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One World with Zain Asher

Wildfires Continue To Devastate Southern California; U.S. Supreme Court Hears Arguments On TikTok Ban; Venezuela Swears In Maduro For Third Term; Judge Sentences Trump To Unconditional Discharge; At Least 10 Dead, Widespread Damage In L.A. Wildfires; Israel Identifies Remains Of A Hostage Recovered From Gaza; Man Save Stray Dog From L.A. Wildfire Rubble; Aired 12:00-1:00p ET

Aired January 10, 2025 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:29]

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: The Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles has been largely destroyed. ONE WORLD starts right now.

We'll be live in Los Angeles with the latest on the five devastating fires burning across that city.

Plus, the U.S. Supreme Court questions whether TikTok is entitled to basic constitutional protections. But will the justices uphold the government's

pending ban on the social media behemoth?

And Venezuela's president takes the oath of office for a disputed third term.

I'm Bianna Golodryga. Zain is off today. You are watching ONE WORLD.

Pacific Palisades, the Los Angeles neighborhood plagued by wildfires this week, is simply gone. Satellite imagery tells us this horrific story. This

first shot is from January 2nd. And then we see the current image. Entire neighborhoods, buildings, homes, families' lives and histories, all gone.

In all, some 150,000 people have been evacuated from their homes. Most not knowing if they'll have a home to return to. At least 10 people have

currently lost their lives in these fires.

The new fire sprung up overnight, the Kenneth Fire, near the city of Calabasas. Fire officials say it did not damaged any structures and is

partially contained. That's also where police arrested one man suspected of arson.

Governor Gavin Newsom has deployed the California National Guard to help with law enforcement. We expect to hear from President Joe Biden any moment

about the federal government's response to the fire.

Last hour, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass says progress is being made.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAREN BASS, MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES: LAFD battled all night on the Palisades Fire, the Hurst Fire, the Kenneth Fire, and air drop efforts, thank

goodness, continue.

LAFD also responded to and extinguished fires in Pacoima, Hollywood, Studio City, and more.

I do want to let everyone know that Griffith Park, including Runyon Canyon, will be closed through Sunday.

Yesterday, President Biden pledged his full support for response efforts, including FEMA reimbursement 100 percent of our disaster response costs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: Julia Vargas Jones joins us now live from Pacific Palisades, California, with the very latest. And, of course, you are in the hardest

hit part of these devastating fires, Julia.

In total, some 35,000 acres have thus far been burned. The entire school district, and the second largest school district in the country, continues

to remain shut down. Thousands flee from their homes on evacuation orders.

Give us the very latest and tell us, if you can, about where you're standing now.

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we are in the Palisades. This is Pacific Palisades. It is a beautiful, or used to be a beautiful

neighborhood, just on the Pacific Ocean. And as you mentioned, Brianna, completely destroyed, unrecognizable.

Residents cannot come here yet. It is still too dangerous. Just, I believe we have some images from our mass cam here. You can see the level and the

scale of this destruction.

People trying to come home. We see messages of folks saying, can you tell me if my home made it or not? And it is so difficult to hear that and to

feel the emotion of people who don't know if they're going to come home to anything because a lot of it looks like this, you know. It looks like what

you see behind me.

And there is that unpredictability of the fire as well of what makes it and what doesn't. You just never know.

Just this fire, specifically, has burned more than 20,000 acres. It is right now going to at six percent contained. It is good news that

firefighters are trying to get up to 10 percent, but we're not sure if they will get there today, as we're expecting the Santa Ana winds which had

given us a break for the past 24 hours or so, are expected to pick back up in the coming days into the weekend.

Now in this press conference, we also heard from other city officials about something that has been alarming for a lot of L.A. area residents. The

alert system that comes into your phone telling you when an evacuation order is issued for the area that you are in.

[12:05:12]

There's been a lot of success in that. A lot of people have received those and then being told to pack up their bags, gather their loved ones and pets

and leave.

But yesterday or overnight, we also got an alert that said, disregard the last evacuation warning. It was for Kenneth Fire only. Go to alertla.org

for more information.

Now, this was issued to many people outside of the Kenneth Fire evacuation area, including myself. I received this at around 2:30 in the morning. It

is a very concerning message to get. You can imagine in further in 20 minutes later saying this regard, this is not for you.

The officials this morning said that this is completely unacceptable and that they will investigate. How is it that this alert went out to so many

people, but that it was not due to one person, it was not human error that caused it. They are urging, pleading with people to not deactivate their

alerts because of that, Bianna, because this is something that can and will save lives in the situation that L.A. still in with five different active

fires still going.

The chief -- the fire chief also updated us today saying that they're still focusing on fighting these fires, but that they will try to get to the

bottom of how is it that they happened. As you mentioned, as of now, 153,000 people have already evacuated. There's more than that, 166,000

under warning, 57,000 structures are still at risk, Bianna. The scale of this just is enormous.

In another update that we got from authorities at this press conference is that the curfew that's been in place here in Malibu -- in Malibu, in the

Palisades area, is now going to be extended to all areas across L.A. County that have been mandated to evacuate, so there will be a curfew from 6:00

P.M. to 6:00 A.M. in all of these areas that have been mandated to evacuate. Bianna?

GOLODRYGA: Yes. I know there's also been a concern about looters trying to take advantage of this crisis as well. As we noted, the National Guard is

being deployed. More resources are on their way. They should be expected in the next 12 to 24 hours.

Julia Vargas Jones, thank you so much. Just seeing the remnants there of a neighborhood, a car, everything up in smoke behind you, it's devastating.

Well, at any minute, we expect the U.S. Supreme Court to wrap up a critical case that pits national security against freedom of speech.

The court has been hearing arguments about whether the U.S. government can ban the popular video sharing app, TikTok. The U.S. is concerned about

TikTok's connection to the Chinese government, while TikTok creators say blocking it would inhibit their freedom of expression.

Now, without action from the court, TikTok could be banned starting on January 19th. We get the latest from CNN's Paula Reid.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Now this is the big case today that most Americans care about because the beloved social media app,

TikTok, is at risk and they are fighting for their future before the Supreme Court.

Now, so far, it is not going well for TikTok as justices on both sides of the aisle appear skeptical.

Look, here's how we got here. For years, there has been bipartisan concern from the Trump administration, the Biden administration about Chinese

influence over the TikTok's parent company, ByteDance.

So in April, Congress passed a law with broad bipartisan support that allows TikTok to be banned if its parent company does not sell it off to an

entity that is not a foreign adversary.

Now the two big national security concerns about TikTok are that they are collecting massive amounts of data on their users and that data could be

used to manipulate users, especially in some sort of crisis.

Now, Chief Justice John Roberts, a key swing vote here, he again, he appeared skeptical. He asked TikTok, quote, so are we supposed to ignore

the fact that the ultimate parent is, in fact, subject to doing intelligence work for the Chinese government? It seems to me that you

ignoring the major concern here of Congress, which was Chinese manipulation of the content and acquisition and harvesting of the content.

So the Supreme Court here needs to answer whether this ban is a violation of the First Amendment. Folks who use TikTok argue that this is expression.

Whether you're doing a dance video, a makeup tutorial, or amazing cat content, they argue that this is expression. This is what the First

Amendment was meant to protect you from the government restricting your free speech.

[12:10:02]

Now, if the Supreme Court does not act, the law will take effect on January 19th. That is one day before President-elect Trump takes office. He's sort

of flip-flopped in his support for TikTok.

But another option on the table for TikTok is to pause this ban while they continue to deliberate over the larger First Amendment question. And we

could get at least some guidance from the court as soon as today. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GOLODRYGA: Our thanks to Paula Reid for that.

For a better understanding of the TikTok case before the Supreme Court today, we are joined by David Weinstein, former state and federal

prosecutor. David Weinstein, thank you so much for making the time today.

First of all, what do you make of the government's argument here, basically saying that TikTok poses a looming national security threat on its 170

million users here in the U.S.?

DAVID WEINSTEIN, FORMER STATE AND FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: I don't think it's a misguided argument. I think people are routinely unaware of just exactly

how much information gets collected about us when we're using social media, when we're in the app and about our preferences and what's being recorded

and then the ability of the platform, whatever it may be, to have that information and use it either to target you with ads, with other

information or to then use it to their own benefit.

And that's what's at the crux of the government's argument here. This platform is owned by a nation that is an adversary of the U.S. And their

concern is, what is that adversary going to do with the information they've collected about U.S. citizens?

How could they potentially use that against them now or potentially in the future? So I don't think it's a misguided argument on behalf of the

government.

GOLODRYGA: I want to also bring in Oma Seddiq, a journalist with Bloomberg who specializes in technology and legal matters. Uma, thank you for joining

us today.

I'm not sure if you were able to hear David's response there to my first question, and that is he seems to give a lot of deference to the

government's case here.

The government last time, in the last Supreme Court decision that was handed down on an issue related to national security versus free speech,

was in 2010, and that was Holder versus Humanitarian Law Project.

And the court in that decision sided with the government. And the government is now using that as precedent here in their case.

Obviously, this is a different Supreme Court makeup, some of the same justices. There are new justices as well. And recently, they seem to have

been given more deference or a bit more sympathy to the argument of freedom of speech and the First Amendment right.

So, how do you think they're going to ultimately rule here?

OMA SEDDIQ, TECH POLICY REPORTER, BLOOMBERG: Yes. I mean, the stakes of this case are very high. Congress passed this law last year, which would

require TikTok to either divest from its parent company, ByteDance, which is Chinese-owned, or face a ban in the United States, which would affect

the 170 million users in the U.S.

That the government makes a very strong case here. They're citing national security concerns. They're worried that because of TikTok's ties to China,

that China can somehow use this app as a tool for propaganda, as a way to collect personal data from American citizens. And so they passed this law

overwhelmingly, very bipartisan, very bicameral, signed into law by President Joe Biden last year.

And so it'll be a very high bar for TikTok to convince these justices that this is unconstitutional on free speech grounds, especially after a lower

court also upheld the law.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. And TikTok, we should note, has insisted that these concerns are overblown. It says it has teams dedicated to combating

influence operations and pushing back on some of the allegations made by the government in their case here.

David, I'm not sure if you were able to listen in to the arguments here this morning, but I'm just wondering what you were able to gauge at all

from some of the questions from the justices and what the takeaway may be given their line of questioning.

WEINSTEIN: Well, I haven't been able to listen to all of it. I did listen to some of it and read some summaries. They're really pressing TikTok on

this issue about what they do with the data, how they gather it, why it isn't a national security interest.

And then on the free speech issue, the responses, you know, that they're getting are not really helping their case. I mean, quite frankly, the issue

of free speech could be addressed simply by people either moving to another platform or by what this law has asked, and that is for China to divest

itself.

They made some small arguments about how the algorithm is still going to be tied to China and that necessarily wouldn't solve the problem.

[12:15:59]

But it appears that they're taking a much firmer, and that is the court, position against TikTok. It isn't really going well for them. And based on

what you talked about, the precedent set in 2010 and this overwhelming need to uphold national security, I don't think this is going to end well for

TikTok as it's currently established.

GOLODRYGA: The ban goes into effect the 19th, David. How soon do you think we can hear from the Supreme Court and their ruling?

WEINSTEIN: When they want to, they rule very quickly. So I don't think this afternoon is going to be when we're going to get an answer from them. But

they know when the 19th is.

And so I would expect early next week they will issue a ruling here so that everybody can do what they need to do by the 19th.

GOLODRYGA: And, Oma, this isn't just an outlier case here in the United States. We've seen increased concerns from numerous countries about the

role of TikTok in their society and the amount of data they have access to. And ultimately, the owner, the parent of the company, being a Chinese

company.

SEDDIQ: Right. There have been plenty of news reports showing these connections of TikTok to China. I mean, national -- U.S. national security

officials have voiced these concerns, which ultimately led to this law. And this law had been put together behind the scenes on Capitol Hill for at

least a year. And then when it was introduced and moved along very swiftly, and it was again with overwhelming bipartisan support. You don't see that

often here in Congress.

And so it'll be very difficult for TikTok to push back on these concerns on these free speech grounds, as David mentioned.

And I don't know if the justices are necessarily in support of them just yet. I mean, they seem -- the questioning was very skeptical and especially

because the lower court also upheld the law. The timing is also not in TikTok's favor, considering the upcoming January 19th deadline.

President Trump, for his part, has voiced support for TikTok. He said he's tried to save TikTok, but exactly what avenues he can take are unclear.

He's asked the Supreme Court to put a pause on the ban for him to come up with solution for when he takes office, of course, a day after the ban on

inauguration day on the 20th.

GOLODRYGA: Though he supported also banning TikTok during his first term. He's now reversed course and come around to it, but no question that this

is ultimately up to the Supreme Court. I don't know what power President- elect Trump would have once he's in office if he would want to reverse any of their decisions.

We'll leave it there. Bloomberg's Oma Seddiq, thank you so much. And David Weinstein, please stick around. We've got a lot of legal stories to talk

about today, a story specifically on Donald Trump's legal troubles coming up, and we'll want to be chatting with you about that as well.

Well, a familiar but uncertain era is now underway in Venezuela. A short time ago and ahead of schedule, President Nicolas Maduro was sworn in for a

third term extending his increasingly repressive rule and tightening his grip on power.

Now it comes despite international condemnation following a disputed July vote that was mired in allegations of fraud and as tensions are running

high.

Venezuela has closed its borders and airspace to Colombia.

And on Thursday, the opposition says its leader, Maria Corina Machado, was violently intercepted and then released following a protest after she came

out of hiding.

Stefano Pozzebon joins me now live from the Colombian capital of Bogota. Walk us through what we saw take place today, Stefano.

STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST: Yes. What we saw is eventually what originated when that controversial election took place, Bianna, in the

summer at the end of July. Nicolas Maduro essentially deaf to any international outcry abroad and any cry for liberty that we heard time and

again in the last six months inside Venezuela and going ahead with his inauguration.

We saw him being sworn in by the president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodriguez, and then he delivered a speech that lasted more than 90 minutes

and where he attacked all of his critics. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICOLAS MADURO, VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I was not put here by the U.S. government or by any pro-imperialist government of the

Latin American right. I'm here because I come from the people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POZZEBON: And I think that break is very important because over the last week, we've seen more and more leaders around this region taking a very

strong stance against that election.

The last one was Gustavo Petro here in Colombia where I am, who has been, for a month, trying to mediate between Maduro and the rest of the

international community, try to find a negotiated solution around the Venezuelan situation.

And then finally, late last night, the Colombian government saying they would not recognize the results of the election.

And then a few hours later, Venezuela shutting down the border with Colombia, which is a lifeline for millions of people on both sides of the

border.

[12:20:08]

Nicolas Maduro looks more and more isolated, Bianna, but also more and more in power in Venezuela.

Yesterday, we did see scenes of protest with Maria Corina Machado, the opposition leader who is inside Caracas, finally approaching and being

visible on the streets of Caracas after hiding -- after spending the last few months in hiding due to an arrest mandate against her.

We're not seeing those things today. The streets of Caracas are quiet. We're not seeing people taking onto the streets, daring to voice supports

after yet another cycle of repression. And many open questions around Edmundo Gonzalez, the opposition candidate. He was allowed to run in Maria

Corina's place. And the opposition say he won the election, proving it with tens of thousands of voting tallies that were published in the days after

that election in the summer.

Well, Gonzalez had told us and many other people that he was going to Caracas today to personally challenge Maduro to be installed what he says

was his own rule.

Well, we haven't seen him today yet. And now Maduro seems more and more in control, despite the international isolation that he finds himself. Bianna?

GOLODRYGA: Yes. We're seeing images of him and the Dominican Republic from yesterday. As you note, the isolation now increasing on Venezuela. The

United Kingdom, now leveling more sanctions against the Venezuelan government, the Maduro government as well.

Stefano Pozzebon, thank you so much.

And still to come for us, less than the penalty for a speeding ticket. That's how one source is describing Donald Trump's sentencing in his New

York criminal trial. We'll have the details, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GOLODRYGA: Ten days before America swears in its 47th president, the man who was about to assume the Oval Office learned he won't face any

punishment for his criminal conviction.

Earlier, Donald Trump made a virtual appearance in a Manhattan courtroom and was sentenced to unconditional discharge in his New York trial. The

president-elect is still considered a convicted felon, but he won't face any penalties or jail time.

Now, it comes after the Supreme Court denied Trump's last-minute bid to delay sentencing.

In May, Trump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to an adult film star.

[12:25:00]

CNN's Marshall Cohen joins me now live from Washington. So we expected this sentence of unconditional discharge. What was a bit surprising was the

court, the Supreme Court, weighing in last night saying that they would not -- they would not participate in delaying this.

So walk us through what we heard from the president-elect and the judge.

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: Pretty remarkable. The Supreme Court let it move forward. And it moved forward this morning. A historic moment, if not

surprising, because we knew that this was going to be the outcome.

But at the end of the day, when all the dust settled, President-elect Trump is a convicted criminal, he is a convicted felon.

So that hearing, 38 minutes in New York City, prosecutors spoke, Trump spoke, and then the judge. So I'll just go step by step here. The

prosecutors said that Trump had no remorse, whatsoever. They said that Trump, quote, caused enduring damage to the public perception of the

criminal justice system. And while they were criticizing him and dressing him down, Trump crossed his arms and shook his head.

So, like every defendant, Bianna, in the criminal justice system, he had the opportunity to speak during his sentencing. He started off by saying

that this has been a horrible experience. Then he went through his regular laundry list of complaints, listened to what he said in court. We've got

the audio.

(BEGIN VIDEO 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 VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: So that was Trump. Then it was the judge's turn. And from the judge, Juan Merchan, no surprise, as you said, the unconditional discharge, that's

what they call it in New York, no punishment, no prison, no probation, not even any fines.

And the judge acknowledged the political reality here and said that his hands were essentially tied, legally, for how he could wrap this case up

because of the election results. Listen to what the judge had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUAN MERCHAN, ACTING JUSTICE, NEW YORK SUPREME COURT: Ordinary citizens do not receive those legal protections. It is the office of the president that

bestows those far-reaching protections to the office holder.

And it was the citizenry of this nation that recently decided that you should once again receive the benefits of those protections, which include,

among other things, the Supremacy Clause and presidential immunity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: And that was that, Bianna. The case is over.

And I should note, after all the animosity, so many insults being flung from Trump to the judge and the prosecutors bashing the entire system, the

final words of that hearing was the judge telling Trump, I wish you Godspeed as you assume your second term in office. Bianna?

GOLODRYGA: Highly professional conduct from the judge, Judge Merchan, throughout this trial, one should note. And as you noted, this is now a

president-elect for the first time ever who's going to be entering office as a convicted felon.

Marshall Cohen, thank you so much.

David Weinstein is a former state and federal prosecutor who joins me once again from Miami. As noted, David, a lot to get through today, legally.

So let's talk about the significance of this unconditional discharge as a sentence. It's highly symbolic. But it's clearly something that sets a

precedent for a sitting president of the United States.

WEINSTEIN: Well, it absolutely does. I don't know how many times we've all said this. This is like nothing we've ever seen before. And I think Judge

Merchan hit it on the head, you know. He is giving him special treatment because of who he is about to become. And this was the only real solution

for the judge. He needed finality so that this case could now work its way through the appellate system in the state of New York, potentially and

without doubt, the federal system, potentially up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

But he needed to do it in a way which was not going to impact the ability of the defendant to engage in his next job. And that was to use this

unconditional discharge, which is no time in jail, no probation, no fine. Credit for time served, essentially.

GOLODRYGA: Explain to our viewers why it was so important to have this hearing from Judge Merchan today in New York State, given that one could

argue he was already convicted by a jury of his peers.

If the judge wasn't going to assign any jail time or penalties, what was the purpose of it?

WEINSTEIN: The purpose of it was to give an end to this lower court process. There are rules that apply in the judicial system and in the

criminal justice system. And one of the rules is before you can take an appeal and to get another panel of judges to analyze what happened in the

court below, the case has to be final. And the only way for it to be final in a criminal case is to impose sentence and have a judgment.

[12:30:18]

And so that's why it needed to happen now. For it to continue to linger, there would have been no appeal and the case would have just sat there

until there was some sort of finality given to it. And it was important to give this finality prior to the defendant in this case, assuming his next

role, and that is the sitting president of our country. And it didn't need to be hanging over his head.

The appeals will wind their way through the system. We'll hear a lot about this case over the course of the next two or three years, but it will be

done for the lower court. And that's what Judge Merchan needed to do today.

GOLODRYGA: And it was notable that at the end last night, we did not see the Supreme Court intervene in this sentencing today.

David Weinstein, thank you so much.

WEINSTEIN: You're welcome.

GOLODRYGA: Still to come for us, stark before and after images of the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles telling the story. We'll have a live

report from California on the latest from the devastating wildfires there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:35:00]

GOLODRYGA: Welcome back to ONE WORLD.

Fast-moving deadly wildfires are ravaging Southern California for a fourth straight day now. Three largest fires burning right now are still largely

uncontained, including a new one that broke out on Thursday.

Crews are bracing for more gusty winds today. So far, at least 10 people have died and tens of thousands are displaced, with entire neighborhoods

having been reduced to smoldering rubble.

Governor Gavin Newsom has deployed the California National Guard to help with law enforcement. This as he faces questions from residents upset at

the response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why was there no water in the hydrants, Governor?

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA):It's all literally --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is it going to be different next time?

NEWSON: It has to be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: Let's bring in Stephanie Elam, who joins me now live from Altadena, California.

In that residence, Stephanie, speaking for so many there in California with so many questions as to how this was allowed to get as big and out of

control as it has. And will there be federal and state resources to help alleviate some of the anguish these families are experiencing? Walk us

through what you're seeing there in Altadena.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. That's something that we're hearing more of that. There are plans for that. We do know that more resources have

been brought here.

We have more firefighters. We have the National Guard here, because there were some lootings, so they blocked off roads getting in here.

But I want to show you what it looks like on the ground. Now that it's a bit clearer today, finally after all these days of just like intense smoke

and fire. You see behind me that that house is gone.

And look at the house right next to it. It has a little bit of burn damage on the right-hand corner but it's still standing.

This is how indeterminate it can be with these wildfires. This big, gorgeous tree burned in the center there. Looks like it burned up in the

branches. Hopefully it makes it, but look at this house, gone. This house has just been obliterated, gutted from the inside out.

And I wish I could say that this is just the one place that this is an issue, but it's not. This whole entire block back there is completely

burned out. Firefighters are putting out hot spots. The fire is still burning, but up in the foothills now, not down here.

Look at what it did to this car. Just completely burned it out. The glass almost looks like it was molten and melted into the middle of it.

This shows you just how hot this fire was burning. This is the Eaton Fire, which has burned through some 14,000 acres now. And they're saying there's

some four to 5,000 structures that have been destroyed. Many of those are homes.

Remember, when all of this started, the issue was those hurricane force winds, right? This just shows you just how bad those hurricane force winds

were. Look at this massive tree that you can see is still rooted in here, but it had toppled over in those winds.

And those winds are a huge part of the issue because of once a fire starts, they just catch up all those embers and they blow them around, hit cars,

trees, homes. And then they explode into fire as well.

And when you look at the landscape as whole with it, now that the sun is up here, Bianna, it does look like a bit like a movie scene. Like if you were

going to design what a disaster scene would look like after, you know, Armageddon, except for this is what people are really living through. This

is their current situation. It's unfathomable.

And I can say throughout all of Los Angeles County, just about everyone's impact, whether it's the air quality, whether or not their schools are

closed. The smell of fire that's in the air, even in the city, this is permeating through. And so everyone seems to know somebody who's been

impacted, had to evacuate.

It's a widespread disaster here. And I don't think we've seen anything like that in a very long time here in L.A. Because we, you know, we get

earthquakes, but we haven't had a big earthquake in a long time. This is the biggest event that people have lived through and it's something we've

never seen here.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's described it as an atomic bomb dropping in these areas, really speaking to how you're describing it

as well, apocalyptic. And sadly, more high winds expected in the days to come.

Stephanie Elam, thank you so much.

For more on the wildfires and efforts to bring the blazes under control, joining me now is Kenichi Hasett -- Haskett. He's the Los Angeles County

Fire Department Section Chief. Chief Haskett, thank you so much once again for taking the time.

I'm just looking at the new information we have from the L.A. Fire Department Chief who says that the Palisades Fire is now eight percent

contained.

Listen, I guess that's better than zero percent, but it does suggest that there is a long road ahead to containing these fires that have already

devastated over 35,000 acres.

Just walk us through some of the challenges you're most worried about right now.

KENICHI HASKETT, LOS ANGELES COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT SECTION CHIEF: Weather has been one of the most significant challenges for our firefighters. We

haven't had any rain this season or significant rain in Southern California. It's dry, it's hot. We're under red flag warning.

[12:40:06]

When wind is sustained at more than 50 to 60 miles an hour, ridge tops reaching over 100 miles an hour that Tuesday night, that grounds a lot of

our resources. If they are flying and winds are significant, we're lucky to have them up in the air. But when we get our air assets in the air, it is -

- it needs to be precise water drops or frost check drops that help extinguish this fire.

Another thing I want to bring up real quick is we had to ground our Quebec air tanker. That is one of more L.A. County fire departments and LA

County's most valuable air asset because people are illegally flying drones in a temporary, in a TFR, temporary flight restriction area. And right now

that Quebec is out of service.

GOLODRYGA: Because of a drone that wasn't supposed to be flying. That is just horrible to hear now that you don't have that resource at the moment.

Let me ask you about the resources that you do have in terms of manpower. The National Guard has been deployed and will be in place, we're told, from

the governor within the next 12 to 24 hours.

We know that there are 7,500 personnel already on the ground fighting these blazes and more firefighters from as far away as Canada are coming in. How

helpful will it be for you and your team to have those additional resources?

HASKETT: I think you answered the question perfectly. It's going to be helpful. We're going to put them to work, whether it's for perimeter

control, for law enforcement purposes to prevent looting, because we don't want people in the area that are not authorized to be in the area, or

whether it's getting troops on the ground to extinguish this fire, troops in the sense of firefighters extinguishing those hot spots, those stumps,

turning over little hot spots and preventing the wind from blowing it and starting additional spot fires.

GOLODRYGA: What definitely is not helpful is what our reporter was just mentioning earlier in the show and that was the alert system somehow

malfunctioning and sending a wider alert for millions of residents in the greater Los Angeles area who had mistakenly received an evacuation order

early on Thursday.

Has that been rectified, that problem? And what is your message to those who may say, I don't need this app or I won't be paying attention to any

future alerts?

HASKETT: We apologize for that inconvenience on behalf of at least the spokesperson from L.A. County Fire Department. Our intent is not to scare

people, validate that information. We apologize that happened. We are rectifying our system to make sure that does not happen again.

And additionally, that was a warning that was put in, my understanding, was a warning. Those warnings are -- we need people to be ready when we issue a

warning to start getting ready.

When we issue an order, an evacuation order, that's when it's time to leave. That's not when it's time to get ready to leave. A warning is when

you have time where the fire is not eminently at your doorstep or nearby your house. It's time where you can pack your car up, get the car ready,

get the kids or the animals or the small animals and your pets and your loved ones ready to go overnight. But it's not time to do that when we've

issued an order.

GOLODRYGA: And mistakes do happen as you've acknowledged, unfortunately. But once again, just to highlight for our viewers, these messaging services

are intended to save lives and they do, so they are very, very useful. And it's important that residents heed these warnings when they get these

messages.

HASKETT: Yes. And thank you for amplifying that. And then our intent is not to ever have that happen again, unless it is the right intent. So I

apologize again.

GOLODRYGA: And just to clear with you, some 150,000 now in the Los Angeles area are under wildfire evacuation orders, which means leave immediately,

while 166,000, a bit more than that, are under evacuation warnings, and that is to be prepared to leave.

HASKETT: Yes, thank you. Be ready, be packed, be ready to go if we have to issue an order.

GOLODRYGA: All right. Kenichi Haskett, again, thank you so much for all the work that you are doing, you and your colleagues there. It has been a very

arduous week, I know. And you've got very difficult days ahead of you. We are all with you. And we will be covering this story extensively. Thank you

for the time.

HASKETT: Thank you. Bye-bye.

GOLODRYGA: Well, it could be days before the weather gives any help to firefighters. Allison Chinchar joins us now with the forecast.

And, Allison, sadly, as we heard, winds are expected to pick up. And more alarming is the fact that there hasn't been any measurable rain in the

region for months.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Now, let's clarify. The winds are actually going to get better, temporarily. There will be a brief reprieve

before they actually get worse again.

[12:45:03]

So you do have the areas of elevated and critical fire threat for today. That decreases significantly on Saturday as the winds are expected to

really start to come back down overnight tonight and through the day Saturday, before they rebound back again on Sunday.

So we take a look at that. Again, for the rest of the days, still very possible to have those wind gusts on 30 to 40 miles per hour today.

As we transition into the evening in overnight hours, we're hoping to get almost all of these locations down to single digit numbers for those winds.

That would be huge for the firefighters to be able to kind of bring up some of those containment numbers.

But it is short-lived because once we go back into Sunday, you're going to see them start to go back up to 30, 40, even 50-mile per hour wind gusts

all over again.

Direction also matters. Most of the day, we're going to see them coming from the north, the winds, but they could shift to the west or the east and

they do it at a moment's notice, which makes it even more hard or harder for those firefighters because they have to shift their plans accordingly,

again, especially if it's happening at the last minute or without much notice for those winds to begin to shift.

GOLODRYGA: All right. So it's going to get better in the short-term here and hopefully all of these firefighters and all the resources can be used

in these hours ahead to tame as much of these fires as they can before the winds then are scheduled to pick up later in the weekend, early next week.

Meteorologist Allison Chinchar, thank you.

Well, for more information about how you can help Los Angeles area wildfire victims, go to cnn.com/impact. And we'll be right back with more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GOLODRYGA: We want to turn now to the Israel-Hamas war where the on again, off again Gaza ceasefire and hostage release talks appear to be stalled

once again.

This as the Israeli military says, it has identified the remains of another hostage recovered from Gaza. The IDF says the 23-year-old was found dead in

a tunnel in the Rafah area. His father's remains were recovered in Rafah days earlier. Both were kidnapped during the terror attack on October 7th,

2023.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, earlier this week, the Israeli military recovered two bodies from a tunnel in the area of Rafah in

the southern part of the Gaza Strip.

On Wednesday, they said that one of those bodies was that of Youssef Al- Ziyadnah, who was taken hostage by Hamas on October 7th.

The Israeli military now confirming that the second body that was recovered from that tunnel was that of Hamza Al-Ziyadnah, Youssef's 23-year-old son.

Both of them are part of the Muslim Bedouin community that lives here in Israel. And they were taken hostage on October 7th from Kibbutz Holit,

right near the Gaza Strip, where they were both working on a dairy farm.

[12:50:19]

Two other members of the Ziyadnah family had been released during the ceasefire deal in late November of 2023. They had also been taken hostage

on October 7th.

That means that 98 hostages are now still being held inside of Gaza, 94 of whom were taken captive on October 7th. That includes both the living and

the deceased hostages who are still being held by Hamas as bargaining chips.

What we have seen in the meantime is that these start and stop negotiations in Doha, Qatar, appear to be leading to progress at times, but other

moments, it seems as if they are backtracking once again. This has kind of been the pace of these start and stop negotiations.

But now, a Hamas official is telling CNN that Israel is introducing some new conditions in these negotiations, claiming that Israel is demanding to

hold on to a one-kilometer strip of territory along Gaza's eastern and northern borders that they previously had not demanded.

Israeli officials have yet to respond to that new claim being made by Hamas. But, meanwhile, President Biden, earlier this week, blaming Hamas

for the fact that there is not yet a deal, saying that they are getting in the way, but nonetheless insisting that real progress is being made.

We know that both Biden administration officials, as well as incoming Trump administration officials, are pushing to see if a deal can be done by

January 20th when President-elect Trump will be inaugurated as the next president of the United States.

Meanwhile, an Egyptian official and another diplomat briefed on the talks, they are both making clear that there has yet to be an actual breakthrough

in these negotiations that could make such a deal possible before January 20th. They say that there is still a lot of work to do.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GOLODRYGA: The California fires are taking a toll on everyone, including animals. CNN captured the moment a man rescued an injured stray dog from

the wildfire rubble.

Samantha Lindell has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAMANTHA LINDELL, CNN DIGITAL CONTRIBUTOR (voice-over): Rick Miller was checking in on a friend's house in Altadena, California, when he noticed an

injured stray dog across the street. He decided to see if he could help.

[12:55:08]

RICK MILLER, CALIFORNIA RESIDENT: Well, caring for each other. Everyone needs help right now. Sorry for crying, but it's really emotional seeing my

friends lose their houses, and people losing their animals. And so trying to help each other out.

LINDELL (voice-over): Miller says the wildfires have taken a toll on everyone, and the least he could do is try to give back.

MILLER: Yes, you seem like all your friends, man, they're losing their houses and you're just trying to help them out. Like our house was, you

know, fortunately, our house was saved, but our friend's right across the street, their house is gone. That's what you just want to help. Help your

friends out, help your families out, help the animals out.

LINDELL (voice-over): Miller said he ultimately decided to bring the dog to the Pasadena Humane Society in hopes of giving the animal a better future.

The Pasadena Humane Society confirmed they received the stray dog and is treated for burns and exposure to smoke.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GOLODRYGA: Just one example of humanity amidst a week of horror.

That does it for this hour of ONE WORLD. Thanks so much for watching. I'm Bianna Golodryga. "AMANPOUR" is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END