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At Least Six Rivers Hit Major Flood Stage in Washington; U.S. Seizes Oil Tanker Off Venezuela Coast; Senate to Vote on Republican and Democratic Healthcare Plans. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired December 11, 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]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The breaking news, a state of emergency declared, helicopter rescues underway. The governor warning historic records aren't just going to be broken. They are going to be shattered by this rain and massive flooding out in the Pacific Northwest.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: What on earth is going on in college football tremors overnight as the coach of one of the most storied teams in the country is fired and then ends up in jail. We've got new information this morning.

And tanker seized, the U.S. takes control of a huge oil tanker in the open seas. Does this put the country one step closer to war?

I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan. Sara is out today. This is CNN News Central.

And there is breaking news. We're monitoring a dangerous situation developing in Washington State. At least six rivers are hitting major flood stage this morning. That is the most severe level of flooding and the water is still rising. Officials have warned of catastrophic flooding, ordering evacuations for up to 100,000 people. Many of those evacuations are along the Skagit River's 100-year floodplain. That river is expected to rise at least six feet above its previous record.

Already, swift water teams have been making rescues. One mother took this video inside her home. She told CNN that the water reached three feet high in her basement. And on the roads, high water, mud and debris, all blocking traffic and shutting down roads statewide. Washington State Patrol has urged drivers not to try to drive through the high water. They posted this message, you drive a car, not a boat.

Let's get right to CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar for the very latest on this situation, which seems to be getting worse at this point, Allison.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, and that's typically what happens with river flooding because it's more of a delayed effect. You can see the video here next to me. This kind of showing how they are trying to reinforce one of those flood walls that are there, the barrier that is meant to protect the communities around the river, again, just trying to reinforce it and make sure it holds and does its job as those rivers are expected to rise around this community.

But the real question is, okay, but how high are the river's forecast to actually get in these areas? Well, we take a look at the Skagit River specifically because that is forecast to get up to record levels. The forecast crest 41 feet, more than 41 feet. You can kind of see that peaking right there on that map. The previous record level was 37 feet. So, we're not just talking a little bit above. You're talking significantly above where even the previous record was met. And flood stage alone begins at just 28 feet, and that's when you start to see some problems where water intrusion starts to happen in some of the surrounding areas.

It's not the only one though. It's one of several. All of these dots here indicating a river gauge that is set to be at either minor, moderate, or major flood stage over the next several days. And keep in mind, some of these are not forecast to crest for several more days because you have to wait for all of that runoff to come down from the rain to eventually flow back into a lot of these rivers, creeks, and streams.

Now, it is still raining across much of this area, so that's going to add to it. So, it's not just the runoff from the previous days, but we're also adding new rain on top of it for these areas. That's why you have the flood watches in effect, and around Seattle, Tacoma, and much of the Pacific Northwest, but also downstream. So, you also have some of these in effect for portions of Idaho and Montana as that system continues to progress eastward.

This is the atmospheric river that we've been talking about here, again, that large plume of moisture that is just being funneled into the Pacific Northwest over and over and over again. So it's that constant stream of moisture back to back that's really leading to a lot of these issues, not just the flooding because of the rain itself, but, again, that delayed effect.

Here's a look at the forecast. Again, notice as we head into the next 48 to 72 hours, it starts to dry up, and that's exactly what these areas need.

BERMAN: It is very much an ongoing developing situation. Still nighttime there. When people wake up, I think they're going to need to take some action in some places. There's already reading highways to Vancouver had been shut down this morning.

A lot going on, Allison Chinchar, you're watching it all for us, thank you very much. Kate?

BOLDUAN: A question this morning. Now, that the U.S. has it, what is it going to do with it? There was a major escalation overnight with Venezuela, the United States seizing an oil tanker off the country's coast.

[07:05:03]

Attorney General Pam Bondi released the video that you're seeing right here. In this video, you see American forces repelling out of a helicopter onto the deck of this ship. Bondi says, the ship, which is called the Skipper, was responsible for transporting sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran.

When asked about the oil now, President Trump said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: What happens to the oil on that ship?

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Well, we keep it, I guess.

REPORTER: Where does it go? What part does it go to?

TRUMP: Well, you have to follow the tanker. You know you're a good newsman. Just follow the tanker.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: CNN has obtained satellite imagery showing the ship had been hiding its real location. Its transponder had showed the tanker off of the Guyana Coast last month when it was actually at that time docked at a Venezuelan oil terminal.

Venezuelan's President Maduro spoke to CNN and said that his message to the United States now is, in his words, peace above all else. But his government put out a statement calling the seizure of this ship an act of international piracy.

CNN's Alayna Treene is live at the White House for us this morning. What now, Alayna?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Look. Kate. I mean, this is a significant escalation of the president's attempts to really put the squeeze on Venezuelan dictator Nicholas Maduro.

Now, in that video released by Bondi last night, I just want to emphasize this again. I mean, these are striking images we are seeing of armed personnel coming down in ropes from that helicopter, seizing that ship with their guns drawn and essentially, you know, taking control of this massive oil tanker.

Now, Bondi said that the FBI, Homeland Security and the U.S. Coast Guard had conducted this seizure in cooperation with the Department of Defense. And word of this surprise mission actually came from the president himself. He played some of that. He mentioned this yesterday, of course, when talking to reporters, but he did not really offer any details of the reasoning behind this or what we can expect to happen to that oil being transpired by this tanker. Essentially, he said, I guess that we keep it. So, we're going to have to keep tabs on that one, Kate.

Now, a senior U.S. official told CNN that the seizure occurred in international waters and proceeded without incident and saying that there was no casualties either among U.S. personnel or the crew among that tanker, which was called the Skipper. And just to reemphasize what you said, this was sanctioned, this oil tanker, by the Biden administration previously for what they had said was shipping oil from Venezuela to Iran. This was also something we know that the Trump administration had been talking about back during his first term.

However, this mission was really only made possible because of this massive military buildup, U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean, I should note the largest U.S. military buildup in that region in decades. And I should point out here that this is a bit different, of course, from the mission, we know that the Trump administration has been laying out as a result to their aims with Venezuela. So far, of course, it comes as we know that the U.S. military has killed 87 people in roughly two dozen strikes in recent months. And all of that is about -- or that mission is really about trying to stop the flow of drugs coming into the United States. This, of course, is very different. This is targeting oil on a Venezuelan tanker.

Now, I should say as well that we've talked to experts and they say this was a mission that appears to be legally justified and by the book. And so they're saying there are actually less legal implications from the experts we've talked to about this type of mission than we've seen with those strikes on those boats off the coast of Venezuela.

For Maduro's part, he has essentially said that this is an act of bare-faced robbery and act of international piracy. And he said it is aimed at taking one of the country's best resources, oil.

And so all of this in context, as we know as well, the broader mission, of course, that we've been reporting on. My colleagues and I recently reported that the administration is also behind the scenes working quietly on day after plans if Maduro is to, you know, be forced out of power, looking at who could kind of fill that power vacuum, if they get one of those goals that they have not really been outwardly saying, but we know behind the scenes is something they want to see happen.

All to say, we'll be watching this very clearly. There'll definitely be more questions for the president directly on this today. We'll be bringing you the latest, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely, Alayna, thank you so much for all of the reporting.

We have more breaking news coming in. As John was alluding to at the top of the show, in college sports, University of Michigan's head football coach taken to jail just hours after he was fired over an alleged, the way they describe it, inappropriate relationship with a staffer. There are a ton of questions about this truly shocking turn and twist for that storied sports program.

And a cruise ship passenger dies on board after allegedly being served and drinking at least 33 drinks.

[07:10:03]

Now, his fiance is suing what happened and why she says the cruise line is responsible. And it's some pretty unbelievable video, a skydiver -- oh my god -- skydiver's parachute gets caught on the wing of a plane tangled up during an attempt to jump. How he managed to cut himself free and make it to the ground safely.

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[07:15:00]

BERMAN: All right. Developing this morning, are there growing Republican fissure on healthcare? The Senate is set to vote today on dueling proposals in the face of the expiring, expanded Obamacare subsidies. If nothing is done, millions of Americans could see their healthcare costs rise substantially, almost overnight, at the end of the month, at least.

Democrats are looking to extend the expiring subsidies. The Republican proposal would expand health savings accounts, though not directly address the subsidies themselves. New reporting this morning suggests that this decision not to extend the subsidies is not sitting well with every Republican.

With us now, Political Reporter at Axios Stef Kight. Stef, great to see you this morning.

My first question is what's not going to happen today when it comes to healthcare in the Senate?

STEF KIGHT, POLITICAL REPORTER, AXIOS: Well, we're not expecting either of these packages to pass the Senate today. There will be a vote on a Democratic proposal, which would extend the subsidies for three years without any changes, and there will be the Republican package, which essentially, instead of extending these subsidies, would move those funds into health savings accounts.

These are two very partisan proposals. There has been a lot of bipartisan discussion over the past few weeks and months, and it seemed that maybe there could be some. That would come together, but that never really happened with both parties on their measures on -- you know, with solutions and people. And this really does make it pretty sure that these subsidies will expire at the end of the year, barring some kind of last minute deal that gets thrown together.

BERMAN: And this has some Republicans nervous in both the House and the Senate. I'm going to be speaking to Senator John Husted of Ohio in a little bit, who's got our proposal, the Senate's not taking up to extend the subsidies in a certain way on the Senate side. The House, we're seeing discharge petitions from Republicans. What are Republicans doing in the House?

KIGHT: Yes. There are certainly moderate Republicans in both chambers who want to see some kind of a bipartisan compromise, who think there is a pathway to getting something done working with Democrats across the aisle to solve this problem.

You pointed out Senator John Husted is one who has been having conversations and came up with his one, who, for a long time now, has been urging Republicans to do something about these expired subsidies. He's one to watch today when that Democratic proposal comes to a vote, whether he may decide to throw some support behind that proposal as well.

And then in the House, as you point out, there are moderate Republicans who have been backing and even bringing forward their own discharge petitions that would short-term extend these subsidies, and for some of them, provide additional reforms and changes to the program, which could make it more palatable to more Republicans.

Whether we actually see those proposals in the House get the needed 218 signatures to move forward to get around Speaker Johnson is still an open question, but they do kind of thread the policy needle in a way that will be interesting to watch and see whether Democrats are actually willing to work with Republicans on this issue to join onto a Republican proposal to move forward.

BERMAN: Yes. There is pressure on both parties here. There seems to be a lot of members the idea of doing nothing though.

Stef Kight, great to see you this morning from Axios, as always, thank you.

All right, do you shop for grocery deliveries online? A new investigation into how A.I. might be jacking your prices at one of the most popular services.

And earthquake in college football overnight. The coach of one of the most storied teams in the country fired and then jailed. We've got new reporting on this this morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

BOLDUAN: There is serious breaking news in the world of college sports right now. The University of Michigan has fired its head coach, Sherrone Moore, for an alleged inappropriate relationship with a staffer. Hours after that, he ended up in jail.

CNN's Andy Scholes has more on this. What is happening?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: I mean, Kate, yes, this was a wild sequence of events. You know, yesterday afternoon, the University of Michigan, they put out a statement saying they were firing Sherrone Moore for cause and the school said that came after an investigation found there was credible evidence that he had engaged in an appropriate relationship with a staff member. Then just hours later, Moore was booked into the Washtenaw County Jail. In a news release, Pittsfield Police say officers responded to a home to investigate an alleged assault. Police say the suspect was jailed pending review of charges by the county prosecutor.

Now, earlier, Saline Police, according to ESPN, stated that they assisted in locating and detaining Moore, and he was turned over to Pittsfield Police for investigation into potential charges.

Now, the county record system reached by CNN Sports did not have any information on the charges that Moore may be facing or any bond information, and he is still in jail as of this morning. Moore had spent the past two seasons as Michigan's head coach after taking over for Jim Harbaugh after the team won the national championship.

All right, in other sports news on hockey last night, the reigning champs beating Utah in the final minute. Anton Lundell with a long reach at the left doorstep to tap in the winner with just 50 seconds left on the clock. Florida won that one 4-3. They've now won three in a row. They look to start stacking winds after a slow start.

Certainly been no slow start for the Oklahoma City Thunder. They absolutely shellacked the Suns last night in the quarterfinals of the NBA Cup. They beat Phoenix by 49 for their 16th win in a row. OKC tying the Warriors' best start ever at 24-1 on this season.

Now the Sun's Grayson Allen, he got ejected from this game for this, shoving Chet Holmgren in a funny moment. Look at Shai Gilgeous- Alexander's face when it happened.

BOLDUAN: Oh my God.

SCHOLES: He was like, oh boy.

But, finally, Colts signing Philip Rivers to their practice squad yesterday, he could potentially play Sunday against the Seahawks, and the 44-year-old grandpa said, and this came out of nowhere.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILIP RIVERS, 8X PRO BOWL Q.B. UNRETIRES TO SIGN WITH COLTS: A game that I thought I was done playing. Certainly I wasn't really hanging on to any hope of playing again. I kind of thought that ship had sailed.

You know, I think my younger children are most excited. I shouldn't say most excited. They're excited because they don't remember dad playing. You know, my six-year-old actually asked me like four months ago, like, dad, why don't you play anymore?

[07:25:03]

And I'm like, hun, I'm sorry. The best you're going to get is me coaching on the sideline.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes. And Colt's Coach Shane Steichen, he says they haven't made a decision on whether it's going to be Rivers or rookie Riley Leonard starting.

But, Kate, you know Rivers, he's got ten kids. I imagine they're packing up the car and it's going to be a big old family trip to Seattle to see if they can see dad play one more time. BOLDUAN: I have been stewing on that and got marveling at that fact since you said it, since you told us yesterday that he has ten kids. I am impressed, especially with his wife. And this is going to be such a story to watch. This is going to be such -- no matter what -- I can't wait to see what happens here.

SCHOLES: Yes. And, you know, fingers crossed that, you know, he can handle the blitz because he hasn't played since 2020.

BOLDUAN: There's also that, can he take the hits?

SCHOLES: Yes.

BOLDUAN: It's good to see, buddy. Thank you.

All right, still coming up for us, an outbreak of infant botulism may be more widespread than previously known. The FDA is now out with a new warning. We've got much more detail on this for you.

And a hiker learns firsthand about the dangers of quicksand. Spoiler alert, it's a problem. Why oh why oh why, how he was rescued, and much more of this story, coming up.

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