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Education Department Overwhelmed by Backlog; Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) is Interviewed about Clash with Noem; Voters on the ACA, Trump and Health Care; Catherine Imboden is Interviewed about Washinton Flooding; Ex-Michigan Coach in Court; New Episode of "Actors on Actors" on CNN. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired December 12, 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]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Staffers are still struggling to deal with a backlog of cases, a handful of fired attorneys have been called back to work. The DOE's Civil Rights Office is largely seen as a last resort for families dealing with discrimination complaints.

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is in Washington looking at this story.

What are you hearing from these attorneys who have been brought back after being fired?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Sara, these attorneys really say that this move is a tacit admission on the part of the administration that they simply went too far with the devastating staff cuts within the Department of Education, and specifically at this agency, OCR. This was one of the hardest hit offices within the Department of Education. They lost nearly 80 percent of their staff under the DOGE cuts earlier this year. And now these attorneys are saying that they simply cannot keep up with the workload with such a skeleton staff.

I spoke with many lawyers within the agency, and they really describe dire circumstances, a feeling, one told me, that they wouldn't even trust this agency with their own children. And this is an agency that deals with discrimination against students in schools. Discrimination based on disability, race, age, sex. So, important work here being done.

A longtime lawyer in the office saying, quote, "it's a black hole -- there's no staffing, there's no rhyme or reason to what they're doing, and there's not a mission to actually effectuate civil rights laws."

Now, notably, backlogs at OCR within this department, it's very typical for many administrations. But when you look at the numbers, it shows a heavy uptick in the backlog under the Trump administration. A source within the agency telling me about 24,000 complaints in the Office of Civil Rights remain unresolved as of this week, compared to 16,500 cases pending at the end of the Biden administration.

And, Sara, for every number here, it's a student behind these cases that are before this agency. Students, lawyers tell me, that are waiting, or a disabled student who wasn't allowed to go on a field trip because the school said they could not accommodate her disability. A girl who said she's been forced to go to a class with another student who have been accused of sexual harassment against her. So, for every -- for all these backlogs, there are students waiting. A lawyer saying, I saw hundreds of cases that nobody is working on.

And now the Office of Civil Rights says that the move to bring back this staff is temporary and at least, in part, to get rid of and tackle this backlog that has been mounting for months and months this year.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right. I know you'll be keeping an eye on it. Sunlen Serfaty, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, ready for battle. That seemed to be the approach for pretty much everyone at the House hearing when Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem came to testify. Noem faced calls from Democrats to resign, was accused of lying, accused of violating the law as she leads the Trump administration's mass deportation efforts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DAN GOLDMAN (D-NY): If you have an open asylum case, you are here lawfully. But the problem that we are seeing around the country is that you are not following the law.

You can't just decide that you're not going to follow the law, and asylum is a law, and deport people who have ongoing applications.

REP. BENNIE THOMPSON (D-MS): You have systematically dismantled the Department of Homeland Security, put your own interests above the department, and violated the law. You are making America less safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining me right now is the man you just heard from, Congressman Bennie Thompson. He is the top Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee in the House.

Congressman, thanks for being here.

REP. BENNIE THOMPSON (D-MS): Thank you for having me.

BOLDUAN: You opened the hearing calling on Kristi Noem to resign. She is not doing that. She has the support of the president, he has said. What is your takeaway from the worldwide threats assessment hearing?

THOMPSON: Well, thank you again for having me. But let me be clear, the secretary came to the hearing. She was not prepared to defend the work of DHS. The members on the Democratic side took issue with how she was doing immigration, took issue with who we are as Americans, took issues with how she's contracting, took issues with disaster response and recovery. And so basically she failed the test.

This was only her second opinion to come before the committee. Her arrival was short lived. As you know, she left in the middle of the hearing, ostensibly, to go to another meeting. We found that the meeting had been canceled so she could have stayed. But nonetheless, we're not surprised because this is who she is.

[08:35:02]

BOLDUAN: The -- she, in the back and forth with you, she called you out when you were speaking and asking her question, and you called the shooting and killing of the National Guard member that happened recently and unfortunate accident.

You then called it an unfortunate situation. The man's -- the man is charged with first degree murder. Congressman, do you believe -- do you believe -- do you believe it was an accident?

THOMPSON: Oh, absolutely not. And, obviously, let me be clear, I was moving toward the discussion that she could not blame Joe Biden on the situation because she approved this person's asylum application. And that's where we were headed. And so the issue is --

BOLDUAN: So, you're saying you misspoke?

THOMPSON: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.

BOLDUAN: OK.

On health care, I do want to ask you, because there's a lot of movement and not when it comes to health care. The Senate voted down two proposals yesterday. The president, last night, though, was not pointing fingers, actually. He said that he wants to now work with Democrats on health care to find a fix.

Let me play this for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What a nice group of Democrats. We do, we have a lot of Democrats, and we welcome you. Honestly, we do. And I think we're going to start working together on health care. I really predict that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Do you see that as an olive branch?

THOMPSON: Well, we have a few days to fix it. If January 1st comes and we have not, there's a tremendous impact in terms of health care that people who currently have health care that won't have it. They won't be able to afford it.

So, look, this is the Republicans' issue. They created it. They operate the Senate. They operate the House. They run the White House. So, if they want to fix it, all -- Democrats are ready. We want to do it. It's our legislation that we are trying to keep going. If they have something better, they need to come with it. Thus far, they've not come.

BOLDUAN: We just heard Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader, say that he -- they just need a handful of Democrats, a handful of Republicans to vote with Democrats on a discharge petition to extend the subsidies for a few years. You're not -- you don't have those Republicans now, but you do have two Republican discharge petitions, especially -- one of them especially that extends subsidies for two years, adding in some new -- adding in new income caps and limits. If it is so critical, why not sign on to the Republican discharge petition to buy you some time?

THOMPSON: Well, we have time. We can stay here. You know, we spent an inordinate amount of time doing nothing on the Republican shutdown. So, all we have to do, we can cancel the holiday break. We can stay here through Christmas because this is important. Rather than say, well, we have one or two options, we can stay during Christmas and New Year and solve this issue if the commitment and will is there.

I encourage my Republican colleagues to stay in Washington. I believe Democrats will stay. The facts about it, I know we will stay. This is an opportunity to help the American people.

BOLDUAN: Democratic Congressman Al Green brought up a resolution to impeach President Trump again yesterday. The House voted it down. That is for the second time this year. You voted in support of the impeachment effort. But some Democrats say you all are putting the whole party in a bad position by continuing to push this.

Let me play this from Chrissy Houlahan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. CHRISSY HOULAHAN (D-PA): Until such time as we do something about the things that people -- the American people really want to -- us to be doing, these kinds of votes are just performative, and we really don't have time for them, which is why I think the leadership voted present.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: These are performative and we don't have time for it. What do you say to Chrissy Houlahan?

THOMPSON: Well, you know, the good thing about the Democratic Party is we have a big tent. And what you see on display is that there are differences of opinion. That's good. That's healthy. Unlike the Republican Party, it's Donald Trump's way or no way. Democrats, we have a myriad of opinions, and that's why we're moving in the right direction. Some of us agree that --

BOLDUAN: You don't think you're putting Chrissy Houlahan in a bad position for re-election? THOMPSON: Well, look, we have difference of opinion. If she can defend her vote. And I think that she should do that. But to say that we need to speak with one voice is not who we are because the Democratic Party is made up of a lot of voices.

BOLDUAN: Congressman Bennie Thompson, thank you for coming in. Appreciate your time.

John.

[08:40:01]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, for a time there, Kate and the congressman were talking about health care, the extension of the Obamacare subsidies. Those expire in just a few weeks. Millions of Americans could lose a lot of money when their premiums go up.

So, why was the president maybe being a little bit conciliatory? You may have noticed Harry Enten is standing here with me right now.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Oh, I'm right here. Who knew?

BERMAN: He's been here listening to this entire conversation so far, CNN's chief data analyst, right now.

We talk about health care.

ENTEN: Yes.

BERMAN: What do Americans say? How do Americans rate the president right now on the issue of health care?

ENTEN: Just flat out awful. In fact, it's the worst of his major issues. I mean just take a look here. This is according to the new AP- NORC poll. Twenty-nine percent. He doesn't even reach 30 percent on it. Approve of the job. I was looking back at all the AP-NORC polls. This ties for his lowest rating ever in either term one or term two. Disapprove, more than double, 69 percent, runs 40 points higher than the approval. That is gosh darn awful. It's horrendous.

And when you look at Republicans, even 39 percent of Republicans -- of Republicans say they disapprove. When we're talking about two-fifths of the Republican base saying they disapprove of Donald Trump on a particular issue, you know that the American people are against him. And I should point out this 29 percent is no outlier. I was looking at the Fox News poll. That was up 35 percent as well.

The bottom line is, Americans very much dislike Donald Trump and health care. It is no wonder he's taking a more conciliatory tone.

BERMAN: All right, the immediate issue at hand is the extension of these Obamacare subsidies. They expire within three weeks. What do voters say they want to see there?

ENTEN: Extend it. They want to see him extend it. I mean this -- once again, what are we talking about here? We're talking about a clear majority of the American public say they want those expiring ACA subsidies extended, compared to just 30 percent who say let them expire. Again, we're talking double, more than double, on the extent side versus the let expire. And even 45 percent of Republicans, on my little note there, say that they should be extended. Again, we're talking about an issue that unites Democrats and cracks the Republican base right down the middle. This is just awful politics for Republicans.

BERMAN: As we stand here today, they are not going to be extended. If that remains the case, who gets the blame?

ENTEN: Yes, I don't think it will be too much of a surprise to our viewers based upon the presentation, based upon the first slide, what our last slide's going to show you here. And this is really simple. Blame if ACA subsidies aren't extended. This is among those who are enrolled in the ACA. Look at this, 63 percent, the vast, clear majority, say Trump or congressional Republicans will get the blame, compared to just 19 percent of congressional Democrats.

Again, the point of this segment is, we are seeing massive, massive majorities blaming Trump, saying they want the ACA subsidies to be extended. And if they're not, they are blaming the Republican Party and Donald Trump. The polling is rarely ever this clear. But on this issue, it is very much clear. This is an issue that hurts Republicans and very much helps Democrats.

BERMAN: It's interesting -- and this number is interesting because Republicans argue that Democrats who wrote this law and passed it, they did so, they were the ones who created the expiration date, right, so it's their fault. But the American people don't seem to be buying it here.

ENTEN: No, they don't buy the Republican spin at all.

BERMAN: Harry Enten, thank you very much.

ENTEN: Thank you, John.

BERMAN: Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, John.

In the Pacific Northwest, rivers have crested across western Washington, some of them hitting record-breaking levels. As water levels begin to recede, officials are cautioning, responders are warning the water is still moving really quickly and swirling in it, dangerous debris. The East Side Fire and Rescue Team has made multiple rescues, and some were traveling over closed roads. This was the view from up above as East Side Fire and Rescue pulled two people into a helicopter. One person was stuck on the roof of their car, surrounded by water. And another, holding on to a tree.

Joining us now is a spokesperson for East Side Fire and Rescue, Catherine Imboden.

Thank you so much for being here. Can you give me a sense -- I know it's really early in the morning

there, about 5:30, 5:45. Are rescuers still rescuing people at this hour?

CATHERINE IMBODEN, SPOKESPERSON, EASTSIDE FIRE AND RESCUE: Over the last 48 hours, yes, we have continued to see people do -- drive around signs. We've continued to see high water. Even though the rivers have crested in our region, the water remains high, and that threat is going to remain there, at least through Saturday morning. So, we will continue to do rescues for the next day or so, yes.

SIDNER: Can you give me a sense of the rescues that have been done? We saw one there from your crew, sort of plucking someone from a tree surrounded by fast moving water. What have you seen out there? What are your crews seeing out there?

IMBODEN: We have rescued 20 to 30 people in various situations. Some of them are mobility impaired. They've gotten stuck in their homes. Some were not expecting the water to rise as quickly as it did.

[08:45:04]

People then have gotten trapped in their homes and they've got no way out. All the roads around their home have gotten blocked and they had no way to escape. We've gotten people that were in apartment buildings that quickly got swelled with water. So, it's been a variety of situations. Obviously, cars have been swept up.

So, we've been seeing a variety of rescues. Luckily, we've got multiple boats all up and down the river and different rescue tools and a lot of swift water techs. Due to the rivers here, we train all year round for these kinds of situations. Luckily, we don't experience them often.

SIDNER: Yes, I mean, look, you -- it can't be said more or enough how appreciative people are of your crew getting out there and saving people's lives. Can you give people some sense of what they should be doing to try to stay safe as possible? Because while the rivers have already crested, there's still lots of water just flowing as things start to recede.

IMBODEN: Oh, yes. And we've been reiterating multiple times, please stay home. Don't travel if you don't need to. There's a lot of water over multiple roadways. We've had a lot of highways closed in our area, and that makes for a lot of traffic on the roads that are open. And our emergency responders are having a tough time getting around on the roads that are open.

And then, obviously, like you said, the rivers are still high. They've begun to recede, but they're still at record flood stages. So, there's debris under the water. There's power lines under the water. There's bacteria. There's a lot of boil water notices out right now. So, we just don't want people getting in that water. We don't want people getting involved in it. Just stay home for another day or two and these things should improve. But it's a dangerous situation out there, absolutely. SIDNER: Well, we certainly want to thank you, the East Side Fire and

Rescue, for the job that you're doing right now dealing with these historically dangerous conditions there in Washington. Do appreciate you, Catherine Imboden. Thank you for being here this morning. I know you've been working all night long.

IMBODEN: Yes, thank you so much for having me.

SIDNER: Sure.

IMBODEN: Thank you for having.

SIDNER: Kate.

BOLDUAN: Winter prep leaving one man stranded. Crews rushing in to help as the homeowner is dangerously dangling from his roof.

And a brand-new "Actors on Actors." Alexander Skarsgard sits down with his legendary father. You will want to hear this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:51:59]

BOLDUAN: The breaking news this morning. We are getting new dispatch audio that references an apparent assault allegation against the now former University of Michigan head football coach Sherrone Moore. Moore has been in jail since Wednesday, arrested by police just hours after he was fired from the university. The school saying that he was engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a staff member.

Let's listen to that dispatch audio now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Subject just called the caller and told her there's a male at the location in the house attacking her and states he's been stalking her for months.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Pittsfield Township Police have confirmed they took a suspect into custody after being called to investigate an alleged assault. And they said the incident did not appear to be random.

CNN sports analyst Christine Brennan is joining me now to talk about this.

It's an unfortunate situation all around. We just need to say that. But for those -- and this would be a big deal no matter the school, Christine. But for those who might not follow Michigan football as close as some -- you know, admittedly, my family follows it very closely -- can you contextualize how big this is?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: Kate, college football is certainly our -- one of our national pastimes. Everyone seems invested one way or the other, as an alum or a fan. It's huge. The money is huge. It's getting bigger and bigger every year.

Michigan, the University of Michigan, is one of the behemoths in college football, winning national titles, Heisman Trophy, of course, Tom Brady, among many, many others came from Michigan. It is the big house. It's where I grew up going to football games. You and I grew up not far apart from each other. We had season tickets for Michigan football. We watched Bo Schembechler beat Woody Hayes of Ohio State. The rivalries, the aura, everything about Michigan. You can make the argument it is the biggest, or certainly in the top five, Kate, of all college football programs in the country. A country that absolutely adores college football.

BOLDUAN: Now, to the situation at hand, what is caught up in this is allegedly a young woman, which shouldn't be lost in what is happening here. Scandal in sport, though, Christine, why is that such a common theme?

BRENNAN: Certainly what we're seeing in college sports in general, especially men's college sports, but women's too, everything's getting bigger, right, Kate? It's getting bigger. You play sports. I played sports. You know, that looked like tiddledywinks compared to now. The money is extraordinary, as I mentioned. The TV money. Everything about college sports, especially football, men's basketball, women's basketball to a certain degree, especially D1, it's the wild west out there. The money, the superstar power of coaches, the money they're making, tens of millions of dollars, these are the stories that people here.

Obviously, that does not mean we should have allegations like this. This is a horrendous story if true. What we know so far is absolutely just chilling.

[08:55:00]

However, and there's so much more yet to come, of course, we're being very careful in terms of reporting it. But the big takeaway here is out of control football programs. Out of control in many ways. We know about sex abuse scandals from Michigan State gymnastics, Penn State, the horrors of child rape. That's what that was with Jerry Sandusky at Penn State under Joe Paterno. So many more over the years. And again, another story that I think so many people are shaking their heads, how can this happen? Well, it can happen because, unfortunately, among many stories and reasons here with this one, Kate, is that sports are out of control. And -- but we're going to -- I hate to say it, we're going to see more of this, not less, because of the nature of the money, the power invested in coaches and the difficulty to keep everything under control and under review from these major universities in our country.

BOLDUAN: Yes, much more to come.

Christine, you're the best. It's good to see you. Thank you so much.

John.

BERMAN: All right, new this morning, the least surprising "Time" magazine Person of the Year ever. It was everyone's top bet. The architects of A.I. "Time" said that this was the year that A.I.'s full potential roared into view and transformed everything from business to daily life.

In Florida, an 86-year-old man climbed onto the roof of his Tampa home to blow off the leaves there, but he got stuck and couldn't get down. Neighbors watched as crews rushed in and helped him get back to solid ground. True story, my wife won't let me go up on the roof to leaf blow. She's not afraid that I'll get stuck. I think she's afraid I'm going to fall off, frankly. True.

BOLDUAN: We love you.

BERMAN: All right.

BOLDUAN: She doesn't want you to get hurt.

BERMAN: No, she doesn't trust me. The famous --

BOLDUAN: What?

BERMAN: The famous Rocky Balboa statue outside the Philadelphia Art Museum is not going anywhere. There's a debate over whether the city should swap the original statue with a replica. Sylvester Stallone was actually the one who requested the swap to return the original back to him. But after making their voices heard, like only Philadelphia residents can, remember, they're the ones who booed Santa Claus, Rocky, Sylvester Stallone, apparently had a change of heart.

Sara.

SIDNER: Wasn't it the thing that they also threw batteries? I mean it -- things --

BERMAN: Yes, that's not nice. Booing Santa's one thing. Throwing batteries, not nice (ph).

SIDNER: Things got really chopped up.

BOLDUAN: Really?

BERMAN: Yes. Yes.

SIDNER: They've -- yes, they've changed a little, those birds fans.

BERMAN: They don't play -- they don't play around.

BOLDUAN: Wow.

SIDNER: Jake Tapper probably brought (ph) it up. Anyway, we won't accuse anyone on this show.

But now to today's episode of "Variety's" "Actors on Actors," where Hollywood's biggest names open up in candid conversations with one another. This episode, now streaming on CNN, is a family affair. Alexander Skarsgard, sitting down with his pop, sharing what it's like growing up around a family in show business, and why he once tried to walk away before it became his life.

Let's go to CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister.

A lot of people waiting for this. I was -- just happened to be on Reddit, you know, during work hours. And there's a lot of conversation about this.

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: You know, Sara, Reddit is research, first and foremost. So, you're doing nothing wrong there.

But, yes, this is a family affair. Today's episode brings together father and son. And as you said, Alexander Skarsgard, he grew up in a showbiz family. In fact, during this conversation, he was very self- deprecating. He said, I'm one of the original nepo babies.

Anyway, let's take a look at this clip from their conversation. Alexander is talking to his father about the first role he got. He was seven years old, and it was on one of his father's films.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEXANDER SKARSGARD, ACTOR: I did not walk away from that production thinking, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. I remember craft services was great. You got free Cinnabons, which was exciting, but that was it.

STELLAN SKARSGARD, ACTOR: Yes.

A. SKARSGARD: I didn't want to be an actor.

S. SKARSGARD: No, but -- and, I mean, it's about the same time you told me that, why can't you have a normal job and work with data and drive Saab (ph) like everybody else does?

A SKARSGARD: Yes. Yes.

S. SKARSGARD: So, you -- you didn't have --

A. SKARSGARD: You didn't wear a suit, God damn it, instead of like your weird hippie sarongs and or nothing.

S. SKARSGARD: Yes. Yes. Yes.

A. SKARSGARD: My dream was to just kind of, for my family to be normal and fit in and be like everyone else's family and like -- like you said, for you to have a briefcase, that would have been fantastic.

S. SKARSGARD: You went into the military. Became like a Swedish navy SEAL or, I mean, you were really one of the tough guys. But did you do that in opposition to me to sort of provoke me in a way or was it just a challenge (ph) by chance?

A. SKARSGARD: I don't think it was an act of. I don't know, I was kind of lost and I was like, I didn't know what I wanted to do. And I read about this unit and I thought, like, this sounds pretty cool. And I don't know what I want to do. So maybe why not spend a year and a half doing this?

S. SKARSGARD: Yes.

A. SKARSGARD: And saw it as kind of a challenge in a way, mentally and physically. But then looking back on it, maybe it was a bit of -- a bit of (EXPLETIVE DELETED) you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:00:02]

WAGMEISTER: So, as you heard there, Alexander Skarsgard, he actually left acting and joined the military in Sweden. A lot of people don't know that.