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Democrats Hope to Ride Affordability Message to Upset Win in Tennessee; Witkoff, Kushner Discuss Ukraine Peace Plans with Putin; TSA to Charge Travelers $45 If They Don't Have a REAL ID. Aired 3:30- 4p ET

Aired December 02, 2025 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Evan Perez thank you so much for that update.

Ahead, why a special election in a Tennessee conservative stronghold has Republicans on edge and Democrats hoping for a major upset tonight. We'll break down the race in Tennessee's 7th district when we come back.

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SANCHEZ: Voters in Tennessee are heading to the polls right now in an election that could give key insight in how voters feel about President Trump's second term agenda and the economy.

[15:35:00]

Tennessee's 7th district is a deep red district that the president carried by 22 points last year.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: But Democrats believe they have a chance to pull off a major upset and take a seat Republicans have held for more than 40 years. Democratic candidate Aftyn Behn has made affordability the focus of her campaign as she's facing off with Trump-backed Republican candidate Matt Van Epps.

We're joined now by Chuck Todd, the host of the Chuck Toddcast. All right, Chuck, I wonder just how are you viewing this race and why Behn has been able to narrow the gap in this conservative stronghold?

CHUCK TODD, HOST, THE CHUCK TODDCAST: Well, in some ways, I've already learned everything I need to know about this race. And what do I mean by that? The fact that it is competitive is in itself a huge tea leaf to read going into the 2026 midterm cycle, right?

For all of the reasons you guys just said, right? This shouldn't be a competitive district, but there's a variety of reasons that it is. We're at the current low point for the president's job rating.

There's definitely not been a very good headline for Republicans in some time, going back to the off-off-year elections that we just had a month ago, which we saw that dynamic where turnout surged among an anti-Trump coalition. And turnout was kind of soft, if not below expectations, on the Republican side of things. And despite the Democratic Party's unpopularity, their candidates did really well.

So the things that could be holding the Democrats back didn't in those elections, and we're seeing that here. So the fact that, you know, to me, if Democrats couldn't make this a single-digit race, then I'd start to question my thoughts about where this midterm election is going. I think now the question is it a -- is it decided by less than five points, or could the Democrat actually win?

And if the Democrat actually won, that would be an earthquake here in Washington.

SANCHEZ: And Chuck, both candidates in this race have made affordability a central theme of their campaign. It comes as a CBS poll finds that some 60 percent of respondents think prices have been going up in recent weeks. It's notable that these candidates are focused on affordability, that Americans say affordability is a concern, and yet President Trump says it's a hoax.

TODD: Yes. I don't think he's helping his party here at all, because I think Republicans realize they do have -- look, the average American doesn't like this economy.

If you have some money, you're doing OK in this economy. But if you don't have a savings, this economy stinks for you. And I think that that's why -- that's why perhaps the president seems out of touch on this, because sometimes he views the economy through the prism of the stock market.

But that is how the economy is performing for people that have money in the stock market. That is no dynamic, especially since the stock market seems to be rewarding companies that are actually laying people off right now, rather than rewarding them, because this is such a growing gangbuster economy.

Inflation's still dogging this economy. The tariffs have been a part of that. So I think it's been easy for Democrats, and they've done this in other races, to make this a Republican problem.

Look, here's the dynamic I'm intrigued by here. It's how the Republicans have responded to this challenge. They went all in. They're going hard against, they're trying to -- you know, the Democrats are trying to make this a referendum on Trump and affordability.

The Republicans are trying to make this a referendum on the candidate herself, trying to say, hey, she's an AOC socialist. She's a, you know, like Mamdani, Democratic socialist. She's out of the mainstream.

I'll be curious to see if that works, because if it does, if Republicans perceive that they survived in a tough environment by just painting the Democratic candidate as out of the mainstream, then I suspect that becomes essentially the strategy for the entire year, between now and next November for the Republicans.

KEILAR: Yes, it'll be interesting. We've seen the ads, right? They're calling her a very radical person. So we'll see if, or she's described herself as such. They're highlighting that. So we'll see.

So yes, what do you think about it, Chuck?

TODD: I think that if Democrats, I'll be honest, I think if Democrats had a more moderate nominee, they'd probably win this special tonight. If they don't win, I do think you may look at, say, was she too far to the left to win in a district this conservative?

KEILAR: Yes, that's interesting.

SANCHEZ: What do you think, Chuck? Shifting gears, before we go, I wanted to get your thoughts. Secretary Rubio brought this up at the cabinet meeting.

If the University of Miami is not included in the college football playoff after beating Notre Dame, I mean, do you blow the whole thing up? Who takes it over?

TODD: I have very -- look, I have very strong feelings about this. If any of you follow me on my podcast, you'll know. I always save it to the very end.

People that want to skip over it, they could skip over it.

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But here's the -- in all honesty, if what happens on the field no longer matters in a sport, you're now wrestling, you're no longer a serious sport. You're professional wrestling.

And I think if you cannot -- what's the point of playing the games if the result of the game doesn't matter.

SANCHEZ: It's true. I mean, he's right.

KEILAR: Chuck Todd with the mic drop there. I'm not skipping over that content. That's what, that's what I'm here for.

TODD: There you go.

SANCHEZ: Thanks Todd.

KEILAR: Thank you so much. Always awesome to have you.

TODD: You got it.

KEILAR: And ahead, more on today's big meeting in Moscow. President Trump's special envoy and son-in-law trying to make progress toward ending the Ukraine war as they're meeting for hours with Vladimir Putin.

Plus, this just in, leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee telling CNN they'll meet with Admiral Mitch Bradley on Thursday. The Pentagon says Admiral Bradley ordered the follow-up strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean after the military was aware there were two survivors.

We'll be right back.

[15:45:00]

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KEILAR: We're still awaiting word from Moscow where U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, are meeting with President Putin at the Kremlin. These are talks that have been going on for nearly four hours at this point.

The White House is hoping for a breakthrough that could lead to a peace agreement in Ukraine.

SANCHEZ: Today, though, a senior NATO official said there is no indication that Moscow is willing to make any meaningful concessions.

Joining us now, Jeffrey Edmonds. He's a former director for Russia at the National Security Council. He's now an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for New American Security. Jeff, great to see you as always.

It's getting kind of late in Moscow. This meeting has dragged on for several hours. Is there anything to read into that?

JEFFREY EDMONDS, FORMER DIRECTOR FOR RUSSIA, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: I don't think so. I mean, there's a lot of back and forth. There's translation that has to happen.

So all of these meetings, just like the phone calls between the president and Putin, take longer to hash out. But I think that, you know, the Russians are trying very hard, have really rolled out the red carpet, are trying very hard to sound pragmatic, even though I don't believe it. I mean, trying to sound like they're in this to actually do a deal, and I don't think they are.

KEILAR: Yes, because you have Putin ahead of the meeting making these maximalist demands, right? Ukraine, limit the size of your army, give up territory. You can't join NATO.

Is Putin doing anything really here other than running out the clock, in your opinion?

EDMONDS: No, I think that's exactly what he's doing. I think that I've seen this play out among policy analysts in Russia increasingly over the last couple of weeks. They believe that the longer these negotiations go on, the weaker Ukraine's position gets.

And I think Putin believes that. He also believes he's winning. And so I think it's -- he has very little incentive to agree to anything that's meaningful.

SANCHEZ: To the thought about his view that he's winning, Russia has made some incremental gains along the front lines. Give us an update on what it looks like on the battlefield. EDMONDS: So I would say it's very challenging, but not dire. I don't think the Ukrainian lines are getting ready to break. They have had to cede some territory.

They've done this for the last year. But an incredible cost to Russia. And sometimes you can fall into this feeling that Russia just has an infinite number of people that they can throw into this meat grinder.

I don't know that that's necessarily the case. So it's not clear to me how much longer Russia can actually continue this kind of offensive where it loses so many people all the time.

KEILAR: And Zelenskyy is in Ireland, right, where he's received a very warm welcome. We saw that. But there's so much anxiety in Ukraine.

They're sort of, you know, they're really tuned, I think, sort of psychically towards Moscow and what's going on there. How should Zelenskyy be looking at what's happening here?

EDMONDS: I mean, I think he has to play a very careful game where he, you know, wants to honor what the administration is trying to do. And so he's working with them to move this thing forward. But at the same time, he's very worried that any kind of agreement that comes out of this is going to result with Russia gaining more territory and then just launching another offensive further down the road.

And that's why he keeps talking about these security guarantees. And they have to be very substantial because they have to prevent Russia from doing anything in the future. And that's what he's demanded.

SANCHEZ: How do you think Ukraine feels about seeing Witkoff and Kushner there? On the one hand, they help broker peace in the Middle East. On the other hand, you had this transcribed recording of a phone call between Witkoff and a Russian aid, which Witkoff essentially says that there's no deal without land concessions in Ukraine.

And it's sort of coaching the Russians on how to approach Trump. How do you think he feels about this?

EDMONDS: I mean, I think it's very unsettling to him, right? Again, he's not going to criticize it openly because he wants to work with the administration. But it's got to be very frustrating to have these two groups negotiating your country's future without you actually being there to, you know, put your side forward.

KEILAR: And what, right now, with Europe backing Ukraine, is kind of their position here going into this year and beyond?

EDMONDS: Europe's position.

KEILAR: Europe's position and Ukraine's position with Europe's backing, but with kind of the U.S. backing in doubt.

EDMONDS: Right. I think they're both posturing for the possibility that the U.S. may stop support for Ukraine. And you've seen the head of NATO and others really talking about ramping up European production, this deal with the United States to buy more weapons.

And so while I think both Europe and Ukraine obviously want the United States to stay in this fight, I think they're both being pragmatic and entertaining what they need to do if we do back out.

SANCHEZ: Jeffrey Edmonds, appreciate the expertise.

EDMONDS: Thanks.

SANCHEZ: Now to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour.

A Georgia inmate described as armed and dangerous is now on the run. Police say Timothy Shane escaped an Atlanta hospital and stole this SUV and a handgun before he crashed the vehicle less than a mile away. Shane was arrested last month on several charges, including possession of methamphetamine, reckless driving and fleeing from police.

Officials are asking the public to call 911 if they see him and do not approach him.

[15:50:00]

And Costco suing the Trump administration over tariff refunds. The wholesaler wants to make sure it can get fully refunded if President Trump loses an appeal to the Supreme Court.

Remember, the court is considering whether the president legally used an emergency powers law to impose his sweeping tariffs. Costco says it paid those fees under protest and it does not want to lose that money if the court strikes them down. The company, just one of dozens, suing over potential refunds.

KEILAR: And the third winter storm in a week has dumped several inches of snow across parts of the Midwest and it has slowed travel to a crawl. It's expected to strengthen into what's called a bomb cyclone and deliver the first widespread snow of the season to the Northeast and New England. Parts of Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky are digging out today after getting about a half a foot of snow overnight.

And in Missouri, state police say officers responded to more than 350 crashes. They say a 21-year-old driver was killed near Jefferson City when their car veered off the road and overturned.

Coming up, a new TSA rule is going to force travelers without real IDs to shell out some cash before they board. We'll have details on what to expect.

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SANCHEZ: Flying could soon get more expensive if you don't have the right type of ID. The TSA says it'll begin charging a $45 fee for travelers without a REAL ID.

KEILAR: The updated ID has been required since May, you may recall, but if you didn't have it, you'd get away with an additional screening and that warning, which was sort of like a cheap thing to do, but it did cost you time.

CNN Aviation correspondent Pete Muntean here with us now. All right, Pete, this is going to get pricey.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: We've been talking about real ID for 20 years now and the rules have been in place for now seven months. It got delayed and delayed and delayed. And now this new fee could be sprung on travelers without REAL IDs.

At what might be the worst time, in line, at TSA, already at the airport. Talk about a bad travel day. And here's the change just announced by the Trump administration.

If you've not yet updated your license through your state DMV, you have to log on to a new TSA web portal, verify your identity, verify that you are who you say you are, then pay this $45 fee. That fee is valid for 10 days. So theoretically, your verification can be used for your return trip.

But only after that 10-day window, you'll have to pay the $45 fee again. So the TSA says all of this covers this back-end verification system called confirm.id. The agency says the good news here is that 94 percent of travelers are already REAL ID compliant, but that leaves about 6 percent who are not. We're talking about millions of people here.

There are some workarounds. This is also trending right now on Google. Probably the best advice, you can use your passport at TSA if you have one.

But still some big questions here about how this will work when this goes into effect in two months on February 1st. TSA says the process will vary airport to airport. Could add an extra half hour on your travel time.

The agency also says it's working with private industry to provide online payment options so travelers can verify their non-compliant IDs before they get to the airport. Anyway you slice it, this makes things more inconvenient if you didn't already have a REAL ID. Without this new verification, TSA says, could simply be turned away at the checkpoint.

So the reaction here is mixed. Some online have pointed out the Biden administration was big on cracking down on fees that airlines put in place, also changing refund requirements. But now one top airline consumer advocate tells me this new fee really amounts to a tax on travelers without REAL IDs and disproportionately hurts those who don't fly all the time.

So a pretty big rub here. We'll see how this all plays out. Still two months to go until when this is actually implemented.

SANCHEZ: I'll be honest. I didn't know that you'd been talking about REAL ID for 20 years. I honestly don't know. MUNTEAN: I was a kid. I just to be clear, I was a teenager.

SANCHEZ: I truly don't know the difference. Why is a REAL ID so important?

MUNTEAN: The whole idea was to sort of have one standard ID. And this was come up with right after 9-11. So to be able to get people into airports, there would be this sort of heightened ID that would make it sort of on one standard plane. But all of these states, I mean, remember there's this big patchwork of DMVs had to sort of get things up to speed.

And so that's what's caused a lot of delay after delay after delay. In fact, we didn't really think that the Trump administration would start enforcing this. We thought they'd kick the can a little bit when the May 7th day came around.

KEILAR: Wow. OK, so $45. And if you want to avoid that, you just have to go to the DMV and take care of this.

MUNTEAN: Yes, just go do it, essentially. I mean, a lot of people already have REAL ID compliant IDs, but some don't. And so the big thing here is just get it taken care of.

Add it onto your to-do list and make sure you have a REAL ID and maybe go online and Google to see if you do have one. It's one of the top trending searches today. Not only is REAL ID, but also how to get around this.

KEILAR: How do you get around it? Go to the DMV. So much fun.

MUNTEAN: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Pete Muntean, he's got that dog in him and he's at the DMV. Thanks so much Pete.

KEILAR: And now to the field goal attempt that would make Charlie Brown say, Oh, brother. New York Giants kicker Younghoe Koo somehow managed a field goal try without even touching, well, the ball. He kicked the turf instead. I knew that.

SANCHEZ: Yes, it looked like it kind of hurt right there. Oh, no! Yes, I'm not sure.

I'm not sure what happened there. If you're keeping a score at home or for fantasy football purposes, it didn't actually count as a missed field goal because he didn't touch the ball. Instead, it went down as a sack of the holder.

[16:00:00]

Koo reportedly blamed the weather. The Patriots destroyed the Giants 30 to 15. They have now 10 wins in a row. Pete, your thoughts?

MUNTEAN: Do I correctly recall being at a party with you where you were like, I have to go. I had to do fantasy football draft. KEILAR: So sweet. Let's go now to "THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt.