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Trump Speaks On Air Force One About Talks To End War In Ukraine; Trump Ramps Up Immigration Crackdown After National Guard Shooting; Powerful Winter Storm Threatens Holiday Travel For Millions, Interview With Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA); Pope Leo Brings Message Of Hope And Peace To Lebanon. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired November 30, 2025 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:44]

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

And this week, President Trump sending one of his top negotiators on ending the war in Ukraine to Russia to meet with Putin himself. This comes after today's meeting between Trump administration officials and a delegation from Ukraine in Florida.

Here's Secretary of State Marco Rubio describing that meeting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: We had another very productive session building off Geneva, building off the events of this week. As I told you earlier this morning, our goal here is to end the war. But it's more than just to end the war. We don't just want to end the war. We also want to help Ukraine be safe forever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: CNN's Betsy Klein is joining us now live from the White House.

And Betsy, the president also made comments about the talks to end the war in Ukraine. What is he saying tonight and how are they looking at the week ahead?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, it's going to be a big week ahead as the president returns here to the White House after a holiday weekend in Mar-a-Lago. But he says that he believes there is still a good chance that a deal can be made to end Russia's war in Ukraine. He says that he was briefed by Secretary Rubio, along with Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, after they emerged from those talks near Miami. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Ukraine has got some difficult little problems, some difficult problems, but I think Russia would like to see it end. And I think Ukraine -- I know Ukraine would like to see it end. UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You just said that Ukraine has a little bit of

problems. What are those problems?

TRUMP: Well, we have a corruption situation going on which is not helpful. There's a good chance we can make a deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KLEIN: Now this round of talks was different from the previous rounds because a top aide to President Zelenskyy, Andriy Yermak, resigned earlier this week after an anti-corruption probe of his home, leaving Ukraine without one of its top negotiators who has been involved in these very intensive discussions.

But Rubio really tempered expectations as he emerged from these talks in Florida. He said that the goal is to end the war, it is to protect Ukraine from a future invasion, and it is also to bolster Ukraine economically. He said that there is more work to be done, as he described these talks as delicate and complicated, and he declined to elaborate on what progress was actually made today.

But he also acknowledged this very challenging reality that Russia is ultimately going to have to sign off on whatever deal is agreed to here, and that is going to be a major obstacle going forward. There are three key sticking points remaining. The first is the question of land, whether Ukraine would surrender key territory in the Donbas region that has been annexed by Russia but not yet conquered.

Separately whether Ukraine would limit the size of its military, and third, Ukraine potentially giving up its ambition to join NATO. All of this is going to be subject for discussion when Special Envoy Steve Witkoff arrives in Moscow departing tomorrow -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Betsy Klein with her latest reporting from the White House. Thank you for that.

We're joined now by CNN global affairs commentator, former deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh.

Sabrina, good to see you on this Sunday night. Read between the lines for us in this diplomatic speak. Today we heard the Secretary of State Marco Rubio describing talks as very productive. He called them delicate, complicated. What's your take away right now?

SABRINA SINGH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Well, good to be with you, Jessica. You know, I think it's good that the sides are still meeting, they had their, you know, a pretty significant long meeting today. But I think the key words there is that there's progress, but there's no deal that's manifested yet that Ukraine or that Russia would be comfortable with. And I think it's good to see that the negotiations are going to continue.

As you mentioned, you know, and Steve Witkoff is likely going to Moscow, I think, as early as tomorrow. So negotiations are going to continue. But I think Ukraine has really drawn some red lines around where they're not going to be comfortable in this negotiating process. And then of course, that's giving up, you know, nearly 20 percent of the territory that they control in the Donbas, the idea that they wouldn't ever be able to seek NATO membership, and then, of course, there's limiting the size of their military.

Those should be nonstarters for Ukraine. And frankly, those should be nonstarters for the United States as well. We shouldn't limit or tell a sovereign country how many troops their military should be, or how big their military should be at any point during, you know, these conversations.

[19:05:00]

DEAN: Yes. And you mentioned one of the big sticking points is land concessions. And you said, as you said, you know, Ukraine has refused to cede any territory already occupied by Russia. We heard it from Putin this week again to threaten it, threatening to take it by force. So how do the negotiations move forward from that position where those two sides seem so locked in on this?

SINGH: Well, it's very difficult. And I think the United States, unfortunately, under this administration, has sort of undermined Ukraine's upper hand in the negotiating or any type of peace process. I mean, essentially what was presented to the Ukrainians was a Russian wish list. So now that Witkoff is going back to Russia, if you're President Putin, why would you take anything less than what was presented on behalf of basically Russia?

And so, you know, I think that's going to be very hard for Ukraine to give up their territory. I mean, that is also their sovereign territory, parts of which they still control. And then, you know, to Putin's comments of, you know, we could take this by force, I mean, that's going to also take a lot of time. More, you know, service members are going to go through that meat grinder that Russia has created.

How much is Putin willing to expend to conquer all of the Donbas, you know, that he hasn't already been able to do that? That we don't know.

DEAN: How much risk is there for Witkoff going -- when he goes to see President Putin, that Putin is going to try to undo any progress that's been made today or in Geneva?

SINGH: Well, I think what you've seen with Witkoff is someone that's very sympathetic to the Russian side. I mean, just, you know, seeing some of those transcripts that came out earlier this week of Steve Witkoff engaging his Russian counterpart and basically not only coaching him on how to, you know, how Putin should deal with President Trump, but also basically saying, call him before the Ukrainians come and meet with the president.

And as we know, you know, the idea of the United States giving Tomahawk missiles was on the table. And that quickly got pulled off the table as soon as Putin had that call with Trump. So with these negotiations with Witkoff going to Russia, I think there's going to be more sympathy and potentially more concessions given to Russia just from what we've seen Witkoff do in the past. DEAN: And what about the role of Europe? How do you assess its role in

this negotiation process? They have not been at the table per se, but they say they have a stake in this. They've put forward their own, you know, proposal, let's call it. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be skipping a gathering of a lot of those NATO nations. What should their role be?

SINGH: Well, they should have a significant role at the table. And what's problematic is that this administration continues to sideline Europe, but Europe's security interests are also America's security interests. I mean, of course, we have Article Five of the NATO pact that the United States is a part of. But, you know, that's why Europe is so focused on what happens in Ukraine.

And Russia has been pretty brazen about skirting the line when it comes to NATO territory, sovereign airspace. I mean, just look at the drone incursions when it comes to Romania and Estonia and Poland. You've seen our NATO, you know, allies have to scramble fighter jets just to shoot down some of those drones. So Europe absolutely has a stake in what happens in Ukraine. But it's how much is the United States going to let Europe come to the table, and frankly, unfortunately, we have not seen that in these most recent negotiations.

DEAN: Yes. And Zelenskyy is going to meet with the French president tomorrow. What are you anticipating from that?

SINGH: You know, I think the French president and Zelenskyy, they have a good relationship. I think Europe clearly and forcefully has come out in support of Ukraine time and time again. So that is a good thing. I think what you're going to see is that conversation, hopefully President Macron can use their conversation and sort of go back to this administration, go back to President Trump and say, you know, it's in Europe's interest, it's in Ukraine's interests that they have the upper hand that we're giving them the best hand in these negotiations.

We need to fight for Ukraine's sovereignty. And not cede so much, so many concessions to Russia because essentially what the deal was that the administration proposed to Ukraine was a complete capitulation of Ukraine. And Europe is not going to be happy with that. And certainly Ukraine won't be either.

DEAN: All right, Sabrina Singh, thanks for your time. We really appreciate it.

SINGH: Thanks, Jessica.

DEAN: Still ahead, the Trump administration defending the president's latest push to remove legal pathways for migrants he says come from third world countries. How targeting green card holders could prove to be an uphill battle. We're going to talk to our political panel.

Plus, the U.S. pushing forward with its military campaign against alleged drug boats off the coast of Venezuela. Why legal experts say the Trump administration is on shaky ground with this latest strike. Stay with us. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:14:27]

DEAN: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is defending President Trump's threat to pause migration from what he's called third world countries. This is the secretary today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: These third world countries don't have stable governments. They can't sustain them. They can't tell us who they are. And that's really the consequence of what we're seeing unfold with the violence on our streets is because these countries that people have been traveling to our shores from for so many years under the Biden administration, their governments didn't tell us who they were. We don't have a proper vetting process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[19:15:01]

DEAN: President Trump directing a series of anti-immigrant policy moves this week following the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C. One of those National Guard members has died. The suspect is an Afghan national who was vetted first to work with the CIA in Afghanistan and then again to seek asylum in the U.S. that was approved earlier this year.

We're joined now by my panel, CNN political commentator, Republican strategist and former Trump campaign adviser David Urban, and Democratic strategist and senior spokesperson for the Harris-Walz campaign, Adrienne Elrod.

It is good to have the both of you here on this Sunday after Thanksgiving.

David, let's start first with you on immigration. He was largely elected on cracking down on immigration. He was very clear about what he wanted to do. He is now focused on these green card holders. These are people who are here legally.

Do you think that this is -- just there's the policy and there's the legality of it. There's also the question of how public opinion is going to react to this. How do you think that's going to go?

DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. Look, Donald Trump's numbers may be weak in certain areas, but they're very, very strong on crime and on immigration. And so he's in very, very solid footing with the base and with most of Americans on this issue. And, Jess, I think what the president is trying to do here is keep Americans safe. You heard the Homeland Security secretary, there are many countries that the president is talking about, don't have the capability to provide proper vetting for the folks who are seeking to immigrate to our country. And, you know, they may do it hastily. They may do not a thorough job as we'd like.

And so you get some folks probably here in America that might not otherwise be cleared. So I think the president's number one job is to keep Americans safe. I think as long as he continues to try to do that, he'll be rewarded at the polls and nobody opposes keeping Americans safe. It's something that I think that everybody will embrace. Now, how you effectuate that actually is something completely different.

DEAN: Yes. And I want to get back to that, but I want to ask Adrienne her take on that. Is this about safety? Do you agree with David's framing of all of this?

ADRIENNE ELROD, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: No. Look, I mean, obviously the president's number one job in America is to keep Americans safe. I think we certainly can agree on that. But it's the tactics that he's using, Jessica. And, you know, I don't know what polling David is seeing, my friend David here, certainly when it comes to tackling crime and immigration, that is where Trump performs the best.

But his numbers are still very low. Are they good among the MAGA base? Sure. Are they good among independent voters? Are they good among those swing voters that decide elections? No, they're not, because of the inhumane way that he has tackled this issue when he is taking, you know, grandmothers who have been in this country for 40, 50 years and deporting them, when he is indiscriminately sending ICE into neighborhoods and rounding up people who are just trying to work and provide for their families, who don't have a criminal record.

That is where I think a lot of Americans disagree. And that is why you're still seeing a lot of people who are saying, sure, we want to keep our country safe, but Trump is taking this a little bit too far.

DEAN: And so, David, that's it. You get into how you effectuate this, how you actually do these things. And, you know, Adrienne is pointing out some of the images that we have been seeing. And again, going back to green card holders, these are people who are here legally and have a lot of rights by holding a green card.

How do you think the Trump administration should go about this? And should they be treating everyone equally and saying, you know, we're shutting down all asylum right now until we can sort this out? Or is there a better way to do this?

URBAN: Listen, I would be in favor of shutting down all asylum until we figure out what's going on. We had roughly 20 million illegal immigrants cross our border, our southern border, during the four years of the Biden administration. 20 million people wandering around our country not knowing who they are or what country they're from or what their intentions are. And so I'm pretty certain that most Americans, you know, don't view that very favorably.

Now, listen, the vast majority of those people are not going to do anybody any harm. But how many -- how many shooters like this that we had the other day? How many is it going to take? How many of those people do you want roaming your streets, you know, roaming your neighborhood, and causing harm to people? We need a much more stringent vetting process. This president has every right to kind of close things down until we figure things out.

And look, nobody wants to see their nanny getting zip tied or gardeners being zip tied in a parking lot. But there are -- there's a huge problem with all of the illegal immigrants across the border during the Biden administration and how we get rid of them. It's a giant issue that needs to be addressed.

DEAN: Adrienne, what do you think?

ELROD: Look, I'll be the first to tell you, Jess, and I think you and I have talked about this before, that I wish President Biden, the first year in office, had tackled immigration. It was something that voters wanted. It was something that a lot of independents who voted for him wanted him to take on.

[19:20:03]

I mean, he had a number of other challenges, including, of course, the pandemic to deal with. But I wish it was something that was taken, you know, a little bit more aggressively from the Biden administration. But look, at the end of the day, one of the reasons why we're having some of these challenges on asylum and on immigration, you know, going back to the Afghan national who committed the horrific crime and murder several days ago in Washington, D.C., the Trump administration granted asylum to him in 2024.

So was this an intelligence failure? Sure. Should the Biden administration have done what they did? No. But the bottom line is when you're diverting resources from other departments to tackle -- aggressively tackle immigration and hire thousands of more ICE agents, you're taking away resources from other departments who could be really aggressively making sure that the bad people who are coming across our border stay out.

DEAN: I do want to touch on health care before I let you guys go, because that's a big issue that is coming down the pike.

David, we've got less than five weeks until the subsidies expire. Obviously that's a huge reason why the government was shut down. The Senate is expected to hold this vote in mid-December. The president has said himself that an extension could be necessary, and we were reporting that he had intended to release his own kind of plan on this before it was postponed.

Is there a disconnect with Republicans on Capitol Hill who appeared to push back quite hard on that?

URBAN: Yes, just real quickly. I love the fact that Adrienne agreed with me on a lot of that stuff. So thanks, Adrienne. I appreciate your support. On the ACA subsidies, look, the Biden administration, they knew these were going to expire. Democrats knew these were going to expire, and they did. They chose to do nothing about it. They could have taken up the -- and tried to pass legislation to extend these, but, you know, at the end of the day, we got to figure out a better way forward to provide health care to individuals in America.

The health care system is great in America, but it's incredibly costly. It costs too much money. Throwing more money at it is not the solution. We've got to figure a way to bend the cost curve. I believe the president, working with this Congress, will come to some sort of terms in terms of how we can help those people who are going to really need the extra funding to pay for their health care. It's a big -- it's a big problem in America. We've got great health care, but it costs way too much.

DEAN: And Adrienne, so what do Democrats do here? Because obviously they want to push this issue.

ELROD: Yes. First of all, I find it a little funny, David, that you are sort of trying to put this back on the Biden administration. I mean, Democrats have been the ones who have been fighting to protect Obamacare, fighting to protect subsidies since it was passed. And I think the challenge that you're seeing now, Jessica, is that Republicans are in a pickle. They have been campaigning against Obamacare since it was instituted.

But the bottom line is a lot of Republican voters, a lot of Trump's MAGA base is on Obamacare. And so they're now realizing it's very popular, especially in rural America, where a lot of people cannot have difficulty getting access to health care. They want to see it protected. So you've got Republicans who have been running on this issue saying, man, we're not going to -- we're not going to pass extending those subsidies.

But you're seeing a whole different group of Republicans who are hearing from their constituents that we rely on those subsidies to get health care. Does health care need to be reformed? Does ACA need some fixes? Absolutely. We can certainly agree on that. But not extending Obamacare subsidies is not a step in the right direction. And I think Republicans know it. And they know that this is wildly popular. And that's the challenge that they're facing.

DEAN: All right. Well, we will see what they will do.

URBAN: More agreement from Adrienne.

DEAN: Well, you know, look, guys, we're going to have a nice moment here. She agreed to some things I think was the fact check there. But David and Adrienne Elrod, thank you so much. Good to see both of you. Thanks for your time.

URBAN: Thanks, Jess.

ELROD: Thanks, Jess.

DEAN: Yes.

Still ahead, a monster winter storm impacting millions of Americans traveling after the Thanksgiving holiday. We are live from Atlanta with a look at how things are looking at the world's busiest airport.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:28:27]

DEAN: A major winter storm is bringing heavy snow and rain to parts of the country, slowing down flights and making driving dangerous for millions of holiday travelers. Chicago seeing some of the worst disruptions this weekend with more than 1100 flights today canceled or delayed there. In Iowa, the state patrol saying it had to rescue more than 200 people out of ditches after their cars slid off a very slick roads.

Meteorologist Chris Warren is tracking this storm.

Chris, how is it looking?

CHRIS WARREN, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, Jessica, still a bit of a mess across parts of the northeast for some of the airports here, and we can see that with the red here, seeing some major delays, some ground delays. In Boston, delay is about an hour. Same story in LaGuardia. It's either the, you know, too many people out there, too many planes trying to go, high volumes, essentially, low clouds. But there's also the wind as well.

Newark seeing delays around an hour and a half. Here's a look at some of the winds. And remember, winds can be a factor. Not so much the speed, but oftentimes it's the direction in which they're blowing in relationship to any given runway which can mess things up a little bit. So 35 to 40 mile an hour wind gusts here within the next hour expected. This is forecast. 15 to 20, 20 to 25 in Boston. That will calm down by tomorrow afternoon as a new system is building up here.

And that's what we're going to see over here. This is one that's departing. This is the one that brought all the snow in some cases record snow to parts of the Midwest. Lingering snow showers. Now that's moving out. This is the next one right here.

[19:30:00]

So this one still a few snow showers moving south of Buffalo right now. Some of these lake effect snow bands and then rain along the I-95 corridor down to I-10, I-20 across parts of the Southeast. So, messy traveling in that way in terms of the rain on the roads and then, what's coming next? Winter weather advisories, winter storm watches already posted because of this.

Tomorrow morning, it will be snowing here in Kansas, Nebraska, a little bit of a mix here in Oklahoma and Arkansas with heavy rain. Even storms to the South, going to see the snow really start to crank into the late evening and overnight hours for the Northeast into the morning, now into the afternoon. So, the big cities, the big question for you is going to be, where's that rain snow line?

And it can be a matter of miles with accumulating snow or just wet roads. And on top of all of that, or in addition to that, some areas may end up seeing a foot of snow in the higher elevations, not too far away from where it is just straight rain. And then one little wild card here, we're going to have to watch, and that's going to be the potential for some freezing rain. So this is when the rain falls into the freezing air. And that rain freezes on contact and builds up on power lines and branches and even on the roads.

So, Jessica, if that does happen in some of these areas, we're talking the potential for power outages and very dangerous travel.

DEAN: All right, yikes. So, all right, we will all keep an eye to that. Chris Warren, with the latest, thank you so much for this.

CNN correspondent, Rafael Romo, is in Atlanta at the world's busiest airport. It is now 7:31 on the East Coast. Rafael, how are things looking?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, not too bad, Jessica, but don't let these very short lines behind me deceive you, because the reality is that we have seen wave after wave of people coming here getting processed very quickly and going to their airplanes. This is the baggage drop area for Delta here at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport.

The other thing that I want to share with you, Jessica, one big change over the last hour is that we're seeing more and more red pop up on the screens. Some of the cities that Chris was talking about, where the weather is really having an impact. We see more and more delays and cancellations here. It was much, much better only an hour ago.

And the reality is that the reason, the factors that are at play here and the reason why we've had so many cancellations and delays, all have to do with weather. I can tell you about the 1,300 cancellations in Chicago on Saturday alone, out of a total of 1,900 across the country. We can talk about that airplane that slid off the runway in Des Moines. That was the reason why the airport had to shut down for about 12 hours. And then all those storms hitting the Midwest and the Northeast, of course, it's having a ripple effect throughout the country.

Now, a lot of people were coming here with plenty of time ahead of their flight. We had an opportunity to talk to a couple of them, and this is what they had to say. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX NEWBERG, TRAVELLING TO RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA: I always tend to be someone that tries to get to the airport on the earlier side, and I think that when you have a government shutdown and when people aren't coming to work, that complicates things further. So, a few weeks ago, more so than today.

MEHEK RANA, TRAVELLING TO CINCINNATI: I fly a lot back and forth from Cincinnati to Atlanta. So, I was a little worried about it, but it never really affected me that much. But I'm glad it's over now. I feel like the airports are running faster now.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ROMO: Now, one more thing that people were telling me, Jessica, even

though the government shutdown is over, the ghost of the government shutdown is still at play here because many people experience long delays and cancellations.

Only a few weeks ago and they were telling me I got here an hour or two even before the three hours, even before the two hours that I normally show up to be on time for my flight. But all in all, here at the airport, the world's busiest airport, I should say, not too bad for the travelers that we've talked to here.

DEAN: Okay, well, that's good news for them. Rafael Romo in Atlanta, thanks for that, and we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:38:58]

DEAN: Tough, but very constructive, that's how one source with direct knowledge described talks today between the U.S. and Ukraine, aimed at ending Russia's war. But significant sticking points remain, A Ukrainian delegation traveling to Miami, meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

Witkoff, now, expected to travel to Moscow to meet with President Vladimir Putin later this week. We're joined now by Democratic Representative Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts. Congressman, thanks so much for your time tonight. Always good to see you. I do want to start with these talks today. In your assessment, do you feel like progress is being made?

REP. JAKE AUCHINCLOSS (D-MA): Good evening, Jessica. thanks for having me back on. I wasn't in the room, so I can't speak to the veracity of what Secretary of State Rubio said. What I can speak to, though, is what Ukraine needs and what Russia needs on each side of the table, and how America can help get the two parties closer together.

On Ukraine's side of the table, they need three things. They need a secure eastern border. They need a session to the European Union, particularly for those security guarantees as part of the Lisbon Treaty. And they need freedom of navigation in the Black Sea. And America can help them get all three of those things, particularly by taking the Russian frozen assets and investing in the Ukrainian army so they can secure that eastern border by not making them give up, parts of the Donbas that they control, and by ensuring that Germany and France agree to allow Ukraine into the European Union immediately.

[19:40:25]

On the Ukraine's side of the table, actually, I feel confident that America and Ukraine can get pretty close. It's on the Russian side of the table that the President is falling down on the job right now, though. He is continuously so weak on Vladimir Putin and right now he needs to be strong.

He needs to say to Vladimir Putin, forget about these arctic mining deals, forget about joint investment vehicles. We are going to sanction and strike your oil refining and oil pumping capacity and send you back into the Stone Age if you do not end this war. But this President refuses to speak in the one language that Vladimir Putin understands, which is strength.

DEAN: And listen, even some of your Republican colleagues were not happy with Trump's initial 28-point plan, which people said was too heavily weighted toward Russia and exactly what Russia wanted. Obviously, there has been some movement on that plan since then, but I'm curious if there's anything more Congress can be doing to get aid to Ukraine right now, to support Ukraine in this moment.

AUCHINCLOSS: The 28-point plan was meant to be taken seriously, not literally. I mean, the Thanksgiving deadline and some of the points in there about military and territorial concessions were, at face value, laughable. But there were 20 of those 28 points that actually formed the bolus of an agreement that Ukraine would be stronger and richer at the other side of. So, I immediately said, let's work on this deal. It's obviously not going to happen in its current form, but it can be the basis, so long as the President is willing to be tough on Russia. And that's what Congress needs to do.

What Congress needs to do, particularly my Republican colleagues in Congress, and the Senate and the House who are much more hawkish on Russia than this administration is, but have stayed mute as this President has played sycophant. They need to signal that we would support taking Russian frozen assets from Belgium and giving them to Ukraine, that we would support long-range strikes of U.S.-made ballistic missiles against oil refineries around Moscow, that we would support sanctions against Russian oil producing capacity, that we would support secondary sanctions to prevent India or China from importing Russian oil.

Congress needs to indicate that we have a backbone, because certainly the administration will not when it comes to the Kremlin.

DEAN: On another issue, I do want to ask you about this. Sources are telling CNN the U.S. military carried out a follow-up strike on an alleged drug vessel in the Caribbean after the first strike left survivors. The House and the Senate Armed Services Committees have both said they're going to investigate. Republican Congressman Don Bacon sits on that committee. I want to play a quick clip of what he said this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DON BACON (R-NE): When people want to surrender, you don't kill them and they have to pose an imminent threat. It's hard to believe that two people on a raft trying to survive would pose an imminent threat. So, let's get the facts first. Does Secretary Hegseth deserves his day to present his side of the story.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Congressman, do you think this was a war crime, ordering this follow-up strike? AUCHINCLOSS: Congressman Bacon, former General Bacon is right here. If

the facts, as alleged are accurate, if the Secretary of Defense ordered those noncombatants who were huddled around a boat defenseless after initial strike to be killed, that's a war crime. He should be prosecuted for it. He should also have his chance to lay out his side of the story.

Jessica, though there's a deeper issue here, which is not this contained incident, but the wider fact that the President of the United States is edging this nation closer to land hostilities in Venezuela, absent any Congressional authorization. And while I think this administration has egregiously violated the law in so doing, I actually blame Congress. I'm furious at Congress because since the year 2001, after the 9/11 attacks, this Congress has ceded all of its war making authority to Presidents of both parties. And it has led us to a state of war constantly, everywhere and always.

And it's bad for the American people. It's bad for the rule of law. And it's time for Congress to take back its Article One war making powers.

DEAN: And so, how do you do that?

AUCHINCLOSS: Number one, I co-led legislation to make clear that Congress was not going to fund any of these hostilities in Venezuela, but going back to all the authorizations for use of military force, I have consistently supported that we revoked the 2001 and 2003 AUMFs, which basically give the President again of either party blanket authority to go after, "terrorists wherever they might reside across the world."

It has led America down these rabbit holes of military adventurism. It has undermined the rule of law here at home and the American public are sick of it and they want Congress to do its job and to be the one that declares war, not the President.

DEAN: All right, Congressman Jake Auchincloss, good to have you. Thanks for your time.

AUCHINCLOSS: Good to be with you.

[19:45:20]

DEAN: Still to come, Pope Leo visits the Middle East, hoping to be, in his words, a messenger of peace. We will look at the pontiffs highly anticipated trip that's ahead.

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DEAN: Tonight, Pope Leo XIV, calling for unity and peace in Lebanon as he begins his three-day visit to the crisis hit country. The trip is part of his first international trip, which began in Turkey and comes just a week after an Israeli airstrike killed five people in Beirut. The pontiff will take part in interfaith gatherings and mass is expected to meet with political leaders and young people. Ben Wedeman has more now.

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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: On the second and last leg of his first trip abroad as pontiff, Pope Leo landed in Beirut Sunday, driving through the city's southern suburbs, bombed by Israel during the recent war. Reaching the Presidential palace in the pouring rain, the dancers on hand, undeterred, showering the Pope mobile with rice, a traditional Lebanese greeting.

Lebanon's government made the theme of this visit "Blessed Be The Peacemakers." The phrase in Arabic, French and English on posters around the capital. Lebanon has a large and influential Christian minority, which has seen its numbers in recent years fall as a result of war, instability and a collapsed economy.

Speaking before a gathering of senior government and political officials and diplomats, Pope Leo stressed the need for unity and harmony among Lebanon's diverse religious communities and the country's desperate need for a respite from war.

POPE LEO XIV, BISHOP OF ROME, HEAD OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND SOVEREIGN OF THE VATICAN CITY STATE: It is a great joy for me to meet with you and to visit this land where peace is much more than just a word, for here, peace is a desire and a vocation. It is a gift and a work in progress.

WEDEMAN: But peace here is elusive. The one-year-old U.S. brokered ceasefire is beginning to fray, with Israel carrying out almost daily air and drone strikes, just a week ago, killing a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut's southern suburbs. But until Tuesday, when Pope Leo departs, Lebanon will be distracted by a packed schedule, taking the pope to the mountains of Lebanon, the Christian heartland, and back to Beirut for a silent prayer at the site of the August 2020 Beirut port blast, followed by a huge mass on the city's waterfront.

I'm Ben Wedeman, CNN, reporting from Beirut.

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DEAN: All right, Ben Wedeman, thanks so much for that.

Widespread flooding and landslides in Asia have killed more than 700 people. Hundreds more are still missing. Relief efforts are now underway after downpours from a cyclone in Southeast Asia. That heavy rain devastated parts of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. A separate storm also hitting Sri Lanka with the system now approaching India's Southern Coast.

Tonight, voters are headed to the polls to elect a new President in Honduras. But that election has been shadowed by a threat from the U.S. President, Donald Trump.

He said if his preferred candidate from the right-wing party loses the election, that he might cut off all U.S. financial aid to the country. Trump also plans to pardon the country's former President, who is in a U.S. prison for drug trafficking.

You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

We'll be right back.

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DEAN: Here's a look at five stories we'll be tracking this week. Tomorrow, Congress is back in session after its Thanksgiving recess. The House and Senate Armed Services Committees, both led by Republicans, are calling for an inquiry into reports that a U.S. targeted survivors of a strike on an alleged drug boat. The Senate could also take up a vote on approving a North Carolina judge.

On Tuesday, voters head to the polls for a special election in Tennessee's seventh Congressional District. They'll be replacing Republican Mark Green, who resigned earlier this year. He won in 2024 by more than 20 points. Now, despite the ruby-red district, it could be a much closer race between the Democratic candidate, Aftyn Behn and the Republican, Matt Van Epps.

The Supreme Court is back this week to hear oral arguments, and in one case, imagine if you could lose all internet access because someone in your home downloaded pirated music. That's reportedly what's at stake in a case between Cox Communications and Sony after Cox was ordered to pay a billion dollars for not doing enough to prevent music piracy.

And on Tuesday night in Washington, you can watch the Capitol Christmas Tree lighting. Every year, the architect of the Capitol in the U.S. Forest Service picked the tree for the holiday season. And this year's 53-foot red fir tree came from a National Park near lake Tahoe in Nevada. There it is, it traveled to Washington by truck.

And on Friday, the 2026 FIFA World Cup draw will take place at the Kennedy Center, also in Washington. FIFA will announce the groups and matchups for the opening stage of the tournament. One of the biggest sporting events in the world. Officials in Iran plan to boycott the drawing after the U.S. denied visas to members of their delegation.

Thank you so much for joining me tonight. I'm Jessica Dean, and remember, if you are here in the U.S., you can now stream CNN whenever you want, wherever you want on the CNN App. Visit cnn.com/watch for more on that. We're going to see you right back here next weekend and in the meantime, "Tony Shalhoub Breaking Bread" is headed your way next. Have a wonderful night.

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