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CNN This Morning

Trump and Zelenskyy Signal Confidence on Deal to End War; Congress versus the White House on A.I. Rules; William Taylor is Interviewed about the Ukraine War; Trump and Netanyahu to Discuss Gaza Ceasefire. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired December 29, 2025 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:33:47]

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I do think we're getting a lot closer. Maybe very close.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: We agree that security guarantees is a key milestone in achieving lasting peace.

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BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump and Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meeting Sunday in Florida. While both cited progress, several key issues remain, including the question of Ukrainian territory. The U.S. and Ukraine could meet again as early as next week.

Good morning, everybody. I'm Brian Abel, in for Audie Cornish. Thank you for joining me on CNN THIS MORNING.

It is 6:30 here on the East Coast. Here's what's happening right now.

A combination of nasty, severe weather and winter storms are leaving behind a trail of destruction across the Midwest. In Illinois, at least three suspected tornadoes were reported Sunday. You can see the moment a transformer blew in Indiana as high winds toppled trees and power lines. And in the Great Lakes region, about 100,000 people are without power. Blizzard conditions in Iowa caused a 14-car pileup on Interstate 35 on Sunday. And those blizzard warnings, they're still up for about two million people across parts of the upper Midwest.

[06:35:03]

President Trump's idea for a 50-year mortgage might not come to light anytime soon. His HUD secretary says it needs more time.

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SCOTT TURNER, HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT SECRETARY: I think more research needs to be done on a 50-year mortgage. The administration, we'll discuss what's the best possible path, secure path, to help the American people to afford a home, not just now, not just the younger generation, not just gen z, millennial, but all the American people.

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ABEL: The president backed the 50-year mortgage proposal last month, but it was quickly met with backlash, with critics saying it would only lead to homeowners paying more in interest and wouldn't boost homeownership.

A tennis match billed as a modern-day battle of the sexes, ends in a victory for the men. The number one rated women's tennis player in the world, Aryna Sabalenka, squared off with Nick Kyrgios, a former top 15 rated men's player, on Sunday. The exhibition match in Dubai ended with Kyrgios winning in straight sets.

Well, after three hours of talks in Florida Sunday, there is still no major breakthrough to end the war in Ukraine. President Trump and Ukrainian Leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy signaled they are about 90 to 95 percent of the way there, but major sticking points remain.

Joining me now, CNN's Clare Sebastian in London.

Clare, good morning.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Brian.

I think it's clear that the five or ten percent or whatever is left are by far the hardest bits on which this entire process hinges, namely, of course, territory. And we just heard from the Kremlin this morning, Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, making it very clear that the violence would only stop, he said, if Ukraine withdraws from the entire Donbas region. That's the entirety of Donetsk and Luhansk. Ukraine still controls some of that, including some of its most formidable defenses. So, Russia is asking for something which I think is broadly unprecedented in recent memory, which is territory that it hasn't even taken militarily.

So, this is where this process stands at this point. I think it's clear that underneath the progress that was touted in this meeting, there isn't any real detailed concept yet, as Zelenskyy said this morning, for what to do with that piece of territory in the Donbas, which Ukraine controls. The U.S. side had floated a free economic zone, perhaps a demilitarized zone. He doesn't have the details on that yet, he says.

And I think it's clear as well that underneath those warm words and positive noises that came out of both Trump and Zelenskyy in that press conference, there was rhetoric coming from the U.S. president that I think is definitely concerning for Ukraine.

Take a listen to this portion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think -- the land you're talking about. Some of that land has been taken. Some of that land is maybe up for grabs. But it may be taken over the next period of a number of months. And you're better off making a deal now.

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SEBASTIAN: So, concerning because it seems to echo a line that we got from the Russian readout of the call between Trump and Putin on Sunday, where Dmitry Ushakov (ph), who's a Kremlin aide, said, "given the situation on the front lines, it would make sense for the Ukrainian regime to adopt this decision regarding Donbas without delay."

And that echo continued into Monday morning. Dmitry Peskov saying that Trump had essentially reminded his Ukrainian interlocutors, as he put it, that they were losing land and would continue to lose it. So, it seemed that the U.S. president broadly echoing a Kremlin line there concerning for Ukraine. And its moments like those that I think undermine that sense of progress.

But look, security guarantees are now on paper from the U.S. They're just discussing the terms. So, that's progress for Ukraine. And Zelenskyy talking about the next steps as he hopes that they will meet at adviser level Ukraine and the U.S. in the coming week, and then we'll progress to a meeting of the coalition of the willing with European leaders. Then another meeting involving Trump, potentially in Washington. And after that he said he would be willing to meet with Russia in any format. But, of course, we have no sense from Russia that they're willing to do that, nor, of course, that their position has changed in any way.

Brian.

ABEL: A lot of meetings before that potential meeting were to happen.

Clare Sebastian for us in London. Clare, thank you.

Well, the gloves are off in Washington's fight over A.I. The White House wants fewer rules, but Congress doesn't agree. Lawmakers are demanding guardrails on A.I.'s impact on jobs and keeping kids safe when using it. That bipartisan power is directly challenging the Trump administration's push to loosen regulations.

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SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): This is the most consequential technology in the history of humanity. It will transform our country. It will transform the world. And we have not had, in Congress, in the media, and I'm glad you're doing this show, or among the American people, the kind of discussion that we need.

SEN. KATIE BRITT (R-AL): It is imperative that we put up guardrails, especially when you're looking at A.I.

If these A.I. companies can make the most brilliant machines in the world, they could do us all a service by putting up proper guardrails.

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ABEL: All right, the group chat is back.

You hear both of these senators, guys, agree that action is needed. But the Trump administration just issued this executive order that's challenging state A.I. laws. Where does the power reside right now really? Is it Congress that can actually override the White House's push for fewer rules, Stephen?

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: I think right now the power lies with the White House. The president has been trying to dismantle any limits on A.I. A lot of those tech titans are very close to the administration, and there are big questions about that.

ABEL: They have been coming in and out of the White House.

COLLINSON: That said, I think it's about time there was this kind of discussion in Washington about the impact on this -- of this technology, especially on jobs. I think it's quite likely we're going to see the political power shift on this in the run up to the 2026 election. There's going to be extreme pressure, I think, on candidates of both parties to come up with answers for workers who are going to lose their jobs just as, say, 15 years ago we saw the political impact of the loss of blue collar jobs in the Midwest moving abroad. I think we're going to see the same political consequences playing out in the future through the loss of white collar jobs.

ABEL: And that could change the power dynamic here as well.

Mike, I know you have a background here in tech. So, we heard Senator Sanders there warn about economic devastation from a business development perspective. What's the real cost for putting up guardrails like this?

MIKE LEON, HOST, "CAN WE PLEASE TALK?" PODCAST: Yes. So, there's two things. Both senators are coming at it from different angles. Let's do the jobs one first, which is what Bernie Sanders is. So, you know, whenever we would look at our operating budget when we worked in technology and we're building out let's say an application, you look at A.I. to circumvent areas where human effort would be needed, right? That causes elimination of redundancies. So, what's going to happen now is companies are going to look at, could -- do we need to spin up somebody, pay them insurance, all of these other benefits, versus using A.I. technology to kind of replicate some of the things that they can do and then have the manual oversight transferred to other people. That is a huge thing. To Stephen's point, that could, you know, start to see some reductions across different industries and sectors.

ABEL: And as you continue, I do want to show, here is what President Trump's A.I. executive order entails. Calls for a single national A.I. policy. It seeks to block state laws seen as barriers to innovation, and creates A.I. litigation task force, like what you're talking about here, to challenge state regulations.

LEON: Yes. And -- well, and then the second thing is what Senator Britt is talking about with respect to children and with respect to the happy path, as we call it, in the product world of the onboarding flow. So, when you download one of these ChatGPTs, what is that onboarding flow look like for somebody that's under the age of 18 versus somebody that's over the age of 18? A lot of the times, you know, product managers and the way these companies can create the guardrails is to create that path so that the machine is asking, are you this age? You have to prove it to me. We all go through the different things where we've got to pick the staircases, right? And we hate that. Well, we've got to go through more layers and more hurdles. It's not just selecting something with a button that could be bypassed. And I think there's a lot of talk about that and how that protects children. But the jobs one is probably the bigger impact to the economy.

ABEL: But let's talk about protecting children here, because you have Senator Britt's bill here. It's not gaining a lot of traction at this point despite, Francesca, the White House saying that they support protecting children. So, why isn't there more of a push here?

FRANCESCA CHAMBERS, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, "USA TODAY": I'll be interested to see what role First Lady Melania Trump could potentially play in this discussion. She has raised similar issues. Her campaign for children, Be Best, is something that she has focused on this issue as a part of that.

So, we've seen in the past that she, in this -- in this White House, you know, has had some influence with her husband when it pertains to children, when you think about the role she's also played in trying to bring back Ukrainian children that were forcibly taken to Russia, for instance. So, she is someone who could be a potential ally to the Katie Britts of the world in this particular debate.

With respect to the broader White House, what I think you're referring to as kind of the tension between these two things. The White House sees this as a major national security issue. It's a race between the U.S. and China to develop A.I. and to be the leader in the A.I. space. And so, you know, that is one of the arguments that the White House has laid out for why they need to have consistent rules at the national level so that states cant individually slow down the progress that they want to see made here.

ABEL: And it's also an urgent issue because we are seeing how many teens, stories after stories of teens interacting with A.I. and dying by suicide. So, it is something that seriously needs to be addressed in a quick manner. Hopefully we can see that happen.

Stick with me, guys. We're going to have the group chat with us.

But next on CNN THIS MORNING, no breakthrough, but progress on a peace deal in Ukraine.

[06:45:03]

Can they get Russia to the table?

Plus.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Both of these guys don't trust one another. I'm not even sure they like one another. But the reality is, they need one another.

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ABEL: President Trump keeping his foreign diplomacy hat on. Today, Israel's prime minister heads to Mar-a-Lago.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're in final stages of talking. And we're going to see. Otherwise, it's going to go on for a long time. It will either end or it's going to go on for a long time and millions of additional people are going to be killed.

[06:50:01]

Millions. And nobody wants that.

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ABEL: You see him there, President Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meeting for a three-hour session Sunday as they search for a deal which could end the war in Ukraine. The talks come as Russia continues its brutal bombing campaign across Ukraine, with two people killed and dozens more injured in Ukraine's capital over the weekend. Ukraine is calling for an immediate ceasefire as one of the conditions to end the war. But so far, Russia and Vladimir Putin have refused to stop bombing. Something President Trump says he understands.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Not a ceasefire. And that's one of the points that we're working on right now. No, not a ceasefire. He feels that, look, you know, they're fighting and to stop and then if they have to start again, which is a possibility, he doesn't want to be in that position.

But I understand President Putin from that standpoint. You know, you have to understand the other side. And, you know, I'm on the side of peace. I'm on the side of stopping the war.

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ABEL: Joining me now, William Taylor, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.

Ambassador, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us this morning.

President Trump says he is on the side of peace. You heard him say it there. But after seeing how these talks played out over the weekend and including those comments you just heard there about Vladimir Putin and the continued bombing, what side do you think he is on?

WILLIAM TAYLOR, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: So, Brian, President Trump knows, we know that President Putin is the one who is pursuing this war. President Putin can stop this war with a decision tomorrow. But instead, he is bombing Ukrainian civilians. So, this is very well understood.

And what needs to happen, of course, is for President Trump, if he's serious about wanting to stop this war, to put pressure on President Putin to do exactly that. And President Trump has leveraged to do that. It is very clear who started this war. It's very clear who can end this war. But it's going to take pressure from President Trump on President Putin to stop it.

ABEL: Well, so we hear that Zelenskyy is insisting that a deal must have a ceasefire first. We hear the president insisting there isn't a need for a ceasefire in this war to bring it to an end. But we know, toward the end of the Israel-Hamas war, one senior White House official told "The Washington Post," President Trump was using, quote, "maximum pressure" on Israel to accept a ceasefire and hostage deal to end the war.

Why do you think the president was willing to use maximum pressure to get a ceasefire in that conflict but not this one?

TAYLOR: Well, Brian, you answered that. That -- you answered it exactly in the -- in the question. That is, in order to get to -- the war to end, in order to get Putin to stop killing civilians in Ukraine, in order to stop all of the -- all the damage that Putin and the Russians are doing, he -- Putin needs to decide. And Putin will decide when President Trump puts pressure on him.

And you're right, President Trump knows how to put maximum pressure to get a ceasefire. That's what happened in the Middle East. That's what needs to happen in Ukraine.

ABEL: And, Ambassador, President Trump says there are only a few sticking points that are remaining over a deal, but also said this when asked about what a post-war future looks like.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Russia is going to be helping. Russia wants to see Ukraine succeed. Once -- it sounds a little strange, but I was explaining to the president, President Putin was very generous in his feeling toward Ukraine succeeding, including supplying energy, electricity and other things at very low prices.

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ABEL: OK, so President Trump says Russia wants Ukraine to succeed as Russia bombs their cities daily. What do you think he's trying to say there?

TAYLOR: I have no idea, Brian. Russia clearly wants to destroy Ukraine. And President Putin has been clear about this. He's said this over and over, in writing, in speeches. He has said he wants to destroy, eliminate Ukraine. He thinks Ukraine doesn't exist. There is no way that President Putin has good feelings about Ukraine. And frankly, the Ukrainians do not trust President Putin one bit on this.

ABEL: All right, Ambassador William Taylor, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, really appreciate your time this morning. Thank you.

TAYLOR: Thank you, Brian.

ABEL: You bet.

As one world leader exits, another enters. This afternoon, President Donald Trump will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago. And there's a lot to cover. The fragile Gaza ceasefire, tensions with Iran. But for Netanyahu, it's also seen as the opening act of his 2026 re-election campaign.

CNN's Paula Hancocks joins us from Abu Dhabi with the latest headlines on this upcoming meeting.

Paula.

[06:55:07]

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brian, we know what the priority will be for the U.S. president, Donald Trump. He wants to move from the ceasefire and move it to phase two. So, moving this process along. That he says that he was the one that created the ceasefire. He has taken praise for this ceasefire. But it really has been stalling over the last few weeks. So, he would like to be able to announce something today, whether it is the board of peace, which he will head up, the Palestinian technocrats, which will be part of this, or whether he will give more details on this international stabilization force, which is the boots on the ground from a number of different countries to keep the peace in Gaza.

Now, what Israel wants, and they have been very clear about this, is that Hamas has to disarm before they consider to carry out some of their obligations in phase two, which is to withdraw even further from within the Gaza Strip, to pull its military out even further.

And we also know that Benjamin Netanyahu doesn't want to just talk about Gaza. He wants to talk about Iran and the perceived threat that he believes is being rebuilt there against Israel, and also Lebanon and concerns about Hezbollah trying to rearm and regroup in the southern part of Lebanon.

So, it will be an interesting meeting to see which heads prevail at this point and whether there will actually be something concrete that President Trump will be able to announce at the end of this meeting. We know that he would like to. We know that there has been frustration that this appears to have been going far slower than the Trump administration wants it to.

Brian.

ABEL: All right, Paula Hancocks, appreciate that reporting. Thank you.

Well, the group chat is back.

Let's discuss this. Now, this visit is seen as crucial, right, for the Gaza plan moving forward, getting into that second phase. Is that something that is the only outcome that they are looking for here? What's surrounding these talks?

CHAMBERS: Sure. Well, the Israelis would like to talk about Iran's ballistic missile program, and that will be at the forefront of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's agenda. But when it comes to the White House and President Trump, she was talking about how it's been stalled ever since the ceasefire took place. I mean the bodies of most of the hostages have been returned. All but one. All the living hostages have been returned. But when it comes to this board of peace, President Trump has said he'd like to name the people who will be sitting on it, who will manage Gaza in the interim early in January. And that's coming up on us fast at this very point.

ABEL: OK.

And, Stephen, I do want to bring up, there's a -- there's this tweet by Marjorie Taylor Greene that she put out. It says, "Zelenskyy today, Netanyahu tomorrow. Can we just do America?"

How much political risk does President Trump take by tying his diplomatic brand so closely to Netanyahu here?

COLLINSON: I think that obviously there is a faction in the MAGA movement that believe that President Trump was only going to do America first, and they interpreted that as domestic policy. The administration would argue, I think, that presidents don't have that luxury and this is all about American security and ultimately, if he can get peace in Ukraine and the Middle East, lessening America's exposure to the rest of the world.

But I think what the White House wants here is quick progress because it knows if there isn't quick progress, this whole Middle East peace issue could fall apart. And that is one of the great achievements so far of the president's term and will be key to his legacy.

Netanyahu, obviously, has his own political pressures, just like the president, from his right-wing coalition. He's potentially facing a re-election race later this year. His position is quite difficult as well. So, Trump has some leverage there because he's more popular in Israel than Netanyahu is according to many polls.

ABEL: All right, Stephen, it is time for us to talk about what's in our group chat.

I guess I'll go first. And I'll say that over the holiday I was back in Michigan and it was a struggle with "Stranger Things," guys. You know, it was, do you watch it, do you not, because these are like hour and, what, 40 minute episodes, this newest batch. And if you don't watch it, how do you avoid spoilers? Because I feel like it is all over the internet.

CHAMBERS: So, we were talking about this before.

ABEL: Yes.

CHAMBERS: The finale is going to be a two-hour and five minute runtime, but it's going to be in movie theaters. And it's going to be New Year's Eve. So, you could ring in the new year by going to watch the finale to make sure there's no spoilers and no one talks to you about it.

ABEL: Yes, and just don't go on the internet at all until then, apparently.

Mike, what's in yours?

LEON: Well, I mean, over this break, I went to the Jake Paul fight down in Miami against Anthony Joshua. So, the conversation was, would you take $92 million to get hit in the face by Anthony Joshua? And I would not take $92 million to get hit by a 6'5", 240 pound gentleman who I've happened to met.

[07:00:03]

You know, I work a lot in the boxing space with Jake's team. So, it was -- it was a fun event.

ABEL: Yes.

LEON: But I think we saw that you can't play boxing, right? And that's what came out of that. And, you know, we'll see what happens with Jake Paul's (INAUDIBLE).

ABEL: And maybe that will cover the hospital visit afterwards, all those millions of dollars.

LEON: (INAUDIBLE).

ABEL: My goodness.

Thank you all in the group chat. Appreciate you guys.

Thank you for waking up with us. I'm Brian Abel. The headlines are next.