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CNN This Morning

Major Year For Politics Could Start In Uncertainty; Trump Zeroes In On First-Time Caucus Participants In Iowa; Humanitarian Crisis Deepening Every Day In Gaza; Report: Prices Fell Last Month For First Time Since April 2020; Mortgage Rates Fall To Lowest Level Since June; United States Steel To Be Sold To Japan's Largest Steelmaker; "Fast And Furious" Star Vin Diesel Accused Of Sexual Battery. Aired 7- 8a ET

Aired December 23, 2023 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And it's safe to say that Mahomes approves of the love story between his teammate Travis Kelsey and pop superstar Taylor Swift. Mahomes telling Naper a listen of CBS this morning how the team and Mahomes' wife have responded to the very public relationship.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICK MAHOMES, QUARTERBACK, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS: Well, for us, I mean, there was a couple of jokes here and there at the beginning. But now it's just, she's part of, she's kingdom now. She's part of the team. And it's cool that she's embraced Britney. And they've built a friendship as well. And so, for me, it's just, it's Travis, man. And he's lucky enough to be with a great girl and a great woman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: Everybody's wondering, guys, if Taylor is going to spend Christmas Day in Kansas City when the Chiefs host the Raiders. And I love those golf carts. That's a really nice gift. But isn't Taylor Swift the gift that keeps on giving to all of us, to the NFL, to you guys, to everybody at home? It's the best.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): We can't stop talking about her, right? She's the it girl. Carolyn Manno, great to see you. Thank you. And the next hour of CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. I'm Amara Walker.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Danny Freeman. Victor Blackwell is off today.

WALKER: Right now, we are heading towards an uncertain start to a huge political year. Republican frontrunner Donald Trump faces multiple court decisions that could delay some of his trials as he campaigns for president. On Friday, the Supreme Court handed him a win by rejecting special counsel's request for justices to fast-track his immunity dispute case. But in Colorado, his team is appealing a decision to kick him off the 2024 ballot, citing the 14th Amendment on insurrectionists.

FREEMAN: Meanwhile, Congress is out of office for the holidays. You're going to take a live picture right now of Capitol Hill. Oh, sorry, we don't have it, but again, Capitol Hill is quiet. Congress faces, though, a mountain of problems when they come back in January. Listen to this. They'll have nine days to come up with a plan to avoid a partial government shutdown and a full shutdown just weeks later. Oh, and there's the ongoing crisis at the southern border and arguments over funding as well as two foreign wars. They, of course, loom large. It's a lot.

WALKER: It sure is. So, let's bring in Mika Soelner with Punchbowl News to break all of this down for us. Mika, good morning to you. Great to see you. Let's start with the legal developments and the Supreme Court declining to fast-track consideration of Donald Trump's claim that he is immune from prosecution. His strategy, as you know, has been to delay court proceedings past the presidential election, but a federal appeals court will be hearing this case beginning in January. Is this being seen as a win for Trump politically? What has the Republican reaction been?

MICA SOELLNER, PUNCHBOWL NEWS: Yes, so thank you for having me on. The Republican reaction, and particularly from the former president, has been overall positive about this decision. We saw Trump say he was looking forward to the appeals court hearings and that he claims that he's entitled to presidential immunity. So, this is definitely good for the Trump campaign in delaying this case and moving this potentially out until next year, possibly until after the election. So, that's been a positive for them. But do keep in mind that this is only just one of several of Trump's legal issues and challenges and cases that he's going to have to deal with in the next year.

WALKER: All right. So, let's talk about those. I mean, another issue the Supreme Court will likely take up is whether Trump is ineligible to run based on the 14th Amendment, that prohibits anyone who's sworn oath to the Constitution and then engaged in insurrection from holding office. So, Colorado Supreme Court in an unprecedented ruling disqualified Trump from being on the state's ballot this week. Even Chris Christie, an anti-Trumper, disagreed with the ruling. Are these efforts to keep Trump off the ballot just emboldening his supporters?

SOELNER: I think that's a good question. I think that, you know, they likely have zero to little impact among his base, who have already seen this as being, you know, politically targeted towards him, mirroring the rhetoric that Trump has used against federal agencies and kind of eroding that public trust there in institutions. The Karl Lauer case, I think, is interesting, given the fact that, you know, Democrats have been kind of quiet on the issue.

We saw President Biden really didn't say, make any like huge remarks on them, saying that it's in the court's hands, but also asserting that he believes that Trump incited an insurrection. So, this case is interesting and it could be a slippery slope as we've seen Republicans already calling at times, Ron DeSantis in particular saying, why not kick Democrats off if Republicans are going to be subjected to that. WALKER: Meantime, Joe Biden's campaign is making Trump's threat to democracy a central focus of his campaign and this is according to a campaign strategy memo that was shared with CNN. They're going to be placing people on the ground in battleground states beginning in mid- January to focus the messaging on that. Do you expect that to stick? Because it seems like most Americans are focused on the economy.

[07:05:17]

SOELNER: Yes, I think you're absolutely right. I do see the threat to democracy argument working among the Democratic base and rallying up those supporters and voters there. But for, you know, the independent voters that are left and maybe more moderate Democrats, they're really looking at kitchen table issues like the economy, inflation. I think the border is becoming a huge problem for the Biden administration and the campaign as a campaign issue. So, I think it's good to look at some of these issues. And of course, Democrats are really going to also try to rally around abortion rights, which has been a huge boon for the party in the last few cycles.

WALKER: Yes, and speaking of the border, we were mentioning Congress facing a mountain of issues when they come back from their lovely holiday break in January. As we were mentioning there's another government shutdown that's looming with two deadlines in January and another one in February. You've got that aid package to Ukraine and Israel that's up in the air, and of course the Iowa caucuses -- who can forget that? That begins on January 15th. Should we remind everyone that this is the most unproductive Congress in decades? So, should we just predict more of that in 2024?

SOELNER: I think what's going to be different in 2024 is that I don't think Speaker Mike Johnson, at least in the House, is going to be able to avoid any more deadlines and take the can down the road as he's done in the first few months that he's been Speaker. So, the House is really going to have to act, either pass the appropriations bills that the right flank and a lot of House Republicans have been itching to do, or they're going to have to pass another CR. There's no option other than a government shutdown.

So, they're going to have to deal with that. They're going to have to deal with border security. They're going to have to deal with FISA and the NDAA and a lot of these deadlines and the FAA as well. So, there's a lot coming up that they're not going to be that they're going to have to do something about whether that's what's members in the Republican conference or not?

WALKER: Which issue do you think the Republicans at least in the house are going to prioritize to tackle first?

SOELNER: I -- actually, I'm going to have to say it's probably going to be impeachment because that's going to be a political boon and that's been something that House of Republicans have been unified again over is actually the impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden. Whether or not that gets moderate Republicans to vote for an actual impeachment over the president is, you know, yet to be seen. But I think we're going to see this be a big focus aside from the policy issues that need to be mattered. And I know that I spoke with the judiciary chairman, Jim Jordan, who said that he expects this to come through by February.

WALKER: It would be nice to see the lawmaker's lawmaking in 2024. Mica Soelner, great to have you. Thank you.

FREEMAN: And throughout all this, for President Trump, he has his own strategy as he tries to put his legal troubles in the rearview mirror. He's focusing on first-timers, people who have never participated specifically in the Iowa caucuses. And he's driving home the point that even if he's leading in the polls, it's not the time to be complacent. Here's CNN's Jeff Zeleny.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We got to be sure that we put this thing away. The poll numbers are scary because we're leading by so much. The key is you have to get out and vote.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump is eyeing more than an Iowa victory. He's looking for a decisive one.

TRUMP: We'll be back a few more times.

ZELENY: But the outcome of the Iowa caucuses now less than four weeks away may depend less on Trump than the work being done on this makeshift assembly line inside his campaign headquarters. One box at a time, this is how Trump's team is trying to build a landslide, sending gold-stitched hats and carefully curated care packages to nearly 2,000 of their precinct captains.

BRAD BOUSTEAD, TRUMP IOWA CAUCUS PRECINCT CAPTAIN: Look right here, here's a personalized letter from the president.

ZELENY: Brad Boustead is a volunteer and one of those precinct captains who speak on Trump's behalf on caucus night and agree to bring in 10 new supporters. In 2016, he supported Ted Cruz, who beat Trump here with the help of a stronger organization. Now, Boustead marvels at Trump's operation.

BOUSTEAD: Somebody's got to screw the lug nuts on the Cadillac. So, the little jobs are the most important jobs.

ZELENY: While Trump's extreme rhetoric often sounds the same in this campaign.

TRUMP: When I'm re-elected, we will begin, and we have no choice, the largest deportation operation in American history.

ZELENY: His organization is dramatically different this time, driven by a sophisticated, data-driven effort to find Trump supporters who have never attended a caucus before. In the last three months, Trump has visited Iowa more than a dozen times, hitting all corners of the state in a highly targeted strategy for a front-runner not resting on a commanding lead. From the moment you walk into a Trump event, the organization is apparent. Back at the campaign office, these commit to caucus cards are entered into a database.

[07:10:03]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. I got you in there.

ZELENY: Supporters are called within three days; which advisors say often didn't happen in 2016.

BRENNA BIRD, IOWA ATTORNEY GENERAL: The polls don't matter. The one that really matters is caucus night, isn't it?

ZELENY: Brenna Bird, Iowa's attorney general and one of Trump's top supporters, warns against complacency.

BIRD: I think his only danger is that people think that he might not need their vote, and that's not true. We need everybody to go out and vote on caucus night.

ZELENY: An army of Trump surrogates is also descending on Iowa, holding small organizing events, hammering home the same message.

REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): My only worry is low turnout.

ZELENY: With Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley in a fight for second place, Trump is working to close down the 2024 primary on its opening night.

JIMMY CENTERS, IOWA REPUBLICAN POLITICAL CONSULTANT: He wants to run up the score so caucus night looks more like a coronation than a caucus.

ZELENY: Jimmy Centers, a veteran of four Republican caucus campaigns in Iowa, said the Trump organization may overwhelm its rivals.

CENTERS: They are quietly building a very tenacious and robust organization all across the state I think that's going to be worth several points on caucus night.

ZELENY: So, some of the most important work happens when the former president's not here.

CENTERS: That's precisely it and it's been happening like that for eight years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY (on camera): After four visits in less than a month, the former president will be taking a bit of a break from the Iowa campaign season, allowing people to enjoy their Christmas holiday. But advisers say, he will be back in the new year, pressing for a decisive victory, hoping the Iowa caucuses and the Republican primary rather than begin it. Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Waterloo, Iowa.

FREEMAN: Great piece from Jeff there. Also, just 11 days before voters head to the polls in Iowa, CNN will host back-to-back GOP presidential town halls with two Republican candidates. Tune in to see Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley take questions on January 4th, live at 9:00 p.m. and then 10:00 p.m. Eastern, only on CNN.

WALKER: All right, still ahead, Israel's military says it is pressing ahead with plans to expand its operation in Gaza despite growing pressure to scale back its offensive and protect civilians.

FREEMAN: Plus, there are new signs inflation is easing as we head into the new year. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:16:28]

WALKER: As the U.S. is pressing Israel to scale back its bombardment of Gaza and do more to protect civilians, the IDF has announced it's expanding its military operation. They're focusing on southern Gaza.

FREEMAN: That pressure to ease the assault is coming from leaders around the world. Yesterday, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution after days of negotiations, calling for humanitarian pauses in the war. But the United States abstained from the vote because the resolution did not condemn Hamas. CNN's Will Ripley is in Tel Aviv. Will, tell us, what do we know about Israel's new plan to expand its military operations.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Danny. Hi, Amara. Well, we just received a few minutes ago word that 18 people have been killed in central Gaza from outgoing Israeli artillery.

We were actually driving near the Gaza border a few days ago and just the sound of each explosion as they were firing artillery over onto the Gaza Strip, it's startling to be on the side of it where they're firing from, one can only imagine as it's coming in, but Israel has actually announced that not only they're expanding this operation to central Gaza, but they've given people a pretty short amount of time, 48 hours or less, to completely relocate and move to somewhere else.

Now, people in Gaza, people who visited Gaza, our own CNN reporting, seems to suggest that there is pretty much no safe place in Gaza right now, and yet people who are refugees, who've had to relocate already once, maybe twice, maybe more, now have to pack up again, whatever belongings they have, with their families, everybody probably pretty exhausted, many people very, very hungry, if not starving, and they have to move yet again to try to find a safe place, because the artillery is likely just the beginning of what Israel is planning for its expanded operation in central Gaza. Last night here, we had huge thunderstorms.

Right now, I'm standing in a sheltered area, but there has been a constant wind and rain and it is cold outside. And we have the shelter of a building and yet still when you step out, it can, it can certainly be a pretty extreme condition if you're out here for too long.

Now, just imagine people who are living in these conditions with almost no protection from the elements being told that they have to move yet again and hearing incoming artillery wondering if the missiles like the 2,000 pound bombs that Israel was using, made in the United States by the way, if those bombs are going to continue, if the rubble is going to, the piles of rubble are just going to keep growing around them, and if they're going to survive the next wave of attacks. That is the reality for the millions of people who are living through this hell right now in Gaza. Amara and Danny.

WALKER: Miserable and terrifying conditions for the civilians there, Will. You know, while the war is raging on, there are more than 100 hostages that are still being held in Gaza. And we learned yesterday about the death of an Israeli-American hostage. What do we know about that situation and what President Biden is saying about it?

RIPLEY: Yes, so Gad Hagai, 73 years old, according to the announcement we received yesterday around this time, he was killed in captivity is what we were led to believe. But President Biden's statement is raising some new questions. President Biden, in a statement, said he was heartbroken about the death of this American Israeli. His wife, by the way, his wife Judy, still believed to be held in captivity in Gaza right now.

But President Biden's statement indicated that he may have died on October 7th, on the first initial wave of attacks. What we did hear, according to people who spoke with Judy, God's wife, right around the time of the attack. She was able to make contact briefly before they lost service and then they disappeared presumably when that's when they were taken into Gaza. She said that her husband had been shot and was badly hurt.

So, we still don't know the exact circumstances of his death. Did he die on that day, or did he die later in captivity unable to receive medical care like so many of the other hostages that are being held right now, some of whom are believed to be in desperate need of medical assistance.

But when there are no functioning hospitals practically in the whole Gaza Strip for two million people, no basic services, let alone medicine or medical supplies, it's a very grim situation, which is why there is increasing pressure on the Israeli government to try to form some sort of a deal to strike a deal with Hamas, but Hamas rejected Israel's first offer for a week-long pause in fighting.

Clearly, with this United Nations resolution and with the momentum, Hamas in some ways feeling like momentum is on their side, even though thousands of their own fighters are being killed, not to mention the tens of thousands, 20,000 people total, many of them children and innocent people in Gaza who have also died.

Hamas is still able to lob rockets and maybe even get more weapons sent into them by their supporters, most notably, top of the list would be Iran, which is known to be supporting extremist organizations like Hamas, like Hezbollah in Lebanon, like the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

This fighting could continue for quite some time, and frankly, Hamas seems to be in no rush to work out any deal to release the hostages, even saying that time is running out for the Israeli hostages. 120, 107 of them now believed to be still alive, 22 of them, their bodies being held right now in Gaza, Amara and Danny.

WALKER: Third month of this war. Will Ripley, thank you very much for your reporting. Now, in the first month of Israel's war against Hamas, as you heard Will Ripley report there, it dropped hundreds of massive bombs on Gaza, many of them capable of killing or wounding people more than a thousand feet away.

FREEMAN: That's the finding from CNN's analysis of the heavy munitions, such as the 2,000-pound bomb used during this war. CNN's Nima Elbagir takes a look at the devastating toll the bombardment has taken on Gaza.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Even at a distance, the devastation brought on Gaza is unmistakable.

We are a few hundred meters here from the boundary with Gaza, but even here you get a sense of the degree of the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, the sheer intensity and scale.

[07:22:13]

This is what that looks like up close. Scenes of destruction have become all too familiar. Here, the aftermath of another Israeli airstrike, this time in late October at the Jabalya refugee camp.

One of the most densely populated residential areas in Gaza. The bomb that caused this damage is a 2,000-pound bomb, likely made in the USA, dropped by the Israeli Air Force at least four times as powerful as the vast majority of the bombs used by the U.S. in its fight against ISIS.

In densely populated Gaza, the human cost is incomparable. Whole families wiped out in one week. Jabalya refugee camp is one of the epicenters of Israel's bombing campaign. To understand the complete picture and scale of the destruction in Gaza, you need to look from above.

In coordination with artificial intelligence company, Synthetic, CNN was able to locate over 1,900 craters left behind by bombardment in just the first month of the war.

Using AI, we analyzed the diameter of these craters, over 500 of which were greater than 40 feet in diameter, consistent with American-made 2,000-pound bombs used by the Israeli Air Force.

Our analysis covers the one-month period to November 6th in which a staggering 10,000 people are believed to have died. The U.S.'s most senior Middle East diplomat testified on November 9th the number of dead could be even higher.

BARBARA LEAF, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR NEAR EASTERN AFFAIRS: In this period of conflict and conditions of war, it is very difficult for any of us to assess what the rate of casualties are. We think they are very high, frankly, and it could be that they are even higher than are being cited.

ELBAGIR: Yet the U.S. continues to back Israel's bombardment. So, why is the death toll so staggering? Because it is not just about the point of impact. This is a crater caused by a 2,000-pound bomb. The potential kill zone from that crater can spread up to 365 meters. That's 1,200 feet, an area equivalent to roughly 60 soccer pitches, or around 90 American football fields.

The IDF told CNN, in stark contrast to Hamas's intentional attacks on Israeli men, women and children, the IDF follows international law and takes feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm. But is that true? This is just north of the Shanti refugee camp along the main coastal road.

When you go in closer you can see in just this small neighborhood at least nine craters consistent with 2,000-pound bombs. Which means the potential kill zone could encompass this entire area.

CNN and Synthetic's analysis of the devastation of Gaza shows extensive bombardment. In an area this densely populated and using these bombs, it's inherently indiscriminate. And the human cost continues to soar, surpassing 20,000. Many of the dead still unburied, still under the rubble, with no end in sight. Nima Elbagir, CNN, Sderot.

WALKER: What an incredible report there, Nima Elbagir. Let's talk more about this with Mark Garlasco, he is a former Defense Intelligence Analyst and a former U.N. War Crimes Investigator who has decades of experience assessing bomb damage. Mark, really appreciate your time. What struck out to me among many things in Nima's report is that 2,000-pound bombs, this one, the ones that are being used by Israel, are made by the United States, and they're inherently indiscriminate. When is it permissible to use these bombs? When have they been used?

MARC GARLASCO, FORMER DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: So, as CNN reported last week, Israel has dropped about 29,000 bombs in Gaza. And to put that in historical context, we're looking at the same number of bombs that the U.S. dropped during the war in Iraq in 2003. And that's over the entire country.

[07:26:36]

If we want to look at a historical example of when this happened on just a city. You know, we would have to look back at the 1972 Christmas bombing of Hanoi, when the U.S. dropped about 20,000 tons of bombs just on the city. Now, one of the problems, though, is not just how many bombs were seen dropped on Gaza, but as your reporting said, the size of the weapons, right?

2,000-ton bomb and the wide area effects of the bomb. So, with them being able to have lethal effects out to about 1,200 feet, you're looking at some extreme and potentially indiscriminate attacks. So, the law says that the militaries have to distinguish between a military object and a civilian.

The problem is if you use a bomb, even a very accurate bomb, and that bomb has effects out to, let's say, 1,200 feet, as the 2,000-pound weapon has, then you're looking at an example of potentially indiscriminate effects. And if we look at how the U.S. employs 2,000- pound weapons, the last time that we saw them used them in cities to this level really was the bombing of Baghdad in 2003. So, it's been really 20 years since the U.S. has employed weapons like this in a populated area.

WALKER: So, strategically, what is being considered, what has been considered in the past to drop a 2,000-pound bomb by the United States? Because it's used sparingly by the West, correct?

GARLASCO: It is used sparingly by the West. If we look at the war on ISIS, if we take just the bombs dropped on Raqqa and Mosul, for example, in Iraq, Raqqa in Syria, we see that in both of those battles, the U.S. relied on only 500-pound bombs. The bomb that NATO uses is the 500-pound bomb, so a much smaller weapon.

But beyond that, the U.S. has now developed a weapon, the 250-pound class. It's called the GBU-39, and this is a low collateral damage bomb. You know, the lessons of the last 20 years is that when you use explosive weapons in populated areas, the civilian population is going to be killed and suffer.

And so, the U.S. has been working very diligently to develop weapons that have a much smaller kill radius. Now, we have exported over 4,000 to Israel, but we have yet to see Israel employ these weapons as widely as the large explosive bombs.

WALKER: Right, understood. You know, and as you know, the IDF and Israeli officials have insisted that they follow a rigorous process when it comes to targeting sites and avoiding civilian casualties and collateral damage. I want you to listen to what Mark Regev, a Senior Advisor to Benjamin Netanyahu, said to our Jake Tapper last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK REGEV, SENIOR ADVISER TO BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: When we compare the use of weapons by the Israeli military and you compare that with other Western militaries in similar situations, when, let's say, America or your allies have been fighting terrorists in urban areas, I think the efforts that we utilize to safeguard civilian populations, giving them warning messages, asking them to leave areas of combat, phone calls, dropping leaflets, actually specifying now which areas they can go to. I think we go above and beyond many others in our efforts to safeguard the civilian population.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: Is Israel going above and beyond, Mark?

GARLASCO: Well, I think that the 20,000 dead Palestinians is the direct example of how Israel is not only not going above and beyond. But they are playing very fast and loose with the laws of war.

[07:30:00] You know, we are seeing them use the 2,000-pound weapon directly in the south, where they have told Palestinians to escape two that are potential safe zones. And we've seen them go after middle level Hamas leaders and give up over 100 civilian deaths, and that does not seem to be proportionate or legal.

WALKER: Marc Galasco, we will leave it there. Thank you for the conversation.

Tomorrow on CNN, Fareed Zakaria, takes a closer look at the conflict in the Middle East. He is going to discuss the number of failed attempts at peace, the role of the U.S. and this latest clash.

The new FAREED ZAKARIA GPS SPECIAL: THE ROAD TO WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST", airs tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. Eastern.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Coming up in just a moment, it is peak holiday travel season. We're going to tell you where the weather might cause some headaches, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: A cruise ship lost power in rough sea. After high winds disabled a Norwegian vessel on Thursday.

[07:35:01]

Danish officials say the M.S. Maud, carrying about 400 passengers and crew could no longer navigate in the North Sea. Wind gusts smashed the windows, allowing water to cause a temporary power outage. They say the ship was not evacuated and everyone is actually doing well, believe it or not.

But not want to be on that.

FREEMAN: No.

WALKER: Now, moving east today, the storm that unleashed heavy rains and flooding in California and Arizona earlier this week.

FREEMAN: And the Southern Rockies and central plains could also see some rain and even snow in the higher elevations, just ahead of a busy holiday weekend.

For more on this, let's go to meteorologist Chad Myers. Good morning, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning.

Everything really doing well right now. I just checked all the airports. From Phoenix, with a little bit of cloud cover. We may slow things down in Dallas, Austin, Houston, later on today with the rain that comes in. But for now, all airports are in and out very, very well.

There will be some snow in the Rockies and also even some rain in the plains. Some very heavy rainfall possible for Houston later on today.

Let's get right to it. Here is where we are now. Some rain across Detroit, Cleveland. But the big story is that storm, it will develop into this weekend's slowdown. And a lot of the slowdown is going to be rain, because our temperatures are going to be 50. We are nowhere near a snowstorm here.

From Chicago all the way down to the Gulf Coast, temps are way above normal. In spots, I saw the computers printing out 30 degrees above normal.

Now, as we work our way into the beginning of Christmas, eve and into Christmas, there will be snow from Minneapolis back down into parts of Nebraska and Kansas. But the rainfall is what we're really going to be seeing all the way from the Great Lakes down to the Gulf Coast, and even into Florida.

There may even be some heavy enough rain to cause some flooding. Notice some spots around Houston, especially, west of Houston, that could pick up six inches of rain in the next 48 hours.

That can cause especially some problems there in the underpasses around Houston.

But it's going to be a snow event for many here. Nebraska, parts of South Dakota into Kansas and the ski country. That will be good news for anyone who is actually in ski country at this point.

And it won't be that hard. Getting out of Denver, going west on I-70 is going to be probably just fine. They will take care of that roadway, because they know so many people are going in that direction going up the hill, as we call it.

As we work our way into Sunday, there is the rainfall, and it's going to be a wet weekend here and a wet Monday for the people across parts of the East.

Probably not going to be able to ride that new bike in Memphis or Nashville until maybe Tuesday. It's going to take some time for this rain to go away. So, make sure you have some indoor things for the kids to do not just that thing that you have to take outside, because it will be quite wet.

Even for Atlanta all the way down to Jacksonville. That sort of the rainfall will be. But notice these temperatures, even for Chicago, the coldest we get by Wednesday is 41.

No snow for you. That's better.

WALKER: Wow. All right. Why do I like -- I don't know, giggle a little bit when you -- whenever you mentioned Nebraska?

MYERS: Because --

WALKER: What?

MYERS: Because no one else --

(CROSSTALK)

WALKER: Were you like a -- like a silly mascot?

MYERS: No one else in America. No one else in America.

WALKER: Like at university?

MYERS: I was. But that was a very long time ago.

FREEMAN: That's OK.

WALKER: Do we have a photo?

MYERS: We have a photo. We're going to show it at 8:00.

WALKER: Oh, next hour. Oh!

MYERS: Oh, there, no. here we go.

WALKER: Oh, you guys --

FREEMAN: Wow!

WALKER: That's not you.

MYERS: Yes.

FREEMAN: That is that -- that hat is enormous.

MYERS: That show you -- well, that was me when I was a little skinnier. But anyway, people said did you jump around? Did you do flips?

WALKER: Yes.

MYERS: Know that head, that head weighs 45 pounds.

WALKER: It's too heavy.

FREEMAN: Oh, my --

MYERS: If you felt that you weren't getting back up without help, without that.

WALKER: Oh, my goodness.

MYERS: Now, Oklahoma State still has this guy. They still have their mascot that was made just like Herbie Husker. And so, we don't know what happened to Husker, he just disappeared one day.

And I'm sure he is in -- he is in someone's man cave. But we just don't know which one.

WALKER: I'm sure you have stories. But I want to ask you about them on the air. I'm sure you have strong neck muscles.

FREEMAN: Yes, you know --

WALKER: 40 some pounds.

FREEMAN: That's a -- that's a 30-gallon hat right there.

MYERS: No -- at least.

WALKER: That's Chad Myers, everybody. Thanks for sharing.

MYERS: Yes, I am.

WALKER: Good to see you.

MYERS: Good to see you, too.

WALKER: All right. Coming up, new economic data show prices are cooling. A sign inflation is finally easing as we head into the new year. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:43:48]

FREEMAN: So, we have some good news now on the economy. And for millions of Americans who have been hammered by high inflation.

After more than three years of prices steadily increasing, they finally fell last month. New government data shows prices -- rather, U.S. households pay for goods and services declined by 0.1 percent, month over month, bringing the annual inflation rate to 2.6 percent.

Now, that is the first monthly decline since the early stages of the pandemic.

Joining us now is Rana Foroohar. She is a CNN global economic analyst and she's also a global business columnist and associate editor for The Financial Times.

Rana, I mean, did Christmas really come early here?

RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: It really did, Danny. I mean, I'm so happy to have some good news to talk to you about free holidays here.

These are exactly the numbers that policymakers were looking for. Inflation barely budge. In fact, it was actually trailing Fed expectations by some measures.

You know, the stock markets are booming, consumer sentiment is up. And it really seems as though policymakers have been able to orchestrate this soft landing, this sort of Goldilocks economy that none of us -- you know, I got to say, I didn't think it was possible.

None of us believe It was going to be possible given all the headwinds out there in the economy right now. But here we are, and it is -- it is great news. Pre-holidays.

[07:45:06]

FREEMAN: Well, and Rana, along those lines, I mean new data also released this week says that consumer confidence is at its highest level since July, and fears of a recession are also starting to fade for Americans.

I mean, again, all of these, these economic headlines seemed like a different world from a couple months ago. What do you think is driving this?

FOROOHAR: Well, I think it's all about inflation. You know, there were a lot of great economic data points there. You know, over the last few months, really, even the last year, the job market has been good, you know, the economy has been growing, the U.S. is really booming relative to any other rich country around the world.

But people didn't feel it at the kitchen table, right? We all felt higher grocery prices, higher gas prices, housing prices. I mean, that has been a huge issue. And that will linger still, for some time, even though we are beginning to see mortgage rates start to tick down.

But they had gone up to, you know, pretty close to eight percent. We haven't seen those kinds of mortgage rates in a generation. And so, people really felt like, wow, we're in a different economy. It's a high-pressure economy. And incomes really weren't keeping pace with that cost-of-living increase.

Interestingly, consumers and workers now think that their incomes will keep pace with inflation in the coming year. And you can already see folks starting to increase their Christmas spending, it's up about $100, from last year, folks are expected to spend about $975, if you can believe it, on Christmas presents this year. That's more than we've seen since 1999. So, we are, in fact, partying like it's '99.

FREEMAN: I mean, listen, I can -- I can feel it in my wallet, that I feel like the Christmas gifts are getting more expensive, at least, or what's going on in my wallet is adding up.

FOROOHAR: Yes.

FREEMAN: Before I move on to -- on that affordable housing market. Do you think some of these mortgage rates will continue to come down though?

FOROOHAR: You know, the year ahead is still a little bit up in the air. And I -- you know, I have to say, I've been -- I've been one of the folks that have been saying, let's not get ahead of ourselves with stock markets with, you know, thinking that it's all going to be rosy next year.

The Fed is saying and they are predicting three rate cuts. Now, if that's the case, then, yes, you will see mortgage rates continue to come down. But, in the housing market, there are a lot of things going on in the housing market right now. I mean, house prices are at record highs in many places. There is a housing shortage still, in many parts of America, rental prices are as high as they've been in many, many years.

So, you know, it's going to take a while for these things to ease out of the system. That said, I have to say, I think, the outlook for housing this year is more optimistic than I've seen it, you know, probably since -- certainly, since the pandemic began, maybe in the last decade or so.

FREEMAN: Yes. Optimistic economic news, I love it. Before we go there, I just want to --

(CROSSTALK)

FOROOHAR: Me too.

FREEMAN: I just wanted to now -- quickly before we go to one more headline from this week, U.S. steel, once a symbol of America's economic might has agreed to sell itself to Japan's largest steelmaker. I'm just curious, what -- from your perspective, what impact do you think this will have on the U.S. economy and even you know, the broader global implications here?

FOROOHAR: So, it's interesting. Steel is a very patriotic product. You know, countries like to keep steel at home, they like to have a sense of, we can build things, you know, we can build ships if we need to, we're prepared for war if we need to be. That's what steel is all about.

So, it has kind of a disproportionate impact psychologically relative to the actual economic impact.

(CROSSTALK)

FREEMAN: Right.

FOROOHAR: There is been a lot of pushback, interestingly, bipartisan pushback against this deal. A lot of folks are saying, hey, we don't want a foreign buyer. I actually think it's an interesting moment, because, you know, you probably want some foreign money in the U.S.

There is -- there is been a push back against China. Do you want to make an alliance with Japan? I mean, some folks would argue that's a pretty good alliance to be made.

One issue is Nippon Steel, which is the buyer doesn't have the greatest track record in terms of dealing with a U.S. labor market -- sorry, you know, labor, union labor. So, there is going to be some pushback, I think, from the steel workers around that.

FREEMAN: Fascinating. Rana Foroohar, thank you as always for your insight, and for that good economic news. Appreciate it.

FOROOHAR: Yes! Happy holidays.

WALKER: Still ahead, actor Vin Diesel is being accused of sexual battery in a new lawsuit filed by a former assistant. A claim he is denying. We'll take a closer look, next.

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[07:53:34]

WALKER: "Fast and Furious" star, Vin Diesel, denies allegations of sexual battery made by his former assistants.

FREEMAN: The claims were brought forth in a lawsuit filed by the former assistant on Thursday.

CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister joins us now with more.

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Danny, Amara, an attorney for actor Vin Diesel, "categorically denies some serious allegations made against the star of the "Fast and the Furious" franchise, stemming from an alleged incident in Atlanta in 2010.

Diesel is accused of sexual battery and creating a hostile work environment for a former assistant, Asta Jonasson.

In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles on Thursday, Jonasson says Diesel forced himself on her in a hotel suite, pinned her against a wall, and later, masturbated in front of her.

In the lawsuit, Jonasson alleges that diesel groped her and kissed her, all while she tried to break free from his grasp and repeatedly said no.

The lawsuit goes on to say that Diesel abused his position of authority as her employer and was easily able to physically overpower her. Diesel sister, Samantha Vincent and his production company, One Race Productions are also being sued by Jonasson.

She is seeking a civil penalty of $10,000 for each violation, plus, unspecified punitive damages according to the suit.

Diesel's attorney says there is evidence to win refute these allegations and that "This is the first he has ever heard about this more than 13-year claim made by a purportedly nine-day employee.

[07:55:11]

An attorney for Jonasson says, "no one is too famous or powerful to evade justice. We hope her courageous decision to come forward helps create lasting change and empowers other survivors."

Danny and Amara?

WALKER: All right, Elizabeth Wagmeister, thank you very much.

We're going to take a short break, back after this. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:00:01]

FREEMAN: Good morning and welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. It is Saturday, December 23rd. I'm Danny Freeman. Victor Blackwell is off, and first of all, will be back next Saturday at 8:00.