Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

National Guard Member Dies After Attack; Hong Kong Death Toll Climbs; Diplomacy Shifting into Overdrive on Ukraine Peace Plan; Pope Leo Warns Global Conflicts are Endangering Humanity. Hong Kong Fire: Death Toll Jumps To 128, Around 200 Unaccounted For; Trump: U.S. Military Will Strike Inside Venezuela "Very Soon"; National Retail Federation: 187M People To Shop This Weekend. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired November 28, 2025 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Hello, wherever you are in the world. You are now in "CNN Newsroom" with me, Ben Hunte, in Atlanta. It is so good to have you with me.

Coming up on the show, the U.S. president says one of the two National Guard members shot in Washington has died. He is now calling for an immigration crackdown. The death toll in the Hong Kong apartment block fire is pushing 100. We'll have a report from the scene. And Donald Trump threatens a strike inside Venezuela very soon. We'll delve into the background of that threat.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom with Ben Hunte."

HUNTE: Welcome. President Donald Trump says U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, one of the National Guard members shot near the White House, has died. He says he has spoken to Beckstrom's family and is open to attending her funeral, too. Several local and federal law enforcement agencies lined the streets in Washington for a procession earlier. They saluted during the dignified transfer to the medical examiner. A source says Secretary of War Pete Hegseth was in attendance.

The other National Guard member who was attacked, Andrew Wolfe, is still in critical condition after undergoing surgery. The president made the announcement a short time ago while on a Thanksgiving call with service members.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I must, unfortunately, tell you that just seconds before I went on, right now, I heard that Sarah Beckstrom of West Virginia, one of the guardsmen that we're talking about, highly respected, young, magnificent person, started service in June of 2023, outstanding in every way, she has just passed away. She's no longer with us. She's looking down on us right now. Her parents are with her. It has just happened. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: CNN's Brian Todd reports from the scene in Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're getting some crucial new information on how the shooting unfolded, mainly because we're finally getting access to the shooting scene for the first time. I'm going to take you through it right now. This is the area around the Farragut West Metro Station where the shooting occurred. Officials say the shooter came around a corner, presumably this corner, and started opening fire on the National Guardsmen.

This is a planter, part of the evidence we're talking about here. That's an exit from a bullet that went in here and exited here in this planter.

And coming over here, I can show you, officials have said that one of the guardsmen tried to take cover behind a bus stop shelter. And this is that bus stop shelter, because you can see this panel of glass here, but this panel has been taken out. You can see shards of broken glass there and here where it has been fastened. Unclear if it was shot out or whether officials might have just removed it to process the evidence. In this planter, you can see a section of it has been removed.

I'm going to show you a little bit more about that in just a second as we walk over here. Another planter here has a makeshift memorial to the victims, flowers and an American flag planted.

And yes, talking about that planter that had the section removed, I'm going to show you why you have bullet holes here and here of that planter that was removed. So, some traces, some fragments and evidence of the shooting remain here from the day after the shooting occurred.

We have information on the shooter, the alleged shooter himself. He's identified as a 29-year-old Afghan national who Jeanine Pirro, the attorney general for Washington, D.C., said lived in Bellingham, Washington with his wife and they believe five children, that he drove across the country with the intent of coming here to D.C.

Sarah Beckstrom had been in the National Guard for about two years, a little bit more than two years, according to officials. Andrew Wolfe had been in the National Guard for close to six years. They had both been deployed in Washington, D.C. since August, and that was, of course, when President Trump ordered the law enforcement surge here in Washington, D.C., where they started to send in National Guard troops from all over the country.

More than 2,000 of them ended up being here, but those two individuals were part of the West Virginia National Guard and here since August for that deployment.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: The death toll from the apartment block fire in Hong Kong has jumped to 94, with more than 200 people still unaccounted for.

[02:05:00]

The buildings had been under renovation. Residents say they've been raising concerns about construction materials, scaffold netting, and other fire hazards for more than a year now. CNN's Hanako Montgomery is live on the scene for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I just want to show you what I can see behind me. Right now, there aren't any water hoses coming from fire trucks and it looks as though the fire has largely been contained, according to authorities. They do say that the fires have been under control though sometimes, fires do pop up again in small pockets.

Now, of course, just around me in this area, there are dozens of fire trucks to really respond to, again, any pockets of fire that might pop up in the coming hours or so. But again, it seems the situation has largely improved from what we saw yesterday and, of course, Wednesday when the fire first broke out. There are survivors and those who have evacuated at emergency shelters.

Let me just tell you, I mean, we were at some of those emergency shelters yesterday, and the community spirit there is absolutely astounding. I mean, we saw boxes and boxes of babies clothing, ladies clothing, emergency food, water, pet food, really anything that these evacuees and these survivors need. The community was really there to provide that for them. I mean, the spirit behind this group and this community is absolutely astounding.

The authorities are still trying to investigate what exactly caused this fire and what also caused it to be so deadly. There are questions about potentially the construction material being used to renovate these buildings and also some of the bamboo scaffolding that were encasing the buildings.

And again, as you know, at least three people have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter, but authorities haven't really updated since providing that information.

Now, we can also say that firefighters and search and rescue missions were currently undergoing a Friday morning local time. They were going from unit to unit to try to find any remaining survivors. According to the authorities on Friday morning, they did say they were able to locate some survivors, but they haven't really provided any details beyond that.

So, there is still fear that at least 200 people still remain missing. We don't know if those individuals are safe, if they're in a secure location or not, or if authorities are still tending to those injuries. (END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: Let's go back to the aftermath of the National Guard shootings in D.C. In a late-night post, President Trump called for an end to migration from -- quote -- "all third world countries" in a long message posted to social media late on Thanksgiving night.

The president also said he will remove anyone who is -- quote -- "not a net asset to the United States or is incapable of loving our country." He called for the denaturalization of migrants who threaten security and to deport migrants who aren't compatible with western civilization and said -- quote -- "only reverse migration can fully cure this situation."

Earlier, an immigration official said that the U.S. will examine the green cards of people from 19 countries. Among the countries on the list are Venezuela, Haiti, Myanmar, Somalia, and Afghanistan. The suspect in the National Guard shooting is an Afghan national.

Let's keep talking about it. Natasha Lindstaedt is a professor of government at the University of Essex. Natasha, thanks so much for being with me. I'll jump straight into this. President Trump says he wants to permanently pause migration from all so-called third world countries. From your perspective, how feasible is that policy and what would it take to implement anything close to it?

NATASHA LINDSTAEDT, PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: It's a good question. I'm not sure how feasible it is, although he has attempted to try to do these types of things in the past. And this is, of course, in line with his MAGA agenda to try to prevent immigration. He thinks that this is the issue that he can really galvanize his MAGA base with And I just see it as a misdiagnosis of what happened.

It's a typical reactionary response from him to try to prevent everybody from Afghanistan or from other developing countries that he has designated from coming into the country when this is most likely an isolated event. I mean, "The New York Times" reported that this man from Afghanistan was possibly struggling from mental health issues and that doesn't mean that everyone coming, you know, from Afghanistan is going to do this type of thing.

I think it's also important to highlight that a U.S. citizen is five times more likely to engage in violence than immigrants. And most of the time, when immigrants are imprisoned or incarcerated, 90% of the time is because of immigration-related offenses. It's not because they commit violent crimes. So, targeting people in this way is not going to solve the problem.

[02:09:55]

I think he is misunderstanding that it was by deploying National Guard troops there that were very, very vulnerable that made this more -- that made this more likely to happen because they weren't well trained. Some of them were incredibly young, maybe first day on the job. And National Guard troops themselves were very worried about this. And it was a concern that they could attract unwanted acts of violence by different extremist groups by placing them there, that it was too provocative.

HUNTE: Trump is tying this sweeping proposal directly to the shooting in Washington. The suspect there is an Afghan national and Trump has now halted all Afghan applications. What does this mean for Afghans who supported the U.S. and are now stranded or maybe in hiding?

LINDSTAEDT: I mean, this is an incredibly dangerous situation for Afghan nationals. Of course, there are those that are just going to be in limbo. They could be in a third country just waiting to try to come to the U.S. and there were promises that they were able to come.

But I think the more dangerous situation are for Afghan nationals that are somewhere in hiding in Afghanistan that were hoping to come over to the United States and are really fearing for their safety and, of course, have to remain anonymous because they're going to be targeted by the Taliban in the situation.

The human rights situation in Afghanistan, it's deteriorating more than it already has been. So, it's an incredibly dangerous situation. And imagine for the Afghan nationals that are trying to come over to the U.S., one person who has committed this heinous crime is now affecting all the other Afghan nationals that are trying to come into the U.S.

HUNTE: Trump is also escalating his fight to keep National Guard troops in Washington, even after a court ruled the deployment violates the Home Rule Act. How significant is that legal challenge to his authority?

LINDSTAEDT: I mean, we keep seeing again and again that he gets into (INAUDIBLE) with the courts, with the federal courts, not so much the Supreme Court, but definitely with the federal courts that strike down on his expansive view of executive power, where he's just engaging in constitutional hardball or executive overreach time and time again, and he just keeps ignoring what the courts tell him to do and finds ways to circumvent and get around them.

But it had already been ruled that this is a violation. This is not where presidential authority lies. The court is actually really clear

on this. And if they are going to try to strike down on it, then these National Guard troops that are there in D.C. would have to leave by December 11th. But he could just ignore them. And this is the court. He has done this in the past.

And I want to circle back to what I was talking about earlier with the vulnerability of some of these National Guard troops being there without having that proper training, being so young. Some of them have other jobs that they're doing, you know, full time, and then they've been summoned to be deployed in areas where, you know, they could be very vulnerable to an attack.

So, he might ignore the courts, we've seen him do this before, but not only is it unlawful, it could be potentially very dangerous for these National Guard troops.

HUNTE: OK. Thank you for that analysis, Natasha Lindstaedt. We'll leave it there for now. Thanks so much.

LINDSTAEDT: Thanks for having me.

HUNTE: Next, the U.S. is about to kick off two track negotiations over its peace plan for Ukraine, but Russia's president is already indicating he's not willing to make many concessions. That story ahead. Plus, we're seeing some live pictures there. The Pope's new warning about what he says is a danger to the future of humanity. Stay with us. More on that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HUNTE: Welcome back. Efforts to advance the latest U.S. peace proposal for Ukraine will shift into overdrive in the coming days. The U.S. Army secretary is expected in Kyiv at the end of the week for talks with Ukrainian officials. Dan Driscoll already met President Vladimir Zelenskyy last week.

The exact wording of the latest peace proposal is yet to be revealed. It was modified last weekend in Geneva. Ukraine and the Europeans pushed back against the original plan that reads very much like Moscow's wish list. President Zelenskyy says that Kyiv is hoping for progress.

(BACKGROUND VOICE)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): Already this week, at the end of the week, our team, together with American representatives, will continue to translate the points we secured in Geneva into a form that puts us on the path to peace and security guarantees. Next week, there will be important negotiations, not only for our delegation, but also for me personally, and we are laying solid groundwork for those talks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: However, the Russian president is suggesting Ukraine should just accept its losses, warning they could get worse. Vladimir Putin is expected to meet U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow next week. Clare Sebastian reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: After a week of frenzied diplomatic activity, mainly by the U.S. and Ukraine, this was a detailed rundown of exactly where Russian President Putin stands. On the bottom line, nothing has changed.

Yes, he made positive noises, saying the U.S. peace proposal as it stands can form the basis for future agreements. He even said he's prepared to put in writing that Russia has no aggressive intentions towards Europe. But on the most difficult issue of all territorial concessions, he had this to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (through translator): Once Ukrainian troops withdraw from the territories they occupy, then the fighting will end. If they don't withdraw, we will achieve this through military means.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: To clarify, Ukraine cannot occupy, as Putin puts it, its own sovereign territory. But this suggests, although it's not 100% clear, that Russia still wants the whole of the Donbass, including the part it doesn't occupy.

[02:20:02]

And there's another big obstacle here. While Putin is ready and willing to receive Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy in Moscow next week, he still says he won't do a deal with Ukraine's leadership because, as he has argued before, it postponed elections, which it can't, of course, hold under martial law and is, therefore, illegitimate.

So, we have two tracks still. Ukraine says it expects to continue work with a U.S. delegation this week and the U.S. and Russia will talk next week, but still no clear path to bringing the two together.

Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: Israel says it's reviewing an incident where a soldier shot and killed two people following a surrender procedure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: In this video, you can see two men come out of a building with their hands above their heads. They're surrounded by what appears to be Israeli soldiers. Later, the two are seen on the ground as multiple rounds of gunfire are heard. CNN is not showing that moment. Israeli officials say the two were wanted for alleged terror activities. The Palestinian Authority has condemned the killing, calling it -- quote -- "a fully-pledged war crime."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: Israel says it used military aircraft as part of its counter- terrorism operation in the occupied West Bank. There's not much more information for now, but the Israeli military said the Air Force provided aerial assistance to soldiers.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HUNTE: Pope Leo is warning that -- quote -- "conflicts on the global level are endangering humanity." He made the remarks during an impassioned address to civic and political leaders in Turkey during the first overseas trip of his papacy. CNN's Christopher Lamb has more from Ankara, Turkey.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A ceremonial welcome for Pope Leo XIV in Turkey. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan received the pontiff on his first foreign trip. Pope Leo is honoring a promise by his predecessor to visit Turkey and Lebanon, two Muslim majority countries with ancient Christian communities, carrying a message of peace and unity between different branches of Christianity as well as the Muslim faith.

POPE LEO XIV, HEAD OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, BISHOP OF ROME, SOVEREIGN OF THE VATICAN CITY STATE: The particular occasion of my own visit, the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, speaks to us of encounter and dialogue.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

LAMB (voice-over): Peace and compassion are the common values Erdogan says are shared with the pontiff. The two also discuss specifics, focusing on immigration, poverty, and the conflicts gripping the world, with (INAUDIBLE) to the late Pope Francis and his outspoken political views.

RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, PRESIDENT OF TURKEY (through translator): We have always deeply appreciated the steadfast stance of our esteemed guest and his predecessors, particularly on the Palestinian issue. As the large family of humanity, our greatest debt to the Palestinian people is justice.

LAMB: Leo's visit to Turkey and Lebanon, a chance for him to exercise the papacy's soft power to meet with world leaders and to address the leaders of Turkey directly, to emphasize his concern about growing conflicts around the world, the need for countries to talk to each other, to dialogue in the cause for peace.

LAMB (voice-over): A chance to articulate his own brand of papal diplomacy.

POPE LEO XIV: In the aftermath of the tragedies of two world wars, which saw the building of large international organizations, we are now experiencing a phase marked by heightened level of conflict on the global level, fueled by prevailing strategies of economic and military power. This is enabling what Pope Francis called a third world war fought piecemeal. We must in no way give in to this. The future of humanity is at stake.

LAMB (voice-over): Before heading to Istanbul, the Pope met civic and religious leaders in Ankara, with Turkish culture on display, paying tribute to the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

With the trip coinciding with Thanksgiving, the American-born Pope brought the spirit of the holidays to the plane.

POPE LEO XIV: To the Americans here, Happy Thanksgiving. It's a wonderful day to celebrate. It's so important today that the message be transmitted in a way that really reveals the truth and the harmony that the world needs.

LAMB (voice-over): I received holiday-themed gifts, home-baked pumpkin pies from American journalists, and a baseball bat from his favorite team. On this trip, the first American pope acting as a bridge between different cultures.

Christopher Lamb, CNN, Istanbul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: OK, we'll be right back here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HUNTE: Welcome back. President Trump said he will end migration to the U.S. from -- quote -- "all third world countries." The president made the call and a long message posted to social media late on Thanksgiving night. It came after he announced that U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, one of the National Guard members shot near the White House, has died. He says he has spoken to Bextrom's family and is open to attending her funeral.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I must, unfortunately, tell you that just seconds before I went on, right now, I heard that Sarah Beckstrom of West Virginia, one of the guardsmen that we're talking about, highly respected, young, magnificent person, started service in June of 2023, outstanding in every way, she has just passed away. She's no longer with us. She's looking down on us right now. Her parents are with her. This has just happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: And we are learning new details about the suspect who was also wounded and taken to the hospital. A U.S. official tells CNN Rahmanullah Lakanwal, was vetted by intel agencies and determined to be -- quote -- "clean on all checks." President Trump says his administration is now looking into whether to deport his family.

The suspect is an Afghan national who began working with the CIA around 2011. Officials say he arrived in the U.S. in 2021 as part of a program called "Operation Allies Welcome." He was granted asylum earlier this year under the Trump administration.

We have an update on one of our top stories. Officials in Hong Kong have just given an update on that deadly fire. Let's go straight to CNN's Hanako Montgomery.

[02:30:00]

She's live in Hong Kong for us. Hanako, what is the latest?

MONTGOMERY: Hi, Ben. I'm just outside the apartment complex, which, of course, caught fire on Wednesday. And as you mentioned, we just heard an update from the Hong Kong city government. They're now saying that the death toll is at least 120 people dead. And that could rise in the coming hours. As the government has said that around 200 people, we still don't know the status of just yet. They could be safe, or perhaps they could have been lost in that fire.

Now, the government has also said that they still don't know yet the cause of the fire, but they do believe that the mesh netting surrounding these buildings, because, of course, this complex was under construction at the time of the fire, may have contributed to the rapid spread. Also, we're hearing that polystyrene materials, which is a highly flammable material, might have also contributed to that fire as well.

Now, the government has also said that a police investigation will likely take around three to four weeks to actually determine what caused this fire and again, what made it spread so quickly. But we are also hearing from the government, Ben, that this building was really, really, of course, very hot for the firefighters. Temperatures were measuring about 500 degree Celsius, and that made it very difficult for these firefighters to get to individuals to get to any survivors.

Now, they did conduct a search and rescue operation on Friday morning local time, and they were going from floor to floor looking for any survivors trying to extinguish the fire. But of course, because the building was so hot, because there were materials around them that was -- that were catching fire, they had to keep extinguishing these fires and move just again from floor to floor.

So again, Ben, we are hearing more updates about the cause of this fire. The details surrounding this, this incident. And of course, it's a very tragic day in Hong Kong as the death toll continues to get even higher -- Ben.

HUNTE: Of course, this is absolutely awful. Thank you for your reporting. We'll be speaking to you again very, very soon.

Hanako Montgomery in Hong Kong.

President Donald Trump sends a warning to Venezuela during a Thanksgiving phone call to troops. See you soon.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:35:01]

HUNTE: Welcome back.

President Donald Trump says the United States will strike inside Venezuela, quote, very soon. He made the statement while speaking to members of the U.S. military on a thanksgiving phone call.

Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And in recent weeks, you've been working to deter Venezuelan drug traffickers, of which there are many. Of course, there aren't too many coming in by sea anymore. Have you probably noticed that?

We'll be starting to stop them by land also. The land is easier, but that's going to start very soon. We warn them, stop sending poison to our country

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: The U.S. has killed more than 80 people in strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean. The administration has offered no proof that the vessels were actually carrying drugs.

Alejandro Velasco is a historian and associate professor at NYU. He's joining us from Amherst, Massachusetts.

Thank you so much for being here. How are you doing?

ALEJANDRO VELASCO, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: Good. Thanks so much for having me.

HUNTE: Thank you for being here. Let's get into this. President Trump says the U.S. is preparing to stop Venezuelan drug traffickers by land very soon. How seriously should we be taking this language? And what does this signal about a possible shift in strategy?

VELASCO: That's a great question. The reality is that over the past two weeks, what we've seen is very contradictory discourse coming out of the White House. And in fact, other members of the administration. We have some hawkish elements.

Every day seeming to either leak or directly state that they seek greater intervention in Venezuela directly. And of course, we just had the recent naming designation of the so-called Cartel de los Soles as another escalation in that -- to that end.

On the other hand, you know, Trump has also said that he's not really interested in, necessarily intervention. He wants to talk with Maduro. Maybe there's room for negotiation. So, you know, right now, this all seems like a part of a larger psychological operations game warfare to see if Maduro breaks.

HUNTE: The U.S. now has more than a dozen warships and 15,000 troops in the region. How unusual is this level of force around Venezuela? And what message is Washington trying to send?

VELASCO: It's unprecedented is what it is. Certainly, it's the largest deployment outside of planned military exercises in the 21st century. And even in the 20th century, it was an unusual deployment for this part of the -- of the region.

I think what it says, obviously, is that the United States is prepared to intervene. The real question is whether the person who has ultimate say in whether that happens, which is President Trump, has in fact agreed to do so.

But he's positioned to be there. And to some extent, the fact that there are there is this massive deployment commits some kind of intervention because without something changing in Venezuela, this might actually be seen as a -- as a victory for the Maduro government

HUNTE: Well, while were talking about things changing in Venezuela, the administration here has just designated Maduro and his allies as members of a foreign terrorist organization. What does that actually mean in practical terms?

VELASCO: It basically gives the administration more legal leeway to take actions that might not otherwise be permissible in a context of war or pre-war, if you want to call it that. It means that it has a greater arsenal and repertoire of action and engagement, for people that it considers or designates to be part of this cartel, it also means that it doesn't have to provide nearly as much information, either, certainly to Congress, which it already hasn't provided enough information, but to, to, to the judicial system.

And so, it allows for a greater range of action than has been the case.

HUNTE: Can you tell me how are Venezuelans viewing this buildup, and what impact could Trump's comments have on Maduro's domestic standing?

VELASCO: You know, Venezuelans have been through a lot not just over the last, you know, five, 10, 15 years, but really over the last 25, 30 years. The state of heightened crisis has almost been a kind of status quo.

And so, Venezuelans are going about their lives. Obviously, my friends and family who are there are anxious or concerned about potential actions. Some of them are moving if they feel like they're close to military targets. They're finding elsewhere to stay.

[02:40:00]

But for most people, it's, you know, it's getting into the holiday season. And so they're trying to, you know to live their lives. But it has also had significant impact because the U.S. has also said that airlines should not fly into or in Venezuelan air territory, and so many airlines have not canceled flights. And so that's affected the plans of many Venezuelans that they had, especially for holidays to travel. And so, it's definitely an impact.

HUNTE: Okay. We'll leave it there for now, but let's see what happens next. Thank you for breaking it down.

Alejandro Velasco, appreciate it.

VELASCO: Thank you.

HUNTE: In Botswana's remote delta region, roads are rare, but flights aren't. A local air charter company zips passengers around like an Uber, but with wings.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE WEYL, MACK AIR: Mack Air was started in 1994 by Stuart and Laura Mackay. From there, they've slowly built the company into a leading air charter company of Botswana, specializing in nonscheduled services throughout the Okavango Delta.

ASH NEMANI, MACK AIR: This entire thing exists because of the Okavango Delta. So preservation of the delta itself is what becomes important. So now we have limited roads and we don't put tar in the delta. We don't put cement down. So, the best way for us to do to get people and freight and all this in and out is with us.

WEYL: We specialize around the delta and nonscheduled services, meaning we're basically a Uber of the delta bouncing around, dropping off passengers, picking up passengers. Basically, our schedulers are chess players. You're constantly moving aircraft between different lodges. It's really a big chess board, and having experienced staff has always made that a lot easier for us.

NEMANI: We are now, I'd say, easily 90, 95 percent local pilots, some of whom we are very proud of. Right? They have. We've seen quite a few stars come up.

JOY MPHATO, MACK AIR: I didn't grow up wanting to fly while I was in high school. I was doing athletics. I was running for the country. So from time to time, we'd fly out. So, when we were flying, I got fascinated by flaps. So I was like, maybe I could try that out.

When you start your training, you have 50 hours of delta orientation. Getting to know the delta. I'd already worked here, so I knew a little bit about the delta.

NEMANI: So flying out in the deltas doesn't exactly operate like it would in other parts of Africa, and let alone the rest of the world. So, they have to be trained specifically for each of the tasks.

MPHATO: You have elephants crossing while your'e trying to land. You have birds on take off, birds on landing

NEMANI: Pilots are the final piece in the execution so we have an entire reservations team. We have a scheduling team. We have ground operations. All work in coordination with each other to ensure that we can move passengers as effectively as possible and provide the best client experience.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:47:26] HUNTE: Bottles of syrup fell off the shelf in Anchorage, Alaska, in a coffee shop as a 6.0 magnitude earthquake rocked the region on Thursday, an employee took shelter under a counter to stay safe. There were no immediate reports of significant damage, and according to local media, this quake was the largest to hit this area of Alaska since 2021.

The NFL playoff race is heating up, with the Dallas Cowboys winning their third game in a row. Quarterback Dak Prescott got the cowboys on the scoreboard with a first quarter touchdown pass to CeeDee Lamb. Prescott would finish the day with 320 yards in the air and two touchdown passes.

Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs fall to six and six. Mahomes hitting tight end Travis Kelce for a touchdown here. Final score Cowboys 31, Chiefs 28.

Now to Detroit, where the lions are fighting to keep their playoff hopes alive. David Montgomery opened the scoring for the home team with a three-yard touchdown run. But it was Jordan Love who dominated the game. The Packers quarterback threw four touchdown passes, including this 51-yard bomb, to Christian Watson. Packers win 31 to 24. They'll take on the division leading Chicago Bears next Sunday in Green Bay.

Now to Baltimore, where running back Derrick Henry opened the scoring for the Ravens in a division matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals. Baltimore managed to hold the visitors to only field goals in the first half, but Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, back from injury, came to life in the third quarter. He connected here with tight end Tanner Hudson for the touchdown. Burrow finished with 261 yards passing. Final score Bengals 32, Ravens 14.

Now to college football. The Navy Midshipmen have clinched at least a tie for the American conference regular season title. Quarterback Blake Horvath led the team to a 28-17 victory over the Memphis Tigers on Thursday night. Navy has now won back to back games after losses to North Texas and Notre Dame. The Midshipmen improved to nine and two on the season with a key matchup against Army on December 13th.

The Olympic flame is on its way to Italy for next year's Winter Games.

[02:55:01]

The torch left ancient Olympia at dawn on Thursday, the start of its two month journey to Milan, where it will arrive on February 6th for the opening ceremony. After a week-long relay in Greece, the flame heads to Italy, where 10,000 torchbearers will carry it through 60 cities and 300 towns.

Thousands of Americans spent Thanksgiving lining the streets at parades across the country. In Philadelphia, Santas fittingly switched the traditional turkey for an Eagles cap in support of the local NFL team. In Chicago, celebrations proceeded under heightened security following a recent fatal shooting at the city's Christmas tree lighting ceremony. In Manhattan, giant balloons filled the New York skyline as crowds watched the 99th Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

The Thanksgiving feast is over, which means it's officially holiday shopping season. The National Retail Federation says a record number of people are planning to shop for Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. However, financial constraints could keep overall spending down. A Deloitte survey found consumers expect to spend an average of $622 this weekend, a 4 percent drop from last year.

Hitha Herzog is a consumer spending analyst and chief research officer at H Squared Research. She's joining us from New York.

Thank you so much for being with me, Hitha. How are you doing?

HITHA HERZOG, CONSUMER SPENDING ANALYST: Thanks for having me. I'm great on this late Black Friday, actually, early morning, I should say, feels like a late night.

HUNTE: It definitely feels like a late night for me as well. Don't worry about it. Let's get into this.

We have seen that consumer sentiment just hit 51.0. That is the second lowest reading ever recorded. But what does that actually tell you?

HERZOG: It tells me that the consumer is still very wary about what to spend on and where the future lies for potential spending into 2026. We've seen this case shape economy really take hold, and the upper part of the higher income earner is the one that's really supporting the U.S. economy right now. They are the ones that are spending. They're the ones that are spending on credit.

This is according to a federal reserve report coming out of Boston. And this is the one. These are the ones that are really just price agnostic. You see prices go up on everything from strawberries to handbags. And that K-shaped upper part of the economy that is, is not affected so much so, but the bottom part of the K right, the lower income spender and earner, those are the people that are really wary and they're the ones that are pulling back a lot more. You're not seeing them spend as much in the stores and certainly not on their credit cards.

HUNTE: It seems like everyone's talking about the cost of living right now. How is that expected to hit Black Friday shopping? And if shoppers do cut back, what are they going to be cutting back on?

HERZOG: Right. You know, we're seeing this real sort of fear grip across all different generations. And according to this after pay study on holiday data for 2025, it was saying that Gen Z specifically is really just gripped by fears of how to spend and where to spend. But yet 25 percent of them that were interviewed for this survey, they are the ones that went out and shopped almost to the tune of $1,000, right, on average, and started in October. About 38 percent of them started in October for this shopping.

So, what does that tell us? This consumer may be feeling wary, but they are they are not so secure with their credit cards. They may even feel this ick towards them. And they are using things like buy now, pay later to finance a lot of their shopping. Mostly because with buy now, pay later, if you're -- if you're actually deciduous about it and making really good decisions, you're paying that off. But it also allows you to stretch out those payments over time.

HUNTE: Yes. I want to talk about discounts. Where are the real savings this year and where are the deals feeling a bit weaker?

HERZOG: That's a really good question. So, on average, I don't know if everyone knows this, but on average discounts really range from about 20 to 25 percent, right? That seems pretty low. But that's just every Black Friday on average. That's what you're getting.

In the past, we've really seen retailers want to move that product off the shelves. So, we are seeing discounts. 50, 60 percent off. Sometimes it felt like a fire sale this season. Were right back to the 25 to 30 percent off. However, with the big box stores. And we saw these promotions going on earlier and earlier, right?

[02:55:01]

We saw Walmart start November 15th. Amazon started their Black Friday week, November 20th.

Those discounts across products, right? Toys, electronics, those are some in some cases discounted up to 50 percent. Also, housewares. And the real sleeper is apparel.

So, apparel is really discounted on these larger big box store platforms and stores, up to 50 percent.

HUNTE: Okay. Hitha, before I let you go, I want to know what is on your Black Friday list. What are you buying?

HERZOG: What am I buying? I'm buying a lot of toys for my kids. I think, K-Pop Demon Hunters have really just taken grip. I have two 7- year-old twins. I want to give them a shout out. They're probably sleeping right now. I hope they're not watching me right now, but K- Pop Demon Hunters.

We are looking at a lot of math games. They're into math. They're very smart, and books. But I think in general, everyone's really kind of looking across the board at toys.

HUNTE: Well, I need some pots and pans, and hopefully some skincare to help me with these late-night hours.

But for now, Hitha Herzog, thank you so much for that. Appreciate it. Speak to you soon.

HERZOG: Thanks, Ben.

HUNTE: Chefs in London created a miniature and tasty version of my hometown. Check out these versions of Big Ben and other London landmarks. This display at London's museum of architecture. The Gingerbread City was built by architects and designers. It features 50 architect-designed gingerbread buildings.

The exhibit opens on Saturday and runs until just after New Year's. Hopefully, I'll get to see it.

Thanks for joining me and the team. I'm Ben Hunte in Atlanta and I'll be back in just a moment after this quick break.

You're watching CNN. See you in a moment.