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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Trump Quickly Naming More Possible Cabinet Members; Sources: Trump To Give Stephen Miller White House Role; U.S. Official: Moscow Preparing to Retake Kursk; Officials: NJ Wildfire Burns 3,000 Acres, 10 Percent Contained; Biden Admin Expands Coverage For Veterans' Rare Cancers. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired November 11, 2024 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[16:00:01]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: He did almost an entire chunk of her routine.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: So good.

SANCHEZ: By the way, it seems that he's been plotting this for some time. He tweeted this out last Monday, quote: Trust me, I had the most fire celly ready for you all after that pick. I got y'all next week.

Obviously, her legacy felt throughout the world.

This is an open invitation, Raygun. If this get to you, we would love to have you on CNN NEWS CENTRAL and talk about the impact she's having.

KEILAR: Look, you know, who's big on the celly game? Jake Tapper.

And THE LEAD starts right now with him.

(MUSIC)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Is the Republican-led Senate about to discard its own advise and consent power?

THE LEAD starts right now.

Donald Trump's latest picks for his brand-new administration. He wants some of them to be put in their jobs without congressional approval in recess appointments and he's succeeding in getting some important lawmakers to go along with that plan. Things are moving in a fast pace in Mar-a-Lago and we're there live.

Plus, split ticket truth. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez asking, why people would vote for her and also at the same time for Donald Trump. What the response is, what she's posting on social media have to say.

And could Ukraine's territorial gains inside Russia be in peril?

CNN is in Moscow with the latest on the battle for Kursk. (MUSIC)

TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

We're going to start with our politics lead. Almost a week after President-elect Trump's decisive victory, cabinet hopefuls are swarming around Mar-a-Lago. Some sources tell CNN's Kaitlan Collins are angling for a job while others such as Elon Musk, are offering their two cents between meals and golf outings with the Trump family at the Palm Beach resort.

The newest Trump pick just dropped in the last hour. Former New York congressman and gubernatorial candidate, Lee Zeldin, has been tapped to be the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. That follows news from last night where Trump named Tom Homan, who you might remember as the ICE or Immigration and Customs Enforcement director from his first term, his time, he's going to be the border czar in the second Trump administration. Trump says Homan quote, will be in charge of all deportation of illegal aliens back to their country of origin, unquote.

Homan said this on CBS in late October.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Is there a way to carry out mass deportation without separating families?

TOM HOMAN, FORMER ACTING DIRECTOR, IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT: Of course, there is. Families can be deported together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: In addition, sources tell CNN that the president-elect will bring Stephen Miller on board as a deputy chief of staff for policy. He will there serve as Trump's top immigration adviser as well as focusing on other issues. During Trump's first term you might remember, Miller was a White House aide. He advocated for the controversial child separation policy that was ultimately rescinded.

Miller also pressed for Trump's 2017 ban on travel to the United States by nationals from seven Muslim majority countries. Trump also tapped high ranking New York Republican congresswoman, Elise Stefanik, to be the U.S. ambassador to United Nations. On the other hand, others who served in Trump's administration have been told thanks, but no thanks, including U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and former CIA Director Mike Pompeo.

Let's get right to Alayna Treene in West Palm Beach covering this all for us.

Alayna, tell us about Trump's latest pick, former Congressman Lee Zeldin.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Yeah. Well, Lee Zeldin, Jake, has actually remained very close to don Donald Trump over the years, particularly throughout the election. He's been at Mar-a-Lago a lot in the lead-up to last week's election and has advised and helped Donald Trump with his campaign and now he is being rewarded. And that is a common theme that you're actually seeing through all of these latest picks that Donald Trump has an had announced which is loyalty.

All of these different people from Zeldin to Stephen Miller, Susie Wiles, of course, Tom Homan, all of them, Elise Stefanik, have been there by Donald Trump particularly I think a big difference of what we're seeing is those who were with him since uh after he had departed the White House when many people following the January 6th attack had tried to distance themselves from the former president versus though who those who kind of are coming into the fold now and jockeying for these roles.

Now, Zeldin, of course, he was a former congressman. He also ran in 2022 for the New York governor's race. He actually came uh surprisingly close for a Republican in New York against Kathy Hochul but lost that election. And now, he's going to be running the EPA.

Now, Donald Trump did release a statement on this. I'm going to read some of it for you he said that he would -- that Zeldin would ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses while at the same time maintaining the highest en environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet. We also saw Zeldin himself posts that he is accepting the role.

[16:05:03]

I'm told that Donald Trump called Zeldin directly to offer him this job and that's when they discussed it. Zeldin also went on Fox News just moments ago saying that during that phone call, Donald Trump had rattled off a series of ideas for what he would want him to be doing uh once he is sworn into to office.

Now, I think a key thing that I keep hearing my conversations about what will happen with the EPA and energy and other things is that immediately once Donald Trump takes office he wants to slash regulations across the board. I think the EPA is going to be one of those agencies that really is involved in some of those early on executive orders.

TAPPER: And what are you hearing from your sources about Trump's other high-profile cabinet picks?

TREENE: Well, I think what we reported this morning, Jake, about Stephen Miller becoming the deputy chief of staff is a huge deal. I mean -- I mean, there's no question that Stephen Miller has long had a lot of influence on Donald Trump and in that world. I am told that deputy chief of staff actually is minimizing the amount of power that Stephen Miller is going to have in a second Trump administration.

He is going to have a lot of say on policy decisions of course on immigration. I'm told a lot of immigration policy including the plans for mass deportation of undocumented immigrants is going to stem from the White House. But, also, he is being involved in a lot of these transition roles now. He has a big say in that and we've seen miller is really uh particularly in the last weeks of that election traveling with Donald Trump. He was the one who told the former president that he believed immigration should be the number one issue that he talked about on the trail advice we saw Donald Trump use in real time.

And so, I think that is going to be a very big pick and you can't -- you know, you can't minimize the role that Stephen Miller is going to have come January -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Alayna Treene in West Palm Beach, Florida, thanks so much.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is also here to dive further into the Trump administration's plans.

Priscilla, specifically, what does Trump naming Tom Homan border czar say about plans for mass deportation?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this was widely expected. Tom Homan has been a supporter of Donald Trump over the last several years. It tells us two things though. One, as you heard from Alayna, the power center on immigration policy is going to be the White House.

Number two, it's that they're taking this very seriously. That might sound obvious but Tom Homan is a veteran immigration official. We talk about his time during the Trump administration but he had served at ICE during the Obama administration. In fact, he presided over the time where Obama did deport a record number of undocumented immigrants and the former president at the time had granted him the highest civil award.

So, he has a lot of experience when it comes to immigration and specifically immigration detention and removals. Now, he was also behind family separation he is an architect of that. He certainly does take a more hard line view on immigration policy.

But when he has described how he envisioned this going, he says that he wants to target criminals specifically public safety and national security threats. Now, we don't know what the definition is of those beyond what may seem obvious.

But in addition to that, he also wants to resume work site enforcement raids. That was something that President Biden discontinued in 2021.

Now, when we've covered these types of enforcement measures before you may go for one person, but you may come across others who are undocumented and there can sometimes be collateral to these types of enforcement measures. It's also a way that you rack up the numbers when it comes to immigration detention and deportation.

So he is going to be at the center of this and he is someone who knows how to do it. So that is going to be -- so it was quite telling that they named him to be the borders are should also note. There was a time in the first administration where Donald Trump wanted to bring him on as czar and it caught Tom Homan by surprise. He didn't end up joining but certainly he has been an influential voice on the outside, and I'm told that he is going to be critical on the inside as well.

TAPPER: I think it's so important what you're saying that the fact that he has all this government experience. He knows how to do it.

ALVAREZ: Exactly.

TAPPER: If they want to do -- if they want to do it and that's obviously super important because it's not just, you know, a lofty goal or not so lofty depending on your political point of view.

Priscilla Alvarez, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

Joining us now from West Palm Beach, Florida, former acting homeland security secretary under Trump, Chad Wolf.

Mr. Wolf, thanks so much for joining us.

What do you think of Trump's decision to name Tom Homan border czar?

CHAD WOLF, FORMER ACTING DHS SECRETARY, TRUMP ADMINISTRATION: Yeah. I think it's an excellent choice. Look, Tom, as you indicated is a serious person he's got decades of government experience both at customs and border protection but also at ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He knows the border, he knows interior enforcement he knows how to get the job done.

And so what you have with the president's selection is just a professional that's ready to roll up his sleeves and go to work and solve a very difficult issue that the president obviously campaigned on and believes in, and I think with Tom there, and with others around him, I think they're going to get the job done.

TAPPER: Well, define the job. Obviously, I think nobody in who's rational would disagree with the idea that violent gang members or criminals who have, you know, committed -- especially committed violent acts should, you know, get them out of the country.

[16:10:12]

That's fine. I don't think that's -- that's a difficult political decision. It's the next rung, right? And the rung after that and the rung after that.

Are we really talking realistically about I don't even know how many undocumented immigrants there are in this country, but let's say it's 20 million, are we really talking about all million being deported?

WOLF: Well, Jake, it may not be a -- you know, it may be a tough political position - position. But as you indicated, there's criminals here today that are not being removed so I know I've heard Tom and certainly the president talk about removing these public safety and national security threats from American communities. Look, just under the Biden-Harris administration convicted criminal aliens percent less deportations than what we saw under the first Trump administration.

I think it's important not to just gloss over the fact that you want to remove dangerous people from -- from American communities. It's just not happening now. The Biden team will say that that's their priority but the numbers don't lie. They're just not removing folks in the manner in which they should.

So I think if they were to ask that should definitely continue to be the priority but this idea that you're going to exempt whole classes of individuals from the law, I don't think that should be the case either and of course we've seen that as well.

TAPPER: Yeah. I'm not trying to gloss over it. I'm just saying it's -- I mean, I think probably you' get like 99 percent polling on should violent criminals who aren't citizens be deported, but what happens after that. What about the idea that a large percentage, I've seen as many as 5 percent of the workforce at least according to Pew is undocumented without saying I'm advocating for them to be exempt what happens to the economy of percent of the work force is deported?

WOLF: Again, you got to prioritize the removals and I know Tom and again the president has said doing that making sure that you're removing the worst of the worst. But this idea that you've got to turn your -- your head and just exempt people from the law or from consequences of the law deportation or the like because they're -- they're have a job here in the United States.

We certainly need to take a look at that but there are other ways and other mechanisms and certainly other visas that allow individuals to come in and to contribute to the U.S. economy and if the Congress wants to do more, wants to allow more of those visas, that's certainly a debate that they should have.

But to simply say that we're going to turn our head and just ignore the fact that the law is being broken, I don't think that that's the right approach.

TAPPER: Are Trump transition team members or others talking to Republican lawmakers to figure out how Trump will fund this mass deportation plan?

Well, I'll let the transition team speak for itself. I guess that they are. I would suspect that they are. I think that's really important because it's not only just a change in policy which obviously the president can do, but obviously there's going to be some resources required to make sure that those policies are implemented in a way that's smart and that's consistent and that's sustainable over the long term.

TAPPER: What about the impact -- again, I'm not arguing in favor or in pro or con against any of this, but what about out, say, there is an undocumented gentleman and he's married to an American citizen and they have children, does he get deported? What if both parents are undocumented but the kid was born in this country? Did they -- all three of them get deported? Are there -- is somebody gaming out all of these different permutations of the various status of these people?

WOLF: Well, Jake, I'm not going to get into hypotheticals because the background of all those individuals you just said really, really matter, how did they come here, have they tried to adjust status a variety of different things implement or, sorry, put in play different decisions that are going to be made.

But again you go back to that prioritization of making sure that you're removing the worst of the worst first, final orders of removal. There's one -- almost 1.5 million individuals here that have gotten a final order of removal from an immigration judge but have not left the country.

And again, they've gone through the due process system and so, it's really important to remove those individuals but the example that you gave of an illegal alien spouse married to a U.S. citizen, there's a way to cure their illegal entry into the United States. The law already allows for that. They've got to take advantage of that they've got to do that process and then they can come back into the country legally.

So I think a lot of this is just explaining the various options out there and again we come back to allowing folks to come into the country legally is fine. I don't think that anyone is not in favor of that. It's the illegal activity and then sort of turning your head and blessing it and say, no, that's fine, let's just move on. And I don't think that that is certainly not the direction we need to go.

TAPPER: Mr. Wolf, I can't help but notice on the chyron that you are in West Palm Beach, Florida. I don't know if that's a coincidence or if you have had a meeting at Mar-a-Lago.

But do you think it's possible you might be asked to serve in the new Trump administration and if asked, would you serve?

WOLF: Well, it is a coincidence, but again, I -- as I've said, it's -- it's an honor to be asked to serve your country, particularly by President Trump. I served him for four years. He's a reformer. He's a disruptor. I think that's what America needs, particularly along that border and would be happy to -- to serve again if asked.

TAPPER: Former Secretary Chad Wolf, thank you so much sir, enjoy your vacation or whatever in West Palm Beach, Florida. We appreciate you being here.

WOLF: Thank you.

TAPPER: A lightning rod from Donald Trump's first term is set to have a significant new role steering White House policy in his next term Our policy weighs in next on Stephen Miller.

Plus, two teenage girls killed. The defendant's confessions, the verdict is in in one of the country's most watched murder cases.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: In our politics lead, President-elect Donald Trump is working quickly to set the stage for his second term already announcing some key positions.

[16:20:01]

Let's jump in with our panel.

Thanks, everybody, for being here.

So CNN was first to report that Stephen Miller is going to be back in the White House, this time as deputy chief of staff for policy. Here's the last time he spoke publicly. I believe this is at Madison Square Garden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN MILLER, FORMER TRUMP ADVISOR: Who's going to stand up and say the cartels are gone, the criminal migrant are gone, the gangs are gone, America is for Americans and Americans only?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: How do you see Miller's influence at the White House?

MARC LOTTER, CHIEF COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER, AMERICA FIRST POLICY INSTITUTE: Well, I think he's always had a very large influence. I remember working with him on the '16 campaign, and he was kind of head of all of the policy. Obviously, most of his focus is on immigration, but all of the policy areas reported to him and then he was the chief speech writer also in the White House.

So he's used to having the policy people, in his office in his ear. So I think it makes a perfect choice for the president.

TAPPER: And I imagine Democrats are not happy about.

KEVIN WALLING, DEMOCRATIC CAMPAIGN STRATEGIST: I mean, we've gone from American carnage which he wrote in that inaugural speech in 2016, now to America is for Americans only, in a -- in a chief position in the West Wing. This is a position that Karl Rove had at one point in terms of deputy chief of staff for policy.

So it signals, you know, the direction this new administration is certainly heading in.

TAPPER: And it certainly -- it certainly does and I think that's fair, Kadia, because we know the key priority for Trump and Miller is what we're just talking about in the first block which is mass deportations. Here's Miller on Fox.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: When will the deportations begin? As President Trump said, they begin on Inauguration Day, as soon as he takes the oath of office.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KADIA GOBA, POLITICAL REPORTER, SEMAFOR: Yeah, I think Miller's influence is already showed with his -- with Tom Homan being the border czar. So, that was clear and I've been told that there are going to be executive orders on day one during inauguration about addressing the border issue.

So, I mean none of this should be surprising. This has been something that Trump has been saying and his camp has been saying for a long time. They are going to crack down on immigration.

TAPPER: Yeah. And in fact, I think if you had to pick two issues, it's inflation/economy and immigration that that delivered the White House for Trump not just among his base but among the people that that chose decided the elected.

So speaking of Tom Homan, here is -- Mr. Homan on Fox this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HOMAN, FORMER ACTING DIRECTOR, IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT: I've been clear, President Trump's been clear. Public safety threats and national security threats will be the priority because they have to be. They posed the most danger of this country. So we're going to prioritize those groups.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: And I don't find that particularly controversial. I think it's the groups that they do after that that are going to cause people distress.

WALLING: Yeah, Jake, you're absolutely right. In your conversation with Chad Wolf, earlier, I think you know, 98 percent of Americans would agree, let's remove these folks that are here illegally that have committed crimes, but it is that next iteration and you talked earlier about the economic impact. This is 5 percent of our workforce in this country if you do something over the course of weeks or months to disrupt the economy on that level of a scale. It's going to be a huge impact in the next couple of months once they take office in January.

TAPPER: I mean, at some point, I understand politically and also policy-wise why people like Chad or like Tom Homan want to talk about the criminals. Got it, no one disagrees, I mean except for maybe the criminals.

But at some point, there's going to be a discussion about -- well, what about that little girl in that school and what about the people that pick the grapes and what about the people working at Mar-a-Lago maybe not anymore, but they used to work at Mar-a-Lago.

I mean, at some point, this does end up having a consequence beyond MS-13.

LOTTER: Well, I also think it offers him a great opportunity though because he did talk about adding more pathways for a legal working for illegal immigrants or legal work status uh during his first term. So once you get through this first couple of tranches whether it's people who have final court orders of removal the criminals the terrorists and suspected terrorists, then you can start getting into that next step.

And hopefully, what we've already started to see is a deterrent factor. We've saw about half of a caravan that was coming up turn back and go back and now, like Chad was saying earlier in the first segment is that if you're here married to an American citizen or if you're a parent of an American citizen, you can actually go back to the country of origin or to a safe third country and actually apply and come back legally because you have that standing.

But you have to show that that brave step of doing it going, I'm going to go back, might be a few months, and we'll get and we'll come back here legally, and we take that off the table.

GOBA: Yeah. When I talk to members on -- Republicans on the Hill, they're ecstatic about this, you know, decision. They are lauding. They -- and they support it.

When I talk to Democrats, their biggest concern is they feel that this is likely going to bleed into DREAMers and this is going to be, you know, separating families, and it's a real concern. When I add -- when I ask them what they're going to do about it, I suspect there'll be a round of court, you know, legal measures that they'll take in the courts.

[16:25:03]

LOTTER: The DREAMers are off the table right now, though, because that's still going through the federal courts and so they are pretty much protected right now.

GOBA: They don't believe that though. Democrats just feel like that's going to ultimately be the decision.

TAPPER: And when J.D. Vance was asked about this a few weeks ago, he wouldn't give a direct answer and he basically -- he was also talking very clearly about removing people that have TPS or temporary protected status like the Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, who are there legally but the administration wants to or the new administration presumably wants to remove TPS status. But let me ask you a question because you and Chad Wolf are both part of America first.

That's actually why he's in west palm he wouldn't tell me that but that's why he's in West Palm Beach you guys are having your annual uh conference. It's not a coincidence that it's in West Palm Beach, but that's why he is in West Palm Beach.

It seems like Mar-a-Lago right now must be you know just like a very active lobby of people trying to angle for jobs.

LOTTER: I would expect that. I remember back in 2016, obviously, I was then with Vice President-elect Pence who had taken over the transition and Trump Tower was in New York was the epicenter and literally, we were spending all of our time going between Washington, D.C. Mar-a-Lago and Trump Tower depending on where he was because that's where the interviews were all taking place.

Remember back then Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had a meeting with Trump and in Trump -- to the entire medical community freaked out and he kind of just like distanced himself from Robert Kennedy Jr., very different than today.

WALLING: Very different times certainly, Jake.

All right. Thanks to everyone. Appreciate it.

The future of the war in Ukraine is very much in question with the election of President-elect Trump. This as Ukraine risks losing its only territorial victory inside Russia. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:31:02]

TAPPER: In our world lead, the biggest fight in the war on Ukraine is actually happening right now inside Russia. Video released today by Ukraine's military show attacks on what Ukraine claims are Russian targets in the Kursk region. Ukraine President Zelenskyy says his military is fighting against 50,000 Russian forces including some Ukraine claims are North Korean troops, fighting on Russia's behalf.

CNN senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen is in Moscow.

And, Fred, this offensive by Russia could deal a blow to what is Ukraine's only territorial victory inside Russia so far.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, you're absolutely right. And the Russians believe that they're going to be able to drive the Russians off that Russian territory there in the Kursk, something that the Russians have said they want to do. Vladimir Putin has said he wants to do, but he's also said that he's really in no rush to do that. The Russians are continuing to say that for them, the main battlefield is still in the east of Ukraine. Never the less, the force seems to be formidable.

The Ukrainians are saying that, U.S. sources are saying that. The Ukrainians are also saying that the North Koreans are apparently among those Russian military troops on the ground, that those do play a very important role in all of this. They say very few are on the front line even though there have been direct battles between Ukrainian troops and North Koreans but they say just the fact that even in the rear, in the second echelon that there are North Korean troops there, that frees up more of the Russians to then assault the Ukrainian forces that are there on the ground.

The Ukrainians have said as far as Kursk is concerned, the area they did their incursion into, they don't want to annex that territory. Ukrainian does not want to keep that territory, but they believe it could be very important as a bargaining chip for the Ukrainians if and when any sort of negotiations with the Russians, for them to possibly exchange that territory in return for areas that the Russians currently occupy inside of Ukraine.

Right now, the vibe were getting here inside Russia with that incoming Trump presidency is that people are not sure what a new President Trump will bring, but they believe they might be in a good position to end the war on terms favorable to Moscow, Jake.

TAPPER: And, Fred, the world's attention is on what happens to the conflict once Trump is sworn in. We know Trump and Russian President Putin have had a friendly relationship in the past. But the Kremlin is weighing in now about a report that the two have been in contact recently. What can you tell us about that?

PLEITGEN: Yeah, and they're saying that report is completely false. And quite frankly, we were surprised today when we had that conference call with the Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov, how vehemently, the Ukrainians were -- the Russians were denying that report. They were saying it's false, it's untrue, completely untrue.

So they obviously want to say that none of this ever happened. One of the reasons for that of course, for that, is that the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, he was at a conference in Sochi in the south of Russia when this call allegedly took place. It went on for a long time. Till half past midnight local time Russia.

At that time, he said he had not had any contact with Donald Trump after Donald Trump was elected. However, he did say he was willing to speak to Donald Trump even before he takes office and he did say that a lot of the things that Donald Trump said in the campaign trail, for instance, wanting to end the war in Ukraine, wanting to normalize relations with Russia, those were things that were interesting for the Russians.

So they certainly seem to be wanting to build relations once again. There's hope of the incoming Trump presidency, but also, uncertainty here in Moscow as well, Jake.

TAPPER: All right. CNN's Fred Pleitgen in Moscow, thank you so much.

Why are there wildfires in the New York metro area? We're on the ground with what's fanning those flames which have turned deadly. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:39:11]

TAPPER: In our Earth Matters lead, right now, firefighters are battling raging wildfires on both U.S. coasts. In California returning strong winds have raised the risk of reigniting the mountain fire which destroyed dozens of homes last week just north of Los Angeles, and then in New York and New Jersey, ongoing droughts have sparked the Jennings Creek fire, already burning through 3,000 acres and killing a volunteer firefighter.

Here's Gloria Pazmino with the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From a New York City park to forest across the Hudson River in New Jersey, unprecedented fires are burning across the Northeast fueled by strong winds and months without significant rain.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Never seen it like this before.

PAZMINO: The Jennings Creek Wildfire in New Jersey has scorched thousands of acres and is still going.

[16:40:04]

Across New York and New Jersey, 600 wildfires have burned since October.

MAYOR THOMAS HOWLEY, GREENWOOD LAKE, NEW JERSEY: In my over 50 years of living here, this has been the most significant and probably most potentially dangerous situation I've seen or been involved in.

PAZMINO: Dariel Vasquez, an 18-year-old parks and recreation employee, was killed Sunday while he was responding to a fire.

This is a very dangerous profession. This is a very dangerous incident that we have here strong winds across the region have carried the heavy smoke across New Jersey and New York leading to air quality and red flag warnings for millions of people the water supply is also under strain.

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D), NEW YORK CITY: October was one of the driest months we've had and recorded history.

PAZMINO: A man was charged with arson after he fired an illegal shotgun believed to have sparked a fire in Jackson Township New Jersey, prompting evacuations in surrounding communities.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My daughter and I we packed up our important papers and all of our prescriptions and got the dog ready. And when they said go, we were ready to go.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAZMINO (on camera): Now, Jake we got a little bit of rain here in New York city overnight but it is literally just a drop in the bucket considering how many days have been since we got significant drought here, since we've had significant rain here in the area. Most of the fire activity is happening across the river in New Jersey tomorrow wind conditions are expected to pick up once again and that's going to continue making these firefighting efforts extremely difficult -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Gloria Pazmino, thanks so much.

In our law justice lead, a guilty verdict today in the Delphi murders case. Fifty-two-year-old Richard Allen was found guilty of murdering 13-year-old Abigail Williams and 14-year-old Liberty German. And their bodies were found on a hiking trail in Delphi, Indiana, the day after they were reported missing. Over the course of the trial, the prosecution highlighted Allen's dozens of confessions he made while behind bars. He confessed to the crime more than times prosecutors say including to his wife, his mother, a psychologist, the prison warden and to fellow inmates. The jury deliberated a total of hours before reaching the guilty verdict on all four counts of murder and kidnapping.

Allen will be sentenced next month and could reportedly receive up to 130 years in prison.

On this veterans day, a major new move by the White House to cover the healthcare needs of thousands of those who served and have suffered. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:47:01]

TAPPER: Today at Arlington National Cemetery, President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris paid tribute to the nation's veterans on this Veterans Day. The president used the opportunity to announce an expansion of benefits under the Pact Act for veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange and other toxic substances.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today, I'm proud to announce that the V.A. will expand the number of cancers covered under the Pact Act.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: And we're joined on this Veterans Day by Veterans Affairs Secretary Dennis McDonough.

Secretary McDonough, Denis, good to see you. Thank you so much for being here.

DENIS MCDONOUGH, VETERANS AFFAIRS SECRETARY: Nice to see you, Jake. Thanks for having me on.

TAPPER: So some news today. President Biden announced that the administration is going to expand the types of cancers uh covered under the Pact Act which was passed during Biden's presidency and it will so the benefits healthcare benefits will be expanded to uh that was for burn pits but now, also it's going to be expanded for others -- other toxic substances. But what can you tell us about that?

MCDONOUGH: Well, it's the pres -- what the president announced is that he's expanding service connection for every rare cancer he can -- we can establish a connection to. So it's really important news to say to those veterans including our veterans who served in Karshi-Khanabad in Uzbekistan that where have those rare cancers we're going to connect them to their service there. They served in that that area, Jake, and what in a real toxic soup of you know asbestos and all sorts of crazy substances.

They did that at great risk to themselves very early after the attacks of 9/11, and what the president did today is announced that he recognizes the importance of their service and that we're going to make sure that we connect those rare cancers to their service.

What do you think President Biden's legacy will be, your legacy will be when it comes to helping veterans? Do you think it will be the Pact Act which obviously is a -- is a huge achievement?

MCDONOUGH: Yeah. Well, look, I -- this has nothing to do with me this has everything to do with the president who as I said today, he and Dr. Biden, our military family themselves, the surviving parents of Major Beau Biden, the thing I think that people will look back on at this about this period is that there is a new V.A., that V.A. brought itself to veterans, rather than expecting veterans to change their lives to fit into V.A., which has been the expectation for too long.

And that's been manifesting a lot of different ways, including just in the last year, $131 million medical care appointments across V.A., and those are appointments by telehealth in person, we're making sure that this care gets to veterans rather than expecting them to get to us.

TAPPER: You know a story that we cover a lot on the lead. We cover veteran stories in general. We cover veteran homelessness a lot and there's a specific story out of Los Angeles that we've been covered a lot with our great reporter Nick Watt about veteran homelessness.

[16:50:07]

The V.A. has been involved in an ongoing court fight over land in Los Angeles that was donated to the government back in 1888 --

MCDONOUGH: Yes.

TAPPER: Specifically to be used to house veterans who need housing and the V.A. has been ordered to put up 750 temporary housing units for homeless veterans but the V.A. claims the cost of those units will cause irreparable harm to the V.A.

I i have to confess. I'm just confused by the position of the V.A. on this, it seems like a no-brainer and it seems like in keeping with what you've done with the Pact Act and the like I'm surprised you're on the other side of this.

MCDONOUGH: Yeah. Well, thanks so much, Jake. To your first point, you cover a lot of veteran stories here. That's why I was thrilled to get the invitation to come. I really appreciate the reporting that you on do on this the writing you do on this. I think you've lifted up our veterans in a -- in a uniquely powerful way, one.

Two, as it relates to Los Angeles, our decision to appeal a part of the judge's ruling there reflects the following, over the course of the last year, we have permanently housed in the United States about 48,000 homeless veterans. The president announced today that the level of veteran homelessness across the country today is lower than it's ever been. It's down something like 56 percent since the recorded high in 2010.

So, we're making good progress the judge's ruling in Los Angeles would have us take resources dedicated to new housing that's not part of our existing master plan. Under the existing master plan, we've gotten hundreds of new units built on the facility in Los Angeles. We've permanently housed in the last year homeless veterans in Los Angeles. This would redirect resources not only from Angeles and San Francisco but from across the country into not previously arranged for efforts.

And every day today in Los Angeles every day, we have available transitional housing for homeless veterans. So we think it's not consistent with the plan, a plan that is working well and a plan that we take deadly seriously and that we've shown you know as the president announced today is reducing veteran homelessness.

And we're not going to stop until we get to zero homeless vets.

TAPPER: Before you go, I just want to ask you a philosophical question. As you probably know, every year, I -- I run a charity auction on eBay to raise money for a great top rated veterans charity called Homes for Our Troops.

MCDONOUGH: Yes.

TAPPER: Which build specially designed mortgage free homes for the most severely wounded veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. And every time I do it some person on Twitter and I don't think they necessarily mean it in a disparaging way, but asks why does a charity have to do this, why do celebrities have to donate, why is an anchorman running like -- why isn't the United States of America just automatically providing this specially designed home for somebody who lost his legs in Afghanistan?

MCDONOUGH: Yes.

TAPPER: And I know would it up were up to you and you could snap your fingers, you would do that. But what is the answer for that? Why don't we do everything we can as a society to help people who have lost so much for our country?

MCDONOUGH: Look, have a program at V.A. called the specially adapted housing program. That's has grants that has millions of dollars a year investing in houses specially adapted for those veterans.

TAPPER: But it's not enough because if it were then homes for our troops wouldn't exist, you know?

MCDONOUGH: Right. Well, and what we also see is places like Homes for Our Troops and again this is one of the things I really admire about you and about uh what you've dedicated your profession -- your professional life to. That is adding to this overall effort.

We are continually looking for additional resources additional partners to make sure that no veteran is left. You know, we say this phrase homeless veteran should not exist in an English language in America. And so, the philosophical point is we're going to keep investing every dollar that we get from Congress on this. We'll continue to partner with organizations like yours and we won't stop until every veteran has a house over -- a roof over their head.

TAPPER: But implicit in that is a -- is an important message which is who has the purse strings in Washington, D.C.? And the answer is Congress.

Denis McDonough, VA secretary --

MCDONOUGH: Well, I --

TAPPER: You're not -- you're not you're not going to let that go?

MCDONOUGH: I don't want to -- I don't want to disparage Congress because Congress has been very aggressive on homelessness, too. Republicans and Democrats getting the kinds of numbers we've seen and, you know, President Biden has led the way on this.

TAPPER: OK.

[16:55:00]

MCDONOUGH: So, you know, the philosophical issue is yeah especially adaptive housing uh we can always invest additional resources. Those resources we get from Congress we're really careful with, where we want to make sure we're doing our part on and we thank our partners like you in making that happen.

TAPPER: All right. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough, thanks for all you do for veterans. We appreciate it.

MCDONOUGH: Thank you, Jake.

TAPPER: A lawyer working with the Trump transition team issues a chilling warning to career Justice Department prosecutors. We'll tell you what he said, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

This hour, a passenger plane that departed from Florida diverted after it was hit by gunfire. At least one person was injured. Airlines are canceling flights as they try to figure out what happened.

Plus, speaking of what happened, what went --