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Inside Politics
DOJ May Need A "Few More Weeks" To Release Additional Epstein Files; Top 10 Of 2025; Former Finnish PM Sanna Marin Joins Inside Politics On New Memoir. Aired 12:30-1p ET
Aired December 26, 2025 - 12:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[12:30:00]
ANNIE GRAYER, CNN SENIOR CAPITOL HILL: -- how can they push this administration to do more, to release everything that they are supposed to be releasing? And this is certainly not how Trump, I think, wanted to end his year.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: And I think every time that one of those occasions happens, there is a spike in public interest. You can pull the kind of Google Trends throughout the course of this year, and you can see the spikes whenever Capitol Hill is getting involved, or the President is trying to not talk about this.
And they're pretty dramatic over time. We're in the midst of one again. And Sara, I think my question has long been, do people care about this outside our kind of myopic bubble that we often live in, or what we get focused on?
SARA FISCHER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: Yes, they totally care. And I'll tell you how we know that. It was the Republicans on Capitol Hill that joined with Democrats to vote to release these files. And the reason that Republicans did that is because they're getting pressure from their constituents, from everyday people, who want to know which people in power were related to Epstein.
This is an issue that I think touches everybody across the political aisle, which is child sexual exploitation. To your point on transparency, one thing I thought was so interesting about the last doc dump was that some of these redactions, online sleuths were able to go and figure out what was redacted through various technology tools.
Folks also caught that a lot of Donald Trump-related material was suddenly pulled off of the DOJ's website. And so in the spirit of transparency, if we've got a million more docs coming, you best believe that everybody in America is getting ready for them.
Look at the pictures that just came out. We have Bill Clinton swimming in pools with people. I mean, this is juicy stuff. But if you're not going to handle it with full transparency, you're only going to make the problem worse. People are only going to be more skeptical that there's stuff hidden.
MATTINGLY: How quickly do you think Congress may act when they come back?
GRAYER: Well, Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna, who are the bipartisan duo who led this whole effort, have already been foreshadowing that as soon as they return in the first week of January, that they are going to take some action. One option, and Phil, you know Congress pretty well, is inherent contempt. And it's a pretty rare move.
Even just to explain it, I think folks would be like, wait, what? It's basically to have the sergeant of arms, who is the police of the House of Representatives, would arrest or hold in kind of detainment the person that the lawmakers are intending to go after. So if it's Attorney General Pam Bondi or Deputy Todd Blanche, I think those details are sort of being worked out. But those two lawmakers have said publicly that that's step one of what we are going to try and do.
Obviously, it's a big step. There are a lot of caveats there. But that's just to show the extreme lengths that I think --
MATTINGLY: Yes.
GRAYER: -- lawmakers are trying to go, because this is a law passed by Congress. The Department of Justice has clearly said we see the December 19th deadline as a suggestion. And now lawmakers have to figure out what teeth they have to try and legislatively enforce this.
MATTINGLY: And they have proven they actually can, on a bipartisan basis, move to try and enforce or push the administration towards action.
My guess is that Zach and Annie will be taking a lead role in explaining all of the various mechanisms at length --
GRAYER: We'll try.
MATTINGLY: -- in their various platforms in the weeks ahead, of which we'll see much of. Guys, thank you very much. Really appreciate it.
Up next, tariff chaos, market madness, customer boycotts. We're going to break down the biggest business stories of 2025.
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[12:37:41]
MATTINGLY: From Trump trade wars to corporate culture wars, it was a tumultuous year in the world of business and economics. CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich has the top 10 business stories that defined 2025.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS & POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Trump's trade war sends shockwaves across global markets. Two popular companies make changes that court controversy. While another is facing its own challenges as its CEO goes DOGE. And the Oracle of Omaha takes his final bow.
These are the top business stories of 2025.
Number 10, Warren Buffett retires. In May, a surprising announcement from America's most admired CEO.
WARREN BUFFETT, CEO, BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY: The time has arrived where Greg should become the chief executive officer.
YURKEVICH: Buffett is stepping down after more than 60 years at the helm of Berkshire Hathaway. The famed investor is a towering figure in American finance. Now 95, Buffett said no magic moment sparked the decision.
Number nine, a corporate facelift becomes an about face.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't like it. I wish that they would keep the way that it is.
YURKEVICH: A new logo was a no-go for Cracker Barrel. It quickly backpedaled in August after online backlash, even from the Oval Office expressing outrage at the updated look. The company also canceled restaurant remodels, part of a turnaround plan for the struggling brand.
Number eight, Target tanks. It was a walk back of a different kind that put Target in the crosshairs after a rollback of so-called DEI initiatives in January.
REV. JAMAL H. BRYANT, LEADING TARGET BOYCOTT OVER DEI POLICIES: It'd be less expensive and less cost if they would just do right by humanity.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Allow them to see our power.
YURKEVICH: Foot traffic fell 9 percent year over year in the next month due to a consumer boycott. Another dent to earnings amid slumping sales and tariff pressure. The company still hasn't recovered and CEO Brian Cornell is stepping down after 11 years on the job.
Number seven, Elon goes DOGE. It's been a tumultuous year for Tesla too. Elon Musk's company suffering slumping sales, stock price volatility.
CROWD: Elon Musk has got to go.
YURKEVICH: Protests and at times even vandalism.
CROWD: Deport Musk.
[12:40:05]
YURKEVICH: Consumer backlash was aimed at Musk's work with President Donald Trump's administration as part of the Department of Government Efficiency.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You can't be penalized for being a patriot. And he's a great patriot. YURKEVICH: Musk stepped away from the government in May, but despite a rocky year, this fall --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With over 75 percent voting in favor.
YURKEVICH: Tesla shareholders showed a vote of confidence in the CEO, awarding him the biggest pay package in corporate history.
ELON MUSK, CEO, TESLA: If something incredible is done, the compensation should match that something incredible was done.
YURKEVICH: That puts Elon Musk in the express lane to potentially become the world's first trillionaire.
Number six, sticky inflation.
TRUMP: Prices are coming down very substantially on groceries and things.
YURKEVICH: Despite what the President says and despite being a major factor in last year's election, inflation is still above 2 percent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With tariffs and all the things that are happening, there's a rise in costs.
YURKEVICH: Consumer sentiment is near record lows as Americans struggle with affordability.
Number five, the K-shaped economy or America's uneven recovery.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you're at the top of the K, you're pretty wealthy and you're doing pretty good right now. Stocks are near an all-time high and that's padding your bottom line. But if you're making less than $100,000, you're not in that category. Inflation is really taking a bite and you're making some very difficult financial decisions right now.
YURKEVICH: Higher earners are weathering higher prices by trading down in where they shop like Walmart. That's propping up spending while lower income Americans are pulling back.
Number four, a shaky job market.
MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: You can see how bumpy the ride has gotten recently. In fact, we now know that out of three out of the last six months, the economy has lost jobs.
YURKEVICH: The job market is slowing. June, August and October saw the first losses since the pandemic.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Uncertainty really is the theme for 2025. It's been a big driver for why the economy has slowed down over the course of the year. And it is probably the blocker that is going to prevent hiring from picking up through the rest of the year.
YURKEVICH: Trump blamed the worse than expected job market on the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics firing her in August.
TRUMP: We had no confidence. I mean, the numbers were ridiculous.
YURKEVICH: He accused her without evidence of manipulating the monthly jobs reports for, quote, "political purposes."
Number three, the Fed acts.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We begin with our major breaking economic news. The Federal Reserve announcing its decision on whether to make its first interest rate cut this year, and it's happening after months of pressure from President Trump.
YURKEVICH: Despite months of threats and taunts from President Trump, the Federal Reserve made the first of three rate cuts in September. The Fed held rates steady for nine straight months to assess how President Trump's tariff policy would impact jobs and inflation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It does lower Fed rates to the lowest level in three years.
YURKEVICH: Interest rates affect what Americans pay for mortgages and other loans.
Number two, Wall Street's roller coaster. Over a single year, the major U.S. indices lost nearly 20 percent in market value in the spring, then gained it back a few months later.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stocks in a free fall. President Trump's decision to further escalate his trade war.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Wall Street closed last hour with the Dow above 48,000 for the very first time.
YURKEVICH: The market madness driven by the President's on and off tariff policy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of much bigger things are going on, namely A.I.
YURKEVICH: A.I. is fueling a technology boom and a boom on trading floors led by NVIDIA, whose market cap is approaching $5 trillion. But A.I.'s meteoric rise is fueling concerns of a bubble burst on the horizon.
And number one, the launch of a historic trade war.
TRUMP: This is one of the most important days, in my opinion, in American history. It's our declaration of economic independence.
YURKEVICH: With a signature on April 2nd, the United States entered a new era of trade policy, announcing steep tariffs on allies and enemies alike.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: The President declared a national economic emergency, and that allows him to really launch what many see as a escalating trade war. This is a historic move.
YURKEVICH: That historic move, moving markets, sending countries scrambling for new trade deals with the U.S. and stoking concerns for business owners and customers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As a business owner, you always have uncertainty, but these are things we didn't plan for.
YURKEVICH: But the U.S. Supreme Court is getting ready to rule on whether Trump's tariffs are legal, a precedent-setting ruling.
[12:45:01]
ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: The President clearly thinks that the stakes here are massive. He put up on Truth Social yesterday a post in which he said that this case presents literally life or death for our country.
YURKEVICH: Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: Well, coming up, at 34 years old, she became the prime minister of Finland and quickly learned about the perils of leading while female.
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MATTINGLY: She made history as the youngest female leader in our country's history and, at the time, the youngest head of government in the world. But as former Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin recounts in her new memoir, "Hope in Action," shattering the glass ceiling sometimes comes at a high personal cost.
Dana spoke to her recently about the book and her message to future leaders.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[12:50:09]
DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate it. I want to start with some of the big picture of your book, and that is your election, an all-female-led coalition behind you. It really became a global symbol of a new type of leadership -- young, progressive, female. How did that end up affecting your ability to actually govern?
SANNA MARIN, FORMER FINNISH PRIME MINISTER: Well, thank you so much for having me on the show. 2019, when I was elected as a prime minister of Finland, it was also a surprise for me because I had to step in when the previous prime minister had to resign, and then led a coalition government with five parties, all led by women.
And I'm very grateful that I was able to serve my country and lead my country with these amazing women. But, of course, during our government, there were the big crises -- global pandemic, the war in Ukraine, our existence (ph) in NATO. So the governing part was, of course, filled with big crises and big challenges that we faced together.
BASH: And so given that -- well, let's actually just pick up where you just left off, because I was going to ask you about the fact that you had so many challenges, as you mentioned, the pandemic, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, after years of saying, we don't want to be in NATO, going into NATO. And yet what you write about is finding that the media was more focused on your personal life than that work.
A video of you dancing at a friend's party became what you call a scandal, where you were asked to apologize, even to take a drug test. Here's what you write. "The real political crime here, we realized, was that I didn't look or behave like a prime minister is expected to look or behave. I was at a party full of young people at someone's apartment instead of a stayed dinner with eight courses and wine pairings."
Now, I just want to say you did take a drug test. You did not apologize.
MARIN: I did not apologize of spending a free night out dancing, singing, doing quite normal things. And of course, that few weeks of my life was quite heavy because the media was, of course, after that story. And I think it also tells us a broader story how women are treated and that there is a double standard for women in their professional lives.
We are not seeing as full people, 100 percent of ourselves, that we have that professional side, whether we are leaders or professionals otherwise. And then we can be at the same time mothers, daughters, friends, have a free time of our own. So I think it sends us an important message also that the women are also entitled of being themselves.
And I want to also show that that example that I didn't apologize something that there was nothing to apologize for. And I tried to stay myself, even though handling that very difficult job.
BASH: You know, the double standard is obviously there. And knowing and reading about your experience, it is very, very obvious. But we keep hearing about how far women have come and they have come further than they were before.
I mean, I'm sitting in an anchor chair. You were prime minister of a very important European country. So how do you kind of square that? The fact that we have many more seats at the table and yet you still had the experience that you did?
MARIN: Well, of course, compared to what used to be, there are more seats on the table. But still, if we look the world, it is still very male dominated. We don't have enough women on powerful positions. We don't have enough women leaders leading countries or leaving -- leading businesses. So there is still a big, big lack of women on those seats. And I want to support women and show through my own story and my own example that I write also in my book, but also otherwise support and encourage women to take that leadership position in their lives and seek those opportunities, because we need more women and we need more women of different backgrounds making decisions.
BASH: And you write about in your book the fact that you do want to inspire women to get into politics in the future. But as we've just been discussing it, as you say, pretty extensively, it came at a big cost for you. You write about severe burnout.
You got divorced. You came under this media scrutiny that you were talking about. You ended up resigning from your seat in Parliament. If I'm a young woman thinking about running for office, I'm not sure your experience is going to want to make me jump into politics.
[12:55:06]
MARIN: Well, of course, if we look at any prime minister or leader of a government or a nation, that job is difficult. And there's no way to go around that fact. But still, I want to encourage people to join political parties, run for office, vote and try to influence, because it is our responsibility to make the world a better place.
That was -- that it was the reason why I joined politics in the first place. I wanted to make a change, influence on climate change, loss of biodiversity, human rights, equality. And I thought that it was my responsibility, not only my possibility to change things, but it was my responsibility.
And I want to also send that message to people, act. There's always hope if there is action. So act on your own behalf. Act for somebody else. Make a small or bigger difference in your life, in your communities, to your country. I think that is very important message that everybody has the responsibility to build a brighter future.
BASH: Thank you so much. The book is "Hope in Action." Thank you so much. The former prime minister of Finland, Sanna Marin. Really appreciate you being here.
MARIN: Thank you so much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: And thank you for joining Inside Politics. CNN News Central picks things up after a quick break.
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