Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Blizzards, Storms and Tornadoes Slam Parts of U.S.; Trump Discusses Peace Talks; Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) is Interviewed about Peace for Ukraine; Javier Salazar is Interviewed about the Missing Texas Teen; Midair Helicopter Crash Kills One. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired December 29, 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]

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": I've never been happier for you to lose the Emmy either.

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Number one, the trial and downfall of a music mogul.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Sean "Diddy" Combs told the judge, quote, "I'm a little nervous today," unquote. He should be. Jury selection started this morning.

WAGMEISTER: It was the trial that had everyone talking, as shocking details came out on the stand.

LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR: She described the freak offs in lurid detail.

WAGMEISTER: The verdict was mixed.

The most serious charges he has been acquitted on.

But Combs was found guilty on prostitution charges.

COATES: Sean "Diddy" Combs was sentenced to 50, five zero, 50 months in prison.

WAGMEISTER: From billionaire to behind bars.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's never going to be who he was again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the dirtiest of dirty.

WAGMEISTER: A Netflix doc produced by his longtime rival 50 Cent further tarnished Diddy's legacy, capping off a stunning fall for the man who once sat atop the music industry.

And with Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni set for trial next year, it will be another year with Hollywood in the headlines.

(END VIDEOTAPE) OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: A lot of talk, no breakthroughs yet. President Trump and Ukrainian Leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy moving closer to a peace deal. And we've got new details on what's in the proposal and how a looming phone call between President Trump and Vladimir Putin will impact a potential deal.

And an urgent search for a young Texas woman who vanished on Christmas Eve. And authorities say the missing 19-year-old could be in, quote, "imminent danger."

And we're just days away from the epic conclusion of "Stranger Things." One of stars joins us this hour to break down theories about what might happen in Hawkins in the long-awaited finale.

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

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Winter is here with a vengeance. This morning, more than 30 million people are still under winter weather alerts from the Midwest to the Northeast. A powerful winter storm has already spawned tornadoes and blizzards.

This is brand new video out of Michigan. How -- you can see how things are so treacherous there. You can barely see in front of the car there that decided to take to the roads in those conditions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, you know, the road's up here somewhere. Just going to -- kind of winging it. Oh, there's a -- there it is. Oh, yes. That's still clear. All day. Oh my God, you guys.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: A typical Michigander there. Just laughing his way through not being able to see anything on the road, and relief. That same storm though did some real damage, responsible for tornadoes. You saw some of the damage there in parts of Illinois where the intense winds ended up ripping the entire rooftops off of a home. Families left to wade through that scattered debris from tree branches to shards of metal. All of this happening in the middle of the holidays.

CNN's Derek Van Dam is tracking it all for us.

Derek, where is this storm going? We are now seeing it kind of come across. It's getting closer to us, that's all I know.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is so powerful, Sara, you won't believe this. Yesterday, in Columbia, Missouri, they tied a record high temperature of 71 degrees. And four hours later, it was snowing in that very same location.

This video coming out of Hamilton County, Iowa. This state trooper stopping his vehicle amongst whiteout conditions, responding to a 14- car pileup. All thanks to this powerful system racing eastward. Now we've got this kind of a razor-sharp cold front. It is located

right here. Behind it, cold air is funneling in Nearly 50-degree temperature difference compared to this time yesterday in St. Louis, Missouri. Prepare yourself because it is drastically different out there. You have been forewarned.

That cold front racing east. So, it hasn't quite reached the East Coast just yet, but places that it has, it is whipping up the snow so much that the National Weather Service has issued these blizzard warnings. You saw some of the treacherous video coming out of Michigan just a few minutes ago. One to two inch snowfall rates per hour falling down wind from Lake Superior and Lake Michigan.

Now, this will be more of the same from downwind locations of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario once the cold front moves in and the cold air settles in.

We've also had an ice storm form across northern New England, into Vermont and New Hampshire, upstate New York. This cold front races east. The temperatures drop along the I-95 corridor, and we set up the heavy lake effect snow band.

[09:05:00]

And some of those favored areas could pick up, get this, between two to three feet. Latest computer models. That is impressive.

The winds here will cause travel chaos along the East Coast. And this busy holiday week, Sara, wow, add extra time to get to your destination heading home from loved ones.

Back to you.

SIDNER: Those temperatures are no joke. Dangerous in some parts of the U.S. right now.

VAN DAM: Yes.

SIDNER: Derek Van Dam, I do thank you.

Omar.

JIMENEZ: Another front we are tracking on the diplomatic front. Breaking overnight, the Kremlin says this morning President Trump would call his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, very soon, but did not give an exact time. So, we're standing by for details there.

But Trump is expected to update Moscow on his high stakes meeting yesterday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about ending the nearly four year war. And moments ago, Zelenskyy posting on social media details of their talks, writing in part that Trump, quote, "confirmed strong security guarantees and he confirmed that they would be put to a vote by the United States Congress."

I want to bring in CNN's Alayna Treene in Washington.

So, what is the significance of what we're hearing now from President Zelenskyy, and what can we expect moving forward?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, we're getting a lot of the details of what was actually discussed in that more than three hour meeting between Zelenskyy and President Trump yesterday, Omar, at his Mar-a-Lago club.

Look, I would say that both leaders emerged optimistic. President Trump probably even more so, saying that he believes they are closer to a deal now than they have ever been.

And, you know, he has been very much in contact with Putin as well. He spoke to him before that meeting yesterday. They are expected to speak this morning I'm told. We'll have to see when that call actually happens.

But they are really trying to use the acceleration of some of these talks to really try and push this peace deal within the next few weeks. We'll see if that's possible.

Now, Zelenskyy has said, he said this going into yesterday's meeting, and he said it again afterwards, that he believes that they have agreed, at least the U.S. and the Ukrainian side, to 90 percent of the terms in that 20-point peace plan.

But there are still so many sticking points that remain. It's really that remaining 10 percent of these talks that are continuing to complicate a potential peace plan. One, of course, is this idea of land concessions and what both sides are willing to give up. The other is, you know, the control of this Ukrainian nuclear facility, one that Russia has very much been continuing to attack. And of course, other parts of Ukraine as well moving forward.

Now, we also heard -- I want to go back to some of what Zelenskyy has been posting about this morning. One of the things that he said has been frustrating for him is that "the Russians' attitude," he said in one of these posts, "the Russians' attitude toward a referendum is not positive because a referendum requires security infrastructure." This is all relating to Zelenskyy saying that he would agree to put up a potential proposal on land concessions for a referendum. That is something that Ukrainian law requires, that they would have to put it forward to a vote, but it would need a 60-day ceasefire to maintain. And essentially Zelenskyy saying the Russians do not look like they are willing to agree to a ceasefire at this point.

He also said, as for a withdrawal about Donbas, it's no secret that Russia wants this. And so, you can see that Zelenskyy, despite being optimism coming out of these talks yesterday, says that there's so much that still needs to be conceded to on the Russian side. So, we'll have to see how this call this morning goes between Trump and Putin and where they think the talks in the next few weeks will actually lead.

JIMENEZ: Yes, some of those significant obstacles still remain at this point.

Alayna Treene, thank you so much. Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, Omar.

Joining me now is Democratic Congressman Adam Smith of Washington. He's the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Hearing all the new details from the meeting with Zelenskyy, who's offering to give up territory to create a demilitarized zone, also asking for 15 years plus of U.S. security guarantees, what should all of that look like when you consider whether or not Congress would have to weigh in as to whether or not that is actually possible, to give 15 plus years, potentially more, of security guarantees?

REP. ADAM SMITH (D-WA): Well, I think it's key to the agreement on the Ukrainian side, certainly. And I think we can do that. And the security guarantees can mean a lot of different things. And remember, we've got a 53-nation coalition. This doesn't just fall on the United States. Europe has been very involved, has -- as have some other countries. But it's key that security guarantees are present, otherwise, you know, we're just -- it's not going to help because Russia will simply attack again later.

I think that the most worrisome thing right now is what's coming out of Russia and Putin. They don't seem as anxious for an agreement as President Trump and President Zelenskyy are. And that's why it's so crucial that we continue to restate our support for Ukraine. Put the pressure on Putin for a change. I think that's the biggest mistake that President Trump has made in the last year is he seems to think that Zelenskyy is the one who's controlling whether or not this war ends, when in fact Putin is the one who started the war and is driving it.

[09:10:11]

Pressure needs to be put on Putin. We need to get sanctions back on the table. We need to make it clear that were not abandoning Ukraine and make it clear that Putin is not going to be able to take over Ukraine as he wants. That's what forces Putin to the table.

I think the security guarantees we can do, but the question right now is, how's Russia going to react to all that?

SIDNER: I was just going to ask you, if you have seen any concessions on Russia's part during all this, because as -- just before this meeting began with Zelenskyy, there was a sustained attack on Kyiv. One of the longest sustained attacks we've seen during the war.

SMITH: Yes, I have not. President Trump keeps muttering about how Putin wants peace and a variety of different other comments he's been making. You know, some comment yesterday at the press conference where Trump said that, you know, Putin is willing to help rebuild Ukraine. I don't think President Trump fundamentally understands where Putin is coming from on this. Putin wants to basically control all of Ukraine one way or the other. And the only way to dissuade him from that is to show that it's not possible, to show that the coalition that I just mentioned is united behind the idea that there must be a sovereign, democratic Ukraine, and we will give them security guarantees to make sure that's happening.

And also another point that doesn't get made often enough, Russia is really struggling in this war. I think another major mistake that President Trump has made is he keeps talking about how Zelenskyy doesn't have any cards and he's losing and Russia is winning. Russia is burning through an unbelievable amount of casualties and equipment to gain tiny little bits of ground. They are basically stalled in their effort. And I think that message needs to get out there again so the Putin realizes that his maximalist goals will not be achieved. Continuing to talk, as President Trump has, about how Zelenskyy is losing undermines the entire effort to try to get to a peace agreement. And it's also not true.

SIDNER: I do want to move on to another conflict that the Trump administration is now dealing with, that the phase two of the peace deal that is yet to materialize when it comes to Israel and Gaza. Hamas has not disarmed. Israel's defense minister has said Israel will never leave Gaza, which goes against one of the important parts of Trump's plan. Meantime, of course, there is a vast amount of suffering by Palestinians in war devastated Gaza.

What levers do you think that Donald Trump needs to use to try and get phase two underway?

SMITH: Well, the big key here is moving in other international forces, is working, particularly with the Gulf states, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Jordan, Egypt, who have long said that they believe they have Palestinians that they can work with as an alternative to Hamas. That's the key in all that. That alternative has to be put forward, and Israel has to be willing to work with that alternative. I don't disagree with Israel at all that keeping Hamas in place in Gaza is a major, major problem for peace going forward. It's also, by the way, a major problem for the Palestinian people. Hamas has been devastating for the Palestinian people, and including the fact, of course, that they regularly execute Palestinians who dare to disagree with them.

But in order to get rid of Hamas, you have to have something else. And here I don't think Israel has been willing enough to embrace possible alternatives. They're hostile to just about any Palestinian group that pops up. And also, I want to say, what's going on in the West Bank undermines the Gaza peace plan as well. As long as Israeli settlers continue to grab more land in the West Bank, that just undermines the ability to find those Palestinian alternatives. So, I think all of that is connected if we're going to get to a peace agreement.

But again, the key here is, you don't like Hamas, and I don't, very few people do, you better have an alternative. And I've heard from the king of Jordan, from MBS in Saudi Arabia. They believe there are alternatives. But those alternatives need to be embraced, encouraged and helped so that they can become viable.

SIDNER: Yes. I mean, it is such a complex scenario that has to be worked through. And there are so many people suffering through it.

Congressman Adam Smith, thank you so much. And, please, do try to have a happy holiday.

Right now in Texas, a desperate search for a 19-year-old woman who went missing on Christmas Eve. The sheriff leading the investigation is joining us next to speak with Omar.

Plus, shocking moments captured on camera after two helicopters collide midair. And you see that one crashing to the ground. What we're learning this morning from the investigation.

And video you've truly got to see.

[09:15:01]

This is wild, you guys. A skier sliding down the snowy peaks of a volcano amid eruption.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIMENEZ: This morning, authorities in the San Antonio area are searching for a 19-year-old woman who they say could be in imminent danger. The Bexar County Sheriff's Office says Camila Mendoza Olmos was last seen on surveillance video outside her home on the morning of Christmas Eve. And authorities say the 19-year-old was seen searching through her car around 7:00 a.m. before walking away with only her keys and possibly her driver's license. They also say she left her phone behind. And her mother told authorities she thought Camila left for a walk and reported her missing hours later. Since then, multiple searches have been conducted.

I want to bring in Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar, who's with me now.

Sheriff, you say that Camila is in imminent danger. What led you to say that?

SHERIFF JAVIER SALAZAR, BEXAR COUNTY, TEXAS: Well, I mean, obviously, at this stage, there's some information I can't divulge, you know, due to the sensitivity of it. But with that being said, you know, the criteria for a -- for a clear alert, which was issued in this case, is that there's imminent danger.

Now, we consider imminent danger to be anything from self-harm all the way through somebody actually kidnaping Camila. And all of those possibilities exist at present. We can't rule anything out at this point in the investigation.

[09:20:01]

JIMENEZ: Yes. I mean, just to your point, you know, imminent danger could potentially include self-harm. Do you have any mental health concerns as part of this ongoing search? How are you potentially evaluating that?

SALAZAR: Yes. Yes, sir. We, at this point, there is some information in the case that there have been suicidal ideations involving this young lady in the past. And although that remains a distinct possibility, obviously we can't just jump to that conclusion and put all of our eggs in that, in that one basket. We've got to consider the whole spectrum of things that could possibly have gone wrong in this incident. And so, that is a very real consideration for us, you know, judging upon the history that we've -- that we've had.

JIMENEZ: Sure. I know you're considering a wide range of factors here, and I know you all are doing a lot of work on this, but what is the plan on day five of this search?

SALAZAR: Well, we're continuing a boots on the ground search out in the area. We've had a change in weather overnight, which I don't think it's going to hamper much. But, you know, we've had basically boots on the ground from the sheriff's office since the day of the incident. Deputies and investigators working through the holidays, basically around the clock, gathering intel. During the day we're concentrating our efforts on physical searches, even to the extent of continuing to search areas that have already been searched. We've got basically a small army of volunteers from the community that are coming out that we're extremely thankful for that are coordinating with us.

But we're also continuing to follow up on technology. You know, in this instance, and one of the things that was very strange in this case is that the young lady left behind her cell phone. And so we're continuing to go through that, through social media to see if there's anything that can be gleaned from that. And additionally, working with our federal partners, namely the FBI and Homeland Security have been helping us out with intel gathering, things like outbound flights, border crossings, things like that.

JIMENEZ: And, you know, obviously, you do a lot of work there in Bexar County. You cover a whole range of incidents that happen, from violent to non-violent. And I just wonder, in your experience, what is so strange about this case in particular? Is there anything that stands out to you?

SALAZAR: Yes, absolutely. I mean, you know, here we -- basically every day I get emails on any missing persons from overnight. Quite frequently they're people within the same demographic as Camila, young, you know, I'd say between the ages of, you know, 15 to 25. And we're used to people coming back in a very short time frame. They get mad at mom and dad, they break up with a boyfriend or girlfriend, and then they leave. And then very shortly they come back.

In this instance, that's not what has occurred. And at present -- at present, there's very few physical clues to go on. In other words, it's almost as if she just up and disappeared without a trace to this point. But we're going to continue to investigate any and all leads

JIMENEZ: Sheriff Javier Salazar, appreciate you taking the time. I know it's a busy time for you all. I appreciate you being here.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, this morning, investigators are in New Jersey searching for answers after a deadly midair collision. Two helicopters crashed Sunday, killing a pilot and injuring another. Take a look at this video. It shows the terrifying moment. One of those helicopters began spinning out of control as it went down. The FAA says only the pilots were on board when they collided over an open field. Both were airlifted to nearby hospitals.

CNN's Rafael Romo is joining us now with more on this.

Can you give us some sense of exactly what happened, what you have learned about this so far?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Sara, hi. Good morning.

The helicopters came down in a field in Hammonton. That's in New Jersey. And both pilots, we were talking about it at the beginning, were airlifted to a trauma center. This is according to Hammonton Fire Department Chief Sean Macri, who confirmed to CNN that one person died while the condition of the other one was unconfirmed.

Hammonton, Sara, is located in Atlantic County. It's about 35 miles southeast of Philadelphia and sits near the New Jersey Pine Barrens, a vast area of forest and wilderness. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the crash happened around 11:25 in the morning Eastern Time. The FAA said in a statement that the two helicopters collided in midair near Hammonton Municipal Airport in New Jersey. CNN has obtained a video showing the moment one of the helicopters went down. And what you can see is that that helicopter was spinning out of control. We don't know why at this point.

Officials also say that only the pilots were on board each helicopter. Both the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the accident. But the NTSB will be in charge.

Fire Chief Macri described the crash scene as, quote, "a pile of mangled metal that was on fire. That's all it looked like." He said, "it was hard to even tell it was a helicopter."

[09:25:03]

A restaurant owner at the Hammonton Municipal Airport says he had just seen both pilots at his establishment prior to the crash.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAL SILIPINO, APRON CAFE OWNER: They were just at our cafe having breakfast. They're regulars. They come in every week or every other week.

I don't know them personally, just that they seem to come in all the time together. They're flying together and they seem to be close. You know, they sit together and they seem to be good friends or relatives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: And, Sara, the fire department in Hammonton also asking people to think about sharing content because they say a lot of A.I. images have been posted that have nothing to do with what happened. They're calling the accident a tragic incident and an ongoing investigation. So again, not to post any A.I. images about this.

Sara, now back to you.

SIDNER: It is the new world we live in. Good advice.

Thank you so much, Rafael Romo, do appreciate you.

All right, breaking news just in to CNN. A deadly car crash in Nigeria killed two and left headline making boxer Anthony Joshua injured. Joshua became uber famous in the U.S. after beating YouTuber turned professional boxer Jake Paul. Joshua sustained only minor injuries in the car accident in Nigeria where his parents are from. The cause of the crash is under investigation. Joshua has been one of the best boxers on the planet for the last ten years. His prominence, though, rose even higher when millions of people watched him defeat Jake Paul on Netflix.

All right, ahead this morning, the Justice Department is asking for volunteer prosecutors to help go through potentially more than a million documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein case. How long this might stretch into the new year.

And more than a dozen people are dead and hundreds more injured after a passenger train goes off the rails. What we are learning about that this morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)