geoff: on the news hour tonight surging wind fuels los angeles wildfires that have been blazing for a full week. what the scope of destruction means for homeowners and home insurance. >> lawmakers grill the secretary of defense nominee pete hegseth.

>> it was fully investigated and i was completely cleared. >> i do not think that completely. it's accurate. >> in his final reports, special counsel jack smith says donald trump would have been convicted for election subversion had he not been reelected. >> major funding for the pbs news hour provided by. the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the newshour. >> the charles f kettering foundation looking to advance inclusive democracies.

>> the john s and james l knight foundation fostering engaged communities. more at kf.org. >> and the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. geoff: welcome to the newshour unprecedented warnings about wind conditions have residents around los angeles on high alert again tonight, while firefighters work to control

major blazes that have destroyed communities and taken at least 24 lives. amna: more than 40-thousand people have applied for fema assistance already. los angeles mayor karen bass issued an executive order to remove red tape and speed up rebuilding efforts. and governor gavin newsom suspended state rules to make it easier for students to attend school in a different location because of the fires. but as stephanie sy reports, for the moment, it's hard for many residents to look beyond the next 24 hours. stephanie: -- >> >>life threatening and destructive and widespread winds are already stephanie: even as firefighters continue to battle blazes in altadena and the pacific palisades, the weary residents of los angeles are bracing for another 24 hours of dangerous fire conditions. strong santa anas, combined with extremely dry weather and vegetation, could shape another perfect storm.

fire officials say they are in position and ready for any fresh fires as well as flare ups of the palisades and eaton fires, which have been burning for a week. >> for this significant wind event we are taking an aggressive lean forward posture and the lfd has staffed all available resources be traced -- placing fire patrols and engines in high fire risk areas. stephanie: in ventura county a new blaze exploded overnight. the fire burned through this agricultural area in the dry riverbed town of oxnard. the ventura fire department said it managed to stop it in its tracks. nearby residents were prepared with go bags packed. >> we have monitored the fires every day. viewing the california fire map. wind speed, wind direction. trying to assess whether we are in particular danger for the day

or not. stephanie: in l.a. county, gale force wind reached up to 50 miles per hour. forecasters say it is strong enough to blow still smoldering embers miles beyond the fire lines. when that -- when they can take off, aircraft are blasting. efforts have kept the already historic infernos at bay for the past two days. >>the massive, massive destruction is unimaginable until you actually see it. stephanie: l.a. mayor karen bass faced criticism over funding for the fire department and being away when the fires broke out said she assessed the damage on an aerial tour. >> it is one thing to see it on television and it is another

thing to see it from the air. while we are preparing for the next couple days we also want to prepare for the time when we are moving forward, rebuilding but making sure we can get people's lives back and whole. stephanie before they can : rebuild more than 88-thousand -- 88,000 angelinos remain evacuated, many unsure how much has been lost or saved. officials say evacuation orders will remain in place until conditions are safe. for thousands, including brentwood resident aviva copaken, the road ahead is difficult to contemplate. >>my landlord tries to update us every day. and he's been saying it definitely could change. if it does change, i actually don't know where i would go to be honest. i don't have family here. i have friends but they're all affected. so i don't have a set plan in mind and it's terrifying. >> let's hear more about the challenges o are facing, this time from a member

of our extended family, special correspondent marcia biggs lives in malibu and had to evacuate last week. she has been staying at a hotel and is now with a friend. thank you for joining the newshour. it must be an unimaginable difficult time for you and your community. you have been back to your neighborhood. start by describing what you have seen. marshall: i'm lucky because i have a press pass so i'm able to get through. most of my neighbors, all my neighbors have not been able to get in. i have taken videos from my neighbors and try to get into their homes if i have the keys or the door codes to try to get what they need. what is really tough for people now, it's just not knowing. they can see on the map. they can see from the footage, the news footage. satellite imagery. that their house is in tact. but they have not been able to lay eyes on their homes. that is, i think, one of the

most frustrating parts right now. we just wait. those that have lost homes are now trying to figure out how to go forward. but in terms of my house, i am one little area of a block that was untouched. everything around is burned. >> that is across the street. >> it was so fast. i grabbed my job, my computer, my -- my dog, my computer, my passport, a necklace of my moms, and got out. i do not know how we got so lucky. i am beyond grateful. and relieved. because i also had my insurance. but is -- it is really hard to be happy when everybody you know is struggling and dealing with utter devastation.

>> the pictures you sent us, it was like everything around you was asked. -- ash but your apartment building remains intact. can you live in a place where everything around you is gone? >> that part is really hard and what everybody is dealing with. what is so heartbreaking is what we loved about this area is the community. it is really hard to imagine going home to a graveyard. it's not a graveyard in the sense that people died, thank god. but it is charged -- char remains of a life. the scope is hard for people to understand. everything we do in our daily lives is gone. the grocery store, the pharmacy, the dry cleaners, the coffee shop, the place we go for brunch sunday, the farmers market, all my friends kids schools, the palisades recreation center where they did sports.

all that is gone. what i'm struggling with -- it is easier for me because i'm a single person. but what my friends are struggling with, with kids and families is what do we rally around? what is the one singular thing all of these families can cling to? it is difficult. there's nothing left. >> looking ahead they are starting to talk about recovery. what does recovery look like? and to your community? >> i cannot think that far. i don't know. >> you cannot think that far. >> i think it is so many years ahead. i cannot even imagine it yet. >> marcia bigs i am so sorry for the losses in your community but i am glad you are ok. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. with thousands of homes and buildings burned down, many

expect the catastrophe to be one of the most costly natural disasters in american history. months before the fires, several insurers including state farm and allstate decided to leave the state or cancel thousands of home insurance policies, especially in fire-prone areas like the pacific palisades and altadena. amy bach, the executive director of a consumer advocacy group, united policyholders, says homeowners now are just struggling to figure out what they need to do at a time when the market has been so chaotic. >> what people seem to be worried about most, number one is how long is it going to take me to get the money from my insurance company that i need? how am going to pay for my temporary rent? are they going to pay for that? and is it going to be a fight to get what i am entitled to? so i think people are wondering if they should be loaded for bear, ready for a fight, or

whether their insurer is gonna step up and treat them fairly right out of the gate. amna: joining me now to look at all of this is jake bittle, staff writer at grist and author of "the great displacement: climate change and the next american migration." welcome to the news hour. thank you for joining us. jake: thank you for having me. amna: before the 2025 wildfires you saw insurers scrapping policies, limiting coverage in fire prone areas. what prompted that? jake: for a long time the state of california limited the amount of insurance companies could charge customers. fire damages cap going up and insurers have to play out billions of dollars in claims in 2017 and 2018. companies became convinced they cannot make money or enough money doing business in california. instead they started to limit their exposure to the states. in 2017 and 2018 they lost decades of profits when big

fires hit northern california. they said, we have to get out of here if we cannot charge more money. jake: there is a state backed system, the california fair plan supposed to be a last resort for homeowners cannot get insurance through other means. how many people use the plan and how does it compare to private insurance? jake: it is still a minority of all customers in california, i believe, 500,000. that has probably tripled over the past couple years to about 500,000. it is still growing as companies drop more policies. most people don't have to use it. but the people that do don't like it. because it is a really expensive and it's not very good coverage. if your home is very valuable it doesn't give you full coverage. people are really dissatisfied when they have to go on this plan but it is growing pretty fast. amna: you mentioned state rules that limited what insurance companies could charge. the california state insurance commissioner has now changed the rules. so that insurers can set higher premiums after big disasters.

what is likely to be the impact? will it help homeowners? jake: that is the big question. the deal the state struck with insurers over the past year was, we will let you charge a lot more money and in exchange, you will stay in disaster prone areas. you will not pull out and leave the state. in theory, they will charge a lot more money to a lot of customers over the next year as they start to renew policies especially in fire prone areas. the question is, will the insurers hold to the deal they made with the state not to pull out? the worst case scenario is not only do they get to charge more money they also aren't offering coverage in really fire prone areas but that's the big question and the worst case scenario is pretty bad. amna: we are looking at losses in the tens of billions of dollars or more. what will happen to the people that don't have any kind of coverage? will the federal government step in? what are their options? jake: it is a very tricky situation. the federal government does provide some temporary

displacement aid, help to replace certain contents from your home if you do not have insurance. but if you are underinsured, if you have a certain insurance policy but it will not cover the cost of rebuilding your home, what i have seen in past wildfires is people just basically have to go somewhere else. they take the money they can get and buy a home in a cheaper area or maybe they rent something or leave the state. when you have a gap between the insurance coverage people have and what they need to rebuild, which you will see all over l.a., that is when you get a displacement effect where people enter this chaotic housing market and maybe have to leave the specific neighborhood they were in before. amna: it can't be sustainable to keep and sustain the insurance market in a crisis like this. there will always be more disasters, more wildfire events ahead too. what kind of solutions are being considered. are there proposals on the table? jake: i think that the consensus solution that is very hard to implement is you cannot keep

throwing money at a problem where the risk is continuing to go up. you have to do something to mitigate the actual risk of fire. since it is really hard, as los angeles has learned, to stop the admission of fire and stop fire from spreading, the best thing you can do is reduce the risk to homes themselves. we know how to build homes that are relatively resilient to fire, how to build homes that don't catch on fire. we know how to design urban spaces where fires don't spreadt cheap. it is hard to convince existing homeowners of decades-old homes to spend tens of thousands of dollars retrofitting when they may think it will never be necessary. that is in the big question. how do you take the housing stock built over the course of the 20th century and build millions of homes in vulnerable areas and transition it to one that is more resilient without putting a huge additional cost burden on homeowners? amna: jake bittle, staffed writer at grist, thank you for

joining us. geoff: we start the day's other news in south korea, where a chaotic scene is unfolding at the presidential residence in seoul. investigators arrived in the early morning hours in a second attempt to detain impeached president yoon suk yeol. they want to question him about his declaration of martial law last month. it's part of an investigation into whether his actions amounted to rebellion. surveillance camera footage shows the scene, with yoon's supporters gathered in the alley on the left and anti-yoon protesters on the right. a prior effort to serve an arrest warant on yoon failed earlier this month. here in the us, house speaker mike johnson says that the flags at the u.s. capitol will fly at full-height during next week's inauguration of donald trump. late last month, outgoing president joe biden ordered that flags be flown at half-staff for 30 days, to honor the passing of president jimmy carter, in keeping with federal flag code.

that timeframe includes monday's inauguration. president-elect trump expressed frustration over that, even flying flags at full-staff at his home in mar-a-lago. in a social media post, speaker johnson said the flags will be "lowered back to half-staff the following day to continue honoring president jimmy carter." on capitol hill today the house passed a bill that would bar transgender athletes from competing on girls' sports teams. >> on this vote, the yea's are 218, the nay's are 206, one voted present, the bill is passed geoff: the "protection of women and girls in sports act" passed with the support of every republican, plus two democrats. it's one of the first measures put forward by this new congress, and it comes after a campaign season that saw republicans often speaking out against transgender athletes in sports. the bill is expected to go onto the republican-led senate next, where its fate is uncertain.

ukraine targeted russia overnight with several us-made missiles, and carried out one of its largest drone attacks to date. ukrainian forces reportedly launched more than 140 drones at areas near the border and well beyond, including the region of saratov, where eyewitness video caught an oil refinery that went up in flames. ukraine's security service says it also hit a munitions storage facility in that region. russia's defense ministry responded by saying the attacks "will not go unanswered." nato is launching a new mission to protect under-water cables in the baltic sea region. secretary-general mark rutte says the mission will be called "baltic century -- sentry." it will employ ships, planes, and naval drones to monitor the waters for suspicious activity, amid concerns over russian sabotage and spying. it comes after a string of recent incidents where undersea cables supplying power, telecommunications and gas were

damaged. speaking alongside the leaders of finland and estonia today, rutte noted that the cables are a strategic imperative: >>safeguarding our infrastructure is of utmost importance. >> ship captains must understand that potential threats to our infrastructure will have consequences, including possible boarding, impounding and arrest geoff: the group also took aim at russia's so-called 'shadow fleet'. these are aging tankers that moscow allegedly uses to dodge western sanctions on the nation's energy sector. nato members said they pose a threat to the region's security, and help fund russia' s war against ukraine. president biden signed an executive order today aimed at building up the nation's artificial intelligence infrastructure, and the energy needed to power it. the order directs the departments of defense and energy to lease federal sites to private companies to build a-i -- ai data centers. it also requires those companies to use clean energy resources to power them. and, it promises to streamline

the process, by fast-tracking permits and connecting sites to the electric grid. president biden says such steps are meant to build the next generation of ai "in a way that enhances economic competitiveness, national security, ai safety, and clean energy." on wall street today, stocks ended mixed after a reassuring report on wholesale inflation. the dow jones industrial average added more than 200 points, or about half-a-percent. the nasdaq fell around 40 points, as investors continue to sour on tech stocks. the s&p 500 managed a slight gain on the day. and in northern india, what's described as the word's largest religious gathering is underway. the hindu festival of maha kumbh mela draws millions of worshippers from across india, and beyond. holy men smeared with ash rode on chariots today as part of a march to the confluence of three sacred rivers. the faithful believe that a dip in the waters will cleanse them of their sins and end the cycle of reincarnation. the festival takes place every

12 years. more than 400 million hindus are expected to take part over the next six weeks. still to come on the news hour we speak to republican and , democratic senators about the contentious nominee for secretary of defense hopes rise for a ceasefire in gaza as negotiatons enter final stages and homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas discusses the biden administration's legacy. >> this is the pbs news hour from the david m rubenstein studio at w eta in washington and from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. amna: one of president-elect trump's most controversial nominees was the first to face the scrutiny of a senate confirmation hearing. a new pbs news/npr/marist poll set to be released tomorrow finds that pete hegseth, the nominee to lead the department of defense, has room to introduce himself to the country.

55% of americans do not know enough about him to have an opinion. 19% hold a favorable view of him and 26% have a negative impression. geoff: the nominee was questioned today about alleged sexual and financial misconduct as well as concern that he lacks the experience to manage the defense department's more than three million employees. hegseth has denied any wrongdoing. congressional correspondent lisa desjardins reports on how hegseth handled the hearing room spotlight. lisa: supporters chanted as the defense secretary nominee took the hot seat. >> when president trump chose me for the position the primary charge you gave me was to bring the warrior culture back to the department of defense. lisa: for pete hegseth it means blocking diversity programs conservatives challenge. >> the dumbest phrase in military history is our unity is

our strength. no. our shared purpose is our strength. lisa: republicans see it as raising standards. but, democrats see a nominee that has repeatedly questioned the role of women in the military intruding in a podcast two months ago. >> we should not have women in combat roles. lisa: at the hearing today with two women senators who served in the military, strong pushback. >> you have to change how you see women to do this job well. i do not know if you are capable of that. >> mr. hegseth should we take it to believe that you believe that the two women on this committee that have served honorably and with distinction made our military less effective and less capable? >> senator i want to clarify that when i am talking about that issue, it is not about the capabilities of men and women. it is about standards. lisa: hegseth has ivy league diplomas and multiple tours in the military. he has led small veterans groups, but nothing larger.

recently he has been a cohost on fox news. it is confirmed hegseth woodhead and the largest agency in the federal government. the committee chair praised him as unconventional. >> that might be what makes mr. hegseth an excellent choice. lisa: democrats decried him as a lowering standards for the top defense job. >> i hardly think you are prepared to choose -- to do the job. lisa: hegseth focused on his leadership skills and vision. >> i want smarter and more capable people around me dad me and you will get that at that apartment. lisa: democratic senators raised concerns of past affairs and reports of hegseth being falling down drunk at work events. >> a small handful of anonymous sources were allowed to drive a smear campaign. lisa: democrats pointed out it was not all anonymous. they said some eyewitnesses to drinking have given their names. >> do you acknowledge you cheated on your wife and cheated on the woman by whom you had

just fathered a child? lisa: adultery is illegal under the uniform code of military justice and hegseth did not comment when asked to deny or explain many accusations but rejected allegations he sexually assaulted a woman in 2017. hegseth reached a settlement in choosing a non-disclosure agreement with the woman. >> i was falsely accused in october of 2017. it was fully investigated. i was completely clear. >> i do not think completely cleared is accurate. lisa: of all the senators asking hegseth questions one is most pivotal to his fate. >> we have had very frank conversations. >> correct. lisa: iowa senator joni ernst, the first female combat veteran elected to the senate and a rape survivor. to move forward hegseth needs her support that she has not yet clearly given to get hegseth is unlikely to get democratic

votes. he declined to meet with most of them. the republican chairman of the committee has helped him blocking access to his fbi background check from a most senators. president trump has a unique vision for the military including it as part of his plans for mass deportation and other policies. hegseth was asked if a president's orders could ever be unconstitutional. >> anybody of any party could give an order that is against the constitution or against the law. lisa: hegseth questioned if donald trump would ever do that. he did not answer about how he would respond if it happens. >>'s hearing is adjourned. -- this hearing is adjourned. amna: and joining me now to discuss today's confirmation hearing is republican senator jim banks of indiana, who serves on the senate armed services committee and was in the room today. mr. hegseth faced tough questions today on allegations of past drinking, infidelity,

management experience. how do you think he handled the questions today? sen. banks: the hearing went exceptionally well for pete hegseth. the democrats were looking for a gotcha moment but they d n and g anonymous sources and allegations. at the end of the day when we walked out of the room icoul tht that pete, who had momentum going into the hearing, had even more momentum coming out. it went very well for him. he focused on the issues, why it matters we sent the secretary of defense, who is serious about preparing to fight and win wars to be the next secretary. why donald trump picked him to do that. i think he picked up even more support in the room after the hearing. i am looking forward to us moving quickly to confirm him on january 20 and sent him to the pentagon to do his job. amna: several senators have said plainly they don't believe mr. hegseth has the experience to do the job. his management experience is limited to a couple small nonprofits.

why do you believe the lack of experience is not an issue here? sen. banks: keep in mind, those were partisan attacks. the democrats on the committee, the minority, they were the ones reporting these anonymous allegations. mr. hegseth. amna: there is nothing anonymous about the facts he has run two small nonprofits. i'm just asking about his management experience. sen. banks: what he did at pro veteran organizations is very important advocating for post-9/11 veterans. he did that very effectively on capitol hill. he was a big part of president trump's pro veteran initiative's first term. on top of that, he led hundreds of troops into battle, both in the army reserve in iraq where he served in the national guard. he served in afghanistan, like i did. he led troops into battle. to me, that is an incredible experience that prepares him to be a very good secretary of defense beauty has two bronze stars. he is decorated as a combat

veteran. he is well equipped to do this job and he will do it a lot better than the current guy in the world today. amna: you are a combat veteran as well. mr. hegseth has said in the past clearly he does not support women in combat. he changed his stance since he was nominated. i want to ask why you think he changed his mind. you believe him? sen. banks: i want to say rather he clarified his remarks. he talked about the importance of having strong standards. amna: all due respect he said very clearly there is no place for women in konta -- combat and changed it to say there is a place. sen. banks: he clarified the comments and talked about the importance of standards. as well as in recruitment. we have the biggest recruitment crisis in 50 years of an all volunteer force. we should not lower the standards for those that go into combat. that is what pete hegseth articulated today about women in combat. he talked about the important role women play in the military. i served in afghanistan with a lot of remarkable women that did

extraordinary things downrange in afghanistan. pete did as well. he articulated that very well today. amna: the rape allegation from 2017 came up the one mr. hegseth paid to settle. there is new reporting in the new yorker citing three sources that said senators including joni ernst and susan collins turned down offers to hear privately from hegseth's accuser. would you want the chance to meet with the accuser privately to be able to see through your due diligence in this advice and consent role? sen. banks: it is unfortunate that we deal with anonymous allegations and sources. if these people want to come forward and publicly make those claims they would be much more credible and taken more seriously. that has not happened. democrats on the committee repeated anonymous allegations today. amna: i want to clarify. i am asking if you would meet privately with the woman behind accusation in 2017.

sen. banks: sure, but nobody has reached out to me to do that. at this point we need to get pete hegseth on the job in the role of secretary of defense to clean up the mess over the last four years and that is why i fully support his confirmation. amna: republican senator jim banks of indiana. thank you for your time. we appreciate it. in his final report to the attorney general special counsel jack smith stood behind his decision to criminally charge president elect trump for efforts to overturn the 2020 election. in the 137 page report, smith again detailed the evidence he and his team amassed and would have presented at trial writing " but for mr. trump's election and imminent return to the presidency, the office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial." the

report was written before smith resigned from the department of justice last week. our william brangham has been following all the criminal investigations into the president-elect and joins us now. this is jack smith saying he is confident that he could have convicted trump but was blocked by a long-standing doj policy prohibiting the prosecution of a sitting president. what else did he have to say? william: federal prosecutors always say, as a general rule, that if we could have gone to trial we would have been able to convict the defendant. federal prosecutors by their nature do not indict people they do not have a great deal of confidence that they could win against. but, that said, this report is a summary. it is an encapsulation of all of the evidence his indictments have shown over the last year. there's nothing new in here. they are simply alleging donald trump new -- knew the 2020

election was lost, that joe biden beat him, that there was no widespread fraud, and refused to accept the results and then engaged in an unprecedented criminal effort to overturn the results of the election to attain power. the report details all the many ways we have talked about over the past year that trump allegedly, unlawfully, try to stay in power, pressuring state and local elections officials, pressuring department of justice officials, creating a fake electors scheme. pressuring mike pence. culminating with what smith alleges was donald trump's campaign of lies of a stolen election that drove the violent toward into the catholic -- violent horde into the capitol january 6 where 140 law enforcement officials were savagely beaten and attacked. and again, as you said, jack

smith says all that evidence, if i had been able to present it in court would have been persuasive. because trump won and the doj does not prosecute a sitting president, that case and all of the evidence got dropped. amna: mr. trump tried to block the report from being released. last night he criticized the release. he called jack smith a lame brain prosecutor. all along donald trump has alleged that this was a political democratic effort led by president biden to in his words weaponizes the justice department against him. did jack smith address any of that? william: he did. he reiterated this quite a bit in his report. smith goes to great lengths to reject the allegation writing "nobody was in the department of justice ever sought to interfere with or improperly influence my prosecutorial decision-making. " smith writes throughout that the decision in this case, and in all of them, was his and his

alone. he writes "the ultimate decision to brings charges against mr. trump was mine. it is a decision i stand behind fully." on the issue that president biden himself was somehow a puppetmaster in this smith says "for anybody who knows me, they know that idea is, in a word, laughable." amna: this report covered the january 6 investigation. there was another investigation by jack smith enter mr. trump's alleged mishandling of classified documents at his mar-a-lago estate. that is not in this report. we will ever see that volume? william: that volume is complicated. that case, as you remember, was dismissed by the judge. she argued jack smith was improperly appointed to his position. the report has been written. it is with the department of justice. but, the department has said they will not release it publicly, at least until the cases involving two of the other defendants in the case are

finished. maybe we will see it. we don't know. it will not be anytime soon. amna: thank you so much. william: thank you amna pure -- thank you amna. geoff: we returned to the confirmation hearing of secretary of defense nominee pete hegseth. we spoke earlier with republican senator jim banks and for another perspective we are joined by democratic senator camping duckworth -- tammy duckworth of illinois, who also serves on the senate armed services committee. today you confronted pete hegseth for his past combats opposing -- comments opposing women in combat roles. he says his comments were tied to instances where he saw standards lowered. how do you interpret that expect -- explanation? sen. duckworth: it doesn't hold

any water. the standards have not been lowered. the standards are the standards. he tried to make today's hearing about whether women are qualified to serve in combat when today's hearing was about whether pete hegseth is qualified to be secretary of defense. he could not ask the most basic questions i asked of him, like name a country in one of the most significant economic alliances and in the indo pacific. he could not name a single one. pete hegseth can do all he wants to try to make this about whether or not women are qualified to serve. this is about whether he is qualified to be secretary of defense. he did not show any capabilities to me today that he is able to do the job. geoff: he argued it is time for somebody with dust on his boots, as he put it, after years of president selecting generals, academics, defense contractors to serve as defense secretary's. when he said he would be a change agent and restore the warrior ethos in the military

why did democrats take issue? pentagon recruitment struggles are real. why not a different approach? sen. duckworth: the fact of the matter is he is asking us to lower the standards for him. listen, i have dust on my boots as well. in fact, my boots are still in iraq where i left them 20 years ago when my legs were blown off in combat. the effect of the matter is, the man is not qualified to serve as secretary of defense. it's not about being a change agent. it is about not being confident. i asked him to name three ways that the secretary of defense negotiates national security or security treaties with our allies. he could not name a single one. i asked a very basic questions that every secretary of defense should be able to answer. he could not answer a single one because he hadn't bothered to do the homework. he is focused on being a culture warrior. he is preventing what the job is, to be head of a 3 billion personal organization.

almost billion dollars. the last time he led an organization he so badly managed it physically they had to bring in forensic accountants. the bottom line is he is not competent to lead an organization of this size. he tried to make today's hearing about anything except the fact that he does not know what he is doing and would not know what he is doing as secretary of defense. geoff: democrats on the senate armed services committee haven't seen the background check on mr. hegseth and there are reports that it does not include interviews with his ex-wives or the women who accused him of sexual assault in 20, which he denies. have you gotten and explanation from the fbi or the biden justice department about delays in providing the background check or answers to your questions about the thoroughness of it? amna: the fbi background check

only looks at things the incoming trump administration asks them to look at. the fbi background check is actually something that must be requested by the donald trump transition team. they don't request to the fbi talk to the fbi. the women are not anonymous. we know who they are. they have come forward with their names. they are more than willing to talk to the fbi but they have not been questioned by the fbi. when we asked mr. hegseth today if the administration would request to the fbi talk to the women he said i don't know. i am not in charge of that. actually, he is. he would be the one to tell the trump transition team, let's ask at the fbi to these women. it is mr. hegseth's lawyers that have sent threatening messages to the women he paid off to keep his last job who accused him of

sexual misconduct. the lawyers sent threatening letters saying you had better not say anything bad about pete hegseth or we will come after you. this man wants this job. it is probably one of the toughest jobs you can have. he wants to lead the u.s. military but he is vulnerable to being blackmailed. he has already had to pay out somebody to keep his last job as a tv commentator. women are accusing him of sexual misconduct and he wants to lower their standards to become secretary of defense. geoff: democratic senator tammy duckworth thank you for joining us this evening. we appreciate it. >> israel and hamas are the closest they have been to a cease-fire in gaza, the board

from senior u.s. and israeli officials as well as a hamas statement. nick shiffer and is following all this and joins us now. what is in the deal and how close is it to being done? >> regional officials say they are as close as they have been since negotiating the deal beginning with phase one of the six week cease-fire during which hamas would release 33 is rated hostages, women, children, elderly, and wounded including five female soldiers. israel would release nearly 1000 palestinian detainees. 30 detainees for nearly every civilian hostages hamas releases, 50 for every single soldier hostage hamas releases. then israel would also facilitate the arrival of 600 humanitarian aid trucks every day. the united nations said the number today was 70. israeli forces would leave populated areas. let me show you how the leaving of populated areas would work on the map. israel would leave the corridor. you can see that in purple. it splits gaza in two.

it would remain on the edges of gaza including the cilla delphi core door that separates gaza from egypt. a regional official told me today hamas accepted the deal. but they are still working on "the map" and implementation. secretary of state antony blinken said they are on the brink of a deal. the finer initials -- issues, officials tell me are up where exactly to the meter israeli forces will be deployed along the border of gaza and the names and sequencing of the palestinian detainees, many hundreds of which are convicted of terrorism and face life sentences. >> if there is a deal and it holds, what comes after the initial six weeks? >> phase two would see another round of israeli hostages released. another round of palestinian detainees released. and a full israeli withdrawal from gaza. that begins phase three, the long-term phase. you would get the final is rated hostages left. sadly that would mostly be the bodies of many of the hostages who are believed to have died in captivity.

you will get the long-term plans for gaza and palestinian future. but that is a long way away. you have to get phase one, get through phase one. in order to do that, you have to get the israeli cabinet to agree on phase one and you heard today from the far right national security minister it to marvin -- itamar b. >> effectively erasing the gains of the blood of our fighters. >> he can't bring the government down himself. most of israel seems to support the deal that is being given to them more as a hostage release. nick: to your point about phase 3 being a long way away the biden administration crafted a plan for what happens after the war. is that right? nick: it was unveiled for the first time but set -- by secretary of state antony blinken today.

it is incredibly ambitious to say the least. the idea is to begin by creating an interim palestinian government that "fully reformed the palestinian authority". international troops would provide security in gaza. lincoln said the country that would contribute to troops would only do so if israel committed to a time bound conditions based path towards forming an independent palestinian state. that is, to say the least, not something the israeli government has ever been willing to do, at least this version of the israeli government. a senior israeli official told me tonight this is a nonstarter. if they were to agree the palestinian authority would not be "capable" of doing it. antony blinken in his speech criticized everyone. arabs across the region for their "deafening silence" on hamas and israeli tactics in gaza for having created as many hamas recruits as they had

killed. geoff: tracking it all as always. thank you, nick. amna: immigration has been a it immigration has been white-hot political issue for years, and helped propel donald trump back into the white house. the incoming president has promised mass deportations and is expected to issue a slew of related executive orders soon after being sworn-in. seeing those through will be up to the men and women of the department of homeland security . and i spoke with the outgoing secretary - alejandro mayorkas - earlier today amna: mr. secretary, welcome back to the newshour. thanks for being here. sec.: mayorkas: thanks for having me on. amna: i need to start with the news out of los angeles, which we should point out is your hometown area. and these fires continue to rage there. very dangerous high winds also predicted through tomorrow. what do you see ahead and when do you see, given the resources on the ground, that these fires can be brought under control? sec. mayorkas: so amna it is indeed devastating. it is my hometown. i know many people who

have lost their homes. it's quite tragic. it really depends on circumstances that are out of our control, that are out of the control of the firefighters. you mentioned that we have to see where we are tomorrow because the area is expecting very high winds today and tomorrow. so the weather is a great uncertainty. but there are incredibly heroic firefighters and first responders who are doing everything they can to save as many homes as possible. and, of course, the top priority to save lives. amna: we are speaking at a time of enormous threats, both internal and foreign. and the new year attack in new orleans was a clear reminder of that. 14 people killed in that terrorist attack and dozens more wounded. you have said that you have spoken with your nominated successor, south dakota governor kristi noem, several times. give us a sense of what kind of questions she's asking about the nature of these threats, about

how serious these threats are, both foreign inspired and domestic violent extremist threats. and and what's your message been to her on this? sec. mayorkas: i don't want to get into the specifics of my conversations with the secretary nominee, a governor noem. i will say this, our conversations have been substantive and they have been focused on what people whom we serve in the department of homeland security need. we spoke a number of times on and around january 1st. we have spoken a number of times about the tragic wildfires that are ravaging, ravaging through southern california. our conversations have been substantive. and i've deeply appreciated her focus on the well-being of people impacted by these tragedies. amna: governor noem has no law enforcement background, no experience running an agency of this size. the dhs budget is

some 15 times the size of the entire south dakota state budget. does any of that worry you? sec. mayorkas: governor noem has been a governor of a state. she has been in congress. i am confident that if the senate confirms her, which i believe everyone expects they will, that she will take care of the needs of our department and advance our mission and support the incredible 260,000 people that comprise the department of homeland security here in this country and around the world. amna: you have faced a lot of criticism about immigration enforcement, in particular from republicans during your time at dhs. and we were seeing record high border numbers under president biden. there was absolutely a bipartisan deal that would have addressed a lot of that, that republicans spiked under pressure from president trump. but president biden also didn't take new executive action until june of last year. and that action has now resulted in, what, a 60% drop in encounters at the us southern border. i'm

sure you've seen there was an interview given by the outgoing ice director, a man named p.j. lechleitner, who said that mr. biden should have taken that kind of action sooner. he said in part, this. "the administration should have taken the action earlier. i think the career people and a dhs would have liked that we had all of us in dhs, quite frankly, i don't know if anybody in dhs wouldn't have wanted that earlier." is he wrong? sec. mayorkas:so so amna let me say where we are now. and let me answer your question first. where we are now, we are delivering to the incoming administration the most secure border in years. the monthly average number of encounters now is lower than they were in 2019. so we have taken executive action. the president took executive action. we in the department of homeland security swiftly and effectively implemented it. let's take a step back and remember where we were. we entered it, this administration in the midst of

the covid 19 pandemic. at that time, title 42, the public health authority was in place. the public health authority was no longer needed as a matter of the state of public health in may of 2023, and it was lifted. everyone expected calamity to follow 18,000 20,000 encounters a day. those never materialized. we then went to congress after the lifting of title 42 and sought the much needed resources. we sought funding for more border patrol agents, more ice officers, more asylum officers, more immigration judges. we were denied. we then returned to congress with a second request. the need being so compelling, we were again then denied and we moved into the bipartisan senate negotiations that actually produced a transformative piece of legislation, the first in almost 30 years. only to see it politically torpedoed. and in

light of that, the president quickly took executive action, which is now being litigated in the courts. the enduring solution is legislation. amna: mr. secretary, your critics, though, will point out if this was a priority for the administration, the president could have taken that executive action even earlier, being able to say if congress won't act, then i will. what do you say to that? sec mayorkas: and then it would be litigated earlier and the outcome is is still uncertain. the president, on day one, presented to congress legislative reform. we have advocated for and supported legislative reform every day since. that is the solution to a broken immigration system. amna: we know president elect trump has pledged to carry out mass deportations, this idea of using the us military on u.s. soil to help with detention efforts and deportation efforts. what could that look like? and is that a good idea, in your view? mayorkas: i think it's very difficult to speculate what it could look like. we hear

different things being said about what their intentions are. amna: you don't believe they'll actually carry out mass deportations on the scale problem? -- scale promised? mayorkas: that is not what i said. we are hearing different things and different things bring different consequences. we have to see what will materialize in the meantime. the rhetoric has instilled a great deal of fear in communities, including amongst those who've been in this country for decades and who have been contributing mightily to the prosperity of our country. amna: you are days away from stepping away from this post. what is this moment like for you? in terms of the landscape that you're handing off to the next team? sec. mayorkas: we are handing off a department that is stronger, more efficient, more effective, more cohesive than ever before. it is handling a wider variety of challenges than as ever in the case, whether it be the threat of domestic

violent extremism, the persistent threat of foreign terrorism, the threat of extreme weather events that have increased in frequency and gravity, whether it is the attacks of adverse nation states. it's a remarkable landscape of challenges, with a remarkable group of 260,000 men and women who meet those challenges every day. amna: what's this moment like personally for you as you step away? mayorkas: it's a moment of tremendous pride, tremendous pride in the people whom i have worked alongside and supported for four years. amna: outgoing secretary of homeland security alejandro mayorkas. mr. secretary, thank you for your time. appreciate it. sec mayorkas: thank you, amna. geoff: thanks for spending part

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hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour and company." here's what's coming up -- >> we need megan other nature te us a break. >> dangerous winds threaten to undo progress already made. and trump's 24-hour detroit lion for ending russia's ukraine war slips. foreign policy ex