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Erin Burnett Outfront

Now: Dangerous Winds Could Still Reignite Deadly Fires; Israel And Hamas Agree To Gaza Ceasefire-Hostage Deal; Soon: President Biden's Farewell Address To The Nation. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired January 15, 2025 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:39]

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:

Live from Malibu, where red flag warnings are in effect. Crews are now battling hotspots here, like one that just flared up right where we are building up in flames.

Plus, we tracked down this van and the woman who owns it. It is still there, while everything else around it burned to the ground. How did it survive?

Also breaking this hour, Israel and Hamas agreeing to a ceasefire deal. Some of the hostages expected to be released include the father of an American-Israeli hostage, possibly on that list. His father is my guest.

Let's go OUTFRONT.

(MUSIC)

BURNETT: And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett, live from Malibu tonight.

OUTFRONT this evening, the breaking news in this race against time. At this hour, crews are rushing to locate and extinguish parts of the Palisades Fire that are still burning. Strong winds fueling the flames that have so far killed at least 25 people, confirmed just moments ago, as we were setting up here for our live program, a commercial building here in Malibu right around the corner, went up in flames.

Firefighters showed up immediately and put that out immediately. They're the hoses and it was out. In all day, that's what they have been doing, patrolling nonstop on these streets that seem so dead and deserted, looking for hotspots, putting out fires like that one.

The fires have destroyed thousands and thousands of homes, including this one behind me. About one week ago, just over a week ago, it looked like this.

And the reason that we are actually at this location on this particular street in Malibu, is because of a powerful image that caught our attention. So let me show it to you. In this sea of ash and debris, as you can see it from -- from the distance and from the air, look at that little bright blue spot. It's a vintage Volkswagen van and it's still there.

Well, we went and we tracked it down. We found the van and there it is. It is just a couple hundred feet from where I'm standing tonight. It miraculously survived the flames which destroyed everything around me on this street.

Now, it's in fairly good condition. I've gone and looked at it. We've looked inside. Part, there is damage. I mean, don't get me wrong. We'll show it all to you.

But it does appear to be one of the few vehicles that survived the fires. Certainly up here, almost all of them are burned out, like in a war zone. So, in a moment, I'm going to speak to the vehicles owner. Actually hasn't seen her car up close since last week's deadly blaze. And she saw that image that went viral and said, oh, my gosh, that's my car.

So many in this area are anxiously because it's empty and deserted. Why? Because they haven't been allowed in. They haven't been allowed in to see their homes, to see what happened.

Just a short while ago, though, in a scene that one week ago would have been totally normal, something happened that we were standing here was very bizarre. A man was walking his two dogs while I talked to him.

His name is Michael Gasol (ph). He never left. He never left that night as the flames came in, he never left Malibu. He is -- he says, the only person remaining here in this neighborhood. He says he's lived here for 50 years. It's home.

He's not leaving because he has nowhere else to go. This is home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I hear this, you've got to leave. You've got to leave. And the Spanish, you know --

BURNETT: It's like on a on a loudspeaker.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was like on a, you know, modern.

BURNETT: Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I thought, well, hell, I'm just watering my roof, really? Well, I have the sprinklers going this way, and, you know, it takes a couple of hours to put them up, hook them up and stuff. And then about 4:00, 3:30, I look across the street and I see a 100-foot high flame shoot up from the house. And I said, oh. And I felt hot on my side.

And he, you know, moves. Yeah. And then I got a little scared. I thought, time to leave. So I packed my dogs, cash, credit cards, dog food, water. BURNETT: Yeah.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: And here he is still here. He said firefighters giving him some water. And now eventually, he went to his home. Firefighters did save it.

Now, as I mentioned though, the threat here continuing. And there's firefighters actually over talking to our crew right now. They're going around. They're checking for those hotspots.

And as I speak, there is this red flag warning for wind in effect and little relief in sight for exhausted firefighting teams. There is no rain in the forecast. Dangerous wind gusts continuing, more serious, potentially dangerous wind situations coming in over the next days and the drying winds that we've experienced over the past week have made many of the surrounding areas more susceptible to catching on fire.

[19:05:02]

So there is this risk that they are facing every moment now. Bill Weir and Nick Watt are here, of course, in southern California, as they have been every day.

And I want to start with, Bill, you're live in Pacific Palisades, not far from where I am. And what is the latest you're learning there, Bill?

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the crews, of course, bracing. They've enjoyed what has been a rather nice 36, 48 hour respite from the winds as they shifted some of the most extreme warnings back, but it's not over yet.

And to keep the public vigilant more than a week into this fire siege is a huge challenge. As you can imagine when it comes to evacuations and all sorts of things. But things are much better than they could be.

We are standing on a street here in the Palisades that is remarkably clean, thanks to the really fervent work of crews. We've watched construction crews cleaning up the streets. That is possible flammable fuel. They're cleaning up the leaves there and whatnot.

But it is also part of what is going to be the most monumental cleanup task, maybe in American history, certainly in California history. The Eaton and Palisades Fire, number one and number two, on the list of most destructive in this southern California's history, twice the size of Manhattan. And that means so much hazardous waste.

My colleague Ellen Nelson today talked to the EPA, who says it's going to take three to six months just to clean up the hazardous materials. That's paint, solvents, pesticides, gas cylinders, ammunition, lithium ion batteries can explode, the ones in cars and houses, more and more in southern California these days, if salt water gets in there. And so that is a huge issue going forward. There's the air quality

that we're thinking about keeping the mask on. But I just want to show you, on this street of total destruction, Erin, a little bit later, we're going to talk about this house that went viral for surviving seemingly unscathed.

It is a great story. I talked to the architect, a mixture of luck and very smart fire hardening design that may become the new norm when it comes to rebuilding after this devastating lesson -- Erin.

BURNETT: And may -- and absolutely that house incredible. But, of course, around it, the sea of devastation. It's just a hard thing to grasp.

All right, Nick Watt, thank you -- I mean, Bill Weir, thank you very much. I know we're going to get that story later. I want to go to Nick Watt because he's in Altadena.

And, Nick, what you've been seeing there, and we've been seeing Altadena, of course, spread over such a huge space. You know, what is the latest there? I know, just like here, just like where Nick is. They've been driving around looking for those hotspots today.

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, Erin. They're mopping up the hotspots, but they are also going structure to structure. Those 5,000-plus structures that were destroyed, checking for human remains.

We saw two guys come through here just within the past hour with some rakes. 16 confirmed dead so far from this fire alone.

You know, as Bill just mentioned, there is now, the thought of rebuilding. And here in Altadena, that's making a lot of people anxious. They are concerned that the character of their community may never come back.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mama D, can you hear me? Mama D?

WATT (voice-over): They called in vain. Dalyce Curry known as Mama D is dead, aged 95.

Also dead, Rodney Nickerson, been here since '68.

KIMIKA NICKERSON, LOST FATHER IN EATON FIRE: My son tried to get him to leave and my neighbors and myself. He said he'll be fine. I'll be here when you guys come back.

WATT: A multicultural community that took 50 years to build ripped apart in just hours.

Catherine, you've been here since 1972.

KATHERINE ANDERSON, ALTADENA RESIDENT: I put down $300 and I bought my home on McNally.

If you want me to say it, I will.

WATT: Say it.

ANDERSON: It was called white flight, and they moved out of the neighborhood, and the black people were able to buy homes, and they've been there ever since until the fire. Just destroyed everything.

PASTOR VESTER PITTMAN, LOST HOME IN ALTADENA: It's a large Black population, but it's not all Black, man. It's mixed. I know people from every race that lives here and they're happy and they get along. It's nice. It's almost a perfect community.

WATT: Donny Kincey filmed its destruction.

DONNY KINCEY, LOST HOME IN ALTADENA: I'm really afraid to see what's going to happen to my neighbors. And you know who's going to stick around after this?

WATT: Brian Perry, a middle school principal, moved here for community.

BRIAN PERRY, LOST HOME IN ALTADENA: It was, to me, the ideal place to raise my son, because he got to be around people who were like him, people who weren't like him.

WATT: Nearly eight in 10 residents own their own homes. It's a rooted community in what can feel like a transient city.

Is this community going to lose that?

PERRY: I mean, that's the danger. A lot of the people who live in Altadena were working class people, you know? We're not the rich celebrities. We don't have, like, the ability to just go back in.

WATT: Fire can destroy more than the tangible, fire can destroy community.

[19:10:04]

The people of Altadena are determined that won't happen here.

PITTMAN: Restoration is going to happen because of the people.

ANDERSON: I lost everything that I had in that fire. We left with just the clothes on our back.

I asked God for ten more years, uh, to see my daughter rebuild, her home. Yes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATT (on camera): Now behind me, Erin, this was Rosebud Academy, a great school. By all accounts, 65 percent of the kids from low income households. Where are they going to go now? That's what this community is grappling with now. They're thinking maybe a church hall, maybe schools elsewhere. But for kids, they need that community as well. The fear, it's never going to be the same -- Erin.

BURNETT: All right. And they need it right away, right? There's no gap of two years. It doesn't work that way for a childhood.

Nick, thank you very much.

And I want to go now to the L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone.

Chief Marrone, I'm glad to speak to you again. And can you share right now what your biggest areas of concern are? I know, you know, we see here fire trucks coming by. We saw blaze. Fire crew put it out immediately.

But they are -- they are on patrol constantly looking for hotspots.

CHIEF ANTHONY MARRONE, L.A. COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMETN: Yeah. That's correct.

Thank you for having us on, Erin.

So right now, my immediate concern is the current red flag that we're under. It's supposed to expire at 6:00 p.m. this evening. But looking forward with the weather forecast, we are slated to have another red flag warning, moderate Santa Ana winds beginning Monday and Tuesday.

BURNETT: So, Chief, how do you manage through this? I mean, this seems as if it's never ending. You've got thousands of firefighters at the Rose Bowl Stadium. You've got guys here just on alert all the time. Is it just a never ending way of life at this point? Three days, another wind warning. Two days after that, it will happen again.

MARRONE: Yeah, were certainly under a weather fire siege here in Los Angeles County. We do have lots of resources like the ones you mentioned. The assistance that was provided not only from northern California but from the Western United States and Canada and Mexico has been overwhelming.

We have so many people here that are prepared to go if we get another event.

BURNETT: So I know we've looked at some infrared technology on those hotspots. It shows several of them burning in that Palisades Fire footprint, right? I mean, obviously you have the active fire itself, but the footprint in neighborhoods like the Palisades or Malibu, where -- where we are.

How worried are you about those hotspots? I mean, you have a hotspot in an area that's already burned. Maybe if -- if that happens, wind picks up an ember. Obviously that's a real fear.

MARRONE: Yeah. So our crews really right now are focusing on perimeter control. We're trying to get black line in around that fire perimeter, but we're also going deep into the perimeter to extinguish those hotspots. If we have another wind event, we do have the possibility of that fire squirting out and becoming larger at either the Eaton Fire or the Palisades. But what concerns me most would be a new fire start in an area fire far away from the current two areas that were battling blazes.

BURNETT: Yeah. I mean, when you talk about being under siege, to even imagine that happening, to even have another -- a brand new fire.

All right. Chief Marrone, thank you very much. I appreciate you taking the time.

MARRONE: Yeah. Thank you for telling our story.

BURNETT: All right. Well, you know, when you talk about the stories that resonate, you know, that there was that picture, that viral image of that little blue dot in the middle of the devastation here. It's a blue Volkswagen van.

And next, we tracked him down. We're going to speak to the person who owns that van. She'll see it up close here for the first time. We're going to show her.

Plus, we're going to tell you why this house was able to survive the deadly flames when everything else around it is gone. I mean, and look at that. The car is gone. It gives you the point. But, I mean, it's unbelievable.

Also breaking this hour, President Biden is about to give his farewell address to the nation. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin will join me with what she expects to hear in this important moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:18:49]

BURNETT: Welcome back here in Malibu.

The destruction of the Santa Monica Mountains behind us, and the Palisades Fire. What you see here is destruction. I just want to point at this car. That's what most of the cars here look like. Even the ones on the road that were abandoned, cars that were parked. Almost all of them look like that.

There are a few that are just completely covered in ash and soot, not completely destroyed, but they pretty much all look like that, like in a war zone. So then this image comes out taken from an aerial of this, and it stands out in this sea of destruction.

How the heck did this happen? So this is a vintage VW. Look at this blue VW. And it's in incredible condition. We'll show you where the damage is because this went through the fire.

You see the burnt headlight and you can see the burnt along the paint, although the paint just incredibly survived the tires. You can see those tires survived. And you see all the heat here along the side and the heat here. Now when we come to the back of it, I'll just show you some of the main damage on this VW because it just looks so perfect. We have to show you the damage it had.

It did melt a little bit of the -- the rubber here along the back window, and that caused the glass to melt -- break. So you see all the break and glass inside and it is covered in soot and ash and, and melted cup holders and everything inside.

[19:20:05]

And I know we've -- we've shown a lot of that, but its just this miraculous little thing when you see so much destruction and all of it is black and gray and ash, and then there's this little blue dot, I guess, a whole new meaning to the Carl Sagan concept. And that is this VW van.

So we saw this, we came up to find it, and here it is indeed parked right here up on the hilltop in Malibu. And so we wanted to know who owned it to get the story here. And we found them.

So, Megan Krystie Weinraub joins me along with Preston Martin. They are -- they are behind the people behind the story of this van.

So, Preston sold the van to Megan and they were surfing together. They were friends. And this van ends up parked here.

So -- so both of you, thank you so much for being with me. Megan, can I just start with you? Because you own the van now? You obviously bought it from Preston. And here we are with it.

You've had a chance to look at it with these images. What? What do you even think about the fact that your van is here? You are the owner of the little blue dot.

MEGAN KRYSTIE WEINRAUB, OWNS VW VAN THAT SURVIVED FIRE: I just can't believe that this is actually, like, my bus is the only thing that survived on the street that I walked by with my dog. Like every single day. It's -- I'm speechless to see all the houses burnt. And I can't believe that, Azul, the bus, that's what we named it. Survived like it's -- I'm just in shock, honestly.

But it's -- we always said, like me and my friends. Like the magic bus. We put the energy in it and were just always, like, vibing high. Just like our frequency and vibration is so magical. So were like, wow, it is magic. So were just in shock.

I said -- when I got that sent to me, I was just like, oh, my God, I freaked out. Everyone keeps saying that. So --

BURNETT: Preston, when you -- you had this van before, I know I believe you lived in it for a year in college.

PRESTON MARTIN, ONCE OWNED AND LIVED IN VW VAN THAT SURVIVED FIRE: I did, I did.

BURNETT: And you see it here.

I mean, you know, there's a -- there's a towel in here, like a rug that you were using in the front. I mean, its covered in ash, you know, I don't -- I don't know if when you'll be able to drive it again, but, um, you did say there was magic in this van, and it does maybe give a new definition to magic with the fact that it's here.

MARTIN: There is. This was -- having this bus -- I went to UC Santa Barbara, and whenever I would drive this bus, it was always a good day. I got to live in this and surf and go to class. And when -- when Megan ended up taking possession of it, it was this awesome thing where I was sad to see it go, but excited to see it in the right hands and someone who would love and appreciate it.

And we thought it was gone. We really didn't think wed ever see this thing again, and we got to surf with it on Sunday and parked it right where it's still sitting there. And Tuesday, the fires hit, and I'm looking at these images live that I've never seen, like, this is it's amazing. It's amazing. And everyone in my family, my friends, all Megan's family, everyone's.

BURNETT: And so, Megan, you parked it here, I believe, because, well, it's a stick shift, obviously. I mean, and you're learning how to drive stick, so it's -- it's very hilly here. I know you live over the corner and your apartment is okay, but you parked it here because it's a flat surface. So then when you got the evacuation orders, obviously you're not going to jump in this car.

So -- so tell me what happened.

WEINRAUB: So I'm at 1800 coastline at the bottom, and I just got the news from my whole building. They're like, we have to evacuate. We have to evacuate.

And this is our second evacuation. I'm like, oh my God, let me just grab my dog. Like, I didn't bring anything with me except my dog, literally. And I'm like the hill. Like it's all -- I saw the hills on fire. And I'm like, oh my God. Like the vans are gone or like its on flat.

Like we just that's my area where we just walk and just drive around in it and I'm like, that's the first thing that I detach from. And I'm like, I'm surrendering. The vans are gone. Or like I'm detaching from this van. Yeah, it's me and buddy.

Yeah. So I was like, I'm not escaping. I'm just going to leave it. So I'm grateful that my -- our buildings still survived, though.

BURNETT: Yes. And that is a miracle, obviously, with everything else that were seeing up here.

Preston, I know, you know, when you look at it and you look inside, I know it's -- it's Megan's now to restore, but, you know, were showing you. Do you think that you can restore it and drive this again?

MARTIN: Oh, oh, yeah. I -- depending on the engine and the battery in the back, because if it got really hot, if stuff is really melted back there might, might have a little bit of issues. But all you do, you restore the paint, you fix the melted headlights, we'll get the engine checked up and well, hopefully, hopefully Azul will be driving again soon.

BURNETT: And it will truly be a magic van. That little blue dot somehow stands for. Hopefully what the future will be after this horrible, horrible tragedy.

Thank you both so very much. I really appreciate it. Appreciate you letting us be the ones to come up here and see your van. Thank you.

[19:25:04]

MARTIN: Thank you.

WEINRAUB: Thank you.

BURNETT: All right. Then we talk about this van and the little blue dot. There is a house that is standing in the Palisades in the middle of a sea of disaster. You know, not one of those ones in a clump of a few, just one out of nowhere. And it looks pristine.

If you didn't see everything around it, you could think it was an architectural digest. We're going to tell you the story behind it after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: And the breaking news, live in Malibu tonight, where hardly anything survived the fire so far. There are some incredible stories, like that VW van that we've been talking about that amazingly survived that bright blue spot amidst the rubble and char.

[19:30:02]

In the Palisades, it is just destruction as far as the eye can see. But as you go down this one street, you see the destruction. This is what it looks like up there, building after building, sometimes a little bit of a skeleton. Sometimes it's all gone. Sometimes it's only a chimney.

And then you see a home untouched, just totally untouched. And you can see it even more starkly from the sky. Well show you a lone building that is standing. So in that context here, you can see it.

Bill Weir is OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WEIR (voice-over): Amid block after block of destruction. It is so striking to see this, a house so clean and unscathed. It looks trucked in and placed gently amid the ashes.

How much of that is luck? How much of that was -- was by design?

GREG CHASEN, SANTA MONICA ARCHITECT: Design is an important part of it, but were very happy there wasn't a two story, five bedroom house on fire next to us. WEIR: The vacant lot on the windward side definitely helped. But the

architect who designed this home also credits the tempered glass windows and steel roof fire smart landscaping, house walls designed to burn for an hour, and a concrete fence that held back a car fire.

CHASEN: Obviously, it wasn't there because we thought a car was going to be burning next door, but it was a big help in this case, and I think everyone needs to be concerned about the flammability of the fences around their property, the lack of roof vents. We have a fully insulated building envelope without any eaves, so that reduced the number of vulnerable areas.

WEIR: It's striking how clean the lines are, and that is advantageous when it comes to blowing embers. There's just less to get hung up on, right?

CHASEN: I really think it is the fancy new houses they have gable upon, gable upon gable, and it's just creates more and more areas for fire and embers to collect and do damage.

WEIR: These design ideas could become a lot more popular among those rebuilding from scratch. But what about replacing the irreplaceable?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This would have been like the front here.

WEIR: A century ago, German immigrants hand-built this charming Sierra Madre clubhouse to encourage the working class to get into nature.

It was no match for the ravages of 21st century nature. So as volunteers vow to rebuild it by hand. They're also vowing to do it smarter.

JIM ANGUS, PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD, NATURE FRIENDS: There's all kinds of products now that are made out of concrete. You know, they look like boards, but they don't burn, right? You know, we can make sure that what we have going forward is not going to burn.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: You know, Bill, when you look -- I mean, it's just unbelievable. But people talking about they're seriously thinking about what's next. They're seriously thinking about rebuilding. But, of course, it's a toxic zone. The soil is toxic. The air is toxic.

Are people really going to quickly move to rebuild as you are talking to them?

WEIR: It's a great question. I mean, the folks who can't get in there to see their properties, you know, they're probably trying to figure out the lucky ones that may have an insurance check already. But then how do you find a builder?

One thing worth mentioning, if there's mass deportation that is promised by the next administration, that is really going to hurt the building trades in southern California at a time -- there's already a housing crisis before the fires. So you've got all of those considerations, and more and more people with the means will be thinking about these design ideas. There's a premium on them now. Hopefully, the price comes down as it scaled more and more. But a lot of people are thinking about shelter in a whole new way. Erin.

BURNETT: Yeah, absolutely. And builders are telling me they said we were already two years backed up for houses in these areas. Is this going to be impossible to meet the demand? We'll see what happens.

Bill, thank you so much.

WEIR: You bet.

BURNETT: And turning now to another major breaking story tonight, the ceasefire deal. You are looking right now at celebrations in Israel and Gaza. Both of them after a ceasefire and hostage deal has been reached 15 months since the fighting began, 251 people hostages were kidnapped by Hamas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The road to this deal has not been easy. I've worked in foreign policy for decades. This is one of the toughest negotiations I've ever experienced. And we reached this point because -- because of the pressure that Israel built on Hamas, backed by the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: The deal is expected, expected because its been announced but doesn't take effect yet. It's expected to stop all fighting in Gaza and to release some, but not all, of the remaining hostages. And it's unclear whether the state of hostages there, of course, who is alive, who is not.

The deal will happen in three phases, as we understand it right now.

[19:35:02]

In the first, Hamas will release 33 hostages, and that will include some Americans. Then Israel, in exchange will release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. So that happens simultaneously.

Among the Americans expected to be released, Sagui Dekel-Chen. His story is one that, you know, because you have seen his father on this show again and again since Sagui was captured 15 months ago.

Sagui's family originally from Connecticut. He's the father of three young girls. And, you know, if you know the story, the littlest one, the baby was born while he was a hostage. So he's going to come back to a child, a year old child.

His father, Jonathan, has been on the show again and again, tirelessly advocating for his son.

And Jonathan is with me tonight OUTFRONT. Jonathan, those times talking to you and seeing you, I know that you

never let yourself believe that, that this could happen. And here we are. But -- and I know the but is everything to you, which is that the ceasefire takes effect Sunday. And of course, today is Wednesday.

So what have you been told about this deal?

JONATHAN DEKEL-CHEN, SON EXPECTED TO BE ONE OF FIRST HOSTAGES RELEASED BY HAMAS: Well, quite honestly, I know about as much as you know about the deal. To the best of my knowledge, none of the hostage families has really gotten any kind of update as to the details of this agreement.

And clearly, this is progress, the mere fact of having gotten to a point where the two sides, Israel and Hamas, have signed an agreement that that is progress, but it's a lifetime between now and the start of this ceasefire on Sunday.

But no less important -- I mean, it's an enormous effort that the incoming Trump and outgoing Biden administrations have put in to getting -- to getting this far. I believe it will require at least as much effort now from the Trump administration to see this through -- through all three phases.

BURNETT: Yeah.

DEKEL-CHEN: You know, here in the Middle East, it goes sideways very quickly. And so, we're going to need our region. The world is going to need sustained effort really to make -- to make this happen until all 98 hostages are home.

BURNETT: And you say, you know, all 98. And of course, this would only be 33. But, Jonathan, I mean, gosh, your son, he's a man. This has been 15 months.

So many did not think that that so many hostages could be alive and able to be released. That in and of itself could be a miracle.

Are you even allowing yourself at this point to believe, to think that you might see Sagui again in -- in just three days?

DEKEL-CHEN: Well, I don't know how long it's going to take. Three days, three weeks, I don't have a clue. But I've held this same image in my mind since October 8th of 2023, which is that Sagui walking into a room somewhere or down a hallway, and I hope on his own two feet and his now three little girls will run and leap into his arms, and he can reunite with his wife. And after this hell that he has been through, and you know the suffering that his family has gone through and that alone and that that sustained image in the -- in the possibility that its going to come true and some time soon is what sustains me more than kind of a belief that that any of the parties necessarily is completely committed to getting this done.

BURNETT: So, sources, Jonathan, do tell us, at least as we understand it, and I will say it's a little unsettling to think that I may know as much as, you know, when this is your child, your family, but they tell us that Sagui is one of just two Americans. So he and one other on the list of hostages that are supposed to be released in this, this 33 hostages.

Have they told you that? I mean, have they confirmed to you that he's on the list? And have they said anything about his physical health?

DEKEL-CHEN: Well, as far as his physical health is concerned, we knew from over a year ago with the release of the first 100 women and children in the first negotiated agreement for hostage release, we knew from a handful of them who were from our kibbutz, who saw Sagui briefly in the tunnels under Gaza before they were released, that he had been wounded, and we kind of knew that already. So Sagui was wounded on October 7th.

You know, it remains to be seen whether or not he is one of the releases. We have not received -- our family has not received official confirmation from Israeli or U.S. authorities that Sagui indeed is slated to come out with that first batch of 33 hostages.

[19:40:05]

BURNETT: And is there someone that you talk to regularly from the State Department? I mean, are they -- I mean, obviously, I know you would have a personal relationship with them. I'm sure they try to tell you what they could, but, you know, I can't imagine what it must feel like to be in this moment and to not know and to not know if all of this is being done and your son is on a list.

DEKEL-CHEN: Well, I hope this is the final chapter in the living hell that we've been, that we've experienced for the last 15 months. An answer to your question, we have continuous contact. We've had -- we've been very lucky, privileged to have ongoing contact with many, many parts of the Biden administration.

And right now, we have yet to hear from them about this very question. Who exactly is going to be released as of -- as of Sunday? And we've also had very, very good informal relationships with the incoming senior administration officials in the Trump administration, but they only assume their posts, of course, as of Monday.

So, you know, no complaints on our part. On the contrary, we're incredibly grateful that the Trump team and the Biden team have worked so hard together, really shoulder to shoulder in the last couple of months since the election to get this one thing done.

BURNETT: Well, Jonathan, obviously every moment no one, no one can truly comprehend what these -- these moments are like for you. But -- but also the fact that you're even in this moment. What an incredible miracle to get news like this, when, of course, we know others have -- have not gotten this far.

Thank you so very much and I hope that we'll be speaking with you soon and that it will be a -- you'll be there. You'll be across the finish line. So thank you.

DEKEL-CHEN: Thank you so much for having me. BURNETT: And next, President Biden is about to deliver his farewell address, with just five days left as president of the United States.

Presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin will be OUTFRONT with me next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:46:39]

BURNETT: Breaking news, President Biden is set to deliver his farewell address to the nation in just moments from now. Of course, we're going to bring that to you live. We'll show you the White House at this moment. That is where Biden is going to be speaking.

He's going to be speaking from the Oval Office tonight, capping a 50- year career in public service. And also and this is interesting, we've learned that the first lady, Jill Biden, will also be in the Oval Office with President Biden for this speech.

OUTFRONT now, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, also the author of "An Unfinished Love Story", as well as so many other books, of course, Doris. That's simply your most recent talking about a storied careers.

But it is wonderful to talk to you in this moment, because the president's farewell address is a tradition. It goes all the way back to George Washington. This is part of what defines the pomp and circumstance, the process of the change of power in this country. And there's a lot at stake for President Biden.

It could be a forgettable speech, or it could be something meaningful. What does he do need to do to make it meaningful tonight?

DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN, PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING HISTORIAN: Well, I think he should look back at history and figure out which ones are the ones that have stayed with us over all these times. And old George Washington's is the first. It's not only because he was the first to do it, not only because he announced then that he was not going to run for a third term, but it's because he issued a prescient warning to the country.

He was very worried about the partisan spirit that was beginning to build up in his administration. There were these factions, he said, that were dominated by revenge, false information that was kindling animosity. This is incredible how relevant it seems to us today. And he said that citizenship and an aroused citizenry was the answer to it.

So that's one of the ones that was. And then Eisenhower followed up. That was probably the second most famous one where he worried and he issued a warning against the military industrial complex, something that has again become something that's still relevant to us today.

And then Obama turns out to be one of the ones that was memorable, in part because he quoted old George Washington and talked about the fact that the party divisions were even more worse than it was at that time. And he said, a citizenry is the only thing to answer it. Otherwise, people are not going to want to go into public life.

So I think if President Biden thinks about what kind of warnings can he issue, maybe about climate change, maybe about the political divisions that are even deeper, and he also could possibly make it emotional?

I mean, George Washington talked about his problems and his defects and that he had errors that he'd made, and he hoped people would balance it against his 45 years of public service. And maybe Biden can talk about his whole 48 years before the presidency, which will give it an emotional farewell not just to the presidency, but we'll see soon.

BURNETT: We'll see. What -- but how interesting when you say the parallels there, George Washington, with 45 years in public service and Joe Biden with 48, I had not realized that that specific parallel between those two presidents. But maybe you always make me feel a bit better, Doris, when you talk about if George Washington was worried about the country fracturing because of partisan -- partisan issues, and here we are 200 years later, so, so, so we can get through this.

But this moment is so important. Obviously, Biden is exiting the public stage with an image issue, right? His approval ratings doors are the very lowest of his term. Our poll here at CNN shows 61 percent of Americans view his presidency as a failure, 61 percent failure, 38 percent success. It's a flipped situation for President Obama. 65 percent said his presidency was a success at the end.

[19:50:07]

But that's right now, that's a snapshot in time. Do you think that will be the prevailing view of Biden's presidency when history is written?

GOODWIN: Well, you know, once again, I think history can show us that these legacies take time to develop. When President Truman left, he was at like 23 percent approval rating, and now he's considered one of the great presidents because it took time for people to realize the permanent things that he had done -- you know, fighting the Cold War, the unpopular decisions that he had made about releasing the atom bomb and sending soldiers to Korea.

He desegregated the Army and he aid to Greece and Turkey. Marshall plan, extraordinary accomplishments. And he's now way up.

Or Lyndon Johnson, you know, the guy that I cared so much about working for him over -- over those years, he left under terrible circumstances with the war in Vietnam so divisive and yet has ended up nearly in that top ten of presidents because of his domestic achievements in Medicare, Medicaid, aid to education, voting rights, civil rights, an extraordinary set of domestic accomplishments, the Great Society. Absolutely.

So time, it'll depend on whether the accomplishments that he's made domestically, that's President Biden -- I mean, will last over time. The problem when you get a party that comes in after you and you don't win that next term is you cannot know how many of these executive orders or legislative achievements will stay. But if they do stay, then I think he'll have a chance for history to look back at it.

And his character and his decency, I think, will play a role as they did with Carter, as we listened to his farewell in terms of the real farewell during his funeral.

BURNETT: Now, in terms of the inauguration itself -- I mean, there are there are rituals and we know that there's been a break in them, maybe in part because of COVID, on the transition from Trump to Biden. There were -- there were also traditions broken by Trump when it went from Obama to Trump. And yet here we are in this inauguration. Michelle Obama is not attending. Barack Obama is going solo. Now, we don't know why.

We do know that Kamala Harris did not invite J.D. Vance for a pre- inaugural tour of the vice president's residence, which is a usual thing that happens in these transitions.

What do you make of all this? How important are things like that right now?

GOODWIN: You know, I think the public really likes to see it. There's something about watching these people together as we saw some of them during carters funeral that makes you just feel good that these presidents, who can be once against each other, can realize they're part of such an exclusive club.

I mean, I think about Bush and Clinton, Bush 41 and Clinton, you know, Clinton had called Bush old man, and bush had said that Clinton didn't know more about foreign policy than his dog and that suddenly they were invited together to tsunami relief and Katrina relief. And they became really good friends.

In fact, Clinton said that the greatest -- one of the greatest gifts in his life was his friendship with senior Bush. And then that friendship was extended to the son, Bush Jr. and Clinton. They go out to talk together. I've interviewed them a couple of times.

The audience loves it when they are joking on stage, teasing one another, talking about alliances. So that's what we can hope for.

BURNETT: Well, that is, and I know in these times, such a thing seems truly impossible. But you also said something else, Doris. You said that there was a desire to make sure that good people wanted to go into public service, and we just don't see enough of that. Great people, you ask them and they scoff, and we can only hope that that will change.

Doris, thanks so much.

GOODWIN: Thank you. Thank you, Erin. Take care.

BURNETT: And president -- all right. It's so good to see you. And President Biden is expected to give that farewell address in just

a few moments. And our special coverage starts now with Jake Tapper and Anderson Cooper.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: And good evening from the Los Angeles fire zone.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: And good evening from Washington, D.C., where just about eight minutes from now, President Biden is set to speak from the oval office. This will be his farewell address to the nation after four years in office, which began on the single deadliest day of the COVID pandemic and just 14 days after the worst attack on American democracy since the civil war.

COOPER: And, Jake, of course, four years later, we were just five days away now from the inauguration of Donald J. Trump.

We begin, though, as we wait for the president with the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

For that, I want to go to CNN's Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv.

Jeremy, how soon will hostages start being released in Gaza, and what are the details of the deal?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, we could be seeing the first hostages being released from the Gaza Strip on Sunday. That is the day that the implementation of this agreement is set to kick in. And, of course, that will also be the day that we will finally see after 15 months of war in Gaza. The first enduring weeks long cease fire going into effect.

This will be a six-week ceasefire, during which time we will see over the course of those six weeks, 33 hostages being released, most of whom we expect will be alive. But we also do expect that there will be the bodies of deceased hostages included in that number as well.

[19:55:03]

What we will also see are hundreds of Palestinian prisoners being released from Israeli prisons. The entry of much needed humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, as many as 600 trucks of aid per day to remedy the dire humanitarian situation there.

Here in Israel, there will need to be some steps taking place tomorrow before this agreement is actually signed on the dotted line. The Israeli prime minister, taking that agreement to his security cabinet and then to the full cabinet for a vote tomorrow before this deal goes into effect. This is a moment, Anderson, that is 15 months in the making, not only for the families of those hostages who have been waiting, agonizing for the last 15 months, but also for the people of Gaza who have suffered a constant bombardment over the course of those 15 months, more than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed during that time.

And what is also important to note is the fact that this agreement that we are now talking about today, going into effect, is based on the framework that President Biden announced in late May. That means nearly eight months of negotiations that have taken place over that time, during which nearly 10,000 Palestinians have been killed. At least six hostages were executed by Hamas during that time as well.

A real human cost to the constant back and forth lack of political will that ultimately, finally today resulted in both sides agreeing and being willing to move forward with this ceasefire -- Anderson.

COOPER: Yeah, were going to have a lot on this tonight.

Let's go back to Jake -- Jake.

TAPPER: Thanks so much, Anderson.

Again, President Biden is expected to speak in just a few minutes.

Right now, I'm joined by CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings, former senior Biden adviser Ashley Etienne, CNN's Dana Bash, Biden biographer Evan Osnos, and CNN senior political commentator David Axelrod, who joins us by satellite.

David, let me start with you. What do you expect to hear from President Biden tonight? How much do you think the hostage deal, the ceasefire, will factor in?

DAVID AXELROD, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, look, I think he is one of the things about Joe Biden is he is very, very concerned about his place in history and where his legacy sits and whether people appreciate the things that have been accomplished over the last four years. And clearly, he's signaled that that's going to be part of this.

But I'm sure he considers this ceasefire part of that legacy. And I imagine that that will be part of it as well.

Just one thing, Jake, it's -- this chasing of the legacy is also part of the story that led to him making bad decisions about running for reelection and perhaps denying mistakes that he should have embraced. So it's a poignant story in some ways, a kind of Shakespearean story. You have historians on the on the set there who can speak to that.

TAPPER: Ashley, President Biden will no doubt highlight some of his accomplishments while he was in office. But the fact of the matter remains he leaves office after one term at his lowest approval rating of all time. I think its like 34 percent, 35 percent.

Do you think that president Biden recognizes the chasm between how he sees his presidency and how the American people see it?

ASHLEY ETIENNE, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT BIDEN & SPEAKER PELOSI: You know, I was just with the president in the Oval Office two days ago, and I think he's reconciled the notion that he's made tremendous amounts of progress on behalf of the American people. I mean, again, it has been a transformative four years, when you think about it. And reconcile that with the fact that, you know, they probably did not

do the best job they could, communicating that legacy to the American people, that for some reason, they're not -- they didn't believe it, didn't buy it, didn't -- didn't -- didn't fully grasp all of his successes.

The one thing, though, that, you know, I was in the White House in talking to his -- my former colleagues about that I think that gets lost in his legacy, that I think makes him the most transformative is his ability to work across the aisle, what he was able to do with Republicans, I mean, far too many Americans believe that Washington is fundamentally broken to its core.

Many of the issues, from infrastructure to guns that were just intrinsic, that we could not get any movement on. There was movement once Joe Biden showed up to Washington. That has always been, in my opinion, one of his greatest assets from when he was the vice president and he led the Recovery Act to coming in the White House and bringing together both sides of the aisle to do what could not be done.

I mean, I've been in Washington 20 years and infrastructure and guns was in everyone's best interest, and it couldn't get done until Joe Biden showed up. So I think that's one of the parts of his legacy that they're most proud about, that they probably talk least about. And I think that's -- that's the disconnect is that they did not -- I think it's a bit of a communications failure.

TAPPER: Well, Bernie Sanders in a -- in a podcast interview said something similar, but he laid the feat of the communications issues not at the White House, but at the president -- that President Biden just doesn't have the skills as a leader, I'm paraphrasing now, to explain what he did.

How do you see it?

EVAN OSNOS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: You know, I think some of that is like so many things about Joe Biden wrapped up with age, that he just wasn't the person that we saw on camera 20 years ago, and that matters. In the end, it almost matters more than we understood or he understood at the beginning.