Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Supreme Court Hears Case that Could Alter How Campaigns are Financed; Interview with Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE): Trump: Zelenskyy Has to Start Accepting Things, He's Losing; Trump Signs Off on Exporting Advanced Chips Vital for AI to China; Zelenskyy Says Ukraine Won't Cede Territory to Russia. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired December 09, 2025 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN CHIEF SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Right now, for someone from the Senate, it starts at like $123,000. For the House candidate, it would start at $61,000. And J.D. Vance, now vice president, was one of the challengers to this with the National Republican Senatorial Committee. And it went up to an appellate court in the Midwest. And that appellate court said, you are right that the court has been striking down regulations like this and that the 2001 case that is at issue in this, that allowed coordinated campaign contributions to be capped, that that's sort of in doubt now.

But the judges said, these are fair points, but none of them gives us the authority to overlook or, for that matter, override the Supreme Court's decision in this case, you know, the relevant one that's at issue from 2001, and it's only the Supreme Court that can do it.

Meanwhile, the federal government is now not even defending these caps. The Trump administration has said these caps do indeed violate the First Amendment, because as you know, John, the Supreme Court considers money in campaigns to be akin to, you know, free speech in campaigns. And the Trump administration, if this particular kind of limit really is unconstitutional, it would violate free speech rights.

Democrats who are defending these limits say, no, this encourages quid pro quo corruption when the parties get involved in these kinds of coordinated expenditures. You know, J.D. Vance is now not running for the Senate. He's vice president.

And the lawyer who the court appointed to represent the government's point of view says, you know, there are several off ramps here. It could be moot, because the government's not even backing these caps anymore, and because one of the key parties, J.D. Vance, is no longer, you know, running as a senator. So we'll have to see whether the justices take an off ramp, or if they do just what we've talked about, John, continue on this path of lifting restrictions in the name of the First Amendment.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: It's clear what direction they have been headed. That's for sure. Joan Biskupic, great to see you this morning. Thank you -- Kate. KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So today, President Trump is taking his economic pitch to Pennsylvania. He's set to give a speech on affordability, an issue that the White House knows is a real problem, even with the president calling the issue a con job. Ahead of his trip, the president spoke about the economy in this new interview with Politico.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wonder what grade you would give --

BOLDUAN: A plus.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A plus.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A-plus.

TRUMP: Yes, A plus, plus, plus, plus, plus.

The word affordability. I inherited a mess. I inherited a total mess. Prices were at an all-time high when I came in. Prices are coming down substantially.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Now, the president insisting the prices are coming down. The White House often pointing to real wage growth as evidence of success in making life more affordable, but there is some new data out suggesting that there's more to it than that.

CNN's Matt Egan has much more on this. Matt, what are you seeing here?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Kate, look, if voters were giving this economy a report card, it's clear they would give it a much, much lower grade than what the president did, and I'm not just talking about those five pluses. I mean, consumer confidence is near all-time lows. A lot of voters think that the president's policies are doing more harm than good.

Look at this Gallup poll from earlier in November. Just 27 percent of adults say that the economy is getting better. That's down from 31 percent in October.

The lowest reading since July 2024 under former President Biden. Far more say it's getting worse, and part of that is because of the cost of living, right? You mentioned wage growth.

So in the most recent jobs report, that's from September, we can see the blue line. That's wages. They are going up at a faster pace than the red line, which is inflation.

However, you can see the gap in the last few months. It's starting to narrow, which means that inflation is catching up to prices. Not what you want to see. But this is in aggregate, and this is as of September. So let's zoom in a little bit. Bank of America put out a new report where they find that among high-income households, wages are up by more, by 4 percent, well ahead of that 3 percent inflation.

That's great. Most since October 2021. But unfortunately, that's just for high-income earners, right?

When you look at middle-income households, wage growth is much, much softer. It's just 2.3 percent. That's the middle bar here.

That's actually trailing inflation, which is on the left. That's not great at all. And look at this.

Low-income wages are up just 1.4 percent as of November. That is less than half the pace of inflation.

BOLDUAN: This means life is not more affordable.

EGAN: No, exactly.

[08:35:00]

That's right. It means that life is not more affordable.

And no wonder why a lot of people feel like they can't catch up. They literally can't, according to this research, at least. Bank of America economist, Joe Wadford, I think he summed it up best.

He said, low-income and high-income households are often living in two different worlds and experiencing two different economies. And so, Kate, it's hard to square all of that with this idea that the economy is an A plus, plus, plus. It's clearly for many Americans that are just having a hard time catching up.

BOLDUAN: Yes, I mean, this data is an important aspect to understand what people are -- what people are feeling ahead of the president going to Pennsylvania to speak about affordability today. Thanks so much, Matt.

EGAN: Thank you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: I really appreciate it.

Let's turn to this right now. The breaking news this morning, we're talking about how the president has been speaking in this new interview. Well, also in this interview, President Trump just slams European leaders, unleashing a new broadside against the NATO alliance, and offering new choice words for Ukrainian President Zelenskyy.

These attacks, described by Politico as representing the president's most virulent denunciation to date of these Western democracies. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: Most European nations, they're decaying they're decaying, they're decaying. But Europe, they want to be politically correct, and it makes them weak. That's what makes them weak.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: But just this morning, the German chancellor actually also spoke out to say that European nations do not need help from the United States to, quote, save democracy.

Joining us right now, Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware. He sits on the Foreign Relations Committee -- as well as many other relevant committees. Thanks for coming in.

I want to play for you, just because this is all coming out this morning, one other piece of this new interview with Trump. What else he said about NATO? Let me play this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: NATO calls me daddy. I mean, I have a lot to say about it. Look, I raised, you know, GDP from 2 percent to 5 percent.

The 2 percent they weren't paying, and the 5 percent they are paying. And they're paying it because when we send things over, NATO pays for it, and I assume they give it to Ukraine. But Europe is being destroyed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Europe is weak, decaying, being destroyed, and NATO calls me daddy. What is your reaction to this?

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE), FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: Kate, tragically, that's in keeping with the recently released national security strategy of this administration, which fails to identify Russia as an aggressor, Ukraine as a democracy that deserves our defense, and NATO as strong, trusted, and valued allies. This latest statement from President Trump dishonors the decades-long bipartisan commitment in the United States and here in Congress to stand up for democracy and human rights and to stand shoulder to shoulder with our NATO allies.

As the President just referenced, they've stepped forward. They've made significant investments in Ukraine's security, in European security. They're showing strength, not weakness. And a decision just made by President Trump to allow the export of cutting-edge AI chips to China further alarms me that he doesn't understand the moment we're in and is making national security decisions with regards to Europe and Asia that are weakening the United States, not strengthening us.

BOLDUAN: What does this do, though, hearing this new broadside attack from the President? You say it dishonors the alliance, but what does it do?

COONS: Look, most world leaders are increasingly just ignoring what President Trump says or tweets one day to the next, and they try to look at the actions and decisions of the American government, the American Congress, and President Trump. Unfortunately, as they look at his tariff policies, they've seen over months that it's unpredictable, chaotic, and destabilizing. So a statement like this concerns our European partners because they think there may be actions that will follow, actions that would cave to Russian aggression and weaken the North Atlantic alliance between the United States and our trusted European allies.

BOLDUAN: I also did not give a big endorsement in this interview to Ukraine's negotiating position in trying to bring an end to Russia's war on Ukraine, saying at one point essentially that Ukraine needs to accept that it's losing. I mean, what -- and called Zelenskyy, I call him P.T. Barnum, is what he said there. What impact is the President having on these negotiations to end that war at this point?

[08:40:00]

COONS: A very harmful impact. Look, when President Zelenskyy first met with President Trump in the Oval Office many months ago, they had a disastrous meeting, and Trump kept saying, you don't have the cards. That's because he'd taken them away.

Proactively conceding to Putin that Ukraine may never join NATO, proactively conceding to Putin that Russia will get even more territory than it's been able to conquer in years of aggression and war, and failing to identify Russia as the aggressor weakens Ukraine, weakens the West, weakens the United States. President Trump is trying to show urgency to resolve the war between Russia and Ukraine, but he's doing it in exactly the wrong way, by undermining the country that has bravely fought for its freedom and ignoring or undermining our allies who are sustaining and supporting Ukraine in that fight. It's exactly wrong.

BOLDUAN: Let me ask you, you mentioned this big AI announcement from the White House. The president, in making the announcement, is reversing course and now granting NVIDIA permission to begin selling, I believe it's its second most powerful chip to China, which is a critical AI technology. It has the potential to help China militarily and economically.

You and a group of senators are pushing back on this with a new bill to try to limit the sales of AI chips to China, but the pushback from the White House against these national security concerns that you raise, as David Sacks, the AI czar, if you will, says that increasing NVIDIA's sales to China would actually make Chinese companies dependent on its technology, giving more money to it to develop future generations of chips. Essentially saying, making China dependent on the United States-ish.

Why not?

COONS: Look, Kate, decades of industrial experience by leading American companies shows he's wrong. AI chips are transformational. AI technology is transformational. This isn't just a matter of whether cars made in the United States or cars made in China are going to be bought more by Chinese consumers, which is how David Sacks is posing it. He's suggesting that chips are just commodity items. They're not.

They are the brains of the new generation systems that are transforming everything from farming and food production to education and national security. A broad bipartisan group of senators has joined me in introducing, along with Senator Ricketts, a bill that would prevent the export of cutting-edge AI chips. And I led a letter here in the Senate with a significant group of leading Democrats urging President Trump to roll this back because handing the keys --

BOLDUAN: So what do you think he's missing then?

COONS: -- to the 21st century --

BOLDUAN: If it's so obvious to you?

COONS: -- to the PRC is a terrible idea.

BOLDUAN: If it's so obvious to you, what is the president missing or do you think he's not missing anything at all here?

COONS: Well, I think NVIDIA and David Sacks have been lobbying hard for the opportunity to sell more chips. And look, I understand that over decades, American companies have over and over been attracted by the draw of the Chinese market, the opportunity to sell more goods and products, only to discover a few years later that the Chinese have copied their leading technology and shut them down and begin to manufacture it there. This is a story I've seen directly and in person back when I was in industry working for a global manufacturer before I ever ran for office.

It is a well-known history. The only thing holding China back from winning the race for AI is cutting-edge chips. They have a great workforce of cutting-edge engineers.

They are able to deliver a huge data set to train AI with more than a billion people. They are delivering baseload energy faster than we are. So across the whole stack, we have a critical competitive advantage in chips, chip design and chip manufacturing that China can't catch us on unless we give it away.

This is a moment of profound weakness that will be remembered for a long time. It is a very bad decision for our national security.

BOLDUAN: Important conversation happening in very real time. Senator, thank you for coming in. I appreciate your time -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, as you just heard in Breaking Overnight, President Trump saying that to Politico interview that Russia has the upper hand and that it's time for Ukrainian President Zelenskyy to stop -- start accepting things. All right, let us now go to Ms. Kyra Rudik, who is a member of Ukraine's parliament. After hearing all these things, I do want you to listen to Trump's new comments, where he talks directly about your president.

Here's what he said.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: People killed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If this deal, if Zelenskyy rejects this deal, is there a timeline, is there a point at which you say, OK?

TRUMP: Well, he's going to have to get on the ball and start accepting things. You know, when you're losing, because you're losing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:45:00]

SIDNER: What does it mean to you to hear that during this peace process, the president of the United States is attacking your president and European allies, but not Russia or President Putin?

KIRA RUDIK, MEMBER OF UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT: Hello Sara and thank you so much for having me.

It is indeed painful because I'm sure it's not only American people who are watching this. There are people fighting at the front line, risking their life for democracy, for Europe, who are hearing such a harsh thing from the president of the United States, one of our strongest allies. And it's just simply not true.

It tries to be a self-fulfilling prophecy, but it never will. And really, our answer is to ask President Trump to start pushing pressure onto Russia and not only on Ukraine. What is disappointing, what is so painful, that since he came into the office, he was only pressuring Ukraine for a peace deal that doesn't seem to actually be working and be a workable thing.

However, we only hear promises to start putting pressure on Russia. Ukraine is not a problem here, and there is no other nation than Ukrainian that wants this war to end, because it's our people who are being killed every single day and night at the battlefield and in the peaceful cities. However, if we stop fighting, there will be no Ukraine.

If Russia stops fighting, there will be no war and there will be actually peace. And how is it that it's all so reversed? And in the speech, I just really cannot understand and cannot explain it to people in Ukraine.

So we just hope that this is just yet one of the tactics that President Trump is known to be using to put pressure on Ukrainian side. However, we do not see any workable deal right now, and we just cannot understand what is expected from Ukraine, especially in this public space.

SIDNER: Yes, you say that you cannot see, as far as Ukrainian perspective, cannot see any workable deal right now. I do want to talk about President Zelenskyy's comments where he said, look, Ukraine has no legal right, constitutionally or internationally, to give up any territory. Are there any lawmakers, such as yourself in Ukraine, who say they are willing to give up some territory in order to end the war that Russia started?

RUDIK: From my perspective, I do not know anyone who would do that. However, let's reverse this question. What would be the security guarantee?

What would be the guarantee that Russia would not attack us again if they are stopped right now, if we agree to any sort of the deal right now? So we hear only the questions, what would Ukraine give up? And are there territories that we are willing to give up?

But we do not hear. The most important thing is, OK, so but what would be a way that we would know that this war would not repeat itself? Because right now, the only way we see is that Russia will continue fighting.

They may stop for a year or two, wait for the sanctions to be lifted, regroup, rest, and then attack us again. If we learn something since 2014, when they attacked us for the first time, this is their strategy and it did not change at all. So what we are asking of our allies, like, how is this time going to be different?

Who or what will make sure that Putin will keep his part of the bargain? And that's the most complicated question that nobody wants to answer right now. And everybody just wants to pressure Ukraine and see if we are ready to budge here and there.

Well, we did not choose to capitulate in 2022. We are not choosing to capitulate right now. Situation is indeed very hard.

But President Trump was wrong, saying that we didn't have any cards. And I still believe that we still have some.

SIDNER: I can hear the frustration in your voice as you're hearing these words from the president about your president, about the country. In the meantime, I know that there are people in Ukraine who are experiencing the worst times ever in their lives as a war continues there unabated. Kyra Rudik, thank you so much for coming on and discussing this with us.

All right, ahead, real time directions, live translations and AI images without even touching your phone. We're getting a preview of Google's newest smart glasses.

And the new episode of Actors on Actors is out this morning featuring Jacob and Gwyneth. Look at the two of them. It'll be an interesting combination.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GWYNETH PALTROW, ACTOR: I never thought like, hey, like maybe you should take a break or just say no to this one thing or slow down. It was like this, I don't know, breathless, ferociousness around like if I what if I don't get another job then. (END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, new this morning, a brand new version of Google's AI-powered smart glasses has been announced. So, they'll let like -- the reason we keep showing the picture of this bird, I think, is because apparently the glasses will help you identify what kind of bird it is. Or you can buy a book.

With us now, CNN tech editor Lisa Eadicicco, who got to play with the prototype, right? Did they change your life?

LISA EADICICCO, CNN TECH EDITOR: So the thing with these smart glasses is, as you mentioned, you know, these are really not trying to replace your phone but do some of the things that you might not want to take out your phone for. For example, that bird that we showed, right? If you want to know what kind of bird that is, you might take a picture of it, upload it to Gemini or Google, and try to figure out what it is.

[08:55:00]

The idea behind these glasses is you could just ask, like literally look at the bird, activate Gemini, and ask the question. So I think that's part of what Google, and not just Google, but Meta is also becoming a big player in this space.

And they're really trying to race to get to this next gadget beyond the smartphone. As we all use AI more and more in our daily lives, and we're, you know, not really looking things up online, but chatting with virtual assistants, is there a device that's better at that than the smartphone? And that's the question that they're all trying to answer, and this is Google's next attempt at doing that.

BERMAN: I mean, who's the audience here? Is it people who wear glasses? I mean, will people who wear glasses want to wear these glasses to fix their eyesight and learn stuff about birds?

EADICICCO: I think that's a key question, because not only is it potentially limiting people who don't need to wear glasses, whether they're going to want to try this product, but also we have to see if society is willing to accept something like this, because you might remember about a decade ago, Google tried something like this with Google Glass, and people didn't like the idea of everyone walking around with cameras on their face. There was a lot of backlash.

So now, more than 10 years later, we have to ask the question, has any of that changed?

BERMAN: In your experience in sort of playing with it, was it organic? Did it feel like it could become a natural part of your life?

EADICICCO: Part of it did, and parts of it didn't. I think when you're interacting with Gemini, which is Google's assistant, it was sometimes difficult to know when I should start talking. I interrupted Gemini at certain points, but I will say certain things were very impressive, like the language translation, especially if you're talking to someone that speaks a different language, the glasses can translate what they're saying almost instantly.

BERMAN: Oh, that's kind of cool. Never interrupt Gemini. Gemini hates it when you interrupt.

Lisa Eadicicco, great to see you. Thank you very much.

EADICICCO: Thank you.

BERMAN: Sara.

SIDNER: All right, on our radar for you, new this morning, this heart- pounding moment, a driver sliding out of control and, duh, going head- on into a snowplow. It happened in upstate New York.

The state's Department of Transportation sharing video from the plow's dash cam. Officials say the driver just -- you saw there -- lost control while trying to take a quick turn around that corner there, and the road was slippery because it was snow-covered. Amazingly, nobody was injured in this crash.

A historic building burned down after overnight rave and fire in Indianapolis. Neighbors say that the party was going on in the abandoned warehouse until about 4 a.m. And officials say more than 100 people were inside. The building served as an important landmark in the Indiana auto industry but has been vacant for decades.

The cause of the fire is under investigation. No one hurt in that fire either.

And in Buenos Aires, it was a golden kind of madness. Nearly 2,400 golden retrievers packed into a city park, breaking the record for the largest gathering of the breed. God, I love that. The air was, of course, filled with a little barking, a lot of laughter, a lot of pets, and a lot of fur as owners from across Argentina showed up with their adorable doggies.

How sweet, Kate. They're my favorite.

BOLDUAN: Yes, yes, and yes. I say let's top it and see if we can top that record-breaking group in Central Park.

SIDNER: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Only to selfishly allow us to play with golden retrievers all day long.

SIDNER: I will not be at work that day.

BOLDUAN: Exactly. PTO approved.

Turn to this. A new episode of Actors on Actors will be streaming in moments exclusively on CNN's app. Variety's Emmy-winning series pairs Hollywood actors together for candid conversations, this time featuring Gwyneth Paltrow and Australian actor Jacob Elordi. He just received two Golden Globe noms, actually, including for his role in Frankenstein, so very exciting for him.

CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister has much more on all of this. What did they discuss?

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kate. So Jacob Elordi and Gwyneth Paltrow, they didn't really know each other before this, and they were paired together, and it was a fascinating conversation to hear them get to know each other.

Now, Gwyneth Paltrow, she has been on an acting hiatus for about five years. She is returning with the film Marty Supreme, which actually had its premiere here in Los Angeles last night. It comes out on Christmas Day.

And as you said, Jacob Elordi is in the Oscars conversation for Frankenstein, was nominated for that yesterday for a Globe, and got a television nomination. Now, let's take a look at a bit of their conversation, where they talk about Gwyneth falling out of love with acting, this all in the context, again, of her taking a break from her career.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PALTROW: I feel like I sort of fell out of love with it, you know, because I -- I didn't, I wasn't even sort of contemplating, do I love this? Like, you know, I was just like going --

JACOB ELORDI, ACTOR: Yes, yes, it's automatic.

PALTROW: -- going, going. And I had taken such a long break that I was really able to feel everything and like and just perceive.

ELORDI: Actually receive the information that's coming.

PALTROW: Yes.

ELORDI: I wonder why that is that the drain has to derail for you to, I've not even asked you, why is it that it has to?

PALTROW: I know.

ELORDI: In this thing, it's just, you can't just go, I'm going to just --

PALTROW: I know.

ELORDI: --I'm going to just get off now.

PALTROW: We feel like as actors, we're so lucky to be in a position where we're able to do it and ...

[09:00:00]