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CNN This Morning
At Least 10 Dead, 10,000 Structures Lost To L.A. Wildfires; Fetterman First Senate Democrat To Accept Trump Mar-a-Lago Invite; Notre Dame Tops Penn State In Thriller, Advances To Title Game. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired January 10, 2025 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[05:31:25]
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: All right, it is 5:31 here on the East Coast. This is a live look at St. Louis, Missouri looking a bit wintry out there on this Friday morning. Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
We are tracking five wildfires ravaging an already devastated Los Angeles County for a fourth morning, including a new fire, the Kenneth Fire, now closing in on homes in Calabasas. It's burned already 1,000 acres north of Santa Monica.
Overnight, police announcing the rest -- the arrest of a man suspected of arson in the nearby Woodland Hills area, although the LAPD is not confirming at this time any connection to the wildfires.
At this hour 400,000 Californians are under evacuation orders or warnings. More than 10,000 structures burned to the ground.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's Armageddon. I'm driving to a war zone right now and I don't even know what to say. I'm speechless and I'm shocked. I'm just so sad for our devastated community.
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HUNT: At least 10 people have been killed since the flames erupted. Fire officials expect that number to rise.
Some residents now able to return to what's left of their homes and they are stunned by what they're finding.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is how hot the fire was. This is my Harley- Davidson.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, I didn't even recognize that was a motorcycle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that, right there, where you see the exhaust pipe, that used to be my Yamaha.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: We're also learning more about an incident involving a firefighting plane like the one seen here colliding with an illegally operated drone. The crew was able to land safely but the incident forced the temporary grounding of all aircraft battling that wildfire.
CNN's Marybel Gonzalez has been on the ground for us throughout and that's where we find here again this morning. Marybel, bring us up to speed. What are you seeing at this point? And talk a little bit about what the damage to that plane may mean for firefighting efforts and the ground.
MARYBEL GONZALEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, good morning, Kasie.
Well, we're back here at Pacific Palisades, this time in the neighborhoods, and we're getting a closer look at the extent of the damage here to the residents who live here and call this home.
Kasie, I just want to first explain to you where we are. If you can see behind us this used to be a home but now, as you can see, there's rubble, there's debris. It's been reduced in some parts to ashes. Right in front of me I'm seeing a dining table. That one seems to be intact. It's just -- it's devastating to see in the drive up here.
You heard someone just moments ago describing this as a warzone, and that is such an accurate description. Cars along the side of the road -- sometimes multiple cars almost nearly blocking the road -- just left abandoned and charred all throughout this neighborhood.
Now, we talked about those firefighting efforts yesterday. They were -- there were several planes that were able to make some airdrops. And the accident that we're talking about -- that crash you just mentioned -- that further complicates their efforts because remember there are still very limited resources, and this area needs the help. So that is just one less plane that can help contain this fire.
HUNT: All right, Marybel Gonzalez for us this morning. We will see you again in our next hour. Thank you very much for that report.
[05:35:00]
Fierce winds are still making it next to impossible to contain these fires.
Let's get to our meteorologist Allison Chinchar. Allison, good morning. I know earlier in the week we were talking about some hope that by Friday, which is today, some of this might subside.
What are firefighters going to face from the weather today?
ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: All right, so there is some good news. We are going to start to see those winds begin to come back down but it's going to be temporary because they are expected to come back up again on Sunday. You look at scenes like this behind me. This is an after of what
Malibu looks like. So here's the Pacific Ocean down here. This is the roadway right through here.
Now let's flip to what it used to look like prior to the fire. You can see homes lining up right there along the coast. You've also got a couple of structures and buildings on the other side of the road.
Now back again to the after. And again, you can see almost every single one of those structures is now gone. And again, that's what we've been seeing not just in Malibu but in a lot of the surrounding counties.
Now for today we do still have some areas in the critical fire threat although it's a little bit farther south into California than we've seen in the last few days. But near Los Angeles, especially the northern and western communities, still under at least an elevated risk. Saturday, that elevated risk shrinks a lot because we really do see tremendous improvement in the winds on Saturday.
So let's take a look. So here's all the fires labeled. These white things moving through -- this is the wind direction. So you can see at least when we start off the day today it's going to be more of a northerly direction. But as we go through the day it's going to start to shift, sometimes coming out of the east, sometimes coming out of the west. That's a concern for firefighters because it can change at a moment's notice.
But the one thing to note too, more importantly, is these numbers going back down -- at least, Kasie, until we get to Sunday.
HUNT: All right, Allison Chinchar for us this morning. Allison, thanks very much for that update.
And our next guest understands firsthand what it's like to flee for your life from a wildfire. He was forced to evacuate his home in the Pacific Palisades, and he managed to document all of it somehow.
Chris Reid joins us live from West Hollywood. Chris, good morning.
First of all, we're glad you're safe. We hope your family is safe. I would love to hear from you how your friends and your family are doing and what you may know about what's left of your home at this point.
CHRIS REID, WILDFIRE EVACUEE (via Skype): Hey, Kasie, good morning. Thank you for having me.
HUNT: So tell us a little bit about where you are, what it was like to get where you are, and what you're facing.
REID: Yeah. So I am safe. Me, my fiance, and my dog Stein (PH) are away from the fires. We were able to evacuate safe. And yeah, it's a crazy situation for everyone in L.A. And yeah, as soon as we heard of the fires, I was able to leave my office and kind of venture out to kind of save the dog because he was left --
HUNT: Yeah. Tell --
REID: -- at the house.
HUNT: Tell me a little bit about what that was like when you learned that you were under an evacuation order. What was your -- what was your first thought, and what did you do in the those immediate minutes and hours?
REID: I mean, yeah, it's crazy. I left the house probably around 8:00-8:15 that morning and by 10:30 I was -- my boss was like hey, is your house OK? And I said I have -- what are you talking about? And then I logged onto Citizen, and I looked at the news and saw the Palisades was up in flames.
So I left and what typically takes me 35-40 minutes took me an hour and a half. And I kind of parked on PCH and Sunset walked up, which is a three-four-mile walk, and I had assistance halfway up.
But it was scary scenes, especially being in deadlocked traffic on the Pacific Coast Highway.
HUNT: We may have lose -- yeah. Chris, this was, of course, you were trying to rescue your dog at this point. And I think we may be -- we may be losing Chris a little bit here but let me see. Chris --
REID: Yeah.
HUNT: -- can you talk about why you were willing to make that walk and how you ultimately then got out?
REID: I mean, you make the walk because you want to check on your family. You want to check on your dog. You want to check on your community. So there was never a doubt that just because I couldn't drive up there, I wasn't going to make it there. I was going to find the will. I was going to find the way.
HUNT: All right, Chris Reid for us this morning. Chris, we're very grateful that you're safe and I know you have a lot of rebuilding to do ahead of you. Our hearts are with you.
REID: Thank you, Kasie.
HUNT: All right. Straight ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING a bipartisan invitation. Democratic Sen. John Fetterman accepting an invite from President-elect Donald Trump to meet a Mar-a-Lago.
[05:40:00]
Plus, the luck of the Irish. Notre Dame playing for a national title for the first time in 12 years. More ahead with CNN sports.
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SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): And I am not just the senator for Democrats in Pennsylvania; I am the senator for everyone in Pennsylvania. And my state picked Donald Trump as president. And if I have the opportunity to have that conversation -- and I bet we're going to find things to work together for a better Pennsylvania and a better nation. And that's why I'm engaging in this.
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[05:45:00]
HUNT: Pennsylvania's Sen. John Fetterman defending his decision to become the first Democratic senator to meet with President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago. Fetterman joking with reporters that he'll demand that Trump make him "the Pope of Greenland."
His invitation comes as Fetterman has abandoned the progressive label from his party and criticized some policies on the left. Fetterman recently meeting with several of Trump's cabinet picks and co- sponsoring the Republican-led Laken Riley Act, which cracks down on undocumented migrants who have committed crimes.
Trump and Fetterman though not necessarily always at, let's see -- let's just be straight about it. They have not always been on great terms -- watch.
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DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: John Fetterman is the most dangerous Democrat.
I've never seen him wear a suit. A dirty, dirty, dirty sweatsuit. It's really disgusting. You know, I'm a clean freak. I'm a clean freak, guys. I don't like those dirty sweatsuits. They're disgusting.
Fetterman may dress like a teenager getting high in his parent's basement but he's a raging lunatic hellbent on springing hardened criminals out of jail.
And by the way, he wants to get rid of your police. Fetterman is a defund the police Marxist.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: That, of course, was when John Fetterman was running for this seat, so Trump was campaigning against him there.
Joining us now, CNN political analyst and Washington bureau chief for The Boston Globe, Jackie Kucinich. Jackie, good morning.
JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE BOSTON GLOBE: Good morning.
HUNT: John Fetterman becoming a really interesting figure --
KUCINICH: Yeah.
HUNT: -- in all of this. What does it say? KUCINICH: So John Fetterman has been -- and what's a few words between, you know --
HUNT: Politicians.
KUCINICH: That said, John Fetterman has always been someone who has resisted to being put in a box politically. And in this case, he's long said that if someone wants to have an honest conversation and be an honest broker with him, he's willing to sit down and have the conversation. And in this case, he said he is the newly elected president. I'm going to sit down and meet with him and talk with him.
He's not someone who makes promises either to -- you know, that he's going to do one thing or the other. But as he said in that clip, he says he represents Pennsylvania and he's going to do what he thinks his voters would want him to do.
HUNT: Let's talk a little bit more about the immigration piece of it --
KUCINICH: Yeah.
HUNT: -- because this is one of the places we're seeing this kind of shift in the wake of the election most prominently displayed.
Here's a little bit more of what Fetterman had to say about why Democrats lost the election and what it means. Let's look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FETTERMAN: If you're here illegally and you're committing crimes and those things, I don't know why anybody thinks that it's controversial that they all need to go. I think if we can't -- you know, there's 47 of us in the Senate and if we can't pull up with seven votes and if we can't get at least seven out of 47 -- and if we can't, then that's the reason why we lost. That's one of them. It's one of why we lost, in part.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Really tough words, especially in the context of the Senate where Chuck Schumer has worked to keep his caucus together.
And Axios put it this way. They said, "Their own leaders privately say it's dangerous, but 31 Senate Democrats voted Thursday to advance the Laken Riley Act. Republicans are lining up votes on immigration issues that got Democratic support in the last Congress but were blocked by Schumer, Politico reports. Schumer voted Thursday to advance the Laken Riley Act but wants amendments."
Is this going to pass?
KUCINICH: I think the amendment part is going to be key here. I mean, some of the Democrats object to a provision and they say -- in the bill -- that they say gives state AGs too much power over the immigration system. And I saw in the House some Democrats pointing to Ken Paxton from Texas as an example of someone that they wouldn't want having more leeway there.
Listen, we'll have to see if they open up the amendment process. Republicans don't want to do that. So will that turn some of these Democrats and give them a reason not to vote for it? Yeah, I think that could happen. But how many eventually support the bill, I don't think we know that yet.
HUNT: Jackie, big picture. How long do you think this may last -- this sense among Democrats that they need to perhaps approach Donald Trump in a different way? I mean, clearly, the results of the election were more clear in Donald -- more clearly in Donald Trump's favor than many of them anticipated that it would be. And we're not hearing as many people wanting to go out and call it the resistance 2.0 or something along those lines. But that said, Trump could overreach relatively quickly.
KUCNICH: Well, I was going to say that. I think it depends on the policy. We know that Democrats -- or that -- excuse me, the Republicans are going to keep pushing Democrats on immigration in particular because that is an issue where they felt like that they have the advantage on maybe some of these others.
We're talking about if anything an abortion, for example, comes on I think you're going to see a lot more Democrats push back and maybe not even vote to advance something. Now, I don't know what's coming down the pike.
But we'll also see -- I think watching these confirmation hearings is going to be very illustrative of how much resistance you're going to see from Democrats. Because while Republicans are trying to pick their battles, Democrats I think are going to have to do that too.
[05:50:00]
And that's one of the things in The New York Times interview that Fetterman pointed to, saying we can't freak out about absolutely everything. We have to be very careful about what battles we pick.
And I think you're going to see that, frankly, on both sides of the political aisle as we move forward with this new administration.
HUNT: Jackie, what's your sense in the way that Republicans want to advance Donald Trump's agenda? There's a little bit of a process difference, right?
KUCINICH: Um-hum.
HUNT: The Senate wants to do it in two pieces. Mike Johnson and the House says we've got to -- we've got one shot at this. We've got to do that.
But do you think there are going to be Democrats that are going to consider supporting that, that might give Mike Johnson more leeway, or not?
KUCINICH: The devil's in the details. I mean, really, I think it depends on what is in that bill and that -- and whether they're putting in things that Democrats can defend and support at the end of the day.
Listen, Mike Johnson's biggest problem and biggest hurdle is going to be within his own caucus -- or conference, rather. Democrats are just sort of the ancillary players here.
HUNT: Yeah, for sure.
All right, Jackie Kucinich. Thanks very much for being with us this morning.
KUCINICH: Thank you.
HUNT: All right, time now for sports. Notre Dame rallies to beat Penn State in a thrilling Orange Bowl, and advances to the College Football National Championship game.
Andy Scholes has this morning's CNN sports update. Andy, what a game.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Oh, it certainly was, Kasie. Good morning to you.
You know, it started off slow, but it had a fantastic finish. And now Notre Dame is going to its first national championship game since 2013. They're trying to win their first title since 1988.
Notre Dame and Penn State -- they went into the fourth quarter tied at 10. Then it was back-and-forth. Nicholas Singleton, a nice run here for the seven-yard touchdown. That was his third of the game. It made it 24-17 Penn State.
Notre Dame, though, answers. Riley Leonard and Jaden Greathouse -- he's going to take it 54 yards to the House for the touchdown to tie it up.
Then under a minute to go, Penn State trying to get in field goal range, but Drew Allar picked off by Christian Gray. And it was a great job by him to keep his hands under that ball.
The Irish would then get into field goal range and Mitch Jeter wins it for them -- 27-24 was your final.
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MARCUS FREEMAN, HEAD COACH, NOTRE DAME: We knew this was going to be a heavyweight fight. And that's a really good team we just faced that wasn't going to quit. But I told our guys we've been here -- we've been right here in this position before. And they believed and they got their job done.
RILEY LEONARD, QUARTERBACK, NOTRE DAME: History is written by conquerors and we're holding the pen. We decide how we want to write our history. And I'm a firm believer in whether you think you can or you can't do something, you're right. We believed that we could do it, and we went out there and did it. (END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: All right. So Notre Dame will not face the winner of tonight's semifinal between Ohio State and Texas in the Cotton Bowl. Kickoff set for 7:30 Eastern there in Texas. The national championship game is going to be played in Atlanta on January 20.
All right. Elsewhere, as the fires continue to burn in Los Angeles, the NBA postponing last night's game between the Lakers and the Hornets. That game was supposed to be held in downtown L.A. It will be played at a later date now.
According to ESPN, Lakers coach JJ Redick lost his rental home to the Pacific Palisades fire. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, meanwhile, said his 90-year-old mother had to evacuate and, sadly, they lost his childhood home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE KERR, HEAD COACH, GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS: That's my hometown and all my friends who are from there -- pretty much they've all lost their homes -- their family homes -- childhood homes. Our whole high school is gone. The town looks like it's just been completely wiped out. It's surreal and devastating. It's hard to even fathom how Pacific Palisades rebuilds and how it becomes a thriving community again. It's just shocking.
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SCHOLES: Yeah.
The NFL, meanwhile, announcing that Monday's wildcard playoff game between the Vikings and Rams will be moved from Inglewood, California to Glendale, Arizona where the Cardinals play, due to the ongoing wildfires. There are no fires burning near SoFi Stadium, the home of the Rams, but the league said it made the decision in the interest of public safety.
And Kasie, that game will still be played at its original time of 8:00 Eastern Monday night.
HUNT: All right. Really tough to hear all of that from him as he really encapsulates how he -- the idea that the high school you graduated from is gone. The entire -- it's not just individual homes; it is an entire community.
Andy, thanks very much. I appreciate it.
Coming up next here on CNN THIS MORNING a last-ditch effort falls short. Two conservative justices side with the liberals rejecting Trump's push to delay today's sentencing in his hush -- New York hush money conviction case.
Plus, we will bring you the latest on the ground in Southern California as officials try desperately to contain the devastation.
[05:55:00]
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The imagery of this is next level. It's shocking. I mean, I was down to my knees when I got up to my parent's house with just sheer amazement at what I was -- what I was looking at, which was basically just a chimney stack and a pile of ash. I mean, it's something out of a movie.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL)
HUNT: It's Friday, January 10. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING --
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This fire is far from over.
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HUNT: Surveying the damage. Residents in Southern California returning to the charred remains of their homes, but the threat is not over yet.
And --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I'll do my little thing tomorrow. They can have fun with their political opponent.
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HUNT: Sentencing day. Donald Trump about to cement his status as the first person convicted of a felony to assume the presidency.
