capitol hill. as we reported earlier, the house of representatives dealt president trump a stunning defeat, tonight. voting with plenty of room to spare to override his veto of the national defense authorization act. they also passed a measure to increase stimulus payments from the $600 so far approved to $2,000. phil mattingly is there for us. big question, of course, one, on stimulus. going up to $2,000 for these payments. and will republicans in the senate, also, override the president's veto on the defense bill? >> jim, i will start with the former, first. because they are starting to do mingle a bit here. and yes, there is some interest in increasing those direct payments to $2,000. marco rubio, senator from florida, today, came out and said he supported it but it's not if there is republican interest. it's what is senate majority leader mitch mcconnell going to do? he will determine what happens next on those stimulus payments, if anything happens next. however, senator bernie sanders,

been pushing for increased payments. he is now threatening to hold up senate work if majority leader mcconnell does not put a straight up or down vote of those $2,000 on the floor. so, what we are dealing with right now is a little procedural back and forth. the reality is this. the senate is almost certain to override the veto of the president. it's just a matter of when, not if. the big question is can senator sanders push senate majority leader mitch mcconnell to push that on the floor? keep a very close eye on the two georgia senators that are currently in a runoff just a couple days. they have been driving a lot of mcconnell's actions, up to this point. trying to ensure he maintains his position as majority leader. may go a long way towards dictating what mcconnell does, i am jim. >> jon ossoff called on perdue to support the $2,000 payments. phil mattingly on the hill. thanks very much. and the news continues. "cnn tonight" starts right now.

this is cnn breaking news. this is "cnn tonight." i am don lemon. i'm in this hour for my friend, chris cuomo, who is taking some much-needed time off. and we have got a lot of breaking news for you tonight. so don't go anywhere. all of it's covered for you. the house, narrowly passing an increase in stimulus checks to americans from $600 to $2,000. it now goes to the senate, and it comes after the president's signoff on the $9 billion -- $9 $900 billion relief package, last night. after delays -- days of delays and calling the bill a disgrace. the president, causing chaos, as he waited to sign the deal. allowing unemployment benefits to lapse for millions of jobless americans. the deal was one that his own team, by the way, helped to negotiate. and another important vote, tonight, to tell you about. the house overriding the president's veto of the defense-authorization act. the bill that sets the spending agenda for the defense department. both of tonight's vote, setting

up a loyalty test for senate republicans when they take them up, next week. so, the majority leader mitch mcconnell, in particular, we are talking about. while president-elect joe biden, slamming the current administration for what he calls roadblocks and irresponsibility when it comes to transition meetings about foreign policy and national security. >> we've encountered roadblocks from the political leadership at the department of defense and the office of management and budget. right now, we just aren't getting all the information that we need for the ongoing -- outgoing -- and from the outgoing administration in key, national security areas. it's nothing short, in my view, of irresponsibility. >> so, they are going to take those up, tomorrow. all of this happening, as the coronavirus pandemic is raging on, right now. record hospitalizations. dr. anthony fauci saying that holiday travel could produce a surge, upon a surge. so much going on, tonight. i want to bring in cnn white house correspondent, kaitlan

collins. cnn political correspondent, mj lee. cnn senior political analyst and senior editor for the atlantic, mr. ron brownstein. so good to see all your faces here after a week. i hope you had some time off and a great christmas, and we are looking forward to the new year. in the meantime, good evening to all of you. kaitlan, i am going to start with you. lot of chaos and drama created by the president holding up the stimulus bill. i've been trying to figure it out. what was this all about? does anybody know? >> no. don, not even his own staff, really, is clear what was behind this because when the president put out that video last week, threatening to derail this bill, that he did finally sign. even though nothing in it had changed, they were shocked. they did not know the president was going to put that out. very few people even knew the president made that video and recorded it. a lot of them said they didn't know if there was a strategy, at all, to what was behind the president's push for these $2,000 stimulus checks. and, of course, you know, now,

we are going to see it's going to go up for a vote in the senate. we don't really know where that's going to go but the question was why didn't the president push for this sooner? he never made that clear during the negotiations that have been going on for weeks. and so, a lot of people said that maybe the president just wanted attention during this. of course, this has been a period where the president has tried to command headlines. and so, if he actually had wanted the $2,000, he didn't push for it very much. it left people unhappy that he had given up so quickly and did sign the bill yesterday. no one is happy with how this worked out or this path that the president had -- had chosen to pursue was. >> it seems it's all for spite for his perceived enemies but ended up hurting the american people, who need that help right now. kaitlan, another question for you. now that the house has voted to increase direct-relief payments, you mention the senate. you don't know where it's going to go but let's talk about the majority leader, mitch mcconnell. he is looking at a majority, loyalty test right now. >> yeah, he is.

and you have seen the president has already lashed out at him, don, because he simply acknowledged reality which is that joe biden has won this election. so now, he is going to be faced whether or not to bring this for a vote. it's really uncertainty future in the senate of what's going to happen here because the president said in his statement last night when he actually, finally, signed this coronavirus relief bill, that the senate was going to bring this for a vote. but if you notice, in mcconnell's statement last night, he didn't even mention it. so, where that is going to go, given republicans weren't even happy with the $600 stimulus checks. they're going to now vote for $2,000. you know, it really will be a test over how much power does the president have over senate republicans? and how fed up have they gotten with the antics they've seen come out of the white house and these decisions that he's made without any consent from people in his own party. >> ron, i got to tell you, as a layperson over the holidays, right? because i was spending some time off and not working. it was a -- it's embarrassing. the president is just

embarrassing himself and really ruining whatever legacy that he has acquired since he's been in office. these stimulus checks, ron, were already slated to go out as soon as -- as this week. though, that timing could slide, according to the -- an administration official. and the president comes in. he delays the deal for a week. i mean, it -- it's not just politics. there real -- this impacts americans who are counting on this money. >> embarrassing. embarrassing is the right word, don. because, i mean, you know, as i said, we send people from united states all over the world trying to teach countries how to stand up a democracy. and here, we have a president who is literally tearing it down, day by day, with the acquiescence, if not active support, of most members of his party. i mean, the 1159 intervention in this bill, as kaitlan pointed out, if he actually wanted to affect the substance of this bill, he had not only weeks, he had months in which to intervene. but he was completely checked

out on this bill, as he has been on the broader pandemic, itself. >> bogus, voter-fraud claims. and trying to overturn the election. >> right. i mean, focusing on his own grievances. since the election, he's been focused on trying to overturn the election. he's been pressuring the justice department to appoint special prosecutors aimed at his political opponents. he's been doling out pardons to his cronies and confederates. and all, while being awol on what is becoming an almost-unimaginable national-security challenge. we've been saying that we're living through a 9/11 or a pearl harbor, a day. well, the projections from university of washington is that the month of january could exceed even that, astounding death toll. we are talking about maybe 100,000 projected deaths in the month of january, from covid. and the president is simply awol on it, while he's nursing his own grievances. and again, his party is abetting this by essentially raising no complaint, as he is checked out on this enormous, national security challenge. maybe, the biggest facing the

country since world war ii. >> mj, i am going to get to joe biden in just a moment. but i got another question for kaitlan. kaitlan, i want to talk about the vote on the hill tonight. the one that overrode the president's veto on the defense-spending bill. another blow to the president. >> it is. and we could see the president have his first, full override, if the senate does override this as well. that's where it's going next. and so, if that does happen, the president is going to be leaving office with only a few days left. and it will be the first time we have seen this kind of rebuke, his entire time in office. where he has never faced this before. and the president has voiced several complaints about the defense-policy bill. a lot of them -- senators, even republican senators, say is irrelevant. and, of course, this is something that typically passes without a lot of fanfare. and this is a president who often brags about what he's done for the military. and now, he's threatening to withhold it. and if you ask him, don, he will give you ten different reasons why. it's either about china or it's about big tech and social media. there are several different reasons that come from the president as to why he thinks

that he needs to veto this. and so, whether or not that actually happens is going to be a big question. but if they do actually override it is going to be a massive rebuke of the president by members of his own party, who are in a tough position right now of siding with the president or siding with the military in this bill that gives troops, among other things, a pay raise. and so, that is going to be a big test. and if he does face that massive rebuke, i have been told the president has been talking about this, whether or not this is going to happen. only time will tell whether or not it is actually going to go forward. but it is certainly a possibility that the president could see a massive rejection by some members of his own party in his final days in office. >> mj, let's talk about the incoming president now. president-elect joe biden trying to -- to keep his cool and speaking about the trump administration's help with the transition, today, clearly, frustrated. >> clearly, frustrated. and i think, also, clearly alarmed. you know, this briefing that he received today from his national security and foreign policy agency review teams, they were supposed to tell him about the work that they have been doing

with the trump administration to get filled in on everything that they should know. and clearly, the message that these team members sent to biden, today, was we are not getting what we need. i think, you know, we talk a lot about how unusual it is and how extraordinary it is, the trump's lack of full cooperation, delays from the gsa, and all that. but actually, if you look back on the last couple of weeks, biden has largely been pretty restrained. not wanting to be too critical, even during the delay process. but today, we heard a really different tone, and i think it is not an accident that we heard a different tone when he was talking about, especially the issue of national security and foreign policy. this is, obviously, somebody who has been at the white house for eight years, as vice president. knows how important these issues are. and particularly, knows how important a smooth transition of power is, and how important it is for these folks that he met

with today, virtually, to have all the information they need. so that, when he takes office on january 20th, he is fully, fully briefed on every national-security threat that he should be aware of as the next president. >> and a particular frustration in his transition, he is noting, with the department of defense. i want -- listen, mj, and you'll respond. is. >> for some agencies, our teams received exemplary cooperation from the career staff in those agencies. from others, most notably, the department of defense, we encountered obstruction from the political leadership of that department. the truth is many of the agencies that are critical to our security have incurred enormous damage. many of them have been hollowed out in personnel, capacity, and in morale. >> so, when he talks about certain agencies having their morale hollowed out, what is he

referring to? >> you know, it was really striking, the distinction that joe biden went out of his way to draw between career professionals and political appointees. he referred to some of these career folks as patriots who have been fully cooperative throughout this transition process. and then, he turned to some of these folks, particularly, he said, at the dod, political appointees who have been engaging in obstruction when he talks about sort of the morale being hollowed out, morale being low at some of these agencies. clearly, he is talking about the politicization of the transition process. you know, don, there are people who go into this kind of line of work. who are committed to doing this kind of work, regardless of the political party of the president, whether it's a sitting president or the incoming president. and clearly, he is seeing that a process that should be as apolitical as a transition process has been politicized, and he wanted to make that

distinction. and also, wanted to recognize that when career professionals see this kind of politicization happening, yeah, that is going to hurt morale. >> i got to ask you, kaitlan, about this -- there's this new effort underway to overturn the election by congressman louie gohmert, other republican allies. i spoke to a legal expert. what did they say? it was a pipe dream. a total mangling of the 12th amendment and election law or electoral law. i mean, what is going on here? >> yeah. and to see conservatives hold something like this up and try to rely on something like this to achieve what they want. given what, of course, they often rely on with the constitution is really something and that is what we are seeing. republican congressman, lieu ou gohmert, filing a lawsuit against vice president mike pence. but you are seeing how desperate they are getting by each effort

to try to overturn the results of this election. in this lawsuit, don, what he is basically arguing is the vice president has more of a deciding role than what he actually does, in reality, on january the 6th. which is just ceremonial. it's a procedural process where technically pence does oversee it. you saw biden do it after trump won the election in 2016. the thing is, though, this is actually registering with the president. and he is increasingly looking to his top deputy, in pence, to try to cause a disruption on that day. and of course, tommy tuberville, the senator from alabama, who has voiced opposition and talked about what he could potentially do on january 6th. even though mitch mcconnell said he doesn't want any republican senators to reject on that day. what is going to be interesting here is not what is going to happen with this lawsuit because it's not going to go anywhere. like you said, legal experts have really dismissed it. but the vice president has always had to weigh his loyalty with siding with him and this is going to be the ultimate test of that. this is someone who has future,

political ambitions, who wants to run for president. so, what does he do to try to maintain his loyalty to the president? but also, not ruin his reputation by disrupting it. >> not as long as donald trump is around. sorry about that, mike pence. never, ever gonna happen. it's not going to happen. hey, ron, i have to go. but can you just weigh in, the last word on this? let me get this in, real quick. >> yeah. >> we said it's embarrassing. >> yeah. >> republicans have become the party of the gang who can't see straight. do they have any shame? don't they have any shame? >> they are -- they are operating in a -- you know, they have kind of seceded from kind of common facts and kind of common purpose in the country. within the closed circle of the republican party, donald trump has convinced 70% of his voters this election was stolen. they are responding to that. we have seen academic studies that show the share of republican voters who are open to kind of anti-democratic ideas if that's what it takes to keep power is astonishingly high. and i think what we are seeing now, joe biden may be overly

optimistic that all this is going to evaporate when donald trump leaves office. these are structural divisions, kind of underlying, centrifugal forces, that are going to make it really challenging. because all of the changes in this society that are triggering so much of this among the republican base, increasing diversity, racial diversity, ethnic diversity, religious diversity. none of those are changing so it's easy to imagine a pattern where an increasingly diverse society is reflected in an increasingly diverse party. >> yeah. thank you, all. i appreciate it. i'll see you soon. be safe out there. >> thank you. so, listen. i just want to say this to -- to the -- the trump supporters out there and the folks -- and the lawmakers and the people who are saying that -- people who are not being honest with the voters. the trump supporters who believe

this election is stolen is that you are dismissing their beliefs. and -- and writing them off and not being respectful of their -- no, you're not. that's not what's happening. that means you are being honest and you're treating them like adults. and that you're not pandering to them. that is the ultimate sign of respect. when you tell people the truth, and you do it in realtime. there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud from all republican attorneys general, from the supreme court of the united states, from the republican electorates or electors in those states. no signs. so, the people who are not respecting you are the ones who are lying to you, who are grifting off of you, who are getting you to give money to believe that this election was stolen. it was not. stop following crazy people and believing in crazy people. believe in the people who are respecting you and telling you the truth. okay?

president-elect joe biden says the dod is obstructing his transition, with just 23 days to go until the inauguration. i am going to ask the chairman of the house intel committee what he thinks about that. there he is and maybe he'll respond to what i just said. congressman adam schiff is here, and he is next. keeping your oysters business growing

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want to sell the best burger add an employee.ode? or ten... then easily and automatically pay your team and file payroll taxes. that means... world domination! or just the west side. run payroll in less than five minutes with intuit quickbooks. our breaking news. the house voting to increase relief checks to americans. overriding the president's veto of the defense-funding bill. that, as the president, his allies in congress, continue their efforts to overturn the election. and joining me, now, is the chair of the house intelligence committee, and that's congressman adam schiff. congressman, thank you so much. i appreciate you joining us. i hope you had a great christmas, and you are having a a great, holiday season. >> it's good to be with you. >> absolutely. the house just passed a stimulus bill that would give $2,000 to people who are desperate for help. now, it goes to the senate.

what are you expecting leader mcconnell to do? >> i expect, sadly, he will fight it. but, look, you've seen the food lines all over the country. people lined up for miles long, trying to get food for their family for the holidays, trying to keep a roof over their head. trying to keep their small businesses afloat. there is no question about the need out there. and yet, you know, the same mitch mcconnell and senate republicans that thought, well, we have plenty of money for a $2.2 trillion tax cut for wealthy families or large corporations, now seem to say we can't afford to help these families in need during the worst pandemic in a century. i think the real deficit shesheehere is less the financial one, but it's a deficit of values. but nonetheless, i expect mitch mcconnell to try to fight it. at the same time, he's already having defections from some of his republican members. >> well, let's talk more about this because, now, the vote to override the president's veto of the defense-funding bill will

go -- it goes to the senate. but tonight, senator bernie sanders is threatening to hold up the vote, unless leader mcconnell brings a vote on the $2,000 checks to the floor. what do you -- what do you make of that? >> well, i -- i think this is senator sanders' effort to make sure that mitch mcconnell can't sweep this under the rug. can't simply try to -- to hide it or get past it quickly. in the hope that nobody's paying attention to the fact that he and his members are trying to keep $2,000 checks away from americans, who desperately need the help. so, i think that's what senator sanders has in mind. i'm no expert on senate procedure. but i have to think that anything that forces the senate to pay attention to this, to bring national focus, puts mcconnell in a very difficult position as it does these two senators from georgia. i can tell you, i wouldn't want to be running for re-election

having just voted against helping the families in my district. i can't imagine these republican senators from georgia relish that prospect, either. >> look. you wer you're the chairman of the house intelligence committee. what did you think when you heard -- not working with his transition? >> well, it isn't surprising because we have seen them stonewall that transition, in many ways. but particularly, around the defense department. and my reaction was this is just dangerous. it's dangerous because, you know, the president is making decisions, right now, in the last few days of his administration, that affect our defense significantly. drawing down troops in iraq and afghanistan, without consulting with our allies. tweeting, you know, about potential conflict, military conflict with iran. and if the new administration, incoming administration, isn't being brought up to speed on

what donald trump and his defense department are doing, then we're really vulnerable during that -- that period when joe biden first takes office. so, it's dangerous. but, look. you know, we -- we've known, from the first days of this presidency, and it will be true until the last days of this presidency, donald trump doesn't care about our national security. he doesn't care about the welfare of the american people. he only cares about himself. that's all he's been thinking about. how else can you explain him out on the golf course, while people are starving, holding up this relief bill? and now, you know, vetoing the defense bill. these are acts of personal pique of the president who sees himself leaving office, and deeply vulnerable as a former president. >> obviously, just trying to hang onto it with a grip of, you know, who -- who knows? i got to ask you this because it goes with the question i asked before the break. and what you just said. he -- the -- he's pushing this,

you know, january 6th, the day congress ratifies the electoral college vote, as a day that he can overturn the election. he wants to make a spectacle of the vote, and he is really making a spectacle of himself and his supporters. do -- will this work, congressman? >> no, it won't work. but it will will enormous damage and he already has, by proceeding in this anti-democratic path. by somehow, normalizing an effort to overturn a democratic election in what is supposed to be the strongest democracy in the world. he's creating a permanent class of aggrieved citizens, who think the presidency was stolen from them. so, it does immeasurable harm. this crazy, frivolous lawsuit, of course, will fail. whatever they have planned for the joint session of congress will fail. but it is remarkable. republicans who, after the election, said let's just let donald trump acclimate to losing, let him save face.

he'll get over it. he'll move on. of course, that never happened. it was never going to happen. and they have continued down this path, legitimizing the illegitimate. you know, those same senators, don, who said during the impeachment trial, okay, effectively, acknowledged he was guilty. but said let's let the voters decide. are now saying let's not let the voters decide. revealing those enablers in the house and senate. what it's all ever been about, for them, is the maintenance of power, at any cost. and that is a tremendous disservice to our democracy. >> it's always a pleasure to have you on. thank you, sir. happy new year to you. >> you, too. >> thank you. this is the deadliest month since the pandemic began, yet the country is setting travel records. just how bad will things look, in just two weeks?

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so, here is what the experts are warning. that we could see a surge, on top of a surge, in the wake of this holiday season. almost 1.3 million people, passing through airport security checkpoints. that was just yesterday. the busiest day for air travel, since march, according to the tsa. all that holiday travel is likely to make an already-bad situation, worse. so, joining me now is dr. will j william schaffner. professor of infectious diseases at vanderbilt university. we passed 334 -- 334,000 total deaths. still, the latest ihme forecast

says an additional 200,000, or more, could die between now and april. we are hearing ic -- icu shortages and overwhelmed healthcare workers. the real crisis, at this point, okay. that's what we are. we're at a real crisis, at this point, even with the vaccine starting to roll out. so, what do we do? where are we? what's going on? >> well, here we are. and we have to keep urging people to revert to the usual things we've been saying all along. sometimes, i think it's futile we have to keep saying it, don. wear your mask. social distancing. those are very important. yes, we're starting to vaccinate. but the goal to reach 70, 80% of people vaccinated. that's months away. in the meantime, there are people's lives to be spared, and we can do that if we all act together. if we're not impatient, and we

recognize that it's the long haul. clearly, we need to do that. i must admit, i'm a little frustrated. you -- you cited the travel statistics over the holidays, over christmas. we look forward. do we look forward to new year's eve parties with people gathering together and they're not going to be wear masks, we're going to have another surge in the beginning weeks of the new year. that will rival what happened after thanksgiving. we are going to be in deep doo-doo, i'm afraid, in our hospitals. we're already stretched to capacity. >> well, let me ask you a question that people are -- want to know at home. why am i following the rules? everybody else is traveling. everybody else is, you know, parties and, you know, families of 20 and whatever over. why am i following the rules? because those people are going to become superspreaders. and it's not -- it's not going to help my situation, so why do

i do it? >> you're doing it, first of all, to protect yourself. and by doing it, you will protect yourself and the people you love and your friends. you are, also, doing it, doing your share, to protect your community. and, of course, we ask everybody to do that. this is a matter of self-protection and protecting those around us. it works both ways. this mask. so cheap. so easy. it's an inconvenience. but, gee whiz, an inconvenience that can save lives? we really need to do that. >> so, i got to ask you. the cdc says that almost 11 and a half million doses of the vaccine have been delivered, only 2.1 million doses have actually been administered, right? you talked about this a little bit. we're unlikely to hit the 20 million doses the administration previously touted. why are we so far off pace,

doctor? >> well, that was an aspirational goal, and you've heard me say this before, don. never overpromise and under-deliver. under-promise and then over deliver. we have done a lot of education, q and a, with all elements of every group that works here in the medical center. and now, we have everybody wanting the vaccine. we don't have a slot available for vaccination that isn't immediately filled. so, we have got to do that. we don't want to fowl it up in the beginning. it's like a locomotive. those wheels turn a little slowly, at first. but then, they get going. and i think we'll continue to do that, particularly now that we have the moderna vaccine that can go out, into the rural areas, small hospitals, local/county health departments,

and we can start delivering the vaccine throughout the country in a much more efficient way. >> dr. schaffner, always a pleasure. thank you, sir. i appreciate it. i'll see you soon. >> my pleasure. >> yeah. tensions between the pentagon and joe biden's transition team leading to a call -- call out from the president-elect. he is warning trump appointees' actions could be exploited by the country's enemies. former director of national intelligence, mr. james clapper, weighs in, right after this. (kids laughing) (dog barking) ♪ sanctuary music it's the final days of the wish list sales event sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down, zero due at signing, and a complimentary first month's payment. they have businesses to grow customers to care for lives to get home to

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president-elect joe biden accusing the trump administration of obstructing his transition, and warning it's putting your country, our country, at risk. >> we have encountered

roadblocks from the political leadership at the department of defense and the office of management and budget. right now, we just aren't getting all the information that we need for the ongoing, outgoing, and from the outgoing administration in key, national-security areas. it's nothing short, in my view, of irresponsibility. my team needs a clear picture of our force posture around the world, and our operations to deter our enemies. we need full visibility into the budget planning underway at the defense department and other agencies, in order to avoid any window of confusion or catchup that our adversaries may try to exploit. >> let's discuss, now, with former drelfor former director of national intelligence, mr. james clapper. good to see you, director. thanks for coming on. how damaging is this to our national security?

>> well, it could be, potentially, quite damaging, don. not knowing the specifics here. but, having participated in a couple of transitions. bush to obama. and then, the attempt to transition from obama to trump. even under optimum conditions, this is a very awkward time. and the two i had, there was never any thought or discussion about holding back any information. and there is particularly crucial, now, with the pandemic, with things around the world, the russian hack. so, to me, it's unconscionable that the -- the current administration is holding back anything. there needs to be as-smooth-as-possible transition. and adversaries, understand this is an awkward time for the united states. >> the acting secretary of defense saying more meetings have been scheduled.

a source telling cnn one was added tonight. two were approved on december 23rd. but that, critical meetings remain outstanding. what kind of a disadvantage is the biden administration facing, under these circumstances? >> well, the -- the -- the better condition would be the complete sharing of -- of information, to include current issues, current problems. and if any of that is being held back, then that is going to detract, after january 20th, from the process by which the new administration gets up to speed. so, it is to the country's advantage that, as much information be conveyed, as freely, and openly, and transparently as possible, now, to save time when the next administration is in charge. and depending on the situation on the issue, this can be quite, you know, could -- could be quite distracting, i'll put it this way.

>> director, tonight, the house voted to override the president's veto of the national defense authorization act. this will allow the creation of the national cybersecurity director. is this what's needed to prevent cyberattacks, like -- like we saw, earlier this month? >> well, creation of a position or -- or any -- anything bureaucratic, in and of itself, is not going to, necessarily, preclude an attack of the magnitude we apparently suffered. but it certainly would be a great asset to have someone in the white house, who can oversee a cyber-reaction, not only across the government, in the government and -- and with state and local officials. but importantly, with the commercial sector as well. and having that position established in the white house is -- which carries with it, the authority and the weight of the white house, i think, would be very helpful should we have a recurrence of such an attack. and not to apparently have been

caught flatfooted like we were. >> listen. it's getting really close to the time this president's going to leave office. 23 days left in office. your biggest concern for the next few weeks? >> well, you know, it's -- the imagination runs wild on what -- on what the current administration, and particularly the president, as impetuous and irrational as he is, particularly at late, there is no telling what other things he might do. particularly, the invoking of some military action, someplace around the world, which could get very complicated. and -- and this would not be an optimum time to do that. so, i worry about that. i worry about the intelligence community, you know, missing something. those are the kinds of things that bother me. >> director, good to see you. happy holidays to you. happy new year. i'll see you soon. >> and the same, don, thank you. >> a suicide bomber identified

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be more successful with payments, payroll, banking and live bookkeeping. so, here is the breaking news. police just releasing new, body-cam video capturing the exact moment that an rv exploded in nashville, on christmas morning. investigators are still trying to determine a motive for the blast that injured at least eight people, damaged more than 40 buildings. joining me, now, is cnn's martin savidge. martin, good evening to you. thank you so much for joining. authorities were able to identify the suspect pretty quickly. but are there any clues as to a motive? that's what -- people were first saying, who is he? now, they want to know why. >> right. and why really is an important question, not just for the public's curiosity. but why?

what motivated him? because, if it motivated this person, might it motivate someone somewhere else to do a similar thing? the body-cam video, i have seen the whole thing. it is stunning and people should watch it because it's a tribute to the dedication and bravery of the first responders in this community. not only as they try to warn people to get away but after that shattering blast, they then run into the hell on that street facing the unknown. and doing it very bravely. as to the clues, there are lots of clues. there is no doubt about that. authorities have gotten over 500 tips. and it's quite possible, within those tips from the public, someone has suggested what may have been the motivation for anthony warner. but, law enforcement hasn't made that public. the other clue could be where this explosion took place. we know it took place in the tourist district in downtown nashville. but early, on a christmas-day morning, obviously, it wasn't meant to kill a lot of people. it, clearly, was meant to do a lot of damage, and it was parked outside of a key, communications facility for at&t, and through

which a lot of the internet and cellular calls, through a large section of the southeast, went. was that the target? and if so, why? some were suggesting he had kind of a paranoia of the new, 5g system that was rolling out but authorities won't comment publicly about that, but >> let's talk about these images, and we'll put them up here, the images of the explosion site. they are just devastating. it is a war zone. that's what it looks like. >> reporter: yeah. >> at least eight patients were treated at nashville hospitals after that explosion. how is everyone doing, and how extensive is this damage, martin? >> reporter: those that are injured are doing very well, at least we're told. no one is facing life-threatening illness or disability as a result, which is amazing when you look at the damage there. how no one else died besides the bomber is really almost miraculous. before we had seen imagery, and

you sort of saw a burn spot off in the distance. this new footage shows you the impact, and it is quite stunning to look at. people in this area are still nervous. there's still a large area, a section that people cannot get to. tomorrow authorities will begin allowing some people back into the periphery of the blast area that's essentially property owners and maybe some residents to look and do a little bit of damage assessment. you're going to need structural engineers to get in there before you really know how bad the damage is. we know at least one building collapsed. whether the others are -- you can save them or not, that remains to be explored still yet. the investigation has always been top of mind right now. >> martin, i know you have a lot of work. stand by. i want to bring someone else in. thank you, martin savage. i appreciate that. chris swecker, the former fbi assistant director for the criminal division. thank you for joining us. let's talk about this. investigators say they are speaking with the suspect's mother, who she's been cooperating, right, according to the investigators.

was this suspect on law enforcement's radar? did he raise any red flags with anyone that you know about? >> no, it doesn't appear that he did. i mean he had a marijuana conviction back in 1978, but he appears to have led a fairly quiet life. he did have a license to handle explosives, so you can surmise he knew a fair amount about explosives. but he wasn't one of those people that pops up on law enforcement's radar screen as some kind of threat. the only people that would have known about any threat he would present would be the people close to him, like his mother. >> yeah. listen, i want to ask usually when something happens like this, the investigators will determine whether it's -- you know, what sparked it, whether it was homegrown terrorism, domestic terrorism, foreign terrorism or whatever, especially if it's a person who is, you know, middle eastern descent. people deem it as terrorism. why is this not terrorism, and why aren't investigators talking about that? >> yeah.

i think they're still collating some information. if he uses social media and email and text and all those different things that weren't around 20 years ago, you know, they're still collating that information. it takes a little bit of time to get the returns back from the carriers based on the subpoenas and court orders. but there aren't any indications that there was some political ideology. there's no manifesto. there's no -- usually people are flashing red and they're telling people things, and they're leaving clues and just sort of putting things out there in various ways that people that are close to them will pick up on and possibly be that early-warning radar for law enforcement and report it. but that didn't happen here. >> even with -- you know, martin says they were talking about this whole 5g thing, but investigators didn't want to discuss it, but they were looking into it. that is a qanon sort of conspiracy if that is indeed.

we don't know, but he says they're talking about it. where would that lead us? >> then you might say that is domestic terrorism. it might be lone-wolf domestic terrorism. if that is the motivation, that means he's been on the internet, and they have seized -- the fbi have seized all his devices, and there should be some internet search history. there should be some take there, if you will, some evidence on all of these various devices that they took from the home that would lead us to some -- you know, some motivation. >> yeah. again, we don't know that. martin savage mentioned it, and that is out there. so we'll see where the investigation leads. thank you, chris. i appreciate you joining us. we'll see you soon. be sur be safe. i want to bring in metro council member freddy o'connell. thank you. i appreciate you joining us. this was christmas morning in nashville, and they've already been dealing with so much there. take me through that day. what was it like? how did you first find out about what happened?

>> right. it was a very unusual morning because i started hearing about the explosion literally at the moment that our daughters were tumbling down the stairs. you know, so there's sort of this noise in our house, and then all of a sudden, i'm hearing, hey, did you hear that? did you feel that? and i am starting to come to realize that there has been an explosion of some kind in downtown nashville. so i immediately reached out, contacted the mayor's office, didn't hear back immediately. started to hear more of these reports, and then we started to realize this was very likely not like a gas explosion, that this was, in fact, an intentional act of terror and destruction. >> as i said, you guys have been -- >> through the course of the day -- >> sorry. say again. >> i was going to say that's the thing, right? you realize, oh, my gosh, we thought we'd made it to the end of this miserable year. here it is christmas morning in nashville, unique in american

cities. >> because your bars, restaurants, shops have already been having a tough time because of covid. the impact that this incident has had on the city, talk to me about that. >> yeah. so this is tough because you look at it, and you say, okay, this is the entertainment district. but this is also an area where you've got these music venues down below, these retail and restaurants down below. but up above, there are hundreds of residential units, condos, apartments, et cetera, sprinkled throughout that area. so christmas morning i started to realize pretty quickly we had dozens, if not hundreds based on how many people were traveling, people turned out into 19 degrees weather having to suddenly seek emergency shelter and housing options. then by the end of the day when we realized how extensive an incident this was, that federal authorities had arrived on the scene, it was pretty clear people were not going to be able to get back in there. we've got people dealing with looking for medicine, searching

for lost pets, those kinds of thicks. the it's turned so many people's lives that are my constituents, and that's also been a real challenge. meanwhile, we had this just massive at&t outage that, you know, impacted even people on other providers because of the sort of critical way that the at&t infrastructure affected, you know, mobile. they've got their own at&t fiber service and other telecommunications services in the area. you couldn't even fly in or out of nashville internet airport until some of the critical elements of that were resolved. finally, it's a historic district, and i mean just seeing some of the latest -- as journalists have been able to get in there a little bit more today and seeing some of the footage from those folks and first responders, this historic district is simply devastated. i mean these are buildings that have been there since 19th century. >> i got to tell you i know

firsthand because we were flying into nashville airport last year. we did our new year's eve show from that district, and i mean people are packed into that area. you guys are so proud of that area. it's so beautiful, the new hotels and businesses and music venues and restaurants and clubs. it's just an amazing area with lots of people of all different varieties and just diversity. and so it is -- it's awful that it happened, but, you know, lucky that there weren't mass casualties. >> right. i think by the end of it, we were all -- everybody in nashville was breathing this huge sigh of relief that as each hour ticked by, as each minute ticked by, no serious injuries, no life-threatening injuries. it was not a mass casualty event. >> yeah. >> that's where the silver lining we're looking at. >> we want to thank you. i know it's christmas. you said your own kids were bounding down the stairs, getting ready for santa claus. thank you for appearing on this

program. >> thanks, don. millions of americans paying the price for the president's behavior, but what does he really care about most? hmm, i'm going to tell you. my take is next. that is something else. (burke) get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ and sweetie can coloryou just be... gentle with the pens. okey. okey. i know. gentle..gentle new projects means new project managers. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a short list of quality candidates from our resume database so you can start hiring right away. claim your seventy five dollar credit, when you post your first job at indeed.com/home. finding the right words can be tough.n it comes to autism,

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