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U.S. Launches Deadly Strikes on ISIS Terrorist in Nigeria; Major Storms Could Cause Chaos for Post-Christmas Travelers; Trump Slams Sleazebags Who Loved Jeffrey Epstein in Christmas Post. Aired 7- 7:30a ET

Aired December 26, 2025 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, President Trump orders a Christmas day strike on ISIS militants in Nigeria after threatening to send the U.S. military in guns a blazing, in his words. What we're learning about these attacks today,

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, mudslides burying homes and cars in Southern California. More rain on the way today. We are tracking the forecast.

And a real life home alone, how a 12-year-old boy stopped a burglar.

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

BOLDUAN: We start with the breaking news this morning. We are learning new details about the deadly strike operation that President Trump says he ordered on his Islamic State terrorists in Nigeria. Listen to this.

That, as you can see, released from the Department of Defense yesterday evening. The U.S. military reports multiple ISIS terrorists were killed in the attack, which the president first announced on social media. This comes after the president, for months, has warned that the United States could take military action in African Nation claiming that ISIS had been targeting Christians in the region.

The president writing in part this on social media about it, I have previously warned that these terrorists, that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay. And tonight, he goes on to say there was, the Department of War executed numerous perfect strikes as only the United States is capable of doing.

Now, Nigeria confirmed the two countries coordinated in this effort in this strike. The foreign minister joined CNN earlier this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YUSUF TUGGAR, NIGERIAN MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS: What took place yesterday clearly underscores the fact that Nigeria is not lacking in will and a commitment to the fight against terrorism. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: CNN's Nada Bashir tracking this one for us. Nada, what is the very latest that you're picking up?

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're still not getting full details just yet from U.S. officials with regards to the details surrounding this strike. What we do know is the U.S.-Africa command has said that multiple Islamic state targets and militants were killed overnight in these deadly strikes. We've heard, as you mentioned from the U.S. president himself addressing this military action in social media, saying and describing this as a powerful and deadly strike against Islamic State terrorists. And this strike took place in the Northern Sokoto region of Nigeria, just boarding Niger.

Now, at this stage, again, no clear details with regards to the impact. What we do know is that this was carried out in coordination with the Nigerian government. We've heard from a Nigerian presidential spokesperson, an adviser, saying that both the U.S. and Nigeria are on the same page when it comes to tackling these security concerns.

And, of course, what we've been hearing from the White House for several weeks now and from the U.S. president himself is the ramping up a concern around the protection of Nigeria's Christian community against extremist attacks.

And it's important to note and underscore that, of course, Nigeria does have a deep rooted history of security troubles when it comes to Islamist extremist groups. But these attacks that we have seen in the past have targeted both Nigeria's Christian and Muslim communities to the largest religious communities in the country.

So, there's certainly a historic concern within the country, but we are now seeing very clearly that firsthand action by the U.S. military in Nigeria, according to officials, in coordination with the Nigerian government.

BOLDUAN: Nada, thank you so, much more detail to learn here, for sure. I appreciate it. Sara?

SIDNER: All right, thank you, Kate.

In Southern California, a state of emergency declared in multiple counties as millions brace for another day of rain and potentially life-threatening flooding after storms broke records in parts of the state. Evacuations and shelter-in-place orders remain in effect for the hard hit community of Wrightwood in San Bernardino County, where heavy rain triggered what you can see here, mudslides that buried homes and cars and washed out roads there.

[07:05:00]

Joining me now from California is Captain Shawn Millerick with the San Bernardino County Fire Protection. Thank you so much for being here.

I know that you are probably exhausted, working hard to deal with what has been going on there in San Bernardino County. Can you describe to us first what you and your crews are encountering after this storm hit?

CAPT. SHAWN MILLERICK, SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY FIRE PROTECTION: Well, luckily, yesterday, we got a break in the weather, so we were able to make access in the areas that were difficult the day before, and tied in with the residents, checked on people that were in place and made sure the community was safe as a whole.

SIDNER: What are you seeing? How are you dealing with -- I mean, how do you begin to even clean up? We see some action there of clean-up starting to happen, but the rain is still expected to come as well. What kind of damage are you witnessing there?

MILLERICK: So, basically, the community was prepared and we were in unified command with Los Angeles County Fire as well because parts of Wrightwood are actually in their county. And, basically, the water went where it was supposed to. There was just too much of it and it was too quickly -- it came down too quickly.

So, the first day in the videos and photos you see, we received roughly around nine inches in one day. And with the bridge fire burn scar, it just can't absorb that kind of amount of water. So, it came into the community.

SIDNER: The burn scars, what are -- can be so devastating when you have rains because the rains just are slick, they just keep rolling through and there's nothing to absorb the rain? Can you give us a sense of what you are doing now? Has anyone been calling for help, in danger? Most of the time, you guys are very good at telling people you've got to evacuate. You got to evacuate now. What are you up to now to try to deal with all this? And what are your concerns for residents on this day?

MILLERICK: So, now, we're pretty much in the recovery phase. Yesterday, like I said, we had a chance with some sunlight to get in there with heavy equipment, make contact with all the residents. So, what we're looking for now is going into the recovery phase, not the response phase. We don't really see any life safety issues going on today.

We are, like you said, expecting some rain later today and we're watching that closely, but it won't be to the extent we received it that first day.

When we look at burn scars, we look at thresholds of rain. So, we work with the National Weather Service, and we look at the thresholds and the thresholds just aren't there today where you would see what you saw two days ago.

SIDNER: Yes, we're looking at some of the pictures, and they are just so devastating to see the amount of mud and debris that -- it can happen so quickly burying cars and homes there. But, luckily, we haven't heard of any injuries or death from this storm because of the quick action of you folks to try to get people to safety.

Captain Shawn Millerick, thank you so much. I do appreciate your time this morning. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Ahead for us, the Justice Department now says it may need a few more weeks to fully release the Epstein files. Remember, this is required by law days ago. This is after the agency says it found more than a million additional documents. How does that happen?

And why fighting the flu just got a little easier.

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[07:10:00]

SIDNER: All right. New this morning, the fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein file release was on President Trump's mind over Christmas. He used one of his dozens of holiday posts to wish, quote, Merry Christmas to all, including the many sleazebags who loved Epstein.

It comes as the Justice Department now says it has uncovered more than a million additional documents potentially related to the case, and that it may need a few more weeks to review and release them to the public.

Under the law signed by President Trump in November, all the DOJ Epstein documents were supposed to be released last Friday.

Joining me now is Nick Akerman. He was an assistant special Watergate prosecutor and a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

All right, so these Epstein files, they go back decades, right?

NICK AKERMAN, FORMER ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: Correct.

SIDNER: How can something like this happen where the DOJ on Christmas Eve, mind you, suddenly says, hey, we are now become aware of more than a million more files potentially related to Epstein, that it's going to take us weeks now to send out to the public?

AKERMAN: Total nonsense. They had to know that these files existed right from the get-go. First of all, we know that prior to May of this year, Pam Bondi had lots of FBI agents going through all of these files to determine whether President Trump's name was in these documents. So, she knew where the documents were.

But on top of that, even more glaring is the fact that all of these documents, they had to know were in the Southern District of New York that prosecuted the Maxwell and Epstein criminal cases.

SIDNER: Why is that?

AKERMAN: Because when you're a prosecutor, you are obliged, you are commanded to turn over to the defense exculpatory evidence under a Supreme Court decision known as Brady. And in order to do that, you have to get every file that's in the federal government, whether it's in the FAA or some other agency, they have to be under your control so you can comply with your Brady obligations.

And, certainly, Todd Blanche, who was in charge of this whole matter, was a former assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, he should have known that.

[07:15:03]

So, they had to know that these were there. There's no excuse for it.

SIDNER: All right. I do want to ask you about the process of going through these documents to make the redactions, which can be a tedious thing. Is it any surprise with the number of years this case has gone on with the number of victims in this case, that it didn't meet its deadline, that the DOJ was not able to put everything out?

AKERMAN: Well, they should have been able to because they knew who the victims were. It's a matter of just putting a black mark over people who are victims. That was it. There's certainly nothing in there for national security. There's no other really valid reason not to turn over all this information. This should have taken no time at all. They should have been able to do it in that month. They knew where the documents were. This is just a lame excuse.

SIDNER: I do want to ask you, you know, you've gotten bipartisan criticism of how this -- Pam Bondi has handled this, how her office has handled the release of these files. What do you think it is doing as far as the way people feel towards the DOJ, the public trust?

AKERMAN: Oh, I think the public trust is completely dissolved. There is no public trust in the DOJ anymore, whether it's appearing in court before judges, or whether it's just what they're doing with the public and telling the public what they have or don't have. I think she's got zero credibility at this point.

SIDNER: And when it comes to how these were put out, you had all of this back and forth where a couple of times the DOJ out documents out, then they rescinded them, saying, there are some issues here that we need to do some redactions, and they put a hugely redacted where you couldn't see anything, just pages and pages that were darkened. I mean, is this a normal process for putting out information to the public?

AKERMAN: Not at all. Even when you do a federal, you know, information act or request, you get things back that are redacted. You saw the Mueller report. That was redacted. But it's just little bits and pieces so that you can't understand something that might relate to personal information or be really confidential on another investigation. There's none of that here.

I mean, this is stuff that goes back to, you know, 2010 and before that they should have had ready to produce at the moment that law passed. I mean, this is -- there's no excuse for any of this.

SIDNER: They were given a month, and there are a lot of documents, but they also had some inference that this was coming because it was discussed over and over and over again, and then Congress finally passed the law. The president signed it.

Nick Akerman, thank you for giving us some insight into how this should work and how you see it breaking down. We really do appreciate it.

AKERMAN: Thank you.

SIDNER: I appreciate it.

All right, ahead, an incredible rescue how crews found and saved a stranded hiker.

And it could be the end of an era, did you get what I did there, for Chiefs star Travis Kelce.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

BOLDUAN: The perfect Christmas day gift for Nuggets fans, a little NBA history. Their star player breaking Steph Curry's overtime scoring record while posting a historic triple-double, all things that I know nothing about.

Carolyn Manno has the highlights. I get it in concept, but when I say it, it still feels like I'm just playing it on it. Thank you.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: This was a legendary Christmas Day performance, easy to understand, right, very digestible. Nikola Jokic putting up perhaps the greatest stat line in NBA history. The Nuggets playing shorthanded without three starters, and he embraced the opportunity to make up for lost scoring.

He hits the triple double mark by the end of the third quarter before completely taking over in overtime of this game where he did set an all-time NBA record from points in a single extra frame with 18.

When it was said and done, it was a 56-point triple-double and a thrilling 142 to 138, overtime win against Minnesota, and it was a statement win for the Nuggets too, who have solidified their hold on a three seed in the west, pretty impressive.

In the NFL, this was a tough Christmas for the Lions. Detroit officially eliminated the playoff contention after a very disappointing 23-10 loss of the Vikings. The lions gave up six turnovers in this game, five by Jared Goff alone. But the defense actually kept Detroit in it. They were only trailing by three late in the fourth quarter. Vikings Wide Receiver Jordan Addison breaking free, though, for a 65-yard touchdown with under four minutes left to seal it. And with this loss, the Lions falling to 8-8 on the season, this is a pretty sharp contrast to their 2024 success, pretty disappointing.

The Broncos, though, kept their Christmas spirits high. They beat the Chiefs 20-13 at Arrowhead last night, Denver dominating the clock. They were trailing late. They needed a 65-yard drive from Bo Nix that ended with a one-yard touchdown pass to R.J. Harvey. That ended up seal the wind. So, Denver now 13-3 on the season on the verge of clenching the AFC West. It marked a fifth straight loss for the Chiefs. They're out of the playoffs.

But what a lot of people are going to be talking about today is how emotional Travis Kelce was after the last home game of the season. This fueling rumors of that possible retirement for the Chiefs' tight end, and Kelce only ending the night with five catches for 36 yards. But a handful of those came in the closing minutes. He was really trying to rally his team to an upset win.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRAVIS KELCE, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS TIGHT END: I would say the tradition, you can feel it. You can feel the kids and, you know, the generations of happiness and the generations of just love that they have coming together on Sundays and cheering for their team, man. It's a beautiful thing, man. And, you know, it's something I know I'll cherish forever. It's those moments coming out of the tunnel or just making a big play for them late in the game. And that's why we love Arrowhead, man. It's a special and unique state here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: Kelce hasn't said definitively that he is going to retire, Kate, but it got the sense that it was a very special night there at Arrowhead, potentially his last.

[07:25:05]

You had Taylor Swift, everybody, you know, cheering him on from the stands. He was the last one out of the tunnel and had some teammates waiting for him as he exited the field, leaving the field for perhaps the last time.

BOLDUAN: That is giving retirement vibes.

MANNO: It was giving the retirement vibes, but we'll wait to see, for sure.

BOLDUAN: Yes, I'm sure it may be announced maybe on, I don't know, he and his brother's podcast. It's probably where we should stand by to stand by, keep an eye to.

It's good to see, Carolyn, thank you so much.

Coming up for us, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy announces that he'll be meeting with President Trump again soon. What we are learning about the new peace offer Zelenskyy is putting out and putting the ball in Putin's court now.

And the treatment options you need to know about to fight the flu this season.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:30:00]

BOLDUAN: A brazen heist at the Louvre.