tv The Faulkner Focus FOX News January 10, 2025 8:00am-9:00am PST
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andy mccarthy, judge david riff kin, a wonderful man who just passed away, by the way, gregg jarrett, and cnn said that. a alan -- legal expenses are down as legal expenses and get indicted for business records. everybody should be so accurate. it has been a political witch hunt. it was done to damage my reputation so that i would lose the election. obviously that didn't work . and the people of our country got to see this firsthand. they watched the case in your courtroom. they got to see this firsthand and then they voted and i won and got the largest number of votes by far of any republican candidate in history. and won all seven swing states.
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won conclusively all seven swing states and won the popularity -- the popular vote by millions and millions of votes. they've been watching your trial. so they understood it. i wasn't allowed to use the lawyer/client privilege or the reliance on counsel. i had a lawyer that made this deal and he admitted that and he was also -- he is a totally discredited person. we weren't allowed to use the information from the southern district that discredited him and not allowed to be put in. that was terrible, unbelievable. this is a man who has got no standing. he has been disbarred on other matters unrelated. and he was allowed to talk as though he were george washington. he is not george washington. he shouldn't have been allowed. the southern district did a book of approximately 28 pages where i've never seen anything like
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it. they excoriated him. you wouldn't let it be put in i have had and he was able to testify as a witness. i think it is a disgrace to the system. i was under a gag order. the first president in history under a gag order where i couldn't talk about aspects of the case that are very important. i'm still under so probably i won't do it now. assume i'm still under a gag order. but the fact is that i'm totally innocent. i did nothing wrong. they talk about business records. the business records were extremely accurately counted. i had nothing to do with them. it was done by an accountant or bookkeeper who gave credible testimony and corroborated by everybody that was asked. and with all that is happening in our country today, with the city that's burning to the ground, one of our largest most important cities burning to the ground, with wars that are
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uncontrollably going on and with all the problems of inflation and attacks on countries and all of the horrible things that are going on, i got indicted over calling a legal expense a legal expense. it is called a legal expense. i just want to say i think it is an embarrassment to new york and new york has a lot of problems but this is a great embarrassment. i believe that this and other cases that were brought, as you know the doj is very much involved in this case. it's because that's the political opponent they are talking about. the doj is very involved. you have a gentleman sitting right there from the doj, from the doj's office and involved with the new york state attorney general's case and he went from there to here. he went around and did what he had to do. got them to move on me but in the meantime i won the election and a massive landslide and the people of this country understand what has gone on. it has been a weaponization of
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government. they call it lawfare. never happened to any extent like this but never happened in our country before. and i just would like to explain that i was treated very, very unfairly and i thank you very much. >> thank you, mr. trump. mr. trump you appear before this court today to conclude this criminal proceeding by the imposition of sentence. although i have taken the unusual step of informing you in advance of my inclinations, before imposeing sentence i believe it is important for you as well as those observing these proceedings to understand my reasoning for the sentence i am about to impose. the imposition of sentence is one of the most difficult and significant decisions that any criminal court judge is called upon to make. our legislature sets the parameters for an authorized sentence but it is a judge that must decide what constitutes a
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just conclusion to guilty. it has broad discretion in determining what sources or evidence it may consider to alive at an appropriate sentence. in doing so, the court must consider the facts of the case, along with any aggravating or mitigating cur couple stances. in my time on the bench i have been called upon this for countless defendants found guilty after trial with an assortment offenses ranging from non-violent felonies and even homicides, sex trafficking and child sexual abuse. the task is always difficult and deserving of careful consideration. whether the sentence be an unconditional discharge for incarceration of 25 years to
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life. however, never before has this court been presented with such a unique and remarkable set of circumstances. indeed, it could be viewed fairly that this has been a truly extraordinary case. there was unprecedented media attention, public interest, and heightened security involving various agencies. and yet the trial was a bit of a paradox. once the courtroom doors were closed, the trial itself was no more special, unique, or extraordinary than the other 32 criminal trials that took place in this courthouse at the same exact time. jury selection was conducted, the same rules of evidence were followed, opening statements were made, witnesses called and cross-examined, evidence presented, summations delivered, the same burden of proof was
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applied and a jury made up of ordinary citizens delivered a verdict conducted to the rules of procedure and guided by the law. of course, part of what made it feel somewhat ordinary was the outstanding work, preparation and professionalism of the clerk, court officers, court reporters, security personnel, and the entire staff of this building who did their jobs as they would with any other criminal trial. so while one can argue that the trial itself was in many respects somewhat ordinary, the same cannot be said about the circumstances surrounding this sentencing. and that is because of the office you have once occupied and which you will soon occupy again. to be sure, it is the legal protections afforded to the office of the president of the united states that are
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extraordinary, not the occupant of the office. the legal protections especially within the context of a criminal prosecution afforded to the office of the president have been laid out by our founders, the constitution, and most recently interpreted by the united states supreme court in the matter of trump versus the united states decided on july 1, 2024. as with every other defendant in your position, it is my obligation to consider any and all aggravating and mitigating factors to inform my decision. some of those aggravating factors have already been articulated in my ruling at the start of this trial and by my recent written decisions on december 16th and january 3rd. they need not be repeated at
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this time. however, the considerable, indeed extraordinary legal protections afforded by the office of the chief executive is a factor that overrides all others. to be clear, the protections afforded the office of the president are not a mitigating factor. they do not reduce the seriousness of the crime or justify its commission in any way. the protections are, however, a legal mandate which pursuant to the rule of law this court must respect and follow. however, despite the extraordinary breath of those protections one power they don't provide is the power to erase a jury verdict. it is clear from legal precedent which until july 1st was scarce,
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that donald trump, the ordinary citizen, donald trump a creiminl defendant would not be entitled to protections. protections that extend well beyond the average defendant who winds their way through the criminal justice system each day. no, ordinary citizens do not receive those legal protections. it is the office of the president that be stows those far reaching protections to the office holder. and it was a citizenry of this nation that recently decided that you should once again receive the benefits of those protections which include, among other things, the supremacy clause and presidential immunity. it is through that lens and that reality that this court must determine a lawful sentence.
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after careful analysis and obedience to governing mandates and pursuant to the rule of law, this court has determined that the only lawful sentence that permits entry of a judgment of conviction without encroaching upon the highest office in the land is a unconditional discharge which the new york state legislature has determined is a lawful and permissible sentence for the crime of falsifying business records in the first degree. therefore, at this time i impose that sentence to cover all 34 counts. sir, i wish you godspeed as you assume your second term in office. thank you. >> harris: we just heard the full courtroom audio, new york state supreme court judge juan merchan sentenced president-elect donald trump to
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unconditional discharge in his new york criminal trial. unconditional. that means no prison, no fines, no probation, no conditions. today's hearing just nine days out from the start of trump's second term as our commander-in-chief. after speaking in court, the incoming president posted this. the radical democrats have lost another pathetic, unamerican witch hunt. i was given an unconditional discharge. that result alone proves that. as all legal scholars and experts have said, there is no case, there was never a case. i'm harris faulkner and you are in "the faulkner focus." kerri urbahn, jonathan turley, george washington university law professor and constitutional law attorney. great to see you. district attorney liberal alvin bragg, who ran as many democrats in high legal positions across this country, ran threatening
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the freedom of donald trump. lawfare was a term even voters were using. did alvin bragg get what he wanted at all? >> i think that he did. this is enormously popular with his base. this was a thrill kill and this was the thrill. and ultimately this court imposed no punishment at all but did give trump's critics what they wanted. that is to label him as a convicted felon. sentencing by sound bite. it will be repeated like a mantra in the media. the first convicted felon to take the oath. even though this case may not last. the verdict against trump has a very good chance of being overturned. the verdict against the new york legal system will be far more lasting. it allowed itself to be weaponizeed. it allowed itself to be the
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product of lawfare. and that is going to leave the much more lasting mark than i think this verdict on trump. >> harris: i knew this was a thing. when i traveled to georgia for that all-women town hall, kerri, there were people using the word lawfare in conversations i was having with voters. it was resonating this wham exactly what that was. it wasn't just one of those hashtags. they said they knew what was going on against trump. >> and i'm looking at -- >> harris: are you okay? jonathon, would you like to fill in on that? >> yes. well, i think that ultimately what you are going to come out of this case is a true mandate for donald trump. one of the greatest advantages that he had during this election was this trial. when he was under this gag order
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and couldn't say anything he said a great deal by walking out every day and facing the cameras. the public did not like it. this is the type of thing they see in other countries where the legal system has been weaponizeed against political opponents. and that did resonate with the public. they did view this case as lawfare. this sentence will only increase that mandate. one of the priorities of trump is to try to break the culture at the department of justice and the f.b.i. that has been used so often over the last number of years, not just with this but also the russian conspiracy case. that's a hardened silo, the most difficult agency to reform. but this sentence gives him just that much more of a mandate to say things have got to be changed here. it is a terrible moment for the new york legal system that it has come to this. i have great respect for the new
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york legal system. it was one of the premier systems in the world. and this is a really sad day for them more than it is for president-elect trump. >> harris: it was interesting. i wrote down as i often do what you said. what comes out of this is a mandate for trump. the way i'm reading what you are saying, too, is alvin bragg did something that a lot of politicians couldn't do on the trail. unite people from different walks of life and ideologies together around the idea of going after an american citizen who wants to lead the greatest country in the world with law that was bending to their favor at every turn. so he does have that political, i guess, check that he can mark if that's what he was looking for. i want to know what it means real quickly. let's bring back, i think we've solved the audio issue with kerri urbahn. what does it mean for the american people and first what does it mean for trump? >> as you are saying that trump
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supporters are walking by right now holding signs about political persecution, about weaponization of the department of justice and their message is loud and clear. they're tired of this and why they went to the ballot box in november and voted decisively for donald trump which i thought was a very effective point he made. at one point he leaned forward on screen looking at judge merchan and said the people are watching the trial in your courtroom and they voted for me. it was decisive, the swing states, all of it. and andy mccarthy made this point earlier. >> harris: my team is telling me they are listening to you and queued it up. let's watch it together. this is the president-elect donald trump from his sentencing just a short time ago. >> it has been a political witch hunt. it was done to damage my reputation so that i would lose the election. obviously that didn't work. the people of our country got to
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see that firsthand. they watched the case in your courtroom and they saw it firsthand and i won and got the largest number of votes by far by any republican candidate in history and won all seven swing states. won conclusively all seven swing states and won the popularity -- the popular vote by millions and millions of votes and they've been watching your trial. i think it is a disgrace to the system. i was under a gag order. i am the first president in history under a gag order where i couldn't talk about aspects of the case that are very important. i guess i'm still under so probably i won't do it now. i assume i'm still under a gag order. the fact is that i'm totally innocent. i did nothing wrong. in the meantime i won the election and a massive landslide and the people of this country understand what has gone on. this has been a weaponization of government. they call it lawfare. never happened to any extent
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like this but never happened in our country before and i would just like to explain that i was treated very, very, unfairly and thank you very much. >> harris: does the gag order still exist, kerri? >> can you say that again? >> harris: does the gag order still exist? >> that's a point that donald trump made. he says it probably still does as i'm sitting here. that would be over now that the case has -- now that he has been sentenced. harris, going back to what we were talking about, about people being set up with the lawfare. here is a sign a local person who sat in the trial just handed to me. lawfare, these are the kinds of signs that i'm looking at right now. people are handing these things to me. look at this one. merchan/bragg, thank you. you helped reelect president trump. so this is the kind of sentiment
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that is being espoused outside the courtroom. they see through all of this. as donald trump said. i thought it was an effective argument. i'm sitting here because my accountable labeled legal expenses legal expenses and now i have been indicted and also pointed out in the courtroom that a former top official from the biden department of justice was sitting there because he had decided to take a severe career downgrade and join us with alvin bragg and help him prosecute him. so i think people are tired of this, as evident by the fact that there are only trump supporters here outside the court today. there was no one else. there were lots of trump flags and i do think that donald trump may be vindicated on appeal. i think he has a real chance. >> harris: jonathan, a question i haven't heard answered recently. what happens now with stormy daniels, the former sex filmmaker who actually owes for
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legal expenses donald trump hundreds of thousands of dollars. when does she have to pay up? >> well, that's a subject of other courts whether she will be compelled to make good on that debt. >> harris: do you think they should go after her for that money? >> she is required to pay the money and i think that ultimately they are likely to pursue that. but they will have their hands full going forward. this case is likely to be on appeal for at least a couple of years. it will try to work its way towards the supreme court. for the trump team, the important thing is to get out of the vortex that is the new york court system. they have been really held there for a long time. they've taken what are called mid trial types of appeals. those appeals rarely work. they have are disfavored as we saw last night when the supreme court said we aren't going to suspend this sentencing.
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now they have a chance to get out of the new york court system and ultimately go back to the supreme court. this case is a peddler's wagon full of reversible error. it is hard to pick what you want off that wagon in terms of reversing this case. but a couple of the most notable ones is that we still don't know what the jury decided. we don't know what they ruled in their verdict as to the motivation of what actually occurred. the judge said you don't have to decide why he did these actions. you can pick from this menu and you don't even have to tell us. well, that shocked many of us that the defendant and the public still does not know what the jury found as to the conduct of the next president. but also -- >> harris: the prosecution never cared about this. this was never about something that should have adjudicated will be, this was about them and their political ambitions. i don't think the 76 million
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plus voters, jonathan and kerri, ever had a doubt about that which in part is why he is in office. good to see you both. we're nine days away from the inauguration. thank you. all right. we have right now some live pictures out of the pacific palisades area in california and we went straight to the news conference. maybe we can do a side-by-side. there is an enormous home. i thought at first it might even be a condo complex. it looks like you can see people watching this, see how all those other places are so close in? it might be a singular home. you see people in the street watching this burn. that black smoke, it was white a few moments ago when it first started. the flames are chewing through fuel inside that home. you can tell fuel by wood flooring or whatever can burn. can you imagine someone else's home and all of this and this is interesting because was that an
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ember that hit that house? it looks like the entire neighborhood has not been touched. maybe this is something different. i do see more of a multi-dwelling type marking of that home. now remember over the past few days covering this on "the faulkner focus" we've been telling people. people have masks on. air quality is dangerous in california right now because of all the smoke. we have seen neighborhoods like this. i know some have focused on the million dollar homes. there are people who work in those malibu and high-end restaurants where we saw a million plus houses burn. the high-rent homes. this is where a lot of people live, too multi-dwellings. we don't know what happened. this is part of what they're dealing with. what if there are other emergencies going on while your entire fire departments, the five that the fire chief called
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upon have to come in and help if there is another type of situation? we'll watch this and see if it is an ember that hit that building or something separate from the wildfires. whatever it is they've shown up and it is burning. let's go back to the live news conference. this is like the one yesterday. updates. the people killed in the wildfires doubled a while ago. let's go back. >> good morning, everybody. we're kicking off our one voice press conference, la county and la city together. we have a short presentation today. we're aiming for conciseness and start off with the la county director of the office of emergency management kevin mcgo when. >> i'm the director of the office of emergency management for los angeles county. there is an extreme amount of
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frustration, anger, fear with regards to the wrong messages that have been being sent out through the emergency alert system throughout l.a. county. i can't express enough how sorry i am for this experience. first of all, i want to clarify. this is not human driven. there is no one sitting at a desk right now initiating emergency alerts. i want to restate that. right now as these alerts are being issued, they are not being activated or initiated by a person. this is my top priority. i am working all hands on deck with the federal emergency management agencies.
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we have every technical specialist working to resolve this issue and to find the root cause. i implore everyone to not disable the messages on your phone. this is extremely frustrating, painful, and scary. but these alert tools have saved lives during this emergency. not receiving an alert can be a consequence of life and death. as we continue to work on the root cause, i ask everyone that gets an alert to verify if they are in an evacuation warning or order to go to alert la.org/la
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governm government.org/emergency. the mapping is accurate on where evacuate warnings and orders exist. again, this is my top priority. this is the top priority of my partners at the state and at fema with the public alert and warning tool to resolve this issue as quickly as possible and identify the root cause. thank you. >> thank you, kevin. i'm going to make this very short. we have a full list of people that want to present today. you will hear information from our insurance commissioner. thank you for being here about how residents can get connected to insurance to recover and rebuild. i was up in the altadena area
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last night how to navigate to insurance process and will i be able to get insured again? i felt it was important to hear from our insurance commissioner who has been very engaged on this issue and then i just want to say to everyone i've been out and i've heard from my residents and i think we've all had someone impacted by this fire. i keep saying it you are not alone. i talked to families that have lost everything and they don't know where to go. and as the supervisor representing that district but also as the chair i speak for this board, we're here to support you. and we will be here for the long road to rebuild. so with that i would like to turn it over to mayor bass to say a few words. >> thank you. all of us here are working urgently and around the clock to confront this ongoing firestorm. when we were on the front lines,
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when we are in the command posts and emergency operations center, we carry with us our friends and neighbors. that is what this fight is all about. it's about those friends, neighbors and loved ones who have fled their homes, those who have lost their homes, those who have lost their lives. to all angelenos we're fighting hard for each of you. here is our city update responding to this natural disaster. lafd battled all night on the palisades fire, hurst fire, and air drops effort continue. they also responded to other fires. the griffith park including runion canyon will be closed through sunday. yesterday president biden pledged his full support for response efforts including fema reimbursement 100% of our
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disaster response costs. fema also launched resources and support for angelenos impacted by these fires. visit disaster assistance.gov to fly. we have worked with the governor and sheriff to secure the national guard to back up and free up our firefighters and police officers and play a key role in securing our evacuation zones to keep people safe and to protect against anyone thinking of taking advantage of this tragedy. people from across l.a., the nation and the world are asking how to help. yesterday i spoke of the california community foundation's wildlife recovery fund and today i am grateful to share within 24 hours they have raised $2.5 million from 4,000 generous donors. visit cal fund.org.
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airbnb is providing free temporary housing. the demand has been extremely high and airbnb increased their commitment to providing emergency assistance. now 25,000 evacuees, first responders and others impacted by the fires. visit 211la.org to get connected. with so many homes and businesses lost we are already putting plans in place to make sure we aggressively rebuild. my office is leading the city effort to clear the way, red tape, bureaucracy, all of it must go. this will be an enormous undertaking but we'll be ready for it because we will not rely on the old way of doing things. for this recovery, we will have -- like we have done in other areas, we shake up the system and move forward with new strategies and policies. i don't believe that there is anything that angelenos cannot
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do if we stand together. thank you. now i would like to introduce l.a. county's third district supervisor lindsey horvath. >> good morning. i want to first start by thanking our first responders who were focused in the topanga region yesterday and responded swiftly to the kenneth fire. incredible action from firefighters giving multiple fires absolutely everything they've got. initial reports led our report to serious concerns but we have the absolute best, most experienced teams leading our efforts and even with the most challenging circumstances and terrain they have been able to deliver. next i want to express my deep frustration with the alert system that is causing confusion and additional panic for our communities at this time of extreme crisis. whatever the cause, it is unacceptable and it is being
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addressed now by the county's office of emergency management as the director described. we'll investigate what happened, how and why at every level in our exhaustive after action process to insure it is corrected. there is a reason why we have redid you know dan sees in our communication system. crises require them. sign up for alert la.org. visit emergency.la county.gov. >> harris: i need to pull away for a second from the news conference. what you look at now is mount wilson. that is known for those large towers we've been telling you about for days that they were so concerned about. it is on fire right now. that's where transition of 911 calls happen. a huge technological hub for los angeles and you can see the heavy smoke. moments ago we were drilled in. we don't control the helicopter shot. it could even be a drone shot.
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i'm not certain. you can see the distance of that smoke. it is burning and moments ago you could see the actual flames. he is pulling out a little bit. wow, look at this. mount wilson. they had hoped it wouldn't reach that point where those towers are. we're watching it. >> the strength and resolve of los angeles county residents as well as our extraordinary first responders from every level of government, as well as our private citizens from across the country and right here in our own county will be the way we get through this unimaginable tragedy. thank you. i would like to welcome up l.a. county fire chief anthony maroney. >> thank you, supervisor. good morning. the eaton fire current estimated acreage 13,956 acres with 3% containment. we still have 4,000 to 5,000
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struck tons destroyed. we'll get a more accurate number for you. we have 1,527 firefighting personnel remaining assigned to this incident. l.a. county fire department is in unified command with the u.s. forest service, sheriffs along with several other fire departments and the pasadena police department. yesterday afternoon the fire in the eaton canyon made a push towards historic mount wilson. this observatory is okay thanks to the efforts of the firefighters and observatory staff and no buildings have been destroyed at mount wilson. a firefighter did suffer a significant fall injury yesterday at the eaton fire. he remains hospitalized, resting comfortably in stable condition and expected to make a full recovery. the cause of the fire remains unknown and we will advise the
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media once we get the cause determined. we are appreciative to our many mutual aid partners from out of state for providing assistance to los angeles county in our time of need. thanks to the increased number of resources assigned, the region is in a much better posture. mutual aid resources from canada are arriving now. the national weather service predicts the red flag will continue today through 6:00 p.m. however, our priority is also going to be to prepare for the next red flag event that is predicted to begin on monday. i would also like to provide a brief update on the kenneth fire that erupted yesterday near the victory trail head at the border of ventura and los angeles counties. thanks to the quick action of first responders and aerial assets, the fire has been stopped. it is currently at 1,000 acres. we have 35% containment and no
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structures are reported damaged or destroyed. one important topic i want to talk about is we did have a drone incursion yesterday at the palisades fires. unknown exactly what time this small drone hit the wing of our super scooper aircraft that we currently have on contract from the province of quebec. when they landed at the airport the maintenance staff noticed there was a fist-sized hole in the leading edge of the wing inboard of the landing light. that super scooper will be prioritized for repair 24/7. it should be flying monday. we only have two of them. everyone should know all of your viewers, flying a drone in the fire traffic area is not only dangerous but it is illegal.
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we do have our federal partners behind the scenes will be implementing procedures to be able to follow drones in our two large fire areas and they will be able to identify who the operator of that drone is. the most important thing to know if you fly a drone at one of these brush fires all aerial operations will be shut down. we certainly don't want to have that happen. before i close, i would like to thank supervisor barger and horvath for their unwavering support and leadership and acknowledge the tireless efforts of first responders who continue to place themselves in harm's way to protect our residents and property. thank you. i would now like to bring up fire chief kristin crowley of the los angeles city fire department. >> thank you, chief maroney. i will provide a brief update of
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overnight operation. palisades fire. this fire was currently tracked at 20,438 acres with 3,073 personnel assigned. crews worked very, very hard overnight strengthening our containment lines and addressing multiple spot fires in and around the topanga canyon areas. resources responded to the area included our air assets to aid in the containment efforts. due to the favorable overnight weather conditions and the diligent -- i will focus on the diligent work, effort and commitment of our first responders we can report the palisades fire is now 8% contained. wind gusts are expected to increase in daylight hours. that will test our containment lines. firefighters will continue to respond to any flare-ups and increase our containment lines. evacuation orders remain in place. the hurst fire. due to more accurate mapping and
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acreage there has been updated to 771 acres with 37% containment. all evacuation orders and warnings have been lifted. the kenneth fire, progress has been stopped with 35% containment. all evacuation orders and warns within los angeles city have been lifted. i want to make sure that we thank and show our deepest gratitude to all our los angeles city firefighters and all of our partners as we've been battling these fires going into day four. thank you to lapd for assisting us and keeping communities safe and thank you to all the agencies who have come to aid during this time of help and it does not go unnoticed. thank you. >> sheriff robert luna. >> good morning to everybody.
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this morning we have well over 500 la county deputies assisting continuous with evacuations, traffic control, security patrols and other humanitarian efforts. they are out there. i hear people calling me they see a lot of black and white police cars rolling with lights and siren. they are out there working. that's what they are doing. they've been actively patrolling evacuated areas and increasing their presence to deter any burglary or looting activity that may occur. just to summarize on evacuations for all the fires that we're dealing with, evacuations orders stand at approximately 153,000 residents that are under evacuation orders and approximately 57,830 structures at risk. evacuation warnings approximately 166,800 residents
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under both warnings -- those are just specifically for warnings. what i want to go to next and we started talking about this last night is curfew. a curfew order has been established for the palisades and eaton fire areas in all mandatory evacuation zones. that will be in effect. it was in effect last night and it is going to be in effect tonight at 6:00 p.m. so it ended at 6:00 a.m. this morning. will take effect again until 6:00 p.m. i emphasize that to our media partners. you cannot be in these affected areas. if you are, you are subject to arrest. that is important. we aren't doing this to inconvenience anybody, we're doing it to protect the structures, the houses that people have left because we ordered them to leave and i want them to feel confident that we
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are doing everything we can to secure that. this curfew will be strictly enforced and being taken to enhance public safety, protect property and prevent any burglaries or looting in the area that the residents have evacuated. the only people that will be allowed in these areas are disaster workers, okay? i want to make that clear. we have other people trying to get in there. by the way, media partners who have legitimate media credentials, yes, you may enter those areas unless it is very unsafe and somebody tells you not to for that reason. again just specifically anyone found in violation of this curfew will be subject to arrest for a misdemeanor offense under la county code section 2.68, a fine up to $1 thousand or jail time and i'm telling you right now, i know people talk about no
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bail and -- i have given direction if somebody is caught doing this they won't get cited and released. they'll get booked. >> harris: all right. if you can believe tragedy upon tragedy he is talking about people who defiantly loot. we saw a lot of that video yesterday late in the day as people were going into evacuated homes that hadn't burned. making sure the people felt pain taking personal longings. you see 153,000 people remain under evacuation orders. if you add up the advisories and warnings separate from that it is a quarter million people. you have a lot between those under advisories and warnings plus people still under orders. they have to move. the l.a. county fire chief was also talking about mount wilson, which i cut into that news conference. i wanted you to see the importance of where the 911 transmission comes from and how much they want to protect that.
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we got good news from the news conference with fire leadership saying firefighting leadership saying not a single building on mount wilson as part of that communications and technology and the griffith observatory has been touched. there is fire all around it. we're watching. correspondent bill melugin is in pacific palisades. bill, i was just talking about mount wilson. such an important area up there. again live during the news conference. what other areas are they particularly watching right knout outside of homes. >> mount wilson was a big issue yesterday over the eaton fire. the infrastructure for media and law enforcement. palisades fire, heavy deep brush it's burning now. in pacific palisades to be frank it looks like a bomb went off.
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it looks apocalyptic right now. every street is wiped out. every single house on this street here. talking multi-million homes are gone. the only thing left of these homes for the most part is some stucco and typically their brick balconies. this home to the left has been wiped out as well. you take a look at the scenes here. we want to go higher up in the palisades looking where we are. you can see the ocean, santa monica. to the left lax with planes taking off and you see smoldering smoke as far as the eye can see. driving through here, 80 to 90% of the buildings we pass by are either completely destroyed or damaged so severely they will never be able to be used again. it is a ghost town in here. a very creepy vibe. we don't see anybody if here whatsoever. we haven't seen a single
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resident coming here to check property. we don't know if they are allowed in or not. it is very difficult to get in here. we heard law enforcement talking about what they are doing with looters. we have had to show i.d.s and credentials four or five times today. they are taking that very seriously. we have over 5,000 structures destroyed just in the palisades fire alone, harris. it is the most remarkable thing i have ever seen in terms of wildfire coverage that i've done here in l.a. since i've been here in 2017. i covered the woolsey and thomas fire. this blows them out of the water in terms tea catastrophic. jaw dropping. every single street you go down the homes are gone as far as the eye can see. we've seen the drone and helicopter shots where it looks like everything has been wiped -- completely wiped off the map. that's what it looks like from the ground as well.
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i have had friends texting me losing homes and asking me to check on their properties to see if there is anything left to recover. any clothing, electronics.d fin computer or drawer or -- or anything. there is nothing left. it is just metal, molten metal, wood and a whole lot of nails. i accidentally stepped on a nail earlier. the wood disintegrates and it is nails everywhere. everything house is like this. nothing to recover. if these people come in here to take a look there is nothing for them to find. unfortunately the updates keep getting worse and worse. we now have ten people dead between these fires. two of which here in the palisades fire. they have a super scooper down now because some clown was flying a drone and crashed into the super scooper. the sheriff's department say it won't be fixed until monday.
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we have one of the top firefighting aircraft grounded for three days because somebody was flying a drone. law enforcement, new d.a. not gascon. he was the progressive d.a. that got thrown out of office. the new d.a. said if you loot or commit arson you are going to prison. if you fly a drone you will be prosecuted. he and the sheriff taking a stern approach to anybody who wants to come in here and cause any issues. >> harris: you are talking about. i want to let people know. an independent politically nathan hockman and had him live yesterday talking about what you are saying. i want to put a caution out there. i know people are asking that even some of our reporters go in, i know william and jonathan have talked about this. i believe it was specifically jonathan hunt. going into some of these places people are asking can you get this for me?
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if it was part of the fire, chief maroney said yesterday and several others it could be toxic. please don't touch it. let us get in there. encouraging that is not a good idea. when i saw that smoldering the other thing fire officials have told me there will be pop-ups. the areas they didn't quite get put out. when i stand and see smoke behind you, is that a hot spot? if you are trying to see what is left behind that can be a danger. it's part of why they are securing all of you on a perimeter when they can and making you show i.d. they'll catch looters but more importantly they will save more lives from people just going back to try to retrieve anything from everything they lost. bill, thank you. we'll move forward now with dr. marc siegel because the smoke is significantly worsened the air quality there. a couple of days ago they were saying the reason that 10% of the schools in l.a. county were closing at the height of the fire was because of the inhalation problems throughout
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the county areas that the smoke would flow to driven by the winds. while it has dissipated some, it is not enough. some areas reported hazardous levels exceeding 500 on the air quality index scale. 500 is the worst. remember when those canadian fires permeated the east coast last year? we were in the 300s and 400s at this point. this is off the charts. our sky was orange. the fire wasn't here. can you imagine what the breathing is like in los angeles? anything above 300 is considered hazardous. one headline with parts of l.a. and l.a. residents are without clean water for days that could happen. here is how contaminants wreak havoc after fires. dr. marc siegel. professor of medicine at nyu
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langone. lungs, eyes, touch. lungs, what are you worried about? >> in terms of lungs i'm worried about long-term effects. i'm talking to one of heads. ucla er about that. starting to see an uptick of respiratory issues, asthma. superimposed on people's pre existing problems especially children with less developed lungs. when you have particulate matter 2.5. that fits thousands of particles on the head of a pin. it is mixed with 400 different toxins and it will affect people that have pre-existing lung problems. you could have an asthma attack even without problems. the smoke travels for hundreds of miles. so you start to see an increase all across the whole western united states here over time. not so much in the first day or two.
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>> harris: organizations like direct link are as i know from reading are donating kn95 masks to keep out the particles. eyes, what are you wore eft about? >> well eyes they get into your eyes and cause a lot of irritation and cause an allergic reaction. this is short term. it shows you direct exposure. you talked about the masks and they are not covering your eyes. when people start to feel eyes irritated it feeds into the mental health aspect here which bill melugin was hinting at. when you don't know about your home and worried about your home and worried if it's burned down. the eyes start to burn and that increases your anxiety as well. >> harris: and you are crying. touch, last one. the leadership of the fire department of los angeles county
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yesterday warned people not to touch things when they go back because they can be toxic. they wanted to take some sort of testings to make sure when you are touching things. i don't know how you keep people from doing that. their hearts are broken. if anything is left behind it is hard not to take it. what are your concerns. >> i'm concerned about injury and toxins but more concerned about injury. you saw bill showing you there are nails there. things that are broken down or wood that's broken. you want to see your home is okay but the greatest fear is it may not be okay tomorrow. people aren't sleeping, people are in cycles of worry. this will last for a really long time. by the way, a study showed looking at 2 million people wildfires in this area have long term issues of depression and anxiety as a result. >> harris: you have to watch that element. we talk about the whole patient. dr. siegel.
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