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Shoppers Hit Malls on Black Friday; D.C. Shooting Suspect Facing Murder Charges. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired November 28, 2025 - 13:00   ET

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

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OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: The president ramps up his immigration crackdown after the deadly attack on two National Guard members near the White House. He's now vowing to block migrants from Third World countries, as he says, from coming to the U.S.

A new warning on measles from the World Health Organization, as cases spike. One official says progress made over decades is in jeopardy of being lost.

And millions of shoppers are looking for the best deals on this Black Friday. You're probably one of them. But has inflation changed the game for both buyers and sellers?

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

But we're going to start with those new developments in the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C. Prosecutors say they will upgrade the initial charges against the suspect to first-degree murder.

Officials say the Afghan national drove from Washington state and ambushed the service members on Wednesday in what's described as a targeted attack; 20-year-old guard member Sarah Beckstrom died from her injuries yesterday. The other victim, 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe, still in critical condition.

CNN's Brian Todd and Gabe Cohen have been tracking the latest for us.

So, Brian, I'm going to start with you. What are we learning?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Omar.

Still, authorities are saying that they are planning to upgrade the charges. Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said they are now planning to upgrade the charges to murder in the first degree that the suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, will face. He had already faced -- previously faced three counts of assault with

intent to kill while armed, and one count of possession of a firearm with intent to commit violence. Now, those charges, at least a couple of those charges, still could hold regarding him, but we do know now that Jeanine Pirro has stated the intent to upgrade the charges to murder in the first degree.

For the past day-and-a-half, we have been told that the suspect has not been cooperating with authorities. It's really kind of unclear what condition the suspect is in. I tried to ask Jeffery -- one of the police chiefs who was leaving a gathering of reporters yesterday, about whether he's responsive, whether he is cooperating, and the chief said, no, that he's not, and then just kind of left it at that.

So we are going to try to get some more information as to whether he's speaking at all about what happened. Now, we do have an update as well on the condition of Andrew Wolfe. Jeanine Pirro said earlier today that he's still in critical condition. The governor said he's in very serious condition.

Governor Patrick Morrisey has visited with the families here in Washington. A spokesperson for the Joint Task Force D.C., which oversees the National Guard, told us a short time ago that, yes, he is still in critical condition, Andrew Wolfe, but the spokesperson also said they are not aware at the moment of any pending surgeries or procedures, but they're working to nail that down.

So we're going to try to get some more information later as to whether Andrew Wolfe will be in for additional surgeries or other procedures -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: Yes. All right, Brian, Todd, appreciate that update.

I want to bring in CNN's Gabe Cohen, who's in West Virginia for us, where both victims are from.

And, Gabe, as I understand, you have been speaking to people who knew Sarah Beckstrom, for example. What have they been telling you?

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look, Omar, people here are gutted. This is Webster Springs. This is a small town where Sarah Beckstrom grew up.

In fact, as we round the corner here, you're going to see a custard stand. This is where she worked in high school. And I was just inside of here talking to residents of this town, so many of whom know Sarah, were sharing warm memories of her, and saying not only is it so brutal to lose her in particular, but in a small town like this, any loss is just devastating.

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And then, as you mentioned, I have spoken with her former boyfriend, who she dated for six years. They had just split up a month ago, but he said he now is struggling, feeling like something is missing. He talked about Sarah being somebody who was warm and helped him, made him lunch every day, came running home from work, would give him a hug when he walked in the door.

Here's a little bit of what he told me about Sarah deploying to D.C. and the conversations they had about the mission that eventually led to Wednesday.

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ADAM CARR, FORMER BOYFRIEND OF SARAH BECKSTROM: Hated it, absolutely hated it. She was crying before she left. She dreaded it. She did not want to go. I didn't figure IT would ever go this way, of course. And I kind of encouraged her. I was like, it could be a great opportunity. There's nothing around here.

And it's a big, open thing. It'd be a change of life, change of heart for a while. It's a little getaway. And she warmed up to it some. Everybody was telling her that. They're like, it's an awesome opportunity. You're going to be part of something massive. It's going to go down in history.

And so she ended up going, really didn't want to. And the more she was there, the more she warmed up to it. She made more friends, was going out seeing things. As they were patrolling, she was seeing monuments, enjoying it.

COHEN: It was obviously a controversial thing. Did she believe in the mission of being there? Did she think it was important? Or did she think they didn't belong there, the West Virginia National Guard?

CARR: It was mixed. She got deputized in there and they gave them no rights to do anything. She was like: "People spit towards us, cuss at us, throw things at us, and we can't do nothing."

She couldn't detain nobody. She couldn't stop them from doing wrong.

It was like a -- they told them to call the cops. But it was also the supporters that made her extremely happy there, because you would have people coming up there like: "I was in -- oh, my God, thank you so much for being here. You all are really just a good piece of here."

COHEN: Because she ended up volunteering to stay?

CARR: Mm-hmm.

COHEN: Why is that?

CARR: She was just really liking it. The roles completely flipped. She didn't want to be there. Not a doubt in her mind she didn't want to be there. And then, once she was there, she kind of realized it wasn't too bad and she was having fun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: And this community held a vigil for Sarah last night, another planned tonight.

And of course, across the state, Omar, Andrew Wolfe's community near Martinsburg, West Virginia, also praying for his recovery, so many people across this state really struggling right now.

JIMENEZ: Yes, so much change over the course of this Thanksgiving week.

Gabe Cohen, I appreciate that reporting, Brian Todd as well.

Now, in the wake of this shooting, the Trump administration is considering new measures to intensify its immigration crackdown. President Trump says he's working to permanently pause migration from all Third World countries. He's also promising to -- quote -- "remove anyone who is not a net asset to the United States" or is a -- quote -- "public charge, security risk, or noncompatible with Western civilization."

These are his words. And then there's this. He also vows to denaturalize migrants, in other words, foreign-born U.S. citizens, who -- quote -- "undermine domestic tranquility." U.S. officials say they're planning a rigorous re-examination of all green cards issued to people from the 19 countries they label as of concern, which includes Afghanistan.

The administration will also review all asylum cases approved under former President Biden, though some of that review was taking place before this shooting.

I want to bring in CNN legal and national security analyst Carrie Cordero now.

So, Carrie, I just want to start with those plans to reexamine green card -- reexamine green cards, period. How could something like that actually work when you consider the scale of people who have green cards in this country?

CARRIE CORDERO, CNN LEGAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Right.

So, in the wake of this terrible attack, I think it's reasonable that the administration would take a look at least some subset of individuals, particularly those who came in the 2021 and since then evacuation from Afghanistan.

What it sounds like the president is announcing and what the administration has been talking about in the last day or so is a much more broad scope. And it's how -- my questions pertain to how they are going to actually implement that.

When we're talking about permanent resident aliens, which is what you're asking about, those are individuals who have gone through a legal process, have legal status in the United States, and as a result are afforded some level of due process and legal protections.

And so that process to revoke the permanent resident alien status of individuals would really be on a case-by-case basis and would get bogged down in a significant amount of litigation. I think that type of review is different than if they are reviewing, for example, the group of individuals that came out of Afghanistan or reviewing other asylum -- individuals who have been granted asylum. [13:10:12]

So it's a very broad scope that they have announced so far.

JIMENEZ: And one of the things -- obviously, this is a completely different set of circumstances, but, obviously, a lot of controversy around the so-called Muslim ban under Trump's first term, where he issued a travel ban to several Muslim-majority nations.

And there was a lot of question around legality there. And I guess, in this case, does the president have the authority to permanently pause, in his words, even though I don't know -- permanent and pause kind of cancel each other out...

CORDERO: Right.

JIMENEZ: ... but, in his words, permanently pause migration from any nation he sees fit? Is that part of his authority?

CORDERO: Well, so one thing I'm wondering is whether we're going to see another executive order. I don't know, and I will be curious if our reporting indicates that in the coming days.

Is he going to take what are these public statements and issue that in a more formal executive order, which, similar to the orders that he issued at the beginning of his first term, again, then would go into litigation, assuming that they were challenged in some way?

So I think -- my advice -- I'm a former counterterror -- old-school counterterrorism attorney in the post-9/11 era. And my advice to the president and his team would be that they really approach this particular issue in the wake of this attack from a counterterrorism perspective.

And that includes going back and looking at how they can assess the individuals that came from Afghanistan, given that this individual came from that subset of individuals. It happened very fast. The extent of the vetting was unclear. They also -- with respect to the 19 countries, they're going to have to look at whether there's particular countries that individuals from those pose a national security threat.

I will give you an example. The president has increased his military action against Venezuelan boats. He is talking about, potentially, I have seen, I think, just in the last day or so, increasing the scope of that military activity.

Back in 2003, when the United States was going to invade Iraq, the FBI actually conducted interviews of Iraqis here in the United States as sort of a preventative measure to see if, in connection with a military activity, there is some concern of individuals who are here in the U.S.

I think the administration needs to look at this attack from the perspective of a counterterrorism attack. Their recent statements indicate that they are looking at it more from their big picture issues against immigration. JIMENEZ: Yes, yes.

And, at this point, it does seem that the FBI is investigating this attack as terrorism, but we still don't quite have the exact motive here, which I'm sure will tie into that whole purpose.

But I just wanted to ask you,was -- we heard some of the president. I mean, you're an attorney. And some of the president's words there, denaturalizing migrants who undermine domestic tranquility, it's one thing to say -- to use terms like that in a public space or on social media, but is there a legal equivalent there? I mean, how do you go about denaturalizing someone who is -- quote -- "noncompatible with Western civilization"?

CORDERO: Right, so there's the public messaging piece...

JIMENEZ: Right.

CORDERO: ... which has a political communications aspect to it, and then there's the actual implementation of how they would restrict immigration or strip individuals who have been granted some type of status based on their identified country -- the administration's identified countries of concern.

And that's where the details of how they are actually going to implement this, whether or not the issue an executive order that lays out how this process will take place.

And they're going to -- from a legal perspective, they're going to have to separate, again, between looking at individuals who have already been granted permanent resident alien status,which, in the limited examples that they have tried to do this in the past year or so, those individual cases continue in litigation on a case-by-case basis.

So, if they're looking at a large group of people, it is simply unsustainable to be able to devote the resources to looking at those cases on an individual basis. Asylum, again, different, because it's a lower status of legal protection here in the United States.

JIMENEZ: Carrie, Carrie Cordero, appreciate you being here. Legal insight always appreciated in a moment like this.

All right, still to come: Happy Black Friday to those who celebrate, but retailers, they are rolling out the deals. You know that. But are they really the steals we think they are? We're going to ask someone who knows the answer to that question.

Plus, the death toll in the Hong Kong fire rises, and hundreds remain missing, as officials reveal the fire alarms in all eight high-rises were -- quote -- "not functional."

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That new detail, why it's important and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIMENEZ: The buying has begun this Black Friday. Early this morning, the sun was down, but the shoppers were out lining up at major stores throughout the nation, including at the Mall of America near Minneapolis.

In fact, some shoppers there camped out overnight in freezing temperatures to be among the first at the door.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was here 3:00 yesterday, so...

QUESTION: And why? Why did you come at 3:00 p.m. yesterday?

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because I love the experience. I like being on the concrete. I don't know why. It's a -- it's a good concrete. It's one of the best in the state.

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JIMENEZ: Come on, man. Too cold to be doing all that.

The National Retail Federation forecasts that Black Friday will kick off a banner shopping season, with 187 million shoppers expected today through Cyber Monday.

Joining me now is Rick Newman, business columnist and publisher of The Pinpoint Press.

Good to see you.

So how much are retailers banking on big Black Friday turnout this year?

RICK NEWMAN, BUSINESS COLUMNIST AND PUBLISHER, THE PINPOINT PRESS: It's going to be pretty good.

I'm with you, Omar. I'd rather stay home, where it's warm, and maybe do some online shopping. People are going to turn out. I mean, the...

JIMENEZ: Especially out there. You saw how he was dressed. That's too cold.

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NEWMAN: Yes. I mean, the forecast is,we're probably going to top $1 trillion in total holiday shopping this year.

JIMENEZ: Wow.

NEWMAN: That'd be the first time we go over a trillion dollars, probably up around 4 percent from last year. So that's pretty good. And that's good for the retailers and the companies that are selling

all this stuff we're going to buy. But I think the story of the economy right now is, it's a bifurcated economy. If you're lucky enough to own stocks and own a home, you're part of the upper slant of that K, that K-shaped economy we have been hearing about.

You're going to be comfortable spending a fair amount of money this year. But for people who don't own stocks, don't own a home, they're getting worried about job security, you're on the lower slant of that K. And I think those people are going to be pinching pennies this holiday season.

And it's not just the cost of gift items, but the cost of the necessities that you also have to buy. I think people are going to see pretty high heating bills this winter because natural gas prices are going up. A new car costs more than $50,000. We know about all the pressure in the grocery aisles.

And rents are going up by more than incomes for a lot of people too. So people have some money to spend, but it's going to be tough on family budgets for a lot of people.

JIMENEZ: Yes, I mean, pressure on one aspect of the wallet affects the entire wallet, especially when it comes to buying what I assume are people trying to get deals on a Black Friday or Cyber Monday.

I think, for people who even saw some of the images that we just showed, but who think of Black Friday, it kind of feels like Black Friday isn't quite as big a deal for consumers in terms of beating down the door and waiting to get in. But is that really the case? I mean, what do the numbers actually show, especially in terms of Cyber Monday and, of course, being able to get quick deliveries through places like Amazon and others?

NEWMAN: Yes, I mean, for sure we have seen migration away from retail, physical retail,over to online. I mean, people still buy more stuff in stores than they do online.

You just saw a couple of people there saying they like the experience of, I guess, waiting in line and waiting for that moment when the door opens and you rush in the store and start seeing what's on sale. But people are getting smarter about online.

An interesting new thing we have got now is A.I., artificial intelligence shopping aids. So something like one-quarter of people shopping this holiday season are going to be using A.I. to some extent. I guess that's going to help them do comparison shopping.

And, of course, it's easier to do that if you're sitting at a computer with a few different Web sites open than trying to do it in the aisle of a store on your phone. So, I mean, holiday shopping is now all of the above.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

NEWMAN: I mean, online shopping certainly has not displaced retail. People like to go in the store. I guess, if you want to wear Christmas lights on your head, you want to do that out in a store, where people can see you and not at home, where nobody can see you.

So I guess people still have a festive attitude, and shopping is part of it.

JIMENEZ: And as we really officially make our way towards the holidays now, and assuming some people are using these deals to buy gifts for others, holiday spending not necessarily measured in -- or is measured, I should say, in dollars, not necessarily items.

What do you anticipate on that front? Will Americans be able to afford, I guess, fewer presents under the Christmas tree, for example, this year? Just what are you anticipating with this holiday season?

NEWMAN: That's a good question, because, when we talk about total holiday spending, it is not adjusted for inflation. So, the forecast -- if the forecast this year is we're going to see maybe 4 percent -- a 4 percent increase in spending, we have 3 percent inflation, so maybe that's a real increase of just 1 percent or so, which is not that much of an increase.

And this other factor that we haven't talked about, but is the Trump tariffs, and people certainly have in mind -- I mean, nobody is sort of going on an item-by-item basis and saying, oh, the Trump tariffs have pushed up costs here by 4 percent or 10 percent, but it's on people's minds.

They have heard so much about the Trump tariffs. You see in surveys that people are anticipating worse inflation in the future. Sometimes, they think inflation is going to be worse than it actually turns out to be. So I think shoppers have inflation on the brain, partly because of the Trump tariffs and partly because we have just been through four years...

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JIMENEZ: Yes.

NEWMAN: ... where everybody saw prices go up by more than incomes. And most of those prices never came back down.

So, like, we know from all kinds of data that people are really paying attention to prices more than they normally do. And that is going to continue to happen throughout the holiday season. So you're really going to have people focus like lasers on getting deals.

JIMENEZ: And, I mean, just the prices, you look from before COVID to now, just in that five or so time year -- year time period, the price change has been pretty extraordinary.

Rick Newman, I got to leave the conversation there. Thanks for being here.

NEWMAN: See you.

JIMENEZ: All right.

Coming up next: Eight more people are arrested over the deadly Hong Kong apartment fire. We will tell you why coming up.

Plus: After months of attacking boats in the Caribbean, President Trump says the U.S. military will begin hitting targets inside Venezuela -- quote -- "very soon." We will discuss.

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