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Report: More Americans Worse Off Financially Since Last Year; Trump Announces $12 Billion U.S. Farmer Aid Package; Ukrainian President In Italy As He Gathers European Support; Data: Nearly 75,000 With No Criminal Records Detained By ICE. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired December 09, 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.

It is Tuesday, December 9th, 5:00 a.m. here in Washington, D.C.

And straight ahead on EARLY START.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN HOST: The Fed survey found more Americans say that their finances are much worse now than they were a year ago.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Democrats caused the affordability problem, and we're the ones that are fixing it.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Bipartisan pressure growing on the administration to release unedited video of the U.S. air attack on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean.

SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): Let him explain to the American people the legal basis for doing this.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Monday was a very important day in the Brian Walshe trial.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very quickly, we started asking about Ana. His demeanor changed. He got very emotional.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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ABEL: It is shaping up to be a big day for the U.S. economy. In the coming hours, we will have the job openings and labor turnover survey, known as the JOLTS report for September and October. The report is being released just a day before the Federal Reserve's rate hike decision. It also comes as more Americans say they are in a worse financial position now than a year ago. That's according to the latest consumer survey from the New York Fed. President Trump is due to speak on his economic record in Pennsylvania

this afternoon, where he will likely highlight what he views as big wins for the economy, including his controversial tariffs. Trump praised his tariffs yesterday after announcing a $12 billion aid package for U.S. farmers impacted by his trade war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: This money would not be possible without tariffs. The tariffs are taking in hundreds of billions of dollars, and we're giving some up to the farmers because they were mistreated by other countries for, I don't know, maybe right reasons, maybe wrong reasons. We're taking in so much money with the tariffs now that it's such a pleasure. Without it we wouldn't be able to help you. We're making a country -- we're the richest country in the world now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: President Trump is doing major damage control as the realities of the ongoing affordability crisis become harder to ignore. Part of his plan, blame Mexico. In a lengthy social media post on Monday, Trump accused Mexico of treating American farmers unfairly and threatened to impose even higher tariffs. American farmers could be getting some relief from President Trump's ongoing trade war.

But as CNN's Kristen Holmes reports, it may not be enough to recover from the damage that's already been done.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump today announcing a farmers assistance bill that will give roughly $12 billion to various farmers, $11 billion of that is going to go to farmers, crop farmers in particular, who fall underneath an assistance umbrella. The other $1 billion a year that its going to be evaluated and given to farmers outside of that umbrella, different crop farmers.

Now, this comes at a time when farmers have experienced an enormous amount of pressure, given low crop prices, as well as those tariffs that President Trump has put in place, particularly when it comes to those tariffs with China. One of the things that we have heard from a number of farmers, particularly soybean farmers, is that they have been absolutely crushed by those tariffs to the point where President Trump had spoken to President Xi about this back in October. And China did agree to start purchasing soybeans again.

However, when you hear pushback from some of those farmers, they say that it's just not enough that they believed it was going to be more than that and quicker than that. The White House says that they will continue, that China is holding up its end of the bargain. It's going to continue purchasing those soybeans. But again, that's not alleviating the pain, or at least not by much that these farmers are feeling.

Now, a White House official said that this would be done. These assistance would go out as late -- the latest would be February 2026. It's supposed to be a sort of set up for these farmers for the upcoming season, to help them get ready, prepare, purchase what they need to purchase, only a one-time payout here.

This is coming at a time in which it's not just farmers, it's across the board. The country is feeling the pain of the economy, particularly this issue of affordability. Now, President Trump here in this circumstance is reaching out to a group of people to help them. That that generally supported him in the last election.

[05:05:03]

But there are others across the country who are really struggling right now. We're hearing that, that Republicans are growing concerned about the messaging around the economy and affordability going into the midterms, particularly as people have expressed anxiety, including those who voted for President Trump, that things aren't moving the way that they had hoped in the economy. Even a recent survey saying that people felt that the -- that they were worse off this year than they were even just a year ago. The White House, for their purposes. Trump himself has said that the affordability is a hoax, but they do believe the White House, that they're going to be shifting their messages to focus on the economy. President Trump is going to give an economy- centric speech in Pennsylvania tomorrow.

Kristen Holmes, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: And now to the latest fallout from the U.S. military's deadly double-tap strike on an alleged drug boat. Sources say the U.S. defense secretary, the secretary of state and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff are expected to hold a briefing on operations in Latin America with the so-called Gang of Eight. That is the bipartisan group of congressional leaders who are up on national security and classified intelligence matters.

Top congressional Republicans and Democrats say they want to review the unedited video of that follow up strike on the boat that killed two survivors in September.

Now, last week, Donald Trump said he had no problem with the pentagon releasing the strike video. But now he insists he never said that a false claim, easily disproven.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Mr. President, you said you would have no problem with releasing the full video of that strike on September 2nd off the coast of Venezuela. Secretary Hegseth now says --

TRUMP: I didn't say that. You said that. I didn't say that. This is ABC fake news.

REPORTER: Will you release video of that strike so that the American people can see for themselves?

TRUMP: I don't know what they have, but whatever they have, we'd certainly release. No problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: President Trump says he'll let the defense secretary decide on the video now. And Pete Hegseth is under mounting pressure to release it.

Theres a measure tucked in the annual defense policy bill, which would limit his travel expense budget, unless he lets House and Senate committees see the video.

Ukraine's president is shoring up support from European allies as negotiations over the U.S. peace plan continue. Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in Italy now and has been meeting with Pope Leo. On Monday, he met with European and NATO leaders in London and Brussels to discuss sensitive issues in the Trump administrations peace framework. Those include security guarantees and territorial concessions.

Zelenskyy saying that he will not surrender Ukrainian territory to Russia and has no legal or moral right to do so. He says it's critical that Europe and the U.S. work together to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin, and that he will send a revised peace proposal to the U.S. later Tuesday.

CNN's Ben Wedeman is joining me now live from Rome.

And, Ben, this push for peace, it comes just days after President Trump accused Zelensky of not reading the latest draft. And with no breakthroughs in negotiations with Americans and Ukrainians in Miami. So what's the prospect at the moment of any forward progress toward ending the war?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's not clear if there will be any progress toward ending this war, Brian. President Zelenskyy was at number 10 Downing Street yesterday where he met with British, French and German leaders to sort of shore up European support in the face of this 20 point U.S. so-called peace plan for Ukraine that President Trump claims that President Zelenskyy didn't read. That seems rather unlikely.

He met this morning with Pope Leo at Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome, where the pope and Zelenskyy apparently discussed these ongoing diplomatic efforts. And the pope stressed the need for a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.

Now he, the pope, meets this afternoon with the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Meloni is somebody who has a good relationship with Trump. She's sometimes described as the European Trump whisperer because of that relationship. But nonetheless she has, by and large, stuck with the European line that Ukraine needs to be supported.

Now, the main stumbling block for this U.S. plan for Ukraine is the idea that Ukraine has to essentially give up the Donbas region in the eastern part of the country, even though there are large parts of that region that aren't even under Russian control. Ukraine has been fighting fiercely to retain control of those areas.

I've covered the battle in that part of Ukraine when we used to travel.

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And certainly, we know that the Ukrainians do not want to give up this land despite the intense pressure from the Trump administration to do exactly that -- Brian.

ABEL: All right. Ben Wedeman, for us in Rome -- Ben, appreciate the update. Thank you.

A strong atmospheric river is hitting the Pacific Northwest, where several inches of rain are expected to fall. Parts of Washington state and Oregon, feeling the impacts already and wet conditions are forecast to continue into midweek. With that comes a threat of landslides, flash floods and potentially widespread river flooding.

Here's a look at the flood alerts for the Northwest. Several rivers in Washington are forecast to hit major flood stage. Peak flood potential is expected Tuesday and Wednesday.

Still to come, a former Trump lawyer resigns as New Jersey's top prosecutor after a court ruled she was serving in her position unlawfully. Donald Trump's reaction ahead.

Plus, a new candidate announces her bid for a U.S. Senate seat from Texas. Find out who dropped out of the race to make way for Jasmine Crockett.

And the Trump administration pledged to go after the criminals, but tens of thousands of people detained by immigration authorities had no criminal record at all. We look at the numbers.

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[05:16:01]

ABEL: Donald Trump's former personal lawyer has resigned as the acting U.S. attorney for the district of New Jersey. This comes after a federal court found that Alina Habba was unlawfully serving in that position.

On Monday, the panel of judges ruled that the Trump administration violated the law when it installed Habba as the acting U.S. attorney after failing to win Senate support. Habba announced she would step down to protect, quote, "the stability and integrity of the office I love."

Judges across the U.S. have made similar rulings against U.S. attorneys appointed by the Trump administration. The president is railing against the confirmation process.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: I can't appoint a U.S. attorney that's not a Democrat because they put a block on it. So, if you appoint in Virginia or in New Jersey or in California a U.S. attorney or a judge -- I mean, a judge situation is ridiculous. The only people that you can get by are Democrats, because they will put a hold on it. If I put up George Washington and Abraham Lincoln to be U.S. attorney in New Jersey, or to be U.S. attorney in Virginia, we have Democrat senators. They will not approve them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: And meanwhile, one of President Trump's most outspoken critics is launching a bid for the U.S. Senate. Representative Jasmine Crockett of Texas announced her candidacy on Monday. She will have to be State Representative James Talarico in the Democratic primary before getting to the general election. Crockett could face an uphill battle, winning over independents and Trump voters in the biggest conservative state in the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JASMINE CROCKETT (D-TX): For all those that believe it's about which one is more moderate or which one is too far left, if you look at the actual numbers, not just polls, but real elections, then you will see that the crossover doesn't come because you decide to sound like a Republican. The crossover comes because you make people believe that you will fight for them.

I don't know that we'll necessarily convert all of Trump's supporters. That's not our goal. Our goal is to make sure that we can engage people that historically have not been talked to, because there are so many people that get ignored, specifically in the state of Texas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: Crockett's announcement comes the same day that Congress member Colin Allred ended his Senate campaign. He will run instead for Texas's newly redrawn 33rd congressional district.

Federal agents have arrested roughly 220,000 people in the nine months since President Trump took office, but new data found nearly 75,000 of those detained had no criminal record.

Priscilla Alvarez digs into those numbers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This data really backs up what we have been hearing anecdotally from attorneys, as well as advocates who have worked with a lot of those immigrants who have been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and by U.S. Border Patrol over the last several months. And many of these cases, there had not been criminal records. Yes, these were people who were in the United States illegally, but they did not fall into the categories that the administration has repeatedly talked about, about national security and public safety threats, just based on their records. So, this data again shows that of the 220,000 arrests that have

happened in these last nine months, nearly 75,000 people had no criminal records. This is according to the Data Deportation Project, which, as you mentioned, is a group associated with U.S. Berkeley Law School.

Earlier this summer, though, we had been seeing similar data crop up. That is that less than 10 percent of immigrants taken into custody since this was October of 2024 had any serious criminal convictions. So, this has been a trend that we have been seeing over the last several months, that is that many of those taken in don't have these criminal records.

Now, Tom Homan, the White House border czar, was asked about ongoing operations, including the one happening in Minneapolis targeting undocumented Somali immigrants and who exactly they're targeting.

[05:20:10]

And this is what he had to say. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HOMAN, WHITE HOUSE BORDER CZAR: We're looking for public safety threats to national security threats and illegal aliens. Nothing has changed, Dana, from day one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, this is something that I have also been hearing from my sources. Again, they continue and maintain that those that they are targeting are public safety, national security threats. But that doesn't mean that if they are targeting someone who is a threat, that they won't also take those around them. Those are called those, quote, collateral arrests. And those can be people who are here undocumented but may not have a record.

We also see this with the U.S. Border Patrol operations in places like Chicago, Charlotte and now New Orleans, as they do these sweeps, they may just take people in based on reasonable suspicion. This all goes to show what we have been hearing and many of these incidents, which is that people across the board who are undocumented in the United States are being taken in by federal immigration authorities and face deportation.

Many of these cases and in other cases are still trying to work through the immigration process while they are in detention is just overwhelming, with around 66,000 people in detention now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: Priscilla Alvarez, thank you.

Why is an Israeli flag now planted where a U.N. flag once flew? Details on a new raid against the U.N. Agency for Palestinians. Plus, on the eve of the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, this year's

laureate may reemerge after nearly a year in hiding. We'll have the latest on Maria Machado's possible appearance in Oslo after the break.

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[05:26:14]

ABEL: Israeli authorities have raided the compound of the U.N. Agency for Palestinian Refugees in East Jerusalem. The head of the agency, UNRWA, says Israeli police forcibly entered with trucks and forklifts, and they replaced the U.N. flag with an Israeli flag, adding that they cut communications and seize I.T. equipment, as well as furniture.

And for the latest on all this, CNN's Salma Abdelaziz is following this live for us from London -- Salma.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And this is part of a continued spat rather and UNRWA, which is the U.N. relief agency on the ground that provides so much support and essentially a parallel government in Gaza, including educating children, providing basic infrastructure, providing medical care. So, this is a huge hindrance, of course, for UNRWA's operations. But the building we are discussing was no longer in use. That's because last year, Israel took the step of banning UNRWA from operating on Israeli soil.

Now, it says, UNRWA says that this latest raid took place by force, that Israeli police and municipal authorities used forklifts and trucks to enter the building. That communications were very quickly cut off, and property and I.T. equipment was seized.

Now, Israel says that this raid took place because it is accusing UNRWA of not paying property tax. But here's the thing: under international law, UNRWA says it is not obligated to pay property tax and it is accusing Israel of violating its obligations as a U.N. member state.

Take a listen to what U.N. -- one U.N. spokesperson said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANE DUJARRIC, U.N. SPOKESPERSON: The secretary general urges Israel to immediately take all necessary steps to help restore, preserve and uphold the inviolability of UNRWA premises and refrain from taking any further action with regard to UNRWA premises.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: Now this comes, of course, as we just heard from Prime Minister Netanyahu about a day ago, that the phase two of the President Trump's peace plan should begin to take effect or steps are being taken to put it into effect, but that major issues remain obstacles in the way of mediators. Of course, this second phase is supposed to push Israeli forces to withdraw further out of Gaza, and it's supposed to establish a transitional plan, including a peacekeeping force on the ground that would eventually push Hamas to lay down its arms.

Now, Hamas has indicated that it may be willing to freeze or store arms. But yet again, this phase two of the process still seems very far from any actual agreement or completion. Meanwhile, both parties seem to be accusing each other of violations every single day, and organizations like UNRWA say the conflict continues to hinder their abilities to provide to those most needed and most vulnerable in Gaza.

ABEL: Yeah, still unclear if they will get to that stage two.

Salma Abdelaziz for us in London -- Salma, thank you.

The Nobel Peace Prize ceremony is coming up this week, but it's still unclear if this year's recipient, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Machado, will be attending in person. Her mother and daughter have been spotted in Oslo in the lead up to the ceremony, and organizers say she is expected at a press conference in just a couple of hours from now.

CNN's Stefano Pozzebon has more on the reclusive political figure and why she's had to be in hiding for nearly a year now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR (voice-over): If Maria Corina Machado attends the ceremony to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in person, it will be the first time she's seen in public in almost a year.

2025 has been a rollercoaster for the Venezuelan opposition leader, from leading mass demonstrations in Caracas to hiding in her own country and now, the world's most prestigious recognition.

In between, chasing the goal that defined her life, rescuing Venezuela from the rule of authoritarian president, Nicolas Maduro.