new reporting on how the president elect may reshape the fbi. donald trump wayne to nominate what is described as a hard right loyalist who talks about going after thompson -- trump self perceived enemies. >> the undocumented migrant charged with murdering a florida -- georgia college student and they showed how her smart watch showed the long fierce fight with the murder and how evidence dna wise will link the suspect to the victim. the faa is looking at a close call in hawaii with quick instructions that may have saved a flight from crashing into mountains near honolulu.

we are following these major developing stories and more coming in right here to cnn news central. president-elect donald trump is wrapping up a week of what is been in some cases controversial cabinet picks well considering another possible addition to his administration that would undoubtedly be contentious. sources say he is weighing a major change at the fbi as the allies lobby him to replace current fbi director christopher wray with the mager -- maga firebrand kash patel. the campaign spokesman has been named as assistant to the president and director of communications. new details are surfacing about the defense secretary pick and officials in california confirming that pete hegseth was involved in a police investigation of a sexual assault allegation back in 2017. all of this is

trump's pick for the attorney general is facing growing skepticism that he can get confirmed or lawmakers are demanding to see findings of a house ethics investigation for former congressman matt gates for allegations of sexual conduct and illegal drug use. there is a lot there and we have christian homes. in addition to stephen chung and trump just brought on the assistant to the president sergio and throwing a lot of names out for people who may just be hearing them for the first time so can you give us a sense of what these additions mean for the shaping of this incoming administration? >> yes. what i want to focus on is the last one you brought up, sergio in charge of the office of personnel and there is a reason why this job is critical and the reason why donald trump chose somebody who is a complete loyalist and somebody who started a publishing company where he published

books by the president as well as by other republicans especially in the maga universe and he started a super pac with donald trump for donald trump this last campaign cycle and raised over $80 million and he officiated a wedding of matt gaetz. this job will be one of the most critical in the administration and here is why and what we saw in the last term the last year of his first tenure are term in office was he appointed a trump loyalist to be in charge of the office of personnel and you saw the purge of government jobs and you saw him create a loyalty test and he is likely to be in underneath the deputy chief of staff, the two of them will implement donald trump's policies or ideas to completely revamp the administration and

there are thousands of jobs across the administration and not just these high-powered cabinet positions but also the people who do the day today and donald trump has pledged to get rid of career officials and replace them with loyalists. the people in charge of doing that is sergio gore and taylor. you named all of those people and all of the controversy whether it is matt gaetz or rfk jr. or tulsi gabbard and pete hegseth after we learned about these allegations but donald trump is not under the impression that he is to worry about getting them confirmed or whether or not he can get them through or whether he doesn't care but what he is doing now is fulfilling the promises he made on the campaign trail and picking the most high profile people for these positions that are propagated is messaging and gone on television and said exactly what it is that he has sat on the campaign trail that he wants to do in this current

administration. i am told to watch these lower-level or at least not as sexy positions because those are the people who actually be doing that day today but what trump wants from these cabinet heads is to go out and fight for him whether it is on television or on any form of media to go out there and be a bomb thrower. that is what you will find in some of these names but the question is whether or not they can get confirmed and i talked to people who said we don't know these people can get confirmed but he will name the people that he wants in the position and we will see what happens from there and do everything we can to get them confirmed. we do understand there is a lot of blowback and push back and we expected it but let's see what happens. >> one of those pics as we know and fair to say one of the most controversial ones for the attorney general and matt gaetz and a lot of eyes were on the house ethics investigation. we did hear from the speaker of the house mike johnson that they weren't going to release this report and into a lot of

allegations into a potentially underage woman and lawmakers are demanding to see the findings but do you have a sense of how that effort is reverberating right now in the trump world? >> we heard from mike johnson and he thinks it should be published which is no surprise and nobody who needs donald trump more than speaker mike johnson and nothing but a loyalist and donald trump has saved his leadership on multiple occasions and protecting matt gaetz is part of being loyal to donald trump and here's what he said today. >> no, i think it is a terrible breach of protocol. a former member is beyond the jurisdiction of the ethics committee some inc. it is relevant. it's not the way they do things in the house and i think it would be a -- .

>> to be clear mike johnson is not the only republican in the house and senate and there are quite a few republicans who want to see the findings of this ethics report so we will be keeping close tabs on that. omar? >> appreciate that. president-elect trump is bucking norms when it comes to vetting his cabinet picks and instead of using the usual fbi background checks are some of the most highly sensitive roles in his administration, his team is using private companies to do critical background checks. evan perez is here with the story. this is a big change in concerning. >> right by this stage you normally have the president or the president elect submitting names and making them public

but by this point what you have typically is the fbi has already started to dig in on some of these background checks. but you want an incoming administration to be ready to hit the ground running and if there is a crisis erupting, you want people who already have the clearances and know everything the current administration knows so they can make the right decisions. there are vulnerabilities built and if you don't do this. we understand that behind the scenes they are, they have some doubts about how they will handle this and they haven't submitted some of these names or signed these memorandums of understanding that would lead the way for the fbi to start doing this. yes. private companies can do a lot of these checks with a lot of public information in databases they have access to and the fbi has more information that is in public or they may not have access to which is the reason why you want this. there are a few reasons, national security risks about somebody's contacts and certainly foreign contacts and their businesses that they may have that could potentially cause conflicts of interest. and you do want to protect the country and the

president, the president from embarrassment. so we do expect at least from the people we talked to in the transition that they will submit names to the fbi eventually and they have not done so yet but there are some they are considering bypassing the system entirely but the question is will the senate require background checks from the fbi for people who come for nominations? this is where this could change. the fbi could still end up doing it because the senate requires it and that is if the senate republicans agree to do it. >> let's do an experiment. a matt gaetz for instance. if he gets a private versus fbi one, he was investigated by the doj but they didn't proceed ultimately. something by the fbi, would that reveal a lot more information than private? >> absolutely. a lot more information in those files and they know what the witnesses say and there are plenty of reasons why people don't get charged for crimes. what you

would want if you are the incoming administration is all of that to make sure that this person you put in charge, he needs to have the highest level of clearance that you know about that information and be protected. and in this case it appears they don't want to know. >> lest you get surprised by the senate who has the information. great reporting and thank you so much. president-elect's trump promised to let rfk jr. go wild on the new health secretary is prompting concerns among public health experts. kennedy has a long history of promoting x event seeing -- anti-vaccine safety and here's what he said last year. >> can you name any vaccines that you think are good? >> i think some virus vaccines

are averting more problems than causing and there is no vaccine that is safe and effective. >> the vast majority of the medical field disagrees with that but now listen to his answer days ago on whether he will ban any current vaccines. >> i won't take away anybody's vaccines and i have never been anti-vaccine. >> you won't take any vaccine that's currently on the market? >> if vaccines are working for somebody i won't take them away. specs adjoining out to discuss this position is the former baltimore health commissioner. it is great to see you. you did here he said he would not take away anyone's vaccines but he also does have some anti-vaccine history in his past and how concerned are you about him actually leading the department of health and human services? >> very. he doesn't just have

a history of saying these things but he is one of the most prominent and loudest anti-vaccine voices in the united states is not in the world. he has a long history of peddling things that are not true and have been disproven completely , debunked by science which is the most concerning part. i think it is fine if you want to raise questions which is part of the scientific method that you ask questions and challenge scientific dogma and say should we do more research and those are fine questions to ask but in the case is something like the vaccines and are they safe and effective and are childhood vaccines for polio and mumps and rubella safe? that answer has been settled and it's extremely concerning to have somebody over seeing the health of the country who doesn't believe that which makes you wonder what else will he do or does any believe or how could we have somebody who is in charge of science and health who doesn't actually understand or willingly disregard the scientific

process. >> to your point challenging is different than denying what is been worked through at this point in one of the things he is talked about is removing fluoride from public water but for those who don't know it's a mineral added to a lot of water systems in the 40s to help prevent tooth decay and it's something you wrote about in the washington post this week when you said not every proposal from trump and kennedy is a five alarm fire and stopping fluoridation doesn't rise to the same level of concern is defunding schools that require childhood vaccines but medical experts on the american public need to save their outrage for when it is really warranted. i do want you to expand and what is your take on that particular aspect of what he said?'s >> so i had heard and i do really believe that fluoridation is a great public health success. it was. the question is now that we have widespread availability of toothpaste that has fluoride cod we also have to add fluoride to our water and that

is one of the questions maybe to ask and maybe prominent scientists and mainstream healthcare voices have asked this question about what is the benefit when it comes to dental health versus how you way that versus the potential of having too much fluoride and having that be a cause of negative consequences so re-examining the water fluoridation policy and what level is appropriate is totally a good question to ask. not everything that kennedy says is wrong but it doesn't mean that this is an appropriate choice and i think somebody who doesn't understand and neglects science can't be in charge of an agency and you wonder what will happen if we have another pandemic and what happens if bird flu, which is already infecting more and more humans and looks like a serious health risk, what if that is the next pandemic? will that allow vaccines to be developed or treatment or pushing conspiracy theories and push alternative therapies and will he allow

testing ? these are real questions that should be asked. i think i and everybody in the medical and public health community that i have spoken to are deeply concerned about somebody like kennedy over seeing something that impacts every aspect of people's lives. >> another aspect heres the fda and also talked about wanting to purge there and he has advocated for regulating chemicals in food and laminating soda and processed foods but he processed or posted that the fda rain is about to end with all of these claims and clean foods, sunshine, exercise and didn't quite know about sunshine but the bottom line is what would stripping the fti's regulation power in those things look like outside of being a brighter day of blocking sunshine of course? >> the fda is in charge of public health functions including making sure the food we eat and the medicines we

take our tested and safe and people need to be able to trust that the medications prescribed have gone through rigorous scientific studies as they are but somebody who is ceding doubt in the process or questions the scientific process that has been well established is a big problem. i think if he said, look how we want to make regulations or decrease the administrative burden to get some of these newer therapies on board, nobody would have a problem with that or if he said look, let's talk about the alter processed food and how it contributes to the childhood obesity epidemic and nobody would have a problem with that. the issue is questioning the very foundation of how people can trust the information that they receive. i would say that would be my job as a physician and our jobs as public health communicators much more challenging if we can't trust

what is coming from the federal health agencies. >> something tells me when we get to any sort of confirmation questioning, a lot of those will be coming from the senate as well but i did get them from you. we appreciate your being here. >> thank you. coming up how trump's transition team is preparing to put some of these immigration plans into action. also, we are live from athens, georgia where an undocumented migrant is on trial in a murder case that became a political flashpoint in the fight on immigration. this is cnn news central. stay with us.

sources say right now president elect trump's aides are laying the groundwork for his promise to mass deport illegal immigrants. >> on day one i will launch the largest deportation program in american history. we are going to have to do a very large deportation because you can't live like that. on day one of my new administration the invasion ends and the deportation begins. >> priscilla alvarez is here with details on this story that she has been following for a very long time. this will be expensive, arduous or in some cases heartbreaking and in some cases politically fraught. how would he pull this off?

>> reporter: in many ways what is old is new again and some sources say the preparation is underway to include setting up a lot of executive actions similar to what he did the first time around and think for example the remain in mexico policy that will make a comeback. asylum restrictions, more of those. mandatory detention ending the release of migrants and it is those type of executive actions that sources say lay the groundwork for this and we mentioned detention because you can't deport if you are not detaining somebody home you have arrested. on that front sources say they have been looking at their regional capabilities and looking at metropolitan areas to see where they can expand their facilities but that isn't new. homeland security officials have done that before. that is where if you look at the bottom line, these ideas aren't novel. there are ways to do it and homeland security officials have looked at these before when anticipating border surges or in the thick of them what they

want to build all of it to scale which is where it is different and where there have been concerns and controversy over how exactly this unfolds. one of the other things they see is a national emergency declaration and they did that the first time around to unlock those pentagon funds to unlock the border wall but this time to use military assets for this type of operation and also they are prepared for that this time but certainly all indicators are they are looking at what they have done before and brushing it off and bringing it back and doing it in what they see as a more effective way. >> very interesting. we know you will continue to follow this. thank you. >> let's take you to georgia now in the high profile murder of an undocumented -- the murder trial, excuse me of an undocumented migrant from venezuela accused of killing the 22-year-old nursing student laken riley attacked while jogging at the university of georgia in february and her death turned into a lightning rod for crime and illegal immigration. the suspect waived

his right to a jury trial which means it is up to the judge to decide his fate. we are outside of the courthouse in athens, georgia. what is the latest from inside the courtroom? >> well, we have heard very powerful testimony here at the courthouse including body camera video at the moment they found the victims body and this is the first day of the trial against jose ibarra, the sole suspect in the death of nursing student laken riley, 22 at the time of her death. we heard from a special prosecutor in her opening statements who said the suspect had every intention of going after female victims the day he went out looking for somebody to attack and this is how she explained it. let's take a listen. >> he went hunting for females on the university of georgia

campus and in the hunt he encountered he -- 22-year-old laken riley on her morning jog and when she refused to be his rape victim, he bashed her skull in with the rock repeatedly. that is what this case is all about. the evidence will show that laken riley fought, she fought for her life. she fought for her dignity. in that fight she caused this defendant to leave forensic evidence behind. >> we did also hear from the defense early today and the

defense attorney said any evidence that jose ibarra killed laken riley is circumstantial and there shouldn't be enough evidence to convince a judge beyond the reasonable doubt that he is guilty of the crimes charged but the trial will continue today until 5:00 or 6:00 p.m.. >> we will bring them to you as we get them and we really appreciate it. still to come the quick actions the faa says kept in american flight from hitting a mountain just after takeoff and we will explain coming up.

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we do have some new details about an american airlines flight out of hawaii that the faa said narrowly avoided disaster. the plane was told to make an expedited climb after the crew was said to have missed a required turn on takeoff putting it in a collision course with a mountain range in honolulu according to the faa and we hear audio from the cockpit. we do have the story and walk us through what happened and what we hear from the airline. >> the good news is i don't think the pilot or crew or passengers were in any real great danger but a near miss nonetheless and the faa is investigating. this happened late wednesday after midnight in the dark not long after the flight 298 took off from honolulu international airport

bound for los angeles and it was headed toward the east where there was a pretty decent sized mountain range of 3000 feet which is where the peaks top out at and it was at 2500 feet. 500 feet below the mountain range and when the air traffic controller came on over the radio and told this flight to turn right to the southeast quickly and began to climb faster. listen now to the air traffic control audio. the faa said the pilots of this flight were told to make that instruction in the air traffic controller really save the day here. i do want you to see the statement hear from the federal aviation administration that says an air traffic and --

controller said the crew didn't make an assigned turn when departing from the airport in the control his actions insured the aircraft remained safely above the terrain. that is a little bit different from the statement from american airlines which said the crew requested and received a right turn clearance and complied with the instructions and no enhanced ground proximity warning system alert and there weren't any issues with terrain clearance. a bit of a back and forth with american airlines word versus the faa's word but the big thing here is this could have ended up in one of the incidents known as controlled flight in the terrain and a top cause of incidents which is why the systems american invoked and it accounts for 6% of all fatal accidents aviation wide and it was a tough thing flying a good airplane in the side of a mountain face. >> are you talking about the thing that yells at the pilot,

there is terrain? >> they said they didn't get the alerts in this case but still some investigating to do in a few big risk factors given the fact it was at night and made it hard for the pilot to see this mountain range and they will investigate what was happening in the control tower and it sounds like the air traffic controller in this case was policing all of the radio frequencies at one time with the loan controller in the tower mitigating the risk happening at this time. >> good news and everybody was okay. thank you so much. ahead and exclusive look at one of the world's most brutal prisons filled with criminals described as the worst of the worst. stay with us.

we want to take you exclusively to a prison in el salvador that houses gang leaders and murderers described as the worst of the worst. david culver takes us inside the notorious prison in this is what he saw. >> reporter: even as i step through these doors, i don't fully grasp what we are about to walk in do but suddenly you are hit with the intense gaze of dozens locking onto you and these men described as the worst of the worst tattooed with reminders of the dark past of el salvador and it is uncomfortable and tense but officials say comfort isn't meant to exist. >> there are no mattresses or sheets and you have a toilet over here for them to use the bathroom and you have this basin they used to bathe themselves and there is a barrel of water they can drink from. >> this is a rare look inside of the terrorism confinement center. >> there is always somebody standing here in front of the

cells and if you look up there is another corridor with more security personnel. and it is 24/7 light. >> reporter: it's it's like an isolated fortress nestled in mountainous terrain about an hour and a half drive from the capital and even with government officials on board with us, we are stopped one mile out. >> he is going to inspect the bags now too. we are clear to get back in. >> only to hit another checkpoint. approaching the main gate are -- our cell phone signal vanishes. once cleared we tour the vast campus. >> it has been equated to seven football stadiums with multiple prisons within the prison and you can see off to the distance

there are three different rings as they describe in at the far end you have one that is nine meters high of concrete and above that three meters of electrified fencing with 15,000 volts. >> more than 1000 security personnel, guards police and military are stationed on site. inmates are assigned one of eight sectors. >> the director says the inmates once inside these sectors they never leave and everything is done with including doctors as well as legal visits or court hearings. >> each sector holds two dozen large cells. >> roughly 80 inmates per cell but it can fluctuate. >> most bear the markings of the gangs that held this nation hostage for decades committing brutal acts of violence. >> you have to kill people and robin do what you do to survive. >> you have to do those things. >> yes. >> reporter: we meet this 41-year-old shackled and heavily guarded. >> reporter: what gang were you with? >> ms 13 and i am tattooed up

with gang affiliations. >> what is this ? >> crazy criminals. i made this in 2011. >> reporter: you are a gang leader? >> yes. >> what is it like to live here? >> probably not a hotel five-star but they give you food three times a day and some programs and you go to do exercise. and some church religion programs too. >> reporter: that is limited to 30 minutes a day but the other 23.5 hours? your kept inside and locked up. >> reporter: a for inmates to get violent with other prisoners or guards, >> we will close the door. i want to get a sense of this.

solitary confinement awaits. >> they could be in here for 15 days actually or potentially. i am ready to get out. the director brought up that a lot of folks would raise concerns from a human rights perspective and abusive human rights but he is calm hearing that because he sees it day-to-day the process they go through to maintain, as he sees it, the proper punishment. >> reporter: while you are cut off from society whispers of life from the outside make their way in. >> we have heard about that it is a new el salvador and looks different. >> reporter: that new el salvador has emerged under the new president who took office in 2019 and declared a controversial state of emergency more than two years ago sparking an aggressive

crackdown on crime and we do see that firsthand is 2500 police and soldiers deployed and one neighborhood. >> it will go on through the night or however long it takes for them to root out any suspected criminal elements. >> reporter: critics argue that his strategy has given him far-reaching power to suppress dissent and silence any opposition and later last week as the state department in united states lowered their travel advisory in el salvador citing a significant reduction in crime it warned that the emergency measures here allow authorities to arrest anyone of gang activity suspected and suspends constitutional rights. yet most we meet seem unfazed by the added show of force. >> i asked him how he feels with police soldiers and there are a few dozens right outside and he said i feel safe. >> reporter: they now have one of the highest incarceration rates and most hardened criminals here inside with a life sentence awaiting. >> we did bad things and we pay at the roughly doing time.

>> for many in the outside the prison is now a symbol of newfound freedom, the new el salvador as they see it.

it is deadline day for the former new york mayor rudy julie a ruling today he must turn over many of his most valuable possessions to the two georgia election workers he defamed. he owes them nearly $150 million. we are following this and any update from his legal team? >> reporter: not his legal team

because his lawyers indicated they are quitting on wednesday night which is still in progress and not a lot of details but there have been disagreements and what we know is that 9:00 this morning there was a lot of stuff that he had in a storage facility in long island and all of that stuff owed to these two women due to a different storage facility in queens are they can pick it up and start selling it and things like his sports memorabilia and furniture and a lot of things he had in the $6 million new york city apartment that they are also taking possession of. there is also a car in florida with a mercedes-benz convertible he used on election day that they need the title and keys to which is supposed to be turned over today and also 26 luxury watches and this is his spokesman posting on x a little bit earlier a video showing those watches and they are at a fedex in florida and

here is a little more from him, ted goodman. >> turning over all of his watches and the ring as required by the court order in the case involving two women , election workers in georgia. this right here is the accumulation of 60 years of hard work and now being forced to turn all of this over under court order and an absolute basket is asian of our justice system. i have to document this and what is happening is wrong and shameful. >> freeman and the other woman did get this through the jury trial in $150 million award and this is him pain that and the consequence of defaming these women and they have lawyers chasing these things down trying to enforce this court order. >> what happens if he doesn't comply? >> that is a question for the judge and if he doesn't comply, sufficiently, there

could be contempt in jail until you do comply. >> that is something. thank you so much. stay with us. we will be right back.

will he or won't he? all allies of president trump are pushing him to fire fbi

director christopher wray and nominate his loyalist, cache patel, a man who has accused of -- the bureau of running campaigns against trump. >> and, disturbing new details in the trial of the man accused of killing laken riley. her smart watch showed how long she fought for her life. cnn was inside the courtroom during the dramatic testimony and we are following all of these developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to cnn news central. it's the top of the hour and loyalty continues to pay off for some of president-elect trump's biggest supporters. trump wrapping up a wild week of controversial picks with more loyalists in line for more high-profile jobs. sources telling cnn that trump is weighing a major change at the fbi as his allies push him to replace current fbi director,

chris ray, with magnifier brand, kash patel. stephen chung, his campaign spokesman has been named assistant to the president and director of communications. those names emerging as troubling new details are searching about trump's defense secretary pick. former fox a host pete hegseth was involved in a police investigation of a sexual assault allegation in 2017. and, trump's pick for attorney general, facing growing skepticism and some doubts that he may be able to be confirmed. lawmakers in both parties are demanding to see the findings of the house ethics investigation of former congressman matt gaetz for allegations of sexual misconduct and illegal drug use. kristen holmes is joining us now. bring us up to speed on these names that are emerging as possible new members of the trump administration. >> reporter: we can start with kash patel, as this is something that his maga allies are pushing.