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Early Start with Rahel Solomon
FBI, DHS "Surging" Resources In Minnesota Fraud Investigation; Keeping New Year's Celebrations Safet In The U.S.; Zohran Mamdani To Be Inaugurated On New Year's Day. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired December 31, 2025 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:28]
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Good morning and welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in for Rahel Solomon.
It's Wednesday, December 31st, New Year's Eve, 5:00 a.m. here in New York.
And straight ahead on EARLY START.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Health and Human Services saying it has frozen all child care payments to Minnesota into the state in the wake of new fraud allegations.
WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: How do you know that all the allegations that you're making are true?
NICK SHIRLEY, YOUTUBER: How do I know that they're true? Well, we showed you guys what was happening.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to ring in the New Year in Times Square.
JESSICA TISCH, NYPD COMMISSIONER: Rest assured, the entirety of the New York City Police department is going to be working between December 31st and January 1st.
REPORTER: Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old Democratic socialist, will be sworn in as New York City's 112th mayor.
MAYOR-ELECT ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK: My brother, we are in city hall now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right. Our top story is in Minnesota, where the Trump administration says it is now withholding all federal child care funding to the entire state. The agency says the state receives $185 million for 19,000 children. And now that money will be gone. And the agency did not specify any alternate plans for families who will be affected.
DHS and the FBI said they were surging resources to Minnesota to investigate what they called suspected fraud sites. This all comes in response to a viral video posted by a MAGA content creator. He claims that he uncovered widespread fraud by Somali run child care centers in the state. CNN is looking into those claims and has not independently verified the accusations.
But the deputy secretary of health and human services is taking the allegations at face value. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM O'NEILL, DEPUTY SECRETARY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: Intrepid journalists have made shocking and credible allegations of extensive fraud in Minnesota's child care programs. We believe the state of Minnesota has allowed scammers and fake daycares to siphon millions of taxpayer dollars over the past decade. Starting today, we require a justification, receipt or photo evidence before we make a payment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: However, those so-called evidence comes from a man who has posted anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant content in the past.
CNN's Whitney Wild speaks to the man behind that video and takes a look at his claims.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: We're from CNN. Can we talk to you?
WILD (voice-over): This is MAGA YouTuber Nick Shirley. Back at a daycare in Minnesota, he alleged was a fraudulent facility in a now viral video.
NICK SHIRLEY, YOUTUBER WHO MADE VIRAL MINNESOTA VIDEO: If you are going to say this is a left or right issue, but no fraud is fraud over here. I'm not out here trying to put a twist on things.
WILD (voice-over): Shirleys viral video, released over the weekend, in which he says he's uncovering tens of millions of dollars in fraud at Minneapolis daycares run by the Somali community, was retweeted by Elon Musk and Vice President J.D. Vance. In the video, Shirley tries to open locked doors and talk to people at various daycares he claims are frauds.
WILD: Did you come during normal operating hours when you came to visit?
SHIRLEY: I came at 11:00 a.m., I believe, and I also came the following day, later in the day. The point of it is not whether or not I came at the right, at the right time of their operation hours. The point is that blacked out doors, they can't give you any information. You call that number. No one answers.
I wasn't trying to go inside. If they -- there should be a way for somebody to actually call number and somebody be able to answer. These aren't real businesses.
WILD: But surely, you don't think a daycare should just be unlocked. You shouldn't be able to just walk into a daycare.
SHIRLEY: Reception
WILD: No, every daycare is locked.
REPORTER: Their doors are locked.
SHIRLEY: And so -- okay, you bring up a fair point, then why can't they actually give me information how to enroll a child?
WILD (voice-over): Federal law enforcement has been investigating fraud in Minnesota for several years. Both Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel said on social media they've indicted dozens of defendants. DHS has posted multiple videos of agents they say are conducting a massive fraud investigation.
WILD: Do you think that federal law enforcement hasn't done enough? I mean, they would say, look, these fraud cases have been going on, but they've already done like 80 indictments. The cases have been going on, you know, for years.
SHIRLEY: Why did I show up one day, Minnesota, and go to all these daycares? No children. They're receiving millions of dollars. We uncovered nearly $100 million -- $110 million in fraud in one day.
WILD: How do you know that all the allegations that you're making are true?
SHIRLEY: How do I know that they're true? Well, we showed you guys the -- we showed you guys what was happening, and then you guys can go ahead and make your own analysis.
[05:05:04]
WILD: We're coming -- so we can make our own analysis. Are you 100 percent sure you're true?
SHIRLEY: Yeah, I am 100 percent sure I'm true.
WILD (voice-over): CNN is looking into Shirley's claims.
WILD: Hi, my name is Whitney Wild. I'm a correspondent for CNN.
WILD (voice-over): We reached out to several of the daycares featured in the now viral video. Only one daycare facility answered and said they are a legitimate business.
WILD: Have you seen the videos? You know, purporting that some of these daycares don't have kids inside? WILD (voice-over): Minnesota Republicans say despite the new focus
from the Trump administration, they have been sounding the alarm on fraud for years.
LISA DEMUTH, REPUBLICAN MINNESOTA HOUSE SPEAKER & GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: You know, we have talked about fraud. We have gotten stories. We have -- we've tried to push this forward every way that we can.
WILD (voice-over): At the daycare where Shirley showed back up, a stream of children walk inside.
WILD: You're saying that this is a fraudulent daycare? Theres kids being dropped off right now.
SHIRLEY: Yes. The commissioner of children literally said a week ago this place was closed. They're showing face right now.
WILD (voice-over): A viral video, disputed claims, and their full fallout remains to be seen.
WILD: Dozens of fraud cases that DOJ is touting began during the Biden administration back in 2022. The U.S. attorney's office for Minnesota announced 47 indictments for this massive fraud scheme. Since then, they've indicted more than 30 more people, and in total, they have secured at least 56 convictions.
Whitney Wild, CNN, Minneapolis.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right. Southern California is bracing for more rain that could result in flooding and mudslides on New Year's Eve. A new storm is heading to the area while the land is still saturated from the intense rain of Christmas Week. And for the first time in 20 years, it's supposed to rain during the New Year's Day Rose Parade.
Meantime, the Upper Midwest and Northeast will see heavy lake effect snow through New Year's Day. The winds coming on the back end of a powerful storm that swept through the region. The Arctic Front will continue to bring gusty winds to the northeast and subfreezing overnight. Low temperatures will reach as far south as the Gulf Coast.
All right. Here in New York, it's already New Years eve, and in a few hours, crowds and a ton of security will fill Times Square.
Sherrell Hubbard explains how U.S. cities are planning to keep revelers safe as they ring in 2026.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHERRELL HUBBARD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In New York City, as the countdown to the New Year is underway, crews Tuesday gave the iconic ball a test drop in Times Square. The new and updated constellation ball includes more than 5,200 Waterford crystals and led lights, but the glitz and glam isn't all that's being talked about. It's also the security.
JESSICA TISCH, NEW YORK POLICE COMMISSIONER: The public should expect to see thousands of NYPD officers deployed throughout Times Square. That includes officers from our specialized units, including emergency service unit, K-9, the bomb squad, heavy weapons teams and our harbor teams.
HUBBARD (voice-over): Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to ring in the New Year in Times Square, with millions around the world watching online or on TV.
The NYPD says. Not only will it be deploying helicopters and drones, it will have ample boots on the ground.
TISCH: We will also deploy dedicated pickpocket teams, hotel response teams and additional uniformed patrols.
HUBBARD (voice-over): In the nation's capital. You can see how crews were testing out a New Years projection display on the Washington monument early Tuesday morning. It's a part of freedom 250 celebration of America's anniversary, and will showcase some of the nation's history.
To the South --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Almost a year ago, January 1, the city of New Orleans was struck by an unspeakable act.
HUBBARD (voice-over): That New Year's Day ISIS-inspired terror attack, where a man drove a pickup truck into a crowd of revelers on New Orleans' Bourbon Street, killing 14 people and injuring dozens more. This year, New Orleans tightening security measures.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything in that square of the French Quarter will be closed.
HUBBARD (voice-over): I'm Sherrell Hubbard, reporting
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Zohran Mamdani is just a day away from being sworn in as mayor of New York City. A private inauguration will take place just moments after the New Year's Eve ball drop, followed by a public ceremony at city hall later on New Year's Day. The historic event will feature U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders.
CNN's Gloria Pazmino has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAYOR-ELECT ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK CITY: On January 1st, I will be sworn in as the mayor of New York city.
GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old Democratic socialist who stunned the political world in November, will be sworn in as New York City's 112th mayor at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day.
Mamdani, who will be New York's first Muslim and South Asian American mayor, will be introduced by progressive Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and sworn in by Senator Bernie Sanders.
Mamdani, who previously served in the state assembly and once moonlighted as a rapper, will take over the reins of America's largest city, overseeing 300,000 public employees and a $116 billion budget.
[05:10:09]
MAMDANI: I will fight for a city that works for you. That is affordable for you. That is safe for you.
PAZMINO (voice-over): Mamdani's win against former Governor Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary shocked the political establishment.
ANDREW CUOMO (D), FORMER NEW YORK GOVERNOR: The night was not our night.
PAZMINO (voice-over): He cruised to victory again in November with promises to make the city affordable for the working class.
MAMDANI: They are promises to freeze the rent, to make buses fast and free, to deliver universal childcare.
PAZMINO (voice-over): To pay for his ambitious agenda, Mamdani wants to raise taxes on wealthy residents, an ask Governor Kathy Hochul has so far rejected. But the governor, heading into her own reelection year in 2026, has said she'll work with the incoming mayor.
GOV. KATHY HOCHUL (D), NEW YORK: He and I have had many meetings individually and with our staff to find a path forward, something that's reasonable that we can get started on universal child care.
PAZMINO (voice-over): Mamdani, who has called President Trump a fascist, says he is willing to work with him if it will help his agenda.
Last month, he traveled to D.C. for a high stakes meeting with Trump in the Oval Office, who went from calling Mamdani a lunatic to this.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We agree on a lot more than I would have thought. I want him to do a great job and we'll help them do a great job.
PAZMINO (voice-over): Trump even reportedly remarked, "Wow, you're even better looking in person than you are on TV."
So far, Mamdani has made appointments to New York City's core service agencies, including keeping NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch in charge of the department.
MAMDANI: I will demand excellence from my team, from myself, and also I will ensure that we create the conditions where that excellence is possible to deliver on.
PAZMINO (voice-over): But some of his hires have garnered controversy. A day after naming his director of appointments, Mamdani accepted her resignation after it was revealed she had posted a series of antisemitic posts online more than a decade ago.
MAMDANI: We are currently underway at making changes in our vetting process.
PAZMINO (voice-over): As he prepares to take office, Mamdani is also getting a major real estate upgrade. He and his wife Rama Duwaji will leave their one bedroom, $2,300 a month apartment in Queens and move into Gracie Mansion. Mamdani will be sworn in during a private ceremony at the old, now abandoned city hall subway station.
A public inauguration is scheduled for the afternoon, planned in part by a star-studded committee including children's YouTuber Miss Rachel and actress Cynthia Nixon.
Gloria Pazmino, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right. Still to come, will you visit the same places in 2026, or will you choose somewhere off the beaten path? Well break down CNNs top travel recommendations for the New Year.
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WHITFIELD: All right. With 2026 just hours away, now is the perfect time to make your New Year's resolutions. Maybe you want to get into better shape or find a new job. Well, how about if travel is on your list?
CNN has prepared a list of the best places that you need to see.
CNN travel producer Lilit Marcus is joining me now from Hong Kong, with more.
Lilit, I love this list. I mean, but it really seems like at the core is adventure. And we're talking about places from Adelaide, Australia, to Arusha, Tanzania, to Jamaica. I mean, what were you looking for in order to determine a special place?
LILIT MARCUS, CNN TRAVEL DIGITAL PRODUCER: It's a good question because to be fair, I want to go everywhere all the time. So --
WHITFIELD: Yeah, me, too.
MARCUS: -- how do you choose? I think the big question this year we asked was, why now? A lot of these destinations are great all the time, but there's some kind of new opening or maybe a new flight route opening that made the case for. This is why this year is great to go. So, you mentioned Jamaica. Jamaica was really badly damaged by
hurricane Melissa earlier this year. And what we're hearing from the tourism board and from locals on the ground is that if you want to help, come back. Hotels are reopening. Businesses need tourists again. So, we thought it was a really nice time to highlight a destination that's a year-round perennial favorite.
WHITFIELD: Oh, that's so nice. And then, you know, some of these places are kind of hard to get to Jamaica, not so much. But some of these places are rather difficult sometimes. That's part of the experience, right? It's the journey, not always the destination.
But you really are focusing on the destinations here. So how are people going to find their way to some of these rather remote locations.
MARCUS: Yeah, that's fair. We've been getting a lot of feedback that people are interested, like you said, in not just the destination but the journey. But I think it's also important to look at some big infrastructure projects that are going to make it easier to visit some of these places.
So, for the first time ever, you'll be able to fly directly from the United States to Adelaide, Australia. That's a direct flight from San Francisco that's operated by United. And then there's another direct flight from JFK that goes directly to Bahrain. So that's one of the reasons that we highlighted these places this year is that now, if you're based in the U.S., it's easier than ever to check out some of these locations.
WHITFIELD: Okay. And that's -- I mean, those are those are, you know, pretty well established, you know, cities like Bahrain, for example. But I wonder for the places that, you know, folks don't necessarily know about, and they do now that they've seen it on the list, how about for the folks who live in these areas, who love the idea of being in the best kept secret kind of location, are they going to welcome all this new attention?
MARCUS: You know, I -- it's a hard question to answer. I would say that about half the comments that we get on CNN Travel are, hey, please write about our destination. We don't get enough people.
[05:20:00]
And the other half is, hey, stop writing about our destination. We have too many people. So, ultimately, you can never make everybody happy.
I think what's more important is that these destinations aren't just about, hey, can you visit all 20? Can you check them all off a list. We're the people who write the list and were not like that either. I think it's more about getting in the mindset of this is what I'm looking for. This is what kind of a traveler I am. And so, here's the destination I think best fits with that.
WHITFIELD: Oh, that's great. I mean, those are really great tips. And, you know, the list is amazing. But then you have to really think about, you know, what are you feeling or what do you want to feel? What do you have the energy for? In some places you got to go, you know, train, bus, you know, automobile, all of it. And flight. And then some are direct, like you said.
MARCUS: Yes.
WHITFIELD: You got a favorite, Lilit?
MARCUS: Yeah. Well, I'm biased. So, one of the places on this list I went to in 2025. So I'm a little bit biased. I visited Mongolia's Orkhon Valley, which if you want to talk about, hard to get to, it was a five-hour flight from where I live in Hong Kong, and then another five hours by car just to get there.
But once I got there, it was amazing. It's so special to be able to find places still on Earth where they're not covered in Western brands.
WHITFIELD: And these are the accommodations.
MARCUS: No wi-fi. Yeah.
WHITFIELD: Along with --
MARCUS: It's not the worst. You stay in a luxury ger.
WHITFIELD: It looks great.
MARCUS: It's not called a ger anymore. I got a lecture about that. Yeah, but, you know, I've never seen the stars like that in my life. It's just been so long since I was away from a place where there was city infrastructure.
And it was like -- getting there was an ordeal. But once I got there, I just didn't want to leave.
WHITFIELD: Wow. The list is amazing. I mean, I am sold now. Its just an issue of like, okay, how do you prioritize this? Because I want to go to all of them. All those places.
MARCUS: Same.
WHITFIELD: All right. Lilit Marcus, thank you for opening our eyes. Thank you so much, and happy New Year.
MARCUS: Oh, thanks. Happy New Year.
WHITFIELD: All right, all right. A newly unsealed ruling suggests that top DOJ officials may have been pressing to bring criminal charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia. We'll have details straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. "The New York Times" reports the U.S. Justice Department is seeking to
hire about 400 lawyers to review the Epstein files, still set to be released. Sources say there are roughly 5.2 million pages of documents to comb through. The Justice Department notably missed the December 19th deadline to release all of the files releasing about 100,000 pages instead.
Well, they've defended how it's been handled so far, with officials stating their team is working around the clock to review all documents and make redactions to keep victims safe.
All right. Now to a new turn in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. A judge says internal Justice Department files suggest that top officials in Washington worked with Nashville prosecutors to prosecute Abrego Garcia, after he fought his wrongful deportation to El Salvador. This, according to a newly unsealed ruling.
Abrego Garcia is arguing that the charges, which stemmed from a Tennessee traffic stop years earlier, were brought in retaliation for challenging his unlawful removal earlier this year. He wants those charges dismissed, saying he is a victim of selective and vindictive prosecution.
The federal judge writes the government's own documents, quote, "may contradict its prior representations that the decision to prosecute was made locally and that there were no outside influences," end quote.
Earlier, CNN's senior legal analyst Elie Honig explained how this latest development could impact Abrego Garcia's case moving forward.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: I think this case has been deeply troubled. This indictment, from the very start, for example, DOJ has vastly overrepresented the case. Pam Bondi stood behind a podium and told the national media that Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a member of MS-13 and was involved in smuggling guns and drugs and maybe a murder.
Guess what he's charged with? None of those things. He's only charged with driving illegal aliens across a state line.
Now, what todays ruling does is it allows Kilmar Abrego Garcia's defense team to dig into what went into the decision to charge him. And it sounds like DOJ has made some potentially untrue claims to the judge. DOJ has claimed the decision to charge Abrego Garcia was made only by the U.S. attorney in Tennessee. Nobody at Main Justice was involved. Todd Blanche, who you just heard connecting the two cases, was not involved. And the judge in his decision today seems to say it does appear that Todd Blanche was involved. And it does appear there was some link between the immigration case and the prosecution.
And if Abrego Garcia's team can prove that, then yes, they will get this case thrown out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is accusing the U.S. of spreading, I'm quoting him now, "fake news" about this country. His statements on Tuesday come after President Trump told reporters that he took out a big facility tied to alleged drug boats. If confirmed, it could mark the first known U.S. strike to target inside Venezuela's borders.
CNN's Alayna Treene has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, sources are telling us is that this was a CIA drone attack on a facility on the Venezuelan coast. On a facility, they believe that the Tren de Aragua gang uses to pack drugs into vessels and then ship them out.
And what we do know now is that the operation took place inside Venezuelan territory and was very much a part of sovereign Venezuelan territory, and that in and of itself really marks a significant escalation because to date, the U.S. military, not the CIA, has been conducting strikes on these suspected drug boats in international waters, not really going near Venezuela and inside.
