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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
The Inauguration Of Donald Trump; Interview With Representative Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) About Trump's Second Term; 3 Hostages Return To Israel After 15 Months In Hamas Captivity; On Trump's Blue-Collar Voters; What To Expect On Inauguration Day. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired January 19, 2025 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[20:00:00]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At long last, hope for the future.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DIAMOND (on-camera): And Erin, on the first day of this ceasefire, there are indeed questions about what that hope for the future looks like. Will this six-week ceasefire actually endure? And will Israel and Hamas be able to extend it? And ultimately, perhaps reach a permanent end to this war? Major questions surrounding that, but for today at least it was a moment of hope, a moment of joy for the people of Gaza and here in Israel -- Erin.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: All right, Jeremy. Thank you very much from Tel Aviv tonight.
And thanks so much to all of you for being with us on this Sunday. Anderson starts now.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And good evening from Washington where just about 16 hours from now Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 47th president of the United States.
Our broadcast tonight is in two places, though, because there's so much attention, so many thoughts and hopes right now are on the return of the first three hostages held by Hamas and the ceasefire which began today. The first three of 33 in the first phase of a three-phase process, which will also see the release of Palestinians held by Israel and the flow of more humanitarian aid into Gaza. Some 4,000 trucks worth poised to go in, according to the U.N.
We have live reporting on all of that from the region ahead. First, though, the preview Donald Trump gave tonight of his very first official acts in office tomorrow, which senior adviser told us he's working to get ready to sign immediately after the swearing in. More than 100, we're told by sources familiar with his plans. He laid it out at a victory rally at Capital One Arena, where he'll be appearing again tomorrow.
The event was in many ways like his campaign rallies, but the focus of it was a preview of some of his first executive orders and how quickly they would come.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT: Tomorrow. Somebody said yesterday, sir, don't sign so many in one day. Let's do it over a period of weeks. I said, like hell, we're going to do it over weeks. We're going to sign them at the beginning.
You know that old story. Let's do it later. Then it never gets done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: As for the agenda itself, here's some of what he laid out earlier in the night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We're going to unlock the liquid gold that's right under our feet. Liquid gold. We're going to bring back law and order to our cities. We're going to restore patriotism to our schools, get radical left woke ideologies the hell out of our military and out of our government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: CNN's Jeff Zeleny was there at the rally, has new reporting on how tomorrow may play out, along with the word of a big change in the administration's cost-cutting department.
So, Jeff, what else did the president-elect have to say?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, the president-elect made very clear that he believes that America has been in decline but said tomorrow, starting at noon he promised a new American renewal. The reality is, though, he also inherits all of these governing challenges that he's been talking about. But tonight was a moment of celebration in that Capital One Arena not far from here at the White House.
Thousands of supporters gathered. It's one of their only chances that members of the public will have to see him one-on-one because of the changes in the inaugural. He'll be back there tomorrow for sort of an indoor parade, but tonight at least it was like so many of the other rallies that we have seen, except Donald Trump is on the cusp of taking power. And he talked about those executive orders and took credit for many of them, including what he plans to do on TikTok.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: As of today, TikTok is back. I said we need to save TikTok because we're talking about a tremendous -- who in this audience goes with TikTok? Many? Yes, very popular. And frankly, we have no choice. We have to save it.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ZELENY: And this is one of the many reversals that we have seen. Of course, five years ago, the president at that time was opposed to TikTok. He saw it was helpful in his campaign. So now he is changing course. It's also one of the many differences he will have with some Republicans on Capitol Hill who believe that there should be a ban.
So, look, that was just one of the many executive orders he was talking about. Again, it was largely a celebratory affair. But he said tomorrow he'll sign at least 100 of them on immigration. And the question obviously also is pardoning the January 6th, the rioters, the defendants. He said everyone will be very happy with those, so we'll see how many he pardons. But he left that sort of hanging in the air.
But of course, he'll be in the rotunda tomorrow, one of the very places where many of them were charged with ransacking four years ago.
COOPER: And Elon Musk made an appearance at the rally as well. How did that play out?
[20:05:02]
ZELENY: He did. That was a bit of a surprise. The vice president elect, J.D. Vance, was on the schedule to speak. He did not speak, but Elon Musk was called up to the dais to speak for just a short period of time. And of course, he has been charged with the government efficiency. But his job is so much more than that. He's a lead adviser to the president. He was the only person brought on stage aside from family members during the speech. We're told that he'll have an office right here on the White House complex and grounds.
One person not mentioned in depth was of Vivek Ramaswamy. He, of course, was going to be his partner in this government efficiency project. He now is likely one of the first casualties on the Trump staffing list. He is not going to join the government. He instead is going to run for governor of Ohio in two years -- Anderson.
COOPER: We should point out, that's one of Elon Musk's sons. He's adorable. He showed up as well.
Jeff Zeleny, thanks very much.
ZELENY: That's right.
COOPER: And with me here, CNN political commentators and senior political commentators from across the partisan spectrum, Ashley Allison, David Urban, who've given some news today on the subject, we need to mention used to work for and consult for TikTok, but no longer does. Alyssa Farah Griffin, David Axelrod, and CNN legal analyst Carrie Cordero, who's also a senior fellow at the Center for New American Security.
I'm not sure how many of you go with TikTok, but, David --
DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: All the cool kids do.
COOPER: Yes. David Axelrod, I mean, regardless of party affiliation, what are your thoughts? How important is tomorrow?
DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, look, it's obviously a historic day. I think whatever you think about Donald Trump, you have to acknowledge this is probably the most astonishing comeback in American political history. I mean, when you think about how he left Washington four years ago --
COOPER: Who would have thought four years ago when he left?
AXELROD: There's no way you could have imagined this set of circumstances. He left in disgrace. He's come back as kind of a conqueror. You know, that's the feel of this. And I do think, you know, there's a lot of discontent in the country. A hangover from the pandemic, inflation. And people really wanted to give this town an angioplasty.
The question is, how will it reflect itself and how he executes on this? And will he actually deliver the kind of relief that people are looking for? Or will he just, you know, hit the funny bone of the base on social issues while people's day-to-day lives don't change particularly, and that is going to be the challenge for Donald Trump.
COOPER: Alyssa, what do you think the tone of his speech is going to be? I mean, it was American carnage the last time.
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think we could see something similar. But listen, Donald Trump is a TV producer in the back of his mind. He cares about the orchestration tomorrow, what things look like, what these events around the inaugural are like. And I think he cares a lot about coming back as this person who's strong, who's empowered, who not only have the greatest comeback, he came back and won by a bigger majority than he had previously.
So I think you're going to see this kind of show of strength throughout it. But what I'm really interested in are the actions after he's sworn in. He's somebody who doesn't want to wait. He really wants to have kind of a shock and awe strategy of taking so many actions at once that Democrats who honestly are kind of on their heels right now don't have a clear leader, almost kind of breaks their spirit and their willingness to fight.
So from immigration to energy and onward, I think you're going to see some major executive orders tomorrow. And that's by design. He wants people to say, you know, I'm not sleepy, Joe. I've been working from the second I came into office.
COOPER: David Urban, what are you expecting tomorrow in terms of executive orders?
URBAN: I mean, I think the president laid it out and Stephen Miller previewed it today to some of the House and Senate leadership. I think we've talked about this earlier today. Immigration will be one of the biggies, right? That leads on securing the border, deporting a lot of bad people, right, who are here. They're criminal aliens here. We have a million, 500,000, I think, who already have deportation orders. A couple other hundred thousand convicted of rape and murders. And I think they'll go after those people first. I think that will be
kind of the first out of the block. I think the president will sign those at whatever time he's done, and go start signing. That will be the first. And hours later, I think you'll see action perhaps in Chicago and New York from -- in a coordinated fashion to get people, you know, you'll see people in zip ties getting in and put in busses by federal agents. So the American people can see some of that.
And then other things I think will be on the economy because David is exactly correct. The president ran on a lot of things --
AXELROD: Say that again.
URBAN: David Axelrod is correct. People in America, they're tired of being woke and they're tired of being broke so he can fix the woke part, the broke part they want to see as well. We got to fix the broke part. So I think a lot of that is going to be focused on unleashing, you know, energy reserves, tapping into liquid gold that's under our feet, those things which will reduce costs and shipping.
You know, energy costs drive up -- is basically a tax on everything. It's the way the Trump administration sees it. I think they want to lower energy costs so that they could drive down consumer prices. The people will benefit. That's the challenge to the administration, making people feel in their pocketbooks at home.
COOPER: Ashley, what's the challenge for Democrats?
ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I've heard a lot since the election that they don't feel the resistance to Donald Trump. Well, we're not the same country or same party we were eight years ago. And so to approach this moment the same way, I think would be -- would lack strategy and would be disappointing.
[20:10:03]
I think Democrats need to identify what their values are and who they're fighting for. And when Donald Trump does something that is misaligned with their values, they need to call it out and not take the knee and just say, we should not say it. But I also don't think that they just need to be obstructionist like so many Republicans were to our former boss, Barack Obama, like a Mitch McConnell, or when Donald Trump came in the first time.
I think people want results, but I still think, based on the speech he just gave today, he will do things tomorrow that are not in alignment with our democratic values. And it gives an opportunity to draw a contrast. Do you -- you know, the retribution that he talked about and Dems can seize on.
COOPER: Do you think the fact that there's not a, you know, designated leader of the Democratic Party come tomorrow, that that's a problem?
ALLISON: No, I think that's an opportunity actually. We are at a point where our party is turning a page in a generation, so to speak, and we now have really four years for who will be leading our ticket. But we also have an opportunity in the midterms to say, who are these candidates? After the first presidential election, we had more women elected in the midterms of 2018 than really ever before.
So there's an opportunity to really see this new wave of governors, of senators to come in and say, this is my vision for the party. We are in a party chair election right now. And so the fact that we don't have one clear leader is not a problem, but we do need to be clear on what we are fighting for and who were fighting.
AXELROD: I think one of the challenges for the Democratic Party is that the party, the self-styled and party of working people, has lost the support of a lot of working class people because it's become too much a party that is seen as a party of elites and a party defending institutions instead of reforming institutions. And so I think rather than just looking for an opportunity to outflank Trump, the party should look deeper and say, why is it that so many people are disaffected from institutions in this country?
Why do they feel so negatively toward elites, which, by the way, Trump should worry about with Elon Musk out front. But -- and then they need to really investigate that and probe that and ask hard questions of themselves.
COOPER: Carrie, let's talk about TikTok. The president-elect touted TikTok coming back online. He also said he issued an executive order following the inauguration to delay enforcement of the law. Can he do that?
CARRIE CORDERO, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, he might. This is really -- the implementation of this has really turned out to be quite a cluster. The law that was passed by Congress last spring was bipartisan and really doesn't provide any precedent, whether that was President Biden or President Trump, much flexibility for making changes to it. It said that either TikTok should be divested and sold to another company, or that potentially there could be some kind of deal that would take place, or it needs to go offline.
And the -- it doesn't provide really any specific provision in the law that says the president can change that outcome. Now, if he issues an order, what he will basically have to say is that the companies that are charged with implementing the law won't be fined, won't be enforced because the fines that are in place in the law actually don't apply to TikTok. They apply to the companies that provide access to the app, the Apples and the Googles, as well as potentially the companies that are providing the service to it.
So like an Oracle. So it's those companies that are on the hook. If I'm the general counsel of those companies, I do not like this situation right now where I've got a law passed by Congress, signed by a president telling me to do one thing and potentially another president --
URBAN: But he did tweet that out yesterday.
CORDERO: -- issuing an order.
URBAN: He did tweet that out saying, we will not -- we're going to give you a pass.
(CROSSTALK)
AXELROD: He also indicated that he might be -- he might be satisfied if there was 50 percent American ownership.
COOPER: Right.
AXELROD: And all I could think of was, boy, there are a whole lot of people who are going to be interested in sucking up to Trump and being those folks in that business. And this is one of the -- it doesn't really solve the problem that people are concerned about, which is what the Chinese influence on the thing. But one of the questions is, when you talk about draining the swamp, if that drain drains into your pocket and the pockets of everyone around you, that's not exactly what people have in mind.
GRIFFIN: But on the flip side here, there are tens of millions of TikTok users in America. They skew much younger. A lot of people make their livelihood on it, and like creator content. They now think that Donald Trump saved their TikTok.
AXELROD: Yes.
GRIFFIN: These people were very concerned and now he's going to get credit with a lot of people who don't follow --
URBAN: Small businesses. Small businesses as well.
GRIFFIN: Who don't follow politics, though.
ALLISON: I am -- I goes with the TikTok. What do you think? That's what he said. Maybe to my own demise. But there is a split right now where people are saying, we feel like we're almost being tricked a little bit. It didn't need to go offline three hours earlier than it did last night, and they did it. And Joe Biden is still the president. So I think it's a skew.
[20:15:01]
I do, I do want to say, though, that there is a small business component of this. It goes back to an opportunity for the Democrats, though, is that Donald Trump is surrounding himself around billionaires and billionaires that might buy this app. And are they going to set an algorithm up to enable these creators to still do something or do what like Elon did for X and many people who used to make money off of X no longer can make a viable living off it, have now moved to TikTok. So do they bounce around from social platforms?
It's uncharted territory for many reasons, but particularly because a lot of makers don't even understand it.
COOPER: All right, everyone, thanks.
Next, how Democratic lawmakers plan to meet the new president's agenda, especially in the House, where Republicans hold the slimmest of majorities. Top House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries joins me shortly.
And later, the remarkable scenes from Israel as 470 days of captivity come to an end for three women. Phase one of the ceasefire takes effect and people there and in Gaza wait to see what comes next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:20:05]
COOPER: Looking there, both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. No inaugural parade between the two tomorrow due to the cold weather. The inauguration taking place inside the Capitol this time. And the incoming president making big promises for day one in office.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: But starting tomorrow, I will act with historic speed and strength and fix every single crisis facing our country. We have to do it. We're not going to have a country left. And I will direct our military to begin construction of the great Iron Dome missile defense shield, which will all be made in the USA. And we will get wokeness the hell out of our military immediately and make it like it used to be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: All that said, presidential agendas need more than just executive orders to be fully realized. It takes legislation which takes Congress, where the new president has a small majority in the Senate and a smaller one in the House.
Joining us now is House minority leader and New York Democratic Congressman Hakeem Jeffries.
Leader Jeffries, appreciate your time. You hear the slate of executive action the president-elect is expected to take after being sworn in tomorrow. Immigration, TikTok, January 6th pardons. He's got the conservative majorities in Congress and on the Supreme Court. Where does that leave the Democrats?
REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): Well, the incoming president also promised to lower grocery prices on day one, so we'll be interested to see how exactly he's going to accomplish that objective.
As House Democrats, we are prepared to find bipartisan common ground with the incoming administration on any issue, whenever and wherever possible, in order to make life better for the American people, particularly as it relates to driving down the high cost of living in the United States of America.
Housing costs are too high. Grocery costs are too high. Childcare costs are too high. Insurance costs are too high. Utility costs are too high. America clearly is too expensive and has been moving in that direction for decades as it relates to working families and middle class folks. And we're prepared to work together to do something about it if the other side of the aisle is serious. COOPER: Where do you see -- I mean, are there actually specific pieces
of legislation you see as workable, as common ground?
JEFFRIES: The incoming president indicated that he has a big, massive historic mandate. And so it's our expectation that he will present some ideas which, to date, have not been forthcoming from House or Senate Republicans as it relates to building an affordable economy in the United States of America. Certainly, we have ideas on the Democratic side as it relates to making housing in particular more affordable for working class Americans and middle class Americans and younger Americans who want to achieve the American dream, which for far too many people is out of reach.
COOPER: I just asked Ashley Allison this question. I want to ask you. I mean, is the fact that there's not a, as of tomorrow, an official leader of the Democratic Party? Is that a liability?
JEFFRIES: Well, the last time we found ourselves in this situation, when Donald Trump was inaugurated eight years ago, there were 241 Republicans in the House of Representatives and 194 Democrats. Tomorrow, there will be 220 or so Republicans, 215 Democrats. And as a matter of fact, for the first 100 days of this new administration, the numbers will be even tighter. 217 Republicans and 215 Democrats.
And so we're going to stay together on our side of the aisle, be prepared to find common ground when possible, but push back when necessary to defend things like Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, nutritional assistance and veterans' benefits. The things that far-right extremists on the other side of the aisle actually want to cut in order to provide massive tax breaks for billionaires and wealthy corporations.
In our view, that's unacceptable. That's a uniform view on the Democratic side of the aisle. And we'll stick together on behalf of the American people.
COOPER: I want to ask you about TikTok and what's going on with that. I mean, it's back online. Obviously, the bill was passed because lawmakers on both sides of the aisle saw it as a national security threat. Where do you see this going?
JEFFRIES: Well, the original legislation was passed with bipartisan support, and it was designed to accomplish one objective that TikTok should not be owned by the Chinese Communist Party that puts at risk everyday Americans and TikTok users in this country. What it required was divestiture and American ownership.
[20:25:04]
It's my expectation that the new administration will find a way to achieve that because, as I understand it, we're in the America first era. And certainly as it relates to TikTok.
COOPER: He's talking about joint ownership now.
JEFFRIES: Well, we'll see what ideas actually get presented. It would have to be accomplished through legislation. And Republicans, of course, control the House and the Senate. And as of tomorrow, there will be a Republican president at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. We're anxious to see what ideas they present. But, again, the focus should be on driving down the high cost of living.
That's the lesson that emerged from the November general election. And it's our hope that we will actually start to see some ideas, some plans, some legislation from our Republican colleagues to accomplish that objective. We're going to stay ready and stay steady in that regard.
COOPER: Leader Hakeem Jeffries, appreciate it. Also, before we go, we should mention you got a new children's book out. It is called "ABCs of Democracy." Thanks very much.
Just ahead, what blue-collar workers who helped Mr. Trump return to the White House want to see quickly from him in his second term. They talked with John King for his latest "All Over the Map" report.
Next, we have live reporting from the Middle East as the Israel-Hamas ceasefire takes effect. Three Israeli hostages coming home and just a short time ago Palestinian prisoners left Israeli custody.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:30:35]
COOPER: During his Washington, D.C. rally a short time ago, the president-elect took a victory lap after the release of three Israeli hostages, part of the ceasefire deal that went into effect today, saying it was the result of, quote, "our historic victory." A senior Biden official speaking to CNN called the release the result of cooperation between both leaders.
This video from the release of the three Israeli hostages earlier today are tangible signs the cease fire is holding for now. The names of those three hostages are Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari, all said to be in overall good health. A group assisting the hostages and their families say that Emily Damari is missing two fingers that were shot off while she was taken hostage on October 7th.
Within the last few hours, 90 Palestinian prisoners were released in exchange and more exchanges are expected to follow.
Jeremy Diamond is in Tel Aviv tonight where the former hostages are receiving medical care.
So you were in the area in southern Israel where the hostages arrived from Gaza. Just walk us through what happened.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, it was really a remarkable day, a remarkable play-by-play that we witnessed up close on the border with Gaza as we started to get word after initially that ceasefire started nearly three hours later. But then Hamas confirmed the list of the hostages set to be released today. Hours later, those three hostages emerged in video inside of Gaza amid crowds of people thronging around the Hamas military vehicles with masked Hamas militants standing around as they were exchanged and brought over to the Red Cross.
Not long later, they were then taken to the Israeli military and that's where we saw this military helicopter landing in that area and then taking off with those three newly freed hostages and their mothers who they met at that military base before we saw these videos of incredibly emotional reunions between these three women and the families that they have not seen for more than 15 months. It was truly a remarkable, remarkable day.
And it was also, Anderson, a remarkable day inside of Gaza, where people, after more than 15 months of war, were celebrating spontaneously in the streets as the ceasefire was announced. Some people also starting to return to their homes or what was left of them. And that was also part of the story today, seeing some of the devastation in northern Gaza, for example, in ways that we haven't in quite some time.
COOPER: And when are the next round of hostages expected to be released?
DIAMOND: Well, the first round was today and the next one is supposed to be on day seven. So that will bring us to this coming Saturday, when we expect four hostages to be released that day. We don't yet know which ones they will be, and this will be part of the emotional roller coaster of the next six weeks is, you know, the notion that we don't know how many of these hostages are alive.
The expectation is that the majority of the 33 indeed are. Certainly today was a joyous day, as all three of these hostages emerged alive, were able to embrace their families, giving their families not only that sense of closure, but really just a sense of relief that their best hopes indeed did come true. We know that that will not be the case for all 33 hostages, and so that will be part of the story here over the next few weeks -- Anderson.
COOPER: Yes. Jeremy Diamond, thanks very much.
Perspective now from Ashley Waxman Bakshi. She's the cousin of 20- year-old Agam Berger, one of the 33 hostages expected to be released in the first phase of the ceasefire deal.
Ashley, first of all, how are you doing? How is your family doing? What are these last few days been like for you all?
ASHLEY WAXMAN BAKSHI, COUSIN OF IDF FEMALE SOLDIER AND HOSTAGE, AGAM BERGER: Obviously it's been very nerve-wracking and this entire, you know, the whole 15 months have been an emotional roller coaster. But today we finally, you know, finally we were able to smile a little bit, seeing Romi, Doron and Emily come home. It's -- you know, we've been fighting for everyone. So every person we see come home it's like we're so happy.
COOPER: Do you have a sense of when she might -- when Agam might be released?
BAKSHI: Well, we've seen different media sources reporting different things. Hopefully we'll see it in the next, you know, couple of weeks. We haven't received anything official.
[20:35:03]
But we're, you know, we're hoping, we're hoping that it's going to be very, very soon. She is on the list of the 33. So we have received that confirmation, but anything could happen. And we know that this deal is so fragile. And as we've seen in the images and the videos coming out of Gaza today, Hamas is back on the streets with their guns out and jumping all over Red Cross vans. And, you know, every step of the process, not only is the deal very fragile, but every step of the process of getting them from wherever they are with Hamas to the Red Cross and then from the Red Cross over to the IDF.
Every part is so dangerous, and we see civilians who are trying, you know, to grab them and touch them and get in the way. So we're not -- we're not breathing until their home.
COOPER: Yes. Agam was one of five female IDF soldiers taken from Nahal Oz on October 7th. She had just started her service. What do you want people to know about her? I understand she's a talented violinist. She's got a bright future ahead of her.
BAKSHI: Yes, she's a sweet, you know, sweet 20-year-old. She was taken when she was 19. She took a year off before she joined the IDF as is mandatory in Israel. She took a year off to volunteer with the less fortunate. She's -- faith is something that's really big with her so we know that in captivity she has been praying to God. She has given us so much more inspiration knowing that she is turning to faith, as you know, given us that inspiration as well.
She's just, you know, a funny, normal, smiling, you know, beauty lover like myself. We were talking about what makeup products I should bring her. You know, just a normal 20-year-old kid. And people don't understand but here in Israel, you know, when you go to the army, it's like a rite of passage. It's like when you go to college in the United States, we all do it. And, you know, she didn't even shoot a gun. She was just like you said in her first days on base and taken so young.
And we just can't wait to have her home. And we are obviously very worried about what she's been through for 15 months and in what physical and mental shape she's going to come home. It's going to be a long process to bring her back to be the Agam that we know and love.
COOPER: You've had two signs of life from her, including a birthday message to her dad. Can you explain what those are like? I don't know, I don't know if you actually saw her in those, but what happened?
BAKSHI: No. So basically, during the previous hostage deal that was done in November of 2023, so one of the hostages that came back, she was a 17-year-old girl who happened to also be called Agam, and she was taken in captivity with her mother and her brothers and sisters. And she called Shlomi, Agam's father, the night she was released and said, hi, I was just with Agam and she asked me to wish you a happy birthday.
COOPER: Oh, my gosh.
BAKSHI: And so that was the first sign of life that we had. It was amazing.
COOPER: Wow. That's incredible.
BAKSHI: But so much time has passed since then. Yes. Obviously the hostages who have come home since then, anyone who saw her, you know, has been in contact with the family, has told us a little bit about the whereabouts, what the conditions were that they were in. But again, we're talking about the first month and a half to two months of this -- of these 15 months. So, so much has happened since then.
We know that she was kept in homes with families where there were children. We know that she was kept in the tunnels. They were moved from place to place. We know that there was a lot of psychological abuse. You know, they were told there is no Israel. You have no country to go back to. You know, your country has been taken over. We know a lot of those things. But again, the first two months. So we're going to see a very big difference in the way the hostages came home after 53 days. And obviously how the hostages are coming home now after 15 months.
COOPER: Yes. Well, I hope she gets back quickly.
Ashley, thank you so much for your time.
BAKSHI: Thank you.
COOPER: And coming up, our John King goes home for the latest installment of his "All Over the Map" series to hear what Trump- leaning, blue-collar voters expect from the president-elect in Massachusetts. And later policing tomorrow's inauguration, political comeback into a historical perspective. Pulitzer Prize-winning presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin joins us ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:43:45]
COOPER: The president-elect has promised a lot of action early in his administration. A lot of his supporters obviously want to see results quickly.
Tonight, John King reports on his visit to New England for his "All Over the Map" series, which chronicles the election through the experiences of key voting blocs. This time John went to Boston, which may be blue, but the Dorchester neighborhood trended redder in 2024, and the blue-collar vote is a big reason why.
Here's John's report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Daybreak on the Atlantic. It's playtime for a pod of dolphins and another subfreezing day at the office for Andrew Konchek.
These trips can last up to 12 days. Joe Biden was president when we left Provincetown Harbor. Donald Trump will be back in the White House the next time Konchek and his colleagues head out.
ANDREW KONCHEK, NEW HAMPSHIRE VOTER: So you'd stand here like this. See?
KING: Konchek is just as he was when we first met 16 months ago and promised him we'd spend a day out here. He wishes Trump would bite his tongue sometimes, wishes he would let women settle the abortion debate, wishes he would acknowledge the climate crisis that makes this grueling work even more unpredictable. But Trump got his vote in the New Hampshire primary and again in November because he promises to close the border.
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Most of all, though, because Trump opposes offshore wind farms Konchek believes will destroy New England fisheries, destroy his way of life.
KONCHEK: The hundreds of miles that they're going to put in the ocean here in the Gulf of Maine, we wouldn't be able to fish it, so I would be out of a job.
KING: Trump's blue-collar appeal extends to the Massachusetts mainland, one of the bluest places on the presidential map.
This is Boston, where Vice President Harris won 77 percent of the vote. But Trump's share jumped from 15 percent in 2020 to 20 percent this time. And he won two precincts in the city's Dorchester neighborhood. That's my home, one at this firefighters union hall, the other at this public library.
DON LOPEZ, MASSACHUSETTS VOTER: This neighborhood is pretty blue, pretty Democrat. We're Massachusetts. You're in Massachusetts. It's Democratic city.
KING: And yet this precinct voted for Donald Trump.
LOPEZ: This did?
KING: Yes.
LOPEZ: I didn't know that.
KING (voice-over): Don Lopez inherited this Dorchester flower shop from his father.
LOPEZ: This is where we make everything.
KING: And is now handing it off to his sons. A little nervous talking politics because it could hurt business. Take me inside your decision in the last election.
LOPEZ: I'd rather not.
KING: Why not?
LOPEZ: I'm here as a small businessman trying to be make everybody happy with flowers.
KING (voice-over): But talk policy and it's an easy code to crack.
LOPEZ: We have the border. They're spending money in Washington like going out of style. You know, the country has needs to go in another direction. So I feel that's why people are voting Republican because they're a little fed up.
KING: The Eire Pub is a Dorchester landmark. Cops, firefighters, plumbers and electricians fill these stools. John Stenson's dad bought the place 60 years ago.
JOHN STENSON, MASSACHUSETTS VOTER: UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are, first of all, Irish. Many of them. Secondly, basically blue-collar workers, union officials, union workers, your everyday people that make up a neighborhood.
KING: What was the vote split here among your regulars?
STENSON: Among my regulars, they probably were in favor of Trump. They're probably 60-40.
KING: 60-40.
STENSON: Yes.
KING: When Trump won two precincts in Boston and they were right here, that surprised you?
STENSON: No, because I'm here every day and I hear the conversation.
KING: What were people talking about?
STENSON: Well, immigration and cost of living. It's at the top. Absolutely the top.
KING (voice-over): John was behind the bar when Ronald Reagan stopped by four decades ago to tip a pint in a place where many Kennedy Democrats became Reagan Democrats. Bill Clinton stopped by a decade later to say he was a different kind of Democrat, not as liberal.
STENSON: Most Democrats are working class people, and if they feel like there's a man there that kind of represents them, they can vote for him. Whether it's there's an R or a D next to his name. And I think they saw that with Reagan and I think they saw it again with Trump.
KING: Now the test is keeping promises. STENSON: Between what they're paying at the grocery store and how they
feel about what he's done with the border in six months, I think that will give you your opinion.
KING: Andrew Konchek agrees it's prove it time. His wish list begins with those wind farms and the border.
KONCHEK: He doesn't think before he talks sometimes.
KING: But you trust him?
KONCHEK: For the most part, yes.
KING: What's the test?
KONCHEK: When he gets into office, then you get to see what he actually does. And if he's going to do everything that he says that he's going to do.
KING (voice-over): Already, though, his mood is better.
KONCHEK: This has got to make good news if he gets bit.
KING: The fishing fleet keeps shrinking. The list of rules keeps growing. But Konchek sees Trump as his blue-collar hope. His best shot to keep working the water.
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COOPER: Wow. Amazing. I mean, what a tough job, man.
KING: They go off for 12 days at a time.
COOPER: Yes, incredible. Is it clear that blue-collar voters you spoke to would actually remain loyal if -- to the Republican Party if the president-elect doesn't follow through on promises?
KING: It's really interesting and make a distinction. Andrew Konchek, the fisherman there. He's a Republican. He gives Trump a little bit more grace because he's a Republican. You go to the Eire Pub, you go to Dorchester, where I grew up, all those people are Democrats. They voted for Trump because they didn't like Harris. They thought she was too liberal or they were frustrated with Biden.
So I would make a clear distinction. The Republicans tend to give a little more grace. Andrew Konchek says, I don't think any president can make inflation go away like that. It might take a while. In that bar they want to go to the grocery store next week and see lower prices. And so I think that's a tough one for Trump in the sense that, you know, he is at times since the election said it might take time, but then he gives a speech tonight about how it all ends tomorrow. Right?
America's decline ends tomorrow. So he has raised expectations. I think that's a risk with the Democrats who came his way. On the immigration issue, he has a much broader mandate, a much broader mandate. However, I would say, again, it's going to come down to tone. They want the border tough. They support mass deportations. But I think if it gets ugly and it disrupts the economy. So that's the balance. Now the challenge is governing.
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COOPER: John King, that's great. Thank you. Appreciate it.
Up next, presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin on the historic significance of President-elect Trump's second inauguration tomorrow.
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COOPER: Welcome back. Donald John Trump becomes president again tomorrow. Just a few moments ago, we learned that, as expected, President Biden and President-elect Trump will ride together to the swearing in.
Joining us is presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of among many other bestsellers, "An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s." She's also on the latest episode of my podcast about grief, "All There Is."
So, Doris, I know you had visions of tomorrow looking like JFK's frigid outdoor inauguration in 1961. That's not going to happen. It'll be indoors like Reagan's second inaugural.
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What are your thoughts about tomorrow and the importance of it?
DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, you know, what you're really looking for as an historian is whether or not the president-elect will make the pivot from being a candidate to president. I mean, that's what happened way, way back for the very first party election when Jefferson and Adams faced each other and it was so vitriolic that they couldn't even cross the street to look at other people on the other side of the party whether you were a Federalist or Republican.
And then Jefferson comes out and his famous speech, he says, we are all Federalists, we are all Republicans. That's the pivot that the speech did not make in 2017. There was no talk of unity, no talk of president of all the people. Interestingly, a month later, President Trump gave a really good speech to the Joint Session of Congress where he talked about the Centennial in 1876 and the upcoming 250th and the miracles that were presented at the Centennial, the first typewriter, the first telephone.
He hoped we'd be a nation of miracles for children, and it called for infrastructure, called for breaking the cycle of poverty. And then he spoiled it by talking a few days later about the fact that Obama was wiretapping him. But that's the kind of speech that I think we need to have where he's no longer the candidate, no longer a rally. It's a speech to the nation, to all the people. COOPER: I mean, inaugurations, I guess, are viewed through a different
lens depending on whether someone voted for or against a new president. No one alive has witnessed what we are going to witness tomorrow, which is a president who's serving a second nonconsecutive term. Grover Cleveland is the only other president to have that distinction back in the late 1800s.
Do you think it changes anything about tomorrow?
GOODWIN: Well, you know, I think the major thing it changes is you always hope the presidents learn from history. That's what I would hope, that they read other presidents and they see what they did right, what they did wrong. But he can now look at his own first term and figure out what worked and what didn't work. And I think we've already seen in the transition itself, it's been a lot smoother than it was in 2017.
I mean, lots of jobs were still unfilled by the time he took office. His first 100 days was hurt, I think, by the lack of that smooth transition. And this time, you know, he stayed at Mar-a-Lago. He didn't run around doing victory laps as he did in 2016 and 2017. And I think he seems more ready to govern than he was before. And that's the luxury you have from learning. You learn from your own experience. Hopefully that's what we all do in our own lives.
COOPER: How important is it, in your view, for the country to see President Biden hosting President-elect Trump for tea at the White House tomorrow, traveling together up to the Capitol, attending the inauguration? Obviously it didn't happen four years ago.
GOODWIN: I think it's really important. I mean, people say these are just rituals, but you all want to believe somehow that these two people, when they come face to face, can treat each other as people that they respect, one president, one president-elect, one former, one new one. You know, I think it'll be interesting to watch what their sense is like when they're having tea. We'll see that. We'll see them riding together.
I mean, one of my favorite stories about Truman and Eisenhower riding together to -- Truman was the outgoing president, Eisenhower the new president. And they were very chilly because they'd said terrible things about each other during the campaign. And finally, Eisenhower broke the silence by saying, you know, I didn't come to your 1948 inauguration because I didn't want to overshadow you. Then Truman said, no, no, sir, you didn't come because I didn't invite you.
So that's a kind of really chilly relationship that I don't think we'll see. I mean, Biden is an institutionalist. The two have met already in the White House. It was better than it was certainly four years ago when Trump didn't appear at Biden's inauguration. So I think we're looking for that as a nation.
COOPER: Well, I mean, you've profiled so many presidents. What makes the difference between a successful administration and one that's not?
GOODWIN: Well, I think a tone is set in the inauguration. The tone may be of optimism, the tone of reaching out beyond your base and trying to include the people who didn't vote for you. I mean, Teddy Roosevelt went around the country and went to every state that didn't go for him with the same message, of a square deal for the rich and the poor, the capitalist and the laborer, and as a result, that was able to bind the country together.
So I think it's partly what you're putting in as your cabinet. That's very important. The White House staff, whether there are people who can argue with you and question your assumptions. It's partly whether you have priorities that you go forth right away before the Congress and you know what it is you want to get done. You can only get a few things done. Do you do them in the right order so they have momentum?
So it's governing and you're no longer a candidate. You have to remember that a lot of other people are depending on you as well even those that didn't vote for you.
COOPER: If you could have been at any inauguration in history, which one would you have chosen?
GOODWIN: Well, I actually was at the 1961 watching television, not at the inauguration, but I think for me, being a young person to watch that inauguration of JFK, and of course, it was in the cold and in the snow, but the idea that he was speaking to a younger generation, the torch was being passed to us. We in college felt, that's us. We're going to change the country.
And the signature of the Peace Corps coming out of that astronaut's question. That was a pretty exciting one to be my first one that I ever watched.
COOPER: Yes.