>> the city on fire. >> what a difficult 24 hours. >> there are flames everywhere. it was a firestorm. >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> good morning, welcome to your "new day." it is wednesday, november 30th, 8:00 in the east. donald trump's economic team taking shape. we now know his pick for treasury secretary. it will be wall street veteran steve mnuchin, and we know that billionaire wilbur ross will be his choice for commerce secretary. both men confirming this morning that they got the nod. >> this comes after mr. trump dined with mitt romney last night and the question remains whether mr. trump will make his former vocal critics the nation's top diplomat. and this morning mr. trump made another big announcement, so we begin our hour with cnn's sara murray live in washington with all the latest. hi, sara. >> good morning, alisyn. the mnuchin pick for treasury is real little an indication of how much donald trump does value

loyalty for some of these high level positions. mnuchin has been a close economic adviser to donald trump, he was a finance chairman for his campaign, and all of this sort of helped him end up getting the nod for this cabinet-level position. the big question, though, is whether donald trump is ready to put some of those loyalties aside especially when it comes to filling that coveted secretary of state slot. donald trump and mitt romney putting their past differences aside, at least for dinner. the two talking foreign policy, alongside trump chief of staff reince priebus. over garlic soup and sauteed frog legs inside trump's international hotel in new york. >> do we have the next secretary of state right here? >> we'll see what happens. >> romney speaking to reporters after the meal showering praise on trump and the transition. >> we had another discussion of affairs throughout the world and these discussions i've had with him have been enlightening and interesting and engaging.

i've enjoyed them very, very much. >> reporter: and lauding the president-elect's accomplishments to a nod where he fell short in 2012. >> it's not easy winning. i know that myself. he did something i tried to do and was unsuccessful in accomplishing. he won the general election. and he continues with a message of inclusion and bringing people together. >> reporter: romney's remarks a sharp contrast to their bitter rivalry on the campaign trail. >> donald trump is a phony, a fraud. >> mitt was a disaster as a candidate. >> reporter: the president-elect making his economic team official this morning. >> can you, gentlemen, confirm that this has happened? >> we can, indeed. we're thrilled to be here and we're thrilled to work for the president-elect, and honored to have these positions. >> former goldman sachs banker steve mnuchin as treasury secretary. but mnuchin is sure to face scrutiny for his tenure as a mortgage banker. heading up a firm that made big money off of foreclosures.

the dnc calling out trump's pledge to drain the swamp. dubbing mnuchin a billionaire hedge fund manager and goldman sachs alumnus who preyed on homeowners during the recession. trump also selecting billionaire investor wilbur ross to lead the commerce department. >> commerce secretary, sir? >> time will tell. >> reporter: meanwhile, carrier announcing they have struck a deal with the trump administration to save at least 1,000 jobs at his factories in indiana. but so far the details of the deal haven't been announced. now, donald trump and mike pence will be doing a little bit of a victory lap on thursday. they're expected to visit the carrier plant in indiana. meanwhile, trump is on twitter, teasing another public appearance, saying coming up december 15th, he's going to hold a press conference with his children, where he's going to explain how he's going to sever ties with his businesses. in this tweet storm he points out that he's not legally obligated to do it but that he

thinks it is visually important. if he does take questions and hold a formal press conference it will be his first time doing so in a long while. back to you, chris. >> again when it comes to conflicts, the absence of a specific law does not mean there is an absence of responsibility. let's talk about what we know and what we don't know. bring our panel, cnn political commentator and democratic strategist john phillips. cnn political commentator and donald trump supporter and kevin sherry, former senior adviser to mitt romney, presidential campaign. paul begala, donald trump, gathered a lot of momentum from the populist segment of politics and saying i'm going to be for the blue collar again. mnuchin former goldman sachs guy, widely criticized for running what was called a foreclosure machine, and wilbur ross, a guy who buys companies, and figures out how to make the most of their failing assets, do you think this works to trump's favor of being for the blue collar guy?

>> yeah, he waon fair and squar on a populous message but he said he would drain the swamp. he's just bringing in bigger alligators. a couple of billionaires and a couple of washington insiders. mr. ross and mr. mnuchin, billionaires from wall street, and then on the other side congressman tom price from georgia, longtime chairman of the budget committee, d.c. insider of the first order and elaine chow, very important woman. >> longest serving secretary of labor. >> and a good person but this is not draining the swamp. >> and mcconnell's wife, also. >> she is. but you shouldn't hold that against her. she's suffered enough. >> i'm saying it gives her a pedigree. john phillips, these announcements why do you like them, specifically mnuchin and wilbur ross? >> well trump's campaign was always aspirational. it was always, i'm rich, you can be rich, too. i'm going to go out and hire the best. i'm going to hire the brightest. i'm going to go out and bring in skilled negotiators, people that are corporate sharks that know how to get the best deal

possible, and they're going to go in and they're going to cut that deal for you. and i think that's what we're seeing with these two picks. he's also, he also ron on an outsider campaign, this was an outsider election. voters wanted a change in course. they wanted someone to go in and bring a different look to the ball game. and that's also what these outsiders who he's putting in these cabinet positions are going to do. >> people learn more about what they did, though, there's going to be some blowback we'll see how he handles it. kevin, mitt romney, what, how good was this dinner that he came out of this in a complete about-face about all the things that he said about donald trump? how good is the food at jean georges and should i get there with my wife right away to try to heal some of my wrongs? >> we would all be lucky to dine there. look, we don't know what was discussed at that dinner. but we do know from all the signals that they're still having serious discussions, i still say this is a good sign for the party and the country that these two men are talking. ultimately we don't know who

donald pick -- donald trump is going to pick, and this is his decision to make. if he wants it, you know, if he wants to talk to the best men, and the best women in the country, he's doing it right now. he's talked to an impressive a-list of people going in and out of trump tower. and he's, you know, by all accounts his picks have been excellent. and you know, we'll just have to see what happens this week. >> chris, can i object to something you said? >> go ahead. >> it's only possible for dinner to be so good when you've got two tee totalers at the table. >> i would strongly disagree with that. i think food always makes the meal. but kevin let me get back to you about this for a second. i get why this might optically be good for trump, to show that he can put his arms around people but i'm saying for mitt romney's perspective, you know the man and the politician. he talked about trump's character. not about, you know, things like oh, let's see what he does. let's wait and see. he said that he's a con man, and a bad business guy. and now, he's either not saying those things or pretending they don't exist anymore.

why? >> well, 2016 everyone in the republican party said pretty nasty things about each other and i think this is a good sign that they are able to get beyond that, and have serious discussions about the future of the country. and that's what this is all about. this isn't about anyone's personal pride. it's not about what happened in the campaign. this is about what's best for the country. and i think both men, you know, believe in a sense of duty, and i certainly think mitt romney does. we don't know ultimately who he's going to offer this position to. i think if he offers it to mitt romney he'll have to make that decision at that time. only time will tell if that's going to happen. look, he's talking to great people. he can't go wrong with his secretary of state pick. these are three or four really excellent picks. >> now john phillips, carrier, trump is waving his victory flag, look i got jobs to stay here, i'm not even president yet, imagine what's going to happen. do you know how he got carrier to stay? >> look, he ran on the theme of keeping jobs in the united states, and not incentivizing companies to move out -- >> i know, but do you know how

he did it? because there's a real concern of people looking at the deal, what inducements mean. you know, are these taxpayers in indiana basically paying to keep their own jobs? do we know? and should we know? should we know the detail of how he kept carrier's jobs? >> yeah, look, that is not something that's uncommon. those of us here in the state of california do that all the time with film subsidies to try to keep the studios from moving to new mexico and canada and louisiana. it's what you have to do to protect your economy. we're a company town. we're a hollywood town. and if hollywood leaves california, we're toast. and if manufacturing leaves the midwest, which they have in large numbers, that area is going to be economically depressed forever. if they want to bounce back, if they want to come back, they have to keep those jobs there. >> is it as simple as that, paul? first of all the united states is the number one manufacturing economy in the world everybody thinks it's china, it's not, china's growing much more quickly but does it matter how those jobs were kept and what that means for how other

companies may come to the government -- >> that's the problem. i actually applaud him using the bully pulpit to beat up on a powerful corporation to keep jobs in america -- >> did he pay them? >> that's what we don't know. for years there's been bills in congress to have an exit tax they call it, tax companies ship jobs overseas instead of tax cuts. president obama has proposed that year after year and the republican congress has killed it. now president-elect trump seems to have the same position. i hope he can pass a law. because if he doesn't have a law that sets the same tax code for everybody, punishing jobs overseas, rewarding jobs here at home every ceo will know they can hold their jobs hostage and get a special deal we don't want that. as a one-off it's a good thing though -- >> absolutely you want more jobs in the country especially if they're good jobs bounce back to up for one quick one kevin. the idea of conflict. they're real. donald trump dealing with that in a twitter feed this morning saying they're there going to be legal documents separating him completely from the company and you know, to string him up to be just about the country.

do you think that we should see what's in those documents? >> well, donald trump, this is the biggest cloud that could be hanging over his presidency, because he does not want the idea that everything he's doing is a conflict of interest. so we're just going to have to see what happens on december 15th, and what his legal team who's excellent is going to come up with. to be able to separate him from his business. and that's not going to be an easy task because he is his business and his brand is obviously him, and that's not an easy task and we've never really seen this before but i have trust in his legal team that they're going to be able to figure out some way to separate him from his business and -- >> right but as reagan said trust but verify do you think the media, or at least congress oversight committee should see the documents, so we can have confidence in what is being done in the name of the united states? >> i have confidence that he will present something. i'm not sure exactly which documents we'll see ultimately. but i think he's going to have to present something to the american people, and you know,

instill in the american people some trust that he's going to do everything he can for the american people and for his business and that's just going to have to come in time when his legal team comes out with their -- >> kevin, john, paul, thank you, as always. alisyn? >> all right, chris we want to get an update on another big story that is unfolding this week and that's the north dakota pipeline. thousands of veterans are now pledging to act as human shields for protesters who are blocking the dakota access pipeline all of this as calls for the demonstrators to leave grow stronger. cnn's sara sidner is live near cannonball, north dakota, with the latest. sarah, what is the latest there? >> we're hearing the morning prayers here in the camp. this is the largest camp for the standing rock sioux and all their supporters. this is also the camp that the governor has said he wants evacuated. he's ordered an evacuation. there's also some word from law enforcement that they were going to stop people from being able

to come in and out of the camp, and stop supplies. but then they sort of backtracked both backtracked on that saying, look, we're worried about the weather. we may ticket people but we're not going to actually stop people from moving in and out, and bringing in for example food. but i do want to let you hear from one of the tribal members whory acted to the governor's statement that he was trying to people safe by making them evacuate from this camp and they say they're not going anywhere. >> the governor, if you want to make this safer, then stop the dakota access pipeline. stop the whole thing completely. you want to poison our people? >> that's the only way that anyone is going to stop? >> mm-hmm. >> that is the sentiment here. there are no longer just hundreds of people but thousands of people who are inside this camp and as you can see the temperatures are frigid. there's a very large amount of

snow that is covering the tepees, and the yurts but people are saying they're not going anywhere and they have set up new checkpoints here so that you have to basically get permission to come into this camp. >> all right. very cold, and yet at the same time the tension heating up. we'll stay on the story, sara. stay warm. thank you. so could there be change for democrats in congressional leadership? most insiders are saying they nancy pelosi keeps the job but she's facing an unusual challenge. what will she have to pledge to do differently to keep her job? one of her supporters joins us next.

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i think we're within striking distance. i can tell you that for sure. and there's a lot of members still out there who haven't committed or being very, very quiet. and you know, could break either way. so i feel really, really good about the campaign we've run. i think we've been very clear. i think we've been very respectful. leader pelosi, but we do need change. >> all right that was congressman tim ryan, addressing confidence before the vote to become leader of the democrats today. ryan is trying to unseat incumbent nancy pelosi who has held a leadership role since 2003. joining us now is democratic congresswoman debbie dingle of michigan. she is supporting mrs. pelosi to keep her position as house minority leader. congresswoman, thanks so much for being here. >> good morning. it's good to be with you. >> what do you think tim ryan's

chances are at this upset? >> i think nancy pelosi's going to be re-elected as leader this morning. i have a great deal of respect for tim. he gets in his gut like i do, and said what was happening in the midwest, but ours is not the only issue that matters in a very diverse caucus. and i say nancy has been a good leader at pulling ought of the district issues together which we have to be to be united to take on some of the challenges we're going to be facing in this next congress. >> congressman ryan was on "new day" yesterday and i asked him what his beef is with nancy pelosi's leadership and he said it basically comes down to math for him. he said she had not delivered on winning, and he said that you all are down 60 seats since 2010. he says that's the smallest number in the democratic caucus in 87 years. how can you argue with that logic? >> because i don't think it's one person. i think that one of the things that we've all got to start recognizing as members that

we're all part of that. and we need somebody who is battle tested. donald trump has made clear he's going to privatize social security, privatize medicare, pry to develop a muslim registry. we have to have somebody who is not afraid to take on a fight. that it's going to represent everybody and bring us all together. i've had very long talks with the leader over the last two years about what's happening in the midwest and i know she hears them. but the discontent is heard also through members of the black caucus, the coastal versus the different geographical regions. you can't go into this and be a leader and only focus on one thing. and the presidential campaign is what -- where some of the failures occurred in this last election. most decidedly a downticket effect. nancy pelosi also won a majority back when we were in the minority. we've got to bring in young people. she's doing that. she's listened to the discontent and is bringing in new voices and finding ways that younger

members, newly elected members are going to be able to stay in the caucus, as well. >> i mean but it does come down to geography for congressman ryan at least and it did for the election. i mean, his point is that he, being from youngstown, ohio, has his finger on the pulse more of the working-class voters that are the bread and butter, or were, of the democratic party, that seemed this year to go for donald trump. so, i mean, what, what about that? that he has this -- he can channel them better, he says, than nancy pelosi. >> i'm going to tell you i'm not going any place and i don't disagree with tim ryan when he talks about we did not connect. as you know because i've said it multiple times on this show during the last 18 months there are problems in the midwest. we're not connecting with working men and women. but that's all of our responsibility. nancy understood it. she tried to do some things in the caucus like trade that there were issues. that was a major issue for us. donald trump understood trade

was an issue last year when we tried to talk to people and get them to understand what was going on, no one took it seriously until the day after the election. i don't think that was pelosi's challenge. i think she tried to bring us together being respectful of a white house, being respectful of a presidential candidate, and trade in the house of representatives better than almost any leader could. that's what we need. he and i are going to fight for the working men and women. we've got to do that in the caucus but a leader has to bring in all of the different parts of the caucus and that's why i feel so strongly. this is -- we are in for the battle of our lifetime these next few years and we need somebody who has heard the discontent but knows how to bring us together. >> tim ryan said he's using a sports analogy and goes which wins. did you win or did you lose? he said in terms of the wins column she has not delivered. just so our viewers understand what do you think the thing is over these past years of

leadership that nancy pelosi has delivered on? >> what do i think she's delivered? i think she has kept us together as a caucus during some of the past battles. you know it's very hard to be a democratic minority leader with a white house presidential leader. i have been very impressed with how nancy has listened to a diverse caucus and tried to make sure that everybody has a seat at the table. i know that my issues aren't the only issues that have had to play these next years. i'm really worried about what we're going to do. the issue i'm most worried about, medicare. they're going to move to privatize medicare right out of the box in january. do you know how many seniors we have out there that are scared to death? i need somebody who is going to pull us all together and put together a battleground plan on that and that's why i'm supporting her, because i hear her ready to do that. >> congresswoman dingell we do appreciate you coming on and sharing your candid thoughts with us on "new day."

it's great to have you. thanks so much. >> thank you. >> chris? >> donald trump tweeting about something relevant? he's saying he's going to address the future of his business next month. he says he wants to avoid conflicts of interest. can he do that? is putting billionaires in the cabinet a conflict for him? we'll take it abart in the bottom line.

donald trump tweeting this morning, don't roll your eyes, he's talking about something that matters. to you. he has these conflicts of interest with his business that seem apparent to most, including him. he says he's going to have a big meeting on december 15th with his kids where he's going to have legal documents drawn up to separate him from his business interests so that he will, quote, in no way have conflicts of interest. can he do that? is this simple enough? cnn senior political analyst and senior editor at the atlantic ron brownstein and cnn political analyst and washington bureau chief with the daily beast jackie kucinich. ron, one of the cute things that trump has done with this is say the law says i could do both. >> right.

>> that's misleading. there is no specific law about this because it was never anticipated. but certainly the constitution and the ethics requirements of the office make clear that you can't run a business and run the country so what does he need to do? >> well, look, in fact, almost every ethics lawyer you will talk to, can take out the almost in that sentence, would say that the answer here, the only real answer, is for trump to liquidate his assets and turn them over -- convert them into a blind trust run by a disinterested -- >> not going to happen. >> -- administer. not going to happen. in this case you still have the core issue here which is that interests at home and especially abroad inexorably will view it as a way to curry favor with the new president and new administration to make business deals with a trump company run by donald trump's children. so, whatever he does to kind of legally separate himself from the immediate operation of that, it's not clear how much he changes the structural underlying issue. and then you have kind of the additional question that he's raised by involving ivanka in

particular with calls with world leaders, including the countries where they are doing business. >> so, jackie, what does this -- i mean -- if his kids are still running the business, then, will we still be doing lots of stories on conflict of interest? >> there are so many questions that are -- that are not answered by this tweet. i'm sure a lot of them will be asked on the daily conference call with trump transition team today, and perhaps by mr. trump down the line. but, ron's absolutely right. there isn't really a good solution for this. which is, you know, kind of unfortunate. you know, aaron ross sorkin had a really good article in "the new york times" yesterday that suggestion that having an independent kind of corporate moderator like a ken feinberg be hired to overlook donald trump companies. someone who's not related to him as a possible solution. but, really, because of this is so unprecedented we're sort of just going to have to see and watch and write about how he does this. >> well, look, i mean i think

having an overseer like that makes the business sound like it's nefarious, probably not fair. a blind trust just doesn't make sense since this is a brand machine but he could have an independent board that overseas the company. the big see, ran will, transparency. will we see these legal documents that are separating it? >> yeah, well obviously we don't know. jackie said there are a lot of questions we're going to have to answer between now and then. that really isn't where the transparency stops, right? you've got this issue of a company that's doing business around the world, including countries where we have very sensitive relations complicated relations like turkey, and as "the new york times" reported this weekend, for donald trump to put his daughter who will be running the business or involved in running the business on the phone with the turkish president and in that call to also, according to the report, praise their turkish business partner to the turkish president, i mean that is a series of interlocking interests that vastly complicate an already complicated

relationship. one -- a very consequence queen schull relationship -- >> business partner a trade envoy to the united states. >> there you go. so you have -- you have all of these issues where the -- the running of the company, the interests of the company, and the priorities of the u.s. inexorably converge as long as it is trump, you know, the trump companies doing business around the world, those issues are going to have to be watched because they are going to continue to arise. >> all right. so -- >> and it is small and large. to ron's point, you know, people staying in the trump hotels, to curry favor. it's, you know, perhaps deals that are being done. this is really, it's a top to bottom problem. >> look, he set this standard in the campaign. he went after clinton for double dealing. for pay to play. for access. he made those important to the campaign. it hurt clinton and now he's going to have to live up to his own standard and we're here to police it. >> all right so we'll know more in two weeks when he has his major news conference as he has said. let's look at what we do know.

his cabinet is coming together. we can pull up the latest announcements, we now know steven mnuchin is treasury secretary. congressman tom price health and human services secretary per wilbur ross commerce secretary. and the others, well ee lawn ciao transportation secretary. jackie it's been pointed out that this is a cabinet of billionaires. what's the downside of that. that means they're successful people. this is an aspirational cabinet as some people have called it. le. >> i mean, it's just how they became billionaires that could be problematic. if someone like wilbur ross bought a company in north carolina, which started out sourcing jobs to china and mexico exactly what donald trump was railing against. during the campaign. you have steven mnuchin who is a hedge funder who donald trump said gets away with murder. he would probably get the argument that he knows how to fix that problem but there are a

lot of questions that these folks have to answer as they go through their confirmation hearings as to how they're going to make things better and not just kind of repeat. >> guys we're out of time thank you very much for the bottom line. ron and jackie we'll see you guys. >> thank you. so the police officer who shot and killed walter scott in south carolina is taking the stand in his own defense. what did the testimony do? did it hurt? did it help? live report next. (vo) it's the holidays at verizon, and the best deals are on the best network. (both) yes! (vo) with no surprise overages, you can use your data worry free and even carry over the data you don't use. and right now get four lines and 20 gigs for only $40 per line. and, just for the holidays, buy the new pixel phone by google and get $400 back. i love you in that, no, i love you in that. no, i love yin that! (vo) get the best deals and the best network, only on verizon.

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the prosecution and defense are set to deliver closing arguments in just minutes in the murder trial of former south carolina police officer michael slager. slager developed in his own defense yesterday. he is charged with fatally shooting walter scott, the man who was unarmed and trying to run away during that traffic stop that we all saw on cell phone video. cnn's boris sanchez is live in charleston with more. so what is the latest, boris? >> hey, good morning, allison. as we said closing arguments set to begin any minute. yesterday was an uncomfortable emotional day in court as michael slager took the stand in his own defense. the prosecution grilling him. playing that now infamous cell phone video in excruciating frame by frame, minute by minute, detail asking him all associates of questions about where he was glancing at certain moments. how he was moving his feet and shifting his weight. and then asking him repeatedly how walter scott could have been a threat to his life if he was

trying to get away from him unarmed. i want you to listen to some of the exchange between him and the prosecution. >> you've seen the video and you've heard that he was 18 feet away. would you agree that he was not a threat to you without a taser without a cartridge from that distance. >> no. >> okay. so you're going to stick to that? >> yes. and the reason is, from 18 feet he could have turned around and attacked me again. >> and that led to a tense moment in court. the prosecution actually handing michael slager a tape measure, the prosecutor walking 18 feet away, the distance between slager and scott when slager opened fire. the prosecutor holding the tape behind him, turning around and again asking michael slager how walter scott was a threat to his life from that position. and his defense later said that his brain was spaghetti. before the video started rolling they had had a scuffle and walter scott apparently got a

hold of his taser and was threatening him with it. he said he simply reacted according to his training and opened fire. we're expecting closing arguments later today and potentially jury deliberations later in the afternoon. >> boris helpful insight and information. we'll check back with you. thank you very much. the raging wild fires in tennessee have turned deadly. and, there are several families that are still looking for missing loved ones in many of these areas closed off because the fire is just raging thousands of acres, more than 15,000 scorched. cnn meteorologist jennifer gray live in gatlinburg with the latest. this seems to become a story of the unknown there in tennessee. >> you're right, chris. and i think that's the hardest thing. people going on 36 hours, and some of them not knowing if they still have a home to return to. so i think the waiting game is probably the hardest right now. of course people say they are living a nightmare.

search and rescue efforts under way this morning in fire ravaged eastern tennessee. >> this is the largest fire in the last 100 years in the state of tennessee. >> reporter: firefighters continuing to put out flames, and bracing for the possibility of spot fires after a terrifying 24 hours that left at least 250 homes and businesses destroyed. and forced more than 14,000 residents and tourists to flee to nearby shelters. >> you just don't know what to do. i mean, you sit there and you're expecting to come on a vacation and, again, find out that you can't get back to your family. >> reporter: drivers capturing terrifying video as they scrambled to escape the fires monday night. at least three people have died since the flames spread with little warning. officials now say the fire is human caused. denise and her fiancee, mark, were asleep when the inferno reached their doorstep. police rescuing them just in time.

>> flames were everywhere. on both sides of the road, crossing the road. embers flying everywhere. it was a nightmare. >> reporter: like many others, they are unsure when they can return home or what they'll find. >> that's the hard part. you just don't know if it's still going to be there or not and we may go back to absolutely nothing. but we have each other. and that's all that matters. we made it out with our lives. >> reporter: others praying their loved ones are safe. michael reid has not heard from his wife or two daughters since monday night, as they tried to escape. >> i've called the other shelters here and they said she isn't there. just hoping for a miracle. >> and among so much tragedy there is such an overwhelming sense of community and hope among the folks still here at this evacuation center. one more glimmer of hope, guys, it has been raining all night

and off and on today which is a great help to the firefighters. hopefully it will help them to put out the fires soon so people can return. >> we pray that is the case, jennifer. thank you very much. up next we will get firsthand counts from two people who call the gatlinburg area home. >> but first, a new hampshire teen with a rare genetic disorder is not letting his small stature slow down his big fighting spirit. tristan willmont is dribbling right past his hardships. dr. sanjay gupta has his story in this "turning points". take a look. >> at 3'5", 15-year-old tristan willmont is not your typical basketball player. >> from the first day of tryouts when i saw tristan come in i thought he was somebody's little brother. >> reporter: tristan is now playing at his high school basketball team for a second year. >> making a basket was my goal in each game. >> reporter: tristan has an

extremely rare chromosomal disorder. it's a form of dwarfism that impedes growth and affects the muscles, liver, brain and eyes. it can lead to premature death in patients who experience severe complications such as a heart infection. >> he was small. they found it by accident. >> reporter: by that point tristan was in a fight for his life. his mom had prepared him for the worst. >> they had sat me down and said i need to look at quality of life versus quantity. >> reporter: but then he turn a corner after what should have been the last trip of his life. >> they really i don't think gave him a few months so we did the make-a-wish trip to florida and he really hasn't been sick since. >> reporter: now ten years later tristan credits his grit for helping him soar. >> i wouldn't give up. >> "turning points," brought to you by cancer treatment centers of america. care that never quits. i was diagnosed with endometrial cancer.

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the tennessee resort towns of gatlinburg and pigeon fork

are battling wild fires. we want to bring in gatlinburg resident chris turner who shot that dramatic video that we've been playing here in the aftermath of these ferocious fires, as well as mayor of sevier county larry waters. his jurisdiction includes gatlinburg. gentlemen, thank you so much for being here. mr. mayor what are your biggest challenges this morning? >> well right now we're finishing up our search and rescue teams are out going house by house. there's a few areas that we were unable to get to on monday night because of the swift nature of the fire storm that we had. and we're finishing those up today. so right now search and rescue is our main challenge. and then once we have completed that we're going to move to a recovery stage. >> mr. mayor, i don't know if you've come across a man name

michael reed we just had him in one of our reporter pieces, he has been in a shelter since monday. he can't find his wife and his two daughters, a 9-year-old and 12-year-old. what -- what's the process of trying to find missing people? >> okay. we're trying -- i'm going to have a briefing here in about 15 minutes with the fire chief, the police chief, and other officials that have been working all night to determine a missing folks, and so, i'll know more about that at 9:00. but we're certainly going to do everything we can to make sure that we account for everyone, and in particularly since this gentleman has made it known about his missing family, we'll focus on that. >> yeah. >> but certainly i'll know more

at 9:00 when i have that briefing. >> please, please let us know, we're praying that somehow we can be reunited with his family and they might be in a different shelter. thank you for sharing all the video for us. it looks like a war zone. all of the burned out area and houses there. i know, chris that you think though we're covering this story we're not exactly getting the real story. and that is, just how this community is coming together. tell us it about that. >> well a big part of this town is our community. we stand strong through every adversity we ever faced. from the locals, the businesses, to everybody around here. we're making sure that everybody is safe and that everything's getting covered. we're very happy for the pcoverage y'all have provided o our town and of the area and what's going on. there's a lot of destruction and aftermath we're having to deal with. everybody needs to stay strong and stay safe. stay at home if you have the ability and be happy you've got your family in your home with you. there is a lot going on.

the fires are still burning as mr. waters as said they're doing everything they can, first responders, emergency personnel, police officers and firefighters, they're trying to do everything they can to get it under control as you can see from a lot of the footage i've shot there's a lot going on out there. a lot of these back roads are unsafe but they are going out and searching for everyone. >> and chris i mean i know that you said that the community is not only supporting each other emotionally but rolling up their sleeves. people are volunteering, working 24 hours around the clock. what is the khungs able to do? it's such a dining russ zone? >> one of bigger things is dog food, water, clothes, diapers, if you can get to the community centers, finpigeon forge, the f ministry, give what you can at those locations rather than going up into gatlinburg or making possible unsafe things

that may happen. drop off water, drop off food but once again there are a lot of people that are already grabbing shovels, grabbing work gloves and hard hats to do what they can. westgate have all of their architects and engineers in town already. i've spoken with our head executives who wants everybody to know that we're doing everything we can. >> yeah. >> the company is here as i said. we're going to be in on monday starting to get everything ready. there's actually a town hall meeting they wanted me to let everyone that works for west goat know about at 1:00 in pigeon forge at traffic late ten. >> okay. >> if you can attend, please do. >> we are very happy to help you get the word out there. and mr. mayor, please let us know when you know anything more about the missing folks, obviously cnn will be covering your story and your town all day long. gentlemen, thank you. we know that you're busy. best of luck you're in our prayers this morning. >> thank you. >> we have the good stuff for you next. why are you deleting these photos?

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in my eyes. >> why? >> because the cashier's halfway through scanning danielle's groceries the iowa mom realizes no wallet. she gets on the phone with her husband but the stranger behind her says no, i've got this. it was a $200 bill. and she said i don't even want anything back. >> oh, my gosh! >> it's just -- it's just been such a cool, amazing experience. that has not only impacted me but has now i just like spread to the community. >> the stranger didn't want to know. she didn't want any hardship story. she says let me pay just what i want to do. so danielle says i'm paying it forward. >> okay, so how did she pay it forward? >> she's going to starting all the things you do in everyday life she's finding people to pay for it. starbucks, other places. >> i hope i run into danielle so she can do that for me. >> but it's a beautiful message. ordinary people doing the extraordinary. what do you do for others? >> we're going to make you laugh right now. late night comics taking on president-elect trump. >> some analysts say that donald trump's business dealings overseas could lead to him being

impeached. yeah. or -- as trump is describing that, a season finale you won't want to miss. i'm fired. this thursday, this is true, to show his appreciation, president-elect trump will be going on a thank you tour. that's what he's calling it. a thank you tour. the tour starts in moscow, and -- >> saw that the naked cowboy was performing at trump tower yesterday. in his patented tighty whities. incidentally the tighty whities is also the nickname for trump cabinet. last night donald trump's campaign manager kellyanne conway tweeted out a picture of her and trump working at his desk looking at trump's computer. take a look at this photo. yeah. let's see what they're looking at. ♪ >> bringing everyone to the right now it's the gilmore

girls. >> gilmore girls is back, by the way. my 13-year-old is obsessed. this binge tv thing is very weird. >> that's interesting. i missed the gilmore girls the first time around. now i can do it. >> i'm into these marvel series. who did you think was the funniest? you can tweet alisyn and let her know. >> time for "newsroom" with carol costello. >> good morning. i, too, am obsessed with the gilmore girls. >> are you? a lot of young kids are into it these days. all the young people. >> oh, i love that. you guys have a great day. "newsroom" starts now. and good morning, i'm carol costello in washington. thanks so much for joining me this morning. president-elect trump's economic team takes shape. goldman sachs executive steve mnuchin and billionaire businessman wilbur ross. mnuchin confirms he's trump's pick for treasury secretary and ross is tapped for congress secretary, also.