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Pope Leo Returns to Rome; Does Shingles Vaccine Slow Progression of Dementia?; Winter Storm; Costco Sues Over Trump Tariffs; Bipartisan Scrutiny Grows Over Boat Strike. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired December 02, 2025 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Happening now: demanding answers. Lawmakers up on Capitol Hill are expected to get a briefing on the controversial second strike targeting a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean. We're live up on Capitol Hill as they push for transparency from the top.

Plus: Costco taking the Trump administration to court, looking for a -- quote -- "full refund" of tariffs.

And new CNN reporting -- how the shingles vaccine may help in the fight against dementia.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. Pamela Brown is off today, and you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

And we begin this hour with all eyes on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at President Trump's Cabinet meeting that starts in just a few minutes. Hegseth faces growing bipartisan scrutiny up on Capitol Hill about his role in a rather controversial follow-up strike against a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean back in September after the initial strike failed to kill everyone on board.

The White House is now defending Hegseth and now says the U.S. Special Operations Command head, Admiral Frank Mitch Bradley, directed the follow-up strike. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: On September 2, Secretary Hegseth authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes. Admiral Bradley worked well within his authority and the law, directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated.

QUESTION: Just to clarify, Admiral Bradley was the one who gave that order for a second strike?

LEAVITT: And he was well within his authority to do so.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: Hegseth posting on social media -- and I'm quoting him now -- "Admiral Mitch Bradley is an American hero, a true professional, and has my 100 percent support. I stand by him and the combat decisions he has made on the September 2 mission and all others since" -- end quote.

The leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee now say they're in talks to get a full briefing from that admiral next week.

I want to go live right now to see those Arlette Saenz up on Capitol Hill.

Arlette, what else are you hearing from lawmakers?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, Republicans and Democratic lawmakers want more answers from the Trump administration regarding this double tap strike that may have targeted survivors of an alleged drug trafficking boat.

This is an issue that has really drawn bipartisan scrutiny up here on Capitol Hill, with some lawmakers questioning the legality of these strikes. And just moments ago, our colleague Manu Raju asked House Speaker Mike Johnson about the strikes. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): I'm not going to prejudge any of that. as you know, both of the Armed Services Committee in the Senate and the House will be having hearings on this to review, and that's their role. I have been listening.

Again, I was pretty busy yesterday, didn't follow a lot of the news, but I caught up a little bit early, early this morning, that my assessment of this, my understanding is that most of the people that have looked at this, at least in a preliminary review, say that the admiral who ordered the second strike was -- thought it was necessary to complete the mission.

He's a highly decorated, highly respected admiral in the Navy, and he made that call. And so we're going to have to look at that. I'm sure Congress has a right to look at it. I don't know how much of the tape should be released, because I'm not sure how much is sensitive with regard to national security and all that.

I haven't had a chance to review it, so I'm not going to prejudge it. But I will say that it's not an unprecedented thing. One of the things I was reminded of this morning is that, under Barack Obama, President Obama, he had -- I think there were 550 drone strikes on people who were targeted as enemies of the country, and nobody ever questioned it, OK?

And secondary strikes are not unusual. It has to happen if a mission is going to be completed. So, I haven't reviewed the scope of the mission. I haven't reviewed that particular strike. I don't know what went into the admiral's decision matrix, but it's something Congress will look at, and we will do that in the regular process and order. I think it's very important for everybody to reserve judgment and not

leap to conclusions until you have all the facts, and that's what will be uncovered.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: So those were the first comments from House Speaker Mike Johnson regarding this double tap strike.

He said there that he wants to see these oversight investigations play out up here on Capitol Hill before weighing in with his judgment on the strikes. I think it's also notable he talked about the videos that some senators have been pushing to see relating to these strikes.

Senator Roger Wicker, who is the chair of the Senate Armed Services, has said that he believes his committee will get access to the videos and audio from those September 2 strikes to determine what exactly happened there. Speaker Johnson said that he's not sure if that should be fully released to the public because it could be classified in nature.

[11:05:02]

But those are some video and images that lawmakers up here on the Hill want to see as they're trying to determine the legality of these strikes, as some senators have warned that there could have been war crimes committed after the U.S. military had targeted a second vessel that potentially had survivors on it, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, and we will see what happens at this Cabinet meeting that's coming up this hour, we're told very soon. We will hear what they have to say. We will have live coverage of that, so stay with us for that, Arlette Saenz up on Capitol Hill.

Also new this morning, Costco is taking the Trump administration to court. The big box warehouse club joined dozens of other companies demanding millions of dollars in refunds over tariffs. The lawsuit asked the federal trade court to declare the president's use of emergency powers illegal when he imposed the added costs.

And this would guarantee retailers their money back if the U.S. Supreme Court rules against Trump on the issue of tariffs.

I want to go live to our senior reporter, Matt Egan, in New York right now.

Matt, Costco is the latest of several to sue and the biggest one yet. Why not?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Wolf, Costco says it's suing now because it faces this December 15 deadline where it would risk potentially not being able to get refunds on the tariffs that it's already paid.

Now, this lawsuit is significant because this is a rare example of a public company willing to do battle with the Trump White House. Now, as you mentioned, dozens of other companies have also sued to try to safeguard potential refunds here.

But Costco is easily the biggest of the companies that have sued and the most recognizable of those companies. Now, Costco says that it does want the court to rule that the president's use of emergency powers under a 1977 law known as IEEPA was unlawful when it comes to tariffs.

Now, as you will recall, last month, most Supreme Court justices, they did sound skeptical of the president's use of IEEPA. However, even if the Supreme Court rules against the president here, it's not clear whether other companies, beyond the five companies suing in this case, are going to be eligible for refunds.

Remember, IEEPA really accounts for the vast majority of the new tariff revenue that's been collected by the federal government. Refunding tens of billions of dollars of tariffs would be complicated, to say the least. And this is an issue that actually came up during oral arguments last month.

Take a listen to just as Amy Coney Barrett talk about how complicated refunds would be.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

AMY CONEY BARRETT, U.S. SUPREME COURT ASSOCIATE JUSTICE: If you win, tell me how the reimbursement process would work? Would it be a complete mess? I mean, you're saying before the government promised reimbursement, and now you're saying we don't, oh, well, that's rich. But how would this work? It seems to me like it could be a mess.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

EGAN: Now, even the lawyer representing the businesses suing against those tariffs did concede that this would be complicated.

Now, we reached out to the White House, and a spokesperson said that the Costco lawsuit really underscores the -- quote -- "enormous economic consequences" if the president's tariffs are not upheld.

Now, what's notable to me is that for really most of this year, public companies have been unwilling to publicly battle the president, seemingly out of a desire not to poke the bear. And here you have Costco suing the Trump administration over one of the president's core economic tools, tariffs.

And you have got to wonder, Wolf, whether or not this lawsuit is going to provide cover for other public companies to do the same -- back to you.

BLITZER: All right, Matt Egan reporting for us.

Matt, thank you very, very much.

With the holiday shopping season clearly under way right now, Amazon announced a new ultra-fast delivery option for certain customers. The retail giant revealed that it's testing the new feature called Amazon Now in Seattle and Philadelphia.

The company says it will deliver household essential items and groceries in about 30 minutes or less. They say they are able to offer this by utilizing smaller facilities strategically designed for efficient order fulfillment. Amazon did not offer a timeline for expanding the new service to wider markets.

And still ahead, new CNN reporting on the emerging connection between the shingles virus and long-term brain health.

We will be right back.

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[11:14:17]

BLITZER: Happening now, a rapidly intensifying bomb cyclone winter storm is slamming the Northeast this morning after dumping heavy snow in Ohio today, covering highways in Columbus.

In the state of New York, crews are very hard at work right now deicing planes, for example, over at the Rochester Airport in near whiteout conditions. Around 50 million people are under winter weather alerts this morning. The storm is poised to deliver the first widespread snow of the season to New England as well.

And take a look at this. These are live pictures coming in of the snow covering the top of buildings in my favorite place, namely, Buffalo, New York. The good news is that my fellow Buffalonians know how to deal with snow. They can plow the streets, plow the sidewalks and keep the schools open. My fellow Buffalonians know what to do when it comes to snow.

[11:15:07]

I want to go live right now to our meteorologist Derek Van Dam in the CNN Weather Center.

Derek, what's the major threat that we're seeing right now?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: OK, so we're really at the peak intensity of this winter storm from the I-95 Corridor stretching between Philadelphia, New York, to Boston, and the interior from there. That's where we have that rain-snow cutoff.

That divide is occurring right there. This is the current radar. You can see it's rainy to the south, but snowy on the north side of the system, where this system has already been responsible for hundreds of car accidents, related incidents across Kansas into Missouri, several state patrollers responding to hundreds of calls throughout the course of the day yesterday.

Now the system has raced eastward, and, of course, the surface temperature is the critical part of this equation. Who will get rain? Who will get snow? And you can see New York City is just above the freezing mark, so we're going to keep this all rain along the New Jersey coastline and into Long Island, New York City in particular.

But you head into the Hudson Valley, that has transitioned quickly over to snow, where temperatures are hovering at or below the freezing mark. Boston, when you get towards Worcester, that's where we will start to see some of that rain-snow mix, and then the higher elevations into the Berkshires will be favored for six to 12 inches of snow.

Look at this, 95, the further south you travel, it's a mess in terms of rainfall. It's that coastal areas that will stay all liquid precipitation, but we continue to see that icing on the backside of the system, which will come to an end rather quickly as the system slides to the north and east tonight, still an all-rain event for New York City and Boston as we head into the evening rush hour.

And then the system really starts to crank right off the coastline by overnight tonight and into early tomorrow morning, still an additional six to 12 inches of snow, again, favoring the interior of New England -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Derek Van Dam with the latest update, thank you very, very much.

Also new this morning: Could the shingles vaccine help slow the progression of dementia? Scientists have known for a while that getting the shingles shot may help lower your risk of developing dementia, but now a new study suggests it might do even more. It could actually help slow the progression of dementia in people who already have it.

To break this down for us, I want to bring in our health reporter, Jacqueline Howard.

Jacqueline, tell us, what exactly does this new study show?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Wolf, this new study made two surprising findings.

Now, what researchers did, they looked at health records of older adults based in Wales, and they came to these two findings. Number one, they found that older adults who received the shingles vaccine saw a reduction of 3.1 percentage points in their risk of being newly diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment.

And that was over a nine-year period. So that suggests there is this reduced risk of dementia. But the second finding in this study was what was really surprising here, Wolf. The researchers also found that among older adults who were already living with dementia, those who received the shingles vaccine saw a reduction of 29.5 percentage points in their risk of dying due to the disease.

Again, this was over a nine-year period. And that second finding suggests that, because the vaccine may slow the progression of the disease, there was this reduced risk of dying due to the disease. And that really takes our understanding of this link between shingles and dementia a step further here, Wolf. BLITZER: So, Jacqueline, why is there a connection to begin with?

What about shingles' impacts on the brain?

HOWARD: You know, I asked some scientists that same question, and they said there is more research to be done here.

But many researchers have these two ideas. One is that the virus that causes shingles also can cause inflammation in the body and the brain. And we know that inflammation in the brain is linked to dementia. So there's that one mechanism that may be at play here.

The second idea -- but, again, this all requires more research -- is that, in general, the vaccine itself could give a boost to the immune system. And we do know that there are broader benefits for cognitive health when you do have a stronger immune system, when you have that boost.

So those are two theories out there. But, again, Wolf, this is currently an active area of research that is really fascinating to watch play out.

BLITZER: Bottom line, Jacqueline, if you're an older American right now, it's a good idea to make sure you got the shingles shots.

HOWARD: Absolutely. It's recommended for all adults 50 and older to get that shingles vaccine, because, outside of these emerging benefits, it, of course, can help protect against shingles itself, which is a very painful illness. So that's such a great, important message to leave people with, Wolf.

BLITZER: Very good advice, Jacqueline Howard, as usual. Thank you very, very much.

[11:20:00]

Also, new research right now suggesting preteens who get phones at younger ages are more likely to have obesity, to be depressed, and not get enough sleep, that according to a new study of more than 10,000 12-year-olds published in "The Journal of Pediatrics."

The lead author of the study says its findings support expert advice to parents to delay giving children their first smartphone because of the potential harm they may pose to adolescent health.

And we're now just minutes away from President Trump's next Cabinet meeting over at the White House. That's where the administration will likely face some tough questions about a deadly follow-up strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean.

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[11:25:22]

BLITZER: New this morning, Pope Leo is on his way back to Rome after a truly historic trip to the Middle East, including a stop in the Lebanese capital today. Watch. The pope held mass at Beirut's waterfront. That was near the site of a

massive explosion back in 2020 that killed more than 200 people and injured thousands. This is his first foreign trip since he became pope six months ago.

I want to go live right now to CNN senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman, who is back in Beirut for us right now.

Ben, what was the pope's message in Lebanon? A lot of us who have been to Lebanon know there's -- of course, it's an Arab country with a large Muslim population, but also with a large Christian population as well.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf.

In fact, it has a Christian president. And what we saw was that Pope Leo was really stressing the importance of coexistence. Today, at the Beirut waterfront, in fact, he told the people there, tens of thousands of people who had come not only from around Lebanon, but also we spoke to Syrians as well who were there.

He told them to reawaken the dream of a united Lebanon where peace and justice reigned. And, of course, what you see on a daily basis here is that the Lebanese, by and large, get along very well, people of different religions, different sects. They even marry across religious lines. They have to go to Cyprus to do it, but it happens.

He also stressed the importance of people keeping their faith with Lebanon. You know, as a result of the economic crisis here, the wars, the instability, many of the young have emigrated abroad. The Lebanese are very well-educated. They're multilingual. So it's very easy for them with the help oftentimes of the vast Lebanese diaspora to find work abroad.

And this worries many other Lebanese who feel that the country is losing its best and brightest as a result of this situation. So Pope Leo really stressed that point, made a point of meeting however, wherever possible, as often as possible with young Lebanese to encourage them, despite the problems of today, to stay here and make a life in this country -- Wolf.

BLITZER: You know, it's interesting. The trip also appeared, I take it, to have an impact and effect on Pope Leo himself. What's his attitude there been like?

WEDEMAN: Well, Wolf, I live in Rome, and I watch the Vatican very closely.

And my impression until now was that Pope Leo was a very serious man who didn't really have a lot of charisma. However, what we have seen here is that, in his interaction with people, seeing the warm welcome, the wildly enthusiastic welcome he received here, he really blossomed.

And what we have seen is, for instance, this morning, he met with the families of the victims of that Beirut port blast in August 2020. And he was clearly very moved by the emotions that he saw among these people. And last night, he was at a youth gathering up in the mountains, Muslims, Christians, young people recounting their challenges here.

And you could tell he was really absorbing it. And I think his reaction to Lebanon is very similar to the reaction of many foreigners who have never been here. They come here, they discover, wow, this is a beautiful country with warm, friendly, welcoming, intelligent people.

So I think, speaking to some of the journalists who were with him, they really feel that this experience has kind of opened his eyes to a Christian community that oftentimes feels forgotten by the rest of the world -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, good point.

Ben Wedeman, who's been reporting from Beirut for many years, appreciate it very, very much.

Up next: the U.S. defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, sure to face scrutiny and questions when President Trump gathers his Cabinet members for a meeting set to start in just a few minutes.

We're live from the White House. We will have coverage when we come back.

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