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Israel Delays Cabinet Vote on Gaza Deal, Says Hamas Reneged on Parts; Fire Crews Push to Contain Los Angeles Fires as Weather Improves; New York Times Reports TikTok CEO to Attend Trump's Inauguration as App's Ban Looms. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired January 16, 2025 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking this morning, hours after agreeing to a ceasefire deal, Israel has now pushed off a critical vote on that deal, the Prime Minister's Office accusing Hamas of trying to extort last-minute concessions.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, what on earth is happening with TikTok set to be banned in the U.S. on Sunday, but now we hear the CEO is invited to Donald Trump's inauguration on Monday. So, other secret plans to save it. 170 million users are asking.

And in just minutes, an astronaut who's been trapped in space for months is going for a walk.

Sara is out. I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan. This is CNN News Central.

BOLDUAN: Breaking news overnight, a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas is still in place, but there is, at the very least, a new delay this morning that everyone is trying to get a better handle on what it really means.

Here's what we know at this hour, Israel's cabinet needs to vote to ratify the deal that has not happened as it was expected to. Israel delayed it, citing last minute issues. Again, what this now means exactly for the phased in ceasefire and hostage deal, it's unclear. It's all supposed to begin on Sunday.

Under the deal, Hamas has agreed to release 33 hostages in the first phase, Israel agreed to release a thousand-plus Palestinian prisoners, all of that resulting in a 42 day ceasefire with hopes it leads to a permanent one.

Let's get to CNN's Bianna Golodryga, she is live in Tel Aviv with much more on this story. Bianna, help us understand what is the status here? What is the latest?

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Kate, good morning to you. So, all of these things remain rather fluid, but the latest, it does appear to be just a delay in the process of getting a security cabinet and ultimately a party cabinet vote in the government here. As you noted, Prime Minister Netanyahu blaming Hamas for what he says is reneging on parts of the deal. Hamas, for their part, are denying those allegations.

Everyone I'm speaking with here still believes, though, that a ceasefire deal will go into place as had been agreed upon beginning Sunday night, where we would see the first hostages in phase one of those 33 released here to Israel. Hospitals have been on standby and ready to receive those hostages.

In terms of the politics of it all, Prime Minister Netanyahu is facing a lot of headwinds as we've been reporting now for months from the far right element specifically of his government, of his coalition, who do not want to agree to a deal under these terms. What the latest we have is that the finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has said that his party would agree to stay with the coalition through phase one of the deal. That is the release of those 33 hostages and the pause in fighting. Only if the fighting would be allowed to proceed again after phase one. So, there you just get a sense of how fluid and fragile this deal is right now.

But, Kate, when it comes to the hostages coming home in phase one, as you noted, it would be the women. It would be children. It would be men over the age of 50 and those who are critically wounded. And among those women are five IDF spotters or soldiers, a reminder that everyone in Israel is required to serve in the military, these five IDF spotters all young, the ages of 19 to 21. I spoke with the cousin of one of them, Edan Berger's (ph) cousin. She is 20 years old. I spoke with her cousin about what this moment may feel like for them when they are finally reunited and why there's a bittersweet sense in the country right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHLEY WAXMAN BAKSHI, COUSIN OF HOSTAGE BEING HELD IN GAZA BY HAMAS: She's a beautiful young girl who's been 15 months in the hands of people that we know committed the worst atrocities against women in one day. We know what they did on October 7th. We also know from released hostages who came home what they did to hostages in captivity.

[07:05:03]

That's the biggest fear.

The physical aspect of it, and I don't need to go into detail. I think everyone who's watching understands what that fear means. But more importantly, the mental and emotional aspect of what kind of trauma something like that can do to a young girl who's 20 years old who has her whole life ahead of her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: All right. Bianna Golodryga for us in Tel Aviv, Bianna's going to be all over it. A lot of developments could be coming on this today and this morning in the coming hours. John?

BERMAN: Yes. Obviously, we'll watch that all morning long. Also this morning, assessing the message and really the warning that President Biden gave in his farewell address overnight, laying down a marker after 50 years of public service.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is at the White House. The tech industrial complex, Arlette.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John. What was really interesting about this speech is that President Biden didn't simply use it to run through his accomplishments or how he wants to be remembered as he leaves office, but he really issued a very blunt warning speaking about the fears that he has for the country as a second Trump term approaches.

Now, he never mentioned Donald Trump by name or any of those supporters around him, but it was very clear who he was targeting this message towards. President Biden warns that there is a dangerous concentration of power among the ultra wealthy in this country.

Here is one of those moments as President Biden shared some of his fears.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: 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. People should be able to make as much as they can, but play by the same rules, pay their fair share of taxes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now, President Biden also made a thinly veiled reference to those tech moguls who have been surrounding President-elect Trump, comparing them to robber barons from the 19th century. He also warned of the tech industrial complex, and he said he has very serious concerns about disinformation in this country, the potential abuse of artificial intelligence going forward, and also the threat that climate change can pose across the world in the coming years.

It's very interesting when you think about the fact that President Biden has staked so much of his political career talking about the possibilities of this country. But now he was really laying out what he sees as some of the warning signs, saying that it is now time for Americans to stand guard and stay involved in this process.

Now, President Biden in this speech did try to argue that some of his accomplishments, they are going to take years for them to come to fruition and fully for Americans to feel the impact. That is something that Biden's advisers hope will really land with Americans in the years to come as history tries to remember what this Biden presidency is like.

There are some though who acknowledge that there were times where President Biden lost the support of the American people once Biden advisers saying that they lost the narrative in the second half of their term of his -- certainly for President Biden, he is now exiting the political spotlight as he's now preparing to hand over power in just four days.

BERMAN: It is always interesting, compelling, in fact, to focus in on what presidents have to say when they have one foot out the door.

Arlette Saenz, thank you very much for that.

This morning, forecasters warning of a new round of dangerous winds in California and there are new worries about the toxic debris that the fires have left behind.

And, quote, concerns from Mar-a-Lago, a Republican lawmaker is now blaming President-elect Donald Trump for getting him ousted from a top committee spot.

And this morning, women's college basketball teams will finally see a payday, ending one aspect of madness around March Madness.

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[07:10:00]

BOLDUAN: This morning, a brief and much needed break from brutal Santa Ana winds in Southern California, where most red flag warnings have now expired. Forecasters do warn, though, that the winds will return early next week as the two biggest fires are still far from being fully contained.

Cal Fire now says that more than 40,000 acres have burned across the region, more than 12,000 homes and other structures destroyed.

CNN's Stephanie Elam is in Pacific Palisades with much more on where things stand and what things are looking like. And, Stephanie, there's also some new safety concerns with regard to the all of the debris left behind by these wildfires. What are you learning?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's so true, Kate. And, normally, when we have these wildfires, it's burning through parts of the community. In this case, in Pacific Palisades and also with the Eaton fire in Altadena, it's just decimated entire communities, which means a ton of debris is just left behind. In fact, there's so much concern about when people are getting back into these communities, but they, the officials, are saying that we have to figure out what we're going to do with all of this debris before we can let people in. In fact, take a listen to the chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department discussing this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF KRISTIN CROWLEY, LOS ANGELES FIRE DEPARTMENT: We understand your desire to return to your community, however, significant safety and infrastructure issues remain, including downed power lines, broken gas lines, hazardous materials, and unsafe water.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:15:05]

ELAM: And all of that is something that you can see playing out here. They're working on fixing it. But look at this, and I'll step out of the way so you can see. All of that, think about it, the melted plastics, the metals, and then you've got all the electric vehicles that are out here as well. Those batteries can be unstable. And so they've got to come in and get those too.

So, the Los Angeles County has made it so that people cannot remove this debris on their own until they're able to go through and make it safe. And so the EPA is being called out to work on that. And then they're saying they've got to treat the top levels of the soil as well too.

And then another lesson to be learned from this is just, you know, they've got 150 or so leads on all these fires. We don't know what started either of these fires, but there are going to be lessons learned, like how this house burned down like it did. And if you look to the house just next to it, completely standing, right? So, there are lessons to be learned here on how some houses can be safer. And that's what you hear a lot of officials talking about being hard and hardening their houses. And this is one of the lessons out here to take away.

But still, we do not know when people are going to find their way back into their homes yet and find their way back to their property.

BOLDUAN: Yes, I mean, well, that is quite a stark example of what is playing out what's behind you and the home right next door. What a long road ahead, even after they get containment.

Stephanie, thank you so much.

So, coming up for us, time is running out for TikTok. New information on how Donald Trump is working to save the app from shutting down in the United States one day before he takes office.

And also breaking this morning, we're going to show you some live pictures of Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano, which is erupting today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

BERMAN: All right. Major developments overnight in the future of TikTok. Remember, a ban is set to take effect Sunday as part of a bipartisan law passed by Congress, signed by President Biden, over concerns of Chinese influence over the app.

So, the ban is Sunday. But The New York Times is reporting that TikTok's CEO has been invited to Donald Trump's inauguration on Monday. Add to that CNN has learned that President-elect Trump is looking into possible stopgap measures to keep TikTok from shutting down. All right, CNN's Clare Duffy is here. So much uncertainty.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yes, I mean, I think that's really the bottom line here, is we're three days away from this ban, and we still don't know what's going to happen here, if it's really going away or not. We still don't know how the Supreme Court is going to rule. We're now hearing that Donald Trump is trying to take some action potentially to delay the ban going into effect, although, as you said, it's set to go into effect the day before the inauguration, and what that means, really, for users of this platform, is they are feeling a lot of this uncertainty.

If you are a creator who makes a livelihood on this app, or even a user who spends hours a day, as many people do, scrolling on this platform, those folks are already seeking out alternatives. And we're seeing some of those alternatives surge in popularity this week. The biggest one is a platform called RedNote, which is actually a Chinese app. It looks a lot like TikTok.

And what's really interesting as we're seeing a lot of American TikTok users flocking to this app and Chinese users welcoming them, offering Mandarin lessons, offering them information about how to use the platform. I should have pulled up a good example of this to show you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dear TikTok refugees, welcome to (INAUDIBLE). I don't probably don't understand Chinese, but there are five tips to help you make the most of this. At first, it's all about lifestyle. You can always find a better way to live and most comprehensive guide to everything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DUFFY: It's kind of a hilarious cultural exchange that's happening, and many American users are there expressing frustration about the U.S. government and essentially saying if you're going to take away our TikTok, we're going to go find another Chinese platform that we can use. So, that's been a really interesting dynamic that we're seeing.

Another app that's really gained popularity is Lemonade, which is owned by TikTok parent company ByteDance. The company started pushing it in the U.S. when talks of a ban really started bubbling up. And that's another platform that's really gaining.

Those two platforms could still face the same sort of ban that TikTok is facing under this law and experts told me that sort of gets at the challenge, this whack-a-mole challenge that the U.S. government has in trying to avoid Chinese influence over popular social platforms.

BERMAN: Look, those would certainly be twists, that's for sure. Again, if the CEO of TikTok is really coming to the inauguration on Monday, it's hard to imagine Donald Trump doesn't want to find a way to save it or won't do something.

Clare Duffy, thank you very much for that.

All right, we're working our sources in the Middle East. There seems to be a delay in the process of the hostage and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. We're trying to uncover what this all means.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:25:00]

BOLDUAN: The breaking news this morning, complications in the Israel- Hamas deal that is supposed to kick off this Sunday, a multistep agreement to bring hostages home and bring the war potentially to an end. The Israeli Prime Minister's Office announcing it has delayed a cabinet vote on the agreement, a vote that was supposed to happen today. The prime minister accusing Hamas now of reneging on parts of the deal and, quote, attempting to extort last-minute concessions. Where is this now? Let's find out.

Joining us right now from the White House is a principal deputy national security adviser to President Biden, Jon Finer. Jon, thanks for coming in. Is this deal still a go? What's your understanding of what's behind the delay?

JON FINER, PRINCIPAL DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: So, we fully expect the deal to be implemented as described by the president and by the mediators, Egypt and Qatar, yesterday and on the timeline that was described. What we're doing now is working through details of implementation. That is always the case in deals that are complicated, that are going to play out over a period of weeks, as this deal will, and when there is literally zero trust between the two parties to the agreement.

And so we expect that there will be complications throughout the period of implementing this deal. We are intensively engaging to work through them and we'll continue to do so, as will, by the way, the incoming administration, which has been fully on board during this process up to speed on all the details and itself committed to implementing this deal as described.

BOLDUAN: On this, I'm just going to call it, I'll say, call it, this one detail, when you hear the prime minister saying that Hamas is attempting to extort last-minute concessions, what's the concession?

FINER: Look, throughout this process, we have been committed to a number of principles, but one of them is not to respond to everything that is said in public, but to work through the details in private. That's going to be how we handle this situation and what I promise you are going to be a number of additional steps that are going to have to be taken to make sure the deal is implemented as it's written on.