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Death Toll From California Wildfires Rises To 11; Biden Pledges Federal Aid For California Wildfires; Supreme Court Signals It Could Uphold TikTok Ban; Winter Storm Forces States Of Emergency Across Southern U.S.; Los Angeles Wildfires' Death Toll Rises To 11 As Governor Orders 100k To Evacuate; Trump Avoids Prison And Fine In Hush Money Case. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired January 11, 2025 - 06:00   ET

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

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[06:00:28]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Good morning. Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING, Saturday, January 11th. Good to have you along. I'm Victor Blackwell.

AMARA WALKER, CNN HOST: Happy New Year. It's good to have you back.

BLACKWELL: Yes. It's been two weeks. Good to see you.

WALKER: It has been two weeks. I've been counting. I'm Amara Walker. Thank you so much for being with us this morning. We are tracking the latest developments out of California where devastating wildfires are blamed for at least 11 deaths so far.

You're looking at brand new video taken early this morning over Los Angeles County where the Palisades Fire rages on and it is quickly moving east. It is one of at least six major wildfires torching Southern California. It's barely contained, but some of the smaller fires are nearly out.

In all, nearly 36,000 acres have burned, more than twice the size of Manhattan. Red flag warnings for high winds did expire last night. So firefighters say they hope to make more progress soon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. SHEILA KELLIHER, LOS ANGELES FIRE DEPARTMENT: Then we're just dealing with normal red flag conditions, which is totally different than the monstrosity that we've been dealing with. We have all the units in place. We've got over 3,000 firefighters on this fire. We've got over 350 engines, 54 crew buses, helicopters, dozers. We've got the world out here working on this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: The Los Angeles fire chief told CNN's Jake Tapper the city failed her department when it slashed the budget by $17 million this past summer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF KRISTIN CROWLEY, LOS ANGELES FIRE DEPARTMENT: We have over 100 fire apparatus out of service. And having these apparatus in the proper amount of mechanics would have helped. And so it did absolutely negatively impact. I want to also be clear that I have over the last three years been clear that the fire department needs help. We can no longer sustain where we are. We do not have enough firefighters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: A source tells CNN, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass has met with the fire chief.

BLACKWELL: New details are emerging about the victims. Eric Nickerson lost his father, Rodney, who lived in Altadena. He told CNN's Erin Burnett he can remember every single word of their final conversation on Tuesday morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

It ERIC NICKERSON, LOST FATHER IN CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES: Was a normal conversation like most mornings. You know, I'm sitting at work a good co-worker of mine, Sean Donahue. And I'm talking about football and asking dad who he likes and how are you doing, how you feel?

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

NICKERSON: And Dad, I love you. I'll talk to you later. And before we hung up, he said, son, the winds are picking up really, really bad. I said, dad, I'll talk to you later. And sometimes I talk to him later. And then sometimes I talk to him the next morning. But that night I didn't talk to him that night. I talked to him. I tried to talk to him the next morning. And the next morning I couldn't talk to my dad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: This is a tragedy that will continue to grow. Fire officials say it's not safe enough to assess the true number of deaths in these fires. And new this morning, UCLA is asking its students to be ready to evacuate the campus at any time. They stress that there are no evacuation orders at this moment, but the fire has crept closer to campus, so students should be ready to leave if ordered.

Joining us now From Pacific Palisade, CNN's Marybel Gonzalez. Marybel, what are you seeing there this morning?

MARYBEL GONZALEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Victor at Amara. Well, the devastation is just so widespread here in Pacific Palisades. More than 100,000 people have been asked to leave their homes. This is an evacuation zone where we're standing. Many, all of them are not able to return to their neighborhoods. But when they do, this is what they will have to face.

I just want to show you what we're seeing on the ground. Behind us, you can see what used to be a home, but now it's just been reduced to rubble, ashes and debris. And that's not just the homes on the street. We're seeing cars that were left when people were rushing to evacuate to safety, abandoned on the side of the roads. Some of them, like the one you're seeing behind us, completely charred. This is the reality for so many blocks of this once picturesque neighborhood.

We saw this in the downtown area as well, businesses there, shops there, burning to the ground in the overnight hours. You know, this is just so devastating to see, but we know that it's a bit all hands on deck.

[06:05:00]

We know Canada as well as Mexico has been sending firefighters to help local crews here combat these fires. Unfortunately, you know, here in Pacific Palisades, the fire here, which is the largest one, is only at 8 percent contained. So officials say this is far from over.

WALKER: Yes, clearly a long ways to go. Marybel Gonzalez, thank you very much for your reporting. President Biden has pledged that federal resources will be available for the people of California. CNN's Betsy Klein is joining us now from the White House. Betsy, what are you hearing from President Biden?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE PRODUCER: Well, Amara, President Biden and Vice President Harris staying in Washington this weekend while they will where they will continue to receive briefings from their team on the state of this federal response. And you may know that President Biden was scheduled to be in Rome this weekend meeting with the Pope as well as Ukraine's President Zelenskyy and other Italian officials.

And Vice President Harris, for her part, was set to kick off an international tour starting in Singapore with stops in Bahrain and Germany. Both of those trips canceled as they continue to monitor that federal response. And this hits quite close to home literally for Vice President Harris, whose Los Angeles residence is within that evacuation zone, continues to be as of this morning.

Now I want to get into the federal response. It is twofold as of right now. Number one, help stop these fires from spreading and put them out. Number two, help those who have been impacted in their recovery. And I just want to take you through a little bit of the federal response right now.

President Biden has directed the federal government to cover 100 percent of the state's costs for 180 days that he has also authorized a FEMA program that gives victims $770 to help kick start their recovery. That includes immediate needs for things like water, gas, baby formula.

The Department of Defense has also deployed air tankers to help with firefighting, helicopters as well as military personnel. Now President Biden has vowed that the federal government will be there as long as it takes. But I just want to note the timing here.

He leaves office just nine from now, hands over the keys of the federal government to President-elect Trump and this is going to be a very lengthy recovery and response effort. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: We're going to make sure California has every possible resource to fight these fires and help survivors. This is not going to be over even when all the fires are out. It's just going to beginning. And the change insurance policy in California for these modest homes as well as these very expensive homes. And so we're going to be around a long while, Governor, to help the federal government and the mayor as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KLEIN: Now, I asked President Biden earlier this week if he could guarantee that California would get the aid they needed in the next administration. He said he was unable to answer that question. But this is going to be a very complex recovery process touching all parts of the federal government. So a lot of questions about how President- elect Donald Trump will handle all of that.

For now, President Biden says that he is keeping Trump's team briefed on every step of the response. So when they take over the keys to the federal government just a few days from now, they're ready to hit the ground running. Back to you.

BLACKWELL: Betsy Klein for us at the White House. Betsy, thanks so much. We're joined now by Battalion Chief Brent Pascua from California's Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, also known as CAL FIRE. Chief, good morning to you. Let's start with progress overnight.

CHIEF BRENT PASCUA, BATTALLION CHIEF, CALIFORNIA'S DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY AND FIRE PROTECTION: Good morning.

BLACKWELL: The largest fires, Palisades, 8 percent contained. Eaton Fire, 3 percent contained at the latest numbers we have from last night. Do those numbers still hold? Talk to us about progress overnight.

PASCUA: They do still hold. We're still at 8 percent. Hopefully we'll see that number change this morning when the sun comes up and we get to see just the total amount of line that was put in overnight and the work that was done yesterday.

Good news is the winds are still calm here. We do have a firefight still on our hands, though, so we're still engaged in a lot of work to do.

WALKER: Do you feel like you have all the resources that you need? And I'm asking you this because I'm sure you've heard, you know, some of the criticisms that, you know, have been going around, especially regarding the budget cuts. You know, the L.A. fire chief saying that she is understaffed and under resourced. And of course, the question about those hydrants that ran dry early on in the firefight, do you have everything that you need? PASCUA: Yes. So as far as resources, right now we have everything we

need, all of our resources. Our crews that were here the first day are finally getting some rest on this fire. The first couple days, the fire just was moving so fast. We could have used -- we could always use more resources. Then we could have used one engine at every house.

So it's hard to tell what kind of difference if everyone would have been here waiting for the fire to happen, that would have made, especially with those winds.

[06:10:04]

As far as the hydrants, my crew, we didn't experience any dry hydrants, should I say, I don't know if we were lucky enough or what, but during the height of the fire, we just lost a little bit of pressure and I think that's to be expected when a whole town has every hydrant almost opened. But we never lost water and we stayed in the fight.

BLACKWELL: Yes, I saw that in the Palisades Fire, last report was approaching the Brentwood neighborhood, again, that was last evening's update. Has it gotten closer to that neighborhood? Are there any additional evacuations? Talk to us about that edge of the Palisades Fire.

PASCUA: Yes, I've moved over to that side of the fire. It's the northeast section of the fire. It is not driven by winds anymore. It's found the slope, the topography and the dry brush over on that side of the fire. So it's making runs up the canyon. We're expecting to hit the top of the ridges where we're there to meet it with aircraft which we've been able to fly all night to keep the fire in check. And then also we have a surge of engines on that side of the fire as well to meet it there.

WALKER: I understand you have a long standing relationship with various Canadian provinces, including British Columbia, which has sponsored specialized tech staff. Can you talk a little bit about that? And some of these specialized units that are helping.

PASCUA: Yes, so the Super Scoopers are a great example of that. And they can get water right out of the ocean. So I've been watching them with a quick turnaround, getting water out of the ocean, dumping it right on the fire. Also, our aircraft that we are using, thanks to the winds being nice and calm, have a reservoir right next to the fire that they've been using. So again, a very quick turnaround. And yes, those Super Scoopers, they help tremendously.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about, you've mentioned several times the winds because I've heard you describe those first two days as something you'd never seen before 80 miles an hour. And it would have been nearly impossible for any fire crew to control what was being driven by those winds.

As they've calmed down and you look ahead across the next 12 hours or so, what do you expect and what progress do you expect you can make on not just the two biggest fires, but the others that are still burning? PASCUA: I expect that our progress is going to keep moving in the

right direction. We're going to keep building containment. We're going to keep getting a handle on this fire, keeping it within its perimeter. You're right. Those first two days of the fire, trees were being blown over. I saw roofs being ripped off of sheds and those weren't even on fire yet.

So again, it was like fighting fire in a hurricane. These normal Santa Ana, we're used to fighting fire and they're expecting the next couple of days. So we're staying cautiously optimistic with that forecast.

WALKER: Well, we do hope for the best and that you all can make as much progress as possible. Chief Brent Pascua, thank you for what you do and for joining us this morning. All the best to you. Thank you.

PASCUA: Thank you. You're welcome.

WALKER: Well, this morning, as you heard, strong winds are expected to pick up, making firefighters work even more difficult. And you can hear just how strong the Santa Ana winds were earlier this week. The high winds helped these fires just explode.

And of course, trees topple as well. As you heard there from Brent Pascua. CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar is here now. Today's winds are not expected to be that bad, but they're expected to pick up later.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, I mean, you're talking a real narrow window here of opportunity for those firefighters and we are expecting them to pick back up as we go into the evening tonight. So there's not much of a window here, but they need to take advantage of it and they're happy to have it.

When you look at the forecast here, again, you've got both today and tomorrow where we've got that critical fire threat ongoing. You can see in a lot of places it's the same ones where they're dealing with the ongoing fires. We've got a lot of them to talk about. You look at some of the containment numbers. Some of those have come up in the last 24 hours because we saw those winds die back down a little bit late in the day Friday. They will stay that way through the early morning hours today.

But notice once we get into tonight, we start to see those numbers ticking back up again and especially as we head into Sunday. Now we're starting to talk about those wind gusts, 40, 50, 60 miles per hour yet again in some of these locations. Then another brief lull late into the day on Monday before it ramps back up Monday night and into Tuesday.

Now, another thing to point out, too, is all of that smoke that's in the air, a lot of times when the wind calms back down, it doesn't clear out the smoke. In fact, it just kind of sits there because there's no wind to move it around. So for a lot of folks, it can actually get worse. The air quality that means for a lot of folks in these areas where that smoke just sits there. So you have the air quality alerts again, not just in L.A. proper, but

a lot of the surrounding areas. And that's likely to stay the same, not just today, but also into Sunday. You can see a lot of that smoke plume.

[06:15:00]

It will continue to change directions as the wind also changes direction. So that's a component you have to kind of keep an eye out for. The weather services emphasizing again we've got these very strong winds, we've got the dry fuel but there's not one, but two separate events. So that's the other thing.

It's the two periods that one that's begin late today, early tonight in through Sunday. And then the secondary one late Monday and that will continue all the way into Wednesday. So several things to keep on and the red flag warning as well in affect not just today. Those are likely to continue tomorrow.

Keep in mind the wind direction is important, because it changes, Victor and Amara, and a moment's notice, that can entirely change the firefighters plan of action and they have to hurry up and come up with a new one because the wind began to shift.

BLACKWELL: They're fighting.

WALKER: And evacuation warnings too.

BLACKWELL: A lot of elements out of west coast. A lot of elements. Allison Chinchar, thanks so much.

CHINCHAR: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Listen, I know you watch the stories and listen to the people talked about losing everything and you wonder what can you do. Well, you can help the people impacted by these devastating wildfires, just visit cnn.com/impact for ways on how you can help.

WALKER: Well, there are breaking new developments this morning in the deadliest plane crash in nearly three decades in South Korea. The new setback for investigators trying to piece it all together is ahead.

BLACKWELL: Plus, the future of one of the most popular apps in the world is now in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court. How the ban on TikTok would work for the 170 million Americans who use it.

WALKER: And treacherous travel after one of the strongest storms in years slams the South. Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is back to track today's snow and ice threat for millions.

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[06:21:19]

BLACKWELL: Here's a look at some of the other stories we're watching this morning. President Biden took a victory lap Friday after the release of 2024's Final Jobs Report. The economy added a surprising 256,000 jobs in December. The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.1 percent. The president praised his administration's economic efforts. He said that they've created more new jobs than any other single presidential term in history.

Investigators say that both of the flight recorders from that South Korean passenger jet that crashed last month stopped working just four minutes before the accident. The plane crashed and exploded while attempting a runway landing. 179 people were killed. Two crew members survived. Investigators had hoped the black boxes would have shed some light into South Korea's deadliest plane accident in nearly three decades.

In a statement, South Korea's transport minister said that it was unclear why the devices stopped working and they're currently trying to figure out a cause.

WALKER: A ban on TikTok may now be closer than ever. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Friday over the law that would ban TikTok in the US unless it's unless its China based parent company ByteDance, sells it. The hearing did not seem to go well for TikTok, with most of the justices appearing to side with the government.

Chief Justice Roberts suggested the ban doesn't fall under First Amendment protections, citing that the law essentially is banning TikTok from doing business with the foreign adversary. CNN's Clare Duffy joining me now with more on this. Good morning, Clare.

Before we talk about, you know, what this potential TikTok ban will mean for the 170 million users, walk us through those two hours of oral arguments and the takeaways there because it seems to come down to the First Amendment versus national security.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN WRITER: Yes, Amara, it really did not seem to go well for TikTok yesterday. The justices seemed very skeptical of TikTok's argument here that this law violates the First Amendment or that the First Amendment would even oppose lie in this case. Instead, they seem to really much more align with the government's concerns here that this app is could potentially be controlled by China, be forced to hand over user data to China, or manipulate the algorithm to spread Chinese propaganda.

The justices seemed much more prepared to accept that argument than TikTok's argument here. And that would align with what we know the court has done in the past. Right. The court tends to defer on national security issues to other branches of government, so this wouldn't be a total surprise, but it does feel like TikTok is closer than ever to being banned in just a few days.

WALKER: So if the Supreme Court does indeed uphold the TikTok pan, then what would this mean for all the users out there and the app, would they be able to continue using the app?

DUFFY: Yes, it's a good question that we don't exactly know because the government has never tried to ban such a major social media platform before. And a lot will depend on how the government decides to try to enforce this law.

But what we expect is that they'll go to the app stores, think Apple, Google, and force them to remove TikTok from them, their platforms. What that would mean is that new TikTok users, if you don't already have it on your phone, you won't be able to download it. If you do already have TikTok on your phone, it's not just going to disappear. The government can't come onto your phone and delete an app, but you won't be able to update it in the App Store.

And that means that eventually it will be buggy, it could have security vulnerabilities, and eventually we expect that it would stop working. Now, there may be ways around this. You could download a VPN which hides your internet traffic, makes you look like you're accessing a platform from another country. But it would get a lot more complicated.

[06:25:00]

WALKER: Yes. So it looks like the app would just degrade over time without those updates. Clare, let's talk about the Trump factor in all of this because the president-elect has suggested that he would be open to keeping tick tock around even though the ban takes place the day before he is sworn in on January 19th. Justice Sotomayor even expressed concern that Trump could just ignore the law altogether. Here she is.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

SONIA SOTOMAYOR, ASSOCIATE JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am a little concerned that a suggestion that a president- elect or anyone else should not enforce the law when a law is in effect and has prohibited a certain action that a company would choose to ignore enforcement on any assurance other than the change in that law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: How might this play into the court's decision?

DUFFY: It's a really interesting question. Right. Because it was actually under Trump's first administration that he was the one who started talking about wanting to ban TikTok and these national security concerns. So it's interesting to see that he's made this 180. He now says he wants to save TikTok. In fact, he filed a brief to the Supreme Court asking them to pause this ban going into effect so that he could be the one to try to negotiate a deal to sell TikTok off from ByteDance.

But look, I think there is a question of whether if the Supreme Court doesn't block the ban before January 19, could Trump just decide not to enforce the law? That's what you're hearing Justice Sotomayor talk about there.

Legal experts have told me he could just essentially signal to the app stores that, look, we won't find you if you continue to host TikTok. But it's not clear if the app stores would be willing to play ball in that case, if they would be willing to violate the letter of the law just because they've been given a wink and a nod from Trump.

So it's not clear if he'd be successful in that. But that may be an approach that he decides to take here. So we may actually see the Supreme Court. You hear Sotomayor's concerns there try to make a decision on this before January 19th and before Trump is inaugurated the following day so that he has some more guidelines to go on here.

WALKER: All right, Clare Duffy will be watching closely with you. Thanks so much, Clare.

BLACKWELL: Los Angeles county is burning now for a fifth day. Several wildfires are raging. The largest of them burning out of control are the latest on the race to contain those flames. Ahead.

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[06:31:47]

WALKER: A massive Winter storm has brought the south to a standstill and its effects aren't over yet. Several states are covered with snow and ice. Governors in Georgia, North Carolina and Alabama have declared states of emergency. The storm hit travelers hard with highways iced over and 3,000 flights canceled.

BLACKWELL: Yes, but for people who weren't stranded at the airport, look at this, it was fun. Snow day in the south, baby. Atlanta's Piedmont Park was packed with people sledding and I don't know what that one was on if it was like a rubber-made lid, I don't know what people were on. They just --

WALKER: Well, how do people --

BLACKWELL: Grabbed what they could --

WALKER: Have -- how do people have sleds just stowed away -- stored away in Atlanta?

BLACKWELL: I think they hit Amazon when the forecast --

WALKER: Yes --

BLACKWELL: Came out --

WALKER: Yes, so --

BLACKWELL: I was like, this might be my only shot --

WALKER: I wish I had this --

BLACKWELL: I'm going down this hill. All right, CNN's Rafael Romo joins us now from Atlanta. Did you get out on any of these hills, Rafael?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I was going to tell Amara either that they're prepared with the real one, or they can use cardboard boxes, which is something that -- WALKER: There you go --

ROMO: I have done in the past.

BLACKWELL: Yes --

ROMO: Not yesterday, Victor, but this is something that we're not used to here in the south. Seeing so much snow, we would have to go back nearly seven years to talk about more than an inch of snow. It was in January of 2018, and yes, as you mentioned, there were many people enjoying that, including children at nearby Piedmont Park, some of them for the very first time.

But the reality is that this Winter storm was a huge headache when it came to getting around. Let me show you right here where we are 24 hours after the snowstorm. This is pretty much ice. So, roads that are treated like i-85 right next to us are OK. Traffic seems to be flowing normally, but there are many untreated streets around the Atlanta area and the states, and the state that have not are not in any good condition to go through.

Also, at the airport yesterday, nearly 3,400 flights were canceled. It was the highest number since July of last year, and many officials including Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, are still saying that if you don't have to get out on the roads, it's a better idea to stay home. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R-GA): Which, again, is why we're asking people if you don't need to get off, get on the roads, don't get on them. If you're on them, you know, try to find those lanes that we've been able to plow and potentially retreat later in the day and just slow down and be very careful out there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: Now, the Georgia Department of Public Safety, Victor and Amara reported 1,400 weather-related calls on Friday, including 269 to report crashes, 203 motorists asking for help of any kind. There's also the latest number that I saw of people without power this morning, 90,000 -- nearly 90,000 customers, according to power outage USA.

[06:35:00]

And I was telling you at the beginning, there were many children enjoying the snow for the very first time, including my very own daughter, six years old. So, not too bad at all in all. Now back to you.

WALKER: And they --

BLACKWELL: Yes --

WALKER: Were able to build like real snowman, like tall big snowmen, you know? And --

ROMO: Right --

WALKER: My kids had a blast as well.

BLACKWELL: Yes, I saw one of the snowmen online or snowwomen, she had a wig on with the eyelashes --

(LAUGHTER)

WALKER: Eyelashes --

BLACKWELL: A little extra in the back, scarf. Rafael Romo, thanks so much for us there --

WALKER: So funny --

BLACKWELL: In Atlanta, actually not too far from where we're sitting right now. All right, right now, 50 million people under Winter weather alerts.

WALKER: CNN's Allison Chinchar joining us now. So, tell us more on what we want to know is when the ice is going to start to melt.

CHINCHAR: Yes, so, that's been the problem because overnight it's still getting cool, so everything is refreezing. What doesn't go away, and not just in Atlanta, but a lot of the southern cities too. Now, we are starting to see some of those warnings and watches drop back off a little bit.

So, that is some good news. But look at how much snow has fallen in some of these areas. Again, you're looking at some of these totals out of Arkansas, Oklahoma, even portions of Tennessee as well as Georgia. Now, Atlanta, yes, ended up picking up officially 2.1 inches at the airport yesterday. That is a daily record. I know that may not seem like a very high number, but it is for these southern cities.

And yes, it's been since 2018 that we've had that much snow in this particular area, leading to a lot of those travel problems and also the power outages as well. Now, we look at the rest of this system, you'll see the bulk of that moisture is finally starting to push back out over the open Atlantic. But you do still have some areas of snow really focused still over the northeast and portions of the mid- Atlantic where places like Boston, even areas of Hartford, looking at some additional snow showers, also portions of West Virginia, western Pennsylvania and even Ohio.

That's why you still have a lot of these alerts. Now, the vast majority of these are really going to drop here in about the next 30 minutes. Once we get to the top of the next hour, because that system is finally starting to exit. But yes, one of the concerns is, those cold temperatures in place, a lot of the snow and ice that's there isn't going to go away any time soon.

Some of these places barely getting above freezing for the high temperature today. Now, the sun will help a little bit to melt some, but it's not going to melt all of it, especially if you were one of those locations that got 6, 8, even 10 inches of snow. And again, not to mention, it's -- just keep that Winter gear out because it's just going to be cold.

BLACKWELL: I appreciate being able to wear the big coat every once in a while --

WALKER: Once in a while is key, right?

BLACKWELL: Once in a while, Allison Chinchar, thanks so much --

WALKER: Now, all the way through March and April. President-elect Donald Trump will enter the White House as the only convicted felon to serve as commander-in-chief. What Trump had to say at his sentencing in the hush money trial.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:40:00]

WALKER: This morning, firefighters are battling at least six wildfires across Los Angeles County. The deadliest fires to hit southern California in decades. At least, 11 people are dead and more than 100,000 are under evacuation orders. The fires have burned 36,000 acres so far, and are far from being contained. But high winds seem to have eased overnight, so firefighters say they hope to make more progress soon.

BLACKWELL: This was a historic hearing yesterday. President-elect Donald Trump was sentenced without penalty in the New York hush money case, Friday, made him the first felon who will become the President of the United States. New York Judge Juan Merchan did not give President-elect Trump prison time or impose any fines, but sentenced him to unconditional discharge.

Last year, Trump was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records. It was in connection with a $130,000 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels. This was during the 2016 presidential election. Trump denies the affair, and in his statement, he insisted he is innocent.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's been a political witch-hunt. It was done to damage my reputation so that I'd lose the election, and obviously that didn't work. And the people of our country got to see this firsthand because they watched the case in your courtroom.

They got to see this firsthand, and then they voted and I won and got the largest number of votes by far of any Republican candidate in history.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Former prosecutor Jeremy Saland joins me now from New York. Jeremy, good morning to you. So, there is no jail time, there is no fine. We know what it is not. But can you explain in just conversational terms and not one of these conversations you have with your lawyer buddies, like the conversation with me and people watching. What is -- we know what it isn't. What is unconditional discharge?

JEREMY SALAND, ATTORNEY & FORMER MANHATTAN PROSECUTOR: No fine. No community service. No monitoring like probation, no incarceration. Very often, you get what's called a conditional discharge, which is don't get in trouble, don't get re-arrested. In my 25 years both as a prosecutor and a criminal defense attorney, I can't recall ever either offering or receiving an unconditional discharge.

But the big picture, Victor, is that big fat felony which doesn't go away. There's no punishment per se, but forever you are stained a felon. So, barring a successful appeal forever, he will be a felon.

BLACKWELL: So, the sentence is the stigma?

SALAND: Well, the sense I think you have to look at it in a judicious way.

[06:45:00]

And what I mean by that is, if you or I or probably most people, if not everyone listening to this and watching this program was convicted of a felon -- felony, pardon me, they would potentially lose their job. They'd have all sorts of issues with travel. Now, I get the fact that the former, almost now current President won't have those same issues, but it's still nonetheless a stigma.

And if it wasn't such a bad thing, you wouldn't have him fighting so angrily and wickedly and viciously in response to these allegations, trying to go to the Supreme Court to have this stopped. So, it is significant, albeit, yes, you're correct. It's not a penalty like we see for you or me or an average person if we were to get into trouble.

BLACKWELL: And the President-elect team, his team went to the Supreme Court and tried to get them to stop the sentencing. The court 5 to 4 decision decided to stay out of it. But as they continue the appeals, let's stay on the state side, do they have the legitimate argument from your perspective on appeal on sentence?

SALAND: Well, we look at it from two angles. One would be sort of the process and what happened in the courtroom and in the grand jury. I think Judge Merchan did a tremendous -- a judge worthy job in managing that case and making sure it was done properly. So that I think he loses. Where might he win or have some success? We have yet to see the extent of the Supreme Court's ruling in terms of immunity, and whether some of this was outside the scope.

That was meaning -- some of this meaning some of the evidence that came in that should not have otherwise been allowed to come in. Juan Merchan, the judge tried to answer that and did in his ruling, but he is not the court of appeals, which is New York state's highest court. So, we will see what happens. But on its face in the four corners, it looks fine, but that question

of law has never been asked or answered. So, it's one that will likely be decided, not process more of the legal substance, if that makes sense.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about Rudy Giuliani held in contempt now of court by a second judge. First time, it was for not handing over his assets. This time, it's because he's continued to tell this lie about two Georgia election workers claiming that they were in on stealing the 2020 election. Of course, that is not true. And that was the heart of the defamation case. Second contempt here, what happens next?

SALAND: Yes, so, what he is doing, Victor, is sort of taking something out of Trump's playbook. And the judge had said basically, you have chutzpah, meaning that takes real nerve to do what you did. And I'll respond by saying what she did, meaning the judge is saying now, not only did you really run a foul and you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing, you need to have a declaration.

And I think it was ten days she gave him to say, if you don't read the testimony, go through the deposition and do what you need to do, I'm going to find you $200 a day, and that door isn't closed as to what could be greater and more in terms of what happens to him. Frankly, at some point, this isn't Donald Trump.

Could she put -- could the judge put him in custody? Certainly, that's a possibility, albeit it's difficult for an 80-year-old man. But more fines, he's not going to win this. And I would remind people, unlike a criminal case where Donald Trump could swoop in theory and get rid of it, he can't pardon Giuliani on a civil matter.

BLACKWELL: Jeremy Saland, always good to see you. Thank you sir.

SALAND: You --

WALKER: We are getting new video of the chaotic moments after that deadly new year's day terror attack in New Orleans. Why investigators say 10 seconds of video is critical to this case. That's straight ahead. And he was one of the most decorated and influential artists of all time. Experience the life and music of the iconic Luther Vandross. The CNN film "LUTHER NEVER TOO MUCH" airs tomorrow night at 9:00 on CNN.

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[06:50:00]

WALKER: We have new video of the New Orleans terror attack that killed 14 people on new year's day. Police body-cam video shows the moment suspect Shamsud-Din Jabbar was fatally shot.

BLACKWELL: CNN's Omar Jimenez has more on what happened during those terrifying moments. And a warning for you, the video you're about to see is disturbing.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Victor and Amara, this was just after 3:00 a.m. the early morning of the attack, and the video picks up after the truck had already barreled through Bourbon Street, hitting people, and as you know, killing people as well. What you're going to see is essentially officers approaching the driver's side of the truck.

You can see airbags, you're going to see airbags that are already deployed at this point as well. And police say the gunshots originated from inside the truck, and then officers returned fire. And a warning to some of our viewers, what you're going to see may be disturbing.

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JIMENEZ: And the driver was killed here. Two officers were injured as well, but are expected to be OK. I want to actually look at one specific frame of this video, because it happens pretty quick. You see what's in this red circle here? It appears to be a muzzle flash behind again, the deployed airbags.

And investigators believe he shot essentially from behind those deployed airbags, at least, as far as we can see on this video. And it gives you a sense for how quickly this scene changed as officers began to approach again, the driver's side of this vehicle. And remember, there were still two IEDs placed in coolers, according to investigators, within that Bourbon Street area.

But as we know, they did not detonate. So, it could have been much worse. The chief of police says this was well within their use of force policy, and some might be wondering why we're only seeing just this particular snippet of what happened in those early morning hours.

[06:55:00]

Well, the New Orleans Police Department says that's essentially what they are looking at. They were looking at the officer-related shooting, the use of force here. So, they released that portion of it. The FBI is still in charge of the investigation of the wider incident. So, in theory, they could release more if they wanted to.

The FBI could, but we haven't seen that to this point. For now, this is what we're getting from the New Orleans Police Department showing how quickly things change, even already after the truck had barreled through Bourbon Street. Victor, Amara?

BLACKWELL: All right, Omar, thanks so much. This morning, there are new evacuation orders for thousands of people in Los Angeles County. The response to the deadly wildfire is being questioned. Later this hour or next hour, I should say, we have more on the fight against these wildfires on CNN THIS MORNING WEEKEND.

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