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Negotiations to End the War in Ukraine Now Progressing; More Suspects in the Louvre Heist Now Detained. Aired 3-3:45a ET

Aired November 26, 2025 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church. Just ahead.

Ukraine's President could be heading back to Washington as negotiators inch closer to hammering out a peace deal.

Four more suspects have been detained in connection with the audacious heist at the Louvre, but the stolen jewels are still missing.

And two dozen schoolgirls kidnapped in Nigeria have now been freed, but many others remain in captivity. We'll explore what's behind the spate of kidnappings in that country.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: I appreciate you joining us.

And we begin with the peace talks to end Russia's war in Ukraine. The U.S. President says he believes negotiators are making progress.

Donald Trump is sending his special envoy Steve Witkoff to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week. The President had said he wanted an agreement by Thursday, but not anymore.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I don't have a deadline. I just, you know, the deadline for me is when it's over. And I think everybody's tired of fighting at this moment, they're losing too many people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: President Trump's original 28 point plan is now being whittled down to 19 with some of the provisions deemed unacceptable by Kyiv reportedly removed.

The U.S. president posted on social media, quote, "there are only a few remaining points of disagreement." However, the Russian foreign minister has indicated that Moscow could reject an amended peace plan if its terms are fundamentally different.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's national security chief says President Volodymyr Zelenskyy may head to the White House before the end of the month to speak with President Trump.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRA.I.NIAN PRESIDENT: That framework is on the table, and we are ready to move forward together with the United States of America with personal engagement of President Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Matthew Chance brings us Ukraine's perspective on the negotiations.

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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFA.I.RS CORRESPONDENT: Well, progress is being made on the U.S. peace proposals to end the conflict in Ukraine. But significant differences remain and no final text has been agreed. That's according to a Ukrainian source with direct knowledge of the negotiations.

A consensus has been reached on most points, the source told CNN. But there's still no agreement on Ukraine surrendering territory, for example, that has been annexed by Russia, but not yet conquered on the proposal for Ukraine to limit the size of its army to 600,000, which was the figure envisaged in the 28 point plan that was leaked last week.

The source told CNN that a new number had been floated, but that Kyiv wanted further changes for being prepared to agree on the issue of Ukraine renouncing its ambition to become a member of NATO. The source told CNN that this demand is unacceptable to them because such a concession would set a bad precedent, the source said. It would effectively give Russia a veto over the Western military alliance.

Problem is, all of those three points are key conditions of Moscow to end its war in Ukraine.

Matthew Chance, CNN London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Earlier, I spoke with Stephanie Baker, senior writer for Bloomberg News and the author of "Punishing Putin - Inside the Global Economic War to Bring Down Russia." I asked her about Russia's top priorities in negotiations, and what Putin will likely fight for. Here's her response.

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STEPHANIE BAKER, SR. WRITER, BLOOMBERG NEWS: He has demanded consistently that Ukraine hand over this part of the Donbass that Russia has been unable to take militarily for more than a decade. And the Russian government -- the Russian parliament has incorporated that region constitutionally, annexed it illegally into their constitution.

So I think they're going to drive a very tough negotiating line on that point in particular. Likewise, I think with NATO, it is a red line for Putin, the idea of allowing Ukraine to join NATO. And I think that will be a key sticking point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The Trump administration is turning up the heat on six Democrats over their video urging service members to refuse unlawful orders. CNN's Arlette Saenz has the latest.

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ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The FBI is seeking interviews with six Democratic lawmakers who released a video urging members of the military and the intelligence community not to obey unlawful orders from President Donald Trump. The request for interviews marks a major escalation just days after President Trump accused those lawmakers of engaging in seditious behavior, punishable by death.

Now, the FBI first made this request to the U.S. Capitol Police who referred the FBI to the House and Senate sergeant-at-arms. The offices of each of those six Democratic lawmakers, four House members and two senators, confirmed that they had received this inquiry. And in a joint statement, the four House Democratic lawmakers involved said that they were undeterred, arguing that President Trump was weaponizing the FBI.

They wrote, quote, "President Trump is using the FBI as a tool to intimidate and harass members of Congress. No amount of intimidation or harassment will ever stop us from doing our jobs and honoring our Constitution."

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told CNN that he sees no basis for any FBI investigation, but said it will be up to the lawmakers to decide whether they sit for those interviews.

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY), U.S. HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: We should look at this so-called interview request and whatever investigation is underway from this extreme administration very skeptically because it was all apparently ordered by Donald Trump. Now, ultimately, the members and their lawyers are going to make the determination as to what's the next appropriate step in this so-called process related to the Trump administration.

SAENZ: It's still unclear what exactly these interview requests are for. Senator Elissa Slotkin posted on X that the FBI's counterterrorism division appeared to open an inquiry into her after this video. But there are no other details about these FBI requests.

In addition to this, the Pentagon announced it was launching an investigation into Senator Mark Kelly, a retired U.S. Navy captain. Sources said that there is a potential he could be recalled to active duty in order to face a court-martial or administrative punishment. But all of these Democratic lawmakers so far have said that they are undeterred in their statements and they will not be intimidated by President Trump.

Arlette Saenz, CNN, Washington.

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CHURCH: Tensions erupting on the streets of St. Paul, Minnesota, as federal agents clashed and sprayed a crowd that was gathered to protest an ICE operation. The Department of Homeland Security says a Honduran man in the country illegally was arrested. Witnesses say he wasn't the only person taken into custody.

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UNKNOWN: We've seen them aggressively arrest at least four people since we've been standing here, that we're doing nothing but shouting too loud, maybe. That's not a crime.

I didn't think we'd see it in this neighborhood. And as soon as we found out, we rushed here.

UNKNOWN: We were here holding a line, trying to support the family and the people inside the house. They told us, move west, move west. That was it.

And then they indiscriminately started tear gassing us earlier today.

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CHURCH: Video also captured the crowd in St. Paul pushing back federal agents. Tuesday's operation is the second one in the Minnesota state capital in less than a week.

The President of Colombia says he knows why Donald Trump is pressuring Venezuela and that drug trafficking has little to do with it. He spoke exclusively with CNN's Isa Soares.

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GUSTAVO PETRO, COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): A negotiation about oil. I believe that is Trump's logic, he is not thinking about the democratization of Venezuela, let alone the narco trafficking.

They are going to get the oil almost for free because that's what the anecdotal evidence suggests. Trump is not negotiating with Maduro when it comes to drugs because Trump is not a fool.

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CHURCH: Gustavo Petro's comments come as the U.S. amasses thousands of troops and more than a dozen warships in the Caribbean. President Trump has signaled he is open to direct talks with Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro, but he has repeatedly expressed frustration with the South American country. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They've caused a lot of problems and they've sent millions of people into our country. They had, I mean, they were probably the biggest abuser with Tren de Aragua and all the others that they sent in, the drug dealers and drug lords, the people that they sent in, the jailbirds. They opened their jails and prisons and dumped them into the United States and we're not happy about that.

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CHURCH: French authorities have detained another four people they say were involved in the brazen jewellery heist at the Louvre last month.

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As CNN's Max Foster reports, these new suspects joined four others already in custody.

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MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was the heist of the century, the theft in broad daylight of France's crown jewels. Now, more than five weeks since the audacious robbery at the Louvre in Paris, four more suspects have been detained, French authorities announced on Tuesday, without releasing further details about possible charges.

The new suspects, two men aged 38 to 39 and two women, 31 and 40, all from the Paris region. They were detained by police as part of the investigation into the heist and are now to be questioned by investigators, the Paris prosecutor said on Tuesday.

CNN affiliate BFM T.V. reported that one of the suspects is the alleged fourth member of the gang that carried out the heist. Authorities say that four suspects stole more than $100 million worth of jewels in just seven minutes.

But they left many clues behind, not just the equipment they used to get in, like this angle grinder, and the truck. Witnesses say they tried but failed to burn as they fled, but also a glove, a helmet and one of the scooters they used to make their escape.

With more than 150 DNA traces left at the scene of the crime, a match was soon established. But whilst investigators now believe they know more about the suspected thieves, who they say were known for targeting jewelry stores, questions remain about who might have masterminded the operation. And still at large, the jewels that were stolen, the tiaras, necklaces, earrings and brooches of the royalty of 19th century France.

Max Foster, CNN.

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CHURCH: Brazil's Supreme Court has ordered former President Jair Bolsonaro to begin serving his 27-year prison sentence. A judge ruled he must do his time at Brazil's federal police headquarters, where he's been held since Saturday, after being taken into custody for tampering with his court-ordered ankle monitor.

The former president was convicted of plotting a coup in 2022 to overthrow his successor. Bolsonaro's attorney says he will pursue an appeal, despite the Supreme Court ruling that their decision is final.

Still to come, two dozen Nigerian girls who were kidnapped from their school are finally free. More on the recent wave of mass abductions in the country, next.

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CHURCH: Israel says forensic examiners have now identified the body of a deceased Israeli hostage returned from Gaza. The Prime Minister's office says the remains are that of Dror Or, who was killed alongside his wife on October 7th, before his body was taken to Gaza. The remains of just two deceased hostages are now still held in Gaza: an Israeli and a foreign national from Thailand.

Thousands of people around the world have been marking the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

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A large crowd of demonstrators marched through Madrid, Spain on Tuesday. They held signs, sang, chanted and played drums.

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Many others rallied in the Mexican capital, 10 women per day has become a slogan referring to the number of daily killings in Mexico.

Well the weather is also impacting holiday travel, with some flights being delayed amid the busy season. CNN's Pete Muntean spoke with travelers about how they're getting through the Thanksgiving travel rush.

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PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Tuesday marked the official start of the Thanksgiving travel rush. The Transportation Security Administration anticipated handling about 2.7 million people at airport checkpoints nationwide, though the big days are still ahead and the TSA anticipates screening 3 million people at airports on Sunday, when everybody begins coming home all at once.

The delays have gone up into the thousands, driven in part by weather issues at a major hub, the world's busiest airport, Atlanta- Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. In fact, thunderstorms there caused the air traffic control tower to close for about 10 minutes on Tuesday, causing the entire facility to be evacuated.

Passengers tell us, though, they are taking all of the snags that come with Thanksgiving travel in stride. Listen.

UNKNOWN: It was a 70-passenger plane with 50 people on it, so it was like, actually, I don't know, I expected it to be packed and it was not, so that was great.

MUNTEAN: Pretty easy day.

UNKNOWN: Yes, I don't know why we've been taking the car for years instead of just flying here.

UNKNOWN: Be flexible and roll with it, and if an opportunity presents, which was this, because it was non-stop, I took it.

UNKNOWN: Be patient. That's the key. Just be patient and go with the flow.

UNKNOWN: Don't check (inaudible). It'll save you some time. Travel light if possible, but also, you know, be kind to others, let people pass if they're trying to catch a quick connection, and yes, just keep it simple.

MUNTEAN: Naturally, so many people would rather drive instead of fly, and AAA says of the 80 million people traveling 50 miles or more, about 90 percent of them will drive.

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The worst hours are in the afternoon and evening, so AAA says if you can hit it in the morning, that's the best thing to do, or wait until Thanksgiving Day on Thursday when traffic will be a lot less.

Pete Muntean, CNN, Reagan National Airport.

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CHURCH: And we'll be back in just a moment. Stay with us.

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[03:20:00]

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CHURCH: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom," I'm Rosemary Church. I want to check today's top stories for you.

President Donald Trump says he's sending his special envoy to Moscow for talks on the Ukraine peace plan. Steve Witkoff is expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, while Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll is expected to meet with the Ukrainians. Trump says there are only a few remaining points of disagreement between Ukraine and Russia on the deal. Brazil's Supreme Court has ordered former President Jair Bolsonaro to

begin serving his 27 year prison sentence. He was convicted of plotting a coup in 2022 to overthrow his successor. Bolsonaro's attorney says he will pursue an appeal despite the Supreme Court ruling that their decision is final.

States across the eastern U.S. are preparing for a drop in temperatures as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches. A cold front moving east is causing thunderstorms and snow storms with millions of people under winter storm and blizzard warnings.

Officials in Nigeria say the two dozen girls who were kidnapped from a boarding school last week have been freed. The girls were taken by armed bandits who stormed their school in northwest Nigeria. It's just one of several instances of violence in the country within recent days.

Local authorities reported the school's vice principal was killed and 25 girls were taken during the attack, but one of the abducted students did manage to escape. The widow of the slain vice principal recounted her husband's final moments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMINA HASSAN, WIFE OF SLAIN DEPUTY PRINCIPAL (through translator): As they entered, they pulled their guns to shoot him. He pleaded, don't shoot me, allow me to stand up.

As he got up, he praised God saying Allah is the greatest, no God but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger. He urged me not to cry and to continue praising God. I joined him in his prayers.

Then they pulled the trigger and shot him. As he fell, I immediately rushed to touch him, but they pointed a gun at me and said if you touch him, we will shoot you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: President Trump has signed an executive order to bolster artificial intelligence research. The new Genesis mission is designed to allow data sharing between government agencies, tech companies and academic researchers. The aim is to use A.I. to bolster research in health, energy, manufacturing and other fields.

Hamza Chaudhry is the A.I. and National Security Lead at the Future of Life Institute and joins us from Washington. Good to have you with us.

HAMZA CHAUDHRY, A.I. AND NATIONAL SECURITY LEAD, FUTURE OF LIFE INSTITUTE: Thank you for having me.

CHURCH: So President Trump signed an executive order Monday to boost artificial intelligence research and development in the hope of reducing energy costs and creating job opportunities for Americans. That's among other things, of course. So how will his Genesis mission create more jobs specifically at a time when A.I. is actually taking those jobs away from many people? CHAUDHRY: First, I think there's an open question as to how much of

the A.I.-driven job loss is job displacement versus permanent job loss. So we've seen industry turnover for the past couple of centuries since the Industrial Revolution.

And the big question is always, can we re-skill for them into a permanent state of job loss? And I think the jury is still out with where A.I. ends up in that debate.

When it comes to the Genesis mission, the basic premise is we're going to set up basic foundational scientific research, which helps fuel an industrial revolution in America across manufacturing, across pharmaceuticals, and across nuclear energy.

CHURCH: And what about energy costs currently spiraling out of control for many Americans? How will the Genesis mission bring those costs down given A.I. is one of the reasons why we're seeing skyrocketing energy costs?

CHAUDHRY: So one of the six priority domain areas identified in the Genesis mission is nuclear fission and fusion. And I think the big open question here is to what extent can this mission help us unlock discoveries for nuclear fission and fusion such that we just have a greater supply of energy?

And I think that's something we'll just find out over the next couple of years as the mission takes up.

CHURCH: Right. Okay. So jury out on that one as well.

So the Trump administration wants to avoid regulating A.I. while supporting private sector innovation. But haven't we already learned that advanced technology like A.I. needs to be regulated to ensure private companies and individuals work within specific guardrails and guidelines?

[03:30:10]

CHAUDHRY: I agree with you there. And I think to some extent, moonshot missions like the Genesis mission can actually be a fantastic complement to also setting up legislative guardrails for A.I. in the private sector. I think it's still unclear as to where the White House has landed on this, especially over the past couple of weeks.

We've seen significant factions on the right on both sides of this issue advocating either against regulation or advocating for comprehensive regulation. And I think to some extent, a third time around, the jury is still out on where the White House lands on this.

CHURCH: Right, of course. And the Genesis mission seeks to encourage government information sharing with industry, academia, and other scientific institutions. But will that actually happen?

CHAUDHRY: To some extent, I think that's already happening. So there's various public-private partnerships between the U.S. federal government and the leading A.I. companies. That's been true for even longer for leading A.I. academic centers and the U.S. federal government.

I think there's an interesting question as to what extent we can actually consolidate these efforts into one whole, because that's the fundamental bet of the Genesis mission, which is that we can take the momentum of these various different public-private partnerships across academia, across civil society, across the private sector, and throw them into this big automated research loop and hope that scientific discoveries come out on the other side. And it remains to be unclear as to whether we can manage that.

CHURCH: And what will the cost of all this likely be, given the administration has not provided any cost estimates at this point?

CHAUDHRY: Some of this is, to some extent, a re-management and consolidation of existing efforts at the Department of Energy and just putting them into one research platform whole. I think it's right to point out that some of this will just require additional congressional dollars. And when the Department of Energy spoke about this to press a few hours ago, the feeling was that we're both going to work with the resources we currently have appropriated for the projects at DOE, while also working with Congress to get additional resources.

CHURCH: All right. Hamza Chaudhry, thank you so much for joining us. I appreciate it.

CHAUDHRY: Thank you for having me.

CHURCH: Still to come, new economic data is painting a picture of how the U.S. economy is doing as we head into the busy holiday shopping season. We'll have that after the break.

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[03:35:00]

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CHURCH: Welcome back to CNN. This is your Business Breakout.

Stocks are higher today in the Asia-Pacific region. Analysts say weaker than expected data on the U.S. economy has investors thinking the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next month, that's pushing Wall Street and other financial markets higher.

And these are the business headlines.

Computer maker H.P. is planning to cut up to 6,000 jobs globally by fiscal year 2028. The company says it's part of a plan to streamline operations and adopt artificial intelligence. H.P. is hoping the cuts will create more than a billion dollars in savings over the next three years.

Macy's is looking to lure people to do their Christmas shopping in person. The department store, famous for its flagship location in New York and, of course, the Thanksgiving Day parade, is betting on offering in-store experiences and luxury goods to compete in a world dominated by online retailers.

The original agreement that created the Apple Computer Company is going up for auction in January. Founders Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ron Wayne signed the three-page document on April 1, 1976. Christie's is auctioning it off early next year and estimates the agreement, along with a second document, could fetch up to $4 million.

Well the mood surrounding the U.S. economy seems to be souring amid growing concerns about the labor market and a new survey finds consumer confidence has plunged this month to its lowest level since April. CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich breaks down the latest data.

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VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: We have really been hungry for economic data and we got three new pieces of data, although two of them are backwards looking. Let's take a look at producer prices right here.

These are the prices or price increases that producers have been experiencing up 0.3 percent in the month of September, up 2.7 percent annually. That is moving farther away from that 2 percent inflation target that we normally like to see.

One category that's a little bit obscure, but one that we're paying very close attention to is final demand trade services.

It essentially shows the margins that businesses are experiencing, whether they're shrinking or they're growing. So in the month of September, we saw that these margins shrunk by 0.2 percent. That's similar to what we saw in the month of August. That signals that businesses are taking home less profit and they're absorbing more of these price increases and not passing them down to consumers.

Speaking of consumers, retail sales up 0.2 percent, again, backwards looking in the month of September. It's a bit of a slowdown though from the summer when we saw pretty robust spending here.

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Also, just going back a quick second, if we could do a little math, if you subtract consumer price increases in the month of September, which were up 0.3 percent, but we're subtracting that from retail sales, you actually get a decline in retail sales of 0.1 percent for the month of September.

So consumer confidence also came out in November, but this is very recent, not the September backwards looking data we just spoke about. Lowest level since April. People are concerned about a few categories, tariffs and trade, also prices and inflation, which we just talked about.

Yet consumers say that they're still planning to spend discretionarily on restaurants, at bars, and they're still going to do takeout and discretionary spending is usually where people cut back first. So it's a positive sign that they're still willing to spend. So what you see is a bit of a mixed picture. You see confidence

shaken, but you also see some resiliency in the U.S. consumer, which is what we've seen for months now.

How that all comes together for the holiday season is anyone's guess. But a clear picture that the consumer is willing to spend a little bit but being a little more cautious. Back to you.

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CHURCH: Move over Tokyo, Jakarta is now considered the world's largest city. A new U.N. report shows the Indonesian capital now has almost 42 million residents, jumping from 33rd on the biggest city list to the top spot in just seven years. Dakar in Bangladesh comes in second with a population near 37 million, and Tokyo falls to third with 33 million, the report predicts two thirds of the world's population will be living in cities by 2050.

Pope Leo is encouraging gratitude ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday here in the United States.

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POPE LEO XIV, LEADER OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH: I would encourage all people, especially with this beautiful people we have in the United States, which unites all people, people of different faiths, people who perhaps do not have the gift of faith, but to say thank you to someone.

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CHURCH: His comments come as he prepares for his first trip abroad as pontiff, traveling on Thanksgiving Day to Turkey and then Lebanon.

Well, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Prague. The annual tree arrived in the Old Town Square on Tuesday. The 62-year-old spruce is 24 meters tall and 11 meters wide; the decorating got underway once it was in place, but it will stay dark until the lights are switched on this Saturday.

I want to thank you so much for your company, I'm Rosemary Church. Have yourselves a wonderful day. "World Sport" is coming up next.

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