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CNN Projects Republican Matt Epps Will Win Tennessee Special Election; Sources Say, Classified Report on Hegseth's Use of Signal Sent to Congress; Arctic Blast Poised to Shatter Records Across Midwest and Northeast. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired December 03, 2025 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, Tennessee's Seventh Congressional District will remain red. So, why are Democrats still celebrating with high hopes ahead of the midterms?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Also breaking overnight, the Pentagon's watchdog sends Congress its report on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's use of the Signal app. That's where he shared timing of attack plans on a group chat.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And a truck driver and the daring rescue that ensued after his semi nearly skids off a bridge. Those icy conditions and the deep freeze across the country that millions are facing this morning.

I'm Kate Bolduan with Sara Sidner and John Berman. This is CNN News Central.

SIDNER: All right. Breaking overnight, Republican Matt Van Epps won the special election in Tennessee's Seventh Congressional District, but Democrats are still celebrating and arguing the margins of this victory are, quote, a five-alarm fire for the GOP. Epps held off an attempt at a political upset from Democrat Aftyn Behn.

It's a win that should have been an easy one in this historically ruby red district that President Trump won by more than 22 points just a year ago. But that margin shrank to just nine points in Epps' win last night, and continues an upward trend of Democrats overperforming in the elections since Trump's second term began, this race a major litmus test for both parties as they look to shore up their messaging ahead of a massive midterm election next fall.

CNN's National Politics Correspondent Eva McKend is in Nashville for us. This was a win for -- decisive win for Republicans, but not a total loss for Democrats. What are the reactions that you've been hearing after seeing these results?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning to you, Sara. both sides this morning, framing the election results as a victory. Though, to be clear, there will only be one candidate going to Congress, and that is Republican Matt Van Epps, and that is a huge relief for the Republicans in Washington who can ill afford to chip away at their narrow majority.

But, listen, I was with Aftyn Behn at her election headquarters last night, and it was hard to tell that they lost the election. They were still really proud of what they were able to accomplish.

Let's take a listen to how both Van Epps and Behn address their supporters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AFTYN BEHN (D), TENNESSEE CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: This was a district that Trump won handedly and he and his billionaire friends had to spend millions of dollars to bolster their candidate of choice. And so I think it looks -- it portends what will happen next year when you have Republicans that are in more competitive seats, you know, struggling with candidates that look a lot like me. And for me, that's a really exciting moment. And I look forward to midterms next year.

CONG.-ELECT MATT VAN EPPS (R-TN): Politicians who run from the president or abandon the common sense policies that the American people gave us a resounding mandate on do so with their own peril. No matter what the D.C. insiders or liberal media say, this is President Trump's party. I'm proud to be a part of it and can't wait to get to work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: Now, Sara, the conversation in the Democratic Party is very live about the path forward. Some believe that the election results show that they should run more candidates like Behn, someone who was firmly progressive, an organizer background, and really excited the Democratic base, and that in this district where President Donald Trump won by more than 20 points, you couldn't have generated this kind of attention for this contest without a candidate with her profile.

But there are others in the Democratic Party who say that she is the wrong choice in districts like this one, and that an affordability message can outrun some of her past statements that were viewed as just too progressive. Time will tell which strategy Democrats choose. Sara?

SIDNER: Eva McKend, thank you so much for your reporting from a very chilly Nashville this morning. John?

BERMAN: All right. Breaking overnight, sources say, lawmakers on Capitol Hill have received the classified final version of a Pentagon watchdog report into Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his use of the messaging app, Signal, to talk about highly sensitive military operations. You'll remember this happened in March when a journalist from The Atlantic was mistakenly added to a signal group chat discussing upcoming U.S. military strikes in Yemen.

[07:05:00]

It included messages from Hegseth like this that said, quote, this is when the first bombs will definitely drop, talking about timing.

It's already been a complicated week for Hegseth who faces questions of possible war crimes for his role in a second strike of survivors off the coast of Venezuela.

I want to get right to CNN Senior National Security Reporter Zach Cohen for the latest on this report on Signal. Zach, what are you learning about when we might learn what's in it?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, John. Lawmakers are now having the opportunity to review this classified inspector general report, and we could see a declassified version released publicly as soon as tomorrow.

Now, obviously, tomorrow is also the same day. We expect to see the commander who was involved in that strike on September 2nd that killed 11 people in the Caribbean, the one that Hegseth is facing immense amount of pressure over and questions about in the wake of the revelations about that military campaign. So, really finding himself in the at the center of these dueling controversies at the time when I'm sure his boss President Donald Trump would prefer to be talking about, just about anything else.

But still I want to take people back to how this inspector general investigation started. As you mentioned, back in March, we learned through revelations by The Atlantic Jeffrey Goldberg that Hegseth has and other senior top Trump officials were discussing highly sensitive military operational plans via Signal. That's obviously not a government communication channel. That is not the way it is supposed to be transmitted information this sensitive. And Hegseth in particular was really facing pressure and criticism in the wake of those revelations for his contributions to that group chat.

He, of course, was almost documenting in real time step by step this bombing campaign against the Houthis in Yemen, one that critics have said really could have put American troops at risk if that information had been disclosed publicly before the operation was done.

So, Hegseth, we do expect this I.G. report to really detail and go into what the inspector general found about not only Hegseth's use of the Signal app, but also the level of classification of this information that he posted, as well as whether or not he did put American soldiers potentially at risk by communicating it this way.

So, we'll have to see ultimately what happens, but this is something that's hung over Hegseth for the last several months and almost will certainly continue to be a headache for him going forward.

BERMAN: Yes, be a big day tomorrow for the secretary of defense, and we, of course are standing by to figure out what we learned there.

Zach Cohen, great reporting, thank you very much. Kate?

BOLDUAN: So, if you think it is cold, buckle up, friends, a live look at Denver, snow falling there. We love snow in Denver, but there's also more than 200 million people waking up to possible record- breaking cold. This is after that winter storm has now blown through and the new punch of arctic air that is on the way.

Plus, new body cam footage reveals what happened in the moments leading up to the arrest of Luigi Mangione. What he initially told officers and what they found in his pockets.

And police were called to a liquor store and find the place ransacked bottles all over the floor, as you can see, and then they found the suspect in the bathroom passed out. The wild story around this one, ahead.

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[07:10:00]

BOLDUAN: So, a record-shattering blast of arctic air is about to swoop in just as that major winter storm we were talking about and everyone was feeling is moving out. In West Virginia, highway lanes shut down after a tractor trailer crashed and nearly went over a bridge in the falling snow. You see what happened in the aftermath. They had to pull him up through a kind of a pulley system to safety.

And if you thought this was the coldest it would get, just wait. Temperatures could plunge this week to record lows from Illinois all throughout the East Coast.

CNN's Derek Van Dam tracking all of this. We just got done talking about the fact that it's winter before winter, and now it's really cold.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Not winter, before winter, coined a new term. I like it, Kate. Look, the rock is about to drop here. We're going to see the bottom fall out of the temperatures. The mercury and the thermometer is going to take a nose dive. How many ways can I say it? It is about to get brutally, brutally cold.

So, what you're looking at is forecast wind chills in Thursday morning. So, we still have another day or two before the real cold arctic air starts to settle in. Remember we talked about the polar vortex kind of getting upended into early December? Well, folks, here it is. These are forecasts fields-like temperatures as you step outside. That is dangerous from the Northern Plains into the Upper Midwest, even into Chicago and Detroit.

A lot of it has to do with the snow that has recently fallen. This is a live look at downtown Denver where they're getting their first significant snowfall of the season for the front range of the Colorado Rockies. And this is really important, because if you look at the lower 48, we've got over 40 percent of snow coverage blanketing the northern part of our country. Only three other years have had a higher snow coverage on this particular date since records began.

And so what happens here, remember, snow has a very high reflectivity to it, that's called albedo. So, it's going to reflect away the sun's incoming solar energy, so it doesn't warm the surface of the air that much. So, when you get this round after round of cold arctic air that drops in from Canada, the snowfall that has recently been laid by the departing snowstorm that moved through, set record snowfall totals, those two work together to create the cold at the surface that you and I feel.

[07:15:02]

It is brutal and it's only going to stick around for the next several weeks, unfortunately.

This is what it feels like outside now, 7 in Indianapolis. Hey, you say, Derek, the high temperatures aren't all that bad, but it's what's coming. That will be significant and you will feel it much below average from the Midwest to the Great Lakes to the East Coast to start off the early weekend.

Kate, I hate to be the bearer of the bad news, but that's the reality we live in.

BOLDUAN: We will take it, we will deal with it, and, yes, we will blame you for it. Derek, thank you so much, Derek Van Dam, the bear of bad news.

BERMAN: Yes, the albedo goes on, as they say.

BOLDUAN: Yes, John Berman.

BERMAN: Do they say that?

BOLDUAN: Yes, I think they do.

BERMAN: So, the defendant who admitted to disposing of his wife's body but not killing her, the prosecution introduces new evidence of internet searches that include questions about crime scene cleanups.

And will the legend return, not Kate Bolduan, why there is all of a sudden a wave of speculation about a possible comeback by Tennis Great Serena Williams,

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

BERMAN: The penultimate college football rankings just out. Let's get right to CNN's Andy Scholes with the latest. I can't wait to hear if this means more coaches will quit their teams heading into the playoffs.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes, I'm not sure that's going to happen, Berman. But I tell you what, we got a lot of riled up fan bases right now. You know, BYU, Miami and Texas all think they should be in the playoffs, and right now, none of them are in. But this is what the playoffs look like after the second to last rankings came out last night. Ole Miss without Lane Kiffin now up to the sixth spot will likely host a playoff game on campus in the first round. The 11 and 12 spots still up for grabs. Those two spots likely going to come out of who wins the ACC, in American Conference Championship games, because the top five ranked conference champions are guaranteed a spot. So, that ten spot is very important. That's the last one really to get in and out of the rankings. And right now, Notre Dame is ranked 10, BYU 11th, Miami of 12th, Texas is 13. So, BYU is playing the Big 12 title game so they can get in with a win.

Now, if they lose, we could have a scenario where Miami is then ranked one spot behind Notre Dame. The Hurricanes beat the Irish this season and have the same exact record. They would have some serious beef if Notre Dame gets in ahead of them. The final rankings are going to come out on Sunday.

All right, Tiger Woods, meanwhile, is at the Hero World Challenge Tournament at the Bahamas that he hosts yesterday. Tiger, who turns 50 later this month, walking very slow to meet with reporters. Tiger says he was just clear to start chipping and putting after having a seventh back procedure in October. But Tiger jokes he's going to have a full schedule this upcoming season.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIGER WOODS, 15-TIME MAJOR WINNER: I'm probably going to play probably 25 events on both tours, and I think that should cover most of the year, right?

Unfortunately, I've been through this rehab process before. This is step by step. And then once I get a feel for practicing, exploding, playing, the recovery process, then I can assess where I'm going to play and how much I'll play.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: All right. Speaking of another sports legend coming back, news broke yesterday that Serena Williams did something very interesting recently. Back in October, the 44-year-old reentered tennis' doping testing pool. So, you've got to be registered with the testing agency in order to play on the tour. And Serena adding her name back in made everyone think she's coming back. She hasn't played since the 2022 U.S. Open when she never said she was retiring, but was evolving away from tennis. Well, Serena tweeted yesterday after this news broke, OMG, y'all, I'm not coming back. This wildfire is crazy.

But, Berman, I'm not buying it. Why would you add your name back to the doping testing list if you don't have some sort of comeback plan? You know, a lot of people think, you know, maybe it's not a singles comeback, but maybe she could play with Venus in a doubles tournament at a grand slam. Something's cooking though, right? You don't do that for no reason.

BERMAN: No, she didn't address the actual issue there. Your name just doesn't get placed there by accident. And a doubles comeback would still count as a comeback, I think.

SCHOLES: Yes. Yes, I'm all for you. That'd be so awesome if we see her at the U.S. Open again, playing with Venus. That'd be so much fun.

BERMAN: All right. Andy Scholes, we will let you keep looking into Miami's beef. Sara?

SIDNER: Fun fact, I got really cheap seats to see her at the Open in her last couple of games.

BERMAN: That's great.

SIDNER: Really nice, just so you know. So, maybe next time I'll invite you when she starts again.

BERMAN: That would be nice.

SIDNER: Thanks, John.

All right, President Trump nicknamed President Biden Sleepy Joe for appearing to fall asleep while in office. Do they now share something in common?

And a big box store taking Trump to task over his tariffs. What Costco is now demanding in court.

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[07:25:00]

SIDNER: President Trump not only called a member of Congress garbage but the entire Somali community. This as ICE is launching a new operation in the state after prosecutors there say they discovered a large-scale COVID-19 program fraud in the state.

During a cabinet meeting yesterday, President Trump saying perhaps his most xenophobic statement yet, adding he doesn't want them in our country.

CNN's Alayna Treene joining us now. Alayna, this attack was particularly hostile and very personal to Ilhan Omar.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: It was. And he's been using broad strokes, really, Sara, to paint the entire Somali community in Minnesota, ine of the largest, I should point out, in the United States to attack Somalis in America more broadly, and that includes the congresswoman, Ilhan Omar.

But I do want to get into some of what we're going to -- what we're seeing happen right now with Minnesota's Twin Cities really bracing for a federal immigration crackdown in their city, specifically targeting Somalis, undocumented Somali immigrants in the U.S.

[07:30:01]

It comes as well as the White House is ramping up these attacks specifically again on Somalis in both Minneapolis but also.