Tamara keith, White House Correspondent for npr. And ken vogel political reporter for the New York Times. Thank you all for being with us especially as part of our Leadoff Panel tonight. Ken, ill lead off with you. What do you make of this bank subpoena, if true, is it a big deal . What else does it speak of . Absolutely. We always kind of knew that this was a possibility that mueller would start looking into Donald Trumps finances and this subpoena, again, if it is accurate that Deutsche Bank has been subpoenaed, would indicate that he is fully going down that route. Deutsche bank is significant because donald trump it has at least 130 million worth of Donald Trumps debt and it sold some of that debt or could have sold some of that debt to russian banks. That could potentially give these russian banks some leverage over donald trump. And so you have the combination here potentially of Donald Trumps finances as well as his
dealings with russia and how those two things intertwine. So even if the subpoena has not actually been executed, it would stand to reason that this would be a path that mueller would eventually go down. Michael, i dont need to tell you someone eventually at every Cocktail Party in washington and new york will corner you and make the point, youre looking for collusion, its the financial stuff. Thats where youre going to find it. Yeah. We also know that mueller has appointed a very powerful deputy on that front. Question to you is, do you think trumps red line has shifted a bit on this . Well, it may have. Again, as ken notes, and your leadin noted theres question about whether these banks have been subpoenaed. A lot of very credible reporting
from multiple news outlets in some cases with a good amount of detail suggesting that this has happened. But donald trump did say at the prompting of the New York Times reporter several months ago that if the Mueller Investigation were go into his personal or Family Finances that could be cause for him to fire Robert Mueller. Politico had some reporting tonight that Congressional Democrats are freshly alarmed that trump could be headed in this direction, theyre redoubling their efforts to try to come up with some sort of legislative shield to make it more difficult for trump to take a step like that. But i think theres both a sense, number one, that has ken said, this is an appropriate direction for mueller to look in. And, number two, that it might mean that mueller might need a little more backstop in case trump does decide to lash out at him over this. Tamara, what will you make of this story for your npr listeners across the country and
around the world and more importantly, what do you make of the white house response on this front thus far . Well, jay sekulow was the president s private attorney and youre right in your intro that that statement was oddly phrased. And what were trying to figure out and we dont quite know the answer to is maybe this coming down to the word subpoena . As in is sekulow focused on a specific word where maybe theyve requested the records in some other way. Yes, it was its not even a double negative, it was like a reverse run around. With a twist. Half positive half negative with a twist. Absolutely. Were still trying to figure out just what it is he said there. Ken, if youre a member of the house intelligence committee, in walks donald trump jr. , in walks
people like us, ha do you want know from him. You want to know about this june 2016 meeting with the russian lawyer and lobbyist as well that the russian lawyer has now provided testimony that donald trump was specifically curious about whether he could get information, damaging information about Financial Support for the clinton foundation. This is something that has been a subject of dispute, but it really gets at this potential collusion. When this meeting was set up with by emails from this british publicist Rob Goldstone to donald trump jr. , that was the suggestion, that this lawyer would be bringing some damaging information about clintons to the meeting. Theres some dispute about whether this occurred. Now she is saying that even at the meeting that trump donald trump jr. Continued to ask for it. Thats a key question that id be interesting in knowing an answer to. And in meeting elements of which kind of dribbled out
continues to loom large over all of this. Yeah, brian, the meeting is very interesting. I think its the most the meeting that is closest to trumps inner circle or does involve trumps inner circle and also involves russian whos have ties to the kremlin, i think that weve seen a lot of very suspicious activity on the part of figures who are appear for peripheral although we dont completely understand who they are but carter page and George Papadopoulos are traveling to europe, page went to russia, met with a lot of different people, were still filling in the picture. But these are not, you know, Blood Relatives of the president sitting down in trump tower with Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner at the table. So you really want to know everything about this meeting. I just want to link these two subjects, brian, and say that
people are very focused on collusion. Its still not clear whether there was any collusion, but whats interesting about the Deutsche Bank and the financial records is whether there was Financial Leverage over trump that wouldnt necessarily constitute collusion, might not even involve a crime, but it would be very important to know if donald trump was essentially in hock to russia and therefore have strategy that would be pleasing to putin. And that would not be collusion but might not be impeachable but a fundamental question that we dont have the answer to because he wont release his tax returns. And repeated effort bending over backwards to show the benefit of the doubt to all things and all russians this past political season. So tamara, if youre the president of the United States and you know tomorrow your son is Behind Closed Doors before house intel and this is already a time of shall we call it
increased sensitivity, whats likely to happen . Well, and your lawyers have been reassuring you that everything is going to be okay and by christmas in maralago, yeah. I cant imagine my son testifying before a committee so its got to be tough. But the president of the United States also has to continue to be the president of the United States. And he continues to assert that there is no collusion. You know, the thing about all of these stories that have come out today is theyre just like tiny little pieces of this Bigger Picture that we cant really see, and it is a reminder that Robert Mueller has a very big job on his hands and that and that as journalists we only see sort of a very small part of it. We see like toe nails of the elephant and maybe a little bit of tail every once in a while. Ken vogel, what is the best
case scenario, donald trump jr. As jimmy kimmel wishes we would call him d. J. , t. J. Testifies tomorrow, is a headline saying he spoke forthrightly, he took all of our questions, he stayed overtime, what is it . Well, i dont know about the headline, but i think what they want, what theyre argument has been here is that donald trump jr. Simply didnt know what he was doing. He wasnt trying to solicit some sort of Opposition Research from the russian government. He wasnt trying to strike any kind of deal. When he talked previously to sort of link these two stories about how much business the Trump Organization did from russia, he was just kind of Speaking Extemporaneously and not about anything in particular. Unfortunately for him the best defense might be pleading ignorance or incompetence or
some combination of the two both on this meeting and some of the stuff related to the Trump Organization finances and his connection to russia. Doesnt make him look great, but maybe an argument that could see the way that the president himself hopes to sort of conclusion of this without any charges against him or his family. Three terrific journalists, always a great conversation. Michael crowley, tamara keith, ken vogel, thanks to the three of you. Coming up, roy moore now has the full weight of the Republican Party and the white house and the president behind him. So what might any of it mean for his fellow republicans like all of the House Of Representatives up for election in 2018 . And up next, what do todays developments on russia tell us about Robert Muellers investigation . Well talk to a man who worked with him when The 11th Hour continues. Jimmys gotten used to his whole Room Smelling like sweaty odors. Someone asked you a question about mueller going after an Obstruction Case or going after the president. You bris will you didnt want to put it that way because that gives motive to this this man you know. Start by telling the audience what you told me during the commercial break about bob mueller. Hes the hardest working man ive ever seen and it was difficult even though im some years younger to keep up with him. You got in at 5 00 a. M. I did and i Didnt Beat Him in by very much. Whats i had managerial style and work ethic and how could that reflect on this case hes been handed. He works as hard adds anyone. He doesnt ask anyone to do something that he, himself, wouldnt do. Hes a man of tremendous integrity. I dont mean to gush because im afraid im about to, but working for him is an enormous privilege. Being a part of the fbi and working for a man like bob mueller is great privilege. It bothered me that somebody
said and i dont think they meant anything by it that bob mueller is going after the president or hes seeking to put together an Obstruction Case, i dont think either of those things are true. What hes doing is applying the facts to the law. When you follow the law, you get the facts and apply them to the law and if at the end of the day a particular person or a particular set of charges become pertinent, then so be it. You bring those charges against that person. But i dont think hes out to get anyone. Let me ask you a lawyer question about john dowd. Effective john dowd claiming credit to be the author of the tweet that to some implied or confirmed obstruction of justice if such a thing can happen in our world. He took a position in this case. Right. Does that mean hes going to have to not represent the president anymore because he
could conceivably be asked did you, in fact, write that tweet . I guess its conceivable. But theres also ways around that. For instance, if the only you asked the lawyer questions im afraid youre going to get a lawyer answer. Thats all right, we came prepared. Or maybe a prosecutor answer. But, if the only fact that the mueller team needs that john dowd wrote that email, they can stipulate to that. So theres probably a way around a potential conflict. Frankly i dont think its a great moment. When we hear about the Deutsche Bank potential subpoenas, is that further evidence to an experienced guy like you that Donald Trumps tax returns have been sitting on bob muellers desk for a week now. Yes, let me take that in two parts. When i was an assistant u. S. Attorney, a line prosecutor, i handled white collar criminal occasions. And one of the first things do
you in such a case is you get the tax returns of the people youre looking at. Why . Because from those tax returns you can figure out where money is coming from and where money is going to. In fact, if you look at the manafort and gates indictment, its obvious that they had the tax returns and used those to issue a whole bunch of subpoenas to get more information. So should we assume that the mueller team has the tax returns and not just the president but perhaps of his subsidiaries and folks he works with, you bet we should. I dont know that by know what i did as a prosecutor and that would be a very logical step and based on that you issue subpoenas. So to my way of thinking its not remarkable if Deutsche Bank got a subpoena. It would be remarkable if they did not. How does it feel for you as a career man of the law and Law Enforcement to see the fbi under attack, criticized, trolls,
called in tatters . This is the fbi after all. And i was proud to work for it under two tremendous directors, both bob mueller and jim comey. It pains me. Its not in tatters. I cant prove it to you sitting here, but i can offer you a method of proof. The federal Courthouse Doors in this nation are to every citizen. You can walk into any courthouse in america, in albuquerque, topeka and albany, you can watch a federal criminal trial. You can watch the men and women of the fbi or the atf or the dea testifying, you can see the fruits of their labor. Theyre not in tatters. This is a strong, proud, vibrant organization. You can call it whatever you want, but im telling what you it is. It is not in tatters. Its a pleasure being able for us to be able to bounce these questions off a man of your experience. My pleasure. Thank you very much. Yes, sir. For being with us. We look forward to many more appearances by chuck rosenberg. Coming up here, chris
matthews is here in the studio and will join us to help break down everything weve learned just today in this investigation. So far in this presidency, and whether these two notions are on a collision course, thats when The 11th Hour continues. Weve just had in the commercial break in were pleased to welcome our friend Chris Matthews obviously host of hardball and in case you are the american who hasnt heard, author of the New York Times best seller Bobby Kennedy, a Rage Willing Spirit which i can personally tell is you a great book and great read and deserves its spot on the amazon politics column number one as you go on that vast bookstore. I watch you every evening. You love our newsroom because all you can hear is your voice between 7 00 and 8 00 p. M. Eastern time. Nothing gets you angry. Theres two things that gets you angry, number one the number of medals on the north korean army uniforms. What wars did they fight in theyre too young. And second, anything that causes you to compare the trump family to the romanoffs. Yes. Why. Because it seems like a family is running the country. Almost like an nba star, these have his entourage with him about but its always ivanka and his soninlaw. You see a picture of the Cabinet Meeting and theyre around him. Of course the Romanoffs Didnt End too well, its not a perfect model. This is actually germane and its important because do you think that Jared Kushner with his Harvard Education and his experience in new York Real Estate understands that if we move that embassy to jerusalem we could spark a fullon antifa and real people could die . I believe thats the hor and i believe i lived in the jersey city for a month, i understood the intricacy of that city and the beauty is you hear the call to prayer which is wonderful for westerners ear. And you see the jewish people going to church all day and to sin going and you see the armenians and theyre sort of
medieval costumes and everythings intricately working together and as you suggested, why do you want to shake that up . Because it looks like were recognize the state of israels exclusive right to jerusalem, in other words all of jerusalem, including all of the sacred spot there where Mohamed Ascended Into Heaven as they believe, all that take it all away. I wish the president would say at least its still open to discussion what were going to do with east jerusalem. And they said theyre already cutting off the palestinians from going to their capital city that theyve always thought as their capital. Its just crazy. Youve seen this with shah ron in years, you went up on the temple mount that time and all the said theres an antifa. And by the way we would have an American Embassy blown up somewhere in the world, it could
be in istanbul, it could be in indonesia, it would be in africa somewhere. It would be in east africa, kenya, tanzania, were everywhere, americans, were much more exposed than israel, ironically r a small country, because we have people everywhere in the world that could be picked up and basically be killed because of what we just did. And we dont know the explosive power of the consequences. By the way for all of u. S. Embassy and state Department Security people around the job who take their job of defending americans so seriously, this has been a very serious time. That reminds me, you are a selfadmitted institutionalist. Right. You believe in the powers of government to serve people. Having said that, what do you mourn the most . Is it the 2,000 diplomats that are no longer there. We count on that as much as we do in the courts. Look at how watergate what you are all thinking about now how it took place. The judge Public Appointee hanging judge, he did it a republican employee. Sam irving did it. He did it. People come to the job and do it in remarkably wonderful ways perform the duties they were assigned to and the oath they took. They do it and those people are the ones save the squares, the guys with the pocket protecters, the guys that used to use slide rules. The people that put astronauts into the air, the people that make sure the system works. They dont make a lot of money and they do like job security, but in exchange for that they take a commitment thats almost like a religious vocation to their jobs. And theyre the ones that save us when were in trouble. You know the deep state that trump fears . Its there. I saw the picture on the back of your book, reduce steven
colbert to tears because of its role in his life. Why do you think that your book has struck such a chord with people coming out right now as it does today . This, brian, and i know you drew grew up like this like i did, the affection, the patriotic affection of these work guys, he knew how do a perfect salute, he has his son, heres the perfect kid, working all day, weekday, dirt all over him, the wife, just poor. It was a sense of duty. But, you know, i worked on capitol hill and i remember working as a cop and talking to people and i worked with an old West Virginia guy just like these people, a good ol boy. It was during the time of the 60s when the hard hats were at war with the long hairs, remember that . And he called me aside as the college kid just back from the peace corps and he said you know why the little old man loves his
country . I said dont know. He said its always god. He doesnt have the beautiful family and the house and the have a equations but what he has is a flag and a country he has served. And they felt that reverence for Bobby Kennedy, a democrat, a liberal. Thats gone. That connection between affectionate patriotism and liberalism. Today we have working people probably for trump, they were for reagan they broke off from the Democrat Party because they felt like they were being discarded. Another rule of life, people dont like being used they mind very much being discarded. These people feel like the Democratic Party let them down. Im not sure its true, but they feel that way. And i think Bobby Kennedy always assured them. He would say, my people are the waitresses and the firefighters and the construction workers. Theyre my people, white or black. And i think thats something thats lost right now and i think its poignant and i think people feel that loss. Because the division in this
country every day seems to be white versus black. It seems to be its just right down the middle the heart of the country this division. Thats why people are buying the book. Pleasure to watch every night, pleasure to read your book. You look so rested that the time of night. Well, by now im a night owl, this is our shift. Chris matthews, thanks. The book is Bobby Kennedy, a raging spirit. Coming up another break for us the president s fullthroated endorse meant of roy moore creating awkward questions for the white house and the rest of the grand ol party. Thats when we continue. An Important Message about health care reform. Most americans must have Health Insurance by December 15th. Or pay a tax penalty. Even if you already have insurance, nows the time to cut through the confusion and explore all your options. You can spend hours searching for coverage on the Healthcare Exchange or you can make a single call to healthmarkets and let us do the legwork for you, at no cost or obligation. Healthmarkets Insurance Agency searches thousands of Health Insurance plans, on the exchange and off from more than 120 leading companies. Well find you the right coverage and guarantee the lowest price for plans we offer. And right now, you may qualify for a zerodollar Premium Health plan. Due to recent changes, Government Subsidies are higher than ever, and you may be able to get a health plan for free. Healthmarkets Insurance Agency will evaluate your needs, offer objective solutions, and even handle all your enrollment paperwork. With only a few days left, act now before December 15th. Miss the enrollment deadline, and you could risk being uninsured for an entire year. Talk to us on the phone or meet with a local licensed representative even if youre already insured. Why pay more than you have to. Or risk going without the coverage you need . In the past 3 years alone, healthmarkets has enrolled americans in more than 1. 1 million Insurance Policies put our free service to work for you. We can save you time and money. We did for donna in georgia. And she writes. By working with a healthmarkets agent, i was able to save a bundle on my Health Insurance. And carlo in california tells us. Our healthmarkets agent took the time to educate us and patiently answered all of our questions. And heres What Linda In Kansas has to say. I recommend anyone trying to use healthcare. Gov to instead call healthmarkets. At healthmarkets, we make finding Health Insurance fast and easy. Because we know you have Better Things to do. You only have a few days left. Call the number on your screen to find out if you qualify for a zero dollar Premium Health plan. Call this number to get the coverage you need, act now before the December 15th deadline, call this number. But Tonight Bannon had his moment to fight back and he blasted the gop establishment. Lets talk about the republican establishment because theyre the ones that first game after judge moore. Yes. Lets talk about jeff flake. Did he sign a check today 100 to jones . Right . Whatd he say, he put country ahead of party . Come on, brother, if youre going write a check, write a check. Lets talk about another beauty. Willard mitt romney. Whatd he say yesterday . Honor and integrity. Honor and that judge moore lacked honor and integrity and thats why he couldnt vote for him. While were on the subject of vietnam and honor and integrity, you avoided service, brother . Right . He likes being called leader mcconnell. Are you kidding me . Donald trump won in wisconsin and brought ron johnson across the finish line. He won in pennsylvania and brought toomey across the finish line. He won in North Carolina and
brought burr across the finish line. Mitch are you owe your job to donald trump. Here to talk about it Cornell Belcher democratic poster who works on the campaigns. Jill colvin back with Us White House reporter for the Associated Press and david jolly back with us former congressman from florida. Okay, congressman, mike murphy who is funnier than the average gop political consultant said on this broadcast steve bannon cant deliver a pizza let alone a Congressional District race. Do you think bannons going to have better luck this time around . Well, the people of alabama might elect roy moore and we know that. Listen, steve bannon is that drunk uncle at your thanksgiving dinner. What he has done is doubled down on what trump did by Endorsing Moore and now hes using it to attack romney and mcconnell. By attacking mitt romney, steve bannon and in essence donald trump ha chosen a new foil and its a foul unlike anybody else. There are very few republicans with the elegance and conservatism that mitt romney has, and i dont know that this is a fight that steve bannon and donald trump want to have with mitt romney. If there is a fight for the soul of the Republican Party, mitt romney commands a lot of respect among conservatives. Steve bannon picked a Fight Tonight and it will be interesting what it means for the future of the party. Cornell, since youre the numbers guy here, do you trust any of the polling you see coming out of alabama. Well, here is the tough part, brian, is that, you know, we cant its hard to judge or this is the art of it, right, what kind of elector rate is going to turn out, right. The polling isnt so much wrong
as the art of it is wrong because its such a topsy turvy time we dont know or understand whos really going to show out and whos not going to turn out, right. If you told me two months ago that the democratic that the electorate in virginia would be 13 points, you know, plus 13 points democratic, i would say well thats an outlier. I dont think thats going to happen. Yeah. But thats what you had. So it depends on who turns out. What youre hearing on alabama is you have a lot of energy on both sides, right. And people are talking about weve seen weve never seen this sort of energy among democrats in this state before because theyve never had this sort of opportunity before. Its all going to come down to sort of who turns out, right. You know, do you get moderate republican turning out at the same pace as they typically do . My guess is that the only way that doug jones wins this is in fact do you have some crossover
moderate republicans and then some dropoff and what you typically see in republican turnout because they are so depressed or suppressed by what sort of the ugliness that they see going on. And quite frankly, judge moore is outside the values of i got to think of a lot of mainstream, you know, christian conservatives there because he heres a guy who wont go to a mall because he was creeping out little girls. Jill, i would never ask you for a personal opinion so ill come at it a different way. How will you measure any potential damage to donald trump by getting into this race and his endorsement which then of course triggered the gop to jump back into alabama and how will you mesh youre the impact of this race on the entire House Of Representatives being up for election or reelection in 2018 . Well, look, i think that what happens here is if roy moore loses this race, thats going to be a huge punch in the gut to
the president whos really going out of most of the partys comfort zone here and endorsing him so vocally. President first endorsed Luther Strange in this race, he of course loss. If hes two or two losing donald trump say man who just doesnt like to lose also. You know, if you got a republican losing in a state like alabama, thats very, very bad news when it comes to 2018, especially as tax reform or the tax bill is now kind of working its way through congress. If youve got Republican Congress thats really nothing to show for itself after all of this, its going to be a problem. I also just wanted to note that what i think is so fascinating here about this attack on mitt romney is that its actually in the past two days weve had the rnc which had pulled support from roy moore has decided to get back into the race and spend a little bit of money. Its actually mitt romneys niece who is the one who is now the chairman of the rnc who today signed two checks going to the Alabama StateRepublican Party giving them about 170,000 to spend on this race where now weve got bannon up there on stage. Proving there are various tributaries of every family and the romneys are no exception. I want to run this all by you and well get your reaction. At lunch this afternoon with Senate RepublicansPresident Trump threw his full support behind roy moore a week ahead of the vote. At trumps side, as he spoke, was a visibly uncomfortable Arizona Republican senator jeff flake who youll recall if you saw this at all today became something of a hostage in the moment, a human prop for the scene and the president s remarks. While flake later posted a photo on twitter of a check he has written to moores opponent with the inscription country over party, the damage was done, critics were alleging this man who had been so critical of donald trump had likely been used today. Listen as john heilman weighed in with Nicole Wallace on this network in this studio this afternoon. What is jeff flake doing at
the white house . Is he just clueless . Does he not know that theres some chance hes going to be used as a political prop . Because thats what he was used for today. The president put jeff flake next to him in a pool spray, talked about roy moore and jeff flake sat there silent and arguably complicit. The cameras there are, dude. If you want to say youre not with roy moore, all those reporters would take a statement from flake at that moment or walk away but jeff flake has been relatively courageous compared to a lot of republicans on capitol hill related to donald trump. And in this moment donald trump ropes him in, brings him to the white house, sits him there and he sits there like a bump on a log while donald trump talks about why roy moore belongs in the United States senate. David jolly, i think the dynamic here is people are generally hungry for profiles and courage and its such a cynical age when we see that change, when we see any nick in the armor, folks like john go after him. Johns right. Senator flake should not have
gone to the white house. And heres what were facing in 2018, and today was a perfect example, brian. All of the energy is on the left right now. All the right has is a charade. We saw it today in the meeting with trump and flake. But we also saw it in steve bannon. Understand steve bannon, this architect of donald trump say former Goldman SachsInvestment BankerVice President who moved from manhattan to l. A. To do further business with hollywood and tonight hes in Alabama Preaching Fire And Brimstone condemning a devout mormon and mitt romney. This is the charade that donald trump is relying on being successful while all of the energy is building on the left. And thats why 18 is going to be pretty, pretty difficult for republicans. Cornell, do you concur . I will add this. You know, the mitt romney said something that i think was interesting, that was that this is a stain on the Republican Party. I think hes absolutely right and i will go again to virginia and underline this number, plus 22. You know, that was the advantage that democrats had among women voters in virginia. And a lot of this, brian, is why the polls were so off because youre just not predicting thats unusual, right. And i think when you look at the energy among women and you look at youve got double the amount of women who are running for congress this time than youve seen before. When you see that sort energy and its building on the left, i think its really problematic. One last thing i will say, i dont do this very often is courage to senator flake for what hes done. Our thanks. Cornell belcher, jill colvin, david jolly, appreciate the conversation tonight as so much is change around us. Coming up, what the president did today that may break with nearly 70 years of u. S. Policy. That when The 11th Hour continues. As weve been talk about the president is set to announce a major Foreign Policy shift tomorrow when he officially recognizes jerusalem as the capital of israel fulfilling a campaign promise. Senior Administration Officials said tonight the president will also direct the State Department to move the u. S. Embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem and thats a bill deal. Theyre cautioning this process will take years to completes. Today the State Department had to warn of potential violence. Leaders from the European Union and the middle east have warned this will flame tensions in the region and undermine any effort to resume the peace process. 86 nations maintain embassies in tel aviv, not one nation has its embassy in jerusalem manned would say for good reason. Weve asked jill colvin of the Associated Press to stick around and talk about this with us. Jill, in my reading of this, in 1995 after something called the
jerusalem embassy act, it became the law of our land that we viewed the capital as jerusalem, and every six months since our president has signed a waiver saying maybe this isnt the best time to move the embassy. Tomorrow, as i understand it, the president is still going sign that waiver, but hes going to say at this event he wants to begin the process of moving the embassy. Do we have that about right . Yeah, thats exactly right. I think the one thing to keep in mind here is although the president is going to take this historical step and theres no way to underplay how significant and what a change this is in the potential ramifications across the arab and muslim world and across europe. Its also important to note this is not something thats going to happen tomorrow. This is a process that could take years and years. Administration officials were naming three to four years on the shortened of finding a site, making sure its secure, actually building, moving all the embassy personnel. So during that period of time, the president intends to
continue signing these waivers every six months doing what every president before him since president bill clinton has done. They will be working with congress they said to potentially change to law so the president doesnt have to take that step, but nothing is change tomorrow when it comes to the embassy front. Thats what we needed to hear and its a pleasure to have jill colvin whos work we get to read every day, the Associated Press, to explain this event were going to be seeing tomorrow. Jill, always a pleasure to have you on the broadcast. Thank you very much. Thank you. Coming up after our final break, a genuine emergency tonight in a Huge Population center. The fires that have exploded in their size and power in Southern California. When The 11th Hour continues. California and most important for our viewers watching us from there, this is another desperate night after wildfires absolutely exploded in size and intensity over the past 24 hours. A Satellite Image from today shows the smoke plume heading out over the pacific. Again, because of the rare and dangerous dynamic of the Santa Ana Winds which reverse our usual west to east airflow over the country, by blowing out to the west down from the mountains and out over the ocean, nearly 30,000 people are on the run tonight out of their homes. The biggest of the fires in Ventura County has burned through 50,000 acres and growing. Most of the fires burning in Southern California are zero to 5 contained. Thats what it looks like there on the ground. Relative humidity is 7 . Wind gusts forecast for 60 to 70 miles per hour. Its the Big Burn Area right
now, this is near the 101 and the 33 freeway. Im going to come out to the wide shot to give you an overall perspective of the fire. As i come out to a full wide shot you can see the extent of that flame in the area now. That is the 101 freeway and the Pacific Ocean on the lefthand side of your screen and im going to come across to the right here back to the east and show you the santa paula area. All this area here, the dark area that you see and the homes below there, all that area has burned since last night. Haunting images just three hours ago in Southern California. Our thanks to our station knbc for that. Estimates of the total number of homes lost begin in the hundreds and while its already been a mean season for Southern California, this particular wind event is forecast go on for two or three more days. And needless to say, this is important, exhaustion is starting to take hold of fire crews, pilots and air crews as we keep the folks in our thoughts as they head into another long night