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Supreme Court Allows Texas To Use New Maps In Midterms; U.S. Lawmakers Divided After Briefing On "Double Tap" Strike; World Cup Draw Set To Take Place In A Few Hours; Putin Vows Russia Will Seize Donbas Region By Any Means. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired December 05, 2025 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:21]

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's Friday, December 5th, 5:00 a.m. here in Washington, D.C.

And straight ahead on EARLY START.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: A divided Supreme Court has cleared the way for Texas to use newly drawn congressional maps.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESONDENT: The Texas decision set off a frenzy nationwide that we have not seen before in a recent U.S. history.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Top military officials sharply divided over the deadly boat strikes.

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): I think the video was very disturbing.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Next year's edition is a tournament playing out against the backdrop of the international politics.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think it's going to make it more exciting. Tensions are a good thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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ABEL: A divided Supreme Court's ruling is being hailed as a win for Republicans ahead of the midterm elections. The court on Thursday clearing the way for Texas to use newly drawn congressional maps that heavily favor Republicans. Under the redistricting, Texas Republicans could gain as many as five additional House seats, boosting their chances of holding on to their razor thin majority in the House of Representatives. CNN's Jeff Zeleny has more on the political implications of this

ruling.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. Supreme Court weighing in on next year's congressional races with a big ruling in Texas. The Supreme Court, the conservative majority on Thursday evening weighing in, saying that the Texas laws that were thought to be on hold are now going to be proper. Now, this all comes from President Trump's decision from the White House to urge Texas and other states to draw Republican districts in hopes of keeping the house majority next year.

But a lower court in Texas recently ruled that those districts simply would not work because they were racially gerrymandered. But the Supreme Court, again, the conservative majority, in a 6-3 ruling, stepping in and saying no, those new Texas districts will stand.

So, it's back to the drawing board for Democrats who are frustrated by this ruling. But conservatives are calling it some of the best news that they've had in recent weeks, at least politically speaking. So, this now means that Texas will have a five Republican-friendly districts.

It does not mean, of course, that Republicans will necessarily win these races next year, but it certainly gives them a more friendly map. Of course, the Texas decision earlier this year has set off a frenzy nationwide that we have not seen before in a recent U.S. history, with California, for example, weighing in with a referendum, voting to change their districts to Democratic friendly districts.

It's touched off a redistricting battle mid-decade in states across the country as well. But this big Texas ruling on Thursday evening here in Washington certainly being viewed as good news by the White House and a setback for Democrats.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: A federal grand jury has declined to re-indict New York Attorney General Letitia James for mortgage fraud. A judge throwing out the initial case against her ruling that the prosecutor, who originally indicted her was unlawfully appointed. James calls the accusations against her baseless.

And a source tells CNN the Justice Department could try to indict her a third time. James has been a frequent target of President Trump, who has called for her arrest in social media posts. She brought a successful civil fraud case against Trump and his company in 2024 for inflating asset values. An appeals court later threw out the financial penalty from that decision.

The U.S. military says it has carried out yet another deadly attack on a suspected drug boat, this time in the Eastern Pacific, killing four people on board. U.S. Southern Command says the strike happened in international waters. It says the boat was carrying illicit narcotics and was operated by a designated terrorist organization. At least 87 people have now been killed in U.S. strikes on suspected drug boats, as part of the Trump administration's efforts to fight drug trafficking.

And that strike, it came as Pentagon officials briefed U.S. lawmakers about a different strike, a deadly double tap attack in September on an alleged drug boat. The U.S. Navy admiral who oversaw that operation says two men who initially survived the first strike did not appear to have a radio or call for backup as they clung to the floating remnants of the ship. That is contrary to previous statements from officials who argue the survivors were legitimate targets because they appear to be radioing for backup.

CNN's Manu Raju has more reaction from lawmakers after the closed door briefing.

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MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Republicans and Democrats emerged from those closed door briefings with top military officials sharply divided over these deadly boat strikes that occurred in early September, that now becoming a source of major controversy because of the initial reports about how defenseless survivors were killed in a subsequent attack, something the known as a double tap strike.

And if it's a defenseless survivor, it could very well be a violation of the laws of war. And what some say a war crime, particularly Democrats in particular, saying this could have been a war crime.

So, what exactly happened here? Because the secretary of defense has tried to distance himself from this attack and has said that it is the navy. Admiral Mitch Bradley, who was in charge of what happened in this attack and called for the second strike to occur.

Now, Hegseth has said Pete Hegseth said that this is all done lawfully. The White House has defended this as well. And the question is what exactly happened? Because Bradley, as well as the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Dan Caine, came to Capitol Hill. They met with top Democrats and Republicans on key committees in a classified setting, showed them videos of the strikes.

Republicans emerged in line with the White House's defense. Some of the Republicans, like Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, said this was a lawful attack, a righteous attack, and said that the people of those two defenseless survivors, he said, were trying to flip that boat back over, get back onto the boat and continue the drug trafficking. This is what the administration said, that this is all about the strikes in the Caribbean were to stop drug traffickers from coming into the United States.

Democrats had a sharply different view. They said that this was, in the words of Jim Himes, a Connecticut Democrat who's the top Democratic member on the House Intelligence Committee. He said the most troubling video he has seen in his time serving in the United States House. And he raised major questions about the legality of it.

I did catch up with the top Democrat who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner, after he had his own briefing in the afternoon. And he made very clear he has more questions about this, and he called for more information to be released.

Senator Cotton said that this was a lawful attack that was carried out. In your view, and from seeing the videos here, was this unlawful attack.

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): I am -- I think the video is very disturbing. I am not going to weigh in on all of the questions about lawful, morality, judgments until I get all the information. I mean, the -- the -- some of the accusations that have been made you know, whether this kind of action constituted a war crime.

I can't think of a more serious accusation that could be made. I do continue to have concerns that this pattern from secretary of putting our uniform military in harm's way or under duress, as we saw from the inspector general report or how there seems to be a number of variations of this story, of how the facts are rolled out, how the reluctance to share with Congress for a strike that took place on September 2nd until December, the unedited video, I can at least comment on those actions. I think it doesn't do the secretary or our armed forces any service by holding back and not being transparent.

RAJU: Now the question is, where does this go from here? And whether Republicans will continue to pursue this investigation?

Roger Wicker, the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, initially said he planned to look into this and provide oversight over what happened here. But is he satisfied with this? He did not say. He refused to comment, leaving this closed door classified briefing. And will other Republicans side with Tom Cotton, the intelligence committee chairman, who said that everything seems lawful and righteous? Or will they raise concerns like some of the Democrats have, or will they stay quiet?

All the big questions right now is the White House wants to move on from this, but Democrats want more information released. But will any more information be released? That's going to be the big question here in the Capitol.

Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirms that Trump administration will increase a list of countries with a travel ban into the United States. Currently, 19 countries are on the travel ban list. Now, Noem says the list will expand to more than 30 countries.

[05:10:01] Last week, the Trump administration announced it would reexamine all green cards issued to people from the countries facing travel restrictions.

And the U.S. travel ban is one of the issues hanging over next year's World Cup. We are just hours away from the draw for the tournament, which will be co-hosted by the U.S., Mexico and Canada. FIFA offered a sneak peek at preparations for the draw on Wednesday. An array of stars from the world of sports, films and music will be on hand, including Tom Brady, the GOAT, and Kevin Hart. The draw will be held in Washington, part of FIFA President Gianni Infantino's efforts to court support from President Trump.

But the U.S. president stoking of geopolitical issues, has cast a shadow over the tournament. His administrations travel bans and immigration raids have worried fans planning to travel to the U.S. and his various tariffs and statements have at times roiled co-hosts Mexico and Canada.

Let's get more now from CNN's Amanda Davies, who joins me live from London.

Amanda, we'll get to the politics of the moment. But first, tell me what we can expect from the draw itself.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yeah. Good morning, Brian.

It was the last time the U.S. hosted a World Cup draw ahead of 1994, that it really set the bar, set a new standard for these events. It was held in Las Vegas at Caesars Palace, and this one is very much expected to do the same, but for very different reasons. You mentioned the star power, the likes of Kevin Hart, of Heidi Klum, Eli Manning, Shaq, Tom Brady all taking part.

But this is where the football is meant to take center stage. And for the first time, we are going to see 48 balls. The names of 48 different countries drawn out of the pot.

And let me show you something. I was honored to be part of these draw ceremonies for two of the last two FIFA women's World Cups, and this is what were talking about today. This is one of the balls each of the designs for the different draws are related to the host countries. This was the Australia, New Zealand one.

And what we are going to see is the balls drawn out. We are going to see the piece of paper revealed inside and then, ta-da, this is what we are going to see, 48 teams drawn out of the hat, and we are going to see them for the first time, put into 12 groups, groups A to L, more than we've ever seen at a tournament before.

And there are so many different permutations. But what we do know is that the three host countries will be drawn first. So, Mexico are going to be in group A, Canada going to be in group B, the USA are going to be in group D.

And because of the various permutations, it's too difficult to predict in the entirety. But we know, for example, the USA are not going to be in the same group as Panama because they're in the same football confederation. They're not going to be in the same group as the Netherlands who were the team who knocked them out of the last World Cup in Qatar in the round of 16, because they are also in part one. They're not going to be in the same group as Argentina, the defending champions, for example.

But this is the biggest tournament with so many unknowns. The first time were going to see Cape Verde, Curacao, Uzbekistan in the draw.

Mauricio Pochettino and his team haven't had the best build up, it's fair to say, but he is aiming high. He said -- he told our colleague Don Riddell yesterday ahead of this draw, he said we're going to aim to win the first game. We're going to aim to win the next game. Ultimately with the aim of winning this World Cup, which would be quite something given they've never made it past the quarterfinals.

ABEL: I know that there's a lot of excitement about who will be playing whom, and this whole event itself, but aside from the action on the pitch, there is a swirl of geopolitical tension around the cup from concerns of those traveling to Iran threatening to boycott at one point to President Trump potentially receiving a Peace Award.

So, what can you tell us about how all of that is playing out?

DAVIES: Yeah, it's funny. Actually, something of an irony when you look back to this tournament being awarded in 2018 that this was dubbed the "united bid"| between Mexico, the USA and Canada. And whilst the football and the politics are to some degree separate, they've certainly been getting closer and closer over the last few years, haven't they? Particularly with Donald Trump at his second inauguration earlier this year, immediately out of the blocks, talking about renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, to the annexation of Canada as the 51st state and then the introduction of the trade tariffs as well.

And then, as you were rightly talking about, the travel bans that President Trump has imposed, two of the qualified nations as things stand, Haiti and Iran are subject to those.

[05:15:07]

So, the administration has said very steadfastly only players and their immediate families and the national team staff are going to be able to gain access so supporters can apply for a visa to give them access to the tournament. But as things stand, exceptions to the ban are going to be very, very rare.

And that led the Iranian delegation to talk about boycotting this draw today. But we understand that there is going to be a very small delegation. The national team manager will be there at the draw as the rest of the 48 teams and their coaches are expected to be as well.

And there's no coincidence that this draw is being held in Washington, despite the fact it's not one of the host cities for next year's tournament. It's essentially Donald Trump's backyard, isn't it? The Kennedy Center, just a stone's throw from the White House.

We were at the Kremlin ahead of the 2018 draw, so it's not entirely unprecedented, but the visibility and the closeness of this relationship between the FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, and President Trump is something that's really come to the fore in recent times. And we have had that announcement, as you mentioned, of the first ever FIFA peace prize.

Donald Trump said he was disappointed he didn't get his hands on the Nobel Peace Prize. FIFA are keeping themselves tight lipped in terms of who is going to win this one, but if you connect the dots, it doesn't seem too far beyond the realms of possibility that we might be able to predict who will win that today.

ABEL: Yeah, not too much of a stretch of the imagination.

Amanda Davies, excellent contacts for us. I know there's a lot of excitement around the draw, and you'll be watching it closely. Amanda Davies from London -- thank you.

The Central and Northeastern U.S. are seeing record breaking cold this morning. Chicago could drop below its daily low temperature record of four degrees. Several cities in Pennsylvania could see new lows in the teens. New York is also forecasted to have its coldest day since March, and here in the Washington, D.C. area, we will be getting its first snowfall of the season.

When we return a high stakes summit with the leaders of Russia and India. We'll have the latest developments out of New Delhi.

And just days after meeting in Russia with Vladimir Putin, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner sat down with a Ukrainian delegation to talk about prospects for peace.

Plus, the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon is tested after Israel strikes buildings in two Lebanese towns.

You're watching EARLY START on CNN.

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[05:22:14]

ABEL: Vladimir Putin is getting a warm welcome in New Delhi. The Russian leader sitting down for a critical meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also attended a special ceremony at the presidential palace and laid a wreath at the Gandhi Memorial.

Putin says that Russia is ready to provide an uninterrupted supply of fuel to the Indian economy, as both countries grapple with the fallout from U.S. sanctions on Russian oil companies.

Meanwhile, Modi told Putin that India supports peace efforts in Ukraine. This marks Putin's first visit to New Delhi since he launched his invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Ahead of the summit, the Russian leader spoke to Indian media, vowing to take Ukraine's Donbas region by military or other means.

One of the Kremlin's main demands for ending the war is for Ukraine to surrender territory in the Donbas, which Russia illegally annexed but has yet to fully conquer.

Here's what Putin said when he was asked what would constitute a victory for Russia in the war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT: We will finish it when we achieve the goals set at the beginning of the special military operation, when we free these territories. That's all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: Meanwhile, a delegation from Ukraine has reportedly wrapped up a meeting with U.S. counterparts to discuss efforts to end the four- year-old war. A Ukrainian broadcaster says it talks in Miami ended on Thursday. Representatives from Washington and Kyiv were expected to discuss the results of Tuesday's lengthy talks in Moscow between Vladimir Putin, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

Let's bring in CNN's senior international correspondent, Melissa Bell, live from Paris for us with more on where negotiations stand.

As the middleman, Melissa, America ping pong between Russia and Ukraine once again.

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And with this delegation, we now understand, Brian, that had within it some senior Ukrainian defense officials making their way to Miami to try and figure out exactly what the American delegation back on Tuesday, as you mentioned, which was, of course, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, had agreed with Russia.

The big fear of Ukrainians is that the maximalist demands of Putin are risk being met or at least understood and considered by Washington. And there is fear not just amongst Ukrainians, but amongst European allies as well. That pressure might be brought to bear on what would clearly be unacceptable terms for Ukraine.

Here's what Volodymyr Zelenskyy had to say yesterday evening in his nightly address.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Our task now is to obtain full information about what was said in Russia, what are the reasons Putin found to prolong the war and put pressure on Ukraine, on us, on our independence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:25:08] BELL: There is fear, as I mentioned also amongst European allies who are trying to figure out exactly what was agreed upon in Moscow on Tuesday about the idea that their interests, Ukraine's interests, might not be taking precedence. And in fact, there's been here in the European press and the German press more specifically, Brian, a leaked document showing a call between European leaders expressing some of that alarm that Ukraine's interests might not be being defended and that their own might be being left aside.

So that alarm, spoken to also by President Macron, who's now in China, speaking to that a short while ago and saying reminding Washington that it is essential that the Europeans continue to be included in these negotiations, since it is they, after all, who will be providing the security guarantees in case of a peace deal.

For now, though, very little optimism that any such deal is closed given those maximalist demands that Vladimir Putin expressed once again to the Indian press as he arrived in Delhi that you mentioned ago a moment ago, Brian, the idea that the whole of Donbas, so there's parts of Donbas that have not yet been conquered by Russia and that, according to some studies, it would take Russia until 2027 at the current pace, to get hold of.

The idea that Ukraine would simply hand them over, clearly unacceptable for Kyiv, the fear that that might be what is now being considered -- Brian.

ABEL: All right. Melissa Bell for us in Paris -- Melissa, thank you.

German lawmakers are considering a new bill that would reintroduce a form of mandatory military service. We'll get a live report from Berlin after the break.

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