good morning and welcome to sunday. we're so glad to see you. i'm christi paul. >> i'm martin savidge in for victor blackwell. >> let's begin with the big political news developing overnight. green party candidate jill stein says she is escalating her recount efforts in pennsylvania. she dropped a lawsuit after the court demanded $1 million to keep the recount going. stein's attorney says they will file for emergency relief in federal court on monday. >> meanwhile, the future chair

of the dnc, one challenger says i'm out. howard dean dropping his bid for a second stint as dnc chair. there's controversy for minnesota congressman keith ellison with renewed focus on his past ties to the nation of islam. meanwhile, as donald trump elect, narrowing in on his choice for a top diplomat. could this be the week we learn who will be trump's secretary of state. we'll look at the final four contenders. we'll get to that in a minute. we want to talk about the nine people who died and more than a dozen, two dozen, in fact, that are still missing after this massive fire that started during a party in an oakland warehouse. officials fear that dozens more people may have been killed here. firefighters say they can't even search the entire building yet until they make certain it is safe to enter.

there is a facebook page originally started with this event, this party that has now turned into a desperate search forum for family members and for friends begging for information on the people who are missing. cnn correspondent dan simon is live in oakland. dan, i want to ask you about what's happening there at this moment. we understand that there are still possibly bodies inside this building that they can't get to. how secure is that building this hour? >> reporter: well, it's a fragile scene. good morning, christi and martin. crews have been working around the clock to recover bodies. this is going to be a very difficult day. we know firefighters have bought in heavy equipment including a train and excavator to reach areas of the building. all of this as family members anxiously await any information about their loved ones.

authorities worked through the night vowing to search as long as it takes to recover all the victims of friday night's massive fire in oakland. >> we have recovered nine victims at this point. we are rushing their fingerprints to identify them and then notify family members as we get those identifications. >> bob ule was inside an artist's studio in the warehouse when the fire broke out. he warned others to run. before he could leave he heard a friend, a man he calls pete, crying out for help. >> he's like, i broke my ankle. i need you to pull me out. i need you to pull me out. i need you to pull me out. >> the flames burned him as he tried to rescue his friend. soon the fire forced him to flee. >> the fire was getting too hot and the smoke was just getting too bad around i had to -- i had to leave him there. i wasn't able to get him out. i really -- i really don't think pete made it. >> even when the fire was out, the building was too unsafe for

emergency responders to enter. the roof collapsed and debris littered the area in what is called a live, work, art space. this morning the community of oakland is remembering the victims. the golden state warriors held a moment of silence before the nba game. while several others were found safe, more than two dozen more are missing and police expect the death toll to rise. >> we know there are bodies that are in there that we can't get to that have been seen but not recovered. >> i'm just happy to be alive. >> reporter: it could take another 24 to 48 hours to remove and recover all of the bodies given the complexity of this operation. cadaver dogs may be used. as you can imagine, authorities are asking for patience for all the questions that are out there, including why this happened and why so many people were unable to get out.

there has been an outpouring in this community. you have a lot of generosity, including the oakland raiders and the golden state warriors stepping up. collectively all of the professional sports teams are pledging to give more than 100,0$100,000 to help the familf the victims. >> dan simon, when are we going to hear from authorities next with an update? >> reporter: yeah, we're told that sometime this morning there will be a news conference. hopefully we get a better idea in terms of the numbers of how many bodies may be recovered. >> thank you so much. we appreciate it. joining us on the phone to talk about the possible warning signs the week before this fire and the investigation that is bound to come, norman auguston. good morning, sir. thank you for joining us. >> yes, good morning. >> let's start with, first, as we know, there are probably more victims inside that building and

yet it is said to be too dangerous for investigators, firefighters to go in. what do they have to do first? >> well, first of all, they have to go in and assess the structure and integrity of the building. fire can do a lot of damage to that. they have to to be sure to use heavy equipment and shoring equipment to stabilize the parts of the building that are collapse potentials before anyone can go in and do a search. >> this sounds like something that will take a while? >> yes, it definitely can take a while. with them bringing heavy equipment in it complicates it more. you secure an area, you bring that equipment in, it can cause more damage and you have to reassess. it's a constant reassessment to make sure all the investigators and rescuers are safe. >> the property records show code violations last month for hazardous trash and debris. people were not supposed to be

living there and there's also no evidence of a sprinkler system. this seems like a perfect example of a building that should have been condemned. so why didn't it happen? >> it would be hard for me to say without more information. in some cases owners are allowed to occupy the building while they work with firefighters and inspectors on correcting the nonhazardous, nonlife threatening hazards or violations so i would need more information before i could speak on oakland in particular. >> it is always so tragic and awful to think about the high potential death toll here. is it the fire or is it the smoke that can be the most lethal? >> it's definitely would be the smoke. you know, that smoke, it blocks

oxygen and you would lose consciousness very quickly so i would say it's the smoke that would cause most of the deaths in a situation like this. and there's also the weakened building that can collapse and cause more deaths. >> dekalb county fire chief, thank you for your expertise and for joining us this morning. >> thank you. and we'll keep you posted on how that situation is playing out obviously as well. still ahead, trump's final four. people are looking forward to this. this could be the week that he selects his secretary of state. we're going to break down the contenders as we know them. plus, could old comments sink the leading candidates? we have a new chair of the democratic national committee. that's still to come. ♪ i tried hard to quit smoking. ♪ but when we brought our daughter home that was it. ♪ now i have nicoderm cq.

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new this morning, green party candidate jill stein said she is taking her recount efforts to federal court after she dropped a lawsuit saturday. the pennsylvania commonwealth court demanded that $1 million be paid to move forward with that recount. in a statement to the court lawyers for stein wrote, quote, petitioners are regular citizens of ordinary means. they cannot afford close to $1 million bond required by the court, unquote. >> we want to talk about this with our cnn politics reporter eugene scott and tom lobianco. eugene, i want to read you a little bit more of dr. stein's statement here. by demanding a $1 million bond from voters yesterday the court made it clear it has no interest in giving a fair hearing to these voters over the accuracy, security and fairness of an election tainted by suspicion. here's the thing, eugene. they want $1 million.

she raised nearly 7 million in an online campaign specifically for a recount. is she not able to use that in this capacity? >> so many voters i don't think dr. stein has made it very clear regarding what it is that the money has been able to raise. significantly more than the amount she initially suggested. it will go to and why it is needed. to your point, it's not really clear why the money she has is not sufficient for doing what it is that she says she wants to do, which she's been a bit vague about. what she has been clear about is that leftover funds if there are any will go to support the green party. what that means isn't very clear, but she says she's going to have a press conference tomorrow outside of trump tower and perhaps there will be some details that have not been made available so far. >> there could be, in fact, tom, i want to get to what is going to happen tomorrow morning. this is what he says is going to happen tomorrow. on monday the stein campaign will escalate our campaign in

pennsylvania and file for emergency relief in federal court demanding a statewide recount on constitutional grounds. tom, what is the likelihood she will get federal relief from this? >> it's hard to say at this point whether or not the federal courts will step in. you no he, what we do know is that she's not backing down from this. you know, they're still fighting this thing. you know what's fascinating is you also have trump lawyers fighting from the other side. we've seen them active in wisconsin. we've seen the attorney general, the republican attorney general in michigan step in, try to block that recount. so this is an ongoing fight. it's being fought on numerous, numerous levels. you know, in all arenas at this point. it shows no saens of it going away. the politics are obviously great for stein because she's getting tons of attention. you know, the fundraising for

this is going pretty strong and there's -- for her, there's almost no reason to stop. >> and is that what it comes down to, eugene? because the truth of the matter is based on everything that we can tell, there's no evidence, no credible evidence thus far of any sort of election tampering and the clinton campaign has said. >> that's certainly what critics believe. it's very clear at this point that anything that would be uncovered, assuming that something happened, would not change the results. but what is happening right now is that dr. stein is getting more attention than she probably got during the campaign, one, and so is the green party, two, and, three, that donald trump and his campaign is very annoyed. we saw kellyanne conway, his campaign manager, speak about that within the past week at a conference that they had at harvard. if that's an official true democracy, i guess that's a win. other than that, we are not

really sure what will come from this. >> tom, real quickly, secretary of state, we believe the announcement will come this week. what information are you getting as to where this might be leading? >> well, we have the top four picks in play right now. mitt romney, rudy giuliani, bob corker and david petraeus. you know, there's a lot up in the air right now. you know, you have to look back at this fall of the taiwanese president that just happened and you have to think, boy, that's a really important pick right there. how would giuliani advise on the call comes in. what would giuliani tell the president as opposed to mitt romney? it goes to show the importance of that pick? i mean, it's a huge, huge spot right there. he had dinner -- trump had dinner again with romney last week. it's clear there's a ton of interest there, but whether or not it's enough to get over those concerns from the conservative base. so, you know, it's hugely important. >> it's a very good point you make, how would any of these

four men handle what's happened over the last 24 hours with donald trump and taiwan. thank you so much, eugene scott and tom lobianco. big day in italy. voting to change its constitution and austria electing its new president. what's at stake? well, we'll fill you in after the break. (vo) when i brought jake home,

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generosity is its oyou can handle being a mom for half an hour. i'm in all the way. is that understood? i don't know what she's up to, but it's not good. can't the world be my noodles and butter? get your mind out of the gutter. mornings are for coffee and contemplation. that was a really profound observation. you got a mean case of the detox blues. don't start a war you know you're going to lose. finally you can now find all of netflix in the same place as all your other entertainment. on xfinity x1. at this hour italy and austria are voting for change. europeans are watching very closely to see if they become the latest country for an anti-establishment wave. they are trying to streamline the government.

austria is holding its presidential elections again after the results of last summer's vote were overturned due to irregularities in the count. >> it is a face-off between the leader of the far right party, you see him on the right, and a former green party head. so let's bring in matthew karnitchick. matthew, thank you for joining us. just for people who may not fully get it, why are these important -- these elections so important, for, say, people here in the u.s.? >> reporter: well, it would really send a signal across europe, and austria if this far right populus wins and if the prime minister loses the referendum which is an attempt to try to make italy work better. and if both of these events come to pasz tomorrow, if we wake up tomorrow and find out that populus has won in austria and

the prime minister in italy has lost the election, it's a sign that populism is sweeping europe again and you really have to wonder what's going to happen to the european union going forward because often people behind these efforts don't believe in the e.u. or euro. so it poses a longer term threat. for the u.s. it's important because europe is a very important trading partner. if europe falls apart, it's in america's interests to try to prevent. >> as we look at the way things have developed, you had brexit, the vote in great britain, then you had the u.s. elections, now you've got the possibility, as you explained it, of a far right leader in austria. this seems to be a progression. is one vote in each of these instances feeding and leading to the next in, say, what's

happening now in europe? >> reporter: well, if you were to ask a political scientist, they would say, no, there's no empirical evidence that the success of a populus in one country leads to the success in another country yet it is striking that we have seen this across europe recently. and, you know, it's something that the establishment party here and similarly to what's happened in the u.s. with trump, they don't seem to have any real answers to what is bothering people to this kind of deep annoyance that many voters have with establishment parties, with establishment politicians. it's not just an economic issue. in austria, they're doing very well economically. they have pretty low unemployment by european standards. the economy is healthy and yet there is this glowing distrust of the establishment and a lot of that has to do with the

refugee issue with austria taking in a lot of refugees last year, similar to germany. in fact, austria took more per capita than germany. in other countries like italy and france, it might be more of an economic issue that's driving the populism. >> right. but it's so frustrating that it's occurring not just in europe but in the united states as well and it seems to be all happening at the same time. matthew, thank you very much for joining us this morning. >> thank you very much. president-elect trump apparently still has snl in his claw. >> trump blasting the show after the cast ripped on him again. >> mr. trump, please stop retweeting all these random real people. you're not getting any work done. >> that's not true. i was elected 25 days ago and already unemployment is at a

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well, good morning. always grateful for your company. i'm christi paul. >> i'm martin savidge in for victor blackwell. good to be with you as well. one of the stories we've been watching overnight is this fire in california. we know this morning nine people are dead and more than two dozen are still missing this hour. the massive fire started during a party in an oakland warehouse. >> at least 100 people were said to be inside when the fire consumed the second story of the building. they scrambled to get out before a make shift stairwell collapsed, along with the roof of the building. >> i busted through my door and saw all of this black smoke. i count breathe. i was like with my phone and like the lights went out. dropped my phone and like i had to like scream and get to the front. >> officials fear that dozens more people may have been killed. firefighters say they can't search the entire building until they make it safe to enter.

now a facebook page originally started for the event itself has turned into a desperate search forum for family and friends. more than $100,000 has been donated to the victims already as well. hillary clinton's former campaign manager is accusing russia of intervening in the election and blasting a conservative website for peddling fake news. >> robby mook says trump won because of the medaling and took a shot at steve bannon. kellyanne conway said the only fake news was that trump was losing. >> steve bannon ran breitbart news which was notorious for peddling stories like this. i'm not attacking him personally, but they peddled a lot of stories on that website that are just false. they're just not true and that reinforce sexist, racist, anti-santi anti-sem mitt particular notions

that make your -- that are shocking and insulting and shouldn't be part of our public discourse. >> i think the biggest piece of fake news in this election was donald trump couldn't win so there's that. that was peddled probably for weeks and months before the campaign. definitely in the closing days. >> joining me now scott boldin, former chair of the washington democratic party and chris ashby. russia echoed and amplified false or misleading news. should the trump transition team just flat outcome out and strongly condemn any involvement of other countries in the u.s. elections and put it to rest? >> i think we should all condemn the involvement of other countries in our election process. i think what is more troubling are the attempts to interfere with voting itself, and that is clear that that did not happen. there was some attempt to control the news. that was exposed while it was

going on, and i think most folks knew that that was happening. they could take that into account when they went to cash their ballots, but the important thing is i think that the outcome of the election accurately reflected the will of the voters and even the white house has acknowledged that. >> scott, do you agree? >> well, i think so. the reality is that the results of the election aren't going to be changed, i don't think, by russia's involvement. we ought to all be concerned as i've said publicly and privately that the fake news, the hacking, the data dump on e-mails to support donald trump is troubling and what's even more troubling is the republican leadership simply refuses to denounce it and it's almost silently a willing prisoner of this russian involvement. russia would never, i don't think, have the technology to go after and change the results of the election. they certainly didn't want to influence it. >> why should they do this, scott?

if their belief is they've stated over and over we've won because the voters wanted to elect donald trump, not because the rush shansz wanted to interfere with an election. why does the republican party have to come out and say what you're asking? >> well, because it's a phenomena -- it's a phenomena that we would not want or we would not address russian involvement or any international involvement in affecting the outcome of our election. we don't know how much impact they had because of these fake news stories and these data dumps, if you will. you could say, listen, it was irrelevant because ultimately donald trump won fair and square. we simply don't know that. more importantly, what impact did it have based on the integrity of our election process? that's certain important. we all want to know and get to the bottom of that before more elections. >> i'm not playing down the fact that we don't want anyone outside of the united states, anyone, period, medaling in the election process. let's move forward.

trump's blasting snl as unwatchable as they secured him again paying more attention to twitter than to security briefs as you saw in that. if you didn't see it, let's take another look. >> kellyanne, i just retweeted the best tweet. i mean, wow, what a great, smart tweet. >> mr. trump, we're in a security briefing. >> i know, but this could not wait. it was from a young man named seth who's 16, he's in high school and i really did retweet him, seriously. this is real. >> he really did do this. there is a reason, actually, that donald tweets so much. he does it to distract the media from his business conflicts and other very scary people in his cabinet. >> then trump immediately responded, of course, via twitter. just tried watching "saturday night live." unwatchable. totally biased. not funny. the baldwin impersonation just can't get any worse.

sad. chris, does snl have a point here? shouldn't trump spend less time on twitter and more time preparing getting ready for the job that lies ahead? >> look, i'm waiting for the politifact fact checkers to come out. it's hilarious. we're all going to have to get used to his reaction. i think it's becoming clear that he's approaching the office in a different way than past presidents have and then the media and others would like him to. you know, i think we're going to have to get used to t. he's going to be tweeting a lot. we have to hope that he surrounds himself with very bright, very capable people who while he's tweeting at night are going to be keeping an eye on the country's business. >> chris, i agree with you, but there used to be a comedian that would remind the audience whenever it came out that it's comedy. it's comedy. you are the leader of the western world.

take it in stride. actually see it's a real honor to even be spoofed by them on a regular basis. but he also gives them a lot of material. he needs to relax because what's going to be really important is if that gets under his skin, the call to taiwan -- to the taiwan president or that conversation or any other foreign -- foreign experience with leaders, secretary of state type issues, he's going to undermine his secretary of state by tweeting that he had a meeting with a world leader that he simply didn't agree with. this could be dangerous for him. but, remember, it's comedy. >> it is comedy, and part of that, though, lies on the audience. i think many people in the audience are still so emotionally invested in the outcome that it's not always easy to laugh, although we did find it very, very funny. >> scott bolden and chris ashby, thank you. check out more with

kellyanne conway and robby mook at 9:00 a.m. eastern here on cnn. looking ahead, the jury will be back for the slager trial. we're talking to our legal analysts next. no intention of adopting. he was the very last kennel in the very last row. emaciated. he was skin and bones. usually what you see in neglected dogs. it was one of those complete, meant-to-be moments... i totally fell in love with him. (avo) through the subaru share the love event, we've helped the aspca save nearly thirty thousand animals so far. get a new subaru, and we'll donate another two hundred and fifty dollars to help those in need. ♪put a little love in your heart.♪

so tomorrow the jury will be back for deliberations in the murder trial of former south carolina police officer michael slager. he fatally shot walter scott after a traffic stop. the shooting was captured on a cell phone video and reignited debate on the racial bias by

police. >> we'll bring in joey jackson. thank you, joey. coming to us from vacation. that is some dedication. look at him. >> hi, christi. >> thank you for being here, joey. i want to ask you about the fact that the judge let these jurors go home unsee questerquestered. one lone juror says he can't convict. what might change over the 48 hour period that he has for himself? >> you know, christi, if you read that juror's note, you might conclude that nothing would change. apparently the juror is -- has come to the conclusion that he's reached his mind in this case and that's it. however, an hour could change someone's mind, a day could change someone's mind and certainly a weekend could. these are very -- it's very difficult to be a juror.

we on the outside looking in see this as a clear-cut case and apparently 11 of the 12 jurors i won't say saw it as clear-cut but they deliberated but we have reason to believe that the other 11 are indicating guilt whether it's guilt of murder, manslaughter, we don't know. it's a very difficult process. it's very heated. it's very aggravating to be in tho closed room with other jurors. we'll see monday morning whether or not that juror has shifted their position or whether they say not guilty. in which case we know a mistrial would be declared. >> it's unusual. normally if we hear of a deadlock, we might hear of a deadlock. we don't know which way they're leaning. this is very unusual to know that he's the lone holdout of a conviction. we don't know what the conviction would be in terms of what the charge would be. i wanted to ask you, we talked with another attorney yesterday

who believes that perhaps this was a stealth juror, somebody who was able to get himself onto the jury with a mind set that was already set in stone. do you think that that is a possibility in this case as well? >> you know, christi, it's a possibility. i think reasonable minds could disagree. whether you think that one juror is reasonable having seen the evidence, having looked at the five shots in the back, he shot him eight times, he was running away. so whether that one juror would be deemed reasonable i think could be questioned, but i'd like to think that, look, jurors sit, you have 55 witnesses in this case. this juror, whatever reason, many of america internationally may disagree feels a certain way. could it be a stealth juror? potentially. maybe it's a juror as many

across the country, just difficult to convict a police officer. >> let me ask you real quickly because slager was also indicted in the spring on federal charges. so if this trial -- if this is a mistrial, do they go -- do they retry him at the state? do the federal charges kick in? what happens at that point? >> i think a couple of things will happen at that point, christi. in the event they don't get a unanimous decision, if on monday that doesn't happen, a mistrial is declared. that's known as a hung jury. what then happens is that another jury would be impaneled by the state in order to try him on state charges. i believe after that occurred, then the federal government would get jurisdiction at which case he would be charged on the civil rights charges. i do expect if there's not a verdict, they have another go again at the state level before the feds try him on the civil rights violations. >> joey jackson, what a guy.

we appreciate you so much taking time at 6:40 on your weekend on vacation to share your insight with us. thank you, sir. >> not a problem. >> thank you. just ahead. with just weeks until trump inherits that fight against isis, the president-elect is getting some new ideas from top u.s. generals. these are the same generals he said this about. >> i know more about isis than the generals do, believe me. live tv anywhere, data-free. join directv today starting at $35/month. no extra monthly fees. my bladder leakage made me feel like i couldn't be the father that i wanted to be. now i use depend. i can move the way i really want. unlike the bargain brand, depend fit-flex underwear is more flexible to move with you. reconnect with the life you've been missing. get a free sample at depend.com.

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new this morning, joint

chiefs of staff are finalizing a classified military strategy they plan on presenting to president-elect donald trump. inside this report the new ideas they have in the fight against isis. the revelation by the chairman of the joint chiefs came yesterday at the defense forum. he says that trump asked for a review. strategy when he and other officials met with the transition team last week. classified military strategy report had been in the works for months for whomever the new president might be. dumford said significant progress has been made against isis but there are other things he would probably bring to the new administration for consideration. joining us, retired lieutenant colonel rick francona. always good to see you, sir. >> good to be with you. >> let's start with what could be new? and i know that military -- especially military planners do not like to tip their hand at all, but let's just think about what could possibly be new?

i guess what i'm going to start with is boots on the ground. >> well, i think -- it was interesting to hear general dumford say this. i thought it was almost out of school for him to say we're going to be presenting things to the new administration indicating that we couldn't get this through the present administration. so it looks like they're going to be pushing for changes i think to the rules of engagement, maybe lessening the restricted rules of engagement. increased boots on the ground, more special forces, more special operations to conduct the counter insurgency and counter terrorism operations. martin, it goes far beyond a fight against isis. it's going to be the whole force structure. i think we may see a push by general mattis and general dumford to roll back changes.

i think they're looking for a change of the status quo. >> they're approved as the defense. could the planning possibly include, well, what he might think? >> oh, absolutely. i think he's probably already been in touch with general dumford. they know each other quite well. >> yes, this he do. >> general dumford worked for general mattis at one time. there's a bond there, although many people are concerned that we've got two marine four stars now running the department of defense. so we may see some changes there, some push back from the other services or even members of congress when they go for the confirmation hearings. >> speaking of syria, which we were earlier on, the offensive to take raqqah from isis could come during the early months of the trump administration. do you foresee any shift, say, in the tactics there? >> yeah. i think we may have to address our relationships with the turks. now as you know, the turks want

to be the ones that lead the force into raqqah. they have -- they're supporting the free syrian army, which is a sunni-based organization, and they believe that's the right organization to move in and take raqqah. whereas, the united states is supporting a syrian democratic front which is heavily kurdish. they're much closer to raqqah and in a much better position to make the move. it will be a political discussion. right now we're very sensitive to what the turks want. i don't know what the new administration is going to do with that. >> while i've got you here, i might as well ask, what do you think of the suggestions that general mattis be the one to take over? >> you know, i have no problem with general mattis taking over. if you look at his background, and i think the term mad dog as his nickname is a lig over raught. he's actually quite a thinker. he travels with a huge library of books. he's also known as the warrior

monk. he's going to go through the vetting process in congress. i think the president needs to have who he believes he can trust in those positions. >> he does, indeed. lieutenant colonel rick francona, we appreciate your insights. thank you very much. >> thank you. all righty. andy scholes is here with championship saturday. >> yeah, christi. the top seeds all in action yesterday. all taking care of business. we're going to discuss who's in and who's out of this year's college playoffs. that's up next even a rodent ride-along. [dad] alright, buddy, don't forget anything! [kid] i won't, dad... [captain rod] happy tuesday morning! captain rod here. it's pretty hairy out on the interstate.traffic is literally crawling, but there is some movement on the eastside overpass. getting word of another collision. [burke] it happened. december 14th, 2015. and we covered it. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪

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. well, after a month of angling, arguing is out of the way. we know who's going to be in the college football playoffs. >> andy scholes has more on this morning's bleacher report. >> i liked the florida game. >> it was wild. as fans most of us were looking to see upsets on championship saturday. >> you were. >> i was. a little bit of chaos before they make their pick today for the final four. everyone who was in action taking care of business yesterday. the one team that's likely going to be on the outside looking in is penn state. the nittany lions 28-7 to come back to beat wisconsin. 38-31 to win the big ten championship. really a remarkable turn around for penn state five years after they were decimated after the jerry sandusky scandal. the nittany lions are arguably the hottest team in college football. they think they deserve to be in the final four.

>> people said this year the big ten conference was by far the strongest conference in football. i've heard that over and over again. we just won the big ten conference championship. i've also heard for the last couple of years that you have the a biltd to overcome early set backs, and we did that as well. so i think -- i think we can make a great case for ourselves that we're going to be a part of that conversation. >> clemson tigers are the acc champions for the second straight year. desean watson, impressive performance. threw three touchdowns, ran for two. watson going to be likely in the heisman trophy conversation. jerrod evans gets picked off as clemson holds on to win 42-35 for their second straight acc championship. alabama finishing the season as the only undefeated power five team. the crimson tide rolling over florida. i was at this one.

in the first quarter, it was an odd one. alabama had 16 points but negative 7 yards of offense. interception they returned and then they blocked a punt they took back for a score as well. the tide winning easily 54-16. alabama's third straight sec title. they're going to be number one when the final rankings are released later this afternoon. this is what the playoffs looked like coming into this weekend. ohio state second, clemson third and washington fourth. guys, ohio state didn't play. they were idol and clemson/washington both winning. you have to think it will be pretty easy. one through four, once again. we'll find out later today. >> we're two ohioans. >> if it's not what we just showed on the screen, there will definitely be some big-time debates over what they end up changing. we'll see. >> andy, thank you. >> all right. >> thank you for starting your morning with us. we've got a whole lot more ahead on the next hour of "new day" which is going to start right now.

we're wishing you a good morning on this sunday morning. i don't know if we've told you lately how grateful we are that you are with us in the morning but we are. i'm christi paul. >> i'm martin savidge in for victor blackwell. it is wonderful to be with all of you. let's go to some big political news developing overnight. green party candidate jill stein says she is escalating her recount efforts in pennsylvania. she dropped her lawsuit after a court demanded $1 million to keep the recount going. now they say they will file for emergency relief in federal court. that will happen on monday demanding that a statewide recount be done on constitutional grounds. >> in the meantime, as top democrats gather there's one challenger who says, i'm out. howard dean dropping his bid for a second stint as dnc chair. now there's controversy for leading contender keith