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Michael And Susan Dell Donate $6.25 Billion For U.S. Children; Sean Combs' Lawyers Send Cease-And-Desist To Netflix; Grisly Online Searches Take Center Stage In Walshe Murder Trial. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired December 03, 2025 - 05:30   ET

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

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CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: He held up Lebanon as an example of why Christians and Muslims live together harmoniously. Leo said he is also struck by the faith of the young people in Lebanon. He said it was awe-inspiring to see.

Leo clearly relishing and enjoying his first trip abroad.

Now the pope is back in Rome. He's going to have some rest, but it seems it won't be too long before Leo is back on the road.

Christopher Lamb, CNN, Rome.

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BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: And dozens of companies are suing to ensure potential tariff refunds as the Supreme Court weighs the legality of President Trump's tariffs. Coming up, details on the latest filing from U.S. retail giant Costco.

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ABEL: Welcome back to EARLY START. This is your business breakout.

Wall Street is looking to keep its momentum when trading gets underway in just a few hours. Here is a look at where U.S. futures stand ahead of the opening bell. Everything -- Dow, S&P 500, and the Nasdaq starting the day up.

Let's check some of today's business headlines.

Vice President JD Vance predicts next year will be the year that the U.S. economy "really takes off." The Trump administration has faced scrutiny over the high cost of living less than a year before the midterms, but during a cabinet meeting Vance said Republicans are fixing what Democrats broke.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration announced a new $45.00 fee for travelers who don't have the enhanced Real ID. Starting in February they will have to confirm their identity using an online verification system. It will temporarily serve as an official ID for a 10-day period. The move is aimed at encouraging travelers to comply with the stricter federal standards that went into effect in May.

AT&T says it has committed to ending its diversity, equity and inclusion programs. It reaffirmed that position in a letter to federal regulators after announcing it was ending DEI policies earlier this year. AT&T is seeking approval from the Trump administration to buy wireless Spectrum assets in a deal valued at more than a billion dollars.

One of America's richest men is making a major investment in the future of children. Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Technologies, and his wife Susan, are donating $6.25 billion to supplement so-called Trump accounts.

Under the president's plan the government will fund a $1,000 investment for all children born in the U.S. from the start of this year to the end of 2028. Money will be invested in stock index funds or mutual funds. Family members can contribute up to $5,000 extra each year. No withdrawals are allowed until the child turns 18. The Dell donation covers children under the age of 10 who are not already eligible.

Retail giant Costco suing the U.S. government over potential tariff refunds. It becomes one of the latest and largest companies seeking financial assurances should the Supreme Court reject President Trump's authority to impose sweeping international tariffs. In a complaint filed on Friday, Costco argues that it should be entitled to a refund if the tariffs are found unconstitutional.

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MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: This is a rare example of a large, public company willing to do battle with the Trump White House over tariffs. Now it's true that dozens of other companies have also sued in an effort to safeguard potential tariff refunds, including Kawasaki Motors, the parent company of Ray Ban, and Bumble Bee Foods. But Costco does appear to be the highest profile company to file a lawsuit here.

Now, in the lawsuit, Costco says it wants the court to hold that -- those so-called reciprocal tariffs that the president started imposing on imports back in February. That those tariffs are unlawful.

Now remember, most Supreme Court justices during oral arguments last month -- they did sound skeptical about the president's use of a 1977 law known as IEEPA to apply those tariffs. Costco is trying to ensure that if the court rules that those tariffs were unlawful that it will be in line for refunds.

Of course, even if the Trump administration loses at the Supreme Court, it's not clear whether or not other companies beyond those five plaintiffs in the Supreme Court case will be eligible for tariffs. IEEPA accounts for the vast majority of the new tariff revenue that the Trump administration has brought in, and refunding tens of billions of dollars in tariffs would be complicated, to say the least.

This is an issue that came up during oral arguments. Take a listen to Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett talk about how complicated this would be.

JUSTICE AMY CONEY BARRETT, U.S. SUPREME COURT: If you win, tell me how the reimbursement process would work. Would it be a complete mess? I mean, you're saying before the government promised reimbursement and now you're saying we know -- well, that's rich, but how would this work? It seems to me like it could be a mess.

EGAN: Now even the lawyer representing the businesses suing the Trump administration did concede that this would, of course, be complicated.

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Now we reached out to the White House and a White House spokesperson said that the Costco lawsuit underscores the "enormous economic consequences if the president's tariffs are not upheld." Of course, the White House has other tariff authorities that they could lean on if IEEPA is struck down.

What stands out to me though here is that Costco is willing to fight the Trump administration at a time when a lot of other companies are not. A lot of companies right now -- they feel -- the seem to be avoiding conflict. They seem to be avoiding poking the bear. And now you've got to wonder whether or not this provides the political cover for other companies to do the same.

Back to you.

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ABEL: Matt Egan reporting. Matt, thank you.

Still ahead, Brian Walshe's internet history comes under scrutiny in his first-degree murder trial for the death of his wife Ana. We have details. Stay with us.

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ABEL: Welcome back. I'm Brian Abel. Here are some stories we are watching today.

The U.S. president announced plans to launch land strikes inside Venezuela "very soon." Donald Trump says those strikes would make it much easier to target alleged drug traffickers of the country. And he refused to rule out striking targets in other countries as well.

CNN projects Republicans Matt Van Epps will win a special election in Tennessee for a U.S. House seat. He defeated Democrat Aftyn Behn by nine points in a district Donald Trump won by 22 points just last year -- a 13-point swing. Behn's vote total in line with significant Democratic gains in other off-year elections last month. And President Trump has issued a full and unconditional pardon for the former president of Honduras. Juan Orlando Hernandez was serving a 45- year sentence after he was convicted on major drug trafficking charges in the U.S. last year. President Trump says Hernandez was set up by the Biden administration but offered no evidence to back up that claim.

Netflix is streaming a new docuseries about convicted music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs. The series, produced by Combs' longtime rival Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, is said to have never-before-seen footage. Lawyers for Combs issued a cease-and-desist letter alleging those clips were stolen.

CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister has more.

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ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: 50 Cent's highly anticipated docuseries about Sean "Diddy" Combs is officially here on Netflix. And in the documentary, they got two jurors from Combs' trial to sit down, as well as some accusers and former business associates of Combs.

But what's really ruffling feathers with Sean Combs and his team is what they call private footage that they say was actually stolen from Combs himself. Take a look.

TEXT: September 10, 2024. Six days before Sean Combs' arrest.

SEAN "DIDDY" COMBS, RAPPER: We have to find somebody that'll work with us that has dealt in the dirtiest of dirty business.

WAGMEISTER: That footage seen there from Netflix's trailer for the new docuseries was actually taped in the days before Sean Combs' arrest in September 2024.

Now, I connected with Sean Combs' team, and they tell me that the reason why this footage was even captured is because Sean Combs has been documenting his own life since he has been 19 years old in hopes of making an eventual documentary.

Well, some way or another that footage ended up in the hands of Netflix's filmmakers and Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, who is a longtime enemy of Sean Combs. Because of this Combs' team has sent a cease-and- desist letter to Netflix demanding that they don't air this docuseries. Of course, that didn't happen. The docuseries is available to stream right now on Netflix.

But Combs' spokesperson tells me this. "Netflix is plainly desperate to sensationalize every minute of Mr. Combs' life, without regard for truth, in order to capitalize on a never-ending media frenzy. If Netflix cared about truth or about Mr. Combs' legal rights, it would not be ripping private footage out of context, including conversations with his lawyers that were never intended for public viewing. No rights in that material were ever transferred to Netflix or any third party." Well, that's one side of the story from Combs' side.

But I reached out to Netflix, and they referred me to a statement from the docuseries' director Alexandria Stapleton, who has this to say. "It came to us, we obtained the footage legally and have the necessary rights. We moved heaven and earth to keep the filmmaker's identity confidential. One thing about Sean Combs is that he's always filming himself and it's been an obsession throughout the decades. We also reached out to Sean Combs' legal team for an interview and comment multiple times but did not hear back."

Back to you.

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ABEL: Elizabeth Wagmeister, thank you.

The American Economic Association has banned Larry Summers for life over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Summers served as treasury secretary in the Clinton administration and was the president of Harvard from 2001 to 2006. Summers maintained email correspondence with Epstein for years. He says he is deeply ashamed and has stepped back from public commitments.

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And police are still searching for the people suspected of a mass shooting in Stockton, California. Four people, including three children, were killed in Saturday's shooting at a child's birthday party. Eleven others were injured.

The mayor of Stockton says the shooting was a result of "group gang violence." However, the sheriff says it's too early to make that determination, but he adds the attack does appear to have been a targeted one.

The father of one of the victims says he saw a gunman wearing a face mask firing several shots in his son's direction.

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PATRICK PETERSON, FATHER OF 14-YEAR-OLD SHOOTING VICTIM: I am -- I have an image of my son dying in my head over and over and over and over. Maybe I should have just dove in front of the bullets and maybe he would still be alive. If you have enough sense to pick up a gun and aim and shoot it, you've got enough sense to take your responsibility of your actions.

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ABEL: Gruesome online searches took center stage in day two of Brian Walshe's murder trial near Boston. He is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife Ana and could face life in prison without parole if convicted.

CNN's Jean Casarez has the latest. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Day two of the Brian Walshe trial was all about forensics. Trooper Nicholas Guarino of the Massachusetts State Police, who specializes in forensics, took the stand and he talked about how that he had gotten a warrant for these devices.

He did extractions and found out the search history. It's a very limited time though -- December 25 of 2022 through January 7 of 2023 -- right around that time period.

And let's look at some of the searches that he found that Brian Walshe allegedly did. Now, I say allegedly because we don't see Walshe at the computer. But this is what the prosecution is alleging that he, alone, was responsible for.

First of all, "how to saw a body." This would be on January 2. "Can you identify a body with broken teeth?" "Can you be charged with murder without a body?" And then, on January 3, "Cleaning up blood without leaving a trace - 5 tips." "Can police get your search history without your computer?"

Now, there were some other searches that are important for the prosecution. On December 27, Walshe made a search regarding divorce. So you see the mindset there. It was "best divorce strategies for men, best state to divorce, Washington, D.C. divorce lawyers." On the very same day he went to an adult website to watch a movie about a cheating spouse.

The prosecution is going to look at that -- focus in on that because there's something called motive in a murder trial. And Ana Walshe was having an affair with a man in Washington, D.C. Brian Walshe actually did a search of this man on December 25. And they are going to focus in on that Brian knew about this adulterous affair.

She even went to Dublin, Ireland over Thanksgiving with him and she was not with her husband and children. So this is something that had been ongoing.

That man, William Fastow, is going to take the stand, it is believed, on Thursday in this murder trial.

But the cross-examination of the forensics experts focused in on you had such a narrow window of your search. Why didn't you expand it? You could have learned so much more. Also, you cannot take a search just on face value. For instance, how to dispose of a body. Well, maybe that is when someone is trying to find a cemetery. You can't say that is for a malicious, salacious purpose at all.

And then also that all of the searches occurred on January 1 after 4:52 a.m. And so the defense is conceding that is after Brian Walshe found his wife deceased in their bed, and so there is no premeditation for murder because she died of natural causes.

It is all up to the jury. Day three will begin on Wednesday of the Brian Walshe first-degree murder trial. Jean Casarez, CNN, New York.

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ABEL: China is chasing U.S. companies at developing reusable rockets as the modern space race heats up. The latest test flight took off earlier today with mixed results. We'll have that moment next.

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ABEL: A potentially historic moment for China in the modern space race ended in a partial failure earlier today. The private Beijing-based firm LandSpace says its Zhuque-3 rocket launched successfully but its first state -- the part that propels it at lift -- exploded and crashed to Earth instead of softly returning to a landing site as planned. And you can see it off in the distance right there.

It was a first trial by a Chinese company to recapture a rocket booster after launch as China's commercial space sector tries to catch up with American rivals like SpaceX.

And now to the curious case of the masked bandit who went on a drunken overnight rampage through a Virginia liquor store. He wasn't hard to catch because he was passed out on the bathroom floor. Also, because he's a raccoon. Look at this.

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A store employee found the naughty nocturnal nuisance the next morning along with lots of broken bottles. Yikes. The raccoon was taken to the animal control where he sobered up and was later released back into the wild. I can imagine that was some kind of hangover.

Thank you for joining us here on EARLY START. I'm Brian Abel in Washington, D.C. "CNN THIS MORNING WITH AUDIE CORNISH" starts right now.