let the finger-pointing begin. frustrations are boiling over with in the democratic party over president biden's decision not to step out of the

race sooner. details on the blame game playing out behind the scenes. president-elect donald trump in full transition mode with allies maneuvering for his four positions in his administration. we will tell you maybe topping the list. rudy giuliani returns the court after accused of fame and hiding assets. the mercedes he was spotted in. we will tell you what the judge just told him. we are following these major developing stories and more coming in right here to cnn news central. this hour, democrats are doing soul-searching while trump allies are doing searching for jobs. today, as the democratic party tries to regroup and pick up the pieces following donald trump's decisive victory on tuesday, new details on a growing wave of blame aimed at president biden over his refusal to step

aside sooner. earlier today, he addressed the nation for the first time since donald trump's historic win two days ago. >> i was hoping that we could raise a question about the integrity of the american electoral system. it is honest and it is fair. it is transparent. it can be trusted , win or lose. i will do my duty as president and i will fulfill my oath and i will honor the constitution. on january 20th , we will have a peaceful transfer of power here in america. >> as president biden promises a smooth transition, the president-elect allies are working frantically behind the scenes to secure jobs in his new administration and that trump is ready to reward those who stay loyal to him. kayla tausche is line live . near mar-a-lago and we have money roger here with us in studio on where things stand with the

balance of power on capitol hill and we will start with you. what is the white house saying about democrats blaming biden for the defeat? >> reporter: the white house is having none of it and saying that they are going to leave e postmortem to the pendants and continuing to say that president biden's decision to step aside in july and immediately endorse kamala harris was selfless. here is the press secretary a few moments ago. >> president biden believes that he made the right decision when he decided to step aside and immediately endorse the vice president. you saw the party come behind her and support her. he believed that it was the right thing for the american people. he put himself aside. this was not about him. >> reporter: the white house also alluding to a few reasons why the president felt empowered to remain in the race and run for re-election as he decided a couple of years ago citing first, the results in

the 2022 midterms, which had not been the way that many expected emboldening not only the president, but also his inner circle and top aides , so that he can continue into the race, run again and if he donald trump again. then, there is the fact that president biden aides continue to believe that he is the only person that has and could beat donald trump produce some that i have spoken to in recent days point to 2016 and pointed the selection and say that that remained true . all of that to say that the party is doing some serious finger-pointing and suggesting that had president biden announced that he is not seeking re-election as roughly 80% of american voters suggested he should be back in 2023 and that there would be a robust primary process and perhaps someone else and a rising star within the party could have been picked and a stronger candidate than kamala harris ended up being. all of that to say that there is also an acknowledgment in hindsight 2020 and there will be a long road evaluation of exactly what went wrong. the white house is

saying that it is not president biden's fault. >> from the white house, thank you so much. let's go to west palm beach with cnn's kristin holmes. trump and allies plan to retake power. tickets behind the scenes as some of the allies tried to jockey for position in this new administration. >> reporter: yeah, boris and rihanna, the wheels are in motion. donald trump has been on the phone nonstop and met with his friends yesterday and he is meeting them again today. all of this while trying to get ready for what exactly the administration will look like. two things to keep in mind, there are two paths of what they are doing as part of the transition. they are working on the policy and drafting executive orders and talking about how they can implement certain things. what do they need congressional approval for? what did they not needed for? donald trump has been talking to a number of allies about what he wants to do first. he feels i am told that

he won the popular vote and he won in different voting coalitions particularly among minority voters indicating to him that he believes that his policy is that he had been pushing forward on the campaign trail are what the american people want. the other part of the transition is the personnel, as you mentioned. who is going to go into what job? we are talking about thousands. there are top-tier jobs like chief of staff, cabinet heads and we know the attorney general is one that he is taking extremely seriously, but there are lower-level positions. how do they want to go about that? we know that they are likely to tap in to project 2025's personnel database, which was run by john mack and he and were told that the personal database will be sending over recommendations, because they spent the last two years betting people that they believe will be lawyer loyal to donald trump and president-elect donald trump .

they are jockeying for those positions behind the scenes. i am told that it is really pounding the pavement for the team and they are trying to make sure that the trump transition team is in the right space and that they have the right people working on each of the different various things like justice, immigration and economy. they plan on going to washington soon to meet with president joe biden possibly as early as next week , so a lot of things are happening behind the scenes. one thing to note, we are looking at a completely different kind of transition and time period. that is compared to what we saw last time in 2017. obviously, it remains to be seen. >> from west palm beach, thank you. republicans have flipped the senate . they have a really good chance of hanging onto the house. when will we know? >> it takes a little time, because a lot are in california

and our mail-in ballots and california historically has taken a bit longer to about a week or a little over a week has to be called for the gop back in 2022. some think that it could happen here for the democrats to flip the house and things have to go really well with the outstanding races and they are now trailing in california and some in arizona and we just turn the tide on those races and ultimately get a net of four seats and they are not there yet. the expectation that both sides have is that they will maintain a narrow majority and if something changes. >> we just talked about jockeying for positions in the trump administration. in the senate, folks are jockeying for the position of majority leader. >> that is obviously a huge position and one of the most powerful in washington. deciding what bill could come to the floor and what nominations to pursue and in the parties strategy and messaging to hold the republican majority in the next future election cycles. the three candidates, number two,

senator john cornyn who used to be the number two, but top campaign committee chairman for two cycles and rick scott, former chairman of gop campaign who just won his second term on tuesday and seen as the two leading candidates for the race that will happen next wednesday. what does donald trump do? he has not made his preference known yet. earlier today, making the case on why donald trump should stay out of the race. >> and staying in regular contact with him and his team. obviously, if you want to, a considerable amount of influence on that, but i think my preference would be and that he gets probably in his best interest to stay out of that. secret ballot elections are probably best left to the senators and got to work with all of us when it's all said and done. >> it's unclear if trump were to endorse how much of an impact. it is a secret battle

election that will happen next week and members can vote however they want, but they had a bit of a relationship for some time to criticize trump and his efforts to overturn the election and trump shot back. trying to bolster and fix the relation. that is probably why he wants the president-elect to stay out of the race. >> manu raju, thank you so much. joining us is senator bill haggerty. he was an ambassador to japan in the first trump administration. thank you for joining us. your name has been floated for a cabinet position. are you interested? >> i will leave speculation to the speculators. i'm so excited that donald trump has delivered the mandate he did on election day and i'm so leased that republicans call the senate and will hold control of the house, i believe. it is to turn our nation back onto the right track again. he ascended 72% saying that they are on the wrong track. i look forward to

working arm in arm in whatever role to make sure that we have our great nation back to the potential that we can. >> let's just say secretary of state or u.s. trade, do you have a preference? >> i will not engage in any speculation. it is to not create sideshows, but getting ready to deliver for the american people is what i'm focused group >> i do want to ask about pressing issues. because you are on the list of those being considered , both president biden and president-elect trump publicly opposed to the sale of u.s. steel to japanese connie company. you of course, as i mentioned were the ambassador of japan during his first term. do you believe the sale of the company to a japanese company is a national security risk? >> first, my job as you to ambassador to japan and

throughout the entire region. that is the way i look at any transaction . it has nothing to do with the nationality of the company trying to make the acquisition but it has everything to do with the national security and american interest and jobs. that is what we should apply. the national security lens is one that will be used and there are issues with the company from the past of unfair trade practices and we have to navigate through that. certainly not anything that i'm advocating for or against based on the nationality of the country, but america's primary interest. >> former secretary is an adviser in this deal. nippon plans to invest a huge amount , which would create a lot of jobs in the u.s. has warned that if the deal falls through that it would mean that the u.s. has to import more chinese steel and you are very aware of their trade practices. is that true? his assessment that you would have to import more chinese steel if it doesn't go through?

>> obviously, much closer to the city's working or helping with this effort. if nippon hopes to prevail in this effort and make the acquisition successful that they will have to make their case in terms of the investments. the positive job implications that they would have in america and the fact that it does support rather than detract from national security and i would have to see the case made and i have not seen it yet. >> as he said, as ambassador of japan, you were there to advance american interest, but do you worry about alienating a key ally in asia with china's rising power? >> we have dealt with the rising power for a great deal of time for japan's interest and the united states interest are completely alive, because both nations have suffered from the predatory practices from china whether it is stealing property, subsidizing

industries to a level that makes it impossible to compete with them and blocking access to their markets. china does not play fair and they do not play by the same set of rules. if you did about japan's perspective, they are more proximate. if you look at what china has done in the city and surrounding japanese islands and if you look at what they are doing in the south china sea, frustrating trade routes and building artificial islands, their interests are very much aligned from an economic standpoint and national security standpoint as we look at china, so i don't see any wedge being driven there, at all. >> ceos of companies like autozone and columbia sportswear have already said that if and when the president-elect to proposals go into effect that they will simply raise prices and pass costs onto consumersueolicies t from what the voters just said that the main issue they care about is how much things cost? >> i will put another question to you. why take the word of

the executives and what we have seen. these are pre-election threats, i presume. what we see in reality is when the do the aluminum tariffs and everyone predicted that there would be massive inflation and you know that donald trump left the economy to biden harris that only had one .5% inflation. it didn't materialize and i don't have an expectation for that to occur again . i think with the networks need to think about is portraying the reality of donald trump's performance that i served in the administration and he delivered a booming economy. instead, the last two times i have been interviewed on this network talking about donald trump, i had to defend claims of fascism and i think it's time for the networks to really focus on what donald trump has done instead of perpetuating pre-election threats but let's focus on what the results will be. >> who are you going to back in the election for majority leader next week? >> again, we haven't gotten to

that point yet. we will hear from the candidates at that point. my number one priority is making certain that we have a leader that aligns our senate with the incredible challenge that we have in the next 100 or 200 days of turning the nation back around and working arm in arm with donald trump as he put consecutive orders together with the reconciliation package to make certain that we advanced those critical principles that the american public and mandate that we have is clear. we have determination around to see a stronger economy and security and certainly at our border and deal with crime in our cities and restore our reputation. it will take majority leader to work arm in arm to get trump to make that happen. no one part of the resistance should be in a row like that and we have to do it efficiently and rapidly and it will take that leadership to bring it all together.

>> i heard you register a complaint about what the media focuses on and i think this is a substantial interview about the issues and we appreciate you taking the time to talk about them. thank you, senator. >> certainly. i look forward to talking again. thank you. >> thank you. now that the election is over, donald trump's legal problems may be over, as well. what we know about the 34 felony convictions that he is supposed to be sentenced on less than three weeks from now. are rudy giuliani's defamation victims taken back to court accusing him of emptying the apartment that he was supposed to hand over, including contents from it . cnn was inside the courtroom for the hearing. later, residents fleeing and schools closing. thousands are not without power as california battles a fast-moving wildfire being fueled by high wind . you are watching cnn new central. back in just a moment.

donald trump is now president-elect, but also a convicted felon who is awaiting sentencing. his legal team is working to push off a court date set two weeks from now where he is scheduled to be sentenced in the new york hush money case. >> there are also other state and federal cases. the question

is, what that he has been re-elected? joining us is cnn chief legal affair correspondent read and ellie williams. the new york hush money case and he was convicted of those counts. he is supposed to be sentenced in a few weeks. does that evaporate? >> i think it will , but the question is, how will it evaporate? they will go to the judge and say, look. he is entitled to the same protections as the sitting president he is constitutionally protected they will argue and extend it to sentencing, too. separately, the judge had already before trump was elected giving him a deadline of next tuesday to see if the immunity case applies here and means the conviction should be tossed. if he thinks it is, the sentencing gets tossed, too. they will make the constitutional argument and there is an appeal hanging out there, so they could argue to delay it, which is always been their request. this time, they are not asking for a delay and they will likely be successful

if not in getting it canceled and delayed until he's in office, then it's a good point. >> those are the various options of legal evaporation. what is most likely? >> most likely , the judge says that they are not going to sentence at all or sentence him in four years, which is sort of impractical, but there is fantasy philosophical lawyer land and the real world. philosophical lawyer land, sentence you as they normally would in 60 days, which is how and when we sentence people. he will either be president of the u.s. or president-elect and it's not practical to impose a sense at that point. he can say i'm a when you are a free citizen, your obligation is to come back here on january 1, 2029 and come in for sentencing, which is also kind of silly to push it off that far and there are not a lot of great options for the judge because of the reality we live

in, where the person has a unique role in american government and the courts have to respect that in some way. >> what about the federal council jack smith? >> currently in conversations with top justice department leaders about how to wind down the cases. it's a surprise to some people and they say, why don't they just work until inauguration? they know that internally there is a memo from office of legal counsel that says that you can and died or prosecute a sitting president and a are working to how that applies to a president-elect, but the cases are not going to trial and i'm told that wants to do what is correct according to justice department policy, but it's complicated and it's not just about dropping the case, but he has codependence and it's about the entire special counsel office and it's complicated for the mechanics and winding it down, but everyone should remember that smith is required to submit a report to the attorney general and expected to make that public but i'm told not to expect news out of that, but with all of the special

counsel's, once they submit the report, usually they received a request or subpoena to appear on capitol hill, which could be fireworks. >> they get to be on tv, but not in a good way. he also has a lot of codependence in the georgia case and i wonder what happens to them, but also as he has the abilities , once he is president on the federal cases , he doesn't on the georgia case. what happens for him? >> there are some things that paula was talking about. i don't think any court is going to find that a president cannot sit for prosecution in a state case. i think that affects donald trump as a defendant in georgia. it's just not practical under the law no matter how much people want it. this is what the law says right now. none of them are subject to the prohibition under the u.s. under the constitution or existing law and there is no reason the case should have come back and be resurrected

from the zombie form. >> is there stuff that because he's president is now off-limits that gets in the way of their cases? >> this is where the litigation will come. against him , it could be argued that he is -- evidence about him and the presidency cannot come in against him, but who is to say that it couldn't come against a defendant. it is a legal minefield and there is no reason that any of these people can't still be prosecuted. >> people focus on the immunity decisions of actions, but it's really evidence. you're trying to support a crime and use the acts that they took in their official capacity , it will be difficult to prove that. i think we underestimated the extent to which the supreme court's immunity decision is perhaps going to in president-elect trump and future leaders. it will have an enormous impact on the guardrails that once existed. >> is interesting. the case

came down to him as president , but i think smart defendants in that case will say, wait a second. this may apply to us given how we worked in the white house and it's a tricky tricky minefield. >> thank you so much. appreciate it. breaking news. projections to bring in house races. these are just in cnn. we are rejecting the former congressman democrat will represent louisiana and this is a seat drawn after the federal court mandated that the state have another majority black district. the seat is a pickup for democrats but in the meantime, nevada, democrat has won re-election in the first house district. a fixture in nevada politics previously serving in the state senate. also, in the fourth district, democrat stephen hosford has won re-election and the fourth district . he is the best-known chair of the congressional lack focus. don davis has won a second term in north carolina. davis

is an air force veteran and was one of six democrats to vote for a resolution that condemned kamala harris's handling of the border. montana's first district will send republican back to washington. he occurs served as secretary during the first trump administration. none of these races are seen as an upset, but move closer to finding out who will be in the majority of the house, so stay with cnn. we will be right back with more.

breaking news , jerome powell speaking to reporters and declaring the independence of the central bank as donald trump prepares to take office in january. >> joining us live it now. tell us what he said. it was brief, but it was key. >> it was brief. look, as the fed takes its independence very seriously and during the press conference a few moments ago, the chair was asked whether or

not he would step down if he was asked by the president elect to do so. take a listen to the exchange. >> some of the president-elect advisers have suggested that you should resign. if he asked you to leave, would you go? >> no. >> could you follow-up? do you think legally that you are not required to leave? >> no. >> now, also asked during the press conference whether the president can demote him or other leaders at the fed and he said that it is not permitted under the law . look, some of this could be a point, because back in july, trump said that he would allow to finish out his term . earlier today, our colleague reported that according to a trump adviser that trump would be likely to let palliser about his term and conservatives said the same thing. he told me that trump would likely wait out the clock whose term expires in may 2026, but we know that the

president-elect's mind can change and it's easy to see a situation where he could decide that he wants to make a move . these two have had a very complicated relationship. it was trump himself would tempt powell to leave the federal reserve and trump has also been very critical of powell at the rates too high . he question whether or not there was a political motivation behind the interest rate cut back in september. i do think that we need to watch the relationship between powell and trump very closely. they are two of the most powerful people in washington and there is a lot at stake in terms of the economy and inflation. >> sometimes a single word can just be so impactful as an answer , but it makes it tricky for the follow-up question. we will see. he is not going to. thank you so much. president-elect trump, allies and companies are already quietly making plans to deliver on one of his biggest campaign promises, which is the mass deportation of illegal

immigrants. >> priscilla alvarez reporting. what are you hearing from sources? >> reporter: over the last several weeks and months, trump allies and some in the private sector are quietly preparing to detain and deport migrants at a large scale. the reason the private sector has been talking about this is because the federal government liens on contractors to manage the detention spaces and there is only a very few number of facilities that are federally owned and this has already been part of the discussion and they're expecting that to ramp up. sources also telling cnn that the target at the beginning and these preliminary plans putting together the trump team is focusing on on democrat amended immigrants who have committed crimes and another part of the discussion is dreamers. undocumented immigrants who came to the u.s. as children. some are protected under the obama program deferred action for childhood arrivals and they have

bipartisan support, which could change. we will see how the conversation evolves over time , but i have been talking to officials about this and they tell me, if he wants to do mass deportation, there are practical ways to make that happen. of course, detention will be a key component of that, because you have to arrest and detain before repatriating, but it comes down to money. in the past, department of homeland security has moved funds around to try to put money behind these detention spaces and deportations. this type of scale will require so much more than what the department of homeland security can do with its limits and not to mention that repatriating people is also difficult. it requires us to have different diplomacy and agreements with countries. again , just to show you the numbers, because we are showing them here. it costs $11,000 just to apprehend, detain, process and remove one documented immigrants. you are looking at a big price tag. the

preparations are ongoing and there are steps being taken, especially within the private sector knowing that it could certainly happen, but it is not an easy feat. >> to that point, donald trump moments ago was speaking to reporters off-camera. apparently, he reiterated his plan to carry out mass deportations when he asked about how much an operation of that magnitude would cost and he said it's not a question of a price tag. quote, it's not really and we have no choice when people have killed, murdered and destroys countries. now, going back to those countries, because they are not staying here. there is no price tag. what are the conversations like now for officials at the department of homeland security and other places or federal agencies that may have to follow this from the president-elect? >> there is a price tag and money that needs to be put behind an effort like this.

department of homeland security officials are no stranger to the whiplash with immigration policy. you have the trump administration first term , then president joe biden came in and reversed policies . now, they are saying that they will reverse with the biden administration and put the trump administration policies all over again. there is a mixed bag of emotions and they tell me that it has been shellshocked among the political appointees and other tell me that they have optimism and want a stronger position on the u.s. southern border. it is certainly a mixed bag, but this is where we have come in terms of immigration policy, which is that it is a patchwork system and it is whoever in office to dictate what the policy is, because there hasn't been any change to immigration law, which would offer a permanent change. in talking to multiple homeland security officials over the last 24 hours, they say, we are ready and we will do what needs to be done, according to what the incoming president says , but this is

not a way to run a system. >> priscilla alvarez, thank you for your reporting. we want to expand the conversation. joining us is democratic congressman hawking koster of texas. thank you for being with us and congratulations on your re-election. i want to ask you about the potential for mass deportations and the trump comments about not being a price tag. first i want to get your thoughts on tuesday and what we saw unfold with the election broadly. what should be the biggest take away? >> look, it was a tough night for democrats and we also had tough nights over the years the democratic party, as you can imagine right now, a period of self reflection and trying to figure out why we lost and what we need to do next time to make sure that we win . that is what political parties do after suffering losses in elections. i think that kamala harris and joe biden did an amicable job for four years in helping the economy bounce back from a once in a century pandemic. we had a record of job growth. we had

record low unemployment . i also think that a lot of families and latino families were still feeling a hit from inflation and much of it that was driven by corporate profiteering and price gouging . unfortunately as democrats, we were reluctant to point the finger there. in the election, part of what happened is that donald trump and the republicans ran a campaign that was based on fear and resentment , which was pointing the finger at immigrants, migrants and they wanted every american to believe that everybody who was seeking asylum to this country was a potential serial killer. they are pointing the finger at trans kids and i think they spent over $200 million in ads on the trans issue. they found that the enemy zeroed in and work as hard as they could to convince americans that these folks are the problem and that they were the reason that folks were feeling hardship in their lives . we have to make sure

that we stand up for people and for their constitutional rights , especially because of what you just talked about with mass deportation and other issues. in the process of that evaluation. >> given your view of the self reflection among democrats and the view of republicans scapegoated migrants , i'm curious to get your thoughts on latino voters, especially the rio grande valley. it trump had a near sweep of order counties there . what did trump do right and how much do you attribute his success to his stance on immigration? >> again, they zeroed in on scare tactics and trying to convince all americans and latinos that these people are not like you. these people are coming to hurt you, harm you and they made of these conspiracy theories about haitian immigrants in ohio and venezuelans all over the country taking over a lot of

different apartment complexes and so forth. the media environment is also not what it was 10 years ago or 20 years ago. you have a lot more misinformation and disinformation that is being pumped out and often sold and sometimes accepted as truth. that is very powerful and it moves people. i don't think as a country or even as a political party that we have reckoned with how powerful that can be . like i said at the beginning, there is an economic element to it, as well. i do think that grocery prices went up too high to past and people were feeling it. when people are feeling it in their lives like that, they are looking around for a reason as to why it's going on. unfortunately, i think that oftentimes the republican party sold a scapegoat or scapegoats. >> there was frustrations among many latinos and border communities with president biden's immigration policy. i

do wonder, when you hear some folks accuse latino voters that supported trump of misogyny and racism , how that sits with you . there is evidence that points to the contrary. i do wonder, how much do you think those factors played a role? >> first, i don't think it's fair to blame latino voters for donald trump's win. if you look at a state like pennsylvania, the percentage of latino voters is relatively small and i have heard some claims that you have talked about, but i would ask people to remember that our latino community, this is a community that over womanly support of the first black president of the united states in the election in 2012 that overwhelmingly supported hillary clinton to become the first woman president of the united states. it's a community that is in solidarity with working-class people and

people who have experienced injustice with aspiring people in the country reaching to achieve their american dreams. it would be a mistake not only to lay the blame now, but also to give up on a community. that would be a big mistake for the democratic party. >> what do you think vice president harris could have done differently? >> to be honest with you, i think for me. it has been a few days from the election and she poured her heart and soul into all of it. she and tim walz. the legion of volunteers and everything and i know it's your job to look for answers and tried to get answers, but it's going to be a little bit while longer to figure out on our end what we could have done differently. i really think that we should have been honest about what was going on with price increases . for example,

that is one for sure. there are other things, as well, but i promise that when we talk again, i will have a fuller answer. >> i look forward to that conversation. joaquin castro of texas, thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> stay with news of central. we will be right back.

former trump attorney rudy giuliani has until next friday to handover assets or face contempt. he was back in court today after he missed a deadline to surrender items to the two georgia election workers that he defamed. >> the workers say that they are waiting to collect his most valuable possessions, including his mercedes that he was spotted cruising in on election day with microphones in his face. outside the courthouse in manhattan. got a bit of a scolding an escort, then he had microphones in his face skin as he was leaving. walk us through what happened. four >> reporter: the keys to the car, title of the car and enough is enough. he has to follow the court's orders and has to turn those things, as well as a number of other luxury items and expensive

things and watches that he has , sports memorabilia and things that he has put into storage in long island. all of that has to get to the lawyers by the end of next week and they will give him a time and place by monday on where he needs to deliver all of those items to get them to them, because he is so indebted to these two women and the judge at the federal court manhattan is trying to enforce that winning and judgment that they had received there. just to give you an idea of how difficult this is for them, there was a moment in court where the judge was discussing with giuliani himself who is here about a sworn statement that he made that said he was the only person who knew where his assets were. he stood up in the middle of the court and try to tell the judge that he didn't want his own name on the statement saying that he knew where all of the things he owns would be and the judge said that it is farcical and you don't have a right to

exercise self help. you can't just decline to answer questions because you disagree with them, so that is how the hearing played out over more than an hour. after court, he did get the judges orders quite firmly, but he came outside and had more to say when asked by cnn if donald trump might be helping him now that trump is returning to presidency and that giuliani has been out there supporting him publicly. here is what he had to say. >> reporter: you think trump will help you get you out of this? >> he doesn't have to help me get out of it. he just has to straighten out the legal system and you will find out who the real problem is. to bring in this case was a complete abuse of process. the $145 million judgment to anyone is ridiculous. obviously done because i'm a republican and i was in a democratic

dictatorship, which by the way new york is. >> reporter: the deadline is firm from the court. giuliani to get these things from him and they can also go to the trump campaign to try to collect $2 million that rudy giuliani says he was never paid from the 2020 election. back to you. >> interesting. katelyn polantz, thank you. new scrutiny under the trump administration is next.

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sources tell us that the fbi is informed that one of president donald trump elect stepped white . >>. the team that broke the reporting per tell us what you are learning. >> we learned that todd blanche, one of president-elect donald trump's lead to criminal defense attorneys was tapped by chinese hackers part of a wide-ranging operation targeting top republican and democratic political figures in the u.s. source we are familiar with the intrusion said that blanche was informed last week by the fbi that hackers were able to obtain voice recordings and text messages. the source says that this information has no connected connection to the president-elect and no indication that anything was taken from the phone . they were able to obtain information, including communications with family. the second of donald trump's

attorneys who have been confirmed hacked by foreign adversaries back in august. cnn reported that another one of the attorneys lindsay halligan was also hacked by iranian efforts. this is significant, because you think about what todd blanche may be doing in the upcoming administration and his voice name has been floated. the kind of information on his phone would be of interest to foreign adversaries. >> thank you so much for the update and a story that we will continue tracking. donald trump could start naming some of his key white house staff any day and there are questions about whether vaccine skeptic and conspiracy theorist rfk jr. will be in charge of health policy. >> cnn correspondent is here with help tracks vaccine efficacy and safety. >> reporter: talked about not taking anybody's vaccines away that he will immediately begin

studying vaccine safety and efficacy. this has public health experts scratching their heads but what isn't out there that he thinks he is going to examine and reveal something new. the system for being vaccines before on the market and afterwards is incredibly robust. before a vaccine gets to market, it starts out with animal studies before it can get to human clinical trials. often, those take years and thousands of participants. the fda review process where documents are posted publicly both from the manufacturers and fda in its own review and reviewers make a recommendation to the fda and the fda decides whether to approve some, then after gets on the market, the cdc group of outside advisers meet to review and discuss whether it should be added to the schedule, who should get it and how frequently. they then can decide whether to accept the recommendation and even years after vaccines are out of the market, there are multiple ways in place for the cdc and fda that they are continually monitoring vaccine efficacy and

safety. what is worrying public health officials and experts is the idea that rfk jr. could shake confidence in the vaccines through this kind of language and we are seeing rights of things like the mmr vaccine declining to levels below where the cdc says that they need to be to achieve immunity and protect everybody in the community. they have not been above 95% for kindergartners since 2019 and 2020. that is really concerning to folks who are worried about diseases like measles and other vaccines like polio potentially coming back. >> meg tirrell, thank you so much. a real-life game of jumanji playing out in one small south carolina town after 43 escaped from a research facility. this is what they look like. they are still on the loose after escaping from the output genesis research center. >> the research center had eyes on the and were attempting to entice them with food and it

sounds it should work. town administrator reportedly told the media , we are not talking about caesar of planet of the apes, but if you spot any, don't approach or try to interact with them or feed them. call 911. the are all female and between 6 to 7 pounds and they have never been used for testing and they are too young to carry disease. >> they are adorable and probably not a danger. what do you think they are trying to entice them with as far as food? banana is the easy answer, but i don't know. >> any kind of fruit i would think. >> popeye's chicken sandwich? >> that is always a good bet. >> and sad that we didn't talk about her social friend of the show and i don't know if she knows that we exist. the australian break dancers are tied up break testing. the leader starts right now.