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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Trump Weighs Venezuela Options During Oval Office Meeting; White House, Hegseth Shift Responsibility For Double-Tap Strike; Winter Storm Dumping Rain & Snow Across Eastern States; Witkoff, Kushner To Meet With Putin In Moscow; Court Rules Ex-Trump Lawyer Unlawfully Serving As U.S. Attorney; Israeli President Weighing Netanyahu's Pardon Request. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired December 02, 2025 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:23]

BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all round the world. I'm Brian Abel. Thank you so much for being with us today.

It is Tuesday, December 2nd, 5:00 a.m. here in Washington, D.C.

And straight ahead on EARLY START.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: President Donald Trump and his top military officials are facing growing scrutiny as the White House is now confirming that the military carried out what they call a double tap strike.

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): We've got to get to the bottom of this.

CHRIS WARREN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Tuesday is the day that the Northeast is going to see the majority of the snow from this winter storm.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got to be ready for any storm.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In Hong Kong, the death toll has risen after the massive fire that tore through a high rise residential complex last week.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We must uncover the truth, and ensure that justice is served.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

ABEL: President Donald Trump is weighing his next steps in Venezuela after a meeting with top national security officials in the Oval Office. This comes as the administration is facing intense scrutiny over a double tap strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean. The president initially claimed he knew nothing about the follow up attack that reportedly killed survivors.

But on Monday, the White House acknowledged that strike did occur in early September and that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth authorized it. They have since shifted responsibility to the head of U.S. Special Operations Command. Texas says he stands by Admiral Frank Mitch Bradley's decision, echoing the White House press secretary who claims Bradley worked well within his authority and the law.

But U.S. lawmakers on both sides of the aisle fear the double tap strike could amount to a war crime, and they are promising a bipartisan investigation

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ROGER WICKER (R-MS): We're going to conduct oversight, and we're going to try to get to the facts. And to the extent that we're able to see videos and see what the orders were.

WARNER: We've got to get to the bottom of this. We also need to find out why the administration has not released the unedited version of the video. That would pretty much demonstrate to at least Congress whether these individuals were in the water on the boat, still combatants or not.

SEN. MARK KELLY (D-AZ): I'm concerned that if there were in fact, as reported, you know, survivors clinging to a damaged vessel, that that could be, you know, over a line.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: CNN's Alayna Treene brings us the latest on these developments from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: President Donald Trump and his top military officials are facing growing scrutiny as the White House is now confirming that the military carried out what they call a double tap strike on a boat off the Venezuelan coast back in September. Now, sources have told CNN and other outlets that two people, at least on board, had survived that initial attack before the second strike was carried out, killing all 11 people on board.

On Monday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said and confirmed that both of those strikes had taken place. She said that the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, was the one who had initially authorized those strikes, but that it was the Admiral Frank "Mitch" Bradley, who is now the commander of the U.S. special operations command, to carry out those strikes.

All to say, she also repeatedly argued that what he did was lawful and within their authority. Listen.

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: President Trump and Secretary Hegseth have made it clear that presidentially designated narco terrorist groups are subject to lethal targeting in accordance with the laws of war. With respect to the strikes in question on September 2nd, Secretary Hegseth authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes. Admiral Bradley worked well within his authority, and the law, directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated.

TREENE: Now, still, some members of congress and many legal experts are arguing whether or not that actually was legal and if this could even amount to a war crime, which is what we've heard from people like Senator Angus King and other lawmakers as well.

Now, another key question, of course, is where does the administration go from here as it relates to Venezuela? On Monday evening, the president convened a meeting with top cabinet officials as well as members of his national security team, to game out next steps on Venezuela, among other issues. One of the people who is expected to attend that meeting was Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary himself. And so, a lot of questions on Monday regarding those two strikes back in September, likely coming up in that meeting as well as this potential. And President Trump has said this himself, that future strikes could involve potential strikes on land.

I'll just say this also comes after the president confirmed that he spoke by phone with the President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro. He didn't say that the call went well, but he didn't say that it went bad either.

Alayna Treene, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: More than 55 million people here in the U.S. are under winter weather alerts, according to the National Weather Service. A winter storm system is set to deliver even more snow as temperatures plunge this week. It is causing dangerous issues on roadways. One child in Illinois hospitalized with minor injuries after a school bus crash.

Police in Missouri say they're responding to numerous calls for crashes along major highways, and they're asking drivers to slow down or avoid going out altogether.

Two Kansas, school busses got stuck on a highway off ramp. CNN affiliate WIBW reports a third bus was called to pick up stranded students, but all buses were able to get moving again after crews treated the roads.

Meteorologist Chris Warren has the latest on today's U.S. forecast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS WARREN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Tuesday is the day that the northeast is going to see the majority of the snow from this winter storm that we're going to be watching, and you can see the winter weather alerts covering a lot of the Ohio Valley all the way up to Maine. And this is how things are going to play out first thing in the morning at sunrise, the snow is going to be falling here where it's purple. Pennsylvania, a lot of New York and northern New England, while it is going to be a wet, sloppy mess with rain heavy at times throughout parts of the southeast.

And then what we're going to be watching is this right here. It's the rain or snow line. The farther you get away from the water, the more snow you're going to see. So that means the big cities here in the northeast most likely are going to stay rain. Now, you might see a few snowflakes mixed in, but generally speaking, nothing on the ground, just wet roads. And this is also the time when the storm is going to be bombing out or rapidly strengthening.

So, the winds are going to be increasing too. You can kind of see where that little bit of that kind of curl to it. That's the wrapping nature of this storm.

Also going to be watching for the heaviest snowfall, especially in the mountains, could see more than six inches of snow. And at the same time, some of the cold pockets in the mountains and around the mountains. Here we are going to see some ice, possibly accumulating ice. If that happens, then there could be some power outages and some very dangerous conditions.

The weather pattern that we're in keeps it cold for most of the week. For most of the country here, just seeing that cold air dropping down from the north, well below average in Minneapolis. High temperatures only in the teens on Wednesday and Thursday. Also well below average in Boston. Same story all the way down to D.C. and in St. Louis with a high on Thursday in St. Louis, 27 degrees.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: All right. Thank you.

Russian President Vladimir Putin set to host Donald Trump's most trusted negotiators in Moscow today. Special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son in law, Jared Kushner, are trying to sell Putin on the new terms of the U.S. backed deal to end the war in Ukraine. The proposal was initially criticized as being too deferential to Moscow's maximalist demands, but has since been amended after negotiations with Ukrainian diplomats. Putin hopes to come into the meeting from a position of battlefield advantage. Russian military officials say they are gaining ground in Ukraine, claiming to have taken a key strategic city in the Donetsk region.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is in Kyiv for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's been a dizzying day of diplomatic choreography. Ahead of Tuesday's high stakes meeting between Trump's envoy to the Ukraine conflict, Steve Witkoff, and indeed his son in law Jared Kushner, with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been in Paris during the day, talking to the French President Emmanuel Macron, and on the phone with Witkoff and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer clearly briefing European allies as to the nature of the deal that Witkoff will be taking with him.

That is the product of hours, days of negotiations with Ukraine team in Florida and the U.S. side as well, including a late Monday morning meeting. A second one between Witkoff and the Ukrainian negotiators clearly hammering out key details down to the last minute. The precise nature of the offer Witkoff is taking with him has not been made public, but Zelenskyy, during a public appearance in Paris, laid out the fact that the key sticking point revolves around territorial concessions, also around security guarantees for Ukraine.

[05:10:07]

It does appear likely at this point that Witkoff will be taking with him some sort of packaging for some kind of territorial swap, potentially with the Ukrainians. It's unclear if that will be enough for Putin, who's been very maximalist in his desire to take back or to take occupy all of the Donetsk region that is currently held by the Ukrainians and Ukraine proper. But certainly Witkoff, I think it's fair to say, wouldn't bother going to the Kremlin unless he was bringing with him something he felt potentially might appeal to Vladimir Putin. So, unclear how successful that meeting will indeed go and Macron clear that they feel this is the beginning part of a U.S. offer to the Russians to try and get the peace process further underway.

But no mistake about the timing today of Moscow's claim to have taken the strategic military hub of Pokrovsk. Still, Ukraine yet to comment on that. And it is, of course, deeply convenient that they claim this victory in the hours ahead of Tuesday's high stakes meeting, releasing video of their troops in the center of that particular town. It's clear over the last weeks that Russia has been increasingly moving forward through that particular urban area, and that would result in them claiming a significant victory ahead of Tuesday's meeting.

But all pressure really on Zelenskyy building here because of Russia's increased frontline momentum, because two of the domestic pressure he's been under recently. Friday, his top negotiator and chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, resigning after anti-corruption investigators raided his home on Friday morning. And that pressure potentially some analysts here saying, adding perhaps to Zelenskyy's need to entertain a broader scope of ideas to find some kind of peace proposal here.

But the biggest fear amongst Ukrainians enduring nightly barrages is whether or not any deal with the Russians will in fact hold. Weve seen them falter in the past. The Russians not stick to promises made, and I think that's why security guarantees are so important to the Ukrainians here as part of any particular package.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Kyiv, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: The Trump administration has been dealt another legal setback, this time involving his former personal attorney.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz has the latest from Washington. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: A federal appeals court says that Alina Habba is not the top prosecutor for federal criminal cases in New Jersey. So, this is the person that the Trump administration had wanted to be the U.S. attorney for the district of New Jersey. So, overseeing everything that's going on in that court system by the Justice Department. But she had not -- had not gotten confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

And then the way that the Trump administration tried to give her the powers of a U.S. attorney, the federal court, they were looking at this in three judges in the third circuit court of appeals. They said on Monday, no, that is not the way that the Trump administration or anyone can give someone like Alina Habba this sort of power. There needed to be some sort of blessing from congress for someone serving in that role. There couldn't be an end run around Congress, and the attorney general couldn't just give her powers as a special attorney to become a de facto U.S. attorney in that district.

So, it was a technical ruling about federal vacancies in the United States and about the separation of powers here. But it's an important one, because this is the sort of ruling that is not just happening with Alina Habba in New Jersey, where the Trump administration didn't get her confirmed by Congress. There are other U.S. attorneys that are serving, going to work every day in other districts across the country where they haven't had senate confirmation. And it has been quite a long time since they were sent to do that job.

There also is another person, Lindsey Halligan. She's the U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, at least until a trial level judge said last week she couldn't be and dismissed the cases that she had brought against James Comey and Letitia James, two political foes of Donald Trump. There's a very good possibility that either this case or one of those others goes to the Supreme Court, and they interpret how much power Donald Trump is president and the attorney general have to put in place the people to lead prosecutions in various districts as U.S. attorneys.

But it's a big question that as of now, with this circuit ruling, it only applies to New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and the U.S. Virgin Islands. That's the district that this is in the circuit court that this is in. But there could be much more to come on this issue, and especially with big cases coming in this court and others, what will happen to these top prosecutors, the Trump administration wants to have and that they just haven't gotten sign off from the other branches of government.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: Katelyn Polantz, thank you.

The White House is defending President Trump's unorthodox approach to presidential pardons. [05:15:01]

Coming up, why legal experts are increasingly concerned over his latest announcements.

Plus, we will go to Jerusalem with the latest on the Israeli prime minister's pardon request in his ongoing corruption trial.

And later, an update on the deadly apartment building fire in Hong Kong. What officials are doing to prevent another tragedy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ABEL: Netflix has released a docuseries on Sean "Diddy" Combs despite receiving a cease-and-desist letter from the music moguls legal team. The series "Sean Combs: The Reckoning" started streaming just a few hours ago.

[05:20:00]

It's co-produced by Combs' longtime foe, fellow rapper Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, and it includes footage Combs himself filmed.

In a statement, Combs's spokesperson said in part: As Netflix and CEO Ted Sarandos know, Mr. Combs has been amassing footage since he was 19 to tell his own story in his own way. It is fundamentally unfair and illegal for Netflix to misappropriate that work.

The director of the docuseries says they obtained the footage legally. Combs is serving a four-year prison sentence after being convicted of transportation to engage in prostitution.

The White House is defending President Trump's decision to commute the sentence of convicted fraudster David Gentile.

"The New York Times" reports the private equity executive was released last Wednesday despite only serving two weeks of a seven year sentence. Gentile was convicted last year for his role in what federal prosecutors described as a multiyear, $1.7 billion scheme that defrauded more than 10,000 retail investors. Court documents obtained by "The Times" include victims statements, some of which read, quote, "I lost my whole life savings. All of the literal blood, sweat and tears we shed to work hard and be successful was taken from us."

On Monday, the White House press secretary rejected claims that Gentile was part of a Ponzi scheme.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEAVITT: And this is another example that has been brought to the presidents attention of a weaponization of justice from the previous administration. And therefore, he signed this commutation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: The White House is also defending Donald Trump's promise to pardon the former president of Honduras. On Friday, just days before the presidential election in Honduras, Trump announced that he'd pardon Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was convicted in the U.S. last year and given a 45-year federal prison sentence for conspiring to move 400 tons of cocaine into the country.

When asked why he would pardon a notorious drug trafficker, Trump said this on Sunday

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I was told -- I was asked by Honduras, many of the people of Honduras. They said it was a Biden setup.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: Now, the president did not give any evidence to back his claim that the Biden administration set up. Hernandez and legal experts are questioning the grounds for such a pardon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELIZABETH OYER, FORMER PARDON ATTORNEY, U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT: This is just a staggeringly unprincipled use of the pardon power. It goes against the presidents stated policy objectives with respect to stopping drug trafficking, and it also defies the ordinary process. It doesn't appear that this individual has even applied for a pardon, let alone been vetted through the ordinary process and the nature of the offense. The scope of the drug trafficking that was at issue here is the type of offense that simply does not get serious consideration for a presidential pardon ever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: Meanwhile, Israeli President Isaac Herzog says he's considering Benjamin Netanyahu's request for a pardon with great care and responsibility. U.S. President Donald Trump paved the way for the unprecedented request, repeatedly calling for Mr. Netanyahu to be pardoned. The leader spoke by phone on Monday, a source telling CNN that Netanyahu's pardon request came up during the call.

CNN's Oren Liebermann has more from Jerusalem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu submitted his formal request for a pardon to Israeli President Isaac Herzog, the sole authority within Israel, to grant a pardon. And the timing here cannot be ignored. It was just over two weeks ago that President Donald Trump wrote a letter to Herzog asking him to quote, fully pardon Netanyahu in his ongoing corruption trials. And that's at least the third time Trump has weighed in here, not only on social media, but also in his speech that he gave here in October when the hostages came out of Gaza.

It seems Netanyahu is trying to build on that momentum. But in the one-page letter, as part of the formal request for a

pardon, Netanyahu makes no mention of an admission of guilt, any sort of expression of remorse or any promise about how this process will affect or change his future actions. Instead, he says, as part of the letter, out of a sense of public responsibility as prime minister, to try to bring about reconciliation among the people, I have no doubt that ending the trial will help reduce the intensity of the flames surrounding it.

In this one-page letter, Netanyahu treats the trial and the charges as the divisive element here, not the person facing those charges. This trial started back in mid-2020.

Netanyahu began testifying last December, but that has been drawn out because he has requested repeated delays and cancellations of the days on which he's supposed to testify for either national security reasons or for diplomatic reasons. He faces charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust in three separate cases. He has maintained his innocence and up until now, he largely said he was looking forward to proving his innocence throughout the court and the trial here.

[05:25:06]

But now it seems he has changed course here, requesting that formal request for a pardon.

Herzog doesn't have a timeline by which he has to make a decision on this pardon. He has said he would do it with the interests of the state in mind. It is expected to take at least a few weeks here.

Oren Liebermann, CNN, in Jerusalem

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: Still ahead, more than 1,200 dead, many missing, and millions coping with the consequences of severe storms in Asia. We have a live report on the aftermath when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ABEL: The death toll in Hong Kong has risen to 156.