online since donald trump's win. i'm john berman with sara sidner and kate balduan. this is "cnn news central. " there promises to be another whirlwind day for the trump administration, with a new day brings a new wave of job announcements. this morning, two big names now front and center for two key posts. several sources say that trump is expected to nominate florida senator marco rubio for secretary of state and north dakota governor kristi noem is expected to be trump's pick for secretary of homeland security. and trump is clearly focused, as you can see, on filling out key national security positions first. florida congressman mike waltz is expected to be his national security adviser. longtime aide stephen miller who was central to trump's immigration policies last

time, is expected to be his deputy chief of staff for policy this time. and former new york congressman lee zeldin is trump's pick to head up the epa. everything from trump's climate policy to what his actually plan is to pull off his mass deportation plan to what he'll do about future support for ukraine and israel, all of these huge issues, now likely left to those names to figure out. joining us right now for some more insight on what really is happening inside this fast- moving transition is meredith mcgraw, national political correspondent for politico. good to see you, meredith. what are you hearing about what it is like behind closed doors in these meetings to decide who trump is going to pick for these big roles? >> well, for weeks before donald trump was elected, his transition team had been compiling resumes and names for donald trump to go over, should he win. and now that he's back at mar-a- lago, plotting out his next administration, he's going over some of these choices. there's a room at mar-a- lago behind the scenes where some

tvs are t up, where an aide is able to plug in a laptop and show them bits and pieces of their resume and bio, and even some video clips of his hits on television. and he's taking advice and input from a parade of people who have come through mar-a- lago, including people like elon musk or rfk jr. and tulsi gabbard, who are honorary co- chairs of the transition, but are having some input on things, too. but really, this comes down to donald trump and the people he wants to have surrounding him. susie wiles is an important player in all of this. she was speaking to a network of donors in las vegas yesterday, with some of the other trump advisers from the campaign, but during this time, she's also been influential as the chief of staff and will have a say over who's going to be on the white house staff among other roles. >> you know, last time around, it was seen as something of -- we all saw it play out, of trump running something like an

apprentice- style contest to be part of his cabinet. candidates paraded before the cameras as they entered and left the meetings with the then president-elect. is this transition period looking different, unfolding in a different way than what happened in 2016? >> well, you remember 2016, there were cameras set up in the lobby of trump tower and everybody who came through, if they were on the short list, would be, you know tweebted out or blasted out to broadcast on television. now this is all happening behind closed doors. that doesn't mean that we're not getting some glimpses of what's going on, whether it's reporting we're getting behind the scenes from sources or it's just mar-a- lago members and people who happen to be around, taking videos and photos of people like howard lutnick, the co- chair for donald trump's transition, having lunch with him at his golf club, or elon musk getting photographed zipping around with donald trump at his club

down in florida, too. so we haven't seen any sort of embarrassing scenes like when photographers descended on mitt romney having dinner at john george in new york city as he was discussing the role of secretary of state with donald trump and reince priebus back in 2016, but we are getting some glimpses of who's down there. but of course as people fly down to take meetings or talk with folks, reporters who are in palm beach are reporting who they're seeing on the scene. so we are still getting little glimpses, even though if it's not all playing out in the lobby of trump tower for the public to see, like it did back in 2016. >> yeah, not quite the same way. but a shade of it, you could say. you were talking about -- >> a shade of it, yeah. >> you were talking about elon musk. i have longtime tech journalist kara swisher on yesterday, who said when it comes to elon musk, she gets the sense that some around the transition are starting to get a view that musk is like the

guest who wouldn't leave after the party. and says that she also expects that the friendship, if you want to call it, between trump and musk, won't last. let me play this for you. >> he definitely insert himself all the time. that's his style. that's why he's suddenly shown up there like the guest that wouldn't leave. and i've heard from trump people calling me, saying, oh, wow, this is odd. and i'm like, yeah, it is. you'll see much more of it. but he's not going anywhere until trump throws him out, which could happen because they're both really strong personalities who like to be at the center of attention. trump, you know, goes through people like tissues, essentially. and even if it's elon musk and elon has a lot of money and means and things like that, heir going to clash at some point. >> meredith, what are you hearing about how much influence or power musk is actually having around there? >> well, i think kara's completely right, that elon musk is spending a lot of time with donald trump. he's been back and forth to

mar-a- lago, he's been with him at his golf club. he's having dinner with him and melania. he's taking his son around the course with trump. he's spending hours with donald trump at this really critical period. and they've become really close over the course of the campaign. but i think this relationship is going to be a really interesting one to watch, when you think about all of the business ventures that are tied up in government contracts, that elon musk has, you know, control over, whether it's spacex and nasa or, you know, different, you know, government contracts and projects and, you know, i am really closely watching how this relationship is going to play out. but he does have a lot of influence here. and people around trump have said that really exciting to see elon musk stick around after investing so much in the campaign that he's now wanting to shape things to come. but there could be some

tension points moving forward. >> yeah, i mean, and if past is prologue, it's long been said that the last person in donald trump's ear is kind of the -- is kind of the opinion that he ends up formulating and has a big influence on him. if that's musk, you know, bd how much influence that is. great to see you. >> thank you, kate. >> here now, cnn political commentator and democratic strategist, maria car dona and mark lauder, strategic director of trump's 2020 campaign. lots of things to get to and lots of picks coming out from trump world. first of all, let's talk about marco rubio. he may be his secretary of state. mark, first, what do you expect from rubio? >> well, i think senator rubio has obviously shown that he is very strong on foreign policy. he's also a huge supporter of our military. and so i think you're going to get somebody in that position who is very much in line with president trump's world view,

a need to have difficult conversations, not only with our adversaries, but sometimes our allies. contrary to what we saw in early 2017, and i was in the white house at that time, i think have a secretary of state in marco rubio, if that is the president- elect's choice, who's going to be fully aligned with his vision and make sure that's communicated on the world stage. >> marie, what do you make of this pick yourself? >> look, marco rubio clearly has experience. he is qualified for this position. but i think the fear is kind of exactly what mark just said. that this is going to be trump choosing people that are not just completely aligned with him, but that have shown that they will bend the knee, that they will genuflect at the altar of donald trump, no matter what happens inside the room, and i hope that at least for somebody like marco rubio, who was established as a leader within within politics way

before donald trump, with considerable bona fides in republican policies and republican beliefs before donald trump, and as somebody, with a position of secretary of state, is he going to adhere to those? or is he going to essentially do whatever donald trump makes him do or wants him to do? and that's concerning, because we know that donald trump possibly might take the united states out of nato, possibly might take the united states out of so many of the other world alliances that we count on in order to keep world peace. and so, that's going to be my question. and i think everyone's eyes are going to be on marco rubio to see if that happens, what is he going to do? i suspect that he's going to do exactly what donald trump wants him to do. and i think that that is the concern. so, moving forward, look, and donald trump clearly, he won the election, and so he has

the right to choose people, whoever he wants around him, but i think that people understand that this is going to be very much an imperial presidency of a president who does not stick to norms, who does not stick to alliances that have worked for western peace, global peace, world peace, and that's going to be what people are going to be very concerned about, moving forward. >> i'm going to go to the next person and do a couple more. kristi noem being tapped, we think, for homeland security secretary. she did fall off trump's short list for vp because of the book she wrote about shooting her dog, cricket, for being too wild to hunt. mark, what does she bring to the table here? >> i think she's an executive. she's got executive leadership, both from her time in congress, but also as a governor. and so she's going to bring that perspective in. and she will listen to the various experts and folks who are inside the department of homeland security. but ultimately, her job

along with tom homan at the direction of the president is going to be to enact the president's policies, to secure our border, to get those criminal illegal immigrants, those who have been ordered removed out of our country, out of our country , and start to reestablish the fact that we are a country of laws, we have immigration laws, and we expect to enforce them. >> i do before we go on here want to dovetail on that, because of trump's expectation to announce that stephen miller is his deputy chief of staff. i want to go what some of steven's comments, that stephen miller has made, because he has been very involved, as you know, with immigration and policy. >> the powers of the president to protect our country are very substantial and will not be questioned. >> who's going to stand up and say, the cartels are gone! the criminal migrants are gone! the gangs are gone! america is for americans and americans only! >> when will the deportations

begin? >> as president trump said, they begin on inauguration day. as soon as he takes the oath of office. >> and those are some of his tamer words. during trump's first term, there was a cache of miller's e- mails, where he touted some white nationalist articles and books that focused on the great replacement theory. maria, what does this mean for america to have him in donald trump's ear? >> i think it's one of the most concerning picks that we have seen thus far, sara. not surprising, but incredibly concerning. not just because of all of the clips that you just ran, but because we know that this is somebody who does not believe that this country should be open or should be welcoming of any immigrants, frankly. and what's going to be interesting is moving forward, he said that they're going to start mass deportation on day one. and that is going to be, first of all, has already injected

terror, chaos, fear, division among so many immigrants and communities of color around the country. i've got so many calls and texts from my friends, who are terrified about what is going to happen. even people who are here with legal status, because i don't think that at the end of the day, they're going to really make any kind of distinction between the criminal undocumented, which, by the way, the criminal undocumenteds are being deported. that is a policy that is being adhered to. but it also, i think, indicates that there's a lot of talk here, sara, and it's going to be very improbable that they're going to really be able to do this from a policy standpoint and from a budge stair tary standpoint. we'll see what happens, but right now it has only injected fear and terror in america's communities. >> mark, i'll let you get in the last word there. >> well, no. obviously, if you are here illegally and especially if you are a criminal or you are a threat to public

safety, you ought to be in fear. you need to get out of our country. and they have made it very clear that they will deport those people who have been ordered removed or who are threats to public safety, because of criminal past activity or criminal current activity. that's the first priority. the president has made that very clear. and he's been open to immigrants. he knows we are a country of immigrants. i remember being back in the white house in the early days if 2017, when he was talking about expanding and opening more pathways to people who would come to our country legally, who want to be here. >> that's true, mark, until stephen miller got into his ear and said, don't you dare do this. that's not what your base wants. and he capitulated. so now that phen miller is in his ear 24/7, that's what we'll see. >> that's the president's call. >> that is the conversation we'll be having for quite some time. mark lauder, maria cardona, thanks so much. john? >> thanks, sara. this morning, the latest trump loyalty test. new reporting on the heavy hand that the president will

have in selecting a senate majority leader. and do not show up with a policy book to a gunfight. the advice from one house democrat as the party searches for a new strategy. and investigation and evacuations underway after a so-called mud volcano explosion.

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are starting to see some of those mbers for orientation, but there is so much left to do in this congress, starting with that government funding deadline, which expires on december 20th. there's going to be this fulsome debate over whether or not they are going to try to kick the can into march, knowing that republicans could have control of the house, the senate, and the white house, and perhaps would have a better opportunity to put their stamp on their policy priorities. then, there's also some republicans who are appropriators who are arguing, look, the first hundred days of a new presidency are going to be intense. there's a lot of other options that we could be pursuing. we should get this done now. so you expect to hear from thethe this morning. we may get some early indications on which way he's leaning, but it's important to remember that so far, every time there's been a government funding deadline, republicans have been unable to get it across the finish line without democratic votes. so despite the fact that republicans are expected

to have control of the house, the senate, and the white house, both are still being counted in the house races, of course. it is important to keep in mind that democrats could still have an imprint on which way this develops. meanwhile, we are waiting to see how much more of an impact incoming president donald trump will have on this ongoing race to replace senate republican leader mitch mcconnell. right now, you have the two johns, john cornyn and john thune, as well as rick scott in this race. and maga world has come out in large part for rick scott. but, it is important to keep in mind that all of these ballots are going to be happening behind closed doors, republican senators can vote for whoever they want. no one is going to know who they voted for. so it's really a huge question mark right now whether or not donald trump can have that much of an impact on what is seen as a private gop leadership race, where senators are going to have their options. they can vote for whoever they want and no one's going to know.

john? >> an incredible amount of posturing over the next 24 hours. please let us know which way it's going. lauren fox, thank you very much. kate? we are standing by for a major decision on donald trump's felony conviction in new york. guilty on 34 counts, but is this all about to get thrown out? and the new data showing that despite widespread efforts to keep e cigarettes out of the hands of children, children are finding their way around those restrictions. the loopholes you should know about today.

so we are standing by to learn what will happen to president- elect donald trump's criminal conviction in new york. today is the day that judge juan marchon has said that he'll decide whether to move ahead with sentencing on the 34 counts that trump was found guilty of. the judge could also, though, basically do anything.

order a new trial or dismiss this case altogether. cnn's cara scannel tracking all of this. i mean, tracking this from the beginning of this through the trial of this and now to what is the latest with this? >> decision day, right? the decision here will determine whether donald trump enters the white house as a convicted felon and potentially proceeds to be sentenced in two weeks, two weeks from today, or does this go away, like so many other criminal cases are expected to. and the issue here is that trump's lawyers have argued that the supreme court's decision on presidential immunity means that this case should go away, because they say that the prosecutors relied on evidence of official acts, as part of it, even though this case was about the hush money payments made to stormy daniels, that took place when trump was a private citizen, there was some evidence that came into the case of official acts. the supreme court decision says that cannot be used by prosecutors. that includes the testimony of hope hicks and madeleine

westerhouse to white house s as well as the tweets that trump made while he was in the white house, a lot of them having too with michael cohen, who didn't want to have him plead guilty and cooperate against him. that's the reason trump's lawyers are saying this conviction should be set aside and this should be dismissed. prosecutors have said, even if you look at the evidence that trump's team has highlighted, they say that is a sliver of the mountains of evidence of testimony and documentses and that this verdict should hold. so this is what judge juan marchon will be deciding today. >> he's got to decide between all of that, all of the conflicting input. >> and if he does say this conviction stands, we should expect trump's team to immediately ask him or appeals courts to stop the sentencing from happening so that one of these reasons being, because a state judge and trump is president- elect, saying that state judges can't -- shouldn't have a role in federal officers. that's one reason. another just saying that this is something that they should just put off and allow them to appeal this immunity decision. >> i mean, again, talk

about unprecedented territory, but today, some decision is expected. and you'll be here with us. we could get it any moment now. stand by for that. sara? all right, a dire warning on climate change. the u.n. says the world is, quote, on its final countdown. this is as trump taps a controversial pick to run the epa here in america. and revered abolitionist harriet tubman who escaped slavery and risked her life to lead others to freedom, receives a brand- new honor. you can now call her general tubman. we'll discuss, coming up.

the one and only cnn's senior data reporter

harry enten joins us because today he's talking about love and politics. is that even a real thing? president-elect donald trump feeling a lot of love. show us the numbers. >> show us the numbers. you know, he wants those senators, perhaps in recess appointments, to allow folks to get into his cabinet. and i want you to give an understanding. you know, it used to be that the republicans in the senate tolerated donald trump. now, they l-o-v- e y-o- u him. in 2016, there was just one gop senator, that was jeff sessions, who of course, then, trump through overboard later on after he joined his cabinet. this time around, look at this, the vast majority of republicans in the united states senate endorsed trump during the primary season. the bottom line is this. they tolerated him last time, they love him this time around. they're basically going to probably allow him to do whatever he wants as long as he doesn't go too far. and honestly, i'm not sure for him how far is too far, sara. >> so the senators have a reason to think that they could face anything from the voters

or what do the voters say? >> yeah, so you know, is there any way that they could go too far for the republican base in their state? so trump won the primary in their state. you go back to 2016 -- only about 60% of gop senators did trump win the primary caucus convention in their state. you go to 2024. look at this. 100%! 100%! trump won the primary convention caucus in all of their states. the bottom line is trump can't go too far. the gop loves donald trump, at least when it comes to the primaries and caucuses within their states. the gop senators have no real fear of facing any backlash from the voters. the other thing i will note is, for every single gop senator, except for susan collins, trump also won the general election in their state in 2024. >> he won the popular vote as well, so far as we can see. it's not just sort of the breadth, though. it's the depth of this. explain that. >> yeah, you know, so 100%. that's wide, right? but how deep does your love go? how deep is your love, as the bee gees once said.

gop, who view trump very favorably. this is not just like, this is love. this is a segment about love. in november of 2016, 39% of republicans had a very favorable view of donald trump. look at where that number is now. 71%, nearly double, nearly double the gop base says that they have a very favorable view of donald trump. so the bottom line is, sara, what do all of these numbers mean? it means gop senators much more likely to love trump than they were eight years ago and the gop base is much more likely to love donald trump than eight years ago. the bottom line is, l-o-v- e y-o- u when it comes to donald trump. >> this has a lot to do with policy and what we will see them do when he has policy -- >> exactly right. when donald trump says something, it's very likely that the gop senators will go along in large part, because the gop base loves donald trump. >> harry enten, appreciate it. >> all right. that's the republican side. let's look at the other side now. with us now, congressman greg

cazar. you just heard right there, donald trump has the support of republicans in congress. he will have control likely of all three branches of government. my simple question to you is, whachya gonna do? >> even if donald trump might be popular right now with many of those voters, if you'll remember, during the beginning of his first term, his agenda was deeply unpopular with working people. he tried to undo congressional ethics, because he's so corrupt. he tried to get rid of the affordable care act time and time again, and quickly, his numbers plummeted. and so it is the job of democrats to remind the american people what they want from their government. and i don't think they're going to see fla donald that from donald trump. they're going to see grift and tax cuts for billion nars aires at the beginning of their agenda. that's not what working

people actually want. >> so remind them how. and does reminding them actually do anything to stop the agenda that you think trump and republicans will try to enact? >> if you remember, from the last time, there were fights that democrats picked, where we won. we were able to bring folks like senator jm ohn mccain over to save the affordable care act and keep millions of people on their health care. there were also fighting that democrats righteously fought and lost in the short-term. for example, trump saying he was trying to help the middle class actually mostly gave tax cuts to billionaires and big corporations. and although democrats fought and lost that fight, it destroyed trump's numbers and favorability. that's what we will attempt to do again here. but i think we have to do it not just with facts and figures, but by showing working people that we are ready to stand up to their bullies, not just to donald trump, but when they see their credit card fees go up because trump tries to get rid

of some of the biden- era protections, we should be calling out visa and mastercard. when people start to see, why are my bank withdrawal fees going up? we should be willing to call out wall street and point out who the real villains are, so that trump's attacks on things like immigrants start to be shown as really just distractions and divisiveness. democrats should be willing to call out the real villains in the system. >> i you're going down this road right now in this discussion, but one of the things you said as you were welcoming the new members of the congressional caucus that won, you praised them, because you said, they're not bringing a policy book to a gunfight. what do you really mean by that? what should they bring to this fight? >> yeah. when you look at the democratic party platform versus the republican party platform, basically anybody can see who is trying to help working class and working families more than anybody else. it's clearly within the democratic policy platform. so, in this election,

democrats are soul searching and saying, why is it that traditionally, the party of the working class is losing some of those working class votes? and you can't show up and act like this is harvard moot court or a policy debate. this is really about showing the american people who to trust. it's not just about the truth, unfortunately. it's also about trust. in this era of social media and massive propaganda, we've got to show whose side we're on. and that means standing up to special interests in a way that the democratic party sometimes has tried to do, but i think we have to fiercely do it. say, you know what, we're not with the billionaires. whether it's elon musk or anybody else, we're going to stand up to those big corporations that are raising prices and make that distinction really clear. because donald trump, i think, is going to show his true colors. >> what about the border? you are in texas, you are in a border state. you know donald trump ran very much on the idea of mass deportation. stephen miller says they'll begin on inauguration

day. deportations will. it seems that it has the support of the american voting public. so what will you do on this front? >> i have spoken with so many voters about the immigration issue throughout texas. voters that agree with me and disagree. but at the american people's core, they wanted to see a congress deal with increasing prices. and donald trump said, hey, your increasing house price, that's on immigrants. your worsening health care, that's also on immigrants. it was the answer to basically every single question. and democrats have to lay out the alternative case, much more clearly. your house prices are going up, not because of immigrants, but because of hedge funds. your health care is worsening not because of immigrants, but because of big pharma. we have to make that clear and show once again that donald trump is going to try to divert resources to separating families, to undoing civil liberties. resources that should be going to lower- end costs, to improving your child care, to improving your health care. and i think you're going

to quickly see a change in that polling, if democrats clearly point out who the villains are, because donald trump just going to keep on scapegoating vulnerable people without bringing real solutions to folks. >> who's the future of the democratic party? any names come to mind? >> look, i -- i'm so saddened by the loss of ohio senator sherrod brown. he clearly showed how you could have a democratic party coalition that ranged from from progressive activists and young people all the way to folks that were voting for donald trump because they wanted somebody that they thought would stand up against special interests. and i think that there needs to be a new set of people coming up, new people running for office, just like the new members we saw, that come in that mold. and i think that he really showed the path of how it is that we can regain majorities. and i hope that our current house democratic leadership learns from those lessons. i expect that they will, as democrats recognize that they need to be an economically

populist, economically popular and principled party. also holding on to civil rights, not throwing vulnerable people under the bus in this moment, but instead, regaining our brand as the party of the working class. >> congressman greg cassar, thank you so much for being with us. president biden is meeting with herzog with another critical point in the war against hamas and gaza. today is the deadline that the biden administration had set for the israeli government to significant increase the amount of aid reaching gaza. in a joint statement, eight humanitarian aid organizations say that the israeli government has not only failed to do that, but also, quote, to take actions that dramatically worsened -- that took actions that dramatically worsened the situation on the ground. cnn's kylie atwood is live in washington with the very latest. and kylie, if today is the deadline, what happens now?

>> reporter: it's a great question, kate. and one that we are waiting to hear from, from the biden administration. as you said, this isis assessment that humanitarian and aid organizations did, because this letter was a public letter. it was from the secretary of state, the secretary of defense to their israeli counterpart, making these demands. more than a dozen very clear demands about what israel had to do in terms of taking steps to allow more humanitarian support into gaza. now, what these aide organizations are saying is based on what the united states laid out, their assessment is effectively that israel failed this task. that they did not live up to the demands that the u.s. was making, on all of the demands that the u.s. made, they said that they failed to meet the criteria and on none of them did they see full or significant progress from israel. as you said, across the board, these aid organizations felt that israel actually made the humanitarian situation in northern gaza over the last

month worse than it became better. and so what we're waiting for now is what the u.s. government is going to say about this. so in this letter that the two secretaries penned about 30 days ago, today, to the israelis, what they said is that failure to actually demonstrate commitment on these measures, to actually implementing progress on these measures, could mean that the u.s. policy would be impacts when it comes to u.s. policy, with regard to u.s. military assistance for israel. so the key question here is, will the biden administration be willing, based on their assessment, if israel hasn't lived up to these commitments to make some changes to u.s. military assistance to israel. the state department at this point is saying that they weren't going to get ahead of any actions that the u.s. government may or may not take, and they've been in touch with the israelis about progress they've been making throughout the course of the last 30 days on this. kate? >> kylie, thank you for the reporting. it's good to see you.

sara? >> all right, new this morning, climate experts have long warned about the consequences of donald trump returning to the white house. now the president-elect has tapped former republican congressman lee zeldin to head the epa. and zeldin is already promising to roll back regulations. at the same time, the united nations secretary general issued this warning at the cop- 29 climate summit today. >> the sound you hear is the ticking clock. we are in the final countdown to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees celsius. and time is not on our side. >> time is not on our side. cnn chief climate correspondent bill weir joins us now. he's on our side, though. let's start with a warning from the u.n. secretary general. i mean, we were just talking about this. there aren't enough words for them to use. each time, assist it's a dire

warning, and each year -- >> i feel for the secretary general, each year he has to go to the thesaurus and find another scary ward ord to wake up the world. as a result of the paris climate accords, real strides have been made. the reason 40% of the energy in texas is clean today is not because of woke texans, it's because the costs came way down. so you have to look at the alternative of these conferences is not doing anything. but, the big shadow being cast over this one is donald trump. >> and he has made his choice for epa director, lee zeldin, who voted against president biden's 2022 climate law. now he's giving him this prominent role. what is this going to mean? >> more important for zeldin on his resume with the president is he voted against certifying the 2020 election. he is a core of real loyalists. has no real record on environments, other than voting against it.

he gets a 14 out of 100 score from league of ervation voters. back in 2014 is his most recent quote about climate change and he seemed to express some skepticism, saying i'm not sold yet on the whole argument that we have a serious problem, as some other people are. we asked his office, does he still believe this? the statement from a spokesman yesterday, congressman zeldin was an outspoken leader in the house advocating for clean air and clean water throughout his time in congress. his voting record actually proves that not to be true. he voted against clean air and water and pollution regulations again and again in the house. but overnight, the biden administration really tried to secure -- tried to trump- proof more climate laws, including a methane rule. this is methane, natural gas, as we know it as, is a planet- cooking blanket, 80 times hotter than carbon dioxide. the problem is you fine oil and gas producers for this

excess stuff they let leak or flare or incentivize them to catch it and put it into market. zeldin and trump are vowing to undo all of that on day one. >> we'll see what happens, but there is a lot of concern from conservationists and others and those inside he epa themselves who i have talked to. bill weir, always a pleasure. >> kate? more than 1. 6 million middle school and high school students reported using e- cigarette products this year. the loopholes that teens are finding and using now to get around all the safety restrictions in place on vaping. and the disturbing spike of really gross social media posts targeting and belittling women that have been flooding the internet since election day. why donald trump's victory has set off this extreme and crude right-wing trolling.

all right, this morning. a new study finds that despite regulations, teens are still able to buy restricted vaping products online. researchers found that despite bans and shipping regulations on many e-cigarette devices, many underage users are able to buy them online and get them delivered through the postal service. and i.d. scans at delivery is rarely happening. existing health laws should be enforced to regularly monitor online retailers to make sure they're following the regulations. sara? >> thank you, john. new this morning, shock

and fear at a performance of "the diary of ann frank," ecause of what was happening outside. nazi flags being held by several people gathered outside of the production. this video shared on social media shows the demonstrators flying the nazi flag outside the american legion where the play was being performed. cnn's polo sandoval joins us now. you were tracking this. were there words? do we know anything about these protesters? and did people inside know what was going on? >> they were told during intermission, sara, important to call this exactly what it is, as you point out. this is anti- semitic hate. and it was on full display over the weekend in livingston county, michigan. several men -- several individuals, using masks, to hide their faces, not only wave nazi flags, but also reportedly shouting racist slurs outside that legion where the play was taking place. according to several reports, they eventually vacated the premises after the legion asked them to leave. we have reached out to authorities for more

information about this. and what we understand is that they were out there demonstrating during this production of "the diary of anne frank," which tells the story of the jewish teen who lived in hiding from the nazis along with her family during the atrocities of world war ii. the theater company that put this production together that did manage to actually complete that performance after that intermission releasing a statement, sara, which i believe is really quite powerful. i would like to share this with you. the foulerville community theater company writing that the presence of protestors outside gave us a small glimpse of the fear and uncertainty felt by those in hiding. we hope by presenting anne's story, we can help prevent the atrocities of the past from happening again. they wrote that this play really centers on real people and things became very real, more real than they expected, on saturday. i want to hear directly from the army veteran, bobby bright, who shot some of that video, as he described the events of saturday night. >> people were

shocked. they were appalled. everything that you would expect. 75 people downstairs that watched that play. and out of that 75, there were 50 or 60 of them that were afraid to leave this building. we had to escort them to their cars. nobody in america should feel like that. >> some members of livington county have had to condemn this kind of behavior in the house. in fact, as recent as july, white supremacists marched through the city of howe. the local adl office, sara, calling this absolutely disgusting. this presence of what they described as far- right extremists. and really, you're at complete loss when you see these images of individuals spreading this message of hate in 2024 outside of this play. >> so disturbing. polo sandoval, thank for tracking it and bringing it to us to make us aware. john? this morning. red flag warnings in effect for 30 million people in the northeast. strong winds fueling a 5,000- acre fire in new jersey. hundreds of first responders currently battling the blaze.

there's been no rain anywhere around here for such a long time. all right, this morning, a new title for an american hero. harriet tubman was officially recognized as a one-star general in the maryland army national guard for her service to the union army during the civil war. tubman risked her own life to help lead more than 700 slaves to freedom via the underground railroad. kate? so since election day, it's become clear that attacks on women on social media has just surged. sexist, gross, and honestly, just stupidly offensive. boys who would like to pretend they're real men, but instead are very clearly intimated by women pushing phrases like, "your body, my choice. " this is getting millions of views. cnn's claire duffy is here with more. how bad is this getting? >> it's really significant. these are characters and this is the kind of language that has existed in dark corners of the internet, but it's become clear that these people feel emboldened in the wake of this election where there was so much focus on women's rights, women's bodily autonomy. this really started

on tuesday night when white nationalist nick fuentes tweeted, posted on "x" said, "your body, my choice forever." you can see there, 90 million views. and since then, according to this analysis, mentions of that phrase on "x" have grown 4,000 percent in just a couple of days. and have also included increases of phrases like, get back in the kitchen, and calls to repeal the 14th amendment, which gave women the right to vote. and this is part of the manosphere, where the discussions range from antifeminism to these more explicit calls of violence against women. and there are already women who are being targeted by this. you saw tiktok videos being posted by women who said that "your body, my choice" was showing up in their comments and their des ms. and when i woke up on friday, i had this phrase in my email box. and the concern for researchers is that this online

rhetoric will translate to offline harassment and abuse. >> yes. it's not a big step, we've seen, you know, in the not-too- distant past to see how online rhetoric can translate into real- life, real problems. i mean, it is dumb, stupid, and idiotic on the most basic level. but it is also dangerous. and it's pervasive, mostly on twitter, now "x. " is there any -- has elon musk said anything about it? is there any chance in you know what that elon musk will be doing anything about it? >> the company hasn't said anything about this latest surge, but i think we have to look at the changes that he's made to the platform. he has rolled back moderation in other areas. we've seen increases in other kinds of hate speech, in conspiracy theories. some of those coming from elon musk himself. and the company's harassment policy only really regulates harassment against specific individuals. so this kind of broad abuse of women doesn't even violate the