Kennedy Center Board Votes To Rename It “Trump Kennedy Center”

27:27I don't know if they were in their library, the kitchen, or where they were. Typically on a Zoom, you can see the table where the board members are. None of this happened. It was a farce. just as most of the things that they have been doing. It was a dog and pony show to Donald Trump that he had cut down trees. He claimed that the whole Kennedy Center was crumbling and he came in and saved it. It's all very disappointing. And we should note that President Trump called the board a very distinguished board, but he appointed, he fired members of the board. He fired? Yeah, earlier this year. And they're led now not only by President Trump, but a bunch of Trump acolytes and sycophants like Rick Grinnell and Dan Scavino and Pam Bondi.

28:19A couple of his sycophants at Fox, Maria Bartiromo and Laura Ingram. Anyway, Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, Democrat from Ohio. Thanks so much. Thank you. A live look at the Capitol tonight where a funding fight could have a detrimental impact on children with cancer. a woman in the middle of that fight who we interview all the time about this issue. We'll join me next.

28:47I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, host of the Chasing Life podcast. We're talking to Dr. Alexander Moskop. He's author of the book called The End of Migraines, and he's the founder and director of the New York Headache Center. He's going to tell us why headaches hurt, what's really happening in your head and what you can do about it. What is the first thing you sort of recommend then in terms of lifestyle? So sleep deprivation is number one and people are busy not getting enough sleep. That's probably part of the reason headaches have gone up, just because we're getting less and less sleep. You're right. Diet is a very important factor as well.

29:24Lowering your carbs can definitely help. Three out of four migraine sufferers suffer from reactive hypoglycemia, which means you eat something sweet or carbs, sugar goes up and then plummets. Listen to Chasing Life, streaming now wherever you get your podcasts. You ever have somebody offer to come home with you from the hardware store? I am giving away a room makeover. Where's the catch? Three days to complete this renovation. You have no say in design and we start today. Oh, wow. You're not just gonna steal everything. Surprise! Ready to get your house crashed? For real. A little dated. It's time to turn this over to us.

30:06You guys got to get out of here. Got to get out of here. Crashers, all new Monday at 1030 on HGTV. In our health lead, the fight to end childhood cancer faces a new roadblock in the Senate. The Michaela Nalen Give Kids a Chance Act would expand access to experimental treatments and encourage companies to further develop medicines for pediatric diseases, including cancer. The bill was renamed after a Colorado teenager, Michaela Nalen, who passed away in October at the age of 16 after a battle with bone cancer. The bill passed unanimously in the House of Representatives earlier this month, but was struck down last night after an objection from independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

30:46Joining us now are Executive Director of Kids vs. Cancer, Nancy Goodman, and a survivor of bone cancer, Sammy Ulloa. Nancy, let's start with you. So Senator Sanders and his office say his main concern was not about the actual legislation itself, but about funding for community health centers, which had been included in a previous draft of the bill that was agreed to on a bipartisan basis. But it was removed, the funding for community health centers in the latest version. Here's what he had to say on the Senate floor yesterday. We all know that primary care is critical for children. In fact, in detecting cancer, early, saving lives.

31:21Researchers at the Emory University School of Medicine and the University of Chicago found that having access to primary care in childhood has been shown to lower the rate of death in blood cancer by over 10 percent. It is vital that we begin to increase funding for community health centers. So I think their plan, according to Senator Sanders' office, is to reintroduce the health care bill that had been agreed to that is not part of this, make it an amendment to the bill and then have it pass in January? What's your response to all of this? Yes, thanks for having me on, Jake. So first of all, he actually did propose it as an amendment and it was voted on last night and Senator Mullen objected to it.

32:05And so it didn't pass Senator Sanders' amendment. So that's already clarified. I think this whole thing is crazy. I view myself as a liberal Democrat. I care deeply about primary care. And yet when my son Jacob had terminal brain cancer, you know, I didn't want to go to his pediatrician and get another air infection check. I just wanted a curative therapy. That's what the Michaela Nalon Give Kids a Chance Act would give kids like Jacob a chance of receiving. It feels like every year you're here and the bill is right on the finish line to increase funding for pediatric cancers, research and experimental treatments.

32:48And there's always some reason. There's always some reason. Sammy, you knew Michaela. Tell us what she was like and what would this bill actually becoming law mean to her? Yes, thank you for having me. Michaela meant a lot to me. We met last year at our annual factor conference with MIB agents, osteosarcoma Alliance. And not only were we really good friends, we actually shared a birthday and we just had a really good bond. And I, she meant a lot to me and she meant a lot to a lot of people on our board. This bill passing would mean hope. She was aware of this bill being named in her honor prior to her passing.

33:22And it would mean a lot to her to pass as well as to the families who have lost children to cancer. I think this is a long overdue step forward that we need. and we already don't have enough time. Sammy, politicians on both sides of the aisle and even some people at the White House watch this show. As someone who went through bone cancer herself, thankfully emerging at the other end of it, what message do you want to send them about the need, as demonstrated in this legislation, to increase funding for research for pediatric cancers and other diseases and experimental treatments? What should they know?

34:01I think what we see over and over again is that children and young adults with cancer run out of options. And when they run out of options, their families just have to watch them die, and there's nothing they can do about that. And this bill would give us a sense of hope, and it's hope that's long overdue. We run out of hope when it comes to treatments because we don't have access to the most innovative and the most current medications on the market. Those are only available to adults. So to those watching who are in positions of power, we're asking you to help us and truly give kids a chance.

34:31Because we say that kids are our future, but giving kids a future doesn't seem to be a priority. And Nancy, just piggybacking on what Sammy just said so eloquently, why are these treatments and computers available for adults but not children? Sure, and that's sort of the issue we've been addressing. Well, I've been working on since Jacob died 15 years ago. So the fact is pediatric cancer, horrific, but very few kids luckily get pediatric cancer. So the markets are tiny. Patent law does not provide adequate incentives for drug development for kids because, you know, there's no return on investment.

35:07And so what Congress has done in other instances in which patent protection also isn't adequate for drug development, like antibiotics, like rare disease drugs, like biologics, is Congress creates new kinds of incentives. And so we're just asking Congress to extend that privilege to children who have cancers that for which there are no incentives for companies to develop drugs. All right. Nancy Goodman and Sammy. Lioa, thanks to both of you. Appreciate your being here. What in the world were Americans supposed to make of last night's primetime address and the president, quote, yelling at them, as one conservative pundit put it?

35:44We're back in a moment.

35:49Are you one of those media strategy people clicking through slides, scrolling spreadsheets? Yes? Good. This is for you. Because on Spotify, there's an audience that's different. Locked in. Loyal. Invested. They're called fans. Fans don't just listen to music. They feel seen by it, like it belongs to them. So when your brand shows up on Spotify, that's who you're talking to. And you're right next to artists like me, Lizzo. So, are you ready to talk to fans? Spotify Advertising. You're among fans. Our politics lead now the president's 18-minute seemingly manic primetime speech last night in an effort to tout an economy that, frankly, many Americans are not feeling great about.

36:33Our country is back, stronger than ever before. We're poised for an economic boom the likes of which the world has never seen. Soon we will host the World Cup and the Olympics, both of which I got. When the world looks at us next year, let them see a nation that is loyal to its citizens, faithful to its workers, confident to its identity, certain to its destiny, and the envy of the entire globe. We are respected again like we have never been respected before. My panel joins me now. Now, T.W., The Washington Post quoted a Trump supporter saying, quote, Trump is speaking so fast he seems panicked.

37:16I've never seen him like this and I've attended 42 of his rallies. That does sound like an expert. What did you make of it? It was fast at times. There's no doubt about it. And I heard some reporting that there was time limits, that he was trying to keep it under Susie Wiles. Like, you got to keep it under 20 minutes. He did. But look, I think a lot of the reaction I'm hearing sound like people who've never heard him before. this sounded like Trump, right? Trump is attack, attack, attack, always. The base, as you said in some of your commentary, are happy that he's back on the attack footing. And look, if people were expecting the consoler in chief, they're not getting that.

37:55That's never been his M.O. We've got to get over that. It's not like I'm talking to my dad. He's always just like, why does he talk like that? He's always talked like that. Look, I think it's always important to acknowledge the problem and then tell the wins. He has some wins to tout. Sure. Gas prices, some domestic, a lot of domestic products that he put up in his PowerPoint that didn't reach everybody, those were important. And look, Rome wasn't built in a day. In some ways, he's a victim of his own anticipation. We're going to fix it tomorrow. We're going to fix it on day one. That was never going to happen.

38:28But there's progress to be made. Jamie, what did Trump accomplish for either himself or the Republican Party last night, do you think? Not much. It wasn't good politically. Look, if you give a primetime speech, if you ask everybody to give up the time it got there, it's because you have a problem and you want to fix it. Your polls are underwater. Your own party is worried about elections. But if you can't acknowledge that there is a problem, and Trump is not, genetically, I think, DNA able to do that, if you can't show empathy, then voters are going to continue to say he's out of touch, he doesn't get it.

39:15So he certainly diagnosed the problem, and the problem was, in his view, his predecessor, Joe Biden. Take a listen. 11 months ago, I inherited a mess and I'm fixing it. This is what the Biden administration allowed to happen to our country. Under the Biden administration, car prices rose 22 percent and in many states 30 percent or more. Under Biden, real wages plummeted by three thousand dollars. Electricity costs surge 30 to 100 percent under Biden. The worst thing that the Biden administration did to our country is the invasion at the border. Here's the thing. On the I can fix what Biden did, he won that debate last November.

40:04He won that argument. But now, according to polls, people hold him responsible, not Biden anymore. Of course they do. And look, yelling at America a week before Christmas. Right. It's like he sounded like I literally thought this, you know, the drunk relative in the corner at the holiday party that you don't want to get stuck with. Because it's like, why are you yelling at me? Right. Americans are saying, we just want you to deal with inflation. We just don't want you to send, you know, millions of dollars to Argentina or invade Venezuela. We just want to know what your plans are. We are health care costs are about to go up.

40:38And yet instead of he's not an empathetic person. You're right. That's not what he does. But he at least could have said, I know you're frustrated. I'm frustrated, too. There was a way to do this that actually could have worked with his personality. But here's the other piece about this, Jake. And I was watching when you were having the conversation about the medical experts who are a little concerned. The other piece of this is he's just not capable of change. He's not capable of delivering something other than what he did, which was a very political speech. It felt more like a rally speech than the kind of we all know this Hail Mary.

41:12You know, you do the primetime address, especially if you don't have a big policy announcement. It's meant to be, I mean, think about Ronald Reagan, right? Like, let's have a conversation. He's not able to do that. See, I don't know that maybe he's not able now, but in the first term, there was always like a speech he would give that pundits would be like, oh, he's pivoting. And oh, you know, remember when Van Jones said like, you know, that's the president of the United States because he had recognized the widow of a Marine. He is capable, or at least in the first term, he was capable of it. And here's the bigger issue, I think, whether or not, you know, the vibes of people who reacted.

41:49The fate of the House and the Senate, especially the House, are in the balance here. And if he can't convince people that he's actually fixing the problems and he isn't more empathetic and sympathetic, at least seeming to voters, then he's going to have a Democratic House. Perhaps. Look, to the point of Trump being Trump, he believes that he is the biggest cheerleader of his own policy. And I think the big reason why they wanted to get him in front of the national media was to talk to an audience outside of who he reaches on social media to tout what he is doing. What he is doing. Look, the no tax on tips, the no tax on overtime, the no tax on Social Security, those are great things.

42:29Had that bill not passed, it would have the largest tax increase in American history. Hold on a second. I know where you're going with this. Those are great things. Those are great things. And I want him to be the cheerleader of his policies. They should have been doing this since the get-go to see where we're moving forward. Can I just say, he does have a roadmap. His vice president has said over and over, please be patient. It's going to get better. I just want to say, Susie Wiles must be the most optimistic person in the world, because she's sending him out to North Carolina. All right. Thanks, everyone.

43:04Appreciate it. If you're just tuning in, there is a lot of breaking news going on. We're going to go to Providence, Rhode Island. The suspect in the ground, Killings, has possibly been identified. And the case might be tied to the fatal shooting of the MIT professor on Monday. And in North Carolina, tragic news. A former NASCAR driver is among the victims of a fiery plane crash. The new details in both of these stories next.

43:29I sold my car in Carvana last night. Well, that's cool. No, you don't understand. It went perfectly. Real offer, down to the penny. They're picking it up tomorrow. Nothing went wrong. So, what's the problem? That is the problem. Nothing in my life goes to smoothie. I'm waiting for the catch. Maybe there's no catch. That's exactly what a catch would want me to think. Wow, you need to relax. I need to knock on wood. Do we have wood? Is this table wood? I think it's laminate. Okay, yeah, that's good. That's close enough. Car selling without a catch. Sell your car today on Carvana. Pick up fees may apply.

44:27This is CNN Breaking News. to have been killed when a private plane crashed shortly after takeoff. State officials say that former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle and his family were on board the plane. CNN is live near the scene where investigators are starting the process of trying to figure out what went so wrong. And we are just hours away from a major deadline for the Justice Department to publicly release its files about the investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In a moment, CNN has some new reporting about the frustration mounting inside the FBI as they race to redact the thousands of pages of files before they must be released tomorrow.

45:03Our lead tonight, those new details. Tonight, those new details coming fast in the Brown University killing. Sources tell CNN that authorities have signed that warrant for an arrest. Let's get straight to CNN's. Brian Todd in Providence, Rhode Island. We're expecting an update from police. Brian?

45:24Right, Jake. And as our John Miller has been reporting, the investigators believe that they have ID'd a suspect in the case. This person is not in custody. They are seeking him, according to John Miller's reporting, and that they have a signed arrest warrant for that person. Separately, I just spoke to Major Dave LaPayton. He's a lead investigative official with the Providence Police. He said he talked to me regarding that second person, this person who they said was in proximity to the main person of interest. the Mance police said was captured on video, on camera, in proximity to the main person of interest in the Brown University shooting.

46:00That person has been found and has been interviewed by law enforcement. That's according to Major David LaPayton of the Providence Police. But Major LaPayton did say, quote, he's not a suspect. That's what I just got from Major LaPayton. I asked Major LaPayton about this second person, if he could tell us anything about what he might have said in that interview, any other detail. and he said he could not give us that. But that second person, Jake, who was captured on camera in proximity, police say, to the main person of interest, has been brought in and been interviewed by law enforcement. And we are told by Major David LaPayton from the Providence Police that that second person is, quote, not a suspect.

46:41Jake. All right, Brian Todd, thanks so much. We're going to come back to you when that news conference from the authorities and law enforcement We begin turning to our Law and Justice League. A new trove of photographs from dead pedophile Jeffrey Epstein's estate. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee today unveiled more than 60 new photographs. At least five pictures show an unknown woman with quotes written on different parts of her body. All of them are quotes from Lolita, which, of course, is a then-controversial novel about a man's sexual obsession with a 12-year-old girl written by Vladimir Nabokov.

47:14This new trove of pictures include an image of Epstein surrounded by three women whose faces were redacted by the committee, multiple foreign female passports, and a number of photos reinforcing Epstein's ties to high-profile and powerful and notable men. It all comes a day before the Justice Department must publicly release its Epstein files. And in the Department of Curious Timing, this is the same day that Congress today is adjourning for the year, enabling Republicans to avoid questions about whatever comes out tomorrow from those Epstein files. CNN's Evan Perez has exclusive reporting on the Justice Department's effort to redact some of the files on Epstein ahead of the deadline tomorrow.

47:54Evan? Yeah, Jake, well, the redactions are going down to the wire. You have lawyers at the Justice Department's National Security Division that have been overseeing this effort over the last few weeks. And a lot of this is still an exercise in frustration for some of these lawyers, in part because of the guidance that they've gotten from the Justice Department about what exactly needs to be redacted, the number of different categories of things that they need to make sure are redacted in these thousands of pages of documents, including privileges, including protection of victims, identification.

48:30There's the Privacy Act, all kinds of things that the Justice Department wants to make sure is not public when these documents come out tomorrow. Now, we know that the big concern for the lawyers is that their mistakes are going to be made, right? We've seen that before. There's reason for that concern because, for instance, earlier this year there was a release of some JFK files and there was personal information of a number of people that was released in those documents people who are still alive who then went and said you know my information is now being made public the work that did I did for the US government is now being exposed so that's part of the concern here and obviously because you have all these Epstein survivors everybody is very very very much wary of affecting any of those people the question for the Justice Department Jake is whether the release tomorrow is the end of a debacle that really has been overshadowing people at the Justice Department for a number of months, ever since Pam Bondi, the attorney general, had those Epstein files in a binder presented to MAGA influencers earlier this year.

49:37And then in July, decided that there was no more information to be released. We expect, Jake, that there's going to be significant redactions. And of course, that's going to lead people to ask what is being hidden and why. Jake? That's been the question for decades now. What is being hidden? Evan Perez, thank you so much. Let's bring in a Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthy of Illinois. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us. So why release these 60-plus new photos now and not with the batch you all released last week? Well, I think that there's one of two ways of doing this.

50:13One, you could wait to review everything and then release them en masse or do it on a rolling basis. and I think that we're doing it on a rolling basis because there's so much intense interest in these documents and it just makes sense to kind of release them as soon as they're ready to be released. Why are only House Democrats releasing these photos? Why is this not a bipartisan process? You'd have to ask the majority. I think the majority is trying to hold a lot of these documents. They say that they want to wait to release them all at once. But I think the net result is that there's intense curiosity about what's in them that isn't really addressed.

50:55And hence, the Democrats are trying to do this on a more expedited basis. We're also seeing these photos with really no context about what they are, who they are, why they are, where they are with the people they're with. What exactly do they contribute to the public's understanding of Epstein and his sex trafficking ring? I think that combined with hopefully the files that are produced tomorrow as part of the compliance with the law that we just passed and President Trump signed, hopefully there will be more context for a lot of these images because, quite frankly, there isn't a lot of context within the documents that have been released.

51:36Now, the Epstein estate is also releasing documents. And so hopefully piecing it all together, we can learn more about what is exactly going on here. Sources tell CNN that there's frustration inside the Justice Department as staff there are racing to redact some of the information in the Epstein files. Are you confident that the Justice Department is going to comply with the law with tomorrow's deadline to release all of the files on Epstein and where information is redacted? Explanations as to why? I'm not 100 percent confident about that. On the other hand, I think that they must comply with the law.

52:17And remember the subpoena, which the Oversight Committee issued, you know, basically requires all documents to be produced. There's no carve out. There's no exceptions at all. Now, remember, why are we here? It's because, you know, a thousand plus victims of this child sex trafficking ring, many of whom are now middle aged women, have come to us and have not yet received any justice. And so I think that has really stiffened the resolve of Democrats and Republicans to make sure that the law is complied with. These sources in the Justice Department also tell CNN that whatever becomes public tomorrow, there will still remain extensive amounts of information redacted.

53:01Do House Democrats have a plan if that's the case, or will you accept what comes tomorrow no matter what? No, I think we'll be kind of comparing and contrasting with other productions, whether it's the Jeffrey Epstein estate or whether it's other documents that have come already to our attention. So I think that we'll get some understanding of what are the holes. The one category of information that I am most interested in are the financial records. There were more than a billion dollars in transactions, apparently, associated with this ghastly child sex trafficking ring. And so following the money is essential to understanding what happened, who got paid what, and for what purpose.

53:43I heard a member of Congress saying that he personally knows of a number of men who, in his view, according to survivors of Epstein and according to attorneys, were guilty of participating in the sex trafficking. And if they are not named in these documents tomorrow, he will know that stuff is being hidden. Do you also have that information? We received a number of names from the survivors. And so we will be also comparing, you know, whatever we see in the production against what they told us. So yeah, I think that there's going to be some general understanding of what is being almost withheld, if it is withheld.

54:23I'm hoping it's not, but I think there's enough kind of guidance being provided by the survivors and their attorneys that we'll have at least some understanding of what might still be out there. Congressman Rasha Krishnamoorthy, Democrat of Illinois, thank you so much. Thank you so much. President Trump making headlines on issues ranging from Venezuela to marijuana. CNN's chief White House correspondent, Kaylin Collins, is going to join us live in studio next to break it all down.

54:58Some tragedy in our national lead. Seven people have been killed after a small private jet craft shortly after taking off in Statesville, North Carolina, which is located just north of Charlotte. Former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle and his family are among the victims, according to North Carolina Congressman Richard Hudson. CNN's Diane Gallagher is at the scene in North Carolina, but I want to start with CNN aviation correspondent Pete Monteen. And Pete, the NTSB and the National Transportation Safety Board, is investigating the crash. What more can you tell us? Well, investigators really have their work cut out for them here, but of course they'll be looking at all of the video that's coming in, including this grisly new video from a doorbell camera just southeast of the Statesville Regional Airport there.

55:38You can see the black smoke and the fireball of the Cessna Citation jet weighs about 15 ,000 pounds, not an insignificant size, seats about six to eight people as it was coming in for this apparent attempted landing there at the Statesville Airport. This is a hotbed of activity for NASCAR teams only about 40 miles north of Charlotte. And of course, that makes sense with the fact that we know Greg Biffle, NASCAR legend, perished in this crash along with six others. Biffle, an accomplished pilot. He was a helicopter pilot as well, known for relief efforts during Hurricane Helene. I just want to show you the flight path here because it really details a flight that was doomed from the start.

56:16This airplane took off from the Statesville Regional Airport at about 10.06 a.m. Eastern time, took off to the east there. This is looking north and then made that left turn out over that highway there, climbed to about 4 ,000 feet, pretty low altitude, and then turned directly back for the airport. That's that turn that you can see in the bottom left of that image. Clearly something very wrong. Only got about six to eight miles away from the airport, made a beeline straight back there, then entered what's called the downward leg, perpendicular to the runway, made a left turn to line up with runway 28 there.

56:51But that video essentially corroborates what we already knew, that this airplane did not make it quite back, and the wreckage essentially tumbled there onto the runway, leaving that Hulk of Inferno there really a grisly scene in Statesville, North Carolina. So many outpourings of support here, a really horrible crash, and the fact that NASCAR has been hit by crashes involving small, light, private jets over and over again. Dale Earnhardt Jr. escaped with his life in a similar crash involving a Cessna citation type as well back in 2019. There have been crashes in 2004, 2007. The list really goes on.

57:29And no NASCAR team has not been touched by one of these crashes, especially now. Diane, as Pete mentioned, condolences are pouring in for NASCAR legend Greg Biffle and his family. Tell us about him. I know you knew them.

57:47Here in Charlotte, my husband works in the NASCAR world as well as a journalist. And the Biffle family was well known. And they are being mourned, not just, though, for what he did on the track. But as Pete mentioned, off the track as well. That second act that really exploded for Greg Biffle last year in those Hurricane Helene relief efforts in North Carolina. We're seeing everybody from firefighters and fans, rescue groups. The governor of North Carolina paid tribute to what Greg Biffle did. He took his helicopter up. He saved people who were stranded. He had supplies rained down from the skies on those who were stuck or who did not want to leave.

58:26And he continued coming month after month with aid and different supplies for the people there. The praise that is pouring in for his efforts and his wife Christina's efforts during the aftermath of Pauline and continued. Their good friend, Congressman Richard Hudson, noting that he is mourning their death, of course, saying, quote, they were friends who lived their lives focused on helping others. Greg was a great NASCAR champion who thrilled millions of fans. Now, I do want to read a joint statement from all of the affected families of those seven victims on that plane here, saying that Greg and Christina were devoted parents and active philanthropists whose lives were centered around their young son, Ryder, and Greg's daughter, Emma, her mother, Nicole Lunders.

59:11Emma was a wonderful human being with a kind soul who was loved by many people. Ryder was an active, curious, and infinitely joyful child. Dennis Dutton and his son Jack were deeply loved as well, and their losses felt by all who knew them. And Craig Wadsworth was beloved by many in the NASCAR community and will be missed by those who knew him. Now, many people, of course, are also praising the Biff for what he did on the track, one of NASCAR's 75 greatest drivers. NASCAR noting that he was a beloved member of the community and a fierce competitor on the track, Jake. Horrible story. Diana Gallagher, Pete Muntean, thank you so much for bringing us the latest.

59:48Law enforcement officials are racing to track down a man that they just identified as the suspect in the Brown University shooting. CNN's tracking all the breaking details ahead.

1:00:03We're back with our Law and Justice lead. A day before the Justice Department must publicly release its files on Jeffrey Epstein, House Democrats unveiled more than 60 new photographs from Epstein's estate. One photo is a screenshot of a series of text messages from a conversation where an unknown person is discussing sending girls. The message says, quote, I don't know. Try to send someone else. I have a friend scout. She sent me some girls today, but she asks a thousand dollars per girl. I will send you girls now. Maybe someone will be good for Jay, unquote. Some of the information in the next part of the message is redacted.

1:00:38What is visible is name, 18 year old, height, weight, Shenzhen with a check mark next to it. departure city, Russia. It's unclear who this message was sent to. I want to bring in someone whose work brought so much of Epstein's trafficking details to light, Miami Herald investigative reporter Julie Kay Brown. She's also the author of Perversion of Justice, the Jeffrey Epstein story, which is a must read if you care about this story. Julie, almost a week later, and Democrats in the House Oversight Committee released another batch of Epstein photos. Is there anything in this latest round that caught your attention?

1:01:12Well, it's funny that you just read that email because that's exactly what caught my attention. Because we have been reviewing, as you know, there's been quite a number of document dumps, both by the oversight committee and some leaks that the media has been getting from many hacking sources. And what I have been looking at is a bunch of emails that are similar to this that we have put together, and we have a story that's going to run tonight, about similar emails that Epstein and his recruiters were passing back and forth that said things like, do you have a girl for me? We give sometimes photographs of the girl.

1:01:54It would also provide her height, her weight. You know, she's a college student. I mean, it's clear that he had recruiters all over the world, really. We know that he had at least a couple in Russia. There's a woman in these emails who is in Brazil. We know that there were people that were in, you know, Lithuania, Estonia, different countries like that. There are photographs in this cachet of various IDs that belong to women from countries all over the world. We've gotten many different answers over the years about President Trump's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. The New York Times took a look at it in an in-depth story in an article today.

1:02:45Don's Best Friend, How Epstein and Trump Bonded Over the Pursuit of Women, unquote. We should be clear, it doesn't say anything about Trump and anyone underage. The article does say, quote, The president has tried to minimize their friendship, but documents and interviews reveal an intense and complicated relationship. Chasing women was a game of ego and dominance. Female bodies were currency, unquote. It says, the Times says, they interviewed 30 former Epstein employees and victims and others who crossed paths with both Epstein and Trump. What did you think of the story? Is that basically your understanding of Trump and Epstein's relationship?

1:03:20Yeah, I think some of this we knew, especially with some of these models and women that were involved in pageants who had previously accused Trump of either groping them or somehow being improper with them. So we knew that there was this situation involving models in particular, that they would have these parties at Mar-a-Lago and that both Epstein and Trump were very much involved in going to these parties. My understanding is that there were situations in Epstein's case where these so-called models were actually sent to Epstein to have sex with. And in some cases, as we know, Trump was also accused by some of these women of, you know, some improper conduct.

1:04:12conduct. So some of this information we knew, and I think that this went into more detail about exactly how close they were. We should just note again that President Trump has never been proven to have done anything indecent relating to the Jeffrey Epstein underage girls story. Tomorrow is the deadline for the Justice Department to publicly release its files on Epstein as mandated by law. What are you anticipating? banning? I think it's going to be a mess. I mean, I hope that they got their stuff together. I mean, this has been coming for a while. The public has been pushing for transparency for even before the Trump became president.

1:04:56We know that that the Justice Department had been pouring through these files in the past. So hopefully they were already organizing them in some fashion. But it's a big task because we're talking, you know, decades worth of material here. And also a lot of it is repetitious. You know, sometimes some of the information we sometimes get is because they make mistakes and they don't redact information that they're supposed to. So I would imagine there's going to be some of that tomorrow and that there's going to be a lot of redactions over probably over redactions. So, you know, it's hard to say if they're going to be able to how much they're going to release.

1:05:38I'd be very surprised if they release everything tomorrow. I just think it's such a tall task for them to do, you know, to release it all in one day. For one thing, it'll probably crash everybody's computer systems because everybody will be getting in at the same time. All right. Julie Kay Brown, Miami Herald. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Looking forward to your story later tonight. Right. This just in, what the Democratic National Committee is now saying about the in-depth autopsy they had planned on the 2024 election and the party's loss to Donald Trump. That story's news.

1:06:14A resignation in the politics lead. A top appointee for incoming New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani is stepping down because past anti-Semitic tweets she had written were discovered. Catherine Almonte DaCosta is the aide. Just yesterday, Mamdani named her to be director of appointments. In 2011, she tweeted about money-hungry Jews, among other things. The Judge Street Journal, Substack, was first to report these old posts. In a statement, D.A. DaCosta expressed deep regret for her, those posts, and said they're not indicative of who she is now. We have some breaking news in our politics lead. after initially saying that they would not release the highly anticipated autopsy of the 2024 election.

1:06:57The DNC has at least partially reversed course after intense pressure and released some top lines of its review to the public. Christine Pelosi, the speaker of Nancy Pelosi's daughter, released the top lines on her Twitter account. We should note, this is not the full report. My panel joins me now. Jamie Gengel, you've just had a chance to review Christy Pelosi's tweets. What stands out to you? I am still reading. It sounds as if a lot of this is about in-house organizing, how they do media, how they do communications, how they organize tech data, fundraising, spending. One thing just notable, modernizing that they shouldn't be just knocking on so many doors and things about the youth swing vote, but I'm still reading.

1:07:45OK, so, Sochi, you have some views on this. What do you think the DNC should do? And what was the problem in 2024 for Democrats? Yeah, listen, it should not surprise everybody here. But the reason why Democrats won is because, and you've reported extensively about it in your book, Original Sin, is that Joe Biden shouldn't have run for president, period, end of story. There is no other reason why Democrats lost. There should have been a competitive primary that always helps Democrats. It actually helps both parties when there is a competitive primary and the best person comes out to the top. I learned in 2016, after the 2016 race, people felt that, you know, Hillary Clinton, yes, was the best candidate.

1:08:32But there were a lot of supporters in the Democratic Party that felt that Bernie Sanders didn't get a fair shake. So what happened after that? We didn't put an autopsy report talking about how Obama had ditched the party at the time. What we did is we fixed that. And we had a fair process where we had 20-plus candidates in the race. And now Ken Martin is making the right decision. Instead of going out and saying, I mean, that report wasn't going to say that Joe, the reason why he lost is Joe Biden. It was going to. I was just going to say, I've scrolled quickly through the bottom. Yes. Joe Biden's name is not.

1:09:01It's not in there. And it's a lot of infrastructure. It's a lot of infrastructure stuff. It's the stuff that DNC should be worried about. Fundraising, organizing. How do you reach young voters? How do you reach women? How do you reach Latino voters? Those are the things. And so I think it is smart what they did. It's dumb to be focusing on the past. But that was the one reason why we lost. Michael, what do you think are the main reasons? Obviously, you know, people were worried about the economy then, as they are now. People were worried about immigration then, less so now, because President Trump has made so many advances in terms of shutting down the border.

1:09:35What do you think are the reasons? Those are sort of the top line points. But when you dig a little deeper, one big concern, and I'm actually curious to read this one. we lost in 2012 against President Obama. The RNC did the Growth and Opportunity Project. I was a part of that, specifically talking about what I saw at that time, which was years ago, an opportunity among men of color. And fast forward a decade plus later, Donald Trump effectuated that change that I saw many years ago. And so I'll be curious as a Republican strategist to see what can and are Democrats willing to do to communicate with young men, young men of color, this idea that men don't feel that there is a sense of purpose for them in society.

1:10:18A lot of young men view the Democratic Party overall in their messaging as being more feminine engaged versus masculine engaged. And so I'm curious to see where they stand on those issues. And are they willing, Jake, to take positions that may ostracize some of the progressives in their party? Yeah. And one of the reasons why there was reluctance to look back look backward was because Democrats did have such a good election day this year with those races in New Jersey and Virginia and really all over the country up and down the ballot. So do you think it's a good idea for Democrats to try to figure out what went wrong in 2024?

1:10:59I mean, I kind of agree with Sochi. I think it's you don't need. Well, no, I don't think move on. I think you don't need an autopsy. Alex Thompson and I wrote a book that explains what happened. No one went so wrong. Everybody knows what happened. And that book was called? Original. Yeah, there we go. Okay. So let's just say they won the governor's race in Virginia. They won in New Jersey. I am from New York City, but I just would like to say for the record, the mayor's race, they won it. New York is its own. Manhattan is an island. It's a whole other thing. I think that just, I got to the last paragraph here.

1:11:33Our North Star winning. That's the conclusion. of this. And they talk about some of the things you just mentioned, the youth vote, listening to voters, the economy, you know, what voters' concerns are. They're doing pretty well. Another topic I want to bring up is The New York Times obtained a recording of a call in late 2020 between President Trump, who was then president, and the Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives. And in the call, He pressures the speaker to hold a special legislative session in order to overturn Trump's election loss. Here's just part of the call that The New York Times got.

1:12:12You do it to uncover fraud. You could say for transparency and to uncover fraud, possible fraud. So who's going to stop you for that? You know, it's not what he said. A federal judge, possibly. Yeah, you know, Mr. President, you know, there's some there's some liberals out there. You you've dealt with them. So Trump lost Georgia by more than 11000 votes in 2020. Your reaction to the call? You know, I'm going to be honest. We lost the election. OK, we got four years of Joe Biden. I personally don't think it was a very good four years, which is why Donald Trump was able to come back, showcasing the level of strength that Republicans haven't seen with certain demographic groups, arguably since Richard Nixon.

1:12:58That can't be a discounted. But Jake, I got to be honest, and candid obliges me to do so. I don't know a single person out there who cares about this at this point. I got to be honest. People are thinking about the economy. They're thinking about cost of living. They're wondering what the hell my party is going to do to make sure that their kids can buy their first home after graduating college. They want to make sure that there's stability and certainty. That's what I think people are worried about. Yeah, listen, Jack Smith was getting ready to go to trial at the Justice Department whenever after he brought the charges.

1:13:26They were ready to go. They wanted to go the January after they brought the charges. He testified yesterday before the House Judiciary Committee, and he said in his testimony, our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power. I will say this audio would have come out in trial if there was a trial. And I think there are a lot of questions still about what evidence is out there on the classified docs case that has not been made public because Judge Cannon has blocked it.

1:13:58All right. Thanks, everyone. Ten years later, the hit show Stranger Things is sadly coming to an end. Next, I'm going to be joined live by the show's creators, the Duffer Brothers, to discuss the program's success as fans brace for the final moments in the Upside Down. Stay with us.

1:14:20Everything we have ever assumed about The Upside Down has been dead raw.

1:14:31Mother of God. Our pop culture lead kicks off in The Upside Down. Netflix's smash hit, Stranger Things, is wrapping up its incredible 10-year run. Season 5, Volume 2, drops on Christmas Day, and the series finale on New Year's Eve, which will also release in theaters. Major questions remain. Will the Motley Crue finally defeat the evil villain? And which of the beloved characters will make it out alive? The mad scientists behind the hit series, twin brothers Ross and Matt Duffer, join us now. First of all, I mean, congratulations. What a run. Matt, I'm a huge fan of both you and your brother. My daughter, as I told you in the break, has watched every season multiple times.

1:15:19My staff is obsessed. So what sort of emotions can viewers expect as the series wraps up? And how will you feel when that last episode hits both the small and the big screens? I don't know how exactly people are going to feel. I imagine they're going to kind of sort of feel how we felt, which is a mix of emotions. and confusing emotions. So, I mean, there's an inevitability to it. There's not a part of me going, I wish this continued on to season six. It feels like this is the right time to end it. But at the same time, it's been really hard and really sad to say goodbye to this story and these characters.

1:15:59And Ross, the life of the show, 10 seasons, the streaming and movie theater landscape has also evolved so dramatically since the show first premiered, you signed on to a new exclusive four-year deal with Paramount, which starts next year. What is Paramount offering that Netflix can't other than maybe more money? For us, it was really about, you know, we wanted to make a movie next just because we spent 10 years doing a show, and Netflix has been incredible. But when we wanted to do a movie that came out theatrically, so that was the main thing. Although, you know, obviously the landscape continues to change.

1:16:39So who knows what the future is going to be at Netflix. Hopefully the theatrical market can continue to thrive. And, you know, we keep seeing movies go out in theaters and specifically for us, original movies, not just stuff based on IP and comic books. We like that stuff as well, but we want to see big original stories out there in theaters. Matt, fans have truly watched the kids in the show grow up in real time, showcasing their evolving trials with bullying and heartbreak and grief. Have you heard any specific stories from fans about how these themes and these characters resonated with them?

1:17:15Yeah, every once in a while, someone will come up to us. And I mean, I think that's been the most meaningful thing about the show. I mean, because when we initially conceived it and pitched it, we thought it was going to appeal to people our age or a little bit older who grew up on these 80s films. So people in their 30s and 40s who understood these references. But I think what surprised us is that it's connected with younger people as well. And so they're sometimes often the same age as the characters are. And, you know, they'll come up and say it helped either them or their friends or all of them through difficult periods in their lives, whether through middle school or high school.

1:17:51And to me, that's, you know, that's the best thing to hear. And that's been such a moving part and surprising part of this whole journey. Ross, if I don't ask this question, my staff is going to fire en masse. So everyone on the staff wants to know the fate of one of your beloved characters played by Joe Keery. Blink once if Steve Harrington dies. Blink twice if Steve Harrington lives. You just blinked. I know. I just instinctually did it. I don't know. Anything could happen. I don't know where the Steve is going to die fears came from. We've never said it, although I guess we did last night on Fallon, so I can't say that anymore.

1:18:27Yeah. I think it's because he's so beloved. Joe's so charming. And we like to beat him up every year. We usually give him a black eye or something. So I guess the next step would be tech for Steve. Yeah. So, Matt, one of the things that I find so inspiring about you guys is that you pitched the show more than a dozen times and it was rejected. And you still kept pitching because you were so confident in your idea. And you're right. You were right. Right. And how does that feel? And like, did you call any of the people that rejected you and say, like, suck it? Or like, what was your reaction? It's so tempting.

1:19:03And now that we're on CNN to call them out, but there's too many of them. I mean, you set a bunch of pitches. I mean, it's normal. It was within a span of a week. And sometimes you go in these rooms and you can tell they're not interested the minute you step in, but you still have to pitch your heart out for 20 minutes. But, I mean, you have to—like, it was interesting. At the time, when we were pitching, the two things that were most cited for why no one wanted to make the show was that it starred kids but was not for kids, and that it was set in the 80s, because period pieces were not in and the 80s were not in.

1:19:38So those are probably the two elements that made the show a hit. So proof that no one in Hollywood knows what they're talking about. But also, you know, Netflix was a real risk taker, And they took a risk on not just this idea, but on me and Ross. It was pretty incredible. Well, thank you on behalf of my daughter, Alice, for everything you have brought to her. I think she's going to be weeping the way I was when they aired the last MASH in 1982. I'm anticipating that. Continued success to you guys, Ross and Matt Duffer, the Duffer brothers. Thank you. Stranger Things 5, Volume 2, premieres Christmas Day.

1:20:15And the final episode premieres on New Year's Eve, only on Netflix. Thanks so much, gentlemen. Really appreciate it. Thank you for having us. You can follow the show on X and Instagram at The Lead CNN. If you ever miss an episode of the show, you can watch the show on the CNN app. Aaron Burnett, Outfront starts now. See you tomorrow.

1:20:35This is CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam, thrilled to introduce the new CNN weather app. Be prepared for anything with comprehensive coverage from real experts like me. Download the CNN weather app on iOS today. Hey, I'm Anderson Cooper. On my podcast, All There Is, we explore grief and loss in all its complexities. My guest today is Amanda Peet. She's an actress, a producer, and a writer. In late August of 2025, Amanda was diagnosed with breast cancer. The following day, her father died, and her mom died some four months later. I was really at a remove. Like I was watching it from some kind of altitude, maybe for both things, like the cancer.

1:21:20And also felt like a weird sense of like I'm stealing bases. Like I had one foot on the cancer and I was trying to like connect with the fact that my dad was dying and honor him by thinking about him, by being present. Talking grief, building community. That's what the podcast is all about. This is all there is. Listen and follow wherever you get your podcasts.