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U.S. To Re-Examine Green Cards Issued To People From 19 Countries; Winter Storm Could Snarl Holiday Travel; UPS Grounds Part Of Fleet Before Holiday Season; Suspect Facing Murder Charge After Guard Member Dies; 6.0-Magnitude Earthquake Rocks Anchorage, Alaska. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired November 28, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": And speaking of heists, a real-life Grinch caught on camera in brought daylight stealing Christmas decorations from a yard in North Miami Beach, Florida. I mean, home security footage obtained by our affiliate, WPLG, shows the thief in the family's front yard -- that's his red sedan there in the upper-right corner. Then he starts to load up their four large inflatable Christmas decorations. The entire family is running outside trying to stop him before he speeds off. Police still searching for the suspect, maybe in all green.

A new hour of "CNN News Central" starts now.

An escalating crackdown, the White House ordering a check on green card holders from 19 countries after the deadly shooting of National Guard members just blocks from the White House. And a winter storm could wreck your post-Thanksgiving travel plans. Heads up people, a powerful system moving across the Rockies today. It's opening the door for a new colder rush of frigid Arctic air that'll send temperatures plummeting for millions this weekend.

And after a catastrophic crash, UPS grounds parts of its fleet at one of the company's busiest times of the year. We'll talk about the impact on the holiday shipping season. We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

We are following some major new developments after the attack on two National Guard members in the nation's Capitol. Prosecutors now say they plan to upgrade charges against the suspect to include first degree murder. Investigators also say the Afghan national ambushed the two victims on Wednesday, calling it a targeted attack. Overnight, police and the military lined the streets to mourn 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom. She died from her injuries yesterday.

The other victim, 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe remains in the hospital. CNN's Brian Todd is in Washington, was on the scene shortly after this shooting happened and has continued to follow this story for us. Brian, just what more are officials saying, not only about upgrading the suspect's charges, but about the latest we know in this case? BRIAND TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. Omar, we do have some new information about the suspect and we can get to that in just a moment. But as you mentioned, upgraded charges, that's really the news of today. Now, officials of the Trump administration have been kind of telegraphing this for the last day and a half, pretty much since the shooting happened, that they would pursue stronger charges. And in fact, they've stated their intent to do that just today.

They've not officially filed them yet, but Jeanine Pirro, the Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, did tell Fox News earlier today that stronger first degree murder charges would be pursued. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEANINE PIRRO, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: There are certainly many more charges to come, but we are upgrading the initial charges of assault to murder in the first degree. And we are hoping that the more information we can get and the more investigation that is going on 24/7 now, around the clock, in Washington, the more we will find out about what actually happened in terms of this individual even being in this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: Now, the suspect, his name is Rahmanullah Lakanwal. He previously faced three counts of assault with intent to kill while armed and one count of possession of a firearm with the intent to commit violence. Now, some of those charges could still hold up. But of course, as you've just heard Jeanine Pirro saying that they will now pursue first degree murder charges against him. And Pam Bondi, the Attorney General, had previously said that if one of the National Guard members would pass away, which of course unfortunately did happen last night, that they would pursue the death penalty against him.

So, we are going to see how that, of course, proceeds legally. We did get some additional information on the suspect today, regarding his work history. Amazon is conferring that a person with his name was an independent contractor with them for about one month this summer, working for Amazon's Flex delivery service. We did hear before from Jeanine Pirro and other officials that Rahmanullah Lakanwal lived in Bellingham, Washington with his wife, and they believe five children. That he drove across the country with the intent to come here and commit some kind of act.

They have executed search warrants at his home in Bellingham, Washington. They have interviewed people there. They have also executed warrants at a place in San Diego. They've been very vague about that but we did press them on that. Who was in San Diego? Did he have relations there? Did he have accomplices there? They're not answering those questions, but warrants have been issued and executed in Bellingham, Washington and in San Diego, California.

So, we are still told that the suspect has not been cooperating with authorities. It's a little unclear what his condition is in a local hospital. We do have a slight update on the condition of Andrew Wolfe, the 24-year-old other National Guardsman who was struck in this attack.

[14:05:00]

According to a spokesperson for the Joint Task Force D.C. which oversees the National Guard, Wolfe is still in critical condition and they're not aware at the moment of any pending surgeries or procedures, but they're trying to nail that down for us to see if they can give us any more information about additional procedures that he will undergo. In the meantime, we can tell you -- show you, Omar, that this makeshift memorial for the victims here has been growing in the last day and a half, kind of gradually, a lot of flowers being placed here, a heart shaped wreath, American flags. There's a vase with flowers in it over there. So people really coming by and paying homage to the two victims here.

And you can still see some bullet holes and some other evidence of a shooting here, kind of reminding us of just the harrowing moments of that afternoon on Wednesday. And we talked a lot of local business managers here. They're still trying to process what happened. They told us more accounts of kind of the panic that ensued in the moments after the shooting. They had to lock down their businesses. Really just, it's been a very traumatic experience for a lot of business owners in this area. Omar?

JIMENEZ: Yeah. How things can change in just a matter of moments. Brian Todd, appreciate the reporting.

Now, as we continue to learn new details about the shooting, the Trump administration is using the tragedy to justify new anti-immigration policies. In a Truth Social post, the president announced his intention to permanently paused migration from all third world countries. He also said he plans to denaturalize migrants who undermine domestic tranquility, to use his words. At the same time, U.S. officials announce what they're calling a rigorous re-examination of all green cards issued to people from 19 countries of concern, as they're calling them, which includes Afghanistan.

Joining us now, the former Head of Homeland Security and Intelligence for Washington, D.C., Donell Harvin. He's also a member of the faculty at Georgetown University Emergency and Disaster Management. Thank you for taking the time. Look, while the exact motive is still being investigated and as the president seems to be focusing his attention on Afghans entering this country, look, I remember covering a man who drove across the country for a targeted attempted attack on the NFL. Now, in that case, it turned out he had CTE, but still not a foreign national. But that's a dynamic that doesn't seem like closing off migration will fix. Just tell me about that dynamic because that's something we, unfortunately, have seen pretty often in this country.

DONELL HARVIN, FORMER HEAD OF HOMELAND SECURITY & INTELLIGENCE, WASHINGTON, D.C.: Yeah, Omar. And at the bottom line is that this has nothing to do with the safety and security of the American population. This administration has looked for excuses even before this incident to re-evaluate, deport people who are here legally, green card holders, or even de-naturalize people. All this tragic incident has done in the last 72 hours is give the administration really a green light and excuse to go forward and enact policies that they really have wanted to do from a long, long time quite honestly. And it speaks really to this kind of -- remember the eating the cats and the eating the dogs thing, the murderers and rapists. It's the dehumanization of particular individuals from particular countries and cultures that we're dealing with right now. And quite frankly, it is concerning. And it has nothing to do with security.

JIMENEZ: You know, this has put a big spotlight on the vetting process as this suspect was someone who came in the wake of Operation Allies Welcome and had undergone several vetting, processes and procedures as we understand from a senior U.S. official. He was clean on all checks. But can you just lay out what the limitations in any vetting process might be, no matter how many times you might do it?

HARVIN: Yeah, I, I'm going to make it real simple for a lot of folks. Your driver's license process is a vetting process where you take an exam and you get in the car with an instructor and they say you can drive. It talks about whether you're a good driver now, whether you're a threat now. It doesn't project whether you're going to be a good driver in the future. And subsequently, people go and crash their car. The vetting processes was a rigorous process, and they shouldn't conflate the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan with the vetting process. And that's what the president did yesterday.

He showed this video of Afghan refugees pile into a transport plane, and people think that that plane went non-stop from Kabul Airport to JFK. That's not how it happened. That airplane went to another country. Those people were let off, they were vetted. Some people went to a second country and they weren't allowed into this country until they were fully, fully vetted like we would do any other refugees. And so, I don't know what the enhanced process looks like. I don't know with some of these words that the president used, they're not really founded in legal stature, whether they love this country enough or patriotic enough, and we'll have to see how that unfolds. But it doesn't portend well for any refugees, not only from Afghanistan, but clearly from other countries.

[14:10:00]

JIMENEZ: And as that senior U.S. official put it to CNN, this is someone who would've gone through continuous annual vetting as well, to use your metaphor, annual driver's license test, essentially, to see if you can drive safely. But, let's put that vetting process to the side, because even if it was clean as we understand to this point, what sort of factors would investigators be looking at now in terms of how someone may have been driven over time to do something like this?

HARVIN: Well, now they have to look at a whole lot of other things, not just what normal criminality would occur. And the vetting process, I know you wanted to leave it aside, but it's important now. The continuous vetting process doesn't really -- it's not -- it doesn't create some type of surveillance state for these refugees. They kind of go to -- come into the country, welcome to our country, and they kind of go about their business like any other refugees. What the continuous vetting process does is it raises red flags for law enforcement and the federal government if they've been in trouble, if they've had any negative interaction with law enforcement and gotten into any trouble. That's the process. We need to know whether this person was properly integrated. There were reports early on that Afghan refugees are not properly integrating into our economy, into our society. That's not unique to Afghan refugees. That happens with many migrant populations.

We need to know what their job opportunities were like and whether they were radicalized. Obviously, conventionally you want to think whether they were radicalized online. FBI will go and look at their online footprint and see if they were communicating or consuming any content that was radicalization type of content. But there's a lot of work that needs to be done to get to the bottom line of whether they were radicalized online or what their motives were.

JIMENEZ: Work currently being done as we speak. Donell Harvin, appreciate the time and perspective. Thanks for being here.

HARVIN: Great, thanks, Omar.

JIMENEZ: All right. Still to come, a powerful cross-country storm is expected to wreak havoc as people try to get home from the Thanksgiving holiday. We are talking up to a foot of snow in parts of the Midwest. We'll bring you the details, coming up. Plus, one of Ukrainian President Zelenskyy's top advisers just resigned, just hours after his home was raided in a widening anti-corruption probe. And lost for decades, now up for auction, we will tell you why this Faberge egg could fetch tens of millions of dollars. That and much more coming up on "CNN News Central."

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[14:16:51]

JIMENEZ: Happening now, millions of holiday travelers are facing treacherous weather conditions as they make their way home this week. This is what the roads looked like on Thanksgiving Day in Erie, Pennsylvania. No thank you. And now, a powerful winter storm is moving across the country, threatening multiple states with heavy snow and frigid temperatures. I want to bring in CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar tracking the system for us. So Allison, which areas should be on high alert, especially if you're headed back home for the Thanksgiving holiday?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I would say pretty much anywhere you see color on this map is some type of --

JIMENEZ: OK, it's a lot.

CHINCHAR: -- of winter weather alert. Yes, it is. It stretches from the Northern Rockies all the way over into the Northeast. Now, it's going to gradually make its way east over the next 48 hours. But we still have the first system that is yet to be wrapped up across portions of the Great Lakes. So you can see a lot of that lake effect snow bands still kind of working their way through several states right now, thanks to that low pressure system off to the north. This should finally start to come to an end through the overnight hours tonight. But that means there's not much of a break in between as the next system is already starting to slide off to the east. You'll start to see it fill in a little bit more as it kind of really takes shape and strengthens overnight tonight, so that by the time we get to Saturday morning, you can see all this purple color, that indicates the very heavy snow coming down for states like Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, all of these areas you see here.

On the southern side, it's mostly going to be rain, but you could also have some strong to severe thunderstorms mixed into that section. Once we get to Saturday evening, now you're talking places like Chicago, Detroit, even into Cleveland that are really going to be the focal points of a lot of that really heavy snow. And then by Sunday morning, now we start to see more of that winter weather spread into areas of the Northeast as well as the Mid-Atlantic. And wind is also going to be a factor.

You'll notice a lot of those winds in the Midwest start to tick up 30, 40, 50 miles per hour, especially Saturday. And that continues through the day Sunday, just spreading a little bit more into the Great Lakes region. The thing is about that wind is it's going to take all that snow that fell, blow it all around and that brings the visibility back down in some spots to basically zero, making it even more difficult to drive on the roads than it was even with just the snow that was there. And we are talking a lot of snow in some of these areas.

The target point is really going to be that color pink you see here on the map where we could get an extra eight to 12 inches of snow. And I say extra because keep in mind, some of these places got snow from the last system that just moved through a few days ago. So this eight to 12 is going to be on top of what they've already had. Now down to the south, we also talked about the component here. This is where we have the best chance for those strong to severe thunderstorms on Saturday. Houston, Shreveport, looking at the potential for damaging winds, some large hail, but we also can't rule out the potential idea for an isolated tornado as well.

JIMENEZ: All right. Allison Chinchar, appreciate you keeping us updated, a lot to get in there. Thank you.

Still to come for us, a fleet of UPS planes grounded after a deadly crash, will not be back in the air in time to help with this year's holiday deliveries. We'll tell you what that means for you. And caught on camera, the moment a 6.0-magnitude earthquake rocks a coffee shop in Anchorage, Alaska, knocking things off the shelves. We'll bring you details, coming up.

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[14:24:36]

JIMENEZ: UPS reportedly does not expect a fleet of its planes to be back in service during the peak holiday delivery season after being grounded following a deadly crash in Kentucky. Now, the Associated Press reports, an internal UPS memo says it may be several months before its fleet of McDonald Douglas, MD-11s return to service because of inspections and possible repairs.

[14:25:00]

That's for perspective, about 9 percent of the big parcel company's air fleet. Photos released by the NTSB show the cargo plane's left engine detaching and igniting in a fireball during takeoff back on November 4th. All three pilots on board and 11 people on the ground were killed. Joining me now is CNN Transportation Analyst, Mary Schiavo. She's a former Inspector General for the Department of Transportation as well. Mary, I just want to start with grounding the fleet seems like a pretty significant step to take. Is the grounding necessary in a situation like this?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN TRANSPORTATION ANALYST: Yes. In a situation like this, it is, and it's of course not just UPS' fleets, but other operators like FedEx and Western Global, the cargo carriers. And it is because this plane, according to the 30-day NTSB report, it's called a preliminary report, found that the pylon, the thing that holds the engine to the wing, generically speaking, had fatigue cracks which meant that over time, that metal cracked and like the waves in the ocean, those cracks built up and became bigger and bigger. And so, that's something that could happen to any of the planes in anybody's fleet if it's used over a significant period of time.

And so, because there was a similar, not the same aircraft, but a similar one years ago, the grounding was necessary until they can be completely inspected, which is probably going to be a very significant operation, including taking the engine off the wing. It's a big deal.

JIMENEZ: So the FAA says Boeing, which took over manufacturing of the MD-11 in the late-'90s will be the one to develop the procedures for inspections and any corrective actions. What does that actually look like in practice?

SCHIAVO: Well, what that looks like is any manufacturer, again, in conjunction with the Federal Aviation Administration, which must approve these procedures, has procedures for maintenance, has procedures for inspection, and those have to be approved by the FAA. And those approved procedures then must be followed by the operators. So, Boeing will have to work as they have taken over from McDonald Douglas years ago, of course. So they're the, if you will, the owner of this aircraft model and the instructions to maintain and inspect it, they'll work up a plan for this aircraft.

Now, there are already protocols in place. They're called aging aircraft protocols. So they know how to do this, but they just have to do it. It takes a while. And then the FAA will have to approve these procedures and then all operators must do it to maintain the airworthiness of the airplane and what that means to keep that plane legal to fly.

JIMENEZ: And you know, while there's that safety aspect of this process that needs to happen again in conjunction with the FAA, people from the outside, I guess from a consumer perspective, might be wondering, well, does this now impact UPS operations for example. What impact do you expect this to have on their operational capacity?

SCHIAVO: Well, it can -- it will likely impact UPS, but it could also impact the other cargo carriers, FedEx, Western Global, those are the big ones that have this plane. And so, UPS has put into place kind of a four-pronged program. They are turning to their ground transporters, to their ground shipments to try to take up some of the slack. They have reached out and they've purchased positioning or space, if you will, on passenger aircraft. But that's more difficult because, on passenger planes, you have additional security checks and additional requirements for parcels that go on passenger planes.

They look to lease aircraft. Now, you can lease the plane or you can lease the plane with the pilot. That's called a wet lease. That's more difficult to integrate that into your fleet. And then also, they said there's possibility of delay, not only of your parcels, but they might delay as legal, to the extent it is legal, maintenance, so their other planes can, which would've gone in for routine maintenance, can continue to fly. So that's what they're going to try to do to notice (ph), so the consumers won't even notice it, so they won't have a lapse in their deliveries.

JIMENEZ: Mary Schiavo, appreciate the time and perspective. Thanks for being here.

SCHIAVO: Thank you.

JIMENEZ: All right. Still to come for us, new fallout after the deadly attack in the nation's Capitol. Why some Afghans in America are now living in fear. That coming up.

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