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Erin Burnett Outfront
Trump At A Loss For Words After Two Major Democratic Upsets; U.S. Seizes Oil Tanker Off Venezuelan Coast In Major Escalation; Dow Soars 500 Points After Unusually Divided Fed Cuts Rates Again. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired December 10, 2025 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:21]
ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
Trump stumped. The president at a loss for words after Democrats scored two major upsets, including the first Democrat elected mayor of Miami in nearly 30 years. She's my guest.
Plus, breaking news, seized. U.S. forces are now in control of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. So, is the U.S. going to war?
And a plane made an emergency landing on a highway tonight. I'll speak with the father and son who witnessed that crash and recorded the video seen around the world.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
(MUSIC)
HILL: And good evening. I'm Erica Hill, in for Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, Trump stumped. The president tonight, who's rarely at a loss for words, unable to answer a simple question after Democrats scored two major upsets last night, one of them in Trump's own backyard.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Are you worried at all about the Democrats winning a couple more things in Miami?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't worry. For whatever reason, and nobody's been able to give me an answer. When you win the presidency, you seem to lose the midterms. Usually I can figure things out, but I don't know what.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: The president tonight, reeling from that seismic shift in his home state of Florida, a Democrat there winning the race for Miami mayor for the first time in almost 30 years. Eileen Higgins, a Peace Corps director turned county commissioner, with a decisive 19-point win in a county that Trump won by 11 points against an opponent who Donald Trump himself had endorsed.
Eileen Higgins joins me live in a moment.
Democrats also flipping a Georgia state house seat, which Trump won by double digits. Those elections sending shock waves through the GOP. Not only did Trump personally tell voters in Miami to, quote, get out and vote for Emilio Gonzalez, he'll never let you down. But Florida's governor, Ron DeSantis, Senator Rick Scott and Texas Senator Ted Cruz also got behind Gonzalez.
It clearly, though, was not enough. One reason, potentially, for Higgins' win, her focus on the economy and the affordability crisis. It is an issue that President Trump continues to struggle with.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
INTERVIEWER: I do want to talk about the economy, sir, here at home, and I wonder what grade you would give the economy.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A-plus.
INTERVIEWER: A-plus?
TRUMP: Yeah, A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus.
The word affordability is a con job. They use the word affordability. It's a Democrat hoax.
Look, affordability is a hoax.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: All of this, of course, comes as a Democrat. Came within single digits of the Republican candidate in Tennessee just last week in a district that Trump won by 22 percentage points. And after across the board wins for Democrats in the major races on election day.
Is Trump's prediction ultimately going to be right that, as we just heard from him, quote, when you win the presidency, you lose the midterms?
OUTFRONT now for her first national prime time interview is Miami Mayor-elect Eileen Higgins.
Madam Mayor-elect, good to have you with us. Congratulations. I know affordability was a major focus for you in your campaign. We just heard from the president once again downplaying that issue. How much do you believe this is what drove voters to the polls.
EILEEN HIGGINS, MIAMI MAYOR-ELECT: In Miami, affordability -- we really are the tip of the spear. The cost of housing in our community is so high relative to the jobs we've typically had. And a service economy, right? We have lots of tourism jobs. They're often not well paid.
So, housing affordability matters most. I came into this election with a track record as a county commissioner in the city, and I had built thousands of units of affordable housing. So, people here trusted me when I said, when I am going to make sure we build thousands of more units of affordable housing, whether it's for senior citizens or working families.
HILL: So, when we look at that, what you ran on, it's also fascinating to watch the reaction both last night and throughout the day. Today, the DNC, of course, calling this win a warning sign for Republicans nationally ahead of the midterms.
I'm curious, what do you believe your win says on a national level?
HIGGINS: My win says I believe that when you get elected, as I did in 2018, if you do what you say you're going to do, focus on what the people really need. In the case of Miami, they want Miami that's more affordable.
We are also the front line on climate change, and so we need to make sure our streets aren't flooding. We've got to support small businesses. And in this day and age, they need a local government that talks about people respectfully, because we do have the politics of trickle-down hatred from Washington on this anti-immigrant fervor that is really cruel, inhumane, and making people afraid to live here in their own community.
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HILL: When we talk about immigration, you just saw the cruel and inhumane. I know you've also called some of the presidents tactics sinful. The mayor-elect here in New York City, Zohran Mamdani, is offering this advice. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR-ELECT ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK: We can all stand up to ICE. If you know your rights. ICE is legally allowed to lie to you, but you have the right to remain silent. If you're being detained, you may always ask, "Am I free to go?" repeatedly until they answer you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Do you think that your city will become more of a target for the administration? And I'm curious whether you would engage in the -- in the same way as were seeing from Mayor-elect Mamdani.
HIGGINS: Our community is already a target. Just a few short weeks ago, we had over 100,000 Venezuelan residents, not just in the city of Miami, but in the county at large, lose their temporary protected status.
And this is so heartbreaking. These people have been here -- I give you an example. I was talking to a person in the health clinic business. He received notification from the federal government, had to fire immediately 27 people. That's 27 people that are no longer the breadwinner for their families. And a health clinic with 27 empty spaces, no employees to help their
patients or their clients. It is not only mean and cruel to families, its actually just super, ridiculously bad for our economy. We need to find a better way.
HILL: Do you think you'll be able to have those conversations?
HIGGINS: I am having these conversations I have been speaking with residents during this entire campaign about making sure we are lifting our voices up. We know the federal government is in charge, right?
I'm not confused about my role as a local mayor. I get to work on flooding. I get to build affordable housing. I got to support small businesses. I got to put in stop signs when people are driving too fast on our streets.
But let me tell you, as mayor of the city of Miami, I intend to speak up for our community. We are a place where people have come from all over. We have lived peacefully in harmony with extremely low. As a matter of fact, record low crime rates.
They said they were going to come and they were going to get the criminals. And that's not what's happening. They're going after everyone. They need to come to their senses and put together some policies that do what the people wanted, secure the border so we know who's coming and going, but making sure that we have the workers, our economy needs to continue to grow.
HILL: Before I let you go, there's so much that is being made of the politics in this moment with your election. But I have to say, I'm really struck by the fact that it is 2025 and you are the first woman ever elected mayor of Miami, ever. That is also remarkable.
HIGGINS: It's particularly remarkable because were a city that was founded by a woman, Mary Brickell. So many people just think, of course, we've had a woman mayor, but she was the founder, not the mayor. It's a real honor to serve all the people of the city and to know that I'm the first woman to do it. It's really something special.
HILL: But Mayor-elect Higgins, appreciate the time tonight. Thank you.
HIGGINS: Thank you very much.
HILL: My panel is here.
So, David, as we look at where things stand in this moment, following what we saw in Miami, following what we saw in Georgia -- how much do you believe this is a wake-up call on a national level?
DAVID AXELROD, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it's certainly a flashing red light. I mean, we've seen so many. This is part of a pattern -- you know, we saw the elections on November 4th. We saw what happened, as you mentioned, in Tennessee last week, and not just in these big high-profile races, but in small local races all around the country. You're seeing Democrats win races that you wouldn't think they'd win.
You had one in Georgia legislative race yesterday. The Republican Party is in trouble and they're in trouble because the president has been unresponsive on the fundamental issue that got him elected. People felt Joe Biden had failed to deal with the issue of inflation, that Trump said, I'm going to deal with this on day one. I'm going to get these prices down quickly.
And then he sort of ignored it. And now, you know, he's giving himself an A-plus-plus-plus-plus. I wish he had greeted me when I was in school, but -- but you know, it's insulting to the vast majority of Americans who are trying to get by.
HILL: And it's to your point exactly what he ran on, right? Joe Biden doesn't hear you. He doesn't understand how difficult it is for you. Well, hello.
S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It was the signature promise of MAGA. And he told voters, "I hear you. Democrats are telling you the economy is great.
[19:10:01]
I know it's not. And I feel your pain." And now he's calling it a hoax.
Look, I don't know that it's time to put Florida back in the swing state column, but there's -- I think, a couple story lines happening here. I talked to a Republican in Miami earlier today, and he said, I think this is a lot of Gen Z worrying about housing and affordability, and Hispanics worrying about immigration. Those were two very motivating voter groups that came out in this election.
But I also see in this because I covered Mamdani election I also see in this a story of organizing after the general election in Miami, Democrats, the Democratic Party swooped in. They got -- started working the phones hard. They turned out multilingual volunteers into the streets. They started pounding the pavement. Folks like Rahm Emanuel went down to lend a hand.
The organizing, as much as a story as it was for Mamdani, I think is a big story here, too, and I feel like the parties have both gotten a little complacent about old school campaigning, knocking on doors, calling people on the phone and making your pitch. And a lot of that happened here in Miami.
AXELROD: You know, one of the interesting things is that in the election of 2024, the groups, the two groups that moved the most were young voters and Hispanic voters, and they moved into the president's column. And we heard a lot of speculation about the new coalition, much like when Barack Obama won. This is going to -- this is the coalition that's going to prevail.
The fact is, people make their own decisions. They're not going to get shoved into a coalition if you let them down, they will -- they will leave you. And so that would worry me if I were the Republicans as well.
HILL: And this seems to be especially maybe it's all young voters, right? Maybe I'm so much older now that it feels different. But when you look at younger voters, they expect their -- those promises to be met.
(CROSSTALK)
HILL: So yes --
CUPP: They're naive.
HILL: -- in a different -- no, they are. But I think in a different --
(CROSSTALK)
HILL: They need them to be met, yeah.
AXELROD: Young people are -- young people are under siege in ways that young people haven't been. Their economic future is very much in doubt. And A.I. is intensifying that feeling.
CUPP: They can't get a job.
AXELROD: They're also -- exactly. And I think there's great passion around the immigration issue and so on. There are a lot of forces that are driving young people right now, and I'm not sure no party owns their allegiance, but the president has driven them away.
HILL: But I would say definitely they are starting. They are holding politicians more to account. I think in this moment was sort of what I meant. I was also struck by today. So, the golden, the gold card visa is just in time for the holidays.
So, take a look at this. We have the card which is golden, of course, with the president's face and a bald eagle. He posted this on social media. So here's the deal.
Foreigners will pay $1 million, expedites the visa application for a company. They can pay $2 million to sponsor a foreign worker that they want to bring into the U.S.
Here's a little bit more of what we heard from Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and the president earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOWARD LUTNICK, COMMERCE SECRETARY: The average green card holder earned less than the average American, so there were more likely to be on the dole and be on our assistance programs than average Americans.
TRUMP: Basically, it's a green card, but much better, much more powerful, a much stronger path than a path is a big deal
(END VIDEO CLIP) HILL: It's a path that costs you a lot of money because you're coming in with money, right?
CUPP: Right.
HILL: It is all about wealth, wealth, wealth.
AXELROD: Yes. It's like getting a membership at Mar-a-Lago. You know, you get -- you got to pay your way in.
HILL: Yeah.
AXELROD: That's not the history of this country.
HILL: No.
AXELROD: This country was built by immigrants who came with nothing. My family are among them. And they helped build this country because they were strivers. And they wanted to succeed. And they did all the hard work of succeeding.
And we need those people. And you talk to any economist about what ratcheting down immigration will do to this country, the values are important. So is the economics of it.
HILL: Yeah.
AXELROD: It's just a -- it's a foolish strategy. And this is an offensive strategy as well.
CUPP: Yeah. No surprise. Trump always equates wealth with morale, with goodness like a wealthy person is somehow morally, ethically better than someone who's not. But wouldn't you rather someone come here who has everything to lose, who wants to work hard for himself or herself, for their family, rather than someone who comes needing nothing? Nothing, just wants to come and take? I can't see his rationale there other than he just thinks wealthy, good, wealthy, better.
HILL: Yeah, it is. It does sum it up pretty well. Always a pleasure to see you both. Thank you.
AXELROD: Thank you. Great to see you. Happy holidays.
HILL: Happy holidays.
OUTFRONT next, the breaking news, dramatic video, just in of the moment, U.S. troops seized a tanker off the coast of Venezuela. An alarming escalation between the two countries.
Plus, wild video shows the moment a plane drops out of the sky, ultimately smashing into a car, bouncing over it on a busy interstate.
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The father and son who filmed these moments thought, understandably, they were in danger.
So, what did they witness? They're going to walk us through all of it. They're my guests.
And just about a year after the Palisades Fire, there is finally a new home. But there's a catch to this one. Nobody can move into it. We'll tell you why.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HILL: Breaking news, President Trump announcing what could be a major escalation between the United States and Venezuela.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: As you probably know, we've just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela, a large tanker, very large -- largest one ever seized, actually.
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And other things are happening. So you'll be seeing that later, and you'll be talking about that later with some other people. It was seized for a very good reason.
HILL: A source familiar with the matter telling CNN the tanker, named the Skipper, was heading a and it was seized in international waters. Attorney General Pam Bondi was quick to release the video. You see it here, which shows the seizure of the tanker. She says it was used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran.
Bondi adding that the seizure was, quote, conducted safely and securely by multiple agencies, including the FBI and the Coast Guard. All of this coming as the U.S. has carried out more than 20 strikes on alleged drug boats near Venezuela and Colombia, with Trump vowing the strikes will soon expand to land as well, including, of course, that now infamous double tap strike that is at the center of controversy after it was used to kill survivors.
OUTFRONT now is Democratic Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan. She's on the House Armed Services and Intelligence Committees and is also an Air Force veteran.
Congresswoman, it's good to have you with us tonight.
Since President Trump first confirmed this tanker being seized, have you learned any additional information or at least been told when you may get a briefing on this?
REP. CHRISSY HOULAHAN (D-PA): No. In fact, I am subject to basically getting the information from the same sources that you are. And as a member of the armed services and intelligence committees, that is really, genuinely unacceptable. And it should be worrisome to all Americans who have elected people like me to sit in places like this to understand what's going on. A reminder, the Congress is the one that decides if we go to war. The
congress is the one that authorizes the use of military force. And none of that has happened. And there is an escalation clearly happening, and none of us really can understand or justify why it is happening.
HILL: In terms of that escalation, do you believe that the U.S. is now closer tonight to some sort of an actual war with Venezuela?
HOULAHAN: Well, it's hard to say no to that question. How -- yes to that question. How could we possibly not be closer when we're rappelling men and women from our military out of helicopters and descending on civilian tankers, flying the flag of another nation? That is definitely escalatory. There's no other way to put it.
And again, we don't really understand why. And the only thing I can come up with are that people can come up with logically is regime change, which is clearly something that we ought to be authorizing. If that's something that's in our interest. And I'd argue it's not. Or maybe personal gain, financial gain money, the oil that's there. And that, of course, is also a poor use of our military.
HILL: Well, the president had said and these are his words, quote, other things are happening. Do you believe that maybe what he was referring to, was it regime change or potentially something else?
HOULAHAN: I'm not sure. And part of the thing that makes me angry and frustrated is that this president has been president this time for 11 months at this point in time, and we've had in the intelligence committee and in the armed services committee. Exactly. No briefings about Venezuela and about the mission, so to speak, that's there.
We've asked for them. We've asked for the intelligence reports and briefings. We've -- we've asked for the armed services side of that, that sort of thing, and had been met with nothing.
And thankfully, in the last couple of weeks, you're starting to see people on the Republican side of the aisle really demanding this as well. And I'm grateful that that's finally happening.
HILL: There -- in that push for more information, the House just passed the annual defense policy bill. It ups the pressure in some ways, Secretary Hegseth to release the full video of the double tap strike.
Do you believe, though, that that's enough to actually force his hand?
HOULAHAN: I believe it's an attempt, and it's better than what we've had in the past. What's happening is, is that we're doing something called fencing. We're taking away money, withholding money from Secretary Hegseth until such time as he produces these videos and these orders that that justify these attacks.
I sure hope that it happens and that precipitates him delivering these orders. But to be honest, what he's doing is defying Congress right now. And that's not okay. Again, all people, all Americans should feel like that the congress and the executive branch have an equal responsibility to the American people. And when the department of defense is denying or refusing to cooperate with the Congress, we should all be concerned about that.
HILL: You know, as I noted, you are -- you do serve on the armed services committee.
An aide to the chairman of that committee, Mike Rogers, said that he's actually preparing to wind down the probe of that double-tap strike. So, this would be less than two weeks after first starting it. Do you agree that it's time to wind down the probe? What has been learned
HOULAHAN: Not at all. In fact, I have a very good relationship with Chairman Rogers. I respect him, but at this point in time, the number of people who have seen this video are fewer than a dozen. It is the obligation, I believe, and the constitutional obligation for these kinds of things to come in front of the full committee.
[19:25:00]
It may be that they say this is only in a classified setting. That's okay. And then we make decisions from there. But so far, only these few people have seen it. And I really believe that we have a responsibility to continue to demand having it in the full committee, both intelligence and armed services. And frankly, I believe the American people deserve to see the full video as well.
HILL: Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan, appreciate your time tonight. Thank you.
HOULAHAN: Thank you.
HILL: OUTFRONT next, a plane drops out of the sky, crashes into a car on a busy Florida interstate. A father and son who captured this video that you're watching right now feared that plane may have been headed for them. They'll talk us through what they witnessed next.
Plus, stocks are surging as the Fed cuts interest rates. But today's cut is not without its dissenters. Einstein and Ives are my guests.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:30:26]
HILL: Tonight, wild, jaw dropping video shows a plane crashing into a car on a busy Florida interstate. In just a moment, we'll speak with the father and son, who not only witnessed the chaos, they actually thought that plane might hit them, and it was merely seconds away from nosediving into their car.
They were in the vehicle. The recorded this stunning dashcam footage now, miraculously, no one was seriously injured.
Brian Todd is OUTFRONT
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like, I have chops, I swear. I -- .
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holy (EXPLETIVE DELETED)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A father son chat in the car suddenly turns more urgent from his dash cam. James Coffey captures a small plane slamming into a Toyota Camry sedan directly in front of him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my goodness, oh, my goodness, oh, my goodness, oh, my goodness.
TODD (voice-over): This happened at rush hour on Monday evening on one of the nation's busiest highways, I-95 southbound in Cocoa, Florida.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A plane just crashed onto a car on a highway right in front of us. Holy shh -- wow.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They look like they're okay.
TODD (voice-over): Miraculously, no one was killed. The driver of the car, a 57-year-old woman, was transported to a hospital with minor injuries, according to the Florida highway patrol. The two men in the plane in their late 20s, were uninjured.
Analyst Mary Schiavo says there was luck involved in that, too.
MARY SCHIAVO, CNN TRANSPORTATION ANALYST: Here, there was no fire. That's first and foremost. That's usually what makes the difference between surviving or not surviving a crash. And there were no overpasses and wires.
TODD: The NTSB tells CNN, the twin engine Beechcraft plane was on an instructional flight and lost power in both engines.
CNN safety analyst David Soucie says in that instance, a pilot has to do three things, maintain a safe glide speed around 90 miles an hour. Look for an open space to land, preferably a field, then try to recover the engine's power, if you can.
Soucie believes there's been an uptick in recent years of planes landing on highways like this dramatic 2022 landing captured by a cockpit GoPro camera in North Carolina.
DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: A lot of the main areas that you fly airplanes through, it's been more developed. Theres not as many places, not as many open farm fields that you can land your airplane on. So they're opting for the highway more often.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: NTSB and the FAA say they're investigating this crash. The NTSB says it will be looking into four main factors -- the flight track data, recordings of air traffic control communications, the aircrafts maintenance records and the pilot's ratings and flight experience -- Erica.
HILL: OUTFRONT now, James and Peter Coffey, they were just one car away from that fairly traumatic collision.
It's good to have you both here.
I mean, can you -- can you take us back, James, to that moment? Did you -- did you realize what was happening?
JAMES COFFEY, WITNESSED PLANE CRASH-LAND ON FLORIDA INTERSTATE: It was such a surprise as we realized there was a plane in front of us. What do you -- what do you think? What do you do? I had no -- no idea that was coming. And then to see that just dropping out of the sky, thinking and hoping it was going to pull up.
And then, is it going to land? What's going to happen? And then to see it just drop on top of that car was scary. It was pretty scary.
HILL: Yeah, I would think so. I want to play just a little snippet again from your video. We have a moment when you're reacting in the car. I think we can play that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like, I have chops, I swear. I -- .
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holy (EXPLETIVE DELETED)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Yeah. Holy bleep is right. I would have had the same reaction. Perhaps an even stronger one.
Peter, as you're seeing this come down I mean did you even think it was real in the moment?
PETER COFFEY, WITNESSED PLANE CRASH-LAND ON FLORIDA INTERSTATE: Honestly. Like no, I noticed it like last second and it took like a fat minute for my brain to register, like what had just happened. It really did feel unreal.
HILL: Yeah. I'm sure. And then -- and then the moment, too, when we see it, you know, touch the car. I mean, James, just -- just walk us through, if you could. We're going to play some more of that video as people are watching. But -- I mean, when did it -- when did it really strike you that this was a plane landing in front of you and landing on a car.
J. COFFEY: So when you heard my words, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. And then when you see the impact and you see sparks flying and debris start to fly all over the highway for half a second, I didn't change lanes and then realized my car is getting hit with debris from this thing.
[19:35:00]
I'm going to lose a tire. Something's going to happen. I got to get out of the way and preserve us.
So, I was thinking first was our own safety, and then secondly, you see all that debris, you wonder what's going to happen. The plane ends up in front of the car. So, when we stop, were looking at the drivers across the street. The pilots, and wondering, oh, my goodness, are they okay? And then the car examining the damage in the car and immediately thinking, we got to call 911.
But fortunately, there were -- FWC was right there and they were -- they were right on scene immediately. It was -- it was miraculous.
HILL: Yeah. I mean, it really -- if something like this, it almost feels like if something that this is going to happen, right? The -- it is remarkable that really there were no major injuries. That the -- you know, the car didn't catch on fire. I mean, were looking at all this. You talk about the debris and yet we look at that plane and it's still mostly intact.
Peter, did you feel like, you know, your dad saying is, you know, you're noticing debris and pulling over to the side for safety? Did you feel any of that debris hitting the car?
P. COFFEY: Yeah. No, I saw the debris starting to come at us, and I immediately got really scared. You know, my first instinct was like, you know, like I said, my brain was frozen. Like I saw it start to break apart and come at us.
And I was like, wow, I really hope like, bigger pieces don't start falling off and start hitting us, you know, like it already looked bad. I was like, no way. It just hit the car. And then now, you know, debris is flying and its like, wow, this could end badly.
But, you know, thankfully, you know, no big pieces broke off. You know, at the end of the day, we got to safety. They got to safety. So, it was good.
HILL: Yeah. James, so the camera was rolling when this happened. As I understand it. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that having that camera you probably never thought it would capture a moment like this.
J. COFFEY: Oh, absolutely. This is one in a -- I wanted to say one in a billion. And I hope to never see anything like it again.
HILL: Yeah.
J. COFFEY: But it's -- since no one was seriously injured, it's kind of fascinating to see it. So I'm glad we caught it.
HILL: In -- when you watch the video back, which I know you've seen multiple times, your phones are ringing off the hook, but when you watch it back that first, you know, first time you watched it back, was it as you remembered it, or were there details that you hadn't realized at the time?
J. COFFEY: Oh, completely. There were details I looked for, the details I knew and noticed that there was a oxygen tanker to my right. Liquid oxygen, and had the plane struck the -- that truck, things could have been catastrophic. There were -- we did have plenty of clear space in front of us. When I looked again, there were more blue lights down the highway, so there were more than one emergency vehicle there. So I did notice a lot more details.
Looking at the wreckage, I watched how the back end of the plane actually bounced on the ground, forcing the plane over the car. So, a lot of analysis and also how the left prop actually stopped when it hit the car. And had it been under power, it may have sliced right through the car.
HILL: Yeah. I mean --
J. COFFEY: So, very fortunate that the engines were dead.
HILL: Absolutely. And as you point out, it's obviously -- it's much easier for us to talk about this knowing that everybody is okay, the way that all of this unfolded.
We're really grateful that you two took the time to join us tonight. Certainly not a night that the two of you will ever forget. Thanks again for joining us.
J. COFFEY: You bet. Thank you.
P. COFFEY: Thank you
HILL: OUTFRONT next, the first home rising nearly a year after the wildfires tore through the palisades. There's a catch, though. This new, beautiful home. No one can actually move in. We'll tell you why.
Plus, the Fed cuts interest rates, and Trump says it is still not enough. Now, we're seeing a rare public divide inside the Fed. Einstein and Ives are in the building and they're OUTFRONT next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:43:57]
HILL: Tonight, U.S. stocks surging after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter point. The Feds' third straight rate cut. Today's decision was not unanimous. Three key fed officials dissenting. That's actually the highest number to dissent in over six years, two of them voting for no cuts at all.
While the Trump appointed Fed Governor Stephen Miran wanted an even bigger cut. He said it should be half a point, a position echoed by the president today as he attacked the Fed chairman, Jerome Powell.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The head of the Federal Reserve is a stiff. He did a rather, I would say a rather small number that could have been doubled, at least doubled.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: OUTFRONT now, Einstein and Ives, Peter Tuchman and Dan Ives.
Nice to see you, gentlemen.
So, when we look at this. So, Peter, you're there for the jubilation on the floor. Right? But as we know, the markets are not the economy.
PETER TUCHMAN, TRADER AT THE NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE: Correct.
HILL: So how do we assess today?
TUCHMAN: Well, look, I mean, obviously, you know, his decision making on how much he's going to cut it or if he's going to cut it is based on economic data that we know, right?
[19:45:01]
And we've sort of gone through a couple of months of when the government shut down or reopened. We've still not really -- I don't feel really comfortable that we've gotten all the information, all the -- all the PPI, CPI, all that data has really not come out in any kind of a form that kind of makes sense to us. So, but, obviously, he has it to a certain extent. Mr. Powell does.
And so, his decision to cut 25 basis points, think about where we've come from over the last six weeks. We actually went to a period of time, a short three-day period where it spiked down to only a 15 percent probability of a cut. When he when he said at the last meeting, December is no longer a surety. The market did not like that at all. And then it spiked back up to 85.
DAN IVES, GLOBAL HEAD OF TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH, WEDBUSH SECURITIES: I'd say to his point, it's amazing where we were. Remember, I mean, it was a month ago you thought Fed wasn't going to cut.
HILL: Uh-huh.
IVES: Now you have a cut, you have dissenters. But I think it speaks to, you know, what's going to be more dovish as we look forward in terms of Fed chair.
HILL: Which is certainly what we heard today, right? That that's what will be.
I was also -- I mean, I was struck by a number of the things that Jerome Powell said, but specifically this moment when he talked about what is the cause of inflation. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEROME POWELL, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: If you get away from tariffs, inflation is in the low twos, right? So it's really tariffs that's causing the -- most of the inflation overshoot.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HILL: How much of that do you think is some sort of a message to the president, right, in defiance of -- look, the president has made very clear. His next Fed chair is expected to cut rates no matter what.
IVES: But that's a shot across the bow.
HILL: Yeah.
IVES: I mean, as we've talked about on the show, basically saying without tariffs he'd be cutting more. But look, I think the issue here is you still have two dissenters that, you know, actually said they wanted to hold. You're now going to go into a massive cut cycle. And I think that's the balance relative to inflation as well as, you know, what we're seeing with growth.
But you know, banks -- and you saw banks rally significantly today. You need to see cuts, especially when it looks like Hassett coming in. That's going to be a very dovish Fed chair.
TUCHMAN: But let's look -- let's look. The cuts are coming as a function of how soft the economy is, right? You know if it wasn't that way, he's -- he sort of held his ground up until I think this. I believe this also is a bit of a poke of the bear. You know, by saying that it was without tariffs, he'd be at that number.
The 2 percent number, is this sort of an erroneous number that he came up with a while ago. Think about it -- it's not a matter of where we are. It's where we came from, right?
Through this last five years, I thought he's done an amazing job navigating our way through COVID. And then over the last few years of all that's happened to this market, everything possible has been thrown at it, and it's come down from eight and a half or wherever to two and a half. I kind of think it would have made much more sense to, you know, spike, spike the football at two and a half and say, take it as a win, right?
We've talked about that before and we didn't. It was sort of that too, was an elusive number that didn't seem like it was reachable.
But you know, I think it was it was it was the market tells us what it thinks of the information. The market reacted beautifully from. It was the lower the day was at 2:00 when he made the announcement, the higher the day are just about was. By the end of the day, the market rallied beautifully across the board.
IVES: But I think -- and I think but the big focus now going forward is like, okay, like what's the signal in terms of cuts. How many are you going to see? And it's sort of this balance that you're seeing relative to the economy.
HILL: So, in terms of signals, right? What I think is fascinating is just to look back on what we've heard thus far, especially when we look at the split that we saw today. In terms of the dissents, I just want to play a little bit of what we've -- of what we've heard, right, what Erin has been told on this show over the last couple of months. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEEL KASHKARI, PRESIDENT AND CEO, FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF MINNEAPOLIST: If we cut rates, that doesn't help the inflation problem for the American family.
AUSTAN GOOLSBEE, PRESIDENT, FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF CHICAGO: The argument that we should be cutting rates at the Fed, because that will make the cost of increasing the debt cheaper -- I don't totally understand that argument.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Austan Goolsbee, of course, who dissented today -- you know, wanted the rate to stay unchanged.
IVES: Yeah, but I think the reality and the market is telling you, I mean, you even said even 50 BIPS going back last month. You need to see cuts relative to what we see in the economy. Also, the housing market, because I think for consumers, what they want to understand is when do cuts go down, when do rates come down? How does that ultimately really start to catalyze the housing market, which has been the whole issue?
TUCHMAN: So you see -- sorry to interrupt you, but if you see the way the market reacted when there was that three-day period where we actually went down to 15 percent probability, the market sold off radically when we bounced back up to 80. So, the market is telling you what it now it's a matter of who are we trying to make happy here? And what are we trying to do. Right?
There's obvious that there are a lot of major players in the game who have very interest rate sensitive portfolios, right? And that, you know, when he actually said, and I tracked this, this is what I do, I track his word by word in his news conferences. And when he said the last time December cut is no longer a surety, the market made it very clear that that was unacceptable. And they did not --
IVES: There was a better chance of me playing in the NBA than the Fed not cutting --
TUCHMAN: Being the center for the Knicks.
IVES: Exactly.
HILL: So, you're saying there's a chance.
IVES: Like you've never seen his three-point shot.
[19:50:00]
HILL: I haven't, I haven't. It's true.
IVES: So, there is the chance.
TUCHMAN: He's saying there's a chance.
HILL: I think maybe next time when we have you two in the in the green room for the tease. Maybe we should bring in a basketball hoop.
TUCHMAN: He did say that he has not. He can't tell us what's going to happen in January. That was another sort of a --
HILL: Yes.
TUCHMAN: -- a ghostie moment. I don't know what's going on.
IVES: And it's a game of poker, he's going to cut.
HILL: Here's what I do in a note, because, you know, we've been asking for viewer questions, right. Soliciting viewer questions.
So, one viewer asked what practical changes should everyday Americans expect to see after this rate cut? How long will it take to feel them? I think a perfect example, right, is housing, right? As you talk about it --
IVES: If you want to buy a house, you want to see more and more cuts. Rates come down. That's something that I think a lot of consumers are waiting for in terms especially, you know, from a rate perspective.
TUCHMAN: Not only real estate but housing itself, right about building a house or buying, buying housing starts. I remember that, you know, in response to that question, I think the -- you know, don't expect that tomorrow the price of eggs are going to be any cheaper, and it's not going to be -- we're not going to see immediate response --
IVES: Right away.
TUCHMAN: -- in our day-to-day expenses, right? It's more going to be obviously housing markets and things like that, that, you know, the economic cycle takes a little while for it to catch up.
IVES: Uses the economic cycle and that's what we need -- that's why we need to see cuts, especially with the dovish Fed chair likely to come in and replacing Powell.
TUCHMAN: But you said it to me a while ago that when you start to commence an interest rate cutting cycle, that down the road, you end up year after year, historically, you have a 16 percent raise in the S&P.
IVES: It's time for the doves to come out.
HILL: Time for the doves, there you go. Nice --
TUCHMAN: And the bears to go back into --
IVES: Hibernation.
TUCHMAN: -- hibernation. HILL: Good to see you both. Thanks for joining us on this episode of
National Geographic.
(LAUGHTER)
HILL: Still to come here, OUTFRONT next, it should be a moment to celebrate the first home rising from the ruins of the deadly Palisades fire earlier this year. So why isn't anyone moving in?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:56:28]
HILL: Tonight, a huge milestone for Los Angeles as it tries to rebuild after those damaging fire in its history. The very first home in the Palisades area just getting its certificate of occupancy. But here's the catch. And it's a pretty significant one. No one can move into that home, and it's not even for sale.
Nick Watt is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: New house smell. That's kind of encouraging.
WATT (voice-over): Because within a year of the most destructive fire in the history of L.A., the first certificate of occupancy was issued for a rebuild in the Palisades.
WATT: Wow. Wow. Wow.
WATT (voice-over): A major priority, making sure all this doesn't burn down again.
WATT: So that's not wood.
STEVE SCHLAGETER, COO, THOMAS JAMES HOMES: It's not. It's cement and fibers that hold it together. You'll also notice up in the eaves those little nozzles.
WATT: Yeah.
SCHLAGETER: Well, in the case of a fire, douse the house with either water or a fire retardant. There are sprinklers that pop up on the roof and douse the roof like a lawn system. The other thing that we've added is the six-foot aluminum fence around the entire perimeter.
WATT (voice-over): He's COO of the developer that bought this lot last November to tear down, rebuild and sell. Then it burned down. So, they built this as a show home.
SCHLAGETER: And so the people who are thinking like, what do I do? Do I want to build again? Do I want to move? Do I want to sell my lot? It gives them an idea of what's possible out here.
WATT (voice-over): Four thousand square feet, four beds, four and a half baths, walk-in his and hers closets.
WATT: Did you ever think, you know what? We're going to move to Florida.
JIM HUSER, PACIFIC PALISADES RESIDENT: Never.
SUSAN HUSER, PACIFIC PALISADES RESIDENT: Our community was here. You know, our church, our friends, our kids, our kids' friends.
WATT (voice-over): Susan and Jim Huser have asked these developers to build on the lot where they lived 28 years. They miss the view.
WATT: When are they going to break ground?
S. HUSER: Well, they've started grading. Our permits are already --
J. HUSER: Last week.
S. HUSER: -- are already approved.
WATT (voice-over): Some people, like the old neighbors, are selling up. Plenty others still fighting insurance companies for the money to rebuild or wrapped up in red tape.
J. HUSER: When we talk to other people who are waiting for a year and a half, two years, we feel like were on the speedy train.
WATT (voice-over): The city has streamlined the permitting process, near tripling the speed, says the mayor.
WATT: Is it streamlined?
SCHLAGETER: It's better. Yeah, it's certainly better than it was pre- fire.
WATT (voice-over): But so much to rebuild. More than 9,000 structures were destroyed in the Eaton Fire to the east. Nearly 7,000 structures in the Palisades Fire, 1,200 construction permits issued here so far, a shade over 340 projects actually underway in what was one of the most beautiful and tranquil corners of this city.
Less tranquil right now, still beautiful.
SCHLAGETER: I think when people are displaced, they just want to get home, even if it's a bit of a construction zone, it's still home.
WATT: There's a lot of work going on, but there's a lot of work to be done.
S. HUSER: Yeah, it's going to be a while before there's a real community here again.
J. HUSER: Getting the supermarkets back and the drugstores and the library and all that. That's going to take years.
(END VIDEOTAPE) HILL: And Nick joins me now from Pacific Palisades. So, Nick, when can people -- when would we actually see them be able to move back in?
WATT: Well, this developer has some other projects around here and they say people might start moving in January, February, certainly by the spring and the summer they expect there will be something of a community back here. But developers can do this quick, you know, permits in a couple of months, build in a year. For a lot of people, it's going to take a lot longer.
But there is some hope. I mean, Mike, the PGA here, the photographer, can still smell smoke. I can't, but I can see green. We had some rain.
So, it's lush. There is a feeling of rebirth. No one can move into this yet, but it's still a symbol of hope.
HILL: Yeah, it certainly is. It's great. Good to see you, Nick. Thank you.
Thanks to all of you for joining us tonight.
"AC360" starts right now.
