discuss. cnn's chad myers has a closer look. >> well, we've all seen weather maps that look just like this, but how do we know it's going to be clear in texas? >> well, the weather models tell us this. >> we look at them, and this is one that i made a long time ago. i was an intern with the national weather service in silver spring, maryland, 39 years ago. >> and this is what the weather model looked like. >> now we use some human intelligence and sorted that celsius to fahrenheit and kind of figured some things out and knew it was going to be a 55 degree low. but then supercomputers took over and everything changed. it wasn't just digits, it wasn't just numbers. >> now we could make graphics. >> now we could take all of this data and push it forward five, seven days make it so much better. but this was still human intelligence. now we have artificial intelligence. this is what our model looks like right now. this is how good we've come from. just numbers to this. but can artificial intelligence make this even better, make it more accurate? and the answer so far is yes.

>> the google cast looks like out to 15 days. it will help our old models do even better. in fact, out forecast them in many locations. now the problem here with this artificial intelligence model is that we're only looking back 40 years and saying, okay, if this happened today, what's going to happen tomorrow? but is the last 40 years really going to be indicative of what the next 40 years really is going to look like? maybe not, but at least we have some hope some at least increased accuracy. hope that we could see things get better with artificial intelligence and the human element here. obviously, with the national weather service working in tandem, keeping everything together, making it better for us and keeping us even safer with the weather. >> chad myers, thank you so much for that new hour of cnn news central starts now the demand for answers at a

fever pitch over mysterious drones flying over new jersey, baffling lawmakers and sparking fear and frustration among residents. >> the white house is now weighing in. the mounting evidence police now say they have discovered involving the suspect accused in the killing of the unitedhealthcare ceo. the suspect facing second degree murder now but could that change with all the new bits of evidence and a potential earth shattering change for childhood vaccination programs? the president elect saying he is in talks with his hhs pick, rfk jr., to possibly end those. we're sitting down with a. vaccination expert after hearing that news. i'm sarah simon with kate baldwin and john berman. this is cnn news central. >> all right. good morning, everyone. we are watching the

trump transition day by day as it's now moved past the halfway point heading toward january 20th, inauguration day. in the last cnn poll, which was taken just a few days ago, a majority of americans approve of the way that donald trump is handling the transition. so far. we spoke to democratic senator chris just a few minutes ago, who said he would give the transition a grade of a, c or c minus, not a ringing endorsement, but i did note that is still a passing grade. still, he did note there are a number of very controversial moves that are drawing a lot of heat and fire on capitol hill, and confirmation for all of donald trump's prospective nominees. not a certainty just yet. with us now, cnn political commentator and republican strategist shermichael singleton and democratic strategist matt bennett, co-founder of a third way, who is here in studio. nice to see you in person. listen, lisa murkowski was talking about the

pressure that she feels republican senators are facing to get in, literally get in line. you'll hear her in a second. get in line over all the nomination that includes rfk jr., tulsi gabbard pete hegseth. this is what she said. >> the approach is going to be everybody toe the line, everybody line up. we got you here. and if you want to survive, you better be good. don't get on santa's naughty list here because we will primary you. >> we will primary you, matt. is that good politics or does it cross some line? >> it is not how the system is supposed to work. i mean, if you look at the federalist papers, alexander hamilton wrote about this in federalist 76. he said the senate is supposed to be a check on the president because otherwise presidents are human. they're going to, you know, propose people for high office that are just favors to their friends and family. we're literally seeing that right now. as you just reported, there's family

members all over the place in his nominations, not to mention a whole bunch of people that have no business running the agencies that they've been proposed to run. so senators are supposed to be independent checks on this. and the amount of pressure coming from their own party for them to just snap to attention is really not how this system works. >> shermichael matt just dropped the federalist papers here. thom tillis, republican from north carolina, dropped just raw politics and said, you know what i mean? trump may get get what he wants here now, but long term he may live to regret it. listen to what tillis said. >> i just think that, you know, it's a short term win, but a long term loss if you're not careful with that. >> once you've attacked somebody and they vote no, it's very easy for them to vote no for the remainder of the congress. so that should be kept in mind so look, at least for now or for the next year, 3 or 4 senators enough to sink anything that donald trump republican senators wants to get through. >> so if you have the likes of lisa murkowski, susan collins,

thom tillis, maybe young from alaska, those types of people against joni ernst, in some cases against you or questioning you from the outset, does that put trump in a possible bind? you're michael, i don't think so. >> you started off by asking matt, is it good politics? >> and i would say that it is a part of politics is having advocacy groups who may support a president or president elect in this case, who wants to see his agenda moving forward, which means the confirmation of his nominees. >> now, look, senators have the advise and consent, as matt just articulated, referencing federalist 76, to say, look, we want to take a look at each of these individuals, and then we'll ultimately decide if we believe they should at least make it through committee hearing to go before the full body of the senate, but at least make it clear to the president elect. sir, you just don't have the votes. i just don't understand, john. how many freaking conversations these guys need to have before they can make a determination if they want to support someone or not. and the voters in their

states have empowered these individuals by electing them to represent them. if the voters are saying, we don't like what you're doing, then the voters have the right to hold them accountable. >> they do. although, as we all know senate terms, they're not short things. holding a senator accountable is one of the hardest things in in the game. since the senate terms are six years long, there's politics. then there's policy, right in rfk, jr. has been picked to, you know, to lead hhs, health and human services, which has authority over the fda, which approves or not drugs and vaccines here. and i want to read some reporting from the new york times about a lawyer who was working with rfk jr. right now and has worked with him in the past. this lawyer, according to the times, helped rfk jr. pick federal health officials for the incoming trump administration has petitioned the government to revoke its approval of the polio vaccine, which for decades has protected millions of people from a virus that can cause paralysis or death. now, this lawyer again says siri, i

believe his name is, says the same thing that rfk jr. likes to say, which is i'm not against all vaccines. i just have certain questions at certain times, and i'm just representing these interest groups here. but he's moved to revoke approval of the polio vaccine. >> i mean, this is one of the most scary things. i wouldn't give him a c minus. i'd give him an f at most because the people that he is appointing to high office are incredibly scary, and they could put us in physical danger, not just on the kind of national security side, which is bad enough, but on health care. it's rfk at the top, and then there's a whole bunch of other people that he's appointed to run the fda, the national institute of health, the cdc. these are people that were covid truthers. they didn't believe that covid was real. they said covid would kill only 20,000 people and ended up killing a million and a half americans. and they didn't. they don't believe in vaccines. they are now proposing to do insane things like repeal the polio vaccine that could put our kids

and our families at real risk. i think this is very scary. >> you know, even trump shermichael has said, oh, when it comes to polio, i'm going to really have to be convinced here. although i guess they didn't rule it out completely. but we're talking about the polio vaccine. polio used to kill a lot of people. shermichael and now it doesn't. and the vaccine is the reason yeah. >> i mean, mitch mcconnell, right, has saved the minority leader's life. i mean, look, there's some things i just don't think we should really mess with, john, if i'm just being candid. it's one thing to say, look, let's look at why more younger people are being diagnosed with cancer, for example. and let's figure out a way to spearhead that research and provide more funding via hhs. or maybe we're looking at other issues that the american people are struggling with. let's put a spotlight there. i'm all for that. but the stop messing with things where we have 100 years of research to showcase its efficacy and the effect, you know, you sort of start losing a lot of credibility. even the president elect is saying, wait a minute here. now, i'm skeptical on this because this appears to be a bridge too far. so so if i'm rfk and you're going before some of these

senators, you don't want to go before them saying, hey, i may remove polio because there are a lot of republicans who are going to say, okay, man, i'm willing to give you an opportunity here to articulate your case, to win over my support. right. but when you start to remove things where we have decades and decades of data that shows that it works, it was a great thing. it saved millions of lives decades ago. you start to make people doubtful of your real ability to lead the agency well. and so if i'm rfk, i wouldn't move forward with this shermichael singleton, matt bennett, i give both of you an a minus for this panel only because it wasn't longer. >> and i always want to leave some room for improvement. thank you both very much for being here. appreciate it. kate. so they are not birds. they are not aliens. they are drones. or that is at least what people in new jersey think, though that is now even in dispute after the department of homeland security put out a statement that at least some of what's been seen are actually manned aircraft. but that's about all that is known. are you confused? well, that is

exactly how people in new jersey say they feel right now. after weeks of mysterious nighttime drone sightings and no word on what they really are or what they're really doing now, lawmakers have gone from asking questions to demanding answers they should be shot down if necessary because they're flying over sensitive areas. >> the whole government, state police, department of homeland security, the governor, they need to take this way more seriously. >> it's a bit embarrassing that given the length of time and the number of sightings that we don't have information. >> the white house says there's no evidence the drones pose a national security or public safety threat, but that is not enough for people in new jersey right now. and that includes democratic congressman from new jersey, josh gottheimer, who is also running for governor right now. thanks for joining me. you think that the federal the federal officials should offer a public briefing on the situation, the fbi and the dhs and dhs, they put out a statement. and i know you saw this, congressman, but

they put out a statement yesterday. i'm going to read what they said, in part because i want your take. they put out we have no evidence at this time. the reported drone sightings pose a national security or public safety threat or have a foreign nexus. the fbi, dhs or federal partners in close coordination with new jersey state police, continue to deploy personnel and technology to investigate the situation and confirm whether the reported drone flights are actually drones or instead, manned aircraft or otherwise inaccurate sightings. is that enough for you? >> not at all. i mean, listen, i agree with the assessment based on the briefings i've had from dhs and the fbi, that there is no reason to believe these drones pose any immediate, credible threats to public safety. right? and so i agree with them that they're however, they have a responsibility to the fbi, who's the lead agency here, and dhs, either our federal partners who are responsible for this airspace with the faa to brief the public more thoroughly. you know, these

statements they're putting out bit by bit, when you have people so concerned about what's in the air, they have a responsibility to get out there and to fully brief people and to make sure that everyone knows what what they know. and and frankly, i've written to them, well, we've got many demanding it. i have a classified briefing coming up this next week. but the bottom line is this they're not providing enough information to the public, and the public is concerned. and believe me, i'm hearing from my constituents about this all the time, and i think it's time for them to immediately get out there and brief. >> so, congressman, two things. one, you are confident that they know more than they are telling the public about what these are. >> well, what i'm confident is based on what i know, what they've briefed me on and what i've seen, there's no immediate threats. >> that said, those are two different things, right? enough to explain to people what that's not enough. >> do explain what's out. right? i mean, it's not enough because people still have a lot of questions to understand

where they're from. right. and i think the and what these drones are, you know, if and i don't believe that all of these sightings, that none of them are drones, that doesn't make any sense to me. i also think, and i've called for this case for local and state law enforcement to have the tools themselves to be able to monitor these drones and if necessary, if they're over threatening areas, right over bases, over critical infrastructure like reservoirs or over police stations and other critical areas that they should be able to take these drones down. right. and they should have the equipment. the equipment exists to be able to do that. they should have they should be empowered to be able to do so. and you can't have the wild west of drones out there, right, with unlicensed and unregistered drones just flying around, threatening any kind of critical infrastructure or putting people at deep concern. >> have you been briefed if what has been seen and cited is approved, activity i've been briefed that

there's approved activity. >> what i've been briefed on is what they've monitored, which they have the equipment to monitor, what they've seen to date poses no urgent critical threat. that said, long term, what i don't know, right, is is and when i say critical threat, in other words that it's not over, that they're confident, it's not over areas that pose like a base that poses an immediate threat to our national security. >> can i ask you one quick clarification just on that? when they say when they say it does not pose a national security or public safety threat, that suggests that in order to assess that they know what these things are. >> kate, this is exactly why i would like them to brief publicly, because based on what they've told us in my briefings, not classified briefings based on the briefings that i've had with them that they have told us and shown and and based on what they've assessed, because they can surveil that, there's not that they don't pose any immediate threats. in other

words, no, there's no weapons cache or other threats to public that could cause threats to public safety. what? i'd like them to brief the public on is, where are these drones from? what are they? and to give that information and again, to make sure that our local partners have the equipment to be able to monitor going forward what these drones are and if necessary, to be able to take them out, and also to make sure that it is against the law. clearly that if you're operating an unlicensed drone, right, and threaten any kind of public safety, whether that's critical infrastructure, an airport or a base, a reservoir that you will face, right? it's against the law. you will face jail time if you do that, because we can't have. again, as i said, you can't have the wild west of drones out here. and so i think it's critically important. that's why i'll do it again today, to get them out here and brief and tell the public what they know, everything they know. >> and you're putting you've introduced legislation to give state and local more authority in being able to monitor and

actually act. you said you want them to brief where these are coming from and what they are. are you confident they have those answers? >> that's. well, i think that's why we're going to ask them to brief. i'm confident. here's what i know. they've been able to brief me, that they're confident of what they're not. so now i think it's really important that you tell the public what they are. right. and i think, listen, the public has a right to know because people are concerned. right. and they and when when this is happening and they get no answers, no clear answers from the federal agencies responsible for monitoring. right. and then then, of course, people are going to have questions. of course people are going to be concerned. they have a responsibility to allay people's concerns, to tell the public what they know and don't know, and to make sure that people are safe and protected, and that we're doing everything to protect our national security and our public security and safety, that is for sure. >> congressman josh gottheimer, thank you so much for coming in. we'll see what happens today. >> thanks for having me, kate. >> great conversation. lots of

people talking about that. all right. ahead, president elect trump is making plans on how to deal with the media, which he's called the enemy of the people in the past. what he's saying now and new developments overnight in the investigation into the unitedhealthcare ceo's murder, what could speed up the extradition of the suspected killer back to new york? also, a reality check for reality shows what happened after a complaint from the set of love is blind could spark a new era in that industry i 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. >> there's something going around the gordon home. >> good thing gertrude found delsym. >> now what's going around is 12 hour cough relief and the

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december 31st blues, blackhawks on tnt and streaming on max this morning, several new legal developments as unitedhealthcar e ceo brian thompson accused. >> killer continues to fight extradition to new york overnight. a judge in pennsylvania set two new court dates this month for december 23rd and the 30th. this, as abc news is now reporting. new york prosecutors have now started presenting evidence to a grand jury. and overnight, we also learned that accused killer luigi mangione was not insured by unitedhealthcare. a spokesperson has confirmed neither he nor his mother were group members. cnn legal analyst and criminal defense attorney joey jackson is with us now. so you just heard that bit that our reporters got that he actually was not a member of unitedhealthcare. does that play any part in the legalities of this case? >> yes, sir. >> good morning. it does not. >> right. certainly investigators wanted to piece together a motivation. was it that he was insured? we heard

issues with respect to his back problem. >> could they have denied him insurance? >> et cetera. but i think the overall message was to target an insurer, assuring 1 in 7 people that would be known to all, and a message would be sent witt to that. so whether he was insured or not is not outcome determinative at all. >> all right. we also talked about the search warrants that sources at cnn say police have found a backpack and a burner phone along the route where they believe mangione took to try to escape. how significant are these pieces of evidence so and compelling? >> obviously. right. >> because the more you bit together and put together which establishes his guilt, the better it is for a prosecutor. >> you put this next to the water bottle with his print, the cereal wrapper with his print. the manifesto. et cetera. you know, sara, very briefly, though, i wonder about what's called jury nullification. what does that mean? that means that jurors can excuse conduct in the event

they think it's appropriate to do so. now, others in my profession i've spoke to have said in this case, i'm insane to say that. but have you seen social media with respect to what they're saying, he is a hero. they're selling things. he's they're calling him saint luigi. and you just wonder if you impanel a jury who buys into that message. do they excuse the conduct? it's insane to think about. but we're in a world right now that distrust government, government institutions. and so i wonder whether his attorneys pick up on that attack and do something about it. because the evidence that you've asked me about, it's to him. >> yeah. i mean, we've also seen, you know, sort of the forensic with the gun that the police say they now have. but his his defense attorney has been very clear in saying, look, i haven't seen this evidence. he's putting questions out. there is any good defense attorney would when does he get discovery. when does he start getting this? because of course, as he said himself, he's going to try of course to to to pull it apart. >> of course. so what happens is in new york a few years ago

actually in 2000 starting then we have what's called open file discovery. what does that mean? it means we're giving discovery. prosecutors better get you that discovery immediately. usually 15 days after he's brought in front of the judge. right. it's called an arraignment, where you enter your plea, you get your discovery. prosecutors can ask for additional 30 days. if it's voluminous discovery. but we don't play hide the ball. the legislature in this state have said give defense attorneys what they need to defend, to evaluate, to review, so that we can start to trial. >> all right. i do want to ask you about one last thing. he is charged with second degree murder. and in a lot of places, when you consider sort of the details that prosecutors have put out there, that this man was unarmed, he was shot in the back there seemed to clearly be a plan that was put in place beforehand. that's often first degree murder. why is it not in new york? >> so new york is a bit different in that regard. first degree murder is generally reserved for police officers, firefighters, judges, first

responders, correction officers, et cetera. there's one wrinkle. if you could establish terrorism now, it gets you to first degree murder, right? is he attempting to coerce or influence a civilian population? is he attempting to influence public policy? the issue for prosecutors is going to be, even if they can establish that, do they want to? here's what i mean. prosecutors certainly have an obligation to prove and establish what you did right. but generally, you don't have to show why you did it. so with second degree murder, you establish intent. someone's dead. guess what? you get life in jail. so it's not much of a distinction between going between that and making things complicated. if now you're showing terrorism, what's the benefit? you still can get life for second degree murder. but in showing terrorism now you have to introduce all kind of evidence to establish your mindset why you did it, what message you were attempting to send, et cetera. we'll see what they do as they collect the evidence they're collecting. >> certainly they could try to use things like the manifesto, but again, they have to convince a jury and have enough proof. and so it i guess makes sense. second degree murder at

this point. joey jackson, always a pleasure. thank you so much for coming in. appreciate it. appreciate it kate. >> corporate america stepping up their protection. the new high level security measures that teams are putting in place to protect executives across the country. now, in the wake of brian thompson's murder. and before you pour your coffee this morning, there is a recall to tell you about a popular travel mug. we'll tell you much more about it in a second. >> welcome to times square. that's not my wife that was so embarrassing. >> new year's eve anderson and andy. live coverage starts at eight on cnn. streaming live on max i told you, i don't need these anymore. >> i have sling. >> okay. morning. i only left sling, deliver the news. >> i need to stay informed. >> thank you very much. >> nice one. nope. sling gives us all the news we want in a quick and reliable manner.

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( 800) 269-9522. 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. >> despite declaring an often repeating that he sees the media as the enemy of the state, donald trump is changing his tune for now. speaking at the new york stock exchange yesterday, he called journalists at time magazine really very professional people. that is after he was named time's person of the year yesterday.

>> we had a great first term despite a lot of turmoil caused unnecessarily. and but the media is tamed down a little bit. they're liking us much better now, i think. if they don't, we'll have to just take them on again. and we don't want to do that joining me right now is chief media. >> cnn's chief media analyst brian stelter, for much more on this. what more is he saying about this? >> he has a point there, doesn't he, when he says the media is tamed down. >> we have seen that from some news outlets in the country in recent weeks. >> we have reported in the reliable sources newsletter this morning about the l.a. times, about the owner of the l.a. times trying to tame down the opinion section, making the headlines more bland, trying to make sure it's not too harsh. so i do think the president elect has a point, and he's he's noticing the same thing some viewers are seeing. but just because it's happening at some publications, maybe time magazine is another example. you know, time was flattering. trump yesterday he returned to the flattery toward time. we're seeing that some places. we're not seeing that at all. and most importantly, it's got to be driven by the reporting and by the facts. when there are

important investigations and reporting to be done, it's got to be done. and toning down the headlines won't change that. >> yeah, that's that's a great point. there's also something else kind of happening i want to ask you about when it comes to voice of america. donald trump has said that he wants kari lake to take take it over. and for a lot of people know this, but if they don't, i mean, it's an international. how would you describe it? international broadcaster that gets funding from the u.s. government? yeah. um, is that going to happen? >> it may happen, but it may take a while. and it's a really interesting example of how trump is trying to use his power more aggressively in a second term and remind people why that is concerning to so many journalists. this is a us funded international broadcaster covering the world. the idea is to present democratic values by reporting real news, not by pushing out propaganda. it's called voice of america. there's some concern that trump, president trump, wants it to be voice of trump, that he wants to turn it into a pro-trump propaganda organ. there were some kind of ham fisted, half hearted attempts to do this during

trump's first term in office. it didn't go well. in fact, federal investigators found that there might have been crimes committed inside that government agency back in 2020. well, trump is now taking power again. i think he has a better plan for how to do this. that's why he announced kari lake to run the voa. the only issue is presidents don't normally name directors of the voa. so there's actually a lot of government mechanics that have to happen to install her. we will see over the next couple of years if that actually happens. but i'm watching it closely because the voa could be turned into theoretically more of a pro-government propaganda machine as opposed to an independent news outlet. the journalist of voa would fear that. but clearly some trump allies would like to see that happen. >> definitely something to watch, but interesting. the timeline seems to be it could be a lot longer than what people might think in terms of. >> and i think that's true with a lot of the stories we're covering right now. we're talking about trump's first 100 days, for example. but some of these cases take a long time within the government to actually play out. >> yeah, it's a great point, brian. great to see you. you too. thanks, john. all right. this morning, stanley recalling

millions of travel mugs and tumblers after they were designated a burn hazard. also breaking news. happy birthday, taylor swift, 35 years old. old enough to be president. just saying. i have to be honest, i did not get her anything but find out what she's doing to give back herself. to mark the occasion. >> welcome to times square. that's not of 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. >> i've been worn by celebrities, athletes and world leaders. but i've always felt most comfortable up here with the folks that made me who i am. i'm right at home out here on the land, and i'm in my lane on the shoulder of the interstate because this is where i come from. i've been showing up here for nearly 200

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web game infinite reality. car insurance, so i saved hundreds. with the money i saved, i thought i'd get a wax figure of myself. cool, right look at the craftsmanship. i mean, they even got my nostrils right. it's just nice to know years after i'm gone, this guy will be standing the test of time. ah! >> he's melting. oh, geez. no okay. >> only pay for what you need. >> liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty 2024 was a wild ride. >> it was like, the craziest roller coaster ride i've ever been on in my life. >> that was an whooping. tom foreman and special guests look back. >> all the best. all the worst 2024. thursday, december 26th at 11 on cnn. >> the murder of unitedhealthcare ceo brian thompson has sent shockwaves through corporate america, prompting companies nationwide

to reevaluate their security protocols. we now know the suspect was not a member of that group, but investigators say he may have targeted thompson because of the company's size. experts are warning of potential copycats, particularly given the strange wave of social media support for the accused killer. joining me now is jacob silverman, ceo of kroll, a financial and risk advisory firm. if you were a betting man, when you look at what has happened, i mean, how unsafe is it? and who do you think may be next when it comes to being under threat? >> well good morning. thank you for having me. >> we are in a complex world, is what i like to call a vuca world. >> if you know that term volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity. so we have to be on our guard all the time. i can't tell you who's next, but i would say that this really is a pan industry phenomenon. it's not just about health care. we are seeing threat actors targeting and thinking about really every

part of the industrial complex. >> when you say you're seeing threat actors, i mean, are you actually seeing threats increase, whether it be electronically, you know, people calling on the phone in person, what what's sort of the landscape out there after this happened? >> well, we're seeing threats pretty much across every mode, certainly in the virtual world that has been existent now for for years, if not decades. it's increasingly happening in the physical world. there are posters being posted throughout new york city targeting ceos and people of interest. so really it's across every modality that one can imagine. and the key for ceos and their boards is to assess how to synthesize all of those signals of information that can form a threat assessment to protect the companies, and particularly the ceos of those companies. >> how much of this worry because you talked about social media and there's this it really is an obsession. when you when you go online, you cannot avoid seeing something

about the suspect. in this case. and most the vast majority of it is positive towards him. hero worship even there's merchandise and all these things. when you see this, does this give you some sense that a copycat is is bound to appear, bound to happen? >> i can't predict if it's bound to happen. what i can predict is that there are copycats observing all of these actors, and many of the initiators of these types of social media phenomenon are looking to create copycat actors around the world. so the key is to be able to to assess and get ahead of those signals, well ahead of when it could actually pose an imminent physical threat to an executive. >> i'm curious of a comparison, because when i started, you started looking at this and what this has meant to industries back in 2011, there was occupy wall street, right? and you had the 1% versus the 99%, and people just furious

with what had happened in 2007 and eight, with the financial crisis that hit so many americans and hurt so many americans, and the backlash to that, that lasted a very long time. some of the video of, you know, people sitting out and banging drums and yelling, very upset with corporate america. can you compare and contrast that time to what's happened now? >> i think that in any time there are going to be threat actors, and i'm not here to speak about various types of motives. there's motive of ideology, there's motive of criminality. there are people simply holding a grudge. what what i know is that executives and companies need to be vigilant across all of those dimensions, because you never know how that threat will expose itself and make itself an imminent danger to an executive. so the ability to to know that any one of those aspects, those dimensions are prevalent, whether or not it was a decade ago or today, it will be here really for the duration of time. there will always be people who are

looking to create and sow chaos and concern and create security threats. >> jacob silverman, thank you so much for coming, i appreciate it. thank you. interesting analysis john. >> all right. this morning we have learned that amazon is donating $1 million to the presidential inauguration. just like facebook parent company meta. and just like meta ceo mark zuckerberg. cnn has learned that amazon founder jeff bezos will meet with president elect trump in the coming days. with us now is willie remus. technology news and analysis writer for the bezos owned washington post. great to see you this morning. so what do these guys hope to gain with this investment of not just money, but also face time? >> yeah, there's a lot to gain. >> there's a lot to lose for them. under the trump administration. these two companies in particular, they're figureheads, have been attacked by trump in the past. trump has gone after mark zuckerberg. he went after jeff

bezos during his first administration. and they don't want that to happen again. they're trying to get on his good side because amazon has cloud contracts to be won or lost. mr. trump has threatened to revoke section 230, which meta relies on heavily. there's a tiktok ban on the on the table, which meta stands to benefit from. so i think you're seeing all the tech companies trying to get out ahead, and they've realized that that with trump, personal relationships are crucial. he has you as an ally. if you want to have any chance of benefiting from from his leadership. >> yeah. that gets to my my next question here, which is what besides money? because they've literally donated money to the inauguration, which is something facebook didn't do. i guess amazon gave a little bit in previous times, but what else besides money can they give trump to win him over you know, it's funny. >> they they can give trump praise. they can they can

personally say nice things about him. if you saw mark zuckerberg after the assassination attempt, described trump as badass. they i think they they understand that for trump, a lot of politics is personal and they're up against rivals who are already on good side. you think about elon musk, who was trump's biggest donor during the campaign. he's a rival in ai in space exploration with some of the other tech giants. so in a sense here they're playing, they're trying to play catch up and make sure that they aren't seen as the enemy. >> how much does this run counter as far as you know, to their personal politics? is this something that goes against some of their beliefs or don't they just care? or is this just business at this point i think it's mostly business. >> honestly, i've said for years that the tech titans are not liberal or conservative. they're capitalist. they didn't get to be some of the richest companies in the history of the world. some of the richest people in the history of the world, by being

ideologues on principle, when there's money on the table, they they know where where their bread is buttered. i think they they see how things are lined up in the trump administration that if they're not on his good side, they're going to suffer. um, you know, as far as their personal politics, it's hard to say. both zuckerberg and bezos have been very cagey about their personal politics over the years. certainly, a lot of employees at the big tech companies lean left, although that's probably been shifting a bit as well. um, but ultimately they're they're out there to advance their companies interests, and they know that the way to do it is to make sure that they're they're on trump's good side, if at all possible. >> so you watch this stuff more closely than just about anybody. so what will you be watching for over the next year or two years to see if bezos and zuckerberg have been successful in their treaties yeah. >> well, i mean, and to be

clear, it's not just bezos or zuckerberg. when trump won, you saw all of the big tech ceos, one after another, congratulating him on elon musk's x. i mean, it was almost like a copy paste. you had you had, um, sundar pichai of google, satya nadella at microsoft, all the tech ceos were quick to congratulate him. that's not a tradition, by the way. i mean, they didn't do that. most of them didn't do that. when joe biden won in 2020. um, what they have to gain, you know, meta. there's a ban on tiktok that congress has passed. um, trump may have some say over whether that takes effect or not. excuse me. meta stands to benefit greatly if tiktok is banned. um, they they also, you know, during his first administration, trump repeatedly threatened social media companies with revoking section 230. this is the liability shield for content that they distribute online. um, whether they whether he will go after that again may depend in part on whether he these social media companies as being on his side or as being

beholden to liberal interests who want to want them to take down, uh, conspiracy theories, extremism, hate speech, that sort of thing. >> will oremus from the washington post, big fan of your work. thank you so much for being with us this morning. appreciate the discussion. kate. donald trump says he is going to listen to rfk jr. when it comes to childhood vaccines, vaccination programs. why that is so concerning to so many physicians right now. and reality tv facing a shakeup, the national labor relations board has classified contestants on one hit netflix reality show as employees, and this could have ripple effects across all of reality tv. >> now, so where does this leave us? we could just be a little careful when you're the leader in disaster cleanup and restoration, how do you make like it never even happened? >> happen whoa! hahahahaha yes, by being prepared for anything.

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>> donald trump says in a new interview with time magazine that he will let robert f kennedy jr., his pick to be the next hhs secretary, study a repeatedly long debunked claim about vaccines and autism. again, the decades old claim that vaccines have anything to do with autism has been repeatedly proven false. donald trump, though, says he's ready to study it, and he also kept open the possibility in this interview that he could move to end childhood vaccination programs time asking donald asked donald trump if rfk jr. moves to end childhood vaccination programs. would you sign on? sign off on that? trump's response we're going to have a big discussion. the autism rate is at a level that nobody ever believed possible. if you look at things that are happening, there's something causing it. joining me right now is doctor peter hotez, the co-director of the vaccine. of vaccine development at texas children's and also the author of the book vaccines did not cause rachel's autism my

journey as a vaccine scientist, pediatrician and autism dad. doctor hotez, it is always good to see you. thank you so much for coming in. i mean, you i saw you say this theory that that vaccines cause autism is possibly the most thoroughly debunked conspiracy theory in modern science. why does this still take hold on people, and what does it do to have the incoming president of the united states talk like that? >> well, it's potentially very damaging. >> the simple reason is people are already declining to give kids their vaccines over the last year, from 2023 to 2024, we've had a five fold rise in pertussis cases in the united states. we've gone from four measles outbreaks in 2023 to 15 measles outbreaks in this year. >> we've got polio in the wastewater in new york, in new york state in 2022. so this is a very fragile vaccine ecosystem. and these illnesses can come roaring back. and it's all based on nonsense.

we've been at this for 25 years. and and rfk jr. is one of the lead anti-vaccine activists pushing this discredited theory. and he keeps moving the goalposts on what he says is the reason for autism. at first, in the late 1990s, early 2000, they said it was the measles, mumps rubella vaccine that was disproven through large epidemiological studies. and then robert f kennedy jr. in 2005 wrote an article in rolling stone magazine and salon claiming it was thimerosal preservative that was debunked again through large epidemiologic studies and even nonhuman primate studies. then they switched it up and said it was spacing vaccines too close together. so it became this kind of whack a mole game. then another one would pop up that it was alum and vaccines. then they switched for a while to hpv vaccine for cervical cancer and other cancers. they said it was causing infertility and autoimmunity, so they keep on moving the goalposts. and and each time the scientific community puts enormous

resources into debunking the claims. >> you as i mentioned, you wrote a book about this. your experience professionally and personally with your daughter who has autism. you also to add to this, with your experience, you say you were asked in 2017 by nih to speak with rfk jr. about these debunked theories about vaccines and autism. can you talk to me about how that went? was he open to listening to the science yeah, he unfortunately, he was not. >> we embarked on long cell phone discussions. um. uh, throughout the throughout 2017. and then it reverted to emails and it was mediated by a third individual. um, and he wasn't seemed he didn't seem very interested in the science to me because i would go through all of these things. i would explain the genetic basis of autism. we have over 100 autism genes now. we have the gene, for instance, for my daughter rachel's, uh, autism and

intellectual disability. so autism is a series of neurodevelopmental processes that begin before the baby is born, before a baby ever sees a vaccines. and then they continue to to accelerate. interestingly, i did mention to him because he did have a history as being an environmental attorney. by the way, there are medications if you take them early in pregnancy, they could affect the autism genes and cause, uh, conditions that resemble autism after birth. for instance, valproic acid, an anti-seizure medication, does that. if you give it early in pregnancy. and he had no interest in that, and he still kept on pushing the fake vaccine narrative. so i found it to be an exercise in frustration. i guess he was frustrated with me as well well, i think, um, doctor peter hotez and the questions he could raise in confirmation hearings would be a good place to start for anyone who wants to really start diving into what needs to be asked of the next health and human services secretary. >> doctor hotez, thank you for coming on sarah.

>> fresh off the end of her record breaking eras tour, taylor swift kicking off her 35th birthday celebrations with a surprise visit to children's mercy hospital in kansas city it was a once in a lifetime experience i was flabbergasted c-suite taylor swift has become a regular, as you might imagine, in kansas city. why? well, she's attending games at arrowhead stadium to support her boyfriend, chiefs tight end travis kelce. if you didn't already figure that out. all right, wildly popular drinkware brand stanley is recalling millions of its travel mugs due to a danger of burns. the recall applies to their switchback and trigger action models. the company says the lids on these massive mugs can loosen once exposed to heat, and the d end up spilling out and burning