Return to Transcripts main page
Erin Burnett Outfront
Kremlin Dismisses Calls To Prove Claim Ukraine Targeted Putin's Home; HHS Freezes All Child Care Payments To Minnesota After Fraud Claims Go Viral; Judge: Top DOJ Officials May Have Pushed To Prosecute Abrego Garcia; Zohran Mamdani Takes Office As NYC Mayor In Just 28 Hours. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired December 30, 2025 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:27]
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
Russia refusing to provide evidence to back its claim Ukraine attacked Putin's residence. Zelenskyy says it didn't happen, and it's already proving to be a distraction from peace talks. What the White House is saying tonight.
Plus, the Trump administration now freezing childcare payments to the state of Minnesota. This amid allegations of fraud, including at daycare centers that are shaking the state. We're on the ground.
And Zohran Mamdani about to be sworn in as mayor of America's largest city, a Democratic socialist. Is this the future that Democrats are betting on?
Let's go OUTFRONT.
Good evening. I'm Brianna Keilar, in for Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, nothing to see here. The Kremlin dismissing calls to show any evidence to back up Russian President Putin's disputed allegation that Ukraine tried to strike one of his homes in a drone attack. It comes after President Trump repeated the claim, which is already distracting from peace talks.
Ukraine is insisting it was a complete fabrication, the Kremlin spokesman speaking out tonight.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
DMITRY PESKOV, KREMLIN SPOKESPERSON: I don't think there needs to be any kind of evidence here, given that such a massive drone raid took place and that thanks to the well-coordinated work of our air defenses, they were shot down and neutralized.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
KEILAR: The Kremlin has already been highlighting their allegations -- had already been highlighting their allegations, had an impact on Trump, noting that Trump was shocked and that it would surely impact the U.S. working relationship with Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy today said his team quickly got in touch with the Trump administration to talk through the details of what he called a fake allegation.
Tonight, it's unclear how this could impact the broader talks to end the war, but it's clear Russia wants it to. Key Putin aide and former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is now issuing a thinly veiled threat against Zelenskyy, saying, quote, "The stinking Kyiv bastard is trying to derail the settlement of the conflict. He wants war. Well, now at least he'll have to stay in hiding for the rest of his worthless life."
And this all comes as Putin shows no signs of backing down. On the contrary, Russia today releasing this video, which it says shows for the first time the deployment of a nuclear capable hypersonic missile system in its close ally, Belarus, just next door to Ukraine. It would boost Moscow's ability to hit targets across Europe. And Putin claims it's impossible to intercept.
Ukraine also announcing that Russia was behind a deadly drone attack on two civilian ships in Black Sea ports today.
All this just days after President Trump insisted this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Do you think Putin is serious about peace this time?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I do, I do.
Russia wants to see Ukraine succeed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Alayna Treene is OUTFRONT.
And, Alayna, you have some new reporting about that call between Ukraine and the Trump administration to convince the White House that Putin's allegation is false. Tell us what you're learning.
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, Brianna. I mean, clearly the Ukrainians and their negotiating team quickly scrambled to set this call up to try to make their case for why they believe that these allegations of a drone attack targeting one of Putin's residences were fake. And they also encourage, were told, you know, Western intelligence, but specifically U.S. intelligence to try and use their own capabilities and technology to try and prove what they believe, which is that these allegations were fake.
And I think, you know, when I talked to some people today, you know, Trump officials, they essentially were saying that the president -- because part of the reason this is such, you know, caused such, I think, a flurry among the Ukrainians and particularly Zelenskyy talk about this today is because of what the president himself said yesterday when talking to reporters. He said he had first learned about this attack because Putin was the one who told him about it in their call earlier that morning. The second call, I should say, in some 24 hours or so. And he also said it made him very angry.
And he also kind of dismissed when a reporter asked, you know, is there any intelligence to back this up? He said, you know, it could be not right. But he told me that it happened. And the reason this matters, Brianna, is because the Kremlin and Putin really told Trump yesterday on this phone call that this could force them to revise their negotiating position on the war talks overall. So, it's a major deal, and one we know that the U.S. is also trying to confirm themselves.
KEILAR: Alayna Treene, thank you so much for that.
OUTFRONT now, Democratic Congressman Adam Smith. He's the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee.
[19:05:01]
Congressman, what does it tell you that the Kremlin is saying there's no need to show evidence that Ukraine is behind this alleged attack?
REP. ADAM SMITH (D-WA): It tells me that they're lying and they're rather transparently lying about this. They wanted to derail the peace talks, and they wanted to, you know, convince Trump that Zelenskyy was the bigger problem here. I mean, it's just incredibly transparent. And the depth of President Trump's cluelessness in not seeing that and misunderstanding what Putin is about and what he's doing at this point is very discouraging. It undermines the ability to get to peace and potentially undermines Ukraine's ability to defend themselves against Russia and Putin.
I mean, it's obvious what Putin is trying to do here. And the president, President Trump, that is, is amplifying that. I mean, that is really concerning in terms of the overall issue of how do we get to an end to this war and protect Ukraine?
KEILAR: Trump was quick, as Alayna noted in her report, to repeat Putin's allegation yesterday and initially suggest that he was taking Putin at face value.
Let's listen to this moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I learned about it from President Putin today. I was very angry about it. You're saying maybe the attack didn't take place? It's possible, too. I guess. But President Putin told me this morning it did
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: And now the White House today is pointing to a call that U.S. officials had with Zelenskyy to talk through the allegation. Is spending time on this kind of thing exactly what Putin wants?
SMITH: Yes. And look, let's be clear. There's only really two possibilities. And neither one is encouraging. Either one. Trump is an idiot, and he's despite all the time he spent with Putin, he still doesn't understand what Putin is about.
The fact that -- the fact that Putin is fundamentally dishonest and what he wants is he wants complete control of all of Ukraine. And the only way to end this war is to back Ukraine and make it clear that Putin's not going to get that. That's what's going to happen.
I mean, President Trump has been putting all the pressure on Zelenskyy and none of the pressure on Putin. Putin is the one who started this war, and Putin is the one who could end it. But Trump seems completely oblivious to that. So, it's possible that Trump is just that stupid.
It's also more -- it's also possible that Trump has a different worldview in which basically the strong take what they want. You know, Trump is talking about how the western hemisphere should be dominated by the U.S. He's, you know, trying to do regime change in Venezuela. He's threatening Greenland and Panama and Canada. And maybe this is just his worldview.
You know, Putin is the strong man over there so he can take what he wants. And why is that our problem? And that is even more troubling than the possibility that Trump is just too stupid to see very clearly what Putin is doing here.
I mean, to rebroadcast this lie about an attack on Putin's residence. I mean, I mean, usually the Russians have to work harder to spread propaganda in America. They at least have to put it online or somewhere. People don't see it coming. They don't usually have the president of the United States being such a willing mouthpiece.
So, this is a big problem, and I hope the Trump administration figure this -- figures this out and recognizes what everyone else sees in terms of what Putin is really trying to accomplish here.
KEILAR: You mentioned Venezuela, and CNN is reporting exclusively that the CIA carried out a drone strike earlier this month on a port facility in Venezuela that the U.S. government believed was being used by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to store and move drugs onto boats for shipping. How big of an escalation is this, as you see it? What questions is this raising for you?
SMITH: It's a significant escalation because it's an attack on sovereign territory and the sovereign territory of Ukraine. It is an absolute act of war --
KEILAR: Venezuela.
SMITH: -- to sovereign nation. Venezuela. Sorry. Yes.
A lot going on in the world. I apologize for that.
KEILAR: Yeah, no worries.
SMITH: Absolutely. It is. You know, it's an act of war to attack sovereign territory. And also, this is all without any congressional justification. Sorry, any congressional authorization and also no clear, imminent threat to the U.S. So where it goes from here, I think, is the thing to be concerned
about, because Trump clearly wants to drive Maduro from power. Now he's hoping that the blockade on the oil tankers, that the attacks on the boats off the shores of Venezuela in international waters, and other type of pressure will drive Maduro from power.
Right now, that doesn't look like that's going to succeed. And if it doesn't, what is Trump prepared to do next? How far is he willing to take this effort at regime change in Venezuela?
KEILAR: Congressman Adam Smith, thank you so much for being with us tonight. And happy New Year to you.
SMITH: Thanks, Brianna.
KEILAR: OUTFRONT now, former NATO supreme allied commander and former commander of U.S. Southern Command, Admiral James Stavridis. He's also a partner of the Carlyle Group, an international investment firm.
So, Admiral, this strike, if we're going back to what we're talking about with Russia and Ukraine -- pardon me, I should say Venezuela, we're on to Venezuela here, even I'm getting confused with all the things going on. It first came to light because the president talked about it, which was surprising.
[19:10:04]
This, we should note, happened earlier this month.
Could that raise questions about whether the U.S. is actually engaged in an act of war in Venezuela?
ADM. JAMES STAVRIDIS (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I think it could. And, the bottom line, of course, is that the president has the authority, as we have learned over a variety of different incidents, to declassify things. So, if he decides that suits his policy perspective to reveal that the CIA is operating there, that's his prerogative. It's a surprising choice to me, Brianna, because there might be more facility in letting Venezuelans try and figure that out and make them wonder what's coming next.
So, yes, it's within his power to do it. It surprises me that he made that choice to do so. Look, we ought to step back from that discussion and get to the point you and, ranking minority member Adam Smith just covered, which is -- what is the next step here?
And I think he's going to do a few more of these pinpoint strikes against drug targets, and then he's going to have a choice of escalating. I don't think Maduro is going to leave because a few docks blow up.
So, he's going to have to make a decision about whether he wants to go big with strikes from that carrier or not. That's what's coming over the next week or so.
KEILAR: It is now perhaps tough to get away from that conversation, right? Because the president talking publicly about what happened means that anything else that happens is now seen through a different kind of lens. And it was the president we should note first, speaking about this on a radio show with the donor on Friday. Then yesterday he sort of talked about it. He was a little more circumspect when asked questions about which entity carried out the strike.
But here's what former CIA director and defense secretary, Leon Panetta, said to me about this earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEON PANETTA, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY: If you're trying to undermine a covert operation, keep talking about it publicly, because that's what's happening. A covert operation operates best when it is classified and when everybody keeps their mouths shut, you might as well just take a plane and fire a missile.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Admiral, if there are other strikes and there is now no longer deniability, how does that change the dynamic of what the Trump administration is doing?
STAVRIDIS: Well, it sets up the conversation of, are we going to war with Venezuela? If you are conducting these strikes under Title 50, you're keeping it tightly covert. You have a term of art here, plausible deniability. Well, that got shredded.
So, now, it's pretty clear that this entire operation is about potentially regime change. It's what many of us, including you and I have been talking about for -- well over a month. Given the level of force that's down there.
So, we have a, if you will, a new fact pattern, which is that the United States clearly wants to change the regime there. And if that's the case, then again, President Trump has a pretty distinct choice of elevating the strikes and intensity, scope, scale, and going after Venezuelan military, going after their air defense system and ultimately going after shall we say, the leadership. Those are hard decisions for any president. I think they're looming early in the New Year.
KEILAR: Yeah. We're at such a critical moment here.
Admiral, we appreciate you being with us to discuss it.
STAVRIDIS: You bet, Bri.
KEILAR: OUTFRONT next, breaking news, the Department of Health and Human Services is now freezing all child care payments to the state of Minnesota amid fraud allegations, including daycare centers. And the fallout is rocking the state tonight.
Plus, more breaking news. A newly unsealed order in the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case. What it says about how DOJ may have been pushing local prosecutors. And China staging war games near Taiwan, 130 Chinese warplanes and 22 warships there in a show of force. Following criticism of a major U.S. weapons sale. Is it a warning to the U.S.?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:18:49]
KEILAR: Breaking news, Health and Human Services saying it has frozen all child care payments to Minnesota. This as the FBI and Homeland Security say they've surged agents and resources into the state in the wake of new fraud allegations at daycare centers run by Somali residents. DHS sharing video that it says shows agents questioning a person inside one business, saying it's part of a, quote, massive operation to root out fraud.
And it comes just weeks after ICE operations targeted Somali migrants in Minnesota following multiple fraud cases. And President Trump stating he doesn't want Somalis in the U.S.
Whitney Wild is OUTFRONT.
Whitney, some fraud cases in the state were prosecuted years ago, but this all took on increased interest following a viral video alleging new instances of fraud. What more can you tell us about all of this?
WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, this viral video that was released over the weekend shows a YouTuber named Nick Shirley going door to door at a list of daycares. In some instances, he points out that the windows are blocked out. He also tries a door. In some cases, he cannot get inside because the door is locked.
And so he says, based on, you know, those experiences and other information that he has and he's reviewed that these are examples of widespread fraud. CNN is looking into these allegations. We did call list of daycares that appear in that video. Only one of them answered and said that they were a legitimate business.
Later, we went to another daycare that was prominently featured in that video. And, Brianna, we saw several children being dropped off by their parents. And one parent who said, this is a legitimate daycare. So, these, you know, allegations from Nick Shirley have taken on this enormous platform because Elon Musk retweeted this, because Vice President J.D. Vance retweeted this.
And when we take this to state officials, they say that they are questioning the tactics used in this viral video, but they take all allegations of fraud very seriously.
This is one chapter in a very long running story here. Minnesota has been dealing with a fraud problem for many years. As you pointed out. Within recent years, DOJ, you know, under Biden and Trump has prosecuted dozens of people that they are accusing of a long list of different types of fraud, COVID relief fraud, Medicaid fraud. There was one program, the Housing Stabilization Services Program, that Governor Tim Walz points out he shut down because it was rife with fraud.
And I think that the bigger life that this has taken on is this idea that mainstream media wasn't covering this. And so, it was amplified.
But that is not true, Brianna. CNN reported on these fraud allegations in 2024. Local reporters have been reporting on this in many, many award-winning series, of rooting out these fraud cases.
Brianna, this is not news to Minnesotans, although it may be news to national people who have not kept a close eye on this -- Brianna.
KEILAR: Yeah, it's a good point. Whitney Wild, thank you.
And OUTFRONT now, we have former Republican governor of Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty, and Jamal Simmons with us.
Governor, dozens of convictions already. There is a concentration among Minnesotans of Somali descent. Prosecutors alleging the fraud could actually soar into billions of dollars here. And it's a real scandal that's upending the state.
Is this surging of DHS resources, though, the way to deal with it?
TIM PAWLENY (R), FORMER MINNESOTA GOVERNOR: Well, given the magnitude of the fraud that's been alleged, we need all the help we can get. The Walz administration has fumbled the ball, and whether it's through immigration reviews or enforcement or other federal agencies helping with investigations and criminal prosecutions, obviously, Minnesota's got a massive problem and it should welcome the help.
KEILAR: Jamal, what do you think?
JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think it's not about the nationality of the people who committed the crime. It's about the criminality of the people who committed the crime. And so as much as we focus on what they did, how they did it, what technological advances did they make, what how did they communicate with each other? Whatever the law enforcement methods are, they need to go through to figure that out. We should do that.
I think the danger for the Republicans who fanned these flames is that for those of us who think, you know, if there's fraud in this, in the way people dealt with state government, you should go after them with the full hammer of the federal of the federal and state prosecutorial resources. But when you start to make it about ethnicity or nationality or that sort of thing, that makes a lot of Americans, I think, feel a little hinky, that this isn't really about the criminality as much as it is about some sort of ethnocentric attack that Americans have been living through for far too long over the last year.
KEILAR: I do wonder, Governor, what you think about that, because the magnitude of what Minnesota's facing is pretty staggering. And yet, during his first term, Trump actually commuted the sentence of a man convicted of making roughly $1.3 billion in fraudulent Medicare and Medicaid claims. Does that give credence to critics who say that he's selectively addressing these issues depending on who may be committing the crime?
PAWLENTY: Well, let's stay focused on the problem, which is the Walz administration. And before that, the Democratic administration, before it did not take fraud allegations seriously. Brianna, there was a series of legislative audit reports, not over the last few weeks or months, but over the last years, saying there were loose financial controls, concerns about fraud, whistleblowers, respected nonpartisan auditors feeling like they were stiff armed by the Democratic administrations in Minnesota.
So, let's stay focused on what the problem is. You have an incompetent administration when it comes to these fraud issues. They were late in responding to the early warning signs, and now you have the unleashing of one of the largest, if not the largest, stealing and fraud of public funds in American history.
So, let's make sure we put the right people accountable for what's going on in Minnesota.
KEILAR: Jamal, there are serious questions here. This happened on Governor Walz watch. There were signs that were missed. Did they leave themselves open to this?
[19:25:02]
SIMMONS: They may have. And I think for Democrats who are watching this and who think because of how the Republicans are waging this attack, we just got to, you know, push back. The reality also is Democrats have to go in hard on fraud.
We've got to make sure as the party that believes that the federal government is a good arbiter to figure out how to solve some of America's problems, we've got to be the best stewards of America's resources. And that means that the Walz administration should unlatch every single tool in the tool belt to go after it. I think they have been going after it, but he's got to also rhetorically go after it. He's got to make it not just something he handles like, it's something that he kind of has to do, but its got to be something that he really leans into.
And I think every other Democrat who's thinking about running in a place where they're having any kind of these issues, they ought to do the same thing, because this doesn't cut as cleanly as some might think that the Republican attack is just going to land as partisanship.
A lot of Democrats are worried in places that maybe Democrats haven't been doing as much as they can either stop fraud or to govern resources appropriately. So, Democrats need to get on top of it and really make it a priority.
KEILAR: Yeah, it's frustrating people, I think, on both sides of the aisle watching what's been happening.
PAWLENTY: A little late, a little late, Jamal, awfully late for that. Too little, too late. SIMMONS: It's never too late. It's never too late to do the right
thing, Governor.
KEILAR: Governor, I do want to ask --
PAWLENTY: Better to do it fast.
Governor, I do want to ask you about something different, which is there have been -- it's about the Kennedy Center. And we've been seeing a lot of recent cancellations and a growing number of them of performances there. After the board of trustees added President Trump's name to the building and a jazz group says it won't play there on New Year's Eve, a Christmas Eve show was canceled by another jazz artist. Performance have been canceled into the next year.
Trump's hand-picked leader of the Kennedy Center is also threatening to seek $1 million in damages from an artist who canceled. What do you make of all of that?
PAWLENTY: I really wish that entertainment and arts and performances could at least be one thing that we could all enjoy and appreciate without politics. And again, I don't -- I don't think President Trump had to add his name to this building. He could have left it as it was originally intended, as a tribute to President Kennedy.
But I just think -- let's all just enjoy entertainment and arts and quit politicizing. It's hopefully, one thing we can agree on.
KEILAR: Super quick final thought, Jamal.
SIMMONS: Yeah. And the problem is the politicizing is Donald Trump because he's politicizing the freedom of speech and the freedom of expression. And for these artists who are committed to that, like some of the jazz artists who talked about the roots of jazz and freedom of expression, it's very hard to do that when you've got a president who goes after big companies, goes after universities, law firms, comedians, anybody he doesn't like something he doesn't like, he goes after them.
So, I understand why some of these artists decide they're going to use the power at their disposal to say, no, they're not going to stand up and stand with that.
KEILAR: Jamal --
PAWLENTY: Well, they didn't -- they didn't seem to have concerns about it when it was named the Kennedy Center relative to President Kennedy's treatment of women, for example. So, there may be a little double standard going on here as well.
KEILAR: Governor, Jamal --
SIMMONS: We're not talking about that. We're talking about actual freedom of expression.
PAWLENTY: Well, we're talking about hypocrisy at the moment. KEILAR: There's plenty of that.
SIMMONS: A lot of hypocrisy happening in Washington.
KEILAR: There's plenty of that to go around here from Washington, D.C.
Governor, Jamal, thank you so much to both of you.
OUTFRONT next, some new details. In the case of the Maryland father mistakenly deported to El Salvador, Kilmar Abrego Garcia. What a newly unsealed order is revealing tonight.
And Zohran Mamdani will be sworn in as mayor of New York. Just moments after the ball drops on New Year's Eve. The progressive, heavy hitters who are going to be there, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:32:35]
KEILAR: Breaking news, top Justice Department officials may have pushed to prosecute Kilmar Abrego Garcia only after he was wrongfully deported to El Salvador. This is according to a newly unsealed judge's opinion. Abrego Garcia is arguing that the charges, which stemmed from a Tennessee traffic stop years earlier, were brought in retaliation after he challenged his unlawful removal. The Trump administration has denied that. But now the judge overseeing the case seems to suggest in this opinion that DOJ was more involved than they previously indicated.
Evan Perez is OUTFRONT.
Evan, what is the significance of this newly unsealed opinion in this case?
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, the significance of this is that the judge is suggesting that this will allow Abrego Garcia's attorneys to perhaps delve into some of the internal deliberations of the Justice Department.
Remember, you know, in normal times, the judges tend to give the benefit of the doubt to the government in these types of cases. It's very hard normally for you to make these claims or at least sustain these claims that you're being -- that you're being prosecuted for malicious reasons.
And so, in this case, what the government has said is that the decision to bring these charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia were made locally by the U.S. attorney in middle Tennessee, in the middle district of Tennessee.
What the judge has said, looking at documents that we haven't seen these documents, but the judge has reviewed them. The judge is suggesting that there is more to it than that, right? There -- that there was pressure from headquarters at Justice Department, from the deputy attorney general's office, Todd Blanche, to bring this case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
Now, it's not normally, you know, there's not -- it's not a big deal for the bosses at the Justice Department to be interested in a case or even to say, we think you should bring this case. What the problem here is that the government has been claiming that none of that happened. And so that has given the opening for the defense to be able to get to perhaps -- to some of that internal deliberations that were going on inside the Justice Department. We'll see whether that happens in a -- in a hearing coming up in January.
KEILAR: All right. We'll be looking toward that.
Evan, thank you.
Also tonight, Zohran Mamdani is just a day away from being sworn in as the mayor of New York City and his highly anticipated inauguration will kick off just moments after the New Year's Eve ball drop.
[19:35:02]
The 34-year-old Democratic socialist will be surrounded by progressive heavyweights throughout the day -- Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez and Letitia James.
Gloria Pazmino is OUTFRONT with the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAYOR-ELECT ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK CITY: On January 1st, I will be sworn in as the mayor of New York city.
GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old Democratic socialist who stunned the political world in November, will be sworn in as New York City's 112th mayor at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day. Mamdani, who will be New York's first Muslim and South Asian American mayor, will be introduced by progressive Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and sworn in by Senator Bernie Sanders.
Mamdani, who previously served in the state assembly and once moonlighted as a rapper, will take over the reins of Americas largest city, overseeing 300,000 public employees and a $116 billion budget.
MAMDANI: I will fight for a city that works for you. That is affordable for you. That is safe for you.
PAZMINO (voice-over): Mamdani's win against former Governor Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary shocked the political establishment.
ANDREW CUOMO (D), FORMER NEW YORK GOVERNOR: The night was not our night.
PAZMINO (voice-over): He cruised to victory again in November with promises to make the city affordable for the working class.
MAMDANI: They are promises to freeze the rent, to make busses fast and free, to deliver universal childcare.
PAZMINO (voice-over): To pay for his ambitious agenda, Mamdani wants to raise taxes on wealthy residents and asked governor Kathy Hhochul has so far rejected. But the governor, heading into her own reelection year in 2026, has said she'll work with the incoming mayor.
GOV. KATHY HOCHUL (D), NEW YORK: He and I have had many meetings individually and with our staff to find a path forward, something that's reasonable that we can get started on universal child care.
PAZMINO (voice-over): Mamdani, who has called President Trump a fascist, says he is willing to work with him if it will help his agenda. Last month, he traveled to D.C. for a high stakes meeting with Trump in the Oval Office, who went from calling Mamdani a lunatic to this.
TRUMP: We agree on a lot more than I would have thought. I want him to do a great job and we'll help them do a great job.
PAZMINO (voice-over): Trump even reportedly remarked, "Wow, you're even better looking in person than you are on TV."
So far, Mamdani has made appointments to New York City's core service agencies, including keeping NYPD commissioner Jessica Tisch in charge of the department.
MAMDANI: I will demand excellence from my team, from myself, and also I will ensure that we create the conditions where that excellence is possible to deliver on.
PAZMINO (voice-over): But some of his hires have garnered controversy. A day after naming his director of appointments, Mamdani accepted her resignation after it was revealed she had posted a series of antisemitic posts online more than a decade ago.
MAMDANI: We are currently underway at making changes in our vetting process.
PAZMINO (voice-over): As he prepares to take office, Mamdani is also getting a major real estate upgrade. He and his wife Rama Duwaji will leave their one bedroom, $2,300 a month apartment in Queens and move into Gracie Mansion. Mamdani will be sworn in during a private ceremony at the old, now abandoned city hall subway station.
A public inauguration is scheduled for the afternoon. Planned in part by a star-studded committee including children's YouTuber Miss Rachel and actress Cynthia Nixon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PAZMINO (on camera): The transition will also be hosting what is expected to be a massive watch party, a block party along Broadway, which runs right outside of city hall downtown in Lower Manhattan, where they are expecting thousands of supporters to come in and sort of join in on this celebration. We are expecting to hear from multiple speakers during that inauguration, and of course, we will hear from Mamdani himself.
In the past few weeks, he's been at work making sure that his cabinet is put together. He has made announcements for deputy mayors and commissioners continuing to do that even today. And we expect him to continue to make more job announcements and key appointments through the end of the year -- Brianna.
KEILAR: All right. Gloria Pazmino, thank you.
OUTFRONT now, Van Jones, former Obama administration official.
Van, lots of progressive heavyweights all set to play key roles in Mamdani inauguration. What message do you want to hear from him when he takes the oath of office?
VAN JONES, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, look, this is a very exciting moment. Some people have trepidation here in New York, but if you are a -- if you're a young Muslim or if you're a young South Asian, this is a moment sort of like what Obama was for young African Americans. Like I was in 2008, or even a John F. Kennedy for Catholics.
So, you're going to have that that moment of excitement will be there. I think for those of us who are trying to figure out what he's going to do and how he's going to move forward, there's two different Mamdani that we've seen. There was Mamdani when he won the nomination, very humble talking about Nelson Mandela, very inviting. Then when he got the -- he actually won, he started talking about Eugene Debs. And, you know, the socialists, it was a different tone.
So, I think people are going to be looking to see which Mamdani shows up once he actually has the cloak of power. But regardless, I think that for young, for young people in the city, for Muslims and for South Asians in particular, it's going to be a very, very exciting day tomorrow.
KEILAR: And I know you're really interested in the machine behind the man. Tell us what you mean and why you're so interested.
JONES: Well, you know, he's -- he -- you see the man, but there is a machine behind the man. The Democratic Socialists of America is an actual organization, and it's very smart organization. It's got a lot of activists. They are in key locations within government. They've been using issue campaigns, legislative campaigns to grow their ranks. And they have ideas that this is the first city and not the last.
And so, I think it's very easy to get excited. And we always do with the individual. But there's a network here of committed activists who are -- who have an agenda when it comes to a series of municipal socialist successes. And I think we need to pay attention to that.
Nobody paid attention to MAGA. Oh, it's just MAGA. Who cares? MAGA ate the Republican Party.
People are not paying attention to DSA. It may well swallow the Democratic Party at some point. And so, I think it's important for us to think about the Democratic socialists of America as a serious organization, not a sideshow. And we'll see how they perform going forward.
KEILAR: A recent Quinnipiac poll found that if the election were held today, 47 percent of voters say they'd want Democrats to win the House, compared to 43 percent for Republicans. But it's actually down from October, when Democrats held a clear advantage over Republicans 50 to 41 percent.
How are you seeing that? Should Democrats be worried?
JONES: Look, not yet. This thing is going to bounce all over the place because people -- it's not a left-wing period. It's not a right-wing period. It's just a turbulent, volatile period.
People are upset. They don't feel good about the cost of things. They don't look out in the future and feel great with A.I. coming. The geopolitical situation seems pretty tenuous. China's rising.
And so, you're going to see numbers go all over the place because people are just upset they're not in love with Democrats. They're just frustrated with Republicans and with Donald Trump right now. And they're frustrated with prices. Get through the spring and lets start seeing what messages and what messengers start cutting through on the Democratic side. And these numbers will actually be a little bit more stable.
KEILAR: Do they have a clear focus, Democrats, about what they're pitching to voters right now?
JONES: Not yet. I think everybody now says affordability. Affordability because both are moderate governor's candidates, one with an affordability message and are more progressive, more socialist mayor here in New York, one with an affordability message. So, everybody knows it's going to be about affordability. Even Trump is talking about that.
But how that breaks out, which particular proposals, you know, it takes a while and you know, people got to calm down. We're a year from the midterms, so we still have time to figure this stuff out.
KEILAR: Not quite a year, Van, not quite a year. And it comes on fast.
Van Jones, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
And OUTFRONT next, China launching major war games near Taiwan. China's army, navy and air force all mobilized after criticizing a major U.S. arms deal. Is the U.S. being tested?
And Tatiana Schlossberg, journalist and granddaughter of John F. Kennedy, has died at 35, just one month after revealing a terminal cancer diagnosis.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:47:39] KEILAR: Tonight, tragic news from the Kennedy family. JFK's granddaughter, Tatiana Schlossberg, has died after a battle with acute myeloid leukemia. She was just 35 years old. The environmental journalist revealed her shocking diagnosis only weeks ago, saying she learned she had cancer just hours after giving birth to her daughter in 2024.
One of her coworkers at "The New York Times" sharing this statement with OUTFRONT: She had great ideas. She had a powerful work ethic, but most of all, she had integrity. She was devoted to facts, truth, and getting it right. Always important, but particularly so on a beat as fraught and politicized as climate and environment. And she was nice, a total pleasure to work with, always open to discussions and ideas without excuses or a whiff of privilege.
She leaves behind two young children, Edwin, three years old, and Josephine, just one.
Arlette Saenz is OUTFRONT
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Kennedy family, facing another tragic loss. Tatiana Schlossberg, the granddaughter of former President John F. Kennedy, has died at the age of 35. Her family writing, quote, "Our beautiful Tatiana passed away this morning. She will always be in our hearts."
In a moving essay for the New Yorker just last month, Schlossberg first shared her terminal cancer diagnosis, discovered last year after she gave birth to her daughter. Schlossberg writing, quote, "I did not could not believe that they were talking about me. I had swum a mile in the pool the day before, nine months pregnant. I wasn't sick, I didn't feel sick. I was actually one of the healthiest people I knew."
Routine blood work revealed acute myeloid leukemia with a rare mutation. The treatment included rounds of chemotherapy, a stem cell transplant from her older sister Rose, and clinical trials.
"I had a son whom I loved more than anything," she wrote, "and a newborn I needed to take care of. This could not possibly be my life."
Schlossberg made her cancer diagnosis public on the 62nd anniversary of her grandfather's assassination, an early marker in the family's string of tragedies.
Schlossberg's great uncle, Robert F. Kennedy, gunned down while campaigning for president in 1968.
[19:50:00]
Decades later, her uncle, John F. Kennedy, Jr., killed in a small plane crash.
Schlossberg, aware of the pain endured by her family, including her mother, Caroline Kennedy. For my whole life, she wrote, "I have tried to be good, to be a good
student and a good sister and a good daughter, and to protect my mother and never make her upset or angry. Now I have added a new tragedy to her life, to our family's life, and there's nothing I can do to stop it."
Schlossberg also was frank about her displeasure with her cousin, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who she described as an embarrassment. She wrote, I watched from my hospital bed as Bobby in the face of logic and common sense, was confirmed for the position despite never having worked in medicine, public health or the government, adding, suddenly, the health care system on which I relied felt strained, shaky.
TATIANA SCHLOSSBERG, JFK'S GRANDDAUGHTER: I'm Tatiana Schlossberg.
SAENZ (voice-over): Schlossberg dedicated her career to environmental journalism and was planning to write her second book about the world's oceans and climate change.
SCHLOSSBERG: We pay for the cost in terms of the ecosystem, health or the health to the oceans, or the health care costs to people.
SAENZ (voice-over): But Schlossberg spent her final months battling a terminal disease and building memories with her husband, George Moran, and their three-year-old son and one-year-old daughter. She wrote, "Sometimes I trick myself into thinking I'll remember this forever. I'll remember this when I'm dead. Obviously, I won't, but since I don't know what death is like and there's no one to tell me what comes after it, I'll keep pretending. I will keep trying to remember."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAENZ (on camera): And we have started to hear from some members of the Kennedy family. Maria Shriver, the cousin of Caroline Kennedy, wrote on Instagram, quote, "I returned to the space heartbroken because Tatiana loved life. She loved her life, and she fought like hell to try to save it."
Maria Shriver also said that Caroline Kennedy has really been a rock for the entire family during this period. In that essay, Tatiana Schlossberg had written about how both her parents as well as her siblings, which include Jack Schlossberg, who is running for congress in New York, have been by her side throughout this process. An incredibly sad moment for this very close-knit family.
KEILAR: Yeah, heartbreaking.
Arlette Saenz, thank you so much for that tribute.
OUTFRONT next, China mobilizing massive military drills near Taiwan just days after slamming a major U.S. arms deal. Is China signaling a new red line?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:56:28]
KEILAR: Tonight, a blatant provocation. That's what Taiwan's president is calling the huge war games that China's military is conducting near Taiwan. More than 100 fighter jets and nearly two dozen warships are involved in the drills.
Will Ripley is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tonight, China's A.I. generated vision of war, heavily armed drones swarming Taiwan, robot dogs opening fire, humanoid soldiers in urban combat. This menacing video as Beijing launches massive military drills surrounding this island, democracy.
China's People's Liberation Army calls it Justice Mission 2025, testing its ability to blockade Taiwan and seize control of key ports and critical areas.
LIN WEI-MING, TEACHER: I think these drills are just meant to scare us, to intimidate us.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Defiance on the streets of Taiwan's capital, Taipei.
STEPHANIE HUANG, INTERIOR DESIGNER: We are our own country. We have a president. We have our own constitution, and we have our own legislature. I believe we are a completely independent nation.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Taiwan's president, Lai Ching-te, expressed his strongest condemnation, calling the drills a blatant provocation, vowing not to back down in front of threats.
In China's capital, Beijing, this man echoes the Chinese Communist Party line.
MR. LV, BEIJING RESIDENT: It's our internal affairs that should not be interfered with because we are not bullying the weak. It's about unification.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Chinese Leader Xi Jinping has vowed to unify with Taiwan by force if necessary. U.S. military leaders say. Xi told the PLA to be ready to take Taiwan by 2027, saying last week, Beijing is getting closer to that goal.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Nothing worries me. Nothing.
RIPLEY (voice-over): President Donald Trump downplaying the danger to Taiwan, saying he does not think China's largest show of force in months will lead to war.
TRUMP: I have a great relationship with President Xi, and he hasn't told me anything about it. I certainly have seen it, but he hasn't told me anything about it and I don't believe he's going to be doing it.
RIPLEY (voice-over): China's army, navy, air force and rocket force all mobilized, live fire drills declared in at least five zones encircling the island, seven zones announced by China's maritime authorities.
Taiwan's defense ministry says China fired 27 rockets in two waves landing in waters north and southwest of Taiwan. Some rockets landing closer than before compared to previous military drills. In the first 24 hours, 130 Chinese warplanes and 22 warships operating around Taiwan, the islands defense ministry says the second largest single day deployment ever recorded.
Taiwan scrambled its own fighters in response, just days after the Trump administration announced a record $11.1 billion arms deal for Taiwan, including HIMARS rocket systems and loitering drones.
Military experts say this drill is explicitly rehearsing how China would block foreign militaries like the U.S. and Japan, from coming to Taiwan's aid.
Taiwan deploying its own air force and coast guard, bracing for a future when this may not be just a drill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RIPLEY (on camera): After months of escalating rhetorical attacks on Taiwan's president, the timing of these drills is significant. They come just days after that massive $11 billion U.S. arms sale, a deal Beijing fiercely condemned. Also, weeks of tension between China and a key U.S. ally, Japan. The new prime minister suggesting Tokyo could respond militarily if China attacks Taiwan. Beijing's narrative is that it could drag the U.S. into a dangerous, perhaps even catastrophic situation -- Brianna.
KEILAR: Will Ripley, thank you.
And thank you for joining us.
"AC360" starts now.
