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One World with Zain Asher

U.S.: Eight Killed In Strikes On Three Drug Boats In Pacific Ocean; Zelenskyy Meeting With European Leaders In The Netherlands; Brown University Shooting Victims Fondly Remembered; Source: Reiners' Daughter Discovered Their Bodies Sunday; "U.S. Tech Force" Launches To Hire 1,000 Early-Career A.I. Talent; Trump Sues The BBC For $10B Over Editing Of January 6 Speech. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired December 16, 2025 - 12:00   ET

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

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[12:00:35]

ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Coming to you live from New York, I'm Zain Asher.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Bianna Golodryga in Washington. You are watching the second hour of "One World."

Senior Trump administration officials are appearing before Congress this hour as questions mount over the escalation of U.S. military strikes off

the coast of Venezuela.

ASHER: And Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are giving House lawmakers a classified briefing after earlier

meeting with the Senate speaking to reporters before going into the second briefing. Here's what Hegseth said about a controversial double-tap strike

in September.

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: In keeping with longstanding Department of War policy, Department of Defense policy, of course, we're

not going to release a top secret, full unedited video of that to the general public.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: It comes with the Pentagon announced it killed eight small people and attacks on three alleged drug boats in the Eastern Pacific Ocean on

Monday.

GOLODRYGA: Since September, at least 95 people have been killed in U.S. strikes on what the White House is calling drug traffickers without

providing any evidence to back that up.

Critics say the attacks violate international law in amount to extrajudicial killings. President Trump, meantime, is again warning that

strikes inside Venezuela might be next while also making this claim.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The drugs coming in by sea are down 94 percent. And we're trying to figure out who the other six

percent are. But they're down 94 percent and we're going to start hitting them on land, which is a lot easier to do, frankly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: CNN's Kevin Liptak joins us live now from the White House. So just in terms of what's happening on Capitol Hill, you've got Defense Secretary

Pete Hegseth, Marco Rubio, Secretary of State speaking and sort of briefing lawmakers.

One of the things that Pete Hegseth said is that in terms of that September second strike, that they're not going to release that video to the public,

but obviously lawmakers are going to be seeing it and reviewing it.

Kevin, what exactly are they going to be looking for here? There's so many questions that still need to be answered.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes. And what a lot of lawmakers have said is that they're trying to ascertain whether a war crime

was committed on that September 2nd strike, that so-called double-tap strike, where the U.S. used an airstrike to take out this alleged drug boat

and then found in their surveillance that there were survivors and then conducted a second strike that took out the remainder.

And so I think what a lot of lawmakers are --are looking for is, one, what the justification was for carrying out that second strike. And two, to try

and determine more from these officials what the administration's objectives are.

Now, there are some lawmakers who have seen these videos. The administration showed them to members of the so-called Gang of Eight. Now,

they say that they will show them to the House Armed Services Committee and to the Senate Armed Services Committee.

What they won't do, according to Hegseth, is release any of that video publicly, which is interesting because it was only about a week ago that

President Trump speaking publicly said that there would be no problem in releasing that video to the public.

He later reversed course and said that he would follow the lead of Hegseth, that he would sort of defer to him on whether that video should be released

publicly. Of course, there are a lot of questions about what the administration is doing here, what the legal rationale is precisely.

And you've heard over the last week or so various justifications build up. You know, at first, the administration has said that this is about the

drugs, about curbing the flow of illicit fentanyl into the United States, although we should note that Venezuela is not itself a producer of

fentanyl.

Then last week, we saw the seizure of that oil tanker, the administration saying that this is also about sanctions enforcement, about curbing the

flow of oil and cutting off that financial lifeline to Caracas. President Trump himself said that it was also about migrants, about curbing the flow

of illegal migrants into the country.

And then just today, we have Susie Wiles, the White House's Chief of Staff President Trump's top aide, saying that this is all potentially about

regime change.

In quite a frank and sort of surprisingly honest interview with "Vanity Fair," she says that Trump, quote, wants to keep on blowing boats up until

Maduro cries uncle. And she says that people way smarter than me on that say that he will.

[12:05:11]

And so you see her really kind of revealing what the true objective here, which is regime change. And I think when you talk to administration

officials, they do say that the president's hope is that this increasing pressure does convince the dictator, Nicolas Maduro, to step down and

essentially leave in exile in some sort of American orchestrated plot to get him out of the country.

Of course, President Trump says that he's willing to escalate and expand this mission to airstrikes on land. He said that just yesterday that this

will be happening very soon.

But, you know, he's been saying something akin to that for the last three weeks and he hasn't ordered those strikes up just yet, which I think does

speak to some of the reservations that the president has behind the scenes.

We know from talking to officials that he's voiced concern that an attempt to take out Maduro directly could potentially backfire, that the U.S. could

become mired in a prolonged conflict. That's something that he very much wants to avoid.

When it comes to those land strikes, what Susie Wiles told Vanity Fair is that the president would need congressional authorization that it would be,

quote, an act of war. That's not something that the president has indicated that he's willing to do just yet.

And I think just given the questions that we've heard from lawmakers on Capitol Hill today, but also previously it's not entirely clear that that

authorization would be granted. Guys.

ASHER: Kevin Liptak, live for us there. Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: Well, as Russia's war in Ukraine nears the four-year mark, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is meeting with European allies

today. He's in the Netherlands discussing efforts to pay compensation to Ukraine for hundreds of billions of dollars in damages caused by Russia's

war. European leaders formally launched a commission to look into possible future payouts.

ASHER: On Monday, Zelenskyy met with a U.S. delegation in Berlin. He says they worked -- they worked, quote, in a great detail in an agreement that

could stop the war and guarantee Ukraine's security.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The American partners have received European direction yesterday. And now I think that

after all of that, the Americans will reach out to the Russians and then there -- a meeting will follow between Ukraine and America, in America, and

on the level of negotiating teams. Maybe on weekend, maybe a bit later, but the sooner the better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: But how close is any potential deal? Let's discuss with Ben Wedeman live from Rome.

And, Ben, there had been some reports over the last couple of weeks that the president of the United States had been growing increasingly frustrated

and even set a deadline, perhaps, of a deal by Christmas.

Ultimately, all of these concessions are coming from one direction thus far. And that is from Ukraine. Russia is continuing to pursue its

maximalist demand. So, how close are we from what you're hearing from European sources to a deal?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think behind closed doors, nobody is holding their breath that an agreement is imminent.

In fact, all the negotiations more or less are taking place between Ukraine, European leaders and the Trump administration.

The real stumbling block is, of course, the Trump administration, which seems to vacillate on a regular basis between supporting Ukraine and

seeming to take the Russian side as well. So really, the -- the main points are the question of security guarantees.

Now, the Ukrainians are very wary of any sort of loose wording because they have a very bitter experience of the so-called Budapest Memorandum that was

worked out in 1994 between the United States, Russia, the U.K., and, of course, Ukraine signed it as well, whereby Ukraine relinquished all its

Soviet-era nuclear weapons in exchange for security guarantees that its borders would be respected, that it's national sovereignty would be

respected, and of course, that didn't happen, certainly starting back in 2014 with the Russian occupation of Crimea and, of course, February 2022,

the full scale Russian invasion.

So the Ukrainians are looking for real concrete, solid security guarantees. The United States has made clear it's not going to put any troops on the

ground. But they're talking about what is called NATO Article Five like guarantees, which means that basically an attack on Ukraine would be

considered an attack on the signatories to that sort of agreement. So they -- all of these has to be worked out with the Americans.

[12:10:01]

And then the Americans are going to take this proposal, if they agree to it, to the Russians at some point.

And the Russians at this point have not really indicated any willingness at this point to compromise on the major demands that are -- they've made,

which is basically that Ukraine should relinquish any claim to the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, they would just give

up those areas currently occupied by the Russians.

And, of course, Crimea would also be part of that sort of deal, if you can even call it that the Russians would like.

So really, the -- the question is where is the Trump administration going to stand? Keep it in mind, of course, that the American president said that

he would solve this problem within a day.

Well, here we are almost a year into the Trump administration, and that seems to be very far indeed. So, it does appear that, you know, the wheels

are spinning. It's just a question of whether this actual process is getting any closer to a peace agreement.

The Russians have not indicated any willingness at this point, even on minor points, for instance, the Dutch prime minister along with Zelenskyy

suggested a Christmas truce at least, but the Russians have rejected even that rather modest proposal.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. This as we approach the four-year mark of Russia's larger scale illegal invasion into Ukraine back in February of 2022.

All right. Ben Wedeman, thank you so much.

ASHER: Thank you, Ben.

All right. And Democratic Republic of Congo, the rebel group known as M23, says it will give up its recent gains at their quest of the United States.

GOLODRYGA: M23, last week, entered the town of Uvira on the border with Burundi. You're looking out weapons taken by the group from residents

there.

The Trump administration criticized the takeover of the town, saying that it jeopardized a peace deal reached between Congo and Rwanda.

A report by U.N. experts concluded that M23 is controlled by Rwanda, something the Rwandan government denies. It's blaming forces from Congo and

Burundi for the recent surge in fighting. M23 staged a rapid offensive in January, seizing the two biggest cities in eastern Congo. Thousands of

people have been killed and hundreds of thousands driven out of their homes.

ASHER: We're learning new details about the alleged gunman in Sunday's anti-Semitic attack at Bondi Beach in Australia that left -- left at least

15 people dead.

New video shows one of the shooters rapidly firing and reloading his weapon. I want to warn you that the video we're about to show you is

extremely disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(GUNSHOTS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: Horrifying. Separately, dashcam footage has come to light that shows a bystander and now identified as Boris Gurman pulling the suspected

gunman to the ground as Gorman's wife Sofia rushes to the scene.

The Gurmans were the first to be fatally shot in the rampage. The head of Australia's federal police said this about the attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISSY BARRETT, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: Early indications point to a terrorist attack inspired by Islamic State allegedly committed

by a father and son.

There is no evidence to suggest other individuals were involved in this attack. However, we caution that this could change given it is early in our

investigation.

(SINGING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: Well, across Australia are mourning the 15 killed on Sunday, 22 remain hospitalized.

ASHER: All right. We are also closely following an urgent manhunt now in its fourth day for the suspect wanted in connection with the deadly

shooting at Brown University in the U.S. State of Rhode Island.

Law enforcement released these new images, surveillance images of a person they want to identify.

GOLODRYGA: Now, the FBI says the person of interest is male, approximately five foot eight inches with a stocky build.

The FBI is also issuing a $50,000 reward for information leading to a suspect's identification and arrest for this brutal crime at the Ivy League

school.

ASHER: Yes. Although the focus -- although the focus right now is, of course, on the suspect, it's so important to remember the students killed

in this tragedy. Ella Cook on your left was a sophomore from Alabama. And look Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov was an 18-year-old student from Virginia.

Here's how friends of the victims are remembering them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMARI MANS, MUHAMMAD AZIZ UMURZAKOV ROOMMATE: He's kind. He reached out to me as soon as we got roommate assignments. And then most importantly, he

was just present. However you asked him to do, he was always there for you.

[12:15:07]

What I do know is that Brown's grieving, I'm grieving. The loss of him would be felt throughout this community because his soul truly did reverb

break throughout the community.

LUKE CHRISTOPHER, KNEW ELLA COOK: She was always a person who just (INAUDIBLE) by this. She was really smart.

GAVIN THORNHILL, KNEW ELLA COOK: I'm just super proud of her. And what she was able to accomplish in her short life, I absolutely hate that it was

taken away from her so short.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: CNN senior law enforcement analyst Andrew McCabe joins us for his perspective and expertise on the case.

Andrew, you know this much better than we do, but I have to say four or five days after a shooting like this, I would imagine the possibility of

finding this shooter becomes that much more challenging and difficult given that she could have or she could have left the state, even though the video

they released has appeared to be a man.

Just talk about some of the questions that you have and how this has been handled thus far. And the challenge between being transparent with the

public and also wanting to make sure that they don't -- law enforcement doesn't hurt the case by perhaps if there's the opportunity to release too

much information.

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes, that's a great question, Bianna.

So there's no question that every minute, every hour that ticks away from, you know, the immediate aftermath of a -- of a shooting like this where you

don't know the identity of the subject makes the job a little bit harder.

You know, so there's been a lot of talk about whether or not the investigators and particularly the FBI wasted energy or effort on the

initial lead that seemed promising at first that person of interest who ultimately was released.

You know, from my experience in -- in working many cases like this, I guess, most prominently the Boston bombing, Boston Marathon bombing, those

things happen in a big investigation.

And I don't think that the bureau or their colleagues did anything wrong by putting a lot of effort into that lead. That was a promising lead at the

time. And it was something that needed to be run out fully, which required search warrants at the person's residence and taking them into custody and

an extended interview.

But where the -- where we might have some reasonable questions is whether or not they continued to do the very basic 1.0 level work that must be done

immediately. And that is expansive canvases of potential witnesses, victims, and anyone who might have been in the area looking for video

capture of the subject fleeing the scene. That is oftentimes some of the most relevant and important evidence you will ever get. And it also drives

where you then continue looking for evidence.

So we don't know the answer to that question yet. Hopefully, they were doing those things all along while they were working that first lead. But

it seems from the action we saw yesterday that we're showing on the screen now of people, evidence response team members looking for physical evidence

along the pieces of the route that they -- we know now that he did take.

You know, it's -- it's all that needs to be done. They're doing it now. That's what's important now. Did they lose some time at first by focusing

on that other lead? That's possible.

But the important thing now is to massive -- an enormous number of hands and agents in this effort and to keep them moving forward.

ASHER: Yes. It is absolutely all hands on deck.

Do we know what led authorities to this initial piece of evidence, the surveillance video, both the one that we saw yesterday and the one that

we're looking at today? And what led them to this suspect?

I mean, yes, obviously, he is clad in dark clothing. He's got his face covered. But beyond that, why him?

MCCABE: It's a great question. And we really don't have a lot of visibility into that. The original video, which wasn't particularly helpful, because

it wasn't a great angle, which was released on the first day, was likely picked up from video capture immediately in the vicinity of the engineering

building.

So, you know, they -- I would expect that they were fairly confident that this person, it was the only person captured on video who left the video at

the time and the immediate aftermath of the shooting.

And -- and from that assumption, you get the videos that we have yesterday. That's the person that they've gone and looked for in other video capture.

And among those many interviews we saw taking place yesterday.

And -- and they have now found him straying in front of other video cameras. So we don't know if this is the actual shooter, right? There is

no, as far as we're aware, there's no -- we don't have hard evidence tying the shooting to that person seen in the video, but he is certainly a person

of interest.

I would expect his timing in the time -- in the time that he was sighted near the building and then walking away on those other streets is what's

driving the attention, but we can't be absolutely sure at this point.

[12:20:11]

And I think it's important to remember that those are the sorts of details that the investigators really have to hold back at this point to avoid

sharing too much that might compromise their -- their ability to check to fully vet other leads in the future.

GOLODRYGA: The mayor spoke with John Berman yesterday and said that in his view there was still no real threat to the community.

Given that this shooter is still at large, would you agree with that?

MCCABE: Not really. I understand why he said that. And I think it was clear from their press conference at 5:00 P.M. Eastern Time yesterday, in where

they spent most of their remarks talking about addressing the insecurity and the fear in the community.

They are very focused on that. So I think that's part of what drove them to make that comment. I -- I would expect they also are basing that conclusion

on the fact that they don't have any new intelligence about an additional planned attack.

But let's remember, they didn't have any intelligence about the first one. At the end of the day, we know we have a very violent person who committed

several murders and tried to commit many more loose on the streets, probably still armed. And that is -- that should be a concern for everyone

in -- in the area.

GOLODRYGA: It is terrifying. And our thoughts, of course, are with the families and friends of the victims, those two young students in class.

Andrew McCabe, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

ASHER: Thank you, Andrew.

Today, Los Angeles police are expected to turn over the shocking double homicide case of Rob and Michele Reiner to prosecutors. The couple's 32-

year-old son, Nick Reiner, was arrested Sunday night on suspicion of murder. He's currently being held without bail. It'll be up to the district

attorney's office to decide whether or not to charge him.

A former employee of the Reiners reacted to their deaths.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TREVOR TAUFAHEMA, FORMER EMPLOYEE: They're just the nicest, sweetest people. You know, like you would never think this would have happened. You

know, like I never thought in years that this would have happened.

I never saw any violence with Nick. Yes, you could tell something was a little off about him, you know, but I'm not the one to judge, you know.

Every family has their, you know, their -- their problems with whoever they have with. And, yes, it's just sad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: It is indeed so very sad. And details are emerging about the hours before the Reiners were found dead. Source tell CNN that Nick Reiner

was seen arguing with his father on Saturday at a party hosted by the comedian Conan O'Brien.

We're told the couple's daughter discovered Rob and Michele Reiner's bodies the following day at their home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los

Angeles.

ASHER: CNN's Nick Watt has more on the tragic loss of a much beloved Hollywood couple.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Rob and Michele Reiner met on the set of "When Harry Met Sally." They were married more than 35 years.

They died together Sunday.

Around 3:40 P.M., the LAPD and Fire Department responded to a medical emergency at the Reiner home in upscale Brentwood. They found an elderly

man and woman dead.

Homicide detectives soon on the scene, 9:15 P.M. a suspect arrested the couple's son Nick Reiner, age 32.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was subsequently booked for murder and is being held on $4 million bail.

WATT (voice-over): The D.A. is yet to file charges. Nick Reiner seen here with his parents at the "Spinal Tap II" premiere in September, has been

open about his struggles with heroin addiction and homelessness. He co- wrote a movie "Being Charlie" based on those experiences. His dad directed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me see those. My mother's (INAUDIBLE).

WATT (voice-over): They talked about it on AOL back in 2016.

ROB REINER, FILM DIRECTOR: But it is loosely based on, you know, things that Nick went through, and his relationship to me and his mother. And you

can talk a little bit more about it, Nick, if you want.

NICK REINER, SCREENWRITER: I wasn't really that shy about including some of the bad stuff I did, because a lot of people do things that are pretty

unsavory.

R. REINER: I like to take care of one foot at a time.

WATT (voice-over): Rob Reiner's big break was as a T.V. actor, playing Meathead on, "All In The Family" back in the '70s, later, as a movie

director, he was prolific and versatile. "Princess Bride," "A Few Good Men," "Stand by Me," "Spinal Tap," "Misery," "When Harry Met Sally."

BRENT LANG, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, VARIETY: It's a seismic shock, because Rob Reiner is such an outsized presence in the entertainment community. I mean,

he's almost the mayor of Hollywood. He's such an affable, genial person.

WATT (voice-over): Tributes laid today at his walk of fame star for this, actor, writer, director, producer, political activist and much loved

avuncular industry figure.

[12:25:09]

Harry Shearer, one of the stars of "Spinal Tap" said, this is unspeakable, the stuff of Greek tragedy.

WATT: Now, investigators will be presenting the case against Nick Reiner to the D.A. Tuesday. We assume that charges will follow.

A grim death to end a great life. Rob Reiner was lauded filmmaker, but also in this town, more famous for sharp elbows and big egos. Rob Reiner was

universally liked by pretty much everybody he came in contact with.

Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ASHER: Yes. Hollywood continues to mourn the loss of such a legend.

All right. Still to come, we'll tell you why these city lawmakers in Mexico ended up exchanging blows, instead of votes. We'll have details for you on

that after the break.

GOLODRYGA: Straight out of a telenovela there.

Plus, how the U.S. government is trying to stay ahead of the global tech race.

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GOLODRYGA: All right. Take a look at this. Not their finest moment, a session of Mexico City's Congress erupted into a brawl Monday. Lawmakers

were debating changes to the City's Transparency Institute when a fight broke out between members of two different parties.

ASHER: Yes. They're hair pulling their loose. Really painful, my gosh. They took a recess, but when they returned, both sides condemned the violence

and each blamed. The opposition party Pan stormed out and the governing party, Morena, approved the changes.

GOLODRYGA: All right. Applications are now open for a new program aimed at lowering more technology and A.I. talent into the United States government.

ASHER: As part of its efforts to stay ahead in the global tech race, the Trump administration is launching an early career hiring and talent

development program known as the U.S. Tech Force.

GOLODRYGA: Our Clare Duffy joins us now with all of the details. So who's going to be comprised -- comprising this tech force, Clare?

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: Yes. This comes at a time when the federal government is dealing with both a technical talent and skills gap. There

just aren't enough people in the federal government who have these tech and A.I. skills.

But there's also this broader war for a fairly small pool of A.I. talent. We're seeing tech companies shell out massive pay packages and other perks

to hire the top researchers and engineers.

[12:30:07]

So the goal with this program is to attract at least some of those software engineers, data scientists, project managers for at least temporary

positions within the public sector.

The Office of Personnel Management hopes to hire an initial cohort for the U.S. Tech Force of 1,000 people to work across government agencies, think

projects like modernizing A.I. and modernizing drones and weapons systems in the Department of Defense with A.I., building out the platform for Trump

accounts at the IRS. Those are the kinds of projects that these fellows, these program participants, would participate in over this two-year term.

And during that time, they would also receive mentorship and career planning advice from Silicon Valley executives. There are 25 companies that

have signed on as partners of this program, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, xAI are among them.

And then at the end of the two years, the participants in the Tech Force would have access to a job fair where they could see both private and

public sector opportunities.

So there's an acknowledgement here, I think, by the OPM director, Scott Kupor, that this is a very competitive space. People can find high salaries

in the private sector, but he's hoping that people will be motivated by the opportunity to solve some really thorny challenges, update software within

a massive organization like the federal government, and then if they so choose, go back into the private sector. So that is the hope here.

And we'll see if that's successful in bringing in some more tech and A.I. talent to the federal government. Zain, Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: All right. Clare Duffy, thank you.

ASHER: All right. Still to come, Donald Trump has made no secret about his disdain, his critics and the media. Wait until you hear how much he wants

from the BBC in his latest suit. Details ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:35:28]

GOLODRYGA: All right. Welcome back to "One World." I'm Bianna Golodryga.

ASHER: And I'm Zain Asher. It's in every group chat. Everyone is shocked and confused. That's how one Trump ally described the impact of the "Vanity

Fair" piece out today with White House Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles.

Wiles is a powerful and respected force inside President Donald Trump's inner circle. And "Vanity Fair" quotes her as making some startling

comments about the president. Among them, she said that President Trump, who famously does not drink, has an alcoholic's personality.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. After the article was published, Wiles responded on X, writing, quote, the article published early this morning is a

disingenuously framed hit piece on me. And the finest president, White House staff and cabinet in history.

ASHER: President Trump says the BBC misrepresented him, and now he's suing over it. He filed a defamation suit Monday for $10 billion over a BBC

documentary that contained clips of the speech Trump made on January 6, 2021.

The way the clips were edited made it appear that Trump had actually directed his supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol.

GOLODRYGA: And the documentary left out a section of the speech where he calls for a peaceful protest. And while the BBC apologized to Trump and

admitted an error in judgment, it says there's no legal basis to sue. Trump disagrees.

Here's what he told Fox News last month.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They defrauded the public. And they've admitted it. That's a pretty sad event. They actually changed my January 6 speech, which was a beautiful

speech, which was a very calming speech. And they made it sound radical.

And they actually changed it. What they did was rather incredible. They're showing me the results later on, the results of what they did, how they

butchered it up, but it was very dishonest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: CNN media analyst Sara Fischer joins us live now with some perspective on this lawsuit.

Initially, when the story first came out and there was a massive fallout from it, Trump wanted $1 billion. And now he wants $10 billion. Obviously,

an exorbitant amount. He clearly doesn't, I guess, realistically think he's going to get that kind of money. This is more about sending a message.

What message is he trying to send here? And what is the BBC's response, Sara?

SARA FISCHER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: Well, he's gone after domestic broadcasters. And relatively successfully, he got both CBS and ABC to

settle with him despite the fact that legal experts claimed that they would have had a very strong case if they had went to court.

And so I think what he's trying to do is send the message that foreign broadcasters are not going to be, you know, forgotten in his push to go

after the media.

Now, what's interesting here is that this document did not air in the United States. And so if he's going to try and argue in a court, this case

was lodged in Florida, he needs to make the case that he was detained in a way that actually had bad implications for his election. That's a tough,

tough claim to make when the actual documentary was not aired in the United States.

It's also a tough claim to make because this documentary came out before the election. And, obviously, he went on to win the election.

So I think BBC says it's going to fight this and that they're not going to settle. But I think it's going to be, if it goes to a trial, a very, very

hotly watched debate.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. And notable, as you mentioned, that this lawsuit was filed in -- in Florida, not in the United Kingdom, even though this documentary

did not air in the United States.

Let's turn to the other big story that everyone is talking about this morning, and that is that wide-ranging interview that Susie Wiles, the

chief of staff, gave to "Vanity Fair." We should note, over a series of interviews.

She is notably somebody who is very disciplined, does not speak to the media that often. And just looking at some of these details in the

statements that she gave, she comes off extraordinarily unguarded.

And among the things that she's confirmed is that the president is using criminal prosecution to retaliate against his adversaries. As we noted

before, she said that the president has an alcoholic's personality. She's been quite outspoken about her own father's challenges with alcoholism. So

perhaps that is where that came from. The president famously does not drink.

But what are the reverberations from this interview right now that the White House is really trying to play cleanup on?

FISCHER: It's the most candid that Susie Wiles has ever been. And I think that there's a shock happening across the media ecosystem of people asking

why "Vanity Fair" and why now? And then as well as within the White House of people trying to interpret how somebody who's usually so buttoned up and

so careful can be so loose-lipped in an interview like this.

[12:40:15]

I'll note, Bianna, something that really caught my attention, whenever anyone sits down for an interview and allows the interviewer or allows that

magazine or that outlet to take their photo and sit down for a photo shoot to accompany the interview, it suggests a very well-intended sort of

relationship where you agree to something that's going to be comprehensive, almost like a spread.

And so the fact that she sat down, had her photo taken along with these on- the-record quotes makes it hard for me to hear her denials that this has been spun and taken out of context -- you were getting into clearly because

it wasn't just like you picked up the phone and talked to a reporter, like you went and you met with them in person.

ASHER: And just in terms of how this affects Trump's relationship with Wiles, I mean, does he trust her? Does he buy her argument that some of

these comments were taken out of context?

FISCHER: When Trump backs someone, he backs someone. It takes a lot to get him to turn on you. Now, we've seen it before that he will, but take a look

at how he's been backing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, for example, through all of the drama, thick and thin, Trump's been by his side. And I

expect that to continue to be the case with Susie Wiles.

What I do expect though is this is going to be one of the last times that the Trump administration sits down for -- or remember the Trump

administration sits down for a sort of glossy magazine type profile.

I don't think that they're going to shy away from working with mainstream media. They talk to outlets all the time. But to do something this in

depth, I think that's not something (INAUDIBLE) to be again.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. I think the best thing that Susie Wiles has going for her is that the president is always reluctant to look like he's caving in to

any reporting specifically from media, which he constantly attacks. So that may be her lifeline here as it seems to be for Pete Hegseth as well for

now.

All right. Sara Fischer, thanks so much. Good to see you.

That does it for "One World" today. I'm Bianna Golodryga.

ASHER: I'm Zain Asher. Appreciate you watching. Bianna will be back in about 15 minutes from now with "Amanpour."

Up next though is "African Voices Changemakers."

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[12:45:00]

(AFRICAN VOICES CHANGEMAKERS)

[13:00:00]

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