wielding power and upending the status quo. donald trump's inauguration is ten weeks away but the president- elect is already putting his stamp on his administration. while demanding that senate republicans let him have his way when it comes to cabinet appointments. plus, bracing for an offensive. ukraine can only wait as russia could soon attack with an assault backed by troops from north korea. and dangerous fires on both coasts. firefighters in new york and new jersey battle a deadly blaze fueled be fueled by a record drought as strong winds give new life to another wildfire near los angeles. we're following all of these developing stories coming in to cnn news central.

the new administration taking shape as president- elect donald trump is adding names, moving quickly to fill key positions as he prepares for a return to the white house. we're learning in the coming days, he's expected to announce steven miller as deputy chief of staff for policy. he's the top immigration officer who's led calls for more restrictive border policies. he's named his former acting director of immigration, tom holman, for the job. and trump nominated new york congresswoman stefanic as ambassador to united nations. now to west palm beach. mar-a- lago, now the epicenter for folks vying for positions in the new trump administration. talk to us about these roles and who he's filling them with. >> reporter: right.

well, there's so much activity happening on that island before me. i know that donald trump has really been locked down at mar-a- lago over the past several days ever since he won the election. meeting with his transition team, seeing a ton of different allies out on the patio atat mar-a- lago, all jockeying to get in front of him to prove themselves to him. but i think one key thing that is notable from all of the names you mentioned, all of the recent hires we're seeing from wiles to miller, stefanic and holman, all have been very loyal to donald trump. especially over the last several years. not just in the campaign, but also in that time period immediately after donald trump left the white house in 2021 when a lot of people were distancing themselves from him. people like wiles and miller, they are the ones who had stood by his side and clearly, that loyalty is being rewarded. now, as for deputy chief of staff with this new reporting, this is going to be, i'm i'm

told, a more expanded role. steven miller is going to have a very influential role in a second trump term. particularly when it comes to immigration. i'm told that a lot of the immigration policy that is going to be conducted in donald trump's second term is going to be coming out of the white house and miller is going to have a heavy hand in all of that. we've seen, we saw him do it in the first administration. you'll see it this second time around. he's going to have a very hard line view on what donald trump should do including the idea of mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. something that miller is the lead architect of. as for holman, i'mi'm he's going to work closely with donald trump. and stefanic has been by donald trump's side. another loyalty pick there. >> what about elon musk's influence over all of this? because the billionaire tech

tycoon has essentially taken up residency at mar-a- lago since the election. what's his influence on donald trump? >> reporter: i think a clear thing was who was on stage with donald trump the night he gave his victory speech here in palm beach. elon musk was on stage with him and you've seen him really every day at mar-a- lago since. he's brought his kids there. they've been going around golfing with donald trump and his family. donald trump gave him a tour the day after the election. he's having a very big role. he's going to have an outsized role. one thing to note about musk, he is not expected to take on a major role in a second trump term, however, people close say he can still wield a ton of influence on the outside. i imagine you're going to continue to see him in a lot of these conversations in the coming weeks. >> thank you so much.

>> an important step in the trump transition is going to happen on wednesday when the president- elect meets with president biden in the oval office. right now, biden is racing to protect his achievements. kayla tausche is live for us. what more can you tell us about the president's plans? >> he's had a lot of plans he's been laying the groundwork for. first, to deploy as much money as possible that's available to the government under the president's signature infrastructure manufacturing and clean energy initiatives. that process has been underway. he also wants to fill the dozens of open judgeships for which he has already put forward nominees. of course, that will depend on congress. then there's the need to fund the government. around this time next month when a short- term plan is set to expire. we could see the president in the administration try to add on to that bill some of their

key legislative priorities. so we'll wait to see about that. but the process is going to be clouded by the fact that democrats are wide ly frustrated with the outcome of the election and the amount of ground they've ceded over the last four years. then there's the crowded calendar. when i talked to an official, the person acknowledged the best way to trump proof your legacy is to get your own people elected. that didn't happen. the president's going to be stepping out on the world stage. on thursday, to south america where he's going to try to reaffirm the u.s. 's commitments to its allies and try to fortify some of its national security positions toward its adversaries, but of course, that is all going to come after that critical meeting that biden will be holding with president- elect trump here at the white house on wednesday. >> kayla live from the white house. thank you. so now that democrats have had a few days

to reflect on their election day losses, we're joined by frank lunds with his analysis. in the final week of the campaign, you talked to voters about their greatest hesitation against voting for vice president harris. what did you find? >> two things. number one is they weren't sure about what exactly she would do in the first hour. the first day. the first month. she never articulated exactly what she would do and how she would do it. you can't expect to get elected president just by slamming donald trump. you have to put something out yourself. and second is that she never really convinced voters that she wasn't the harris of 2019 and 2020 because her politics were different in 2024. if you're not telling people what they need to know, they're not going to vote for you. >> when we spoke with jasmine wright from notice who wrote an interesting piece pulling back

the curtain on what happened with the harris campaign and one of the things she reported was that the campaign may have misread certain issues that were animating the public. like there was a top harris campaign aide who said the issue of how harris had responded in the past and it was the target of a trump ad to transgendertransgender was something that was really finding an audience and yet they thought it wasn't. what did you find? >> because they weren't listening to the american people. someone needs to go back to the polling to understand what they were thinking. can you name anything we learned about donald trump in the last 100 days? anything that was different. we know what he is. good and bad. we know who he is, good and bad. there's nothing there. we did not know the same thing about her. in fact, you can pinpoint her rise. it peaked when she turned on trump. up to the point when she was talking about herself, the joy of her events, the

convention where everyone's dancing and happy. she's talking about the future. awesome. and then she goes dark. against trump and that's the end of the climb and in fact, she goes back further and further and further. and one other point. men. i know that gender gap, everyone focuses on the female vote, but the truth is, she did so badly among middle-aged, moderate income men. they found the democratic party having moved so far to the left and these with people who voted for biden and clinton and they felt this is not the same democratic party. i'm getting calls from democrats all the time over the last 72 hours and they want to know how do we avoid this in the future, what did we miss. they missed common sense. efficient, effective, accountable. they missed the center of the american public. the center of the issues. they became ideological and should have been personal. >> i wonder what you make of the argument from some

democrats and specifically talking about latino men. men in general perhaps as well. that misinformation and disinformation played a huge role in swaying those voting blocks. did it really play an outsized role? >> i don't accept that and i recognize there was some of that online and it's a challenge we're going to face and get worse as we move further into the ai age. but in the end, the latino voters, despite what happened in madison square garden, despi about puerto rico, trump still did better than any republican ever among the latino vote. to me, that's the most significant story of the campaign. the left tried to demonize him and tried to focus on this language and in the end, they said you know what, there's more for trump. there's more for us in trump than there is in harris and critically, it was about prices and immigration. what people don't understand is the latino population who's here and voting, they don't like illegal immigration. they think it makes them look

bad. they want to be judged on their own merits and they came here the right way and they don't like the people who are trying to come here the wrong way. >> looking back, was it right for biden to get out of the race and if yes, was it right for harris to take the helm? >> they never gave her a chance to prove herself. i don't like this wording about coups and all that. it was voluntary. but in the end, she would have been better off if he had left a month earlier. they had a primary. the voters got a chance to give their point of view. i do believe there are democrats who could have beaten trump. cory booker, the senator from new jersey. wes moore, the governor from maryland. the mayor of new orleans. these are very astute politicians who are very good leaders and had answers to these questions and never would have allowed themselves to be marginalized the way she

was. the democrats have every right to be mad. they spent more than a billion dollars that was wasted and she should have won. i know we have to get out, but trump was indicted what, 91 times? he was impeached twice. he's the oldest president ever to be elected. to be elected and he had january 6th and still won. if you can't beat that individual, your party has a problem, you have a problem and you need to re- examine it. so this battle should be having it. >> thank you. the kremlin is denying reports of a phone call between putin and president- elect trump. ahead, why moscow says this is pure fiction. plus, trump hoping to bypass congress, insisting that republican senators seeking the top leadership post commit to a fast track process for his cabinet picks. that and much more still to come on cnn news central.

denying reports that russian president putin spoke with president- elect trump last week. a spokesman saying there was no conversation. fred pleitgen is live monitoring the latest. what are you learning from officials there? >> reporter: yeah, flatly denying is right. in fact, they're vehemently denying any sort of conversation took place. this was on a conference call that happened between the kremlin spokesman and reporters early this morning. he was asked whether or not such a conversation took place. what was it about this "washington post" reporting. i want to read the words he

used. he says this is completely untrue, pure fiction, it is simply false information. so the kremlin trying to shoot that down. was interesting because the reporting alleged in this conversation apparent lit took place last thursday and last thursday, putin was at a long conference and his last event ended about half past midnight local time. so it would have been difficult to see him then afterwards, having an important phone call with the president- elect of the united states. at the same time, we know that putin has said he's very open to speaking with donald trump and also speaking with donald trump before he takes office. >> what can you tell us because a u.s. official says that russian and north korean forces are preparing an offensive operation against russia. >> reporter: absolutely. this is, you're right. this comes from a u.s. source but there are also

ukrainian sources commenting on this saying that the ukrainians are up against the force of about 50,000 both russian and north korean troops. of course, the north korean troops in all of this something that is of huge interest and concern, not just to the u.s. , but÷÷ to european allies and nato as well. and essentially, we're aking of about 11,000 north korean troops on the ground there. the ukrainians say it's important because those 11,000 ukrainian troops, while they may not be on the front line, they free up more of the russian forces trying to push them out of that territory in the southwest of russia. for the ukrainians trying to hold on to that territory, it's obviously extremely important because they want to use that territory as a bargaining chip if and when any negotiationsnegotiations russia happen so they could possibly exchange that for territory that the russians are holding in ukraine. but the russians are saying they want to take that territory back.

they've also said in the past they're in no rush to do that. for the russians, they continue to say their own offensive in the northeast of ukraine to them is really the key thing. the area around where they have been making gains. the russians have also said they intend to take back that territory. >> fred, thank you for the latest. boris? >> let's discuss the implications with cnn military analyst, cedrick layton. colonel, it's veterans day so thanks so much for your service. >> appreciate that very much. >> let's talk about kursk and the north korea factor when it comes to their troops being involved there. what does russia need to do to regain that territory? >> so, basically what they need is a fresh infusion of troops and what are the north koreans? fresh infusion of troops. as fred mentioned, there are about 10 to 11,000 north koreans that we believe are in

kursk right now. what could happen is that over the next months, they could get as many as 100,000 north koreans into russia. there's some reporting to that effect. whether or not that happens that way, that remains to be een. that would mean around 15,000 per month, rotating into the kursk area or donbas region is also possible. what that means is they have new people coming in who are not worn down by the war. it's kind of like what happened in world war i when the american forces entered world war i. they were the fresh troops and changed the dynamics of the battlefield. even though the number appears to be small, when you're only talking about a few hundred troops on either side, 10,000, 15,000, can make a huge difference. >> i'm wondering what you make of the effectiveness of the north korea force because there have been these stories about north korean troops that

have desserted north korea and have been found to have parasites in their intestines and all sorts of ailments and issues. are the north koreans a sophisticated arms services? >> it depends on which unit you're looking at. these are supposedly from the 11th corp. which contains special operations. they get the best food, training. they are the elite. and that's true in almost any military force and because of that, these are probably pretty well trained fighters. they are used to, of course, the north korean environment poised against south korea. so they've gotten training to deal with russian environment and the ukrainian environment. whether or not they're effective remains to be seen as well. but they could be a force to be reckoned with and they have specialized training that i would pay close attention to. >> so, zooming out to where the conflict stands now, we've seen both russia and ukraine break records with the number

of drone attacks they're launching at each other. why do you think that's happening now? >> well, i think both sides are trying to in essence gain as much they can. they seem to believe that there is some kind of an end coming to this conflict. what that end is, we don't know. but each side is trying to gain some degree of advantage. now, the russians have the advantage in terms of numbers of drones. the 145 or so drones that attacked various ukrainian cities like odesa, kharkiv, kyiv. those, that's a large number. the ukrainians had a far less of a number, but they were very effective in targeting areas around moscow. shutting down two of the major airports there. that's a big deal as well. so both sides can disrupt the other and it seems as if in this particular moment, it's actually the ukrainians that had the more disruptive as disruptive aspect to their operations. >> thanks for joining us. >> thank you. as republican senators p prepare to choose their majority

leader, president- elect donald trump is already telling them what to do when it comes to his cabinet nominees. we'll discuss, next.

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included, for only $15 a month. happening now, president-elect trump is rushing to fill key positions in his incoming administration and he's demanding that any senators vying to be majority leader must support recess appointments for his nominees and that way,

trump can essentially bypass congress and get his top picks in place. >> the three contenders for majority leader with senators john thune, john cornyn, and rick scott. joining us to discuss,discuss, raju, the anchor of inside politics sunday. what will this come down to? >> yeah, that is really fascinating because you're already seeing these three candidates fall in line quickly. more institutional a senator as john thune or cornyn. they've been critical of so- called recess appointments in the past. just to remind our viewers of what this is. typically, the senate goes through a confirmation process. a vetting process. background check. confirmation hearings, votes and committee, on the floor. that's normal. and the senate republicans will have the majority. they have 52 seats. maybe 53 if pennsylvania turns their way. so they can confirm these nominees along straight party lines but it takes time. if there's problems in the process, maybe lose some republican vets.

if there's a problem, that's when the recess appointments typically come in. they have not been done for many years. they've taken stops to block presidents from installing recess appointments. now trump is saying change that process. allow them to install these nominees. short circuit the process and install them without having a traditional vetting process. we're seeing john thune, john cornyn, rick scott, all like sure, that's fine, let's do it. that is obviously a total change in protocol and practice. >> it's interesting because trump hasn't gotten involved and this is a secret ballot. is there sort of a little danger maybe in him getting involved because it could turn out that even if he says hey, this is the guy i want, that's not the one that ends up getting picked. and at the seam time, you have a bunch of his allies pointing towards rick scott? >> yeah, it's really a fascinating dynamic.

this would be the first big endorsement decision since he won the presidency. this vote is happening on wednesday. secret ballot election. these things go on relationships. what have you done for me lately? what committee assignments are you promising? we know cornyn and thune, cornyn particular, has done so much fund raising for many years. thune has done a lot to develop these inroads. rick scott, not as much, which is why we're seeing and expect that thune and cornyn are the heavy favorites. even though scott is liked by maga world, elon musk said he supports him. others on the right wing saying they should support him, but they don't have votes in the united states senate and they don't influence a lot of republican senators, which is why the betting is that it's going to be thune or cornyn who are likely to prevail and why trump is saying maybe not the best decision to endorse. >> thanks so much.

>> thanks. we have breaking news. president-elect donald trump has selected former new york congressman, lee zeldin, as his administrator for the environmental protection agency. >> tell us about this pick. >> reporter: yes, well, lee zeldin is another person who has remained close to donald trump over the years. he's a former congressman from new york. he actually ran against new york governor kathy hochul in 2022 and ended up being a surprisingly close race. i want to read for you what donald trump said about the pick and then also what leah zeldin said. donald trump in a statement, he just released, said quote, i am pleased to announce that the highly respected former congressman from new york, e zeldin, will be appointed to serve as the administrator as the environmental protective agency. lee has been a true

fighter for america first policies. he added he's known zeldin for a long time and has watched him handle handle difficult situations. we saw zeldin announce he was honored to the trump administration and honored to accept the role. now, to give you a sense of what the epa will do. i think it's very clear that donald trump has big plans for energy come really as soon as he entered the white house on january 20th. we have reported that his team, his transition team, is already drafting a series of executive orders aimed at cutting regular laces, lessening the size of national monuments in the west, to increase drilling and mining. they have plans to withdraw the united states from the paris climate agreement once again. so i believe zeldin will likely have a role in much of that. it's very clear that energy is a top priority for the

former president. so here we have another big cabinet level position being announced by donald trump. i think we'll see lot more of these announcements in the coming days. e om west palm beach. lee zeldin named as the epa chief. thank you so much. as we honor those who have served on veterans day, for many veterans who were dismissed or their sexual orientation, this will be the first year they can celebrate with honorable discharges. we'll discuss in just moments.

sacrifice of those who have served this veterans day, biden and harris marked the occasion by laying a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier. biden urging americans to protect veterans. >> we commit, recommit, the sacred vow. it's the last time i will and here at arlington as commander in chief. it's been the greatest honor of my life to lead you, to serve you, to care for you, to defend you. just as you defended us. >> this is the first year when hundreds more lgbtq veterans who were dishonorbly

discharged can mark veterans day as honorably. it's a big deal, but not enough according to steve kennedy, a leading advocate for upbringing bad paper discharges for thousands upon thousands of veterans. steve, you successfully fought for an upgrade of your own bad paper discharge and spurred a successful class action case in the process. so talk to us a little bit about this. because on its face, these don't ask don't tell upgrades seem like a move in the right direction. why do you say it's not enough? >> i think it's definitely a move in the right direction and it's an issue that previous administrations really have not taken enough action on. so in that sense, i would absolutely commend the administration for providing this pardon to the segment of veterans that it did. i think the issue is the way it's defined is very narrow. so even within veterans who

were discharged for their sexual orientation, there's only a pretty small population under specific circumstances that qualify. then on top of that, you have to also apply for this and have a review, which is not so different from what you do going through the normal discharge upgrade process. what we've seen over the last several decades between vietnam veterans, post 9/11 veterans, is that the more roadblocks we put in front of people, the more veterans end up getting left behind. and what we know in the case of people who were discharged under don't ask don't tell or previous discharges based on sexual orientation, is that it's very difficult for people to overcome some of those obstacles. and if we want to make sure we're taking care of all of the veterans who need the services that the va can provide, that they can only get if they get the right discharge, we need to be

more accommodating. basically. so the more restrictions we put on this and the more we try and focus on capturing the people who, you know, so- called people who don't deserve it as much, there are many, many more who served honorably, who need these benefits and are dying in the meantime. >> there's many less than honorable discharges. they're ultimately, and you've educated me about this over the years. they're ultimately due to misconduct that can be traced to ptsd, traumatic brain injury, even military sexual assault, who are the folks who most obviously need the benefits. especially the headquarter. that an honorable discharge would afford them. so what does president biden, in your opinion, need to do with the time he has left and what do you want to see the incoming trump administration do? >> what i would love to see is blanket pardons of veterans who

have particularly administrative discharges that are less than honorable. even people who went through the court process under certain circumstances. the more difficult we make this, we're losing people in the meantime. what happens is you get caught off from your benefits and those benefits are the very thing that could have addressed what got you kicked out in the first place in the case of mental health. so what we'd like to see is president biden giving out blanket pardons at this point. there's good, legal foundation for him being able to do that. and just upgrade people automatically. i don't feel particularly confident that a trump administration will do the same. particularly for people discharged under don't ask don't tell given some of the rhetoric we've heard. and just the way veterans benefits have been treated. project 2025 calls for making it more difficult to get disability benefits. so this is something i'd really like to see on his way

out of office. president biden just put out a pardon. this can't be taken back. get this done now before we don't have another chance. >> you talked about the problems there with not being able to get that healthcare benefit that someone might need. but talk a little bit about the stigma that is carried around by a veteran who gets a less than honorable discharge, psychologically on a day like today, veterans day. >> i think what's one of the things that's really difficult is that being a veteran, like having served in the military becomes such an integral part of your identity that once that is judged as something less than, it is really difficult to deal with. so as we mentioned, like, i received the general discharge after going awol which was related to my ptsd and depression, but that wasn't properly considered and

for years, i had to kind of deal with that. it makes veterans day complicated. under certain laws, you're not even considered a veteran unless you have the right discharge. you could have done multiple deployments but then something happens after you get out and legally, you're not even a veteran anymore. so these days can be really complicated for people like that. so i think on top of like you mentioned, just the practical issues, trying to reintegrate after having served, there is a huge stigma around it that people carry around for the rest of their lives in some cases because even for me, i have every benefit. i have every resource available to me to try and fight this. it took something like eight years and a class action lawsuit to actually get the discharge that i earned. there are tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of other veterans who will never get that opportunity if we don't do something. >> and you could have just taken it for yourself but you

kept fighting for other people in the military as well. thank you for your service. steve kennedy, thank you. >> thank you. just ahead, dangerous wildfires are burning on the east and west coast. we have the latest on what firefighters are up against.

raging wildfires are keeping firefighters busy on both the east and west coasts. southern california's mountain fire is close to 40% contained thanks to a cold front, but gusty winds are moving back into the area. in new york and new jersey, there's an ongoing drought there fuelling deadly flames. our national correspondent is in new york for us. gloria, talk to us about the progress firefighters have been making. >> reporter: well, boris, we

got an update a short while ago from fire officials across the river in new jersey. that is where a lot of the fire activity is taking place. so far, 5,000 acres of land between new york and new jersey have already burned and fire officials there say 20% of the fire has been contained so far. but they've been battling really difficult conditions over the past several days. the reason for that as you said is that we have been experiencing a significant drought here in the northeast. in fact, we don't usually hear about wildfires burns in this part of the country, but that is exactly what we have been seeing here for several days now. so, officials warning residents to not leave any open flames. to not burn anything outside. and just to be extremely careful because this drought situation here in new york and in new jersey has essentially created a combustible situation. that's making conditions

and fire fighting very difficult. sadly, one person has been killed so far. a young firefighter who was out there trying to fight the flames. so officials, again, warning about the conditions. now, i also just want to mention this drought that we are experiencing. here in new york city, we also saw a fire in prospect park. that's right in the middle of brooklyn. a size of land of about two football fields burned there on friday night. that's something that we don't really see as new yorkers here in the city. so officials asking new yorkers to conserve water as much possible, to be mindful of how they run the tap. to be mindful of how they run their appliances. because the city needs to conserve water right now. if this continues to extend for many more days, the city is considering having to increase that drought watch

into a potential warning. >> thank you so much for the update from new york. so, her competitive career was short, but her impact, immeasurable. ahead, how the australian break dancer's influence is living on. we'll be right back.

breaking news into cnn. look, it's no secret. we love raygun here on cnn news central and she may not know it, but she is a friend of the show. and now we're seeing just how much her break dancing and her unmistakable moves are making an impact. of course, she's rachel

gunn, the olympian break dancer, and it's going from the olympic stage, her legacy, to the gridiron. >> here's what minnesota viking's safety, he proceeded to up the game by doing his rendition of raygun's routine from paris. he hit all those moves. he finished it off with, of course, can we see it? the kangaroo pose. >> he does his arms waving and everything. he did almost an entire chunk of her routine. it seems he's been plotting this. he tweeted this, trust me, i had the most fire ready after that pick. i got y'all next week. obviously, her legacy felt throughout the world. this is an open