Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Report: Trump Considering 90-Day Delay On TikTok Ban; Organizers Scramble To Shift Ceremonies Due To Cold; Netanyahu: "Unable To Move Forward" With Ceasefire Deal Until Hamas Supplies Hostage List; Netanyahu: "Unable To Move Forward" With Ceasefire Deal Until Hamas Supplies Hostage List"; Thousands At People's March Protest Trump & GOP Policies; L.A. Residents Face Long Recovery As Firefighters Make Gains; General Honore Discusses California Wildfires, Hurricane Katrina; "Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story" Airs Sunday Feb 2 At 8P ET/PT. Aired 1-2p ET

Aired January 18, 2025 - 13:00   ET

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


[13:00:00]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: All right, in just a few hours, President-elect Donald Trump will head to Washington where ceremonies for his second inauguration are still being finalized. Right now, Trump is in Florida preparing for a busy weekend before he takes the oath of office on Monday.

Many of his supporters have already started showing up in the nation's capital in advance of the big events, which will look very different from nearly all other past presidential inaugurations. Because of a bitterly cold forecast for Monday, the ceremonies will now be moved inside the Capitol Rotunda, leaving most of the event's ticket holders unable to see Trump take his oath of office for themselves.

And a coalition of activists, well, they're already gathering right now at the Lincoln Memorial to protest President-elect Donald Trump and Republican policies.

CNN's Steve Contorno is live for us in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Steve, before we get to the inauguration plans, we're learning about how Trump is going to potentially intervene now with the TikTok ban?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: That's right, Fred. Just moments ago, Donald Trump gave an interview to NBC, where he proposed a potential 90-day delay on imposing a ban on TikTok operating in the United States. This comes, as TikTok has said, that it intends to go dark as early as tomorrow, in anticipation of this U.S. ban that is supposed to go into effect just as Joe Biden is leaving office and Trump is taking office.

But Trump now saying he intends to put a 90-day delay in place, or that is one of the outcomes that he is considering as soon as he takes office, while he considers what other options might be on the table, including, you know, there's been discussions about a potential sale of TikTok. Of course, all of this comes as Trump has pivoted 180 on the Chinese- owned social media company, going from someone who was a fierce critic of TikTok, saying it shouldn't be operating in the United States, to now being someone who has not only utilized TikTok, but now is saying that it potentially should be allowed to continue to operate here.

And the TikTok CEO was expected to be at Donald Trump's inauguration. Of course, we'll have to see who actually is allowed inside the rotunda now that this will be a much smaller event. But clearly, Trump indicating that he intends to reconsider what has been a bipartisan push to get this Chinese-owned company and app out of the United States marketplace.

WHITFIELD: OK. And so, Steve, let's talk about the inauguration. How is the president-elect now preparing for this historic occasion?

CONTORNO: Well, in a few hours, he will take off from South Florida for the last time as president-elect, and he will arrive in Virginia, where he is expected to appear at one of his properties in Sterling, Virginia, for a reception and fireworks show tonight.

Tomorrow, he will be at Arlington National Cemetery, where he will ray a leaf at the tomb of the unknown soldier. And then later in the evening, he will speak at the Capitol One Arena in Washington, D.C., for a planned rally there. This will be his first time addressing supporters in Washington, D.C., since January 6, 2021, where he spoke just ahead of the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

And, of course, all that leads up to Monday and the main event and his inauguration, which we know now will be inside as a result of the expected cold front that will be hitting the Washington, D.C., region over the next few days. He said that -- he and his team said that they were taking these precautions because of the extreme temperatures.

I should also point out that, though this isn't the reason Donald Trump said they were delaying it or, excuse me, moving it inside, but he is 78 years old, and he will be the oldest president when he is sworn in. So, clearly, obviously not something that he is using as an excuse, but certainly a reality of the situation, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Steve Contorno, thank you so much.

So now that the bitter cold in Washington does have the inauguration ceremonies indoors, organizers are scrambling to make last-minute adjustments to the events. It's a logistical nightmare, as tens of thousands of people do arrive in Washington to take part in the events.

CNN's Holmes Lybrand is in Washington ahead of this ceremony. So, Holmes, what are some of the obstacles that inauguration organizers are now facing?

HOLMES LYBRAND, CNN REPORTER: That's right, Fredricka, and you used the correct word, scrambling. We are talking about something that took the Secret Service and Metro Police, as well as Capitol Police, months to plan. Now it's being condensed in a matter of days. [13:05:03]

This decision by Trump was made on Friday, so now they only have two more days to kind of figure out an entirely new security plan. They were already in the process of putting up over 30 miles of fencing around the downtown D.C. area, more fencing than has ever been used for any event similar to this. And now they're trying to scrap that plan and figure out how to secure the Capital One Arena.

Now, there is good and bad in this for security planners, for the Secret Service, for Capitol Police, for Metro Police. Part of the good is that moving things indoors makes things easier to secure. It's just kind of common sense that it's easier to secure a crowd when they're inside.

You can go through the magnometers (ph) and they can be contained at the Capital One Arena. However, that does introduce other problems, like shutting down the Capital One Arena in just a few days, kind of closing it off to traffic, as well as maybe pedestrian -- certain pedestrian areas as well.

Now, the Capital, the inauguration will be held in the Capital in the Rotunda. That's expected to hold about 700 people. That's only members of Congress, their spouses, and VIPs, not members of public.

Members of the public are now being directed, as I said, to the Capital One Arena. But that can only hold 20,000 people, whereas over 200,000 people were originally ticketed for the event. So again, a lot of logistical nightmares and members of Congress have been told to tell their constituents that those tickets are now commemorative. So again, a lot of planning still in flux, still going through.

WHITFIELD: Yes, I bet a lot of those 20,000 ticket holders are a little upset. I mean, I'm sure they came ready for the weather, ready for the elements, only to now be sightseeing a little bit more --

LYBRAND: Right. That's right.

WHITFIELD: -- than they had planned.

All right, Holmes Lybrand, thank you so much.

LYBRAND: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: All right, joining me right now to talk more about Monday's inauguration is Larry Sabato. He is the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. Larry, great to see you.

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS AT UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Thank you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. So the president-elect moved this inauguration indoors, saying on his social media, "I don't want to see people hurt or injured in any way", end quote. So inaugurations are almost always, you know, so memorable, largely because of the weather. How will this be remembered, in your view, now? SABATO: Well, it reduces the energy of the event, that's for sure. And it's going to disappoint tens of thousands of people who've spent a lot of money to come to Washington to see Trump sworn in. But you also have to say, Fred, as I think Steve Contorno mentioned, at least somebody has finally learned the lesson of William Henry Harrison, you know, who was 68 years old in 1841, which was old for that day, didn't wear a coat, gave a ridiculously long inaugural address, caught pneumonia, and died 30 days later.

So we don't want that to happen again. And Reagan did the right thing in 1985. So look, it's not going to matter. People won't even remember it in a few days.

WHITFIELD: Another thing that does make U.S. presidential inauguration so memorable is because, you know, it does involve the people, whether they're, you know, among the crowd there on the mall, or perhaps they're along the parade route, waving, cheering. That's not going to happen either. Will that absence, in your view, take away from anything?

SABATO: Well, again, it takes away from the energy of the day. Inaugural days are very memorable for anybody who's there, but also for people watching at home. This is not going to be as interesting. The crowd will be relatively tiny in the rotunda compared to what it would be outdoors.

But really, it's more what Trump chooses to say in his inaugural address, and it's more what he plans to do. And it seems like he's going to be doing a great deal in the first 24 to 48 hours.

WHITFIELD: Yes. In fact, let's talk a little bit and zero in on that if we could. You know, he is planning to put a stamp on his presidency on day one. He plans to sign executive orders involving immigration.

He may weigh in again on the TikTok ban. We've already heard some reporting from Steve about the 90-day period. And then he might be weighing in on energy policies. How do you see that day unfolding?

SABATO: If what they have reported is true, that is the Trump people speaking to some reporters, if it's true that there are going to be about 100 executive orders, well, that's going to cover a lot of subjects. Mostly, I think, immigration, or a good deal of it will be immigration.

And again, if reports are true, they've already planned a raid, a large raid for undocumented immigrants in Chicago and maybe other places. So they're going to create a lot of headlines. I suspect some of the less well-known executive orders will also be very interesting to people.

We'll see what they are. He's going to reverse some of Biden's executive orders, no doubt. That often happens when you have a change of party in the White House.

[13:10:04] And, you know, they've floated a lot of different things. You know, Ukraine, the Ukraine war is supposed to be over within 24 hours of his taking the oath of office. So the clock is ticking. Somehow I don't think that will happen, but that's just me being cynical.

WHITFIELD: You mentioned, you know, inauguration day does kind of set a tone also, you know, for the presidency overall. I mean, this will, you know, also set a tone, less energy, perhaps, as you mentioned, by it being indoors.

But then if you recall, during his first inauguration, he also set a tone, not just by the executive orders that he too signed pretty close to his first day, but the rhetoric, you know, from his speech, you know, this American carnage stops right here and stops right now. What do you expect the writing, the messaging to be during this inaugural speech?

SABATO: Well, it depends on who's written it, and to a great degree.

WHITFIELD: Well, that's true.

SABATO: But, you know, no one -- Donald Trump isn't going to listen to anybody's advice, but I really think this is an opportunity to at least strike a few notes of unity if it's possible. Maybe he will, maybe he won't, but it would help him if he did.

And his early ratings, whatever they're worth, are considerably higher than they were when he took the oath of office in January 2017. So capitalize on that. I hope that's reflected in the inaugural address, but we'll all find out together.

WHITFIELD: Yes, we will. All right, on Monday.

Larry Sabato, thank you so much.

SABATO: Thanks, Fred.

WHITFIELD: And as Donald Trump begins his second term, history will unfold right here, live on CNN. Don't miss our special coverage, "The Inauguration of Donald Trump", live Monday, 8:00 a.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

All right, still to come, a new warning from Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli prime minister says Israel will not continue with the ceasefire deal until it receives a list of the names of hostages that Hamas is expected to release. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:16:41]

WHITFIELD: All right, some breaking news for you now. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel won't move forward with the ceasefire deal until Hamas supplies a list of hostages to be released. The ceasefire was expected to begin tomorrow, 8.30 a.m. local time, and include the release of three female Israeli hostages on the first day.

CNN's Bianna Golodryga is in a hostage square in Tel Aviv. Bianna, how is this news landing with people?

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, Fred, a split screen here for the nation of Israel, where right now, as you noted, Prime Minister Netanyahu is addressing the nation. Meantime, here in hostage square, the largest crowd that has gathered thus far since the announcement of a ceasefire hostage deal earlier this week.

Behind me, who you are hearing are family members of hostages. Now, this is the daughter of a hostage in Gaza right now who is speaking. We will be hearing from a number of family members of hostages throughout the evening, including from the hostages who were released in the last ceasefire hostage deal in November of 2023.

As you noted, Prime Minister Netanyahu earlier stating that Israel would not proceed with the hostage release ceasefire deal until the full list of hostages is provided by Hamas. We were expecting at 4:00 p.m. local time to receive a list of the hostages that were expected to be released tomorrow, who were three Israeli civilian females.

We have yet to receive that list. Israel has yet to receive that list. What was expected to transpire is Hamas would send the list to Qatar, and then Qatar would then send the list to Israel. That has not happened yet.

And you can imagine a nation, family members on pins and needles here, very worried about how that impacts, what is expected to be the start of that ceasefire hostage deal. As you noted, Fred, tomorrow beginning at 8.30 a.m. local time, and it is around 4:00 p.m. when the Israeli hostages, those three expected to be female civilians, would be released to the IDF.

And it is at that moment, once they would be in the custody of the IDF, that Israel would then release Palestinian prisoners. This nation has been waiting for 15 months for this day, 470 days to be exact. And another commemoration tonight, as you note, this isn't a celebratory crowd. This is a very somber mood here in the country for the past week.

You hear a family member of a hostage family -- I don't know if you can hear her thanking President Trump directly for making this deal possible. I would also -- the mother of a hostage, Matan (ph) is -- who is speaking behind me now. And her son will not be released in the first phase of this deal.

The first phase, remember, is 33 hostages that would be released over the course of six weeks. Another somber note tonight is the birthday of 2-year-old Kfir Bibas, he is the youngest Israeli hostage in Gaza. So there was a moment of silence here commemorating Kfir Bibas' birthday as well.

We will go back and listen to what Prime Minister Netanyahu said and update you, Fred, if there is anything substantive in terms of the direction of the ceasefire hostage deal and how it impacts when it will begin being implemented.

WHITFIELD: All right. Bianna Golodryga, thank you so much.

[13:20:01]

All right, let's get more now on these fast-moving events. Joining us now is CNN National Security Analyst Peter Bergen. He's also the host of the "In The Room" podcast. OK. So, Peter, ceasefire hostage deals, you know, are often fraught with dangers. But is this a detail to bring up now, or is this a detail that should have been in the agreement?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: It seems like it should have been in the agreement, but it's been a constant sticking point throughout, Fred -- throughout this process. It's a question of who is going to be released, who's actually alive, you know, which is a kind of important detail. And so it's hard what -- hard to know what to make of this development because this is just a minor hiccup, or is this something bigger.

WHITFIELD: Right. Is this a potential setback? I mean, all of these families, whether it is your son, daughter, you know, wife or spouse that's being released, it seems that all these hostage families are kind of in it together. They're even celebrating, you know, the release of another family as opposed to theirs, and they have to wait. But will they be interpreting this as a hiccup or a setback?

BERGEN: Yes, I don't know. I mean, one of the issues here, Fred, is bear in mind that the Hamas leadership in Gaza is buried underground 60 feet. So it's, you know, it's very complicated. And also there are other terrorist groups in Gaza. There's Palestinian Islamic Jihad that may or may not have other hostages.

So, you know, when you're communicating with Hamas political leadership in Doha and through the Qataris, you know, they then are in turn dealing with the military leadership in Hamas, you know, buried deep underground. So communication can be difficult.

So where this process has broken down isn't, I think, clear yet. But it has been in Israeli demand (ph) to know which hostages are being released, and also some sense of if they're alive or not. Because we know that there are, I think, 94 hostages that are unaccounted for.

34 have been declared -- are believed to be dead. The number is likely bigger, in fact. And so this question of the identities of the hostages and whether they're alive or dead is certainly something the Israeli government has been, you know, keen to find out.

WHITFIELD: The Biden administration has been working on this deal for a very long time. The president, President Biden, saying this was the deal that, you know, he put forth back in May. Now it's finally come to fruition.

The Biden administration invited the incoming Trump administration. Trump's envoy was part of these negotiations. And just in that live shot with Bianna, she said one of the family members was, you know, thanking President Trump for having to help get this deal underway.

He's less than two days away from inauguration. Does he have a position right now? Should it be he that intervenes, talk to the prime minister, Netanyahu, at this juncture involves his incoming administration now on helping to assure the release of hostages as early as tomorrow morning as planned?

BERGEN: Well, Brett McGurk, who's Biden's chief Middle East negotiator, has been working very closely with Trump's incoming Middle East negotiator, Steve Witkoff. And apparently they've had a very good relationship.

You know, it's not an accident that the deal was supposed to happen on Sunday, the day before Trump was inaugurated. I mean, as you said, Fred, the deal -- this deal is very much almost exactly what President Biden laid out publicly on May 31st, which is, you know, kind of a three part deal where six-week ceasefire, some exchange of hostages, some exchange of Palestinian prisoners, sort of a confidence building exercise for the next phase, which would be releasing all the hostages, removing all the Israeli troops from Gaza.

And finally, the third phase, which is the reconstruction phase, which obviously will take many, many years. That is the deal that has been accepted, seemingly. But now we have this, you know, hard to interpret kind of pause, which, you know, it may be insignificant or it may be very significant. It's hard to tell.

And of course, you know, Netanyahu himself, members of his government on the far-right have said, you know, they don't want any kind of deal that would extend more than the 42 days of the initial ceasefire. They want to go back to war after the first phase. And they're prepared to resign from his government if that doesn't happen. So, you know, it's obviously quite complicated for a variety of reasons.

WHITFIELD: Sure. Just moments ago, Prime Minister Netanyahu said this. Let's listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

[13:25:11]

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translation): But from this disaster, the power of the people and the bravery, this strength is what brings us, which enables us to achieve everything we wanted, to eliminate the abilities of Hamas and to ensure that Gaza will not be a danger for us again.

The whole world knows that when Israel stands together, there is no strength which prevents them. I am proud to be the Prime Minister of such a people and to lead this people in times like this. The Cabinet and the government have authorized the hostage release, but the task of releasing the hostages is something that we have to do.

And everybody who fights in the IDF and together with you, the people of Israel, and together with many people in the world, Sara and myself, pray and want the return of all of our hostages. I think about them all the time.

My wife, Sara, gives her whole heart and soul worrying about the families both here and abroad as she prays for them. And I know that together, all of the families in Israel have the same feeling. We will stand all of the tasks of the war and bring everybody home.

Until today, we have brought home 153 of our hostages, 117 alive, and we will bring another 33 of our brethren home. This agreement is the result of the bravery of our fighters in the field and the joint interests of Israel amongst great pressure.

The agreement is also the result of the activities of Israel together with President Biden and Trump, the incoming president. And this evening on Wednesday, we spoke about the agreement, and he correctly said that the first part of the agreement is the ceasefire, temporary ceasefire, is what he said.

And then the following stages, we will do everything necessary to bring all the hostages home and all of the achievements of the war. Both Biden and Trump agree that Israel can go back to war if the negotiation -- and I very much appreciate that. And all of the -- they will give armaments and ammunition to Israel, and we will do this in new parts. We will do this with great strength.

During the negotiations, the first task is to return to fighting if necessary. And during many months, Hamas wanted us to end the war in order for them to return, and they came up with lots of other excuses. I refused, and what I wanted was accepted.

And all of -- every decision taken by the government of the U.S. is that Hamas didn't fulfill the negotiations, not Israel. And the most important thing is the number of live hostages who have already come back on the first stages. And I'm happy to tell you that this insistence brought fruit. And during my -- we almost multiplied the hostages who were released in the first stage.

[13:30:28]

The Philadelphi Corridor. And when I say the Philadelphi Corridor, we not only will reduce our forces there, but will increase them a little. We have promised in this agreement that Israel will --

WHITFIELD: All right. we're listening to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mention a few things there. He is saying his posture has helped bring home already more than 100 hostages. And he believes that this same posture will bring others home.

He also is giving credit to both the Biden and Trump administrations for getting to this juncture and this agreement.

Peter Bergen, back with me now.

But he also is letting the world know that he essentially has permission to return to war if the negotiations do not, in his view, seem favorable with what is being worked out with Hamas.

Tell me what you're interpreting here?

BERGEN: Well, I think those were the two key points. One, he thanked President Biden and President Trump.

And two, he said both -- both administrations have sort of said, if the negotiations don't go as they're supposed to, you know, you, A, you can go back to war and we won't sort of stop you. And, B, we will continue arming you.

As you know, there are the Biden administration has recently authorized another $8 billion of arms to go to Israel just recently. And Netanyahu signaling that, you know, that policy will clearly remain in place if these negotiations don't go in the way that he hopes they will.

WHITFIELD: So, Peter, there was so much expressed hope within the last 24 hours. Is that fading?

BERGEN: Well you know, I honestly don't know. But I will say this, Fred, I mean, this deal is very popular in Israel. "The Jerusalem Post" had a poll yesterday where 73 percent of Israelis said that they we're in favor of the deal, 19 percent said they we're opposed and 8 percent said they didn't have a position.

So this is a supermajority of Israelis who want this deal to happen. And so the politics of this for Netanyahu, despite the fact that people on the right wing, far right wing don't -- don't like the deal, you know, he's got a lot of public support to go through with this.

So I think that is a fact. And, you know, hopefully that this is not the end of this negotiation and is only a minor problem, not a major problem.

WHITFIELD: OK. All right, Peter Bergen, we'll leave it there for now.

So again, the expectation has been that in this first phase of this hostage ceasefire deal, that hostages would be released, including three female hostages, as early as tomorrow in this first phase.

But now Netanyahu is saying he wants to be provided a list of the hostages. And until then, he does not see that the deal is underway.

All right. Peter Bergen, thank you so much.

All right, up next --

BERGEN: Thank you, Fred.

[13:33:43]

WHITFIELD: -- a coalition of activist groups now gathering at the Lincoln Memorial in the nation's capital to protest President-elect Donald Trump and Republican policies. We're live from the People's March in Washington.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [13:38:25]

WHITFIELD: All right. Now to D.C. and the People's March in Washington, just outside of the Lincoln Memorial, where thousands of protesters marched alongside a coalition of activist groups to protest President-elect Donald Trump and Republican policies.

The rally began earlier this hour, as organizers say they expect a day of joyful resistance, community building and powerful action.

CNN senior crime and justice correspondent, Shimon Prokupecz, is there now.

Shimon, what's the messaging?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME & JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: So the messaging is really, as you said, we're seeing a cross section of causes, people raising concerns for human rights, gay rights, abortion rights.

I want to show you here just what the scene is as thousands of people here have been gathering outside the Lincoln Memorial.

Take a look around. We're going to have Joe Merkel, our photojournalist here, just kind of show you the crowds here.

They've been gathering, they've been marching since late this morning, and they are now just from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. There are speeches now.

But truly just a cross section of causes that we're seeing here, people voicing their concerns, making sure that the various rights and the various causes that they feel are personally important to them are not forgotten.

We're seeing causes such as the abortion rights, gay rights, people concerned over the Gaza situation. Of course, also, we're seeing concern over the situation in Ukraine.

[13:40:00]

So really a cross of people here. They are calling this the People's March. And as you said, what they really wanted to do was gather a cross of

people with various causes to make sure that their voices are heard and their issues are not forgotten.

WHITFIELD: A cross section and a pretty sizable crowd there on a very chilly day there at the Lincoln Memorial.

PROKUPECZ: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Shimon Prokupecz, thank you so much.

All right. Coming up, as fire crews make progress against the southern California wildfires, some residents have been finally allowed to return home. A look at the long recovery they face next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:45:16]

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. Now to the latest on the California wildfires. The lighter winds are giving firefighters a chance to make significant progress in their battle against the Eaton and Palisades Fire.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is bringing in a developer to lead the rebuilding efforts.

And while the city is planning its future, the investigation into how the fire started will take a long time according to the ATF director.

Joining us right now is retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Russel Honore. He led the recovery efforts in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina back in 2005. He's also the author of the book, "Leadership in the New Normal."

General, great to see you.

LT. GEN. RUSSEL L. HONORE, U.S. ARMY, RETIRED & AUTHOR: Hello, Fred. And a good day to you.

And compliments to those firefighters out in California and those magnificent aviators that's dropping that retardant. They're doing a magnificent job.

WHITFIELD: They really are. They're putting everything they've got into it.

And -- and I wonder, even with that, how much danger is there for some of the recovery workers who are, you know, going in there, you know, in the face of the battle of these fires.

HONORE: Well, you know, that transition from doing the response and doing recovery simultaneously, there are many parallels to Katrina.

As you know, after we evacuated the people, then we had to de-water the city. At the same time, people wanted to come back and reenter and go see their homes. So there are many parallels, even though this is a fire event by some water and wind events in Katrina.

And one of the big lessons we learned, Fred, was, at the time President Bush assigned the federal coordinator of that worked above FEMA, worked directly with him in the White House in coordinating the response and working with the House on the supplemental bill that took to pay for Katrina. So that was a lesson learned.

The other one is President Bush eased immigration standards because we did not have the workers in the United States to do the rebuild in New Orleans. So, as you know, both of those are two hot-button issues as we look at how the recovery will start for it. WHITFIELD: So -- so these are lessons learned as well. Do you see that

employing a federal coordinator in this situation is -- is paramount, you know, to any success in recovery, rebuilding, restructuring and the overall response?

HONORE: I would think that would streamline things. Right now, if the state wants something, they go to FEMA. And FEMA goes through the process of doing the estimates or they go to HUD or they go to the Corps of Engineers.

The way President Bush had instructed, that individual work at the cabinet level as appointee, a czar, so for former President Bush. And it cut through a lot of the red tape.

And we already know the House speaker has said he wants to put strings on the money that's going to California recovery. This will help clean some of that out because it's somebody the president-elect can appoint that be his point person to bring together all of government response.

Because this is going to be, looks like maybe three times the size of Katrina in times of budget. And it's going to be a hell of a supplemental that's going to have to be created, because that is not in the budget right now for it.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And on that second point, you said was really, you know, a source of learning for Katrina by President Bush, you know, relaxing on some immigration laws.

Well, the incoming president says, you know, on day one, among his executive orders will be on matters of immigration.

So do you see -- and I know without, you know, really talking about the politics of this, but you said it really is a valuable resource, the use of assistance coming from across, you know, state lines and across the border.

So do you see that this might be impetus for a pause on what could be executive order action involving immigration?

HONORE: Well, you know, that's the difference between rhetoric and reality. And that's what we're going to see unfold in the next 48 hours or so. And it would be very prudent of them to see -- and it's going to take weeks before that recovery to start once they do some of the -- the cleanup of the debris.

But that's where you're going to need a lot of this labor. And the governor of California and the mayor will assess if the workforce is. But I know we didn't have it in New Orleans because the population was gone. And we didn't have the workforce to do it. We had the tourist- oriented workforce.

So without those workers -- it was so profound in New Orleans that the city of New Orleans and the metropolitan area built a statue to those Hispanic workers who came across the border to clean up the city.

[13:50:09] WHITFIELD: And already we've seen firefighting help that's come from Canada and Mexico. But I think everyone hears you loud and clear that that same sort of cooperation is -- is necessary, you know, to get to the next stages.

All right. So I wonder if I can ask you, too, about the kinds of dangers that, whether it be National Guard, guardsmen who are assisting -- we've already seen video of them assisting in helping in neighborhoods where people are, you know, coming and going or perhaps even escorting of utility vehicles.

And I wonder, you know, what your concerns are about their personal safety, especially when you're talking about debris fields that involve electric cars, you know, burned out houses full of plastics, toxins, all of that. What are the potential dangers for everyone involved?

HONORE: Well, I think they've been well briefed. We learned that lesson in Katrina from toxins in the water, which we had to use protection. And we learned a lesson from 9/11 ingesting that -- those building residue and car residue and battery residue.

And I -- I assure that those sergeants on the ground and those captains, the line commanders are doing safety risk assessment and making sure they have a proper mask to present the VOC, the volatile organic compounds that could get in their lungs, just like it happened on 9/11.

So there are many lessons learned there. And I -- from what I see on television, most people you see are wearing some kind of protective gear on their face, but that need to be the standard for sure, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. General Russel Honore, always a pleasure talking to you and hearing your invaluable lessons that can be applied in this latest tragedy. Thank you so much.

HONORE: Thanks, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Still to come, as time is running out for TikTok, President Donald Trump says he will, quote, "most likely" delay the ban temporarily. But he has not made a final decision. That is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:55:53]

WHITFIELD: The BAFTA-nominated documentary, "SUPER/MAN: THE CHRISTOPHER REEVE STORY," chronicles the personal and professional life of actor Christopher Reeve before and after the horseback riding accident that left him paralyzed from the neck down.

Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The idea came, rather than casting a well-known superman, we should go for an unknown and have stars around him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had made a costume out of a blue leotard, and Chris was sweating like a stuck pig.

I took black shoe polish and blacked his whole head and this skinny little kid did a scene with various ladies who were up for the part of Lois Lane.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: I mean, why are you here?

CHRISTOPHER REEVE, ACTOR: I'm here to fight for truth, for justice and the American way.

(WHISTLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He flew Sunday night, screen tested in London on Monday and then flew back Monday night. Bill said, "How'd it go?" Chris said, "I got it."

REEVE: I realized that if I could pull off this part, it would change my life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Tune in. "SUPER/MAN: THE CHRISTOPHER REEVE STORY" airs Sunday, February 2nd at 8:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, right here on CNN.

All right. Up next, a coalition of activist groups are gathering at the Lincoln Memorial to protest President-elect Donald Trump and Republican policies. We're live from the People's March in Washington.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:06]

WHITFIELD: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Saturday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All right. Right now, President-Elect Trump Donald Trump is gearing up for what will be a rather busy weekend ahead of his inauguration on Monday.