right now the focus is the iowa caucuses and this primary. the general election is a ways off. when that comes to the point, we get to discuss that issue as well. i think everybody sees there is a big difference between the biden administration and the trump administration. this country is much better off in the previous administration. >> a huge ten days in the state of iowa for the desantis campaign as well. bob, thank you very much. >> thank you, phil. this just in to cnn. former capitol police officer harry dunn on duty during the january 6th attack and later testified before the house january 6th committee is running for congress. dunn says former president trump's role in the capitol attack partly inspired him to run. he told cnn, quote, i want to do everything in my power that i can do to fight back against him. as a congressman, that gifts me a seat at the table now to hold him accountable. dunn joins a crowded sfeeltd of democrats vying for an open seat in maryland's third

congressional district. "cnn this morning" continues right now. good morning. today president biden opens his 2024 campaign here with a speech from historic valley forge. his messages to voters about protecting democracy. >> cnn is picking a fresh look at a potential presidential rematch in november. what the road to the electoral votes can tell us ahead of the big vote this fall. the final jobs report of 2023 will be released later this hour. this hour of "cnn this morning" starts right now. and good friday morning. it's the top of. hour. i'm phil mattingly. >> i'd audie cornish in new york. donald trump is getting ready to blitz iowa with two campaign rallies as he tries to dominate the caucuses ten days from now.

>> ron desantis and nikki haley racing to close the huge polling gap they face. they sharpen their attacks during dueling cnn town halls last night. haley and desantis making the case to iowa voters that republicans could lose in november if trump is the nominee. >> americans don't want another nail-biter of an election and that's what we'll get. look at any of the polls. head-to-head against joe biden. trump head-to-head with biden. on a good day, may be up by two. i defeat biden by 17 points. 17 points. >> the democrats want trump to be the candidate. they are going to talk about all the legal stuff. january 6th. that will be what the election will be about. >> today we are also about to get our first split-screen 2024 preview of a potential biden/trump rematch. biden is set to give a speech marking three years since the january 6th attack and warn americans that trump an existential threat to our democracy.

>> kristen holmes is in sue center, iowa. what do we expect from trump this weekend back on to the campaign trail balancing the election, ten days away the caucuses, and the ongoing legal issues? >> reporter: good morning. well, let's start with what we expect to see this weekend because he has lot of events, two today and two tomorrow. when you talk about closing message, he is making the point that bob vander plat just made. he is not talking about his other gop rivals. of course, we will throw in the insults, but he wants to ask iowans are you happier now particularly when it comes to the economy than four years ago, or were you better off four years ago? if the answer is you were better off four years ago, ignore all of this noise, put me back n i will do it for you again. again, we are going to hear the sued swipes at the other candidates burke that is the message that he wants to hammer home. as for whether or not he can balance the legal and all of the political, look just what we

have seen in the month of january. by the way, this is only going to get more full. the second they filed their appeal in the maine 14th amendment case, third of january in the colorado 14th amendment case, fifth through sixth iowa campaigning, ninth trump's legal team makes their arguments in the immunity claim in d.c. i reported that trump's team is making plans for him to attend that. and the 11th final arguments in the new york civil fraud case. we don't know if trump will attend that but we know he has gone multiple times and that is aca case very close to him. 12th through the iowa caucuses back in iowa campaigning. this is a very hard schedule to juggle and one thing to keep in mind here none of the court appearances to now except for one, i believe, was testimony in new york were mandatory. these are choices he is making. we haven't gotten on the point where he is required to sit through some of those trials. >> good thing to underscore there. thank you.

president biden will mark the third anniversary of the deadly january 6th riot with a speech at historic valley forge in pennsylvania. he is expected to underscore the threat to democracy he sees posed by donald trump which promises to be a central argument of biden' 401(k) re-election bid. his campaign is sharpening that message ahead of the gop caucuses and primaries. >> there is something dangerous happening to america. there is an extremist movement that does not share the basic beliefs of our democracy. all of us are being asked right now, what will we do to maintain our democracy? history's watching. the world is watching. most important, our children and grandchildren will hold us responsible. >> it is a big day that feels like a general election day to some degree. scott jennings, former special assistant to president george h.w. bush and david axlerod,

former senior advisor to president obama. this is a big moment for biden. yes, the first rally of 2024. yes, $500,000 ad buy. they are clear about the importance of this message to their campaign and how they want to pursue it the next 11 months. >> this is a touchstone of biden from his emergence in 2020 through the midterms of 2022. i think it's an important time for him because there are a lot of elements of the democratic base that want him to take a more active stance, see a contrast with donald trump. but there is also division in the democratic base and these issues are issues that unite the democratic base and energize the democratic base. i don't think this message alone is sufficient, but for this moment i think they think it's galvanizing. >> you mentioned divisions. scott, i want to ask you about

one because a recent "washington post" poll shows 77% of democrats compared to just 18% of republicans think the protests on that day were mostly violent. and, obviously, there is a lot of videos. obviously, there has been a lot of testimony and people have been charged with assault. many of them have become martyrs to some extent to certain people in the party. why do you think that is? >> well, republicans have come to believe a narrative about that day that just isn't the same as what independent voters believe and democrats believe despite the video evidence to the contrary. that's whey biden is going back to it. they have been told this of course by donald trump and they have also been living with this feeling that every time donald trump is accused of something, they come around to believing it's going to be debunked or has been debunked. >> even -- >> and so has been haddadded tot

list. he has been insulated from all the criminal charges in the different trials, i believe. there is a belief among his biggest supporters and a lot of republicans that ultimately, ultimately trump is vindicated because we find out it was a hoax to begin with. that rubric is being applied here to january 6th. >> and again there is no evidence whatsoever of that. >> and so that -- but that's why you are asking me why do you see this chasm in public opinion polling. that's why. >> kristen holmes made an interesting point, trump is going to court not because he is compelled to, but because he wants to. he is going there the day before the iowa caucuses. he is being to sit there and listen to arguments about whether or not he had immunity for his actions and to some degree, you know, in the 19th century we had front porch campaigns. this is going to be a courthouse step campaign because it energizes his base to this notion that he is being

persecuted for his political stances and i know you believe that this is one of the motivations for biden -- >> yeah. >> surfacing this issue today. >> i think he is -- obviously, it's the anniversary. but it comes at the moment where democrats want, i think, to help ensure that donald trump is the nominee of the republican party. i mean, this is the same strategy they used in the '22 midterm, spent money and worked hard against more moderate republican candidates and primaries to ensure that he got candidates, opponents they wanted. i think biden wants and needs to run against donald trump. and so what they are doing today is going to make clear he expects to run against donald trump and wants to run -- >> there is not that much a choice. nikki haley and ron desantis would like to see differently, but -- >> sure. the voting about to start. and as david pointed out, trying to have biden going after trump on this issue, to the -- to the opinion polling you just read, republicans again will find it

a -- a way around rallying around trump at this moment. >> you talk to democrats and if they look at the dynamics nikki haley, ron desantis, donald trump, maybe not ron desantis, but rather face donald trump than nikki haley, the existential threat in advertisement and speeches, that's a risky game to play if you want trump to be the nominee, if you think he is that dangerous. >> yeah, no. i think for the common wheel it's a risky game. and i don't know if -- i mean, that's scott's theory. it may or may not be true. what is certainly true is these indictments that people thought would be kryptonite turned out to be battery packs in the republican primary. so this issue has not hurt him among his base. >> base being the key. >> right. not a message for independents. i think we have a little sound of one of his attorneys kind of talking about what -- where she thinks this is going.

>> i think it should be a slam dunk in the supreme court. i have faith in them. you know, people like kavanaugh, who the president fought for, the president went through hell to get in place, he'll step up. those people will step up not because they are pro-trump, but because they are pro-law. pause they are pro-fairness. and the law in this is very clear. >> scott just had very cogent analysis. >> let me get real technical. bad. you can't go on tv as a lawyer defending somebody and say brett kavanaugh is going to vote for trump because he likes donald trump. terrible, terrible idea. should not have done that. i tend to agree with her analysis as a pundit that the supreme court is likely to side with donald trump. but when you go -- >> to a legal basis or because he dominated them? >> on a legal basis. i don't think the supreme court wants to be responsible for throwing a presidential candidate off the ballot in all

50 states. when you go on tv and give political reasons why justices should vote for you or not, that is a terrible idea. >> yeah. by the way, there will be other issues they probably have to decide. you don't want to antagonize them. two words for her that she should contemplate. lifetime appointment. they are beyond the reach much donald trump. and not that they are not sensitive to politics, but i agree with scott. i think, you know, not a wise strategy. >> i would have loved to have been in the room when your former boss, senate republican leader mitch mcconnell heard those comments. thanks, guys. we have also got new details on the deadly school shooting in iowa. what the gunman reportedly posted on tiktok before the shooting. it looks like we are headed for a trump biden rematch the end of this year. breaking down each candidate's early potential possible path to 270 electoral votes.

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contra costa college is free for full-time students, which makes you free to explore all the incredible opportunities unleashed by higher learning. start your future and apply today at contracosta.edu/free we are ten days away from the iowa caucus. we have a clock and ten months from the general election. cnn is take ang early look at this moment at a potential biden versus trump rematch in the electoral math each needs to capture the 270 electoral votes

to win the white house. david, you and i both know all of the caveats apply here. it is very early. there is still a republican primary. we don't know how any number of things are going to shake out. however, when you look at kind of pathways here, where do things stand? >> just to also be clear, we are looking at a snapshot of where things stand today at the beginning of 2024. this isn't predictive. just to remind people where we left off in the road of 270 in 2020 with joe biden's victory at 306 electoral votes to donald trump's 322, if you look at states in our electoral college outlook today, what you see here is donald trump with 272 electoral votes based on the states solidly in his corner or leaning his direction. joe biden down to 225 electoral votes with the blue states that are deep blue, solid leaning his

direction, light blue leaning his ways and you have yellow states which are toss-ups in this race. i think it shows three things. one, this will be an extraly close presidential race again. joe biden is struggling to re-create his victorious coalition on the electoral map from 2020, and that donald trump is indeed as a potential republican nominee very much in the hunt for a return to the white house. >> extraordinarily close. going to come down to seven, six, seven states no matter what. trump can definitely win. what changes this current snapshot? >> yeah, i mean, listen. right now we have states here that, obviously, joe biden won that currently are leaning in donald trump's direction. so imagine if you will hear michigan, rated as leaning republican at the moment, this is based on polling and reporting and conversations with people in the state, but if that reverts back to its normal sort

of toss-up status, you and me see that donald trump goes down below the 270, at 257. imagine the same thing were to happen with georgia, which biden won last time, and nevada again a state we have leaning to trump right now but biden won last time, it's 225 to 235 and you see where the battleground is going to be here, phil. so it is not impossible to imagine that joe biden will have some of these states that he won last time come back into more competitive territory at the moment though he's got to win everything we have rated as a toss-up and actually claw back one of those states that's leaning in trump's direction that he won in 2020. >> it is a bumpy path ahead but one that exists. david, thank you. joining us now is former governor of maryland larry hogan. he is also national co-chair of the group no labels which is considering running a third-party candidate for president. welcome to the program. i want to start -- >> good morning.

>> good morning. i want to start by mentioning that you ruled out a presidential run yourself back in march. you said you didn't want to be part of, quote, a multi-car pileup. a few days out from iowa. who should drop out? >> well, you know, i think that's for those candidates to decide. i think it depends what happens in iowa, frankly. so i thought last night the town hall both the candidates did better than i had seen them perform before. cnn did a good job putting on the town hall. it was a good format. i thought that ron desantis for the first time i had seen the whole campaign was connecting with voters and seemed to be more human and more real. nikki haley was really on top of her game and especially strong on foreign policy. but, look, they are both fighting for distant second place in iowa and it's neck-and-neck. that's going to determine i think what happens before and after new hampshire because if desantis comes out with a strong

win, he may move into new hampshire and start to make some progress. if he loses, it's pretty much over for him. he is in fourth place currently in new hampshire behind chris christie. so i think we will know a lot more in the next week or two, and at this point i don't think anything is going to happen. that's after iowa between the two primaries you might see some action. >> what is no labels looking for in terms of when it's going to decide whether or not to mount a challenge like what are -- what's the thing that would draw you in? >> yeah, well, i am not sure if would draw me or them in. i am a former honorary chairman of no labels. but i am really focused on trying to see if we can't find a republican to win the nominee that's not donald trump because i think he gives my party the worst opportunity to win even though you just saw the poll numbers and he is ahead of biden. as nikki haley pointed out last night, she is 17 points ahead of

biden and trump is neck-and-neck and desantis is losing. so i thought that was a strong argument. no labels is saying, look, probably after we see all of this mess and the train car wreck and next couple of months, they have to march or so you get past super tuesday and if everybody in the country realizes that we are stuck with two unappealing candidates that's 70% of the country doesn't want, there is a chance they might try to put together a unity ticket to have the courage to put the country first and put together a republican and a democratic, you know, top tier adv candidate or ticket that can compete. >> we have been talking a lot about the fact that the former president is choosing to attend next week's federal appeals court arguments in his case where he is talking about presidential immunity. so he will be in a courtroom just before the iowa caucuses. i want to play for you some of the conversation last night from ron desantis on this. >> whatever may be beneficial in

the primary isn't beneficial in the general election. i think a 2024 election where the democrats get to run against a candidate that is going through all of this stuff, that is going to give the democrats an advantage. we are putting the future of the republican party and the future of the nation perhaps in the hands of 12 jurors in heavily democrat d.c. >> it's pretty clear that the trump campaign feels like it's to their benefit to some extent that people rally around the former president. how are you thinking about this? >> well, it's a strange situation, and it's two different sets of people that are watching this and making up their minds, and strangely i can't quite explain it myself, but a pretty solid percentage of the base republican primary votes actually likes this attention and sees it as unfair, overzealous prosecution and weaponization of the justice department, and that's actually

instead of bringing trump down, raising him up. i would agree with ron desantis in that this is not helping with swing voters and it's no -- you know, every election is determined by the folks in the middle, not the right-wing or the left base of the democratic party. those folks, it's how are they going to look at some of these cases. it's like court tv. in between every primary, he is in court somewhere in the country defending himself on one of the 93, you know, charges against him. >> to that end, joe biden is definitely reminding people of what he considers the threat the campaign released their first ad of 2024 and it doesn't focus nece necessarily on the economy, et cetera, it focuses on the threat to democracy that he says is posed by a second trump term. here's that. >> there is something dangerous happening to america. there is an extremist movement that does not share the basic beliefs of our democracy. all of us are being asked right now, what will we do to maintain our democracy?

history's watching. the world is watching. most important, our children and grandchildren will hold us responsible. >> back in 2020, biden used charlottesville in a similar manner. you talked about the base. what about independent voters, swing voters, do you think this message still resonates these years later? >> i think it will. i think it has the opposite impact with republican primary voters because they are not listening to that message. but i think it does. this a message i think that could be a winning message. i think it's shmart for the bidn campaign to focus on that. january 6th, i was the next door governor getting the desperate calls from leaders of congress to save the capitol from the insurrection and send in the maryland national guard and maryland state police, first to arrive. i said something similar the day after january 6th. so i think that there are plenty of people in the middle.

is it republican, democrat, independent, they do believe that this was an assault on our democracy, one of the worst days in american history, and i think reminding people of what that was like. but you are not going to swing the trump voters. they just are not -- i don't know how it happens, but they just believe it was a friendly tourists at the capitol and nothing bad happened and trump didn't incite the riot. but i think when get to the general election, it has the complete opposite effect in a primary. it pumps them up. >> larry hogan, thank you for speaking with us. >> thank you. and next wednesday at 9:00 p.m. eastern jake tapper and dana bash moderate cnn's republican presidential debate live from iowa. this morning secretary of state antony blinken heads to the middle east again as multiple flashpoints threaten to erupt into a regional war. israel reveals its next phase of the war against gaza.

a study estimating that 300,000 lives could be saved from gun violence if every state followed the lead of two states. we'll tell you which ones next.

hours from now secretary of state antony blinken will arrive in the middle east to begin his fourth trip to the region since the october 7th hamas attacks in israel. his visit comes as fears rising the war could erupt into a broader conflict after a suspected attack in beirut twin isis explosions near the graveside of an iranian

commander and iran-backed houthi attacks and a drone attack on a p pro-iranian attack blaming the group for attacks on american troops. israel is unveiling plans for the next phase of the war in gaza, including a combat approach in the north and sustained focused on targeting hamas leaders in the south. cnn's oren liebermann joins us from the pentagon. there is a lot to unpack here. what's on the secretary of state's plate? how is he gonna handle this in the days ahead? >> secretary of state antony blinken's goal here at least part of the goal is to find some way forward here without escalating tensions in the region, trying to contain potential conflicts that could very easily grow into open war, and look at here at the challenge he has ahead of him and this is just in the last week. as you pointed out on thursday so yesterday the u.s. took a strike in baghdad that killed the commander of a pro iran militia. that angered the iraqi

government in the past. a major isis terror attack in iran, blaming israel for that, saying they will respond. a day before that israeli strike in beirut killed a senior hamas leader there. israeli and lebanese officials warning there could be open war if there isn't an arrangement on that border. two days before that u.s. navy helicopters sank three houthi boats that fired on the u.s. military and were approaching a commercial vessel in international shipping lanes. these are across the middle east. the u.s. sees iran as largely responsible for the attacks on u.s. forces and international shipping lanes. the u.s. is trying to find a way forward, grappling how to respond to these without sparking a wider conflict. that is part of blinken's challenge as he meets with the saudis, qataris, egyptians and the israelis and palestinians because that war is very close to the three-month mark here, phil.

>> enormously consequential trip. thank you. this morning the community reeling in perry, ooirz, after the deadly high school shooting thursday that killed a sixth grade on the other hand wounded five others, including the principal. schools are now shut down. police say the 17-year-old shatter dillon butler died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. his friends say he was bullied. > he got tired of the bullying, tired of the harassment. >> we tried to be there when he needed us, which clearly we weren't there for him enough. >> now first on cnn a new study on gun violence reports nearly 300,000 lives could potentially be saved the next decade if every state enacted stronger gun control laws like new york and california. omar jimenez joins us now. tell us about this report. >> yeah, so this study from every town the gun violence

prevention non-profit looked at the state gun death rates from the cdc and compared them with the strength of the gun policies and laws for these states and created a score or ranking. when you look at some of those top states, california, new york, illinois, for example. a composite of gun death rate and gun law strength. for california and new york they had some of the lowest gun death rates in the country, including homicides, suicide and accidental killings, which is interesting because they have the two largest cities in the country as well. on the other hand, arkansas was ranked last because of their weaker gun laws and high gun death rate there. now, when it comes to the laws that they studied, they look at five foundational ones, background checks, securing secure firearm storage, rejection of stand your gun laws, extremerist laws. there are other metrics. those are sort of the

foundational ones. based on the implementation of those they claim 300,000 lives could be saved over the next decade if every state followed the example of some of those top ranked states like california and new york, i mean, again, too much experience in washington here. california and new york and try to tell states that don't have gun laws that's what you should be like and you're going to anger a lot of people. what do they want this report to spark, if anything? >> one of the distinctions they true is a lot of people look to the u.s. congress for action when comes to gun violence and gun bills. but there is a lot of action at the state level. michigan, the governor signed a number of gun violence prevention bills, requiring background checks for all gun sales, secure firearm storage, keeping the guns out of hands of convicted domestic users. their score went up as a result. florida and nebraska, meanwhile, said you don't have to have a permit to open carry in public anymore. their rankings went down by every town's standards but the

key thing to look for here is because those passed in 2023 is how are those passages going to affect the gun death rates in many of these states, and this study affirms sort of the first version of it, which is that they believe the weaker gun laws are directly correlated with higher deaths, gun death rates. >> omar jimenez, thank you. >> of course. this just in. the final jobs report of 2023. we'll break down the numbers and the state of the economy as we kick off the new year. it's been nearly 15 years since captain sul i have pulled off one of the greatest emergency landings with the miracle on the hudson. what it was like to be on that plane. stay with us.

this just in. final jobs report of 2023 showing the economy added 216,000 jobs. we are going to bring in cnn anchor and business correspondent rahel solomon. welcome back. help us understand the connection between the jobs

numbers and everything else. >> yeah, i mean, super important, right? they tell us -- you think about the consumer being the backbone of the u.s. economy. >> automatic good news, right? >> no, they are not. the future is less. i checked. we are down on this. 216,000 for the month of december, that is hotter than we were expecting. i don't know if you feel a little warm right now, but this was a hotter than expected report. the expectation was closer to 160,000. unemployment rate sort of remained at 3.7% and we can hoe you the unemployment rate over the last few years or so. we have been in a tight range. the spike was the pandemic and then you see that we have been sort of below 4% for almost two years. i mean, we have been at or below 4% for unemployment, which is very low, since january of 2022. if you look at the sectors we added job, some of the sectors that we expected, health care, government, construction. government adding 52,000 jobs.

health care 38,000 jobs. construction. wages, of course, have inflationary impacts and implications. wages increased as expected, 0.4% on an annual basis. so what this means broadly is it's still a hot labor market, still a strong labor market, but when you look at the broader picture you start to see some cooling on the fringes. you look at job postings, for example. those have started to fall. we haven't seen layoffs like some had been expecting. we are seeing job postings start to fall. it may not be as easy to find another job, but still a pretty robust labor market. >> secured mission accomplished on the soft landing, goldilocks, we nailed that down. you mentioned peripheral elements being considered. how is the fed looking at this given what jay powell said last month? >> great question. hotter than expected report sort of increases the likelihood when we see rate cuts it's going to be later in 2024, right. so we have, i want to say, search or eight fed meetings

next year. the hope had been maybe if this was a cooler job report we would see rate cuts maybe in march, april. this is starting to look like we may see them later in the spring, earlier in the summer. those are the implication. it's still a strong labor market. you have to remember the labor market powers consumer spending, right. consumer spending is two-thirds of the u.s. economy. if people are employed, having their wages go up, they can spend. that, of course, has an inflationary impact. >> it's important in terms of how people feel about the economy. why do these big numbers not kind of translate to people at home? >> one word. inflation. right? i mean, you are still seeing -- even though we are seeing inflation, the price rises cool, there are still higher prices higher than a few years ago. people know that. even in the last cpi, you saw prices for categories like shelter, rent, for example, the cost to put a roof over your

head, that continues to go. food prices, grocery price going up. even though most people by and large, according to the data, are meaningfully employed, you still have to go to the grocery store and eat and it's more expensive, still have to put a roof over your headnd it's expensive. gas prices $3 a gallon on average, lower than a month ago, lower than a year ago, so that's helping. but i think until inflation is really in the rearview, until people don't feel like it's so expensive to buy most things, it's going to be that disconnect. >> all right. thank you. now this month will mark 15 years since captain chelsey sullenberger executed one of the most famous emergency landings in modern aviation history. you will remember he landed u.s. airways flight 1549 in the mid of the hudson river after it struck a flock of birds and lost all engine power. all 155 people onboard survived in what the faa called the most

successful ditching in aviation history. >> this sunday in the whole story with anderson cooper we look back on the details of that fateful day and exclusive interviews with the crew and passengers, how their lives were changed forever. here is a preview. >> about ten years before i had been on really, really turbulent flight. when i was on that flight there was a pilot who was a passenger. he said, ma'am, do not worry about turbulence. all we worry about in the cockpit are birds and fire. >> the birds had been just completely consumed by the engines. for. >> and that burning smell came into the airplane. for whatever stupid reason, i took off my seatbelt, and i went over and i looked out the window. the engine is still there, but it's not running. >> what was most frightening was the soylent. there was no engine noise. >> we could feel our blood

pressure up, our perception al field narrowed, tunnel vision because of the stress. >> i knew without a shadow a doubt that life was over. >> i honestly thought that i was going to die. >> i thought this was it. >> joining us now is one of the passengers from flight 1549, pam siegel. pam, one, thank you for joining us. two, i was -- we were going through research before this segment. i can't wait to watch it. this flight was part of your work routine. you said on that day something felt off? >> yeah. so you have to remember, this was the height of the financial crisis. i worked for bank of america. we were merging with what was then merrill lynch. you flew up every sunday or monday. you came up to new york from charlotte. you worked three or four days and then wept back. this was routine, something i was doing every day for the past three or four months. on that sunday night prior to

this flight, i had a dream. and in this dream i'm standing -- i am on bank of -- i don't know if it's a river or a lake, but standing on the water and i watch a plane go down and it was frightening and woke me up and i told my husband and i about it and said i don't know if i can get on that flight tomorrow morning, that monday morning. got to charlotte airport. this is when you pay for tickets. i walked to the gate. i pulled back. i couldn't -- like i was too frightened to get on that flight. so i went back home and i was convinced that i was going to turn on the news, probably cnn, and watch this plane had gone down and it didn't. so tuesday morning, yeah, i felt a little bit foolish, but got back, resumed my travel schedule, flew back up to new york on that tuesday, and so everything seemed fine other than that was still kind of lingering, this feeling. and then the other thing that was a little odd and off that day was that everyone knew that flight. so when you did that, that

routine, it was the same thing all the time. you went to the same gate. you kinda sat in the same space, ate at the same restaurant. and they moved the gate. i know gates are moved all the time. for those of us that it was routine, that was off. so i was feeling uneasy when i got on. i am not a comfortable flyer anyway. so feel just a little bit more off that day. >> must be strange to re-live this, right, to have this conversation and describe it all over again. how have the experiences changed you? >> so there is -- there was the small impacts in the early days. there was the having to be more educated about flying. having to understand the aircraft. paying attention to where i was. but then there is the more significant impacts and those came over time. and one of the most important things, as i mentioned, i was there, working for bank of america. i was on a work trip, they said, what do you need? do you need mental health? do you want to continue flying back and forth to new york? do you want do something

different with your life? it was that intervention that helped me say i am not enjoying my job. >> were you feeling the stress? was it, like, happening in real time? was it affecting your mental health? >> yeah. i mean, you couldn't sleep. it was difficult. you had -- i had to form a narrative in my head, come up with what happened. part of it i remembered. part of it was filled in. so people would say, no, you said this, or you went there, and then suddenly you become -- and that becomes your story. but it was surreal in the early days. it was almost as if it -- it didn't feel like it had actually happened. so i had to create and tell myself what had happened. i did not get, you know, any mental health counseling at the time. i dealt with it. i learned breathing techniques and i had to take some control. i had to learn to do that. but when this job opportunity presented and now, you know, i travel the world and i was given this opportunity to help women and i run global women's

programs for bank of america, and i traveled. so i had to go to haiti and india and japan and singapore and brazil and all of these places required getting on a flight. i had to get over that fear. and in the early days, i couldn't touch the mouse making the reservation. i would sweat and it was really, really difficult. but now, you know, i have learned to do it. now i can get on there. i had to create a new normal that planes don't fuel out of the sky and they take off and land. so that's my new normal. >> that's a good new normal at that. unbelievable story at the time both for you personally and everybody on that plane. thank you so much for coming in. can't wait to watch. you have to tune in, all-new episode of the wo"whole story w anderson cooper" only on cnn. o. right now a storm is forming in the gulf of mexico and it's expected to bring severe storms to the south and snow up north. around 20 million people under winter storm alerts and there's also a flood threat across the

south today and severe storm threat for the gulf coast. tomorrow marks three years since the attack on the u.s. capitol but today some americans believe january 6 may have been an inside job. that's a lie. we're going to break down the reality of what happened on that faithfulul day in n washingtono.

tomorrow will mark three years since thousands of americans lied to by the president of the united states and their elected representatives perpetrated an assault on the building that has come to symbolize democracy across the globe and the men and women who work on its grounds. that's not an opinion, no the an interpretation, not one side of a debate. it is an unequivocal, demonstrable fact. here are some others, nearly 700 january 6th defendants pleaded guilty to federal crimes ranging from trespassing to violent assaults on police. another 130 have been convicted at trial. 140 officers guarding the capitol that day reported physical injury, the actual number with physical injuries or grappling with trauma is far higher according to the u.s. attorney for the district of columbia. >> the siege of the capitol is likely the largest single day

mass assault of law enforcement officers in our nation's history. >> these are facts, unequivocal, demonstrable, which is why this associated press headline was to jarring this week, one attack, two interpretations, biden and trump both make the january 6 riot a political rallying cry. there aren't, in fact, two interpretations here. there is what happened and then there are lies. but the point of the actual ap story itself should be jarring because it helps explain, the "washington post" university of maryland polling this week that laid bay area re the reality of nation for that day. seven in ten republicans are saying too much has been made of the attack. time to move on. fewer in two to ten say january 6 protesters were, quote, mostly violent. 34% of republicans say it's probably or definitely true the fbi instigated the attack. for one, there's zero evidence of that last one, despite its rampant prevalence in

conservative conspiracy circles, circles that include members of congress. here is the fbi director last fall. >> if you are asking whether the violence at the capitol on january 6 was part of some operation orchestrated by fbi sources and or agents, the answer is emphatically not. >> you say no? >> but here is the thing more broadly, viewing that day through the lens of a campaign or politics at all is exactly why the country is in this place. republicans have made a political calculation, one tied directly to their 2024 front ru runner's grip on the party. put aside campaigns, put indictments aside, put the former president aside for a moment. here are republicans in their own words on or shortly after that day. >> i am sheltered in place in my office because we have protesters who have stormed the capitol. this is banana republic crap

that we're watching happen right now. >> that was congressman mike gallagher, a wisconsin republican. he is not a rabid pro-trump maga lawmaker. he has said he won't support trump in 2024 on account of his age, but what he described is the reality of that day. >> these men and women in the uniform, they got overrun. one officer got killed. some had broken arms. you don't understand what was transpiring in that moment in that time. they scaled walls, they brought ropes, they were scaling the scaffolding, they overtook the place. >> that was kevin mccarthy a week after the attack. he's currently unemployed, but he was once the house speaker and did more than any other republican to halt the party's break from trump after january 6. mccarthy endorsed trump last month over what he described was the reality of that day. >> the criminals who did it ought to be prosecuted as they are being and ought to be given the full measure of the law.

you are not going to get anything but condemnation from me for what happened with those criminals at the capitol on january 6. >> that was senator josh hawley, a month after the attack, as the senate weighed impeachment of the former president. hawley endorsed trump last month over what he described was the reality of that day. mark, i was just told there is an active shooter on the first floor of the capitol, please tell the president to calm people. this isn't the way to solve anything. that was a text from a lawmaker to trump's chief of staff mark meadows as the attack was taking place. that lawmaker was marjorie taylor green. she endorsed trump the day he launched his 2024 campaign over what she described was the reality of that day. here is senator ted cruz the day before the first anniversary of the attack. >> we are approaching a solemn anniversary this week and it is anniversary of a violent terrorist attack on the capitol where we saw the men and women of law enforcement demonstrate

incredible courage. >> that was the reality of that day. it was unequivocal. it was demonstrable. it is now political. think that's an exaggeration? remember those cruz comments we literally just played for you? this was ted cruz the very next night. >> you called this a terror attack when by no definition was it a terror attack. that's a lie. you told that lie on purpose and i'm wondering why you did. >> well, tucker, thank you for having me on. >> of course. >> when you aired your episode last night i sent you a text shortly thereafter and said, listen, i'd like to go on because the way i phrased things yesterday it was sloppy and it was frankly dumb. >> the key point, they know better. they all know better. >> phil, thanks for showing that tape. it's important. >> everybody, have a great weekend, thanks for having out this week. >> thank you for having me. >> "cnn news central" starts right now.