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CNN This Morning
Life-Threatening Wildfires Sweep Across Los Angeles; 30,000+ People Ordered To Evacuate In Southern California; Biden: "I Think Yes" I Could've Won The Election In November. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired January 08, 2025 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:30:00]
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Report on his investigations into President- elect Donald Trump. That prevents the Justice Department from publishing the report until a Court of Appeals reviews an emergency motion filed by Trump's former co-defendants. They want to block its release.
A Republican-led bipartisan bill called the Laken Riley Act is headed to the Senate. The bill would require undocumented migrants to be detained if they are charged with certain crimes. It is named after Georgia student Laken Riley who was killed last year while out running by an undocumented migrant from Venezuela. He was sentenced to life without parole.
All right. Still coming up here after the break those extremely dangerous wildfires that are rapidly spreading across Southern California overnight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The fires were this close to the cars. People left their cars on Palisades Drive. Burning up the hillside. Palm trees, everything's going -- and the wind. And the firemen are great, but they can only do so much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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[05:35:40]
HUNT: All right, it is 5:35 a.m. on the East Coast. It is 2:35 a.m. Pacific time.
You are looking live at Los Angeles County, California. That fire is burning as we speak and it looks like we're even losing that shot, which -- oh, there, it's come back. It's obviously been very difficult and dangerous out there to cover these fires as so many thousands of people are now fleeing their homes.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It is wonderful to have you with us. And we are going to continue to track that extremely dangerous and
life-threatening fire that is sweeping across Southern California. There are a number of them. The fires exploding in size. They are fueled by winds that are gusting up to 100 miles an hour overnight forcing more than 30,000 people to flee from their homes.
Among the evacuees, 95 senior center residents. As you can see, many of them wheelchair bound.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is tough -- it's tough. They can't get up. They're stuck on their wheelchairs. We've got to lift them up and put them in the vans and take the wheelchairs at the same time. So we've got to get everybody out of here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right, let's bring in CNN correspondent Marybel Gonzalez. She is in Pacific Palisades, California tracking the very latest for us. Marybel, what have we learned overnight? What are you seeing, hearing, smelling? What's in front of you right now?
MARYBEL GONZALEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, good morning, Kasie.
It's definitely a dire situation here in the Pacific Palisades and it's kind of surreal one as well. We are just steps away from the ocean. In fact, it is dark right now, but I can hear the waves crashing. All of this happening as we are just steps away on the other side of these raging fires as you see behind me.
Now, here on the scene we've seen dozens of fire trucks just on standby hoping to contain some of this fire, but at this point it is zero contained. And as you mentioned, it's only growing in the hour that we have been here. We've actually seen some of it contained but you can see how rapidly the situation is evolving because as soon as some parts get contained other flames are flaring up as you can see on camera right now.
And as you mentioned those winds -- those dangerous and life- threatening winds, as officials have called them, only fueling this fire.
Now, as we know right now, this Palisades fire has been burning at five football fields a minute. Nearly 3,000 acres burned. And firefighters are not only dealing with this fire but also two other ones that have popped up overnight -- one in Hurst -- the Hurst fire north of San Fernando, and the Eaton fire in Altadena. That one has grown to 1,000 acres in a matter of hours.
As you mentioned, those wind speeds reaching nearly 100 miles per hour overnight with isolated gusts across the highest elevations approaching triple digits.
Now, Los Angeles has declared a state of emergency. Governor Gavin Newsom securing federal funding to help firefighters on the ground try to protect those homes and try to protect people's lives more importantly.
We know that this has been ongoing since yesterday morning. Those rescue efforts have been ongoing as people have been fleeing their homes. Thousands -- tens of thousands of people leaving their homes, evacuating -- some as precaution, others under those evacuation orders.
We also saw some of those cars being left on the side of the road and along the road as people are trying to leave frantically. A bulldozer even being used in some of those situations to remove those vehicles.
Now, what you don't see right now is what's happening on the other side of this mountain along the roads. As we were coming here downed power lines, downed trees -- difficult to drive through. There's power outages. Thousands of people right now are without power not only here but stretching across a large area of Los Angeles County.
And as we mentioned, more than 1,400 firefighters are on the scene right now trying to combat those fires. Zero percent contained. Right now the effort and the focus is on helping people get out and get -- make it to safety and try to protect those lives -- Kasie.
HUNT: Yeah, Marybel. And we're also learning at this hour that officials have declared the iconic Rose Bowl -- the stadium where they play the Rose Bowl -- as an evacuation shelter for people who are leaving.
[05:40:10]
What can you tell us about how this threat is playing out through the night there in Los Angeles? Because our understanding is some of these winds -- the peak time for danger may be between 10:00 a.m. local time and 5:00 a.m. or so.
What should residents there be expecting -- be on the lookout for in these coming hours?
GONZALEZ: Yeah, we're definitely not in the clear. The worst is definitely not yet here. And, of course, we will get a better understanding once the sun comes up. But as you mentioned, those winds are expected to continue gusting at high speeds through the early morning.
We know that right now the governor is asking people to please heed those evacuation orders. Several shelters are open now for animals and also for the people that need somewhere to go. There's also the schools. Schools -- at least five schools in the Los Angeles County area have now closed. But definitely heeding those evacuation orders.
We also know that hundreds of thousands of people are without power so that is just another thing that people are battling here in this area.
HUNT: All right. Marybel Gonzalez is going to be with us throughout the morning. Marybel, stay safe. Thank you very much for your reporting. We'll be back with you soon. But let's go now to CNN's meteorologist Derek Van Dam who has been tracking those weather conditions this morning. Derek, what can you tell us about how the weather is going to affect whether or not firefighters have any chance of getting these blazes under control anytime soon?
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah. Well, when you have hurricane-force wind gusts fueling the flames -- (coughing) excuse me -- obviously, this is going to have rapid spread on any kind of additional fires that form within Southern California as we speak.
We heard Marybel talk about wind gusts in excess of 60-70 miles per hour. Look at this. This is some of the highest wind gusts that we have experienced so far. Of course, these are mountaintop ridges but remember, when that wind goes up and over these mountain ridges it compresses, it dries out, and it actually speeds up as it reaches the valley floors as it warms up. So you could just imagine the imagine incredible extreme fire behavior that firefighters are contending with, with these types of winds.
So we've kind of put in a localized view here. So this is Los Angeles County, Ventura County just to the west. And I want you to see the direction of the wind -- more of a northerly component coming right over the Santa Susana Mountains right down towards the coastline near Santa Monica where the Palisades fire is. Of course, we have three out-of-control fires at the moment.
And then I want you to see as we take you through time. This is Wednesday morning local time. That's the current gust. They expect those winds to pick up in speed through the course of the morning. That is typical with Santa Ana wind events. We get that peak wind gust as we edge towards dawn hours, right? So that's typically what happens.
Right now we have this particularly dangerous situation. We're all well aware of this. But it's the combined factors of low humidity values, the extreme winds, and the intense, ferocious winds that are just driving these incredible, incredible flames.
Right now, Kasie, this is amazing. Only 10 percent of average rainfall for Southern California so far this water year that's led to these scenes we're seeing on our TV screens this morning.
And I'll leave you with this. This is what it looked like outside of a passenger window of a flight approaching Los Angeles last night.
HUNT: Wow. That's just unbelievable.
VAN DAM: Yeah, apocalyptic.
HUNT: Derek Van Dam for us. Wow -- that's really hard -- really, really hard to look at. Derek, thank you. I know we'll be back with you a number of times throughout the next hour as we continue. These are, again, some of the most dangerous hours out there in L.A. happening right now. Still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, as Donald Trump returns for a
second term is another left-wing resistance also making a comeback? Former Congresswoman Susan Wild joins us to talk about how Democrats are preparing.
And we'll continue to bring you our latest coverage of the destructive wind and those wildfires rampaging Southern California.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fire was basically encircling us. You could hear explosions all around us. And the fire was kind of rapidly moving down Bienvenido and towards our house. So I'm kind of -- I'm kind of glad I got out when I did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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[05:48:45]
HUNT: Welcome back to CNN THIS MORNING.
Life-threatening wildfires sweeping across Southern California overnight into this morning. Los Angeles officials declaring a state of emergency as tens of thousands of people have been told to evacuate across L.A. and its environs.
CNN's Nick Watt has been on the ground for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK WATT, CNN 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. 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 flicking -- look at these embers. Look at these embers. Any one of these embers could go and cause a fire somewhere else. Look -- we've got this. We've got another small 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.
Thirty-thousand-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.
[05:50:05]
The question is just how far is this fire going to go before the wind finally dies down.
Nick Watt, Pacific Palisades, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNT: Wow, just a stunning scene there from our Nick Watt who filmed that at about 1:00 a.m. overnight for us. Clearly, very close to many of those flames.
And we are, of course, going to continue to cover that breaking news story throughout the morning. But let's take a minute now to turn to politics.
Democrats preparing for Trump's return to office. It's looking a little bit different this time than it did back in 2017.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're appalled. We're appalled at the new president. I don't think any of us even want to say his name. I mean, we're appalled.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So eight years ago in January 2017 -- let's -- those pink hats emerged as a symbol of the anti-Trump resistance with hundreds of thousands of protesters flooding the streets across the country after his inauguration.
This time around though activists seem to be embracing a more muted response to Donald Trump's second presidential term. One organizer telling CNN, "The 2025 playbook cannot be the 2017 playbook."
And as Democrats in Congress look ahead to the Republican trifecta in Washington some are also reconsidering the approach to Trump 2.0.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. TOM SUOZZI (D-NY): And there was a lot more of the resistance movement back then. And resistance is appropriate. I resisted him trying to get rid of the Affordable Care Act. I resisted him trying to deport Dreamers. We can do resistance, but it can't be all resistance.
SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): I've been warning people -- like, you've got to chill out, you know? Like, the constant, you know, freak out -- it's not helpful. So, you know, pack a lunch. Pace yourself because he hasn't even taken office yet.
I'm not rooting against him. If you're rooting against the president, you are rooting against the nation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: "Pack a lunch and pace yourself," he says.
Joining us now for her first TV interview since leaving office, former Democratic Congresswoman of Pennsylvania Susan Wild. She was the top Democrat on the powerful House Ethics Committee. Congresswoman, thank you so much for joining us this morning.
SUSAN WILD, (D) FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: Good morning. Thank you so much.
HUNT: So do you agree with Sen. Fetterman there? Should Democrats, you know, pack a lunch and approach this differently than you did in 2017?
WILD: Well, I do think that it's important not to freak out at every distraction because I think there's going to be a lot of distractions. And I think people in my party really need to focus on what the issues are that really matter to the American people. And quite frankly, I think it's going to be one distraction after another. So, maybe yes -- pack a lunch.
HUNT: Why do you think you lost your race? What was it?
WILD: Because Trump was on the ticket. I lost by one point. And Pennsylvania was the center of the universe, as you know, last election --
HUNT: It was.
WILD: -- and all resources from both parties poured into that state. And I think what Democrats underestimated was just how many Republicans were getting registered. And by that, I mean Trump- supporting Republicans.
HUNT: Really fascinating.
So this morning we also have a little bit of breaking news because the USA Today did an exit interview with President Biden, and the headline is this: "Biden says yes, he could have won re-election." And here is the -- here's the headline, as you can see it.
Here's the full quote. This was Susan Page who you may know.
WILD: Um-hum.
HUNT: A longtime Washington --
WILD: Yes.
HUNT: A very well-respected Washington journalist.
She says, "Do you believe you could have won in November?" Biden says, "It's presumptuous to say that, but I think yes, based on the polling that..." And then she jumps in and she says, "Do you think you would've had the vigor to serve another four years in office?" Biden says, "I don't know. Who the hell knows? So far, so good. But who knows what I'm going to be when I'm 86 years old?"
Would that honesty have helped Democrats in -- you know, years ago?
WILD: That line would not have helped Democrats. And I think that -- who knows whether he could have won. But I -- you -- we have -- we can't underestimate the fact that having a woman -- a woman of color at the top of the ticket may or may not have helped Democrats win the presidency.
So I'm not sure. But the age issue, the competence issue, that debate performance -- those were all huge mitigating factors against Joe Biden, so hard to say.
HUNT: What do you say to voters who feel like Democrats weren't honest with them about what they may have known about the president's cognitive state? I mean, do you feel like you were confident in this mental acuity before that debate?
[05:55:00]
WILD: I was confident in his mental acuity. I did have great concerns about his ability to project and to speak. He's had a lifelong speech impediment as we know, but this was something different and I saw it firsthand. I could be as close as we are now and have difficulty at times understanding what he was saying.
And that caused me a lot of concern because as President of the United States it's not a -- it's not that you're speaking professionally but it's an important thing to be able to communicate well. And that really concerned me. But I didn't have concerns specifically about his cognitive abilities -- no.
HUNT: Do you think Kamala Harris could have won the presidency? Was it a winnable race for her or was it unwinnable?
WILD: I think it was unwinnable. I think having -- I think there was -- we underestimated the Trump effect and his ability to rebound.
HUNT: All right. Congresswoman Susan Wild, thank you very much. You're going to be joining our panel throughout the coming hour. I appreciate it.
WILD: Thank you.
HUNT: All right, coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, a lengthy, wide- ranging press conference. President-elect Donald Trump making clear his hopes of reshaping the entire western hemisphere.
Plus, tens of thousands evacuated as a state of emergency in California as ferocious winds fan the flames of devastating wildfires.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So I just started packing up all of our stuff and we got in the car to go. And then all the cars were abandoned so I had nowhere to go. So I just had to get out of my car and start walking. The smoke is so bad. I don't -- I have no idea where we're going.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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