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DOJ Says It Found Additional Documents Related to Epstein; U.S. Launched Deadly Strikes on ISIS Terrorists in Nigeria; Zelenskyy Meets with Trump. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired December 26, 2025 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, the U.S. Justice Department says it's reviewing more than a million recently uncovered documents potentially related to the Jeffrey Epstein case. It says prosecutors may need a few weeks to make redactions before releasing these new Epstein files to the public. It's not immediately clear how the new documents were discovered or what might be in them.

Joining us now is James Marsh. He's an attorney who represents Maria Farmer and other survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's abuse. Thanks so much for joining us. So, the deadline for releasing all the related documents was supposed to be last Friday, and now the Justice Department says it may need a few more weeks to get this done. Do you know how many documents there are in total?

JAMES MARSH, REPRESENTS SURVIVORS OF JEFFREY EPSTEIN'S ABUSE: Well, they've talked about a million documents being discovered, and for our purposes at least, we've been asking for these documents since the summer. I do believe that since they were identified with the Southern District of New York, which is the federal prosecution office, that these are the documents related to Jeffrey Epstein's prosecution as part of the Tower financial scam and in a lease arrangement that he had with the State Department.

So, we know from the court files these are pretty voluminous just from what was filed in court, and if these are the prosecution files, they're very important for uncovering really the genesis of Jeffrey Epstein, what he was engaged in in the 90s when my client Maria Farmer made her complaint and how well he was known, and we know that he was well-known to the federal government at that time.

So, these documents may not be relevant to the current period, but I think they're going to give us some important historical perspective on the origins of Jeffrey Epstein.

BLITZER: Do you read anything into the fact that the documents were being found over the Christmas holiday, and how do you feel about the pace of these releases?

MARSH: You know, from the very beginning, as we've said, this has been a disaster. You know, they came into this administration, you know, going to unseal all of these documents on the very first day. They backtracked, they released some, they had binders, you know. They've had at least a year to start working on this, and it's somewhat no surprise that it's come down to the last minute and beyond that we begin to see actual compliance.

BLITZER: The top Democrat of the House Oversight Committee, Congressman Robert Garcia, says the White House is openly engaged in what he's describing as a cover-up. How do you respond to that?

MARSH: Well, I think it's a little bit too early to determine whether or not there's an actual cover-up. I mean, we've got a million more documents coming, so let's see what's in those documents. Obviously, Jeffrey Epstein's crimes were wide-ranging and far-dispersed and took place over decades. So, at least from my perspective, it's not surprising that, you know, oh, yes, we've got to get to the Southern District of New York, and, oh, wow, there are a million more documents here.

Obviously, that should have been done months ago, but it comes as no surprise, dealing with the government and bureaucracies for the last 30 years, that, you know, it's a hurry-up and try to get things righted at the last minute.

BLITZER: The Justice Department issued this statement, and let me read it to you, and I'm quoting now, "The Department of Justice has received these documents from the Southern District of New York and the FBI to review them for release," end quote.

[10:35:00]

It continues, "Due to the mass volume of the material, this process may take a few more weeks," end quote. In your experience as an attorney, have you ever seen another instance of so many documents seeming to suddenly appear?

MARSH: Oh, this happens all the time, unfortunately, and usually it happens towards the very end of the litigation after you've been asking for them for years. So, at least from my perspective as an attorney, withholding, hiding, finding, you know, suddenly discovering all kinds of documents, whether it's the secret files of the Catholic Church or the Boy Scouts, you know, filing cabinet in the basement.

You know, it's always hard to tell whether this is intentional or unintentional, but this is no surprise to us, and we're just happy, at least from our perspective, that there has been an effort to uncover these documents from the Southern District of New York. These are very important documents, and the fact that the government just discovered them is really indicative of the problem with Jeffrey Epstein, which is that either they were or they were not taking a comprehensive view of who Jeffrey Epstein was in his later prosecutions in the 2000s and later. And so, the fact that somehow they suddenly realized there's a million documents in the Southern District of New York, I think that is the thing that should give us the greatest amount of concern.

BLITZER: Earlier this week, my colleague Pamela Brown spoke to Haley Robson, a survivor of Jeffrey Epstein's abuse. Pamela asked Haley if she had heard anything from the Trump administration at all, and here's what she said. Listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HALEY ROBSON, JEFFERY EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: It wasn't until I started meeting some of the other women from different countries and different states where I really started to hear their stories, and, of course, as a survivor's sister and going through what I went through, I do believe these girls, but at the end of the day, I am no longer supporting this administration. I redact any support I've ever given to him, Pam Bondi, Kash Patel. I am so disgusted with this administration. I think that Pam Bondi and Kash Patel both need to resign, and I would love to see number 47 get impeached over this, and I'm just waiting.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Should Pam Bondi be held in contempt, you think, for the release of these files?

ROBSON: She needs to be held more than in contempt. Absolutely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Haley is calling for the resignations of Bondi and Patel and the impeachment of President Trump, as you just heard. Do you agree?

MARSH: Look, I mean, the administration has mishandled this from the very first day. Whether these are impeachable offenses, I think remain to be seen. Clearly, Pam Bondi and Kash Patel, who came in with a mandate to release these files, and then two months into it said, there's nothing here, there's nothing to be revealed. That certainly at least questions their judgment, and their ability to handle something is very important to the American people and very important to the Trump base.

So, I think whether you call it incompetence, arrogance, mis- messaging, mishandling, I don't know what it is, but clearly those two individuals should be heavily scrutinized as to whether or not they keep their jobs.

BLITZER: And I mentioned that you represent several of these Epstein survivors. How are they reacting to all of these developments?

MARSH: I mean, this is the worst possible way to do anything for survivors and victims of trauma. Not to contact the victims, not to put in place a process, not to notify them when records containing their names or their statements may be released, even when redacted. The survivors know that that's their record and that's the person that they were abused by.

And so, just to have all this stuff, you know, dumped randomly on certain days, the night before Christmas, the holidays, which are always difficult times for people, this has really taken a serious toll on survivors. And many of them are looking for their own statements in the files, the statements that they gave the FBI, the statements that they made as part of the prosecutions of Jeffrey Epstein, and that has gone wanting. A lot of those statements have not been released. So, this has been mishandled in so many ways, Wolf, but it really impacts the survivors the worst. BLITZER: Yes. Well, please wish all of them, all your clients, our best wishes, and hopefully the new year will be better for them. Thanks very, very much, James Marshall.

MARSH: Thank you for your coverage.

BLITZER: Appreciate your joining us. And coming up, Ukraine's president now set to meet with President Trump this weekend as he signals a new willingness to potentially compromise in talks to end Russia's war.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:40:00]

BLITZER: All right. Let's get back to our top story this morning. The deadly strikes the United States has launched against the terror group ISIS in Nigeria. According to the U.S. military, multiple ISIS terrorists, their words, multiple ISIS terrorists were killed in the attacks. The strikes included multiple Tomahawk missiles fired from a U.S. Navy vessel offshore.

Let's discuss what's going on with CNN military analyst, retired U.S. Army Major General James Spider Marks. General, thanks so much for joining us. What are the immediate and long-term consequences of these latest U.S. airstrikes?

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST, U.S. ARMY AND HEAD OF GEOPOLITICAL STRATEGY, ACADEMIC SECURITIES: Well, you'd hope that the immediate consequences will be a level of destruction, a level of, I would say, an attrition in terms of the capabilities of ISIS. Bear in mind, ISIS doesn't have a corporate headquarters, so it's not like you're going after the kind of the unified command and control facility that ISIS has. Excuse me. It's a very clannish tribal organization.

[10:45:00]

So, this is a significant strike. What's also important to realize is that the United States government did this at the request of and the support of the Nigerian government. So, that means that there's a good relationship there. It also indicates that the U.S. government indicates that we've got some ungoverned space. We know what happens in ungoverned space. Things like this occur. It's what Afghanistan was like a priori 9/11.

So, it's essential for the United States to have good eyes and ears, but most importantly, partnerships over the horizon so that organizations like ISIS understand that there is no safe haven any place they go or where they operate. So, near-term, an attrition in terms of capabilities. Long-term, much broader indication that the United States and hopefully other partners will engage in counter- terrorist type operations.

BLITZER: Spider, I want you to listen to what Nigeria's foreign minister actually told CNN this morning about its cooperation with the U.S. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YUSUF TUGGAR, NIGERIAN MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS: It was a collaborative effort between Nigeria and the U.S. and President Tinubu gave the go-ahead before it took place, and we don't see it violating our sovereignty or territorial integrity, which is very important.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: How important is it, Spider, that the U.S. have the official public support of the Nigerian government?

MARKS: Wolf, it's very important. Look, if the threat had been significant and immediate and threatened U.S. interests immediately, then in many cases, it doesn't matter. The United States has the capacity, and if it feels it is being threatened, it'll strike. It'll then do notifications after the fact. We did that with Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, right? We did it with Soleimani when he came across into Iraq. So, we've got that capacity.

But in this case, what it says is diplomacy and interaction in advance of military decisions took place. That's key. I mean, that's the way that we are structured. If you don't fund our diplomatic efforts overseas, you end up with solutions that look far different from this, where the United States simply acts unilaterally, irrespective of consequences.

So, this is a big deal and demonstrates that the United States in this particular case has -- is aligned in terms of what other nations might see in terms of those threats they have to deal with and we have to deal with.

BLITZER: You know, I thought it was interesting that the Pentagon now says it used airstrikes against ISIS targets in Nigeria, but a few days ago, the U.S. also struck what it called ISIS targets in Syria. Is ISIS, a terror group, as we all know, making a comeback?

MARKS: I would say it hasn't really ever gone away. It was attrited over the course of 20 years of combat, as we know, in the Mideast and elsewhere. But it's an ideology. Ideologies don't die. And you can't just, in many cases, as we've described, you can't just mow the grass and have the grass grow back. That's kind of what we have with these forms of terrorism.

So, I would say it really has not gone away. It has been attrited. It's been reduced in terms of capacity. But we need to stay alert. That's what our intelligence agencies and, as we have just discussed, our diplomatic efforts as well need to stay on top of.

BLITZER: While I have you, I quickly want to turn to Ukraine. President Zelenskyy has put out a big compromise right now, saying his country might be actually open to pulling troops from parts of the contested Donetsk region and effectively making what's being described as a potential demilitarized zone between Ukraine and Russia. How important do you think this is? MARKS: It's a big deal. I think all along, I think the narrative has

been that Zelenskyy very much established some red lines and, let's be frank, were unattainable, which was all Russian forces have got to leave Ukraine, sovereignty needs to be fully established, a priori 2014, which was impossible to achieve.

And so, what you see is President Zelenskyy is acknowledging, look, this may be a half-a-loaf solution, but it's going to be a solution that stops the killing, gives Ukraine and the rest of the world an opportunity to reset. Many see this as totally non-negotiable, should not take place, Russia's got to suffer.

Look, the bottom line is, if the fighting can stop and you can give yourself some time and space to achieve an end state that might be able to be realized down the road over the course of a couple of years, then you've got to put security guarantees in place, you've got to have economic redevelopment, what's going to happen fully, what's going to happen with the frozen Russian reserves, all of that can make -- can change the dynamic if the killing can stop right now.

[10:50:00]

Clearly, Russia is going to have recidivist behavior. We need to anticipate that something like this will happen again. However, if over the course of time you can prepare yourself accordingly, you can then mitigate those circumstances where Russia might feel incentivized, the leadership in Russia might feel incentivized to repeat this activity.

So, I think it's a wonderful opportunity in a part of Ukraine. It's a very tough pill to swallow, but at least it gets them into a position where they can achieve some success moving forward.

BLITZER: General Spider Marks, as usual, thanks very much for joining us.

MARKS: Thank you, Wolf, very much. Happy holidays.

BLITZER: And you too. And coming up here in the Situation Room, flag on the play. A lot of people expecting to sit down with some Christmas football on Netflix were instead reportedly met with stuttering and buffering.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:55:00]

(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 more lethal aid from the president. On the right, President Trump, moments before he would launch into a verbal rampage against Zelenskyy.

Boris Sanchez, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Happening now, new U.S. airstrikes. President Trump says the targets were ISIS terrorists who he says have been attacking Christians and push for peace. Ukraine's president says he plans to meet with President Trump this weekend as he signals he could be willing --

[11:00:00]