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U.S. Launches New Strike On Drug Boat; ICE Operations Target Somalians; Supreme Court Allows Texas Map; Trump Argues Over Affordability; Numbers On President Turmp And The Youth Vote; Actors On Actors Airs On CNN. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired December 05, 2025 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:33:20]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, the U.S. military has targeted another suspected drug boat, this time in the Eastern Pacific. That strike killed four, bringing the total of this military campaign to more than 20 boats and more than 80 people that the Trump administration has taken out as part of the president's military operation there.

And just come -- it comes just as the scrutiny around one such -- one incident, that double-tap strike, is really coming to a head. Admiral Mitch Bradley gave top lawmakers a classified briefing Thursday. They saw the classified video of the second strike and left the briefing, these lawmakers, with wildly different takes. It will not surprise you, it broke down along party lines.

Joining me right now is retired Admiral James Stavridis, a CNN senior military analyst.

It's great to see you again, Admiral.

I want to talk about -- I want to talk about this incident kind of in the broader context, if I could, with you. This strike and all of the others, the question does still remain, what is the strategy? What is the point when this is not stopping the flow of fentanyl or drugs into the United States, which we keep hearing is the goal?

ADM. JAMES STAVRIDIS (RET.), CNN SENIOR MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, this is the right approach, Kate. And we really haven't seen this explained at kind of the three levels of war, if you will. We're very focused at the moment on the tactical level, this particular double-tap strike, a few additional boat strikes. That's important. It's vital that we have that conversation. It's a tactical conversation.

I think operationally there are still big questions about whether this is a legitimate approach simply going after all manner of drug facilities. And this kind of brings us to the strategic level.

[08:35:03]

And this is where I would invite people to stop and really look at what's going on. Dozen warships, 15,000 to 20,000 sailors, dozens of attack aircraft, a hundred plus tomahawk missiles. You don't need that kind of firepower to do that tactical or operational.

So, bottom line, there is a strategic game afoot here that's unclear. I think we'll learn more if the president decides to conduct land strikes in Venezuela, something he is certainly contemplating.

BOLDUAN: He's been openly kind of toying with the idea, saying it will be coming or could be coming. You and I continue to talk about the likelihood that it will come, these land strikes. I'm starting to wonder about this -- think about this and wonder about this in a bit of a different way. If President Trump was going to conduct land strikes, why hasn't he done it at this point?

STAVRIDIS: I think he is hoping that he can effectively bluff Maduro into coming out of power without actually going through the time, the trouble, the expense, the violence, the death of land strikes. I think that's a misplaced hope, personally. I think Maduro has kind of seen this movie before to include during the first administration, and Maduro is going to try and tough it out.

So, I think the president has a tough decision coming up. The one point I would make here is, boy, let's not get into putting boots on the ground in Venezuela. As you and I have talked about, Kate, it's a huge country, twice the size of California, hundreds of thousands of armed combatants who would oppose it. If you're going to put more pressure on Maduro, do it with airstrikes, Tomahawks, drones, go after drugs, go after his military. Even that is a risky proposition. But I think that decision is coming for the president.

BOLDUAN: When you talk about -- kind of the big overarching question, what is the strategy? Is it going after drugs or is it getting Maduro out of power? Is it a combination of both? The lack of clarity is a real problem here. And then you add into the fact that you've talked about, the sheer firepower and the military might that is focused and has been moved into this region now. With so much focus there, are other things suffering, like are other -- are blind spots being created by the sheer amount of firepower that's focused in the Caribbean right now?

STAVRIDIS: The smart question and the answer is, yes. And it's, by the way, not just the big gray platforms and the sailors and marines. The largest warship in the world, the aircraft carrier, all of that is non-deployable elsewhere, for example, to put pressure on Putin or on Xi in the South China Sea or operations off the Middle East. Not available. Focused on the western hemisphere. That's a strategic choice. We could have a conversation about it. But our resources are not infinite.

Final thought, it's also about the intelligence. Because so much of our efforts are focused on that southern Caribbean right now, those satellites, those data centers, those intelligence experts, they're focused there as well, meaning, they're not looking, some of them, at what's happening in Ukraine, what's happening in the South China Sea, what's happening in the Middle East. So, kind of see paragraph one. It's time for the president to make a decision here. He's going to use that firepower. Use it. If not, let's get back to tending business in other parts of the world. Your point, and it's a good one. BOLDUAN: See paragraph one.

Admiral, it's great to see you. Thank you, as always.

He's such -- he's so good with the turn of phrase there.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you, Kate.

This morning, an ICE operation targeting undocumented Somali immigrants in Minneapolis and Saint Paul is currently underway. It comes after President Trump this week called Somalis living in Minnesota, and I'm quoting here, "garbage." The operation is creating an immense amount of fear and anxiety in their communities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE RIVERO, MINNEAPOLIS OFFICE OF IMMIGRANT AND REFUGEE AFFAIRS: There have been multiple reports in community of immigration enforcement in different parts of the city. There's a lot of fear that people have, even individuals who were born in the United States and people who are naturalized U.S. citizens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: The Minneapolis mayor repeating that, saying, look, the vast majority of Somalian community are citizens or legal residents, but many of them still say they are carrying their passports and green cards around out of sheer fear.

CNN's Whitney Wild is joining us now from Minneapolis.

[08:40:00]

What are you learning this morning? I know you've been speaking to folks in the community throughout the last few days.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Sara, I spoke with one woman who is 24 years old. She is Somali. She's born in the United States. She said, after talking with her family about these stepped up ICE actions here in Minneapolis, she decided to carry a passport. She had it right in the -- in the breast pocket of her jacket. And I asked her, how does it feel as an American citizen to put that passport in your jacket? And she said that the experience was, in her word, "insane." She could not believe that in 2025, as a U.S. born citizen, she would have to carry her passport. And yet here we are.

That, I think, really captures the fear and anxiety here in Minneapolis. Although I think it's important to sort of understand what we're seeing on the ground here. We are not seeing these huge shows of force that we've seen in, say, Chicago or New Orleans. That's Border Patrol. Here, our understanding is that these are mostly ICE actions. Typically, ICE is more precise. They don't do these big shows of force. They have more of a precision approach.

And so, what we're seeing on social media is some of these -- they kind of look like one offs when you're looking at each social media video. And there are a couple examples where we see federal law enforcement interacting with members of the public. For example, CNN's Rob Kuznia caught video of federal agents who were armed questioning a man he -- and, you know, he quickly left. They did not arrest him. So that's really what we're starting to see here, Sara, in Minneapolis.

I did speak with one man who pointed out an irony. There is Trump -- support for President Trump in the Somali community. Here's more from Mohamed Ahmed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILD: How did it make you feel when you heard the president say that?

MOHAMED AHMED, REPUBLICAN PEOPLE OF COLOR: I got five children. My children are not garbage.

WILD: What would you say to the president if he were standing here right now?

AHMED: Mr. President, we campaigned for you. We have hope in you. We see hope in you. Please differentiate between good, bad and evil.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILD: Meanwhile, Sara, Governor Tim Walz is firing back at the Trump administration, saying this. "The president of the United States called Minnesotans garbage and a hellhole. These are doctors, these are teachers, these are entrepreneurs, these are children. The reason President Trump is throwing racial slurs out, the reason he's throwing horrific slurs at me on Thanksgiving Eve, or to Ilhan Omar, is because he's failing on every front. It's because it's collapsing around him."

Sara.

SIDNER: Wow, strong words there.

Whitney Wild, thank you for covering this out there in very frigid temperatures this morning. Do appreciate you.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: So, a big win for President Trump and Republicans ahead of next year's midterms. The Supreme Court just greenlit Texas's newly redrawn congressional maps. A lower court had deemed the map unconstitutional, finding that they discriminated on the basis of race. The Supreme Court decision, quite significant. Right now, House Speaker Mike Johnson can lose just three Republicans on any party line vote. The new map in Texas gives Republicans advantage now for five Democratic held seats.

CNN's Joan Biskupic has much more on this one.

Joan, what did you learn with this ruling?

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN CHIEF SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Sure. Great to see you, Kate. This is very important politically for the balance of power in the

U.S. House of Representatives, but also as a legal matter for just how courts across the country should assess claims of racially discriminatory gerrymandering. And here what happened, as you know, the Trump administration had pressured Texas, and pressuring other GOP-led states across the country, to do off cycle redistricting. Typically, that only happens after an annual census. But President Trump wanted to shore up his majority in the House. That triggered then Democrats trying to do redistricting. And in Texas, after the legislators drew a map that could potentially flip five seats to the Republican side, civil rights groups and voters sued the state, saying you draw -- drew lines based on race, which is unconstitutional. It is OK to draw lines based on politics, but not on race.

A lower court, Kate, ruled that race was in -- permissibly used and pointed to a letter that the Trump administration had sent to Texas legislators, encouraging them to draw those lines based on -- based on the race of voters, to try to enhance the Republican advantage. The Supreme -- the Trump administration and Texas comes up to the Supreme Court. And last night, the justices ruled with the conservative majority saying that, no, the district court was wrong. It should have presumed legislative good faith on the part of the Texas lawmakers, that they were, you know, not trying to do things based on race, that it was just along partizan lines.

Here's what the majority -- it was an unsigned majority. Here's what the majority first said. "The district court improperly inserted itself into an active primary campaign, causing much confusion and upsetting the delicate federal balance in elections."

[08:45:09]

The filing period for the 2026 election in Texas is going on now. So, that was a reference there.

Justice Alito, who has been at the forefront of trying to stop these claims against racial gerrymanders, one of our most conservative justices wrote separately, joined by Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch. He wrote, it is indisputable that the impetus for the adoption of the Texas map, like the map subsequently adopted in California, was partizan advantage, pure and simple.

I have to say, it's not indisputable because we've had -- we had this lawsuit. Justice Kagan, writing for the three liberal dissenters, said, you know, what basis does the majority have to reject this after the district court had heard nine days of testimony, pages and -- thousands of pages of evidence here, and ruled in 160 pages, and the justices just summarily reverse it.

But it's part of a pattern, Kate, at the Supreme Court of really trying to defer to state lawmakers and let them do what they want with these maps and minimizing any kind of racial concerns.

The Trump administration was cheering this. Pam Bondi put out a tweet saying, "federal courts have no right to interfere." So, the Trump administration very happy with this. And, going forward, I think we're going to see less and less scrutiny across the country for the way lawmakers are drawing their maps.

Kate

BOLDUAN: Joan, there you go, right there is the fallout and the impact and implication of all of this.

BISKUPIC: Right.

BOLDUAN: Appreciate it. Thank you so much.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Right. Sort of connected to this. New this morning, Democrats won big in the November elections by running on the cost of living, affordability. President Trump, over the last month or so, has argued that the focus on affordability is a scam and a con job.

CNN's Matt Egan is with me now.

That's kind of different than what he said during the presidential campaign, Mat.

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, John, it's really hard to make sense of this argument that the affordability crisis is a con job on a few different levels, right? First off, this is arguably the issue that helped propel President Trump back to the White House just a year ago. And not only that, but candidate Trump, he used remarkably similar language to what now President Trump is calling a hoax.

Take a listen to what candidate Trump said on the campaign trail last year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Starting on day one we will end inflation and make America affordable again to bring down the prices of all goods.

Starting the day I take the oath of office, I will rapidly drive prices down and we will make America affordable again. We're going to make it affordable again.

We will end inflation and make America affordable again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

EGAN: Make America affordable again. That was even in the 2024 Republican Party platform. And look, this message, it seemed to work. It really seemed to resonate with voters.

When you look at the 2024 exit polls, among voters who said that inflation caused their families severe hardship, Vice President Harris, former Vice President Harris only won 23 percent of the voters. The vast majority went to Donald Trump. And look, one of the problems here is, believe it or not, inflation is

actually higher. As of September, the most recent month we have data for, than it was a year ago, which is the left side of the screen when, again, candidate Trump was promising to make America affordable again.

It's not the runaway inflation that some feared, but what's notable is that tariffs, the president's tariffs, are part of the reason why we've seen this uptick in inflation.

And look, Donald Trump promised to make prices go down. And that was just never realistic, right? It's just not really the way that prices work.

BERMAN: No.

EGAN: You don't usually see that across the entire economy unless something's really, really wrong.

Look, I think the bottom line here, John, is, if the president's trying to convince voters that the affordability crisis that they're experiencing every single day isn't real, that's going to be an almost impossible task, especially because candidate Trump told them it is real.

BERMAN: Yes. Look, neither prices nor the rate of inflation are down at this point.

EGAN: Exactly.

BERMAN: Matt Egan, great to see you.

EGAN: Thank you, John.

BERMAN: Thank you very much.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, gentlemen.

Coming up, Arianna and Adam. "Variety's" "Actors on Actors" is now premiering exclusively on CNN All Access today. It is a really sweet combination. You guys are going to like it.

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[08:54:05]

BERMAN: All right, this morning, we've long talked about how President Trump won this last election. And we talk regularly about gains he made with minority voters versus his previous elections. He also made huge gains with another group. That would be younger voters. So, how is he doing with younger voters now? One man knows the answer. CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten.

You know, it's interesting because I haven't thought about this voting group in a while here.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes.

BERMAN: So, what are the changes?

ENTEN: Yes, what are the changes? You know, Donald Trump put in the best performance for a Republican presidential candidate among young voters since George W. Bush did back in the early 2000. And, you know, he started off his term, his net approval rating among voters under the age of 30 at plus ten points. Hey, that's pretty gosh darn good.

But you come over now, according to CBS News/YouGov, this isn't falling into the water. This isn't going underseas. This is going into a deep, dark black hole.

[08:55:02]

Look at that, minus 46 points. That is a shift on the net approval of 56 points in the wrong direction since February. My goodness gracious. You know I love looking at these swings, looking at how the electorate changes. You rarely, rarely ever see swings.

BERMAN: We look at a lot of polls. We almost never see drops this big, this quickly.

ENTEN: Yes.

BERMAN: Any sense of why? What issues may be driving it?

ENTEN: You know, look, we've been talking about it. You were talking about it last segment with Mr. Matt Egan. It's the economy, stupid. I mean just take a look here. Age 18 to 29 on Trump and the economy. Back in October of 2024, who did those under the age of 30 trust, Harris or Trump? It was Trump by ten points according to the Marquette University Law School poll. Look at where his net approval rating is now on the economy, minus 52 points. Very similar to what we saw in the CBS News/YouGov poll in terms of his overall drop in support on the net approval rating. And its minus 52 --

BERMAN: That's just --

ENTEN: Yes, it's just stunning. It's just stunning. I mean John is here with me. John, who, of course, ran a political campaign eons ago, someone who studied political science eons ago. I don't want to make you seem that old. But he has looked at these polls as long as I have, and he's just as stunned as I am, because the bottom line is, you rarely ever see shifts like this.

BERMAN: Yes, it's a huge shift.

All right, how do young people feel about, say, the economic system in general?

ENTEN: Yes, I think, you know, the other thing that's going on here, Johnny B, is the fact that the young folks are just fed up with the system in general, and they want change. And when they don't see the change is resulting in any positivity, they go against the candidate. And one way we can just see this is, just look at this, capitalism's net favorability rating, age 18 to 34. Back in 2010, when I was in this age group, it was plus 46. But the millennials are out, baby. The generation z is in. And look at this, minus 11 points on capitalism in terms of its net favorability rating. Again, another huge shift. This is -- what is this, a 57-point shift.

So, when you don't get change, you don't see the change that you like as a young person, you go against the system. You go against the incumbent.

BERMAN: Ah, youth. Harry Enten, good to see you this morning.

ENTEN: Nice to see you.

BERMAN: Thank you very much.

Sara.

SIDNER: Harry E. and Johnny B., you guys should take it on the road.

All right, a remarkable rescue in Virginia. A malfunctioning window washing basket left two workers suspended 15 stories in the air. A rescue team of firefighters had to figure out how to save them. They used a rope system to repel down the building and secured those trapped workers. Ultimately, thankfully, bringing them back down safely. Kudos to those who do that job because I am too terrified to even think about it.

All right, and in Iowa, a dramatic rescue on an icy pond. A two-year- old collie named Doug Doug plunged through the ice of a 20 foot deep pond in rural Iowa. Oh, honey. That's when a volunteer fire -- fire chief jumped into action. He grabbed a rope, a kayak, and a preserver and crawled across the cracking ice and brought Doug Doug back to safety. Oh my goodness. I just love them both.

OK, Kate, I love you too.

BOLDUAN: I love them both and I'm freezing now watching that.

SIDNER: Oh, look at Doug Doug.

BOLDUAN: Since the (INAUDIBLE). Oh my God, so cute. Glad he is OK.

SIDNER: Sweet.

BOLDUAN: Starting today, new episodes of "Variety's" "Actors on Actors" premiere exclusively on CNN's app. Emmy -- the Emmy Award winning series pairs Hollywood actors together for candid conversations. And in today's first episode that is dropping in just minutes, Ariana Grande sits down with Adam Sandler.

CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister joins us with a preview.

Tell us what is happening.

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kate.

So, as you said, this is the only series where actors sit down with each other. And they interview each other. So, Adam Sandler and Ariana Grande were in the hot seat together. They talk about how she landed the role in "Wicked."

Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARIANA GRANDE, ACTRESS: I have never in my life felt anything like finally getting that call.

ADAM SANDLER, ACTOR: So, what was it? Did you -- did you -- was it -- I'm sure you've talked about it before, but I don't know.

GRANDE: No, it's OK.

SANDLER: Did you audition?

GRANDE: Yes, I begged for an audition.

SANDLER: Really?

GRANDE: I didn't know if they would have even considered seeing me for it.

SANDLER: Wow. Wow. Wow.

GRANDE: I did -- I really begged.

SANDLER: So, you --

GRANDE: And I heard at first -- are you OK?

SANDLER: Yes, yes, yes.

GRANDE: OK. I'm sorry. I am going to keep checking.

SANDLER: Thank you.

GRANDE: I am going to keep checking when I hear a tiny beginning of cough, I'm checking.

SANDLER: I was fighting it back, but it slipped out.

GRANDE: Don't. Don't. Let it out. You're safe here.

SANDLER: Thank you. Thank you. Safe with my Ariana.

GRANDE: With me and with Ryan.

SANDLER: OK. Good. Sorry, guys.

GRANDE: So, the audition was actually -- and I had to beg them to let me audition because I didn't think -- they didn't -- they didn't want anyone that they knew to play these roles.

SANDLER: I see. I see. Yes, yes, yes.

GRANDE: So, I had to beg to be considered in the first place.

SANDLER: Right.

GRANDE: And the first audition was singing. I actually sang both roles.

SANDLER: Whoa.

GRANDE: I sang Glinda. I sang "No One Minds the Wicked and Popular." And then I sang "Defying Gravity in the Wizard and I."

SANDLER: My goodness.

GRANDE: I had to do each twice.

SANDLER: Holy (INAUDIBLE). Really?

GRANDE: Yes.

SANDLER: You and a piano.

[09:00:00]

GRANDE: Me and a piano.

SANDLER: And was there a piano player in the room or was it a tape?

GRANDE: Yes, he was in the room.

SANDLER: Yes.

GRANDE: And it was -- that was the first one.