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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, (D-MA), Is Interviewed About Details Dem Plan To Grill Trump Cabinet Nominees, Donald Trump, Greenland, Panama Canal; Four Major Fires Whipping Through Los Angeles Area. Aired 5- 6:00p ET

Aired January 08, 2025 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Homes just going up in flames seconds after seconds. How widespread are those flames?

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: I'm sorry. I don't have IP. So we're at the same location were when we talked to you last. The winds have died down here, which is the good news. And a number of the houses which we watched ignite in flames have kind of they're burning -- they burned down now. You can just kind of see what's left.

Just the -- I mean, it's all just gone. There was a vehicle which we watched get ignited that has now burned out. There's one house on this block, on this street, part of Harriet Street that remains on the corner that we've been watching closely.

I talked to one of the firefighters a short time ago, this was probably an hour ago, who had run out of water. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: What's this like compared to what you've seen?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is one of the worst I've seen. The winds are making it really difficult, and we're a little bit shorthanded right now.

COOPER: They've asked, I know for -- I mean, thousands of firefighters come here from all sorts of Western states. What do you do? I mean, this whole area is aflame. How do you choose where to go?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, we have to basically look at what we're given. So first of all, we want everybody to have defensible space around your homes where brush is not touching your home, so it's not able to carry the fire up into your attic. And that's really a big challenge for us. When we see a house that already has a fire established in the attic, and we might only have one engine company or two engine companies, it's basically impossible to fight that fire.

COOPER: So once it's gotten to the attic, because I've seen that in a number of houses down there, it's hit the attic, smoke billows out, and then the attic goes. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is one of those differentiators that will kind of let us know if we really have a feasible shot at saving that residence.

COOPER: How's water? I mean, obviously, the Palisades have had water issues.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our hydrant ran dry about two minutes ago.

COOPER: And is that the water pressure issue or?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are -- because there's so many engines tapping the grid and multiple grids, we're basically just taking all the water out of the grid.

COOPER: What do you do? I mean, you want to fight at these fires?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do have water tenders, vehicles that shuttle water to us that carry 2,500 gallons of water, but again, they're stretched thin as well, so they have a lot of demand placed on them.

COOPER: So on a scene like this right now, what can you do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are looking at houses that we can save. So things that we can do, we can clear brush away from fences, things that we can do with our hands or with tools, and we just help some homeowners get out. So just -- I mean, first thing is rescue operations. We want you out. Houses can be replaced, all that lives cannot.

So we just came back from the Salvation Army where we took a gentleman down there who unfortunately lost his home.

COOPER: How long you been up?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over 24 hours. Yes.

COOPER: Normally it's like 24 hour, 24 hours on, 24 hours off. Are you looking at another 12 hours or?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tough to say. Tough to say. I mean, right now we're really in the fight. So we're happy to be here and we're happy to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: So that crew, Jake has now left. They left shortly after we did that interview. They simply. There was nothing more they could do here. They didn't have the water to do it. This is a slightly uphill area, so that's probably what has contributed now to the water problem here.

But just a couple of things so, I mean, this house is pretty much burned down. There's still, you know, large -- there's still a lot -- some things remain to burn. This vehicle we watched as the flames initially started on the tire, it just engulfed the whole thing. But look, there's another house that just -- that's really just kind of -- it was probably on fire before, but it's really now started to go.

And you can also see every now and then -- I mean, it's so surreal because every now and then, look, you get a glimpse of these beautiful mountains all the way in the distance where there's not anything. And then the smoke makes it impossible to see. But I mean, we'll go over to that location now. It's basically, you know, as the wind moves another stretch -- another block ignites in flames. And so you kind of move block to block.

We've been on this intersection for, I don't know, two hours or so, but it's pretty much gone. I mean, it's pretty much burnt out. Occasionally you'll see some cars coming by, people, you know, hoping to get to their houses to try to get stuff out. Authorities, though, are not letting people in here for obvious reasons. But -- and again, looking the distance there, you can see, I'm assuming, that's up on hill.

You can actually see some new flames. That's actually just occurred kind of above our satellite truck off in the distance. So this is still -- this is not contained at all. I mean, that's obvious. None of these fires are contained.

The water issues certainly here continue. And you know, these crews are exhausted. They've been on -- you know, they've been working most of them for more than 24 hours so far. So, that's the situation here.

[17:05:02]

TAPPER: All right. Anderson Cooper, thank you so much. We're going to look out for more of your reporting on "AC 360" tonight at 8:00 Eastern live from Los Angeles.

CNN's Natasha Chen is also on the ground for us. She's in Altadena.

And Natasha, just a few minutes ago, there were a line of businesses near you that were burning. It looks like those flames are even worse.

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Jake, when we talk to you, this fire behind us wasn't as bad. Now it is fully engulfed. You can see that business structure, just the dark plumes of smoke rising into the air. You know, a few moments ago we had to sort of move further back because were watching which direction the wind suddenly changed in and the embers were coming more toward us.

Now it's a little bit back toward the original direction. So we're OK where we are. But you can just imagine how quickly changing the situation can be on the ground. This is a main thoroughfare of businesses where every direction we look there is either something that has been already burned to the ground or it's in flames. And I'll just pan a little bit around to show you.

And of course, we're next to a grocery outlet where you see that mural, greetings from Altadena. Unfortunately, the postcard from this city isn't looking great right now. This business right here on the corner is gone. So is the business at that corner. I believe that used to be a dentist's office or laundry of some kind. In that direction where we're pointing is also a residential neighborhood. That's the way we came in. And passing through, we saw blocks and blocks of homes that had been destroyed, burned down to just the foundations. If we turn back over here, we can actually see another apartment complex that's on fire right there that's still raging on the other side. I did see a fire engine over there trying to put that one out.

And so going up the street as well, there were some -- yes, that's still on fire. There were a couple of engines up there that we saw fighting those fires at those buildings. But they have more recently in the last few minutes just come tearing down the street to help out with this one. So, it really is moment to moment seeing which fire is worse. We already see so many people who have lost their homes in the neighborhood over there.

And what's interesting, of course, in any fire is because of the random nature of how the embers can fly, there are some houses that have randomly stood up and are still intact and there are people around just trying to protect what is left there. As for everybody else, this is -- you know, most people have left the area. We are being very careful about when it might be time that we have to get out. But we can feel the heat from this fire right here. And we're a block away where this is down the next -- at the corner of the next block.

So, you can imagine how intense that is for the firefighting crews who are just looking at a lot of work no matter which direction you turn, Jake.

TAPPER: Natasha, I appreciate that you're wearing that mask. Smoke inhalation is obviously, I think it's the number one reason people die in fire. So I'm glad you're wearing it. But just how tough is it to breathe where you are?

CHEN: It's extremely difficult. The car that we're driving right now smells like an ashtray and that's from being in the Palisades fire yesterday. And you would think that staying inside your vehicle it'd be easier to breathe, but honestly it's everywhere and unavoidable right now.

TAPPER: People obviously in Los Angeles don't just have masks on hand. Do you have a sense of how many people have been able to get out?

CHEN: I don't have a sense of the number, but we do know that thousands of people have had to flee and a lot of people doing so preemptively, which is a great idea. And if they're seeing flames come toward them -- you know, we saw a lot of folks trying to make it out of the Palisades last night in a very difficult situation with one way out. Here's a little more detail on the overall state of the fires right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, dude. Yes. Let's get out of here.

CHEN (voice-over): Stunning video shows the moment enormous flames engulf a home in Pacific Palisades.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We tried. We tried, bro. I'm sorry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry, bro. Now we get out of here.

CHEN (voice-over): The air is completely filled with embers as they race to safety. It's a similar scene all over LA County as intense winds can be seen and heard, but blowing hot embers through the sky.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my God, it's jumping over.

CHEN (voice-over): Right now, four life threatening fires, the Palisades, Eaton, Hearst and Woodley fires are forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I called the fire department about an hour ago. Obviously they're very busy. I just called again to see if they were coming and obviously they're just very busy. I'm acting home and I'm really very upset.

[17:10:00]

CHEN (voice-over): The Palisades fire has grown to nearly 12,000 acres and has destroyed an estimated 1,000 structures, making it one of the 20 most destructive wildfires in California's history. It is also the most destructive to ever occur in LA County, according to data from Cal Fire.

KIMBERLY DEVANE, BUILDING OWNER: It's Armageddon. I'm driving through a war zone right now and I don't even know what to say. I'm speechless. I'm shocked.

CHEN (voice-over): The Eaton fire also exploded to more than 10,000 acres and is believed to be responsible for at least two deaths. Officials say they're seeing a significant number of injuries being reported due to people who did not evacuate.

KATHRYN BARGER, CHAIR. LOS ANGELES COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISION: Heed the advice of first responders when they ask you to evacuate, evacuate. This is not a drill. This is in real time.

CHEN (voice-over): Emergency officials say their biggest concern right now, the powerful winds.

ERIK SCOTT, PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, LOS ANGELES FIRE DEPARTMENT: Fires being fueled by a combination of strong Santa Ana winds and surrounding topography, which makes it extremely challenging for us firefighters to really get a handle on it.

CHEN (voice-over): They admit fire crews are struggling to keep up with the demand.

CHIEF KRISTIN CROWLEY, LOS ANGELES FIRE DEPARTMENT: Together, these fires are stretching the capacity of emergency services to their maximum limits.

CHEN (voice-over): Fire officials say emergency crews are facing unprecedented conditions.

CHIEF JIM MCDONNELL, LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT: It's critical that at these times we be patient, that we come together, that we focus on saving lives and to be able to the very best job we can. So when we look back on this, we know that we did what we could for others.

CHEN (voice-over): The situation is also a scary one for journalists. This is video taken last night as my crew and I were leaving our live location in Pacific Palisades. A couple of hours before this, the flames were in the distance, but when we left, they were too close for comfort.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHEN (on camera): And just in the last couple of minutes we've been standing here, we see that the wall closest to us on that business is starting to come down. So, things change very quickly, Jake, and we're keeping a vigilant eye over here.

TAPPER: All right, Natasha Chen, thank you. Please stay safe.

For more on the city's response to these four major blazes, I want to bring in Los Angeles City Councilwoman Traci Park. She's on the phone. Her district includes the Pacific Palisades.

And Councilwoman, was there enough warning for people to leave? Is there anyone at fault here or is this simply a matter of the moving nature of the fire and these horrific winds?

I can't hear Councilwoman Park. I assume we've had an issue there, so we're going to bring her back in a second. As I mentioned earlier in the show, communications issues during times of natural disasters can be difficult.

California officials say right now they do not have enough firefighters to get these four massive fires under control. Some of the firefighters on the front lines have been working 24 to 48 hour shifts. Some of them are running into water shortages, many of them running into water shortages. How is the federal government, how is the Biden administration going to help during this crisis? We're going to ask the FEMA administrator live in just minutes.

Plus the other major story we're following this hour. President Trump set to meet with Senate Republicans tonight, the same lawmakers who will decide whether his cabinet nominees get confirmed. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:17:11]

TAPPER: The breaking news tonight, the explosive wildfires in Southern California. The Palisades fire alone is now nearing 16,000 acres burned. It was only 11,000 acres not even an hour ago when we started the show. We're going to have much more of that coverage ahead.

We're going to turn to politics now, though. And live images from Capitol Hill. President-elect Trump is just moments away from arriving on the Hill. In just a few minutes, Mr. Trump is going to pay his respects to the late President Jimmy Carter, the 39th president, who is lying in state in the Capitol rotunda. And then Mr. Trump is expected to head into a closed door meeting with Republican senators.

There are 53 of them now. They are the majority. Let's get right to CNN's Manu Raju.

And Manu you just spoke to a brand new Republican senator about that meeting. Tell us.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there's a lot that this new Republican majority and Donald Trump need to sort out, namely how to proceed with his very ambitious agenda, how to sequence his ambitious agenda, everything dealing with immigration, to energy issues, to tax cuts, to raising the national debt limit as well as spending cuts. There's a debate, disagreement among Republicans, particularly in the House and the Senate, about how to proceed. That'll be one thing that will come up. Also, what to deal with these California wildfires.

I did catch up with the income -- the new, the freshman Republican senator from Montana, himself a former head of an aerial firefighting company. And he said that he plans to bring up the idea with Donald Trump tonight to push national legislation dealing with wildfires.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TIM SHEEHY (R-MT): And what we have is we have a collection of government entities, county, state, federal, that are not properly coordinated to fight these fires. It's not the fault of these brave firefighters on the ground or the brave water bomber pilots you see on T.V. doing their job. That's what I used to do. It's the fault of a failed federal coordination system that is not properly built for purpose. I intend to bring up wildfire and discuss this with him because obviously it's front of mind for the whole country right now. And I think it's a win that he could deliver on pretty quickly because it is a bipartisan issue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now, Trump has not yet arrived here on Capitol. We did just see J.D. Vance a couple of moments ago. These sessions, though, tended to be more about a pep rally more than anything else. So it's uncertain about exactly how, what decisions they will make in this closed door meeting will be the first of many efforts. Try to get on the same page between Republicans and vote chambers, between Republicans on all stripes in the conference about what to actually include in Donald Trump's agenda in his legislation that he wants to pursue.

Get this done quickly in the first quarter of the New Year, even though the process, the politics will be incredibly complicated for that to pull off. But that's the beginning of that process will begin just in a matter of moments here, Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Mana Raju on Capitol Hill, thanks so much. And joining us now in studio, Democratic Senator from Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren.

Senator, let's I guess start with in this new Congress, this 33 page letter that you wrote to Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth, previewing more than 70 questions you and the Democratic Party have for him for his confirmation hearing scheduled for next week.

[17:20:09]

There's a lot of them. If anybody's been watching the news about Pete Hegseth, they're probably familiar with a number of the subjects, whether it has to do with his management of some veterans groups, allegations of alcohol abuse, allegations of sexual harassment, et cetera, et cetera. Is there -- since there are so many, are there one or two that you want Americans -- I realize they're all important. OK, they're all important.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): Let's do they're all important.

TAPPER: But is there one or two you really want people to pay attention to?

WARREN: Yes. So let's drill down on this. Keep in mind we're talking about someone who will have control of a budget that's about $850 billion, biggest budget in the federal government, about three and a half million people. And who is responsible, in effect, for fielding our military teams, our army, our Navy, our Air Force, our Marines. Right now, we are having trouble filling all those spots.

Only the Marines are actually meeting their recruiting goals. The rest are falling short. And let's face it, Jake, not everybody wants to serve in the military. It's not right for everybody. But there are some people for whom it is right. right now, our military, 18 percent of those who are serving are women, and they are terrific, just like the men who are terrific and serving.

What Pete Hegseth said as recently as November 7th is that women don't belong in combat, in the military. So think about that. You recruit people and you say, you know, guys, you want to be in the military, come on in, be all that you can be. Gals, you can kind of do these other things that are not really at the heart of what the military does.

You can't write off 18 percent of the workforce and expect to be able to have a strong military. This goes to the heart of our national defense. He will be responsible for our active duty military, and he has already demonstrated that he is disqualified for that.

TAPPER: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said today the Republicans already beginning to, quote, "shun regular order" when it comes to cabinet nominations, citing a lack of basic information when it comes to the nomination of Governor Doug Burgum. I think he's nominated to be Secretary of the Interior. Is that right? An absence of minority consent before pushing ahead with the hearing. Is there anything Democrats can really do, though? WARREN: You know, part of it is you just got to stand up for yourself on this for a long, long time. I know this sounds very inside Washington, but what it's really about is we have a constitutional responsibility to advise and consent, right, there in the Constitution when the president wants to make these nominations. To do that, you got to have the basic information. You got to see the FBI report, you've got to see the full questionnaires that they fill out, and you've got to have a chance to sit down and talk to these people, those of us who are on the committees, so that we can then go into a public hearing and ask the appropriate questions. This is just doing your due diligence.

You know, anybody who applies for a job actually kind of goes through that. And if it's a job that is so important as taking on responsibilities for all of our national parks, for how our roads and bridges get built, for our immigration system, whatever it is, you'd want that basic information. And right now, we're having some real problems in some of these committees with Republicans just saying, sorry, we're going to rush these guys through. Why would you rush them through if the whole idea is just to give people the information so we can have a public hearing? I don't know what they've got to hide, but we need a chance to ask the questions.

Democrats gave Republicans that opportunity, and in the past, Republicans have given it to Democrats. We stand up and ask for it again right now.

TAPPER: President-elect Trump was asked if he could assure the world that he wouldn't use military force or economic coercion to assume control of Greenland or the Panama Canal. This is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: I can't assure you. You're talking about Panama and Greenland. No, I can't assure you on either of those two. But I can say this, we need them for economic security.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Your response, Senator?

WARREN: So I'm going to do this one at two levels. The first one is the United States respects international law. We respect the boundaries of other countries. We expect other countries to respect our boundaries. Vladimir Putin with Russia did not do that and invaded Ukraine.

And we have pushed back hard against that. That is world order. That's international law. But I want to make a second point, and that is, why is Donald Trump doing this? And I think the answer is, let's have a big distraction and several more questions so we don't spend more time on Pete Hegseth, the nominee to be the head of the Department of Defense.

[17:25:07] So we don't spend more time on Tulsi Gabbard, who has been in the pocket of Putin and is not someone who should be trusted with our secrets. So that we don't spend more time on Robert Kennedy's views on vaccines. In other words, we have a job in front of us right now, and that is advice and consent on the nominees who are there to run our government. Donald Trump would love it if we spend no time talking about them and all of our time talking about this idea and that idea and something else.

TAPPER: To be fair to me, I did start with a question about Pete Hegseth.

Let me, let me ask you about Hegseth, though. What I hear from Republican senators is President Trump is entitled to the Cabinet he picks. He won. He's entitled to that. And I'm wondering, you have relationships with senators.

It seemed for a bit that there might be three Republicans or four Republicans who might vote. We see President Trump there arriving on Capitol Hill, for those watching, that there might be three or four Republicans willing to vote against Pete Hegseth. There was possibility of Joni Ernst, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, maybe one or two others. It seemed like there were three or four that would take the lead of Joni Ernst, who obviously, in addition to being a veteran, is a survivor of sexual assault. Are -- is it still up in the air or, I mean, because you have more of a contact with them privately, I would think, I would hope with Republican colleagues, like, is this still up in the air or is this kind of just a done deal at this point?

WARREN: So let me say again, what we're doing, this whole process we're going through is not just some formal dance. The Constitution requires that we do advice and consent.

TAPPER: But do your colleagues, your Republican colleagues feel that way?

WARREN: Well, if they want to amend the Constitution, they can do that. If they want to ignore the Constitution, they can do that. But at the end of the day, we swore an oath to abide by the Constitution. And that means take a serious look at every one of these people and say, can you honestly stand up and say that someone like Pete Hegseth, who has already said women should not serve in combat, who is credibly accused of sexual assault, who ran not one, but two nonprofits just totally into the ground, who showed up for work drunk so many times that both his colleagues at Fox and his colleagues at these nonprofits felt like they had to carry him home? Is he the guy who should be in charge of the Department of Defense and the guy who should be on the phone at 2:00 in the morning when somebody calls our military from halfway around the world and says, oh, here's what's coming in on the screen, Mr. Secretary, what do we do by way of response?

We need someone who will be sober, who is someone who has gained the respect and trust of the troops and someone who has demonstrated that he can actually manage an organization not just of 40 people, which has been his experience, but that he's really ready to take on an organization of three and a half million people. TAPPER: Senator Elizabeth Warren, thank you.

And we should note for Pete Hegseth, we should note that Pete Hegseth denies a lot of those accusations. And to secretary nominee Hegseth, you are always welcome to come on the show and answer questions and explain why everything Senator Warren just said is completely wrong. If you believe that the seat is there and it's warm and you're welcome.

More than 150,000 people are under evacuation orders tonight as four wildfires burn out of control around Los Angeles. What is the federal government doing right now to help? We're going to talk to the FEMA administrator next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: In our National Lead, just hours ago, you see there President Biden received a briefing out of Santa Monica Fire Station. It's not one, but four wildfires. Four are burning out of control in and around Los Angeles. For more on the federal response, joining us now, the Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell. Administrator Criswell, what -- what's your understanding of the size and scope of the fires and damage as of this hour?

DEANNE CRISWELL, FEMA ADMINISTRATOR: Jake, what we know right now is that this is still a very dynamic and a very dangerous situation. And what I want people to do is to make sure that they are continuing to listen to their local officials so they can get the best information on the actions that they need to take to stay safe.

We know that the fires are not contained yet, that the winds are extremely strong still, which is limiting the ability for some of the aircraft to come in and support that. But firefighters are moving in. We've got firefighters from eight different states that have come in to support California. I mean, we will continue to send resources in to support the people now that have been impacted by this disaster.

TAPPER: So I know on Sunday, Governor Newsom pre-positioned 110 fire engines, water tenders, specialty teams, 120 personnel, seven helicopters from Northern California preparing for this. But despite that preparation, the fires are zero percent contained right now. They're growing. They're moving really quickly. What is your -- your message to people who are in evacuation warning areas? And also when -- when will there be some achievement in fighting this fire?

CRISWELL: Yes, these fires are still very dangerous and they're being driven by these really intense hurricane strength force Santa Ana winds. And so until the -- the weather begins to cooperate with the firefighters, they're going to be able to then go in and start to make some progress. But because these winds are so strong, it's still so dangerous. And so again, people really need to listen to exactly what their local officials are saying because the fire can shift very quickly from one direction to another. We want to make sure people know where to go, how to get into a safe place so they can protect themselves, protect their families. [17:35:15]

TAPPER: What more needs to be done? I mean, obviously we can't control the winds, but what -- what more needs to be done? Do other states, we heard something about Arizona sending some firefighters, do other states need to pitch in more? Can the federal government do more?

CRISWELL: Yes. So right now, from what I've been told, is that there are eight different states that have been sending in firefighting resources. They will continue. California is very experienced at fighting these fires, but they also have to work with the -- what they're given, with the weather conditions. And so they will request what they need. They will bring in the resources that they need.

And what we need to focus on now from the FEMA perspective is how do we help those people that have lost everything? How do we help them understand what's going to be the next step of the process? How do we help them understand how they're going to jumpstart their recovery now that they have lost everything?

TAPPER: Today we heard from the Los Angeles County fire chief who said he -- he doesn't have enough manpower and he doesn't have enough water to fight four fires of this magnitude. What more can be done?

CRISWELL: We just need to continue to send in resources. This is where the National Interagency Fire Coordination Center comes in. They bring in the head heavy tankers, the air tankers to come in and the helicopters to drop that water on these fires to send in more resources and fire trucks and personnel. But they can't fly right now from what I've been told, because the wind conditions are so strong.

And so they have to make sure that they're protecting the people themselves. I have confidence that California, we've got staff that are embedded in the state EOC being able to help coordinate any additional resources. I think you heard President Biden say he's directed the Department of Defense to send more aerial equipment in. They've got to be able to get in there safely to support this.

And so we just really need to listen to the incident commander on the ground and what his needs are and help make sure that we're getting the right resources in a place where they can fight this fire safely.

TAPPER: FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, thank you and best of luck to you and your team. We're going to have much more in the breaking news coverage of the wildfires ahead.

President -- plus, President-elect Trump arriving right now on Capitol Hill for that meeting with Senate Republicans who are now the majority, Senate Republicans, 53 of them. We're following that and more ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:41:23]

TAPPER: We're sticking with the breaking news right now. In our National Lead, aerial firefighters dropping water nearly disappearing through the thick plumes of smoke as the Pacific Palisades fire rages on in the hills of Los Angeles. Actress Emily Procter, who you might know from the "West Wing" or "CSI: Miami," took those videos before fleeing her home in the Palisades. She joins us now. Emily, my deepest condolences. My cousin David and his family lives in the Palisades. They also have fled their homes. They -- they think that they've lost their home. How are you? How is your family?

EMILY PROCTER, EVACUATED DUE TO WILDFIRES: Thank you for asking. And I just want to say on behalf of your family and all of us, selfishly, I wanted to be here to say we loved our neighborhood and we still do. And it was an incredible community. We have evacuated. I believe our home is also gone. It was news I got from a stranger, which is a very surreal experience.

But gosh, it was incredible on our way out to see the people going in to help. And when I think about our neighborhood, I think about Fire Station 69 and all of the firefighters that we knew that held bake sales and toy drives. And as my daughter would walk to her bus stop, we would see them with their Ralph's cart going to buy the dinner, groceries. And, you know, they're as much a part of our neighborhood as anyone. And I know what they're having to do now must be extraordinarily difficult.

TAPPER: Are you able to console yourself in any way that because you and your family are -- are safe, even as this horrible destruction happens to your -- to your property and your neighborhood, is that at all a consolation? I hate to even ask that question, but it just, I mean, it does seem -- it does seem incredible they don't only --

PROCTER: That's a very interesting question.

TAPPER: Yes. I mean, I -- I'm happy that you're safe, I guess is my point. I'm just trying to think. I'm trying to put my head into my cousin's head, my cousin, David, and I'm trying to think, I can't even imagine what he's going through, but thank God, he and his family are safe.

PROCTER: It's a -- it's a feeling that I did not expect to be hand in hand with this experience. You know, I expected it to be, thank God we're safe. And we -- we did take some clothes and I -- I took a few necessary items and I'm so grateful for it. But what you realize is that, sorry, all of those houses are not structures. They're actually microcosms of people's lives. And we all interact. You know, I have an across the street neighbor who's pregnant and one whose son is applying for college. And we have a new neighbor moving in. And we were making plans to drop things off.

And I bicker back and forth with my postman about football teams. And it has been my life.

TAPPER: Yes.

PROCTER: And so --

TAPPER: It's your home. PROCTER: -- I'm so grateful to have survived. It's -- it is my home, it is my neighborhood, it's my community. And so when -- when you see it burn, it's not the things. And you almost don't even think about the safety. Although I'm so deeply grateful that there have been no fatalities. And there seems to be a firefighter injured, but -- but manageably injured. And the things on those level have been survivable. But -- but what -- what we're -- what we mourn is our lives --

[17:45:06]

TAPPER: Yes, the -- the place where those -- all those memories were made.

PROCTER: -- which did not happen.

TAPPER: All the place where all those memories were made and the friendship in the community.

PROCTER: Yes. And all the little kids that I watched walk to school and become big kids and I watched them walk to school that are my neighbors and now I know they don't have schools. And I just keep thinking, like, what is the path forward? What is the best way? How can it work? And how can we make it work? And I think that's going to be the next question we all have to answer is because we were such a feeling and close community is how do we make it work?

And I've heard from several people that I -- I use their businesses and they're just business owners and they've checked in and I think, like, how do we make it work for them to get back in? Like, what does this look like moving forward? And we have the same issue with Altadena and we've got all of these pockets where what I think is something that we should be investing in anyway in America as community.

Hopefully we will have these opportunities and -- and people will really step forward and we'll learn new paths about how to make that work. And I -- I -- I hope this for your family as well. I -- I feel for them. And I'm sorry.

TAPPER: I am sorry, Emily. And -- and, you know, watching -- watching your understandable emotion in a time like this, really, it's not just moving, but also your explanation of the loss of community is profound. And thank you for -- for sharing that with us because I think it -- it's -- it's just awful. And I'm so sorry you're going through it, but I am happy that -- that you and your family are safe.

PROCTER: Thank you. And I do think if anyone's wondering, like, what can they do. Offering of community is probably the greatest gift just to -- just to tell people that you love them and that we're -- that we're in it.

TAPPER: Yes. And if you watching at home have the means at all, I've -- I've posted a link to Verify GoFunds -- FundMe page where there are ways to help verified vetted organizations that are helping people in California hit by these fires. Emily, thank you so much for talking to us.

PROCTER: Someone should start GoFriendMe, Someone should start GoFriendMe, which is positive messaging board so that people can go in there and see. You can do it.

TAPPER: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:52:05]

TAPPER: In our Politics Lead, just moments ago, President-elect Trump was on Capitol Hill paying his respects to former President Jimmy Carter, who is laying in state in the rotunda. Trump will then meet with Senate Republicans.

We do want to turn now to our breaking news in the National Lead, the wildfires currently raging throughout the Los Angeles area. The city of Santa Monica has just posted a new evacuation order for the northern part of Santa Monica, warning people to leave now. Let's bring meteorologist Chad Myers. Chad, tell us what's going on with the forecast.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: There are still more fire starts going on right now. Most of them are very small. They start out at five, 10, 20 acres. But with the wind, they can grow very, very quickly. And look at what's happened now to the power customers without power, 1.5 million. So right up on top of the trails, on top of the mountains, yes, we had those wind gusts. They were 100 miles per hour.

The gusts came from the desert. The desert got cold last night. And when a hot air balloon goes up, it's because it's hot. When the desert gets cold, the air sinks. When the air sinks, it hits the ground. It can't go any farther. Has to go somewhere. And it goes out through the canyons. And this is why the wind picks up in Southern California at night. Doesn't do it anyplace else.

Middle of Nebraska, the sun sets and the wind stops, but not here in Southern California. So now we're up to well over 25,000 acres that are already burning. And that's why it's so spread out. Winds are calming down, and they will continue to do that. But still, at 20 to 30 miles per hour, that's still making sparks fly.

You really want to be down below five or 10 miles per hour. But the good news is, at least now I just saw the very large tanker, the VLT, that was in the air dropping big amounts of Phos-Chek. It's that red stuff. It's fertilizer, water and red dye. And the red dye, so that they know where they've been and don't put more on top of where they've already done it. But the idea here is that now they have a fighting chance.

Now there are air assets out there putting water in places that firefighters can't get, putting water behind homes, on cliffs that they can't get their hoses to. That's helping out tremendously. Yes, the wind does die off here for the rest of the night. That's good news. But it could pick up tomorrow just a little bit. And for San Diego, I want you to pay attention to this. Not a big headline here, but the winds just to your east on Friday morning could gust to around 80 miles per hour. That's enough if there's a spark to make bad consequences. Right now, there are no sparks. That's the good news.

[17:54:42]

TAPPER: All right, Meteorologist Chad Myers, thanks so much. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: And we are monitoring the breaking news on Capitol Hill. President-elect Trump is there. Moments ago he paid his respects to the late former President Jimmy Carter. Mr. Trump will attend Carter's official state funeral tomorrow. I will be there to help lead the coverage tomorrow morning right here on CNN starting at around 9:00 a.m. Eastern.

In just a few minutes on Capitol Hill, President-elect Trump is set to meet with Republican Senate leaders. He's now 12 days out from taking office, and we're going to be keeping close watch on his meetings throughout the night.

One quick correction on -- I said Monday on January 6th that four years ago, Senator Ted Cruz was pushing to overturn the results of the 2020 election by having Vice President Pence reject the electoral votes. In point of fact, Cruz's scheme was actually different. He wanted to have the Senate and the House reject the electoral votes from those key battleground states of Biden won despite the Justice Department and governors and election officials, Democrats and Republicans, finding no significant evidence of voter fraud. And then he wanted to establish a commission of some sort to undo the results of the election. So same goal, different path, not involving Vice President Pence.

[18:00:06]

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The news continues on CNN with Wolf Blitzer in The Situation Room.