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The Brief with Jim Sciutto

CNN International: Brown University Shooting Investigation; Sources: Investigators Believe Brown University Suspect Identified; Trump Set to Sign Defense Bill; Trump Defends His Economic Record; Ukraine Peace Negotiations; Witkoff to Meet with Dmitriev on Friday; Epstein Images Released. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired December 18, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR, "THE BRIEF": Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington, and

you're watching "The Brief."

Just ahead this hour, sources say investigators believe they have now identified a suspect in the mass shooting at Brown University. Donald Trump

is set to sign a $900 billion defense bill that pressures the Pentagon, among other things, to release more information about those deadly boat

strikes off Venezuela. And House Democrats have released more images from the Epstein estate ahead of a deadline for the Justice Department to open

its files to the public on Friday.

We begin though with major developments in the investigation into the Brown University shooting. Sources tell CNN that authorities believe they have

identified a suspect. Police are looking into the potential connection between Saturday's shooting at Brown and the killing on Monday of an MIT

professor in Brookline, Massachusetts. Investigators say the professor was fatally shot in his own home near Boston on Monday, two days after a person

killed two students at Brown in Rhode Island. Authorities are expected to hold a news conference shortly. We'll be monitoring it for developments.

Joining me now is CNN Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst John Miller. So, John, not only a connection between the two shootings, but they

believe they know who might have done it?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, that's right. They have identified a suspect. We know that because a

warrant has been issued for that suspect's arrest. That's something that you would have to go to a prosecutor, show probable cause. They'd have to

take that to a judge and get that signed. So, that officially makes that suspect wanted by the FBI and, of course, by authorities in Providence and

Boston.

On the other hand, they have not publicly identified the suspect because he's not in custody. And they're at that critical juncture, which, you

know, from past cases where they have to decide, you know, do we use all our resources and continue to hunt this person or do we put that name and

picture out there in the public domain and add more eyes and ears to the hunt?

SCIUTTO: Help us understand that decision making, right? Because I imagine they might want to hold their cards close to their chest because they don't

want to alert the individual. On the other hand, if you want the public's help, you have a name, friends, associates, et cetera. How do they make

that judgment at this point?

MILLER: Well, it's a conversation that we've had in many of these cases where, you know, you basically say we've got a large team of very talented

people with a lot of good technology and experience working on locating this person. But, you know, when you expand that out and, you know, add

millions of people to that hunt, you have an advantage.

The critical arbiter of this decision is, does the suspect know you're on to him? Does the suspect know you're looking for him? And for much of the

day, the case there was no. Since this information has become public, though, and I don't believe that was the intention of law enforcement

authorities, I think it started to appear in different media outlets, then you have to assume that your suspect is aware. And that makes him harder to

track because that confidence that he had that they don't know who I am can be erased very quickly.

SCIUTTO: Final question. Do they have any idea in what geographical area the suspect might be and how far and wide he might have been able to

travel?

MILLER: Well, he's had a long time to put distance between these crimes and himself. And, you know, depending on what tools they're using and what

information they had to start with, I don't know what they know in terms of where he is.

SCIUTTO: John Miller in New York. Thanks so much.

MILLER: Thanks. ' SCIUTTO: Let's go to Providence now in Rhode Island where our Brian Todd is. And, Brian, you've been talking a lot in recent days about just the

nervousness in that community because, well, the suspect is still at large. I wonder how this news has been received there.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, they're still very nervous because the suspect still, according to our John Miller with his great

reporting there, they are still seeking him. He has not been captured yet.

[18:05:00]

Now, we'll hopefully get some more information when they start a news conference here that they have delayed now for a couple of hours at least.

They are still telling us they are going to have a news conference. They just don't know when that's going to be. That's going to be critical

because we'll get critical new information. Are we going to get a name? That's going to be the big thing. And, of course, as you and John were

talking about, do they know possibly maybe can they give us any narrowed down indication of where he could be?

But in the meantime, Jim, I do have some new reporting here. That second person who was captured on camera, this man that police said was captured

on camera, quote, "in proximity" to that main person of interest who they're looking for, that second person has been found by law enforcement

and has been interviewed by law enforcement, that's according to Major David Lapatin of the Providence Police who I just spoke to a few moments

ago. But Lapatin told me just now, quote, "he's not a suspect. That is, of course, the second person that we're talking to -- talking about.

I asked Major Lapatin if he could tell us anything more about that conversation with that second person, any detail about what he said. He

said he could not tell me anything about that. So, that's what you've got now, Jim, the second person brought in, talked to by law enforcement, not a

suspect, according to Major David Lapatin of the Providence Police.

SCIUTTO: Yes. And the thinking is that perhaps that person might have seen or witnessed something that could provide further information to

authorities as they seek the suspect. Brian Todd, awaiting that press conference there. Again, we'll monitor events there.

Here in Washington, other news, legislative news, President Donald Trump is about to sign the National Defense Authorization Act, which sets out U.S.

defense policy and funding. It is authorizing nearly $900 billion in funding for all military programs, weapons systems, you name it. That

includes a 3.8 percent pay raise as well for service members.

One of the bill's more notable provisions, given recent news, is a measure to force the Pentagon to provide more information about its ongoing boat

strikes in the Caribbean. It would cut Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's travel budget by a quarter until unedited videos of the strikes are

released to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees.

Kristen Holmes is at the White House. I wonder, Kristen, does President Trump see this bill as a victory for him? Because, listen, it's got a lot

of money. He always talks about growing the military. It's got some money in there for pay raises for the soldiers, always popular on Capitol Hill.

But it does tie his hands on a few things, one of which is this video, but also, for instance, force reductions in Europe, right, which is something

that bipartisan majorities are concerned might happen under this president.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think talking to President Trump and the White House, several officials, it seems more as

though this was an idea of don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. And they do feel like they're getting quite a number of things in this $900

billion defense bill that he's about to sign. For example, it's going to codify more than a dozen of Trump's executive orders that he's put in place

since the beginning of his tenure.

And I want to read to you what some of those are. And that includes prohibiting diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the Defense

Department, authorizing the use of active-duty troops on the U.S.-Mexico border and deploying a Golden Dome missile defense shield. Obviously, there

are some bipartisan issues in there as well. The bill includes a 3.8 percent pay raise to service members.

So, talking to White House officials, they feel good about where this landed. They feel like they got a lot out of this. And again, he is

expected to sign it now any moment.

One thing I want to mention here, which I think is very interesting, just given everything we have seen in the back and forth between Russia and

Ukraine and the United States' involvement, is there was some pushback on this bill, and that's because it has aid for Ukraine in the actual bill. It

authorizes $400 million for military assistance to Ukraine, obviously something President Trump and his very close MAGA allies have been pushing

back on.

SCIUTTO: Kristen Holmes, thanks so much. Well, joining me now to discuss that defense bill is Republican Congressman Don Bacon. He's a retired

military officer himself, sits on the House Armed Services Committee, watching this very closely.

REP. DON BACON (R-NE): Thank you.

SCIUTTO: And quite publicly in support of some of the provisions in here, including that funding for Ukraine, really the first money the U.S. is

sending Ukraine in some time. $400 million, is that symbolic or is it significant?

BACON: It's good for, you know, one-year military aid that we normally do in the budget. I would also support, you know, an extra bill that would be

$3 billion or $40 billion, like we've been doing with the previous administration. We need to be doing more for Ukraine.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

BACON: It's in our national security interest. If Ukraine falls, I have no doubt that Moldova will be next, maybe Georgia or Azerbaijan. General

Petraeus is saying the Baltics would be very vulnerable. So, -- and China's watching how we respond.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

BACON: So, I'm a very strong advocate for the money that was in the bill, but I think we need to be doing more.

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There's a lot of other things we could be doing. Freezing Russian assets and taking it, giving it to Ukraine, and secondary sanctions on countries

that are doing trade with Russia.

SCIUTTO: I want to touch on China before we do, but given that we are in the midst of peace negotiations for Ukraine, or at least Europe and Ukraine

talking about it, not so much Russia at this point, do you believe that Donald Trump is sufficiently backing Ukraine? He had a comment just in the

last 24 hours saying, well, the longer Ukraine delays, you know, it's understandable why Russia is continuing the war. He often, as you know, and

you criticize him for this, will make comments that seem like he's leaning towards Russia.

BACON: He seems to act like he's an equal or like a referee in a game. He should not be. Ukraine has an election. Zelenskyy was freely elected. They

want to go to a free market system. They want rule of law. They want to be aligned with America and Europe, and they know that the threat of Russia,

Russia's the invader. Putin's killed all his rivals, and he's bombing cities every night. We should be so clear which side that we stand on.

And it does bother me. It bothers me that the president seems to not have the moral clarity on who's at fault in this war and where our national

security interests lie. And so, yes, I try to push him on it, and I don't know. So, this may be done for negotiating tactics, but I don't think it

works.

I mean, Putin made it clear yesterday he is not going to stop until he controls all of Ukraine. He said that publicly. We should just take him at

his word, and that means we should be sending cruise missiles to Ukraine and doing everything we can, because the only way to stop this war, unless

Russia prevails, you got to break Putin's will, and you got to make the war too costly or convince him that it's unwinnable. But we've not done that

yet.

SCIUTTO: Here, in this bill, you had Republicans willing to contradict the president on some things, a little bit of Ukraine funding, for instance,

but also, for instance, forcing to some degree the defense secretary to release those videos. You had the Epstein vote, as you know.

You had four Republicans break with the president on health care subsidies. You have long been willing to stand out and say, when you disagree with the

president, which, as you know, is a rarity in this country, in the current political climate, do you find that your Republican colleagues are more

willing today to say no to Trump than they were a few weeks ago, months ago?

BACON: Yes, but I also think it's to the president's advantage. I mean, I know it sounds counterintuitive, but having honest feedback from within the

party and how we can do things better, if we can create some course corrections, maybe with tariffs, Epstein files, whatever it may be, and it

puts them in a better spot, more successful, it's good.

I mean, we're -- I always say to the military, feedback is the breakfast of champions, right? When you get feedback and pushback, maybe instead of

going 360, now you go 340, and you're in a better heading. That's what we want to do here.

I think the -- what we did right now with the tax credit extensions for ACA, I think it was a bad decision. We had a very good compromise bill,

bipartisan, that could win in the Senate, but we -- but the leadership decided not to put that bill on the floor, which forced some of our folks

to embrace the Hakeem Jeffries bill, which I think is bloated with unnecessary, a third of the money doesn't even go to folks' premiums. It

gets put in the phantom accounts, they call it.

So, we could have had a much better bill on the floor that would have passed and the Senate would have passed. We still may get there, but it's

going to be January, late to need. But there's -- I think we offer a good voice. I don't want to be -- it's not critical -- criticism for criticism's

sake, it's about trying to do things better for our country.

SCIUTTO: Let's talk about Venezuela. As you know, President Trump has vowed to strike Venezuela soon, although he's said that for months now.

Today he said he wouldn't mind telling Congress about land strikes in Venezuela, but he doesn't believe he has to tell Congress. Does the

President have the law wrong?

BACON: I believe so. I voted yesterday, twice, for the declaration of war, or the -- you know, the war powers resolutions. I support the strikes on

these narcotic boats. I mean, we're losing 100,000 people a year. But when the president says in his team, we're going to be doing continued strikes

and continued hostilities, by definition, I believe the Constitution and the law as written says the president has to come to Congress and get

authorization. And if you're going to do a ground war or an air war in Venezuela, he has not made that case.

So, far, he's made a case for the boats, but we don't know what's really going on with Venezuela. My hunch is he's trying to pressure Maduro out. By

the way, he's a bad guy. Maduro is. You know, he took the richest country in South America and made it the poorest. But we don't really know what the

president's goals are here. They've not briefed him. We do know about the boats.

[18:15:00]

But in the end, I want to protect our Article 1 provisions in the Constitution. And if we're going to have continued hostilities, I do

believe the president should make his case to Congress and we vote on it.

SCIUTTO: Would you vote to support or at least give the [resident the right to order military action against Venezuela?

BACON: Not at this point. Now, I do think the boats are -- I would vote yes on the boats. I mean, I've lost family members, I think most of us

have, from drugs. And I got the top-secret briefings that convinced me they have good intelligence. They know what they're doing. This is not a random

hits on these boats. These are cartel people that are trying to get drugs in the United States. And the warnings out there, they know now. They're

going on the ocean at their own risk if you got cocaine on your boat.

SCIUTTO: But are they the right targets for this? Because as you know, the majority of those drugs are not coming to the U.S. And it's certainly not

the main source of fentanyl this country, which is responsible for those.

BACON: Yes, it's China to Mexico.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

BACON: I don't have a problem with going after the cocaine boats, but you're right, it's not going after the fentanyl. And I think Mexico,

though, is working with us on this, which is good. I mean, I've met with the Mexican president this summer, and she was eager to say, hey, I want to

cooperate. But we -- they want to protect their sovereignty, but they do want to work with us on intelligence and whatever other aids we can give

them to crack down on the drug shipments through Mexico. But yet, we also know that China is sending a lot of that stuff there, and they're putting

fentanyl together and shipping it north. We've got to work on that as well.

So, I think your question is a good one. Does it answer the problem? Probably not fully, what we're doing. But I do think there's this -- part

of this is to interdict the drugs coming out of Colombia and Venezuela. I think, though he hasn't told us this, I believe the rest of this is trying

to pressure Maduro out.

SCIUTTO: Yes. As you know, inflation is still a big problem in this country. The number that came out today was a little lower than

expectations, although there are some questions about whether all the data was complete. It is addressed last night, Trump claimed once again

inflation has stopped, which we know is false. It's in the numbers. Does he not know the facts in your view?

BACON: Well, first of all, we should be cleareyed as Republicans. We just had some bad elections in Virginia, New Jersey, Tennessee. We won

Tennessee. But all of them are about 10 points worse than they were a year ago. And so, that -- and I think that we have to be objective, that there's

a concern.

And if you ask the voters, what's the problem? In every case, it's the economy, right? So, he's -- the president's polling in the low 30s,

favorables on the economy, that's a losing number for a year from now. And we should know that.

Now, the president has, I think, a great point was 9 percent at the worst for when President Biden was president. Now, it's two-point 7 percent. So,

in that case, it's a lot better.

SCIUTTO: Rate of inflation is down?

BACON: Yes. Gas prices are great. So, he'll focus on that. But the reality is the average family going to the supermarket is still suffering over two

or three years of this inflation. They're not seeing an improvement overall. So, that's what's being reflected in the polling.

SCIUTTO: Does he risk appearing detached from the reality that Americans, Republican or Democrat, are facing with prices?

BACON: You know, we saw in the previous president, too, they try to put a shine on something. I think it's better just to be honest, objective. We

know most families are not seeing an improvement. Their pay is just starting to catch up with the inflation rate. That means you've had two or

three years where they were falling behind and they're going to the supermarket. They're paying a lot more. So, I think it's just better to be

candid. And then let's deal with it.

I think our tax law will be helpful in the end. The average -- I just saw the tax foundation said the average family will pay $3,500 less a year in

taxes. That's going to be helpful. And I think we're going to create more jobs with some of the other taxes that we have out there.

The downside is I believe that tariffs are undermining what could be happening. If the tax law is left on its own, we could be seeing a lot more

progress. But this this tariff policy, in the end, consumers pay for it.

SCIUTTO: You're not you're not running next term. You've decided to try to try something different for now. Would you be nervous if you were running

this term based on where the president's approval is?

BACON: I ran nervous every time. You know, in 2020, President Biden beat President Trump by six points. Harris beat him in my district last cycle by

five points. So, I've always had a hard race. I would see there would be challenges when you have the top of the ticket in the low 40s or high 30s,

depending on the poll. So, I had to get 12,000 Harris voters last time. That's not common. And I don't know how many times you can do that, right.

So, I think it would be a challenge. I believe I have very positive numbers right now. People know I'm honest. I'm not a Republican first. I'm an

American first. I want to do what's right for our country. But it would there is no easy race in my district for either side and I would expect a

hard one this time.

[18:20:00]

SCIUTTO: Congressman Don Bacon, always good to have you on.

BACON: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Thanks so much for taking the time. Still ahead, President Trump said in his address to the nation last night, as we just mentioned,

inflation no longer. Well, new CPI data proves him wrong. We're going to have the latest on America's affordability crisis and what those numbers

mean, what's behind them.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Welcome back. In today's Business Breakout, U.S. stocks rose across the board on Thursday with the Dow and S&P up for the first time

this week. Strong results from chipmaker Micron and investor-friendly inflation numbers helped change the market's mood. U.S. consumer prices

rose 2.7 percent over the 12 months ending in November. That number was below expectations.

However, economists warn that the report, the data behind it, is incomplete because of the government shutdown. They say those numbers will likely be

revised up. 2.7 percent is elevated as well, we should know, considering the Fed's target rate is 2 percent. President Trump, however, he told the

nation last night the war on inflation has already been won.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Eleven months ago, I inherited a mess, and I'm fixing it. I am bringing those high prices down and bringing them down

very fast. Inflation has stopped. Wages are up. Prices are down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: It's not true. In fact, beef is up nearly 16 percent over the past year. Coffee has spiked 19 percent. Electricity, 7 percent. Even gas

prices have risen those slightly.

Checking some of today's other business headlines, TikTok has now signed the deal backed by President Trump to sell the company's U.S. assets to a

group of American investors. That transaction not yet complete. The move does bring TikTok one step closer to securing its long-term future in the

U.S. Investors include Oracle, Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi's MGX.

Sports apparel maker Nike reported stronger than expecting earnings after the closing bell today. However, it continues to suffer weak sales in

China. Greater China sales fell 17 percent, offsetting the solid gains in North America. Nike says higher tariffs continue to hit its bottom line. We

hear that from a lot of companies. Shares are down some 5 percent in after- hours trading.

[18:25:00]

The parent company of President Trump's Truth Social platform announced a surprise merger with a private nuclear fusion firm on Thursday. The Trump

Media and Technology Group is merging with TAE Technologies in an all-stock deal valued at more than $6 billion. The deal will now create one of the

world's first publicly traded energy fusion firms. Trump Media, which, well, until now was not in the energy fusion business, its shares jumped

more than 30 percent on the news, even though experts call nuclear fusion a still unproven energy source. Lots of questions.

Returning now to the U.S. economy, Jason Schenker joins me. He's chairman of the Futurist Institute, president of Prestige Economics. Jason, good to

have you.

JASON SCHENKER, CHAIRMAN, THE FUTURIST INSTITUTE AND PRESIDENT, PRESTIGE ECONOMICS: Great to be here today.

SCIUTTO: All right. So, the inflation data behind this headline figure of 2.7 percent today is incomplete because of the shutdown. Do we therefore

have an inaccurate picture of where prices are actually headed in this country?

SCHENKER: Well, I think we have a rough idea of where we are. You know, we do see that inflationary levels are still above the Fed's 2 percent target.

That's clear. But the year-on-year rates have eased. Part of the reason we don't have month-on-month for November is we didn't have the October data

because of the shutdown, so you can't gauge the month-on-month. But we do have an underlying price index which tells us what the year-on-year rates

are.

And so, we know we're a little bit elevated. We also know that the 2.7 percent year-on-year headline number and the 2.6 percent year-on-year core

are slower than the 3 percent readings for both of those series that we had for the month of September.

We also know that services are still the big problem. If we look at year- on-year core services. So, services excluding energy services, that's up 3 percent. But core goods, which excludes food and energy, that's the stuff

that tariffs would impact, that's up only 1.4 percent year-on-year. So, writ large, inflation is still elevated, but it's a little bit slower, and

services are still the biggest thing to blame.

SCIUTTO: Some economists, including Mohamed El-Erian, noted that in this data, the housing portion was particularly suspect. And as you know,

housing prices are one of the biggest pressures on rising prices in this country, and a big portion of most people's monthly spending. Is that

problematic, right? Do you share the view that actually when they take another look at these numbers, the inflation rate will be higher?

SCHENKER: These subject -- these numbers can be subject to revision, that is true. But the housing components, the shelter component, that's part of

those core services. And, of course, housing, 60 percent of, well, it's about, services are over 60 percent of the CPI in general. And the shelter

component is a big chunk of that. I think it's 30 percent to 40 percent of the total level of inflation are in the shelter piece.

But this is something that would show up in that core services number that's up 3 percent year-on-year. In the most recent data prior to this,

the September report, core services were up 3.5 percent. So, there has been a significant slowing, but 3 percent year-on-year for those core services

is still an elevated inflation number. We don't know fully what the data picture might be as we get more data, a more complete picture.

The same thing is true with the jobs numbers, where as we get more data in, we will have a more complete picture. But I don't think it's inaccurate to

say that we do see still elevated inflation rates, and services do seem to be the cause.

SCIUTTO: Well, what's your best assessment of the overall state of the economy? Because inflation is down from that 9 percent rate, but 3 percent

is, as you note, above the Fed's target. And income wages largely, based on CNN's own analysis, not keeping pace. And job growth has been as slow. I

mean, the last time we saw it this low was back in 2020. I mean, what does that tell you as an economist about the overall state of the economy?

SCHENKER: We're seeing a couple of different things at the same time. One is the unemployment rate has gone up significantly over the last two years,

with the unemployment rate of 4.6 percent. And rising, that's a risk.

[18:30:00]

Plus, we know that recent college graduates, ages 22 to 27, their unemployment rate is even higher. I believe that's around 5.8 percent,

according to the New York Fed's latest report for the most recent quarter. So, that tells us that there are some issues in the labor force.

But if we look at jobless claims, jobless claims are pretty low, still around 1.9 million jobless claims, at the same time that the October jolts

data showed there were almost 7.7 million open jobs. So, it's kind of a mixed bag, right? The payrolls, by the way, for most of the last two years

have been positive monthly gains, but the number of new jobs added isn't keeping pace with the number of people coming into the labor force.

So, we see payrolls have slowed, job gains are not sufficient to prevent unemployment from rising, but we still have a lot of open jobs. The problem

is where the open jobs are is not necessarily where the new labor market entrants are. Those recent college graduates may not be looking to fill

those jobs that are in health care, almost 1.4 million, or construction, 200,000 or so, manufacturing, 400,000, warehousing, transport, utilities,

400,000.

So, you see that where the jobs are and where the workers are, there's kind of a mismatch at the moment, and the Fed is under real pressure because

payrolls have slowed, they haven't collapsed, but the unemployment rate is the highest since September of 2021.

SCIUTTO: It's quite a --

SCHENKER: GDP, though, still is good. The Atlanta Fed GDP now looks like Q3 GDP might be 3.5 percent based on the available data through December

16th. So, it's a really mixed-out book, and it's murky for the Fed.

SCIUTTO: Yes, it's hard for people to follow. Jason Schenker, thanks so much for joining.

SCHENKER: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Coming up on "The Brief," U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff is set to meet with a key Kremlin negotiator once again to discuss a potential

peace deal for Ukraine. How Ukraine views the latest developments, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:35:00]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back to "The Brief." I'm Jim Sciutto. And here are the international headlines we're watching today.

Investigators believe they have now identified a suspect in the Brown University shooting, this according to law enforcement officials.

Authorities have signed a warrant for this person's arrest. The manhunt though continues. Police are looking into a potential tie between

Saturday's shooting at Brown and the killing of an MIT professor in Massachusetts on Monday.

President Donald Trump has signed the National Defense Authorization Act. The bill sets out nearly $900 billion in spending for defense. It includes

a pay raise of 3.8 percent for service members as well as a provision to pressure the Pentagon to provide more information on deadly strikes on

alleged drug boats in the Caribbean.

Seven people died after a private jet crashed after taking off in North Carolina. This, according to a source briefed on the accident. Among them,

former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle and his family. This, according to social media posts by two congressmen. Surveillance footage shows a private jet

sliding across the ground igniting a streak of fire and smoke in its wake.

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff plans to meet with Russia's top economic envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, in Miami tomorrow. This comes just days after the

U.S., Ukraine, and European officials held peace talks in Berlin. In Brussels, European leaders are debating whether and how to use hundreds of

billions of dollars in Russian assets frozen in Europe to help rebuild Ukraine due to Russia's ongoing invasion.

The E.U. wants to use that money to lend money to Ukraine until Russia putatively someday pays reparations. President Volodymyr says Ukraine and

the U.S. will hold talks this week. He spoke about the strategic use of these Russian assets.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): All these questions are intertwined. Money is needed so that Russia and other

countries in the world does not use these assets as leverage against us. We are more confident at the negotiating table if we have these assets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Joining me now is a member of the Ukrainian parliament, Yevheniia Kravchuk. Thanks so much for joining.

YEVHENIIA KRAVCHUK, UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER: Thank you, Jim, for having me.

SCIUTTO: So, first on these assets, listen, Europe's been talking for years about accessing these assets. They finally seem to have some sort of

solution here where they lend money to Ukraine interest-free, essentially based on those assets. Is it long past time for this to take place?

KRAVCHUK: Well, it does look like that hopefully this month, sometime before Christmas, there'll be this decision. The negotiations and talks are

still ongoing, but I do see some political will to arrange that. And I think it would be a very bad signal if Europe would not find a solution.

And as you rightly mentioned, it's not actually given the assets itself. It's basically taking the financial risks, sharing the financial risk of

this loan, but Ukraine could have a stable finance for the next few years, both for the army, but also for the civilian infrastructure, for rebuilding

homes of the people.

And we do have an established international register of damage. It's already 80,000 of applications that people filed to receive the

compensations, because they lost their homes, they had to leave, they lost their loved ones. The loved ones were in captivity and not all of them were

released. We have still Ukrainian children abducted by Russian Federation. We cannot just forget about it.

SCIUTTO: Yes. I want to talk now about the ongoing peace negotiations. President Trump, he said today that every time Ukraine takes too much time,

Russia changes their mind. He seemed once again to be blaming Ukraine, in effect, for the lack of progress in negotiations. In those words, do you

hear the president taking Russia's side to some degree?

KRAVCHUK: Well, Russia just needs to stop the war, and that's it. And no one would be waiting any more second for the peace solution. And that's

where -- you know, we just have to come back to the page number one, it was the country who attacked us. It wasn't Ukraine attacking itself.

[18:40:00]

But we do value the -- you know, the whole process and the engagement of United States, because I truly believe that only United States, as the, you

know, superpower, can influence Russian Federation enough, can influence Kremlin not to be, you know, dragging their feet and not imitating the

process, because it looks like that, so far, it's still imitation from Russian Federation, not a real will to stop the bloodshed.

SCIUTTO: Yes. How about the U.S. position on this? You'll have Steve Witkoff negotiate again with Kirill Dmitriev. Do you believe that the

current peace proposal following European input and Ukrainian input from President Zelenskyy is closer to a fair deal, a fair peace for Ukraine?

KRAVCHUK: Well, first of all, a fair deal, of course, cannot look like as a concession from the country that was attacked. And again, when we speak

about territories, for our viewers, you can just open, you know, Google Maps and look on Russia, how big it is. And they still claim they need

this, you know, some more piece of Ukraine to feel good enough. Obviously, they cannot take care of the -- you know, the Russian soil, because like 30

percent of the people do not have running water in their houses, but they still want to occupy more Ukrainian land.

At the end of the day, I think we will have a solution between, you know, Europe, together with the United States. We are working very closely and

very seriously on security guarantees, because that's extremely important for Ukraine to understand that there'll be no repetition of this war. So,

we would love to have the security guarantees, which are not just the papers, it was Budapest Memorandum. So, it could be -- you know, it should

be a legally binding document, preferably in the United States, it has to be ratified, hope it could be ratified by the Senate.

But from Russian Federation, you know, he's a special economic invoice. So, obviously, he will be again talking about doing business, you know, like

some critical minerals. Now, the top news in Russia, I just checked a few minutes ago, is that Witkoff was given a crate of red caviar when he was in

Moscow. So, like they -- their philosophy is just, you know, we'll just do business and we'll -- again, you know, we'll just have to push Ukraine for

some concessions and finish our business just a bit later.

SCIUTTO: You don't sound very hopeful about these negotiations.

KRAVCHUK: It's not that I'm not hopeful. I'm -- you know, I live in a country which is in war for 12 years, my daughter will turn 12 next month,

she never seen anything rather than a war, you know, annexation of Crimea started in February. It's going to be 12 years. But I do see the

seriousness of the process right now.

And hopefully, again, Russia will not, you know, at the end of the day, again, be saying, you know, we'll have to finish the business and

everything. So, we think to -- we need to think a step ahead. And that's why I do value the statement of the Minister of Finance, Mr. Berset,

because he -- the Minister of Finance issued a statement saying that there could be another package of sanctions on Russian Federation, if they do not

show a good will.

And that's a good question, because we need to empty the war chest of Russian Federation, which is coming from oil, from gas, from, you know,

basically not the economy they built, but the resources that the soil has.

SCIUTTO: Well, Yevheniia Kravchuk, given where you're speaking to us from in Kiev, I'll say, please, I hope you have a safe night there, you and your

family. And thanks so much for joining.

KRAVCHUK: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Coming up, House Democrats release new photos from Jeffrey Epstein's estate ahead of Friday's deadline to release all the finals for,

from the Justice Department.

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[18:45:00]

SCIUTTO: House Democrats have released more photos from the Jeffrey Epstein estate shedding light on who spent time with the now notorious sex

offender. Philosopher Noam Chomsky seen with Epstein in this undated photo. Others show Epstein with Bill Gates. CNN has reached out to their

respective representatives.

It's important to note that the images were released without any additional context. New York Times columnist David Brooks appears to be in attendance

at a dinner in 2011. The New York Times tells CNN that Brooks never interacted with Epstein before or after that event. Just last month Brooks

wrote a column downplaying the scandal as a whole asking why is Epstein the issue in American life right now?

The release today comes ahead of Friday's deadline for the Justice Department to release a massive trove of Epstein documents.

Evan Perez joins me now. Evan, let's start with tomorrow before we get to today's release. You're hearing that there's a real effort to try to redact

these documents. Why?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR U.S. JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Right. I mean, they -- by law, they have to redact certain things like victim information.

SCIUTTO: Information.

PEREZ: Names of victims and so on. But, you know, there's a lot of other privileges here. There's attorney-client privileges that may be affected.

And so, that's one of the things that's going on. And what's interesting, Jim, is that this is being done in the National Security Division at the

Justice Department. It doesn't really make sense when you first think about it because you're like, well, what national security issues would there be?

But we're told that this is a part of the Justice Department that has been dealing with a lot of the releases that have been done by this

administration, including, of course, the JFK files, which brings up one issue that I think is very much a concern at the top of mind of people who

are doing the redactions. The problem is they've been given four pages of guidance on what things to look for. And inevitably -- this is going to the

wire. This is going down to the wire. And inevitably, there will be mistakes.

We saw in the JFK files that tens of thousands of pages that were released. And despite all their efforts, they still managed to have personal

information like Social Security numbers of people who are still alive, people who worked for the U.S. government at the time and who are now

exposed for having worked for the U.S. government. And they weren't told ahead of time. And so, their personal information got put out and they were

very much surprised about that.

And so, the concern here is that if that happens, for instance, with some of the Epstein survivors or with people, you know, there is a lot of

concern about that.

SCIUTTO: Is one of the driving forces for these redactions protecting the president's reputation?

[18:50:00]

PEREZ: That is one of the overarching concerns you hear from inside. Are we -- are some of these redactions geared towards protecting Trump? You

know, we will find out tomorrow or we will find out what we see. And there'll be some obvious tells.

We should note that the earlier release that happened earlier this year, the binders, this is where the Justice Department kind of found itself in

this problem. Pam Bondi brought MAGA influencers to the White House, gave them these binders of documents, telling them this was the Epstein's files.

It turned out to be documents that had been out there for years.

So, in those documents, Trump's name was there. It was not redacted. It was public. And so, we've been told that they're going to follow the same

rules. We'll see when we see the documents.

SCIUTTO: Final question, if you can, because you've been covering the story quite closely. What has the collection of releases told us about the

relationship between Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein?

PEREZ: I think one of the things that I think you can paint a picture of is that these two men were a lot more closely associated than the president

has let on. And I think that's the biggest political problem for Donald Trump is that, you know, he claims that they were very distant, that, oh,

they were just -- they socialized in the same circles. They weren't friends, and that he cast him off at a certain point because he was a

creep.

Well, you know, I think it's a lot more complicated. And I think the relationship was certainly a lot closer than he has tried to lead on,

which, you know, you understand why people are like, I barely knew the guy. But that's the political problem for the president. And I think that's what

comes across.

And it goes not just for President Trump, but also for a lot of people in American society who perhaps we didn't know how much association there was.

SCIUTTO: We're seeing a lot of those photos. Evan Press, thanks so much.

PEREZ: Thanks.

SCIUTTO: Surfers and swimmers forming a huge circle, this off Bondi Beach in Sydney, to honor the victims of Sunday's shooting there. The youngest

victim of the attack laid to rest earlier today. Just 10 years old. Matilda was with her family when two gunmen opened fire, targeting an event

celebrating the first night of Hanukkah.

A police officer is believed to have shot and killed one of the gunmen. His name is Cesar Barraza, this according to Australian media. He's believed to

have shot dead Sajid Akram, that the older suspect, the father in this father-son pair. In a video of Sunday's attack, a man wearing a shirt and

tie can be seen firing at the gunman from some 50 meters, 160 feet away. It's no small distance. More when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: In today's Good Brief, a Christmas pint for King Charles. The King paid a visit to the new Guinness Brewery in London. Check them out

there.

[18:55:00]

He got a lesson on how to pour the perfect pint. It's an art. It's a task, they say, he aced with flying colors before having a sip of the famous

Irish stout.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KING CHARLES: It is great stuff.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Certainly (INAUDIBLE) choice.

KING CHARLES: Is it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

KING CHARLES: To get stuck in your beard.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sometimes, sometimes. I have to be careful with the mustache in particular.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Guinness gives you strength, as they say. And a Merry Christmas from the Prince and Princess of Wales. Kensington Palace has released this

springtime photo of the royal couple and their children, Princess Charlotte and Princess George and Louis. Alongside the photo, the royals wished

everyone a very happy Christmas, as they say over there.

Well, thanks so much for joining us today. I'm Jim Sciuto in Washington. You've been watching "The Brief." Please do stay with CNN.

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