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Tariff Relief for Consumers; New Bodycam Video of Slender Man Attacker; Swalwell Enters California Race; Elaine Swann is Interviewed about Holiday Etiquette. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired November 26, 2025 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: 3:00 p.m. local time, and the fire quickly spread from a ground floor to the bamboo scaffolding that encases all of these buildings, which is very common in construction and renovation projects in Hong Kong of the high-rise buildings here. And that debris continues to rain down and make it far more dangerous for the emergency personnel.

As of now, I can say, just as a layman, this fire is nowhere near under control.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, I mean, you can really tell that it is a disturbing scene. You can see the flames bursting out of the windows still after all these hours. A terrifying prospect for the residents that are still in there.

Ivan Watson, I know you'll stay on the scene for us. A very active scene there in Hong Kong. Thank you for your reporting.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, it's just frightening to think there are people trapped still in those upper floors and they can't be reached at this moment. We'll stay on that situation.

All right, new this morning, the president, of course, rolled back some tariffs to try to bring down prices on things like coffee, fruit, beef. Are people feeling it though in the things that they buy at the grocery store?

CNN's Matt Egan is with me with the latest.

Sir.

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, John, the grocery prices, it's just one of the biggest frustrations right now among Americans. And the White House has held up these tariff rollbacks as a way to address the affordability crisis. And the good news is, new research from the Peterson Institute shows that, yes, some items may get less expensive because of these rollbacks. For example, the cost of bananas could go down by almost three percent. Coffee and nuts, seven percent cheaper.

Now, one thing to emphasize, though, is that those price cuts are only going to happen if the stores pass along the full impact of the tariff savings to consumers. And that's a big if, because we know stores are often reluctant to lower prices after raising them.

But, OK, let's just say they do share the whole savings with consumers. Peterson Institute research shows that this will lower prices by about $5 billion per year. Now that sounds like a lot, but it's a big country. When you break this down per household, we're only talking about an annual savings of $35 from these tariff rollbacks. $35. That's against estimates from the budget lab at Yale that the impact of the tariff hikes are costing households $1,700. So, $35 savings, $1,700 in cost. This would be like if your landlord raised your rent by $200, and then, to make up for it, handed you a gift card for $35, right? It's like, OK, thanks, but this doesn't really do anything.

And I talked to Scott Lincicome over at the Cato Institute, and he told me, look, we should welcome any relief from what he described as government created price hikes, but he said it's going to take a lot more before consumers actually feel the impact of any sort of rollbacks and savings here. And contrast all of this with how White House officials have held up these tariff rollbacks as a way to address affordability.

Take a listen to Kevin Hassett, the White House economist, on this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN HASSETT, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: The prices for those goods weren't necessarily going up just because of tariffs. And so, the food prices will go down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

HASSETT: Well, the prices will go down, of course, but --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, because the tariffs have been taken off?

HASSETT: Right. Well and because the supply of the goods into the U.S. is going to increase.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

EGAN: This is just another example of the disconnect between the rhetoric and the reality on prices, right? The president says there's no inflation. Clearly there is. He says that grocery prices are down. They're clearly not. And, yes, rolling back tariffs. It could help a little bit on the edges, but this is really just a drop in the bucket.

BERMAN: Yes, it just is so interesting for an administration that for so long said that the tariffs weren't going to increase the prices, that we didn't pay the price of tariffs, but now say, oh, we're going to give you savings by cutting the tariffs. It's just a cognitive dissonance there. Matt Egan, thank you very much.

EGAN: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: I would say so, Mr. Berman.

This is coming up for us as well. "Dancing with the Stars" has crowned a new winner. Why no one seems to be at all surprised by the outcome.

And how to survive Thanksgiving dinner unscathed. Some advice since, let's be honest, we can't all have Wolf Blitzer moderating the debate for us. Remember this?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I heard that Barack Hussein Obama made it legal to steal things.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: That is completely false.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, then who stole my glasses?

BLITZER: Your glasses are on your forehead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:38:46]

SIDNER: All right, all new body camera video showing the moment police picked up the woman accused as a child of luring another 12-year-old into the woods and stabbing her nearly to death to appease a spooky fictional character. Morgan Geyser was found with another person there in Illinois after escaping the group home where she was living as part of her sentence. She pleaded guilty in 2017 to stabbing her friend three years earlier to appease the internet character "Slender Man." And now we're also hearing from Geyser's friend who was found alongside her there in Illinois.

CNN's Jean Casarez is joining me now.

This case took our breath away when it first happened. And now you've got these new machinations. What are you learning?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, so much is going to be happening in the next few days. First of all, it shows she's still in Cook County, Illinois. But she waved her extradition. So, that means Wisconsin authorities can come in -- it's only a little over 100 miles --

SIDNER: Right.

CASAREZ: To pick her up and take her back to Wisconsin. They're going to take her back to Waukesha, Wisconsin, because that is where this all originated.

This is where, in 2014, she and her little friend, another 12-year- old, lured another one of their classmates to the woods in the area. And Morgan pleaded guilty to stabbing her 19 times.

[09:40:00]

She actually crawled away because they ran away. They were -- and she crawled and she found a bicyclist and she survived. But, you know, it's interesting, the prosecutor of this county, Waukesha, said that she was on the loose for 24 hours, and the victim's family was never told, the victim was never told, and the prosecutor's office was never told.

But in Waukesha, what's going to be so important is what the Department of Health Services does. We know they have filed a petition now, but will they ask to revoke her conditional release, which means she would go back to the mental hospital? Would they want her to stay in the group home? That's number one.

Number two, Dane County, Madison, that's where the group home was. They have to be assessing now potential charges because there in Wisconsin there is a felony called escape. And is she of sound mind now? It could be a totally different situation if she intentionally, of sound mind, cut that electronic monitoring bracelet off.

But a friend that she was with has spoken out and this person has spoken out to CNN affiliate WKOW, asked to be identified as Charly Mecca. Charly Mecca talks about what they did and how he feels about Morgan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLY MECCA: We understand how to talk to each other and validate and just how to communicate in a really good, healthy way. And it was -- it was really nice. I was like, I don't hate you. I said, clearly you're not that person anymore and you're trying really hard to move away from it. That much is very obvious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: And in the end, this will all be in the hands of a judge. He will make the decisions.

SIDNER: There is a lot of decision to be made in this particular case.

Jean Casarez, thank you so much. I do appreciate it.

John.

BERMAN: All right, there is a heavy race to be the next governor of California. Eric Swalwell, congressman there, just jumped in. There are other people in the race also. Tom Steyer, a billionaire. Katie Porter, a former member of Congress. And many others as well.

So, what do the markets say about where this race is headed? CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten is here.

So, Eric Swalwell just got in. The prediction markets think?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: And the prediction markets think he has a pretty decent chance of pulling it off. I mean take a look here. Chance to be the next governor of California, according to the Kalshi prediction markets. I'm going to spell Kalshi right like this. And what do we see. We see that he's at a 45 percent chance to, in fact, be the next governor of California. You take a look on October 7th. He wasn't even in the race. It was N/A. Tom Steyer, N/A. Katie Porter led it 40 percent. She's all the way down now to 12 percent chance to be the next governor of California. Her chances have absolutely slipped slide down. And now the two front runners are, in fact, Eric Swalwell and, of course, Tom Steyer, the billionaire at 45 percent and a 24 percent chance of taking the -- be the next governor of California, according to the Kalshi prediction.

BERMAN: All right, so in terms of the slip here of Katie Porter. Yes, you have two new candidates in the race, but what else may have happened to her candidacy?

ENTEN: What else may have happened? Well, Google searches for Katie Porter in California, up 10,000 percent on October 9th. The interview is the top search topic associated with her name. Of course, if you may recall this, there was not one but two interviews in which Katie Porter was not very nice, once to a staff member, once to a local television reporter. And a lot of folks reacted poorly to that interview. It generated a lot of press for her. And it turns out not all press is good press.

BERMAN: Ten thousand percent is a lot of percent there.

ENTEN: Yes.

BERMAN: And in terms of Eric Swalwell here getting in, seeing it 45 percent. And again, this could all shift. He just got in. We don't know where it will all settle. He, of course, has sued Donald Trump I think a couple times. He was involved in one of the impeachment proceedings. Trump has gone after him. Why might that be an impact in this race?

ENTEN: Why might it be an impact? Well, I mean, look, you want -- you want Donald Trump to go after you. I mean Californians who disapprove of Donald Trump, all voters, 66 percent, Democrats, 93 percent. So, Donald Trump going after you, that is a good thing in California. Eric Swalwell definitely welcomes those attacks against him.

BERMAN: Again, a long way to go in that race. So, a lot of twists and turns will be coming.

It may be the type of thing you can talk about over your Thanksgiving dinner, or not, Harry. What do people want to talk about?

ENTEN: They don't want to talk about politics. I mean, look at that, 71 percent say avoid talking politics with your family. Talk it with us, though. BERMAN: But what they should talk about is football, correct?

ENTEN: That's right.

BERMAN: All right, Harry Enten, thank you.

ENTEN: Go Bills.

BERMAN: Thank you very much.

We got a lot of news coming up. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:49:15]

BOLDUAN: All right, new in this morning, eight people have been killed, more than 2,000 people displaced after torrential rains triggered flash flooding and landslides in Indonesia. The dangerous situation unfolding also leading to rescue teams struggling to reach some affected areas. In some places, flash floods rose so rapidly it transformed streets into just raging rivers carrying tree trunks and debris along with it. Officials are warning people still to stay away from flood-prone areas.

And a dog named Sadie is lucky to be alive after apparently making the most of a family vacation. Sadie escaped, took off from a California Airbnb rental on Sunday where the family was staying, and headed straight for the beach and went missing. Lifeguards and even the Coast Guard were brought in and braved rough conditions to search for her. They didn't find her, and so the official search was actually called off.

[09:50:01]

On their way back to the beach, the lifeguards decided to make one more pass, found the dog three quarters of a mile offshore and got her to safety. She is reportedly going to be fine.

And Robert Irwin has been crowned champion of season 34 of "Dancing with the Stars," and apparently to absolutely no one's surprise. The 21-year-old is the son of the late crocodile hunter Steve Irwin. And Robert has been a fan favorite all season. He even received two perfect scores last night. This is the Irwin family's second "Dancing with the Stars" win. His sister won ten years ago.

So, it started as a small, invitation only birthday party, and then ended up as an out of control rager at the home of a Scottsdale, Arizona, school board member. Police say they found about 500 teenagers there after receiving reports of underage drinking. The school board member says that he actually had hired security for his son's party, but things got out of hand when word of the party spread online. This is the source of movies. I know this. No charges have been filed, but one kid has -- was reportedly sent to the hospital with suspected alcohol poisoning. SIDNER: The holidays bring families together in the most beautiful of ways, don't they, John, but family gatherings can also bring a little stress, a little -- a little conflict. Case in point, the American Psychological Association did a survey in 2023 which found 89 percent of us adults feel stressed during the holiday season and 41 percent reported being more stressed out than other times of year. Since we are living in a very politically divided world, it's worth taking a moment to discuss how we might survive the holidays.

He's smiling because he's part of the problem.

Let us ask lifestyle and etiquette expert Elaine Swann. She is the founder of the Swann School of Protocol and author of "Elaine Swann's Book of Modern Etiquette."

OK, so let's just start here. I just insulted John, which was completely unacceptable.

BERMAN: So, what's the right way for me to respond forcefully?

SIDNER: When somebody is rude at the table?

ELAINE SWANN, ETIQUETTE EXPERT: When someone is rude. Yes, I say, call them out. Don't let people get away with it. Polite does not equal pushover. So, when someone is rude, say to them, you know what, that wasn't nice. That was really hurtful. And I tell you, that will be the one thing that will just pull them all the way together. And let them know that what they said hurt you. I think this is the thing that we have to do is call people out instead of being bulldozed over during the holiday season.

BERMAN: I like you.

SWANN: Yes.

BERMAN: All right.

SIDNER: OK, so, do it.

What do you do with -- sometimes you're at a gathering and you have an uncle, an aunt, not naming any names here, who says something to you, like, oh, I see you've gained a little weight.

SWANN: Yes.

SIDNER: Or, I don't know -- you've never done that. I know you are not that crazy. Or they say something like, I can't believe you voted for that fool, and they start something.

SWANN: Right. And they start something.

SIDNER: What do you do?

SWANN: Yes, so this is where -- I think it's really important, especially this, with the climate that we're having right now, it is important. People think, don't talk politics. But I believe it's absolutely acceptable to talk about your beliefs, to help people -- to understand why -- what's important to you. But we cannot punch down at people. That's the thing that we don't want to do. So, when the person says, I can't believe you voted for that person, you can say, well, tell me, why did you vote? What was important to you? Put them on the spot and help them explain what it is. And if it's a bunch of nonsense --

SIDNER: Do that smile and -- smile and nod.

SWANN: Yes. Yes, just smile and nod and say, thank you for sharing. And that's it.

BERMAN: So every once in a while I get invited places.

SIDNER: It happens.

BERMAN: You know, it happens. Like it's a rare thing. No, but you get invited to a dinner. You get invited to a Thanksgiving. The host will say, don't bring anything. Just bring yourself. Ah, you seem skeptical, I can tell.

SWANN: Well, here's the thing. The host does not want you to infringe on their meal. So, do not bring anything meal related. Aha! But what you do is you bring something host related. You know, of course, you know, you have the bottle of wine or what have you. But there are so many wonderful things that you can get for a host. Everything from really cute kitchen towels, to some sort of fun gadget, to a wine opener, or a set of wine glasses, things like that. But when they say, don't bring anything, they really mean, I've got the meal plan. Stay in your lane.

SIDNER: What about when the dinner or lunch or whatever you're eating, brunch, is over and they're like, don't worry about this. Go, go, go, go enjoy the football game, enjoy this and don't' worry about the cleanup.

SWANN: Yes.

SIDNER: But there are dishes just piled.

SWANN: But there are dishes piled. That means the host has staked their territory and they do not want you there.

SIDNER: Really?

SWANN: Yes. Absolutely.

SIDNER: Oh, I like -- are you sure, because --

SWANN: Yes. Absolutely. And this is the thing, we eat and we feel like we have to do -- give something back.

SIDNER: Yes.

SWANN: But you have to keep in mind that a host, this is what they do. This is what they love. And to them, to see their guests being comfortable in their home and enjoying themselves, that is more meaningful to any host than to see their guests being put to work.

BERMAN: And when you are the host at a time like this, like a high pressure, high stakes big moment --

SIDNER: Yes.

BERMAN: What's your responsibility when everyone sits down to make the mood -- put the mood in the right place?

SWANN: So, your responsibility is to do just that, to set the tone.

[09:55:02]

And so, you set the tone through your lighting, through the decor that's in your house, through the smells. You can use candles and things like that.

SIDNER: Oh, smart.

SWANN: So, it's your responsibility to set the tone in the home and keep things in check. So, let's say, for example, the conversation starts to get a little bit out of hand. This is when, as the host, you come prepared with ways to change the subject. Oh, so and so, how was your vacation this year? Or how's that new job? Or ask somebody a question about themselves, because people love talking about themselves.

BERMAN: Yes.

SWANN: So, ask them about themselves.

SIDNER: That makes sense. The key is to pivot, John.

SWANN: Yes.

SIDNER: IT's the pivot.

SWANN: Do the -- do the political pivot in your home and you're good to go.

SIDNER: Elaine Swann, it was a pleasure having you. Thank you so much.

SWANN: Thank you so much. It was my pleasure.

BERMAN: Thank you. That was great.

SWANN: Yes.

BERMAN: And do not forget to join Sara Sidner, Erica Hill, John Berman -- he's good -- tomorrow.

SIDNER: So good.

BERMAN: They're all going to be outside at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. You'll see parades from all across the country. Our "Thanksgiving in America" live coverage starts at 8:00 a.m. Eastern on CNN and the CNN app.

BOLDUAN: But what was the -- what was the advice when someone says something outrageous, you just say, thank you for sharing.

BERMAN: That was what I did, I was sharing. I was sharing.

SIDNER: And then you pivot, like we're doing right now. "SITUATION ROOM" up next.

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