Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

More Than 50M People In U.S. Under Winter Weather Alerts; West Virginia Hometown Holds Vigil To Mourn Loss Of Sarah Beckstrom; Trump Escalates Anti-Immigration Policies After DC Attack; Ukraine: Delegation Heading To U.S. For Talks On Peace Proposal; Trump Declares Venezuelan Airspace "Closed". Manhunt Underway For Football Coach Wanted On Child Porn Charges; U.S. To Reexamine Green Cards Issued To People From 19 Countries; Small Businesses Struggle This Holiday Amid Affordability Crisis. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired November 29, 2025 - 12:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: -- respond to the challenge and his majesty is determined to keep working and working and doing it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:00:05]

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN ANCHOR: And imagine if the U.S. government kept working as well. That's all we have time for. Don't forget, you can find all of our shows online as podcasts at CNN.com/audio and on all other major platforms.

I'm Christiane Amanpour in London. Thank you for watching and I'll see you again next week.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, millions of Americans heading home this holiday weekend, might be you, facing dangerous travel conditions as heavy rain and snow pummels the plains and Midwest. More than 600 flights in and out of Chicago O'Hare have already been canceled as this massive storm moves east.

Plus, breaking news, a Ukrainian delegation en route to the United States to talk about President Trump's peace plan just a day after a top Zelenskyy aide that had been leading the negotiations resigns.

And a manhunt in Virginia more than a week after a wanted high school football coach disappeared from his home. His family is reportedly revealing what Travis Turner took with him when he left.

Thanks for joining me, everyone. I'm Omar Jimenez sitting in for Fredricka Whitfield.

We're going to start with that major winter storm that's bringing heavy snow and frigid temperatures across more than 1,000 miles of the United States. You see these cameras snow piling up in many spots as this powerful system is threatening to disrupt travel plans for tens of millions of people this Thanksgiving weekend from the northern plains all the way to the northeast.

As I was talking about, these pictures are out of Cedar Rapids, Iowa where residents are bracing for the possibility of more than a foot of snow.

CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is tracking the severe weather for us. So Allison, what's the latest here?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. So take a look behind me. This is a look at Chicago. 27 is the current temperature, but it feels like it is 16 because you've also got that wind component to it. And it's taking a lot of the snow that's falling and blowing it around.

You can see that's not stopping people from being outside though. Lots of folks walking out there on the streets. Although in some cases it may actually be faster to walk than to drive on some of the roads given how heavy some of that snow is coming down.

Chicago is not one of the only spots you can see on this map. Basically, anywhere you see the pink or the purple color is an area that is dealing with those winter weather alerts. More than 50 million people are under some type of winter weather alert because of this system. All of the purple that you see here on the screen, that is where the snow is the darker. The purple, the heavier the snowfall.

Farther down to the south, we've got just rain. But keep in mind, you also have some thunderstorms and in a few cases especially across Texas and Louisiana, we're looking at the potential for severe thunderstorms later on this evening and through the overnight hour.

So here's a look at the timeline. You can see this afternoon the main focus for that heavy snow is really over much of the Midwest by tonight. The target point is going to be places like Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Indianapolis as the system continues to slide off to the East, as we go through the day on Sunday.

But notice to look at all the heavy rain that's expected along the south side. This includes places like Atlanta back down through New Orleans and Houston, going to see some pretty heavy showers at times. For today, now keep in mind, the timeline for this is later on this afternoon, really mostly the evening and overnight timeline, but you could be looking at the potential for some severe storms.

We're talking damaging winds, large hail. We can't rule out the potential for an isolated tornado perhaps mixed in there especially the closer you get to the gulf coast. But back to the snow, we are talking a substantial amount of snow even as you mentioned, Omar, look some of these places could get 8 to 12 inches.

I want to point out too, some of these same spots had snow earlier in this week. So the new snow they get is just going to be on top of what they already had several days ago. Plus, we've also got some very strong winds gusting 30, 40 even as much as 50 miles per hour as we go through the evening. And then by tomorrow, you'll notice more of those winds begin to pick up across areas of the northeast. That's going to take all of that snow, blow it around reducing that visibility, even more making it a little bit more difficult to drive on the roads than it would have been even just dealing with the snow and ice itself.

Here's that line, all the purple indicates snow and all the areas where you see the green and yellow are going to be mainly setting up for the rain showers.

JIMENEZ: All right. Lots of weather to keep an eye on as people head back from Thanksgiving.

Thank you, Allison Chinchar.

I want to talk about the situation in Iowa now with Sergeant Alex Dinkla with the Iowa State Patrol. Sergeant, thank you for joining us. You're in winter set Iowa about 30 miles southwest of Des Moines. I can see it's snowing pretty heavily already where you are. Just what are you seeing there? What are you most concerned about right now?

SERGEANT ALEX DINKLA, PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, IOWA STATE PATROL: You know, roads were very deceiving this morning. We had a light snow this morning. At about 8:00, 9:00, the winds really started to pick up and then we started getting this heavy snow.

Road conditions are absolutely deteriorating very quickly. Men and women of the DOT, we've got a snowplow right here behind me. They are working as hard as ever to keep these roads clean, but they're having a tough time keeping those roads clean right now.

[12:05:13]

JIMENEZ: You know, you mentioned the roads were deceiving, what do you mean by that, especially as people start to think about heading back home from the Thanksgiving holiday?

DINKLA: This morning there wasn't a whole lot of wind. It was kind of a light snow, light covering across the roads, that is going to change quickly as the afternoon gets upon us. These winds are supposed to get blowing very heavily out here and then also the temperatures are going to start decreasing very quickly.

And once those temperatures start to decrease, we're going to have a freeze of a thin layer of ice on our roads. And so, the road conditions are going to get very bad here very quickly. We're already seeing a number of crashes starting to grow. We've covered across the state, nearly 100 crashes across the state and probably close to 200 people that we've rescued out of the ditches.

JIMENEZ: What is your -- what is you all's plan sort of heading into the weekend? You're already responding to accidents as it sounds like and road closures, I'm sure, coming as well, but how do you prepare for an event like this, again, knowing that there are going to be a lot of people at the very least considering getting out on the road? DINKLA: The greatest thing about this snow event, it was predicted well in advance. We are very connected here in the state of Iowa with our Department of Transportation, the weather folks and our other county emergency management coordinators.

So, ahead of this event, we bring everybody together. We're all lock and step. We've all got a game plan and we've got plenty of staffing to respond to different needs as they arise.

JIMENEZ: Well, Sergeant, for my days in the Midwest, I know you all know how to handle snow, especially out there in the plains, so I don't doubt you on that front. But, of course, I know it's a hard road and you guys do a lot of great work out there.

So wish you the best. I'm going to leave the conversation here. Go do what you need to do, but he said the most important thing, stay close to your forecasts and watch as you try and make that return journey home.

Sergeant, thanks for taking the time.

DINKLA: Appreciate it. Thank you.

JIMENEZ: Of course.

All right, meanwhile, West Virginia mourning the loss of one of its National Guard members as a second fights for his life. This week, 20 year old U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom was killed in an ambush style shooting in Washington, D.C. 24-year-old U.S. Air Force Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe was also shot and remains in critical condition.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RILEY MOORE (R), WEST VIRGINIA: Andy is hanging on and he's a fighter and his family Has told me that time and time again, He is a fighter. but above all, what they want here is for everybody to continue to pray.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: Now last night in Beckstrom's hometown of Webster Springs, West Virginia, the community held a vigil to honor their hometown hero and offer prayers and hymns for her family.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SINGING)

MELISSA HAMRICK, PRESIDENT, WEBSTER COUNTY VETERANS AUXILIARY: We hope that this helps ease the grieving, ease the the hearts of everybody in this town. Losing somebody is hard enough. Going through it alone, we don't do that here. We grieve as a community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: CNN's Gabe Cohen traveled to the West Virginia hometowns of both of those soldiers to learn more about them and how their friends, family, and the community are coping with this tragedy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What's it like being back here?

ADAM CARR, FORMER BOYFRIEND OF U.S. ARMY SPC. SARAH BECKSTROM: I didn't come here much without her, so it was always here with her. So it's just that missing piece.

COHEN: This is a place that Sarah Beckstrom loved. Salmon run near Summersville, West Virginia where she lived. She'd come here to swim and to fish. It was her happy place.

COHEN (voice-over): Adam Carr tells me he dated Sarah Beckstrom for nearly six years. They split just a month ago.

CARR: I kind of just can't wrap my head around it at all seeing her picture everywhere. Just hearing the whole that she's gone kind of unbelievable.

COHEN (voice-over): The 20-year-old U.S. Army Specialist, one of two National Guard members ambushed Wednesday. She joined the guard back in 2023 and had been deployed in D.C. since August.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Sarah Beckstrom of West Virginia, outstanding in every way.

COHEN (voice-over): Her father writing on Facebook, "My baby girl has passed to glory. This has been a horrible tragedy."

COHEN: Tell me about her.

CARR: She was super kind-hearted, super sweet. One of the best people around that you could meet. She'd do anything for you and didn't even have to know you.

COHEN (voice-over): Carr says Beckstrom eventually wanted to work for the FBI. How did she feel about being deployed to D.C.?

[12:10:02]

CARR: Hated it. Absolutely hated it. She was crying before she left. She dreaded it. She did not want to go. The more she was there, the more she warmed up to it. And she actually volunteered for longer time.

She definitely knows she was making a difference for the right cause and she's one of the biggest hearted people out there. And I'm glad most of our time was together.

COHEN (voice-over): Beckstrom grew up in Webster Springs, West Virginia and worked here at the Custard Stand in high school.

ALISSA CLAYTON, WEBSTER SPRINGS RESIDENT: I think she'll be remembered as the hero.

COHEN (voice-over): Alissa Clayton's parents own this restaurant.

CLAYTON: It's just hard because it's hard to lose somebody from here that wanted to leave this community and be successful and do something for our country and for our community.

COHEN (voice-over): This small town held a vigil Thursday night. Across the state, another community is reeling as 24-year-old staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe remains in the hospital. His father telling me Thursday, "Just pray for my son. He's a fighter."

A guardsman since 2019, Wolfe is part of the 167th Airlift Wing near his hometown of Martinsburg, West Virginia.

MICHAEL LANGONE, SGT. ANDREW WOLFE'S NEIGHBOR: He's just really good guy. We always looked out for each other. Best neighbor you could ask for really. I just hope that the right thing happens for him when he comes back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: God bless his family and all of them. So hope everything turns out good.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN (on-camera): And this weekend, there are more vigils planned here in Webster Springs for Sarah Beckstrom. And I can tell you having spent so much time in these communities across West Virginia over the past few days, there are still so many people dealing with shock and grief trying to process this tragedy.

Gabe Cohen, CNN, Webster Springs, West Virginia.

JIMENEZ: Thank you, Gabe, for that reporting.

Now, in the aftermath of that shooting attack on those members of the National Guard in D.C., President Trump is escalating his immigration crackdown. An Afghan national has been arrested for the shooting. And Friday night, administration officials announced they're putting the vetting process for Afghan nationals under intense scrutiny and halting all asylum applications.

And the Trump administration also says they'll re-examine green cards issued to people from certain countries. The President calls third world though he didn't elaborate and what specific countries he was talking about.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is near Mar-A-Lago where the President is spending the holiday weekend. Kristen, can you just bring us up to speed on the latest developments here?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, one of the things to keep in mind here, Omar, is that they've wanted to do an immigration crackdown even more extreme than they have four months since President Trump was in office. And a lot of the stuff that's here in this kind of reveal that we're seeing slowly of new initiatives they are taking stuff that President Trump has been talking about since the campaign. Now, they clearly feel as though they have an issue, an incident to point to as to why they can say that these actions should be taken. So let's talk a little bit about what the actual breakdown is here of what we've seen from the Trump administration reaction to this shooting.

U.S. citizenship and immigration services pushing all asylum decisions, as you noted. Particularly, they talked about halting completely those afghan asylum requests. The State Department has now paused visa issuances for travelers with Afghan passports. The Treasury Department moved to block undocumented immigrants from receiving federal tax-based benefits.

They are working to "permanently pause migrants from all Third World Countries." You see that they're in quotes because that came from President Trump's Truth Social. And then the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration services is re-examining all green cards issued to people from 19 countries of concern.

And I think we actually have a map here to show you what the 19 countries are. You can see there, I'm not going to list all of them, you can see they're in the Middle East in Africa. There are some in South America, Venezuela, notably being one of them, but of course Afghanistan, Iran, among several others.

So now they are taking these initiatives and actually putting them in place. And I think we have some statistics here when it comes to asylum seekers. More than 2.2 million immigrants, we're waiting for asylum decisions or hearings at the end of August and that's according to recent data.

So it's a lot of people who are waiting who are now going to be somewhat in limbo as they reassess these various processes, also visas. I will tell you, you know, I have heard privately from both Democrats and Republicans who do want a comprehensive look at the Afghan process for asylum just given the events that we saw this week.

There are a lot of questions as to how much vetting this individual went through. And if it was a high enough level of vetting, how it was that he was able to be granted asylum and then commit such a heinous crime.

JIMENEZ: Yes. Kristen Holmes, appreciate the reporting as always.

All right, meanwhile another round of massive strikes across Ukraine even as negotiators are set to arrive in the U.S. for talks on President Trump's peace proposal. And the President says the U.S. now considers Venezuela's airspace closed. The new warning comes as the biggest U.S. warship is sitting right off the coast. We'll go there live for an update.

[12:15:07]

And a Black Friday buying frenzy shoppers shelling out billions of dollars on deals. The new push to boost small businesses underway today. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIMENEZ: All right, we've got some breaking news for you. Ukraine says a delegation is now on its way to the United States for negotiations on President Trump's peace proposal. The trip comes a day after the surprise resignation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's second in command on Friday.

CNN's Larry Madowo has more on these fast-moving developments.

[12:20:15]

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Zelenskyy moving on swiftly after the resignation of his chief of staff, one of his closest allies, Andriy Yermak, was seen almost as a shadow prime minister because of this corruption scandal shaking his administration. Zelenskyy has now appointed Rustem Umerov to lead the negotiations to end the war. That he and his team already on their way to the United States to continue these talks.

He is the secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, former defense minister, and has been involved in these talks already. And that announcement coming just hours after Russia launched the largest barrage of attacks, drones and missile attacks against Ukraine. 36 missile attacks, nearly 600 drones that targeted critical energy infrastructure and civilian facilities, terrorizing the population, less than two victims.

ILYA MARTYNENKO, KYIV RESIDENT (through translation): This is intimidation by Russia. The attacks are targeting the civilian population in order for Kyiv and the government to make a decision faster, to sign the agreement faster.

IRYNA BORUCHEVSKA, KYIV RESIDENT (through translation): Peace, I don't believe there will be peace anytime soon with such neighbors. I doubt there will be peace anytime soon. It's getting worse and worse. It's getting worse every day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MADOWO: The overnight Russian attacks left over 600,000 people without power mostly in Kyiv and the surrounding region. President Zelenskyy once again appealing for international support to shore up Ukrainian air defense systems.

At the same time, a source in the Ukrainian security service is telling CNN that Ukraine was responsible for attacking two Russian so- called shadow fleet in the black sea. These are tankers that transport Russian fuel selling them against sanctions and they usually flagged under different countries for convenience.

These two were flagged under the Gambian flag and there were some damage to them using underwater drones. This is just the latest front as Ukraine tries to assert itself as this war grinds on.

Larry Madowo, CNN, Nairobi. JIMENEZ: Larry Madowo, thank you for that reporting.

Another breaking story we're following, President Trump declaring Venezuelan airspace closed in a social media post a short time ago saying, "To all airlines pilots, drug dealers, and human traffickers, please consider the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela to be closed in its entirety."

Now, President Trump has been threatening strikes against Venezuela and its President Nicolas Maduro. The U.S. also has its largest carrier strike group in the Caribbean near Venezuela's coast.

CNN Contributor Stefano Pozzebon is with us from Venezuela's capital Caracas. Are we seeing any reaction to this announcement at this point?

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: We haven't seen any reaction from the Maduro government, Omar. It's actually frankly significant that we haven't heard from Maduro directly since Thursday evening here in Venezuela. It's a president that normally does spends a couple of hours on television every day just again to give the impression and give the message to his own people that he is still firmly in charge.

I think it's a significant point to make that we haven't seen him since Thursday when you probably have seen him brandishing a sword and wearing a military uniform and saying that he would repel any sort of attack from the United States.

One point though it's worth also pointing out, Omar, is that this buildup, this military operation in the Southern Caribbean and the subsequent military buildup with the arrival of the general for carrier strike and with more than 10,000 between soldiers, marines, and uniformed Americans in the region.

Well, this has been dragging on for almost four months, but there has been some significant steps to make before we understand that the U.S. would take a direct action here in Venezuela. When the buildup began back in August and September, the rumor coming out of the White House and even here in Caracas was that the U.S. would target some small kinetic strikes, that was the word in use, small targets on the coast of Venezuela or perhaps in the plain region of Venezuela where we know that there is some drug trafficking going on to once again give the message that they are after drugs.

Right now, we're instead talking directly of taking out a head of state who is illegitimate, of course after being accused of stealing last year's presidential election, Omar. However, he is still the head of state in this country. So there is the feeling of a significant escalation coming over the last few days and weeks, Omar.

JIMENEZ: All right. Stefano Pozzebon, thank you for keeping an eye on it for us. Appreciate the reporting.

Meanwhile, we're following a few other headlines. Coming up, an urgent manhunt underway for a fugitive high school football coach wanted for child pornography charges. We'll tell you what his family says he took with him before disappearing into the woods.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:29:31]

JIMENEZ: Right now a manhunt is underway for a missing high school football coach wanted on child porn charges in Virginia. Our affiliate WCYB says Travis Turner's family now says he disappeared into the woods more than a week ago. He faces charges for possessing child sexual abuse material and using a computer to solicit a minor.

CNN's Rafael Romo joins us now. So Rafael, what's the latest here?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Omar. Well, since high school Coach Travis Turner went missing, Virginia state police said they have used search and rescue teams, drones and police dogs to help locate him. But so far, Omar, they have not been successful days into its search.

State police announced on Tuesday that the 46-year-old is wanted on five counts of possession of what it's laws called child pornography and an additional five counts of using a computer to solicit a minor.

Police also said they had obtained 10 warrants relating to the charges on Monday, but did not release additional details about the allegations. In a new development, the coach's family issued a statement Friday that in part says the following. The last known contact the family had with Travis occurred on or about Thursday, November 20th, after he left his residence to walk in the woods.

He is believed to have entered a heavily wooded and mountainous area at which point no warrants had been issued for his arrest. An earlier statement from the family said he had a firearm with him, but the latest statement dropped that reference. We have reached out to the attorney to ask why.

Searching the area where the coach went missing is not easy. It's nestled in a sub range of the Appalachian Mountains where the rugged topography features rivers and forests as well as elevations that vary from low valleys to high peaks. A local woman who told CNN affiliate WCYB she has been acquainted with Turner since high school said the union high school head football coach needs to come forward.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAULA BARKER, ACQUAINTANCE OF TRAVIS TURNER: I couldn't see him doing it, but if the charges they just put on him are true, then he needs to be brought to justice. If he did do it, he needs to turn himself in for the sake of the victims and for his family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: The Union High School team that Turner coaches won a regional semifinal game last weekend without their head coach and is scheduled to be on the field again today for a game that starts at 2:00 p.m. Eastern time in less than two hours. According to the Bristol Herald Courier, a local newspaper, Turner was a quarterback at Appalachia High School before it consolidated with another school to form Union High in 2011. That school's team is the one he now coaches. Omar?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: All right, Rafael Romo, appreciate the reporting.

Up next, President Trump is intensifying his immigration crackdown after the National Guard shooting in Washington D.C., but will it actually make America safer? We'll discuss next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:37:01]

JIMENEZ: After this week's fatal shooting of a National Guard member in Washington by an Afghan man, President Trump is intensifying his rhetoric against immigration.

Now in a post on social media, Trump is calling for what he calls reverse migration and vowing to permanently pause immigration from all third world countries, though didn't elaborate what those countries were. And just last night, the Trump administration also announced it is halting all asylum decisions until, quote, every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible, his words.

Let's discuss more now with CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen and Washington Post politics reporter Kadia Goba. Peter, I want to start with you. Just, you know, doing a review of any related processes is one thing, but what kind of impact do you believe these wider ranging actions will have here?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, the asylum process, Omar, is already very broken in this country, partly because there are very limited numbers of judges, about 650 last time I checked. There's also a vast backlog of cases. I have Afghan friends who've waited 10 years to get an asylum application hearing. So this system is very sclerotic already. Reinterviewing everybody who's been issued a visa or a green card is going to happen -- who's going to do that? That's a process you can take a lot of people.

So I think it's -- it sounds pretty impractical. It may be a goal of the Trump administration to do this. But after all, the people here are legally here. If they have a green card, they've already gone through a pretty, you know, strenuous process, particularly if they're from either Afghanistan or Syria.

JIMENEZ: And, you know, just to your point about how much time would this take? I mean, we're talking about a substantial amount of -- of either approvals or applications to re-review over the course of this. Kadia, you know, you talk to members of Congress all the time. Do you have a sense for what kind of reaction these decisions at least initially are getting on the Hill?

KADIA GOBA, POLITICS REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: You know, it's interesting because we know that Representative Jim Jordan, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, has been in talks since, I guess, spring about implementing a very old or 2023 proposal on immigration. Now, that proposal did not come to fruition because they have lawmakers who pushed back against it.

Now, it'll be interesting to see if whether or not that has legs at this point. But it's -- it's very unclear. But so far, we haven't heard a lot of rhetoric around more implementing more policy because, as we all know, a few months ago, Congress passed a big immigration package. So I'm not sure there's much room for that, even if there's some interest.

JIMENEZ: You know, Peter, the man suspected of carrying out the shooting worked with the CIA-backed group during the United States war in Afghanistan. He was one of many people who helped the U.S. fight the Taliban before he and thousands of other Afghans were welcomed in the United States. But I guess my question is, how might these actions that the U.S. is considering and putting forward now affect the United States' ability to -- to get locals to -- to help them in future conflicts? Because no doubt they -- they were an asset, as many veterans have said.

[12:40:27]

BERGEN: Well, according to one of these groups that is supporting bringing people who've worked with U.S. military in Afghanistan to the United States, when the withdrawal happened, only about 3 percent of the eligible special immigrant visa holders got out.

So I think there were 81,000 that were eligible, 78,000 remained. So there's been, you know, a tremendous backlog of people who worked with U.S. military or U.S. government who had legitimate claims, as this alleged shooter certainly had, to, you know, be somebody who'd worked with the U.S. military and therefore was eligible for repatriation. One of the reasons his asylum application was, I think, quickly granted was because he spent a decade working with the CIA-backed units, which are the units that were most feared and hated by the Taliban.

So, you know, we've done this before. I mean, the United States, it's not the first group of allies that we have kind of left behind. You know, President Biden, at the time of the withdrawal, said it wasn't going to be like Saigon in 1975. Well, it turned out to be something even worse, where we left a lot of people who helped us behind. And, you know, the Taliban are still looking for some of those people. Anybody who worked with U.S. Special Forces or the CIA who is an Afghan is particularly on the Taliban target list.

JIMENEZ: Yes. And, of course, Taliban still in power. Kadia, Trump is now reordering the re-examination of green cards given out to legal migrants from Somalia and 18 other countries of concern. Just take a quick listen to what he said this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you look at Somalia, they're taking over Minnesota.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do the Somalians have to do with this Afghan guy who shot the National Guard?

TRUMP: Nothing. But Somalians have caused a lot of trouble. They're ripping us off for a lot of money.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: So just listening to him there, I mean, obviously, these latest moves seem to be tied directly to -- to the shooting of these National Guard soldiers. But even prior to this, the President seemed very intent on reexamining immigrant groups that had been here in the country. And I just -- can you give us a sense for how this sort of fits in to what has been an overall larger push from the administration?

GOBA: So this is an extension from his previous administration. We know that President Trump is, you know, very has a big interest in, you know, over vetting and curbing immigration. So this isn't anything new. But I will add that the shooting the other day gave a little more energy towards this topic, especially when we look at -- and Democrats will say this is just a deflection over the economy. But it is a good opportunity when things have shifted with -- for the President.

It is a very good opportunity to propose these new immigration ideas, as opposed to focusing on what many people, Americans have been talking about, you know, high grocery prices and just inflation in general. So I think this is a good opportunity for the administration to kind of refocus on one of their prime targets and one of their biggest and most successful, I would argue, talking points going forward, especially into the midterms, going heading into 2026.

JIMENEZ: All right. Peter Bergen, Kadia Goba, we'll leave the conversation there. Thank you both for being here.

[12:44:00]

All right. Just ahead on this small business Saturday, we're going to hear from owners about their growing struggles to stay open under the rising tariffs that had. That, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIMENEZ: Rising prices and affordability concerns didn't keep U.S. shoppers from splurging on Black Friday. This is Los Angeles. But the same scene played out across much of the country as shoppers lined up outside stores waiting for doors to open. The National Retail Federation actually is expecting retail sales in November and December to grow as much as 4.2 percent compared with a year ago. But Black Friday sales were much stronger online.

According to Adobe Analytics, consumers spent 8.6 billion with online businesses through June 30th through 6:30, excuse me, last night, Eastern Time. According to Adobe, that's a more than 9 percent increase over last year's online Black Friday spending. Now, hit hard by surging import costs, small businesses across the U.S. are hoping much of that Black Friday spending came their way through a movement called Shop Small. CNN's Ivan Rodriguez reports on how many small business owners are hunkering down while trying to stay optimistic.

IVAN RODRIGUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Small businesses are the backbone of the U.S. economy. They account for the vast majority of total businesses in the nation, nearly half of all employees, and the bulk of the job growth. In 2025, the mood is mixed among some of these businesses and their employees.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[12:50:03]

RODRIGUEZ (voice-over): Doug Scheffel's experience as a small business owner is similar to many others across the country this year.

DOUG SCHEFFEL, CO-OWNER, ETM MANUFACTURING: In a small business world, everything is cash. It's everything, everything you worry about. And I just see all the costs rising.

RODRIGUEZ (voice-over): Scheffel is the co-owner of family-run ETM Manufacturing in Massachusetts. Back in April, he says he laid off about a quarter of his employees as the Trump administration's tariff rollout dented demand for the machine parts and sheet metal his company sells.

SCHEFFEL: It just has become almost impossible to plan and be thoughtful about our workforce, be thoughtful about how we pay those people, how we employ them.

RODRIGUEZ (voice-over): Beyond the economic uncertainty small businesses are facing, Aaron Terrazas, an economist for Point, says another challenge is accessing financing.

AARON TERRAZAS, ECONOMIST, POINT: Credit conditions, bank funding conditions for small businesses have tightened now for 13 consecutive quarters. I think that's probably going to continue.

RODRIGUEZ (voice-over): The average rate on a new urban small business term loan was over 7 percent at the end of last year, according to the Kansas City Fed. But many small businesses face rates well north of 10 percent. All of that adds stress on businesses and its people.

SCHEFFEL: If you're spending all your time worrying about how to get your payables in line, your cash in line, and you're taking out really expensive debt to cover those gaps, it's hard to think about growth because you just can't afford it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RODRIGUEZ: Scheffel tells me high prices at grocery stores, for example, have also left his employees preoccupied. They're not alone. About one in four U.S. households are living paycheck to paycheck, meaning they're spending over 95 percent of their income on necessities like housing and groceries, according to estimates from Bank of America. In Atlanta, I'm Ivan Rodriguez.

JIMENEZ: Ivan, thank you. Still to come, a pretty scary escape following an alleged domestic abuse incident.

So what you're seeing is a driver helping a woman escape her husband as he rams their vehicle during what became a very dangerous pursuit. We'll bring you the details coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:56:55]

JIMENEZ: This is your last weekend to vote for the 2025 CNN Hero of the Year. And we're reintroducing each of our top five heroes as you choose your favorite. For example, on Chicago's south side, Quilen Blackwell, bringing new life to empty lots and creating much-needed jobs and opportunity for young people with flowers. The neighborhood has long been a classic example of urban blight. But where many see decay, Blackwell sees potential.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

QUILEN BLACKWELL, SOUTHSIDE BLOOMS CO-FOUNDER: Most people wouldn't expect to see a full flower farm here on the south side of Chicago. It's really cool to be able to bring that beauty to places where people least expect it.

I've been living in Englewood since 2015. It's one of the more dangerous neighborhoods, high poverty, high urban blight. So, you can kind of see like storefronts that are boarded up, the building gets condemned. They'll knock the building down and now it's a vacant lot. Yes, these aren't parks. Most people will see the trash, the vacant lots. But for me, I see a potential. We're here to try to bring life.

Southside Blooms is a farm to vase florists. We'll take over vacant lots, grow our own flowers, design them in our flower shop. And then we do retail bouquets, weddings, corporate events and everything in between. This is about creating opportunity in a place that desperately needs it.

Try to get some good stem length, you know the drill.

A big part of what we do is creating jobs in the floral industry for at-risk youth.

What's your favorite flower?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The lily, cosmos. My favorite, it would be the red rose.

BLACKWELL: Growing up, I was very fortunate. I had a bevy of opportunity. I came to Chicago, started tutoring at a high school in Englewood. And I started to just realize, I could be any one of these kids. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to do them tiger lilies and yeasts.

BLACKWELL: There are people who want a chance at something better.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to grow up fast around her. I lost a lot of friends, ended up in jail. I was looking for a job. One of my friends, he was like, hey bro, I got a job. I'm like, bro, flowers, what?

Working here, I see myself changing. Calmer, into nature. This was just an empty parking lot. We did this. We started all this. We cleaned it up. It's our community. I'm proud.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ready for the event?

HANNAH BONHAM, SOUTHSIDE BLOOMS CO-FOUNDER: Getting there.

BLACKWELL: My wife, Hannah, trained at the florist. Figured out the youth training program.

BONHAM: It's a feel, so teaching kind of the basic concept and then kind of letting their creativity go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I learned, I paid close attention, I asked questions and I fell in love with it. I'm an example. I purchased my first apartment. I purchased a car. I try to tell everybody it's an opportunity. Every place you step in, you take advantage of it.

BLACKWELL: Our young people are blossoming and blooming every single day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: Incredible. You can go to CNN.com/Heroes right now to vote for Quilen for CNN Hero of the year or any of your favorite top five heroes. You get 10 votes per day, every day through this Sunday, November 30th to help the heroes who inspire you the most.

[12:59:57]

All right, everyone, if you've been with me, welcome in. If you just got here, hey, let's do this. I'm Omar Jimenez sitting in for Fredricka Whitfield. Right now, we are tracking a major winter storm system that's creating chaos for travelers this Thanksgiving weekend.