♪ ♪ >> the final push before presidential primary season

begins. republican candidates with just one more week to sway voters in iowa. can they close the gap with front runner donald trump? plus, trump filing a motion in georgia asking how his case dismissed and why his lawyers are arguing why that case is unconstitutional. the critical find in the alaska airlines investigation, all things to bob the teacher, the missing part of the plane was found in his backyard, by him. we are following these major developing stories and many more coming in right here to "cnn news central". in just one week iowa republicans will be the first voters in the nation making their choice for the 2024 presidential nominee. if you have been following this contest you know that donald trump is enjoying a very holding lead in the hawkeye

state. but this week of the former president is pulling back a bit from the campaign trail. >> not out of confidence but for some 40 dates, so that gives his rivals like nikki haley and governor ron desantis one final stretch to chip away at his lead, his sizable lead, cnn's even mccann is on the scene, so even, however trumps allies trying to capitalize during this final week. >> reporter: i should start out with the big story of the day on the campaign trail. this weather and the snow coming down here. nikki haley forced to cancel an event, and ramaswami and his wife are supposed to appear at an event, she veered alone, she was able to make it into another campaign event. not by private plane like he usually travels but by campaign bus. and then for surrogates for former president donald trump were not able to make the relevance today, so this comes during crunch time, a critical

period of one week out one a time when all of these candidates need this face time with iowans, and the weather is throwing a wrinkle in that. but yes, former president donald trump's legal challenges certainly giving nikki haley, and governor ron desantis an opening to make an argument that they have long made, that the former president just has too much going on to really focus on the issues of the most concern to iowans. take a listen to how this sounds on the campaign trail. >> i think if we are relitigating the past elections and if it is about donald trump or his legal issues, or criminal trials all of that stuff. i think it's going to be a really nasty election i don't think that puts republicans in a good position. >> he was really good at breaking things. he just wasn't good at fixing them. and now we look at the fact, rightly or wrongly. chaos follows him. you know that i'm right. chaos follows him. and we can't have a country in

disarray, and the world on fire and go through four more years of chaos, we will not survive it. >> reporter: exit weather permitting, we will see what these candidates are able to get back out on the trail, that is the big question here, briand, and just one week to go, and some and tell me they are still undecided. >> wow, still undecided, that is a beautiful coat, i think you might have to trade that in for a parka before you turn into an iowa popsicle with all of the snow coming down. >> reporter: yes, indeed. >> all right, thanks. in the meantime, former president donald trump working to throw out some of the legal challenges, that are threatening his bid, for the white house, today his lawyers are filing a new motion to dismiss and election subversion case that is underway in georgia. >> it is all happening a day before federal appeals court, d.c. said to weigh in on a key

question of presidential immunity, cnn zach cohen joins us now, so zach what is the legal team saying in this latest filing. >> reporter: trump's attorneys are arguing that the criminal case against him in georgia should be dismissed because he is protected by presidential immunity, so that means, he can't be prosecuted for things, that he did while he was in office. the core of the argument is really the idea, that things that trump was doing like pressuring department of justice officials to investigate cases of voter fraud or pushing mike pence to overturn the election on january 6th, that fell within the scope of his presidential duties, his official duties, that is what trump's lawyers are arguing, if that sounds familiar that is because it is, it is almost identical to the argument that's attorneys are making in the federal case, that the elections subversion case, here in washington, d.c., we will hear more on this argument of question of immunity, and trump is expected to be present for those arguments, back in

the georgia case, the immunity argument was not the only thing that we saw from trump's attorneys, they are also trying to get this case thrown out, by saying that trump is facing double jeopardy, for example, if a trial is to happen in georgia, because he was tried and impeached and tried -- and acquitted by the senate. for his acts on january 6th. they argue that his due process was violated, because he was not informed, in an appropriate amount of time, that is worth about the 2020 election to be criminalized, and there is a flurry of activity, and a deadline for trump's attorneys to file these pretrial motions in georgia but obviously a lot of parallels with what is going on in the federal case in a big day tomorrow as arguments will happen on this question of immunity. >> zach:, keep us updated with the latest. let's expand the conversation with senior contributor kevin zarrella, and washington correspondent for the ian mitchell, thank you both for being with us. so, kevin, trump is in court, in this last week of the or before the iowa caucuses, his

opponents are in iowa, campaigning right now but it doesn't seem like a moment of weakness for him, his campaign seems confident. >> they are confident but also paranoid, if you go back all the way back to 2016 i remember being in iowa for his first caucus contest. and he lost he came in second place but behind senator ted cruz, that is haunting, that has haunted them, as they get ready for this, he launched the state, four rallies within two days, attacking jack smith and attacking president biden, attacking the legal system in the supreme court. as well is also attacking nikki haley, and ron desantis. but for him, he wants to keep the focus on the general election argument, he feels that is the best strategy at this point. >> we know the weather is throwing a wrench into things, and folks on be out there, that is going to make it tough but to what are you watching for? >> i am watching for a few things, number one, i think for any other candidate, and having

to be drawn away to focus on these court battles, would be seen as something that is for her to the campaign but for donald trump it is almost baked into the campaign, it is almost part of his campaign, because we know a big theme of this campaign is the victimhood and painting all of these cases as attacks on him, as well as attacks on his supporters., so these motions in georgia, and all of these court cases tomorrow, they are a part of his campaign and a part of the get out the vote effort. meanwhile, you do have ron desantis, nikki haley and to a lesser extent, vivek ramaswamy in iowa, doing the more traditional campaigning. and again, the weather is a factor, that is what makes the caucuses interesting because you have to show up in person on monday. or it does not count. >> can we also say that trump is not expected to show up to that final debate, when you have haley and desantis, that is going to be an opportunity for these iowans and really the rest of the nation, to see who

is the final republican that they would like to see go up against trump, after iowa, because when you have nikki haley and i thought this was strategic and you just touched on it which is absolutely correct in the sense that nikki haley is saying that you might consider ron desantis to be her running mate. and that she's open to that. that is clearly trying to draw that immediate contrast, and that contrast is going to be on full display. >> tia, let's look at the other side of president joe biden today, in south carolina, talking about president trump, discussing potential negotiated settlement, as it ending to civil war, and a way to avoid the civil war, he also alluded to nikki here we, comments of causes of civil war. first of all, striking at the civil war as part of the political discussion. but also, that is territory

that is comfortable, for president biden, pointed republicans and, they are trying to rewrite history. >> i thought it was interesting that he is starting to draw parallels between the lost cause movement, which is the retelling of the manipulation of the civil war, and its true origins and now saying, there is a new lost cause, that retailing and manipulation of the 2020 election and to the january 6th attack on the capitol, so, you know biden and his speechwriters are really driving that point home, as we have said, making that contrast, particularly with donald trump, as they say, this is more than just who is going to win and occupy the white house. the very pillars of democracy are at stake and again, there are a lot of factors that are going to contribute to how people cast their votes in november. but i think, they believe, that this is one of them and particularly, i think we were talking before the show about whether it is about black voters, but older voters, and

pragmatic black voters, and voters remember the struggles of the civil rights movement, these types of messages, they resonate. >> when you have got him going to pennsylvania, and a moment of history, for the united states and going to mother emmanuel church, down in south carolina, pennsylvania, south carolina, the democrats are forecasting their map that they see of a road back to the white house. >> it does resonate, we talk about it everybody's talking about it. republican candidates are talking about it. right, you can see even ron desantis criticizing trump for what he said. but i wonder what you guys think about for the primary audience. and also, how much it really resonates with voters for the general election, because it does seem, that there is a propensity, recently in the republican party to gravitate towards revisionist history, that there is a desire among the base for that. we have seen that in florida

with ron desantis, when it comes to, some of the testing there. what do you think. >> i think it's interesting in the republican party, there is such a split between what wins a primary and what makes a candidate viable in the general election and in a battleground state, or in a contested state. so we are seeing, we see the way that nikki haley and ron desantis and donald trump speak when they believe that they are speaking to their base, and particularly when it comes to nikki haley, ron desantis, that has tripped them up, when they have been asked about how does that message resonate for a more general crowd, on issues like race, now donald trump is a little bit different because he has thrown caution to the wind about how he speaks about a lot of things and we know that is kind of the baked into his brain. but particularly with nikki haley and ron desantis. i think there is conflict there, that has drawn criticism, nikki haley was accused when she had that bad

answer about the civil war. of trying to change her response this speak to a primary crowd at the base, and assuming that they didn't want to hear the truth about the civil war. >> trump really wants this thing put away after the south carolina primary, after michigan, right around super tuesday, but i can tell you this, if nikki haley comes in second place in iowa. it is over for ron desantis. it is done, how to be justified to keep moving forward, but if desantis is able to beat expectations, would that give him enough momentum, it is all about momentum heading into new hampshire, to justify him. there is a clear economic vision difference between nikki haley and ron desantis, one that is traditional to a lot of republican voters historically speaking with republican party politics. but trump as you just said, he blew it up, so where does that go, we don't know yet. >> so we will wait and watch. thank you so much for the

conversation. just five days before the iowa caucuses, a make or break night for republican presidential hopefuls, the cnn republican presidential debate, live from iowa, moderated by our jake tapper, and dana bash, wednesday at 9:00 p.m. eastern. is still to come, boeing sending instructions to airlines, operating the grounded 737 max nine, a large chunk of an alaska airlines plane, tearing off midflight, that broken section, found by a schoolteacher named bob, in his backyard. plus, a senior hezbollah commander killed in southern lebanon, pulling more concerns that the war with hamas could expand into a wider conflict. later, the u.s. homeland security secretary meeting border enforcement officials in texas, as house republicans prepare impeachment proceedings against him. we will have those stories and much more coming up on "cnn news central".

federal officials are combing through evidence as they are trying to figure out what went wrong when part of an alaska airlines plane ripped off in the middle of the flight. brand-new images show from the -- pardon me -- brand-new images from the data to show that investigators recovered the door plug from somebody's yard, bob's yard, in fact. in portland, oregon, this fell off the plane shortly after takeoff. the agency also says that to cell phones, amazingly, that fell from 16,000 feet, they were likely flung from the plane. >> it blows my mind that you can see the picture of this phone, seemingly just fine. >> it had the protective glass cover, you can see it. >> my phone falls out of the

pocket and it cracks. >> well you just need a protective cover, that's clear. in the days before friday's incident, the pressurization system went off three times pumping the airline to restrict the plane from flying long-haul flights over water, the ntsb says it's unclear if those warnings were related to the door plug that broke off, midflight, they're trying to figure out if there's an association, joining us now, cnn safety analyst and former fah safety inspector, david susie, but first go to mike valerio in portland who has the latest. mike, the public playing a big role, not only bob, who found the plane part but also the folks that found the cell phone? >> reporter: that is right, i think that's the understatement of the day, we will start with bob first and foremost and go to our other heroes of this investigation, our civilian heroes but as we push and beyond this runway here, this is the aircraft in question, flight 1282, a little bit windswept in our position.

and what is going to be happening in the next few hours, is that the door plug will be making its way, from bob's, backyard, to the tarmac, to write in front of that hanger. and the go team from the ntsb will be comparing what they see in terms of signs of wear and tear, i do want to say wear and tear but any signs that could be helpful further investigation comparing to what they see on the door. to the door that is still in place, facing us, the whole is on the side of the aircraft facing away from our point of view. so when we talk about who has made discoveries before bob, there were two people, one of the front yard and one person walking along the street, in the search area about a 15 minute drive away from where we are standing. we have confirmation that at least one of them is in amazing

condition, as you were describing a few minutes ago. as soon as it was unlocked, you can tell that it had an alaska airlines baggage receipt on it. i don't listen to me, let's hear from shawn bates, he is the one who found the phone. let's listen. >> i was skeptical at first, i was thinking this can be thrown out of the car, but, i found it, and it was still pretty clean, no scratches on it. sitting under a bush. and it didn't have a screen lock on it. so i opened it up and it was in airplane mode, with a travel confirmation and a baggage claim, for alaska 1282. >> reporter: so, where things stand, there's a news conference that was announced for 7:00 p.m., we will hopefully get a better understanding of whether the go team has started to whittle down the possibilities of how this all happened of course. >> critical questions.

>> and out to david, there are some fun details between bob and the phone surviving, which we can sort of joke a little bit about because everyone is okay in this. but it really could have gone a different way, there are serious issues that need to be looked at, about what happened here. what are your questions right now? -- i think we are having an audio issue with david, we will try to re-establish that. -- oh, here we go, we have solved the problem. david can you heroes? >> yes, can you hear me okay now? >> yes. talk to us. >> okay, so a couple questions i have right now, the primary one is, who touched the door last and who put it on and who inspected it, what went on with the door, it appears to me to be obvious, that it wasn't

installed properly, i don't think we're looking at a manufacturing defect or anything like that. this aircraft flew for a long time. and there were also indications that there may have been some problems with the pressurization before it came off. >> it is odd to me, that they would get the flashing sensor going off, saying that there is an issue with rasterization. and yet, this plane could still fly, how is that possible. >> well, that system has one job, and it is to tell the pilots when the pressurization drops below 10,000 feet inside of the aircraft. or above that actually, it is an inverse relationship, but when it does that, it tells the pilot that something is leaking and there is pressurization going outside, so they need to investigate that. the second question i was mentioning before, the second question is, was that investigated properly, or, as the chairwoman said, they could have just been not related. i think that is a stretch.

i think in my estimation as a mechanic, having worked on these airplanes before, when that happens there is something going on and you cannot just reset the system that monitors it which is apparently what they did which was reset the system and then decide, we are going to fly it but not fly over water for a long period of time. so let's fly up and watch it. >> talk to us about that, i find that so strange, late december, pressurization issue, pressurization issues on january 3rd and fourth. and, you know i guess it is okay, based on regulation, i don't know we have lost david again. -- unfortunately. so many questions but to the point there -- three times in close proximity, where the pressurization has dropped and they are still allowed to fly

it and they just have this restriction on it. i think there are going to be some questions now. unbelievable pictures here, about whether or not you should be able to do that. >> absolutely and on david's point before he got cut off, whether that was investigated thoroughly enough to figure out the cause of the issue. obviously we have to leave the conversation there. really incredible that nobody was hurt from that chunk of the plane, just blasting open. our thanks to david susie, we hope to have them on again. still plenty more to come on "cnn news central", when we come back, alejandra new york is, is visiting the border crisis, just days before house republicans, could begin impeachment proceedings against him. we will discuss with republican congresswoman beth van , that is after a quick break.

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(son) hey dad, can the guys stay for dinner? (dad) no... (vo) want to see everything fargo can do? you can, with wells fargo. right now, homeland security secretary, alejandro mayorkas at the u.s. border with mexico meeting with officials in what is being called an operational visit for immigration enforcement. his trip follows a huge surge in migrant crossings, the largest in more than two decades, border authorities say they encountered more than 225,000 migrants in december that is more than 10,000 daily, right now more than 11,000 migrant children are in u.s. government custody, with us now we have republican congresswoman benson been kind of taxes, congresswoman, thank you so much for taking time to be with us. a lot of focus right now among

republicans about impeaching secretary alejandro mayorkas, what is the case for that ? -- congresswoman, can you hear me? i think we might also be having a technical issue here. all right, we will take a quick break and we will be right back to talk about this key issue of immigration. see you in just a moment.

we are trying to work out some technical issues there to get congresswoman beth back with us but we are not working them out quickly enough to get her out the door to her flight, so that she can do that. we are going to have her back to talk about this all- important issue of immigration on another day. in the meantime tracking a ton of other stories including jonathan major's breaking his silence, the once rising hollywood star, gave his first interview, since a jury convicted him last month of harassment and reckless assault. >> major says he was reckless with his ex-girlfriend, grace jabbari's hard never physically abused her and he admits the relationship was toxic and unhealthy, that is the word he used, unhealthy but says he was shocked by the verdict. >> i was absolutely shocked. and when the verdict comes down, how was that possible?

based off of the evidence, based off the prosecution's evidence. let alone our evidence. how is that possible. i shouldn't have been in the car. i shouldn't have stepped out of the relationship. i shouldn't have been in the relationship, if i'm not in the car. none of this is happening. if i leave the relationship, none of this is happening. >> majors is facing up to a year in jail and he plans to appeal, sentencing is next month. now some of the other headlines are you watching, dr. anthony fauci, the former top administration voice me covid pandemic began the first of two days of closed-door questioning by republican-led house subcommittee members on the pandemic lawmakers plan to grill him for 14 hours, focusing on the origins of covid-19 the vaccines, mask mandates and his role in the government's response. the panel says that he has

agreed to testify to a public hearing later this year. also a huge winter storm is bringing dangerous weather to the central and eastern u.s., heavy snow and blizzard conditions already sweeping across the plains, and the midwest. a tornado watch has just been issued for houston, this is the first of what will likely be several tornado watches today and tonight along the gulf coast, while the south and northeast are bracing for a serious flood threat, with strong winds and the possibility of widespread power outages, more than 100 million people are under wind alerts through tomorrow. today the supreme court declined to hear a challenge to a california law, banning the sale of flavored tobacco products in the state. in 2020, democratic governor gavin newsom signed into law, then all flavored tobacco products, including mental cigarettes and the band was in

response to concerns about a rise in e-cigarette and tobacco use by teenagers. is still to come, the republican party of florida voting to oust its chairman amid a sexual assault investigation, we will have more on that, next.

we are learning that the republican party of florida has removed its chairman as a basis a sexual assault investigation, gop leadership this afternoon to formally vote on ousting christian ziegler, he was suspended and stripped of duties last month. the party leader refused to step down, police are

investigating an accusation against him, he has maintained his innocence and has not yet been charged. let's go to cnn's carlos suarez in tallahassee with the latest. carlos, what can you tell us? >> reporter: christian ziegler has had few if any allies, in the end, the vote to remove him wasn't even close. 199 to 3 said that christian ziegler had to go as chair of the florida republican party, party officials across the state of florida from governor ron desantis to florida's two senators as well as florida congressman, including matt gates all wanted to see him go. since the details of the sexual scandal first broke back in october. these allegations that christian ziegler sexually assaulted a woman that he had had in previous consensual sexual encounters along with his wife, bridget ziegler, the former cofounder of the moms

for liberty group, it is important to note that christian ziegler has not been charged criminally, he was not in attendance at today's meeting and so far he has not commented on his ouster, now, we are told from party officials, that they are really just trying to get past this sexual scandal, they said that you are now in a presidential year, there is also the start of the florida legislative session that gets underway tomorrow, so they really want to put all of this behind them, and here is the new chairman of the florida republican party, as well as other top republicans here in florida, talking about today's move. >> i think it is a blip on the radar, we will pick up today fundraising wise and move the party forward, i don't think it will be a long-term impact. >> we elected him to represent us. and, you know he didn't do the best that he could. so, he had to go, it's all about accountability. >> carlos, how does this affect florida republicans, what does it mean for them?

>> reporter: well, as you kind of heard there, evan was talking about, he acknowledged really and some of his answers after he was elected chairman, that he thought that the party had taken a bit of a head when it comes to fundraising. though, he set a part of the reason that they believe that was the case because there was uncertainty with the leadership. now, no stranger to trying to get to this position, he served as vice chair, under christian ziegler, in fact he ran against him, the last time around and he lost, also one of the first folks to call for christian to step down because of all of these allegations, again, breanna, the officials that we talked to out here, for the better part of the day, as well as the weeks before we got to this all told me that they really believe that there was nothing that christian ziegler can say at this point, they really did not want to hear anything more from him. they want him to simply step aside, and when he chose not to, they really had no choice but to remove him. again, the vote was not even

close, 199 to 3, to get them out. >> that is lopsided, carlos suarez, thank you for that report. boris? and israeli strike has killed a senior militant commander of hezbollah, and his death is stoking fears of a war in the middle east, that is because the commander targeted, but belonged to a stronger more organized ally in lebanon, hezbollah, the strike went down, not in gaza, but in lebanon, near the border with israel. all of this happening as secretary of state antony blinken is more than halfway through a tour in the middle east, trying to keep this conflict from spreading, let's turn out to cnn chief national security correspondent , alex. let's talk about this senior hezbollah commander who was killed, who was he? >> reporter: he really was, a senior member of hezbollah, this is probably the highest profile operation that israel has carried out against hezbollah, in the past few

months, since this war broke out back on october 7th. and he was hit in a drone strike, in southern lebanon, we have seen these strikes between israel and hezbollah, for the past few months. but not only was this senior commander killed but as you noted, it comes on the heels of the hamas leader, who was killed in beirut, just last week in another strike by israel, so taken together, this really does ratchet up the concerns, that a second front could be opened up in northern israel, that hezbollah, will ramp up their efforts in terms of targeting israeli forces. now we heard from secretary anthony blinken, crisscrossing the region, just arrived in israel, but before he took off in his flight to israel. he talked about how it is in no one's interest, to see this war expand. take a listen. >> it is not in the interest of anyone. to see this escalate.

and you can see a conflict. and the israelis have been very clear for us, and when you want to find a diplomatic there will and also allows lebanese to return. >> when you look at the areas of concern, boris, outside of gaza, u.s. officials have told us repeatedly that there is the potential for a second front with has blood that keeps them up at night. we have secretary blinken in israel and he has meetings tomorrow. he will be talking about what he calls the absolute imperative to protect civilians and he will be ramping up the pressure for israel, for their military campaign to shift from these high-intensity operations to lower intensity operations.

>> alex, there is no video of hostages released by jihad. walk us through that. >> this is a reminder that it is not just thomas holding these hostages. it is a multitude of groups. this is a video of a 47-year- old from the, boots --, but many were -- his mother was kidnapped and taken into gaza. she has since been released and in the video, i want to read part of what he said. he said, he wants to tell the government of israel to get him back into end the war. with each day of the war more soldiers and hostages are being killed. stop the war and bring hostages home in peace.

he talked about fearing for his life and how dangerous it is for the hostages. i was in israel a couple of weeks ago and spoke with hostages and their families that were released. and they told the government that the israeli military are endangering the lives of hostages. there are so many people in israel that do not believe that prime minister benjamin netanyahu is doing enough to bring hostages home and boris, i can tell you from talking with a lot of sources, the hostage talks are progressing but they are not getting anywhere fast. it is not likely we will see another round of hostage release anytime soon. >> alex, thank you for the update. stay with cnn. we will be back in just a few minutes.

a revamped golden globe show served as the kickoff of award season last night. at the big winners, succession and last somerset foams, barbie, and oppenheimer to come gold. >> not only did they kickoff award season but they give us some hints as to who could be recognized during the enemies. >> i love you go so much. i must've done something right to be in your company. >> reporter: gratitude was a theme at the golden globe awards. jeremy allen white and -- on for "the bear." >> and that is my family. i love you so much.

"beef" also took awards. >> our show is based on a road rage incident that happened to me so i would be remiss to not say thank you to that driver. >> reporter: succession was the biggest winner. acting awards for matthew mcfadden and sarah snook. >> this was a team method. it was always a team and that is what made the show amazing to be a part of. >> reporter: on the film side, lily gladstone began her speech in her blackfoot language after her win for "killers of the flower moon." >> this is for every little reservoir kid who has a dream and has seen themselves represented and our stories told . >> reporter: "poor things" won

honors for emma stone. >> william, mark, romy, he made every day an absolute joy. >> reporter: the next big winner was "oppenheimer." there were acting honors, the score, and more. >> one of the most vulnerable things about being an actor is you cannot do it on your own. >> i accept this on behalf of people. directors bring people together and we try to get people together at their best. >> reporter: from hollywood i am david daniel. anything there you were excited about? >> it did not watch last night. i watched the dolphins get destroyed by buffalo. >> i followed online but i loved "beef" and i loved "the bear." it was so excited to see those. >> congratulations to them. >>