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FBI: Suspect had Connections to U.S. Forces in Afghanistan; Two National Guard Members in Critical Condition After D.C. Shooting; Trump Orders 500 More Troops to D.C. After Wednesday Shooting; 83 Dead, Many More Missing, in Hong Kong High-Rise Fire; ICE Arrests Woman with Family Ties to WH Press Secretary Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired November 27, 2025 - 15:00   ET

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

SARA SIDNER, CNN HOST: The man, the myth, the legend, Santa finally made it. Always ends the parade. You're seeing the huge "Believe" balloon in front of Santa, and then you'll see those reindeer, the -- they're making their way, slowly, slowly, clip-clopping.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: Just listen to the excitement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And there he is.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

A sprawling investigation ramping up after the shooting of two National Guard members. We're going to dig into the suspect's background and why investigators believe this is a, quote, "ambush- style attack."

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: And the death toll rises in that blaze in Hong Kong. Three men are now facing manslaughter charges in the deadly fire, and the government is blaming part of the problem on the use of bamboo scaffolding. We'll bring you the details.

And who's a good dog? Well, Soleil wasn't just good, she was the best. We're going to speak to her and her handler.

We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: We start this hour awaiting an update as two West Virginia National Guard members remain in critical condition after being shot just blocks from the White House in downtown Washington, D.C. They've been identified as 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom and 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe. We're told both Guard members have been deployed in D.C. since August. Both also were re-deputized the day before the shooting to continue their mission.

JIMENEZ: We're also learning new information about the alleged gunman. Authorities say he's from Afghanistan. And CIA Director John Ratcliffe just released a statement to CNN saying the suspect was brought to the U.S. due to his, quote, "prior work with the U.S. government, including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar." And a senior U.S. official just told CNN that nothing came up during his vetting process in 2021 and that he was, quote, clean on all checks. I want to go now to CNN's Brian Todd at the shooting scene in D.C.

Brian, what are you seeing?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Omar and Boris, we have some critical new information about how the shooting unfolded. We're getting that information not only from the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, but also from our own processing of the scene, because we finally have access to the scene directly for the first time.

First, to what Jeanine Pirro said about kind of the tick tock of how the shooting unfolded. Both Pirro and other officials have said that the shooter came around a corner. This is the Farragut West metro station here. Came around a corner here, fired at close range at one of the guards members. That guards member fell. Then, the shooter fired while -- while leaning over that guards member.

Then another guards member was struck several times, according to Jeanine Pirro. At that point, a third guards member engaged the shooter with gunfire, struck the shooter. And that's when the shooter went down and then was held down by several people until authorities could subdue him and apprehend him.

And this is kind of how it all unfolded physically. And we can show you some of the remaining evidence of the shooting. In this planter, you see an exit hole of a bullet that came right through here. That's one trajectory. So, the bullets, at least some we know were fired in this direction.

The officials have said that at least one of the guardsmen who was present here tried to take cover behind a bus station shelter. And this is that shelter. You can see where there's fragmented glass there and here where it was fastened. The panel, this glass -- there's a glass panel here, but this glass panel was taken out. Not clear if it was shot out or whether it was just removed in the processing of evidence. This part of a planter here was removed also. And we're going to show you more of that in just a moment as we walk down here past another planter where there is a makeshift memorial to the victim's flowers and an American flag planted. And as I go over here, you can see where that panel was removed of that one planter. There are two bullet holes here, one here and one here.

So, they spent a lot of time processing all of this last night going through all the evidence. The investigation is ongoing. One key thing that we did ask at the news conference this morning, guys, was do you have any more information about a possible motive? They say they're still going through all of that.

We were told that the shooter was not cooperating with police and that he is in a local hospital. And again, as you guys mentioned, both National Guards members are now listed in critical condition. Interestingly enough, Governor Patrick Morrisey of West Virginia, who is here visiting those guard members and their families, did issue a news release not long ago saying they are in, quote, "very critical condition." Guys, back to you.

SANCHEZ: Brian Todd, thank you so much for that update.

CNN Senior National Security Reporter Zach Cohen joins us now.

Zach, take us through what we know about this suspect.

[15:05:02]

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, we're learning new details about the suspect's background, including that he's a 29-year-old Afghan national who appears to have come to the United States because of the work he did with U.S. forces prior to the Taliban's takeover in the U.S. withdrawal. He came to the U.S. in 2021 after being part of an elite Afghan counterterrorism unit that we're told worked directly with the CIA and U.S. forces on the ground in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban. And this was a unit that was at the airport during the chaotic final days of the withdrawal, guarding those gates.

And they got priority status as far as evacuation goes. And that is seems to be the path that this individual took to get to the U.S. It's interesting, though, because to conduct that kind of work with the CIA, I'm told by a senior U.S. official that they -- this individual was vetted at the time. It was around 2011 when he started working with the CIA. And then, he was vetted again before coming to the United States in 2021 by another U.S. intelligence agency and that U.S. intelligence agencies have been doing continuous vetting of Afghans that have been evacuated and brought over the United States since then.

So, one U.S. -- this official saying in terms of vetting, nothing came up. He was clean on all checks. Now, I'm sure that the investigation that's ongoing now will review all of those vetting documents, all of those reports to figure out if anything was missed. But as of now, his background as far as in his partnership with U.S. forces when he was in Afghanistan seems to have no ties or nexus to terrorism as far as agencies were able to figure out at that moment.

JIMENEZ: Yes. Zach Cohen. Appreciate the reporting. Critical right now.

All right. Let's keep this conversation going. As two National Guard members remain hospitalized in critical condition. Attorney General Pam Bondi said today that the death penalty would be on the table for the shooter in the event one of them does not pull through.

I want to bring in Tom Dupree. He's a former deputy assistant attorney general.

Tom, thank you for taking the time. I just want to start with how will prosecutors decide whether to pursue the death penalty? What is that threshold there?

TOM DUPREE, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: Sure. Well, the first point the Attorney General made is that if, God forbid, one or both of the victims, the National Guardsmen don't survive, then I think they will take a very strong look at imposition of the death penalty.

The death penalty is available under federal law for a case like this. I think it would be available. What we have here by all appearances seems to be a premeditated attempt to effectively assassinate members of the United States military. They are currently or the suspect is currently being charged with assault with intent to kill a federal officer. And to the Attorney General's point, if those guardsmen don't survive, my strong hunch is that the Justice Department will seek to upgrade those charges to seek the death penalty. And frankly, I think it would be appropriate in that scenario.

JIMENEZ: And, you know, as you mentioned, the U.S. attorney for D.C. saying the suspect will be charged with three counts of assault with intent to kill while armed in possession of a firearm. The FBI director has talked about pursuing a terrorism investigation as well. Obviously, there's a legal threshold to that once -- once that is met, likely centering around a motive. But Attorney General Pam Bondi says the administration could pursue terrorism charges as well.

How does that differentiate sort of the case or how is that case different that that a prosecutor might bring as opposed to just a typical assault with a deadly weapon or potentially murder?

DUPREE: Sure, bringing a terrorism-based charge will increase the exposure across the board. In other words, the penalties, if you're convicted, are far more significant, generally. I think for a terrorism prosecution, they will need to get evidence that there was some sort of underlying political motive going on here. In other words, terrorism is different than murder and that murder can be committed for a variety of reasons. You know, it could be conducted in course of a robbery. It could be a crime of passion, all sorts of things. Terrorism typically has a political motive.

In other words, you want to instill a sense of terror in the civilian population by your act. That's why I think what we gather and what we learn and what investigators learn over the next few days and weeks will be absolutely critical to whether or not there is, in fact, the basis for terrorism charges. We need to figure out why this person was let in the country initially, whether he was radicalized when he came here, whether he became radicalized while -- while he was in the United States.

And that's why the government right now is looking through his electronic media, his phones, email accounts, text to try to put together a picture, paint a portrait of exactly what prompted him to commit this evil act that he did yesterday.

JIMENEZ: You know, as you know, there -- there's been this ongoing legal battle over whether the original National Guard deployment was legal to begin with. The Trump administration has asked a federal appeals court for an emergency stay of last week's order. But that order was from a federal judge to remove the National Guard from Washington, D.C. And I know President Trump wants to get an additional 500 Guard

members out onto the street in response to this. But legally speaking, do you anticipate major roadblocks there? What are the factors that -- that the President would have to navigate to actually make that want a reality?

[15:10:00]

DUPREE: Right. Well, the first thing is, the administration is going to have to navigate that order that came down from the federal judge the other day, which basically said that the President had exceeded his statutory authority when he deployed the National Guard in Washington, D.C. The federal judge noted that the President had not done so with the approval of local D.C. officials, which, at least in her view, made the deployment unlawful.

But the federal judge also put the brakes on her order. She stated, meaning she said this order is not going to be immediately effective until the administration has a chance to appeal. That's what the administration's next step is. They have to take that order, go up to the Court of Appeals, persuade the Court of Appeals that it was wrong and that the President did act within his legal authority when he deployed the troops.

I think for any thought the administration has about a further deployment, putting additional boots on the ground in Washington, D.C., he is going to need to navigate this litigation and in the administration's view, hopefully get that lower court judgment overturned by the Court of Appeals and get the Court of Appeals to affirm the President's authority to continue with these deployments.

JIMENEZ: Tom Dupree, appreciate you being here. Thanks for the time and insight.

DUPREE: Thank you.

JIMENEZ: Of course. All right. Still to come, a frantic search for survivors underway in Hong Kong, where firefighters have been battling a raging fire in several high-rise buildings. We'll bring you the details coming up.

Plus, the White House Press Secretary has family ties to an ICE arrest. We'll tell you why the mother of Karoline Leavitt's nephew was detained by ICE and put in deportation proceedings.

SANCHEZ: And later, farmers hurt by President Trump's trade war may soon see relief, but many are saying it may be too late. That and much more coming your way on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[15:16:09]

JIMENEZ: That horrific fire at a high-rise apartment complex in Hong Kong we've been following has now killed at least 83 people. SANCHEZ: Fire officials say that some buildings are still smoldering,

but they do expect to have the fires out by the end of tonight. This video shot by an eyewitness shows you how quickly the fire shot up the sides of the building, one expert saying that it surged some 32 stories in about five minutes. You can see how quickly it developed, even just in this video. This was the result.

And today, first responders are still trying to find the many residents who are still missing more than 30 hours after the fire began. There was a miraculous rescue, actually, earlier today when firefighters saved an elderly man from one of the top floors of one of the burning towers. I want to bring in senior news desk reporter Simone McCarthy, who joins us now from Beijing.

So, Simone, this fire investigation has also turned into a criminal probe. Who of the officials arrested and why?

SIMONE MCCARTHY, CNN NEWS DESK REPORTER: That's right. So, three men have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter, with authorities accusing them of gross negligence. Now, we know that they are all affiliated with a construction firm. This housing estate was under construction, and already authorities early on in the early hours of the blaze were raising questions about whether some of those construction materials could have contributed to the speed that the fire was spreading, and, of course, questions regarding whether or not they were up to code, with authorities later saying that they suspect that some of those materials at least were not.

Now, you mentioned earlier just the absolute rapidity of this fire as it went from one corner of this housing estate to engulf at least seven of the eight towers in this massive estate. And so, the way that that fire spread is certainly lending more concern to this, as well as the -- the -- the identification by first responders of these pyrene boards, which essentially were blocking windows, and that's a flammable material. So, that was another indicator authorities said that there was something that they wanted to look into further in terms of launching that criminal probe.

SANCHEZ: And I -- I also wonder about the bamboo scaffolding, which has come under scrutiny following the fire. Talk to us about that.

MCCARTHY: Absolutely. So, you know, I'm sure you saw it in some of the photos. You can see remnants of it at least. This is a ubiquitous feature of Hong Kong construction, where scaffolding made of bamboo will encase buildings, and then it will be covered in a -- in a mesh fabric. And essentially, that's the way that construction gets done in Hong Kong. It's -- it's beloved by many construction workers who see it as more flexible. There have been efforts in the past, and currently from the Hong Kong government in recent months, to switch over to metal scaffolding, and that has been extremely controversial because this is an ancient technique that's used in the city and continues to be used to this day.

But now this is really bringing that -- that conversation forward in terms of pushing forward that shift to the metal -- to the metal scaffolding, as well as pushing forward an investigation into all of the bamboo scaffolding in the city currently.

SANCHEZ: Simone McCarthy live for us in Beijing, thank you so much for that update.

Still ahead, the Department of Homeland Security is defending the detainment of a woman with ties to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. Why officials insist the detainee is a criminal.

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[15:19:04]

SANCHEZ: President Trump's immigration crackdown is now impacting a member of his own administration. The mother of Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt's nephew is now sitting in a detention center facing possible deportation.

SANCHEZ: Yes, the detainee, Bruna Ferreira, is originally from Brazil. She's lived in the U.S., though, for nearly two decades. CNN's Tom Foreman has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Amid the autumn leaves near Boston, a woman goes to pick up her young son, but is picked up herself by ICE agents, who ship her more than 1,500 miles to a detention center in Louisiana, threatening deportation. The rub? This allegedly undocumented immigrant, Bruna Ferreira, had that child with the brother of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, a leading defender of the immigration roundup from the get-go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Our heroic ICE agents continue to prioritize the removal of violent, criminal, illegal aliens in communities across the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:25:04]

FOREMAN (voice over): The White House did say it would focus first on dangerous criminals for deportation, but even before a vast majority of those arrested would be found to have no serious record, Leavitt was weaving a bigger net.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEAVITT: If you are an individual, a foreign national, who illegally enters the United States of America, you are, by definition, a criminal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOREMAN (voice over): Ferreira's story is complicated. Homeland Security insists she overstayed a tourist visa that ran out in 1999. Her sister says Ferreira was brought from Brazil as a child by their parents, and she has done everything in her power to build a stable, honest life, including legally staying in the U.S. under the DACA program. Her lawyer says she was unable to renew her status a few years ago, but is currently in a lawful immigration process for U.S. citizenship. Homeland Security says Ferreira has a previous arrest for battery. Her lawyer says we dispute that she has any criminal record.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD POMERLEAU, ATTORNEY FOR BRUNA FERREIRA She should not be sitting in a jail, you know, hours away from her family and taken from her child's life.

FOREMAN (on camera): Ferreira's attorney says she and Leavitt's brother were once engaged, but live apart and share custody of their child. What's more, Ferreira and the Press Secretary have not spoken for many years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOREMAN (voice over): And Leavitt is not talking publicly about the situation now, or backing away from her previous comments about other immigrants and their families caught in the crackdown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEAVITT: You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOREMAN (voice over): Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: All right, thank you, Tom.

Ahead, more on our coverage of the two National Guard members who were shot and critically wounded just blocks from the White House. We're live from their home state of West Virginia, next.

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