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Trump Touts Economy After Calling Affordability a Hoax; FBI Adds Former True Crime TV Producer to Most Wanted List; Atmospheric River Hitting Washington With More Rain. Aired 8:00-8:30a ET

Aired December 10, 2025 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

HUGH JACKMAN, ACTOR: ... My friends said to me, what's it like? I said it's like you've got the leash of a Great Dane and a horse, all in one, and it's dragging you down the street. It's part exhilarating and part frightening because you're a little out of control.

CYNTHIA ERIVO, ACTOR: Yes.

JACKMAN: And I think luckily for me, no one recognized me as Wolverine on the street. So I had this grace period of about 18 months, where I was famous in the world, but no one stopped me.

ERIVO: Right, right, right.

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Now, after their conversation, I caught up with them off the set, and I had to ask Hugh, what is your favorite song from Wicked? And of course he said, Defying Gravity. Well then I asked him, do you want to take a stab at it?

Do you want to sing it right here on camera? And he said in front of Cynthia, 100 percent no. You can't blame the guy.

Even Hugh Jackman, next to Cynthia Erivo, I get it. But Cynthia actually made history this week at the Golden Globes, becoming the first black woman nominated two times in the same category of lead actress in comedy or musical.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, our thanks to Elizabeth Wagmeister. A new episode of Variety's "ACTORS ON ACTORS" is now streaming exclusively on the CNN app.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The White House sends the president out to talk about affordability, but he calls it a hoax and says kids can do with fewer dolls this Christmas. Is that the message the administration wants?

And we are watching the Federal Reserve expected to deliver a new interest rate cut. But what will they say about what happens next? This could have the biggest impact on you.

And the new video this morning of a plane that tried to touch down on an interstate but landed right on top of a car.

I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SIDNER: New this morning, President Trump taking his message about the economy on the road and going off script. His campaign style appearance in Pennsylvania billed as the first stop on his tour to talk about affordability concerns among Americans. But he again called those worries a hoax drummed up by Democrats as his speech strayed into attacks on his political opponents and immigrants.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're getting inflation, we're crushing it, and you're getting much higher wages. I mean, the only thing that used it's really going up big. It's called the stock market and your 401ks.

They have a new word. You know, they always have a hoax. The new word is affordability.

So they look at the camera and they say, this election is all about affordability.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: But there is a gap between the president's message and what many Americans say they are feeling at the grocery checkout, shopping for the holidays, paying bills or rent or mortgages or trying to buy a house or a car. Prices, by and large, are not coming down. Inflation is now at 3 percent year over year, the same level as January.

The president's approval rating on the economy has fallen to just 36 percent in a recent poll. And nearly a year into a second term, he offered no new plan in Pennsylvania to relieve economic anxiety, one of the main issues he was elected on -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Join us right now to talk about all of this, CNN's Jeff Zeleny and Leigh Ann Caldwell, the chief Washington correspondent for Puck. Leigh Ann, the Trump White House sees the poll numbers and sees consumer confidence numbers and sees who Americans are blaming for the pain that they feel and know and knew and know that they needed Trump to do more to get out there.

That is what Trump said. Susie Wiles said it was time to get back out and campaign. Is what happened last night the more that they really were hoping for?

LEIGH ANN CALDWELL, CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, PUCK: Not at all, Kate. There has been a big push inside the White House for the president to focus on this affordability issue. As you mentioned, alluded to that that is the reason that Trump is going back on the campaign trail to push that message to reassure voters that there is a plan and that there's something in place.

But that's exactly not what's happening. And part of that is because they can't get the president to believe that it's actually an issue. So this is the exact opposite of a message that his aides want.

Republicans on Capitol Hill, the ones who are facing voters in less than a year. They want to see more from the president as far as policies are concerned. They want to see messaging from the president that connects with voters on this issue.

[08:05:00]

And so it is not the message that they wanted to see. And I think that they are questioning the fact that they wanted the president out there because they do think that he is their best spokesperson, but when he's on message. And despite how good of a political pulse he usually has, for some reason, he's not leaning into this issue -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: And Jeff, you know, insert slightly different words. There is a wild element of deja vu here. The stance, the vibes.

I mean, it's better than you all feel in reality and believe these data points, not how you're feeling out there right now. That is what the Biden administration tried to do for months and months, obviously, unsuccessfully. Is the Trump White House -- do you get the sense that that folks aren't learning the lesson in the Trump White House and those surrounding the president? Or is it something else?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: I mean, Kate, you're right. Very similar views. You know, perhaps it's in the mantra of older presidents don't sort of learn new tricks here because President Trump is very much stuck in his mindset that he brought prices down and he brought inflation down.

The reality is he didn't. I mean, his own economic numbers show that inflation is the exact same as when he came into office in January. Now, of course, presidents don't necessarily cause inflation, but they get blamed for it.

And President Trump ran on the idea of bringing prices down. That was a central theme of his presidency, his campaign, of course. So, look, advisors in the White House are very well aware of how problematic this is economically.

But the president's tone, I mean, we shouldn't be surprised, obviously, because he telegraphs virtually every day he is holding forth in the Cabinet Room, in the Oval Office. He's been sort of mocking this affordability message. So it's not surprising he did it last night in Pennsylvania as well.

But what I've really been struck by, now Vice President Vance is going to Pennsylvania next week as well to Allentown, not far from where the president was, which is kind of unusual if you think about it. Of all the places to go, so many competitive House districts, why is he going back to Pennsylvania? Perhaps to sort of button up the message a little bit. And the difference between the vice president and the president has been pretty extraordinary and very interesting on the economy. The vice president repeatedly says, we understand, but have a little more patience. Our policies must set in.

Next year, the economy will get better. So we'll see about that. But look, I don't think anything the president said last night was surprising.

He was eager to get back on the campaign trail. It was a rarity. He spent very little time there over the last year.

But it was largely a list of familiar hits.

BOLDUAN: And Leigh Ann, so one thing we know about the president is he pivots quickly. When the president eventually gets the message right, actually lands the plane in one speech, doesn't mock affordability when he's talking about it, what is the effect? Does that fix the problem that Republicans who are currently running for re-election are facing?

I mean, Democrats are facing it as well. But with the president, it becomes a Republican problem.

CALDWELL: Yes, that's absolutely right. I mean, the first -- the first rule is to connect with voters and to feel empathetic or express empathy with what they're experiencing and going through. And the data is there.

And so that is what Republicans need the president to do, first and foremost. Secondly, they also want him to just focus on it as well. Talk about how the White House is addressing the issue.

They've done work is what Republicans would say with the one Big, Beautiful Bill. There's tax cuts coming, extension of these tax cuts. And there's a lot of other policies that they say will help Americans, especially, as Jeff alluded to, in the next year.

And so they want the president to highlight those and to focus on that and then also to implement policies that, you know, might help around the edges as well. You know, we saw the $12 billion that Trump announced earlier this week for farmers. He says he's going to pay that through tariff revenue.

Well, some Republicans admit, you know, Representative Don Bacon admitted to me that that money might not necessarily be necessary if the tariffs weren't in place. It's caused a lot more stress on farmers, coupled with some other things. But but it's two part.

It's the messaging, but it's also the policies. And Republicans really need the president to get on board with what they need, what they think that voters need to hear -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Jeff, it's great to see Leigh Ann. It's great to see you. Thanks for coming in -- John.

BERMAN: All right, she went from producing true crime shows to being on the FBI's most wanted list.

[08:10:00]

The investigation into the woman accused of posing as an heiress and stealing millions.

Road closures, water rescues and atmospheric river thousands of miles long, dumping more than a month's worth of rain.

And a driver rescued after accidentally driving his car right into a pond.

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SIDNER: New this morning, a former True Crime TV producer now on the FBI's most wanted list.

[08:15:00]

Authorities are accusing 73-year-old Mary Carole McDonnell of posing as an aerospace company heiress from 2017 to 2018 to scam banks out of millions of dollars. In court documents, she's accused of fraudulently attaining a nearly $15 million loan from a bank after falsely claiming she was related to the founders of McDonnell Douglas. Her struggling California film company produced films like I Married a Murderer and It Takes a Killer.

Now, McDonnell is a star of her own crime drama. She's been on the run, according to authorities, since December of 2018. The FBI believes she is in Dubai.

Here now, Joey Jackson, CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney. OK, there is a lot going on here. Kind of reminds me of the Anna Delvey situation back in the day where she was, there's a whole movie made about her.

What are some of the things that she could be facing now?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: OK. So unpacking this -- good morning, Sara.

SIDNER: Good morning.

JACKSON: This is a big dupe, right? And the fact that a bank would go for this and not do the appropriate due diligence, yes, it's true. She had documentation indicating that she had this trust fund because that's what she said. She said, hey, I'm this heiress of the McDonnell Douglas company, big aerospace company taken over by Boeing, I think, in the late 90s.

However, duped them in that regard, saying that her name was attached to that, duped them by presenting these trust fund documentations. But it's not all fun and games. And so what ended up happening is, is that the feds went into the grand jury in 2018. Again, grand jury not saying you're guilty, just saying there's reasonable cause to believe a crime was committed and that you committed it. 23 members, a simple majority, 12 say that this could be the case. And so she took off. So as a result of that, bank fraud carries up to 30 years. It carries up to 30 years.

Now, the federal guidelines, which is what they sentence you under, Sara, assuming that she's ultimately brought back from wherever she is, assuming she's convicted. It's a little different.

I think her guideline range based upon the nature of the fraud. And you talked about the 15 million. There's an indication that there may be another 15 million that she went after.

But based on the amount of money she stole, allegedly, you get the about a sentence of it's 30 years statutory. That's what the law says if you look at it. But her guideline range is probably seven to nine years.

And then you tack on another two for what they call aggravated identity theft. So that's what she's looking at in terms of her responsibility, liability, culpability. If they find her.

SIDNER: All right. Speaking of finding her, the FBI believes she is in Dubai. Do we know if Dubai has an extradition treaty with the United States?

JACKSON: So it's interesting because Dubai doesn't have an extradition treaty, quote unquote, which requires someone who's engaged in criminal activity to come back. But they have this sort of mutual relations treaty. And it's different because it's not mandatory. It's discretionary.

So diplomatic relations, you make a few phone calls, you say, hey, look, she's wanted. She stole a little bit of money in the tune of 15, maybe 30 million dollars. How about turning her back to us?

And so the FBI has dispatched to Dubai based on good information that she's there. And of course, she has made that list called America's most wanted list. And so she certainly is the subject of the FBI, all of her descriptions, where she's from, et cetera.

And the United States is pretty good at finding people. So the gig may be up, Sara, even though this was in 2018. Reckoning may come soon.

SIDNER: I mean, we're talking seven years here --

JACKSON: Yes.

SIDNER: -- that they've been looking for her. But once you make that list, it just sort of elevates everything to a different level.

JACKSON: Oh, it does.

SIDNER: All right, Joey Jackson, thank you so much. Appreciate you.

JACKSON: Thanks Sara, appreciate you.

SIDNER: Over to you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Today, the final and key Fed decision of the year. And what is the Federal Reserve going to do to round out 2025.

And new research on AI chatbots and how much they are becoming a part of everyday life for teenagers?

[08:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, happening now, an atmospheric river hitting Washington with even more rain, major flooding is likely a multiple rivers there and some spots could hit a new higher crest. Some rivers could have cresting even higher today. Up to six inches of rain fell in parts of Oregon in a single day, triggering mudslides and flooding there as well.

Let's get ready to CNN's Derek Van Dam for the very latest. Some of these pictures, Derek, I got to say really, really dangerous stuff.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, this video coming out of Tillamook, Oregon, this is coastal Oregon or near the coast. Extraordinary to say the least and heartbreaking as well, because these are people's homes, these are people's businesses, but this is what they're going to wake up to this morning as rivers have swelled. Trees have been toppled by the powerful winds, which, by the way, clocked over hurricane force across parts of the Intermountain West, Wyoming to Colorado, all associated with this kind of a fire hose of moisture and wind that's directed at the Pacific Northwest.

We call it an atmospheric river, a river in the sky for a reason. You can track it very clearly on this satellite map, and it's got our tropical connection. And what that means is this gaining that moisture from down by Hawaii.

So snow levels are extremely high. So the bulk of this is falling as rain. Right now there are no river gauges registering at major flood stage, which is surprising because we've had a bit of a lull in this intense, heavy rainfall.

But this is really just an appetizer of what's to come. This is the official forecast from the National Weather Service. You see all those purple dots across the state of Washington.

Those are where we are expecting the river gauges to reach major flood stage, potentially breaking records. Here's an example of Snohomish River. The forecast crest is just over thirty 33.68 feet.

The record over 17 years ago was at 33.50 feet. So that's significant. And it's all because of this fire hose of rain that is being directed into this region.

So the radar very busy, very challenging to travel on the roadways right now. We've seen video of 18 wheelers and trucks that are spinning out and jackknifing. Highway 5, for instance, between Seattle and Portland, very wet.

[08:25:00]

We have flood advisories, watches and warnings blanketing much of the Pacific Northwest as well as the inner mountain west. Check this out over Idaho and portions of Montana. The amount of moisture that is associated with this system is equivalent to the potential of 15 times the amount of water that flows through the Mississippi River.

So that gives you an idea of what's being directed into this part of our country. And it's not going anywhere anytime soon. This is going to continue its onslaught of rain, high elevation snowfall right through Thursday, and we'll have impacts into the early parts of the weekend as well, John.

So we need to brace ourselves here for the potential of a several day flooding event across the Pacific Northwest.

BERMAN: More to come. All right, Derek Van Dam, thanks for watching it for us -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, ahead, take a look at this video. It is from a Florida highway, but that's a plane landing there in the middle of the highway. And boy, you're going to want to see what happens next.

Plus, Miami electing its first Democratic mayor in decades. What this means potentially for the midterms.

Those stories and more ahead.

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