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Trump Pressures Ukraine to Make Peace Deal; CDC Delays Abortion Report; Will Republicans Extend ACA Subsidies?; Ghislaine Maxwell Evidence Unsealed?. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired December 09, 2025 - 11:00   ET

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

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Breaking news: evidence unsealed. A federal judge opens the door to release documents from Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell's case.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: We want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

And we begin this hour with the breaking news. A federal judge in New York has just granted the Justice Department's request to unseal records from the investigation and criminal prosecution of Ghislaine Maxwell. The ruling opens the door for the department to publicly release evidence it had gathered against her.

BROWN: Joining us now is CNN crime and justice correspondent Katelyn Polantz.

So, Katelyn, what could we learn from these documents?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Pam, according to this Judge, Paul Engelmayer in the Southern District of New York, not much.

However, this is an important moment because now there are two federal judges who since the passage of this act around transparency of the Epstein files are saying, yes, we can now, because Congress says so, unseal secret grand jury records, both in a case in Florida where there had been grand jury testimony around Epstein and alleged sex trafficking, and then now in the case of Ghislaine Maxwell in New York.

The reason I say that this is not going to be much new here in these grand jury records out of New York, it's because the judge says so. In the decision today on sealing these records, he writes: "Grand jury material would not reveal new information of any consequence."

The reason for that is because there was a very truncated amount of information presented to this grand jury to get the indictment of Ghislaine Maxwell, and then she did go to trial. And so much of what is in the body of the grand jury and what's secret there in that proceeding, it's been exposed in different ways.

But this is a small step the Justice Department is taking to make sure they're complying with that Transparency Act. One thing to note, though, about these records is that, when it does come out from the grand jury, the court is saying that victim information and personally identified information should be redacted and protected still.

There Is a paramount concern to make sure that victims of Epstein and others are not exposed in a way that they don't want to be in court records.

BLITZER: An important point, indeed. It's pretty unusual, though, for a judge to order the release of secret grand jury testimony.

POLANTZ: It doesn't happen often, Wolf.

BROWN: Yes.

BLITZER: No, it doesn't happen at all.

All right, Katelyn Polantz, thank you very, very much.

BROWN: All right, and happening now: President Trump is getting ready to travel to Pennsylvania, where he will focus on the economy. The president is trying to persuade people that his strategy to combat inflation is working, even though many Americans are skeptical.

They're just not feeling that. President Trump is addressing this burning issue of affordability, something that he has repeatedly called a -- quote -- "Democratic hoax." In a new interview, he gave himself high marks on the economy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: I do want to talk about the economy, sir, here at home. And I wonder what grade you would give your economy.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A-plus.

QUESTION: A-plus.

TRUMP: Yes, A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Well, for many people in Pennsylvania and beyond, the biggest challenge when it comes to affordability is health care, with costs rising and millions facing higher premiums starting next month.

Among them is Lynn Weidner, a home care worker in Pennsylvania who wrote to her local newspaper about her own struggle with rising insurance costs. And, for transparency, she's also an executive board member of the SEIU Healthcare union for Pennsylvania and has campaigned for Democratic candidates in recent elections. Ms. Weidner, thank you so much for joining us.

So you wrote in this op-ed that your new insurance premium would almost double. What kind of numbers are you facing?

LYNN WEIDNER, EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBER, SEIU HEALTHCARE PENNSYLVANIA: Yes, thank you for having me.

My health insurance currently is purchased on the marketplace. And this month I paid $400, but for next month it will be over $700.

BROWN: And what will that do to your day-to-day in terms of sacrifices you will have to make?

WEIDNER: Well, so far, I have already downgraded my cable and I have Internet only. I'm also looking for other ways that I can cut out spending.

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Unfortunately, expenses pile up. My car needs repairs that I can't repair. So I'm just doing what I can. I can't really work anymore. I already work 80 hours a week as a home care worker. I take care of my partner, who is disabled. I take care of my mother, who lives with us and has Alzheimer's.

And I also take care of my 16-month-old niece during the day. So I don't really have any more hours to fit in more work.

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BROWN: Yes.

WEIDNER: But, yes, just cutting things where I can.

BROWN: Eighty hours a week, wow. That's a lot on your plate right there.

And in your letter to the newspaper, you appeal to your congressman, Republican Ryan Mackenzie, for an extension of health care tax credits. What is he saying about this? And what is your message right now to those who have the majority in Congress, Republicans?

WEIDNER: Yes, actually, I have seen some things that my representative, Mackenzie, has put out into the media.

There have been -- he signed on to a letter saying that he's interested. There was an article that came out yesterday, I think it was, that he said he was interested in continuing the tax credits, which is really what I was using.

However, he also voted for the Big Beautiful Bill that made that -- did not extend the tax credits to begin with and made life a lot more difficult. So I don't know how much he's actually doing, or is he just saying that because elections are coming up next year?

BROWN: Yes.

And Representative Mackenzie, again, a Republican, and your -- in Congress who represents your district, did provide a statement to THE SITUATION ROOM, saying, in part: "Congressman Mackenzie is focused on delivering affordability for the people of Lehigh Valley and the Poconos, which is why he has made clear for months that he supports an extension of health insurance tax credits. He remains focused on delivering the affordability that Americans deserve after four years of Joe Biden's failed policies."

I'm just wondering what you say to Republicans' arguments like Mackenzie who say, look, this is because the Affordable Care Act, these premiums wouldn't be going up like this unless Democrats came up with the Affordable Care Act and then they put the expiration for the subsidies to the end of this month? So what do you say in response?

WEIDNER: The Affordable Care Act saved my life, first of all.

So, any time that there has been attacks on the ACA, it's been from the Republicans. I will say that. Before the ACA, I did not have insurance as a home care worker. It's not part of our benefits package. We can't get it. And there -- I just could not purchase insurance. Preexisting conditions, they wouldn't let me have it.

The tax credits, obviously, were helpful. And, honestly, Democrats are not in power right now. It's the Republicans. They're the ones that are making the decisions. They're the ones that need to extend the tax credits. So, I mean, they're -- they have control over that right now. I don't know what else to tell you. That's on their shoulders.

BROWN: Right. I mean, that's right. Republicans are the ones in power. And you have President Trump, who is in Pennsylvania today. He has called the affordability issue -- quote -- "a hoax and a scam by Democrats."

What would you say to the president about this?

WEIDNER: There's a lot of hoaxes and scams going around. I don't know that they're exactly what he thinks they are.

I heard a lot of him talking about he's going to make things affordable again when he was running. And now affordability is apparently a hoax, which it just doesn't seem to make sense to me. I was a lifelong Republican. I voted for Republicans in the past.

I grew up evangelical Christian. I continue to believe in God and all that. And I just don't see the current Republican Party following the family values that they say they do. Health care is a family value. Affordable living is a family value. And I don't see that right now.

So I don't -- I think the hoax is not what he thinks it is.

BROWN: All right, Lynn Weidner, thank you so much, and best of luck with everything. We appreciate your time.

WEIDNER: Thank you. BLITZER: And we, of course, wish her only the best.

BROWN: Yes.

BLITZER: Good luck.

Still ahead -- and I'm quoting now -- "Start accepting things," President Trump saying Russia has the upper hand, his words, upper hand, as he pressures Ukraine to make big concessions to bring an end to the war.

BROWN: And report delayed -- why the CDC is pushing back the release of a critical abortion report and what the data reveals about life after the Supreme Court overturned the federal right to abortion.

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You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

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BROWN: Well, new this morning, we will have to wait until the spring to get the details on how the overturning of Roe v. Wade is impacting abortion access across the country.

An annual CDC report tracking U.S. abortion trends was due out in November, but it's being pushed back because of intense turmoil at the agency. The 2022 Dobbs ruling wiped out nearly 50 years of abortion precedent, overturning the constitutionally protected federal right to abortion provided by Roe and giving that power back to the states.

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So, let's go live now to CNN medical correspondent Meg Tirrell.

Meg, what exactly is going on here behind this delay?

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pamela, I mean, this is a report that's been compiled by the CDC since 1969.

States and jurisdictions submit the data to the agency, and they publish this national picture. And, as you note, it was expected to be out in November, and it would have compiled the first data through 2023, the first full year since Roe v. Wade was overturned in the summer preceding that year.

But what we are hearing from the Department of Health and Human Services is that the report is delayed, and they are blaming the former chief medical officer of the agency, Dr. Debra Houry, who resigned in protest from the agency, along with other leaders in August, amid all of the turmoil we have been seeing at the CDC.

And we reached out to her, and she told us it was because of all of the layoffs that happened at HHS, the agency turmoil. Thousands of people have lost their jobs. And she noted that amid all of that chaos, there just wasn't the staff to be able to do this work and compile this report as it usually is done.

So, a lot of back-and-forth there. HHS saying now this is expected to come out in the spring. Of course, a lot of those folks, according to Dr. Houry, are gone. So we will see what that ends up looking like.

In the meantime, though, we do have other outside providers of abortion data in the United States, one from the Society of Family Planning. It's called the WeCount Report. And that just came out this week. And it continues to show that abortions in the United States provided through clinicians have risen since Roe v. Wade was overturned.

And so the latest data that they have is from June of 2025 showing more than 95,000 abortions were provided through clinicians in that month. Now, we are also seeing trends within how abortions are accessed by Americans. And, increasingly, it's through telemedicine, using medication abortions.

So, a majority of abortions are still done in person, either surgical procedures or medication abortion. But now 27 percent of abortions, as of June of 2025, were provided through telehealth. And that often is a way that women in states with less access or no access to abortion are still accessing medication abortion through the mail.

And, Pamela, of course, that has been targeted by critics of abortion, the medication abortion regimen coming under a lot of fire. So it's something we will be watching closely -- Pamela.

BROWN: Yes, we certainly will.

Meg Tirrell, thanks so much -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, up next: backtracking. President Trump denying something he said just days ago publicly about the deadly second strike on a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean.

Will the video be released?

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BLITZER: New this morning, President Trump offering a rather blunt assessment of the war in Ukraine and the hopes for a peace deal. Listen to this.

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TRUMP: ... people killed.

QUESTION: If this deal -- if Zelensky rejects this deal...

TRUMP: Yes.

QUESTION: ... is there a timeline, is there a point at which you say, OK? TRUMP: Well, he's going to have to get on the ball and start

accepting things. You know, when you're losing -- because he's losing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, doesn't appear to see things the same way. He's saying on Monday that Ukraine won't give up any territory to Russia in peace talks led by the United States.

Joining us now, retired U.S. Army General Wesley Clark. He's the former NATO supreme allied commander.

General Clark, thanks so much for joining us.

Does President Trump have a point that Ukraine is running out of options and needs to make greater concessions, including potentially land concessions, if it wants a peace deal?

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, he has a point in that the United States is not providing Ukraine the support that it could have provided and should have provided and would have provided under a different perspective on the issue.

You know, since -- for 80 years, the United States has stood up to aggression. And we set up a whole international rules-based order to not reward aggression. But the way that the administration is proceeding, essentially, we're neutral arbiters.

We're worried about peace at any price. Goes back to Neville Chamberlain, 1938, Czechoslovakia, the same kind of deal. The same kind of result is likely. We press the weaker party to make concessions to the aggressor. I don't think that's a viable long-term strategy for the United States to follow, and especially not in Europe.

What's going to happen is, the Europeans, I hope they come together. If they don't, you're going to have a wide destabilization of European security with clear impacts on the United States' economy and our security.

BLITZER: General, I want you to listen to what else President Trump is saying about Ukraine and NATO right now. Listen to this.

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QUESTION: Should NATO end where it is now?

TRUMP: Well, you know, there aren't that many left when you get right down to it, right? There aren't that many left. It was always -- I -- long before Putin, it was an understanding that Ukraine would not be going into NATO.

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This was long before Putin, in all fairness. And now they pushed. You know, when Zelenskyy first went in and first met Putin, he said, I want two things. I want Crimea back, and we're going to be a member of NATO. He didn't say it in a very nice way either. He's a great salesman. I call him P.T. Barnum.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: What's your reaction to that, General?

CLARK: Actually, it's factually incorrect, Wolf.

First of all, there was always an expectation that Ukraine would have a relationship with NATO. Its joining NATO was never ruled out in the 1990s. I made a trip there when I was NATO commander. I remember the minister of defense told me he very clearly wanted to be and expected to be invited to be in NATO.

But after Putin became the president, for a couple of years, he made statements that seemed to acknowledge that Ukraine could join NATO. There was no understanding on his part that Ukraine wouldn't be part of NATO. Now, maybe that was just him being sly and, underneath, he's always wanted to regain control of Ukraine. He's tried many methods for it.

But, essentially, President Trump is buying into the Russian view of this, rather than, I think, what is a more factually accurate view, and, certainly, it's not the Ukrainian view.

BLITZER: I also want to ask you, General, about some new reporting just coming into THE SITUATION ROOM.

Sources are now telling CNN that the Trump administration is quietly making plans for Venezuela if, if President Nicolas Maduro were to leave power. And here's what President Trump said about regime change there. Listen to this.

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QUESTION: So how far would you go to take Maduro out of office?

TRUMP: I don't want to say that, but...

QUESTION: But you want to see him out?

TRUMP: His days are numbered.

QUESTION: Can you rule out an American ground invasion, Mr. President?

TRUMP: I don't want to rule in or out. I don't talk about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So what do you think, General Clark? Is the president telegraphing right now the U.S. strategy, or is this simply a pressure tactic?

CLARK: I think it's a little bit of both, Wolf.

I think there's always been a hope that the pressure would push Maduro out. I suspect we have special operators in there that are talking to the opposition, to the opposition leader, that there are discussions on how to proceed. I don't think there's a formal plan yet.

But we know that 70 percent of the population doesn't support Maduro, but we also know there's a lot of weapons in there and armed groups that do. And so how that's going to be worked in the days ahead is going to be very tricky.

Sounds to me like the United States has certainly the intention of trying to push Maduro out. We certainly have a large force buildup there, but we're not settled yet on a specific plan.

BLITZER: General Wesley Clark, as usual, thanks so much for your expertise.

CLARK: Thank you.

BROWN: All right, just ahead here in THE SITUATION ROOM, Wolf: a new push to let Americans sue ICE for violating their constitutional rights.

The lawmaker behind it, Congressman Seth Moulton, joins us next.

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