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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
President Biden's Farewell Address; Biden Warns That Americans Are Being Buried Under An Avalanche Of Misinformation; Israel And Hamas Agree To Gaza Ceasefire-Hostage Deal; L.A. Mayor Warns Dangerous Winds Could Return Next Week. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired January 15, 2025 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[20:00:00]
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Well, Bernie Sanders in a -- in a podcast interview said something similar, but he laid the feat of the communications issues not at the White House, but at the president, to President Biden, just doesn't have the skills as a leader. I'm paraphrasing now, to explain what he did. How do you see it?
EVAN OSNOS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: You know, I think some of that is, like so many things about Joe Biden, wrapped up with age, that he just wasn't the person that we saw on camera 20 years ago, and that matters. In the end, it almost matters more than we understood or he understood at the beginning.
You turn the sound off. What you see on TV registers with voters. I'll tell you though that as we think about his legacy and sort of what he will leave people with tonight. I'm listening for language. In a farewell address it's often a little phrase that stays with you.
Ronald Reagan talking about a shining city on the hill. Eisenhower talked about the military industrial complex as a rising problem in America. How is Joe Biden going to characterize this era? Does he call it a winter of peril from which he has pulled us? Or does he acknowledge in some ways more of the distress that he leaves behind?
TAPPER: We're running out of time before he comes out. I want to get both you and Dana, Scott your thoughts. Do you think the President- elect Trump deserves more of the credit for the hostage deal than President Biden? Or are they both get it equally? Or what do you think?
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, look, I don't personally care who gets the credit. I'm glad something is happening here, but it's obvious that Trump was the catalyst for it. Diplomats are saying that. I think one said that on the air to you today, Jake. If he had not won, I don't think this would be happening. I think Trump's clear eyed statements about the issue since he won the election put everybody on notice. And now we have something happening. I don't personally think it's the greatest deal.
Truthfully, there's, I mean, they're going to end up letting a lot of terrorists out of jail to get a few hostages back. But to get any of our people back and to get some semblance of peace, hopefully will help settle things down.
TAPPER: Twenty seconds, why do you think he's doing this in the Oval Office and not in Delaware or Scranton?
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: He loves being president, and this is his farewell as president. I'm told that he won't just talk about the past four years. He will talk about the past 50 of his public life, but that he does feel like, to your point, he needs to communicate. And this is a chance to do it.
TAPPER: Yes, 54 years, but who's counting? Here we go.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: My fellow Americans, I'm speaking to you tonight from the Oval Office. Before I begin, let me speak to important news from earlier today. After eight months of nonstop negotiation, my administration -- by my administration -- a cease-fire and a hostage deal has been reached by Israel and Hamas, the elements of which I laid out in great detail in May of this year.
This plan was developed and negotiated by my team, and it will be largely implemented by the incoming administration. That's why I told my team to keep the incoming administration fully informed. Because that's how it should be: Working together as Americans.
This will be my final address to you, the American people, from the Oval Office, from this desk, as president. And I've been thinking a lot about who we are and, maybe more importantly, who we should be.
Long ago, in New York Harbor, an ironworker installed beam after beam, day after day. He was joined by steel workers, stonemasons, engineers. They built not just a single structure, but a beacon of freedom. The very idea of America was so big, we felt the entire world needed to see the Statue of Liberty, a gift from France after our Civil War. Like the very idea of America, it was built not by one person but by many people, from every background, and from around the world.
Like America, the Statue of Liberty is not standing still. Her foot literally steps forward atop a broken chain of human bondage. She's on the march. And she literally moves. She was built to sway back and forth to withstand the fury of stormy weather, to stand the test of time because storms are always coming. She sways a few inches, but she never falls into the current below. An engineering marvel.
The Statue of Liberty is also an enduring symbol of the soul of our nation, a soul shaped by forces that bring us together and by forces that pull us apart. And yet, through good times and tough times, we have withstood it all. A nation of pioneers and explorers, of dreamers and doers, of ancestors native to this land, of ancestors who came by force. A nation of immigrants who came to build a better life. A nation holding the torch of the most powerful idea ever in the history of the world: that all of us, all of us are created equal.
That all of us deserve to be treated with dignity, justice and fairness. That democracy must defend, and be defined, and be imposed, moved in every way possible: Our rights, our freedoms, our dreams. But we know the idea of America, our institution, our people, our values that uphold it, are constantly being tested.
[20:05:16]
Ongoing debates about power and the exercise of power. About whether we lead by the example of our power or the power of our example. Whether we show the courage to stand up to the abuse of power, or we yield to it. After 50 years at the center of all of this, I know that believing in the idea of America means respecting the institutions that govern a free society -- the presidency, the Congress, the courts, a free and independent press.
Institutions that are rooted -- not just reflect the timeless words, but they -- they echo the words of the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident." Rooted in the timeless words of the Constitution: "We the People." Our system of separation of powers, checks and balances -- it may not be perfect, but it's maintained our democracy for nearly 250 years, longer than any other nation in history that's ever tried such a bold experiment.
In the past four years, our democracy has held strong. And every day, I've kept my commitment to be president for all Americans, through one of the toughest periods in our nation's history. I've had a great partner in Vice President Kamala Harris. It's been the honor of my life to see the resilience of essential workers getting us through a once-in-a-century pandemic, the heroism of service members and first responders keeping us safe, the determination of advocates standing up for our rights and our freedoms.
Instead of losing their jobs to an economic crisis that we inherited, millions of Americans now have the dignity of work. Millions of entrepreneurs and companies, creating new businesses and industries, hiring American workers, using American products. And together, we have launched a new era of American possibilities: one of the greatest modernizations of infrastructure in our entire history, from new roads, bridges, clean water, affordable high-speed internet for every American.
We invented the semiconductor, smaller than the tip of my little finger, and now is bringing those chip factories and those jobs back to America where they belong, creating thousands of jobs.
Finally, giving Medicare the power to negotiate lower prescription drug prices for millions of seniors. And finally, doing something to protect our children and our families by passing the most significant gun safety law in 30 years. And bringing violent crime to a 50-year low. Meeting our sacred obligation to over one million veterans so far who were exposed to toxic materials, and to their families, providing medical care and education benefits and more for their families.
You know, it will take time to feel the full impact of all we've done together. But the seeds are planted, and they'll grow, and they'll bloom for decades to come. At home, we have created nearly 17 million new jobs, more than any other single administration in a single term. More people have health care than ever before. And overseas, we have strengthened NATO. Ukraine is still free. And we've pulled ahead in our competition with China. And so much more. I'm so proud of how much we've accomplished together for the American people, and I wish the incoming administration success. Because I want America to succeed.
That's why I've upheld my duty to ensure a peaceful and orderly transition of power to ensure we lead by the power of our example. I have no doubt that America is in a position to continue to succeed.
That's why my farewell address tonight, I want to warn the country of some things that give me great concern. And this is a dangerous -- and that's the dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultrawealthy people, and the dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked. Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead. We see the consequences all across America. And we've seen it before.
[20:10:07]
More than a century ago, the American people stood up to the robber barons back then and busted the trusts. They didn't punish the wealthy. They just made the wealthy play by the rules everybody else had. Workers want rights to earn their fair share. You know, they were dealt into the deal, and it helped put us on the path to building the largest middle class, the most prosperous century any nation the world has ever seen. We've got to do that again.
The last four years, that is exactly what we have done. People should be able to make as much as they can, but pay -- play by the same rules, pay their fair share in taxes. So much is at stake. Right now, the existential threat of climate change has never been clearer. Just look across the country, from California to North Carolina. That's why I signed the most significant climate and clean energy law ever, ever in the history of the world.
And the rest of the world is trying to model it now. It's working, creating jobs and industries of the future. Now we have proven we don't have to choose between protecting the environment and growing the economy. We're doing both. But powerful forces want to wield their unchecked influence to eliminate the steps we've taken to tackle the climate crisis, to serve their own interests for power and profit.
We must not be bullied into sacrificing the future, the future of our children and our grandchildren. We must keep pushing forward, and push faster. There is no time to waste. It is also clear that American leadership in technology is unparalleled, an unparalleled source of innovation that can transform lives. We see the same dangers in the concentration of technology, power and wealth.
You know, in his farewell address, President Eisenhower spoke of the dangers of the military-industrial complex. He warned us that about, and I quote, "The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power." Six days -- six decades later, I'm equally concerned about the potential rise of a tech-industrial complex that could pose real dangers for our country as well.
Americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation enabling the abuse of power. The free press is crumbling. Editors are disappearing. Social media is giving up on fact-checking. The truth is smothered by lies told for power and for profit. We must hold the social platforms accountable to protect our children, our families and our very democracy from the abuse of power. Meanwhile, artificial intelligence is the most consequential technology of our time, perhaps of all time.
Nothing offers more profound possibilities and risks for our economy, and our security, our society. For humanity. Artificial intelligence even has the potential to help us answer my call to end cancer as we know it. But unless safeguards are in place, AI could spawn new threats to our rights, our way of life, to our privacy, how we work, and how we protect our nation. We must make sure AI is safe and trustworthy and good for all humankind.
In the age of AI, it's more important than ever that the people must govern. And as the Land of Liberty, America -- not China -- must lead the world in the development of AI.
You know, in the years ahead, it's going to be up to the president, the presidency, the Congress, the courts, the free press, and the American people to confront these powerful forces. We must reform the tax code. Not by giving the biggest tax cuts to billionaires, but by making them begin to pay their fair share.
We need to get dark money -- that's that hidden funding behind too many campaign contributions -- we need to get it out of our politics. We need to enact an 18-year time limit, term limit, time and term, for the strongest ethics -- and the strongest ethics reforms for our Supreme Court. We need to ban members of Congress from trading stock while they are in the Congress. We need to amend the Constitution to make clear that no president, no president is immune from crimes that he or she commits while in office. The president's power is not limit -- it is not absolute. And it shouldn't be.
[20:15:15]
And in a democracy, there is another danger -- that the concentration of power and wealth. It erodes a sense of unity and common purpose. It causes distrust and division. Participating in our democracy becomes exhausting and even disillusioning, and people don't feel like they have a fair shot. We have to stay engaged in the process. I know it's frustrating. A fair shot is what makes America, America. Everyone is entitled to a fair shot, not a guarantee, just a fair shot, an even playing field. Going as far as your hard work and talent can take you.
We can never lose that essential truth to remain who we are. I've always believed, and I told other world leaders, America will be defined by one word: possibilities. Only in America do we believe anything is possible. Like a kid with a stutter from modest beginnings in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Claymont, Delaware, sitting behind this desk in the Oval Office as president of the United States.
That is the magic of America. It's all around us. Upstairs in the residence of the White House, I've walked by a painting of a Statue of Liberty I don't how many times. In the painting there are several workers climbing on the outstretched arm of the statue that holds the torch. It reminds me every day I pass it of the story and soul of our nation, and the power of the American people.
There is a story of a veteran -- a veteran, a son of an immigrant, whose job was to climb that torch and polish the amber panes so rays of light could reach out as far as possible. He was known as the keeper of the flame. He once said of the Statue of Liberty, "Speaks a silent, universal language, one of hope that anyone who seeks and speaks freedom can understand."
Yes, we sway back and forth to withstand the fury of the storm, to stand the test of time, a constant struggle, constant struggle. A short distance between peril and possibility. But what I believe is the America of our dreams is always closer than we think. And it's up to us to make our dreams come true.
Let me close by stating my gratitude to so many people. To the members of my administration, as well as public service and first responders across the country and around the world, thank you for stepping up to serve. To our service members and their families, it has been the highest honor of my life to lead you as commander in chief.
And of course, to Kamala and her incredible partner. A historic vice president. She and Doug have become like family. And to me, family is everything.
My deepest appreciation to our amazing first lady who is with me in the Oval today. For our entire family. You are the love of my life and the life of my love.
My eternal thanks to you, the American people. After 50 years of public service, I give you my word, I still believe in the idea for which this nation stands -- a nation where the strength of our institutions and the character of our people matter and must endure. Now it's your turn to stand guard. May you all be the keeper of the flame. May you keep the faith. I love America. You love it, too.
God bless you all, and may God protect our troops. Thank you for this great honor.
TAPPER: President Biden's farewell address, capping four years in the White House and 52 years in national politics. Back with our panel, let's start with David Axelrod. What is your response to tonight's speech?
DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Listen, I think that was maybe one of the best speeches I've ever heard Joe Biden give. And the reason is that he made the speech about the country. Yes, HE claimed credit for progress, but the speech was about the country that he believes in, the country, that he sees, the challenges and threats that he sees.
And ultimately, it was a very optimistic speech that we can overcome them if we are serious about meeting them. And that, you know, when he said, the America of our dreams is always within our reach. I think he believes that. And, you know, this is -- I remember him as a young man who came to Washington. He was a phenom back when he was 30 years old.
[20:20:17]
He was going to be president of the United States someday and he was full of vim and vigor. And it is poignant to see him in this final stanza, deliver a speech that I think very much encompasses his fundamental belief in this country.
TAPPER: Ashley, the president, issued a couple of warnings. He warned about an oligarchy. He warned in shades of Dwight Eisenhower's farewell address when he warned of the rising military industrial complex. He warned of a tech industrial complex. What do you think will be remembered about this speech?
ASHLEY ETIENNE, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT BIDEN AND SPEAKER PELOSI: Well, I mean, I think all of those were to use David's word, incredibly poignant and relevant. And I felt like, you know, portions of this speech were really directed at Donald Trump and his supporters. You know, we see all of this playing out in real time in front of us.
Elon Musk, primarily, making decisions from domestic policy to international policy. You see, the billionaire Cabinet forming right in front of our eyes. So, I thought it was really smart and wise and appropriate for the president to sort of lay out the threats as we move forward.
But the thing I was really most struck by was his sort of scant talk about his own accomplishments, especially on the issues that Americans said they went to the polls for and selected Donald Trump behind which is this the state of the economy, the state of their pocketbooks.
The fact that, you know, he's rebuilt -- took us out of the dark days of COVID, where the economy was completely broken, days after a deadly attack on the Capitol, rebuilt the economy to the strongest in the world, created 16 million jobs, brought back American manufacturing, all the things that Donald Trump said he wanted to do. He actually failed to deliver on. Donald Trump, I mean, Joe Biden delivered on those things.
So, I was really surprised that he didn't spend more time trying to convince the American people of his legacy and what he was able to accomplish, especially on the issue that they said is most important and forefront of their minds.
TAPPER: And, Scott, you've been rather unrelenting in your criticism of outgoing president Biden. What did you think of the speech? Was there anything you liked?
JENNINGS: No, not really. I think the way he's leaving office has been, frankly, pretty terrible. He's going to be remembered for a few things, but politically, its mostly for when he was vice president, he and Obama sort of ushering in the Trump era initially. And then as he's leaving office as president, bringing back Trump and Trumpism stronger and more popular than ever.
Today, Biden has like a 61 percent disapproval, and Trump is over a 50 percent approval and more popular in his ideology, is more popular than it's ever been. If everything you say is true, the Democrats should have had no trouble getting reelected in this election. Yet, they were --
ETIENNE: It's an issue of a communications failure --
JENNINGS: I know, and for Democrats, it's always been about communication and no introspection about the policies that led to him leaving office as one of the most unpopular presidents.
When I'll watch this tonight, I remain astonished that he, his family, and other people around him thought he could ever run for another term. I mean, there's no way he could serve another six months, let alone another four years.
The fact that they pursued that farce for as long as they did to me, remains one of the most astonishing things about this term.
TAPPER: So we should also note that his family was in the room. We are told the First Lady, Jill Biden, was there, and his son Hunter was there. Obviously, Vice President Kamala Harris and the Second Gentleman were in the Oval Office as well while the speech was being delivered.
Dana Bash, what role, if any, do you think Joe Biden will play in the Democratic Party going forward, or do you think it might be more like Jimmy Carter was treated after his defeat?
BASH: I can tell you I'm told that he wants to play a role that he doesn't want to go quiet into the night, per se. And the question is, what form will that take? You know, Jimmy Carter is one example of somebody who got involved in politics sometimes, was a thorn in the side of some of his successors in both parties. He had a very long time to be a post-president in his lifetime.
George W. Bush has taken a completely different tack, has not really weighed in. He's gone off and he's done his painting and done a lot of stuff for vets. And then, of course, Barack Obama has kind of felt the need to come in when Donald Trump got on the scene and came in to campaign for Democrats during midterms, and obviously for Biden and then Kamala Harris.
[20:25:10]
And so, it's unclear how much he's going to want to get involved, how much he will be welcome to get involved. But one of the things -- we'll be talking a lot about, the warning about the oligarchy and the in his words, as you said, the technical industrial, the tech industrial complex.
But one of the things that I noted was him saying it will take time, but the seeds have been planted and they will grow and blow for decades to come. And his hope is that his approval rating is not good now. He is leaving a one-term president when he at least wanted his legacy to be his vice president becoming president, that's not happening. His hope is that history will view him and what he did in this, in these four years in a different way, not just with coming out of the pandemic and the infrastructure bill and some of the other issues. But he did talk about democracy holding strong. He did that at the beginning and at the end, and that is what he thinks part of his legacy is.
TAPPER: Evan, how do you think President Biden feels about his four years as president as opposed to the 36 years he spent in the US Senate?
OSNOS: You know, he spent a lot of time thinking about what he would do when he was president. And in some ways, I think he came into office with almost a little too much of that thinking done, because when the opportunity presented itself, instead of sticking to this narrow mandate that he may have had in 2020, he broadened it.
And I think ultimately, one of the political judgments will have to be, did he go farther than voters were willing to support him on? But I think you heard something very clear in this speech tonight. It was very interesting. It tied in what was at the very beginning of his politics, the idea of a fair shot coming up with policies and legislation that gives people a fair shot and then try to pitch that forward into a new era, which, if were being clear, the new era will be defined about questions.
How does technology determine who does get a fair shot? Do we have an unnatural and unsustainable concentration of power and wealth in the hands of a few? These are actually forward looking questions. They're not things that he would have been thinking about in 1972, but they do tie in this very central idea, which is, in his mind, opportunity and liberty, which he talked about so many times, are entwined. And if we don't get one right, we won't get the other.
TAPPER: Of course, the big news today was the cease fire hostage deal coming out of the Middle East.
David Axelrod, I want to play some of what President Biden had to say tonight about that deal and his cooperation -- his administrations cooperation with the incoming Trump administration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: After eight months of nonstop negotiation, my administration by my administration, a ceasefire and a hostage deal has been reached by Israel and Hamas, the elements of which I laid out in great detail in May of this year. This plan was developed and negotiated by my team and will be largely implemented by the incoming administration.
That's why I told my team to keep the incoming administration fully informed, because that's how it should be working together as Americans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: David Axelrod, what do you make of that? AXELROD: Well, clearly he was trying to put his flag in the ground here. He has been working on this for months and months and months. We saw president, incoming President Trump claim credit himself and Scott echoed that here. And clearly, his election had some impact on this. But Biden wants credit for he deserves credit for it. They both probably played a role in this, and he clothed it in a kind of, but I'm handing it off to my successor to implement. So, there was a tinge of bipartisanship with.
I just want to respond to something, Jake, if I can, that Scott said, you know, Joe Biden did a lot of very positive things. Some things, for example, the largest infrastructure bill since Eisenhower. It was criticized by some of his opponents. Many of them celebrate those projects as they appear in his district. But there -- you know, on a whole range of things. He did a -- he accomplished things that -- and then he had failures that people will recall as well.
We don't know how history is going to remember all of that. He's right about that. The president, who Scott worked for had a lower approval rating than did Biden when he left office. And now it is much higher. You know, whether Biden will be here to see that is another question. But I think this is a night to show some grace for a guy who's devoted his life to this country and who gave his last measure of devotion, really, to this role of the presidency and accomplished a lot, made mistakes, probably shouldn't have run again, hurt himself in trying to.
But this was a speech -- this was a love letter to the country, and I think it was a very, very appropriate farewell.
[20:30:24]
TAPPER: Kayla Tausche is at the White House, covering the Biden Administration for us. Kayla, we're told that members of the President's family, top members of the president's White House staff, and obviously Vice President Harris and her husband were in the room. Tell us more.
KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly, it was a speech that the president hoped to not deliver, or at least to be handing the baton off to his vice president. But I think one of the most symbolic and perhaps most pervasive lines in the speech, Jake, is one where he said that his administration's work will take time to feel the impact of that. Certainly in my conversations with senior administration officials and staffers, there is the view that history will remember the president more kindly than perhaps the present does, especially in the face of his extremely low approval rating right now.
And when they talk about it, they talk about it in the context of the deep unpopularity of leaders of most developed democracies at this moment. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Canada, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, they say that Biden is in good company and that wait for the decades to come in the future, and then perhaps then reflect on what his presidency meant. I heard that sentiment a lot last week with officials reflecting on some of the very fond remembrances of the late President Jimmy Carter, of course, another president whose term was vexed by hostage crisis and soaring inflation. But certainly, they were remembering Carter and his many works very fondly in that moment.
But Jake, I think when there is the 20/20 vision of hindsight for many of these officials, and they look back on the last four years, they acknowledge privately that perhaps they lost the narrative, in the words of one senior Biden adviser, that yes, the first two years were very stacked with tons of legislative accomplishments, but then the focus really turned to supporting Ukraine and trying to stop the war between Israel and Hamas from escalating.
And they say that perhaps President Biden and the administration more broadly lost sight of some of the crises going on in this country, which is one of the reasons they say that his popularity is so low right now, Jake.
TAPPER: All right, Kayla Tausche, so much -- thank you so much. Ashley, did anything in the speech surprise you?
ASHLEY ETIENNE, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT BIDEN & SPEAKER PELOSI: Yeah, I mean, I think the part that really stood out to me is the president's focus on mis- and disinformation. When Trump came into office, I mean, I think we don't give Donald Trump enough credit. I will be provocative enough to say, I think he's by far one of the best political communicators I've ever seen.
From day one, his objective was to undermine truth. If you recall, he did an interview with "60 Minutes" and told Lesley Stahl, the reason why I attacked the media is so that when you say something about me, no one actually believes you.
TAPPER: Yeah. He told that to her behind the scenes, according to Lesley Stahl. He didn't say it on TV.
ETIENNE: Absolute. OK, well, then let me -- let me use Kellyanne Conway's quote.
TAPPER: OK.
ETIENNE: When she said, and this is when I knew we were in an alternate universe, when she said truth is subjective. I knew then that that was the main focus for Donald Trump, was to undermine truth. And then what we saw on the entire campaign trail was lie after lie after lie. I mean, the campaign was basically rooted in lies about what he has accomplished, what he's planning to do, all these in.
So, the fact that the president focused and warned us about the need to focus on this issue of mis- and disinformation, social media platforms not fact -checking, media not fact-checking, it leads us -- it really raises this question of what's next for us? How will we know what the truth is?
I mean, my old boss, Nancy Pelosi, used to say this all the time. If we can't stipulate to a set of facts, how are we going to work together to lead, not just this nation, but to lead the world? And so, I thought that was incredibly important for him to point out, because that's something that we're going to have to focus on and we're going to see this next incoming administration that's going to continue to undermine the truth because that's a hallmark of Donald Trump.
TAPPER: Scott?
JENNINGS: Has Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, or Karine Jean-Pierre ever lied?
ETIENNE: I don't know. What are you talking about?
JENNINGS: I mean, you are --
ETIENNE: I don't know where you are going with this.
JENNINGS: I mean, you're --
ETIENNE: But that's not the point.
JENNINGS: You're -- you're --
ETIENNE: You know, Donald Trump stands up at a podium every day and he (ph) lies.
JENNINGS: Your speech -- your speech is about the truth and one thing about Biden that has always vexed Republicans is that he spends a lot of time talking about him being the center of truth in the restoration of the soul of the nation. And yet, he and his people spend a heck of a lot of time undermining that very talking point, up to and including this year with the massive cover up of his own condition.
(CROSSTALK)
ETIENNE: Scotty, (inaudible).
JENNINGS: I'm just -- I just --
ETIENNE: -- American people doing COVID. How about what? I mean, drink bleach, right? I could go on and on.
JENNINGS: That is debunked.
ETIENNE: That is not as bad as the flu.
JENNINGS: Debunked.
ETIENNE: I mean, all of those things in the reality is 500 --
JENNINGS: You're doing it right now.
(LAUGH)
[20:35:00]
ETIENNE: 500,000 people lost their lives because the president wasn't honest with the country.
JENNINGS: I don't understand, are you saying that --
ETIENNE: About the dangers of COVID.
JENNINGS: Are you saying that -- are you saying the virus was listening to Donald Trump?
ETIENNE: My point is -- no, my point is that lies have consequences. And that is --
JENNINGS: I just want to make sure I understand that your position is, is that Donald Trump's words induced the virus to kill people.
ETIENNE: No. What Donald Trump's words did was prevented people from protecting themselves.
JENNINGS: Come on.
ETIENNE: -- and their neighbors, and 500,000 plus people lost their lives.
JENNINGS: See --
ETIENNE: That was my point. And more importantly, because of his lies, he didn't create an infrastructure from the governors all the way down to Wisconsin on --
JENNINGS: He gave you the vaccine. He gave you the vaccine.
(CROSSTALK)
ETIENNE: -- to get the economy open again.
JENNINGS: So Jake --
ETIENNE: So lies have consequences. And that's what Biden was talking about today.
JENNINGS: Honestly, we --
(CROSSTALK)
ETIENNE: We have to be aware of that.
JENNINGS: This is crazy. I'm sorry. This is insane.
(LAUGH)
TAPPER: So thank you so much, really appreciated. That's it for us from here. President Biden's farewell address to the nation. Anderson Cooper is out in Los Angeles, covering those horrific historic fires. Anderson?
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST OF "ANDERSON COOPER 360": Yeah, Jake, thanks very much. See you soon in Washington. We're going to talk quickly about the ceasefire which could take effect as soon as Sunday, that would pause the fighting and lead to the phased release of hostages held by Hamas and Palestinian prisoners from Israel.
Now, under the deal, Hamas is expected to release 33 of the 251 hostages they kidnapped from Israel during their October 7th, 2023 attack. Again, sources tell CNN this group will include two Americans, the one that we'll show you on the screen, two of the seven Americans still being held by Hamas, of which only three are presumed to be still alive.
Now, both President Biden and President-elect Trump played a role in reaching this deal with each side acknowledging help from the other. Again though, phase two and three of this agreement have yet to be fully negotiated. And at least one member of Netanyahu's cabinet is already threatening to resign over the deal. I want get some perspective on it all from CNN Political and Foreign Policy Analyst, Barak Ravid.
So Barak, what are your sources telling you about how this deal came together and sticking points?
BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL & GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Hi, Anderson. We talked about this deal so many times over the last year. It's pretty amazing that we got to see that moment. And I think that the reason we got to that moment is, A, because Joe Biden and his administration laid the foundations for this deal with his May speech when he laid out the proposal and all the diplomacy took place since then.
But also on the other hand, with Donald Trump coming into the picture, over the last six weeks, pressing very, very hard and basically, making it clear that both Prime Minister Netanyahu in Israel and Hamas and the mediators, the Qataris and the Egyptians, are not only talking to an outgoing president, they're also talking to an incoming president that will be here in the next four years. And therefore, they all need to take this thing much more seriously.
COOPER: And the Netanyahu cabinet is convening in the morning to approve the deal. Is there any reason to believe that it won't be approved? I mean, there's two like far-right cabinet ministers.
RAVID: So first, I don't think there's any chance that the cabinet will not approve this thing. Netanyahu has the majority both in the security cabinet and in the government plenary. So I don't see any chance of this not being approved. Netanyahu just issued a statement a few minutes ago saying that Hamas tried to walk back some of the clauses of the agreement.
It's unclear where this statement came from, although I spoke to several officials that are engaged in the negotiations, they didn't seem to think that this is a serious thing that can sabotage the deal or lead us to a situation where there's no ceasefire on Sunday. But I think things are still pretty fluid. They're in motion. Tomorrow will be a crucial day with those votes in the Israeli cabinet.
But the question is not in this specific vote now. The question is what will happen 42 days from now, when we will move from phase one of the deal to phase two? That means the end of the war and a full withdrawal of the IDF from Gaza. This will be the point that the members of Netanyahu's coalition who are going to vote against tomorrow, but will not leave the coalition, that will be the point. 42 days from now that they will have the real dilemma what to do.
COOPER: All right, Barak Ravid, appreciate it as always. I want to check in now with two people, two parents that we and the rest of the world have gotten to know, Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg. Their son, Hersh Goldberg-Polin was kidnapped by Hamas. His left hand, part of that arm had been blown off by one of at least 11 grenades thrown into the bomb shelter where he and his friend, Aner, and a number of others, who had fled the Nova Music Festival, had taken cover. 330 days later, Hersh was found dead, shot at close range in a tunnel in Gaza, along with five other hostages.
[20:40:00]
Jon and Rachel joining us now. Rachel, you just last week spoke and Jon, you spoke at a rally in Tel Aviv, demanding the hostages' release. Rachel, I'll ask this to both of you, but what are your thoughts about this deal tonight?
RACHEL GOLDBERG-POLIN, MOTHER OF MURDERED HOSTAGE HERSH GOLDBERG- POLIN: Well, we're obviously very much welcoming this deal, as long as it is the beginning of the end, and it is not an end in and of itself. As you mentioned, this is a deal. This phase is for 33 hostages, which means 65 will still be left in Gaza. And therefore, this has to be only the beginning of the three phases of this deal being successful.
COOPER: Jon, what are your -- what's going through your mind tonight?
JON POLIN, FATHER OF MURDERED HOSTAGE HERSH GOLDBERG-POLIN: So, I would agree with Rachel. It is critical that everybody, that the outgoing Biden Administration lays the ground work for the incoming Trump Administration, the Qataris, the Egyptians, and all mediators to ensure that the deal gets executed as it is supposed to, and that it moves to phases two and three.
Right now, we are embracing the deal, welcoming it, and we have gotten to know so many of the hostage families, that we are excited to see them embrace their loved ones. We are, in a strange way, also saying we're excited that the families of the deceased will get to give their loved ones proper and respectful burial. All of it is so important.
Obviously, we also think about the timing. At the end of the day, this deal is effectively the deal that was laid out in detail by President Biden in May. We paid a very dear price for that deal not getting implemented back when it could have, many other families paid that heavy price that we paid, and we will suffer with that for the rest of our lives. But for now, we are optimistic that this is going to get the 98 home, finally, after all these months.
COOPER: Rachel, I can't see through the monitor. What number day is this?
R. GOLDBERG-POLIN: We are up to today, 467. We buried Hersh 135 days ago. And as you well know, Anderson, we began changing the masking tape every day, starting on day 26 because different journalists like yourself would ask us every day, how many days it had been since Hersh had been stolen. And so on day 26, I decided this is going to become my identity, and this is going to become a way of keeping accountable the decision makers to see the failure that is going to be on my chest every single day until the last hostage comes home.
COOPER: Rachel, you spoke -- you and I spoke this past November, and you said that you had pushed down or suppressed everything you were feeling while Hersh was being held captive and shoved everything into suitcases that you didn't want to unpack. What have the last few months since then been like?
R. GOLDBERG-POLIN: It's interesting that you ask that right now, because what I've talked about just this past week is how -- obviously, the nightmare that every parent tries to avoid even contemplating is the loss of a child. And Jon and I and many other hostage families tragically had the experience of before having that huge hit, having utter and complete torment for hundreds and hundreds of days.
So we had this elegant, unique torture for 330 days before we got the unimaginable hit that no parent wants, the loss of our only son, Hersh. And I do think that the psyche is complex and layered and intricate, and I still am very much having trouble trying to synthesize what happened before.
COOPER: Yeah.
R. GOLDBERG-POLIN: And so, I think it's just a process that we are going to be untangling for the rest of our lives.
COOPER: Yeah. Well, Rachel and Jon, I thank you for joining us on this night, as we have joined together on many nights. I appreciate it. Thank you. I wish you continued strength --
(CROSSTALK)
R. GOLDBERG-POLIN: Thank you. (Inaudible)
POLIN: Good news.
[20:45:00]
COOPER: Yeah. Thank you so much.
Coming up next, we'll have news from here in Los Angeles. All the developments today and the next crucial hours ahead as fire crews wait for the threat from any possible dangerous winds to subside. There's a lot to tell you about what's going on here. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: It's been a week and a day since fires across the Los Angeles area broke out and a week since we watched this neighborhood, right here in Altadena, this intersection, Harriet Street and Glen Avenue, destroyed. We're less than an hour away from today's red flag warning expiring. The winds have not caused the trouble it was feared they might today, and that is great news. Cooler, more humid conditions are forecast for the next several days, more good news.
This is giving crews more breathing room, literally, more time to do what they've been doing for several days now, combing over hotspots, extinguishing smoldering roots under the ground, and clearing anything from those areas that might reignite. Also ongoing, search operations here in Altadena and elsewhere for any human remains that haven't been found. L.A. County Sheriff said that those may finish in Altadena by the end of this week. Damage assessments are also still underway.
And L.A. County Deputy Fire Chief said damage assessments are about 30 percent so far. In all, close to 38,000 acres have burned in the biggest wildfires, the Eaton Fire here, the Palisades Fire on the other side of the county. Now, in a moment, one of the residents of this block we'll talk to. But first, we want to show you some of this neighborhood to you, some of this intersection because this is the exact corner where we spent about eight hours exactly one week ago today. We want to show you what it looked like then, what it looked like before, and what it looks like now.
This is what the southwest corner of Harriet Street and Glen Avenue looks like now. I want to show you what it looked like exactly one week ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: So this vehicle went up about five or 10 minutes ago. This house has been burning now for quite some time, but the fire is now spread on this block. We at the corner -- we're at Harriet in Altadena, Harriet Street. The fire has spread now to this house, which is really now engulfed in flames. But I mean, it's just surreal. I mean, look at this, even a small thing like this tree is burning from the inside.
So on this block, I count one, two -- I mean all the houses, all the houses on this side are gone. Now, the fire -- look, this house is engulfed. It's very much likely that this house will be next because these winds are now just whipping onto this house.
COOPER (voice-over): This is what that house used to look like. This is what it looks like now. The house and trees on the southwest corner of the intersection used to look like this. Here's what it looked like one week ago.
This house has been burning now for quite some time. We've been watching. It has just spread to that tree. I don't know if you can see, the entire tree has just incinerated in a second. But, the important part is look at all these embers. All these embers in the trees, they're now going through the air. They're now flying down the block to a number of houses which have not yet burned.
[20:50:00] And those embers, now look, those embers have caught in that tree and that (inaudible) cascading effect. There's a lot of trees on this block. There's a lot of bushes. There's a lot of lawns. Whoa. OK.
COOPER (voice-over): This is what's left of that corner now. There were two vibrant palm trees and several cypress trees on the southwest side of Harriet Street before the fire. This is what happened here a week ago.
COOPER: Those embers made those trees go on fire. I don't know if you can see through the smoke behind the palm trees, there are now these very tall vertical trees. I don't know much about shrubbery. I don't know what they're called but they're huge tall trees. They are now just like flames shooting up into the air.
This second house now, I mean, that's -- that is just gone. That car, I believe that's the explosion we heard a short time ago that I recorded. Look at all these embers. Just, I don't know if you can pan up, but look at all these embers just flying up. You see them in the smoke, all of that. Those can -- those -- the winds are a little -- or have died down here, but those can just get picked up by winds for miles.
This is what the section of Harriet Street looks like right now. There are power company folks, trying to restore lines, which is certainly a good sign. But, these are the palm trees that are still standing. Palm trees are really hard. I'm not clear if these will actually make it, but they're very hard. They do have a thick bark, and said to have high moisture levels and a number of them did seem to survive. So we'll see about that.
But all the houses here have been destroyed. On the northwest side of Harriet Street, a number of houses did not burn, even the house here on the corner. But Brenda Mata's house did burn and it was one of the last houses on this part of Harriet Street to burn.
COOPER (voice-over): This is the house she loved before the fire. I spoke with Brenda a week ago, moments after she arrived and saw what happened.
BRENDA MATA, LOST HOUSE IN EATON FIRE: This is our retirement. This is our nest egg. This is where we moved in when we got married. This is where our son was born. This was our house and this was what we worked for.
COOPER (voice-over): This is what's left of Brenda's house now. More than 7,000 structures burned in Altadena. It's hard to imagine the scale of it from the ground. Far in the sky, a satellite image shows what this corner, Harriet and Glen and the surrounding streets used to look like. This is now what remains.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, one more residence I want to show you. This is the family home of filmmaker Myles Matsuno in Altadena. I'm standing right outside it, right now. It's facing me. We were in front of this house a week ago today as it burned. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: There just are not enough fire crews able to deal with all the blazes that are going on. This house is completely gone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Completely gone, and it is. Myles was here during the fires. I actually didn't see him, but he took these photos of the homes in his neighborhood burning. He took this photo of my cameraman photojournalist, Chris Audick, and me in front of the house, across the street from his, the house right over there. He also took this photo of his house burning and you can sort of see me there reporting from front as the fire consumed his neighborhood.
I didn't even realize he was here taking pictures. I spoke to Myles Matsuno just before air tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Tell me about the house, there's a long history here.
MYLES MATSUNO, LOST ALTADENA HOME IN EATON FIRE: Yeah. So my wife and I, we've been in Altadena up until recently for about 10 years. And --
COOPER: Your dad bought his house?
MATSUNO: Yeah. My dad, you know, he found this home and he sent me a text one day and said, there's a home in Altadena. I know you and Whitney are very -- you wanted to stay there. And Whitney is my wife. And he's like, you want to go look at it? And that's how it all started. And I was like, no, no, no. Like, we're OK. You don't need to help us get a home or whatever. And --
COOPER: He was -- his plan was to buy the home for you?
MATSUNO: Yeah.
COOPER: And for your sister?
MATSUNO: Yeah, for our family, you know. My dad was great. He was a wonderful provider in that way. It's hard to come back and see all this stuff and because you're also losing a part of him, like, you see the memories of him being here with my firstborn and my sister's daughter, and just a lot of emotions.
COOPER: I was here when you were here. I didn't see you. You took a picture of me and Chris working. What was it -- have you ever seen anything like that before?
MATSUNO: No. No. We only see things like that, like, the Malibu fires happen. You see these, also documentaries and stuff like that. But, you don't expect it to happen to your own community, and then it does and it's just -- it's devastating.
COOPER: What -- what happens now and what is the next step?
MATSUNO: I don't know. I don't even know what the answer to that is.
[20:55:00]
COOPER: Does any of this have memory? I mean, there's a fountain made --
MATSUNO: The fountain. Yeah, the fountain, when my dad passed, my wife and I bought that fountain because it kind of resembled a fountain he had at his home. And so, I would sit there a lot in the morning or at night, and it would go off -- I had on a timer, so it would go off and it was just kind of memories of him. But yeah.
COOPER: What do you think he would tell you now?
MATSUNO: I've been thinking about that. My sister and I were talking about that, like what would dad say? What would he -- and my dad, he was really good at comforting us and really good at just telling us it would be OK with his tone and his voice. And he would definitely -- had a huge heart. I think he would just tell us it'd be OK and you guys will be OK. It's just, you'll get through it.
COOPER: Is there anything else you want people to know?
MATSUNO: I just want people to know like how amazing and special this community was. The threads on Facebook, the text message threads that I'm a part of, even the local businesses all around here were all been like helping out so much. And you know, you -- people talk about community a lot and they say like, I love my community.
I love -- it's a word that gets thrown around, but I truly have seen a community really come together in Altadena and Pasadena and La Quinta and Sierra Madre, all of it that surrounds here. And it's amazing to see how many people stepped up from around the country too to help support whether it was through online giving or donations or whatever. It's -- that's why I said when the good and the bad, that's the overwhelming good part is like, you really do see humanity and see how good humanity can be.
COOPER: Do you think it'll be rebuilt?
MATSUNO: I hope so.
COOPER: Do you want to rebuild here?
MATSUNO: I mean that'd be amazing if we could. Yeah. I hope a lot of people rebuild and I hope a lot of people keep the memories that they had and can also build future memories.
COOPER: Well, thank you so much.
MATSUNO: Yeah, thank you.
COOPER: I understand.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: We'll have more from here in a moment. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: If you want to help those affected by the L.A. wildfires, you can go to cnn.com/impact. Find out some groups working here. I quickly want to thank producers Elise Miller, Anne Clifford, Photojournalist Chris Audick, Kevin Myers, Tigen Wyn (ph) and Alan Meshberg, our truck op, as well as our correspondents and producers and journalists who've worked often in great risks themselves, covering these fires this past week and its ongoing aftermath.
They've been away from their kids and families during these difficult days. And it's an honor to work alongside all of you. It's also an honor to witness the firefighters and law enforcement officers who have come here from all over and are still, right now, working around the clock. We've seen a lot of terrible things here, but we've also seen the best in our fellow human beings.
