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Wildfire Death Toll Rises To At Least 11; CNN Investigates If Fire Devastation Could Have Been Minimized; Trump Sentenced With No Penalty In Hush Money Criminal Case; Entire Neighborhoods Wiped Out By L.A. Wildfire Disaster; U.S. Supreme Court Signals It Will Uphold TikTok Ban. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired January 10, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Happening now, breaking news, the death toll from the wildfires out in Los Angeles County just rose to 11, the flames consuming an area more than twice the size of Manhattan and threatening to ravage even more land, more homes and more lives. We'll have an update on the most dangerous hotspots right now.

Also this hour, a CNN investigation, could the unprecedented level of fire devastation in Southern California have been minimized? Stand by for what we are learning about what went wrong.

And we'll take you inside Donald Trump's sentencing for his conviction in the criminal case and what happens next. The president-elect lashing out, even as he was spared any jail time or penalty ten days before his return to the White House.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in The Situation Room.

Let's get straight to the breaking news, another day of horrific wildfires out in Los Angeles. Right now, crews are battling at least six blazes L.A. County, the largest, the Palisades fire, just 8 percent contained. The scale of the catastrophe is coming into focus as residents and investigators finally gain access to what remains of charred neighborhoods, entire communities simply wiped off the map.

CNN journalists are standing by in fire zones all throughout Los Angeles. First, let's go to CNN's Nick Watt. He's on the scene for us over at the Palisades fire. Nick, give us an update on the effort to contain this fire and what you're seeing on the ground.

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now, Wolf, here, and there you see a fire truck going, we don't know where, they are fanning out across this whole area. When a little spot fire pops up, they try and knock it down. But, I mean, look at this. This was -- a couple of days ago, this was a beautiful little downtown. All of these wood frame buildings just gone. Tom, if you pan around there and you see the brick of the veterinary center, that place survived. But you know, geez, it's hit and miss, Tom, and if you come back around here, you know, look at all this, look at all this, just gone. Now, the problem that they're dealing with right now, Wolf, is not here in the center of the Palisades, but I don't know if you can see that is smoke there. So, the Palisades fire they think is actually burning through brush over into the San Fernando Valley. That has picked up within the past hour. That is what they're trying to deal with now. You know, this fire already 20,000 acres, just the Palisades fire, just the Palisades fire. But, you know, the wind has dropped.

And what we are seeing today is these new fires that are popping up. They are managing to contain them much better than they were able to contain this fire a couple of days ago and that's purely down to the wind. There is not much wind right now and that is a massive, massive help.

Now, the issue that they're having in areas like this as well is looting. The National Guard has now come in. As officials have said, they don't want the victims to be victimized again. People have been arrested for looting. So, that is a problem. Curfews are now in place in many of the fire-ravaged areas to try to keep whatever is left to keep that safe.

Now, here in the Palisades, you mentioned people coming back. As I was driving in this morning to the evacuation zone, there was a line of cars, a couple of miles long. People desperate to get into their community to see what's left of their home and what's left of everything else and the answer, I'm afraid, is not very much.

So, the winds that I was talking about, Wolf, they are going to be picking up again over the weekend. They're going to drop tonight, but they're going to pick up again over the weekend. And, very sadly, there is no rain in the forecast. Rain would be a godsend, a blessing but it ain't coming. Wolf?

BLITZER: Nick, the government's response to the Palisades fire, that's where you are, has come under a lot of scrutiny and you have some new reporting on that as well as some news from the California governor tonight. Tell us what you're learning.

WATT: Yes. So, the governor is calling for an investigation into why the hydrants here in the Palisades went dry that crucial early morning as the embers and the fires were just destroying this place.

[18:05:04]

The hydrants went dry in many places. He wants to know why. I mean, I can tell him why to a degree. There is no urban water system on Earth, I'm told, that could have handled the pressure that was being put on that water system that night as firefighters battled in vain to save any of this.

Now, here in the Palisades, they're at the end of the city water system. So the pipes are a little bit narrower, I'm told, and the pressure is a little bit lower. They know that. So, they have three huge tanks up in the hills, million gallons each. They are designed to help keep the pressure up in the hydrants. They weren't able to refill those quickly enough. But, you know, I've spoken to people who know about these kinds of things, and they say, even if you had 10 million gallons of water stored up there, you wouldn't have been able to deal with this. This was just something that nobody could have prepared for.

But a lot of people are now asking questions, Wolf. You know, the initial shock is over, some anger is coming in, and also, naturally, people are saying, did this really have to be this bad? You know, we knew the winds were coming, we knew the brush was very dry. Did officials do enough? Were there enough personnel? Frankly, there were not enough personnel.

But, you know, this inquiry is going to go on for a while. They'll need some answers. People want answers. People want to know why this was so bad. Wolf?

BLITZER: They have to learn from the mistakes of this time to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Nick Watt, thank you very much. Stay safe over there.

Let's get the latest on the firefighting efforts in L.A. County. CNN's Anderson Cooper is on the ground for us in Topanga, California. Anderson?

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, we're in the Medley Lane in the community of Fernwood. I just want to show you what is happening here. This is a helicopter. We have seen -- you can hear that siren. They're about to drop water on a fire, which is down, further down a little bit in this kind of valley area.

We have been watching over the last hour or so at least a dozen aircraft, helicopters and large fixed wing aircraft flying in low, dropping water on that one area. It's unclear to me whether it was a vehicle on fire or a structure on fire, but it was black smoke. So, it was some, it wasn't just a vegetation that was on fire. And, look, they're dropping again.

We have not seen over the last several days as many air assets in play as we have seen just in this one area over the last hour. It's really been extraordinary to watch, as you see also a fire crew on the ground is they have for the last hour at least been basically pouring curtains of water down into this sloping hillside trying to keep this vegetation wet.

The concern is if the wind changes direction -- as you know, the winds have died down this afternoon, but if the wind suddenly picks up and changes direction, the fires which are over there could very easily sweep up this hillside. This is Medley Lane. It could come all the way up to Medley Lane and come to some of the houses above Medley Lane.

Now on top of that, there's another fire over on the horizon on a ridge line over there again. All this is Topanga Canyon. We've seen -- you see pink on the hillside, Wolf. That is a fire retardant, which large fixed wing aircraft have been dumping down. We've seen at least three airdrops from fixed wing aircraft, and there probably been more. But these are all -- you know, and this is just one area. These are all spot fires in the Topanga area. You know, the crews have to go out to each one, devote resources to it and try to put it out as fast as possible because still there's still so much vegetation that could ignite. They are just working around the clock to try to get ahead of this thing and just put out the fires wherever they go.

It is a very dynamic situation. And, again, this is just one small community in Topanga Canyon. It's been extraordinary to watch, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, really sad. All right, Anderson, thank you very much.

President Biden is now taking some questions from reporters over at the White House. Listen now.

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: You know, a billionaire can buy something and say, by the way, from this point on, we're not going to fact check anything. And, you know, when you have millions of people reading, going online, reading this stuff, it is -- anyway, I think it's really shameful.

REPORTER: Mr. President, do you regret your decision to run for reelection? Do you think that that made it easier for your predecessor to now become your successor?

BIDEN: I don't think so. I think I would have beaten Trump, could have beaten Trump, and I think that Kamala could have beaten Trump and would have beaten Trump. It wasn't about -- I thought it was important to unify the party.

[18:10:04]

And when the party was worried about whether or not I was going to be able to move, I thought it was -- even though I thought I could win again, I thought it was better to unify the party, and it was the greatest honor of my life to be president of the United States, but I didn't want to be one who caused a party that wasn't unified to lose an election. And that's why I stepped aside, but I was confident she could win.

REPORTER: Do you think she should run again?

REPORTER: What your assessment is of how long Ukraine can last without further aid? In fact, your administration marks the end of American (INAUDIBLE) further --

BIDEN: Well, I had a long talk with Zelenskyy today. And I think that as long as we continue to keep Western Europe united as it relates to Ukraine, that there is a real chance that the Ukrainians can prevail because the cost to Russia is incredibly high, over 600,000-some dead or wounded. The Koreans they brought in is having high mortality rates as well. And I made it clear that I was -- I provided every bit of funding that authority I have as president to be able to do that now.

And I know that there are a significant number of Democrats and Republicans on the Hill who think we should continue to support Ukraine. It is my hope and expectation they'll speak up and not agree to the president, if Trump decides to cut off funding for Ukraine.

REPORTER: Did the president-elect's position on that conflict influence your decision to enact the (INAUDIBLE) and other sanctions on Russia today, in other words, put more pressure on Russia at a point where the president-elect appears to be largely (INAUDIBLE)?

BIDEN: The truth of the matter is no. But if it hadn't, if those other conditions didn't exist, it would have had an impact. I already decided that -- Putin's in tough shape right now. And I think it's really important that he not have any breathing room to continue to do the god awful things he continued to do. And as I said, he's got his own problems economically, significant problems economically, as well as politically at home. And so I decided to do everything I possibly could within my power and authority to give Ukraine every advantage it could have to be able to sustain support for an independent Ukraine.

REPORTER: You said Vice President Harris had a good shot to beat Trump. Do you think she should run again in four years?

BIDEN: I think that's a decision. I think she's competent to run again in four years. That would be a decision for her to make.

REPORTER: Mr. President, on Venezuela, the sanctions that your administration announced today, some are saying that they don't go far enough by not targeting the petroleum sector. Why was this administration hesitant to apply further sanctions to the oil and gas industry there?

BIDEN: That's still being investigated in terms of what impact it would have and whether or not it would just be replaced by Iran or any other country. So, it matters what would happen afterwards. I had a long discussion again with the man who should be appointed president on that score. But since I didn't have a clear answer to what that would be, if I had more time, I may very well do that, but I didn't have enough data to make that judgment.

REPORTER: If I could also ask about Havana Syndrome? Today, the intelligence community assessment changed slightly with two intelligence agencies now saying there's an even chance that this has been caused by a foreign actor. Do you personally believe that a foreign actor is responsible for these incidents?

BIDEN: No. Now, do I believe that ISIS's theology, if you will, has impacted people in America, some who are not particularly well-suited to handle the life that they live? That is -- it has that effect. But there's no -- I find no evidence and I've done -- I've spent 17, 18 hours with the community right off the bat trying to determine whether or not there was any outside influence. And thus far, we find no connection between an outside player, individual, but that doesn't mean someone reading the malarkey that's going out there isn't influenced by it.

Both these men, both in Nevada and in Louisiana, have been men who've had their own problems that -- but not because they've been influenced by a specific individual.

[18:15:07]

REPORTER: Sorry, sir, my question was on Havana syndrome, not Nevada, sorry, on the Havana syndrome. The intelligence community today, part of their assessment changed saying that there is now an even chance that the Havana syndrome cases and incidents, there's a foreign actor potentially behind them. Do you agree with that assessment?

BIDEN: I don't have the full brief on that right now. I'm not going to comment on that.

REPORTER: Do you have an update on Austin Tice (INAUDIBLE) and whether or not he's --

BIDEN: The answer is I'm not going to respond to that because that's an active, ongoing issue. You know my attitude about getting prisoners released from abroad and I'm not going to comment on that right now.

REPORTER: Just one question again back on pardons and commutations. Can you just give us a sense of what other pardons and commutations you're considering in your last ten days?

BIDEN: Well, the answer is no, because two things. One is that it depends on some of the language and expectations that Trump broadcast in the last couple days here as to what he's going to do. The idea that he would punish people for not adhering to what he thinks should be policies related to his well-being is outrageous. But there's still consideration of some folks, nothing, but no decision.

REPORTER: Have you talked about what kind of post-presidency -- what kind of -- have you decided what kind of -- what kind of role do you have post-presidency, sir? Do you plan to speak out after you leave Washington, or are you going to follow kind of more of a Bush model, where you're kind of out of sight and out of mind?

BIDEN: I'm not going to be out of sight or out of mind.

BLITZER: All right. There he is, the president of the United States, only ten days left in the White House. We've been watching him answer some reporter questions over at the Roosevelt Room inside the White House after making some comments about the overall U.S. economy, addressing his own reelection possibility. Would he have won if he had decided to run for reelection? And he specifically said, I think I would have, and I could have beaten Trump. Specific words similar to what he said in the USA Today interview the other day. He also was very strong in his support for Ukraine in this war with Russia. He was asked about pardons and commutations, among other specific issues.

We do know that he plans to deliver a major farewell address during primetime, an address to the American people Wednesday evening, next Wednesday evening. We'll hear what he has to say then as well.

I want to get back to our other major breaking news that we're following right now. CNN speaks with one man who lost everything in the Los Angeles fires, including priceless works of art. That's coming up.

Plus, after weeks of legal battles, a New York judge finally hands down a sentence to Donald Trump.

Stay with us. You're in The Situation Room.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:20:00]

BLITZER: In Los Angeles tonight, residents are coming to grips with unimaginable devastation, thousands of people losing everything in an instant. One man tells CNN his home, along with his treasured art collection, burned to the ground in the fire very, very quickly.

CNN's Julia Vargas Jones is joining us now. She's over at the scene at the Palisades fire for us. Julia, what did this man tell you?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, well, for this man, it wasn't just a home that was lost. It was years of a carefully curated collection and history. And we met up with him in the very first moments as he was looking at the charred skeleton of his house in his art collection, which included works by greats, like Andy Warhol and Keith Haring, completely reduced to ashes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RON RIVLIN, LOST HOME IN PACIFIC PALISADES: I left around I think 5:30 when the fires when I could see the fire on the hill over there. My family left without me. I was stubborn and my daughter called me crying.

JONES: That was 28 hours ago. Not even --

RIVLIN: Yes, but we got out safe. That I think is more important. But I'm an art collector and all my prized art pieces were in here. I had about 30 Warhols, and about 15 Keith Harings and Baldessaris, and Damien Hirsts. And we had -- our house was a museum. And we built the around art, not the other way around.

I make my own art, so my studio was over there. We had a gym over here. And then on the main floor was kind of an open concept. Right over here, I had a rare collaboration artwork between Andy Warhol and Keith Haring that, you know, was one of my prized possessions. I had a Queen Elizabeth Warhol right there on that wall that was there.

What I've told my kids and my wife is we're going to build one even better.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JONES: And, Wolf, stories like this one about the loss of what is beyond the physical are so heartbreaking.

[18:25:04]

But these people are determined to pick back the pieces of their homes and build back. Wolf?

BLITZER: Yes, heartbreaking indeed. Julia Vargas Jones, stay safe over there. Thank you very, very much.

I want to get some more right now from the Los Angeles County supervisor, Lindsey Horvath. Lindsey, thanks so much for joining us.

You know, firefighters have made some progress fighting several of the fires, but they're bracing for more winds later this afternoon out there. I know you just returned from the Palisades and some other affected areas. What are you hearing about how things are going right now?

LINDSEY P. HORVATH, LOS ANGELES COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS: The resilience of our firefighters on the frontlines of all of these fires is nothing short of extraordinary. I encountered a firefighter who was in the Sunset Mesa area who had been out on the grounds since the fire broke out and he shared with me just the traumatic experience that he has lived through. He hasn't left the fire until late last night. He was given some -- just a couple of hours of relief. He said it was like walking through hell, just fire everywhere he looked, and he's just grateful to be alive, and he is grateful for the additional resources that have come in to support their efforts. It is unlike anything he's ever seen. He said he fought Woolsey, and this is ten times worse.

BLITZER: Really? Lindsey, how much longer are you hearing it might take in order to get all of these fires contained?

HORVATH: Well, they're working as diligently as they can. Containment doesn't just mean extinguishing the fires. Because, as I heard you reporting earlier, some of these fires pop back up in these areas. So, containment means they've gone through, they've cleared out the brush, and they are confident that fire will not return. With more than 20,000 acres in the Palisades fire alone, and we have several other fires throughout Los Angeles County, there's a lot more work to be done.

BLITZER: Certainly is. Experts interviewed by CNN, Lindsey, say the circumstances around these fires made widespread destruction inevitable but that some steps weren't taken that potentially could have lessened the impact. They point to inconsistent vegetation management and a lack of planning. Why weren't these measures taken?

HORVATH: So, in Los Angeles County, we have, because of incidents like Woolsey, taken that kind of action. We operated our emergency operations center even before the fire broke out. We have lessons learned in terms of unified communication to ensure that residents who are at risk of being impacted are on alert and we're actively communicating with them even before a fire breaks out. And my office leads a community level training with our law enforcement and firefighters to ensure that they are prepared.

Now, that being said, the confluence of circumstances that we faced in the Palisades, the close to 100-mile-per-hour winds prevented overhead water drops, which are often the kind of assistance that on the ground firefighters need. Some of the tools that we've been able to use in other circumstances, we couldn't because of how severe the conditions have been. And as you said, while winds have died down a little bit, we are going back into red flag warning on Monday and we're not sure for how long we'll be back in red flag.

So, the conditions here are severe. They continue to be severe. Our frontline firefighters are just digging deep with everything that they've got, and we at the county level have used our Office of Emergency Management to coordinate and we are now in unified command is, as has been stated many times, to ensure that all resources are being put forward to protect people and to protect property.

BLITZER: Let's hope it works. California's Governor Gavin Newsom, as you know, is calling for an independent investigation into what caused some of the hydrants to lose water pressure. What do you say to residents demanding answers about how this could happen in an area with a known fire risk?

HORVATH: Well, I know the city fire hydrant issue has been a topic of discussion in the county. We have -- because of our experience with a lot of these large scale fires, we have a system where there are layers of water provisions. So, if one of our tanks goes out, we have a second and third layer that we can turn to. We have reservoirs stationed throughout the Santa Monica Mountains. We even have a stationed -- a privately stationed helicopter through the generosity of some residents who have worked in coordination with the county to ensure that when these kinds of situations break out, we have the resources to respond.

[18:30:02]

You were talking about Topanga earlier. Topanga is my area. And for those who don't know the unincorporated area, not only for them, am I their supervisor? I essentially function as their mayor. We've made them a top priority because of the conditions on the ground. And that kind of tank and stationing of overhead craft allows us to respond very quickly.

BLITZER: Lindsay Horvath, thank you very much for doing what you're doing and all your colleagues are doing. We really appreciate it and thanks for joining us today.

HORVATH: Thank you.

BLITZER: And coming up, Donald Trump's sentence today after being convicted in the hush money case. We'll let you hear what the judge said to the president-elect at the historic proceeding.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:35:00]

BLITZER: More breaking news just ahead of the deadly wildfires in Los Angeles County, as new evacuations and curfews are now being ordered.

But, first, Donald Trump's long delayed criminal sentencing is now over, and he has been formally spared from any jail time, fine, or other penalty. The president-elect appeared remotely in a New York courtroom today showing no contrition at all as he faced the judge who presided over the hush money case and Trump's 34 felony convictions. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: 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.

The fact is that I'm totally innocent, I did nothing wrong. They talked about business records, and the business records were extremely, accurately counted. I had nothing to do with them, any of that. That was done by an accountant or a bookkeeper.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CNN's Chief Legal Affairs Correspondent Paula Reid, is joining us right now. She has more on Trump's sentencing today. Paula, take us through what happened today.

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Wolf. Today, we saw that even a man who's about to reclaim the nation's highest office is not entirely above the law. President Trump attended this sentencing virtually alongside his lawyer, Todd Blanche. The judge had already signaled ahead of today's hearing that he was really not going to impose any punishment on Trump.

Now, it was never really expected that Trump would face jail time, even after being convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records, but there were some other options on the table including the possibility of fines or probation. And what was extraordinary today is that the judge allowed the audio of this hearing to be released. So, we got to hear the judge in his own words explain why he issued this no punishment punishment. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE 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 officeholder. 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)

REID: So, we hear the judge there explaining that now that Trump is president-elect, that the office of the presidency conveys certain protections. So, that is why Trump is not getting any punishment here. He also nodded to the fact that it's the American people who all saw what happened in this case, saw the conviction, who sent Trump back to the White House and conveyed upon him these protections. And Judge Merchan also wished Trump the best of luck in his second term as he returns to the White House. He will be the first felon to serve in the Oval Office. But Trump's lawyers are going to continue to appeal his actual conviction. And remember, this case wrapped up before the Supreme Court issued its historic ruling in the presidential immunity case. And his lawyers believe some aspects of that case mean that this case should be thrown out based on what we saw last night with the count, the 5-4 count, a real surprise that there were that many justices on Trump's side. He had four. He now just needs one more to come over to his way of thinking to potentially have this conviction overturned. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Paula Reid, thank you very much for that update.

I want to bring in CNN Anchor and Chief Legal Analyst Laura Coates along with CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig.

And, Laura, what's the practical impact of the president-elect of the United States with this what's called this, unconditional discharge? What's the practical effect of no punishment, no fines, no jail time, no nothing?

LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: Well, the notion that there are two systems of justice, well, Donald Trump is in a league of his own essentially. No one -- he has no peer group whatsoever at this point in time with all that he has been through and the convictions at this point in time. But essentially it means that he is not going to get probation. He's not going to have any oversight from a law enforcement officer of any kind. He's also not going to have a fine imposed or any, of course, jail time.

Now, there are people who have had that same conviction who have not gotten jail time. That's not necessarily the novelty of this. But the notion of the fact that he is a president-elect, the fact that there would be a nuisance, so to speak, overhead if he were to have to abide by conditions while in office, the prosecutor himself today, Joshua Steinglass, making the point that every American has the right to have their president unencumbered by the burdens of essentially having to have that oversight. That was really the driving force here.

Now, had he not won that election, very different criteria may have been assessed to figure out what would be the appropriate remedy, but they were all very clear, they wanted to honor the verdict process, the jury trial process, even if ultimately an appeal might change some things.

[18:40:03]

BLITZER: Elie, how surprising is it to you that no punishment at all for Trump, what, 34 felony convictions?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Yes. If we think about this in the bigger picture and we go back to the summer of 2023, Donald Trump had just been hit with four separate indictments in four separate jurisdictions. He had two federal cases by Jack Smith. He had the Georgia prosecution and he had this one. The odds of any person coming through that with the only result being unconditional discharge being nothing, as Laura just laid out, are a million to one.

And I think what ended up happening here is these prosecutions, as Judge Merchan acknowledged, had the effect of bolstering Donald Trump's political fortunes. The American people were certainly not impressed by this one in particular. And the fact that Donald Trump succeeded politically in turn ended up getting him out of these prosecutions.

So, I think Judge Merchan had an interesting observation there. We prosecutors like to think we're above and separate from the political process, but, really, we're all part of the same constitutional democracy, and sometimes the will of the voters wins out.

BLITZER: Important point. You know, Laura, it was unprecedented what happened today, in many ways, the president-elect of the United States receiving his sentence, but no punishment at all. And he was sitting next to his own attorney, someone he has actually proposed becoming the number two official at the U.S. Justice Department, the deputy attorney general of the United States.

COATES: Even more than that, we're watching a defendant on Zoom literally phoning it in. Now, normally, a defendant would not know after a conviction, whether they're going to have jail time. They'll have to appear and arrive there. Unlike, say, the E. Jean Carroll trial, where he did not have to appear, this was a criminal matter. That's why he was inside of that courtroom.

Now, we not only heard the voice of the president-elect and his attorney and the judge and Joshua Steinglass, the prosecutor, one of them, which we had not heard at all during the course of that trial, because there are not cameras allowed in the courtroom. We employed those -- we didn't employ. We talked to the sketch artists at the time as well. Here we have this moment in time,

I think it was very helpful for the American people to be able to hear in essentially real time what he had to say, the tone, essentially as the fact finders in the court of public opinion, assessing the credibility, assessing the demeanor and deciding for themselves the veracity of the arguments he was making. I thought it was very powerful, and, frankly, I wish we could have had it sooner throughout the course of the trial because the American public, I think, has a right to know what happens inside a courtroom like that.

BLITZER: Yes, at least we heard the audio. We didn't see video.

COATES: Correct.

BLITZER: But at least we had some audio from there.

Trump says he intends to appeal this verdict. How strong of a case does he have?

HONIG: You know, there was an option, by the way, where Donald Trump might have said, I don't need to appeal. I just got off with no punishment whatsoever. And let's just let this end. But he has said publicly he's going to appeal. I think he has a good case. I think he has a real good case probability or at least possibility of getting this case reversed.

Now, that's going to take a long time, but Paula made a good point last night's 5-4 ruling. You had four justices who had enough doubt about this case to almost block a sentence of nothing from going down. And I think there's real constitutional problems here. I'll give you one real quick. Donald Trump is the first and only person in the history of the United States to be charged with a federal campaign finance violation in a state court. No one's ever attempted to do that before. Liberal scholars, liberal election lawyers have said that's a major constitutional problem. So, if 18 months, 2 years from now this case gets thrown out, I won't be surprised.

BLITZER: Let's see what happens. Elie Honig, Laura Coates, to both of you, thank you very, very much.

And Laura, of course, will be back later tonight 11:00 P.M. Eastern for Laura Coates Live. We'll be watching.

And just ahead, incredible new satellite photographs revealing the scope of the destruction in Los Angeles County.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:47:55]

BLITZER: New satellite images are revealing the truly staggering scale of the wildfire devastation out in Los Angeles County.

CNN's Tom Foreman is taking a closer look at this for us.

Tom, at least what 10,000 properties already have been damaged?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. And I don't think that count is anything more than a guess at this point. There's so much destruction out there.

Let's take a look at what happened in Pacific Palisades. This is a view of part of the neighborhood there beforehand. Clean, tidy streets, a lot of people proud of how much they know each other and get along, baseball diamonds over here.

Give you a sense of scale, look at it. After the fire went through, very few structures untouched in here. This is the Elliott Arts Middle School drawing a magnet school over in a little bit north of Pasadena there. This area over here, they were hit in the middle of the night. And look what the result was -- tremendous, tremendous damage over there.

The Will Rogers home here, this was one of the most famous -- right there he is one of the most famous humorists in this country back in the 1920s, 1930s, social commentator. He bought this ranch and he had some stables near here. Big attraction out there, this very building now looks like this.

They manage to get some of the artwork out, and they got the horses out of the stable, but that's it.

And of course there are many, many just local attractions, restaurants and hotels that people liked. This is a Starbucks that was down on Western Sunset, right near Swarthmore in Pacific Palisades. That's what it looked like. This is what it looked like as it lit up the night.

It's important to remember that these really are the communities of L.A. If you go out there as a tourist, you're going to be down on Hollywood Boulevard, Capitol Records, Universal Studios, out to the beach? Maybe. But this is where the people live who make all of that work.

And people like this. Look at this family here. This is a -- this is the Navarro family. They were living in the house of their dreams, house. They all loved and had a great time. And they got out alive.

But this is what was left. They lost photos. They lost mementos. They lost so much. And as we saw in so many places, Wolf, only the sort of ironic fact that the chimney stays standing, that story repeated thousands of times over.

[08:50:01]

BLITZER: All those stories are so heartbreaking indeed. All right, Tom Foreman, thank you very, very much.

Now to Los Angeles, residents in their own words, describing the truly terrifying ordeal of fleeing the fires and the heartbreaking returning home to complete devastation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I took my son. We ran to the car and he was scared. He was crying. I was scared.

It's okay.

I'm trying to, you know, be calm and, try to get out of the Palisades as fast as we could.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I dropped to my knees and I just started praying. Please, God, please just save my house.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm ready to jump into the ocean. All the firemen, they got the hell out of here. They evacuated quickly, and I should have followed suit.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We started piling up the Torahs in the back of my car. I checked with my husband. I couldn't see him. There was so much smoke. I checked with him. Do you have all of them? And he said, I think so. And we just left.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And he was walking around with his lantern in the house. Chase and I were talking to him. We were on FaceTime and he said, he'll be fine. I'll be here when you guys come back. He was in his bed when I found him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was so fast. A friend was able to go to the neighborhood once it had completely burned down and send us a video, and that's when we found out for sure.

KIT GOLDSMITH, LOST HOME IN EATON FIRE: The idea of trying to figure out where we're going to be for the next month, where we're going to have this baby. We had so many friends and a massive support group there that I was really, really planning to lean on and losing them is like, it's almost harder than losing our home.

NIC ARNZEN, VICE CHAIR, ALTADENA TOWN COUNCIL: I probably only have a dozen or so homes in my census track. It's like half the town is gone. It's just too overwhelming. We're just living with the clothes on our back, and lucky to have friends that are bringing us in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think everybody just needs to, to understand that they've done their best. And, you know, as long as they're with their family and they have their lives, you know, life is long and I think we have that to look forward to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And for more information about how you, our viewers, can help Los Angeles area wildfire victims, go to CNN.com/vote impact. Or you can text wildfires to 707070, 707070 to donate. CNN audience have already made a huge difference, raising over $200,000 so far.

Coming up, justices on the U.S. Supreme Court today giving clues on whether they'll uphold or throw out a law that could ban one of the most popular social media apps.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:56:53]

BLITZER: There are new signs that a looming ban on TikTok may become a reality here in the United States just days from now. The U.S. Supreme Court signaling it could uphold the legislation.

CNN's Brian Todd is joining us. He's got more on today's hearing.

Brian, this could impact tens of millions of Americans who use TikTok.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Wolf. The potential impact of a ban, the impact on TikTok users in the U.S. and on creators and small businesses who could lose billions of dollars is enormous. But that's all balanced against serious national security concerns, which makes the pending Supreme Court decision so momentous.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): The nation's highest court tonight on the brink of deciding whether to uphold a controversial ban of TikTok in the U.S., a ban already approved by Congress and signed into law by President Biden. TikTok arguing a ban would violate free speech.

CARRIE CORDERO, CNN LEGAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: There is a compelling First Amendment issue here, which is that this involves the access to information on behalf of tens of millions of Americans.

TODD: Specifically, more than 170 million Americans who use TikTok, according to the platform, more than half the U.S. population.

But tonight, it appears a majority of the Supreme Court is likely to uphold the TikTok ban. Some, including Chief Justice John Roberts countering TikTok's lawyers free speech argument.

JOHN ROBERTS, CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT: It seems to me that you're ignoring the major concern here of Congress, which was Chinese manipulation of the content and acquisition and harvesting of the content.

TODD: TikTok is owned by a Chinese company that U.S. officials worry could be beholden to the communist government in Beijing, and could conceivably help the Chinese regime spy on Americans.

CORDERO: That the Chinese government could demand data from TikTok, and that it is covertly manipulating content that Americans receive.

TODD: TikTok denies that, saying it safeguards users' privacy.

President-elect Trump initially supported a ban on TikTok in the U.S., then reversed course and is now seeking to pause the ban.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: We love TikTok. I'm going to save TikTok.

TODD: A ban in the U.S. would have an enormous cultural impact, analysts say, because contrary to some perceptions, its not just a platform for goofy stunts and dance videos.

CHRIS STOKEL-WALKER, AUTHOR, "TIKTOK BOOM": Now you can get educational videos. You can get news reports, many major organizations, as well as politicians, including President Biden, have taken to the app.

TODD: And the impact on American businesses of a TikTok ban in the U.S. could be staggering.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH WRITER: By TikTok's own estimate, there are 7 million U.S. small businesses who could stand to lose $1 billion in revenue.

TODD: Businesses like Summer Lucille's clothing boutique in Charlotte.

SUMMER LUCILLE, BOUTIQUE OWNER AND TIKTOK INFLUENCER: I get 80 percent of my business from TikTok. I know it will cripple me and I will be devastated.

TODD: The TikTok ban in the U.S. could take effect on January 19th, unless TikTok is sold to other owners. Once a ban takes effect, experts say. If you buy a new phone, you won't be able to download TikTok. If you already have it on your phone --

DUFFY: If you already have the app on your phone, it's not just going to disappear, but you'll no longer be able to update it, which means that eventually it would become buggy. It might have security vulnerabilities, and eventually it would become unusable.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: If TikTok is taken off the U.S. market, who stands to benefit? Where would TikTok users go? Analysts say Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube would likely pick up a lot of that business because they already offer short form video feeds similar to TikTok on their platforms, Wolf.

BLITZER: A lot at stake.

All right. Brian Todd, thanks very, very much for that report.

And to our viewers, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.