hearing what you're saying? michael luttig: i hope they are. jake tapper: our democracy in the united states relies upon good people in positions of power to do the lawful and right thing from the presidents all the way down to local officials. we're having these discussions because there were enough people, enough republicans who did the right thing in 2020. perhaps next time, there won't be. january 6 has taught us anything, it's that nothing is guaranteed. this is the american experiment, not the american proven theorem. for our republic to survive, we need our elected officials loyal not to one man but to the united states of america. [music playing]

hello and welcome to our viewers joining us around the world. just ahead, the door plug that blew off mid flight on an alaska airlines plane has been found. why it could be critical to figuring out what happened. u.s. congressional leaders reached a deal on government funding but is it enough to avert a shutdown? and for the first time in decades, a high stakes mission to the moon is blasting off. live from atlanta. this is cnn news room from rosemary church. >> we begin in the united states where investigators say the missing part of the alaska airlines plane that blew off

mid flight has been found. they say a portland schoolteacher contacted them after he found it in his backyard on sunday. >> we are really pleased that we, that bob found this. he took a picture. i can just see the outside of the door plug. we can't see anything else. >> the plane was at an altitude of 16,000 feet when it blew off. they asked for the public's health locating it. the plane's cockpit voice recorder was completely overwritten and there is nothing on it. >> cockpit voice recorders are not just convenient for the

ntsb to use an investigations or the faa to use an investigations, they are critical to helping us accurately pinpoint what was going on. and it is key to safety for alaska airlines, they want to know affirmatively what was occurring in the cockpit? anybody who learns how to fly has taughtiveuate, navigate, communicate. communication is key. why? because the flight crew on the flight deck do not have situational awareness to what is going on in the back. they need to know what's going on in the cabin. so that communication needs to occur. they have to know how quickly they need to land. and if that communication is not recorded, that is unfortunately a loss for us.

and a loss for faa and a loss for safety. because that information is key, not just for our investigation, but for improving aviation safety. >> in the wake of the alaska airlines incident, some companies are temporarily suspending use of their boeing 737 max 9 jets. they are 215 such planes on rating worldwide. in the u.s., united airlines and alaska airlines have grounded their fleetets for inspecection. international companies include turkish airlines which has grounded five aiaircraft. and panama's copopa airlines which has grounded 21. a fly dubai spokesman said the boeing 737 max 9 jets in its fleet don't use the same configuration and are not affected. jeffrey thomas is editor in chief and managing director of airline ratings.com. he joins me now by skype from

australia. i appreciate you being with us. >> thanks for having me. >> now that the door plug that blew off that alaska airlines flight has been located by a portland resident in his backyard, investigators will pick it up and analyze it in an effort to find out what happened. what all will they be looking for when they examine this door plug? >> we will be looking for damage to the door, where it was attached to the fuselage. and the frame there. they obviously have the aircraft. and they would have been examing what was left of the door frame when the door came away. so the two together will piece together the situation and highlight where the problem occurred.

>> and according to alaska airlines in the days before the incident, pilots had filed several reports of warning lights indicating a loss of cabin pressure. what more are you learning about that or what does it tell you and should the plane have been grounded at that juncture? >> yes. i have heard the reports of depressurization issues. which would certainly indicate a problem. a leak of some kind, something is not quite right. but mind you, all those doors on the 737 and on every aircraft have warning lights to say whether they are closed or not. and that it could never take off with a door that wasn't properly closed so there seems to be some sort of problem with obviously with the door. with the leakages. with the warning systems.

and i'm sure we are going to find that it is simply not, it is a part issue. a faulty part. and that may apply to several other aircraft as well. that's where i think this is going to lead. >> interesting. and of course, in addition to the door plug, being located, the cockpit voice recorder has also been found. it was completely overwritten. so that won't be useful so what about the flight data recorder? >> a variety of parameters. it probably will not lead to any helpful information with relationship to this door coming away. a voice recorder, however, would have given us some excellent insight into how the

crew performed. and that's always very useful. it is not relevant for the door to come away. >> what does this potentially mean for the boeing 737 max 9 planes grounded in the united states and across the globe? until they figure out what went wrong? >> it will take boeing and the ntsb a few days to identify exactly what the problem was and while they are waiting to find out what the issue is, and then, fix it, the aircraft will remain grounded. once they do understand exactly what the problem is, it will take between four and eight hours of work to rectify the

aircrafts and get them back in the our thanks to jeffrey thomas joining us from australia. polling shows trump remain it is most popular among republican voters, former governor ron desantis and nikki haley his closest competition. they spent the weekend campaigning in iowa along with other gop candidates. while trump maintains a large lead over desantis and haley, his current legal battles could spell disaster if they don't go his way. he is due for a hearing on whether he has presidential

immunity. former president mike pence who dropped out late last year told cnn's jake tapper that republicans need fresh leadership going forward. >> i ran for president because i think different times call for different leadership, jake. and i'm hoping the good people of iowa i got to know so well, the good people of new hampshire and south carolina will look at this moment and recognize that elections are about the future and we need new leadership in the republican party. new leadership in the white house. >> u.s. congressional leaders have announced a spending deal for government funding in 2024. president biden welcomed the news on sunday saying it is a step toward averting a potential government shutdown later this month. the agreement calls for nearly $1.6 trillion in spending with almost 900 billion of that going toward defense spending. but this deal does not

eliminate the threat of a shutdown altogether. lawmakers still need to meet two upcoming funding deadlines and approve bills to keep the government running. >> reporter: president joe biden appeared to sign off on congressional leader's new funding agreement sunday saying in a statement that it moves the country one step closer to preventing a government shutdown. but real questions remain whether lawmakers will be able to pass pieces of legislation before january 19th. this agreement was struck by mike johnson and chuck schumer. they agreed a $1.59 trillion spending level. $286billion for defense spending and $704 billion for non-defense spending. there is an additional $70 billion that could be allocated to non-defense spending that was part of a side deal struck by president biden and then

house speaker kevin mccarthy last spring. these overall figures track very closely to the agreement that had been reached when they came to that debt limit deal last year. a deal that wrinkled a lot of house republicans. already, there has been some opposition expressed to the latest deal struck by congressional leaders. the house freedom caucus expressing frustration with the figures included that it does not include more spending cuts. they said in a post that it was quote a total failure. there is also some concerns that conservatives could use this government funding deadline as leverage to try to force more strict immigration and border policy changes. there are questions about whether lawmakers will be able to have the time to write these pieces of legislation, allocate all the funding and get the bills passed with the first deadline coming up january 13th and second deadline

february 2nd. president biden in his statement said quote congressional republicans must do their job, stop threatening to shut down the government and fulfill l their basic responsibility to fund critical national security priorities. it is time for them to act. that reference to the supplemental request is still up for debate right now. up in the senate and in the house. senate negotiators have been working to try to see if they can reach an agreement on border policy changes. that is something people have been stressing for before they pass aid for israel and ukraine. these are issues running on separate tracks. but they really speak to some of the hurdles and the challenges facing lawmakers in the coming weeks as they are trying to avert that first deadline. cnn traveling with the president in wilmington, delaware. >> there is a growing outcry over lloyd austin's undisclosed hospital stay with some republicans calling it unacceptable and shocking. the pentagon says the u.s.

defense secretary is still in hospital but is recovering well. but they do not know when he will be released. this comes after revelations that president joe biden and senior leaders were kept in the dark about austin's where abouts until thursday. three days after he checked into hospital, following complications from an elective surgery. austin later issued a statement saying he could have done a better job of notifying the public. in just a few minutes, the u.s. is expected to launch its first lunar lander to the moon since nasa's final apollo mission in 1972. details next here on cnn.

welcome back everyone. a high stakes mission to the moon is beginning soon. the first lunar lander will be sent up. peregrine will gather data for future missions but will also carry mementos from other countries. human remains will also be on

the flight. on behalf of two space burial companies. this is expected to become a first commercial mission to land on the moon as part of nasa's collaboration with private space companies. joining us now is cnn aerospace analyst miles o'brien. always great to have you with us. >> rosemary, a pleasure. >> let's just listen in because the count down has begun. let's watch this together. >> t minus ten. nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. we have ignition and liftoff of the first united launch alliance vulcan rocket. launching a new era in space flight to the moon and beyond.

>> peak pressure on the srps and everything is looking good. >> coming into normal rates for that event. we have good hydraulic pressure on both engines. everything looking good. >> all right, it's looking pretty good. miles, let's go back to you. the first u.s. moon mission in decades to launch with nasa science and human remains on board. what is the goal and the significance of this as we watch these pictures live? >> well first of all, it's been 50 years since the united states attempted a soft landing

on the moon. there is a historical piece to all of this. putting this into the larger context of why this is happening now. this is part of the overall effort by the united states and its so-called artemis mission to put people back on the moon in the next few years. this time instead of planting flags and leaving footprints behind t idea is to build an outpost there. so what nasa did about four or five years ago is gave contracts to about 14 private players to fly payloads and landers to the surface just to get used to doing that so you have the ability to carry freight to and from the surface if need be and put instruments on the ground to characterize the environment a little better. instruments are better. we know more about the surface of the moon. we know now that there is

liquid water ice there. understanding the radiation environment. the dust environment. a whole host of things is what leads nasa to this moment, rosemary. >> and miles, after the first historic moon landing in 1969, why after all these years are we suddenly seeing a renewed international space race to the moon? >> it's interesting. a lot of theories about that. a lot of people. because of the unique nature of that moon race and the amount of money spent in that time frame. in the midst of the cold war, honoring the wishes of a martyred president. et cetera. we sort of inserted a piece of 21st century technology in the 20th century. and so we were way ahead of our time then and more prepared to stay there budgetarily and otherwise. and so, we spend some time on the space shuttle. built the international space station. and now, the push is to eventually go to mars. and the thing i think is pretty

sharp and smart is if you are going to go to mars, you might want to learn how to live on an outpost on the moon first. a matter of a few days away as opposed to the better part of a year to get there. that's what we are seeing right now. this is part of an overall nasa to get to mars and the moon is the first stop and guess what? a lot of other nations would like to join along including the chinese, the space program in india has been making noticeable strides recently. and i think a lot of people in the space business say the more the merrier. >> and this rocket is carrying the first lunar lander to launch from the united states in nasa's final apollo mission. what all is at stake? >> you want it to be a success, of course. but this is, you know, an untested rocket we just saw.

the centaur, excuse me, the vulcan rocket built by the united launch alliance has engines, main engines that were built by blue origin. the company founded under jeff bezos. untested engines. in an untested rocket. a lot of risk involved in that. and that particular rocket is in line to do a series of national security missions for the united states space force as well as launch amazon's version of star link which is the spacex internet capability in orbit. and amazon hopes to match it with its own program. and so, it is already booked, this rocket is. so a lot is riding on its success today. and i will tell you this, rosemary, to see a brand new rocket launch exactly on time as predicted is a good sign. it has had several years of

delay to get to this point. but the fact they had a count down without any huge problems speaks to the success they are having so far. space is hard. don't forget that. >> absolutely. very exciting to watch this along with you. i know you are very excited about all things space, as am i. miles o'brien, thanks so much for joining us, i appreciate it. >> you're welcome rosemary. >> and we'll be right back.

the power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. and that's a good thing? great in my book! who are you? no power? no problem. introducing storm-ready wifi. now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. home of the xfinity 10g network.

the war against hamas enters its fourth month. the u.s. secretary of state antony blinken is in abu dhabi. the latest stop on a week long high stakes trip as tensions in the middle east flare. one key focus of talk ins the region is working to prevent a wider conflict from erupting. >> reporter: after a multicountry tour throughout the region, secretary of state antony blinken is set to touch down in israel this week for discussions with israeli leaders on a number of fronts.

this visit comes at a critical time not only for israel's military campaign in gaza, the continued war there. but also, broader fears of an escalation in the region. particularly in the wake of what appears to be a targeted killing that israel carried out in the suburbs of beirut taking out a senior hamas political leader sparking concerns of a regional escalation. the fact that those daily skirmishes we have seen could break out into a much more significant war. israeli officials have warned the diplomatic window avoid a military confrontation on a much larger scale, that window is closing and the secretary of state making very clear in doha on sunday he is aiming to avoid a broader regional war. he will discuss the next phases of this war in gaza as we hit the three month mark now of this war started on october 7th

when hamas carried out attacks on israeli towns and civilians. but the secretary of state will also be discussing of course the potential for trying to get hostages out. just a number of issues on this agenda all coming at a critical time. and it also comes of course as the secretary of state is saying that israel needs to do more to protect palestinian civilians inside of gaza. and on sunday, we saw the latest instance of an israeli air strike seemingly taking out civilians. in this case, two journalists. two palestinian journalists including the son of al jazeera's bureau chief. his son also a journalist working for al jazeera. 27 years old. their car was struck by a missile according to al jazeera while they were traveling in southern gaza. now, the israeli military has

not responded to our request for comment on this incident but they have said in the past that they do not target journalists and they take precautions to try to avoid civilian casualties. now, the committee to protect journalists says that more journalists have been killed in the first ten weeks of the israel hamas war than have ever been killed in a single country in an entire year. he attended the funeral of his son which happened shortly there after. and he said that he hopes that his son's death would be the last of all journalists being killed in gaza. jeremy diamond, cnn, tel aviv. officials in the maldives are facing consequences after inassaulting india's prime minister. we'll have a live report just ahead.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

three officials have reportedly been suspended in the maldives for mocking the indian prime minister. they called him a clown, terrorist, and a puppet of israel after modi shared these pictures of a recent trip to promote tourism. cnn has reached out to the maldives government for comment. so what is the back story to how this all unfolded? >> now, this man has a pro china approach according to analysts and a part of his campaign was india out. we saw his predecessors, the one he won against putting india first in terms of

diplomacy for the country. a state visit has been seen by many analysts as a snub to india. just off the southwest, it is a chain of islands there. he was promoting local tourism. that to a lot of people could have been something he was trying to push for indians to travel and promoting tourism in that area. that wasn't taken well by some people in maldives includeing the three officials you spoke of. that led to comments by them for which they were suspended. ever since then, they have been in damage control. there has been a statement from the government as well. i will read from that,

rosemary. it says the government of maldives is aware of the remarks on the immediate platforms against foreign leaders and high ranking individuals. these opinions are personal and do not represent the views of the government of maldives. there you can see the government there dispensings itself from the comments. we know how important this very small country is. it has about half a million people, the location of maldives is so important in the indian ocean region. and there has been a battle for influence in the region by china and india. a competition of rivalry there. now we spoke to michael who talks to us more about the geo political influence of this area and how important maldives is in terms of its location. listen in. >> south asia has become one of the biggest battlegrounds for india china competition. and maldives is right in the middle of that. for many years, india had by far been the most influential

external player in the maldives. but, things have changed in recent years. we had a leader who took a decidedly pro china position. but his successor turned back to india. so we had a situation where india i think has to be on its toes in the sense it knows it will face some challenges to its relations in a country where beijing is pretty keen to maintain a strong influence as well. >> according to a senior office in the foreign ministry here in india, the indian high commission in maldives has taken up this matter and has strongly condemned the comments made against the indian prime minister. rosemary, this is clearly not the end of the

>> reporter: it is a winter wonder land you won't see anywhere else. the chinese city saw a record number of visitors over the new year holiday weekend during its annual ice and snow festival. well this ice city features intricate sculptures and structures, all glowing from within. all made entirely of ice. >> it is quite nice. and quite shocking. when i saw it for the first time, i thought they built it very well and the ice was very transparent. >> reporter: this year officials say an average of about 30,000 people enter the park every day. that's nearly double pre- pandemic numbers. well the festivities have sold out every hotel. >> booking was pretty difficult. for booking hotels, we spent two to three days before we found a suitable hotel. tickets for ice and snow world were sold out online.

so i bought them on the secondhand website. >> reporter: state media says this year's festival covers 810,000 square meters. nearly 9 million square feet. and features 250,000 cubic meters of ice. a rather fitting spectacle as temperatures dropped to 29 degrees celsius. the cold hardly stopped those itching for fun after the last three years of holiday cheer were stifled by varying degrees of pandemic restrictions. >> because this is the first winter holiday since the pandemic was lifted and everyone can't hold back, we have been sealed several years so we want to go out and relax to release some of the stressful feelings from the pandemic. >> the ice festival will shine bright until early march. in the meantime, the aptly

nicknamed ice city shares its ice, art, and animals with visitors looking for something cool to do. >> thanks so much for joining us. i'm rosemary church. for our international viewers, world sport is next. for everyone else, i'll bebe ba with more cnn n news room. stick k around.

welcome back to our viewers in north america. i'm rosemary church. president biden will speak at a church. a historically black church, mother emanuel ame was the site of a mass shooting in 2015 when a gunman opened fire on a bible study group, killing nine people. biden's visit comes as a key south carolina democrat is sounding the alarm for the biden campaign. ahead of november's presidential election. >> i'm very concerned and i have sat down with president biden. my problem is we have not been

able to breakthrough that maga wall in order to get to people exactly what this president has done. >> he said he is met with biden to express his concern. it was widely seen as key to biden's victory in that key state. the u.s. homeland security secretary is expected to visit the u.s. mexico border in the coming hours. comes as house republicans are planning to impeach him. more republicans have become open to the idea. >> reporter: behind the scenes, house republicans are planning an aggressive push to potentially impeach alejandro mayorkas in the next several weeks. this is according to new

reporting from my colleagues and myself. we are hearing that house republicans are growing increasingly confident that they can have the votes to actually impeach mayorkas. this is a shift from some time ago when many republicans did not know what they believe were essentially a policy dispute with the biden administration, rises up to that very high bar in the constitution. high crimes or misdemeanors, and a charge that has not been leveled against a cabinet secretary since 1876. only one time in history. a secretary of war. alejandro mayorkas because of how house republicans are taking over what is considered a crisis at the southern border. this up tick in migrants. what they believe is mayorkas' failure to deal with it. several are open to the idea of

impeaching mayorkas. they are fully on board. they absolutely should be impeached. there is still a very narrow margin for speaker johnson to get this through. johnson will have to contend with a narrow mayorty getting slimmer with resignation upcoming as well as his top deputy steve scalise going to be out for health reasons. one republican, we are told, ken buck of colorado told us he believes that going down this path could be a dangerous precedent. he is not opposed to impeaching mayorkas. the homeland security department is pushing back on this saying the house majority is wasting quote valuable time. they say impeaching him, charging him with a high crime is simply out of bounds and does not line up actually happening on the border. the house gop controls

majority. immigration has become a defining issue in 2024. what issue that is unifying republicans which is why many of them believe it is more likely now that mayorkas could get defeated. many have not seen the evidence to suggest that joe biden committed a crime while in office. so that issue is continuing to play out. the investigation into biden. but the chairman of the house security committee expects a handful of hearings not to go on and on. and potentially an impeachment vote. that is the plan at the moment. taking us straight to the floor. will they have the votes to get there? that is the main question. this remains a big focus for house republican as they return to washington. cnn, washington. nearly 70 million people across the u.s. gulf coast and southeast are at risk for severe weather this week. according to the nation's storm

prediction center. tornadoes, damaging wind, flooding and rain could be on the way to those areas monday and tuesday. and just days after the season's first big winter storm, another storm is expected to trek from the southwest to the northeast. this week. it could deliver heavy snow. blizzard conditions. strong winds, and potential tornadoes along with the possibility of serious flooding. as for that first big winter storm that hit the u.s. this weekend, cnn's sandoval is there. >> this storm dumped some of the highest snow totals we have seen throughout the northeast in a while. in light of several cities reporting the least snowiest year on record. you can imagine, there are many people actually looking forward to this system here. here in hartford, connecticut, the state's capital. as you can see, according to the national weather service, a little over 10 inches of snow

fell since saturday night. now that storm sewly making its way out of the region. because of the timing of this storm. transportation officials said that provided them the upper hand. these are pieces of equipment that have been stored away since the last plowable snow reported here a little under a year ago. >> most people will be off the roads including the commercial traffic. it will giver us the space we need to do to do our job. the easier it gets to clear the roads. >> one of the biggest impacts was flights. bradley international airport. around 20% of their flights this weekend were canceled. another 20% were delayed. officials there say that they continued with snow removal operations. as you can imagine, an event of this magnitude would disrupt operations. some parts of the hudson valley experiencing a foot of snow. airports there fairly minimal

impact. reporting in hartford, connecticut, paulo sandoval. gypsy rose blanchard, the woman who plotted to have her boyfriend kill kill her abusive mother is spoking out after spending eight-and-a-half years in prison. you may remember her story which has been depicted over the years in various documentaries and tv series. such as hbo's 2017 mommy dead and dearest. and hulu's mini series the act in 2019. we spoke with her about life after prison. >> i am enjoying my new freedom. >> reporter: gypsy rose blanchard smiling and free. released on parole after serving eight-and-a-half years of a ten year prison sentence. blanchard pleaded guilty to second degree murder in 2016. after she and then boyfriend nicholas godejon hatch add plan

to kill her mother didi. he admitted to serving didi to death. he is serving a life sentence without parole. >> do you feel the time you served was justified for your role in your mother's death? >> you know i did something wrong and i take accountability for that. i acknowledge that. i did my time. >> reporter: blanchard's journey from childhood to now released convict is one of trauma, deception, murder, and ultimately, a new marriage and independence. her harrowing story documented in an upcoming series on lifetime. >> my mother controlled everything i did. i was forced to use a wheelchair. she started telling people that i had cancer. but none of it was true. >> reporter: gypsy was the victim of a rare disorder called munchhausen by proxy in which a

care giver fakes or exaggerates an illness to gain attention. >> i started to feel like it was either her or me. >> do you think if it were just you, would you have been able to go through with this act of killing your own mother? >> absolutely not. i think it is very important for people to understand that i was brought to a breaking point. i could never kill someone. and so, in a desperate situation, i had asked this request of nick thinking i had no other option out. >> what do you think your life would look like today if your mother were still here? >> i would still be under this medical abuse that i was. one of two things would have happened. she would have eventually gotten caught. but too late to save me or i would have been killed from all of the medical malpractices,

the surgeries, the medications, all of that takes a toll on a body. especially if you don't need the medications or surgeries. >> reporter: despite her mother's decades long victimization, gypsy says she actually forgives he r the golden globes kicked off the season sunday night honoring the best in film and television. allie wong and steven young made history winning for their roles in the netflix series beef. they are the first actors of

asian descent to win in their categories and it wasn't the only historic moment of the night. lily gladstone became the first indigenous person to win the award for best actress in a film drama. killers of the flower moon. meantime, barbie took home the award for cinematic and box office achievement. a new category for films that perform well at the box office but may not be recognized during award season. the film was made by warner brothers. but it was oppenheimer that dominated the film side winning five trophies including five best director and best motion picture drama. and, they have it. and thanks for your company. i'm rosemary church. i'll be back with more cnn news room after a short break.