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Brett Crawford is Interviewed about Inmate Firefighters; Millions under Red Flag Warnings; Odd for Senate Confirmation Hearings; Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) is Interviewed about TikTok; Inflation Edged up Again Last Month. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired January 15, 2025 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Your committee first before they can get anywhere near the cabinet and the White House. And this is the first big day, as you are about to kick off these confirmation hearings for the attorney general and Pam Bondi. We'll be watching.

Senator Dick Durbin, thank you.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, breaking news this morning, 170 million Americans are in for a rude awakening in just four days as TikTok makes plans to shut down - completely shut down the app for all U.S. users.

And new criticism this morning from prison reform advocates as more than 1,000 inmates in California are on the front lines fighting the wildfires.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:35:15]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Nearly 1,000 prisoners are on the front lines, working around the clock to fight the California wildfires. They provide crucial support. And in exchange, they earn small pay, even sometimes reduced sentences depending on their skill level.

But the California program has come under fire, with critics saying prisoners are getting little compensation for putting their lives at great risk.

Our next guest is Brett Crawford, a former inmate who worked as a firefighter in California and Utah.

Now, look, you have been very honest with the fact that you call yourself a career - you were a career criminal. You are now out of prison and living a decent life. But you're in prison for many years and you decided to take part in this prisoner firefighting program.

What was your experience? What did you experience there? And did you have the same sort of equipment and training as other firefighters?

BRETT CRAWFORD, FORMER INMATE FIREFIGHTER: Yes, of course. I think that one of the things that is lost is how difficult it is to become a firefighter within the prison system. First of all, you have to bring your points down or to a minimum level, which means you have to avoid getting into trouble, which can be very difficult in a general population situation. So, by - then you get a chance to go become a firefighter. You have to go through fire training. You learn about fire behavior. You have to take the test. You have to be physically fit enough to be a firefighter. And I - and don't think that most people understand how incredibly backbreaking and the type of endurance you have to have to be a wildland firefighter.

So, I want to say from the very beginning that I do believe the firefighters, both inmate and civilian wildland firefighters, should be paid more. It's - it's incredibly difficult and dangerous work. And I - I initially found out about firefighting as a way to get out of my cell. I didn't want to rot in my cell anymore. Selfishly, I just wanted to go to the program to get away from general population, be in a situation where people weren't trying to kill each other. But what I hadn't anticipated was how it would be when we got out into the field. We were fighting fires. We were helping communities. We were doing community service. We were helping people save their homes, their animals, the humans. And the way that people treated us.

And it wasn't just like humans, which you would think would be normal, but it was - it was like something that I wasn't prepared for, which is, they were treating us like we were heroes. And I can tell you, as a person who spent most of my life in prison, I didn't see myself through that lens. I saw myself through the lens as a villain or a menace to society. And it was a spark for me that helped change my life. It didn't fix my life, but it was a spark for me to see myself in a different light.

SIDNER: Wow, that is a powerful testimony to the work you were doing.

And you did mention the danger. We've been looking at the pictures of where some of the - the inmates are right now in the California fires, in very difficult terrain. And some inmates, as have other firefighters, died in blazes like this, as well as been injured.

I do want to ask you about - like, I know that you get some time off of your sentence, potentially, when you go out and fight these fires. Is there any chance for you to use this training and be able to become a firefighter afterwards?

CRAWFORD: I think it's - I think that goes - that question goes along for everything. It's difficult to become a firefighter as a civilian, besides being a firefighter as an inmate. And I think, depending on the state, and depending on the different laws within the states, you can as - you can become a wildland firefighter. It's much easier to become a wildland firefighter. But the - a wildland firefighter, which is the people who are up in these crews, the guys who are up there hiking, it's - it's a - it's not a long - it's like being a professional athlete. It's a very short time span that your body can kind of put up with that kind of level of work. But what it does teach you is work ethic. It teaches you how to show

up on time. It teaches you how to be a leader. It teaches you how to be work with - work well with others. Take on great responsibility and - and understand the risk and learn how to assess the risk.

So, while you're there, you're learning all these things that are valuable tools.

SIDNER: Brett Crawford, it is incredible just to sort of hear your story and how this changed you, but also a testament to those who have decided to volunteer because it is extremely dangerous and extremely grueling, just hiking up and down those hills, never mind the fact that fire is threatening your lives and - and the homes of others as well.

[08:40:02]

Brett Crawford, thank you so much for joining us. I really appreciate you walking us through your story.

All right, speaking of the fires -

CRAWFORD: Thank you so much.

SIDNER: Thanks.

Let's get the latest on the red flag warnings right now in effect and the dangerous weather conditions this hour. Meteorologist Allison Chinchar back with us now.

Where are the greatest threats right now as we see this red flag warning once again rising?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, that's right. So, it's the pink area that you see behind me. This is really where the focus is going to be really for the next 12 hours. And that's where the peak winds are expected to be. Those wind gusts 50, 60, even in some isolated spots as high as 70 miles per hour. And this red flag warning is valid from now all the way until 6:00 p.m. local time in California. And even embedded within that red flag warning, you have these two zones right here. These are being labeled particularly dangerous situations, and that is valid until 3:00 p.m., because that's really when we will finally start to see some of those winds begin to come back down.

You have three of the four fires that are located within that specialized area too. You go back to the last 24 hours, you look at some of these wind gusts we've measured, 74, 61, 60, 50. So we were very lucky that we did not really have a lot of brand-new fires start because these are the winds that would have spread those fires so rapidly across the very dry vegetation. And the concern still exists this morning. We hope that we do not have any more new, additional fires spin up because, if we do, these are the winds that they are going to experience, those 50, 60 mile per hour wind gusts that are expected to continue not only through the morning, but also into the early afternoon. We will finally start to see some of those winds begin to die back down. Once we get to say, 3:00, 4:00, 5:00 this afternoon, and especially into the overnight, and by the time we get to Thursday.

SIDNER: It's just exhausting for all of those who are going through this in Los Angeles County and Ventura County now.

Allison Chinchar, thank you so much.

For more information about how you can help Los Angeles areas and other areas where wildfire victims have experienced so much loss, you can go to cnn.com/impact.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: And Donald Trump's cabinet is on the line and in the hot seat today on Capitol Hill. Some of his most important nominees are heading in to face tough questions from lawmakers this morning. They all have to make it through committee and all have to then have a full vote in the Senate, obviously, to get - to become part of the cabinet, which may leave you wondering how often do they not make it through, and what are the odds here?

Harry Enten has been looking into this for you because we know he's been - he considers and researches all of the big questions in life.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: That's true.

BOLDUAN: Let's just begin. What can you tell us?

ENTEN: What can I tell you? OK.

So, let's take a look. All-time cabinet nominations withdrawn or rejected? Just 29. Just 29 since the beginning of our -

BOLDUAN: The beginning of time?

ENTEN: Since the beginning of time, or at least the beginning of the time in the United States of America. Just 29. That's only about 3 percent. The only thing that's lower than that is Josh Allen's interception percentage.

So, the bottom line here, really clear, very few cabinet nominations are either withdrawn or rejected. Most get on through.

BOLDUAN: I think you just leave Josh Allen out of this.

ENTEN: I love Josh Allen. He's on my mind every day this week.

BOLDUAN: Very clearly.

OK, what - how often do they get rejected? I mean if - if it stays - if Donald Trump's slate of nominees -

ENTEN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Stays as it is now. ENTEN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: How many are - how many are going to get rejected?

ENTEN: Ah, I've got to tell you, the odds on this are low. Really, really low.

OK, last cabinet nomination rejected. When the Senate was controlled by the opposition party. You've got to go back to '89. Of course that was John Tower, right? How about the president's party? You got to go back a century, all the way back to 1925. My father had me in his 60s. He was born in 1927. So, this happened before my father was even born. My father lived his entire life without a cabinet nomination being rejected when the Senate was controlled by the president's party. So, it really rarely happens. The idea that any of Trump's nominations will be rejected if, in fact, they face a Senate vote is basically nil.

BOLDUAN: Narrow it down to the six we're looking at today.

ENTEN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: What do you see?

ENTEN: So, all right. So, let's take a look at the key three because that's the -

BOLDUAN: OK.

ENTEN: The number I can get on the graphic and still have large font, all right. Trump's picks chance of confirmation per an average of the betting markets. Mamma mia, look how high these are. Pam Bondi, 98 percent. John Ratcliffe, 96 percent. Marco Rubio, 99 percent. Look, the bottom line is this, yes, there's a few percentage points left on the board. We never know quite what's going to happen. But the chance that all three of these get confirmed are high, high, sky high.

BOLDUAN: Yes, I mean, and, look, we already had Dick Durbin today saying that he's supporting Marco Rubio.

ENTEN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: So, I mean, that one is - that - I mean -

ENTEN: The - the -

BOLDUAN: You can actually put money on that.

ENTEN: Yes. I think the only two were still a little bit unsure about perhaps are three are yesterday's, Tulsi Gabbard, RFK Jr. Those are really the three picks that Trump has selected, but we're not quite sure about. But the rest, the vast majority, clear, clear, clear that they're almost certainly going to get through.

[08:45:02]

BOLDUAN: And Pam Bondi's confirmation hearing about to begin.

Harry, thank you so much.

ENTEN: Should be good TV.

BOLDUAN: John.

BERMAN: All right, breaking news, an earthquake in the world of social media that really could be bigger than we thought. Reports that TikTok is planning to completely shut down its app to users in the United States this Sunday. Completely shut it down. That was the day a federal ban was scheduled to take effect.

Now, the ban itself would have meant there would be no new downloads from app stores or updates, but in theory, people could still have used the app for a while. The shutdown means that the tens and tens of millions of TikTok users, they won't be able to go in at all. No cat videos, no nothing. The new report comes from the tech site "The Information."

Now, with me now is the Democratic senator from the state of Massachusetts, or the commonwealth I should have said, Ed Markey.

Senator, thank you so much for being with us.

If TikTok shuts down in the U.S. on Sunday, what would the impact of that be?

SEN. ED MARKEY (D-MA): The impact would be dramatic. There are 170 million users of TikTok in the United States. Seven million businesses use TikTok in the United States. All across California right now, families, businesses are using TikTok to create communities to try to deal with the tragedy that continues to unfold. So, if there is in fact a ban, if TikTok goes dark on Sunday, it's going to have significant, significant impact in our country.

I think older people just don't understand the role which TikTok plays in the culture of people in our country under the age of 40. It is deeply embedded into our country, and that's why I'm going to, on the floor of the Senate today, make a unanimous consent request to pass my legislation to give TikTok another 270 days to negotiate a resolution of this issue. But it would just absolutely be a very significant moment in the history of communications in our country to have a site go dark, just be banned in our country with no other resolution that was, in fact, made possible.

BERMAN: I had a chance to ask Republican Congressman Dusty Johnson about your proposal for an extension. This is what he said.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DUSTY JOHNSON (R-SD): I think it is crazy that we would allow an adversary of the United States to control such a major news outlet. This is not about the content on TikTok. Listen, I get it, people are

hungry for their goofy dance videos. There are lots of places they can get that. This is about the fact that we would allow the Chinese Communist Party this kind of access to propaganda channels. We would never have let the Soviet Union buy up the CBS Evening News and The Wall Street Journal. The fact that some are OK with the Chinese Communist Party running TikTok is hard for me to understand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

He suggests that you're OK with the Chinese Communist Party running TikTok.

The intelligence community produced absolutely no evidence that the Chinese government is compromising this information. It provided no information whatsoever.

What we have right now is something completely different. It's a lot more than just cat videos. It's 7 million businesses who use it. It's 170 million Americans who use it every single day. And in many ways very dependent upon it as part of their lives to make a living.

There are people in California on Sunday, if this gets cut off, they won't have a way to make a living. They won't have a way to generate income for themselves. That's what we're talking about. We need the Supreme Court to have more time in order to decide this, to create an extension.

BERMAN: Well -

MARKEY: Donald Trump is asking for an extension for more time.

BERMAN: All right -

MARKEY: So that he can work on this issue as well. That's what my legislation intends on attempting to achieve. And I'm going to do that with Senator Booker and Senator Wyden today.

BERMAN: All right, let me just jump in with a little context here. Number one, the Supreme Court, in its questioning, seemed to indicate they were going to let this congressionally passed law, a bipartisan law, go through, which would mean the ban would go into effect on Sunday. We think that's where the Supreme Court is going.

And I just want to point out, there are Republicans who agree with you, but there are plenty of Democrats who agree with Dusty Johnson. This law was passed by a bipartisan majority and signed in both houses, and it's signed into law, I should say, by President Biden.

You said that President Trump has indicated that he doesn't really want TikTok to go away.

[08:50:01]

Have you had any communication with the incoming Trump administration on this? MARKEY: Well, he filed a brief at the Supreme Court, an amicus brief.

So, we know that's there. We also know there's an American company, Project Liberty, that has, in fact, made a proffer to buy TikTok just last week. But there isn't enough time between last Thursday and this coming Sunday in order to finish that deal.

So, we just need more time. That's what my legislation calls for.

BERMAN: How would you -

MARKEY: Just give them more time to work this out so we don't see harm that is, in fact, inflicted upon American small businesses and upon individuals in our country.

BERMAN: How would you - there's a report that Chinese officials are musing about selling it, TikTok, to Elon Musk. How would you feel about Elon Musk in charge of TikTok?

MARKEY: Well, obviously, I don't like what TikTok would look like if - if Elon Musk made it in any way have a resemblance to what he's done with Twitter. But we don't - I don't know that. I can't project out what Elon Musk might be doing, or whether or not he's even going to win. All I know is that right now there is an offer on the table from Project Liberty, which is a group - a great group led by Frank McCourt. We should give them time in order to negotiate. And then we can avoid the harm which is inflicted upon the small businesses.

And again, I'm going to say this, especially those in California right now. TikTok is an integral part of the economy. People don't understand that. There's 220,000 jobs in our country that are related to TikTok right now.

BERMAN: Senator -

MARKEY: Seven million businesses use it. Let's let that continue. Let's give them the time right now while the negotiations continue.

BERMAN: Senator Ed Markey from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, thank you so much for your time.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, we're going to take you live to Capitol Hill. You're looking at live pictures of the hearing room where the Senate Judiciary Committee will soon be meeting and gathering as confirmation hearings are about to pick up for Donald - some of Donald Trump's most important cabinet nominees.

And also this. To the moon. An overnight launch carrying a pair of lunar landers. It's very hard to say, lunar landers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:56:43]

BERMAN: All right, breaking just moments ago, brand new numbers on inflation.

Let's bring in CNN's Matt Egan, because this one's a little confusing. When I looked at the top line, I'm like, oh, people aren't going to like this.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Yes, John, this is a confusing report. There's some good news, some bad news. There's a little something for everyone.

Let's start with the bad news, 2.9 percent. That's the annual inflation rate. This was hotter than expected. It's the third straight month where this number has gone up, further away from that 2 percent goal. And this is the highest since July.

Also, the monthly number was a little bit hotter than expected. And when we look at the trend, you can see that, yes, there's been a lot of progress from the nightmare of two and a half years ago, and yet some of that progress has started to unwind and stall out in the last few months.

Now, you can see it right here. You see it's starting to tick a little bit higher.

BERMAN: Yes.

EGAN: That's not what you want to see.

But there is some good news. And I think this is why the market is reacting very positively. Core inflation, which excludes food and energy, that actually cooled off. So, look at this, we see Dow futures up almost 700 points. The Nasdaq futures up almost 2 percent. And that's because the bond market liked those core numbers. Interest rates went down in the market because a lot of people were on edge. And that is why the stock market is set to open sharply higher today.

And we look at some of the categories here that people are spending. There were some numbers that people are not going to like, right? I mean restaurant prices are up significantly more than 3 percent from a year ago. Shelter, that's rent, I mean that continues to be a major problem. And energy as well. This was more electricity, natural gas prices.

And listen, when we talk about inflation, we think about - we talk about the rate of inflation, how much prices are going up. But what people care about, what all the viewers care about is the level of prices. And no doubt people are spending a lot more. Look at this, almost $1,200 more for the same goods and services than they were back in January 2021, all because prices are higher, John.

BERMAN: All right, Matt, thank you so much for explaining that. Some mixed signals we're getting from the market this morning.

EGAN: Yes.

BERMAN: Appreciate it.

EGAN: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: Sara.

SIDNER: All right, this just in, two sources familiar with the negotiations telling CNN the Israeli government expects a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza will be announced as early as today, saying major progress has been made. The deal could be implemented as early as Sunday. The ceasefire and hostage release deal would mean the release of 33 of 94 hostages and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, as well as a weeks' long break in the firefight in Gaza. The war has gone on for 15 months. Israel has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza after Hamas' terrorist raid into Israel that killed hundreds of Israelis.

A surprise admission of guilt. A Texas man accused of stalking Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark was in court facing felony stalking charges when this happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning, Mr. Lewis.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guilty as charged.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. Sir -

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Yes, that is what he said, guilty as charged. Authorities say the man was sending a number of threats and sexually explicit messages to Clark on social media. He has been ordered to stay away from Clark.

[09:00:01]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three two, one, ignition and liftoff. We've got a fire flying (ph), go. (INAUDIBLE).