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New Day Saturday
More Than 65 Million People Are Under Winter Alerts This Weekend; Crippling Ice Storm Expected To Impact Millions In Carolinas; 1 In 5 Eligible Americans Remain Unvaccinated Against COVID-19; 18 States Have Less Than 15 Percent Capacity Left In Hospital ICUs; CDC Urges Americans To Upgrade Masks As Omicron Sweeps The U.S.; Bidens Vows To Keep Fighting For Voting Bills As Legislation Stalls. Aired 7- 8a ET
Aired January 15, 2022 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[07:00:00]
CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk about this sprawling winter storm. It is blowing across the country. It's slammed the Midwest. We've got some pictures to show you what it's already done, but it's now setting its sights on the east with heavy rains, snow and ice.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, the Biden administration is responding to a surge of COVID cases across the country by sending out free at-home COVID tests. We'll tell you how you can get yours and explain some changes in the CDC guidance on masking.
PAUL: The Justice Department levels, some of its most serious charges yet against those responsible for the attack on the Capitol. What pushed the Attorney General to take that step?
SANCHEZ: Plus, Djokovic detained. The tennis star back in detention after his visa gets revoked, again, how some of tennis' biggest names are reacting ahead of the start of the Australian Open?
Good morning, and welcome to your NEW DAY. It's Saturday, January 15th. Glad to be with you, Christi.
PAUL: Glad to be with you as well, Boris. We want to talk about this wicked storm that's just plowing through parts of the country right now. 65 million of you, from the Midwest of the East Coast, are right now under winter weather alerts. But take a look at what we're seeing here. A lot of states already preparing for what meteorologists warn could be a crippling ice storm for parts of the Deep South, all the way up to Virginia.
SANCHEZ: Some regions are expected to see rain, snow, sleet, freezing rain, all of that in just 24 hours. The governors in both Georgia and South Carolina have now issued states of emergencies. Let's get straight to CNN's Allison Chinchar live from the weather center. Allison, this is a complicated storm. It's going to bring hazardous conditions. And the effects of it might be felt for several days after it's gone.
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, that's right, we take a look now where the storm is itself, we've got that low pressure system that's diving down to the south. We're already starting to see that change over from rain into snow for cities like St. Louis and Kansas City. But that's going to continue to push down to the south and then very, very slowly make its way across the southeast before finally shooting back up into mid-Atlantic and the northeastern regions.
It's why you've got all of these winter alert products out winter storm warnings, winter weather advisories and even an ice storm warning across the Carolinas and portions of Georgia. That's really going to be the big concern with this storm. Yes, we've got a lot of snow, we've got a lot of rain, but we also have the potential for a significant amount of ice. Here's a look at that system as it continues to make its way over towards the south and east.
And again, because of its slow movement, it gives it a lot of time to dump a lot of this moisture into some of these areas. But the biggest concern is going to be the ice. Widespread locations where you see pink up to about a quarter of an inch, but there will be some spots that pick up half an inch, three quarters of an inch. The weight of that ice on trees and powerlines is likely to cause widespread power outages.
In addition to obviously causing some pretty dangerous conditions on roadways, and likely some cancellations in the air too. Overall, outside of the ice, you've got heavy rain across Florida and Georgia and some pretty heavy snow; the bulk of it really going to be between Nashville and Charlotte. Now, once you get into the higher elevations of the southern Appalachian Mountains, now you're talking about accumulations of well over a foot of snow some of those areas could even top out at two feet total of snow.
From there, the system again gradually making its way across the southeast before beginning to shift to the north. This is now when we're starting to see the transition to snow for areas like Washington, D.C., and interior New England by late Sunday and into the day early Monday. Now, one thing to notice the eastern seaboard cities like Boston and New York likely just going to be rain. But even if you go Christi and Boris 10-20 miles inland, now you're talking substantial snowfall accumulations.
SANCHEZ: A big mess ahead with a series of headaches, pack warm and plan for some difficult times. Allison Chinchar, thank you so much. So, two years under the coronavirus pandemic, more than one in five eligible Americans have yet to receive a single dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. New cases are exploding across nearly every state. Look at all the red on that map. Hospitalizations now at record levels nationally. The CDC is also urging everyone to wear the most protective mask they can find now saying that swapping their cloth masks for N-95 masks offers better protection against the virus.
PAUL: And you've all probably have your own experience with this: testing for COVID-19 is still a major obstacle here in the U.S. The Democrats in Washington say, President Biden should be doing more to remedy the testing shortage. CNN's Natasha Chen has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Starting today, many
Americans can get an at-home COVID-19 test for free through their private insurance, that is if they're available from pharmacies retailers or online vendors, all part of the Biden administration's effort to increase access to testing around the U.S.
[07:05:08]
Free test kits will also be available for people to order starting Wednesday from COVIDTests.gov. These efforts come in the wake of the relentless spread of the Omicron variant, crippling the workforce, particularly medical staffing. On Friday, FEMA announced expanded flexibility for National Guard members to support hospitals, and is deploying teams to Ohio, Michigan, Rhode Island, New Jersey, New York and New Mexico.
DEANNE CRISWELL, FEMA ADMINISTRATOR: These teams are in addition to more than the than the more than thousand staff that are already deployed to 26 states, two territories, the District of Columbia, and 24 tribal nations.
CHEN: As of Friday, U.S. Health and Human Services data shows 18 states and the District of Columbia have less than 15 percent capacity in their ICUs. Seven of them have less than 10 percent of ICU capacity.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Possible, many of which, including mine are at capacity. And we're seeing the worst of it currently.
CHEN: On Friday, the CDC updated guidance to recommend wearing the most protective mask or respirator that fits well and can be worn consistently saying that KN-95s and N-95s offer the highest level of protection.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: There are electrostatically charged fibers in here. So, it's not just filtering particles, it's actually attracting particles.
CHEN: Another important tool in this fight: vaccinations, but the rate of new cases is currently about double that of new vaccinations. The Supreme Court on Thursday reinstated a federal vaccine mandate for certain health care workers in 24 states. They'll have until March 15th to be fully vaccinated. Another 25 states in D.C. continue to face a February 28th deadline for health care workers to be fully vaccinated as the mandate had not been blocked there. Some religious and medical exemptions may be allowed. All the wild children under five are still not eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
LAUREN SHERBUCK, MOTHER: It's just really frustrating. And I think with older kids, at least you have that option, at least they're able to kind of vocalize how they're feeling when they do get sick, is it COVID, is it not? It's a little bit easier, I think for parents to work remotely when they have to when there's an exposure when daycare when school closes. You can't pop a 3-year-old or your 1-year-old in front of the T.V. might buy you know, 15 minutes, but that's it.
CHEN: Natasha Chen, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Thanks, Natasha for that report. Here with us now to discuss all things COVID is Dr. Rob Davidson, he's a West Michigan Emergency Room Physician and the Executive Director of the Committee to Protect Health Care. Doctor, always great to have you on, appreciate your time. Let's get your reaction first off to the CDC updating its guidance on masking saying that cloth masks provide the least protection against the virus. What did you make of the new guidance?
DR. ROB DAVIDSON, E.R. PHYSICIAN, WEST MICHIGAN: I think it's probably been a long time coming. But I do understand where they were coming from early on. Early on, we didn't have enough N-95s for healthcare personnel who are right in the thick of it treating people are getting intubated, people who are you know, on high flow oxygen and spreading the virus more. I think now, you know, we know definitively they're better. We've always really known that. But we can't let that mean that masks of any kind aren't better than no mask. It's still better to wear cloth mask than none at all. It's better to wear a surgical than cloth. But the N-95 and KN-95 are obviously the best.
SANCHEZ: Are you concerned though, that with so much guidance coming out from the CDC and so many adjustments, the message isn't getting through to the folks it kind of affects the most?
DAVIDSON: Well, I mean, I think -- yes, you know, the biggest part of public health is messaging. And I think it's been a bit messy, but it's you know, in the midst of a pandemic being, you know, being borne out by all of us under the hot lights of 24/7 news cycle and political campaigns. But the problem is around me where about 45 percent are still vaccinated, 55 percent are not. And I go into a store briefly in the county where I work and like one or two people are wearing masks, including me. The people who really need to be doing this aren't listening to the CDC anyway, they're listening to other news networks. They're listening to politicians who are unfortunately still making our lives harder with disinformation.
SANCHEZ: And that's got to be incredibly frustrating, especially as we noted earlier this hour, the United States and in different areas, breaking records for hospitalizations, I'm wondering how things are in the emergency room that you're in, day in and day out.
DAVIDSON: It's still just bad. I mean, there are a couple days where we might have a couple of beds in our hospital for a few hours and we filled them right out, but I just worked a long stretch of days and then a couple afternoons. I'm going into a stretch of nights. In every single shift I come in, there's multiple people waiting, and by the end of the shift, there's more people waiting to be transferred to hospitals that have accepted them but still don't have a bed. And you know, we call back and so where are they on the list? They're number nine on the list, you know, we're going to get you there eventually.
[07:10:07]
The other piece with our system is we have 600 employees out with COVID. Now, most of those people are vaccinated. Having COVID, when you're vaccinated is different than people who get COVID when they're unvaccinated, but they're still not able to work for up to five days. And you know, when you have a nurse missing from a day, missing from a shift, that hampers your ability to take care of your normal flow of patients. Add on to that, the people who are boarding waiting for beds, we can't state it enough. It's truly a crisis. And we just, you know, need, need to do better to get through this lead people to get the vaccines and do the right thing.
SANCHEZ: And the Biden administration responding to some of these surges by providing at-home COVID tests for free, there is a bit of a delay when it comes to ordering them. They could take up to two weeks to read certain folks, or at least two weeks to reach certain folks. What did you make of that decision from the White House to provide these tests for free?
DAVIDSON: I think it's great. And I don't ever want to minimize the importance of having the availability of these tests, I really think it's critical. Now, it is a bit challenging with insurance companies not really prepared to offer them for free upfront people might have to save receipts and get reimbursed. You know, I don't have a lot of faith in insurance companies being on our side, I had a patient who couldn't get their blood thinner, covered for blood clots that were from having COVID and ended up back in the hospital because they couldn't afford that blood thinner.
So, I think it's a challenge, but we're still stuck in this place where the most important thing we can do is get more people vaccinated. I hope OSHA looks at the ruling from the Supreme Court and they can identify certain industries, certain businesses where they can enact the vaccine mandate, the Supreme Court left that open. To me that is the most important issue that we can talk about right now.
SANCHEZ: It remains the most effective way to lessen the consequences of potentially getting COVID and it's, it's hurtful to hear that some 55 percent of people were you are still unvaccinated. Dr. Rob Davidson, we appreciate your work. And of course, we appreciate your sharing your expertise with us this morning.
DAVIDSON: Thanks, Boris.
PAUL: This morning, fire crews are battling an 11-alarm fire. This is at a chlorine manufacturing plant in Passaic, New Jersey. Take a look there. I mean, you can see it from miles away. Authorities say, they are still right now trying to secure some control over this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF PATRICK TRENTACOST, PASSAIC FIRE: Fire is still raging. We're going to continue to fall water on it. Do we have confirmed that the building was vacant? Was used for storage of plastics and pallets. Portion of the building did have chlorine in it. That seems to be under control at this time. We'll be monitoring that also throughout the night. But certainly, we're far from having this control of the fire.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: Thank goodness of these firefighters, we should point out, one was injured and has been transported to a nearby hospital. Cruiser drafting waterfront from a nearby river to try to supplement the tremendous amount of water that's needed here, and Governor Murphy's asking people who live in that area, please keep your windows and your doors closed just so you can stay safe.
Still this morning, tensions are escalating between Russia and Ukraine. As the U.S. intelligence suggests Russia is looking at options on how to get away with invading Ukraine. We're live in Kiev with the latest.
SANCHEZ: And next, President Biden Delta crushing blow by fellow Democrats says the fight over voting rights continues.
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[07:17:43]
SANCHEZ: President Biden is vowing to keep fighting for voting rights even though two Democratic senators continue to withhold support for changing the rules of the Senate in order to pass that kind of legislation.
PAUL: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says the Senate will take up voting rights next week but without support from Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin to change Senate rules that measure is most likely to fail. CNN, Daniella Diaz is with us now from Capitol Hill. Daniella, good to see you this morning. Run us through what we're expecting here.
DANIELLA DIAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christi, originally, the Senate was supposed to take up the voting rights legislation this week. Instead, instead of having their scheduled recess next week, they are going to come back on Tuesday, and they're planning to take up that voting rights legislation and possibly have a vote by Wednesday. That is the current schedule right now. But really the bigger picture here, Christi is that, it doesn't have the votes. There are no votes. There are not enough votes to pass this legislation to break that 60-vote threshold needed to break the filibuster.
And because Democratic leaders are hoping that they can try to have a rule change, a filibuster carve out to have just needed, just to need, excuse me, 51 votes in the Senate to pass this legislation. Right now, two senators do not support that. As you mentioned, those two senators being Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia. In fact, just an hour before President Joe Biden arrived to the Senate on Thursday, Senator Sinema who hardly speaks publicly about where she stands on these issues.
Normally, we get just get statements from her office. She was on the Senate floor publicly stating, again re-iterating that she does not support a filibuster carve out to pass this legislation. So, really, the bottom line here being it's unclear what the future of this legislation holds, because they don't have the votes but Democratic leaders plan to work on this anyway, the negotiations have been continuing, but behind closed doors, and they're hoping that they could possibly convince these two senators to change their minds on that filibuster carve out.
SANCHEZ: And Daniella, we also learned that another Republican lawmaker who voted to impeach President Trump announced he is not running for re-election. I think he's the third one now. Tell us more about that.
[07:20:00]
DIAZ: That's exactly right, Boris, Congressman John Katko, he is the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee and Leadership he announced that he is not seeking reelection. But the bigger picture here is he's one of those House Republicans that voted to impeach then President Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial. He also supported the bipartisan commission to investigate the January 6th insurrection. And as a result of those two votes he had in the house, he's one of a handful of Republicans that voted for each of those bills. He was a top target from the right and had a lot of pressure not to seek re-election.
Former President Donald Trump himself targeting him in public statements, publicly encouraging people to primary him in his race. And now he is the third House Republican who is not seeking re- election following in the footsteps of Adam Kinzinger and Anthony Gonzalez, two other Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump. So, the pressure is on for these House Republicans who supported, of course, impeaching Donald Trump and the bipartisan commission to investigate the January 6th insurrection. Boris.
PAUL: Daniela Diaz, we appreciate it so much. Thank you, ma'am.
Well, today, Glenn Youngkin, is going to be sworn in as Virginia's first Republican governor since 2009. He accepted former President Trump's endorsement, but he did not campaign with him. Instead, Youngkin focused his campaign on education and economic issues that appeal to voters outside the Trump base. Here's the question: can Republicans repeat that strategy moving into the 2022 midterms? Larry Sabato, Director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics is with us now. Larry, it's always good to have you. Go ahead, let's just take that right off the bat, what is the potential for replicating what Youngkin did and having it be successful?
LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA'S CENTER FOR POLITICS: Well, Christi, there will certainly be similar examples. It's hard to find that many Glenn Youngkins. He has never run for public office until this past year, he has no voting record, there was very little to attack and oh, by the way, is worth $400 million, and could toss 20 million into his campaign. Of course, it's surprising how many people out there seem to have tens of millions ready to spend in campaigns, but it isn't as common as people think it is.
So, I'm not sure how many carbon copies there are going to be of Glenn Younkin. What will be similar is what elected Youngkin, which was low popularity ratings for President Biden, the inaction of Democrats in Congress on some key matters as the election approach. And, of course, the continuing pandemic, inflation and all the other problems that are bedeviling the Democrats running Washington, that's what Republicans will use around the country, and in many places, particularly competitive states, as well as, of course, Republican rock, rock, red, red states, it will work.
PAUL: So, you just mentioned it, let me ask you, has the virus done enough damage to help Republicans' argument that President Biden and the Democrats just haven't done enough? Or aren't up to the task of managing it? Or is it dependent on where this virus is, in as we head into, you know, full-fledged election season?
SABATO: Well, it's a funny thing about elections, you would think that everything mattered right up to Election Day, and sometimes it does. But generally speaking, the public mood gets set, probably by early, late spring, early summer, and it's really difficult to make people believe that things have changed substantially, because they're just naturally suspicious, whether Democrats are in power, or Republicans are in power, they assume that things are being manipulated, and maybe the image is not the reality.
So, I would say real progress has to be made, either by accident that is by nature, or because of the measures being taken on the pandemic. By, you know, May, June, July, somewhere in that general sphere. inflation, same thing, I don't think just because you have a couple of positive economic reports in say, October, that it's going to have a major impact that would be favorable to Democrats. So, they have they have a relatively short window, they have several months, three, four or five months maybe to show real progress. The election's nine and a half months away. They don't have nine and a half months.
PAUL: Oh, and the President, really at this point has kind of a stagnant agenda. I mean, the Build Back Better Bill isn't going anywhere. You've got voting rights and gun restrictions and immigration reform that just is, is not moving at the moment. So, outline that picture for us of the Republican strategy and the Democratic strategy. If the Democrats, for some reason cannot check, you know, check off a legislative win.
[07:25:00]
SABATO: Well, again, they've got to raise President Biden's approval ratings, the job approval of a president a very good indicator of the general atmospherics of it the campaign.
PAUL: But how is that done? I mean, you've been watching it. How is that done, Larry, right now?
SABATO: You get, you get some good luck, because I would say President Biden hasn't had a whole lot of good luck recently, has he? The pandemic has to be tamed, either be tamed or tame itself or run out of steam. I think that's number one. And then they really do through the Federal Reserve and other means have to find a way to tame inflation. And then you get to the legislation, would it have helped Democrats if they'd been able to get the voting rights bills passed? Of course, but they're not going to be able to do it or so it appears today. And the other legislation, Build Back Better program that is, you
know, somewhere between one and a half and $2 trillion? Well, that's probably not going to pass either. But maybe they can get several chunks of it passed. There are things they can do if they will work together. And of course, they've got almost all Democrats in the House and 48 or 50 Democrats in the Senate. The problem for them is they need all 50 unless they can get a couple of moderate Republicans like Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski to go along and so far, they have said, no, no, no, no.
PAUL: Larry sabot always appreciate hearing your perspective and your insight. Thank you for being with us.
SABATO: Thank you, Christi.
PAUL: Of course.
SANCHEZ: A cyber-attack takes aim at Ukrainian government Web sites and the country says that Russia is to blame. The latest on growing tensions as Eastern Europe stands on the precipice of war after a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:30:50]
CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): New for you this morning. Ukraine has invited President Biden and President Vladimir Putin to take part in a virtual meeting. Think about that.
Now, in part, this is to discuss the security situation in the region. Because CNN has learned Russia may be preparing to conduct an operation in eastern Ukraine and that this would be, it is believed, and attempt to create an excuse for invasion of that country by Russia.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Let's get to Kyiv and CNN senior international correspondent Sam Kiley who's following all of this for us.
Sam, a spokesperson for Vladimir Putin says that those reports are unfounded, but we wouldn't expect them to acknowledge that they're planning a false-flag operation, right?
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Kind of spoils the game, doesn't it? If you give people advance warning that you're going to cheat in the game of war.
But no, the very serious aspect to this story and it's coming -- and that two different stories actually. One coming out of the Pentagon very unusually, making a public announcement, citing secret intelligence on what they say is an active plot to carry out this false flag attack.
This would be under the American intelligence, allegedly, in Donbas, the eastern part of Ukraine which is under occupation by Russian- backed rebels. And, of course, there are cover operatives there that according to the Pentagon, planning to conduct an attack on their own side to blame on Ukraine.
And almost simultaneously, with that, the Ukrainians say that they've got intelligence of a similar plot against Russian troops in Moldova, equally likely to be blamed they said on Ukraine.
But in both cases, both the United States and the Ukrainians saying that this false-flag attack -- this type of attack could be used, and Russia has formed on this for a further military incursion into the country.
And, of course, this all occurring during what has been the biggest cyber-attack against Ukraine in many years with about 70 government web sites being shut down in a pretty sophisticated but in the end not very damaging cyber-attack.
SANCHEZ: Sam Kiley from Kyiv, Ukraine, thank you so much.
Ukraine prime -- U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing backlash following reports that Downing Street held parties on the eve of Prince Philip's funeral. Remember, the country was on lockdown at the time and even the queen was forced to sit alone during her husband's funeral, as the Royal Family limited attendance to just 30 people.
PAUL: CNN reporter Sam Abdelaziz is with us from London right now.
So, Salma, we know that the prime minister's spokesman says Downing Street apologized to Buckingham Palace. What do we know about how that happened and what was said?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN INTERNATIONAL FIELD PRODUCER (on camera): More I'm sorrys from 10 Downing Street, more apologies coming from the prime minister. And as you said, this one went directly to the queen.
Downing Street saying it was regrettable that on the day before the queen buried her husband of more than seven decades, there were two parties held inside Downing Street.
I know you have that image for our viewers. I want to bring that up because it really gets you to the heart of the matter. It's the queen sitting alone in a chapel with no one beside her, mask on. She was following COVID rules, even on one of the most difficult days in her life.
But apparently, those rules were being broken inside 10 Downing Street just the night before. And it's not the only incident we have of those who make the rules -- breaking the rules. You now have multiple incidences spanning from the summer of 2020, into the Christmas season of 2020, all the way now into 2021.
And what's important to remember here is that COVID rules were not just followed, they were enforced. Police handed out fines, they knocked down doors on illegal parties. Funerals were kept to 30 people at times. It has added to this overwhelming sense in this country that there is one rule for us, the people, and another for them, the government.
It's the hypocrisy of the situation that has many calling for Prime Minister Boris Johnson to resign. And more allegations are surfacing every day. The latest just coming today of wine time Fridays.
[07:35:02]
ABDELAZIZ: Apparently, during pandemic lockdowns, Downing Street staff would gather for wine. Social gatherings that were limited, restricted, they were breaking those rules for wine time Fridays.
And it's not going to go away for the prime minister, there is an investigation underway right now into all of these allegations, again, spanning multiple years, multiple lockdowns right now, in a few days' time, we'll find out what happens. And if the prime minister is himself implicated in this behavior.
PAUL: All right, Sam Abdelaziz, thank you so much for breaking it down for us.
SANCHEZ: Still ahead, we have some incredible video for you of an underwater volcano in the south pacific. The moment that triggered a tsunami, when we come back.
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[07:40:20]
SANCHEZ: The leader of the far-right group, the Oath Keepers' Stewart Rhodes pled not guilty in court on Friday. This is after the justice department charged him and 10 other defendants with seditious conspiracy following the January 6th attack on the Capitol.
PAUL: That's also comes as we're learning, Attorney General Merrick Garland was initially reluctant to bring the charge. CNN's Evan Perez is covering the story for us.
OK, Evan, what more do we know?
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Good morning, Boris and Christi. The Justice Department's decision to bring charges under a rarely used seditious conspiracy law followed months of work by the FBI, investigators, and prosecutors to try to build a case that was focused not only on the events of January 6th.
PEREZ (voice-over): Some federal prosecutors wanted to bring these seditious conspiracy charges more than nine months ago, but Attorney General Merrick Garland had some qualms about whether the case was ready to bring sources told CNN.
In the months since, investigators gathered information from cooperators and encrypted communications among some of the members of the Oath Keepers, a right-wing extremist group.
The charges in Thursday's indictment against the Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and 10 others provide details of what prosecutors say was a conspiracy that went beyond impeding the congressional certification of the votes and went so far as plotting to block President Joe Biden from taking office.
Now, key piece of the alleged conspiracy, prosecutors say, in the indictment was "Continuing to plot after January 6th, 2021 to oppose by force the lawful transfer of presidential power."
Rhodes has denied wrongdoing and had his initial appearance in court on Friday, he said he plans to plead not guilty.
In the indictment, prosecutors cited conversations that the group was having, discussing, continuing to fight after January 6th. Rhodes and others allegedly met in a restaurant in Virginia on the night of the insurrection to discuss next steps.
And prosecutors say that Rhodes spent more than $17,000 on firearms and other items such as scopes and ammunition between mid-January and inauguration day.
PEREZ (on camera): And on the day that President Biden took office, another Oath Keeper defendant messaged about starting a civil war 2.0. Prosecutors say that Rhodes talked about organizing local militias against the new Biden administration. Boris and Christi?
PAUL: Thank you so much. Appreciate that.
A tsunami has hit Tonga's largest island reportedly sent waves flooding into the capital. This happened after an underwater volcano.
PAUL (voice-over): And you're going to see it right here that this is in South Pacific. It exploded in that violent eruption. Satellite video that caught it.
SANCHEZ: Let's bring in meteorologist Allison Chinchar. Allison, what do we know about the tsunami?
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST (on camera): Right. So, it actually happened last night, Eastern Time. It basically happened at 5 27 p.m. on the 14th. That would have been 11:00 p.m. last night Eastern Time.
And very locally -- some high tsunami waves in and around right where the volcanic eruption took place.
Now, some really fascinating video coming and take a look at this. Again, you can see the initial eruption there and the subsequent shock wave that takes place because of the eruption.
Again, you can see kind of around the outer edges here after the eruption takes place. Again, just really incredible to kind of show the scope of the volcanic eruption.
But yes, it was an underwater volcano. So, again, as it's pushing up, it's displacing some of that water around it, so, you are going to get some decent size tsunami waves, again, around the local region here. So, you had several around Tonga, Vanuatu, Hawaii, and the Norfolk Island, Australia, ending up with the highest at least so far observed wave at about 4.2 feet.
Now, one thing to note, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, they're all keeping a very close eye on this. They are saying that if there were any unusual wave heights to arrive along the West Coast of the U.S., it wouldn't be until about 6:15 a.m. Pacific Time or about 9:15 a.m. Eastern Time.
SANCHEZ: And we will be watching to see if it is ultimately felt on the West Coast. Allison Chinchar, thank you so much.
PAUL: Thank you, Allison.
PAUL (on camera): Novak Djokovic, back in detention this morning.
[07:44:41]
PAUL (voice-over): His status in the Australian Open is in limbo after his visa was revoked for a second time.
Now, we're hearing from other tennis stars. What they're saying about the fiasco?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PAUL (on camera): 49 minutes past the hour, and tennis star Novak Djokovic is back in custody in Australia. He's awaiting a judge's ruling which happens tomorrow and will determine whether he'll be allowed to stay in the country.
SANCHEZ: Now, the 34-year-old is unvaccinated, and because of that, he had his visa canceled for a second time on Friday.
Let's bring in Coy Wire. He joins us now. Coy, one of Novak Djokovic's greatest rivals says that the Australian Open reigning champ needs to be reminded that nobody's bigger than the game.
[07:50:02]
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Yes, right, Boris. Good morning to you and Christi.
97 of the top 100 men's players are vaccinated. We've heard from several players at the Australian Open say that Djokovic has to deal with the consequences of the decisions he is made.
WIRE (voice-over): The Serbian tennis star was seen being taken back to the immigration detention center where he was placed -- when he first landed in Melbourne 10 days ago. He set to stay there until the court's decision on Sunday.
Several players at media day yesterday said that while they felt the world number one tennis star has been treated a bit unfairly at times by the Australian government, he wouldn't be in this situation if he had followed the rules.
CNN caught up with Nadal down in Australia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAFAEL NADAL, 20-TIME GRAND SLAM WINNER: Nobody is more important than a sport. Because the players, we stay here than we live. Tournaments stays, the sports stays, and Australian Open will be great with or without Novak Djokovic.
WIRE: Now, if the court rules in favor of Djokovic, three-time defending Aussie champ would face fellow Serb Miomir Kecmanovic, and that would be on Monday night.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE (on camera): All right, let's go. It is time. NFL Playoffs kick off today. And it all starts this afternoon with an incredible doubleheader, Raiders at Bengals.
WIRE (voice-over): And a chance for two long-suffering fan base to finally get a taste of postseason success.
The Bengals, Boris and Christi, haven't won a playoff game since 1991. That's before text messaging started in '92.
The Raiders last won in 2003. And remember, all that Jon Gruden drama, they now become the first team in 60 seasons to make it after a mid- season coaching change.
Here, the quarterbacks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEREK CARR, QUARTERBACK, LAS VEGAS RAIDERS: For me, it's an exciting time, obviously. You know, it's something I've dreamed of since I was drafted. That's all I want to do is get to playoffs, try and win a championship.
JOE BURROW, QUARTERBACK, CINCINNATI BENGALS: Everyone's excited. You know, you can kind of feel the intensity in the locker room. As soon as you walk in, in the morning you got the music playing, guys walking around with a little pep in their steps. So, I think our guys are ready to go.
WIRE: And the nightcap, the 125th meeting of division rivals, Patriots and Bills.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE (on camera): But just the second time, they'll meet in the playoffs. The other way back in 1963 when they were in the AFL. Bill Belichick, the sorcerer leading New England back to the playoffs for the first time post-Tom Brady era, with a revamped roster and new stud quarterback Mac Jones. He's going up against the best defense in the league. The Bills finishing the season ranked first in five key categories including most points the most important one, fewest points allowed.
But somehow, none of their players on defense made it to the pro-bowl. They're going to come out with a chip on their shoulders.
WIRE (on camera): Freezing temperatures in the negatives with feels like temps.
Now, I want to show you, this is a back in the day your boy Coy 27 there, playing in Buffalo in the frigid cold. Your fingers go numb. Josh Allen, their star quarterback now said their toes go numb, it's going to be a fun when it's going to be heated on that field.
PAUL: That's awesome.
SANCHEZ: Yes. One of their games earlier this year was so tough to watch because it was so cold out there, Coy. It's impressive that you were able to play in that kind of weather.
And I got a note that Buffalo Bills pin as a Dolphins fan. I'll be cheering you guys on to be the Patriots.
WIRE: Hey, I'll take it, Boris. Thank you, brother. Go, Bill.
SANCHEZ: Of course. Coy Wire, thank you so much. Stay with CNN. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:57:36]
PAUL: Well, Marilyn Monroe was adored by millions of people, probably for her show-stopping beauty, of course.
SANCHEZ: Right. The new CNN original series, "REFRAMED: MARILYN MONROE" now looks at how she was also a feminist trailblazer. CNN's Alisyn Camerota has a preview.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The world knows her as the movie star, the original material girl, the provocative bombshell. But now, after a reckoning in Hollywood, many say it's time to reframe the way we see Marilyn Monroe.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINA NEWLAND, FILM CRITIC: Marilyn challenges what it means to have agency as a woman, and what it means to be a feminist.
CAMEROTA: Marilyn arrived in Hollywood in 1946 as Norma Jean Dougherty. And quickly began her transformation into a superstar. It did not take long for Marilyn to understand the patriarchal studio system governing Hollywood.
MIRA SORVINO, AMERICAN ACTRESS: I think Marilyn accepted that she was going to have to date people in order to get what she wanted.
CAMEROTA: But Marilyn rebuffed Harry Cohn, head of Columbia Pictures and one of the most powerful men in Hollywood. And outed others in an article titled, Wolves I Have Known.
When nude photos of Marilyn surfaced --
SARAH CHURHWELL, PROFESSOR, AMERICAN LITERATURE: Marilyn was hauled into Xanax (PH) office to account for herself, and she was put in front of, you know, all of the powerful male studio heads.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thanks, sir. Did you pose for a calendar? Then, I said, yes, anything wrong?
ANGELICA JADE BASTIEN, FILM CRITIC: Marilyn's decision to own her nude photo shoot calendar is brave, it's bold. It's very modern.
CAMEROTA: And it worked. By then, Marilyn was a bona fide superstar. But she grew tired of all of the dumb blonde roles she was forced to play. So, she walked away from her contract with 20th Century Fox, launched her own production company, and kicked off a year-long battle with the studio.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Marilyn had no idea if this entire experiment was going to end in complete humiliation and disaster.
CAMEROTA: But her strategy worked. Fox offered her a new contract with a raise, director approval, and the freedom to make films through her own production company.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She got everything she wanted, everything, which was unheard of in 1955.
CAMEROTA: Tragically, Marilyn's life was cut short just seven years later.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now, of course, her early death is a tragedy. But that doesn't overwrite everything that she achieved up until that point.
