Winter Weather Briefing, Friday 12/23, 4pm

CNBC was left holding the bag on Friday when Elon Musk abruptly backed out of a live, heavily promoted interview moments before it was set to air, as SpaceX shares slid below the price of their first public trade.

The network had spent the morning teasing the sit-down, billed as Musk's first television interview since SpaceX went public. Anchor Scott Wapner threw to correspondent Julia Boorstin at the Allen & Co. gathering in Sun Valley, Idaho, to explain why it suddenly wasn't happening.

"We've been promoting this exclusive interview that Elon Musk was expected to give to our Julia Boorstin, which is now apparently no longer happening. I want to bring in Julia Boorstin, who's been in Sun Valley. Julia, do you want to explain to us exactly what happened here, as this was imminent?" said Wapner.

"Yeah, we were expecting to start an interview with Elon Musk right now at noon Eastern. We just got word that he has to postpone," Boorstin replied, adding that the network hopes Musk will offer a new time.

Boorstin noted that SpaceX shares were trading below the level of their very first trade and well off the highs the stock reached after its record June debut. As she spoke, shares were off nearly 3% at around $148. SpaceX priced its IPO at $135 and opened at $150 on June 12 before surging in its opening sessions, then slipping back below that opening level as it was pulled into major market indexes.

She said there was plenty she had hoped to raise, including Grok 4.5, the AI model Musk's company launched Wednesday, and how SpaceX is holding down customer prices as component costs climb. That thread would have followed a CNBC interview a day earlier with OpenAI's Sam Altman about efficiency gains in his company's newest models.

Wapner called it an unfortunate development and said the network would report any update.

Conservative CNN pundit Scott Jennings was quickly fact-checked as he tried to convince panelists that Trump has lowered gas prices.

During an appearance on a panel hosted by CNN anchor Abby Phillip, Jennings flatly stated that "gas is lower today than when he took office," referring to Trump.

"No, it's not," Phillip shot back. She had to repeat herself as Jennings continued trying to make the assertion.

Jennings was responding to comments by Democratic political strategist Neera Tanden, who was also a Biden White House advisor. Tanden pointed out that the price of oil and gas had gone up.

"What's the price of gas today, do you know?" Jennings asked. When Tanden gave estimates for a barrel of oil at $78 and gas at $4.30 per gallon, Jennings responded, "And what's the price of gas under Joe Biden?" and asked Tanden if she ever talked about oil and gas prices when Biden was president.

"Scott, that's actually not the question," Phillip intervened, which is when Jennings made his claim about gas now being lower since Trump took office. Meanwhile, Tanden said that gas was $3.20 a gallon under Biden.

"Gas is not lower today than when Trump took office, and it's not lower today than it was before Trump started the war" with Iran, Phillip said, continuing her point.

"So look, you can dismiss the gas thing, but it's a real thing that people are going to the gas pump, filling up their tank, and it's costing them 70 bucks," Phillip said.