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U.S. Touts Ukraine Progress; Mamdani Doubles Down; G20 Summit Closes Amid U.S. Boycott; Hezbollah's Chief of Staff Killed in Beirut Strike; Dems React To Marjorie Taylor Greene's Surprise Resignation; British P.M. Under Pressure Amid Questions Over Leadership; FAA Expects Busiest Thanksgiving Travel In 15 Years. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired November 24, 2025 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[02:00:00]
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BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Hello. Wherever you are in the world, you are now in the "CNN Newsroom" with me, Ben Hunte, in Atlanta, and it is so good to have you with me.
Coming up on the show, the U.S. is touting productive and meaningful negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, yet details on what has been decided remain scant. Despite a chummy meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, New York's Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani still has harsh words for the leader of the free world. And Thanksgiving in the U.S. is less than a week away. What aviation officials are saying about getting from point A to point B this year.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Ben Hunte.
HUNTE: Welcome. The U.S. says it is making progress with Kyiv on the Trump administration's plan to end the war in Ukraine, which some critics are calling a capitulation to Moscow's war goals. Delegations from the U.S. and Ukraine met in Geneva on Sunday.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the negotiations were -- quote -- "probably the most productive and meaningful yet." He says the terms of the 28-point plan are evolving with input from Ukraine and other European allies, but he hasn't shared details about what exactly has changed.
Ukraine's president is striking a tone of optimism, too, saying the talks were substantive. He and his delegation in Geneva are thanking the U.S. for their diplomatic efforts and for its willingness to listen to Ukraine's significant concerns.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): It is important that we do talk to the Americans, and we are getting signals that President Trump's team is hearing us. Tomorrow is also a busy day. We are defending the interests of Ukraine, where the strength of our position, the strength of our state-centric position, of the people's Ukrainian position, is that it is our common position, the unity of Ukrainians in the defense of their national interests and of our independence and our sovereignty. This is what works.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: CNN's Betsy Klein brings us the latest from the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, there is some cautious optimism here at the White House after President Donald Trump had set a Thursday Thanksgiving deadline for Ukraine to accept a U.S.- backed peace proposal or risk losing U.S. support. But diplomacy appears to be picking back up, and that deadline now has some flexibility. It was just after 9 o'clock on Sunday morning that President Trump was lashing out at Ukraine, writing in a post to social media -- quote -- "Ukraine leadership has expressed zero gratitude for our efforts."
But then just hours later, Secretary of State Marco Rubio emerging from high-stakes talks with his Ukrainian counterparts in Geneva, Switzerland and said that many of the final sticking points had been resolved toward a potential peace deal to end Russia's war in Ukraine.
And at the core of those discussions is this 28-point peace proposal. That had been the subject of criticism on both sides of the aisle here in Washington. Rubio calling it a living, breathing document. Some of the provisions in an earlier draft obtained by CNN include Kyiv ceding territory to Russia, giving up any ambitions to join NATO as well as limiting the size of its army.
But Rubio now says that many of those outstanding issues have been resolved in what he described as a very substantial way. Zelenskyy saying in a new video that he believes that Trump's team is now listening to Ukraine. But it's worth noting that any deal still needs sign-off from President Trump, from President Zelenskyy as well as from Russia, and that could be a major obstacle going forward.
Secretary Rubio asked about President Trump's comments from our colleague, Matthew Chance. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: What are you going to tell President Trump about the attitude of the Ukrainians during these negotiations?
MARCO RUBIO, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE: Oh, it was very positive. I'm telling you, today was the most productive day we've had.
CHANCE: He said they were ungrateful earlier.
RUBIO: Well, today -- and we've talked to him since -- I think he's quite pleased at the reports we've given him about the amount of progress that has been made.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KLEIN: Now, along with Rubio, special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, along with Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, led the U.S. delegation for these talks. But there was another notable name on that list, and that is the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. He has been tasked with some of the thornier foreign policy negotiations for the president in his second term, though he is not officially a part of the administration.
[02:05:03]
It will be very notable to watch how this moves forward in the coming days and how Kushner is involved.
Betsy Klein, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTE: Cedric Leighton is a CNN military analyst and retired Air Force colonel. Thank you so much for being with me, Cedric. How are you doing?
CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST, RETIRED AIR FORCE COLONEL: It's great to be with you, but I'm doing well. How are you?
HUNTE: I'm good. I'm good. It's good to see you. Let's get into it. The original draft of this plan called for Ukraine to give up territory with Crimea, Luhansk, and Donetsk, which could be recognized as de facto Russian. What would be the military significance of losing those territories, especially those that Ukraine still holds?
LEIGHTON: Yes, especially in the Donetsk region. That would be a key, really a bad area for Ukraine because what you're talking about is about 12% of the Donetsk region is held currently by the Ukrainians, and that 12% contains a fortified belt of cities that is keeping the Russians out of central Ukraine right now.
So, if that were to fall to the Russians or be transferred to the Russians, that would be a significant problem for the Ukrainians from a military perspective as well as actually an economic perspective because the less security you have for the central part of Ukraine, the less security you have for the entire region and really for the entire country.
HUNTE: That original draft also calls for Ukraine to limit itself to 600,000 troops, which is still quite significant. The European proposal caps at 800,000 in peacetime, though. What would such limits mean to a country as large as Ukraine?
LEIGHTON: So, while Ukraine is large in terms of size and actually in terms of population, it is not as large as Russia. Russia has about four times the population of Ukraine. It also has about four times the size in terms of its military manpower. So, a limitation on Ukrainian military personnel in terms of their end strength would actually be detrimental to Ukraine. It would basically limit their ability to counter the Russians should the Russians seek to reinvade the country or to conduct other operations against the country.
So, it would really be a very bad move for the West to impose this on or the Russians to impose this on the Ukrainians and it would really mean that Ukraine would basically have one hand tied behind its back.
HUNTE: Could the West provide military guarantees that would make up for the loss of all of that territory and the cap on troops?
LEIGHTON: Well, that's one thing that is critical, I think, for the -- really for any type of agreement that is reached between Ukraine and Russia. Security guarantees would need to be there now. The biggest security guarantee would be NATO membership. That, according to the first draft of this, at least seems to be off the table.
But it really shouldn't be, because, number one, the Ukrainian constitution calls for Ukraine to actually seek membership in NATO, and number two, NATO itself is a -- has the Atlantic Charter, and that Atlantic Charter calls for the free association of countries to join NATO. So, in other words, if Ukraine sought to join NATO, they should be allowed to do so based on national sovereignty, national self- determination.
Other guarantees would actually have to be put in place if NATO is not a possibility. What would happen then would be Article 5-like guarantees. In other words, if there is an attack on Ukraine, the West would have to respond as if the attack were conducted against all of the members of whatever alliance is created, whether it's a bilateral alliance, say, between the Ukrainians and the United States or a multilateral alliance which would include many of the members, if not all of the members of NATO.
So, Ukraine's guarantees would have to be basically like NATO guarantees, even if it's not part of NATO. So, it would be a complex international arrangement, and it really would remain to be seen how effective that could be, especially if western troops were not allowed to be stationed in Ukraine.
HUNTE: That does sound very complex, very, very complex. The U.S. proposal is being called a living, breathing document. But if the major points have moved closer to Ukraine's position, do you think there'll still be enough left for Russia to agree to stop fighting?
LEIGHTON: Well, that's going to be really interesting because Russia has several red lines, Ben, and these red lines include things such as taking over all of the Donbas regions, such as limiting the strength of the Ukrainian army. So, if Russia changes its mind, that would be one thing that would allow Russia to agree to this, stop the fighting, perhaps regroup for, you know, some future efforts that they might make in this area.
[02:10:03] But the key thing here is that Russia would probably not agree to many major changes in this.
HUNTE: Given everything we're hearing from Geneva and Washington, is there any realistic chance that this is the week that the war finally ends?
LEIGHTON: There will be great on many levels if this were the week that the war ended. But I don't think it's realistic, unfortunately. I think what would happen, Ben, is that there will be some fighting that will continue, regardless of what progress is made in the negotiations. I also think that it will take a long time to achieve the kinds of agreements that need to be achieved.
Really, what's lacking here is real pressure against the Russians, and the pressure that they would understand would be military pressure in addition to economic sanctions. We're not seeing the western nations really put real military pressure on the Russians such as deployments of troops, you know, along the Russian border.
The kinds of things that would allow for extra quick transfer of weapons systems into Ukraine, those kinds of things, those kinds of pressure points in addition to economic sanctions would really have to be brought to bear on the Russians before they come to the table. I don't think we're seeing that at this particular point in time.
HUNTE: OK. We'll see what happens next. Colonel Cedric Leighton, thank you so much for now. Appreciate it.
LEIGHTON: You bet, Ben. Thanks so much for having me.
HUNTE: New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and President Donald Trump had a nearly hour-long meeting at the White House last week. But despite the cordial atmosphere, Mamdani is now doubling down on his belief that President Trump is a fascist. Here's what he told NBC.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Just to be very clear, do you think that President Trump is a fascist?
ZOHRAN MAMDANI, NEW YORK CITY MAYOR-ELECT: And after President Trump said that, I said yes. And --
UNKNOWN (voice-over): So, you do?
MAMDANI: -- and that's something that I've said in the past. I say it today. And I think what I appreciated about the conversation that I had with the president was that we were not shy about the places of disagreement, about the politics that has brought us to this moment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: CNN's Gloria Pazmino spoke with Mamdani about his meeting with the president and plans for when he takes office in the new year.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Zohran Mamdani returned to New York City on Sunday and spoke at a congregation in the Bronx during their church services where he talked to the crowd about how he understood that the need to deliver on his agenda would require him working with people that he doesn't necessarily agree with.
A reference to President Donald Trump after that meeting that the two of them had on Friday, which went apparently extremely well considering how opposed these two politicians have been for the past few months.
We talked to Zohran Mamdani on Sunday about how he had prepared for this meeting and learned a little bit more about what the two discussed behind closed doors. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAZMINO: Talk to me about how you deciphered his language.
MAMDANI: You know, I approached this meeting thinking about what I'd heard from New Yorkers who voted for the president. And when I asked them why they did so last November, they told me, cost of living, cost of living, cost of living. Oftentimes, in a conversation between two politicians, the conversation rarely extends beyond either of them. Our conversation focused on New York City. And I think that is a point of shared focus, a point of shared admiration for the city that we both call home and a city that is in danger of becoming a museum of where working people once were.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAZMINO: Mamdani told us that he and the president discussed everything from the complicated building code in New York City, which makes it very difficult to build housing here in New York, something that we know the president is familiar with because he has a background in construction, real estate, and it's something that he knows and likes to talk about.
They talked about whether or not they would be able to ask Con Edison, the utility company here in the United States, to lower rates for New Yorkers.
They talked about immigration and federal enforcement. And that last part is key because that's one of the big questions heading into January 1st, which is when Zohran Mamdani will take office here in New York City, whether or not The Trump administration will deploy federal forces into the city.
Mamdani told us that he did not exactly get a commitment from the president to not send those forces. But he told me that the two did have a conversation about immigration enforcement. And he believes that now that they have this early, you know, and young relationship between the two, he is hoping that he can talk to him and work together to accomplish major parts of the agenda that he ran on, affordability, making life more affordable for people here in New York City.
[02:15:00]
And we'll see. This is, you know, a relationship that we're going to be closely watching for the next several months, particularly as Mamdani prepares to take office in the new year.
I'm Gloria Pazmino, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTE: Still to come, the G20 ends as South Africa declares it a success, and world leaders are able to laugh about the U.S. refusing to take part. And Israel says it has killed Hezbollah's second most senior figure. Details of the deadly airstrike just ahead. See you in a moment.
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HUNTE: Welcome back. The first G20 summit to be hosted on African continent officially came to close on Sunday in Johannesburg. Most notable was the absence of next year's host, the United States. The U.S. boycotted the event over discredited allegations by the Trump administration that South Africa is persecuting its white minority population. CNN's Larry Madowo has the latest for us.
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LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The final act of this G20 summit, the first in African soil, was world leaders joking and laughing at the absence of President Donald Trump. Many of them came up to congratulate President Ramaphosa on a great event. And that voice can be heard, saying, "where is the United States?"
[02:20:01]
And he says, "they're not here." And they all laugh about it as if it's an inside joke. Many of them in their statements had supported multilateralism and criticized indirectly the transactional way in which President Trump does things.
South Africa has refused to hand over that gavel that represents the rotating presidency to the charge d'affaires of the United States, essentially the deputy ambassador here in South Africa. They say they consider it insulting. And so, I asked the foreign minister, what happens to the handover?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RONALD LAMOLA, SOUTH AFRICAN MINISTER, INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS & COOPERATION: It's ceremonial, the handover. But there could be. For example, the handover of the -- of the -- of the G20 official website. There is a need for engagement between us and the U.S., how we then deal with that and other details that needs to be -- to be ironed out.
But as South Africa, as we have said, we want the transition to be as smooth as possible, and we are prepared to cooperate and assist the U.S. with that process.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MADOWO: In that CNN interview, the foreign minister here in South Africa also pushing back on the White House characterization of the leaders' declaration shameful, saying that they did what they could because the leaders showed up here, and they had business to attend to.
And they're very proud. They consider this a triumph, a success, that South Africa was able to center the global south's demands and African leaders, African countries requirements to the rest of the world in this.
And so, they don't consider it a failure, that President Donald Trump didn't show up here, and they're ready and willing to discuss handing over kind of practical things like the website of the G20. But overall, from here in South Africa, they consider this to have been a 10 out of 10, no notes.
Larry Madowo, CNN, Johannesburg.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTE: Effective today, the United States plans to designate Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and allies in his government as members of a terrorist organization. The Trump administration accuses Maduro of running a vast drug trafficking cartel, which Maduro denies and his government argues doesn't even exist.
The terror organization will deal, authorize President Trump to impose new sanctions. And the White House says it will allow expanded options for military strikes inside Venezuela, but legal experts say it will not explicitly authorize the use of lethal force.
A CBS news poll shows that 70% of Americans would oppose military action in Venezuela. It also found that 76% of Americans say the Trump administration has not clearly explained its position on military action in Venezuela.
The Israeli military says it has killed Hezbollah's chief of staff in the first strike on southern Beirut in months. Lebanon's health ministry says five people were killed and more than two dozen injured in Sunday's attack. The IDF says the strike was meant to prevent Hezbollah from further strengthening its capabilities. Hezbollah has issued a statement in response, calling the killing of its chief of staff a -- quote -- "treacherous Israeli attack."
CNN's Nic Robertson is following all of the developments from Jerusalem.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, Haytham Ali Tabatabai was the number two in Hezbollah, the chief of staff. Israeli officials said that he had the blood of both Israelis and Americans on his hands, that he had been a special forces commander, training forces in Syria, training them in Yemen as well.
But what we've heard from the prime minister's office here is a very clear message, that they believe that Hezbollah is trying to regroup itself, and we've seen an uptick in the number of Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah positions or what the IDF says are Hezbollah positions in the south of Lebanon over the last few days and recent weeks.
And it is sort of significant because the ceasefire agreement that was made between Israel and Lebanon almost a year ago called for Hezbollah to disarm and get out of the border region. But what Israel has been maintaining is that Hezbollah is sort of trying to set up back in that region.
So, a decision clearly taken to go after this number two in Hezbollah and go back to striking in the suburbs of Beirut, hitting this multi- storey building in the southern suburbs, hitting it with a direct precision strike the Israelis say sort of on the fourth or fifth floor of this apartment building. As you say, five people killed. Twenty- eight, according to Lebanese officials, injured in that.
But Israel's prime minister coming down very clearly and indicating that this may not be the last strike.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL (through translator): The policy I'm leading is absolutely clear. Under my leadership, the State of Israel will not allow Hezbollah to rebuild its power and will not allow it to once again pose a threat to the State of Israel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: So, the Lebanese president has called on the international community to do more to pressure Israel, to curb its attacks here.
[02:24:52]
Similarly, in the south of Israel, in Gaza, to the south of Israel, Hamas calling on the international community to do the same there with the IDF, with Israel, to push them to cut back on strikes, increasing strikes in Gaza as well in the past 24 hours.
More than 20 people killed, according to Hamas officials in the past, according to health officials inside of Gaza in the past 24 hours, and many others injured as well.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTE: Palestinians in Gaza are mourning the latest casualties of the fragile ceasefire between Hamas and Israel. Israeli airstrikes killed at least 20 people and injured dozens more across the enclave on Saturday, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Grieving Palestinians are now questioning the legitimacy of the peace deal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) AHMED ABU SHAWEESH, RELATIVES KILLED IN ISRAELI STRIKES (through translator): We were feeling safe that there's a truce, as they say. This is the about my murdered cousin. They say there's a truce. Suddenly, in a second, we heard two rockets, and we went running to the houses and found that two houses of my family and the family of Abu Shaweesh were damaged. And who was inside? Women and children.
What's the reason? Nobody knows. Aren't we supposed to be in a truce? We're looking at the house. We've been trying to forget this scene for a month. We're starting to go back to our normal life. How are we supposed to go back? We are back to murders, back to destruction, back to injuries. What's the reason? We're confused. No one knows.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: The Israel Defense Forces says it launched retaliatory strikes after a -- quote -- "armed terrorist crossed into Israeli-occupied territory in Gaza and opened fire." A Hamas official rejected Israel's allegations as -- quote -- "an excuse to kill" and blamed Israel for escalating ceasefire violations.
OK, still to come, U.S. officials say they are optimistic about securing a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. Ahead, we'll hear what the U.S. secretary of state is saying about the issue. Plus, outgoing Republican lawmaker and one-time Trump ally, Marjorie Taylor Greene, is shutting down rumors regarding her political future. All of that and so much more when we come back. See you in month.
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[02:30:36]
BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ben Hunte in Atlanta.
The U.S. secretary of state is praising negotiations with Ukrainian officials over Donald Trump's peace plan. Marco Rubio is calling the talks in Geneva on Sunday productive and meaningful. Ukrainian officials are thanking the U.S. for their diplomatic efforts, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the talks were substantive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Diplomacy has been activated, which is good, very good. We expect that the results will be the right steps. The first priority is reliable peace, guaranteed security, respect for our people, respect for everyone who gave their lives defending Ukraine from Russian aggression.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: CNN's Matthew Chance asked Marco Rubio whether there were changes to some of the more contentious elements of that peace plan.
Here's how the top U.S. diplomat responded.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Had Ukraine indicated to you that its prepared to compromise, for instance, some of those key issues, like territory in exchange for peace with Russia? Have they suggested that they are prepared --
MARCO RUBIO, U.S SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, I'm not going to -- look, it's not because for purposes of evasion, it's just -- I'm not going to get into the details of the topics that were discussed because this is an ongoing process. What is important to understand and how these things work is you have to -- in order to have a proposal, you have to write it. You know, if it's just verbal, it's in the air. You have to put it down on a piece of paper. And just because it's printed on a piece of paper doesn't indicate finality.
So, you get input. And based on that input, you make adjustments and then you get more input, and you make a counteroffer, and you get more adjustments. That's an ongoing process. Theres a lot more of that to happen. So I'm not going to speculate or go into the details of any of the specific items, in the latest version of the proposal because frankly, by tomorrow or the next day, that may have evolved and changed further.
And -- but I can tell you, I guess, that I feel very optimistic that we can get something done here because we made a tremendous amount of progress.
CHANCE: What are you going to tell President Trump about the attitude of Ukrainians during these negotiations?
RUBIO: Oh, it was very positive. I'm telling you, today was the most productive day.
CHANCE: He said they were ungrateful earlier.
RUBIO: Well, today, and we've talked to him since, I think he's quite pleased at the reports we've given him about the amount of progress that's been made.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: Outgoing Republican lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene is shutting down speculation that she has plans to run for the highest office in the land. The Georgia lawmaker posted this on social media, quote, I'm not running for president. I never said I wanted to and have only laughed about it when anyone would mention it.
CNN's Camila DeChalus has more from Washington.
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CAMILA DECHALUS, CNN REPORTER: Well, since Marjorie Taylor Greene announced her resignation, lawmakers across the aisle have really weighed in on this. Some Democrats say that they're not really quite sure what to make of her decision, but note that they were kind of counting on her vote and any upcoming deal to extend the enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, because, mind you, she was a very big advocate and saying that the House speaker, Mike Johnson, had to do something about addressing these subsidies, and these subsidies are really at the heart of the big issue around the 40-day-plus government shutdown.
Now, it's also worth noting that some Democrats have recently praised Greene for helping push the bipartisan effort to fully release all the Jeffrey Epstein files in Congress, and even in her resignation statement, she even acknowledged herself that this effort really contributed to the ongoing tensions between herself and President Trump.
Now, one Democratic lawmaker, Jasmine Crockett, did not hold back on some of her criticism of Greene and what she felt about her resignation. Take a listen.
REP. JASMINE CROCKETT (D-TX): Honestly, I was like, you've got to be kidding me. You're on the other side of the president for one week, and you can't take the heat. Imagine what it is to sit in my shoes, to not only be on the opposite side of him, but to have people like her who are constantly fanning the flames of hate.
DECHALUS: Now, it's worth noting that last week, Marjorie Taylor Greene apologized and said she would no longer use toxic rhetoric, especially after President Trump called her a traitor. And now, with her leaving office, it really does have a lot of lawmakers wondering what will happen next, because some Democratic lawmakers saw her as potentially being an ally of addressing key issues that Congress and lawmakers still need to address.
Camila DeChalus, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTE: Well, we're tracking political turmoil in the U.K. as well, where British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is under pressure amid questions over his leadership.
Starmer had to address reports that rivals in his own labor party were plotting to replace him.
[02:35:01]
And pollster YouGov said this month that just 17 percent of Britons approve of the job that he's doing as prime minister. That's raising fears that a government budget announcement expected this week could further drive down his poll ratings.
Let's keep talking about it. Joining me now from Eastbourne, England, is Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London.
Thank you so much for being with me. How are you doing?
TIM BALE, PROFESSOR OF POLITICS, QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON: I'm fine, thank you. How are you? HUNTE: I'm good. Thank you so much for being with me.
There are still four years before the next scheduled general election in the U.K. So why is there so much anxiety within the Labour Party right now, barely a year after this huge landslide win?
BALE: Well, mainly because the Labour Party has lost so much support in the last 16 months. It polled around 34 percent at the general election, and it is now at around 18 percent in the poll of polls. So, that's a huge loss. Unprecedented. And of course, Keir Starmer himself, the prime minister, is breaking records for unpopularity, too.
HUNTE: We have seen that Andy Burnham is refusing to rule out a leadership challenge. And some are suggesting that even Angela Rayner would beat Starmer now. So, who or how is real -- how real is this threat to his leadership? And what do you think is going to happen next?
BALE: Well, I think it is real. Theres no doubt that Labour MPs are highly critical of Keir Starmer himself. They don't feel he's set out a vision for the U.K. They've criticized his communication skills, they've criticized the way he's running his office in Number 10 Downing Street. There are multiple criticisms on policy as well, particularly the migration announcement recently has gone down very badly, with many Labour MPs, the welfare reforms that have been suggested. So, they are looking at other candidates.
The problem is, and in some senses, this is, the advantage that Keir Starmer has, there are obstacles to many of those candidates mounting a successful challenge. Angela Rayner had to resign because of irregularities over a flat purchase. Andy Burnham, the other candidate you mentioned is the mayor of Manchester, a big city in the north of England. But he is not in parliament. And you have to be an MP in order to be able to take over from Keir Starmer.
So, while Keir Starmer is in trouble the number of people who could take over from him in any short order, I think is limited.
HUNTE: How much of this is about Keir Starmer's governing style, and how much is about the gap between the expectations and what the government has delivered, or maybe can even deliver?
BALE: That is a great question, actually. I mean, I think one of the problems that labor has is that they suggested, or at least implied, that there was going to be a huge change in the country and that change was going to take place very quickly. Their manifesto indeed, the platform they stood on at the general election was called just change, and it had Starmer on the cover. It featured Starmer right the way through.
I think if you look at opinion polling, it suggests that people don't feel there's been as much change as they wanted. They haven't seen public services recover as quickly as they wanted. They haven't seen a big change, a turnaround in the economy towards more growth. So, people are feeling pretty frustrated. And it's also true, obviously, that there are specific problems. For
example, over migration, small boats coming across the channel that the Labour Party promised that it would be able to fix by, quote/unquote, smashing the gangs. And people are still coming across the channel.
So in some ways, it's understandable, though you could point to the problem in some senses, in all, countries, people wanting more than they can get very quickly, I guess. So there's a degree of sort of consumerism about the electorate that perhaps wasn't there before.
HUNTE: Nigel Farage and Reform U.K. are now consistently ahead of labor in some polls. Why do you think reforms message is cutting through so strongly? And how concerned should labor be right now?
BALE: Well, Labour have to be concerned. I mean, reform this populist, radical right party is now on around 30 percent in the poll of polls. So, in other words, nearly twice as much support as the Labour Party have got. They've also got a leader in Nigel Farage who is, whatever people think of his politics an absolutely brilliant communicator. And of course, that I think draws a big contrast with Keir Starmer.
I think one issue, though, that many in the labor party would raise is they're losing just as many supporters. Indeed, probably more supporters or previous supporters to parties to their left. So we're talking about the Liberal Democrats and were talking about the Green Party who have just elected a new leader who, again, is an excellent communicator.
So, in some ways, Labour are caught between a rock and a hard place. Reform on the one hand, and then the Greens and the Liberal Democrats on the other.
[02:40:00]
HUNTE: Tell me this, have there been any signs that Nigel Farage takeover isn't what's coming next for the U.K.?
BALE: I mean, I think it's a long way away. The general election, it has to be said that many people, and recent polling confirms this, are rather worried about the lack of experience that Reform members have. They've only got five MPs at the moment. So in order to form a majority, they'd have to have, you know, over 325 people. That's an awful lot of inexperienced people that they would bring into the campaign.
There are concerns about Nigel Farage and some of his attitudes. He's been branded a racist by some people. Some people at least see him as rather extreme, and therefore not necessarily the kind of guy you would want running your country. But at the moment, if things continue as they are, he's got a very good chance of doing that.
HUNTE: Very interesting times in the U.K. Okay. Tim bale, the coauthor of the British general election of 2024, and there's your book. Thank you so much for being with me. Appreciate it. BALE: Thank you.
The woman convicted in the brutal "Slender Man" stabbing is now back in custody. Morgan Geyser was 12 years old when she and a classmate lured another 12-year-old classmate to a park, where they stabbed her 19 times. All to impress a murderous fictional Internet character. The girl miraculously survived the attack. Geyser would later strike a plea deal with prosecutors, which placed her in a mental institution, instead of serving jail time.
Madison police say Geyser left a group home where she had been living on Saturday after cutting off department of corrections monitoring bracelet she was wearing. Officials now confirm she was found sleeping at a truck stop 20 miles south of Chicago.
Okay, still to come, while the government shutdown may be over, air travel is still recovering. What to expect during the holiday rush. That's coming up.
See you in a bit.
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[02:45:08]
HUNTE: The holiday season is set to officially kick off in Washington on Monday. First Lady Melania Trump will oversee the arrival of this year's White House Christmas tree, which will be on display to the public inside the blue room. The tradition was first started in 1912 by President William Howard Taft and his children, but wasn't done consistently until future administrations. This year's tree, concolor fir, comes from Michigan.
All right. Airlines are ramping up for another big challenge, holiday travel. The FAA predicts this will be the busiest Thanksgiving travel period in 15 years, with Tuesday being the peak day for flights. So who's going to be watching all of those jets and trying to make sure you get there on time?
CNN's Pete Muntean met some of them at Southwest Airlines' big control hub.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JUSTIN LEBON, NETWORK OPERATIONS CONTROL DIRECTOR, SOUTHWEST AIRLINES: Hey, good morning, Southwest.
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is mission control for your Thanksgiving trip, from storms --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms.
MUNTEAN: -- to software snags.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll keep you updated if that status changes. MUNTEAN (voice-over): Three hundred workers here inside Southwest
Airlines Network Operations Control in Dallas are diving headfirst into the biggest travel rush of the year.
Justin Lebon is helming what's called the bridge, and reporting to him are about a dozen different divisions on the floor, all monitoring everything from crew schedules to space launches to keep 800 airplanes moving.
LEBON: We move about 500,000 to 600,000 people a day. And you never know what's going to walk through that door with a problem.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): Thanksgiving is this team's latest challenge after the government shutdown forced Southwest to cancel hundreds of flights a day.
WATTERSON: That's about what you'd see from a very bad winter storm.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): Andrew Watterson is Southwest's chief operating officer.
WATTERSON: So, it wasn't that bad. Not easy, but it did not stress the network at all.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): Southwest says, even still, 83 percent of its flights arrived on time, a testament to improvements it made after its massive schedule meltdown of 2022.
WATTERSON: We have redundant technology. We have better staffing, better decision-making. And so, we're able to handle these large-scale events very well.
MUNTEAN: These numbers are the flights that Southwest is monitoring in real time. There are about 500 flights in the air right now, but the day is still pretty young, and the airline still has about 2,500 flights left to complete for the entire day. On the biggest days of the Thanksgiving rush, that's like moving the population of Minneapolis.
STEVE WEST, V.P. NETWORK OPERATIONS CONTROL, SOUTHWEST AIRLINES: That's our goal is to complete the schedule.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): Steve West heads the command center and showed me the scope of the work that goes on here. On this day, teams are monitoring bad weather coming for Las Vegas and Phoenix, both major bases for the airline. The goal here is to maintain what's called A- 30, that's getting flights to their destinations no more than 30 minutes late.
MUNTEAN: Is this stressful? It seems kind of stressful.
WEST: It can be. But you know, these guys have been doing it for so long that it becomes natural for them.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): For Justin Lebon, he says just 10 people not making their connections becomes personal. It's why he's confident Thanksgiving for the airline will be something to be thankful for.
LEBON: It's looking pretty good. I think the weather next week is looking pretty good. We always kind of stay, you know, about a week ahead, looking at general trends and everything, pretty good spirits and everything. So, we're looking forward to it.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): Pete Muntean, CNN, Dallas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTE: Holiday travel snags do happen, but you might be able to minimize their impact.
Clint Henderson from The Points Guy, shared some tips with CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINT HENDERSON, MANAGING EDITOR, THE POINTS GUY: I was really, really worried if we would still be in the shutdown by now. So, I'm so glad that that's resolved. The one thing I'm really watching is the air traffic controller shortage. Once we get a shortage happening at one of the major hubs, I'm thinking of Newark specifically. It tends to have a chain reaction. So that's where I'm really watching.
Consumers really need to be their own best advocates these days. You really got to pay attention. Be watching CNN, for example. Know if there's -- if there's air traffic control issues going on because that can quickly spread and lead to a domino effect. So that's the one area I'm really watching, especially if we get any weather.
I have an app that's fairly new called Flight that I love. It shows where my plane is coming from. It's great. And it shows you. It shows you 24 hours of history of your flight, so you'll know if your plane is going to make it to the airport you're leaving from or not, but also know what's going on at your departure and arrival airport.
I know social media gave us that heads up a few weeks ago about the long lines at Houston airport. Or if you see that, or you see a weather sort of meltdown starting at your local airport, don't even bother going to the airport. Call the airline and say, hey, can you put me on a flight tomorrow? You know, sort of work around that. The airlines are being very flexible these days.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: A rainbow wave takes over Rio's most iconic beach. Hear the message. Pride march is saying matters more than ever, just ahead.
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[02:53:41]
HUNTE: Welcome back.
Let's talk football. Week 12 in the NFL featured a number of games with possible playoff implications, including one of the hottest teams in the league, the Rams taking on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Los Angeles on Sunday night, and L.A. dominated in this one. Quarterback Matthew Stafford finding Davante Adams for one of two touchdowns on the night. Tampa would see quarterback Baker Mayfield go down with a shoulder injury late in the first half, and the Rams clobbered the Bucs 34 to 7, improving to nine and two on the season.
Another big one in the NFC, the Philadelphia Eagles visiting the Dallas Cowboys. Dallas got off to another sluggish start down 21 to 7 going into the second half, but that's when the boys came storming back. They held Philly scoreless after half time, tied the game, then saw Brandon Aubrey kick the game winning field goal as time expired. Cowboys take it 24 to 21, keeping their playoff hopes alive.
Over in the AFC, the Chiefs were fighting for their playoff lives facing the red hot Indianapolis Colts in Kansas City. The reigning conference champs were playing from behind throughout the game. Kansas City was down 11 points heading into the fourth quarter, but their star quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, led a remarkable comeback, throwing for a season high 352 yards.
[02:55:04]
The game went to overtime when Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker hit the game winning field goal, his fifth on the day. Kansas City wins 23 to 20 to stay in the playoff hunt.
Rio's iconic Copacabana Beach was transformed by a sea of rainbow flags this weekend, as crowds marked 30 years of the city's LGBTQ pride parade. The parade began back in 1995 as Brazil's first event of its kind, opening the door for celebrations in cities across the country. Today, organizers say the parade is all about visibility and embracing hope for the future of the movement.
And for many attending, their message is quite simple.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BICHA EDER, PRIDE PARTICIPANT: It's a moment of sustainability, of love, and Copacabana is showing that it embraces this movement, which is a movement of love, equality and happiness.
DIVERAS, PRIDE PARTICIPANT: Every year I like to attend to be a part of this because we are, and we have to be committed with all our strength this year.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: The second "Wicked" movie, has outpaced the first film with a worldwide box office gain of $226 million. "Wicked: For Good" wraps up the original story of "The Wicked Witch of the West". The films plot is based on the Broadway musical version of the popular novel, which was in turn inspired by the wonderful "Wizard of Oz". More than half of the film's earnings are from the U.S. box office, which is a good sign for Hollywood after historically slow October.
That's all I've got for you. Thanks for joining me this hour. I'm Ben Hunt in Atlanta and I will see you next weekend.
But there is so much more CNN NEWSROOM just ahead. Rosemary, over to you.
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