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2 Navy Pilots Shot Down Over Red Sea In Apparent Friendly Fire Incident; Trump Headlines Conservative Political Event In Phoenix; House Ethics Committee Expected To Release Gaetz Report Tomorrow; Judge Orders German Market Attack Suspect To Be Held In Detention; U.S. Launches Airstrikes On Houthi Targets In Yemen; Suspect Luigi Mangione To Be Arraigned On State Charges Tomorrow; 5 Injured After A Fleeing Driver Crashes Into Texas Mall; Users Suing Over Side Effects Of Wight-Loss Drugs; Fed Predicts 2 Rate Cuts Next Year, Down From Projected 4. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired December 22, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:39]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Sunday.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Two U.S. Navy pilots are lucky to be alive right now. They were shot down over the Red Sea in the Middle East by an American warship in an apparent case of friendly fire.

The U.S. Central Command says both of the pilots flying an FA-18 jet like this one safely ejected from their fighter jet after being mistakenly fired upon by the guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg. An investigation is underway.

Joining me right now is CNN correspondent Julia Benbrook at the White House. Julia, what more do we know?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are still a lot of questions and a full investigation is underway. But U.S. Central Command is calling this an apparent friendly fire incident.

Two U.S. Navy pilots were ejected safely after their fighter jet was shot down over the Red Sea on Saturday. An initial assessments show that one crew member did sustain minor injuries.

Now, according to CentCom, the aircraft, an FA-18 was operating from the USS Harry S. Truman when it was mistakenly fired upon by the USS Gettysburg. The USS Gettysburg, a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser, is a part of the Truman carrier strike group which entered the waters of the Middle East one week ago.

Now, as I mentioned, this investigation is ongoing, but CNN military analyst and Retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton detailed the types of questions that could be asked in an investigation like this, including what the sailors on the USS Gettysburg saw, what they believed was coming toward them, and why they fired.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: When you are in a zone like this where there is combat happening at one end of the Red Sea, and then there are other flight patterns that the folks on the USS Gettysburg, the sailors on the USS Gettysburg, have to deal with, it can be pretty easy to mistake targets from one to the other.

In other words, is one a friendly target, or is one an adversarial or a potential adversarial target.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: The U.S. has maintained a near-constant presence of major Navy ships in the region since the start of the war in Gaza. And on the same day as this apparent friendly fire incident, the U.S. carried out airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, hitting a missile storage facility and a command-and-control facility in the capital city.

According to CentCom, the U.S. also shot down a one-way attack drone and an anti-ship cruise missile. Now, those strikes did involve the use of a Navy FA-18 fighter jet. But two U.S. military officials said that the downed fighter jet that we've been discussing was not involved in those attacks in Yemen, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Julia Benbrook at the White House, keep us posted. Thank you so much.

All right. Tomorrow in Washington, D.C., the House Ethics Committee is expected to publicly release its report on former Congressman Matt Gaetz. The years' long probe dove into several allegations against the Florida Republican, including whether he engaged in sexual misconduct and used illicit drugs. Gaetz denies all the allegations.

He spoke earlier today at a conservative event in Arizona where President-Elect Trump just finished speaking. And during that speech, Trump, among other things, said the U.S. should control the Panama Canal.

CNN's Brian Abel has more on the Gaetz report. But let's get started with CNN's Daniel Strauss, who is at the Turning Point U.S.A. Convention there in Phoenix, Arizona where Trump just wrapped up his speech.

Daniel, what did he say?

DANIEL STRAUSS, CNN REPORTER: Hi. I'm here speaking from the AmFest conference where Donald Trump just wrapped up his speech. Now he hit some of his usual talking points about immigration, about making America strong again, about the economy, as well as talking about other things like drug control and border security and the Panama Canal.

[14:04:44] STRAUSS: In particular, he's planning on a new campaign similar to a presidential campaign, in his words, to combat the fentanyl epidemic in the United States. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: The United States has lost 300,000 people a year. Think of that. Three -- I don't know. I mean, how many people -- everybody you meet said I lost my daughter. I lost my son to drugs, to fentanyl, mostly to fentanyl, but to drugs.

Families are being destroyed, And we're going to stop it. We're not going to let that happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STRAUSS: And look, besides that, and we've heard Trump in the past talk a lot about the fentanyl epidemic, immigration reform and deporting illegal immigrants.

But he also hit on in the speech, something he announced the other day, which is possibly annexing the Panama Canal and taking it back. It's something that he's very interested in now. as we move into his new presidency.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're being ripped off at the Panama Canal. Like we're being ripped off everywhere else. A secure -- we just should take it back. That's a good idea.

The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous, highly unfair, especially knowing the extraordinary generosity that has been bestowed to Panama, I say very foolishly by the United States.

This complete rip off of our country will immediately stop. It's going to stop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STRAUSS: I also want to stress that in Trump's speech, he really hit on two favorite points of the Turning Point crowd, which is that in particular, two of his more controversial nominees, Pete Hegseth and Tulsi Gabbard, spurred large cheers from the crowd.

That's in addition to his nominee to run border enforcement, Tom Homan, talking about border security. These are issues that the Turning Point crowd in particular is very interested in.

And you could hear from the audience when those topics came up, the audible support they got from the crowd.

WHITFIELD: All right. Daniel Strauss, thank you so much from Phoenix, Arizona. Keep us posted as the events continue to unfold there for the day.

All right. Let's also bring in Brian Abel. Brian, what can we expect now from Capitol Hill and the release of this House Ethics report on former Congressman Matt Gaetz?

BRIAN ABEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we can expect to get more detail on the allegations themselves and see exactly where this investigation went and what they uncovered, Fredricka.

Now earlier this week, we learned that the House Ethics Committee had a secret vote to release its report into the conduct of former Rep. Matt Gaetz. And now we know when that release will happen.

Multiple sources telling CNN the report will be released tomorrow. Now, this release is a stark reversal by the Ethics Committee, which just last month voted to shelve the report while Gaetz was President- Elect Trump's attorney general pick after he resigned from Congress for the position.

Now, Gaetz did withdraw himself from consideration of that role after Trump called him to say Gaetz didn't have the votes in the Senate to get confirmed.

Now, this report concludes a years' long probe by the Ethics Committee into numerous allegations against Gaetz, including whether he engaged in sexual misconduct with a minor, paid for sex, used illicit drugs, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, and more.

Now, Gaetz has strongly denied all of these allegations and has said the committees investigation is, quote, "a witch hunt", saying this on X after reports of the committees decision to release the report, quote, "The Biden-Garland DOJ spent years reviewing allegations that I committed various crimes. I was charged with nothing, fully exonerated."

Now the post went on to say "It's embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanize drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life. I live a different life now."

Now we should note that it is rare for an ethics report to be released after a member has left Congress, though it has happened on a couple of occasions in the past.

House Speaker Mike Johnson lobbied for this report to not be released, calling it a moot point after Gaetz left Congress and withdrew himself from nomination for AG. But Gaetz has said he has no plans of returning to Congress next year, though just hours ago, at a conservative conference, the same one that we just heard President Trump at, he did float the idea of running for Marco Rubio's vacant senate seat, with Rubio being picked to be Trump's secretary of state.

Gaetz was recently announced as a host of an OAN show that is set to begin in January. And the exact timing of the release of this report tomorrow is still unknown, Fred.

[14:09:48] WHITFIELD: All right. Keep us posted. Daniel -- actually, I'm sorry, Brian Abel, thank you so much.

All right. And as well as Daniel earlier.

All right. Still ahead this hour, new details on the man accused of plowing a car into a crowd at a Christmas market in Germany. What authorities are saying about a possible motive.

Plus, millions of Americans have used weight loss drugs like Ozempic. Now, more than 1,000 people are suing over the side effects.

And if you're in the market to buy a house, 2025 could be your year. Why experts say economic conditions could turn in favor of buyers and sellers in the new year.

[14:10:28]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A judge in Germany has ordered the man accused of driving a car into a Christmas market to be held in pretrial detention. Friday's attack left five dead and more than 200 injured.

As CNN's Matthew Chance reports, authorities are learning more about the suspect's possible motive.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, the German authorities have now acknowledged they did indeed receive a warning from Saudi Arabia about this individual that is now being held as the suspect in this Christmas market car ramming.

That individual has been named as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, a 50-year-old man, a doctor, a psychiatrist who was originally from Saudi Arabia.

He is anti-Islam. He describes himself as an Islamophobe and has often posted on social media, you know, very aggressive messages against Islam. He called himself the most aggressive critic of Islam in history.

He has been warning repeatedly on social media that Germany is trying to Islamize Europe, posting conspiracy theories and things like that.

You can see the marketplace behind me has still being sealed off with these police cordons everywhere as forensic teams scour through the debris of that attack, picking up any evidence they can, of course, while cleaning the streets, to be frank, of the blood that has been left on the pavement as a result of so many casualties.

Meanwhile, that suspect has made his first appearance in a German court, with the judge there placing him in pretrial detention as this intensive investigation continues.

Matthew Chance, CNN -- Magdeburg in eastern Germany. (END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: The U.S. launched new strikes against Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen. U.S. Central Command said the airstrikes late yesterday hit a missile storage facility and a command center. The strikes are part of an ongoing effort by the U.S. to disrupt the group's operation in the area.

Recent Houthi targets have included U.S. Navy warships and a hypersonic missile attack on Saturday in Tel Aviv.

Joining us right now is David sanger. He is a CNN political and national security analyst and author of the book "New Cold Wars". So good to see you.

So the U.S. and Israel both vowing to essentially take the Houthis out of the equation in the region. Do you believe this is a realistic strategy?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: You know, I think the Houthis can be repressed in the region. Whether they can be completely taken out is another question.

I mean, the Israelis believe that they've been enormously effective, more effective than the U.S. thought they would be against Hezbollah, which was, of course, Iran's main client in the region. Hamas obviously is in no condition to be launching attacks.

So the Houthis at this point are really the only Iranian proxy left at a moment of huge weakness for the Iranians. So there's a real effort underway to at least knock them back and get rid of their stores of missiles and rockets.

WHITFIELD: Take a listen to what national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN's Fareed Zakaria about Iran's options now that its proxies are losing power.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE SULLIVAN, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: If you're Iran right now and you're looking around at the fact that your conventional capability has been reduced, your proxies have been reduced, your main client state has been eliminated. Assad has fallen.

It's no wonder there are voices saying, hey, maybe we need to go for a nuclear weapon right now. That is a real risk. It's a risk we are trying to be vigilant about now. It's a risk that I'm personally briefing the incoming team on.

I was just in Israel consulting with the Israelis on this risk. And it's something that is the consequence not of Iranian strength, but of Iranian weakness.

And that's the kind of thing that in a dynamic and challenging Middle East American statecraft is going to have to account for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. So he says it's going to continue to be a challenge. Might this be a top foreign policy priority for the next administration?

SANGER: Well, Fredricka, I think this is going to be the first issue on their agenda because Mr. Sullivan's comments were truly revealing.

This is a moment of huge weakness for the Iranians. The Israelis believe that they have knocked out enough of Iran's air defenses that they've never had a greater opportunity to go after the nuclear program, something the Biden administration has always urged them not to do because of the chances of a regional war.

[14:19:47]

SANGER: I think that Prime Minister Netanyahu will believe, probably rightly, that he's got a much better chance of getting approval from President-Elect Trump when that moment comes in a month.

And so the Trump administration is going to have to decide early on, do they negotiate with the Iranians or do they sort of say to the Israelis, go do what you need to do, knowing that it could suck the U.S. into that conflict?

WHITFIELD: All right.

Let's shift gears to Iran, because President-Elect Trump is saying Syria is not a U.S. problem and the U.S. should stay away, I should say Syria -- I think I just said Iran again.

So what are the consequences of that? Because obviously, you know, Syria is of importance to the U.S. or what takes place there because it was revealed earlier in the week that the U.S. had double the number of U.S. troops there than had been publicly reported. Now, something to the effect of more than 2,000 U.S. troops there.

So what would be the consequences if the Trump administration had its way of ignoring or dismissing the importance of Syria.

SANGER: So the initial tweet that President-Elect Trump put out about Syria was just as Assad was falling and he said, stay out.

I don't think he's going to have that luxury, Fredricka, once he is in as president. First of all, as you point out, there are now roughly 2,000 American troops there -- more than we knew the Pentagon conceded.

Secondly, there's going to be a race on about whether or not the Russians will be allowed to keep their air base and their naval base in Syria.

And I think you could see a bit of a bidding war to try to make sure by the United States that they don't have that option. That's, of course, Russia's main way to have access to the Mediterranean and to refuel its planes. And the U.S. has got a deep interest in making sure they're denied that access.

So no matter what the president says, I suspect -- the president-elect says -- I suspect that once he's in office, he's going to quickly come to the conclusion that if he let the Russians stay, he will have lost a big opportunity.

WHITFIELD: And speaking of Russia, at an event that ended just a short time ago in Arizona, President-Elect Trump suggested that he could meet with Vladimir Putin early in his administration.

Does Trump, you know, have the leverage to have this kind of meeting and discussion to help end the war in Ukraine?

SANGER: Well, I suspect that he will meet him early, but the question is, does he meet him prepared?

The leverage the U.S. has right now with Russia over Ukraine is the U.S. Aid to Ukraine. If he gives up on that, if Putin believes that in the end he really will end the aid, as some in his administration or incoming administration have suggested, he'll lose that leverage.

And so the question is not whether he can make a deal in 24 hours, it's whether he can make a deal that would give the world and the Ukrainians some assurance that in two or three years, the Russians don't just regroup and take the rest of the country.

Because that, in the end, would be a bad deal, as I'm sure the president-elect himself is concerned about.

WHITFIELD: All right. David Sanger, we'll leave it there. Happy holidays. Thanks so much for being with us.

So many weekends throughout 2024 --

SANGER: Happy holidays.

WHITFIELD: We look forward to 2025 with you as well. Thank you.

SANGER: Well thanks, Fredricka. Always great to be with you.

WHITFIELD: Wonderful. Thank you.

All right.

Coming up, a terrifying incident at a Texas mall. New details about a police chase that ended with the suspect crashing into a department store.

[14:23:49]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Suspected health care CEO killer Luigi Mangione will make his first appearance in a New York state courtroom. He's scheduled to be arraigned on several state charges tomorrow. Mangione appeared in federal court Thursday, where he is facing

additional charges in the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare chief executive officer Brian Thompson.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino joining me right now. Gloria, what -- what can we expect for tomorrow?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, it's going to be the first time that we hear the lawyer for Mangione respond to the state charges that he is facing.

And the reason we're only doing that tomorrow is because last week, when he was brought back to New York City to face those charges, they charged him with new federal charges, something that admittedly took everyone by a little bit of surprise and was not expected.

In fact, his lawyer, in responding to the federal charges, had said that it was, quote, highly unusual.

Now, let's just go over what happened last week when Mangione was brought back to New York City.

As I said, he is facing several federal charges, including one count of murder and two counts of stalking and a firearms offense.

But what's going to happen tomorrow, as you said, Fred, is that he will be in criminal court here in Manhattan, which means that federal authorities have to take him from the detention center where he is right now, bring him into Manhattan and into the court, where he will face the state charges.

PAZMINO: Now, the D.A. here in Manhattan, Alvin Bragg, has charged him with one count of first-degree murder. That's the terrorism-related offense, two counts of second-degree murder and also weapons crimes.

[14:30:03]

Now, in terms of how these two charges are different, the biggest difference between these two is that if Mangione is convicted on the state charges, he's facing a maximum of life without parole. If he is convicted on the federal charge, Fred, he could be facing the death penalty. That is perhaps the biggest and the most obvious difference between these two.

But now, we're going to have these two sort of parallel cases that are going to be taking place. The U.S. attorney in the southern district has said that he expects the state case to go up first, and as of last week, we thought that maybe that was the last time we would see Mangione sort of in such a public setting when they brought him in. But it is very likely that we will get another glimpse of him tomorrow when he shows up to criminal court to face these charges -- Fred.

All right. Gloria Pazmino in New York, thanks so much.

All right. We're also getting new details today about some terrifying moments for families who were Christmas shopping in Texas when a truck drove through a JCPenney store Saturday afternoon, injuring five people. It happened in Killeen, Texas, just north of Austin. Police have been chasing the driver for 19 miles before arriving at the mall. They eventually shot the driver, killing him.

CNN's Camila Bernal is monitoring the developments. Camilla. So how did this happen? And what more do we know about the driver?

Hey, Fred.

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fred. So this started when authorities received a call of a driver who was possibly intoxicated. So a Texas highway patrol trooper trying to stop this pickup truck in Belton, Texas. And as you mentioned, this became a 19- mile police chase. At some point, this man exits the highway and goes into the Killeen Mall. And once he's at the parking lot, he doesn't just stop. He continues and drives through that main entrance of the JCPenney.

You see the video on your screen, driving through the glass doors and continues to drive through the store, hitting multiple people. We know at least four people were injured at the store and taken to the hospital. One other person took themselves to the hospital. We know the victims, ranging in ages 6 to 75.

It's unclear what the status on those victims is. We do not know the severity of the injuries, but I want you to take a listen as to how the DPS sergeant described how this ended and how all of this chaos unfolded. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SGT. BRYAN WASHKO, TEXAS DEPT. OF PUBLIC SAFETY: Trooper and the Killeen police officer continued on foot after this vehicle, which was driving through the store, actively running people over. He traveled several hundred yards and, there's officers from DPS, the Killeen Police Department and three other agencies that engaged in gunfire to eliminate this threat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL: And after that suspect was killed, authorities are asking the public to stay away from that area. Witnesses describing to CNN how chaotic this all was. The glass all over the floor, the victims, and even just people who were at the mall running to help those victims.

So really, the community coming together, the sergeant also describing what you said, Fred, that this is the holiday season, that people were with their families, there were children, friends together just enjoying that holiday season. And it ended. And obviously that chaos, authorities saying they're still trying to figure out who this man was and where he was coming from and why he was running from authorities.

So still, a lot of questions to be answered there, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yeah, very sad and terrible.

All right. Camila Bernal, thank you so much.

BERNAL: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Weight loss and diabetes medications like Ozempic and Mounjaro have been considered life changing miracle drugs for some users. But for others, the drugs have led to serious side effects. Now thousands of patients are suing manufacturers.

Here's CNN's Nick Watt.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATRICIA, FORMER OZEMPIC USER: I'm always going to the bathroom. I had to prepare myself for this, and I don't know how long I can sit.

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Patricia is one of the 15 million or so Americans who've taken Ozempic or one of the other so-called GLP-1 drugs. She is diabetic.

WATT: What did you kind of hope it would achieve for you?

PATRICIA: Lower my A1C and help me to lose weight.

WATT: She's a veteran.

PATRICIA: This is my battalion I was in. Can you pick me up?

WATT: There. Am I right?

PATRICIA: Yes.

WATT: Yes.

She did lose weight. Her A1C did fall. Then, she says, her doctor doubled the dose, as suggested by the manufacturer, and within two weeks --

PATRICIA: I was going so often, I began to bleed. When it became bright red blood, I knew it was hospital time.

WATT: She saw a doctor in the E.R.

PATRICIA: He said, you have a lower G.I. erectile infection and you're hemorrhaging.

WATT: More than 1,300 people have already filed suit against the makers of these drugs over side effects they say they suffered and inadequate warnings.

[14:35:09]

Patricia plans to file soon.

WATT: And how many clients do you have now on this?

ANDREW VAN ARSDALE, PATRICIA'S ATTORNEY: We have over 6,000 clients. PATRICIA: It doesn't say it on the pamphlet that you're going to be hemorrhaging.

WATT: And if it had said that on the --

PATRICIA: I wouldn't have taken it.

WATT: The label does warn of diarrhea, but not hemorrhaging.

VAN ARSDALE: I do think we'll find evidence that they were aware that some of these reports were coming in, and maybe they didn't do enough about it.

WATT: The maker of Ozempic declined an interview, but gave us a statement that reads in part, Novo Nordisk believes that the allegations in these lawsuits are without merit, and we intend to vigorously defend against these claims. The known risks and benefits are described in their FDA-approved labeling.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You may have seen photos of celebrities and others showing off dramatic weight loss.

WATT: These drugs are now ingrained in the zeitgeist.

CARTOON CHARACTER: Party time, guys!

WATT: "South Park," "SNL."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Since my doctor prescribed Ozempic for Ramadan, I've never gotten more work done.

WATT: And so many commercials in between.

(MUSIC)

WATT: I can hum the tune from the commercial.

VAN ARSDALE: There's a reason you can hum the tune. There's a reason everybody knows about this. Because of the amount of money they're putting into the marketing of these products.

PATRICIA: I heard about Ozempic on the TV.

WATT: Patricia has now stopped taking it, but, she says, is still suffering.

PATRICIA: Uncontrollable diarrhea.

WATT: Which makes life quite hard to live.

PATRICIA: Right. So I stay pretty much close to the house. I still have the effects of uncontrollable going to the bathroom.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATT (on camera): There are, of course, many, many people taking these drugs very happily, and getting great benefit from them. Patricia and her lawyer are not saying these drugs should be banned.

They're just saying that the manufacturers, the pharmaceutical companies, should spend a lot more time and effort looking into potential side effects, and should make the warnings around those potential side effects much more explicit. There is, of course, a long and complicated legal road ahead.

Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.

WHITFIELD: All right. Coming up, will it be easier to buy a home in 2025? What experts are saying about the market ahead in the New Year.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:42:05]

WHITFIELD: All right. This week, the Federal Reserve dropped interest rates by another quarter of a point, marking the third cut this year and next year, the Fed suggests we could only see two more interest rate cuts. It might even be inclined to hold rates steady, since inflation remains stubbornly above the central banks 2 percent target.

So what does all of this mean if you're hoping to buy a house next year?

Let's discuss with Danielle Hale, chief economist with realtor.com.

Danielle, good to see you.

So what do you make of the Fed's expected pace of rate cuts being slower next year? How does it help anyone who's in the market of buying a home?

DANIELLE HALE, CHIEF ECONOMIST, REALTOR.COM: Good to see you too, Fredricka. I think that's a really important question and one that's not terribly surprising to see the fed pull back on its expectations for cuts, even before the Fed's meeting on Wednesday, the market was largely expecting fewer rate cuts as we moved into 2025 and 2026. What's interesting is that when the Fed said now, probably only two rate cuts in 2025, the market actually decided to move a little bit ahead of the Fed.

So, now, the market is expecting more like one and a half. It's going to push rates up in the near term. But I think ultimately the reason the Fed is doing this is to make sure that it can get inflation under control, and that we'll see rates go back to a declining trend for the long run. As they get back to what might be a long run average.

WHITFIELD: So the toughest part about buying a home in recent years is being able to have enough that 20 percent, you know, in addition to looking at your mortgage rates that in some cases have doubled because of the interest rates. So how does one plan their 2025 if they really want to buy a home, where should they be putting their priorities into, you know, trying to come up with more in their down payment because interest rates are likely to still be a little high or just simply acknowledge that, you know, their monthly mortgage is going to be more than they had bargained for.

HALE: I think you really hit the nail on the head. It is important to be financially prepared in this market. Home prices remain high. We expect them to go up a little bit further next year.

Mortgage rates remain high, so it is going to be expensive, so you need to be prepared to put a little bit more of your budget towards your mortgage payment or, as you suggested, potentially raise your down payment to lower the amount of money you need to borrow. That's not an option for everyone, though, and I think it is important that buyers are aware that not everyone actually puts 20 percent down and there are lots of loan products out there that enable people to buy a home with less than 20 percent down.

So but, obviously, with rates high, that does raise the cost. And so you want to be very financially prepared. Make sure you're thinking about what that means for your budget. Think about things maybe you can live without. And that can bring down the home price that you're looking for and help keep those monthly costs better in line with your budget.

WHITFIELD: So it sounds like the latter that you're talking about, which might be more feasible in your planning, is that you're looking for less of a house.

[14:45:01]

You know, something where the price point is a bit lower because of the uncertainty of the interest rates.

HALE: Yeah, that's certainly a good approach. And the good news for buyers, even though we don't expect prices to fall, we do expect to see more options on the market. We expect the number of homes that are for sale in 2025 to go up by almost 12 percent, so that's going to help usher in more balance between buyers and sellers.

We've seen the money supply so low over the last few years that we've been in sellers' market territory all the way back to 2016, 2025. We expect that to be the first full year where buyers and sellers have better bargaining power. Their power is more matched, and that's going to help give buyers a little bit more negotiating room at the table. It should lead to longer times on market and potentially some negotiation over prices, which is why we expect price growth to continue, but at a slower pace than what we've seen recently.

WHITFIELD: Any tips for anyone who thought they did want to buy in 2025? But maybe the numbers are just not working out the way they see fit. Perhaps they want to delay it until, you know, the following year, you know? What's your advice on whether they need to delay their planning or just modify their planning?

HALE: I think that's a tough call and its going to be an individual decision for every household. But I think it is important to note that if you do choose that this is not the year for you. Rents are expected to hold roughly stable, so that might help you save up a little bit more to boost your down payment and home transaction fund. So that can be a good thing.

It can also give you a chance to test out what a higher mortgage payment might mean. You can set aside those extra funds and build up your down payment fund very, very quickly. That can be another good option, but ultimately you can you can run the numbers.

I think for a lot of households, the amount of time you're going to be in your next home, which is not always a known factor, but the longer you expect to be there, the more likely it is that buying will be, the better financial move, the shorter you expect to stay in your next home, the more likely it is that renting is, the better financial move.

WHITFIELD: All great advice.

Danielle Hale, thank you so much and happy holidays.

HALE: Thanks to you, too.

WHITFIELD: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:51:50]

WHITFIELD: All right, can you believe it? Christmas is just two and a half days away now, and CNN's senior data reporter Harry Enten digs into everything we love about the holiday season.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Ho, ho, ho. Merry Christmas, Fred!

Well, if you are out there last minute shopping, perhaps you're out there looking last second for a tree, this got me thinking. Are most of the trees in this country in fact real or artificial? The numbers a little bit surprising.

All right. So, the question, have a Christmas tree. Fifty-five percent of Americans say that they do. And in fact, the tree is artificial, not real. 22 percent I think that is my preference. Have a Christmas tree. And it's real.

Of course. Perhaps you don't have a tree at all. That's 22 percent of this country. But the bottom line is most Americans have a Christmas tree, and most Americans, in fact, have an artificial, not a real Christmas tree. I guess it's just easier to clean.

Now, of course, what are you putting underneath that tree? Well, you're putting gifts, but lets just say you don't like the gift that you got. I'm not saying that's ever happened to me. My girlfriend picks out lots of great gifts, and I always keep all of them.

But let's say you get a holiday gift you don't like. What do you do with it? It turns out that the clear plurality of Americans actually keep it, actually keep the gift that they don't like 49 percent.

My goodness gracious. I don't think you're going to offend too many people if you do, in fact, return the gift. But I guess a few folks believe that. In fact, you would. Now, I think the right answer here is this 31 percent who say return it, but it's only about a third who say they actually return gifts they don't like. Now get this, there are 16 percent. Get this. 16 percent of Americans who actually regift the gifts that they don't like.

I hope I haven't gotten any re-gifts, or if I do, I hope they're all about Buffalo Bills, memorabilia, paraphernalia, et cetera.

Now, what do you do on Christmas day besides getting gifts out from under the tree? Perhaps you're going to watch a movie. So what are the top Christmas movies? What are the favorite Christmas movies of folks?

Well, perhaps not surprisingly, 9 percent. It's a wonderful life. That's the top one. How about 7 percent?

I remember seeing this one in theaters when it first came out, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". That comes in at 7 percent, of course. An all time favorite if you ever tuned on TBS. When I was a kid, you would see a Christmas story playing over and over and over again. That comes in at 7 percent.

Of course, a clear favorite of mine. And I do believe it's a Christmas film, die hard, but it only came in at 2 percent. I think the American public is way off on this one, Fred.

Now, of course, when you're watching that movie, perhaps you're enjoying a cookie. So what are some favorite Christmas cookies? You know what, folks? I can't believe that ginger is not on this list.

But number one, chocolate chip. How about number two? This is a favorite of mine, sugar cookies. That's not a bad one. That comes in at number two.

Now, number three is a fudge cookie. I know I got a picture of fudge here, but, you know, I'm just trying to make it easier on your eyes, right? It's a fudge cookie, that comes in at number three.

Now, of course, if you know anything about me, Fred, you know that perhaps I don't just celebrate Christmas with the girlfriend. But, of course, I say shalom. I celebrate Hanukkah.

And this year, Hanukkah is pretty special. Why? Because Hanukkah's first night is on Christmas Day.

So I was interested. How often does that in fact happen? It only happened.

[14:55:01]

It only happens -- get this -- only 4 percent of the time since 1900, only 4 percent of the time. The vast majority of the time, no, 96 percent. So 4 percent were in one of those lucky years. And a little last trivia for you, right? You might have noticed how I

spelled Hanukkah up here. Well, you could spell it Hanukkah this way or in fact, there are, in fact, 16 different ways to spell Hanukkah.

So no matter which way you spell it, Fred, it spells happy holidays, merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, or whatever you celebrate. Happy to you.

Fred, back to you.

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WHITFIELD: Thank you so much, Harry.

Happy Hanukkah and merry Christmas and happy holidays overall.

All right. At a conservative conference in Arizona, President-elect Trump just gave everyone his wish list for 2025, starting after his inauguration. Details straight ahead.

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