>> i just hope this woman knows what she's done for my dad. >> that's so nice. you know, so many different faces to love. so many different things you can do. that's so nice. >> it is a great story and a good reminder for all of us. >> you'll sing to me in a little bit. time for nor poppy marharlo and jim sciutto. hit it. top of the hour. good morning, everyone. i'm poppy harlow. we begin this morning in northern california. dozens of people still missing as the so-called campfire becomes the deadliest wild fire in the history of the state. at least 42 people killed and fears we will see more images like this today as officials search the charred piles with cadaver dogs. there is still dozens missing. >> 500 miles south near malibu, the woolsey fire has intensified

overnight. let's get straight to dan simon who joins us in paradise. the irony in that name cannot be over stated looking at the devastation behind you. what are officials telling you? >> reporter: there was concern when this fire first broke out that you would have a high number of fatalities. in fact, they were concerned it might break records and in fact it has. we're looking at 42 people dead. the concern they were concerned about it is because it spread so fast. and the fact you have elderly retirees who live in this community. we know the focus today will be for search and recovery teams to identify more bodies in the rubble and they will be bringing in cadaver dogs. it is a gruesome thing they're doing. we also know, given the way this fire spread and it was so hot, that many of the bodies are burned beyond recognition. authorities are asking family members to provide dna samples.

so ultimately these bodies can be reunited with loves ones. in the meantime, guys, let me explain whoo i ere i am. these are shopping carts. we're in front of a burned out safeway grocery store. this underscores what has been lost in this community. you have all kinds of businesses that have been lost. restaurants and motels and the schools and the churches. this will be a multi-year recovery for the town of paradise. the good news is the fire has spread modestly over the past couple days. it grew slightly overnight and the containment number has gone up. the bad news is things remain dry and there is no rain in the forecast. by the way, there is also no wind today, so that's good news. we cannot say the same for what is happening in southern california with what's happening in malibu. as you mentioned, they are expecting hurricane force winds there tonight, so we could be

seeing more devastation down in southern california. guys, send it back to you. >> unbelievable imagines. thank you for your reporting. your whole team on the ground there. we will stay on top of that and keep a close eye on that. we'll update you as we have more. also, to politics, one full week after the midterms, democrats celebrating another flip seat. kyrsten sinema is the first ever arizona female senator. as for mississippi, that race headed to a run off. and florida? well, we are starting at a thursday -- we are staring at a thursday deadline to recount eight million ballots divided almost equally between bill nelson and rick scott. >> a federal judge is overseeing

lawsuits, advising them to ramp down the rhetoric. you have the president and other republicans accusing without basis florida of election fraud there. let's go to cnn in broward county where one of the biggest battles being fought right now. where do things stand right now with the recount, rosa? >> reporter: jim, here they are still separating ballots as part of the recount process. but we have got a judge scolding both sides and another county now entering the controversy. let me start with this. we have heard governor rick scott and president trump accusing democrats of trying to steal the election. and the florida democratic party calling rick scott a dictator. yesterday in court, a judge asked both parties to simmer down, to bring down the rhetoric because the judge said those words are being beamed all across the country.

here are the facts. this recount was triggered because of florida law, because the margins are so thin. according to the secretary of state and the florida law enforce, no criminal activity has been found. democrat bill nelson asking rick scott to recuse himself from all of these recount activities, two voting groups doing the same but going to court to ask a judge to compel rick scott to recuse himself. meanwhile, rick scott heading to washington, d.c., planning to travel there to be a part of photo ops, new member orientation and also doing some voting there as part of the new member orientation. now, we have mostly heard about the controversy in broward county and in palm beach county. bay county now inserting itself into the controversy. about 158 people were allowed to vote by e-mail and by fax, jim and poppy. according to the supervisor of

elections there, he consulted with the guys from the secretary of state that say that no one is allowed to vote by e-mail or fax. >> right. >> rosa, thanks very much. let's keep the conversation going. cnn senior political analyst john avalon and matt lewis. matt, if i could begin with you. the president and other republicans continue to claim rampant voter fraud in florida when state officials there, republicans, a republican state secretary of state in florida. is the president dangerously undermining confidence in the florida election here? >> yeah. look, i think that donald trump is doing more harm than good, really on two counts. on one hand, he's, you know, delegitimizing elections in general. i don't think that's helpful to america right now. in fact, i kind of wish that these elections had been very decisively won, but we are where

we are. trump isn't helping. i also think trump isn't helping the republican cause actually because there really are some things happening that, you know, for example, the democrat bill nelson is suing to basically try to get florida to go against the law. the law says, for example, that if you have a male-in ballot that's mismatched, you didn't sign your name correctly, that those ballots shouldn't be counted. bill nelson is arguing they should be, that this is disinfranchising people. i think that's a policy question. that's a legal question. and i think republicans win on the law if that's the law. i think what trump is doing is injecting this culture fight into it, and i don't think that's helpful for anybody. >> john avalon to you. i wonder if you think there is a lesson here to be learned for a lot of people. from the president on town to how governor rick scott is

handling this to the graceful concession of martha mcsally. >> i do. i mean, look, donald trump tried to inject the same kind of doubt, allegations of fraud into the arizona race. didn't remotely apply. but the docounting was going on normally in arizona. republican officials importantly didn't take the bait. neither did martha mcsally. so that tone has been different. actually, the president tweets with joe biden congratulating sinema and thanking mcsally were not doubling down on the divisiveness. but this impulse to have accusations of fraud, president trump's campaign trying to fund-raise off it last night, this is intentionally inflammatory and designed to reduce confidence in our democracy. that's disgusting. >> i wonder when you look big

picture whether there were political lessons here for both parties. you look at sinema. she ran towards the senate and she won 12% of republicans there. exceeded only by joe manchin in west virginia who got 17% of republicans. that's quite a haul in today's very divisive environment. >> i think, though, the thing to keep in mind is it's not just ideology and policy. it is also temperament and style. sinema was a radical. let's not pretend she wasn't. ten years ago she was. she actually changes her policies. but more important, i think she

actually came across as very moderate, very normal and very likable. i think more likable than martha mcsally. that may have been the difference. look at beto o'rourke down in texas. same thing. he ran as a hard core progressive. he did very well in texas. i think it's because stylistically he comes across temperament talal stylistically he comes across temperament talaly as moderate. think about ideology. think about policy. but probably more important is somebody who comes across with a moderate temperament. >> you can sense how people want that. you and i speak to people all the time. they want the temperature to be lowered. >> right. but i wonder what you think about that and what that bodes for 2020 and who ultimately, you know, sits on top of the ticket for the democrats in 2020. should they be for the trump charter? should they be as calm as a c

cucumb cucumber? >> the big question democrats still can't answer is why hillary clinton lost. there is a still debate. was it she was not liberal enough? or was it that she was too liberal? i think what the 2018 election shows, as matt just said, is that actually the more pragmatic candidates who didn't try to inflame and play identity politics and lead with ideology did better. a lot of the progressive heroes heading into the night didn't go first across the finish line. beto o'rourke tried to reach out. he didn't demonize ted cruz. but if you look at the folks who won and where they won, they did focus more on pragmatic problem solving and less on hyper partisan ship. that should send a message. >> matt, can't you say the same for republicans, right? that races where they went, you know, very hard right, and even races where the president doubled and tripled down on his

messages that republicans lost a lot of those races there. did they not? can you say that republicans have to learn that same lesson looking forward to 2020? >> well, look. sadly, i think it is actually kind of mixed. there were some bomb thrower, you know, trumpian right wingers who lost and some of whom who won, including desantis, who i think will end up winning in florida. i don't know that republicans can take the same lesson at the senate and congressional level. but i will completely agree with you when it comes to running at the national level. you know, the problem of course is the incentive, right? the things you have to do and say to win a republican primary make it much harder to actually win the general election. >> but if you look at swing seats that turned the 2016 race, state-wide races, blue did pretty well in michigan, wisconsin, pennsylvania, right? should that not be a warning

sign to republicans as you look to 2020? >> john, final thought. >> yeah. just the undercurrent of the race. those privet counties that voted twice for obama and that flipped for trump, the democrats did better. it wasn't a sweep. but i'll just -- two names. charlie baker, larry hogan, the two most popular governors in the country are republicans in blue states. they rejected the trump play book and won re-elections. in the current composition, they are the outlier. >> thank you both. all right. is time running out for the homeland secretary? officials saying the president could ask her to resign in just days. and they're back. congress returns to capitol hill, but it won't be like they left it. a different dynamic and a major spending deadline. "the new york times" is reporting that the audio recording of the killing of

journalist seems to provide a direct link to the saudi prince. one of the biggest successes we had early on was entering agreements with the epa on cleaning up the property. man 3: we're recycling over 98% of the products on site. man 4: the impact that this project will have on the community will be enormous. ( ♪ ) now you can, with shipsticks.com! no more lugging your clubs through the airport or risk having your clubs lost or damaged by the airlines. sending your own clubs ahead with shipsticks.com makes it fast & easy to get to your golf destination. with just a few clicks or a phone call we'll pick up and deliver your clubs on-time, guaranteed, for as low as $39.99. shipsticks.com saves you time and money. make it simple. make it ship sticks.

tap one little bumper and up go your rates. what good is having insurance if you get punished for using it? news flash: nobody's perfect. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. switch and you could save $782 on home and auto insurance. call for a free quote today. liberty mutual insurance. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

khashoggi. this morning multiple officials predicts the president could ask the homeland secretary within days to resign. citing the president's frustration over her handling of immigration and border security. let's go to joe johns at the white house. look, she is a close ally of chief of staff john kelly. she was brought in by kelly. he's been an ardent defender of hers. >> reporter: as you know, they both came from the homeland security department. and, look, our kaitlyn collins reporting today that multiple officials say she could be asked to leave any day now. of course, there has always been a question of timing. cnn has reported in the past that she was likely on her way out. this is a very tough job, as you know, in the trump administration. and no small part because of the immigration issue the president is said to be dissatisfied other

the agency's handling of his immigration policies. she has also gotten criticism from democrats on capitol hill who suggested things like the separation of family's policy has gone too far. it is a difficult position for her. and the question is when and if she will be on her way out. a lot of questions follow after that, including who would replace her there at homeland security simply because, again, it is a very difficult job, poppy. >> and before you go, joe johns, also to you on what we're hearing from the president this morning, a few tweets from him. but one of them confounding. he takes another swipe at the french president after he spent time in paris with him and it have two seemed to have mended things up a little bit. why? and what is the president saying? >> reporter: this is more of the back and forth over emanuel

macon's call for a european army. he said he suggests building its own army to protect europe against the u.s., russia and china. and then he points out that it was germany in world wars 1 and 2. how did that work out for france. and finally a big cut there. they were starting to learn german in paris before the u.s. came along. the president going after him on that. once again calling on france to pay more to nato. and there were a bunch of other insults this morning, including one about french wines and suggesting there is a trade imbalance. a long list of grievances there and there may be more to that, as you know. >> okay. we appreciate very much the reporting. joe johns, thank you. we do have news just in. cnn is taking action after the white house banned jim acosta.

a lawsuit has been filed against the president and others in the trump administration. brian joins us now. brian, walk us through this. >> reporter: this is a historic moment for press freedom in the united states. a lawsuit by cnn and jim acosta against president trump and several other top aids. ky shi can show you the stateme that begins by saying cnn filed a lawsuit in the d.c. district court that demands the return of the white house credentials of jim acosta. the wrongful relocation of his credentials violates cnn and acosta's first amendment rights. we have asked this court for an immediate restraining order requiring the pass be returned to jim and will seek permanent relief as part of this process. it means cnn is asking for a hearing today or tomorrow, some time this week to get a temporary order to get acosta's press pass back right away.

then cnn will seek permanent relief to relief so this doesn't happen again in the future. >> is there any precedence? >> there is no case like this that we have found. i have spoken to multiple media lawyers about this. there is no precedence for suing the white house either. but there is very specific guidelines that regulate how press passes are assigned and allotted. frankly, all past governments, past administrations have been very permissive about press passes. president trump took a very extreme action by stripping acosta's credentials with no notice last week. let me read the other part because it points out this is happening to cnn, but it could involve any organization. this could have happened to anyone. if left unchallenged, the actions could create a dangerous

effect. the white house has come out with a statement supporting cnn's efforts to reinstate this credential because acosta was the one targeted last week, but it could have been someone from the new york times or nbc or the washington post. >> or in the future. >> exactly. he did that, brian, on friday. when asked, he said, quote, it could be others also. this is a first amendment case, a freedom of the press case. this is also due process case, a fifth amendment case because you laid out the procedure, the kbied li guidelines that have to be gone through before you revoke it. >> there was a journalist who wanted a press pass at the white house. he was denied access. this went on for years. but eventually a judge in d.c. ruled in his favor and said, you have to have really specific reasons. and in practice, the only reason that's been stated is that the

reporter would be a threat to the president. obviously, nobody in the white house press core is a threat to the president. so that's going to be the legal argument that's going to take place in court. and i mentioned the top aids are being sued as well. it is not just president trump. it is john kelly, sara sanders, bill shine, the head of the secret service and the officer who actually took away the hard pass last week. >> we will be joined by one of the two lawyers who is taking this case for cnn. one is ted olsen. we're going to be joined by him shortly. if you are just hearing this, cnn is suing the president and the white house, several top aids, for the re-location of our college's white house credentials. >> something the president told cnn he would not do. he said, quote, i would not do that, meaning take a reporter's credentials away. that has now been done to our

colleague. cnn is taking him to court. we'll be right back. staying healthy means choosing the right medicare plan. humana can help. with original medicare, you're covered for hospital stays and doctor office visits when you're sick. but keep in mind you'll have to pay a deductible for each. a medicare supplement plan can cover your deductibles and co-insurance, but you may pay higher premiums than you do with other plans. and prescription drug coverage isn't included. but, with an all-in-one humana medicare advantage plan, you could get all that coverage plus part d prescription drug benefits. you get all this coverage for zero dollar monthly plan premium in most areas. and humana has a large network of doctors and hospitals. so call or go online today. find out if your doctor is part of the humana network and get your free decision guide. discover how an all-in-one medicare advantage plan from humana could save you money. there is no obligation and the book is free.

what makes this simple salad the best simple salad ever? great tasting, heart-healthy california walnuts. so simple, so good. get the recipes at walnuts.org.

comcast business built the nation's largest gig-speed network. then went beyond. beyond chasing down network problems. to knowing when and where there's an issue. beyond network complexity. to a zero-touch, one-box world. optimizing performance and budget. beyond having questions. to getting answers. "activecore, how's my network?" "all sites are green." all of which helps you do more than your customers thought possible. comcast business. beyond fast. happening today, cnn has

learned that the justice department is expected to give a legal opinion about matt whitak whitaker. he has publically criticized the russia probe multiple times in the past which has some democrats claiming he was appointed by the president to hinder or kill the investigation. let's discuss this now with mike rogers. congressman, thank you for taking the time. >> thanks for having me. >> first your reaction to matt whitaker's appointment here. you are a republican, but you have been a defender of the special counsel robert mueller being able to complete his work. do you see matt whitaker's appointment as intention intended to somehow hinder the investigation? >> you know, boy, i hate to get there. this is somebody who has been a prosecutor and because he has public statements or public commentary is one set of facts.

the fact that he is now the acting attorney general, you know, i would like to at least let him rise to the level before we jump to some conclusion that he is there specifically to undo the investigation. i think somebody has to have that opportunity. now, that said, i think this is right in line with the president's kind of impetuous, i pick that guy to do this job. i like something he said, whenever, ten minutes ago or two years ago. that's what get these folks in trouble. i'm telling you, i think mother teresa would have a hard time getting through the united states senate these days for an appointment. that scrutiny about issues that may or may not arise, they didn't pay attention to any of it. you got to give them the chance. he took an oath like a lot of people do. got to give him a chance to do that. i don't think you should assume up front he is going to do something nefarious.

>> the president continues to attack. mitch mcconnell says the special counsel needs no special protection via legislation. do you believe there should be bipartisan legislation? >> i feel uncomfortable with legislation. do i think the investigation should move to its conclusion? i do. and it should go -- nobody should step in front of that thing in order to get it derailed. do you need a bill before something happens? i just worry that this becomes the new political tool in the future for every appointment on every issue. i think that's a dangerous precedent. i don't think it's wrong to tee it up, to have hearings and bring them down and say do you fully intend to allow this investigation to go forward. all of that to me is legitimate oversight. passing a bill to do it, i just, again, i get a little bit worried because, as i said, this

will be a new political tool in the tool box to pick on whoever is in there, republican, democrat, doesn't matter, green party. somebody will use it in the future for nefarious purposes. the president just returned from france. i don't want to get too caught up in the tweet drama here, but beyond the public disagreements, the president has made substantive moves that have genuinely concerned leaders. separate from social media, is there a crisis in the relationship between the u.s. and its european partners because of substantive issues such as that? >> i don't know if it's a crisis, but there sure is some trouble. if you remember on his way to russia, the last time he went and got into trouble, he insulted everybody along the way. so, you know, talking about

their nato meeting their obligation to spend money on defense, other trade issues, it was really a demeaning way to approach your allies in a time when we needed our allies most. and, so, i do think that that has stirred trouble. you know, i think macrone may have crossed the line by trying to do this in an event that was supposed to be about world war i soldiers. i think that was wrong. but in some way, all of this behavior seems to bring out the worst in people, and i think it has, to this point where you have now france and the united states, two great countries going at each other on the throat, this is not helpful to anybody. we have got bigger challenges out there that we are going to have to work together. by the way, including trying to curtail iran. you need france. you need the rest of europe. i do worry that the president doesn't put any values on those alliances that i think are

incredibly important for promoting peace around the world. >> america's oldest ally, goes right back to the revolutionary war. thanks very much. if you have been watching cnn reported just a short time ago that cnn is suing the president and several white house aids for revoking the press credentials of our colleague jim acosta. we will be joined by one of the lawyers arguing this case for cnn. please stay with us. ♪ ♪ the greatest wish of all... is one that brings us together. the lincoln wish list event is here.

sign and drive off in a new lincoln with $0 down, $0 due at signing, and a complimentary first month's payment. only at your lincoln dealer. and a complimentary first month's payment. ordinary versus overachiever. ♪ behr premium plus, 'behr' through it all with a top rated paint at a great price. get incredible savings on behr 2-gallon ceiling paint. exclusively at the home depot.

we can't do it. i'm telling you. it can't be done! we are doing it. it's a done deal. for $40, t-mobile is offering unlimited,

and the awesome iphone xr for every line. wah! so, they get the new iphone xr and the plan for $40 bucks. ah! the new iphone xr! that's bananas! what's with the monkey head, fred? where's your memoji? my kid's been playing with my iphone, little monkey. again, this just in to cnn. cnn is taking action after the white house banned our chief white house correspondent jim acos acosta. that happened on wednesday after the press conference. his press credentials subsequently taken away by secret service and this morning cnn is suing the president and a number of other members of the administration. >> joining us now is the counsel for cnn in this lawsuit, along with theodore olson that has argued multiple cases before the

supreme court, federal cases as well. let me ask you to help our viewers understand the grounds for cnn's suit against the government. let's start with the first amendment, freedom of the press. explain cnn's argument here. >> thank you for having me. cnn's argument is very straightforward, that the first amendment is meant for the press to be able to act on behalf of the american people and the public in getting information. here when the white house revoked mr. acosta's press pass, it was clear it was based on the content of his reporting, the fact that he was asking tough questions and has been doing that. the president trump in the white house has repeatedly challenged and attacked cnn and mr. acosta. it is really a classic first amendment viewpoint content based discrimination against speech. and we can't have the white house or government officials arbitrarily tossing people out of the white house or other facilities because they don't

like what they're saying or reporting here. >> and there is some president for this. when you look back to 1977, the district -- the d.c. court of appeals ruling in his favor, can you walk us through the fifth amend, the due process argument here? >> yes. the robert sheryl case talked about the first amendment and due process. the d.c. circuit said in a case denying the white house press pass that before the white house rejects credentials it needs to get due process because of the important first amendment issues at stake. the court said there has to be notice, written decision explaining why the credentials have been denied or revoked and an opportunity to be heard. of course, that didn't happen here. mr. acosta was just blocked and his pass was taken away when he went to report at work. that's his workplace. when you are the chief white house correspondent for cnn or another news organization, you go to work every day at the white house. it is really damaging and

harmful. >> cnn sent a letter to the white house on friday asking for an explanation, asking for the ba pass back. >> cnn tried to work this out, requested that the pass be restored. mr. acosta was denied a day pass in france, even though the french government would have allowed him to cover president trump's appearance at a cemetery. but the white house has basically just been ignoring these requests. so we really had no choice but to sue. we didn't want to have to go to court. we wanted to just report the news. so that's what the courts are for. the first amendment and the fifth ameandment arguments. we're asking for emergency relief because every day that this pass has been revoked is a first amendment violation and irreparable harm in the eyes of the law. >> the case is intended to be not just about one reporter or

even one news organization. >> i think that's an important piece of this, that acosta happened to be targeted last week, but the president has threatened to revoke other credentials as well. ted, what would happen if there is temporary or permanent relief? would it apply to other reporters as well? >> yes. that's a great point and a great question because, as you said, president trump said this could happen to other reporters. it really is the biggest principal here. so we're advocating a legal principal that there should be a fair process, that there can't be discrimination based on the fact that president trump or anybody in the white house doesn't like questions. those principals are important to get him forced here to protect other reporters, other news organizations across the spectrum, whatever their questions are, whatever their viewpoint is. and again the public, the american people because the reporters are there to get information so the public can know what's happening so the public can make decisions about

how to govern themselves. it is a much bigger question than jim acosta or cnn. >> we should remind our viewers this is not about politics. this is about constitutional rights. your co-counsel representing cnn is ted olson who represented president bush in bush v gore and won that case for president bush. >> exactly. we come from different political viewpoints, actually, even though we have been partners for 30 years. that's the whole point. the first amendment is meant to allow all viewpoints, so everyone. so this ruling will protect everyone in the press and every citizen, no matter what their political affiliation. they get as much information as they can get so they can govern themselves exactly. this is not a political issue. it is a first amendment issue that is really important to our society. >> help us to understand the time line here because you are applying for a temporary restraining order. a judge to make an immediate decision. but you have the larger issue, the court case here.

how long could that play out? s is it uncertain? >> let me walk you through the time line. today we're in the filing going through the paperwork. the case will get assigned to a judge. we have asked for an immediate hearing. we gave the white house notice this morning or as soon as possible tomorrow to get a temporary order that would immediately restore mr. acosta's credentials. it has to be within 25 days a hearing on a preliminary injunction, which is another temporary but longer order. and at that point if we prevail and the white house is still fighting it, you go in for a hearing on the merits, so that can unfold other a period of months or even longer. that's why we need immediate relief because, as you know, news is happening every second, every minute in the white house. you never know what's going to happen. every day that a reporter can't be there covering the news, they're injured and the public

is deprived of information. >> before we go, it is very rare for a news organization to see the president. this is not a step that cnn wanted to take. they tried to sort it out with the white house. 1971, new york sometimes with the pentagon papers. press access to the pool. but we really haven't seen a lot of this. you asked the president when he was running about this. >> yes, about whether he would do this because back during the campaigns, he banned a few different news outlets, actually half a dozen from his campaign rallies. he said they weren't allowed in. so in a phone interview i said, hold up. if you are elected, are you going to keep doing this? he here's what he said then? >> ulwill you try to revoke the press credentials of media outlets? >> in my case, i am a person running for office. i have an option.

when i'm representing the united states, i wouldn't do that. but i would let people know if somebody is untruthful. >> two years later, obviously a change from the president. he has talked privately about wanting to do this. until last week he hasn't taken this step. last friday he was asked when are you going to let acosta back in. he said i don't know, but i might do this to others out of the blue. it is an entire problem for the press core. it is a problem for reporters adaughter or s across the country. >> thank you, brian. >> we're going to stay on top of this. >> we'll let you know the white house response as well when we get it. back to capitol hill. pelosi pressure. congress is back on the hill today. can she rally? the support she needs to take over that speaker spot. your insurance rates skyrocket after a scratch so small

you could fix it with a pen. how about using that pen to sign up for new insurance instead? for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise their rates because of their first accident. switch and you could save $782 on home and auto insurance. call for a free quote today. liberty mutual insurance. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ the dare to give big semi-annual event. lowest prices of the season november 14th to the 18th.

only at jared.

this morning a new dynamic on capitol hill as the house and the senate both back in session. for democrats they will have to decide whether to vote for nancy pelosi as house speaker once again. can she get her party to rally around her once again? >> yeah. it is an important question. at the same time, plenty of critical visits remain for the current congress, like avoiding a government shut down. let's go to phil mattingly who makes a rare appearance this morning. our congressional correspondent. good morning to you. let's start with pelosi. she herself recently called herself a transitional leader. >> yeah. and that's a crucial word and one she's actually moved away

from over the course of the last couple of days, which is an interesting note of itself. there is no post election grace period here for the new members. they are going right into the frying pan over the next couple of weeks. the reality is this. a lot of them, ten total pledged they would not support nancy pelosi on the floor. right now nancy is the odds on favorite to be the next speaker. here is what's going on behind the scenes. an intense battle. you have seen a litany of potential future democratic chairman putting out statements for support.

nancy pelosi is where she is for good reason. she's considered one of the best at that job for a good reason. she's putting that at play right now, trying to put a lot of pressure in the incumbents to come to her side, to support her and give her the requisite number of votes. the reality is she still has a fight on her hands. >> so there is a spending deadline during this period of time. i mean, there's been talk even of tieing a bill to protect robert mueller to a spending bill. is there a chance of a shut down looming? >> yes, to be blunt, absolutely. and certainly democrats like chuck schumer has said that is in play. that's something mitch mcconnell has said he

funding boosted from $1.6 billion where it's at right now up to maybe $5 billion. keep in mind, while the republicans still control congress for the course of the next month and a half or so, democrats, they still need democratic votes in the senate to move anything forward. if the president draws a red line, if senate republicans draw a red line, we're absolutely headed for a shutdown. that's the negotiation going on behind the scenes and that, guys is still very much an open question. >> what strikes me is the challenge that the democratic party is going to face now in terms of getting and whether they will get the majority on the same page when it comes to big issues like health care and medicare for all or issues like immigration and the cry from some to abolish i.c.e. how do you get them to coalesce on these big critical issues? when you talk to top democratic a aides, they want to talk about things that the caucus can support. they want to talk about

infrastructure, which is bipartisan. they want to talk about things like new ethics rules, perhaps campaign finance. those are issues everybody can get around. the more interesti ing element, you look at the class, they're not homogenous. they're not far left. they're absolutely a piece of that, but that's not everybody, and that's something that democratic leadership is going to have to grapple with throughout the course of the next congress. >> not unlike the republican party, the gigz there. thanks very much. >> we're, of course, all over the breaking news out of california. the death toll in the tragic wildfires continues to climb. the fire in northern california has become the deadliest wildfire in the state's history. we'll have the latest next.

hi, my name is sam davis and i'm going to tell you about exciting plans available to anyone with medicare. many plans provide broad coverage and still may save you money on monthly premiums and prescription drugs. these are affordable, all-in-one plans that help pay for doctor visits, hospital stays and emergency care. but they also include prescription drug coverage. in fact, last year humana medicare advantage prescription drug plan members saved an estimated $6,900 on average on their prescription costs. call a licensed humana sales agent or go online to find

out if you could save on your prescription drugs. this plan delivers coverage for the three things you may care most about; prescription drug coverage, doctor visits, and hospital stays. plus, potential cost savings on your plan premium. humana has a large network of doctors and hospitals. so call us, or go online to find out if your doctor is part of the humana network. ready to learn more? call the number on your screen for this free, fact-filled decision guide. there's no obligation, just good information. call the toll free number on your screen, now. you'll learn all about a humana medicare advantage plan and how it compares with your plan. with most humana plans, you get coverage for prescription drugs, doctor and hospital visits, and more. all for zero dollar monthly plan premium in most areas. most humana medicare advantage plans even include dental and vision coverage. and, most humana medicare advantage

plans include the silver sneakers fitness program at a local fitness center. so call or go online to find out if your doctor is part of humana's large network of doctors and hospitals. and see if a humana medicare advantage plan is the right plan for you. pick up the phone, and call the number on your screen. the call is free. and licensed humana sales agents are standing by. so call now. ♪

[ neighing ] [ neighing ] [ sigh ] it's bring your own phone, not pony. so i could've taken the bus? yeah. bring your phone. switch your carrier. save hundreds a year with xfinity mobile. call, click or visit a store today.

a very good tuesday morning to you. i'm jim sciutto. >> i'm poppy harlow in new york. we're so glad you're with us. this morning, another high level potential resignation could be imnbt. multiple sources tell us that kirstjen nielsen is expected to be shown the door, largely over border issues and immigration, which the president has made the centerpiece of his midterm push. >> democrats are celebrating another big within, this time in arizona. kyrsten sinema is the winner of the u.s. senate seat being vacated by the republican, jeff flake. that flip means that dems will hold at least 47 senate seats in the next congress. the number of other high profile, high stakes races still undecided. still being counted. looking at georgia and florida. perry bacon joins us, senior political