welcome to "newsroom." i'm brianna keilar. the deadliest fire in the history of california. recoveriest stopped because of fierce the converted warehouse

could xlaps. 70% of the building searched so far and invested gatoe kworn ten pd quarantined the back of the building. a criminal investigation is being launched into the fire. stephanie elam is in oakland with the very latest. you spoke to the battalion chief leading the recovery. what have you learned? >> reporter: right. just a difficult recovery here, brianna, inside a building needing shored up because they thought it might collapse and are taking a break making the building safe for the first responders to get in there and deal with rovy efforts. they found 36 people who lost their lives in the fire and expect that number will continue to go up. this is what the oakland fire battalion chief told me about how they're doing and how they're handling this. >> we're making sure that on an emotional level and both the sheriffs and the firefighters

are able to continue to do their job in a way that's professional and respectful, and you can see the raw emotion on everybody. we're you know, two days into this. we're going to be here for a while, and making sure that everyone is -- really capable of continuing to work in their capacity, and making sure that they are doing good work, even with heavy hearts. >> reporter: heavy hearts and doing it methodically, painstakingly slow with their progress. hoping to get back into the building this afternoon to continue recovery efforts, brianna, and they know rain is in the forecast and they're not going to speed up any work efforts simply because of the rain. they're going to still take their time because they want to make sure they don't miss anyone who died in this fire. >> atf, stephanie, is now involved? right? the federal investigators are involved? >> reporter: right. they've been involved, in fact, part of the reason they decided

to stop investigating and searching in the building last night. because they could see that part of the building looked like it was leaning that should be straight and do not want to see anymore loss of life and looking at this. also an arson task force has been brought in and looking into a criminal investigation as well as far as the district attorney's office is concerned because they want to be prepared, know so far, 36 families are looking for answers. they want to make sure they can find all the clues they can inside the building. >> stephanie elam, keeping up updated there in oakland. thank you. the warehouse that burned was well known around oakland as an artists' workspace, spim sometimes a -- and known as the ghost ship. you can see in some of the photos here, posted online. it shows plenty of instruments. there were drums, keyboards, guitars.

oakland's interim lanning dirpl director says only supposed to be use d as a warehouse, not toe people to live. my next guest did live inside the warehouse. thank you for being with us and tell us a little bit about this we warehouse, your experience there and some of the concerning that you had? >> yes, thank you. i moved in, in october 2015. because i was looking for a place. i had lost my previous place, high rent. i needed to place to stay that was close to work and to start up my jewelry business. i always made jewelry. i'm in textiles. i do jewelry. shortly after -- and i paid $700 to move in. i paid -- which i moved in, they told me i needed to pay another $700 towards fixing the place up. fixing the electricity. fixing you know, it up to be legal. you know? well not legal. they didn't mention legal at the time and then certainly -- >> let me stop you quick.

when you say "they," you're talking about the couple? >> yes. derick ion and his wife. >> renting out an rv? >> yes. >> but inside? it was inside the building? >> inside. that's correct. >> then they tell you you need to pay $700 for more repairs. obviously, conditioning were not great. what were conditions like when talking about bathrooms, electricity, heat? >> we had one bathroom, which was in bad repair. so it was to go to fix that bathroom to install another bathroom and to fix up the place so that it was clean and, you know -- habitable. it was really rough, and they sold a dream, yeah, we're all going to get together and do venues, collaborate as artists, and you know, become part of this collective. but after i moved in, not long

after i moved in i found out we have to hide other items, not slated as a live-in place and there were up to 20 people there at some times. >> 10, 12, 20 people for one bathroom? right? and you're talking about -- >> yes, yes. >> you're talking about types of heat and sources of electricity as well. right? can you tell us about that, that certainly would not be legal? tell us about it. >> yes. the transformer blew maybe a couple weeks after i moved in and we had no electricity and no heat. i asked why didn't we call pg & e. it wasn't legal. never got a bill. it wasn't hooked up to the neighbors or would have had a really high bill. we used massive electricity. fires started from transformers. transformers blowing up and we

had to pay to get a new one. there was -- you know, intermittent heat and electricity. people were in the hospital because they were sick with flu. i was sick with flu, several times in the hospital ba there was no heat. it was 30, 40 degrees. the kids were in there. they lived there. they had no shoes, and no coats and no hats. >> when you're talking about the children, you're talking about the children of the couple who ran this sort of -- >> yes. they lived somewhere else -- yes. they lived there. the whole time. they were taken away. brought back and lived there with derick and micah, they lived there. >> when you heard this happened, shelly, it sounds like -- some of the things that you experienced while you were there, i mean, you could see how that would just sort of get out of control, if you're talking about cords sparking, the fact we know there were no sprinklers. >> oh, yeah. >> what are your thoughts now -- >> that's correct. >> -- as you see what happened in a place you lived really not all that long ago? >> yes. that was, the last place i

lived. so when i saw that there was a fire, my daughter-in-law posted it on facebook, and i saw there was a fire and i didn't recognize the building and then i scrolled down and saw the address so i knew what it was. i expected it to be shut down a long time ago. i called the police three times myself. they escorted me out of that place when i was living there. so they were in there to escort me out. the police were there every single week when i was there, more than one time in a week. i called them three times in one week myself. several police were there, derick and micah knew on first name. there on a regular basis. they suck people in. the people that don't go along with what's going on there, they ostracize them, turn my heat off, block me from the bathroom. >> you're telling me police would escort you out when you left? >> yes. they escorted me out. i told them i needed -- there were two policemen at the time they escorted me out.

they came inside and had to watch, because they had threatened my life. pulled guns on me there. so they knew. i told them everything. >> who pulled a gun on you, shelly? >> i told them everything. oh, one 6 derick's friends. a police report. everybody called the police. >> so you were assured the police were well aware this was a residential space that should not have been one, no doubt? >> yes, yes. they were well aware. i told them. >> when? in the spring? >> two years ago. they knew two years ago. they could have stopped it then. i told them. everybody was telling them. everybody they kicked out told them. >> when you said you moved in in october of 2015. right? >> 2014. >> 2014. okay. so this would have been works have been sometime in, in early 2015, that you had an escort out by police, is what you're saying? >> correct. i left early february and took pictures of all the violations. i gave up when i left because they threatened me, my kids. the police weren't doing anything. housing. nobody was doing anything.

cps was in there all the time. nobody did anything, and that was two years ago. >> stunning. >> i'm sure they've been there since. this guy's a criminal. not just an addict. he's a criminal. he knew. derick knew. >> shelly, thank you so much. we really appreciate you being on with us and giving insight to what conditions were like inside and also someone listening to what shelly's been telling us is noel gallo, an oakland city councilman, the warehouse is actually in this district. 'no nole, i hope i'm saying your name right. tell me if i am not. you heard what shelly said was the conditions. she is saying police were well aware of this situation. maybe you can shed light on why something like this might not have risen to the priority of shutting it down? is this something that is usual, or that wasn't seen as danger? >> you know, it is -- i just

heard the lady's presentation and it's really -- inexcusable in terms of our response. certainly by the police being there, acknowledging the activity going on, and certainly the neighbors have reported it for several years, the activity, the merchants have been involved in reporting the activity at night. especially on the weekends, it's -- it's unexplainable. i'm not here to make excuses but i will tell the public that, one, is public safety is a priority. we want to make sure that within these warehouses, within these apartments, that we need to provide public safety first, when it comes to fire protection. when it comes to making sure that we follow the building codes as well. at the end of the day, as a property owner, that's responsible, and they need to be held accountable for their actions or lack of. and -- >> nole, councilman, sounds like -- can you tell me, it sounds like you have this couple

that was operating this warehouse, sort of a, as sort of a co-op artist commune situation. different than the owners. that was how shelly was describing it. that when the owners might come by, there was an effort to hide the fact that people were living there. is that your understanding? >> i -- you know, we're -- you know, we -- i live a lock away and certainly i have seen people living there, and i know the individual that manages, i know the owner and certainly -- but i will tell you at the leadership role, the role that i currently play, that we are looking to put in the building inspectors together with the fire marshals as one unit, so they can inspect the facilities, be present on the weekend nights when there's, they need to be there, and not only that, but the law really clearly says that every six months we have a responsibility

to inspect, especially these warehouses and facilities where we're trying to do business. >> is this -- is it a usual thing? can you sort of explain that to our viewers? i did used to live not too fracture oakland and i know obviously with the rent being what the -- the rents being what they are, you heard from shelly there. it's attractive to try to find a lower rent situation, maybe to live in a community with artists, but is this something that happens frequently? where people are essentially -- they're essentially squatting or living in buildings that they definitely should not be living in? >> and i heard the comment and i support live/work spaces but also say there are a number of live/work spaces woor we have, we're meeting the fire and building code and trying to keep the rent where all of us can live there, but at the same time, our ultimate responsibility is to be safe, public safety. not only for the artists but we have a large immigration community where there's ten

living to an apartment complex sometimes and we need to make sure that their children and all children in oakland on these streets specifically, because the city has not given the attention to east oakland that they have to other neighborhoods. so that is my goal and what is being communicated to the mayor and there's a demand coming up. actually, this coming week. in terms of making sure that the code inspectors, the building and the fire department come together as one unit to keep us safe on these, in these facilities. >> all right. unfortunately for these 36, potentially more souls it is too late for that. councilman noel gallo, we appreciate you being with us. reflecting on the human toll, it's huge in this tragedy. so far 36 people lost their lives and we're starting to learn more about some of these individuals and who they were. nick gomez hall described by friends on facebook as a music many loving genius and brilliant artist. he was 25 years old.

cassius described as a loving person and talented guitarist. cash was just 22 years old. david klein was 35 years old. his brother left this parting message on facebook. to david, we love you. you will always be with us. travis huff was reportedly a creative arts therapist and a member of band. the band's manager says travis was a bright light for everyone that he ever met. he was 35 years old. donna kellogg is remembered by friends as a beautiful, giggly wise person who will be missed. she was 32 years old. we'll be right back.

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the trump administration starts 46 days from now, those anticipated to join it, talking about it, and it gets more intriguing by day. ben carson tweeted an announcement of him being in the new administration was coming. and donald trump announcing she his one-time pick for urban and

housing development. here's something to chew on while we wait for the secretary of state pick. word ivanka trump is meeting with al gore on the issue of climate change. you remember the president most famous lcalled it a hoax inventd by the chinese. keeping watch at trump tower, any more intel on the gore meeting and if donald trump will be there or just his daughter? >> reporter: brianna, right now donald trump will not be in that meeting. it will just be the former vice president, the former presidential candidate meeting with the future first daughter, ivanka trump. that meeting scheduled for today inside trump tower, and the topic du jour, climate change. al gore's signature issue and an issue ivanka trump expressed interest with and child care. mentioned at the convention. donald trump talked about

climate change as a hoax, manufactured by the chinesish but of late he's shown a little latitude in that position. in fact, when he talked to the "new york times" editorial board and reporters back just before thanksgiving, he did say that he thinks there could be some connectivity between humans and climate change. so maybe a little bit of wiggle room in this position there, but ivanka trump meeting with al gore right here at trump tower today. interestingly, this news comes as we're still wondering what role ivanka trump will play in her father's administration and we've learned ivanka trump and her husband, close trump adviser as well, jared kushner, are house hunting in d.c. could a move whip their three children be imminent as well? >> wow. secretary of state. where are we on that? >> reporter: as we thought the list was actually narrowing it appears there seems to be an addition of several names. you know, of course, we have those leading contenders in the initial contenders of former

massachusetts governor mitt romney. as well as former new york city mayor rudy giuliani. in recent days, we've actually had other names added to that list. last week we saw former u.n. ambassador john bolton in here and this weekend, a very public plea, perhaps, from general, former general david petraeus, now considered as well. of course, petraeus pled guilty to mishandling classified information. but he was on the airwaves this weekend saying he's apologized for that mistake and that mistake should not be a diskf disqualification for secretary of state. and also in barack obama's first term, jon huntsman. speaks mandarin and china is a topic donald trump talked and tweeted a lot about of late. a lot to consider. still keeping watch out here. >> thank you for doing that,

jessica schneider at trump tower. cue my panel of experts, eugene scott, and anna palmer, and our mark preston, cnn politics executive editor. okay. secretary of state. this is interesting, anna. jon huntsman is in the mix. makes you wonder if that's someone who might fill the role a mitt romney might fill. right? >> srnl mitt romney is this his nemesis. things are getting more interested, who is going to be secretary of state. he is certainly qualified, would be a statesman-like figure. interesting to see. just named, every day more people are being under consideration. >> what do we make of that? that there's more people and it's not being whittled -- seems he was going in one direction, seemed romney, then perhaps petraeus. what do you think? >> clearly, donald trump hasn't settled on who he wants to be the secretary of state, and what qualities he wants to see in one. he was very intrigued after that dinner with mitt romney a couple

weeks ago, in a very public space where they had a discussion and got along, and the readout afterwards from my folk whose know of the meeting said that it went really, really well and actually thought he would move in that direction. the david petraeus thing certainly cause as speed bump for mitt romney because he is still well respected by republicans and democrats in washington. he did make a major mistake. the question, since donald trump makeker if you e kerfuffle. >> over hillary clinton's e-mails? mishandling the classified information? >> correct. jon huntsman is a red herring. >> interesting, given what happened this weekend with china. also a bit of a surprise, because huntsman -- >> president-elect trump talks to taiwan's president. right? has a phone call with her. china, of course, is not happy. they do not recognize taiwan,

nor does the u.s., but they're at odds with taiwan and donald trump instead of ratcheting it down tweets sort of the china, like, whatever. we're not listening to you. >> sure. for their military involvement, and trade and manipulating their currency and governor huntsman brings more experience with china and knowledge in this area. i also think a fun fact is huntsman is a distant cousin of romney. >> they do not get along at all. enemies. >> at best. >> and donald trump alleges china was devaluing currency. they're not anymore. right? this is -- when you look at that, and him saying something, what are the ramifications for foreign policy when you have a -- >> he also spoke about the military ziization of the south chine 2345 sea and china didn't ask if they could do that or what the implications were on our end if doing that. donald trump is doing so well

with voters, he's talking tough. people don't think the u.s. has been talking tough enough. in many ways that's why he's getting away with the exaggerations or lies, i believe, because people are willing to look beyond that because they think he's a strong leader. >> are there risks to this? huge risks? >> in some ways china is giving him a pass to start a trade relationship on as good a note as possible. but when you talk to former diplomats, they say even the change of an on or of in terms of a title how you address someone can be a big issue with china. >> what about the unpredictability here? is this -- will you have other countries, perhaps, factoring in the donald trump algorithm? saying, plab maybe we can't tak the way we would have a george w. bush or a barack obama? >> i think certainly people in the international community have been paying attention to this election the entire time and a lot of people don't know what donald trump is saying and what

he means when he goes out. especially on twitter. i think a lot of people closer to his campaign will work to communicate a more clear and effective message. >> we'll see if they can. thank you all so much. up next, fake news is -- well, i wouldn't say it's harmless. right? until someone with a rifle shows up at a business, sorry, a busy restaurant to investigate? next.

now we know fake news equals real bullets, because a bogus news story prompt add man with an assault rifle to enter a pizza shop in washington, d.c. yesterday and fire his weapon.

thankfully no one was hurt. the suspect was arrested outside of the restaurant. we've learned his name is edgar madison welch and he's 28 years olds. he told police he had come to invest gate an online conspiracy theory called pizzagate. at the restaurant with his wife and three young children and just a short time ago told us what he saw. >> i was actually playing ping-pong with my wife at the time, and the suspect walked in. he walked behind me. we -- i assumed he was a security guard. you know? several people seen him with the gun, and were obviously starting to kind of move around and shake things up. and so -- an employee came and grabbed me and let me know that this was indeed somebody that wasn't supposed to be there and was a gunman and obviously my first reaction was get my family out, get my kids out and my wife did the same and thankfully were

out of there. the staff did an amazing job getting everyone out. >> cnn correspondent joe johns joins us along with brian stelter, host of "reliable so s sources." what do we know about the suspect at this point in time? >> you mentioned, brianna, he's 28 years old, named edgar madison welch from salisbury, north carolina. walked into the restaurant over the weekend. had a rifle in this hand. the rifle apparently went off. the police showed up. the people around here scattered. and when they took him into custody, apparently they found a couple other weapons in his possession. took him down to the police station, asking him a few questions and he said he was here essentially to reinvestigate pizzagate. expected to show up sometime this afternoon in d.c. superior court for his first court

appearance. he was initially charged with armed, dangerous weapon. we're going see if that charge changes in any way, and talk to the lawyers in a little while, brianna. >> investigating pizzagate. for the uninitiated on this fake news story, what is pizzagate? >> reporter: this is something that really started picking up steam around the end of october. just before the election, and then into november it really picked up steam. apparently started with the wikileaks release of stolen e-mails from john podesta. the campaign chairman for hillary clinton, and apparently they got ahold of the information, massaged it, put a lot of lies in there, and turned it into this amazing story, all untrue, about hillary clinton,

john podesta somehow being involved in a child sex ring that emanated apparently outside of, or inside this restaurant. so -- they took pictures. they took other information, and created a whole false story around this restaurant, hillary clinton, and john podesta. >> so, brian stelter, how -- how did that proliferate? joe's describing the lengths at which the perpetrators of this fake story went to. they took -- we've heard from the other than of this place, they took photos from his associates instagram accounts of children. right? just innocent photos you would post of like your kids on instagram, and sort of put it along with thises false narrative about a child sex ring operating out of a -- kind of a random pizza parlor. >> right. i think of it almost like a snowball.

this is a snowball effect. start at the top of the hill with a couple false details. as it rolls down the hill it speaks up steam, picks up speed, gets more attention. add new more false information keeping people interested in the story. we say, story" because this is a fake news story. it's more than a fake news story, brianna. it's a full-fledged conspiracy theory. one of many anti-clinton conspiracy theories in the weeks and days leading up to election day and this one continued to progress and evolve, tend to roll down that snowball hill even after election day, which may be why this man decided to drive from north carolina to washington in order to investigate it himself. it is a real-life example of the consequences of the internet echo chamber. you know, the same computer, the same laptop, the same phone that gives us instant access to the truth also allows us to wall ourselves off and only hear fictions. that's what seems to happen in cases like this. >> yes. maybe the computer and some suspension of disbelief is

allowing that as well. brian stelter, joe johns, thank you so much for explaining this, both of you. moments ago the white house press secretary josh earnest reacted to what we were talking about before we were speak with xbroe and brian. latest tweets from president-elect donald trump on china and also donald trump's recent call with taiwan's president. let's listen to what josh earnest said. >> i can confirm that u.s. officials including senior officials of the national security council have been in touch with their chinese counterparts to reiterate our country's continued compliment to a one china policy. this is a policy that is based on three joint u.s.-china communiques negotiated by different u.s. presidents and different parties, and, of course, by the taiwan relations act. this is a policy that's been in place for yearly 40 years and it has been focused on promoting and preserving peace and stability in the strait.

this has -- the adherence to and commitment to this policy has advanced the ability of the united states to make progress in our relationship with china. it, of course, has benefited the people of taiwan. taiwan is the ninth largest trading partner of the united states and they certainly benefit from peace and stability in the strait and pursuit of and commitment to that peace and stability advances u.s. interests. if the president-elect's team has a different aim, i'll leave it to them to describe. >> stability enhances u.s. interests nap is the word from white house press secretary josh earnest. and up next, a big win for native americans fighting to stop a pipeline project, but what happens once president obama leaves office here in the coming weeks?

for months standing rock sioux tribe members fought against an energy project they should be could be hazardous and damage the water supply near the reservation are now celebrating a victory at the army corps of engineers will look for an alternate route to cross under the lake in north dakota. the victory under the obama administration may not hold come january under president-elect trump. sara sidner joining me from near cannonball, north dakota pap victory, but potentially a short-lived one? >> reporter: best way to put it, a be salu absolute absolutely. in absolute celebration mode, and they're now ready for a fight.

drum beats, cheers and tears. the sound of victory for the standing rock sioux and thousands of others gathered to stop the dakota access pipeline. this massive humanity living all right griddowned by thousands of military veterans helped exert so much legal and political pressure ter effectively force add pipeline to be re-routed. >> the people will have -- this is a, either we make it or break it, and i guess we made it. [ cheers ] >> reporter: the pipeline was almost to the riv whir it was halted by the army corps of engineer so they could take another look at its path and sunday decided it was a no-go. for months the sioux nation had been demanding the project be scrapped, convinced the pipeline carrying crude oil underneath the missouri river would one day leak, poisoning the drinking water of millions down river. >> this is too much of a risk to the drinking water, to thousands

of people in the standing rock sioux nation. too much risk for the sacred sites all an that route in this area and too much risk for us as a planet. >> reporter: the pipeline's planned route did not go through indian reservation land, but the tribe ash grgued the water is p of's the land and therefore must, too, agrees on its p.a.t.h. >> reporter: offered $5 million and land by the landowners and the dakota pipeline? >> we don't want the land. we don't want money. >> reporter: instead, they wanted to protect the water. north dakota's governor says the pipeline was 95% complete, the company waiting on that final permit. it's not getting it. it seemed to be a blessing to the standing rock sioux. >> what we see has never been seen before in the written history of our people. we have never known a time when non-native american allies from around the country, around the world, have come here in the

dead of winter to stand with us, to stand together to call for a new day. >> reporter: but then, energy partners responded saying, this is simply a political move by the obama administration that won't stop the pipeline from going under the river. they contend the latest decision changes nothing. they have every legal right to continue. and with that, the celebrations could be short-lived. >> if president-elect trump could override what just happened today on january 20th and glarant that easement, we'r in nor a world of hurt. nothing has changed for us. >> reporter: and nothing has changed as far as the numbers of people who are here. partly because of that. there are now at least 10,000 people who have come into this camp. thousands of them are u.s. military veterans. brianna? >> and sara what is the expectation with the outgoing

obama administration? what would happen with president-elect trump and if he were to reverse this decision? >> reporter: you know, if, as indicated, he may support this pipeline, he at one point had money invested in this pipeline company, energy transfer partners, if he, indeed, supports a pipeline, he could ask for another study and ask for it to be reversed nap could happen. that's a very real possibility. to the folks with the pipeline who want to continue, and the thousands of people here braving these difficult temperatures. brianna? >> sara sidner for us in north dakota, thank you. up next, back to politics and the comings and the goings at trump tower. one transition team sure to raise some eyebrows.

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this just in. weeks after voters went to the polls north carolina governor mat mccrory finally conceded his raid. battling state attorney general roy cooper, refused to concede saying the race was too close to

call. president-elect donald trump added another nominee to his cabinet. ben carson telegraphed he might have a role in the new administration. now we know he's being nominated for secretary of housing and urban development. i want to bring in scott bolden, former chairman of the washington, d.c. democratic party. also a former political director for president george w. bush. okay. i want to know what you both think about ben carson, because this is, hud certainly is part of that social safetynet. especially when talking about poor americans, and we've heard rhetoric from ben carson where he says that some of these safety net parts of it breed dependency. with that in mind is think anything that you think is going to really structurally change with him being in charge? >> i think donald trump will want it to and i think he will want it to, also. he's a good diversity pick, but unlike when considered for the secretary of health and human services has absolutely no experience.

what he doesn't know he doesn't know. others will make those decisions. but it's an important pick, because poor people, rural or urban america, nied changes. self-independence and self-help. we'll see. that electorate is important because that was a big part of getting donald trump elected. >> do you think he has no experience, matt? >> here's what i think. look, the republicans, we're the small government party. all of our rhetoric is about shrinking the size of government, shrinking taxes, get people off these government programs. that's going with all republicans. for ben carson, he understands because he grew up in these desperate circumstances that people need to find a way out when trapped in poverty and we've seen in the last eight years with president obama's time, poverty statistics have gotten worse. he's the right guy for it. it need a lot of innovation, a very tough job. i've worked with hud secretaries in the part. this is not an easy job. >> why is that no experience? having firsthand knowledge of growing up in the circumstances

of people that your department is supposed to be assisting? >> it's far more complicated. by the way, poverty statistics went down three points under the obama administration. facts from the government statistics. >> why do you say that's not through? >> because it's not. every statistic you look at on poverty actually got worse over the course of president obama. it's true the end of the bush administration as well. >> i'm going to fact check that and put it out on twitter. >> please do. >> the department of hud housing and urban development is complex. increasing housing an opportunities not only in urban america but in the surrounding areas. they also give tax breaks to wealthy developers to develop affordable income housing and can really be the big stick in enforcing that as opposed to

what you're seeing in america now. >> the confirmation process with the nuclear option, that democrats exercised, republicans are at liberty to only have a simple majority on a lot of these confirmations. general mattis for defense secretary needs a waiver. a different thing. what is that going to look like? are you expecting? >> the last time this waiver was overridden was when george marshall was brought in to the administration after serving so ably in the military. >> a long time ago. >> general flynn, incoming national security adviser would have also need add waiver. >> doesn't need it for now. >> not for now, but interesting, pushed out of the obama administration. general mattis forced to retire early from the obama administration. he will need the waiver, which he's going to need a super majority any the senate to get and a simple majority -- >> will he get it? >> i believe so. >> you think it's going to get it, but democrats can delay this. what do you think? do they want to? >> there's a reason this rule is

in place. you'll see even republicans who are going to have tough questions for whether they're going to vote for the waiver or not. >> he is a civilian. >> but a number of -- >> not long enough. >> and general mattis, they are less okay with a number of other trump nominees. why not save the fight for those? >> maybe. maybe. but his appointments were the military and the defense, far more qualified than for the other positions so far. >> these appointments are great. telling you. i don't see a confirmation problem yet. >> all right. we'll see. >> easy to say with republicans in control. >> that's true. >> interesting either way. even if no quote/unquote problems. scott bolden and matt flap, thank you both so much. thank you for watching "newsroom." "wolf" starts after a quick break. so, mr. harris, we have your fingerprints on the safe. a photo of you opening the safe.

a post using the hashtag "#justrobbedthesafe" so, what are we supposed to think? switching to geico could save you a bunch of money on car insurance. excellent point. case dismissed. geico. because saving fifteen percent or more on car insurance woo! because saving fifteen percent or more on car insurance is always a great answer.

hello. i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. here in washington. 7:00 p.m. in berlin. 8:00 p.m. in aleppo, syria. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. we start with a new member of president-elect trump's cabinet. dr. ben carson picked to be the next secretary of housing and urban development. dr. carson was, of course, a highly respected pediatric neurosurgeon. one of 17 republican running for the republican nomination. when he dropped out in march became a top adviser to donald trump. house minority leader nancy pelosi is calling doctor, carson disconcerting and disturbingly unqualified choice also saying there's "no evidence doctor