the fire, the way the wind is moving. got to get that stopped when you get that stopped. we're in good shape. if we stop the air assets, that's going to be a problem. another problem is that relative humidity right now, wolf, is 7%. if you put 7% in your house for long enough, you'd have cracked fingers, cracked lips, chapped lips. it is completely tinder dry out there. the air is dry. it's blowing. and then all of a sudden we haven't had rain. we haven't had one tenth of an inch of rain in 259 days. that may come to an end this weekend. we sure hope it does, wolf, because they really need rain. they really need some help. firefighters can't do it all. >> let's hope it rains. and very important chad myers, thank you very much for that forecast. and to our viewers, thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in the situation room. erin burnett outfront starts right

now. >> outfront next. >> the breaking news. >> inferno this hour. >> a new fire. >> now burning out of. control in southern california. >> thousands evacuated. >> major highways closed. look at. >> that ridge. >> of fire. winds now picking up. flames are pushing closer. >> and closer to homes. >> live on the ground from devastated los angeles. facing again a massive fire and no regrets. the founder of the oath keepers, who tried to overturn the election back on capitol hill tonight. a victory lap after being freed by trump moments ago, telling cnn he would do it all over again. and trump's purge federal employees who worked in die departments out of their jobs. as a 5 p.m. tonight, one of them speaks out exclusively to us out front. let's go out front. and good evening. i'm erin burnett. outfront tonight, the breaking news out of control. a major fire now rapidly tearing through southern california

again. a city already in crisis. look at those images on your screen. officials warning it could be about to go. quote, nuclear. these are live pictures of what is now being called the hughes fire. a new fire at this hour. now consuming a football sized area every 2 to 3 seconds. i remember the last time we told you numbers like that. we were standing on the ground in los angeles. more than 8000 acres already gone up in flames with the hughes fire, towering clouds of smoke and ash over los angeles, powerful wind gusts right now, providing that fuel, pushing the flames closer to crowded neighborhoods. to give you a sense of how dangerous we understand this situation is right now, you see those flames? look at that right over the highway. those highways have been closed. these evacuation notices receiving fast and furious. but just look at that fire and that black smoke. winds in southern california are actually expected to get

much worse as we go through tonight. according to the national weather service, hurricane strength gusts are possible, which is why so far, already 20,000 additional people now under mandatory evacuation orders as firefighters are desperately trying to curb those flames. you see those now painfully familiar red fire retardant lines on the hillsides? resources are extremely stretched tonight. it's now been almost a month of straight fires in california, still working to control those eton and palisades fires, which started more than two weeks ago, have already burned thousands of acres. veronica, miracle and natasha chen are both standing by. let's start with you, veronica. where you're standing, you can see that smoke behind you, that toxic air. the fire quickly endangering homes just where you're standing. so what exactly are you seeing? >> well, erin, when we arrived here a little over an hour ago, we were to the north of us, and the flames were just licking this hillside that was in the park, a park area, the castaic park, just next to the lake.

and we have been following it and tracking it, and it's been moving quickly this way. we've had such a hard time keeping up with the flames, just because the winds have been so strong. it's a little windy now, but the gusts have been very strong over the last hour or so, and the firefighters, they just descended here because there are so many still who have been, you know, assisting with the eaton fire and the palisades fire. so there were so many that came through and all of the flames, like you can see here, actually came up very close to this rv park. firefighters came to these residential areas. and actually, if you want to turn mike just up there, you can see the helicopters flying up above. so a lot of activity over here. the helicopters, we've seen the big air tankers. and then of course those firefighters making sure that residential areas like this rv park, as well as apartments that are just on the other side of us, are okay. we have seen hotspots come up, flaring up all over the hillside there and including just right behind us. and firefighters are working very

quickly because these winds are just so strong and they have been kicking up some of the embers very quickly, pushing this fire very quickly. erin. >> veronica, some of these embers, you know, when we hear about the palisades fires, you know, as big as your palm giant balls, firefighters talking about flying through the air. you're talking about winds now, just like as those fires were spreading so explosively, the images, veronica, that you have that we're looking at of those ridges, we see the the smoke. but also when we look at the fire up and down the ridge, it looks like some sort of an inferno, like a volcano. honestly, in some of those images, this one that we're showing now, what are they telling you about the speed with which this fire is spreading? >> yeah, it's moving very quickly because of these winds. and an interesting point, actually, when we were coming in, erin, we weren't actually able to access and get close up to the flames that the initial start point, because we were told by chp officer that it was

the source of an arson investigation. it was a crime scene. so that is still under investigation. but the flames have been moving very quickly, and we have been watching firefighters move very quickly all throughout this area, trying to make sure that it doesn't get to homes. when we were driving up, we did see huge plumes of smoke, white smoke, which is a good thing, i'm sure. as you remember, when we see lighter smoke, that means it's trees and brush, but it's when you see that dense, dark black smoke that typically means that a residence is on fire or a car. and we have not heard of any residences going up in flames yet. we have also not seen any thick black dark smoke here. so that's the good news, erin. >> well, it's the good news where you are, and thank god for that. we'll see what happens over this next bit. but as we're looking here at the images on the screen, and obviously these images are not exactly where veronica is. but you see this kabc footage you can see that is entirely black smoke. it is it is a completely

black. and when we look at the ridges where i was talking about that volcanic ring of fire looking image that also is covered in black smoke, so, you know, unclear exactly what's burning there and what will happen as it spreads when the when the kabc chopper takes a step back here, you can get a bigger picture, bigger perspective. some of that white smoke that veronica is talking about also visible. but now areas of that dense black smoke. so we don't know exactly what structures are burning and where they are. but let's go to natasha chen because natasha, veronica mentioned that they were looking at an initial site there already for possible arson, and the officials are saying that these fires could go nuclear. but, you know, you're in a moment where this has been nonstop weeks covering fires being fought, firefighters on nonstop duty. how are they managing a massive new fire like this right now well, erin, it. >> does feel. >> like this metro area. >> just can't. >> catch a break. now, the good

news is veronica is talking about a lot of aggressive attack on the hughes fire. we already had a lot of resources in town. people who had come from other states, from canada, even to help out with those palisades and eaton fires. so there are a lot of people here ready to go help. so that's the good news. now, as far as the rest of the community, i think you would see that a lot of people throughout the metro area are now extremely sensitive to evacuation orders, evacuation warnings. a lot of people who are not near the fires that happened a week or two ago do have bags packed at home. it does feel like any part of l.a. could catch fire at this point, given the high winds and the dry conditions. and so it looks like today, the castaic area is next. and from where we're standing in the northeast part of the metro is where i am looking across town. we can see that plume of smoke over where veronica is. so this is just very nerve wracking for

a lot of people. and we already mentioned thousands under evacuation orders and warnings. so again, a very aggressive attack here and people being extra careful right now, at least i hope they are trying to get out very quickly. and having those bags packed, taking no chances here because everyone has seen what is possible. with the devastation on the west side, the palisades on the east side in altadena and unfortunately the winds are expected to pick up again tomorrow. so we are also waiting to hear more about what this means. the dry fuel and press conference coming up in about an hour. erin. all right. well, we're going to be watching for that. natasha, thank you very much. and everyone, as we're looking at these images, and we're going to be following this through the hour because it is just touch and go evacuation orders coming in. as natasha was just speaking a second ago, i'm seeing the alert here for bitter canyon, paradise ranch, romero, all of these areas now under evacuation order level three. go. and that is what's

happening in california right now. so we're going to be monitoring these fires, as we said, every few minutes here, burning, burning through multiple football fields of a massive fire. we have more breaking news as we are watching that. and this is on capitol hill, a january 6th insurrection leader was there today, a victory lap for the founder of the far right militia group, the oath keepers. returning to the scene of the original crime, stewart rhodes, newly freed after trump's blanket pardons and commutations, telling our manu raju moments ago that he would do it all again. >> bottom line. >> no regrets. >> well. >> i don't regret standing up for my country. i don't regret calling out the election as what it was which was stolen, illegal and unconstitutional. >> this is video of rhodes at a dunkin donuts in the longworth house office building. longworth house office building, meaning part of the house of representatives on capitol hill. that's this afternoon, not far from where he was standing on january 6th. of course, rhodes is pressuring trump now for a full pardon,

saying a commutation is not enough. >> unfortunate. >> as oath keepers. >> and proud boys have far. competition instead. >> but i'm. >> confident that it will eventually be pardoned. also, they should all be pardoned. and that's why, you see, this is why president trump is doing the. >> right thing. >> rhodes was originally sentenced to 18 years for plotting to use force to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power. he is now a free man, along with nearly 1600 january 6th defendants, including the former leader of the proud boys, enrique tarrio, who is now back in florida, also vowing, he says, to get revenge on those who put him there, wants to put them behind bars. trump has been doubling and tripling down on his defense of both of these individuals and the others. he has pardoned. he now says he's even ready to welcome them to the white house with open arms, sources telling cnn discussions are underway to invite some of the january 6th convicts to the white house for a potential visit. congresswoman lauren boebert, quick to jump on board, says she'll roll out the red carpet for them as well. >> i would certainly. >> be.

>> willing to give them a guided tour. i give guided. >> tours to people from. >> all over. >> america all the time of course, many of these people were convicted of assaulting police officers, and the federal judge who oversaw trump's 2020 election subversion case tonight had a warning, writing that trump's pardons, quote, cannot whitewash the blood, feces and terror that the mob left in its wake, and it cannot repair the jagged breach in america's sacred tradition of peacefully transitioning power. >> so let's go straight to manu raju on capitol hill. and manu, you know, obviously just saw you talking to lauren boebert. you spoke to stewart rhodes. you have had these personal conversations. rhodes making it clear to you he doesn't regret what he did on january 6th. what else did he tell you? and what was the tone and tenor of your exchange and interaction with him? >> well, he said he was in the capitol. >> to actually meet with republican lawmakers and advocate for a pardon for a separate member of the oath keepers. in fact, he told separately, he told our colleague annie greer that he met with two republican

congressmen, congressman keith self and gus bilirakis, as part of a smaller group of lawmakers. i asked if he was going to meet with the speaker of the house himself. he had no plans to do so, yet he said he did, would like to he would like to meet with donald trump, although he said that no plans to meet with the president are in the works. but overall, he indicated that he didn't have regrets for his actions on january 6th. and he contended he did nothing wrong, even though he was found guilty by a jury of his peers. what do you say to folks who are alarmed of your presence here, given what your role on january 6th? >> what's my role in january 6th? >> i sit outside. >> express my first amendment right to. >> free speech. that's it. >> i didn't go in the capitol. i didn't tell anybody. >> else to. >> as all the. >> witnesses said. >> but you were convicted by a jury of your peers. >> sure. >> unfair jury. >> selected from the jury pool. >> seditious conspiracy is an incredibly serious charge. >> of course it is. and it was used for political purposes to make it look as salacious as possible. but what did i

actually do on that day? i stood outside and exercised my right to free speech, and the election was stolen and illegal and unconstitutional. that's all i did. >> now is part of the government's evidence. they did say that he entered restricted grounds on the capitol, and that he was coordinating activities in the capitol, even though he was outside the building itself during that day. and also while he contended that he could not get a fair trial in the district of columbia, republican and democratic appointed judges alike really have rejected those claims altogether here, saying that no, that is not the case, that people defendants could get a fair trial in the district of columbia. he did offer one regret when he spoke to our colleague andy greer was about the discussion about nancy pelosi in the immediate aftermath of nancy pelosi. he said that i'd hang effing nancy pelosi from the lamppost. that was on january 10th, 2021. he said to andy. he said, i do regret that. that's the one

aspect. but broadly defending his actions and saying he really did nothing wrong. as you heard there, a number of republicans said that they would be okay, particularly ones on the hard right of the house gop. they would be fine with meeting with people like stewart rhodes, among other people who have just been released from jail, including others who were convicted of assaulting police officers. some of those republican members are shrugging that off and saying they're willing to meet with them, especially in the aftermath of donald trump's pardon. >> manu, thank you very much. and really incredible that you had that conversation and important to hear from him. thank you. and now i want to go to the democratic congressman, jason crow. he was trapped inside the chamber as rioters stormed the capitol on january 6th. congressman, i appreciate your time. so stewart rhodes you heard him there talking to manu raju, and you can see him today at the capitol. he was in your actual office building today. how does that make you feel? >> well, donald. >> trump's blanket pardon. >> of over 1000. >> violent criminals is nothing more than a breathtaking betrayal of. public safety. of

his oath to keep americans safe and a. >> slap in the face. >> to law enforcement everywhere, but particularly. >> the capitol police. >> officers, the metropolitan. >> police officers. >> who were brutally beaten had terrible. >> violence enacted on. >> them. on that day. i just spent time this afternoon with several of those officers who broke. down in tears to me, trying to grapple with what this meant to them and their families. as these people walked free after doing what they did. every american should be astonished that donald trump would do this. >> you know, rhodes said he was there to meet congress members. and you have, you know, lauren boebert saying she's willing to have a tour with him. you have are reporting saying that trump is considering meeting with people and having them come to the white house. what do you say to these individuals, some of whom are your colleagues, who are willing to meet with these people and embrace them with open arms? >> well, the only thing that i can say, and that this is wrong, it has been wrong, and

it will continue to be wrong. and no effort to rewrite history is going to work because americans saw what happened. the vast, vast majority of americans condemn these pardons, and i joined that. and they are on the wrong side of history here. you know, it creates a permission structure. listen, this is not just symbolic. this is creating a permission structure for ongoing violence, for political violence. and it basically says political violence is okay as long as it's in furtherance of donald trump's interest. that is the message, the simple message of these pardons. and we need to stand up. every american republican and democrat needs to stand up today and every day going forward and say it's wrong. we're not going to put up with it. we're going to support our law enforcement. we're going to support our public safety. and we are never going to allow this to be normalized. >> that is what some of your colleagues are doing. i mean, your colleague, congresswoman lauren boebert, she is your colleague. she said she was willing to give january 6th rioters tours of the capitol. she gives them to many americans. do you have

a problem with that? >> well, of course i have a problem with that. it's it's terrible. it's egregious. and i'm going to continue to call it out, whether it's lauren boebert or any of my other colleagues. you know, these people were elected. they are here. they are the representatives for their district. they have a right to be here, and i have a right to call it out and say that it's egregious that that that is a blatant disregard for our public safety, for the support of our law enforcement. and i will not allow them also, by the way, to say they back the blue to say they they back our first responders to say that they are the party of rule, law and order and rules because they're not they're just not right. they they only are supporting things here that are in their political interests or that bring them fame. they have no regard for law and order and rule of law. they are bringing chaos to our system, and i will not allow it to stand. >> of course, we'll see where the line between fame and infamy is as time goes on here.

but you know, you nine days ago now, vice president, then vice president elect jd vance said it was obvious that you would not pardon violent offenders, but there would be no pardons for nonviolent offenders from january 6th, but not violent offenders. that was nine days ago. and yet trump went and did all of it. he did all of it. why do you think he did it? >> well, donald trump did it because he needs to absolve himself of responsibility, right? he needs to not be complicit in responsible for the violence of that day. and in order for that to happen, he needs to absolve other people of responsibility. right. if he can rewrite history and he can absolve other people of responsibility, those who enacted that violence, that he ginned up that day, then it lets him off the hook, right? so all of this, everything donald trump does is always about him and always about how he can be let off the hook and not be held responsible for his actions or how he can

consolidate his power. you know, if you if you view anything through that lens of donald trump, that you will usually be right. and that's simply what's going on here. >> congressman, i appreciate your time and thank you. >> thank you. >> all right. next, we have just gotten into outfront the email, a threatening email actually, that was sent this afternoon to federal workers. so this is the email. we have gotten our hands on it. it is the email that came out about die as trump is getting rid of anybody who works in die departments for the federal government. as of 5 p.m. tonight, they are out of a job. plus a clash of the titans. elon musk breaking with trump by bashing a half $1 trillion project. it was one of the first things trump unveiled maye musk bashed it. kevin o'leary from shark tank is out front and we're watching the breaking news. that huge new fire spreading in los angeles already talk of arson as a possibility there, but that fire is right now spreading out of control. we'll go back to the ground in just a minute.

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>> people who may never even know what a basketball looks like felt his presence. >> he wants the. >> opportunity to make his own mistakes. he's going to end up making them. that's when the black mamba was born. >> he's one of the most remarkable stories in sports history. >> i don't want him to be remembered as just a basketball player. >> kobe, the. >> making of a legend premieres saturday at nine on cnn. >> breaking news as of this hour, any federal employee working within a diversity, equity and inclusion department is out of a job. trump fulfilling a major campaign promise, and he is doing it with alacrity. tonight we have exclusive new reporting from two federal employees who have shared with us what's happening. one of them no longer has a job. neither one of them want to share their names for fear of retribution. but one of them tells us who who lost a job that trump's order is, quote, vindictive to people who were just doing their jobs, and a labor department employee shared with us an internal email that came out today from a top official,

the department about this, which reads in part, quote, these programs divided americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars, and resulted in shameful discrimination, failure to report the information within ten days may result in adverse consequences. the threat laid out clear out front. now, former atlanta mayor and senior biden adviser keisha lance bottoms and david urban, who advised trump's 2020 campaign mayor bottoms. let me begin with you. as of 5 p.m., anyone in a d i and the federal government has lost their job. um, and the we just shared the email that all employees got. we spoke to one of the ones out of a job said, you know, calling it vindictive. i don't even want to put the person's gender out there to just maintain their privacy. what's your response to trump's sweeping actions? >> i think. >> it's more. >> theatrics from donald trump. >> i think. >> this is an effort. >> to distract. >> from the things that he said he would do on. >> day one. >> he said. >> that he would. >> lower the cost of eggs. he said that he would end the war in ukraine. he said that he

would. >> fix the border. >> instead. he's going after programs that really are designed to represent who we are. as americans, making sure that everybody has an equal opportunity. and this is not just about race. this is about women. it's about anybody with a physical disability or a physical difference. it's about people in rural america. it's about people with socioeconomic differences. more distractions from donald trump. >> david, what do you say? i mean, mayor does have a point that there were things like ending a war within 24 hours, which were not fulfilled. this was an easy one to fulfill. >> yeah. look, the mayor and i are friends. people wouldn't believe that. but we're friends. we get along. but we're going to disagree on this one. shocking. listen. i think donald trump has two mandates, right? we're going to fix the woke, and then we're going to fix the broke. and dea is a part of the woke. um, it is wrong on so many different

fronts. if you look if you look at polls, i know there are many different polls, but if you poll republicans roughly 70 plus percent of republicans in poll after poll, um, disapprove of of these types of programs. and, you know, consequently and conversely, about 30% of democrats do so it creates division amongst americans. it doesn't unite americans. it creates divisions because it creates victims and victimizers. right. and so that's what it creates, not it doesn't, i don't think, create a level playing field. and it doesn't embrace the best of what doctor king said. you know, the president was sworn in on the 20th. um, you know, doctor king famously said, let's judge people on the content of their character rather than their color of their skin. it does exactly the reverse, and it does so with the cost of billions, billions of dollars to our government. nobody gets in an airplane and wants to know if what your gender is or color is. they want the best pilot. they want the best surgeon, you want the best person behind a tank. and so let's let's fix our

government. let's make sure our government is the military's lethal, the faa, we've got great planes in the skies. let's work on those things that the government should focus on. >> all right. um, americans believe in merit. i'm not going to get into anything just to litigate that. people like to hire people that look like themselves. and the whole thing about die merit, but to the point of what david is saying, he's right. you can look at a poll that will tell you anything. you know, the pew says 52% of american workers say die is good. he gave another pool poll. david, i'm not saying yours is bad. i would venture that i'm not being very controversial with either of you to say that. it depends how you describe die in a poll to how people are going to respond to it. so, mayor bottoms, what is the outcome of this going to be? >> well, aaron, i'll just say this, that when i sit in a room. >> and even. >> when you sit in. >> a. >> room, that. >> this assumption that we are there simply because we are women, or in my case, that i am a black woman, is offensive, to say the least. we know that we work very hard each and every day, but often aren't given the

same opportunities that many other people are given. and when you look at the federal government under the biden administration, the die programs also included the spouses of military veterans. also included caregivers. there was a very broad definition because it's about inclusion. that's the other part. equity is about making sure that people have equal opportunities to compete. diversity is about making sure that we are all included in the room and have a seat at the table. die is not a bad word. no matter how many times you try and make it out to be. >> david, is that true? i mean, you know, someone can take an acronym and you turn it into a boogeyman just because, not because it really is. >> yeah, i think listen, i think i. >> make it a boogeyman. is that really, truthfully what's happened here? and trump is just jumping on the bandwagon because this is an easy one to put a flag up above? >> no, no, listen, i think the program became the boogeyman in and of itself. listen, how many there have been horror stories

after horror stories, die has become a broad label for all the things that are wrong and kind of the woke movement, right, in terms of, you know, people being fired for misgendering somebody or offending somebody by something they may have said or not said in the workplace or perceived, you know, microaggression that that part of america is not helpful to making our country stronger, better, more united. when you have victims and victimizers that divides our country, it doesn't bring it together. we need to unite our country. we need to find the things that unite us. dei isn't one of those things. >> all right, mayor bottoms, it's interesting to the point that david is making ritchie torres, a congressman, made a point today about this. and i just want to play for you what he said he thinks is happening here. here he is i disagree with. >> his decision, but. >> you know, i've never had a constituent. >> tell me. >> his or her highest priority is die. >> so i'm. >> focused like a. >> laser. >> on lower. >> cost. >> lower crime rates.

>> making government work. >> so he says that all of this is sort of a a boogeyman, and that us even talking about it is doing is is, you know, enabling trump to not get done the bigger things. but for you, it's personal. mayor bottoms, you are out of the president's export council. you were appointed to it by president biden after midnight. president trump last night. proclaimed, you're fired. keisha lance bottoms from the president's export council. you all caps you're fired. >> yeah. aaron, i don't know what to make out of the president thinking about me at 1:30 a.m. in the morning after his historic inauguration. it's a little creepy, to say the least. but i will say this. i turned in my resignation january 4th. it was effective january 20th, and i do hope that the president will have more keen attention to detail as he pushes forward these policies that we want him to be successful about. we want him to lower inflation. we want him

to make sure that things are more affordable for americans and to focus on me and a retired general and someone who's feeding displaced people in los angeles really is not the best use of his time. >> i mean. 1:30 a.m. tweeting keisha lance bottoms is fire. david, i mean, and i'm not even trying to make a joke about it. is that a great use. >> of time? i know. >> yeah, no, listen, aaron, i will say it's the exact use of time. >> i got a notice in my inbox. i'll go find it to you and send you the email where i, along with every other trump appointee to the board of west point, the naval academy, the air force academy, were fired from our term appointments in an unprecedented move by the biden administration. heretofore unprecedented. no other president did it. donald trump didn't do it. barack obama didn't do it. george bush didn't do it. i can go back to keep going back and back. but you know what happened? joe biden found it intolerable to have people with diverse opinions. republicans, he said. we did not share his

mindset. and so i was fired halfway through my term, along with general h.r. mcmaster. general guy swan, and another and a group of other individuals who are on the west point board, because we didn't share his views and the democratic party. so i you know, we can go on and on and on. but i don't think that was the best use of president biden's time. and i you know, it's just regrettable. >> all right. well, david, i want to point fingers. >> there's a lot of fingers to point it. >> david, you were fired. i resigned. >> well, i got fired. that's worse. >> i'm glad i well, i'm glad to know that your friends underneath it all. and it's good that you can smile about it together. all right. thank you both. i appreciate both of you. and next, the breaking news. is tiktok about to strike a deal. the app's owner says it's on the cusp of one. is it a deal with kevin o'leary? put $20 billion on the table. he's from shark tank. he's out front. plus, trump changing his tune when it comes to putin. what's behind it and will it last. and the breaking

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>> it's the news. welcome back. >> but it's also kind of. >> not the news. >> came dana bash do that. >> you know. >> there's three. >> lesbians on this panel. >> am i one of them? >> if you drink tap water and your balls still work, please clap. >> no, michael. >> we don't fact check it. we don't care, man. >> why all the information. >> on this show. >> so terrible? >> have i got news for you returns. >> february 15th. >> on cnn and stream next day on max. >> tonight. musk splitting from trump on a very crucial thing. so the world's richest man self named himself first buddy. he's by trump's side nearly every single day since the election. frankly, trump's governing partner. and you know, in reality so far, coming out and openly bashing the single biggest thing trump has done since taking the white house, and that is a half $1 trillion investment, a half $1

trillion, $500 billion in a.i. trump appeared to announce this with the ceos of openai and softbank, along with the chairman of oracle. but musk then going on x, where the algorithm, of course, has everybody see it, saying that those companies don't actually have the money, saying softbank is well under $10 billion secured, which means money they can actually access from a bank. he notes i have that on good authority. trump's press secretary tonight saying people should listen to trump, not musk out front. now, kevin o'leary, chairman of o'leary ventures, one of the sharks on the hit television show shark tank. and in the center of all of this, obviously, you know, mr. musk, you've met with president trump, you've talked about the tariffs as a canadian, really in the center of all these stories. tiktok to hold on that for a second, kevin. but musk coming out and calling this out, this is the biggest thing trump has done so far. okay. it's not die. it's this. and saying and calling baloney on it. how significant

is that? right. this is an important thing for trump. how significant is it that elon is calling it out? >> well, i think. >> most people know. >> that. >> elon is in a competition. >> with chatgpt. and this is a little bit of a trash talk. but there's. >> a bigger. >> but the money, it's about the power. you can't build these things anymore in america because the grid where electricity comes from, yeah, can no longer you an any state a gigawatt of power. >> so we've run out of electricity. not because of evs, just because the economy has grown and the grid has not been invested in. and so there's only four states because i'm a developer of

data centers. texas, north dakota, west virginia, and not a state, a province, alberta. that's the only place you can put these. now, if you're willing to spend $12 billion on gas turbines. otherwise, you're not building any of this stuff. >> so, i mean, look, we can talk about the mini nuclear production, all these all these things. but, you know, and i understand i will admit, any time a big investment comes out from government with like $500 billion or 100 billion, i sort of roll my eyes because when you actually look beneath the hood, it's usually a whole lot of smoke and mirrors. nonetheless, softbank is saying it has this money, okay. they're part maye musk says they don't even have that money. is that true? i mean, is the whole thing really a charade? >> well, actually there is sovereign wealth capital available for the development of these things. i don't think they've got the 500 billion syndicated yet, but let me just make a mention about nuclear power, which everybody is assuming will take over on data centers. >> yeah, sorry i threw that out

there. >> yeah. westinghouse is the most. yeah, westinghouse is the most advanced. they're saying 15 to 19 years from now at a cost of 58 billion per gigawatt, versus 2 billion for natural gas. so, you know, this whole idea of three mile island, erin, you'll be dead and your children will be dead before that thing gets lit up. so all of this hype around nuclear power for data centers is generations from now. and yet we need at least ten gigawatts of data centers immediately. and i'm talking about 24 months from now. so the only way that's going to happen and sorry to, you know, drip reality onto this story is it's going to be stranded natural gas with two cycle turbines, which is very clean. and carbon sequestration. there is no other way, no wind, no solar, no grid. it's all bs the rest of that stuff. >> well, it sounds like the whole 500 billion is all

happening now. is is a lot of bs but again, i'm not going to say that's about any administration versus another, because that's what government's in the business of big hot air announcements. but that the tiktok story. i want to get to that because this is center for you as well. so, you know, trump did that complete 180 on tiktok. he hated it. he want to ban it now. he wants it back. and they say there could be a deal as soon as this week. and that that deal might not even require the chinese owners to divest from the company, which is also very confusing and defeats the whole point. but you said you had $20 billion to put towards buying it. i'm just curious, kevin, as to whether you think you are still in the game. on buying tiktok. >> yes, you know, tiktok is a lot of noise and not a lot of signal right now. there's a lot of hype about it. all of us interested in buying it. and as far as i know, frank mccourt and i are the only syndicate that's brought together an offer that's in front of the bankers of bytedance. everybody else. i don't think they brought anything forward, but

unfortunately we are beholden to the law, of which there's two orders, the one from congress, which is well known, and that offer expired, and the ability to extend it expired on the eve of the inauguration at midnight. so there was no option in that law to provide any kind of an extension. but even harder than that is the order from the supreme court 9 to 0. aaron, i might point out that is as strong as you can get. that's every justice. and they added a higher resolution around on page five and six. i've read all this law because if i'm going to put a bid out, i've got to read the rules. it's like playing football. you're not going to get a touchdown if you don't understand the rules. you'll never get to the end of the field. so i've read all the law and that ruling from the supreme court said there is no option for any bidder to use one single line of the 5 billion lines of code. the algorithm in tiktok in a u.s. domestic solution, there's no

option. zero probability can't do it. so in other words, either the supreme court reverses its decision or congress amends its law, or something has to happen for any of these other ideas to occur. because right now, if you want to buy tiktok, you're not buying any chinese tech zero zero, chinese tech zero. you can't do it. no flexibility, no optionality. not a single line of code or you are breaching a federal law and you're on your way to the slammer. so that's not going to happen to our bid. so i don't know how any of these ideas are going to be tabled unless the law is changed. >> all right. well, i mean, yeah, i guess you're and the whole point in that, i guess, would be the algorithm. how odd we are a few years ago, to think that we would be talking about an algorithm having value like that. all right. kevin, love talking to you. thanks. >> take care. bye bye. >> all right. and the breaking news, this explosive new fire developing in southern

california. we are watching these flames are live. it is moving closer to neighborhoods. you see it on these ridges right now? tens of thousands evacuated. we're getting more go orders here through the hour. we'll take you back to the ground next. plus, new video of ukrainian forces going head to head in a bloody battle with north korean troops. >> lockerbie, february 16th on cnn. >> hey, how goes it? >> well, i'm getting a new car. >> yeah, i've been contemplating the same. >> carvanas. convenient. >> appreciate the tip. >> yeah. anytime. how's it going over there? >> hey, buy that car yet? >> be here thursday. >> you. it's a question for a more decisive me. maybe i need to think about it more. >> i believe in you. >> you can do this. come on. definitely a no brainer. >> wow. decisive. >> yeah. well, with same day delivery. >> well, it

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>> yeah. this is an area where the fire burned through not too long ago. it really is an apocalyptic scene. and just over there, actually, the fire was so big that it burned these power poles. one of them fell in half. is currently on fire, and utility crews are trying to put that fire out and fix that. because the power lines have now fallen into the roadway. and just right over here, mike, if you turn, i'm going to show you a helicopter is coming right above us. coming down and getting some water from this basin here. they have been on five minute rotations, moving very quickly, sucking up the water from this lake here and taking it over to the hillside. now, what we have seen, i spoke with some firefighters as well. they're saying that they were able to stop the fire from going toward the residential areas, at least near where we are. there was an rv park that we were certainly concerned about, but there are so many firefighters here in the area that they were able to quickly jump on it. so areas of concern

on that end appear to be okay, and it appears that the fire may be burning on the other side of the hillside here, which is really quite remote. there's a lot of dry brush, not a lot of residential areas just above this, this ridge. so that's good news. but of course, the winds are strong. anything can change. as we have seen over the last couple of weeks. erin. >> veronica, thank you very much. on the scene of that explosive fire. at this hour, we are going to keep in touch here with veronica over these next minutes. next, though, trump taking a tougher tone when it comes to putin. what's the reason? >> anderson cooper 360 next 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 new from hellofresh. >> the future of cool, comfortable sleep is here.

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north korean casualties, even as the new york times says, kim jong un is about to send even more reinforcements to help putin's forces. it comes as president trump is striking a more critical tone with putin. russian state media is now fighting back an unexpected turn for some. fred pleitgen is out front. >> powerful barrages of deadly russian thermobaric missiles raining down on ukrainian positions in russia's kursk region as vladimir putin's army continues its assault. president trump, now changing his once positive tone towards the kremlin, threatening moscow with tough sanctions. if we don't make a deal and soon, i have no other choice but to put high levels of taxes, tariffs and sanctions on anything being sold by russia to the united states and various other participating countries. trump wrote on his social media account and then added, quote, we can do it the easy way or the hard way. trump, also criticizing putin himself.

>> zelenskyy wants to make a deal. i don't know if putin does. he might not. i don't know. he should make a deal. i think he's destroying russia by not making a deal. i think russia's going to be in big trouble. >> the president's remarks breaking news on kremlin controlled tv, ripping into what they call trump's ultimatum to putin. >> ultimatum. >> neither in 100 days or in 180 days will trump resolve or settle the conflict in ukraine. this member of parliament says the russian army will do this within the time frame set by its supreme commander in chief, our president vladimir vladimirovich putin, on moscow's frigid streets. what had been real optimism about the trump presidency and a possible improvement of u.s. russian relations, seem to be fading fast. he's a businessman, after all, not a politician. this woman says he

will pursue his goals and put pressure on us. he will strengthen the sanctions and will keep supplying ukraine with weapons. >> ladies and gentlemen. >> at the world economic forum in davos, ukraine's president upbeat, saying his country not only wants its territory back, ukraine also wants nato membership fast. >> for trump. >> if trump is ready to see ukraine in nato, we will be in nato. everyone will be in favor. zelenskyy says president trump has never committed to admitting ukraine into nato, and is highly skeptical of the alliance. but he has said he wants a fast end to the ukraine war, although he now says it might take six months. and while russian leader vladimir putin continues to insist he's open to talks about a possible peace agreement, he says that will only happen on moscow's terms. and if the u.s. makes the first move. fred pleitgen, cnn,