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Johnson Under Pressure to Pass Defense Bill with Slim Majority; Interview with Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL): Top Bipartisan Lawmakers Support Releasing Video of Boat Strikes; Trump Rants Against Somalis During Pennsylvania Speech; Private Plane Crash Lands on Florida SUV Driver. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired December 10, 2025 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Happening now on Capitol Hill, the House is set to take up the annual defense policy bill with nearly $900 billion in military funding. Republicans are facing hurdles to muscle it through the House with a narrow majority. A provision tucked inside the bill would try to force Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to release unedited videos of strikes on alleged drug boats.

CNN chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju is on the Hill for us. Manu, it's a must-pass piece of legislation. Where do things stand right now?

MANU RAJU CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, actually this Republican leadership is struggling to pass the first procedural vote that must be approved first in order to get this bill approved on a majority vote because they're facing opposition among a handful of conservative members on the right flank of the House GOP. Right now, eight Republicans have voting no. The Speaker can only afford to lose a couple along party lines, which is why he is in a bit of a bind.

But there are ways to pass this bill, doing it in what's under known in Capitol Hill as under suspension of the rules. That means a much higher threshold to pass this bill. Two-thirds majority they would need in that case.

We do expect that to eventually happen because Democrats want this bill to pass, so that will be approved eventually, despite this drama we're seeing right now play out in the Capitol. Now, at the same time, the Speaker, I just caught up with him on his way to the House floor leaving his office. I asked him about some pretty controversial comments from the president last night in a rally in Pennsylvania.

When he was referring to countries, he called shithole countries, including countries like Somalia. And I asked the Speaker if he was OK with that kind of language.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: He referred to countries like Somalia as s***hole countries. And I asked him if he was OK with that kind of language. REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), HOUSE SPEAKER: I'm baited every day with asking to be asked to comment about what the president or other members say.

RAJU: He's the president of the United States! Don't you have an opinion on it?

JOHNSON: Of course I have an opinion. That's not the way I speak, and you know that. But the president is expressing his frustration about the extraordinary challenge that is presented to America. We have people coming in, not assimilated, and they're trying to take over the country.

We had illegal aliens, like 20 million aliens. It's a crisis for the country, and that's the frustration you hear in his voice and the language he used. Thank y'all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:35:00]

KEILAR: All right, Manu Raju, unfortunately we've lost your microphone, but we are going to continue to monitor what is happening there on the Hill -- Boris.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Let's discuss these major developments with Republican Congressman Randy Fine of Florida. Congressman, thank you so much for being with us. First, I just want to ask, on the footage of this second strike, shouldn't the American people be able to see this footage in order to draw their own conclusions about what happened?

REP. RANDY FINE (R-FL): Well, I trust the president's judgment. If he doesn't think we need to see it, if he thinks it can be classified and should just be limited to intel briefings, then I support that. That's why they send us up here to look out for the interests of the American people.

That's why we classify some information, and I support whatever decision gets made there.

SANCHEZ: What do you think changed from early on when both the president and Secretary Hegseth were open to releasing this information and then shifted? Why not just show it to the American people the way they have so many of these other strikes?

FINE: I don't know, because I haven't watched it. But look, I think probably it's because it's being politicized. Democrats have chosen to stand with drug dealers.

Make no mistake, they're not blowing up pleasure cruises or fishing boats. They're blowing up people whose goal is to addict and kill Americans by running drugs into this country. That's something that we used to all support, which is fighting the importation of fentanyl and cocaine into this country.

And maybe it's because of the politicization that the president and others have taken that approach.

SANCHEZ: There is a legal process for adjudicating drug traffickers, Congressman. We've learned since news of this second strike came out that there have been very different outcomes for survivors of these strikes. Some were, as you know, targeted more than once.

One person was apparently left to die in the ocean. Two were actually picked up and sent back to their home countries. What do you think the protocol should be for handling the survivors of these strikes?

FINE: I've got to be honest with you. I don't really care what happens to drug dealers and drug runners. I'm worried about the American people whose families are being savaged by these drugs.

Whatever happens to them happens to them. I don't care. They know what they're getting into, and I support the president in doing everything possible to stop it.

SANCHEZ: But do they pose an imminent threat to the United States if their ship has been blown up? They're floating out in the ocean. And even according to Admiral Bradley, that specific ship wasn't coming to the United States.

They weren't suspected to be coming to the United States. So how are they a threat to the American people in that regard if they're just floating out there?

FINE: Well, I'm not sure he knows the answer to that. The fact of the matter is these are ships that are full of drugs who have one purpose, which is to addict and kill Americans. The president is doing the right thing.

He's taking action that should have been taken long ago. And it's shocking to me that every member of Congress doesn't support it. To oppose these strikes is to support illegal drugs running rampant in our country.

And again, I support the president in doing everything that he's doing to stop it.

SANCHEZ: On a separate issue, Congressman, last night, President Trump again described Somalia as filthy, also lamenting that the U.S. lets in migrants from shithole countries -- his words -- like Somalia, Afghanistan and Haiti, while not having people come from Norway, Sweden or Denmark. You specifically have spoken out in the past about stripping certain Somalians of their citizenship and sending them home. I wonder if you're comfortable with a hierarchy of which nationalities and races belong or do not belong in this country.

FINE: Well, I'm not comfortable with a hierarchy of races and the president isn't either. But not all cultures are equal and not all countries are equal. There are some people who come to this country to add value and there are some that come to this country to take value.

And when we've seen in Minneapolis that 50 percent of the people who were naturalized engaged in immigration fraud and we're seeing the largest fraud in terms of welfare programs, perhaps in the history of our country, we know there's a problem. And the president speaks in language that Americans understand. He is blunt.

He's not a politician. Neither am I. And so I support as he is making people understand the threats that we're under right now.

SANCHEZ: Congressman, on a number of fronts there, the fraud that you're speaking to, I mean, there has been some level of fraud found specifically with this COVID-19 program. There were some 70 people convicted. The majority of them were found to be Somali nationals.

But people across all cultures commit fraud. I mean, we're both from Florida. I'm sure you saw a lot of COVID-19 fraud done by people of all races, of all genders, of all faiths.

Why specifically Somalians?

[14:40:00]

FINE: Well, I think the size and scope of this fraud, this is up to $8 billion from a group of people that came to the country. Almost a huge percentage went on to welfare immediately. A large amount of immigration fraud. And again, from a country that was not well managed.

When we have immigration in this country, it should be from people who love the country, want to assimilate, do not want free stuff and want to add value. And that's not what you can say with those Somalian immigrants. Immigration without assimilation is invasion.

And that's a lot of what we've seen in Minneapolis.

SANCHEZ: It wasn't the country founded on the premise that you could come here irrespective of what your beliefs are. And if you're a law abiding person, found a good life, create a good life. I mean, there are people in Minneapolis that reject everything that you're saying that say that those immigrants have provided an enormous economic boost for that town and that state.

Are you -- do you not see how some of what you're saying offends those people?

FINE: Absolutely. But immigration to this country was not supposed to be a free check to get all the welfare that you want, which is why I have filed a bill that would ban not only illegal immigrants, but legal immigrants from getting any form of government program. When my family came here to escape persecution where they were from, a member of their family had to sign a commitment saying they would take care of them.

They would not go on the government dole. If we could just agree to that, that we are not going to give immigrants free stuff, particularly fraudulent free stuff. I think our immigration system would work a whole lot better than it does.

SANCHEZ: Congressman Randy Fine, we have to leave the conversation there. Look forward to picking it up somewhere down the road. Thanks for joining us.

FINE: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: An incredible new video showing the moment a plane lands on top of a car on a busy Florida highway. What would you do if you were behind the wheel of this car?

[14:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Three people are very lucky to be alive today after a private plane suddenly crash landed onto the roof of an SUV on a Florida interstate highway. It was a dramatic and frightening moment that was captured on video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bro, I have jobs, I swear. Holy s**t. Oh, oh my goodness.

Right in front of us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to pull up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holy s**t. Wow! They look like they're OK.

Wow!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Now, miraculously, the driver that in that car that you're seeing that plane land on only suffered minor injuries, was taken to the hospital. Neither the pilot nor his passenger were hurt. So let's talk about this with CNN transportation analyst and former D.O.T. inspector general Mary Schiavo. I mean, that's pretty unbelievable. But first off, Mary, just we see this video, you get to see it happen. What are you seeing happen in this video?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN TRANSPORTATION ANALYST: Well, actually, I'm seeing a lot of very fortuitous events, first and foremost. I mean, this happens surprisingly a lot. If you're in an emergency situation where you've lost -- in this case, they say the engines quit.

If you've lost your engine, you have to be picking a field to land in. There's just no alternative. Once you get your glide set up, you turn into a glider.

But here there was no fire. That's first and foremost. That's usually what makes the difference between surviving or not surviving a crash.

And there were no overpasses and wires, which is a huge problem when attempting to land on -- in an emergency. You're not supposed to do this regularly and attempting to land on a roadway, a highway, a freeway, anywhere. Often there are overpasses and wires.

It's also spelled the difference between life and death.

KEILAR: So, I mean, yes, that's -- what is the protocol recognizing that sometimes you don't have time, I think, to fully execute the protocol. If you are trying to make an emergency landing in a situation like this.

SCHIAVO: Well, first and foremost, less people think this is OK other than an emergency. Basically, other than around airports or other structures and highly populated areas. You have to stay a thousand feet above, you know, populated areas or buildings, et cetera.

And in sparsely populated areas, you have to stay 500 feet above. But curiously, there's no specific regulation and some states allow landing on state highways or private roadways, et cetera. But generally, you should not do this other than an emergency.

And there's a there's a regulation for that federal aviation regulation -- 91.3B. In an emergency you have to do anything you can do to save lives. And clearly, this pilot did that. And so what you do when you lose your engines -- and it happened to me in training but we got them restarted.

You set up a glide slope, get the best performance out of your plane that you can. Without engines, you turn into a glider and you look for the safest place to set your plane down. And that's really about all you can do if you have no power.

KEILAR: I mean, I am just amazed that there's just minor injuries in this. It's it's truly unbelievable and could have been so much worse. But this is something the NTSB, right, is going to look into.

So what does that investigation look like?

SCHIAVO: Well, the NTSB and first of all, they're very busy this year, but they have designated this as what's called a level four investigation.

[14:50:00]

So what they will do is in within the next six months, they will come to a conclusion by designated this as a level four. It's just -- to me, it suggests that they have a pretty good idea what happened.

There's already reports out there that it was reported fuel starvation, which means the engines didn't have enough fuel. Could be they ran out of gas, could be they had fuel pump problems, et cetera. But the NTSB, by designating this a level four investigation, will not put their full team on it.

And they'll have a report out in about six months. So that suggests to me they have a pretty good idea what happened. And of course, everyone's alive to talk to them and cooperate.

KEILAR: Yes. And let's say you're a driver. OK, I don't know what you do. How do you prepare for this if you're a driver? But let's say there are maybe some situations where maybe you see the plane coming. I don't think this car could, but maybe there are some situations where you might see it coming.

What do you do?

SCHIAVO: Well, in this case, they did the right thing, because remember, the airplane doesn't have have, you know, brakes. Well, obviously, they have some have speed brakes and you can, you know, attempt to stall. But the plane doesn't have rear view mirrors or blinkers.

So by putting on the brakes, the plane then skipped over it. And obviously, all they can do is try to get out of the way. And that driver, by hitting the brakes, the plane then went over it.

And that turned out to be about the best thing that that driver could do. And kudos to that SUV for withstanding that landing on top. We'll probably all rush out and buy those.

KEILAR: Yes, I'm going to figure out which one that is. Mary, thank you so much for looking at this with us. We appreciate it.

SCHIAVO: Thank you.

KEILAR: Boris.

SANCHEZ: Now, to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour, a former true crime TV producer is now on the FBI's most wanted list. Officials are accusing 73 year old Mary Carole McDonnell of posing as an aerospace company heiress from 2017 to 2018 in order to scam banks out of millions of dollars.

In court documents she's accused of obtaining a nearly $15 million loan from a bank after falsely claiming she was related to the founder of McDonnell Douglas. McDonnell has been on the run since December of 2018. The FBI believes she's hanging out in Dubai.

Also, author and philanthropist Mackenzie Scott just revealed she's donated more than $7 billion to nonprofits this year, a big increase even compared to her previous donations. She gave away nearly $3 billion last year. So this is obviously more than double that.

Her total giving since 2019, more than $26 billion. Forbes estimates that her net worth remains at 33 billion.

And it's a little bit more delayed with us. Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni's trial date has been pushed back by two months. A judge moved the date from March 9th to May 18th, 2026, to accommodate other criminal cases on the docket. The movie star's legal battle stems from their 2024 hit "It Ends With Us." Lively accuses Baldoni of sexually harassing her during production and then retaliating against her when she spoke up. Baldoni denies those claims.

Flooding reaching dangerous levels in Washington state as we track a system that is fueling the threat of floods and landslides in the Northwest. Your forecast in just minutes.

[14:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: A powerful atmospheric river is bringing heavy rain and dangerous flooding to the Pacific Northwest. Video out of Washington state shows roads underwater, forcing emergency crews to rescue stranded drivers. The atmospheric river is also drenching parts of Oregon, causing streets and rivers there to also overflow.

Meteorologist Derek Van Dam is tracking the system for us. So what should we expect in the coming hours and days there?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: So, Boris, the bulk of the heaviest rain has lifted north from Oregon and back into the state of Washington. There have been mandatory evacuation warnings and orders issued across the region as this atmospheric river continues to unleash its extremely heavy rainfall, especially into the state of Washington. This is looking at Tillamook, Oregon, where a large portion of the town yesterday was covered in this floodwater.

Wow, that's businesses, homes, agriculture, all impacted by this atmospheric river. And I show you the latest satellite looping really just track where this thing is originating from, because this is all so important as it pulls in moisture from the central Pacific Ocean. You can track it all the way into the Pacific Northwest.

This is why we call it a fire hose of rain, because it's directing that narrow band of precipitation right into this area. In fact, like I said, it's moved north of Oregon and recentered itself across the Puget Sound, namely in and around Seattle Highway 5 or Interstate 5 and 90. Very treacherous travel conditions with basically every river basin in western Washington under flood warning as we speak.

There are flood watches still to across portions of Idaho and western Montana. But focusing in on Washington, where all the real action is taking place right now, we have three river gauges that are at major flood status. But the forecast going forward with this latest onslaught of heavy rain calls for 18 river gauges to reach that major flood stage.

And this is just into CNN from the National Weather Service. The Snohomish River near Monroe, this is north of Seattle, is expected to break its historic crest by over four feet. And that is all because of the rain that continues to funnel into this region, down from the mountainsides and into the river basins below ...

END