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Hegseth Digs In Amid Mounting Questions On Boat Strikes; Interview With Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA); White House Border Czar Defends ICE Agents' Actions; Rep. Jasmine Crockett Weighing Last Minute Texas Senate Run; President Trump To Host Kennedy Center Honors Ceremony; Freezing Fog, Rain, And Snow Move Across The U.S.; Man Arrested After Stabbing On Charlotte Light Rail; Ukraine Peace Talks In Miami End With No Breakthrough. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired December 07, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:33]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Under pressure. A day after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth vehemently defended U.S. air strikes on alleged drug boats, lawmakers in both parties are raising fresh concerns over the moves and his leadership.

Congressman Seth Moulton weighs in coming up.

Plus, a shocking crime in Charlotte, North Carolina. The city dealing with another incident on its light rail system months after the fatal stabbing of a Ukrainian refugee.

And later, "ACTORS ON ACTORS" on CNN. What do you get when you pair Superman with the Sexiest Man Alive? The David Corenswet-Jonathan Bailey interview that you don't want to miss.

Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Sunday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We begin this hour with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth digging in amid mounting questions over attacks on alleged drug boats. After a so- called double tap strike killed survivors on a boat in the Caribbean, Hegseth is defending the Trump administration's controversial actions, saying they are justified to protect the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: You're working for a designated terrorist organization and you bring drugs to this country in a boat, we will find you and we will sink you. President Trump can and will take decisive military action as he sees fit to defend our nations interests.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: But those strikes and Hegseth's leadership at the Pentagon are drawing increasing scrutiny on Capitol Hill. In just the last day, a growing number of lawmakers, both Democrat and Republican, sharing their concerns.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARK KELLY (D-AZ): He doesn't look out for anybody. It's not leadership to throw your people under the bus. I mean, he turned around and ran away from this as fast as he could.

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: If you were to take the confirmation vote again today, would you vote to make Pete Hegseth Defense Secretary?

SEN. JOHN CURTIS (R-UT): That's a question I can't answer without as much thoughtful research as I did the first time I did that vote.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you vote the same way today to confirm?

SEN. JONI ERNST (R-IA): I'm not going to answer it in front of all these good people.

SEN. TAMMY DUCKWORTH (D-IL): I've been shot down behind enemy lines. Under the laws of war, if a pilot bails out -- he gets shot down, he bails out, he's in a rubber dinghy in the middle of the ocean. Under all the international laws of warfare, you are supposed to help render aid to that individual.

Everything that they did here was illegal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Let's discuss more now with Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton of Massachusetts. He's a marine who now sits on the House Armed Services Committee.

Congressman, great to see you.

REP. SETH MOULTON (D-MA): Good to see you, too.

WHITFIELD: So what are your biggest concerns as it relates to these boat strikes and the Defense Secretary's handling of them and defense of them?

MOULTON: I mean, look, the president of the United States and his Secretary of Defense are conducting murder on the high seas. They're committing murder, and Americans should care.

Like, look, none of us like drug traffickers, but we have laws that say that drug traffickers don't get summarily executed. And if it's happening off the coast of America with people that we don't know, just give it time before Donald Trump starts doing the same kind of thing to people we do know right here at home.

It matters if the president of the United States breaks the law.

WHITFIELD: Do you have similar concerns as Tammy Duckworth, who says she is now concerned about the consequences? What are now U.S. military men and women facing anywhere in the globe? If the same thing were to happen to them, if they were injured, how would they be handled by any country as a result of what we see has happened there in the Caribbean?

MOULTON: Absolutely. I mean, this puts all of our troops now and in the future at great risk, because how do you justify if American troops are on a shipwreck when an enemy just comes and says, we're just going to shoot them out of the water? I mean, that's what happened.

Or to Tammy's example, when you get shot down behind enemy lines and they just come up and execute you.

This is a huge risk to our troops because we are a nation of laws, and we actually have conventions like the Geneva conventions that govern laws all around the world.

[14:04:50]

MOULTON: We executed German U-Boat officers after World War II for doing this exact same thing. Three of them were tried by the Brits, executed by firing squad for shooting survivors after they blew up a ship.

WHITFIELD: Earlier this week, President Trump says, you know, he supported releasing all video of this double tap strike as a result of drone video, et cetera. We know that some portions of it have been seen and, you know, on public airwaves.

But when asked about that yesterday, Pete Hegseth wouldn't commit, saying, quote, "we'll see".

What do you think should happen? Should all of the video available, drone video or otherwise, be shared and seen?

MOULTON: So I know, although I haven't seen every minute of it, I've talked to people who have who are close with me on the committee, and it is horrific. It is not something that I want the American public to have to see.

But when the Commander-in-Chief and his Secretary of Defense are flagrantly violating the law and committing murder, yes, the American public needs to see it.

And it's pretty amazing, Fredricka, how quickly this administration releases video that they want people to see. And the extent that they go to cover it up when they clearly don't want the American people to see the truth.

WHITFIELD: So if that opportunity becomes available, you just said there are some portions that you really don't want the public to see. But if some of that video is made available, how then would you also want the public to see it as you just underscored in that latter comment?

MOULTON: Well, I mean the -- I mean, the point is it would have to be carefully, you know, managed to say, you know, viewer discretion advised. Don't let your kids see this, because what you're about to see is disgusting. And I've heard that one of the people briefed on Capitol Hill nearly

threw up just seeing this happen. And any member of the military who's been trained in the law of war and has seen this literally used as an example of what not to do in law of war manuals will be disgusted, will be horrified by this video.

But the truth needs to come out because it matters if our administration is following the law. If any soldier did this in war in Iraq or Afghanistan, he or she would be court martialed.

I mean, there are videos circulating on the Internet every day of Russians doing this to Ukrainians, summarily executing wounded soldiers. And they're all passed around among American veterans as here are the Russians committing another war crime.

So what are we doing, stooping to Vladimir Putin's level now? That's what this administration is doing. That's what they're pushing on our troops. And the American public needs to know the truth so that we can hold these officials accountable.

WHITFIELD: One of your fellow Democrats on the Armed Services Committee, Congressman Pat Ryan of New York, told CNN that impeaching Hegseth, I'm quoting now, "has to be on the table," end quote. Your thoughts?

MOULTON: Of course it does. And Pat and I have talked about this a lot. The only question is what is the most effective way to get rid of Pete Hegseth as quickly as possible?

And there's legitimate concern that pushing forward with impeachment right now might actually harden Trump's protection of him.

As you know, Trump doesn't like people who get impeached because he identifies with that having been impeached himself.

The bottom line is that Pete Hegseth himself is a national security risk to the United States. Now we know that he's a legal and moral risk to the United States as well.

Let's not forget that this is the same Secretary of Defense who just willfully shared classified information that could have gotten pilots shot down over Yemen because he wanted to share a story, a fun story, about operations about to happen with his family.

This is a lawless Secretary of Defense. This is a lawless Commander- in-Chief, and they need to be held accountable. But for the sake of our troops, let's not just score political points. Let's just figure out how to get rid of him as soon as possible.

WHITFIELD: Before I let you go, I want your thoughts on Ukraine. President Trump's son, Don Jr., is in Qatar, speaking about the ongoing talks to bring Russia's war in Ukraine to an end. I want you to listen to what he said about those talks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is your hunch that President Trump is going to walk away?

DONALD TRUMP, JR., SON OF DONALD TRUMP: I think he may. What's good about my father and what's unique about my father is you don't know what he's going to do. You don't know.

And so that forces everyone to actually deal in an intellectually honest capacity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: How do you decipher that?

MOULTON: You know, another way to say that is you can't trust him. You cannot trust Donald Trump. And when that's the Commander-in-Chief, the president of the United States, it means you cannot trust the United States.

So that means our allies cannot trust us to stand with them. It means our enemies cannot trust us to stand against them.

And that's why Russia just also came out and said they love Pete Hegseth's new national security strategy. They love it. It's a favor to them. It's a gift to our adversaries.

[14:09:50]

MOULTON: This is an incredibly weak administration who is making our troops and our people less secure all across the globe because they continue pandering to our enemies and failing to stand up in a trustworthy way for our allies.

WHITFIELD: Congressman Seth Moulton, we'll leave it there for now. Thank you so much.

MOULTON: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. As President Trump's immigration crackdown continues to ramp up, fear and anxiety is spreading in communities across the country, including among U.S. citizens.

In a new interview with CNN, President Trump's border czar is defending ICE agents' tactics after some citizens say they have been tackled, beaten, even detained.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: The Department of Homeland Security posted on social media this week that ICE does not arrest or deport U.S. citizens. Just the other day, I want to give you -- show you some video, there was an incident of masked ICE agents targeting a 22-year-old mother in New Orleans, chasing her to her home, even though she told them she was a U.S. citizen.

And then there was this video, which I am actually going to show you. It was an incident in the state of Florida.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm a U.S. citizen. Please help me. This is unfair. Why are you doing this to me?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now, she was released once they found her driver's license in her car that said, she was in fact a U.S. citizen. So if ICE says it doesn't arrest U.S. citizens, why do we keep seeing incidents, like the one I just played, so aggressively pursuing people as they say they are lawfully in America.

TOM HOMAN, TRUMP'S BORDER CZAR: Well, a couple of things. First of all, you know, I started as a border patrol agent in 1984. Through my nearly four decades of work, I can't tell you how many times an illegal alien claimed to be a U.S. citizen. It happens all the time.

But it's getting back to what I just said, reasonable suspicion. If they have reasonable suspicion to stop and question somebody and shortly hold them and detain them briefly for questioning. If they had reasonable suspicion, they can stop so it might -- do I think there's been zero U.S. citizens that have been detained for questioning because reasonable suspicion said they may be in the country legally, they may have an issue with that.

But as soon as, soon as that questioning is over, if they're a U.S. citizen, they'd be released. It takes probable cause to arrest somebody, and actually, you know, transport and take them into custody.

(CROSSTALKING)

HOMAN: So, you know, I'm not aware of the specific cases, Dana. I'm not there, but I'm going to have faith that the ICE agents are gathering articulable facts for reasonable suspicion to detain somebody and question them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The latest ICE operation is targeting undocumented Somali immigrants in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota. DHS says it had arrested 12 people this week, five of them from Somalia.

All right. Still ahead, Senate race shakeup? A progressive firebrand could jump into the midterm race, and it's already scrambling the base. Our new CNN reporting.

Plus, Chernobyl in trouble. New concerns over whether workers can shield radioactive waste after a drone strike hits the nuclear disaster site.

And freezing fog, snow and flooding all in one day. 60 million people under dangerous fog alerts for hours. And now snow and flooding are also moving in potentially. Well show you where all of this is headed.

[14:13:17] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Texas congresswoman and progressive firebrand, Jasmine Crockett is preparing to make a big announcement tomorrow, but what she'll say has even some fellow Democrats anxious. Crockett is weighing a possible last-minute U.S. Senate run, a Democratic primary that already has a crowded field of candidates. Or perhaps she could decide to file for reelection for the House seat that she currently holds. Crockett says she plans to make her final decision by tomorrow.

CNN's senior reporter Isaac Dovere is covering this story. So does it look like she's leaning one way or the other?

ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Fred, when I spoke to Crockett on Friday afternoon, she told me she has two cashier's checks that were made out. One for the application fee for running for senate, one for the application fee for running for reelection to the house.

Should be said, it's not just that she said she's going to announce tomorrow. Tomorrow is the deadline. So she has an event scheduled for 4:30 p.m. in Texas about her decision. The deadline is 6:00 p.m.

I said to her, you see all this in the story that's up on our site? How far in advance of then do you expect to make up your mind? And she said, hopefully by early in the day on Monday.

So it's very much up in the air. But there are a lot of signs that show that she is leaning very much towards it, including, as I report in this story about how she's been on the phone trying to arrange the pieces, especially around a potential last-minute Democratic ticket of people running for other statewide offices at the same time.

WHITFIELD: So why are Democrats anxious? And what is the feeling of her current constituents?

DOVERE: Well, look, Crockett has not been in the House for very long, just a couple of years. And in that time, she's really become a Democratic superstar by appearing on TV all the time and interviews, doing things in committee hearings, all over the place, on House floor speeches.

And that has made her very popular with the Democratic base and made her the fifth best fundraiser in the entire House of Representatives.

[14:19:51]

DOVERE: But it's also made her maybe not as palatable to Republicans that she would need. Texas is, of course, a state that's not a great Democratic territory. In order to win there, she's going to need people who are usually Republican voters to cross over and vote for her.

And the question there is, how will these things come together? And I asked her about that, and she said she is not sure. She's trying to think about that. She's looking at some poll data.

She's talking to some people back home trying to figure out if the kind of persona that she has really made for herself on the national level would work running statewide in Texas.

WHITFIELD: All right. Very fascinating. Isaac Dovere, thanks so much.

DOVERE: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Still ahead, President Trump's overhaul of the Kennedy Center taking center stage tonight. New reporting on how he is reshaping the cultural institution.

[14:20:40]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Tonight, President Trump is set to put his stamp on the Kennedy Center Honors as he takes center stage at one of Americas most iconic cultural Institutions. The president hand-picked many of this year's honorees, to whom he awarded medals last night at the White House. He also plans to host the ceremony tonight. The show will be recorded tonight, and then it will air later on on CBS.

And since taking office in January, Trump has been reshaping the center's leadership and programing, which has sparked cancellations and some backlash here and there.

CNN's Julia Benbrook is joining us right now outside the White House to walk us through what some of these changes are and what can be expected tonight.

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fred.

The Kennedy Center Honors is a longtime tradition, one that spans decades. But there is a lot that is going to be different this year.

President Donald Trump is also chairman of the Kennedy Center, and he is also going to be hosting the main event. Keep in mind, this is an event that he skipped repeatedly during his first term.

But back in August, when he announced the honorees this year, he also announced that he had been asked to host. He said that they really pressed him. They really wanted him to do it. He didn't know if he had time, but yes, he would be willing to.

Then last night, as he presented the honorees with their medals during a ceremony in the Oval Office, he said he was confident in the job that he would do and that he could do it better than some before him. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We never had a president hosting the awards before. This is the first. I'm sure they'll give me great reviews, right? You know. They'll say he was horrible. He was terrible. It was a horrible

situation. No, we'll do fine.

I've watched some of the people that host. Jimmy Kimmel was horrible. And some of these people. If I can't beat out Jimmy Kimmel in terms of talent, then I don't think I should be president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: Now, in another break from precedent, Trump said that he was, quote, 98 percent involved in selecting this year's honorees.

So let's take a closer look at who is on that list this year. Actor Sylvester Stallone, singer Gloria Gaynor, country music star George Strait, members of the rock band Kiss, as well as actor and Broadway alum Michael Crawford.

Now, Trump has had a very special interest in the Kennedy Center, and he has been working to make various changes. In fact, he dismissed a slew of Democratic appointees to the board of trustees and replaced them with aides and allies, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, as well as second lady Usha Vance. He was subsequently elected chairman.

Now, even just last week, he made it clear he wants some credit for putting his mark on the Kennedy Center. He referred to it as the Trump Kennedy Center. He then kind of laughed that off as a joke. We don't know for sure.

WHITFIELD: All right. Sometimes truth comes out in jokes, doesn't it? We will see.

All right. Julia Benbrook, thank you so much.

All right. I'm joined now by James Pindell, a political reporter for "The Boston Globe". James, great to see you.

So do you think these --

JAMES PINDELL, POLITICAL REPORTER, "THE BOSTON GLOBE": Great to see you.

WHITFIELD: Yes. I'm glad that you could be with us.

Do you think these changes and the impact on the Kennedy Center by way of President Trump will be long lasting? What do you think is happening here?

PINDELL: Well, number one, one thing I don't think we discuss nearly enough is how this bifurcated presidency has deeply shaped the second term. Bifurcated -- I mean, four years in office, him and his team, four years out with the reset in time to think. And then obviously four years back.

And so if he had been reelected in 2020, I don't think we'd be seeing these types of things at the Kennedy Center.

But, you know, think about the way we've had this 2025 with DOGE, a lot of the things he's been doing in terms of a lot of momentum.

But one piece of this, when they got elected the second time they talked about was how to build a Trump legacy.

And second, how to get at this intractable problem for conservatives on the bigger cultural questions. Now clearly our culture now is led by Netflix and everything else in terms of that, not exactly the Kennedy Center.

But this is one area where he can certainly have some impact. He's going to try to have some impact. And obviously there are folks who are upset about this. But yes, this is -- to answer your question directly, this is one more example of how he can put his name on, say, the institute of peace and the Democratic president can strip it.

You can put -- if he does eventually put his name on the Kennedy Center, that could be stripped as well as easy as it is done, it's easy to undo.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And it sounds like you've really painted a picture of, like, making up for lost time. That four-year gap, the planning and doing things a little differently this time for the reasons that you just spelled out.

[14:30:03]

Okay, well, let's talk about something you also wrote about. You wrote an analysis piece for "The Boston Globe" just a few days ago with the headline, "After everything else this year, why the GOP is drawing the line at a possible war crime."

Are you confident that this is a moment that is very different, and that this is a moment where Republicans are now, you know, picking sides in a very different way as a result of, say, the double tap, you know, boat attack and maybe the sequence of events that has elapsed over these many boat attacks in the Caribbean?

PINDELL: Well, I don't think it's as clean as a full break with Trump and that this is a definitive moment. But I do believe we are at the beginning of a slide of erosion, of Trump power, just like any other second term president. And the reason why we're having some Republicans, of course, most are still backing Trump on this second tap on the boat attack. The one reason we have a couple siding off of here is just natural progression of other things happening.

Number one, Pete Hegseth has not been exactly loved, even among members of the Republican Senate. Remember, he only became defense secretary because of a tie breaker vote from J.D. Vance because enough Republicans had backed along with Democrats to say no to him.

Second, Donald Trump's poll numbers are the lowest they have been in his second term, and so he is becoming weaker as people are beginning to look at their own reelection in 2026 or those getting aggressive in 2028 trying to find again, I'm talking about Republicans trying to find a way around J.D. Vance. This could be one way. And then obviously third, here is the fact that you know, midterm

these mid these off-year elections in November did not go the way that Republicans wanted to by any means. And so, I think you can begin to see some erosion of Trump power. And it happens. This all happens to happen at that moment.

Remember, it is not a -- it's not a coincidence that many people are taking a bolder stand now on this, as it comes off the heels of the Jeffrey Epstein files case on the vote in congress, where they just completely usurped what the president wanted.

WHITFIELD: All right. We'll leave it there for now.

James Pindell, great to see you. Thank you.

PINDELL: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Next, a brutal stabbing on Charlotte, North Carolina's light rail. It's the second incident of this type in just a few months. New questions now about the suspect's legal status

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Maybe you experienced it because millions of people stretching from Texas to Delaware did pretty intense fog this morning. Some of it was actually freezing fog. And now many areas have rain and snow to contend with. And this morning, snow showers hit areas of the Midwest, including Chicago and Detroit. And it's all now moving across the Great Lakes.

In the Pacific Northwest, a strong atmospheric river is forecast to bring up to ten inches of rain and flooding to some areas.

Let's go now to CNN's Allison Chinchar.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We have multiple systems that are going to be making their way into the Pacific Northwest over the next several days, and they're expected to be pretty strong systems, too.

Now, we've already had some ongoing rain showers off and on throughout the weekend. None of those systems have been particularly strong, but it's more the fact that it's getting that ground saturated ahead of the bigger events that are expected Monday and Tuesday of this week. We get a little bit of a break overnight tonight before that really strong system begins to push in early Monday morning. You can see a lot of the yellows and the orange color on the radar, indicating the heavier rain bands that are expected for most of Washington and northern Oregon.

But by Monday night, we start to see it dive a little bit farther south. So, portions of southern Oregon are now expected to see some of those heavier rain bands because of the back to back systems that are coming in. We do have a level four out of five atmospheric river set forecast for portions of Washington and Oregon, as we go through the next few days.

This also means there's the potential for flooding. So, when we look at the excessive rainfall map, this is a look at Monday. Then we transition into Tuesday. Notice it still looks relatively similar even as we head into Wednesday. You're still looking at multiple days of that threat because its going to be the back to back systems overall, especially along the coast.

You are looking at about five to 10 inches of rain along the coast, but even portions of Seattle, Tacoma and Portland could pick up several inches. This means it is possible for a place like Seattle, for example, to get about a month's worth of rain in just 3 to 5 days this week.

Snow is also expected to be heavy, particularly across portions of the cascades in the Olympics, where we could be looking at least a foot of snow on top of some of the snow they've already picked up recently.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness. All right, Allison Chinchar, thanks so much.

All right. On to Charlotte, North Carolina, now where a suspect is in custody accused of stabbing someone on the same light rail system where Ukrainian refugee was killed in August. Officials say in Friday's incident, the 33-year-old suspect attacked a rider with a large knife, leaving that person in critical condition.

CNN's Rafael Romo is here with details.

What do we know about the suspect?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Fred, and we all remember that horrific attack in August. And it's happened again, although this time the victim is in stable condition. The stabbing happened on Friday, two days after the city of Charlotte launched a new safety initiative called Operation Safe Season to, quote, significantly increase police presence and enforcement in areas plagued by violence.

[14:40:10]

And the same day, a new police chief was sworn in.

In a statement, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department told CNN that officers responded to a stabbing near the light rail station on 25th Street and North Brevard Street around 4:50 p.m.

According to the arrest warrant. The suspect, identified as 33-year- old Oscar Solorzano, allegedly attacked the victim with a, quote, "large, fixed blade knife, appeared intoxicated, challenged the victim to a fight and cursed and shouted at others while slurring." Police said. The victim was hospitalized in critical but stable condition.

The Department of Homeland Security said that Solorzano is an undocumented immigrant from Honduras. According to the arrest warrant, he now faces multiple charges for the attack, including attempted first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon, causing serious injury, and carrying a concealed weapon.

A top Department of Homeland Security official said in a statement that the suspect was issued a final order of removal by an immigration judge in 2018 and then deported by the Trump administration. She added that the suspect was removed again after entering the U.S. illegally in 2021, and then reentered the country a third time at an unknown date and location.

Reacting to the attack, Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles said that there are several aspects of public safety that are outside of the city's jurisdiction, including immigration policy and enforcement, but we will continue to focus on public safety, she said, and ensuring a safe and vibrant community.

White House border czar Tom Homan criticized the mayor's statement this morning in an interview with Fox News.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HOMAN, WHITE HOUSE BORDER CZAR: Put your actions words where your words are. Put your officers out there. We're not asking them to be immigration officers. We're asking them to help us locate and remove illegal aliens who are public safety threats in our city.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: The stabbing happened on Charlottes Lynx blue line, the same route where Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska was stabbed to death in late August, an attack cited by the Trump administration and conservative politicians as an example of the violent crime. They say plagues many Democratic led cities.

Charlotte was also recently the focus of immigration enforcement operations by the DHS. President Trump wrote about the most recent attack yesterday on truth social, saying that Democrats are destroying Charlotte piece by piece. So, in addition to the tragic attack, there's also a political component that's playing out right now.

WHITFIELD: All right. Keep us posted. Rafael Romo, thanks so much.

All right. Coming up, peace talks between the U.S. and Ukraine, and with little to show as Russia's Vladimir Putin digs in on his key demands. So, what now? We'll discuss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:47:40]

WHITFIELD: Talks between the U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators over a proposed peace deal with Russia ended Saturday with no breakthrough, and lingering questions remain over several key sticking points, including territorial issues. Ukraine maintains that an end to the war must include reliable security guarantees and must not force Kyiv to surrender more land to Russia. The three-day marathon meeting follows a visit to Moscow by U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump's son in law, Jared Kushner.

CNN global affairs analyst Kim Dozier is here to discuss all of this.

So, the U.S. Ukrainian negotiators meeting in Florida, these talks continue to happen, whether it involves a counterpart with Russia or Ukraine, and certainly the U.S. but what continues to happen is Russia continues to bombard Ukraine. While these discussions are underway. I mean, that does not bode for any hope anywhere.

KIM DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Yeah, Ukrainian kids woke up Saturday morning on their Saint Nicholas Day to open presents. Most of them had no power because of a barrage of Russian airstrikes, drone strikes on energy targets that have continued throughout the weekend, and you just had Vladimir Putin in a visit to India last week, say that the Ukrainians have to leave the Donbas, and one way or the other, that's going to happen.

So, the signals aren't good. This isn't the -- these aren't the actions of a country that looks like it's ready to stop the war. And the only good thing for the Ukrainians is that at least as long as the talks continue, President Trump won't just walk away from them.

WHITFIELD: Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be in London. He continues to get the support from European allies. They are letting him know vociferously that we are there for you.

How important is that relationship? Even though Ukraine continues to be in a position where it needs the U.S. support, especially militarily?

DOZIER: Yeah, the Ukrainians are in this tough position where they have to act cooperative, even as they're being asked to make horrific sacrifices, especially the demand that they give up parts of the Donbas that Russia hasn't even captured yet because of the things that are happening inside the Donbas.

[14:50:05]

People who speak Ukrainian being told they have to speak Russian, their kids being rounded up and taken back to Russia for an indoctrination, camps, things like that. So Zelenskyy going to London is an opportunity to say, here's what the Trump administration is trying to make us swallow. Please help.

And then it's up to Starmer and perhaps the Finnish president, Alexander Stubb. People like that who have Trump's ear can then come in and tell him, you don't want to do this. And here's why it's bad, because Trump doesn't seem to be hearing that from his negotiators.

WHITFIELD: There's a lot of volatility. I mean, let's talk about, you know, the IAEA, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, which says a protective shield, you know, at Chernobyl meant to contain radioactive waste, can no longer do its job after it was severely damaged in a drone strike. And, you know, for that February strike, Ukraine is blaming Russia.

So, does this change Ukraine's leverage at all? I mean, it certainly underscores a vulnerability.

DOZIER: It does, because that's a vulnerability to all of Europe. You know, when the Chernobyl meltdown first happened, back in 1986, the fallout was spread through weather patterns across Europe. Now, at this point, the outer dome that is protecting it is damaged. But there have been temporary repairs affected by the IAEA, and they want to do more in 2026. But what it underlines is that if this war gets out of control, it can affect everyone.

And it also underlines the European point that they feel like Donald Trump doesn't understand that if Russia feels like its walked away from these negotiations a victor, then that becomes a green light to the kind of threats that Putin has been making to invade other European countries. He even talked about it this past week.

WHITFIELD: As it pertains to that dome. Is it a leak issue or is it like something that will be further exacerbated pending weather.

DOZIER: Weather could carry whatever is leaking out over borders and whichever direction it blows, then that can carry the radiation and contamination to neighboring countries. So that's what happened before. And it's just -- it's something that, you know, the Ukrainians are at the whim of Russian air attacks, and this is the kind of thing that can happen that affects Ukrainians every day, but also can spread the wider war to everyone else.

WHITFIELD: So much at stake.

All right, Kimberly Dozier, great to see you. Thanks so much.

All right. Coming up, what do you get when you pair Superman with the sexiest man alive? The David Corenswet and Jonathan Bailey interview that you don't want to miss, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:57:33]

WHITFIELD: All right. New episodes of Variety's "Actors on Actors" now premiering exclusively on CNN All Access. The Emmy Award-winning franchise pairs Hollywood's hottest actors together for candid conversations. And in today's episode, a "Wicked's" Jonathan Bailey sits down with "Superman's" David Corenswet.

Our Elizabeth Wagmeister joins us now with a preview -- Elizabeth.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: What do you get when you pair Superman with the sexiest man alive? Well, Fred, you get a lot of fun and a truly bonkers conversation that, quite frankly, went off the rails in the best way possible.

Jonathan Bailey, who you know from "Wicked" and "Jurassic Park", sits down with David Corenswet, Superman himself. This is the latest episode of actors on actors that is here at CNN. I am so excited that we now have this series. It is one of the biggest franchises in entertainment news. One of my favorite series.

Let's take a look at a little preview of Jonathan Bailey and David Corenswet. And I want to warn your viewers, they are about to have a lot of fun, maybe a little bit too much fun.

(BEGIN VIDOE CLIP)

DAVID CORENSWET, ACTOR: Let me ask you this sexiest man alive, Jonathan Bailey. Sexiest --

JONATHAN BAILEY, ACTOR: So lovely to chat. Where do you go from here? Sexiest man alive 2026.

CORENSWET: How do you do it? How dare you!

BAILEY: That is that software? Not hardware.

CORENSWET: Okay, back tomorrow for part two.

BAILEY: Yeah. Maybe we'll just sit down in another ten. Should we just check up on each other every ten years?

CORENSWET: That's a good --

BAILEY: That would be a real privilege.

CORENSWET: You know, at some point, there's no -- there's no alternative. You can't actually be friends with all the lovely people there are in the -- in the industry and in the world. You just have some people.

BAILEY: I'll be your friend.

CORENSWET: Well, great. Do you have time for me? I feel like you've got --

BAILEY: Yeah, I do actually.

CORENSWET: Oh, really?

BAILEY: Yeah. Yeah.

CORENSWET: Well, I haven't got time for you. I've got -- I've got a two-year-old at home. But --

BAILEY: Yeah.

CORENSWET: -- I'll talk to you in 10 years.

BAILEY: Okay. Great.

CORENSWET: So how do you top sexiest man alive?

BAILEY: No, no. I'm kidding, ugliest.

CORENSWET: No. Good. Should we kiss or something?

BAILEY: Just make up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WAGMEISTER: Now, I interviewed Jonathan Bailey and David Corenswet right after they had filmed their "Actors on Actors" conversation. And they told me that this was the first time that they ever met.

So , "Actors on Actors" creating friendships. They even told me that they want to work together in a musical. So, we may see a lot more of them -- Fred.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Okay, let's hope so. You can watch that all new episode of Variety's "Actors on Actors", now streaming exclusively on the CNN.