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Laura Coates Live
New Wildfire Rapidly Grows In Northern L.A. County; Trump Admin Makes Sweeping Changes At Justice Department; Trump Floats The Idea Of Investigating Biden. Aired 11p-12a ET
Aired January 22, 2025 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[23:00:00]
GEOFF DUNCAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER GEORGIA LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR: I'm in. I've got a bunch of worthless sports achievements.
UNKNOWN: You did it.
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR AND SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Some kind of sports record you can add to the achievements. All right, everyone, thank you very much. Thank you for watching "NewsNight." "Laura Coates Live" starts right now.
LAURA COATES, CNN HOST AND SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Tonight, major developments on day three of President Trump's second term, including sweeping changes at the Justice Department. We'll get to all of that in just a moment. But first --
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-- Los Angeles residents are dealing with yet another raging wildfire just two weeks into devastating Palisades and Eaton Fire first ignited. You're looking at live pictures of the Hughes Fire. This one is extremely explosive. It is burning -- get this -- the equivalent of a football field every two to three seconds. The blaze is going through parts of northern L.A. County as well as Ventura County, and 31,000 people are under mandatory evacuation orders as we speak.
Right now, it's burning near the town of Castaic. Forecast models show that town is in serious danger. It has already scorched more than 9,000 acres, and it is at present 0% contained.
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Now, we do have footage that appears to show when this fire started and, by the way, just how quickly it then spread. The timestamp here, 10:38 in the morning. Cal Fire first detected it at 10:53.
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Let's get straight to CNN's Veronica Miracle on the front lines of this fire live in Castaic. Veronica, what is it like on the ground right now so soon after the last time we saw raging wildfires in that area?
VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I know it's really just unheard of to have these many wildfires in the month of January. Right now, this evening, firefighters are really working hard to take advantage of lower temperatures and lower winds. You can see the flames right behind us. That's on a ridge line there, and it's really burning up a lot of dry brush. It's kind of in an area that is very isolated and it's back in the hillside, but it is burning very quickly.
Actually, some firefighters, I don't know if you can see in the foreground, they've got their meals, and they're getting ready for the overnight shift and protecting some of the homes that are on either side. There are some homes on one side, and then there's an animal shelter on the other. So, there are about 4,000 firefighters that have descended upon this fire to make sure that the residences and the businesses in this area are safe.
COATES: Can they confidently say they could stop this fire from spreading to more populated areas?
MIRACLE: Well, they're doing everything that they can, certainly. Like I said, they're taking advantage of some of the light winds here, and that's allowing the aircraft to fly, which is a really big component of their firefighting abilities, to be able to make major water drops on these flames. So, they're going be monitoring that.
And what is great about the fact that there are so many firefighters here who are supporting efforts at the Eaton and the Palisades fires is that they were ready to be able to come here and give this all of the manpower that they could. So, that's why there are 4,000 firefighters here working to protect all of these homes. Laura?
COATES: Truly unbelievable, especially the irony. There's weather, cold weather, all across the Southern United States, and here in L.A., still blazing, these fires. Veronica Miracle, thank you so much. Much more on the California fires in the show tonight.
Now, I want turn to our other huge story tonight. President Trump is carrying out his promise to take a sledgehammer to the DOJ. Now, last time, I told you how his administration was reassigning top senior career DOJ officials, likely in an effort to force them to resign. Well, now, Trump's team is taking their next steps. The DOJ has frozen all cases in the civil rights division.
A memo sent to the head of that division says it should halt any ongoing litigation from the Biden administration and not pursue any new case or settlements. The division works to protect the rights of the most vulnerable members of our society through 11 sections that deal with voting rights, where I formerly was, military voting, immigration, housing discrimination, education, employment, disability rights, prosecuting human traffickers, or those who commit violence against health care workers, police officers, misconduct. That's just a taste of what they do. Freezing this work won't actually freeze the unlawful behavior. It could very well exacerbate it.
And that's not all. In a separate memo, the Trump administration is stopping any police reform agreements where the DOJ found a pattern or practice of misconduct.
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Those agreements are known as consent decrees. And the memo is ordering civil rights lawyers to notify the Trump administration about any consent decrees finalized in the past 90 days. Now, this has the potential to upend police reform efforts in Minneapolis, which was announced by the DOJ in the closing weeks of the Biden administration. That agreement came years after the police killing of George Floyd. It could also unwind another settlement reached with Louisville in December, over the 2020 fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor.
Now, if you thought that was it, nope. It was the tip of the iceberg because there was a third DOJ memo today. This one was sent out by Acting Deputy A.G. Emil Bove, who was one of Trump's defense attorneys, if you recall, in that New York hush money case. It says the administration plans to challenge sanctuary city laws by threatening to prosecute state and local officials who resist Trump's immigration crackdown. Border Czar Tom Homan had a message for any sanctuary city that does not comply.
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TOM HOMAN, TRUMP ADMIN BORDER CZAR, FORMER ACTING ICE DIRECTOR: Sanctuary cities will get exactly what they don't want: More agents in the communities, more people arrested, more collaterals arrested. So, that's a game they want to play? Game on.
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COATES: And that immigration crackdown? It is well underway. The White House announcing today that Trump is sending 1,500 additional troops heading to the southern border. In just a moment, I'll speak with someone who's on the front lines of this very fight, New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez.
But first, the fourth DOJ-related memo today. You thought I was done, didn't you? No. This one instructs legal service providers to stop helping immigrants. It essentially strips away a critical support system for people in detention who are trying to navigate the U.S. immigration system.
Let's dig into all of those big changes inside the DOJ. I want to bring in CNN legal analyst Elliot Williams, Washington Post reporter covering the Justice Department and FBI, Perry Stein, and president and executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Damon Hewitt.
That's a lot happening. I just named four different memos in one day from this Department of Justice. And, of course, we're not even day fully three of the administration.
Perry, let me begin with you, because you have actually seen the DOJ memos that are freezing these civil rights cases, including efforts to reform the police departments that are at issue. What else can you tell us about them? PERRY STEIN, FBI AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT REPORTER, WASHINGTON POST: So, what these memos are basically saying is that you cannot pursue, you know, any new cases. And if, during the Biden administration, you got sign off to say, okay, you can file this complaint, you can file this complaint, my understanding from reading that is that those can no longer be filed while this freeze is happening. They don't really specify how long it is, but I think it's -- you know, there's a pending -- there's a director of the civil rights division who has pending Senate confirmation.
And again, as you mentioned, these police decrees, that's a huge deal of the work that happened under the Garland Justice Department, right? They had Minneapolis and Louisville. These were done. They were working on these for years. They were completed in the final weeks and months of the last administration. But they do need judges' sign off, and that's what this freeze could really stop those going into effect.
COATES: And we have no idea how long this freeze will last, and these consent decrees versus a memorandum of understanding, but they're essentially negotiated settlements. You know there is an issue, I know there is an issue, DOJ and the departments, and they say, what are we going to do to rectify the problem and course correct? And they agree on set principles. They then bring that to a judge who has to enforce it if they violate it. That's all frozen now.
DAMON HEWITT, PRESIDENT AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, LAWYERS' COMMITTEE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS UNDER LAW: That's exactly right, Laura. You know, this is a complete abdication of responsibility. The entire Department of Justice, not just the civil rights division, but the entire DOJ was created to help protect American civil rights and to enforce civil rights laws.
And so, every day that this freeze is in place, this nation does not have a chief federal civil rights law enforcement unit, period. It's simply not happening. And we all know that justice delayed can be justice denied. We don't know to the extent this will impact ongoing cases.
COATES: Uh-hmm.
HEWITT: If it does, I'm sure many federal judges will have something to say about that in cases of which they're presiding. But even just for new matters, if you look at just the pace and the volume of what we saw in the last four years, the productivity of the Justice Department civil rights division, that tells us that there are many problems that need addressing all over the country.
And just the notion that local government entities, mayors, counties, understand that they have problems, they want to fix them, now they don't have the tool to do that potentially because of this action.
COATES: I mean, this is an amazing scenario. Many people want to look at civil rights division, and they will think civil rights is synonymous specifically with race.
[23:10:03] It is a very expansive operation in the Justice Department. It includes so many aspects. Military, veterans, education, disability, just to name a few. I mean, you have so many things there. This is, in many ways, the biggest rollback of civil rights since reconstruction in the federal government.
ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: It's significant. And to step back a little bit, a president that comes in, certainly, has the prerogative to shift the priorities of any cabinet department.
COATES: Uh-hmm.
WILLIAMS: It happens across government. It's nothing new. I saw it. I was there under Bush. I was there under Obama. And you see, it's the priorities. And quite frankly, the civil rights division of the Justice Department is probably the most reactive to those changes, given the nature of the kinds of things you're talking about.
But this is sweeping on a level none of us have seen before those of us who've watched government quite a long time. You know, a few that you've left out, also access to religious facilities --
COATES: Yes.
WILLIAMS: -- is also covered by the civil rights division. Access to religious practice by institutionalized person, people behind bars who want to pray, is also covered by the civil rights division. So, I think people have in their heads that the civil rights division is this bastion of wokeness only dealing with things dealing with Black people and white people.
But there are fundamental civil rights that, quite frankly, are not being protected and enforced now. And it's striking that this is the one area in the Justice Department that's being shut down. The criminal division, the national security division, the antitrust environmental, they're all doing their work now. So, what is it about the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division that really has gotten into people's heads here? It's alarming.
COATES: Is there an answer that has been provided as to why this has been prioritized over other divisions in DOJ? And, by the way, if Pam Bondi is to be confirmed, which it looks like she likely could be, she hasn't even been confirmed to be able to make certain changes or set the tone for what would become her department.
STEIN: So, I mean, I, in reporting this article, do not have a comment from the DOJ. But what they said in this memo was that this is to reflect they want to show one voice for the administration and make sure this was what they entered the memo, what they said in the intro to it, that make sure that there's one voice across the administration.
So, a lot of this is also saying like, if there is -- if you want to do new things, you have to notify, um, the chief of staff. So, you know, that is who's going to be likely Pam Bondi's chief of staff. So, you have to notify top officials of any changes in these ongoing cases or anything in the consent decree. So, it seems like they're really trying to make sure that they like everything that is going through right now.
COATES: There's an irony, though, of kind of a pre-clearance provision baked in when the pre-clearance provision, say, of the Voting Rights Act 1965 was gutted. They didn't think that it was appropriate to do so and as long as there's no formula -- a function right now in Congress. But now, we know how solely a bureaucracy can work to go up to the chief of staff of the A.G. and say, can I -- can I do this?
HEWITT: Exactly.
COATES: That slows it.
HEWITT: It's an automatic chilling effect. I mean, what that (INAUDIBLE), I believe, is a simultaneous weakening of federal civil rights infrastructure, but also planning for what will soon be a weaponization of the same. You know, we already know --
COATES: They've said that's not going to happen.
HEWITT: Well, can't always believe what you hear, especially from this administration. I think they've shown us that in just the first couple of days. I mean, look, we know that there's already plans afoot to take extant federal civil rights law designed to protect people of color who've been long locked out of opportunity to now use it against them and the programs that are designed to promote opportunity. They're trying to flip the law to jurisprudence and, frankly, the public narrative on its head.
So, really, it's a weakening of infrastructure to enforce real civil rights problems and weaponizing the infrastructure to make sure that no one can do anything about it in the future.
COATES: I wonder because there's been commentary about people being hyperbolic in their reaction to this. I'm not saying anyone here is at all, but they're arguing essentially that no, no, we've just frozen it, we haven't done anything more than frozen it, we're pausing it. Is that detrimental in and of itself?
WILLIAMS: Well, it's interesting. And this came up -- you know, you tease the immigration context as well. And in each of these, there is some wiggle room. Now, taken to its extreme or taken to what sort of the plain language seems to say, yes, it seems to be problematic, but there is wiggle room. And this whole notion of going to the attorney general or the chief of staff, perhaps some of these cases will proceed.
I would hope, I really hope in my heart that if there are human sex trafficking cases right now being brought or in progress at the civil rights division and someone goes to the chief of staff of the Justice Department and says, I need to file something in my case, then damn it, they're allowed to do it.
So, you know, these are all things that fall under the jurisdiction of the civil rights division, and we would hope that they can still pursue even giving the president the room to tinker with things, at least for the time being. So, let's hope, let's cross our fingers, but as of right now, it doesn't look great.
COATES: Well, look, since the division has been in existence, people have had to climb the learning curve and get up to speed.
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We haven't seen a freezing of all cases to do just that. That's why you have queer prosecutors. Thank you so much, everyone.
Trump's immigration crackdown is very much underway, setting up a national showdown between the federal government and, of course, local officials.
New Mexico's attorney general, Raul Torrez, is on the very front lines of that fight, and he joins me now. A.G. Torrez, thank you for joining me this evening. A lot is happening very quickly, and I know that you are watching. The DOJ is threatening to prosecute state and local officials who resist the immigration crackdown. Do you anticipate a confrontation legally with them and will your office cooperate?
RAUL TORREZ, ATTORNEY GENERAL, NEW MEXICO: Well, first, let me say, as a federal prosecutor or a former federal prosecutor, it's, you know, a really sad day for me, and I think a stain on an institution that I proudly served for many years.
You know, I think a lot of people who have worked on the border are focused on the things that matter most, investigations involving human trafficking, cartels, and I -- and I, for one, and I think a lot of people, agree that that's where the Trump administration should be focused. But instead, they really ratcheted up the rhetoric and misused and distorted and, frankly, tried to instill a sense of fear in local officials.
And we are absolutely prepared to step up and defend and protect people who have every right to go about their business of trying -- to just try and make sure that our communities are made safe each and every day.
COATES: What does that say for those who are undocumented persons, the pursuit of them for deportation? I mean, ICE is telling people that the officials say they can now enter places of worship or schools to pursue those who are undocumented. What would that mean to communities in your state?
TORREZ: Well, we issued guidance today in the wake of the Trump administration's decision to stop recognizing sensitive locations: hospitals, schools, places of worship. We issued some guidance to people so that they would understand the rights, the responsibilities, and they would understand the limitations that immigration officers have.
Fundamentally, we are -- we are worried about the impact that this is going to have on families, on children and, frankly, on law enforcement. We depend a lot on the cooperation of people in the immigrant community --
COATES: Uh-hmm.
TORREZ: -- to help us solve crimes, to be witnesses in cases, and we are very worried that losing that cooperation is really going to endanger public safety.
COATES: That's a really important point because there is sometimes a mechanism in the law to provide someone a pathway to citizenship if they are cooperative with criminal prosecutions. This would have a chilling effect, coming forward in a number of cases. But what if agents have a warrant or a subpoena? What are you advising those clergy and officials to do specifically? Ignore it or come to a governing body? What?
TORREZ: No, we've given them guidance about the limitations. As you know, federal officers are allowed to be in public spaces as -- or uniformed police officers acting in their capacity to investigate crimes. They're allowed to interact, obviously, with the public. But if they have a judicial warrant that's, you know, signed by a federal magistrate that gives them authorization to be lawfully present, they have to comply with that.
And so, we're not going to advise anybody to disregard, obviously, federal law, they have to comply with those warrant requirements, but we are trying to reinforce the limitations of the types of actions that people can engage in civil immigration enforcement.
Fundamentally, though, I think that the real issue is whether or not this government is actually making this country safer by targeting houses of worship, health care facilities, and courthouses where victims of crime come forward. I don't think that's what the American people want. I know it's a pretty radical departure from the past practice of the Department of Justice and something that, I think, going to be a real stain on the reputation of the Department of Justice in the years to come.
COATES: We shall see. Of course, they argue on the other side that these sensitive places are being exploited for the very purpose of evading effective law enforcement. All this is coming in very quickly. We'll see what happens next. Attorney General Raul Torrez, thank you so much.
TORREZ: Thank you.
COATES: We've got much more breaking news ahead. We're watching the fast-moving fire that has now erupted north of L.A. counties. And L.A. County's fire chief joins us next with an update. Plus, in a late- night interview, President Trump implying he could go after former President Biden.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: He pardoned everybody, but he didn't pardon himself.
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[23:20:00]
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COATES: Breaking news, there's a massive and a new wildfire burning north of L.A. You're looking at live pictures right now. It's the Hughes Fire. It has burned almost 10,000 acres already and it continues to grow. And it is stretching firefighters already stretched to the limit. Remember, they've been dealing with the devastation of the Palisades and Eaton fires now for weeks.
With me now, Captain Sheila Kelliher, spokesperson for the L.A. County Fire Department. Captain, I cannot believe that you all are battling yet another blaze so close in time, so extensive. Where does the firefight stand now?
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CAPT. SHEILA KELLIHER, SPOKESPERSON, LOS ANGELES COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: Hey, good evening, Laura. Yeah, we predicted this was a possibility. There was so much unburnt area here in Southern California. We are, like you said, almost 10,000 acres at 0% containment. The good news is that the winds are starting to lie down tonight, only at about 15-mile-an-hour, where we've been at 35-mile- an-hour in our gusts throughout the day. So, we have some time this evening to really make some headway with our aerial assault, with our helicopters, which can fly at night, which is a huge resource on this fire.
COATES: And overnight, you're able to do this. Are there concerns that you have even with the ability of the lower winds and that aerial deterrent?
KELLIHER: No, those crafts are going to be able to fly tonight. We have our Chinooks, which have infrared sights, so they can fly day or night, and they can drop upwards of 3,000 gallons, which is incredible, as well as our Blackhawks. So, we've got some support tonight with that air attack.
COATES: So, what are the conditions like compared to the fires that hit Altadena, the Palisades, just two weeks ago? How are these comparing?
KELLIHER: What is crazy for me to even say, I have this perspective now, but these are normal red flag conditions. This is what happens in a normal red flag condition. It hits that deep brush that we have, the steep topography combined with the wind and the low humidity, and this is the fire that you see. But it's nowhere near what we saw over in the Palisades and Eaton Fire with 80 to 100-mile-an-hour gusts. I was there that night and it's a completely different beast. I was just out at the fire line at Castaic and it is a different fire with the wind. So, that's the good news about this fire.
COATES: And yet those fires were so close in time. How have those fires impacted the approach to this one or really the fatigue there must be among the firefighters who have been battling for weeks?
KELLIHER: I mean, you would think that's the case, but listen, this is our -- this is our season. Anytime brush season kicks off, your firefighters, law enforcement, first responders, this is what we train for, this is what we're about. So anytime that we can get in there and help and make this difference, our morale is high, we want to do it, and we've got a great rotation and a great support, you know, a great group that can swap out. So, we've got fresh boots on the ground, and that'll continue throughout this fire.
COATES: There are water conditions that posed a problem in the other fires we just discussed. Are you seeing any semblance of that now?
KELLIHER: No. We're fortunate because we can dip right out of Castaic Lake. We've got a lot of water up there. There's a lot of resources as far as where we can fill up our helicopters and fix wing crafts and stuff. So, we've got plenty of water to fight this fire.
COATES: Some good news in the midst of what's going on. Captain Sheila Kelliher, thank you as always for keeping us so informed.
KELLIHER: Thank you. Thank you for having me.
COATES: This is a rugged area. That's home to bedroom communities and ranches. There are also tons of film sets there that are used in movies and T.V. shows, even music videos. Well, Daniel Veluzat owns one of those locations, Santa Clarita Movie Ranch. And you know what? He joins me now. Daniel, thank you for being here. You had to shut down your production studio, I understand, and you are on standby to have to evacuate your home. I hear you are a lifelong resident of Santa Clarita. Can you tell me what today has been like for you?
DANIEL VELUZAT, CO-OWNER, SANTA CLARITA MOVIE RANCH: Well, we've gone through this before. It has been a day of ups and downs and a day of changes. And you kind of live your life by the direction of the wind, so to speak. And all production today, I felt the need to halt production today, both filming, construction, and striking.
I took an early look at the fire from one of our upper ridges and it was just moving at such a rapid rate. I thought the interesting thing about this fire was that this fire was actually pushing against the wind. And so that concerned me. The wind was going in the right direction for our sake, but the way I saw the fire kind of pushing back against the wind and kind of going in just about any direction it wanted to is what put the fear into me today to put production companies in a safe place.
COATES: I can imagine protecting the spans of a ranch very different than protecting a home. How do you stop such a large area of land from burning or trying to counteract it?
VELUZAT: Well, you have 240 acres nestled into what we call the Angeles National Forest. So, basically, you are kind of just sitting in the middle of a real powder keg, so to speak. And really, the only thing you can really do is put a lot of confidence in the L.A. County Fire Department, which I have. But you have to just monitor it. You have to monitor it 24/7.
[23:30:00]
You have to know the wind speeds, the wind directions, and just know your way around fire, so to speak.
COATES: Well, I'm sure you are aware as you've been seeing the devastating fires that took the south and the east of you, and the Palisades and Altadena. How did that shape your preparation for this fire? Were you expecting there to be some turn of events in your area as well?
VELUZAT: Well, we go out every year, and we expect a fire to happen. Where and when, we don't know. But what we do is we prepare for a fire. We clear our brush clearance many, many hundred feet from the building, sometimes thousands of feet from the buildings, and we prepare for this every year as though it's going hit us, as though it's going to hit and strike us. That's how we prepare. We have our own water trucks on site usually, and we don't do any filming or any work on the -- on the facilities without multiple water trucks to protect the ranches and the buildings.
COATES: You've had this ranch in your family, I think, since the 1940s. Has there been -- in your all your preparations, how often have you had to actually battle fires on this land?
VELUZAT: Oh, there have been multiple times. Back in 2000, just shortly after the filming of "Don Juan DeMarco" with Johnny Depp and Marlon Brando --
COATES: Uh-hmm.
VELUZAT: -- we lost a beautiful three-story hotel. And the fire was many, many miles away. It was a 10,000-acre fire, very similar to this, that started in a canyon called Texas Canyon behind us. And we thought that it was just plenty far away for us to not worry. But in an hour and a half, it was on top of us and it swept through that hotel in just a matter of minutes and took out other multiple sets. Santa Clarita has many, many working movie ranches out here, and we've all faced our challenges with fires in the past and the current challenge we face right now.
COATES: Gosh, you wish, with all the devastation, that this was a movie and not real life. And yet here we are again. Daniel Veluzat, thank you so much for joining.
VELUZAT: Thank you, Laura.
COATES: We are keeping our eye on these fires. We're going to bring you the very latest right here on CNN. But next, President Trump going on Fox News tonight, implying that he could investigate the former president, Joe Biden. Is it all bluster? I'll talk about it with my panel next.
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[23:35:00]
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COATES: Tonight, President Trump in a new interview floating an ominous idea, the possibility of investigating former President Joe Biden.
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TRUMP: This guy went around giving everybody pardons. And you know, the funny thing, maybe the sad thing, is he didn't give himself a pardon. And if you look at it, it all had to do with him. I mean, the money went to him.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Should Congress investigate that?
TRUMP: Well, I don't know. It's -- you know, I've always been --
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Will you order the DOJ?
TRUMP: -- I've always been -- look, he didn't give himself a pardon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COATES: I want to bring in senior political correspondent for Puck, Tara Palmeri, former senior advisor to Bernie Sanders 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns, Chuck Rocha, and former senior advisor to Trump-Vance 2024 presidential campaign, Bryan Lanza. I begin with you, Brian, on this. Is he threatening to investigate Biden? Did you interpret it that way?
BRYAN LANZA, FORMER DEPUTY COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR TRUMP 2016 CAMPAIGN, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER FOR TRUMP-VANCE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Listen, I didn't interpret it that way at all. I interpreted it in saying, having gone through the experience of what I just went through the last four years, what a foolish decision it was for Biden not to pardon himself given the current environment.
And I think that's true. I mean, I think going forward, our partisanship is so toxic, what it is. I think when a new administration leaves, they almost have to look and say, okay, how do we protect the people who've made some of these difficult decisions from these partisanship judiciary, this partisanship that takes place in the Justice Department? I think partisanship becomes that answer. I think that's what he's saying. I don't view it as a threat to investigate because just look at the first term. He didn't do it the first term. Why would he do it the second term?
COATES: Can you imagine if Biden had pardoned himself, given the flak he has already gotten for his son pardoned and his family members? How would that have looked?
CHUCK ROCHA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER FOR BERNIE SANDERS'S 2016 AND 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS: Of course, it would have looked bad. It would have made it hard for a Democratic consultant like me who makes ads against Republicans for pardoning January 6 folks because every time I bring it up now, they're going to come and reminds me and go, but what about all the pardons? This just goes back and forth and we never get there.
LANZA: Pardon family.
ROCHA: See there? That's what I'm saying. But this is a long stretch. Me and Tare were talking in the room (ph). Sorry, I'm going to bring it up. But there was a great --
(LAUGHTER)
-- letter that he had left the president, left to this president. Really nice. And we were talking about how nice it was. I guess we're throwing all that nice is out the window now because now we're talking about coming after each other. Seems like we go back and forth. But in my mind, the way I think about this is it is just more red meat. You've seen the first 48, 72 hours. Everything he said he's going to do, he did it.
COATES: Uh-hmm.
ROCHA: He keeps shoveling more red meat to that base.
COATES: Well, you know he -- Sean Hannity, he wanted to move on from this point. I don't know if he didn't want to go down this road or if he had other things to talk about, including things like the economy. Listen to this moment when Sean Hannity was like -- something else you want to talk about? Watch.
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TRUMP: Somebody advised Joe Biden to give pardons to everybody but him. They wanted to take care --
(CROSSTALK)
I don't care.
(CROSSTALK)
This is more important because right now, the economy is going to do great.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TARA PALMERI, SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, PUCK: Yeah.
COATES: He wanted to move on.
PALMERI: But this is top of Donald Trump's agenda. He has made it very clear. It will be justice. Like that is number one. It will be liberation day. It'll be justice day one.
[23:39:56] And I think, you know, the past four years, Donald Trump has said he has spent a lot of his time, his advisors, people closest to him, and their money, their life savings, on defending themselves against the justice system. And I don't think he thinks that the administration before him can get away squeaky clean without having to go through the same sort of pain that they went through. I mean, he believes he is a victim, that he was prosecuted, persecuted and targeted.
And so, that's why -- I mean, he often brings up the fact that he never went after Hillary Clinton. You know, that's something he always talks about. I could have went after her and her emails, but I let that go. So, I think that he's trying to say, like, that the entire landscape has shifted now, and you are allowed to go after your predecessor. Listen, to pardon yourself as a president, Trump did consider doing it, but that was radical.
COATES: There was a huge topic about whether you could self-pardon. There's always -- I mean, there's a lot of unprecedented and novel aspects of the application. But he's not the only person who is viewing January 6th or other aspects without regret or remorse. Stuart Rhodes was talking to our own CNN's Manu Raju on the Hill today. Listen to what he told him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So, bottom line, no regrets.
STUART RHODES, FOUNDER, OATH KEEPERS: Well, I don't regret standing up for my country. I don't regret calling out the election as what it was, which was stolen, illegal and unconstitutional. We violated many state election laws.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COATES: Bryan, how do you receive that?
LANZA: Listen, this guy does harm to my party and he does harm to my president. I mean, I hate that we're talking about it. I hate that he pardoned him. But we are where we are. You can sort of see the larger reason of why Trump wanted to pardon a few people from January 6th. But you sort of look at the process of pardoning a few and trickling it out. It becomes a much larger story over a longer time.
So, Trump being the decisionmaker that he is, he just ripped the Band- Aid and pardoned all of them. Wish he hadn't done it, but we are where we are. I mean, we're not done hearing from Stuart. His rhetoric is going to get louder and it's going to get worse. He's a cancer. We have to find a way to speak louder than that. But yeah, Trump gave him pardon, but I think the process of the pardon was we've got to rip the Band-Aid. We just can't let this drip out over the next three years of these --
STEIN: It was so crazy.
COATES: I think he had a commutation -- I mean, just to be clear, I think he had a commutation. I know -- we hate lawyers, right? He had a commutation, very specific about it, which is a little bit different, but the clemency umbrella is still the same, and I hear your point.
But there is also reporting tonight that Trump, the officials at his administration, are considering inviting some of the pardoned individuals to the White House. How are Democrats going to seize upon that? Should they?
ROCHA: First of all, this Democrat loves lawyers. It has been a trouble as much as me. You love a good lawyer.
COATES: I set that to the side and say that, look, the only thing smart about all of this politically is that he did it on day one. And people will forget about this in 12 months. If these folks don't start running their mouth and getting more trouble and make a more spectacle of themselves --
COATES: That's a big if.
ROCHA: -- I use in as to be like, remember when he did this thing, cause if they just go away, a short attention span, we've all talked about it. But if they don't and they continue to make trouble or be out there in the atmosphere talking about this, that we'll use it every day and twice on Sunday.
LANZA: They're going to -- someone is going to run for Congress.
PALMERI: These guys are so brazen. He literally returned to the scene of the crime. He is waving the red flag. And Trump has allowed them to do that. He's turning -- they are turning January 6th into a greater movement. And what is Donald Trump going to do? Abandon them? I mean, pardoning them was a way of placating the far-right. I was going to have them in the White House. Like this is not going away. And I think Stuart Rhodes showed you that. He's hanging out on Capitol Hill. He believes that he deserves it.
LANZA: I wouldn't be surprised if they ran for office.
COATES: You just said that. I was going to ask you. You mentioned some running for Congress. I don't think anyone has said that they would yet, but you can certainly foresee that. Speaker Mike Johnson, speaking of Congress, did announce a new January 6th committee that would counter what he called false narratives about the Capitol riot. This after saying Republicans are not looking backwards on the January 6 pardon. So why go there?
LANZA: I have no idea. I wish we would just move on. There's so much forward with this, with President Trump's agenda that connect with me, the American people, that it has this sort of positive view. People who are looking to turn the page from Joe Biden, they're looking to turn the page of this threat to democracy, all the language that he used.
I have no idea why Johnson wants to bring it back up. I mean, I kind of have my guesses. I just don't think it is productive. I think it's -- you know, when you have a media space that's covering so much, why are we covering something that's in the past? American voters want to know what's going forward. And I think President Trump has an agenda to offer them. There are certainly positive effects with respect to immigration. There are going to be other components. January 6th, to me, just makes no sense.
ROCHA: They need a new narrative. There are too many visuals on January 6th. They need a new narrative for this, and I think that's why they're doing it.
COATES: Tara, let me turn to you on this because Elon Musk is pouring some cold water on Trump's $500 billion AI infrastructure project --
PALMERI: Yeah.
COATES: -- saying that tech CEOs behind the investment don't actually have the money to back it up. What's behind this? A source of tension? Is it going to continue?
PALMERI: Yeah. I mean, it's really hard to have like another president or like a staffer who cannot be controlled by the president or the chief of staff speaking out.
[23:45:00]
And this is about a rivalry that he has with Sam Altman of ChatGPT.
COATES: Uh-hmm.
PALMERI: And so, he's just getting involved in, you know, I guess you could say deals that don't make him richer. I think Elon Musk wants to be the first trillionaire in the world. He doesn't like to see all of his friends also making money off their relationships with Trump. I could see a lot more of these billionaires fighting it out for the next few years because they have their own rivalries. You know how businessmen are. They have huge egos. Silicon Valley is out of control, and there's nothing holding them back from attacking each other, even if it hurts Trump and his agenda.
COATES: What's the phrase? All hat something?
ROCHA: All hat, no cattle. We should put them all in the WWE round and see who the last one is over the top rope.
COATES: Is that a possibility?
LANZA: Listen, we'll call Linda McMahon. The Royal Rumble is a very popular series.
COATES: If you know anything about Trump, it's not McMahon. It's obviously about Dana White.
LANZA: There you go.
COATES: UFC. Thank you so much, everyone. Really important conversations. And a look ahead. Ahead, we are going to go back to California to check on that new fire that is raging in northern Los Angeles. They can't get a break out there. Thousands of acres burned. Tens of thousands of people evacuated. Don't go anywhere.
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[23:50:00]
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COATES: Tonight, more than 50,000 people north of L.A. are under evacuation orders or warnings. This as an explosive wildfire is burning towards communities. The Hughes Fire started this morning and quickly grew to nearly 10,000 acres. And Santa Clarita is in the danger zone of that fire and their population is about 220,000 people.
I'm joined now by the mayor of that city, Santa Clarita, Bill Miranda. Mayor, thank you for being here. I can't believe the community is facing yet another prospect of danger. Can you give us an update on what your community is facing this very evening?
MAYOR BILL MIRANDA, SANTA CLARITA, CALIFORNIA: I will, Laura, but first of all, let me just thank CNN and your show in particular for doing such a good job of covering the fires here and around Santa Clarita. We really appreciate that. We appreciate your helping to get the word out.
COATES: Thank you.
MIRANDA: One of the things I want to say, actually before we get really started, is that Santa Clarita is the third largest city in L.A. County. We are the 17th largest city in population in the whole state of California, the 97th largest city in the country. So, when we talk about Santa Clarita, and I know most people have never heard of Santa Clarita, we're a very big city. Now, the good news is we still think we're a small town and we act like a small town, and that means we support one another.
We have a great community, we have great support, we have right now 4,000 plus firefighters fighting the fires, we have -- on top of that, we have a huge number of deputies and first responders working with us.
We -- the fire, as you mentioned, is now approximately over 10,000 acres. There's 0% containment at this time. The winds are blowing 30, 50 miles per hour. This evening, they threatened to -- and overnight, they're threatened to be even more than that. So, we're very concerned about winds, we're concerned about embers. You know, embers can travel. They can travel a mile and sometimes up to two miles. So, we're very concerned about that.
And we're also in a valley. And in a valley, the winds swirl. So just because you're safe right now doesn't mean you're going to be safe an hour from now. And the last thing I want to say before --
(LAUGHTER)
-- I take more questions from you is, the most important thing we want to get across to our residents is, if you're told and warned that you might have to evacuate, be ready to evacuate on a moment's notice. Don't wait 5, 10, 15 minutes to get out of the house. Get out now. You're doing the first responders a great help if you get out quickly so that they can get in and protect your home.
COATES: Very important to hear your perspective and to learn more about your community and that warning for people not to dawdle when it comes to trying to get out. You've seen the fires that have torn through areas like the Palisades, like Altadena earlier this month. How do those fires impact your response to this one and perhaps even your community's concern about how quickly this could turn?
MIRANDA: We in our community, fortunately or unfortunately, we've had a great deal of fire devastation experience. We can go back to the Sand Fire, which was huge. We could go back to the Tick Fire, where we had to evacuate 40,000 people. So, we've had, as I say, fortunately or unfortunately, experience dealing with these types of disasters.
What we've learned from the recent fires is what I just touched on. Get out quickly. Don't -- don't dilly dally. Pack your evacuation bag, have it ready when you're warned. Be prepared to walk out the door as soon as you get the call. Hopefully, you don't get the call. That would be great.
COATES: Hmm.
MIRANDA: We've been blessed. You know, we haven't had any fires here. We were surrounded by fires for two weeks, and we were blessed not to have any fires here. But now we have them here, so we have to be ready. And what we've learned from the other two fires, from the other four fires that existed over here is be ready to get out and get out quickly.
[23:55:02]
COATES: Right now, are any people in your community under an immediate evacuation order? Do you know how long the threat or warnings to be prepared might last?
MIRANDA: Yeah. We have evacuated, approximately round numbers, 30,000 people, and under warning are about 23,000 people. We don't know how that's going to change. Again, the winds are going to determine everything.
COATES: Yeah.
MIRANDA: This evening, I said they're between 30 and 50 miles an hour. They're -- they're -- they could very easily jump from there.
COATES: Okay.
MIRANDA: And if that happened, we're going to get a lot more evacuations.
COATES: Mayor Bill Miranda, we will be watching. We hope your community will remain safe. We know this is -- this can't be easy, but thank you for joining us this evening. MIRANDA: Yes. Thank you. And one last thing, you know, I -- we are cautiously optimistic. I don't want the community to walk away from this interview thinking, you know, scare, scare, scare. No. We're very cautiously optimistic. We're very prepared for whatever comes. We're just making sure.
COATES: I love the encouraging attitude.
MIRANDA: Thank you, Laura.
COATES: Thank you so much. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Thank you for doing the opposite of that.
Thank you so much also, everyone, for watching. "Anderson Cooper 360" is next.
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