Trump Orders “Complete Blockade” Of Oil Tankers Into Venezuela

24:30And one example, Attorney General Pam Bondi, who Wiles accused of having completely whiffed on handling the Epstein files, she went on social media. She's calling Wiles a dear friend. What did you make of all of that rallying around her? Yeah, not a surprise at all to me. And in fact, I think that I've described her as the most powerful person in the White House other than Trump himself. I think that's true. They have a bond. He trusts her in a way that he never trusted any of her predecessors, Reince Priebus and the rest of the gang in the first term. And everybody knows it. So I think they know that she has Trump's trust.

25:13They know that when she opens her mouth, she speaks for Trump. It's a fascinating relationship. She has a kind of magic with him. And as you noticed, it's not very often that the president goes out and confirms your reporting. But you'll notice that he said, yeah, I do have an alcoholic's personality. Yeah. And J.D. Vance also said that he and she had talked about his being a conspiracy theorist. The photographer for the article, Christopher Anderson, he's receiving some criticism, especially from Trump allies and conservatives, for some of the close-up photographs he took. Anderson told the Independent newspaper about that criticism, quote, Very close-up portraiture has been a fixture in a lot of my work over the years, particularly political portraits that I've done over the years.

26:02I like the idea of penetrating the theater of politics. What's your take on this controversy and people at the White House feeling as though the photographs made them look bad? Yeah, I think the important thing to stress here, at least from my point of view, is that there were no surprises here. You know, they knew full well that Chris Anderson was going to be the photographer. And in fact, they even were shown his portfolio before he was assigned. So they certainly could have objected. The White House could have. And he's not a typical glamour photographer, as it were. This is a guy who's been in war zones.

26:45He's a photojournalist. And so I think, you know, when you sit for portraits with a photographer for Vanity Fair, you take your chances. Chris Whipple, thank you so much and congratulations on all the attention that your interview and your article has received. Thanks so much. Appreciate it, Jake. A major admission just in about that deadly midair crash just outside Reagan National Airport. The new details next.

27:22Just in, the U.S. government is now admitting failures in the deadly January midair collision between the Army helicopter and the American Airlines flight near Reagan National Airport. It killed 67 people. CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean joins us with the breaking news. Pete, what is the Trump administration saying? Well, this is not totally case closed yet, Jay, because there's still a National Transportation Safety Board investigation going on. But this, however, is a big admission from the federal government in which it says that failures by the pilots of the Black Hawk helicopter and by a controller in the control tower at Reagan National Airport led to that midair collision disaster back on January 29th.

28:00This is significant because not only does it mean a major concession from the federal government, but it also allows the families who brought this suit to seek damages from the federal government. This is a civil suit in U.S. District Court, and it is a really lengthy new filing here in which the federal government makes this admission. In it, they say, quote, The suit goes on to say that the U.S. government also admits the air traffic controller in the tower at DCA responsible for these helicopter flights and other traffic at the time, did not comply with air traffic control procedures that govern all air traffic control in the United States.

28:48Families who brought the suit are now reacting to this. They say this starts the job, but they still have major complaints against American Airlines and PSA Airlines, which operated this flight for American. All right, Pete Muntean, thank you so much. in our politics lead. Now, it has been two weeks since Democratic congressional candidate Afton Bain fell short in flipping Tennessee's ruby-bred seventh congressional district. She lost to Republican Matt Van Epps, now Congressman Van Epps, by nine points. But she did significantly cut into President Trump's 22-point margin in 2024. And that is fueling Democrats who hope they can expand the map, along with all sorts of other elections where Democrats have overperformed.

29:29So So how strong is that Democratic energy? CNN's John King is getting a pulse in his latest edition of All Over the Map. Local school board fights brought most of these women here. Now they're excited about 2026 midterm House races where Democrats normally wouldn't have a prayer. When you're here, it's very clear you're in the Bible Belt. Beliefs are very different from beliefs in Nashville. This is Mount Juliet, a Nashville suburb in the 5th Congressional District. There was a special election in the neighboring 7th district. Democrat Afton Bain lost by nine points. But a year earlier, the Republican won by 22.

30:08I mean, the numbers are the numbers. And, you know, if we can keep closing that gap, that's incredible. But gerrymandering makes it nearly impossible to win. There's chatter maybe a moderate would have run even stronger. But no one here sees it that way. We've been running moderate. It doesn't work. The old 5th Congressional District included all of Nashville and was reliably blue, represented by a Democrat from 1875 to 2023. That's 148 years. But Tennessee Republicans redrew the lines before the 2022 elections, carving Nashville into three congressional districts that stretch from the city out to the suburbs, well out into rural Tennessee, and they are reliably red.

30:53President Trump, for example, in 2024, carried the 5th Congressional District by 18 points, the 6th by 35, and here in the 7th, where we are right now, by 22 points, despite getting trounced in Nashville. Parnass's books is in the 5th District slice of Nashville. Lisa Quigley lives a few miles away in the 7th District's piece of the city. She was chief of staff to the last Democrat to represent Nashville when it was all one district. He was a centrist, and Quigley's experience tells her moderates have a better shot in the suburbs and the rural counties. But the surge of energy among progressives in the special election was eye-opening.

31:33And when they turned to see who our nominee was, it was somebody who was fighting, who was talking about affordability, who was very aggressive. And voters here like that. And here now with us, CNN's John King, as well as CNN's Arlette Seinside. So, John, you're a numbers guy. even if Democrats continue to overperform, is the math really there for Democrats in the reliably ruby red districts in Tennessee? Maybe just barely in one of them, the fifth. Democrats have been overperforming in 2025 by about 15 points, 13 or 15 points. That might be enough to put that one in play, but Democrats are pretty candid about this.

32:06Their answer would be no, but we got some help. If they can keep their base energized and maximize turnout, Tennessee is terrible when it comes to voter participation, but there was great turnout in the special election among Democrats. Then they need, quote unquote, help from Republicans. What the president's doing tonight is part of that. We saw all throughout 2025, including in this special election, Republican turnout is down. What they are hoping for is the addition of Democratic energy and the subtraction of Republican disenchantment. It's a long shot. It's like drawing to an inside straight flush.

32:34But they haven't been this excited in that area in a few years. So it was Bob Dylan who said, I think, you don't need to be a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. And you can look on Capitol Hill today, four House Republicans, two of them from districts. Kamala Harris won, one from a district that Trump only won by three points. They just bucked the Speaker of the House and pushed this legislation to extend the Obamacare subsidies. What does that say to you? It says, it gets back to the point I was just making, that I was talking to a very smart Republican strategist. Democrats are excited.

33:08Democrats want to fight. Trump's in office. Democrats are emboldened. And Republicans have just about every Republican is mad about something. Maybe it's the Epstein files. Maybe it's Trump's handling of affordability. A lot of Christian conservatives appalled at the president's reaction to Rob Reiner and some other character questions. And so Republicans have a whole bunch of reasons that is deflating their base. And Democrats right now are excited. They remember 2018 and they think they have a chance in the midterms. And so it's the combination of that. Democrat with a bounce and Republicans kind of at the moment right now, which is one of the reasons the president's trying to shake that again tonight.

33:40But you mentioned the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He went to those districts. J.D. Vance went to those districts. I've been to those districts. Those Republicans are in trouble unless they bend the steel. Democrats really think that this issue of health care is going to help them with their affordability message. And that's why they have been driving this over and over for months. It was at the heart of their debate and their fight over the shutdown, saying that they needed to act to extend these subsidies. They want to make this issue number one for Republicans heading into the midterms next year.

34:06So Republicans are really the majority there is they're tearing at the seams, right? I mean, like Speaker Johnson had to say that he still has control of the House, which is not something normally a speaker has to say. You've been talking to House Republicans all day. Take a listen to Republican Congressman Eric Burleson. He's from a reliably Republican district in Missouri. And he is mad at these four House Republicans who joined the Democrats to force a vote on the extensions of the Obamacare subsidies. Take a listen. They're stabbing the rest of the party in the back. I think it's politically short-sighted.

34:43What we really need to do is a wholesale reform of the Obamacare system. I mean, the other argument is they're doing what they need to do to try to keep their seats in the House to keep the Republicans in the majority. What's it like at the House now? Well, it's certainly there is a lot of tension. It does seem like House Speaker Mike Johnson has lost a bit of control, at least as it relates to this health care issue. The House will be voting in the coming hour on a much more limited proposal. But this issue of the ACA subsidies is something that many moderates, people in these centrist districts are really concerned about when they're thinking about their chances going forward.

35:20Let's also not forget that Republicans have been trying to repeal or fix Obamacare for years now, and they haven't come up with a solution just yet. And that is something that's also frustrating for some within the Republican Party, that they don't have anything to show for it just yet. John, take a listen to Senator Eric Schmidt, Republican of Missouri. We've already voted on a plan that extends Obamacare failure. We're looking for reform. The Democrats had their chance. They destroyed health care with Obamacare. They've made everything more expensive. So this is their argument. Do you think it will work?

35:56Well, never mind what the Democrats say. Never mind what I'm about to say. What about his own Missouri colleague, Josh Hawley, who's a more populist conservative, who says that half the people in the state are going to see their health care premiums, or thousands of people in the state are going to see their health care premiums double, if not triple, and the Republicans need to do something about it. Well, that's right. This is more an issue in the House, where they're at risk of losing the majority. If the election were tomorrow, they would lose the majority. And, you know, it's a good quote from Senator Schmidt.

36:22The Democrats had their chance. Well, remember, Donald Trump came to office in 2017, said repeal and replace. He had a majority for two years. They did zip. Donald Trump has been president for 11 months now with a Republican majority, and they have done zip on this question they say is definitional to them, repeal and replace. But they cannot come to an agreement. Republicans can simply not come to an agreement. Yeah, and it's important for voters out there to understand the Senate is not particularly competitive next year. Like Republicans, in all likelihood, will keep the Senate. So they can have those comments because they don't have to worry that much really about losing more than two or three seats.

36:56But they have the populist divide just like they do in the House. Holly and Schmidt, same state. Interesting. Thank you so much to both of you. A big move in the pop culture. The Oscars is going to move from ABC Television Network to YouTube. The show is going to go on to YouTube. The show is going to go on. It's going to broadcast in March 2026. But a few years after that, in 2029, the Academy says that YouTube signed a multi-year deal from 2029 through 2033. So who's going to host the Oscars? We're back in a moment.

37:44The tax is your whole life. Work, children, partner. You can't do anything wrong. Right. Nice. It doesn't look like tax. Tax is done. Safe. With Visa, tax. Now, test it.

38:00In our world lead today, Australian police charge the surviving suspect of the two in Sunday's Bondi Beach Massacre with 15 counts of murder, 40 counts of attempted murder, and other charges, including committing a terrorist act. This is three victims of the anti-Semitic attack will be laid to rest today. CNN's Linda Kincaid profiles now what we're learning about the victims. A warning, you might find the content of this report difficult to watch.

38:33It was meant to be a celebration, but joy quickly turned to panic, Pain and then unbearable grief. Destroying families, fracturing communities, young and old now gone. Matilda was the youngest of the victims, just 10 years old. Her aunt describing her as a sweet, happy child with a beautiful smile. Rushed to a nearby hospital, she could not be saved. Alexander Kleiman was the oldest of Sunday's victims. The 87-year-old survived the Holocaust and his wife Larissa, pictured next to him, says he died shielding her from the bullets. Among those killed two rabbis, 39-year-old Yarukov Levitan, a husband, father and beloved member of Sydney's Jewish community, and London-born Eli Schlanger, who organised the gathering on Sunday.

39:24The way we hold up in times as difficult as this is by keeping dear the message that Eli, Rabbi Schlanger, held so dear to him, which is to spread the light of Judaism, to share it. Few encapsulated that spirit like Thiebaud Wittgen. The 78-year-old known as the Candyman brought joy and smiles handing out treats to those in his congregation. His family say their sweet grandpa died trying to shield a friend. Another victim now identified, Boris Tetlerod, described by his niece as a beloved husband and father. He was killed, his son who was with him was wounded and remains in hospital. Retired detective Peter Ma was also among those killed.

40:11Mazzo, as he was known, served almost 40 years in the line of duty. He was working as a freelance photographer, covering the Hanukkah celebration. His rugby club in Randwick called him an absolute legend. Schlanger's brother Eli, one of several victims born overseas. 27-year-old Dan Elkayam hailed from Paris, France. 82-year-old Maria Pogany from Slovakia. 62-year-old Rehavan Morrison moved to Australia fleeing persecution from the Soviet Union, and Russian couple Boris and Sophia Gurman. 61-year-old Sophia and her husband, 69-year-old Boris, were caught on dashcam footage trying to stop one of the gunmen.

40:55They were married for 34 years and were killed together in the confrontation. Their family said they died as they lived, bravely putting others before themselves. And Jake, we heard a tearful message from the parents of Matilda, the youngest victim of the Bondi massacre. Her dad describing the moment she was shot, how he wrapped his shirt around her as she was telling him it's hard to breathe. In the coming hours, she'll be laid to rest. Jake. All right, Linda Kincaid, thank you for that report.

41:29Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. For this hour, President Trump is set to address the nation from the White House this evening. In a speech the White House says will highlight his actions from his first year back in office and lay out his priorities for 2026. So will he bring up affordability? Will he discuss new ways, new ideas to lower prices? Or the fight over health care subsidies with just days before the deadline? What about the new actions Trump is taking about Venezuela? I'm going to ask a Senate Republican and key ally of the president's what we can expect in moments and what he wants him to say.

42:01Plus, the son of Rob and Michelle Reiner made his first court appearance today after being charged with their murders. We're going to tell you the only three words that son, 32-year-old Nick Reiner, said today inside the courtroom and what we learned about the next steps in this case. Also, First Lady Melania Trump drops the first trailer for her upcoming documentary, which Amazon reportedly paid an unprecedented$40 million for. Is there going to be anything in this documentary that doesn't seem like a Jeff Bezos ploy for the president's favor? And Deck the Hall, Solve Small Business Series, is back.

42:36You met my guest tonight earlier this year as he warned about how President Trump's tariffs could impact the prices your family pays for Christmas decor. So how much of that became reality? We'll find out.

42:52The lead tonight, we're just hours away from President Trump's primetime address. Well, he will unveil his 2026 agenda to a nation that's been not so hot on his 2025 agenda, at least according to recent polls. Voters' top issues today is the same as it was when Trump won last November and took his oath of office on January 20th. It's the economy. But as the president continues to tout plunging prices, his signature tariffs and call affordability a hoax. What's in store for Americans tonight? Let's bring in CNN's Caitlin Collins at the White House. Caitlin, what are we expecting? Well, Jake, we know the president is going to be speaking to the nation tonight, one of his final primetime evening addresses as the year comes to a close.

43:36And right now, the White House has been touting this as a moment for the president to look back and reflect on what they say are his victories, his accomplishments over the last year since he returned to the Oval Office. And so expect him to talk about that, things including the border, as Caroline Levitt, his press secretary, teased in an interview yesterday previewing what this speech is going to look like. But obviously, Jake, as these new numbers have come out and new polls about his standing with voters and Americans when it comes to the economy, everyone is going to be watching to see what exactly the president says about that and how he frames it, especially after the speech he delivered last week in light of recent Democratic victories and Republican losses on affordability.

44:17And I was talking to a former key ally of the president's, Jake, last night, Marjorie Taylor Greene, who obviously has had an acrimonious split with him in the last few months. But I asked her what she wants the president to say in this address tonight when it comes to Americans who are hurting economically in the country. This is what she said. What I would like to see from the president is empathy for Americans. Donald Trump is a billionaire and he's the president of the United States. When he looks into a camera and says affordability is a hoax and just totally tries to make nothing out of inflation, he's talking to Americans that are suffering and have been suffering for many years now.

45:00And so, Jake, that'll be a key question and a key moment in tonight's speech in terms of how the president threads that needle of what he's been saying. Last week, he declared that there was no inflation, even though obviously there is inflation. How does he speak to those concerns that voters do still have about the state of the economy, while also touting his own accomplishments, his own record on the economy? That is going to be something that key Republicans will obviously be watching for in tonight's address as well. All right, Caitlin Collins at the White House. Thank you so much. And of course, Caitlin's going to have full coverage of President Trump's speech tonight on her excellent show, The Source with Caitlin Collins.

45:34It's tonight at 9 Eastern, only on CNN. And joining me now is Republican Senator Mark Wayne Mullen from Oklahoma. Senator, thanks so much for joining us. So a brand new poll from Quinnipiac University shows that 92 percent of voters, 92, consider the cost of living to be a serious problem. And most voters, 57 percent, no longer blame Biden for the for the state of the economy. They consider it to be the responsibility of President Trump. We know President Trump doesn't accept that. He continues to call affordability a Democrat hoax. And his administration continues to blame Democrats on the Biden administration for inflation and the state of the economy.

46:14What is your advice to him tonight when it comes to striking a tone about the economy that will resonate with the reality that so many Americans in Oklahoma and across the country are feeling? Well, I'm not I'm not here to give the president any advice. I mean, he's the president of the United States. But when you really want to talk about facts of where we were at and where we're at today, he can tout those. I mean, you start looking at the job reports that came out today with very strong private sector jobs beating expectations. I think there's been a quarter of a million private sector jobs created just since August.

46:47You have strong financial reports that are coming in, even after a 43-day shutdown. You start looking at the inflation. Inflation underneath Biden high was 9.5 percent. We're averaging 2.4 percent now. You look at energy costs. In Oklahoma, gas was over$4 a gallon underneath the Biden administration. Yesterday, it was at$1.89 a gallon. And we know that energy is the backbone of the economy. You have to factor in the energy cost on making a product and delivering a product based on energy. You start looking at what Walmart CEO said, that groceries are down by over 20 percent. We see proteins are up a little bit as a rancher.

47:31You kind of have mixed feelings about that. When you start looking at what the one big, beautiful bill is going to do for the American people in the first quarter, They're going to see those effects go into place. No tax on tips. You're going to see no tax on overtime. 86 % of the recipients of Social Security is going to have no tax on the Social Security. That's real income that's going to be falling back into the economy. You consider the middle class that's coming back with the trillions, literally trillions of dollars has been invested into back into manufacturing because of President Trump's leadership.

48:05So everything's moving in the right direction. The thing is, is sometimes the American people, they get impatient because as I like to make the comparison, I like to go to the lake on the weekends in the summer with my family and I try to throw them off a tube in my boat, I can turn around on a dime. But an aircraft carrier compared to our economy, an aircraft carrier takes a mile to turn around. And we've got the largest economy that the president had to pick up the wreck pieces from the Biden administration, start putting them together and move us in the right direction. And that's exactly what is happening.

48:35And so it's amazing what the what the Biden administration took four years to destroy. President Trump's been able to build it back in 11 months. And we continue to see better reports every month. All right. So it does sound like you have some thoughts on what the president might want to consider saying. Let me ask about a different subject. President Trump last night ordered a total and complete blockade of sanctioned oil tankers coming to and leaving Venezuela, which does seem to suggest that his military pressure campaign in the Caribbean is not solely about heading off drug trafficking into the U.S.

49:07You said yesterday after Secretary of Defense Hegseth and Secretary of State Rubio's classified briefing to the Senate that regime change was never a conversation. What do you mean by that? Because this move by the president is spurring questions. And of course, Susie Wiles in that Vanity Fair interview did say that the strikes against those boats were one of the goals was getting Maduro to step down. Well, what I said was, is during the briefing, that conversation about regime change never took place. Now, it's been very clear. We want Maduro to leave. There's no question about that. We want him to leave.

49:43The Venezuelan people want him to leave. There was an election that he lost overwhelmingly, and he still won't leave. The one that won the election, the Maduro regime has been trying to kill her, and she's having to live in hiding. And so we see that, but that isn't what this is about. You've got the narco boats that are literally poisoning our streets. I've used this number before. They've killed more individuals in 2024 on our streets because the drugs they're bringing into our states. And then we lost in the entire Vietnam War with the U.S. personnel. So there's a huge terrorist attack that's happening on our streets, and the president's being very proactive.

50:22When you start looking at the boats, these crude ships that are shipping illegal, this is illegal because it's been sanctioned, illegal crude across the ocean, we have the right to intercept those because they have been sanctioned. And these aren't legal boats. These are ghost boats. They're being flagged from a false country. Well, a real country, but a false flag. They're not using the technology of location. and the location they are showing are showing them 1 ,000, 1 ,500 miles, 500 miles away from where they're at. And so we're simply going after the illegal cartel or the legal cargo that's on that ship.

51:01And all this is to, once again, enforce the laws and the sanctions that we need to do. And so we're being very proactive. The president is being very proactive on the legal activities. that's been, honestly, past administrations have turned a blind eye to. So we only have about a minute left, but I want to get your reaction to the fact that over in the House, a handful of Republicans crossed party lines to sign on to this Democratic effort to force a vote on extending the Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year for three additional years. Would you be willing to allow a vote on a bill that would extend Obamacare subsidies?

51:41Would you be willing to vote for it if it was reformed in some way? Yeah, Jake, the vote already took place, and it failed in the Senate. So that's a mute deal. However, the reforms, that wasn't part of the deal that came to the Senate floor. It was a three-year clean extension. According to GAO, which is the Government Accountability Act, they submitted, let's say, 100 claims. Out of 100 claims that were false claims, by the way, for insurance, using false social securities, false addresses, false names. 90 percent of them were accepted, only at 10 percent caught rate. So 90 percent of this premium tax that they're wanting to extend at a cost of$83 billion, according to GAO and their own study, 90 percent are fraudulent claims.

52:25That's a huge, huge problem. And so without even having reforms to this, there's zero chance I'll even consider that. That is not us taking good care of the taxpayer dollars that are being sent to Washington, D.C. Oklahoma's Republican Senator Mark Wayne Mullen, thank you so much. Appreciate your time, sir. Thanks for having me on. Just a moment to go, FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino confirmed that he is going to leave his job in the coming days after months of drama and infighting within the agency, reportedly. So what does this mean for the former Secret Service agent-turned-conspiracy theorist, podcaster-turned-FBI Deputy Director?

53:02Plus, the head of the FCC on Capitol Hill today, his first hearing since the fight with ABC and Disney over Jimmy Kimmel. Hear what Brendan Carr said about the agency's independence or lack thereof. That's next.

53:24In our politics lead today in his very first Senate hearing since threatening to pull ABC's broadcast license because of comments Jimmy Kimmel made about Charlie Kirk and the MAGA movement. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr faced a barrage of questions about whether or not his agency acts independently. On your website, it just simply says, man, the FCC is independent. This isn't a trick question. Okay, the FCC is not. Yes or no? Is not. Okay. Is not an independent. So is your website wrong? Is your website lying? Possibly. The FCC is not an independent agency. If I could just submit the printout of the homepage of the FCC into the record, it says it's an independent agency.

54:05And if it's not true, then change it. That FCC homepage that the senator is talking about, well, CNN media analyst Sarah Fisher says she took before and after screenshots of the FCC website. At 1152 a.m. Eastern Time, Fisher says the site explicitly stated that the FCC is, quote, an independent U.S. government agency overseen by Congress. Then, Fisher says, 25 minutes later, the site was changed and the word independent was disappeared. Democratic Senator Andy Kim of New Jersey also pressing Chairman Carr about this today. You swore an oath when you came into your job, right? Does the oath have the word president in it?

54:50Senator, again, I'm not tracking this line. What I'm saying is every decision... Do you remember the oath that you took? Yeah. You swear an oath to protect what? So every single decision. What is it that you're protecting? In this job, we're based on the Constitution of the United States. When you cannot tell me directly that Trump is not your boss, that the American people are your boss, I do not trust you that you can make these decisions with the independent mind that is needed and directed by Congress. FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, appointed by former President Biden, was also in today's hearing and she joins us now.

55:22It sounds like quite a show. So first, what is your reaction to the removal of the word independent from the FCC website? Well, the deletion of the word independent from our website does not change the fact that Congress created the FCC to be an independent agency. And it did so for good reason. Back when it created the Federal Radio Commission, it thought about putting the job of the FCC in the Department of Commerce. But Congress decided it was too risky to have the most important medium of the time, which was radio, controlled at the whim of one person. And so it created an expert body with a multi-member commission in order to protect that.

56:04So right now, we have the regulator that is the most powerful regulator of the most important communications medium of our time. and this administration wants to say that we're not independent even though that's how Congress set us up to be. So in your testimony you accused the Trump administration of acting on a campaign to try to censor content, control the media and any of its critics. The Jimmy Kimmel episode got the most attention but there are others, right? There are other moments where it seemed like Brendan Carr was trying to stifle speech. Tell us about those. Yeah, this administration has been weaponizing whatever levers of power it has in order to engage on this campaign of censorship and control.

56:51And what the FCC has done is it has leveraged its authority either over approving mergers and acquisitions or starting enforcement proceedings or reinitiating enforcement proceedings against broadcasters. And it's sending a clear message. The message is, if we don't like the way that you are reporting on this administration or what you are saying or we don't like one of your comedians, then we're going to take action against you and we're going to harm you. So Chairman Carr keeps talking about how the FCC has a public interest standard. You said that the FCC needs to define what it means by operating in the public interest.

57:31Tell us more about that. Yes. So when we license broadcasters, we license them to operate in the public interest. We want them to serve their local communities of license. But we don't regulate the content of the broadcasters broadly under this public interest standard. But what this administration is doing is it's using that public interest as a way to define anything it doesn't like. Right. He talked about that, Brendan Carr, I think, when he was talking about Jimmy Kimmel's remark. That's not serving the public interest, he said, right? Yeah, and there's nothing in the public interest standard that allows us to ignore the fact that we have to abide by the First Amendment, which means we cannot interfere into lawful content by broadcasters, by Americans.

58:16The government cannot do so. The Communications Act prohibits us from censoring broadcasters. So the public interest standard is not some free-willing ability to tell broadcasters how they should be reporting on this administration or what kind of content they can have. Chairman Carter also kept bringing up broadcast hoaxes. What was he talking about? So we do have a broadcast hoax rule. The broadcast hoax rule was put in place after Orson Welles had the War of the Worlds incident. And it's basically a prohibition and having some kind of content like that that will alarm the public and create really mass chaos.

58:54Think that Martians are coming to kill us. Exactly. What was he talking about? I don't know. He says three things. He says public interest standard, broadcast hoax, and the news distortion policy. And most of the complaints that have been raised have been raised under the news distortion policy. I'm not aware of any complaints being raised under the broadcast hoax rule because we really have not had to wield that in decades. But even news distortion, it is a policy of the FCC, but it's very narrow what the FCC can do. And really, probably, it's not even maybe that we should continue to have that under the First Amendment.

59:35It requires intentional distortion of news by the station management of the local broadcaster. So that station management has to say, we know that we are going to be reporting false information and we don't care. We want to do it for whatever reason it is that we want to do it. Mistakes are not part of the news distortion policy. And satire is definitely not part of the news distortion policy. Commissioner Anna Gomez, thank you so much. And a reminder to Chairman Brendan Carr, there's a seat here waiting for you anytime you want to come and talk about these issues. Former Special Counsel Jack Smith was also on Capitol Hill today testifying behind closed doors where he admitted it was his decision to charge President Trump in both the January 6th case and the classified documents case.

1:00:24What else we're learning from his testimony? That's next.

1:00:34This just in in our Law and Justice lead, Dan Bongino announced last hour that he'll be stepping down from his role as the deputy director of the FBI beginning next month, January. Joining us now to discuss CNN senior legal analyst Ellie Honig. Ellie, today President Trump told reporters that Bongino wants to go back to his show. He had a podcast. What is his legacy going to be at the FBI, do you think? Well, Jake, this was never a good fit. this was always destined to fail. And here's why. Over history, if you look at the FBI director, those people have come from various backgrounds. You've had former prosecutors, former judges, you've had political types.

1:01:12But the deputy director traditionally has been an FBI lifer, somebody who has come up through the ranks, who spent a career at the FBI. Now, Dan Bongino did have some law enforcement background. He was with the NYPD. He was with the Secret Service up till 2011. But he just simply did not have that background within the FBI. And when you combine that with a director like Kash Patel, who essentially had next to no relevant experience, then you're setting both of them up for failure. So you can only hope that whoever replaces Bongino will get back to that historical model and will bring some institutional experience and ballast back to the FBI.

1:01:47Let's turn to another story today. Former Special Counsel Jack Smith met with members of the House Judiciary Committee in a closed door deposition to talk about his investigations of President Trump. Smith's opening statement, as obtained by CNN, says in part, quote, I made my decisions in the investigation without regard to President Trump's political association activities, beliefs, or candidacy in the 2024 presidential election, unquote. What do you make of what Smith is saying here in the opening statement? He's obviously fending off lots of claims from Republicans that this was an entirely political investigation.

1:02:21Yeah, I don't think it was entirely political. And I credit Jack Smith's claims that he followed the facts in the law and that he had a good faith basis to bring those indictments. However, I think Jack Smith's claim that he never thought about Donald Trump's candidacy is demonstrably false. It was easily observable from the outside, and it's since been confirmed by reporting from inside Jack Smith's office that he was singularly possessed with accelerating this case to get Trump tried before the 2024 election in a way that you would never do. You would never rush a case with 13 million documents to trial in just a few months like Jack Smith was willing, was looking to do.

1:02:57So if Smith wants the claim, yes, I was trying to get him tried before the election and I had good reason, fine, that's a fair debate. But I think for him to say I never thought about the election at all, I think there's some hypocrisy there and I think he loses credibility. Smith has said that, Jack Smith has said he's open to testifying publicly. What's the likelihood of that happening, do you think? Well, he certainly can request that and Congress, I guess, has the authority to bring him back for an open door session. I doubt they're going to do that because Republicans don't want to give Jack Smith the opportunity and the platform to give the opening and closing addresses he never got to give to a jury.

1:03:33So I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that to happen. But remember, Jack Smith can call a press conference. He can go on the steps of the Capitol. He can come into your show, Jake, and talk about whatever he wants now. So if he wants to tell his story to the public, he can go right ahead. CNN's Ellie Honig, thanks so much. Appreciate it. The youngest victim of that anti-Semitic terrorist attack in Australia will be laid to rest soon. We're gonna go live to Bondi Beach next as the community remembers. is 10-year-old Matilda and the other victims.

1:04:04In our Law and Justice lead, Nick Reiner made his first court appearance in Los Angeles today. Reiner has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and the stabbing deaths of his parents, film director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michelle. Nick Reiner did not enter a plea, saying only three words, quote, yes, Your Honor, to confirm that he was waiving his right to a speedy arraignment. The judge ordered him held without bail. His arraignment is set for January 7th. In our world league, it has just passed 10.30 in the morning in Australia, and very soon, 10-year-old Matilda, the youngest victim killed in Sunday's Bondi Beach massacre, will be laid to rest.

1:04:41A funeral service for the oldest victim is also today Alex Claytman, an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor who was killed trying to shield his wife Larissa from one of the gunmen in this horrific act of anti-Semitic terrorism. CNN's Will Ripley reports from Sydney where Sunday's shooting is just the latest anti-Semitic attack that is keeping all of Australia on edge. The hearse has just arrived with the bodies of one of the rabbis. Let's just pause for a moment and take this in.

1:05:13Funerals are now underway for the 15 people killed in Sunday's terror attack. and some of the hardest scenes are here in Redfern where family and friends gathered to remember the youngest victim, 10-year-old Matilda. She leaves behind not just her parents but her younger sister, Summer. Sunday, the day of the attack, was a day of face painting, playing with goats and having fun with her parents who say they were just briefly separated in the crowd. A moment that turned into a nightmare. Like she's running around happy and then second what I see before my eyes is She's lying on the ground. I just can't explain how it happened.

1:05:53I wrapped my shirt and I was talking to her because she was... She was in shock. She was in shock. She was telling me that it's hard to breathe. As this city mourns, families here are left with the same questions. How this happened and why? It's our loss. It's our community's loss. Elliot was there. He knows many of the victims. What's it like to grow up as a Jew here? You just live in like utopia here. This utopia has just turned to dystopia.

1:06:36Have you noticed a rise in antisemitism since October 7th, 2023? Incredibly. I mean... Here in Australia? Incredibly. October 7th is when Hamas attacked Israel. The retaliation that followed has killed or injured more than 10 % of Gaza's population in the last two years. An independent UN inquiry said Israel is committing genocide. Israel denies that. There have been protests worldwide, including here in Sydney. During this period, Australia, like many places, has seen a massive spike in anti-Semitic attacks. We want to stamp out and eradicate anti-Semitism from our society. The restaurant we're coming up to here was burnt down.

1:07:25There's a school, there's a daycare that was also burnt down. There's been anti-Semitic graffiti, there's been kids having eggs thrown at them, there's everything. It kind of has gotten lost. Not to us. We've been begging our government. We've been telling them. Swipe that way. OK. You'll read some of them. He shows me the comments to social media posts about the attack. Can you guys see this? Ha ha ha, rotten hell. Rest in Bondi Beach piss water, you ardent genocide defender. Oh my god, I can't go on, actually. Yeah, I don't even need a comment on that because. And this is, I mean. This is constant.

1:08:05I mean, this is everywhere. where look at this view. I see what you mean by utopia. Things are going to be okay, because at the end of the day, the one thing they can't take from us is that we live in the most beautiful place on earth. And here at Bondi Beach, the sea of flowers behind me just continues to grow, and of course here is this beautiful young girl, Matilda, the splitting image of her heartbroken mother.

1:08:41Sorry. It's very heavy here, Jake. She's going to be buried today, and the funeral's for all 15 in the coming days. Painful time here. A lot of love. Hopefully the love outweighs all that hate online. Will Ripley, thank you so much. Appreciate it. We'll be right back. Our politics lead just hours from now. President Trump plans to address the nation from the White House. Administration officials say that the president will tick through his biggest accomplishments as he wraps up his first year back in office. It could require a lot of convincing. A new poll shows on key issues Americans are giving the president low marks right now.

1:09:2038 % approve on immigration, 37 % on trade and foreign policy, 31 % on the economy, 29 % on health care. The panel's here. Mark, what would you like to hear from the president tonight? What does he need to do to get those numbers up, especially the economy number? Well, I think he should remind Americans of what he has accomplished in the first year, Jake. I think he should talk about passing significant tax relief extension earlier this year. He should talk about the dramatic comparison on the border between the Biden administration and his administration. He should talk about temporarily dismantling Iran's nuclear program with his strikes.

1:09:58All those things are great accomplishments. But at the same time, as you know, a lot of polling shows that affordability remains a concern for a lot of Americans. And I think it would be wise to spend some time talking about how he's going to shift policy to address that. And I think that his trade agenda continues to drive up prices. And so if he were to revert back to some of the policies he advanced in the first administration on the economy, I think in addition to talking about what he's achieved, that would be helpful. Do you think that Democrats, Archie, are capitalizing sufficiently on the weaknesses that exist for President Trump at this one point in time?

1:10:33Who knows what's going to look like in a year, but right now? I think absolutely, because if you recall, I mean, at the beginning of the administration, he owned the airwaves, and Democrats couldn't even get any coverage anywhere. Now I think Democrats really doubled down on health care. They were very focused, disciplined, and that issue has permeated. has permeated. If those premiums had gone up and Democrats hadn't been focused on that, then basically Republicans would have been able to blame Obamacare for those premium hikes. But now, because they've been disciplined and they've focused on these affordability issues, they're much more in the mix, at least on the debate.

1:11:07This is a very different White House than the one you worked at when you worked for Vice President Pence. One example, ahead of the big speech, the White House installed more plaques on President Trump's presidential walk of fame. Here's one for Joe Biden. It says, first of all, the photograph is of an auto pen, and the plaque reads, Sleepy Joe Biden was by far the worst president in American history, taking office as a result of the most corrupt election ever seen in the United States. Biden oversaw a series of unprecedented disasters that brought our nation to the brink of destruction. Again, this is on the wall in the White House.

1:11:40Bill Clinton's plaque notes quote, in 2016, President Clinton's wife Hillary lost the presidency to President Donald J. Trump. The part on Reagan says something about how Reagan was an admirer of Trump and on and on. Some nice stuff about Barack Obama, too. What's your take on this? I feel like he may be missing the moment in terms of looking backwards, not forwards, and past grievances. So at the same time, when you talk about whatever his accomplishments are, he could focus there. He could focus also what he did accurately on the campaign is really recognizing that there was such an affordability crisis and people were hurting and in pain.

1:12:17And looking backwards, it just it feels like not not appropriate for this moment for American families. So, Mark, White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt told CNN, quote, The plaques are eloquently written descriptions of each president and the legacy they left behind. As a student of history, many were written directly by the president himself. Yeah, no kidding. I mean, I could tell that from the weird capitalization. What's your take on this? Look, I think that they throw a lot of chum out to see who bites. And I think that if we're spending our time talking about the plaques instead of the fact that unemployment ticked up to a four-year high or prices remain elevated, then I think the White House is probably pleased that that's where a devotion is.

1:12:56I think a lot of his base finds that entertaining. And for a lot of the left, they get pretty exercised and upset. And it drives attention, which they want. But I think it also diverts from some of the challenges they face right now. I just think of it in the context of how other presidents have behaved and, you know, how Republicans were outraged when President Obama criticized the Citizens United decision in front of the Supreme Court and how quaint that seems now based on this. I probably take more offense to the Rob Reiner tweet. That was something else. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. First Lady Melania Trump dropped the trailer for her upcoming film, documentary Melania.

1:13:35It's about the days leading up to Trump's second inauguration. Here's a clip.

1:13:41Here we go again.

1:13:49Everyone wants to know. So here it is.

1:13:58Hi, Mr. President. Congratulations. Did you watch it? I did not. Yeah, I will see it on the news.

1:14:08So this is, I think, a$40 million project. She's getting some of that money. She signed a multimillion-dollar deal with Amazon as First Lady. What's your take on this? Well, look, I think she's an incredibly graceful First Lady, And I think it's fine that she released a documentary at this time, Jake. But I do believe as well there's been a lot of pay for play in the second administration. And I think that is a bigger story still. Yeah. And I mean, I think that's the criticism, not that she would allow a documentary team to film her. I mean, that's great. You know, first ladies have written books, et cetera, et cetera, done TV specials.

1:14:43But this is her being paid by Amazon, which has a huge financial stake at the decisions that the White House makes. It's an interesting dichotomy, too, because in the clip, she's trying to distance herself from the president in some ways, but she's benefiting from being the first lady. And I think it's an interesting dynamic that she finds herself in. Yeah. Before we go, Republican donor Miriam Adelson was at the White House for a Hanukkah event yesterday. She said something very interesting I want to play. I met Alan Dershowitz, and he said the legal thing about four more years. And I say, Alan, I agree with you.

1:15:21So we can do it. Think about it. Alan's here someplace. Where's Alan? She said, think about it. I'll give you another$250 ,000.

1:15:32Constitutionally, he can't run for a third term, Mark? There's not going to be a third term, Jake. Miriam's been an incredibly generous donor to a lot of Republicans and a lot of conservative causes and certainly a lot of pro-Israel causes. And she's been one of the president's biggest benefactors. But no, there's not going to be a third term. All right. Thanks so much. appreciate both of you. My next guest warned earlier this year that Trump's tariffs could impact how much you spend on Christmas decorations and decor. So just one week away from Christmas, how much of those increases actually came to fruition?

1:15:59That's next.

1:16:06We have some breaking news for you from Capitol Hill. House Republicans, led by Speaker Johnson, have passed a bill that they say would lower health care costs for some Americans in the future. It does continue to let key Obamacare subsidies expire at the end of this year, which could theoretically double premiums for many of those enrolled as the December 31st deadline nears. This legislation now heads to the Senate. It will not get a vote before lawmakers leave town for the holiday recess, we're told. In our Money Lead, our Business Leader Series, where we highlight small businesses and how they are being impacted by the economic policies of the Trump administration, especially the tariffs, We're bringing back Balsam Hill.

1:16:45That's a global retailer specializing in holiday decorations, known especially for their pre-lit Christmas trees. This time of year is traditionally its busiest. Company founder and CEO, Mac Harmon, is back with me. And Mac, you last joined the show in August. You said you were experiencing lower demand. Has demand picked up now back to normal levels? You know, demand, it's interesting. I've said lower demand, and what we realized, actually, is the demand is there. The shoppers are coming. We're a mostly digital company. They're coming to our website, Jake, but they're not clicking buy. So the purchase demand hasn't been as strong this year in the U.S.

1:17:24It's actually really interesting. Globally, we sell all over the Western world. We're up about 30 percent, double digits in every single country except the U.S. We're down 5 to 10 percent. We sell the same products. Obviously, the main difference are the tariffs. Huh. You also said you were forced to pass on some of the cost of the tariffs to the consumers. Is that still the case? Is that what is driving down sales in the U.S.? Yeah, so in the U.S., the prices for our items on Balsam Hill are up 10 percent or more. It depends on the individual item. And that's across the whole industry because 90 percent of Christmas decor last year came from China.

1:18:03Almost 100 percent of Christmas decor comes from outside the U.S. So all the big retailers, whether that's a Lowe's or a Home Depot or a Balsam Hill, we're all facing these same costs for importing the goods into the United States this year. Since August, there have been many developments with tariffs rising and lowering erratically. How have you been able to plan and prepare for the holiday season? Well, it's been a challenge. We actually started shipping goods for this Christmas, the day after the election in November of 2024, to bring as much in as we could at no tariffs. When there wasn't a tariff announcement on day one of the inauguration, we and many retailers brought as many goods as we could in before April 2nd.

1:18:45And so we really tried to manage those tariffs as best we could on the different ups and downs of the rates by country, diversifying our supply chain. For next year, though, we don't have as many options. While we can still source from different countries, the tariffs from Asia, which are where most Christmas goods come from, are 19 or 20 percent from any country that we or others might import Christmas decor from. How much of your business is November and December? It's about 85 percent. It is a very seasonal business for sure. Yeah. Are you concerned about making it through the next six months or is the increase in sales to countries outside the United States helping you?

1:19:28What we found for our business is our international business is performing so well this year. That's helping kind of buffer the losses in our domestic business. And so we're ready to fight another day and ready for next year. We're just concerned with the tariffs now being 20 % for everything that we're going to import next year. We are really hoping that the president steps in and saves Christmas like he did back in 2019, providing tariff relief for Christmas decor. If he does that again soon for 26, then I think we'll be in good shape. And we're optimistic that he will. We know he loves Christmas.

1:20:04But we start shipping Christmas 26 on February 1st. So we don't have a lot of time until those tariffs start to rack up for us. I guess we'll see if he's going to save Christmas or be the Grinch. The company website for seasonal decorations, again, is balsamhill.com, B-A-L-S-A-M-H-I-L.com. Matt Harmon, thanks so much. Merry Christmas to you and everyone at your business. A live look now at the White House. President Trump is about two hours away from a major primetime address. The White House says the speech will highlight his actions from his first year back in office and lay out his priorities for 2026.

1:20:40You can watch President Trump's address live right here on CNN at 9 o 'clock Eastern and on the new CNN streaming app. If you ever miss an episode of the lead, you can watch the show on the CNN app. Aaron Burnett out front starts right now.

1:21:10with life-altering losses. My guest is writer, poet Megan Fowley, who is married to the poet Andrea Gibson. Andrea died last summer after a years-long battle with cancer. Is grief different than you thought it would be? Yes, it is. I don't think that I thought that I would be able to have as much joy as I've had. I guess if I wasn't able to find joy and laughter now, I would have missed the point of Andrew's messaging. 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.