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Four GOP Lawmakers Join With Dems To Force Vote On ACA Subsides; Speaker Johnson: "I Have Not Lost Control Of The House"; Now: Jack Smith Testifies Privately Before GOP-Led House Cmte. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired December 17, 2025 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN CO-ANCHOR, THE SITUATION ROOM: I Keep thinking about when I was in Moscow, when Gorbachev sign that agreement, ending the Soviet Union, giving independence to the former republics of the Soviet Union, including Ukraine.

And one of the conditions for Ukraine was that it had to give up its nuclear weapons arsenal, which was very impressive. Had they not given that up, then Russia would have never invaded Ukraine.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: So true.

BLITZER: The Ukrainians were willing to do so for their independence, and I give them a lot of credit for that. Let's hope for the best. Colonel Cedric Leighton, thanks very much for joining us. And to our viewers, thanks very much for joining us this morning as well. Inside Politics with our friend and colleague, Dana Bash, starts right now.

DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: A mini revolt of endangered moderate Republicans turning on their leadership over healthcare, forcing the House speaker to insist. I haven't lost control.

I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

I want to get straight to Capitol Hill. Manu Raju is there for us. Manu, I haven't lost control is not exactly a sound bite that the House speaker and his team want to get be out there, but that is what it clearly he felt like he was forced to say.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. And I asked him that because of the real -- the reality -- the angst within the House GOP and the pressure that he is under from his rank and file. And now, for the third time in the last several weeks, the speaker is seen (audio gap)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): I have not lost control.

RAJU: Because it's the third time.

JOHNSON: There are -- look, we have the smallest majority in U.S. history. These are not normal times. There are processes and procedures in the House that are less frequently used when there are larger majorities. And when you have the luxury of having 10 or 15 people who disagree on something, you know, you don't have to do with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: OK. So that was Manu Raju with the House speaker. You could probably see his shot was taking a few hits. So, we're going to explain to you what this is all about. The GOP healthcare turmoil. It's coming just hours before President Trump is set to address the nation tonight from the White House.

The administration says he will be highlighting what they see as his accomplishments in the first year back in office. But he may need some convincing because poll after poll show Americans are souring on his presidency and economic policies.

The panel is here with me now. I do want to go back to this question. We're going to talk about a little bit later. Mike Lawler, one of the four Republicans who signed on to this discharge petition, will be my guest later on in the show. But the term discharge petition has a funny name, but it's the equivalent of a one finger salute from the people who sign it to the leadership and control of the party.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Without a doubt. And we've seen it more in recent weeks than I recall in, you know, years of covering Congress. I mean, which just shows, Speaker Johnson is right. I mean, the majority is very thin, fragile, and these are not normal times. But what this shows is Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, the Republican led the charge, and then Mike Lawler, and a couple others followed suit quickly.

And Republicans are joining with Democrats to basically tell their voters at home, we hear you. We are trying to do something about healthcare subsidies. Now this is not likely to be successful, but the idea of just showing that they're trying to do something is what they're trying to do politically to basically save their reelection bid.

I mean, Fitzpatrick is from one of three districts in the country where Kamala Harris won and they elected a Republican House member. So that just shows the cross politics here. But by and large, the bigger picture is here we are once again over the holidays. I think we all remember the corn Oscar kickback, the original debate of the ACA, which was over the holidays and Republicans are still kind of grappling with what to do on healthcare.

The president speaking tonight, healthcare is not supposed to be the theme or thrust of that message. It's hard for me to imagine him not mentioning it at all, because that is sort of the key of the affordability weight that's hanging over him.

BASH: And again, I just want to underscore for people, because there's some sort of process here what has happened. So, you have these four Republicans who have signed on to this petition. There is no world in which this means that there's going to be a vote in the House and then people sadly are not going to get help with what they say that they need for these premiums to pay for their healthcare.

[12:05:00]

But clearly, what this is, is I mean, I sort of joked it was a one finger salute, but these are Republicans trying to telegraph to their constituents that they're frustrated with their own leadership because they can't find a way out of this.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, BLOOMBERG POLITICAL & POLICY COLUMNIST: That's right because they are going to be hearing from their constituents. They're going home for a long recess over the break, and their constituents are going to see the difference in terms of costs, in terms of these subsidies, hundreds of dollars in some cases.

So, this is a bipartisan concern. It has been a bipartisan concern for a number of months. It was the subject of the government shutdown, and Republicans came out of that saying they would have some sort of solution. The president says, well, the real solution is to give money directly to Americans, people who need these subsidies, rather than giving them to the health insurance companies. That's unworkable and sort of a non-starter.

And to your point, it is healthcare, and it is housing that is at the core of affordability. You saw President Trump give a big speech in Pennsylvania. I don't believe he mentioned housing once. He mentioned the price of eggs, I think a dozen times. I think he mentioned healthcare once, but they don't get it. We'll see what he says tonight, if he mentions it at all.

BASH: And that's going to be the key. What is going to be the message tonight, if he's giving a formal address, chances are, he's going to stick more descript than he does at a rally where he just goes off for an hour and a half and talks about the things that he likes to talk about that he thinks is entertaining the crowd. But this is a moment where clearly his own party, who are there on the line. In the coming year, they need help from him as a leader.

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: And as Nia was saying, there are people who are already struggling with their costs, and they're -- for a lot of them because of the lack of the subsidy renewal here, things are going to get more expensive for them. I'm not sure that, saying, here's an idea that is not going to happen or here's something that we're talking about. We signed a discharge position. We're frustrated with it too. Is enough of a message to the voters who are struggling with these costs and feeling like they're under water and getting -- and the water is only getting higher.

I think it's especially true because there were a lot of voters who voted for Donald Trump, feeling like he was going to address costs and in a more fundamental way, Donald Trump, who he has been in our culture for long, before he ever ran for president, was a guy who kind of got money. He understood economics. He was a rich guy, but he knew how to make money. That's how people thought of him. And now they're looking at this their own situation, and they're looking at the president building a ballroom, covered in gold that keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And he has been a little bit all over the place in even his own talk about this. Is affordability a real thing that he's worried about or is it a democratic hoax?

BASH: Listen to Marjorie Taylor Greene, she sat down with Kaitlan Collins last night. And she -- what she talked about effectively predicted what we are seeing this morning in the House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): I think the dam is breaking. That is a sign where you're seeing Republicans. They're entering the campaign phase for 2026, which is a large signal that lame duck season has begun, and that Republicans will go in all in for themselves in order to save their own reelections.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: Saying the dam is breaking. I mean, that's true to a point, but I think we also have to keep, you know, a largely in perspective here. Trump still has a pretty decent grip on his party. Is that going to lessen as the months come? Sure, it is, because the Republicans are going to, you know, do some acts of self-preservation, which is what we're seeing Mike Lawler and Brian Fitzpatrick and the other two members from Pennsylvania doing.

But look, I think, she has been the canary in the coal mine or whatnot, but clearly representing, you know, some discontent out there, at least in MAGA leadership world. But again, the dam is not broken. Let's put it like that.

BASH: Yeah. And the key is -- yeah, it's not broken. And the key that we have to remember is that it's not just about MAGA. I mean, you see it a little bit with these Republicans breaking but it's about the new people who he brought in. To your point, Isaac, about frustration with the economy, with the Biden economy. And whether or not those people are gettable again, whether they'll still stay home, or whether they will, you know, vote for the Democrats because they're still fed up.

[12:10:00]

And just a little bit of data to show you, the unemployment rate now is 4.6 percent, September 4.4 percent, January 4.0 percent. So, it's going in the wrong direction for the president, and that's just the numbers that's not about -- that's how people are working or not working. It's not about the affordability question at the grocery store and beyond. This is the hourly average earnings grew at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in November, inflation grew at three point -- excuse me, three percentage points in September.

HENDERSON: Yeah. I mean, essentially canceling it out, the paycheck increase. And you know, Donald Trump went to voters in Pennsylvania and said, you know, your costs are being lowered, and your paychecks are bigger. People experience their paychecks and the costs of living, whether it's the cost of gas or it's the cost of groceries, every single day of their lives. And so, this isn't just a messaging problem, right? This is the idea I think that the White House has. He just goes out and talks about affordability, but if it is at odds with how people are actually experiencing the economy, it's not going to work.

BASH: All right. Coming up. We just heard House Speaker Mike Johnson tell Manu Raju he has not lost control of the House. Does Congressman Mike Lawler, one of the four Republicans who signed that petition this morning agree. He'll be here to answer that question. Plus, as we speak, former Special Counsel Jack Smith is testifying behind closed doors on Capitol Hill. The latest after a quick break.

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[12:15:00]

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BASH: This just in before we get to what you see on the screen, Jack Smith there. I want to just report to you that Nick Reiner, the son of Rob Reiner and Michele Reiner, who were murdered in their home over the weekend, is in court as we speak in Los Angeles. He is giving a statement, potentially getting an arraignment date. We will actually have video of that. As soon as we get that, we will give it to you, but it is happening as we speak.

Meantime, here in Washington, former Special Counsel Jack Smith is testifying behind closed doors to a GOP led committee, investigating his investigation of Donald Trump during his time out of power. Smith is rejecting President Trump's allegations that he was out to get him.

In his opening statement obtained by CNN, Smith said quote, the basis for those charges rests entirely with President Trump and his actions. Republicans have baselessly claimed Smith was part of a Biden administration conspiracy to target Trump. Now Trump himself recently called Smith deranged and a criminal.

My panel is back, and we are joined now by Katelyn Polantz. What do we know so far about this testimony?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Dana, the biggest headline right now is that he's talking. He's not taking the fifth. He's not declining to answer questions. We know that Smith is responding to questions of the committee. That's notable, not just because it's notable to have this former special counsel testifying for the very first time in a setting like this.

It's also notable because the knives are out for him, and there's a lot of possibilities where he could walk into a situation where somebody wants to see him criminally prosecuted, whether that's a court, the justice department itself, Trump already out there saying he wants to see him behind bars, or the Republicans on Capitol Hill.

They actually had a deputy previously from Smith's investigation. The man who led the January 6 investigation has already gotten a criminal referral for obstructing Congress, for declining to answer some questions in this investigation, and so the perils that Smith has in how he navigates this interview, he can't decline to answer because he could get a referral like Thomas Windom, another prosecutor on his team for obstruction of Congress.

But then, if he gives too much information, there's always the possibility that Congress could accuse him of making a false statement. If he says something different than what's in the record or what someone else on his team is testifying to. And then there are court orders and Justice Department restrictions around information from the classified documents case, evidence from the classified documents case against Trump.

The volume two of the report under seal and then grand jury secrecy. So much at stake here that doesn't even get you to the substance of this where Republicans we know are very unhappy with his oversight of an investigation that included using or looked at toll records of phones, so the logs of calls that had been made in the past of members of Congress.

Although we do know from what we've heard so far about what Smith is saying that he believes that he wasn't choosing the members of Congress that they got the phone records on. That was because Donald Trump himself was trying to call members of Congress on January 6, 2021, in the middle of that violence.

BASH: Isaac?

DOVERE: Yeah. Look, first of all, the idea that this was a Biden conspiracy, it runs up to me against all the people that I knew in the Biden White House who were being driven crazy by how Jack Smith was not doing what they would have hoped he would have been doing and being more forceful and fast in proceeding with this. Now that doesn't mean that there wasn't one, but it would certainly be news to a lot of the people in the Biden west wing that they were part of a conspiracy.

[12:20:00]

The other thing that Jack Smith has here is, look, January 6 happened. We all saw those images, and we also all saw those images of all the documents that were stored in the bathroom at Mar-a-Lago when that raid happened. Again, that doesn't mean that the criminal procedure was done necessarily in exactly the right way. But there was a basis for these investigations, and that seems to be the idea that they were even looked at all, seems to be offensive to some of the people involved.

BASH: Yeah. I mean, that's exactly what Jim Jordan said. Listen to -- he's running this investigation. Listen to what he said this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): This was political. This was about going after the Republican Party, and most importantly, it was about going after our candidate for president -- President Trum. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: And this isn't really what it comes down to. Republicans are repeating over and over, and they did at the behest of Donald Trump, back when he was actually being prosecuted for these things, which we did see with our own eyes, January 6. And the question of his culpability, that's clearly what the whole process is for, the judicial process is for.

So, it's a question of whether you just leave it alone, or whether you say, you know what, Republicans are going to call this political and there's nothing we can do about it.

HENDERSON: Yeah. Listen, I mean, Donald Trump is very angry, right? And he believes there was a big conspiracy, Biden at the head of it to get him. And so, now there is, you know, retribution is happening. And you've seen that already with Jim Comey. You've seen that with Letitia James. It's not necessarily going anywhere. We'll see what happens with Jack Smith, but this is essentially what he ran on.

I will be your retribution. He talked to his MAGA supporters, and he feels like he has to deliver. And he also just feels aggrieved, and that is part of the glue that keeps MAGA together, and it also just fuels him. So much of his time is spent on this, on Truth Social going after these people who he thinks went after--

(CROSSTALK)

DOVERE: Whether he's going to be -- he said, I will be your retribution. But he's actually, for most of the years, spent time being his own retribution.

BASH: His own retribution, and that's in various ways during those 11 interviews that Susie Wiles did with Vanity Fair. Yes, she said that she doesn't think it's a retribution tour at one point. But she also admitted in a couple of instances that basically it is.

ZELENY: Basically, it is certainly for Letitia James, but also--

BASH: Score settling.

ZELENY: For sure, score settling. And indicated during one of the interviews that transpired throughout the year that she was going to give him like, 50 days, I believe it's--

BASH: There was 90 days.

HENDERSON: Yeah, 90 days.

ZELENY: --for a retribution well, that has long expired. But look, but one of the, I guess, the bigger picture challenges of this is if the midterm elections are still about this, that doesn't necessarily solve what we're talking about at the beginning of the program. The biggest challenge facing the White House, affordability, the economy, this voters in the middle aren't as interested in this as MAGA supporters who always have the president's back. So, it's a bit of -- I'm sure the president loves to see Jack Smith walking through the hallways, but it doesn't solve his bigger political problem.

BASH: Yeah. All right, everybody, up next. Jack -- excuse me, Nick Reiner just made his first court appearance in Los Angeles. We're going to bring in the details after the break.

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[12:25:00]

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BASH: Now to the breaking news out of Los Angeles. Nick Reiner just appeared in court for the first time since being charged with the murder of his parents. Legendary Hollywood director Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner. I'm going to go straight to the courthouse. This is the attorney for Nick Reiner speaking.

ALAN JACKSON, NICK REINER'S ATTORNEY: We ask that during this process, you allow the system to move forward in the way that it was designed to move forward, not with the rush to judgment, not with jumping to conclusions, but with restraint and with dignity and with the respect that this system and this process deserves and that the family deserves.

So, with that, we are set for January 7, for an arraignment. That's the next court date, and that's all I have to say at this point. There may be more at some other point, but today we're going to rest on where we stand, stand procedurally, which is, this was a continuance of arraignment. Nothing happened today. Substantively, we'll be back for an arraignment in the same department on the seventh of January. We'll see you then.

BASH: OK, that was the attorney for Nick Reiner. I believe we have Stephanie Elam, who is outside the courthouse. Stephanie, I'm just going to give it a beat, because I know you're getting ready. I believe that was the same camera. So, you can tell us exactly what happened inside the courtroom. Stephanie, you there?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I am, Dana. I was right in front of the camera, so I heard everything, and I heard what you same thing you heard as well.

BASH: So, what happened in the hearing? Yeah.

ELAM: Yeah. So, it was very brief. It was very, very quick. The main thing was just disclosing whether or not, they would let media into the courtroom and what could be recorded, and what not could be -- would not be recorded. There was definitely concern of not having Nick Reiner on camera and pictures or on camera. So that was one thing that they made sure that the defense attorney said that they did not want.

The other thing that they did ask is that normally, you have a right to a speedy arraignment