Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Sen. Warner: Worst Telecom Hack In Our Nation's History; Interview With Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY); Putin Warns There Is No Means Of Intercepting His New Missile; Gaetz Joins 'Cameo' After Withdrawing Consideration For AG; Trump Team Gaming Out Aggressive Strategy Toward Latin America As Part Of Mass Deportation Plan; Support For Trump's Wall In AZ "Hot Spot" For Migrants, Drugs; Six Tourists Dead From Suspected Methanol Poisoning In Laos; Record-Breaking Thanksgiving Travel Expected. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired November 23, 2024 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:01:31]

JIM SCIUTTO CNN HOST: Welcome to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington. Jessica Dean has the weekend off.

In a sign of mounting concern over what turned out to be a long running Chinese cyber espionage campaign in this country, targeting some of the most senior US political figures, there is now going to be an all senators classified briefing scheduled for just after Congress returns from recess next month.

CNN has previously reported that hackers burrowed deep into some major US telecoms providers, which allowed them then to have access to the phones, phone calls, text messages of so many people in this country and that this hack went on undetected it seems, for months.

The full scope of the hack, not clear at this point, but one senator described it as the worst Chinese espionage operation in this country ever.

Joining me now is Democratic Congressman Tom Suozzi from New York. He serves among other things, on the Homeland Security Committee.

Good to have you back. Thanks so much for taking the time this Saturday.

REP. TOM SUOZZI (D-NY): Yes, Jim, thanks so much for having me on.

SCIUTTO: Listen, the more I read, you're probably in the same boat with me about this Chinese hack, the more concerned I get. One, it is major; two, it was going on for months before the US even realized what was happening here.

Can you give us a sense, I mean, just your own reaction to this and how big a security breach this is for this country?

SUOZZI: Well, let me first say that this is one thing we can give President Trump credit for, which is that he changed the whole discussion in the country for us to focus on the fact that China was our strategic adversary. They've been cheating. They've been stealing patents from us, they've been using our technology. They've got some terrible things happening throughout their country with the Uighurs in forced labor camps, the Tibetans, for decades; now the Hong Kong students have been incarcerated.

We are hearing about Taiwan and now this breach is really another thing in a long line of incidents where the Chinese communist party is cheating.

SCIUTTO: Yes. So we have to be very conscious of it. We have to be very focused on it. There is a select committee on China that works on these issues. I was on the congressional executive committee on China which is more about human rights previously, but we have to recognize that China has a plan -- economically, militarily in space, air, land, and water, and they are coming after us.

And that doesn't mean we are going to go to war. It doesn't mean we want to go -- it means there are competitors and they're breaking the rules.

SCIUTTO: You know, one thing that strikes me, you know, this kind of hacking, by the way it goes on in both directions, we should we should acknowledge that. But that when you speak of cyber breaches like this or telecommunications breaches like this, as you say, we've known for years that China is very, very busy in this space, and we, both the government and the private sector have tried to put up defenses.

But here is a case where the defense has failed again and even it seems the sensors failed, right, in that it was going on and we didn't even know it was going on. I mean, that's alarming.

SUOZZI: I've heard testimony about, you know, thousands of incidents of breaches of people trying to break into our security systems every single day, not every year, every day and that combined with misinformation and disinformation, you know they're trying to undermine us from within.

[18:05:06]

And I am very disappointed, quite frankly, in President Trump, because he was very, very -- he was out there in his previous administration about TikTok and concerns about TikTok, and now he has flip-flopped, and now he is all -- he is buddies with TikTok which doesn't make any sense at all.

We have to be very concerned about the fact that TikTok is a Chinese- owned company, and that they are sharing information. The concern is they are sharing information directly with the Chinese Communist Party and trying to affect us or infect us even with disinformation and misinformation.

These are all part and parcel of the same effort, a concerted effort by the Chinese Communist Party to beat us.

SCIUTTO: Yes, listen, folks in the intel world told me years ago to stay away from TikTok. I've stayed away from it. I've tried to keep my family away from it as well, and I think it is a smart thing to do.

SUOZZI: So, am I.

SCIUTTO: All right, let's talk about what is happening in this country because of course, election just happened. There is a new president- elect and he is making his choices for his Cabinet.

SUOZZI: I heard about that.

SCIUTTO: You heard about that news?

You know how Democrats, yourself included, were concerned about the prospect of a second Trump term. Now that you are seeing his choices to lead the agencies of government, do you see him making a plan and putting the people into place to carry out a real transformation, right, of some of these agencies and their functions? Are you concerned about these appointments across the board?

SUOZZI: Well listen, president -- one, the president is empowered to make these appointments to his administration, but he has got to follow a process. We've discussed it before. It is in the United States Constitution. The Republicans are always railing about we've got to follow the Constitution, we've got to follow the Constitution.

Well, the Constitution says that the president can make his appointments with the advice and consent of the United States Senate, and there are concerns about some of these appointees and we have to go through the process of vetting these different candidates to make sure that they pass muster.

Now, do I think that 90 percent of them are going to be approved and it is not going to be much of a show? Yes, I do think that will happen. But you know, that five percent or 10 percent or whatever the number is, there is going to be questions raised about people.

And you know, you said, is there a plan? Is there a strategy? There is always a concern about whether Trump really has a strategy, whether he is thinking through all the different steps, the next step, it is kind of like more of a gut thing with him, an emotional thing. You like, I like this one. He looks like he should be in that job.

You know, he gives a good speech. He is on TV. I mean, so we've got to go through the process.

SCIUTTO: Who of the picks so far causes you the greatest concern?

SUOZZI: No comment. I am not going to -- you know, I was -- of course, like everybody else concerned about Matt Gaetz. I am happy that he has pulled out, but you know, let us not focus on the stuff like, you know Pete Hegseth's tattoos or you know, Bob Kennedy -- Robert Kennedy's worm in his brain.

You know, let's look at their experience. Let's look at what they are proposing to do and their background and let the Senate go through their process of vetting these candidates so that they can decide whether or not to give their advice and consent to these appointments. I want to tell everybody, you know, calm down. It is going to be, you know, what is it now? Sixty days until the president is sworn in on January 20th, maybe a little bit less than that.

There is a long way between now and then, a lot is going to happen. We've got to calm down. We've got to stop worrying about how did these people vote for Donald Trump? That's not the question. It is why did they vote for Donald Trump? And now, he is going to be the president of the United States of America.

He is clothed with certain authorities, but he has got to follow the rules and go through this advice and consent. I don't like this this recess appointments idea at all. That's an attempt to game the system and the American people should not stand for that.

SCIUTTO: And a number of Republican senators have said quite the same thing. So okay, so let's set aside the personalities for a moment. Let's look at some of the policies.

RFK, Jr. at HHS. Let's forget about the brain worm. He is someone who has repeatedly raised questions about vaccines and I am not just talking about the COVID vaccine. I am talking about life-saving vaccines like measles, and when he has raised those questions, folks have listened.

If you look at the case of American Samoa for instance, and people have lost their lives as a result. I mean, that's a policy. I know that people voted for Trump. I don't believe that people voted for ending life-saving vaccines.

So, on that issue, and you represent a heck of a lot of people outside of the city of New York. Do you think, it would be good for their health to raise questions about vaccines in this country that have saved lives?

SUOZZI: Well, listen, I've gotten all my vaccines and my kids get all their vaccines, and we got our vaccines during the COVID process, and I believe that it has helped with public health, but he has raised questions about the number of vaccines that people got and I forget what the year was and then the dramatic increase in health related problems related to that.

So does he have a right to talk about those things? Yes, it is the United States of America, but if you're going to be the Secretary of Health and Human Services, these ideas have to be vetted and you have to go through a process.

[18:10:21]

And it can't be -- you know I am not an expert and you're not an expert in vaccines, but most experts have said that what he is saying is not accurate. So, we have to really drill down into this process.

You know, when he talks about pharma having too much power and industrial agriculture having too much power, and it is affecting the food we eat and it is affecting our health style, and our life expectancy is not as long as it is in other industrialized countries, well, I mean, that sounds like a pretty legitimate concern.

But he has got to -- if he is going to take on this position, he has got to follow the science. He has got to go through process, and people have to hold him accountable for the things he said. He can't just say things off the top of his head anymore. He is going to have to go through a process.

And it may be that he doesn't make it through the process, but it may be that he does make it through the process. So we've got to go through that process.

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you about another, because another aspect of Trump's plans, or at least as stated publicly, is to and he said this repeatedly, is go after the enemy within, as he often describes it, and that that includes folks who have criticized him, lawmakers who have criticized him, journalists who wrote critical stories about him, at least based on his public statements and now he has an attorney general, it is not Matt Gaetz, but it is Pam Bondi who has echoed some of that same language about going to the Justice Department, saying, we are going to go after these people.

And I know there were two schools of thought on that, that's just Trump talk, but others who look at what he said and look at how he ran this election and are quite concerned about what comes next. I wonder where you stand.

SUOZZI: I am very concerned about that type of talk. Like everybody else, I am very worried about it, but we have to again take -- have two minds of thought here. One is that when the president does something that is irresponsible or out-of-control or something we disagree with, like when he, in his first term, he tried to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, he tried to get rid of protections for DACA, for the DREAMers, you've got to fight back. You've got to resist. But you have to also look at what can we do to work together to solve problems?

I remember when Trump was first elected in 2017, it was the first time I was elected to Congress. I have been in office before as a mayor and county executive, I wrote down things that I agreed with Donald Trump on and things that I disagreed with Donald Trump on.

And, you know, those things can continue to be things that I agreed on and disagreed on, and some things he flip-flopped on. So we have to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. If everybody is going to explode and freak out over every single thing, then you're never going to be able to focus on the things that really matter.

You know, they said the other day on the show, I was watching you know, if everything is a five-alarm fire, then there is no such thing as a five-alarm fire. So we've got to pick our battles and resist when things don't make sense or they're irresponsible and we have to work together when they do make sense.

So am I worried about going after the enemy within? Yes, I am concerned about that, but let's see what unfolds.

SCIUTTO: So let me ask you --

SUOZZI: Let's be prepared.

SCIUTTO: Give me an example where you think you could work together? I know, for instance, you ran and you won in your district twice in the last year, right? Once when Santos left and then once in this election outperforming Kamala Harris in your district, I should note.

You have been one of the Democrats' most forward leaning on border security, but I imagine, you're not one who believes there should be a mass deportation of many millions of folks in this country.

So where do you find the overlap with the president-elect's positions when it comes to immigration?

SUOZZI: Well, we should work together on border security to one, secure the border; two, fix the broken asylum system; and three, treat people like human beings, especially the DREAMers and the TPS recipients and the farm workers and the health care workers and, you know, the president, they say they want to deport criminals. Okay, well, I think we have to support the idea of deporting criminals. Nobody should be against deporting criminals.

But let's see how they execute on that because if it turns out that they're knocking down peoples' doors and there are little kids being separated from their parents, and the criminal used to live at that apartment, but now they've moved away from that apartment, but they are subjecting these people to terror, then we've got to be very concerned about that type of thing.

So we should support the deportation of criminals. There is no question about that. But mass deportations, your businesses are going to be in trouble. Your law enforcement community is going to be in trouble because they don't want to see that type of anarchy, I am talking about local police officers and you don't want to treat people like they are not human beings and separate parents and children, especially subjecting people to being terrified, especially when sometimes -- get this -- government makes mistakes.

[16:15:20]

So we have to be very, very conscious and watch this very carefully. If the president was smart, he would take his win and he would come to the Democrats now, along with the Republicans in Congress and say, okay, let's cut a deal here. Let's secure the border, let's build the wall. Let's get more border agents. Let's get more immigration judges.

Let's fix the broken asylum system that is being abused right now. Let's set up safe mobility offices in other parts of the world so people don't come to the southern, and let's treat people like human beings.

SCIUTTO: Yes. We will see. Certainly, some of those elements you described were in that bipartisan proposal earlier this year, which the president opposed at the time. We will look for your action on that topic and others. Congressman Tom Suozzi, thanks so much for joining, as always.

SUOZZI: Thank you, Jim.

SCIUTTO: And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:20:46]

SCIUTTO: Turning now to Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. The French tonight gave the greenlight for Ukraine to fire French supplied long range missiles into Russia in "self-defense." That announcement follows Russia's escalation in its attacks on Ukraine, including targeting civilians, as it has done since the very start of the war.

President Putin said Russia will continue to start testing and mass producing the hypersonic ballistic missile. That's the video you're seeing there that it fired on Ukraine this week. Why those multiple flashes at high speed? Because the missile contained multiple warheads capable of hitting multiple targets. The target, in this case, the city of Dnipro.

The Ukrainian President Zelenskyy is tonight looking to the near future, saying he is waiting to see President-elect Donald Trump's proposals for ending the conflict when he takes office in January.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): As for when the war will end, when Russia wants this war to end, when America has a stronger position, when the global south is on the side of Ukraine and on the side of ending the war, it will happen. I am confident in that.

It will not be an easy path, but I am confident that we have every chance to do it next year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Our Nick Paton Walsh is in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has suggested that the war could end next year, and I think that is a reflection not necessarily of victory looming for Ukraine or defeat looming for Russia, but the increased noise around the idea of some sort of peace settlement. Indeed, in similar comments, he said that he would go and see Trump in January once the president-elect has taken office and might discuss what points or ideas for peace indeed, Donald Trump had in that meeting.

At the same time, too, increased diplomacy by NATO around Trump. We understand that the NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, has been in Florida to meet Donald Trump, and so that is just I think, a reflection of the increased motion around a new White House administration months away.

But that change in Washington is also augmenting the pace of events here inside of Ukraine. We have had a startling week, frankly, in which we've gone from last Friday, the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, breaking nearly two years of isolation from major western leaders by telephoning the Kremlin head, Vladimir Putin, essentially to sort of maybe kick start the idea of diplomacy. It didn't seem that call went particularly well.

But then we had the Biden administration authorizing Ukraine to fire longer range missiles into Russia. They did that pretty fast and then the Kremlin had Vladimir Putin announcing that the device they fired over Ukraine, over industrial sites in the Dnipro, a multi-warhead ballistic missile was something new they say called the Oreshnik, a hypersonic, non-nuclear missile, which they claim could get through any western air defenses.

So startling fast paced events, and that is, I think, also too reflected on the battlefield where even the UK's Ministry of Defense intelligence suggested that the frontline was least stable as it has been since the invasion. That is simply a reflection of what we are hearing on the ground from multiple military sources of increasing Ukrainian weakness and various points along the front line in the east in particular, because Russia appears to have an extraordinary tolerance for casualties and consistently finding momentum.

So a particularly fragile two months ahead here. The geopolitical stakes increasingly rise. The kind of armaments that Moscow and Washington are finding themselves, either using or supplying here, increasing in their sophistication and severity and I think a real concern that Russia is going to go all out in the next two months to try and improve its negotiating position, if indeed, it ascends to going to the table when Donald Trump takes office in January.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Kyiv, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Still ahead, we are seeing a lot of familiar faces as President-elect Trump's White House takes shape. How former reality stars and cable news hosts are expected to fill Cabinet level positions leading major agencies.

You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

[18:29:33]

SCIUTTO: Former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz has found another way to make some money now that he is no longer Trump's pick for attorney general, and that is a surprising one, creating custom videos for money on Cameo.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MATT GAETZ (R), FORMER US REPRESENTATIVE I am glad I got the chance to connect with you. I am glad that your buddy, Bryan got you this cameo and make sure you go crush it in your job, crush it in life, and we are all rooting for you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: This has actually become a new trend among former politicians and pundits to turn to Cameo. Dr. Oz, he is there along with expelled Congressman George Santos; Trump supporter, Roger Stone, even former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Joining us now, CNN media analyst and senior media correspondent at AXIOS, Sara Fischer.

We've seen a lot of this. Sometimes, it looks a little embarrassing. That said, folks made money from it. So, I wonder, I mean, is that -- is it as simple as that? It is a good way to make money when you're out of politics or looking for your next job.

[16:30:33]

SARA FISCHER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: Yes. It's an easy way to make money. I mean, when George Santos joined him, he was making more than his $174,000 salary in Congress in his first week on Cameo. So that should tell you how much these guys have to make if they do it right.

And then the other thing is that it's a way to keep up with fans, if you will. You know, Donald Trump ...

SCIUTTO: Yes.

FISCHER: ... and the Republican Party has gone really from focusing on thinking about people as voters to thinking about people as fans, and that's the whole point of the Cameo app.

SCIUTTO: Listen, I know professional athletes do it as well. How much per video do these guys charge?

FISCHER: So for Matt Gaetz, you're looking at over $500 a video. It can be a lot, depending on what the ask is. But, you know, I would be remiss not to note that there's some risk in doing this, too. Chris Christie got on Cameo and infamously was asked to endorse somebody. That person happened to be a Democrat. And it's not the first time that's happened to politicians on Cameo. So even though you stand to make a lot of money, the risk is that you can get embarrassed.

SCIUTTO: But isn't there also a risk that you could end up selling your little hello to someone that you don't want to be selling your hello to, right? I mean, is that a risk as well? I mean, is there any kind of screening process that you can see as you sell these things?

FISCHER: Yes. So the creator definitely has the ability to say yes or no to different requests. But it is hard to tell if you're going to be asked to do a message on behalf of somebody or endorsing somebody that you don't know. SCIUTTO: Yes.

FISCHER: Just to the point I'd mentioned about Chris Christie, you can get conned. But that's on the creator to be really careful about what they're saying in terms of their message. I've talked to the Cameo CEO about this a while ago, and he said, look, we're going to let politicians come on the platform. He said if Donald Trump to come on the platform, he'd let him. They're allowed to do political fundraising on the platform, too.

To date, this hasn't been a huge builder of Cameo's business, but it definitely helps ...

SCIUTTO: Yes.

FISCHER: ... these struggling politicians when they're out of a job.

SCIUTTO: All right. Other piece here, we're seeing that many of Trump's Cabinet picks have either entertainment or television experience - a lot of them in particular from Fox News - but let's go through some of them: Sean Duffy for transportation secretary, Pete Hegseth for defense, both on Fox News, Dr. Oz. Of course, he used to have his own television show. His pick to run the Education Department, Linda McMahon. She ran the very television friendly WWE media empire. Mike Huckabee, now ambassador to Israel. He was with Fox News. Tulsi Gabbard had a stint as a contributor.

Why is that? I mean, is it - you hear this explanation that he sees folks on TV and he's like, that person can help me.

FISCHER: Yes. Trump's a very visual guy. He's a TV guy. He gets most of his news and information by watching cable news. And remember, he had a year - a 14-year stint doing "The Apprentice." This is somebody who built his entire career off of being visually compelling. And so that's what the expectation is for the people that he hires.

You'll recall back when he had his first press secretary coming out, Sean Spicer. One of the criticisms of him is that he was not as he would expect to be a TV-friendly guy and putting himself together for the camera.

So for Donald Trump, this is really important for having his Cabinet look put together. That's what he considers a qualification for someone for these huge government roles. It's amazing.

SCIUTTO: So let me ask you a question, though, Sara, because all the talk is about how fewer and fewer people are watching TV, including the cable networks, right? It's not me saying that, it's just out there. Is Trump backwards looking to some degree by picking folks who still make their names on old school media platforms?

FISCHER: No, it's not backwards looking because what he cares about is somebody that's compelling whatever screen they're going to be on. Now, he cares a lot about television and that's why these are names that mostly came from TV. But he's right to think that it's smart to have people who can be compelling across any platform, whether you're cutting a clip for TikTok or you're cutting a clip for Snapchat or any other visual platform.

SCIUTTO: Right.

FISCHER: Now, the average president would say that it's not about your TV credentials and how you look on camera. It's about how you govern and how you're able to manage massive amounts of government employees. But that's not ...

SCIUTTO: Yes.

FISCHER: ... Donald Trump's MO.

SCIUTTO: I mean, you'd kind of like it to be if you're going to be managing a massive amount of government employees. But, we'll - well, we'll see what works. Sara Fischer, thanks so much.

FISCHER: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Still ahead, we speak to ranchers and residents of the border state of Arizona, why they support the more aggressive immigration stance President-elect Trump has promised. You are on the CNN NEWSROOM.

[18:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:39:35]

SCIUTTO: President-elect Trump's team is mapping out an aggressive strategy towards Latin America, this according to two sources speaking to CNN. Part of Trump's mass deportation plan, which he promised, on the campaign trail. Now his team is looking for ways to carry it out, including possible consequences for countries that do not comply with his plan. CNN's David Culver traveled to Arizona, where officials and residents are hopeful there that Trump can bring further security to the border.

[18:40:06]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): More than 30 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border ...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CULVER (voice over): ... Arizona deputies close in on a suspected migrant smuggler. This SUV going 40 miles over the speed limit. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get back in the car. Now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CULVER (voice over): Sheriff Mark Dannels tells most smugglers are U.S. citizens paid by Mexican cartels.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CULVER (off camera): 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 getaways "gotaways."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

S. CHILTON: Obviously, if you leave your door standing open in your house, where do people come in?

CULVER (off camera): The opening.

S. CHILTON: The door, right?

CULVER: Right.

S. CHILTON: Okay.

J. CHILTON: Federal government's warning us that there are bad people coming through here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CULVER (voice over): Jim says he's come face to face with them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J. CHILTON: About 20 guys ran across the road and up that hill to the - going northwest and the guy in front appeared to have a AK-47.

CULVER (off 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CULVER (voice over): We soon learned Jim isn't the only one armed in these parts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CULVER: Some call Tim Foley a vigilante. He says his self-funded group, Arizona Border Recon, is here to deter the cartels. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FOLEY: It's a game of chess or whack-a-mole.

CULVER (off camera): Who's winning?

FOLEY: Them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CULVER (voice over): Volunteers from across the U.S. join Foley in his unofficial and, at times, controversial, patrol effort.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CULVER (off camera): 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CULVER (voice over): But he believes the economy and national security are about to improve.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHAMBERLAIN: I think that 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, you know?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

RAFAEL: Like 10, 10 ...

CULVER: So everybody?

RAFAEL: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CULVER (voice over): But Cochise County deputies say they aren't focused on migrants like Rafael.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're going to travel (ph).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CULVER (voice over): They want the cartel-fueled smugglers who operate day and night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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 (off camera): And that's just the cartels basically saying, a thousand times.

BRENNAN: Hey, let's get it. You know, we're here to make money. Let's get it while we can.

[18:45:06]

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CULVER (on camera): So Jim, as we spent time down there, we did ask folks what they made of President Trump's intentions to potentially deploy the military to the border. And you've got a variety of different responses to that.

Mr. Chilton, the rancher, fully supports President Trump, fully supports that idea. Local law enforcement say it could be effective if they have the cooperation and coordination in place ahead of time. But the vigilante you saw there, Tim Foley, very skeptical. He says he has seen the National Guard deployed before along the border. He thinks the military may not be equipped for the terrain as he sees it, being very challenging. And so he believes that is not the way to go.

It shows you that even amongst folks who are on the same side of things, so to speak, fully supporting President Trump, wanting to secure the border. There are differences of opinion in how exactly it's best to do that. Jim?

SCIUTTO: We and they will see very soon. David Culver, thanks so much.

Still ahead, tourism turns deadly with six deaths in a popular Asian vacation spot. The official warnings on how to stay safe. You are in CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:50:47]

SCIUTTO: International concern is growing following the death of an Australian teen who has now become the sixth tourist to die from suspected methanol poisoning. And now numerous countries, including the U.S., are warning against consuming potentially tainted alcohol in the Southeast Asian country of Laos. CNN's Melissa Bell joins us from Paris with the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Six people are now believed to have died as a result of tainted alcohol poisoning in Laos. The latest victim, a 19-year-old woman from Melbourne, Australia, who'd been backpacking through Asia with her best friend. The two women are believed, according to the Associated Press, to have been given free shots in the hostel they were staying at before heading out for a night of drinking in Vang Vieng, a popular hotspot for backpackers in Laos.

The other victims include a British woman, an American citizen, two Danish citizens as well, with several western consulates saying they're working with some of their citizens who are believed also to have been impacted by the tainted alcohol. Those countries believe that methanol poisoning is to blame, although no cause of death has been announced. We spoke to one doctor who told us about exactly just how poisonous methanol was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNO MEGARBANE, LARIBOISIERE HOSPITAL, PARIS: Even a drop of methanol is toxic. It has been estimated that an amount of 10 milliliters of methanol could result in the death of an adult of 70 kilograms. So, it is really very toxic. And the fatal amount is very low.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BELL: According to the Associated Press, several people have been taken in for questioning, including the manager of the hostel where the two young Australian backpackers were staying, although no charges have yet been brought. What the deaths have triggered are warnings about the dangers of tainted alcohol and the need to take care.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Good Lord, what a sad story. Thanks so much to Melissa Bell.

Still ahead this hour, rain, colder temperatures and snow in the Thanksgiving week forecast. Not what you want when you're going to be travelling for the holiday. We're tracking it all as millions of people are already on the move. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:57:39]

SCIUTTO: A potentially record-setting Thanksgiving travel rush is on. AAA expects nearly 80 million Americans to travel this holiday, surpassing even pre-pandemic levels. Airlines expect more than 30 million people will fly, making that the busiest Thanksgiving ever.

But - you don't want to hear this - weather is already causing trouble: Snow, winds, storms disrupting travel in cities across the country. CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar has the details.

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 Mt. 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 there 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 main 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 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. If you'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, okay, what about the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade?

[19:00:05]

Many folks not only go to see it, but also watch it on TV.