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Progress on Talks to End War in Ukraine; Edwin Peacock is Interviewed about ICE in North Carolina; Julie Rovner is Interviewed about Insurance Companies; America's Poverty Line. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired November 26, 2025 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:31:22]

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. Thank you for joining me on CNN THIS MORNING.

It's half past the hour. And here's what's happening right now.

The FBI wants to interview six Democratic lawmakers who had released a video reminding U.S. troops that they can disobey unlawful orders. The Pentagon is already investigating Senator Mark Kelly, even threatening to recall him to active duty for a possible court martial. Senator Elissa Slotkin says she got a note from the FBI's counterterrorism division telling her that they're opening an inquiry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-MI): The president's reaction and the use of the FBI against us is exactly why we made the video. He believes in using the federal government against his perceived adversaries.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: The Trump administration argues the video undermines the commander in chief's authority.

And Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser will not seek re-election. Bowser has walked a tightrope with the Trump administration in recent months, and amid the federal deployment of National Guard troops to the nation's capital. Bowser has been mayor for ten years. She says she's ready to pass the baton to the next set of leaders.

And snow will be on the menu for millions of people this Thanksgiving. More than six million people across the upper Midwest and Great Lakes are under winter storm alerts. Drivers from North Dakota to Minnesota will be dealing with icy roads and heavy snow. Be careful out there. In New York, balloon handlers may need a tighter grip at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, because wind gusts could be up to 30 miles an hour. The big characters, however, should still fly.

And deal or no deal? President Trump says negotiations to end the war in Ukraine are making progress. The Kremlin insists the Ukraine war is nowhere close to an end. Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov says he's confident there will be many people trying to disrupt the peace process. That as President Trump backs away from a key deadline that he had set to get a deal done by Thanksgiving.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, I don't have a deadline. I just -- you know what the deadline for me is? When it's over. And I think everybody's tired of fighting at this moment. They're losing -- they're losing too many people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: In the meantime, the president's top negotiators are also eyeing another meeting with Vladimir Putin as early as next week. U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff is set to attend that meeting and possibly be joined by Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law.

The group chat is back.

Alex, I want to start with you.

The start of the week was perceived in diplomatic circles as kind of chaos, like this plan has come, these senators say it looks like it was drafted by Russia, and they kind of told us it was. What do you -- what is the White House trying to accomplish here, sending Witkoff to Moscow or to try to have that kind of meeting?

ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, they're trying to finally get -- you know, Trump, obviously, has talked very openly about wanting the Nobel Peace Prize, and Donald Trump wants to end this war. And it's not a coincidence that Jared Kushner is getting involved here, because Jared Kushner also got very, very involved in the Israel deal, especially by the end -- to get it over the finish line.

Now, there is a difference here, in that Jared Kushner had extensive relationships with Netanyahu and the Netanyahu government. Also, Netanyahu had given them an opening by sort of going over their skis and attacking Qatar.

Now, Vladimir Putin is just a completely different sort of character.

CORNISH: Yes, because he is raining down missiles left and right.

THOMPSON: Exactly.

CORNISH: That's something we haven't talked about. There's been tons of strikes. And I want you to finish your point. But noting that "Bloomberg" said that Witkoff, fresh off the triumph of the Gaza deal, had held a phone call last month with a senior Kremlin official to say, look, maybe we could work out something here and making some suggestions to that point. So --

[06:35:02]

THOMPSON: And they have a few -- they do have a little bit of time because the fighting season is not until the spring, right? I mean there's still going to be combat back and forth. You're going to see drone attacks. But there is a little bit of a lull in the fighting. And so -- but you are going to see things go back and forth. There's going to be a lot of posturing on both sides.

The other reason why there was so much chaos is because the Trump administration basically just wanted to deal with Moscow, get a deal done, and then they gave it to Ukraine and to the Europeans. And the Ukrainian people (ph) were like --

CORNISH: Which did not go over well.

THOMPSON: Exactly.

CORNISH: Yes.

So, now you've got -- I noted somebody who's always been sort of interested in this issue, former Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell. He has been posting a lot about this, and he says that "the president is right, that Biden's weakness emboldened enemies like Putin. But those who think pressuring the victim and appeasing the aggressor will bring peace are kidding themselves. Which difficult concessions are we pressing Russia to make?"

SABRINA SINGH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think Senator McConnell makes a good point. What are the concessions that the United States is putting on Russia to make to Ukraine? Because the plan that was initially presented to Ukraine was to give up some of the -- to give up the Donbas, no NATO membership or ascension, no being able to station NATO troops within Ukraine. And, of course, you know, to also shrink their military size. And so those are some red lines, not just for Ukraine, but that should be a red line for the United States. We shouldn't tell a sovereign nation --

CORNISH: I'm interested in how more and more Republicans are speaking out on this. You had the Pennsylvania congressman, Brian Fitzpatrick, and he was talking about Witkoff being involved. He said, look, "this is a major problem. One of the many reasons why these ridiculous sideshows and secret meetings need to stop. Allow Secretary of State Marco Rubio to do his job in a fair and objective manner."

BRYAN LANZA, SENIOR ADVISER, TRUMP 2024 CAMPAIGN: I mean it's not his job. It's President Trump's job, right? You know, President Trump ran this election saying he was going to, you know, try to bring peace as quickly as possible. It's turned out to be a little bit more difficult. He's employed somebody who has a long-term relationship with to show the Russians how serious he takes these level of negotiations. And it's sloppy. Diplomacy is sloppy.

Before we got the agreement with -- that you had in the Middle East, you had multiple, you know, potential agreements that just -- that sputtered and didn't end up anywhere. The fact is, is this administration, this president, is putting focus on trying to bring a resolution to the -- to the mass killing that's taking place. He's now --

CORNISH: So, you see people kind of nitpicking on the players here?

LANZA: Nitpicking doesn't matter because, at the end of the day, the result's going to be what the results.

CORNISH: OK. Antjuan.

ANTJUAN SEAWRIGHT, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Fifty-three times, according to CNN research, Donald Trump said that he was going to end the war on day one. We have not done that. The longer this process drags out and the more he gives Putin an international audience, having these meetings, showing up with him, I think the more it weakens our positions in the United States and projects that we do not have the strength needed to do it.

LANZA: So, how do you resolve it without talking to the Russians then?

SEAWRIGHT: Well, what I'm saying to you is most -- most folks who are --

LANZA: Well, you said it's dangerous to engage Putin.

SINGH: Well, you don't have to give concessions to the aggressor. I think --

LANZA: Listen, guys, he is sanctioning Russian companies left and right and Russian individuals. That doesn't feel like concessions to me.

SINGH: I mean those are not the hardest sanctions that we could have put on.

LANZA: He's selling the --

SINGH: Oh, and that took 11 months into the administration to do that.?

LANZA: I mean Russia now has to sell their number two company as a result of U.S. sanctions. So, you can't say that there's no concessions taking place here.

SINGH: I'm sorry, but you do not -- you do not -- you do not give in and allow the country that was invaded to give concessions to that aggressor.

LANZA: That's right.

SINGH: And I think what's important here is what the transcript showed from that Bloomberg reporting is Steve Witkoff is so out of his depth that he's -- I mean he -- people spend years studying how to approach the approach the Russians and negotiate with them. Putin is a master manipulator, someone that ran, you know, the highest level of the intel service. And he has been able --

LANZA: He certainly ran circles around Obama and Biden, you're right.

SINGH: Well, he's been able to manipulate Witkoff, I think, very well as his own puppet.

CORNISH: Yes.

SINGH: And frankly, Donald Trump. I mean look at the red carpet that we rolled out for this man.

SEAWRIGHT: That's my point, on the world stage. Like, he's given Putin an audience, an attention, and that's what he lives for.

CORNISH: Well --

SEAWRIGHT: It's almost like we're empowering him.

LANZA: So you -- so, don't talk to him. OK.

CORNISH: In the meantime -- right, well, they are talking to him, so don't worry. It's happening.

LANZA: Yes, but --

CORNISH: But also just keeping in mind for people some of the things that are on the Trump list are things that are very much red line sticking points for both parties.

LANZA: Of course. Yes. Yes.

CORNISH: Like NATO membership. Like security. So, this conversation isn't over.

You guys, stick with me. We've got more to discuss.

Coming up on CNN, we're going to be talking about this immigration crackdown in North Carolina. So, it's called, of course, Operation Charlotte's Web. It's led to the arrest of nearly 400 people. Federal agents surged into the city earlier this month, and they were targeting shopping centers, home improvement stores, country clubs, the landscapers. But residents are pushing back in their neighborhoods.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get the hell out of my yard you (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

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CORNISH: So, the fear from the raids led to thousands of absences at local schools at the start of the operation, as immigrant families fear arrest or deportation if they leave their homes. Volunteers tell CNN that they're helping by delivering food and giving kids safe rides to class.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've been giving rides myself to these three sisters. And I gave them rides all of last week. [06:40:02]

And yesterday their mom texted me and said she still didn't feel safe leaving the house, and she asked if I could continue to give her girls a ride to school this week.

These are our neighbors. These are my kids' friends. Like these kids should go to school. The parents shouldn't be afraid to go to the grocery store.

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CORNISH: Now, local Republicans in North Carolina are warning that the images coming out of the raids could backfire. In a recent interview, former Governor Pat McCrory warned, quote, "from a PR and political standpoint, for the first time, immigration is maybe having a negative impact on my party."

So, joining me now to discuss this more, Edwin Peacock. He's a member of the Charlotte City Council.

Good morning. Thank you for being with us.

EDWIN PEACOCK (R) CHARLOTTE CITY COUNCIL: Thank you.

CORNISH: I think that having seen what happened in Chicago, people had a sense of what this operation could look like on the ground in North Carolina. So, how are you surprised at how it's playing out or the reaction to it?

PEACOCK: It's one thing to look at it from Chicago. It's another thing to look at up front and personal here in Charlotte. And I think more than anything, it's -- it's opened up the eyes of a lot of citizens, those of which who may be very supportive of Mr. Trump's actions, but it feels very different when it's on you.

CORNISH: We've been noting how Republicans have lost ground with Latino voters after those gains in 2024. I think we found 28 percent of Latinos approved of his job performance, which is half of what it was prior. North Carolina is a purple state, right? There are lots of Republicans in North Carolina. There are lots of Trump supporters there. So, do you think this could really have an effect?

PEACOCK: I do think it can. I mean, I think, at the end of the day, you've got to look at both what I consider to be the compassionate side of who humans are, especially during this time of Thanksgiving. At the same time, be recognition -- have the recognition that there is an enforcement element to this as well too. We've known that this law has been in place well before ICE got here. It's just when it actually gets put into play, I think this is where Republicans are noticing, again, how are you treating your neighbor?

CORNISH: You lost your bid for re-election earlier this month, and this is an Election Day where we did see Democrats win by some larger than expected margins in places around the country. What's your message to Republicans who are running going forward? Like, is there a way to talk about this to those independent voters or people who are disillusioned with how it's playing out?

PEACOCK: Well, right now, I think being on the down ticket in an off year, when Donald Trump is obviously not on the ballot, what we've learned here locally, and for those friends of mine who may be running in this next cycle, is, is that -- is that there's a lot of -- there's a lot of forces right now working against you that want to come out and speak out against the president. And I learned that the hard way.

CORNISH: Can you just tell me what it's been like when you talk to citizens? I mean, I covered the south for a long time. You do not roll up with guns in someone's neighborhood, OK? Like that is not the move. So, what are you hearing from business owners and just regular people?

PEACOCK: I think it's just general confusion. I mean the randomness of which ICE has gone about, going from everything, as you said, from a country club, to taking individuals from various -- Home Depots to yard workers. It's just been very random. And when you look at that from a local law enforcement standpoint, that's not what we expect of our police officers. In fact, it would -- it would be rebuked immediately if you were going about policing in that manner. So, that's been the disturbing part is watching how ICE is operating in that capacity.

CORNISH: What about how people are reacting? Have you been surprised at the backlash?

PEACOCK: Not surprised. I've been surprised at the breadth and the number of people that have paid much more close attention to this. Again, when it's in Chicago, but now it's in your backyard, you're going to pay a lot closer attention to it.

CORNISH: OK, Edwin Peacock, thanks so much, speaking to us from North Carolina.

And if you missed any of that conversation, with Ed Peacock or any other part of the show, know that we're a podcast. You can share it. Just scan the QR code now to find this episode of CNN THIS MORNING. It's available anywhere you get your podcasts.

And next, a million seniors could soon be without health insurance. Why UnitedHealthcare decided to drop them.

Plus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My kids' daycare went up. Can't afford the cost of food.

When was a box of cereal $9.29?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Child care costs, rent, grocery prices, all going up. Do you need a six-figure paycheck to make ends meet?

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[06:49:10]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, I have UnitedHealthcare. And I have just received my benefits summary for next year. If I keep my current plan, my monthly premium is going up 52.8 percent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: All right, so, obviously, health care is hitting a breaking point for a lot of people right now. For many seniors, things could get a whole lot worse. UnitedHealthcare also just announced plans to drop 1 million Medicare Advantage members from its coverage plan. That mainly impacts seniors 65 and older.

Now, Aetna and Humana have also signaled that they'll be scaling back on their plans.

And as millions of people who rely on the Affordable Care Act brace for premiums that could spike as subsidies expire.

So, to figure all of this out, we're bringing in Julie Rovner. She's chief Washington correspondent at Kaiser Family Foundation.

[06:50:03]

Good morning, Julie. Thanks for being here.

JULIE ROVNER, HOST, KFF HEALTH NEWS "WHA THE HEALTH?" PODCAST AND CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, KFF HEALTH NEWS: Thanks for having me.

CORNISH: So, we mentioned United, which I understand it could hit like 109 counties, a million worth of people. And then when we dug into it, we saw the other plans were thinking about it too. Why? What's wrong with Medicare Advantage?

ROVNER: Well, first of all, Medicare Advantage overpays insurance companies by -- to the tune of about 20 percent. So, people who are on traditional Medicare actually cost less than people on Medicare Advantage.

But the insurance companies pretty much every year, you know, figure out where they're not making enough money and drop out. But the fact is, in most places, there are still too many Medicare Advantage plans. It's too confusing for most people to try and figure out which plan is best for them.

It's important to say that we are now in the middle of open enrollment for Medicare. It ends December 7th. Thanksgiving weekend is a traditional time for family members to help other family members with their Medicare plans for 2026. So, when everybody after -- after the big meal and maybe before the football game might be a good time to sit down with your loved ones, if they're having trouble figuring this all out. CORNISH: Now, I want to talk about that process because, you know,

earlier we showed a clip of someone who is fairly young, who's just dealing with their premiums potentially going up. Then you're saying you could have relatives who may be dropped altogether. Can you talk about the confusion for people right now?

ROVNER: Yes, it -- you know, our health system is so sort of subdivided into little bits. And of course, at the top, the -- that United policyholder, I believe, was talking about the Affordable Care Act, not about Medicare Advantage, Medicare Advantage premiums are actually staying relatively flat. It's also, of course, open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act.

That's a bigger problem. People who are going to lose their Affordable Care Act subsidies if Congress and the president don't act, those people are going to be facing huge increases with most of the people on Medicare. Even if their plan is ending, they'll be either rolled into traditional Medicare, they may be enrolled in a similar plan, a similar Medicare Advantage plan.

It is important, though, for everybody to review their coverage during open enrollment and figure out if your plan is changing. Even if your plan isn't being canceled, your doctor might be dropped out or the drug you're taking might be dropped. So, it's really, really important right now to look at sort of what you're going to have for next year and figure out if there is something better

CORNISH: Julie, before I let you go, I know that the president had talked about kind of releasing some sort of proposal that might extend those Obamacare subsidies. They didn't end up doing it. Can you talk about the sticking point? Why is it that Republicans are still so fearful of extending these subsidies and yet don't have an alternative plan.

ROVNER: Well, Republicans have not ever really had an alternative plan. It's been 15 years of the Affordable Care Act, and now they're divided over whether they're going to watch their voters' premiums go up or whether they're going to do something to, you know, continue these extra subsidies that were put in place during the Biden administration, during Covid. And so, when the president sort of threatened to continue the subsidies, there was a lot of pushback on Capitol Hill, and the plan got delayed. I don't know when or if we will see it.

So, obviously, you know, we're running out of time. The subsidies end at the end of -- at the end of December. And these premiums will go up unless Congress does something.

CORNISH: That's Julie Rovner. Julie, thank you.

ROVNER: Thank you.

CORNISH: All right, we want to turn to the economy, because at this rate, could your kids be living with you forever? Moving out might be harder than ever if you go by one financial expert's latest assessment because he thinks the poverty line, as we know it, is way too low. So, the official federal poverty line for a family of four is $34,000.

Finance expert Michael Green argues that number should be four times higher, at maybe $140,000 a year.

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MICHAEL GREEN, CHIEF STRATEGIST AND PORTFOLIO MANAGER, SIMPLIFY ASSET MANAGEMENT: All the metrics that we're ultimately looking at are simply three times that food budget.

Food prices have not kept pace with general inflation. And, as a result, all those other components, housing, education, child care, et cetera, have exploded underneath us and we've denied that they exist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So, the cost of housing, childcare and everyday essentials are all going up. According to his math, to survive in today's world, a family of four would need about $118,000 a year just to cover the basics. And Americans say they are feeling the squeeze.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's out of hand.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Obviously, our government is going through challenges.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our dollars are not stretching as much as they need to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Group chat is back.

The reason why I wanted to play this for you guys is because this is not a Democratic socialist speaking, right? This is an economist being like, let me just do the math here.

[06:55:00]

And I'm wondering, like, sort of how the White House is ever going to talk about this, how they approach it beyond saying that it was Biden's problem first.

LANZA: Listen, I think all of them need solutions. I think affordability has been an issue, you know, for the last 20 years, you know, during Bush, during Obama. Home prices have shot up. It's become less affordable. Cars have gone up. And they have to have policies that work. I haven't seen anything to address how you deal with the housing crisis at a national level. You see it sort of take place at the state level.

CORNISH: Yes, which they brought up, and it hasn't come to pass.

LANZA: Yes, it's just -- CORNISH: But do you think that's why he was looking at Zohran Mamdani with like a huge smile. Like, look at me, I'm standing next to Mr. Affordability Man.

LANZA: Yes -- no, listen, I think that's -- the Mamdani, the smile, that's politics, right? You know, the Republican Party embraces a socialist, communist to be sort of the -- one of the figureheads of the Democratic Party that works for us in the next election. But getting to this, to this 140 is the bare minimum, you know, it's expensive out there.

CORNISH: But let me play for you how the president is dealing with it. You just said it's expensive out there.

LANZA: Yes.

CORNISH: Here's how he's talked about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Groceries are down, except for the beef, which I'll get down too.

Groceries are way down, other than beef.

They went up under Biden. Right now they're going down. Other than beef, which we're working on. Which we can solve very quickly.

We have much lower prices than they do, and we only have one thing, beef.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEAWRIGHT: I think the president and others are in denial about the affordability crisis they've created because MAGA-nomics has been a failure. He's been on the record for saying that we do not have an affordability crisis. When you have, as the CNBC article stated in April, when you have people taking out short-term loans to buy groceries, we have a problem.

So, forget about trying to make ends meet. There are people putting two ends together, hoping they meet. And a lot has changed since Donald Trump has taken over the American economy. And no one can deny that.

LANZA: Let's be clear. You know, let me ask you a question. Was there an affordability crisis during Biden?

SEAWRIGHT: Absolutely. But Joe Biden did something to address it.

LANZA: And what was that?

SEAWRIGHT: This Republican majority and this president have done nothing. I can point directly to the Inflation Reduction Act.

CORNISH: But before you guys go down the rabbit hole, people believe you, which is why they voted for Trump.

LANZA: Yes.

CORNISH: So, they literally believe you.

LANZA: Of course.

CORNISH: And now they want something to be done. What are you hearing from this White House?

THOMPSON: Well, I was -- well, I was just going to note, there's a story in "The Wall Street Journal just today, which is that last year, which was Trump's first year, was a record year for Goodwill, and that they opened 42 more stores and they had $5.5 billion in sales. Now, you don't have an expansion of Goodwill unless the affordability crisis is getting worse.

CORNISH: And we don't mean goodwill like goodwill and good tidings. You mean like the charity organization had a banner year because people are struggling?

THOMPSON: Yes. Yes, exactly.

SINGH: Well, I think also, I mean, this gets back to the affordability. I think that report was sort of -- it's an outlier report in that, you know, it's saying that 140,000 should be the minimum.

But that being said, I think you ask anyone anywhere in the country, can they afford basic groceries? The answer is no.

CORNISH: Yes.

SINGH: And housing, the answer is no. And so, I think to your point of like they're out of touch. I mean of course they're out of touch. There are a bunch of billionaires in the White House right now that aren't going to the supermarket and buying, you know, their groceries.

CORNISH: But the reason why I brought it here is because usually people say, well, if you move somewhere else, the cost of living is maybe high in your big fancy cities.

SINGH: Yes.

CORNISH: He's saying across the board this poverty line is different from what we think.

OK, you guys, because we're on green Wednesday/Thanksgiving eve, I want it to be your opportunity to give me your group chats.

Antjuan, since you're about to speak, tell me what's in yours.

SEAWRIGHT: How do we talk about politics over Thanksgiving? And how do we do it from a sane perspective? I'm going to live by KISS, keep it simple Seawright so that it can be in a very simplified form. And the main argument I'm going to have is the affordability. CORNISH: OK, copyright. You're the reason I'm going to take a cousin

walk I'm pretty sure if you're talking politics at Thanksgiving.

SEAWRIGHT: After you eat the dressing.

CORNISH: Got it. Got it. OK. You?

LANZA: Listen, I'm a Californian. It's hard to avoid what's going on in California. Gavin Newsom, FBI investigation to his chief of staff, who's been indicted. You know, I had friends who've received letters from the FBI saying that they've been part of conversations related to this criminal crime. All my friends, my family, this is the main point of conversation, what does it actually mean, you know, post, you know, him running for office? Does it actually affect him? And, we'll see.

CORNISH: Yes.

SINGH: Without a question, I think the transcripts that dropped last night that "Bloomberg" reported on of Steve Witkoff engaging with his Russian counterpart. I think it showed, one --

CORNISH: The transcript of a phone call.

SINGH: Of a phone call.

CORNISH: Which is very rare to see.

SINGH: Very rare, especially from the Russian side. Usually when we have readouts with the Russians, it's very tight-lipped. It's one sentence. So, the fact that you saw how the administration not only engages, but how they're advising how to approach Donald Trump and before his meeting with Zelenskyy that was supposed to happen last month when the Tomahawks were on the table. Obviously, Putin called Trump, and that immediately came off.

CORNISH: OK. Alex, what about you?

THOMPSON: The pope made an appearance at a rave.

CORNISH: I'm sorry, what?

THOMPSON: Yes, he made a video appearance at a rave last week. It was a rave by DJ Priest. So, there was -- there was some overlap. But it is part of sort of this new attitude you're seeing with this pope about trying to sort of meet people where they are. And --

[07:00:06]

CORNISH: There's so many things to unpack there. DJ Priest, the pope, did he dance? I didn't --

THOMPSON: It was a video appearance and he blessed the audience. And then the lasers came on soon after that.

CORNISH: Very nice.

SEAWRIGHT: Party with the pope.

CORNISH: Party with the pope.

THOMPSON: Yes.

CORNISH: Now that's going to be in my group chat later, too.

SINGH: (INAUDIBLE).

CORNISH: All right, you guys, thank you so much for being with me. Thank you for waking up with us. I'm Audie Cornish, and the headlines are next.