am told by reliable sources the inappropriate website is just wicked.com. i do know -- i am going now. john, please leave the set until we need you back. this morning anxious americans are easing election stress with a new type of retail therapy. it is called dooms spending, but is it really helping you at all? please don't fall into the rabbit hole that we often fall into. what is happening with this? >> essentially it is when you're feeling gloomy about something. it could be politics, the election, the economy, or something going on in your life. you essentially go shopping to make yourself feel better. it is that dopamine hit that you get.

doing a little bit of shopping in anticipation of not working out in their favor and we saw that people were spending right after the election, maybe if the donald trump was in office, who's going to be in office, wasn't their candidate of choice. but essentially where it can get hairy, 50% of americans have reported that they're carrying debt on their credit cards. and that's where it can get tricky. it's not just the one- off, it's the constant spending when you're not feeling good, and we know that americans are carrying over $1 trillion of credit card debt. that is a record. and it's important to note that if you are doing this every so often and can afford it financially, okay, but if you're tying it to how you're feeling about something, the economy, politics, it's probably something you want to look at. >> i now have a new excuse to give to my husband of why i'm spending so much. this is -- we're just going to go with that. vanessa, thank you so much. really appreciate it. a new hour of "cnn news central" starts now.

we have brand- new reporting on key appointments for the incoming trump administration, ambassador to the united nations. will secretary of state be next? we're about to learn if the new york criminal conviction against donald trump will hold. what happens next there very much in the balance. and north korean troops now at war against ukraine. we've got a new look inside a planned offensive. i'm john berman with sara sidner and kate balduan. this is "cnn news central. " happening now, the team president-elect donald trump is planning to take to washington, taking shape this morning. overnight, trump named tom homan to be his, quote, border czar. and new this morning, trump has nominated fourth- ranking republican in the house, congresswoman elise

stefanick to be his u.n. ambassador. all of this as trump is looking to bend washington to his will, as punch bowl news put it this morning. cnn senior political analyst mark preston is with us this morning. we are happy to see you, mark. you have a brand- new reporting on the stefanick pick and the sort of strategy inside mar-a-lago right now, which seems like a wild world that's happening there. what are you hearing? >> it certainly is, sara. last night, kaitlan collins reported that donald trump planned on picking elise stefanick, a loyal ally of his for so many years to be his spokesperson for the united states at the u.n. this morning, they have put a statement out, they have said that, in fact, that is going to happen. this is now the third person we have seen named by donald trump since he's been elected into key positions. we saw tom homan late last night. he has been named as the border czar. what does that mean? he's going to be in charge of rounding up all of the immigrants that are here in

the country illegally, that donald trump wants to send back. elise stefanick, on the other hand, she will be someone who will be carrying donald trump's foreign policy message, certainly within the united nations. and then, of course, we know that susie wiles, who was chosen, who led his campaign, she is the first woman chief of staff. somebody who is considered extremely serious, who can keep the trains running on time. what i've been told just this morning, as far as timing of picks, sure, there may be some big names that pop out in the next few days that we're all looking for, but we should really be focusing in on the worker bees. the ones, those bureaucrats who will now be bureaucrats who will be brought in, these political appointees to implement the trump agenda. folks that he trust such as steve homan, susie wiles, elise stefanick. gives you an idea of what his administration will look like. >> and it also gives you a flavor of how he plans to do

his business. he's making new demands for whoever is going to lead this senate that is now gop-controlled. and we've seen the responses from those who want the job. what can you tell us about this? >> well, certainly, the race now for control of washington moves to the united states senate. and the reason why is you have three gentlemen right now running to replace mitch mcconnell as the republican leader. that person will become the majority leader next year. will wield an incredible amount of power. will be the person who is charged with pushing through donald trump's agenda in the united states senate. right now, we have donald trump saying that he basically wants the new majority leader to work with him at every level. in fact, he is calling for recess appointments for his, for his folks and the reason why he's doing that is because he's concerned that he may not get some of these folks through. there may be some republicans that would push back against some of his more controversial nominees. and a very smart person just told me about a half hour ago,

someone who has covered capitol hill mow now for about 30 years, it's not just about the few people that he may get through right now, sara, it's about him trying to put a slate of 100, 500, a thousand people through. and what's most important about recess appointments, is that you are not vetted thoroughly by the u.s. senate. >> mark preston, thank you so much for bringing us all of those details this morning. lots happening in trump world. kate? >> joining us right now is democratic congresswoman from florida, debbie wasserman schultz to talk more about all of this. congresswoman, thanks for being here. while donald trump is working on his plans, many democrats are still trying to figure out what went wrong and what the message is to democrats from voters this time. donald trump won all swing states, the electoral college, and is winning the popular vote, as we see it right now. what do you think the message is from this election? >> okay, thanks for having me, and what i want to first

acknowledge is that the democrats absolutely have work to do. we have work to do on making sure that we can communicate our message effectively. by message, i mean the substance of what we've accomplished. i mean, we passed the inflation reduction act, massive -- which brought massive reductions in prescription drug prices. the most historic investment in global warming and climate change. we passed the chips act. we passed the infrastructure bill. and those all created jobs and contributed toward our having the most robust economy worldwide post-covid. but obviously, that message didn't get through, and we didn't really -- we're not able to acknowledge consistently the pain that voters feel and i can hear it from people in my district and i feel it in my own grocery store, when i go and buy my groceries every week or every few days. we are not acknowledging that already people that are still struggling to make their daily ends meet. the problem that we got is

that the communications landscape is so diffuse. there are podcasts and whatsapp messaging. and we have to make sure that we're meeting voters where they are. and we didn't really do a consistent job . we won the senate race in wisconsin, michigan, and likely arizona, and we are likely, either way, in the house to have the same slim majority, no matter which party ends up majority was portraying. we had a very short presidential campaign with our nominee and there were a lot of other issues as well. >> you may not call it a wave, but it was zeif and broad. one thing with this election

and the coming months, one thing that does not seem so clear right now come january, who is the leader of the democratic party? who is the leader to carry the message and to carry the platform? who do you consider the leader of the democratic party, as joe biden is heading to the exit? >> i think the most consistent person we'll be able to follow is hakeem jeffries, who will be the first african- american speaker elected in american history, or a minority leader, like he has been, that has been able to essentially govern from the minority. all throughout the last two years in this congress, republicans could not get out of their way. there's nothing indicating that they will be able to do so. and we essentially made sure that every major piece of legislation, whether it was not passing the budget through a continuing resolution or the omnibus budget, not shutting the government down, not crashing the economy into the side of a cliff by raising the debt

ceiling. all of those major victories happened because democrats brought a majority of the votes. and republicans couldn't possibly have achieved that without us. and so hakeem jeffries has been able to put together a masterfulmasterful campaign that ensured that we essentially are either going to win this election and the votes need to continue to be counted, or we are essentially going to be in the same minority position that we were. and we have senate races all across the country, that democrats won in spite of the fact that trump won their states. and you've got to look at, also, this is a guy that's been on the ballot three times. he's really been on the national landscape since 2015. and the next election is not going to have a donald trump. at least as long as we follow the constitution. and so, we have to get ready over the next several years to make sure that we can re- set and ensure that the kind of playing field that we're playing on allows us to communicate effectively with voters and that we meet voters where they

are. >> in florida, really quickly, florida was one of several states that had abortion rights on the ballot. and the majority of florida voters supported protecting abortion rights up to the th week of pregnancy. but when it comes to how florida works, it still fell short of what was needed to get it actually approved. what do you think the message was that that vote in florida and what florida voters are saying? >> if republicans are smart, which i doubt they will be, because they're extremists on abortion rights, and i'm concerned under donald trump you'll see a national abortion ban, so we have to fight tooth and nail to prevent that. but we got 58% of the vote to restore abortion rights in florida. and what they should do is the legislation should go back into session and they should restore our abortion rights legislatively, like the overwhelming majority of voters, republicans, democrats, and npas or independents here in florida came together and said, they went too far.

we have essentially a total abortion ban here. and voters need to be respected. the legislature won't do that. ron desantis won't do that, because they're extremists. and they want to control women's bodies. and that's going to reverberate over next few years. we have a midterm election coming up. but stay tuned to 2026, kate. because, you know, inevitably, most often, the first congressional races after a president's victory ends up seeing gains for the party and the minority. so overreach, which is clear that donald trump is headed towards, and likely in florida, too, is going to face some likely backlash if they're not careful. and they won't be careful. >> well, we will see. congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz, thank you for coming in. sara? this morning, some are calling on supreme court justice sonia sotomayor to accept down before democrats lose power. how she's responding to that. plus, firefighters battling blazes on both coasts. what officials are telling residents of new york and new jersey to do as more

fires than we've seen in recent history rage at the same time. and texas firefighters save a 2-year- old trapped inside a burning home. you've got to check out this amazing rescue. that's ahead.

all right. this morning, supreme court justice sonia sotomayor is making it clear she has no plans to resign. this is despite calls from some on the left for her to step down before president- elect donald trump takes

office, which would give president biden a chance, in theory, a chance, to put a younger justice on the bench. former federal state prosecutor elie honig is with us. the sotomayor thing, that appears to be done and dusted at this point. but that's not to say that donald trump in four years can't make a very long- lasting impact on the supreme court. >> justice sotomayor is not going anywhere. if you listen to her recentrecent or oral arguments, she's sharp as a tack. there's no reason for her to leave. but what people do need to watch for, clarence thomas is 76. samuel alito is 74. one or both of them could well choose to retire. justice breyer retired so he could be replaced by a much younger ketanji brown jackson. but before that, anthony kennedy retired replaced by a much younger brett kavanaugh. so one or both of thomas or alito could be released by a 52-year- old -- >> 36.

>> that seat will be owned for 20, 30 years. i have to say, clarence thomas, if he finishes out the next term, will become the number one all- time longest serving justice. >> so supreme court over there. attorney general is a place where donald trump will make a huge impact with this election in who he picks to nominate will tell elie. >> yes, he never forgave jeff sessions for recusing himself from the russia investigation. he never forgave bill barr for standing up at the end against his claims of election fraud. so i think donald trump is going to be looking for a loyalist. and the thing i'm looking for is, do we have somebody, "a," who's been a prosecutor, who understands the values of doj. and "b," who's willing to put the interests of doj and the american people, which sometimes conflict, with the president's interests. or is he going to put his loyalty to the president first. so that's going to be really telling to me, as to, obviously, it's a crucial position, but how does donald trump view his

mandate? how aggressively does he view this, and to what extent does he feel empowered to put anyone who is going to do his bidding. >> was merrick garland a loyalist to joe biden? >> no, i don't think so. not at all. merrick garland appointed special counsel to investigate joe biden and joe biden's son. i don't think he was a loyalist to joe biden. >> the cases against donald trump, there is a big moment in the conviction, the criminal conviction, in new york against donald trump. this week, tomorrow. >> yeah, tomorrow, judge marchon will issue his ruling in the immunity case. this related to payments made before donald trump was president, the first time in 2016. the problem from the prosecutor's point of view is some of the evidence they introduced at trial did relate to conversations they had in the white house. hope hicks was a key witness about conversations she had when she was a communications director. the immunity decision came out after that trial, but it's still the law of the land. and trump's team is now

saying, that evidence should not have been included, therefore i'm entitled to a new trial. we don't know what judge marchon is going to do. he could say, yes, that evidence should not have been let in, the verdict is vacated. it is rare to sort of -- to keep perspective, it is rare to see a verdict thrown out, or he could rule that evidence was too small a part of the total puzzle and doesn't necessitate a brand- new verdict, but that's going to be a brand-new verdict. >> and how he chooses to say it given the presidential election will be fascinating. ahead, trump's campaign promises may be hard to keep whence it comes to artificial intelligence. how his plans could upend the industry. and firefighters are battling wildfires on both coasts this morning. the latest on the deadly fire raging along the new york/new jersey border. that's ahead.

during his presidential campaign, donald trump made several promises that could affect the climate, health, and artificial intelligence. the world of ai has drastically changed since the last time trump was in the white house. what does this win mean for the rapidly expanding landscape. joining me now is the director of the center for technological responsibility, reimagination, and redesign at brown university. thank you so much for coming on the show to talk about this really important and interesting issue. president biden tweeted a while back, and i saw that you liked it, that artificial intelligence has enormous potential to tackle some of our toughest challenges, but we must address its risks. and he was pushing for an ai bill of rights. what does that bill of rights entail? and is it something that you think is really important that we have in place?

>> yeah, thank you for having me. i absolutely think that we have protections for people in the age of ai, and the ai bill of rights articulated what these protections should look like. that ai systems that we put out there in the world that affect people's lives should be safe. they should be effective at what they do. they shouldn't discriminate against people. they should be transparent in how they work, and we should be able to ask how these systems work, especially when they affect us. and there should be a dial zero for operator. a way for us to get access to people to address our concerns and not have to deal with a whole train of automated systems that we know can be very frustrating. >> i do want to ask you, donald trump has run on deregulation, which means less rules for businesses. what do you think he will do when it comes to artificial intelligence? and are you concerned about it? >> i mean, i have concerns and

i have hopes. and i have things that i think are very important. i'm of course, concerned about the prospects of losing provisions for people's rights, especially when subject to bias and error-prone automated decisions like ai. i'm very worried about that. but i am hopeful that much of the guidance to agencies that this administration has put out will continue in some form in the first administration. the first administration had put our their own guidance on ai. and there are many elements in that guidance that are very much in line with what the current guidance looks like. the fact that systems should be accurate and effective, safe and secure, and trustworthy. that's actually in the title of the executive order to the first trump administration put out. but i want to emphasize what is most important of all. that we not have a policy vacuum. i think there are some that will call for a complete suspension of any rules regarding ai. i think that would be a huge mistake. i think we've seen for the

past many years what happens when we put ai out in the world without any guardrails and we don't want business as usual. we don't want the united states to fall behind what other countries, the european union, and the u.n. globally is look, that elon musk is really holding court at mar-a- lago and has some serious influence with the president- elect at this time. but he has also talked about ai. he's talked about regulating ai and has warned that it could pose a threat to humanity. what do you think his role might be in all of this? >> i don't know. it's hard to say. there are a lot of voices that are speaking to the president- elect at this point. so it's hard to say what influence. i do know that many in the tech industry have spoken about some of the concerns around ai. i think it's important to focus on the concerns we see here and now in the real world. we should try to avoid speculative concerns about a future that has not yet come to is unlikely to come to

pass. but i do think there are concerns right now that we need to worry about. concerns that people are facing every day. >> are you concerned about capitol hill understanding exactly what it is regulating, or has failed to regulate, for a long time, failing to regulate, for example, social media, and now ai comes along, which is going at lightning speed. >> actually, i think capitol hill has not been able to pass many bills. but there are many, many bills in congress that are both bipartisan and reflect a much deeper understanding of the different aspects of governance of ai. there are bills about ai use in government, about the procurement of ai systems, bills about data systems and privacy. there's a lot of understanding, i think, in congress on this issue. unfortunately, very little of that has come to pass in terms of actual legislation, but there is work going on, and it's bipartisan for the most part. >> sareh, thank you so much

for talking about this really important lives whether we like it or not. appreciate you. kate? the kremlin this morning pushing back and denying reports that donald trump and vladimir putin spoke on the phone and about the war in ukraine last week. why the kremlin is making a point to call this pure fiction right now. and also, this morning, democrats are still trying to work out what went so wrong for them last week, as they now look ahead to 2028. who will be the next leader of the democratic party?

all right, this morning, it is a complicated time to be a democrat in washington and by complicated, uncomfortable. democrats are trying to figure out what they do now going forward. so what does history tell us? with us now, senior data reporter, harry enten. look, democrats are like winging in a lot of different ways right now and trying to figure out what to do going forward. one of the things they don't have this time is an idea of who exactly they might follow. >> there's no heir apparent. and we can see this perhaps best by let's taking a look at the early poll leader for 2028. there isn't one. there's no early favorite. there's no early clear favorite. and that is really unusual, because the bottom line is, when you have no incumbent democratic president following this year, we've looked back at similar situations. back in 2017, joe biden was the clear heir apparent.

heading into 2005 and then 2013, heading into the '16 campaign, hillary clinton was way up in the national polls. it was pretty clear she was the heir apparent. how about al gore going into the 2000 campaign or '04? the clear heir apparent. you have to go all the way back to the 1992 campaign with this giant question mark over here. let's see if i can draw it in in. there we go, where there was no clear heir apparent. this is going to be the first cycle it seems going back all the way to the late '80s, early 1990s when there's no clear early front- runner for the next democratic nomination. >> i will say, the democrats won this one. and in this one where they did have an heir apparent, they ended up winning when it wasn't that person. so maybe they're better off. >> maybe they're better off. hillary clinton who seemed to be the heir apparent going into the 008 campaign, it was barack obama who basically came out of nowhere after that '04 convention speech and went on to win the nomination. >> in terms of being in the wilderness, sometimes in the

past, democrats have been able to latch on to the outgoing president, as someone who can give them guidance. where does that sit this time? >> yeah, so even after 2016, right, you go into 2017, and you know, democrats control no levers of the congress. democrats have no, you know, real heir apparent, necessarily, except for biden. but barack obama, at least had an approval rating nationwide of 53%. look at where joe biden's is? 40% at this point. 40%. you have to go back to 1980 as i come to john's side of the screen to find a departing incoming democratic president to have an approval rating as low as joe biden's is. when you make the comparison to jimmy carter on popularity, you know you're in bad shape. >> when it comes to what power you actually have in washington, historically speaking, having no levers of power, they haven't been there that often. >> they really haven't been. they've been a little bit more apparent this century, but a gop president plus congress in the last 90 years,

one time, two times, three times, four times, and five times. just five times in the last 90 years in which the democrats controlled neither house of congress, which seems most likely and not the presidency. the bottom line is, anywhere you look, john, everywhere you look, the democrats are in this deep, dark state, because they have no heir apparent, the incumbent president is unpopular and they have no levers of power in washington most likely come january. >> and at least in this century, when they were in those positions, it did flip fairly quickly at least here and here. >> yes, the bottom line is, we'll see where we are if two careers. we're just getting over this election. we don't have to jump to 2026 already. but the bottom line is this, for democrats, there's no real light at the end of the tunnel. it's always darkest before it's pitch black, as john mccain once said. >> kate? >> joining us right now is former biden director of message planning, megan hayes, and cnn political commentator and

strategist, brad todd. one person who's already looking ahead to 2026 was debbie wasserman schultz. she was just on and says that's exactly where her focus is coming off of the election last week. who do you think is the next leader of the democratic party? >> that is a great question. and i wish i knew the answer. i think we have a bench -- we have some midwestern governors that would be great, gretchen whitmer, andy bashear in kentucky. there are some people that would like to step up. secretary pete has talked about wanting to be more involved in the rebuild of the party. but it will take them time to figure out where we're going to go as a party. will remove more to the left to our friends on the left side. i think the leader of the party will determine where we're going. >> absolutely. and real quick, megan, before i get to brad, we had bernie sanders who was on on sunday, saying, like, voters have a right to be angry, because the democrats basically have

given up and have abandoned the working class. i mean, that's a message coming from one, you know, one part of the party. what direction do you think -- the message from this election is what to democrats, do you think? and what direction they should be headed, with what you were just describing? >> so i think that where the electorate is, is more towards the middle. and i think that democrats, if you want to win elections, you need to move towards the middle. that doesn't mean you abandon your progressive base or the left of the party, but to get elected, you need to move towards the middle. and you can't do some of the policies that the progressives want you to do without being in power. i think they're going to have to move towards the center if they want to win elections. >> brad, republicans don't get a say in who the next democrat -- the next leader of the democratic party is, but what they do have a say in is who is the next leader of the republican majority in the senate. the three leading contenders right now are senators rick scott, john thune, and john cornyn. and politico is writing today, at least when it comes to rick

scott's position, his campaign, if you will, and the public push by his allies for him to get the job, that that may be hurting him some. here's what politico writes in part, the bulk of the republican rank and file, they're talking about the senate, is not pleased at all. we spoke with one senator who was aghast at the effort, as well as a gop aide who said the campaign is pissing off senators whose vote rick nooets eeds to win. and brad, you have worked with rick scott and his campaigns. do you think this backfires for him? >> by the way, if you needed anymore confirmation that rick scott is the disrupter that thethe party voters would like, all you need to see is anonymous u.s. senators complaining that they're getting too much pressure from their bosses, the people they work for, back at home. and you know, part of the problem with this process is, it's a secret ballot. it's one of the three most important positions in washington. it's elected by the smallest number of people. and yet, we don't even have any accountability for how they

vote. i think that's an issue you're going to see contested here in the next day or two. but, if you are a republican senator and you're not happy with the fact that maybe people from the outside -- now, think about what the outside means. that means oside the capitol. you know, where the bosses live. if you're upset with your bosses weighing in on how you vote for majority leader, than perhaps you're thinking about voting for the wrong person. >> i think some of the people that they're, if you will, pissed off at, are not necessarily the american voters, what they're speaking to is some of the pressure campaign from the likes of tucker carlson and those allies who have been speaking out so strongly in favor for rick scott. regardless, megan, what does -- >> well -- there's -- >> but that's what politico is reporting. that's what i'm saying. >> yeah, but there's an attitude in leadership elections that says, just trust us. just trust us. this is not the first one. we've seen that in previous leadership elections. where the voters are not smart

enough to help us figure out who we should vote for. this is a really important job at the top of the republican party. so it's only natural that other people, outside the little club of 49 members, might have an opinion. and it's their job, as senators to factor those opinions and decide what's the mass of the republican party? what would the voters want us to do with regard to this election. that's how you handle a leadership race. >> megan, of the three men that seem to be the leading contenders for the job. what does -- what do those three men represent in terms of whatwhat will be -- i mean, fighting against, working with, however you want to describe what's going to be happening in the senate over the next years? >> look, i think democrats and the republicans will have to figure out a way to work together. there is a majority in the senate with the republican party, but not that strong of a majority, especially when you factor in some of the more susan collins and murkowski,

so they'll have to find someone who will work with democrats and get things done. these people set the agenda with how they vote. that denser what comes up to be voted on. and i think it's important to have someone that democrats and republicans can work together with. >> and one thing, brad, that is always important is the message sent with the first legislation that hits the floor, right? that's always a big moment of messaging. and priority for when we see it in the house, and also in the senate. what do you think -- what are you hearing, what will be the first thing that comes before them? >> well, you know, the first thing that will happen will be some executive orders that come from the white house. and last term when joe biden became president, the first thing that happened was a bunch of executive orders on the first day, that rolled become donald trump's immigration policies. and some executive orders that put a freeze on domestic natural gas production. i think you saw on that first day, the seeds of the defeat that the democrats just had. both, the voters didn't trust them on immigration, didn't

trust them on prices. and of course, fuel prices drive all prices. so on energy and immigration, that very first day, they did things wrong. i think republicans will probably address those same things. i think you'll see very early on, in this administration, both the white house and the congress address immigration and address energy prices and try to make sure that america's energy production is as large as it possibly can be on all fronts. we need affordable energy, abundant energy. that's how you bring prices down. i think you'll see those two subjects and i think the white house and the congress will be on the same page. >> megan hayes, brad todd, thanks, guys. sara? all right, ahead this morning, reports that thousands of north korean troops are preparing to launch a new assault against ukrainian forces who have taken russian territory. and jury deliberations set to resume this morning in the murder of two girls known as the delphi double murder trial. if found guilty, the accused face up to 130 years in prison.

jury deliberations continue this morning in the delphi, indiana, double murder trial. richard allen is accused of killing 14-year- old liberty german and 13-year- old abigail williams back in 2017. abby and libby, they went for a hike. they were later reported missing and the next day their bodies were found, both with cuts to their hroats. the case attracted tons of attention in part because of a photo and audio recording taken from libby's cell phone. the case ran cold until allen was arrested in 2022. pleaded not guilty to the murder charges.

he could face up to 130 years in prison if convicted. drought conditions a fueling wildfires not out west, we're talking about, but rather in the northeast. nearly 12 million people are under a red flag warning in massachusetts, connecticut, and rhode island today. this weekend was filled with hazy, smoky skies in new york and new jersey from several wildfires burning there. there's also fires at the heart -- in the heart of new york city, as well. windy conditions ignited one in an iconic green space in new york. brooklyn's prospect park. new york city clearly not an area known for wildfires, has been under a drought watch after the driest october on record. firefighters in north texas pulled off a heroic rescue this weekend, saving a 2-year- old child trapped in a massive apartment fire. when they arrived on scene, they were alerted that the child was trapped on the second floor of the apartment building, and we see through here how that rescue played out thanks to body- worn camera footage. they managed to pull the child through a window and transferred him to a medevac helicopter for immediate care at a nearby

hospital. no word right now on how that child's recovery is going. sara? >> now on to some international news. thousands of russian soldiers along with north koreans troops are preparesing for a large-scale assault against ukrainian positions in russia's kersk region. it comes after ukraine launched its largest drone attack on moscow since the war began. this as president biden will meet with president- elect trump on wednesday and is expected to urge trump not to abandon ukraine when he takes office. cnn's chief national security correspondent alex marquardt joining me now. what can you tell us about this offensive that is expected to take place and how it's being planned to take back some of the kersk region? >> reporter: well, sara, ukraine is desperately trying to hold on to this large part of russia that they took over in a stunning incursion back in august, in the kersk part of western russia. i'm told by a u.s. official that russia is, indeed,

planning an operation to take place in the coming days with tens of thousands of troops to try to take it back. not just russian troops, but some of those recently arrived north korean troops as well. now, a ukrainian commander tells cnn that those -- there are around 11,000 of these north korean troops that form about three full brigades. it's a significant amount of support for the russians. they include some north korean specialist troops, like artillery men and snipers. and it is very important for ukraine to hold on to this territory, because it could become a valuable bargaining chip in future negotiations. there are real concerns in ukraine that incoming president trump is going to pressure ukraine to essentially settle and give up territory. there are concerns about his relationship with president vladimir putin of russia. in fact, sara, there was a report over the weekend that putin and trump have spoken. we have not confirmed that, and the kremlin did deny it. but there was a call that we

do know that took place last week between president trumps and zelenskyy. on that call was also elon musk. and musk is one of the people in the trump orbit that really concerns president zelenskyy and ukraine, because he along with others have pushed so- called peace plans that would include compromises for ukraine, giving up their territory to russia, in exchange for an end to the war. musk talked about giving up crimea. j.d. vance has talked about giving up parts of eastern ukraine. that, of course, is something that president zelenskyy has no desire to do, but fears that the u.s. may pressure him to do when president trump comes into office. and that is why it is so vitally important for ukraine to try to fend off whatever is coming in the coming days, from these russian troops, from these north korean troops in this kersk region of russia. >> alex marquardt, thank you so much for all of this reporting on this. asser.

kim, i want to start what presi he fears more. this russian counteroffensive in kersk or the incoming trump administration with elon musk on the phone. >> look, he's stuck in the worst possible place and has put a brave face on it, trying to welcome the trump administration in, but he knows that if trump decides to pull support for ukraine, that europe can't make up for it. european officials that i've spoken to have said that the real problem is the military, the weapons manufacturing base. the u.s. has been able to give so much to ukraine, because they've got the manufacturing base to make up for that and re- supply u.s. troops. europe doesn't have that capability. so while financially, they might be able to send money ukraine's way, ukraine really needs

the u.s. support to keep prosecuting this war. >> and susan, insofar as you can tell so far, how is vladimir putin playing this? >> well, look, what putin is preparing to do, it appears, with this possible offensive in the kersk region is to create as many new facts on the ground as possible before trump takes office, before there is a major effort to pressure zelenskyy to settle the war. i think both sides are going to take this, but certainly the russians who have the advantage are going to press that advantage, because they have the very real possibility of an american president, who's effectively going to take their side in negotiations and pressure zelenskyy to give up territory, that russians already hold. of course, it's in putin's interest to hold as much territory as possible right now. and i think that's what we're going to see. >> in terms of facts on the ground, just expand on that a little bit. kersk is in

russia. what he's trying to do is kick the ukrainians out before there's actual talk about land, right? because if there was an negotiation with both sides of the table, ukraine could say, we're here, we're in kersk, as long as we're trading land, let's keep this. >> exactly. i think that's an important point, john. and remember, that russia is also pressuring ukraine all of the last summer and fall, in parts of the east and west. they're also launching a series of drone attacks, escalating drone attacks on ukrainian cities. electric infrastructure is something they could target even more with winter coming. so when i say facts on the ground, i mean, not only in kersk, but elsewhere along the front lines with ukraine, i think you can expect to see russian activity in the days leading up to donald trump's inauguration. and i think, again, the lack of transparency is important, but remember, donald trump is already signaling pretty hard that he does not want the sort of old republican

establishment in his new administration. i think it was notable that he said, already, that both nikki haley and mike pompeo, who were seen as strong supporters of ukraine will not be welcomed back into a second trump administration. donald trump jr. , meanwhile, literally was sending out a social media post the other day, saying essentially, ha- ha, zelenskyy, your allowance from the united states is about to end. and i think that signals what direction, very strongly, the trump administration is planning to go in terms of cutting off support for ukraine. >> kim, what's the timeline here? is it as simple as the transition that putin, zelenskyy, everyone right now is planning for this 70 days, because that's all that's left? >> well, look, trump has said that he could solve it in 24 hours, and he's also said that he could solve it before inauguration day. but with such claims in the past, it's been sort of bravado, putting a marker down, and then he takes as long as it needs to take.

the fact of the matter is, though, that he does have the diplomatic advantage with putin willing to talk to him, and putin willing to play ball. in part because trump administration former officials are already making noise about raising the cost of the price of oil, which would damage russia financially. so that's the sort of blackmail they're holding over moscow's head, or likely will, to come. >> kim dozier, susan glasser, great to see both of you this morning. thanks so much coming on. appreciate your time. brand- new hour of "cnn news central" starts now.