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Early Start with Rahel Solomon
Trump Media To Merge With Nuclear Fusion Company; Suspect In Brown University, MIT Shootings Found Dead; Trump Signs Executive Order To Reclassify Marijuana. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired December 19, 2025 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[05:30:20]
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, is expected to talk about Gaza with Mideast partners during a visit to Miami in the coming hours. A White House official telling CNN Witkoff is set to meet with senior officials from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey and they'll discuss the next phase of the Gaza peace plan.
Meantime, the U.S. imposing sanctions on two more judges from the International Criminal Court. It's just the latest step by the Trump administration to punish the court over its efforts to investigate Israel's conduct during the war with Hamas in Gaza. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the court is attempting to prosecute and arrest Israeli nationals without Israel'As consent.
The ICC, for its part, denouncing the new sanctions, calling them a "flagrant attack against the independence of an impartial judicial institution."
The U.S. and Israel have repeatedly denied the ICC's authority to investigate either country's conduct.
LinkedIn just the latest to add a year in review feature, but it's leaving a bad taste for some users who were looking for their next role in a challenging job market. Our business breakout is just ahead.
Plus, Trump's social media venture looking to fill the energy gap with nuclear fusion. Why they're making such a big bet on a still unproven technology. That's ahead.
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[05:36:12]
HILL: Welcome back to EARLY START. This is your business breakout.
Here's a look at where U.S. futures stand just ahead of the opening bell on Wall Street about four hours from now. You can see nice little arrows of green there.
A new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics did show inflation slowed to 2.7 percent compared to a year ago, marking the lowest rate since July. Economists, though, are cautioning that slower rate could actually be the result of shutdown-related disruptions in data collection.
Taking a look at some of today's business headlines for you.
Professional networking platform LinkedIn launching a year in review feature for users and the timing, it turns out, may not be so great. The unemployment rate just hit a four-year high as layoffs rose and also employers took on fewer new workers. LinkedIn "Wrapped" told users how many days they spent on the platform, how many connections started new jobs, as well as some other insights. And for some, those insights were really just a reminder of how tough the job market is in this moment.
President Trump is trying to convince voters he's making progress in addressing their concerns about the cost of living. That's going to be the focus of his speech in North Carolina later today, saying he plans to highlight how his administration is bringing prices down. We're told he will also continue to blame former President Joe Biden for driving costs up.
TikTok signing a deal to sell most of its assets to a new U.S. entity with an American investor group, although the agreement is not finalized just yet. The U.S. TikTok app would be controlled by a new joint venture, which includes tech company Oracle, the private equity firm Silver Lake, and Emirate-backed investment firm MGX. Tiktok's parent, Beijing-based ByteDance, would keep a 20 percent share of the new company.
President Trump's social media business surprising many on Thursday with the announcement of plans to merge with a nuclear fusion company. Trump Media and Technology Group agreeing to that $6 billion deal with the privately owned TAE Technologies. It's a bet on a potentially lucrative but still unproven energy technology.
CNN's Clare Duffy explains.
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CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: I think it's really important to put into context here what exactly nuclear fusion is. This is an unproven technology. It's something that some in the energy sector and in Silicon Valley think could be a lucrative, cheaper source of energy that could help fill America's energy gap at a time when the country is increasingly desperate for new energy sources as we build out more AI data centers. But this is Trump Media making a bet on a speculative technology. Most people you ask say fusion is likely decades away from potentially being commercially viable.
And in some ways, this follows a trend that we've seen Trump Media take with bets on things like crypto. The company talked about wanting to diversify into artificial intelligence earlier this year.
And for TAE Technologies, this nuclear firm, this is going to provide them with an infusion of capital and also boost their public profile at a time when they are trying to take this from vision to reality. Trump Media is expected to invest an initial $300 million in cash into this nuclear project. And, of course, going public could also help with those capital needs too.
But I think there are also important conflict of interest questions here because President Trump has talked about wanting to remove red tape and speed up regulatory reviews for new nuclear facilities. And as a new technology, nuclear fusion is going to rely on approvals from the federal government.
Now, our Matt Egan did ask this question of TAE's CEO Michl Binderbauer who talked about the fact that he doesn't worry that this is going to make his company more politically controversial. He said, "I'm not looking for anything special. Perhaps you get more scrutinized from a regulatory perspective, and that's good because it will give the world confidence that the technology is what matters." But I think if you're somebody who is worried about nuclear safety, what you're actually concerned about is that this company will face less regulatory scrutiny because of its ties to the White House.
[05:40:00]
So that's going to be a really interesting thing to watch as this plays out. Although, again, nuclear fusion far from being a commercial reality.
Back to you.
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HILL: An update on our breaking news just ahead. The suspect in the Brown University shooting and that of an MIT professor now dead. What investigators say about who the suspect was and also how they found him.
Plus, the U.S. president signing a major defense spending bill even though it pushes back on some of his priorities.
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HILL: Welcome back. I'm Erica Hill. Here are some of the stories we are watching today.
[05:45:00]
Police say the man suspected in the Brown University and MIT shootings is now dead. His body found in a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire late Thursday. Police identified him as 48-year-old Portuguese national Claudio Neves-Valente, a former student at Brown some 20-plus years ago.
Australia's prime minister, meantime, has announced a national firearms buyback plan following Sunday's mass shooting. The government is trying to get more guns off the street after 15 people were killed at a Hannukah celebration at Sydney's Bondi Beach. And today is the deadline for the U.S. Department -- Justice
Department, rather, to publicly release its investigative on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. This, of course, comes after Congress passed a law last month ordering the release of those documents and President Trump signed that into law. It is believed thousands of pages will be redacted.
We're turning to our top story this morning -- the dramatic new developments in the hunt for the Brown University shooter as police now continue their work to determine a motive. We are told it is not clear why the suspect fatally shot two people -- two students at Brown last weekend and then went on to kill an MIT professor on Monday.
The suspect though, we do know, is Portuguese national Claudio Neves- Valente, who was found dead in a storage unit in New Hampshire late Thursday.
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COL. OSCAR L. PEREZ JR., POLICE CHIEF, PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND: An individual was identified as Claudio Neves-Valente. Date of birth -- and he was a 48-year-old man. He was a Brown student, he was a Portuguese national, and his last known address was in Miami, Florida. And I will tell you that he took his own life tonight.
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HILL: Neves-Valente had completed three semesters of graduate school at Brown, studying physics, but did not receive a degree.
Investigators say they tracked him down after someone provided the police with critical clues.
Another surprise came when a U.S. attorney said Neves-Valente had shot and killed the MIT professor who was killed at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts on Monday.
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LEAH B. FOLEY, U.S. ATTORNEY FOR DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS: Previously, he attended the same academic program as the MIT professor, Nuno Loureiro, in Portugal between 1995 and 2000.
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HILL: We're also learning the U.S. military has carried out two more strikes in the Eastern Pacific Ocean on Thursday against alleged drug trafficking boats, killing five people. U.S. Southern Command confirmed the strikes in a social media post saying the military hit the two vessels because they were "engaged in narco-trafficking operations."
At least 104 people have now been killed in the ongoing campaign by the U.S. military against drug trafficking vessels in the Pacific and the Caribbean. But so far, it's important to note the Trump administration has not provided evidence the boats hit in these strikes carried drugs.
All of this coming as the U.S. has increased its military presence in South America with a focus on Venezuela. Just this week, President Trump ordering a total blockade of all sanctioned Venezuelan oil. Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro has called the blockade illegal and vows to fight it.
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NICOLAS MADURO, VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT (through translator): What they did to the private ship carrying Venezuelan oil, already paid for and destined for international markets, is a serious crime under international law and binding treaties. Venezuela will continue its course. We will keep exporting our 14 economic engines and products from Venezuela will reach global markets because we are a free country and will guarantee free trade for Venezuela, the Caribbean, and all of South America.
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HILL: U.S. President Donald Trump approving some $900 billion in new funding for U.S. military programs. A White House official says he signed the National Defense Authorization Act on Friday. Now, among other things, it actually limits his ability to significantly draw down U.S. troops from Europe. It also restores support for efforts to track Ukrainian children abducted by Russia. The funding for that was cut by Mr. Trump earlier this year.
The act will also reduce the travel budget of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth until the Pentagon releases unedited videos of those strikes on alleged drug boats.
President Trump, meantime, also signing an executive order which reclassifies marijuana from a schedule I drug to a schedule III drug. So it's important to note this order does not federally legalize marijuana but it does put it in the same category as something like Tylenol as opposed to being in a category with heroin or ecstasy.
CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains the significance of this shift.
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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Let me try and explain what this is likely to mean in the days and months going forward.
First of all, for a long time, cannabis has been a schedule I substance. And take a look at the language there in terms of what that means specifically, especially that top line basically saying it has no currently accepted medical use. Um, that obviously is a significant statement and sort of preordains this idea that cannabis is not a medicine. It also puts it in the same category as things as heroin and LSD, and ecstasy in terms of potential harms.
[05:50:00]
So benefits as a schedule I, essentially none -- and harms, significant.
Now as a schedule III substance -- take a look at the language -- there is no language about the fact that it has -- doesn't have any accepted medical use. It does talk about potential dependence but categorizes it lower in terms of overall scheduling with things like ketamine, for example, and testosterone, and steroids.
It's not making cannabis legal -- a very important point. It is rescheduling it into something that is more permissive.
The benefits of this potentially -- and this is something we've been reporting on for years -- is this idea that it may free up the ability to do research -- more research, which is understandably needed. If something is already preordained as having no medicinal benefit you might understand why it would be difficult to do research on something like that. If it's schedule III, some of that research may be more allowable and more permissive.
You also heard that at the Innovation Center of CMS, which is Center for Medicaid Services, they're actually going to start doing research at the federal level in people over the age of 65 -- so seniors being able to get CBD specifically for conditions such as pain and sleep -- and studying those substances against what is already out there.
So, you know, a significant move in the world of cannabis -- something that people have been talking about for decades, and I'm not exaggerating. And now it's signed basically rescheduling cannabis from schedule I to schedule III.
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HILL: Investigators are heading to North Carolina after a private jet crashed shortly after takeoff killing seven people, including a top former American racecar driver. The crash happened on Thursday in the town of Statesville. Video taken by witnesses shows the plane bursting into flames as it hit the ground with emergency crews battling the fire.
On board, former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle, his wife, and their two children. NASCAR says Biffle was one of its 75 greatest drivers. There are no reports of survivors.
Still to come on EARLY START, Democrats mocking Donald Trump after he announces the "Patriot Games." How they're not comparing it to a famous dystopian book and movie franchise. That's next.
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DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In the fall, we will host the first-ever "Patriot Games," an unprecedented four-day athletic event featuring the greatest high school athletes. One young man and one young woman from each state and territory. (END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: President Trump there announcing the first-ever "Patriot Games" which will be part of the celebration of America's 250th anniversary.
Democrats -- some of them -- mocking the "Patriot Games," including California Governor Gavin Newsom, who compared it to the infamous "Hunger Games" series of books and films, posting on social media a clip from the movie along with the well-known quote from the "Hunger Games" -- "May the odds be ever in your favor."
The Kennedy Center's board of trustees voting on Thursday to change the facility's name to the Trump Kennedy Center. There are important legal questions though about whether the board even has the authority to rename the arts institution. In 1964, Congress designated it as a memorial to President Kennedy.
And there are also questions about the vote itself. While the White House said the vote was unanimous, Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty, an ex-officio member of the board who was on that call, said that actually was not the case. That it was not unanimous and noting she was kept muted and not able to vote.
Members of the Kennedy family have also condemned the move.
More than 70 million people in the United States are under wind alerts today. They stretch from Maine to North Carolina. And, of course, that includes major hubs -- Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. The winds are part of a strong storm system from the Rockies that has weakened as it has moved into the Northeast but will still be causing problems at airports heading into this weekend before Christmas.
Thousands of customers in the southeastern U.S., meantime, are without power at this hour after strong thunderstorm winds caused damage across several states Thursday night. The winds accompanied a cold front stretching from Kentucky through Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama.
Two of Hollywood's biggest stars sitting down for the grand finale of "ACTORS ON ACTORS." Among the revelations, Leonardo DiCaprio tells Jennifer Lawrence he's never rewatched "Titanic." The two Oscar winners also discussed their upcoming movie with director Martin Scorcese, their lives as kids on sitcoms, and their good and bad habits as actors.
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JENNIFER LAWRENCE, ACTRESS: I think that the creative part of my brain and my -- the political part of my brain are intrinsically linked. Like, I keep finding, like, every time I come up with, like, a movie or, like -- it's more often than not political. I think it's because that's how I'm, like, digesting the world.
LEONARDO DICAPRIO, ACTOR: Hmm.
LAWRENCE: Are you like that?
DICAPRIO: No.
LAWRENCE: OK, next.
DICAPRIO: No, no. But this was an interesting one because he wrote this 15 years ago and it kind of feels --
LAWRENCE: Yeah.
DICAPRIO: -- very topical.
LAWRENCE: Totally.
DICAPRIO: And, you know, as we know, we did "Don't Look Up" together. It's very difficult to say something about the world we live in, and it has to have an element of irony or comedy to it; otherwise people -- they're not allowed in. You know what I mean?
LAWRENCE: Um-hum.
DICAPRIO: It feels like oh, I'm watching these people's vocation and they -- you know, do I relate to them?
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HILL: You can stream all the episodes of "ACTORS ON ACTORS" on the CNN app.
[06:00:00]
Boxing fans counting down to Anthony Joshua's return to the ring. The former world heavyweight champion is set to take on social media influencer Jake Paul in Miami tonight. The 36-year-old Joshua hasn't fought professionally since 2024. The fight will consist of eight three-minute rounds. Official figures have not been released but both men are expected to earn tens of millions of dollars. That main event is set to air exclusively on Netflix.
Thanks so much for joining me this morning here on EARLY START. I'm Erica Hill in New York. I hope you have a great Friday and weekend. Stay tuned to "CNN THIS MORNING WITH AUDIE CORNISH" which starts right now.
