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Winter Storm Moves Out; Trump To Announce New Fed Chair Pick; A.I.'s Transformation in 20205; Top 10 Medical Stores of 2025. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired December 30, 2025 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:32:58]

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: We've got some new developments this morning in the intensifying search for a missing Texas teen who vanished on Christmas Eve. Authorities say new dash cam video, you can see it here, shows a person matching the description of 19-year-old Camila Mendoza Olmos walking alone, as you can see, shortly after she was seen leaving her home. Now, the Bexar County Sheriff's Office released this new video. They say it was recorded by a person in Camila's neighborhood who was driving to work shortly after 7:00 a.m. Authorities say she left home that morning without her phone. And we spoke to CNN's senior national security analyst Juliette Kayyem last hour about what that could mean for the investigation.

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JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Would strike me as both a security expert and a mother of a teenager, that she did not want to be tracked by her phone. Most parents have Find My iPhone so that if she either met someone or has left alone and is in some sort of self-harm or whatever else that she did not want to be found. So, that's the scary thing for the parents. I think also the video showing that she was alone, at least at the time that she left the house, when investigators are going to be looking at is, was she in contact with anyone that lured her out of the house?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: Now, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar told CNN, Camila is believed to be in imminent danger. We're going to talk with the sheriff on NEWS CENTRAL next hour for the latest updates on this case.

Also this morning, new details on the deadly car crash in Nigeria that left British boxer Anthony Joshua injured, and we're now learning killed two of his close friends. We want to show you some new video from hours before the crash showing Joshua playing ping pong with one of his close friends who was killed in the crash. Authorities said the two people killed are Joshua's coach and a personal trainer. A reminder of how quickly things can change. Joshua and a fourth person in the vehicle survived. Social media video shows the star boxer being pulled from the back of his SUV, and police said the driver was speeding when he lost control on a highway and slammed into a parked vehicle.

[08:35:10]

The highway is considered the most dangerous road in the country.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you, Omar.

This morning, the winter storm may be gone, but the danger is not. Strong winds behind it are now triggering days of heavy lake effect snow. In Buffalo, New York, the winds so powerful they're pushing snow across buildings and streets. You see it there. And overnight temperatures will drop below freezing, reaching all the way south to the Gulf Coast.

CNN's Derek Van Dam tracking all of this for us.

Folks are not used to these kinds of cold temperatures way over there near the Gulf.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's right. Temperatures are about 35 degrees colder this morning in Panama City than they were yesterday at this time. So, this arctic blast and this cold front means business. And it's also ushering in cold air over the relatively warm Great Lakes. And this has caused lake effect snow showers to form. And they drop visibility at a moment's notice.

I want to take you to yesterday. This is Wayne County, Michigan. A multi-vehicle pileup because of reduced visibility. There were snow squall warnings in the area.

And now I focus in on downwind from Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. Look at this. Buffalo to Syracuse, about a half-mile visibility. These snow squalls, they're small, they're narrow, but they are mighty. Sometimes if you get stuck in one of them, you can have visibilities drop from ten miles to a quarter of a mile in a matter of seconds. And that is why you need to add extra distance between you and the vehicle in front of you. Drive with caution, especially in those favored areas.

We still have our winter weather alerts in place. You can see just how active the lake effect snow machine is across the region. That's really our travel trouble spot today on the roadways. But in the skies, you'll be impacted by wind gusting over 40 mile per hour at times for some of the major East Coast cities.

And the temperatures this morning are brutal. If you're stepping outside, it feels like zero degrees. A big fat goose egg in Chicago. And again, a big difference compared to this time yesterday morning.

Just to give you a hint at what's coming, we've got New Years Eve, New York City, well, look at this, a bit of snow starting to form as a weak clipper system moves through. No problems for Sara in Austin, Texas, but it may be the first New Year's Day and Rose Bowl Parade that sees rain since 2006 in Los Angeles. So, something to consider. Here's a closer look at New York City. Should stay dry, but things

will change on New Year's Day. So for the festivities for the day after, could be a little bit different.

Sara.

SIDNER: CNN is doing something new. They're actually going to be at the Rose Parade.

VAN DAM: Right.

SIDNER: And I was like, and it's raining. Poor Elex Michaelson. He's going to -- he's going to be mad. But he -- he knows California. He's fine.

VAN DAM: And Coy Wire.

SIDNER: Yes, and Coy as well. We'll see. We'll check on them.

VAN DAM: And Coy getting (INAUDIBLE).

SIDNER: Derek Van Dam, thank you so much.

Omar.

VAN DAM: You got it.

JIMENEZ: Something tells me they're both going to be smiling no matter what.

SIDNER: They're going to be fine.

JIMENEZ: Yes. Yes.

Also, we're tracking a major change coming to the Federal Reserve in 2026. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's term is set to expire in May, and the markets are bracing for a massive leadership transition. President Trump yesterday renewed his threat to fire Powell before his term is up, and the president also said he might bring a lawsuit against the Fed chair over the management of renovations at the Fed's headquarters in D.C.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're thinking about bringing a gross incompetence, what's called gross incompetence, lawsuit. It's gross incompetence against Powell.

I'd love to fire him, but we're so close, you know. Maybe. But maybe I still might.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: And he's said stuff like that for quite some time now in terms of Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

But I want to bring in CNN global economic analyst and "Financial Times" columnist Rana Faroohar to discuss more.

So, if we're talking a new Fed chair, and President Trump has been pretty open about wanting the new chair to lower interest rates, even if the market is doing well, let's start with the economic impact of a relationship that it sounds like Trump wants where a Fed chairman just does what Trump believes is best.

RANA FAROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMICS ANALYST: Yes, for sure. Omar, it's something that investors have been worrying about a lot. You know, there have been so many headwinds for the U.S. economy and it's, you know, it's come up pretty well against them. We've had tariffs. We've had inflation. We've had all the political changes.

But the idea of having a Fed that's not independent is something that international investors, in particular, are very worried about. And you can see it in the fall of the dollar against European currency, against other international currencies. You can see it in the fact that investors are reallocating some of their assets that had been in U.S. stocks and bonds into foreign markets. They're really preparing for a kind of a sea change in the idea of Fed independence.

[08:40:05]

And I think that it's not something that you're going to see an overnight dip in the markets, but it is something that's a slow, serious burn that is going to have an impact over time.

JIMENEZ: You know, there's so much focus on the Fed chair, understandably. So much influence. But you've got also as part of that 12 person Federal Open Market Committee setting policy. And not all of them, of course, are Trump appointees. But could an especially divided committee also spoke markets and create some of that same uncertainty that maybe an expected loyal chair might as well?

FAROOHAR: You know, that's a really interesting question. I'm going to say no. In some ways I think if there was a sharp divide, I mean if you saw a lot of people on the Fed saying, hey, we don't think we should be cutting interest rates right now. We see signs that inflation is running hotter. And you still have a Fed chair that's saying, no, we're going to cut. No, we're going to cut. In some ways it makes it clear what's happening. It makes it easier for the markets to understand. It also shows that there are people still willing to be vocal at a time when, you know, they're probably under a lot of pressure to roll over and do what the chair would like and what the president would like.

I would actually see that as a positive sign in some ways that the system is working. But if you then see action being taken, rate cuts being made based not on data but on politics, that's what's going to have the big effect. I mean if you -- if investors know, look, we've got more inflationary pressures and yet they still see the Fed cutting because there's a chair that's doing the president's bidding, I think that could really have a sharp, quick impact.

JIMENEZ: And, you know, when you look at where the economy is right now, the macro economically, there are signs of growth. We're looking at GDP growth from third quarter, from the quarter before. But there are some warning indicators as well. And I think some worries if rates are cut when the economy is overall again showing signs of doing OK. I just wonder for you, what are some of those economic warning indicators that you're looking for that actually might be tested with either a new Fed chair or a change in rate, for example?

FAROOHAR: Yes, great question, Omar.

You know, one of the things that's so tricky about the economy right now is, we have a k-shaped economy. That's a term I sometimes use to talk about the fact that people that own stocks, people that own homes, people that have good jobs are doing quite well, you know. I mean, you know, if you're in that position and you look around and you say, there's no problem in the economy. But if you're in a position where you don't have a big stock portfolio, where maybe you're renting rather than owning a home and you're in the lower 25 percent of the income bracket, boy, you are feeling the pain. And Trump's big, beautiful bill have -- has cut SNAP benefits, food stamps. It's cut Medicaid benefits, while giving tax breaks to the richer. So, there is this divide.

The Fed then has to navigate that divide.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

FAROOHAR: It has to think about, well, how can we bolster the job market. How can we help people at the bottom without crashing the stock market? Very, very tricky business.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

Rana Faroohar, appreciate the insight, as always. Thanks for being here.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, ahead, from chatbots to mass layoffs. This year we've seen artificial intelligence change how humans communicate and work, or don't work. What will 2026 bring in this space?

And a look back at the major impact Secretary Kennedy has had as he heads the Department of Health and Human Services.

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[08:47:19]

SIDNER: For better or for worse, A.I. certainly made its mark on 2025. From chatbots to A.I. generated images, creating confusion online and concerns about it replacing human jobs. Many of us are wondering what A.I. has in store for 2026, and far beyond that.

CNN tech editor Lisa Eadicicco joining me now.

What are you learning? This gives people both kind of hope, because there's so many things that A.I. can do to help us, but it's also -- there's some terror, there's some fear about what it might do.

LISA EADICICCO, CNN BUSINESS TECH EDITOR: So I want to start just kind of by outlining what makes 2025 so different, because A.I. has been around for a long time. It's played a big role in technology for a long time. But ChatGPT really kind of thrust that to the forefront. And what we saw in 2025 was A.I. really entering the national conversation in a much bigger way, both through national policy and new concerns about how it impacts mental health and how it's going to impact the future of the job market. For example, we saw that President Donald Trump really made A.I. a big cornerstone of his second term so far, with multiple executive orders that he signed and the A.I. action plan.

And I think what we're going to see moving forward in 2026 and beyond is this constant challenge that the industry is going through to balance moving quickly while also managing the risks of A.I. Because as you mentioned, this year alone we saw a lot of new questions around the risks and harms around A.I., what it can mean for mental health. There's been reports about people growing attached to these A.I. chatbots. In certain cases there have been reports and lawsuits linking -- accusing these chatbots of being linked to suicide or suicide attempts among teens. There's a lot of questions, but at the same time, there's this pressure to keep moving because the technology is moving so fast.

SIDNER: Yes.

EADICICCO: Just a year ago we were talking about Deep Seek, which was an A.I. model that came out of China that really kind of shook the stock market and raised questions around whether all of that, you know, what that could mean for the future of A.I. chips and that industry. So, I think we're going to continue seeing things like that moving forward.

SIDNER: Yes, there's a lot ahead and there's a lot of speed bumps ahead as well. We will see how it all plays out in 2026.

Lisa, thank you so much and have a wonderful new year. Do appreciate you.

EADICICCO: Of course. You too.

SIDNER: Omar.

JIMENEZ: All right, new this morning, officials say the father of NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin died and his mother was critically injured after a fire at their North Carolina home. The house was mostly engulfed in flames when firefighters got there Sunday night. His father, Dennis Hamlin, and mother, Mary Lou, were found outside the home. Dennis later died from his injuries at a hospital. Mary Lou remains in critical condition. The cause of the fire is under investigation. Denny Hamlin is a superstar in NASCAR's top circuit. He's won 60 NASCAR Cup Series races, including the Daytona 500 three times.

[08:50:04] Also this morning, China is encircling Taiwan in a massive show of force. Right now, more than 130 warplanes and 22 ships are active around the island, with rockets landing in nearby waters just hours ago. As Taiwan's military says, it's monitoring the situation with fighter jets and naval vessels ready to respond. Flights in Taiwan have been canceled and delayed, affecting more than 6,000 travelers since yesterday, though President Trump said he's not worried.

And actor George Clooney and his family are now officially French citizens. Government records show Clooney, his wife Amal, and their twins were granted citizenship. The actors have mentioned looking for a quieter life away from Hollywood.

Sara, parlez-vous francais?

SIDNER: All right. Oui.

JIMENEZ: There we go. There we go.

SIDNER: You're welcome.

JIMENEZ: That's all you need to know, by the way. I think that's the French citizenship test.

SIDNER: Enchante.

JIMENEZ: Oh, there we go. OK.

SIDNER: There you go. (Speaking in French).

All right, moving on. That's about all I can do.

From the resurgence of measles in the United States, to mass layoffs at federal health agencies and the spread of medical misinformation under his new leadership at HHS, there were major developments in health and medicine that dominated headlines in 2025.

CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, taking a look back at the year.

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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: 2025 was a veritable battleground for public health as it faced challenge after challenge.

CROWD: (INAUDIBLE) united will never be defeated.

GUPTA: Mass layoffs. An armed attack on the CDC. And as misinformation gained momentum, once forgotten viruses took hold on U.S. soil. But as always, with science and medicine, progress does persist.

It is impossible to ignore the impact of MAHA. It's been the rallying cry of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., HHS SECRETARY: A real overhaul is improving the health of the entire nation to make America healthy again.

GUPTA: The main driver of the movement, reducing chronic disease. And a lot of efforts to that end, like condemning ultra-processed foods and taking action on artificial food dyes. Those have been largely applauded by public health experts. But other targets of the MAHA movement, those have them worried.

SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): We currently have our current vaccine schedule based upon a lot of people who know a heck of a lot, looking at things, not to make mandates, but to make recommendations.

KENNEDY: It makes no sense to have fluoride in our water.

GUPTA: This year we saw some states take steps to ban fluoride in their water supply. Dentists and other public health experts worry that its removal will increase cavities, especially for people without access to regular dental care. But supporters of these bans point to studies that found children exposed to higher fluoride levels have lower I.Q.s and more neurobehavioral issues. But as with so many things this year, there is important nuance. Those studies looked at levels much higher, almost double than the levels found in the majority of public water systems. In fact, another study found that fluoride at the recommended levels in drinking water did not negatively affect cognitive ability.

DR. MARTY MAKARY, FDA COMMISSIONER: There may be no other medication in the modern era that can improve the health outcomes of women on a population level than hormone replacement therapy.

GUPTA: In November, the FDA announced that it was taking steps to remove what is known as a black box warning for many hormone treatments for women with menopause symptoms. Now, while this change is expected to give women more options for treatments. I do want to stress that it needs to still start with a conversation with your doctor.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. today publicly linking the rise in the number of cases of autism to the use of acetaminophen, or Tylenol, by women during pregnancy.

KENNEDY: Today, the FDA will issue a physician's notice about the risk of acetaminophen during pregnancy and begin the process to initiate a safety label change.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Don't take Tylenol. Don't take it.

GUPTA: Now, the FDA was much more nuanced in its warning, saying that pregnant women should use the lowest effective dose for the shortest necessary duration and only when treatment is required. However, there is decades of evidence that Tylenol or acetaminophen is among the safest options for pregnant women dealing with fever or pain, and that it does not cause autism.

DR. EDITH BRACHO-SANCHEZ, PRIMARY CARE PEDIATRICIAN: I understand the risks of a fever in pregnancy, which is risk of miscarriage, risk of birth defects. And I said, no way am I taking that risk.

TIM ANDREWS, GENETICALLY MODIFIED PIG KIDNEY RECIPIENT: It may shorten your life, but you're going to do something for humanity.

[08:55:00]

GUPTA: This year we followed the courageous journey of Tim Andrews, the fourth living patient in the United States to get a genetically modified pig kidney transplant. It's a process known as xenotransplantation.

ANDREWS: And the little pig is right there, so I can pat it.

GUPTA: Tim lived with a pig kidney for a record 271 days. And while he did have to have it removed, his case helps move this field farther into the future, especially as larger scale human clinical trials are just on the horizon.

When do you think this might be available for the average person?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think less than five years.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: We just learned that Robert Kennedy Jr., the secretary of Health and Human Services, will announce huge layoffs today. Some 10,000 jobs across the agency. And this comes on top of some 10,000 employees who left the department voluntarily.

GUPTA: Thousands of jobs, billions of dollars in research funding, stripped. It's almost unimaginable to predict the long term impacts of the Trump administration's cuts to public health.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is going to make it more challenging to bring the best new treatments for children with cancer.

GUPTA: And the cuts extended beyond America's shores.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Withdrawing from the World Health Organization, sir.

TRUMP: Ooh.

GUPTA: Global programs like GAVI and USAID also had funding pulled by the administration.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please just give us medication. We still want to survive.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, in Milwaukee, one kid was found to have really elevated blood lead levels. And that sparked this whole public health investigation.

GUPTA: And that investigation led them to Milwaukee's public schools and several other children who had elevated blood lead levels.

For the first time, they were able to link lead poisoning in children to the city's aging schools. The problem we found when traveling there is that most of the school

buildings were built before 1978. That's before lead paint was banned. And to further complicate the city's efforts to handle this crisis, those cuts I was just talking about. That left the city without federal support.

DR. MICHAEL TOTORAITIS, MILWAUKEE COMMISSIONER OF HEALTH: Investigation into the potential chronic exposures of students at the districts is a part that we were really looking to the CDC to help us with. And, unfortunately, HHS had laid off that entire team for childhood lead exposure. These are the best and brightest minds in these areas around lead poisoning, and now they're gone.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: The FDA just did something that could be a game changer for people living with pain.

GUPTA: For the first time in more than 25 years, the agency approved a new class of pain medication. It's called suzetrigine. It's not an opioid. It works by preventing pain signaling nerves around the body from firing in the first place so that message of pain never makes it to the brain. And even cooler, this medication was actually discovered after researchers learned about a family of fire walkers in Pakistan that lacked a gene allowing those pain signals to be sent. Those people, they could walk on hot coals without flinching.

A new FDA-approved blood test could help diagnose Alzheimer's by detecting certain biomarkers of the disease. It will still need to be used alongside other diagnostic tools, like neurological exams and brain imaging. But preventative neurologist Dr. Richard Isaacson says that he thinks blood tests will be a great new option for screening.

DR. RICHARD ISAACSON, NEUROLOGIST: I believe this is a screening test that may predict if a person is going to be more likely to be on the road to Alzheimer's or dementia in ten, 20, 30 or 40 years.

GUPTA: And that means patients, including myself, who went through a battery of tests with Isaacson, can get a baseline for their risk, and they can also track their progress while applying certain lifestyle interventions.

ISAACSON: Your numbers went from eh to now working faster and better than your age. And you're actually six years younger --

GUPTA: Six years younger.

ISAACSON: Than your age.

GUPTA: Have you ever seen measles before?

DR. JENNIFER SHUFORD, COMMISSIONER, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF STATE HEALTH SERVICES: No. And I'm an infectious disease physician.

GUPTA: Wow.

SHUFORD: Iven never diagnosed a case.

GUPTA: That's incredible.

SHUFORD: It's because, you know, measles was declared eliminated --

GUPTA: Right.

SHUFORD: From the United States back in the year 2000 because of the effectiveness of that vaccine.

GUPTA: A measles outbreak that started in Texas earlier this year. It signaled a worrying trend as cases continue to grow across the country, putting the U.S.' elimination status in jeopardy. But this is also symbolic of the larger fight over vaccines, especially as the RFK appointed members of the highly influential Vaccine Advisory Committee to the CDC has pledged to re-examine the entire vaccine schedule, even for shots that have long established safety records.

DR. PAUL OFFIT, DIRECTOR, VACCINE EDUCATION CENTER AT CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: the ACIP is full of people who are anti- vaccine activists and science denialists. So, you know that the decisions that they're going to be making are not science based.

GUPTA: As always, we'll continue our reporting and we'll bring you everything you need to know when it comes to your health in 2026.

[09:00:02]

See you next year.

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