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Trump Posts about Territorial Wish List on Christmas Day; Corporate Interests Donate Millions to Trump Inauguration; Officials: 38 Killed, 29 Survivors in Deadly Crash; Storms Could Create Holiday Travel Delays. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired December 26, 2024 - 06:00   ET

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

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT/ANCHOR: It's Thursday, December 26, and right now on CNN THIS MORNING.

[06:01:28]

Territorial expansion. Donald Trump using his Christmas greeting to take aim at Panama, Greenland and Canada.

Plus, a deadly plane crash. New video showing the aircraft flying erratically before crashing in Kazakhstan.

Plus, later.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: In this term, everybody wants to be my friend.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: The switch-up. The major companies donating to Donald Trump's inauguration after pledging to suspend funding following January 6th.

And then later, this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEYONCE, SINGER (singing): Those 16 carriages driving away while I watched them ride with my --

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FREEMAN: Cowboy Carter Christmas. Beyonce spreading holiday cheer with an epic Netflix halftime show with a full lineup of special guests.

Good morning to all of our viewers. It is just after 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. You've got a live look right now at Cincinnati, Ohio.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Danny Freeman, in for Kasie Hunt. It is so wonderful to have you with us this morning.

Let's talk politics. Donald Trump is adding to his wish list for Christmas, with the Panama Canal, Greenland and Canada apparently on the top of his mind.

In a Christmas Day post announcing his choice for U.S. ambassador to Panama, Trump once again claimed Panama is, quote, "ripping us off on the Panama Canal."

In recent days, the president-elect has fixated on the canal, arguing the U.S. should reclaim control of the waterway.

Panama's president has called such talks non-negotiable.

And President-elect Trump's annual Christmas message also posted musings about expanding the U.S. territory at the expense of Western Hemisphere neighbors.

In his post, he once again called Canada's prime minister, "Governor" and imagined if, quote, "Canada was to become our 51st state."

And once again, he eyed Greenland, saying the Danish-controlled territory is, quote, "needed by the United States for national security purposes.

Now, the idea of buying Greenland isn't really a new one for Donald Trump. He first floated it as a possibility back in 2019. Leaders in Denmark and Greenland have dismissed the proposal, and this week Greenland's prime minister responded by saying Greenland, not for sale.

In 2019, Denmark's prime minister called it absurd, a critique which the then-president did not appreciate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Denmark. I looked forward to going, but I thought that the prime minister's statement that it was absurd, that it -- it was an absurd idea, was nasty. I thought it was an inappropriate statement. All she had to do was say, no, we wouldn't be interested.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: Joining me now to talk about all of this is Isaac Dovere, CNN senior reporter; and Leah Wright Rigueur, CNN political analyst and historian, kicking off our wonderful panel on this post-Christmas morning.

Thank you both for being here.

Isaac, I want to start with you. Five years ago, Trump said all Denmark had to say was they weren't interested. And yet, here we are. What is old is new again in 2024. He's again talking about how Greenland is needed.

Isaac, what's going on here? Is this real?

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, Donald Trump has been reelected president. He had ideas of what he wanted to do in his first term. He wants to bring them back in a second term. So, it's not surprising to see that kind of continuity here.

I think what's different, potentially, here is that, in Trump's first term, a lot of leaders around the world saw that presidency as sort of an aberration, as something that they -- they hoped and -- and believed many of them would pass in America, that it wouldn't -- that just get through four years of Donald Trump, and then things will go back to the way they were.

That is not the way that the response has been to Trump being reelected now. And so, this will be not just Greenland, but this talk about Canada. This talk about the Panama Canal.

All of it will be processed, likely, in a different way by world leaders, who, from the people that I've spoken to who have been in touch with world leaders, they think that this will maybe lead to a different kind of response than that kind of waving away of a lot of the things that he was saying internationally in the first term.

Of course, it's going to factor in things like whether we're going to remain members of NATO, what kind of aid will be going to Ukraine, and how the relationship with Russia and China will be managed. Those sorts of things, which definitely are part of the way American foreign policy has been for a lot of the post-World War II era, which Trump is now challenging, are what we are going to see play out over these next four years.

FREEMAN: Leah, can you give me a bit of a historical perspective here on what precedent there may be for, I mean, buying a huge swath of land, say, like Greenland?

LEAH WRIGHT RIGUEUR, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST AND HISTORIAN: So, it's -- it's actually larger than that. There's a -- there are historical precedents for the kind of, you know, essentially, saber rattling that we've seen on these -- that we're seeing on these issues right now.

You know, the Panama Canal, Greenland. Several other countries have been points of contention for the United States, in particular, conservatives for many years. It's also part of, I think, a much larger history of U.S. empire or U.S. imperialist notions.

But by and large, there are two things, I think, that are worth pointing out. One, the U.S. has often withdrawn from these attempts at empire and imperialism, because they haven't gone very well. This also includes the Panama Canal. It has been a point of contention for many, many years.

The reason the Carter administration, in part, signed the two treaties that established the -- the Panama Canal is because the United States was not doing well in Panama.

But the other thing that I think is important is that, even as the United States has made these claims, have made these attempts over the years, it's actually been Republican administrations that have not acted on, you know, the sale or the purchase or going after these various countries, in particular, because the administrative state and the amount of effort and the amount of money it takes to maintain, or the military efforts that it takes to invest in these countries, in these areas, is just far too expensive and far too difficult.

And I think for somebody like Donald Trump, who claims to be an isolationist, the things that he's propose -- proposing are actually anti-isolationist. They're very much imperialist and of empire.

So, I wouldn't be surprised if there is actually something else underneath what Donald Trump is proposing, because ultimately, Greenland, which is -- which is interesting. The kingdom of Denmark has just invested more money into defense spending around protecting Greenland.

But also, Panama, in particular. The only way that the United States can actually invest in those spaces is through military intervention.

So, I actually think something else is going on with Donald Trump, that there is something else that he wants to negotiate, and he's just using these kind of bombastic claims in order to make a much larger point.

FREEMAN: Well, as with many things with the president-elect, I think we will hear more about this in the coming weeks and months.

Stick with us, both of you. Thank you for starting off the morning, but we have more to talk about.

Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, committing millions. Billionaires, Fortune 500 companies and crypto firms backing Donald Trump, pledging donations to support his inauguration.

Plus, just terrifying video here showing the aftermath of a deadly plane crash in Asia. Remarkably, dozens of people actually survived.

And this. Shocking celebrity deaths, sprawling lawsuits, and the end of an era. 2024 was full of entertainment stories. We have the top ten coming up in just a moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAYLOR SWIFT, SINGER: Are you ready for it?

SWIFT (singing): I'm drunk in the back of the car, and I cried like a baby coming home from the bar.

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[06:13:20]

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TRUMP: One of the big differences between the first term: in the first term, everybody was fighting me. In this term, everybody wants to be my friend.

(END VIDEO CLIP) FREEMAN: It's going to be one of the bites we're going to hear quite a bit. Apparently, everyone wants to be Donald Trump's friend in his second term, but they're bringing their checks to prove it now.

A flurry of Fortune 500 companies, crypto firms, and individual billionaires all racing to help underwrite Trump's inauguration on January 20th, pledging seven-figure donations.

In return, they'll get an intimate candlelit dinner with the president-elect and first lady Melania. Now, "The Wall Street Journal" is reporting that Trump's inaugural fund is on track to break records.

And also, they identified at least 11 companies and trade associations who are backing the inauguration, despite once saying they would not donate to him after the January 6th attack on the Capitol.

The president-elect, finding himself in clearly a very different position than he did just four years ago.

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CHRISTINE ROMANS, FORMER CNN ANCHOR: Some of America's biggest companies say they do not want their political donations in the war chest of lawmakers who wouldn't accept the free and fair election.

American Express, AT&T, UPS, they're joining Marriott, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Commerce Bank in suspending political donations.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Add JPMorgan and Facebook to the growing list of companies that are pulling their political donations following last week's Capitol riots.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hallmark called out two by name and asked for the return of previous donations.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: I've never seen Hallmark pissed off before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: My panel is back, and we're joined by Max Rose, former Democratic congressman from New York and senior adviser at VoteVets. Thank you all for joining us to talk about this inaugural donation frenzy that we're seeing right now.

[06:15:02]

Max, I'll start with you. When "The Wall Street Journal" asked the companies why they're donating now, despite some of them swearing it off after January 6th, one company representative responded with this: "People just really want to move forward and move on. The election results were very clear."

Former congressman, what's your reaction to that?

MAX ROSE, FORMER DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSMAN FROM NEW YORK: Look, God bless them. They're full of it, right? I mean, they -- two years ago, you care about one thing, and now you obviously don't.

It's clear that what they are in it for is their shareholder interest. And maybe that had always been the case. But certainly, that should be a message to Democrats, right? That -- that none of these groups, corporate or otherwise, are in your camp permanently.

Rather, the people that should be in your camp permanently and you in their camp are working people.

Now, what is shocking, though, about all of this is that Donald Trump, during his campaign, ran in many ways, a quintessentially populist campaign.

He did not talk about being there for corporate interests. He did not talk about taking million-dollar checks. And he certainly didn't talk about this kind of escalator of the billionaire class being appointed by him and sitting at his knee at Mar-a-Lago. But that is how he is governing.

And that, as well, is the lane for Democrats to win elections in the future. This is what they should be talking about nonstop.

FREEMAN: Leah, what struck me interesting from this reporting is that it's not only different from four years ago, but also from -- from President-elect Trump's first inauguration, as well. Right?

RIGUEUR: Absolutely. So, I think part of what we saw during the first inauguration is that there was a real reluctance to associate with Donald Trump. There was really no interest from many corporate backers in taking him seriously.

He was an unknown quantity for a large group of people, but also for many business people, it was important (ph) to be associated with his campaign.

I do think -- and I would agree with Max on this here -- I think one of the things, the lessons that a lot of these corporations have learned over the last four years is that it is about money; that there are no permanent friends; that there are no permanent affiliations or alliances.

And so, when it became clear to them that Donald Trump was going to suffer very few, if any, repercussions for the behavior on January 6th, as well as other legal problems and allegations, that it became very clear that this was going to be an opportunity for them to ply their case and make their trade with Donald Trump.

We all know that he is transactional. And so, what we're seeing is an increase in that kind of -- in that kind of transactional action.

So, we're seeing corporate giants like Amazon, like Facebook, Meta, all these organizations, and they want something in return.

I would point, for example, to cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency -- several cryptocurrency organizations and institutions have donated millions to Donald Trump, because they want deregulation of the industry in a way that benefits them. And this is how they get it.

So, this is, I think, a dawning of a new day, but it's one that is very much about corporate interests and -- and corporate payouts.

But just quickly, as I just want your quick take on this, I mean, this is not -- it's not like Democrats also don't receive inaugural contributions when they take the White House.

But can you give us some context? Joe Biden, for example?

DOVERE: We have a lot of money in politics.

FREEMAN: Right.

DOVERE: And people tend to write big checks when they want something in return for it.

I think what we see here, and not just as a reflection of the change from the way things were, but going forward, there is this expectation that Trump, as was just being said, will be a transactional president. He was a transactional president. And will be picking favorites and will be picking companies that he benefits, maybe in terms of regulations and other things like that.

But also, those that maybe are exempt from tariffs or don't get hit with the same kind of deportation raids on their workers.

That is the sense that is -- that exists in the business world when it comes to Donald Trump. And there is a reason why people are writing these checks now. They are assuming that Trump is paying attention to them now and will be going forward over the next four years.

FREEMAN: Panel, stick with us. We still have more to talk about. Thank you for those responses.

But after the break on CNN THIS MORNING, we're going to talk about a deadly Christmas day plane crash. We'll tell you what preliminary reports show may have been the cause.

Plus, you won't believe how a drone operator lured this dog off of a frozen lake after it was stuck for over a day. That's one of the five things you have to see this morning. Stay with us.

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[06:23:58]

FREEMAN: Investigators in Kazakhstan are working to determine what caused the plane crash that killed at least 38 people on Wednesday.

Twenty-nine survivors, though, were pulled from the Azerbaijan airlines flight wreckage, and the black box was recovered. Russia's aviation watchdog reports the pilot tried to make an emergency landing after a bird strike.

CNN's Nada Bashir has more details. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Well, the Azerbaijan Airlines flight was traveling from the Azerbaijani --

BASHIR (voice-over): -- capital, Baku, to Grozny in the Russian region of Chechnya, but it was forced to make an emergency landing around two miles from the Kazakh city of Aktau.

Now, video circulating from eyewitnesses and those nearby the crash site shows that the plane was circling the airfield somewhat erratically before the crash, then bursting into flames as it hit the ground.

Now, emergency response teams were quickly at the scene, and remarkably, there were a number of survivors, including at least two children, according to authorities, with videos showing some of those injured emerging from the wreckage.

But this is a moment of huge tragedy for those that that did not survive. According to authorities, there were 67 people on board the flight, including five crew members.

[06:25:10]

Preliminary reports, according to Russian aviation authorities, suggest that the pilot was forced to attempt an emergency landing following a bird strike.

However, investigations are still ongoing.

BASHIR: Nada Bashir, CNN, in London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREEMAN: And we are about 25 minutes past the hour. We have five things you have to see this morning.

Two people saved from a burning truck in Washington just moments before it fully burst into flames. Police say two good Samaritans helped pull the victims from a crash right before the fire grew.

Thankful for them.

And a dog stranded on a frozen New Jersey lake, rescued after a chicken cutlet tied to a drone helped convince the pup to return to land.

The dog had been stranded for over a day.

Hope he got to eat that cutlet.

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FREEMAN: And first responders treating patients and workers at a Chicago area hospital to a parade, spreading some holiday cheer for those who can't go home for the holidays.

And Santas in Florida ditching the sleigh for, yes, a surfboard. Eight hundred Santas hit the waves in Cocoa Beach, setting a new record for the most surfing Saint Nicks in one place.

Love it.

And Christmas and the first night of Hanukkah landed on the same day this year. And yesterday, to mark the Jewish holiday, a giant menorah was lit in front of the White House.

Absolutely beautiful there.

Storms in the West and the South could, though, put a damper on travel plans after the holiday. For more on this, we have meteorologist Elisa Raffa tracking it all.

Good morning. Good to see you.

ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Danny.

We've got two storms that we're watching. Here's a look at where you can have some delays from the storm system in the South that could create some heavy rain and severe weather from Dallas down towards Houston and New Orleans.

And then we have this atmospheric river that just keeps this series of storms in the Pacific Northwest. Problems from Seattle to Portland, down towards San Francisco.

We've got lightning with some of these showers coming on shore Oregon, this morning. You've already got some of that rain and snow.

A lot of winter alerts, especially in some of those higher elevations where we could get up to a foot of snow in some of these spots. Plus, the wind will whip. We're talking winds up to 60 miles per hour possible, especially at the highest mountain peaks.

So, all of this will create some messy travel conditions along the West Coast as we go through the day today. And then watch as we have more that comes in as we go into Friday.

So, we're looking at some 2 to 4 inches of rain possible. And again, we could be measuring some of that snow in feet. Again, adding to that snow depth.

Right now, not doing too much across the South, but we'll find these showers and storms really ignite as we go into the afternoon with some of that daytime heat and humidity.

We have a level two out of five risk for severe weather, damaging winds, large hail, and even some tornadoes from Shreveport down towards Houston. So, we'll have to watch that today. And again, it could cause some travel headaches -- Danny.

FREEMAN: Elisa Raffa, thank you, as always, very much for that report.

And straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, big stars and even bigger legal trouble in 2024. From the downfall of a music mogul to a Netflix documentary that could lead to the release of the Menendez brothers. We have the biggest entertainment stories ahead.

Plus, one of Donald Trump's biggest campaign promises: lowering energy costs. But is that actually doable? My panel will be back to discuss.

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TRUMP: The United States will commit to the ambitious goal of slashing energy and electricity prices by half, at least. Half.

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