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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

2 National Guardsmen Shot In D.C., Both In Critical Condition; At Least 55 Killed, Nearly 300 Missing In Hong Kong Fire; Trump Brushes Off Concerns Over Leaked Witkoff-Moscow Call. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired November 27, 2025 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:24]

BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all round the world. I'm Brian Abel. Thank you so much for being with us.

It is Thursday, November 27th, Thanksgiving here in the U.S. 5:00 a.m. here in Washington, D.C.

And straight ahead on EARLY START.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: Two West Virginia National Guardsmen shot in downtown Washington, D.C., just blocks from the White House.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This heinous assault was an act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror.

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Firefighters in Hong Kong are still working to put out isolated flames after a massive fire broke out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I received a message that the roof is on fire. Then it was spreading so quick, it was spreading in a snap.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm taking you behind the scenes here where they are blowing up the enormous balloons for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I really love seeing the balloon blow up. It doesn't matter what age you are, it's for everybody

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: We are following two major stories this morning. The rising death toll and the search for survivors in that massive apartment block fire in Hong Kong.

At least 55 people now dead. City officials have now ordered a criminal investigation and inspections of all housing estates undergoing major renovations. We will go live to Hong Kong in just a few moments to get the very latest. But first, here in the nation's capital, we are learning new details

about the man accused of shooting two national guardsmen near the White House. The Department of Homeland Security has identified the suspect as Rahmanullah Lakanwal. Sources say he is in custody and is not cooperating with police.

The FBI believes the suspect immigrated from Afghanistan in 2021. He was granted asylum in April this year. U.S. citizenship and immigration services say all immigration cases for afghan nationals have now been stopped indefinitely.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser says the guardsmen were targeted on Wednesday while on patrol. President Donald Trump called it a quote, monstrous, ambush style attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: This heinous assault was an act of evil, an act of hatred, and an act of terror. It was a crime against our entire nation. It was a crime against humanity. I have directed the department of war to mobilize an additional 500 troops to help protect our capital city. We will make America totally safe again. And we will bring the perpetrator of this barbaric attack to swift and certain justice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: Now, I do have to warn you. Some may find this next video we are about to show disturbing. It does show police giving chest compressions to one guardsman on the ground next to a shattered bus stop station.

You can then see what appears to be the second guardsman also on the ground, surrounded by police.

And joining me now is Donell Harvin, former D.C. chief of homeland security and intelligence. He also serves as faculty at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service.

So, Donell, thank you for letting us your insight to this terrible situation. First, what stands out to you the most so far from what you've seen and heard about this shooting?

DONELL HARVIN, FORMER DC CHIEF OF HOMELAND SECURITY & INTELLIGENCE: Well, what stands out that this individual traveled all the way from what appears to be Washington if this is correct, to the nation's capital and probably indiscriminately chose this target of what we call opportunity. And the difference in the significance of that is it's not like this individual chose these two national guards. People specifically for grievance. He was probably just walking around.

There's plenty of National Guard in D.C. if anyone's been here. And he chose the first two that he came across. There was no dispute. There was no verbal altercation like we see in other type of acts of violence. Raise a firearm and shot both of them

ABEL: So in your estimation, it wasn't -- it was because they were National Guards members, not any grievance of those individuals.

The Trump administration and the DOJ leaning heavily on the suspect being from Afghanistan. I do want you to listen to what the president said last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: This attack underscores the single greatest national security threat facing our nation.

[05:05:02]

The last administration led in 20 million unknown and unvetted foreigners from all over the world, from places that you don't want to even know about. No country can tolerate such a risk to our very survival.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: Donell, how do you believe the suspect being from Afghanistan, factors into this? Does that lead to questions on his vetting process? When he came to the states, or could it be there were no signs of this then, that he became disgruntled recently and his origins have nothing to do with his motive?

HARVIN: We don't know yet. But what I will tell you is just if you take basic statistics and if you take everything that the president says on face value, one attack out of 20 million people is statistically, statistically insignificant. And it paints a broad brush on all migrants. And certainly, we don't want to do that with Afghan migrants who are here legally under protected program, many of whom served with or alongside U.S. service members, helping to protect them in Afghanistan.

With that said, however we do know that that process was chaotic. We don't understand, and there's not really much clarity behind the vetting process, but not just the vetting process to get here and stay here. Have there been any follow up with these individuals? Have they had check-ins? If there's a threat profile with these individuals.

So that's, you know, those are very valid questions to ask. But painting these entire, this entire population with a broad brush is not helpful.

ABEL: And we saw that after 9/11, right, with Muslims in America and calls for people to not categorize them all as being bad actors.

I do want you to walk us through what happens next with this investigation and how investigators will be looking to see if anything was missed that could have prevented this. What questions need to be answered?

HARVIN: Well, where there are signs of radicalization, right? We've seen American U.S. citizens who are born and raised here, radicalized online by jihadi groups or violent extremist groups. And so, with the rise of signs of radicalization, was he in chat groups? Was he affiliated with people in person in his home state or some other place within the United States or outside of the United States? So, they'll be tracing his communications as much as they can via, you know, emails, texts. They'll be -- they -- I'm sure they have warrants already for his electronic devices to what we call interrogate his electronic devices. They'll look at his social media platforms that he may have transitioned through. Sorry. And they'll talk to associates if he has any coworkers family members and try to paint a picture of this individual, how he became radicalized if he was radicalized. And, you know, if he let anybody into it or if he's being manipulated or affiliated with other people who may be plotting something similar.

Keep in mind, we just came off the heels of the foiled October plot, in which there were people who were radicalized online planning to attack, over the Halloween weekend. So, this is a real threat that we're facing right now.

ABEL: And, Donell, is there any indication or could there potentially be a situation where resources being diverted elsewhere to immigration efforts, for example, and other aspects of law enforcement may have taken away from the ability of law enforcement to see any red flags with this individual?

HARVIN: Once again, you raise a very good point, and I think that this tragedy affords this government an opportunity to not only look at what our immigration posture is. Are we continuously vetting these individuals and making sure that they came here for the right reason, but they're still here for the right reason. But also, we have a very overtaxed immigration system, not only with investigators, not only with ICE agents, but also with the court system. Right.

We have an immigration court system that was overtaxed to begin with. And so, this is an opportunity to look at that. But it's also, I think, an opportunity to look at the posture of these National Guards people.

Are they really needed. Do we need another 500? Are they being properly trained? Are they given the tools and the tactics to survive in this type of environment? This is really once again a case study in how we can look at and take a step back and look at what were doing in terms of these policies.

ABEL: All right. Donell Harvin, really appreciate your expertise this morning, sir. I'm wishing you a good Thanksgiving. Thank you.

In the wake of the shooting, a nonprofit that helps Afghan immigrants is urging the public not to demonize the Afghan community in the U.S. its president condemning anyone who uses or seeks to use violence. And he said the Afghan evac group supports holding the perpetrator accountable.

[05:10:03]

But he added that the group rejects any attempt to leverage this tragedy as a political ploy, to isolate or harm Afghans who have resettled in the U.S. The death toll has jumped to 55 people in Hong Kong, where

firefighters are working to rescue survivors trapped in a huge apartment block that went up in flames. Nearly 300 people are still unaccounted for. Authorities do not know yet the cause of this fire, but they seem to have a good idea why it spread so quickly.

CNN's Hanako Montgomery is joining me now live from Hong Kong.

And, Hanako, you're at a shelter or you've been at a shelter for people displaced from this fire. What are they telling you?

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brian. Yes, as you said, I am at a shelter, one of nine that have popped up across the city since that very deadly fire began on Wednesday. Now, we have spoken to some survivors who are upstairs in this sports center turned emergency shelter. And of course, they say that they are completely distraught. They've lost many of their valuables, their homes in this horrible fire that ravaged seven buildings out of eight in this apartment complex.

In fact, here's what one survivor said about just how distressing this entire situation is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON KONG, APARTMENT RESIDENT: I'm devastated. There are so many neighbors and friends. I don't know what's going on anymore. All the apartments are just burning. I don't know what to do. I hope the government can help us to settle down after this

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MONTGOMERY: Now, Brian, I just want to note here that the chief executive of Hong Kong is actually currently holding a TV presser. This is the first time that he's spoken since the fire, and he has said -- he's confirmed that at least 55 people have died and the fires have been mostly contained.

And also, he has said that in these shelter areas, including the one behind me, at least 500 people are using them. And again, these individuals are people who lost their homes, their apartments in this fire, in this apartment complex, more than a third of these individuals were over the age of 65. So, there were some concerns about how they were able to properly evacuate.

Now, behind me, I don't know if you can see because its getting quite dark now. There are boxes of water bottles and also emergency food that many of these volunteers have been handing out to survivors. And inside there is a lot of bedding also distributed to people who are now displaced and don't have any shelter.

Now, Brian, as you mentioned at the top there, we don't yet know the exact cause of this fire, but there are lots of questions raised about why it spread so quickly, and perhaps also the fact that many materials used to rebuild some of these buildings because it was under construction, were indeed flammable. Many of the authorities have said that perhaps these construction

sites were using, for instance, bamboo scaffolding and also plastics that were flammable and may have contributed to the fire spreading much more quickly. And of course, much more deadly -- Brian.

ABEL: A lot of questions left to be answered.

Hanako Montgomery for us in Hong Kong -- Hanako, thank you.

A prosecutor in the state of Georgia has killed the last case hanging over President Trump in connection with his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, which he lost. The move means Trump and his 18 coconspirators will face no legal consequences for their alleged efforts to interfere with the votes, though Georgia prosecutor said bringing the case before a jury in 2029 or later would be nothing short of a remarkable feat, and that any attempt to try him separately would be unduly burdensome and costly for the state.

The case peaked in August of 2023, when Donald Trump surrendered to an Atlanta jail and was forced to provide this mug shot. The other federal cases against President Trump were previously dismissed.

Still to come, icy roads, wind and rain across the U.S. this Thanksgiving. We'll show you how the weather is impacting travel and bringing you the latest forecast.

Plus, Pope Leo making his first overseas trip since becoming the head of the Catholic Church. We'll have a live report on the pontiff's visit to the Middle East.

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[05:18:39]

ABEL: Holiday traffic was out in full force last night in Los Angeles. Look at this. AAA projects at least 73 million people are traveling by road for the holiday. Over a million more than last Thanksgiving.

Some people are also traveling by train, with Amtrak predicting a record breaking travel season with more travelers than the 1.2 million people who took the train last year.

And you might be battling snow if you are on the roads and some of the northern U.S. states. These here, pictures from Minnesota after a semitrucks jackknifed in Blizzard conditions. More snow is in the forecast for later this week.

CNN's Allison Chinchar has the Thanksgiving forecast.

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ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: For anyone who has any last minute travel plans, truly, on Thanksgiving Day, the southern tier of the U.S. actually looks relatively dry. It's the northern part of the country where were really going to see the bulk of the problems. Weve got rain and snow across portions of the northwest, snow around

the Midwest and Great Lakes region, and even some rain right there along the coast of the mid-Atlantic region. But the snow is the concern because this is where it could pile up in really high amounts. Now widespread, most of these areas likely to get a couple of inches here, but especially if you're on the eastern flanks of the Great Lakes, you could be looking at least a foot of snow before all of it is finally said and done.

And wind is also going to be an issue. It's really strong early in the day on Thursday in the Midwest, but we gradually start to see those winds beginning to pick up across the northeast as we make our way through the day.

[05:20:07]

So, here's a look at the system as a whole. Slowly sliding off to the east and north as we go through Thanksgiving Day, but still providing some snow even into the day on Friday as well. For those who are concerned about the actual parade taking place, as we mentioned, dry conditions. But the thing is going to be wind. That's going to be the biggest concern. Some of those gusts up around that 20 mile per hour range, the temperatures themselves will be in the low 40s.

But when you factor in that wind, it's going to feel more like its in the mid to upper 30s. So definitely bundle up if you are planning to head out to not just the parade, but really parades or festivals anywhere tomorrow. Because look at some of these feels like temperatures to start off the day, Thursday, even down into the deep south, you're looking at those feels like temperatures in the 20s, 25 in Atlanta, 23 in Nashville, barely above the freezing mark for Jackson and even Jacksonville.

So again, it's going to be a very, very cold day. And for many of these areas, we spent much of the last couple of weeks above average temperature wise. Now we're going to see the opposite. Take a look at New York City several degrees below the 50, which is where they normally would be this time of year. Atlanta should be about 60 degrees.

We're going to see those temperatures about 5 to 10 degrees below average. And that is likely going to stick around for the rest of the weekend.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: All right. Allison, thank you.

The U.S. president is brushing off concerns about Steve Witkoff after a leaked conversation between the special envoy and a Putin aide. More on that ahead.

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[05:26:06] ABEL: Donald Trump may have backed off his Thanksgiving deadline for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, but he's still pushing ahead in his effort to stop the fighting. And now he's also defending special envoy Steve Witkoff over a leaked phone call with Moscow.

"Bloomberg" published a transcript of an October call between Witkoff and a top aide to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, which showed Witkoff counseling the aide on how Putin should approach a call with Trump. It's noted he even encouraged the Russian official to have Putin speak with Trump before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held talks with the U.S. president at the White House.

Witkoff is set to travel to Moscow next week, and the transcript has caused concern among some Republican lawmakers including Don Bacon, who wrote, quote, it is clear that Witkoff fully favors the Russians. He cannot be trusted to lead these negotiations with a Russian paid agent do less than he. He should be fired.

CNN's Clare Sebastian joins us now from London.

And, Clare, that was a fairly blistering critique. Are there any signs this leak has impacted negotiations?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Brian. Certainly not in terms of the team involved, as you said, the Trump administration is very much still backing Witkoff. Trump brushed aside any concerns around that call, calling it standard negotiation. And Russia says it's still expecting Witkoff. Although no date has set, the deputy foreign minister saying that we will work with whatever he brings, and we know that Russia has some version of this updated peace plan. They said they received something two days ago and there are some positive elements.

But the Kremlin cautioning this week not to expect any peace settlement anytime soon. So, this is now back to a sort of slow grind of diplomacy. From the flurry that we've seen this week. But clearly, as you pointed out, the Witkoff leaked call with Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov has set off a bipartisan firestorm in Washington.

A couple more reactions. I want to bring you Democratic Congressman Ted Lieu, posting on X, "Actual traitor Steve Witkoff is supposed to work for United States, not Russia." And then on the other side of the aisle, Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick calling this a major problem, he says, and one of the many reasons why these ridiculous sideshows and secret meetings need to stop. He is the co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus and has moved to try to force a vote on a powerful secondary sanctions bill against Russia next week. So, we'll see where that goes.

But clearly, there is a lot of controversy around this. I think, look, the result of this, as I said, is that it probably will go down as another episode of political and diplomatic turmoil in a very long period of negotiation and efforts to end this war. And I think obviously providing new evidence to Ukraine that there is a significant risk that the Trump administration's position defaults to pro-Russian. And I think this is why we see Zelensky in his overnight address arguing or pushing back against what he says are narratives that Russia is peddling, that its victory is inevitable. And I think the reality on the ground is much more complicated than that.

I just want to bring you some quotes from the Washington based think tank, the Institute for the Study of War, which posted this week. The reality on the battlefield indicates that a Russian victory in Ukraine is far from certain. They point out that Russian forces, for example, have not seized Pokrovsk, a town of 11-1/2 square miles, despite operating within the town for 118 days.

So, I think we need to guard against these narratives and look closely at the situation on the ground, which is a lot more nuanced than the narrative that was coming from Russia -- Brian.

ABEL: Incredibly complicated. And another twist in the negotiations.

Clare Sebastian for us in London -- Clare, thank you.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump says South Africa is not invited to next year's G20 summit near Miami, adding that the longtime ally, in his words, is not worthy of membership anywhere. Johannesburg hosted this year's summit last weekend, but the U.S. boycotted the event amid