broke out. it broke out in the back of the building. meantime, the death toll climbs. at least 36 people now confirmed dead. we are learning the names and ages of some of the victims. we'll have more on that in just a minute. right now let's take a look outside trump tower where former green party candidate jill stein is about to hold a rally and news conference. the stein camp still pushing for a recount in pennsylvania despite mounting costs. while pennsylvania hasn't gotten the go ahead, a district judge in michigan has ordered election officials to begin counting ballots later today. meantime, president-elect trump makes another big hire. tapping dr. ben carson for housing secretary. at the same time, the secretary of state search expands. now in the mix, former presidential candidate jon huntsman, who also happens to be a former ambassador. trump's latest twitter target, china. the president-elect now facing heat for unleashing an online tirade and breaking with decades of international protocol. cnn's jessica schneider outside of trump tower with more. good morning.

>> reporter: good morning, carol. like you said, first came that controversial phone call with taiwan. then came that series of tweets from donald trump over the weekend where he slammed china, accusing of manipulating currency, a claim he made repeatedly throughout his campaign, and also criticizing china's military action in the south china sea. first, chinese officials were left scrambling trying to get some sort of clarification as to that phone call that happened on friday. then they were left to react to donald trump's tweets over the weekend. a spokesman for the foreign ministry of china does say that china refuses to speculate about donald trump's actions and then going on to say that they believe the policies between the u.s. and china that have lasted for nearly four decades need to be continued, in particular referring to the one china policy. but as it pertains to vp-elect mike pence, he's defending that phone call, that ten-minute phone call between donald trump and the leader of taiwan, even downplaying its significance. take a listen.

>> i think the conversation that happened this week with the president of taiwan was a courtesy call. it's one of more than 50 telephone calls the president-elect has taken from and made to world leaders. president-elect donald trump takes a courtesy call from the democratically elected president of taiwan and it becomes something of a thing in the media. i think most americans and frankly most leaders around the world, know this for what it was. >> reporter: nevertheless, the chinese continue to be rattled by what their concern could be a change in u.s.-china policy. of course, chinese officials ra react the throughout the weekend first with the call to the white house asking for clarification and a slew of statements that have come out from the chinese over the weekend continuing to urge the united states to stand by take one china policy. carol? >> jessica schneider live outside of trump tower. later this hour, alexandra field will join us from beijing to

discuss china's reaction to all of this. let's talk about that and much much more. with me, cnn political analyst rebecca berg, national political reporter for real clear politics. karen tumulty from "the washington post," andrey brower, former lieutenant governor of south carolina and cnn commentator bakari sellers. welcome to all of you. what do you want to talk about first? we got a lot on the plate this morning. let's start with jill stein. she's expected to speak at any moment about this recount and is holding this rally in front of trump tower. what is she expecting to gain from that? >> i can't answer that. i don't know what she's expecting to gain. it's not moving america forward. it's not continuing to get ready for the new president to take office. to me it seems like a side show. i don't want to negate anybody's opportunity to challenge something they feel is not right, but i don't know what the goal is here.

i don't know what she is trying to accomplish at this point in time. to me it just doesn't seem like anything that actually has any legitimacy and we haven't seen a shift in the numbers, and it just seems like a side show to me although i'm not trying to be critical of her. i just don't see an end game here. >> jill stein is doing her side show and the side show surrounding the supposedly illegal votes that were cast in the state of california, well, that's still playing out, too. in fact it played out on "60 minutes" last night. house speaker paul ryan was asked if he believes mr. trump's claim -- i'm just hearing i don't have paul ryan. paul ryan didn't exactly say an emphatic no, when he was asked if there was really illegal voting taking on illegal voting occurring in the country. so why are both sides continuing to do this? >> well, to answer your question flat out, i'm not sure. i agree when it comes to jill stein, i wish jill stein cared about a couple thousands votes here or there before the

election. we know the amount of votes jill stein got in michigan, pennsylvania and wisconsin was actually the vote difference between donald trump and hillary clinton. so i don't put a whole hill of beans in what jill stein is doing today. i think democrats for the most part are focused on the united states senate race down in louisiana, where we should focus our attention and money, and not jill stein who has become nothing more than a grifter. i will say i wish more republicans would actually stand up and actually call a lie, a lie. paul ryan disappointed me last night on "60 minutes" by not flat out saying it is a lie to say millions of people voted illegally in the state of california. we are living in a fact-free environment. it's so frustrating and very difficult when quote unquote leaders like mike pence or like paul ryan just don't have the courage to stand up and call a lie, a lie. >> okay. again, we will just leave that issue there. because no one really believes with any credibility at least that there's any widespread voter fraud in this country. okay. that said, let's move on to

something else that's breaking. the new york city mayor bill de blasio will announce later this morning he is going to request $35 million to cover costs from election day to the inauguration because he says donald trump is costing his city so much money. is that a normal amount of money to request? >> well, obviously the security concerns and logistics in a city like new york are very different than if this was somewhere else. because donald trump lives in a building that is also used and open to the public, where other people live, where there are other businesses, it becomes exponentially more complicated for the secret service to really create a secure environment for the president-elect. now, i think it would be difficult for even donald trump's critics to argue he doesn't have the right to continue to reside or keep up a residence in trump tower because he's lived there for many many years. it's a big part of his life. to expect the president-elect would just move to a completely

different location during this transition period i think would be a very difficult argument to make. but the issue of melania trump potentially staying in new york, staying in that residence after donald trump moves into the white house, that will certainly create an opportunity for some of donald trump's critics just from a cost and logistics perspective of continuing to protect her, protect barron trump, their young son and the rest of the family in that environment. >> so how long do you think melania trump will stay inside the trump tower, just until the end of the school year? because nobody really knows. >> nobody does know. but certainly, other first families have also wrestled with this question. first families with small children, do you yank them out in the middle of the school year. i think that what we ought to do is give first families some space to make decisions around their children for what they think is the best for their children, because really, these

kids do not ask for this life that they are being brought into. so i do think this is an area where we really ought to sort of trust melania trump's judgment about what is best for her own child. >> absolutely. okay. so bakari, donald trump has tapped ben carson to be his housing secretary. a team of rivals he's assembling? >> i'm a little bit taken aback by this. i think that ben carson has the aptitude to do great things but i think ben carson's adviser himself a couple weeks ago said that ben carson wasn't ready or qualified to be a cabinet head. i think he's made some troubling statements in the past and the list goes on and on and on. ben carson actually doesn't believe in the fair housing act, for an example. i look forward to his confirmation hearing. but i do think that ben carson kind of fits this mold of just

grabbing someone and placing them somewhere and hopefully they'll fit. we'll just have to see. i'm willing to give ben carson a chance because for many of us, regardless of his politics, ben carson has been a hero. politically speaking, the policies i don't adhere to but he's still a hero so hopefully he will do well. our country needs him to. >> so ben carson is this brilliant surgeon so why not attorney general or something that maybe a doctor is expert in? >> yeah. like health and human services, maybe? i don't know the answer to that question. >> andre, do you know? >> well, i don't know specifically but -- i can hear you just fine. i don't know specifically why he chose him for that but ben carson is a well-rounded individual, well-spoken. so many people admire him. i think whatever office you put him in, he's going to do a great job.

he's well thought out and has a history where he comes from such a diverse background and has shown perseverance and determination to overcome so many obstacles. i think his talents will be well used no matter what office he's in. >> i think specifically he grew up in detroit and would have at least bring that part of his biography to -- this perspective to this office. the urban development aspect of this is the toughest part of the housing secretary's job and it is the most intransigent problems. we have seen people come into the job with maybe not a lot of experience in the area, but a big vision of what they want to do. jack kemp comes to mind. there is a question as to what kind of administrator he would be because it's a huge bureaucracy. but he is bringing some clear ideas as to what he would like to see happen in the job.

>> so -- go ahead. >> i was just going to say he's run a bureaucracy before in running a hospital. he has had to deal with many folks from different backgrounds. i think this will fall right into so many of his life experiences. >> he hasn't run an entire hospital, though, has he? he's run his surgical team. not an entire hospital. >> he has, and -- not an entire hospital. he's run a very prestigious and very forward-thinking group of individuals that come from many different backgrounds. i think he will be easily prepared for this. >> rebecca -- >> if i -- >> go ahead. >> i'm sorry to cut you off. i just have to comment on one thing. just because you come from an urban environment does not mean you can run hud. that is illogical. to say that because someone is from detroit or someone is from chicago or someone is even from columbia, south carolina is a qualification to be secretary of hud, i think is a very very low bar. i know we are living in a culture of low expectation but

that is not a criteria. >> no, my point being, however, that he is somebody who has both witnessed and has experienced what the problems are and he has given some thought to what he thinks the solutions should be. i do think that sometimes bringing people with diverse life experiences into government is not a bad thing to do. >> okay. rebecca has to have the last word, then i got to go. >> well, just to finish up this conversation that we're having about ben carson and hud, i would add that nancy pelosi did put out a statement today saying that he was not qualified for this position. particularly pointing out that he doesn't have any experience in urban policy, in low income housing policy, so he did grow up in this environment but she is at least pointing out that that's not necessarily what you would want in an administrative

capacity for a sprawling government agency. i think moving forward we are probably going to hear a lot more of that theme from democrats. i think nancy pelosi is kind of throwing down the marker this morning on what the democratic push-back is going to be here. >> have to leave it there. thanks so much. coming up in the "newsroom" grim new developments in the oakland warehouse fire. the death toll climbs. the search for clues bogs down. they had to end their operation this morning because it's too dangerous to look for more bodies. that's next.

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in northern california, the death toll rises in that horrific fire that raced through a kwconverted warehouse filled with party goers. at least 36 people died but only a handful have been identified. they include 32-year-old donna kellogg, travis hough and minutes ago we received a photo of another victim, 35-year-old david cline. a new image of the 22-year-old musician cash askew was in the band. she also died in the fire.

investigators expect the death toll to climb as they sift through the charred ruins of the building. a criminal investigation now under way but the search for more bodies is on hold for now. cnn's stephanie elam in oakland with more. >> reporter: officials say they have searched through 70% of the warehouse. however, they had to stop around 10:00 p.m. local time last night because there was fear that part of the building would collapse. about 45 minutes or so, structural engineers are expected to show up and they will start shoring up this building to make sure it is safe to re-enter. they are hoping by between noon and 4:00 pacific time they will be able to get back in there and continue recovery efforts. however, they do believe they have found what may be where the fire started. take a listen. >> where the steel is actually twisted and wrapped in the back of the building, we can see fire spread and atf and our local investigators feel very strongly

that they have identified the section of the building that is the area of origin. >> reporter: and on top of all of this that they are dealing with and working around the clock to try to recover as many people as they can, they do say even with the fact they cleared 70% of the building, the way it was actually said, direct quote here, they absolutely believe they will uncover more bodies inside of this warehouse and just to confound the operation going on here, rain is in the forecast but they are saying no matter what, they will continue to methodically and slowly work through the warehouse despite the rain, because they don't want to miss any clues or anyone who may have lost their life there. carol? >> stephanie elam from oakland, california this morning. james mcmullen, my next guest, is a former chief california state fire marshal. welcome, sir. >> thank you. >> we found out last hour that fire officials in oakland think the fire started in the back of

the building. does that tell you anything? >> well, the way they get to that point is to go by burn patterns. first they look at an area that's burned the least and work their way to the area burned the most. the area of origin is a general area and that's what they were speaking to, an area of origin. they are subsequently going to try to refine that down to a point of origin. once you determine the point of origin, they would then go through a process of eliminating various causes to determine the cause of the fire. >> this is going to be so difficult for them, because the building is unstable. in fact, they stopped searching for bodies because it's just too dangerous for fire officials right now. >> yes. the issue is you have to have safety for the investigators. otherwise, you will have more casualties among the fire investigators.

>> so we understand that fire inspectors have been out to inspect this warehouse, building inspectors had been out just in the last couple of weeks and found all sorts of infractions. in light of this tragedy, the question is, why didn't someone shut it down? >> well, that's a question that we would have to investigate further as to what they determine were the issues when they were there. the key thing is that what it was being used for was a public assembly. when they organized this party, that became an assembly occupancy. we have a history throughout the united states of bad fires, killer fires, in public assemblies. that's a lot different than a warehouse. >> so it is possible that the people who inspected this warehouse did not know that somebody was going to throw a concert there.

>> correct. that's my opinion with the information i have at hand right now, is they weren't aware the potential for life loss that was given what they saw at the time. however, it was used as a residence and residences are a lot different where people live and sleep as opposed to just a warehouse. that is a far more restrictive occupancy as well. >> so this -- i mean, rain is coming today. maybe that will help firefighters put out the hot spots in the building, i don't know, but this whole process could take how long? >> well, it could go on for several more days. it is going to take some time. the fact is that we have a two-fold operation going. we have one, we are doing a fire investigation and potentially even an arson investigation. we don't know yet until we get down to point of origin.

we are also at the same time doing body recovery so it's going to take some time sifting slowly so as not to destroy, a, evidence, b, impact the structural stability of the building, and c, that we don't harm any of the remains of the victims that still may be there. >> we do understand that they have opened up a criminal investigation but that could mean anything, right, it could mean arson and what else? >> well, it could mean code infractions that resulted in the fire as an example, whether it's arson which is an intentionally set fire, or whether it's illegal wiring that was done that caused the fire. that could be a criminal investigation as well. so there's a variety of reasons they could have opened the criminal investigation. >> james mcmullen, thanks for your insight. coming up in the "newsroom" the reality of fake news. someone could actually act on it

and at a pizza shop in d.c., someone actually did.

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fake news stories can have real consequences, potentially deadly consequences. police say 28-year-old edgar madison welch stormed into a restaurant in d.c. armed with a shotgun, telling police he wanted to quote, investigate pizza-gate. a totally bogus online conspiracy theory that dc. police confirmed as fictitious. the false news was spread by michael flynn jr., who is the son of trump's new u.s. national security adviser, michael flynn

senior. after the incident, flynn jr. tweeted this. quote, until pizza-gate is proven to be false it will remain a story. the left seems to forget podesta e-mails and the many coincidences tied to it. cnn's joe johns is following this story and joins us now from washington. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, carol. you really have to file this under what happens when fake news stories use real names, real places, but false facts. 28-year-old edgar madison welch came here to this location, comet ping-pong, with a rifle, apparently fired it. police took him into custody. he was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon. no one was injured because the people saw the gun and started running away. when police took him and sat him down and asked him what happened, he said he was here essentially to take a look, to self-investigate, if you will,

pizza-gate which they call fictitious online conspiracy theory that involves the restaurant and claims that hillary clinton and her campaign manager john podesta were involved in a child sex ring which all of that is certainly false. now, as i said, arrested and charged. the investigation continues. it also happens to be something this restaurant and its owner and employees have been dealing with for weeks and weeks. in fact, there have been death threats. the owner issued a statement just yesterday which says in part that they are not going to let this run them out of business. he said comet ping-pong is a beloved institution in washington. we are heartened by the support and loyalty of our customers and our community and our life blood. we will continue to serve them joyfully for decades to come and beyond. so the problem, though, with all of this is that fanning the flames of the issues and the

false facts that follow, the question really is how long it's going to take before there's enough public information out there and sunshine to put the whole thing to rest. carol? >> joe johns reporting live from washington, thank you. good morning. i'm carol costello. thank you for joining me. donald trump unleashing on china. where else but on twitter. mr. trump tweeting last night quote, did china ask us if it was okay to devalue their currency, making it hard for our companies to compete, heavily tax our products going into their country? or to build massive military complex in the middle of the south china sea? i don't think so. those tweets coming just two days after mr. trump's controversial phone call with taiwan's president. cnn's alexandra field live in beijing. good morning.

>> reporter: good morning, carol. this has certainly raised concerns here in beijing. look, president-elect donald trump's preferred method of communication, twitter, is blocked to the public of course here in china but you can count on the fact that leaders, officials, got the message loud and clear. what they did not do was issue an immediate official response to these tweets that the president-elect had put out there. instead, a spokesperson for the foreign ministry did offer some remarks about those tweets when asked at a regularly scheduled briefing. i have to say the response was measured considering those tweets. here's part of what he said. he said the economic and trade relationship between china and the united states has been a highly mutually beneficial one or it wouldn't have developed this far. we don't want to speculate on the motivations behind president-elect trump and his team's actions but we will make clear our stance when it comes to policies related to china. the question that's being asked here in beijing is what exactly will the policies related to china be under the trump administration. they had all gotten used to hearing the tough talk that

president-elect donald trump was espousing on the campaign trail. he had taken a hard line against beijing that was playing well at home domestically but following these tweets, we are seeing the people in beijing are taking this a little more seriously. there was an op-ed in the global times saying these tweets are generating more worry, more concern that the trump administration really would take a tougher economic stance against china. previously, the same publication had run other op-eds in which they offered analysis saying that perhaps president-elect trump was bluffing on the campaign trail, that certainly he's unpredictable but they had said they did not expect that it would be in his interest to overturn international relationships. they believe he's more of an isolationist, that his focus was at home and they didn't think he was likely to antagonize china once he got to the white house. these tweets, that phone call with taiwan, very controversial phone call, have of course led some in beijing to perhaps begin to step back, reconsider that

and have a higher level of concern right now. >> alexandra field live from beijing. so this is why trump's tweets on china matter. china is increasingly aggressive militarily. it's building islands in the south china sea in disputed waters, and china is basing military systems, military aircraft there on those islands, according to u.s. officials. it's already caused conflict with american military aircraft. this is what happened last year. cnn's jim sciutto was on board an american plane when china sent out a warning to u.s. personnel. all right. with me is jim sciutto. jim, what do you make of this? is this some factions becoming hysterical or do we need to worry? >> it matters. it matters. couple things. one, china's a nuclear power. second largest economy in the world.

one of america's biggest trading relationships after canada. you have had a consistent u.s. policy towards china through multiple administrations, republican and democrat, and that is tough but cooperative where they can. neither side wants to antagonize to the point where you lead the conflict. now you have president-elect and as alexandra was saying, chinese diplomats have been used to american presidential candidates going anti-china on the campaign trail. that's a natural message, it appeals to the base, et cetera. but once elected, as president-elect donald trump has been, you are in position to actually change policy. so their ears are perking up to these statements now because in those statements, granted, they are coming out on twitter, they seem to indicate not just a minor tweak in u.s. policy towards china but a major readjustment, a much more hostile outlook towards china and let's be clear.

china today is by its own right increasingly hostile in some ways, building and militarizing the islands we flew over in the south china sea, more nationalistic. if there was a time when making antagonistic comments from a u.s. president mattered, it would be right now. that's why this is extremely concerning. >> here's the thing. like donald trump ran on make america great again and he's going to rebuild respect in the world for the united states. he ran on a more muscular foreign policy. so his supporters are asking why is this bad, we are finally standing up to china, a country that's frankly hurt america right in the economics. >> well, you could say hurt america. the truth is, i'm not, trust me, i'm not advocating for china or for anything except this is a mutual economic relationship that there's enormous trade in both directions, right.

there are trade disputes, there is no question. currency manipulation is one that the obama administration complained about for a number of years as well. the question is in the field of foreign affairs, do tweets of kind of somewhat angry statements, do those move nations? china is a country of one and a half billion people, it has nuclear arms, a big navy, it's growing. is that an effective foreign policy? is that going to move china? or, and this is something you will hear from democrat and republican china diplomats and officials, et cetera, is that -- is this kind of statement going to change china's position towards the u.s. to the positive. that's a question. or is it going to antagonize further. we have to watch it. but in the course of human history, have those kinds of antagonistic statements moved nations that are powerful in their own right and have their own nationalistic axes to grind, that's the question. we have to place a diplomatic bet on how that changes things.

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right now the jury in the michael slager trial is deliberating for another day in charleston, south carolina. this after a lone juror refused to convict the ex-police officer, saying in a note to the judge quote, i still cannot without a reasonable doubt convict the defendant. i cannot and will not change my mind. just moments ago the judge took questions from the jurors. let's talk about this.

with me is cnn legal analyst and former federal prosecutor laura coates. thanks for being here. >> thank you. >> so this lone juror, what if this lone juror, he says he won't change his mind. does that mean it's a hung jury and a retrial? >> it could very well mean that. you have this requirement that verdicts be unanimous. we do that because out of fairness of justice we want people to have unanimous verdicts. it's the one thing a prosecutor is always afraid of, that little seed of reasonable doubt and that same seed of doubt is what a defense attorney will hold on to for dear life. remember, you have 55 witnesses over a five-week period. there's always room for reasonable doubt. you and i and the rest of the world has seen this videotape and it seems to leave no other conclusion other than guilt. however, all you need is one juror to have enough doubt to say listen, i think this is inappropriate. remember, that note from the juror goes on to talk about listen, i don't expect my other

jurors to follow my thinking or change their minds and my heart does go out to the scott family, that note says. but there is a seed of reasonable doubt for this juror. >> just to refresh our viewers' memories, this ex-officer was fired over this shooting, right? >> yes. >> he stopped a man named walter scott because walter scott had this broken taillight. there was some sort of altercation, i don't know what it was, but walter scott got out of his car, turned around and started running. the officer shot at him eight times. mr. scott was struck five times, three times in the back, and there's really no evidence of any physical altercation between the two men, correct? >> right. even if you were to believe former officer michael slager, that there was an altercation between the two men, 18 feet went by between the two men before he actually shot at mr. scott. i have to say that's the part people find completely unreasonable for anybody to find

any sort of doubt here. 18 feet apart when the officer first shot at walter scott. remember, even the local union refused to pay this officer's legal fees in this case which normally is a real big signal the officers aren't behind you, either. but here, we seem to have a juror who says listen, there's something about this case that i don't find reasonable. i think one of the things that may be happening is the prosecution allowed the jury to examine or consider voluntarily manslaughter in addition to murder, which leaves a little bit of room for a juror to say well, maybe the government's not convinced this was somebody acting out of malice, there's some kind of room for us to doubt and maybe that's the reason this juror is holding out. >> the officer in this case did take the stand which is quite unusual. usually lawyers don't allow their, right, their clients to take the stand but in this case, maybe it worked. >> you know, what else could he have done. you have the video. their whole defense essentially was i know you have seen the

video, i know that with your own eyes, all you see is this narrative of a man who was shot in the back, shot at eight times, but listen, i had a fear for my life. i was afraid this man would come back towards me with a taser which of course doesn't really execute lethal force but a taser and i had to act appropriately. so his last line of defense was to take that stand and carol, it may have just worked. but there is a possibility with an 11-1 holdout in favor of conviction that any reasonable prosecutor would rebring this case and again, in january, there's a federal trial against this same former officer for civil rights violations. >> laura, thanks for your insight. i appreciate it. sergeant bowe bergdahl's team is trying a new strategy, asking for a white house pardon. their request has been made, it came after the election. the official cannot comment on the status of that request.

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right to the trump tower and vp-elect mike pence and his wife. >> -- that our president-elect is bringing to assembling a government that's going to make america great again. >> all right. before we went to that, mike pence was talking about ben carson being nominated as hud secretary for mr. trump. we also understand donald trump will formally announce general mattis and his pick for secretary of defense. that will happen tomorrow night in north carolina. other cabinet picks will be announced this week. that's coming from the trump transition team. of course, we will keep you posted. in other news this morning, the italian prime minister renzi says he will resign. this comes a day after suffering a resounding defeat in a referendum. it is a crushing setback for the establishment in italy. renzi had hoped to reform italy's constitution and revive its economy but the plan was rejected by nearly 60% of

italian voters. cnn's senior international correspondent ben wedeman live in rome. >> reporter: it was a resounding defeat for matteo renzi, the 41-year-old italian prime minister who when he saw those numbers late last night with as many as 20% of the electorate completely rejecting the passage of this amendment over about 40% who approved it, he quickly gave up. he sent out a tweet today saying thank you, everyone, it's been 1,000 beautiful, difficult days. long live italy. in the next hour and a half, he's expected to hold his last cabinet meeting, after which he will go to the office of the italian president, where he will hand in his resignation. this vote has been interpreted in a variety of ways but it's important to keep in mind how many people voted against it.

it includes people from the far left, from -- to the far right, and everyone in between. some people voted because they simply wanted to get rid of renzi. others felt they didn't want anyone to tinker with italy's 1948 constitution and others still felt the amendments he was proposing did not go far enough. so it's not so much a vote against the establishment, but it's very much a vote against the current prime minister of italy who is of course about to step down. >> ben wedeman reporting for us this morning, thank you. voting under way for the 2016 cnn hero of the year. the all-star tribute airs this weekend. be sure to vote. >> they are the kind and the caring. they are the strong and the brave. they are the ones who see a need, fill a void, make a difference. >> i'm trying to give them all the opportunities they deserve. >> this has become my life. i don't ever want to do anything

else. >> they don't do it for themselves. they do it for all the rest of us. they are a reminder of what's good in this world. and what it truly means to be a hero. >> we give them the foundation from which they can thrive. the feeling of family. >> we have transformed the lives of thousands of children. >> this sunday night, cnn presents a very special live event. the tenth annual cnn heroes all-star tribute. >> tonight we are gathered to celebrate extraordinary men and women. we highlight the best of what humanity has to offer. >> join anderson cooper and special co-host kelly ripa as we honor ten extraordinary people. the tenth annual cnn heroes all-star tribute live sunday night at 8:00 on cnn.

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checking top stories for you at 58 minutes past, the georgia man convicted of intentionally leaving his toddler in a hot suv

to die will soon learn his fate. a judge is set to sentence justin ross harris today. last month he was convicted of malice murder in the june 2014 death of his 22 month old son. he faces life in prison. prosecutors did not seek the death penalty. the city of gatlinburg, tennessee is planning to reopen for business this week after the deadly wildfires. officials in the popular tourist area say they are working right now to assess infrastructure damage. in all, 14 people were killed in last week's fires. more than 130 others were injured. japanese prime minister shinzo abe will visit pearl harbor, hawaii later this month. it is the first time a japanese leader has visited the site since the attack there almost 75 years ago. nearly 2400 people died in the attack which compelled the united states to enter world war ii. usually hockey fans would get kicked out for throwing stuff on to the ice but not so last night. those are teddy bears, thousands much them, hitting the rink

during last night's hershey bears game. they just kept flying. the team collecting more than 20,000 stuffed toys for charity as part of their annual teddy bear toss. that's awesome. thank you so much for joining me today. i'm carol costello. "at this hour with berman and bolduan" starts now. hello. i'm kate bolduan. john berman is off today. donald trump hasn't yet chosen his secretary of state but he may have already given the mystery nominee a few major to-dos and maybe a slight headache to deal with on day one. all weekend, the president-elect was fending off criticism for offending decades of u.s. policy by taking a call from the president of taiwan. now trump is amping it up rather than trying to quiet it down, it seems, by unleashing on china in a twitter attack that could set the stage for somewhat of a messy showdown. more on that in just a moment. first, there's also