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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Kennedy Tragedy; Sources: CIA Carried Out Drone Strike on Port in Venezuela; Interview with Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN); Zelenskyy: Some Peace Plan Documents Will be Ready for Potential Signing in January; HHS Says It Has Frozen All Child Care Payments To The State Of Minnesota; Viral Video Spreads Fraud Allegations In Minnesota; DOJ Faces New Setback In Case Against Wrongly Deported Man; Mamdani To Be Sworn In As NYC Mayor On Thursday; Thieves Drill Into German Bank Vault And Steal Valuables Worth Millions. Aired: 8-9p ET

Aired December 30, 2025 - 20:00   ET

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

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: -- just a drill. After months of escalating rhetorical attacks on Taiwan's President, the timing of these drills is significant.

They come just days after that massive $11 billion U.S. arms sale, a deal Beijing fiercely condemned. Also, weeks of tension between China and a key U.S. ally, Japan.

The new Prime Minister suggesting Tokyo could respond militarily if China attacks Taiwan. Beijing's narrative is that could drag the U.S. into a dangerous perhaps even catastrophic situation -- Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Will Ripley, thank you and thank you for joining us. AC360 starts now.

[20:00:38]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Tonight on 360, she fought what she called a battle with her own blood and let the world in on that fight. Tatiana Schlossberg, John F. Kennedy's granddaughter, her courage in the face of a rare form of leukemia and the legacy of public service and family tragedy that she now sadly joins.

Also tonight, after 30 boat strikes and one formerly covert land attack where America's confrontation with Venezuela now stands, and where it might go next.

Later, previewing Zohran Mamdani's history making inauguration just after the ball drops tomorrow night as New York's first Muslim mayor and one of the youngest ever to serve. Former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio joins us.

And a good evening to you, Anderson is off again tonight, I'm Jim Sciutto.

We begin with the heartbreaking news of the passing of Tatiana Schlossberg. She was not a household name, though her family on her mother's side certainly is. She was Caroline Kennedy's daughter. President and Jacqueline Kennedy's granddaughter, Robert F. Kennedy's grandniece.

To the extent that most people knew her, though, it was through her byline, most recently on the essay she wrote for "The New Yorker Magazine." It was about the rare form of leukemia that would claim her life today.

She wrote about discovering it, fighting it, living with it, and finally about the near certainty of dying of it.

She believes she might have a year at best, to live. Yet, her words were published just last month on the 22nd. That happens to be the anniversary of her grandfather's assassination in Dallas, and now, she is gone. Tatiana Schlossberg was just 35 years old. Her two young children will grow up with stories of her, not memories. Her husband will grow old without her.

In the words of her cousin, Maria Shriver, "I cannot make any sense of it at all. None. Zero." Nor can we.

More now from CNN's Tom Foreman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Tatiana Schlossberg had reason to think she would survive when, just after the birth of her daughter in 2024, doctors diagnosed her with leukemia. She was only 34, active, outgoing: "I did not -- could not believe that they were talking about me." She would write in the "New Yorker."

"I had swum a mile in the pool today before nine months pregnant. I wasn't sick, I didn't feel sick. I was actually one of the healthiest people I knew."

TATIANA SCHLOSSBERG, JOHN F. KENNEDY'S GRANDDAUGHTER: Hi am Tatiana Schlossberg.

FOREMAN (voice over): She was an accomplished environmental journalist, already the busy mom of a young boy, and she was the daughter of Caroline Kennedy, the only surviving child of President John F. Kennedy and First Lady, Jackie. Schlossberg accepted the pedigree but charted her own course.

SCHLOSSBERG: I'm always so surprised that people I don't know want to listen to me talk.

FOREMAN (voice over): Indeed, when her mom's cousin, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. rose in the Trump administration as Secretary of Health and Human Services, she called him flatly unqualified and criticized his cuts to research, especially for cancer.

"Suddenly, the health care system on which I relied," she wrote, "Felt strained, shaky."

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, CNN HISTORY COMMENTATOR: She laid it out there for the ages, and it's a testimonial to her dissent about what RFK, Jr., is doing in the medical arena. FOREMAN (voice over): Although her specific illness is most often seen in much older people, chemotherapy, transfusions, nothing could stop it in this young woman, against the backdrop of her family's long history of assassinations, accidents and death, she wrote, "For my whole life, I have tried to be good, to be a good student and a good sister and a good daughter, and to protect my mother and never make her upset or angry. Now, I have added a new tragedy to her life, to our family's life, and there is nothing I can do to stop it."

Schlossberg worried about her own children being so very young. "My son might have a few memories, but he will probably start confusing them with pictures he sees or stories he hears. I didn't ever really get to take care of my daughter. I don't know who really she thinks I am and whether she will feel or remember when I am gone that I am her mother."

While the rest of her family, upon her death at the age of 35, issued a statement saying simply: "Our beautiful Tatiana passed away this morning. She will always be in our hearts."

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[20:05:29]

SCIUTTO: Goodness, those words about her children.

I'm joined now by presidential historian, Tim Naftali and also CNN's David Axelrod, who's a good friend of Tatiana's mother, Caroline Kennedy.

Gentlemen, it's good to have you here tonight under just, the worst of circumstances. And, David, I know, of course, you knew her mother well, you've met Tatiana before. Tell us about her.

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look. Yes, I met her several times, often through the Profiles in Courage Committee. I served on that committee that nominates people for that award. She was on the committee as well.

Look, much like her mother, she is a person who was both remarkable and very, very down to earth, very disarming, very humble. Good sense of humor.

You mentioned her journalism, that I was familiar with even before she wrote this just searing piece that just tore your heart out a month ago. But at "The Times" and the "Bergen Record," she was a reporter first on the city desk, and she became a climate reporter. And that became a cause of hers, wrote a book about it and was very passionate about it, but just very down to earth, lovely person.

And you know, what strikes me about this whole thing, Jim, is this is an unspeakable tragedy for any family to be handed essentially a death sentence on the day you greet your new child. It's just -- but this family has suffered so greatly, and they have -- And we're here talking about it on television because they've always had to suffer in public, not in private and that just compounds the pain of it all.

So, just a very, very sad, sad day and a horrific, sad, tragic story.

SCIUTTO: Yes, to your point, to get that news from the doctors, just as she had given birth, the first signs that there might be something wrong to connect to, you know, what should be a great joy with what, of course, ended up being the worst news one can hear.

Tim, to David's point this is a family that suffered so much tragedy in the midst of great achievement, of course, as well. How does the family come together in a moment like this?

TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, I think first of all, they are an American family, and they will come together the way that we all have to, we have to try to at a moment of intense and shocking grief.

Tatiana was very young, and she has young children, and she has a young husband and add another layer to that and that's the layer of her mother's generation. I have been thinking a lot about Ambassador Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy who was first made an ambassador by, of course, Barack Obama and then again by Joe Biden.

Caroline Kennedy is a great public servant, and we mustn't think of her as a victim. But we also have to think about her as a sister and a daughter and a mother who has witnessed unspeakable tragedy. I don't believe in curses at all. But I do believe that misfortune is not shared equally or equitably in human civilization. And the Kennedy's have suffered -- there is no fair share of misfortune. But the Kennedy's have suffered more than any family should have to suffer.

Tatiana's grandmother died of cancer when she was only 64, which is relatively young, that's Jackie Kennedy. Tatiana's great uncle, Ted Kennedy, died of cancer.

We know what happened to Tatiana's grandfather, but we should also remember that Tatiana's grandfather was pushing for Medicare, was committed to making medical healthcare available to more Americans. And, of course, her great uncle Ted Kennedy, made that his political calling.

So, this is a family that has been devoted to making us as healthy as possible and so, the fact that she was taken so soon and in such a dramatic and by her own choice, public way, is yet another sign of public service by this family.

They're not sharing tragedy because they want pity. They're sharing the tragedy to help others live better lives.

[20:10:37]

SCIUTTO: And given that Tim, David, the issue of health care in this nation was something quite at the top of Tatiana's mind, she wrote about it, given her concerns, like much of the rest of her family, about RFK, Jr.'s elevation at Health and Human Services, even expressing her fear that, you know, if she managed to survive this and was immunocompromised later in life that she wouldn't be able to get the vaccines she needed.

In other words, that public mission was very much intertwined with her concerns and about her own health.

AXELROD: Well, Jim, journalism is a form of public service. The storytelling that she did was a form of public service. And in the last words that she ever wrote, she used the platform to talk about the decimation of our health care system.

And, you know, the fact that it was at the hands of, you know, her cousin is obviously was painful, but it was powerful. And the message just cut through.

You know, just if I could go back to just her and her family, and the fact that, as she noted, that, you know, certainly her youngest child will have no memory and her oldest very scant memory, someday, they're going to read the essay that she wrote last month. And they're going to know -- two things, they're going to know how hard she struggled to stay with them and to be with them. And they're going to know that she a remarkable, powerful person. And that's not great solace, I am sure to tonight. But, it may be to them, later in life to have this thing that they -- you know, things that they can hang on to, but, yes.

But the answer to your question is it was an incredibly powerful statement that she -- and so, she used her own story, as journalists do, to tell a larger story and it really was a stunning indictment.

SCIUTTO: Yes, and just to draw attention back to her words, which were just so emotionally generous, that last line from "The New Yorker" piece when she revealed her diagnosis. "Now, I've added a new tragedy to her life," speaking of her mother, "to our family's life, and there is nothing I could do to stop it."

Tim, as you're receiving what is ultimately selfish news, right? News about one's own mortality, her first thought was to her family. It's remarkable.

NAFTALI: Well, that's love but it is also an understanding and a reminder that the Kennedys are a great -- whatever your politics, the Kennedys are a great family. They show poise under pressure and dignity. They're not the only ones. I think the Bush family does as well. I think the McCains have, there are other families have done this.

But this is a reminder in this very sad moment for that very important family of their dignity and their poise and the fact that they can both love each other and also think in terms of the greater good.

SCIUTTO: Yes, well, let us add our own thoughts to her family as they reel from this news. David Axelrod, Tim Naftali, thanks so much to both of you.

Coming up next, just what is the administration trying to accomplish exactly in its expanding confrontation at sea and now on land with Venezuela? I'm going to ask a member of the House Intelligence Committee. Also, this country's former ambassador to Ukraine, on Volodymyr Zelenskyy's recent visit with President Trump and the extent to which the President still seems drawn to Vladimir Putin's view of this war.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:19:13]

SCIUTTO: A follow-up now to a story we first reported exclusively last night. Sources telling myself and my colleagues, Natasha Bertrand and Zachary Cohen that the CIA carried out a drone strike this month on a port facility on the coast of Venezuela, the first known U.S. attack on a target on Venezuelan territory.

The Trump administration claims a remote dock struck was being used by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to store drugs and move them onto boats for shipping.

President Trump was the first to acknowledge the covert operation publicly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: There was a major explosion in the dock area, where they load the boats up with drugs. They load the boats up with drugs. So we hit all the boats and now we hit the area -- it is the implementation area. That's where they implement and that is no longer around.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[20:20:10]

SCIUTTO: Word of this operation on land comes amid the ongoing strikes by the administration on dozens of boats at sea, which it claims were trafficking illegal drugs to the U.S.

I want to get perspective now from Congressman Steve Cohen. He is a Tennessee Democrat and a member of the House Intelligence Committee.

Thanks so much, Congressman, for joining us tonight.

REP. STEVE COHEN (D-TN): Thank you. It is interesting to know that's the place where they implement, whatever that is. Trumpese.

SCIUTTO: Well, we need to learn more. So my first question to you is given you are a member of the House Intelligence Committee, part of whose responsibility is overseeing the CIA, have you been given any more insight into this attack?

COHEN: None whatsoever. We haven't been given any insight to anything they're doing in the Pacific or the Caribbean on the shooting and bombing these boats and then, whatever happened with the rescue? We've had no reports from the CIA on these activities. They say they have had nothing to do with it. and it has not been their mission. I've been down just about two weeks ago to Key West and to Miami to the South Command -- Southern Command and they said that it was not their issues either, that the Southern Spear was a wholly, totally different group.

SCIUTTO: I want to ask if you suspect, given that you support action that would stop the Trump administration from launching strikes against Venezuela without congressional approval, do you fear that this was deliberately a CIA operation to avoid any legal obligation to inform Congress or seek approval from Congress?

COHEN: I suspect it was. It was kind of strange. You know, normally we don't refer and make public notice of CIA activities. Those are all covert. And this was the first openly open announcement of the CIA doing something in another country where the President announced it, rather than being discovered by a news media or a foreign government.

SCIUTTO: Now to that point, it is interesting because earlier this month, President Trump was asked if he would seek authorization from Congress for any land attacks in Venezuela and here is how he answered. I want to get your reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I wouldn't mind telling him, but, you know, it is not a big deal. I don't have to tell you. It has been proven, but it wouldn't -- I wouldn't mind at all. I just hope they wouldn't leak it.

You know, your people leak it. They are politicians and they leak like a sieve.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: So, as it turns out, the sieve in this case was the President himself. By leaking this, did he put any U.S. operations, the CIA operatives, et cetera, or sources and methods in danger? At risk?

COHEN: Well, he could have, but he certainly puts the United States' reputation at risk. We are going to be looked at like we were a hundred years ago or whatever, as the Yankee imperialism and where the Latin American countries despise the United States.

And I know that, obviously, Colombia and Ecuador and unless and even I don't know, the Nicaraguan people care at all about Honduran people where we just pardoned their president, who they want to have arrested and tried for other offenses. He is a crook.

I was down in Honduras maybe five or six years ago, we met with him and he just seemed -- he was too slick, and I thought the guy's program was not from the soul and it wasn't accurate, and it was just a scam, and that's what it was.

SCIUTTO: Well, Congressman Cohen, we appreciate you joining us tonight.

COHEN: You're welcome. Have a good New Year. SCIUTTO: You as well, to your family as well.

Well, now to the war in Ukraine with Russia again today claiming that it foiled a Ukrainian strike on one of Vladimir Putin's homes, but again, offering no evidence. Kyiv, we should note, issued a vehement denial which Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy fresh from his visit with President Trump underscored.

He told CNN today, "Our negotiating team got in touch with the American team. They talked through the details and we understand that it, the Russian claim, is fake." That said, President Zelenskyy also said that other aspects of the peace process continue.

Joining us now, William Taylor, he is a former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine. Always good to talk to you. Thanks so much for joining, Bill.

WILLIAM TAYLOR. FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: Thank you, Jim. Good to be here.

SCIUTTO: On the talks themselves, Zelenskyy said today that some peace agreement documents could be ready for signing in January. I mean, the question is by whom? I mean, do you see any situation in which Russia is signing some peace agreement next month?

TAYLOR: No, Jim. I've never seen -- few people have seen the Russians willing to make any compromises, much less sign any documents.

[20:25:03]

No, the signatures on documents will come from Americans and Ukrainians and probably Europeans. That is the commitments of the United States and Europeans to Ukrainian security, independent of what the Russians do or say or think. These presumably will be documents that indicate that the United States will support Ukraine if the Russians attack again.

SCIUTTO: Do you see then, in these Russian claims dismissed by Ukraine itself of some drone strike on one of Vladimir Putin's many residences? Do you see that as a Russian attempt now to basically create an excuse for walking back further from any peace negotiations?

TAYLOR: Well, you're right to say walking back further. I mean, their position right now is no. I don't know how you make it any firmer, the "no."

But, right, this is a false flag. President Putin was probably very worried about what happened two days ago in Florida when President Zelenskyy and President Trump had good meetings and their advisors had good meetings. They came, as you indicated, 90 to 95 percent agreement, ready to think about signing documents. Putin has to be very worried, spooked about that. And like he always does, he finds a way to change the subject, to try to derail this progress.

SCIUTTO: So why doesn't President Trump see that? Because yet again, and it is not the first time, quite publicly, President Trump has often repeated Russian talking points or seems to get off the phone with Vladimir Putin and then accept Putin's explanation of things when we know Putin's track record for the truth is lousy at best. Why doesn't President Trump see through that?

TAYLOR: Sometimes he apparently does, but other times he apparently doesn't. But you're right about Putin. I mean, this is a man who denied that there were Russian soldiers in Crimea when he invaded in 2014. This is a man who denied that they were ready to invade Ukraine. They were ridiculing the Americans who said, you know, that the Russians are about to invade in 2022.

These kind of lies have been evident over and over and that's likely what we are looking at here again.

SCIUTTO: So if Putin is not interested in talking peace, is he interested perhaps not just in continuing Russia's ongoing invasion, but of expanding it in the next year?

TAYLOR: Then he has been very clear. You've reported over and over, we've all seen that President Putin has been clear about what he wants. He wants to dominate Ukraine.

He thinks Ukraine is not a country, it needs to be refolded into Russia. It needs to be eliminated as a people, as a society, as a sovereign state. That's what he said over and over he wants to do. And yes, I think that will be what he will try to do, until he is stopped.

And it is possible for President Trump to stop him. If President Trump wants to end this war, as he said he does, he can do it. He has got leverage over Putin if he just uses it.

SCIUTTO: Ambassador Taylor, good to have you on. Thanks so much.

TAYLOR: Thank you, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Coming up next, the Minnesota childcare fraud investigation, which the administration is now ramping up, and the role conservative social media played.

Also, the facts we are learning on the ground.

Coming up after that, New York's former mayor on the young mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, who takes office at midnight on New Year's Eve.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:30:47]