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Admiral Who Ordered Controversial Second Strike on Alleged Drug Boat Says Vessel Not Headed Directly to U.S.; Cold Weather Affecting Parts of U.S. Midwest and South; CDC Advisers Vote to Abandon Universal Hepatitis B Vaccine Recommendations for Newborns; High School Senior Facing Federal Arson Charges After Allegedly Setting New York Subway Passenger on Fire; Calls to 911 Reporting Texas Flooding that Killed over 100 Girls Released; Leader of Syria Criticize Israeli Incursions into His Country; Attacks by Russia on Ukraine Continue Despite Ongoing Peace Talks; Ohio State Buckeyes to Face Indiana Hoosiers in Big Ten College Football Championship. Aired 2-3p ET.

Aired December 06, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:00:36]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. DEMETRE DASKALAKIS, FORMER CDC OFFICIAL: My advice is don't listen to ACIP at all.

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FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Confusion and concern as CDC advisers vote in support of major changes to a main childhood vaccination. A former CDC chief medical officer is here to break down what it all means.

Plus, millions of Americans are facing cold, snowy conditions this weekend as winter comes roaring in.

And later, it's the battle of the Big Ten titans. Can the Cinderella of college football teams pull off the big win.

Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. We begin with exclusive new details on the controversial U.S. attack that killed survivors on an alleged drug boat near Venezuela. Sources tell CNN the admiral who oversaw the operation told lawmakers this week that boat was not headed to the U.S., casting new doubts on the Trump administrations claims the attack was necessary to protect the U.S. from an imminent threat.

In just moments, embattled Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is set to speak to defense and national security officials as he faces growing scrutiny for his role in the attack.

CNN's Oren Liebermann is at the Reagan Presidential Library in California, where Hegseth is set to take the stage later on this hour. Oren, what more can you tell us about this reporting? And do we know what Hegseth does plan to say

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, it was Admiral Frank Bradley, the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, who briefed lawmakers on Thursday that the boat itself, the alleged drug boat that was struck in this double tap strike from the U.S., was not headed to the U.S. In fact, it was headed to rendezvous with another boat that was headed to Suriname, a small South American country that is east of Venezuela.

That's an important piece of information, because in trying to justify this strike and saying it has the legal authority to carry out these strikes, the Trump administration has said this boat posed an imminent threat to the United States. Bradley tried to make the case to lawmakers that the boat could have at some point headed to the U.S., and that the two survivors of the initial strike killed in the second strike could have attempted to continue to traffic drugs to the United States.

But U.S. drug enforcement officials say that route for drug trafficking via Suriname is more associated with trafficking to Europe, and it is trafficking in the Pacific Ocean that is more used to traffic drugs to the United States.

This is all part of the controversy surrounding this September 2nd strike that has faced the scrutiny we have seen with bipartisan members of the oversight committees saying they want to look into and investigate this strike.

Here's a look at what Admiral Bradley, again, the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, told lawmakers in that briefing on Thursday. He said video of the strike captured from a U.S. drone showed the survivors clinging to wreckage of the alleged drug boat. But the survivors didn't appear to have any means of communication, no radio or other comms equipment that would have let them call for backup or for help.

For 41 minutes, military officials discussed how to respond and what action to carry out after they saw that there were two survivors of the 11 people on that alleged drug boat. And then the second strike itself was ordered because the boat was still believed to have cocaine, part of what they said was keeping the wreckage afloat there.

Now the question of where does this go from here? We have seen a shifting narrative, a timeline of events from the White House and from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. He initially said he had watched the strike and emphasized the planning behind it, only to later acknowledge he had watched the first strike and then went to attend other meetings. The White House, or rather, the administration, had also said they knew the identity of everybody on that boat before. Lawmakers later said the Trump administration wasn't sure of the specific identities of everybody on that boat. So this gets into all of the controversy around this specific double tap strike.

Now, of course, the key question, what does Hegseth say here when he speaks in just about an hour or so, and does he choose to address it? Certainly, we would all like to see what further explanation he gives. Of course, there is plenty of opportunity here, and given the subject matter here, if he chooses not to address it. So we'll wait and see what he chooses.

Fredricka, one more point here.

[14:05:00]

Of course, what would at least shed more light on this is the video itself. And President Donald Trump said earlier this week he'd be happy to release the drone video showing the wreckage of the boat in the attack on the survivors. And yet Hegseth has been asked by my colleagues at CNN if he'd be willing to release that video, and so far, no answer.

WHITFIELD: All right, Oren Liebermann in Simi Valley, California, thanks so much. We'll check back with you.

All right, I want to bring in now Brian Finucane. He is a former State Department lawyer who now serves as the senior advisor for International Crisis Group. Brian, great to see you. So I'm wondering, did you hear anything about the admiral's meeting with lawmakers that better answers your question about whether President Trump's actions against drug cartels is an armed conflict where the Pentagon's law of war is clearly defined and applicable here?

BRIAN FINUCANE, SENIOR ADVISER, INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP: Well, certainly there are additional horrific details that emerged from this briefing earlier this week with the Pentagon up on Capitol Hill. But fundamentally, no, they don't establish that there's an armed conflict, and that has significant implications well beyond this second strike and the September 2nd incident altogether. It has implications for the entire killing spree at sea. Outside of armed conflict, the term for premeditated killing is "murder."

WHITFIELD: I mean, it is considered a war crime to kill shipwrecked people, right? That the Pentagon's law of war manual defines such people in need of assistance and care, you know, who they must then refrain from any hostile act. So is that the situation here?

FINUCANE: Well, even -- it's important to note that even under the administration's theory that there is an armed conflict governed by the law of armed conflict, this strike, what we know, the details that are emerging, sure looks like a war crime, OK. That's even if you accept the administration's, in my view, bogus legal narrative that there's an armed conflict. And so it's particularly that the administration seems to be operating out of their own legal construct, they're coloring outside their own lines that they created to bless these operations at sea.

WHITFIELD: So CNN is reporting that the U.S. military ultimately hit that boat that we're talking about September 2nd four times. And after the first time, the boat split in half with two survivors clinging to this capsized portion. What would justify striking the survivors again?

FINUCANE: Well, again, nothing justifies any of this because there is not armed conflict, OK? There's no war here. The administration has created a make believe armed conflict and has engaged in very real killing in the context of that make believe armed conflict. But there's no war that exists here, and so there's nothing to justify it in legal reality land.

In the sort of legal fantasyland that the administration has conjured up, it's also very hard to see any rationale for reattacking the vessel, even assuming that there's an armed conflict that existed. And certainly you could not target the shipwreck. That would be a war crime if a war existed.

WHITFIELD: And then Admiral Frank Bradley told lawmakers that the suspected drugs were likely bound for South America and then ultimately Europe. But Secretary of State Marco rubio is saying the boat was likely headed for the Caribbean, perhaps even Trinidad. The president is saying that it was headed to the U.S. So these are conflicting assessments. How big of a problem is this?

FINUCANE: Well, it just goes to show that the administration can't get its factual story straight. Even setting aside the law, its narrative about these drugs, they're supposedly aboard these vessels, its overall narrative about the maritime bombing scheme just doesn't stand up to any sort of scrutiny.

WHITFIELD: Brian Finucane, thank you so much.

FINUCANE: My pleasure. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, a one-two punch of winter storms hitting the northern U.S. this weekend. Let's get a live look at Chicago right now. Heavy snow. I mean, it is a familiar scene in Chicago, but it's the right now part that's blanketing much of the Midwest, in fact, as parts of the south are also getting hit, but with rain and then more rain. CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar is with us now.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We've got back to back systems that are going to be impacting the northern tier of the U.S. this weekend, and then down to the south it's just one system that just doesn't want to seem to go away.

Now, we begin in the north again, where you can see that system that's already started to make its way through the northern plains. That's going to continue to shift eastward into areas of the Midwest. So by tonight, the focus of the heavy snow is really over portions of Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and into Illinois. Overnight tonight, you're going to really start to see the snow ramp up for places like Chicago, Milwaukee, even around Green Bay. And by tomorrow morning, now the concern becomes places like Detroit and even into Cleveland.

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But then here is the next system that will be coming in right behind it to many of the same places that just got hit with the first system. In the short term, however, you're looking at an additional three to six inches of snow in this darker purple shaded area where you're going to have some of those more intense bands. Down to the south, rain is going to be the big story here, but it's

days of rain because this front is stationary. It's not really going very far. So you're going to notice a lot of these areas along the Gulf Coast and even the eastern seaboard for places like Georgia and the Carolinas getting rain band after rain band. The heaviest rain, however, is really going to be focused over portions of northern Florida, where two to four inches of rain is not out of the question just until we get to the end of the day on Sunday.

Cold air, you've got the first round, then a second round, and then yet a third round, all within the next seven days. So the cold temperatures are really here to stay for much of that northern tier.

Take a look at Minneapolis. Averages right around the freezing mark for the high. They're only going to have one of the next seven days to even get close to that. But you can clearly see those multiple dips of the cold air coming through over the next several days.

WHITFIELD: All right, Allison Chinchar, thanks so much.

All right, still ahead, a massive shift in immunization policy for newborns that experts warn will make America sicker.

Plus, a subway passenger set on fire in New York City, a high school senior now charged.

And desperate voices, terrified screams, and lives hanging in the balance. Newly released 911 calls capture the chaos as deadly floods tear through Kerrville, Texas.

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WHITFIELD: President Trump is praising Friday's vote by CDC advisers to abandon universal hepatitis b vaccine recommendations for newborns, calling it a very good decision. But the president also is saying that he wants the Department of Health and Human Services to look at vaccine schedules from other countries to better align the practices here in the U.S.

So this about-face on hep b vaccinations on newborns has a lot of experts across the medical community, across the country voicing concern and outrage, calling the decision to overturn a decades long policy, I'm quoting now, "reckless" and saying it will, quote, "make America sicker."

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GOV JOSH GREEN, (D-HI): Confusion is our enemy in this case. I think people are going to have to turn to their pediatricians, and they're going to probably have to rely on the American Academy of Pediatrics. That's a much better approach in general.

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Don't listen to the CDC and HHS anymore. Under this administration, they've become an unreliable source of medical information for this country. DR. DEMETRE DASKALAKIS, FORMER CDC OFFICIAL: What this really means

is that the providers are going to be confused, and the patients are going to be confused, and very often what confusion means is the wrong medical decision. And so I think that that's what we're looking at. We're looking at confused providers. So my advice is, don't listen to ACIP at all.

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WHITFIELD: Wow. Hepatitis b is a liver infection caused by an extremely contagious virus. And while many patients do not have symptoms, more than half are unaware of their infection. Infants and children suffering from an acute infection are also more likely to develop chronic diseases.

Here with me now for more perspective is former CDC chief medical officer Dr. Debra Houry. Dr. Houry, great to see you. What are your concerns? What are you most concerned about, especially, as a result of this about face on hep b vaccinations in newborns?

DR. DEBRA HOURY, FORMER CDC CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: So I think what concerns me is now moms may not get their babies immunized right away. And that means their babies could go on to get liver disease. What the committee is saying is if a mom doesn't have hepatitis, her baby is safe. But that's not true. Babies can get exposed in daycare. You know, kids bite each other, nail clippers. So babies are still at risk. So I hope that parents will still opt to get vaccinated early for their babies, but this can result in up to 480 new deaths from liver disease.

WHITFIELD: And when you talk about early, we're talking about, you know, less than 24 hours or within the 24 hours after birth is generally when these babies, newborns are inoculated.

HOURY: Right, before they leave the hospital.

WHITFIELD: Right. And so if they're not, the chances of problems arising, they may not see them until they're age six, age five, and so it really is too late. That's why the inoculation happened so early?

HOURY: Yes. You know, they could do it at two months, or at other pediatrician visits. But what we know is if you don't get it at birth, you tend to fall through the cracks and miss follow-up appointments. And so you want to do it as soon as possible, particularly to prevent from any exposures. Because if a baby gets hepatitis or exposed to it within the first year, that's when it's most dangerous.

WHITFIELD: So what are your concerns about what may potentially happen? A mother gives birth in the hospital. Usually the medical community will say, OK, you know, we're going to take your baby away right now for this list of vaccinations. Are you concerned that the offering won't happen at all for hep b? It will be incumbent upon the mom to know that it's no longer a recommendation to then ask for it, and that's how you might fall through the cracks in that way? What do you envision?

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HOURY: Yes, you know, I think it's really difficult, because when you look at the United States, you know, some people don't have good prenatal care. Ideally you would have had that conversation as part of prenatal care, talking about, you know, having it. So it's not immediately after you give birth. But in this case, it might be as you are holding the baby to ask, do you want to do a vaccination? These conversations should really be happening earlier on and saying, here's how you can protect your baby. I'm worried about taking away medical choice for parents to protect their babies early.

WHITFIELD: As someone who formerly led the medical community in the CDC, to hear Dr. Reiner and others now say, don't trust the CDC, don't trust HHS. And this is now on the 100th day, right, of your departure from the CDC, all of this culminating together. I mean, this is quite striking to hear people in the medical community to say, don't trust the organization that you helped lead, that you were confident people did trust for a very long time.

HOURY: Yes, I agree with them. I mean, I left because I was concerned of what was happening at the agency and under Secretary Kennedy's leadership, what was going to happen. And we've seen that on websites. Weve seen that on information coming out. And even some of the people leading his science, like a realtor and an aviation attorney. I have concerns that we don't have the career scientists driving this information. I agree, I would listen to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

WHITFIELD: You wrote in "Time" magazine on this 100th day anniversary about how you see Congress as failing to act in all this as you're, you know, kind of looking now outside in. With this meeting that took place, with the changes on these recommendations about hep b vaccines and who knows what else is around the corner, who or what, in your view, is going to be the advocate for public health? How concerned are you about the leadership of public health, the messaging, the awareness that generally is promoted?

HOURY: I'm not sure where it's going to come from, because right now there's a trust problem in CDC. We really need Congress to bring the secretary and the political leaders to Congress and do a hearing with them, like they did with myself and Dr. Monarez, ask, are you taking vaccines away? You know what is true about your statements, because we know that they're not and they are taking vaccines away? You look at what's being put on websites. There's political ideology on things like harm reduction to prevent drug overdose. We want people to get accurate information, and that's not what's happening.

WHITFIELD: What is your recommendation now to patients, to people out there about how they need to perhaps change the way they have dialog with their doctors? Because I think for a very long time, people would feel like, oh, my doctor is just going to tell me what's recommended and I'll go from there. But now it looks like as a patient, you need to come to your appointments equipped, perhaps with some questions about what is in reach for you as it pertains to vaccinations or health care. What should a patient expect? HOURY: Fortunately, I'd say a lot of states as well as medical

organizations are saying don't pay attention to the CDC recommendations. Here's what we want you to do. So I think a lot of providers are going to follow their medical organizations. Even at the committee yesterday, the medical organizations were speaking against the panel, and the panel just chose not to listen. I've never seen that.

And so I think providers and physicians will still say, you know, do the most appropriate vaccines to protect yourself. But I agree, patients do need to know what is out there now and to come prepared to have those discussions.

WHITFIELD: All right, Dr. Debra Houry, always great to see you. Thanks so much. Appreciate it.

All right, still ahead, another night of deadly attacks on Ukraine as senior U.S. and Ukrainian officials gather to find an end to the war.

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WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. A high school senior is facing a federal arson charge after he allegedly set a New York subway passenger on fire. The U.S. attorney's office releasing surveillance images which they say captures 18-year-old Hiram Carrero with a paper in his hand on a New York City subway. Authorities say the suspect then lit the sheet of paper on fire, leaving it near a sleeping subway passenger and then taking off early Monday morning. The passenger is now hospitalized in critical condition.

CNN correspondent Leigh Waldman is joining us now from New York with new details. What are you learning?

LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, good to be with you. All of this happened on Monday on that northbound three train at 34th and Penn Station, just about two blocks from where we are right now. The Department of Justice says that that 18-year-old, a high school senior, Hiram Carrero, lit that piece of paper on fire, dropping it near that 56-year-old victim.

Now, some of the surveillance video shows him leaving that train, according to the criminal complaint. He then boarded a bus to head towards Harlem. Now his attorney says that he lives there in Harlem with his disabled mother and is her primary caregiver. At this point, that teenager, Carrero, he is facing a charge of federal arson. It carries a minimum punishment of seven years behind bars. We're going to be seeing him in court on January 4th for his preliminary hearing.

That victim, again, a 56 year 56-year-old man, was seen on the surveillance images leaving the platform with his torso and legs on fire at 42nd Street, Times Square. That's where he was extinguished by NYPD officers. And like you mentioned, he is hospitalized in critical condition.

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Now, the U.S. district judge that is overseeing this whole case is holding Carrero in detention before his next court appearance, stating the heinousness of this crime. We're hearing from Carrero's attorney, Jennifer Brown, who is saying that these allegations are extremely serious and says that her client is a young man with no criminal record and a mother who is willing to take him in. That was her plea to the judge to try and get him released back to home custody between his next court hearing.

But we're also hearing from the NYPD. They said despite this incident and a very similar one that happened a year ago where a woman was also set on fire and she died from her injuries, they said despite all of this, crime is actually down, especially that transit crime. We heard from Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who said that this has been the safest November for the subways since the pandemic period.

Let's take a look at those NYPD crime stats. We can see that transit crime for November is down 24.8 percent, shooting incidents down 19.1 percent, murders, those are down nearly 50 percent. Ahead of the holiday season, retail crime also down 20 percent. Where we're seeing a slight rise in crime is those felony assaults. Now, NYPD is attributing this to the fall violence reduction plan, which is a data driven precision policing strategy to try and combat some of this violent crime, Fred.

WHITFIELD: So tragic and sad in so many ways. Leigh Waldman, thank you so much.

All right, newly released 911 calls capture the heartbreaking desperation of residents trapped in the catastrophic floods that swept through Texas on July 4th. Hundreds of frantic calls poured into the Kerrville police department with distressed pleas for help and reports of missing campers. Swift moving waters devastated hill communities and killed 136 people, including several children at the all girls summer camp, Camp Mystic.

CNN's Julia Vargas Jones is joining us right now with more on all this. Julia, you've listened to these calls. What did you hear?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we went over more than 500 calls. The CNN team did that over the past couple of days as they have been released. More than 435 of those calls, Fred, came in the first six hours of that flood. So starting around 2:00, 3:00 a.m. is when we start hearing those calls, initially of some people who didn't seem to be fully aware of the magnitude of the event that they were witnessing. The beginning of those waters coming up, people asking for advice, and operators time and again giving them the same advice -- seek higher ground, and telling them that those rescue teams were already on their way, many times overwhelmed by the amount of calls here.

And at the same time, some people looking for advice on what to do, and also a little bit of hope. A few of those calls that I want to highlight to you is a man who calls in and he's asked if he needs EMS, fire, or police, and he says, I need everything, sir. I have children here. I'm afraid this is all going to go. And you can hear him telling the children after, get up in there, get up, saying, get up to the roof.

And then we are also piecing together through these calls a little bit more of what happened at Camp Mystic, the camp, the Christian camp for girls, where 25 girls lost their lives. The first call comes at 3:57 a.m., and it is quite calm. The caller seems very calm, and what she's saying is basically we've lost connection with the other side of the camp. We knew that at this point. The bridge that connects these two areas is now flooded. But then the next call is truly chilling. And I will say a warning to our viewers of what you're going to listen next might be disturbing.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This referencing the flooding?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes it is. We are missing a whole cabin full of girls.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You said you're missing an entire cabin full of girls?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, I'm going to go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're missing 14, 14 and 20 total. One and double. What does that add up to? Yes, 30. About 30.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: About 30 girls.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: Thirty girls missing there, Fred.

Now, ahead of the release of these calls, the chief of police of Kerrville, Chief Chris McCall did say some of those callers did not survive and for those listening to those calls to please keep them in their thoughts as we're listening through these distressing moments.

WHITFIELD: My gosh, so tragic. All right, Julia Vargas Jones, thank you so much.

All right, up next, Syria's new president talks to CNN one year after the fall of the Assad regime. The new allegations he's leveling against Israel.

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WHITFIELD: It has been almost a year since Syria's Assad regime was overthrown. At the same time, Israeli forces crossed into southern Syria. Israel says it is fighting terror threats. At a security conference in Doha, Syria's president exclusively told CNN's Christiane Amanpour that he sees Israel as a destabilizing force.

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PRESIDENT AHMED AL-SHARAA, SYRIA (through translator): I believe that since we arrived in Damascus, we sent positive messages regarding regional peace and stability. And we've said, very frankly, that Syria will be a country of stability, and we are not concerned in being a country that exports conflict, including to Israel. However, in return, Israel has met us with extreme violence, and Syria has suffered massive violations of our airspace. And we've been victim of over 1,000 airstrikes and over 400 incursions.

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WHITFIELD: Al-Sharaa met with congressional members on his recent visit to Washington, D.C., as he tries to further ease sanctions against Syria.

All right, this just in. We're learning talks between top Ukrainian and U.S. officials have just wrapped up in Miami today. U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said there has been progress made over the last two days of talks. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Zelensky says he also had a, I'm quoting now, "very substantive", end quote, call with U.S. officials. As CNN's Paula Hancocks explains, even as talks continue, the war in Ukraine rages on.

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PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In the midst of peace talks, we did see once again another deadly night across Ukraine. Hundreds of Russian drones and missiles being fired with loss of life. We also know that the energy grid, the energy infrastructure once again was targeted in Ukraine.

Now in the capital, Kyiv, we understand that the air raid sirens were sounding for some eight hours as residents were told to continue to shelter. Now we heard from the Ukrainian minister of foreign affairs saying that Russia is blatantly disregarding peace efforts by carrying out these attacks. And peace efforts are ongoing. Its day three of talks between the U.S. and Ukrainian delegation in Miami, Florida. Now, we heard from the State Department on Friday calling these discussions constructive.

We've also had a status update, if you like, from the U.S. mediators. This is Steve Witkoff, who's the special envoy for the Trump administration, and President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. And they said in this statement that both parties, the U.S. and Ukraine, agreed that real progress depends on Russia's readiness to show serious commitment.

Now, this sounds like a U.S. acknowledgment, at least, that Russia is showing no indication that it is willing to compromise or willing to change its maximalist demands. Now, in that statement, we also heard the Steve Witkoff say that they had, quote, "agreed on a framework of security arrangements and discussed necessary deterrence capabilities," pointing out that this is actually the sixth meeting between these delegations over the past two weeks, showing that this shuttle diplomacy is intense.

But of course, it is still unilateral at this point. We're still hearing from European officials that Europe needs to be more involved. We heard this once again from Emmanuel Macron, the French president, saying that unity between Americans and Europeans when it comes to trying to push this peace process forward is indispensable.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Abu Dhabi.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, Paula, thank you so much for that reporting.

All right, up next, it's the biggest game of the college football season in this country so far when Indiana takes on Ohio State tonight. They will be led by a quarterback who embodies the American dream. The amazing story of the Heisman hopeful Fernando Mendoza.

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WHITFIELD: All right, it's a Saturday game day, and tonight features one of the biggest college football games of the year. The Big Ten championship has the number one ranked Ohio State Buckeyes facing off against the Indiana Hoosiers, who are ranked number two. While Ohio State is a perennial powerhouse on the gridiron, this is Indiana's first shot at winning a Big Ten title in nearly 60 years. Indiana is undefeated, and the team's quarterback, Fernando Mendoza, has a real shot at the Heisman trophy. And that would be another first for the school.

Joining me right now to talk about all of this is Morgan Moriarty, a college football sportswriter for "The Sporting News." Morgan, so great to see you. So this is all very exciting weekend. First tell us about this team, their unlikely rise. I'm talking about Indiana.

MORGAN MORIARTY, COLLEGE FOOTBALL WRITER, "THE SPORTING NEWS": Yes, absolutely. I mean, for the Big Ten championship, you could not ask for a better matchup. Both teams are undefeated. I mean, it's going to be one of the biggest games of the day by far. All the eyeballs are going to be on this game.

And I think the particular thing that's interesting about this matchup is for Fernando Mendoza, as you mentioned, he's going toe to toe with Julian Sayin, Ohio State's quarterback. I think this game is going to decide the Heisman trophy. I mean, it's the last game of the night. Pretty much both of those guys are the two frontrunners. And the other interesting thing about the Heisman this year, the voting typically was opened the weekend before this weekend, but for the first time, it's only opening starting this weekend. So I think you're going to have a lot of voters waiting on that game to put in their votes.

[14:50:03]

And I think whoever has the best game, best day, and potentially whoever wins that game could take home the Heisman. So I mean, for the Big Ten, you couldn't ask for a better matchup.

WHITFIELD: That's exciting. Theres going to be a lot of red on that screen, a lot of red in the stadium, you know, because that's a dominant color for both teams.

OK, so tell us more about this quarterback Mendoza. I mean, what is it about him? Why has he become such a standout, and then, you know, really a history maker on a lot of levels?

MORIARTY: Yes, absolutely. I mean, it's a phenomenal story. I actually had a chance to talk with his high school coach at Columbus, Coach Dave Dunn. And he had so much incredible things to say about him. He would eat lunch with him every afternoon during the season to go over film study and things like that. Just remarkable. Yes.

And the other thing was he the first thing I asked him was as a high school recruit, I mean, he was virtually unknown. He was very under the radar. And --

WHITFIELD: I love stories like that.

MORIARTY: Yes. And I mean, his offers --

WHITFIELD: What happened?

MORIARTY: He was committed to Yale for most of his recruiting process. He was only a starter for his last two seasons there, which was part of that. One of those was during COVID in 2020, which they didn't play as many games. The face-to-face contact with coaches just wasn't there, pretty much. So it was an interesting kind of like situation because he didn't really get any looks from the Florida schools that are in the area. Columbus is a really well-respected program down in South Florida to, was committed to Yale for a while.

It wasn't until Cal, which was his first and only offer from a power school that came along, offered him late. He started his career there, had had two pretty decent seasons, combined for almost 5,000 yards passing. But I think at Indiana you've really seen him just take control of that offense. I mean, the talent he has around him is great, but I think the coaching at Indiana, Curt Cignetti, obviously the head coach there, but the offensive coordinator, Mike Shanahan, he's been with Cignetti every single stop that he's been at as a head coach. So I think that goes a long way.

And you can see Mendoza, he's extremely comfortable in in the in the offense and running that. We've seen him several times, which I think is going to be interesting for tonight. We've seen him have late game drives. The most memorable one was against Penn State. I think his touchdown pass in the back of the end zone was the best throw that we've seen all season.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness. There will be so much to watch and look out for.

MORIARTY: It's going to be really, really exciting. But just, that's interesting to keep an eye on because he has had those kind of come- from-behind moments, big road environments against Oregon earlier this year, against Iowa. But no doubt about it, Ohio State's defense one of the best he's faced. So it's going to be a great matchup.

WHITFIELD: I'm so glad you got a chance to do all that kind of research and one-on-one conversation to really round out who this player and what this championship is and this game is all about.

MORIARTY: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Morgan Moriarty, great to see you. Thank you so much.

MORIARTY: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, for many this time of year is about giving back. And "CNN Heroes, An All-Star Tribute" salutes five extraordinary people who put others first all year long. The star-studded show airs tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Saturday on CNN, it's a special night of hope and inspiration, "CNN Heroes, An All-Star Tribute". Meet the everyday people doing extraordinary things to improve the lives of others.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've rescued well over 10,000 animals. My hope is that they have the best life possible.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I decided to volunteer in a prison. Why not use writing as a tool to become better in the space that you're in?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have hundreds of therapy dog teams across the entire country. We have helped so many people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Giving someone that's hungry food is the best thing one can do. Now more than ever, we have to help each other.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we do is creating jobs in the floral industry for at risk youth. There are people who want a chance at something better.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Find out who will be hero of the year. "CNN Heroes, An All-Star Tribute", Saturday at 8:00 on CNN, and next day on the CNN app.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Of course it's going to be a great show, and you don't want to miss it. So gather up the family, get ready to be inspired, tonight at 8:00 p.m.

All right, still ahead, a manhunt underway for an inmate who pulled off a brazen escape from jail, breaking through a wall and scaling the building with bedsheets. What authorities are saying about the fugitive still on the run.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:59:17]

WHITFIELD: All right, new episodes of Variety's "Actors on Actors" are now premiering exclusively on CNN all access. The Emmy Award winning franchise pairs Hollywood's hottest actors together for candid conversations. In today's episode, Julia Roberts sits down with Sean Penn. CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister joins us now with a preview.

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fred. So "Actors on Actors" is a huge entertainment franchise, and it's the only series where you have actors sitting down and interviewing each other. We are so excited to have this series now at CNN, because, again, it's the only place where you get this caliber of actors really in their own element and letting down all the walls, sitting down with each other. We have everyone from Ariana Grande sitting down with Adam Sandler to --