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CNN This Morning

Lake-Effect Storm Bringing Heavy Snow To Great Lakes Region; Justin Trudeau Visits Trump At Mar-a-Lago; Bomb Threats Against Members Of Congress From Connecticut; Syrian Rebels Breach City Of Aleppo, In Biggest Advance in Years. Black Friday Deals This Year Jump to a Record $6.1 Billion on Thanksgiving Day; Costco Recalls Eggs Citing Salmonella Concerns; Chinese Crypto Entrepreneur Eats Banana Artwork Bought for $6.2 Million. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired November 30, 2024 - 06:00   ET

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

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[06:00:32]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Good morning. And welcome to CNN This Morning. It is Saturday, November 30th. November is a wrap already. It's time to move into the end of the year. Good to have you here. I'm Victor Blackwell.

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And I'm MJ Lee. And for my good friend Amara Walker, here is what we're working on for you this morning, a winter weather double whammy. Just as millions of Americans head home for the holidays.

Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is tracking the system that could drop up to six feet of lake effect snow on parts of New York and send temperatures plunging in other places.

BLACKWELL: And tariff talk at Mar-a-Lago last night. What we know about Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's dinner with President- Elect Trump just days after Trump promised massive tariffs.

LEE: And Syria's civil war reignites as rebel forces push further into Aleppo for the first time in years in a surprise offensive. We're live with the latest developments.

BLACKWELL: Plus, the mystery at 30,000 feet what we know about the investigation into a stowaway who allegedly bypassed several security checkpoints at one of the busiest airports in the world.

All right, opposed? Thanksgiving weekend kicks off with this really rough blast of arctic air across the east coast and lake effect snow in portions of the Great Lakes.

LEE: The National Weather Service is calling this season's first major lake effect snow, quote, paralyzing. Take a look at this stranded car. The dangerous driving conditions in Erie, Pennsylvania. Snowplows are trying to clear the roads as quickly as possible. Many travelers, some possibly trying to make it back from the Thanksgiving holiday facing near whiteout conditions. And check out the snow here creeping higher outside of this home.

Also in Pennsylvania, the weather service is expecting an extra four to five feet of lake effect snow. And that's on top of the two feet of snow that was dumped in some other parts. The alarming rate of lake effect snow falling 2 to 4 inches per hour. That's according to New York Governor Kathy Hochul. State agencies are working to clear the roads with portions of major highways shut down.

The heaviest snow hitting western New York and north country regions. Let's get to CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar. Allison, where are you seeing the biggest snow threat right now?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right, it's really going to be on the areas where we've already had a tremendous amount of snow because it's hard for those snowplows to keep up with it. As you mentioned, coming down at 2 to 4 inches an hour. So any travel right now on Interstate 90 stretching from Cleveland up through Buffalo is going to be very dicey in some parts. And even Interstate 81 going from Syracuse up to Watertown, also going to be pretty extreme.

But you also have snow elsewhere. You've got snow coming down in portions of Michigan, Ohio, but the real focus is going to be on portions of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. This is where we are expecting those tremendously high totals up to six feet by the time this is all said and done. It's not the only place.

Though, you also have some winter weather alerts a little bit farther south. This includes places like St. Louis and Louisville, Kentucky, likely to get just a couple of inches there. So nothing near what we're expecting near the lakes, but still some impacts there, especially if you have some travel plans in some of those cities.

The highest totals though, again, you're still looking at an additional maybe one to three feet along portions of northern Ohio, areas of Pennsylvania and western New York. And then up here near Watertown, that's where we could be looking at an extra three to five feet on top of what we've already seen come down. Part of the reason we're getting that extreme snow is the cold air that's starting to rush back down.

Take a look at some of these temperatures. 17 right now in Chicago, but it feels like 5 because of the wind. Minneapolis, it feels like it's minus 7 right now with that windchill. But it's not just the north. Look at this. Over 70 percent of the U.S. population is expected to see temperatures at or below freezing over the couple of days.

And yes, that dips pretty far south. Take a look at this all the way down to the Gulf Coast. You have these frost and freeze warnings in effect just because of how cold it's going to get this morning. And for some areas it's going to be quite a prolonged cold wave. You're going to see several cities, Atlanta, St. Louis, Chicago, all looking at several days of those temperatures well below where they should be. Take for example, Washington, DC. The average high this time of year, 51 degrees. They are going to spend every single one of the next seven days below that threshold.

[06:05:04]

So, guys, I know you've got them, especially you, Victor. You've got those ugly Christmas sweaters in the closet. You are going to need them this week.

BLACKWELL: There is nothing ugly in my closet, Allison Chinchar, just to let you know, sweaters. Yes. And to be serious here, the temperatures are a problem, but the accumulation as people start to make the way home after Thanksgiving, that's really the dangerous part.

All right, Allison Chinchar, thanks so much. We're waiting to learn details of incoming President Donald Trump's meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. They dined at Mar-a-Lago last.

LEE: Night and they were there with members of their inner circle. CNN's Alayna Treene with the latest this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, Victor and MJ, President Elect Donald Trump hosted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at Mar-a- Lago for dinner on Friday evening. And really, this is a very important moment, really a flashpoint of sorts in their relationship. It came just days after Donald Trump had issued that threat to impose massive tariffs on both Canada as well as Mexico if the countries did not do enough to crack down on drugs and migrants coming over both the northern and southern borders, respectively.

Now, we actually did hear Justin Trudeau address that threat Friday morning, hours before he flew to Florida to meet with Donald Trump. And he said that if Donald Trump were to carry out that threat, that it would be hurting Americans and American businesses. I'm going to read for you some of what he said.

Trudeau said, quote, it is important to understand that Donald Trump, when he makes statements like that, he plans on carrying them out. There's no question about it. He continued, 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.

Now, again, Donald Trump and Justin Trudeau do know each other quite well. They work together during Donald Trump's first term. And Trudeau's team was really a key factor in negotiating the North America Free Trade Agreement, more commonly known as NAFTA, during Donald Trump's first administration as well.

Now, we also know that shortly after Donald Trump had first issued that threat earlier this week, Trudeau and Donald Trump got on the phone. This is what the Canadian prime minister said about his relationship with Trump. He said, quote, this is a relationship that we know takes a certain amount of working on and that's what we'll do. Now, I'm sure that conversation around how to have this negotiation

and how this will be carried out moving forward was brought up at that dinner. But we're still waiting to learn more details of exactly what was discussed in the specific nature of some of those conversations. Victor, MJ.

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LEE: All right. Joining us now is Punchbowl News congressional reporter Max Cohen. Max, thank you for being here bright and early this morning. You saw Alayna's reporting there from Palm Beach. I am just struck by how quickly Prime Minister Trudeau got himself to Mar- a-Lago to meet with Trump just days after he made these tariff threats.

Let's listen to the sound first of what the prime minister told reporters about Trump before their meeting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: One of the things that is really important to understand is that, you know, Donald Trump, when he makes statements like that, he plans on carrying them out. There's no question about it.

Our responsibility is to point out that in this way, he would be actually not just harming Canadians who, who work so well with the United States, he'd actually be raising prices for American citizens as well and hurting American industry and businesses.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: So the prime minister clearly made his case to Trump on tariffs. Max, do you think that kind overture works with the incoming president?

MAX COHEN, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, PUNCHBOWL NEWS: I think, as you mentioned, it is remarkable that Trudeau made the journey so quickly, you know, months before Trump has even sworn in as president. Right. But I'm not sure if this overture is necessarily going to work right away. What Trudeau was saying about tariffs is what most economists do believe is that this may raise prices for Americans here at home.

But Donald Trump, throughout the entire 2024 campaign, said tariff was one of his favorite words in the English dictionary. He's obsessed with this plan. This is a plan that he thinks won him the election. And when Trump deals with foreign leaders, he always deals, as he says in public, America first. And that doesn't go down well with leaders like Trudeau or Claudia Sheinbaum in Mexico. But that's what Trump has said he's going to do.

So it's definitely notable that Trudeau made the journey to physically see Trump, but I'm not sure if it will be effective.

LEE: Yes. And you know, we're clearly seeing this real scramble right now among world leaders to get a hold of Trump, whether it's at Mar-a- Lago or reaching him on the phone. Earlier this week, we saw Mexico's President, Claudia Sheinbaum, speaking with Trump on the phone. It's interesting. Their accounts of that conversation were quite different.

[06:10:00]

You know, he said she agreed to stop migration through Mexico. She says she never said that. What's going on here?

COHEN: I think this is a constant feature of a lot of President-Elect Trump's conversations with foreign leaders. Sometimes hears what he wants to hear, even if the other person on the phone might say, hold up, that's not what I said. I think the larger pattern here is that Donald Trump's plan to put tariffs on Mexico and Canada will drastically change life for citizens in all three nations. And foreign leaders, as we just talked about, are already scrambling to try to avoid the fallout of what that could be.

And I think it's just remarkable. Again, all this is happening before Trump has even taken office. This is a new Washington. This is a new world, and foreign leaders are taking notice.

LEE: Yes. And somebody else that weighed in this week on the potential tariffs against Canada and Mexico that Trump is proposing is President Biden. He told reporters in Nantucket that he hopes Trump will rethink those threats. Those words from the outgoing president, do you think they have any sway on an issue like this?

COHEN: I have to say I don't think President Joe Biden has a tremendous amount of political capital at this moment. But I think to look at those comments for just a brief second, it's indicative of how different the two parties treat international relations, trade affairs. Right.

Democrats say we need to work with the rest of the world. Everything working together will benefit everyone in America and everyone in foreign countries. Donald Trump has a much more cynical, pessimistic view of the world. The, quote, America first vision. But frankly, he can say, this is what the voters have delivered.

They elected me to the White House Republicans majority in the House and Senate, and I can kind of work my will. So Biden can say all he want, but unfortunately, it will be a Republican trifecta in Washington next year.

LEE: All right, so, Max, before I let you go, Congress is coming back into session next week. You are about to be very busy again. Your best predictions on what these final weeks of 2024 will look like on Capitol Hill.

COHEN: Yes, it's a great question. Congress is coming back Monday and they have a lot on their plate. Congress has to fund the government. Funding runs out December 20th. We will probably see a short term continuing resolution to fund the government. Whether that will be until the first couple months of 2025 will be a big question. Right. Because it will allow Donald Trump and his new Cabinet either not a lot of time to deal with legislative priorities. Because if you have to deal with a coming government funding deadline

in, let's say March 2025 or February. That's a big issue in my opinion, for how they're going to deal with their aggressive agenda of securing the border, energy production, et cetera.

So that's what I'm looking out for. Another thing that viewers should look out for is a National Defense Authorization Act to authorize funds for the United States military that also has to be passed before the end of the year.

LEE: All right, a lot to get done there. You will be covering all of that. Good luck. Max Cohen, thanks so much.

BLACKWELL: Still ahead, the FBI is now investigating new bomb threats that were made against Democratic members of Congress. Plus, there's a new offensive in Aleppo, Syria after years of a frozen front there. How far rebel forces have advanced into the Syrian city. And shoppers spent a lot of money this Black Friday, especially online. We'll tell you what led this multibillion dollar shopping spree.

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[06:18:10]

BLACKWELL: Several Democrats were targeted by bomb threats while celebrating Thanksgiving with their families. While all threats were deemed false and families are safe, the incidents echo similar threats made earlier in the week against several of the president elect's cabinet picks. Authorities are now working to determine if there's a connection between these threats.

Let's bring in now Jonathan Wackrow, former Secret Service special agent and CNN law enforcement analyst. Jonathan, good to have you. Let's start here with, you know, it appears that there's no real rhyme or reason here. Is there any ideological, politically driven theme to these or is it just targeting the big names?

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, good morning, Victor. You know, law enforcement has known for a long time that these, you know, large scale deployments of police assets, you know, intended as a hoax are used as a political or ideological weapon. The way I like to think of this is think of swatting as a physical consequence of a disinformation campaign.

But the reality is that for many, this is a common aspect of life for anybody who's actually in the public domain. Think about who's been being targeted right now. Incoming administration officials, you know, leaders, you know, political leaders. All of these people who hold prominent or in some instances controversial positions, you know, are targets. Unfortunately, these acts are becoming harder and harder to stop.

So the president elect has promised to use the Department of Justice to prosecute his political opponents. If the targeting of Democrats continues, would that impact the response from law enforcement or the investigation into who's responsible for these? WACKROW: Listen, you know, law enforcement has to look at every single

one of these incidents individually and then see where there is, you know, connectivity investigatively to an organized, you know, group that is, you know, targeting a specific political ideology.

[06:20:10]

But you have to think about this. In the moment that these acts are occurring, law enforcement does not know that this is a hoax. So that's why you're seeing such a large scale mobilization of law enforcement, because they think it's either an active shooter or some sort of critical event that necessitate a large scale response. That is why these events are so terrifying and again are utilized as a political weapon to intimidate the individuals that they're focused on.

BLACKWELL: Jonathan, how often are these hoaxes prosecuted?

WACKROW: Well, listen, it's becoming very difficult to prosecute these hoaxes. Now, recently, as early as this month, federal officials including the United States Secret Service, HSI, FBI, prosecuted a teenager for actually coordinating a basically swatting for hire campaign.

But that is becoming the rarity. Why? Because the availability of information online, the ability to execute a very low risk, high impact intimidation tactic is becoming difficult for law enforcement to prosecute because individuals are hiding in the digital domain. They're able to mask their own identity, but launch these significant impact events.

BLACKWELL: And it's not clear really that these calls are all domestic. Right. Some of these are rooted overseas and are using some people to make these threats.

WACKROW: Yes, absolutely. This is an appealing tactic foreign actors because the risk of detection, again, very low, the risk of prosecution is almost, you know, absent and the tools are readily available. When I mean tools, it's tools and data, the availability of personal information online. So your telephone number, your address, your family members, the availability for a hostile actor to get that. Then couple that, especially overseas, with the utilization of voice over Internet protocol, which is essentially making telephone calls over the internet that mask the location.

So I can make a telephone call from Russia over the internet and make it look like it is coming from a local town in Connecticut. That is dangerous. But it's a tool set that is being used by foreign hostile actors, again, all with the aim of intimidating the intended target.

BLACKWELL: Can you just detail for us the cost to local law enforcement when they have to respond as if this is a real emergency, an actual threat of a bomb?

WACKROW: Well, listen, the ultimate cost is going to be in human lives, right? Because what happens is, especially in these smaller municipalities where resources, public safety resources are scarce, when you have to mobilize at such a large scale for an active shooter situation, what you're doing is you're pulling those resources away from other people that may need those critical resources, such as EMS, fire and law enforcement. So that is the ultimate price.

When you start looking at, you know, the volume at which we're seeing this, law enforcement is challenged because they have to respond, as I said before, with the intensity that they would on any other type of event. You're drawing and pulling in specialized resources such as bomb technicians, canine resources, you know, if it is, you know, something, a specific threat that they have to address.

But again, there are significant financial costs, but the cost to the community can be even greater in pulling these resources away.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And you've explained this morning why it's unlikely that this trend is going to change soon. Jonathan Wackrow, thanks so much.

LEE: This morning after an eight-year pause, a surprise attack in Syria as rebel forces reignite civil war taking over much of the city of Aleppo. You're looking at the new video of the aftermath. Syria's military saying they are facing what they call a major attack and reinforcing different locations. But some residents say the country's military forces have retreated from many communities. CNN senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman is following all of the late breaking developments. Ben, what can you tell us?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, MJ what this is a massive lightning offensive that was launched just on Wednesday. And by yesterday evening, what we saw was that these rebel forces had gone to the very center of Aleppo, to the ancient citadel that is at the heart of the city.

And it appears that they're not really running into much resistance from the Syrian regime or its allies.

[06:25:04]

For instance, fighters from Hezbollah who had been sent to Syria during the civil war, but many of whom have been pulled back to Lebanon as a result of the war with Israel. Now, the government, the Syrian Defense Ministry, did put out a statement saying that they had sustained dozens of casualties among their ranks as a result of this rebel attack and that they were they put out the statement is rather it's worded in such a way. They said that this attack has prompted what they called a strategic redeployment aimed at reinforcing defensive lines.

That's basically retreat. It appears that they have pulled out of many parts of Aleppo at this point. They say they're preparing for a counteroffensive.

And what we have seen is that Russia, which deployed air assets to Syria back in September 2015, essentially rescuing the Syrian government in its fight against the opposition, that they have been conducting some airstrikes outside of Aleppo and in the adjacent Idlib province. But it appears that even there they haven't really been able to blunt this rebel attack.

Keeping in mind, of course, that the rebels were driven out of Aleppo back in 2016, but it appears that at this point, even though they haven't taken full control of the city, that basically without much resistance from the regime, they've been able to take control of large parts of Aleppo, which of course, is Syria's second largest city. MJ.

LEE: all right, Ben Wedeman, thank you so much for that report. Meanwhile, Elon Musk is intervening in the legal dispute between Alex Jones and the Sandy Hook family. And coming up, why Musk is objecting to the sale of Jones social media accounts.

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[06:30:00]

LEE: And here are some other headlines we are following. Consumers got a jump on Black Friday deals this year spending a record $6.1 billion on Thanksgiving Day alone. Cyber week is also off to a strong start with online sales reaching $3.6 billion so far, better-than- expected discounts had shoppers making more expensive purchases in top categories like electronics and apparel.

The National Retail Federation predicts a record 183.4 million people will shop between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday. Meanwhile, Costco is recalling more than 10,000 cartons of organic eggs due to concerns of a potential salmonella contamination. The organic pasture raised 24- count eggs were sold under the Kirkland signature brand.

The farm that supplied the eggs said they distributed them to 25 Costco locations across Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. As of now, there have been no reported illnesses linked to the recall, people who purchased the recalled eggs should throw them out or return them to Costco for a full refund.

And this is the moment that crypto entrepreneur and Chinese billionaire Justin Sun ate a $6 million banana. He bought the banana at an auction as part of a conceptual art piece called Comedian. The piece features a banana duct-taped to the wall, and over the years, the banana has been eaten and replaced multiple times. Sun says that by eating it, he has become a part of its history. Victor?

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CO-ANCHOR, CNN THIS MORNING WEEKEND: Six million dollars for a banana just to eat it afterward, but you know, it's his money, do with it what he chooses. Speaking of doing what you want with your money, let's talk about Elon Musk. He's now inserting himself into the legal fight over Alex Jones paying off Sandy Hook families he defamed.

Now, Jones was ordered to pay $1.5 billion to the families, but when the sale of Jones' Infowars social media account on X was included in an auction to fulfill the debt, Musk stepped into that legal fight. Let's discuss now with judge and trial attorney Ashley Willcott. Judge, thanks for coming in. ASHLEY WILLCOTT, TRIAL ATTORNEY & RETIRED JUVENILE COURT JUDGE: Thank

you for having me, honored.

BLACKWELL: So, this is all in those terms and agreements that we never read. And it comes down to who actually owns that account. So, explain what his argument is here.

WILLCOTT: Sure, his argument is -- it's like renting an apartment. He owns the apartment. The provider does, and you rent it as a user. And here's what he's saying. He's saying, listen, it's in the terms when you agree to rent and use your handle that we own it, not you. Now, most social media companies, Victor, stand quiet because they want people to keep investing and using their social media.

I think that you know, Elon Musk doesn't tend to stand quiet --

BLACKWELL: He does not --

WILLCOTT: So, right -- there are probably two reasons or two things that you can think about. Number one, it might be because of his political leanings --

BLACKWELL: Yes --

WILLCOTT: But the second is to set precedent because nobody's ever come out and said, no, you don't get to sell that. You're not going to sell it.

BLACKWELL: And so, is he, correct here that the bankruptcy court cannot just hand over control of the -- at least, the Twitter handle because there are other accounts, but the Twitter handle over to the onion that won this auction.

[06:35:00]

WILLCOTT: That's right, X. Well, we don't know. This has never been tried in court before. They've never come out and said court, we're going to tell you, you can't do it because I own it. So, we're going to have to see what the courts do. He does have, I think, a good case legally, because again, he owns X. We know that, and I think as the owner, he can say you're not allowed court, to sell it.

BLACKWELL: So, let's extrapolate. If he owns X and maintains control of that account, could he allow Alex Jones to just keep doing what he's doing on that account?

WILLCOTT: Sure, because --

BLACKWELL: Yes --

WILLCOTT: He could also shut it down, right? Think about it as a user, if you use X, they can shut it down. They can let you use it. He got in a fight with "NPR" about not posting on their account, theoretically, sure, he could do that. And that's why the court is going to have to decide what legal authority do they have to say, Alex Jones can no longer do that because he was guilty in defamation. He owns -- owes rather, all of this money to the Sandy Hook families.

So, is the court going to say, to prevent you, Elon Musk, X, from doing that --

BLACKWELL: Yes --

WILLCOTT: We're going to say you don't get to keep it, that's a big case --

BLACKWELL: So, there are other accounts, there's a Rumble account, there's a Twitch account, could Jones say even if those companies don't say that you can't transfer this, could he also make the same case for those accounts?

WILLCOTT: If he owns them? Absolutely. He can --

BLACKWELL: Right --

WILLCOTT: Make it for all of the accounts that he owns. And again, I think that the court is going to find the same for all of the accounts, right? Whatever they decide based on their opinion of how the law applies, they're going to either say yes, he owns them, we can't do anything to interfere with that or B, no, even though he owns them legally, there's a reason we can say we're not going to let you keep it because we need to ensure Alex Jones no longer uses these accounts.

BLACKWELL: Yes, what are the other options for the bankruptcy court? It's either if they read those terms and agreements, he says that you can't use them. Can they say, well, we're not going to transfer it, but --

WILLCOTT: We're going to --

BLACKWELL: He's not allowed --

WILLCOTT: But --

BLACKWELL: There's a limit here to what he can do on those platforms --

WILLCOTT: Yes, absolutely. They could be creative and do that --

BLACKWELL: Yes --

WILLCOTT: To prevent the use of it, because again, it all boils down to the money and the bankruptcy court that's owed. How are they going to control and ensure that the money owed is going to where it is needing to go.

BLACKWELL: Last question here. As part of this settlement and the auction, the onion got control of the studio equipment, all the lighting --

WILLCOTT: Yes --

BLACKWELL: Everything that it takes to produce --

WILLCOTT: Everything --

BLACKWELL: The shows, right? If Alex Jones gets to keep his X account and gets to have a show on there, is he able to then get more equipment to start up and just start fresh, or does that also go to any new assets go to the family?

WILLCOTT: There's going to be a legal argument that those new assets absolutely go to the families, because he owns $1.5 billion.

BLACKWELL: Yes --

WILLCOTT: Until that satisfied, theoretically, there are ways legally to get your hands on even the new assets and the new things that he does to earn money, then that money can go to the families.

BLACKWELL: Yes, it's certainly a rare intervention here from Musk --

WILLCOTT: First time --

BLACKWELL: Judge Ashley Willcott, thanks so much.

WILLCOTT: Thank you, Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right, MJ.

LEE: From the Russia probe to the Mar-a-Lago search, Donald Trump has a long list of grievances against the FBI. Coming up, the changes he's expected to make as soon as he takes office.

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[06:40:00]

LEE: CNN has a new inside look at President-elect Donald Trump's dramatic potential plans for the FBI.

BLACKWELL: Sources say that he's weighing a major shakeup in leadership for the agency as one of his first acts in office. CNN's Brian Todd has the full story for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: But we need an honest FBI, and we need it fast.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The President-elect, by all accounts planning a shake-up of the FBI as soon as he takes office. Sources telling CNN, Donald Trump plans to fire FBI Director Christopher Wray even though Trump appointed Wray in 2017, and Wray has three years left in his ten-year term. Why has Trump turned on Wray? Analysts say it's Trump who believes Wray has turned on him.

GARRETT GRAFF, FBI HISTORIAN: Donald Trump sees the FBI over the last decade as the agency's sort of most to blame for his own legal troubles and the troubles of those around him.

TODD: Wray headed the FBI when the bureau launched a search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in August 2022.

TRUMP: They broke into my house.

TODD: The search uncovered classified documents that Trump had allegedly stored inappropriately at Mar-a-Lago. It led to federal criminal charges against Trump, which were just dropped by the special counsel. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.

GRAFF: To him, a major sign of how the Biden administration was trying to politicize the FBI and use it for political payback.

TODD: Agents from Wray's FBI also assisted special counsel Robert Mueller's probe of the 2016 Trump campaign's alleged ties to Russia. If Trump removes Wray, Wray would be the second FBI director Trump will have fired.

TRUMP: Oh, and there's -- yes, he's become more famous than me.

(LAUGHTER)

TODD: Then FBI Director James Comey, awkwardly greeting then President Trump in Trump's early days in the White House, after Comey said he had tried to blend in with the blue curtains, so he wouldn't be noticed.

Soon after taking office, Trump pressured Comey to drop an investigation into former National Security adviser Michael Flynn. Comey claimed Trump put the squeeze on him personally.

[06:45:00]

JAMES COMEY, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: I got the sense my job would be contingent upon how he felt I conducted myself and whether I demonstrated loyalty.

TODD: Trump denied asking for Comey's loyalty, but ended up firing Comey, later saying he was frustrated over the ongoing Russia probe.

JULIAN ZELIZER, HISTORIAN, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: He wanted that investigation shut down. He saw it as a political problem, and this was what Comey was up to.

TODD: Trump has recently been weighing whether to select Kash Patel to be FBI director or deputy director. Patel, a vociferous critic of the FBI, would be a controversial choice.

KASH PATEL, FORMER ADVISER, TRUMP NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: I'd shut down the FBI Hoover building on day one, and reopening it the next day as a museum of the deep state.

TODD (on camera): Historian Garrett Graff says Donald Trump is not alone among Presidents who believe the FBI should have been more beholden to them. He points out that John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton had all expressed frustration with FBI directors who served during their administrations. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Still to come, major security concerns after flight crews discovered a stowaway halfway into a flight between New York and Paris. We'll tell you what we've learned about how the woman was able to hide during most of that flight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:00]

BLACKWELL: Investigators are trying to figure out how a stowaway passenger managed to board a plane and fly from New York to Paris this week.

LEE: She got past multiple security checkpoints with no boarding pass, and apparently hid in the aircraft's restrooms -- OK, during the flight. CNN's Polo Sandoval has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, this case is both puzzling, as it is alarming given the potential security failure here as authorities try to find out exactly what went wrong. Federal officials, specifically the TSA, confirming that this stowaway passenger was in her mid to late 50s, she had no boarding pass for this flight this past Tuesday that originated at JFK headed to Paris, had cleared one security checkpoint, but then bypassed two subsequent ID verification stations.

The TSA saying that she was a Russian passport holder and also held a U.S. green card, that she also failed to secure asylum in France after she applied for that several years ago, which may potentially speak to a possible motive in terms of why she wanted to head to Paris in the first place.

The TSA conducting its own investigation right now along with Delta Airlines. In a statement to CNN, a spokesperson said "nothing is of greater importance than matters of safety and security, that's why Delta is conducting an exhaustive investigation of what may have occurred, and will work collaboratively with other aviation stakeholders and law enforcement to that end."

Rob Jackson, who was a passenger aboard that flight, telling CNN that there were no empty seats aboard that flight, that he overheard the crew discussing how the stowaway was able to hide in one lavatory board and then moved to others during that flight, before she was ultimately caught by the crew.

CNN has reached out to the FBI and Customs and Border Protection for further comment. Polo Sandoval, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE) LEE: North Korea has largely remained sealed from the rest of the world, especially in the wake of COVID-19. For those in search of that rare glimpse behind its borders, your wait may finally be over.

BLACKWELL: Starbucks just opened a new location in an observation tower across the river from the hermit kingdom. The town's mayor says the cafe shines a renewed spotlight on the region.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR KIM BYUNG-SOO, GIMPO CITY, SOUTH KOREA (through translator): People used to think of this area near the North Korean border as a dark and gloomy place, but now that Starbucks, with its global marketing power has opened here, this place could now become an important tourist destination for security and peace that can be seen as young, bright and warm as well as garnering global attention.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Yes, it's a glimmer of normality, but the tensions are still high between neighbors after North Korea's deployment of troops to Ukraine and recent nuclear threats toward Seoul. Christmas and holiday markets are opening around the world like this one called Christkindlesmarkt in Nuremberg, Germany.

LEE: It's one of the oldest and most famous in the world. It's been around since the 16th century, and it attracts some 2 million visitors every year. The tradition is said to have started in Vienna, Austria, where the first holiday market dates to the year 1298. This morning, we're introducing you to one of this year's top five CNN Heroes.

Every year, nearly 1 million shelter animals in the U.S. are euthanized.

BLACKWELL: And a lot of the pets whose owners could not find temporary care when they needed it. Stephen Knight is now drawing on his personal experience to change that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN KNIGHT, TAKES CARE OF PETS WHOSE OWNERS ARE IN REHAB: When somebody makes that decision to go into treatment, it's one of the bravest decisions they'll make.

I'm going to see you soon, OK? When people, they need to go to rehab and they don't have a place to put the dog, what we're finding out is how big of a need it is. We provide free temporary fostering services for people that are ready to change their life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guys, she hasn't seen me in so long. Hey!

(LAUGHTER)

KNIGHT: And it becomes their motivator to stay healthy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, that face. KNIGHT: When we find a foster, we will do a temporary foster

contract. You're saving that dog's life and the owners life. And we're not able to prevent a dog going to the shelter. We cannot have the solution be euthanized dogs. We can't. I want to be the voice of the dog and to help them because they don't have that voice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:55:00]

BLACKWELL: Oh, fantastic work, you can go to cnnheroes.com right now to vote for Stephen or any of our heroes for CNN Hero of the Year. You get ten votes per day through December 3rd to help the ones who inspire the most. Another hour of CNN THIS MORNING WEEKEND starts at the top of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Good morning and welcome to CNN THIS MORNING, it is Saturday, November 30th, Thanksgiving is behind us, Christmas is ahead. You through yet?

LEE: Not yet, not quite yet, but we're getting there.

BLACKWELL: OK, all right, it's time --