Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

False Claims Intensify as California Battles Deadly Wildfires; Melania Trump Speaks on Upcoming Documentary About Her Life; L.A. Community Rallies to Help Victims of Deadly Wildfires. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired January 13, 2025 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: ... and that all of their electrical equipment in Eaton Canyon was working fine and is not the cause of the fire. But again, there's reportedly an electrical transmission tower that is cordoned off right now as the possible source of this fire. There are many people who are waiting to come back in, but officials are saying the worst is not over yet.

You can see the winds are picking up just a little bit here. There's another wind event that ends on Wednesday, and authorities are saying people from Ventura all the way to San Diego, essentially all of Southern California, need to be prepared to evacuate -- Omar.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: And of course, keeping an eye on those conditions is critical for those firefighting efforts. Veronica Miracle in Altadena, California, thank you so much -- Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Amid all of the death and devastation in California, the blame game is intensifying. Claims promoted by President-elect Trump on his Truth Social platform include this repost on the wildfires saying, quote: It's not climate change, it's Democrats. Trump directly blames California Governor Gavin Newsom, who he called new scum, in a separate post.

And Elon Musk also weighing in. He's blaming diversity, equity and inclusion policies for the fires. Posting on his social media platform X, DEI means people, D-I-E.

And conspiracy theorists are baselessly claiming that the fires were deliberately set by the government, which has been controlling the weather, they're saying, and directing strong winds to spread the fires. No basis, in fact, there, in case you were wondering.

Joining us now is Porter Fox, author of "Category 5 Superstorms and the Warming Oceans That Feed Them."

Porter, you know, sometimes we debate, should we say what conspiracy theorists are saying? But I think that once it becomes, in a way, kind of a conflagration in itself, we have to let people know what a lot of folks are saying online.

We have to be clear, though, with these fires, there is a uniqueness to the conditions that Southern California has been facing. There's also the effects of climate change. Can you just set the record straight here about why these fires are so bad?

PORTER FOX, AUTHOR, "CATEGORY FIVE": I mean, it's just math. It's just science. Anyone that doesn't believe in that is essentially saying two plus two doesn't equal four. And I don't really have time for that. Like, there is real, actual change happening on our planet right now.

The NOAA and Copernicus reports came out yesterday. We just breached the 1.5 C threshold for the first time ever. That was the safety threshold we were not supposed to pass. And what you're seeing in California is 30 trillion gallons of waterfall in these atmospheric rivers.

This vegetation dries out in a drought. We have 100 mile per hour Santa Ana winds and all of this out of season. And that is just a fact that is undeniable. And that is what has created this massive fire in this terrible catastrophe in Los Angeles.

KEILAR: Yes, I mean, we cover those atmospheric rivers. Like you said, then there's vegetation and then that vegetation becomes kindling. But this has become such a political hot potato. And you have those in Trump's sphere saying it's actually about forest mismanagement, that that kindling should have been better dealt with. It's about water policy. What's the truth, though? Because we need to know what can be done to try to prevent this from happening again.

FOX: Well, absolutely. And there's -- we're not dealing with a forest here. We're dealing with a wildfire here.

And you look at the statistics on wildfires that are spiking out of control right now. A huge element is we've lost a million square miles of snowpack in the northern hemisphere that used to water these fields and these grasses all through the spring and summer, keeping the ground moist and the vegetation alive. That snow is gone.

The Sierra Nevada is going to lose 65 percent more snow in the next 50 years, likely. So you're looking at even drier and drier conditions, warmer and warmer conditions. And this is just in Los Angeles.

You look at Miami with the hurricanes and the sea level rise. You look at New York City with the hurricanes and sea level rise. More tornadoes last year than ever before in the Midwest.

You're looking at the wind speeds of Hurricanes Helene that were so devastating and Hurricane Milton. I mean, the writing is on the wall. There are certain parties that want to ignore this for essentially profit reasons.

But science and math is explaining this very well. And an amazing statistic I uncovered while writing Category 5 is that, you know, the parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere correlate almost directly with the extreme weather. When that PPM goes up, your wind speed goes up, your rainfall goes up, devastation goes up.

When it goes back down, it goes down in lockstep within a year or so. [15:35:00]

So you bring that down to 350, where it was in, say, 1986, you're going to see fewer massive hurricanes, lower wind speeds, slower Santa Ana winds. It's a very simple equation. It's simply math. And we really need to wake up and start following it.

KEILAR: Yes. So interesting as you talk about what you learned as you reported out your book. Porter Fox, thank you so much. Really appreciate you kind of straightening out some of those narratives out there. Thank you. And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:40:03]

KEILAR: Welcome back to CNN NEWS CENTRAL. Now to some of the other headlines that we're keeping a close eye on this hour.

A 6.9 magnitude earthquake rattled southwest Japan today. CCTV footage shows people crouching in a parking lot while a car stops in the middle of the street when the shaking started. Japan's Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami advisory after the quake struck near the island of Kyushu. That advisory was just lifted a short time ago.

Also, two environmental activists in the U.K. are under arrest for damaging Charles Darwin's grave in Westminster Abbey. In a statement, their group Just Stop Oil said the two activists marked the famed naturalist grave in washable paint with the words 1.5 is dead.

That number represents a pledge outlined in the Paris Climate Accords to restrict global warming to within 1.5 degrees above average pre- industrial temperatures. The activist saying, quote: Darwin would be turning in his grave to know we are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction.

And new research suggesting the risk of developing dementia is expected to double by the year 2060. The study published today in the journal Nature Medicine says overall more than two in five people over the age of 55 in the U.S., about 42 percent, will develop dementia in their later years. It attributes much of this trend to the large number of baby boomers reaching old age, and the researchers found striking differences in dementia risk by race, with significantly higher numbers among black adults compared to whites getting diagnosed, a number that could triple by the year 2060 -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: Well, just a week from her return to the White House, former first lady Melania Trump is opening up about a new documentary profiling her life. CNN's Betsy Klein has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE PRODUCER: Well, Brianna and Omar, Melania Trump is already previewing a more public posture on her own terms as she prepares to return to the White House. She joined Fox and Friends for a friendly interview airing earlier today where she previewed her plans for a second term and her documentary coming later this year to Amazon Prime streaming and theaters.

Now, as we reported last week, this documentary underscores a real recognition from Amazon in the aftermath of this election that there is widespread interest in the Trumps across the country, and that could prove lucrative.

And we are seeing Melania Trump, who was so notoriously guarded and private during her first term, lean into the public's curiosity about her life. Now, she is an executive producer of this project. That means she has full editorial control.

Take a look.

MELANIA TRUMP, FORMER FIRST LADY: My fans and people would love to hear more from me. So I had an idea to make a movie, to make a film about my life. We started the production in November, and we are shooting right now.

So it's a day-to-day life, what I'm doing, what kind of responsibilities I have. People, they don't really know, and they will see it.

KLEIN: Melania Trump said that the documentary will highlight how she's preparing to move back into the White House, really an enormous undertaking that happens every time there's a new administration where staff comes together to transform the residence for the incoming first family in just five short hours.

She also appeared to confirm CNN's reporting that she will not be living in the White House full-time as first lady, telling Fox News that she will split her time between Washington, Palm Beach, and New York, of course, where her son Barron is in school. And Trump said she plans to continue and expand her Be Best platform, previewing her plans to focus on protecting children from social media from a mental health perspective.

Of course, that was a very broad and open-ended platform that was seemingly at times at odds with her husband's own behavior on social media. So certainly a lot of questions about how she plans to use this role of first lady we'll be watching quite closely in the coming days and weeks ahead -- Omar and Brianna.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: Betsy Kline, thank you so much.

Coming up, while firefighters race to gain ground as massive wildfires tear through Los Angeles County, local food banks are rushing to help those displaced by the fires. That's next.

[15:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIMENEZ: Welcome back. The greater Los Angeles community is coming together to help the thousands of Angelenos devastated by the Southern California wildfires. Some donation centers reported being quickly overwhelmed by the level of support. Companies, community groups, and individual residents are answering the call, donating and distributing goods and services, money, and food. Local officials say they want those in need to know help is available.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF ROBERT LUNA, LOS ANGELES COUNTY: There are some amazing stories of community members coming forward to donate items. It's very inspiring.

MAYOR KAREN BASS, (D) LOS ANGELES: We also want to begin to help people put their lives back together and to prepare to rebuild our city. I also want to again remind Angelenos that LACity.gov is now a one-stop shop for assistance for those who are impacted and a place to help Angelenos find a way to get involved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: I want to bring in Michael Flood. He is the CEO of the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, which is working with government agencies, nonprofit, and faith-based partners and others to respond to the fires throughout L.A. County. Thanks for being here.

[15:50:0]

I guess for starters, how is the food bank responding to this crisis? What are you all seeing as the biggest need so far?

MICHAEL FLOOD, CEO, LOS ANGELES REGIONAL FOOD BANK: Water, food, ready-to-eat food items, non-food essential items are critical. You know, we have people who are evacuated and going to evacuation centers and being served, I think as well as possible, especially by the Red Cross and other partners.

We have a lot of people who have been evacuated from homes and are dealing with power outages that need help and need assistance. So that's where this network of nonprofit organizations comes into play to provide that help and provide that assistance. The food bank focuses on the food, water, and non-food items.

We have other partners that are key as part of our ENLA network that are critical also in providing help and assistance to families and individuals struggling with what's going on here.

JIMENEZ: And look, fair to say there's a big need for what you do during more normal times in the L.A. area. But can you quantify sort of the increased need you've seen since these fires have broken out? Did you all need to scale up operations on your end? Just take me into the last week.

FLOOD: Yes, we've had to. I'm at one of our two distribution centers here in the city of industry. Our other distribution center is in L.A. Every day has been a very busy day with incoming, as you mentioned or the piece mentioned earlier, the public has responded really well, neighbors helping neighbors. Also, we've seen corporate communities step up, government step up.

So the point of the food bank side is we have the scale to bring in large-scale donations and then get that out to agencies and where it's needed. We had a large mobile distribution in East L.A. in conjunction with the county of Los Angeles on Saturday. So we have seen absolutely large amount of food, water, and other donations come in.

The demand has increased markedly too. You know, we're kind of at day seven, right, of this response, and the fires are still going on. So, you know, poundage has increased by, I'd say, 30 percent in the last week as far as volume, and as you mentioned, our volume is very high in just kind of regular times. So that's what we're seeing here, and we expect that to build in the coming days and weeks.

JIMENEZ: And, you know, we heard from the FEMA administrator, Deanne Criswell, today, who told CNN she expects just the debris removal process to take six months. But I guess even as we are in these fires right now, you know, with threats of winds that could make some of these firefighting efforts a little bit more difficult. I mean, when you look ahead, I mean, we are talking about a long-term recovery process, not just debris removal, but also in regards to your work, food insecurity, but a lot of aspects of insecurity for people here.

I wonder how you all are sort of looking at what the long-term recovery process is going to look like throughout the L.A. area and just how you're approaching it on that end.

FLOOD: Well, it feels like another version of the pandemic to us, where demand has spiked up overnight, as it did when the pandemic hit in 2020, but for different circumstances in dealing with the fires. So that's what it feels like. And, you know, we're responding in that regard as far as bringing in more resources, food, water, other grocery, non-food item resources.

The volunteer response has been huge, but we also have agency partners who've lost volunteers because they've lost their homes. You know, the number of homes and structures and businesses that have been lost here is massive, and the impact of that is significant. So, yes, we see this as not just the short-term, immediate term over the next number of days and weeks. It's going to be months and months.

JIMENEZ: Yes, and we got to go, Michael, but really quickly, for those who want to donate, how can they help?

FLOOD: Go to lafoodbank.org, go to enla.org, check out. There are a lot of great community-based organizations helping here in L.A. and coming together to respond.

JIMENEZ: Michael Flood, really appreciate you being here. Best of luck in the work that you're doing.

FLOOD: Thank you.

JIMENEZ: All right, when we come back, support for Los Angeles. From the Australian Open, tennis superstar and L.A. resident Naomi Osaka, among those sending a message to victims and firefighters. We'll tell you what she said about how close the flames got to her home, next.

[15:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: There are several tennis players at the Australian Open who are showing their support for Los Angeles as wildfires are continuing to cause widespread devastation there. A number of them writing messages on a TV camera, including U.S. star Coco Gauff. She wrote, Stay strong, L.A. Thank you, firefighters, after her win against Sophia Kennen in the first round. Here's what Naomi Osaka revealed in her on-court interview after her win.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NAOMI OSAKA, PROFESSIONAL TENNIS PLAYER: I was watching the fire map and the fire is like three blocks from my house. So I had someone go and get my daughter's birth certificate and all that because I didn't know what would happen if that burned down. But I guess sending all my love to L.A. and I know we hear about fires but for me in particular, I didn't know how devastating it could be.

And, yes, I just hope everyone's doing well and I'm sending them all my love.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: I'm always amazed after competing to have the presence to speak on something so eloquently like that.

[16:00:00]

Also, the NBA's, Los Angeles Lakers are also trying to help with the recovery. The team plans to host a donation drive at their upcoming game starting tonight and they're also using their practice facility as a drive-through donation center beginning tomorrow.

Lakers coach JJ Redick lost his own home in the Palisades fire.

KEILAR: Yes, I think it's so wonderful they're using their platforms to remind people and get them some help.

And "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.

END