Hope Mixed with Fear
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It's Thursday, January 16th, right now on CNN This Morning.

For now, we are optimistic that this is going to get the '98 home finally after all these months. Hope mixed with fear after 15 months of war, Israel and Hamas reach a deal. But new this morning, the agreement may be under threat. Can you say no to the president of the United States when he asks you to do something unethical or illegal?

Loyalty test: Democrats trying to find out just how loyal Donald Trump's pick for attorney general will be to the president-elect. And... Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America. A parting message: After half a century of public service, President Biden bids farewell in his final days in the Oval Office with some cautionary advice. And... Winds die down, red flag warnings expire, but officials still warning people in the L.A. area are not out of the woods quite yet.

All right, it's 6 a.m. here on the east coast of the United States. This is a live look at Khan Yunis in southern Gaza at this hour. It is 1 p.m. there as everyone waits anxiously for news here and the ceasefire to begin. Good morning, everyone. I'm Casey Hunt.

It's wonderful to have you with us. A historic deal facing a last-minute hurdle. This morning, Israel announced it had delayed a cabinet vote on the ceasefire and hostage deal. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office accusing Hamas of, quote, attempting to extort last-minute concessions, end quote. In response, Hamas saying it remains committed to the agreement that was announced yesterday.

After more than 15 months of war, this deal could bring an end to the deadliest period in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Set to begin on Sunday, phase one would see the release of more than 100 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 33 Israeli hostages. Seven Americans are believed to be among those still held in Gaza, and sources tell CNN that two are expected to be included in the first release.

And with just days before the transfer of power here in America, the deal is a significant accomplishment for both President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump. A senior White House official telling CNN the cooperation between the outgoing and incoming administrations was, quote, almost unprecedented.

Nevertheless, Trump posting on Truth Social, quote, "This epic ceasefire agreement could only happen -- could have only happened as a result of our historic victory in November. We have achieved so much without even being in the White House," end quote. And just a couple hours after Trump's post, Biden argued that this was his deal. -This is the exact framework of the deal I proposed back in May. Exact. And we got the world to endorse it. I told my team to coordinate closely

with the incoming team to make sure we're all speaking with the same voice, 'cause that's what American presidents do. Thank you. -Books credit for this, Mr. President. You or Trump? -Is that a joke? -Is that a joke? Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu releasing this image of his call to the president-elect, to Trump, following the deal's announcement. In a statement, Netanyahu's office said the prime minister thanked Trump for his role and announced that the two had agreed to meet soon in Washington.

That statement later noting that after his conversation with Trump, Netanyahu called Biden to thank him. Our panelists here to discuss, Elliott Williams, CNN legal analyst, former federal prosecutor. David Sanger, CNN political and national security analyst, White House correspondent for The New York Times. Jaime Moore, former chief of staff to the chair of the Democratic National Committee. And Mike Dubke, former Trump White House communications director. Welcome to all of you. Thank you so much for being here.

David Sanger, let me start with you. You, of course, have been covering this deal closely. Is there anything to this last-minute hiccup with the Israeli cabinet? How serious is that here? It could be. We don't know yet. I do know that up to the last few hours before they announced the agreement yesterday, Casey, Hamas was coming up with sort of last-minute things they were putting on the table. It's a very usual technique on their part. And the question is, can that be put down?

But the bigger question is, who's right in this dispute between the two? And the answer is really both. So the deal is essentially what President Biden laid out in May.

It also, you may notice, this is January. So, you know, that deal did not happen. And I think the fact that they did link up so well and that Steve Witkoff, who was President Trump's incoming Mideast advisor, was out there in lockstep with Brett McGurk, who was President Biden's equivalent for that and has worked for Republican presidents as well.

I think that made the difference because they were able to go to Netanyahu, send Witkoff and say, this is the deal that Trump wants. And I think that sort of helped put it over the...

the marker. - David, Tom Malinowski, who's a former Democratic congressman, he put out a very interesting thread on Twitter, the first of which says that this was Biden's deal, but as much as I hate to say it, he couldn't have done it without Trump. Not so much Trump's performative threats to Hamas,

but his willingness to tell Bibi bluntly that the war had to end by January 20th. And he essentially goes on to say that while Biden did a great job working with European leaders, he did not bring the sort of thuggery to the table that is required in the Middle East. Do you think Malinowski's right about this? - I think he's absolutely right. And the reason that I would say that is, first of all, the relationship between President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu is,

"poisonous" would be a polite phrase for the term, okay? And second, the fact that they were able to send Witkoff -- not Brett McGurk, but Witkoff -- on Saturday to see Netanyahu and say, "President Trump wants this resolved before Inauguration Day," in part so that it's not on him.

to go be the one who was squeezing the Israelis. I don't think the Israelis would have made the deal. I think they would have just said, "Well, let's just see what we get out of Trump." - Interesting. Mike Dubke? - Well, first on a serious matter,

What's amazing to me is America matters. I mean, that's the, at the end of the day, what other country, we can have this argument about Trump or Biden, but what other country can step into an international conflict and really have the level of influence that we did in this? So to David's point, I mean, America matters. On the more of a lighthearted side,

I'm sick and tired of these two arguing about golf scores. I'm sick and tired of these two arguing about who mattered. The fact that these two gentlemen got together, told their people to get this done, that's what's important here. I wish they would just both take the victory and be happy that we have a ceasefire after all these months. - Yeah, Jaime, what do you make of it?

President Biden, we have seen, clearly is not ready to exit, especially the world stage. You know, it's a place that he has always really, you know, he's valued his role as, even when he was in the Senate and he was on the Foreign Relations Committee,

He clearly doesn't want to give all the credit to Donald Trump, but I will say the people that work for him have been willing to do it. - Yeah, look, I agree with Mike. I think people across the country are sick of the back and forth. I think people want to see some bipartisanship. And so for the start of this new administration, I think this is a good sign that there could be some glimmers of hope for bipartisanship. But secondly, look, I think President Biden and Vice President Harris

have been clear about their stance on this, and they've worked very hard to get here. And so, yes, I do think Donald Trump helped push this over, but I don't want to take the credit away from the president and the vice president. They were very clear about this deal. They were very dogged about it. They wished this would have happened in May, but it did not. But I think you're right. President Biden's having a hard time this week. He has a couple of days left in office. He's enjoyed being president. It was not his choice to not be president. Let's just be honest about that.

But it's going to be tough for him as he watches Donald Trump take office again. Remember, when he took office a couple years ago, he wanted to save this country's soul. He doesn't really feel like he's done that, so I do think there are some things that he's grappling with over the next couple of days that are going to be tough for him. David, one thing that

has hung over this deal is of course, if assuming that this stays on track and we see these hostage releases on Sunday is gonna be the imagery and the parallels for an outgoing President Biden with an outgoing President Carter. Jimmy Carter reflected a little bit on this dynamic back in an interview he did in 2015. I wanna watch that and then we'll talk about it. - I hadn't been to bed.

for three days and three nights. I had just been negotiating with the Iranians and with 12 other countries to get the release of our hostages who had been in prison for more than a year. And at 9:00 that morning, they were already in the airplane ready to take off from Tehran. But the Ayatollah Khomeini kept them there until after I was no longer president.

And your colleague Peter Baker in his analysis mentioned that this has been hanging over the, I mean, this is something the White House is very aware of, the president's aides have been very aware of. How does this kind of echo today? Well, first of all, this could well spill into Monday. It could spill beyond. Hamas at various moments made the argument they weren't certain where all of the hostages were.

The second reason that this may hang over is the great thing about the Jimmy Carter tape that you showed there is all the hostages walked off the plane. And here we know that of the numbers that we're hearing, not everyone is alive. And some of those hostages are going to come back as remains.

And so this is going to be both joyous and soul-crushing at the same moment. And it's also going to make you wonder, had the deal been able to come together earlier,

how many of those lives could have been saved? - Yeah, absolutely. All right, David, thank you so much for being with us, starting us off today. - Thank you. - Really appreciate it. Straight ahead here on CNN This Morning, as the clock ticks on TikTok, the president-elect weighs a delay for a potential ban on the app. We're gonna ask the congressman from both sides of the aisle, Republican Zach Nunn, Democrat Greg Lansman, about the fate of the social media app.

Plus, another round of strong winds may be coming to LA next week. What that could mean for firefighters battling the flames. And would Pam Bondi, who's on track to be the next Attorney General, stand up to Donald Trump? That's what Democrats want to know. Are you prepared to say today, under oath, without reservation, that Donald Trump lost the presidential contest to Joe Biden in 2020? Ranking member Durbin, President Biden is the President of the United States.

I'm CNN tech reporter Claire Duffy. This week on the podcast Terms of Service, Gary Shulthorn, an attorney in Philadelphia, was driving to work one morning when his cell phone rang. Dad, I'm in trouble. They arrested me. By the time I got to the bank, my phone rang. It's my son. Dad, you've been scammed. Since then, the technology behind voice cloning has only gotten more convincing. Follow CNN's Terms of Service wherever you get your podcasts.

They targeted Donald Trump. They went after him. That will not be the case if I am Attorney General. I will not politicize that office. I will not target people simply because of their political affiliation. Justice will be administered even-handedly throughout this country.

Donald Trump's choice to lead the Department of Justice. Pam Bondi pledging she will not politicize the agency if she's confirmed as Attorney General. The Department Democrats on the committee were ready to go on offense with their chance to get a Trump cabinet nominee on the record for everything from leadership at the FBI to the results of the 2020 election. Would you have hired someone into the Florida Attorney General's office who you knew had an enemies list?

Senator, to cut to the chase, you're clearly talking about Kash Patel. I don't believe he has an enemies list. Who won the 2020 presidential election? Joe Biden is the president of the United States. Ms. Bondi, you know that there is a difference between acknowledging it and, you know, I can say that Donald Trump won the 2024 election. I may not like it, but I can say it. You cannot say who won the 2020 presidential election. It's disturbing.

Senate Republicans signaling approval of a Trump nominee's hearing performance, all but assuring her confirmation. Why don't you think that she can say flatly that say Biden won or that there was no election fraud? Is she smart enough not to take the bait and have people mince her words? I think she's answered the questions appropriately. She said she accepted the result. Nobody cares.

Trump won. Let it go. I think she answered every question appropriately. She had some of the toughest questions you could have. And I think she's going to be a darn good Attorney General.

All right, Elliott Williams, how do you evaluate how she performed yesterday? It does seem like she is absolutely on track to get this job. And Kash Patel clearly was looming as an incoming FBI director or the nominated, I should say, FBI director, loomed over the hearing. Right. The question is, does she have 50 people in the United States Senate who are going to vote for her after tomorrow? And that is a resounding yes. And we sort of knew that going into the hearing. Now,

The question was, was this nominee going to say something tragic or cataclysmic? They got her in trouble. Obviously not. You know, the really interesting thing on the Kash Patel question of would you hire somebody whom you knew to have an enemies list?

list, she really gave the bare minimum answer that we ought to expect of any political leader, which is no, I would not hire someone who had an enemies list. All of this is setting a predicate for Democrats six months or a year from now to have her back in another hearing. There will be oversight hearings and really ask her the question of, okay, what is happening within the Justice Department and the FBI?

so it remains to be seen she gave the right except on the elections question which was sort of posed to an audience of one and her answer which was to donald trump and nobody else um she really gave all the right answers well that's assuming first of all now kesh patel knows what questions he needs to answer when he comes studying he got the study guy he got the study guide yeah you got the cliff notes for this uh you um that's assuming elliott that

the Trump administration uses the Justice Department in the way that they feel the Biden administration and Merrick Garland use the Justice Department in going after political enemies. I mean, the undercurrent of all of this yesterday, at least for Pam Bondi and the Republicans, is there is a very strong belief amongst Republicans that the DOJ was politicized. And those questions asking, are you going to do the, are you going to politicize it, coming from the Democrats,

I mean, most Republicans will internalize it and say, well, maybe they should because that's what you did, Biden. - There's a little bit of a Rorschach test or the inkblot test. You look at it and I just see my mother whenever I look at one. But no, but the word- - We'll do that in the next segment. - Thank you, Casey. And she's watching this, I'm not gonna,

hear this. It's still early. But the word politicize is a little bit of an inkblot test to many people. And I think different people hear different things when they hear it. And I think there are a lot of Republicans who hear, well, now, you know, we are your retribution. I think there are a lot of people on the left who hear that and probably think, there's to be about something different than bringing the Justice Department to the middle. And it remains to be seen what exactly Pam Bondi and by extension, Donald Trump mean by that.

- And I think, Elliot, I think you had a good point. I think this is gonna be something Democrats are gonna plan for for six months down the road. This is not about Pam Bundy, it's not about Donald Trump right now, this is about politics of the future, and I'm not sure they've built the case.

Coming up next here on CNN This Morning, the fight against those deadly wildfires in Los Angeles. It could ease up over the next few critical days. Plus, Biden and Trump working together on the Gaza ceasefire deal. Is bipartisanship back? Republican Congressman Zach Nunn, Democratic Greg Lansman. They're going to appear together. So we will have some here on CNN This Morning. That's coming up.

Weather conditions in Southern California are improving this morning, thank goodness, but officials say that people in the LA area are not out of the woods just yet. Most red flag warnings are expiring today as crews work to extinguish the major fires there, but hot spots do remain. Plus, another round of strong winds is expected next week.

There is a chance that the Santa Ana's might spike up again next week, but I think that we have to, while we're still being vigilant, while we're still in this emergency, we also have to begin the process of recovery and rebuilding. All right, CNN's Michael Yoshida joins us live now from Altadena, California. Michael, good morning. What are you seeing there?

Hey, good morning Casey. As we've been showing you for the past week, the devastation here in Altadena just...

clearly in your face. But in talking with those who live here, they're worried not just about the loss of their homes, but about the loss of the fabric of what made Altadena and makes Altadena so unique. Talking about how these neighborhoods filled with working class people for generations, a racially, socially diverse community, a place where generations of black families have lived and owned their own homes. And while the immediate needs, they say, are being met,

There's a lot of concern about the long-term impact here and the pressures that these families are going to be facing as they have years of recovery and rebuilding ahead of them. This is something we spent yesterday at some of the local churches that are trying to address this and spoke to a pastor about the programs they're coming up to try and help these families. There are already developers that have been talking to folks, saying, hey, I can help.

I can purchase this. We want you to be able to maintain that legacy. Like keep the blood of your parents and your grandparents is in the foundation of that land. The hope is that these triages provide them with direct financial relief to be able to go back to their land.

And Pastor Dekeir tells me just in his congregation, he has at least 42 families who have sites like this. They lost everything in the Eaton Fire. He acknowledges that this work, this long-term relief, that it's going to be hard.

that he's hopeful they'll be able to come together with other churches, other community members to keep on providing the needs for his residents and his congregation members. Because again, he says it's so important to try and hold on to what was built here, not just the homes, but that culture as well. For sure. All right. Michael Yoshida for us reporting. Michael, thanks very much. I really appreciate it.

And those firefighters will feel some cooler temperatures over the next several days, which could help with all this. Our meteorologist Derek Van Dam tracking all of it. Derek, welcome back to the mornings. I know you've been burning the midnight oil. What are they looking at in L.A. next?

Happy to report, Casey, that all of the red flag warnings have been discontinued and allowed to expire in the city of Los Angeles. However, they still remain across the mountainous regions of both Los Angeles and Ventura counties through 3 p.m. today. Look at the wind map. The change in the direction is so critical because we're going to notice more of an onshore component to the wind. So what that will do is increase the relative humidity of value. That's a major fact.

in fighting fires here. So it's low now, but Lotus by this afternoon, a lot of green entering the equation. Those numbers go up. That is a measure of the moisture in the atmosphere. We need that to help contain fires and it looks like the atmosphere will deliver no significant rain in this forecast though. So we're not going to have raindrops falling from the sky over the next seven days. It looks very, very dry. In fact, early next week already, the mayor of Los Angeles

noting that Monday and Tuesday has the potential for another Santa Ana event. And heads up, the other big story we are monitoring, 20 to 30 degrees below average. The coldest air in a year will be felt across the Midwest by early next week. This could be the coldest inauguration weather forecast since the Reagan era back in the 80s. Look, I'm not a fortune teller. I'm not a future teller. But Casey, I can imagine exactly how you'll be dressing next Monday to cover the inauguration.

I'm sure you can see how happy I am about this forecast on my face, Derek. The coldest I have ever been as a working journalist was at Obama's inauguration in 2008. So if you're telling me, and in fact, one of our previous guests in the break was saying that they actually moved the Reagan inauguration in 1985 inside because it was so cold. Anyway, yes, Derek Cantam, thank you. Much appreciated.

Still ahead here on CNN This Morning, Hamas says it's still committed to the ceasefire deal with Israel and both Republicans and Democrats are taking credit for it. Up next, we are joined by Republican Congressman Zach Nunn and Democratic Congressman Greg Lansman. They're actually going to sit down next to each other at the same time and talk to us about it. Plus, we'll talk with former Donald Trump advisor and Ambassador John Bolton about how the president's new national security team could reshape foreign policy.

There's no way Ukraine is also going to push these people all the way back to where they were on the eve of the invasion, just given the size dynamic. What Vladimir Putin has done is unacceptable, there's no doubt about it, but this war has to end. And I think it should be the official policy of the United States that we want to see it end.

We're taking on some of the most unique and challenging projects we've ever done. I definitely want a catio. A what? Have you ever heard of a catio? No, I haven't. For Dave and Jenny Mars, the bigger the challenge. An old lodge. How much work does it need? A lot. We have today and today only to do it. The greater the reveal. Oh, my God. Fixer to Fabulous, all new Tuesday night at 8. See it first on HGTV. Stream next day on Max. The road to this deal has not been easy.

I've worked in foreign policy for decades. This is one of the toughest negotiations I've ever experienced. I've reached this point because of the pressure that Israel built on the Mosque, backed by the United States.

There is a new hurdle to climb in the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release agreement this morning. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delaying a cabinet vote on the agreement, accusing Hamas of reneging on parts of the deal. Hamas disputes that, insisting it remains committed to the agreement as it was announced.

Both the outgoing Biden and incoming Trump administrations worked together to push the talks over the finish line. Immediately, though, a debate erupting about who gets credit for the deal. White House National Security Spokesman John Kirby, though, emphasized that this was, in fact, a rare bipartisan accomplishment.

There's an awful lot of credit here to go around. I don't think that the hostages and their families are worried about who's claiming or grabbing credit here. And the president doesn't want that to be the focus. As the president said, it's the next team that's going to have to do that implementing. So it was important to him that we approach this as a team. And we did. And that's what the American people should expect. It's what those hostage families should expect.

And joining us now in the spirit of bipartisanship, Republican Congressman Zach Nunn of Iowa and Democratic Congressman Greg Lansman of Ohio. Gentlemen, thanks so much for being here. Appreciate you both being willing to do this. Congressman Lansman, let me start with you. You and I have had a lot of conversations about, especially with these hostage families. I know it's been something you've worked a lot on. There is this sort of eruption of questions about who gets credit for this deal. How do you look at it?

History should decide who gets credit. You know, I think Kirby was right.

Nobody over there cares, nor should we. And assuming it was done in a bipartisan way, and that's great. That's the best you can hope for. But ultimately, the only thing that matters is that it holds, that every hostage is returned. And ultimately, you know, we're all in a position to help rebuild and get

on a path to a sustained peace and security.

Congressman Nunn, it does seem that one of the key differences here, Donald Trump came out and said, you know, I want this done before my inauguration. That seemed to put some pressure on the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, to come to the table. Do you think that's the case? And does Trump deserve the credit for that? Casey, I think you're absolutely right here. You know, President Trump was able to do more with one sentence than we've been able to do in the last year.

This becomes a challenge when America is seen as soft. And I wouldn't say it's not just the Israelis, it's everyone in the Middle East. He said all hell will unleash in the Middle East if this isn't solved by the 20th. Right now, we shouldn't even be having this negotiation. We have multiple Americans who have been hostage for more than 400 plus days. They've been put in horrible situations and innocent civilians should never use his bargaining chips. And yet here we find ourselves. And I think the pressure is, as Greg noted here,

Huge credit to the men and women on the ground who have been negotiating this in good faith in a bipartisan way. We want to be able to bring our Americans home. We want to release the hostages. And at this point, we're seeing an Israel which is responding to U.S. support against not just Hamas, also against Hezbollah. And ultimately, the funders and backers of this

Iran and what I think Trump did in his first term taking out Soleimani being able to push back when Obama abandoned his red line in Syria and killed you know tens of thousands of Muslims including Palestinians

Trump came in and said, "No, I'm gonna destroy that weapons facility. I was the commander in charge of the targeting unit that took that." This is somebody that you-- when President Trump walks in and says he's going to do something, the rest of the world listens. Congressman Landsman, I mean, to that point, why was President Biden unable to get this together? I want to put up on the screen-- this was the beginning of a Twitter thread from Tom Malinowski, who's a former

Democratic member of Congress. And he says, this is Biden's deal, but as much as I hate to say it, he couldn't have done it without Trump. Not so much Trump's performative threats, but his willingness to tell Bibi bluntly that the war had to end by January 20th. And he goes on to say that Trump is better equipped to deal with what he describes as thuggery, essentially, in the wielding of American power. What do you say to that?

The only barrier has been Hamas. And every time that the groups get together, usually in Cairo, to negotiate, and you have Israelis and Hamas officials in Cairo, and they get a deal, the barrier has been Hamas. Hamas hasn't agreed, or they'll come up with their own plan. And so I'm not...

I'm not big on this, well, just put more pressure on Bibi. The issue has been Hamas. And the question moving forward will be, will Hamas agree or uphold its end of the bargain?

Will, when Sunday comes, will they release the hostages? I mean, that's the question. This all comes back to whether Hamas wants this war to end. Yeah. Let me ask you both about something else that has been a bipartisan issue here in Washington, which is TikTok, which, you know, Congress over...

voted overwhelmingly in bipartisan fashion to ban the app. It's set to go in effect on Sunday. Congressman Nunn, we're hearing some reports that President Trump may be thinking about an executive order that would delay the sale. There is a provision of the law that allows that for 90 days. Do you think he should do that?

Well, I think, first of all, let's look at the House led on this, passed it. The Senate approved it, and the President signed into law. The Supreme Court's upheld it. Now, this isn't a ban of... The court may still weigh in, but yes. Yeah, with TikTok on this... We expect it to be. Yeah, exactly right. The TikTok on this is an app.

And ByteDance, the parent company, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Chinese. And we have seen for the last six months Chinese through vault typhoon, silk typhoon, salt typhoon coming in and pillaging the United States. So we know the Chinese are incentivized to do this. I think that it's right from a national security side to divest from China being able to have its largest propaganda source right here in the United States.

President Trump coming in. We've got a lot of deadlines coming up this Sunday, Casey, and I think it's important that we're clear with the American people. There's a new top cop in town, and he's going to have a lot of influence here on getting the Chinese to divest. In the same tone, TikTok, the app, has an opportunity here to become an American company, and I think that ultimately their CEO may be joining the inauguration this week to have those direct conversations with leaders right here in Washington.

Congressman Lansman, do you see any upside to delaying this for 90 days? Should President Biden consider doing that before he leaves office? Should Donald Trump use this executive order if he doesn't? I don't know. I mean, quite frankly, you know, Zach's right. The point is keep the app and get the company to

disinvest from China. They just got to get out of China because at the moment, because it is a Chinese-based company, China, who is a foreign adversary, they are at any time in a position to weaponize all of our data. And we're putting Americans at risk and our national security at risk. And so

if they can get this thing sold, that would be the best of both worlds. But whether there's a delay or not, what we passed was the right decision. Quick last word, Congressman?

I think this is a bold world. Look, if China wants to continue to play in this area and refuses to allow it to sell, I feel highly confident that there'll be another app that will immediately spring up in this place. We just talked about our kids. This is the generation where brand loyalty is not there. They're going to go to something that they need. I asked my kids before the vote, I said, hey, I'm going to vote on this. Curious, do you care? Focus group of two. The answer was like, no. They're both in their phones in the back of the car. And I was like, why? And they're like, something else will come up. Yep.

Absolutely right. Absolutely right. All right. Well, it's nice to have some bipartisan breaking out on the set on all of the issues we have talked about today. Dan's in agreement. Congressman, thanks to both of you for joining us. I hope you'll come back soon. Appreciate it. All right. Coming up, John Bolton, the former Trump National Security Advisor and one time U.S. ambassador to the U.N. He's going to join me live to discuss the ceasefire, NATO, and of course, all things President-elect Trump. Plus, President Biden issuing a stark warning in his farewell speech.

I want to warn the country of some things that give me great concern. This is a dangerous concert. And that's a dangerous concertation of power in the hands of a very few ultra wealthy people. You're seeing the overwhelming celebrations in Israel. And again, we're going to have people coming out alive. I'm convinced that President Trump were not elected. This deal was stuck. So this really is a Reagan moment. We're quite excited about it.

A Reagan moment. That was Mike Waltz, Trump's pick for national security advisor. With a ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas set to take effect in the final hours of Joe Biden's presidency, the deal has some drawing parallels to the 1981 release of American hostages held by Iran. Those captives were freed just moments after Ronald Reagan took the oath of office. They went first to Europe and arrived back in the United States a week later.

Like Biden, it was a hostage crisis that President Jimmy Carter had worked on tirelessly in the remaining months of his presidency, with the exact role of their successors subject to debate. Ultimately, it was President Reagan who welcomed them home, Carter calling him the morning of his inauguration to tell him the good news. - Governor, good morning. How you doing? I pledged to call for it earlier. I just wanna let you know that the planes are at the end of the runway. The Iranians were notified

about roughly 25 minutes ago. I'll see you later on for the ceremonies. God bless you. Thank you, sir. Wow. Joining me now, former Trump National Security Advisor, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., John Bolton. Mr. Ambassador, very grateful to have you on the program. Thanks for being here.

Glad to be here. You have, of course, emerged as a Trump critic in the wake of your experience with him. I'm interested to know, do you think President-elect Trump deserves credit for this deal between Israel and Hamas?

Well, I think he's responsible for the deal. I wouldn't take credit with it. I think it's a very bad mistake by Israel. I think they're acquiescing because of the pressure that Trump put on the Netanyahu government. I don't think this deal was good over the last seven months. The outlines are basically what was put out by the Biden administration in May, if I'm not mistaken.

And it doesn't make it any better, the fact that Trump now endorses it. In fact, it contradicts a basic element of Trump's pretty successful efforts in his first term to get American hostages released, which is you don't swap hostages.

The Israelis have had a long policy of doing it. I think it's been a long mistake for Israel. I think this is the worst time to give Hamas six weeks of a ceasefire or any Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. And I'm very worried it's going to have long-term implications. But I think Netanyahu is doing it because Biden only has four days left in office and he's got four years of Trump to face. But it's the wrong way to start.

So you come down in many ways with the people to the right of Netanyahu and his government on this question? Well, I come down where Mike Waltz is, at least in this text of an interview with Dan Senor yesterday. He said...

I don't like any deal with these sick, evil sons of whatever. And we should never ever reward the horrendous acts of October the 7th and said that what you really need to do is cut out the cancer that Hamas represents by giving a six-week ceasefire if it happens.

you're giving Hamas the chance to gain hundreds of potential new fighters from the Palestinians being released. Remember, Yahya Sinwar, the now deceased leader of Hamas in Gaza, was a prisoner released by Israel. The terms of this deal, the numbers are a little hazy, but is roughly 50 Palestinian prisoners for every Israeli hostage, some of whom, by the way, are going to be dead.

And we don't know how many of the hundred that Hamas is still believed to hold are actually still alive, which demonstrates the barbarity and the cynicism of Hamas playing on the understandable emotions of hostage families.

for months now, knowing that the hostages were dead. The only negotiation you should have with Hamas is to find any of them who might be left to sign the unconditional surrender. That's the only negotiation I would have with this brutal terrorist group.

- All right. Sir, I wanna ask you about something that we're seeing here at home with the former president who invoked your name, the former president, president-elect, invoked your name in a post on his Truth Social platform overnight.

And it seems to be something of a blacklist for people who worked for or were supported by a number of figures in the Republican Party, including you. Trump wrote this, quote,

and he calls you dumb as a rock, John Bolton. This is a picture slate of all the others who are also included there. What is your response to this?

Well, you know, it's very typical of Trump to open his mouth without knowing what he's talking about. And I bear no ill will to the people who once worked for me who have already been announced for jobs in the Trump administration. I'm not going to name them and get them into trouble. Or the many others that I'm aware of are still trying to get jobs in the Trump administration.

So I think that list he's put out there is a pretty good company to be in. And I can't wait for the intrepid journalists at CNN and elsewhere to reveal all the names of these people who have worked for people on the blacklist. What does it say to you that this is how Donald Trump is approaching this as he is set to take office in just a handful of days?

Sure. Look, there are a lot of people, and it's normal in a transition. The incoming president's team and their supporters are just in the rapture. Everything's fine. Everything's going to be okay. All things will happen. Everything will be a victory.

And for those who say that Trump is reformed, that he's grown, that he's going to be a normal president, this is the kind of thing, like the Mar-a-Lago press conference last week, that demonstrates he hasn't changed at all. It's going to be four years just like the last four years. Sir, while I have you, I also want to ask you about some of the confirmation battles that are going to play out on Capitol Hill, namely one that has

for whatever reason, flown a little bit under the radar compared to, for example, Pete Hegseth for defense secretary, and that's Tulsi Gabbard as the director of national intelligence. Would you urge Republicans to oppose her nomination? What are your concerns? And do you think if Democrats were to try and organize opposition against her that they would find some traction with their Republican counterparts?

Well, I must say the Democratic performance in the confirmation process so far has been pretty pathetic. It's like they don't know how to play the game anymore. But I have thought of all of Trump's nominees, they cover a wide spectrum. Three are actually dangerous. One was Matt Gaetz. He's gone. The other two are Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel. Mediocrity has its place in government. We know that all too well. But dangerous people, dangerous people.

In the case of the intelligence community, national security and law enforcement in particular, there are two more, Patel and Gabbard, who should not be confirmed. All right. Ambassador John Bolton, I'm very grateful to have you on the show, sir. Thanks very much for coming on with us. Glad to be with you.

All right, let's turn now to this. In his farewell address last night, President Biden sounding a lot like another American president on his way out the door. Back in 1961, Dwight Eisenhower addressed the American people for the final time as president, an address which included this now famous warning. We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry

can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals. LISA DESJARDINS: Joe Biden was 18 years old when President Eisenhower delivered that speech. Biden now has his own warning for America 64 years later. JOE BIDEN: Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms.

and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead. I'm equally concerned about the potential rise of a tech industrial complex that could pose real dangers for our country as well. Americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation, enabling the abuse of power.

All right, our panel is back with us. And, Jaime, this, of course, a poignant moment for President Biden as he does a step off the stage. Interesting he decided to frame it that way, talking about an oligarchy and especially warning about the technology companies. What did you make of...

how he used this address last night. - Look, I think a couple of things about President Biden. He's very presidential. I think he takes his office very seriously. And so being at that desk last night meant a lot to him. But if you're President Biden, think about two things right now. You're thinking about all you thought you were able to accomplish, infrastructure, reducing inflation as much as you could, bringing people back to DC, back to work, open the country back up, et cetera, et cetera. But what's in your heart is,

have you really saved the soul of the nation? When he ran four years ago, he talked about saving the soul of this nation, and he has tried time and time again. And I don't think he really feels like he was able to accomplish that. So there's a lot of unfinished business. And so I do think that he's grappling with that over the next couple of days. So it's going to be tough for him to step aside. With President Trump coming back. I think another way to put it is that President Biden is an individual that

was preparing for the moment he would leave the presidency probably since 1972. For generations he's been on the American stage.

quite a whimper of a way to end a storied career as a public servant, let's be clear. But this is not the way I think he wanted it to end. I learned more about how the French built the Statue of Liberty last night than I learned about anything else during that speech. And for him to denigrate the tech industry, and I'll just say that has provided more jobs and more opportunity and more American exceptionalism and is going to help us in our fight against China. I'm not sure. I think he was grasping at straws and he wanted his

Eisenhower moment, to your point,

I'm not sure he landed that. All right. Well, thank you all for joining us today. Thanks to all of you at home for joining us as well. I do want to give you a quick look here as we leave. This is a live shot from the International Space Station. What you're seeing there are astronauts getting ready to walk in space. This is going to come up in a few hours. Sunny Williams, she's one of the astronauts that was stranded on the ISS this summer, is going

to take part in that spacewalk. I mean, look, I guess if you're stuck there, you might as well make the most of it, right? Why not? All right. I'm Casey Hunt. Don't go anywhere. CNN News Central starts right now.

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