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More Than 60 Million Under Alert As Major Storm Brings Ice And Snow; FBI Reveals More Details On New Orleans New Year's Day Attack; D.C. On High Alert Ahead Of January 6th Anniversary Tomorrow; Republican Leaders Plan To Pass Trump Agenda In One Big Bill; Kentucky Officials Warn Against Travel With Icy Road Conditions; Trump Faces A Very Different World When He Returns to Office; New York To Implement First-Of-Its-Kind Toll; A-List Celebrities To Attend Tonight's 82nd Golden Globe Awards. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired January 05, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:01:30]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean in New York.

And breaking news as we begin this hour, more than 60 million Americans are tonight under winter weather alerts from the Midwest to the mid-Atlantic. A major storm has already begun hitting several states. Blizzard warnings are in effect for parts of Missouri and Kansas.

We're also seeing a dangerous combination of snow, ice, and freezing rain hitting those states, as well as parts of Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky. And as the evening progresses, that system will then keep heading east. Thousands of flights nationwide have already been delayed or canceled on account of this major storm.

Meteorologist Elisa Raffa is tracking it all from the CNN Weather Center.

So, Elisa, walk us through what's happening right now and then what's to come?

ELISA RAFFA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, I mean, it's been a really busy day. We've got a mix of everything going on right now. We're talking heavy snow, heavy ice. And look at the line of lightning, of all of the thunderstorms that we've had stretching from Nashville all the way down to Houston. So, again, going to show a potent storm that's really getting fed by a lot of warm and moist air.

That's been triggering this ice that is of great concern as well. When you have that warmer air, it's able to melt some of that snow in the middle of the air and get it to freeze on contact. So that's where you get some of that freezing rain and that sleet. Get some thunder sleet in there as well. Again, signs of this potent storm from Paducah to London and Kentucky. Heavy snow from Cincinnati wrapping around still in Kansas City and St. Louis.

We have had snow totals over a foot over parts of Kansas, Manhattan, Kansas, 14 inches, 18 inches in North Chapman, Kansas. And we've had some of these ice totals over a half an inch. Doesn't seem like a lot, but that half an inch of ice will really weigh down power lines and cause some problems with power outages. So again, some of these totals here for the ice are pretty hefty.

We are already seeing more than 150,000 customers without power, some of them from the severe storms in Texas and then some of them in the Midwest. From the heavy snow, that ice that I was just talking about, and some of the gusty winds that are coming with this as well. The winter alerts stretch more than 1300 miles. We've got blizzard warnings in effect for parts of Kansas City. The winter storm warnings stretch all the way to the D.C. area, where they could see totals over eight inches.

And then we still have the icing concerns again. Parts of Missouri, Illinois and Kansas. We still have a tornado watch that's in effect as well through the evening because of this really intense line of storms, thunderstorms organizing into a line. We'll bring you some damaging winds, and we have already seen video, actually, of a tornado on the ground in parts of Arkansas. We've had some tornado warnings along this line through the day as well.

So bringing you a mix of everything, the winter threat and the severe threat as we go through the rest of the evening here. This continues to push east. We'll find some of that snow arriving in the D.C. area pretty much in time for the morning commute. We'll have some of that snow. Could be some of the more significant snow that the D.C. area has seen in recent years. You find the showers and storms draping down to the Gulf Coast, a loud start, probably in Atlanta in the morning, and then the rest of the snow wraps around behind that storm going into the afternoon on Monday.

So we could still tack on another six to 12 inches of snow here for parts of the Appalachian Mountains. You could still get some additional snow even for St. Louis as well. Ice still a concern as we go into the overnight around Kentucky, we could find additional freezing rain, which again is a problem for the power lines. That's a great concern going into the night. And as we go through the rest of the week, we have frigid air coming in behind this storm.

[18:05:03]

So if we have a lot of people without power, that means no access to heat. So it could really be a concern because these temperatures look bitter cold. We're talking overnights in the single digits -- Jessica.

DEAN: Oh, man. All right. Elisa Raffa, thank you very much for that.

New developments tonight in the terror attack in New Orleans as officials release a timeline detailing events leading up to that deadly attack and shed some light on the extensive planning that was involved.

In a press briefing, the FBI revealed the attacker made two visits to New Orleans in recent months using Meta glasses to record Bourbon Street to map out that attack in advance. Rafael Romo is joining us now from New Orleans with more.

Tell us more about these details we're learning today -- Rafael.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jessica. A few days after the terrorist attack, a crucial question surfaced. How long in advance was the attacker preparing to attack those people here in New Orleans? And based on information that we got earlier from the FBI, it seems that it was probably weeks, if not months. And let me tell you why. We know, for example, that Shamsud-Din Jabbar visited New Orleans at least twice in the months prior to the attack, once in October and then again in November.

The other crucial piece of information that was revealed by the FBI today was that Jabbar also traveled internationally. He went to Cairo, Egypt in the summer of 2023, and then a few days later to Ontario, Canada. Earlier, I had an opportunity to ask the special agent in charge of the FBI here in New Orleans whether they know at this point if there was any connection, whether Jabbar had any connection with a terrorist organization that might have financed his trips, and this is what he had to say about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LYONEL MYRTHIL, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, FBI NEW ORLEANS FIELD: At this time, we're still trying to determine the answers to that. That is exactly what our priority is for those international trips. Essentially we're looking at who has he encountered during those trips? Who is he meeting with? Where has he traveled while in those specific countries and whether or not any visits to those countries may or may not have any indication as to the reasons behind this attack in our city?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: And Jessica, we are back live here at Canal and Bourbon Streets, where just a few moments ago, a church from Oklahoma brought all these 14 crosses that you see here behind me. Of course, honoring the memory of the people who died here.

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry earlier identified the last victim that whose name had not been disclosed so far. Her name is Latasha Polk. She was 47 years old, and she was a certified nursing assistant and a mother of a 14-year-old. But a lot of people very sad here and still paying their respects.

Now back to you.

DEAN: Just a devastating story. Rafael Romo, thank you so much.

That terrorist attack in New Orleans, as well as the cybertruck blast in Las Vegas last week, only add to security concerns when it comes to the anniversary of January 6th tomorrow. And just to discuss all of these threats, CNN senior national security analyst Juliette Kayyem is joining us now. Juliette, it's nice to see you here. It just seems like right now we

are in high alert. And we always, I feel like in this day and age, are on edge a little bit, but with these sorts of events leading up to two big days, January 6th, of course, the inauguration, the Super Bowl is going to be back in New Orleans, it's a very -- people are a little bit on edge.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes. And these are high profile events that want the public to come and to engage. And so there's all sorts of things that the public can do to keep itself aware. See something, say something actually works. But also things like being aware of your surroundings and, you know, not being on your phone all the time. Issues like that. But from the public safety perspective, it's going to be a pretty intense couple weeks.

You have January 6th tomorrow. It's probably not going to be a big deal. Donald Trump won the election. It's also snowing in D.C., which tends to benefit -- people tend not to like to go out in the snow. January 19th, Donald Trump has said he's going to have a rally before January 20th. That rally on the 19th is just an additional burden on public safety, and one that is not sort of normally part of inaugural weekend.

And then you have these high profile events in New Orleans alone. You have the Super Bowl. But the mayor mentioned also Mardi Gras. And so there's just going to be what, you know, just essentially a surge of resources and people both at the Capitol, we know the Capitol police have increased their numbers. National Guard, a little bit of -- you know, basically D.C. is a little bit of lockdown this month. And that will probably be true for some of these higher profile events throughout the country.

[18:10:07]

DEAN: Yes. And I know the inauguration tomorrow, there are these national security special events. They have the special designation. Will you help people understand what that means?

KAYYEM: Yes. So an NSSE is just sort of an organizational tool to allow the federal government to take the lead in securing an event because most leads are the local or local police department. So you would basically have the or you have the Secret Service as the lead. They then work with local, state and other federal partners to plan the event.

Some events are always NSSE. So that's the Super Bowl, inauguration, State of the Union. What's new this year is January 6th. President Biden designated January 6th as an NSSE. He did this before Donald Trump won. So it wasn't at all clear what January 6th would be like. But basically, to put. D.C. security and safety features to have sort of a lead federal agency to ensure not that just they're ready, but that they were doing preplanning for anything that could happen.

I think tomorrow is fine. I mean, I think there's not lots of rallies, there's not lots of protests. You always worry about a lone wolf. This is, you know, Donald Trump wanted a crowd to come and the crowd came and got into the Capitol and people were killed four years ago. That's not happening this year because he won. And there's going to be a smooth and peaceful transition of power as President Biden has promised.

You know, there will be a lot of people with narratives about this, but that's just basically why tomorrow is not a big deal. January 20th is always an NSSE, always focused on it's the variables of what January 19th, this rally, is going to look like. It's at a coliseum. Those tend to be easily secured, but people in D.C. will feel this. They will definitely, as well as the snow, they will feel a lot of differences in the way that they're living and moving around for the next couple of weeks.

DEAN: All right. We will see it. And we will see it all happen and hopefully it is all safe and everyone is safe.

Juliette Kayyem, thank you so much. Good to see you.

KAYYEM: Thank you.

DEAN: And when we come back, one and done, that's how the president- elect wants to get his major agenda items through Congress. The deadline he's giving House Speaker Mike Johnson to handle tax cuts, immigration and energy policy with one big bill. Plus, New York drivers now have to pay an extra toll if they want to access the busiest part of the city during peak hours. It starts today. We'll explain more when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:15:56]

DEAN: House Speaker Mike Johnson wasting no time trying to get President-elect Trump's agenda passed through Congress. The speaker says he has a plan to get it done within the first 100 days of Trump's presidency in one single bill. That's what he's hoping for.

CNN's Steve contorno is live in West Palm Beach, Florida, where the president-elect spent the day golfing.

Steve, that's a tall order, but the speaker says he's going to be doing what Trump wants here. What more do we know?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jessica, Johnson is talking about using a budgetary trick called reconciliation, which doesn't require 60 votes in the Senate, but just a simple majority. However, it also has a lot of challenges that go along with it. There are some rules that have to be met in the Senate. It can be a very long and arduous process, but we have seen presidents in years past utilize it to sort of push their agenda through Congress when it is stalemated.

And that is what the speaker is hoping he can do with many of Trump's top priorities, including border security package, extending the debt limit ceiling, but also extending the Bush -- excuse me, the Trump-era tax cuts and some of the tax cuts that he promised during the campaign as well, like no taxes on tips or overtime. However, there clearly is also some disconnect between what Johnson is proposing and what the incoming Senate majority leader, John Thune, believes can get accomplished. Take a listen to what these both had to say this weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): I think at the end of the day, President Trump is going to prefer, as he likes to say, one big, beautiful bill. And there's a lot of merit to that because we can put it all together. One big up or down vote which can save the country quite literally, because there are so many elements to it, and it will give us a little bit more time to negotiate that and get it right.

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): We have the same set of objectives. We want to get to the same destination, but I think at times there will be differences in how we get there, and understanding the unique aspects of how the Senate operates is something that I'm going to have to be able to share and convey to the president and help him understand I think what the, you know, what the contours are of what we can accomplish here in the Senate and what's realistic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: Thune at one point also said that he believes that they could actually potentially get some sort of border security and immigration package passed with some Democratic votes and without having to use the reconciliation process. But Senator Lindsey Graham, in a separate interview, said that he doesn't think there will be any Democratic votes in support of an immigration package.

So clearly, as Republicans navigate this very narrow majority in both the House and the Senate, there's a lot of work to do to figure out just how they can get Trump's accomplished agenda accomplished -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Steve Contorno, thanks so much for that reporting.

And joining us now, CNN senior political analyst and senior editor at "The Atlantic," Ron Brownstein.

Ron, good to see you. I -- look, I was just struck by listening to Mike Johnson there and John Thune. Mike Johnson sounding very rosy, very optimistic, and John Thune in his own way, just trying to kind of thread the needle a little bit more, saying, you know, the Senate is very unique. I'm going to have to explain the contours of exactly what we can do. This is going to be interesting to see them try to get this done.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, look, they're dealing with narrow majorities. The narrowest House majority in nearly 100 years and a very ambitious agenda. The advantage, you know, the tactical question of whether you do the Trump agenda as one reconciliation bill as they're known, or two, seems to me in the end is not going to shape the debate all that much because you come back to the same questions. I mean, Republicans in the House are hoping that if you do one big

bill that will make it harder for individual members who might oppose specific provisions within it to vote no. There are Republicans from the northeast who want to restore the tax break for state and local taxes. There are Republicans whose districts are benefiting enormously from the clean energy investments spurred by the Inflation Reduction Act who might recoil at repealing those incentives?

[18:20:02]

And the idea would be, if you put it all together, they are going to have to bite hard and vote for it. I think the challenge for Republicans however they structure this is that you can see this in the debate over Johnson's ascension to speaker. You could see it in the debate last December over funding the government and the debt ceiling is that the right flank of their caucus is going to demand big budget cuts to go along with extending the Trump tax cuts.

And that puts them in a position that they have struggled with before, where they are basically arguing for tax cuts that mostly benefit the top at the expense of government programs like Medicaid and food stamps and et cetera, that benefit the working and middle class. So either way, one bill or two, I think that's the terminus of this train.

DEAN: Absolutely. And when it comes to the leadership that's going to be guiding both, respectively, the House, the House Republicans, and then the Senate Republicans, what are kind of the differences people should know about? These are two different chambers and two different styles of leadership.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. And look, the House historically has been more majoritarian, right. The majority rules. In the Senate you need 60 votes to do pretty much everything that is not -- except for confirming appointees and justices, judges, that is not part of this reconciliation. So senators are kind of used to a more accommodating style. That's what they, you know, are sort of marinated in through their career.

Thune certainly comes out of that tradition himself. You know, Johnson was someone who was basically elevated from the right end of his caucus, and you can lose sight of the fact that Johnson, his you know, his experience is coming out of the much further to the right than the several of the previous speakers, McCarthy and Ryan. Johnson was a leader in the effort to overturn the 2020 election in the House.

So he is someone who I think is going to be deferential to the right and what we have seen, I think as I mentioned, both in the vote to make him speaker and in the difficulty they had last year in getting the votes to keep the government open is that the principal pressure on him is going to be from the right and over a very specific issue, demanding bigger cuts in spending to accompany -- to be part of this reconciliation.

And Jessica, it's easy to forget, but that in Trump's first term, his lowest point in public opinion, his weakest job approval apart from January 6th was when they tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act in 2017. And the train that I talked about is taking congressional Republicans and Trump toward more fights of that nature in the coming months.

DEAN: Yes, that is going to be really interesting to see. And I do also want to ask you just about the immediate future, which is tomorrow when Congress will make these election results official.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

DEAN: Vice President Harris will preside over the certification of her own election loss, which, we just had Jamal Simmons on, who said he'd spoken to some people close to her and that she was -- she believes in this moment. She thinks this is really important to do because it's part of democracy. And I don't think it's lost on really any American that four years ago that was a very, very, very different scene.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, absolutely. And look, Republicans are setting a precedent here that I think is going to be very interesting to see how it plays out. In the past, you know, you had not only Donald Trump in 2020, but 139 House Republicans and eight Senate Republicans voted to reject the election results in the state. The key states that Biden won and, in effect, overturn the election.

Now, with Trump winning, they're all saying it was fine and there was no fraud. Well, is that the new benchmark? Because if Republicans lose in 2028 or 2032 and our two-party system, the wheel always turns, are those Republicans going to revert and suddenly say, now that we've lost, there was rampant fraud after there was no problem when we won? It's also, I think, an important anniversary in terms of Trump's pledge to pardon, you know, a significant number of the January 6th rioters.

One thing we know is that I think Trump won because there were a substantial slice of voters who held other reservations about him, but voted for him anyway because they thought he would be better on the two issues they cared most about, inflation and to some extent, immigration. But pardoning the January 6th rioters was one of those other Trump agenda items that they kind of sublimated as they were making their decision, because it's a pretty popular idea.

And I think this will be an interesting test as we go forward as Trump advances some of the ideas that voters kind of put in the lower shelf, but which face public resistance, can he sustain the broad support and the expansion of his support that he demonstrated in the November election?

DEAN: Yes, it's a great question. And we will see.

Ron Brownstein, thanks so much. Good to see you.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me. Happy New Year.

DEAN: You too.

Ahead, as President-elect Trump prepares to take office, he's stepping back onto a world stage that has changed dramatically since his last time in the Oval Office.

[18:25:06]

The biggest foreign policy challenges that will be waiting for him on day one. And from D.C. to Kansas, 60 million Americans are getting slammed with snow, ice and blizzard conditions as a winter storm covers a large patch of the country in winter alerts.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: Breaking news tonight, a massive storm moving east toward the nation's capital, bringing a dangerous mix of snow and ice with more than 60 million people under winter weather alerts right now. One of the states already feeling the impact is Kentucky. Last hour I spoke with the governor, Andy Beshear, about its response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D), KENTUCKY: It's going to be a lot of work. We're going to go all the way through, really tomorrow night in this response. And we've got to do as much as we can, especially when we have a break tomorrow, because it's going to get dangerously cold on Wednesday and on Thursday.

Remember sliding off the road and damaging your car isn't worth it. It's most important to get home to your family even if it takes just a little bit longer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Joining us now is WDRB anchor and reporter Joel Schipper in Louisville.

Joel, thanks so much for being here with us. Tell us what conditions look like and how people are adapting.

JOEL SCHIPPER, WDRB ANCHOR AND REPORTER: Yes. Not great. I don't want to underplay it, but it is not great right now. We have had snow for about the last nine hours here in the greater Louisville area and Southern Indiana. You can probably hear it on the microphone coming off my hood. We are now in the freezing rain stage. We have had snow, like I mentioned, probably around 8:00 this morning. This, about seven and a half inches we've had here in the area.

[18:30:01]

But now we have a nice candy coating basically is what you could say regarding the snow here. Obviously treacherous, treacherous driving conditions. As you heard Governor Beshear saying, stay off the roads. Of course, the mayor here in Louisville saying, if you do not need to drive, do not drive. Emergency management crews and only necessary workers on the roads.

For tonight, because the worst of it is right now, as I mentioned, seven and half inches of snow, now we are looking at, at least a half inch of ice that could go on top of the snow like I just showed you. That's going to be a problem for power lines and also tree limbs.

DEAN: Yes. And in terms of the power lines, the roads, what kind of are the major problems you're seeing right now?

SCHIPPER: The major problems are just that. First this morning it was coming down at two inches an hour. And that's tough for the hundreds of plow crews. UPS world headquarters are here so we have a lot of crews here making sure the flights go out as well. That was very tough, almost to keep up, but fortunately the city was very proactive when it comes because we knew this was coming. But now the major thing is that we're going to have this ice over the snow and on the back end of this, we're expecting even more snow, one to two, possibly three inches tomorrow on top of that ice. So tomorrow is going to be another difficult day when it comes to travel.

DEAN: All right. Well, we're wishing you and your team well and everybody there in Kentucky. Thank you so much, Joel Schipper, we appreciate it.

We are following developments tonight in the Middle East. Reuters reporting Hamas has approved an Israeli list of 34 hostages to be exchanged as part of a ceasefire deal. However, that report citing a Hamas official saying the release is contingent on the removal of Israeli troops from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire. The Israeli government appears to be casting doubt on that report. Prime Minister Netanyahu's office saying they have not received a list of hostages from Hamas.

Joining us now is David Sanger, CNN political and national security analyst and national security correspondent for "The New York Times."

David, thanks so much for being here with us. This appears to be just another piece, another detail, another moment in what has been a very, very, very long story, trying to get these hostages back home. What is your reaction to this latest piece of news?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, Happy New Year, Jessica. Let's hope that this news is right for those families who have been without their loved ones for more than a year now. And most of these were taken in the October 7th, 2023 attack. So it's 15 months. It's really a long and hard time.

I think there's reason to be a little skeptical of this. The numbers, 34, sound about right for an initial swap. Of course, you'll remember there were more than that released a number of months after the terror attack. But the other conditions, a permanent ceasefire, withdrawal of all Israeli troops from Gaza at a time that they're building a buffer zone inside what used to be considered Gaza, I suspect will get in the way of this.

I think one of the big questions is, is Hamas waiting until after President Trump is inaugurated, much as the Iranians waited until after Ronald Reagan took office from Jimmy Carter.

DEAN: Yes, it's hard not to think about that and compare the two, even though obviously they're different situations. But there are some parallels.

SANGER: There are. And it's very possible that we are, just because that was our historical experience, we're giving that more importance than Hamas is. The Hamas leadership right now is divided. Obviously, their leader, Sinwar, was killed by the Israelis last year. It's not clear who's making decisions or even whether decisions are fully being made. So it's very possible this is just an example of the group being frozen.

But it's going to be, you know, one of the first big issues, but hardly the only big issue that Donald Trump is facing when he comes to office. And, you know, almost every part of the world, you look around is more complicated, significantly more complicated. Russia, Iran, certainly China, than when he left.

DEAN: Yes, and he certainly is going to be taking office in just 15 days to a very different world than he left. You know, you think just about Russia and how now Putin is at war with the West, the things that were kind of starting to come into play when he was leaving office have solidified. There is an ongoing war in the Middle East. Syria is under new leadership. It is -- it's just a very different world.

SANGER: It is and more complicated. And I think the really interesting question is, how do you put a new team in place that gets up and running that fast on these?

[18:35:08]

I think, you know, the one that's going to come at him fastest probably is Iran, because they are so weakened now by the destruction of Hezbollah, their main proxy, by their inability to strike Israel significantly, that the Trump administration is going to be, I think, torn between whether to negotiate a new deal. And I think they've got a big opportunity to do that, or whether they're going to strike militarily.

And I think a lot of that depends on how the Iranians play it and how close they get to a bomb. They are quite close right now, but even in Russia, you know, I think the president has already discovered that he's not getting a 24-hour solution to this problem. I think the hard part for him is to maintain leverage.

Jessica, he's going to have to keep funding and arming the Ukrainians. If that falters, then President Putin is going to conclude, well, why negotiate if the Americans are already going to walk off the field?

DEAN: Yes. And you know, one of the things, one of his signatures that he likes to talk about is that, you know, people don't -- he can be unpredictable, that he likes to strike deals that he, you know, he's hard to read. And I wonder in your opinion how effective that could be in this -- again, in this different world than the one he left four years ago?

SANGER: Well, it is his big advantage that he is willing to do surprising negotiations. He negotiated with Kim Jong-un. Now it failed and North Korea has more nuclear weapons now than before he began that diplomacy, significantly more. But -- and maybe he learned some lessons from that. He went in a bit unprepared in that set of negotiations. And I think Kim in the end gave him nothing.

But Iran would be the really interesting example there because he has been so outspoken about his, um, desire to see a change in the Iranian regime. And if you believe the Justice Department, and I do, I think the Iranians were hiring hitmen to kill him, that he's probably taking pretty personally. So I think the really interesting question is, does he take this as an opportunity to negotiate a deal and maybe to say, look, you're going to lose access to your nuclear weapons capabilities or at least supplies one way or the other, you might as well negotiate that rather than lose it militarily?

DEAN: And then there's the China piece of all of this. Of course, the president-elect has threatened these massive new tariffs on imports from China. As we see, you know, the U.S. and the Chinese government really at odds and really competing against one another. How do you see that playing out?

SANGER: Well, the first big test for this, Jessica, is going to be what happens here in Washington because on the China issue, the president's own appointees seem to me, based on their history, to be quite divided. There is a sort of pro-business group that has always wanted to strike trade deals that will have a big appeal to President Trump. But we know that the Chinese knew how to play him in the first term by dangling trade deals that never came to full fruition along the way.

There's a very hawkish group he has appointed, including in the Defense Department, including his national security adviser, Mike Waltz, who want to get out, protect Taiwan, focus on that to the extent that they are interested in getting out of the business of supplying the Ukrainians so that they can focus on the Indo-Pacific. And then there are going to be those who just want to pull back and not deal with China.

That's the true America firsters. And I think the big question is going to be which faction here wins out? And sometimes you never know because with Donald Trump, he likes to keep the debate going and frequently makes no decision. My guess is that's what the Chinese would prefer at this point.

DEAN: Yes. All right. Well, we will see. David Sanger, thanks so much. Good to see you and Happy New Year.

SANGER: Happy New Year to you.

DEAN: Thanks.

Still to come, we're going to take you here to New York City, where new congestion pricing is in place after years of delays and challenges. The city's reasons for charging drivers to cross into the heart of Manhattan during the busiest times of the day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:43:20]

DEAN: It's no secret things are expensive in New York City. But now simply driving into town will cost people more money. Starting today, drivers crossing into midtown or downtown Manhattan during peak hours will have to pay a $9 congestion pricing toll. It is the first time a U.S. city has implemented such a fee. That money is intended to reduce traffic gridlock in the city and also help repair New York's decaying transportation system.

Gloria Pazmino is following this story for us.

Gloria, look, there has been a lot of back and forth about this, and now it has finally come to be.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jessica, you know, like much that goes on here in New York City, people are divided on this issue. In fact, congestion pricing has been in the making for more than a decade. But it's faced a lot of political opposition and other obstacles. And the suburbs of New York City are still very much opposed to this program.

New Jersey tried to sue at the last minute in order to prevent the program from going into effect, but that lawsuit failed. So early this morning, right at the stroke of midnight, congestion pricing was officially in effect. We got a look at some of the new signage that is going to be around the city, alerting drivers about this new tolling structure, and it's supposed to do exactly what it sounds like, right?

Congestion pricing. It is designed to alleviate congestion here in New York City. It is also supposed to raise millions of dollars for the public transit system, and it's supposed to encourage people to get out of their cars and into the public transportation system.

[18:45:01]

In the long run, it's supposed to improve the environment and significantly decrease gridlock here in midtown Manhattan, one of the most congested zones in the entire world.

Now, Jessica, New York City was far behind the line in terms of this type of program. Other places like London, Milan, Stockholm have all implemented similar measures to alleviate traffic. So today we heard from the MTA board chairman who is administering this program. The MTA is the agency in charge, talking about what it means to finally be able to get this done here in New York City.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANNO LIEBER, CHAIR AND CEO, MTA: But for New York, what I think is especially important is that it shows we can do big things. You know, sometimes it feels like New York is, you know, that cities in general and the government process is paralyzed and can't take action, whether it's climate change or other big issues. We are taking action to protect our city economically, socially, environmentally. (END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: Now, how much is it going to cost you, Jessica? Well, you mentioned it. It's going to be $9 for passenger vehicles if you are driving into Manhattan during peak hours south of Central Park, essentially at 60th Street, which is where I am now. This is the end of the tolling zone. If you're going north, there will be no toll, but if you're coming south, you will be tolled. You will be tolled once a day. So it's not like every time you drive past it you get tolled. And it varies if you drive a truck or a commercial vehicle or a motorcycle, for example.

Now, Jessica, if you take a cab, for example, like I did in order to get here today, that cost is also going to be passed down to the passenger. I paid an additional $1.75 as part of my cab fare in order to get here today. If you take a yellow cab, it's going to be $0.75. But again, the whole point of this is to encourage New Yorkers to ride more public transit, to raise the money that is needed to improve the system and expand it.

And in the long run, to have a much better quality of environment and the air here in New York City. But as you said at the beginning, it has not come without fierce opposition.

DEAN: Yes. All right. Gloria Pazmino in New York, thank you so much for that.

Still to come, a long list of A-list presenters and performers, all under one roof for the first big award show of the season. We're live from the Golden Globes Red Carpet in Beverly Hills. That's next.

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[18:51:47]

DEAN: Hollywood is rolling out the red carpet. The 82nd Golden Globes show happening tonight at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California. And that's where CNN entertainment correspondent Elizabeth Wagmeister is right now.

You were there, Elizabeth, on the red carpet, up close and personal with all the stars. You also got to talk to this year's host, Nikki Glaser, who's going to make history when she takes the stage. Tell us more.

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So Nikki Glaser makes history tonight as the first ever solo female host of the Golden Globes. As you see behind me, it is packed. I see Glen Powell to my right. I just spoke to the director of "Wicked," Jon Chu.

The carpet is really heating up, Jessica, but let's take a look at what we can expect for tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIKKI GLASER, GOLDEN GLOBES HOST: Let's get this party started. WAGMEISTER (voice-over): That party is one of Hollywood's biggest of

the year. And this year, the Golden Globes may just have the most A- list audience ever. From presenters like Dwayne Johnson, Elton John, and Sharon Stone, to film and TV nominees like Nicole Kidman, Selena Gomez, Demi Moore, Timothee Chalamet, and all things "Wicked."

The stars will pack the ballroom at the Beverly Hilton.

MATT BELLONI, FOUNDING PARTNER, PUCK: The audience for "Wicked" is very similar to the audience for award shows. It's heavily female, it's a little bit older. So I think having "Wicked" as a nominee is going to help lure an audience.

WAGMEISTER: The top nominated films this year include lower profile movies like "The Brutalist" and "Conclave," but the Globes have something else up their sleeve to please the audience.

BELLONI: They added a specific category for movies that are popular, that are popular. Cinematic Achievement in Box Office Movies. That's designed to get popular movies in the room, just like they did last year, where they gave the award to "Barbie" because they wanted all those people there, the audience likes them.

WAGMEISTER: And there's something else the audience loves about the Globes.

RICKY GERVAIS, COMEDIAN: It's the last time. Who cares?

WAGMEISTER: A reputation, thanks to Ricky Gervais, for skewering the stars that take themselves a little too seriously.

GERVAIS: "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" nearly three hours long. Leonardo DiCaprio attended the premiere, and by the end, his date was too old for him.

WAGMEISTER: This year, Nikki Glaser hosts.

GLASER: You have seven rings, well, eight now that Giselle gave hers back, but --

WAGMEISTER: Fresh off her scathing "Netflix Roast of Tom Brady."

Is this going to be a roast?

GLASER: I was hired because of the Tom Brady roast. I can't like not deliver on that a little bit. But I just would -- if any celebrities are seeing this, I promise you I am not out to ruin your night. You know, Tom Brady signed up for a roast. He knew what he was getting into. These people are just going -- they're nominated. You know, they're not even -- they're not signing up to be roasted at all.

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): While Glaser promises to keep it mostly classy, the show's producers admit they wouldn't mind a little edge.

RICKY KRISHNER, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS: Well, we hope she's right on the line and maybe goes a little over being appropriate for broadcast. But also I've never seen a host work this hard, and we've done a lot of award shows.

[18:55:01]

WAGMEISTER: And if her CNN interview was any indication --

GLASER: I'm going to be a little bit (EXPLETIVE DELETED) in some of the jokes, but there's no harm in that.

WAGMEISTER: Glaser just might not be able to help herself.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WAGMEISTER (on-camera): All right. Well, guess who I am with? I am with first-time Golden Globe nominee, Glen Powell. Not just Glen, but also his mom and dad.

GLEN POWELL, ACTOR: Hey, are you doing?

WAGMEISTER: Congratulations.

POWELL: Thank you, thank you.

WAGMEISTER: How does it feel to be a first-time nominee?

POWELL: It's really special. It's been really, really wonderful. I mean, it's pretty surreal that we all get to kind of go on this journey together. It's awesome.

WAGMEISTER: I was going to ask, I mean, you have the best dates, mom and dad, how proud are you of your son?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're really proud. This has been such a fun family adventure for years and years. And it's just, you know, it's all -- his dreams are coming true.

WAGMEISTER: What does it feel like to see Glen's dreams coming true here on the Golden Globes red carpet?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's unbelievable, really, when you think about it because for "Hitman," he was writer, producer, actor, and all of these gifts that he's had are finally coming to fruition. So we're really proud that he has that opportunity. So thanks.

WAGMEISTER: Since it's the Golden Globes, this is the party of award season. I have to tell you something maybe a little inappropriate. So I interviewed Nikki Glaser a few days ago and I said, who are you excited to see at the Globes, this entire room? And she said, well, Glen Powell is really hot. Was that your question?

POWELL: Wow.

WAGMEISTER: What do you have to say back? What do you have to say back to Nikki?

POWELL: I mean, Nikki, I feel the same way. What a -- you won the genetic lottery. You're funny as hell. This is -- I'm so excited about everything that Nikki is going to do tonight because she's come on to the scene. She deserves everything she's getting. She is really taking over the world and is truly one of the funniest people doing it right now. So I just got to see her and I was -- we follow each other on Instagram, but I don't know what that means. But like -- but it was like a really cool moment. It was a really cool moment. I'm a real big fan.

WAGMEISTER: And who else are you excited to see tonight?

POWELL: We get to be at a table with Adam Sandler and Jamie Foxx. Sick.

WAGMEISTER: That is a dream table.

POWELL: That's -- I mean, I know, we were just talking about we looked at the table list and we were like, no way. This is sick.

WAGMEISTER: That is incredible. This is the best Powell family night, by the way. You are the spitting image of your mom. You look so beautiful and have the best night.

POWELL: Thank you so much.

WAGMEISTER: Thank you so much. Nice to meet you both. Bye.

See, Jessica, you really never know who you are going to see on the red carpet. So, you know, I'm going to try to get some other A-listers for you. But there's about an hour left of the red carpet.

DEAN: That is going to be -- that's going to be hard to --

WAGMEISTER: What was that?

DEAN: Just for everyone watching, that was not planned. Elizabeth just got them at the spur of the moment so well done to her. And you're right, you never know who you're going to see.

WAGMEISTER: You never know who you're going to see. So we have about an hour left of the red carpet. Then we're going in the show. As you heard there, obviously, Nikki Glaser hosting. Viola Davis will be honored tonight. Ted Danson will be honored. It is going to be a star- studded night, and I'll report back tomorrow with the best moments.

DEAN: OK. Great stuff. Elizabeth Wagmeister from the red carpet, thanks so much. We're going to have more news when we come back.

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