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Israel-Hezbollah Ceasefire Begins After Months of Fighting; Fighting Grinds On as War Nears Three-Year Mark; Blinken to Meet Pope Francis as G7 Talks Wrap Up; Texas Warming Up to Trump as He Plans Immigration Overhaul. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired November 27, 2024 - 04:30   ET

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

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[04:30:07]

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN Newsroom. I'm Christina Macfarlane.

If you're just joining us, here are some of the top stories we're following today. We're just a few hours into the new Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire agreement. And already roads and highways are packed with displaced residents heading home despite warnings not to return just yet.

One of the FBI's most wanted fugitives has been arrested in the UK after 20 years on the run. Daniel Andreas San Diego, a suspected animal rights extremist, was wanted for multiple bombings in California in 2003. The 46-year-old was arrested Monday in Wales and now faces extradition.

And the traffic citations against Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill have been dropped because one of the police officers who pulled him over in September failed to appear in court. This video shows officers pulling the NFL star out of his car and placing him face down in the road after he did not immediately comply with their commands.

More now on our top story this hour. Right now, the 60-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah is in effect. But already the Israeli military says its soldiers opened fire in Lebanon to prevent vehicles from reaching a restricted area. Although they didn't say where the incident took place.

This was the scene in central Lebanon earlier as an unending line of cars heading south as displaced residents rushed to go home. This despite Israel and Lebanon's army urging them to delay their return.

The new ceasefire deal calls for Israeli ground forces to withdraw from Lebanese territory and Lebanese government forces to regain control of the Hezbollah-held area. And U.S. and France will work to ensure the agreement is enforced. And President Joe Biden has been praising the deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOE BIDEN, (D) U.S. PRESIDENT: I applaud the crazy decision made by the leaders of Lebanon and Israel to end the violence. It reminds us that peace is possible. Say that again, peace is possible. As long as that is the case, I will not for a single moment stop working to achieve it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Now, for the first time, Moscow is admitting the efficacy of Ukraine's attacks with U.S.-made missiles. On Tuesday, Russia's Defense Ministry acknowledged that two of Ukraine's recent strikes using attack and missiles hit their marks in the Kursk region. One strike damaged a radar system and caused casualties. And a second damaged infrastructure on an airfield and wounded two servicemen.

Last week, Ukrainian forces used the U.S.-provided longer-range missiles for the first time to target military infrastructure inside Russian territory. But for Ukraine, the fighting grinds on as the war approaches the three-year mark.

The outlook seems bleak for one unit in Pokrovsk that is so low on infantry it's resorting to drones instead. Nick Paton Walsh has more. And a warning, some of the video in his report is graphic.

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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): They're running out of time, space and people. Night is killing time for drones.

They've switched on the anti-drone device because of the threat around here. This Ukrainian drone unit of just two hunting, but also hunted.

I think I hear a drone inside, inside, inside.

Is that a Russian drone? Is it one of theirs? They don't know, but they have to carry on.

Dogs are not friends. Their heat signals can give their launch spot away to Russia's thermal cameras. They close in on the target. A house jamming hits the signal but they fire anyway.

Russia advancing too fast here, south of Pokrovsk in the east to miss any chances.

The skyline speaks of how Pokrovsk is in Russia's crosshairs. Ukraine is short of manpower, but it is so bad here. They say they must rely on drones, not infantry, to slow a brazen Russian daylight assault like this one.

"EAST", DRONE COMPNAY COMMANDER, 15 NATIONAL GUARD (through translation): The situation is very critical. We lack infantry to fight and hold out for some time while the attack drones do their job. That's why we often see the enemy uncomfortably penetrating vulnerable areas. WALSH (voiceover): Watch how the first Russian tank here is

relentless. A Trump presidency and possible peace talks loom. Do they even have time for that here?

"KOEHEI", RECON UNIT, 15 NATIONAL GUARD (through translation): I cannot say how much time we have. If there is any time at all. Because now they are pushing their troops to the front as much as possible. At then at one point they will go for an assault. They can go very far in one moment.

[04:35:11]

WALSH (voice-over): Talk here is abnormally negative, with weeks of costly and chaotic retreat on film, like these Ukrainians hit when they're mistakenly told this building didn't have any Russians in it.

This house has an encircled Ukrainian drone unit without any infantry to help fight advancing Russians. So they send a drone to fly just 30 meters across the street.

"KOTYA", RECON UNIT, 15TH NATIONAL GUARD (through translation): I have no men. I'm (bleep) alone. I'm (bleep) tired. I love my job, whatever trash is happening but we need other young people to love this job too. Our country is awake, but people in it are (bleep) not. Guys are dying here. This is trash. Freezing this war is a double- edged sword. Do we give up the land my friends died for or to continue taking it back and lose even more friends? If these two old men, [Trump and Putin], start measuring dicks, Ukraine will be the middle of it all.

WALSH (voice-over): Russian troops savage in the assault. This footage shows a local in orange who's shown Russians where Ukrainians were hiding. They are led out -- and shot while face down.

Part of a pattern of surrendering Ukrainians executed, say prosecutors investigating this incident a fortnight ago. Pokrovsk's key sites bombed, but so far spared Russia's trademark devastation. It is possible, some say, Moscow is moving so fast, it thinks it will spend the winter here.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, outside Pokrovsk, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Salma Abdelaziz is joining me here. And Salma, I think that report from Nick just lays bare how bleak the situation is in Pokrovsk for those Ukrainian soldiers. Many of them, as we saw, they're so isolated. But the question is, how bad is the situation now reflected across the entire Eastern Front? And is there a danger, in fact, of that front collapsing, given what we're seeing?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just to go back to Nick's excellent reporting, because you have that soldier, yes, laced with profanities is his statement, but he really lays out what's happening on the battleground. He says, I'm alone. That's because there are simply not enough men on the ground fighting for Ukraine. They are desperate for more soldiers. He's run out of resources. He's relying on drones.

That's despite billions of dollars being poured into the country, they are on the back foot. Russia simply has the larger arsenal, the larger number of weapons, the bigger number of troops on the ground. And they are also on the back foot in places that they believed there were going to be gains. And I'm speaking here of Kursk.

Russia, on the other hand, is absolutely gaining momentum. President Putin has accused Ukraine of using those ATACMS in Kursk. That is something that President Biden has approved. These U.S.-made long- range drones. But the consequence of using those from President Putin has been high. He's lowered the nuclear threshold, the nuclear doctrine in the country. He used those experimental ballistic missiles a few days ago on Dnipro, and he is pushing perhaps harder than ever to regain areas where Nick Paton Walsh was, of course, in the east of Ukraine, but also to regain Kursk.

All of this happened as the G7 was meeting, these last 24 hours, meeting alongside Ukraine's Foreign Minister, trying to reassure him that they have his back.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We're determined that Ukraine has the money, the munitions, and mobilized forces to fight effectively in 2025 or to negotiate but from a position of strength.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: But you hear there, of course, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, but this administration is, of course, on the way out. And that's what everyone is preparing for on the ground. You have two parallel realities almost that were taking place yesterday. The G7 Foreign Minister is meeting in Italy, promising to do what it takes for however long it takes, but on the ground, soldiers that Nick is speaking to, preparing for that very real possibility that they could be dragged into a negotiating room.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, and what Blinken was saying there doesn't speak to the realities of what Nick is seeing on the eastern front right now. As you say, Ukraine seems to be readying themselves for the eventuality of a peace deal. What that is going to be remains to be seen. Trump is so unpredictable. But the Trump administration, as far as we know, they are involved at this stage, are they not, in having some communication?

ABDELAZIZ: There is communication, we understand. The extent to which Trump has authority or does not have authority is unclear. He is not in office yet, of course. We are still under President Biden. That means he has the final say.

[04:40:05]

But I think when you are looking at those final decisions like allowing those long-range missiles to be used, the ATACMS to be used, that's sort of throwing a bone to the Ukrainians, trying to dig in the trenches, trying to improve their position on the ground. But it's not enough. President Putin is also ramping up his arsenal.

We actually have reports that those ballistic missiles, many of them coming from North Korea, the factories in North Korea that are developing them, well, they're expanding. So not only now is President Putin getting more troops from North Korea, he's also potentially getting more weapons from North Korea, his arsenal growing, his gains on the ground growing, Ukraine, of course, struggling to hold on to anything.

MACFARLANE: It really is a concerning picture, isn't it, Salma? Thank you.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Italy, where he's expected to meet with the Pope today. He met with foreign ministers of G7 countries earlier this week amid the escalating conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, as we just mentioned. These international concerns will likely be up for discussion during Blinken's meeting with Pope Francis in the Vatican City.

CNN Vatican Correspondent Christopher Lamb is joining us. I guess this meeting with Blinken is as much about bookending the Biden presidency as it is looking ahead to the next.

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Christina. We are seeing the first images of the Pope's meeting with Secretary Blinken this morning. He also met with Vatican officials.

Top of the agenda will be global conflicts. Of course, the Pope and the Biden administration having some quite significant differences over the war in Ukraine and in Gaza, the Pope calling for Ukraine to negotiate a peace, even to, as he said in an interview, the courage to raise the white flag, which was controversial. The Pope also saying that allegations of genocide should be investigated in Gaza.

So quite significant differences with the Biden administration. But broadly speaking, President Biden and the Pope have worked well together. The President, of course, the second Catholic president, has had a warm relationship with Pope Francis.

Of course, this is, as you say, the back end of the Biden administration. It's a chance for Secretary Blinken to say goodbye to the Pope. And, of course, now a more uncertain period opens for the Vatican with the second Trump term about to commence.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, and there are likely to be significant differences as well between the Pope and the Trump administration. Between Trump, I'm thinking perhaps chiefly of the issue of migration. Where do you see relations going during the Vatican-Trump second time around?

LAMB: Well, look, Pope Francis' vision of the world is really very different from President Trump's. He mentioned migration. The Pope has made welcoming migrants an absolutely key theme of his pontificate. He says the exclusion of migrants is totally wrong. And, of course, President Trump is planning to deport migrants. So there's a major tension there.

Also on climate change. Pope Francis made protection of the environment a key topic of his pontificate. So I do envisage potential for major disagreements. It's also complicated by the fact that a lot of Catholics in the United States voted for President Trump, and some Catholic leaders are supportive of Trump. Different, in a way, to Pope Francis' position.

However, the Vatican will try and work with President Trump's administration. And perhaps on Ukraine, the war in -- Russia's war in Ukraine, which President Trump has pledged to end and which Pope Francis wants to see end, there may be room for some kind of collaboration. We'll have to see. Christina.

MACFARLANE: All right. Christopher Lamb, I appreciate it. Thank you.

Now, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris will reopen its doors on December 8th, more than five years after it was engulfed in flames. The church was restored painstakingly, and its bells rang out for the first time earlier this month.

Investigators are still unsure of what caused the devastating fire in 2019, although they believe it was accidental. But very soon, people will once again be able to visit the 850-year-old landmark.

Still to come, Donald Trump prepares to overhaul U.S. immigration policy and is looking to Texas for the first steps to take.

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[04:47:40]

MACFARLANE: Now, we're less than two months away from Donald Trump swearing in, and his team has finally signed the paperwork to begin the most important parts of the transition. An agreement with the White House, signed nearly two months after it was initially due, gives Trump's team access to key federal agencies and the security clearances needed to receive classified information. Trump's team, however, has declined to sign another transition document, which would give them access to office space and secure communications, among other things.

One of the likely reasons Trump signed at least one transition agreement is his proposed crackdown on immigration. Both Trump's camp and immigration officials have lacked information on what's needed to carry out his plans for additional detention facilities and mass deportation. But the President-elect could have himself a key ally in Texas.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez has more.

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PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President-elect Donald Trump's incoming border czar ushering a new era when it comes to cooperation between the state of Texas and the federal government. One through line over the recent years has been the ongoing feud between Texas Governor Greg Abbott and the Biden administration. But now, a stark pivot is expected as the incoming administration tries to use what Texas has done along the Texas-Mexico border as a blueprint for Trump's own immigration plans.

Of course, Texas Governor Greg Abbott had launched Operation Lone Star in 2021, only months after President Joe Biden took office as an affront to the Biden administration. Over the last few years, that has included buses of migrants to Democratic-led cities, blocking off a portion of the border to federal agents, and also putting those buoys in the Rio Grande.

Now, that has led to lawsuits filed by the Justice Department and had been moves that, taken together, had frustrated the Biden White House. But now, that is going to change. The incoming border czar Tom Homan praising the work that Texas has done along its border, as sources tell me that the Trump team plans to use what Texas has done as a roadmap for how they want to cooperate with states moving forward. It's essentially trying to usher state resources along the border, even despite their limited capabilities, when it comes to immigration enforcement, to free up federal personnel to execute on Trump's mass deportation promise.

[04:50:02]

Now, the personnel that the incoming president is considering is also telling, I'm told, that Trump is weighing Texas border czar Michael Banks to lead U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

So, taken together, the personnel in the moves and visits over the week have stressed that the incoming Trump administration wants to lean and rely on Texas in ways that the Biden administration had been frustrated, often arguing that Texas was disrupting federal operations, taking what had typically been cooperation between state authorities and federal agents too far.

Now, of course, how that will all shake out will remain to be seen, but certainly Tom Homan indicating that a new era is on the horizon when it comes to the relationship with Texas in the years and months to come.

Priscilla Alvarez, CNN, Washington.

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MACFARLANE: All right, coming up, a painting that has been away from the public eye for over 50 years is now up for auction. Details of this masterpiece just ahead.

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[04:55:01]

MACFARLANE: Welcome back. Our next story is only for adrenaline junkies. China's newest tourist attraction has just opened in Hunan province. It's called the Sky Ladder and it stretches between two cliffs 5,000 feet in the air. For comparison, Dubai's Burj Khalifa is only about half as tall.

And in terms of protection, you get handrails, a harness, and two carabiners to attach you to the ladder. I think a CNN person has to try this out. I nominate Max Foster.

And for the first time in more than 50 years, a painting by British artist George Stubbs is up for auction. It's expected to sell for up to $2.5 million. The Spanish pointer is considered one of the artist's most famous works and has been in a private collection. The painting is now on display to the public at Sotheby's in London until early December.

And an art installation on the southern coast of England is drawing attention, raising eyebrows, for its resemblance to an unsavoury emoji. Take a look for yourself. The artist says this wicker shelter is meant to be the shape of a sea snail's shell.

However, the design has been widely compared, of course, to the iconic poop emoji. To flush away any confusion, one of the sculptors leapt to defend the creation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK ANTONY HADEN FORD, ENVIRONMENT ARTIST, TWO CIRCLES DESIGN: We, as artists, we don't court controversy at all. This was intended to be a periwinkle from the very start. Now, I love the fact that people can interpret art in very different ways, and the fact that some people think it's not a periwinkle and it could be a poop emoji, well, that's up to you to make your decision.

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MACFARLANE: It is up to us, and my decision is that it is most definitely a poop emoji. You can't polish a turd, guys. It is beautiful in some ways, but also, you know, it is what it is.

Thank you for joining me here on CNN Newsroom. I'm Christina Macfarlane. CNN This Morning is up after a quick break. Stay with us.

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