airport and tons of foster homes. all of the animals got loaded up onto the plane, and it was quite a sight to see. um, you know, you've got nearly 100 animals there all at once being loaded up, the community coming together, everybody lending a hand. the animals flew to utah, where we accepted them into our sanctuary. and again at the receiving end, we saw the same scene. it was incredible. and it's so heartwarming to see us be able to to assist and help in this kind of way. >> i know some of your volunteers, some of their friends, have seen utter devastation, have seen some of their homes go, and so they're still out there trying to help the animals in the in the area. thank you so much for the work that you're doing, julie castle, we appreciate it. a new hour of cnn news central starts right now.

>> breaking overnight donald trump not exonerated. the final report from former special counsel jack smith released just happened. smith indicates he thinks trump would have been convicted. the new details about some decisions made that we had never heard about. and the breaking moments ago, a new, very rare, particularly dangerous situation. red flag warning in effect in california as a new wildfire explodes overnight near los angeles and a new close call between two flights caught on video by a bystander. i'm john berman with sara sidner and kate bolduan. this is cnn news central. >> and the breaking news, the final report is out. the conclusion from special counsel jack smith is in. and here is smith's take on donald

trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. just days before the president elect is set to retake office after winning the 2024 election. when it comes when it became clear mr. trump had lost the election, he resorted to a series of criminal efforts to retain power. jack smith goes on to say but for mr. trump's election and imminent return to the presidency, the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial. the report dropped while most everyone was sleeping around 1:00 in the morning, and almost immediately the president, president elect responded, calling jack smith deranged, insisting the prosecution was all political. let's start this hour with katelyn polantz on everything else that we learn in this 130 page report. good morning caitlin. >> kate, to sum it up, what jack smith is saying here is we think donald trump would have been found guilty at trial even after the supreme court allowed

for immunity around the presidency, even after we rewrote the indictment. and here is all of the evidence we gathered and our thinking. that's how the report is shaped. it goes into quite a bit of detail. kate, one of the things that jack smith has to look at here is why charge donald trump how to charge donald trump, and especially how to handle charges against donald trump during an election year when the when trump believes he should have a lot of protections and that he was being under attack from a political perspective. smith addresses this head on, though in the report he writes, there is unquestionably a public interest in ensuring that elected officials and election workers can carry out their duties without fear of threats and retaliation. accordingly, the need to promote this federal interest weighed in favor of proceeding against mr. trump. they say that they wanted to proceed against trump in this case because

of the not just the violence that he was behind and instigating at the capitol on january 6th of 2021. but the amount of deceit that trump had publicly in trying to lead his supporters to that moment where he was convincing them of election fraud when he himself knew there was none. another thing, kate, that's important to point out. jack smith accompanied this report with a letter defending his team, putting it in the course of history, and saying that you think that this was a political prosecution. it was not. my team had integrity. he writes the claim from mr. trump that my decision as a prosecutor were influenced or directed by the biden administration or other political actors is, in a word, laughable. kate, yeah, not mince any words on that one, that's for sure. >> caitlin, thank you so much, sara. all right. >> let's bring in elie honig a cnn's senior legal analyst and former assistant u.s. attorney for the southern district of

new york. just in looking at this and hearing what you heard caitlin say is what we are seeing a typical report by a special counsel. >> so in most respects, yes, sarah, when you look at the substantive body of this report, it's what we expect to see from special counsel and from jack smith. it is a systematic, methodical laying out of the evidence and explaining how that evidence meets the laws that jack smith chose to indict donald trump on. the part that's unusual, though, is that four page introductory letter that caitlin just mentioned. it is an intense, almost emotional defense of jack smith's team. now, it's normal to see special counsel write something in a couple of sentences saying, my team was very hard working and had high integrity and was not political, but he goes on a rant. he quotes john adams, he quotes former attorneys general. he says the criticism of him was laughable, and i suppose one could look at that as an important and necessary example of jack smith standing up for his team. on the other hand, though, it's

hard to read that and then conclude that everything that follows is completely separate from emotion and completely workmanlike, and has nothing to do with his personal feelings. so, as with many things, sarah, it's in the eye of the beholder. >> i'm just interested in him saying, look, this does not mean that you, donald trump, are exonerated. have you seen that before? >> sure. i mean, robert mueller is one example, but this is a unique circumstance because we got to a place where there was an indictment, a grand jury found probable cause, but we never got to a place where a jury had to decide whether there was proof beyond a reasonable doubt. so it's 0% surprising that jack smith said, i don't exonerate you. in fact, jack smith clearly feels strongly that his evidence was substantial. >> i want to get your thoughts. speaking of a jury of your peers, you know, deciding this, ultimately, if it were to go to court, i want to get your thoughts on this part of the report, which said the department's view that the constitution prohibits the continued indictment and

prosecution of a president is categorical and does not tum on the gravity of the crimes charged. the strength of the government's proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the office stands fully behind, and goes on to say, indeed. but for mr. trump's election and imminent return to the presidency, the office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial. is jack smith saying that he guarantees this would have ended up in a conviction, even though this would be a jury making this decision. >> very important clarification there, sarah. this is not quite the flex that it may seem to be. jack smith is not saying a jury would convict. no prosecutor would ever say that jack smith's been a prosecutor for 30 years. that's not what we do. that's not what we say. that's not what jack smith says. what he says here is the same thing that every prosecutor has to say before they charge any case, which is the evidence is sufficient

enough that a jury could convict. you have to make that finding as a prosecutor before you charge a first year drug case or before you charge the former president with a vast conspiracy. so it's a really important nuance, but it matters. he's not making some bold prediction here. oh, if we went to trial, we would have won for sure. what he's saying is the evidence was enough that we could have gone to a trial, and a jury could have convicted. that's different than saying a jury would have convicted. >> fair enough. i do want to ask you about the other special counsel report that classified documents case. why haven't we seen that released? or will we ever. >> i'm starting to doubt that. i mean, the justice department's position right now is that the public should not see the other report, the classified documents report. the justice department's position is because there are still two active defendants here. the non-trump defendants, nauta and de oliveira. all we want to do is provide this behind closed doors to certain

leaders of congress. so even doj is not saying we want to put it out there publicly. now, trump's team is still not satisfied with that. there's going to be an argument on friday where trump's team is going to argue doj cannot even send this over to congress, because i guess it might leak from there. now, i think doj clearly has the right to do that. i think doj should prevail there, but as it currently stands, even doj has no intention to make that other report public. >> elie honig, thank you so much for walking us through all those details. appreciate it. all right. >> and we are standing by for the start of a critical day for donald trump's cabinet nominees on capitol hill. pete hegseth one of donald trump's more controversial picks is in the hot seat this morning. he's about to sit for his confirmation hearing. it begins next hour and is likely to face then hours of grueling questions from the senate armed services committee. let's go to cnn's alayna treene. she is live in west palm beach, florida, for us this morning. elena, what are you hearing from the trump team heading into today? this is a big day for them.

>> this is and it's a big week. you're going to. donald trump is going to see 13 of his nominees have their confirmation hearings this week. or at least start them. but of course, today is a huge day because pete hegseth, donald trump's pick to lead the department of defense, is one of the most controversial picks that he has. and it's very clear that senate democrats are planning to really grill him in public today and try to press him with some of these questions that they've long held. now, one thing we know is that behind the scenes, donald trump and his team, his allies, some republican senators have been behind closed doors, really working with different people. we're told pete hegseth is one of them. to really prepare them. some of these rigorous behind closed doors, you know, mock hearings that they've been holding, trying to get them ready for this moment. we know that hegseth is going to be confronted with some of his past, the allegations against him of sexual misconduct, of some of his past comments about women serving in the military, gay

people serving in the military. all of that, i'm told, has been coming up behind closed doors in some of these practice sessions, really trying to get him ready for this moment today. now, i will also note that we did hear from president elect donald trump himself just moments ago, posting on truth social. i want to read for you what he said. he wrote, quote pete hegseth will make a great secretary of defense. he has my complete and total support. good luck today, pete. now again, this is one of the most high stakes hearings for any of donald trump's picks. given some of the controversy surrounding hegseth. now, when i've talked to donald trump's advisers about him specifically, i would note that early on when he was having those meetings one on one with senators, republican senators, i should say behind closed doors, there were some concerns, especially if more information had come out. however, once they kind of got through that period and now that they've reached this public confirmation hearing and the start of this, there is a lot more confidence that he will be able to get through this, i'm told. but of course, we have to see what is going to happen today and all of that. what will fall out from that later on, kate?

>> absolutely. good to see you, elena. thank you so much, john. >> all right. with us now is jane harman, former nine term member of congress from california who served as ranking member on the house intelligence committee. she is the chair of the bipartisan, congressionally mandated national defense strategy commission and president emerita of the wilson center, so well qualified to talk about this confirmation process today. congresswoman, thank you so much for being with us. look, democrats and the committee are complaining, a, that they haven't had full access to the fbi background check on pete hegseth, but b that that fbi background check did not include interviews. they say with the woman who is accused hegseth of sexual misconduct or a former wife, for instance. how important do those interviews would they be well, i think it's important for the senate to have a full picture of who this man is. >> and what matters is, is he qualified to lead the largest department ever in u.s. history with 3 million people, $850 billion budget, at a time when,

as our commission said, the world is more dangerous than any time since world war two. with this axis of four countries collaborating against us and with the defense department mired in bureaucracy, et cetera., so it seems to me that the questions to ask are around that i'm not partisan about this because the employee base in the pentagon and the targets that would be america are not just democrats or republicans. so we have to think about this in terms of are we equipping america? as our report said, with qualified people and a structure that will keep us safe in the future? >> and i'm going to read you a quote from that report in just a second. but i want to stick for just a moment on the allegations of personal misconduct, because how would they impact how does that impact someone's ability to lead a bureaucracy

like the military? establishment? >> well, the military is full of women, qualified women and men who respond to the command of their commander in chief. that's the president of the united states and the secretary of defense, who is approved to qualify to carry out those commands. and if they feel less than satisfied that their leader is either up to the task in terms of performing it or has background issues that are truly concerning, that's a problem. we've had good secretaries of defense in the past. no one has been able to absolutely master that bureaucracy, and that's what our report is calling for. but some say the deputy secretary of defense is more important. the current one, kath hicks, a woman, is truly qualified. but that's not all that we should be looking at. the senate has to advise and consent to this appointment, and they need to make the best nonpartisan

decision they can make about who will lead the the largest, the largest group to protect our country in the future. >> and from that report, which you were just holding up in your hands, there is this quote, the threats the united states faces are the most serious and most challenging the nation has encountered since 1945, and include the potential for near term major war. the nation was last prepared for such a fight during the cold war, which ended 35 years ago. it is not prepared today. you wrote. so we got to look at pete hegseth opening statement, and what he talks about is the need to return a warrior ethos to the pentagon. does that address your concerns? would a warrior ethos fix what you are laying out here? >> i don't think so. i think we have to be prepared for war. but what our goal is, is to deter war, and we have soft power tools that are always talked about. the state department aid,

american diplomacy, our partners and allies that are hugely important. and so a warrior ethos to me doesn't cover the whole thing. we talk about all elements of national power, including all the things i just mentioned. and if we don't, for example, lash the pentagon to the tech base, which is producing the software, which is a more major component of our our military assets than ever before, and we don't understand i and and have guardrails around it, and we don't understand the full potential of cyber. we're not going to be prepared for future wars. so are these things that he knows about. he needs to be asked about this. and i'll just say one more thing about the senate. the senate has three major functions. advise and consent. is one of them. passing a budget is another one not doing well on that? more than a decade since they passed a budget on time and and the third. um, the the the the

third function is, uh, well, let's just focus on those because those are the two that really concern the most. >> rick perry sends his regards on that. congresswoman jane harman, it's great to see you this morning. thank you so much for helping us understand what the senate is doing today and what pete hegseth will face in these questions. i appreciate it, kate. >> some of the most powerful winds yet are kicking up right now in southern california and threatening to undo the progress made by fire crews against the deadly los angeles wildfires. we have an update coming up, and hollywood is toning down the glitz and glamor. but the awards season will continue as southern california continues to battle these wildfires. this wildfire disaster, the changes now being made to the award programs we have that. >> i've got good news and i've got bad news. what do you want? first, the bad the news is newsy even more than ever. what's the good news means we're doing another season of have i got news for you?

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aware of. the fact that we're going to see these stronger winds. and i can tell you it's starting to pick up a little bit here. we're going to see these stronger winds today and tomorrow. and just because we have the palisades fire burning in the eaton fire burning doesn't mean those are the only places where we could see blazes erupt and grow with these winds. and so that's why they're asking everyone to be prepared to evacuate. have your emergency kit ready to go in case you do need to get out. and that was the situation for one couple in the eaton fire. i want you to take a listen to cheryll ku. she was coming home from work when she saw the flames in the distance, and it was caught on their ring camera. she was able to tell her husband, jeffrey that they needed to go, but take a listen to to her experience. >> we were in the panic mode of just trying to get out as fast as we can. we did see the embers flying. it was almost like a snow flurries, but instead it's it's fire that's coming around and we did not think about whether or not those embers were going to

ignite on a dry brush around us, that it was just a matter of we had limited time and we had to go. but when we rewatched the the footage, we didn't realize how many embers were flying around us. and it's it's almost like watching a horror movie in a way. >> now, the couple did wet down their roof and they did flee from their home. and their home, amazingly, is still standing. of course, it is also worth noting that, according to the los angeles times, investigators are looking into what was going on with one of the electrical transmission towers that was there. for their part, southern california edison, the power company, is saying that their equipment was working at the time, although they have been named in a lawsuit at this point. but still, all of this still a very active fire scene. and we have more threats today. that's the big takeaway. people need to be prepared, john. >> yeah, a critical 24 hours. people need to remain vigilant,

which is hard because people are just exhausted. stephanie elam, thank you very much for your reporting, kate. >> let's get the very latest. joining us right now is battalion chief with cal fire, david acuna. thanks so much for coming back in, chief. winds picking back up today. what do 70 70 mile per hour gusts mean for firefighting efforts at this point? >> thank you so much for having me on here, kate. and as stephanie mentioned yeah, there's so much wind blowing through. imagine if you're driving down the freeway at 70 miles an hour, you stick your hand out flat and have the wind press against that. then you look at it from the point of view of that is the wind that's happening from ventura to northern l.a. and the entire region of southern california is under this red flag, warning that pressure just blows fire. the direction of the wind and will pick up these embers that we've been diligently trying to extinguish. and so they do not go over our control lines. >> well, you have to ground planes and aircraft and

helicopters once again. >> so yes, when it gets over about 30mph, depending on the aircraft and the pilots, uh, determinations, because they're professionals and dedicated, they want to be up, but over 30mph it is unsafe to fly. it's unsafe for the aircraft, for the personnel and of course, for the people on the ground. uh, not to mention that if we release retardant at that level of 70 mile per hour winds, it's just going to turn into a mist that blows away without being effective. >> it's actually an aspect of it that i hadn't even thought about that the that the retardant, the whole purpose of having the plane up there is that you can actually target that fire retardant to a specific area, and that becomes almost impossible with these gusts. with all of that in mind, do you think you're going to see kind of a i'll call it a backslide in containment today because of the conditions you're up against before you can make more progress in

containment. >> well, i won't ever. i don't like saying never say never. but we generally will put down the containment that we're confident we can prevent it from expanding. however, where our real concern is, is the next fire. so we need the public's help in order to make sure we do not have any additional sparks. no mowing where you could strike a rock, no dragging chains with the vehicle. make sure your vehicle is in good repair so it doesn't kick out a hot piece of catalytic converter 2000 degrees, or even just simply having a campfire. don't do any of that right now in this very, very high wind so that we can avoid another fire on the eaton fire we've seen these images of early flames under an electrical transmission tower. >> we've seen this ring camera footage. we just played an interview with the couple from a home in altadena, kind of capturing the small fire on the hillside by the home. last tuesday, and the l.a. times is

is reporting that investigators have cordoned off the area around that tower. how seriously are investigators looking at those images, or do you think investigators are any closer today than yesterday in determining a cause of any of these fires? >> well, the professional investigators working on this are going to stay open to any cause. and of course, they want to look for something that may have been caught in some images. but keep in mind that is just one perspective. and so they have to look at the entire area and see what kind of information they can gather in order to make a proper determination using their investigative methods, ensuring that they're ruling out not only what couldn't have happened, but also making sure that they can determine exactly what piece of any sort of material, or if it was a person or however that may have happened. they're going to make sure that they have that all dialed in before they release a report.

>> with the investigation clearly underway. but is it? look, are you getting a sense, um, as cal fire there aspect of being involved in it is it's looking more or less like arson well, again, it's really early in the investigation. >> where we really want to focus right now is to understand that 95% of all fires are started by humans. but that's not all arson. it can be accidental. again, with the rock strike, it could be a vehicle dragging chains. it can also be just simply not realizing that, you know, they had some sort of combustible material in their grass. so, uh, it is important for the public to maintain their awareness and to help us not have any more fires. >> uh, chief david acuna, thank you for coming in. good luck today, sarah. >> all right. ahead. we're monitoring developments out of the middle east. both israel and hamas signaling they could be very close to securing a cease fire and hostage deal. and the faa investigating after two planes

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about this deal? look, and he's faced a lot of criticism over his handling of the u.s. role in this war. >> yes, sarah, but president biden has been working over the past 15 months to really try to find some type of resolution to this conflict and most importantly, getting those hostages back home to their families. yesterday, the president saying in remarks at the state department that he does believe that they may be on the brink of doing just that. u.s. officials in the last 24 hours have really spoken in much more optimistic tones than they have in recent months about the prospect for getting this cease fire and hostage release deal across the finish line. here is how president biden characterized where he sees this deal leading. if it does finally get approved. >> we're pressing hard to close this. the deal we have in structure would free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to israel, and allow us to significantly surge

humanitarian assistance to the palestinians who have suffered terribly in this war that hamas started. they've been through hell. >> now, president-elect donald trump has also said that he believes the deal could potentially be finalized by the end of the week. he said that there has been a handshake and they're trying to get to an agreement on that. of course, president-elect trump has warned that there would be all hell to pay if these hostages weren't released before his inauguration. now, there has been very close coordination between the biden white house and the incoming trump team. biden and trump actually in their oval office meeting back in november, talked about the need to compromise to try to reach some type of agreement to secure the release of these hostages and have at least a temporary cease fire. the president's middle east envoy, brett mcgurk, has been working with trump's incoming middle east envoy, steve witkoff, to really try to iron out some of

the sticking points in these negotiations, as both men are quite eager to try to have some type of deal in the coming week for president biden. he has really spent these final months of his presidency very laser focused on trying to reach this agreement. this is something that he would like to see come to an end before his time in office. and so now the u.s. officials are working around the clock to try to get each side to an agreement, as they are hoping that there will be some good news for families very soon. >> all right. arlette saenz, thank you so much. we should mention of the 94 hostages that are still there in israel, they're talking about 33 who will be released if this deal gets done. all right. over to you, kate. >> coming up for us, pete hegseth the man up for one of the most important jobs in federal government is about to face hours of questions by senators. and what could be a make or break moment for his nomination to lead trump's pentagon. so what he's

expected now to tell senators who questioned his qualifications to be the next defense secretary. >> trump's cabinet picks. the candidates you've heard about for months go before the senate. who will get the votes? >> i think we have great people. >> follow the trump confirmation hearings. follow the facts, follow cnn. >> want a next level clean swish with the whoa of listerine? it kills 99.9% of bad breath germs for five times more cleaning power than brushing and flossing alone. get a next level clean. with listerine. feel the whoa! >> i didn't do this for the lights or the fame. i did it to pay it forward to the next generation of athletes and pass on the support my family gave me. i believe in sofi because they give the same support to millions of members helping them bank, borrow and invest for their future. because for most people, it's not about the lights or the fame, it's about their ambitions. sofi,

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say, did not talk to the right people. anyway, let's get right to cnn's lauren fox, who is just outside the hearing room on capitol hill. good morning. lauren good morning john. >> we expect that pete hegseth donald trump's pick to lead the pentagon could arrive on capitol hill at any moment. obviously, we are just about an hour away from this hearing beginning, and you can expect that hegseth is going to face a series of tough questions. we know from democrats, perhaps even from some republicans, about his past, including that alleged sexual assault that you just referred to, as well as allegations that he mismanaged a veterans organization that he ran. now, hegseth has denied these allegations, and he was never charged with sexual assault. but we are also going to be watching really closely for how he defines what exactly he would change about the culture of the pentagon. and we did get an early peek at his opening statement. here's what he said. he said, quote, the standard issue secdef have

degraded our readiness, our lethality and our ability to win wars. there has never been a singular focus on the warfighter, and that's why we are losing wars and deterrence capabilities. now, as you noted, we can expect that democrats are going to be asking tough questions about hegseth past, but also asking questions about what was and was not in an fbi background check. now, just sndocol othe senate armed services committee. is that just the chair and the ranking member receive a briefing on the fbi background investigation? so a lot of democrats have not been able to review this report in full themselves. that is standard protocol. but there are still democrats who are asking questions about what was and was not in the report. we do know that the top democrat on this committee, jack reed, met with his members last night to discuss what was in and what was not in this report. so expect that there's going to be questions about the information that democrats have

access to, as well as questions about hegseth past. john. >> all right. lauren fox manning the hallways there. we know you will get pete hegseth the minute he walks in there. also, the other key players, thank you so much for being with us this morning, sarah. >> all right. now to the fire danger in southern california exploding once again as winds may hit near hurricane force. already a new fire has erupted. firefighters battling a fire now in ventura county. just one of the areas under the highest fire threat. red flag warnings have been expanded because of just how strong the winds are expected to be. the danger of more fire outbreaks remains, and the winds could potentially undo the progress that firefighters have made in trying to contain the palisades fire and the fire in altadena. joining me now is california congresswoman sidney dove. thank you so much for joining us. as you watch what is happening in southern california, and i know that you've been there, you have seen firsthand the enormity of the damage in altadena. when you look at at the damage and

the vastness of it, how long do you predict it may take to rebuild? are we talking years? not months? >> we are talking years. the tour i had in altadena i saw pure and utter devastation. and we have short term and long term needs, right? we certainly need to get out the facts of what's going on. hydrants were not turned off. we have enough water, but there is no system in the world that is prepared for typhoon winds and 0% humidity. you know, these santa ana winds are super highways for these embers. so we have to contain that and we have to get into reconstruction, and we have to manage a health care crisis that we're seeing across l.a. county because of these fires. >> you're talking about the acrid smoke that people are having to deal with, never mind some of the environmental impacts this has had. i do want

to ask you about what we heard from house speaker mike johnson. he said there should probably be and this is his quote, probably be conditions on federal aid to california saying, and i'm quoting here, it appears to us that state and local leaders were derelict in their duty in many respects. how do you respond to johnson? >> well, i hope that he and his fellow republicans understand that climate change is real, and we have seen natural disasters like this. of course, this is unprecedented in states across this country florida, texas, north carolina, hawaii. if you recall, republicans tried to kill the disaster supplemental that we were finally able to pass before the end of the year to actually help those states continue with their recovery. so now he wants to condition aid. i'm really tired of folks hating on california. we are the underdog right now, and we need leadership, and we need a

unified desire to support us. i've been working with republicans and democrats from california on how we can make sure that we get the disaster support that we need. >> you talked about this, but are you worried that when donald trump does take office, he will punish california for political reasons and hurt its ability to get aid? judging from what you're hearing from johnson, who says he's going to be speaking to his colleagues about putting these conditions potentially in place. >> well, i know that the governor and the mayor of los angeles have reached out to president elect trump and have invited him to survey the damage. i am also asking speaker johnson and some of his republican colleagues to come to altadena with us to see what is happening. we need a full scale, all hands on deck approach to how we are going to help california recover. >> california state law says during a state of emergency, insurance companies cannot cancel policies for a year in the fire hit areas and

the surrounding areas. the surrounding zip codes near the fire damage. but there is an insurance crisis already in your state with with companies pulling out or failing to write new policies. are you working towards finding a solution for an issue that is only going to probably get worse for californians? >> oh, absolutely. first, we have to contain these fires. then i do agree. we need to find out the facts. a full scale investigation on what went wrong. i and the cbc, the congressional black caucus, for example, are curious about who decided to sacrifice altadena, a historically black community in the l.a. county area. we have got to look at federally backing our insurance industry. there is no reason why only 2/5 of the folks who had their houses burned down were insured, and why companies are leaving california in droves, as well as other disaster prone states. and we have to beef up fema 24,000 applications have already come into fema, and we

know that more are going to be coming. so how are we making sure that we are expediting this relief that need to get to families? >> congresswoman, did you just say sacrifice? altadena i mean, are you suggesting that this was done somehow on purpose to hurt altadena? there are a lot of conspiracies out there. we heard something similar from mel gibson questioning whether the fires were purposely set. is that what you. is that what you mean? >> i am not suggesting arson. there are some initial investigations about if there was an electrical fire that started this in a tower. but what we do know is that power was shut off in altadena. what we do know is that residents were not given adequate time to leave their homes. i've been talking to residents who lost everything in altadena. some of them were only able to leave with the bathrobe that they had on. i talked to someone, she said. when she was finally able to come home, she saw the bones of four of her kids huddled up together, dead because she was

not able to get the time that she needed to leave, and the power had been shut off and water had been delayed in getting to the residents of altadena. so we do want to know what happened in the city of altadena. >> yeah, congresswoman, the power was shut off according to the officials that we spoke with, because they were worried it was going to create more fire danger. and that is why the pumps weren't working to get the water into the hydrants. so there's a lot of things to look into there. but you're not suggesting that this was somehow some conspiratorial thing to to try to hurt altadena. correct. >> oh, absolutely. i'm not. but what i am suggesting is that when we look at reconstruction, how do we do it using an equity lens? and also how do we make sure that we are allowing families to go back and build their homes without losing the character and the essence of that particular city? i am deeply concerned about that. and i do feel that working class families and communities

like altadena get a second look. >> congresswoman sidney dove, thank you so much. i know that's a concern of the residents as well. appreciate it john. >> all right. the show will go on. but because of the fire disaster, hollywood is making changes to the annual round of award shows and a close call after two passenger planes came within feet of having a mid-air collision kobe believed in himself at the youngest possible age. >> age? >> it's one of the most remarkable stories in sports history. >> i don't want to be remembered as just a basketball player. >> kobe premieres january 25th on cnn. >> it's a good day to cough. oh, no. >> bye bye cough. >> chest congestion. hello, 12 hours of relief. 12 hours. >> not coughing at the movies. still not coughing. >> mucinex dm 12 hour. doesn't just quiet

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2023. new this morning, special counsel david weiss, who led the criminal investigation that resulted in hunter biden's convictions on gun charges and tax crimes, slammed president biden and his just released final report. weiss said that the president's accusations that his son's prosecution was, quote, unfair and tainted by politics were gratuitous and wrong. he defended the probe as fair and impartial. of course, president biden issued a blanket pardon for his son last month. a new close call between a united airlines flight and a delta flight in the skies over phoenix. the faa confirmed the incident is under investigation. data from flight radar shows the two planes were only 425ft apart at their closest point. both planes landed safely. so a man who won a record breaking $2 billion powerball jackpot has lost at least one of his homes in the los angeles wildfires. property records show edward castro bought three houses after california in california after his win in

2023. the one he bought in malibu was destroyed by the pacific palisades fire. >> kate. and that wildfire disaster is still unfolding in southern california. it's also happening just as hollywood's award season was getting underway, the golden globes just happened. the critics choice awards got postponed, and now there is word that both the grammys and oscars will go on, though now, with some big changes. given the tragedy that has hit so many communities in and around los angeles. jimmy kimmel live! it returned to tv last night for the first time. after a pause. and kimmel's emotional monologue at the start, really reflecting how far and wide the impact of these fires are reaching. >> i speak for all of us when i say it has been a sickening, of ways, a beautiful experience. because once again, we we see our fellow men and women coming

together to support each other, people who lost their own homes were out volunteering in parking lots, helping others who lost theirs cnn's elizabeth wagmeister has much more on all of this. >> elizabeth, good morning. >> good morning kate. so as jimmy kimmel said, everyone in l.a. has really been impacted by this. i am born and raised in l.a. and it has been an incredibly tough time. but now the entertainment industry is making some tough decisions. but really stepping up the oscars and the grammys will go on. but with some big changes. both shows are going to be putting a focus on the first responders and those who have lost so much. both of these award shows are going to have charitable elements involved to raise funds for those who are suffering right now and who have lost their homes now, there are still a lot of steps to be taken and people are scrambling behind the scenes to determine what

exactly this will look like. but look, kate, a lot of people are going to say, why go on with these award shows? nobody wants to see celebrities collecting awards right now. these are glitzy events, but i want to share a different perspective. if you think about who you have in these rooms, you have the most powerful people with the biggest megaphone, and you have a national broadcast. and to be able to share a message of unity again, to put the spotlight on the first responders, to hopefully raise an incredible amount of funds to help these people. why wouldn't you want to take that opportunity? and the other point that i want to make is the entertainment industry has been suffering from covid to the strikes. all of these shutdowns, 99% of workers in hollywood live paycheck to paycheck, and they depend on gigs like these award shows, from the caterers to the florist to the security guards. so this also provides an incredible amount of work. kate.