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CNN International: Israel Nears Hostage and Ceasefire Deal With Hamas; Strong Winds Return, Trigger Red Flag Warnings in California; Pete Hegseth Confirmation Hearings Begin; Special Counsel Jack Smith Report on Trump Released; South Korean President Skips First Day of Impeachment Trial; Ukraine Strikes Russia in Drone and Missile Attack; Speaker Johnson Suggests Conditions on Fire Aid. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired January 14, 2025 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

AMARA WALKER, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWSROOM": Hi, everyone, and welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Amara Walker. This is "CNN Newsroom". Just ahead, in the final stages, Israel and Hamas edge closer to a ceasefire deal. We are live in Doha and Tel Aviv this hour with the very latest details. Plus, a new fire erupts in Los Angeles as parts of the county are under red flag warnings. We're going to take you to L.A. to explain why. And Pete Hegseth in the hot seat today. Next hour, Donald Trump's nominee for Secretary of Defense faces a grilling on Capitol Hill.

The two sides are closer to an agreement than they have been in months. That's the word from Qatar's foreign ministry where talks are currently underway for a ceasefire and hostage deal. Qatar says a draft of the deal has been presented to both sides. Now, the deal would halt more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hamas that has decimated Gaza and destabilized the Middle East.

The agreement calls for an initial 42-day ceasefire, among other points. In that first phase of the potential deal, Hamas is expected to free 33 hostages in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Now, sources tell CNN members the Biden and Trump teams are working with mediators to try to resolve the last sticking points in the deal. U.S. President Joe Biden says he is optimistic that a deal he has championed is on the brink of potentially being finalized.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Pressing hard to close this. The deal have a structure that would free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to Israel, and allow us to significantly surge humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians who've suffered terribly in this war that Hamas started. They've been through hell.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: Our reporters are standing by, Jeremy Diamond is in Tel Aviv. But let's begin with CNN's Becky Anderson in Doha, Qatar where the negotiations are currently taking place. Becky, good to see you. As I understand it, this is a very detailed plan. What more can you tell us about what is in this potential deal?

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR, CONNECT THE WORLD: Well, these last minute or what are known as proximity talks are ongoing here in Doha as we speak, between the key stakeholders here. So that is Israel and Hamas, these are indirect talks. They're not in the same room of course, and then the U.S., Qatar and Egypt as mediators, and the Qatari spokesman who spoke to the press about a couple of hours ago said that we are down to what are, as he described them, the simple issues to nail this deal, issues of implementation, of mechanisms, about how this deal will actually get implemented.

And they have said very categorically that we are closer than ever to a deal to halt 15 months worth of fighting. So, what do we know about this emerging agreement at this point? Well, 33 hostages of the 94 who remain in captivity in Gaza, who were taken on October 7th, will be released. That includes men, women, and children. It is not clear how many of those hostages are alive, but the hope is that many of them are, although it is believed that of those who are still held, at least some 34 are now dead.

So this is 33 hostages released in, what is the first phase. What is that? Well, that is 42 days or six weeks during which there will be a temporary halt in the fighting. During that time, we are told by sources that Israel will retain a presence in what is known as the Philadelphi Corridor. That is that small strip of land between Gaza and Egypt. And this has been a major sticking point in the past.

Hamas wanted Israel to withdraw its troops completely. But as we understand it, they will stay for a period of time, but slowly withdraw to what is a buffer zone, as yet unspecified on the Gaza border. During this period of time, and this is what's absolutely crucial because this is a temporary halt in fighting and the hope is that this temporary ceasefire will hold. But during that time, on the 16th day, negotiations will begin intended to end the fighting completely, a full ceasefire.

[08:05:00]

Now, during this period of time and over the 42-days, some Gazan residents will be allowed to return to the north of the strip and there will be a huge surge in humanitarian aid. Also included in this, as it was back in November, the last time of course that we got any sort of temporary halt in the fighting and the silencing of the guns, there will be Palestinian prisoners released as well. The number is unspecified at the moment, some talking as many as a thousand. But the Israelis have said that the number of Palestinian prisoners will depend on how many live hostages are released. That is some of the sort of granular detail that is going into this deal.

What is outstanding at present and what we don't have is whether the sort of second phase, the complete ceasefire is being guaranteed in writing for Hamas. That is something that they have been pushing for and has been a sticking point for the militant group. They've said they want a guaranty from the U.S. that the Israelis will stick to this ceasefire. It is unclear whether they will get that as a written agreement within this emerging deal, or whether that will just be verbal.

But at this point, and this is really tenuous, of course, things can still go wrong and we were reminded of that by the spokesman early on. But as things stand at present, there is more hope here certainly than I have heard in 15 months. And I was here in November of 2023 when we got that halt in fighting and so many of those hostages released. Amara?

WALKER: And I have to ask you this, Becky, and I know that you've been there, so you feel and see the nuances, but for the viewers at home, a lot of people are saying, well, we've been here before. We've heard both sides express this kind of optimism, saying that they are quite close, only to see the talks derail. What feels different to you this time and why?

ANDERSON: It's a really good question and it's totally understandable that people would say there's a sense of deja vu here. Haven't we heard this all before? So what has changed? Well, I would suggest that what has changed is the imminent inauguration of the U.S. President Donald Trump who has in recent weeks been threatening that all hell will break loose if a deal isn't struck before he becomes president.

And the received wisdom was that even though he named Hamas in all hell will break loose, he was also speaking to the Israelis as well. It is not clear what that threat meant. It is not clear whether there was any substance to that threat. But that threat came alongside the introduction of a Trump team in these negotiations. Steve Witkoff who is Trump's incoming Middle East Envoy, who has been shuttling around this region since the end of November and sources here and around the region say there has been significant momentum since the Biden Administration and Brett McGurk, his Middle East Coordinator is here in Doha still, as is Steve Witkoff.

They've been working together to try and ensure that this gets over the line. And while the Qatari spokesman for the Ministry of Affairs, Majed al-Ansari, didn't specifically mention Donald Trump as the key to the change in the equation here, he did suggest and applaud the efforts of the U.S. together, the Biden Administration and those in the incoming Trump Administration working together to help get this across the line. This is how he framed where we are at earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJED AL-ANSARI, QATARI FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON: We do believe that we are at a developed stage. We do believe that we are at the final stages. But obviously, until there is an announcement, there will be no announcement. And therefore, we shouldn't be overexcited about what's happening right now. But certainly, we are hopeful that this would lead very soon to an agreement and in that, we appreciate the roles of both the Biden Administration, represented here by Mr. Brett McGurk, and the incoming Trump Administration and President Trump himself.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ANDERSON: And Brett McGurk from the Biden Administration, Steve Witkoff from the Trump Administration have both seen the Emir here over the weekend, in discussions, constant discussions alongside the head of Israel's spy agency, Mossad, and the head of Shin Bet. So, the key stakeholders have been here.

[08:10:00]

As I understand it, the negotiation has been going on in rooms pretty close to each other. In the past, you've had the Israelis in one hotel and Hamas in another. As I understand it, those negotiations, though not direct, have been closer. These talks have been closer, so there has been -- there has been a clear increase in the momentum to try and get a deal across the table.

Don't forget, these hostages have now been in captivity for almost 470 days, huge internal pressure on the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to get these hostages out despite some in his right wing clearly not wanting this war to end. But also, an increasing amount of external pressure at this point, not least from that incoming Trump Administration. Amara?

WALKER: All right, Becky Anderson, thank you so much for your reporting there from Doha. Let's go to Jeremy now, in Tel Aviv. So, tell us more about how this is all being received in Israel and let's not forget that, if there is a final deal, it would have to be passed through the security cabinet, the government cabinet.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that's exactly right. There are still some hurdles to be -- to go through, at least on the Israeli domestic political side. And indeed, that is what the Israeli prime minister is focused on at this very moment. I'm told that he's currently sitting down with the Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right member of a Netanyahu's governing coalition who for the last 15 months of this war has opposed any kind of ceasefire and hostage release deal, advocating instead for the total surrender and the total defeat of Hamas inside of the Gaza Strip.

He has also, of course, advocated for Israel resettling the Gaza Strip which is a very controversial notion, of course. Smotrich has not yet said though whether or not he will actually leave the coalition, perhaps bringing about its demise if indeed the Israeli prime minister chooses to move forward with this agreement. And that is indeed the critical point to see now because Itamar Ben-Gvir, another far-right member of this government, has already threatened to leave. But he only has the numbers to collapse this coalition government if Smotrich does indeed join him.

And so the Israeli Prime Minister, as you can imagine, will be trying to convince Smotrich to, even if he doesn't support this deal altogether, to not bring about the downfall of this government. At the same time, the Israeli prime minister has also received word from members of the opposition, like Yair Lapid, the Leader of the Opposition that he will come into the government in order -- for a specific period of time in order to allow this deal to go through. So we will see how that materializes. We know, of course, that the Israeli prime minister has been keenly aware of the opposition of his far-right flank inside his governing coalition to a ceasefire deal over the course of months of negotiations. Now, an Israeli official who I spoke with earlier today did say that Israel is ready for a ceasefire. They believe that they have now gotten to the point where they're prepared to sign this agreement if Hamas meets them on the other side.

This official said that Israel has made all of the compromises that they believe are necessary in order to reach an agreement. And of course, we are also hearing similar optimism and willingness on the part of Hamas, which has said in a statement today that they hope that these negotiations end today with a comprehensive and clear agreement that will ultimately lead to a temporary ceasefire. But they're also hoping, of course, that it will ultimately lead to an end of the war in Gaza altogether.

WALKER: All right. A lot of cautious optimism there. Jeremy Diamond, thank you very much. Live for us there in Israel.

Let's turn now to those wildfires ravaging Southern California, and a new fire erupted overnight in Ventura County. This, as parts of Los Angeles County are now under the highest level red flag warning, as strong gusty winds are expected to return to the area. Officials warned the winds could be strong enough to cause explosive fire growth, threatening to do -- undo any progress firefighters have made so far.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRENT PASCUA, BATTALION CHIEF, CAL FIRE: There is a concern if we see winds like we saw at the beginning of this fire, there could be problems. So, we're going to not let our guard down. We're going to keep mopping up this fire, keep surging crews into problem areas and make sure that doesn't happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: Well, that is obviously very concerning. CNN Stephanie Elam is in Pacific Palisades with the latest on the conditions there.

[08:15:00]

Good morning, Stephanie. Can you tell us more about the conditions there on the ground and some of the stories of escape that you've been hearing?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, for sure. Amara, I can already tell you that they were expecting the winds to start picking up, and they have started -- we are starting to feel a little bit more of a breeze here and they're supposed to go through all of today and also into tomorrow. That auto fire that you were mentioning, north of us in Ventura County, it has no containment, but they said they were able to stop further progress of that blaze. So that is the good news. But here's the thing, just because we know about these blazes does not mean that's the only place that we could see more fire activity. And that is what officials are telling people. They want people to be prepared to go ahead and evacuate if they need to, as these winds which won't be as strong as they were last week, but as these winds will build up and could also move blazes to other parts of the area.

And when you talk to people who have evacuated from their homes and some of them being able to capture some of this on their ring camera, such as Cheryl and Jeffrey Ku in the Eaton Fire over in Altadena, this is as the wife was trying to make her way home and she saw the blaze in the distance. Take a listen to her husband, Jeffrey, talk about what they experienced.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFFREY KU, NARROWLY ESCAPED EATON WILDFIRE: The mountains, the canyon was dark. She could see a light in the hillside. And as she got closer to the house, sure enough, it was burning bright and it was the base of the tower on fire. And that was when the video started where she came in to get me and her voice, which I'll never ever forget, which is you need to come out here now. We have a big problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: Wow.

ELAM: And according to the "Los Angeles Times", investigators are looking into an electrical transmission tower and whether or not the blaze started there. For their part, Southern California Edison saying that their equipment was all working correctly at the time, but they have already been named in a lawsuit. But if I step out of the way here quickly, just to show you, Amara, what we're talking about here in Pacific Palisades, this was an apartment complex with ocean views.

And now, you can see what it looks like, just an elevator left among this rubble, broken glass everywhere. And this is just one corner in this intersection where we're standing. And I have to say, I drove through here, I guess Wednesday morning, all the days are kind of running together, and part of this area was still burning to see what has happened now a week later, it's still just devastating.

WALKER: Just to think it's just one of the thousands of structures that have burned in these fires. Stephanie Elam, really appreciate you. I know you've been working long hours. Thank you for your reporting.

Well, confirmation hearings for one of Donald Trump's most controversial cabinet picks begins in about an hour from now. Pete Hegseth will answer questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee as he seeks to become the U.S. Secretary of Defense. Hegseth has been dogged by allegations of sexual assaults, excessive drinking, and questions about his qualifications to run the Pentagon. We get more now from CNN's Manu Raju.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He'll be grilled particularly by Democrats who are now ramping up their criticism of Donald Trump's choice to lead the Pentagon.

RAJU (voice-over): They say that he is not qualified. A former Fox News host, a military veteran, someone they say should not be in charge of the nation's military apparatus and setting defense policy and the like, and question the reports about his past allegations of mismanaging two veterans organizations, allegations of excessive drinking, allegations of womanizing, including sexual assault from 2017.

Now, Hegseth has denied all of this. He said that those reports are false. He has denied that sexual assault claim and noted that no criminal charges were ever filed against him. But those will be part of the discussion in this open session that will occur on Tuesday. Democrats plan to push him on these questions and they're also criticizing the FBI background check into Hegseth.

They say it was not thorough enough, they did not interview enough people in his past, including some of the women, including his ex- wives, they believe should have been part of this investigation. Some of them coming out of a closed-door meeting said there are many more questions they believe need to be answered.

RAJU: Are you going to vote for Mr. Hegseth?

SEN. JACK REED, (D-RI): He has had several opportunities to testify.

RAJU: Do you have concerns with his nomination more generally?

REED: We do.

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, (D-CT): On the public record that we have right now, put aside all the charges of sexual impropriety and alcohol abuse, there has never been a nominee for an office of such serious consequence who is so unqualified and unprepared in recent American history.

RAJU: Even with all the Democratic criticism, none of that really actually matters at the end of the day if he has all Republicans on board, or at least Pete Hegseth can afford to lose three Republicans in the full Senate.

[08:20:00]

Remember, a simple majority, that's all you need in order to get confirmed by the United States Senate. And on the Senate Armed Services Committee, he can get by if he has Republican support, even if the Democrats come out and vote against his nomination. So, a lot of questions will be -- if any Republican minds are changed ahead of this critical nomination hearing --

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: All right, CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent, Manu Raju reporting there.

Still to come. U.S. Special Counsel, Jack Smith says if Donald Trump were not headed to the White House, he would've been convicted. You have much more from his report that was just released.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: With mere days to go before Donald Trump takes office for the second time, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland just released a special counsel's report detailing Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Now in the lengthy report, Jack Smith condemns Trump for resorting to a series of "Criminal efforts to retain power."

Smith says Trump pressured his vice president and state officials and repeatedly used knowingly false claims of election fraud and that if he hadn't won re-election, Trump would've been convicted. Crime and Justice Correspondent, Katelyn Polantz, joining me now from Washington, D.C. That is an extraordinary conclusion. Katelyn, what more do we need to know about this report?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: An extraordinary conclusion that comes amid 170 some pages, Amara, of this report from Special Counsel Jack Smith. He lays out the evidence the prosecutors gathered, the work that they did, the assessments that they made to determine if they could charge Trump, and indeed they said they could not just once, but again after the supreme court put a bubble around the presidency and gave Trump a significant amount of immunity.

One thing that Smith writes in this report is how strong he and his team believed the case against Donald Trump was for trying to keep on the presidency, to criminally hold on to his role in power even though he had lost the 2020 election. Smith writes indeed, but for Trump's election, and imminent return to the presidency, that's this year, now, the office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial.

Smith also gives a rather emotional response to the attacks that he and his team faced, the threats of violence that they faced, and the criticism that Donald Trump's team and Donald Trump himself was spewing at Smith for the course of this investigation. He writes in a letter at the beginning of this report, Amara, the claim for Mr. Trump that my decisions as a prosecutor were influenced or directed by the Biden Administration or other political actors is in a word laughable.

[08:25:00]

He says that his team acted with integrity and this report clearly is one that sums up what happened after the 2020 election and specifically what Donald Trump was doing on January 6th, speaking with Mike Pence who told him he wasn't going to overturn the vote in Congress to elect Joe Biden as the next president. And then Trump went to his supporters and said, let's pressure Mike Pence to do this.

All of that is in this report and it is putting on paper for the historical record that this was a strong case that the Justice Department believes they had against Donald Trump, that they were ready to take to trial, but will never do so.

WALKER: That's such a remarkable report. And there were other moves, right, Kaitlyn, that Jack Smith considered, but he ultimately backed away from?

POLANTZ: Yeah. One of the surprising things in this report is how Smith describes that he was investigating co-conspirators of Donald Trump. There were several people, about a half dozen who were not charged with any crimes. People like Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Jeffrey Clark, all of these people, Jack Smith says, were investigated. And then he goes a little further and says, we were looking at potentially charging some of them.

He doesn't say which ones, but because Trump won the election, they chose not to bring additional charges against any others. One thing he writes there, this report should not be read to allege that any particular person other than Mr. Trump committed a crime, nor should it be read to exonerate any particular person. He also says, this is not an exoneration of Donald Trump in any way.

WALKER: Yeah. He's making clear with that statement. Kaitlyn Polantz, appreciate you breaking that down for us. Thank you.

Well, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol failed to show up for the first day of his impeachment trial. He was stripped of his presidential powers last month after he declared martial law. That triggered widespread public protests and a political chaos -- crisis, I should say. For days now, Yoon has been holed up in his residence surrounded by his security team. Today's court session lasted only four minutes. The next hearing is set for Thursday, whether or not Yoon appears.

Overnight, Ukraine struck parts of Southern Russia with a major drone and missile attack, and that is according to Russian media and officials. At least two factories were reportedly damaged by a drone, one of them in the Russian city of Engels where the country's nuclear bombers are based and the attack forced schools in the region to hold their lessons online. Flights were also restricted in the area.

Still to come, the Biden Administration and Trump transition team are working together on finalizing a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. They are reportedly closer than ever. The latest is straight ahead. And we will go live to Washington, D.C. as we are an hour away from the start of confirmation hearings for one of Donald Trump's most controversial cabinet picks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:30:55]

WALKER: More now on that hostage and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas that is reportedly imminent. The outgoing Biden and incoming Trump administrations are working in tandem to secure a ceasefire agreement in Gaza. On Monday, Israelis demonstrated both for and against the latest Gaza truce deal.

Under the proposed deal, Israeli officials say Hamas is expected to release 33 hostages, many of them alive, during an initial 42-day ceasefire in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. The remains of those who have died are expected to be handed over as well. For a deep dive now into what has been so far an elusive ceasefire deal, CNN Global Affairs Analyst, Kim Dozier, joining me now.

Kim, it's good to see you this morning. Before we dive into the details, because as we know, the devil will be in the details, just talk to me about what feels different this time because we've seen this movie before, where we've seen hopes rise and fall. Does this seem like they really are on the verge of a final deal?

KIM DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, one of the major differences this time is we're nearing the inflection point of a handover from the Biden to the Trump Administration, and Trump has made clear that he wants this deal done and has hinted at some sort of violent retribution if it isn't done. The only thing I can think of that the U.S. might be able to do in terms of adding its firepower to whatever Israel is able to bring to the field is that, early on, the Israelis invited the U.S. to bring its special operations forces into Gaza to work together with Israel to free American hostages. Something like that the Biden Administration said no to, but the Trump Administration might say yes to, so those kind of threats are hanging in the offing and driving this deal.

WALKER: Walk us through some of the details in this plan and if there's anything that stands out to you that could be a major sticking point still.

DOZIER: Well, as it's been outlined by CNN reporting, the draft includes the Israeli withdrawal from much of Gaza to a buffer zone between Gaza and Israel, and especially the withdrawal from the Netzarim Corridor, that is the channel that bisects Northern Gaza from Southern Gaza, so that Palestinians would be able to return from Southern Gaza to their homes in the North.

It would also call for an eventual withdrawal from the border between Egypt and Gaza, which Israel initially had said no to because there were so many tunnels that Israeli Defense Forces said they found that allowed smuggling of weapons and people between Egypt and Gaza. But it's in several phases. In the first seven days, you would get something like seven hostages, women, children, men over the age of 50, in exchange for several hundred Palestinian prisoners.

And already in the Israeli government, parts of the Netanyahu cabinet are threatening to resign from the cabinet, possibly pull out of the government if this deal goes through because of that Israeli withdrawal from a lot of Gaza.

WALKER: How will that impact this deal? Because you're right, I mean, we are just getting reporting that Israel's Minister of National Security is threatening to resign if there -- if a Gaza deal is reached. And this deal would first have to pass both the security cabinet and the full government cabinet, and remains unclear how the prime minister would deal with the right flank. when it comes to this deal. I mean, could that scuttle the deal altogether?

DOZIER: Well, I think that Netanyahu, because he wants to hand a win to the incoming Trump Administration, because most of this would be taking part during the Trump Administration, the first -- the opening months of it.

[08:35:00]

I think Netanyahu would withstand those threats, go forward with the weakened government, and then hope that if elections were triggered, he would be able to turn to the Israeli public and say, I did what the White House, our key ally, required and that that would again return him to office.

I don't think that the threats of withdrawal of those couple of ministers will jettison this deal, but the deal has several different phases and at any point during those phases, you would have Israeli troops in these buffer zone areas and perhaps Hamas wouldn't attack, but what about Palestinian Islamic Jihad? Would they attack Israeli soldiers?

We also see a situation where, in Lebanon, there is a ceasefire agreed with Lebanon, but 40 Lebanese have been killed since the ceasefire was agreed largely by Israeli targeting of what it called imminent threats. If Israel does the same thing in Gaza, the last tranche of hostages, the men that are of military age that Hamas is refusing to negotiate until the second part of this deal, their fate hangs in the balance of any future breakdown in the --

WALKER: Yeah.

DOZIER: -- ceasefire in the weeks, months to come, so --

WALKER: So, we've --

DOZIER: -- really complicated, complex, lots of moving parts.

WALKER: Really tenuous, right? Because even if a deal were struck and the first phase of this deal was implemented, the fact that you will have an Israeli presence as according to the latest proposals in the Philadelphi Corridor, also that buffer zone inside Gaza, along the border with Gaza, I mean that does raise concerns and the chances of that, when you have Hamas and Israel -- Israeli troops in the same territory, that it could reignite hostilities.

DOZIER: Absolutely. Hamas isn't the only militant or terrorist group inside Gaza too, and it has broken command and control of its own forces, much less being able to control the actions of other groups. So, any of that could trigger a breakdown somewhere along the way. But hey, as many hostages get released as possible, there are families waiting for them. And it also means that for as long as this goes on, Palestinians can possibly get back to loved ones in parts of the Strip they haven't been able to reach. And most importantly, aid groups can use whatever pause there is to rush as much humanitarian aid in as possible as the pause permits. WALKER: Just quickly, we do have to go, but if the 33 Israeli hostages are released, there will be 60-some remaining. How will those eventually be returned?

DOZIER: Yeah, that's part of the "second phase."

WALKER: Got it.

DOZIER: -- of the deal. That would be agreed on later. That hasn't been -- the details of that haven't been hammered out.

WALKER: OK.

DOZIER: So the first part is the trust building, and then the second phase, hopefully we'll release them --

WALKER: Understood.

DOZIER: -- and the remains.

WALKER: OK. Well, obviously, some hope for these families who've been just going through so much turmoil over the last year. Kim Dozier, good to see you. Thank you so much.

All right. Still ahead, Pete Hegseth will soon be on Capitol Hill where Senators will see if he's the right man to lead the Pentagon. Our coverage continues after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:40:40]

WALKER: Sexual assault, excessive drinking, and real questions about his qualifications. It would seem Pete Hegseth faces a major uphill climb as he seeks to win Senate confirmation as U.S. Secretary of Defense. But Hegseth has one major thing working for him. Donald Trump backs him 100 percent. Republican control of the Senate means Hegseth doesn't need a single Democratic vote to be confirmed.

So when the confirmation hearings get underway next hour, the Democrats will try to convince Republicans he is not the right man for such a critical job.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER, (D-NY) U.S. SENATE MINORITY LEADER: If there's any cabinet position that ought to have a steady and drama-free individual, it is certainly Secretary of Defense. Unfortunately, Mr. Hegseth's background is deeply troubling to put it generously. Let's hope we get real answers and real documentation before anyone votes for Mr. Hegseth for Secretary of Defense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: Let's bring in CNN's Stephen Collinson for more on all the confirmation hearings starting this weekend, other political headlines. Stephen, get to see you. As you know, we all know there have been so many questions and concerns out there, especially coming from the Democrats about Pete Hegseth's alleged excessive drinking, his treatment of women, his alleged sexual misconduct. He has also made comments like these, listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY NOMINEE: The dumbest phrase on planet earth in the military is "Our diversity is our strength."

It's one thing to have DEI inside your corporation or inside your university, it's a whole another thing to have it inside the 101st Airborne. We only have one military, and if the military goes woke, then it's less equipped to fight the wars it needs to fight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: So Pete Hegseth will be in the hot seat in less than an hour from now, Stephen. There will be fireworks for sure. Walk me through what the Democrats are planning and their strategy as this hearing gets underway.

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: I think the Democrats are reading the mood (ph) music among Republicans and concluding that unless this hearing is a complete disaster for Hegseth, he's probably on a glide path to get confirmed, leaving aside any new stories about his background that we don't know about. So I think what they're going to try to do is to paint Hegseth as a metaphor for the Trump Administration as a whole, arguing that he's simply not qualified for this position, that the positions he have taken -- he's taken are extreme and against the mainstream of U.S. society.

What you saw in those clips was exactly why President-elect Donald Trump wants Hegseth for the Pentagon because he shares his views on diversity. He would wage a culture war inside the U.S. Military as much as lead it. So that's why Trump wants him. Democrats, I think, could ask some very interesting questions. I'm quite interested, for example, to hear how he would answer a question of, would he send U.S. troops to Panama if he was ordered to do so by Trump to seize the Panama Canal? Would he go ahead with an order which some people would see illegal to deploy troops on U.S. soil against protesters, for example? Those are the kind of questions that Democrats can ask and it'll be very interesting to see how Hegseth handles them.

WALKER: Especially because this time around, we expect many of Trump's picks to be in his cabinet, to be in lockstep with Trump's agenda.

COLLINSON: Right.

WALKER: -- versus what we saw eight years ago where we saw some of his nominees going their own way and defending their own views, even if it stood in opposition of Trump's views. But with Hegseth, we've seen such a remarkable turnaround in his fortunes, right? I mean, weeks ago, his potential nomination was all but dead. And now, he's got a lot of momentum behind him. But could this hearing just really torpedo his chances, depending on how he answers these questions?

COLLINSON: I think Trump watches for the spectacle. He wants someone who can act as an aggressive spokesman for his positions. And if Hegseth doesn't meet that bar during this hearing,

[08:45:00]

I think that's how he could be in trouble more than any question about his qualifications. There's no doubt that Trump will be watching this. This is the first time we will have seen one of Trump's nominees speak publicly, the first time someone who is not Trump will carry the message of the Trump presidency since the election. So, this is a very significant moment for Hegseth. And if he doesn't satisfy those requirements for the president, that's when he could be in trouble.

I don't think that Trump and the MAGA base really care that much about all the other allegations, and there has been an exceedingly strong outside campaign on conservative media and even paid advertising to rescue Hegseth's nomination ever since the President came out and bolstered it before Christmas.

WALKER: I want to talk and pivot to the California fires. Now you wrote about this, but also it's a major disaster that the President- elect Trump will be walking into on day one of his presidency, which will be next week on Monday. He has been invited. He has indicated that he will visit Los Angeles even as he's been feuding -- reignited that feud, no pun intended there, between him and the California Governor Newsom.

How do you expect Trump to handle this disaster in California? And will he use the same book, a playbook that he used in his first administration where he has withheld disaster aid as political leverage?

COLLINSON: On the one hand, I think this is an opportunity for President-elect Trump to recast a little perceptions among many Americans of how he politicizes disasters. He has a chance to channel the frustrations of many people in Los Angeles about the preparations for fires. He could act as a mediating force and as a force of unity. You have to say that his response to this so far, walking straight into this confrontation with Newsom, accusing Democrats of trying to save this endangered delta smelt fish, and diverting water away from areas in Los Angeles that needed it to fight fires.

This isn't true and it's misinformation. So that would suggest he's going to continue the mode of leadership that he pursued to such divisiveness in his first term. But this is a major crisis. If you think about it, he walked out of the Oval Office four years ago after mismanaging another emergency, the COVID-19 pandemic. He's going to walk back straight into another crisis and one that threatens to distract from the fast start that he's tried -- that he wants to get for his new administration.

So he has an opportunity, and it will be interesting to watch how he behaves, to see whether he's going to make any adjustments to his leadership style in his second term. WALKER: Let's listen quickly to what House Speaker Mike Johnson said to our Manu Raju about Congress potentially withholding disaster aid from California.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE JOHNSON, (R) SPEAKER OF THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: Obviously, there has been water resource mismanagement, forest management mistakes, all sorts of problems, and it does come down to leadership and it appears to us that state and local leaders were derelict in their duty in many respects. So that's something that has to be factored in. I think there should probably be conditions on that aid. That's my personal view. We'll see what the consensus is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: And this comment has obviously angered a lot of Democrats, but what conditions for aid might Mike Johnson be referring to?

COLLINSON: Well, he is going to try, I think, to use this situation to focus on what Republicans claim is mismanagement and extreme progressive policies on taking care of forests and vegetation that they say is designed to preserve the environment and not keep people safe. Let's remember, California is one of the most powerful Democratic states. Los Angeles is a liberal city, so there is an immediate clash between this far-right Republican majority in Washington and California.

There's no appetite among Republicans who want to slash government spending to send billions of dollars to a Democratic state. Having said that, this is an issue that sometimes comes up and generally, disaster funding is unleashed when there's one of these big situations because the price for Republicans to be portrayed as deserting Americans in their hour of need could be quite great. And there are some key Republican seats in California that could be critical in the midterm elections to them keeping their majority.

So I think this is just the early sparring, but if the Republicans try to use this as a political tool, it could create a precedent.

[08:50:00]

For example, a Democratic majority in the future might say, well, unless a Republican state like California adopts policies that they have so far refused to do to tackle global warming --

WALKER: Yeah.

COLLINSON: -- then they might not get hurricane aid.

WALKER: Yeah.

COLLINSON: So where does it stop?

WALKER: It sets up a bad precedent, doesn't it? Stephen Collinson, thank you so much. We're out of time. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: As parts of California brace for another day of wildfires, those who've already been impacted are facing the daunting task of rebuilding their lives. Our Erin Burnett has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINE MOORE, OWNER, LITTLE FLOWER BAKERY: We are all struggling right now. We're struggling with our personal lives. We're struggling with our small business because there's no business. We're not making payroll today. The first time in 17 years, and I've spoken to a lot of friends that are also struggling with the fact that we've lost our beautiful town. Our customers are suffering and now, our businesses are suffering.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST, OUTFRONT: And then what happens? I mean, what happens if you don't (inaudible)?

CHRISTINE MOORE: People start losing their jobs.

(LAUGH)

CHRISTINE MOORE: And that's even worse. And that's happening all across the city. And again, I'm just -- I'm talking about this because I am worried about the ripple effect of this disaster.

Thank you so much, Taka (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, we have to --

CHRISTINE MOORE: I'm so glad you're here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have to save community.

BURNETT: I see you when you walk up, everybody just comes over to you. It's a -- you're the mother, you're the stability.

CHRISTINE MOORE: It's an you honor --

BURNETT: How do you --

CHRISTINE MOORE: It's an honor to be community. We are community. Little Flower has been here for 17 years. This -- this community has helped me out of a terrible divorce, raise three children by myself with no help. This staff has been with me the entire time.

BURNETT: How do you manage being the rock for everyone else?

(LAUGH)

CHRISTINE MOORE: I have incredible friends. I have an incredible staff. Yesterday was a bad day. Everything started to unravel. I felt completely overwhelmed. I haven't slept. I have a hard time asking for help. And right now, I need help and everybody's showing up. We've been feeding every family that has lost and been put out. We've been feeding the firefighters. We've been feeding the National Guard. My son and his friends have been distributing food since this all happened.

BURNETT: You're just -- he's been -- he's going out? Driving out? Yeah.

CHRISTINE MOORE: Yeah. He is taking it straight to them on the frontline. So we -- we're all in shock. My son had a complete breakdown last night because we were at the house all night, watering it down and saved it. But everything around us is gone.

BURNETT: You'll go down a street with that acrid, horrible smell and every single thing is gone but the chimneys, and then there'll be a pocket of a few houses or maybe even just one house. You've got a few. This would all be gone though if it weren't for your son.

CHRISTINE MOORE: We hosed it all down. We soaked it.

I'm hosing down my house. I'm on the back deck. Colin is hosing down the front.

BURNETT: When you -- when you came back with your mom across and you start hosing your house, hosing other houses, did you even think or were you just going?

[08:55:00]

COLIN MOORE, HOME SPARED FROM WILDFIRES: Just going. You know, I've never really had that sense of urgency before, but I just knew it was -- if I was going to protect anything, I was doing it in a heartbeat. I kind of just flipped the switch.

BURNETT: You saved four houses. You saved four houses. Have you processed that? Has that changed you?

COLIN MOORE: I don't think so, because I've always been a person to put other people before me.

BURNETT: Yeah.

COLIN MOORE: And I just want to help my community the best I can. And if that's putting out little spot fires that can turn into big fires, I'll do it instantly.

BURNETT: So this was chlorinated blue water?

CHRISTINE MOORE: Yeah.

BURNETT: A few days ago?

CHRISTINE MOORE: Yeah.

BURNETT: Now it's full of toxic ash and --

CHRISTINE MOORE: Yeah. Well, at one point, we were surrounded and Colin's friend called him and said, you need to get out. You are surrounded. And Dave and Colin and I said, we need a -- and we need a plan. And Dave said, we're going to jump in the pool.

BURNETT: Oh, boy, the smell.

CHRISTINE MOORE: It's unbelievable.

BURNETT: I mean, the smell in here is --

CHRISTINE MOORE: The smoke damage.

BURNETT: I mean, do you even -- I mean, thank God, you saved it, but what do you do with, I mean, is this even --

CHRISTINE MOORE: The smell is bad.

BURNETT: I mean, do you --

CHRISTINE MOORE: I have no idea.

BURNETT: Do you think you can live here again?

CHRISTINE MOORE: I am going to live here again.

BURNETT: Yeah.

CHRISTINE MOORE: We are going to rise from the ashes and we are going to clean this up and we are going to rebuild Altadena. We are.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: Good for her resolve. Thank you so much for joining me here on "CNN Newsroom." I'm Amara Walker. "Connect the World" is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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