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Early Start with Rahel Solomon
Suspect In Latest Charlotte Rail Stabbing Due In Court Today; Trump Hosts Kennedy Center Honors, Says Changes "Saved" Building; 12- Team Field Set For This Season's College Football Playoffs. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired December 08, 2025 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:30:00]
BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: The city of Charlotte, North Carolina dealing with another stabbing on its light rail system, and it comes after a Ukrainian refugee was killed in an attack on a train in August. The suspect in the latest incident, which left the victim in critical condition, is due to appear in court today.
CNN's Rafael Romo has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The stabbing happened on Friday, two days after the city of Charlotte launched a new safety initiative called "Operation Safe Season" to "significantly increase police presence and enforcement in areas plagued by violence." And the same day, a new police chief was sworn in.
In a statement the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department told CNN that officers responded to a stabbing near the light rail station on 25th Street and North Brevard Street around 4:50 p.m. According to the arrest warrant the suspect, identified as 33-year-old Oscar Solarzano, allegedly attacked the victim with a "large, fixed blade knife," appeared intoxicated, challenged the victim to a fight, and cursed and shouted at others while slurring.
Police said the victim was hospitalized in critical but stable condition.
The Department of Homeland Security said Solarzano is an undocumented immigrant from Honduras. According to the arrest warrant he now faces multiple charges for the attack, including attempted first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and causing serious injury, and carrying a concealed weapon.
A top Department of Homeland Security officials said in a statement that the suspect was issued a final order of removal by an immigration judge in 2018 and then deported by the Trump administration. She added that the suspect was removed again after entering the U.S. illegally in 2021 and then reentered the country a third time at an unknown date and location. Reacting to the attack, Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles said that "There are several aspects of public safety that are outside of the city's jurisdiction, including immigration policy and enforcement, but we will continue to focus on public safety," she said, "and ensuring a safe and vibrant community."
White House border czar Tom Homan criticized the mayor's statement Sunday morning in an interview with Fox News.
TOM HOMAN, WHITE HOUSE BORDER CZAR: Put your actions where your words are. Put your officers out there and show (INAUDIBLE). We're not asking them to be immigration officers; we're asking them to help us locate and remove illegal aliens who are public safety threats in our city.
ROMO: The stabbing happened on Charlotte's LYNX Blue Line, the same route where a Ukrainian refugee, Iryna Zarutska, was stabbed to death on late August -- an attack cited by the Trump administration and conservative politicians as an example of the violent crime they say plagues many Democrat-led cities. Charlotte was also recently the focus of immigration enforcement operations by the DHS.
President Trump wrote about the most recent Saturday on Truth Social, saying that Democrats are destroying Charlotte piece-by-piece.
Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ABEL: Still to come, we'll look at some easy steps you can take to monitor your kids' screentime on their phones. It's after the break.
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[05:37:43]
ABEL: Ouch. Check out this video from China. A CEO demonstrating the hard way that a humanoid robot was the real deal and not a CGI creation that some claimed. The company, Engine AI, released the video on its Instagram site. It's showing the boss getting kicked to the mat in a simulated fight. No word yet on whether that robot still has a job or if HR may have gotten involved.
Welcome back to EARLY START. This is your business breakout.
We have a look for you at U.S. futures as we await the opening bell on Wall Street in the coming hours. The Dow, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq all starting the week up.
Let's check some of today's business headlines now.
The U.S. Treasury secretary is predicting prosperity for Americans in 2026. Speaking on CBS, Scott Bessent said the U.S. economy performed better than expected this year, forecasting GDP growth of three percent. But surveys show many Americans still say economic conditions are poor and inflation is stubbornly higher than the target set by the Federal Reserve.
China's trade surplus for the first 11 months of 2025 soared to $1 trillion. That's despite the fact that shipments to the United States have dropped this year. In November, they were down nearly 29 percent. However, exports to Africa, Latin America, the EU, and Southeast Asia have surged. Some economists predict China's share of global exports will continue to grow in the coming years.
Sequels dominated the U.S. box office this week. Supernatural horror film " Five Nights at Freddy's 2" claimed the top spot in the feeders earning $63 million in the U.S. and beating an expected $55 million opening weekend. And then in second, "Zootopia" from Disney. Also, "Wicked for Good" continued to perform well.
Well, President Trump is weighing in on a potential Hollywood deal which would be one of the biggest so far this year. We're talking about Netflix's bid to buy Warner Bros., including HBO, for more than $72 billion.
[05:40:05]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They've got to go through a process and we'll see what happens. It's a -- Netflix is a great company, and they've done a phenomenal job. Ted is a fantastic man, and I have a lot of respect for him. But it's a -- it's a lot of market share so we'll have to see what happens.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABEL: Details are still being worked out concerning the deal with CNN's parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery. And President Trump says he'll be involved in the scrutiny of the merger, which now faces regulatory approval.
And parents can now limit their child's screentime with just a few clicks. CNN tech reporter Clare Duffy walks us through the iPhone and Android settings that can help you keep an eye on your kids' devices.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: If you are fighting with your kids over screentime, these tools can help.
Let's start with Apple. If you go to your settings and you scroll all the way down to "screen time," at the bottom of that page you'll see "set up screen time for family." So you can connect the family devices and have controls via your iPhone.
You can also set up all kinds of other controls here. Things like downtime when your child won't be able to use their phone, or certain apps. You can set up time limits for specific apps. You can set communications limits -- who your child is able to send messages or make phone calls to. And there are also content and privacy restrictions. This will allow you to control which apps have access to things like your live location and your photos.
Now on to Android. Here you're going to go to "settings" and then you want to find "digital well-being and parental controls." Here you can see how much time the user has spent on the device that day.
If you scroll all the way down, you can set up parental controls. That's going to take you to Google's platform to link your account with your child's account where you can set up things like privacy settings and screen time rules.
But you can also find on this page app timers -- specific times the apps could be used or not. Bedtime mode, focus mode where your child won't be able to use the device. You can manage when they get notifications. And then, again, you can find those parental control setups.
If you want to avoid jumping through some of these hoops you could consider a device made specifically for kids. There are a growing number of companies that make these now, like Gabb, Bark, and Pinwheel.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ABEL: Clare Duffy, thank you.
Still ahead on EARLY START, President Trump hosting the annual Kennedy Center Honors after massive changes to the National Arts Center this year. Could he be pushing to change its name next? We'll have the details.
(COMMERCIAL)
[05:46:55]
ABEL: Welcome back. I'm Brian Abel. And here are some stories we are watching today.
In the coming hours, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to meet with the British, German, and French leaders in London. They will discuss the state of negotiations on the U.S.-backed plan to end Russia's war in Ukraine. Zelenskyy is expected to attend more talks with the European allies this week in Brussels and Rome.
Thailand has launched airstrikes against Cambodia. Fighting erupting along their disputed border putting a recent Trump-brokered ceasefire in jeopardy. Both sides accuse the other of provoking the clash, which has forced mass civilian evacuations of the surrounding region.
Top bipartisan lawmakers in the U.S. say they support the release of video from a controversial double-tap strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean. Trump previously said he was fine with releasing the video. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, however, was noncommittal when asked if he would release the footage.
President Trump hosted the Kennedy Center Honors on Sunday. It comes amid a year of massive restructuring of the innerworkings of the art center.
CNN's Julia Benbrook has more details on how he prepared for the night and how he's pushing back against criticism of his changes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Kennedy Center Honors is, of course, a longtime tradition spanning decades, but the event looked quite different Sunday night. Donald Trump was there as the sitting President of the United States but also as the Kennedy Center chairman of the board and the host.
As he walked the red carpet on the way in, he was asked how he prepared for the night. He said, "Maybe I didn't prepare. Sometimes it's good to be a little loose." That he didn't think he needed to prepare much.
Now during his second term he has had an intense focus on this performing arts center. Back in February he dismissed a slew of Democratic appointees to the board of trustees and replaced them with aides and allies, including Chief of Staff Susie Wiles as well as second lady Usha Vance. He was subsequently elected chairman of the board.
TRUMP: Well, it's very exciting being chairman but maybe more importantly saving this incredible structure and building and concept. And it's done so well. You know, we've raised a tremendous amount of money tonight for the building itself and for the charities overall, and we're really happy. It's been a -- I mean, you see the way it's been received. It's been like it's never been before. And this building -- this beautiful building is going to be brought back to life. We've already started. And it'll be better than it was from day one.
BENBROOK: This comes as Trump has really been putting an emphasis on trying to reshape Washington to fit his ideal. In the so-called one big, beautiful bill, more than $250 million was allotted for restoration and repairs around the Kennedy Center building. And Trump has touted changes to the exterior marble as well as the interior chairs and stages.
[05:50:00]
He said that he was 98 percent involved in selecting the winners this year, so let's take a closer look at that. They include country music star George Strait, actor and Broadway alum Michael Crawford, actor Sylvester Stallone, members of the rock band KISS, and singer Gloria Gaynor.
In remarks just a few days ago now, Trump referred to it as the Trump Kennedy Center. Now, he did push that off as a joke on the red carpet. He was asked if that was a possibility. He said it's ultimately up to the board but added, "I don't know. I heard that."
Julia Benbrook, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ABEL: Social media comes to the rescue for hundreds of kids just before Christmas. Ahead, how many people online were able to help a Texas school with a long-held holiday tradition.
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[05:55:15]
ABEL: The 12-team field is now set for the U.S. College Football Playoffs -- but, of course, now without some controversial snubs.
World Sports' Patrick Snell breaks down who's in-who's out and what comes next.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Well, excitement and plenty of debate too after we learned the 12 teams that will compete in the College Football Playoff.
And Notre Dame fans will definitely be upset. The Fighting Irish went 10-2 but lost the season opener to Miami, who also went 10-2, but the Hurricanes did make the field. So what did it all come down to?
HUNTER YURACHEK, CHAIRMAN, COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF SELECTION COMMITTEE: You look at those two teams on paper, and they are almost equal in their schedule strength, their common opponents, the results against their common opponents. But the one metric we had to fall back on again was the head-to-head.
SNELL: Well, Notre Dame has since declined to participate in a bowl game this postseason.
Alabama is also in despite having three losses. But do keep in mind Alabama is one of the top and toughest conferences. Here is their most recent game against Georgia on Saturday. Georgia just dominating this matchup against Alabama, exercising some demons in the process. Head coach Kirby Smart was 0-4 against Alabama in the SEC title game and just 1-7 overall coming into this one.
But Gunner Stockton throwing for three touchdowns and that vaunted Georgia defense was pretty much unstoppable throughout. The Bulldogs -- they cast the part in this game and winning it convincingly 28-7.
In the Big Ten title game we had number one Ohio State against number two Indiana. The Heisman Trophy likely on the line too as the two frontrunners are the Buckeyes' Julian Sayin and Indiana's Fernando Mendoza.
Third quarter, Indiana down 10-6. Mendoza to Elijah Sarratt here for the touchdown. Indiana taking the 13-10 lead. And after Ohio State missing a game-tying field goal, Mendoza puts this game away. Check this out. It's a beautiful pass to Charlie Becker. Indiana winning 13- 10 snapping a 30-game losing streak against Ohio State. They complete their first-ever undefeated 13-0 campaign. Indiana, Big
Ten champs for the first time since 1967 and will be the top overall seed in the playoffs.
Well, as we scan the bracket the top four seeds then -- Indiana, Ohio State, the defending champions. We've also got Georgia and Texas Tech as well. They all earn first-round byes and will automatically advance to the quarterfinals which begin just a few days after Christmas -- New Year's Eve, in fact, and on the first day of January 2026 as well.
Confirmation that Miami made the playoffs while Notre Dame and ACC champions Duke are left out.
And with that it's right back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ABEL: All right, Patrick. Thank you.
Lastly, social media is saving Christmas for hundreds of Texas schoolkids. A school employee realized they didn't have the money to keep up their tradition of providing a gift for each student, so she turned to TikTok for help.
Leigh Waldman back with us for this story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Four hundred kids were about to lose their Christmas gifts until a teacher with about 100 TikTok followers tried something desperate.
KYLE MURPHY, DATA ANALYST AND TESTING COORDINATOR, FORT WORTH, TEXAS: Hi. My name is Kyle and I have 54 days to save Christmas.
WALDMAN (voiceover): Kyle Murphy is a data analyst and testing coordinator at an elementary school in Fort Worth, Texas where roughly 90 percent of students come from low-income households. For nearly 50 years, the school's parent-teacher organization has bought gifts for every child before winter break. But this year the money was gone.
MURPHY: And I panicked because I couldn't imagine a child not having a gift under their Christmas tree and decided I was going to figure out how to make it happen.
WALDMAN (voiceover): So she turned to TikTok and posted despite having almost no followers. Forty-eight hours later she had a toy for every student. And as the money kept pouring in, they were able to add a stuffed animal, too.
MURPHY: I had a donation for $1.80 with a note that said, "I'm just a high school student. This is all that I can afford, but I want to step up."
WALDMAN (voiceover): Now she's using the extra support to fill a stocking for every child with toys and hygiene supplies. MURPHY: Everybody gets a hat, a toothbrush, some gloves, and a hair brush.
WALDMAN (voiceover): She says many families at the school don't typically do stockings. So for a lot of kids, this will be their first one ever.
MURPHY: So being able to give some of those students a stocking for the first time is going to be very magical.
WALDMAN (voiceover): Santa is coming to the school on December 16 for the kids. But Kyle isn't stopping there. A donor purchased a cooler for every teacher and now Kyle is trying to fill up each with goodies before they leave for break on the 19th.
MURPHY: Our students come from rough backgrounds, and our teachers don't just show up and teach our kids. They really are that consistency, that love, that warmth. I would just love to kind of have that Oprah moment when they open it up and they see that people around the country are thinking about them too.
[06:00:05]
WALDMAN (voiceover): There's still time to help. Links are on her TikTok page and at kylesaveschristmas.com.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ABEL: So many great people out there.
Thank you for joining us here on EARLY START. I'm Brian Abel in Washington. "CNN THIS MORNING WITH AUDIE CORNISH" starts right now.
