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CNN This Morning

Trump Hosts Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau At Mar-a-Lago; Six Democratic Lawmakers Targeted With Bomb Threats; Political Figures Targeted By Swatting And Bomb Hoaxes; Syrian Military Confronts "Major Attack" Reinforcing Locations; Federal Judge Rules In Favor Of Transgender Player Amid Mountain West Conference Dispute; Stores Luring Shoppers With Deals, Prizes; Record Spending Expected This Weekend; Georgia Outlasts Georgia Tech In Epic 8-Overtime Win. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired November 30, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: -- THIS MORNING, it is Saturday, November 30th. Thanksgiving is behind us. Christmas is ahead. You tree up?

M.J. LEE, CNN ANCHOR: Not yet. Not quite yet, but we're getting there.

BLACKWELL: OK. All right. It's time now. We're getting into December. I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to have you along.

LEE: And I'm M.J. Lee in for Amara Walker. Here is what we're working on for you this morning.

The big chill. Nearly 70 percent of the U.S. population is expected to experience temperatures below freezing over the next few days, while up to six feet of snow could pile up along the Great Lakes. Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is tracking how all of this could snarl the trip home for the holidays.

BLACKWELL: Major meeting in Mar-a-Lago, what we know about President- elect Donald Trump's dinner with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as there are these concerns about tariffs.

LEE: And those tariffs are already on the minds of holiday shoppers, even before President-elect Trump returns to power in January. We'll hear from them a little bit later.

BLACKWELL: Plus, college football's rivalry weekend gets off to an incredible start. Carolyn Manno has the eighth overtime thriller between Georgia and Georgia Tech later this morning.

All right, if you're heading back home after the Thanksgiving holiday, there's a chance you'll get hit with some rough weather, some really cold air. Lake Effect Snow is also making dangerous conditions in the Great Lakes.

LEE: The National Weather Service describes the season's first big Lake Effect Snow event as "paralyzing." Stranded cars and scary conditions in Erie, Pennsylvania, as snow plows try to clear the roadways. Many travelers are getting hit with near whiteout conditions.

BLACKWELL: Snow plows are higher outside of this house. There you go. In Pennsylvania, more to come for this family. The Weather Service anticipates an extra four to five feet of Lake Effect snow, and that's on top of the two feet of snow already blanketing the region. CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is here. This is a lot in not a lot of time.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is, it is, and you for good reason. You have portions of Interstate 90 that stretch from Cleveland to Buffalo that are shut down right now and that's good. So, but if you have some travel plans around that area, avoid it. You know, you're going to have to find alternate travel plans to get away from those particular areas. And also, another one, Interstate 81, now that stretches, you know, basically from Syracuse up into Watertown. That's also going to have several issues as well.

So, keep that in mind, when you have your travel plans today, that you're going to have to content to that. Those bands already really starting to come down across much of the Great Lakes region but you also have some of the heaviest. That's going to be focused across portion as Lake Erie as well as Lake Ontario, not just today but also through the day tomorrow. But look at some of these totals already, Erie, Pennsylvania already sitting at 30 inches of snow and it's still coming down, portions of Michigan, Ohio, and New York also looking at nearly two feet and it's still coming down.

That's why you have all of these winter weather alerts in effect. But it's not just in the Great Lakes, notice the swath of a little bit farther south, including St. Louis and portions of Louisville, not nearly as much snow there, talking maybe two to five inches at best still going to impact some travel in and around those cities if you have any travel plans today. Here's a look at the overall accumulations. Again, not much on the southern side, it's really again going to be a little bit further north.

Yes, we're still talking another three to five feet potentially in some of these places on top of had, especially up around Watertown, New York, that's where we're going highest, but also Buffalo. And here's the thing, the game tomorrow is in Buffalo tomorrow night. They've already been asking folks, hey, be ready, we may need some snow shovelers at the stadium and it's because it is expected to snow not just all today but all day tomorrow as well.

The reason you're getting such impactful amounts of snow is the cold air. You have those warm lakes or by percent, by comparison and the cold air that's rushing over top of it, but the cold air is also impacting other places even far away from the Great Lakes. Current temperature in Chicago, 16 but it feels four when you factor in the wind. It feels like it's minus-9 right now in Minneapolis. But that cold is impacting a lot of places.

70 percent of the U.S. population is looking at temperatures at or below freezing, not just today, but for the next several days. And those cold temperatures stretch all the way down to the Gulf Coast, even places like Florida are actually looking at freeze alerts this weekend.

LEE: All right, not the best weekend for this kind of weather. Allison Chinchar, thank you so much for that. All right, we are waiting to learn details of incoming President Donald Trump's meeting with Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau. The two dined at Mar-a-Lago last night with members of their inner circles. Trump's threats of massive tariffs loom large. CNN's Alayna Treene with the latest this morning.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, President-elect Donald Trump on Friday hosted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for dinner at Mar-a-Lago. A source familiar with that dinner tells me -- and really, this is a very important and notable moment in their relationship. This dinner comes just days after Donald Trump threatened to impose massive hikes on tariffs. If both Canada and Mexico did not do enough to crack down on drugs coming over the borders as well as migrants.

[07:05:15]

Now, we did hear the Prime Minister actually address reporters on this issue Friday morning earlier in the day before he flew down to meet with Donald Trump. I'm going to read for you some of what he said. He said, "It is important to understand that Donald Trump, when he makes statements like that, he plans on carrying them out. There is no question about it," he said.

He went on to add, "That our responsibility is to point out that he would not just be harming Canadians who work so well with the United States, but he would actually be raising prices for American citizens as well and hurting American industry and business." So, clearly, Trudeau, being very public criticizing that threat from Donald Trump. I think the clear question now is whether or not they were able to come to some sort of deal or agreement over that dinner.

Now, I can also tell you that these two men know each other very well. They worked together during Donald Trump's first term. Trudeau's team helped renegotiate the North America Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA as it's more commonly known, with the United States, really working on his relationship with Donald Trump and ensuring that the United States and Canada continue to have a great working relationship.

Now, we do know that shortly after Donald Trump had made that post on Truth Social, threatening to impose steep tariffs on Canada, Trudeau actually got on the phone with Donald Trump. He said that they had a conductive call and that he believes that they will continue to work together. He added, "This is a relationship that we know takes a certain amount of working on and that's what we'll do."

Alayna Treene, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.

LEE: Alayna Treene, thank you for that report.

It has been a rattling week for lawmakers as at least six Democrats were targeted by bomb threats. Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement Friday that they were detailed some threatening of a pipe bomb placed in mailboxes to swatting and all signed with MAGA. Authorities are investigating. CNN Senior Law Enforcement Analyst Andrew McCabe is here now for analysis.

Andrew, it is great to have you here to talk through all of this. It does seem like there has been a wave of these swatting calls recently, but it doesn't appear that law enforcement is necessarily saying too much about the investigation. I have a feeling that you're not too surprised by that.

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: No, M.J., not, not too surprised at all. You know, we've seen a rash of very high-profile political figures targeted with swatting attacks. The Democrats that you mentioned in the beginning of the piece, but also Republicans, several Republican members of the president's new transition team in the few days before those. So, while these are getting our attention right now, I think it's important to note that these attacks happen every day in this country in many different places.

It's become incredibly commonplace. And it is, as you know, a method that people use simply to harass and terrorize their targets, whoever those targets might be. It's not something that's directed exclusively at one political party or the other. It's really across the board something that's unfortunately experienced by many people in high- profile positions. We're just seeing it now really in a very kind of visible way in the political sphere.

LEE: Yes, Andy, I am curious to know from you, based on everything that we do know, is there reason for us to suspect that there is any kind of coordination here? For example, do we think that these calls might be coming from the same person or maybe a group of individuals who are working together, for example?

MCCABE: That's entirely possible, but I don't think we have quite enough detail about the investigations to be confident in that assessment right now. The reason it looks like it could be coordinated is because we're seeing these commonalities of the target. So, initially, we saw multiple members of President-elect Trump's team being targeted a few days ago.

And now, of course, we're seeing a lot of targets on the Democratic side of the political aisle. That sort of, those political selections look like they may be coordinated or grouped together for some purpose. It could also be a retaliatory thing going from, you know, seeing Republican targets coming up, you might have actually a separate group that's now swinging that targeting direction back towards Democrats.

So, there's a lot of ways that this could play out, M.J. It's also very possible that these attacks are coming from individuals overseas or in some rare cases like we saw in the case of Alan Fillion who pled guilty just last month, there you had an American-based attacker, Alan Fillion, responsible for over 350 swatting attacks, working with two foreign cooperators, two people who were engaged in that activity with him.

So, we really don't know enough about the people behind these attacks to be able to make an assessment like that just yet.

[07:10:19]

LEE: All right, that's really interesting. Can you also help us understand how exactly these kinds of swatting calls get made? I would think that the key thing is, if you're a person making these calls, you don't want the calls to be traced, right? And you want the communication to be anonymous. I can only imagine that with the growth of AI, and other kinds of technologies, it's probably easier now than ever before to make these kinds of calls, am I right?

MCCABE: That's absolutely correct. So, the key to swatting calls is the anonymization of the communication of the threat, right? So, folks wouldn't be able to get away with these if the calls or the e-mails or those sorts of communications were easy to trace. As the ability to anonymize your communications online has become more and more easily accessible through things like the Onion Router, sometimes the Dark Web, and other techniques.

That's what's bringing more and more people kind of into this activity. It also makes the investigations of this activity much tougher. Investigators have to really follow the digital forensic clues that are left behind by some communications, things like usernames on accounts and IP addresses, things of that nature, to try to tie the communication back to an individual.

That is very hard to do in many cases. In the Allan Fillion case I mentioned before, they had extraordinary assistance from a private citizen who was able to do some of that work and then shared it with the FBI. But the, our law enforcement folks, have a really tough job ahead of them trying to get in front of this current wave of swatting attacks.

LEE: Yes, tough job is right. Andy McCabe, thank you so much for those insights.

BLACKWELL: This morning, President Biden is wrapping up his Nantucket visit. During his Thanksgiving vacation, he visited a local fire station to meet with firefighters. Also took some time to answer reporters' questions about the White House transition and President- elect Donald Trump's tariff plans.

Joining me now from Nantucket is CNN's Betsy Klein. Betsy, good morning to you. What did the president say about the president-elect's plans for those tariffs?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, Nantucket is a place with a lot of history and meaning for the Biden family. They have been coming here since back in 1975 as a family for Thanksgiving, and it is that place where back in 2022 the president held that family meeting where he cemented his decision to seek a second term in office.

Now, obviously so much has changed since then and this is the president's final trip to Nantucket as president as he starts that long goodbye to a political career, but also a newsy one as he directly went after President-elect Donald Trump on the issue of tariffs on Canada and Mexico, calling those proposed 25 percent tariffs counterproductive as he warned that there could also be damage to the alliances with the U.S.'s key neighbors. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: I hope he rethinks it. I think it's a counterproductive thing to do. You know, look, one of the things you've heard me say before that we have an unusual situation in America. We're surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, and two allies, Mexico and Canada. And the last thing we need to do is begin to screw up those relationships.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KLEIN: Now, the president made those comments as he was delivering Thanksgiving pies to local first responders. He also spent his Thanksgiving calling U.S. troops around the globe, and he visited the town tree lighting just last night. This meanwhile in Washington, as volunteers are racing the clock to deck the halls back at the White House before the Biden's return later today.

BLACKWELL: So, let's talk about the president's long-awaited trip to Africa, going to Angola. What are the president's goals for that trip?

KLEIN: Well, the president is making good on that long commitment to visit the continent of Africa. He will be visiting Angola just later this week. And it is really a visit aimed at shoring up some of those partnerships in the region, highlighting the investment that his administration has made on his watch before he leaves office.

But really a notable trip. He is the first sitting U.S. president to visit the region since 2015, when then-President Barack Obama went to Ethiopia and Kenya. And he's also the first sitting U.S. president to visit Angola. So, certainly, an important trip as he seeks to provide a U.S. counter to some of the influence that China has developed over the recent years of his term. Victor.

BLACKWELL: Betsy Klein, for us in Nantucket, thanks so much.

[07:15:00]

LEE: And still to come, Syrian rebels swept into Aleppo, forcing the army to close the airport and roads. We'll have details of their surprise attack next.

Plus, a women's college volleyball team is at the center of transgender athlete debates. We'll discuss the controversy surrounding a student at San Jose State.

And it's a big weekend for holiday shopping. The record number of Americans planning to shop in-store and online from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday this year.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:11] LEE: Rebel forces in Syria reignite their civil war targeting Aleppo with a surprise attack. Syria's defense ministry says dozens of soldiers have been killed and others are injured. You can see the rebels here in the streets of Aleppo after taking over much of the city, Syria's military, calling this a "major attack." CNN's Ben Wedeman joins us now from Rome. Ben, what can you tell us?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL: CORRESPONDENT: M.J., this is really a lightning offensive. It only began on Wednesday and what we've seen is that by last night, these Syrian rebels have gotten to the very heart of Aleppo. We've seen last night, for instance, I was watching a live stream of those rebels outside Aleppo's iconic citadel, which dates back to about 5,000 years. They were there buying coffee and snacks right outside of that citadel.

So, this would indicate that the Syrian government really hasn't put up much of a fight when it comes to trying to resist this rebel onslaught, which, as I said, just is a few days old that they've taken dozens and dozens of villages to the west of Aleppo. In the morning yesterday, we were reporting they were on the western outskirts, and by the evening, as I said, they'd reached the very center.

Now, the government, or rather the Syrian Ministry of Defense in Damascus put out a statement saying that the rebel attack had prompted them to conduct what they called a strategic redeployment aimed at reinforcing defensive lines. I think that's a lot of words for simply they had to retreat. Now, according to the statement this statement from the Syrian Defense Ministry. They are preparing for a counteroffensive.

But we haven't seen much of a sign of that as of yet, keeping in mind, M.J., that during the darkest days of the Syrian civil war, Lebanon's Hezbollah had sent many of their fighters to provide backup to the beleaguered Syrian army, and along with Russia, which in September 2015 sent forces to Syria, mainly air forces, between the two of them, between Hezbollah, Russia, and of course Iranian assistance, the Syrian government was able to take back Aleppo from the rebels, most of Aleppo in 2016.

And since then, the city has been under the control of the Syrian government, but given that Hezbollah had to pull out most of its forces from Syria as it became ever more heavily engaged in fighting against Israel beginning back in October of last year, the Iranians have been struck multiple times by Israel over the last year in Syria. And of course, Russia has drawn down its forces in Syria as a result of the war in Ukraine.

So, now we see a Syrian government that is largely on its own trying to fight, and not very successfully, stop the rebels from retaking this Aleppo, the second largest city in Syria. M.J.?

LEE: Ben Wedeman, thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: Major General James "Spider" Marks joins us now. General, good to see you. Let's continue kind of where Ben left off about the Support for the Syrian government kind of pulling away to other fronts and other conflicts. Talk about more why this is happening now and potentially where this goes in Aleppo.

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, Victor, thanks very much. I think Ben laid it out so beautifully, how complicated and how kind of connected all the different tissue and body parts are to this very complicated situation in Syria.

First of all, you've got Russia which is putting most of its effort right now in Ukraine, so it, I would say, is distracted there, achieving some success right now against Ukrainian military. Iran has been pushed on its back heels as a result of what's taking place against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

And let's be frank, Tehran pulls the trigger on all of those engagements, at least sets the boundaries for them very, very precisely. So, with those kinds of pushes and pulls, it's not surprising at all that Hezbollah now has been really reducing its ability to support the Syrian government.

Also, bear in mind the United States has a presence in Northwest Syria going after the Islamic State. Turkey has a presence going after the various forms of the Kurds. So, this really is a very, very complicated effort right now, and Syria has found itself in the middle of this fight with no real strong allies to lean on, and that's what you're seeing right now.

[07:25:27]

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about Gaza now. Three World Central Kitchen employees killed in a strike by Israeli forces. Israel says that they were targeting a terrorist involved in the October 7th attack. This comes eight months after there were seven World Central Kitchen employees killed in an IDF attack. Should we expect that the IDF would have been better at identifying the difference eight months on after since that tragedy? Explain what's happening here, if at this point you can.

MARKS: Yes, it's very complicated, in that -- you know, target identification is incredibly difficult in situations like this. We've seen that laid out over the course of the past year and a half of the fighting in Gaza. World Central Kitchen has a magnificent mission, incredibly generous, charitable in what they're trying to do. The Israelis have a sovereign mission to ensure their nation can survive this fight.

They are, the IDF, are doing a very aggressive job, going after very precise targeting. The fact that the World Central Kitchen folks end up being a casualty in this fight is tragic. It's a horrible loss to everyone and to the notion that charities can in fact make a difference in that part of the world. That should not be diminished. Those efforts should continue. But it's not good. This is a war zone, Victor.

This is a conflict that has not stopped. There is not a ceasefire. There is not a ceasefire on the table. Although there has been one in Hezbollah, those two fights are disconnected. Israel now is primarily focused on its relationship with Tehran. Again, Tehran has some influence on what's going on in Gaza. The tragedy with the World Central Kitchen is a downstream effect of the ongoing fighting.

BLACKWELL: And as you said, they do such great work. Horrible for that tragedy, for that organization, just eight months after the first one. Major General James "Spider" Marks, thanks so much.

LEE: And still to come, the ongoing gender controversy surrounding a San Jose State University women's volleyball player, and why some teams boycotted and forfeited matches rather than play.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:32:15]

LEE: Boise State's women's volleyball team has pulled out of its championship match against San Jose State. Wyoming, Utah State, Nevada, and Southern Utah have also canceled games against San Jose State this season.

The move comes as there has been controversy around the gender of a San Jose State player.

Joining me now to discuss all of this is CNN sports analyst, Christine Brennan. Christine, it is great to have you to talk to you about this story, where I feel like we have seen a number of developments and headlines recently involving transgender athletes and the issue of gender in sports.

Here we have this latest development in the world of women's college volleyball. Can you help us understand why this issue seems to be just so fueling the passions on both sides of the debate recently?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: M.J., it truly is a sports story that has become part of our culture, even if it really shouldn't be, in many ways, and it's set against the backdrop in this case, of, of course, the presidential election and politics.

And when the Trump campaign was focusing on the transgender issue -- female -- transgender female athletes in women's sports, they did that in commercials, they did that during the campaign. As many, many people know, I think they spent $200 million on those ads, various groups and supporting Trump.

And the reality is, we're talking about just a few people throughout our country in terms of transgender women athletes. In this case, of course, we are talking about the San Jose State volleyball player. And it has to be noted, as we look at this story.

We're not going to use her name. She herself has not said that she is transgender. She was outed back in April, as many people know, by a conservative web site.

She had played two years for San Jose State prior to that. This is her third year now, her third season with San Jose State, and she had played a year at another college before that.

So, there had been three years that she had been playing volleyball without incident, with no one being aware of this. She obviously had not talked about it, that, of course, is her right, and everything had gone along normally.

What changed that April web site outing her, which then turned this from sports, frankly, into politics, and it has become something that is truly a sad, sad story for so many of these young female athletes and their teams and the politics of their governors getting involved, and of course, for this young woman herself, having to be outed in this way, and so much of a focus on her.

[07:35:00]

One, the focus should be on the great volleyball tournament and these women athletes, who are able to do things that their grandmothers, their mothers never could because of Title IX.

LEE: And I do think you know, we should take a moment to really underscore here, a federal judge, an appeals court, the Mountain West Conference commissioner. They have all said that this student meets the eligibility standard to compete, and yet, we are still seeing these teams forfeiting.

It just feels like, Christine, maybe something needs to give, this doesn't seem entirely tenable. What do you think?

BRENNAN: Well, that's true, M.J. And throughout the world, this is an issue. And I'm afraid to say, I hope I'm wrong, but I'm afraid to say, this is going to be with us for a while. This is a story that truly is a cultural wedge issue for many, and it is -- it's out there.

I mean, let's face it, this is something we have been talking about and so many others. And again, the Trump campaign used it effectively, at least, according to some experts in that area.

It is a real patchwork out there, M.J. And I think a lot of people are saying, well, what are the rules other places? Or why isn't there one uniform rule? There isn't.

And for example, the Olympic Games, both swimming, international federation and track and fields' international federation have, over the last couple of years, developed a policy that if someone has gone through male puberty, they cannot compete in women's sports.

So, that's swimming, that's track and field, that's at the Olympics, that's in the world championships. So, that is obviously diametrically opposed to what the NCAA has done here. The NCAA then defers to the governing body, the National U.S. governing body of each sport, USA volleyball, is in charge, and they, of course, have allowed a transgender woman to compete in women's sports.

So, that's 180 degrees different. And that's just a quick synopsis of those two particular scenarios. You can see here, everyone is all over the map, and it's truly confusing for so many, and again, so hurtful as well for so many.

LEE: Yes, that's right. Christine Brennan, really appreciate your insights on this very divisive story. Thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: Were you out there? Did you spend the money? Holiday shoppers that got an early jump on Black Friday this year and spent more than $6 billion on Thanksgiving.

We have more on the record sales after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:42:11]

A lot of people spent a lot of money ahead of Black Friday this year. Spent a record $6.1 billion on Thanksgiving Day alone.

LEE: Cyber Week is also off to a strong start, with online sales reaching $3.6 billion so far. Better than expected discounts at shoppers making more expensive purchases in top categories like electronics and apparel.

CNN's Meena Duerson spent the day with shoppers at a mall in New Jersey. Mina?

MEENA DUERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the days of lining up in the dark and stampeding for those must have items might be over, but it's still been a very busy Black Friday, with the American Retail Federation predicting 183 million shoppers will be buying things over this long holiday weekend.

132 million of those shoppers projected to be in stores and online on Black Friday alone. We came to this mall to talk to shoppers who are coming in person to take advantage of these deals, and spoke to a couple shoppers who got here hours before the mall even opened to take advantage of those door buster deals.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We went out at 5:00 a.m. to go to Kohl's, and we were able to get there walking.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Giveaway. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Giveaway.

And then, we just came here afterwards. We did a lot of Christmas shopping there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We wanted to do a little bit more Christmas shopping here for the rest of the family, and we saw a big wheel, like, OK, let's go on it.

DUERSON: You said --

What's on your shopping list?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of clothes. I have a lot of sisters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anything, Christmas shopping. Just to get it out of the way.

DUERSON: How are you guys feeling about shopping in general this season? Are you feeling like, you know? Decent about things this year, about spending money, like, how are you feeling, you know, going --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are looking for a lot of deals this year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes, that's one of the many reasons we want to come out today. You know, just trying to find a good deal, especially for larger -- we have larger families. So, you know, one gift adds up for a family member.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DUERSON: The crowds in this mall just got bigger throughout the day, and a lot of shoppers were picking up big ticket items like electronics, tablets, monitors, smartphones, televisions. Some shoppers told us they were explicitly here to pick up items that they anticipate becoming more expensive in the new year when President Trump takes office and tariffs that he's promised take effect, which may boost prices for consumers on items manufactured overseas.

So, some shoppers told us that they had priced out deals on things that they wanted to buy before those go into effect.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DUERSON: Did the tariffs play into your shopping today at all?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Definitely, yes.

DUERSON: Can you tell me why?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tariffs just basically make these taxes go higher, make anything that's out of the country higher. I went to that store right there, and everything is made in Japan, and my brother loves anime, and so, might as well get it now, before his birthday, before his tears come out.

DUERSON: So, you're buying stuff on purpose right now, before the prices go up?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

DUERSON: That's something you're actively worried about?

[07:45:01]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, because I'm only 19, I only work at a daycare. I make a little bit more than minimum wage, like $0.50 more.

And so, it's just kind of sad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DUERSON: Overall, this weekend, it's expected to set records with new numbers from Adobe Analytics showing Black Friday sales expected to top $10.8 billion, with electronics as one of the most popular items.

Victor, M.J.?

LEE: Meena Duerson, thank you.

BLACKWELL: How much shopping have you done?

LEE: Not even a little bit.

BLACKWELL: You have a --

LEE: I have two little kids. Not yet.

BLACKWELL: The tree isn't up. Nothing done.

LEE: Let me guess you're all done.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

LEE: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Yes, yes. I'm done.

All right. Georgia and Georgia Tech fans referred to their rivalry as good, Clean, Old-Fashioned hate. That's strong.

Well, the game last night was a lot of fun, and when they finished, it was the second longest game in college football ever played.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:50:21]

BLACKWELL: Thanksgiving? Couple of days ago now, but the football keeps on giving.

Two more incredible finishes on Friday, one in college and the other in the NFL.

LEE: Carolyn Manno joins us now. Let's start with the pros, Carolyn. The Chiefs pulled out another heart stopping win, but they did need a little help to do it.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: This is becoming a familiar storyline. I mean, the saying goes it's better to be lucky than to be good. That might be the Chiefs right now.

Kansas City, entering the week with an NFL best 10 wins, hosting the league's worst seen, the two and nine Raiders, but Vegas gave them all they could handle first play of the fourth quarter. Aidan O'Connell finds Tre Tucker, 58-yard touchdown pass, giving the Raiders a one- point lead.

The Chiefs would then hit a field goal on their next possession, but the Raiders still had a chance in this game. 16 seconds left with a chance for potential game winning, 52-yard field goal. Instead, O'Connell isn't ready to snap hit some square in the chest, and the Chiefs recovered the fumble, incredibly.

After giving up a 13-point lead, Casey (PH) holds on again, 19-17, the final -- their ninth win by single digits this season.

Seventh-ranked Georgia Bulldogs, playing their in-state rival Georgia Tech. In Haynes King in the yellow jackets came to play. The junior quarterback had five touchdowns, two, three the air, three more on the ground. His last one, putting Tech up by 14 with around five minutes to go, sending Bulldogs fans to the exits.

But they should have stuck around, because after a Georgia touchdown, cuts it in half. King getting lit up by Dan Jackson forcing the fumble. It is Bulldogs ball and UGA capitalizing on that.

Look at the play. Carson Beck, finding Dominic Lovett for the score with a minute to go their second down the stretch, tying it up, forcing overtime. And it didn't just go to overtime or two overtimes or even five overtimes. This game went to eight overtimes, the second longest game in college football history.

But there would be no upset in Athens last night. Running back Nate Frazier, finally punching home the winning score as Georgia survives 44 to 42. The schools and fans might refer to this game's rivalry as, "Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate."

But Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart, offering nothing but respect afterwards.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIRBY SMART, HEAD COACH, GEORGIA BULLDOGS: No matter what anybody says, you know, publicly, there is a mutual respect for me for the way, the physicality with which they play the game with. But our seniors, our team, our leadership, they don't flinch. And they find a way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: And if that was an appetizer, guys, today, going to be just as wild. Back to you.

LEE: Carolyn Manno, thank you so much.

Glicked mania is drawing the crowds at movie theaters. Coming up, a look at whether wicked and Gladiator II together are the box office's new Barbenheimer this season.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:57:37]

BLACKWELL: This height disparity is almost comical.

LEE: Yes.

BLACKWELL: We are a foot different in height. LEE: Would you like to say more? No, we'll leave it there.

All right. I still have all my Barbie t-shirts from the summer of 2023. You know, it was all Barbenheimer. Thanks to Barbie and Oppenheimer being released at the same time.

LEE: And now, there is Glicked. That is Wicked and Gladiator II, which are raking in big bucks at the box office. CNN's Lisa Respers France takes us inside the hottest double feature of the season.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LISA RESPERS FRANCE, CNN REPORTER: "Glicked", Gladiator II and Wicked.

The two films released over the weekend, making it one of the most successful pre-Thanksgiving box office weekends in more than 10 years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Glicked.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Glicked.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do we agree with this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are Glicked day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. We like Glicked day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We like that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCE: Now, it's giving us echoes of the cultural phenomenon of Barbenheimer. Companies releasing movies on the same day as a rival company is actually not new.

We have seen matching U.S. release dates in the past, including "The Dark Knight" and "Mamma Mia!", which was later coined The Dark Mama. "Casino" and "Toy Story". And way back in the 1990s, "10 Things I Hate About You" and "The Matrix".

So, why do they do this? Well, in the movie biz, it's called a counter programming strategy. That's when companies release their film the same time as a film that is totally very different to target on paper, two traditionally different audiences. But they can also feed off of each other, as we saw with Barbenheimer, allowing social media to do a lot of the marketing for the studios, making people want to be a part of the conversation.

And there's an economic aspect too. In the 1930s, the double feature, where you get to see two selected films with one ticket, was created to attract movie goers during the Great Depression.

So, will you be getting involved in the magic that is "Glicked" this Thanksgiving?

LEE: Thanks, Lisa. "FIRST OF ALL, WITH VICTOR. BLACKWELL" is up next. Victor, what do you have coming up?

BLACKWELL: Packed show. In 2020, Walmart said they were committed to DEI. 2024, they are dropping it.

Does that reveal how corporate America really feels about diversity, equity, and inclusion, and is this an indicator of what we'll see from other major companies? Will they bow to the pressure to do this? A DEI expert shares his thoughts.

Plus, on this Small Business Saturday, how are minority owned businesses getting ready for the holiday season and a second Trump term as the leader of a. Group that boosts entrepreneurs of color?

[08:00:03]

And later, last name Patty, first name Very. The Internet is going off on Drake after his team filed a legal petition over Kendrick Lamar's song about him, Not Like Us.