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tonight, we are turning again to the greater los angeles area where firefighters are now fighting five wild fires at once. collectively they have burned more than 25,000-acre ins the past 36 hours. completely destroying at least 1,000 buildings. two schools have been completely destroyed and all schools in the los angeles unified school district which is the second biggest school district in the united states that they will be closed tomorrow because of the crisis playing out in los angeles. these are all happening in relatively dense urban areas and they forced 100,000 residents to evacuate their homes. to cut off power for hundreds of thousands of customers and left at least five people dead. to understand how the fires got so bad, experts are pointing to

wind and water. in cold months, california faces a unique topographical threat. the santa ana winds. pockets of air from the desert in the east race down the mountains toward lower pressure pockets of air by the coast. the west. that air gets faster and warmer as it literally races downhill which is how the wind has created gusts of up to 100 miles per hour around these fires. now these winds are abnormally strong. the strongest in more than a decade. but experts do not think that they alone would have caused fires this destructive. those winds were made extra dangerous by the rain and the lack there of in southern california. over the past few years. 2022 and 2023 were some of the wettest rainy seasons ever recorded in southern california. but a lot of the region has seen less than a quarter inch of rain in the past few months.

that comes after a summer of record breaking heat. that means all the vegetation, all of that spend years growing. especially in the wet years only to spend the past eight months drying out and becoming giant piles of fuel for these fires. normally, los angeles would start seeing rain in the month of november which would lower the fire risk but it did not this year and that confluence of factors, the abnormally strong winds and the vegetation, both of those factors are getting worse because of climate change. those factors are what experts are saying made these fires so bad. as to why these fires have been so hard to put out, well officials are also pointing to wind and water. overnight last night, the winds were so strong that all fire

fighting aircraft were grounded. without air support to do water drops, firefighters on the ground were stuck fighting the flames alone. not only did that mean the firefighters had to fight four major fires across different corners of the region, but it also meant strong winds picked up embers, sending them miles from the main fires themselves and creating small spot fires in what is being called ember casting. even with 9,000 firefighters in los angeles county, that meant personnel was spread incredibly thin. here was the la county fire chief anthony marrone earlier today. >> there are not enough firefighter ins la county to address four separate fires of this magnitude. we are doing the best we can, but no, we do not have enough fire personnel in la county between all of the department to handle this. >> to make matters worse, water for firefighters hoses was in

short supply. la's high grant system primarily relies on three large water tanks. each one holding around a million gallons. by 3:00 a.m. last night, they had all run dry. 15 hours of fighting multiple major fires at once had depleted the tanks faster than they could be refilled. now tonight, thankfully, the winds have calmed down enough for the fire fighting aircraft to provide air support. additional firefighters are also on their way coming from all across california as well as arizona and they are expected as early as tonight. and president biden has signed a major disaster declaration. although the winds will continue to die down throughout tonight, another round of powerful santa ana winds could pick up again as early as

tomorrow afternoon. officials warn despite what is now nearly 36 hours of continuous fire fighting from la's 9,000 firefighters, four of the five major fires are still at 0% containment. and could continue to spread. evacuation zones around these fires have expanded multiple times in the past 24 hours. and officials ask that anyone near the fires keep up to date on all evacuation orders and warnings. pack a go bag, make an evacuation plan and leave immediately when ordered to do so. we go now to nbc news correspondent morgan chesky who is live. what can you tell me about the status of the fire there? >> reporter: alex, the status is heartbreaking.

we are here in altadena. this time yesterday, it was 4,000 acres. it is hard to fathom how this time tonight, we are looking at a blaze that is now 10,000 acres and responsible for claiming five lives and what is important to say is that it is still very much actively burning in and around the hills of this area. we have had a chance to report on some of the fire fight. when we saw an apartment building engulfed in flames, i saw the fire engine pull up this afternoon, a fire captain had one of his firefighters attach a hose to a hydrant and that hose didn't fill up. out of every ten hydrants you

attached to, how much water did you get? >> little to none. >> reporter: and they realized there was nothing they could do except spray what little water they had on an opposing building to keep the fire from spreading. that will certainly be one of the aspects of this fire fight that we will focus on. i don't know that i have ever covered a fire and seen so many firefighters and so many fire trucks and so little water being used on one blaze after another. this generational disaster happening near in southern california, a gentleman pulled up in his car with his wife. while we were watching that same apartment building burn. he wanted to check on his mother's home next door. he was relieved to see it was still standing. when he realized there was no water you could see him become crest fallen in an instant.

i asked him, have you been personally impacted by this elsewhere? he said between myself and my wife, we have five family members who have lost homes as a result of this fire. that is one of four, perhaps five burning in this area. still burning at this hour and it will be burning this time tomorrow. >> that is a catastrophic situation, morgan. the image of firefighters with water run dry is terror. what can you tell us about other methods? >> we have seen some aircraft return to the sky. there is a hope that they can make some progress. although i should add there is

only a limited amount of fire fighting that they can do under cover of darkness. the massive planes during the day don't operate at night. if there is any solace here whatsoever, it is that the winds have somewhat died down and crews can position themselves in more defensive areas. but alex, you walk up and down, this main thoroughfare, just in a few minute's time. you will meet someone, if they have not personally lost a home, who have lost a business. may have lost both. >> morgan, you are doing some essential reporting there. this is an unfathomable level of destruction. thank you morgan. stay safe. i want to note a brush fire has broken out in the hollywood hills area of los angeles near

runyan canyon. a mandatory evacuation order has now been issued for that area. we will get more on all of this as we talk with ariel cohen, a meteorologist with the national weather service in los angeles. dr. cohen, i think a lot of people, we have so many questions, all of us. about the magnitude, the scope of these fires and the first thing that strikes me as unusual are the winds and how fierce they are. can you talk about how unusual these winds are in terms of their velocity and ongoing status? >> we have truly had some of the most historic combinations of winds, wind storm that combined with very dry conditions. fuel and vegetation for the

fires to burn through. from all the precipitation we got, it led to these very catastrophic circumstances. >> there were these two years of deluge in 2022 and 2023. really wet seasons in california. and then there was this year has been incredibly dry. the feast or famine aspect of all of this, how unusual is that, that you would have really wet and really dry seasons? >> it is certainly not common. what we have seen the past 24 hours are apocalyptic scenes. no other way to put it. and that is something that really is a once in a lifetime or even much longer outcome.

the main message here is that everyone need to remain at a high state of readiness. have multiple ways to receive emergency information from law enforcement. when the evacuation orders come, you must take those seriously and evacuate, your life depends on it. >> it seems like the destruction is going at a ferocious clip. the winds are expected to strike back up again tomorrow right? >> we are seeing the strongest winds now having passed at this point. talking about wind gusts over the san gabriels and the santa monica mountains pushing 80 to 100 miles per hour reported during the overnight hours last night. while those winds are weakening

considerably, they will remain strong, 50 to 70 miles per hour in the mountains. the nearby valley areas, the san fernando, santa monica and the malibu coast vicinity. we'll have a tremendous amount of potential for fires to spread rapidly. to spot and cause new fires to form ahead of them with explosive fire growth. we have red flag warnings remaining in effect that indicate the volatile combination remains there for fires to grow rapidly. everyone need to stay vigilant. don't go to bed without having multiple ways of receiving emergency information. >> dr. cohen, it is quite a time to be looking at these images in los angeles. >> our hearts go out to

everyone. on behalf of the national weather service, you know, these are our communities. these are our people. it is so heartbreaking to see the devastation that occurred. and i just want to make sure that everyone knows we are here for them. we work closely with emergency management. fire agencies. law enforcement. so that we have a community response to have people be prepared. our deepest sympathies and heart go out to everyone affected. >> dr. cohen, thank you so much for your time. we will be monitoring the situation throughout the hour. coming up, a new report on what donald trump did just hours before asking the supreme court for a really big favor. here's a hint. it involves justice samuel alito. first, the deadly fires continue to burn in los angeles

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get xfinity streamsaver with netflix, apple tv+, and peacock included, for only $15 a month. impossible for me to express the level of appreciation and cooperation we have received from the white house in this administration. on behalf of all of us mr. president, thanks for being there. not just today, thank you for being here since the beginning of this incident.

>> that was california governor gavin newsom with president biden. as the governor receives support from the outgoing president. the incoming president is throwing barbs. president-elect trump attacked governor newsom writing on truth social, governor gavin newscum refused to sign the water declaration that would have allowed millions of gallons of water to flow into many parts of california. h e is the blame for this. governor newsom said there is no such document as the water restoration declaration and that is pure fiction. governor newsom himself responded. >> people are literally fleeing. people have lost their lives. kids lost their schools. families completely torn asunder. churches burned down. this guy wanted to politicize it. i have a lot of thoughts and i

know what i want to say. i won't. i stood next to the president of the united states today and was proud to be with joe biden and he has the backs of every single person in this community. he doesn't play politics. >> joining me now is charlie sykes, a columnist at the atlantic. charlie, first of all, what is your reaction to this situation as we go through these horrifying images. a major american city being laid to waste by these unmanageable fires and this is the incoming president's reaction. >> it's a catastrophe of a global magnitude. there will be a time to assess responsibility. to request questions about why are the firefighters not getting water. but this is not that moment.

people may think this is normal. but there was a time when a disaster like this would bring out the best in americans. we would pull together. let's put aside partisan politics and assure the people of southern california that this country has their back. we are united and we will do what it takes. donald trump does not have that instinct. he just won the presidency. he is about to assume the presidency. and yet, his first instinct is to lash out. is to politicize. is to make up declarations that didn't exist. to use juvenile nicknames for the governor of california. i guess the juxtaposition of the seriousness of the tragedy and the unseriousness and the demagoguery of donald trump should be breathtaking except we have seen this. but for anyone who thinking that he has been sobered by his

return to power or that he will grow in office, no. this is his first instinct is to lash out and score points and to see this through the crudest political lens. and this is who donald trump is. and i suppose we shouldn't be surprised. the problem is how will this translate into his presidency and the way the federal government deals with these disasters in the future? we have seen some troubling indications in the past. >> i think the rhetoric is to pit americans against each other. for donald trump to tie water management to the bay delta

area is nothing short of irresponsible and it is happening at a time when the metropolitan water district has the most water stored in its system in the history of the agency. it is not a matter of having enough water coming from northern california to put out a fire. it is about the continued devastating impacts of a changing climate. we just spoke with a meteorologist. we are talking about climate exchanges. years of deluge. years of drought. vegetation that grows and gets bone dry. and then winds that are exacerbated and increased by climate change. all of those coming together on the city of los angeles. that's what's happening now. to ask for donald trump to first of all lead on this and to diagnose a problem here now on our doorstep. the climate problem we face. as a country, as a globe.

seemslike an impossibility. >> is it too much to ask he not lie? this kind of rhetoric phrase, one question you have to ask is how does it help? is he contributing to the solution? is his rhetoric going to make it more likely that los angeles survives? that lives are saved? that houses are protected? that schools are able to be shielded from this? what does he accomplish by his rhetoric except to scratch the id of his grievances. and we have had reports from his first term that he considered not giving federal disaster aid to certain states because he didn't like the politics of their governor. this is the real danger. will he, because we know how vindictive he is. at this moment of maximum tragedy and danger, if he cannot restrain himself, what can we expect when he gets back

into office? there will be a massive rebuilding. there will be more disasters like this. how will donald trump respond? will he try to take it out on his political opponents? will he see everything through the lens of his own ego and his resentments? this becomes more than simply mean tweets. this raises questions about will he be the president of all americans and the president who wants to solve problems instead of scoring these petty points? >> this is where it tips from just rhetoric and nastiness and donald trump's bad behavior into a real issue in terms of americans getting the help they need. you mentioned what happened in his first term. he was actually going to withhold aid from california after the 2018 wild fires until his aides showed him there were parts of orange county, california that supported trump and because of that, he relented. and that happened in puerto

rico after hurricane maria. he delayed aid to washington state which was run by a democrat for four months. he told the governors of connecticut and maryland they should ask nicely for their disaster aid. he delayed disaster aid to the state of georgia by 55 days because he was mad at governor kemp for certifying the election. he delayed aid to utah after the governor certified biden's victory. this is what he did in the first term. i wonder what you think of the road ahead for a man as he comes in. probably even more emboldened in the second term to punish his quote unquote enemies and what that means in a moment like this where he is looking at the same images we are and this is his response. >> you know, alex, that list you just read is breathtaking. we ought to remember that. but i guess one of the differences with trump 2.0,

there were apparently some grown-ups who told him you shouldn't do this. will they be there in this next term? the people he is surrounded himself with now are the ones who i think are going to reenforce in of his worse instincts. not tell him no, you cannot take out your resentment against governor newsom who you call this ridiculous nickname. you cannot take that out on the american citizens, on the american people who have been impacted by this. who will be the people who will say that? is steven miller going to tell him things like that? will the people, the maga acolytes, will they be the ones who appeal to the better angel of his nature? the fact is we know what his instincts are. we saw it in his first term. he was dissuaded from the worst

most damaging things. it is not clear that will happen again this next time. and again, to your point, he is seeing these images and if these images do not sober you, make you think these are our fellow americans. fellow human beings. this is a catastrophe. this is a tragedy. if you don't have that instinct, then i think it is tremendously troubling commentary on the man about to become president of the united states. >> yeah. i mean, we know from governor newsom how special white house support is, in critical moments like these. we look toward january 20th to see what's next. charlie, thanking you so much for your time. >> thank you. still to come this evening, donald trump, a hail mary to the supreme court to try to get out of his criminal sentencing. we will talk about it with lisa rubin and mark joseph stern coming up next. joseph stern coming up next.

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donald trump's sentencing in the hush money case is just two days away and he is throwing. he argues that justices should block his sentencing because he is protected by the court eats

ruling on presidential immunity. blanche and bovey have been nominated to take top positions in the justice department and if confirmed they will go from fighting the law on trump's behalf to enforcing it. today, justice sonya sotomeyer told new york prosecutors to respond to trump's request by 10:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. as the court signals an interest in trump's appeal, abc news is reporting and nbc has confirmed that justice samuel alito spoke with donald trump by phone tuesday in a call initiated by trump to recommend one of alito's former law clerks for a job in the incoming trump administration. in the statement justice alito said we did not discuss the filing and was not aware such an application would be filed at the time of our conversation. joining me now are lisa rubin

and mark joseph stern. guys, thank you for being here, because it is samuel alito, i first need your reaction to just a friendly phone call between buddies. your thoughts? >> i think there is a zero percent chance that sam alito is telling the truth when he says he did not know this emergency application would be filed. trump and his legal team made it clear. alito reads the news. he doesn't live in a hole. so i think that he was well aware when he got this phone call that it would look really bad at a minimum and raise a lot of questions about what he discussed and he still decided to have the conversation. and to do so, about someone who is going to be apparently a low level appointee in this administration. we are not talking about an

appeals court judge or potential attorney general. we are talking someone who might be general council at a federal agency. the idea that trump needed alito to vouch for him and needed him to do so at this moment because it was so urgent, i mean, it really does not pass the sniff test and something was going on here. >> basically, alito has said middle finger to the optics of me being partisan whether it is my wife raising an insurrectionist flag or taking a call with important business before the court. do you think this signals the court will take this up and take up? >> it is likely we will hear from the court before friday. but it doesn't necessarily mean we will have the outcome that trump would like it to have.

this is justice sotomeyer wanting them to have a fair briefing. they could make a decision prior to friday with ample time to do so. >> mark, how do you read the tea leaves on this? this is based on the presidential immunity ruling handed down by this very conservative supreme court. >> i think there is a good chance the supreme court will step in and halt the sentencing and run interference for donald trump yet again. and claim judge merchan in new york allowed for illegitimate testimony. i don't like this prediction. i think it should be laughed out of court. this court has a track record of stepping in and twisting, contorting the law to help trump when ever it needs to and the fact that the court is acting quickly making sure it can get all of the filing in before friday means there is a real chance they will step in

and say the sentencing cannot happen. >> trump's lawyers are contending presidential immunity extends to president- elects. and being a convicted felon is not a good thing when you are trying to carry out presidential duties. it is not great to be a convicted felon in america and a lot of convicted felons can tell you just how much of a mark that is against you even after you served your time. is there some weight to that argument? >> that it would be to him to have this conviction on his record? i don't think it animates any of the concerns the court was thinking about when it issued the immunity ruling. they were concerned about distraction in terms of the time it took away from the president as well as the person being under the shadow of investigation while conducting their job. simply being sentenced doesn't do that. the fact this man had already been convicted by a jury of 34

felony counts didn't stop him from being elected so the idea that this is going to stigmatize him in some way, that will be irreversible is also kind of laughable when he is going to be ten days away from his second inauguration. >> he was convicted of the felony, but he is not a convicted felon until he is sentenced so there is some meaningful difference between who he is on thursday and friday. >> judge merchan said i don't intend to sentence him to any penalties whatsoever. his intent is to give him an unconditional discharge. no penalty whatsoever. donald trump just doesn't want the label. >> mark, you know, the court

waited so long to hand down the immunity ruling to render jack's work moot. if they move in 48 hours, what do you think the effects are in terms of the public perception of this court? >> the effect should be devastateing to the court. the american people saw fit to return trump to office and didn't mind the court stepping in to run interference for him. i think the reality, too, here, is that the law has already been contorted to such an extreme degree that i don't know how much more damage scotus could do to it in this particular case. what we are seeing is chief justice robert's immunity opinion working as it was intended to work. it is gunking up the justice system. it is a very confusing inprecise ambiguous opinion on

purpose. he did not explain the difference between an official act and unofficial act and raised more questions than he answered and as the dissenters pointed out at the time and they were clearly correct, all this did was give trump ample fodder to delay, delay, delay. and appeal every single adverse decision against him on the grounds that there might be some plausible argument that he could seize immunity and use it to prevent prosecution in the future. i think the court's image is already pretty tarnished. i'm not sure that decisioning is breaking through to the american people as it should. but when trump doesn't face prison time would represent one of the more egregious extensions of that immunity decision i could contemplate. >> with justices like these, who needs a separate and coequal branch of government? lisa and mark, stick around. i have so much more to ask you

about. coming up, the president- elect is desperate to stop jack smith's final rereport being released. will he be successful? that's next. released. will he be successful? that's next. [♪♪] do you own a dishwasher, but only use it for storage or as a drying rack? get better results than hand washing, with your dishwasher and cascade complete. your dishwasher does the work for you, with temperatures up to 140 degrees - too hot for hands. some dishwashers even have a sanitizing cycle. load pots, pans and tableware at the bottom, with plastic and glassware on top. cascade complete removes visible and invisible residue, for virtually spot-free and shiny dishes. switch to your dishwasher, and cascade complete.

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you'll also receive $1,500 off your entire order! yes! $1,500 off the price of our brand-new safe step walk-in tub. proudly made in tennessee, a safe step walk-in tub is the best in its class. the ultra-low easy step helps keep you safe from having to climb over those high walled tubs, allowing you to age gracefully in the home you love. now you can enjoy the best of both worlds. the therapeutic benefits of a warm, soothing bath, that can help increase mobility, relieve pain, boost energy, and even improve sleep! or, if you prefer, you can take refreshing shower with our stand-up shower package remember, if you call during national bath safety month you'll receive a free safety package plus $1,500 off! with 12 days to go until donald trump is inaugurated and he cleans house at the justice department, the race is onto salvage what remains of jack

smith's two criminal cases against trump. all that is left is the two volume report outlining the investigation and charging of both the 2020 election interference case against trump and the criminal case over trump's alleged mishandling of classified documents. today, the special council's office revealed that attorney general merrick garland is planning to release part of the report to the public. the volume about trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 election. but that now rests at the 11th circuit court of appeals. joining me now is lisa rubin and mark joseph stern. lisa, why can't the attorney general release this report? >> because judge cannon of the southern district of florida was the judge with the mar-a- lago documents case. before she decided that it was unconstitutional for a special counsel to have brought that case in the first place. she decided yesterday that she

was going to temporarily enjoin the attorney general jack smith and anybody working with either one of them not only from releasing the final report and by that, she didn't distinguish between the volumes. >> because they are all bundled together. >> though she doesn't have jurisdiction technically over that portion of the report, she enjoined the release of the report and also said to them you can't even convey to people the contents or information of the report in any way beyond the department of justice. that means merrick garland can't release without being in non-compliance. >> so this goes to the 11th circuit court of appeals n. the before times, that would have been a very conservative court that might not do the bidding of someone who was basically running up against the incoming republican president. but has been sort of you know, a bastien of level headedness.

what is your expectation is? >> i don't think the 11th circuit will back up judge cannon and i want to clarify, judge cannon left ahead of the 11th circuit. trump and his codefendant filed these requests at the 11th circuit with judge cannon at the same time. if the 11th circuit had wanted to block the release of this report, it could have done so already but it didn't. it chose not to. that is a good omen i think and suggests that it will not ultimately try to block any of this report. but judge cannon wouldn't wait. she couldn't wait for the superior court. judge cannon does not have jurisdiction. it is not her case anymore. she said i am going to step in and shield trump and his codefendants from the release of any part of this report.

this is a great example of her working entirely without authority outside of her lane. >> it is par for the course for aileen cannon. she has made a number of these calls that have ultimately humiliated her. >> i don't know that aileen cannon sees it that way. if anything, she feels celebrated by the right. and you saw that with trump going out of his way to praise her. >> in terms of bad ruling. >> the 11th circuit slapped her down twice during the investigative phase. she tried to appoint a special master to oversee all of the discovering in the case. really prevent the law enforcement agencies here from making use of the things they seized from mar-a-lago in the first place.

it was because of that the indictment was delayed longer than it would have been though this case was indicted in june of 2023. yes. she is a judicial max mallist for all the reasons mark was outlining. grabbing authority and power she doesn't have to return what has now become a predictable result for donald trump. >> you know, if the 11th circuit rules in favor of the doj. if this report comes out, what import do you think it has? what weight do you think it will carry? >> i think it will prove conclusively that jack smith was right to bring the charges. and, that there is a very credible case that trump committed serious crimes. there is a great deal of evidence we

have not seen. the public deserve to see that. and frankly, even if judge cannon try to suppress this report and keep it from the public, maybe joe biden and merrick garland decide that immunity decision the supreme court handed down, it works for democratic presidents, too. maybe joe biden needs to step in and ensure the public sees this record of crime because otherwise, trump will step in and wipe it off the books forever. >> lisa and mark, thank you both for your time and wisdom guys. appreciate you. coming up, we will check again on the raging wild fires in los angeles. the latest from california is coming up next. rnia is coming up next. let's monopoly go! friends are like money. keke, i won again? they make everything more fun. and you can never have enough!

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across los angeles county, at least five people are dead and more than 100,000 are under mandatory evacuation orders as multiple wild fires continue to rage across the area, there is a new fast moving fire that has started in the hollywood hills. right now, it is being referred to as the sunset fire. and the los angeles fire department has issued a mandatory evacuation for parts of that area, msnbc will continue to follow this destructive situation as we have more information throughout the evening. so please stay with our coverage. but as of now, that is our show for tonight. now it is time for the last word with lawrence o'donnell. >> good evening. the entire city of los angeles, the entire region has fire

spreading through it from the