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U.S. Slaps Sanctions On Nephews Of Venezuela's Maduro; Major Flooding Forces Evacuations In Washington State; U.S. Still Unsure If It Will Attend Ukraine Peace Talks. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired December 12, 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 around the world. I'm Brian Abel. Thank you so much for being with us.

It is Friday, December 12th, 5:00 a.m. here in Washington, D.C.

And straight ahead on EARLY START.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Is the campaign against Venezuela still just about drugs, or is it now also about oil?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That seizure ended up being really a clear escalation in President Trump's efforts to oust Maduro.

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A state of emergency in the northwestern corner of Washington state.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The next 24 hours could not be more critical.

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN HOST: A peace deal for Ukraine, maybe. The U.S. is still considering whether to send a representative to a meeting in Paris.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: We had conversation with the United States team about possible security guarantees for Ukraine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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ABEL: We begin with new U.S. action against the financial lifeline of the Venezuelan regime. Officials have imposed new sanctions against six shipping companies and vessels that reportedly transport Venezuelan oil. The sanctions also target three of President Nicolas Maduro's nephews. Two of them were previously convicted on drug charges in the U.S. and later released in a prisoner swap.

The White House recently raised the stakes in this standoff by seizing this oil tanker you see here off the Venezuelan coast. But as Kristin Holmes reports, President Donald Trump hasn't provided a straight answer about what's behind the escalation.

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KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: A day after the United States seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, President Trump said that the pressure campaign against the leader of that country, Nicolas Maduro, was about a lot of things. Take a listen.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, it's about a lot of things, but one of the things it's about is the fact that they've allowed millions of people to come into our country from their prisons, from gangs, from drug dealers, and from mental institutions, probably proportionately more than anybody else. They've treated us badly, and I guess now we're not treating them so good.

HOLMES: Now, earlier in the day on Thursday, during a press briefing, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that this tanker was now in U.S. possession, was going to be brought to a U.S. port, and that the United States would eventually seize control of that Venezuelan crude oil that was aboard that tanker.

Now, one of the things to note here is that that seizure ended up being really a clear escalation in President Trump's efforts to oust Maduro. He had moved on from just those boat strikes to now seizing this. We also saw the secretary of treasury announcing a number of new sanctions against Maduro's family members and oil companies earlier today.

Now, all this comes as President Trump has continued to threaten to strike inside land in Venezuela, but I will tell you that I have spoken to a number of White House officials who say that there is really no appetite for that, so perhaps this is what they are doing or what they are looking at doing instead.

Kristen Holmes, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: Indiana Republicans have defied President Trump's pressure campaign to redraw congressional maps ahead of next year's midterm elections. Twenty-one Republicans joined 10 Democrats to vote down the measure in the state senate, where Republicans hold a supermajority. Trump won the state by nearly 20 points in 2024.

The rejected map would have set up Republicans sweep all nine of Indiana's U.S. House seats in next year's midterms. That would have been a pickup of two seats and potentially help the party retain control of Congress. President Trump says he hopes Republicans who voted against redrawing the map will face primary challenges from more loyal MAGA supporters. Several Indiana Republicans say their constituents opposed redrawing maps mid-decade, and the pressure from the White House backfired.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEAN LEISING, INDIANA STATE SENATE REPUBLICAN: I wish that President Trump would change his tone. I think that he needs to be more positive about what he needs to address for '27 and '28. Why does he need to have a Republican majority in '27 and '28? What's he going to do next? Because we all know what he's done.

And you know what? I voted for him three times. I like a lot of the things he's done. I didn't like this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: Meanwhile, in a virtually unprecedented show of bipartisanship, Donald Trump had praise for both parties at the White House Congressional Ball. The president told the crowd he believes Republicans and Democrats will soon be working together on health care.

[05:05:04]

His comments came after the Senate rejected health care proposals from both parties.

Karin Caifa has more.

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KARIN CAIFA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Senate voting on dueling health care plans.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The motion is not agreed to.

CAIFA (voice-over): And advancing neither.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The motion is not agreed to.

CAIFA (voice-over): Hanging in the balance as Capitol Hill debates are enhanced, affordable care act subsidies set to expire at the end of the year. Experts say without an extension, skyrocketing premiums will financially cripple millions of Americans.

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): We need to do a triage, and the first thing is to face the emergency that millions of Americans face when these tax credits disappear.

CAIFA (voice-over): And the Democratic proposal put forth on Thursday sought to extend the subsidies by three years.

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): This kind of extension of health care subsidies, subsidies is a very simple, straightforward, non-costly, politically imperative thing to do.

CAIFA (voice-over): But Senate Republican leadership argues a straight extension isn't the right fix.

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD), MAJORITY LEADER: You can't fix this program. I mean, you can't -- you can't just do a blanket extension without reforms. It is -- it is rife with waste, fraud and abuse.

CAIFA (voice-over): The Republican plan, which also failed Thursday, proposed to expand health savings accounts for consumers to help pay for some ACA plans.

SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): The Republican plan is to put the money into the patients pocketbook so that she has money to pay for the insurance out of pocket.

CAIFA (voice-over): Any legislation passed in the Senate would need to sign off in the Republican-led House before the chamber recesses for the holidays, as well as approval from President Trump making a resolution this year unlikely. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates a lapse in subsidies could lead to two million more people uninsured.

In Washington, I'm Karin Caifa.

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ABEL: President Trump says he has issued a pardon for Tina Peters, the only Trump ally serving time for trying to overturn the 2020 election. But that doesn't mean she'll be freed anytime soon. The former Republican clerk from Colorado is serving nine years in prison on state charges. She was convicted last year of participating in a scheme that sought to prove the president's false claims of mass voter fraud. Trump's pardon will do little to impact the state conviction other than apply pressure on Colorado lawmakers. Colorado's attorney general, a Democrat, brushed off the pardon, saying it would not hold up.

Flood water is sweeping through homes and businesses in Washington state, with rivers hitting major flood stage and topping records. We are getting reports of dozens of water rescues, and authorities are now issuing evacuation orders that stretch into neighboring British Columbia. Next week, a new atmospheric river could send even more rain to areas already devastated by floods.

CNN's Veronica Miracle is in Skagit County, where the entire 100-year floodplain has been told to evacuate

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VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A state of emergency in the northwestern corner of Washington State as record breaking flooding forces mandatory evacuations from multiple cities.

Some in the region have seen more than a foot of rain this week triggering what forecasters call potentially catastrophic flooding. As many as 100,000 people could face evacuations. Entire communities impacted. Homes in Gold Bar flooded. Cars submerged in water.

Businesses like this gas station with floodwaters rising up to the nozzles making them inoperable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shocked, you know. I mean, we've never seen this to this extent before.

MIRACLE (voice-over): A Sultan resident carried his dog out of a home as floodwaters pooled around the property. It's a familiar scene near rivers in western Washington with numerous rivers and flood stage.

The Snoqualmie River is approaching record levels and roads around the valley are closing fast. The dangerous conditions have prompted multiple Swiftwater Rescues in Yakima, 18 people and their pets rescued from the flooded local rivers. Some others airlifted to safety.

In the Skagit Valley, the river near Concrete, Washington eclipsed 41 feet Thursday morning, the highest in more than 20 years. Residents in Skagit County bagging sand as they brace for more rain potentially to come.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can do all we can with sandbags and bring in the material, but you know that -- when that river wants to do something, it's just -- it's out of our control.

MIRACLE: So, we're about two hours north of Seattle, and this is the community of Hamilton. This is actually the main roadway that's used to come into this community. And you can see behind me, homes are flooded right here. And this roadway is completely flooded out. And it's what you really can't make out from this vantage point that's quite remarkable. Theres a glint there. It's the rooftop of a car at the end of this roadway.

We heard from rescue crews that the Skagit County sheriff's office, they had to rescue the driver of that car because they tried to drive across when it was flooded out.

[05:10:07]

We've been hearing this from people all over. A woman told me she watched as a man tried to drive across a flooded roadway, get swept away, and a helicopter rescue crew had to come in and save that driver.

So, rescue officials all over western Washington are telling people, asking people to heed warnings and evacuate when asked

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ABEL: This just in COVID-19, vaccines could soon have the U.S. governments strongest warning on their packaging. Sources say the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is finalizing plans to put a so-called black box warning on them, which is used to warn health care providers and consumers about the risk of serious adverse reactions associated with a drug, reactions that could be life threatening or disabling.

It's not clear if the black box warning would apply to all COVID vaccines, or only the mRNA vaccines. Last month, an internal memo claimed FDA staff found at least 10 children died from COVID vaccination but did not provide any evidence. The plan for a black box warning on COVID vaccines has not been finalized and could still change.

Ukrainian and European officials are set to discuss a U.S. peace plan in Paris, but the U.S. might not be there. We'll explain why.

Plus, relief for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran man now freed from U.S. custody again. But his legal troubles may not be over yet. And Disney is making a big investment in artificial intelligence. Coming up, how their latest deal will open up their iconic characters for use with generative A.I.

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[05:16:17]

ABEL: The U.S. is still considering whether to send a representative to a meeting in Paris with Ukrainian and European leaders, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says President Trump is, quote, "sick of meetings just for the sake of meeting."

Russia wants to take the Donbas region, which Ukraine still partially holds. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the U.S. has proposed creating a free economic zone in parts of the region from which Ukraine would withdraw. Zelensky has stated his opposition to giving up more territory as part of any peace plan.

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz is following all of the latest developments, and she's joining us here from London.

Salma, are we getting any reaction from Ukraine on President Trump's current posture?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think at this time, when we're hearing directly from the White House on these meetings taking place in Europe over the weekend, we are getting that response. We also -- you mentioned the White House press secretary making those comments.

She went on to say in that press conference that President Trump is extremely frustrated with both sides of this war. He's ramping up the pressure on this peace proposal and also increasing the tensions with his European partners at a time that they want to see him send an envoy to this meeting on -- in Paris on Saturday. We heard directly from President Trump on that in the Oval Office. He said he might be willing to send an envoy to Paris if the condition is met, that he sees that there is progress on this peace deal.

Now, where is that peace deal so far? Well, the latest response came from Ukraine. They gave their revisions to the 20-point peace plan draft that included, according to two senior European diplomats familiar with these negotiations. It included the request or the demand for security guarantees for Ukraine, the demand for removing language that barred it from joining NATO in the future.

And it also included Ukraine showing a willingness to put elections in place if a ceasefire or conditions for nonviolence are met.

I want you to take a listen to how President Zelenskyy broke all this down in a meeting with European partners by video link yesterday.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: This would be would mean real, solid, legally binding security guarantees for our country. And they must actually be implemented. Of course, we -- of course, are working model of security guarantees is impossible.

And we underline it impossible without Europe and all members of our coalition of the willing from Canada to Japan, Australia and New Zealand, if there is a need for elections now, there must be a ceasefire, at least during election process and during voting. And this is something that must be discussed. And honestly, we think here in Ukraine that America should speak to the Russian side about this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: Now, the biggest gap in negotiations is, of course, over territory. The United States has said in the past that it wants to see the Donbas handed over to -- is still being fought over and partially controlled by Ukrainian forces.

Now, President Trump seems to have backed down on that and now is proposing a free economic zone in the Donbas region. But Ukraine is, of course, extremely skeptical about this and is asking the obvious questions here. Who would control, who would govern this free economic zone? And how would you enforce that no Russian forces try to enter or take it by force in the future?

And there's not a lot of time here. President Trump is absolutely ramping up the pressure. And President Zelenskyy says that the U.S. wants a clear understanding of the framework of the deal by Christmas time.

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ABEL: And we'll see if they get that framework. Salma Abdelaziz in London for us -- Salma, thank you.

Cold winter weather and heavy rain are complicating an already difficult humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with one Palestinian baby dying of hypothermia, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Flooding has swept through parts of the enclave, destroying temporary shelters and displacement camps. Officials in Gaza City are telling residents to avoid low lying areas.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is joining us live from Abu Dhabi now.

And, Paula, with so much of Gaza and rubble, avoiding low areas would seem practically impossible for so many?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's true, Brian, and bear in mind, those that are not in a home, which is the majority of Gaza at this point are in flimsy tents which give no resistance to the heavy flood waters that we've seen to the strong wind gusts that have come with this storm through Gaza. And also, you have high sea waves, which are part of this storm as well. Many people have had to pitch tents on the beach close to the water, as there is very little clear area in order to be -- now, we know that number of tents have been swept away. We know many have been flooded, as you mentioned there. Theres also been loss of life.

An eight-month-old baby called Rahab (ph) in Khan Younis in the south of Gaza Strip, has died from hypothermia. This, according to the ministry of health and also, according to her parents, the tents was flooded during the night and the baby died subsequently.

So, this is really having a devastating impact on the Gaza Strip. That is very ill-equipped to be able to deal with these kind of weather events. Let's listen to what some of those on the ground were saying to us.

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UMM MUSTAFA AL ATTAR, DISPLACED GAZA RESIDENT: The rain came on us at night. The water was dripping onto us. We have nothing left.

I don't have a tent. This is just a tarpaulin I live under because of the shelling. I beg you to bring me a tent. Tonight, I was flooded. I don't have a dry mattress. I don't have a blanket. My children don't have clothes

TAREQ AL JAISH, DISPLACED GAZA RESIDENT: I don't know where I will go with my children. I am from the north. We are left here. No one asks about us. No one looks at us. No one takes us into account. I don't know what more we can do than this. The situation is extremely, extremely difficult

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: Now, some of those that spoke to CNN also pointed out that any food that they had flour, for example, was spoiled by rain waters as well.

Now there is a concern, given the fact that the wastewater networks have been either destroyed or severely damaged by Israeli air strikes and strikes over the past two years in Gaza, that this rain water will mix with sewage, with solid waste, and that will be brought into living areas as well. So there's that added concern of contamination, of water borne diseases at this point.

We have heard from the un that about 1.3 million Palestinians are in urgent need of shelter for the winter, and they point out that there is a severe lack of tents being allowed into the Gaza Strip by Israeli authorities, some less than 50,000 have been allowed in, they say. That's according to the U.N., international NGOs and those that are trying to bring more shelter into the Gaza Strip.

They blame delays at crossings. They blamed blame denials at crossings, and also even for that, that gets in. Of course, there is that added security deterioration within Gaza as well, to be able to try and get those tents to those who need it.

So, an utterly miserable and devastating time for a population that has already suffered so much -- Brian.

ABEL: Yeah, and the heartbreaking images that are coming out of there as a result of all of this. Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi for us -- Paula, thank you.

Some newly released video of a poignant scene from two years ago.

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ABEL: Those are six Israeli hostages celebrating Hanukkah in a tunnel in Gaza, months before they were killed by Hamas. You can see them hugging, lightning makeshift candles on a menorah made of (AUDIO GAP). Other videos show them playing cards or chess while sitting on mats on the floor.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum says the video was recorded by Hamas propaganda, but the humanity of the six beautiful souls shines through.

[05:25:07]

A major turn in the high profile case of a Massachusetts man on trial for murder. When we come back, what an unexpected move for the defense team could mean as the case enters its final phase.

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ABEL: The defense rests in the case of a Massachusetts man on trial for murder. Brian Walshe admitted to dismembering his wife's body, but not to killing her. In an unexpected twist, Walshe chose not to testify in his defense on Thursday, and his attorneys did not present a case.

CNN's Jean Casarez has more.