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U.S. Tension with Venezuela; U.S. to Hold Military Drills Off the Coast of Venezuela; Growing feud Between Trump and GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene; Chile's Presidential Election; Federal Immigration Police Deployed; Pacific Storm Slams Southern California. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired November 16, 2025 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada, and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN Newsroom.

Venezuela is on edge as the U.S. is about to hold military drills right next door. We'll have the latest on the mounting American show of force. President Trump is publicly feuding with one of his most loyal supporters. We'll look at the rift between Trump and Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. And the White House has a new target for its immigration crackdown, Charlotte, North Carolina.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN Newsroom with Kim Brunhuber.

BRUNHUBER: Tensions are mounting between the United States and Venezuela. Within hours, the U.S. military is expected to start five days of military drills in Trinidad and Tobago, the island nation just off the Venezuelan coast. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called the exercises irresponsible and accused the U.S. of pursuing a criminal war against his country. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICOLAS MADURO, VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I reiterate this every day to the people of the United States. The people of the United States, listen to me, war in the Caribbean, war in South America? No. War eternal? No. Peace? Yes. Peace for America? Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Sources tell CNN the U.S. has been weighing potential military action within the Latin American country. This comes as the president had multiple high-level briefings concerning potential military action. While speaking to reporters Friday, Trump appeared to suggest he's close to making a decision. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you made up your mind on what you'd like to do as far as action?

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I sort of made up my mind. I mean, I can't tell you what it would be but I sort of made up my mind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: The drills are being conducted as the U.S. carried out lethal strikes on alleged drug-trafficking vessels, at least 20 so far, with dozens of deaths. CNN's Stefano Pozzebon is in the Venezuelan capital and has the latest on preparations for a potential conflict.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: The Venezuelan leader, Nicolas Maduro, has said that more than 4 million Venezuelans have taken an oath to defend the country in case of an attack from the United States. On Saturday, several top officials from the Maduro's government were seen across different cities in Venezuela and participating in ceremonies where, allegedly, regular people were pronouncing the oath.

Now, CNN cannot independently verify these figures. However, they show that the government and Maduro personally are taking the possibility and the risk of a U.S. attack on Venezuelan soil very, very seriously. This is happening as the U.S. Department of Defense has announced that U.S. forces will join the military of Trinidad and Tobago, which is an island just a few miles from the coast of Venezuela, in military drills starting on Sunday. And Maduro had also words for that event.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MADURO (through translator): These are intended to be threatening to Venezuela, which does not allow itself to be threatened by anyone. They say they will do this from Monday to Thursday. The people of Trinidad and Tobago will see whether they continue to allow their waters and land to be used to seriously threaten the peace of the Caribbean.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POZZEBON: Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump has said on Air Force One that he has almost made up his mind of what to do with Venezuela. Across last week, several sources in the White House told CNN that a president had been briefed across military plans to take direct action in the country.

Maduro told CNN on Thursday that he was still hoping for peace to prevail in this confrontation with the government of the U.S. However, the announcement on Saturday showed that tensions are still destined to escalate.

For CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Caracas.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BRUNHUBER: And joining us now is Christopher Sabatini. He's Senior Fellow for Latin America at Chatham House. Thanks so much for being here with us. So, just to start, do you get the sense President Trump is actually preparing to invade Venezuela, or is this just a massive show of force, or is a third option more likely targeted strikes within the country?

CHRISTOPHER SABATINI, SENIOR FELLOW FOR LATIN AMERICAN, CHATHAM HOUSE: Frankly, we don't know. I think this started out as an effort to try to incentivize the military to defect from Maduro and stage some form of transition. The idea was they would become nervous, begin to fear for their own lives, and seek an exit for Maduro.

[04:05:00]

You know, as the build-up increases, I think that's looking less likely. It could still happen, perhaps, but it's not going to be as easy as Trump had hoped. I don't think an invasion is in the works. I'm going to take many more men than they have. Venezuela is a large country of 28 million people with multiple urban centers. I think right now they're still hoping that they can rattle the military to provoke some, if you will, regime change on the cheap without having to commit boots on the ground or even missiles to attack land sites.

But I think there's a third option here, too. One is they try to launch a few missiles inside or drones inside Venezuela, take out some airstrips. There are no cocaine production facilities in Venezuela. And basically, Trump could then declare this, because he's been defining this only as a mission to protect the country against narcotics. He could declare a mission accomplished. The drug sites have been taken out. We've killed 70 or 80 now people in these 20 boats were going home now. That would be difficult, and it would probably be a win for Maduro. But quite frankly, Trump's ambiguity leads us to wonder what he's really thinking.

BRUNHUBER: Well, let me pick up on something you said there. You said no -- there's no cocaine production sites within the country. I mean, the administration says this is all about stopping drug trafficking. I know this is something you've written a lot about. So, how central is Venezuela, then, to the drug trade?

SABATINI: Frankly, it's not. It is, indeed, deeply complicit in narcotics trafficking or overflights. But really, only about 5 percent to 8 percent of the cocaine that reaches the U.S. market comes from Venezuela. It's not produced in Venezuela. Fentanyl is not produced at all, but cocaine is produced in Colombia. And basically, what the Maduro government has done is allow for overflights and landing strips and storage facilities in Venezuela from which the cocaine would take off. But most of that is actually destined to Europe.

But there are other forms of illegal activity that go on in Venezuela. There's money laundering. There are more than 800 political prisoners. It's funny to hear Nicolas Maduro in your previous report talk about peace. He's unleashed a war on his own people, not that that may necessarily justify U.S. intervention, boots on the ground, but he also engages in illicit gold mining and other forms of human trafficking that do implicate this government very deeply in criminal networks.

BRUNHUBER: So, I mean, if this isn't really, then, about drugs and about regime change, I mean, Maduro claims it is all about the U.S. trying to oust him from power, the country's main opposition leaders calling for loyalists to rise up. You spoke about the U.S. hope that this would instigate the military to defect. I mean, how likely is that scenario, do you think?

SABATINI: Well, first of all, this is about regime change, as you just said, Kim. Yes, it's -- this has been tried before. It was tried a number of times, including in 2002 when the opposition staged a series of protests hoping that they would rattle the military and push out then President Hugo Chavez. It was tried under Trump's first term in 2019 when they elected -- or the National Assembly elected an interim Democratic president and then who called then for the military to overthrow Maduro and recognize him as the legitimate president of Venezuela.

It was, you know, hoped that this would happen after the stolen elections last year in which Maduro claimed victory, but it's proven that he lost and probably only won about 30 percent. But the truth is, is Maduro's been very effective in controlling his armed forces and including also his paramilitaries, his Colectivos, by inducing them through corruption, threatening them. If you dissent within the military, you pay a very high price. Your family can even be imprisoned or you can be killed or you're forced into exile.

So, the opportunities for this sort of defection that I think the Trump administration is hoping for are very slim. And even if it does occur, there are no guarantees that who comes in next, given the extent of corruption within this government, there's no guarantee that that person or that coalition would be any cleaner or less embedded in narcotics trafficking than the current president.

BRUNHUBER: No. Well, then let me ask you that. I mean, it does sound as though Maduro does have a strong grip on power, but let's say the U.S. is successful in ousting Maduro. I mean, what does that day after look like for Venezuela, do you think?

SABATINI: There are a lot of scenarios here, Kim. I think one is the hope that the military will completely fold and that they'll simply throw open the doors and invite in the Democratic opposition, including the man who did win the elections last year, Edmundo Gonzalez, and his supporter, Maria Corina Machado, who recently won the Nobel Peace Prize. I don't think that's very likely, though.

What I do think is some sort of managed transition that would at least allow some of the stakeholders within this government to retain some power and, if you will, save themselves from prosecution and even potentially exile.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, so many various scenarios. We still don't have many answers. We'll be watching. Christopher Sabatini, thank you so much. Really appreciate your insights on this.

SABATINI: Thank you. [04:10:00]

BRUNHUBER: Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene says she has received a wave of threats amid her escalating feud with President Trump. On Friday, he rescinded his endorsement of Greene, once a staunch ally, and attacked her in personal terms. The Georgia representative accused Trump of trying to use her as an example to frighten Republicans ahead of a House vote on releasing files connected to the criminal investigation of Jeffrey Epstein.

CNN Senior White House reporter Betsy Klein has more on the reason for the rift between the president and his former ally.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, this major political breakup would have been unfathomable just months ago. But as Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene ramped up her criticism of President Trump and his strategy in recent weeks, it became clear to officials that it might be just a matter of time before something like this happened.

And Greene has been taking aim at the White House on a pair of fronts, taking that message to outlets like CNN and ABC's The View. The first is domestic. She, in her view, believes that President Trump is not doing enough to focus on affordability issues and is spending too much time on his relationships with world leaders and solving conflicts abroad.

Separately, on Jeffrey Epstein, Greene is one of just four House Republicans who is publicly calling for the Justice Department to release a tranche of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, and there's going to be a major political test of that in the coming days as the House is set to take a vote on releasing those documents. Greene has shared insight into some of the advice that she's been giving to the White House, sharing a screenshot of a text she sent to a top Trump aide on social media. She wrote, quote, "Stop ignoring the women." She goes on to say that them being raped as teenagers is not a hoax, pushing back on some of the president's rhetoric on this issue.

But the president has been asked multiple times about Greene's stepped-up rhetoric against him, most recently on Friday as he made his way here to Florida. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Marjorie Taylor Greene said, oh, gee, I'm spending too much time overseas. So, let's say I don't meet with China. You know what's happening right now to Georgia and to every other state? They're not working because your magnets and your rare earths would have kicked in, and there wouldn't be a factory in the world that was working. If I didn't have a relationship overseas with China, I think that her constituents aren't going to be happy. Already I have people calling me. They want to challenge her to a race in her district in Georgia.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KLEIN: But this escalated significantly in the moments after Trump landed here in Florida, announcing in a post to social media that he was officially rescinding his endorsement of Greene and lobbying increasingly personal attacks against her. Greene, for her part, has warned that those attacks have consequences, saying in a post, quote, "A hotbed of threats against me are being fueled and egged on by the most powerful man in the world, the man I supported and helped get elected. Aggressive rhetoric attacking me has historically led to death threats and multiple convictions of men who were radicalized by the same type of rhetoric being directed at me right now, this time by the president of the United States."

Now, Greene has been a major ally for Trump and his MAGA political movement, and this whole episode raises new questions about the future of that MAGA movement in the absence of Trump.

Betsy Klein, CNN, traveling with the president in West Palm Beach, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: And for more on this, I want to bring in Mark Shanahan, who's an associate professor of politics at the University of Surrey, and he joins us now from Oxford in England. Thanks so much for being here with us again.

So, let's start there with this rift between President Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene. I mean, it's been quite extraordinary to watch. She went from one of his most loyal supporters to someone he's calling a ranting lunatic. I mean, what do you make of their breakup?

MARK SHANAHAN, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF SURREY: Marjorie Taylor Greene is a conviction politician. She will stick to her guns, however unpopular, however wacky, as the president would describe them. She has slowly split with him over foreign affairs issues, so starting with Ukraine, she very much pushed the America first line. With his support for Israel, she talks about Gaza being a genocide.

But domestically, she's looking at an election in the future. She's looking at the rising cost of living. She's looking at the Affordable Care Act and the huge increase in the cost of health insurance premiums that are coming down the line, and this is alienating her from Trump. But then there's Epstein as well. She's on the oversight committee that is one of just four House Republicans to have come out alongside the Democrats in backing the Epstein Transparency Act, and this has really riled Trump.

[04:15:00]

Epstein, for whatever reason, is his kryptonite. It is the issue he wants to avoid at all costs, and here is a very outspoken popular populist who is pushing for the release of all of those files, and that has really aggravated the precedent.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. You study political movements. I mean, you know, picking up on what we heard in that report there as she ended talking about the future of the MAGA movement, I mean, do you see this as a fracture of the MAGA coalition or is that reading too much into a disagreement between, you know, two very strong personalities?

SHANAHAN: I think at this stage it's possibly reading a bit too much in, but never forget it was a very fragile alliance that brought Trump to power last October -- last November, sorry. Through that election period, he had a solid 30 percent of the votes through core MAGA voters, who he was telling he was going to release all of the Epstein files. This was a major part of his platform.

But he also had soft Republicans. He also had centrists who were looking for an improvement in their economic fortune, and what Taylor Greene is trying to highlight time and again is that he hasn't yet delivered any economic improvement for mainstream America. All of the much vaunted jobs have yet to arrive on American shores. Inflation still remains stubbornly high. The prices at the supermarket are still high, and people are beginning to see this. This is what he told MAGA he was going to deliver on, and little thorns in his side like Taylor Greene are showing that he has yet to do that, and she is playing up that he's spending too much time abroad. When it's the domestic issues, particularly now post-shutdown, that should be getting his attention.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. Looking at then President Trump's reaction to the Epstein issue specifically, I mean, the president has ordered his Justice Department to investigate Bill Clinton and other Democrats. Presumably most of those who support the administration have no problem with a president directing criminal investigations against political opponents because they feel that's what Democrats did against Trump.

But beyond his base, how do you think this will play? I mean, not just sort of in the short term with voters, but maybe more problematically, are people becoming numb to a more weaponized Justice Department?

SHANAHAN: There is a real danger of that. There is a sense that this administration can get away with just about everything because every time there is a check or a balance thrown in their way, they somehow hurdle it, go around it, go under it, just get past it. And the onrush towards a more autocratic state of governments in the U.S. is happening pretty quickly without a whole lot of opposition. That now is building opposition, whether we've seen it at the ballot box the other week, whether it was in the 7 million people who came out and protested against this administration, there is increasing pushback.

And as you say, the hardcore MAGA movement will never turn against Trump, no matter what is found in these files, however they are released at some point in the future. But he needs more than that hardcore for Republicans to stay in power through the midterms and through to 2028, and then for that presidential election when that comes. So, this is where we may see a fracturing less of people, but of ideas and of support.

BRUNHUBER: Appreciate getting your take on all this. Mark Shanahan, thanks so much. SHANAHAN: Thank you.

BRUNHUBER: President Trump has pardoned two more participants of the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol. President Trump pardoned militia member Dan Wilson's Kentucky firearms offenses after an appeals court refused to vacate his sentences. He also pardoned Suzanne Kaye, who was convicted of threatening to shoot FBI agents trying to question her about January 6th. The new pardons continue the trend Trump started in January when he issued more than 1,000 pardons and commutations of those involved with the January 6th riots.

All right. Still ahead, fear on the streets of another American city as federal law officers are deployed against the city's wishes.

Plus, Chile is about to elect a new president. We'll have those stories and more coming up after the break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:20:00]

BRUNHUBER: We are looking at clashes between police and protesters that took place in Mexico City on Saturday. Anger over insecurity and corruption brought thousands of protesters into the streets. The demonstration began as a peaceful Gen Z-led march with young people demanding action on rising violence, government corruption, and rampant crime they say goes unpunished across Mexico.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum accused far-right and opposition groups of trying to influence and co-opt the demonstrations, a claim the organizers strongly deny. The young people leading the movement say it isn't just about politics when they say they're marching because daily life feels increasingly unsafe and they're worried about their futures.

The decades-long conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo is one step closer to a potential resolution. On Saturday, the country's government signed a framework peace agreement with the M23 rebels. They're believed to be supported by neighboring Rwanda, despite that country's denials. The conflict in eastern Congo has claimed an estimated 6 million lives and displaced 7 million others. The agreement isn't expected to change anything on the ground right away, but the U.S., which mediated the talks along with Qatar, says it's a good start.

[04:25:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MASSAD BOULOS, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE ADVISER FOR AFRICA: The U.S. people who are expecting to see probably some immediate results on the ground, but this is a process. This is as -- and I've said this several times, this is not a light switch that you just switch on and off. This is a peace process, and there are many, many angles to it.

So, this will take time, hopefully not too long, but we have to allow time, we have to give the chance for the parties to work through these mechanisms.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Polls in Chile's presidential election open in just under two hours from now. The eight candidates range from a longtime Communist Party member to a pair of ultra-conservatives. CNN's Cristopher Ulloa has more from Santiago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LINDSAY ALVARADO, OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST (through translator): I'm concerned about respect for human rights and obviously also security, but respecting that.

JAVIER PEREZ, COMMERCIAL ENGINEER (through translator): Security, everything related to the country's growth, is quite important.

PEDRO ENRIQUEZ, RETIRED (through translator): The issue of pensions. I'm retired. I get a very low pension compared to what I had saved.

MARISOL URZUA, UNIVERSITY STUDENT (through translator): Citizen security, being able to go out. For me, as a woman, it's complicated to go out. My father worries a lot about it too, for the same reasons. So, for me, it's complicated to go out very late, very early, or to go out alone.

CRISTOPHER ULLOA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Pension security and growth, issues that worry citizens and in which President Gabriel Boric's government has not managed to convince many Chileans. However, his former labor minister, Jeannette Jara, has emerged as one of the favorite candidates. But for analyst and academic Guillermo Holzmann, in this election, Chile could take a radical turn.

GUILLERMO HOLZMANN, ANALYST AND ACADEMIC, UNIVERSITY OF VALPARAISO (through translator): Chile arrives with a degree of uncertainty. It is clear that there will be a change of ideological orientation. It is a pragmatic voter, not defined by the right or left. They want a candidate who is credible in terms of results.

ULLOA (voice-over): And what results do Chileans want? They say to stop illegal immigration, improve security, and fight organized crime. But that's not all. Copper, lithium, minerals, and exports, essentials to Chile, also to the rest of the world, and technological development.

In 2024 alone, Chile was the biggest supplier of red metal to the U.S., with exports worth $6 billion. While to China, it exported in the same year over 26 billion. This expert warns that relations with other countries could change significantly if the winner turns out to be a far-right candidate, such as Jose Antonio Kast, another favorite. But what if the left wins again? What happens with the United States?

HOLZMANN (through translator): We would not be aligned with the United States, and the relationship would weaken. It doesn't mean that it would increase with China, but rather that China would take advantage of the opportunity. ULLOA: If no candidates get the 50 percent plus one of the preferences, Chileans will have to go back to the polls on December 14th for a second round to finally decide who will be the next president of the nation.

For CNN, Cristofer Ulloa, Santiago, Chile.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Coming up after the break, the latest on the storm lashing Southern California with heavy rain. With another storm on the horizon, we'll show you what to expect in the coming days.

And landmarks in the U.S. capital are starting to reopen. Just ahead, how the budget shutdown is affecting museums, zoos, and air travel ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:30:00]

BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada, and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN Newsroom.

U.S. federal immigration officers and Border Patrol agents are now in Charlotte, North Carolina. But the city's mayor, Pro Tem, objects. She says there's no justification to deploy federal law enforcement in Charlotte. Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANTE ANDERSON, CHARLOTTE MAYOR PRO TEM: So, here's the thing about Charlotte. Charlotte is a lawful city. Our crime is low and has decreased year over year. Our Charlotte Police Department just recently released their Q3 numbers, and we can see that crime across the board is down. We know that violent crime year over year is down. And so, we don't need any assistance as it relates to crime or public safety.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: CNN's Gloria Pazmino, has this report on the crackdown that began this weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, for the past few days, we had heard from local officials in the Charlotte area who were preparing for the possibility of immigration enforcement, much like we have seen in other big cities around the country, like Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., as part of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.

And on Saturday, we started getting reports that this action was, in fact, underway. We got a statement from the Department of Homeland Security saying, in part, quote, "We are surging DHS law enforcement to Charlotte to ensure Americans are safe and public safety threats are removed."

Now, we've heard reports from the community who say that they have seen federal immigration officers patrolling areas, places of certain Hispanic businesses, Hispanic communities in the Charlotte area. And we heard from a man who was actually apprehended. I want to show you a video that was taken by Willy Wender Aceituno Medina. He is a Honduran immigrant who's been in the United States for 25 years and told me is a U.S. citizen. And he was in the parking lot of this strip mall in the Charlotte area, and he was initially approached by a group of officers. He told them that he had I.D. on him, that he was a U.S. citizen, and those officers allowed him to present that identification and let him go on his way.

He then told me that when he got inside his vehicle, he was approached by a different set of officers who also asked him to identify himself, and that's when he said he became very confused because he had just showed his I.D. to officers. He said that the whole thing happened very quickly. They asked him to open the door. He didn't want to open the door. He said, I've already identified myself. And that's when you see an officer moving in and shattering his car window. They then proceed to pull him out of the vehicle and take him into custody.

[04:35:00]

Now, Medina told me that he was put inside of another vehicle along with other people who were detained that day, and he was driven away even though he was trying to tell these officers that he was a U.S. citizen and that he had documentation to prove that he is in the United States legally. He tried to do that multiple times during the ride, and finally an officer actually checked his back pocket, was able to find his I.D., and confirmed that he was a U.S. citizen. They then pulled a car over and allowed him to exit the vehicle. He said that he had been driven away a considerable distance and just simply told them that he had to walk back to the place where he had been arrested.

So, Medina telling me on Saturday that this has spread an incredible amount of fear throughout the community. He told me that people are canceling their Thanksgiving celebrations, weekend celebrations. He told me that people are afraid to go to work because they know that this operation is underway. And we also heard from businesses in the Charlotte area who are choosing to close down, going into the weekend as a precautionary measure, saying they don't want to expose themselves or the community that they serve while this operation is underway.

Gloria Pazmino, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: A source familiar with plans for the Texas National Guard tells CNN the state's soldiers will soon leave Chicago and return home. The Trump administration ordered 200 Texas troops to the city more than a month ago. Their stated mission was to protect immigration agents. Instead, they've been waiting at training bases after a federal judge ruled there was no justification to bring in the military. The administration has framed demonstrations in Chicago and Portland, Oregon, as violent protests carried out by domestic terrorists.

In Washington, D.C. this morning, the National Zoo and many of the Smithsonian museums are reopening. It's all part of getting back to normal after the longest budget shutdown in U.S. history. Jenn Sullivan has more on how things are going so far.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JENN SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Many national museums are now back open after shutting their doors for more than 40 days during the government shutdown.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've greeted over 1,000 people already.

SULLIVAN (voice-over): The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., began welcoming visitors Friday. The Smithsonian institution includes 19 museums and the National Zoo in D.C. All were forced to shut their doors when the federal government shut down October 1st, leaving many tourists frustrated.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was a little disheartening to kind of just see the city be a little bit more of a ghost town, but, you know.

SULLIVAN (voice-over): Smithsonian officials posted on X that they will reopen on a rolling basis with all facilities open by Monday.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've been here for five days. And so, we were expected to see all the museums, but like I said, we booked over two months ago. So, before the shutdown happened.

SULLIVAN (voice-over): While national museums and federal agencies opened back up, not everything is returning to normal right away. Saturday, the FAA gave the green light for more air traffic, but airlines are still being told they'll have to cancel 3 percent of their flights at 40 major airports across the country. Flight restrictions were reduced to 6 percent during the shutdown because there were not enough air traffic controllers to operate safely. The decision impacted thousands of flights a day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am happy that it'll get back to some kind of normalcy or just a little bit better before the holidays.

SULLIVAN (voice-over): For the roughly 42 million people who rely on the federally funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, to help them afford groceries, most will have to wait until Monday to receive their full benefits.

I'm Jenn Sullivan reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: U.S. Senator John Fetterman is home from the hospital after he fell last week and got badly bruised. The Pennsylvania Democrat posted a photo showing cuts on his face from above his eyebrow to his nose. He explained his heart started beating erratically on Thursday during a morning walk near his home. He became lightheaded and collapsed. Fetterman says he needed 20 stitches to close the wound.

Southern California is facing a serious risk of flooding and mudslides after a powerful Pacific storm hammered the region with heavy rains. Some areas have already seen more than a month's worth of rain in just a day. Meteorologist Chris Warren has more on what to expect in the days ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS WARREN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: After a very active day in Southern California, the threat not completely over just yet. On Sunday, expecting to see more showers, more storms returning to the Golden State. While we will watch a departing system drop more snow across parts of the Northeast, but it's here in California where even after what we've seen so far on Saturday, the threat's still there for the burn scars.

And you can see some of these burn scars and some of these areas in the hills, in the mountains. So, when the rain comes and falls and what will ultimately be a couple of inches, maybe even a little bit more, a little bit less, depending on where we are.

[04:40:00]

But that terrain combined with the burn scars means there's a lot of water going down and not staying up being held up by the vegetation and being soaked into the earth, but raining down. So, it's possible there could be additional landslides, flash flooding, that sort of a thing here. So, I'll continue to keep an eye on that.

And then by late Sunday into early Monday, another system rolls in with more heavy rain, more showers. So, here across California rain in the lower elevations, higher elevation snow expected to be measured in feet. Now, to the northeast, where a departing system will continue to bring more showers that will turn over to snow on Sunday, the rain showers to snow showers and in band. Some of these areas could end up seeing at least a few inches. The heaviest snow will remain in Canada, but some pockets in the higher elevations could get more than a half a foot of snow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Central Park's horse-drawn carriages will trot on, at least for now. A proposal to ban the decades old tourist tradition failed to pass a key New York City council committee. The Transport Workers Union, which represents carriage drivers, celebrated the outcome. They said their members, many of them immigrants, are dedicated to caring for the horses, but animal rights advocates blasted the vote as a sham, citing incidents where horses collapsed or ran loose in the traffic. Decades of neglect have put a historic black cemetery here in Atlanta in the spotlight. Coming up next, how families fought in court to protect the grounds where relatives are buried. We'll have that story and more coming up after the break. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: A decades-old piece of black history here in Atlanta nearly vanished, but after an arduous legal battle, its future has now been secured. Two sisters fought to preserve the Piney Grove Cemetery, which they argued had been neglected for decades. But after an arduous legal battle, its future has now been secured. Two sisters fought to preserve the Piney Grove Cemetery, which they argued had been neglected for decades. CNN's Rafael Romo has the story.

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RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was a nearly two-year legal battle over the preservation of a historic black cemetery located in the city of Atlanta that dates to the 1820s where some enslaved people and their descendants were buried.

Rhonda Jackson, who is 68 years old, and her 73-year-old sister Audrey Collins were the original plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the Homeowners Association that owns the land the cemetery is on, alleging the HOA had neglected to maintain it. The sisters have several family members buried at the Piney Grove Cemetery, including their grandfather. In a summary judgment, a Fulton County Superior Court judge ruled the Bluffs at Lenox Homeowners Association, which owns the one-acre plot of land where the cemetery is located, is responsible not only for its restoration but also the ongoing maintenance.

In a statement to CNN, an attorney for the Homeowners Association said the following. Bluffs at Lenox has always taken special care to respect the historic cemetery next to the homes in the community. The court order provides guidance to Bluffs at Lenox about how to continue doing that while also protecting the important rights of the homeowners. Bluffs at Lenox will comply with the terms of the order.

Audrey Collins, one of the sisters, says this legal victory is not only about her family and her loved ones but the families of all the roughly 300 people buried there and the heritage and contributions of the African-American community in Atlanta.

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AUDREY COLLINS, PLAINTIFF: We'd like, first of all, for it to look like a cemetery and not a forest. You know, we would like to be able to visit, you know, our loved ones.

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ROMO: Collins pointed out that there are sunken graves and broken headstones and that she would like to have all that fixed. Her sister Rhonda Jackson said they are now working a five-year plan to restore and maintain the cemetery.

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RHONDA JACKSON, PLAINTIFF: We're planning on removing the downed trees, number one. Then we've got a five-year plan to try to replace the canopy gap that was lost. That's why we've got all these invasive plants growing because the trees are not there to protect the cemetery.

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ROMO: Wright Mitchell, president and CEO of the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, said the cemetery is one of the last tangible links connecting African-Americans to their ancestors and the thriving communities that were displaced over several decades.

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WRIGHT MITCHELL, CEO, GEORGIA TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION: It's a win not just for the families of those connected to Piney Grove Cemetery but for everyone who believes in preserving Georgia's history and honoring those who came before us.

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ROMO: The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation had included Piney Grove Cemetery on their 2024 list of the 10 places in peril in the state of Georgia.

Rafael Romo, CNN Atlanta.

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BRUNHUBER: Scientists are warning the world about a potential collapse of a critical system of ocean currents. Coming up, why Iceland is labeling the crisis a national security concern. Coming up, stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: A whole lot of people in Portugal are cleaning up debris in the wake of a tornado kicked up by Storm Claudia. On Saturday, the disaster killed at least one person and injured two dozen others. An elderly couple was also reported dead near Lisbon after they were unable to flee the flooding that swept through on Thursday. Parts of the U.K. are also trying to dry out after the violent storm triggered severe flooding there.

Now, this video shows Monmouth in southern Wales where floodwaters were reportedly strong enough to break down doors on Saturday. Here's how one witness described the ordeal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was terrifying. I've been awake all night. Luckily, they slept, and yes, I got woken up by really loud noise, and I couldn't see anything out the window because it was dark, but I got a torch, and I shone it, and I just saw like a torrent of water.

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BRUNHUBER: Higher temperatures around the globe are threatening to collapse a vital but delicate system of ocean currents. Researchers say Arctic ice melt is disrupting the Atlantic's flow of warm and cool water. CNN's Allison Chinchar explains why Iceland is stepping up to sound the alarm.

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ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): An ocean current system critical to Earth's climate is at risk of collapse, and Iceland has just declared it a national security concern. The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, is an ocean current that helps keep Europe's winters mild by carrying warm water from the tropics northward toward the Arctic. As warming temperatures accelerate the thaw of Arctic ice, meltwater from Greenland's ice sheet is pouring into the ocean, and scientists warn that cold freshwater could disrupt the current's flow.

Now, Icelandic leaders say the consequences of a potential collapse could be catastrophic.

ASA BERGLIND HJALMARSDOTTIR, ICELAND MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT: And it will mean that it will be very cold, and it will have existential threats to Iceland, basically. It's a big word to say, but this is a reality that we are trying to get our head around now.

CHINCHAR (voice-over): If the AMOC collapses completely, the effects could extend far beyond Iceland. Potentially triggering a modern-day ice age in northern Europe, and disrupting rainfall patterns across India, Africa, and South America, areas where subsistence farmers depend on the predictable seasons.

HJALMARSDOTTIR: At the same time as Iceland will get colder and the Nordic parts of the world, the heat will still rise in the other parts of the world, and when we get more heat and more cold, there will be more dramatic weather conditions. We will have more bad weather and stormy weather, which means we cannot travel to and from our country. We could have ice around Iceland. So, the ships will not be able to sail to the country. It is a real existential threat.

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CHINCHAR (voice-over): Experts warn that unless carbon emissions are reduced, this critical system could collapse, altering life in Iceland and beyond for generations to come.

Allison Chinchar, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BRUNHUBER: All right. Well, have a look at this. This is extraordinary footage here. A wildfire erupting in the middle of nowhere. A wildlife photographer unknowingly aided a seal with its great escape off the coast of Seattle. Have a look.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God. Oh, you poor thing. I'm shacking right now. He is on board. He is now trying to get on board. He is on our boat.

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BRUNHUBER: The seal was fleeing at least eight killer whales. The photographer was on a whale watching trip at the same time, and she recorded the orcas hunting the seal when it jumped onto her boat's stern. It slid off the boat but eventually climbed back on and stayed until the orcas swam away. I don't blame it.

In U.S. college football, Saturday's top ten showdown between fifth- ranked Georgia and tenth-ranked Texas didn't disappoint. It was a four-point game at the end of the third quarter before the Bulldogs ran away with it. Georgia scored 21 points in the fourth quarter alone, blowing out Texas for a 35-10 win. It's the sixth straight victory for Georgia, now sit at 9-1.

And 11th-ranked Oklahoma upset number four Alabama on the road. Oklahoma capitalized on three Crimson Tide turnovers, converting them for 17 points. This go-ahead field goal in the fourth quarter lifted the Sooners to a 23-21 victory, and both teams now 8-2.

And despite being down on some of their best stars on offense, top- ranked Ohio State pummeled UCLA, the reigning national champions didn't hold back, winning 48-10. The Buckeyes stay undefeated with a 9-0 record.

All right. That wraps this hour of CNN Newsroom. I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back with more news in just a moment.

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