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Trump: Consider Airspace Over Venezuela "Closed In Its Entirety"; U.S. Military Carries Out Follow-up on Alleged Drug Boat; Trump Ramps Up Immigration Crackdown after National Guard Shooting; More Than 50M People in U.S. Under Winter Weather Alerts. More Than 50M People In United States Under Winter Weather Alerts; Airlines Scramble To Fix Urgent Software Issue On Airbus Aircraft; Manhunt Underway For Football Coach Wanted On Child Porn Charges. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired November 29, 2025 - 17:00   ET

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

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[17:00:23]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hi everyone, I'm Jessica Dean here in New York.

And new tonight, the Trump administration is increasing pressure on Venezuela and its leader, Nicolas Maduro. President Trump saying on social media airlines should consider the airspace over the country closed in its entirety.

Trump this week designated Maduro and his allies as members of a foreign terrorist organization, and also suggested that land strikes could be imminent.

CNN contributor Stefano Pozzeobn is joining us now from Caracas. Stefano, how is the Venezuelan government reacting to this post today from the U.S. President?

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, Jessica, we haven't heard directly from Nicolas Maduro, and that is quite telling, let me tell you that.

Before doing a little bit of analysis, we do have, however, a statement from the Venezuelan government saying, in the words of their Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez, that no external power has any faculty to interfere, block or move any decision on the sovereignty of Venezuela.

So total rejection from those words from Donald Trump, who early on Saturday had said that he -- that he had a message to airlines and pilots to consider the airspace over Venezuela closed. And that seemed to pave the way to some form of direct intervention here in Venezuela.

As I was telling you, Jessica, it's telling that we haven't heard directly from Nicolas Maduro today, on Saturday. Note, we have seen him yesterday, on Friday. On Thursday, Maduro gave a speech to the troops, but that was a video message from an undisclosed location.

At this point, the last time anyone saw Nicolas Maduro out in the streets of Caracas was only on Wednesday this past week. And that is four days that we haven't seen him as of late of tonight.

And that, of course, is leading the way of a lot of speculation on where exactly is Nicolas Maduro. Is he perhaps hunkering down, perhaps in one of the bunkers that we know the Venezuelan government has at their disposal in preparation for some form of eventual direct attack on Venezuelan soil?

Or perhaps he is still trying to channel messages to Donald Trump and telling him to sit down and have a negotiations.

I don't know if you saw it, but over the last week, several outlets have reported that indeed that Trump and Maduro himself did speak earlier last week, Jessica.

We haven't been able to bring that -- to confirm that, but we will definitely bring that to you as soon as we hear it from either Caracas or up there in Washington.

But right now, Venezuela is approaching this weekend with a bit of a mix between apprehension and expectation. Of course, there is a lot of apprehension because the risks of something going wrong and opening up to an open conflict are very, very tangible, Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Stefano Pozzebon there in Caracas for us. Thank you so much for your reporting.

We are also learning new details about a deadly U.S. strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean. Sources telling CNN that the boat was initially disabled when it was first hit on September 2nd. But sources say when officials noticed they were survivors, they carried out a second strike, killing everyone on board.

CNN's Betsy Klein has more on this, Betsy.

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, we are learning that the U.S. military carried out a second follow-up strike on a suspected drug vessel operating in the Caribbean on September 2nd after the first strike did not kill everyone on board.

Sources familiar with the matter telling our colleague Natasha Bertrand that when the initial strike appeared to disable that boat and caused deaths, the military assessed that there were survivors.

The second attack killed the remaining crew. 11 people died and the ship sunk.

Now, one of the sources says that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had ordered the military before this operation to ensure the strike killed everyone aboard the boat. It is not clear at this time if he knew there were survivors before that second strike.

But President Trump announced the strike and the death toll on the day of the attacks, again September 2nd. But the Trump administration has never publicly acknowledged killing survivors.

This was the first strike on an alleged drug vessel in the Caribbean. There have since been about 20 known strikes in the Caribbean and one in the eastern Pacific.

We should note these details were first reported by "The Intercept" and "The Washington Post".

All of this comes as the president continues to weigh his options in Venezuela, suggesting yesterday that action on land could start very soon after weeks of threats.

[17:04:53]

KLEIN: And there has been a major show of force in the region as the U.S. has amassed significant resources that includes the world's largest aircraft carrier the USS Gerald R. Ford, roughly 15,000 military personnel, more than a dozen warships, and ten F-35 fighter jets.

Trump has been briefed by his team on a really wide range of options, including airstrikes on military or government facilities and drug trafficking routes, or a more direct attempt to oust the country's president, Nicolas Maduro.

Betsy Klein, CNN, Washington.

DEAN: Betsy, thank you so much.

And we are joined now by former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Admiral James Stavridis. He also served more than three years as the head of U.S. Southern Command and is now vice chairman of the investment firm The Carlyle Group.

Good to see you on this Saturday. Thanks for being here.

We have talked, you and I, before about these strikes, and you have made the point that intelligence could be gathered if these boats were intercepted instead of immediately blown up.

What do you take away from the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's defense that these are intended to be lethal strikes. That that's what they think is, you know, in their mind, the biggest point of all of this.

ADMIRAL JAMES STAVRIDIS (RET.), FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER: Even if these are intended to be lethal strikes, once you conduct that first strike and now your enemies are knocked out of action, think of a pilot parachuting down after an aircraft is shot down, think of a soldier on the ground who is knocked unconscious by a concussion. Think in this case of a couple of alleged drug runners now floating around in the water.

To go in and kill them, at that point, deliberately, if all that is factually correct, is very troubling in two ways.

One, the laws of war are such that when an opponent is knocked out like that, it's incumbent upon you to capture them.

And then secondly, the point you made a moment ago, Jessica, and the one you and I have talked about repeatedly, why not capture them and get the intelligence, interrogate them? And, oh by the way, prosecute them for the crime of drug running but you lose that intelligence.

Final thought here, I saw a statement from the Senate Armed Services Committee, which is the senior committee in Congress that oversees the Armed Forces, joint bipartisan statement from the co-chairs, Senator Roger Wicker and Senator Jack Reed, both of them veterans. Jack Reed, an Army officer, former West Point graduate. Senator Wicker is a former JAG officer in the United States Air Force.

They intend to conduct vigorous oversight. I suspect they'll be looking at this one closely.

DEAN: And so as all of these strikes are happening, we do look to Venezuela as well. Trump, the president saying that airlines should consider the airspace over Venezuela closed. Last Saturday, major airlines canceled flights from Venezuela after an FAA warning.

What do you think we should read into this?

STAVRIDIS: We should read into it that strikes are very probably going to occur over the course of this week. If you think back to the Middle East, you and I were discussing that a few months ago, the airspace over Israel and parts of the Middle East was repeatedly closed, not only by the sovereign states there, but also from warnings from the U.S. and other entities.

Same situation here. The fact that the president is, in my view, in this case, if he's going to launch air strikes, I think it's the responsibility on the part of the U.S. to let commercial aircraft, Venezuelan aircraft know that strikes are coming.

So these could be Tomahawk missiles. These could be drones. These could be marine helicopters bringing marines ashore. All of that creates a lot of complications in the skies over Venezuela.

So when you hear the president of the United States throw that warning out there, to me it sounds like strikes are coming probably sooner rather than later.

DEAN: And you went through some of those -- the things you think it might -- it could be.

But let's talk a little bit about that in more detail. I mean, what should we, if that does happen, what do you think is smart to anticipate?

STAVRIDIS: Let's start with a set of options that were probably presented to the president. And they run from going after drug labs ashore but using unmanned aircraft; again Tomahawk missiles, drones to go after them.

Next level up would be to go after transportation hubs, again using drones and Tomahawks.

[17:09:52]

STAVRIDIS: But then perhaps adding, Jessica, strike fighter aircraft like those joint-strike fighters you showed a moment ago or the 80 combat-aircraft that are on the USS Gerald R. Ford.

Next up would be going after leadership targets, Venezuelan military targets -- their air defenses, their small navy. They have about 30 ships or so. Their small air force, about 40 aircraft. You could take those out.

And then at the very high end of the risk spectrum would be actually putting U.S. marines ashore presumably to go after these drug sites, go after the targets.

I mentioned military ones, perhaps go after, track down, find, capture Maduro.

Those are all options. They all have different levels of risk. I suspect the president is wrestling with all of those.

A final thought here. Land operations, boots on the ground -- very dangerous. Not a good idea in my view because of the complications, the size of Venezuela, twice the size of California.

If the president is intent upon escalation here, I think he'll probably end up with the kind of airstrikes I talked about a moment ago.

DEAN: And when it comes to land strikes, do you believe the administration currently has legal approval and is legally within its bounds for these land strikes?

STAVRIDIS: They think they do. They've articulated this pretty clearly. They believe that the act of trans shipping drugs to the United States from Venezuela, in their view, by these drug cartels, is an act of war. And it justifies combat operations both on the high seas, which we've been watching now across the last month or so.

But the next level of operation will be to take it ashore. Again, at some point, the Congress is probably going to have a vote on this, if you will, supporting these operations or not.

But certainly the administration has been consistent in its view that, these kind of operations, the drug running, constitute acts of war. They're going to respond with combat and lethal force.

DEAN: Yes.

And just lastly, again, we've been talking about potential action in Venezuela for several weeks now. We've seen this buildup of our military assets in that region. I'm curious if your assessment has changed at all in terms of the administration's end game here.

STAVRIDIS: It has not. I have felt consistently from the very start of the attacks on the small drug boats that the size of the forces that are now deployed, these are at least a dozen big U.S. Navy warships, dozens of combat aircraft, dozens of attack helicopters, thousands of marines, thousands of sailors. That's a big force.

It's too big to be doing simply the counter-narcotics. It is about regime change. I think the president would like to do it the easy way, meaning get Maduro to step down. Reportedly, they've had some conversations. Let's hope that's the case. And escalation can be avoided.

I think President Trump is ready to launch strikes as the next step in trying to convince Maduro take the deal, get out. You can get a dacha outside of Moscow, get a hacienda outside Havana, get out of there while you can.

Let's hope Maduro is listening.

DEAN: We shall see. Admiral James Stavridis, thanks so much. We appreciate it.

STAVRIDIS: You bet.

DEAN: Good to see you.

Still to come, the Trump administration ramping up its immigration crackdown. The legal and logistical obstacles the White House could face by reexamining green cards already issued to millions of migrants now living legally here in the U.S.

Plus, new polling showing the president losing steam on his approval rating, even among Republicans and Independents. We're going to break down the new numbers and what it could mean for the next year's midterms.

Stay with us. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

[17:14:04]

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DEAN: President Trump is intensifying his crackdown on immigration in light of the deadly shooting in Washington, D.C. Two National Guard members were shot. U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom died on Thursday. U.S. Air Force Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe is now fighting for his life.

The suspect in that shooting is an Afghan national, and the Trump administration now saying it will reexamine all green cards from -- issued from 19 -- people from 19 countries.

Were joined now by White House correspondent for Reuters, Jeff Mason.

Jeff, great to see you. Thanks for being with us. I know you've been traveling with the president over the last several days. You're there in Florida with him. What is your sense of where this is going? And if more steps like this

will be taken, this being these new steps around green cards and asylum, the more intense -- even more intense immigration crackdown.

JEFF MASON, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, REUTERS: I think that question is moving in the direction -- I mean, or is pointing into the direction that he's going, Jessica.

[17:19:44]

MASON: He's certainly used this horrific shooting in Washington and the death of one of the National Guardsmen to amplify his views and his policies, and accelerate them on immigration and migration.

And there are a couple of reasons for that. Certainly one, it's something that he cares about. Number two, politically, it's something that has been a winner for him. It was a key policy goal of his campaign a year ago, and it remains a top policy goal now.

And so I think the politics of this for him is such that he sees this as a motivation and a catalyst and a justification for going further.

DEAN: Yes. And in the meantime, we did have some new polling. This is a Gallup poll that shows the president's approval ratings at a new low for his second term. He's sitting at 36 percent.

And that's interestingly also reflected when you break it down among Republicans and Independents. He's losing support with them as well. Republicans still at 84 percent -- it's still, to be fair, quite high, but it is down from 91 percent in October.

What is your sense of the White House's thinking about any of these sorts of things? Or do they still say, listen, this president was elected, he has a mandate. We forge ahead.

MASON: Well, for sure the latter, I think this White House and the president specifically sees themselves as he sees himself as having a mandate. He says that all the time.

I don't think this polling is affecting their attitude towards that. And yet I also don't think they are blind to the polling either. I think there's a reason, for example, that people at the White House have been studying health care and studying a potential alternative to Democrats' proposals on health care.

It's because they're seeing that that issue has been very popular with Democratic voters and has hurt him, certainly during the government shutdown overall, and his overall popularity.

So they're not ignoring these polls, even if most White Houses will say we're not paying attention to polls, we're just pressing ahead on policy.

But I also think it's not unrelated that the president is using this moment that we were just talking about with regard to the shooting in Washington, to double down on an issue that he has been able to use before to bolster his popularity, certainly with his base, even though the poll that you just cited also shows him losing some support on particularly in the issue of immigration and his implementation of those policies as well.

DEAN: Yes. And you mentioned the health care issue. Trump this week said extending the subsidies may be necessary. We had reporting indicating earlier this week that he was going to be putting -- floating a plan out there that would have likely included that.

That was not what Republicans in Congress wanted to hear. And that's now been postponed. But we do have five weeks now until the subsidies expire.

So it seems that to your -- to your point, the White House is tracking all of this and trying to kind of guard against this becoming a potent issue in these midterms coming up.

But how potent of an issue do you think this is going to be if they don't resolve this going into the midterms?

MASON: Well, certainly the Democrats are going to continue to use it as a -- as a weapon against the White House politically. And it is one of the few issues, honestly, that Democrats continually poll well on.

So that is a quiver in -- I don't want to mix my metaphors here -- but that's another tool for them anyway that you can certainly expect they will continue to do or continue to use.

And the White House and President Trump are going to want to blunt that in some way. And that's one reason they've been looking at these policies.

But it is a weakness for Republicans and has been for some time. I mean, President Trump promised before his first election to get rid of Obamacare and was unable to do that.

You don't hear him actually saying, now I want to get rid of Obamacare. But he wants to put his stamp somehow on the program and on health care generally, so that he doesn't lose voters in the midterms and lose support in the midterms over that particular issue.

And right now that's a risk. And I would draw, you know, one other broader conclusion that the popularity figures, the approval ratings that we were just talking about in that Gallup poll, those translate into votes or a lack of votes. We've seen that over decades of election cycles. And so that's another reason why the White House is paying attention.

DEAN: Yes.

All right. Jeff Mason, always great to have you. Thanks for your time.

MASON: Thank you.

DEAN: Still ahead, some parts of America are seeing nearly a foot of snow and extremely low visibility. The cross-country winter storm that is threatening travel for millions of Americans out there.

And airlines are scrambling to fix a major software issue with their planes just in time for holiday travel. The key update needed on thousands of Airbus planes, that's next.

[17:24:41]

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DEAN: A dangerous winter storm system is leading to chaos for many people trying to get home after Thanksgiving weekend. In Indiana, a highway partially closed after cars and trucks started sliding in the snow. And across the northern United States, more than 50 million people are now under winter weather alerts.

Meteorologist Chris Warren is keeping an eye on all of it. Chris, what can you tell us?

CHRIS WARREN, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I can tell you, Jessica, it is a wintry mess out there and massive headaches, I can imagine, if people are trying to get to Midway or O'Hare.

O'Hare has ground delays, so if you have a ticket and you are flying to O'Hare, you can be delayed up to about five hours or so.

[17:29:45]

WARREN: Now at Midway, if you're flying into Midway, there's a ground stop so your plane is not taking off yet. So we are seeing some major delays right now here with some serious snow that's falling. And it has been piling up throughout the day.

[17:30:00]

In Iowa, seeing reports of more than a foot of snow already, and Cedar Falls almost at a foot. Several locations in double digits for snow.

Here is a live look right now at Chicago, just outside of Wrigley Field. You can see some snowy scenes here, and you've got still snow. If they come and plow it, the snow has been coming down so frequently, and so, heavy at times that it just comes right back. So, kind of a slushy, snowy mess right now here in Chicago. Feels like 17, thermometers reading 28 right now.

Winter storm warnings for several states here in the Midwest and around the Great Lakes. So, the winter storm warnings, that's your higher impact snow. So, are the messy conditions out there on the roads and, of course, tough travel with low visibility. That's really a big, big part of this.

Remember, snow, it's ice. These are solids. You get a lot of, you know, ice, essentially, snowflakes falling out of the sky. Visibility goes way down, especially as the sun starts to go down as well. So, it can be tough out there. The lightning, the thunder snow is another indication of heavy snow. So, you can get that kind of blinding snow at times in these snow bursts. Thunderstorms right now firing up in East Texas, Dallas, to Houston. Some storms could ultimately end up being severe as well.

Here is the forecast radar, the high-resolution forecast radar. Give you an idea what the radar can look like through time, where the snow is going to be and when it's going to move out. 8:30, now here is 9:10, now it's overnight. Now, we're in the tomorrow morning, still snow. Just kind of hanging in there.

Northern Indiana, still Milwaukee, still likely to be in the snow. Well, we're going to see some storms here, throughout parts of Texas and eventually into Louisiana. And this is where the potential is there still for seeing some damaging winds, large hail and an isolated tornado. Get a select tail end of this big winter storm that we're tracking with the snow.

We have already seen more snow to come. Some of these areas here, especially, get some lake enhancement. A foot of snow or more is still possible, Jessica, with the snow that is still to come in these areas, still several inches, where we've already seen several inches of snow before this finally kicks out here in the morning.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: All right. Chris Warren with the very latest. Thanks so much for that.

And to make a busy travel weekend even more stressful for airline workers, airlines around the world are scrambling to complete urgent updates on thousands of Airbus aircraft to protect them from a potentially dangerous software problem.

Airbus is directing airlines to update its A320 series of planes before they are flown again. The company saying the fix is a preventative effort to address a problem that forced an emergency landing and left several passengers injured back in October.

Let's bring in CNN transportation analyst Mary Schiavo. She is joining us now. Mary, good to see you.

Airbus has released a statement saying an "Analysis of a recent event involving an A320 family aircraft has revealed that intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls."

So, I am curious how intense solar radiation could impact these controls.

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN TRANSPORTATION ANALYST: It sounds like a story right out of Star Wars, or a show popular when I was a kid, "My Favorite Martian". But what happened is when high -- flying at high altitudes above 30,000 feet, way air 30,000 to 40,000 feet, way up there in the stratosphere, you are exposed to more radiation.

And, of course, aircraft equipment is shielded from the radiation. But in this case, what they found is a computer called the Elevator and Aileron Computer. The ELAC was the data in that particular computer was corrupted, meaning, that the solar flares, the radiation, actually changed the data.

And what that caused to happen was the ailerons are here and the elevators back here. We won't pay attention to the ailerons for a minute, which controls this motion, but it caused the plane to dive. It affected the elevator and put the plane in a dive. And that was a really big deal because it was not commanded by the pilot, and that happened off the coast of Florida.

And what was interesting is they managed to do the investigation, the NTSB and other authorities, of course, from France and from Airbus, figure out what was wrong, and within 30 days, ordered the fix, which was to go back to a prior software program or provide a computer software patch, if you will. Only a few planes, according to Airbus, will actually need hardware.

But yes, indeed, solar flares or solar radiation caused the plane's data to be corrupted and put it in to dive.

DEAN: So interesting. So, Airbus is saying this is just a precautionary step following that incident. And in that case, this JetBlue flight did have to make an emergency landing, about 15 people were taken to the hospital.

How concerning do you think this glitch is in the first place? How concerned should passengers be? Or does this update just fix it?

[17:35:01]

SCHIAVO: Well, whether they should be concerned or not, it's concerning, and it certainly was concerning to the investigators, authorities, and to Airbus, probably because still fresh in everyone's memory is the last series of un-commanded dives that we had, which was a software problem with the Boeing 737 Max 8.

And of course, that caused two fatal crashes. One in Indonesia, one in Ethiopia, and, you know, hundreds of people died.

So, when you have any aircraft that goes into a dive and the pilot didn't command it, it certainly is a very serious concern. But at this point, for to have to allay passengers concerned, it does appear that Airbus has provided the proper fix, and most U.S. carriers, American says they are done with a fix.

Delta says they will not affect their schedule, and United says they were not affected.

Plus, there are many others in this country that fly that plane. They met the challenge, and others around the world are still meeting the challenge. But for passengers, the challenge was there, and this fix was necessary, and it appears that U.S. carriers have done it.

DEAN: That is -- that is good news. I also want to ask you about these MD-11 planes. That UPS grounded after that deadly crash in Kentucky at the beginning of this month.

This isn't expected to be -- they are not expected to be back in service now during the peak holiday season due to inspections possible repairs. That process was originally supposed to take weeks. Now, they think it's going to take several months. What is -- what does that tell you? And what do you think that means as well for potential deliveries during this very busy time?

SCHIAVO: Well, you know, the conclusion was, in the NTSB did release the data and a very chilling video, and some preliminary information at the 30-day mark that was called the preliminary report, and they found what's called fatigue cracking. And this -- and it was in the pylon that holds the engine on to the wing.

And fatigue cracking is something that develops over time. It's kind of like waves in the ocean. One can build upon the other. The cracks build. And this is not an easy fix, and it's a danger across the whole fleet. And it wasn't just UPS, it was also FedEx and another cargo carrier called Western Global, among others.

And all of -- they -- the fix will not be easy, because fatigue cracking means that it's something that can be present and can grow.

Whether or not they will return them to service remains to be seen. And of course, all those cargo carriers have lots of other planes on order.

So, what UPS said they were going to do is try to shift the cargo. They have a four-pronged approach. They are going to shift some cargo to ground. They are going to ship some cargo on passenger planes, which is more, you know, problematic because that has additional standards and security checks.

They are going to, if they can lease other planes with or without pilot, with a pilot, that's called a wet lease, but it's hard to fit them in the system. They have to have some training, of course. And they might -- there might be some delay of maintenance on other planes legally, of course, so they can keep as much of their feet in the air as possible. And so, that's how they are going to avoid it.

But, you know, I had to give a speech out. Memphis, in the end of July, at -- and went to FedEx for some of the program, it was Christmas there.

So, in terms of stuff on the shelves, Christmas already happened. That happened back in July. But UPS has said there may be some delays.

DEAN: All right. Mary Schiavo, thank you very much. We really appreciate it. Good to see you.

SCHIAVO: Thank you.

DEAN: Still to come, a manhunt underway in Virginia. The search for a high school football coach wanted on child pornography charges. What his family says he took with him before he disappeared?

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[17:43:25] DEAN: Happening now, police in Virginia are searching for a missing football coach wanted on child pornography charges. An attorney for Travis Turner's family tell CNN and he disappeared into the woods more than a week ago. He now faces charges for child pornography possession and using a computer to solicit a minor.

And joining us now is CNN correspondent, Rafael Romo. Rafael, what is the latest on the search?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Jessica.

Well, there is the word on the coach's whereabouts, as he went missing more than a week ago. As a search for coach Travis Turner continues, the high school football team he coaches, played a second game without him this afternoon. It was a regional championship game that started at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time after the Union High School Bears won a playoff game last Saturday.

Also, without their coach, days into their search, Virginia State Police announced on Tuesday that 46-year-old Travis Turner is wanted on five counts of possession of what its laws call 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 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 with -- "He is believed to have entered a heavily wooded and mountainous area. At which points, no warrants had been issued for his arrest."

They said, an earlier statement from the family said he had a firearm with him. But the latest statement dropped that reference.

[17:45:04]

We've 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 and 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: And Jessica, 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 School in 2011. That school's team is the one he now coaches, and played a regional championship game.

This afternoon, by the way, beating their opponent by a final score of 21 to 14. Jessica?

DEAN: All right. Rafael Romo with the latest there. Thank you.

Still ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM, President Trump targeting the green cards of millions of migrants already here in the U.S. Why the president says this about national security? Stay with us here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:51:07]

Here are some other top stories we're following this weekend. The Palestinian Ministry of Health says the death toll in Gaza has surpassed 70,000 since the Israel-Hamas war began, following Hamas' October 7th attacks on Israel.

The ministry says more than 600 bodies have been recovered since the cease fire went into effect six weeks ago. Gaza Civil Defense estimates some 10,000 Palestinians killed in strikes have not yet been recovered or identified.

We do want to note, CNN cannot independently verify those numbers.

And award-winning British playwright and screenwriter Tom Stoppard has passed away at 88 years old. Stoppard is best known in the U.S. for his Oscar-winning screenplay for the 1998 film, "Shakespeare in Love". He won his fifth Tony Award in 2023 for his play "Leopoldstadt", simi- based on his own family's story.

He died at home surrounded by his family.

New dramatic video out of Vancouver, Washington shows the moment when a ride share driver helped a woman escape what police describe as a domestic abuse situation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holy -- what the --

DEAN (voice over): Officials say the driver picked the woman up from work earlier this month, when another vehicle, allegedly driving -- driven by the passenger's husband, began chasing and then deliberately crashing into the vehicle. The rideshare driver managed to drive away with the woman still in the car, reaching a police station safely before he had to be transported to the hospital with injuries. Police are investigating the incident and trying to locate the suspect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Well, this is your last weekend to vote for the 2025 CNN Hero of the Year. And we are reintroducing each of our top five heroes to you as you choose your favorite.

On Chicago's South Side, Quilen Blackwell is bringing new life to empty lots and created 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.

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QUILEN BLACKWELL, FOUNDER, SOUTHSIDE BLOOMS: Most people want to 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 know, you kind of see like, storefronts that are boarded up, the building gets condemned. They will knock the building down, and not the vacant lot.

Yes, these are not parks. Most people will see the trash, the vacant lots. But for me, I see a potential. We are here to try to bring life.

Southside Blooms is a farm to vase florist. 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 lilies, cosmos.

BLACKWELL: My favorite, it would be the red roses.

Growing up, I was very fortunate. I had a bevy of opportunities. 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 again.

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

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to grow up fast around here. I lost a lot of friends, end 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 seen 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 BLACKWELL, QUILEN BLACKWELL'S WIFE: Getting there.

BLACKWELL: My wife, Hannah, trained as a florist, figured out the youth training program.

H. BLACKWELL: 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.

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I'm an exemplar. 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.

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DEAN: And you can go to CNN.COM/HEROES right now to vote for Quilen, for CNN Hero of the Year. And you have your favorite top five heroes, you get 10 votes a day, every day through tomorrow, it's November 30th, to help the heroes who inspire you the most.

Still ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, America's top diplomat, gets set to take part in a new round of peace talks that hope to bring an end to the Russia-Ukraine war.

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