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Los Angeles Declares State Of Emergency As Wildfires Spread; Mandatory Evacuation Expand As Los Angeles Fire Grows; Dangerous L.A. Fires Raging, Winds To Increase Overnight; Wind-fueled Wildfires Threatening Thousands of Homes in L.A.; Mandatory Evacuations Expand as Los Angeles Fire Grows; Trump Talks Land Grabs of Canada, Greenland, Panama Canal. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired January 08, 2025 - 02:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:34]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church. We are following breaking news out of Los Angeles where powerful winds are fueling fast moving and destructive wildfires that are threatening thousands of homes. Tens of thousands of residents have already been ordered to evacuate, and now evacuation orders have reached the seaside city of Santa Monica.

The situation is only expected to get worse in the hours ahead, as the winds are forecast to grow even stronger. Dozens of drivers abandoned their cars on Tuesday as some chose to flee the flames on foot. One resident described what she witnessed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've never seen anything. Fires weren't this close to the cars. People left their cars on the Palisades Drive burning up the hillside. The palm trees, everything's going and the wind and the firemen are great. But can we do so much?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Hundreds of firefighters are on the front lines battling the flames. The largest fire, nearly 3000 acres in size, is burning around the coastal neighborhood of Pacific Palisades, one of L.A.'s most affluent communities.

California's governor is urging residents to heed the evacuation orders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): By no stretch of the imagination are we out of the woods. You heard a chief say, 10:00 p.m. tonight to 5:00 a.m. tomorrow will be peak winds, and having just quite literally an hour or so ago gone up the canyon and saw firsthand the impact of these swirling winds and the embers and the number of structures that are destroyed, not a few, many structures already destroyed.

And the fact that people were still not evacuated, still did not heed the warning, we're just coming down the canyon is a reminder of how serious this moment is and how important it is you listen to these evacuation orders. We've all been to memorials. I've never been to a memorial for a building, but for family members and loved ones.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Well, joining me now on the line is David Acuna. Battalion chief and public information officer for Cal Fire. Thank you, sir for talking with us. I wanted to ask you, what is the latest on the weather conditions as these fires rage across L.A. County?

DAVID ACUNA, BATTALION CHIEF AND PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, CAL FIRE (via telephone): Well, thank you so much for having me on, Rosemary. So, there -- wind event is actually extending from Ventura all the way down through San Diego. There actually are three major fires now in the Los Angeles area and we're tracking each one of them. The Palisades, as you mentioned, is nearly 3000 but we have the Eaton fire near Altadena, that's 400 acres.

And then the Hearst fire near SoMa, that is already 100 acres. And as you just heard the governor say, the winds are only expected to strengthen overnight.

CHURCH: Right. So, I mean, is there hope and any possibility of containment of these fires now, three major fires, as you mentioned?

ACUNA: So, as you can imagine, our first, most important priority is life safety. So, the firefighters are going to be most concerned about making sure that all residents have heeded the evacuation warnings and evacuation orders in order to get out. As you mentioned earlier, some of the cars that were abandoned blocked the roads, which makes it difficult for firefighters to make access as well as people to evacuate from the area.

CHURCH: And talk to us about the information you can share on evacuation orders and, of course, warnings here and what people need to be doing right now.

ACUNA: So, evacuation warnings and orders are designations given to us by the sheriff's office. But what I can say about that is an evacuation warning is not mandatory yet, but many of these areas have very narrow roads and with the expectation there will be fire equipment traveling up the same roads. People need to leave early, as early as possible having -- following their evacuation plan for themselves, their pets and their lifestyle.

[02:05:04]

CHURCH: And for the most part, are people following these evacuation orders when they -- when they are issued? ACUNA: So, I don't have that information because I'm not at scene. However, traditionally, there have been some people that have chosen to stay back to attempt to defend their house. And what I'll say is that with winds of 50 to 80 to 100 miles per hour, there are no actions you can take that are going to save the house. All we can do is ensure that the people are out of the way.

CHURCH: And you mentioned that residents should have a plan in place, an action plan. What should that be? What's the best recommendation coming from you?

ACUNA: So, we have on our Web site readyforwildfire.org, preparation materials for people who need to evacuate and they can be developed in a relatively short time. We go ahead and give them ideas on where -- what to pack, what a go bag or evacuation bag should have looked like and suggestions on where they -- what considerations they should have. And then they work with their local communities to determine where a large animal shelter, or horses, cattle or small animal shelter for a cat, dog, and of course, the people animal shelter, in terms of people shelter, which is so vitally important.

CHURCH: That is critical information. David Acuna, thank you so much for joining us, and we will, of course, talk again next hour. Appreciate you. And CNN --

(CROSSTALK)

ACUNA: -- one final thing is, if they can --

CHURCH: Sorry. Do go ahead.

ACUNA: Are you still there?

CHURCH: Yes, yes. We have you on air.

ACUNA: All right. @fire.ca -- great. @fire.ca.gov. If people go there, they can find the most up to date evacuation warnings and orders on graphics, as well as information that shows them where the shelters are. If we have that information from the incident.

CHURCH: All right. Appreciate David Acuna talking to us there, as I mentioned, we will talk again next hour. And CNN has crews across the region working to bring you the very latest, including from inside areas torched by these wildfires. And Natasha Chen and her crew captured this video leaving their location in Santa Monica. She says it was, "The most terrifying exit that we've made from any assignment in a long time."

CNN's Natasha Chen joins me now by phone. And Natasha, I know this was a terrifying excerpt from the fire for you and the crew. You are safe now, but walk us through what happened exactly.

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Yes. So we were assigned to cover the Palisades fire and we were there from about noon until about just after 6:00 p.m. local time when we had finished our last live shot. And I guess what we hadn't quite surmised was exactly how bad it had gotten south of us on Pacific Coast Highway. And that's the way we came in to get to our spot to cover the fire.

And we knew that we had heard reports the flame jumped the highway, but I guess we had not seen with our own eyes just exactly what that meant and what that looked like for us getting out of there. So, at the end of the night, you know, we're -- I -- we pulled up to a fire truck and kind of waved at a firefighter and said, hey, where do you think is the best way for us to leave, to get out of here?

He kind of shook his head at us and said, well, I guess you go south. And so that's what we did, pretty quickly realizing that there were flames on both sides of the highway, they were embers flying over the lanes of the highway. I spotted an emergency vehicle and decided our best bet is to just follow that car, to follow right behind him as closely as possible. If he's driving, then he's probably knowing the best way out.

So, as we're driving behind this emergency vehicle, I'm hearing an explosion on my right. There are houses on fire right up against the road on the left, and as I mentioned, embers flying and so at this point, Rosemary, I'm just holding my breath, and I can feel the heat from inside the car, just watching the embers fly across the windshield. So, not ideal in that kind of, you know, we get put on a lot of kind of risky assignments and in this situation, we have to make a calculated risk for the best way to leave.

And I think, you know, thankfully, we got out of there and we got a real look at just the level of destruction and really the fear that a lot of those residents might be feeling if they're looking at those images on the news, if they've evacuated, I can't imagine they're wondering if their house is the next one on fire, if they have anything to go home to.

[02:10:09]

CHURCH: And Natasha, just incredible that you got out of this. And thankfully, there was that emergency vehicle to follow safely to get yourself to a safe haven. But of course, as we've been speaking to you, we've been looking at the vision that you sent in and the extent of the damage is just extraordinary. And you do get a sense of how difficult it would be to see your way out of there, given the darkness, the flames and all of the smoke.

Do you know just how extensive this is at this point and how far and fast this this fire is burning?

CHEN: I think the last update that I saw was that this is more than at least 2000 acres at this point when it started this morning at 10:30 local time is approximately when the first reports of a fire came in. I believe, you know, people were talking about maybe a 20-acre fire. This thing really exploded and moved at several football fields per minute throughout the day. And I think that's what caught a lot of the residents by surprise.

The ones that we were speaking to, you know, they saw the flames moving fast. And they're not strangers to wildfires. These are Californians who have seen this before, but they had not seen something this close to their homes this fast. A lot of them told me that, you know, they packed up what they could, their parents wedding rings, their most important documents, put them in bags.

There was one couple who talked to me about how they just abandoned their car on the road, because unfortunately, in that neighborhood, there's just one street that lets you out. There's one egress. So, there was a lot of gridlock there and people in a panic just left their cars there. And there was, you know, a lot of people. There were people just coming out of their cars on foot and I saw them pulling through cases, bringing their pets with them.

Just a very -- I think one person said it almost doesn't even seem real or doesn't make sense, because if you look to one side, you have the Pacific Ocean right there and everything is hazy, of course, but we're talking about the iconic Pacific Coast Highway, the PCH. These are scenes that you see out of the Barbie movie. This is not all sunshine and pink dresses where we're talking about.

Very, very hazy smoke, explosions, flames. We saw palm trees on fire, buildings on fire. I mean, people were legitimately afraid today.

CHURCH: Yes. And understandably so too. I mean, as we look at this footage, just the flames coming from inside of people's homes there, this happened so quickly. How smooth would you say the evacuation process was given that and of course, the abandonment of cars that did tend to block areas. We know that in some instances, they had to be moved out of the way so people could actually get out of it?

CHGEN: Yes, absolutely. I think you're going to hear different opinions from different people. I have heard some complaints about how the evacuation went, but for the most part, being in the vicinity ourselves, we got blasted on our cell phones, blaring loud noises with emergency alerts about, you know, which areas are under evacuation warning versus orders. So, we definitely saw that there was legitimate notification on cell phones in the area.

Of course, later tonight, as I was getting home, I saw that there were now evacuation orders for neighboring areas as well. So, you know, I think one of the -- one of the tactical issues of evacuating that neighborhood the Pacific Palisades is the difficulty in having the one street, getting people out, getting people downhill. And then once they are downhill, you only have the Pacific Coast Highway to get either north or south.

And if there is a fire leaping across it, then you're pretty stuck. And that's kind of where we found ourselves after we finished our last live shot, not knowing exactly where the area was and how bad it was, where the flames had jumped, and so that's -- we had to figure something out.

CHURCH: And thankfully, Natasha, you did. We appreciate it and the fact that you and your crew, of course, are now safely back in your homes. Natasha Chen, thank you for talking with us and walking us through these terrifying moments for you and the crew.

CHEN: Thank you

CHURCH: And do stay with us here on CNN. Our breaking news coverage of the explosive wildfires in Southern California continues right after a short break.

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[02:19:19]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were running down. You could see palm trees just like random palm trees on fire. So I'm sure leaves are burning and falling down, and it's literally apocalyptic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Mandatory evacuations are expanding in Los Angeles from what some residents are calling an apocalyptic scene. Thousands of people have fled from two wildfires currently burning and growing by the minute. California Governor Gavin Newsom says hundreds of personnel are working to stop the fires using airplanes, helicopters and more. Some roads had to be cleared with bulldozers as fleeing residents abandoned their cars.

The Los Angeles Fire Department is working around the clock to try to contain the blaze, but their chief says they have to operate within safe conditions.

[02:20:11]

CHIEF ANTHONY MARRONE, LOS ANGELES FIRE DEPARTMENT: We are going to take advantage of the lower temperatures at night, but with increased wind speed, aerial firefighting becomes more dangerous. There is a cutoff mile per hour wind at which we will not operate at night. Flying during the night is more dangerous than flying during the day. We want to make sure that we don't get anybody killed, but we do want to fly both day and night.

So we're going to have to wait and see what happens. I mean, it's going to be interesting if the winds are going to get worse right now, it's going to be very difficult for our aerial assets to actually make a difference for the folks on the ground.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And I do want to bring in Sue Kohl now. A Pacific Palisades resident who had to evacuate her home due to the fire, and she joins me now from Los Angeles. Thank you so much for talking with us at this difficult time.

SUE KOHL, PACIFIC PALISADES, CALIFORNIA RESIDENT: Hi, sure.

CHURCH: And I am so sorry you had to go through this. You're safe now, which is very important. But when did you realize that you needed to get out of your home and get to safety? KOHL: Well, we heard -- first of all, I listened to your talk with Steve Guttenberg, and he, of course, lives in the Palisades but in a very different part. The part he lives in, is where they had all the trouble with the people abandoning cars, people on foot, blocking the roads. We heard about the fire at around 10:30 right when it started. We have a very good alert system. So we got a lot of alerts.

Most of which told us that evacuations were ordered for the Palisades, Highlands and all the hilly areas. But knowing that the winds were so severe, we all went home, packed up our cars, got our pets, medications, whatever, and took off. And the better news for us at that point was that Sunset Boulevard is the only major thoroughfare that runs through the entire town. And at the end where Steve Guttenberg was, sunset was closed due to fire.

And where I was, I was able to go the opposite direction and actually very, very slowly get out of town. It is apocalyptic. There's never been anything like this all because of the severe winds. It's just -- and usually when you live in the Palisades, when you live in a little flat area in the village where I live, you have sort of a false sense of security because you're surrounded by canyons and mountains, and of course, the ocean on one side.

And usually, all the problems have been in the canyons and the mountains, but this time, because of the wind, it blew the fire into every single neighborhood in the entire town, and there are a lot of houses lost in every neighborhood. You're not going to find a single neighborhood where people haven't lost their homes. And we had a photo of our block about two hours ago, and it looked like our block was going up in flames.

But we're just so grateful that we got out and we're about 45 minutes away, down near the airport, staying at a friend's house.

CHURCH: I'm so sorry to hear about your home but you sound like you dealt with this so calmly. I mean, how difficult was it to get your bearings and get out of the neighborhood to safety?

KOHL: Well, it was very, you know, nerve wracking trying to when you're trying to run through a house and figure out what to take. And obviously, the kids and the pets and the medications come first. But then, you know, like the only thing I forgot to take was clothes. I took everything important but that, and it was very nerve wracking at the time. We've had all day and night to be sitting here in front of the T.V. watching the devastation.

So, I guess I am calm. I'm -- I'll be very upset tomorrow. I mean, it's hard to lose everything, but what can you do? You know, you've got your health, your kids are safe, your pets are safe, and that's really the only thing you can't get back. So, I'm just going with that attitude.

CHURCH: Yes. It's really going to get you through this. And, of course, clothes can be replaced. But how much help and support did you get from authorities and firemen who were on the scene there, as you were trying to get -- KOHL: -- just in the middle of the village where I live and -- I mean, I saw a lot of fire trucks going by on their way, you know, to fight the fire.

[02:25:10]

Personally, we didn't get any kind of help from anyone other than I did get some great messages from our city council person, Traci Park. She sent text messages. We got alerts from the city. A lot of alerts letting us know that, you know, that we had to go.

And I just prayed that people pay attention, because a lot of people, you know, think they're going to stay behind and use a garden hose to save their home and you could just tell with this kind of wind that that would never work. So, I hope everybody was able to get out safely. I hope we don't hear about any casualties.

CHURCH: Yes. I mean, that is always the worry in situations like this, isn't it, people who stay behind and don't heed the warnings to get out and leave this to the experts, to the firemen who know what they're doing and know how to deal with this. So, what are your thoughts now when you look ahead? I mean, what do you see in the coming days and weeks and months?

KOHL: it's honestly just so hard to envision the coming weeks and months without knowing what's happened. It seems to me, from what I've seen on T.V. that the devastation is everywhere and our town is certainly, I mean, half of it is gone. Schools are gone. I think markets are gone. Restaurants are gone. Homes are gone. So, it's really hard to envision going forward if we're -- if we're going to be able to stay there and rebuild, if we'll have to move to another area.

I just -- I'm frightened also by the thought that some people have chosen to live without fire insurance because of the cost and probably won't be able to rebuild. It's so hard to know. I think our work schedule is going to be pretty dead. I'm in real estate. It's not going to be much going on in the very near future, so just going to take it day by day.

CHURCH: I totally understand and you were just dealing with this in such an incredibly calm way and such an inspiration to all of us watching you. Sue, we wish you the very best. Thank you so much for talking with us.

KOHL: Thank you.

CHURCH: Sue Kohl there. Appreciate it.

KOHL: Thank you very much. OK. Bye-bye.

CHURCH: And we'll get back to our breaking news after short break. Firefighters in Southern California a warning the worst is yet to come for residents along the Pacific Palisades coast. We'll have all the details for you.

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[02:32:30]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE ENGEL, EVACUEE: The fire was basically encircling us. You could hear explosions all around us, and the fire was kind of rapidly moving down beyond Venita (ph) and towards our house. So I kind of -- I'm kind of glad I got out when I did. I really wouldn't have had any escape route had I not gotten out, I don't think at that time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWSROOM": More now on our top story out of Los Angeles, firefighters are battling a huge blaze in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood that's growing rapidly as it's fueled by gusty winds. Officials estimate at least 2,900 acres have already burned and they are warning stronger wind gusts are expected in the coming hours. The blaze is threatening thousands of homes and businesses.

Now, residents in the seaside city of Santa Monica have been ordered to evacuate. And police say about 30,000 people have been evacuated elsewhere in L.A. County. Earlier, CNN spoke with two Pacific Palisades residents who were helping to fight the wildfire by watering down houses and the brush surrounding them. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREG YOST, PACIFIC PALISADES RESIDENT: What I'm doing is I'm looking over the top of my house at the other house that unfortunately burned and we've been up there, standing -- standing guard on that house, so it doesn't continue on down the hill. So right now, it's not looking real good. The wind is blowing real heavy and we're losing some light. So, maybe a little bit of luck, we'll be able to stay with it and -- but we made a big difference just for the few houses around us for sure, with the firemen. They were doing great too.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, and we know there's hundreds of them there trying to do what they can. We've been talking about it spreading now three football fields a minute in terms of the fire itself. Jeff, sorry --

JEFF MARKS, PACIFIC PALISADES RESIDENT: Their resources are being spread thin. There's the -- the fire is going lots of different places up in the hills.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jeff, what are you going to do now?

MARKS: We're going back to fight fires now. We're going up on the hill and keep saturating the field and the area and the roofs, and if there's any embers, we just water them down right away.

YOST: Yeah, catch it early. But we're -- right after we're done with you, we wanted to talk with you, tell you what was going on, we're going back up on the roof. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Nick Watt has been on the scene, following the latest on the fires and has this update from Los Angeles.

NICK WATT, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is Palisades Village, the heart of Pacific Palisades. This used to be a restaurant. I don't know what that was because there's nothing left.

[02:35:00]

I can't tell what that used to be. But, you can feel what the problem is. It's this wind and the wind is only going to get worse. It's the wind flick -- look at these embers, Chris (ph), look at these embers. Any one of these embers can go and cause a fire somewhere else. Look, we got this, we got another fire -- spot fire up here, just around the corner, an entire apartment building was gone.

It's dry vegetation, it's wind. It's a terrible combination. 30,000 plus people evacuated. We have no idea yet how many structures have been lost. But we have been up in the hills, million dollar homes we've seen destroyed. We're down here in the village, apartment buildings, restaurants destroyed. The question is, just how far is this fire going to go before the wind finally dies down.

Nick Watt, Pacific Palisades, California.

CHURCH: Joining me now is Ariel Cohen, meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service in Los Angeles. I want to thank you so much for talking with us. So, how was it possible for these fires to rage so quickly and with such force and destruction, threatening thousands of homes and residents in L.A.?

ARIEL COHEN, METEOROLOGIST IN CHARGE, NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOS ANGELES: We have a life-threatening windstorm going on right now. Destructive windstorm, bringing wind gusts over 80 to 100 miles per hour in portions of Los Angeles County. Combining with very dry -- bone dry conditions, this is explosive fire growth that we're seeing and these prolific fires spreading out of control.

CHURCH: And residents have been warned that the worst is yet to come and it's going to be horrendous for people in the overnight hours until 5:00 a.m. there on the Pacific Coast. So, how long will it take for these high winds to ease and for the fires to be contained, if that's even possible?

COHEN: We're expecting at least another day of these extreme winds across the area and folks in Los Angeles County, this is my final plea. If you are headed to bed, you have to have multiple ways of receiving emergency alerts from law enforcement and emergency management. If the evacuation orders come, it's a matter of life and death. This is so important that you heed these warnings and take them seriously. Your life depends on it.

We're looking at the destructive weather to continue for at least another day, but it might not be until late Thursday or Friday before we begin to feel a reprieve. But there's a lot of time between now and then for catastrophic consequences to occur.

CHURCH: And Ariel, that is such important information that you are giving people there because I was going to ask you for your best advice to residents and there it is. I mean, really for anyone who even sees this fire anywhere near them, should they even stay in their home at this juncture? Should they be getting themselves organized with an action plan and evacuate now?

COHEN: You need to be ready. You need to be set. And then when that evacuation order comes, go. Don't wait, seconds matter, your life depends on it. Be able to hear the alerts at any point through the night or day. Be able to receive those alerts, take them seriously.

CHURCH: And who should be getting out at this point in these overnight hours? Because that's critical, because once people fall asleep, I mean some people can sleep through warnings of that sort. So, what should they be doing?

COHEN: It's important to have your phones on, make sure they're charged, make sure that your go kit is ready so that when the order comes, when your wireless emergency alert comes or you hear notification of evacuation, you go immediately. And we're talking about a lot of areas already having evacuated. Pasadena area upwards towards the nearby San Gabriel Mountains, areas in the Santa Monicas, and again, those orders come from local law enforcement, emergency management.

You have to be able to get those orders and they'll come through wireless emergency alerts. Again, keep your phone on. If you have a NOAA Weather Radio broadcasting from the National Weather Service, that would be another way to receive emergency alert information. Again, have your phone on, make sure that if the evacuation orders come, and you have friends or family or neighbors who might not be aware, reach out to them.

[02:40:00]

Make sure that we come together as a community to keep each other safe from a really once in a lifetime catastrophic situation.

CHURCH: Such a critical information for anyone in that area watching right now. Ariel Cohen, thank you so much for staying on top of this. We'll talk again soon. Appreciate you.

COHEN: Stay safe.

CHURCH: I want to turn now to U.S. politics, and Donald Trump carried out a rambling news conference at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, filled with provocative remarks, many of them directed at the international community. The incoming U.S. president talked a lot about land grabs and even suggested that one of America's closest allies is not immune from acquisitions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Canada and the United States, that would really be something. You get rid of that artificially drawn line, and you take a look at what that looks like, and it would also be much better for national security. Don't forget, we basically protect Canada.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Canada quickly dismissed any talk of becoming another U.S. state. Outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau posted, "There's not a snowball's chance in hell of that happening." Trump also setting his sights on the Panama Canal and Greenland, and he's not ruling out military force.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL & NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Can you assure the world that as you try to get control of these areas, you are not going to use military or economic coercion?

TRUMP: No, I can't assure you. 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. I'm not going to commit to that now. It might be that you'll have to do something. Look, the Panama Canal is vital to our country. We need Greenland for national security purposes. I've been told that for a long time. People really don't even know if Denmark has any legal right to it, but if they do, they should give it up because we need it for national security.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Michael Genovese is a political analyst and president of the Global Policy Institute at Loyola Marymount University, and he joins me now from Los Angeles. Good to have you with us.

MICHAEL GENOVESE, POLITICAL ANALYST: Great to be here.

CHURCH: So in a far reaching and provocative news conference, President-elect Donald Trump suggested he could use the military to seize Greenland and the Panama Canal, and reiterated his desire to make Canada the 51st state of the U.S. by using economic force to annex that country. So, how likely is any of this? And what would be the ramifications of such actions?

GENOVESE: Well, you know, Donald Trump thinks he is a great negotiator and so, he sometimes throws things out to start a negotiation from a position of extreme strength in his view. But, the Panama Canal is safe. Greenland, we're not going to be able to buy it. Canada probably not interested in being the 51st state. But when you think about Donald Trump's rationale, we need Greenland for national security reasons. That's the same argument Russia makes about Ukraine. It's the same one that China will soon be making probably about Taiwan.

So if we encourage that attitude, we're basically encouraging people like Trump and the Chinese to do the things we don't want done, but we think we can do it because Donald Trump is the master negotiator. But, he also has already announced that he will be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Now, that's the kind of bullying tactic, from Canada, Panama Canal, Greenland, that we were trying to get away from.

I pulled out from the shelves, the 1958 book, "The Ugly American" because I want to go back to reading it because that's what we would become if we started to do all these things.

CHURCH: Yeah, and I mean, just two weeks from taking office, Trump laid out this aggressive foreign policy plan to expand U.S. influence and also, as you said, suggesting a name change for the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. What does all this signal to you about what lies ahead for this country and indeed the rest of the world during a second Trump presidency?

GENOVESE: In many ways, it will be a repeat of the first Trump term. But this time, it will be America first on steroids. He may have learned a few lessons in the first term, bring in loyalists, bring in people who will not question you, bring in people who will do your bidding. And so that may be the only lesson he learned. The problem is, in the first term, a lot of folks who worked for Trump kept him from doing things that were way out there and dangerous to the United States.

[02:45:00]

He will not have anyone like that in the second term. They'll all be enablers. And so, while the world in the first term could look at us and be baffled, the world in Trump's second term will look at us and be worried.

CHURCH: And at the same news conference, Trump also warned Hamas that if the hostages are not released by the time he gets back in office, then "All hell will break out of the Middle East." And he said, "That will not be good for Hamas." What could this mean for the region, do you think?

GENOVESE: An unstable region, problems with Iran, problems with Hezbollah, problems with the -- the whole region is a tinderbox that's waiting to go up in smoke. And Donald Trump is just feeding the fire by throwing gasoline on it and that kind of threatening rhetoric that he uses, he loves to use it. He thinks it's very manly. It makes him look foolish in the eyes of many people. But fools can be dangerous. And if he is going to do something really foolish, we will be paying the consequence, as will the region. And so, it's already unstable. Why would you do more to destabilize it? It just seems to make not very much sense, but it feeds into his sort of manly, macho kinds of -- his style that he's trying to portray him himself as.

CHURCH: Michael Genovese, always great to get your analysis on all things political. Appreciate it.

GENOVESE: Thank you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: And still to come, we will bring you an update on the devastating fires raging in Southern California. Back in just a minute. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:51: 03]

CHURCH: Firefighters in Southern California are struggling through a long, windy night battling wildfires. The Palisades fire began in Los Angeles Tuesday and has grown rapidly. Fire officials say it has now devoured more than 2,900 acres. Homes, schools and businesses have already been destroyed as the flames burn out of control. Tens of thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate immediately. Residents of one Los Angeles suburb described the panic of the fast moving disaster.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUE, HOMEOWNER: My heart is in my throat, but we're OK as long as the firefighter said there's an ambulance to take us out. But this is like right at my doorstep. So guys, I love you, but pray. I've been praying but that doesn't stop this wind.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think the whole town is going to go because it's so windy right now that they don't have a grasp on anything right now. Up top here, they were down at the -- where it started, down in the highlands and didn't realize how fast it was going to come up here. And it is up here. And again, there's no firemen up here, none, none.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Meantime, California Governor Gavin Newsom says this type of disaster is going to be the new normal. He posted this message on social media.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM, (D-CA): Here at the Palisades fire, you can see behind me how quickly this is growing. Hundreds and hundreds of personnel, all throughout the state of California, are here. Coming from Northern California, we prepositioned 110 engines. We've got fixed wing aircraft, helicopters, dozers, water tenders, specialty personnel, putting everything we can to not only suppress this fire, but to prevent additional fires over the course of the next few days.

Unprecedented winds for this time of year, and of course, this time of year traditionally has not been fire season. But now, we disabuse any notion that there is a season, it's year round in the state of California.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Well, clearly, firefighters are in for a long night with those already extreme wind conditions expected to get worse. A captain with the L.A. County Fire Department calls it the perfect storm for a once in a decade wind event. Our meteorologist, Chad Myers, has more.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And we've already had hurricane-force wind gusts in places here in southern California, especially on the mountaintops. But here's what happens in the desert. Unlike everywhere else in America, when the sun goes down, the winds die off. Here because of the cold air that's going to sink down into the desert, that cold air is going to splash onto the dirt and it's going to spread out.

Well, where does it spread out? Well, kind of in all directions. But when it spreads out through the canyons, that's when the winds actually pick up in the dark, which doesn't make any sense for most of you as you're watching this, but it happens here. So red flag warning is still going. Winds were 40 to 60, but they could go from 60 to 80 overnight. So, we're going to have to keep watching this.

Now, by later on this afternoon, somewhere around four o'clock, things are going to calm down. But that is a long time from right now for the highest class here of fire weather, the extremely critical warnings here, Category 3 of three here across parts of Southern California. The firefighters have a long, long night and probably a fairly long morning before the winds begin to die off.

CHURCH: I want to thank you so much for joining us this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. We will bring you the very latest on the fast moving and destructive wildfires in Southern California right after a short break. Do stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:59:35]

CHURCH: Hello and welcome, everyone. I'm Rosemary Church, live in Atlanta, and we begin this hour with breaking news out of Southern California where firefighters are battling fast moving wildfires fueled by ferocious winds that are only growing stronger overnight. Three wildfires are now burning across Los Angeles County. The largest fire nearly 3,000 acres in size is burning around the coastal neighborhood of Pacific Palisades, one of L.A.'s most affluent communities. Tens of thousands of residents have already been ordered to evacuate, and now evacuation orders have reached.