and my husband and i own the village bakery located in hayden, idaho. our mission is to employ people with different abilities. tiktok is allowing us to show what acceptance looks like on a day-to-day basis, here at the bakery. this is a community of just complete and utter love. it's the people that lift you up when you're down. people on tiktok do that on a daily basis, and i've never found a community like that, ever. will: well, that's going to do it for us today, we'll have continuing coverage throughout the day. charlie: keep them in your prayers, and give to dream center.org. don't forget that. rachel: there's lots of places to donate. thanks, everybody, see you tomorrow. >> fox on top of catastrophic damage with california's fires on a tear. here's what what we know at this

hour, crews are racing against time as winds are expected to pick up tomorrow. right now the fires are spreading east, and more evacuations are underway. officials are set to hold a news conference within the hour. a curfew has been lifted but will be back in effect at 6 p.m. pacific time. that will be tonight as looting is persisting. l.a. district attorney nathan hochman promising swift punishment. he is here. and california democratic governor gavin newsom ordering a probe into water supply issues. is it holding water with the california mom who confronted him? we are going to ask her. welcome to "fox news live." i'm cheryl casone in new york along with bill melugin on the ground in pacific palisades, in california. bill, what's the situation there as the sun is now rising? bill: cheryl, unfortunately, this fire took a significant turn for the worse last night. it initially looked like it was laying down yesterday, then it

flared up last night, and the fire pivoted. it shifted in a new direction, and we have a major flare-up this morning. you can see the smoke plume over my shoulder. in this fire has now gotten into mandeville canyon. this is an area or fire officials were very worried about. there's essentially one way in, one way out. it is the steep, rugged terrain with dry fuels and now the community of brentwood is threatened. i live in brentwood myself, evacuation orders have been going out, and unfortunately we got more santa ana winds coming in the forecast. that's the last thing we need to hear out here in socal. but we want to send it out to max gorden over near mandeville canyon with, get a live look at what's going on. max, what are you seeing? >> reporter: hey there, bill. you're on the west side of this smoke plume, miami now on -- i'm now on the east side of it, and you can see the fire activity behind me. this fire flaring up this morning, burning over in this ridge. you're talking about this steep

terrain, and you can see how it is the exemplified right behind me. these canyons where the fire is burning and this massive plume of smoke rising up into the air, people here in los angeles waking up to a frightening scene this morning. fire-fighting aircraft has been on the scene. we've seen several helicopters making water drops, those fire hawks, but you can see just how active this fire is right now. at last update fire officials said this fire's currently 8% contained thed. no word yet on if this is going to affect those containment numbers. now, through all the fires in california they have burned around 12,000 structures, many of them homes. this has been an incredibly destructive event. unfortunately, too, we've seen the loss of life creep up as well. 11 people confirmed dead. and this fire fight is not yet over. as we move into the evening hours, we're expecting the winds the start to pick up, winds between 15-30 miles per hour with gusts of up to 50 miles per

hour, yet another challenge for these fire fighters as they battle these very dry conditions, gusty winds and the steep and rug ared terrain. bill? -- rug ared terrain. bill: yeah, max, remarkable live images as that fire is marching into mandeville canyon. again, city officials were worried about that happening last night. you mentioned the loss of life, 11 people so far. five of those deaths have happened here in the pacific palisades. and remember, we are down one of the two super scoopers that that l.a. county uses to fight these fires. a civilian drone crashed into one of them a couple days ago, the wing is damaged, one of them is now grounded and they certainly need every aircraft they can out there. max gordon,s we'll check in again with you shortly. we want to talk about the weather forecast though. this fire initially broke out tuesday morning in the middle of an extreme santa ana wind event, got out of control very quickly. the winds died down the last couple of days but, unfortunately, more winds forecasted to hit the southern

california area. for more on that, we want to send it to meteorologist adam klotz who's tracking this fore forecast. adam a, when are the new winds expected to arrive, because that is the last thing these firefighters need out here. adam: it certainly is. this brief amount of time we are seeing calm conditions, but if you look back tuesday and wednesday, the winds were 70, 80, 90, 100 miles a, hour. we're not expected anything like that, but winds are on the way. currently across the entire region here's a look at all of the different fires now sitting just really north of los angeles county, across northern portions of los angeles county, spreading out and taking hold of this entire region. unfortunately the time stamp's up in the corner, as you go through the day today, overnight tonight and lingering into your sunday the winds do pick up fairly significantly. you go from completely calm, and these are wind gusts, 30, 40, 50 miles an hour. of this is still enough to spread those embers.

the bell embers get up in the air, the wind carries it further down and suddenly new flames ignite. that's why we're looking at this bouncing back up to critical fire weather outlook. it's been down to elevated here recently, but we're going to have to tick that back up as we head into the overnight areas because of d hours because of those new, additional winds. and because these winds are coming out of the north, northeast, it grabs all that smoke, and it's pushing it further south. even though folks south of los angeles, los angeles county, aren't dealing with the wildfires exactly, they're still dealing with the smoke, and the air quality has been at times absolutely horrible. this is our smoke tracker. a lot of times pushed out to sea, but when it does settle up right along the coast, the air quality has dropped quickly. we've seen it at hazardous, this morning we're at unhealthy. the wind shifts it becomes a dangerous situation and the wind is expected to pick up again early tomorrow morning.

bill: and hopefully the firefighters can get a handle on this before the winds ping. cheryl, the issue with these winds is not only can they ground fire-fighting aircraft, it just makes it almost impossible to fight the flames. you'll see these shots where the firefighters are dropping water, and it just disintegrates or blows away before it can even get on the flames. firemen trying to spray the water onto the fire, and again it just blows away. it e has little question effect. and when the winds get really bad out here, it becomes extremely difficult to fight these flamings. and if that's why we saw this conflagration happen out here in on tuesday in pacific palisades. you can see the results behind me. much of this area has been completely wiped off the map. and when those winds return, if they show up tonight, tomorrow, we are looking at some serious trouble out here, cheryl. cheryl: well, bill, i want to let our viewers know we are expecting this 11 a.m. eastern

time press conference to get an update on the winds, power outages. and and certainly, you know,, the question is going to be with that new evacuation zone, you're saying it's threatening brentwood now. again, another high value neighborhood in the los angeles area. i'm wondering if there's going to be new evacuation orders and, hopefully, not the scene that we saw unfold on tuesday with abandoned cars and the panic and the lack of resources and the lack of water. we're going to talk about that. but certainly i think local officials have more, you know, or there's more questions than answers right now about not just what we're seeing today, bill, but what we witnessed all week. and that is a city and a mayor and a golf that seemed -- a governor that seemed unprepared for what los angeles has gone through in the last four days. bill: well, and the problem is i think a lot of angelenos maybe had a little bit of false hope yesterday because it did look like this fire was starting to lay down. it looked like most of the

damage had been done already. there wasn't a lot of active flame, the smoke wasn't too bad. and suddenly around 6 p.m. last night we started seeing huge, new black plumes of smoam as the wind shifted and the fire moved. so essentially, we didn't have those southwestern santa ana winds, we had an onshore flow from the winds are coming in from the ocean going inland, and they a started pushing the fire north and east. is around 6 to 8 p.m. last night we started seeing this fire make a run north towards san fernando valley, towards the encino area. we saw mandatory evacuations happening in parts to of the valley. basically, the 405 freeway, everything west of it towards the mandeville canyon area is now under mandatory evacuation, that includes parts of brentwood, the mountain gate community. it is incredibly rare for brentwood to be threatened by a wildfire like this. it just goes to show you that this is a remarkable wind event we've had this week. normally we see this sort of situation happening during what

is so-called the fire season here in california, october, november. well, fire season is essentially almost feeling like it's year round now because of these winds. we're in really january, and we're seeing things that we typically see in october or november. we're going to wait and see what happens at this press conference which is scheduled to happen within the next 50 minutes or so. we're told it's going to be with county leaders. it's unclear if there's going to be city leaders there as well. there's been some drama going on with l.a. city mayor karen because and with the fire chief, lafd fire chief kristin crowley. knave been contradicting each other in public. we know they had a meeting down at city hall last night. there were initial reports that the chief was fired. those reports were not true. the chief and the city both denied those rumors. but there's clearly some friction going on between both of them, and we -- i do not believe -- are expecting that they're going to be at in this press conference, at least they're not on the press release for it. it's supposed to be county

leaders, l.a. county leaders. and they are the ones assisting the l.a. city with this fire. so we'll see what happens during this press conference, what's staid, if there are any new evacuation orders going out, cheryl. cheryl: all right, bill. and p obviously, the federal response in all of this is what is the next kind of shoe to drop and getting the funding to the people of california and the those neighborhoods that need it. and we want to bring in as this devastation unfolds democratic leaders in california. they're coming under a lot of pressure. the l.a. fire chief says that major karen bass has, quote, failed the city. bill just mentioned that. california democratic congressman amy bear are -- ami bera joins me now. i want your to what bill was just talking about, and this is the criticism against karen bass that facing from all sides for not just being in africa when she knew that the winds were expected to pick up, they knew that there was fire danger, but

then how she has, frankly, bungled her response since she returned. >> here's what i'd say is now's not the time for finger-pointing and in-fighting. now's the time for all the leaders in southern california, in los angeles as well as across this country to come together because what you just showed is a picture of devastation and horrific. ands this is not under control. it could get worse. more folks are pointing fingers at one another. the harder it is to get this contained. once this is over, obviously do an after-action review, but now's not the time for in fighting. cheryl: well, and that seems to be happening between fire officials and with the mayor there. but on a larger scale, i do want the talk to you about, about the insurance issues that have been in play in california since 2017. more and more insurance companies have been walking away, canceling coverage.

now you've got, you know, you've got vice president harris and you've got others saying that they don't want to see cancellation of these homeowners' policies. that by california law, i want to be clear, is illegal. but the bigger question for you, congressman, is when the19 congress gets -- 119th congress gets back into session, you guys are, i'm assuming that the congress there is ready to, is going to have to put some funding forth. i mean, i don't know what kind of number we're talking about. i think it's too soon. but the federal response, you know, it took you three months to respond to sandy, to get any money voted on. took over a year for congress to appropriate funding for hawaii. how long is this going to take? >> you know, i would hope that we come together as democrats and republicans. you know, we did pass a supplemental with about $100 billion because of the floods we saw in north carolina, south carolina over the summer. these vents are becoming more

and more frequent frequent not just in california, but awe across the country, so we may have to come up with a better system because we can't allocate hundreds of billions of dollars every year and expect these things to be expected because they're now happening with regularity. on the insurance issue, that is something we're going to have to try to figure out here in california. it was an issue before these fires, and, you know, we're talking $50 billion, maybe $100 billion of damage. and and we're going to have to figure this out. cheryl: well, i will say "the wall street journal" this morning in the editorial section writes about how the state is going to be handling these wildfires going forward, and it says in particular if democrats who run the state believe their own advertising, why not spend money in useful ways rather than on a green energy transition to nowhere. a lot of questions for california lawmakers. congressman, thank you very much for joining us. enter you're welcome. thank you. cheryl: all right. fox corporation has made a $1

million donation to the red cross' california wildfire relief effort. if you'd like to help, you can visit go.foxforward/redcross or scan the qr code on your screen. residents are frustrated by the state's response to the inferno. this california mother is going viral after pressing democratic governor gavin newsom for answers. has she heard anything since, and what does she make of his call for an investigation into the water supply? we're going to ask her. and then later, the laken riley act advancing in the senate in a test vote. republican georgia congressman who is leading the charge on this illegal immigration crackdown, mike collins, is coming up.

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bill: and welcome back. we continue our lye coverage of the palisades fire here in the pacific palisades in los angeles area which continues to burn completely out of control. you've been watching live images of this flare-up on the ian front of the fire threatening new areas like brentwood where evacuation orders have been going out. i just got a press release from texas governor greg abbott's office announcing that the state of texas is sending the state of california a large number of

firefighters, engines and medics to help out with these wildfire efforts. texas governor abbott says that request came to texas through cal fire and through the california office of emergency management. that is run by governor gavin newsom. so that is fantastic to see. obviously, texas and california, governor newsom and governor abbott, have taken their shots at each other politically, they have completely opposite politics. but in an emergency situation like this, texas willing to send help here to california. california often sends help for hurricanes, so it's great to see that level of cooperation because we certainly need it out hire in the los angeles area. as this -- here. as this fire continues to burn out of control ahead of another santa ana wind event, we want to send it out to correspondent robert ray out here in the pacific palisades. rob, what are you seeing? -- robert, what are you seeing? >> reporter: yeah, bill, good morning. we're in a burned-out neighborhood in the pacific palisades right on the pacific

coast highway just to the south of malibu. and you see this neighborhood here completely torched by these wildfires and the winds, those santa ana winds that were gusting from. 700 to 100 miles an hour -- 700 to 100 miles an hour last tuesday into wednesday. the concern as we've all been speak about is this palisades fire that is on the ridge on the other side of where we're at right now. it is burning, and they're looking to try and contain a parts of that so it does not encroach on communities like brentwood. even in this area where there's not an active fire where we are at in this neighborhood, ashes are falling from the sky from the fire, and the winds that are gusting across. maybe you see some of the orange and brown hues in the sky. that is the smoke that is flying over these mountains over to the pacific ocean. if creating all of that. the smell of smoke and chemicals

is intense here, and you see this is what we see up and down the pch from palisades to malibu, burned-out vehicles just like this, burned-out neighborhoods and thousands of homes completely destroyed and thousands of people who have lost everything. we've been talking to many of those residents. let's listen to one account. >> this is what's, what's will left of the home that i grew up in for 31 years. finish we just, just had christmas morning right over here. right in front of that chimney. and this is what's left. it's everybody. t it's not to just us. if you look around, this whole neighborhood is gone. wiped off the a map. >> reporter: and, bill, the human element is so important to touch on here. i mean, literally everybody who has lived in the these

communities is reeling right now. and those that have lost their homes and their livelihoods, this continues to go on, right? this is an active situation as we speak. six fires, 11% containment on the palisades fire scorching over 21,000 acres, the most ever in l.a. county history. the eaton fire to the north at about 14, 15% containment scorching over 14,000. five people lost their lives here in the palisades fire. communities that are historic, that mean a lot to america and are now in the fight for their life at this point to try and contain these fires as thousands of first responders and firefighters, men and women, are on the ground. and as you said, reinforcements coming in from states like texas and all across the west including even canada and mexico, bill. those santa ana winds are going to kick up again in the coming hours and days, and it is a fight against time to contain

these fires. bill? bill: and, robert, you're spot on. it feels like at this point everybody knows somebody who's been impacted. i have two friends myself who have lost everything they own in these fires. certainly an apocalyptic scene looking behind you. very eerie out here, ash falling all over the place. it essentially looks like a bomb went off. robert ray, thank you for that live report. we'll check in again shortly. you may have seen this video the other day, a pacific palisades resident confronted a governor gavin newsom as he was touring the area, and he said he was on a phone call with biden, president biden, excuse me, and that he couldn't speak to her. here's part of that exchange. take a listen. >> governor, you got a second? >> [inaudible] >> governor, governor! i live here, governor. that was my daughter ooh's school, governor. please tell me what you're going to do. i want to be here when you call the president. >> i appreciate it. i'm doing that right now, and it's to immediately get reimbursements and assistance to

help -- [inaudible] i'm so sorry, especially for your daughter. i have four kids - there, they've lost their homes, they lost homes because they were living in- governor, please tell me, what are you going to do with the president right now? >> we're getting the resources to help rebuild. we're getting the -- >> why was there no water in the hydrants, governor? >> it's all literally -- >> is it going to be different next time? >> it has to be. it has to be, of course. bill that was pacific palisades resident rachel darvich, she's kind enough to join us this morning. rachel, we thank you for your time. i guess my first question to you, what did you make of your exchange with the governor? >> good morning. thanks so much for having me here. look, let me sort of pith off of what was heard earlier by your former guest. finish i know that we shouldn't be name calling. it's probably not the right things to do. i don't want to be name calling.

i also don't want to be here talking to you under these particular circumstances. so the two people that i i think are irrelevant to the solution should should not be part of the solution. we don't want to name call, we don't have to. i feel like the conversation i had with the governor, every time i see it now, makes me feel like i was irrelevant, but it's actually he was irrelevant. he wasn't on the phone with the president. so that's how i feel. that's what i make of that conversation. and at the moment, it was really all emotion if just trying to get to him so -- to say, really, what can you do for us? i'm standing here looking at the rubble of the school my daughter's going to, she's 3. these little kids don't have a future, and i'm sort of dismissed as if my questions are inappropriate? that's how i feel now even more.

every time i watch this clip, it's devastating. bill: yeah. you know, the clip has gone viral. it's got millions of views at this point. i'm just curious, you know, when you went up to him and you were questioning him, he said he didn't have time because he was on the phone with piped opinion, and you asked, well, can i join the phone call? he looks down at the phone and says, well, i don't have service, i'm trying to call him right now. did you get the sense he was tying to brush you off and get you to go away? >> well, look, i actually got a chance to have a glimpse of his phone. i mean, he showed it to me. there was no conversation, don't hide it from the world, don't tell people. the first call was not to to the white house. that, i can guarantee you. at the moment, there was no call on the line. so put those two things together, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out. so thank you, governor newsom, for that amount of respect that you had for me at that moment.

i don't appreciate it. bill: you know, one of the big topics out here has been the lack of water or water pressure in those initial hours of the palisades fire. governor newsom was ask asked about that the other day, and he said, well, the locals are going to figure it out, that's their issue. now he's calling for an outside investigation into what happened with those fire hydrants. we've got about 30 seconds left, just curious for your reaction to that. >> my reaction, i think, goes back to my statement at the beginning. it took a long time for him the make that admission and actually go forward with that. these are the things that that make him and karen bass sort of irrelevant at this point. whatever. in-fighting is going on, look, you're sending out notifications for us to evacuate and then coming back and telling us, oh, we made a mistake and we're so sorry. this is just this bungling upon bungling on top of each other. when is it going to end and when are we going to get this taken control of. how do i feel about the water? i saw it myself.

i didn't see a single fire hydrant being used at the time while while i was sitting on a hill for four hours trying to to get down to safety. i didn't see a fire truck come up the hill because they actually probably couldn't because there was no organization on how to get people off the hill. why are there fire roads? we live by the ocean. we live by the ocean. why were those crops not done sooner -- drops not done sooner? why was there not enough water? you live by the ocean. i don't know, i'm just a mom. and i'm hoping other moms may want to get together. let's try to fix this state. let's try to fix this state because i've got to tell you, my morning, my night, i don't have them anymore. i don't have a life anymore. i don't have anything. bill: yep. you have your daughter and you've got your life, and we are so happy the hear that. we're so thankful both of you are okay. rachel, thank you so much for your time this morning. wishing for the best for you guys. cheryl? >> thanks for having me.

cheryl: bill, the anger and the frustration that we are hearing is unbelievable, and and she has every right as do many in the area of los angeles to be furious with their elected leaders. all right, we're going to take a quick break, but the new l.a. county district attorney has issued a stern warning to loot's as another cur -- looters. nathan hochman joining me next. so dad grabbed puffs plus lotion to soothe her with ease. puffs plus lotion is gentle on sensitive skin and locks in moisture to provide soothing relief. a nose in need deserves puffs indeed. america's #1 lotion tissue.

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why qunol? it has superior absorption compared to regular turmeric. qunol. the brand i trust. bill: and welcome back. we continue our live coverage of these catastrophic wildfires here in los angeles county which have now claimed the lives of at least 1 is people -- 11 people. the palisades fire moving into a new area, forcing sack weighs in the brentwood -- evacuations -- we were out there around 5 a.m. this morning before the sun came up. here's what we saw. it is the predawn hours here in the brentwood area, and as

angelenos are sleeping, this palisades fire is taking a major turn for the worse. this fire is now fully established in the mandeville canyon area, something that fire officials had serious worries about. this brentwood area now at risk. evacuations are underway out here. cheryl: well, and as the destruction unfolds in california, the looting has begun. a curfew will be renewed tonight as some look to take advantage of this tragedy. the newly-elected district attorney in l.a. issuing a warning the those bad a actors, you will be punished. nathan hochman joins me now. nathan, the things that you have spoken about, that you've been warning about this week already, looting, internet scams, robbery and then future arsons. i know you already have one crime scene, that's the kenneth fire, because of suspected arson. what can you tell us? >> so here's what i can tell you, unfortunately, there are those who have decided to take advantage of this tragedy as

people have lost their homes, some have lost their lives, and businesses have basically been cratered by the fire. you know, there's over 200,000 people that have been evacuated, and i'm one of them, unfortunately. my for's home in pacific palisades -- my sister's home burned to the ground. so i want to send an unmistakably clear message to those who are thinking about looting, to those who are thinking about burglary, robbery, grand theft, to those who want to get on the internet and defraud people who have suffered this tragedy, you will be arrested, you will be prosecuted, and you will be punished to the full extent of the law. i send this warning shot over the bow to all these folks so there's no confusion later as to what the consequences of their actions will be. i know that prior to my taking office people might have thought you can commit crimes and nothing's going to happen. let me assure you, if you with get caught -- and you will be

caught -- the full book will be thrown at you and maximum punishment will be sought. cheryl: well, and that is why george gascon is no longer in toughs. d in office. i do want to follow up on new reports we're getting about, basically, property sharks. these are real estate sources tell eking me this on fox business yesterday, that residents are already getting calling people are approaching them at the sites of their burned-out homes trying to buy their properties. we saw this story play out in lahaina in hawaii, and the governor there at the time put a stop to that because he didn't want to see these residents who lost everything be taken advantage of. if are you getting reports of that happening now in los angeles? >> we are starting to get reports of that. we're starting to get reports of people setting up fake gofundme pages trying to entice people who want to doe donate and and help out to this crisis to give it to people who deny suffer. we're going to see insurance

scams, inevitably, government benefit scams. this is what follows, sadly, on these tragedies. but what we're going to be doing is putting together a task force both federal, state and local to go after these defrauders, to go after these scammers and these looters and make sure they understand that if they want to take advantage of this tragedy, that they will actually suffer maximum punishment. the warning shot is to deter them from doing it in the first place. this is your warning. the minnesota you cross that line, we're going to be coming after you with the full force of the law. cheryl: you already had, as you've just come into office, other issues that you've been dealing with in los angeles whether it was home, whether it was crime, the mass retail robberies that we've witnessed, all of the reasons that you are now in the position you are in. does this delay the work in your office that, of those first item agenda for you, and that was

crime? >> it doesn't. i mean, thankfully, i've got over 750 of some of the most talented and diverse prosecutors probably in the nation. we're back on mission, back on doing justice for the residents of lang he is county. they're -- los angeles county. we're working incredibly hard. we're going to add this to our workload because it's that important. i've got the commitment of the entire office. i've got the commitment, by the way, of the u.s. attorney's office. they're going to be pitching in as well. i'm absolutely convinced we can meet this challenge as well as all the other challenges that face l.a. county. cheryl: certainly, sir, our hearts are breaking for those in los angeles, and we do hope that the criminals do not make any further inroads and, hopefully, since that that curfew if has been lifted for 90 minutes that folks can get out there and get back to work. sir, or thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you very much. everyone out there, stay safe. cheryl: all right. you as well. all right. we are, of course, waiting for

that press conference. that's going to be at the top of the hour, 11 a.m. eastern time. local official, as bill melugin had mentioned, we don't expect to see at this point the mayor or the governor, but things can change. it's a breaking news situation right here on fox news. well, the more lag go -- mar-a-lago where president-elect donald trump is holding key meetings with house republicansy one of them is joining us next. we put our arm around the veterans. when i think of the veteran out there that needs to refi his home, he may want to purchase and we can help them and provide that financial solution for them and their families. it's a great, rewarding feeling. everybody in the company, they have that deference and that respect and that love for the veteran that makes this company so unique. here's an important benefit for veteran homeowners who need cash. you can take out $70,000 or more with the newday 100 va cash out loan.

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cheryl: president-elect donald trump taking office a week from monday but wasting no time holding key meetings with house republicans at mar-a-lago today. alexis mcadams is in west palm beach, florida if, with the late. >> reporter: hey, cheryl. west palm beach and mar-a-lago is really the center of the political universe. it has been for months as president-elect trump continues the hold these meetings. pretty much if all these republicans who want to bend his ear and talk about that one big bill or other things happening

in washington are meeting e over at mar-a-lago. take a live look, that's what's happening right now. more house republicans from blue states like new york, new jersey and california are expected to come to palm beach, florida, for meetings this weekend. so comes as trump was sentenced in that so-called hush money case that we've been talking about for months. trump called it an embarrassment yesterday. he finally had a chance to talk about it because he had that gag order that was ongoing, appearing virtually from mar-a-lago, seen on that screen inside a new york city courtroom with his lawyer. the president-elect sentenced on 34 felony charges of falsifying his business records, but he was given unconditional discharge. for people listening at home, what a does that mean? that means trump gets no jail time, no fine and no probation. >> it's been a political witch hunt. it was done to damage my reputation so that i'd lose the election and, obviously, that doesn't work. i'm totally innocent. i did nothing wrong. >> reporter: so the judge in

that case, juan merchan, wishing the president-elect well even though they're really not too close of pals. trump said he will be appealing that hush money case. back out here live, it's not just republicans, cheryl, meeting with president-elect trump, it's also senator john fetterman who's reportedly expected to go to mar-a-lago saying he doesn't care if it's a republican or democrat in the white house, they need to have a working relationship. so we'll see what happens out of that meeting. cheryl. cheryl: all right. alexis, thank you for that live report, we appreciate it. now to a congressman who's going to be meeting with the president-elect later today, republican wisconsin kongman bryan steil. --man. congressman, welcome to the program. what is on your agenda later to the? >> the real question is that we walk out with an agreement as to whether or not we're going to do one bill or two. at the end of the day, what's important is that we're unified. i think there's two key things

that we have to make sure we get done coming in out of the gates in the first year here. we have at risk a $4 trillion tax increase, and we have to secure the u.s./mexico border. i'm of the view that one bill is easier than two difficult negotiations. at the end of the day, what's important is that we're unified so we can deliver on president trump's agenda and the mandate which the voters have sent us to secure the border and make sure we're addressing and preventing a $4 trillion tax increase which would be detrimental to the u.s. economy. cheryl: well, border security, certainly, and that is what america asked for in november when they went to the poll polls. -- polls. but also fiscal responsibility. we're sitting on more than $36 trillion in debt, and we now have a new disaster happening and unfolding right now in california. so is what about the funding needs if for fema who are still dealing with western north carolina, to be clear, still have people in tents there. now you've got thousands that are now homeless in california. how do you balance fiscal

responsibility and the debt situation with the need for funding for fema and likely disaster relief which is one of the first things that'king going to land on your -- that's going to land on your desk when you go back to washington? >> we enter unified republican control following four disastrous years of the biden administration where they were spending like drunk cannen sailors. -- drunken. we have to be smart on our investments from the federal government. we need to remove the wavesful spending. things like electric vehicle charging stations or subsidies to purchase electric vehicles. instead we need to be focused on a proto-growth agenda to make sure that businesses and employers can hire people and raise wages. if we're smart and targeted in our spending at the federal government level, we have an opportunity to make sure we're addressing the fiscal situation that we find ourselves in. in pleasuring we have an ton to be investing and securing the border. at the end of the day, we need

to to address long-term issues that we've seen from human trafficking to to the flow of fentanyl. if we're unified as republicans with an america first agenda, we have an opportunity to build on the executive actions that president trump is going to take on the first day in office to secure the border and make sure we're funding border security so we can truly solve the crisis at the border. we also have the avoid the $4 trillion tax increase and be responsible in spending at the federal level. i think we have an opportunity to do that if we are unified as republicans, and i think it's really smart of president trump to bring the chairs of the house committees together today at mar-a-lago to have that conversation, the make sure that we walk out as a unified front because we are unifewed -- unified, we will be in a position to deliver on the agenda the american people have sent in their election of president trump. cheryl: congressman, we look forward to the work you'll be doing in washington. thank you very much for joining us this afternoon. also, bill, i had to bring up the issue of the fema funds because, obviously, we don't know the economic total

yesterday in california, as you're reporting that these fires are still happening behind you. bill: well, there's estimations i saw from the "wall street journal" that this is likely going to be the most expensive wildfire in california history. we're talking tens of billions of dollars worth of damage, and just to put that into perspective. the woolsey fire in 2018 out here, the most destructive one we've had, that was only about $6 billion in damage. these properties you see behind me, these are multimillion dollar properties, thousands of them are gone. you can do the math. we're not even talking about the easton fire. -- eaton fire. coming up after the break, the laken riley act passed a key vote in the senate because it had some help from a handful of democrats. and right after the break, we're going to talk to one of the republican house sponsors of that bill, congressman mike collins. be right back.

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bill: welcome back. we're joined now by republican congressman mike collins. he's the house sponsor of the laken riley act. that is legislation that would mandate detention of illegal aliens if they commit theft crimes in a state. congressman, thank you for your time this morning. your legislation passed a key vote in the senate this week and had some help from democrats.

do you think democrats got a wake-up call from the election when it comes the their positions on immigration? >> well, sure they did. and the thing about this bill, this is a good piece of legislation. it's not a border bill, it's not a messaging bill. this is a good piece of law enforcement legislation that is going to help local law enforcement detain these people, contact i.c.e. and get 'em detained and processed and deported out of our country. bill: and i understand the bill would also allow state attorney generals to sue dhs if dhs actions lead to harm being caused against one of -- a state resident. i assume that's, you're saying if dhs catches and releases an illegal alien and they go on to kill or hurt something, states can sue the federal government and recoup losses, is that right? excuse me. >> that's exactly right. and in the case of laken riley, ibarra came across the border

illegally, and they paroled him. so if they had detained him right then, a known criminal, he was a known criminal, and, of course, you know, he took his trade to new york and then brought it down to athens, georgia, where he was cited the week before for shoplifting. so this legislation just includes theft because right now local law enforcement cannot contact i.c.e. unless it's a major crime. and, you know, these people, they come across, they start out with these petty crimes, and we just slap 'em on the back of the hand and let 'em go. it just emboldens them, and they do more and more larger crimes. you look at the result of what happened with ibarra who heinously murdered that young lady. bill: and, congressman, we've got about ten seconds left. you've got to get to 660 votes in the senate. >> we do. bill: do you see it happening? >> yes, we do. bill: you do. >> i need them to continue to call senators, their own u.s. senator, and demand they get this through the senate.

day one, president trump can sit down and sign it. belle -- it'll be a great day. bill got it. congressman, thank you for your time. we'll check in with you again soon. >> thank you. bill: cheryl? cheryl: we are expecting another major update from los angeles county officials top of the hour. we are going to take you there live. he family journey that led to you. ancestry can help you piece together the past with billions of records, photos, and more. memberships are on sale now.

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