after nearly 14 years of a vicious civil war, to stand in this palace is a proud moment. capping off a seismic victory. so the rebels here want to stress that they tell us that it was not their group that ransacked this office when they first swept in. you can see, actually, some of the graffiti here that those first rebels wrote on the window. it says allah curse hafez's soul. hafez al-assad being the father of bashar, when you look at these ceilings and these chandeliers, the marble, the detail, this is the kind of opulence, this lavish lifestyle that engendered so much resentment from so many syrians who have been struggling to survive for decades. while the assad family lived like this in a warehouse, rows and rows of luxury cars, ferraris,

lamborghinis and classic cadillacs. this was a dynasty that will be remembered not only for its brutality, but its deep corruption. below the palace in the heart of damascus, crowds gathered in umayyad square under assad's rule, the syrian people were forced to worship him. now they finally have the freedom to celebrate his demise. >> new details this morning on the suspected killer. he's fighting extradition to new york. also, he had an apparent to do list and the notes he allegedly wrote about possibly using a bomb to target his victim. we are also expecting brand new figures on inflation this morning. it's a report the federal reserve will be watching before the decision on interest rates next week. and

newly released video shows the moments a garbage truck exploded in a chicago suburb. what the heck happened there? i'm sara sidner with kate baldwin and john berman. this is cnn news central all right. >> this morning, police say they are building their case against the suspected killer. luigi mangione, as the accused murderer is behind bars in pennsylvania fighting extradition. overnight, mangione was denied bail after he had a dramatic outburst heading into court. police say they have a notebook that listed out plans or ideas before the killing, including writings about possibly using a bomb but not wanting to kill innocents. all this as alarm builds over what axios calls an american obsession with the suspected assassins. quote, tantalizing digital footprint. all right. with us now, cnn chief law enforcement and

intelligence analyst john miller and cnn legal analyst and criminal defense attorney joey jackson. john, let's start with this notebook that police now have. what's in it? >> so when police arrested him, of course, the focus became this three page document that we've loosely referred to as the manifesto, in that he talks about, you know, this wasn't so difficult. it just required some social engineering and some cad, which is computer aided design, which is an engineer's term. so it fits. but beyond those three pages, there's the notebook they appear to come out of, which is a spiral notebook. the way a student would work from and, you know, in the notebook and he mentions this in the note, kind of obliquely saying in the notebook, you'll see some, you know, to do lists and so on. my technology is mostly locked down. so he's telling them, you know, when you get into my computers or phones, you're not going to find much almost pointing them to the, the note itself and the notebook. but in the notebook there are the to do lists that talk about things

he's going to need or things he's going to need to obtain, or things he's going to need to do. for instance, when he arrives in new york, he doesn't go to the hospital to check in to get rid of his backpack. he goes straight to the hilton hotel to begin reconnaissance, which is one of the things on his list. but what have we been asking about for the last week? which is how did he know to position himself between the hilton hotel and the marriott luxe across the street and slightly down the block where the ceo was actually staying? how did he know where to wait for mr. thompson? and he gives us a clue by saying some of this was social engineering, meaning assuming somebody's identity in a pretext phone call or an email. so he hints at gathering intelligence. but he also muses about modes of attack, and he talks about ted kaczynski, who he has, you know, some kind of unabomber worship, you know, bleeding through in his other

online posts, he says, you know, to use a bomb as the mode of attack could catch innocent people in the fray. but he talks about shooting as the preferred mode at the conference, which he has foreknowledge of because it was on the internet, you know, wrapping up with kind of the judgment, what would be better, he writes, than to kill the ceo at his own beancounters conference? >> i'm joey counselor, defense attorney. that's a lot of evidence right there. how do you build a defense? >> so that will be very difficult to do, particularly when you have a manifesto and other things. we see the makings of that now. right. we see the fight to extradition, even that john's going to be hard. >> what is extradition? we know that the charging jurisdiction new york wants him here. you can argue. hey, listen, i'm going to fight extradition. some people waive it. many do. but there are limited defenses even to that. all you have to establish is, is the actual document facially sufficient?

that is, does it say and does it depict everything accurately? right. number one. number two, does it elicit probable cause. and number three is that you. so i think that might be a ploy, right. potentially to stay out of rikers island, the jail system in new york, for a little while. but as to the specific evidence, if you look at everything they have, right, starting with, of course, surveillance, you have that very few things, right, that you actually see exactly what happens. we see that. but then more importantly, john, when you get down into it, you look at what the authorities got when they caught him in pennsylvania. why do you have a fake id? why do you have this gun on you? certainly they charge him there. and then, of course, there's evidence here with respect to the backpack. right. and with respect to and even going back to listing out specifically what you did and why you did it. last point, john, and that's this. not only the evidence, but i think in this case and you hear this a lot in prosecutions, you don't have to establish a motive. you don't you just

have to demonstrate that you were the guy that did it. and all indications notwithstanding his attorney saying, i haven't seen any evidence are suggesting that that's the case here, i think motive is going to play big because it demonstrates why he did what he did, hence why he's such a folk hero on social media. >> right. what does he get out of fighting extradition. and i asked this because this is a guy allegedly who was trying to send messages. he's writing things on shell casings. he's yelling when he's going into the courtroom. does fighting extradition provide more moments where he can make a public spectacle? >> so there's a few things that could occur, right? number one, certainly you lawyer up in new york, you get your lawyers together, you get your facts together, you get your legal defenses together. right? to the extent that every bit of evidence will certainly be challenged. number two, where are you going to be housed? just think about it. right. would you not want to be housed potentially in pennsylvania more than you might want to be at rikers island? and so there's that issue. and more importantly, look, the reality is, is that every defendant has a right to fight extradition if

you if you want to. that's why the judge has given him two weeks to do that. good luck. because as i noted, there are very limited defenses. at the end of the day, the only question is when he'll be in new york, not whether he'll be in new york. >> any impact on the investigation itself? >> not really. i mean, they'll continue and they need to to continue to gather evidence, try to get into the computer, get into the phones. the fact that he's sitting in a jail cell in pennsylvania versus new york city doesn't really affect it one small way, which is, you know, they need that gun to do the ballistics. >> let's talk about the gun here, because this was a gun that, at least in part, we are told was was 3-d printed. this race is just a whole slew of questions, not just about this case, but but many others. >> well, i mean, the gun being 3-d printed was probably in, well, a combination of two things. and, you know, i'm reaching here, but as an engineer with a master's degree in engineering, the idea of creating your own gun without having to go to a gun store, fill out those forms,

provide identification, something that was untraceable on the idea. if i get away from if i get away with this, the gun is not going to take them back there. but there's also the possibility that the gun itself is part of the overengineering attaching that suppressor to a homemade gun probably altered the balance, which caused it to jam three times. >> any concern in the law enforcement community? i mean, look, there are so many people out there writing things that are deeply troubling, praising this guy. is there concern that there will be people out there who see this, this successful assassination using a 3-d printed gun who might think this is a way to get around some gun laws? >> there is. and when i was the deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism in the nypd under inspector courtney nylon, we formed a ghost gun squad. that was all they did. and we had a number of techniques, including working with postal authorities and subpoenaing mail order companies to trace where these parts were being sent on the idea of that's where the parts are going, that's where the guns are being built. there were people

who built them for themselves, but there were people who became cottage manufacturers for gangs and criminal groups. >> but also, john, in terms of the evidentiary value. right. the ghost gun, what are you trying to do, avoid detection. right. and so it's a powerful piece of evidence to demonstrate you had it with you. you knew what you were doing. potentially you were using it to get away from this particular crime. so prosecutors are going to use that. and a whole lot of other information to establish it was you, joe jackson, john miller, thank you both very much, kate. >> so a nightmare scenario is unfolding along southern california's coastline right now. a wildfire that erupted monday night is tearing through malibu at a frightening speed. more than 3000 acres have burned so far, forcing evacuation, mandatory evacuations, warnings for 18,000 residents, residents, big stretches of the pacific coast highway was shut down and many homes burned to the ground. watch this.

>> all these mountains were covered in flames, just covered like you took a crayon and just colored everything. >> cnn's nick watt in malibu for us, watching it all. talking to people, seeing what they are up against. what are you seeing and what are you hearing? nick well, this morning, kate, what we are seeing is fire on the hillside in the back of malibu. >> you can see those flames there. there are 1500 firefighters on the ground. there are also fixed wing and helicopters dropping water to try to contain these flames. the flames, they're coming kind of close to a little seafood restaurant down here on the pacific coast highway. what firefighters are dealing with is low humidity, high winds and very, very dry chaparral. as you mentioned, mandatory evacuations. we've also seen some people trying to do what they can to save their homes,

spraying down the roofs because the winds, embers on those winds, those are the biggest danger they can get sucked into a vent. they can land and they can set your house on fire. um, now fred roberts has lived here most of his life. take a listen to what he had to say about the conditions around here it is a notorious area. >> the winds coming straight down malibu canyon like a blowtorch. and so they're they're in harm's way. every time there's a fire over there. after i've seen this one and that one there burnt. uh, i know this is the real deal. and it did hit here hard. >> and, you know, people here know to fear these flames. we were out here just a few years ago for the woolsey fire, which burned nearly 100,000 acres, destroyed 1600 structures. so people are well aware of the danger. nobody here takes it

lightly at all. now, one of the fire officials called this fire stubborn. obviously, they are dealing with high terrain. they are dealing with winds whistling through those canyons. gusts today expected to maybe get up to that 50 or 60 mile an hour level that was causing so many problems over the past couple of days. at its peak, this fire was burning five football fields a minute. the mayor of malibu has called this a traumatic time. the city hall was actually even threatened by flames, so they had to move their command center to calabasas, just over the other side of the hill. now pepperdine university canceled some final exams. all the schools closed. pacific coast highway behind me is also closed. now, you mentioned evacuations. dick van dike was among those who was evacuated along with his wife and his cat. he is turning 99 years old on friday. by then, we hope conditions will have gotten a little bit better. higher

humidity, lower winds, maybe even a few spots of rain. >> kate i mean, let's hope for that. but the winds right now not helping at all. nick, thank you so much for being there, right there for us. really appreciate it, sara. >> all right. ahead, donald trump's embattled pick to lead the pentagon is back on capitol hill today as pressure mounts on key senators to support him. is pete hegseth inching closer to confirmation. and bird flu spreading in america's dairy cattle, prompting the department of agriculture to soon start testing raw milk. doctor sanjay gupta is here to answer your questions about the safety of the nation's milk supply. and an update on what happened after this dramatic moment in a nevada court hey, whoa whoa whoa, hey whoa whoa, hey new details on that decades long sentence for that man there who jumped across a desk to attack a nevada judge. those stories ahead can't fool

myself. >> it was the most exciting time in the world. >> his life has truly joyful moments and some really difficult moments. >> you only come across an artist like luther vandross once in a lifetime. >> luther. never too much new year's day on cnn you don't stop being you just because you turn 65. >> but you do face more risk from flu and covid. last year alone, those viruses hospitalized nearly 1 million people 65 and older. 1 million vaccines lower your risk of getting really sick so you can keep doing you life. >> diabetes. there's no slowing down. each day is a unique blend of people to see and things to do. that's why you choose glucerna to help manage blood sugar response uniquely designed with carb steady glucerna. bring on the day. >> it's a lot to be a

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and honor a veteran, visit wreaths across america. >> org. >> there are amazing things that are happening all over the world, things that can make our lives better. that's the goal of my podcast to try and find the secrets to a longer and happier and healthier life, and then we bring those secrets to you. listen to chasing life wherever you get your podcasts today, president elect donald trump's pick for defense secretary, pete hegseth, is back on capitol hill. >> he's set to meet with senator susan collins of maine, who has raised concerns about his alleged sexual misconduct. cnn's lauren fox has the latest story from capitol hill. >> yet another critical day ahead for pete hegseth, donald trump's pick to lead the pentagon as he is set to meet today with republican senator susan collins. throughout this week, hegseth has emphasized his meetings with republican

women in the united states senate. he met on monday with senator joni ernst, a republican from iowa and someone who will be key because of her position on the armed services committee. on tuesday, he met with senator lisa murkowski, a republican from alaska, who had this to say about their meeting. >> i had a good exchange with mr. hegseth. >> are you ready to support him? >> i had a good exchange, and we'll see what the process bears. >> what more do you need to learn? well, he's got probably at least half the senate that he's going to visit with. >> he's got a process that is going to involve full vetting through the administration. and then ultimately a committee. >> now hegseth finds himself in a far better place today than he was in even ten days ago. senator lindsey graham, making that point earlier to our colleague manu raju, and i also spoke with senator john cornyn,

who met yesterday with pete hegseth and said that he does plan to support him, barring any new or unforeseen information coming out about his nomination. now, cornyn did make clear that this was going to be a bruising confirmation process, that this was going to be difficult for hegseth and his family. but he said in his meeting with hegseth, he emphasized that point. and he said he does believe that hegseth is ready for the weeks and months ahead on capitol hill. for cnn, i'm lauren fox. >> our thanks to lauren for that new hope for austin tice, the american journalist detained in syria for the past 12 years. what the u.s. is saying this morning about efforts to bring him home, end quote, a belligerent critic with a, quote, lack of credentials. this morning, dozens of nobel prize winners are coming forward in an effort to block rfk jr.. >> welcome to times square. that's not in my life. >> cheers. that was so

embarrassing. >> new year's eve live with anderson and andy. live coverage starts at eight on cnn. streaming live on max what took you so long? >> i'm sorry. >> there was a long line at the thai place. >> you get the sauce i like, of course. >> you're the man. >> i wish the future isn't scary. not investing in it is. >> nasdaq 100 innovators one etf. before investing, carefully read and consider fund investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and more in prospectus at invesco. dot com. >> finish ultimate engineered for the toughest conditions dry, burnt on stains, old dishwashers, very hard water finish ultimate with cycle sync technology helps deliver the ultimate clean a perfect day with the family. shingles doesn't care, but shingrix protects only shingrix has proven over 90% effective.

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businesses can't fool myself. >> it was the most exciting time in the world. >> his life has truly joyful

moments and some really difficult moments. >> you only come across an artist like luther vandross once in a lifetime. >> luther. never too much new year's day on cnn. >> all right. this morning renewed hope to get journalist austin tice home. he's been held in syria since 2012. but with the fall of the assad regime, the family austin tice family sees new opportunity it comes from intel that's been verified by many different agencies in the united states. >> they just don't want to share it. they don't want it to be public. but it's verified. it's real and, um, as recent as august of this year, here we go. >> all right. cnn's jennifer hansler is at the state department with the latest here. good morning. jennifer. >> hi, john. how are you? >> so what's the latest? >> it is the fact that they are rushing on to try to bring home

austin as soon as they can. they are taking advantage of this window of opportunity to try to bring him home. >> they say the collapse of the assad regime is a limited opportunity here. they are working on the ground with folks on the ground to try to scour prisons that they knew about, that they're uncovering now, to try to bring him home now. they don't have any new information yet, but they are conveying to every group that they can get ahold of, including hgs, who is in charge de facto of syria right now, to convey the message that finding austin, getting information about him is a top priority. take a listen to what state department spokesperson matt miller said yesterday we do continue to believe that he is alive, and we continue to make clear in all of our conversations, either with entities on the ground in syria or with entities that may be in communication with those on the ground in syria, that we have no higher priority than the safe return of austin tice to his family. now, john, one

former official told me that this is a fleeting opportunity because there could be looting, there could be destruction of evidence that is very important to try to track down leads here. so they are going to be working with whatever parties they can who are on the ground to scour any sort of lead, to try to track him down. they say this could be an opportunity to find his location, find his condition, because there's been very, very little information about him since his disappearance back in 2012. and as you heard from the family, there is hope that he will be found alive, that he will be brought home. but what we are hearing from officials is that time is of the essence here. john. >> yeah, the family is so hopeful. i talked to the sister and brother just the other day. remarkably, they were in washington with a meeting with the biden administration they had planned months ago when the assad regime fell. so were they were seizing this moment of being present, when it was all happening, to try to push the government even more. jennifer hansler at the state department, thank you very much, kate. >> the killing of the unitedhealthcare ceo and the reaction to it has exposed deep

frustration and anger with the health care industry. we have new reporting on what is behind it, and we are also moments away from a new report on inflation, what it will mean for the prices that you are paying at the grocery store welcome to times square. >> that's not in my life. >> it's so embarrassing. >> new year's eve live with anderson and andy. live coverage starts at eight on cnn, streaming live on max. >> for more than a decade, fauci has been trusted again and again and again. fauci s. e. cupp ask your doctor about pozsega at harbor freight, we do business differently from the other guys. >> we design and test our own tools and sell them directly to you. no middlemen, just quality tools you can trust at prices you'll love.

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one of the latest job announcements former fox news host who has also been engaged to donald trump jr.. kimberly guilfoyle has been nominated to be the next u.s. ambassador to greece. cnn's steve contorno tracking it all sarah, for most of the past four years and up until recently, most of donald trump's political operation has operated out of palm beach and his estate at mar a lago. >> well, that is starting to change. we have seen the epicenter of his transition shift from south florida to washington, d.c. he has allies on capitol hill walking his nominees through the senate confirmation meetings with with lawmakers on the hill. he has seen his advance team move from florida to washington, where they are starting to scout out space for inaugural balls and ancillary events around his inauguration. we have also seen people from his incoming administration start to meet with their counterparts in the

biden administration, groups that are close to trump are renting office space near washington, dc, and many of those aides that have lived within a stone's throw of mar-a-lago for the past two plus years are now looking for housing in washington, d.c., and this is all happening on a faster timeline than we saw eight years ago. in fact, we talked to one trump adviser who who told us, quote, part of the reason we're all descending on d.c. so early is because the nominees were landed quicker. the sub-cabinet is starting to form policy, teams are in place. and so what's left figuring out where the hell we're going to live and staffing up. everything is oriented to being as ready as humanly possible, and that is with the hope that they can hit the ground running on day one. of course, there's one person who remains in south florida and that is donald trump. he continues to hold court at mar

welcoming world leaders to his estate. he is also continuing to put out policy proposals from south florida, including yesterday when he, on truth social, wrote that he intended to make it easier for companies that invest at least $1 billion of capital in the united states to get their permitting streamlined, including environmental permits. sarah. >> all right. our thanks to steve contorno there. over to you, kate. >> this just in to cnn. we are learning that rfk jr.. is headed to capitol hill next week to begin meetings with senators to try and shore up support for his nomination to be the next secretary of health and human services. his nomination facing a lot of questions, his selection to head up the country's sprawling public health agency that oversees 13 different departments. controversial and in a rare move ahead of all of this. more than 75 nobel prize winners have banded together,

now urging senators to oppose rfk's nomination. the group, writing in a letter to senators this in part placing mr. kennedy in charge of the department, would put the public's health in jeopardy and undermine america's global leadership in health sciences. joining me right now is one of the nobel laureates who helped draft that letter, sir richard roberts. roberts, a biochemist who won a nobel prize in physiology or medicine. sir. richard, thank you for coming h about? what made you decide to speak up in a way that we really haven't seen in recent memory? >> well, i was concerned about the nomination as soon as i heard about it. >> and a number of nobel laureates wrote to me and suggested that it might be a good idea to see how the nobel laureates felt about this, and particularly harold varmus, who used to be director of expressed great concern. but many others did, too. and so i drafted a letter. harold helped

me tailor it, make it a little better, and i sent it around to the laureates, and we got 77 who replied and said that they too were very concerned about this particular nomination. >> were you surprised by the reaction or surprised by the level of. support for speaking up in a public way that you that you heard back? >> i was a little surprised that so many people were prepared to go public with this, because typically nobel laureates don't get engaged in politics. we try to avoid it whenever we can, but this has caused such concern, not just among us individually, but among the people we know, among our friends, among particularly friends in the medical community who are very concerned about this. >> so, richard, we have reported for some time about the long history of rfk. he has, as a vaccine cynic, his penchant for pushing debunked conspiracy theories with regard to medicine, his disdain for

agencies and entities he would oversee. what aspect of his views which to remind everyone also includes him saying that there's no vaccine that's safe and effective. which aspect of his views troubles you most? >> well, i think for me it's the vaccine skepticism that i find absolutely appalling. vaccines are probably the best medicine that man has ever invented. they've saved so many lives. you know, i grew up in england when polio was rampant. one of my friends died from polio. another one was crippled for life. you don't see that now because of the polio vaccine, which has been incredibly successful. now we see measles is spreading within the us and there is the danger of a big flu epidemic. and my feeling has always been that when we elect members to senate or to the house, that

their duty is to really protect the citizens who voted for them. this is a key part of their job. and what is more important than health? well, as far as i'm concerned, nothing is more important than health. and i think if kennedy gets elected and gets nominated rather to and, you know, it becomes the secretary, he's going to spread a message of anti-vaccination around the us and perhaps even around the world. and that is not a good message. people should get vaccinated. this is the cheapest, most effective medicine that we have. >> the new york times got a in report. it was first reported about your letter and got this statement. i want to read in part from the trump transition team about the letter you drafted. americans are sick and tired of the elites telling them what to do and how to do

it. our health care system in this country is enact president trump's agenda to restore the integrity of our health care. how do you respond to that? >> well, unfortunately, of course, i am a member of an elite. being a nobel prize winner. but many of the elites that are spoken about are the doctors and surgeons and medical professionals who take country. they don't need shaking up in the way that i think rfk jr. would want to nee sure that they are listened to. if politicians don't listen to experts, who are they going to listen to in order to get good factual, scientific information, you need to talk and listen to the medical community. >> we have heard rfk say since trump's election really, that he says he's not anti-vaccine, which obviously put that in

connection with his entire history. that doesn't that doesn't seem generally believable. what do you hope in these meetings that senators are asking him in private meetings or in public meetings, or what do you hope these senators are considering when they sit down? >> well, i think they need to consider his full record. and as i my understanding is that this is what the nomination process and procedures involve, really finding out everything about his record, but in particular, ask him about what happened in samoa. ask him why he is so vaccine hesitant. why does he follow all of these conspiracy theories and feel that they're accurate? if he wants to get some accurate information, perhaps he should consult with the national academy of sciences and the national academy of medicine and see what they have to say. i just don't think it's appropriate for a politician to try to use these.

anti-establishment rules or whatever the the arguments against the current establishment as a good way of making good policy going forward. and i really fear if he gets to be secretary, he's going to tell the country, well, don't get vaccinated. to don't worry about this will be a disaster. this this will lead to deaths in the population. and i don't believe senators or republican congressmen for that matter, really want the citizens who voted for them to die as a result of this policy. >> sir richard roberts, thank you so much for coming on. i really appreciate your time john. >> so how do americans feel about health care, their health care, the country's health care in general has certainly been in the news lately. with us now, cnn senior data reporter harry enten, it's actually a fairly complicated question, depending on which one you ask. >> yeah, it's a nuanced

question with a nuanced answer. >> maybe it's an easy question with a nuanced answer. >> all right. >> we talk about the health care system in this country. look, the bottom line is americans really don't like it. >> some might even say they hate it. talk about is the quality of the health care in this country excellent or good? just 44% say it's excellent or good. look at the coverage. look at the coverage. >> 28% say that the coverage is excellent or good. >> the quality is the lowest this century. this 44% the lowest this century. viewpoints on health care in this country going downward. how about the cost? just 19%. >> just 19% of americans are satisfied with the cost of health care in this country. >> so the bottom line is, when you're talking about the health care system overall, americans really don't like it, john. >> but there is a difference between the health care and their health care. two letters can make all the difference in the world, can make all the difference in the world. >> you know, sometimes you talk about approval of congress versus approval of your own congressman. people don't like congress, but they like their own congressman. something similar is going on here. when

you talk about the nation's health care system or the health care in the nation, versus your own health care, your own health care. look at this. excellent or good, the quality of it, 71% say it's excellent or good. how about the coverage of it? 65% say that their coverage is excellent or good. how about satisfied with the cost? a majority, 58% say that they're satisfied with the cost. so the bottom line is this you wonder why the health care system in this country stays the same. it's because people don't like health care and sort of the abstract. but when it comes to their own health care, a lot of americans actually are pretty gosh darn satisfied with it. >> again, i just want to show people again, this is the health care. yes, their health care, the health care, their health care. it turns out people like their health care, a majority do. and in some cases a vast majority. >> that's exactly right. which is why, you know, we've seen these sort of movements to change the health care system in this country. and you say, oh, you look at that first slide, you say, oh, wow. yeah, there should definitely be a lot of movement for it. but then all of a sudden, like when it came to obamacare, there was that real hill that people ran into. and it's because people actually like their own health

care and afraid that it's going to get changed. >> well, you talked about obamacare. what about lower income people in general? yeah. >> what about lower income people in general when it comes to their own health care? look at this. i mean, many adults, even in the lower income bracket, those who make less than $50,000 a year, say the quality of their health care is excellent or good. the coverage is excellent or good 56% and satisfied with the cost, which you might expect to be significantly lower among the lower income brackets. actually, it's slightly higher at 63%. so the bottom line is this. yes, americans don't like the health care in this country in the abstract. but when it comes specifically to their health care, they're far more satisfied right there. >> again, this to me just is instructive about how we talk about this. we can't just say americans hate health care. no, they like their health care. they like exactly right. they just have this notion they don't like the health care system. i suppose you could hold those two views at once, but it is complicated. it is complicated. >> many times. viewpoints are complicated. >> thank you very much. thank you. sarah. all right. >> breaking just moments ago. consumer prices headed back up in november. cnn's matt egan joins me now to break down the

latest inflation report. this is not the way that anyone wanted to see this going. >> that's right sarah. this is more evidence that the war on inflation has hit a bit of a wall. after all of that progress. now, we've seen inflation move in the wrong direction. so today's numbers show that consumer prices were up by 2.7% year over year in november. this is the second month in a row where the rate of inflation has heated up. we wanted to obviously cool down. that is not happening right now. two big reasons why. one, it's part of this is the calendar. a year ago, inflation was cooling rapidly. so that's tough to live up to on a year over year basis. but it's also because of shelter, right. the cost of rent has been stubbornly high. it's also worth noting that month over month prices were up by 0.3%. that is not alarmingly high. but again, that is also moving in the wrong direction. now, when we look at the trend to

really see where we are right now, annual inflation is nowhere near the nightmare of two and a half years ago. right. that's when we had 9% inflation. gas prices were at $5 a gallon nationally. thankfully nowhere near that. but it's also clear that some of the progress has stalled out, that that last mile of trying to get back to 2% that's considered healthy. that's been a bumpy ride. a few items that i want to call out from today's report that are moving in the wrong direction. supermarket prices, they really accelerated. and obviously that's something that people care and feel so much. we also saw acceleration for gas prices clothing, new cars. now, i know that economists and fed officials and business reporters sometimes like to look at the rate of inflation. but our viewers, they care about the level of prices, how much everyone is spending. and it's true. i mean, life has just gotten so much more expensive, right? supermarket insurance, all of it has gone up. moody's

has found that the typical household is spending more than $1,100 more per month than they were back in early 2021 for the same goods and services and wages are up two, but not for everyone. and sometimes by just enough for people to tread water. and that is why a lot of people just are frustrated because they feel like they can't get ahead right now. >> yeah, especially you mentioned the grocery stores. i mean, that is a huge one that you hear over and over and over again. people frustrated with those those prices as they should be. it's $1,100 more a month. matt eagan, thank you. i appreciate it, kate. >> so a shocking explosion caught on camera coming out of it. >> this is huge. >> the investigation now into what caused a garbage truck to blow up. and a man known as the tiger woods of scrabble takes home first prize in the spanish

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wreath and honor a veteran, visit wreaths across america.org. >> welcome to times square that's night of my life. >> new year's eve live with anderson and andy. live coverage starts at eight on cnn, streaming live on max as the people you love get older, their risk of severe flu and covid goes up last year alone, those viruses hospitalized nearly 1 million people 65 and

older. >> that's nearly 1 million moms, dads favorite uncles and grandmas. if someone you love is 65 or older, talk with them about vaccines because to you, they're not just another number doctor sanjay gupta on call, brought to you by the u.s. >> department of health and human services. risk less do more campaign reminding you to get this season's flu and covid 19 vaccines. >> all right. this morning, doctor sanjay gupta on call to answer your questions about the bird flu outbreak in dairy cattle and how it could affect milk supply. so, sanjay vinod from houston asks, is there a vaccine for bird flu? >> yes. so the answer is yes. short answer is yes. there's about 5 million doses. so not not much of it. that's been sort of stockpiled for h5n1 specifically, but it's not commercially available to everybody. there has been some

discussion about maybe vaccinating farm workers who seem to be the most at risk, given this association with dairy farms. they did that, incidentally, in finland, john, where they just said, hey, let's let's at least take care of the farm workers. so two things point out. there is a seasonal flu virus, a seasonal flu vaccine that may offer some cross-protection against h5n1. it's not specifically directed at h5n1, but may offer some protection. and there's lots of discussions to go ahead and ramp up the supply of the h5n1 vaccine, possibly even using mrna technology, something we talked a lot about during covid, which can, you know, accelerate vaccine development into months versus years that has not been done yet, but that may be coming over the next couple of months. john. >> so, sanjay, on this subject, we've been talking a lot about unpasteurized milk, raw milk girl from california asks we've been buying unpasteurized cheese at whole foods. so is that safe to eat?

>> yeah, really interesting question. so in the united states and it's different in other countries, but in the united states, if you're buying raw milk, cheese or unpasteurized milk cheese in the united states, it has to have been aged for at least 60 days before you can purchase it. and the thinking is that during that 60 days, many of the pathogens that we talk about e.coli, listeria, salmonella, they will sort of be aged out. in addition to that, there are certain ingredients that are added to raw milk, cheese, certain salts, certain acids, which also do a pretty good job of taking care of any potential pathogens. so the answer is, yeah, you can buy unpasteurized cheese in the united states, but it does have pretty strict regulatory framework around it. i actually attended a raw cheese festival in italy, a place called bra italy, where it did not need to be aged like that. they did not need to add acids and salts, and people came from all over believing that that truly raw milk cheese

offered some health benefits. can't get that in the united states though, john. >> so how fun was the raw cheese festival? was it like a renaissance fair? >> yeah, i wish i had. i wanted to pull some images. i'll try and find some images to show you. it was amazing. it smelled great. the cheeses tasted so well. people were really into it. it's part of this whole slow food movement as opposed to the fast food movement in the united states. they call it the slow food movement in italy. it's amazing. you should visit a raw cheese festival. >> i always knew you knew how to party. doctor sanjay gupta, thank you very much, kate. >> thank you. the headlines we're watching right now. a las vegas man who jumped over a judge's bench. yeah, that to attack her during a sentencing. he is now been sent. sentenced and sent behind bars for quite some time. courtroom video from january shows that man leaping the bench, grabbing the judge. and here's how he explains that. now. >> i saw nothing but red, and i don't remember doing anything

except for jumping on top of her and doing this to her. i was like, why are you doing this to me he pleaded guilty, but mentally ill to attempted murder charges. >> he told the court tuesday he was not trying to kill the judge. his lawyer attributed his outburst to untreated schizophrenia. he will now serve between 26 and 65 years in prison, and will not be eligible for parole until after 2050, five years after retiring from the sport, olympic gold medalist and downhill skiing rock star lindsey vonn is back, and this is just months after undergoing a partial knee replacement surgery. she has now qualified to compete in the world cup circuit i honestly never thought it was going to happen, so i'm i'm just as surprised as everyone else. >> i'm really enjoying this journey, you know? no one's ever done this with a knee replacement before, so i honestly don't know how far i can take it, but so far it's been incredible. the response has been incredible and i can tell you i am having so much fun going fast again.

>> so much fast. she does go. her record to this point speaks for itself. she's won three olympic medals and 82 world cup races. there is new body cam video showing the moment a garbage truck literally explodes in a chicago suburb. police and firefighters were at the scene responding to reports of a truck on fire, and that is when it suddenly blew up, sending debris just everywhere. the blast was apparently so strong that parts of a nearby roof and siding were ripped off. two officers and a firefighter, they were injured at the scene, but thankfully are said to now be okay. so there's a man who does not speak spanish who has just won the spanish world scrabble championships. nigel richards. he beat more than 145 people in 22 consecutive tournaments. richards is already known to his fellow competitors as the tiger woods of scrabble. he did something similar nine years ago, winning the french

language national title, even though he admitted not knowing much french beyond bonjour. so there you have that. that's pretty remarkable because i am clearly bad at it, even in my native english language. a new hour of cnn news central starts now all right. >> breaking news, new evidence authorities have against the man suspected of killing the ceo of unitedhealthcare. we are just learning fingerprints. a match between mangione and prince found at the scene of brian thompson shooting. police say they have those we will discuss. and a cnn exclusive for the first time. you will hear from a male accuser of sean diddy combs, who says the rapper drugged and then sexually assaulted him at one of those infamous white parties. and sources at cnn say president elect donald trump's pick to lead the doj civil rights department is preparing to go on the offensive and reverse many of the