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U.S. Weather Forecast; Holiday Shopping Amid Inflation; This Week Has Seen at Least 11 People Killed in Mass Shootings; Biden Going to Make an Effort to Eliminate Assault Weapons; Tuesday, The City of Chesapeake Will Hold a Vigil for Walmart Shooting Victims; Walmart Witnesses Describes Terrifying Encounter with Gunman; Club Q's Annual Thanksgiving Meal Relocated; Two Club Q Members Killed in the Massacre; Cruise Passenger Survives Going Overboard Into the Gulf of Mexico; Trump Could Face a Battery Charge; FIFA World Cup 2022; Growing Excitement for England's Match Against United States; After Suffering an Ankle Injury, Neymar Sobs His Way Off the Field; Ronaldo, First Man to Score in Five World Cups; Russia's War on Ukraine; City Near Nuclear Plants Takes Artillery Fire; Ukraine and Russia Exchange 100 POWs; Holding Iran accountable; China COVID cases surging to record numbers. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired November 25, 2022 - 04:00   ET

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

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[04:00:00]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Hello, and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Max Foster in London. Bianca off for the day. Just ahead on "CNN Newsroom."

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DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Friday afternoon, first wave. If you have a flight Friday afternoon, we're going to have in the major cities in the east.

JOE BIDEN, U.S PRESIDENT: I'm going to try to get rid of assault weapons.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: During the lame duck (ph)?

BIDEN: I'm into it. Whenever, I got to make that assessment as I get in and start counting the vote.

DON RIDDELL, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT FOR WORLD SPORT: Box office clash between the USA and England. And since it is a Thanksgiving holiday in America, this game is projected to break records for a soccer broadcast.

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ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is "CNN Newsroom with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo".

GENOVESE: Well, it is Friday, November the 25th, 9:00 a.m. here in London. 4:00 a.m. on the U.S. east coast, 1:00 a.m. on the west coast. And millions of Americans could have a tough time making their way back home during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Those in the Southern Plains and Gulf Coasts are facing stormy weather with a possible threat of flooding, and that rain is expected to push east as well. And in part of the southwest, there could be snow as well. A bit of everything, Derrick Van Dam?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Max. I think this picture -- this paints a picture here of what we could really expect over the eastern two thirds of the country. And we've got over 50 million Americans traveling this weekend. So, this weather means business, especially if you're on the roads or if you're flying in the skies as well.

Can't forget about the Black Friday specials that are going on across many of the stores and outlets throughout the United States right now. So, people need to add a little bit of an extra time to get to their destinations. Maybe they're going to take advantage of some of those savings at the storms.

But getting out of the nitty-gritty in terms of the weather today, let's focus in on the snow over at Southeastern New Mexico, Western Texas, this is where we have winter storm warnings, winter weather advisories, up to a foot of snow possible. Then, into the Houston metro area, the potential for flash flooding exists today. You can see the flood watch in existence across that particular region. Radar lighting up like a Christmas tree, even though we're still in the Thanksgiving season, right? Rain across the southwest.

And then we look towards the southwest, this is another area of low pressure. So, two distinct different storm systems. And these are actually going to work together to create a very soggy end to the holiday weekend for the Gulf as well as the east coast.

So, let's take you forward in time. Here's the first storm system that brings rain to the southeast this morning. And then these one fires up and brings another round of rain to an already saturated Houston area, that means the potential for flash flooding does exist and that flash flood exists -- threat will stretch into the southern portion of the Gulf Coast, including New Orleans for the day on Saturday.

This system marches up the east coast, many people trying to get home on Sunday, of course, this long holiday weekend, so many people traveling at the airports. You can actually follow the forecast weather delays that we're anticipating.

Here's a look at Saturday, Dallas, Houston, Memphis, you can see the moderate delays. But look what's coming at you along the east coast, the major metropolitans anyway from Dallas into Laguardia, JFK, northward into Boston, these are areas that we anticipate moderate flight delays just because of the sheer volume of people traveling, but also you and into that the potential for heavy rainfall moving to the eastern seaboard. So, plenty of travel headaches coming up. Max.

FOSTER: Yes, absolutely, Derek. Thank you. As Derek pointed out, the weather this weekend will be more active than the past few days for millions of Americans who traveled by plane to visit friends and relatives over the Thanksgiving holiday. Bad weather could make the return trip a little bumpy as CNN's Pete Muntean has more on that.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: The Thanksgiving rush is in a brief lull after it gone to a very busy start at airports across the country. The TSA screened 2.46 million people nationwide. That is just shy of a new pandemic-era air travel record. In fact, only six percent off of what we saw back in 2019 before the pandemic.

So far, things have been pretty smooth for passengers, especially considering the fact that the weather has been very good and that airlines cancelled about 50,000 flights in total over the summertime. Cancellations on Wednesday, only about 60 nationwide. On Tuesday, United Airlines says, it cancelled zero flights, networkwide, that includes mainline and regional flights.

[04:05:00]

American Airlines says it operated the biggest schedule of any U.S. airline in an operated 99.9 percent of all of its flights. The industry went through a hiring blitz to try and avoid the meltdowns of the summer again. I want you to listen not to the industry's top lobbyists who said, they hope things would be smooth.

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NICK CALIO, CEO, AIRLINES FOR AMERICA: We're feeling good, you know. It's a great thing. It's been three years, everybody want to get with their family and friends. And we've got the airlines who have gone above and beyond to try to get ready for that. They've adjusted their schedules. They've been on hiring binges. Putting people on the right places that we hope will be at the right time.

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MUNTEAN: The Thanksgiving rush will roar back all at once on Sunday when everybody begins comings home. The TSA anticipated screening 2.5 million people nationwide. Pete Muntean, CNN, Reagan National Airport.

GENOVESE: The day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday, that is today, it's usually the biggest shopping day of the year in the U.S. However, an uninvited guest could spoil the season for many, and that is inflation. To prepare, some big retailers, such as Target, Kohl's, and Amazon ran early sales Black Friday deals, cutting prices on toys. Another goods buy as much by 50 percent. CNN's Alison Kosik reports on the deals that are out there.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: A lot of the stores that used to be open at midnight on Thanksgiving, they're just not anymore. So, you're not really going to find that. You'll have to wait until Black Friday itself on Friday when stores I've been seeing open around 5:00 or 6:00 a.m., a more respectable hour. I think what we were going to find this year, still, are the discounts. I think this year's buzzword really is value as, you know, consumers are trying to contend with higher prices for just about everything. Inflation, so you're really going to see consumers really try to find -- you know, they're going to be more conservative about what they buy but they're also going to find those deep discounts. You know, they're trying to stretch the dollars more and still try to capture the magic of the holiday season, even though their dollars can certainly buy less.

Retailers are looking to bring in as many sales as possible as well, not just to offload the excess inventory they had since the COVID surge, but because there is such uncertainty where the economy is going to be next year. So, they want to bring in those sales as early as possible. And despite this persistent inflation, we are seeing consumers continue to have a strong appetite to go ahead and buy this holiday shopping season.

We've got some data, the National Retail Federation says that, just this week -- this long weekend, rather, from Friday to Monday we're going to see 166 million people get out there and shop, both online and in store. And you're looking at figures there, sales could reach up to $942 billion before November and December, the shopping season actually ends.

FOSTER: Well, Americans are also being forced to cope with the epidemic of gun violence this holiday season. At least 11 people have been killed this week in shootings at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia and a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The gun violence archive reports of total of 608 mass shootings in the U.S. so far this year.

President Biden says he plans to use his final weeks with Democrats leading both the House and the Senate to pass an assault weapons ban. CNN White House Correspondent Arlette Saenz has been traveling with the president.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Biden spent the Thanksgiving holiday here in Nantucket, Massachusetts with his family. And the president and first lady spent at least part of the day on the phone. The couple called into the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and later called service members stationed around the globe.

The White House saying that they called units from each of the branches of the military. And you can see in this photo released by the White House, President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden there, making those phone calls. And the president wrote, "Jill and I were honored to speak with women and men of our armed forces this afternoon. You gave up your seat at the Thanksgiving table to defend us and we owe you a debt of gratitude. You're the best of America."

Now, the president and first lady also stopped by a local firehouse to thank first responders here. And it was there where he took some questions from reporters and talked about assault weapons.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOE BIDEN, U.S PRESIDENT: The idea, the idea we still allow semiautomatic weapons to be purchased is sick. Just sick. It has no, no social redeeming value. Zero. None. Not a single solitary rational for it except profit for the gun manufacturer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now, the president says he would like to see an assault weapons ban enacted by Congress. And he plans to try to look for the votes to do that. But the reality, at this moment, is that those votes simply don't exist. And the path to getting an assault weapons ban put in place will get much harder as divided government is about to start in the new year. Arlette Saenz, CNN, traveling with the president in Nantucket, Massachusetts.

FOSTER: The city of Chesapeake, Virginia is planning a vigil on Tuesday for victims of a mass shooting at Walmart there.

[04:10:00]

CNN's Dianne Gallagher has the latest on the investigation and what we're learning from witnesses.

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DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Harrowing stories of survival after another mass shooting.

JESSIE WILCZEWSKI, WALMART EMPLOYEE: The only thing that made it real was the vibrations hitting your chest and the ringing from the gun going off. And it just kept going and going and going.

GALLAGHER (voiceover): Jessie Wilczewski, a new employee at the Chesapeake, Virginia Walmart hid under a table until she came face-to- face with the shooter.

WILCZEWSKI: He just had the gun up to my forehead and -- it's just really hard. He told me to go home.

GALLAGHER (voiceover): The city of Chesapeake identifying the shooter as 31-year-old Andre Bing, Walmart confirms he was an overnight team lead. According to employees, Bing entered the break room just as employees were clocking in to start their shifts.

KEVIN C. HARPER, WALMART SHOOTING WITNESS: Just left out the bank room -- come in there, started capping people up in there. Started shooting them.

GALLAGHER (voiceover): Investigators were seen searching the alleged shooter's home and police say the gunman was armed with several magazines and a pistol. Briana Tyler witnessed the shooting and says there were around 15 to 20 people in the break room when the shooter entered.

BRIANA TYLER, WALMART SHOOTING WITNESS: He didn't say a word. He didn't point at anyone. He didn't look at anyone specific. He just had a blank stare on his face. And he just -- literally just looked around the room and just shot. And there were people just dropping to the floor.

GALLAGHER (voiceover): Six employees were shot and killed, including a 16-year-old. Police believe the gunman died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is a body of a person they just brought out in a shopping cart.

GALLAGHER (voiceover): According to police, two employees were found dead in the break room, another victim was found in the front of the store, and three victims were taken to local hospitals but later died. Six others were injured. 24-year-old survivor, Jalen Jones, was in the break room and shot multiple times, including in his back, his mother told CNN affiliate WTKR.

KIMBERLY SHUPE, SURVIVOR JALEN JONES' MOTHER: He was on a ventilator. He wasn't able to breathe on his own from the gunshot wound he sustained. But now he's talking. He's just glad to be alive.

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GALLAGHER (on camera): Now, I'm speaking with survivors, employees, former employees about the shooter, almost all of them say that he exhibited odd and sometimes threatening behavior. Saying that he relished in having his power in his position. That he was sometimes mean and condescending, aloof or a loner. But every one of those people say that in no way, shape or form, did they ever think it would come to this. Dianne Gallagher, CNN. Back to you.

FOSTER: Now to Colorado Springs, at a community trying to heal after a deadly mass shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub less than a week ago. Club Q had a long running tradition of holding a Thanksgiving feast at the venue. But obviously, couldn't do that after the attacks. Thanks to some helpers in the community, they were able to move the event to a local church.

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JOSEPH SHELTON, PRESIDENT, UNITED COURT OF THE PIKES PEAK EMPIRE: So, many people are coming together because they care about this community. They care about what's coming out of this community. They're not looking at it as black, white, gay, straight. They are looking at it as, this is my community.

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FOSTER: Two people weren't present for the meal. CNN's Nick Watt has details.

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Club Q holds a Thanksgiving lunch every year. This year they couldn't hold it in the club because that's a crime scene but they did find a table in town to gather around. But missing, of course, two key members of their family, Derrick Rump and Daniel Aston who were bartenders at the club, and apparently the glue that really held together the small LGBTQ community here in Colorado Springs.

How many clubs -- nightclubs do you know that hold Thanksgiving lunches? Not many. I mean, I think that speaks to the place that Club Q had, has in the LGBTQ community here. The suspect, of course, spent Thanksgiving in the county jail. Next appearance, December 6th is scheduled, we'll see if that moves.

And meantime, investigators, prosecutors really trying to gather the evidence they need to charge those biased related crimes. It looks pretty obvious if you walk into the only gay club in town and open fire that this is motivated by hate and targeted hate but evidence is required.

Now, lawyers say that the suspect now identifies as non-binary -- identifies as non-binary. The judge did not use they/them pronouns during the hearing. And we spoke to a neighbor and good friend of the suspect, Xavier Krouse (ph), he told us he never heard the suspect mention anything about being non-binary. Back to you.

[04:15:00]

FOSTER: Thanks to nick. Now, a crew ship passenger has the U.S. Coast Guard to thank for being alive after he went overboard into the Gulf of Mexico. The man was last seen in a bar on Wednesday on the Carnival Valor. The ship was heading from New Orleans to Cozumel, Mexico.

Yesterday, around noon yesterday, his sister reported him missing that's when the search began and the U.S. Coast Guard was called in with the launch of several aviation and boat rescue crews. The Coast Guard found him, airlifted him out of the water in response -- responsive condition and flew him to New Orleans where medical personnel took over. Passengers say, they noticed a commotion but weren't told what was happening until hours later.

Ahead on "CNN Newsroom", we'll look at a New York law that could give victims a chance to confront their abusers decades later and includes a civil case against former U.S. President Donald Trump.

Plus, a warning from Vladimir Putin as European leaders try to steer the countries away from Russian energy. Why some are calling their plan a joke.

And in the coming hours, England will try to do what has never been done before, beat the U.S. during the World Cup. Amanda.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Two days, England are keen to forget, 1950 and 2010. And while Gregg Berhalter's U.S. are looking for a threepeat, England's akin to book their place in the last 16 with a game to spare. I'll be here live from Doha with all the latest in just a couple of minutes. Don't go anywhere.

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[04:20:00] FOSTER: All 16 teams have had their opening matches at the World Cup. Now, we're ready for a huge start to matchday -- to matchday two, actually, in Qatar. You're looking at live pictures now from Qatar outside the stadium where the day kicks off in about 40 minutes time with Wales versus Iran. The host, Qatar, look to avoid elimination against Senegal.

We have Netherlands to face Ecuador, and the night cap is a match everyone's been waiting for since the draw came out, tonight, it's England versus the USA. England beat out Iran, 6-2 in the opener. So, can they keep that momentum going or will a young and hunger American side give them a battle? World Sports, Amanda Davies joins us live from Qatari capital, Doha.

So, what are we going to be calling it today, football or soccer, Amanda?

DAVIES: Football, Max. I think it's a day where I have to apologize profusely for letting my professional neutrality slip, I'm afraid. But, yes -- I mean, it's pretty ominous for the U.S. that after that thumping 6-2 win, the England balls (ph) Gareth Southgate called on his side to do better in this next match. Talking of the importance of qualifying for the next round as quickly as possible. And they know they can do that with a win against the U.S. tonight.

But as you mentioned, this is a really young, dynamic, exciting U.S. side. Many of whom play their club football in England, the likes of Christian Pulisic, Tyler Adams, Antonee Robinson. And their goal scorer against Wales, Timothy Weah, said that they're relishing that title as underdogs.

Their coach, Gregg Berhalter, has said -- you know, now they have got that huge emotional moment out of the way of all of this squad by one player making their World Cup debut. They can focus on the job in hand. They joined their families on Tuesday night. They had a barbecue and apparently don't need any extra motivation to get over that disappointment of dropping the points against Wales because they know this is their moment, really, to shine on the world stage. And they're looking for the threepeat as so many of their predecessors have done.

1950 the U.S. caused a major shock beating England at the World Cup. 2010 they caused an embarrassment to England, earning a draw which saw the U.S. finish above England in their group. And this team, very much, hoping that they can do something, get something out of this game to help their progress into the next round.

FOSTER: I had a chance to watch Brazil yesterday. Spectacular form, aren't they, but there are some concerns about injuries.

DAVIES: Yes, just like watching Brazil, certainly, no disappointment there. But this is a tournament that has not been kind to, you know, one of their biggest stars, Neymar. And it was heartbreaking, wasn't it, to see him sat on the bench in tears having limped off after 80 minutes. We saw the pre-gruesome pictures of that huge swollen ankle that he's suffering with. This is the same ankle that saw him ruled out for 2019 Cup -- missed a couple of games in 2021, struggling with an injury as well. The coach, Tite, has tried to play down the emotion of it, saying he's confident that Neymar will play some more part in this World Cup. But the medics from their side have said, we'll know a little bit more in the next 24 to 48 hours.

I mean, the good news from a Brazilian standpoint is they have so much talent in their squad. And last night we saw a real sign of intent and a rival on the World Cup stage of another one of their strikers that spurs forward, Richarlison, he scored twice, the second war (ph) sensational. Absolutely spectacular. Talking about potentially one of the goals of the tournament, that's nine goals in seven Brazil appearances for them. And they did really very little to play down all that talk. The expectation of them as being the pretournament favorites.

I can't not say a world on Ronaldo as well though. He certainly put Portugal's case forward and made another little bit of history for himself. The first man to score in five straight World Cups, dating back to 2006. He says, putting a full stop on that chapter with Manchester United, now very much focusing on the World Cup.

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FOSTER: Amanda, it's going to be an exciting day. Thank you very much indeed.

Ukrainian cities take Russian artillery fire, just as the war enters its 10th month, including a city just across from Europe's largest nuclear plant. That's just ahead.

Plus, the U.N. is taking action to investigate human rights abuses in Iran. But with protests growing, one diplomat says the situation is already a full-fledged crisis.

And despite its zero-COVID policy, China finds itself in another surge of cases not seen since the early days of the pandemic. Live from Beijing, coming up for you.

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FOSTER: Now, welcome back to "CNN Newsroom" I'm Max Foster. To those just joining us, let me bring you up to date with our top stories this hour.

Millions of American are facing a chilly and possible rainy holiday weekend as travelers try to make their way back home. Rain and storms in the south could produce isolated flooding and cause trouble with that travel.

Plus, after multiple shootings in the U.S. President Joe Biden is vowing to take action on assault weapons. He said he plans to use the time remaining with the Democratic House and Senate to get an assault weapons ban passed before Republicans take control of the House in January. We'll have more on both of these stories next hour on "Early Start."

Now, it's been nine months, and counting, since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine. And the day after the somber mark, two cities are taking heavy fire from Russian artillery. Ukraine says dozens of shells and rockets struck a city across the river from the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant. Other areas in the south also came under attack this morning but there are no reports of casualties.

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