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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

CNN Investigation Finds Tanzanian Police Killed Protesters; Employers Added 119,000 Jobs In September; Trump To Meet With Mamdani At White House Today. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired November 21, 2025 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): In the city of Arusha, forensic analysis of video reveals how two people died near this intersection. It's mid-afternoon. A group of protesters gather at this corner as armed police approach. Note the man in the red t-shirt holding what appears to be a rock, who we'll come back to.

At this point the police are here on the map. Two minutes later chaos as people run down the street. The police advance to the intersection. Then shots ring out.

The woman in purple carrying a stick and a rock is hit by a bullet in the back. You can see the hole in the fabric of her shirt here. She falls instantly. People try to help her as she lies bleeding more.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my God.

MADOWO (voiceover): A minute later, across the street, a group of men takes cover -- among them the man with the red t-shirt. From a video filmed on the other side of the road we can see police are now positioned at the intersection around 100 meters away. A protester shouts profanity in their direction -- (bleep) you -- and then -- (bleep) -- the man in red is shot in the head.

Audio forensic analysis of these videos confirms the gunshots that killed both of these protesters came from the direction and distance of the police position.

The woman in purple died from her injuries in the street. She was three months pregnant and was the breadwinner for her husband and two young children, according to a source close to her family.

(Screams)

The man's wife shrieks in grief over his lifeless body. These two lives lost are just a fraction of the bloodshed across Tanzania over late October and early November as the government has tried to stamp out the protests.

In Mwanza, Tanzania's second-largest city, grim scenes outside the regional hospital. Bodies piled up.

One doctor who was too afraid to speak on camera told CNN the morgue was full from those killed during the crackdown, saying on one day alone they were "four trips with piles of dead bodies taken to the mortuary until it was full just for others to be piled outside." He said when doctors tried to save the wounded "the police would refuse and take them to the mortuary directly, for them to die there."

In Dar es Salaam, another morgue overwhelmed. The government called this video fake, but CNN verified the location as Amana Hospital. One woman told CNN she recognized her missing brother among the dozens of bodies spread across the floor.

The scale of the killing may never be fully revealed. Police are accused of dumping bodies in mass graves in an effort to conceal numbers. At this location, north of Dar es Salaam, a video shows a wide area of freshly turned soil. This matches testimony shared with CNN that young men were ordered to dig the site for mass burials. While CNN cannot independently verify the existence of mass graves satellite imagery of the Kondo Cemetery before and after the protests show disturbance in the soil, which supports the allegation.

The Tanzanian police and government have, so far, refused to confirm a death toll and dismissed the opposition's numbers as "hugely exaggerated." They did not respond to CNN's request for comment for this story.

For this devastated family a burial of their missing loved one's belongings is the nearest they will get to closure for now as the final fate of so many of Tanzania's young people remains unknown.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MADOWO: President Samia Suluhu Hassan has named a commission of inquiry to look into the unrest across Tanzania, but she drew fresh outrage by claiming that the protesters were paid to go on the streets.

Hundreds of young people have been charged with treason across the country and that is an offense that carried the death penalty if found guilty. It's not clear any of them participated in the protests. Some of them charged with treason are for the offense of participating in a TikTok challenge mocking the president.

What we have in our report is only what we could prove but there's dozens of more incidents that we're still looking into. There are some in Tanzania who now want an international independent investigation -- maybe the International Criminal Court -- to look into what they consider crimes against humanity or even a genocide.

Again, CNN cannot independently verify any of these things. It's been very difficult to even piece together what you see there, but that is a backdrop for this new administration of President Samia Suluhu Hassan, Brian.

BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: Larry Madowo with critical and eye-opening reporting live from Johannesburg. Larry, to you and your team, thank you.

And we will be right back.

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[05:39:25]

ABEL: Welcome back to EARLY START. Time for your business breakout.

The U.S. saw stronger than expected job growth in September but there are still signs the economy is slowing. More on that in just a moment.

First, here is where the U.S. futures stand ahead of the opening bell on Wall Street. You see the Dow is up but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq starting the day in the red.

Let's check some of today's business headlines.

The rally from NVIDIA's stellar earnings report was short-lived. U.S. stocks took a dive Thursday. The Dow, the S&P, and the Nasdaq all closed in the red. And NVIDIA shares dropped about three percent, dragging down the broader market.

[05:40:05]

Walmart's business in the U.S. is booming. The retailer saw sales increase 4.5 percent in the last quarter. Not only did Walmart see an uptick in customer trips to stores but shoppers spent more when they visited. Walmart attributes the gains to middle-class and upper-income households trying to save money.

Vice President JD Vance is asking for patience amid growing skepticism over the Trump administration's economic record. He acknowledged Thursday that many Americans are feeling the pinch of inflation. That's a sharp contrast to President Trump, who has been insisting for weeks that the economy is thriving, and cost of living concerns are just a Democratic talking point.

The September jobs reports is finally out seven weeks late because of the government shutdown, and it paints a bit of a muddy picture. The labor market added 119,000 jobs in September, an unexpected rebound -- but this comes as the U.S. economy shows more signs of slowing.

CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich has more.

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VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: The long- awaited September jobs reports came in better than expected. It was delayed because of the government shutdown. But analysts were predicting 50,000 jobs added in the month of September. One hundred nineteen thousand jobs were added in the month of September.

But if you look at job growth over the last year, we're still on pace for the weakest year of jobs growth since the pandemic and before that, since the Great Recession. A lot of the weakening in the labor sector actually happened over the summer. You can see that we actually got downward revisions for the months of July and August. July -- August, rather, we have now seen job losses. That's the second month this year that we've seen job losses in June and now in August.

And in terms of the September jobs report, 87 percent of all jobs added were in two sectors, leisure and hospitality and in health care and social assistance. Fifty-seven thousand jobs added there. In leisure and hospitality, 47,000 jobs added. So if you were looking for jobs in those sectors you had much better chance of finding one compared to other sectors like manufacturing, and transportation, and warehousing, which lost jobs.

Also, the unemployment rate did tick up. Analysts were expecting it to hold steady at 4.3 percent. It came in at 4.4 percent, but that's because the labor force participation rate increased so you have more people entering the labor force looking for a job.

You had markets really going wild. You saw the Dow up 700 points at one time but closing almost 400 points in the red. That's a large swing of more than 1,000 points. Investors were really trying to parse through what they wanted to take away from this jobs report.

Also, investors now signaling that maybe there's a little bit better of a chance that the Federal Reserve will cut rates. Forty percent signaling that they'll cut rates -- that they believe the Fed will cut rates compared to 30 percent the day before. But ultimately most investors still believe that the Federal Reserve is going to hold rates steady. Federal Reserve officials have said that they really need more data in order to make a significant decision about rate cuts.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: Vanessa Yurkevich, thank you.

President Trump is preparing for a special guest at the White House. We'll see what's on the agenda for his meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.

Plus, new plans are in the works to drill for oil off the coast of two U.S. states. We'll have the details and reaction next on EARLY START.

(COMMERCIAL)

[05:48:13]

ABEL: Welcome back. I'm Brian Abel. Here are some stories we are watching today.

CNN has obtained a draft U.S. peace proposal for Ukraine, which the Trump administration has yet to release. Among other points it calls for major territorial concessions to Russia and for Kyiv to stay out of NATO. In return, Ukraine would receive security guarantees but would have to limit the size of its military.

Democrats are slamming U.S. President Donald Trump, claiming he's inciting violence. It comes after the president attacked six Democratic lawmakers for urging military members and intelligence officials to disobey illegal orders. He accused those lawmakers of "seditious behavior punishable by death."

A federal judge has ruled President Trump's deployment of National Guard troops to the nation's capital here is illegal. The district judge says the Trump administration exceeded the bounds of their authority and acted contrary to law. The judge delayed an order that would require the troops to leave and gave the Trump administration 21 days to appeal.

Meanwhile, President Trump will host New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani at the White House in the coming hours. The president has clashed repeatedly with the self-declared Democratic socialist over the past few months, often calling him a communist.

CNN's Tom Foreman has more.

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ZOHRAN MAMDANI, (D) NEW YORK CITY MAYOR-ELECT: I have many disagreements with the president.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): The stage is set with Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani eager to talk about how President Donald Trump can help his city.

MAMDANI: I want to just speak plainly to the president about what it means to actually stand up for New Yorkers and the way in which New Yorkers are struggling to afford this city and frankly, cost of living.

FOREMAN (voiceover): And Trump perhaps not so eager to lend a hand.

[05:50:00]

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's going to be hard for me as the president to give a lot of money to New York because if you have a communist running New York all you're doing is wasting the money you're sending there.

FOREMAN (voiceover): Mamdani is a Democratic socialist; not a communist -- but he has been a sharp thorn in Trump's side.

MAMDANI: Donald Trump, since I know you're watching I have four words for you: turn the volume up.

FOREMAN (voiceover): In the campaign, Mamdani routinely skewered the president in the town where Trump grew up and built his fortune over inflation, accusations of corruption, election interference, and so much more.

MAMDANI: If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump -- how to defeat him -- it is the city that gave rise to him.

FOREMAN (voiceover): For his part, Trump has questioned the citizenship of Mamdani who is a naturalized American born in Uganda. Trump endorsed Andrew Cuomo who ran as an Independent for the mayor's job and he declared if Mamdani won, "this once great city has ZERO chance of success, or even survival."

FOREMAN: Perhaps the toughest clash came as Mamdani pledged to fight Trump's amped up efforts to arrest suspected undocumented immigrants.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What you're doing is kidnapping!

MAMDANI: I will be a mayor who will finally turn the page on this chapter of our city. A mayor who not only defends but is proud of our sanctuary city laws. One that recognizes that they are laws that keep us safe.

FOREMAN (voiceover): Trump's answer --

TRUMP: Well then, we'll have to arrest him.

FOREMAN (voiceover): All that has the two men in such wildly opposite political corners. Some analysts suspect even as the president and mayor-elect are touching gloves ahead of this meeting --

TRUMP: We want to see everything work out well for New York.

FOREMAN (voiceover): -- they are also bracing for a brawl.

MAMDANI: I'll be ready for whatever happens.

FOREMAN (voiceover): Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: COP30 comes to a close today and delegates are reviewing a new draft resolution that does not mention fossil fuels. That's been a key sticking point throughout the climate conference. A previous summit agreed to phase out fossil fuels but did not agree to a timetable. Host Brazil had hoped to end COP30 with a roadmap to phasing out fossil fuels as well as an agreement on other divisive issues like climate financing.

The Trump administration has announced plans to open California's entire coastline to new offshore oil drilling. The Interior Department also proposed drilling in more of the waters off Florida. Neither state's waters have been open to new drilling for decades. California leaders are vowing to fight the plan.

The U.S. also announced this week that it is rolling back Biden era rules protecting parts of Alaska from energy development.

Director Wes Anderson is known for his quirky films. Now you can see some of his props and puppets up close and personal. That's next on EARLY START.

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[05:57:25]

ABEL: Frida Kahlo's "El Sueno" has set a new record, selling for $54.7 million. That is the most ever for a work by a woman sold at auction. The 1940 painting depicts Kahlo asleep in a wooden bed, wrapped in a golden blanket embroidered with vines and leaves. And above her rests a skeleton and strings of dynamite crowned with a vibrant bouquet. The painting last sold at auction in 1980 for $51,000.

Movie buffs can walk down memory lane at a new exhibit that opens in London on Friday. They'll be able to see, today, many of the puppets, costumes, and other props made famous by the Oscar-winning director Wes Anderson. They include a 10-foot replica of "The Grand Budapest Hotel" featured in his movie of the same name. And some of the vending machines used in his sci-fi comedy "Asteroid City." The exhibit runs in London's Design Museum until July of next year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chamber of Commerce, we are honored and humbled to present to 2,828th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame to Chadwick Boseman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: Hollywood's iconic Walk of Fame honored the late actor Chadwick Boseman on Thursday. Family and friends celebrating the "Black Panther" star at the event. Boseman died from colon cancer in 2020 at the age of 43.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Clip from Universal Pictures "Wicked: For Good."

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ABEL: One of Hollywood's most anticipated movies this holiday season is off to a rough start after some negative reviews. Despite spellbinding audiences last year, some critics have said the new installment, "Wicked: For Good," doesn't pack the same punch. "Wicked: For Good," starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Arevo, opens in theaters across the U.S. today.

Fatima Bosch of Mexico is celebrating an especially sweet victory after winning Miss Universe 2025. She beat out finalists from Thailand, Venezuela, the Philippines, and Ivory Coast to take the top honor. Bosch's win came weeks after she was publicly berated in a meeting by a pageant director who seemed to call her a "dumb head." And that was just one incident in the scandal-plagued competition. Two judges resigned days before the big event with one claiming the final contestants were chosen in advance in a rigged competition.

[06:00:00]

It is going to be a big weekend for soccer fans. Major League Soccer's playoff semifinal matches are happening. One of the big matches happens on Saturday. LAFC will be in Canada to face the Vancouver Whitecaps. No two MLS teams have played each other more often over the last three years than these two.

Thank you for joining us here on EARLY START. I'm Brian Abel in Washington, D.C. "CNN THIS MORNING WITH AUDIE CORNISH" starts right now.