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for. >> the pit. >> streaming exclusively on max today on inside politics, hope mixed with trepidation. >> we're tracking new concerns about the state of the israel hamas deal to pause the war in gaza and free some of the hostages. kidnaped on october 7th, as israel accuses hamas of, quote, attempting to extort last minute concessions. plus, a brand new cnn poll debuts this hour, revealing how americans are feeling about season two of the trump presidency, which debuts just four days from now. and a parting shot president biden is warning about the rise of an oligarchy in america, as his predecessor and successor surrounds himself with a team of billionaires. i'm dana bash. let's go behind the headlines and inside politics. we start with a last minute

bump, maybe an obstacle in the middle east. israel is delaying a cabinet vote on the cease fire hostage deal, claiming hamas is reneging on parts of the agreement. secretary of state antony blinken addressed the precarious situation just moments ago. >> it's not exactly surprising that in. a process, in a negotiation that has been this challenging and this fraught, um, you may get a loose end. uh, we're tying up that loose end as we speak. i've been on the phone in one way or another all morning with brett mcgurk, with our qatari friends. and i'm very confident that we this this is moving forward. and we'll see the start of implementation of the agreement on sunday. >> cnn's alex marquardt joins me now. so you just heard the secretary of state. he feels confident that they're going to tie up these loose ends in large part depends on the to use the word that that tony

blinken used. precarious situation, not just across hamas and the israeli government, but inside bibi netanyahu's government. >> yeah, i think certainly the u.s. and the other mediators would have liked to have seen this buttoned up. i mean, they all announced this cease fire yesterday. what we're hearing from top white house officials today is not necessarily concern, but really more confidence that this will go into effect starting on sunday. they say that this is implementation that details that that need to be ironed out. dana, and i really think this goes to the heart of how complicated this really is. there are so many moving parts here. we have 33 hostages due to come out over 42 days. i was told by a u.s. official earlier today that the first group of hostages is expected to be three women coming out on sunday. but again, there are other parts to this. there are the palestinian prisoners who are going to be released from israeli prisons. who are they? how many are they? where do they go? there's a question of

humanitarian aid going in. there are questions about where the idf withdraws to inside of gaza. so there's there are clearly some things that still need to be ironed out. this really does speak to the complexity of all of this. but again, confidence from the u.s. side that this is going to go into effect. dana, you and i have been talking about the questions about who's taking credit for this, both the biden administration and the incoming trump administration. what i think everybody agrees on is that this was an extraordinary collaboration between the two teams. after president trump was elected, he designated his middle east envoy, steve witkoff, to work with the biden point man, brett mcgurk. and together they've been traveling to the region. they've been in doha for the past few days. they've had joint meetings. we know that the two men are still out there, and you can imagine that there are still very much working on this. this was the biden framework that was put forward by president biden eight months ago, but his team was not able to get it across the finish line. a lot has happened in those past eight months that has put a lot more pressure on both hamas and on

israel. but but dana, without a doubt, the election of donald trump. significant element to this. it put a new time frame on this for the biden administration. president trump will inherit this on day one. it will be on him to oversee this. and that's when the phase one that is going into effect is arguably less difficult than phase two, which needs to be negotiated in the coming weeks. >> dana, thank you so much for that reporting. i can tell you that as you were speaking, our colleague jeremy diamond in israel was reporting in to us that there has now been a cabinet meeting rescheduled in israel for tomorrow morning and that the israeli prime minister, netanyahu, has said that he would not schedule such a cabinet meeting if he didn't feel comfortable and confident that this deal would pass, so that, as you said, this is happening very, very quickly. and it is, of course, on a knife's edge. appreciate it. alex, thank you so much. now i want to go to the top democrat on the

house intelligence committee, congressman jim himes, thank you so much for being here. i want to, of course, start with this cease fire and hostage deal. it sounds like it's back on track in israel. what are you hearing from people that you're talking to? and how confident are you at this time that at least phase one will get done, and that the bombs will stop flying, and that some hostages will start coming home on sunday? >> yeah. >> well, dan, i think you covered it. well, we don't have any particular insight into the israeli politics of this. and that, of course, iry, very important. but i will tell you that there is strong bipartisan support and hope in this building for this deal to get done. i mean, if we could a week from now see the hostages returned to their families and see a real flow of humanitarian aid into gaza that would alleviate the horrible situation there, that would be just a massive win. so again, i'm not sure we've got a ton of insight into the politics

that the prime minister has, which are very serious. he's got some real extremists in his cabinet, but there is a great deal of hope here in the congress that this will get done very, very soon. >> now it will largely be up to donald trump to implement this multi-phased deal. his mideast negotiator worked with the biden administration, with all sides acknowledged and applauded. do you have confidence that come monday at noon, when donald trump raises his right hand again, that his administration will keep the focus on this? >> yeah, i you know, again, hard to say. hard to predict donald trump, especially for a congressional democrat. but i will tell you, he obviously feels some sense of ownership over this deal. and i do think that the deal was facilitated by his, whatever it was, a tweet or a truth social in which he said, all hell will break loose if this isn't solved. i think that the prime minister of israel probably heard that loud and clear and

thought, i don't necessarily want to start this relationship in a bad way. so i do think that donald trump probably feels some personal ownership of this deal, which means that i think he's going to probably try to oppose those things which might scotch the deal, but take us out sort of two months, two weeks, you know, well beyond the inauguration what we know about donald trump from his first term, of course, is that he basically always said yes to the israelis. yes, let's move the embassy to jerusalem. let's allow the israelis to annex the golan heights. so if i were, i guess, on the palestinian side of this or on the arab side of this, i would say, look, i'm happy about this deal. but what happens two months, three months, four months down the road with respect to whose side the president is going to be on, on this? >> well, i think president elect is making it pretty clear that he's not on the side of the terrorist group hamas, and that he is on the side of, first and foremost, just getting this done before he takes

office. but but in fairness, he's on the side that you're on and president biden is on, which is trying to find a solution. and perhaps, i don't know, he feels like he provided the stick while joe biden provided the carrot to all sides. >> i do want to i think it's i think that's right. and when i say side, i don't mean, are you on hamas side or israel's side? i mean, are you really committed to this deal, to building on this deal? right. and if you're building on this deal, you're doing some hard things, right, because you're probably pressing the israelis not to do some of the things that they're doing in the west bank. you're probably pressing the prime minister and others to say, hey, what's the plan other than a two state solution? right? i understand a two state solution is sort of toxic in israel right now, and we understand why it is. but i guess what i'm saying is, is the president going to just take this win and put it to bed, or can you build on it to make sure that what happened on october 7th and subsequently doesn't ever happen again? >> sounds like a two state solution needs some rebranding. uh, let's turn to some internal

politics, which are very consequential in the committee on which you serve, and that you are the top democrat, and that is the intelligence committee. the chairman, mike turner, was removed. and you work with her with him. forgive me. uh, you work with him in a pretty bipartisan way, as has been the tradition until recent years. you kind of restated that on this committee. what is your reaction to speaker johnson's move? >> yeah, i mean, i was i was actually happened to have been standing right here when i got the news. and i tell you, i felt almost exactly the way i felt when i got the news that president trump had fired jim comey. now, whatever you think about jim comey said, jim comey aside, there's that famous moment in the white house after a dinner when the president says to jim comey, fbi director, can i count on your loyalty? and jim comey says, well, you can count on me to execute the law and to stand with the constitution. no. can i count on your loyalty? and in a tribute to mike, i know mike

very well. we've built a real friendship. mike is a guy, you know. he's an old school kind of reagan hawk conservative, and he takes very seriously the notion that his loyalty is to the constitution. his loyalty is to his constituents, and his loyalty is also to the national security of the united states. that guy, mike turner, has forgotten more about nuclear strategy than i will ever know. but the point is that, you know, a guy with those divided loyalties to the constitution, to his constituents, to national security just wasn't going to cut it any more than jim comey cut it when he hedged about whether the loyalty was 100% pure. >> so are you suggesting that he was asked to be disloyal on issues regarding national security and intelligence? and he said, i won't do it. can you sort of flesh out what you're suggesting there? no, i don't think. >> i don't think there was a litmus test for mike. i don't think that they put a list of things in front of him. but, you know, mike has always demonstrated some independence.

he did not. he voted to certify the election of joe biden. mike took a lot of blows inside his own conference here on the hill when he pushed adamantly for ukraine aid, when he pushed adamantly for 702 reauthorization, the fisa surveillance thing at the time. now, by the way, all of the president elect's people are now, you know, behind the fisa 702 thing. but at the time, that was a position contrary to donald trump. so, no, this is not a situation where there is a list presented. but mike has a reputation here, and i have no question that it is also true in mar-a-lago of being independent and thoughtful and not the kind of guy who is going to be 120% loyal to the person that he's supposed to be overseeing the executive and the president of the united states. >> the house speaker, mike johnson, repeated again just about an hour ago his insistence that the president elect, donald trump, was not involved in this decision. do you buy it? >> um, you know, it's funny. i've been thinking about that because i read those reports.

now, mike turner has a different view. he, as he has said publicly, thinks that this was driven by mar-a-lago. here's what i can tell you, dana. i'm not sure that there's a real line there. and what i mean by that is that the house freedom caucus and 60 or 70 of the republican congresspeople in this institution do what donald trump demands of them. and so whether the order came down from donald trump or mar-a-lago or whatever, you know, the 60 or 70 members of of the republican conference would, i think, sense that mike turner was not 100%, you know, willing to be utterly loyal to the new president and probably push this. so i guess the point i'm saying is that absolutely, the call may have come from inside the house, but i'm not sure that there's a huge difference between inside the house and mar-a-lago. just real quick, there's a reporting that rick crawford of arkansas will be named chair. >> is he somebody you could work with as the top democrat? >> so i know in like rick crawford. and, you know, my job

is to do my job. and so regardless of who the chair is, i will be committed to robust oversight. and i hope i would hope that rick crawford would understand that constitutionally, that's what we do here and that he would be a partner in that. but if he's not a partner in that, i'm still going to do what i need to do. >> congressman jim himes, thank you so much for joining me, i appreciate it. >> thank you, dana. >> and coming up, president elect trump will take the oath of office in four days. we have some brand new cnn polling on how he is entering the white house. the perception of him in america. >> this part changed my life. >> superman. crazy. just that simple little thing over the horse. >> chris wanted to change the world. >> people are literally walking because of him. >> superman. the christopher reeve story. february 2nd on cnn. >> your life is pretty smart, but when it's time to eat, suddenly you feel out of sync.

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hungry? is that a thing? that should be a thing. find your fresh with the all new 6.99 meal of the day at subway. >> i'm nick watt in pacific palisades, california, and this is cnn. >> we are 96 hours away, 95 hours and 42 minutes to be exact, from donald trump taking the oath of office on the steps of the u.s. capitol. now, how are the american people feeling about his return and the incoming administration's policies? well, we have brand new reporting. and who else to break it down but our very own. david chalian, what's the data telling you? >> first of all, dan, i appreciate you being exact with the numbers of how many hours and minutes we have until the inauguration. as a numbers guy here, take a look at the approval rating the american people have for donald trump's handling of his transition. 55% a majority of americans approve of the way trump has handled his transition so far. 45%

disapprove. that's a significantly better number than he had eight years ago. heading into his first term, only 40% of americans had approved of his handling of the transition at that point eight years ago. he is entering into this second term basically as popular as really he's ever been. take a look at his favorability. your basic test of popularity. he's at 46% favorable in our poll that is just out conducted by ssrs. and let me just explain. you see, a year ago, 39% favorable, 32% of americans had a favorable opinion of him two years ago. and right when he was leaving office on the heels of january 6th, of course, he was at 33% favorable. he's now up at 46%. numerically, that's the highest favorability we've had for donald trump since he became president eight years ago. >> so, david, that's about how people feel about donald trump as a person. show us how they feel about the issues facing the country. >> well, i don't think this

will surprise you, but the economy is far and away the most important issue facing the country, according to respondents in our poll, 44% say so, 18% say immigration. these are the two issues that we saw throughout the campaign that trump ran on and delivered him the white house for a second time, but it also means these are the things the american people are going to measure him by, largely americans down in our new poll show they're taking donald trump at his word. most americans believe he's going to do what he said he's going to do implement tariffs. 80% believe he'll do that. 74% say he'll carry out mass deportations, closing the us-mexico border. 58% you see here most americans are indeed taking him at his word. and i think this is fascinating. will the country be better off four years from now? so overall, in our poll, 52% of americans say yes, a majority say yes. america will be better off four years from now. and remember, this is a country that has been largely sour on america's

standing of late. and look at it broken down by party. 89% of republicans, 47% of independents think so. but even a fifth of democrats say that the country will be better four years from now than it is today. dana, that's really interesting. >> david, thank you so much for bringing that to us. we have some terrific reporters to talk about all of this and much, much more. cnn's kayla tausche and the new york times, zolan kanno-youngs. and i'm talking very slowly because i'm trying to let david get to the table. here he comes. david, while you're sitting down, i want to talk to you both about the fact that donald trump is as popular as he's ever been, as david just showed us with the numbers, which certainly is a good thing for anybody. but it also brings with it a set of expectations in addition to some political capital. >> that's right. >> and i thought you made a good point there in noting the

raise, the high expectations here and how that is a difference from the last time trump came into office with low approval ratings this time around. you know, he has made these ambitious proposals, promises on immigration, on the economy. we've also seen in recent weeks, according to some of my reporting, some hedging. you know, recently, uh, you know, tom homan stephen miller meeting with republicans and talking about funding that will be needed for some of these ambitious immigration proposals. just a couple of weeks ago, the president also said in an interview that there would be no price tag for this. there will be. and, you know, he also said in an interview, by the way, setting expectations on the economy, saying, you know, it's tough to bring prices down. >> he understands what the expectations are. >> that's right. when he was asked about tariffs as well. so you're going to last time he was in office he also had these big promises and at times struggled to get congress to give him everything he wanted. yes, he will have executive actions and be able to possibly they've considered

declaring a national emergency to move funding around. but there's going to be a process here. and now you've got these high expectations. >> we talked a lot during the campaign about how a lot of voters memory hold some of the parts of the trump administration they didn't like, notably the pandemic. but i think it's worth remembering that when he left office, his approval rating was actually lower than biden's. it was 34%. after four years in office. and there's this view that simply taking office depresses your approval rating just because there is general discontent about the economy, about immigration, and whoever is in that executive seat is the one who takes the blame. i mean, certainly biden's own team points to keir starmer in the uk, and they say he was overwhelmingly elected. and then his approval rating was cut in half within weeks of taking office, that there's just this discontent that is so pervasive that once you take office, people don't like you. but it's unclear whether that phenomenon is going to play out here. >> anti-incumbent fervor is strong right now globally. >> it is. >> there's no doubt about that. but even prior pre-covid,

donald trump experienced, even though he wasn't as high as previous presidents entering office as we just showed, he experienced nothing but sort of dimunition of support over his time in office. i remember we would ask every day in the first trump administration, what's he doing to broaden his support, to add to his standing with the american people? and it was very little. he also, like joe biden, has, like other predecessors, experienced what that decline in support is from the american people over time. and then, of course, covid amplified that. the question i have. so he's a little bit higher now than he was. what does he do this time to grow from here, rather than follow this pattern of just seeing diminished support? or does he or does he? >> we've already seen some of his cabinet nominees try to moderate some of those positions, because they know that they're going to have to moderate those expectations. >> exactly. we'll talk about that in a little bit. i do want to get to something that was revealed earlier today, and that is donald trump's official portrait. his official photo that he will use in his second

presidency. second term in 2025. that's it. um, i want to talk about that. but particularly as it compares to what it looked like in 2017. um, very different. i know you've been looking at this zolan, and it might seem like, okay, why are they focusing on a picture? well, because he's trying to send a message. there was a smile that you don't normally see in 2017. it was sort of like, oh, my gosh, what did i get myself into? and then the second one, the one that is going to be used now is very different. and it also kind of looks s right. i mean, this is i mean one it looks familiar to a mug shot. that's what i mean. >> also the trump campaign, that's what i was setting you up for effectively. >> right. right, right. hopefully i managed to grab that. yes. you did. yes. slam dunk. but look, this i mean, during the campaign, that mug shot was key to trump's

strategy here. um, immediately after the mug shot was taken, it was on merchandise. he used it to fundraise as well in a way, that photo there is a visual representation of trump's strategy, which is stoking anger. and by the way, last time around, in 2017, to trump would often tell his aides he didn't want to show weakness, didn't want to smile in any photo as well. >> let's put that back up. 2025 the current picture. and david, i want you to weigh in. >> well, it is clearly when you compare it to the 2017 pictures you did. this is choosing to be a picture of strength, defiance that when he said, i am going to be your retribution, does that not look like somebody who is standing, that he's not a big smiler? we don't see him smile much a ton. this feels much more in character. the 2025 one than the 2017 one of how he presented himself on the trail. this also seems much more like a president who's coming in girding for a fight.

>> it also seems much less authentic in the sense that the one on the left from 2017 looks like it was shot on iphone, and the one on the right looks like, you know, perhaps there were some inputs and entered into chatgpt. and i only say that because when the trump/vance transition put out these portraits, there was no photo credit. yeah. and there hasn't been any photo credit. >> oh that's interesting. well, maybe it's the guy at the courthouse, but it does have very good lighting coming up. there are four cabinet hearings happening right now on capitol hill. and so far, nearly all of president-elect trump's picks look like they are on a glide path to confirmation. or are they? stand by. >> kobe, the making of a legend. premieres january 25th on cnn. >> for the times, when cooking just isn't in the cards. try brand new ready made meals from hellofresh. no prepping, no cooking. just heat up and dig in to delicious

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one 800 712 3800. >> it's been great to watch nhl on tnt. >> you guys got a pretty good group there wayne gretzky. he's the goat. this keeps it light up there edison carter. he's definitely the grinder of the group. hank's a man. rocket always looks dapper. they're all a bunch of beauties. >> watch nhl on tnt and stream on max wednesdays right now. >> confirmation hearings are continuing for key trump cabinet picks. among them is scott bessent, the president elect's nominee to lead the treasury department. the billionaire hedge fund manager is facing scrutiny from the senate finance committee, as he just made this glaring declaration about extending donald trump's 2017 tax cuts. >> this is the single most important economic issue of the day. this is pass fail that if we do not the fix these tax cuts, if we do not renew and extend, then we will be facing an

economic calamity. and as always, with financial instability that falls on the middle and working class people, we will see a gigantic middle class tax increase. credit capped. we will see the deductions halved. >> my panel is back. kayla, what do you make of the messaging there? >> well, he knows who his audience is. it's not only the senate finance committee, but it's also the president elect who has made it very clear that extending his 2017 tax cuts is his biggest priority. yes, he cares very deeply about trade and rightsizing some of those trade balances or imbalances as he sees them. but the whole reason why he's been pushing for this one big, beautiful bill is because there is worry that if they do two bills where the first one tackles immigration and defense spending and some energy issues, that perhaps they'll waste valuable political capital and won't have time to

get to the tax issue at hand. now, it's not necessarily that they won't have time because the tax cuts do expire, many of them at the end of this year. so they will have to deal with it one way or another. but whether they are able to do that on a bipartisan basis, by perhaps raising the cap on state and local tax deductions, still remains to be seen. but he knows that trump very much wants this done. this is a non-negotiable. and so he's trying to raise the stakes for all the members of the senate. >> and just going back to what you showed us, which, again, we know because we were all there in 2024. the economy is by far the biggest priority for for voters who supported him and even those who didn't. we've seen a lot of activity on the hill this week for the justice department. the attorney general, defense secretary, secretary of state. this is the first biggie on the top issue for the american people. >> exactly. which is why you here at the committee today,

and i'm sure we'll continue. democrats are seizing this moment to try and get their messaging in a better place than they thought it was in the 24 campaign on the economy. they think, as they found in 2017, being opposed to these trump tax cuts was a successful messaging effort for them in the 18 midterms. they argued to the american people that they were skewed much more to the wealthy. i think that's why exactly you heard best not, you know, trying to reframe what certain things would not exist if the tax cuts are not renewed. they're on the more popular policy proposals broadly than on, of course, the tax cuts that went to the wealthy. so democrats are seizing on this moment that he's before them in the spotlight to try and get a better footing on economic messaging that they clearly know they lost to trump in the campaign, which was obviously a glaring weakness during the campaign. >> i also thought it was interesting that even scott bessent is being asked right now about whether or not he will respect the independence of the fed as well. and this

has been a through line, you know, throughout these hearings, each of these picks getting pressed on. will you respect the independence of these institutions that you will be working with? and how does that also collide with the loyalty test that many of these picks have been put through at mar-a-lago, when trump was considering them as well? yeah. >> and you mentioned some of the other nominees who we've seen this week. let's just listen to several of them who were making comments along those lines. >> the first and most important thing we could have done is elect donald trump as the new commander in chief, because past is prolog. our warfighters understand what kind of commander in chief they're going to get in president donald trump, someone who stands behind them, someone who gives them clear missions, someone who ends wars decisively. >> i will fight every day to restore confidence and integrity to the department of justice and each of its

components the partisanship, the weaponization will be gone. >> i think the president's been abundantly clear, and that is his policy is going to be driven about making america safer, stronger and more prosperous. >> now, apart from maybe that last one, i just want to say that we played them because generally speaking, of course, you hear nominees of incoming presidents or presidents say that they will support the president's policies. we don't usually hear the nominee's intentionally use the political language and branding that the president likes to use in order to communicate with his base, and that was intentional across these nominees hearings. >> yeah, it was intentional. and it was also, you know, they they answered these questions and sort of big picture format in few cases. was there a yes or a no answer because they know that that will essentially

pigeonhole them into what they are able to do or how they're able to maneuver if and when they get installed at each of these departments. >> okay, everybody stand by. because up next we're going to talk about a team of oligarchs. that's how president biden described the people who are gathering around donald trump, who will be part of his group of ultra wealthy supporters and advisers. he may have had team trump in mind. well, we know he had team trump in mind. and we're going to take a closer look at who these billionaires populating the incoming administration and the people who are supporting the administration. exactly. are. >> have i got news for you is back for a new season, whether you like it or not. >> are those the only two choices? >> yes. >> you like it or you don't? >> i'm on the fence. >> this is going to be a long season. >> have i got news for you returns february 15th on cnn. >> life. diabetes. there's no slowing down. each day is a

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>> lose weight and live healthy. check out what's new at nutrisystem, get new diets for high protein and low carb created to support your own weight loss approach. nutrisystem has a solution for you. >> in his final oval office address last night, president biden name checked former president dwight eisenhower as he delivered a warning reminiscent of eisenhower's call against call to action against a burgeoning military industrial complex today, an oligarchy is taking shape in america of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead. >> i'm equally concerned about the potential rise of a tech industrial complex that could pose real dangers for our country, as well. americans are being buried under an avalanche

of misinformation and disinformation, enabling the abuse of power. >> by smart. reporters are back with me. david chalian, what did you make of that? >> i thought the speech was really interesting because it wasn't the speech i anticipated that joe biden was going to give as a farewell address, because i suspected, after reading the few interviews that he's done or whatever, that he was going to really focus on trying to tie a bow on his legacy. and i was just surprised to hear him leave the country with a directive and a warning going forward that that's what he chose to lean into, rather than his own personal legacy. he did a little bit of that, obviously, but it just that moment of the speech, i think we all your ears perked up and you were like, this just has a a different approach to his goodbye. it was it was this to do list for the american people to take up the mantle of guarding against democracy. but beware of this thing

that he sees as a, you know, troubling warning that the country should be aware of. >> and he specifically made an analogy to the robber barons back in the day. and on that note, i just want to show our viewers some of the big tech leaders who are going to attend the trump inauguration, ceo of tiktok, elon musk, jeff bezos, mark zuckerberg, sam altman and and it goes on. and so if you kind of look at this list and we'll talk about who's going to be in his actual cabinet in a second. the point that president biden was trying to make is that he believes these people are the modern day robber barons. >> i saw his warning as an effort to directly call into question trump's appeals during the campaign to the working class, the claims of sort of populist appeal, and in an effort to

help middle class and working class americans. and instead, you had president biden, as he leaves office, make the argument that actually, the president elect is surrounding himself around a concentration of wealth that seeks to use power to benefit themselves. that's what i saw. the argument of yesterday in the speech, and an effort to put that into historical context and say that it's once again relevant in the present, i think. >> no, i think that's true. i think i think all things are true on this particular issue. to borrow elissa slotkin term, genuflecting. the other thing that president biden is saying, and everybody is seeing, is that these people who are the most wealthy people, if we can put it back up on the screen, not just in the country, among the most wealthy people in the world uh, have decided that donald trump is their guy, and that has played itself out, not just in the money that they're giving for the inauguration, but in the case of mark zuckerberg in particular, the big changes, the policy changes

and the messaging changes that he is aggressively, um, taken in the past week. >> well, it's hard to know how much of this is simply kowtowing to the incoming president. how much of this is them seeing the election results and realizing that the country is perhaps in a very different place than they believed it was through their own corporate policies just a few years ago. but what i find interesting about biden's warning on oligarchies and this concentration of wealth and power is that in speaking with some of his white house officials in the week since the election, not all of them necessarily agree. they actually believe that perhaps the white house should have done more to cultivate a relationship with elon musk, that perhaps biden's snub of musk at a 2021 event on electric vehicles, where he excluded tesla because tesla was not unionized, then just created so much bad blood between musk and the administration. despite marty walsh going to austin, a meeting with him at a factory that then there was essentially irreparable damage, the fights erupted on social media and now the white house. i spoke to one

official who actually compared it, that singular event to when president obama roasted trump at the 2013 white house correspondents dinner and said, you know, is this was that the event that catalyzed elon musk to go against our administration and side with the republicans for a quarter of $1 billion into the election, the same way that president obama's jokes essentially catalyzed him to run for president. >> that is such great reporting that trump is their guy. >> i think they're their own guy, and they think trump is the vehicle to serve their needs and interests, right? >> you said it in a much more articulate way than i did, and that was what i was trying to suggest. we didn't get to we're going to have a lot of time. the fact that those are, except for elon musk, who's sort of outside adjacent, even though he's going to have an office. the fact that frederica scouten did a great piece, which i encourage everybody to look at online, nearly a dozen people worth at least $1 billion are going to be in his cabinet and in his inner circle. there you see them. up next, we're going to have a

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by granger for the ones who get it done. >> i'm pete muntean at reagan national airport. >> this is cnn, who says democrats and republicans can't be friends amid all of the consequential, sometimes contentious cabinet confirmation hearings this week, you might have missed this. >> listen to this lighthearted exchange between democratic senator tammy duckworth and republican senator turned secretary of state nominee marco rubio. >> you just run for president, and i didn't think you would know who i was. >> i was pregnant with my daughter and trying to change senate rules so that i could bring her onto the floor so i could do my job and vote. i

heard tammy duckworth from across the senate chambers, and you came running down from the top back of the senate chambers to tell me i'm with you. i will support you. you have the right to vote, and i will support you being able to bring your daughter, your child onto the floor when she's born. and i want to thank you for that kindness. >> i think what i exactly said is what's the big deal? this place is already full of babies. >> speaking of babies, we have some breaking news introducing eleanor ricky gray, daughter of kristen holmes and noah gray. after a wild run on the campaign trail, eleanor arrived on january 14th, weighing in at 6 pounds, 11oz. her amazing mom deserves an extra shout out. kristen was just named cnn's senior white house correspondent after reporting from nearly every campaign rally. breaking news late into the night, early in the morning and delivering essential transition news, all while very pregnant. congratulations to kristen, to noah, and of

course, eleanor's proud big brother elliot. and just a special note for eleanor when you may or may not get into your teen years, i want you to know this. your mother is a badass. when you get into your teen years and may or may not understand that, noting it here. thank you so much for joining inside politics. cnn news central starts after the break. >> kobe believed in himself at the youngest possible 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. >> can support your brain health. >> mary. janet. >> hey, eddie. >> no. frasier. >> frank. >> frank. >> fred, how are you? >> fred. >> support up to seven brain health indicators, including memory. when you need to remember. remember. nariva. and are you ready for this? >> are you ready for this? are you ready for this new

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one 4000. >> on the verge of a vote, the israeli cabinet, now set to convene friday to approve the ceasefire and hostage release agreement with hamas. >> and we are following the latest, plus some respite for first responders as winds die down in southern california. but now firefighters are racing to take advantage before the next round of dangerous gusts. pick up and a southwest airlines pilot pulled from the cockpit minutes before takeoff. he's now in police custody and accused of driving under the influence. here, reaction from the stunned passengers on board. we're following these developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to cnn news central. breaking news this hour. the cease fire deal between israel and hamas appears to have

cleared a significant hurdle that had many on edge. earlier today. an israeli official telling us that prime minister benjamin netanyahu's cabinet is now set to vote on the agreement tomorrow. after today's vote was delayed after israel accused hamas of backtracking on parts of the deal, though netanyahu did not detail which parts. hamas had denied that earlier today. in his final news conference, secretary of state tony blinken expressed confidence that the deal would move forward. >> it's not exactly surprising that in. a process and a negotiation that has been this challenging and this fraught, um, you may get a loose end. uh, we're tying up that loose end as we speak. i'm very confident that we this this is moving forward, and we'll see the start of implementation of the agreement on sunday. >> with us now, cnn chief global affairs correspondent

matthew chance and cnn political and global affairs analyst barak ravid. matthew, i do want to start with you. tell us what you're learning. >> well, just that line that you just reported, brianna, that, you know, after some deliberation and some hesitation, it seems that the launch of this deal, which is a very complicated deal, is finally getting underway with the agreement that there will be a security cabinet meeting tomorrow, on friday in israel to to to vote, you know, for the the terms of that deal, after various obstacles had been overcome and those obstacles, you know, delayed the convening of that cabinet by, it seems, 24 hours. um, you know, there's been lots of objections raised by right wing parties inside the israeli government. the fragile coalition overseen by benjamin netanyahu, the israeli prime minister. they're concerned that ultimately, the war against hamas will be ended without hamas being destroyed. and with hamas remaining as the

day facto power inside the gaza strip. now, we don't know what deal, if any, has been done to ease those concerns amongst the right wing parties. but that's definitely still out there and was one of the obstacles that had to be overcome. the other issue on the palestinian side. i mean, this wasn't spelt out, but there has been, you know, kind of word over the past couple of days, there have been, um, you know, kind of, um, you know, names discussed negotiations about which palestinian prisoners should actually be released as part of the large scale palestinian prisoner releases from israeli jails that are sort of integral to the to this deal. you know, some figures have got blood on their hands. they've been convicted of murder of israelis. and so the release of those individuals is obviously very controversial. and israel has been resisting some of that. and the palestinian groups like hamas have been insisting on them. and so it seems at this stage that those hurdles have been overcome. but we'll wait to see whether that security cabinet actually convenes in, you know, in 24

hours from now or slightly less than that, brianna and barak, there's been some lurching and you have reported very well on this coming to a deal. >> then netanyahu saying that hamas is basically backtracking, but without specificity. and then appearing to figure things out. tell us about that process. >> i think that at least that's what i hear from people who are in doha, both americans and qataris and israelis. uh, you know, it was, you know, last minute, uh, attempts by each side to get, you know, something more, uh, especially on hamas's side to try to, you know, change some of the names of the prisoners and get some of its military leaders, senior military leaders that are in the israeli jails, to get them out in this phase of the deal. and the israelis saying you will not get them in this phase of the deal. israel has, according to the agreement, has some veto power

over some of the names that it can decide whether it wants to take them out of the list. uh, a certain number of names. but i think this was all, you know, last minute haggling at the end. this is not something that could have really, uh, exploded deal or anything like that. >> and barack, there is there has been considerable right wing dissent here from some of netanyahu's cabinet members. what happens to his governing coalition? what happens to netanyahu? is his power in jeopardy? >> um, i think this, uh, um, this deal, uh, is the biggest threat for netanyahu's coalition since the october 7th, uh, attack. uh, netanyahu managed to politically, survive, uh, the aftermath of the the immediate aftermath of the october 7th attack, when a lot of people thought that in a few weeks or in a few months, he'll have to resign. he did not. and he

survived politically until now. and now i think that's another big test for him. he has a majority in the cabinet. it's not it's not in question. the question is whether his ultra nationalist coalition partners, minister bezalel smotrich and minister itamar ben-gvir would say, we're not only voting against the deal, it is clear that they're going to vote against. but we are also leaving the coalition. if that happens, netanyahu loses his majority and he'll have to go to his political rivals in the opposition and say, you promised me a political safety net. now is the time to deliver. >> and of course, matthew, this is happening at a key transition point between the biden administration and the incoming trump administration. >> yeah, and i don't think that timing should be should be overlooked. i mean, it's vastly significant. i mean, biden has been trying to get, you know, a deal like this through for many months but has not been able to do so. the the trump factor, if

you like, is what i think has really sort of focused people's minds inside israel and amongst the other parties as well. and, and got this deal such as it is across the line. and, and part of the reason for that is that there is an anxiety on the part of many israeli officials. they want to maintain, uh, trump's support for the country, which has been very strong in the past, and certainly during his his first presidential presidential term. and because, you know, he's such an unpredictable figure or he's seen as such an unpredictable figure, that there's a concern that if he is not appeased or if he is in some way rebuffed, then that could have, you know, quite dramatic, significant consequences for his his attitude towards israel. and actually, we see that across the the sort of spectrum of international affairs with countries moving to appease trump even before he's got into office. so they don't sort of incur his wrath or his anger, as it were. once he's in the

hot seat in the oval office. >> and barak, tell us how this is going to start playing out, because it will begin with hostage. the hostage release on a limited scale, this weekend. >> yeah, i think so. first, there would be the vote. tomorrow it's going to pass. then the israeli government will publish the list of the names of the prisoners that are going to be released. in order for people to be able to appeal to the supreme court. and then on sunday, around noon local time, uh, the cease fire will begin. and the first, um, three hostages will be released. um, the first three hostages that will be released are expected to be, um, uh, three women, uh, civilians, not not soldiers. uh, and then it will take another week until four other, uh, women will come out of gaza, and then every seven

days, another 3 or 4 hostages, until on day 42, all the remaining hostages in the first tranche, which is which has 33 hostages in them, both those who are alive and both those who are deceased will be released so long that they have been in captivity, and that their families have been waiting for them and for answers. >> barak ravid, thank you so much, matthew chance. thank you, both of you, for your reporting. really appreciate it. and with us now we have cnn national security analyst and former deputy director of national intelligence, beth sanner. um, beth, does this look to you like this is going to proceed and play out as outlined in this deal? >> well, you know, you know, the crystal ball continues to be broken, but i think that the chances now are very, very good that we will get to sunday and see at least the first

exchange, the first release of these hostages. and so wonderful news there. but, you know, as we saw in november, you know, the month and a half or whatever, after the terrible october 7th events, it fell apart. and so, you know, we'll just have to see and it will be day by day. and there are lots of things, brianna, that can make this go sideways. >> yeah. and tell us a little bit about that. and we can't know all of them. but what are the things that you're looking for. >> some of the things that i think are good that have been put off, that make it more likely that it will hold, is that the negotiation for the second phase, which would be for the end of the hostilities, the complete war won't start until day 16. um, but that is not very far into the exchange, as barack explained. you know, we have 42

days. and so once those negotiations begin, that is the biggest sticking point. we're going to see, because you have, on the one hand, the only reason hamas agreed to this deal is because they want a complete end to the war, whereas netanyahu and his party and his allies do not until they have their war aims completed. and, you know, last week, 15 idf soldiers died in, um, in gaza. this war isn't over by that kind of expansive view that netanyahu and his allies have. and so we could see it break down around that point. >> once hostages are being released. yes, a few at a time each week. but by that point, you would have seen, i think we would expect a few releases. how much pressure will netanyahu and

those around him be under to continue in earnest with negotiations? >> right. so this is where president trump is so instrumental in whether this agreement will survive and be seen through, because president trump and his team want an end to the hostilities, they want phase two. and this is where he and many of netanyahu and his supporters may very well disagree. it's also why hamas agreed to this deal. they didn't agree to this deal, in my view, because of the threat of whatever he said. bombing gaza. they agreed because they believe that trump is the one. that's what the u.s. guarantee on this agreement is all about. we'll deliver the israelis to phase two. and so there's so much in this for president trump and what he wants to achieve in the region,

um, really broad goals of stability and an agreement between saudi arabia and israel, the abraham accords, all of that rests on getting to phase two. >> it feels like we're going minute by minute here, though. beth sanner, thank you so much. as we await here, momentous days ahead. thank you. ahead on cnn news central, president elect trump's picks for key cabinet positions are making their case on capitol hill. and we're following those pivotal hearings. and firefighters are making gains. but the battle against wildfires in california is far from over. we are on the scene. there. plus, nobody likes flight delays. now, the department of transportation is actually suing southwest over them. stay with cnn news central. we'll be right back. >> erin burnett out front tonight at

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feel the whoa. >> it is day three of senate confirmation hearings, and right now, four of president-elect trump's nominees are in that hot seat. you've got former congressman lee zeldin, who has been picked to lead the environmental protection agency, although he has a lengthy record of voting against legislation to protect the environment. and in a key moment this morning, zeldin broke from the president elect and said, unlike trump, he does not believe that climate change is a hoax. there's also trump's pick to lead the department of the treasury. billionaire hedge fund manager scott bessent so far has defended trump's economic policies, including proposed tariffs, and said that he disagreed with analysts who say they'll be paid for by workers and small businesses. and then there is secretary of the interior nominee, doug burgum. he praised trump's energy dominance agenda, claiming that boosting energy production at home will help end

wars abroad. cnn chief congressional correspondent manu raju is with us more. he's been watching all of this carefully. tell us what you're hearing and how this is being received on the hill. manu. >> well, right now, republicans are confident that all of those nominees that you just mentioned, brianna, will be confirmed by the united states senate and even some of the more controversial nominees as well, could be confirmed, some as soon as next week. one of those, of course, pete hegseth. he had his confirmation hearing earlier this week to lead the defense department. he's the one who's been been criticized by democrats, particularly over allegations of personal misconduct, something that hegseth has denied. but in order to get confirmed by the u.s. senate, which is 5347, led by the gop, they need to ensure that they can keep all but three about four republicans on board, meaning they can lose three. if they lose four, that would be enough to scuttle the nomination. there's no sense that any of these would face that significant of opposition from republicans. and in a key sign for hegseth, i caught up with one republican senator who is seen by the leadership as a swing vote of sorts, a

freshman, john curtis, about his views on hegseth. and he indicated that he is on board these issues of personal misconduct for. pete hegseth. it seemed like that did not was not an overriding concern for you. is that fair? >> um, i had to balance right between, um, giving the president deference, giving my own standards. right. and what happened and what didn't happen. and i think it's fair to say, because of the length of the time of my decision, that i took all of those things into consideration, as you know, um, there was a lack of people willing to step forward to actually validate those. >> now, hegseth could be confirmed by the senate as soon as next week because the senate armed services committee could act on the nomination as soon as monday, the day that donald trump is sworn into office and the full senate could act later in the week. the question is, who else could be confirmed as soon as next week when trump

takes office? watch for marco rubio, the florida senator who has been chosen as secretary of state. he's someone, unlike hegseth, who has wide bipartisan support. there could be more than 90 republican and democratic senators voting for him, according to many democrats and republicans here in the chamber. so that is one that could move rather quickly. the other, more controversial nominees that are waiting in the wings, including robert f kennedy jr., to lead the health and human services department. tulsi gabbard to be the next director of national intelligence and kash patel to lead the fbi. none of those hearings have been set yet, but even though they have some controversy, brianna, there is still hope and expectation by top republicans here that ultimately the gop will fall in line and push these nominees through, even if some have concerns by some of the backgrounds of those nominations. >> brianna. yeah, the convincing campaigns do a lot with some of these ads being run against them. if they don't get in line, it's very real pressure they're facing. manu raju, thank you so much for that report from the hill.

right now, some of pam bondi closest allies and former colleagues are on capitol hill. they're making the case for why she should be confirmed as trump's attorney general. as democrats are raising concerns about some of her testimony yesterday, including including refusing to say outright that trump lost the 2020 election, claiming that there was a peaceful transition of power despite the january 6th attack on the capitol, which delayed certification of the results of the election. with us now is former attorney general under president george w bush, alberto gonzales. he's also the dean of the belmont university college of law. thank you so much for being with us. i just wonder what you thought of her testimony yesterday as you were watching. >> well, you know, having been in that chair, i know that the prep that goes into it, typically you don't get a single question that is asked that hasn't been discussed in prep. >> and oftentimes republican senators in this particular

case will share questions in advance. even some democratic senators will share questions in advance so that the nominee cannot say, well, i need to go back and look at this issue. so she was very well prepared. um, all indications to me are that that she will be confirmed, that will be sufficient support to confirm her as attorney general. she's very well qualified by virtue of her experience as attorney general. there were some things that were disappointing. um, i particularly i think it's, uh, the role of the attorney general to protect the department of justice, to defend the department of justice, and to say the department's been weaponized and politicized. i mean, there are over 100,000 people that work in the department of justice. less than 1% are political appointees. um, to take that department and and weaponize it or politicize it, there would be a revolt by the career individuals because all they care about is ensuring that justice is pursued and that justice is done. so that's

disappointing. and i'm hopeful that when she is confirmed and is the attorney general, she'll do a better job of defending the department of justice and the men and women who work there. >> so and when you endorsed harris, kamala harris in the fall, you said you viewed trump's reelection as a threat to the rule of law. how do you see pam bondi when it comes to being a steward of the rule of law and an independent justice department? >> well, that that remains to be seen. and i think that is the concern that certainly many democrats on the judiciary committee have as to whether or not will she be like jeff sessions and bill barr and say no when asked to do something that they believe is either illegal or simply not good for the department of justice? it doesn't have to be. it doesn't have to be illegal to say no. sometimes a request is made that, quite frankly, is against the traditions of the department of justice. and you don't want to do it. you don't believe it should be done. and she can do that. and, you know, i think that the department is going to be in

good shape. and again, it's it's about defending the rule of law, defending the men and women who work in the department of justice. and i'm not saying that people are are perfect in a department with over 100,000 people scattered all over the world at any one time, somewhere someone is doing something they shouldn't be doing. but as a general matter, again, this was the most disappointing thing that i heard from pam bondi yesterday. >> notably, she vowed to follow doj policy to limit contacts between the white house and the doj. when you look at the justice manual and this is merrick garland's latest version, though, there have been many and they're similar, says, quote, the justice department will not advise the white house concerning pending or contemplated criminal or civil law enforcement investigations or cases, unless doing so is important for the performance of the president's duties and appropriate from a law enforcement perspective. how much work can that word unless do there? in your view? does that

provide a big loophole? >> it does provide some discretion. there's no question about it. and it will depend upon the circumstances. so it's going to be a case by case. but i applaud the decision to continue the the long standing practice of limiting contacts. when i was white house counsel, it was i was the only person allowed to contact the deputy attorney general or the attorney general with respect to any pending criminal or investigation going on. and even then that those conversations were very, very limited. and so it's very important for the white house not to be seen as putting putting the thumb on the scales of justice. and i think that's a very important, um, agreement made by the incoming administration. >> and when you were a.g., you accepted responsibility for mistakes that were related to the firing of u.s. attorneys that involved white house officials and political appointees, drawing up a list of u.s. attorneys that

classified, in part, their loyalty to the president. you've seen when this goes wrong up close. and i wonder with that perspective, what kinds of things you worry could happen about very real things. if this doj doesn't stick to that policy. >> well, you know, it's it's it will call into question the reputation of the department of justice, the american people have to have confidence in the department of justice. that confidence is shaken both by the performance, by the actual performance, by the department of justice and by what things are said about the department of justice, whether true or not. and there's been a lot of rhetoric out there about the department being, as i said earlier, weaponized and politicized in many cases for simply doing their job in pursuing criminal wrongdoing. again, you bring these cases, you get an

indictment, you're successful. a jury decides that, in fact, that you've made your case in that particular instance, there has not been a political indictment, there has not been a political. conviction. these are simply people doing their jobs. this is what we should want from people at the department of justice, which is to simply do their job. and i'm hopeful that given the qualifications, the experience of pam bondi, that that's what the department of justice is going to do going forward. >> yeah, as you said, we will see. time will tell. former attorney general alberto gonzales, always great to have you. thank you so much for being with us. >> you bet. thank you. >> and up next, the mayor of los angeles warns, quote, we are not out of the woods yet. the winds that have fueled the fires are dying down. but there could be some more trouble on the horizon. we'll talk about that. and southwest airlines is now trying to explain why one of its pilots was arrested just

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contained. evacuated homeowners are frustrated because officials today said it could be at least a week before they're able to return to their homes, but here's why officials say they really do need to wait. >> they're shutting off the natural gas. they're cutting the electrical lines, so there's nothing that you can touch and get electrocuted. if it was re-energized by accident and we're removing the health danger by getting the household hazardous materials out. >> but for the ones who want to see their home that's been destroyed just for some personal closure, we still have to do those core, the core actions that i just described, we the last thing we want as public safety and the county and city leadership. >> we don't want people going back to an area and getting injured. >> cnn's veronica miracle is there in altadena, which is

where the eaton fire has affected so many people. tell us about conditions. tell us what folks are saying. there. >> brianna. the conditions are not great, even though we are more than a week out from the fire here in the burn zone and the mandatory evacuation center, there are crews all over there, all over the place, and there are hazards all over the place. of course, we have so much compassion for those who want to come back in, and we've seen a lot of people at the checkpoints who are just so frustrated and emotional because they want to get into this area, but we want to show you also what we have been seeing over the last couple of days firsthand. some of the dangers here. you know, they have been marking all of the buried gas lines. they're tending to all of those. there are nails all over the place. i mean, this is just here on the sidewalk because fencing comes down, the nails fall over. but when you're walking through those areas onto the property where all of the ash is nails all over the place, and then you have situations like this here. this is like something we've seen on every block.

power poles that have been dismantled, they were either hanging and suspended and have now been taken down and are being tended to. but the hazard doesn't stop. and then just down the block you can see there's some road closures right there. there are all of these burned and charred trees. and everywhere we go, as we are in these, in the mandatory evacuation zone, there are crews all over the place now, something that's really interesting. as we've been driving around, we've also run into people that never left or somehow snuck back in, either while the fires were still burning or were somehow able to get inside, and they have been living without power, without gas, without water. and slowly, what's been happening, they've been telling me, is that they've had to leave. so a man said one of his neighbors and their 14 year old son were living, living, trying to stay here in the evacuation zone. and they essentially they just

had to leave because it's just too difficult. so when people do come back in, they're trying to make sure that this area is safe for those residents, that there's power and that they have something to come back to. brianna. >> yeah, it is obviously very dangerous there. veronica. thank you for that. let's get more now on those red flag warnings with derek van dam. derek, cooler weather, moving in to southern california over the weekend. but we're looking at next week. tell us what you're expecting. yeah, a brief reprieve now, but we get these updates from the u.s. drought monitor every thursday morning at 830, we set our alarm clocks here in the cnn weather center. >> we've watched the progress of this map change drastically over southern california. in december. there was no colors on this map. just two weeks ago, there was only 0% of l.a. county under severe drought. now, one week ago it was at 59%. now we zoom in to l.a. county, 90% of this highly populated area of southern california under severe drought. that's level two of

four. wow. how have things changed over the past couple of weeks? we're running a five inch deficit in terms of the rainfall for this water year, which, by the way, begins in october. this normally would be the second wettest month of the year. right now we have relaxed the santa ana winds. that's good news. l.a. the city of l.a. out of the high fire danger. but of course into the mountainous regions. we still have the strong gusts. but now we're going to see more of an onshore component. so what this does is it takes the moisture from the pacific ocean and helps increase the relative humidity value. this is critical for the firefighting efforts on the ground. notice the browns being replaced with the shades of green. that's an increase in relative humidity. that's what we want. but the long term outlook not great. dry weather remains the next seven days. no precipitable water in this forecast. no real storms moving through. and unfortunately the setup over the next early parts of next week looking very similar to what we experienced in the

santa ana wind events of the past two weeks. so this arctic blast of air settling in, remember, air moves from high to low pressure. so that's going to funnel the air up and over the mountains of southern california and cause at least the potential for santa ana winds monday and tuesday of next week. >> brianna keilar are we are over hearing about santa ana winds. i will tell you that. derek van dam. thank you. shake up on capitol hill. speaker johnson kicking out the chair of the house intel committee. it's a move he says he was not ordered to do by president-elect trump. we'll have the latest on what happens next ahead. it. are you ready for this? >> are you ready for this? are you ready for this new alka-seltzer plus cold or flu fizzy juice shou chew fizz. >> feel better fast. no water needed. new alka-seltzer plus fizzy juice. >> consumer cellular ranked number one in network coverage

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cartier.com or amazon. >> soon, house speaker mike johnson will announce a new chair of the powerful house intelligence committee. the speaker insisting a short time ago that president elect trump was, quote, not involved in the removal of the current chair, mike turner of ohio. johnson said that he was the one who thought it was time, quote, to

have new leadership. cnn congressional correspondent lauren fox is with us from capitol hill now. and, lauren, members of the intel committee are planning to meet with speaker johnson about turner. is that right? >> yeah. i mean, there has been some fallout, and not just from democrats who are concerned about this decision, who work on the intelligence committee, but also from republicans. i we talked earlier today to dan crenshaw, who is a member of this intelligence committee, a republican, and he said, quote, that this came out of nowhere, that there was no good explanation. and it's not obvious what johnson has in mind for the future. so questions and concerns. concerns a lot of effort and political capital, rightsizing and fixing the committee so that it would be what it needed to be. now, obviously, we have a lot of questions about what particularly went into making this decision. johnson has said repeatedly that this was only about picking chairmen in the

new congress, who he had the opportunity to select. now, part of that is that the speaker does have a lot of authority when it comes to selecting leaders. for each of these key committees, but there's also some democrats who are voicing concerns about this decision because they had a really good working relationship with their house colleague, representative turner. one of those is the top democrat on the senate intelligence committee, mark warner. here's what he said to me when i pressed him on whether or not he thought trump was involved here. >> i don't have the foggiest idea why he was removed. i mean, maybe because he was such a stalwart supporter of ukraine and being willing to push back against putin. >> and of course, turner was supportive of additional ukraine aid when it came up for a house vote last april in the house of representatives, something that a lot of hard line conservatives were opposed to. he also has worked very

hard behind the scenes to preserve many of the intelligence community's abilities to get information, including fighting very hard to reauthorize fisa. section 702. brianna. >> all right. lauren fox, thank you for that report from capitol hill. florida governor ron desantis picking the state's attorney general, ashley moody, to fill the senate seat that was vacated by marco rubio, who is now president-elect donald trump's pick for secretary of state. moody is a former prosecutor and judge who once sued trump for fraud. she will be joining the senate after rubio resigns from the chamber, and she will serve until 2026. moody will then be able to run in a special election to fill the final two years of his term. want to get away? you know that ticket, right? southwest executives might want to. we're going to explain why. >> these mushrooms make you feel better like, a lot better.

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>> closed captioning brought to you by men. book.com. >> if you or a loved one have mesothelioma, we'll send you a free book to answer questions you may have. >> call now and we'll come to you. >> 808 two one 4000. >> two pretty rough headlines for southwest airlines today. first, it's being sued over flight delays by the government and one of its pilots was pulled out of a cockpit by police and charged with driving under the influence just moments before taking off, where he was supposed to take off. let's start with pete muntean on this. the pilot, i mean. oh my god. >> the rule is eight hours bottle to throttle. >> everyone knows that in aviation, it's kind of the royal and the ancient. it is carved in stone for pilots when it comes to drinking and flying. >> not really the first time something like this has happened, but the question now is how this pilot was able to make it all the way to the

cockpit before being arrested. police have now charged 52 year old david alsup with driving under the influence. sources tell me he's a baltimore based captain for southwest airlines, has been with the company for 18 years. southwest now says he has been removed from duty. this all happened after flight 3772 boarded at savannah hilton head international airport early yesterday morning. passengers say police escorted alsup off the flight while it was still at the gate. and i want you to listen now to what one passenger told cnn affiliate wtop. >> we saw a cop walk in and he went into the cockpit. >> he walked back out of the plane, came back a couple of minutes later, and the pilot left with him. >> we've reached out to alsup for comment. court records show that alsup's bail is now set at $3,500. the flight ultimately departed to chicago midway about four hours late, and southwest says in a statement that it's sorry to customers who had their travel plans disrupted, and there is

nothing more important to the airline than the safety of its employees and customers. the rules here are clear for pilots no drinking within eight hours of flying. also, they must have a blood alcohol content of 0.04 or less. most pilots really consider that the bare minimum, since airline pilots face random alcohol and drug testing. the faa does nab a handful of commercial pilots each year, though, for violations. in fact, it kind of peaked back in 2019. >> that is wild. at least they didn't take off. that's all i can say. that is the good news. that is the good news. there is some good news here, but there's also some more bad news, which is that there's a lawsuit. tell us about it. >> this is a lawsuit from the department of transportation. outgoing secretary pete buttigieg has been really hard on the airlines here. and now. the department of transportation is suing southwest airlines for essentially overpromising and under-delivering on two specific routes. a flight between midway and chicago and oakland on the west coast in california, and then also a specific route between bwi and cleveland. those flights over a

five month period in 2022 were chronically delayed at least 50% of the time. so now south air, now the department of transportation is seeking about $37,000 for each violation that southwest airlines made here. they call this essentially a chronic overscheduling. so essentially something that the airline cannot deliver. so the total here could be in the millions of dollars. the court papers were just filed yesterday, and we're still trying to figure out exactly what the full total here would be. but it's essentially a big slap on the wrist. during a year that southwest had a ton of cancellations. they canceled about 16,000 flights during their meltdown at the end of 2022. >> i should start suing myself for overbooking, then i might. that actually might. >> you don't get laid. >> that might be the thing that would keep me on time. that's right. huh? ha! all right. pete muntean giving me ideas, bringing us the news. thank you so much. really appreciate it. and ahead, the latest on the mideast ceasefire agreement.

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