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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson
CIA Conducted Drone Strike On Port in Venezuela; U.S. President Meets With Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu; Trump Administration Purges More Immigration Judges; China Military Drills To Disrupt International Flights To, From Taiwan; CNN Finds Evidence Sudan's Army Carried Out Ethnic Killing; Netanyahu: Trump to Receive Israel Prize for Peace Award; Frank Luntz on American Politics and the Reagan Effect; Lakers Coach Slams Team After Heavy Defeat to Houston; New Year's Traditions Around the Globe. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired December 30, 2025 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR: The Story Is with Elex Michelson starts right now. See you tomorrow.
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Elex Michaelson live in Los Angeles. The Story Is start right now.
The story is breaking news and a CNN exclusive. The CIA carried out a drone strike in Venezuela could significantly increase tensions in that region.
Story is, the U.S. relationship with Israel. Political analyst Frank Luntz knows both President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu well. He's here live with insight.
The story is, NBA drama. Rachel Nichols is here. What's really going on behind the scenes with the L.A. Lakers and why their coach is so critical of his players.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Los Angeles, The Story Is with Elex Michelson.
MICHAELSON: Welcome to a new week here on the STORY is. I'm Elex Michelson. The top story is a CNN exclusive. Sources are telling CNN that earlier this month the CIA carried out a drone strike on a port facility on the coast of Venezuela. This comes as President Trump told reporters on Monday that the U.S. took out a, quote, big facility tied to suspected drug boats.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs. They load the boats up with drugs. So we hit all the boats and now we hit the area. It's the implementation area, that's implement and that is no longer around.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MICHAELSON: If true, that marks the first known U.S. operation to target inside the country and could dramatically escalate tensions. U.S. Special Operations forces denied involvement after sources said they provided intelligence to support the strike on the remote dock. So far, Venezuela has not confirmed any major facility being destroyed.
CNN is currently reaching out to the White House and Southern Command for clarity after the CIA declined to comment.
The U.S. military also carried out yet another deadly strike on an alleged drug boat international waters on Monday, this time in the Eastern Pacific, according to U.S. Southern Command, which reports that two men were killed in that attack. As the U.S. continues to ramp up pressure on alleged narco trafficking, the total death toll under Operation Southern Spear now rises to at least 107.
Joining me now live is Eric Farnsworth from the Center for Strategic International Studies. Eric, previously spent over 35 years shaping policy in the Americas, served in the White House and the State Department. Eric, welcome to the story is for the first time.
ERIC FARNSWORTH, SENIOR ASSOCIATE, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: Thanks, Elex. Thanks for having me.
MICHAELSON: What is the U.S. trying to do with this strike and how much does this change tensions in the region?
FARNSWORTH: Well, we have to get additional details, as you've accurately reported. But if it's true, this would be the first known strike on the mainland of Venezuela, it's not a surprise necessarily, because President Trump himself has been indicating that such strikes were on the way if Nicolas Maduro did not remove himself from the drug trafficking activities.
But nonetheless, going forward and actually doing it is an escalation. And so that's something that clearly would be a line that's been crossed and it wouldn't just have implications with Venezuela. It could perhaps have implications for other countries in the region as well.
MICHAELSON: Is there significance that the CIA is apparently responsible for this?
FARNSWORTH: Well, I think it's significant on a number of levels. One is operationally. They probably have the best ability to conduct strikes along these lines. But I think you also have to recognize that their ability to operate in this way would come under presidential finding and therefore presidential authority.
And therefore Congress would have oversight of some of these activities, but may not have direct authority to influence them directly. So this is something that again is going to have to be worked out in Washington. But I think probably it's the tool that the White House wanted to use for this particular instance.
MICHAELSON: So far, Venezuela not saying much. Can they respond to this attack?
FARNSWORTH: Well, if it's true, again and it caused some damage, they will likely respond rhetorically and they will probably take it to the United Nations or the Organization of American States in some nature.
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But no, I wouldn't anticipate that they would retaliate militarily or with the use of force against the United States. That would be a casus belli and that would bring down the full force of the United States on them.
MICHAELSON: As somebody who studied this region for a very long time, what's really going on here between the U.S. and Venezuela? What's really going on behind the scenes with Maduro?
FARNSWORTH: I think there are a couple things going on. I think you have to take the White House at its word that much of this really is a counter narcotics activity that's consistent with the national security strategy that was issued earlier this month. It's consistent with everything that the president and Secretary of State have said. And it doesn't just apply to Venezuela. It applies to the region as a whole.
And in that context, strikes against drug labs or drug boats would fall within a counter narcotics mission. But I think there's a second mission here as well that's related, but it's separate. And that is the effort to pressure the Maduro regime into leaving and turning over the reins of governance to the democratically elected Edmundo Gonzalez and the vice presidential candidate, Maria Corina Machado, who just won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Again, those two are related, but they're separate missions. And I think the administration is going about them differently. For example, the embargo on sanctioned oil really is a counter regime effort as opposed to a counter narcotics effort. So these are some of the things I think we have to look at.
MICHAELSON: Eric Farnsworth, thank you for staying up late for us after midnight in Virginia. We appreciate you sharing your perspective.
FARNSWORTH: Great to be with you. Thanks for having me.
MICHAELSON: Our other big story, President Trump's meeting with the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu. You saw a few moments of that a short time ago. The two leaders holding a private lunch at President Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort on Monday.
Netanyahu announced that Trump would receive the Israel Prize for Peace, which is the first time the country's highest civilian excellence honor will be awarded to a non-Israeli citizen. President Trump called Netanyahu a strong leader.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: The relationship's been extraordinary. And Bibi's a strong man. He can be very difficult on occasion. But you need a strong man. If you had a weak man, you wouldn't have Israel right now. Israel would have been, you know, Israel with most other leaders, would not exist today.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: I think Israel is very blessed to have President Trump leading the United States and I'll say leading the free world at this time. I think it's not merely Israel's great fortune. I think it's the world's great fortune.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: President Trump downplayed the lack of progress with the Gaza ceasefire agreement, saying that the plan's success is hinges on Hamas agreeing to disarm.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: If they don't disarm as they agreed to do, they agreed to it, then they'll be held to pay for them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you don't see Hamas disarm in that short amount of time they're giving them, can you tell us what the next steps would be?
TRUMP: It would be horrible for them. Horrible. Going to be really, really bad for them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: President Trump did acknowledge ongoing disagreements between the U.S. and Israel over the occupied West Bank.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you have a message for the prime minister about the West Bank? And are you at all concerned that settler violence, Israeli settler violence, could be undermining the peace plan?
TRUMP: Well, we have had a discussion, big discussion, for a long time on the West Bank. And I wouldn't say we agree on the West Bank 100 percent, but we will come to a conclusion on the West Bank.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I could ask, what is the disagreement?
TRUMP: Well, I don't want to do that. It will be announced at an appropriate time. But he will do the right thing. I know that. I know him very well. He will do the right thing. Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: So that Israeli meeting on the same day that President Trump held what he described as a productive call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two spoke by phone after Mr. Trump's Mar-a-Lago meeting on Sunday with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy.
The U.S. President said there are still a few, quote, thorny issues that must be resolved in order to secure a peace deal in Ukraine.
He also said Putin told him that a Ukrainian drone attack had targeted one of his residences, a claim Kyiv immediately denied. Here's what President Trump said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I don't like it. It's not good. I heard about it this morning. You know who told me about it? President Putin told me about it early the morning. He said he was attacked. That's no good. It's no good.
It's one thing to be offensive because they were offensive. It's another thing to attack his house. It's not the right time to do any of that and can't do it. And I learned about it from President Putin today. I was very angry about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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MICHAELSON: Now the story is immigration. The L.A. Times says that California's bench of immigration judges has been slashed by more than a quarter this year alone. According to the paper, at least 35 judges have either been fired by the Trump administration or have stepped down since January. This comes as the White House steps up its aggressive anti-immigration campaign, detaining asylum seekers and conducting ICE raids in U.S. cities, including right here in LA.
These reductions threaten to further strain an already overloaded court system and is part of a national trend. Unions representing federal judges say that nearly 100 of them have been fired in just the first year of President Trump's second term in office. Hasn't even been a full year yet.
Joining me now is Jessica Levinson, professor of law at Loyola Law School here in Los Angeles. Jessica hosts the Passing Judgment podcast. Jessica welcome back to the show.
JESSICA LEVINSON, PROFESSOR OF LAW, LOYOLA LAW SCHOOL: Great to be back.
MICHAELSON: Jessica, is this an unusual number of judges to leave in a year? And do you think there's any coincidence that they're coming from immigration courts?
LEVINSON: I don't think it's a coincidence. I do think it's unusual. And for all the reasons that you just mentioned, which is we're talking about mass firings, we should, of course, remind people that these are not Article 3 judges, meaning they actually fall under the Department of Justice and something called the Office of Immigration Review, the Executive Office of Immigration Review.
They're essentially fireable at will. And you see a lot of them, again, being forcibly removed from their position. And then I think you also see a lot of people deciding to resign based on, again, what you correctly identified. We're talking about very heavy caseloads, potentially disagreement with the policy decisions by the Trump administration. So I don't see this as just one of those that happened to all come together at the same time. I don't think this is a coincidence.
MICHAELSON: The Trump administration has appointed military judges to fill the gaps. Can they do that? Is that legal?
LEVINSON: Not neatly. You cannot just swap in a military judge for an immigration judge. And we can take down a couple of the reasons. One is what we just talked about, that immigration judges are really civilian judges. Again, they fall under the Department of Justice and they really are in a completely different appointments process. So we have appointments cause issues.
We also have something called, Elex, you and I have talked about this for years now, Posse Comitatus concerns. If you have military judges directly enforcing domestic law, you could potentially have questions as to whether or not that would overstep the Posse Comitatus Act. I think you'd also have questions about the independence of military judges. All of which is to say, we could do an entire class on this. But no, you can't just say, well, we're low on immigration judges, so let's get some more military judges.
MICHAELSON: So during the Biden administration, when Republicans in the Senate were trying to do a bipartisan deal, part of what they were trying to do was to actually have more judges to make it easier for people to get hearings and then potentially kick them out of the country.
What happens if there aren't judges for people to see?
LEVINSON: This is such an important question. And the lack of judges seems to fall most heavily on asylum seekers. And if you really do want more heavy enforcement of immigration laws, then you want a lot of immigration judges there to move those cases along.
What we're going to see now, unless we have a very quick hiring of immigration judges, is we're going to see a lot of these cases move very slowly. That means people are detained for longer periods of time. It means that they're, in fact, enforcement is delayed. It means that they really have very limited remedies, Elex, except for something like filing a federal habeas petition, that means you're unlawfully detained.
We know that those are routinely very difficult to win on. I mean, the short version is there's not a good answer here. An already overworked system faces fewer people to help that system move along. We should, of course, note finally, that when it comes to deportations, those can occur even if you have not seen an immigration judge.
MICHAELSON: And is that the point?
LEVINSON: So I don't know if that's the point. That's, I think, more of a political question. And that can't happen in all cases. But I do think it's important for people to know that it doesn't mean that if you haven't seen an immigration judge, then you're safe, you can't be deported. That's actually not the case. Most people will be detained longer, but some people could be, in fact deported through a different process where you never even see an immigration judge.
MICHAELSON: Yes, because for so many years, the complaint has been, especially from a lot of conservatives, that it takes years under the asylum process. People come into this country, you lose track of them.
And if only they could see a judge faster, which is why this whole process of having fewer judges actually is infuriating to so many people.
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Jessica Levinson, Loyola Law School thank you so much for sharing your perspective. Really appreciate it.
LEVINSON: Thank you.
MICHAELSON: The story is the weather, a powerful winter storm tearing through the US. It's bringing blizzard conditions, damaging winds, icy rain, even tornadoes to some areas. Powerful winds, ice knocked out power to thousands of customers in the Great Lakes area. Look at that weather.
Plus this, the system causing temperatures to plummet sharply with some parts of the country seeing drops of up to 55 degrees in 24 hours. Whiteout conditions have shut down roads and caused major pile ups on some highways.
The extreme weather coming during one of the busiest travel weeks of the year. More than 100 million Americans are expected to be on the roads. We heard from some of those drivers as they try to navigate the dangerous conditions.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're trying to beat it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't want to be driving through that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drive slower. Pay attention when there's a bridge coming, so slow down because those may get icy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trust it's all going to be good. And if it's not, you pull over.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: That's one way to look at it. Coming up, China ramps up military drills around Taiwan, launching live fire activities and entering the island's air defense identification zone. Details on those war games ahead.
And later, a thrilling finish to NFL's final Monday night Football game of the season. Highlights from Rams, Falcons still to come.
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MICHAELSON: Taiwan says China has deployed 130 warplanes and 22 ships around the island in a 24-hour span. Beijing launched the military drills called 11 days after the U.S. announced a landmark multimillion dollar arms package for Taiwan. Sorry, multibillion dollar arms package for Taiwan. President Trump, however, downplayed the issue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Well, I have a great relationship with President Xi and he hasn't told me anything about it. I certainly have seen it, but he hasn't told me anything about it and I don't believe he's going to be doing it. They've been doing naval exercises for 20 years in that area. Now people take it a little bit differently, but in fact larger than they're doing right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Meanwhile, China says live fire activities will take place around Taiwan. Drills have caused major flight disruption in Taiwan with more than 800 flights. About 100,000 travelers impacted.
President Trump last month pledged to end the war in Sudan as part of his efforts to play peacemaker in conflicts across the globe. A bloody civil war has been raging in Sudan for more than two years with almost 12 million people displaced, according to the UN.
In this CNN exclusive, Nada Bashir uncovers a chilling campaign of ethnically motivated violence carried out by Sudan's army and its allied militias. CNN reviewed satellite imagery and obtained rare testimony from survivors and whistleblowers. We want to warn you there are some disturbing images in this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sudan is in the grip of a brutal civil war. The government aligned Sudanese armed forces are fighting for control of the country against the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF.
Almost three years of bloody fighting has led to the world's worst humanitarian crisis, and in recent weeks, atrocities committed by the RSF appear to have reached new extremes, with thousands reportedly killed.
Under the command of rival generals, both sides have been accused by the United States and the U.N. of war crimes, but abuses carried out by the Sudanese Armed Forces, who are under the command of Sudan's de facto leader, have been largely unreported and left in the shadows.
Now, a joint investigation by CNN and investigative newsroom Lighthouse Reports has uncovered a campaign of ethnically fueled atrocities targeting non Arabs carried out by the Sudanese armed forces and their allies across Sudan's Jazer State.
The evidence is harrowing. Bodies like in this video, thrown into canals, some stripped, others with their hands tied. Other victims buried in mass graves and farming communities torched.
UNIDENATIFIED MALE: Anyone who appeared to be Nuba from western Sudan or from the south was immediately shot.
BASHIR (voice-over): It's a campaign that was orchestrated from the top. Four well-placed sources, including serving security officials, tell us. They say an official within Sudan's General Intelligence Service was involved in coordinating the attacks in Jazer State. And one of those sources told U.S. army Chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan was made aware of the killings.
January 2025, Jazer, State, the Sudanese Armed Forces are advancing to recapture the strategic city of Wad Madani from the RSF. But as they converge on the city, atrocities are unfolding. Video geolocated by CNN shows advancing troops stopped in the village of Kariba.
Here they detain and assault young men, accusing them of belonging to the RSF. As troops advance towards the outskirts of Wad Madani, the violence continues to intensify. We verified several videos captured at this intersection, known as Police Bridge, over a period of days, reconstructing evidence of an eventual massacre.
In this video, we see deadly clashes between army forces and RSF fighters who were ambushed as they fled Wad Madani.
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The aftermath is distressing. Bodies scattered across the street, some wearing the light fatigues of the RSF. Others are dressed in civilian clothing.
In another video, a man is seen beaten and bloodied on the ground, surrounded by soldiers. He is injured and appears to be unarmed. Just seconds later, he is hit by a volley of gunfire. The fate of others captured at Police Bridge is unclear. Many appear to have been detained and driven away, their whereabouts unknown.
The next day, fighters are seen relaxing in a courtyard beside Police Bridge. We can tell it was likely filmed in the morning from the cast of the shadows on the ground. The intersection appears to be cleared of the body seen earlier, suggesting that the Sudanese army has regained control and armed combat in the area is now over.
But in just a matter of hours, this. The same courtyard becomes the scene of a massacre. The bodies of at least 50 young men, all in civilian clothing and unarmed. Some are lined against the wall, pools of blood beneath them, gunshot wounds visible to the head.
In this clip, a fighter claims the men are foreign, accusing them of being from other countries. The execution of civilians or unarmed combatants is a war crime under international humanitarian law. We were able to track down a whistleblower from within the senior ranks of Sudan's General Intelligence Service.
Speaking anonymously for fear of reprisals, the official told us that victims killed at Police Bridge were then buried in mass graves, civilians alongside RSF fighters, an allegation we then verified through satellite imagery radio reviewed alongside the Yale School of Public Health's Humanitarian Research lab.
Here you can see five new patches of disturbed earth at Police Bridge in the days following the alleged killings. And in this image, white objects consistent with wrapped corpses are visible in one of the graves.
In subsequent imagery, the bodies appear to have been covered with dirt. The mass graves were not the only method used by the Sudanese Armed Forces and their allies to dispose of the bodies of their victims. We spoke to a second whistleblower from Sudan's intelligence service. He told us that some of those accused of collaborating with the RSF were shot and then thrown into canals.
Just four miles away in the village of Bika, the whistleblower said bodies were thrown into the water, some while they were still alive.
Days later, Sudan's de facto leader, Al-Burhan, addressed his forces behind the very canal where, according to the official, the bodies were dumped. Satellite imagery captured in May after water levels receded shows what appeared to be dozens of bodies on the canal bed, meters from where the army leader had stood.
Some 50 miles downstream at least eight bodies are seen lodged along the same canal system captured in videos posted one week after the army seized control of Wad Madani. The Sudanese Armed Forces in January condemned what they described as individual violations after the recapture of Wad Madani and announced an investigation into the attacks.
CNN has asked the Sudanese Armed Forces and its leader Al-Burhan about the outcome and about the allegations within this report.
These horrifying attacks along the road to Wad Madani, however, were not isolated. They formed part of a wider campaign of ethnically targeted assaults carried out on at least 39 villages across Jazer State which targeted the Kanabi, a non-Arab farming community often labeled by Arab aligned militias as black Sudanese.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They agreed they don't want any black people here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They said, we want to kill everyone. We will not leave anyone. They were shot in the chest, near the heart and in the back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every few days the canal would bring one or two bodies.
BASHIR (voice-over): A member of a U.N. fact finding mission described the military campaign to CNN as a, quote, targeted extermination of people along ethnic lines, in some cases amounting to what they described as ethnic cleansing. It's an allegation that has also been laid against the RSF during this war. Months after the atrocities in Jazer State, there is no sign of accountability and for now, justice for the victims remains out of reach. Nada Bashir, CNN in London.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: So, we decided to break a convention, too, or create a new one.
And that is to award the Israel Prize, which in almost our 80 years, we've never awarded it to a non-Israeli. It's going to be awarded to President Donald J. Trump for his tremendous contributions to Israel and the Jewish people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Israel's prime minister there, making that announcement after a meeting with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
Here to discuss that and more, is Frank Luntz, pollster, communication analyst, senior fellow at the West Point military academy.
Frank, welcome back to THE STORY IS.
FRANK LUNTZ, POLLSTER: You know, I've known him forever.
MICHAELSON: You're talking about Netanyahu. And you've known Trump for a while, too. But you've really known Netanyahu forever. You worked with Netanyahu before.
LUNTZ: Back in 1988, he called home. We were in Beersheba. He was actually my boss, kind of, because I was working for the campaign of Yitzhak Shamir.
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And Netanyahu called my parents to wish them a happy anniversary. And my mother was in tears. She was so happy about this. And he's a different guy now than he was back then. And I've known him for 40 years now.
MICHAELSON: So, what's he like now? What's he like behind the scenes? What's really going on?
LUNTZ: He's concerned about his position in history. He's concerned about his legacy. He does not want to go to jail. He does not like talking about what he's been accused of, which nobody would. And he's trying to find allies wherever he can get them and remain as
prime minister and be able to resist calls for his resignation. He's fighting for his political life.
And you don't see that in pictures like this. What you see is a very confident, very secure individual. That is not who he was and -- right after October 6th and October 7th, and what happened in Israel over the last three years.
And it's the -- what they say about him is the best way to become an enemy of Bibi Netanyahu is to start off as his friend.
MICHAELSON: Meaning he -- he turns on people?
LUNTZ: Very few people who are with him now with him ten years ago, very few people who were with him ten years ago were with him 40 years ago.
He's got a lot of President Trump's characteristics: very strong, very tough. A survivor. Not willing to give up, not willing to give; in the kind of person that perseveres.
But that has a negative to it. He's just as divisive in Israel as President Trump is here in the U.S. And I think that's one of the reasons why they get along so well.
MICHAELSON: And he's facing corruption charges. He wants a pardon, and he wants President Trump to help him get that. And it seems like President Trump is doing some of that bidding for him. Right?
LUNTZ: He's made the comments, which is kind of unseemly. We should not be involved in some other country's internal politics, no matter what it is, no matter how close that individual is to a president. That's not for us to do. That's for that country to do.
MICHAELSON: Meanwhile, President Trump also meeting with Zelenskyy from Ukraine, somebody else you have met. What do you think he's like behind the scenes?
LUNTZ: I got a chance to see him, and I was shocked because I was expecting Winston Churchill. And what I got was someone who was so direct, so explicit.
There's the photograph right there when I shook his hand. I was very nervous. I had no idea what I was going to get out of him.
Here's someone who's focused on saving his country, saving his people, giving them the -- the strength and the will to survive against the most horrific bombings.
Make no mistake, Vladimir Putin is targeting civilians for as much pain, as much suffering as he possibly can do. And that's something that we in America have to come to grips with. No matter what side you're on in this political battle that we face right now, in the end, you look at the behavior.
Ukraine is on defense. Russia is on attack and trying to do as much damage to as many people as possible. It's abhorrent.
MICHAELSON: Ronald Reagan is the guy that got you interested in politics. We've got a picture of you and Ronald Reagan. This is what got you involved in the first place. Can you imagine any world where Ronald Reagan would not be strongly advocating for Ukraine?
LUNTZ: No, I can't. It's a very -- it's a very simple question. It's got a very simple answer.
And Americans are always -- our understanding was that the Soviet Union and Russia did not care about human rights, did not care about dignity, did not care about freedom, did not care about the U.S., and was our enemy.
And Ukraine is our ally. And they want us to do well. Russia wants us to do badly.
It's caused a split in the Republican Party right now. I'm sure that there are people watching who are going to criticize this analysis.
The fact is, Ukraine was on defense. They were viciously attacked, and they're still going after as much of the civilian population and things like electricity and transportation to cause as much damage as they can.
I hope, and I pray, that 2026 brings an end to that conflict.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
LUNTZ: But not to take away land from the victim, but to punish the perpetrator.
MICHAELSON: So, 2025 has been a tough year in politics, tough year in a lot of different things. We want to focus on a few things to give people reasons to be optimistic as we end this year.
LUNTZ: Which I get so criticized over, because I only see the negatives. So, I'm looking at -- at right here, and everyone looks at the lights and the buildings.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
LUNTZ: And I look at the homeless people that you can't quite see at the bottom of the screen.
MICHAELSON: Yes. OK, well, let's try to give some reason for optimism, looking at your life story. And part of that life story has been getting to know Gary Sinise, who, of course, runs the Gary Sinise Foundation.
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He played Lieutenant Dan in "Forrest Gump." He has turned that into a life mission, helping veterans for decades in a really profound way. What's the most important lesson we can learn from Gary Sinise? LUNTZ: That you can never do enough, but you have to try. And he said
that to me, and that stayed with me for the rest of my life; that in the end, you have to figure out how you can show respect and support and make a difference, a day-to-day difference in the lives of these men and women who fought for us and in some cases gave their arms, gave their legs, and in some cases gave their lives; that it's our responsibility to help them now as they helped us.
MICHAELSON: And lastly, quickly, we know you've been teaching at West Point. We've talked about that with you on the show here before. We've got a picture of you with Tom Brady, and he met with your cadets. What did you learn from Tom Brady?
LUNTZ: Well, the most amazing thing -- we've done Tom Brady with the cadets. We've done Stephen A. Smith. We've done Coach K, who's actually a graduate of West Point.
And in all three cases, they emphasize service with character, leadership with character. And that's unlike any other institution in America. That it's not just good enough to get good grades. It's not just good enough to be on the sports teams. That you have to do things the right way, the proper way.
And it's -- now, I teach character as a core part of my class, and it makes me a better person because of it.
MICHAELSON: Yes, pretty cool to see that. And I know you're trying to get the cadets with President Trump in the new year.
LUNTZ: That's my goal.
MICHAELSON: And I hope he -- hope he takes that meeting. It would be cool to have the commander in chief with them.
Frank Luntz, thanks for coming in. Happy new year to you.
LUNTZ: Thank you. And I want to say to President Trump, because he sometimes watches, please meet with the cadets. They'll make you feel great. I know you feel great about America, but they are what makes America great.
MICHAELSON: And if it happens because of this show, maybe invite us, too. We'd be happy to be there for that.
LUNTZ: Absolutely.
MICHAELSON: Thanks, Frank.
All right. Coming up, whether they're good or bad, there always seems to be drama brewing inside the NBA's most popular team. Still ahead, Lakers Coach J.J. Redick unloads on his team after a string of painful losses.
NBA reporter Rachel Nichols is here live to break down what's really happening behind the scenes with the Lakers.
Plus, the new hot team that could replace them. Stay with us.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here's Robinson right side. Nice cutback. He's gone!
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MICHAELSON: The NFL's final Monday night football game of the season turned into a thriller. Look at this run right here from Bijan Robinson: 93 yards to the house. The longest run of his career.
The Birds were up big early, largely thanks to that run. Atlanta was up 21 points, on 21-nothing. The Rams come back, almost, in the second half. Eventually, they tied the game at 24-all, but the Falcons finished things off with a 51-yard field goal by Zane Gonzalez. Atlanta wins 27 to 24.
Rams almost able to come back in the end, but they weren't. Atlanta's out of the playoffs. Bad loss for the Rams, who are going the wrong way this season.
Let's talk basketball.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J.J. REDICK, L.A. LAKERS COACH: Because we don't care enough right now. That's -- that's the part that bothers me a lot. We don't care enough to, like, do the things that are necessary. We don't care enough to be a professional.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: That was L.A. Lakers Coach J.J. Redick after the Lakers' Christmas day shellacking by the Houston Rockets.
The team fared better last night against the lowly Sacramento Kings, but it is clear there's some drama happening behind the scenes of the league's most popular team.
Rachel Nichols is an analyst for FOX Sports. She joins us live here now in L.A.
Rachel, welcome back to THE STORY IS.
RACHEL NICHOLS, ANALYST, FOX SPORTS: Thank you.
MICHAELSON: When I was watching that press conference --
NICHOLS: Yes.
MICHAELSON: -- I thought of you, because I wanted to know what's really happening?
NICHOLS: Give me the dirt! Give me the dirty!
MICHAELSON: What's really happening with the Lakers? Because there's always been drama with the Lakers for decades.
NICHOLS: Of course, yes.
MICHAELSON: Probably the most drama of any team.
NICHOLS: Yes.
MICHAELSON: But clearly, there's something going on there.
NICHOLS: Yes. Look, they're figuring out who they are, obviously.
What you saw there, post-Christmas day game, was J.J. being J.J. Redick. And this is part of the package if he's your coach. He gets very emotional and very involved, and everything is a big deal. You can tell from the way I'm talking, right?
So, in that same press conference, he said it's going to be a very uncomfortable film session after this, tomorrow practice. And I can't do 53 more games of this and all this stuff.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
NICHOLS: What happened was he walked into the practice facility the next day, having calmed down quite a bit, and he had a meeting with the coaches, met with the players.
And the tenor of that closed-door meeting, according to some of the people I spoke to, was it was much more J.J. saying to players, not you did this wrong, you did this wrong, you did this wrong. But how can we help you do your jobs better? Because clearly there's something not connecting here.
And what J.J. came out of that with is saying that the guys needed more clarity about what their roles were, now that LeBron James is back. And the balance is different.
MICHAELSON: Well, he pointed out the fact that it hasn't really worked since LeBron rejoined the team, because before LeBron, when he was injured, the team was playing better.
NICHOLS: Yes, yes. But that doesn't mean that LeBron is bad for the Lakers.
MICHAELSON: Right.
NICHOLS: It just means that, to his point, they don't have role clarity. They don't have defensive clarity.
When you throw a new person into the mix, and no one quite knows where they're supposed to be anymore, it doesn't mean the person is bad. But it does mean you need to figure out what's going on. And they've dropped in the standings.
[00:50:06]
MICHAELSON: Yes. And now Austin Reaves is out for four weeks with an injury --
NICHOLS: Yes.
MICHAELSON: -- which is really going to hurt them, as he's playing so well this season.
So, for so many years, LeBron has been the leading all-star vote getter, right? No. 1 for years.
NICHOLS: Yes.
MICHAELSON: And we just got the -- the latest totals from the fan voting. Not the final total, but the first look at that. I'm going to put this up on the screen.
In the West, Luka Doncic, No. 1, LeBron's teammate. In the East, Giannis Antetokounmpo and fans, 50 percent of the vote right now. LeBron's, like, not even top five.
NICHOLS: No. And he hasn't always been the leading vote getter. He certainly has been some years. But he's always been in that top five. And that top five is the starters, right?
MICHAELSON: Right.
NICHOLS: Sometimes fans like Steph Curry more. You know, goes back and forth.
But he's always been in the starters. He's had 21 straight all-star nods. And the last 20 have been as a starter.
And the thing is, if you're not picked as a starter, the rest of the team is filled out by coaches. And the NBA's coaches might not just give it to him, because he's LeBron James, whereas fans are more likely, or other players are more likely to be like, oh, he's LeBron. We should -- he should be there.
So, it's possible he misses his first all-star game in so long. I mean, he was injured last year.
MICHAELSON: Hard to -- hard to imagine that, right?
NICHOLS: But -- but -- well, and the reason why it's a little bit tricky this year is they have a new format. Because they need a certain number of American players and a certain number of international players as they play USA versus the World.
Adam Silver is actually the final person who appoints people to fill out the sides. And you've got to think he will appoint LeBron.
MICHAELSON: And the all-star game is in Los Angeles in Intuit Dome. NICHOLS: It's in Los Angeles. And also -- I think you're about to ask
me about this -- a major Western conference player, who is part of that voting list above LeBron, got hurt tonight.
MICHAELSON: Yes, let's talk about that, since you bring it up now. Nikola Jokic, three-time MVP of the NBA. One of the best players, really, in modern NBA history.
NICHOLS: And the best player in the -- in the world right now.
MICHAELSON: And he went down tonight.
NICHOLS: Right.
MICHAELSON: What do we know about him?
NICHOLS: Hard. And I bring up him in relation to the all-star voting, because, yes, that's -- even if he's OK, it's going to probably open up a spot. They might not want to play it fast and loose with him. It looked bad.
Now the one thing going for it, again, for all of us armchair doctors, is it was a contact injury.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
NICHOLS: When a guy goes down and no one touches him, that tends to be an Achilles injury. And those are the worst for a basketball player.
MICHAELSON: You could be out for a season.
NICHOLS: You could be out for more than a season or not quite recover.
In this case, a teammate of his stepped on his ankle, and his knee went weird places, and he crumpled down. It could just be a minor knee sprain. It could be an ACL tear.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
NICHOLS: And if it's an ACL tear, those typically take 8 to 12 months to recover from.
MICHAELSON: Wow.
NICHOLS: His teammate Jamal Murray took 18 months to recover from an ACL tear.
MICHAELSON: And lastly, real quickly, Victor Wembanyama --
NICHOLS: Oh, man.
MICHAELSON: We've seen this rise of him, the Spurs, OKC. There's so much talk about the Lakers. They're really old news. Could Victor Wembanyama be the best player in NBA history?
NICHOLS: I think so. I mean, even before -- the year before he was drafted, I was saying this kid, barring injury, feels like he's going to be a top ten player of all time.
Now, my joke to people when I do shows is I probably undershot it. He's going to be a top five player of all time. And he definitely has the tools.
First of all, he's physically like no one we have ever seen before play like that. But mentally, he is so curious. He is such a hard worker.
And he's coming up in an organization, the San Antonio Spurs. They train the best. So, he's got all the advantages. If he doesn't get hurt, he could be on that track. We'll have to see. It's early.
MICHAELSON: Of course. Seven-foot-seven, three-point shooter.
NICHOLS: I mean, it's crazy.
MICHAELSON: Who can dribble and everything. It is crazy.
Rachel, thank you so much.
NICHOLS: Thank you.
MICHAELSON: Always fun to talk basketball with you.
We'll be back with more right after this. You're watching THE STORY IS.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:58:10]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Happy new year!
Oh, my golly!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: That's right. The countdown is on to 2026. The folks in Times Square are making sure the confetti is ready for midnight. More than 3,000 tons of it will be dumped on crowds there.
But have you ever wondered how other parts of the world bring in the new year? Here's a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): What does eating 12 grapes, wearing red underwear, and receiving coal from a tall, dark-haired man have in common?
Well, depending on where you are in the world, these actions are thought to bring you good luck in the new year.
For a lot of us, celebrations on December 31st might look something like this. Fireworks have become widely recognized as a way to mark the new year, but they originally became popular in Asia to ward off evil spirits.
Around the world, there are a multitude of lesser-known traditions and rituals at the turn of a new year, and many of them include food.
Some of us might be eating soba noodles for a long life, lentils for money and prosperity, or marzipan piglets for good fortune. The tradition of eating exactly 12 grapes at midnight, one for each toll of the clock, to encourage a prosperous new year, originated in Spain. More recently, it has spread around the world after gaining popularity on TikTok.
But it's not all about the food. Wearing red underwear is said to bring you good luck, especially if it's a gift from someone else.
Want to travel more? In some Latin cultures, people believe walking around with an empty suitcase at the end of one year might bring more trips in the next.
And in Scotland, a custom called "first footing" means the first person to enter your house on January 1st might influence your year. Traditionally, it should be a tall, dark-haired man coming with gifts, including a coin --
(END VIDEOTAPE)
