last 4 years. and the falcons was furious at the saints coach when his team scored up 48-17. smith is has had a losing record in each of his three seasons in atlanta. >> very similar comparison to super bowl week. it's got that same feeling. it's what you're striving for. just to be simply known as world champions or national champions. that's what you're going for. >> that was jim harbaugh, the head coach of michigan ahead of michigan plays university of washington tonight for the college football national championship. it's going to be a great game.

good morning, everyone. so glad you're with us on this monday. poppy harlow in new york. this breaking overnight, major new details released in this critical part of the alaskan airlines flight. new warnings that may have been missed. >> there's one week to go until the iowa caucuses. . republican candidates, they are out in full force. donald trump's campaign message will come from not one, but two courthouses this week. and they were arrested, convicted, and they're serving prison time for their role in the january 6th insurrection, but former president trump c calling them hostages. cnn "this morning" starts now. ♪ here's where we begin. new this morning, a crucial, missing piece of an alaska airlines plane has been found as

investigators try to figure out why a gaping hole blew open on the side of the jet mid-flight after it took off from portland. >> now the ntsb says the boeing 737 max's door plug was discovered in somebody's backyard. these new images from investigators inside the plane show headrests and seat cushions ripped off. we're now learning the pressurization warning light previously went off on this plane multiple times, including the day before the terrifying flight. listen as this passenger described the chaos on board and the child whose shirt was torn off his body. >> she was screaming, my son, my son, my son, and, you know, i wasn't sure if her son had gone out, or if he was injured, but they just kept saying, the son, the son, and the flight attendant went back to check on him and they verified he thankfully was okay, but he lost his shirt and his skin was irritated from the cold, and from the wind and everything, and it was -- it was insane. >> let's bring in cnn aviation

correspondent pete munteen. alaskan airlines has canceled more than 100 flights today. the ntsb trying to figure out how this all happened. >> yeah. some incredible new details overnight. finding that part of the plane that has been missing has been key. it's called a door plug, and that will help investigators determine the type of the failure here. was it a mechanical failure or was it a manufacturing defect by boeing or its contractors? just yesterday, the head of the ntsb told me that if this door was in somebody's backyard, she wanted to see it, and that is exactly what happened. found by a portland school teacher simply named bob. a crucial finding in an investigation that is only just beginning. >> it was very violent when the rapid decompression and the door was expelled out of the plane. >> reporter: new images from the national transportation safety board show the force of the

failure on board alaskan airlines flight 1282. damaged and contorted seats from a 400-mile-per-hour rush of air through a refrigerator-sized hole ripped in the side of the plane. >> the headrests on 25a and 26a were gone. the extra oxygen mask was sheared off. >> reporter: the ntsb head says now even the cockpit door flew open. >> the time there was a bang, the door flies open. it did eventually shut, but it did blow open during the explosive decompression. >> reporter: amazingly, no passengers were seriously hurt. >> i woke up to the plane just falling, and i knew it was not just normal turbulence because the masks came down, and that's when the panic definitely started to set in. >> reporter: the flight departed portland international airport at 5:07 p.m. on friday. six minutes in, climbing through

16,000 feet, passengers describe multiple bangs and the loud rush of air, audible as pilots radioed air traffic control to make an emergency landing back in portland. >> clear emergency. we're down to 10,000. >> reporter: the plane, a boeing 737 max 9, only months old. it took its first flight on october 15th and flew only 150 flights for alaska airlines. investigators say a pressurization warning light came on three previous times, including the day before this incident and prompting alaska airlines to restrict the plane from over-water flights. >> it's certainly a concern, and it's one that we want to dig into. >> reporter: the federal aviation administration has now grounded max 9s until airlines can make new inspections, but the incident has once again thrust boeing under the microscope. two fatal crashes grounded the

737 max for 20 months in the u.s. the ntsb also said the pilot's checklists and headsets were thrown off by the force of the depressurization. there's one thing missing though, the cockpit voice recorder. that was overwritten. the ntsb says probably not for nefarious reasons though. alaska airlines and united airlines are the only two u.s. airlines operating max 9s. they're still grounded this morning, and awaiting instructions from the faa. united canceled more than 270 flights that would have otherwise been operated by max 9s over the weekend. >> pete, i think the question i certainly had all weekend and many people have is what's happening at boeing and should any of these max planes be flying? >> reporter: of course, boeing will be a big part of this investigation. it says it's cooperating right now. the ceo dave calhoun just sent a company-wide memo to all of boeing saying there will be a

safety meeting headquartered from its renton, washington factory. that's the factory where the max 9 is built. it's essentially a safety standdown although premarket trading shows the boeing shares are down. we'll see as the response goes on. we're also curious about the response from a company called spirit aerosystems. that's the contractor that makes many parts of the fuselage. >> thanks for the great reporting. this morning, the countdown, it is on. there are 6 days 15 hours, 23 minutes. ramaswamy is crisscrossing the state for events and nikki haley will be in des moines as caucus day draws near. candidates hammering home the importance of voter turnout as this outcome could make or break momentum in the race. eva mckenzie is live with us. when you talk to voters right now, what is your sense of how this will play out in the next

six days? >> reporter: good morning to you, phil. the voters we spoke to here in iowa, many of them are still making up their minds. they take the fact that iowa goes first very seriously. they want to vet these candidates because they know that a big finish here for any of these candidates could mean significant momentum and that they could go on to play in other states. >> all eyes are now on iowa. >> reporter: haley, desantis, rama ramaswamy, and trump, all converged on iowa over the weekend. >> now's the time to be active. now's the time where you guys can make a difference. >> reporter: with just one week remaining before the iowa caucus, the gop candidates are pouring millions of dollars into the first voting state, flooding the air waves in an attempt to challenge former president trump's considerable lead in the polls. >> you know, backstage they say to me sometimes, sir, don't tell them that they're going to vote

for you. that sounds so dpleeemeaning. i said, i got them $28 billion for their farmers. of course, they're going to vote. >> reporter: desantis and haley could not avoid speaking about the front-runner. >> i think if we're relitigating the past elections, you know, if it's about donald trump or his legal issues or criminal trials or all that stuff, i think it's going to be a really nasty election. i don't think that puts republicans in a good position to win. >> he was really good at breaking things. he just wasn't good at fixing them. >> reporter: trump is looking for a decisive victory in the h hawkeye state after losing the caucus back in 2016. how however, iowans are split on who they'll support. >> i think it's highly likely trump will come out first. >> i'll be voting for desantis. >> i would like ramaswamy be in the race as long as he can. >> reporter: trump held a rally in iowa on the third anniversary of the capitol attack during which he gave his support for those jailed for their actions

that day. >> they ought to release the j6 hostages. they've suffered enough. and raised eyebrows when he made this comment about the civil war. >> they could have been negotiated and they wouldn't have had that problem, but it was a hell of a time. >> reporter: this week, the former president will be toggling back and forth from the campaign trail to the courtroom with a jam-packed schedule. on tuesday, he will be in a d.c. courtroom where opening arguments will be held on his immunity claim. on wednesday, he will be back in iowa for a town hall event, and on thursday he will be in a new york city courtroom where the closing arguments in the civil fraud case against him, his sons, and the trump organization will begin. and a bit of a wrinkle, phil. it is expected to snow in the coming hours, and that has

already led to the cancellation of some events, and it comes at a time when candidates really have no time to spare. they're using every single day until caucus day to shake every hand, meet every voter. phil? >> even the water causing issues. this important time. eva mckend, thanks so much. this wednesday, jake tapper and dana bash moderate the republican presidential debate live from iowa. you don't want to miss it. we have a lot to talk about. trump again mocking a prisoner of war while praising jailed insurrectionists. how the former president is reframing the capitol attack. and what a key player in hamas hostage talks says could complicate those efforts even more. stay with us.

they ought to release the j6 hostages. they got to release the hostages. some call them prisoners. i call them hostages. release the j6 hostages, joe. release them, joe. you can do it real easy, joe. >> that was donald trump calling for the release of january 6th rioters. you heard multiple times there, you called them hostages on the third anniversary no less of the capitol attack that caught on

fast with trump al llallies, li. >> i have concerns about the treatment of january 6th hostages. i have concerns. we have a role of congress oversight, over treatment of prisoners, and i believe we're seeing the weaponization of the federal government against not just president trump, but we're seeing it against conservatives. we're seeing it against catholics, and that's one of the reasons why i'm so proud to serve on the select committee on the weaponization of government. >> it shows a growing number of voters share that sentiment. 34% of republicans believe this false idea -- it's a lie, that the fbi organized and encouraged the january 6th attack. a poll from politico says that president trump shunfairly shouldered blame. one person saying, quote, i watched it on tv that day and this is a complete joke.

i could tell from the beginning that this was a setup. let's bring in to discuss john av avlon, and cnn commentator jamal simmons. leah, i want to start with you because i have a lot of thoughts about a lot of this. very personal thoughts on some of them, but what i'm more interested in at this moment in time, is you have a weekend where donald trump on the anniversary of january 6th is playing all the things we played, he's attacking john mccain again and mocking the injuries he suffered while a p.o.w. this caused suburban voters to turn sharply away from him in 2020. >> yes. >> i understand where the republican primary electorate is and it's not going to change. my question right now is, will people start seeing this stuff and say, oh, i remember? >> yeah. i absolutely think so, and when you look at the independent voter, they turned away from donald trump for this very reason. they couldn't deal with the rhetoric. they couldn't deal with all of the things that we're seeing right now, and joe biden is

reminding those independent voters of how bad it can be and what's at stake, and i think that is joe biden's strategy right now. the real question is, is it going to work? both of these candidates right now in many ways looks like we're going back in time and not forward. he's talking about mccain and i feel like we're back in 2020, 2016. we're not looking forward, and i think the american people want us to look forward. my question is, is this going to work? sit going to turn people off so much they're not going to go out in record numbers in 2020? in 2020, we had a really energized electorate who said, we've got to go out and vote because this much is at stake. this might exhaust people. >> it's about people not wanting to look forward, but back forward. trump is looking backward, but so is joe biden. with new ads staking his campaign on democracy pointing to january 6th. mitt romney, not a trump fan. yes, republican, but not a trump fan is saying that tactic for the biden campaign is a bust. >> i could be ill-informed, but

i'm not sure what mitt romney knows about winning the presidency, and i think that there is -- >> there are democrats who are worried about the way they're approaching this like obama. >> sure, absolutely. i wouldn't take my professional political advice from mitt romney when it comes to time to win the presidency. listen. you have a president -- a former president right now, donald trump, who is saying to people out loud, i will be a dictator on the first day. i want to use the doj, the department of justice to go after my opponents. so the idea of democracy being on the ballot isn't just a, you know, four years ago problem. it's a problem that the current candidate for the republican nomination is saying he will challenge the tenets of democracy right now, and i think the challenge for all of us is, what donald trump does, is he continues to move the ball further and further away from the norms that we all expect, and then he raises the stakes on holding him accountable, and so what happened is he never gets held -- he never gets held responsible. he never has to answer for what it is he's doing and he makes the rest of us courser, and i

think the president is trying to get refocused on democracy, and that's a legitimate political argument. >> i think to that point, a complicating factor six days out from the caucuses is that other republicans in the race are trying to compete with that, in an electorate that -- that issue resonates with very clearly, and so if you are ron desantis and nikki haley decides the cnn debate which you should definitely watch, what are your opportunities in this moment to try to make headway? >> draw a clear contrast with donald trump. stand for something. stop tiptoeing around and connect with real voters and i think nikki haley did it effectively in their town hall. she says, this is an invitation to more chaos. this is somebody who's got unbelievable amounts of baggage and have the courage to start out the unacceptable. this rhetorical dodge calling -- holding people accountable who attacked our capitol at his behest, calling them hostages at a time when there are hostages being held in israel, american

hostages being held by terrorists in israel. that kind of moral equivalence is absolutely inexcusable, and for elise stefanik to do that, right? they always take the knee is what donald trump has said about his republican leaders. i'll say something about democrats though. i get the joke about mitt romney, but i think it was also unkind given the courage he has shown, and especially president biden needs to be one of the broadest possible coalitions, and for mitt romney -- i've interviewed kinzinger about this. these pro-democracy republicans who have taken a stand against donald trump, they have not gotten outreach from the biden campaign which is unbelievable, but that's what, you know, i was told in an interview. that broader coalition needs to be built, and that needs to be taken more seriously than anything else. >> the president does have a broad coalition. he does have to animate that broad coalition, and i think he's got to focus. the barack obama concerns are

the concerns taken into account. bill clinton and barack obama won re-elections. barack obama won at a time that was economically stressful. the biden team understands something about the modern media and political environment that nobody else understands. they know how to operate in this environment, and they've beaten donald trump before. i think they're taking that as their cue to go out and try to beat him again. >> their advice is the same as mitt romney's though. they're saying the same thing. so i think a lot of people are saying -- >> i just won't listen to mitt romney. that's my choice. >> i mean, i agree that we need to have a coalition that's really important instead of dismissed. if this is going to work -- you look at the numbers too. 55% of republicans do agree that democracy is at stake here. so it's not, you know, we're not talking about people that are completely dismissive of this. >> what's sort of stunning is that more republicans now view the actions of the rioters on january 6th than did three years ago. >> that's right.

>> it's not a majority of republicans, but it's stunning to see that more approve of it and fewer strongly disapprove of it. >> and fewer think that trump was responsible for it. >> yeah, that's right. >> that's evidence of a non-reality-based community. >> that's disinformation that's been pushed out by donald trump. you want to have courage about the contrast? call it out. >> we have a lot more to get to not just with the primaries and cau caucuses, but also general election as well. and lloyd austin is still being treated at walter reed medical center. the president and his deputy did not know about lloyd's hospitalization. that is still under scrutiny this morning. and congressional leaders have just taken the first steps to averting a government shutdown. we'll take a look at what's in, anand what's n not in. ststay with usus.

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with the largest fastest reliable network. give your business a head start in 2024 with this great offer. plus, ask how to get up to $1000 prepaid card with qualifying internet. the handling of this by the secretary of defense is totally unacceptable. i think it was a dereliction of duty, and the secretary and the administration frankly need to step forward and give the american people the facts. >> that was former vice president mike pence ripping into defense secretary lloyd austin for keeping his hospitalization. this morning, austin remains in the hospital a week after being rushed to walter reed for what we're told is, quote, severe pain following an elective procedure. he's now facing intense scrutiny for keeping the president and national security leaders in the

dark for days about the hospital stay. >> here's the timeline we're getting now from the pentagon. austin had this elective procedure on the 22nd of december, went home the next day and on the 1st of january was taken by an ambulance and admitted to the intensive care unit with severe pain. the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff was notified the next day -- that was january 2nd, austin's deputy kathleen hicks assumed some of his duties that day, but she wasn't told until january 4th. that's the same day president biden found out. congress learned a day later, as did the rest of the public. >> the pentagon says austin is still at the hospital, but resumed his duties on friday. the white house says president biden spoke to austin on saturday, and quote, has complete confidence in him. austin released a statement on saturday saying he would commit to being more transparent in the future. cnn medical analyst jonathan reiner joins nus now. we're also joined by natasha bertrand. i covered washington for 15,

16 years. i have never seen anything like this. what are national security officials you're talking to saying? >> well, look, phil. the words that are being tossed around a lot at this moment are unforced error. all of this really could have been avoided, officials say if the pentagon had just disclosed within 24 hours that the secretary had been hospitalized on january 1st. what we know at this point is that for days the u.s. -- the pentagon did not inform even his deputy secretary of defense just why she was taking over his responsibilities, and we should remind viewers that she was actually in puerto rico at the time. she was not even in washington, d.c. when she was told that she would have to be assuming some of his responsibilities in order to continue secure communications and maintain operational readiness, and just on thursday, about four days after he was admitted to the hospital, that is when she was finally told that he was hospitalized, and so this is

really, you know, coming at a moment that is not ideal really for the administration given all of the tensions we are seeing in the middle east. the fact that the secretary of defense was not available really and that the president and senior national security officials did not know that he was in the hospital in the intensive care unit we should note -- this is not something minor, is really problematic according to current and former officials that we have spoken to, and the pentagon press secretary patrick ryder told us the reason these notifications were not made earlier is because austin's chief of staff was sick herself, and therefore she could not do so before thursday which is when everyone started being notified that he was in the hospital, but of course, the immediate follow-up question is, well, was no one else available to notify the appropriate people that he was, in fact, indisposed and we did not get an answer to that question. >> he has put out a statement since saying, i recognize i could have done a better job of informing the public, and i

commit to doing better next time. as a doctor, jonathan, is there any medical reason why this would not have been disclosed or is this simply a -- he was investigate icu, his chief of staff was sick and there was no one else? >>, you know, i think, poppy, that this is most likely a mistake that snowballed. it looks like the secretary had a procedure that was -- where he was told he would maybe be in the hospital overnight, be out the next day. the procedure was scheduled for, you know, right over the christmas, you know, weekend and the christmas holiday when, you know, perhaps government is a little bit quieter and he thought he could have this quick procedure, be out the next day, and then be onto his business, but unfortunately ten days later, he suffered this significant complication requiring what looks like emergency hospitalization, and if you haven't disclosed that you had surgery, you know, a week ago, and now you have to go

back for emergency hospitalization, now you're going to have to disclose that, and why didn't you disclose the original procedure, and it snowballed until he could no longer, you know, remain silent about the hospitalization. so to me, it looks like it's probably, you know, an unfortunate set of circumstances that started with an unfortunate decision to keep his hospitalization away from the government. i don't think the public necessarily has a right to know that the secretary of defense was having surgery. he's not the president or the vice president where i do think the public has a right to know, but i do think his chain of command needed to know. >> natasha, just for clarity here, we still don't know what the procedure actually was or what he's been dealing with over the course of the last couple of days, do we? >> we don't. we don't know what the original surgery was that caused these complications and we don't know where exactly he was experiencing this severe pain that prompted him to call an ambulance, and an ambulance for him to take -- to take him to

walter reed on new year's day, and that is, of course, part of what we're asking, and look. i think that, you know, the secretary's a very private person. anyone who knows him will tell you that, and the issue here is not that he did not disclose this elective surgery to the public. the issue that is being raised by national security officials is that simply they were kept in the dark for soeni long even thh many people here in the pentagon were told he would be on leave last week and they assumed he was working from home. it's being kept in the dark from this that is raising questions. >> natasha, thank you for the reporting and dr. reiner, appreciate it, thanks. today president biden will speak at the mother miami church, and some are expressing concerns with his campaign. and it's being called an exceptional winter storm in the southeast. they're bracing for heavy rain, possible tornadoes as a quick-moving storm passes through. some 70 million people along the

gulf coast in southeast at risk for severe weather today and tomorrow as the system shifts north. this week, some areas in the northeast could see heavy snow, blizzard conditions, potential tornadoes up here, and severe flooding. back in a momement.

there's the white house on a fine -- what month is it? it's january, oh yeah.

it's an election year as well. in washington, d.c., the man who lives there, president biden looking to reenergize his election campaign. he's set to go to south carolina today where he'll speak at the mother emanuel church. it's steeped in african american history, and nine parishioners were killed there in 2018. >> thanks to the endorsement of congressman james clyburn, but now clyburn says he's worried about part of his re-election campaign, and here's why. >> i'm very concerned, and i have sat down with president biden. my problem is that we have not been able to break through that maga wall in order to get to people exactly what this president has done. >> back with us, john avlon, jamal simmons, and lee carter.

this also boosts what we were talking about, jamal, which is the warning apparently according to "the washington post" that former president obama gave president biden at a lunch they had at the white house in the last couple of months -- it wasn't reported before, talking about the political ability of trump to pull this off and win again and some concerns that president obama has about the way that biden's campaign is being run. i should note that quentin folks, the deputy campaign manager was on yesterday, and here's what he said about the campaign. listen. >> look. our campaign has been awake since the president announced in april which is why we've come out the gate swinging. >> it doesn't sound like they think there is a concern. is there? should there be? >> there should definitely be a concern. the numbers aren't great, right? is that a fair thing to say? >> that's fair. >> they've got to spend some time getting the message out. listen. i think the fundamentals are right, right? the economy's going in the right direction. democracy is an issue we know has won in the past.

the women's right for an abortion is an issue that has won in the past. what's not going well are the theatrics around the campaign, right? they've got to do better about getting out there, talking about these issues, talking to them, talking to them in a way they're going to hear it. we've got to see it, and the president doing a big speech going back to mother emanuel and having that conversation. i think they're trying -- they're trying to gen that up and the last thing i'll say is a lot of things that happen in campaigns is like icebergs, right? a lot of things are happening underneath the waterline and there's a bunch of stuff that's happening. they're testing messages and spending money in communities to, like, figure out who's there we should be talking to, reaching out politically. there's a lot of things happening in the campaign we're just not seeing. >> i think this is a really backwards-looking campaign, though. they're looking at the numbers and saying, we need to fix the problem. they're saying, okay. younger voters, we've lost them by 24 points. black voters, we've lost 14 points since the election and we need to go out and do what we did in 2020, remind them what

they voted for. i'm not sure it's going to be the same thing to get them to vote for them. they need to remind people what's at stake, but also talk about how things are going to be moving forward, and i think they really need to get honest with the american people and relate with them in a way and say, we feel your pain. you can't just say it's never been better and we're on the right track. people don't feel it. there are a lot of missteps being made and i tend to agree with president obama. >> re-elections build on the base the first time around, and it's simply enough to retain that base. >> right. >> that's not remotely sufficient, and it's interesting because you haven't heard biden necessarily say, here's what i would do ifn a second term. here's what i will deliver that will be new, and there's a lot you can try to say -- >> i think that's what's missing. that's what's missing. >> yeah, and i think that's a real issue they've got to take seriously. problem is not in the budnting. it's not in the theatrics. they've got to take that

seriously. go to mother emanuel. that is an iconic place not just in south carolina, but should be in the nation. it's an opportunity also to talk about the wages of hate, the dangers of white nationalism, christian nationalism to our collective culture. the historic and periodic resistance to multiracial democracy that has characterized our country's history, and try to bring that all together, but you're also going to have do that in a way that makes them feel you understand their kitchen table issues and say, this is what i'll deliver in a way that's bigger than me. >> when you talk to campaign folks, the drive towards the state of the union address in march which is what we're seeing in both the event on saturday and the event today and in the next couple of weeks will be a critical thing. back to clyburn because jim clyburn, for people who forget, you know, he made joe biden president of the united states. >> that's right. >> biden folks acknowledge that, like, without him, joe biden does not do what he did in the primaries and shock everybody. i'm pretty sure he was wearing a

clyburn fish fry shirt under that. >> yeah. great event by the way. >> they listened to him at the white house for good reason, and what i was struck by was not only what he said there, which i think resonates, but our team had a follow-up interview with him where he made the point, and biden is so effective because people feel joe biden. this is what you are saying. when he's out, people feel him. he can talk about what he's doing and what he wants to do, and it resonates in a different way than here's an ad or here's a speech, or here's, you know, a teleprompter. do they understand that? does the campaign understand that? >> the campaign does understand that. they're also trying to figure out how to manage things about his age, right? this is the fundamental question that shows up in every single community about why people are concerned about joe biden is about his age, and i think, you know, grandpa joe might be the thing that people finally rally around. we're looking at chaos on one side and they're trying to say, oh, well, donald trump wants to take the country in a direction

that none of us really agree with. we've seen it in three separate elections, 2018, 2020, and 2022 versus joe biden who is trying to hold this country together and actually take us to the future. >> and there's got to be a way to do it. you talk about the theatrics, there's got to be a way to theatrically doing it that shows joe biden in a positive light and not a negative light. there are presidents that were paralyzed and nobody knew it. there are ways to make this -- i know it's a different era. >> slightly. i appreciate the woodrow wilson reference early this morning, but it's got to be about a cause bigger than an individual, right? that's the dell al here. you're running against someone who tried to overthrow our democracy and this should not be a close race, but it clearly is in part, because you've got four independent candidates skewing the numbers and you've got a country in real trouble, and this is going to rise above. it's not going to be about loyalty to what you just renamed as grandfather joe. >> another step in that process

today. >> it's about americans having their own future and seeing joe biden as the person who can help guide them versus the alternative which is the chaotic -- >> we'll see them in south carolina as the campaign continues. thank you as always. appreciate it. the supreme court will decide if donald trump is eligible to be on the primary ballot in colorado. our legal minds break down how this decision could all play out, and if any of the justices may recuse themselves. don't bet on it. plus this -- >> we have ignition, and liftoff of the first united launch alliance alliance have you can mission. >> what researchers plan to do with human remains on the moon's surface.

welcome back. antony blinken is on his way to saudi arabia. he will meet with the crown prince. this is his fourth trip to the middle east since the hamas terrorist attack on october 7th. this time, over fears the war in gaza could expand over the region. hostage talks wtook place. he says that displaced palestinians must be allowed to return home. he t recent killing of a hamas leader in beirut could affect these fragile hostage negotiations. jennifer chance llor is joining us. let's start with we're hearing. >> reporter: good morning, poppy. hearing this very strong message from the secretary throughout his trips in the region throughout these several countries he's visited so far about the need to stop this conflict from spreading.

we know from a senior state department official that blinken was going to be pushing the leaders of these countries who do have ties to iran, that do have ties to grioups like hezbollah and hamas to not spread this any further. we have seen a great uptick in the potential for this flame to be out of control in recent weeks. we saw the strike in recent weeks to take out a senior hamas leader. we have seen the houthis in the red sea who are backing iran, increasing their aggression and attacking ship there is, and we have seen a steady stream of iraq and syria against u.s. interests. there is a huge amount at stake here as the secretary is in the region, and of course, these talks are all coming ahead of his meetings in tel aviv. this is the fifth time the secretary is traveling to israel. he is going to be, again, in the

faces of these israeli officials to press them to stem the war, help stop the conflict from spreading, and also to protect civilians and he's also pushing this message as you said to allow palestinians to return to their homes who have been displaced by the massive toll of the war. take a listen. >> palestinian civilians must be able to return home as soon as conditions allow. they cannot -- they must not be pressed to leave gaza. we reject the statements by some israeli ministers and lawmakers calling for a resettlement of palestinians outside of gaza. these statements are irresponsible, they're inflammatory, and they only make it harder to secure a future of a palestinian-led gaza with hamas no longer in control, and with terrorist groups no longer able to threaten israel's security. >> so a strong rebuke from some of these comment that is we've seen from far-right israeli officials, however, a u.n. official said that gaza is now

inhospitable. a lot remains before these palestinians are, in fact, able to return to their homes. phil, poppy? >> jenny hanseler, thank you so much. now to capitol hill. this comes after house speaker mike johnson reached a spending deal with chuck schumer on top-line spending levels. it marks a critical first step towards averting a shutdown with just 11 days until the deadline, but the right flank is calling the deal, quote, total failure. lauren fox joins us. does this mean there won't be a shutdown. >>. >> reporter: it doesn't guarantee there won't be a shutdown, phil, but it sets both democrats and republicans on the right track to try and avoid one. in some ways the deal that was reached and announced yesterday looks a lot like the top line negotiation that was part of the debt ceiling deal that passed during the summer, and in part, that is no coincidence because it is the deal that republicans

and democrats really find as the middle ground. what this deal includes is $886 billion in defense spending, about $704 billion in non-defense spending with an agreement to also reprogram about $69 billion in non-defense spending. that also was part of the debt ceiling deal. in some ways, phil, this really puts mike johnson in the exact same position that former house speaker kevin mccarthy found himself in after that debt ceiling deal passed in june with the house conservatives really revolting against mccarthy. the question now becomes, how do conservatives react? already, they're saying this deal is worse than they thought, but many of those members are the same ones who would never vote for a spending deal to begin with. so right now the first spending deadline is coming up on january 19th. there's a second deadline for the rest of government funding on february 2nd. it looks promising that they have taken this step, but now

they have to write the bill, agree where all this money is going, and that is, again, another hurdle that republicans and democrat haves going to have to iron out in the days ahead. phil, poppy? >> not at the finish line yet, lauren fox. thank you. well, ahead, more on those new developments overnight. what we're learning about the moment a chunk of a passenger plane ripped off of a flight. the chair of the safety board will join n us in a a moment.

well, it's finally here. the college football national championship game will kick off just hours from now in houston which is where we find coy wire who is going to explain to everybody why you should absolutely not -- >> did you not read that line on purpose? >> why you have to root for washington tonight. >> he doesn't want to read michigan. >> why america has to root for washington. right? that's what you want to talk about? >> we're going to start with talking about phil's favorite to win this game, clearly michigan. he will be dry heaving while this game goes on as he sees michigan play for their first h title since 1997, and they made it despite jim harbaugh missing six game this is season. it was over recruiting violation

suspension, and three more due to a sign-stealing scandal which led to a coach being fired, and those wolverines are undefeated, 14-0, and they figured out how to overcome distraction and adversity. listen to some of the players. >> all the adversity we have been through this year, you know, with coach harbaugh and all the allegations and stuff like that, i feel like it's brought us closer together and made us a better team. >> it brought us closer. it made us more of a team, more trusting of a brotherhood. so i think it was, you know, i hate we went through it, but it's good we went through it allowing us to be here in this moment, and, you know, nothing can affect us. it's always us against everybody. >> it'll be michigan against that undefeated washington team. 21-game win streak. the longest in the nation. heisman finalist michael penix throwing to arguably the greaters receiving trio in the nation. it is a michigan favorite by 4 1/2, even 5 1/2 points by some. the fans are p