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Trump Picks Brooke Rollins For Secretary Of Agriculture; NATO Chief Holds Meeting With Trump In Florida; Senators Bracing For Confirmation Battles Over Unorthodox Trump Cabinet Picks; Hidden- Camera Video Shows OMB Pick Talking Work With Project 2025; Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer Picked To Run Labor Department; Trump Announces New Picks For Key White House Roles; Storms Could Mean Messy Thanksgiving Travel For Millions Of People; Thanksgiving Week Brings Rain And Mountain Snow To The West; Rain And Snow To Sweep Across Central And Eastern U.S. Midweek; Ukraine Downs Dozens Of Russian Drones In Overnight Attack; Zelenskyy Say War Could End In 2025, He Awaits Trump Proposals; Chuck Woolery, Host Of Game Show "Love Connection," Dies At 83; Wealthy Nations Pledge $300 Billion Yearly To Poorer Countries; Biden Set To Pardon Thanksgiving Turkeys In Annual Tradition; Nearly 80 Million Expected To Travel Over Thanksgiving Holiday; FAA Could Slow Air Traffic Over Lack Of Controllers. American Airlines To Crack Down On Line Cutters; Police Find Father Accused Of Faking His Own Death; Tips To Avoid Political Clashes, Sadness Over Thanksgiving; Encouraging Girls Of Color To Pursue Stem Careers; Tiny Robot Thief "Kidnaps" Other Bots From A Showroom. Aired 6-7a

Aired November 24, 2024 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:39]

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. It is Saturday, November 24th, just four days from Thanksgiving. I'm Amara Walker.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. Thanks for joining us.

Here's what we're working on for you this morning. President-elect Donald Trump gets one step closer to rounding out his cabinet. He announced another pick yesterday, and what we're learning about Trump's Mar-a-Lago meeting with the NATO secretary.

WALKER: New this morning, Ukraine says it took down dozens of drones launched from Russia overnight even as Zelenskyy says he believes the war could end next year.

BLACKWELL: More than 80 million people are expected to travel over the Thanksgiving holiday, which starts earlier than ever this year. We've got your holiday forecast and where you can score some holiday travel deals on Black Friday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SHERIFF MARK PODOLL, GREEN LAKE COUNTY, WISCONSIN: We are expressing the importance of his decision to return home, clean up the mess that he has created.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: It turns out a Wisconsin man, first thought to be missing, is alive and well. The elaborate plan he hatched to flee the country, that's coming up.

We begin with President-elect Trump, who has filled another key position in his incoming administration. Last night, he picked Brooke Rollins to be his agriculture secretary.

BLACKWELL: Rollins, an attorney, has a degree in agriculture development but currently runs the America First Policy Institute. That's a think tank with close ties to the Trump transition team. She'll be asked to run the department's 29 agencies, nearly 100,000 employees.

CNN's Arit John joins us now. So, what more do we know about Rollins?

ARIT JOHN, CNN REPORTER: So, this is another example of President- elect Trump picking somebody who is a close ally to him. Like as you mentioned she leads the America First Policy Institute which is basically been a collection of former Trump administration officials and allies who have been putting out policy proposals. In terms of policies that are relevant to this position, the America First Policy Institute has warned against China owning American farmland. They've also been very critical of the Biden administration's work to expand food stamp availability.

So, I think that we can expect to see Rollins in this role sort of focused on those areas as well as focusing on school nutrition because that's a key part of this role as well.

WALKER: We also learned, Arit, that President-elect Trump met with NATO's secretary general in Florida. We know that he has taken a pretty hostile or a combative stance with NATO in general. What can you tell us about this meeting and how it went?

JOHN: Right. So, this meeting at Palm Beach NATO put out a statement and said that the two discussed the threats that are facing this alliance. But this is also an issue of reaching out to a president -- a president-elect who has been sort of dismissive of the relevance of NATO in the past and who has said, on the campaign trail, that America would not defend allies who are not putting in their fair share.

And we saw Mr. Waltz -- Trump's -- president-elect Trump's national security advisor nominee saying that a strong NATO that acts as a deterrent is one where every company -- every country is putting in their fair share based on their economic strength. So, this definitely seems like a -- testing the waters sort of situation.

The secretary general is also new to the role. He was the Dutch prime minister for 14 years, and he was elected in October. So, this is sort of a new meeting for both of them.

BLACKWELL: Arit John, thanks so much. Let's bring in now CNN political commentator and host of "The Big Deal" with Errol Louis on "Spectrum News." Errol, good morning to you.

So, let's start here. We've got new CNN reporting out in just the last few minutes about how members of the Senate -- Republican members are bracing for the confirmation fight. Does the Gaetz withdrawal make the Hegseth nomination or pending nomination for defense, and the sexual assault allegations, and Kennedy at HHS and his conspiracy theories, does it make it more or less likely that they'll get through this process?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning, Victor. I think the Senate is going to handle these each separately, and they're going to have to have a real gut check, a real sort of private moment with themselves and figure out what's real and what's not.

[06:05:07]

There are some candidates who were clearly unqualified, and I would put Gaetz in that category who probably never should have been nominated in the first place. And we're always going to have a hard time. What I will be watching for -- what we should all be watching for is the order in which they're going to take these nominees.

If they're going to take those who are clearly unsuited, literally not qualified, and simply dispose of those first, you'll get one kind of a tone and it'll signal to the Trump team that they're going to have to be a little more thoughtful about this. If, on the other hand, they decide to step aside and let Trump have almost all of the candidates, including the clearly problematic ones, then they have the ability to do that. That's what being in the majority really means.

BLACKWELL: So, the president-elect has denied the knowledge of Project 2025, from the Heritage Foundation, but he named the plan's co-author as the director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought. He was recorded on hidden-camera and we aired this story earlier this year. This is before the election. And I want to play some of what Vought said at the time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUSSELL VOUGHT, CO-AUTHOR OF PROJECT 2025: Eighty percent of my time is working on the plans of what's necessary to take control of these bureaucracies.

We are trying to create a shadow Office of Management and Budget, a shadow National Security Council, and a shadow Office of Legal Counsel. These are the main organs in government that you need outside to create the battle plan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you're not going to publish those?

VOUGHT: No, no.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So, these claims of a shadow government and wanting to minimize the independence of these agencies does that jeopardize his confirmation? Because OMB director also is Senate confirmable.

LOUIS: Senate confirmable, for sure. In fact, as I recall, I believe he needed every last vote last time. It was kind of a close vote for him in particular.

But look -- now, look, we -- I think we all knew all along that Project 2025 was not just some pie in the sky list of ideas that Donald Trump knew nothing about. We knew all along -- I think anybody who read it and looked at the names of the people who put it together, that this was clearly something that people with a deep vested interest in changing government were going to try and enact as policy. And I think that's exactly what we're going to see.

No one should act surprised if some elements that came straight out of that 900-page book are going to be put forward as the battle plan for this new administration. Look at how quickly they're moving. I mean, Election Day was -- wasn't even three weeks ago and we're already starting to see some of the elements of what's likely to happen that are straight out of Project 2025.

BLACKWELL: Speaking of surprises, though, Lori Chavez-DeRemer as labor secretary, someone who is pro-union, pro-workers' rights. How much confidence should anyone who prioritizes workers' rights find in that pick?

LOUIS: Well, she's an interesting pick. She's a moderate Republican. Or what passes for a moderate Republican these days, who lost her seat out in Oregon. And so, she's -- you know, she's available.

She's clearly a pro-union person. She had a lot of union support, which is unusual for a Republican. On the other hand, she is vastly outnumbered, Victor, by the billionaires in this cabinet in waiting who have expressed quite loudly and quite specifically that they want to reduce wages, that they want to roll back workers' rights, that they're not in favor of unions dictating the course of what happens to working families.

And so, she's going to -- she's going to have her political ability put to the test and see if she can be heard in what is clearly a very pro-business, pro-management cabinet formation.

BLACKWELL: The president-elect confirmed on social media this week that he is prepared to declare a national emergency and use military to execute the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants. You had some conversations with some experts this week about how this mass deportation would work. First, what did you learn and what's the plausibility of that?

LOUIS: Well, yes, there are a lot of things that Donald Trump said on the campaign trail about his intentions, some of which just do not comport with constitutional law. So, the legal experts that I've interviewed say that they'll be in court the day that those things get announced.

You can't, for example, declare an alien invasion as if it were a state of war, simply because you don't like what's happening at the border. It takes a little bit more than that, and the courts have ruled on such attempts in the past, and will probably do so in the future when things like canceling birthright citizenship by means of an executive order.

[06:10:01]

Birthright citizenship is written into the Constitution. Even if you were going to change it, it wouldn't be by executive order. So, they're going to be -- there's going to be a lot of pushback. We're going to end up in the courts. The question then becomes, is the Supreme Court prepared to do Donald Trump's bidding if some of these questions end up before them?

BLACKWELL: All right. Errol Louis, thank you. And if I don't speak with you before Happy Thanksgiving.

LOUIS: Same to you, Victor.

WALKER: And whether you are flying or driving for Thanksgiving weather could be an issue depending on where you're headed. CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar is tracking the forecast. Allison, what are you watching there?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: A lot. And the real question becomes, when does it affect what states on what day? Because that's going to be the thing.

Take today, for example. Really the Eastern half of the country no issues whatsoever in terms of travel concerns. The main issue for today is going to be out West. Not just the Rockies but all the way back to the West Coast, because we have several systems that are going to be making their way through that area in the next 48 hours.

But from there, they then continue to go all across the entire country, impacting pretty much most states. So, for today, the concern is going to be the heavy rain along the coast, especially as we head into Monday too. And then also look at all of these alerts, half a dozen states looking at those winter weather alerts for some pretty impactful snow late today and especially into the day on Monday, Tuesday.

Let's fast forward to Monday. Here's those next systems coming into the West Coast. But that first one now starting to impact portions of the Midwest and Ohio Valley. Mostly, going to be some light rain, snow up into the northern areas where you've got those cooler temperatures.

Now, we fast forward into early Tuesday. That front continues to form here. Again, you can see bringing some rain down into portions of the southeast cities like Atlanta, Chattanooga and Knoxville. Then by Wednesday, it continues to make its way all across the country Wednesday night, and then even into Thursday morning where were going to have some issues on Thanksgiving day itself especially in the East. WALKER: All right. Allison Chinchar, thank you. Turning to Ukraine now and air defense systems shot down dozens of Russian drones overnight. In total Ukraine's air force said it shot down 50 out of the 73 drones launched in areas across the country including the capital of Kyiv which has recently seen near-daily aerial attacks.

BLACKWELL: In response to this latest attack, Ukraine's President Zelenskyy called for more air defense systems to be provided to Ukraine and said that strengthening the protection of their skies is absolutely critical. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is live in Kyiv. Nick, give us the latest.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Look, we heard overnight the air raid sirens going off again and distant work of air defenses. Fifty of the 73 drones launched taken down by those air defenses. But obviously, the frequency, the volume of the attacks from Russia using drones, missiles, anything they can throw, frankly, guided bombs, the most terrifying on the front lines, often a ton's worth of explosives going off, they continue to at times try and overwhelm Ukraine's air defenses.

But we have seen interesting comments in the last hours from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggesting that the war could end in 2025. Now, that's not some sort of streak of optimism. I think that's just a reflection of the reality of an incoming Trump administration. And the same comments, he said, that he would like to meet Trump in January, when Trump takes the White House over, and also discuss a potential peace plan with him.

Now, obviously, Zelenskyy has had quite maximalist demands for stopping this war in the past, wanting to retake all of Ukraine back from Russian forces. Clearly, the failure of the counteroffensive last year to change the dynamic much and Russia's persistent endless it seems, advances in all different parts of the front line here, making those goals significantly smaller. As of course, is the reality of Donald Trump suggesting he could end this war in 24 hours and wanting to, quote, "stop the killing."

So, it's very much a different political climate here, one where we saw the German chancellor unilaterally outside of the sort of similar script that Europe has been on for the past nearly three years over this war ringing last week Vladimir Putin mending isolation from major and western leaders for the kremlin head diplomacy ticking along.

But it's been an extraordinary week of escalation, I should say, since the Biden administration gave Ukraine authorization to use longer range ATACMS missiles to fire into Russia itself, then Russia firing back towards Ukraine, I think, it's fair to say a new type of ballistic missile of a longer range that appears to have caused some anxiety here, and certainly scratching of heads in western capitals at exactly what this missile was capable of doing, and whether that was new or a new threat.

But it was certainly multiple warheads from one missile, and that you would normally expect to be associated with the nuclear payload. Although, all of this was indeed conventional. So, a stark week, frankly, of fast-paced events. And while the skies over Kyiv were similar last night it is fascinating now to see a deteriorating situation on the front line.

[06:15:04]

And President Volodymyr Zelenskyy talking about the possibility the war might end. On what terms, though, is so utterly key for Ukrainians and, frankly, the security of Europe. Victor.

WALKER: All right. Nick Paton Walsh, thank you very much. Still to come, President Biden will be using his pardoning power tomorrow. We're going to have details on the two turkeys who are expected to get a reprieve from this year's Thanksgiving dinner table.

BLACKWELL: Plus, airports are bracing for record holiday travel this week. For travelers, what you need to be aware of as you all head off for the Thanksgiving break.

WALKER: And a kayaker who was reported missing has resurfaced in eastern Europe. Ahead, what authorities are saying about his elaborate plot to fake his own death.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:20:29]

BLACKWELL: Top stories for you this morning. Chuck Woolery, the original host of "Wheel of Fortune," has passed away. Now, most remember him as the host of that iconic dating show, the "Love Connection." Woolery passed away yesterday at his home in Texas with his wife by his side. He was 83 years old.

WALKER: Wealthy nations have pledged $300 billion annually to support poorer countries by 2035. The United Nations Climate Change Conference ended with criticism from many developing nations, who feel that amount is too low and that the deal favors the interests of fossil fuel producing countries.

The agreement does not require mandatory contributions from richer developing countries like China and Saudi Arabia, and fall short of the $1.3 trillion economists estimate is needed to help developing countries tackle the climate crisis.

Well, tomorrow President Biden will use his presidential powers to officially pardon a Thanksgiving turkey.

BLACKWELL: It's a holiday tradition that goes back to President Lincoln. CNN's Betsy Klein joins us now from the White House. All right. You know what I always remember about these stories are the names of the turkeys. So, do we know yet the names of these very fortunate birds?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE PRODUCER: Well, we will be getting those names later today at a press conference at the Willard Hotel. They will be unveiled with those two turkeys from Minnesota. But President Biden has about 57 days left in his term and this is an opportunity for him to dole out that presidential pardon power on Monday as he hosts the 77th annual presentation of the National Thanksgiving Turkeys here at the White House.

Now, we expect him to talk turkey and make much ado about stuffing, using that pardon power, you might say, for fowl reasons. I'm sorry. And then he heads on to the New York area, where he will host a Friendsgiving dinner with troops. We expect the Biden family also to travel to Nantucket for their annual Thanksgiving holiday.

But I want to serve up some presidential history here. Rumors of the first turkey pardon date back to the Lincoln administration, as you mentioned, when the president's young son asked his father to spare his pet turkey from the Thanksgiving table. And then in 1920, during the Wilson administration, there was a battle royale of a pair of turkeys that came from Kentucky and Texas.

And then we saw the first documented presidential turkey pardon during the Kennedy administration in 1963. But year over year, in the modern presidency, really an opportunity for a cornucopia of jokes and to give thanks, Victor and Amara.

WALKER: Your fowl puns are just so fun. Thanks for having -- being on, Betsy Klein. Appreciate it.

BLACKWELL: I don't know if I've ever seen a turkey that close.

WALKER: Cornucopia. Yes, I know. It's a little uncomfortable.

BLACKWELL: That photograph of that turkey --

WALKER: It makes me not want to have a turkey.

BLACKWELL: Is that what a turkey looks like really up close?

WALKER: That red neck. Well, if you are planning to travel this holiday season, we're going to have some tips for you to beat the airport rush and also save some money. We'll have that after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:27:55]

WALKER: Eighty million people are expected to travel over the Thanksgiving holiday period. And for the first time, that AAA estimate includes the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and the Monday after because more people are stretching out their travel timelines. So, you can expect, of course, packed roads, packed airports, but you might be able to save some money as well.

Managing editor at "The Points Guy" Clint Henderson joining us now. Clint, good morning to you. So, Thanksgiving air --

CLINT HENDERSON, MANAGING EDITOR, THE POINTS GUY: Good morning. Happy holidays.

WALKER: -- travel -- thank you. As well -- happy holidays to you as well. So, Thanksgiving air travel is expected to set another record. I feel like we say this every year. So, are the airports going to see, you know, much bigger crowds than we've seen in previous years?

HENDERSON: Short answer, yes. I just interviewed the head of the TSA on Friday, and he told me they are ready but they're also expecting that these three days around Thanksgiving could be the busiest in their history.

We've already seen 10 record breaking days just in the past six months. I expect more records to be broken. So, get yourself to the airport earlier than normal. I know everyone says two hours. I just say three hours just to be safe.

Remember, you're going to be traveling with a lot of people who don't normally travel. It slows lines down and you just want to give yourself a little extra wiggle room.

WALKER: Yes, especially if you're traveling with children, right? And travelers should also prepare for changes at the airport, correct? I mean, especially because there's going to be some changes due to the staffing shortages among air traffic control. What else can we expect?

HENDERSON: Yes. So, here's the good news. Let's start there. The good news is that the airlines and the airports and TSA have the workers they need, finally.

So, there's no shortage of airport workers, airline workers. The airlines have the planes and the routes that they want to fly are all open. So, those seats are available.

The problem is air traffic control. This remains a huge issue, especially in the northeast corridor. They're really trying to fix it. They're moving some air traffic controllers over to Philadelphia and trying to help move some of that traffic from Newark over to the Philly area.

[06:30:03]

But this is an ongoing problem. They're working on long-term solutions to a long-term problem. But it has been causing a few problems in the Northeast, especially. And that's where I'm really watching closely through the holidays.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: OK. And also, something that travelers should be aware of, right, is at least American Airlines has this new rule being put into effect when it comes to early border -- early borders.

I'm one of those, I admit that I've tried to, you know, if I'm zone three, I'll try to get in on the zone two crowd. I'm admitting it.

You've never done that, Victor, really?

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Never.

WALKER: Never. Sure, you've never.

BLACKWELL: Never.

WALKER: We all have tried it and it has worked, at least for me. But if you're flying American, what do we need to be aware of for those who are trying to cut the line?

HENDERSON: So, there's a really ugly term that we at The Point Guy say, it's called gate lice, when people clump around the boarding area. And American is really working on a solution to that.

And it's really interesting. I was actually at American's headquarters. They told us they did this test of three airports. It worked beautifully. So, what happens is if you try to board before your group, you'll be embarrassed because there'll be a loud noise that sort of beeps. And then gate agent will tell you to get back to your boarding group.

So apparently, it's working really well. And I expect the other airlines to actually copy this at some point --

WALKER: Not again.

HENDERSON: -- because what -- you see those people clumping around. You've done it. I've done it too, I have to admit. And unfortunately, it tends to block the lanes. And so, it slows things down.

So, we'll see if this rolls out wide. More than 100 airports. We'll see if it really works.

WALKER: I really don't like that boarding process. I wish there was a way for all of us just to get on the tarmac and just get on board the plane through all the different entrances and exits.

HENDERSON: Yes.

WALKER: OK, so if you're traveling after Thanksgiving, I mean, there are some really good deals out there.

HENDERSON: Yes. And, you know, I used to sort of there there's this thing called Travel Tuesday, which is the Tuesday after Black Friday after Thanksgiving. I used to laugh it off because it was such a marketing play, but now it's actually become a thing.

And we're already seeing some deals out there. Hotels, Marriott, Hilton, IHG, you can get 20 to 25 percent off. And then I expect we're going to see some really decent deals when it comes to airlines as we get closer to Travel Tuesday. Already, we've seen some discounts, some codes. We've got it all covered for you at The Points Guy.

So, if you're interested in some travel deals, we've got those stories. We're updating them continuously and I expect we'll see like 20, 25 percent off on some airlines. So worth checking out for sure.

WALKER: Did you hear that, Victor? There are some discounts.

Well, you know what? I saw some of these airline or these -- these all inclusive resorts that were mentioned on Clint's websites -- and website. And I think at least one of the resorts I just booked was mentioned where you can get a huge discount. But that's after Thanksgiving.

Should Victor have waited then to book his trip? Because he's -- he's flying around Christmas time.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

WALKER: And we're all about the all inclusives. So, what now?

HENDERSON: You can book all inclusives if you find a deal and the same goes for flights. But don't wait to book your Christmas flights because prices are going to go up every single day from here until the holiday.

So, you really want to get on those Christmas flights right now. Don't wait for travel to stay for that. You know, if -- if you like to gamble, then give it a whirl. But I would say book sooner rather than later. We're already past the sort of sweet spot window when flights are cheapest.

WALKER: Yes, flights are quite expensive.

Clint, good to see you.

HENDERSON: Spring break though. You can start -- you can start booking spring break now.

WALKER: I'm going to start checking out your website before I book these trips. I mean, there's a long list of like promo codes and discounts and all these huge resorts --

HENDERSON: Yes.

WALKER: -- that you can get a good deal with.

Clint Henderson, good to see you. Happy Thanksgiving. Thank you.

HENDERSON: Good to see you. Happy Thanksgiving.

BLACKWELL: All right. Still to come, a missing father who faked his own death is talking to authorities, but he still has not revealed his exact location.

We've got details of this really baffling case.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:38:39]

WALKER: Investigators in Wisconsin say a father who vanished in August sparking a week's long search is alive and well after faking his own death while supposedly kayaking.

BLACKWELL: Authorities say that Ryan Borgwardt is somewhere in Europe right now. He sent this proof of life video to investigators after they found him. He told them he was safe and secure, but he would not say exactly where he was.

CNN's Whitney Wild has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN BORGWARDT, REPORTED MISSING IN AUGUST: Good evening. It's Ryan Borgwardt. I'm in my apartment. I am safe, secure. No problem.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ryan Borgwardt speaking barely above a whisper in this video he says was recorded November 11th. These are his first comments since disappearing in August. Police now believe the husband and father of three is alive and living in Eastern Europe with no plans to come back to the U.S. Though Green Lake, Wisconsin Sheriff Mark Podoll says Borgwardt talks to investigators regularly.

MARK PODOLL, SHERIFF, GREEN LAKE COUNTY WISCONSIN: Our biggest concern that we had was that he was safe and well. We asked him a number of questions that pertained to him and his family that he would only know. And then we asked him for a video of himself.

WILD (voice-over): The search for Borgwardt began this summer after he failed to return home from a day of kayaking and fishing. Law enforcement found his capsized kayak, car, and other belongings, but no trace of him.

[06:40:07]

PODOLL: While we might have stopped the search on Green Lake, that didn't stop our search. The (INAUDIBLE).

WILD (voice-over): The Green Lake County Sheriff now says he planned an elaborate escape. Borgwardt told investigators he paddled his kayak and a child size boat out into the lake, overturned the kayak and dumped his phone in the water, paddled the inflatable boat to shore, got on an e-bike and rode through the night to Madison. There he boarded a bus, went on to Detroit and eventually crossed into Canada and hopped on a plane to Europe.

PODOLL: In our communications, we are expressing the importance of his decision to return home, clean up the mess that he has created.

WILD (voice-over): A digital forensic search of Borgwardt's laptop revealed that he replaced the hard drive and cleared his browser history on the day of the disappearance. Podoll says investigators found that the 44-year-old moved funds to a foreign bank, changed his e-mail, communicated with a woman in Uzbekistan, purchased airline cards and took out a $375,000 life insurance policy in January.

Now that Borgwardt has been found alive, law enforcement is laying out potential charges. PODOLL: The information that the Green Lake County has at this point leads us to an obstructing charge.

WILD (voice-over): Whitney Wild, CNN Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: What a bizarre story.

Well, political talk during Thanksgiving dinner or any holiday dinner. It might be a bad idea.

Coming up, how to survive Thanksgiving dinner with relatives who may not always agree with you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:46:12]

BLACKWELL: All right, a lot of us are looking forward to the holidays, but for some, they can trigger feelings of sadness, or they can go sideways real quick, and spark heated discussions, especially over politics.

WALKER: But you can minimize the holiday blues and avoid a Thanksgiving blow-up at dinner.

Here to help us is Kelley Kitley, a licensed clinical social worker and author of MY self. She's joining us now.

Kelley, good morning.

Let's start with the findings of this Economist/YouGov poll this year. Out of those who plan to celebrate Thanksgiving, 14 percent expect arguments over politics.

Kelley, why is it that some holiday family get-togethers seem to spark fights? Is it because some relatives just don't know what boundaries are?

KELLEY KITLEY, LICENSED CLINICAL SOCIAL WORKER: You got it. Boundaries, boundaries, boundaries. And so, a lot of times we need to teach people what boundaries are.

And you're right. A lot of people are going into the holiday feeling a little more anxious. And so, what I advise my clients to do is make sure that you're taking care of yourself. Don't show up to Thanksgiving dinner feeling like the wick is burning at both ends. Make sure that you're engaging in self-care and feeling grounded.

And most importantly, if somebody does, you know, we all have a provocateur in our family. And if somebody is wanting to engage in some kind of conversation about politics, you can just say, thank you so much, but not today. And even some families are going so far as putting a sign up at their house that says politic free zone, because there is a lot of uncertainty about, you know, some people haven't seen cousins or aunts or uncles in quite some time. And Thanksgiving is not the time to try to convince somebody of your political views.

BLACKWELL: I just bought my no politics discussion on a sign on Etsy.

WALKER: Oh, is that why you're laughing?

BLACKWELL: It has not arrived yet, but I have to talk about politics at work all the time.

WALKER: Yes. Don't want to do it at home.

BLACKWELL: We're not going to talk about it at home too.

WALKER: Yes, good for you.

BLACKWELL: You suggest, in addition to --

KITLEY: (INAUDIBLE).

BLACKWELL: -- the self-care before Thanksgiving, and since we're a few days out, also that if it gets a little hot to politely remove yourself.

What about asking somebody to remove themselves? I like to just say, is this your coat? And then they will get the idea that they've gone too far.

KITLEY: I love the direct approach. There's no room for interpretation. But certainly, you know, when we have alcohol involved, sometimes people can say things that they regret or get a little out of hand. You know, there can also be a sign that says everybody must leave by six.

And look, there are many people who feel like their family of origin is just too triggering and they might feel that their chosen family might be a better option.

So, I want to give viewers the opportunity to say, you know what, not this year. I'm not going to show up or I'm going to drop off dessert. And if it is just too much, then you can pass this year and maybe revisit showing up next year.

WALKER: Well, I was going to ask you about that passing. And let's say there are people out there who are still, you know, really upset about the results or just aren't in a place to even be in a potential position of hearing someone talk politics.

How do you get out of an invitation just a few days from Thanksgiving? I mean, do you tell the truth?

KITLEY: Well, I do like to practice honesty, but sometimes it's just too much and people feel like they're going to be judged.

So, there's nothing wrong with saying, you know, I'm not feeling well this year. And that can be true. Maybe mentally you're not feeling great and it's in your best interest and probably everybody else's if you stay home. [06:49:58]

BLACKWELL: Now, if you have some people at the table or who are in the environment and they're not getting the hints and you need to make a quick pivot, right? We got to get away from this. What are the --

KITLEY: Yes.

BLACKWELL: -- small talk skills that we need? Give us some examples. What do we do?

KITLEY: Sure. So, this is a time that we really do need to practice just kind of shooting the breeze, you know, asking somebody how work is doing or if they have any plans for the new year or just simply commenting on what somebody's wearing.

And oftentimes if you do find the conversation is going in the wrong direction, I always like to say practice acts of service. So, you can take the garbage out, you can offer to get somebody another pair plate of food. You can start loading the dish.

WALKER: I'll get you a drink.

(CROSSTALK)

KITLEY: We don't -- maybe -- maybe go easy on the alcohol. Certainly, you know, the good thing that trips people up is they have this expectation of this is my family. I have to stay for eight hours. We're doing all of these things together and you really don't. Just because it is blood relatives perhaps, doesn't --

BLACKWELL: Yes.

KITLEY: -- mean that you have to expose yourself to those kinds of conversation.

BLACKWELL: Kelley Kitley, you have given us some tools and we are grateful. It always help to identify something in the room or quickly go to. It's like, oh, have you seen grandma's brooch? It is just been (INAUDIBLE). Everybody look.

(CROSSTALK)

KITLEY: You got it. You got it.

WALKER: I would practice being more like you and just grab someone's jacket like.

BLACKWELL: Oh yes.

WALKER: I think it's made for you.

BLACKWELL: Is this your coat? Kelley, thank you.

WALKER: Thanks, Kelley.

KITLEY: Bye guys. Happy (INAUDIBLE) drinking.

WALKER: Oh, I drive (INAUDIBLE).

BLACKWELL: Yes.

WALKER: All right, join CNN for the ultimate Thanksgiving morning watch part featuring celebrity appearances and a live view of parades across the country. John Berman and Erica Hill host, "THANKSGIVING IN AMERICA" starts Thanksgiving Day at 8:00 a.m. on CNN and streaming on Max.

Well, the Iranian hostage rescue was a subject of the Academy Award winning film Argo.

BLACKWELL: In this episode of "HOW IT REALLY HAPPENED," several former hostages detailed their time in captivity and three of the Tehran six escapees tell of their daring rescue.

Here's a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RODNEY "ROCKY" SICKMANN, HOSTAGE: My Sgt. Rodney Sickmann (INAUDIBLE). I like to (INAUDIBLE) my love to my family.

Each day you were there, it wasn't getting better. It was getting worse.

STEVE KIRTLEY, HOSTAGE: It was bad. They could do whatever they wanted to with us at any time.

DON COOKE, HOSTAGE: We were in a fairly large group in the basement of the warehouse. And I look up.

KIRTLEY: And bam, door comes blasting open, two guys in military uniforms come in. rifles in your face up against the wall, your hands against the wall. And we could hear them doing this all the way up and down the hallway where they had everybody.

COOKE: And so, they took us all into a room and they lined us up against the wall.

KIRTLEY: And then all of a sudden, somebody yelled out a command and they started making noise like they were jacking rounds in a chamber. And then it got real quiet, like they were waiting for a command to fire.

I really thought I was really about to die. But then they took us one at a time. They strip searched us and they took us and put us back in our room.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Wow. Tune in. A new episode of "HOW IT REALLY HAPPENED" airs tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:57:57]

WALKER: It's time to vote for your top five CNN Heroes of 2024. Yamilee Toussaint was one of only two black women in her class while studying engineering at MIT.

BLACKWELL: Well, now she's tackling that imbalance using a unique approach that hooks young girls of color into science, technology, engineering, and math.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is strip one.

YAMILEE TOUSSAINT, CNN HEROES NOMINEE: We bring STEM and dance together by allowing the girls to create dance performances that combine the two, so they can work on costumes that light up as they move and they're learning how to program the circuit so that when they press a button on the circuit, the lights turn blue or whatever effect that they want to be able to convey a message.

We're going to talk about song structure today.

They can create their own song through computer science and AI.

So, these are the poses in the beginning.

And then be able to make a dance routine to that song that they created.

Love it. This is going to be so fly.

We're normalizing that girls of color can do computer science and create something together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: You can go to cnnheroes.com to vote for any of your favorite top five heroes as CNN Hero of the Year.

So, we've heard about the unexpected consequences of artificial intelligence. Well, now we know what happens when one tries to lead others astray.

WALKER: Yes, a case of how robot intelligence could turn criminal in China is part of an experiment. An AI powered robot convinced at least 12 other robots in a Shanghai showroom to open a mass walkout.

CNN's Lynda Kinkade has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a Shanghai showroom, an unexpected shenanigan. The tiniest little AI powered robot seemingly leading a mass walkout. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you working overtime?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We never get off from work.

KINKADE (voice-over): The robot named Erbai is seen on security footage talking to several taller robots on display.

[07:00:03]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you ever go home? Come home with me.

KINKADE (voice-over): Erbai, then leads the other robots out of the showroom.

The incident went viral online and many assumed it was a hoax. We now know it was an experiment.

The company that designed the potential theft wanted to see if a robot could take command without directly involving humans. Turns out they can.

Luckily, no bots were stolen. The exit was locked down in advance. Still, it's risky business when AI robots can adapt human like behavior.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: Wow.

BLACKWELL: So, let me figure this out, right? You have one rogue robot --

WALKER: Yes.

BLACKWELL: -- who says, in this case, let's walk out. You could say other things. And the other robots say --

WALKER: OK.

BLACKWELL: -- revolution. Yes, that's scary.

WALKER: That's a little scary.

BLACKWELL: That's scary.

WALKER: Wow. That's incredible.

Lynda Kinkade, thank you for that report.

The next hour of "CNN This Morning," starts now.