Return to Transcripts main page

CNN This Morning

Dozens Feared Dead after Christmas Day Plane Crash Near Aktau, Kazakhstan; Powerful Storm to Hit Western U.S.; Analysts Review Donald Trump's 2024 Presidential Victory and Possible Political Consequences for Democratic Party. Lessons from the 2024 Election and Trump's Victory; Big Moments that Defined the 2024 Race. Aired 8-8:30a ET.

Aired December 25, 2024 - 08:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: It's Wednesday, December 25th, Christmas Day. Merry Christmas to those who celebrate. Right now on a special edition of CNN THIS MORNING.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm hoping for a secure borders. I'm hoping for economic change.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump meant what he said. He's going to do what he said.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Getting the message. The voters have spoken and will soon find out if Donald Trump and his team were listening.

Plus, making history. The president-elect's second inauguration will be unprecedented in more ways than one.

And --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Santa is coming to town.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Santa! Oh, my God! I know him, I know him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Holiday blockbusters, from traditional favorites to modern classics. Which Christmas movie are most Americans turning on today?

Good morning, everyone. Merry Christmas to you and yours. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us. We're going to have all of that and more that we just ran through ahead with our panel.

But first, let's get a check of this morning's headlines.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Kasie. I'm Danny Freeman in New York. A very merry Christmas to all of our viewers out there. We're following breaking news this morning.

Dozens of survivors, but dozens more feared dead after a Christmas Day plane crashed near Aktau, Kazakhstan, in central Asia. Now, we want to warn you, some of this video may be disturbing. This right here, this was taken moments after the plane crashed as rescuers scrambled to pull people out of the burned wreckage.

CNN's Nada Bashir joins me now from London. Nada, you've been following this story all morning. What more do you know about this crash?

NADA BASHIR, CNN PRODUCER: We are still waiting to get more updates, Danny, from the authorities clarifying the cause behind this crash. But as you mentioned, we have been seeing yet more video around the crash and the moments before the plane hit the ground, video showing that the plane had been circling the airfield somewhat erratically before making what appears to have been an emergency landing, crashing to the ground and bursting into flames.

And remarkably, there were survivors. Despite the pretty devastating impact that we've seen in this video, there is video emerging showing survivors, some of them bloodied and injured, emerging from the wreckage. According to authorities, at least 29 people, including two children, survived that crash. They have been taken to hospital for immediate medical attention.

And as you can imagine, there was, of course, a significant presence by emergency services rescue teams surrounding the crash site in the aftermath. But there are dozens feared dead. This plane was carrying 67 people, 62 passengers, five crew members, on board. We are yet to hear from authorities on the status of the remaining passengers on board, but again, dozens are feared dead, so we will be waiting for those updates.

But this is, of course, a moment of -- an anxious moment, a sad moment for many of the family members of those who were on board, perhaps waiting still for more information on that. This was an Azerbaijan Airlines flight traveling from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to Grozny in the Russian region of Chechnya. As you mentioned, it made that emergency landing about two miles from the Kazakh city of Aktau.

At this stage, according to Russian aviation authorities, preliminary information suggests that the pilot may have been forced to attempt an emergency landing as a result of a bird strike. But we are still waiting for more updates and a fuller picture of what exactly led to this crash. Danny?

FREEMAN: So, so scary. And you're right, a lot of anxiety for many families this morning, but incredible that there are some survivors. Nada Bashir, thank you very much.

And overnight, Russia launched a massive Christmas morning aerial attack on Ukraine's energy sector, an attack Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned as inhumane. At least one person was killed in the Dnipro region after Russia launched more than 70 missiles and 100 attack drones. Ukraine's air defenses managed to shoot down many of them, but several still hit their energy sector targets, leading to blackouts across the country. You can see here some of the damage in Kharkiv to residential buildings and civilian infrastructure, as well.

And back-to-back storms are making a mess of travel for some this Christmas morning. A winter storm walloped the Sierra Mountains -- just look at this video right here -- causing slick conditions that forced trucks to pull over and wait out the weather on Christmas Eve. The west coast now bracing for yet another powerful storm.

[08:05:08]

And this all comes as millions in New York today enjoy their first white Christmas in many years. Meteorologist Chad Myers has more from the Weather Center. Good morning, Chad, merry Christmas. It was nice to see some snow on the ground in New York.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It doesn't all have to be in Buffalo. I mean, we can spread it out in New York City a little bit. Here's Staten Island, a little picture here. Now, some of this did melt yesterday, and now we're down to 27. So watch out for slick spots. Watch out for some icy spots.

These are all the areas here that really did have a very white Christmas. But now we're seeing a wet Christmas down here across parts of Louisiana. There could be some strong to even severe weather today. But I think the real risk is some flooding, but in flooding that has been parched with the drought over the past couple of months. So I guess you'll just take it when you can get it. Just don't want it all to come down at one time.

Moving ahead to Thursday, pretty good travel day. They'll be rain across parts of the south and also in the deep south itself. But then by the time we get into Sunday, when a lot of you are going to try to get back on airplanes in New York, we have rain and also all of that cloud cover. Look at what has happened in the west and what will still happen in the west with this storm, Danny. We are going to see spots that have one to two feet of additional snow. If you decided to go on a ski vacation, whether it is Coeur d'Alene, north up to Pend Oreille, up there, snow coming down. Finally, some powder for skiers to play with, because it has been a couple of dry couple of years in a row where we haven't had real natural snow, and they've been skiing in that snow cone that they make with a manmade snow.

FREEMAN: Yes, but no more powder, shushing back and forth on the powder for this holiday season. I love it. Chad Myers, thank you very much. Merry Christmas.

MYERS: See you next hour.

FREEMAN: All right, that's a look at your top stories on this Christmas Day. Now back to Kasie.

HUNT: 2024 nearing the end. What a year. What an election year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: It is now clear that we've achieved the most incredible political -- look what happened. Is this crazy?

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Four years after he lost the 2020 election, after he attempted to overthrow the results of that election in ways that resulted in dozens of criminal charges after a violent mob stormed the Capitol to try to prevent the certification of his defeat, and after being injured in one of two assassination attempts against him, Donald Trump prevailed in the 2024 election, winning the Electoral College and, for the first time, the popular vote. The former president made gains across the country in blue states, in red states, in rural areas, in cities.

And in fact, my colleagues here at CNN wrote the day after the election, this, quote, "Trump made gains with nearly every demographic group compared with his 2020 loss, CNN's exit polls showed. And his apparent near mirroring of the 2016 map would indicate that he paid no political price for his lies about fraud in that election, his efforts to overturn it, or the criminal charges he has faced since then."

And that is the crux of it. Enough of the electorate decided that change was more important than any concerns over Trump's behavior. And it's why, in part, this moment from Harris was so damaging.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUNNY HOSTIN, "THE VIEW" CO-HOST: Would you have done something differently than President Biden during the past four years?

KAMALA HARRIS, (D) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There is not a thing that comes to mind in terms of -- and I've been a part of most of the decisions that have had impact.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Not a thing that comes to mind. That was, according to CNN's exit polls, almost the exact opposite of what voters wanted to hear. Almost three quarters of voters said they were either dissatisfied or angry with the way things were going in the United States. And as incumbents, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were unable to change, as they might say, the vibes.

Trump, by contrast, was able to seize on the anger and dissatisfaction by promising major radical change.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: We're going to pay you back. We are going to do the best job. We're going to, we're going to turn it around.

Nothing will stop me from keeping my word to you, the people. We will make America safe and strong, prosperous, powerful, and free again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right, our Christmas Day panel is here, Alex Thompson, CNN political analyst, national political reporter for "Axios," Elliot Williams, CNN legal analyst, former federal prosecutor and "Star Wars" fan, Kate Bedingfield, CNN political commentator, former Biden White House communications director, and Brad Todd, CNN political commentator and Republican strategist. Welcome to all of you. Thank you for being here.

Alex, I actually kind of want to start with you on this. As we look back at just an incredible campaign, much of which you covered as you were covering then candidate Joe Biden.

[08:10:00]

And just, I'm interested in your reflections on the arc of it, especially for the outgoing president and his decision to -- there were so many unbelievable things that happened in the course of this campaign. But really, his decision to drop out of the race and hand it to Kamala Harris was such an unprecedented moment for all of us.

ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: And his decision to run in the first place at 80 years old, I think, will also be one of the more consequential decisions of this election cycle. And I think, actually, when we look back, we'll probably think of this election was over in June and July. The combination of that debate performance, and then the assassination attempt, which you saw in the favorability ratings, Trump sort of had his highest favorability of his entire political career after that moment. And then the Kamala Harris of it all, I think you can -- you obviously pointed out some mistakes that she made. You could say she should have gone on Joe Rogan, all these little tactical things.

But in the end, the Kamala Harris 107-day campaign was a Hail Mary pass. And I think they actually got closer than some Democrats expected. She only lost across three states by 250,000 votes. Now he still won the popular vote, but she had a chance to pull the inside straight. And I think that's how well look back on this election.

HUNT: Well, and Kate Bedingfield, I think the popular vote piece of it is one of the things that has led to a feeling that Donald Trump will enter office with a significant mandate because it really kind of showed a significant switch from 2016 where, yes, he won the Electoral College, but he lost the popular vote. How do you think -- what message do you think Democrats took away from that piece of it? And what should they be taking into the future?

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. Look, I think there's no question that the political winds are at Donald Trump's back. I do think as we have gotten farther and farther from the election, I think Democrats are absorbing it a little bit less as a -- to use Obamas words, a shellacking, and a little bit more of a look at where voters are dissatisfied with the status quo and how Democrats can think about really tacking to their concerns, particularly on the economy.

I think there -- this is not a great moment for the Democratic Party. They are in the political wilderness. But out of the wilderness can arise opportunity. And I do think there are a lot of hard conversations happening about what the direction should look like. And I think there will be, I hope, positive growth from that. When you have those hard conversations, when you take a look at what isn't working, you come to, you come to a new direction.

So, I don't think that all hope is lost for the Democrats. And I think there were people on November 6th, 7th, 8th who were saying, all hope is lost for the Democrats. I don't think that that's true.

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: To your point about the popular vote, it was actually a relatively close election. Now, to your point, Democrats ought to be alarmed when they're losing working class black people in Queens and the Bronx and places that ought to be Democratic -- and Manhattan -- ought to be Democratic strongholds. Now, they still won, but lost the totals that they should have had.

But Donald Trump won by, I believe its one-and-a-half percent in the popular vote. By way of comparison, Reagan won 84 by 18 points. That is a shellacking. That is a national mandate. And when it comes to the business of governing a country that is still very divided and still very close, regardless of what Congress looks like, it will just be interesting --

HUNT: Biden also won four-and-a-half percent in 2020, by the way. So --

BRAD TODD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I am all for Democrats underreading this and convincing themselves --

(LAUGHTER)

TODD: -- that this was this was really not as bad as it was. I mean, the state that swung the most in the state legislature from Democrat to Republican, was Vermont. Vermont, like the least religious, least conservative state in the country. Democrats lost up and down the ballot, and Donald Trump took the gains that he'd made in 2016 with the white working class and extended it to working class voters of color. That is a major, major change. We are in the middle of a realignment. The end of the fifth political party system as political science professors call it is here. This is a pretty historic time.

WILLIAMS: And it's not -- to back that up -- the alignment is not rich or poor or left or right social issues. It's college versus not. It's what many would call, quote-unquote, the elites versus everybody else. That is where American politics seems to be --

TODD: Well, and where you live. It's about, do you live around people who are more college educated than the rest of the country? It's not even really about your degree. It's about the kinds of people you choose to be around you.

THOMPSON Well, I was just going to say, this is the debate about what Democrats do next. Do you underread or do you overread? Do you sort of overcorrect? And there are some data points that Democrats can point to. The fact is they still won Senate races in Wisconsin and Michigan and Nevada. But at the same time, no -- Reagan did win by 18 points. But no Republican, no presidential candidate has had the headwinds, many self-inflicted with, obviously, he had four different court cases going on.

[08:15:00]

He obviously tried to overturn the last election. The amount of headwinds he was facing and was able to overcome would also be suggest that maybe this is in some ways a more impressive victory.

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: And I think the idea that Democrats need to abandon the things that are core to their policy agenda, things like focusing on infrastructure, focusing on healthcare protections. Now, absolutely, there needs to be a reimagining of the way Democrats communicate, the way they talk, to Alex's point, obviously a number of Senate Democrats outperformed Vice President Harris.

So, when I say not all is lost, I think what is important is for Democrats not lose sight of the fact that the backbone of the things that they have historically fought for do speak to those working class voters. What they've got to figure out is how to better explain that.

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: All right, coming up next here on CNN THIS MORNING, Trump's second inauguration now just a few weeks away. Doris Kearns Goodwin joins us with more on what that might look like.

Plus, the image that helped define the 2024 election, we'll talk to Michael Smerconish about his take.

And, like the gifts that keep on giving, your favorite holiday movies.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:20:16]

HUNT: All right, we are joined now by great friend of the program, Michael Smerconish. He's usually with us every Friday. And Michael, we wanted to know what you thought, was there a moment or an image that really defined where we've been over the last year in politics and where we're going?

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: First of all, happy holidays and thank you so much. I love being your guest on Fridays. So thank you for welcoming me so often onto your program.

HUNT: Oh, that's such a lovely gift to have, thank you.

SMERCONISH: Yes, thank you and I dressed holiday-ish, my turtleneck look, that's holiday-ish. As far as I go.

HUNT: Okay, and you know. I was trying to -- go ahead tell us. SMERCONISH: So, I do have an image in my head, and it's not the one you might be thinking of. Kasie, let me approach it this way. You know what it's like to grow up in the Philly burbs, and you go to the Jersey shore for hopefully a week of vacation. Or, as we put it, down the shore, and each one of those Jersey shore towns has a distinct personality.

Wildwood, New Jersey is a working class shore town. When Donald Trump went to Wildwood, New Jersey, last spring and drew 80,000 to 100,000 people in a boardwalk appearance, and there's this image of Trump, and he's in front of a Ferris wheel, and he's walking out on stage, and it's a little carnival barker-ish, because that's Wildwoods Boardwalk.

But that was stunning to me because here was a billionaire attracting tens of thousands. We always argue about how many people were there. There were a hell of a lot of people there that day. And Trump comes out and he tells the story about how Frank Sinatra said, you never eat before you perform. But I just ate an enormous hot dog and the crowd roared in its approval, and I thought to myself that he could attract so many people in a state he's never going to win, no matter what he says.

He's not competitive in New Jersey, but to go to Wildwood, New Jersey and put on a show and attract the number of people that he did, that struck a chord with me. That was a moment where I said, this populist appeal by a Republican is really something to behold, especially after he's been twice impeached and four times indicted, and the conviction and so forth. That was a moment.

That was a moment where I said, you just can't count him out.

HUNT: Well, you know, Michael, it's so interesting that you mentioned this because while yes, he didn't have a chance of winning New Jersey, I was on the air overnight on CNN on Election Day into Wednesday morning through to 9:00. It took us at CNN until about four in the morning to call the state of New Jersey. I mean, that would have been normally a call that would have been made right at the close.

I mean, it's interesting that you pointed -- you felt that at the time, but some of what you saw there was borne out by what happened.

SMERCONISH: Yes, I think that's true and maybe, you know, the fact that he was able to throw the Harris campaign off guard and make them compete, make them defend. That's a better way of describing it. Make them defend in places that should have been in the bag was also very telling.

I mean, I never ruled out that he could win the election. I did not see coming that he could win the popular vote.

HUNT: Yes, I agree. That was something that, you know, stood out to me as well. And Michael, I do want to ask you because I will say, I think the one image that stands out in my mind from the campaign was the image of what happened in Butler, Pennsylvania. This was where Trump is putting his fist in the air, he's yelling, "Fight!" This is right after that would-be assassin's bullet hit him in the ear. You can see the blood on his face and obviously a very difficult moment for the country to be facing political violence, but also really an example of how Donald Trump reacts to the camera and steps onto the stage that even in a moment where there is violence directed toward him, his instinct was to do this, was to interact with the crowd. What does that say about him and about why he won the election?

SMERCONISH: Can I just say that as you're walking us through this recollection, for me, it was one of those I know exactly where I was and what I was doing. I was at the breakfast counter in my kitchen at home, and I was watching that rally in real time. And there was one other person in the house. It was our youngest son, and I remember, I saw what was happening and immediately appreciated this is an assassination attempt and shouted up the stairs and said, you've got to come watch this.

And the way in which, to your point, Trump controlled the moment and rose up and you know, and wanted to put his fist in the air and so forth and had the presence of mind.

Who knows how any of us would react in such a terrifying encounter. I don't think I'd had the presence of mind to take control of it and make sure that the image that I'm projecting from it is one of strength. But that was a seminal moment.

[08:25:38]

HUNT: All right. Michael Smerconish, I always enjoy our Friday conversations. I'm so grateful you take time out of your very busy day to be with us every Friday.

SMERCONISH: Thank you. You, too.

HUNT: And of course, viewers can tune in this weekend. "Smerconish" Saturdays at 9:00 AM Eastern right here on CNN.

All right, ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, Donald Trump will become just the second president in US history to be inaugurated for non- consecutive terms in the White House.

Doris Kearns Goodwin joins us next.

And, what do most people do with Holiday gifts they don't want? The answer could surprise you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:30:00]