Anderson Cooper 360

Despite opposition from Democrats as well as Republican Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, it is looking almost certain that by tomorrow night that former Fox Weekend Morning host Pete Hegseth will be running the Defense Department. Today, CNN learned that Hegseth told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he paid $50,000 as part of a confidentiality agreement to a woman who alleged he sexually assaulted her back in 2017. Manu Raju has the latest from Capitol Hill. Plus, President Trump has now ended Secret Service protection for two of his former top officials. The question tonight: Did he do it because they've spoken up against him? Two CNN analysts join the program to discuss, former Deputy Director of National Intelligence Beth Sanner and former Secret Service Agent Jonathan Wackrow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Thousands of Southern California residents are under evacuation orders Wednesday as fire crews battle the out-of-control Hughes Fire near the town of Castaic, a suburb in the foothills and mountains of northern Los Angeles County. Within five hours, the fire grew to more than 8,000 acres, according to officials. Veronica Miracle is on the ground, and Cal Fire Battalion Chief Brent Pascua joins from the frontlines of firefighting efforts. Plus, the rewriting of the January 6 attack on Capitol Hill reaches a new peak, as a ringleader returns to the scene of the crime and the Trump administration weighs welcoming convicts to the White House. CNN's Donie O'Sullivan shares what he's hearing from some of the most notorious people who were granted clemency by President Trump. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

President Donald Trump defends his blanket pardons of January 6 rioters, even the violent individuals he once suggested would not go free. Donie O'Sullivan, who was outside the Washington, DC jail last night when this all went down, spoke today with some of the pardoned inmates, and New York Democratic Rep. Daniel Goldman joins 360° with his reaction to the President's pardons and defenses. Plus, Ed Lavandera visits the small Texas panhandle city of Cactus, where a sense of fear and uncertainty looms after the President issued new executive orders cracking down on immigration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

President Trump signed a batch of executive orders while talking to reporters. One of the orders granted executive clemency pardons and sentence commutations for January 6th rioters. Other orders included declaring an emergency at the southern border and pulling out of the Paris Agreement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

President-elect Trump has announced that his inauguration will be moved indoors citing dangerously cold temperatures forecast for Washington, DC, Monday. The inaugural address will be delivered from the Capitol Rotunda for the first time since Ronald Reagan's second term began in 1985. Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe breaks down the security concerns around moving the festivities indoors with only three days' notice, scrapping months of planning. And later, Forbes Magazine investigative reporter Emily Baker-White joins Anderson to discuss the looming ban of TikTok. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal hits a snag, a look at where the holdup was and the effect it’s having on both the timetable and the hostage families. Plus, as President Biden warns about the United States becoming an oligarchy, we tell you which tech billionaires will be on the dais for Trump’s inaugural. Also, Rudy Giuliani reaches an agreement with the women he defamed to settle the $150 million judgement against him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

President Biden delivered his farewell address to the nation, after announcing Israel and Hamas have agreed to a deal that includes a ceasefire and a phased release of hostages and Palestinian prisoners. CNN's Jeremy Diamond reports from Tel Aviv. CNN Political and Foreign Policy Analyst Barak Ravid, along with and a panel of political experts, join Jake Tapper and Anderson to discuss the deal and Biden's speech. Plus, Anderson returns to an Altadena neighborhood ravaged by the California wildfires one week ago. He shows what it looked like then, also before the flames, and now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Anderson and his team spent the day with search and rescue crews as they looked for remains of anyone who may have died in the Eaton Fire. The death toll has risen to 25 people in Los Angeles County, and the fire danger is not over. Powerful winds are forecasted overnight into Wednesday afternoon and could spark a new inferno. Anderson speaks to Ian McFeat, the executive director of a charter school in Altadena. Last week's fire there destroyed one of the school's two campuses, the homes of 13 teachers and about 60 school families, and his own home. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

At least 24 people have died in the wildfires that have ravaged Los Angeles County, and officials are warning that the danger is not over yet. Wind speeds are expected to strengthen tonight into Wednesday. The National Weather Service has issued an expanded red flag warning for Southern California, which could see winds up to 70mph, and has told residents the “setup is about as bad as it gets.” Anderson and his team spent the day with fire crews racing the coming winds as they work to keep hotspots from reigniting. A resident who lost his home in the Palisades Fire shares how the community is coming together to help one another. Plus, CNN's Gary Tuchman sees the damage done to a Pacific Palisades home, and it's deeply personal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

At least 11 people are now confirmed dead due to the wildfires ravaging the Los Angeles area. More than 10,000 structures are destroyed and 100,000 people are under evacuation orders, the sheriff’s department said Friday, with tens of thousands more under warnings. California Governor Gavin Newsom is now calling for an independent investigation into what caused some hydrants to lose water pressure during the height of this week’s firefights. CNN's Nick Watt has more on the reports of water shortages. Plus, Anderson speaks to Richard and Alex Jennings, a father and son who worked with neighbors to protect their home from the Palisades Fire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Several major wildfires are burning, mostly still uncontained, in Los Angeles County. Officials have confirmed at least seven deaths, but warn the actual toll will remain unclear until it’s safe for investigators to access neighborhoods. Nearly 180,000 people have been impacted by evacuation orders since Tuesday. According to authorities, more than 10,000 structures have burned in the Palisades and Eaton fires. Anderson speaks to Aaron Samson, who evacuated with his elderly father-in-law thanks to the kindness of two strangers. Also, veterinarian Dr. Annie Harvilicz offers tips to those with pets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Anderson is on the scene as at least six fires tear across Los Angeles County forcing the evacuations of residents. Anderson shows how the flames destroyed homes and vehicles in one neighborhood of Altadena, California. At least five people are dead. California Governor Gavin Newsom tells Anderson the death toll is "likely" to rise. Anderson also talks with a mother and her son who lost their home in Pacific Palisades, other survivors and fire officials working to put out the flames. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

CNN's Nick Watt and Natasha Chen are in the Los Angeles community of Pacific Palisades, where more than 30,000 people have been asked to evacuate as a fast-moving wildfire spreads. The city of Los Angeles has declared a state of emergency and will have all resources on deck, said the president of the city council. Plus, President-elect Donald Trump spoke to reporters today and covered a wide range of subjects, including his frustration over the legal cases brought against him and the Biden administration's handling of the transition, his thoughts on special counsel Jack Smith and refusing to rule out using military force to add Greenland to the United States and retake control of the Panama Canal. Kaitlan Collins, anchor of CNN's The Source, and New York Times senior political correspondent Maggie Haberman, break down the new developments. Plus, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook and Instagram will drop fact checkers and replacing them with user generated "community notes.” Donie O'Sullivan has details on the new policy and we get perspective from Scott Galloway, Professor of Marketing at New York University's Stern School of Business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The difference four years can make and what the next four years might bring as the 2024 loser certifies the 2024 winner. Also, tonight, having spent a quarter billion dollars on the presidential race, the world's richest man now turns his attention to inflammatory allegations toward politics overseas. Kara Swisher, who knows Elon Musk, will join. And later, what Jimmy Carter, perhaps the most highly praised ex-president ever, was like as president. 60 Minutes Lesley Stahl joins tonight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the wake of the early New Year's Day attack in New Orleans, Bourbon Street's security vulnerabilities are coming under scrutiny. Anderson speaks to one security expert who called Bourbon Street the perfect target, five years after his firm warned officials the area was especially vulnerable to a vehicular ramming attack. Plus, a New York judge has upheld President-elect Donald Trump conviction in his hush money case rejecting his effort to throw out the jury’s verdict because of his reelection. Judge Merchan set sentencing for one week from today, but indicated the case is essentially over. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Anderson is live from New Orleans tonight. Zion Parsons joins to discuss the terrorist attack in New Orleans where 14 people were killed, including his friend 18-year-old victim Nikyra Cheyenne Dedeaux. Anderson also spoke with Jeremi Sensky who was in his wheelchair when he was hit by the truck. He's now recovering from surgery and two broken legs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tributes continue to pour in after Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States, died on Sunday. Carter was the oldest living former U.S. president and the first to reach 100 years old. Anderson speaks to two people who were personal friends of the former President and First Lady Rosalynn Carter, superintendent of the Jimmy Carter National Historic Park Jill Stuckey and the Carters' personal pastor Tony Lowden. Anderson also talks with PBS senior correspondent Judy Woodruff, former President Reagan's daughter Patti Davis and legendary presidential biographer and Pulitzer-Prize winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rep. Jake Auchincloss, (D-MA), weighs in on President-elect Trump asking the Supreme Court to pause the upcoming TikTok ban. Plus, new signs of what may have downed a passenger jet, as one survivor speaks about what it was like when the plane was hit. CNN safety analyst and former FAA safety inspector David Soucie and William Taylor, former Ambassador to Ukraine, discuss the new developments. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ret. Lt. General Mark Hertling and aviation analyst Miles O'Brien discuss the latest on the crash involving an Azerbaijan Airlines jet. Early indications suggest a Russian anti-aircraft system may have downed the plane, according to a U.S. official. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The House Ethics Committee found evidence that former congressman Matt Gaetz paid tens of thousands of dollars to women for sex or drugs on at least 20 occasions, including paying a 17-year-old girl for sex in 2017, according to a final draft of the panel’s report on the Florida Republican, obtained by CNN. Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump’s first choice to be attorney general, has denied all allegations. Plus, the latest on former President Bill Clinton, who is in the hospital where he is undergoing testing and observation after developing a fever, his spokesman told CNN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices