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CNN Confronts Crypto ATM Scammer; Supreme Court Cases to Watch in 2026; Tina Knowles Shares Life Story. Aired 8:30-8a ET
Aired December 25, 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]
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Now, for part two of the crypto scam investigation, CNN Senior Investigative Correspondent Kyung La confronted one scammer just as he was trying to steal thousands of dollars from her. You need to withdraw $9,500 from your account.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You need to withdraw $9,500 from your account.
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): What am I doing with thousands in cash in a car? You are watching a scam.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See you are talking to the Geek Squad from the Best Buy.
LAH (voiceover): And this is a scammer trying to steal money from me.
LAH: This is a mistake.
LAH (voiceover): You've probably gotten fake bills or spam texts. We decided to call one. It appeared to be a U.S. phone number on the official looking bill that was emailed by the con artists.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you tell me your refund amount once again?
LAH (voiceover): He promises to help, sending me a form to fill out.
LAH: It says Geek Squad cancellation and refund form -- excellent.
LAH (voiceover): Here is how this scam works. In order to get my refund, he says I need to let him remote control my computer, which for the purposes of this scam I let him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are connected. So, like, you need to accept the refund, OK? Once it will ask you for the amount, give a dollar sign then one, zero, zero. That's it, OK?
LAH: Oh, no, no, no, no, no. What happened? That says $10,000.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my God. I told you please don't make any mistake.
LAH (voiceover): The lie is that this company refunded me too much money, and I must send it back to avoid committing a crime.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is an illegal fund. You need to transfer that money back to our company. You need to go to your bank, OK, and you need to withdraw $9,500 from your account. While you're driving you don't have to talk to me, and you don't have to talk to me inside the bank as well.
LAH (voiceover): After I pull out the cash he wants to see proof.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take a picture.
LAH: Take a picture of the money?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes, it's good.
LAH (voiceover): Here is the modern twist in the scam. The scammer tells me where to go to find something called a crypto ATM where I can deposit the money.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There will be a yellow-colored ATM machine.
LAH: A yellow-colored ATM machine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Open up the camera. You need to deposit that cash.
[08:35:00]
LAH (voiceover): A crypto ATM looks like a normal ATM but it's different. Put in cash and it converts it into cryptocurrency in an instant. These machines become the getaway car for the scammers who prey on victims.
But back to our scammer on the phone with me.
LAH: I'm not going to put the money into the machine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why? LAH: Because this is a scam. You know it and I know it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why you think like -- why you think like that?
LAH: You are talking to a reporter from CNN.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, so you are talk -- I am talking to the reporter?
LAH: From CNN. How much crypto money are you transferring through various electronic wallets?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like a couple of million dollars in a month.
LAH: Do you care about these people you're scamming?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I do care.
LAH: You do care? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
LAH: Because a lot of people are losing their life savings. Elderly people who fall for this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, OK. I'm sorry about that.
LAH: Why do you keep doing it?
(Call disconnected)
LAH: Police reports reviewed show that these scammed cash -- the preponderance of it does end up overseas. A lot of that money flows into places like Africa and Southeast Asia. Experts also tell us that the people making the phone calls, like that scammer on the phone, they're often the victims of human trafficking and are victims there of forced labor.
Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: In the coming months, we expect some critical decisions from the Supreme Court on wide-ranging issues. Joining us now, CNN Supreme Court analyst Steve Vladek. Thank you so much for being with us, Professor. As we look back on 2025, what is it you think we learn most about the Supreme Court?
STEVE VLADECK, CNN SUPREME COURT ANALYST, "ONE FIRST" SUPREME COURT NEWSLETTER AND PROFESSOR, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY LAW CENTER: Hey, John. I mean, I think we learn two things. The first is that, you know, this continues to be a very conservative and very ideologically divided court. Money, if not most of the major cases being decided by the court, are splitting the justices into their two camps, with the six Republican appointees usually in the majority, the three Democratic appointees usually in dissent.
Second, and I think, John, even more importantly, I mean, this is a court that at least to this point in the second Trump administration has really gone out of its way not to uphold what the Trump administration has done in so many different cases, but to allow the Trump administration to continue carrying out policies that lower courts have blocked through all of these grants of emergency relief.
And I think, John, the really big question as we turn the calendar and head toward 2026 is, is that going to continue or was that a, you know, temporary holding action by the court? And as these cases reach the justices for full review on the merits, are we going to see a little bit more pushback and perhaps some more ideological consensus?
BERMAN: Let's keep looking backwards just for a second here. What stood out to you the most? What case, either decision or arguments? Because you learn a lot from the justice and the actual arguments and what they asked. What jumped out to you the most? VLADECK: Yes. I mean, I think, you know, it really is a tale of two different Supreme Courts, John. You have the court that is handling the sort of the normal docket of high profile, but not Trump infused cases. And for that court, you know, what really I think stood out to me is just how unapologetic I think the majority has become about its commitment to what really 10, 15 years ago would have been perceived as a fairly aggressive agenda, whether it comes to voting rights, where we saw in the Louisiana redistricting cases, a court that's hostile even to the possibility of majority minority districts, or in the context of transgender discrimination, a court that doesn't even think transgender identity is even a thing.
You know, this is stuff that the justices might have believed 10 years ago, but it's really out in the open now in a way we haven't seen before. And, John, in the Trump cases, I mean, I think what's striking is that there haven't been that many arguments. I mean, the only cases that were argued, you know, in 2025 were the birthright citizenship cases, the tariffs cases and the case about President Trump's effort to remove Rebecca Slaughter from the Federal Trade Commission.
And, you know, John, in all of those contexts, what struck me was how little the justices seem invested in engaging and defending the administration on the merits while still looking for ways to rule for the executive branch, ways that might be inconsistent with how it ruled during the Biden administration, ways that might be inconsistent with how it's ruling in cases not involving Trump.
So, we really are seeing, I think, two different faces to the Supreme Court, both of which I think are going to be very much on display in the early months of 2026.
[08:40:00]
BERMAN: And so, let's just pick one case looking for the tariffs here, because this is fundamental. I mean, this is one of the president's major initiatives, but it's also depending on how you look at it. Something that if you're a strict textualist, which is what something so many of these justices claim to be, might give you pretty clear guidance. So, they've been deaf -- you know, they've deferred in some cases to presidential power. On the other hand, they have this thing that they've liked to claim to be. Where is it going to meet when it comes to tariffs?
VLADECK: I mean, that's the question, John. And if I had an answer, I probably wouldn't be a law professor. You know, I think that the real part of why the tariffs case is so interesting is because it also flags, John, the inconsistency question. When, you know, major Biden administration cases reach the Supreme Court, take the student loan debt forgiveness program just as one example. The justices relied on this idea of the major questions doctrine, the idea that Congress has to speak clearly before the president can embark on programs of vast economic or political significance. And because Congress hadn't spoken clearly, President Biden's programs were struck down.
Well, you know, John, in the tariffs case, the statute at issue, IEPA, the International Economic Emergency Powers Act, doesn't say a word about tariffs. In the 48 plus years it's been on the books, it's never been used to impose tariffs. And so, you know, I think the question is a court that is generally predisposed to support executive power, that is specifically predisposed to perhaps support President Trump, is now confronted with its own doctrine, which is supposed to cut the other way in a case like this one.
BERMAN: Yes, I have to say, it's going to be fascinating to see. It's going to be fascinating to read the language in the arguments in the decision. We're standing by, as always. Steve Vladeck, great to see you. Happy holidays. Happy New Year. Thank you.
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: She is the queen mother of Queen Bee. I sat down with Tina Knowles to talk about what it's like raising two of the biggest stars in the world.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:45:00]
SIDNER: She is the mom of one of the biggest stars in the universe when it comes to music. In an eye-opening conversation, Tina Knowles, the mother of Beyonce and Solange, shares how she raised her girls to shine on stages across the globe. She also talks about what lengths she went to, which included cutting pieces of her own hair to make her children happy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SIDNER (voice-over): You know her daughter by her first name, Beyonce. But Tina Knowles has an incredible story of her own, and she's sharing it with the world.
SIDNER: A lot of people will look at you and say, she looks like she would be one of them dance moms pushing their kid. You know, theater moms like just pushing and pushing and pushing. Was that the case with Beyonce?
TINA KNOWLES: Absolutely not. You know, I was in a singing group when I was a teenager. So, people, and people just found out about that, because I never talked about it. I mean, I don't care what my kids would have wanted to do in life. I knew Beyonce didn't have a choice. This is what she was born to do.
SIDNER: You said she found her home on stage.
KNOWLES: She found her home. She found her confidence, her -- you know, it just made -- it was what she lived and breathed. Solange, on the other hand, had the choice to do whatever she wanted to do. And so, absolutely, I didn't want her to be in this business. And I still hope, like at some point -- I love the fact that they've been so successful, but I cannot wait till the day that they don't have the pressures of this and they can just live their lives and not under a microscope.
You know, Solange takes big breaks when she needs them and her health and her mental health is so important to her that she knows how to step away. But, you know, Beyonce still lives and breathes. She's got to have music to survive, I think, to breathe.
SIDNER (voice-over): Knowles says that is precisely why she did what she had to do to help her daughters while at the same time running her own salon.
SIDNER: So, I read something in this book that made me go like, oh my God. And it was when Beyonce was about to perform and you were doing her hair.
KNOWLES: Yes.
SIDNER: As you did. And she didn't have enough highlights in her hair.
KNOWLES: Yes.
SIDNER: And you cut the highlights out of your own hair and put them into Beyonce's hair.
KNOWLES: Yes, I did. Because I promised her that she could have them. And I only brought a little piece of hair because in my mind, highlight would be one or two. But she was like, no, I need more. Put more over here and I ran out. And she -- it was like I had committed the worst crime. She was like, Mom, you promised. And so, I was like, oh, my God, what am I going to do? And they were calling for them. So, I just took little pieces out and, you know, glue them in her hair. And so, she talks about that story and how much love that took for me to do it.
SIDNER (voice-over): Unlike her children, who grew up in the middle until worldwide stardom, Knowles grew up dirt poor, the last of seven children.
SIDNER: You grew up in Galveston, Texas, which has a long and sordid history.
KNOWLES: Yes.
SIDNER: The last place to let slaves who were free go.
KNOWLES: Exactly. Right.
SIDNER: And you were born in a time of segregation. What was life like for you then? How did you get through it?
KNOWLES: Well, I had questions all the time, like why do we have to ride in the back of the bus? Why can't we use the drink out of the water fountain? I experienced all of that. But I think I just had such a good childhood that I didn't focus on it. But when I got to be a teenager, that's when it got really rough, because, like I said, I had a mouth on me and my brother, they beat my brother. They started harassing my family. So, we had a long history with the police just kind of targeting us.
[08:50:00]
So, on top of the racism, then you had someone harassing your family. So, I had some pretty traumatic experiences with racism.
SIDNER: Yes.
SIDNER (voice-over): She says her mother lived in a state of fear for her children. But focused on her master craft, sewing to make sure that her children never looked poor. That craft was handed down to her children.
SIDNER: How many of Destiny Child clothes and Beyonce's clothes did you end up sewing or having been involved with?
KNOWLES: Oh, I started selling them maybe six months into their singing career. And I did both. I've sold and I styled them.
SIDNER: I have to ask you about one of the particular outfits that is iconic.
KNOWLES: OK.
SIDNER: And that is the survivor outfit.
KNOWLES: Oh, yes. That was so much fun.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: Where did that idea come from?
KNOWLES: Well, actually, Beyonce saw something B.C. with Raquel Welch. She had this fur bathing --
SIDNER: Yes, it's a little tiny for --
KNOWLES: Yes, yes. It was a lot tinier than theirs. I made theirs. But she saw that and she was like, oh, that would be great for "Survivor." And so, this guy, Jaime, who was incredibly talented, he and I made those together.
SIDNER (voice-over): She also worked to ensure that her daughter's relationship with one another was as tight as one of her sewing stitches.
SIDNER: Tell me about how you forged those relationships, because you have one daughter who is the most famous female recording artist in the world. Like there is no other like her. And then Solange also has a talent. But how do you as a mother make them both feel that they are special?
KNOWLES: Well, I think one of the things is that you look at them as individuals because they were very, very different. She's very, very different. And I think how I forged that relationship with them is I was terrified when Beyonce turned around 10. She might have been 10 or 11 and she was in the singing group. And the kids would say to Solange every day, be quiet, Solange, because she would try to choreograph and, you know, she wanted to involved. She wanted to be involved. She's bossy too. But she -- and they didn't want her involved.
And then I started noticing that Beyonce would allow them to talk to her like that, or she would say, OK, mom, can you get Solange out of here because she's doing -- and I'm like, wait a minute, this is her house. And you got to be nice to her. And I told her all the things, you know, how important it was for her. But finally, I realized that they weren't listening. And I saw a wall between them coming. And so, I got them in therapy.
SIDNER: You did?
KNOWLES: Yes, and it was really early, because my family was like, you're going to make those girls crazy. Because, you know, especially in the black community back then --
SIDNER: You didn't do therapy?
KNOWLES: No, you didn't.
SIDNER: People don't do it now.
KNOWLES: Right. But that back then, it was really taboo. And even my husband, he was like, I just don't know if they're too young for you to do that. And I'm like, I'm not asking. I'm going to find somebody. And I found this wonderful therapist, child therapist. And it's funny because he told Beyonce all the things I had told her. But she listened from him, even though she hated therapy. She hated going. Solange loved therapy. She loved talking and, you know, expressing herself. And the outcome was great. It was really great because they have been super tight since.
SIDNER: I had no idea.
KNOWLES: Yes.
SIDNER: And it's such a beautiful gift that you gave to them.
KNOWLES: Yes.
SIDNER: Because they are clearly tight.
KNOWLES: Yes, they are very tight.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Viral photos taken after the Louvre jewelry heist in Paris had people on social media playing detective. Who was the mysterious dapper man in the fedora? CNN's Saskya Vandoorne took on the case.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SASKYA VANDOORNE, CNN PARIS BUREAU CHIEF (voiceover): We tracked down the mystery man from that viral AP photo taken as police sealed the Louvre after the jewel heist, and he's not a detective but a stylish 15-year-old schoolboy, Pedro Garzon Delvaux. He lives with his family outside Paris.
PEDRO GARZON DELVAUX, "FEDORA MAN": I'm just a student who is 15 years old and I like to dress classic.
VANDOORNE: Do you wear a fedora kind of every day? DELVAUX: I save it for the weekend. I like to read, like, history books. Like, maybe the movies -- the old movies because, like, the men are dressing like that and I kind of like it.
VANDOORNE: And how do your friends at school react to the way you dress? Do they appreciate your dapper --
DELVAUX: Yes.
VANDOORNE: -- style?
DELVAUX: Yes. They think I have a lot of aura. It's very --
VANDOORNE: I would second that.
[08:55:00]
VANDOORNE (voiceover): So, who shaped his style? Not a streaming style but a French resistance icon, Jean Moulin.
DELVAUX: I love that type of angle when you don't see all the face, but you see just a part of the face.
VANDOORNE (voiceover): The waistcoat is Yves Saint Laurent, the jacket is Hackett -- much of it borrowed or inherited, including a vintage watch with a Cold War backstory.
DELVAUX: I do the knot of the tie very fast, like this.
VANDOORNE: There is one question that a lot of people would like to ask you. It is do you know where the jewels are?
DELVAUX: Well, I don't know but I know that we found some suspects.
VANDOORNE: You're not working the case?
DELVAUX: No, I'm not.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN: Wishing you a very happy holiday. A new hour of CNN starts in just moments.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:00:00]
