with us.
Brian, good to see you. Look, I want to discuss the report being released in Canada in just a moment. But first, I really want to bring up, you know,
bring us up to speed on why Bari Weiss wanted to hold back on the release of this and, of course, importantly, the uproar that erupted over all of
this.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Right. She says that the piece was not ready but the timing is suspicious here. Something simply does not add
up.
This piece by correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi about the prison in El Salvador, that the Trump administration has been deporting migrants to, this piece
had been in the works for months, I'm told, at least as early as September, maybe even earlier.
By November, the "60 Minutes" producers were sending requests for comment to the president of El Salvador and the Department of Homeland Security in
the U.S. This story was then very much in the works earlier this month as well.
And Bari Weiss had a chance to watch it, to screen a copy of it this time last week. She didn't actually watch it until late Thursday night and then
she did not object to it at the time. She gave some notes. Those notes were addressed on Friday. The piece was announced on Friday. It was promoted on
social media on Friday.
And it was only on Saturday that Weiss objected to the report and said it should not air on Sunday night. So there's something strange about the
timeline there. And even supporters of Weiss are criticizing her internally for messing up the process of this, the mishandling of the process.
So there's the process and then there are the political questions about whether this is a result of political interference or an attempt by CBS
Paramount to appease the Trump administration, to try to appeal to president Trump, who continues to rail against "60 Minutes" and complain
about the Paramount owners on social media.
So there's both the process as well as the political dimension here.
GIOKOS: Yes. OK. So you were talking about the promo and I actually want to watch that with you, because this is what aired before they pulled the
story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHARYN ALFONSI, CBS NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It began as soon as the planes landed.
The deportees thought they were headed from the U.S. back to Venezuela but, instead they were shackled, paraded in front of cameras and delivered to
SECOT, the notorious maximum security prison in El Salvador, where they told "60 Minutes" they endured four months of hell.
ALFONSI: Did you think you were going to die there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We thought we were already the living dead, honestly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: Yes. I mean, look, that being aired, I guess, the audience anticipating the release, this news shocking everyone, that report is now
out and it was aired in Canada. And it's obviously spreading like wildfire online.
What does it take away from it?
Is it a standard piece of journalism, as CBS reporters have been arguing?
STELTER: That's right. I would say, number one, yes; this did meet the bar, the threshold that viewers expect for "60 Minutes." It was focused on
characters. It was focused on the experiences of these men. And it also featured an interview with a human rights lawyer and a team of students,
who helped to corroborate the reports of these men.
This story was not trying to be a package or a piece about the point of view of Trump administration officials.
However, there are sound bites from president Trump and Karoline Leavitt and Kristi Noem in the piece. Bari Weiss said over the weekend to her staff
that she wanted the show to work harder to get an interview with Stephen Miller or Kristi Noem or another Trump administration official.
And that is her prerogative as editor-in-chief, to say that the piece was missing something in that way.
But the point of the "60 Minutes" piece was to focus on the human toll of the Trump administration's deportation policy, not on the officials who
implemented the policy.
Now it did, as you say, stream in Canada, a pretty incredible turn of events. The "60 Minutes" episode was finished on Friday. That's why it was
shipped off to Canada, to be streamed by an affiliate, who has the rights to "60 Minutes" in Canada.
So that's why this appeared on the internet all of a sudden on Monday. That's why people around the world are now able to watch the report, even
though Bari Weiss tried to shelve it.
[10:40:00]
GIOKOS: Wow. OK. So look, in all of this looming over the Paramount story, the owner of CBS, launching a hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros.
Discovery. That's our parent company.
Brian, I want you to talk to us about the questions being raised about whether CBS is trying to curry favor with Trump here and what this means
for the ongoing fight over who will control WBD.
STELTER: Several things are -- several things are happening simultaneously. You have, CBS parent, Paramount, chasing WBD. You have
everyone involved, knowing that the deal would require Trump administration approval. And you have Trump publicly pressuring Paramount to give him more
favorable news coverage.
So with all that in mind, Bari Weiss is now under scrutiny, with people wondering if she is trying to make it easier for Paramount to get this deal
through.
But right now, WBD -- again, CNN's parent -- is moving forward with Netflix. It's moving forward with that deal for Warner Bros. and HBO to be
acquired by Netflix, for CNN to move into a different, publicly traded company.
So right now, Paramount has not prevailed in that hostile takeover bid. And for viewers at home, you're going to be hearing about this for a while.
It's probably going to go on for months, well into the new year.
But it is the political kind of backdrop for this entire story. The other backdrop I'm noticing is something a little bit like what we saw in
September.
Remember when Jimmy Kimmel was suspended in September by ABC?
There was an immediate consumer backlash. You had examples of people calling up ABC stations across the U.S., demanding that Kimmel be returned
to the air, complaining about ABC seeming to cower in the face of Trump administration censorship.
I'm seeing the same kind of consumer backlash now; this time, targeting CBS. I'm hearing from some local stations that are getting calls and
emails, reporters there not knowing what to say about this controversy.
So consumer backlash, consumer pressure is a part of this story as well, because ultimately, viewers, readers, they get a voice. They have a voice
about how the news is covered, about how these media companies operate and act. And so keep an eye on that going forward as well.
GIOKOS: Yes, it's a really good point. I mean, consumers, you know, even if they sense a whiff of any kind of interference, there's huge backlash.
So Brian Stelter, good to have you on the story. Thank you so much.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS (voice-over): Now in the meantime, one of Israel's oldest media institutions will be off the air soon. The Israeli government is pulling
the plug on the country's army radio.
(CROSSTALK)
GIOKOS (voice-over): It's raising concerns over press freedom and the state of public broadcasting. Matthew Chance has the story for us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: (INAUDIBLE). This is the closure of army radio in Israel. The 75-year-old media institution
in this country, in what's been seen as a political move, fueling mounting concerns over press freedom.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has justified the closure by saying that many countries like North Korea have a military station,
broadcasting under army control, and that Israel shouldn't really have anything similar.
But army radio here is a military unit that also carries news from civilian journalists and hosts several popular talk shows that are often critical of
the military and of Israeli policies.
So its closure is being criticized as part of a broader effort to control the media. The Israeli opposition leader, for instance, Yair Lapid, is
among those criticizing (INAUDIBLE), saying the government doesn't know how to deal with the cost of living or the neglect of the security situation,
so it shuts down the media.
But in another controversial move, the Israeli government has also extended legislation to close down foreign media outlets that, quote, "pose a
concrete threat to national security."
The so-called Al Jazeera law, which was used against the Qatar-based channel last year after Israeli officials described as hostile and biased
its coverage of the Gaza war, was meant to be a temporary measure. It's now been extended through 2027.
All of this comes against the backdrop of an increasingly hostile environment for journalists in Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
In Gaza alone, in the past few years, during the war there, more than 200 journalists have been killed, according to human rights groups. So it's in
this context that the latest media developments in Israel are being viewed. Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS: Coming up on the show, we visit an international team of researchers braving weeks of subzero temperatures and 24 hours of sunlight
to collect ice cores in the Canadian High Arctic. We'll be right back.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
[10:45:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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GIOKOS: From volcanic activity to greenhouse gas concentrations, ice cores can tell us a lot about the history of our planet and the impact humans are
having on it.
Today, on "Call to Earth," we head to the top of the world, where a team of scientists braves extreme cold and 24 hours of light to help understand
what's coming our way in the future.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL WEIR, CNN CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As an ice core scientist and high-altitude mountaineer, Alison Criscitiello is comfortable
working in harsh conditions.
ALISON CRISCITIELLO, DIRECTOR, CANADIAN ICE CORE LAB: Right now, it's a super nice day, probably only minus 10 with a little bit of wind. But when
we got here at the beginning of April, it was in the low minus 30s. Quite cold but it's warmed up to kind of Arctic spring.
WEIR (voice-over): For nearly two months, she's been camped out on Axel Heiberg.
CRISCITIELLO: And here's all our sleeping tents.
WEIR (voice-over): An uninhabited island in the Canadian High Arctic.
CRISCITIELLO: I am on Muller Ice Cap, which is almost exactly at 80- degrees North. And I'm here with a big international team because we're
drilling an ice core. And actually, we're drilling a few ice cores.
WEIR (voice-over): But they aren't doing it all by hand. That's only done to extract the first couple of meters, which are lost in preparing for the
bigger equipment to operate.
CRISCITIELLO: I'm going to give you a view inside of the drill trench. Inside the main deep drill trench, currently, around 268 meters down.
WEIR (voice-over): Led by teams from Canada and Denmark and accompanied by scientists from as far away as Brazil and Australia, they've set up two
separate drill sites on this expedition.
CRISCITIELLO: That is actually quite unique. The reason we have two drills is because we're collecting a lot of material to be able to do a lot of
different analyses. So the Danish drill that we spent the last two months drilling from the surface all the way down to 613 meters to bedrock.
We're either at or very close to the bottom. There's a lot of rocks. And that core will be used for what we hope will be 10,000 to 20,000 years
worth of climate reconstructions.
The other drill, the Canadian Eclipse drill, is drilling a series of 70- meter cores to look at the transport of environmental contaminants to the far north. Sending out 4,000 pounds of ice today.
WEIR (voice-over): Alison says that planning for this 51-day expedition took about five years.
CRISCITIELLO: Here comes the twin otter.
WEIR (voice-over): From here, the cores are sent back to the Canadian Ice Core Lab at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, where Alison is
Director.
It's been about five months since she has returned and the team has reassembled to begin processing and imaging the ice for analysis. Each one-
meter section will be cut into five pieces and shared with various scientific labs around the world.
CRISCITIELLO: I think we're all really hoping that it's going to allow us to reconstruct Arctic Sea ice in the past, over a long time period, the
full Holocene and hopefully can let us look at Arctic Ocean variability in the past.
WEIR (voice-over): The first step will be to learn the age of the ice by analyzing the layers with various methods.
[10:50:00]
Like ice flow modeling using volcanic eruptions as time markers.
CRISCITIELLO: At the end is the electrical conductivity, which is really just these two electrodes that get dragged on the surface of the ice and
extremely useful in locating particle layers, so where there are volcanic tephras.
WEIR (voice-over): Because of the complex analysis process, it could take a year or more until they confirm the age scale of this ice and then many
more years for additional scientific data to be revealed.
CRISCITIELLO: It's hard to put a value amount on this ice but I would say it's invaluable.
WEIR (voice-over): It's a process that's a true test of one's patience. But for Alison, it's well worth the time, energy and effort, if for
anything else, the sake of the planet.
CRISCITIELLO: Why should people care about this?
Well, I think understanding our past climate in a way that helps us better predict and understand future climate and what's to come is something that
impacts every single person and living thing on this planet.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Well, let us know what you're doing to answer the call with #CalltoEarth.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
Welcome back. I want to take you to this very awesome story. A historic milestone in spaceflight.
This past weekend, a European Space Agency engineer became the first wheelchair user in space; 33-year-old Michaela Benthaus traveled about 62
miles above Earth on a Blue Origin capsule.
After a mountain bike accident resulted in a spinal cord injury in 2018, Benthaus had to change a lot of things about her lifestyle but she never
lost her adventurous spirit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You told me after the accident that you thought this dream of going to space was no longer possible. You just showed the world
that it is possible.
MICHAELA BENTHAUS, ENGINEER, EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY: I know. Let's not stop here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What would you say to folks that have given up on a dream because they thought it was impossible?
BENTHAUS: I think you should never give up on your dreams, right?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Heartwarming story there, right?
So you could call it a holiday gift for fans of the artist Banksy, this new artwork from the anonymous British street artist appeared in London on
Monday. It shows two children wearing winter hats lying on the ground, with one pointing to the sky. There it is. Banksy painted the black and white
mural on the side of an old building in the Bayswater district. I mean, definitely a showstopper. The mural drew plenty of attention from those who
stopped to photograph the work while passing by.
[10:55:05]
Very difficult to miss those incredible artworks. I mean, I always wonder what time of day he gets the stuff done. Clearly in the dark of night.
All right. So thank you so much for joining us for CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Eleni Giokos. Stay with CNN. "ONE WORLD" is up next. Enjoy the rest of your
week and happy holidays.
END
