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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Pope Leo To Deliver "Urbi Et Orbi" Speech To World; Heavy Rains Causing Life-Threatening Floods In California; Justice Department Finds More Than A Million More Documents; Ukrainians Honoring Fallen Troops On Christmas Day; Top 10 Most Watched CNN Videos Of 2025. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired December 25, 2025 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:35]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. If you're joining me in the United States and indeed, wherever you are around the world. I'm Richard Quest, EARLY START for Thursday, December the 25th, Christmas Day, 10:00 a.m. here in London, 5:00 in New York. And a very merry Christmas, wherever you are watching in the world. This is a special Christmas edition of EARLY START.

We begin at the Vatican, where it has been raining and where Pope Leo is holding his first Christmas mass right now, first Christmas mass as pontiff some seven months after being chosen to lead the Catholic Church. Later this hour, he's expected and will deliver the famous urbi et orbi to the city and to the world. The address that he gives from St. Peter's Basilica. We'll have a live report on the pope's Christmas message for the faithful and the world. That's coming to you in just one minute or two.

We go to Bethlehem, though, in the West Bank, which, of course, the birthplace of Jesus. There, Christian worshipers have been attending Christmas mass at the church of the nativity. It is an important milestone. Bethlehem's first festivities since the start of the Israel-Hamas War, and it's possible because of the ceasefire that is largely holding true. Keep in mind, though, as we look at the celebrations and all the happiness of Christmas, not everyone is having a wonderful time at this time of the year.

Think about those who have lost loved ones or wishing they could be with loved ones. And for those who are working like me, for instance, and my colleagues, or perhaps you, if you're working. There are those of us who have to keep the things moving to keep the world turning.

And then, for those who face risks to their lives, it could be from war or as this morning, in the case of natural disasters, heavily populated parts of California are being hit hard today by a powerful storm. It means millions of people are living under a state of emergency across the wider Los Angeles area. There are dangerous floods and debris flows, and that's triggered evacuation orders.

In Australia, again, sadness and serenity. The situation at Sydney's Bondi Beach, although the people celebrating Sydney are out in force as usual. A deep sadness lingers after two weeks following the deadly massacre. So, if you will, to Christmas central at this hour, I told you Christopher Lamb, I promised you that it was going to stop raining and it would appear to have done so for the time being.

Tell me about Christmas and St. Peter's Square this morning.

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Richard, it is still raining here, but not as badly as before. Theres a band that's just coming into the square. There's a celebratory atmosphere here in St. Peter's for the first Christmas that Pope Leo is celebrating since his election. The mass is still going on. The morning mass of Christmas Day. Leo is presiding at, and he is going to be coming out onto the balcony of St. Peter's shortly to give his Christmas message.

But during the mass this morning, the pope had quite a strong message about what's been happening in Gaza and the plight of refugees. It was quite a striking reference to those situations. This is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE LEO XIV, CATHOLIC CHURCH: How then can we not think of the tents in Gaza exposed for weeks to rain, wind and cold? Of those so many others, refugees and displaced person's on every continent or of the makeshift shelters of thousands of homeless people in our own cities, fragile is the flesh of defenseless populations tried by so many wars, ongoing or concluded, leaving behind rubble and open wounds.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAMB: Well, the plight of refugees and migrants is something that Leo has been concerned about for some time.

[05:05:07]

He's talked about the inhumane treatment of immigrants in the United States, and he's also spoken out for the plight of people in Gaza, and, of course, doing so on Christmas has an added resonance. We are expecting, as I say, Leo, to come out into the square and greet the crowd that's gathering, quite a large number of people here despite the rain. But here to see Pope Leo during his first Christmas since his election and have some Christmas cheer. Despite, as I say, the weather not being so great -- Richard.

QUEST: We having a little bit of difficulty hearing you, but we'll stay with you, Christopher.

Does it feel different and new, a new pope? Yes, but also a much younger, vibrant pope.

LAMB: Yes. It is different because Leo, as you say, is younger than his predecessors. Therefore, he's doing more at Christmas. For example, the mass going on now on Christmas Day hasn't been said by pope. On this day for about 30 years. So he's doing more.

He also said mass last night in St. Peter's. He came out to the crowd who were gathered in the in the bad weather and said he admired their courage for being there. Thank them. And in the square, there's an exhibition of nativity scenes from across the world, including the Chicago nativity, reflecting, of course, Pope Leo's hometown.

So, I'd say there's a renewed enthusiasm and excitement at Christmas, particularly with Leo, a younger pope. And of course, the first American pope marking these festivities for the first time.

QUEST: Good to see you. Thank you, Christopher Lamb. It's not raining at the moment, but hopefully not too bad. Thank you, sir.

Now, we've been keeping an eye on NORAD tracker Santa all night. Let me just open my own NORAD little app and see where he is at the moment. We're going to show you on the screen. Oh, come on. Nothing. One of the one's -- he's going to the north pole. He's sort of going there on his way.

He's actually going to be there as he heads towards Hawaii, where he's still got some time to go. Maybe he's finished Hawaii. Looks like he is on his way home. There we go. Off he goes.

Look at that Santa Claus heading back over eight billion gifts, more than eight billion. And he's on his way home for another year. Excellent.

Now, as we look at real weather and real serious stuff, the latest in a series of powerful storms is lashing California with high winds and heavy rains producing life-threatening flooding. At least two deaths so far. More than seven million people in southern California are under a rare, high risk flooding threat.

And on Thursday, a flash flood warning was issued as part of Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties. Officials there, in their, quote, dangerous scenario unfolding and the governor, Gavin Newsom, has declared a state of emergency across at least six counties. And that includes Los Angeles County.

The firefighters are also reporting an uptick in swift water rescue. You can see here somebody being rescued by helicopter. For hikers stranded by the flooding.

Earlier, I spoke to Chris Prater from the San Bernardino County fire protection district about their response to this severe weather.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Sir, a difficult time, I wish you seasons greetings, obviously, at this time of the year. And thank you for the amazing work that you and your colleagues are doing. Keeping people safe. But how bad is the situation?

CHRIS PRATER, SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT: Yes, sir. Thank you for having me. It's a pretty severe situation out here. We've been experiencing prolonged periods of rain, and that rain has led to mud and debris flows and flooding in some of our communities here in San Bernardino, primarily Wrightwood and Lytle Creek. We've been out there since 7:30 this morning helping people get out of harm's way, going door to door, helping them evacuate, and all the while still having to affect rescues of people that are stuck in their vehicles.

QUEST: What? I mean, the size, the size of the flooding and the amount of rain is quite exceptional. So, what are the greatest risks in these circumstances?

PRATER: So, with these prolonged periods of rain, this problem has been compounded by some burn scars from fires that we've experienced in the past year.

[05:10:03]

The greatest risk we have is when people don't heed to evacuation warnings or orders, and they stay in the area. All this does is really -- it makes them more prone to danger because these rain flooding situations, mudslides, they come out at no with no warning at all.

And so, the sooner we can get people to evacuate, the better off we are to help make them safe.

QUEST: Which is more of a threat. Is it the mudslides? Is it just the sheer volume of water? I know obviously, if power lines come down, then that creates a truly additional problem of electrocution.

PRATER: Yeah. When we have these storms, they pose a bunch of different problems. You have the volume of water, which by itself, anything up to six to -- 12 inches of water is enough to sweep your vehicle off the roadway. When you get the mud and debris flows, oftentimes those can contain large rocks, boulders, logs that take out everything in its path.

And then with winds, we also have the problem of possible electrocutions and live power lines being down. So, the best case scenario is us getting people out of harms way so we can go in there and make sure everybody is going to be okay.

QUEST: Sir, I'll thank you and let you get back to your duties and wish your colleagues well and thank them for their service.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: U.S. Department of Justice says the release of files in the Jeffrey Epstein case is about to grow substantially. According to the department, it's uncovered more than a million additional documents, which it now says its reviewing and expects to release in a few weeks.

CNN's Marshall Cohen, with this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, you could call it a Christmas Eve bombshell. The Justice Department announced Wednesday that there are potentially 1 million new additional documents related to Jeffrey Epstein that need to be processed and will be released. That announcement came as we were all expecting more materials to come out, but perhaps not quite such a massive volume of material still out there.

The Justice Department, in a post to X formerly called Twitter, said the following, quote: "We have lawyers working around the clock to review and make the legally required redactions to protect victims, and we will release the documents as soon as possible." They went on to say due to the mass volume of material, this process may take a few more weeks, pleading for some patients, which it has been difficult to come by in the past week, a bipartisan array of outrage from Capitol Hill in the last few days about the heavy handed redactions, the various documents that still haven't been released, and we saw a flurry of responses to this tweet on Wednesday afternoon, House Democrats said that they believe this was an outrageous admission from the DOJ.

Now, the Justice Department said that these new materials came from the Southern District of New York, which, of course, was responsible for the Jeffrey Epstein investigation that led to his federal sex trafficking indictment in 2019. He never stood trial on those charges because he died by suicide that year. But it was that office SDNY, that prosecuted Epstein's former girlfriend and longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell, and she was found guilty, convicted on sex trafficking charges by that office that were filed by that office in 2021.

So, the big news here is there's a lot more to come in what seems like a never ending saga over the Epstein files.

Marshall Cohen, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Ukraine is marking a wartime Christmas by honoring its fallen dead. In a moment, a major event in Kyiv that pays respect to those who died defending the country.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:18:34]

QUEST: It's a bittersweet moment in Ukraine, as the country marks its third wartime Christmas, celebrated today. A march is set to take place in Kyiv to honor the soldiers who have died defending the country. Ukraine moved its own Christmas holiday to December the 25th, two years ago, so as to distance itself from Russia's orthodox church, which celebrates Christmas in January.

But for those who are internally displaced, the holiday brings back memories of homes they had to flee. And some say they missed the lives they used to have. And they're ready for the war to end.

Nada Bashir is with me to talk more about this.

Nada, good morning and seasons greetings.

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Richard. Happy holidays. And of course, this is yet another Christmas for so many in Ukraine

being celebrated away from home. As you mentioned, so many that are still currently internally displaced. Marking Christmas during wartime. And we've been hearing from some of those who have been displaced trying to keep alive the traditions that they have built with their families over many, many years, trying to keep that Christmas spirit alive during, of course, the ongoing Russian bombardment that we have seen.

And of course, we've seen the stepping up of Russia's attacks just in the last few days.

That warning from President Zelenskyy that there would be a ramping up over the Christmas period and putting his armed forces on high alert. But despite that, we are still seeing celebrations going ahead. Take a listen to one resident who has been internally displaced to Zaporizhzhia.

[05:20:02]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HALYNA ZAITSEVA, INTERNALLY DISPLACED UKRAINIAN (through translator): I really, really want everything to be beautiful for our boys, our defenders to be celebrating Christmas and for them to come home already. Enough is enough. I really want peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASHIR: Now, of course, that call for peace has been echoed by so many, not only in Ukraine, but of course in the international community. Weve been hearing from Pope Leo calling for peace in Ukraine this Christmas and of course, this comes at a time where we are seeing some positive indications when it comes to peace talks and negotiations. We saw negotiations, or rather peace talks between Ukrainian delegation and a Russian delegation separately meeting with U.S. officials. That wraps up in Miami this weekend. And we have heard just in the last day from the Ukrainian president, speaking quite frankly to Ukrainian reporters, saying that he may be prepared to make some concessions, crucially, when it comes to the potential of ceding territory.

Now, that is something that has long been a key sticking point in negotiations. Zelensky saying he may be prepared to cede some territory in the Donetsk region. So, we will wait to see how this moves the needle and of course, what the response will be from President Putin -- Richard.

QUEST: Thank you very much. We'll see you in just a moment or two yourself. Thank you very much.

As we continue, videos from January's devastating California fires are among the most watched videos on CNN this year. Other videos that made I suppose it's the good, the bad and the ugly list, depending on your point of view at any given moment. Anyway, that -- we'll have that in just a moment. It's the CNN newsroom, it's Christmas Day, and you're very welcome.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:25:51]

QUEST: As we come to the end of 2025, let's take a look at the top 10 most watched videos on CNN. And it's Boris Sanchez who's doing the countdown.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Number 10: Trump targets Iran. Hours after the United States began its precision air strikes on three nuclear facilities in an unprecedented aerial bombardment of Iran, the president spoke to the nation.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success.

SANCHEZ (voice-over): In the aftermath, some members of Congress openly questioned the constitutionality of the strikes, while others, especially MAGA lawmakers, supported the administration.

Number nine: L.A. devastated. Satellite images showing the breadth and depth of the runaway Eaton wildfire. The fast moving flames this past January, forcing thousands to flee their homes in search of higher and safer ground. Devastation like this will take years to rebuild. Number eight. A shocking midair collision caught on tape.

On January 29th of this year, an American Airlines flight operated by American Eagle and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter collided over the freezing Potomac River at night. The tragedy caught on tape. The jet was on final approach to Reagan National, while the helicopter had been performing a required flying evaluation. All 67 people aboard both aircrafts died.

Number seven: An American is Pope. In May, shortly after the death of Pope Francis, the College of Cardinals elected their next leader.

And to the surprise of many, the choice was this man. Chicago's very own Cardinal, Robert Francis Prevost, the first Augustinian Pope.

POPE LEO: I invite you to recognize the marvels that the Lord has done.

SANCHEZ (voice-over): Even more surprising, he briefly spoke in English during his first mass.

Number six: Hot mic. Justin Trudeau, who at the time was Canada's Prime Minister, overheard making a jaw-dropping admission to business leaders back in February. Essentially telling them that President Trump's talk of making Canada a 51st U.S. state was no joke. So far, Canada remains Canada.

Number five: Cramer speaks out. Famed CNBC broadcaster Jim Cramer appearing on Erin Burnett's show earlier this year, admitting he was misled by the Trump administration's tariffs policy.

Listen.

JIM CRAMER, CNBC BROADCASTER: Over and over again, the president said, listen, it's going to be reciprocal. So you do it, we do it. And that was going to be so good.

And I really believed in it. And I feel like a sucker tonight.

SANCHEZ (voice-over): Number four: Swallowed whole. A father on a kayak captures the moment his son, Adrian, was briefly swallowed by a humpback whale off the coast of Chile.

Adrian told CNN he didn't realize at first it was a whale and thought he just got caught up in a big wave.

ADRIAN SIMANCAS, SWALLOWED BY WHALE: If the whale had hit me, it would be more dangerous.

SANCHEZ (voice-over): What a story to tell his grandkids.

Number three. Beauty influencer gunned down. Valeria Marquez was shot and killed by a man who entered her salon all while on a TikTok live stream in Zapopan, Mexico. Her death sending shockwaves through a country grappling with frequent suspected cases of femicide.

Number two: Jimmy Kimmel speaking out. After a brief suspension following controversial comments he made about conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Jimmy Kimmel returned to ABC late night to say he never intended to make light of Kirk's murder. Also delivering powerful remarks about freedom of speech.

JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST OF JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE: This show is not important. What is important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this.

SANCHEZ (voice-over): And the number one viral video on CNN's countdown, the feud seen around the world.

TRUMP: Wait a minute. No, no, you've done a lot of talking.

SANCHEZ (voice-over): On the left, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hoping to win --