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CNN This Morning

Death Toll From Eaton And Palisades Fires Climbs To 16; More Than 100k Still Under Evacuation Orders In California; Winds Expected To Pick Up As Firefighters Work To Contain Wildfires; Palisades Fire Now 11 Percent Contained, Eaton Fire 15 Percent Contained; Biden To Deliver Farewell Address From Oval Office On Wednesday; Weather Delays Bezos' Rocket Launch. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired January 12, 2025 - 07:00   ET

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

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[07:00:48]

AMARA WALKER, CNN HOST: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to CNN This Morning. It is Sunday, January 12th. I'm Amara Walker.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to be with you. Thank you for joining us.

And we, of course, are following the new developments in those devastating fires burning through California. The death toll growing, and officials say they're concerned the fires will do the same. We're live in one of the hardest hit areas ahead.

WALKER: President Biden is heading into his final full week in office. The steps he's taking this week to try to cement his legacy before President-elect Trump returns to the White House.

BLACKWELL: And Senate confirmation hearings will begin this week for some of President-elect Trump's Cabinet picks, including some of his most controversial nominees, how they're expected to play out and what it could tell us about the party's allegiance to Trump.

WALKER: And could Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin beyond the verge of challenging SpaceX is dominance. The new rocket that will serve as a crucial test for Blue Origin in just under 24 hours.

Well, new this morning, at least 16 people are confirmed dead in California's two largest wildfires, and that number is expected to rise when emergency personnel can reach more of the affected areas.

Firefighters made some progress Saturday, battling four major fires in the Los Angeles County area. Two are nearly contained, but the Palisades fire is still growing and it's only 11 percent contained. The mayor of Malibu says that fire has wiped out a third of the eastern edge of the city and people say they're not sure what to do next.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's like your heart's been ripped out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have everything. We have our life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And stomped on and thrown away. And you're just trying to find a piece to put it back together.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two doors down, the house is gone. One door up, the house is gone. The house above me is gone. The houses across the street were burning all day.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BLACKWELL: The Los Angeles police chief announced that the ATF will take the lead on the new investigative task force created to find out what started the Palisades fire. Meanwhile, police are cracking down on looters in mandatory evacuation areas. The Los Angeles Police Department says it arrested seven people in two days, including two looters who pretended to be firefighters.

Now, on the weather front, rain could be on the way, but not before stronger winds. Firefighters hope this shift in winds could push the fire back toward land, actually back onto itself, areas that have already burned.

CNN's Julia Vargas Jones joins us now from Los Angeles. So, what are the firefighters hoping to accomplish today?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Victor. Look, they're trying to work within this window before those winds come back up. We're hearing overhead still lots of aircraft in the air. Obviously, they're not doing water or fire retardant drops at this hour, but they are keeping an eye very closely on this fire right now where we are here.

This is Mandeville Canyon. Yesterday we watched as the hills behind us burned and behind me just a proof of all of that hard work. The neighborhood that we were afraid could be touched by the eastern flames of the Palisades fire seems to be have been left untouched, at least for now.

The fire moving, like you said, back onto itself. We're hoping that this means that that containment number can still go a little bit higher still today before the Santa Ana winds pick back up in the coming days. Again, there's a lot of crews here on the ground from different states.

We're seeing fire trucks around here from Nevada, from northern California. Now, troops from Mexico also coming in that Governor Gavin Newsom welcome into the states to help fight this both on the ground and from above. That help is much needed, Victor, just in these critical hours before those winds come back.

WALKER: And Julia, if you will, could you update us on these evacuation orders in which neighborhoods are now affected?

JONES: Yes, Amara. Still 100,000 people under evacuation orders. Now, some of them have been lifted in parts in the northern part. So again, the geography of Los Angeles on the other side of the hills here. We have the San Fernando Valley, Encino, the town in Encino that has seen a lift on the evacuation orders.

[07:05:07]

And just a reminder, you know, authorities are saying, please do listen to those alerts that come to you on your phones. A few days ago, we had a snafu with those alerts where erroneous alerts were sent to people that did not need to evacuate.

And that has created a little bit of skepticism from the population and those alerts, but they're urging people to please heed them and pay attention to them. They said they're investigating how is it that those erroneous alerts went out, but that for now, though, they are working fine and people should listen to them. Amara?

BLACKWELL: All right, I'll take it. Julia Vargas Jones, thanks so much.

So many people, and we've shown you some of the video, lost everything in the fires. Some of their possessions are irreplaceable.

WALKER: Giorgi and Leonardo Antinori evacuated their home in Pacific Palisades on the first morning of the fire and then hours later their home and everything in it was gone, including their late daughter's ashes.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

GIORGI ANTINORI, LOST HOME IN PALISADES FIRE: We had a daughter 15 years ago. She'd be 15 and she passed away when she was one and her ashes were in our home and they're gone. Like every memory, every piece of physical evidence of her life is just gone and that hurts.

I feel numb right now because I feel like I've cried all of my emotions, but I've just been -- it's just been -- the prices of insurance just got so high. And, you know, we were still trying to recover from, you know, the last four years of just everything changing after COVID that we thought, you know, we'll recover fast and then we'll just pick up our insurance again and everything will be fine.

We never ever in 100 million years thought that our house would go up in flames, and so.

LEONARDO ANTINORI, LOST HOME IN PALISADES FIRE: Yes, this doesn't usually happen. When there's a fire, it's usually more up north and it never really -- it doesn't reach the community in Palisades. And --

G. ANTINORI: Yes.

L. ANTINORI: -- it's never happened. I was talking to Giorgi's dad and he's lived here his whole life and since the 60s, and it's never happened before.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BLACKWELL: You know, we should be careful. And I had to catch myself yesterday. And as we're talking to people who have lost their homes and their belongings and saying that you have your life, they're just things they can be replaced. Because first, we don't know what it feels like to lose every tangible part of your life.

And there are some things that cannot be replaced. They are tangible, but you'll never get them again. And with their daughter's ashes --

WALKER: Just like this ashes, yes.

BLACKWELL: -- and the photographs.

WALKER: Yes.

BLACKWELL: So --

WALKER: Right.

BLACKWELL: -- that is just a reminder as we try to soothe people and reassure them, let's be careful with how we do that.

WALKER: Yes.

BLACKWELL: All right, let's talk about weather now and the firefighters. They got a brief break from the winds yesterday, but they are expected to pick up again.

Meteorologist Derek Van Dam joining us now with the forecast. A break now, but winds potentially pick it up.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Santa Ana winds and they are pushing around these embers in very dry vegetation, a tinderbox. Think about it like this. They've only received a 300th of an inch of rain since October when their water year actually begins.

So representative of this, I brought a cup of water, dyed some of the water here. Don't think about this as volume, think about this as depth. So that's the amount of rain that they've received so far. They should have received over 4.5 inches.

This should be spilling out and over this cup of water. Again, representative of just the little amount, the lack of rain that Los Angeles has received since the beginning of the year. So very dry. And the Santa Ana winds are causing this havoc.

We have critical fire conditions that are extended through the week. The fire danger threat right through Wednesday. The winds now offshore, but I want to advance this graphic and I want to show you just your Pacific Palisades where one of the largest fires is burning out of control.

An onshore component could take some of those embers, move them around into areas that have not -- have already been burned. So we're actively monitoring for large fires, but let's move into Palisades and get specific because this is important information.

The burned area represented in the orange, the pink shading, that is a mandatory evacuation order. The yellow is evacuation warning. Look how this is encroaching on 405. On the Western side, that is Brentwood, the neighborhood of Brentwood. On the other side of the 405, this is UCLA.

So we're showing you just how close the evacuation orders and warnings are coming and just how close the Palisades fire is from reaching this very densely populated area. Is there any rain in the forecast? Not necessarily over the next seven days, but there are some hints by next weekend. Maybe we get a few drops of rain from the sky.

WALKER: I'm sure the firefighters will hold on to that maybe.

VAN DAM: Yes.

WALKER: Thanks so much, Derek.

BLACKWELL: All right, joining us now Chris Harvey with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Chris, thank you for joining us at such an early hour.

[07:10:03]

Let's talk about containment and progress on Saturday. Last report, Palisades 11 percent contain, Eaton fire, 15 percent contain. The other two major fires closer to full containment. Have you been able to make progress overnight at a greater containment?

CHRIS HARVEY, CAL FIRE SPOKESMAN: Yes. As some of your previous guests mentioned, you know, we do have had some cooperation from the weather the last couple of days that has helped. However, you know, the conditions still remain very volatile up in those areas. And so, we are pushing you know, to try and get as much done as possible with the return of these strong winds and red flag conditions through Wednesday.

BLACKWELL: But those numbers hold?

HARVEY: Yes. What I have right now is just over 23,000 acres. I'm assigned to the Palisades fire specifically --

BLACKWELL: OK.

HARVEY: -- so 23,000 acres. As was stated, about 100,000 that are still under evacuation and about 11 percent containment. That's accurate.

WALKER: It is the hope and expectation that the winds will shift from the mountains towards the water so that you do see these fires, you know, basically go back towards, you know, areas that have already been burned.

HARVEY: That's correct, yes. And, you know, what they call the traditional Santa Ana wind pattern is blowing from north to south. And so under the best possible circumstances, you would have the fire blowing back to the southward back into the areas that have already been burned or is what we call it, you know, blowing back into the black area and not continuing to burn into the green area.

So the last time at least we spoke with Cal Fire that the Palisades fire was approaching, Encino, Bel Air, Brentwood, the Getty Center area. What is the threat this morning? Is it as immediate as it was several hours ago?

HARVEY: Well, what ended up happening was there was a little bit of a weather shift. The wind was coming out of the West and that drove that fire to the eastward. So that's what caused those evacuation orders to then be pushed out for that.

That West side of the 405 and then just south of 101 as the fire continued to move in a northward and eastward direction. Today is really going to be critical in terms of the air operations and the operations on the ground to try and, you know, stop those fires from any further northward or eastward spread.

But, you know, everyone's got their work cut out for you. I will say this, was mentioned earlier, you know, two of the major incidents down here are the Kenneth fire and the Hurst fire, and those do have a much larger percent of containment. And so you're going to see crews that will be released from those incidents that can then be deployed to the Palisades fire.

And then also, as was previously mentioned, we do have fire crews coming in from all over the western United States as well as some Mexican fire crews that are coming up as well. So a lot of resources are being added to the Palisades fire to ensure, you know, that it doesn't continue to spread to the north and to the east.

WALKER: Just to be clear, the 405 freeway remains open, right? And also, Chris, if you could walk us through just -- and describe the work that is being done right now on the ground in terms of, you know, digging these lines and what have you.

HARVEY: Yes. So, let's talk about just west of 405 there. I was up in the Mandeville Canyon area all day yesterday, that's a very active area of the fire. You know, I saw a lot, a lot of resources that were pre-positioned in that neighborhood.

A lot of -- you know, almost every drive, we had a fire engine in it. The difficulty up there is there's a lot of very steep terrain with some difficult access. So there was also a lot of a large number of hand crews in there yesterday to get into the places where wheeled vehicles could not go.

The water supply up there looks good. I saw many, many fire engines that were hooked to hydrants that were charged. And then the other thing that we're able to do up in those neighborhoods is the houses that have swimming pools. A lot of the crews, as they go in, have portable gasoline powered pumps.

They set those up right on the edge of the swimming pool, drop one hose into the drafting side, and then now they've got an additional water source. They can draft out of these swimming pools and use that water to fight fire as well.

BLACKWELL: Chris, last question for you here. As the winds will shift potentially and send the fire back into neighborhoods that they've already burned, what do you say to those families -- and we spoke with one today -- that are going back now to these neighborhoods to see what is left?

Should they stay away? How should they navigate this, especially if they may be disconnected from those alert systems that are based on proximity?

HARVEY: Yes. We had -- you know, we certainly understand the desire for people to go back into the area. You know, they want to check on their homes. If possible, they may be looking, you know, if the homes are still standing, they need to get medications. Sometimes they're looking for heirlooms that may have been left behind or even pets unfortunately.

[07:15:00]

So we certainly understand the desire to return to those areas. I do, you know, know that the National Guard and law enforcement are still being very strict at the roadblocks in terms of who's being allowed to be let in.

And so I would just say that, you know, like anything on these incidents, vigilance and care is going to be required from these folks to just be very aware of the changing nature of these incidents and how suddenly they might, you know, be called upon to evacuate the area again and just be very aware of that.

WALKER: Well, we really appreciate you joining us during this extremely challenging and busy time. Chris Harvey, thank you for all that you do and appreciate it.

And for more information on how you can help California wildfire victims, you can go to CNN.com/impact.

BLACKWELL: Tomorrow, President Biden kicks off his final week as the leader of the free world president of the United States. The political legacy he'll leave behind at his last actions before President-elect Donald Trump just one week from tomorrow.

WALKER: And after losing the White House and Senate majority in 2024, Democrats are strategizing how to shape the party for new leadership. What candidates who hope to become the DNC chair need to address to move the party forward.

BLACKWELL: And it's been a long time of development, but now it looks like Elon Musk's SpaceX could meet its first challenger, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin. We'll go inside the billionaire's space race later.

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[07:21:07]

WALKER: Officials in California say at least 16 people are confirmed dead in the wildfires burning through parts of Los Angeles. Fire crews from several states and countries are on the front lines this morning battling these flames.

They have made progress since the fires began six days ago, but Santa Ana wind conditions may pick up again tomorrow. The Palisades fire is at least 11 percent contained, but it is moving east toward Brentwood and other neighborhoods. The Palisades, Eaton, Hurst and Kenneth Fires have spread to more than 38,000 acres combined.

President Biden has a pair of speeches planned as he heads into his final full week in office. The speeches will cap off Biden's 50 years in politics. He's likely to focus on what the White House sees as achievements both at home and abroad.

BLACKWELL: We got a preview on Friday as the President celebrated a positive job support. His administration is the only one in American history to see new jobs created every single month of his four-year term.

CNN's Betsy Klein joins us now from the White House. So let's talk about the President's schedule this week. We know about these two big speeches. What else are we expecting? What else is possible?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE PRODUCER: Right. Well, Victor, a very busy week ahead for President Biden, his final full week in office, as he has a pair of major speeches designed to both shore up his while also capping off that 50-year career in public service, starting off with Monday at the State Department where he will deliver a major speech on foreign policy.

Now, this is a bookend speech to a speech he gave laying out his foreign policy back in 2021 returning to the State Department four years later to talk about some of the progress he's made as well as his efforts to shore up those key alliances abroad.

Now he will also take aim at Trump. One source telling us he will talk about how he is handing the next administration, quote, "a stronger hand than he inherited". Next up on Wednesday, the President will deliver a farewell address to the nation from the Oval Office at 8:00 p.m. That is his fifth and final oval office address the last time, of course, as he laid out his rationale for dropping out of the presidential race back then, but now an opportunity to detail some of his achievements in office.

What we'll be watching for and what we don't know is whether the President will hold that traditional, time honored, end of term news conference. The President back in -- has only really lagged behind his modern predecessors in terms of press conferences.

And he has -- the last time he took questions from reporters in a dedicated news conference setting was July 11th. So a lot of questions for him. We'll see if he does. That we'll also be watching whether he uses that presidential pardon power for any last minute pardons or commutations.

A lot of questions as he has said that he is willing leaving -- to leave the door open to maybe issuing some preemptive pardons. We'll be watching that quite closely. Of course, all of this he's still governing. He is monitoring that federal response to these devastating wildfires in California and we'll be watching to see how he hands that off to President-elect Trump in the coming days.

And finally, all of this comes as the President eulogized President Jimmy Carter just a few days ago. He talked about how Carter in his post presidency established a model by making a powerful difference as a private citizen.

So we'll be watching closely what kinds of hints he gives us as to how he intends to spend his post presidency. Biden, for his part, telling reporters earlier this week that he does not intend to be out of sight or out of mind.

Victor and Amara?

BLACKWELL: Betsy Klein for us at the White House, thanks so much.

Let's bring in our White House Reporter at Politico, Daniel Lippman. Daniel, good morning to you. And let's start with this Wednesday Oval Office address about President Biden. This interesting variable, of course, we've seen farewell addresses from presidents before, obviously over the over the years.

This is unique because his successor is his predecessor. How do we expect that will play it?

[07:25:00]

DANIEL LIPPMAN, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, POLITICO: Yes, he was really hoping that one of his legacies would be to get Donald Trump out of politics forever when he beat him in 2020. And people are expected him to be a bridge to a future candidate. And so they were surprised when he ran for re-election in the first place.

But I think he may not contend with how Trump is coming back, but he's going to say that historians will judge his presidency over a long time period, but he himself has admitted that he is not someone, you know, who is -- some of his policy accomplishments are not affecting voters in their day to day lives. And so he's hoping that Trump is not going to tear up all parts of his legislative accomplishments.

BLACKWELL: Yes, so we'll see how the President deals with this transition back to Trump. But we saw from the Vice President, she posted on social media, a photograph from Jimmy Carter, President Jimmy Carter's funeral, where a lot of people noticed who's not in this photograph.

Now, was this intentionally cropped to keep the Trumps out of the photograph and include all of the other presidents, vice presidents and spouses? We don't know. But what do we know about the engagement between Vice President Harris and President Trump? Is it exclusively the debate and the concession call?

LIPPMAN: We have not seen any indications that Trump is asking for advice from Harris. It kind of that -- when she cropped that out, it kind of reminded me of high school antics where, hey, I don't want to put this person. I have a friend of me with in a photo. And so you have to wonder whether she approves every picture like that.

And you also -- I was curious, what would it be if a fly on the wall between the conversation, between Vice President Pence and Donald Trump, since they really do not have a good relationship as well. But in the spirit of bipartisanship, everyone was shaking hands. And even Obama was having some smiles with Donald Trump at that funeral.

BLACKWELL: Yes, we didn't see that on the behalf of the Vice President. Let's talk about the week ahead and confirmation hearings first up Tuesday. And the one so many people will be watching is the confirmation of Pete Hegseth, nominee for Secretary of Defense.

A few weeks ago, his nomination was really tenuous. Are there still enough Republicans to tank that nomination? Is it seen now as probable?

LIPPMAN: It's now seen as probable that they've done vote counts. That a lot of these Republican senators, they did not want to face the wrath of Trump world which Joni Ernst kind of flavoured. You know, she saw how Trump world turned against her when she was saying, hey, this is unacceptable behavior.

But more broadly, a lot of democratic and some Republican senators are saying, hey, we want to see these FBI background check reports on Pete Hegseth. So far, they've only been shared with the top members of the committee, evaluated him, the Armed Services Committee. They haven't been shared more widely.

And even the background checks are getting criticism because they didn't interview some key leaders of veteran organizations that Hegseth ran. And he was accused of financial mismanagement there.

And when you have a huge Pentagon budget of hundreds of billions of dollars, people are saying, hey, why didn't the FBI interviewed those folks? It reminds me of how Brett Kavanaugh's FBI investigation wasn't very comprehensive either.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about the politics of the firefight. President- elect Trump is posted on social media, we can put it up, "The fires are still raging in L.A. The incompetent polls have no idea how to put them out. They just can't put out the fires. What's wrong with them?"

California's Governor Gavin Newsom is also called Trump delusional and ignorant on the issue. I mean, in a week, this federal response will be led by the new president, President Trump. How much does this bickering suggest a shift in federal approach to the response, or is it just social media back and forth?

LIPPMAN: It may be just social media tweets where they're kind of -- they have better -- they should have better things to do than just attacking each other on social media. Because behind the scenes, Newsom and Trump have worked well together, although, of course, they have lots of history.

Remember, Newsom's ex-wife dated Don Jr., Kimberly Guilfoyle, and now she's going to Greece. So out of sight, out of mind. But I don't think Trump wants to be accused of politicizing the disaster response like he was last time with some, you know, wildfires in California, where he was accused of kind of trying to withhold aid because he knew California was democratic.

But I think because of how vast the scale is, he doesn't want to be like George W. Bush after Hurricane Katrina in terms of not having a great federal response. And of course, there's lots of Republicans in California as well that have been affected, especially in those wealthy areas.

[07:30:11]

BLACKWELL: Daniel Lippman, thanks.

WALKER: All right. Still to come, we're going to go back to California where the death toll in those fires has now climbed to 16. The headwinds that firefighters are facing. That's ahead.

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WALKER: In California, at least 16 people are now dead as a result that the wildfires sweeping through the Los Angeles area. Firefighters made some progress on Saturday, but the area is under a red flag warning again.

[07:35:00]

BLACKWELL: And that means high winds could start to pick back up and fuel the fires all over again. And now, in addition to the flames, authorities are battling looters and misinformation. CNN's Julia Vargas Jones joins us from Los Angeles. Let's talk about how these firefighters are preparing for the week ahead.

JONES: Yes, Victor. Look, we just witnessed here a night drop of water. Again, we're in Medieval Canyon at the eastern edge of the Palisades Fire. I hadn't seen that before. We had two different helicopters soaring over this canyon behind me and making drops on what's still at these smoldering structures and trees in this very residential neighborhood, not too far from the 405 freeway that cuts Los Angeles north to south, not too far from the iconic Getty Center, one of L.A.'s most famous cultural landmarks.

This is the battle that they've been fighting for at least 24 hours now, trying to save this neighborhood and trying to make use of this window of time that they have before those Santa Ana winds pick back up and make this battle even more difficult.

WALKER: And, Julia, as you were saying, officials are also battling looters and misinformation so much so that they actually had to put up a website to basically fact check this misinformation and disinformation.

JACKSON: Yes, Amara. Two of those things. So, one of them, the looter situation, and people have been arrested for that. There were people that -- even two of those arrests, people that had been pretending to be firefighters to get into these neighborhoods. We heard from authorities that those people will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, that they will be taking these charges very seriously.

But also, look, the misinformation aspect has been a difficulty for the city and the county to counter as their own alert system had a big error that sent alerts to people all over the city that did not need to evacuate. They're saying they are investigating that and that they're urging people to listen to those evacuation orders that they are correct and to check that website, you mentioned Amara, to make sure that they are looking at official information for what are exactly those evacuation areas and not to rely on other posts on social media.

BLACKWELL: Good information there. Julia Vargas Jones, thanks so much. And tonight, there's a special hour on the deadly fires in Los Angeles and the family's facing unthinkable tragedy. Join Anderson Cooper for The Whole Story tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern here on CNN.

Jeff Bezos is gearing up to challenge Elon Musk for space cargo dominance.

WALKER: SpaceX may finally face its fiercest competition yet as Blue Origin prepares to ignite a new chapter in the space race. We're going to take a look at when the launch countdown begins.

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WALKER: A big test is ahead for Jeff Bezos and his Blue Origin rocket company as we await Monday morning's attempted launch of the New Glenn rocket into orbit. Now, weather conditions postponed today's launch. We are now less than 24 hours away from the next window of opportunity when they would try to get this rocket off the ground.

We're joined now by Leroy Chow. He's a retired NASA astronaut. Leroy, let's start with what We will see if this is successful. Walk us through, you know, the liftoff and, of course, the detaching of the top portion. And then, of course, the phenomenal landing in the ocean.

LEROY CHOW, RETIRED NASA ASTRONAUT AND INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION COMMANDER (RET.): Right. So, this is a big deal. A big step for Blue Origin. Jeff Bezos. Blue Origin was started about 20 years ago, around the same time as SpaceX by Elon Musk. And Elon Musk and SpaceX, of course, they've been routinely launching Falcon 9s, Falcon heavies, recovering first stage boosters.

So, in a way, Blue Origins playing catch up. And this is a big deal. This is their first orbital rocket, the New Glenn, and it's been in development for quite a while. So, it'll be exciting to see how it goes. Now, it took SpaceX many, many, many tries before they successfully recovered their first stage booster. And so, Blue Origin is going to try this on their first flight test. So, we'll see how it goes. It'll be interesting to watch.

WALKER: And again, about this being such a big deal and the fact that, you know, this rocket, or at least Blue Origin, is really going to, you know, be a major competition to Elon Musk. Talk to us about how, you know, that's probably good for us, right?

CHOW: Oh, absolutely. Competition is good. It keeps everyone sharp, it keeps everyone on their game, it keeps people from being complacent, right? And so, then, always good to have an alternative provider. SpaceX has been -- has brought launch cost down dramatically. What used to cost somewhere in the $150 to $250 million range for a rocket to launch a satellite. If you use a reused booster, that cost is around $35 million now.

And so, if you bring in Blue Origin with a semi-reusable rocket as competition, that will guarantee that we all get the users that is get the lowest possible prices and the highest possible qualities. And so, it'll be good to have a second alternative provider to the fully expendable market that has been dominating for decades.

[07:45:00]

WALKER: Yes, we don't know if this will be successful, but if it is, can you tell us what we will see when liftoff happens?

CHOW: Sure. So, you'll see as -- back to the launch. As always, from any rocket, you'll see a stage separation after probably around two and a half minutes or so. And the upper stage and the payload will continue uphill, as we say, into space, into orbit. And then, you'll see that first stage booster come back. And, you know, you've seen this numerous times with Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, they'll do the boost back. And actually, you even saw with Starship, the very first flight test of Starship Super Heavy. It was also recovered successfully.

So, hopefully you'll see a burn back. It'll come down and the engines will relight or at least some of the first stage engines, and it'll settle gently, hopefully, onto the recovery ship. And if they're successful, it'll be a big deal because this is the first time they're flying this rocket. So, fingers crossed.

WALKER: Yes, fingers crossed. There is though, just in case, a self- destruct mechanism.

CHOW: That's true. All rockets that launched certainly from U.S. soil have a built-in range safety pack and it's basically explosive charges that destroy the vehicle if it's going off course, malfunctioning, and heading towards populated centers or, you know, outside of predefined ranges that's operated by the U.S. Air Force down there, or I guess Space Force now down in Florida, where this launch is taking place.

WALKER: I do want to ask you, Leroy, before we go about this planet parade that we're expecting. It's obviously going to be a treat for so many people. I understand on January 21st we can expect to see several planets lined up in the night sky. Some are calling it a planet parade, as I said. What can you tell us about that and how can we see it? CHOW: Sure. Yes, absolutely. So, you know, of course, all the planets in our solar system are in different orbits. And so, they're, you know, going at different radial velocity components. That is, they only line up every now and then, right?

So, for example, the Earth and Mars line up around every two and half years. You know, we're pretty much, you know, at the closest points of our orbits, where that would be the time to try to travel to or from Mars, right? And so, this is kind of a neat thing where you have these different orbits, all kind of lining up with several planets are going to be more or less in the line, and they should be visible in a clear sky. If you're away from light pollution. And it'll just look like a line of stars, right?

And I'm sure there are many apps out there you can use to help you find these planets. And it should be pretty cool to see.

WALKER: Yes, we have a few apps already and I'm sure my kids will be excited to see that on January 21st. Leroy Chow, it's always great to see you. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: All right. The countdown in New Orleans and Super Bowl 59 has begun. And it started with a couple of statement wins in the wild card round. Coy Wire why is here with highlights? That's next.

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[07:50:00]

WALKER: The NFL playoffs kicked off this weekend with a pair of dominant performances by the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texas.

BLACKWELL: Yes, Baltimore Ravens. Coy Wire here with us to break it all down.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes, Victor Blackwell's Baltimore Ravens and his quarterback Lamar Jackson going for a third MVP of his career, but he's also trying to shake the ghosts of playoffs past, so to speak.

He said he's gotten too amped up in past playoff games. He was just two and four all time in the playoffs. But this year could be different because this year he has this man, Derrick Henry, pulverizing defenders with vintage stiff arms like that. Poor Minkah Fitzpatrick. Five-time pro-bowler. That dude's as big as Victor Blackwell.

Yes. Lamar finishing off the Ravens opening drive. Strike to Rashod Bateman. His first of two passing touchdowns on the night. Call him Joystick Jackson because he's straight out of a video game. Ducking, dipping, dodging, then dumping the ball to Justice Hill. Touchdown, 21 nothing at halftime. And then, Derrick Henry, all 250 pounds of them, all but sealing it in the third. Turned 31 last week, but he still runs away from guys 50 pounds lighter than him.

Two touchdowns for Henry, franchise playoff record. 186 yards rushing. Baltimore wins 28-14. Here's Jackson on what it's like watching Derrick Henry run. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAMAR JACKSON, BALTIMORE RAVENS QUARTERBACK: It looked like a movie clip. Do you know when, like, I'm going to give, "Cars." You watch the movie "Cars"? A little bit too old to watch "Cars." But anyway, for kids, you all --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have kids.

JACKSON: I was a kid when I watched "Cars," that's all I'm saying. You know when Lightning McQueen just flying, flashing past, and then it's like -- that's how Derrick look when he was running past and all those guys, just -- it look like a movie, bro, I'm not going to lie to you. But I'd rather be watching it than being on the other side of the ball, I know that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: I love that. All right. The Texans are also moving on to the divisional round after beating a mud hole in the Chargers. C. J. Stroud showing up against the NFL's best scoring defense, throwing for 282 yards, leading his team on a 99-yard touchdown, driving the final minute of the first half, taking the lead.

But this game was all about Houston's defense. Chargers quarterback, Justin Herbert, threw just three interceptions all season. The Texans intercepted him four times in this game, including that pick six by Eric Murray late in the third.

[07:55:00]

Then in the fourth, the Chargers score, maybe making a late surge. Nope on a rope. The extra point is blocked. D'Angelo Ross picks it up, takes it the other way. Special teams putting up two more points for Houston as they dominate all three phases of the game, winning in a blowout 32 to 12.

Now, we do have three more playoff games tonight, including those Buffalo Bills. Victor, I found a hat big enough for us, baby. Yes. For us. I would ask him to put it on but --

WALKER: I think you need to put that on.

WIRE: -- let's go Buffalo.

BLACKWELL: I'm only going to put it on in the spirit of the show, not because this is my team.

WIRE: Let's go Buffalo. Let's go Baltimore.

WALKER: That looks amazing. So, handsome.

BLACKWELL: You all need to pull out to get my head and the hat in this shot.

WIRE: I love this man. You are now officially my hero.

WALKER: That fits his head perfectly.

BLACKWELL: Let me get a little style.

WIRE: Hey. Let's go, Buffallo.

WALKER: Can we get a still of this?

WIRE: I'm taking you from some wins and beers later, baby.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Coy Wire --

WALKER: I love you for doing that, Coy. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: You're going to hold onto that all day.

WIRE: Oh, forever.

BLACKWELL: Thanks so much for watching.

WALKER: Thanks for being with us.

BLACKWELL: We'll see you next weekend.

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[08:00:00]