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Dozens Rescued, Thousands at Risk of Floods Hit Washington State; U.S. Ramps Up Pressure on Venezuela With New Sanctions; New Photos from Epstein Estate Show Trump, Bill Clinton and Others. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired December 12, 2025 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, a flooding emergency, historic rainfall in Washington State sending multiple rivers over their banks, submerging neighborhoods, and forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes.

Plus, a free man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia became a focal point to President Trump's immigration crackdown, but he's now out of ICE custody. How he describes his months-long ordeal.

And outbreak concerns, the U.S. has more cases of measles right now than it's added more than 30 years.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. Pamela Brown is on assignment and you're in The Situation Room.

Happening now, a historic flood emergency in Washington State, and the danger is nowhere near over. This morning, rivers across the region are bursting their banks, flooding homes and entire towns after more than 10 inches of rain pounded the region. In some areas right now, the National Guard is going door to warn residents of the danger and help them get out.

Rescuers have already evacuated dozens of people stranded in their homes. The U.S. Coast Guard dispatched helicopters to reach people forced into their attics. Washington's governor says tens of thousands of people are still at risk right now. At least four rivers have hit record highs that stood for some 35 years. And forecasters now say more heavy rain is coming next week.

CNN's Veronica Miracle is in Burlington, Washington State, for us where there's a brand new evacuation order right now. What are you seeing right now?

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we've seen police and Washington National Guard go door to door in this neighborhood. You see police behind us, people in homes all over this area being asked to leave. And, in fact, we have just spoken right now -- we're going to speak to right now with an evacuee, Ryan Haun and her son, Emmett. You guys were woken in the middle of the night. Tell us about what that was like and what they said to you.

RYAN HAUN, BURLINGTON, WASHINGTON STATE RESIDENT: They knocked on our door and we went out there. They were in their uniforms. And they said, it's time for you to leave. Gage's (ph) flu is backing up. And since it's right behind our house, we said, all right. And they said, are you sure you're going? And we said, yep. So, here we are.

MIRACLE: I mean, that's got to be so scary. You told me that you've grown up in the valley, Skagit Valley, for your whole life. Have you ever encountered a situation like this before?

HAUN: Not me personally. I've never seen Burlington get evacuated, Mount Vernon maybe. But, yes, this is the first time for me.

MIRACLE: And so to know that this community that you live in has never been evacuated, you've never seen this, that must have been something that really pushed you to the edge to get out of here.

HAUN: Yes, a little jarring, especially with the little one here. So we're going to get out and go to Bay View, higher ground.

MIRACLE: And a lot of your neighbors, we've seen them leaving as well this morning. Have you talked to anybody? What's been -- you know, have they seen anything or hearing anything?

HAUN: A few people left two days ago. So, yes, everyone's been leaving back to back.

MIRACLE: And what made you stay until this point?

HAUN: We just thought we were going to be all right being so far away from each river edge. But, you know, with the slew behind us, trying to get out of here.

MIRACLE: Well, for people who don't experience flooding in the rest of the country, obviously, these are scary sites to see all of the videos that we've been seeing of rescues, so we're so glad to see you getting out. Is there anything that you chose from your house this morning that was important that you felt like we've got -- obviously, your son, yes. But what else --

HAUN: The kid.

MIRACLE: What else did you pick?

HAUN: Food, chargers, we have a flashlight. Thankfully, we're going to my parents, so we have warm things, but I've got clothes, all sorts of just daily essentials, I guess.

MIRACLE: But as the water heads this way, you really have to just pick the essentials and that's about it. HAUN: Everything else, we kind of shoved up as high as possible in our house, praying for the best, all the Christmas presents on the table.

MIRACLE: All right. Well, we want you guys to get out safely. So, thank you for hanging with us for just a couple of minutes. We really appreciate it.

HAUN: No problem.

MIRACLE: Thank you.

So, Wolf, this is the situation throughout this whole neighborhood. Again, you can see police right behind us over here going door to door.

[10:05:03]

We're seeing people leaving. The water actually is on the other side of a field here. So, there is a little bit of time, but there are certainly a lot of different neighborhoods in this area where the National Guard is going door to door.

A really scary situation. It's -- you know, the light is -- it's still not light here. Really, it's 7:00 A.M. But everybody was getting the door knocks in the middle of the night. So, glad to see people are heeding these warnings.

Back to you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, it's a horrible situation, indeed. Veronica Miracle on the scene for us, thank you very, very much.

Also, new this morning, we're watching for former University of Michigan Football Coach Sherrone Moore to be arraigned very soon. We're also hearing new police dispatch audio that references an assault allegation against him. Listen to this.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Subject just called the caller and told her there's a male at the location in the house attacking her and states he's been stalking her for months.

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BLITZER: Michigan fired Moore for what school officials say was, quote, credible evidence that he was, quote, engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a staff member. He was arrested only hours later.

Also new this morning, we're hearing from Kilmar Abrego Garcia for the first time since his release from ICE detention. He declared himself a free man and vowed to continue his fight. He spoke in Spanish with a translator passing along his message in English. Listen to this.

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KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA, RELEASED FROM ICE DETENTION: I stand here today with my head held up high, and I will continue to fight and stand firm against all of the injustices this government has done upon me.

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BLITZER: A federal judge ordered his release yesterday saying he was detained without lawful authority. Trump administration officials suggest they will appeal the decision.

The case gained national attention earlier this year when Abrego Garcia was wrongly deported to a super prison in El Salvador.

Also happening now, a Northern California neighborhood is recovering after this truly shocking moment that was caught on a doorbell camera. Listen to this.

A gas explosion and fire destroyed a home and damaged several others nearby. Officials say six people were injured. The utility said that this happened after a construction crew damaged a gas line. Workers managed to stop the flow of gas but the explosion still happened a short time later.

And still ahead here in The Situation Room, the Trump administration is turning up the pressure on Venezuela big time, seizing its oil and hitting shipping companies with new sanctions. I'll ask a key member of the Armed Services Committee what it all means for the U.S. role in the Caribbean.

Stay with us. You in The Situation Room.

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BLITZER: Happening now, hostilities between the United States and Venezuela are getting a lot more intense. The U.S. announced new sanctions on additional ships that it says move Venezuelan oil and family members of President Nicolas Maduro. This comes just after the U.S. seized an oil attacker off Venezuela's coast on Wednesday.

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REPORTER: Is the campaign against Venezuela still just about drugs or is it now also about oil?

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Well, it's about a lot of things, but one of the things it's about is the fact that they've allowed millions of people to come into our country from their prisons, from gangs, from drug dealers, and from mental institutions. They've treated us badly, and I guess now we're not treating them so good.

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BLITZER: All right. Let's discuss what's going on with Democratic Congressman Jason Crow of Colorado. He serves on the House Intelligence and the House Armed Services Committees. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

First of all, where do you stand on the Trump administration's latest moves against Venezuela, especially as there's new reporting right now that the U.S. potentially could wind up seizing more Venezuelan oil tankers?

REP. JASON CROW (D-CO): Well, Wolf, somebody that did three combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan in our nation's Longest wars that went unchecked with very little accountability, very little debate, I'm deeply troubled that we are in this cycle again. This is exactly how conflicts escalate, how they spin out of control. Nobody in Congress knows what's going on with Venezuela, Democrat, Republican, doesn't matter. Nobody's been getting the briefs. Nobody understands the strategy because they haven't conveyed that.

This is exactly why Congress has been given war powers under the Constitution. It's Congress that needs to be read in. And it's Congress that has to make the decision about whether or not we are going to be on the path to armed conflict.

BLITZER: And as you mentioned, Congressman, you're a former combat veteran, you understand war. Do you believe we're headed in the direction of war with Venezuela, or does this get resolved?

CROW: Well, what I know is that this is exactly how wars start and escalate, which is why I'm so worried about it and why we need to make sure that we stop this. And this is Congress' role, right? The founders gave Congress this power because we are the ones who are most accountable to the people.

[10:15:03]

We have to go home every weekend, like I'm getting ready to do here in a few hours, and we have to stand in front of our constituents, be accountable to them. And that is the position we're in right now, right? We don't have the information. We are not being consulted.

Donald Trump wants to act like Congress doesn't exist and doesn't matter. I am unwilling to allow him to do that. We need information. We need to understand what's going on. And if he is intending to engage Venezuela militarily, I will try to stop it.

BLITZER: Have you seen any intelligence, Congressmen, indicating how much of a threat Venezuela really is to the United States? Why do you think the Trump administration would take these actions if they didn't improve U.S. national security?

CROW: Well, this is a classic example of Donald Trump not seeing a problem that he can't bomb his way out of or try to threaten or intimidate a foreign leader. This is exactly that type of situation, right? There are threats, there are dangers, there are issues all around the world.

The problem is Donald Trump is engaged in a series of either isolationism in the case of Ukraine, which actually is a really important national security issue for the United States, where he wants to pull back and retreat from the world and from a very important engagement, but he also wants the medal in other country's affairs, right? It is just deeply troubling. There's no consistency to it. There's no common tie to what he's doing. And we are far less safe as a result of that.

BLITZER: After a highly classified briefing with U.S. Navy Admiral Frank Mitch Bradley, the House speaker, Mike Johnson, said yesterday that he's satisfied with the follow-up strike on survivors from that very controversial September 2nd attack on an alleged Venezuelan drug boat. Have you seen that video yet? You're a member of these key committees.

CROW: No, they're slow rolling this video. They're only showing it to people, a select few people who they want to support them. What we know is that Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump have no problem putting out a boat strike video in lightning speed when they want people to see it. Why won't they show us this video? That raises so many questions.

The description that's been provided to me of that video is deeply, deeply troubling. As a combat veteran and somebody who has been in positions like this, I see no justification for striking shipwreck survivors, right? You're just not supposed to do that. It's basic law of war, law of conflict, that if someone's retreating, if someone's injured, if someone's a shipwreck survivor, you have a moral and legal obligation to not engage and not strike those folks as if they're combatants. So, I'm very troubled.

But, listen, let's not have a debate in a he said, she said, let's actually just release the video. Much like we've been calling to release the Epstein files, let people decide for themselves.

BLITZER: Who do you hold responsible for that second strike then wound up by killing those two sailors, those wounded sailors, those survivors? Defense secretary Pete Hegseth or Admiral Bradley? And and do you believe that person, whoever ordered that second strike, committed a war crime?

CROW: Well, we don't know, which is exactly why Congress needs to conduct an investigation. This is why Congress exists. This is why the Armed Service Committee exists, to do oversight, to make sure the law was being followed, to hold people accountable if there was a violation of the law. This is actually our purpose for being here in the Capitol.

So, I'm going to push my Republican colleagues to actually do a very real, substantive investigation because our service members deserve answers. Americans deserve answers. And this is, again, proving my point time and time again why I and several other members of Congress put out a video several weeks ago reminding service members that they have an obligation to just follow the law and to abide by their oaths and follow the Constitution. That is an obligation that always exists and we have to make sure as members of Congress that people are following it. BLITZER: And as you correctly point out, you were among those six Democratic lawmakers who participated in that video urging troops to disobey unlawful orders. The U.S. Navy has submitted its recommendations on potential punishment, if any, for Senator Mark Kelly. He was one of those participants in that video as well.

Are you concerned at all he could face real consequences, like a reduction in rank or pension, or even prosecution under U.S. military law?

CROW: What Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth and all the minions around him are trying to do is they're trying to threaten, intimidate, and harass anyone who will hold them accountable, anyone who will tell the truth, anyone that will conduct oversight. He has picked the wrong people. And me and Mark Kelly and my other colleagues, we are combat veterans. We have people who have dedicated our lives, the defense of this nation into the Constitution. We will never, ever back down.

BLITZER: Are you concerned you're going to be targeted as well?

[10:20:00]

CROW: Well, the FBI has opened an inquiry. In fact, Donald Trump and Kash Patel are weaponizing the FBI against us, to threaten us and intimidate us. But, again, we are not going to back down. Regardless of what they do, we have an obligation and I'm going to fulfill my oath to the Constitution and to this country.

BLITZER: Congressman Jason Crow of Colorado, thanks very much for joining us and thanks for your service to our country. I appreciate it very, very much.

And coming up measles cases right now, this is very disturbing, measles cases in the United States are on the rise, multiple outbreaks across the country right now simmering. How that has health officials, very worried as people travel and gather, especially for the holidays.

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[10:25:00]

BLITZER: All right. We have some breaking news coming into The Situation Room. Right now, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee are releasing brand new photos from the estate of the late convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein. And they show powerful figures, like President Trump, Trump Adviser Steve Bannon, and former President Bill Clinton. None of those released images depict any sexual misconduct nor believed to depict underage girls. It was not immediately clear when or where they were taken or by whom for that matter.

I want to go live right now to CNN Anchor and Chief White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins, who's been working this story for us. Kaitlan, what are we learning from these new images?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, this is some reporting I've done with my colleague, Annie Grayer. And, basically, what we're getting and what we're seeing being released today are photos from the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee. It's from Jeffrey Epstein's estate, which has been turning over emails and other records of his from his life. This latest production is over 95,000 photos that he had on his computer, on his email server.

And, basically, what they do Wolf is just reinforce and shed new light on the extent of the many powerful people that were in Jeffrey Epstein's orbit. I mean, you can see this and you look through these pictures and they're available to scroll through in our story on cnn.com right now. And there are people, including the current president, President Trump, former President Bill Clinton, Steve Bannon, Bill Gates, Richard Branson, a lot of these people that we knew had been linked to Jeffrey Epstein in the past, Wolf.

But, basically, this is just showing new angles of those relationships and they're incredibly personal photos. And some of them and others, they're a bit silly. Some, you know, it's kind of hard to even explain what you're looking at. We've published the ones that we've been able to online though. And, basically they just show all the high and powerful people in his orbit, Wolf. There's one where it's got Bill Clinton with Epstein. There's one that includes Steve Bannon, who, as you remember, was a huge adviser to President Trump from his 2016 campaign and also worked for him in the White House.

And they're just really remarkable images showing what Jeffrey Epstein's life was like before he became ensnared in all of this trouble, and when he was eventually, of course, charged and indicted for sex trafficking young, underage women.

And I should note, Wolf, as you noted, none of the pictures that we're releasing today that we've gotten our hands on show any sexual misconduct. We don't believe any show any underage girls. It's really just really speaking more to Jeffrey Epstein's life and what that looked like. And lawyers for his estate basically told the committee that they had photos, they had videos that were taken at any property that was owned by Jeffrey Epstein for about 30 years.

So, that just kind of tell what you're looking at here is Jeffrey Epstein was surrounding himself with a lot of powerful people, which, of course, we now know also helped insulate him at times from the crimes he was committing.

BLITZER: Kaitlan Collins reporting for us, and I know, Kaitlan, you'll have a lot more coming up later tonight on your show, The Source 9:00 PM Eastern. Kaitlan, thank you very, very much.

Also happening now, a new measles outbreak in South Carolina is spreading quickly. This is very disturbing. State health officials now say more than 250 people who were possibly exposed are in quarantine right now. There have been nearly 2,000 measles cases nationwide this year. That's the highest number in more than 30 years.

Joining us now is Dr. Paul Offit. He's the director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Offit, thanks so much for joining us. There were, what, 84 new measles cases. If you can, put that into context for us.

DR. PAUL OFFIT, VACCINE EDUCATION CENTER, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: Sure. Well, so if you look at the CDC website, it'll say that there's 2,000 cases this year in the United States in roughly 42 states and jurisdictions. But when you talk to people on the ground, they think that's a vast underestimate. The CDC under RFK Jr. has really a lesser capacity to do surveillance of cases, and they think there's at least 5,000 cases and maybe more.

We already have exceeded a caseload from more than 33 years ago. We've had three people die of measles. I think it was a total number of measles deaths over the last 25 years.

What I think people don't remember about measles is before there was a measles vaccine, this is a winter spring disease. I mean, we're heading into December up through March. You're going to see increased cases now because it's winter months, especially with the travel. So, I think this is only going to get worse.

BLITZER: We talk about the U.S. possibly, Dr. Offit, possibly losing its so-called elimination status with measles. Walk us through what that actually means and what would have to happen for that to occur.

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