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Israeli Cabinet Reportedly Meeting on Ceasefire-Hostage Deal; Biden Races to Push Through Executive Actions; Firefighters Make Gains as Winds Die Down; Changing Plans for Trump's Inauguration. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired January 17, 2025 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

LT. COL. JONATHAN CONRICUS, FORMER IDF SPOKESPERSON (Ret.): ... and to have a future and independence and to be prosperous and free. That is not in the cards for Palestinians as long as Hamas controls the Gaza Strip. And as Jeremy said before, I think that is correct.

This war, sadly, and I live here and it affects me and my family, so I do not say this with joy. This war isn't over until Hamas is defeated. I don't think that lots of people in Israel would even entertain the thought of this being the final act.

This is a milestone and the priority of the State of Israel is to do a less than perfect deal in order to get our people back. And again, we're talking about 33 out of 98. It's not all of our hostages in this stage, unfortunately.

But let's say we get our 33 and then we continue to negotiate for the remaining 65. It's not a great deal, but that's what we want to do in order to get our people back. But I don't think that people around the world should be confused or have false expectations.

This isn't peace. This isn't the end of the war. This is a ceasefire and this war will end once Hamas is defeated. I don't think that Israel can take any more chances with jeopardizing its security.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: I will just say that we have spoken with people who are sincerely concerned about Israelis, including Israelis as well as Palestinians, who do see that sometimes when you're talking about excising Hamas in the way that the IDF has, you just end up with so many dead civilians in Gaza and the numbers bear that out.

Jonathan, thank you so much. I think we're all looking towards Sunday and seeing the first of hostages released. They have been away from their families far too long and we cannot wait to begin seeing that happen. Jonathan Conricus, thank you so much for being with us so long.

CONRICUS: Thank you.

KEILAR: Thank you so much. And we'll be right back.

[15:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: President Biden is racing to push through executive action and protect his legacy from Donald Trump. And today the president announced two high-stakes decisions.

Clemency for nearly 2,500 nonviolent drug offenders. And a stated opinion that the Equal Rights Amendment is ratified.

CNN's MJ Lee is at the White House. MJ, what are the details on today's announcements by the president?

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yep, Brianna, these are some of the very final actions that President Biden is taking as president. And as you noted, basically everything that he is doing now and in the next couple of days has an eye towards burnishing his legacy.

That is both the legacy of his presidency, but also his five decades in public life. And also trying to protect in any way he can some of his work and his accomplishments.

Let's first talk about that very significant clemency announcement. This is the commutation of the sentences for some 2,500 people who were convicted of nonviolent offenses. Advocates and Democratic allies are really celebrating this. Saying that this really makes right some of the unjust incarceration of so many people.

And then secondly, the president unexpectedly announcing that the Equal Rights Amendment is meeting the requirement for ratification. In other words, is a part of the U.S. Constitution. This is an amendment that was passed by Congress back in the 1970s. Guarantees equal rights for women.

To be clear, a presidential announcement like this doesn't have any legal force. But still, a lot of folks are celebrating this as giving this some weight if it does meet court battles and legal challenges in the future.

And the president did say in remarks earlier that he did his fair share of research. And that he is certain about the legal soundness of his announcement.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I affirm the Equal Rights Amendment to have cleared all the necessary hurdles to be added to the U.S. Constitution now. I consulted dozens of constitutional scholars to make sure it was all within the power to do this. And the fact is, we did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: And executive actions aside, Brianna, the president, of course, is making preparations for what is to come on Monday. He will host President Trump here at the White House before heading over to Capitol Hill for the inauguration ceremonies. He was asked by reporters whether he has any plans to speak with the incoming president before Monday. He said he has no plans to do that -- Brianna.

KEILAR: MJ Lee, live for us at the White House. Thank you so much.

And ahead, fire crews making progress against those Southern California wildfires. And now some residents have been finally allowed to return home to this. A look at the long recovery they're facing next.

[15:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: ATF investigators are analyzing the scene where Los Angeles' deadly Palisades Fire may have started. CNN obtained this video of investigators on site on Thursday, and officials tell CNN they're using specially trained police dogs to sniff for chemical accelerants. They're also interviewing witnesses to the first hours of the fire, including first responders.

And in the meantime, helped by calmer winds and cooler weather, firefighters have made some strong gains, containing both the Palisades and the Eaton Fires. But another potentially dangerous round of Santa Ana winds are in the forecast.

We have CNN's Stephanie Elam in Pacific Palisades. That is not good news, but the fact that firefighters have continued to have a break, that is certainly welcome, Steph.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Break in some ways, right? Because it's not the hard fight of the fire line, but they are still very much active out here all night long, all day long. We've been watching as firefighters have been sweeping sidewalks and clearing debris and burnt pieces of things off of the sidewalk, wearing their masks, cleaning that all up.

We also hear trees being cut down. You can go by and see that some of the trees have been tagged, and they are then cutting them down because they're just too burnt to exist.

[15:45:00]

And also, it's worth noting, for people who want to get back into these areas and see what their property looks like, I know that the wait is just -- it's full of anxiety. And the law enforcement officials know that as well.

But I want you to know that we just saw, not far from here, firefighters who found a hotspot among one of the leftover rubble and debris of a home, and they were putting it out. So they're in there watching this hotspot, hosing it down, and stopping that fire from, you know, mitigating any more spread of that fire. And at the same time, we're seeing people out here from animal control. They're looking to see if there are any animals out here. They're doing all of this at this time.

And so all of these little things, as well as the air quality of stuff being blown up in the air, is why people are not allowed to be in here. The other concern, too, is landslides. We've had a very dry January here, which is supposed to be the second-wettest month. February is supposed to be the wettest month, and that's not that far away. So officials here are preparing for the fact that we could have landslides in this area if there is a lot of rain, and that is part of the concern.

KEILAR: Yes, huge concerns. Stephanie Elam, thank you so much for that.

Coming up, we'll have more on the inauguration, where plans are changing by the minute. We'll have that next.

[15:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Donald Trump's inauguration festivities kick off tomorrow with a reception and fireworks at his golf club in Virginia and also several high profile celebrities set to perform at various inaugural events. That includes Carrie Underwood, Rascal Flats, Billy Ray Cyrus.

Dominic Patten, executive editor at Deadline Hollywood is with us live to talk more about this. All right, Dominic, so this inauguration has more A-listers taking part than Trump's first inauguration. I think you can probably read into that. What do you see?

DOMINIC PATTEN, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD: I think there's been a giant cultural shift, Brianna. I mean, this is what happened in 2017. I think there was a lot of shock, maybe some awe.

I think obviously 2020, President Trump was not the winner. This time around, I think a lot of people are changing their point of view. I also think you're looking at people like Princess Carrie Underwood, who you mentioned there.

She's going to be singing America the Beautiful. She has come out and said basically, she doesn't do politics. But the President of the United States asked her to perform, so she's performing. Like Jennifer Lopez did for President Biden, like Beyonce did for President Obama. So I think you're seeing a lot more of that. There's a normalization that's occurring in many ways for people.

And of course, you're seeing people like Jason Aldean. You know, here's going to be a brunch that Joe Rogan is going to be a part of -- who is a huge part of the MAGA universe. You know, many -- some of these usual suspects, like the Kid Rocks and other like that. But I think there's also some newcomers. And I think that's reflecting the change we're seeing in the culture.

KEILAR: Yes, OK, and there's unofficial balls. So it's maybe not quite the ask that a Carrie Underwood is getting.

But you're going to be seeing Snoop Dogg. And you're going to be seeing Nelly at some of these unofficial events. You know, what do you make of this? Is this a paycheck? Is there going to be any backlash? What do you see?

PATTEN: Well, I think paycheck is the perfect term. Because I think it's a paycheck, but it's not a paycheck from Trump Incorporated. It's a paycheck when you look at people like Snoop and Nelly to their demographics, to their audience.

Let's be clear, Donald Trump achieved great strides among African- American men, among Latino men, among almost all those demographics. And that's what it is. It's called show business, not show friends for a reason.

People like Snoop, people like Nelly. Some people might think some of them are a little washed up or over the hill. But they still are steady sellers. Having said that, I will say, I think the real star power is not the one that's going to be on stage with microphones, but the one that's going to be at the inauguration, which, of course, is now indoors.

Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of TikTok. That's where the real star power is this time around.

KEILAR: Explain that. Those are the new stars.

PATTEN: Well, of course, because social media is -- look, if we make the analysis to go back eight years to 2016, the massive growth and surge of social media over the past eight years has, again, been a cultural change. Look at the way the Trump campaign ran itself. I mentioned Joe Rogan earlier, Leo Vaughn, podcasters like that, but also on social media.

There's a reason why the Trump administration is considering maybe hitting the pause button on the TikTok ban on Sunday, because TikTok was very good to Donald Trump. So those CEOs who, as some people use the term, have bowed and kissed the ring, maybe not incorrectly to use that term, those CEOs hold a huge amount of power. Whether or not they are oligarchs, as President Biden said, is debatable. But they have a huge amount of power. And that power puts the spotlight much more brightly than, unfortunately to say, Hollywood can right now.

KEILAR: Yes, they're really showing up for him. But it's not like Hollywood isn't, though we should mention. Yesterday, Trump announced that actors Jon Voight, Mel Gibson, Sylvester Stallone, that they're all going to be special ambassadors to Hollywood.

What does that mean?

PATTEN: Brianna, you and I can get out a dictionary. I mean, I would call this the remake of Grumpy Old Men. But clearly, whatever that means, it means something to Donald Trump.

Remember, Donald Trump also named Survivor executive producer and Celebrity Apprentice executive producer Mark Burnett as a special envoy to the U.K. What the special envoys to Hollywood mean, I'm not sure. Is there some sort of peace treaty they're trying to do? These guys, though, reflect how important Hollywood is to Donald Trump, who I might add was an Emmy nominee as a reality TV host.

[15:55:00]

So one of the things is we know that Trump is a guy who always craves acceptance with the elite, with the bigwigs and what have you. He's always wanted that acceptance with Hollywood. You know, the man has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and yet he can't seem to cut a break with anyone in Hollywood, at least publicly. Privately, I think quite a few executives and what have you are quite pro-Trump.

So in this case, I think these are three guys who stuck with him through thick and thin, and he's giving them a little bit of what we would call in any other age patronage.

KEILAR: Yes, a little payback there. Dominic, great to talk with you. Thanks so much for being with us.

PATTEN: Thank you, Brianna.

KEILAR: For the first time ever, the World Monuments Fund is listing a place not located on Earth as vulnerable. We'll have that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: For the first time ever, a location not on this planet has been added to the World Monuments Fund list of 25 at-risk cultural sites.

[16:00:00]

The Moon included because it's home to Tranquility Base, the place where humans first set foot on the lunar surface. Neil Armstrong's boot print is preserved there along with more than 100 other artifacts from the Apollo 11 mission.

And this fund warns the increase in space exploration and tourism underscores the universal need for proactive measures to protect humanity's legacy on the moon.

And "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.

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