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World Leaders, Soccer Officials Arrive For FIFA World Cup Draw; CDC Panel Votes To Drop Universal Recommendations For Hep B Vaccine; Rep. Gene Wu (D-TX), Is Interviewed About Supreme Court Lets TX Use Trump-Backed Congressional Map In Midterms. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired December 05, 2025 - 11:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and indeed around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown and you're in The Situation Room.

[11:00:05]

And we begin this hour with all eyes on the FIFA World Cup drawing that's about to take place over at the Kennedy Center here in Washington. President Trump will attend the event set to determine the brackets and venues for the 2026 World Cup. The United States, Canada and Mexico are co-hosting next year's tournament. And President Trump is expected to meet with the Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney, and the Mexican President, Claudia Sheinbaum, while at the Kennedy Center today.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: We'll also see FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who will award the soccer governing body's newly created Peace Prize. Infantino has a close relationship with President Trump. He has traveled to the White House half a dozen times and accompanied the President to Cairo for the signing of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

So President Trump is widely expected to win that award at the Kennedy Center, where he now sits as the board chair after overhauling the previous leadership group. So let's go live now to CNN's Alayna Treene at the White House and Don Riddell at the Kennedy Center. Alayna, let's start with you. Why is today's event so important to President Trump? Help us better understand that.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Oh, it's incredibly important. I mean, look, the President often boasts about being able to be while the U.S. is hosting, of course, alongside Canada and Mexico, but hosting this World Cup next year.

And it's also part of the reason the President, not just when it comes to the World Cup, but these big sporting events in general. I'd remind you that we're also hosting the U.S. the Olympics in a couple of years. I mean, he looks at these events as legacy building events.

I'd also note that the President is often taking credit for securing the bid for North America to host the World Cup. He secured that back during his first Trump administration back in 2018. And a lot of this is also going to be speaking to, of course, the geopolitics of an event of this magnitude.

I mean, when we see this World Cup drawing, I'm a little bit jealous of Don being able to be there at the event site because there's going to be so much tension around the geopolitical nature of all of this. And one thing I do think is very much worth noting, you pointed it out, Pamela, but just his relationship with the FIFA President Infantino. I mean, some people have even referred to it as much of a bromance.

He's been at the White House many times. I've been in the room in the Oval Office when he's been there alongside the President. I've also seen, you know, they brought the World Cup, the former FIFA trophy and the World Cup trophy into the Oval Office before.

I mean, this is the type of thing that the president loves and he wants to be kind of seen as being a key part of this entire event series. And really, Infantino, he's found someone who's allowing him to do that in many ways, the two traveling to many events together. And this drawing as well, I should note, is very much being kind of designed for the President.

You're going to have the village people there, you know, the YMCA singers, the kind of song that plays at every Trump rally. You're going to have Andrea Bocelli, one of the President's favorite singers as well. And so a lot of this is going to include the pomp and circumstance we know the President loves.

But the one thing as well on the politics side of it, which is normally where I come in for you guys to pay attention to, is that he's going to be speaking and meeting, according to White House officials, with the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, as well as the prime minister of Canada, Mark Carney, on the sidelines of this event today. Of course, Mexico and Canada co-hosting the World Cup next year with the United States. That is going to be a very important moment to watch because of the context around the relationships they have with the U.S. right now, particularly when it comes to tariffs.

But also that former review of the U.S.-Canada-Mexico trade agreement is up next year, one that the President recently said he is considering potentially exiting, despite, of course, him being the one to help negotiate that back during his first administration. So a lot to watch for today, Wolf and Pamela.

BLITZER: Alayna Treene at the White House for us. Don Riddell is with us as well. Don, we got some important questions for you. But stand by. I want to bring in CNN sports analyst, Christine Brennan, at the same time. And let's get your sense. Give us a little sense of what you're seeing down at the Kennedy Center right now and what we should be bracing for.

DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, it is the winter wonderland, as you can see, it is very, very cold, too, as you all know, being in Washington, D.C. today. But the temperature is definitely rising. The World Cup draw is one of the biggest days in all of sports because this really is the starting gun for the tournament. And once the draw has been made in the schedule published on Saturday, tomorrow, that is when it starts to feel really real for the players, the teams and, of course, the fans who may want to come and attend some of these games at the World Cup next summer. The draw is where the road map will be laid out for all of the 48 teams. The three co- host nations, the USA, Mexico and Canada, already know which groups they will be in.

[11:05:04]

They have been classified as top seeds, which is good news for them because it means they won't have to play the other top teams like the defending champions Argentina or Spain or France or England in the group stage.

And of course, this is a festival of soccer and sports because we have the likes of Tom Brady and Shaquille O'Neal and Aaron Judge here as well. And of course, we cannot understate the geopolitical considerations and the local politics that are going to be on display and very much a factor throughout this World Cup tournament.

Hugely, hugely exciting for the American team. Remember, they hosted the World Cup back in 1994. The game has expanded massively since then, 11 of the 16 host cities will be on U.S. soil. And earlier today on CNN, the current USA team defender Tim Ream spoke about just how excited this whole event now feels.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM REAM, CAPTAIN, U.S. MEN'S NATIONAL TEAM: It's exciting. It's imagine a Super Bowl being played every single day for a month, but not just one Super Bowl, multiple Super Bowls across the country. It is -- it's an exciting time and -- and the team is -- is ready to go. We're excited. And -- and now with the draw here, it feels real. It feels on our doorstep and we're ready to -- ready to get after it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIDDELL: Yes, Team USA is ready to go. Their results have improved dramatically recently. Last night I spoke to their head coach, Mauricio Pochettino. He says they are in it to win it.

BLITZER: I stand by, Don, I want to bring in our sports analyst, Christine Brennan, right now. Christine, what are you watching for at this drawing later today?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: Wolf, I think that all eyes will be, obviously, on Donald Trump and on the FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, you know, Don's report was excellent. Don's covered this for years.

And we all know this is really one of the oldest of the old boys networks, FIFA. And of course, over the last 30 years, women's soccer has become a very big deal in the United States. It's huge.

In fact, you say soccer in the U.S., you might actually think of women more than men because of the success of the U.S. women's national team. But around the world, no, no, no, no. This is a -- this is a, you know, bro culture.

We've seen examples of it time and again, including the forced kiss, the, you know, actual sexual assault by the Spanish Federation leader on one of the winning team members and from Spain, the last Women's World Cup. And I say that not to throw cold water or, you know, a snowdrift on the whole thing, but to say that -- that Donald Trump will feel very comfortable in this world. He loves this world.

And we also know, Wolf, that Donald Trump is the President most connected to sports we've ever had, owning golf courses, owning a USFL team, wanting to be an NFL owner. You know, this man is intertwined with sports like no one else and understands the common denominator, the language of sports to reach so many people who might otherwise be unreachable.

So Donald Trump, center stage, Gianni Infantino, who is loving that relationship with Trump. I'm going to watch all of that. And, of course, again, Trump is so lucky to have and obviously understandably so both the Men's World Cup next year and then, of course, the Olympic Games in 2028 during his second term.

BROWN: Yes, he really is lucky to have that, especially as such a big sports fan. I want to bring you back in, Dom, because there have been these allegations, as we know, of human rights abuses and a plague host of the World Cup in the past. But now some immigrant advocates say that they're worried about detentions and deportations during the tournament in the U.S. You've covered so many of these World Cups before. What more do you know about that?

RIDDELL: You know, it's fascinating. I've been at CNN 23 years, so I've been a part of all the World Cups that have happened in that time. And a lot of the build up to the FIFA World Cup in Russia in 2018 and then again in Qatar in 2022, four years later, was about the human rights abuses.

And it would have been hard to imagine back then that we would be talking about similar things, about a World Cup hosted by the United States. But that is where we are now. And a lot of people have a lot of concerns.

There are already fans who are wondering whether they're going to come to the United States because of the price of the tickets. The prices that we've seen are already two, if not three times more expensive than they were at the last tournament. There are fans who are perhaps on principle thinking of boycotting the tournament.

I -- I know people who refuse to even watch the last one on television because of the allegations that were made against the Qatari government. And so you have very, very similar situation playing out now. And then you may well have fans who are just afraid to come and visit this tournament because of what we are seeing.

And human rights advocates are -- are now pointing that out. And that's assuming they could even get here if they wanted to. It has been difficult to access tickets for some of the fans who've been trying to purchase them in the first two rounds of purchases.

[11:10:04]

And then there are the travel restrictions. Two of the teams who have qualified, Haiti and Iran, are currently on the travel ban. That is a list of 19 countries which may well be expanded to 30 or 32. We don't know if that will scoop up even more of the teams who have qualified for this tournament.

For some of the countries who aren't on the travel ban, it is very, very difficult just accessing a visa to travel to the United States. So that has been complicated. The U.S. government recently has said that they're going to fast track fans who have bought tickets so that they can get a visa to come here.

We'll see how that plays out. And this all might explain one of the reasons why Gianni Infantino and U.S. President Donald Trump have become so close. We've discussed earlier in this segment why it benefits Donald Trump.

He particularly likes shiny golden things. He's been around the World Cup trophy itself quite often recently. One wonders if one of the reasons Infantino has become so close to Trump is to try and whisper in his ear to try and make it easier for fans and people to come and access this World Cup.

I referenced Qatar and Russia previously. They really tried to downplay their human rights situations once the World Cup came around. I feel like it's kind of the opposite here. Like we see the footage of people being chased down the street and detained by ICE agents. The American government isn't hiding that anymore. I guess it was never really hiding it, that they're quite proud of it. But it may well make some people think twice about attending this tournament next year.

BLITZER: Christine, are there any indications at all that ICE agents will be going into the stands looking for undocumented immigrants or others that they may want to pick up and arrest?

BRENNAN: Wolf, right now, there are not. Obviously, the tournament starts on June 11th and runs all the way until July 19th. So there is some time. But I think as Don was just alluding to and -- and talking about that, we can see this with our own eyes in the United States and around the world. And we already know that Donald Trump was saying that, angry about Boston as being a host, even though it's not Boston, it's Foxborough, which is far away from Boston.

But nonetheless saying, hey, they should pull the tournament, the games from Boston and move them. And then, of course, Trump acknowledged all the tickets are sold out. And again, it's not in Boston, so it's in Foxborough.

But the point is that Donald Trump is going to, has been inserting himself, Wolf, and will continue to insert himself and his government in all ways into this tournament. And absolutely, I don't think it is a wild, imaginative thought that we would see ICE agents involved in this, going after fans or going after others at the FIFA Men's World Cup. And I think also just getting into the country.

Again, Don has reported this beautifully, the idea of, OK, who's getting into the country, who's not? There is real concern and real fear. These will be issues we will be covering because they will be a huge part. We've got sports. Everyone wants to escape with the sports and the soccer. But all of the trappings and the news stories around this are incredibly important and things that obviously we'll be covering throughout the entire World Cup.

BLITZER: We certainly will. Christine Brennan and Don Riddell, to both of you, thank you very, very much.

BROWN: And now we have some breaking news just coming in. The CDC's Independent Vaccine Advisory Committee has voted to change when newborns get the hepatitis B shot. CNN medical correspondent Meg Tirrell joins us from the CDC. Meg, they just took another vote. Tell us about that.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Pamela. So, of course, the first vote was about the newborn dose. And then the second vote they took was about whether a blood testing for immunity should be offered or at least whether parents should talk with health care providers about whether to test kids for immunity after their first hepatitis B dose to determine whether they need subsequent doses.

Right now, the vaccine is given as a series of three shots and sometimes four. And so what this would essentially do, and they voted in favor of this eight or sorry, six to four with one abstention, would essentially put that rest of the schedule sort of up in the air. But there were a lot of debates and a lot of people who suggested that this was not based on science.

One of the members who voted no essentially called this a made up vote with made up language and said, we're, quote, in never, never land with what they're suggesting is actually tested for to determine whether kids need subsequent hepatitis B vaccine doses. So a lot of consternation about that vote, probably more seismic, was the first vote we brought you just a few minutes ago where they voted to essentially remove that universal newborn recommendation against hepatitis B, guys.

BROWN: And just to emphasize this, these are handpicked advisers from RFK Jr., right? The other ones were -- were fired and some of them are speaking out against these recommendations. I mean, using some really strong language there, Meg.

[11:15:07]

TIRRELL: Yes, absolutely. I mean, for the most part, it was thought that this new committee was more ideologically aligned with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. when it comes to vaccines. And certainly you're seeing that in these vote outcomes. But there is dissent even among these members.

BROWN: All right. Meg Tirrell, thank you so much. Wolf? BLITZER: And still ahead, as President Trump prepares to leave for the Kennedy Center here in Washington. He's also dropping some new hints about a possible new name for the Kennedy Center. Stand by for that

And Trump and Republicans net a big win for the U.S. Supreme Court that could boost their chances of continuing to have control of the House of Representatives next year. We're going to get reaction from one of the men who spent the summer fighting that effort. Stay with us. You're in The Situation Room.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:20:22]

BLITZER: Happening now, the U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for Texas to use new Republican friendly congressional maps in next year's midterm elections.

A lower court had ruled that the map was unconstitutional because it discriminates on the basis of race. The White House pushed a national effort to change districts in favor of Republicans as they face very serious headwinds leading up to the midterm elections. Joining us now is Texas State House Democratic Leader Gene Wu.

Leader Wu, thanks so much for joining us. First of all, what's your reaction to this ruling from the highest court?

REP. GENE WU (D-TX): Although this was not an unexpected decision that they might do this, this is, of course, very disappointing because, again, the case that was from the El Paso court, the trial court was so clear that not only were the Republicans guilty of using racial gerrymandering, the evidence of that racial gerrymandering were the words spoken by Republicans themselves and written down in letters and put in e-mails and testified to in court, basically saying that like up is not up and down is not done. And whatever what you're seeing in front of your eyes is not what you're seeing.

BLITZER: So, Leader Wu, what recourse do you have at this point? Are there any other avenues to continue to try to challenge these new maps?

WU: Sure. And look, we're still going to take these maps all the way to the full Supreme Court on appeal. This is about the injunction that the lower court put into place. The -- the Supreme Court only lifted the injunction. They did not say that these maps are legitimate. And what they said was to the lower court, are you sure you found all that evidence that you documented in over 100 pages of your opinion? Are you sure you found that?

And what they're going to do is send this case. They're going to send it back to the trial court. They're going to have some more hearings. They're going to talk about it. And the trial court is going to go, yes, it's exactly what we said it was from the beginning. And the Supreme Court could take that back up and say, yes, OK, these maps are illegal. These maps are clearly violative of the Voting Rights Act and -- and the Constitution. But because of the doctrine that we just made up, we're just going to let the Republicans slide. We're going to reward them for their bad actions.

BLITZER: Do you think the efforts of some Texas Democrats, including yourself, for that matter, this past summer to try to boycott the Texas state legislature to block these new maps all for -- do you think that was all for nothing or do you think you accomplished something?

WU: No, absolutely. Look, the most important thing that we did, that Texas House Democrats did during the quorum break, was to wake Americans up to show Americans that this is the real fight, that this is the real deal, that this is -- this is the end game, that if you don't fight against this, if you don't stand up to this, then it is the end of our democracy. If they are allowed to do this unchecked, it is the fall of the republic.

But what we saw during the two weeks of the quorum break was Americans overwhelmingly got the message and they stood up and they resoundingly told legislators, told their own leaders, told their own state, no, this is not OK. This kind of thing is not acceptable. It is not OK to steal our democracy from underneath our own feet.

BLITZER: So what's your message here -- what's your message to some Democratic controlled states that have the ability to redraw their own political maps just ahead of next year's midterm elections?

WU: So when I was on T.V. last time talking about this, I said, we shouldn't do this type of redistricting because it's going to start a chain reaction that's going to force every state to do this, whether it's red or blue. And unfortunately, that's what's going to have to happen as distasteful, as -- as gerrymandering all this stuff is, as distasteful it is. We don't have a choice. Every blue state, you don't need to be a blue state.

You just need to be a state that cares about our country and gives a damn about our democracy and say we have to respond in kind. We have to fight fire with fire. We don't have the luxury of saying, well, we're better than that. We don't do that kind of thing. No, you go fight. You go do exactly what they're doing and you fight back and you push back and you knock them back and you protect our democracy.

[11:25:04]

BLITZER: Texas State Representative Gene Wu, thanks very much for joining us.

WU: Appreciate it.

BLITZER: Pamela?

BROWN: All right, up next here in the Situation Room, Wolf, why President Trump is replacing the person in charge of designing his massive White House ballroom just months into the project. We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:30:05]

BLITZER: New this morning, you heard that President Trump will be over at the Kennedy Center here in Washington today for the FIFA World Cup draw.