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U.S. in Active Pursuit of Oil Tanker Linked to Venezuela; Atmospheric River Dumps Heavy Rain, Snow in California; V.P. Vance Tries to Unite Conservatives as MAGA Divisions Deepen. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired December 22, 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]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, active pursuit. The U.S. targets yet another oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, allegedly flying a false flag. Is this a deterrent for sanctioned ships or a step toward war?

Deadly flooding, dangerous storms dump inches of rain in Northern California, stranded people in chest-deep waters. Rescues are now underway.

And story shelves. CBS pulls the plug on a 60-Minute story about Trump deportees two hours before it airs. The journalist behind the reporting calls it, quote, corporate censorship.

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

Happening now, drama on the high seas, the U.S. Coast Guard is an active pursuit of an oil tanker right near Venezuela. Here's what we know. The BELLA 1 seen here in a photo from earlier this year is under U.S. sanctions for links to Iranian oil. An official tells CNN when the Coast Guard tried boarding the ship yesterday, it refused to stop. It was in route to Venezuela to pick up oil.

And last week President Trump ordered a complete blockade of sanctioned tankers going in and out of Venezuela in an effort to shut down the country's economic lifeline. This video shows Saturday's U.S. seizure of a tanker and international waters right off the coast of Venezuela.

Well, the White House says it was filled with Venezuelan oil and was the second tanker seized this month. Some lawmakers are concerned that tensions with Venezuela could be escalating toward a conflict.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): I consider it a provocation and a prelude to war, and I hope we don't go to war with Venezuela.

Look, at any point in time, there are 20, 30 governments around the world that we don't like that are either socialist or communist or have human rights violations. We could really literally go through a couple dozen, but it isn't the job of the American soldier to be the policeman of the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Well, CNN Senior White House Reporter Kevin Liptak is in West Palm Beach right near the president's Florida home. Kevin, what are you learning about this sort of cat and mouse game that's going on?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, it was a very traumatic weekend there in the international waters off the coast of Venezuela as the Coast Guard and as the military worked to enforce President Trump's embargo on Venezuelan oil.

You know, this tanker, the BELLA 1, was headed towards Venezuela to load up. It was under sanctions. According to a U.S. official, it was flying a false flag. There had been a warrant out for its seizure. But when the Coast Guard tried to interdict it, the crew there refused to submit. It turned around and essentially started fleeing into the Caribbean Sea, setting off what one U.S. official described to me as a, quote, active pursuit.

You know, they were more successful in boarding this tanker on Saturday. It was called The Centuries. Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security secretary, putting out a video of a Coast Guard helicopter hovering over the deck as Coast Guard members boarded that ship. Of course, this is the third ship. We heard earlier this month of The Skipper, which the U.S. boarded and is now at anchor off the coast of Texas, as the U.S. works to seize its cargo.

Now, the status of this pursuit, it is unclear this morning. It was still underway as of very late last evening. What is clear is that the tanker is not in Venezuela loading up on oil, which is what its ultimate destination was. The U.S. seems to have been successful in preventing that from happening as the president worked to tighten his grip on the country's lifeline, its economic lifeblood, the oil industry, what has really allowed the dictator there, Nicolas Maduro, to retain his grip on power. He has lashed out with his own rhetoric saying that this amounts to psychological terrorism. He has also ordered his own navy to escort ships that are leaving Venezuela, which, of course, heightens the risk of potential confrontation.

Now, we will hear from President Trump today down here in Mar-a-Lago, who's due to speak at 4:30 alongside the defense secretary, the secretary of the Navy. It's unclear what exactly the announcement he's making is but it seems almost certain that we'll hear from him in some respect on this entire situation. Pamela?

BROWN: All right. Kevin Liptak, thanks so much for bringing us the latest.

[10:05:01]

And new this morning, we are getting some disturbing new details about that mass shooting at Australia's Bondi Beach that killed 15 people. Here is CNN's Michael Valerio.

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Police say the accused attackers had three pipe bombs and one tennis ball bomb thrown into the crowd before the accused father and son started shooting.

Key here, according to investigators, all those bombs, all those explosive devices, were viable, but none of them detonated. So, in addition to those four, we have the three pipe bombs, the tennis ball bomb, there was also another larger IED that was found in the trunk of the father and son's car, bringing the total to five explosives.

And then there's the level of alleged preparation. Investigators looked at videos found on the cell phones of the father and son. And in October, police say both appear to be practicing firing shotguns in the countryside of New South Wales, trying to move tactically.

And as we move closer to the attack on Friday, December 12th, there's a still from CCTV during the 9:00 P.M. hour in Sydney that appears to show both of the accused going to the same footbridge where the attack started. And on the day of the attack, in the 2:00 A.M. hour, police say the father and the son are seen moving large, long items believed to be the weapons and explosives brought to the attack, and they're wrapped in blankets, putting them in their car.

Also, police shared a photo of an ISIS flag that they say the father and son made. And they added that in another October video, the father and son made, quote, a number of statements regarding their motivation for the Bondi attack and condemned, quote, the acts of Zionists.

Furthermore, worth noting, the surviving son was moved from his hospital bed today where he was receiving treatment escorted by a police riot squad to a penitentiary facility.

Mike Valerio, CNN, Beijing.

BROWN: And our thanks to Mike for that.

Happening now, intense flash flooding out west as an atmospheric river, acting like a river in the sky, pumps heavy rain and snow into parts of California. Look at the street right here. This is in Redding. You can see a geyser of water bubbling up from a manhole as cars try to drive past it. And here you see another driver past what appears to be water getting very close to the underside of that bridge right there. Floodwaters got so high in Humboldt County that some officers were chest-deep trying to rescue people. Other officers rode on jet skis to reach people trapped in their homes and cars, and more rain is in the forecast throughout the week.

Well, the lights are back on for most of San Francisco this morning after a massive power outage hit a third of the city on Saturday. Traffic lights and even Waymo services went completely dark. This is one of the several online videos appearing to show the driverless vehicles stopped in an intersection as other cars cruise buy it. Emergency officials say some of the blackouts were caused by a fire in a utility substation, and they're looking into the cause.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILAL MAHMOOD, SAN FRANCISCO DISTRICT 5 SUPERVISOR: This is unacceptable. I've never seen anything like this in the over a decade I've been here in San Francisco. There will have to be further investigation and questions that have to be answered to understand what went wrong.

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BROWN: Well, PG&E says in a statement that it expects to restore power to remaining customers this afternoon.

Still ahead right here in The Situation Room, MAGA divisions are taking center stage at Turning Point. Can Vice President Vance unite President Trump's coalition? We have some new CNN reporting.

Plus, deadly car bombing, a Russian general killed in Moscow, and new questions this morning about whether Ukraine was involved.

You're in The Situation Room and we'll be right back.

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BROWN: New this morning, Vice President Vance confronts head on the deepening divisions in President Trump's coalition as he tries to keep the Republican Party's factions together. Speaking at the Turning Point USA's gathering of young conservatives, Vance called for an end to end fighting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: President Trump did not build the greatest coalition in politics by running his supporters through endless self-defeating purity tests. He says, make America great again because every American is invited.

I didn't bring a list of conservatives to denounce or to de-platform, and I don't really care if some people out there I'm sure will have the fake news media denounce me after this speech.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Vance also weighed into the debate over whether conservatives should shun more extreme figures, such as Nick Fuentes, the white nationalist podcaster. Fuentes has disparaged Vance's wife, Usha, in the past, and Vance told a British news website that, quote, anyone who attacks my wife, whether their name is Jen Psaki or Nick Fuentes, they can just eat, and then he used an expletive. You can guess what that is. Vance punctuated that by adding that his official policy as vice president of the United States.

So, with us here is CNN Chief National Affairs correspondent Jeff Zeleny. Jeff, it's clear that Vance is walking toward this fine line here. JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: A very fine line. And by not really defending his wife in that public forum yesterday, that was certainly striking in a choice he did in an online interview on Friday. But it really underscores the divisions inside the conservative movement. They were on display all weekend long at this Turning Point conference. It was the first gathering of this since the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

[10:15:00]

So, that, of course, hit was hanging heavy over all of this.

But so interesting, just a couple days before, Ben Shapiro, when the conference opened, a conservative influencer, he called out Nick Fuentes and others and saying, you know, there cannot be these charlatans, as he called, them inside the party.

But J.D. Vance was not nearly as specific about that. Listen to what he said about white Christians and DEI in America.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VANCE: Christianity is America's creed, the shared moral language from the revolution to the Civil War and beyond.

In the United States of America, you don't have to apologize for being white anymore.

We don't treat anybody different because of their race or their sex. So, we have relegated DEI to the dustbin of history, which is exactly where it belongs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: Now, something like that, of course, gets applause from the crowd, but he didn't tackle the more controversial issues that really exist inside the party, like Israel, for example. There is a big movement inside the conservative part of the party that believes that Israel has gotten too much essentially, that there should not be as much U.S. involvement there, over A.I., for example, over a lot of technology and other things, so a lot of deep divisions inside the conservative movement.

But J.D. Vance was really trying to keep people together. But, Pam, it just really underscores how difficult it's going to be for him in the future as he tries to claim this MAGA movement for himself.

BROWN: Right. And on that note, he hasn't officially announced, right, that he's running for president in 2028, but he was endorsed by Erika Kirk at Turning Point this weekend, of course, the widow of Charlie Kirk. Here are some of the reactions CNN got. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's the way we should go. Like if we want to move America forward and to be Christian nation, we have to keep the same driving force going forward. And right now, President Trump's successor is Vice President J.D. Vance.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi. His entire back story, it's very -- it seems very contrive.

I think he says things to try and appeal to certain people, and there's a certain level of fakeness there to J.D. Vance.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So, to your point, does that tell us that Vance's path ahead may not be so easy and smooth?

ZELENY: Absolutely. I mean, it just really shows that to claim this movement that really Donald Trump has hung over for the last decade or so is interesting and it will be a challenge for Vance.

But look at this new CNN polling we have from the weekend. It really sets a benchmark for where things are right now in 2028 in terms of who you would like to see run for president in 2028 among Republicans. Vance, of course, there leads the way at 22 percent, but 64 percent say they don't know. So, that really leaves open this possibility.

And it still shows, I think, the biggest a factor here is what does President Trump do. Does he throw his support fully behind J.D. Vance? We will see. But you heard in the comments there that person called J.D. Vance, a phony. I'm thinking back to what Susie Wiles said in that Vanity Fair article. She said that he's been very political in terms of his never Trumper evolution to becoming the Trump heir apparent.

So, many interesting things to watch on that side of the aisle, but, of course, it's a little too early to have a good window into this.

BROWN: Well, but it won't stop us from having the conversation about it, right.

ZELENY: It won't. It's a good benchmark.

BROWN: All right, Jeff, thanks so much.

ZELENY: You bet.

BROWN: And coming up, sideline altercation, Steelers' Wide Receiver D.K. Metcalf and hot water over this interaction with a Lions fan. And now the NFL is investigating.

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[10:20:00]

BROWN: Happening now, the U.S. Coast Guard says it is actively chasing an oil tinker after the crew refused to stop and be boarded. This ship right here, the BELLA 1, was on its way to pick up oil from Venezuela and is under U.S. sanctions for links to Iranian oil. Joining us now, The New York Times White House and National Security Correspondent David Sanger, he is also a CNN political and national security analyst, and the author of New Cold Wars, China's Rise, Russia's Invasion and America's Struggle to Defend the West. Hi, David, great to see you.

So, Republican Senator Rand Paul says, these U.S. seizures of oil tankers are, quote, a prelude to war. Do you believe the administration is flirting with the threat of a military conflict here?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, they're certainly flirting with the threat of it, and the question is whether or not they really intend to go through with that. They've done something that I think here is very canny, which is to say they found ships that are under sanction. Many of these sanctions go back to the Biden administration or earlier on these ships because they carried Iranian oil and they are picking them off. This is now the third one that is -- that they have been looking at and they're doing so under the cover of these sanctions.

The question is, is that the plan, in other words, to choke off the Venezuelan government and maybe, by extension, the Cuban government, which is dependent on a lot of this oil money by grabbing these ships, or is that a prelude? And that's the question we don't know the answer to because the administration won't tell us what their real objectives are here.

BROWN: And what is the larger risk here? Because you have what were once considered American adversaries, like Russia and China, that have relationships with Venezuela, right?

SANGER: That's right. They do. I don't think that the Russians or the Chinese care enough about Venezuela that they're willing to go the distance and try to confront the United States over this.

[10:25:07]

They may well, however, turn this to political advantage because the United States has clearly gone going beyond the stated first objective, which was to stop drug trade.

And, of course, the president sort of muddied up the question of what kind of drugs he was going after. He left people with the impression he was concerned about fentanyl, when in fact what comes out of out of Venezuela is almost entirely heroin.

Now, that doesn't make it particularly better, and the president's got every right to try to stop the drug trade, but in sinking those 40- foot skiffs and killing now looks like more than 90 people aboard, it's been of a -- the entire operation has been of dubious legality because the people on those boats obviously are not military. They are civilians, even if they are drug traffickers.

BROWN: Right. So, you have this --

SANGER: So, that's number one. Going after the oil then raises a whole new issue because that is not directly related to drugs.

BROWN: Right. So, you have like two separate issues right now, right? I'm glad that you laid that out. Venezuela has condemned the seizures of the oil tankers as an act of international piracy. And then, overall, you have the Venezuelan leader, Nicolas Maduro, who has accused the United States of waging a campaign of psychological terrorism. Is the U.S. acting within its legal rights here?

SANGER: Well, in sinking the boats full of the drug traffickers, probably not, right? I mean, I haven't found a single outside legal authority on international laws of war that suggests that the military can sink those ships, sink those boats and kill everybody aboard with no legal process. And, in fact, until August, we didn't do it that way. We hailed them with the Coast Guard didn't try to arrest them.

For the oil tankers, if they're under sanction or if they're flying false flags, certainly, the U.S. or any other state has the capability to go try to seize them and put them into a port where they could -- this could get adjudicated. So, on that one, I think the administration is on sound or legal footing.

What they're really trying to do here, of course, is rattle Maduro enough that they make him flee or do something that would give them an opportunity to grab him. And I thought it was notable that in that Vanity Fair profile, Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, suggested she thought the goal here was regime change, something the president has never said.

BROWN: Yes. That was also very telling from that interview she did with Vanity Fair.

All right, David Singer, nice to see you. Happy holidays.

SANGER: Happy holidays to you. See you soon.

BROWN: Just ahead here in The Situation Room, family meals, quality time and a lot of I love yous, modern parenting methods that can help your children thrive from a former mayor and White House chief of staff. Brothers Rahm and Dr. Zeje Emanuel join us next.

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