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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

City Mourns At Least 151 Killed In Deadly Hong Kong Blaze; Democrats Trying To Flip House Seat In Tennessee; Mass Shooting In California Leave Four Dead, 11 Wounded. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired December 01, 2025 - 05:30   ET

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

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[05:31:55]

BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: Fourteen people have been arrested in Hong Kong as the death toll from a deadly fire has risen to 151 people. Authorities are combing through the ruined high-rise apartment blocks searching through the charred remains to find anyone still missing.

CNN's Kristie Lu Stout is live for us in Hong Kong outside of that housing complex. And Kristie, with each day we are getting more clarity about the aftermath of the deadly blaze. What is the latest?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Brian, this is a community that is united in grief. Hong Kong is in mourning after the devastating and horrific high-rise fire that took place at a residential complex here in Tai Po.

And the scene behind me this evening -- you're seeing a number of people coming through to remember everything that has been lost. Residents of Hong Kong leaving notes of condolence, leaving flowers. Also, opening weeping and praying and remembering the lives that were lost here.

And Brian, we do have a very grim update to share with you. We know now that at least 151 people have died from this fire disaster. Some 30 people, at least, are missing. And among the dead and missing you have Hong Kong residents, including the elderly. You have a Hong Kong firefighter. You also have caregivers and migrant workers from Indonesia and the Philippines also among the dead, and thousands more have been displaced as result of (audio gap).

Authorities here say that will take three to four weeks.

Hong Kong police have released photographs of what it looks like inside the building. You see the charred interiors as Hong Kong police force make that delicate recovery operation searching floor by floor.

There behind me in the distance you can see under the moonlight is the building itself and what it looks like now. Hong Kong police and authorities says that the fire began in the lower floors and then spread throughout the complexes there, and that the building was undergoing renovation work at the time and it was surrounded by this green protective mesh that authorities have now deemed as not meeting safety standards, as well as highly flammable polystyrene foam boards.

Again, back to the community here. People are trying to make sense, especially given the scale of this disaster. They are her mourning, remembering. We've heard from residents who not only are grieving but they are also demanding answers and accountability. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN CHAN, TAI PO RESIDENT (through translator): Our Tai Po district might be the safest neighborhood in Hong Kong. The crime rate is very low, but low crime rate does not mean no casualties. There are human errors, wrong decisions being made, and grieving people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STOUT: Again, at least 151 people have died as a result of this high- rise blaze. Some 14 arrests have been made. And we were listening in to a Hong Kong police conference earlier today. The police are not ruling out more arrests.

Back to you, Brian.

[05:35:00]

ABEL: Such a terrible tragedy and families of those still missing still waiting for answers.

STOUT: Yeah.

ABEL: Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong for us. Kristie, thank you.

Still to come, Democrats are hoping to flip a ruby red congressional district in Tennessee that Trump won by double digits. How this race could be a bellwether for the 2026 midterms. That's next.

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[05:40:00]

ABEL: Welcome back to EARLY START. This is your business breakout.

Let's take a check of U.S. futures ahead of the opening bell on Wall Street in the coming hours. Right now all three major indices are slightly down after last week's holiday-shortened week.

And checking some of today's business headlines.

It's Cyber Monday in the U.S. with online retailers offering tons of deals to attract post-Thanksgiving shoppers and experts believe spending could approach record levels. This comes after online shoppers spent nearly $12 billion on Black Friday. That's up more than nine percent from last year, according to one analyst.

Disney is back at the top of the box office with its newest animated adventure. "Zootopia 2" brought in an estimated $556 million in global movie ticket sales over the Thanksgiving weekend, with $156 million in sales domestically. That makes this film the second-best Thanksgiving domestic debut behind another Disney animated sequel, "Moana 2."

Revenues at Chinese military firms fell last year amid a corruption crackdown, according to a thinktank study analyzed by Reuters. It comes as the wider global industry grows due to conflict in Ukraine and Gaza. The military has been one of the main targets for Chinese leader Xi Jinping's attempts to purge corruption in the country.

While the year may be racing to an end there is still one more congressional election happening -- this one in Tennessee. Can Democrats flip a district that Trump won by double digits?

CNN's chief data analyst Harry Enten explains how this race can be a bellwether for 2026.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: We can't make it to the end of the year without first holding a special election in Tennessee's 7th congressional district this Tuesday, and it is a ruby red district. A ruby red district in which the Democrats should not even come close to winning. It had a GOP rep, of course. That rep decided to step aside.

And it's also a district in which Donald Trump has absolutely dominated. I mean, take a look at his margins in the past couple of elections. In 2016, he won it by 17 points. In 2020, Donald Trump won it by 15. In 2024, he won it by 22 points. A close GOP win on Tuesday, while it would still be a win, would be a sign of weakness for the Republican Party.

So what do we actually expect on Tuesday in Tennessee's 7th congressional district? Well, take a look here. This is the chances in the Tennessee 7th special election, and this is the prediction market odds. This is according to Kalshi, the prediction market.

Look at this. The most likely outcome is a GOP win, but by under 10 points -- a 71 percent chance. Compare that to this. Look at this. There's actually a chance of a Democrat win -- a 15 percent chance of a Democratic win in a district that Donald Trump carried by 22 points -- 22 points back in 2024.

So even here, if the GOP wins by under 10 points, that most likely outcome is actually a very bad outcome for Republicans compared to the presidential baseline, and we're talking about Democrats outperforming the 2024 presidential baseline by double digits.

Now, if this was just happening in Tennessee's 7th congressional district -- what we expect to happen -- that is a big Democratic overperformance. That would be one thing. But we've actually had five other special elections so far for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2025. And what we've seen in each and every single on of them is the Democrats outrunning Kamala Harris.

What are we talking about? Well, this is the 2025 U.S. House special elections -- Democrats outrunning Kamala Harris. They did so in the southwest in Arizona's 7th district. They did it in Florida. Florida won -- Florida 6. They did it in Texas -- Texas 18th district. And they did in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. in Virginia's 11th district.

So even a close Democratic loss, which is I think the most likely outcome in Tennessee's 7th congressional district on Tuesday -- that would match a pattern of big-time Democratic overperformances in special elections. So far, they've been outperforming the 2024 presidential baseline by over 15 points.

We'll see if Democrats are able to do that on Tuesday. But at this point it looks like the most likely outcome is Democrats outperforming the 2024 baseline by at least 10 percentage points, and that could be very, very good news for them come 2026.

Why do I say that? Even if they were to lose on Tuesday and Republicans were able to hold on to the 7th district -- well, take a look through history. Let's take a look through history. All right, special elections and midterm results. When a party outperformed in special elections since 20025 -- get this -- five out of five times that party went on to win the U.S. House of Representatives in the following midterm election.

So even if Democrats are not able to capture the 7th district, it is a very good sign for them going forward. Now, of course, we haven't held the special election yet. We'll have to wait and see what happens.

And the midterm election is still, what, 11 months away, but at this point all signs point to Democrats doing significantly better on Tuesday than they did back in 2024 in Tennessee's 7th congressional district. And when you put that together with the prior special House elections this year it paints a very good picture for Democrats heading into 2026.

[05:45:12]

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ABEL: All right, Harry Enten there.

Still to come, a child's birthday party ends with gunshots in California. The latest on the mass shooting that left four people dead and nearly a dozen injured. That story and more, next.

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

[05:50:00]

The Kremlin says Russian President Vladimir Putin will receive Donald Trump's special envoy in Moscow this week. Steve Witkoff is set to travel to Russia today for negotiations on a U.S.-backed plan to end Russia's war in Ukraine. This trip comes a day after he and other U.S. officials held talks with a high-level Ukrainian delegation in Florida.

President Trump is defending his Defense secretary amid reports of a double-tap strike an alleged drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean. Some lawmakers say the follow-up attack on September 2, which killed survivors and ultimately sank the vessel, could amount to a U.S. war crime. But Pete Hegseth denies giving the order and the president says he believes him "100 percent."

Parts of the U.S. are set to see even more snow and rain after a holiday weekend of winter weather. Icy conditions caused problems on the roads and at airports, creating massive delays in travel. The new winter weather system is expected to make temperatures dip even further as it moves across the country.

A 27-year-old accused of killing a U.S. health insurance CEO last year is due to appear in a New York court today. Luigi Mangione's attorneys are seeking to have key evidence tossed from his state murder case. They argue items such as his diary entries, which prosecutors refer to as a manifesto, were illegally obtained from his backpack without a warrant during his arrest. State prosecutors have denied these claims and the hearing over the disputed evidence is expected to last several days.

Mangione also faces a federal death penalty case, which is set to resume in January. Lawyers in that case are attempting to get similar evidence removed.

A child's birthday party ending with gunshots in California on Saturday, leaving four people dead; three of them children. It happened -- it happened in Stockton, California at a banquet hall where the party was being held. On Sunday, a vigil held in Stockton to honor the victims.

The city's vice mayor urged the shooter to surrender.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON LEE, VICE MAYOR, STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA: And I hope that people out there in our community make the right choice and contact law enforcement. Call me, call the mayor, call whoever you know. Call the pastors, call your friend. Turn yourself in. Because at some point the redemption for what you did is going to happen when you see the person that created you, but you can start that process by turning yourself in and doing the right thing today.

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ABEL: CNN's Julia Vargas Jones has more as the hunt for the suspect continues.

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JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are learning more about those victims. Of the four people killed, two of them were young children just eight and nine years old, along with a teenager -- a 14- year-old -- and a 21-year-old. Eleven others were wounded, according to a spokesperson for the San Joaquin Sheriff's Office who spoke on Sunday to media. We don't yet know the conditions or any other details about those who were taken to area hospitals. Investigators were told that this was a family gathering of 100 to 150

people celebrating a birthday for a young child. The shooting took place just before 6:00 p.m. in a banquet hall in the northern part of the city. The suspected shooter fled and remains at large.

Here are some more details of that investigation.

HEATHER BRENT, SPOKESPERSON, SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: We still believe with preliminary investigation that this incident was a targeted incident and that there is no possible harm to the -- to the community.

JONES: Officials are urging the public to help with information as detectives work to piece together a possible motive here. Investigators say that they are exploring all possibilities at this point.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has been briefed on the shooting, according to his office. And Stockton Mayor Christina Fugazi said in a statement that the governor has "offered the full support of the state of California to assist her community."

This shooting is, of course, part of a troubling trend nationwide. There have been at least 380 mass shootings in the U.S. so far this year. That's defined as when at least four people are shot, not including the shooter, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

Stockton are faith leaders and community members now holding a vigil to honor the lives lost, pray for the injured, and stand with their community.

Julia Vargas Jones, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: Julia, thank you.

We will be right back.

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[05:58:50]

ABEL: Week 13 in the NFL and Sunday's action ended with a thriller between the Washington Commanders and the visiting Denver Broncos. This one -- it was tight from beginning to end. Washington's Treylon Burks made one of the best plays of the night -- a spectacular one- handed touchdown catch from five yards out. The Commanders led by one at that point.

The game goes to overtime. Denver scored an early touchdown, but Washington marched right back with a score of their own. They went for two and the win, but a Broncos defender knocking the pass down. Denver escapes with a 27-26 victory, their ninth-straight win.

No LeBron, no problem. The streaking Los Angeles Lakers winning their seventh-straight against the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday. Luka Doncic pouring in 20 points in the first quarter alone to make up for LeBron's absence with a sore foot. Doncic ended with 34 points, and Austin Reeves added 33. The Lakers beating the Pelicans 133-121 to improve to 15-4 for the season.

[06:00:05]

Well, the spirit of Christmas is shining bright in the Czech Republic. The annual lighting of the Christmas tree taking place in Prague's Old Town Square on Saturday. Look at that -- beautiful. Thousands of visitors packed the popular holiday destination to see the lighting of the 62-year-old Spruce, as well as the unveiling of the city's famed Christmas Market. The Christmas tree will be lit daily through this month and will be accompanied by an animated light show.

I would love to see that in person.

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