>> there were so many questions and he pivoted off of them saying there is a 30 day review and they would look at it. there are questions, including ones that you could ascertain answers to, but they are not answering at this point in time. i want to get to warren lieberman at the pentagon who has been tracking this. what did you think? >> there were two sets of questions, one was the medical aspect of all of this. the other was on the notification problems and the fact that president joe biden did not know his defense secretary was in the hospital. on the medical side, we talked about the medical procedures, the diagnosis of prostate cancer in early december, a minimally invasive procedure where he was under anesthesia. we have known that defense secretary kat hicks nor president biden was notified he was in the hospital. we now know he was under general

anesthesia and then we learn a week later on january 1st the discomfort he was feeling, the source of that discomfort was a urinary tract infection. as we have learned that part, in terms of his return to duty, major general pat ryder did not say he was on medication but his decision to return and resume duties even as he was in the hospital was done with full consultation with his doctors and with the medical staff. there is also a question as to why this was called an elective medical procedure. i will speculate, the doctor will have a better sense on why it was called elective medical procedure or some aspect was elective because the pentagon did not have an answer. then there were the questions that were pointed out on notification. this is where the process broke down and failed. essentially ryder kept kicking to this 30 day review. my colleague asked, the review starts, looking at the timeline on january 1st, why does the

start wanted december 22nd when he first went to the hospital? writers answer is the lessons learned from january 1st on will be applicable in reverse. they will still apply on notification procedures. is also unclear when the chief of staff and senior advisor new on january second within 24 hours why did they not pass this on or know how. at this point the chief of staff had the flu and for some reason was not able to make notification or pass on the responsibility of notifying the president and others. there are still some questions about the notification process but also worth pointing out that the person ordering the review, the chief of staff is the person that ryder said had the responsibility. the person at fault initiated the review. we will have to see what comes

as a result. he also said the secretary has no intention of resigning and this chief of staff has no intention of residing and was invited will not ask the defense secretary to resign. in terms of travel, meetings, and upcoming events, that will be taken as they come and his recovery. his recovery is going well and there is a slow prognosis because the prostate cancer was diagnosed early. as much as we have answers on the medical side, we wait to learn more about the notification side and the failure to notify the president and other senior officials. >> oren , please stand by for it i want to go to who has been standing by. general, we understand that you have a personal relationship with the secretary of defense. i believe you described him as a friend. first, i want to get your reaction to the news that he dealt with prostate cancer and also get your perspective on the issue of transparency

and why perhaps the pentagon, he was not more forthcoming with the infection. >> i do have to state that secretary austin and i do have a personal relation, we were west point classmates, he was my commander in iraq and he is a good friend and i think highly of him. having said that, i think some of the things that were pointed out are all considering factors to what happened with the lack of transparency. the first thing is, you need to know every general officer and senior military official goes through a yearly physical. every year you are updated on your psa and all other factors of your help the military does that to make sure that they are not embarrassed by someone dying or being injured on active duty.

that is embarrassing. secretary austin is used to doing that number one. number two there is privacy requirements as dr. reinhardt mentioned. this is a tough kind of injury or illness to open up about from for most males. it was important that he got these tests on a yearly basis and something changed and he said let's take care of it, which brings me to my third point. secretary austin, i will put it in military psyche approach, when a military officer is injured or hurt, the first reaction is, buck up, continue on, drive on. that is the military approach to all injuries and illnesses, even when you are sick. the fourth thing that contributes to this is secretary austin's personality. i know him well, he is very much an introvert, he is very much a private person. he keeps his cards close to his

vest and he works his butt off. i think that contributed as well. he thought he could go in and out of walter reed during his leave., at this operation that the doctors recommended, probably not evasive, and get back to work immediately and that was probably his plan until he started suffering a couple of days later. does any of that excuse the action of him not notifying or his staff not notifying this? absolutely not. the key is, the press conference today with all the special details of his illness, that is not something that usually happens. i am sure to try to tempt down some of the lack of transparency comments or are you going to resign comments, secretary austin had to have been asked and gave permission to let it all loose and tell everyone what happened. the last thing i will point out, sorry i'm going on for so

long, it is the review process that has been talked about. the military is famous for their after action reviews where they say what happened, why did it happen, what do we do to make a difference and change it for the better, who is responsible? it is sort of a scab picking, if you will, of things that go wrong. i know secretary austin's chief of staff, she will conduct a good review, and she will take responsibility for anything that went wrong as the secretary has already done. >> to your point, he is private , clearly someone who schedules his prostatectomy, the friday before christmas monday does not want that to be the topic of the pentagon briefing. this then turned into complications and dr. reinert, back to you on that, people look at these complications and they say he was in the hospital for many days, however, he

apparently and we were hearing questions about this during the briefing, did not lose consciousness. he actually had a tube put in through his nose going into his stomach. it seems like it is not unusual for a nasogastric tube to be placed without general anesthesia, it is sort of a numbing spray, correct? >> having had one at some point in my life, i will tell you it is not a pleasant experience and one i hope never to repeat. his intestines were probably dysfunctional and probably distended, it is a way to decompress the intestinal circuit when it is not working. we learned some interesting things. secretary austin was described as a minimally evasive which was probably laparoscopic

surgery. i would not say that it is minimally evasive it is less evasive. instead of opening the abdomen or the pelvis with a large incision small sort of stabbing decisions were made and robot arms were inserted and operate using video scopic assistance. it is really elegant surgery and it shortens the recovery. it allows people to go home sooner. not uncommon for people to go home that night. that would have been done with general anesthesia with the patient on conscience unconscious. it sounds like this was an abdominal or pelvic abscess. they mentioned he had to have fluid drained. it sounds like he had an abscess which led to an infection and that led to sepsis

, requiring icu stay which almost certainly also required antibiotics. we have been told he was in tremendous amount of pain. that would have come along with painkillers, including narcotics. what i will say in general, since i am wearing a white coat, it sounds like general, secretary austin will make a complete recovery, not just from the complications, but in the long term from his cancer and that is the best news. from a personal standpoint that is important to stress. i will also say that anyone who is sick enough to be admitted into the intensive care unit, should not be making national defense recommendations to the president . as a physician who has taken care of high-profile people being admitted to hospitals, i would say it would be

inconceivable if he were sick from an infection or requiring antibiotics, particularly in the early days of his admission into walter reed that he would be in a proper position to make sensitive recommendations throughout his command structure. >> that is a fascinating point. i want to pivot to the white house. how is this being received in the oval office? >> first and foremost, white house officials have consistently said that their number one concern is secretary austin's well-being. -- including at a white house briefing that is set to begin in the moment to emphasize that point and wish him a speedy and successful recovery as he continues his treatment. what is clear is this whole issue has prompted this governmentwide review of what should happen in this kind of situation. all of this had

created a lot of confusion, even inside the white house with seniormost national security advisors, including the senior person at the white house, president biden, having been in the dark about the fact that secretary austin had been hospitalized for days. the discussion that was had about the ability for someone in his position, when he is going through these kinds of health issues, are they capable of advising the president on sensitive matters? just to point you to earlier reporting which i think underscores how unusual this situation was. just as an example, on new year's day, this was the day that secretary austin was hospitalized, he participated as cnn reported a few days ago, in a meeting with the president and other national security officials in the biden administration to discuss,

among other things, the escalating situation in the red sea. these are sensitive national security matters we are talking about that the secretary presumably would have made on the day that he was hospitalized . as for that review that we heard mentioned at the pentagon press briefing, this is a governmentwide review that white house chief of staff actually circulated a memo about to all the different cabinet secretaries and all of the agencies. they now have a matter of days to submit to him the protocols that each of the agencies would follow when there is a delegation of authority situation that comes up and they made it clear, in a situation like this, when a cabinet secretary is hospitalized, when they travel to a place where there is no communication, these protocols need to be followed. i think the other thing we will hear is something we have heard before from the white house is

that the president does continue to have full confidence in secretary austin. >> it is not just hypothetical. this is on the evening of january 4th, biden found out what was going on, but it was earlier that day that there was a strike in baghdad on a militant leader responding to strikes on u.s. assets in the region. >> that is right. you think about the incredibly sensitive, highly volatile issues that this administration and this white house has been contending with, particularly over the past few weeks with the situation being so volatile in the middle east. this is what i was referring to before, this is a. in time that the administration and top national security officials in the administration were contending with, so many different issues that were highly sensitive and

just that illustration that i gave before, on a day that he was actually hospitalized because of complications from that initial procedure, the secretary of defense was in a position where he was participating in a meeting with the president and during that time the president had no idea this was going on. again, i think we are going to hear a lot of emphasis on wishing the secretary well and wishing him a speedy recovery, but this review process will be one that is taken seriously by the white house and by the administration. >> everyone, thank you so much. we appreciate it. ahead, former president trumps legal fate is at stake. his lawyers arguing he cannot be prosecuted for actions after the 2020 election. trump choosing to skip the campaign trail to be in the courtroom with the days until the iowa caucuses. >> owing facing more questions

about the safety of the 737 max 9 planes. united airlines has found loose bolts on their jets. we will bring you the latest on the alaska airline plane investigation. a chunk of a plane ripped off of one air. details in momoment.

former president donald trump and special counsel jack smith are both in the federal court room during crucial oral arguments about presidential immunity or the lack thereof. it is a core issue against the federal subversion case against trump weather acts committed by a president can be criminal and prosecuted. >> today a judge panel heard from lawyers on both sides and in the course of an hour they batted around some hypotheticals

about whether tweets qualify as official presidential acts, or whether ordering a hit on a political rival using seal team six could be prosecuted. listen to this. >> had a president order seal team six to assassinate a political rival? that's an official act of seal team six. >> it would have to be and that's like >> but if he were not there would be no criminal prosecution and no liability? >> what the founders are concerned about -- >> i just asked a yes or no question. could a president who order seal team six to assassinate a political rival was not impeached, can he be subject to criminal prosecution? >> if he were impeached and convicted first. >> answer is no. >> my answers qualified, yes. >> we are joined by norm ison and political strategist doug. some fascinating hypotheticals.

conversely the trump lawyers had hypotheticals of their own making the case that if trump were prosecuted it would then open the door for other presidents to be prosecuted. they specifically mentioned barack obama and george w. bush for incidents that happened during their presidencies. is that a legitimate argument? >> it is a legitimate concern, boris, but it is not a legitimate argument in this context. they even made the argument about president biden being prosecuted because of stuff going on on the border. it took me to law school when every day and all day long we considered hypotheticals. here is what is wrong with the trump position, there is no absolute immunity for presidents, for that reason that we heard in the sound clip. you cannot have residence going out and ordering assassinations and not being held accountable. why is it that these issues with

bush, obama, biden are not real issues? we have checks and balances. matters never in american history have reached that impasse. it is a genuine concern, but it is not going to change what the panel will do. trump is very clearly behind the eight ball with this panel. >> his legal process, it is not so much a legal process but a political process. he did not have to be in court him up at there he was scribbling furiously taking notes notes. what did you think? >> donald trump understands the power of images, whether it was today or the previous time he was in front of the house arguing his case, that is the campaign trail and whether donald trump is in iowa, new hampshire or in a courthouse, it is the campaign trail and he knows all eyes are on him. when you look at the polling

things are tightening up, especially for nikki haley in new hampshire, it is an opportunity to make that chaos argument. to say that donald trump will not be in and lead off with the key swing states, pennsylvania, north carolina, arizona, nevada and so forth we need republicans laser focused on beating joe biden and donald trump cannot do it because of the chaos. it is a winning argument to make in these closing days in iowa and new hampshire. >> interestingly, i usually do the law and doug does the politics so we're switching today. i wrote asa in the times about this last week, one consistent through line in the polling backs up to this, if you ask voters what if donald trump is convicted? you see big swing spirit that bombshell new york times poll had trump ahead, a 14 point turnaround. trump goes from five points up to nine points down if

convicted. that is why i think donald trump was in court today. this is for all the marbles. >> i want to dip into the question of new hampshire because seattle has new polling conducted by the university of new hampshire that showed nikki haley getting closer. it is now in the single digits. notably there are a lot of voters who have not made a decision, 45% of those polled have not made a decision. does that give you hope as a republican who is not warm to president trump? >> it does. it tells me this is possible. it is a question that we had when donald trump first went in. we have seen his opponents really not campaign hard against him. they reinforce his matches thing messaging. there is skepticism within the republican party. it is there, and there is an opportunity, especially for nikki haley you can see desantis is far behind, chris

christie is in a place where he cannot justify his own existence with those numbers. vivek ramaswamy does not exist at this point. it is trump versus haley at this point. trump is the alpha dog but the opportunity is there. >> it is an interesting development. doug and norm, thank you for these exercises >> today boeing holding an all hands safety meeting days after an in-flight blowout left the grounding of dozens of 737 max 9 jets. we will have the latest coming up.

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with qualifying internet. some aviation news. today the faa said the boy will keep the 737 max 9 planes grounded because the inspection plan needs more revision. this comes after the alaska airlines midflight low out but left a gaping hole in the side of the plane. both alaska and united airlines say technicians found loose parts on some of the grounded boeing 737 max 9 jets . >> federal officials are testing the detached door plug that blew off after it was recovered from a backyard in portland oregon. let's turn to our senior aviation correspondent. pete, this is happening as boeing is holding a all staff safety meeting. tell us about that. what are you learning?

>> a lot of developments, not only from investigators but the airline. investigation is focusing on what is called the door plug, a door on the boeing 737 max 9, only visible from the outside, . alaska airlines has been prepping their planes to comply with checks ordered by the faa and alaska now says the mechanics found hardware that was loose. the other airline that operates with these planes in the u.s. is united. united announced yesterday that they found loose door plug bolts on its max 9's. this is significant for investigators. the bolts are critical to the design of the max 9 door plug. without the bolts the door can wiggle free. the ntsb has recovered the door in question, they have inspected it and they can tell the door shot off and up like a rocket. investigators say that

they are looking for the bolts that would have held that door in place. >> the exam to date has shown that the door, in fact, did translate upward, all 12 stops became disengaged allowing it to blow out of the fuselage. we have not yet recovered be four bolts that restrain it from its vertical movement. we have not yet determined if they existed. that will be determined when we take the plug to our lab in washington, d.c. >> remember max 9's are grounded in the u.s. . indonesia grounded their max 9's. there are 213 737 max 9's , 2/3 here in the u.s. a huge black eye for bowling today. they are holding a safety meeting in redmond washington. >> we have been talking about bob. backyard bob is the one who found this door plug in his

backyard and now he is talking about it. what is he saying? >> bob sauer is his name. he is a physics teacher. of a physics lesson. the door came down in his backyard, only blocks away from where phones were found in other parts of the plane were found. he said this is the most exciting thing to ever happen on his street. this is what he said. >> i saw it in the flashlight light that there was something gleaming back there and it should not have been there. i thought that was curious. i went back to look at it and it turned out to be the door. this is the most exciting thing that has ever happened on this street. >> today they are going to visit bob's physics class. could not have had a better physics lesson. why did the door and up a little farther away than the other stuff that gravity brought straight down? the door plug itself is curved,

so it glided a bit like awaiting and that's why it ended up a few blocks away. >> that has to be crazy to sit on a plane and that door flies off and rockets up the way it was described. >> these powerful springs on the hinges, it goes about 15 degrees from the fuselage. it sounds like it shot off like a rocket. all the passengers heard a really loud boom. then there was a big rush of air in the fuselage, it came going out to equalize with the lower pressure air outside. a big saving grace is this happen at 16,000 feet and not 33,000 feet. it is much colder, they were closer to 10,000 feet where the air was breathable and the pilots did a good job, air traffic control to do good job, the flight attendants did a great job and they had to coordinate. there were a lot of times with they could not talk to one

another. they did a great job. >> we have to make light of bob and the phones landed and one survive, this could have been such a different story and just by the grace of god did this turn out to be like this and everyone is okay. thank goodness for that. pete, thank you. a punishing storm is wreaking havoc across a large swath of the u.s., reports of multiple tornadoes touching down in the florida panhandle. >> first responders are seeing significant damage around panama city beach. let's go there now. what does it look like? >> reporter: breanna and boris, even before your first cup of coffee, just before sunrise to see a wall of wind and cloud in the form of a waterspout move onshore across panama city beach and toppled buildings behind you. that is what residents of panama city beach, where i'm located, woke up to this

morning. terrifying moments. this house was taken off of its pylons and it is now supported by its neighboring home. look at the neighbors house and some of the paint that has been etched off because of the power the wind and the sand. even here on the right side of this leaning building is another home without its roof. that is the scary moments that people had to deal with. there are even condos here from this waterspout turned tornado. one of several tornadoes that moved onshore along the florida panhandle, ripping off some of the protective barriers on the outside of the condos. there are currently over 500,000 customers without power along the entire seaboard. this is a time also is a day across the eastern seaboard. >> really intense picture of the structure. thank you so much.

before you buy that next bottle of water, you may want to hear about this new study, it may make you think twice. we will explain in a few minutes.

startling news about the bottled water you might be drinking. a new study found it could take contain up to 100 times more pieces of plastic than previously thought. >> those pieces are so small

you cannot even see them under a microscope and they could invade and damage your body cells. primary care physician is here to discuss. what is your reaction to this study? how dangerous are these plastic bits? >> let me tell you upfront, drinking out of a bottle of water could be a thing of the past. we have always known bottle water coming out of plastic bottles is harmful, this can put any doubts to rest. we are talking nanoparticles, as you mentioned in the intro, these are tiny particles that we knew existed, now we can see them. just to give us a perspective, about 1 million products of bottled water are sold every minute globally in the world. this is really a global issue of consuming products that can be very dangerous it can affect

infertility, increase your risk of breast cancer and it can seep into our cells and digestive system. we need to figure out ways to change our behavior. >> there something about this study that rocks you. the potential impact here, when you are talking about these little pieces of plastic, fertility, you are talking small children and the effects on small children, what specifically for them is at issue? >> when we talk about small children, we are talking about developmental stages of the rain come of the different organs and the liver. what is more scary is the fact that we do not have long-term studies as to what these effects, how these might show up in a child later in adolescent or as an adult. when we talk about plastic products we have to think about toys. a lot of kids around the world

play plastic toys and they put these pieces in their mouth. and we also have evidence to show that there is plastic even in placenta, even in human feces. these nanoparticles are so dangerous because they can seep into the tiny cells and over time it can cause so many different issues. >> this study focused on bottled water, you mentioned other products that contain plastic, there are food products that contain plastic like soda, frozen dinner trays, is that risk similar? >> the risk is similar. we are not talking about just bottled water, we are talking about food that comes out of plastic containers. here is what makes it worse great you have a plastic container stored in the fridge. the cold temperature will keep the plastic from seeping cells, just like our human body feeds cells every day. when you take it out of the

freezer or the fridge and you put it in the microwave to heat, that can cause the plastic to shed even more cells. let's not forget the human body temperature is much higher than outside. that also causes, if you will, the shredding of the plastic into our bodies and organs. >> it is about finding alternatives to plastic. take us through what people should be doing to reduce the risk. >> the best thing is to embrace the way we lived before bottled water. look at tapwater in a different realm. i am a huge tennis player and i'm guilty as charged, but i will change my behavior, it is easy to get a bottle of water to go out in the heat then to put one in a yeti. maybe add a filtration system to the faucet at the kitchen so you are not worried that the tap water is contaminated. also remember tapwater is so

much more tightly regulated then bottled water. we think of bottled water being more pristine and coming from springs, that is not necessarily true. a lot of bottle water can come from tapwater. >> thank you so much for your time. >> you're welcome. just moments ago, the white house responded for the first time since it was announced that defense secretary lloyd austin's mysterious hospital stay was due to complications after having an elective procedure for prostate cancer. here is some of that briefing. >> nobody at the white house new that secretary austin had prostate cancer until this morning and the president was informed immediately after. >> did the president or the white house in struck secretary austin to make this disclosure today? >> no. >> does the present plan to stick with secretary austin? >> yes.

comments that he made about jimmy kimmel. >> he could be named in those documents identifying associates of alleged sex trafficker, jeffrey epstein. last night, fighting back. >> a lot of delusional people honestly believe i'm meeting up with tom hanks to eat pizza and drink the blood of children.

i know this. i hear from these people. he actually believes that my name was actually going to be on his list. that is insane. the more likely scenario, he doesn't actually believe that. he said that because he's mad at me for making fun of his topknot, and his lies about being vaccinated read >> let's bring in the seedier media reporter, oliver kimmel. he accepted the apology from aaron rodgers. he spoke with him on espn. what did he say? >> no apology. no surprise. he wasn't anticipating one. aaron rodgers, said he understand why jimmy kimmel would be met if he made the accusation. he insisted that he did not make this accusation. he certainly did signal or suggest that jimmy kimmel could supposedly be involved in the jeffrey epstein documents that were released over the last several days. he was not. aaron rodgers, used his time

to go on his anti-vaccine rant. assailing jimmy kimmel, for standing with the medical community, and the likes of doctors during the pandemic. let's take a look at that. >> he's on the platform of one of the biggest spreaders of misinformation during colder times. in my opinion, he ripped me about the vaccine. that turns out to be an apple -- there are a lot of injuries related to the vaccine. in my opinion, you went after me, that's fine. you are not offended. that was l what do you think that they are not the vaccine was both safe and effective.

at some point, you have to wonder when espn and the parent company disney, when they step in. at this point, disney is one of the only major media companies outside fox that would allow this dangerous, anti-vaccine, medical misinformation to be aired and unchecked on air. this the first time that aaron rodgers has done this. he goes on these extended rents on this show. this is aired on espn. for now, they are staying silent and not commenting. >> thank you for that report. dramatic images coming out of ecuador. hooded and armed men interrupted tv broadcast live on air. they are leading to a nationwide, state the media emergency. this is next.

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breaking news. a terrifying situation unfolding in ecuador. mass gunmen, stormed the television station. hijacking a live broadcast, forcing the production staff onto the floor. >> police say they have now intervened. the staff have been evacuated read this is happening during a national emergency triggered by notorious gang leaders escaped from prison. in the hours since, there has been other violence, including a kidnapping of police officers. cnn continues to follow the story. we are going to keep you updated. obviously, a lot of developments are here. incredibly scary times over there at that tv station. the lead with jake tapper, starts