tv CNN News Central CNN December 26, 2024 4:00am-5:00am PST
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promotional material. can we cue that up? is that all right? >> it's great to see you back, mr. gilmore. >> all it's magic. >> as you get the last word on this, just a few more seconds left. happy gilmore two. good thing i, for a lot of the happy gilmore fans certainly look at netflix has had this deal with adam sandler for years. >> and it's been it's done well for both of them. and obviously we're seeing netflix continue to expand in what it's doing. and sandler was part of that even before they got their glitches worked out for the live event. so we will continue to. >> all right. well, thank you all to our panel so much. really appreciate it. and thank you at home for joining us
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today. i'm danny freeman cnn news central start right now. >> new questions about what caused that fiery christmas day plane crash that killed dozens of people in kazakhstan. russian officials blaming a bird strike. but ukraine and others are suggesting a more sinister cause. >> and talk about tough diplomacy. president elect donald trump announcing his pick for u.s. ambassador to panama. the exact same time he's telling panama that he wants to retake the panama canal. good luck. travelers beware. this holiday weekend is another busy one for travel of all kinds. there's snow and rain that you may need, may need to contend with as you're heading out the door. we've got the forecast for you. i'm kate bolduan with sara sidner. john berman is out. this is cnn news central.
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>> new questions this morning about what actually caused a tragic christmas day plane crash that killed at least 38 people. now, somehow, though, 29 people, including two children, survived that fiery crash. the russian bound flight was attempting to make an emergency landing in kazakhstan when it went down. all of it caught on camera. in its preliminary report, russia claimed a bird strike may have forced the emergency landing, but ukrainian officials and others are pushing back on that this morning. cnn's nadia bashir is joining us now from london. what are you hearing about the possible cause of this crash and the contention over whether it was a bird strike or something more sinister? >> well, look, sara, the investigations into this crash are still very much ongoing. we know that the black box has been recovered. that will be, of course, crucial into piecing this puzzle together. but the kazakh government has said that it has set up now a commission to carry out an investigation
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to examine the moments ahead of this crash and what may have led to this fatal crash. and of course, as you mentioned, there have been some contending speculations around what may have led to the crash. we know, of course, that early on yesterday, russian aviation authorities said that they believe that the pilot had been forced to attempt an emergency landing about two miles from the kazakh city of aktau in response to a bird strike. however, there has also been some speculation around nearby drone activity. we understand that the crash took place shortly after drone strikes in parts of southern russia, and we have also been hearing from one ukrainian official and member of ukraine's national security and defense council, lieutenant andrei kovalenko, who has alleged that this may have been caused by russian air defense systems. now, of course, crucial to underscore here that this is one allegation from a ukrainian official. this is not the confirmation of investigators, and we haven't had any response from kazakh investigators just yet with regards to these
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allegations. we are still waiting for more clarification and firmer details. but of course, we have seen that dramatic video emerging showing the plane, first of all, circling the airfield ahead of the crash and then, of course, crashing into the ground and bursting into flames. and it is remarkable that 29 of the 67 people on board that flight actually survived. we've seen that video emerging showing some of those passengers emerging from the wreckage. many of them, of course, injured. among those survivors were two children. and authorities say that at least 11 of those survivors are still in a critical condition. all, of course, receiving medical attention in a hospital there. so clearly still a moment of pause for family members in terms of the status of those survivors. this is, of course, a tragic christmas day incident for many of those, the dozens who were killed in this plane crash. but again, that investigation into what exactly led to this fatal crash is still ongoing. >> the video is terrifying of the plane just falling out of
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the sky there, but unbelievable that there were people, so many that actually were able to survive the fiery crash once it hit the ground. nadia bashir, thank you so much for taking us through that. appreciate it kate. >> and joining us right now for more on this is cnn's safety analyst, former faa safety inspector david soucie. so, david, we began this conversation yesterday, and we were and then we were talking about the preliminary information suggesting a bird strike had occurred, had hit the plane. and now you have this additional layer, the wall street journal reporting today that ukrainian officials and aviation experts said that the crash was likely caused by an anti-russian anti-aircraft fire. let me read exactly what they are reporting, citing assessments of footage of the crash, the damage to the aircraft and recent military activity. aviation security firm osprey flight solutions said in an alert to airlines that the flight was likely shot down by a russian military air defense system.
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nadia bashir was just talking about the ukrainian national security official and what he posted online. with all of this now out there, how much more complicated does determining the cause of the crash become now? >> well, it's not any more complicated, honestly. but what it does is it adds information that can be used to determine the cause. and some of these photos, if they are validated and true. it just it scares me. it's just the same thing that we looked at at mh370. the size of the holes through the side of the aircraft on these photographs. it very much is very similar to the mh370, which we did verify was from a buk missile. >> the mh17, i think was was that one the 17? >> i'm sorry. >> you well, you and i have talked about a lot of mh370. we both remember as well very different circumstances that we talked about for years. the search team, the search team has located, according to azerbaijan state, a state news agency, the search team has
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located the plane's black box, which we know is critical. what are the what are the next steps with that? yes. >> well, the black box is going to tell you the flight data recorder is is part of it. but the data recorder, it tells us what happened with the hydraulics on the aircraft. they can tell exactly how much hydraulic fluid was in there. and that's what we would look for in this type of if it were a missile attack, that's what you would look for is these small pieces of shrapnel that go through the control systems. and judging by the flight characteristics of the aircraft after this period of time that it tried to fly for 20 minutes, you can see it wasn't just an up and down thing, which you would see with a bird strike if the power had come off the aircraft, it might be able to climb and fall in a straight pattern, but in this case it went left. it went right, which would indicate to me that there was loss of flight control systems, which would indicate that the whatever it was that caused this would have affected the hydraulics and the
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controllability of the aircraft. >> that's so interesting. and david, then how did so many passengers survive this? >> uh, kate, we talked a little bit about this yesterday, but i've had more time to think about it. and again, we stay with the idea that when an aircraft impacts and the angle that it did, which was nose down, that all of the energy, most of that energy is absorbed and like a crumple zone on a vehicle, it absorbs that energy. and then the tail section broke loose and that tail section as it flew through. and you can see in some of the videos just how far that tail section is from the initial impact zone. and that is the reason that they were able to survive. the impact wasn't felt the same at that point because it had all been absorbed forward of the wings. and so that tail section continued to tumble. they were secured into it and they some just walked away with minor cuts and bruises. so it truly is a miracle. >> it really is amazing the way you explain it is it makes sense. and because of this
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rarity of having surviving passengers, can our interviews with these passengers critical? can interview interviews with these surviving passengers be helpful to investigators who are looking in to determine the cause? >> they can be. they have to very. they have to be very careful about what they listen to and what they hear on these, because it can the witnesses that i've interviewed that have survived accidents are not very accurate. they're very different between what happened. and so it can be helpful, but it can also hurt an investigation because you think you hear something about whatever. and they say this event happened before that event, before this event. and it's rarely very accurate. but there are occasions when it's helpful. but for the most part they were through a very traumatic event that they'll carry with them the rest of their lives. and to try to remember it in proper sequence is almost impossible for a human being to try to conceive of that and then tell back what happened to it. so those are
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very difficult interviews to have. and, and but they do have to be looked at and listened to in a critical view. >> yeah. that's why when it comes to i'll call it like the forensic data of the plane, the black boxes and all of that. why that is so must be so leaned on to get actually determine the cause. when you look at it all together, david, you now have so many countries involved. azerbaijan, kazakhstan, russia, ukraine, also weighing in. that's complicated. especially in even when you're not talking about the, you know, geopolitical situation that is evident. how does this work now to try to actually reach a conclusion? >> well, it truly as you mentioned before, you have to look at just the facts, ma'am. you have to look at what you see, what you can touch, what you can feel this. these are the facts. these are the things that are verifiable. and there's there can be thousands of them to get
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into the data and where it comes from. each piece of data that you have has to be validated and verified. and especially in these situations, we talked about the witnesses that were on the aircraft can be unreliable. well, so can information from outside the critical source. so that's what investigators have to do is stay focused on that and don't let the outside world tell you what they think happened and their opinion and their opinion. they weren't there. who was there? what happened to the aircraft. and those are the facts that will tell us the truth about really what happened in this accident. yeah. >> david, thank you so much. really appreciate it. so coming up for us, the president elect has a new obsession with the panama canal. and he now has a new ambassador who may have an even bigger job ahead of him, given donald trump's tweets of recent. plus, the fda and the new warning for thousands of eggs sold at
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>> i want to be the greatest player that i could possibly become. harry. hurry, hurry. >> this morning, as millions of people are getting ready to return home from the holiday, snow and rain might make it a bit messy. the tsa warned the busiest days at airports will likely be tomorrow and monday, and millions of drivers are expected to pack the roads over the next few days as well. meteorologist elisa raffa here with us. where will folks need to give themselves some extra time in the country? because, you know, storms. >> yeah, the pacific northwest is going to be a big problem spot over the next several days. we also have storms that will blow up across the south as we go through the today as well. we've got rain and snow from seattle down towards portland. you can see some lightning strikes too, even getting on shore. northern
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california and oregon as we have an atmospheric river taking shape. series of storms will roll through as we go through the week. here's a look at all the winter alerts. we've got warnings in effect, because we can get up to a foot or more of snow, and some of those highest elevations that will also come with some wind gusts up to 60mph. so blowing snow a concern again in the highest mountain peaks, you can see the rain and snow as we go through the day today. another round going into tonight and tomorrow morning as we just keep this active pattern pumping. multiple storms on the west coast, we're looking at some 2 to 4in of rain. and again, the snow totals you can see in some of the highest peaks here could top a foot, adding to that snow depth that we've had so far this year. so this is where we've got problem spots today. you can see some delays likely in seattle, portland, portland and even some san francisco. then we also have this storm that will blow up in the south as well. as we go through the day today, we're looking at a line of strong and severe storms possible, some delays
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likely from dallas to houston, and then even some airports in louisiana. we have a level two out of five severe risk for some damaging winds, large hail, and a couple of tornadoes as we get moisture to pump into this storm and could create some thunderstorms that could grow tall and again, even spin. so look at the travel delays across the south from that storm today could be moderate to major. again, the pacific northwest are problem spot today as we go into tomorrow, all of these storms start to shift their way east. and then as we go into the weekend, we're looking at some problems across the southeast and then eventually all the way up the east coast, because these storms will just continue, like train cars to keep moving across the country. looking at some minor delays possible on sunday from atlanta up through d.c., new york and boston, notice again the pacific northwest problems pretty much every day through the rest of the holiday week. so we'll have some problems possible across the south. dallas, new orleans there's all those problem spots from seattle down towards portland. things start to shift east going into friday.
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nashville could have some problems with some rain going into friday, and then it works its way to some of these major airports up and down the east coast. nashville, atlanta by saturday and then stretching up towards d.c., new york and boston as we start to bring some of that rain up the east coast. as we go through the rest of the weekend, rain totals could be locally heavy at times, some 2 to 4in possible up and down the eastern seaboard. >> sauer elisa raffa. thank you so much for spelling that out for us. appreciate it. over to you, kate. >> thank you darling. president elect donald trump has now announced a new ambassador pick, and the timing of the announcement reinforcing that donald trump has a new obsession with the panama canal. now naming florida county commissioner kevin marino cabrera as his pick for u.s. ambassador to panama. the announcement comes just after donald trump's christmas day message with wishing merry christmas to all and then continuing to essentially troll china, panama, greenland and canada. he expressed worry previously that the panama canal would fall into the wrong
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hands, which is an apparent reference to china. and china has no control over the canal itself. cnn's steve contorno tracking all of this for us. trump almost has a singular focus on the panama canal that continues. so what are you learning now about his new his new ambassador pick? >> continued through christmas dinner. it appears kate and trump naming cabrera to this important post. that will be apparently a very important post in his administration. cabrera is someone who sort of represents the magnification of south florida that we have seen in recent years. he is a elected to the miami-dade county commission pretty much exclusively on the back of donald trump's endorsement of him two years ago. and from that perch, he actually sponsored legislation that would have renamed one of miami-dade's roads after donald trump. he is also someone who represented florida on the republican national committee platform committee
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that wrote the new platform for the republican party that was incredibly influenced by trump and his campaign. he's also someone who previously worked for donald trump's campaign back in 2020. so he's obviously very close to the president elect, and he will now be a very busy individual, potentially, if he is confirmed by the senate, because trump continues to push this idea that he is unhappy with what the status quo is at the panama canal and has floated this idea that the u.s. could potentially seize it back. and in fact, he included a reference to that in his social media post nominating cabrera to the position, he wrote, quote, i am pleased to announce that kevin marino cabrera will serve as the united states ambassador to the republic of panama, a country that is ripping us off at the panama canal far beyond their wildest dreams. now, i should point out, kate, that at this point we have not heard anything from donald trump in terms of specifics as to how he would get back the panama canal, or if this is simply
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just some sort of pressure campaign to get the country of panama to potentially play ball, to lower rates, to to decrease the influence of china there. as far as that exists. but clearly, this is something that is at the top of his mind, and he is doubling down on it as he continues to name people to his administration. kate. >> sure is. steve. thank you so much, sara. >> this morning, president biden heading to the u.s. virgin islands for his latest last vacation as president. but it will not be his last trip before leaving the white house. details on his plans for those final weeks, plus football. what football? queen bee slade on christmas, a halftime performance that overshadowed the game. beyonce dazzling fans with her cowboy carter halftime performance and a host of special appearances. you spin me in the middle flu. >> i can't read your mind. it's a can't fool myself. >> it was the most exciting time in the world.
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you're overpaying for car insurance. go to finance buzz. com now five good things. >> listen wherever you get your podcasts. >> this morning a live look at the white house on this fine day where very soon we could see president biden and the first lady as they head off for what the white house will definitely be describing as a working vacation when they go to saint croix. with just 25 days left in the biden term, he also still has one additional major international trip in store. cnn's kayla tausche tracking this one for us. she joins us now. what are you hearing from the white house now, kayla, on president biden's agenda in these final weeks? >> well, katie, president biden is going to be capping off a career in political service of more than five decades with a heavy dose of travel and a series of legacy capping speeches, continuing what he's already put in the works with a
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major speech on the economy. just a few weeks ago. as you mentioned, he is departing for the virgin islands today for a final family vacation, as the bidens have done for many years. he'll be spending new year's in wilmington, delaware, and then he will be doing much travel in the final weeks in office to try to cement his legacy and his policy achievements. he will also be taking one more international trip that was just announced. he will be traveling to rome for a second visit with pope francis. it's a consequential visit, considering the fact that biden's policy positions have often put him at odds with the church in 2021, ahead of a g20 meeting in rome, president biden met with the pope. back then and accepted communion from the pope, which was seen as a big deal because previously there had been questions about whether biden's position on abortion in particular would disqualify him. so there's going to be a lot of focus on that visit, which is seen as sort of a capstone for biden himself. and then when it comes to policy, there's a recognition here at the white house that anything they try to do on policy in
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these final days is likely to be overturned by the incoming administration, which is already crafting plans to do much of that. so on the policy front, we are not expecting much in the way of new news, more of an effort to try to highlight what biden has already done up until this point. traditionally, kate, as you know, presidents often hold press conferences to field questions from the press on what they see as their achievements, what they see as some of their pitfalls. but as of right now, there is no indication that biden plans to hold one. kate. >> and it has been quite some time since he has taken questions from journalists like yourself. how what are you hearing about his plans and how he is planning and preparing for the transition out and the transition in of donald trump? >> well, we we know that the landing teams from the incoming trump administration have already been in touch with their counterparts at the various government agencies. these agencies have been preparing for months to hand over the keys, so to speak, for their operations and their
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policies and to essentially provide a roadmap for how some of these agencies work. so really critical agencies like the department of homeland security, the treasury department, the commerce department, these landing teams from the trump team have arrived there and been in touch with their counterparts to do sort of the less glamorous work of of governing, to learn how that is done. so certainly that work is already underway. as for president biden himself, i mean, this is essentially the outcome that he had been trying to avoid. and given his age, we expect that it will be a fairly quiet departure for him after that. >> kate, it's great to see you, kayla. thank you so much, sara. >> all right. let's talk all things politics now with democratic strategist matt bennett and former republican strategist and pollster lee carter. thank you both for being here on this holiday week. let's talk first about what seems to it sounds like a little bit of an obsession here. trump has picked his ambassador to panama after demanding that panama hand over
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the panama canal. the wall street journal editorial board had this to say about trump's thoughts on panama. it says, forgive us if we missed it, but we don't recall donald trump campaigning to invade panama and retake its famous canal. but there was the president elect on the weekend threatening our central american ally with punishment if it doesn't meet his demands. the board goes on to say, it's hard to know how seriously to take mr. trump's broadsides, but threatening a takeover that would require an invasion may cause more trouble than he imagines. so i guess the question is for you, lee. what is this recent thirst for? land grabs suddenly? where is this coming from? >> i wish i could tell you that i knew where it was coming from. >> i think with donald trump we often don't know where these these things come from. >> but i think he does have this affinity for grand gestures in symbolic moments. >> i think the panama, the
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panama canal to him represents a lot of things for america and open trade in, in, in, in winning again. >> and i think that's what he is after. it does seem i, you know, like the new york times said, he didn't campaign on this. so i'm not exactly sure where it came from, but it's certainly in line with the kinds of things that he does. he wants america to be winning again, so to speak. >> yeah. just to be clear, it was the wall street journal. they're not exactly, you know, anti donald trump making this statement for you. matt. what do you think this signals as to what the next term is going to look like. >> i mean it signals chaos. it's as if trump took out a world map and started throwing darts and decided to threaten whatever country the darts land. i mean, greenland, panama, canada, no one saw any of this coming because this is what donald trump does. he stirs
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chaos. sometimes. it has strategic value for him because it distracts from other things he doesn't want to be talking about, but sometimes it just seems completely bizarre and made up. meanwhile, the world is a very dangerous place. he is threatening to abandon our allies in ukraine. he's threatening to abandon the work that we've done in syria to stabilize that incredibly dangerous part of the world where i.s.i.s. could be resurgent and threaten the united states. he is threatening to abandon our allies in taiwan, which produces the chips that we desperately need for our most high tech stuff. and and now he's obsessed with panama and and greenland. and none of this makes any sense. and i think what it signals is that we're back to the donald trump that we knew in his first term, which is he wakes up every day and just stirs chaotic, bizarre things and drives the news with that, i do want to mention former chief of staff mick mulvaney, sort of put it this way, weighing in on trump's words about panama
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this week. >> i want to play you what he is saying this is all about and get your thoughts on the other side. take a listen. >> this is a negotiation, by the way. one of the reasons trump is so good at negotiating is that it's a it's a credible threat. if he says, you know, look, we are going to have problems with panama if they don't lower the rates. i don't envision american troops going in to retake the canal. but you got to think that someone is out there scratching their head going, is donald trump crazy enough to do something like that? and it's that viable threat that sort of gives him negotiating leverage that not a lot of other folks could ever come up with. >> i mean, there is some spin. lee, what do you think of it? >> well, i don't think he's wrong. i think this is what donald trump does. he throws things out there to to negotiate, to make, as he calls them, deals. and i think, um, we're often surprised with result. it seems very, very uncomfortable. and to many people it seems like he's sowing chaos. but at the end it
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often does result in deals being made. so i would agree with that. >> all right. i want to move on to what we're seeing with russia and ukraine. russia had this large scale christmas day attack in ukraine really meant to punish the citizens going after infrastructure in freezing temperatures. biden says that he directed the department of defense to continue its surge of weapons deliveries to ukraine. and trump's pick for special envoy for ukraine and russia also criticized russia's assault, saying, and i'm quoting here, christmas should be a time of peace. yet ukraine was brutally attacked on christmas day. i am curious from from you, um, bennett, what you think of this? and does this signal that maybe there will be a change in how donald trump deals with ukraine compared to what a lot of people think he's going to pull back on, on things like weapons.
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>> i certainly hope so. i mean, it was the first good sign that we've heard out of the trump camp about ukraine, basically ever. i mean, jd vance made it clear, he said, literally, i don't care what happens to ukraine. and trump said the same thing essentially all throughout the campaign and through most of the transition. meanwhile, as you point out, russia is engaged in this incredibly barbaric war where they are attempting to inflict maximum pain on the most innocent people. there is no ambiguity about what we should be doing here. all of our allies agree we should be arming and helping the ukrainians, as the biden team has done, probably even more than the biden team has done. but trump has threatened the opposite, and we know how close he feels to vladimir putin. so i think the prospects for ukraine are very grim, unless, let's hope, this signals some kind of change. >> lee, what are your what is your take on this? just that there was a comment made by by someone who will be i, i agree,e
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a good a step in the right direction as far as, as trump goes, when it when it comes to ukraine. >> but i also know that donald trump does use the tough rhetoric that he does as ways of negotiating, as we were just talking about. and so when he talks about if if he were in office, putin would never have done this. when he talks about saying he's going to walk away, i think a lot of that is signals to putin on how things are going to be. and i think he's he's he's going to he's trying to say that it's going to be a very different moment when he comes into office. and i think he does believe that he's going to be able to make change over there through negotiations, rather than having to invest all the money that we've had to invest over time. but it does seem now that there is a change in direction here, that he is looking at. might might support ukraine more than we expected him to. >> all right. speaking of tough language or mean spirited, i depending on how you see it,
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donald trump's annual christmas message focused on grievances. he started yesterday saying merry christmas to the radical left lunatics, then went on to criticize biden's commuted death sentences, saying about the inmates, i refuse to wish a merry christmas to those lucky souls, but instead will say go to hell. that was his christmas message. president-elect donald trump says he will direct. the department of justice also to vigorously pursue the death penalty. after that, pardon from joe biden by almost all, less than three 4037 of the 40 federal death row inmates. um, i'm curious to you, matt, the law dictates what offenses are eligible for the death penalty. so what do you think? this this means i don't think it means anything. >> he doesn't understand what the law dictates. pretty much on any topic. certainly around the death penalty, where there are very strict rules about which crimes are eligible for the death penalty. but i do think it means that he is going
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to bring it back the way he did in his first term. remember, most death row inmates are in state prison, not federal prison. most executions happen at the state level, but under trump, there were executions in federal in the federal system. biden paused those. and we're going to be back to killing people as a matter of state policy. at the federal level. i think it is of a piece with the kind of campaign he ran, which was about retribution and being tough. and i think he used the death penalty as part of that. >> lee carter, matt bennett, thank you both so much for coming on. i know it's a holiday week and you could have been doing a whole lot of other fun things, but you hung out with us and i appreciate it. all right. over to you, kate. >> thank you so much. coming up for us, a disturbing discovery on a tarmac in hawaii, a body found in the wheel well of a plane. the investigation now to figure out how this happened. and the mega millions jackpot is now even bigger than $1 billion. one heck of a late
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you are ready. >> new year's eve, live with anderson and andy. live coverage starts at eight on cnn. >> so christmas day was chock full of gifts, of course, but including gifts on the gridiron. netflix pulling off its highly anticipated christmas day, nfl doubleheader and then beyonce just blew off the roof. cnn's coy wire watching all of it for us in coy wire some big wins. but clearly, you know what i was focused on. >> i do, and we will get to that, i promise. >> kansas city fans, they got a big old gift from their team on christmas day. the two time defending super bowl champs clinching home field advantage in the playoffs and getting a bye in the first round. patrick mahomes and company racing out to an early 13 point lead. and they were never really threatened by the steelers. mahomes throwing three td passes, including one to his favorite target, travis kelce. travis is 77th career touchdown catch early in the fourth breaks, kansas city's all time td receptions record, and then he dunked it to pay tribute to
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the former record holder, hall of famer tony gonzalez. chiefs win 29 to 10. afterwards, mahomes said he was just keeping a holiday promise to his wife, brittany. listen to this. >> i thought it was a full team performance. the defense stepped up. offense stepped up. everybody had their imprint on the game. and i told my wife, my pregnant wife i was the number one seed. so we can go have that baby. so i got the we got the one seed. >> all right. >> that was a very merry christmas for the chiefs. and even santa was there to help them celebrate in the locker room. kate, this is actually head coach andy reid. and then how about a jolly old elf showing up to give coach, aka santa, the game ball after his chiefs earned a franchise record 15th win on this season, the baltimore ravens flying high in the second game against the texans. there was no stopping baltimore qb lamar jackson. he threw two touchdown passes, but we all know he can run like a reindeer, too. he
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went dashing and dancing for 87 yards in this game, including a 48 yard score reaching a top speed of more than 21 miles per hour. and then lamar ran into the record books right there in the third, moving past michael vick at the top of the all time rushing list for quarterbacks. baltimore wins 31 to 2. they improved to 11 and five on the season, and their one game up on the steelers for first place in the afc north. listen to this. hello, girls. >> hello, beyoncé. hello, fellas. well, those petty ones can't touch me. why? because i'm a clever girl. >> we clapping. >> oh, yeah. there you go, kate. fans also getting treated to halftime performance from 32 time grammy winner beyonce. queen bee rocking her hometown of houston, performing songs from her cowboy carter album in front of a live audience for the first time. she had shaboozey post malone and her daughter blue ivy. they're rocking alongside her. they
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even teased a something special coming january 14th. we don't know if it will be a new album, maybe a tour date release. we shall see. >> kate i mean, it was so good. it was like gives you chills type of good. i really enjoyed that. and i will also say the football was decent. it was decent as well. coy did you see those? netflix got them jacked. those big old puffy red jackets. you saw him wearing it. i saw that and i was like, you know who looks so good in that? coy, you would look so good at that jacket. >> challenge accepted. we only have 364 more days till you get to see it. >> no worries. good to see you. thank you so much, my dear sara. you would also look amazing in that jacket. >> okay, here's the thing. we need to have one for our show. >> no, it's one because you know, my, you can all fit into one of those studio because. but also it was. we would look great. i mean, i agree, kate, i think maybe the bosses are
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watching and they could just, you know, give us some. >> like netflix gave to. but but i have to end on the beyoncé. that was better than most super bowl halftime. like, i was like, just keep this going because the game was pretty much over. it was, you know, by halftime, at the beginning, i was like, she was riding a horse. no, the whole thing. >> then blue ivy came out. i was, i was, i was literally here for all of it. and my daughters were as well. >> it was so good. shaboozey and all of the young country singers that she had alongside her. i'm. i'm still glowing from it. i'm just saying. yes. and so are you, kate. all right. this morning ahead, there is new legal trouble for actor and director justin baldoni. why? his former publicist is now suing him. plus, a health alert that you got to know about this morning. whooping cough cases surging once again. how you can protect yourself. that's ahead.
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>> kiki i won again! oh, daddy. >> we'll be back soon oh, we're swimming in it now. >> rent's due. >> little. >> nothing beats playing with friends except bankrupting friends. give it to me. >> we are the absolute best ever. you can feel it. you can taste it. here we go, folks. >> wednesday night dynamite live at eight on tbs and stream on max starting january 1st, new year's eve live with anderson and andy. live coverage starts at eight on cnn. >> so this morning there's more fallout for justin baldoni after his former. it ends with us costar blake lively filed a complaint against the actor. she was alleging sexual harassment and a coordinated plan seeking to destroy her reputation. well, now baldoni is facing his first formal lawsuit, this one from his former publicist. it's a
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tangled web, but it's. but it's wild how it is unfolding. in the lawsuit, the publicist accuses baldoni of breach of contract and accuses him of orchestrating the smear campaign against lively behind her back. this legal battle is just one of the big entertainment stories, shaking up hollywood of 2024. and cnn's elizabeth wagmeister is counting down the top ten of the year. >> from big stars in big legal trouble to big movies, concerts and a brat summer, our top ten entertainment stories start with the wicked boost at the box office. number ten the wicked pairing of wicked and gladiator two form this year's barbenheimer. with over $150 million in opening weekend ticket sales. the two films energize the typically slow
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post-summer box office. wicked, starring golden globe nominees ariana grande and cynthia erivo, stayed strong through the holiday season, while gladiator two excelled overseas. the pair set the table for the thanksgiving box office, with moana two joining to set an all time record for the holiday. weekend. number nine. >> maybe now people can understand the truth. >> television takes on the menendez brothers case, pushing prosecutors to take action. >> i believe that they have paid their debt to society. >> then los angeles district attorney said public attention factored into his decision to reexamine the case and recommend a reduced sentence that would allow the brothers to walk free. nearly three decades after they were sentenced for murdering their parents in beverly hills, the hollywood production spotlighted abuse the brothers say they endured at the hands of their father, with even some of the victims family members calling for them to be
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released. >> 35 years is a long time. >> ultimately, the judge delayed a decision, while a newly elected district attorney reviews the case. number eight. the hip hop feud between drake and kendrick lamar. >> this may be the hip hop equivalent of asking to speak with the manager. >> in november, drake filed a court petition accusing a record company of using bots to artificially inflate lamar's song not like us on spotify. they not like us. they not like us. it's the latest chapter in the ongoing feud between two of the industry's biggest names, who once toured together as rising stars. >> shape the stories how you want. hey, drake. they're not slow. >> each claims the other dissed them in song lyrics, with one question at the heart of the feud. who is hip hop's biggest star? >> who would have thought it would potentially end in a courtroom? >> number seven. a pop star ignites a brat. summer. charli xcx's album brat not only storms the
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charts, it propels an online political movement right on us. >> very blunt, a little bit volatile. >> with that description, the singer declared. kamala is brat on social media, spawning a torrent of memes that kicked off vice president kamala harris's presidential run and a lot of questions amongst a certain generation. >> so is the idea that we're all kind of brat and vice president brat. >> i don't well, i don't know if you're right of us, brat. >> right. you don't just become brat. >> i will, i will aspire to be brat. >> number six, alec baldwin's courtroom shocker. >> dismissal with prejudice is warranted. >> a judge dismissed the case against the actor accused of involuntary manslaughter. when the gun he was holding on the rust movie set fired, killing cinematographer halyna hutchins and wounding the film's director. the judge's decision came less than a week into the trial, citing the prosecution's improper handling
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of new evidence in the case. bobby. the ruling paved the way for baldwin to return to the limelight, appearing on saturday night live as former presidential candidate robert f. kennedy jr.. number five. charges filed in the death of matthew perry. two doctors in perry's assistant are among five people charged in connection with his overdose death. one of the doctors allegedly said, quote, i wonder how much this moron will pay for ketamine prescriptions. three people have pleaded guilty. one of the doctors is awaiting trial, along with an alleged dealer. prosecutors say is known as the ketamine queen. the perry family relieved that charges were filed nearly a year after the beloved actor died in the hot tub at his los angeles home. >> people who have put themselves in the business of supplying people with the drugs that will kill them, that they are now on notice. >> it doesn't matter what your professional credentials are
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you going down, baby? >> number four. beyoncé goes country. >> this ain't texas. ain't no holding. >> the superstar bends genres with the release of cowboy carter, which debuted at number one, including on the billboard country chart, making beyoncé the first black woman to do so in the chart's 60 year history. >> let me make myself clear beyonce's mega year wraps with what some call the second super bowl a halftime performance on christmas day. >> during the nfl's first ever games to stream worldwide on netflix. number three, the death of pop star liam payne. fans held vigils for days in argentina, where payne fell three stories from his hotel balcony. >> you're insecure. >> don't know what the 31 year old british pop star rose to fame in the boy band one direction. he went on to have a solo career and spoke openly about his struggles dealing
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with fame and substance abuse. >> i was like, right, i need to fix myself. >> toxicology reports found cocaine, alcohol and prescription antidepressants in payne system with more than 70,000,001 direction albums sold. payne's impact on fans was undeniable. >> so for me, it feels like, i guess like the end of like us growing up together, which is really that's what makes it so hard. >> number two, the end of the eras tour for taylor swift. are you ready for it? the nearly two year tour wrapped in vancouver on december 8th. estimated to have made over $2 billion, it's by far the most successful concert tour of all time. not only that, she released a new hit album, the tortured poets department. all this and she's still the darling of the nfl, cheering on boyfriend travis kelce in february to yet another super bowl victory for the kansas city chiefs and the number one
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