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Arizona Awaits Trump to Fulfil Border Wall Promise; Chinese Exporters Brace for Higher U.S. Tariffs; Pacific Northwest Bracing for Another Life-Threatening Storm. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired November 22, 2024 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: They fired Mel Phillips, and then they brought him back to the company about six months later.
And so now, because the state of Maryland has changed its laws about when you can bring child abuse lawsuits, there are anonymous former Ring Boys who are suing the McMahons, both of them, as well as the company, claiming that there was negligence there, that they and allowed this person, Mel Phillips, to continue to exist within the WWE.
Now, there are a lot of things left to happen in this court case. It is something that was filed just in October. But we already have a statement from the attorney for Linda McMahon. This is Laura Brevetti.
She said in a statement that the civil lawsuit is based upon 30 plus year old allegations and filled with scurrilous lies, exaggerations and misrepresentations regarding Linda McMahon, and that she will vigorously defend against this baseless lawsuit and without doubt, ultimately succeed.
Vince McMahon's lawyer has also put out a statement previously saying these allegations are false.
But it's raising questions at a moment when Linda McMahon is being picked by Donald Trump to be the secretary of the Department of Education, a department that has quite a lot to do with the welfare of children in the United States.
Katelyn Polantz, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: A caravan of more than 1,500 migrants is currently en route to the U.S. border. The group is comprised of people from the Caribbean as well as Central and South America. They departed from Chiapas State, Mexico on Wednesday, according to a law enforcement spokesperson.
The travelers hope to reach the U.S. border before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January. One woman explained why she and so many others are deterred by Trump's proposed crackdown on immigration, including mass deportations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NATALIA SOLANO, ECUADORIAN MIGRANT (through translator): With these jails, Donald Trump wants to scare us. He wants us to go back to our country, but we will not go back. We will continue to the United States. For our children's future, all the sacrifice we do is for them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Mexico says it has a contingency plan should U.S. President- elect Trump decide to fulfill one of his campaign promises. On Thursday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced that she -- or her country would receive deported Mexicans if Trump were to start mass deportations. But Sheinbaum said Mexico is open to negotiations, adding that when the time is right and appropriate, she and her team will have conversations with their U.S. counterparts.
Meanwhile, the incoming Trump administration is eyeing an aggressive strategy towards Latin America, specifically Mexico. It would stem the flow of migrants to the U.S., sources close to the transition team say.
Now when it comes to the extent of Trump's southern border strategy, everything is on the table, said one source. That includes the possibility of stiff consequences for countries that don't comply. David Culver has more from one impacted country in the border state of Arizona.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More than 30 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to go run that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely not. I just had him at 85, so we're going to talk.
CULVER (voice-over): Arizona deputies close in on a suspected migrant smuggler. This SUV going 40 miles over the speed limit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get back in the car. Now!
CULVER (voice-over): After a quick search though, no migrants found. They let the driver go with a reckless driving ticket and move on to the next, running down cars like this all day. It's part of the stepped up search efforts for cartel backed drivers. On average, deputies tell us they bust two to three vehicles a day carrying migrants or drugs here.
MARK DANNELS, COCHISE COUNTY SHERIFF: This is a really hot spot. So the cars that come down from Phoenix, take the three-hour journey, pull on this highway, pull into a spot in here, hit the horn and they'll pop out of the brush. CULVER (voice-over): Sheriff Mark Dannels tells most smugglers are U.S. citizens paid by Mexican cartels.
DANNELS: We've got to get back engaged into what the cartel's all about. A ruthless, murderous gang. And number two, they have no respect for this country.
JIM CHILTON, OWNER, CHILTON RANCH: They need to secure the border at the border.
CULVER (voice-over): Jim and Sue Chilton tell me the cartels use their ranch as a crossing ground.
J. CHILTON: The idea that people coming through here, through my ranch, are coming into poison our people is very, very objectionable to me.
SUE CHILTON, OWNER, CHILTON RANCH: You can see they're all carrying backpacks. Many of them are identical.
CULVER (voice-over): They show me about two hours of surveillance footage collected from just five cameras on their 50,000 acres in Aravaca.
CULVER: They all look like they're wearing fatigues, camouflage. I mean, it almost looks like a military operation.
J. CHILTON: Over 3,000 people coming to my ranch in the last three and a half, four years are in the country. We have no idea who they are.
[04:35:00]
They're what's called gotaways.
CULVER (voice-over): The Chilton say the surging gotaways started when President Biden took office and halted construction of the border wall. Sue points to the half mile gap on their ranch that she calls the door.
S. CHILTON: Obviously, if you leave your door standing open in your house, where do people come in?
CULVER: The open --
S. CHILTON: The door, right? OK.
J. CHILTON: Federal government's warning us that there are bad people coming through here.
CULVER (voice-over): Jim says he's come face to face with them.
J. CHILTON: About 20 guys ran across the road and up that hill to going northwest and the guy in front appeared to have a AK-47.
CULVER: Do you carry any protection while you're out here?
J. CHILTON: I always have a weapon, David. Here's my pistol. You have a weapon, people go the other way.
CULVER (voice-over): We soon learn Jim isn't the only one armed in these parts.
TIM FOLEY, ARIZONA BORDER RECON: You name it, I've been called it.
CULVER (voice-over): Some call Tim Foley a vigilante. He says his self-funded group, Arizona Border Recon, is here to deter the cartels.
FOLEY: It's a game of chess or whack a mole.
CULVER: Who's winning?
FOLEY: Them.
CULVER (voice-over): Volunteers from across the U.S. join Foley in his unofficial and at times controversial, patrol effort.
CULVER: And so why do it?
FOLEY: I love my country, and that's why I said I'll be here until I feel it's secure.
CULVER: When you look at where the border wall ends, what goes through your mind?
J. CHILTON: Why did it end? Why wasn't it finished? But I'll guarantee you that President Trump is going to finish it and secure the border.
CULVER (voice-over): Pulling up to where the wall ends, Jim warns us the cartel's been battling it out to control this corridor.
CULVER: Would you hear gunfire?
J. CHILTON: I've heard gunfire, yes.
CULVER: Like a war zone?
J. CHILTON: A war going on over there. I don't hang around, I get out of here.
CULVER: We see some movement up on the ridge, which according to Jim, is very likely one of those cartel scouts because they have lookouts all over.
They'd likely be watching us because we're at, as the Chiltons say, the doorway into the U.S. And that also happens to be their money- making round.
CULVER (voice-over): About 50 miles east of the Chiltons' ranch, Nogales businessman Jaime Chamberlain knows the economic importance of the border. His produce import company relies on the port of entry here.
JAIME CHAMBERLAIN, PRESIDENT, CHAMBERLAIN DISTRIBUTING, INC.: Any time that you take away those resources, whether it's personnel or whether it's funding for Border Patrol, you are weakening those ports of entry.
CULVER (voice-over): But he believes the economy and national security are about to improve.
CHAMBERLAIN: I think the new administration has made it clear that they're going to go after criminals first.
CULVER: Are you nervous with President Trump coming in? Do you have uneasiness about it?
RAFAEL, MEXICAN IMMIGRANT: Yes. It's different, you know. Trump is different, so. But I respect him too.
CULVER (voice-over): Along the border wall, we meet Rafael, celebrating his 34th birthday with his mom and son visiting from the other side. A decade after crossing illegally, he is still undocumented, working on a construction site with a team of about 10.
CULVER: How many of them would you say are undocumented?
RAFAEL: Like 10, 10 --
CULVER: Like, everybody?
RAFAEL: Yeah.
CULVER (voice-over): But Cochise County deputies say they aren't focused on migrants like Rafael. They want the cartel fueled smugglers who operate day and night.
DEPUTY DAN BRENNAN, COCHISE COUNTY SHERIFF'S INTERDICTION TEAM: I can kind of safely assume that I think activity will pick up in the coming days until the inauguration.
CULVER: And that's just the cartels basically saying, ten thousand times.
BRENNAN: Hey, let's get it. You know, we're here to make money. Let's get it while we can.
CULVER (voice-over): David Culver, CNN, Cochise County, Arizona.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: The president-elect has said he would enact new tariffs when he returns to the White House. In preparation, China has announced new policies for exporters who'd be hit hard by those tariffs, as the world's largest manufacturer and exporter has the most at stake. Marc Stewart reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: China is known as the world's factory, and we want to show you why. This is the Bairong World Trade Center in Beijing. This place is massive. It is sprawling, floors and floors of Chinese-made merchandise, things like bikes, stuffed animals, hair dryers, as items made in China are often a big part of American lives.
As talk of further tariffs on all Chinese goods heats up, as promised by President-elect Trump on the campaign trail, a few things worth remembering. China is the world's top manufacturing country, making about 30 percent of all of the stuff used around the world.
Electronics like these phone cords top the list. Furniture, toys and clothing aren't far behind. No surprise, China is also the world's top exporter, shipping almost $3.4 trillion worth of goods globally.
[04:40:04]
But China's strength isn't just about money, including often criticized government subsidies. It's about the ecosystems. Everything that's needed to make anything, the entire supply chain, it's already here.
And once things are made, China has the means to move merchandise quickly. A key goal of Trump's threatened tariffs is to bring more jobs and industries back to the U.S. But look at all of this merchandise. China's system has a grip on the world. And unseating it as a top maker and seller, it's a task much easier said than done.
Marc Stewart, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Trump's social media platform, Truth Social, appears to be looking at a move into cryptocurrency. Trump Media and Technology Group filed a trademark application this week for TruthFi or TruthFi, a crypto payment processing platform. This comes as Bitcoin has reached its highest level ever after Trump's re-election to the presidency as values up 237 percent, just shy of $100,000.
Perhaps little wonder then that Trump has changed his mind about crypto, which in 2019, he said was not money and was based on thin air. At the time, he implied it was dangerous, but now he seems to be embracing the volatility. CNN's Harry Enten had this to say about what's causing the about face and making the former fringe currency go mainstream.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Hot, hot, hot with a 100 percent chance of passion. That's how hot it is. I mean, compared to where it was eight years ago at this particular point, when Trump was on the verge of taking office for the first time, it was selling for under $1,000.
Look at where it is now. Look at where it is now. $98,000 right now in terms of how much growth there has been over the last eight years, compared to the baseline that, of course, is the S&P 500.
Bitcoin is up nearly 13,000 percent. The S&P 500 over that same period up a little bit less than 200 percent. How about a Google search since election day? Up 237 percent for cryptocurrency overall. So I think this is the real interesting thing, right? Cryptocurrency
no longer is necessarily this thing on the side, this sort of fad thing. It's something that has a lot of Americans really interested in it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Well, one of the last major races of the 2024 U.S. election has finally been settled. Incumbent Democratic Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania has finally conceded to Republican Dave McCormick. The former hedge fund executive appeared frequently with Donald Trump at his rallies, and voters in the swing state also favored Trump in the presidential contest.
Republicans will hold a 53 to 47 majority in the U.S. Senate come January. That's expected to be a major factor in helping Trump to get his agenda approved.
No rest for the weather weary as people in the Pacific Northwest struggle through a powerful storm that dumped torrential rain and heavy snow. Another storm is moving in. Details after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:45:00]
FOSTER: Parts of Europe, including Ireland, France, Switzerland and Italy, under orange alerts for snow this Friday. Some residents and tourists in Paris took time to enjoy the slushy snow on Thursday. But a new storm is set to bring another round of heavy rain, snow and gusty winds to Western Europe and the Balkans over the next three days.
Northern California and parts of the Pacific Northwest are bracing for another storm. And winter storm warnings have been issued from this afternoon through in some places to Tuesday. This is coming on the heels of a powerful atmospheric river, boosted by a bomb cyclone that unleashed heavy mountains, snowfall, torrential rainfall and life- threatening flooding across coastal areas in Northwest California.
More now from CNN's Chad Myers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, a couple of things going on here. Flooding in Northern California. Also some very heavy snow in the mountains.
And it's all because of the atmospheric river. We've been calling it all week. It's just a river of moisture in the atmosphere. And when it hits the topography of land, all of that rain and the snow wants to fall out. So 12 inches of precip here. So about 300 millimeters of rain.
20 inches of snow in the mountains. And it's very heavy snow. This is the stuff you make snowballs and snowmen with. But the problem is now it's warming up. And now it's going to rain on that snow. And that snow is going to try to melt. And it may not melt slowly. It may melt rather quickly, clogging drains and causing more flash flooding.
We already know that there will be at least a couple of rivers that are going to get to major flood stage here. So there's your rain and the snow. Great news for the ski resorts there. But they really don't need all of it at once.
Now we move toward Europe, where look at all the areas today that will have some type of weather alert. From low to medium and even to high in Romania with wind and snow there. And then there's a big storm system that's going to affect northwestern Europe by the end of the weekend with a major wind event.
Now there will be snow. There will be significant snow. And likely most of it will be closer to Turkey. Yes, it seems a little bit far south. But that's where the storm is going.
Now the wind. There's the low pressure center that is going to be west of the U.K. And we are going to see that wind. This is Sunday. And I mean, this is one of those 60, 70 kilometers per hour, maybe even a wind gust along the coast of over 100 kilometers per hour. So pretty big event here coming into northwestern Europe. And eventually by next week, all across the entire continent.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Thanks to Chad.
Now a volcano near the capital of Iceland has erupted. That was Wednesday night. Lava and smoke could be seen rising from the site in the country's southwest. The eruption forced the evacuation of a geothermal power plant and two hotels at the world-famous Blue Lagoon. A three-kilometer fissure opened as well. But air traffic was operating normally on Thursday. It was the seventh such event in the region since last December. Iceland lies on the border between North America and Europe in one of the most active volcanic areas in the world, in fact.
The Illinois Supreme Court has overturned the conviction of actor Jussie Smollett in connection with an alleged hoax attack in 2019. The court found that a special prosecutor should not have been allowed to intervene after initial charges against Smollett, who starred in the TV drama Empire, were dropped. Prosecutors argued he staged an attack on himself because he was unhappy with the studio's response to a hate mail that he received.
The actor was convicted in 2021 on five counts of disorderly conduct. He was sentenced to 150 days in jail and served six before he was freed pending appeal. Smollett has maintained his innocence.
An American kayaker faked his own death and fled overseas. Now authorities say he's alive and well and talking to them about how and why he did it. The story after the break.
[04:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: The Wisconsin kayaker accused of faking his own death and leaving his family has been located. He's somewhere in Eastern Europe, but whether he'll ever come home to his wife and kids or face the music for what's been a costly and emotional search is pretty unclear. CNN's Whitney Wild has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RYAN BORGWARDT: Good evening, everyone. It's Ryan Borgwardt. I'm in my apartment.
I am safe, secure. No problem.
WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ryan Borgwardt speaking barely above a whisper in this video he says was recorded November 11th. These are his first comments since disappearing in August. Police now believe the husband and father of three is alive and living in Eastern Europe with no plans to come back to the U.S. Though Green Lake, Wisconsin Sheriff Mark Podoll says Borgwardt talks to investigators regularly.
SHERIFF MARK PODOLL, GREEN LAKE COUNTY: Our biggest concern that we had was that he was safe and well. We asked him a number of questions that pertained to him and his family that he would only know. And then we asked him for a video of himself.
WILD (voice-over): The search for Borgwardt began this summer after he failed to return home from a day of kayaking and fishing. Law enforcement found his capsized kayak, car and other belongings but no trace of him.
PODOLL: While we might have stopped the search on Green Lake, that didn't stop our search continuing to look for life.
WILD (voice-over): The Green Lake County Sheriff now says he planned an elaborate escape. Borgwardt told investigators he paddled his kayak and a child-sized boat out into the lake, overturned the kayak and dumped his phone in the water, paddled the inflatable boat to shore, got on an e-bike and rode through the night to Madison. There, he boarded a bus, went on to Detroit and eventually crossed into Canada and hopped on a plane to Europe.
PODOLL: In our communications, we are expressing the importance of his decision to return home, clean up the mess that he has created.
WILD (voice-over): A digital forensic search of Borgwardt's laptop revealed that he replaced the hard drive and cleared his browser history on the day of the disappearance. Podoll says investigators found that the 44-year-old moved funds to a foreign bank, changed his e-mail, communicated with a woman in Uzbekistan, purchased airline cards, and took out a $375,000 life insurance policy in January. Now that Borgwardt has been found alive, law enforcement is laying out potential charges.
PODOLL: The information that the Green Lake County has at this point leads us to an obstructing charge.
WILD: In terms of restitution, Sheriff Podoll says that that could be between $35,000 and $40,000 at least.
Whitney Wild, CNN, Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees have been named Major League Baseball's Most Valuable Players. In the American League, this was Judge's second MVP honor. The Yankees captain led the Majors this season with 58 home runs and 144 runs batted in.
For Ohtani, this was his third MVP award and first in the National League. The slugger became the first player in MLB history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a single season, all whilst recovering from elbow surgery. Ohtani's win is being celebrated in Japan, where he was born and played earlier in his career.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): He is the first Japanese player who won MVP awards both in the American League and the National Japanese League. So, frankly speaking, I think he is amazing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): He is our pride. I hope he'll keep getting better next year.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Both Ohtani and Judge led their teams to the World Series this year, but Ohtani's Dodgers came away with the title.
The luck of the Irish could be felt at the White House on Thursday. That's where President Joe Biden welcomed the Boston Celtics basketball team to celebrate their 2024 NBA championship win back in June. The president commended the team's work ethic and its league record 18th title.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Together you guys built one of the deepest teams of all time. Incredible players led by Jayson and Clock one of the greatest seasons ever. 64 wins, the best record in the league last year.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[04:55:00]
FOSTER: Together you guys built one of the deepest teams of all time. Incredible players led by Jayson and Jaylen and Derrick and Drew, Big Al. I know it wasn't easy. You came close more than once, but you put in the work. You clocked one of the greatest seasons ever. 64 wins, the best record in the league last year. (END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: World franchise star forward Jason Tatum presented the 46th U.S. president with his very own Celtics jersey. Of course, it had that Biden 46 on it, blazoned across the back.
And the stories in the spotlight this hour include an ultimatum from Hollywood actor Josh Brolin. He says he'll quit acting if "Dune: Part Two" director Dennis Villeneuve doesn't get nominated for best director at the Oscars. The Academy didn't give Villeneuve a best director at the Oscars. The Academy didn't give Villeneuve a best director nod when "Dune: Part One" was released in 2021. And Brolin clearly is not over the snub.
Part One did, however, win six Oscars at the time and garnered 10 nominations. So it did do badly.
Residents of Chicago are bundling up as the city is seeing its first snowfall of the season. And the animals at the Brookfield Zoo are taking in the wintry weather as well. Visitors got to see a polar bear named Hudson playing with a ball in that blanket of white, having a lovely time. The Siberian tiger didn't seem bothered by the snow lounging around in his enclosure.
The zoo is also home to a pair of brown bears named Tim and Jess. Mexican grey wolves, African lions, American bison as well. All having some fun.
A towering story of friendship as two Guinness World Record holders with very different perspectives on the world met for the first time. Rumeysa Gelgi of Turkey is 2.1 meters or seven feet tall, whilst Jyoti Amge of India stands a little over half a meter or two feet. Both were born with genetic conditions that affect their height.
They met in London on Wednesday for Guinness World Records Day. The organization's editor-in-chief called the experience a learning opportunity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRAIG GLENDAY, GUINESS WORLD RECORDS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Guinness World Records is all about celebrating differences. And by bringing together these two unique women with very different perspectives on life, they can learn a lot about each other, but we can learn a lot about them and about the world around us.
RUMEYSA GELGI, GUINNESS WORLD RECORD HOLDER: You are so beautiful.
JYOTI AMGE, GUINNESS WORLD RECORD HOLDER: Thank you, you too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, the Guinness World Records named the women icons as part of a new category introduced for the book's 2025 edition. You can see it being unwrapped there.
Thanks for joining me here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster in London. CNN "THIS MORNING" is up after a break.
