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Washington State Rivers Surge to Record High Levels; Carly Cappetto is Interviewed about Washington Flooding; Trump Slams Indiana GOP Senate Leader; FDA Plans Warning for Covid Vaccines; Dispatch Audio of Michigan Ex-Football Coach. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired December 12, 2025 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: 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. Then, of course, he returned to acting. But I have to tell you, that was a very calm piece of the conversation. Just tune in. It goes off the rails in the best way possible, Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: And, you know, I think John is also considering the look that Alexander has with the shorts and the knee- high socks. We might see that on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

WAGMEISTER: Yes. I -- by the way, I spoke to Stellan about that. I asked what he thought about his son's shorts and just, again, tune in. There's a lot of -- a lot of fun things said, Sara.

SIDNER: Can't wait to see that part. John is very excited about this new look.

Elizabeth Wagmeister, it's always a pleasure.

WAGMEISTER: Great calves. Great calves.

SIDNER: It's now streaming, so you can see what happens.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: (INAUDIBLE) right here.

SIDNER: Can't wait to see those calves, John Berman.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Oh -- oh, what?

SIDNER: Yes.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

BOLDUAN: All right, let's get to it. A catastrophic situation is unfolding in the Pacific Northwest. Big parts of Washington state are under water. Historic flooding trapping families, washing out roads, forcing evacuation orders. We have the latest from there.

And breaking this morning, from the football field to jail and now to court, there's new police dispatch audio just in. And the now former Michigan football coach, Sherrone Moore, is set to be arraigned today.

Plus, new video shows the moment a massive gas explosion -- oh, my God -- is triggered in a California neighborhood.

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

BERMAN: All right, and breaking this morning, we are monitoring the dangerous and developing situation out west. Rivers there now cresting. The Skagit River reached more than 37 feet high near Mount Vernon. This morning, the latest data does show it is just now beginning to recede.

The governor of Washington says the flood waters may move into more populated areas in the next 24 hours, and that will be a critical stretch.

New video shows the Coast Guard rescuing people from a home there. You can see them going in to get those folks. At least four trapped in the attic. That's the situation taking place now over a large swath of that state.

Let's get to CNN's Veronica Miracle, who is in Mount Vernon this morning with the very latest.

Veronica, what are you seeing there?

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

Just to give you a little lay of the land, we are right next to the Skagit River. And right next to a bridge. It is completely overflowed into this park.

But as you mentioned, the water level is starting to recede, and we are actually actively seeing that here in the city of Mount Vernon. We have been watching actually these signs here. They should say, "welcome to Edgewater Park." You can see the "welcome to" part. And we have been watching as the water level slowly is starting to drop. Certainly so great for this community.

And I want to just show you right here as well, this is a levee that is right here protecting all of these homes on the other side. All this area here under mandatory evacuations. And there was certainly a time when there was a critical point when there was concern that this potentially could go over the levees or that the levees wouldn't hold. We actually have been watching the Skagit County firefighters going up and down this levee this morning, making sure that everything is holding, making sure that the water level isn't going over. And they said things have been holding and they have been watching the water levels recede since about 4:00 in the morning.

Now, all over the state there's about 26 rivers at risk of all -- of flooding, historic levels all over the state. We have seen and heard firsthand accounts of people watching rescues. We have video from a couple that we ran into yesterday. They said that they were watching a car, a driver, try to cross a roadway that was flooded. They got that car swept into some trees, and a helicopter had to come down and save that driver.

We actually also saw a car that was just the rooftop. All you could make out was the rooftop. And we had spoken to some rescue crews who said that sheriff's office deputies, they went in and they had to save drivers.

Now, we have heard that there have been no fatalities in this very catastrophic flooding all over the state, which is truly incredible. But there have been rescues up and down western Washington. And what we're hearing from officials is to stay safe, to heed those warnings, to heed the mandatory evacuation warnings, and also don't drive over roadways that are flooded. It is incredibly dangerous.

It only takes about a foot of water to move a car. So, definitely asking people here all over western Washington to be safe.

Back to you, John.

BERMAN: Yes, that is good news, no fatalities so far. And great to have you there, you know, on the banks of the Skagit River, where they've been looking all night long, so nervous about what was happening there.

[09:05:06]

But maybe, at least for the time being, the worst is over.

Veronica Miracle, thank you so much.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, joining us now is deputy Carly Cappetto, the public information officer for the Pierce County Sheriff's Office in Washington state.

Thank you for being with me. I know that this has been a very long night for you all.

What's the latest on what you're hearing on the ground there as far as rescues, as far as dangers that exist this morning?

DEPUTY CARLY CAPPETTO, PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, PIERCE COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE, WASHINGTON: It's going in waves for us right now. I know yesterday was a big day for our swift water teams because our Carbon River had crested, as well as the Puyallup River, and some of the other main rivers. And that definitely caused a lot of flooding. We had probably over 60 rescues yesterday rescuing people from their homes. We are -- we did get a little break yesterday afternoon. And even though people need to understand, even though it's not raining, our rivers are still rising and it still could potentially get worse before it gets better.

But we are seeing now kind of -- some of the after effects of the flooding. We're dealing with potholes, major potholes. We had a couple landslides yesterday. And then fallen trees and downed wires. And so now we have different types of emergencies that are coming up that not so much of the rescuing, but now land emergencies. And it's -- it is -- it is impacting our first response as well.

SIDNER: I was going to ask you what the first responders are encountering over the last 48 hours and then what they're seeing now as they try to help people and do their jobs.

CAPPETTO: Well, it's very interesting. We are in a very remote area. I mean just last night our patrol deputies are still trying to fight crime. And they had gotten into a pursuit. And, fortunately, some water on the roadway was actually able to stop that car that was pursuing from us. And we were able to capture that criminal.

So, it's just been interesting because a lot of roads are blocked and we have to get creative and find different ways around. We have three swift water teams that are intermittently taking breaks in between. A couple of our swift water teams actually got a couple hours of sleep last night. And hopefully they can transition into -- back into a patrol position. And it's challenging because a lot of our swift water members belong out on patrol. And so we have to backfill those with overtime and other people as well.

Just like, you know, we had a -- we had a homicide come out and our swift -- a couple members on our swift water team are detectives. So, they had to leave those swift water teams to go manage the homicide, in addition to returning back to swift water to make more rescues. So, it's just a -- it's a juggling act right now for us.

SIDNER: And certainly a dangerous situation for all of the citizens there dealing with this. And as you said, the rivers are still rising even though it isn't raining. So, there is potentially more dangers ahead.

CAPPETTO: Yes.

SIDNER: Deputy Carly Cappetto, thank you so much. I do appreciate it -- you coming on this morning because I know you're tired. I know you've been working really hard over the last couple of days. Thank you.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: So, the Indiana vote. Republicans and the majority there in that -- in that Republican-led state, they just told President Trump no in a very big way. Indiana was the latest target of President Trump and the broader Republican push to redraw congressional maps, to gerrymander them and put them in better position to win more Republican seats in the midterms next year, an effort that could have meant two additional Republican House seats from Indiana. But Republicans there, they voted no yesterday. And now President Trump is promising to essentially make them pay, attacking Indiana's senate leader -- a reminder, he's a Republican -- this way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Because he's done a tremendous disservice. I'm sure that whenever his primary is, it's, I think, in two years, but I'm sure he'll go down. He'll go down. I'll certainly support anybody that wants to go against him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining me right now, CNN political commentator Scott Jennings and Maria Cardona.

Good to see you guys.

Scott, one of the Republicans I noted defended his vote and defended why they voted against this, this way. He wrote -- he said, "my opposition to mid-cycle gerrymandering is not in contrast to my conservative principles. My opposition is driven by them. As long as I have breath, I will use my voice to resist a federal government that attempts to bully, direct and control this state or any state." Is he right?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I mean that's how a lot of state legislators feel on a lot of issues in every state all the time.

[09:10:02]

I mean state legislators, state senators, state house members, these are part time people. They're not as connected to Washington as members of Congress, members of the Senate. And so they're just not as susceptible to these kinds of pressure campaigns. So, I wasn't terribly surprised to see that some of the pressure tactics didn't work on Indiana.

I will say this, Republicans are rookies. We're pikers when it comes to gerrymandering. I mean, these Democrats are ruthless. They're going to move forward with doing all their gerrymandering in Illinois and Virginia and other places. And Republicans don't seem to have the stomach for it. So, we'll see how the maps turn out.

But, yes, sometimes in state capitals, Washington coming down on you doesn't really have the desired effect.

BOLDUAN: It seems so.

Maria, with all of these redistricting battles that we are seeing play out, it appears, again it's not all completely flushed out, but the Democrats could stand to gain around five to six seats. You've got Republicans who could stand to gain eight to nine seats in the midterms because of this. What do you think this mid-cycle redistricting where a lot of people's eyes glaze over, though it can have a real impact, what do you think it is really going to mean for the midterms?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, first of all, let's remember that Republicans started this bizarre mid-year mid-census mid-decade effort on redistricting with Texas to take five seats.

BOLDUAN: Well, they started it this time. I mean this is -- both parties, I mean we could -- we're -- we can go down this, but they started it this time. Not necessarily every time in the past. Go ahead.

CARDONA: Democrats have never tried to do this mid-decade. They have done it when it is supposed to be done after the decade census. But this time around we saw that Donald Trump looked at the midterm elections, was afraid that he was going to lose the House and tried to do anything in his power to bully and make state legislatures do what he wanted. Texas acquiesced. They bent the knee to Donald Trump, and they did it.

But I actually believe, to your point about what this is going to mean in the midterm elections, I still believe that Democrats are going to be able to take over the House, because even in Texas, they -- the Republicans have overreached using the numbers from 2024 to redraw those maps, thinking that Latino support was going to be permanent and that it was a permanent realignment. And that absolutely is not what happened, because right now, Latino voters are absolutely against Donald Trump. His numbers with Latino voters have completely tanked. They've swung back to the Democrats hard. And it is very possible that three or maybe more of those seats in Texas are going to go to the Democrats. And so I think it was a bargain that Republicans are, frankly, losing.

BOLDUAN: Scott, in Indiana, the governor, Mike Braun, he said that decisions like this carry political consequences. Do you think these Republicans in Indiana should be targeted and primaried as Donald Trump, as we just played, is promising.

JENNINGS: Well, look, at any level of government you're accountable for every one of your votes. Whether it's something that Donald Trump likes or something that Donald Trump doesn't like. Republican voters will have to look at that and decide whether they would like a different kind of Republican state senator. My suspicion is some will get primaries, some won't, and some of the primaries will be successful and some won't.

So, look, I mean, every vote and every election has consequences. And, you know, some of these people aren't up until 2028. We'll see what -- see what the world looks like three years from now. But, sure, look, I think if they decided that this was a principle on which they wanted to stand or an issue they wanted to make a big deal out of, then they're going to have to own that in front of their Republican voters when they next face the primary ballot.

BOLDUAN: Like an -- like any vote.

Maria, health care. The vote in the Senate failed to extend the subsidies. Well, the dueling proposals between Republicans and Democrats in the Senate. Donald Trump, last night, not pointing fingers with a very different tone this time.

Listen to this.

(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: An olive branch. An opening. Yes, Maria?

CARDONA: Let's hope so. But we've seen up until now that Donald Trump says one thing one day and the next day can say completely different things. And we've known up until now that he has railed against Obamacare. Republicans have tried to get rid of Obamacare hundreds of times. They have had 15 years to come up with a viable alternative to the Affordable Care Act. And they have completely failed. So now, yes, let's try this, Donald Trump and Republicans.

[09:15:02]

If you really want to help the American people, instead of giving them the middle finger, which is what they have done this whole year on the issue of the economy and on the issue of health care, Democrats are ready. We are ready and willing to sit down with Republicans to try to figure out a better way forward. That's what American families want. That's what they deserve. Hopefully, Republicans have learned their lesson and will now work with Democrats to get that done for the American people.

BOLDUAN: Real quick. Scott, your smile indicates what? I can't read this one.

JENNINGS: Yes, Republicans have learned our lesson about Obamacare, which we didn't vote for. Republicans have learned our lesson about Obamacare subsidy, which Democrats had to have to fix Obamacare. Republicans have learned our lesson about the sunset provision that Democrats put on the Obamacare subsidies. This entire mess, this entire fiasco --

CARDONA: (INAUDIBLE).

JENNINGS: Is a Democratic health care regime under which we all live. And Democrats have to pretend like everybody loves it. And then they have to come up with a scheme to pay health insurance companies billions of dollars and then beg Republicans to fix their mess. Yes, we've learned our lesson, Maria. We'll see what happens. But this is your haul (ph), not ours.

BOLDUAN: I feel -- I feel -- I feel like the olive branch is not -- the olive branch is dying on the vine. And I'm totally mixing metaphors, which is one of my favorite things to do.

CARDONA: The vast majority of Americans support -- support Obamacare (INAUDIBLE).

BOLDUAN: It's good to see you both. I'm getting the music, Maria, which means I'm getting the hook.

John.

BERMAN: Getting played off. It's like the Academy Awards. BOLDUAN: Getting played off the field.

BERMAN: All right, a black box is the strictest warning for a prescription drug, and it could soon be on all Covid shots. Concerns that science is not guiding this decision.

And just into CNN, the audio from the night the former Michigan head football coach was arrested. What you can hear and what it means for his first court appearance, which could be today.

And just in, tomorrow is Taylor Swift's birthday. First of all, happy birthday, Taylor. How will you celebrate? Will it be by watching the brand-new multi-part documentary on the Era's Tour? We've got all the new details. Thank goodness.

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[09:21:36]

SIDNER: In an exclusive to CNN this morning, sources telling CNN the FDA intends to place its most severe warning on Covid vaccines, though that plan has not yet been finalized.

CNN medical correspondent Meg Tirrell joining me now.

What are -- first of all, what are you learning about this plan? And also, what are sort of medical experts, doctors saying about this particular new plan?

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, what we're hearing is that the FDA is finalizing plans to put what's called a black box warning on the Covid-19 vaccines. And this is a warning that's really at the top of prescribing information typically reserved for the most severe risks with medication or a medical product. Things like death or a severe, life-threatening reaction or a disabling reaction, or when you can divert use towards certain groups in order to mitigate that risk. So, it's really supposed to be there in order to let patients and prescribers know they should weigh this risk when they're thinking about the benefits.

Now, this comes after an internal memo from the FDA's chief of vaccines was circulated, suggesting that the Covid-19 vaccine has been tied to the deaths of at least ten children. Now, we should say, outside experts haven't seen the data supporting that and are questioning those claims. But this is sort of the environment that -- where this is happening, where this warning label might be put on these vaccines after, of course, they were tested in tens of thousands of people during Trump's first term. And this was a crowning achievement of his first administration during Operation Warp Speed. And they continue to be monitored for safety as they're still used worldwide in millions of people.

And so, there's a lot of concern among experts we're speaking with that this will inappropriately undermine these vaccine safety when they have saved millions of lives. SIDNER: Are you looking at this and seeing that medical experts are

saying, look, this peer review that was supposed to happen, or is going to happen, is it going to happen? Is there going to be a big peer review like they do with many other vaccines, drugs, et cetera?

TIRRELL: Yes, typically when we see a label like this put on a drug or a vaccine, you would see this go through a really public process. And so there are questions among outside experts about whether that process is actually taking place. And we should say, we have talked to the Department of Health and Human Services about this and they say that any actions that are claimed that the FDA may be taking are speculative until they take those actions, and they also say that they are going through all of the normal scrupulous regulatory processes they would be going through. We will see what happens with this. It's expected potentially by the end of the month.

SIDNER: You have long reported there is already a lot of concern about vaccines because of some of this that is expected to perhaps get worse with this label that is so severe, a severe warning.

Meg Tirrell, thank you so much. I do appreciate you.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Breaking news this morning, for the first time we are hearing dispatch audio that references an apparent assault allegation against the now former University of Michigan head football coach Sherrone Moore. Michigan fired Moore for what school officials say was credible evidence that Moore was, quote, engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a staff member. Just hours later, he was placed under arrest. He's maintained -- he has remained, rather, in jail since then, and today he will be heading to court to be arraigned.

CNN's Whitney Wild joins us from Ann Arbor with the very latest.

What are we hearing on this dispatch audio? What are you learning?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, our understanding is that this -- why we feel comfortable reporting this is because this dispatch audio matches the time and location of the alleged assault described by law enforcement here.

[09:25:05]

Law enforcement says that Sherrone Moore is in custody. The address associated with this dispatch call is also associated with a staff member for the University of Michigan, who was connected to former head coach Sherrone Moore.

So, that is why we feel comfortable sharing this information with our viewers.

Let's take a listen.

(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)

WILD: Kate, there are many more questions than answers today. Let me just sort of walk you through the timeline here.

It was Wednesday afternoon that the world learned that the University of Michigan abruptly fired its head coach, Sherrone Moore. Hours later we learned that law enforcement had taken him into custody on an alleged assault. Hours after that, he was formally booked here in Washtenaw County. He is, according to court records, still in this building behind me. We expect that he is going to appear before a judge this afternoon. We are still waiting to see what charges he is going to face, if any. Kate, there's always a chance that prosecutors say they don't have enough and he is released from custody and they never charge him or they charge him much later on.

There are -- so that's the sort of first bucket of questions we have is just simply about this pending potential criminal case. And then the next set of questions we have is about, what did the university know, when did they know it, and what action did they take? We have sent a detailed list of questions to the University of Michigan, when did this investigation start? How did it start? Will that report ever be made public? What finally pushed the University on Wednesday to find that they had to part ways with Sherrone Moore?

The University is sending very little information to the media. They say that they can't really comment beyond the little information they've sent out already, saying that this is a personnel matter. And then finally, Kate, basically what they're saying to the community now is that Sherrone Moore's behavior violated University policies. That there's zero tolerance for it. That is why they felt forced to part ways.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Much more -- much more to come and to be learned as you are laying out. Thank you, Whitney, so much for your reporting.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, Kate.

Ahead, as you've been hearing, millions of Americans facing the possibility of skyrocketing health care premiums next year. So, is President Trump ready to work with Democrats on health care? What he said.

And it's the end of an era, or at least the Era's Tour for Taylor Swift. But it's never over because there's a docu series and apparently some surprises in that series. Take a look.

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