Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

President Trump Meets With Volodymyr Zelenskyy; Trump and Netanyahu Meet. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired December 29, 2025 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): But Combs was found guilty on prostitution charges.

LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: Sean "Diddy" Combs will be sentenced to 50, 5-0, 50 months in prison.

WAGMEISTER: From billionaire to behind bars.

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

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And 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.

(on camera): And with Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni set for trial next year, it'll be another year with Hollywood in the headlines.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN HOST: Thanks for joining INSIDE POLITICS.

"CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Any minute, President Trump is set to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the president seeks to end the year with a full-court press on two of his biggest foreign policy hurdles. We're going to bring you the latest from Mar-a-Lago.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Plus: blizzard conditions, freezing temperatures and tornadoes. We're going to bring you the latest on a dangerous winter storm slamming parts of the country, already impacting the holiday travel rush.

And the Department of Justice releasing new details about what the D.C. pipe bomb suspect told the FBI shortly after his arrest. We have the latest on a possible motive as we follow these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: Right now, we're standing by to hear from President Trump as he holds a high-stakes meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the two leaders sitting down at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort at a critical moment, as the White House pushes for phase two of the U.S. brokered cease-fire in Gaza and amid growing concerns over new advancements in Iran's ballistic missile program.

SANCHEZ: Today's talks are part of a frenzy of foreign policy meetings happening at the president's Florida estate. Yesterday, he hosted Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy while working toward a peace deal with Russia.

Let's get the latest from CNN's Alayna Treene.

Alayna, some key issues at stake for Trump and Netanyahu. Some administration officials feel that Netanyahu is slow-walking the second phase of this Gaza peace plan.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, this is going to be a crucial meeting. And, actually, I should note that it was requested by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This is his fifth visit to the U.S. and meeting with President Trump ever since Trump took office for his second term.

Look, it's a big deal because there are a lot of administration officials wary, as you said, Boris, about how Netanyahu is approaching all of this and particularly if he's taking steps to try and undermine which is already a very fragile peace fire -- excuse me -- cease-fire deal, and as they try to put into place the rest of this peace plan.

And that's going to be the key question is, will they get any commitments? Will Trump get any real, tangible commitments from Netanyahu about moving into phase two?

And just so people know, phase two is -- of course, goes beyond just that initial cease-fire that was agreed to in October. It's about the disarmament of Hamas, the beginning of construction, reconstruction in the enclave and then also setting up a postwar governance in Gaza.

All of those are steps that actually -- when I talked to a lot of administration officials back in October, they thought that, by this point in time, phase two would have already begun and that it would have been started. Obviously, it's going to take a lot of time, but they thought we would -- beyond this.

Now, from Netanyahu's standpoint, he's coming into this as well with a lot. He wants to make sure that he still has Trump onside. He has elections next year that he is personally worried about. Trump is obviously going to be crucial in those elections.

And there's been some things that Israel has done that have left a lot of people skeptical about their commitment to this broader peace plan. We saw them take out a top commander of Hamas, a top military commander. They have had attacks on civilians, Palestinian civilians.

And then also, one of the key things that they have been continuing to push for is that Hamas hand over the remaining remains of the hostages, something that some people are saying they might not be able to find. And so there's a lot of questions over where this goes.

And a lot of people -- we have Steve Witkoff. We have the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner. They have been meeting with the Egyptians, the Turks, the Qataris to try and finalize a lot of this, but it's in a very fragile state. And so this is going to be a very, very important moment to decide where things go next.

SANCHEZ: A lot of those allies that you mentioned losing patience now with Netanyahu.

Alayna Treene, thank you so much for the reporting.

Let's actually take you live to Jerusalem for the latest there as this meeting takes place at Mar-a-Lago.

CNN chief global affairs correspondent Matthew Chance is tracking this live.

Matthew, Netanyahu facing a lot of domestic challenges at home. And, as Alayna laid out, President Trump is very popular there and could help his chances in next year's election.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think that's true. And it is certainly a priority for Benjamin Netanyahu to retain the support of President Trump. As you say, Trump is very popular here in Israel.

[13:05:00]

Netanyahu faces elections within the next 10 months. It could be a lot sooner than that. And it would mean a lot to his campaign to have President Trump's support. And so he's going to be bending over backwards to try and make sure he retains that. At the same time, he's got to retain the support of his very hard-line right-wing coalition as well.

And the truth is, that coalition is skeptical, if not downright opposed, to the idea of moving into that second phase of President Trump's peace plan, because not only would that involve the disarmament of Hamas, which, of course, Israel supports, but it would also involve Israel making very painful concessions as well, including withdrawing from territory in Gaza that it's fought for, essentially as it sees it, over the course of the past couple of years, and eventually handing over control of the Gaza Strip to an international stabilization force, which U.S. officials have been working very hard behind the scenes to try and put together.

It's not come together yet. But there is a lot of skepticism in the right-wing coalition here and from Benjamin Netanyahu himself about what that would look like. Now, the reason the meeting is so potentially contentious is that President Trump has a very different vision. He's keen to move to the next, the second phase of his much- vaunted peace plan.

This is very much perhaps the biggest centerpiece of his foreign policy of his second presidential term. He wants to see it advance. His U.S. officials -- his U.S. -- yes, U.S. officials have been working very hard to try and make that happen.

And so Netanyahu has to try and find a way to sort of keep Trump onside, but delay the onset of this second phase. And one of the ways he's doing that is taking the parents of the last remaining hostage at Ran Gvili, still held in Gaza. His remains have not been found or handed over by Hamas yet. They say they can't find the remains.

But they're categorically opposed to the idea of Israel moving to the second phase of the peace process until their son's remains have been returned, because, as they told me last week when I spoke to them, they're worried that, if the peace process moves forward without their son being handed over, they may never get those remains back.

And so it's noteworthy that they are both accompanying Benjamin Netanyahu to Florida. They have already met with Steve Witkoff, with Jared Kushner, with Marco Rubio, and discussed that issue with them. They're expected to meet Trump later at that meeting as well.

And so it's this obstacle of this last remaining hostage that is perhaps what Netanyahu is pushing as a way to say, look, we can't move ahead yet. We still have to wait for this hostage to come out. And so let's see what comes out, see whether that convinces Trump and encourages him to hold back, or whether he just plows ahead and pushes ahead with that second phase.

KEILAR: Yes, he's certainly facing a lot of pressure from Netanyahu. We will see what happens here.

Matthew Chance, thank you so much.

And as we're waiting for this meeting between President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, CNN has also learned that Trump wrapped up a call with Russia's Vladimir Putin just hours after his face-to-face talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and we will bring you details on that call next.

SANCHEZ: And, later, an update on the dangerous winter weather impacting millions of Americans and their travel plans.

That and much more coming your way next on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:12:54]

SANCHEZ: Happening now: Russian officials are promising retaliatory strikes against Ukraine after an alleged drone attack on one of President Vladimir Putin's homes.

Now, Ukraine is denying it, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy calling the accusation a complete fabrication. Earlier today, President Trump held what the White House is describing as a positive phone call with Putin on the war in Ukraine. That phone call follows his in-person meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday, ultimately producing no immediate major breakthrough to end the war, as Russia has yet to pause its relentless attacks on Ukrainian cities while these discussions take place.

Let's get some perspective now with CNN military analyst retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton.

Colonel Leighton, great to see you as always.

As we hear Trump say that major progress is being made toward a peace deal, Zelenskyy saying that they're about 90 percent of the way there, what are the remaining sticking points?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: So, one of the key things, Boris, is Russia's demands for territory in the Donbass region.

So this is critical. It's all about land and control of that land, especially in the Donbass region. Plus, then you have got the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and security guarantees. So, on the last one, what Zelenskyy has said is that the United States is guaranteeing security for Ukraine for 15 years. If that is the case, that is a major step forward for the Ukrainians.

SANCHEZ: When it comes to the territory that Russia wants in the Donbass, I mean, we have heard for decades that Vladimir Putin thinks that Ukraine is not a legitimate country, right? It's his point of view.

But why specifically does he want this territory? Is there a more immediate, pragmatic reason?

LEIGHTON: Yes, there is, actually.

And it's this area right in here. What this is, is kind of a fortress belt that the Ukrainians have. So, right now, they're controlling towns all along this area between this part of Russian control and Kramatorsk and then this part of the Donetsk region right here. The other thing is Pokrovsk.

They have been fighting over Pokrovsk for months now, basically years, really. And this area right here is the gateway to everything here. This is Dnipro River. This is the town of Dnipro right here. All of this, if this is opened up and there's no fortress belt to protect the Ukrainian forces in this area, they could, the Russians could potentially occupy this area as well. And that would be a significant blow to the Ukrainians.

[13:15:12]

So the Ukrainians want to keep this territory, or at least make sure the Russians don't get control of it. The Russians want this because they want the Donbass for its entirety, and they want to be ready to move into the rest of Ukraine as well.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

So, then what purposes are served by having these security guarantees in place if they are not meant to deter Ukraine -- Russia, rather, from doing just that?

LEIGHTON: So the only way that these security guarantees would work is if you actually have forces in these areas. So what you could do, for example, is, you could have Western forces stationed in a buffer zone right here. So the idea of a buffer zone would be to take, for example, this area right here, make it so that no Russian forces, no Ukrainian forces are in there.

The Ukrainians would probably be OK with that, not really happy with it. But for the way this is all set up, it's probably the best way to do this at the moment so that the Ukrainians don't lose any of these areas. But they would have to definitely make sure that they have forces in these areas to protect the rear area, so that it doesn't get attacked by the Russians.

SANCHEZ: So how do you read, as President Trump says that he believes Russia wants Ukraine to succeed, Putin's continued attacks on cities targeting civilians?

LEIGHTON: Well, the basic way that we're looking at this -- and, in fact, let's go to the full map here for a second, because what these attacks look like, for example, in Kyiv right here, is real attacks on civilian infrastructure.

So, when Putin talks about he wants this area to succeed -- supposedly he said that to President Trump, or at least that's how President Trump is interpreting that -- what he really means is, he wants to control all of Ukraine. And if he controls all of Ukraine, then he gets what he wants. This is a war aim that the Russians have, and that war aim is basically to not only take over all of this, but to be ready to do things here, which, of course, all of these are NATO countries.

And if he does that, then it's going to be a significant victory, would be a significant victory for the Russians, and it would allow the Russians to exercise much greater influence over Europe, and it would also reconstitute a portion of the old Soviet Union or the old Russian empire, depending on how far back you want to go in history.

SANCHEZ: Which Putin has made clear is part of his aspiration, which makes the peace process somewhat dubious in itself, right?

LEIGHTON: It does, absolutely.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

LEIGHTON: And that's the whole problem with this, because, Boris, when you look at all of this, the real goal should be to make sure that Ukraine can stay a free and sovereign nation.

SANCHEZ: Right.

LEIGHTON: And NATO would benefit a lot from that, because the Ukrainians are very innovative in their war effort. They have been able to hold all of this territory right here, and it's been really difficult for the Russians to move forward. They haven't advanced very far at all.

SANCHEZ: Yes. Colonel Cedric Leighton, appreciate the analysis. Thanks so much.

LEIGHTON: Thanks, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, let's continue -- we continue to stand by for that meeting between President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

The president is expected to push the Israeli leader to move forward on the more complicated second phase of the Gaza peace plan and to discuss the growing concerns over Iran's ballistic missile program.

Let's talk about this now with CNN national security analyst Beth Sanner, a former deputy director of national intelligence.

Netanyahu is going into this, Beth, looking for a tougher approach to Hamas. He's kind of seen as having dragged his feet a little bit when it comes to moving towards that phase two. Also, he does have these concerns about Iran's ballistic missile program. Who needs the other more here? Is it Trump or is it Netanyahu?

BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: It's Netanyahu.

Netanyahu has already been forced into doing some things under President Trump's pressure, for example, a deal giving Egypt a big energy deal last week that a lot of experts think is not actually in Israel's energy security interests.

But this is a kind of thing where Netanyahu has to come here with a very impatient Donald Trump wanting to move this forward and Netanyahu coming with the reasons why he cannot.

KEILAR: And there are internal politics for Netanyahu at play here, right? There's the run-up to the 2026 election. He also has his upcoming -- or his corruption trial that's advancing. How is that playing into things?

SANNER: Well, absolutely, because Netanyahu intends to run again, and this election has to take place by October, and it's in his interest to try to push this election as far away as possible.

And there are a number of things, a draft law of ultra-orthodox, Qatargate, which is about a Netanyahu aide and other members potentially of his administration in cahoots with Qatar, and very, very problematic politically domestically. So Netanyahu's not in good shape right now politically, and he needs the president's backing.

[13:20:00]

But, at the same time, he is absolutely right to say that Hamas is refusing to disarm. And that was a core principle and a practical principle to moving ahead to phase two. So it's more complicated than just kind of a he said/she said.

KEILAR: That's a good point. And the defense minister of Israel, Israel Katz, saying that Israel will never withdraw from Gaza. And there are plans to cement a significant security zone there. How is that playing into these talks?

SANNER: Well, I mean, I think that this is the problem, is that the right-wing part of the coalition government with Netanyahu is absolutely hell-bent on not just making sure the West Bank is impossible for that to become a Palestinian homeland, because they have expanded settlements in the West Bank more this year than in the past 30 years, OK, and at the same time, moving into Gaza and saying Gaza needs to be resettled.

And this is where Defense Minister Katz has kind of gone back and forth, but doubled down recently on this. And so Netanyahu has to keep these right-wing folks on his side in order to put together a coalition government for the election.

So you see the conundrum.

KEILAR: What's interesting too is, we're watching this meeting at Mar-a-Lago, and it's on the heels of a meeting that President Trump has just had with the Ukrainian president there at Mar-a-Lago. It's become this center of diplomacy. And I wonder how you see that.

SANNER: Yes, the White House of the South, absolutely.

I think that the fact that President Trump has put himself at the center of all of these peace deals is the reason on one hand that they have moved as far and as quickly as they have. You would not be where we were in Russia-Ukraine or where we are with the cease-fire in Gaza without President Trump personally being involved.

But when you add on all these other things that he's involved in, he's one person and he's got about three people in his administration who are working foreign policy. And having to bring in Jared Kushner again, who all -- forswore he wasn't going to do any of this, because he needs him.

So it shows kind of a weakness of the strategy. Yes, you need the president to be weighing in, but, on the other hand, he only has so much bandwidth. And this is where his base is starting to say, hey, what about domestic politics in the run-up to the midterms?

KEILAR: Yes, the America in America first.

Beth Sanner, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

SANNER: Thank you.

KEILAR: Still ahead: From blizzards to tornadoes, a powerful winter storm is leaving its mark, and there's more bad weather on the way. We have got the forecast there.

Plus: war games. Some new details on why China just announced major military drills around Taiwan.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:26:41]

KEILAR: And we go to Mar-a-Lago now, where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is just arriving to meet with President Trump, a meeting with a lot on the line for Netanyahu, as he is trying to take a harder line on Hamas, as there is some frustration that he has not moved more quickly into a second phase of the cease-fire, the more complicated part of the cease-fire to end the Gaza war, from the perspective of the White House.

SANCHEZ: Yes. And there is a Prime Minister Netanyahu donning a red tie, perhaps to share the image of President Trump, both of them wearing red ties as they exchange a handshake.

It's been more than two months since President Trump traveled to Egypt to sign the Gaza peace agreement, and some crucial pieces of that deal remain undefined right now.

Let's go ahead and listen in to what the president is saying.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... for the last three days.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: OK.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Go ahead. Go ahead.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: As quickly as we can, but there has to be a disarmament. You know that. We have to disarm with Hamas, so one of the things we will talk about, certainly. But there has to be a disarming of Hamas. Otherwise, very quickly -- yes?

QUESTION: Can you say anything more about the explosion in Venezuela that you mentioned in a video interview? Did the military do that? (OFF-MIKE)

TRUMP: Well, it doesn't matter, but there was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs. They load the boats up with drugs.

So we hit all the boats. And now we hit the area. It's the implementation area. That's where they implement. And that is no longer around.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) TRUMP: I don't want to comment.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Yesterday, there was an explosion overnight in -- and the Russians say that Ukraine tried to hit the residence of President Putin. Do you have any information...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: No, I don't know about it, actually. And I don't. I just heard about it, actually, but I don't know about it.

QUESTION: Did you speak...

TRUMP: That would be too bad. That would not be good.

QUESTION: What was the outcome of your telephone call with President Putin this morning?

TRUMP: I had a very good talk this morning. I waited until this morning, because it was pretty late by the time we finished, like 2:30 in Russia, 2:30 in the morning.

And we had a very good talk. We spoke at 8:00 in the morning our time. And it was a very productive talk. We have a few very thorny issues, as you can imagine. He knows about thorny issues probably better than anybody in the world.

But it's working out. We have a couple of issues that we're going to get resolved, hopefully. And if we get them resolved, you're going to have peace. You're going to have -- Ukraine losing 26,000 soldiers a month, can you believe it, a month, 26,000 young, beautiful soldiers, and plus some people in Kyiv, and relatively small, but a lot -- still people. And it's a lot of people.

But 26,000 soldiers were killed last month.

Yes, please.