and fold the bottom into the top. number seven, tie the arms behind your back, and it creates a little shawl. number eight, take a brooch or an earring, pin the sleeves together. number nine, you're going to take this down across your shoulder here. number 10, take the sleeves and tuck them into each other. [cheering] drew: i can't thank you guys enough. we make this show for you. so just take it with you, everybody. >> will you resign as secretary of defense if you drink on-the-job? >> once you have babies you therefore are no longer able to be lethal? >> i am shocked that you would

stand here and say you were completely cleared. >> norah: president-elect donald trump's pick to be the defense department faces tough questions from democratic senators. >> i'm not a perfect person. >> norah: a critical 24 hours for california with millions under extreme fire alerts. >> firefighters have never seen wind so fierce. >> norah: and in tonight's "eye on america," the long road to rebuilding, with homeowners insurance in question. >> did they give a reason why? >> it's the fire hazard. >> norah: the "cbs evening news" starts now. ♪ ♪ starts now. i'm norah o'donnell, and we begin with tough new questions about the man hoping to lead the pentagon, one of the most powerful jobs here in washington. members of the senate armed services committee grilled pete hegseth. why? well, the secretary of defense manages a nearly $1 trillion budget and 3.4 million personnel. democratic senators today zeroed in on his limited management experience and allegations of sexual assault and heavy drinking.

there were also concerns raised about what he said about women in combat. the 44-year-old military veteran and former fox news personality was combative and unapologetic, denying many accusations. hegseth has vowed not to drink if confirmed to the top defense post, but did not say he would resign if he faltered. cbs's nikole killion leads off our coverage tonight from capitol hill. >> reporter: defense secretary pick pete hegseth arrived on capitol hill this morning casting himself as a change agent. >> now it is true and has been acknowledged that i don't have a similar biography to defense secretaries of the last 30 years. but it's time to give someone with dust on his boots the helm. >> reporter: but the former army major was quickly bombarded by rapid fire, grilled about his views of women serving in combat. >> i'm straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. >> please explain these types of statements because they are brutal. and they are mean. and they disrespect men and women who are willing to die for this country.

>> well, senator, i appreciate your comments. and i would point out i have never disparaged women serving in the military. i respect every single female service member that has put on the uniform. >> reporter: the ex-fox news host was also pressed about accusations of sexual assault at a monterey, california, hotel in 2017. >> at the time you were still married to your second wife, correct? >> i believe so. >> and you had just fathered a child by a woman who would later become your third wife, correct? >> senator, i was falsely charged. fully investigated and completely cleared. >> so you think you are completely clear because you committed no crime, that's your definition of cleared? you had just fathered a child two months before by a woman that was not your wife. i am shocked that you would stand here and say that you are completely cleared. can you so casually cheat on a second wife and cheat on the mother of a child that had been born two months before, and you tell us you are completely

cleared? how is that a complete clear? >> senator, her child's name is gwendolyn hope hegseth, and she is a child of god. and she is seven years old. >> reporter: hegseth underwent in fbi background check, but it did not have the accuser or ex-wives. >> i believe it is insufficient, frankly. >> reporter: according to the "new yorker," republicans joni ernst and susan collins turndown meetings with hegseth's alleged accuser, which they both disputed. do you want to hear from the accuser, senator? did someone reach out to your office, senator? yes or no? as for hegseth's overall qualifications, republicans accused democras of being hypocritical. >> how many senators have shown up drunk to vote at night? [laughter] have any of you guys asked them to step down and resign from their job? and then how many senators do you know have got a divorce for cheating on their wives? did you ask them to step down? >> reporter: tonight, the

trump team is pleased with hegseth's performance, with one advisor telling cbs news it sets the tone for the rest of their nominees. hegseth will continue meeting with senators. a committee vote on his confirmation is set for inauguration day, monday. norah? >> norah: nikole killion on capitol hill. nikole, thank you tonight, red flag warnings stretch for more than 300 miles, from california's central coast all the way to the san diego area. those powerful santa ana winds have returned and gusts could top 70 miles per hour, threatening to expand the deadly palisades and eaton fires in the los angeles area, in addition to possibly fueling new fires. we have two reports from the fire zone, starting with cbs's jonathan vigliotti. >> reporter: this is a dramatic look at what could be the origin of the devastating eaton fire. cbs news has confirmed this video was shot just 3 minutes after that fire ignited near electrical towers above altadena. this as southern california

faces a particularly dangerous situation. three times already this season. that warning has been followed by devastating wildfires, especially when fires in pacific palisades and altadena exploded, pushed by hurricane-force winds. it produced heart ache, desperation, and controversy, the perfect storm met with an imperfect response. >> do you owe citizens an apology for being absent while their homes were burning? >> reporter: mayor karen bass left l.a. after the first weather warning was issued to attend a swearing in of ghana's new president. the mayor returned 24 hours after the palisades fire began. at least 1,000 structures were already destroyed and more than 70,000 people evacuated. later that day, she toured the damage with california governor gavin newsom. they seemed in tandem, but 48 hours later, the governor sounded critical. >> i was getting different answers. when you start getting different answers, then i'm not getting the actual story. >> reporter: what does he mean

by that? >> i don't know. i think that's a very good question to ask him. he has not raised any challenges to me. >> reporter: the mayor has deflected criticism over whether the city was adequately prepared, but today... are you happy with how the response is going, past and present? >> well, i mean, you know, everything could be better. there is no question about that. >> reporter: looking back, would you have taken that trip overseas? >> you know, i am going to focus today -- >> reporter: but please -- >> on what we know. >> reporter: meanwhile, fema has arrived here on scene. the agency now assisting victims with temporary housing and disaster recovery. with 12,000 homes destroyed, rebuilding will take years, norah. >> norah: jonathan vigliotti posing the tough questions. jonathan, thank you. let's turn now to cbs's rob marciano as firefighters are getting in the ready position, bracing for those high winds tonight. >> we are taking an aggressive lean-forward posture,

strategically placing fire patrols and engines in the unimpacted high fire risk areas in the city. >> reporter: with wind warnings now extended that could fan more flames, equipment and crews have surged to the battle lines of the palisades fire, but they say they are ready. this team is from colorado. they just got an assignment to head a little bit further north. they have been strategically placed here in a neighborhood near the palisades that has not been burned. this has been the concern, with these winds picking up, if one of these hot spots flares up, they've got to go snuff it out. so far, firefighters have only been able to establish a perimeter around 17% of the fire to prevent it from spreading. >> our orders are to kind of get the area cleaned up here as best we can. >> reporter: greg cates' unit from oregon is test with creating a buffer zone, clearing dry brush away from homes that could be threatened by flareups. >> obviously, if we see any

hot spots, make sure that they get called in to people and hopefully kind of getting things prepped for people to come back in. >> reporter: as the dry winds continue to blow, the army of firefighters remain at the ready. >> we are still pushing forward until we don't have any threat and no rain in the forecast at all. >> exactly. >> reporter: yeah, no rain until further notice here at the command post. protected. they were happy the forecast winds do not quite reach that level. indications are they are little bit delayed. the pds red flag warning has now been extended through a good chunk of tomorrow, with some of those peak winds coming tonight. let's take a look at that. places across the valley, could reach 70 miles per hour gusts around 9:00 or 10:00, and then in the morning, down to temeculas, same sort of deal and even after that warning expires tomorrow afternoon, some indications with our models up to 50-60 miles per hour. the overall pattern even after these wins diminish and we go offshore over the weekend, keeps the rain away and really resets potentially more santa ana winds

coming the beginning of next week. norah? >> norah: everyone on alert. rob marciano, thank you. well, the other big story here in washington, the justice department has released special counsel special counsel jack smith's report on donald trump's election interference case. smith says had trump not won the election and had the case been allowed to go forward, he likely would have been found guilty. cbs's scott macfarlane has details of the report. >> reporter: the final chapter of the federal investigation of president-elect donald trump's role in the january 6th attack is a 137-page closing report from special counsel jack smith. smith argues trump knowingly conspired to submit fake electors and overturn the 2020 election results, saying the evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction. smith reveals he did consider a fifth felony charge, incitement of insurrection, which would have banned trump from running for office again if convicted. but smith opted not to. trump has called smith politically motivated and deranged. >> i defeated deranged jack smith.

he is a deranged individual. >> reporter: smith says trump's claim that smith was influenced or directed by the biden administration "is, in a word, laughable." the former special prosecutor dropped his case after trump won reelection, citing policy prohibiting a sitting president from being subject to criminal prosecution. california democrat pete aguilar, who investigated the january 6th riot as part of a house select committee, says if smith had been appointed sooner, trump might not have avoided trial. >> the january 6th committee did a lot of work on the front end, and we would have liked to see things move a little faster. >> reporter: before the clock ran out. >> before the clock ran out. >> reporter: smith's report said when trump probably attacked witnesses and investigators, trump's followers would threaten them. trump has also talked about locking up some members of congress who have investigated the attack. former house select committee chairman bennie thompson told cbs news he would accept a pardon before president biden leaves office to protect him from trump. >> there are a lot of people who

take this person at his word, and i don't want him to weaponize government against people for doing their job. >> reporter: trump tried unsuccessfully to keep jack smith's final report bottled up with legal challenges that ultimately failed. trump has pledged pardons for some or all of the 1600 january 6th riot defendants. norah, those could begin as early as monday. >> norah: scott macfarlane, thank you so much. there are encouraging signs tonight from the middle east. u.s., arab, and israeli officials all tell cbs news that the first phase of a cease-fire deal in gaza has been agreed to in principle. it includes the release of dozens of how hostages, both israeli and american, and could be finalized this week. cbs's elizabeth palmer has more from tel aviv. >> reporter: hidden somewhere in the ruins of gaza are 98 hostages held by hamas. the israeli military believes nearly two-thirds of them are alive. they, along with 2 million

palestinians, have been under israeli bombardment for 466 days. in a war hamas started when it invaded israel and massacred or kidnapped more than a thousand people. a provisional deal struck by israel and hamas proposes a roughly 42-day truce, during which hamas will release 33 hostages, women, children, the sick and elderly in small groups. in return, israel will pull its military back to the inside perimeter of the gaza strip. it will allow in a flood of aid and release hundreds of palestinians from its jails. the hostages' families who spent more than a year pushing israel's government to do a deal, and they fear something may still go wrong. or levy was abducted from the nova music festival. his brother, michael, is on tenterhooks. >> we were disappointed too many

times, so i try not to let myself believe too much, but at the same time, we are hopeful. >> reporter: the hostages faces on posters and banners all over israel are a constant reminder of their tragedy and their families' ordeal. it was a final diplomatic push by egypt, qatar, and, crucially, the united states, that looked set to end it, and also the humanitarian catastrophe in gaza. norah? >> norah: elizabeth palmer, thank you. "eye on america" is next, looking at california's insurance crisis and the struggle to rebuild after the wildfires. what homeowners should know. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ what homeowners should know. ♪ ♪ airsupra should not be used as a maintenance treatment for asthma. get medical help right away if your breathing doesn't improve or worsens or for serious allergic reactions, like rash, mouth or tongue swelling,

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but i couldn't tell you if there is anything salvageable. >> reporter: getting money to rebuild will take time, a long time. the cohens have found temporary housing, but are among 100,000 los angeles residents whose insurance have been dropped for the latest wildfires. did they give a reason why? >> it is the fire hazards, the fire danger. we were in an area where they couldn't provide insurance to any longer. >> reporter: as victims like the cohens come to grips with a devastating loss, analysts predict insurers could pay out more than $20 billion just from this wildfire disaster alone. >> the kind of risk has been changing very quickly. >> reporter: university california assistant professor frances moore studies the economics of climate change. >> any kind of healthy financial risk management, we really want the insurers to have an accurate picture of what that risk is. >> reporter: nationwide, the insurance industry already faces tens of billions of dollars of losses or natural disasters. >> so this icon is a simulated

ignition point. >> reporter: rob newbold of the company verisk says one way to financially plan for those disasters could include computer-generated catastrophic models. >> how does the climate conditions in terms of temperature and weather, taken together with whether properties are, with infrastructure and in terms of things like putting the fires out, prevalence of local fire stations, prevalence of local fire breaks, all of these come together to run simulations of what could happen over the next one year of activity. >> reporter: verisk already offers to insurers around the country models covering everything from wildfires to tornadoes to hurricanes. >> we have this deeper red color over, in and around beverly hills. that indicates greater loss potential, based on the ignition point, the spread rate and intensity of the fire, as well as the value of the exposures within that zip code. the insurance company can understand this loss potential and have sufficient money on hand to pay claims.

>> reporter: under an old law to protect consumers, california regulators prohibited using models like these to help set rates, but the state is lifting that ban. verisk is the first company to submit its models for approval. what have you done, what has this experience been like trying to find new insurance? >> so that was quite an ordeal. >> reporter: the cohens eventually found coverage, but only through a government-sponsored pool, and it is at a much higher cost than what they paid. but even that pool may not have enough money to cover the expected los angeles fire damage claims. will you rebuild in california? >> we don't know. >> we don't know. >> i don't know. >> we're just mourning the lost of, you know, the things that are irreplaceable. >> reporter: precious memories were in that home. >> those are the irreplaceable things. >> reporter: today, they live in limbo, after the fires burned their home of 23 years to the ground. for "eye on america," i'm elizabeth cook in los angeles. >> norah: britain's future queen is sharing some good news about her health.

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>> norah: princess catherine shared today her cancer is in remission. she made the announcement on instagram, along with a picture of her visit to the hospital where she had been treated. catherine, who just turned 43, had abdominal surgery one year ago and underwent chemotherapy, but the palace has not revealed her type of cancer. if you plan to hang out at starbucks, you'd better bring your wallet along with your laptop. the coffee giant is putting a lid on its open-door policy. starting january 27th, you have to buy something if you want to sit at a table or use the restroom. starbucks sales have been sagging in recent years and the new rules are meant to prioritize paying customers. they are among the most vulnerable victims of the l.a. wildfires. what's being done to help them when we come back. ♪ ♪ >> announcer: this portion of the "cbs evening news" is sponsored by voltaren. the joy of movement. ng news" is sponsored by voltaren. the joy of movement. ♪ ♪ which penetrates deep to target the source of pain

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with dogs, cats, and even a few pigs. help is coming from all over. a shelter in san francisco is stocking up on supplies to send. some pets were taken to other cities, including san diego, and possibly a new start. people stepping up for all the victims of this tragedy. and if you'd like to help, please go to cbsnews.com/lafires. and that is tonight's "cbs evening news." i'm norah o'donnell. good night. ♪ ♪ >>never have i seen that kind of wind. >>new wildfire warnings in southern california as extreme fire danger returns to the region. ger returns to the >> everything is not okay yet. >> how the weather could cripple efforts by firefighters. >> i worry about how dangerous

it is to fly around these fires. it's not a normal mission. >> how the battle begins even before they get to the flames. >> that's why we have strike teams throughout the county. i'm anne makovec. right now is a pivotal point in the fight against the southern california wildfires. here is the good news. there have not been any new fires, but they are still in the thick of it this afternoon. biggest fires burning right now, still the palisades fire along the coast, and the eaton fire further inland. together, they burned an area about the size of san francisco and concord combined. the eaton fire destroyed or damaged more than 7,000 buildings, and killed at least 15 people. this afternoon, it's 35% contained. because of the winds, power has been shut off to certain areas, trying