Meet the Press NOW — January 10

Welcome to be the press now. I am Kristen Welker. We begin once again with the breaking news on the wildfires in California. Burning for a fourth straight day.

As the death toll climbs, the devastation widens and local officials face mounting questions about their preparations before and actions during this disaster. These are new images of what's left of the Pacific Palisades which was decimated by the Palisades fire. Officials say initial reports show 10,000 properties have been damaged or destroyed in the Los Angeles area. Analysts expect this to be the costliest wildfire in U.S.

history. We are expecting an update from officials at any moment on the eaten fire, the second largest wildfire burning right now. And let's go to Pasadena to get the very latest from officials they need to to move forward. This morning we heard from our insurance commissioner, Ricardo Lara regarding what the department insurance is doing to help people as they navigate the insurance coverage that they may or may not have.

This is an important thing to note. Ricardo Lara has an 800 number which I'm gonna put up on our website. But I want you all to know that I'm wearing working diligently with the state to make sure that those that are insured get the financial help they need. I'm also hearing that people I know yesterday we announced that FEMA has set up a website and I'm seeing that people are filling out the form and being denied.

I'm following up on that to find out what is going on because it is completely mind boggling to me that people who lost everything are filling out a form as told and they're getting an immediate denial. So if you have done that, please, please, please, I'm trying to answer in 24 hours to find out what's going on so that you all get the answers. You des if you have any questions and want that you want answered during the meeting tonight, you can drop the questions in a chat during the live stream or submit them ahead of time via email to 2025eatonirenet.gov again 2025eaton e a t o nirenet.gov we've also extended the opportunity to utility companies participate and answer your questions. That's another question we're getting is when is my power going to come on?

When is my gas going to come on? These are questions that we're going to be addressing tonight. So I would encourage you all to participate. And last but not least, and I've said it and we've got elected town council up in the Alpen area and I know at least Four have lost their homes.

These are elected officials that are representing the community and I want you all to know that they are with us. They'll be there on the virtual call tonight and are very, very, very much a part of the community. And I just want to acknowledge them because it's important for us to recognize that behind every single thing you're seeing on the TV there are people's lives who have been impacted. And it is not lost on me.

So with that, I'm going to introduce now Los Angeles County Fire Department Fire Chief Anthony Murray to give you an update on the Eaton fire. So good afternoon. Thank you, Supervisor Barger. The Eaton fire is estimated to be 13,956 acres with 3% containment.

We have over 7,000 structures damaged or destroyed and 1,527 firefighting personnel on scene. Yesterday afternoon the Eaton Fire made a run towards historic Mount Wilson. The Mount Wilson Observatory and the telescope are undamaged. Thanks to the efforts of our firefighters and observe observatory staff, no buildings or infrastructure have been damaged or destroyed at Mount Wilson.

We are appreciative to our many mutual aid and out of state fire partners for providing assistance to Los Angeles county in our time of greatest need. The current red flag event that we are under right now will expire at 6pm this evening. However, we do anticipate another red flag event beginning on Monday. I can assure everybody that LA county will be prepared.

Before I close, I would like to thank board chair and 5th district supervisor Katherine Barger for her unwavering support and leadership. I would also like to acknowledge the tireless efforts of all first responders who have put themselves in harm's way to protect residents and property. And to our residents impacted by this devastating fire siege, please rest assured that we will not stop until the fires are fully contained. And we can and we will continue to be here for you as we plan for the repopulation, recovery and rebuilding that will be occurring.

Thank you. I would now like to introduce Assistant Sheriff Myron Johnson of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Well, good afternoon. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has deployed over 500 sheriff's personnel and still have actively deployed additional personnel to the fires.

And that's in addition to our normal patrol staffing functions. Deputies have actively patrolled evacuated areas and increased their presence in those areas for looting deterrence as well as burglary suppression efforts. Overall, the evacuations for the Palisades, Eaton, Hearst, Kenneth and Leah fires. Evacuation orders approximately 1,100,053 residents are under evacuation orders and approximately 57,830 structures remain at risk.

Evacuation warnings Approximately 166,800 residents are under vacuation warnings and approximately 50,837 structures remain at risk. As you heard our sheriff speak about yesterday, this morning we have a curfew acted in the affected areas. It's been established in the Palisades and Eaton fire areas and it's a mandatory. Mandatory evacuation zones.

Excuse me. That will be in effect from 6pm this afternoon until 6am tomorrow. Until further notice, this curfew will be strictly enforced and is being taken to enhance public safety, protect property and and prevent looting in areas where residents have been evacuated. We ask that all individuals comply with the curfew and stay clear of the impacted areas.

Unless you're an authorized personnel member such as a fire representative or an emergency first responder. Anyone found a violation of the curfew will be subject to arrest for misdemeanor under LA County Code Section 2.6 8.320 and conviction of that section results in a fine up to $1,000 and jail time. We understand it's an extremely stressful and challenging moment for our residents in this community, but we appreciate the public's cooperation and we will work together during this crisis. We also have additional assets from the National Guard that are assisting in law enforcement efforts during this catastrophe.

We requested the National Guard's assistance yesterday. Several National Guard members arrived last night and were deployed in the Eaton fire area and are assisting with road closures and critical infrastructure protection efforts. As additional National Guard personnel arrive, the Sheriff's Department will strategically coordinate their deployment to both the areas in collaboration with lapd, Pasadena Police Department, Santa Monica Police Department, Azusa Police Department and Arcadia Police Department. There continues to be criminal activity in the Eaton area and we continue to make additional arrests since yesterday, but these numbers are still fluctuating.

And regarding the information, in total, we have made about 18 arrests between Eden and the Palisades fire. Fifteen in Eden and then three in Palisades. Charges include possession of narcotics, possession of burglary tools, burglary, identity theft, looting. One suspect was on active parole and was also charged with possession of a concealed firearm.

Unfortunately, we have confirmed eight deaths in our jurisdiction, six in the Eden fire area and two in the Palisades county area. Our Homicide Bureau is working closely with the LA County Coroner's Office to respond to any deaths that have been reported. Our detectives have started to process certain investigations related to the fire, but they have to wait for access due to the dangerous Conditions that still exist, such as downed power lines, leaking gas and spot fires that are occurring. And just as Chief Moroni indicated, I'd like to acknowledge the hardworking men and women out there on front line making sure this community is safe.

And this department is dedicated to apply every resource we have to be with you until we can get a handle on this tragic event. And now with that, I'd like to introduce Operation Section Chief Don Fergulia. Can I take liberty? I just was down.

I turned around and my colleague Supervisor Janice is here and would like to say a few words. I want to publicly thank you because I know that you've been working as Metro Chair to help navigate the transportation systems or at least the impact of these fires. So with that, thank you, Supervisor Bar, I'm here to support you in any way. These fires have not touched the fourth Superal District per se.

I'm here supporting you and thank you for your tremendous leadership on this. I've been touring your communities here in Alina and I am like everyone else, listening to officials in California update the public on the very latest on the wildfires that have been burning out of control, including the Eaton fire. Officials with the LA County Fire Department saying so far, 13,000 acres in the Eaton Fire have been burned. 1,000 personnel have been mobilized and it is 3% contained after four days of burning.

Also saying that Mount Wilson, which is where you have some of those satellite signals that the observatory, the telescope are undamaged and no buildings there were compromised. You also heard officials say the National Guard has been deployed along with thousands of fire officials to try to combat these flames. They also had a very stern warning about looting, urging people not to do it. 18 arrests, 15 for the eaten fire, three for the palisades fire.

Let's check in now with Morgan Chesky, who is in Altadena. Morgan, I know you've been tracking these fires from the very beginning. What's the very latest there where you are, Kristen? An awful lot of heartbreak here in Altadena.

We're here. We've been watching the progress of the Eaton fire since Tuesday. And every day has really brought a new challenge in this firefight, both here and at the Palisades fire, which is about 30 miles to the west of us. But as things stand right now, fire crews are on patrol throughout this Altadena community looking for those spot fires, Kristen, that can be caused in some cases by a single ember and create a whole new firefight.

The numbers are staggering here. 14,000 acres burned. Thousands upon thousands of structures Destroyed here in this community, on top of at least eight lives lost from the Eaton fire alone. And unfortunately, that's couched with the fact that officials say that number will likely go up.

We do know that some people in evacuated areas have been told that they can go back to their homes today. That has been the first real sign of any slight return to normalcy, if you could even call it that. But the active firefight is becoming more isolated, and we're not seeing it on definitive fronts that we saw in days past. Again, though, we're essentially standing in more or less of a ghost town.

And I should add, of course, we're in front of what was, up until a few days ago in elementary school. Now it's charred rubble, something that you'll see in almost any direction you look here in certain neighborhoods of Altadena. And I think what's even more fortunate about Baptiston is that this community, not the exception of the rule here, the images that you continue to show us are just breathtaking and so devastating and tell the tale of just how unprecedented and enormous these blazes have been in terms of their destruction. I've been watching all of your reports, which have just been really extraordinary.

You were a firefighter, a team yesterday, who acknowledged they were struggling to find water to fight these fires. What have they told you about what they think is contributing to this? Well, it's a combination of factors, Christine, and it's a nuanced answer that I think, unfortunately, in the immediate aftermath of these fires, People are looking for a single person or thing to lay blame on. Number one, this is a firefight.

This was a firefight that happened simultaneously on 1, 2, 3, 4 fronts. So arguably, officials have said that there is almost not a water system on the planet that could have sustained an ongoing firefight against blazes of this size moving as quickly as they did. That said, you're right. We embedded with a crew yesterday and the Palisades fire three days after those flames broke out.

And when another spot fire began, we watched them connect the hose to the hydrant. There wasn't enough water pressure to have an offensive attack on that blaze. So they had to move to a defensive position and just try to make sure that no other homes burned down as we all stood and watched yet another structure be destroyed by this fire. So you have the unprecedented demand that certainly impacted it.

We do know that there was one reservoir, specifically in the Palisades area that was off limits due to ongoing repairs that wasn't used. But again, Kristin, that is couched with the fact that officials have said even if they did have access to that, it would not have made a substantial difference against a firefight of this size. When you have way winds approaching 100 miles an hour just tearing the flames from one home to the next year. And I think that's tough.

I think it's tough for all of us here witnessing the damage because certainly you don't want something like this to happen again. And the governor has directed an independent review of the water system here, of the fire hydrants and why they didn't have that necessary pressure. So we'll be waiting and watching to see what comes of that. But again, we are witnessing in real time a generational disaster here.

Really important perspective there and reporting. Morgan Chesky, thank you so much. Please, please stay safe. Morgan, thank you for bringing that to us.

I do want to go now again to Bill Karens. Bill, you and I've been talking every single day that these fires have been burning. And the big question of course is about the winds. We do see a big difference there behind Morgan, they're not whipping winds behind him, but I know that they are not out of the danger zone yet there, are they?

Yeah, not until it rains and every time it's windy, we're getting scared. Kristen, during that press conference, the thing that I took away, my eyes went really wide is when they said with the eaten fire there were now over 7,000 structures lost. Before that, we were thinking the numbers between 1,000 to 2,000. That number has skyrocketed.

Immediate perspective of why I was like, wow, here's the list in California history, fire history of the worst fires and the most destruction they caused by structures. So the campfire is 18,000. That new number we just got, the eaten fire jumps up the second all time it bumps the Palisades fire down, which the latest number we had is a little over 5,000. So combined with these two fires that are only 30 miles apart, they all turn at the same time during the horrific winds storm.

We're now up to about 12, almost 13,000 structures lost with these two. So just to give you a perspective of a lot of people were saying Palisade's fire, look at that one, was so much worse all of a sudden. Now we hear about the Eden fire losing even more structures than the Palisades. So those numbers continue to climb.

So let's talk about the your question about the winds right now we got a couple gusty spots, 42, 35. But the planes can fly, the helicopters can fly, the super scoopers and get the water and drop it where they need it. So the firefighters have been winning. All the hot spots that have flared up, they've been putting out.

We haven't seen any rapid fire spreads at all. There's still active flames. Most of them are in the mountains in the rural area. So that's good.

As we go throughout tomorrow though, these winds have increased a little bit in the forecast now numerous areas, 30s to 40 mile per hour gusts are possible. Notices are north of LA in some of the areas where we do have these fires. So there could be a little bit, you know, you may notice more smoke tomorrow afternoon. We could get some flare ups.

Hopefully they'll still have the air tankers out there and get to them. And then by the time we get towards tomorrow afternoon, this is when that critical risk is into Sunday. So then up this from an elevated critical. So we're still seeing these.

Anytime it's gonna be like this and it does still look like that Monday night into Tuesday morning. That's the next time we're worried about the winds right now we think they could go up to 40 to 60 miles per hour. Wow. Well, I know that you're going to continue to track it.

We will continue to keep our thoughts with all the folks there and hope that they don't get up that strong. Bill, thank you so much. We really appreciate it. With me now is Congressman Ted Liu, Democrat from California whose district includes parts of Los Angeles dealing with these fires.

Congressman Liu, thank you so much for joining me. Our hearts, our thoughts are with you all there in Los Angeles. Thank you, Kristen. And my heart goes out to all the folks who have been affected by these fires.

Well over 12,000 structures have been destroyed and at least 10 people have died. And I personally know a number of people who have lost their homes. I am thankful for the first responders who are working every hour to keep us safe. Yeah, absolutely.

And Congressman, I'm wondering if you can update us on the very latest that you are seeing that you are hearing as firefighters continue to battle these blazes and tens of thousands still haven't been able to go home yet. Over 8,000 personnel are involved in fighting these fires at all levels. We've got 991 fire engines, 40 helicopters. So this is a massive effort.

But it's very difficult to tame Mother Nature, especially with high winds. And we're going to have some more high winds, not as high as we had before, but they're going to recur over the next few days. So we're not out of this yet. And I'm very thankful for all the first responders as well for FEMA that has come in and people sign up right now for disaster assistance by going to disasterassistance.gov or downloading the FEMA app.

Do you feel confident, Congressman, that California has the resources right now that it needs to fight these fires? We have resources that's being helped from other states as well and other parts of California. There's a lot of mutual aid happening. So I want to thank all the first responders, not only from Southern California, but from all California as well as states bordering California and even states not bordering California.

So this is a massive effort, but these are huge wildfires, and some of them have happened during very high winds and there's really nothing any of us can do. When you have 1 mile winds blowing fire numbers miles and miles and miles away. Yeah, there's no doubt this is unprecedented in size and scope and strength and certainly in terms of the damage that it has wrought. I want to ask you about this water issue.

I don't know if you just heard me talk to Morgan Chesky about this. He made a really important point. It's a complicated issue, the fact that, as you say, the winds are blowing 100 miles an hour. It's arguable that nothing could have done a better job at trying to slow these fires.

At the same time, we have talked to firefighters who've expressed frustration when they get to a pump and it's out of fire or it doesn't have the right pressure. What is your take on that issue? What do you think can be potentially improved upon in the future? If anything, we actually should have an investigation of what happened with the water system.

And at the same time, I think it's also true that no water system was designed to fight so many large simultaneous wildfires. But we do need to have an investigation to see what can be done better in the future. And it's my hope that in the meantime, we would get the water pressure to all these different places to continue fighting the fires where they're needed. And I should say, as we're having this conversation, Governor Gavin Newsom just called for an independent investigation as well into the matter.

Let me ask you, big picture. Yesterday we heard President Biden vowing that the federal government will pay for the fire response, 100% of it. He says over the next six months. He's, of course, about to leave office in the next 10 days.

Are you confident that that will still happen once this new president, this new Congress, gets going, I sure hope so. And people who have lost their homes are Republicans, they're Democrats, they're non voters, they're voters. They're all sorts of different people. So Mother Nature doesn't really care what party you're with before she strikes.

And this happens all across America with kinds, with different kinds of natural disasters. And I think what we should do at the federal government is help people who are victims of natural disasters, regardless of where they might live. You know, Congressman, in the past, President elect Trump has threatened to withhold aid to California. When you were dealing with wildfires, are you concerned that that could happen again, that history might repeat itself?

I'm concerned. I do know that when the president gets inaugurated on January 20, he doesn't get inaugurated as president of one party. He gets inaugurated as president of the United States of America. That includes all 50 states.

And I hope that he honors that commitment to help all 50 states. And just. Congressman, finally, what is your biggest over the next 24, 48 hours? My biggest concern is that we don't have any more deaths and no more structures are destroyed.

Also, help people who have evacuated. Folks in my district have evacuated. I visited the Westward Recreation center in terms of looking at what they're doing. And I do want to thank American Red Cross, the Salvation army and so many nonprofits were involved in helping the victim of this disaster.

And again, people should sign up right [email protected] to get assistance from FEMA in the short term. All right. Congressman Tevlo, thank you so much for joining us. And again, our thoughts will continue to be with you and your constituents in these coming days and months.

Appreciate your doing. Thank you. And joining me now is Section Chief Kenichi Haskett of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Thank you so much for joining us.

And we are so sorry for what you and your community are going through right now. Thank you. What is the status of your efforts to fight these fires right now? Currently today, we're taking advantage of Weather Channel.

I just mentioned earlier the subsiding of the winds or the winds are manageable in the sense that we get our aircraft up in the air. Unfortunately, we had to ground Quebec 1. That's one of our most valuable air assets that's able to scoop water from the ocean instantly, turn around and dump it on the fire immediately because somebody was illegally flying a drone. So pivoting and using the other assets we have, my understanding is Canada Quebec loaned us two more after that plane has been grounded.

It's for service. I understand that they might have to replace the entire wing. So I have to stress the importance of please keeping your drones outside of our ttfr. That's a temporary flight restriction area, so the aircraft that you see there does not hit a drone.

If it hits a drone or it's not unmanned aircraft, it could land in populated areas under emergency landing. So please, please, please do not fight rooms in our faces. I lose all the virus. Well, it's a really important message and I hope people hear it.

I hope they heed this warning that you are giving. In addition to potentially dealing with drones, what are the other main challenges you're facing as you fight these fires? Our firefighters are adaptive, resilient. They will work.

Like some of the guys I talked to yesterday that got offline, they were on the line at 10:10 on Tuesday morning when they got the 911 call to the house agent. They came offline yesterday afternoon. So they were working resiliently. They were working literally their rear ends off to make sure they protect your communities.

We need people to give us patience. There are a lot of downed power lines. The infrastructure has been destroyed. This wasn't a fire storm.

This was a fire disaster. A storm to the extent. And that has destroyed thousands of homes and tragically, and I could also those families just on the Palisades, unfortunately, we've lost two lives, which is tragic. And then my understanding is we've lost six lives.

That's something our firefighters do not want to see. Our number one priority is to make sure people get out safe. We have multiple evacuation warnings issued adjacent to the fires that you're seeing here. We need people to understand if you're in a warning, you need to be packed, ready to go if an order is issued immediately.

When an order is issued, it doesn't mean it's time to start getting ready to go. It means you get in the car and you go. You have your bag already packed, your medication packed. You have your animals in their carriers already in the cars.

You just grab everything and you go. That helps save lives. That helps keep people getting injured. And what that does is it keeps firefighters on the front line protecting your homes and your communities so they don't have to do life rescues, but life rescues.

That's what we did Tuesday night. We did hundreds of life rescues because people were trapped. Your crews have been working around the clock. I know you're getting help from some neighboring states, but how.

How are your crews holding up? They're exhausted. That's why we need our firefighters from our mutual aid system to come in and help support us. The crews I mentioned yesterday that were on what I call initial attack ia, we're in an extended attack.

They were an initial attack for three days. With the response of the amount of magnitude of fires we had, they're exhausted. So we're very grateful and we're lucky to have the mutual aid system to bring in firefighters not just throughout the state of California, but from our joining states, as well as firefighter firefighters from out of country as well. So we're very grateful and thankful that they're coming in to help support us.

And of course, there have been all these questions about the water supply. President Biden said yesterday one of the reasons for the water issues with the utility company cutting power to keep the fire from spreading. We do know power companies have been blamed for previous wildfires in California. Can you help us understand what we should take from this?

Is that part of what happened? How do you see the issue? This was a disaster of magnitude that the city and the county of Los Angeles have never seen before. I work for this department since 1994.

I've been in multiple wild wildfires with Hellfire roster commission officer. I haven't seen the amount of devastation to this magnitude in an urban interface. Usually we're dealing with urban and wildland interface. We're dealing with the city of Los Angeles.

This is a city, a populated city. Los Angeles county, one of the most populated counties in the nation. I say that because, to go back to your original question, the water, you put that many resources in that period of time, pumping over 1,000 gallons of water per minute out of a hydrant, it's going to draw down the system that the capacity of the systems anywhere in the world can't handle the magnitude of the disaster we saw. So firefighters knock out my brain.

We're going to continue to fight the fire. We're going to continue to do what we can and adapt and overcome and keep people safe, get them out and fight this fire with what we have. And if we don't have what we have or what we need or creature comforts like a fire hydrant at full capacity, we will adapt it. Over.

All right. Chief Haskett, thank you. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for your insights and please continue to stay safe.

We really appreciate it. Our thoughts are with you and your community. Thank you. And coming up, we are following the wildfire emergency closely.

I won't bring you any major updates on the crisis straight ahead. But first, in historic scene in lower Manhattan today where President elect Trump was officially sentenced to this criminal hush money case. The reaction and the is next. Stay with us.

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Just over a week from now, for the first time in American history, a president will enter the Oval Office as a convicted felon. Judge Juan Merchan handed down the sentence of an unconditional discharge in President Elect Trump's Manhattan hush money case, where he was found guilty on 34 counts of falsification of business records. So what does that mean? Well, that means the conviction stands without any further punishment from the bench.

Juan Rashan noted the peculiarity of the case and said this penalty would not have been available to someone who was not about to assume the presidency. Never before has this court presented with such a unique and remarkable set of circumstances Donald Trump, the ordinary citizen Donald Trump, a criminal defendant, would not be entitled to such considerable protections. The only lawful sentence that permits entry of a judgment of conviction without encroaching upon the highest office in the land is an unconditional discharge. And speaking remotely at the hearing, Mr.

Trump once again railed against the case. It's been a political witch hunt. It was done to damage my reputation so that I'd lose the election. And obviously that didn't work.

I just want to say I think it's an embarrassment to New York and New York has a lot of problems, but this is a great embarrassment of weaponization of government. They call it welfare. Never happened to any extent like this, but never happened in our country before. And I'd just like to exclaim that I was treated very, very unfairly.

Joining now is my NBC News colleague, Vaughn Hilliard. Vaughn, thanks so much for being here. So talk to me about how the president elect is responding to this unconditional discharge, which again, does not carry any weight with it. I mean, to some extent it's symbolic, Right?

Right. In some ways, today he's been celebrating it as effectively a victory, suggesting that having no prison time or probation or fine attached to this guilty verdict amounts to a victory and a suggestion that vocation never been anything brought against him in the first place on social media. Upon leaving the courthouse or virtually leaving the courthouse, he was transmitted into the lower Manhattan room there via his Mar a Lago estate next to Todd Blanche, one of his attorneys, who you see there in front of those American flags. But in that social media post, he wrote in part, after spending tens of millions of dollars wasting over six years of obsessive work that should have been spent on protecting New Yorkers from violent, rampant crime to destroy the city and state, unconditional discharge.

That result alone proves that as all legal scholars and experts have said, there is no case, there was never a case in this whole scam fully deserves to be dismissed. Now, obviously, Kristen has the opportunity to appeal this and he has indicated that he will take this to the New York Appellate Division. To be clear, a unanimous jury back in May found him guilty on these 34 felony counts. But for the president elect, he is now 10 days away from inauguration and he will officially be entering the White House as a convicted felon.

Now. And Vaughn, just to follow up with you on that point, I'm curious, what do you think the implications of this sentencing are, if any? He's been quite clear of what his agenda is. He wants to focus on mass deportation.

He wants to focus on extending the 2017 Trump era tax cuts. Does this cloud the first 100 days, for example? Does it have any practical impact? I think practical impact, most likely not.

He has indicated that he will appeal this, which would mean that that process would take place during the course of his presidency that his top two attorneys on this case, E.M. bove is going to go into the DOJ as the number three office holder in the agency. And Todd Blanch, the number will be number two in the doj. So he loses, really his top two attorneys, the defendant, him on this case, to their roles in the Department of Justice.

But at the same time, I think for the president elect, this case does mean something for not only the incoming President Trump, but also for future presidents. And that is after the Supreme Court's immunity decision this summer when they said official acts of the president were protected. This is a New York court that ultimately found Donald Trump guilty of a crime and sentenced him despite that immunity ruling, suggesting that the actions he took in 2017 and 2018 when he falsified those business records, signed those checks through Michael Cohen to reimburse him for the hush money painted Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election, that just because he was in the White House at the time doesn't mean that those were protected acts and that they were, in fact crimes. And he's now been sentenced again.

He has the opportunity to appeal to this. He wants to make the argument that he was, in fact, because of some of the evidence presented, protected by this decision. But for now, the courts in New York have made a determination that he was not protected. All right, Von Hill here covering all the angles for us.

As always, happy Friday to you. Von Great to see you. Thanks so much. And we'll dig deeper into the political fallout of today's sentencing and the political fight for developing over the California wildfires after the break.

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You can get our conversation for free wherever you download your podcasts. Welcome back. As we mentioned earlier, California Governor Gavin Newsom moments ago said he is calling for an independent investigation into the loss of water pressure at local fire hydrants as local officials have grown increasingly frustrated with the lack of resources to fight these historic fires. Joining now on set is Kevin Fry, Washington correspondent for New York 1, Simone Sanders Townsend, former senior advisor to President Biden and Vice President Harris.

She's also co host of the weekend weekends on msnbc and Stephen Hayes, editor and CEO of the Dispatch. She's also an NBC News political analyst. Thanks to all of you for being here. Kevin, let me start with you on what we've been talking about throughout the hour.

These horrific fires that are burning in Los Angeles, the politics of the disaster response. We know the President Elect Trump has consistently been targeting Governor Newsom. One of his latest posts says one of the best and most beautiful parts of the United States of America is burning down to the ground. It's ashes.

And Gavin, and he distorts his name, should resign. This is all his fault. Talk about this is obviously leadership test for Newsom, but it could also be a test for President elect Trump and how he handled it. I believe the word is Newsom that he described Gavin Newsom.

This is a continuation from the last go around the Trump White House in terms of their relationship and their tit for tat. And we have seen, I believe there's some great report in Politico, for example, at one time that apparently Trump was convinced to actually send aid. I believe it was 2018 or so because he was told there are Republicans on the ground. This is, at least for the moment, re exposing this idea, a real transactional relationship when it comes to something that usually traditionally has been relatively about politics.

There have been sprinkles of it, certainly. Look at Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. Think of Hurricane Sandy. And there are feasts.

But generally speaking, there is a, there's an effort by politicians to try to look strong and cooperative in these sort of natural disasters. And so far, it seems Trump's been returning to at least his model for the last go round, which is more transactional political. It's a really important point. And Stephen, pick up on that because again, this is a test for President elect Trump.

He's 10 days away from being sworn into office. The fires are still burning. People are displaced. We're still counting the death toll.

And he's pointing fingers. Could this in fact backfire on him? I mean, it depends who you're talking about, right? We're not with the megabase.

Right. This is what they're looking for. They want this. They want President Trump on the attack.

This is who President Trump is in certain senses, as Kevin points out. But I think there's a bigger story story here too. This is this new media moment that we're in. It's not really about, hey, let's find out what happened and then carefully look to see who deserves blame.

It's let's race forward and assign blame and both sides are doing this, by the way. Let's race forward and assign blame and pretend that we know everything that's happened here so that we can either get more engagement on social media or win a political battle or win the moment. And it's just unhelpful for everybody in terms of figuring out what actually happened. Sorry is that there's little kernel truth sometimes and some of these claims and the next loads and you loose sight what's actually happening.

Like the fact that there was no water when I agree that this is medium when people are rushing back. Because I don't agree that it's both sides really. The horror of the la. The LA Times spread misinformation and then it was about particularly about that there was no water.

And they. I think it was really about trying to blame the mayor's premiere in Los Angeles, Caring Basket, former congress woman and talk about Colonel Truth. She was literally in Ghana while these wildfires were raging, was not on the ground. I do think that she needs to come out forcefully with insulation to the people of Los Angeles for that.

But then on the back end, the same publisher and others again, this was primarily MAGA individuals were spreading the lie about the fire budget, saying that the fire budget was reduced by $20 million when in all actuality, after doing actual reporting, the budget, it was increased $50 million actually. So this is. I think it is important that everyone wants to be right on this and accurate. And it is unfortunate that the president doesn't necessarily share that because it's not who he is.

This person is about what's right. It's about what do I think. What about the leadership test for Governor Yavin Newsom? He is someone who has been talked about a lot in terms of 2028.

There's no doubt that he does in fact decide to move forward with this, that voters will be looking at this moment. I mean, probably one of the reasons that the water pressure is not going to be investigated because it is a real question why was the water pressure not working. But also who will people blame for that? Some of that blame is going to go to LA Mayor Karen Bass in the city.

Some of that blame could eventually do Gavin Newsom. I think the people of Los Angeles, the people in LA county, they do deserve some explanations, I think. I think we have to see how the entirety of this all plays out. We have yet to see Governor Newsom and the President elect soon be President Trump from face to face after.

In 10 days, he'll be dealing with Donald Trump. That's what he had to be on the phone calling. There was a Bible. I just said, there's a viral video of a woman that walked up to him.

She had watched her house burn. And he's like, on the president. I'm trying to get the president call right now. And she is rightfully just hysterical.

And she. He's like, let me talk. Let me. Let me monitor the phone call.

Let me talk. Why are you not doing this? Why are you not doing that? That is, I think, one of the many manifestations of how people are feeling in California at this moment.

And that's. It's moments like that, which I didn't think he handled very well at all. Yeah, she didn't even ask about this woman's daughter. You could see that she was so frustrated.

And he gives her perfunctory answers and kept pointing at his phone. I think moments like that, in some ways, are gonna matter more to his political future than what we determine about the actual politics. Politics. Scary.

Scary. Kevin, let me shift gears a little bit here and talk about what we were just discussing with Vaughn Hilliard, which is this quote, unquote, sentencing that occurred in New York today. There's no prison time, there's no penalty, no fee that is going to be paid. And to some extent, President Trump says he is going to appeal this, but to some extent, it's being viewed as symbolic.

What do you think the implications are today of President Trump now becoming officially convicted? I mean, it certainly gives Democrats something to tarp about when they're on the Hill. I'm not sure that it's going to do much in terms of residents just because of the fact that he was elected. People knew all these facts to begin with, and they still voted for him anyway.

On top of that, though, it does feed in for Republicans to this narrative of he is a victim, he has been attacked. And so you've already seen Speaker Johnson, some of the Republicans in New York who are trying to find ways to accuse the DA of not being focused on crime. It's being a flatter to kind of build off of that. Stephen, we've seen him time and time again use these moments, use these political battles to rally people around him.

He did it throughout the primaries. And it's arguably one of the things that helped him defeat his primary rival. So, yeah, like the statement that he put right and he frames this almost as an exoneration when it's a conviction. I mean, it's just the way that he makes the argument.

I think if you're looking at how Donald Trump sees this, he's not seeing this as over. This was his very best case to use to say that there was lawfare and this was a triple bank shot. It was flimsy from the beginning. He can say, look, they just came after me.

And you had the public statements from the people who came after him suggesting advanced they were going to come after him. This is his strongest case. I think he's happy to try to capitalize to make a bigger argument about lawfare. But it's all in the past.

The nineteen six extraordinary things like the perfect store over the course of the last year we had all these cases stacked up and then the Supreme Court did not move very expeditiously. Arguments that DOJ didn't act soon enough with the indictments to begin with. The fact that we have seen, among other things, the stalls when it comes to the actual conviction. I mean this was just like a compilation of a purpose for Trump to get out of these areas.

My final point, well, today, I mean, I appreciate that you use sentencing air quotes when you said it because that's how I felt about the whole performative, if you will, bill of doing what the government does. This is a really good example of the system doing what the system says it should do. And like this is what president and all the things say. But people don't see that.

People say you said he's been yet I see he's run for president, elected. If anyone else in Donald Trump's position, they would be in jail right now. At least that would have gotten real sentencing and they wouldn't be able to get clears in White House. So I hope he becomes an advocate for people with bigger felonies.

Remove that box out of here. Okay. Give these people clearance. There you go.

See if that happens in the second term. Simone, Stephen and Kevin, thanks for a great conversation. We really appreciate it. Coming back to the break, the clock is ticking for Tick Tock.

What we heard from the Supreme Court justices and the social media company's lawyers in today's high stakes arguments as the Chinese owned company faces a potential ban in the US before Mr. Trump takes office. Stay with us. You're watching the welcome back.

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments today on the fate of Tik Tok was less than 10 days until the ban on the popular social media app goes into effect unless it divests from its Chinese parent company, Byte Dance. Now lawyers for Tik Tok and for a group of content creators argued the law passed by Congress is a violation of their First Amendment rights. Tik Tok, your honor, uses an algorithm that in its view, reflects the best mix of content. What the act does is it says Tik Tok cannot do that unless ByteDance executes a qualified divestiture.

That's a direct burden on tick tock speech. Under the First Amendment, mere ideas do not constitute a national security threat. Restricting speech because it might sow doubt about our leaders or undermine democracy are kind of things our enemies do. It is not what we do in this country.

Now, the US Solicitor General, Elizabeth Prilogar argued that TikTok is a major national security threat due to the potential ability of China to use it for covert purposes. The deadline of the ban also falls one day before President Trump takes office. Remember, Trump, who tried to ban TikTok during his first term, has reversed course and is now promising to, quote, save the social media company. NBC News Corporate.

Savannah Sellers joins me now on set. Savannah, it's great to see you. It's so good to see you go. Thanks for being here.

Thanks for being here. We're thrilled to have you. Talk to me about what we heard today. Did the justices seem convinced by the argument that TikTok should be saved?

In short, no. And that did seem pretty clear. If I am TikTok right now, I am pretty worried about what just happened today. And it's actually exactly what you said in the question there that I think could be really revealing and really concerned for TikTok, which is they are not convinced that this is a freedom of speech argument.

At one point, Justice Jackson, she even essentially said, I'm not understanding how this is a freedom of speech question rather than a question of your ability to associate with a foreign entity. And the reason that that's so telling is because it takes a lot, right, for the government to decide, hey, we're going to do something, even if it might infringe upon free speech. And if the justices are kind of saying, I don't buy that argument, that's bad news for TikTok. And it comes as President Trump, as I just said, has really reversed course.

He initially wanted to ban it, and then during the campaign, a lot of advisors said, hey, wait a minute, this is something that, politically speaking, might not be the best move now he's come out and said he wants to say that how might that potentially loom over this? Yes. Okay, great question. There are a couple complicated.

But let me walk through the options. So the first one is, could Trump essentially extend the amount of time that TikTok has to divest? So basically for Bike Dance to sell, because they said, look, basically it's going to be so complicated we can't find the same type of engineers. The court today also challenge that saying, so is it impossible or it would just take longer.

So maybe Trump could extend that timeline. The really big thing, though, that we're thinking could potentially happen is let's say the law goes to effect on January 19th. The next day, Trump is now President Trump. He could essentially decide to not enforce it.

What that means is he tells the attorney general, don't get people in trouble for this. But then what that really goes to because who this app is targeting is Apple for having their App Store is Oracle for having a servers that host the technology. So the question is, if you're the general counsel of Apple or Oracle, are you going to say, okay, Trump's word is enough, we're going to keep this here. You might tell your companies, no, we have to follow the law because it's not, it's not permanent reassurance.

So we have about 30 seconds left. But, Savannah, I need to crawl inside the justice's minds, but how urgent, how quickly do you think we're going to get a final decision here? That's a really good question. We don't know on that.

I would say if I'm reading tea leaves, they seem like they knew how they felt about this. The other thing that we could hear about sooner, they could decide to put a pause on the ban if they do want to continue to decide. So we might hear soon that they issue a yes on that injunction and they say, hey, it's only going into effect on the 19th. We're not saying it's not going to go into effect.

We're just saying any more time. That's something we can hear pretty soon. Van Salish, great to see you as always. Thank you so much.

Before we go, I want to take a moment to celebrate my friend and longtime colleague Hoda Kotb, who officially signed off as Today show co host this morning after 17 years on the show and 26amazing years at NBC. While Hoda will be deeply missed by her NBC News family, I'm happy for her and her family. Can't wait to see what her next chapter brings. And of course, she's not going far.

She will still be contributing to Today show and NBC News. And we wish the very best to Craig. And now for another very special announcement. We want to say a very hearty congratulations to our beloved Meet the Press show now segment producer Ally and her husband Lane.

They are welcoming a baby boy into the world. Little Miles was born on Monday, January 6, weighing an adorable 6 pounds and 12 ounces. I think I speak for the entire MEET the PRESS family when I say we cannot wait to meet baby Miles. We can't wait to hold him.

He is perfect. We're just thrilled for Ally and her growing family and we're sending them all of the love during this incredibly special time. We will be back on Monday with more of the PRESS Now. And if it's Sunday, it's Meet the Perhaps at a local NBC News station of exclusive interviews with Senator Alex via James Langford.

Plus my one on one interview with poet Amanda Gorman as part of our Meet the Moment series. Don't miss it. The news continues with Tom Costello for Hallie Jackson Right now, everyone, I'm Dylan Dryer, co host of the third hour of TODAY and mom to three wild boys. I've learned a lot my years as a parent, mostly that I don't have it all figured out yet.

And I'm not the only one. This is my new podcast, the Parent Chat. Each week I sit down with someone new for honest conversation and real world advice about parenting. I'm over here just like winging it.

Hey, I'm just trying to screw my own gift. I'm going to give you advice on how to screw yourself. Search parent chat on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.