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DOJ Under Fire After Release Of Heavily Redacted Epstein Files; U.S. Launches Retaliatory Strikes In Syria On Dozens Of ISIS Targets; Investigators Seek Motive For Shootings Of MIT Professor And Brown Students. Trump DOJ Releases Trove of Heavily Redacted Epstein Files; Eight Dead After Russian Attack on Odesa Region; NASCAR Legend Greg Biffle Dies with Family in a Plane Crash. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired December 20, 2025 - 06:00   ET

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

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[06:00:28]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: It's Saturday. And I'm Victor Blackwell. Welcome to your weekend. December 20th. Here's what's new this morning.

The Epstein files are out, but there's a big asterisk there because not all of the files. The Department of Justice is defending the release and pushing back on criticism that they're breaking the law by not revealing everything they have and heavily redacting a lot of those documents. So we'll break down what's in the files and what's not.

Plus, the U.S. strikes back. We're getting our first look at video of a retaliatory attack in Syria. This is after the death of two U.S. troops and a civilian translator.

Plus, President Trump in North Carolina for a rally style speech. It was supposed to have been focused on reassuring people about the economy. But as you might expect, he didn't stick to that script. What he said, that's ahead.

All right, new this morning. First up, there is backlash that's growing for the Department of Justice only partially releasing its long awaited files on its investigation of deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Some lawmakers are slamming the Department of Justice, the Democratic congressman who co-authored the Epstein files. Law sells CNN that is considering filing articles of impeachment against Attorney General Pam Bondi over that rollout.

As we're combing through the documents, there are hundreds of pages that look like this, just entirely blacked out, redacted pages. Beyond that, our team noticed there are even inconsistent redactions.

The Justice Department, for its part, is pushing back on the criticism. The Office of the Deputy Attorney General says that the sensitive nature of the material requires extra time to review and redact the documents.

The DOJ also says the complete set of documents will be released over the coming weeks. CNN senior justice correspondent Evan Perez has more on what's in the documents and what's not.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Hundreds of thousands of pages of documents from the Justice Department's investigation of sex predator Jeffrey Epstein, more than 200 Justice Department lawyers spending weeks reviewing them and the names of more than 1,200 victims and their relatives remain.

The Justice Department says it at least partially complied with a deadline set by Congress to produce a trove of so called Epstein files. What's not in the files might be a bigger deal than what's in this massive trove posted on the Justice Department's website.

On Friday, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche sent a letter to Congress saying that there were several categories of documents that the department is withholding in addition to the sex abuse materials and the personal data on Epstein survivors. Blanche says that the department is withholding material covered by various privileges, including deliberative process privilege, work product privilege and attorney client privilege.

Democrats are accusing the department of violating the law. Here's Robert Garcia, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee.

REP. ROBERT GARCIA (D-CA): This is absolutely breaking the law. I mean, they have not produced actually what they were required to do, which was all the files by today in a way that was searchable for the public. And that is not what's the case. What we have essentially is one, we have a group of documents have already been released to the public. And so there is could be even more than half of the documents we're reviewing right now have already been released.

That already does not count for new information. Then we have what appears to be new, including some photos and other documents. Those are highly redacted and we don't really have any explanation as to why they've been redacted or what is actually there in those documents. And so we have right now are what we're seeing is not transparency.

PEREZ: Blanche in his letter says that the law passed by Congress last month forcing the release of the Epstein documents, quote, does not include language expressly requiring the department to produce privileged materials. Blanche also says that the department is going to continue producing more documents in the coming weeks. Evan Perez, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right, Evan, thank you for that. Let's discuss now what all of this means with CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig. Elie, good morning to you.

So I want to start with those privileges that the DOJ claim, deliberative process, work product, attorney client. The law is very clear. It's short. It's two pages here. It's really a page and a half.

[06:05:02]

And can those coexist with the five permitted withholdings that have been provided by law and what the DOJ is claiming as the reason for all of those redactions?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Victor, good morning. You're one of the very few people I would gladly wake up for at this hour on a -- on a Saturday morning. So great question. And I think you've identified exactly one of the big problems with DOJ's document production.

One of the problems, first of all, is simply that it's late. The law is unambiguous. It doesn't say that DOJ has to begin its document production or make a partial production 30 days out, which was yesterday. It says, shall provide all documents. They simply did not do that.

Now, as to the second point, I have real questions about the Deputy Attorney General's claim that the law allows them to withhold what we call deliberative process documents. What that means, Victor, is inside prosecutors' offices, there are all sorts of internal memos that circulate.

I used to write memos saying we should charge this person, we should not charge this person, we should give them a deal or not a deal, et cetera. And that is what DOJ often refers to as deliberative process documents. Ordinarily, we don't turn those over.

However, the law that you're holding, Victor, subsection 7 specifically says DOJ does have to turn over documents about whether to prosecute or not prosecute, whether to investigate or not investigate. So I think, frankly, Todd Blanche is wrong there, and several members of Congress have expressed concern about that.

BLACKWELL: Let me read directly from that law. The Epstein Files Transparency Act calls for DOJ to make publicly available internal DOJ communications, including emails, memos, meeting notes, concerning decisions to charge, not charge, investigate or decline to investigate Epstein or his associates. Very clear.

On the timing, you said that it's not to start releasing, but to complete the release and make a searchable availability by midnight on the 19th. The deputy AG, Todd Blanche said to Congress, listen, there's so much here. It's the sheer volume and the detail through which these must be inspected. And it will take a couple of weeks.

Is that plausible that they had 30 days from the passage of the law?

HONIG: It's plausible that this was a massive undertaking. I mean, I get it. I've had to redact documents. This was a very large body of text, body of documents. That said, it's not an excuse. You don't get to say when a law is passed by Congress, by the House, 427 to 1 by the Senate unanimously signed by the President of the United States. And you're the Justice Department. You don't then get to say sorry guys, we tried. We just couldn't make it on time. It's not optional.

Victor, DOJ has annual budget of over $44 million. There's 110 plus thousand employees. They had to have found a way. And I think the fact that they just kind of cavalierly. Todd Blanche went on TV yesterday morning and said yes, we're not going to make it. We're going to do our best. I think that's inexcusable.

Now they've said they will finish this production within the next couple weeks. We'll see if they do that. But I think they've undermined their credibility and their capacity by just sort of casually blowing off a statutory deadline.

BLACKWELL: The survivors wanted to see their stories. They had this date circled on their calendars. They wanted to know what the FBI knew about the people that they say trafficked them, raped them, abused them. They did not get those answers today or yesterday.

I want you to listen here to the Republican co-sponsor of the bill that became law that propelled or compelled this release. This is Thomas Massie.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): The victim's lawyers have been in contact with me and collectively they know there are at least 20 names of men who are accused of sex crimes in the possession of the FBI. These would reside in the FD-302 forms. If we get a large production on December 19th and it does not contain a single name of any male who's accused of a sex crime or sex trafficking or rape or any of these things, then we know they haven't produced all the documents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: DOJ responded and they said to set the record straight, no politically exposed persons were redacted from today's released Epstein documents. All references to PEPs were disclosed in full. Did you not see Clinton's face? There were photographs of former President Clinton. He says that he as a spokesperson says he didn't know about Epstein's crimes that cut off the relationship before they came to light.

But what do you make of the response from DOJ to what we heard from Massey ahead of the release?

HONIG: Well, I think that response, Victor, is nonresponsive. I think Representative Massie is legitimately talking about something else. What Representative Massie is saying, we know that victims have given statements to the FBI.

[06:10:03]

That's what an FD-302 is. It's an FBI formal written summary of a witness interview in which victims have said that certain men sexually abused them. And what Representative Massie is saying is if we don't see those 302s, if we don't see those summaries of FBI memos, then we will know that the production is incomplete.

Now, again, DOJ has sort of complicated the matter here by not turning everything over to just yet. DOJ's response there is sort of ships passing in the night. What DOJ is saying there is, we've shown you photographs of high profile people like Bill Clinton, but that doesn't show him engage in any criminality per se. So DOJ is sort off point there.

And this is one of the lingering questions that they're going to have to answer with their upcoming productions. Are we going to see actual implications of powerful men in serious criminal conduct? Because we know the victims have made those accusations. Are they in the DOJ files?

BLACKWELL: Elie Honig, I appreciate you waking up early for me on a Saturday. Thank you very much.

HONIG: Anytime, Victor. Thanks.

BLACKWELL: All right. Later this hour, we'll hear from some survivors who are reacting to the release of these files. Plus, I'll speak with a member of the House Oversight Committee which pushed for these documents to be released.

Also developing this morning, we have new video of U.S. strikes in Syria. The U.S. military says it was retaliation against ISIS for recent attack to kill two American service members and civilian translator. CNN's Barbie Latza Nadeau is following this for us.

So tell us about the strikes and also what President Trump is saying about them.

BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN REPOTER: Yes, you know, we know that there were 70 targets that were hit. Now, these were sort of infrastructure targets, weapons, supplies, things like that. We know that there were detentions and deaths.

Now, the U.S. Department of Defense is saying that this was an act of vengeance, not an act of war. This is, of course called the Hawkeye Operation because those two servicemen were from the state of Iowa. Hawkeye State.

Now, you know this is being deemed as a success by the U.S. administration. Let's listen to what President Trump had to say about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I ordered a massive strike on the terrorists that killed our three great patriots last week. Two soldiers, one interpreter, all great people. And it was very successful. It was precision. We hit every site flawlessly. And we are restoring peace through strength all over the world. (END VIDEO CLIP)

NADEAU: And you know, Victor, when you listen to that, there's a lot of confidence there. And this comes at a very difficult time in Syria. The Syrian president, of course, just at the White House last month, Syria, signing on to the U.S. led coalition against ISIS.

And so it's going to be interesting to see if this is sort of an end to a beginning of what would have been a new trouble in the area for end, you know, basically the end of the peace, relative peace in that area. Victor, everybody's got their eyes on what happens next.

BLACKWELL: Certainly. Barbie Latza Nadeau for us this morning. Thank you.

Up next on CNN This Morning, how investigators zeroed in on the Brown University shooting suspect and what it took to link him to the killing of that MIT professor.

Also, lower prices, bigger paychecks. The signs behind the president spell out the reason for his pit stop in North Carolina. But the economy was not the only topic up for discussion. The president's other comments just ahead.

And look at this. This is a crane, unsecured, spinning out of control in New York. We'll explain what's responsible for this a little later.

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[06:18:22]

BLACKWELL: Investigators are searching for motive in the murders of two Brown University students and an MIT physics professor. This is after the prime suspect was found dead in a storage facility from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. That alleged shooter was 48- year-old Portuguese national and a former Brown student. More now from CNN's Brian Todd in Rhode Island.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Victor, authorities in Providence now say they still have no clear motive for the shootings here at Brown University or the killing of the MIT professor in Massachusetts. Oscar Perez, the police chief of Providence, Rhode island, spoke to me not long ago and told me that they've pieced together other things that have told them more about the shooter's movements before the shootings here at Brown.

He says that the shooter was operating in what he called a very strategic manner, driving around smaller streets in Providence, not driving in major thoroughfares. The chief says he believes that was an attempt to avoid certain street surveillance cameras, certain cameras that would detect license plates and things like that. But he said they were still able to piece together his movements on the streets of Providence in the days and weeks leading up to the shooting. He says there was a lot of planning going on in the shooter's

movements and in his casing of this area before the shooting. And we of course know that the shooter had a confrontation with another person, a man who the affidavit just calls John. Shortly before the shootings, maybe a couple of hours before the shootings, a man who noticed him behaving strangely, who saw that he was behaving suspiciously, confronted him in a bathroom, followed him, had words with him, and that was the person who actually, according to officials later came forward and gave them some critical information that led them to break this case wide open and find the shooter finally in New Hampshire dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

[06:20:12]

Also, we're getting new accounts from a former classmate of the shooter's, a person who took physics classes with him at a university in Portugal many years ago, who wrote on Facebook and did an interview with a local newspaper in Portugal saying that the shooter was kind of a difficult person in class, that he thought he knew more than other people, that he was often confrontational with other students in class and was not a very pleasant person to be around.

What's also a critical piece of information that we have, Victor, is that even though authorities have had the shooter's name since Wednesday, according to Police Chief Perez, they have not yet made contact with any relatives he may have in the U.S. or in Portugal.

They are, of course, working to do that, very feverishly trying to get hold of any relatives that he may have. They do say that he had a residence in Miami that was his last known official address, but that he also maintained a residence here fairly recently. Victor.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Brian Todd, thank you very much. For more on the search for motive, now I want to bring in Donell Harvin. He's the former chief of homeland security and intelligence for Washington, D.C. good morning to you.

And before we talk about the search for a motive, there won't be a prosecution. And understandably the survivors and the families of the victims want answer to why. But from a law enforcement perspective, is there value in getting answer to that for authorities?

DONELL HARVIN, FORMER CHIEF OF HOMELAND SECURITY AND INTELLIGENCE, WASHINGTON DC: Absolutely. Every time that we can understand why mass murderers, mass shooters do what they do, it adds to the database of information that we use to protect the public.

I want to talk about this briefly, Victor, before we move on, because the holidays are coming and this story won't be a story in a few weeks. This is not a failure of law enforcement. Most criminal cases like this actually take a few days to a week to catch the suspect.

The reason why everyone's shocked is because you would think that it would be a lot more difficult or rather a lot easier to catch a suspect when they're going into a major international university, shooting 11 people, killing two people, and then being able to walk out and be basically free for six days.

The fact of the matter is this is a story of a failure of security at Brown University. That's the real reason why law enforcement took six days to locate this person. And it wasn't until we got a tip until they were able to find them.

BLACKWELL: OK, so I'll come back then to motive, but let me pull that thread while you exposed it. A failure of security at Brown. Is it limited to the cameras and the lack of footage inside that portion of this building, or is it the key fob that was not necessary to get into the building? Talk to me about where you see the failure points.

HARVIN: Yes, it's a perfect storm of all those things. I mean, I just did finals at my campus this past week. I passed by a security campus police officer who waved and said good morning. I had to use my phone, which is a key fob, essentially, or if you have a ID card, to get into the building. There's cameras in and outside of the building, and there were police -- campus police patrolling inside the campus.

And so all those things don't stop crimes, Victor, but they deter them. And if there is a crime that happens on campus, the campus police and law enforcement are readily able to identify and get that person's photo out within hours to law enforcement and to the community to help catch this person. And that's the key.

We didn't have any type of credible photo of this person for a few days. Meanwhile, this individual allegedly went on to kill another person in another state. Now, had Brown had proper cameras, well, I'm not saying the cameras would have prevented this tragedy had they had a deterrent like armed or just uniformed security patrolling the campus, or if they had key access or some type of fob access to the building, it may have prevented or deterred this individual from doing this crime or caught him quick, sooner before he was able to commit a second crime.

BLACKWELL: That's a connection to the Brown lack of security and potentially leading to the loss of another life. I had not heard that direct of a connection before. But let me get to the question of motive. How now our authorities trying to get that answer?

HARVIN: Well, it's tough. I mean, all the public reporting you've seen and I've seen the same thing, is that he was kind of a loner. They're going to have to go back, look at his social media, look at his electronic devices, look at any journals or things that he left behind.

You know, it's rare that individuals do these type of mass shootings, mass crimes, and don't leave any type of leakage, what we call breadcrumb trails. Either intimate that they're going to do something or threaten to online or to somebody that they're feeling this grievance and they're going to do something.

[06:25:06] Apparently it's hard to find his family members. We don't know if he's estranged from them. They'll have to look and see where he was working. Clearly, he wasn't here living for free, so he had to have some type of job or something that was employed. And someone has to know this individual. I'm sure they're speaking to these people, but you know, we don't want to jump to any conclusions in terms of motive, but this is the process now I think the family needs.

BLACKWELL: Donell Harvin, thank you so much. Thousands of heavily redacted pages from the Jeffrey Epstein files now publicly available, but there are many more that have not been released.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All these things, it's continuously failing us and string us along.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: We're hearing from survivors who have spent years fighting for answers.

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[06:30:00]

BLACKWELL: The frustrations are growing from survivors of Jeffrey Epstein. These are women who have waited decades for the release of these documents, and they now say they're struggling to navigate the Justice Department's Epstein library while searching for records tied to their own abuse.

Now, a lot of them say they found so little so far, but one survivor, Maria Farmer, says that she and her sister found a criminal complaint she filed in 1996 against Epstein. The discovery is renewing painful questions about what authorities knew and how long it went unaddressed.

Anxiety, as you might understand, still running high for a lot of the other victims. Here is how they're responding to the partial release of the Epstein documents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LISA PHILLIPS, JEFFREY EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: Victims want answers. We want -- we want to know, we want to connect the dots. We want our stories to make sense. We want to know a lot of different things. So, I mean, of course, they're just going to say that, that just buys time, but they're protecting themselves, not the victims.

ALICIA ARDEN, JEFFREY EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: I wanted all the files to come out, like they said that they were going to. And the redaction is a little bit puzzling to me because my police report was heavily redacted also in 1997. And I thought, is that allowed? Is that legal for them to do that? JENA-LISA JONES, JEFFREY EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: So, I feel like this was

kind of another joke to string it along a little bit. I'm pretty disappointed right now. I'm seeing the bare minimum, and even at the bare minimum, I think the American people should be looking at these and being like, why? Why is this going on?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: With me now is Congressman James Walkinshaw. He serves on the House Oversight Committee, which has been pushing for the release of these files. Congressman, good morning to you.

I was going to start with something that Todd Blanche wrote to Congress, but I'm just going to take a step back and start with those women who have been waiting for years to see something, to hear something about what the government knew about their cases. What do you hear when you listen to what they just said?

REP. JAMES WALKINSHAW (D-VA): It's heartbreaking to hear these women who have gone through so much and have courageously fought and fought and fought for transparency and accountability with respect to Epstein and his crimes, and to see the rug pulled out from underneath them once again by the Trump administration is heartbreaking.

But Democrats in Congress, certainly myself, we're going to continue to fight to get the survivors that transparency and accountability that they deserve.

BLACKWELL: So, let me then go to this question that I initially wanted to start with. And this is the letter that the deputy AG Todd Blanche sent to Congress overnight, in which I'm going to start with the very last line, and that's where we'll start this part of the conversation.

The department's commitment to transparency following the law and protecting all victims under the leadership of President Trump, Attorney General Bondi and FBI Director Patel will never waiver. What's your assessment of their commitment to transparency and whether they follow the law here?

WALKINSHAW: If this wasn't such a serious issue, I would laugh out loud on the air right now. This is an administration that has at every turn tried to block the release of the files, and we have to go back in time here. You know, in February of this year, Pam Bondi was claiming that she was going to release the files.

It then seems they learned that Donald Trump was in the files, perhaps in embarrassing ways. And then they started blocking the release of the files any way that they could. They refused to release them. They tried to prevent Congress from passing the legislation to release the files.

The Department of Justice has not been in compliance with the longstanding subpoena from the Oversight committee. So, they've been anything but transparent. And yesterday's partial release that does not comply with the law is anything but transparent. BLACKWELL: And we have just put that up on the screen, the pages and

pages of redacted elements of the releases, including 119 pages of grand jury information, the deputy AG says that there were 200 attorneys working long hours trying to reach this deadline.

And because of the detail of the inspection, it will take several more weeks, and they're not holding anything back. I mean, 30 days, was it enough time?

[06:35:00]

WALKINSHAW: Well, look, it's not just 30 days. They've been reviewing these files, we know for months and months and months. And the law is very clear, yesterday was the deadline to release the full files, obviously, with information related to survivors and victims' redacted.

But the law does not allow for a partial rolling release of the files on the timeline that the Trump administration or the Department of Justice deems appropriate. So, they're in violation of the law right now, we're going to continue to push and push and push for the full release of the files and explanations for each redaction.

BLACKWELL: Oh, so, let's go to that next point, and I want you to listen here to Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna. He is the co-author of the law that ultimately compelled the release. And this is in response to a question about potential consequence for the AG Pam Bondi and others related to this release.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RO KHANNA (D-CA): Thomas Massie and I talked about it. He's working, as am I, on drafting articles of impeachment and inherent contempt. We haven't decided whether to move it forward yet, but we're in the process of doing it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Would you back an impeachment inquiry of the Attorney General?

WALKINSHAW: Absolutely. Until and unless the files are released pursuant to the law, the Attorney General absolutely should be subject to impeachment, and I'll note, we now have in Congress a bipartisan coalition that wants transparency for these survivors, a small group of Republicans, but a group of Republicans nonetheless, who I think would also be very open to pursuing that if the law isn't followed here.

The other thing I want to urge is anyone in the Department of Justice who's been involved in this, and is -- has information related to any efforts to cover up the files and not comply with the law should come forward as a whistleblower, and whistleblowers have legal protections in this country.

They should come forward to Congress, and let us know what efforts are being made, if any, to prevent the full release of the files.

BLACKWELL: And so, you think there is enough Republican dissatisfaction or outrage after what was released and what was withheld yesterday to propel hearings, to launch investigations in Congress.

WALKINSHAW: I do, I do. We've seen on the Oversight Committee successful vote to subpoena the Department of Justice with a handful of Republicans joining with all Democrats. And I think we'll continue to see that moving forward. I think even Republicans in Congress, many of them are fed up with the Trump administration's cover up of the Epstein files.

BLACKWELL: Congressman James Walkinshaw, thank you so much for your time. Investigators uncover key evidence in the plane crash that killed NASCAR legend Greg Biffle and his family. What it could reveal about who was at the controls of the plane and why no distress call was made.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, METEOROLOGIST: And we're still dealing with heavy rain across the Pacific Northwest. But the next round is actually taking aim at central and northern California. We'll detail that timeline coming up.

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[06:40:00]

BLACKWELL: Breaking overnight. Eight people are dead, dozens hurt after a Russian attack on the Odesa region. Russia has been targeting Odesa for nine days now, resulting in week long power outages in parts of that region. All this is happening just hours after rounds of peace talks in Miami.

Special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner both met with Ukrainian officials on Friday. President Trump himself, he made a pit-stop in North Carolina for an economic speech on Friday on his way to Mar-a-Lago. He tried to take credit for this week's cooling inflation numbers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yesterday, it was announced that inflation is far lower than anybody expected. I told you. That's despite taking in billions and billions and billions, hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs. Remember they said, oh, the tariffs will cost inflation. It just came out with the best inflation report we've had in years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: But CNN spoke to multiple economists who all said this week's numbers are meaningless because the Bureau of Labor Statistics had insufficient survey data, and they expect the December report to make a rebound. The economy was not the only point of discussion. He also contemplated awarding himself a billion dollars to donate to

charity, all in connection with complaints he filed against the Justice Department. He pledged to alert the nation also if his health declines. We have new details in a deadly plane crash that killed NASCAR legend Greg Biffle and his family.

That Cessna plane crashed Thursday in Statesville, North Carolina, just ten minutes after takeoff. Biffle, his wife, two of their kids and three others died. Now, on Friday, NTSB officials revealed that they found the black box in the wreckage. It's on its way to Washington D.C. for analysis, and officials say it's unclear now who was flying the plane, but Biffle and two others on board were certified pilots.

Investigators say they're not aware of any mayday calls for the plane. And here's a moving tribute for those lost in last week's massacre on Australia's Bondi Beach.

[06:45:00]

Dozens of lifeguards, they lined the famous beach to honor the 15 people who died in that mass shooting. Police say a father and his son targeted a Hanukkah celebration on the beach last Saturday, an officer managed to kill the older suspect. The younger one is now in custody, charged with 54 offenses, including murder and committing a terrorist act.

Well, this may look unsettling, but it's actually safer. OK, someone in midtown Manhattan captured this video of an unsecured crane spinning around Friday night during a wind advisory. Department of Buildings officials investigated it and found, it was put into weathervane in configuration.

Well, that allows a crane to spin freely in the wind so it does not fall. Well, the department did close down nearby streets just in case, but they've already been reopened. Now, New York is not the only spot dealing with these high winds. Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is here with me to now look at your weekend weather. Who else is under it?

CHINCHAR: West Coast man and they cannot get a break. Now, we are going to see it shift to a different part of the west coast in the next couple of days, but it's still raining in the Pacific northwest, where it feels like it's been raining now for almost two weeks straight, and they're going to continue to get some more moisture through the rest of the day today.

But then we're going to start to see it transition a little bit farther south. Areas of northern and central California are the next target on the list. So, here's a look at the radar. Again, you can kind of see where we've already started to get a little bit of that plume of moisture begin to come back in.

But you still have it raining in places like Seattle and Portland right now. Now, over the next 24 hours, the rain here in California is really going to tick back up by Saturday afternoon where we're going to start to see those light showers turn into moderate. And by Sunday, now we're talking very heavy rain and yes, even

possibly a couple of thunderstorms in the mix. And that could also bring some very gusty winds to this area. Here's a look at the forecast radar. Again, still notice the stuff in the Pacific northwest.

But now, you start to see this afternoon. Look at more of that yellow and orange color there on the radar indicating the heavier rain that's coming in, especially as we head through the day Sunday. Then there's yet another round that comes in on Tuesday and another round that comes in on Thursday.

So, this area is going to get hit with back-to-back systems. And that means a lot of rain over the next week or so. Take a look at these numbers, now this just goes until Thursday. Keep in mind we'll still have another system on the back end of that.

You're talking widespread totals of 4 to 6 inches of rain along the coast, but 7 to 10 inches of rain is not out of the question. And snow, Victor, you're talking 2 to 5 feet.

BLACKWELL: I think that's a little more than a Winter wonderland, though.

CHINCHAR: Yes, set right --

BLACKWELL: A little more than that. All right, Allison, thank you. College football playoffs kicked off with some fireworks last night. Bama advances to the Rose Bowl with a win over Oklahoma. But there was plenty of drama surrounding the win. Andy Scholes takes us through that next.

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[06:50:00]

BLACKWELL: College football playoffs off to a stunning start. Alabama makes a huge comeback win over Oklahoma. Andy Scholes is here.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Victor, what a start to the college football playoffs. It was a great night of emotions for all of Alabama and Oklahoma fans. I mean, it started with tired fans by throwing stuff at their team, but it ended with them celebrating.

So, the Sooners, they just pounced on Alabama from the start in this game, you have 17 to nothing after this touchdown in the second quarter. That's really when just everything changed. Alabama's defense in special teams start making some big plays. They got a blocked punt, and then they also got a 50 yards pick 6 from Zabien Brown.

Alabama scored 27 unanswered points, and in the fourth quarter check out the catch here from Jerry Bernard, he's going to leap up, catch it behind the defender's helmet, an amazing grab. Alabama, they go on to win 34 to 24, tying the biggest comeback ever in a college football playoff game.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KALEN DEBOER, HEAD COACH, ALABAMA: We always talk about the games going to come back to us. We have too many good players. And if you just keep fighting, you're going to -- you're going to force them to make a mistake. Something is going to happen and just keep coming after them play-after-play.

And, you know, the game is going to come back to you. And that's what happened tonight. The game came back to us, and all of a sudden, we found opportunities where we could attack and go take advantage, and then more plays being made. And so, this was, you know, hopefully something we can really build off of.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How does it feel to silence the doubters and do it coming back from down 17 to nothing like you guys did today?

TY SIMPSON, QUARTERBACK, ALABAMA: What did Kobe say? We're not -- we're not done yet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes, not done yet. Alabama now moves on to the Rose Bowl where they will take on top seeded Indiana. You got three more playoff games today, starting with the Aggies hosting Miami at noon Eastern. That game is followed by a doubleheader on our sister station "TNT".

Ole Miss hosts Tulane at 3:30 Eastern, and the nightcap is Oregon hosting James Madison. All right, last night was the big boxing match on Netflix between Jake Paul and Anthony Joshua. You know, Paul has shown he's a decent fighter, but really no business in the ring against a 36-year-old former two-time heavyweight champion.

And Paul lasted to the sixth round before taking some huge blows from Joshua. He was knocked out right there. So, no huge upset last night. And then Paul tweeting hours after the fight, this x-ray, saying his jaw was broken in two places.

And guys, those punches look like they could break a jaw in two places. I mean, Paul, he's 5 inches shorter, 30 pounds lighter, I'm surprised it didn't go worse for him. I mean, that was a sixth round, only took a broken jaw, that was kind of a success.

BLACKWELL: Anthony Joshua ate Mike Tyson, right?

[06:55:00]

SCHOLES: Exactly --

BLACKWELL: So --

SCHOLES: He's not 59 years old.

BLACKWELL: Right, all right, Andy Scholes, thank you very much. Hey, before we go, remember to watch tonight, Roy Wood Jr. is hosting a holiday special, features the United States Air Force band. There's comedy from Roy and Craig Robinson. You've got music from Jessie James Decker. There's a lot in this

special, Roy Wood Jr's "VERY VERY VERY MERRY HOLIDAY SPECIAL", I think I got my verys right, airs tonight at 8:00 p.m. on CNN. You can also watch it on the CNN app. I want to thank you for joining me this morning.

Also remember, you would normally see me at 8:00 a.m. for "FIRST OF ALL", but that will not air today. "FIRST OF ALL" will be back in January, I will see you back here tomorrow morning though at 6:00 a.m. Eastern. "TABLE FOR FIVE" is up next after a short break.

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