Return to Transcripts main page
Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Trump's Inauguration Moved Indoors Because Of Cold Weather; Inauguration Address To Be Delivered In Capitol Rotunda As Reagan Did In 1985 Due To Cold, TikTok Flip-Flop; Some CA Residents Defying Evacuation Orders To Protect Their Homes From Looters After Wildfires; Israeli Government Formally Approves Ceasefire Deal; Education Cuts Could Hit Trump Base In KY County; Eight Teams Vying For Super Bowl Shot In This Weekend's NFL Playoffs. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired January 17, 2025 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Rezende says that he's in conversations with the EPA about their initial plans to come through and clean up hazardous waste in the burned areas, including all the batteries that you find in home products and electric vehicles and that process could take a very long time. So if people are allowed to come back to properties in the near future, he said, just be aware that it may not be 100 percent cleared wear a mask and be careful where you walk -- Erin.
All right, Natasha thank you very much from Altadena tonight. And thanks to all of you for being with us. AC360 begins now.
[20:00:31]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": Tonight on 360, the inside story on Monday's inauguration and how the ceremony and celebrations will change now that swearing in a new president has come in from the cold.
Also tonight, keeping them honest. The new president's TikTok flip- flop from skeptic at best to out and out fan, and what may be behind it.
And later from Israel, breaking news on the ceasefire with Hamas. The Israeli Cabinet approving the deal, meaning hostages could start coming home as soon as Sunday.
Good evening, thanks for joining us. We begin tonight with a few degrees and a few short steps in the world of difference they'll be making in how inauguration day will look and, more importantly, feel.
For the first time in four decades, the ceremony and all that follows will be moving indoors from the Capitol steps into the rotunda. Now, President-elect Trump says he ordered the move because the cold, along with the cancellation of the inaugural parade. In addition, what you see here, workers hurrying to assemble an alternate indoor stage security teams are scrambling to deal with crowds being relocated to the Capital One Arena, where the president elect has promised a live appearance and where elements of the inaugural parade will now be held. As for the weather itself, according to the National Weather Service, the high on Monday will be 23 degrees. It's a far cry from the seven degree day back in 1985 that forced Ronald Reagan to start his second term in office indoors. Mr. Reagan was 73 at the time and has survived a near fatal gunshot wound several years before.
William Henry Harrison was 68 when he took the oath outdoors on a bitterly cold and wet March day, back when presidents were sworn in later in the year. In any case, it was still cold enough. A month later, he died of pneumonia, blamed on exposure to the elements that day.
With me here is Kaitlan Collins, host of "The Source," coming up at the top of the next hour and in Washington, CNN senior law enforcement analyst and former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe.
Was this decision strictly about keeping everyone warm, or were there concerns about, you know, crowds, the health of crowds, and also maybe not big crowds showing up?
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CORRESPONDENT: I think maybe the crowd size, that's something that everyone thinks about because of course, that was a moment after Trump's first inauguration. But primarily what I heard from people today is this had been something under consideration this week as they were looking at that forecast, not just the numbers, but the wind chill and what it's expected to be like five degrees on Monday morning.
And obviously, when you go to these inaugurations and cover them, people start lining up at 6:00 and 7:00 in the morning.
COOPER: It's an all-day affair.
COLLINS: Yes, hours before Trump is even going to get sworn in. And so, I do think there was real concern about that. But also think about the people who are going to be sitting out there. All of these lawmakers, and not only the president-elect who will be the oldest to be sworn in, but also his predecessors, who will be there. Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama will also be there as well.
And so, I think there was just real concern about the health and concerns for people and what that was going to look like. But making this switch now is no easy thing. I mean, they spentmonths planning an inauguration and what this is going to look like, and there's been high interest in VIPs attending this one.
So, really what they were trying to figure out today is how are they going to do this inside? What is it going to look like and where are they going to put everybody?
COOPER: Well, I mean, is it clear like is seating -- it must be more limited obviously, than it was.
COLLINS: It's going to be way more limited. I mean, they'll be sworn in the rotunda in a way similar to how Reagan was. I think it will look a little bit different. But you see, they've been building the stage this afternoon. The question is where to put all the guests. And because it's not just all these donors who they had run out of tickets for, essentially even people who were donating six figure sums and in some cases over a million dollars, were not getting actual seats at the inauguration because they had run out of essentially space.
And so, that's the question now of where to put them inside the Capitol, how to space out these VIPs, and also just all --
COOPER: Like, who makes the cut? I mean, that's like a --
COLLINS: And where are they sitting? I mean, these are people who are used to prime, you know, kind of attendance when they come to something like this. So, that's a real question that they're all struggling with. But I do think primarily the concern was going to be the weather and what this was going to look like outside, because, I mean, you saw when Trump was inaugurated eight years ago, it was like in the 30s, it seems downright balmy compared to what Monday is going to look like.
COOPER: Andrew, you oversaw intelligence and counterterrorism for President Obama's inauguration in 2009. Would security officials have had a contingency plan in place for something like this?
ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Absolutely, absolutely, you can't possibly overstate the amount of coordination and planning that goes into an inauguration. It happens long before you even know who's going to be inaugurated. The team that works on this, it's dozens of law enforcement agencies, tens of thousands of law enforcement officers and National Guard folks. And they have planned for every contingency.
This is not ideal by any stretch to have to make this sort of change just three days before the event, but they certainly have the resources, they have the capability, and most importantly they have the coordination.
This group has been working together as a whole of government team for many months. It's just a matter of changing the chess pieces on the board here. And in some ways, the security environment is actually helped by having more indoor events.
[20:05:36]
COOPER: You know, Kaitlan, back in the old Soviet Union, the Kremlin, they would always look at who was on the wall, like near to the leader to see who was up and who was down. I think there's going to be a lot of people looking at who made the cut to be indoors. I mean, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, you know --
COLLINS: Tim Cook.
COOPER: Tim Cook.
COLLINS: The CEOs of Apple and Google. I mean, everyone is going to be at this inauguration in terms of we've seen a record number of fundraising and donations. These are these people did not donate $1 million sums to Biden's inauguration.
COOPER: Also, I mean, this is a president who knows the importance of a visual image and seeing, you know, well-known people, very identifiable people in that area near him does send a signal.
COLLINS: Yes, he's a producer in and of himself. I mean, he often gets frustrated with his advance people at rallies if they didn't create enough space for guests or they didn't put, you know, the press in the right area. And so, now they're balancing having all of these people who are going to be there. The CEO of TikTok, hours after that ban goes into place, is going to be there. Supreme Court justices are going to be there. Congressional leadership.
I mean, that's in addition to other diplomatic figures who are coming in and major donors just generally that are going to be there and his family as well. And so, and the Cabinet picks, I mean, this is a lot for them to shuffle.
And the other thing to watch after he is sworn in inside the rotunda is typically and what they've been planning for was to have a parade where they drive down. And as Jimmy Carter started this, this tradition, the president-elect and the First Lady get out of the car and walk a little bit and greet supporters.
They don't want people standing outside. So that is being moved inside to the arena, the concert venue in Washington. That's still a question of what that's going to look like. But we do expect Trump to go and to visit that. But I mean, it's just completely changed everything for Monday for them.
COOPER: And just in terms of security, I mean, look, there's so, so much -- DC is locked down anyway on this day. But indoors is obviously safer than outdoors.
MCCABE: It's much safer, Anderson and simply because you can control access, right? There are limited access points to get into that space. And you can make sure that everyone is adequately scanned before they go in there.
What the Secret Service traditionally tries to do on the inauguration is essentially turn all of the west front of the Capitol and all of Pennsylvania Avenue into a pseudo indoor environment. They completely cut off access to it. They scan everybody that gets near that street or in any position that they would have potential access or a line of sight to the president.
That's a much harder thing to do and a much bigger space. So in some ways, moving the events indoors reduces risk for them. It reduces the size of the crowd they have to scan, and it also reduces the number of people that would have that sort of line of sight access to the president, which is what you're always worried about in terms of things like sniper shots and other, other sorts of attacks.
COOPER: Yes, Andrew McCabe, thanks very much. Kaitlan is going to stay with us. I also want to bring in two political strategists, Democrat Paul Begala and Republican Doug Heye. Paul, how much do you think this moving indoors will affect, if at all, the tone, the tenor of the new president's inaugural speech, he won't have that huge crowd at the National Mall to kind of play off of, which maybe works in his favor, because speaking to that big a crowd is different than inside.
PAUL BEGALA, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, he does get his energy from crowds, and I do -- I've rarely been accused of this. I think we ought to give the president-elect the benefit of the doubt here. It is going to be bitterly cold. There are going to be a lot of people out there for a very long time. If he were to do it outside. So, I think that's a good thing.
But I think you point to the political challenge, which is he was elected by the middle class, and Democrats are going to want to say he's going to serve the billionaire class, right.
There's only 750 billionaires in the whole country. So all of them could fit in that rotunda quite easily. But I'm really interested, it's like the Where's Waldo game. I don't know if you boys read that, but you know the book, of course.
COOPER: Yes.
BEGALA: Democrats are going to parse those photos, as you say, not just to see which of the 11 billionaires he's putting in our government, by the way, which is 11 more than Biden, 11 more than Obama, 11 more than Bush. But where are the blue collar men who elected him and women, right. Where's the autoworker in Michigan who flipped that state from the Democrats to Republicans?
My bet is they're not going to be a whole lot of them there. And it's only going to be the golden tickets, going to the billionaire class.
COOPER: Well, like in Where's Waldo. There's like 20 different Waldos in those books to search for and there's like a wizard as well. So, there's a lot, there's going to be a lot of people to look for like, oh, there's that guy.
So, Doug, I want to put up the president-elect's new official portrait, which there's been some comments that it seems a bit stern, do you think the image he's projecting in that photo signals anything about, I don't know, does it mean anything?
[20:10:25]
DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Oh, it's images that we've seen time and time again. Donald Trump, likes to project strength. This is the way that he sees himself doing so. So, I wouldn't be surprised by that and --
COOPER: Let's compare it actually to the last official portrait.
HEYE: Yes, but you know --
COOPER: -- it's more dramatic, I think.
HEYE: Donald Trump has had a lot more official government portraits than most, obviously, United States presidents. If you if you understand what I mean. And so, you know, he always wants to project strength.
And I think he's going to try and find a way to do that in the speech. And, you know, to Paul's point, you know, maybe some of those blue collar workers can take Nancy Pelosi's seat. She won't be there or Michelle Obama's seat since she won't be there.
But it's a small, tiny room that it's tough to get into, and there's a flurry of activity that happens in the Capitol on inauguration day, anyways. And so, yes, they've been planning this for months, as Kaitlan mentioned.
You know, I remember in September of 2012, Anderson, going to an event at the Capitol where they did the ceremonial hammering of the nails John Boehner did in one bang, hammered the nail in to say, we're building the stage for this. But meanwhile you have the Secret Service and you have the Capitol Inaugural Committee planning for this contingency, hoping that they won't have to do it. Obviously they haven't in 40 years, but they plan for this.
COOPER: Kaitlan, the 2017, then President Trump talked about American carnage. He's got a lot of attention, obviously, in his inaugural address. Do you have any sense of the theme of this one?
KAITLAN: I think they're going to stay away from the American carnage in the sense of that was the takeaway from that speech. And I think a lot of what you'll hear in this one, and they're still putting the final touches on it, from what we've heard from our sources, is that it's going to be really a lot of what he focused on, on the campaign trail. And I think the question, though, is to look at what he said back then and in the last several months to what he's saying now, because obviously he promised a lot of what he was going to do on day one.
We've since heard from lawmakers saying, obviously he can't do that on literal day one, but here's what it will look like. I think voters will have questions about what that time period does look like in terms of not just securing the southern border, but bringing down inflation and grocery prices, but also foreign issues. Solving the war in Ukraine, which he also vowed to do on day one. And when you look at that CNN polling yesterday, Trump has some of the highest numbers that he's had ever his highest approval ratings when he went into office.
And so, I think, you know, what the Trump team seems to recognize is that, that means high expectations for what this second term is going to look like. And a lot of what the transition has focused on is getting those priorities done right away, because it is a finite amount of time. It's four years and really potentially only two until the power of Congress changes.
And so, I think that's really the question going into this and looking at what he says is how he translates those campaign promises now that he's actually about to have the power of the office.
COOPER: Paul, do you have any doubt, I mean, that on day one that they are going to want to try to get stuff that's going to make headlines?
BEGALA: Oh, there's no question. This time he should try things, I will give them free advice that are popular. The first time he came into office he was above water in the polling, more popular than unpopular by three or four points. And that lasted 17 days, 17 days and for the whole rest of his presidency, he was unpopular. He lost the House, lost the Senate, lost the White House.
The thing again, that I think Democrats need to push is what Kaitlan referred to. He didn't get elected because folks want to buy Greenland. He got elected because folks want to buy groceries. And he, by God, better cut the cost of groceries, gas and rent. And if he doesn't deliver on that, those middle class blue-collar voters who put him there are going to feel betrayed.
I can't emphasize how important this is. For the first time since Reagan, a Republican, won voters making less than 50 grand a year. Now, as a Democrat, I don't like that. But as an American, I admire it. That's important. He's got to cut the cost of living for those folks.
COOPER: Paul Begala, Doug Heye, thanks, Kaitlan is going to be back at the top of the hour at nine for "The Source."
Coming up next for us. Supreme Court unanimously upholding a law banning TikTok starting Sunday unanimously, which doesn't happen much these days. So, why is the president-elect who once tried to ban while in office, now singing the opposite tune? Well, look at that.
And later from the fire zone, people who chose not to evacuate from their homes. Many cases fought the fires with firefighters themselves, saved their homes and are now making a stand, some of them armed to protect what remains of their homes and neighborhood in the Los Angeles area.
Well, be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:18:44]
COOPER: Welcome back.
The Supreme Court just did something it rarely ever does anymore. They voted unanimously by a nine to zero vote. It upheld the bipartisan law banning TikTok from the US market as soon as Sunday, unless the app's Chinese parent company sells it to an American buyer.
Now, if the court spoke with one voice today, it's ruling specifically highlights the fact that the president-elect will be enforcing the law has over the years spoken with two voices on this matter.
Starting then as President Trump in the summer of 2020. Here's what President Trump then said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REPORTER: Are you expecting a TikTok decision today?
DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're looking at TikTok. We may be banning TikTok. We may be doing some other things.
There are a couple of options, but a lot of things are happening. So we'll see what happens. But we are looking at a lot of alternatives with respect to TikTok.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: So that was July 31st, 2020. On August 6th, he issued an executive order blocking any American from doing business with TikTok's parent company, ByteDance. Quoting from that order, "At this time, action must be taken to address the threat posed by one mobile application in particular, TikTok."
Now, courts ultimately blocked that executive order, but the Supreme Court today in its ruling, cited portions of it approvingly. President-elect, though, has already moved on. In March of last year, he condemned the bill, according to the "New York Times," this came around the same time that he met with a man named Jeff Yass, a Republican mega-donor who owns a significant share of TikTok's parent company.
Mr. Trump denied that they talked about the company, and it's not clear whether Yass donated directly to the Trump campaign. Now, in any case, the change happened. Here he is during the campaign, promising to preserve TikTok for the 170 million Americans who use it, many of whom vote.
[20:20:23]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: For all of those that want to save TikTok in America, vote for Trump. The other side is closing it up, but I'm now a big star on TikTok. We're not doing anything with TikTok, but the other side is going to close it up. So if you like TikTok, go out and vote for Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, that was September. Late last month, he petitioned the court to pause the law they just upheld today. That move came just days after a meeting at Mar-a-Lago with this man, TikTok CEO, seen here testifying before a Congressional Subcommittee. The same CEO who will be a guest at the inauguration on this coming Monday, according to POLITICO, TikTok is throwing an inauguration party in Washington on Sunday honoring influencers who helped candidate Trump and there were many of them.
Today on social media, President-elect Trump said, "The Supreme Court decision was expected and everyone must respect it. My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation. Stay tuned."
As for President Biden, who signed and fought for the law the Supreme Court upheld, the White House says they do not believe he has the authority to defer enforcement of it when the ban takes effect on Sunday. They added, however, that they did look into options to keep TikTok accessible.
We'll have more on all of this right now from CNN chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid, who joins me. So did anything about this ruling come as a surprise -- Paula.
PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Not so much, because we saw during oral arguments a week ago something we rarely see from the Supreme Court and that is unity across the justices in their skepticism about TikTok's argument that the app should be protected by the First Amendment, and that should override these National Security concerns.
And of course, the big National Security concerns that prompted the passage of this law was that the app is collecting enormous amounts of data on US users that is shared with the Chinese government and there is a concern that this could be weaponized.
Of course, this bill passed with broad bipartisan support. Now, I did think there was a possibility that maybe the Supreme Court would just put a pause on the ban to allow the new administration to come in and try to negotiate a sale. But it was not a surprise at all that it was upheld as being constitutional.
COOPER: What options does President Trump have at this point once he becomes president?
REID: So the clearest path forward for him is to make a good faith, showing that there are negotiations underway to sell TikTok to a US approved buyer. And that's the clearest path, because the law has a provision for this. If you can prove this, it pauses the ban for a certain amount of time to try to get that sale through.
Now, I will note there are some other options. He could tell his Justice Department not to enforce the law. He could try to do an Executive Order, but most of those options are going to face legal challenges. This is a law that was passed by Congress and upheld by the Supreme Court.
So, right now, the future of this law is ambiguous. I mean, lawyers for content creators reached out to the Justice Department and the White House for some clarification, but it appears pretty clear the Biden administration, they're just going to leave this on the desk of the president-elect.
It is, Anderson, our first official constitutional controversy of the second Trump administration.
COOPER: All right. We'll see what happens, Paula Reid, thank you.
Joining us now is "Forbes" magazine investigative reporter Emily Baker-White. Her upcoming book is "Every Screen on the Planet: The War Over TikTok". Also, with us Carrie Cordero, CNN legal analyst and senior fellow at the center for a new American security. Carrie, I know you've been focused on this issue. How do you see the Supreme Court's ruling and the flip-flopping in both parties?
CARRIE CORDERO, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, the ruling itself is consistent with the oral arguments and the direction that the justices seem to be going in. I did think it was interesting that it was unanimous. It was interesting that they didn't even apply the highest level of scrutiny for a First Amendment case.
So, they did not even seem to be so concerned about the content arguments on behalf of TikTok or the creators. They basically accepted the government's arguments that there was a National Security justification, and they relied on the fact that divestment is an established mechanism for mitigating National Security concerns when there is there's foreign ownership of a US company.
COOPER: Emily, it's so interesting to see how the political winds have shifted on this. Many people made fun of Trump previously, talking about banning TikTok. What's behind the shifting winds?
EMILY BAKER-WHITE, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, FORBES: So your reporter before mentioned a meeting with a donor who might have influenced that. But there's also another, I think, simpler explanation. Donald Trump evaluates social media platforms based on how he thinks he's doing on them. And back in 2020, he announced plans to ban TikTok shortly after, a number of enterprising teens tanked attendance at one of his rallies.
And more recently, in the 2024 election, he was doing very well on TikTok and I think even if you just listened to him talk about why he liked TikTok, he said, I'm a very big star on it, and so we're going to keep it around.
COOPER: Well, what do you say, Emily, to the idea that if the even if US bans, it would just be replaced by another app controlled by China and on and on.
[20:25:26]
BAKER-WHITE: Well, the law does allow for the president to designate further apps for potential bans; apps that are connected to foreign adversary governments. So, if this app really is just replaced by another Chinese app, I think the law accounts for that. But I think there's a bigger question, which is that, you know, and this is what TikTok argued before the court.
If the government bans an app because its worried that the Chinese government might influence our speech patterns in some way, influence the information that we see, influence the content ecosystem. By banning an app, the US government is also doing that exact same thing. It is also changing the content ecosystem and this is the first time we've seen our government do that this way.
COOPER: Carrie, that's an argument. I mean, Congressman Jim Himes, who was a ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. He opposed banning TikTok on those free speech grounds, saying basically that by banning the app, America is behaving like its adversaries. What do you say to that argument?
CORDERO: Right. Well, so I think there's a lot of validity to that argument in my own assessment. I'm concerned about the United States going down a path of banning apps and limiting American's access to content.
So, interestingly, the Supreme Court did not place its decision on that argument. What it relied on more was the US government's argument, the National Security community's argument that the Chinese government had the ability to collect the data that is retained by TikTok, that if they demanded the data being collected on the 170 million American users, that that is what created the National Security threat.
So, the Supreme Court sort of sidestepped that particular issue with respect to the government's argument that the real concern was influence and covert influence about how Americans think and receive information.
COOPER: And, Carrie, I mean, is National Security still an area that the court tends to defer to the president on?
CORDERO: Well, absolutely. So, from that perspective, also, this decision is very consistent with judicial deference to the executive branch on National Security arguments. Notably, the court in this decision also noted that they did not rely, though, on any classified information to make their decision.
The DC Circuit also received classified information and Congress, of course, based its decision when it passed this law last spring on classified briefings that really spooked the members of Congress and motivated them in a very bipartisan way to vote for this. But the Supreme Court says that it just based its decision on the open unclassified record.
COOPER: Carrie Cordero, thank you. Emily Baker-White, I look forward to your book, thanks very much.
Up next, the difficult time that some Los Angeles area residents who stayed in their homes in evacuation zones have been having since the storm.
Plus, more breaking news tonight. Israel's full Cabinet approving the Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal set to take effect this Sunday.
More on that ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:32:48]
COOPER: As firefighters continue to make progress in the battle against the deadly Los Angeles wildfires, Los Angeles Mayor Bass said today she'll announce plans next week to start the rebuilding effort. Quoting Mayor Bass, "There's no greater priority than getting people back home".
More than 170,000 people are still under evacuation notices tonight. But as authorities continue to make arrests over wildfire-related crimes, including looting, some residents are living in the evacuation zones that they stayed to fight in during the fires and they now want to protect their homes.
CNN's Veronica Miracle has their story.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Amid the Eaton Fire rubble, inside the mandatory evacuation zone, Greg Gill and his partner Rob Bruce are holding their ground.
MIRACLE: Are you armed?
GREG GILL, DEFENDING ALTADENA HOME: Yes ma'am.
MIRACLE (voice-over): Defiant and prepared.
GILL: We have other shotguns. We're ready. This is just the first person who comes in. The second person grabs the other shotgun. This is a long-range rifle.
MIRACLE (voice-over): They've positioned themselves as defenders of their corner of Altadena.
GILL: So, yes, we take the guns out of the arsenal, and there's a truck on the driveway. And we back up the truck right here and put one, two or three of us out on the street.
MIRACLE: Has anybody stopped by to say anything when they see you guys with your shotguns?
ROB BRUCE, DEFENDING ALTADENA HOME: Nobody says anything but hi, how are you?
MIRACLE (voice-over): Greg and Rob defied the evacuation order while the fires raged in Altadena. Now, as long as they don't leave, they're permitted to stay. In the Eaton Fire alone, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has made 36 arrests for suspected crimes like looting and trespassing.
Though Greg and Rob finally have power back on, they're withstanding cold nights and garden hose showers so they can rebuild and protect their home.
BRUCE: We're watching out for people who don't belong.
MIRACLE (voice-over): But the lack of utilities in the neighborhood is wearing down the holdouts like Tina Kardos just next door.
TINA KARDOS, DEFENDING ALTADENA HOME: Initially, I just wanted to be here because of the looting. And then just wanted to stay to make sure everything is safe and back in order.
[20:35:05]
MIRACLE (voice-over): Tina has been managing for the last week but her 14-year-old son left a couple of days ago.
KARDOS: It just got a lot. Like, he was here and he was giving it all with me and it was just a lot. So he needed to leave.
MIRACLE: I can only imagine. Do you -- how much longer do you think you'll last?
KARDOS: I don't know. I'd take one day at a time. One day at a time.
MIRACLE (voice-over): Outside of the evacuation zones at the Palisades Fire, efforts to bring people across the checkpoints have been derailed. Police are now scaling back their 15-minute escorts home for victims.
CHIEF JIM MCDONNELL, LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT: Some of them are waiting six, seven, eight hours and then at the end it got shut down and they were very, very frustrated. Understandably so.
MIRACLE (voice-over): Authorities say it could be at least another week until Altadena residents can come home.
GILL: Every day there's a little bit of an improvement. You know, every day gets a little cleaner.
MIRACLE (voice-over): Those who disobey law enforcement orders to leave are preparing for what comes next.
GILL: We're going to be -- this little area right here, we're going to be here. You know, we'll die here.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COOPER: And Veronica Miracle joins me now. Veronica, last Tuesday when I was there with the urban search and rescue team, I spoke with a resident who'd stayed and she was having trouble getting resupplied things like gasoline that essentially she said that they used to let supplies come across that checkpoint but now they weren't even letting that come across. Has that changed? Are they able to get gasoline for generators and stuff?
MIRACLE (on-camera): Well, Anderson, at least the people that we spoke to today, they're sensing that some of the checkpoints are easing up just a little bit. The one that they frequent are allowing non-profits to come through and bring in gasoline, some food, some other supplies that are definitely needed.
They're also allowing people to go and do handoffs. So if there are deliveries coming, they can get some food, they can get some supplies that they need as long as they don't go on the other side of that evacuation zone. And Anderson, tonight these evacuation zones are getting smaller at both of the fires, so more people are being let back in. But officials are saying that when you do come back, it is still dangerous here. You need to be prepared to wear an N95 mask. There are toxins in the air. They are also still conducting search and rescue efforts.
COOPER: All right. Veronica Miracle, thanks so much. I appreciate it.
Now to the state of the ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas. A short time ago, Israel's full Cabinet signed off on the deal, meaning it could go into effect Sunday.
Jeremy Diamond is in Tel Aviv tonight with more. So what final steps remain before this ceasefire and hostage deal can actually be implemented?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, there's no question that the full government's approval of the ceasefire agreement was the most important step in the process, and it came despite the efforts of two far-right government ministers to try and block this ceasefire agreement from actually becoming a reality.
But now that the government has put its stamp of approval on this, we will have a window of time, just over 24 hours, during which time the Israeli Supreme Court will be able to hear petitions, appeals against the release of the hundreds of Palestinian prisoners set to be released from Israeli jails in exchange for those 33 hostages.
That process, though, is largely a formality. The Israeli prime minister, the Israeli government really do have a lot of leeway here in Israel to release these prisoners when it comes to matters of national security like this agreement.
COOPER: You previously talked about Sunday being the first day that hostages might be released. Is that still the case? And is it clear who is going to be released initially?
DIAMOND: Yes, that Sunday is indeed the date when we expect the ceasefire agreement to go into place, meaning both guns (ph) are expected to go silent, as it were. That will happen on Sunday. And then at some point, most likely as early as Sunday afternoon, you will see three Israeli hostages emerging from the Gaza Strip if everything goes well.
We don't know their exact identities, but we do know that they will be three female civilian hostages being held by Hamas who have been held by Hamas for more than 15 months now. And then we will get into the next six weeks of this ceasefire, during which time we will see a batch of Israeli hostages being released every single week.
And of course, inside of Gaza, you will see the entry of much needed humanitarian aid. And finally, after 15 months of relentless bombardment that the people of Gaza have faced, they will finally get a reprieve.
We are also learning a little bit more about the identities of the other 33 -- altogether 33 Israeli hostages set to be released. We know that there are two Americans, American-Israeli citizens among those set to be released, but there are still some unknowns.
The majority of these hostages are expected to emerge from Gaza alive, but still some questions about exactly how many will be dead. Anderson?
COOPER: And what's known about the Palestinian prisoners being released from Israeli prisons?
[20:40:01]
DIAMOND: Well, Anderson, we actually just got the number, the total number and a list of the prisoners set to be released over the course of this six-week agreement. 735 Palestinian prisoners set to be released from Israeli jails, according to the Israeli Ministry of Justice.
We will see 95 of those be released this coming Sunday in exchange for those three Israeli civilian hostages. Now, of those set to be released on Sunday, it really is a mix. Some convicted of more serious offenses, such as attempted murder.
But the majority, it would seem, are convicted of much less serious crimes or facing administrative detention, meaning that they haven't yet been tried or convicted for their crimes. But when you get down the line further into this hostage agreement, there are going to be dozens of Palestinians who have been convicted and sentenced to life sentences in Israeli prisons, some of them for killing Israelis who have been convicted of killing Israelis.
And it is those individuals who you will see these petitions, in particular, to try and block their release.
COOPER: Jeremy Diamond, thanks so much.
Well, still ahead, how a Kentucky community that overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump could now face funding cuts if he follows through on some of his campaign promises, something one educator there says could be devastating.
Plus, this is obviously a big weekend for football fans with the NFL playoffs in full swing. CNN's Harry Enten joins me ahead to talk football. And I won't know what he's talking about. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:45:54]
COOPER: ?More now on the President-elect's agenda, specifically his promise to cut the education department early in his administration. That could obviously have a significant impact in deep red areas of the country that voted for him, including Bell County, Kentucky, which relies heavily on federal funds for its schools.
CNN's Kyung Lah has more.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JENNIFER BLANKENSHIP, PRINCIPAL, BELL CENTRAL SCHOOL CENTER: Good morning, all you Bulldogs. It is a great day to be a Bulldog and --
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bell County, Kentucky.
TOM GAMBREL, SUPERINTENDENT, BELL COUNTY, KY SCHOOL DISTRICT: Almost 80 percent of our students are underprivileged.
LAH: What kind of poverty are you talking about with some of these kids?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're going to create your own --
GAMBREL: I would be confident in saying that when they leave on Friday, they may not eat again until Monday.
LAH (voice-over): For school superintendent Tom Gambrel, funding is more than just books.
GAMBREL: When coal mining was basically eliminated in our area, we've been losing population. When you lose students, you lose funding.
LAH (voice-over): The elementary and middle school principal is Jennifer Blankenship.
BLANKENSHIP: Remember, boys and girls, I love you, I believe in you, and I've got your back.
LAH: You are acutely aware of money.
BLANKENSHIP: Oh, acutely aware of it.
LAH: Do you have to be acutely aware?
BLANKENSHIP: You do.
LAH (voice-over): Every year of her 28 years as an educator here, Blankenship fought for every dollar for her kids.
LAH: How much of this room is funded --
BLANKENSHIP: The entire room.
LAH (voice-over): A third of all of Bell County, Kentucky school district funding in 2021 came from federal sources. So this district is listening as incoming President Donald Trump pledges this.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: One other thing I'll be doing very early in the administration is closing up the Department of Education in Washington, D.C., and sending all education and education work and needs back to the states. LAH (voice-over): What exactly that means for a state like Kentucky is unclear. Trump won this state. In Bell County, 84 percent voted for Trump, yet it deeply relies on federal funding. And that's not unusual.
A CNN analysis found the 15 states that most rely on federal funding for its public schools in 2022 all voted for Trump.
BLANKENSHIP: And I voted for President Trump.
LAH: I mean, you're an educator.
BLANKENSHIP: Yes.
LAH: You didn't vote for Trump eliminating federal funds here.
BLANKENSHIP: No, I did not vote for that. I voted for President Trump to make America first again and to improve our lives.
LAH: Do you believe that he would cut funding for this county?
BLANKENSHIP I want to say in my heart, absolutely not. I do not think that's what the voters want. If we have federal cuts, then that's going to mean bigger classroom sizes. I would lose teachers, first and foremost. It's devastating for this school in particular.
KATRINA GOODNIGHT, TEACHER, BELL CENTRAL SCHOOL CENTER: If these cuts happen, it'll be awful. It'll be awful for our kids.
LAH (voice-over): Mrs. Goodnight, as her fourth and fifth graders call her, grew up in Bell County. Her son is a third grader here.
GOODNIGHT: They're not going to be as prepared in their adult lives. Just because they're here in Appalachia doesn't mean they don't deserve it. They deserve it just as much as anybody else.
GAMBREL: My first position was a part-time custodian in the district.
LAH (voice-over): This superintendent is still doing multiple jobs, taking on paying invoices and answering the district's phones just so he can save money on administrative help and send more money to his classrooms.
GAMBREL: I don't think that anyone in our county wants to cut our school funding. I don't think that anyone voted for that.
LAH: Do you mind if I ask who you voted for in the election?
GAMBREL: I voted for Donald Trump and I voted against Amendment 2.
LAH (voice-over): Amendment 2, so-called school choice, would have allowed Kentucky tax dollars to go to non-public schools. But it failed overwhelmingly in Kentucky, even though President Trump supports the policy.
GAMBREL: The education of our students is the most important thing to me. That's my job. I don't think that either of my votes will harm our students overall.
JESSICA WINKLER, CHILDREN ATTEND BELL COUNTY, KY SCHOOLS: Have a good day. I love you.
[20:50:05]
LAH (voice-over): Jessica Winkler, mom of three in the school district, says there's a simple reason why voters choose this path.
WINKLER: The biggest thing to understand is that I feel like the people of this community prioritize conservative values and they vote there first.
LAH: What would you say to anyone who has a vote on whether or not federal dollars come to Bell County?
WINKLER: To a lot of people, this is simply a political issue or an issue of economy. But to small-town America, it's about providing, whether impoverished or not, a group of kids to be successful at the next level. It's way more than just a political issue. It's an issue of community.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COOPER: And Kyung Lah joins us now. Do we know exactly what the plan is for school funding under the new administration?
LAH (on-camera): And we don't have the exact details of this yet. We're really gleaning this from what Trump and his allies have said. He even put it on his transition page that one of his priorities was eliminating the Department of Education. We've heard it over and over again at the campaign rallies and then sending that money, that federal money to the states.
So that's the plan. What we don't know, Anderson, is if it's going to be a day one priority and what that exactly means to the students of Bell County.
COOPER: There's more details in the Project 2025 document.
LAH (on-camera): Hey, absolutely. And really, that's where we get more of the shades of the details. And part of the reason why we put so much weight into this, Anderson, is because the author, one of the authors of Project 2025 is Russell Vought. He -- Trump has nominated him to lead the OMB.
And so with those words, so the details that we're getting from that Project 2025 note is to eliminate Title I funds. Those are critical to the kids of Bell County. And so, you know, you've heard from the superintendent. You hear that principle.
What their message is to Trump is they back the conservative principles. What they do not want is to hurt the children who live in the heart of Trump country.
COOPER: All right -- LAH (on-camera): Anderson?
COOPER: -- Kyung Lah, thanks very much.
Still to come, Harry Enten joins us to help broaden my knowledge of football, which is minimal, and the NFL playoffs, which continue this weekend. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:56:53]
COOPER: For some of the Washington, D.C. area, the inauguration may only be the second most important event this holiday weekend. Their blood football team is the turnaround story of this year. I don't need to tell you that. And one of eight playing in the NFL playoffs.
Tens of millions are expected to watch the games. Many of them probably know more than I do about who's favorite to win and even the names of all eight teams.
Harry Enten -- oh wow -- joins us now for a segment designed purely to make me look foolish. And that ain't hard. All right, mock me. Go ahead.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: First off, I'm worried about you. I'm worried about you --
COOPER: Yes.
ENTEN: -- because I know you're going to go down to Washington, D.C. --
COOPER: Yes.
ENTEN: -- to cover the inauguration. I'm worried you're going to be a bit cold.
COOPER: OK.
ENTEN: So I want you to protect yourself. So I brought you --
COOPER: I should wear this?
ENTEN: You should wear this hat.
COOPER: I should wear the Buffalo Bills hat --
ENTEN: Yes. And please --
COOPER: -- to return (ph) to Washington.
ENTEN: Correct. Put it on for us.
COOPER: Sure.
ENTEN: There we go. Very nice. And we can even -- you want to put the --
COOPER: Am I -- now, Wolf Blitzer, I know, is a Buffalo Bills fan, isn't he?
ENTEN: Wolf Blitzer --
COOPER: But isn't he also a Washington fan?
ENTEN: He's a Washington fan, but not of their football team. I believe he is of their basketball and of their baseball.
COOPER: OK.
ENTEN: OK.
COOPER: So will I get mocked if I will get -- I will like get attacked to Washington --
ENTEN: No, you're going to be rooting for a winning football team. That's what's going to be happening because they're going to win this weekend. But let's sort of go in and test your knowledge, OK?
COOPER: OK.
ENTEN: This is one of our favorite past time (ph).
COOPER: Is this music going to continue? My ear --
ENTEN: Apparently, I think this music is going to continue --
COOPER: OK. All right.
ENTEN: -- because we want to make sure the --
COOPER: Sure.
ENTEN: -- fidelity is high.
COOPER: OK.
ENTEN: All right. The first matchup is on Saturday afternoon between these two squads. Can you name these teams, Anderson?
COOPER: That would be the Kansas City Chiefs.
ENTEN: That's one.
COOPER: And the Buffalo Bills.
ENTEN: No, I'm sorry. That's definitely not the Bill.
COOPER: That is the same logo --
ENTEN: No, it is not. That is a ball. That is a ball. Pull that -- put that logo back.
COOPER: OK, this was like the U.S. Mail logo to me for some reason.
ENTEN: No, that is definitely not the same logo --
COOPER: Is that the Toro --
ENTEN: Well, it is a Toro. That is his name.
COOPER: I don't know. Tell --
ENTEN: He has a lone star in his --
COOPER: On Texas. Chorus (ph).
ENTEN: OK, the Houston Texans. We were looking for the Houston Texans.
COOPER: That I -- seriously, I did not know. I know the Dallas --
ENTEN: The Cowboys.
COOPER: -- Cowboy Cheerleaders.
ENTEN: OK, let's talk about the -- oh, I like the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. Let's talk about the Saturday night matchup, OK? Can you name these teams, Anderson Cooper?
COOPER: Wisconsin?
ENTEN: No, we got -- there was a hint in the earlier part of this. In your intro, one of the teams was playing, you know, where you --
COOPER: First cut (ph) Washington.
ENTEN: Yes.
COOPER: OK, Washington.
ENTEN: OK.
COOPER: The Washington Washingtonians.
ENTEN: No.
COOPER: And the fighting Lions -- the Detroit Lions.
ENTEN: Yes. Yes. I feel like we're making real progress here. It was the Washington Commanders. OK --
COOPER: Washington Commander -- oh, right, the whole team.
ENTEN: Yes, they --
COOPER: I got it.
ENTEN: Yes. OK, let's go --
COOPER: OK. ENTEN: -- to the early Sunday games.
COOPER: Yes, please.
ENTEN: Yes.
COOPER: L.A., not the Lakers. The L.A. --
ENTEN: No. Close, sort of, maybe.
COOPER: -- Giants.
ENTEN: No, those -- they play in a different state.
COOPER: L.A., what? What are they?
ENTEN: The Los Angeles Rams.
COOPER: Oh, I should -- that I should --
ENTEN: You should have known that.
COOPER: Yes, they were somewhere else previously.
ENTEN: Yes, they were. They were in St. Louis before --
COOPER: OK, that one confused me.
ENTEN: Yes.
COOPER: That one confused me. What were the other team?
ENTEN: What was what --
COOPER: The Steel Eagles, Eagles. The fighting Eagles.
ENTEN: The fighting Eagles of?
COOPER: Of Eagletonia (ph).
ENTEN: Philadelphia. OK, let's take a look at the final matchup.
COOPER: OK.
ENTEN: This should be the easiest one.
COOPER: OK.
ENTEN: Can we get the final matchup?
COOPER: Those are the Buffalo Bills.
ENTEN: Yes.
COOPER: And the Baltimore Birds. Ravens, Ravens.
ENTEN: Yes.
COOPER: Yes, OK.
ENTEN: Anderson, I --
COOPER: Thank you.
ENTEN: And who's going to win on Sunday?
COOPER: The Buffalo Bills.
ENTEN: Yes.
COOPER: OK.
The news continues. The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts now.