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The Situation Room

Search Turns to Motive After Brown University, MIT Suspect Found Dead; Today, Justice Department Deadline to Release Epstein Files; Trump Says He's Not Ruling Out War With Venezuela. Aired 10- 10:30a ET

Aired December 19, 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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PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, manhunt over, how an online post helped track down the suspect behind the deadly shootings of Brown and MIT. We are live with new details.

Plus, DOJ deadline, the clock is ticking for the Justice Department to release all of the unclassified documents related to Jeffrey Epstein.

And a CNN exclusive, what we are learning about a plan to overhaul the vaccine schedule for kids in the U.S.

Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Pamela Brown. Wolf Blitzer is off, and you are in The Situation Room.

Happening now, authorities in New England shift from manhunt to motive as a suspected killer is found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot. Officials say he is 100 percent their target, not just in Saturday's mass shooting at Brown University, but a Monday's killing of an MIT professor. The accused killer, 48-year-old Claudio Neves Valente, died of an apparent suicide inside a storage unit in New Hampshire.

Police had little more than surveillance video like this to go on, and they say the big break came from this man. They had been trying to track him down because he had a chance encounter with the suspect at Brown before the attack that killed two students and wounded nine others.

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PETER NERONHA, RHODE ISLAND ATTORNEY GENERAL: That person came forward to two Providence police officers over on the east side, and said he had information that he was that person and he had information that could help this case. And I remember last night watching his interview and he blew this case right open.

And that person led us to the car, which led us to the name, which led us to the photographs of that individual renting the car, which matched the clothing of our shooter here in Providence, that matched the satchel that we see here in Providence. He was found dead with the satchel with two firearms and evidence in the car that that matches exactly what we see at the scene here in Providence.

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BROWN: CNN's Michael Yoshida is right outside that storage unit where the manhunt ended last night. Michael, do you know if progress is being made about a motive here?

MICHAEL YOSHIDA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Pamela. You mentioned we're right in front of the storage unit where this multi- state manhunt ended. And while that search is over, this investigation's still very active and ongoing, according to investigators saying the question about that motive. That is the key focus now.

Investigators have given us more details about the connections this shooter you mentioned, 48-year-old Claudio Neves Valente had to both Brown as well as that MIT professor, saying that this 48-year-old Portuguese National was a former Brown University student, had come to the U.S. in the early 2000s, was enrolled at Brown for several semesters before leaving. And that also there was a connection again to this MIT professor going back to the 90s. Both this MIT professor as well as this suspect had been in the same academic program back in Portugal.

Obviously, these are things investigators are looking at, going through as, yes, the manhunt is over, but still, questions remain about that motive, something people in communities in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and now here in New Hampshire are anxiously waiting to learn.

BROWN: And help us fill in the blanks a little bit more how investigators pieced all of this together in the last few days.

YOSHIDA: Yes. You played that that sound bite talking about how that tipster really broke this wide open. Investigators saying it really was over the last 48 hours where they identified a vehicle from the help of that tipster that was in the area around Brown University. They were able to get a license plate. And then through some of their investigative work, they tracked that back to a rental car company across the state border into Massachusetts in Boston. It was there. They were able to identify that suspect as the person who had rented that car. And then diving into the financials of that person, were led to a storage unit that they had rented here in New Hampshire.

Investigators also telling us, as they've been going through this work, they've got surveillance video showing this suspect and the days after that Brown University shooting in the area right around that MIT professor's home.

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Again, all of this being looked at now as they try and figure out the motive, but still a big sigh of relief from those in Providence, in the areas around MIT, in the suburbs of Boston, and, of course, here in New Hampshire where this all ended, that this manhunt is finally over. BROWN: Yes, a sigh of relief, for sure.

Michael Yoshida, thank you so much.

And let's continue this discussion. Joining us now is Joshua Skule, a former FBI executive assistant director for intelligence. Hi, thanks for being here.

So, police say it was this tipster who cracked the case wide open, quite the reminder that the public's role remains vital and could also prevent shootings like this.

JOSHUA SKULE, FORMER FBI EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Absolutely. Good morning, Pam. This is critical that law enforcement has a relationship with the public. We have seen this time and time again in investigations where public tips have helped solve cases, or at least put law enforcement onto the trail like it did for this investigation. And being able to disrupt and take this person or recover the body of this individual.

BROWN: And it's also a reminder to the public that, you know, if you find someone who's suspicious, alert police, right? Because in this case, there were a couple of people who found the suspect suspicious, and then, of course, it was after -- it was during the investigation after the shooting where this came to light.

But tell us more about, you know, the importance of finding a motive here and where investigators even begin with that.

SKULE: Well, first phase has happened. They needed to make sure that the public was safe. Clearly, that has happened. It took a long time, several days to determine who this was and get onto his trail. Now, investigators are -- started really a global investigation, going back to Portugal, what was the motive of what triggered him to conduct this attack at Brown, what then prompted him to go to his former classmates' house. He'll go to Miami, look at friends, family, associates, work colleagues, and then they'll track that all the way up the coast to see what he was doing here.

We still don't know where -- what contents in the social media, any other media, phones, computers that'll come to light here in the coming days.

BROWN: How do you think he was able to evade detection for those days?

SKULE: Well, I think when you look at the video, he was clearly aware of security protocols, at least at Brown. I think the lack of cameras and the lack of security in that building enabled him. He covered his face. He evaded law enforcement. He took a rental car. He was clearly trying to consciously evade any detection.

The original tipster, I bet, made him very nervous. You could see him pacing in this video. So, with the lack of security cameras, a conscious ability to evade, covering his face, really non-distinct clothing and then departing the area very quickly aided him in that. BROWN: Yes. And you have to wonder if there hadn't been those people who, you know, hadn't seen him and being suspicious, whether this manhunt would still be going on, right?

The suspect is tied to two very different kinds of attacks. You have the school shooting with student victims apparently chosen at random, and the very targeted assassination, it appears, of the MIT professor. How unusual is that contrast?

SKULE: Well, I think as we sit here right now, it's very unusual. Law enforcement will uncover what triggered him to conduct an attack at this time. He hadn't been associated with Brown University in over 20 years and longer since he was in school with the MIT professor. So, we don't know what was going on in his mind, which is really goes to the motive, what law enforcement be trying to uncover now.

We also don't know what else happened in other areas, like Miami or whether he had problems in his home country Portugal. All of this is going to come to light now that he's been identified. The threat to the public has been -- for this instance, has been eliminated. And this will go on for several months.

BROWN: What do you think the lessons to be learned are here?

SKULE: Well, I know it's trite, and we've talked about it earlier in the segment. If you see something, say something rings true every single time in investigation like this. If you see something that is not right, call law enforcement, let law enforcement figure out whether or not it's important or not.

BROWN: Yes, because I think that probably -- oh, go ahead.

SKULE: I'm sorry.

BROWN: Go ahead.

SKULE: I think when you look at our campuses for our children, whether it's colleges or other schools, because of the review for security.

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You know, do we have the right cameras? Do we have the right personnel? Do we have -- are we doing everything we can to make sure those students are safe? I think those two things ring true in this investigation.

BROWN: And in terms of the public's role, you know, you can imagine, you see something that could be suspicious, and then you think your head, this couldn't actually be a bad guy, or this isn't, you know, but like you said, let the authorities sort that out, right?

Joshua Skule, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it.

SKULE: Thank you. BROWN: Still ahead here in The Situation Room, deadline day to release the Epstein files, new reporting on frustrations inside the Justice Department as it races to redact the documents. Will we see everything the DOJ has per the law?

And the Kennedy Center gets a brand new name without approval from Congress. There's some new backlash this morning.

Stay with us. You're in The Situation Room.

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BROWN: Happening now, the American public and survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's abuse are anxiously awaiting the full release of his case files. The Justice Department is required to provide them by the end of today under legislation Congress passed nearly unanimously last month, and President Trump signed into law.

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee yesterday released new images from the convicted sex offender's estate, fueling more intrigue about who may have been associated with Epstein.

CNN Crime and Justice Correspondent Katelyn Polantz joins us now. So, I have the law right here and it says this is a 30-day mark. This is the end of it. And it says that DOJ must make publicly available in a searchable -- all the searchable and downloadable format of unclassified records, documents, and all things pertaining to this. Is that happening today? Is DOJ following the law?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, we have heard already this morning from the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, that they just can't get all of the documents out today. Today's the 30-day mark of the act passing. So, it does say transparency for all documents. It's not going to happen, Pam.

Here is Todd Blanche on Fox News a bit earlier this morning.

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TODD BLANCHE, DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: I expect that we're going to release several hundred thousand documents today and those documents will come in all different forms, photographs and other materials associated with all of the investigations into Mr. Epstein.

We are looking at every single piece of paper that we are going to produce, making sure that every victim, their name, their identity, their story, to the extent it needs to be protected is completely protected.

And so I expect that we're going to release more documents over the next couple of weeks.

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POLANTZ: So, what to expect today? The release of several hundred thousand documents from the Justice Department. They've been working on going through those files. Several hundred thousand more will be expected after today. We're going to have to wait and see what the Justice Department says about how this complies with the law or the reasoning they give for not making all of the documents available today.

The other thing is that even what comes out today, it's not going to be fully transparent because there are categories where there can be redactions. I've been present. I've been speaking to sources all week about how this is going inside the Justice Department. And the redactions are many, and it is not just victim information or personal information. There are other redactions being made. That's why there's so many lawyers at the Justice Department working on this.

BROWN: And you have some new reporting about some of the frustrations around all of this, right, in DOJ?

POLANTZ: Yes. There is frustration inside the building of how this redaction process is going. The national security section is the group that is tasked to do this at the Justice Department, even if this doesn't have anything to do with national security, that's the lawyers with the manpower to do redactions. But this is a bespoke process. It's very different than any other things. You would redact classified information in FOIA. It has its own four-page list of guidelines that those lawyers have gotten.

They've dropped everything for the ones who are working on it. They've dropped their other work since essentially Thanksgiving to be working on this. And even with that, there's the possibility that there could be mistakes in how the redactions are going. There could be more redactions than needed. There could be inconsistencies if there are duplicate documents. There could be things that get out that shouldn't get out, like Social Security numbers. That's something that people will be looking for. It happened when they redacted the JFK files earlier this year.

BROWN: Yes, that's important to make sure that's redacted.

All right, Katelyn Polantz, thanks for bringing us the latest. I know you're tracking all of this.

And joining us now to further discuss his Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro of Texas. He serves on the House Intelligence and Foreign Affairs Committee. Hi, Congressman.

So, I'm curious what you make of Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche saying this morning that the Justice Department will release several hundred thousand documents today, but then added it won't be all the files with him saying there'll be more to come over the next couple of weeks?

REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO (D-TX): Well, the deadline was today, so they should be released today. And Congress should hold the DOJ and the folks who are holding up the release accountable if they aren't released.

Again, we've seen excuse after excuse, first from politicians and now apparently from the Justice Department.

BROWN: So, how can Democrats and the minority in Congress hold DOJ accountable if you believe it's not following the law here?

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CASTRO: Well, I mean, that's a good question and it is an issue for Democrats. But remember this was in the Senate, a unanimous vote and an overwhelming vote in the House. So, this isn't just a Democratic responsibility. This should be the Congress that holds the DOJ accountable.

The American people came together regardless of political party to demand that these files be released and the president signed the law. The deadline is today. So, Speaker Mike Johnson and John Thune in the Senate, and, of course, the Democratic leaders in each chamber should get together and figure out how they're going to penalize the DOJ if they don't get us all that stuff today.

BROWN: All right. Well, we will wait and see what happens on that front.

CNN has this reporting that a number of Epstein survivors voiced their concerns in a private meeting with female Democratic lawmakers this week about the intermittent disclosure, selective disclosure of Epstein-related documents and photos by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee. I know you don't serve on that committee, but I'm wondering what your response is to that.

CASTRO: Well, you know, I wasn't part of that conversation, of course, but I do think that we ought to be sensitive to the victims. For many of them, they're reliving this tragedy in their lives by everything that's coming out, even though it is important public disclosure of information. And I know the ranking member Garcia and the Democrats on the committee, and I believe the Republicans want be sensitive to that. And so I hope that they had a productive meeting and I hope that those concerns can be taken into account.

BROWN: Right. Because according to four sources familiar with that called survivors, told the female lawmakers that the selected publications of materials was distressing. Do you think overall your party has handled this Epstein saga the right way?

CASTRO: I think that we have pursued what the public has asked us to pursue. And I think that we've also pursued what Republicans had promised to do when they were campaigning, when President Trump was campaigning on releasing the Epstein files.

But, you know, it's true, not just -- we're talking about the Epstein files now, but any kind of crime, the victims often feel re- victimized. So, that is a tough part of all this. There's no getting around that. I just think that's true. And so it should be done in a respectful way.

But there is also an overwhelming need for the public to know exactly what happened here, because, most of all, you want to make sure that it doesn't happen again, that you learn all the lessons you need to, to put in place all the guardrails and laws and regulations and everything, and penalties, to make sure that you stop another Jeffrey Epstein from being a predator again.

BROWN: Right. I want to pivot to Venezuela because your bipartisan resolution is seeking to block the Trump administration's hostilities toward Venezuela without Congressional approval nearly failed this week. So, what do you expect comes next with Venezuela, especially as President Trump says he is not ruling out war?

CASTRO: Yes. I was very disturbed to hear that the president may go forward with a full blown war. This naval blockade is already an act of war. And as you know, there's been a massive buildup by the president in the Caribbean of U.S. military assets.

I hope that cooler heads will prevail and that there won't be a full blown war. The American people do not want the United States military to invade Venezuela. People are asking, like why would we do this? And the president himself said it the other day. He said that it was about oil and land.

And I just have to say that I think that it's absolutely crazy and wild that after the experience that our country went through of getting into the Iraq war under false pretenses, that an American president would stand in front of the country and say that we're going to go to war or oil and land. But that's what this is. It's about power. It's about regime change. It's about oil. It's about land.

BROWN: Yes. He hasn't ruled out -- he hasn't ruled it out. But, I mean, from what you just laid out, would you say that the U.S. is essentially at war with Venezuela?

CASTRO: Yes. I mean, you know, people -- when we think of war, we often think of visuals of service members and soldiers invading a country. Certainly, our service members who have done that, our combat veterans, that to them would be war. But under international law, yes, a naval blockade is an act of war. You've committed an act of war.

And so we have to be careful that we don't go into a full blown war, and certainly that it doesn't become a land invasion. Because he talked about after doing these Caribbean boat strikes that he was going to transition to land strikes.

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And, again, the American people want us to handle the rising grocery prices and childcare prices and rent prices and all these things. They're not asking for a big war with Venezuela.

BROWN: Before you go, Congressman, the Democratic National Committee announced yesterday it will not release its autopsy of the party's 2024 presidential election loss. And I'm curious what you make of that decision and how you expect Democrats to win future elections without a clear acknowledgement of what went wrong last time.

CASTRO: Yes. You know, I did see that. I have to confess, I didn't read the entire article through because we were so tied up with Venezuela and all these other big issues late this week. Yes, I mean, I'm curious why they decided not to release it. I haven't talked to the DNC chair or folks over at the DNC.

I do think that Democrats are going to have a very strong and powerful 2026 and a very strong and powerful 2028, and that the country is going to go in a very different direction from where we are now. But, you know, I don't think that it hurts necessarily to release an analysis of what you think went wrong, you know, and what you could have done better.

Now, hopefully, all of the leaders in the Democratic Party and the Democratic establishment, everybody has read that analysis and understands what we need to do better and what we need to change. But to be honest, I'm going to have to dig in a little bit more to figure out exactly what happened and why it's not being released.

BROWN: All right. Congressman Joaquin Castro, thank you so much.

And we'll be right back.

CASTRO: Good to be with you.

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