cabinet contenders. donald trump building and administration in his own image, choosing the top members of his team. what that tells us about his agenda as the president elect travels to washington tomorrow for meetings at the white house and capitol hill. circuit judge blocks louisiana from requiring schools to post the 10 commandments in classrooms that the fight over the state law isn't over. could the legal battle of the commandments in classrooms go all the way to the supreme court again? and some online pharmacies reporting surging sales. why? . there's a women are bracing for a second strong term by stockpiling emergency contraceptives. following these stories and more coming in right here to cnn news central.

this hour, the picks are coming in fast. president-elect donald j. trump continues to build his foreign policy team announcing key players in his new administration. he appointed florida congressman mike waltz as his new national security advisor. staunch trump ally. he has a combat decorated green beret and a vocal critic of the biden administration withdraw from afghanistan. trump announced his nominating former arkansas governor mike huckabee as u.s. ambassador to israel , and we are learning trump is expected to name some of his top campaign advisers as his new deputy chiefs of staff. kristin holmes has been working the phones to find out all the new picks . tell us about what we should expect. >> we did get another one announced in the coming hours. taylor-britt a witch, a deputy campaign manager and also in charge of donald trump's super pac and a spokesperson for donald trump in the years after he left the office will serve as a deputy chief of staff of personal. presidential personnel and communications. he will join a slate of individuals who was arming those roles. we also know dan

scavino, someone has been with donald trump before 2015 and was his golf daddy turning to social media manager and i will be deputy chief of staff. these will be announced in the coming days. we also know james blair, who served as the head of his political operation for the campaign also will serve as a deputy chief of staff and as reported yesterday, stephen miller will be the deputy chief of staff on policy. these people are loyal to the former president and were with him in the time after he left the white house. one of the things to keep in mind is donald trump , we know he likes loyalty but he is now rewarding loyalty with actual jobs and none of these people have to be approved by congress to hold these jobs but they will have an enormous amount of power. >> still a lot of open positions out there. keep us posted on what you're hearing. thank you. let's take a closer look at these latest picks with tom foreman. as we mentioned, trump

has announced his pick for ambassador to israel, which is former arkansas governor mike huckabee. take us through who he is and his stance on israel's war against hamas? beaming he's been around a while and he wanted to be president and serve as governor of arkansas from 1996 through 2007 at farther a former white house press secretary sarah sanders huckabee . let omission of evangelical leaders to israel last year after the october 7 attacks. important to remember the evangelical church is a huge supporters of donald trump. this is a big issue for them and he's been unequivocal about this. here's a quote from him about what happened after that. there is no valid reason to have a cease-fire with hamas are not capable of having an honorable negotiation. you defeat them. you eradicate them. very much in keeping with what trump has said before this was that he said things about the west bank a few years ago. >> well, i'm speaking as a person , i think israel would only be acting on the property it already owns. i think israel has title deed to do the area

and some air. there certain words or refuse to use. there is no such thing as a west bank. it's judea and samaria. no such thing as a settlement with the communities neighborhoods and cities. there is no such thing as an occupation. >> totally in keeping with white evangelicals and their belief about the situation. >> and does not see the west bank as occupied and does not even like to say it's a phrase. it's interesting. let's talk about florida senator marco rubio because he is appearing to be the pick for secretary of state and has had quite, let's call it, a journey in his relationship with trump? beaming he was one of the guys really trying to knock trump out of this when he thought he might be president . in 2016 trump called them little marco" and that all the time. rubio called trump a con artist all the time. he eventually back to trump and then endorsing him and was a finalist for trump's vp this

cycle around. andy had interesting things to say in this contest. if you watch the evolution between him and trump , it's quite a tale of change. >> what about congressman mike waltz? >> they are like this . and you know what they say about men with small hands >> when little marco spews his crap about the size of my hands, which are big osha >> donald trump is a con artist. beaming after a long and spear to primary, the time for fighting each other is over. >> for leading us in this fight will be a man who although wanted and facing danger, he stood up and raised his fist and reminded us that our people and our country are always worth fighting for. >> that is the kind of flip-flop that drives -- i hate to say it, normal people crazy when they see politicians do that. do i believe you then? do i believe you now? can i believe you? nonetheless they are together now? beaming at

what point we telling the truth? then or now, as you said. and then there's mike waltz, florida congressman, who it appears the pick for national security advisor. >> a trump loyalist. the first combat decorated green beret in this position. he served in afghanistan, the middle east and afghanistan. a real talk on these things. big push out there to say we've got to be strong and stand strong. might help trump some with his military boat. a lot of support there because he fits into that mold. and then we jump a young that to his pick for dhs secretary, kristi noem. governor of staff the colder and former congresswoman. she's a trump loyalist. also on the shortlist for vice president. she would oversee customs and border patrol, ice, fema, and the secret service. a big role for her there. >> it is. and what does all of

this paint in terms of a big picture about the incoming administration as we expected? >> i don't think you find here -- people talk about the need for guardrails. you don't see any guardrails here. but maybe you see some people who have a little more experience than just being immediate ideologues in the trump circle right now. waltz, noem and rubio agree there is a china threat . rubio was sanctioned by china for his stance on hong kong some years ago. they question open ended support of war in ukraine. if you are the ukrainians right now, this worries you. rubio has basically said ukraine should just give up that 20% that russia has let's negotiate a deal with russia gets to keep it, which would be the same as if mexico invaded us and we said, keep texas, new mexico, arizona and part of california because we don't want to fight anymore. and there are hardliners on the run and they all agree with the idea there is a border crisis. trump is looking for loyalty. these

people fit the box. >> tom, thank you. interesting. pivoting to capitol hill. lawmakers are returning after their extended election recess and they have several critical legislature items on their to do list and it's clear donald trump wants to have his fingerprints over every piece of this lame duck session of congress and they will hear from him directly as he heads to the capitol tomorrow. our chief congressional correspondent is there for us. what are you hearing about the majority leader's race in the senate? trump at least publicly has not waiting. >> reporter: yeah. and it's a wide-open race between two men. senators john thune and senator john cornyn pick rick scott has supported a lot of trump alice but the former president has not weighed in on this yet. cornyn and soon are seen as the clear favorites. some people in the senate believe soon may have the slight edge being the current republican whip. cornyn

used to be the republican whip, number two position in the senate republican congress. both have served for a long time and they have deep relationships and have raised tons of money for the college, especially john cornyn over the years. that goes a long ways what are the promises they made privately insurance is about giving up committee assurances and the like and at the end of the date many members about on self-interest not about public pressure they may hear or how the president elect may want him or her to vote but what may help them at the end of the day, which is why the secret ballot elections which will take place tomorrow are hard to handicap and why people believe it's up to you soon and cornyn how that will play out. such a consequential vote for a key position in washington. >> democratic lawmakers are also meeting tomorrow. what do you hear about that? >> reporter: this is one of their first times they will gather behind closed doors as if all house democratic caucus. the senate democratic caucus will meet separately and talk about what went wrong. i'm

hearing concerns about democrats and not just their performance but some of donald trump's early picks. one is stephen miller as deputy chief of staff. miller is an immigration hardliner pick up with the question to democrats about that in here is senator ben ray lujan and what he said about the pick. >> i'm praying for president trump and it certainly hope he is picking savvy people to do good for the american people pick stephen miller's policies and some of the ugliest policies that i've ever seen and i think that this country has ever seen. and i certainly hope that he will have a change in his perspective if president trump is going to move policy that he campaigned on. that's one thing. versus mistreating people and turning children away from their families, as well. >> reporter: one of the big debates internally right now among democrats is how to react and being that minority in the senate and potentially the minority in the house. are they the resistance they were often times in the first trump years

or do they work and were compromising and try to cut deals with the president elect on his team. all big questions for the minority party on capitol hill. >> a huge day on the hill tomorrow. manu raju, thank you for that update. we have so much to discuss so let's get to it with some michael singleton and kevin walling, a democratic painting strategist and former circuit for the 2020 biden/harris campaign. first to you. obviously trump as these meetings on capitol hill tomorrow but the one that folks will be most focused on is his meeting with president biden. what we be watching for? >> i'm looking for three things in particular all surrounding foreign policy, the status of think the middle east, and looking at

information pertaining to russia and ukraine in the conflict, and also china and the potential of them invading taiwan. where does that stand? have they made any incursions that we are not aware of the public of that the president may be aware of. the incoming president needs to have standing on those fronts. after he takes office he is prepared to act imminently. had to think the meeting will go. what you looking for and what you think president biden will say? >> it will be awkward based on what they said to each other about one another. this is something that did not happen in 2020. there was no handoff. president-elect biden was not invited to the trump white house for that meeting. barack obama had that meeting with donald trump . 90 minutes going through a lot of national security issues. that's where he zeroed in on north korea. i think he is right. that will be heavy on foreign policy donald trump has not had an intelligence briefing since february of 2021. the something that has been afforded former presidents. the practice stopped joe biden cut that off to the former president after issues with classified documents. donald trump has likely been out of the loop on a lot of these behind-the-scene s national security issues. >> what you think about that?

this is a courtesy that trump has been totally willing to take advantage of twice now but has not extended, he did not extend himself? >> it's bridge underwater at this point. i don't think there's much you can take from it. water under the bridge. i'm terrible with that. >> it actually might be a bridge under the water pick i think that was a slept there. it seems like it's something that sunk in the water and it's a shipwreck >> maybe it is something that sunk in the water. i'm more concerned, to what you and i mentioned at the top. foreign policy. that's all i'm really worried about. on the economic front, trump will not want to hear from biden and a lot of the polling would suggest the american people don't want the incoming president to take advice from him on that issue. on foreign policy we've had months and years at this point of him not getting intelligence briefings at all is a litany of conflicts across the globe that the united states needs to be

at the forefront of handling. my expectation of whatever issues they may have had in the past, he needs to catch the incoming president up on those fronts as quickly as it can. >> it will be interesting to see how they frame those conflicts both in ukraine in the middle east. >> particularly russia and ukraine. >> we should note though i appreciate you pointing that out. kevin, two-part question. i wonder as democrats regroup on capitol hill what you think the conversation will be like? will it be like the resistance of the first trump administration? will it be something new? and also what you think the approach may be to confirming some of trump's nominees? >> good question on two fronts. in 2016 democrats had 194 seats. we have a large minority of seats. we have 205 right now. republicans have 214. hakeem jeffries is in a better position than nancy pelosi heading into the next trump administration leader jeffries described this as a family conversation that will take place tomorrow. there's a lot

of warring factions. we need to work with donald trump or batten down the hatches and be the resistance module. we will see what comes out of that conversation and it will be interesting to see what leader schumer does. there will be senate and house conversations happening at the same time tomorrow. >> can add to that. i think it would be a catastrophic mistake for democrats to not work with the incoming president wherever they camped the guy has been giving us an advocate mandate and won the popular vote. the lesson was all that was in 2004. republican presidents do not typically when the popular vote at all. so my hope would be for democrats to figure out what's going on internally. in 2012 they did the autopsy report after mitt romney lost. they give us the opportunity to reset. where have we gone wrong? what do we need to shift with policy positions? you have

an opportunity. there will be ideological differences pick stand firm what you disagree but try to work with and where you can. >> what do you think about these picks so far for those and trump's orbit? could it have been worse so far? >> knocking plexiglas dose >> from your perspective, i mean. >> you have some institutional marco rubio leader on the intelligence committee in the senate armed services. obviously, a least a phonic , somewhat of an institutional list and got her start in the george w. bush administration. have now devoted their fealty toward donald trump who is now back in office but i'm holding my breath on the attorney general. this is a guy who set out to prosecute my political enemies that pick will be super important and something vice president-elect vance said he's interested in. so i'm still holding my breath on those some appointments. stephen miller is not my favorite guy to head up white house policy but the president has won this election and can surround himself with people he chooses .

>> what is so fascinating about this guy, i meant in foreign policy twice. look at who is appointed. at least a phonic, marco rubio, mike, a green beret who worked for donna rumsfeld. that sends a signal to the american people and i would even argue to democrats that the president expect to take foreign policy had on. these are serious people who are respected across the aisle so that tells me what donald trump gets into office he will look at these hot issues across the globe and try to figure out what is a trump administration policy look like to bring relief and resolution to some of them. >> and not just foreign policy but also immigration. >> we will see who his defense picture pickers, cia director and eeg. these are very telling. stay tuned. thank you so much to both of you. still to come pick a key decision in the president-elect hush money case delay. prosecutors, trump's attorneys and the judge all agree the circumstances have changed since election day. president biden reaffirming his commitment to israel during white house talks with president isaac herzog. this as

group say a u.s. deadline for israel will be nest with terrible consequences for gaza . anti-semitic violence in amsterdam. the dutch capital still dealing with protests after last week's violent clashes between locals and israeli soccer fans. stay with cnn news central.

right now police and amsterdam are on high alert and bracing for what could be a turbulent night of unrest in protest over the war in gaza. today officers have been seen detaining some demonstrators pick last night violence broke out. a tram was set on fire

over the weekend. for the four dozen people were also arrested. this is trouble that began last week after a soccer match when is really fans were attacked . the offenders hurled anti-semitic slurs and chased down some of these israeli fans on scooters and debate them. let's turn now to nic robertson. amsterdam has been under emergency measures because of this tell us more on what it's like as night is falling. >> reporter: yes. those measures were in place last night when the tram was set on fire by rioters , who were hurling anti-semitic slurs , as well as setting fire to the tram. even these emergency measures are not working in the way the police would hope they would work. tonight , again, it's an anxious night and amsterdam for the authorities there. the police to you earlier today was saying they were picking up messages that were being circulated from early this morning indicating there would be more violence

this evening, just like last night. and they were even getting -- from whoever was planning it that there were warnings going up your now police warnings but warnings by the potential attackers that women and children should stay off the streets. the police have had this concern going into the evening . as of right now, we are not seeing anything yet on the scale of last night. but this is so wearing the dutch authorities that the end of this week they are now considering even stronger emergency measures that they want to take to stop this anti-semitism that's going on in the streets of amsterdam. some of those people are protesting, potentially out because they're angry with the dutch government go putting these measures in place. there has been criticism from some quarters in the city that said the israeli soccer fans last week, before the match, have been chanting anti-arab slurs and tearing down palestinian

flags . but the mood of dutch officials, the prime minister speaking, the mayor of amsterdam speaking , all making it very clear this is anti-semitism. the police will not stand back when there is intolerance on the streets. they say they will not tolerate it. tonight, so far nothing quite as violent as last night yet >> we hope that continues. nick robinson, thank you so much for the report. today is the deadline for israel to show the u.s. it's helping improve humanitarian conditions in gaza the state department now says an assessment of israel's commitment has not been made despite secretary of state anthony blinken reviewing details with the top israeli official on monday. a short time ago, president biden hosted is really president isaac herzog at the white house pick some aid groups are accusing israel of failing to live up to u.s. demands while actively making the situation in gaza worse. what more are you hearing from u.s.

officials? >> reporter: what the state department told reporters is the u.s. has not made an assessment that israel is violating u.s. law. effectively, even though not enough humanitarian support is getting into gaza , the u.s. has not assessed that it's to the point where israel is actually impeding that aid from getting there. and that was the point of this letter to compel israel to take more action get more humanitarian aid into gaza. humanitarian aid organizations are saying today that israel failed that test. he did not meet any of the criteria at the state department laid out the state department is saying israel has made some progress. listen to how the spokesperson put it today. >> we at this time have not made an assessment that the israelis are in violation of u.s. law . but most

importantly, we are going to continue to watch how the steps they have taken, how they are being implemented, how they can be continued to be expanded on. and through that we will continue to assess their compliance with u.s. law. >> reporter: this sounds a lot like what we have heard from u.s. officials with regard to this deepening crisis in gaza over the last few months . begging the question, why send this letter and pressure israel to take these actions if they aren't going to take these actions , and the u.s. government also is not going to impose any costs. the spokesperson said the reason the letter was sent is because the secretary of state, secretary defense saw the dire situation in gaza. they wanted to pressure israel to make it better but they do believe that some actions that israel has taken over the last month or not have been taken if the u.s. had not sent this letter. but humanitarian organizations come and we should also note u.s. officials who resigned from the

u.s. government, resigned from the biden administration in protest of bidens israel policy following october 7, are incredibly frustrated by this because they believe that israel has been impeding humanitarian aid from getting into gaza for quite some time and that should trigger a u.s. policy response that would impact the flow of u.s. weapons to israel. >> thank you for the update. more news to come on "cnn news central". the judge in the trump hush money trial is doing his decision on the future of the president elect felony convictions. what that it's but that case is next.

president-elect donald j. trump will have to wait another week to learn what is next in his criminal hush money case. today new york judge juan merchan poss activity in the case until next tuesday giving attorneys on both sides time to make the arguments following trump's election victory but the judge was scheduled to world today with the trump's conviction would be overturned following the supreme court ruling on presidential immunity. he may have to wait a week but i wonder if that delay could be good news for the president elect. what does it mean? >> reporter: that's right. is the big question of what this delay means and how this case will ultimately move from here. as you said, the judge was expected to issue a decision on

presidential immunity and whether donald trump's conviction would stand or if it would be thrown out. there were talks over the weekend between lawyers for trump and the district attorney's office. trump's lawyers said they would ask the judge to pause the proceedings because of questions they have now that trump is the president elect. this is a result of the election outcome. the d.a. office for to the judge and said they want a week to figure out what they think the best steps forward are. that could range from anything of them saying they want the judge to move forward with his ruling on immunity and maybe the subsequent sentencing. it could even be as far as them saying the agreed the case should be dismissed. we really don't know what posture they will take in this as it unfolds. trump's lawyers have made clear they still want to move ahead. they think the case should be thrown out because of the supreme court ruling and also because donald trump is now the president-elect and

saying a state judge should not have any interference in his capacity to govern the nation. he does not, of course, become the president until january and there is time in the calendar for decisions to be made , but it shrinking. whether donald trump gets a decision on this immunity remains to be seen. whether he is sentenced is certainly something people that i've been speaking to think is less likely, but ultimately one week from today we find out what the d.a. recommends and from there the judge will make his decision. >> could this impacted civil cases? >> reporter: this is separate from the civil cases and wild trump becoming president is having a big impact on criminal cases , the special counsel what has the two criminal cases have signaled they are looking to wind down those investigations because of the doj policy of not investigating a sitting president , that does not apply to civil cases . in those cases, the new york civil fraud case and e. jean carroll defamation and sexual abuse cases, trump is on the hook for half a billion dollars. those

cases are on appeal so we are waiting to see what the appeals court to do. the fact that he is the president-elect will not impact the outcome of those cases. it will come down to the legal arguments. >> thank you so much. and coming up . a louisiana law that requires the 10 commandments be displayed in every public school classroom is temporarily walked by a federal judge. stay with us for more.

a federal judge has

temporarily blocked louisiana's new law that requires the 10 commandments displayed in all public school classrooms but the ruling marks a win for opponents of the law who argued these poster -sized displays of religious doctrine is a violation of the separation of church and state. the judge went as far as to call the law unconstitutional on its face. what more can you tell us about the decision? >> reporter: and that law would've gone into effect january 1st. it's been touted by republicans , including president-elect donald j. trump and is one of the latest pushes by conservatives to attempt to bring religion into the classroom . but now this federal judge has temporarily pumped the brakes on this long by putting out and granting a preliminary injunction. not only did he say it was unconstitutional on its face but that the plaintiffs that

brought this lawsuit against defendants and against louisiana, that they are likely to win this case based on the fact that it violates the first amendment. supporters of this 10 commandments law argued this document is not just religious-based. that it has historic value. and because of that it does belong inside a classroom. but opponents argue it's unconstitutional because it's promoting one specific religion and this is against the establishment clause of the first amendment pick the aclu of louisiana as one of four civil liberties groups suing on behalf of nine interfaith families that have students enrolled in public schools in louisiana. here is the executive director. >> our young people experience a lot of trepidation awaiting this ruling, frankly, because they were waiting to see whether these posters were going to go up in every

classroom teachers were worried about what they were going to tell the students, how they would continue to create an inclusive classroom environment for children who are not christian or did not follow the 10 commandments. so it's a huge sigh of relief. >> reporter: cnn has reached out to proponents of the law including the governor's office and the louisiana state superintendent of education for, but we have not heard back. >> thank you so much for that update extract next, stockpiling emergency contraception. how demand for morning-after pills has skyrocketed since last week's election.

breaking news . we are tracking reports of an explosion at a building in louisville, kentucky. and there may be people trapped inside. we have more on this. what do you know? >> reporter: as you are looking at that footage we are looking at with you, it's quite alarming. you can see where the explosion has taken out the center of this commercial building. we are still looking and trying to get more information of exactly what happened here. but we do know right now is this is being called a hazardous materials incident by the louisville metro government on their social media. what that means exactly, we are not sure, but that is what it's being called on social media. what we know is this happening louisville in the clifton neighborhood of that city. and we are told that explosion could be heard within

a one mile radius of that area. like you said, we are also learning it's very possible there are people trapped inside. it's hard to tell but we know there are fire crews on the ground, as well as law enforcement trying to get an idea of exactly what happened here. look at that image. from that perspective you can see where that explosion has hit this commercial building in the clifton section of louisville, kentucky, but we are working to make our calls and get more details. alarming to know it's possible people are trapped inside this building after this explosion and we will continue to update you on this >> okay. we look forward to an a. brynn gingras, thank you. online sales of emergency contraceptives have skyrocketed since donald trump's election victory. women across the country are stocking up, fearing trump's incoming administration may restrict access. our health reporter jacqueline howard is with us

now. exactly how large a surge are we seeing? >> we are hearing some companies say they've seen a surge as large as 1000%. these are huge increases in sales. i spoke with the heads of two different telehealth companies. one of the companies call winx health he said they saw an increase in sales of the morning-after pill of about 966% in the three days after the election results were announced compared with the three days prior. and over at another company called wisp, they said just one day after the election , they saw an increase in sales of their emergency contraception pills of 1000%. again, these are huge increases and here is the ceo of winx, monica cepak , on why these trends are happening. >> women are concerned and are taking the agency over their

reproductive health and preparing for whatever outcome the next few years brings. >> reporter: so, the reason why, like she said, these consumers seem to be stockpiling his medications is out of concern as to whether the upcoming trump administration will place additional restrictions on accessing reproductive health care. >> so what specific products are seeing spikes in sales and is long-term storage a concern? >> reporter: yeah. so, we did hear the emergency contraception pill, plan b, has seen huge surges in sales so that's one example of a product. as far as storage, these medications, like other medications, do have expiration dates so you can store them at room temperature, like any

other medication, but if they are expired, they are less effective so that's important for consumers to keep in mind bixby met jacqueline howard, thank you. next, a wheel of fortune contestant is going viral over a hilariously wrong answer . we will spin the wheel when we come back.

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live coming to us from our affiliate wlky. we are tracking reports of an explosion in louisville, kentucky, and there may be people trapped inside. these are live images and there are reports that people within a two block radius are being

asked to evacuate and those thin a one-mile radius are being asked to shelter in place. we are expecting an update shortly. we will monitor that and bring you the latest. we want to leave you with a much lighter note. a wheel-of-fortune contest that is going viral for all the wrong reasons. >> the hilarity played out on monday's episode when the contested -- you've done it before. you think you have the answer after getting several letters or vowels. he ended up missing badly with the hysterically wrong answer. here it is. >> i would like to buy an "u." >> i would like to solve the puzzle. >> let's hear it. >> treat yourself, a round of sausag >> i would like to solve. give

yourself a round of applause. >> yes, that's it. >> in an instagram post after the show the man had a good laugh, saying the pressure caused him to go blank. he says he hopes he gave viewers a good laugh. it is an honest mistake. who isn't constantly thinking about treating themselves to a round of sausage. >> i think you could come up with a really funny reason for why you did that. you can say in must've been all of those brats and beer i hat at lunch. >> i definitely relate to his explanation. you have ryan seacrest, an institution distracting you. the lights are intense. you want to make sure you get