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Two National Guard Members in Critical Condition After D.C. Shooting; Trump Orders 500 More Troops to D.C. After Wednesday Shooting; Agriculture Secretary: Some Aid Coming for Farmers Hit By Tariffs; Belgian Sheepdog "Soleil" Wins National Dog Show Top Title. Aired 3:30-4 pm ET

Aired November 27, 2025 - 15:30   ET

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

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[15:31:25]

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: Some West Virginia residents say they're rattled by Wednesday's shooting attack on two National Guard members from that state. 20-year-old Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom and 24- year-old Air Force Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe were both critically wounded and remain hospitalized after undergoing surgery.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Some community members CNN spoke to say they do not approve of West Virginia Guard troops being deployed at the nation's capital.

Let's get the perspective of some of those neighbors. With CNN's Gabe Cohen, who's live in West Virginia for us.

And Gabe, you actually just spoke with Andrew Wolfe's father. What did he share with you?

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Boris, Omar, his message was simple. He said, "please pray for my son." He said, "Andrew is a fighter, a great son, and a great person. The 24-year-old Staff Sergeant, as far as we know, still in critical condition, although his father did not want to provide an update on his health this afternoon.

I can tell you here in Martinsburg, this is where Andrew is from. This is his unit, the 167th Airlift Wing. Behind me down there, that's the base. We're just about 80 miles or so from Washington, D.C., an hour and a half drive from where this shooting unfolded. But this community, it's a different world. This is a small rural community, very tight knit.

And speaking with Andrew's neighbors today, they were understandably emotional, including the young man who shares a duplex with him. Here's a little bit of what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL LANGONE, MARTINSBURG RESIDENT: You get the shirt off, it's back to somebody. Just really good guy, we always looked out for each other. Best neighbor you could ask for, really. It really caught us off guard, really close to home.

TINA GESFORD, MARTINSBURG RESIDENT: A very sweet kid, hard worker. Like I said, sending best wishes to him and his family. Hopefully, you know, things work out good for him. He's a hard worker, good kid. Like I said, goes to work every day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: And we're also learning more this afternoon about 20-year-old U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom. Sarah Beckstrom is from about four hours from here, Webster Springs, West Virginia. And yet, even talking to people in this community, there is a sense of family today, especially on Thanksgiving.

So, many people here praying for these two National Guard members, guys waiting for updates on their condition. But it has been a very difficult day here across this state.

SANCHEZ: Gabe Cohen, thank you so much for the reporting.

Let's bring in Jonathan Wackrow, a former Secret Service agent and CNN Law Enforcement Analyst. Jonathan, thanks so much for being with us.

So, since yesterday, when we first learned that all of this was unfolding, we've gotten some new details. Notably, the suspect apparently drove from his home all the way across the country in Washington State to the nation's capital. I mean, that requires a certain level of planning, right? What does that tell you about his potential motive?

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, when I think about, you know, this from a behavioral standpoint, you know, cross- country travel is a major behavioral threat indicator, which really suggests planning in goal-oriented intent. And if you take that and then couple it with some of the other attack dynamics that we now know, and I can run through those quickly, which is -- you know, the attack style, this ambush where the attacker came from behind and in a blind spot for the National Guardsmen, closing distance quickly without them noticing. Again, intentionality here, extending his arm deliberately with the firearm at close range, ensuring that there is, you know, a clear and accurate shot.

[15:35:07]

And then the final thing is this selection of the weapon, this revolver. You know, we don't see a lot of revolvers being used lately, but this .357 round that was used has a high -- the muzzle velocity has high energy. And at close range, especially an ambush, it delivers this devastating trauma. And what's interesting here is that there doesn't seem to be an exit plan for this attacker. He didn't have multiple rounds.

This isn't like a typical mass shooting that we see. This was a limited round revolver. And so at the end of the day, this was about proximity and precision rather than anything else.

So, these attack dynamics, coupled with the pre-attack behavior of traveling across country really paints a devastating picture, but one with intentionality and premeditated intent.

JIMENEZ: You know, Jonathan, the suspect previously worked in Afghanistan with the U.S. government, including the CIA. And FBI Director Patel says the suspect had connections with U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

And look, there was a whole vetting process that went through even just to work with the CIA and the U.S. military. But I wonder, just based on what we know right now, how are you assessing that dynamic in terms of who this person was in relation to the United States and the U.S. military?

WACKROW: Yeah, I mean, again, there's a lot to unpack there and look at from when the suspect arrived in 2021, the entire vetting process of when they first came, and then, you know, subsequent applications for asylum and then his ultimate approval for asylum. What did that look like? What was the rigor of review that was undertaken?

The fact that he worked in the military, worked with U.S. special forces in the intelligence community, shows a level of, you know, high competency in terms of understanding attack dynamics, both from the aggressor and a defender standpoint. So, again, launching this attack the way that he did makes a lot of sense that he would have the trade craft and knowledge to launch that attack.

But by the fact that this individual came here in 21 under -- you know, during the Biden administration, you know, that's a data point, but it doesn't actually speak to motive.

What I'm looking at and what investigators are looking at keenly is what has happened since he's been here? What type of behavioral anomalies? Did he exhibit any type of animus towards the U.S. military since he got here? Is he -- did he turn and start to becoming anti- government? Is he affiliated with any type of ideology or any type of movement? Has he exhibited any type of behavioral anomalies such as violent acts, any place -- you know, workplace violence issues?

Those are the things again, coupled with reviewing all of the digital trace evidence that we have from social media and electronic devices, a link analysis of all of his connections, that is going to lead us to the motive. And I think that using those investigative tools right now actually is -- you know, putting the investigators in a position of advantage, mindful that the suspect is not cooperating.

SANCHEZ: More broadly, as a result of yesterday's attack, we've seen President Trump call for an expansion of the number of National Guard troops in the nation's capital, adding 500 to the already 2,000 or so that are here. Obviously there's a court case that has to play out and be adjudicated, but I wonder what impact you think those 500 might have on this crime crackdown?

WACKROW: Well, listen, anytime you have an acute shock moment like this that where you have in the middle of down -- any city in the United States, but here in downtown D.C., where you have someone shot and killed in broad daylight and then being a member of our uniformed services, sends a shockwave throughout the -- throughout the area. So, an increased level of deterrence with uniform presence is appropriate.

Now, is it appropriate for National Guard members to take that role or uniformed law enforcement? I would defer to uniformed law enforcement over the service members right now, because they're the ones that are being targeted. The more that you add, you have the potential. If there is a coordinated attack against our members of the armed service here domestically, then they become a greater target at this moment in time.

So, I defer back to law enforcement to surge rather than increasing the number of military service men and women on the ground in D.C. right now.

SANCHEZ: Jonathan Wackrow, I appreciate the expertise and happy Thanksgiving.

WACKROW: Happy Thanksgiving to you both.

SANCHEZ: So, the Trump administration says it is preparing to unveil as soon as next week, an aid package for American farmers.

[15:40:02]

We'll talk about the impact that might have with a soybean farmer when we come back.

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SANCHEZ: Farmers hit hard by Trump's tariffs may be on the verge of getting some aid from the White House. Agriculture Secretary, Brooke Rollins, promised to, quote, "bridge package" starting in January as the administration works on a larger long-term relief plan. Soybean farmers in particular have been suffering because China is their biggest customer.

And of course, China has been until recently boycotting American soybeans for several months to retaliate against Trump's tariffs. They did agree to begin buying again after President Trump met with China's Xi Jinping last month.

[15:45:01]

Joining us now live from Arkansas is soybean farmer, Scott Brown.

Scott, thanks so much for being with us on this Thanksgiving. We hope you're having a good one. I remember when we spoke in October, you were hoping to break even this year. Is that still turning out to be the case? How are things going?

SCOTT BROWN, ARKANSAS SOYBEAN FARMER: Well, I'm going to finish up tomorrow. I lacked 17 acres and we had flat on the combine and it rained for about three days. Looks like it'll be pretty close to break even. Hopefully, that's -- that's what I'll say.

SANCHEZ: And -- and have you gotten signals that China has picked up on soybean purchases once again? Has that been in any way a help?

BROWN: Well, we've got a bump in the market because China bought, they're about 15 percent of what they claimed they would buy, the 12 million. But the biggest problem with that is, most of the farmers don't have retention of the beans. I mean, most everybody sold their beans that had bills to pay, you got debts, my beans were contracted, I didn't get any of the bump in the market.

So, that's kind of academic to me. Hopefully, the bump in the market's good for next year, but who knows what kind of weather we've got, who knows what kind of input prices we've got. I mean, it's got to hold its own to help us. But the grain companies are really the only ones that made the bump in the market right now because they own the bulk of the soybeans, not the farmer.

SANCHEZ: That's an important point to point out. And so, I wonder what your reaction is to hearing about this bridge plan, these payments that could start coming in early January.

BROWN: Well, I appreciate all the help and I appreciate the bridge, but in honesty, $12 billion sounds like a lot to most Americans, but $12 billion scattered among every farmer and rancher in the United States is absolutely positively very little money. I mean, if you farm 10 or 20,000 acres, it's substantial money, OK, it's real money. If you farm 800 acres like I do a rent ground, it's not a lot of money.

It helps, we need it, I'm not complaining about it. But you're going to help the soybean acres and you've got 90 some million acres of corn that was planted at $180 an acre loss. You've got millions of acres of cotton that was planted at $300 an acre loss.

SANCHEZ: Wow.

BROWN: And millions of acres of rice was planted at $200 an acre loss. I mean, this is a $40 or $50 billion reality problem and that's a bad deal for everybody.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, I wonder how concerned you are about planning for next year, given that this bridge is really just a patch before they roll out some form of a longer term, larger plan for farmers.

BROWN: Well, we've looked at the numbers. I mean, the University of Arkansas budgets are already out. They can tell you what it is. The only thing we can do is plant soybeans again. It's the only thing that has a chance of making a profit. Everybody said, well, you know, I know I've read lots of the comments on lots of interviews and it's why didn't you plant something else? Why didn't you plant something else?

ADRIANA DIAZ: Not that it is --

BROWN: We planted what had the least opportunity to lose money. You can't plant corn that's going to lose $280 an acre at a 215-bushel average and a $4 price. I mean, you just can't do that. You can't convince the bank that that'll work.

SANCHEZ: Yeah. Hey, Scott, thank you so much for joining us on Thanksgiving. I am impressed by your poise and your ability to grab that device as it was falling and not miss a beat and keep going with your thought.

Thank you so much, Scott.

BROWN: Yeah, go blue.

SANCHEZ: I had to throw that in. I'm sure Phil Mattingly who's an Ohio State fan is pumped hearing that from you. Thanks so much, Scott.

BROWN: You too.

SANCHEZ: Still ahead, you're going to meet the top dog. Of course, Soleil, the winner of this year's National Dog Show is going to join us live in just moments. Her thoughts when we come back.

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JIMENEZ: It is a Thanksgiving tradition in many households across America, tuning in to watch the National Horse Dog Show, of course. With nearly 2,000 dogs competing, representing 201 breeds, the competition was rough.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, rough indeed. This was the moment that Soleil, the Belgian sheepdog, won the herding competition before advancing to the Best in Show group of seven and eventually taking home the top prize.

We're joined now by Daniel Martin, professional handler of Soleil and winner of Best in Show's at the National Dog Show presented by Purina. Also, we're joined by David Frei, co-host of the show.

Gentlemen, thank you both for joining us and Soleil as well this Thanksgiving. Daniel, first to you, tell us about Soleil and what it takes to win. I heard one of the judges say about her that she was on today. What exactly does that mean?

DANIEL MARTIN, PROFESSIONAL HANDLER FOR NATIONAL DOG SHOW WINNER "SOLEIL": Well, first of all, thank you very much. But as far as that, no, it's just -- she just -- she was feeding off the energy. She loved the crowd. She loved -- she loved the adrenaline. And -- and when she feels that and she feels the passion behind everybody, it gets her excited. And the more cheering and the more elevated everything is, the more she feels confident. I mean, she loves it. And like I said, she just -- she loves the crowd. So, it just -- it felt great.

JIMENEZ: First of all, to see -- I don't know if you can see the screen. We've got Soleil, some of the competition looks, and then Soleil is just so calmly just resting on your leg there. You got to -- you got to be able to do both at this point. Clearly a homebody a little bit there. David, I just want to ask you, look, people watch from home. They're

used to seeing sort of the way that these events unfold on TV, but you've seen sort of the behind the scenes of how this works and the training that goes into this.

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Just give us a sense for how much work goes into the training and showing of each of these dogs.

DAVID FREI, CO-HOST, NATIONAL DOG SHOW ON NBC: Well, you're absolutely right. I mean, you see the dog on screen for two or three or five minutes maybe, but it's a lifetime of work and training and grooming and whatever else goes into it that -- that -- that people like Daniel bring to the ring for their dogs. The dog, of course, is what it's all about, but for the dog to be able to show what it's got for the judge to see, it takes a guy like Daniel to make it happen.

JIMENEZ: And Daniel, just tell me a little bit about that process. Obviously, we're talking to you this year, but has it truly been years leading up to this moment? I know you won, Soleil also won the Herding Group. Like, what does that entail? What gets you to that moment?

MARTIN: Well, absolutely. I mean, yeah, as far as a handler's perspective, I mean, yeah, to get to this point as a handler, it takes a very long time. I mean, my wife and I have been very lucky and fortunate with great dogs and clients that have provided us with phenomenally just great dogs.

And as far as -- yeah -- yeah, no, I'm sorry.

JIMENEZ: No, go ahead.

MARTIN: I apologize. I apologize. No, it just -- it takes a lot of dedication. And then when, like I said, when we -- when we were approached with her owners, it just -- it takes a lot of focus and a lot of time, but she's done this before, but not necessarily with us. So, like she's kind of leading us, but we're still learning.

I mean, we've only been together for about a year now and we're still -- we're still fine tuning those things. But the more we do this, the more we learn about each other and we go further and we get lucky and we win. But as long as we're having fun and we're having a great time and, yeah.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, it's an immense effort. And it takes a lot of collaboration and obviously it requires a lot of emotion to coordinate and to bring your best on the biggest stage.

And to that point, David, I wonder, is it really anything like the film Best in Show? Is there a competitive --

JIMENEZ: That'd be the number one question, right?

SANCHEZ: Yeah, is there really a competitive drive between some of these folks? FREI: We get that all the time.

SANCHEZ: Is there -- is there trash talking? Take us behind the scenes with the cameras don't see and don't hear.

FREI: Let's remember, first of all, that the movie Best in Show was a satire by great people like Christopher Guest and all of his folks. We were involved at the Tribeca Film Festival with a salute to them to their 25th anniversary this year because that movie was the inspiration for us to start this dog show.

John Miller, who is the head of NBC Sports Programming at the time, saw the movie back in 2002 and said, I know what I'm going to do with that two hours on Thanksgiving day that we've been trying to fill and it's not going to be anymore with, it's a wonderful life.

So, we jumped in there and the first week, we were the, the first year we did it, we were the highest rated show on NBC that week. And it's only gotten better since then. We have 25 million viewers watch our show over the past many years and it's great fun because people can relate to their own dogs.

I think they watch it to be entertained. They watch it for, to pick the dogs that they want. They watch it to find their dog in there. I call it the alma mater factor. If they have a Belgian sheepdog at home, you know they were sitting in front of the TV rooting for the Belgian sheepdog and that's what makes it fun for all of us on this great family holiday to boot.

JIMENEZ: Or you're saying to that Belgian sheepdog, hey, why aren't you up there? What are you doing right now?

SANCHEZ: No, no, no come on.

FREI: No. We don't put that kind of pressure on them.

JIMENEZ: Yeah.

FREI: Dogs are great -- great in the family and it doesn't matter. The real best in show dog is the dog that's sitting next to you at home --

JIMENEZ: Yeah, yeah.

FREI: -- when you're watching the show. So, that's what we want people to know and think about.

JIMENEZ: Well, and I was just going to say, Daniel, obviously like Soleil's been so good just sitting there while you've been doing this interview. And I just wonder, what is next? Now when you win, do you come back, you try to repeat, when does that process start? What is -- what is a week or two weeks from now like?

MARTIN: Well, I mean, we get back in it. We get back in the game. Actually, in a week from now, it's probably the AKC National Dog Show is coming up down in Orlando. So, it's one of the biggest dog shows of the year. So, we're going to

-- we're going to enjoy this moment and have a great Thanksgiving. But once we get back home to North Carolina on Monday, it's back to work. So --

SANCHEZ: I love that focus.

JIMENEZ: It's like a post-game press conference.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, yeah.

JIMENEZ: Dude just brought home the championship.

SANCHEZ: It's like Bill Belichick saying, we're on to Cincinnati. We're focused.

JIMENEZ: Yeah, exactly.

SANCHEZ: Before we go, David, one more question for you. And I've wondered this for a long time. We talked about it during the commercial break. Is there ever a chance you're going to let mutts compete? Because right now it seems like it's pretty selective. Can you democratize the process and open it up to all dogs?

[16:00:04]

FREI: Well, it's not up to us. It's up to the AKC. The AKC decides what breeds are going to be let in and be eligible for confirmation shows like the Kennel Club of Philadelphia, which is the national dog show.

And yeah, there are still a lot of breeds. We had one new breed this year, but it's not really a new breed. It's been around for hundreds of years, the Danish Swedish farm dog.

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

FREI: And -- and it just finally, they get to the point in this country that there's enough of them. They have a geographic distribution. They have a parent club of people that are watching out for them. So, that's the way it goes. That's the way it works.

SANCHEZ: You've got us cheering on the mutts. David, Daniel, and Soleil, of course, thank you so much.

FREI: It's OK. We love them.

JIMENEZ: We love them all.

SANCHEZ: We do, we do.

FREI: We want all dogs to have great homes and great owners.

JIMENEZ: All right.

SANCHEZ: Coming up -- coming up, the CNN documentary, "The Heist: The Louvre's Stolen Crown Jewels" starts right now. Have a happy Thanksgiving and Happy Birthday, Omar.

JIMENEZ: Happy Thanksgiving.

SANCHEZ: Thanks for joining us.

JIMENEZ: Thank you. See you.

SANCHEZ: Take care, bye.