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Three Men Charged With Manslaughter in Hong Kong Fire; 83 Dead, Many More Missing in Hong Kong High-rise Fire; Two National Guard Members in Critical Condition After D.C. Shooting, Identified as Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom and Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe; Putin Says Fighting Will End When Ukraine Withdraws From Occupied Territories; Baby2baby Providing Essentials to Families Devastated by Disasters; Pope Leo Says Happy Thanksgiving During First Foreign Trip; West Virginia Governor Hails Ruling in Favor of Vaccine Religious Exemptions; Tourist Dies, Another Injured After Shark Attack in Australia. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired November 27, 2025 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[13:30:00]
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Arrest. What do we know about that?
SIMONE MCCARTHY, CNN SENIOR NEWS DESK REPORTER: That's right. So, they have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter, with authorities accusing them of gross negligence. Now, we know that they are affiliated with the construction firm. And as you mentioned, this housing estate was under renovation. Authority is really keyed in very early on, on questions related to whether or not some of those construction materials were up to code. And the extent to which they may have played a role in that very rapid spread of that fire from one corner of the housing estate to engulf at least seven of the eight towers.
Now, this is a massive housing estate. There's some 2,000 units, 4,000 residents. And so, the speed with which this absolutely kind of erupted and then has continued to blaze has been a significant question among experts who have been watching this as well as among authorities, with some of them pointing to in particular the presence of these polystyrene boards, which is a flammable material, that were found blocking some of the windows. So, there's a number of questions about the extent to which materials were up to code.
But then there's also the question regarding the bamboo scaffolding itself, which is a very common feature of construction, renovation in Hong Kong. I mean, Hong Kong is a city that's very much built up and you see commonly this, as you mentioned, these buildings were roughly 30 stories. You see towering bamboo scaffolding, which is commonly used for renovations. And city officials have already been pushing to switch away from that kind of material, citing incidents where that material may have been implicated and now, we're seeing them accelerate those efforts.
So certainly, we don't know how this fire began yet. There's a lot of questions that remain, but that's the focus of the criminal probe and where we expect the investigation to move in the coming days and weeks, as the blaze is eventually extinguished.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": And Simone, talk to us about rescue operations. What's the latest there?
MCCARTHY: Well, firefighters recently gave a press conference just in the last hour and they said that they are in the final stages of extinguishing the flames. The firefighting efforts are almost complete, and then they're planning to do a sweep of the buildings, which they expect will be completed by 9:00 a.m. They cited around two dozen outstanding calls for help, which are -- which they're going to address as they do that sweep.
And so, I think we'll expect at that time, at that projected time 9:00 a.m. in the morning to have a substantial update about the status of this tremendous tragedy for the city of Hong Kong.
SANCHEZ: Simone McCarthy live for us in Beijing. Thank you so much for that update.
Up next, we have new details about the Afghan national accused of gunning down two National Guard members as the investigation into his alleged motive reaches from coast to coast.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:36:59]
JIMENEZ: The FBI is conducting a coast to coast investigation into what officials call an ambush-style attack on two members of the West Virginia National Guard who were on patrol in the nation's capitol. Authorities are also looking into the suspect's connections overseas.
SANCHEZ: Yeah. And while a motive is still unclear, U.S. attorney Jeanine Pirro says, the suspect, a 29-year-old Afghan national, targeted these guard members. Meantime, the two shooting victims remain in critical condition after undergoing surgery. They've been identified as 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe and 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom, the attack leaving their communities rattled.
We want to take you there to Martinsburg, West Virginia where Gabe Cohen is live for us right now. That's the hometown of one of these victims. Gabe, what more are you learning about them?
GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Well, Boris Omar, what we have learned is that both, Wolfe and Beckstrom, had been deployed in Washington, D.C. really since the start of this mission back in August. That both of them were very proud to serve their country, both from here in West Virginia and both of them now in critical condition fighting for their lives at a hospital in Washington, D.C. As you mentioned, where I am right now, Martinsburg, this is where Andrew Wolfe is from.
Andy, as many of his friends and family have been calling him, he is part of this unit, the 167th Airlift Wing. As you look behind me here, this is the base. We are just about 80 miles or so, about an hour and a half drive from Washington, D.C. where this shooting occurred. But this is a rural, tight-knit community where today, this is what everyone is talking about. People here are devastated. And I spoke to Andrew Wolfe's neighbor who shares a duplex with him, who struggled to suppress his emotion as he talked about Andrew Wolfe. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL LANGONE, WEST VIRGINIA RESIDENT: He'd give the shirt off his back to somebody. He's just really good guy. We always looked out for each other. Best neighbor you could ask for really. It really caught us off guard, really close to home. Just hopeful for his family, that's the biggest thing. His family is the biggest concern. I just hope his family's doing OK with it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN: And guys, we've also seen folks posting on social media about Sarah Beckstrom, who have served with her, friends, family, saying she's a special kind person. Again, so many families on this Thanksgiving going through so much in West Virginia, just talking to people in this community, even people who didn't know these National Guard members directly. It's a first degree, second degree type of situation in a community like this where everyone feels like family, especially on a day like today.
JIMENEZ: Gabe Cohen, appreciate you bringing us some perspective on who these Guards members are. Really important to know that as they continue to fight for their lives. I want to bring in CNN Security Correspondent Josh Campbell. Look Josh, FBI Director, Kash Patel has called this a global investigation. You previously served on an FBI Counter-Terrorism Global Response team. Can you just walk us through how investigators will be going about digging into this gunman's past?
[13:40:00]
JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, so we have numerous investigators in the U.S. that have now fanned out to try to dig into this person's background. We know that he had traveled, according to authorities, from Washington State to Washington, D.C. And so, that's going on domestically, but most people may not realize that the FBI has a very large overseas footprint as well, with agents that are stationed in numerous embassies. And so in this case, they would be working with their local counterparts to determine if they have any information on this individual.
There's also an intelligence sharing network out there that the U.S. has with its closest allies, where if someone else in another country gathers intelligence that could be useful, they'll then provide that information. It'll be interesting to see how the vetting worked here. Again, we don't know if this person was potentially radicalized long ago or if that only occurred once he actually got here to the United States, but the intelligence community has this database that's called TIDE.
It's this massive database containing any information that the U.S. government has about known or suspected terrorists. It appears if the vetting was done on this person and he didn't show up in that, then that would've provided him clearance. But they still want to go back and look. Did he have any other associates? Is there something that may have been missed? There's a lot of work going on behind the scenes right now.
SANCHEZ: Josh, based on what we know so far, how does this attack compare to other incidents we've seen in the past where attackers were inspired potentially by foreign terror groups like ISIS?
CAMPBELL: Yeah, it's a good question. Again, authorities are trying to get to a motive. As I look at the facts that we know so far, it seems a bit odd if this actually ends up to be something that was inspired by a foreign terrorist group like ISIS. And I'll give you two reasons. First, and again, this is grim, but those in the business of national security have to try to analyze this type of stuff. So first, the number of victims. If someone is inspired by a group like ISIS, they don't want you to shoot two people. They want you to shoot 20 people or more. And so, it is interesting that this person allegedly went and targeted this group of National Guard members that were out on the street doing their patrols.
And then the second thing is the type of firearm that was used. We know from authorities that this was a revolver, it's somewhat clunky to use and then reloads. So there is a question about why didn't he choose some other type of weaponry that would have provided much more opportunity to reload and to continue his attack if that is what he was indeed trying to do. And so again, authorities trying to determine is this foreign terrorist expired or is this something that maybe personal grievances that this person had, all that's being run to ground right now.
JIMENEZ: Right. Josh Campbell, appreciate the insight as always.
All right, coming up for us next, Russian President, Vladimir Putin publicly lays out his demands ahead of high-stakes talks with the U.S. over ending the war in Ukraine. We'll bring you the details, coming up.
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[13:47:21]
SANCHEZ: Russian President Vladimir Putin is now addressing how he sees the war with Ukraine ending ahead of high-stakes talks with the United States. Speaking today while visiting Kyrgyzstan, Putin said the only way Russia will stop fighting is if Ukraine withdraws from occupied territories.
JIMENEZ: And those comments come after President Trump backed away from his earlier deadline of today for Ukraine to agree to a U.S.- backed peace plan. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is monitoring developments from London. Nick, so how close are all the sides to actually achieving a deal at this point?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: I think if you peel away all the positive rhetoric here, particularly from the Ukrainian and American side, we are still dealing with a Russian president who has some pretty maximalist demands. And he repeated much of them today, clear, despite saying that he anticipated welcoming Trump's envoy, president Trump's envoy to Moscow, Steve Witkoff in the early part of next week, that the war would end if Ukraine got out of what Putin referred to as occupied territories.
Now, he's not referring to the 20 percent of Ukraine that Russia is currently occupying. He's instead referring to the parts of Ukraine that Russia has claimed fictitiously, as being part of Russia saying that Ukraine should leave them. And that's what really brings us back to is the key problem with this entire agreement. We appear to have gone from a 28-plan that the Trump administration hasn't been entirely clear if they authored or was authored by the Russian side and then adapted by them.
That contained the maximalist Russian goal of demanding that Ukraine went out of the remaining parts of Donetsk. You can see it there. And gave it back essentially to Russia and declared it a demilitarized zone. That's been a red line for Ukraine. It was a red line for the Biden administration for many years. It's a red line to Ukraine's European allies. And it seems that the European and possibly American and Ukrainian counter proposal that might now be being circulated does not contain that singular key territorial concession.
Look, ultimately, so much of the rest of these agreements, whatever version you look at, is about stuff that might happen down the line in the event that there is a lasting peace. The key thing that essentially Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is being pressured to sign onto is the idea of giving the parts of the Donetsk region that Putin hasn't taken by force yet, over to Russia for free without a fight in exchange for a lasting peace.
Putin said today, if he doesn't get given those, if Ukraine doesn't withdraw from them, he'll take them by military force. He also too said there's not much point signing a deal with the Ukrainian government questioning their legitimacy because they haven't had elections.
[13:50:00]
I should point out they can't have elections under martial law, many countries would never have elections in wartime because the complexity of trying to do something like that and then claim it to be legitimate. So we really, I think, saw Putin there ahead of his Witkoff meeting, casting doubts on the party he might have to make a peace deal with, Ukraine, essentially suggesting he might be negotiating directly with America about Ukraine here, demanding territory as part of any kind of deal, but still essentially saying the meeting is going ahead.
And I think it's important to look at how this is now increasingly becoming a moment in which Russia will dictate events on the ground through its frontline advances whilst trying to get Ukraine to give land up without a fight and using the United States to pressure them to do that. I don't think anyone thinks we're going to get a sudden deal out of Witkoff's meeting in Moscow in the coming days. The question is, what exactly is Ukraine pressured off that meeting to sign onto and what's their response?
We're in a cyclic moment here where the same things keep coming round because, essentially, we have two separate processes, America talking to Russia and America talking to Ukraine, with the hope they'll somehow come together and overlap. And it simply isn't going to happen.
SANCHEZ: Yeah. To that point, we've seen this cycle of meetings and potential summits before and yet, here we are. Nick Paton Walsh, thanks so much for that reporting.
Up next, a reason for families who lost everything in the California wildfires to be grateful this Thanksgiving. We'll discuss, next.
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[13:56:13]
JIMENEZ: For families that lost everything in January's devastating fires in California, this is going to be a bittersweet Thanksgiving. I mean, many are just grateful to have their lives.
SANCHEZ: Yeah. One group is helping moms who lost everything with basic essentials they need for their kids. CNN's Julia Vargas Jones has their story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As the Palisades Fire ravaged through her neighborhood, Jen says she and her three daughters had just minutes to escape the devastating flames.
JEN, LOST HOME IN PALISADES FIRE: We left. And then the next day, we found out that our home was gone.
VARGAS JONES (voice-over): In the harrowing days that followed, Jen turned to Baby2Baby, a non-profit that provides essentials to children, often in times of need.
JEN: They offered help without me having to ask and retain my dignity.
VARGAS JONES (voice-over): Baby2Baby has responded to more than a hundred disasters, providing relief to children and moms nationwide.
KELLY SAWYER PATRICOF, CO-CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, BABY2BABY: We've distributed half a billion basic essentials to children in need across the country.
VARGAS JONES (voice-over): When families are left with nothing, Baby2Baby's fire relief and disaster relief bundles help them get back on their feet. Packed by volunteers with essentials like clothes, toys, and even a handwritten note.
MICHELLE MONAGHAN, ACTRESS AND BABY2BABY "ANGEL": There's schools that come here, there's businesses, there's church groups.
VARGAS JONES (voice-over): They are supported by a variety of people, including "White Lotus" star, Michelle Monaghan.
VARGAS JONES: When you became a new mom --
MONAGHAN: Yes.
VARGAS JONES: What were some things that you were surprised that was so important that you didn't know before?
MONAGHAN: It's a universal theme for all new moms. It's overwhelming becoming a new mom, physically, mentally, emotionally. What I, in particular, love about these newborn kits, these maternal health kits now, that Baby2Baby is providing is that it is giving support of the very things that we need, just the very basic essentials.
PATRICOF: It's postpartum care, educational resources, breastfeeding supplies, diapers and hygiene items for the baby.
NORAH WEINSTEIN, CO-CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, BABY2BABY: So, we always are trying to remember that while there's such a link between the baby and the mom, we need to take care of the mom and her mental health in order to support the baby.
VARGAS JONES (voice-over): But for families like Jen's, what matters most is the human connection that comes with every box.
JEN: I have so much gratitude. It's such a humbling experience to go from being the ones to help others and then to have to show up and ask for help for not only yourself, but your whole family. I am forever grateful to Baby2Baby.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JIMENEZ: Our thanks to Julia Vargas Jones for that story. We want to get you to some other headlines we're watching this hour. For example, the first American Pope wishing a Happy Thanksgiving to U.S. reporters traveling with him on his first foreign trip as head of the Catholic Church. Got some little pie there, pumpkin pie, there it is -- he was given, and personally greeted each of the roughly 80 journalists traveling with him on the papal plane.
The Pope is spending the day in Turkey. We are also spending the day with turkey, but will also country-wise, visit Lebanon, two Muslim majority countries with ancient Christian communities. Meanwhile, here in the United States, West Virginia's Governor Patrick Morrisey is applauding a court decision that lets more unvaccinated children attend school. A state judge ruled that the West Virginia Board of Education must allow children who received religious exemptions from mandatory immunizations to attend class.
The governor in January issued an executive order to allow the religious exemptions, but this isn't the final say on the matter. The case is on appeal to the state Supreme Court. SANCHEZ: Finally, a shark attack on two Swiss tourists in Australia, leaving one dead, the other injured. This happened at Crowdy Bay, some 200 miles north of Sydney. Both victims believed to be in their 20s. Officials say.
