So Cal Death Toll Rises
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It's Monday, January 13th, right now on CNN This Morning. The biggest concern that I have right now is the fact that we are still in such a dangerous situation. Death toll rising, crews facing new dangers this week in the fight against the flames ripping across Southern California. Plus... There is a serious lack of competent governance in California, and I think it's part of the reason why these fires have gotten so bad.

Blame game: the incoming Trump administration pointing fingers at California Democrats over the disastrous fires. And... The rubber hits the road this week with all of these hearings on the cabinet. Confirmation showdown: some of Donald Trump's most critical and controversial cabinet selections facing questions from lawmakers on Capitol Hill this week. And then, quote, "Trump is the incentive." How ceasefire and hostage talks between Hamas and Israel could be moving closer to crossing the finish line.

All right, it is 6:00 AM here on the East Coast to live. Look at Charlotte, NC on this Monday morning. Good morning everyone. I'm Casey Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us. It probably feels like the nightmare will never end as people in Southern California face a six straight day of deadly wildfires. Crews still at it with winds expected to intensify again this week. At least 24 people have lost their lives.

The Palisades fire still largely uncontained and it's already the most destructive fire in LA County history. One local official says more than 5000 homes have been wiped out in the Palisades fire alone. Thousands losing everything in a matter of hours, including one family who lost their daughter's ashes. We had a daughter 15 years ago. She'd be 15 and she passed away when she was one and her ashes were in our home and

They're gone. Like every memory, every piece of physical evidence of her life is just gone and that hurts. Critical fire conditions flaring up once again with the National Weather Service warning of a quote particularly dangerous situation by midweek. All of this threatening to fuel the major fires which have already burned more than 40,000 acres in just under a week. That is an area bigger than the size of Paris, France.

California Governor Gavin Newsom says fire crews are moving into hot spots in advance.

So I'm up here in Mandeville Canyon, which was the site in the last two nights of tremendous investment of resources. Firefighters working the line, a lot of those assets still here, not only in anticipation of potential flare up here in the Palisades fire, but also pre-positioned as we're pre-positioning in many counties throughout the state of California because of the upcoming winds we're expecting. Monday, peaking Monday night into Tuesday, extending into Wednesday.

Joining me now to discuss the latest is Brian Rice, the president of the California Professional Firefighters. Brian, welcome back to the show. Thank you so much for being with us. We did hear from the governor overnight about pre-positioning fire crews for more potential flare-ups. What do you think is the scale of the risk of that here? I think that

for the next couple of days and the governor said it through Wednesday, there's a pretty large spread of a red flag warning. I think the threat is very real and that the state of California is moving resources in to match, I can't say match that threat, but in anticipation of that threat. The threat's real.

So, sir, at this point, I mean, what do you think are the biggest risks from these winds? Which neighborhoods do you think are potentially more at risk than others? And what does that mean for your crews?

Well, right now, it looks like the big threats are talking about the Brentwood area, the Santa Monica area that the governor mentioned, Mandeville Canyon. In some of these areas on the northern end of the Palisades fire, you're seeing areas that haven't had a fire in some cases up to 40 years. So you're seeing a much higher fuel load.

they know that. They're getting resources in there. But Casey, it's like I said, every time I've spoken to you, the weather matters here. It's still dry. The humidity levels are coming up a little bit. I think that they probably

aren't beginning to see the type of overnight recovery in the dew point and the humidity levels that they want to see. But it's not single digit like it was when this fire started. And right now, it all matters. And it is the neighborhoods that are in front of the flame front. And then some of the things that add to that, you know, the islands of areas in the burn that haven't

burned. They were saved. They were saved. The fire moved around them. Those pose a threat to you don't want to see a start in those areas that help fuel a flame front.

So, sir, what are you hearing from firefighters on the ground about what they may need here? I mean, are they running into any issues along the lines of, obviously, there's already been investigations called for and apparently launched into why the hydrants ran dry and the palisades, for example. Are there any other issues like that that you're hearing from crews? And what are they telling you about how residents can best help them right now?

Some of the things that I've spoken to last night with one of the crews, a leader on a USAR team,

their morale is very, very high. They're starting to roll into getting some rest periods. But the reason that the morale is high is, you know, there's a lot of interaction with the community. As firefighters rotate off the line, they'll have those connections in some areas as they're transversing or going towards the fire line. They connect with citizens.

And those interactions mean everything. You hear their stories. A person asks you for help or what did you see in this area? And people are tired. There'll be time for exhaustion and there'll be a time to get rest when the wind stops blowing and we see our containment numbers go up.

I'm glad to hear that you are hearing that morale is high because of how much support they're getting from the community. That is at least something positive to look to in what is obviously an incredibly difficult and continuing to be a very dangerous situation. Brian Rice, I've been so grateful to have you. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you, Casey.

All right, straight ahead here on CNN This Morning, President-elect Trump's cabinet picks begin their biggest test yet. They've got their confirmation hearings, what they could reveal about how far their loyalty to Donald Trump goes. And California officials fending off criticism from Trump and his allies over the wildfires raging in the L.A. area. Plus, we'll, of course, bring you the latest from on the ground in L.A. as some people try to find a return to normalcy in the midst of a nightmare.

That frankly reminded me of visiting war zones, seeing that kind of devastation, just house after house, block after block. There are whole neighborhoods are gone. The rubber hits the road this week with all of these hearings on the cabinet. And then when President Trump takes office next Monday, there is going to be shock and awe with executive orders. What President Trump said the number one goal for the Senate needs to be to get his team in place.

Big week ahead for President-elect Donald Trump and his cabinet picks, with Senate confirmation hearings kicking off tomorrow. One of Trump's more controversial choices, the former Fox News host Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense, will answer questions in the morning, along with Doug Collins for Veterans Affairs and Doug Burgum as Interior Secretary. The President-elect's nominees have undergone rigorous preparations ahead of the hearings. They've included study sessions, mock hearings, and coaching from Republican senators who expect Democrats to try to slow walk the process.

They're going to do everything they possibly can to delay making America great again by making sure every nominee that President Trump has chosen is actually fulfilling the responsibilities of the job.

Joining us now to discuss all of this, Jerusalem Demsah, staff writer for The Atlantic, Alex Thompson, CNN political analyst, Axios national political reporter, Megan Hayes, former Biden White House director of message planning, and Matt Gorman, former senior advisor to Tim Scott's presidential campaign. Welcome to all of you. Thank you guys for being here.

Matt Gorman, Pete Hegseth is going to be the one that's particularly in focus here out of the gate coming up this week. What do you expect from him? Because this really, I mean, he managed to stave off

the criticism that could have derailed his nomination before he got to this moment. But of course, the hearing itself is a point of risk. It is. He does this for a living, though, or at least he did up until about a month and a half ago. So I think, you know, having a television personality is, you know, certainly an advantage in this exact scenario. And I'm sure Trump thought about that as well. Look, I think...

You're absolutely right. He was in the precipice about 50 days ago of whether or not they were floating DeSantis, you know, does he stay and does he not. I'd say he more than steadied the ship. Look, I think right now, bottom line, there might be Republican defections. That does not mean they will not get confirmed. We're likely looking at every one of these, barring unforeseen events, getting confirmed.

are there any points and that you see jerusalem where there may be a nominee and actually about our k_ junior in this case who actually gets crosswise with republicans which seems to be likely the biggest potential risk we are case clearly the person who might receive the most public and affections because of you know when he's not really a traditional member of the republican coalition

But I think you have to remember it's very rare. He was a Kennedy, a longtime member of a massive Democratic dynasty. Yeah, but it's just very rare for someone. It's actually happened, I think, one time under H.W. Bush, who was also a Department of Defense nominee, John Tower. And he similarly had alcohol and womanizing allegations, sexual harassment allegations, too. And that's the only time in history that we've seen in America a nominee actually get voted down by the Senate.

it was just not something we should expect to see happen and I'm people usually will pull their names rather than have that happen to them the person to watch tomorrow in my mind is senator Johnny Ernst because she is on the committee she's one of potential republican defections she's really some bad not been very committal on Pete's headset and the other thing you're gonna watches every single democrat that wants to try to fill the vacuum right now post defeat you're gonna see them you make light the political leaders not just the nominees but for some of these senators

Yeah, I was going to say that too. And also, he might be a news reporter and he might be able to answer, but sometimes you're only an inch deep when you're a news person. And so it's interesting to see how deep he is. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. I'm saying it when you're in here. Wow. I would never say that about the media. Wow.

I think some of these Democrats are going to try to go a lot deeper. And I think to Alex's point, they are going to try to make it. They are going to try to make the point for themselves and try to get some name recognition here. So one question I do have for you, Megan, is there have been some reports about people who have been in Pete Hegs' orbit who have concerns about him going to Senate Democrats to try to tell their stories. This is something that we've seen come up in previous years. The Kavanaugh hearings is probably the highest profile example of this. Is there are there going to be any surprises, do you think?

I mean, I think that there'll be a lot of people who are trying to make a name for themselves and trying to dig deep on some of this stuff. I think that our, like to the point about RFK Jr., I think that he will have a lot from Democrats coming out too, because I think a lot of Democrats don't want him to be in the cabinet if they can make a,

and a sort of a hard pivot to not having someone for Trump I think that's a place to go I do bring up I'm one thing about someone who is not a is in a Senate confirmed position and that's Elon Musk but at Matt Gorman I'm we notice this Breitbart wrote this story about something that Steve Bannon okay long time you know Trump ally I'm so much a prison I over some a bit I'm what he said about Elon Musk to an Italian website

Quote, I will have Elon Musk run out of here by Inauguration Day. He will not have a blue pass to the White House. He will not have full access to the White House. He will be like any other person. He is a truly evil guy, a very bad guy. I made it my personal thing to take this guy down. What is it about Musk that has Bannon so incensed? He's got a week, so got to get cracking. But no, look, I think part of this is

You know, I think Bannon and others are trying to figure out exactly what that role is in the orbit, in the administration right now, right? Seven years ago, eight years ago now, he was coming in as, you know, counselor to the president.

this is a way I think for him to have an angle had a different sort of take than a lot of people on the Trump orbit who are had no problem the on must favorably on my like him so I think that is really with the angles you also saw I saw that something similar this when he was talking about raising taxes in the wealthy which is as we up know very much not what republicans in Congress or the administration are actively doing I think he's trying to carve out a unique lane here I also up

Oh, no, no, go ahead. Oh, I was going to say they do have some policy differences, but I'd also say Bannon has said this, that he resents the fact that Elon is sort of a Johnny-come-lately, joined the bandwagon, now wants to run the whole thing. Yeah, fair enough. All right, coming up here on CNN this morning, a deal is said to be, quote, very close. Could there be a ceasefire and hostage release agreement in Gaza before President-elect Trump takes office next week? Well,

Plus, the death toll rising in Southern California. Crews are racing to contain the flames before the fierce winds return. I think we're doing well considering, but yes, lots of tears, anger. We're going through the stages of grief. There's no doubt about it. We'll get through it. We've gotten through challenges before. This just feels like the biggest thing that's ever happened to us.

Containing the devastating wildfires in Southern California about to get even more difficult. Wind speeds are ramping up over the next couple of days and that puts millions of people under critical fire weather warnings. Let's get to our meteorologist Allison Chinchar with more on this. Allison, good morning.

And good morning. Yes, the big concern is that those winds are going to continue to go back up in some cases peaking Tuesday and Wednesday. So this is going to be another prolonged event. You're looking at those sustained winds for this red flag warning area 20 to 30 mph, but those wind gusts are

could be anywhere between 45 to 70 miles an hour. Now that's not as bad as we saw last week of the 80 to 100 miles per hour. But keep in mind that the wind direction is going to be a little bit different. It's going to be more of an easterly flow, so these winds will end up going into some areas that did not see those incredibly strong winds from last week. You have not only the elevated and critical, but we now have an extreme fire weather risk for today and tomorrow. And all of these areas, it's mostly in the northern suburbs, but even Los Angeles still in those elevated to

critical fire weather areas. When we look at those wind gusts, they are gradually going to tick back up in the 2030 mile per hour range as we go through not only the day today, but also into Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. So there's really not going to be a good chunk of a break for those firefighters hoping to make some advancements in those containment numbers. The good news is they were able to do that over the weekend, especially on Saturday when we had those lower winds. So you'll see a lot of these numbers for the containment have started to go back up and

we even have some fires that are now considered fully contained at 100% containment. So that is fantastic news. The thing that all of these have in common is that they are in severe drought because of the lack of rain that we've really had so far. Casey normally would have had about four and a half inches of rain in these areas. We've had less than one inch. Well, all right, Allison Chinchar for us this morning. Allison, thanks very much.

Still ahead here on CNN This Morning, Russia, China and the rule of dawn. What one expert calls the top risks in 2025. Plus ceasefire and hostage talks between Hamas and Israel continue. Why an agreement could be close this morning. And with those major wildfires still threatening thousands in Southern California, how could politics affect recovery efforts in the months ahead?

I would invite him, as I did Donald Trump, to visit with the community, express empathy of the scale of this tragedy, and be here for the American people that happen to reside here in Southern California.

All right, welcome back. According to a Hamas official, a ceasefire and hostage release here in Gaza is, quote, very close, but sticking points remain. Talks are ongoing in Qatar. President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been discussing the negotiations by phone. That happened on Sunday, their first publicly confirmed conversation since October. CNN's Jeremy Diamond live for us in Jerusalem this morning. Jeremy, what can you tell us about the state of these talks and why they seem to be accelerating here?

Well, Casey, it's clear that these parties are nearing the final stages of negotiations for a comprehensive ceasefire and hostage deal. But the question still remains as to whether or not they will get this deal across the finish line. A Hamas official telling us that several sticking points still remain in these talks, including over a proposed Israeli buffer zone inside the Gaza Strip where Israeli troops would remain, and details concerning the release of Palestinian prisoners among several other sticking points as well.

But over the weekend, we did see some really concrete movement in the right direction towards a deal. First of all, with the Israeli prime minister agreeing to dispatch the Mossad director, David Barnea, who has led the Israeli negotiating team at key junctures in these talks in the past. He was only supposed to travel to Doha, Qatar, if indeed there had been significant progress. So that was the first point. We also saw

President-elect Trump's incoming special envoy for the Middle East meeting with the Israeli prime minister conveying very clearly not only the Biden administration's pressure to get a deal before January 20th, but the incoming Trump administration's position agreeing with exactly that, trying to get a deal before President-elect Trump is indeed inaugurated one week from today.

And now we are seeing all of these parties kind of rowing in the same direction, trying to get a deal in Doha, Qatar. But that doesn't mean that a deal is assured. All of the sources that I have been speaking to today have made clear that while things are very, very close here, they simply cannot guarantee an outcome at this point. And part of that stems from uncertainty over whether or not Hamas and Israel will have the political will to get a deal across the table.

And of course, here in Israel, there is this question of politics still being at play. The Israeli prime minister over the weekend meeting last night, in fact, with Bezalel Smotrich, that far right finance minister who in the past has threatened to pull the rug out from underneath this coalition government

if indeed the Israeli prime minister reaches out and agrees to a deal. Today, less than 24 hours after Smotrich met with Netanyahu, he took to Twitter to lambast this draft agreement that appears to be nearing potential conclusion.

calling this deal on the table a, quote, catastrophe, describing it as a surrender deal, and urging the Israeli government to continue fighting in Gaza until Hamas fully surrenders to Israel. So a lot still at play here, Casey. Certainly some positive momentum, but uncertainty still remaining, as always. And, of course, looming over all of it, the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, set for a week from today. Jeremy Dimon.

Thanks very much for that report. I appreciate it. All right, let's turn out of this. So is the message I want the world to hear today. America is back. America is back. Diplomacy is back at the center of our foreign policy. As I said in my inaugural address, we will repair our alliances and engage with the world once again, not to meet yesterday's challenges, but today's and tomorrow's.

Almost four years ago, President Biden gave his first foreign policy address. Later today, he will give his final one as he prepares to hand off a world order that's fraught with both familiar and new risks. Every year, the consulting firm, the Eurasia Group, publishes an annual list of the year's top geopolitical risks. Among them for 2025, Donald Trump's second presidential term, artificial intelligence, a rogue Russia, and a potential breakdown in U.S.-China relations.

At the top of the list, though, is what the group calls the G-Zero wins. They define it like this, quote, an era where no one power or group of powers is both willing and able to drive a global agenda and maintain international order. Joining us now to discuss is Ian Bremmer. He's the president and founder of the Eurasia Group and G-Zero Media. Sir, very grateful to have you on the program. Good morning to you.

Anne, can you talk a little bit more about what you mean by G-Zero and the parallels you see between this time period and the 1930s, right before World War II broke out?

Yeah, I call it a return to the law of the jungle because the United States, of course, today is in a much more powerful position, both compared to its allies, technologically, militarily, economically, strength of governance. I mean, you look at where South Korea or Germany or France or really Canada, any of the allies are right now.

and the U.S. has just consolidated power with its election in a very strong executive, but also America's adversaries, Russia in very structural and serious decline, Iran having just lost its empire in its own region, and China facing very serious economic challenges, the worst they've had in decades. This is a time where the United States has actively rejected the idea

that they're going to be the global policeman or that they're going to ensure architecture for global free trade and certainly not gonna promote democracy all over the world. But the US isn't becoming isolationist.

It's just becoming unilateralist. And other countries are playing defense. So that's what we're looking at. In the law of the jungle, in a G-Zero world, it's okay. It's actually quite good to be the apex predator. But for everyone else, it's exceptionally dangerous, and they're very vulnerable. That's why the world order feels so much more dangerous in 2025.

And when you say in your number two at risk, you talk about Donald Trump coming back into power here. I'm curious what you think is going to be the difference between Trump this time around and what we saw during his first term and why that matters globally.

Well, I think there's two differences. There's one at home. And of course, anything that happens inside the U.S. matters globally because of the knock-on effects of the world's most powerful country, largest economy. One is that Trump in his first term didn't feel, uh,

that the U S power ministries, the department of justice, the FBI, uh, the IRS had been used to such great extent against him, uh, weaponized this time. He does feel that way, right? I mean, following two impeachments, following all of the cases against him, um, the, uh, the, the, the convictions, uh, in not, not just investigations. Um, he, he thinks that those that both his enemies in the democratic party, um,

as well as what he calls the deep state bureaucrats inside the government have been politicized against him. And he intends to redress that. So that's a significant priority. It creates the possibility of a new McCarthyism against people that get sideways with President-elect Trump. That was not a priority in the first term.

But the second thing that's very important this time around is just how much more consolidated Trump's power is. Remember, last time he was riding the GOP coattails, not the other way around. So he needed Mike Pence's

and Gary Cohn and Nikki Haley and Mattis and Pompeo around him. And if you were a foreign leader that didn't like what Trump said, you had people you could engage with to try to stabilize the outcome. That's not true this time around. And we see that whether it's Mark Zuckerberg

or whether it's the Danish prime minister, when Trump goes after you, remember he said Zuck was gonna be in prison, so he would be investigated for all of his wrongdoings. He says, "I'm gonna take Greenland." That makes great headlines. Those things aren't going to happen, but there's no question that Zuckerberg has changed his business model

on in a significant way in the first weeks before even Trump is president because he sees what's coming, because he knows who won. And the same thing is true for allies of the United States around the world. So the rule of dawn has much, much greater impact on others that are not directly inside that circle of power and influence than it did back in 2017. Yeah.

Ian, briefly, big picture here. I think that there's a general feeling among a lot of Americans of uncertainty, of instability, of living in an era that is not as secure as perhaps the era that they came from or that they grew up from. Do you think that's true?

Well, it's not true in terms of violent crime in the United States, for example. It is true in terms of their vulnerability on issues like housing. But globally, it's absolutely true. And it's funny because the big things we were talking about over the last year are, in a sense, a bit less dangerous. The Middle East wars are

are likely to wind down this year, Gaza and Lebanon, Hezbollah. The Russian-Ukraine war is more likely to end up in ceasefire as both sides are grinding towards fewer gains and are tired and Trump wants to end it. But globally,

If the United States is not willing to stand up for the rule of law and the global order that the U.S. itself actually led and put together, no one's lived through an environment like that. Countries that are doing so well very rarely say, we're going to actually destroy, we're going to take apart piece by piece our

own global order. It hasn't worked for many of our citizens. They don't like it. They don't believe in it. And our leader doesn't believe in it. And there's nobody else in the world that's capable of standing up for that effectively or collectively and also

of building a new one. I mean, you know, when you're in a G-Zero world, there are three things you can do. You can either reform your institutions, you can build new ones, or you can go to war. And we're doing all three, but on balance, we're spending more time and effort and energy on the third. And so when people, I think, feel unnerved about why the world is more dangerous in 2025, it's not just about more countries having big nuclear weapons programs, not just about cyber attacks. It's fundamentally about that big how does...

How does the world work? What are the rules? And the law of the jungle is a lot more dangerous place. All right. Ian Bremmer, so grateful to have you on the show, sir. I really appreciate it. I hope you come back. All right. Coming up next here, California Governor Gavin Newsom responds to criticism from the vice president elect over his handling of the Southern California wildfires. Plus, the L.A. mayor acknowledging people's grief and shock as crews fighting the California wildfires face intensifying winds today.

We will be prepared, we will get through this, but it takes the unity and the spirit that I saw yesterday to make sure that Los Angeles comes out of this a much better city. My neighborhood is entirely burnt down, my elementary school is probably burnt down, my high school just burnt down, and my middle school might burn down.

In the weeks since wildfires erupted across Los Angeles County schools in the nation's second largest school district have remained closed. Today, all but nine are getting ready to reopen. The fire destroyed several schools in the area. The district's superintendent says they plan to help faculty, staff and students deal with the emotional toll of the fires. Explaining to them that sometimes bad things happen to good people.

then telling them that support systems are there as a family, as a school community, we're going to be there with them. And then reassure them that tomorrow will be better than today, that things, conditions will actually improve. And our kids are resilient. Our kids are resilient. Our workforce is resilient. All right. Joining us with more about what is happening on the ground in Pacific Palisades, CNN correspondent Michael Yoshida. Michael, good morning. What are you seeing on the ground there this morning?

Hey, good morning. When you talk about those school closures, I can tell you just up the street from me, one of those elementary schools that is closed will likely remain closed for some time. And it's easy to understand why. You can see what's left around me here in Pacific Palisades. Street after street look like this. These neighborhoods just unrecognizable. You can really only tell where homes once stood by the chimneys that are left standing. We've been seeing this throughout the weekend, obviously throughout the morning, just this debris that's

left behind following these devastating fires. And at this point, we know two major fires, the Eden, the Palisades, they're still burning, still largely uncontained as crews have been been working throughout the weekend in preparation of those potentially dangerous winds that could be returning later today. All right, Michael Yoshida for us this morning and very difficult time for people there. Michael, thanks very much.

All right, let's turn out of the politics of all of this. California Governor Gavin Newsom responded to another onslaught of criticism from President-elect Donald Trump and his allies as they blamed Democrats' handling of the wildfires, slamming the government as incompetent on Sunday.

There is a serious lack of competent governance in California, and I think it's part of the reason why these fires have gotten so bad. With respect to the future vice president, I didn't hear his remarks, but I would invite him, as I did Donald Trump, to visit with the community, express empathy of the scale of this tragedy, and be here for the American people that happen to reside here in Southern California.

This after Trump blasted Newsom and Los Angeles leaders like Mayor Karen Bass last week, claiming their liberal policies have made the crisis worse. Our panel is back. Megan Hayes, thanks.

This is obviously this kind of disaster is a massive testing moment for any politician. This is where it gets extraordinarily real. You have seen Gavin Newsom try to be out front. He has, you know, videos of himself walking through the rubble, meeting with people. He did multiple national news interviews over the weekend. There's also the mayor, Karen Bass.

Is the criticism that they're receiving here legit? I mean, some criticism, of course, is legit. I'm not sure that this is the time to be having this criticism. I'm not sure how the governor or the mayor control 100-mile-an-hour winds and a drought. So I'm not sure exactly how they were supposed to stop those things. I also think that there has been some real misinformation and disinformation coming from the president very early on in some of his statements.

friends, I guess, that spread some of this, some unfair criticism. Of course there is criticism here. Of course people can always do more. Millions of people are impacted by this, so there's always going to be criticism. I'm not sure now is the time to do that, and I'm not sure that some of the criticism they're getting is fair. Matt, where has Karen Bass been through all of this? Because you

You've seen a lot of Newsom. I will give him that. We can criticize him or evaluate how he's doing it, but Bass has not been out front. Bass has been totally MIA. Look, it's very clear from interactions from the tarmac of that plane coming back from Ghana to all the way now, she is not used to these sort of adversarial or press interactions, just tough questions,

in public life that a lot of politicians who've been through the fire tend to get. That's number one. Number two, Gavin Newsom, look, you know, going on Pod Save America over the weekend, I think was a massive mistake. And they had their own issues sending donations through ActBlue, the Democratic Party vehicle, which takes a cut of them. That's number one. Number two, but also like, I think there's a lot less tolerance

for the kind of line of argument Megan was talking about politicizing this on the right, because we remember very clearly, and DeSantis brought this up, when Kamala was trying to make hay out of phone calls during the campaign out, DeSantis wouldn't answer. And I just looked it up over the break too. You know, we often hear this, and I'll

are on this sort of thing when we get mass shootings, God forbid, with Republicans, how we kind of have a very similar thing. Let's not politicize this. Let's not do that. And Gavin Newsom, on the day of one of the Tennessee shootings in March of 23, and then two months later, a North Hollywood Beach shooting in Florida, I just looked it up on X, was posting, blaming DeSantis for certain policies on the AP's original post, and then also Marshall Blackburn, the Tennessee one.

So the cries ring very hollow to me when Newsom talks about this. I mean, this is inherently political. It's also why Newsom, you notice, isn't spending that much time with Karen Bass right now. And he has been subtly pointing the finger at local officials. Karen Bass has also been attacked by the fire department chief.

And one way or another, I think one of the lasting images of this fire is the fact that there was not water coming out of the fire hydrants. - But I think it's important, like, there's a legitimate criticism to make about governance in California, whether it's about the inability to bury the power lines or it's about water policy or whatever it is.

And then there's also criticism that's happening where it's just like, oh, the DEI policies of the fire department and there are too many, maybe you see on this in X, like there are too many lesbians who are working in the fire department. That sort of thing gets really mixed in there and it becomes unclear from a viewership standpoint which one is actually gonna get attacked. And it seems like over and over, you don't actually see the real governance problems get changed in the aftermath. You just see the sort of facially a culture war style politics really take hold.

Megan, we do know Newsom obviously has very high-profile ambitions, right? He wants to be president of the United States. No secret of that. Is the way he's handling this going to make it more likely he becomes president or less? Well, I think this is part of the reason you see Donald Trump and J.D. Vance criticizing him, right? They're trying to poke holes in his ability to run in 2018. I think J.D. Vance is going to want to run. So I think there is a lot of

of future politicalization going on here and making it hard for him. What do you think, Alex? I completely agree with that. And J.D. Vance is almost certainly going to run in 2028. So in some ways, this is maybe the first firing shot of that potential matchup.

Oh, boy. OK. All right. Let's turn back now to what's happening here in Washington, D.C., where in just seven days, Donald Trump will be heading back into 600 Pennsylvania Avenue. This week will begin to shape who will enact his agenda when he starts his second term. His cabinet picks are beginning their Senate confirmation hearings. Our CNN team writes this, quote, What distinguishes this round of confirmations is the heightened expectations that

that Trump's picks will present not just their own expertise, but a clear and unwavering loyalty to the president-elect's agenda, a public display of fealty that was not always assured during his first term. Indeed, those first-term hearings sounded at times like this.

Do you support restricting travel or immigration to the United States by Muslims? No, I do not support a blanket type rejection of any particular group of people. NATO, from my perspective, having served once as a NATO Supreme Allied Commander, is the most successful military alliance probably in modern world history maybe ever.

Is the president-elect right? Is climate change a hoax? I don't believe it's a hoax. I believe we should... You do not believe it's a hoax? No. All right. Joining us now, former advisor to George W. Bush and John McCain, Mark McKinnon, also the creator of Paramount's The Circus. Mark, good morning. Always wonderful to see you. Those moments there are striking to watch. It doesn't seem to me we're going to get many like it in the coming week.

They are. It's a completely different playbook here. He's not going in with broken toys this time, or he's going in with a plan and the people that he wants this time, and the people he wants are saying the things that he wants them to say. The rubber's meeting the road this week, Casey. But I do think that there's definitely potential for surprises this week. These people haven't been grilled publicly yet. A lot of them are performers and have television experience, so that helps, and that's why Donald Trump picked them.

But, for example, with Pete Hegseth, it's not even clear he has a majority of Republicans on the Armed Services Committee. And some of the senators, like Curtis in Utah and Tom Tillis, are unhappy with the macro advertising that's been going on in their districts because they do feel that they still have some independence. So MAGA may have, in some cases, overplayed their hand on this. And so you've still got Murkowski and Collins and McConnell as definite opponents.

or probably knows and then you've got a handful of other senators some say up to 12 senators that are still potential republican senators that are potential knows and on robert f kennedy as you all talked about before listen what do republican what does the republican base care most about it's not vaccines it's abortion and kennedy's politics on abortion are not going to conform with the republican base so stand by for some prizes i think ultimately they probably do get through but uh

There'll be some fireworks this week, Casey. Yeah, let's take it on RFK Jr. for a second here because he, in many ways, has, I mean, he may have the only sharp ideological difference with the Trump base of any of these nominees, right? In the case of Hegseth, we're talking about, you know, what's in his background check and his kind of personal issues, but we're not talking as much about what's

what he believes and how that may be different from what republicans believe this abortion question potentially dangerous territory at four robert f kennedy junior and you know he also came out of a meeting with senator bill cassidy who's of course a physician and cassidy stone on that was pretty interesting to me i'm not so sure i would go and that's what i would i'm not sure i would go so far as to call it hostile but it wasn't warm and fuzzy either

Yeah, I don't, you know, I think that there's been sort of a delusion among Republican base. They're just excited about having a Kennedy on the program and in the Trump orbit. And I don't think they've really stopped to consider, you know, what his background really is and what his ideological core really is. And as I said, you know, there's nothing that the MAGA base cares more about on any issue than abortion. And Kennedy, you know, has a long history of contrary opinions.

And I think at his heart believes differently than the MAGA base does on this issue. That's the most important thing to them. So I expect that that could be, that's the thing that could really create a problem this week.

Mark, let's talk for a second about the audience of one for these hearings, which is, of course, Donald Trump, the president-elect, right? All of these people are going to be sitting in these chairs and playing to him. What would be the biggest mistake one of these nominees could make in terms of that particular audience?

Well, I think you just played the clip. You know, if I were rehearsing with these folks, I'd be playing exactly the clips that you just played and say, do not do this. Just don't disagree with them. I mean, don't offer up anything that's contrary to at least Donald Trump's plans with you. You may have some differences in the past. Just make sure you don't have any differences in the future.

Fair enough. All right, Mark McKinnon for us this morning. Sir, I'm always grateful to have you. Thank you so much for being here. Thanks. All right. Let's continue this conversation. Matt Gorman, I'm curious what you think would be, because the other thing is Trump has picked a lot of people that he sees on TV, right? He wants people who can go out there and sell his agenda online.

I in a public way I and so to a certain extent making a communications based mistake I think could trip up any one of these nominees true but I i guess the kind of to kinda playing any push back a little bit yet though those three people disagree Mattis Tillerson and Ryan Zinke but they everything one of them got through actually think he left me got re elected back into the house easy so he's you know elected with all that at I'll and look I would I would kind of also kinda sad on a couple different things you're absolutely right

Every one of these needs to perform well. I think the most watchable hearings will be Kennedy and Hegseth. And the other ones I think will be relatively boring. I also would just say abortion, you're right, is a factor for Republicans. But if that were the case, if it was only a test about abortion,

Donald Trump probably would not have been the nominee. He was not the most outspoken about it. He would have had DeSantis this time, he had Bob Vander Plaats. Tim Scott was very pro-life. It's broader than that. I think it's more culture war. I think that is what the base is looking for. Each of them bring it in their own way. Yeah, I mean, if he was being, this is a Supreme Court confirmation hearing, then he probably would lose a lot of Republican votes. But this is the HHS secretary, so it might be a bit different.

Yeah. I mean, interestingly, HHS does have a lot of control over abortion policy, for instance, whether or not methoprestone or other abortion drugs are going to be available at the same level. But most people don't think about the politics in that way. I think they think about it in a culture war angle, in which case I think RFK has really been outside the pro-life, pro-choice kind of divide. Yeah. Maybe I spent too much time covering health care policy on the Hill, which I did early in my career. I do actually understand just how much HHS

has control over abortion policies in this country. It's actually activists are very, very, very focused on it. Yeah, I think so. I just, I don't think that we're going to have as much fireworks as we think we're going to have here. I think that also, and one more person that I'd say to watch is Tulsi Gabbard here. But I think that Donald Trump, he doesn't want loyalty. He wants obedience. And I think if they show that in these hearings, they'll be fine. Yeah. All right, guys. Thanks very much for joining us on this Monday. I appreciate it. Thanks to all of you at home for joining us as well. I'm Casey Hunt. Don't go anywhere. CNN News Central starts right now.