Washington Today (1-10-25): President-elect Trump sentenced in hush money conviction, no punishment

welcome to Washington today on cpan radio for Friday January 10th 2025 president Donald Trump is sentenced in his hush money case but the judge's sentence is unconditional discharge no punishment he says because Donald Trump is about to be sworn in and assume the legal protections of the Office of the President of the United States president-elect Trump speaks before the sentencing calling the case a political Witch Hunt to damage his reputation and says the November election result show the American people agree coming up we hear from Donald Trump also the prosecutor Joshua steinglass who cries Donald Trump's attacks on the judicial system and judge Juan meon who says the powers of the presidency are not able to erase a jury verdict Supreme Court hears a challenge to the law Banning the Tik Tock app from the US if its Chinese parent company bite dance does not divest will hear some of the oral argument and talk with Zack shonfeld the hills courts and legal reporter about how the justice May rule President Joe Biden gets another update on the response to the wildfires in Los Angeles from the California governor Los Angeles mayor and FEMA administrator jobs report for December Labor Department says the US added 256,000 jobs and the unemployment rate went down to 4.1% and the Biden Administration imposes new sanctions on Russia's energy industry designed to limit money Russia can use in its war against Ukraine Associated Press writes that president-elect Donald Trump was formerly sentenced Friday in his hush money case but the judge declined to impose any punishment the outcome cements Trump's conviction while freeing him to return to the White House unencumbered by the threat of a jail term or a fine Trump sentence of an unconditional discharge caps a norm smashing case that saw the former and future president charged with 34 felonies put on trial for almost 2 months and convicted on every count yet the legal detour and the sore details aired in court of a plot to bury a fair allegations didn't hurt him with voters who elected him to a second term that was from Associated Press president-elect Trump spoke before the sentencing for about 6 minutes saying he is innocent of the charges and the voters in November confirmed his position the case itself was orchestrated by his political opponents would your client like to be heard yes thank you you H this has been a very terrible experience I think it's been a tremendous setback for New York and New York court system uh this is a case that Alvin brag did not not want to bring uh he thought it was from what I read and from what I hear inappropriately handled before he got there a gentleman from a law firm came in and acted as a district attorney and that gentleman from what I heard was a criminal or almost criminal in what he did it was very inappropriate it was a somebody involved with my political opponent part of the records that we're talking about they're saying I just noticed that when he said I was falsifying business records well the falsification of business records as they said it was calling illegal expense in the books where everybody could see them illegal expense in other words legal fees or legal expense were put down as legal expense by accountants they weren't put down by me they were put down by accountants I didn't call them construction concrete work I didn't call them electrical work I didn't call them they called a legal fee or a legal expense a legal expense and for this I got indicted uh it's incredible actually now if you look my attorney alluded to it uh the top legal Scholars and legal pundits in this country the ones that are quoted all the time on television that are uh making their views felt and highly respected people uh have said everyone virtually everyone that I know I haven't seen any to the contrary not one and not these people are not exactly friends of mine to put it bodly but they all said this is a case that should have never been brought it's an injustice of Justice uh very respected Jonathan Turley Andy McCarthy Judge David rien a wonderful man who just passed away by the way uh Greg Jarrett Ellie honing from CNN of all places CNN said that Paul and Gracia Alan darts they all said this is not a case that should be brought it's not think about it legal expenses are down as legal expenses and and I get indicted for business records everybody should be so accurate uh 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 and the people of our country got to see this firsthand because they watched the case in your courtroom they got to see this firsthand and then they voted and I won and got the largest number of votes by far of any Republican candidate in history and one as you know all seven swing States one conclusively all seven swing States and one uh the popularity the popular vote by millions and millions of votes and they've been watching your trial so they understood it uh I wasn't allowed to use the lawyer client privilege or the Reliance on Council I had a lawyer that made this deal and he admitted that and he was also a totally discredited person we weren't allowed to use the information from the southern district that totally discredited him it wasn't allowed to be put in and I was was terrible unbelievable and this is a man who's got uh no standing he's been disbarred on other matters unrelated and he was allowed to talk as though he were George Washington but he's not George Washington he shouldn't have been allowed the southern district did a book of approximately 28 Pages uh where they I've never seen anything like it they excoriated if you wouldn't let it be put into evidence so he was able to testify as a witness and I think it's a disgrace to the system I was under a gay go I'm the first president in history that was under a gag go where I couldn't talk about aspects of the case that are very important I guess I'm still under so probably I won't do it now I assume I'm still under a gag order but the fact is that uh I'm totally innocent I did nothing wrong they talked about business records and the business records were extremely accurately counted I had nothing to do with them any that was done by an accountant or a bookkeeper who uh I think gave very credible testimony it was corroborated by everybody that was asked and with all that's happening in our country today with a city that's burning to the ground one of our largest most important cities burning to the ground with with Wars that are uncontrollably going on with all of the problems of inflation and uh taxs on countries and all of the horrible things that are going on I got indicted over calling a legal expense a legal expense was called a legal expense 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 I believe that this and other cases that was were brought as you know the daj doj is very much involved in this case it's because that's the political opponent they're talking about the doj is very involved you have a gentleman sitting right there from the doj who was from the doj's office he was also involved with the New York State Attorney General's case and he went from there to here he went around and did what he had to do got them to move on me but in the meantime I won the election and a massive Landslide and the people of this country understand what's going on this has been a weaponization of government they call it welfare never happened to any extent like this but never happened happened in our country before and i' just like to explain that I was sced very very unfairly and I thank you very much thank you Mr Trump president-elect Donald Trump speaking virtually to the New York state supreme court sentencing hearing in his hush money case today the judge imposed no punishment NBC News writes Donald Trump was convicted in May of falsifying records related to hush money that his then attorney Michael Cohen paid adult film star storm Daniels in the closing days of the 2016 presidential campaign Daniels testified that she had a sexual encounter with Donald Trump in 200 2006 which he has denied that was from NBC News prosecutor in this case Joshua steinglass also addressed the court before sentencing saying Donald Trump's statements about this case the government lawyers and the judge have undermined the Public's faith in the judicial system as this court has observed quote the sanctity of a jury verdict and the death that must be accorded to it is a Bedrock principle in our nation's jurist Prudence the defendant's conduct before during and after this trial also merits consideration instead of preserving protecting and defending our constitutionally established system of Criminal Justice the defendant The Once and Future president of the United States has engaged in a coordinated campaign pain to undermine its legitimacy far from expressing any kind of remorse for his criminal conduct the defendant has purposefully bred disdain for our judicial institutions and the rule of law and he's done this to serve his own ends and to encourage others to reject the jury verdict that he find so distasteful he has characterized these proceedings as corrupt rigged a Witch Hunt or a sham too many times to tabulate the defendant's rhetoric has only ratcheted up since this Court's rulings on his motions to dismiss he has been unrelenting in his unsubstantiated attacks upon this court and its family individual prosecutors and their families the witnesses the grand jury the trial jury and the justice system as a whole the defendant has not only been held in contempt by other jurs and other matters but this court alone found the defendant in contempt for 10 distinct violations of the order restricting extra extrajudicial speech in his legal filings the defendant has used Dangerous rhetoric in leveling accusations of intentionally unlawful and unconstitutional conduct on the part of this court and the prosecution as this court has noted the defendant's conduct quote constitutes a direct attack on the rule of law itself moreover the defendant has publicly threatened to retaliate against the prosecutors who have sought to hold him accountable in this and other matters and the courts who have endeavored to fairly and Faithfully adjudicate these matters such threats are designed to have a chilling effect to intimidate those who have the responsibility to enforce our laws in the hopes that they will ignore the defendant's trans transgressions because they fear that he is simply too powerful to be subjected to the same rule of law as the rest of us Joshua Stein glass with the Manhattan District Attorney's Office addressing the New York state supreme court in President elect Trump's hush money case the sentencing hearing he also said that given the defendant will soon be president of the United States the government supports the sentence the judge had earlier indicated he would impose unconditional discharge no jail probation fines or other punishment the American public has the right to a presidency unencumbered by pending court proceedings or ongoing sentence related obligations but imposing this sentence ensures that fin ality sentencing the defendant permits this court to enter judgment to cement the defendant status as a convicted felon while he pursues whatever appeals he intends to pursue and it gives full effect and respect to the jury's verdict while preserving the defendant's ability to govern prosecuting attorney Joshua steinglass Donald Trump's attorney Todd blanch also briefly addressed the New York court today and like his client said the case should never have been brought and noted that they will be appealing judge Juan mishon spoke before imposing sentence emphasizing that the trial was conducted pursuant to the same rules of procedure and law that applies to any other trial and that in that sense it was ordinary he also said what makes the case exceptional and leads to his sentencing decision is the legal protections attached to the Office of the President of the United States no no matter who occupies it the considerable indeed extraordinary legal protections afforded by the office of the chief chief executive is a factor that overrides all others to be clear the protections afforded the Office of the President are not a mitigating Factor they do not reduce the seriousness seriousness of the crime or justify its Commission in any way the protections are however a legal mandate which pursuant to the rule of law this court must respect and follow however despite the extraordinary breath of those protections one power they do not provide is the power to erase a jury verdict it is clear from legal president which until July 1st was scarce that that Donald Trump the ordinary citizen Donald Trump the criminal defendant would not be entitled to such considerable protections I'm referring to protections that extend well beyond those afforded the average defendant who winds their way through the criminal justice system each day no ordinary citizens do not receive those legal protections it is the Office of the President that bestows those far-reaching protections to the office holder and it was the citizenry of this nation that recently decided that you should once again receive the benefits of those protections which include among other things the supremacy clause and presidential immunity it is through that lens and that reality that this court must determine a lawful sentence after careful analysis in obedience to governing mandates and pursuant to the rule of law this court has determined that 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 which the New York State Legislature has determined is a lawful and permissible sentence for the crime of falsifying business records in the first degree therefore at this time I impose that sentence to cover all 34 counts sir I wish you God's speed as you assume your second terminal office thank you judge ju Mayan of the New York state supreme court at today's sentencing hearing for Donald Trump in the hush money case in New York City Donald Trump and his lawyer joining remotely Washington Post writes president like Donald Trump last out at the New York judge who sentenced him on Friday to unconditional discharge in the hush money case in which he was found guilty of 34 felony charges noting that the sentencing carries no fine incarceration or probation Trump contended on his truth social platform that the result proves that there is no case there never was a case that from The Washington Post CNN writes that Rudy Giuliani has been held in contempt of court for the second time in a week as the former New York mayor and top Donald Trump lawyers Fall From Grace continues because of the false information he spread after the 2020 election District Judge barl Howl's ruling Friday came as Giuliani continues to make false insinuations about two Georgia election workers long after they won a $150 million defamation verdict against him and he agreed to stop slandering them Howell said as she read her verdict Mr Giuliani engaged in the worst kind of defamation it's outrageous and and shameful this takes real hutzpah Mr Giuliani reporting from CNN Rudy Giuliani spoke to reporters outside the courtroom in Washington DC juliani um are you going to ask Donald Trump for any help or money no this has nothing to do with Donald Trump what this has to do with is a complete abdication of the American legal system in the District of Columbia and this judge might be primarily responsible for it remember this is the j6 judge January 6 defendants who was annoyed that the other judges didn't give long enough prison sentences notice how she's dying to give me a prison sentence even though it' be unconstitutional but the most important and egregious thing that even you have to recognize if you have any fairness is I obviously didn't get a fair hearing she had the thing prepared before we ever started you can't read that 20 30 minute thing with all the citations in it and prepare it after I testified she never even left the bench so this is a put up job I wrote it before I went in if you check my X account I said it going to be a phony case she's going to have that decision prepared before I even go out and testify I'm absolutely right because I know what a dishonest and dishonorable judge she is I shouldn't be the one that's paying fines I shouldn't be the one in contempt she should be and when somebody reviews what she did with j6 uh she has been a a disgrace to the district court this was a force Rudy Giuliani former Donald Trump lawyer outside the court in Washington DC and this is Washington today we will hear argument this morning in case 24656 Tick Tock versus gar and the Consolidated case Chief Justice John Roberts starting off today's oral argument in the case over a law that would ban the Tik Tock short video app in the US if its owner Chinese Company B dance does not sell it to a non-chinese entity joining us now to talk about the case is Zack shonfeld the hills courts and legal reporter thank you for being with us so we got First Amendment rights to free speech versus National Security concerns what did you hear today about which way the justices might go it's seems coming out of this roughly 2 and a half hour oral argument at the Supreme Court that they seem to be leaning towards the government here expressing sympathy with these National Security concerns over tick tok's chinese-based parent company bite dance uh this is a Monumental First Amendment case that'll impact the more than 170 million us users of this video sharing platform but in this seismic battle that pits Free Speech against National Security seems that the justices are going towards the National Security side of this what are the National Security concerns what are the details the limits of this did this come up in the Justice's questioning this has of course been the conversation of so much talk in Washington on the know the two political branches of government now extending into you know two and into now Trump's will be the third uh Administration uh and so the justice department now in defending this law has been citing that yearslong history both in the presidency as well as Congress taking a close look at this and those efforts of course ultimately culminated in Congress last spring passing this law that would require Tik Tock to either divest itself from its chinese-based parent company or face a ban Nationwide in the US by January 19th so in defending this law the government really puts the National Security concerns into two buckets the first concern that they cite is saying that the Chinese government would potentially have the ability uh to access these us users their data and the fact that Tik Tok just collects so much data users who are using the video sharing platform so that's bucket number one and then the second bucket that they site is they say that the Chinese government could behind the scenes covertly manipulate the Tik Tok content algorithm so it's those two things combined that they say supersedes the Free Speech issue Justice Neil Gorsuch asked Tik tok's lawyer today Neil Francisco about the extent of bite Dan's influence over Tik Tok and said the facts are in dispute was that resolved at all yeah think that was one of the you know the issues going into this oral argument is the fact that this case so far has not followed you know how a normal lawsuit would be filed usually by the time a case gets to the Supreme Court it's been heard by a federal district judge it then goes to a circuit court on appeal and then the Supreme Court is the third level but the way that this law was designed had these uh Challengers which is both Tik Tock itself as well as some creators uh they went right into the federal appeals court in Washington DC the DC circuit now we very quickly at the Supreme Court so there's a little bit less of a record in the from the courts below that you would normally have and that leaves open certain factual questions over bite Dan's control over Tik Tok that was really the subject of Justice Neil gorsuch's questions he acknowledged that that he had to ask so many factual questions uh but I think overall what we did hear from Justice Gorsuch is perhaps out of all nine justices he seems perhaps the most sympathetic uh towards Tik tok's Free Speech concerns uh so I don't think this were necessarily even though the Supreme Court overall uh gave Tik Tock a frosty reception that's not to say that this is going to be a 90 decision we're talking with Zack shonfeld courts and legal reporter for the hill there were two lawyers on Tik Tock side one for the company Tik Tock and one for a Tik Tock Creator did the Justice make any distinction between First Amendment rights between those two yeah the first amendment question is a little bit different depending on the specific Challenger so for example the government has contended that that Tik Tok the company has no First Amendment rights here at all because of its foreign ownership now Tik Tok is pushed back on that they note that Tik Tock operates in the US under a us-based corporate entity uh so they say that that entity and the way it operates within the US that it has First Amendment right so that affects the analysis and then on the Creator side there's a question of the fact that this law is directly regulating and trying to ban Tik Tok but whether you know creators is people who post content to Tik Tok and create all of these short form videos whether they are able to get involved here in this suit and whether they can bring First Amendment claims uh so really a a win for Tik Tok here could either come in ruling for the company or the slightly different First Amendment arguments that are being put forth by the individual creators hypotheticals are often used in oral argument what did you hear today there were quite a lot of hypotheticals in today's oral argument really talking about all across the media industry there were mentions of other social media platforms meta came up a few times it's uh it's reals uh program through Instagram is one of the main competitors to Tik Tok we got some mentions of Elon Musk social platform X formerly known as Twitter and then there was also some talk about the actual Legacy means mainstream media so the hypothetical that we kept hearing a lot uh is Jeff Bezos and his ownership of the Washington Post and Tik tok's lawyers were the ones who actually posed this and questioned you know what what if if Tik Tok loses here what would then stop Congress if they so wanted to uh you know to prevent uh the Jeff bezos's ownership of the Washington Post because he has you know various foreign business interests uh so we saw questions about that there were even mentions about Politico and itow now has a foreign based owner that's based in Germany so so a lot of a hypothetical is proposed today and finally the deadline in the law for the sale of Tik Tok or have it banned from the US is January 19th Supreme Court has been asked to extend that and they've got these issues about first amendments rights versus National Security so what kind of decisions can we expect and which way are they going to go do you do you think the Supreme Court has been taking this case on a very expedited schedule this case was only taken up just a few weeks ago so that would suggest so far at least the schedule is that the justices are going to issue some sort of ruling before that January 19th deadline because if they say nothing and we get to 9 days from now then this tick Tok ban will go into effect unless it you know suddenly is able to divest itself from bite dance uh so you know that would lead to some expectation that the court is going to say something before the 19th uh that could come in a few different Fashions we could see uh you know a very fast put together a complete opinion on these first amendment issues it's also possible that they just issue a temporary stay an emergency ruling that would last until we get you know that full-fledged opinion but that could then uh you know give some more breathing room until later uh and this timing also of course is important because we're having a changing Administration in Washington and once Donald Trump gets into office he has said that he wants to negotiate a deal that he claims would somehow save Tik Tok and would negate the need for the Supreme Court to even rule on this matter uh so simply if the Supreme Court wants to issue a delay here and let Donald Trump get into office there's a chance that they never have to answer this first amendment question Zack shonfeld courts and legal reporter for the hill find his articles at the hill.com and on X zacka shonfeld thank you very much good to be with you and now some of today's Supreme courtt oral argument in The Tick Tock case Chief Justice John Roberts questioning NL Francisco attorney for Tik Tock and bite dance Council you began by saying this is a US company operating in the United States yes but the ultimate company that controls it bite dance uh was found uh by Congress and I quote this to be subject to Chinese laws that require it to assist or or cooperate with the Chinese government's intelligence work quotes uh and to ensure that the Chinese government has the power to access and control private data that the company holds so are we supposed to ignore the fact that the ultimate parent is in fact subject uh to doing intelligence work for the Chinese government well your honor uh I don't think you are supposed to ignore that at all but I also don't think that it changes the analysis for a couple of reasons look Tik Tock and well just a hold a second well as I said you began by saying this is a US company operating in the United States and it seems to me that you're ignoring the major concern here of Congress which was Chinese manipulation of the content and uh acquisition and harvesting of uh of the content sure and I'll start by saying that Tik Tock Incorporated is a United States subsidiary operating in the United States with its own set of free speech rights do you dispute the fact that bite dance is ult has ultimate control of Tik Tock in its corporate organization uh yes your honor I do dispute that but I also don't think that it matters because even if China could would exercise overwhelming power against Tik Tock versus bike dance I don't think it would change the analysis and I can take that Washington Post hypothetical and Ratchet it up a little bit to help illustrate the point let's suppose that the Chinese government had actually taken the Bezos children hostage and it was using that leverage in order to force Bezos and the Washington Post to publish whatever they wanted on the front page of the post so China effectively has total control I still don't think that Congress could come in and tell Bezos either sell the post or shut it down because that would violate bezos's rights and the Washington Post rights maybe what they could do is come in and say you need to disclose the fact that you're under this amount of coercion so that the people who are looking at the Paper Understand it and can make their own assessment but I think the First Amendment rights of both Bezos and the post would be directly implicated not withstanding that China in that scenario has effectively total control over what what what gets printed in the Washington Post no Francisco attorney for Tik Tock and parent company bite dance questioned by Chief Justice John Roberts in the oral argument in the Consolidated Supreme Court cases Tik Tock V Garland and Fireball V Garland us solicitor general Elizabeth pre- logger defended the constitutionality of the law that requires B dance to divest Tik Tok to a non-chinese owner or face a ban on Tik Tok in the United States here question by Justice katangi Brown Jackson General isn't the whole point of the divesture requirement that the content on Tik Tok would be different if it was owned by a different company I'm still struggling with your insistence that this is content neutral versus content-based when we have that kind of circumstance the reason that I am continuing to try to hold the line on that is because there is nothing in the act that would directly dictate any different mix of content on Tik Tok the US subsidiary could use the same algorithm show the same content by the same users in exactly the same order it's not about trying to interfere with the US subsidiaries exercise of editorial judgment in any relevant sense instead all Congress was doing was homing in on the problems of having a foreign adversary be able to interject itself and be able to harvest friends on the other side say it that the motivation for doing that is because the foreign adversary might influence or change the content so content is I mean content matters doesn't it I certainly I think that content was relevant to congress's concern about an adversary having control over the communications Channel I think not again because of any particular concern about viewpoints or subjects but is that relevance isn't that relevance enough to trigger at least some scrutiny with a heightened scrutiny from the standpoint of our legal tests I certainly understand that intuition and if the court thought that it were prudent to simply try to rule narrowly here and not dictate broader First Amendment principles we have no problem with the court assuming that hide and scrutiny applies we think the law e easily satisfies it we do think that intermediate scrutiny is a more appropriate framework for this kind of law that's not directly targeting protected speech but in any event there's a compell compelling National Security interest here and the law isn't just narrowly tailored it's precisely tailored it's trying to fix the thing that's creating the problem which is the prc's involvement and the Chinese government's ability to exercise this control over the corporate entities us solicitor general Elizabeth pre- logger questioned by Supreme Court Justice katoni Brown Jackson you can find the full audio of today's oral argument in the Consolidated cases Tik Tock V Garland and Fireball V Garland at our website c-span.org CNN writing about the law that would ban the app if the chinese-based parent company doesn't not sell the law is set to take effect on January 19th unless the high court steps in to block it temporarily a decision on that question the Ban's implementation date could come quickly long before the justices resolve any underlying questions about speech protections Washington today continues in a moment witness democracy unfiltered with C-SPAN experience history as it unfolds with c-span's live coverage this month as Republicans take control of both chambers of Congress and a new chapter begins with a swearing in of the 47th president of the United States on Monday January 20th tune in for our live all day coverage of the presidential inauguration as Donald Trump takes the oath of office becoming president of the United States stay with cpan this month for comprehensive live unfiltered coverage of the 119th Congress and the presidential inauguration C-SPAN democracy [Music] unfiltered welcome back to Washington today available as a podcast on the free C-SPAN now mobile app and where ever you get your podcasts USA Today reports firefighters made progress Friday in the battle against a series of deadly wildfires that have decimated entire neighborhoods in Southern California though officials caution that strong winds will return to the region raising the threat of further Devastation five wildfires remained active in Los Angeles County scorching more than 36,000 Acres or about 56 square miles an area about the size of Miami according to to calire the largest Blaze the Palisades fire which ranks as the most destructive in Los Angeles history scorched over 20,000 acres and was 8% contained as of Friday morning that reporting from USA Today President Joe Biden received an update on the federal response in the White House Oval Office joined by vice president kamla Harris and remotely by California governor Gavin Newsome and Los Angeles mayor Karen bass along with FEMA administrator deian chriswell vice president Harrison our about to receive brief from Governor Nome and mayor bass and the FEMA director Chiswell so uh both of them are on the ground leading the fight against this God AF of wildfires in Cal worst in California history and uh there's been some progress in the last 24 hours so I want to give an update of where we think things are at the moment first overnight local state and federal firefighters were able to partially prevent some of the largest fires from spreading into new areas 3% % in Pasadena has been kept from spreading 8% in Pacific Palisades 35% in Ventura and 37% in silmore and uh and but this time yesterday these fires are mostly spreading out of control if we still got a long way to go is right to hear from the governor and others and uh while the winds have died down from the time we expect they'll remain a threat until early next week so we're going to keep working 24/7 to support state Loc local officials to fully stop these fires as soon as possible next we're going to make sure California has every possible resource to fight these fires and help survivors as soon as the fire started I approved the the fire management assistance grants which is a fancy phrase for saying the grants to cover the cost of firefighting federally and the gear equipment capabilities like search and rescue then I immediately proved to the governor's request a major disaster declaration which will pay for things like debris removal temporary lodging first responded overtime pay both of these the grants in the Declaration usually cover 75% of the state's cost but yesterday I directed the federal gum will cover 100% of the state cost for 180 days I also announced FEMA has turned on its critical needs assistance program this program gives onetime payment of $750 to survivors so they can quickly purchase critical items like water formula gasoline and prescription drugs a Survivor should go to disaster assistance.gov or call 1 800621 3362 we can't help you if we don't know you need the help so call disasterassistance.gov I mean contact or call 1 800-621-3362 and I want to be clear this is not the only Aid the survivors can request from FEMA more programs are going to be available through the disaster declaration but this assistance that survivors can get now and get it fast President Joe Biden in the White House Oval Office LA Times writes that Governor Gavin Newsome sent a letter to president-elect Donald Trump on Friday inviting the incoming leader to California to meet with fire victims survey the devastation in LA county and join him in thanking First Responders the invitation which the governor's office said was emailed to Trump's team marks a change in tone in the political battle between Newsome and Trump Nome said in the spirit of this great country we must not politicize human tragedy or spread disinformation from the sidelines Trump has been a vocal critic of Nome since the fires began and blame the governor and his Los Angeles crew for the disaster that was from the LA Times Governor newsum did join the briefing today remotely to the White House Oval Office and talked about misinformation we've got to deal with this misinformation there were hurricane force winds of Miss and disinformation lies people want to divide this country um and and we're going to have to address that as well and it breaks my heart as people are suffering and struggling uh that we're up against those hurricane force uh forces as well uh and uh and that's just a point of personal privilege that I share that with you because it infects real people uh that are out there people I mean meet every single day people the mayor has been meeting with um and they're having conversations um that are not the typical conversations you'd have at this time and and you wonder where this stuff comes from um and it's very damaging as well but but we're here to get the job done Governor Gavin Nome joining virtually the White House Oval Office briefing he mentioned the mayor that mayor of Los Angeles Karen bass was also there and also spoke about the immediate battle against the wildfires and protecting life the highest priority mayor bass also talked about another issue dealing with the recovery and that is fire Insurance one of the biggest challenges that is facing us and I also know that it is a national situation is insurance and so today I'm here at the County hall of administration we do two press conferences a day one in the county one in the city and we had our state insurance commissioner here we do have a state plan but that state plan certainly needs to be in he talked about introducing uh emergency legislation to respond to some of the uh ways we need to strengthen our system so many of the uh homes in the area especially in the Palisades area had their insurance cancelled cancelled a year or so ago and he talked about how he wanted to have a moratorium he was going to use the power of his office to have a moratorium that said that no uh policy policies can be cancelled even if your home was not damaged if you're in the area and everybody around you burnt down but your home was not damaged that your uh policy cannot be cancelled Los Angeles mayor Karen baz joining from California virtually to the White House opal office briefing on the wildfires article in the guardian about the fires reads with estimates of the economic damage from the fires now reaching 52 to 57 billion consumer Advocates and Veterans of past disasters say homeowners can expect weeks or months of paperwork to prove that they have lost what they say they have lost if not also pressure from claims adjusters and a whole class of Disaster Professionals to make a quick settlement for less than they're entitled to under their policies that from the guardian after the updates from mayor bass Governor Newsome and also F administrator Dian chriswell President Biden answered a couple of questions on the response to the wildfires you mentioned yesterday that you're about to leave office are you coordinating with the incoming Administration about this Federal response everything they know every single thing we're doing about the the response My Hope Is that they will have at least acknowledge we have some significant experience in this we've done really well on it and I'm praying that they continue to focus Mr President have you been told that the loss of life is likely to increase significantly in California it is likely it will increase whether significantly or not we don't know yet there's still a lot of people are unaccounted for we don't know where they are I think there toll is likely to go up whether it's significant or not pray God it's not but it could be president How concerned are you about looting incidents of looting in Los Angeles we are concerned that's why I provided more police officers and more military look the dod is in full for with this we're providing everything from security through the through the military the National Guard supplementing the National Guard because we are there's clear evidence that there's looting there's clear evidence that people are going into these surviving even places where they're not they're evacuated and it's not all rubble and people are going in and they're looting um and so that's going to that we know that will continue unless we make sure we we we're we're providing the help to prevent it from happening President Biden in the White House Oval Office story from political news Congress may not consider new aid for California to deal with its devastating Spate of wildfires until mid-march when Capitol Hill faces its next Government funding deadline lawmakers see March 14th the spending deadline as the next chance to address any emergencies that may need Congressional cash including the blazes sweeping through Los Angeles County House Majority Leader Steve scales Republican of Louisiana said they'd address it at that negotiation not in an upcoming budget Recon conciliation Bill reporting from En news from Fox Business the US economy added jobs more rapidly than expected in December as Federal Reserve policy makers are keeping close tabs on the strength of the labor market ahead of their meeting later this month White House Press Secretary Ken jeanpierre brought this up at her news conference I did want to highlight uh some good news we received this morning the final jobs report for the Bayern Harris Administration was released today and a remarkable 250,000 jobs were created last month defying expectations Additionally the unemployment rate ticked down to a low of 4.1% this is the only Administration to gain jobs every month we had zero months with job losses this was no accident president uh Biden's Administration has delivered the strongest recovery in the world and laid a strong foundation for years to come by investing in America empowering workers and unions lowering cost and supporting small businesses over 16.6 million jobs created the lowest average unemployment rate of any Administration in 50 years record high Unemployment uh record high employment rates for working age women and lowest black white unemployment gap on record inflation down faster than almost any other Advanced economy and incomes up almost $4,000 and again this was no accident this is because of the president's leadership White House Press Secretary Karina jeanpierre at her news conference at the White House headline at CNBC doubt tumbles nearly 700 points Friday as strong jobs report cast doubt over feds rate cut path the Dow was down 696 NASDAQ down 3177 S&P down 91 the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco firearms and explosives known as ETF held a farewell program today for ATF director Steven debach who plans to resign a few days before president-elect Trump is sworn in Donald Trump told members of the National Rifle Association last year that if he's elected president on day one we will sack the radical gun Grabber Steve debach Steve debach spoke today highly about the ATF its Mission and its Workforce whether it's using Rico on gank cases or harvesting crime gun intell like never before to catch trigger pullers or doing Advanced undercover work to bust up a motorcycle gang or revolutionizing ballistic touch DNA or cracking down on illegal ghost guns or busting South down cartel traffickers or completing thorough and fair inspections to make sure everybody's following the same set of rules or working with academics and Industry to try to address 3D printed switches or stopping illegal sales without background checks no matter where they are done at ATF we do everything we legally can to drive down violent crime let me tell you something about ATF for those of you who are visitors here today something I learned long ago and I saw as director this building this is not a memo right in place this is a law enforcement place that's what it has been that's what it is now and that's what it's always going to be and by the way it saves lives as the crime done data that you heard prove and ATF and the men and women here deserve all the support and the funding that highly effective proven law enforcement should get ATF director Steve debach at a farewell program today in Washington he became the director in the summer of 2022 and will step down right before president-elect Trump takes office January 20th this is a story from the hill congresswoman Lauren bobert Republican of Colorado and Congressman Eric burles republican from Missouri introduced a bill to abolish the ATF they announced Tuesday the bill titled abolish the ATF aims quote to safeguard Americans second amendment rights and to protect law-abiding gun owners from the Relentless bureaucratic overreach of the ATF according to a press release from burlinson Office reporting from the Hill from Reuters US president President Joe Biden's Administration imposed its broadest package of sanctions so far targeting Russia's oil and gas revenues on Friday in an effort to give keeve and Donald Trump's incoming team leverage to reach a deal for peace in Ukraine the move is meant to cut Russia's revenues for continuing the war that has killed or wounded tens of thousands and reduced cities to Rubble since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022 that was the article from Reuters the White House National Security Communications adviser John Kirby spoke about this in teleconference our next question will go to Alex W yeah thanks thanks for doing this just I mean we talking about the market conditions I mean would it be fair to say that the Biden Administration waited or didn't put didn't execute these kind of ss earlier in the war because they were worried about gas prices going too high and now this is a a moment in which gas prices are low enough and if they go higher that's on Trump and then the the second bit is is the administration hoping that these sanctions um can prove a bargaining chip for Ukraine should there be peace talks with Russia coming soon as as you guys expect there to be both are great questions I I I don't think it would be fair to characterize the decision as as trying to lay a bargaining chip on the table again this was really based on market conditions and taking a look at how much more resilient uh both sets of markets are I mean domestic and overseas and particularly when it comes to Global oil uh and so the time was propitious for this decision uh and that's why the president made made it um it wasn't about trying to you know tie the next Administration down one way or the other it wasn't done with um calculations that that uh that it's a bargaining chip that they can be taken off the table should should Ukraine want to go to the table there's no expectation right now that either side is ready to uh negotiate and then as your first question I of course domestic gas prices uh played into this decision as I mentioned at the opening I mean the price is now just over $3 a gallon across the country came down a whole more than a dollar here um so certainly the domestic oil market and its its resilience um and its stability right now certainly played into this uh decision sure but just to be very clear I mean does this mean this decision on going after Russian oil as hard as you guys are doing now was that pushed off because gas prices were higher earlier and you didn't necessarily want to make them even higher for the American people of course John Kirby is White House National Security Communications advisor holding a teleconference story from AP about 600,000 Venezuelans and more than 200,000 Salvadorans already living in the United States can legally remain another 18 months the Department of Homeland Security said Friday barely a week before president-elect Donald Trump takes office with Promises of Hardline immigration policies the decisions Mark the B administration's latest in support of temporary protected status which he has sharply expanded to cover about 1 million people TPS faces an uncertain future under Trump who tried to sharply curtail its use during his first term as president the announcement which came as Venezuelan president Nicholas Maduro took office for a third six-year term in Caracus amid widespread International condemnation is quote based on the severe humanitarian emergency the country continues to face due to political and economic crises under the Maduro regime the department said reporting from AP thanks for listening to Washington today sign up for cpan free evening newsletter word for word and get the stories making headlines in Washington sent to your inbox every day subscribe at c-span.org SLC connect have a good night and weekend [Music]