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Trump Delivers False Claims In Address, From Crime To Tariffs; Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) On Jack Smith's Testimony About Trump Investigations In Closed Session; Authorities: Reiners Died From "Multiple Sharp Force Injuries." Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired December 18, 2025 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:30:38]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. So President Trump, last night, touted his administration's successes in his speech, painting the first 11 months of Trump 2.0 as America entering a golden age. He talked a lot about the economy and also immigration. Many of his claims and declarations, though, not in line with the facts, especially when it came to inflation and the prices people around the country are paying.

Daniel Dale was up late working through much of it. He's now joins us -- he is here now to walk through it.

Let's start with the president's take on inflation and the economy. What did you see, Daniel?

DANIEL DALE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: I saw a whole bunch of false claims. I believe we have a sound bite of four of the claims he made on the subject, so listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When I took office inflation was the worst in 48 years, and some would say in the history of our country.

The price of eggs is down 82 percent since March, and everything else is falling rapidly.

I negotiated directly with the drug companies and foreign nations, which were taking advantage of our country for many decades, to slash prices on drugs and pharmaceuticals by as much as 400, 500, and even 600 percent.

Our border is secure. Inflation is stopped. Wages are up. Prices are down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DALE: A whole bunch of claims there. None of that is true. So inflation is not stopped. The latest inflation rate we have for

September was 3.0 percent. That was the fifth consecutive month that the year-over-year inflation rate had increased. Now, it is possible that later this morning we will get a lower rate for November, but that won't mean that prices have ceased rising; simply that they're rising less rapidly.

It's also not true that President Trump inherited the worst inflation of all time. He inherited a 3.0 percent inflation rate in January. That is, again, the exact same rate we have for September 2025. Now, it is true that under President Biden, in June of 2022, the inflation rate did hit a 40-year high; not an all-time high, not a 48-year high. But that was more than two years before President Trump returned to office and it then plummeted.

Now, President Trump also claimed that eggs are -- the price of eggs are falling. That is true. But he said everything else is falling rapidly. That is not even close to true even if he's talking specifically about grocery prices. Far more grocery items have increased in price this term that have decreased. We have increases like 15 percent on the price of coffee since January, about 14 percent on the price of ground beef, about eight percent on the price of bananas. I could go on and on. Literally dozens of items -- not true.

And then spoke of reducing prescription drug prices by 400 to 600 percent. Those numbers aren't even mathematically possible. If you have a decrease of more than 100 percent that means that Americans would be getting paid to acquire their medications. Obviously, that is not happening.

BOLDUAN: Let's change topics, though, because the president also hit one -- hit on, once again, the wars that he says he has ended. We -- he -- we have heard this in almost every speech that he has given, really, since he's taken office.

DALE: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: Last night he's saying that he ended eight wars. What's he referring to?

DALE: He is referring to a bunch of -- well, it's not eight wars. So let me tell you what his list includes.

It includes a conflict between Egypt and Ethiopia. The thing is that was not a war under President Trump. It is a long-running, ongoing diplomatic dispute over an Ethiopian damn project on a tributary of the Nile River. So there was no war for President Trump to end.

It also includes conflicts that are ongoing between Thailand and Cambodia in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. And it includes another non-war between Serbia and Kosovo. President Trump has claimed that he prevented the eruption of a new war providing almost no details about what he's talking about. But there was no war in that region for him to end either.

BOLDUAN: Daniel Dale. And there's more to it even then that. Daniel, thanks for bringing some of your fact-check to us this morning -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. With us now CNN political commentators Karen Finney and David Urban.

Daniel Dale just laid out the facts of the president's speech last night. I kind of want to talk about the politics of it and the reasons behind it.

David Urban, President Trump apparently finished the speech and told the pool that was in the room that Susie Wiles had wanted him to give that speech. Why?

[07:35:00]

DAVID URBAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN ADVISER: Yeah, John. I think it tries to recenter the administration -- recenter the presidency on the things that need to be addressed and need to be talked about. Show the American people the president hears them, right -- kind of feels their pain -- and tries to refocus his administration on what needs to be done moving forward and -- as this year ends and the beginning of Q1 '26.

Look, I think the president correctly pointed out that a lot of these things that took place in the big, beautiful bill. That these tax cuts on tips and overtime and Social Security -- that people will feel that come next April when they get a huge, you know, check back from the government or they don't pay as much in taxes.

And so I think they're banking a lot on Q1 being very strong, and this was a preview of that. The president teased it a bit also.

I think one of the good things that came out of this, and I think everyone would agree about, is the $1,776 that the president and the administration will be handing out to soldiers as kind of a patriotic bonus there moving forward. I can tell you having been a young soldier myself a long, long time ago that 1,700 bucks is meaningful when you're making not a lot of money. You know the military is woefully underpaid.

So listen, I think this -- a lot of people pan this and I'm sure Karen is going to pan it, but I think the president did exactly what he needed to do last night and stayed on script. He was disciplined and he delivered a message that I hope that they can deliver on a reality moving forward in Q1.

BERMAN: He didn't call it a hoax, Karen. That's one thing he had been saying.

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER, 2016 HILLARY CLINTON PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Yeah.

BERMAN: He'd been saying -- he'd been saying affordability --

FINNEY: True.

BERMAN: -- is a hoax. But with the teleprompter there for the entire --

FINNEY: Right.

BERMAN: -- speech, he didn't.

FINNEY: So basically, we're now saying that our goal for a good appearance by our president is can he stay on script and not call inflation a hoax? I mean, that's pathetic.

David's right. I'm going to pan it, but I'm going to pan it for a slightly different reason than I think he expects.

Just from a pure communications perspective, right, the yelling -- the tone of what he was saying didn't match the words. And so if you were listening to that or watching that it felt very jarring to have him yelling almost as if he were at a campaign speech when what he's trying to do, right, is --

I mean, he's not capable of communicating much in the way of empathy. He didn't say hey, I know times are hard -- it's been hard, but I -- but it's going to get better, right? He -- there was no empathy. And it felt as out of touch as his -- and frankly, egregious in many ways, as his post about Rob Reiner's death.

I mean, people are hurting and he's yelling at them about his accomplishments rather than trying to acknowledge what they're feeling, and this has been the disconnect. Again, he sounds a lot like Joe Biden to me.

And look, on the warrior checks, that's fine. But, I mean, what about the $400 million for the ballroom? The money to bail out Argentina? I mean, I think people would rather hear about other concrete ways he's going to bring down inflation. We're going to get the inflation report at around 8:30 this morning and according to The Wall Street Journal, economists think it has ticked up a little bit.

So, you know, they didn't hear a lot -- I don't think people care as much about the wars that he's settled as they do their own lives and their healthcare costs.

BERMAN: Let me just read you the most recent polling on how Americans feel about the economy. This is from Fox. The national economic conditions, excellent or good, only 28 percent. Not so good or poor, 72 percent. On Trump's handling of the economy, approve is 39 percent; disapprove is 61 percent. And who was more responsible for the current state of economy: Trump, 57 percent and Biden, 34 percent.

My question -- I've had this question since I've been covering presidential administrations -- you know, since sort of the late '90s or early 2000s is can a president talk up an economy -- and I generally don't know what the answer is and I'm curious what you both think -- if the American people don't feel that it's doing well?

You know, President Clinton did the "I feel your pain" thing but that was different. That was actually talking -- you know, saying I understand the economy is not good. But ever since then every president has had situations and economic troubles where Americans feel one thing and they want to project a different message, and it just hasn't landed.

Is it possible, David, to talk up an economy when Americans don't feel it's going well?

URBAN: Listen John, I think that's -- Karen was talking about the president's tone yesterday. I think he was trying to -- he was trying to emphatically implore Americans to believe, right, that things are better than they are. When people go home and they put their hand in their pocket and they pull out a wad of dollar bills or whatever -- 20s, 10s, fives, dollars -- they know the reality, right?

[07:40:00]

So it doesn't matter what you say, Karen says, I say, the president says, the Fed. It doesn't matter what any of those people said. They understand their checkbook. They understand their credit card bills. They know their life. And so if they feel good -- if they're optimistic about the economy, you know, rationally or irrationally, then things are good. They feel better.

When they head into the Christmas season, when they go to the store to buy their -- you know, their kids a toy or their wife a present, or their mom a gift for Christmas, and they don't have enough to go around, then they know something's different, right?

Now, the president's right on prices coming down in certain places and -- but, you know, the people that are being affected by this economy the most -- I say, John, listen, the stock market is going crazy. It's doing really well. If you have money in the equities market, if you have a 401k, you're doing well.

People who are working for a living -- the Black, brown, and white working-class people that made up the Trump presidency -- that put him over the top -- those are the people that are feeling it the most in their pocketbook. And if they don't believe it, no matter what anybody says, it doesn't matter. Their reality is their reality.

BERMAN: Karen, it's going to have to be super quick.

FINNEY: So, yeah. Look, you have to show empathy. I think you can make the argument that things are getting better when you're saying -- talking -- trying to explain to people or sort of empathize with the fact that I get where -- how you're feeling. Here's where we're going. I need you to just stick with me. But yelling at people is not the way to get them to come along with you on the journey.

BERMAN: Karen Finney, David Urban. David, I want to thank you for reminding me it is time to buy some presents. The holidays are approaching. I appreciate it -- Kate.

URBAN: (INAUDIBLE).

FINNEY: Get on it, John.

BOLDUAN: But no one will know, John, because it's not like you said it on live television.

BERMAN: No, exactly.

BOLDUAN: New this morning there have been -- there have long been now growing fears among large parts of the American workforce that their jobs and lots of jobs will soon be replaced by artificial intelligence, but maybe some hope in that arena. New research saying that the doomsday scenario may be overhyped.

CNN's Matt Egan joining me now with much more. What are you learning now?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well Kate, look, these fears about AI killing jobs, they're palpable. They're understandable, too --

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

EGAN: -- given how game-changing the technology field is giving us.

BOLDUAN: In the things that lots of smart people in the AI space are saying.

EGAN: Yes. The creators of AI are making some pretty doomsday warnings. But look, this new research does suggest that the opposite is happening, at least for now.

So Vanguard looked at about 140 occupations that are most exposed to AI, right? Everything from data scientists and office clerks to paralegals and proofreaders as well. And the surprising finding is that they found that employment in these occupations is growing faster now than it was before the launch of ChatGPT.

Specifically, they found that job growth in these fields was about one percent pre-COVID, but post-COVID it's -- starting around mid-2023, it's been 1.7 percent. So that's the exact opposite of what you'd expect to find is more jobs in those fields. And not only that, but Vanguard found that these AI-exposed occupations are growing more than twice as fast as all other occupations.

Now, another surprising finding that's particularly relevant given the conversation we just had with that panel about affordability is wages, right? Vanguard found that real wage growth in these AI-exposed fields was slightly negative before COVID. Now, after COVID, it's accelerated to almost four percent. So that is interesting that there's even more demand for workers in those fields as demonstrated by the fatter paychecks.

Now, none of this is to say that AI isn't doing some damage, right? I mean, we've seen a number of major companies announce AI-linked layoffs and downsizing, right? YouTube, Amazon, Salesforce, online education company Chegg -- all of them have announced that.

And the Fed has even said that some companies say that AI has allowed them to hire fewer entry-level workers --

BOLDUAN: Um-hum. EGAN: -- as well.

The point of this research is that is just doesn't seem like it's happening right now. And, of course, that could change, right, as AI continues to advance. As they address these hallucinations that these models sometimes make then you could see even more disruption in the job market. It just doesn't seem like it's happening at this moment.

BOLDUAN: Very interesting. Good to see you. Thank you so much, Matt.

EGAN: Thanks, Kate.

BOLDUAN: I really appreciate it.

Coming up for us, Nick Reiner making his first court appearance after being accused of killing both of his parents. This morning we're learning new details about how Rob and Michele Reiner died.

And we have incredible video coming in this morning. The Coast Guard rescuing a man 100 miles off -- 100 miles out to sea after his boat caught fire.

And a replica of the Statue of Liberty knocked off its base by extreme winds.

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[07:49:10]

BERMAN: This morning we learned that longtime CNN reporter Peter Arnett has died. He spent decades covering wars all over the world. Arnett won the 1966 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for his Vietnam War coverage while he was working for the Associated Press. At CNN, he covered dozens of conflicts, including the first Gulf War. His live reports from Baghdad are an indelible memory for so many.

Arnett's son says his father entered hospice last weekend after battling prostate cancer. He was 91 years old. May his memory be a blessing.

Overnight, former special counsel Jack Smith defended his criminal investigation into President Trump in a closed-door deposition before the House Judiciary Committee. Smith defended his findings of allegations that Trump mishandled classified documents and sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

[07:50:00]

In a portion of his opening statement obtained by CNN he said, "The decision to bring charges against President Trump was mine, but the basis for those charges rests entirely with President Trump and his actions."

With us now is Congressman Dan Goldman, a Democrat from New York who is a member of the House Judiciary Committee and was there for some of this questioning yesterday. How much did you learn, Congressman, from the former special counsel

about these investigations?

REP. DAN GOLDMAN (D-NY): Well, what we learned is that Donald Trump's allegations are completely bogus.

And I think it's really important to remember that he was gearing up to make this argument that the investigations against him were political, and it's part of the reason why he announced his presidential campaign so early. That then caused Merrick Garland to appoint Jack Smith.

Jack Smith is a prosecutor's prosecutor. He is a lifetime career prosecutor, both domestically and internationally. He's done local cases. He's done massive murder, and RICO, and organized crime cases, and public corruption.

In his career he has never ever considered political influence or bias as he was making his charging decisions, and he made that very clear.

And one of the things that he did say about his investigative files, which we do not have in Congress. They have not turned them over. They have not turned over volume two of his report on the classified documents case -- is that you will find absolutely no reference to politics or partisanship anywhere in his files because it was never a consideration.

BERMAN: Was there anything new you all learned yesterday?

GOLDMAN: Sorry. Say that again, John.

BERMAN: Was there anything new that you learned yesterday?

GOLDMAN: There was -- I think there was a lot of confirmation of things, such as the fact that Kash Patel did testify before the grand jury. There was confirmation that Jack Smith never spoke to President Biden. Never heard from President Biden. That there were no emails or no written communications between Jack Smith and Merrick Garland or the deputy attorney general.

There was no direction from anyone else that he should do any particular thing with his investigation or his charging decisions, just as you would expect from somebody who follows the law. Who follows the rule of law.

There was no outside influence in whatever Jack Smith was doing. He followed the facts. He followed the evidence. And those facts and that evidence are overwhelming and both of those indictments would have led, according to Jack Smith, to convictions at trial if Donald Trump's cases were not dismissed because he was the President of the United States.

BERMAN: And prosecutors -- it's their job to think that when they bring charges it will lead to convictions. That in and of itself is not unusual. Any prosecutor would think it would lead to convictions when they brought the case, but I do understand what you're saying there.

I want to ask you. President Trump actually spoke about -- obviously, spoke about the economy last night.

There's a new poll out from Quinnipiac which asked voters about their sense of the parties in Congress right now. And approval for Democrats is at 18 percent -- 18 percent approval. Seventy-three percent disapproval.

And who better -- who is better at handling the economy, even with all these questions about what's going on -- Republicans have the edge in handling the economy, according to this new poll.

So with all the headwinds that the president might be facing voters still saying they'd rather have Republicans in charge of it.

What does that tell you, Congressman?

GOLDMAN: Well, it tells me that people are frustrated with what has gone on in Washington, D.C. preceding this year, and I agree with them. I think it is dysfunctional. I think the Republican majority in the House has completely cratered the notion of not only oversight and accountability but bipartisanship.

And Democrats are ready, eager, and willing to work with Republicans to improve the lives of the American people, but what people must understand is that Democrats cannot do it alone. Republicans can, and they have. And they've cut Medicare, and they've cut food stamps, and they've cut taxes for the billionaires. But Democrats cannot do it alone. We need Republicans.

And what we are seeing is that Republicans are recognizing that because they are continuing to sign out discharge petitions to go around their leadership so that we can actually get things done to help the American people. And that's what Democrats are focused on and that's what we will continue to be focused on. And I assure you when we take over the majority you will not see approval ratings that low.

[07:55:08]

BERMAN: Well, it's hard to be lower than 18 percent, but we will see if and when that happens.

Congressman Dan Goldman, good to see you this morning. Thank you very much -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right. So there's new video in from the Coast Guard of a rescue of a man miles out to sea after his boat caught fire. Take a look at this. A Coast Guard helicopter crew located the man in a life raft near his burning boat. A rescue swimmer dropped into the water and hoisted the man to safety. The man was in stable condition and did not require medical attention. A good thing for that and always amazing to see.

Also, a scary moment caught on camera. Strong winds sending the Statue of Liberty crashing to the ground. Not the one you were thinking of, though. A replica of Lady Liberty outside of a department store in Brazil fell to the street after 80 mile an hour winds sent the -- roughly, it's eight stories tall. That statue tumbling down -- goodness.

And a deer in Upstate New York is now safe after getting stuck on an icy river. Officials used ice rescue gear and an animal rescue device to pull the deer from the ice, as you see there. The deer was cold -- that's at least what he said -- but not hurt and carried on with its day after reaching the shore.

OK, so let's turn here. This morning we have new details that are coming out in the double murder investigation now of the deaths of Hollywood director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele.

Their son, Nick Reiner, is now charged with two counts of first-degree murder for allegedly killing his parents. He faced a judge for the first time yesterday. Reiner, who was wearing a blue vest with his wrists in shackles, did not enter a plea.

A medical examiner now reports that his parents died, in the way it is written, from "multiple sharp force injuries." Police say their bodies were found in the master bedroom of their home.

We're also getting a look at Reiner -- Nick Reiner the moments before he was arrested Sunday night. Surveillance video showing him inside a gas station in L.A. buying a drink. After he leaves the store another surveillance camera picks up police activity and that is right where Reiner was arrested -- all just hours after his parents' bodies were found.

Joining me right now on the legal path forward, legal analyst and criminal defense attorney Joey Jackson is back with us.

So he's in court yesterday. We've kind of been leading into this -- in court yesterday. He did not enter a plea.

What do you think the options are for the defense?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: So, good morning, Kate.

I think what they're going to do -- that is, the defense -- is they're going to examine his mental state. Remember what he's charged with. He's charged with murder in the first degree. Murder in the first degree means that you had to have premeditated the act. Now, to be clear, the premeditation doesn't have to be a longwinded or elongated plan of months or weeks or days, or even hours. It could be formed instantaneously.

But I think where the defense goes is they look and evaluate his mental state. They look at his mental health. They, in addition to looking at his mental health, look at his addiction. Remember, he's undergoing a competency exam right now to determine if he's well enough to stand trial. Could he assist in his defense? Does he understand the charges? And I think that's where they have to go. You know, Kate, a lot of people believe the defense attorneys have to get people off, and obviously, that's the goal. You want to, you know, end a case where there's a not guilty. But there's a variety of other ways the defense could prevail here, meaning better outcomes without getting a full-out acquittal of the murder one charge.

BOLDUAN: Um, a lot of the conversation -- I mean, all along, when it comes to Nick Reiner -- has been his yearslong battle with substance abuse and addiction.

How much do you think the prosecution or the defense would lean on or not into his history with addiction?

JACKSON: So I think if you're the defense, Kate, you have to go there, and here is why. Because remember, murder in the first degree -- and yes, California has the death penalty. It's moratorium, so I don't anticipate it'll be used here -- but it's life without parole.

But when you look at murder one there's a number of other options. We, as defense attorneys -- you know, we talk about these lesser included offenses.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

JACKSON: What does that mean? It means if it's not murder one could the jury consider murder two? Now you say OK, big victory. Yes, it is because you're not -- you're no longer looking at life without parole; you're looking at substantial years -- 20 years or so, if not more. But the reality is that it's a lot less.

The other thing, Kate, is you can argue a heat of passion. Heat of passion based upon a sudden, spontaneous eruption is a lot different because that gets you to manslaughter, which now you're looking at maybe a decade in jail. No one wants to spend a day in jail, but what I'm saying to you if you cannot get an all-out acquittal, these are things lesser included that can get your client much more in a much better position than he otherwise would be, and spending his life in jail.

BOLDUAN: You mentioned the death penalty. The governor put a moratorium on the death --

JACKSON: Yes.

BOLDUAN: -- penalty in California.

If they would pursue it -- and they have not said how they have decided -- how much -- remind people how much that changes this case.

JACKSON: I think it changes it significantly.