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Tomorrow: Trump, Zelenskyy Hold High-Stakes Meeting In Florida; Trump And Netanyahu To Discuss Next Phase Of Gaza Ceasefire; 2026 And The Future Of A.I.; Ashlee Buzzard Pleads Not Guilty To Daughter's Murder; AAA: Year-End Travel Setting New Record. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired December 27, 2025 - 19:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:00:38]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You're in the CNN Newsroom. Hi everyone. I'm Jessica Dean here in New York. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be in Florida tomorrow to meet with President Trump with hopes of making progress on a deal to end Russia's nearly four year war now on Ukraine. The meeting coming after Russia launched another massive aerial attack on Kyiv overnight leaving a third of that city without heat or power in freezing temperatures.

Zelenskyy says Russia attacked with 40 missiles and nearly 500 drones injuring at least 11 people. And he says this strike speaks for itself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: And this attack is again Russia's answer on our peace efforts. And it's really a show that Putin doesn't want peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: CNN senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak is traveling with the President this weekend. He joins us now from West Palm Beach, Florida. Kevin, what has the President said ahead of this meeting?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, he has limited his expectations. You know, he was talking in an interview yesterday about this 20-point peace plan that Zelenskyy is bringing to Mar-a-Lago to present to him. And what the President said is that he doesn't have anything until I approve it. We'll see what he's got.

And so limited expectations, I think, from President Trump. But nonetheless, I think the fact that this meeting is on the calendar at all still signals that progress is being made. President Trump said earlier this month that he didn't think it would be useful to meet with Zelenskyy unless he thought that they were close to coming up with a peace deal. And there have been pretty intensive discussions between Steve Witkoff, the President's foreign envoy, Jared Kushner, who's also working on this, and the Ukrainians and the Russians, all trying to piece together a plan that all of them can sign off on. And so this will still be a significant meeting. And those missile and drone attacks that occurred in Kyiv, I think setting quite an urgent backdrop for Zelenskyy to try and convince President Trump that it is actually Russia that is the aggressor in this war and it is Russia that has been holding up any kind of peace. Now, Zelenskyy says that he is willing to put any peace plan up for a referendum. That's part of Ukraine's constitution, that any changes to their boundaries put to their people to a vote.

That's something that U.S. officials see as a good sign, sign of progress, and so certainly a lot for them to talk when they sit down here in Palm Beach, Jessica.

DEAN: Yes, more to come on this. Kevin Liptak from West Palm Beach, thank you so much for that.

And before heading to Florida, President Zelenskyy stopped in Canada today as the country's prime minister promised more military and economic support for Ukraine. CNN's Paula Newton has more on that meeting. Paula?

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jessica, an unexpected stop here in Canada before that very pivotal meeting between President Zelenskyy and President Trump. Now, look, these kinds of meetings and calls of the so-called Coalition of the Willing, which is the European allies, including Canada, as well, these are foundational for President Zelenskyy. He really tries to get those allies on side, then goes to President Trump and says, look, the European allies, plus Canada, plus others, are willing to do this militarily, are willing to do this to help with the reconstruction of Ukraine.

But again, the allies and President Zelenskyy saying, it is President Trump who needs to bring Russia to the table. I want you to listen now to both Prime Minister Mark Carney and President Zelenskyy before their meeting in Halifax.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK CARNEY, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: And the barbarism that we saw overnight, the attack on Kyiv, shows just how important it is that we stand with Ukraine during this difficult time and that we create the conditions for this just and lasting peace and a true reconstruction.

ZELENSKYY: Last week, we had good steps in diplomacy, but we can't live in the illusion that it gives us the possibility to have less defense. With Russia, it doesn't work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Jessica, you'll note there Mark Carney's very strong language for Russia and President Zelenskyy also saying that, look, he doesn't just need economic aid, and Canada has offered more, about $1.9 billion more in economic aid. He needs military aid, and he needs to be able to keep up that tempo on the front lines, because President Zelenskyy believes that in the end will be what pressures Russia to come to the negotiating table and try and get some type of an end to this war. Without that military aid and that pressure, President Zelenskyy believes, no matter what he agrees to with President Trump, that Russia will not end this war. Jessica?

[19:05:16]

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

And joining us now is New York Times correspondent and CNN political and national security analyst David Sanger. David, thank you for being here with us. Zelenskyy is expected to bring Trump his 20-point plan, which has been worked on with U.S. officials. But in an interview with "Politico" yesterday, President Trump said, "He doesn't have anything until I approve it, so we'll see what he's got." What are you anticipating we might see from this weekend?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL & NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, good evening, Jessica. You know, the most interesting part about that is that President Trump knows exactly what he's got, because it's been negotiated at great length with Steve Witkoff and with Jared Kushner, the President's son-in-law. But the -- there are still a few parts of the plan on which they have disagreements. And one of them is whether or not Zelenskyy is willing to give up all of the parts of Donetsk, including parts that, so far, Russia has not managed to take over militarily.

And that's the part, as you heard, that would go to a referendum of some kind. And the second is the fate of the Zaporizhzhian nuclear plant. But I think the bigger issue is whether or not Ukraine would be able to retain its sovereignty, whether it would be able to live and breathe as a state. And that's what, of course, we've heard Putin say, it does not deserve, that it is not a real state.

DEAN: And when considering the concessions that Zelenskyy is willing to make right now, where does that leave Putin and Russia in all of this?

SANGER: Well, this is a compromise document that was worked out among the allies, and particularly with President Zelenskyy, after the leak of that 28-point plan before Thanksgiving. You'll remember that one. It read as if it had been drafted in the Kremlin, and it turned out parts of it had been. But this looks much more like a more reasoned, if politically difficult for both sides, accord.

My guess is that President Putin will say there's some things in here to work with, and a lot we can't tolerate, and use it to drag on the war through the winter, because he believes that doing what he did in Kyiv overnight and trying to freeze the Ukrainians out actually gives him leverage as the spring comes on.

DEAN: Yes, and there's this piece in the plan that's on the table in which Zelenskyy's proposing establishing a demilitarized zone around some of the present front lines. What do you think about that proposal, and how -- what does the fact that he's offering to do that mean in these negotiations?

SANGER: Well, it's a big move by Zelenskyy, who previously had not even considered returning that land de facto or not. And I think the big question is, what are the conditions around that? Zelenskyy has said there's got to be a 60-day ceasefire, that it's got to go to a referendum, and that the Russians have to pull back from that territory to create that demilitarized zone.

If you want the model for this, Jessica, think about the agreement in Korea in the early 1950s that created the armistice that ended, at least until now, the Korean War. And so I think that's kind of the model there, and then they're layering over it a trade agreement of some kind that might allow some kind of trade in the region. But I think everybody would just settle for the ceasefire part.

DEAN: Yes, but what do you think the chances are that Putin would ever agree to that?

SANGER: I think they're limited. I think he wants to take the entire territory. He has declared, and the Russian legislature has backed him up, that this is all Russian territory. So I think it would be a really hard thing for Putin to agree to. And it's not even clear that President Trump believes that Zelenskyy has given enough here. He's frequently said, as you remember from back in February, that Zelenskyy doesn't hold the cards, that Russia's a much bigger, more powerful state. And I think he still believes that to his core, and he believes, in the end, Zelenskyy's going to have to give up a lot.

DEAN: And what about the President's goals in all of this? You know, there is a part of this that involves Russia's normalization. How important is that?

SANGER: You know, I think many around the President, and the President himself, are consumed with this idea of a stabilized relationship with Russia. And by that, they also mean a normalized trade agreement with Russia, arrangements with Russia that would essentially lift all of the existing restrictions on trade and on other interchanges. But we're a long, long way away from that. And I'm not sure that's all that profitable for the United States, even if we got it. And there have been many presidents who pursued that dream, and not many have seen much out of it.

[19:10:34]

DEAN: And yet, the President, you believe, or your reporting indicates, thinks that this could be profitable for the U.S.

SANGER: Well, you know, Russia's got oil, it's got rare earths, it's got all those things that, you know, rings bells for President Trump. And I understand that. But their having it and the U.S. being able to profit from it are two different things.

DEAN: Indeed. All right, David Sanger, always great to have you. Thanks so much.

SANGER: Great to be with you, Jessica.

DEAN: And still ahead, uncertainty surrounding phase two of the ceasefire deal in Gaza as Israel tightens its military grip on the enclave.

Plus, the mother of the last remaining Israeli hostage prepares to personally deliver an A.I. message to President Trump from her son beyond the grave. We'll explain that. Stay with us. You're in the CNN Newsroom.

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[19:15:26]

DEAN: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will soon head to the U.S. to meet with President Trump. That's happening Monday. The meeting comes at a critical point as the Gaza ceasefire nears the end of phase one. And under the deal, Hamas was required to return all living and deceased Israeli hostages being held in Gaza. But one set of remains has still not been located.

CNN's Matthew Chance has more on the family's push to bring home their son.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Trump, my name is Ran Gvili, the son of Talik and Itzik.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's an extraordinary message generated by A.I. from beyond the grave in Gaza. Recreating the image and voice of the last Israeli hostage in Gaza authorized by his relatives and released by the hostage families forum.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, I'm asking you to see this through.

CHANCE (voice-over): It's a carefully crafted message. His mother tells me she'll personally deliver to President Trump when she meets him with the Israeli Prime Minister in Florida. Hamas is keeping hold of her son's remains, she insists, as a cynical bargaining chip. The group says it just can't find his body.

TALIK GVILI, MOTHER OF LAST HOSTAGE IN GAZA: We don't go to the second part of the agreement until Ran comes back. Because everyone in Israel understands it.

CHANCE: U.S. officials, including the ambassador here in Israel from the United States, have suggested that the peace process can advance while the search for your son continues. Would that be --

GVILI: No, no.

CHANCE: Would that be acceptable?

GVILI: It's not acceptable because we don't want to -- Gaza will build on my son.

CHANCE (voice-over): Under the ambitious second phase of the Trump plan, Hamas would be expected to surrender its weapons and power, something the group, which has survived an Israeli onslaught, may be reluctant to do. Israel would also have to make painful concessions, like withdrawing from Gaza while handing control to an international force. Both sides, it seems, may share a common interest in stopping Trump's peace plan in its tracks. But frustration in Washington is growing, amid concerns both Hamas and a skeptical Israel are dragging their feet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, finish what you started. Bring me home before it's too late.

CHANCE (voice-over): While the unknown whereabouts of the last Israeli hostage is further complicating Trump's Gaza peace plan.

Matthew Chance, CNN Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Matthew, thank you.

And we're joined now by CNN global affairs analyst Kim Dozier. Kim, thanks so much for being here with us. We look ahead now to Monday in this meeting between the President and Prime Minister Netanyahu. Set the stage for everyone where we are in this process and what the goals will likely be for both sides.

KIM DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, what the White House needs to see is some move forward on the peace process towards phase two. At this point, there are arguments over every possible modality you could think of. Who's going to make up the Palestinian government? Who's going to patrol the streets as a peacekeeping force from the Arab nations? And most importantly, where will Israel withdraw to and when will Hamas disarm? What you've got, the main thing holding everything back is that Israel wants Hamas to disarm first and Hamas says Israel should pull out first.

DEAN: Right, right. And so as phase one nears completion, what would you say is the appetite for all sides to move forward with phase two? And how likely do you think it is that we get to that point?

DOZIER: Well, from Hamas's perspective, the closer they get to handing over to some sort of a civilian authority means the closer they get to losing power. So they want to maintain power as long as possible. For the Israelis, they still have no trust that whatever they withdraw from in Gaza won't present a threat to Israelis afterwards. Also, you've got elections, legislative elections in Israel coming in October and two members of Netanyahu's coalition have threatened to pull out if Netanyahu goes through with phase two before then.

[19:20:01]

DEAN: And so you mentioned what a civilian authority might mean and there's a, you know, there is -- there are a lot of questions around what any sort of different governance in Gaza could look like as we get into phase two. Do we have any working understanding of what that could potentially look like? DOZIER: Something like a bit over a dozen technocrats have been identified who could take this role. But the problem is, you always hear about negotiations. The devil is in the details. And none of these details were decided before the signing of this deal.

So right now, you've got the negotiations going back and forth from Cairo to Doha, now to Miami, and you have various parties to this that don't really want it to move forward. From Netanyahu's perspective, it's better if it stays frozen until those October elections. And one of the things that he's going to bring up when he comes to meet Trump is that you've just had a couple of IDF soldiers killed in Gaza by an explosion that they're going to say shows that Hamas is still active and actively targeting Israeli soldiers, even though Hamas says it was just a leftover bomb. It didn't -- it wasn't targeted.

You'll also have Netanyahu bringing up Iran's attempts to rebuild its ballistic missile program. It's sort of a, you know, we've got bigger things to work on theme, and that's some of the things that Netanyahu will use to say it's not time yet to hand over more power to the Palestinians.

DEAN: What does it say, if anything, in your mind, that Prime Minister Netanyahu is coming to Florida, that he's meeting with the president here in the U.S.?

DOZIER: Well, there has been some reporting, including by CNN contributor Barak Ravid, that many of the negotiators involved have gotten very disillusioned with Bibi Netanyahu. But the only person still in his corner is Donald Trump. So this, in a sense, is going over the heads of all the negotiators to the top guy and trying to win him over to his point of view.

Will it work? Netanyahu often does manage to charm Trump in person, but he's going to have to come with a really strong case to explain why Hamas can't be trusted to move forward at this time, because as long as Gaza remains unstable, Trump can't move forward with the expansion of the Abraham Accords, and that is key to him possibly winning the Peace Prize next year.

DEAN: Right. And it is interesting as you lay that out at the push and pull here on both sides, because Trump certainly has his eye, as you note, on expanding the Abraham Accords. That's quite important to him, and it's been something that's very important to his administration.

DOZIER: Yes, and, you know, the thing I have to bring up is the people with the least amount of power in all of this are the Palestinians in Gaza who, according to the U.N. and other aid bodies right now, have inadequate food and shelter. And if you've ever been to Israel during the winter, it's like it constantly rains, and the chill just gets into your bones. I can't imagine being under a piece of tarp trying to keep children warm in that situation, and they're stuck between two sides that don't have any real impetus right now to move forward.

DEAN: Yes, I did want to ask you about that because I think sometimes, you know, we see, OK, ceasefire, check, that has happened, everyone can move ahead now, and, you know, there's not an active war going on. But so many of the people living in Gaza are still suffering, to your point, and trying to still get access to aid, et cetera, et cetera.

DOZIER: Absolutely. And it's also a dangerous situation for them. The Palestinian Health Authority says something like 400 people have been killed since this ceasefire was declared, and the U.N. also endorsed it. And that means that if you are a family who has survived everything that's happened in the past couple of years, and you've been displaced from your home, and you're in some sort of a tent city, you're afraid to move forward, back to wherever your house was.

It's probably rubble. And aid agencies that would help you rebuild, they can't really move that freely right now either because there are still the occasional drone attacks, mortar attacks, and there's still armed groups that aren't under the control of Hamas, as well as Hamas fighters who want to survive to fight another day.

DEAN: Yes, so we look to Monday to see what we might see come out of that meeting. Kim Dozier, great to see you. Thank you so much.

[19:25:04]

DOZIER: Thank you.

DEAN: Still to come, what does the new year hold for the future of artificial intelligence? We're going to talk to a leading expert about why this year's A.I. hype could fade faster than one might think in 2026.

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DEAN: It's been a big year for artificial intelligence. Tech companies have been shelling out hundreds of billions of dollars, betting big on the technology and its future economy. Politics, really, our everyday lives in all shapes and forms. But all this hype has also sparked fears of a potential A.I. bubble. One expert predicts if 2025 was the peak bubble, 2026 will likely be the year it all falls apart.

[19:30:06]

And joining us now is that expert, Gary Marcus. Gary, great to have you. Thank you being here.

In your "Substack," you say the clues are everywhere. Tell us what you're seeing when it comes to some of to some of your predictions for A.I. in 2026.

GARY MARCUS, LEADING A.I. EXPERT: Well, it all starts with generative A.I. with large language models and the inherent problems that they have. They're basically statistical mimicking machines, they regurgitate what they see. That doesn't mean that they're genuine intelligence.

And what happened is in 2023, people had never seen these things before. They got very excited. They imagined they might be super intelligent. But what's happened over time is people have realized, no, they're inherently flawed. They hallucinate, they make stupid mistakes. You can't really trust them on their own. You can only really use them with humans in the loop. And that has a lot of implications. Number one is you can't make that much money from them because they don't work as well for companies as companies imagined.

So, companies aren't getting the return on investment that they imagined from these products. Meanwhile, there's a price war because a lot of people have figured out how to make them. So, they've come down in price by a factor of 100, which is pretty impressive. It makes them cheaper to operate, but it means that except for NVIDIA, who's making the chips, nobody is really making a profit, and unless these things magically turn into so-called artificial general intelligence, which now seems unlikely, most companies are building this stuff, aren't going to make profits, and then a whole bunch of dominoes are going to fall.

There's huge investments over $1 trillion in all these data centers. It's not clear that those are going to make their money back. We might have an oversupply. We might get into a position where banks have lent too much money to these companies. We could wind up in a repeat of 2008.

DEAN: Yes, and some people, though, argue this isn't a bubble. It's different than, say, the dot-com bubble because this investment in a lot of cases is backed by these huge companies that have solid cash flow. They have billions in profits. Some of the startups are beginning to see real profits. What do you say to that?

MARCUS: I mean, most of the startups aren't actually seeing real profit. So, take OpenAI, they're losing a few billion dollars every month. They're losing massive amount of money. They can't afford to do that indefinitely. You know, the latest funding round was about $500 billion. That means the next one has to be $750 billion.

It's not clear that people are going to invest in them, especially with Google catching up. Gemini is arguably better than anything that OpenAI has managed to put out. So OpenAI had a big lead, but they're not making money and they've lost that lead. So, I think that they're actually in trouble.

DEAN: This month, the President signed this executive order to block states from enforcing their own regulations around A.I. and the White House has argued this is to make the U.S. more competitive by creating what they call a single national framework for all states to follow. And this has divided lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. How do you see the politics of A.I. unfolding in 2026?

MARCUS: I think by the end of the year, Trump's going to change his tune. Right now, he's kind of all in on A.I. He's trying to keep it from being any regulation, he just wants to push the accelerator as fast as possible. He thinks it will drive the stock market up, but the reality is that a lot of the left and a lot of the right don't really like the policies he's making.

A lot of the right people like DeSantis and Bannon are like, hold on, we still need to protect our citizens here. DeSantis actually proposed a bill of A.I. rights for Florida. There's nothing like that on a federal level. And now Trump is saying you can't do that on the state level.

So, there's a schism within the Republican Party right now about how to handle A.I. and on the left nobody is happy with the complete lack --

DEAN: Yes.

MARCUS: Nobody is happy with complete lack of regulation.

DEAN: Right and what about this new kind of cold war that we're seeing in the form of A.I.? It's really unfolding between the U.S. and China. I mean, to your point, the President wants to make the U.S. the most competitive and there are arguments among Republicans and Democrats about how best to do that. But how do you see that piece of it unfolding?

MARCUS: I think it's a little bit oversold. So, because the formula is fairly widely known for how to make these large language models, China is going to make their own, we're going to make our own. It's going to be more like Coke and Pepsi. Coke has its part of the market, and Pepsi has its part of the market.

It's not going to be like a clear victory. A lot of people are using sort of fear of missing out or whatever to say, oh my God, what if China gets ahead? Or, you know, can we dominate here? The truth is, both sides are building essentially the same product, and there's not going to be a clear winner. And it's not going to like, lead to this fundamental change in military strategy or something like that.

Like there was a big question who was going to get GPT5 first? And people thought, oh, my God, if China gets GPT5 first, then they'll invade Taiwan or all this kind of craziness.

And then we got it first, and it didn't really make that much difference at all, right? Each of these technologies is incrementally better than the last. Both sides have it. There's not going to be a clear winner here. And so, the race to try to win an unwinnable war to me seems a little silly.

[19:35:09]

Obviously, we should participate. We should build some infrastructure. But it doesn't mean we need to put in so many trillions and leave our citizens vulnerable.

DEAN: And so do you not think A.I. will play a big role when it comes to a military of the future -- let's call it.

MARCUS: I think you have to be really careful to distinguish between generative A.I., which is what we know how to build right now, which is things chatbots like ChatGPT and future forms of A.I. Someday we will have A.I. that really is as intelligent and as flexible as the human mind and maybe that will make a big difference.

The technology we have is flawed. The generative A.I. that we have right now, you can't really plan a war with something that hallucinates. It's also not very good at dealing with unpredictability and complete information. War is about the fog of war, dealing with situations you haven't seen before.

This technology just isn't very good at that. Some future technology might be, but that might be ten or 20 or 30 years away.

DEAN: All right, Gary Marcus, thanks so much for your time. We do appreciate it.

MARCUS: Always a pleasure to be here. Thanks a lot.

DEAN: Thank you.

We'll be right back.

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[19:40:36]

DEAN: At least 15 people are dead and 19 others injured after a bus plunged into a ravine in Guatemala, officials saying it took First Responders hours to rescue those injured passengers who were taken to a local hospital for treatment.

Road accidents are common in Guatemala. This crash happened in an area known for its dense fog.

More Americans appear to be coming down with the flu. According to the latest data from the CDC, four percent of all visits to health care providers during the week of December 13th were from people suffering from respiratory illnesses.

The agency also notes nearly 10,000 people were hospitalized with the flu during that time.

A mother's not guilty plea in the death of her nine-year-old daughter created a stir in a California courtroom Friday. Ashlee Buzzard is now charged with first degree murder in her daughter, Melodee's death.

Melodee Buzzard vanished on a road trip with her mother back in October, and her body was discovered in Utah earlier this month by a couple who ventured down a nondescript road in a sparsely populated area.

CNN's Marybel Gonzalez has been following this from Los Angeles. Marybel, now that the mother has pleaded not guilty, what comes next in this case?

MARYBEL GONZALEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Jessica. Well, Ashlee Buzzard is expected back in court in January for a preliminary hearing. Now, that is just the beginning of the legal aspect of this case.

Now, investigators say they have evidence that links Ashlee Buzzard to the murder of her daughter, including cartridge casings found at the scene where the body of melody was discovered, which they say matched a single cartridge found at her mother's home. Now, they've also searched Buzzard's home, a storage unit she had rented, and the rental vehicle she drove during the road trip where Melodee was last spotted.

Now, prosecutors also later said Buzzard allegedly killed Melodee using a nine-millimeter gun. Buzzard was formally charged with first degree murder on Christmas Eve and is currently being held without bail.

Prosecutors said they would not seek the death penalty if she is convicted, but would instead ask for life in prison without parole.

Now, Melodee's paternal family responded to that announcement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARVIN MEZA, MELODEE BUZZARD'S PATERNAL UNCLE: The prosecution is stating that they're not going to seek the death penalty. I don't understand why. I think they're going to seek life in prison, that's fine but I think for what she's -- what she did, it should be a lot worse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GONZALEZ: Now, investigators searched for Melodee for two months and across eight states, but it was ultimately a couple who ventured down a dirt road in the rural community of Caineville, Utah who discovered the decomposed remains of the nine-year-old little girl.

Now, authorities say she had died from gunshot wounds to her head. And right now, investigators have not located a weapon or have been able to pinpoint a motive. But they believe Melodee's murder was planned before the duo embarked on their road trip.

They say their investigation was hindered by "deliberate efforts to hide the truth, including clumsy disguises, swapped license plates and an uncooperative Buzzard who could not provide an explanation for her daughter's whereabouts."

Now, we have reached out to Ashlee's attorney for comment -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right, Marybel Gonzalez with the latest. Thank you so much for that.

A new CNN original series follows a crime story that shocked a small town. "Death Camp: The Mushroom Murders" takes viewers to Australia, and inside the jaw dropping murder investigation into Erin Patterson and the lethal lunch that killed her in-laws and estranged husband's aunt.

Was it a premeditated murder or a horrible accident? All episodes are now available on the CNN App. And here's a preview for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're talking about an area down at South Gippsland where its ideal for growing mushrooms. There's plenty of moisture, there's trees and cover, and the soil is very fertile. It's easy to grow mushrooms.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was two types of mushrooms. There was mushrooms and there was toadstools and you just don't go near the toadstools. And that's basically what the death caps are.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To me, it's a toadstool, not a mushroom. The mushrooms to us were and they were pink underneath or black, but never white or yellow. They were toadstools.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Don't miss it. You can stream all those episodes right now on the CNN App.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:49:22]

DEAN: With 2025 coming to a close, millions of people will be traveling back home after the holidays. AAA expecting the end of year travel to set a new record with more than 122.4 million Americans traveling at least 50 miles this holiday season. And here to give us some tips on how to avoid the travel headaches and how to get the best deal for the New Year, is going.com travel expert Katy Nastro.

Katy, good to see you. We are seeing a number really thousands of flight delays and cancellations pile up in the Northeast due to this winter storm that has moved through. So, if you or someone you know is dealing with that headache right now, what immediate advice do you have for them?

[19:50:09]

KATY NASTRO, GOING.COM TRAVEL EXPERT: Immediately, we want travelers to take advantage of the travel waivers that airlines have out. We typically see these during peak periods of really bad weather where you can actually make changes to your flight without any additional cost to you as well as it doesn't matter what ticket type you have.

So, if you purchased a basic economy ticket, for example, the most restrictive ticket type in this scenario with the travel waiver, you are allowed to make changes. And again, we want people to act quickly. If you are going to take advantage of one of these waivers and say, take a flight in a few days, or maybe even, you know, try to get that first flight out, which typically see a higher on-time arrival rate.

You want to act quickly because so many more people are traveling over a peak time period, like the winter holidays, and 2025 has seen some record-breaking days. And this past week is no different in terms of volume.

So, act quickly and take advantage of the waivers when you can.

DEAN: Yes, those are good tips. I do want to ask you about these records. Every time I talk to you, I feel like were saying it's another record-breaking travel weekend. Why do you think so many people are on the move right now?

NASTRO: Yes, look, despite sort of a sort of pullback that we've seen across a few months in 2025, we've still seen those record-breaking days. Perfect example over Thanksgiving. We saw that Sunday after over three million people traveling and that is the busiest day on record according to TSA ever. And it's really due to the fact that regardless of what the economy is doing, we prioritize travel around these peak moments, these holiday moments, when we want to spend them with family and friends.

So, regardless of what is going on in the greater market, we still want to spend those coveted moments with loved ones and this year is no different.

DEAN: Yes, that's certainly true. And so now we look to 2026. I'm curious what's on your radar in terms of people who are looking ahead to maybe taking that one great vacation next year, or if they're starting to plan ahead for what they might want to do. What are some of the trends you're looking at and noticing?

NASTRO: Yes, you know, what we've noticed in our going state of travel is that we are sort of seeing people being more intentional about where they travel and really answering that why they're traveling. And partly due to, again, that theme of economic uncertainty, time constraints as well as political concern sort of rounds out the top three reasons why people might be slightly pulling back. And if they are going to travel, they're going to make each trip count.

And one way that we want people to take advantage of affordability in 2026 when it comes to travel, is trying to travel in January and February. One of the best time periods of the entire year, arguably the best when it comes to savings, and we see fewer travelers in general during this period.

And it's not just airfare that drops drastically. Also, we see experiences and hotels come down quite considerably.

So, some deals that you can take advantage of right now in the Going App L.A. to Auckland, get this $587.00 round trip, that's almost 60 percent off average prices. Yes, Seattle to Tokyo, another very popular region that were anticipating for 2026 that American travelers are interested in. Seattle to Tokyo $589.00 again, very much more affordable than we've seen in past years coming out of the pandemic and even closer to home, Chicago to Puerto Rico $159.00 round trip.

Those are all on full-service carriers, by the way, not on budget carriers. So, we want people to sort of not wait until just the summer to take a trip, try to target taking your vacations earlier in the year, especially if you're looking for affordability.

DEAN: Wow, that's a great tip, and those prices, yes, you're right, compared to what we see sometimes, it's really a great deal. Katy Nastro, thank you so much, we really appreciate it.

NASTRO: Thanks so much. Happy travels everyone.

DEAN: Thank you.

Chevy Chase helped define a generation of comedy and became a widely recognized name from his early days on "SNL" to becoming a movie star, and even the sometimes-complicated moments in his private life. The CNN film "I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not" explores the man both on and off the screen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lorne Michaels, when he's given the job to develop a show for Saturday nights, he's got a blank slate.

LORNE MICHAELS, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: I'd spent my 20's in a television studio, so I was comfortable in that environment. We were just filled with possibility of what we could do and what we couldn't do.

ALAN ZWEIBEL, SNL WRITER: When I met with Lorne, he described this new show. It spun my head around, said it would be live, be 11:30 to 1:00 on Saturday night and go -- who's going to watch that? You know, angry people, people who are not getting laid.

CHEVY CHASE, COMEDIAN: I got a call, Lorne said, do you want to start the show with me?

REPORTER: If you could try to look at me instead of looking directly into camera, unless you -

CHASE: It's hard for me.

REPORTER: Why?

[19:55:09]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because I invented weekend update so I could look in the camera.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: "I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not," premieres New Year's Day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:59:46]

DEAN: You know, were in the middle of bowl season when college football is played inside two iconic baseball stadiums at Yankee Stadium in New York, Penn State facing Clemson in the Pinstripe Bowl. It was a low scoring; it was low scoring like a moppet baseball game most of the day until Penn State scored two fourth quarter touchdowns and won 22 to 10.

And snowy Fenway Park in Boston, with its famous green monster in left field. Red Sox became Black Knights as the Army Black Knights rolled past UConn, 41-16, in the Fenway Bowl. Thank you so much for joining me this evening. I'm Jessica Dean, and remember, if you're here in the U.S., you can now stream the CNN App wherever you want. You can watch us on the go. Visit CNN.com/watch for more on that and we'll see you again tomorrow night starting at 5:00 Eastern.

"Lockerbie: The Bombing of Pan Am Flight 103" is headed your way next. Have a great night.

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