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President-Elect Trump Expected to Nominate Former Policy Adviser Brooke Rollins for Agriculture Secretary; President-Elect Trump's Pick for Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Defends Trump's Proposed Tariffs on Foreign Products; President-Elect Trump's Attorney General Nominee Pam Bondi Likely to Face Scrutiny from U.S. Senate over Her 2020 Election Denials; Poor Weather May Disrupt Some Thanksgiving Holiday Travel in U.S.; More than 40 People Killed across Lebanon by Israeli Attacks; Russia Firing Hypersonic Ballistic Missiles into Ukraine after Ukrainian Forces Use Long Range Missiles against Russia with U.S. Permission; Las Vegas Police Kill 43-Year-Old Black Man after He Called 911 for Help; Some U.S. Citizens Patrolling Border with Mexico to Stop Drug Cartel Crossings; Gangs Targeting Homes of Professional Athletes in U.S. for Burglary. Aired 2-3p ET.

Aired November 23, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

JEFF MONKEN, ARMY FOOTBALL COACH: -- to be able to be competitive with Notre Dame tomorrow. And that's what we're focused on, trying to play our best.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Army a two touchdown underdog to Notre Dame tonight. We'll see if they can pull off the upset.

All right, elsewhere Jason Kelce and his wife Kylie announcing they are expecting their fourth daughter. Kylie breaking the news on Instagram with this hilarious picture, saying, "At least Ellie, mom and dad are on the same page!" The girls wearing their big sister sweaters together. Bennett, the youngster there, in tears. Wyatt, the oldest sister, looks shocked. But Fredricka, it's actually a great pic there. Congrats to the Kelces on the new addition.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: That that picture says so much. It's like, oh, no, not another girl! Very cute. Andy Scholes.

All right, a new hour of CNN Newsroom starts right now.

Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Saturday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. And we begin this hour with news from Mar-a- Lago as President-Elect Donald Trump appears ready to name yet another cabinet pick. We're now learning that Trump is expected to pick former policy adviser Brooke Rollins to be his new Agriculture secretary. CNN's Alayna Treene is following the developments from Florida there. Alayna, tell me more about Brooke Rollins and her qualifications to be Agriculture secretary, and her relations with Donald Trump.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Right, well, I'll talk about her relationship with Donald Trump first. You mentioned that she was previously on the domestic council, or policy council in Donald Trump's first term. She also led one of the top policy shops, America First Policy Institute, particularly a shop that in the years since Donald Trump had left the White House kind of became the place where a lot of people in Trump world started working. But also believed that they would be setting the agenda for a potential Trump second term. So she has known Donald Trump for years. She has always been very loyal to him.

We're told that Donald Trump and her spoke this week about the role for secretary of agriculture, and that was actually a role, one of my sources told me, that she said she would be interested in after she had kind of been passed over for the role of White House chief of staff. She had been in the running, we have reported, as one of the candidates that he was considering to be in that role. It ultimately went to Susie Wiles, his former campaign manager, throughout the 2024 campaign trail. And so she's very well known to a lot of people in Donald Trump's orbit.

Now, another thing about Rollins as well that I would note is, again, she's been very involved in a lot of his policy agenda, but she also is a former Texas native. And when it relates to the agricultural overall, a key thing to keep in mind, Fred, is that Donald Trump's vow to import -- or, excuse me, to impose sweeping tariffs on U.S. imports is really going to affect the agriculture industry and farmers specifically. This is something we've heard many economists warn about. So she would be tasked with overseeing some of that.

WHITFIELD: And then Trump is also decided on his pick for treasury department secretary.

TREENE: That's right, Scott Bessent. He has finally landed on a Treasury Department secretary, and he announced last night along with another flurry of other announcements that he made Friday evening, that Scott Bessent will be leading the treasury department. He is a billionaire hedge fund manager, and he's actually someone that we've heard been circulating for weeks. Two weeks ago, I was actually told that he was likely to be Donald Trump's pick. However, that began to change after kind of this contentious battle took place behind the scenes at Mar-a-Lago over who would get that role. We know Howard Lutnick, one of Donald Trump's co-transition chairs, had been gunning for that role himself. We also know that even as late as Wednesday Donald Trump was interviewing at Mar-a-Lago two other candidates for that role.

But ultimately, Bessent won out. And I can tell you as well, many people who are working on Trump's transition team really liked him for this role. He's a Wall Street darling. He's known very well within the business community. And he's also been very loyal to Donald Trump, advising him on economic policy throughout the campaign.

Another thing to keep in mind, too, that's interesting about Bessent is he would actually be the first openly gay Treasury secretary if he goes through this nomination process.

I do want you to take a listen, though, because I mentioned tariffs as it relates to the Agriculture Department. This is also going to be a huge role for Bessent in the Treasury Department is overseeing a lot of those tariffs. He addressed this recently on CNBC. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT BESSENT, TRUMP'S TREASURY SECRETARY PICK: to some of the tax cuts that President Trump talked about during the campaign, that's going to be a negotiation with the Republican Congress. I would recommend that tariffs be layered in gradually, which would -- the price adjustment would be over a period of time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:05:02]

TREENE: Now, as you heard there, he talked about layering in tariffs gradually. We'll see what ultimately happens. But this is a really big role, part of the reason Donald Trump spent so long kind of going over and considering the type of names that he would want to lead the Treasury Department is because so much of his agenda and what he had vowed to do on the trail was about economic policy. And that's really what Bessent will be tasked with. It's also a role, I would remind you, as well, that throughout Donald Trump's first team term was very stable. We saw Steve Mnuchin, his former Treasury secretary, be in that role the entire time Donald Trump was in office. So a lot of people are happy, I'm told, with this pick, and they hope that he'll be easily confirmed by the Senate. Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right, Alayna Treene, thank you so much.

All right, Trump allies are quickly rallying around Pam Bondi, the president-elect's new pick for U.S. attorney general. Trump selected the former Florida attorney general and fierce loyalist after his first choice, former congressman Matt Gaetz, announced that he was withdrawing his nomination, and that after learning that he didn't have the votes to win confirmation.

Here now is CNN's Paula Reid on who is Pam Bondi.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Just hours after his first pick for attorney general dropped out, President-elect Trump tapped former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to be the nation's top law enforcement official.

PAM BONDI, FORMER FLORIDA ATTORNEY GENERAL: I am proud to call Donald a friend.

REID: Bondi, a longtime Trump ally, has extensive experience in state law enforcement. She worked as a Florida prosecutor for 18 years before becoming the state's first female attorney general, and served in that role for nearly a decade.

BONDI: I am a career prosecutor. I am proud of my career. And I'm proud of the work that this office does. REID: One of her top achievements while in office was successfully targeting Florida's so called opioid pill mills.

But in 2013, her office received complaints about individuals being scammed by Trump University seminars, and she considered joining the state of New York in suing Trump's program over the allegations. But her political committee received a $25,000 donation from the Donald Trump Foundation in September of that year and soon after dropped her investigation into the alleged fraud, citing insufficient grounds. Bondi has denied the donation affected her decision and was cleared by a Florida ethics panel.

BONDI: I would never, ever trade any campaign donation -- that's absurd -- for, for, for some type of favor to anyone.

REID: In 2016, she was a top Trump surrogate --

BONDI: It is my great honor to introduce to you the next president of the United States of America, Donald Trump.

(CHEERING)

REID: -- and went on to serve on Trump's first impeachment defense team.

BONDI: They have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that there is no basis to raise this concern.

REID: While also making appearances alongside Trump during his first term.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: I also want to thank a really tremendous attorney general, that's Pam Bondi from Florida, for being here.

REID: And after he lost the 2020 election, Bondi became one of his defenders in 2020 pushing false election claims.

BONDI: We've won Pennsylvania, and we want every vote to be counted in a fair way.

REID: Once Trump was out of office and faced four criminal cases, Bondi defended him in the court of public opinion.

BONDI: This case should have never, ever been brought.

REID: Most recently, she worked at a GOP lobbying firm where she primarily represented a sheriff's office association, and also represented companies like Amazon, G.M., Uber, and the Qatari government. She also led the legal arm of a Trump-aligned nonprofit think tank.

BONDI: The America First policy, we'll fight for it.

REID: While also maintaining a consistent presence on right wing media. BONDI: The prosecutors will be prosecuted, the bad ones. The investigators will be investigated.

REID (on camera): At her confirmation hearing, Bondi will absolutely face questions about that $25,000 donation, about her amplifying of false claims about the 2020 election, and whether she would use her job and her power to seek retribution on Trump's perceived enemies.

But transition officials still believe she has a far better chance of getting confirmed than former congressman Matt Gaetz, especially since an ethics panel cleared her on that donation. And she, of course, comes with decades of law enforcement experience.

Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, and now to the new storms that are threatening to cause significant disruptions to everyone's holiday travel. The TSA is expecting over 18 million Americans to fly next week. But snowy, wet weather and potential air traffic control shortages in the northeast, well, that could cause airport delays.

[14:10:06]

Parts of New York and Pennsylvania have already gotten more than a foot of snow, paralyzing traffic in some areas and leaving more than 100,000 people without power this afternoon. CNN's Allison Chinchar has more.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Travel plans in the northeast earlier today may have been dicey in a few spots thanks to this overachieving storm. This video coming from aptly named Mount Storm in West Virginia, dumping several inches of rain there. We had several spots in the northeast just coming up with incredibly high snow totals. High Point, New Jersey, topping out at just under two feet. But other areas, including Pennsylvania and New York, at least getting one foot of snow in about the last 36 hours. Now, most of that snow is likely going to melt in the next few days as those temperatures begin to increase. You'll start to see them warm up in the Midwest first before gradually seeing that warm air spread into the mid-Atlantic, as well as the northeast, where much of that snow was dropped.

Take Memphis, for example, going from 58 from that high today back into the low 70s by Monday. It takes a little bit longer to see that warm up, so New York and Richmond will finally get their once we get towards Monday and Tuesday of the upcoming week.

If you had travel plans today or even perhaps tomorrow, the southeast and much of the central portion of the country had absolutely no problems whatsoever. The only other rough spot really is going to be much of the west. Now that Maine bomb cyclone that we had earlier in the week has finally exited the area, but we still have moisture coming into a lot of these areas, albeit not as much. It's on top of what we've already had. So because that ground is saturated, it's not going to take much to trigger some flooding in a few spots. Just over the next several days, still looking at at least one to

three inches more of rainfall along the coastal regions, and snow likely to be measured in feet, looking at an extra one to three feet specifically in the Sierras over the next couple of days.

Then fast forward to Thanksgiving Day itself. We've got some maybe local last-minute travel you're going to do. The only really concerned areas are going to stretch from Pennsylvania back down into portions of Louisiana. That's where you're going to encounter some of the heaviest rain.

But then it begs the question, OK, what about the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade? Many folks not only go to see it, but also watch it on TV. The rain is expected to really spread into New York City once we get into the back half of the day and especially Thursday night. So the question becomes the front end likely is going to be OK, but you may start to see some of those isolated showers beginning to pick up towards the back half of the morning. Regardless, it's definitely going to be a chilly one with temperatures at the time of the parade only in the upper 30s.

WHITFIELD: Oh, burr, indeed. All right, Allison Chinchar, thank you.

All right, join CNN for the ultimate Thanksgiving morning watch party featuring celebrity appearances and a live view of parades across the country. "Thanksgiving in America," hosted by John Berman and Erica Hill starts Thanksgiving Day, 8:00 right here on CNN, and streaming on Max.

All right, next, a devastating strike in the heart of Beirut. We'll go live to the region for the latest on the fighting as well as ceasefire efforts. You're in the CNN Newsroom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:17:53]

WHITFIELD: In Beirut, Lebanese officials say at least 15 people are dead and dozens more injured after an Israeli airstrike flattened a building in the heart of Beirut. There is now just a crater where the residential building once stood. Rescuers frantically spent the day looking for survivors in the rubble. A Lebanese security source is telling CNN that no senior Hezbollah member was in the building at the time.

CNN's Nic Robertson is in Jerusalem with the latest. And Nic, what can you tell us?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, well, eyewitnesses talk about multiple bunker busting bombs being used on that eight-story building in the early hours of this morning in Beirut. And the size of the crater, I think, gives you that very real understanding that this was an exceptional bombing mission. And it was a no notice bombing mission. And typically, when the IDF carry out a mission without giving notice to the residents, with bunker busting bombs, it means they're going after a high-profile Hezbollah target. And I think that's why we heard this statement coming from Lebanese officials today saying that there was no senior Hezbollah target who was hit there.

Fifteen people, though, killed in the building, more than 60 injured. More than 40 people in different IDF airstrikes across Lebanon today were killed, some in the Beqaa Valley, 24 people killed in strikes in the Beqaa Valley, including women and children. Entire on the south -- in the south of Lebanon, on the coast, five people killed there. And again, as we've seen in recent days, multiple strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut.

And meanwhile, in the very southeast of the country, intense battles raging over, over a particular key and important, strategically important village for Hezbollah. The IDF engaged in firefights there over the past more than 24 hours. Some soldiers, heavily wounded evacuated back to Israel for treatment.

WHITFIELD: All right, Nic Robertson, thank you so much.

All right, turning now to the war in Ukraine. Russia is vowing to continue testing its new hypersonic ballistic missile.

[14:20:03]

That's the same type of weapon used to strike the Dnipro on Thursday. The Kremlin says the attack was in response to the U.S. allowing Ukraine to use longer range American made missiles inside Russia. Russia's use of the new missile is raising concerns among NATO allies. Just yesterday, NATO chief Mark Rutte met with President-elect Trump in Florida.

Let's get more with retired U.S. Army General Wesley Clark, who is the former NATO supreme allied commander. And he's with us now. Great to see you. So what do you make of this meeting?

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET), FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER: Well, I think it's an important meeting to lay on to President Trump the real requirements, the significance of what NATO and NATO allies are doing to support Ukraine, the dangers of making a premature set of concessions to Putin, what that would mean down the line, and a plea to President Trump to stand firm.

WHITFIELD: And how should the U.S. be bracing itself for Russia to say that it's likely to use this new kind of missile again? What does this mean in terms of changing the strategy or the dimensions of this conflict with Ukraine?

CLARK: I don't think it means that we should change the strategy or the dimensions of the conflict. I think we have to do a better job of providing Ukraine the means to defend itself. We may not be able to stop these missiles directly. We will find out where they launch from. Ukraine is going to have its own ballistic missiles here very soon, and so the war will take another step in escalation.

But I would say this, Fredricka. It's been a mistake, in my view, to go tit-for-tat on this with Russia. From the beginning wed have been much better off if the president had simply said to Vladimir Putin, you're not going to win. We're going to do everything we can to keep you from winning. Don't start it. And instead, we went to Harvard and we talked to people that said, oh, it's nuclear. It might be like the Cuban Missile Crisis. Make sure you give your adversary a way out, and then tell him what you're going to do so there's no surprises. And so it's been two-and-a-half. It's been hundreds of thousands of casualties, probably more than 100,000 Ukrainian dead, as we played this game out. And it hasn't brought an end to the conflict.

Putin is going to keep this up as long as he believes he can win in the long term. And we're not going to be able to stop it unless we convince him he can't. And we can't afford to have him win.

WHITFIELD: How would the U.S. or allies convince Russia that it cannot win?

CLARK: We've got to provide Ukraine the means to defend itself, and you've got to take the diplomatic measures that show greater determination by the west. An invitation for Ukraine to NATO membership would be a good way to start.

WHITFIELD: And that process of NATO membership, I mean, how immediately can that happen?

CLARK: It can happen as soon as all the nations agree to do it. It's really a matter of, it's been a matter of U.S. leadership, and the U.S. hasn't wanted to do it because we didn't want to, quote, back Russia into a corner and directly conflict with them.

But I think after two-and-a-half years, it's pretty clear that Mr. Putin is pretty determined to have what he wants. We're -- we should be very determined not to let him have it. And so, despite President Biden's statements that he doesn't want a confrontation, look, sometimes you're going to have a confrontation whether you want one or not. And Mr. Putin seems to want one. He believes he has nuclear superiority.

Now, Fredricka, it's like the opposite of the Cuban Missile Crisis. In the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, Khrushchev thought he could push the U.S. out of Europe by putting missiles in Cuba. But he then came up against the reality that the U.S. had strategic nuclear superiority, and he backed off. In this case Putin believes he has strategic nuclear superiority, that's what he says. And we even had a Pentagon spokesman, or somebody associated with the Pentagon, yesterday say, well, we can't match Russia's nuclear stuff.

So this is a this is a really delicate time. I think we can match Russia. I think U.S. deterrence still is strong, but it's going to take strong leadership by the president and the president-elect.

WHITFIELD: CNN reporting shows that nearly one-third of the missiles fired by Russia so far this year have been from North Korea. So when you combine that with North Korean troops fighting in Ukraine, what does that tell you about, I guess, the longevity of this war and which direction it's going? CLARK: Well, it can say what you want about sanctions. And I continue to see readouts on the Russian economy. The interest rate is 21 percent. Oh, boy, that's bad. But Putin has got control of that economy.

[14:25:00]

And Russians aren't buying refrigerators and TVs and Xboxes and so forth. That's not what this is about. So you can't parallelism this. What Putin has found is through North Korea, by giving them oil and some military technology, he's able to draw in troops and missiles and the cokes (ph) on guns and other things that reinforce his offensive. So this is another indicator, it should be, to the to the incoming administration that you can't look at Ukraine in isolation. This is not like a, oh, well, we don't want a third world war, so let's just not -- let's let Mr. Putin have what he wants, and we'll worry about Asia. This is Asia. This is the Middle East. It's all connected. So America may not have sought this, but this is where it is, and we have to stand strong.

WHITFIELD: All right, General Wesley Clark, we'll leave it there for now. Thank you so much.

CLARK: Thank you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Coming up, we've got new details about a deadly police encounter in Las Vegas where a man was fatally shot by an officer after he called 911 asking for help.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:30:33]

WHITFIELD: In just a few hours, people in Las Vegas are gathering to demand justice after a police shooting killed a 43-year-old father. In a newly released 911 call, you can hear Brandon Durham pleading for help during a reported home invasion. A warning some viewers might find the audio disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRANDON DURHAM: She's trying to kill people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who is trying to kill people?

DURHAM: These two people out here killing, shooting guns at my house.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did they shoot it at your house?

DURHAM: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How long ago? How many minutes?

DURHAM: Right now. Right now. Right this second.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, were you shot, or how are you injured? DURHAM: I'm hurt. I don't know. I don't know. I got my hand cut.

Everything is happening right now. Send someone ASAP.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Bodycam video of when officers arrived showed Durham struggling to get a knife from a woman, and instead the responding officer fired six shots at him, killing him. That officer is now on paid administrative leave pending an investigation.

CNN's Camila Bernal is in Los Angeles. Camila, I mean, it's disturbing to hear and to view. How is Durham's family doing? How are they responding after learning of all this?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They're still extremely emotional, Fred, and just describing how difficult and how heartbreaking this has been for them. And they're also demanding the arrest of the officer involved in this shooting.

Now, Durham called authorities on November 12th, saying he feared for his life, saying that he was hearing shots being fired outside of his home, and again saying he was just scared to be there. In the middle of this phone call, he also says that he thinks he knows who the person is outside of his apartment.

But by the time that police arrived, you mentioned there was this confrontation, there was this struggle, and it was with Alejandra Boudreaux. And authorities say, and also show in this bodycam video as these officers walk in and the one officer fires those six rounds, the family also seeing this video and seeing how this all unfolded. Of course, distraught, and they say this is horrible specifically for his daughter. Take a listen to what his sister said and how she described this loss.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DIANE WRIGHT, SISTER OF BRANDON DURHAM: He was everything to her, and his life was ripped away while she is down the hall in her room, while his life is being taken from him. After calling for help, like he is supposed to do, like a good citizen would do, he is calling for help to get assistance, to try to defend his home, protect himself, protect his daughter. And we all see what the results of that came out to be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL: And Alejandra Boudreaux was arrested. She's facing multiple charges. And when she spoke to authorities, she said the two had a casual relationship. She even told police that she was essentially feeling suicidal and wanted police officers to kill her, but instead they killed Brandon Durham.

That officer was, as you mentioned, placed on administrative leave. The Police Association releasing a statement from their attorney essentially saying that this officer was doing his job, and also saying that he did not intend to commit a crime here. But again, the family attorney just saying that this is not something that he should have done, saying that he used the force inappropriately. And it's why they're calling for the arrest, and also calling for people to come out and support them during this rally outside of city hall today in Las Vegas, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh, it's so terribly sad. All right, Camila Bernal, thank you so much.

Up next, a rare look at hotspots on the border with Mexico. You will meet the ranchers who say the unfinished border wall has turned their land into a dangerous cartel crossing they now call the doorway to the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM CHILTON, OWNER, CHILTON RANCH: I always have a weapon, David. Here's my pistol. You have a weapon, people go the other.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:39:00]

WHITFIELD: A closer look now at living on the U.S.-Mexico border from the point of view of ranchers and those trying to stop illegal border crossings and migrants. CNN's David Culver is on the ground with a firsthand look.

(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. Absolutely not. I just had him at 85, so we're going to talk.

CULVER: -- 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: 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.

[14:40:03]

CULVER: 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: Jim and Sue Chilton tell me the cartels use their ranch as a crossing route.

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: They show me about two hours of surveillance footage collected from just five cameras on their 50,000 acres in Arivaca.

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. They're what's called got-aways.

CULVER (voice-over): The Chilton say the surging got-aways 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 (on camera): 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 going northwest, and the guy in front appeared to have a AK-47.

CULVER (on camera): 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 learned Jim isn't the only one armed in these parts.

TIM FOLEY, ARIZONA BORDER RECON: You name it, I've been called it.

CULVER: 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 (on camera): 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.

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: Pulling up to where the wall ends, Jim warns us the cartel's been battling it out to control this corridor.

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 route.

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: 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 (on camera): 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 (on camera): How many of them would you say are undocumented?

RAFAEL: Like 10, 10 --

CULVER: Like, everybody?

RAFAEL: Yes.

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 (on camera): And that's just the cartels basically saying now is the time.

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 VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: Still ahead, pro athletes on alert after a string of burglaries targeting their homes.

[14:45:02]

Who is behind all of this?

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WHITFIELD: All right, several professional sports leagues are delivering a clear warning to their athletes -- protect your homes. This after a string of burglaries involving high profile stars, including Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce of the of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Well, for more, were joined by Ken Gray, who spent 24 years with the FBI as a special agent. Ken, great to see you. I mean, these burglaries are not believed to be random, right? There is a real systematic approach here.

[14:50:00] It's a very sophisticated organized kind of crime that is taking place. What is notable to you about how some of these NFL and NBA athletes homes are being targeted?

KEN GRAY, RETIRED FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Well, it's very interesting that they've moved into attacking the homes of sports figures. I'm surprised it hasn't happened before. These are what are known as the burglary tourists, traveling up from South America, and they're able to come here under a visa waiver program to be here in the country 90 days without a visa.

And they've been working all around the country for the last since 2019, hitting affluent homes in California, but then moving east, New York, down in Miami, Maryland, here in Connecticut, New York state. They're all over the country here.

But now they've shifted here to sports figures, and the reason is, is that their travel is known. If you're at an away game, you're not at home protecting your stuff. And so there are easy pickings there. So they're picking targets that are affluent communities. They are doing surveillance on those homes. They're using jammers in some cases to block any type of surveillance system. Going in, grabbing cash, jewelry, handbags, anything that of high value that is small, that they can carry, and getting out of there.

WHITFIELD: But there's so much that's fascinating about this, Ken, because while they have targeted certain homes of certain athletes, they've cased, as you're describing, cased their homes, I mean, some of the seen publicly reported, these folks are in the house for like 30 seconds, or two minutes. I mean, it's very concise. They know what they're looking for, which would make you feel like there must be some reconnaissance. I mean, how is it these rings or these alleged burglars are able to carry out their mission under such constraints, and do it within record time, within seconds or minutes?

GRAY: Sure. Sure. So they're picking homes usually that they can do surveillance on the outside for periods of time, up to days beforehand. And usually, it's homes that have wooded areas behind or to the sides of the home so they can hide in the woods and watch what is going on, and not be observed while they're in the woods. And then when they go in, they go primarily to the bedrooms, because that's where people keep their stuff of value. They get into the bedroom, they grab what they can, and then they get out as quickly as they can because they know if they stay too long, the police are likely to show up.

WHITFIELD: So, you know, what's interesting here, too, is our Coy Wire here at CNN is also a former NFL player. And so he talked about how for a very long time, the NFL and also the NBA, they would school a lot of new players, or just team members, about how to keep yourself safe and protected, whether you're at home or on the road. So this kind of practice has always happened.

But now the NFL and the NBA have kind of stepped it up to help inform a lot of their players and their staff to be extra careful. How much more of a difference is it going to make in your view, especially since you're also talking about what's become a much more sophisticated crime ring, as you described?

GRAY: Yes, there are about 100 different gangs like this operating in the United States, usually in the three-to-five-man type team. And they're not just focusing in on sports figures. So I know that the fact that Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes, their homes have been broken into, making it look like it might be targeting just sports figures. But it's been happening since 2019, and it happens in affluent communities across the country.

Really, what a person should do is if they have -- in an affluent community, and they have stuff they need to protect, is to have a surveillance system. But they're even using jammer systems, wi-fi jammers to block the surveillance from being alerted to the security companies. So this is very hard to overcome.

Here in Connecticut, we had 22 burglaries associated with these groups. They just arrested two down in Virginia and brought them back up to Connecticut just during this week alone. And they're thought to be part of a group that has hit numerous targets here in the state.

But like I said, there's 100 different groups like this. And what we really need to do is to stop this visa waiver program, allowing people to come here without a visa. That's really the problem.

[14:55:05]

WHITFIELD: Wow. This has been really instructive. Ken Gray, thank you so much.

GRAY: Any time.

WHITFIELD: All right, and catch an all new episode of "Have I Got News for You" with host Roy Wood Jr. and team captains Amber Ruffin and Michael Ian Black tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern time. Guests this week will be journalist Kara Swisher and comedian Jenny Hagel. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROY WOOD JR., HOST, "HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU": Here's your next headline. These rats learn to blank, and they love it.

AMBER RUFFIN, "HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU": Macarena.

(LAUGHTER)

KARA SWISHER, PODCAST HOST, "PIVOT" AND "ON": Car, I saw it on the news. They drove in little cars.

WOOD: Over here?

MICHAEL IAN BLACK, "HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU": How do you know everything?

(LAUGHTER)

SWISHER: Because I'm far smarter than you.

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

WOOD: These rats learned to drive, and they love it. Neuroscientists in Virginia are studying how rodents acquire new skills and found that rats were steering with surprising precision to reach a Froot Loop treat.

(LAUGHTER)

WOOD: You ever been so hungry, you the first person in your species to drive a car?

(LAUGHTER)

SWISHER: It's kind of amazing what rats can do. They're like very clever, especially New York rats.

WOOD: The New York rats, hang on, them, that's organized crime. That's different.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: A new episode of "Have I Got News for You" airs tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern and pacific, right here on CNN.

We'll be right back.

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