>> what a wonderful guy. >> i love the story. >> that's right. >> and i love that we had the update to the story. >> reunited. >> it's been awesome to watch. also, finally, one lakers fan had one heck of a night. fidell owe mows with a chance to win $100,000 if he could make a half-court shot. wait for it. that's $100,000. he said it's only the third time in his life he had made a half-court shot. the man, the timing is good on your ability to cash in on that. i love the half-court shots, full-court shots, people winning money for doing things. >> how many half-court shots have you made? >> so many. are you kidding me? >> can't do, folks. >> in front of a crowd like that, that's awesome. >> we will be up late. don't forget cnn debate tonight 9:00 p.m. eastern time. "cnn news central" is now.

headed-to-head for the first time tonight is the big night for nikki haley and ron desantis. the final republican presidential debate before iowa voters have their say all right here on cnn. floods and blizzards and tornados, oh, my. we are just getting word of evacuations from this devastating storm and it's not done yet. and more trouble brewing for boeing. the company is now acknowledging a mistake over a door plug ripping off an alaska airlines flight in midair, leaving a huge hole behind. we'll have the latest on the investigation that's under way right now. i'm sair sidner with kate bolduan and john berman, this is "cnn news central."

tonight nikki haley and ron desantis are going head-to-head for the very first time on the debate stage in des moines, iowa. that prime time matchup happening right here on cnn, if i didn't already say so. literally they have no time to lose in this final week before the first votes, which are really caucuses in iowa. meaning, this is the last chance for donald trump's top two rivals to make their hope of being the best trump alternative a reality. trump won't be there again, but overnight, the former president snagged a new endorsement from the third highest ranking republican in the senate john barrasso from wyoming, raising the question, do endorsements matter, matter at all when it comes to donald trump and his supporters and does a senator from wyoming have much impact on voters from iowa? we'll have to see. we know one thing, nikki haley for her part is taking to the stage tonight with some real momentum after a new cnn poll puts her within single digits of donald trump, not in iowa, but

in new hampshire. let's get back to iowa. cnn's eva mckend joins us from iowa this morning. eva, tonight is the big night. what are you expecting? >> reporter: it is, kate. you know, this opportunity tonight for governor desantis, for nikki haley, it allows voters for the first time to see them side by side. believe it or not, there are still some undecided iowans going into this evening, and so they are trying to land on a clear trump alternative, and this gives them the opportunity to do so. policy differences will also come into focus. we're hearing from desantis' deputy campaign manager, and he says that the governor is really going to push nikki haley into answering questions that she previously has evaded. that has been a consistent argument of her opponents, that she isn't concrete on certain policy matters, on certain conservative policy matters.

i will say from being out on the campaign trail, things have really intensified in the last few days. take a listen. >> i like being under estimated, so, you know, i could sit here and say this, but you know what, i think that being the underdog suits me better, so buckle up. i think it's going to be an interesting ride. >> we have been waiting for this. i have done 150-plus town halls, and it has come to this moment. don't complain about what happens in a general election if you don't play in this caucus. it matters. >> so some might sort of diminish the importance of debates, but i can tell you from being at several nikki haley town halls, speaking to her supporters, showing up there, they tell me they were in part attracted to her campaign and candidacy based on her past debate performances, based on some of those high-profile

exchanges she had with vivek ramaswamy, for instance, so we know tonight could turn out to be hugely consequential for the former ambassador and for the governor. kate? >> yeah. eva, you won't find me diminishing any debate, especially a cnn debate. any time the candidates can face real questions is a good thing for the process. good to see you. thank you. me either, for the record, me either. debates are important, especially tonight's debate in iowa. donald trump, however, has other plans. he's doing his own town hall. cnn's elaina trin joins us now with the latest. >> reporter: good morning, john. i think this week is a really good preview of what we can expect in the months to come from donald trump and his campaign as we look forward to the 2024 election, and look, he's splitting between the courtrooms and the campaign trail. yesterday donald trump was in d.c. sitting in on -- in court in a d.c. federal appeals court

listening to the arguments from his lawyers about their claims for immunity. tonight he is doing a fox news town hall, skipping our cnn debate, instead sitting for the fox news town hall in iowa and he's back in a totally different courtroom and entirely different case. he's going to be sitting in on the closing arguments in his new york city fraud trial and this weekend, he's going to be back in iowa campaigning in the immediate days before monday's caucuses. look, i think this really shows you what the trump campaign strategy is around tying his political strategy to his legal teams' strategy. donald trump really cares about these cases. i think if you look at why he was in d.c. yesterday, going to new york tomorrow, these are two different cases, but both things that he cares deeply about, his new york city fraud trial is something that really strikes to the core of who donald trump is and that's why he wants to show up. i should point that out. he doesn't need to be in court.

he is choosing to take himself off the campaign trail in order to sit in in the separate court appearances. there's a big strategy here. the political strategy as well, in addition to him wanting to be there, is that his team recognizes that him being in court, sucks up all of the oxygen away from the other candidates. this is a very crucial time, as eva pointed out, the candidates are trying to gain the last-minute traction before monday and when donald trump is throughout talking about his legal issues, being in court, it takes a lot of the media attention away from them. it's also a great fundraising opportunity for the former president and his campaign. now, john, i also just want to quickly point your attention to some of the endorsements that we've been seeing come out over the past week. we just saw senator john barrasso of wyoming, the third highest ranking senator announce his endorsement for donald trump last night, and this is all part of the trump campaign's plan according to my report and some of our cnn colleagues.

donald trump's campaign has been really escalating their effort to get as many endorsements from republican lawmakers as well as governors and people across the country really, to come in before iowa. part of that has been telling a lot of these lawmakers they're watching who is endorsing pre and post-iowa. i think that's why you're seeing these endorsements come out this week. >> if you want to see what john barrasso looks like, numbers three in the senate, now endorsing donald trump i think you make a great point w he need to stop talking about the campaign trail and the courtroom. the courtroom is the campaign trail for donald trump. thanks very much. sara? with our political analyst and vice president of digital content and anchor of the grio weekly na tash that alfred. also with us commentator and president of the manhattan institute. thank you for being here. natasha, i saw you in the makeup

room, but i'm going to start with you rahan, desantis' spokesperson says he's going to, quote, make nikki haley answer the questions that she has yet to answer at cnn's debate tonight. what kind of questions do you think that will be? there are people who criticize her for sort of saying things to the audience and not necessarily keeping a very strict -- what's the word -- idea? like her ideas seem to change a bit with the audience she's in front of? >> the fundamental challenge for governor haley is that she came into office in 2011 and left in 2017. that was a different era of the republican politics, whereas, governor desantis came of age, really succeeded and came on the national scene in the trump era. there's a different set of issues and controversies. nikki haley was very much a tea party governor, focused on fiscal responsibility and that set of issues and so some of the issues around cultural controversies, around china, these are issues that look very different today than they did

ten years ago and she n a way, is struggling to catch up with where the republican base is today and i think he's going to try to hold her feet to the fire on those issues. >> it will be interesting to see because i am curious for you to talk, i'm curious what you think about the fact that they probably are going to go after each other because the frontrunner is not there. what do you think they need to communicate to the audience tonight? >> well, first of all, great to be with you, sara. i will come find you after this segment to say hello again. the most important thing that we have to realize is that donald trump is doing counter programming strategically, right. he is the make character, and he wants to keep it that way. that's why he's been able to avoid being part of these debates, and his rivals aren't helping when they show that they are afraid to go after him. right. they're so concerned about still courting his voters and making sure that they don't offend those voters, that they haven't gone after him in the way that is necessary to really distinguish themselves.

so his choice to compete with tonight's debate is going to work for the maga base. they're going love what they see. this is a town hall. it's going away from the bombastic at the podium preaching that he does, and it's a little bit more intimate, a little bit about meeting voters where they are and hearing their concerns, but the polls show that he is leaps and bounds ahead. all eyes will be on him. the room stops, you know, when he speaks. so if his rivals want to make a difference, they have to continue going after him. >> i do want to ask you both and i'll start with you, about what we heard from nikki haley, how she and desantis reacted to questions about donald trump and his legal issues, of which there are so many that's going to take up a lot of his time, as he's going through this campaign. listen to what they said. >> do you believe that former president is immune from

prosecution in these cases? >> i think it's kind of a novel issue. i think the d.c. circuit will rum against him. it's a liberal circuit and they're going to hot wire this thing. >> the supreme court needs to rule quickly before other states start to do this. >> ron desantis took the trump train for that one, and nikki haley was a little more pointed and serious in her answer. he went after the courts. what do you think about their response, and is that sort of speaking to the base and not the general? >> well, i'll say that governor desantis' answer struck me as analytical describing as what he sees as a likely outlook and governor haley was referring to a separate issue whether or not he belongs on the ballot under the 14th amendment theory. i'm not sure how much we can fl glean from that. a very interesting element is the idea that governor haley might actually benefit from governor desantis remaining in the race, at least through new hampshire. why is that?

because i think some believe that if governor desantis were to get out of the race, a lot of those votes would go to donald trump, rather than to nikki haley. so i think there's a weird way in which, yes, they're rivals, both in a sense competing for second place in iowa, but also there's a strange way in which if nikki haley is going to have a shot, she doesn't necessarily want him out quickly. >> that is really interesting analysis. natasha, i'm curious what you think happens if nikki haley ends up coming in second? because the polling is so very clear that donald trump is the frontrunner in iowa. >> well, i think momentum indicates possibility, right, and that is part of the reason why donald trump has shifted his attacks towards nikki haley. even though he tries to project confidence, and he is completely unbothered by the fact that she's polling so well in new hampshire, if she pulls this off, she helps to make ron desantis irrelevant and basically she's able to build on that momentum.

i think this could be a really big moment for her, for those who say that, you know, the maga party will never depart from donald trump, she could be a proof point that people do want an alternative. >> natasha alford, ray hansalem, thank you for coming in on this glorious wednesday before the debate. don't forget, you can watch that debate right here on cnn. it all starts tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern. kate? >> we're also watching the weather right now. major flooding is having a real impact in the northeast, as dangerous winter storms we've been talking about continue to sweep across the country. multiple counties in new jersey are getting batter. >> people are being urged to get to higher ground in some places and others being evacuated. officials are reporting at least four deaths from the storms in georgia, alabama, and north carolina just yesterday. that also has left more than 600,000 people without power this morning. the pacific northwest, look

here, saw blizzard-like conditions on tuesday. in mitchellville, iowa, heavy snow made for very dangerous conditions on the roads. we know that some roads were shut down by the iowa state police at points. also, take a look at florida. florida's panhandle, at least a dozen tornados carved a big path of destruction there, knocking this home right off its foundation. let's get over to cnn's derek van dam in panama city, florida. when it comes to these storms, you could go to any portion of the country to see some serious damage from what we've been seeing sweep across the country. what are you seeing and hearing from people there? >> it stretches all the way from the state of florida where i'm located all the way into new england, right. we're in panama city beach and cleanup is well under way. talk about a stroke of bad luck. so this is the pirates cove directly behind me. it's the marina. you can see several boats impacted by some of the apparent tornado damage. believe it or not the same

structure on the other side was heavily damaged by hurricane michael back in 2018. fast forward a couple years, to 2024, yesterday, and now we have destruction from an apparent tornado. that was what people had to deal with and contend with here. this is part of the over a dozen tornados that came ashore, they started as water spouts in the gulf of mexico, moved onshore across the florida panhandle and caused this path of destruction. this is just a drop in the bucket, but i want yous to get a little bit closer here because we had some intel from some of the local residents here that there are a million dollar plus boats at the bottom portion here. a couple have seen damage, but several barred from the worst of this. the sleet metal just wrapped around some of these boats within this area. we have seen complete buildings and homes that have tilted on their side, lost from their foundations. we've seen walls collapsed, homes that have been completely demolished. we saw, i noticed this with my producer a few minutes ago as

well, the spices within a spice rack of an exposed kitchen. kind of shows you the indiscriminate force of tornados that can whip winds over 100 miles per hour. unfortunately, kate, the last thing people want to know about is more severe weather. that threat looms heavy for thursday, friday, saturday in this region. >> it is not over yet. that's for sure. derek, thank you so much. john? very shortly the house will begin impeachment proceedings for homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas, as republicans also move toward a vote to hold hunter biden in contempt of congress. as we said, the croom is now the campaign trail. will donald trump perform his own closing arguments in his new york trial tomorrow? a living nightmare, masked gunmen storm a live tv broadcast, as gang attacks and kidnappings take over a country.

minutes from now the house oversight and judiciary committees will consider whether they want to hold hunter biden in contempt of congress. it comes after the president's son failed to comply with a subpoena for a closed door deposition last month. biden had said he would agree to a public testimony and another house committee will begin hearings to consider impeaching dhs secretary alejandro mayorkas. cnn's capitol reporter melanie za known na is joining us now. this is quite unprecedented on many levels. what can we expect during the two committee hearings? >> i think we can expect? fireworks today. republicans have set their sights on two impeachment efforts, not only president joe biden, but also now homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas. but with biden, republicans have really struggled so far to prove he either profited or made policy decisions because of his

son's foreign business deals. republicans have long seen hunter biden as a crucial witness for their impeachment inquiry probe. they did issue a subpoena for him to appear for closed-door testimony last december, but hunter biden has only said he would appear for a public hearing. he says he doesn't want to have his testimony cherry picked and selectively leaked. on the day of his deposition he showed up to the capitol and did a press conference outside which prompted republicans to move ahead with contempt proceedings. that brings us to today when you have two different committees, both oversight and judiciary, planning to mark up a resolution that would refer hunter biden to the doj for being in contempt of congress. after that, a resolution would head to the full floor, potentially as early as next week and then it would be up to the doj to determine whether to prosecute the president's son. >> we'll all be watching that. as this unfolds, the homeland security committee is holding their first of what is likely to

be a series of hearings considering impeachment for dhs secretary alejandro mayorkas. what's this all about? >> reporter: yeah. so this comes as republicans have really put a renewed focus on impeaching mayorkas. this comes as the border has become a defining issue. it's created a lot of momentum inside the gop, particularly among moderate members in swing districts who see his as a defaming campaign issue. there's been a lot of pressure from the flank as their biden impeachment inquiry has floundered. listen to what marjorie taylor greene had to say to manu raju >> i was furious it took this long. i forced a vote on the house floor, but i am encouraged we're finally doing it on our committee. but i do have concerns. our majority is now down to numbers that make it impossible to lose a single vote. >> reporter: now, i talked to the chairman of the homeland committee mark green over the

weekend, and he said in terms of what to expect from today's hearing, it's not going to be any new evidence. it's going to be a relash of an investigation he conducted over problems at the southern border and he's planning to move quickly with impeachment articles. i think it's important to point out, sara, even if this does pass the house, it is going nowhere in the democrat-controlled senate. that is because both democrats and the white house say all of these impeachment efforts are nothing more than a political stunt from republicans. >> a couple of those republicans have also ignored subpoenas themselves, so it will be interesting to see -- >> jim jordan, the chairman of the judiciary committee, great point. >> you said it, girl. thank you so much for your reporting. kate? former president donald trump is back in iowa today, squeezing in a day of campaigning in between appearances in court, volunteering to be in court yesterday, while an appeals court considered the scope of presidential immunity with regard to his federal election subversion case, and then tomorrow he's back in court, a

new york court again, again, not required to show up for this, but he clearly wants to for closing arguments in his civil fraud trial. he's accused of inflating his wealth by billions of dollars, something the judge overseeing the case has already found trump liable for. joining us jennifer rogers. let's start with tomorrow and then go back to yesterday. with tomorrow, donald trump is planning to be back in court for the conclusion of the civil fraud trial. when it comes to this case, because it's an interesting one when you think about it, there's no jury, this is -- everything here is decided by the judge who has been overseeing this the entire time. what does that mean the defense team should be doing with these closing arguments here? >> well, they largely have to do the same thing you would do in a jury trial which is to marshal the evidence that we've heard over the last couple months, the testimony, the documents, and make your legal arguments as to why in the case of donald trump here, there should be no or less

damages than the attorney general wants for the fraud that court has already found. they'll try to chip away at the notion there was fraud at all. all of that really is to set up the appeal. if you don't make the arguments below, you can't appeal them. so that's largely what they're going to try to do tomorrow. >> largely, when you set it up that way, almost sounds like even less of a reason for donald trump to be in the courtroom, to me, as a layman. what do you think of the fact that he doesn't need to be in court tomorrow? he didn't need to be in court yesterday. he is doing this -- is there a legal reason or is it all political? >> it's all political at this point. when he showed up when there were witnesses on the stand, i think he was in part trying to intimidate those witnesses a little bit, influence how his lawyers questioned those witnesses. all of that is over now. now it's legal arguments to the judge. no jury, no cameras, so i think it's all about fundraising, campaigning, going outside after the proceeding and talking to the cameras for those purposes. that's why he'll be there. >> as john said earlier in the

show, the campaign and what's happening in court, they are one and the same as we have seen and even as we saw when donald trump was speaking out yesterday after they were -- and before the appeals arguments over the election subversion case. i want to ask you about this key exchange between one of the judges and trump's attorney yesterday when it comes to trying to sus out the scope of presidential immunity around what he's facing. listen to this. >> i asked you a yes or no question. could a president who ordered s.e.a.l. team 6 to assassinate a political rival who was not impeached, could he be subject to criminal prosecution? >> if he were impeached and convicted first. >> your answer is -- >> my answer is qualified yes. there is a political process that would have to occur under the structure of our constitution. >> why is this piece so important? what do you hear in this >> she's really trying to determine the outer limits of

their arguments, right, and she's doing this by these examples you think are crazy examples, can you assassinate a political rival, and she forces trump's lawyers into saying, yeah, effectively, you can, if he's not impeached and convicted and removed he gets away with it scott-free, right. no one can stand that as a matter of law, rule of law, that's ha dictators have, getting away with things without any consequences. forcing him into this extreme position she's demonstrating how that can't be what the court decides. that's not going to be -- >> it also seemed that the justice department's attorneys, they saw this and they reacted to it as well. i want to play this piece of it. listen to this. >> if, as i understood my friend on the other side to say here, a president orders his s.e.a.l. team to assassinate a political rival and resigns, for example, before an impeachment, not a criminal act? the president sells a pardon, resign, not impeached, not a

crime? i think that is extraordinarily frightening future. >> i saw you describe this as -- you said the parade of horribles. what does that mean? >> yeah. that's an argument technique, i guess, if you will, that lawyers use and the judges use as well, to kind of push the outer bounds. what are we talking about here? if you agree -- >> how far can you go? >> if you agree with trump and his position here, what are we looking at as a nation? what will it look like presidential power and what presidents are able to do without consequences. the prids of horribles. both sides use it. ultimately it helps all of us as the court and the parties are educating all of us about what the outer bounds of these arguments are. when the court comes down with their decision we'll understand it's in part because if they had gone with trump on this, you can see where that would lead us all. >> it was really interesting and very thankful we could have that audio to come out so we can hear it. good to see you. thank you. >> thank you. one of the largest scale attacks on u.s. ships yet in the

red sea, what the pentagon is now discussing as a possible response. to duckduckgo on all your devie

duckduckgo comes with a built-n engine like google, but it's pi and doesn't spy on your searchs and duckduckgo lets you browse like chrome, but it blocks cooi and creepy ads that follow youa from google and other companie. and there's no catch. it's fre. we make money from ads, but they don't follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today. the power goes out and we still have wifi join the millions of people takto do our homework.acy and that's a good thing? great in my book! who are you?

no power? no problem. introducing storm-ready wifi. now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. home of the xfinity 10g network. . new overnight, the u.s. navy shot down 21 houthi missiles and drones launched from yemen. that is according to u.s. central command. this was one of the largest attacks coming from the houthis in the red sea in recent months. a british navy destroyer took part in this combined response. cnn's natasha bertrand is at the pentagon for us. what do you know about this and the possible response? >> yeah, john. this was a huge attack by the houthis and say it was in response to the u.s. military

sinking three houthi boats on december 31st that ended up killing all of the militants that were in that boat. you kind of see this cycle of escalation picking pup what we know is that three u.s. destroyers responded to this barrage of missile and drone attacks by the houthis overnight, as well as a uk destroyer, just a really significant response here, shooting down 21 missiles and drones launched by the houthis from yemen. we saw f-18 fighter jets from the eisenhower aircraft carrier in the red sea also participated in the shoot down of the barrage of missiles and drones. an escalation like this raises questions about whether the u.s. is going to respond in a more meaningful way, perhaps a preemptive way, against the houthis in yemen. we kind of see hints of that in a statement released from central command last night discussing this houthi attack. they said that the u.s. as well as 14 countries issued a joint statement on january 3rd saying the houthis will bear the

responsibility for the consequences should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy, or the free flow of commerce in the region's critical waterways. this is a statement that was released earlier this month by this coalition of countries and a senior administration official told reporters afterward that that was really the last warning that the houthis were going to get here. this is interrupting global commerce and trade in a very meaningful way. maersk, the major shipping company announced last week it was going to be suspending operations in the red sea. roughly 18 companies have said they're going to be rerouting around africa to go back up and to avoid the red sea area. it's having a very significant impact in a way that u.s. really cannot continue to ignore, according to current and former officials. we'll have to see if this prompts a reaction from the u.s., perhaps strikes on the houthis inside yemen as we have reported is a possibility that is being looked at, but, of course, the u.s. has been deeply reticent to this point to expand

the conflict in that way. >> it's great point. one thing to keep knocking down the missiles and drones attacking you in the red sea. it's another to go after where they may be launched from or fired from in yemen itself. that is what bears watching this morning. natasha bertrand, thank you so much. also this morning, ecuador's president has declared a state of internal armed conflict, is how it's described, after a surge of violence from several criminal gangs. the country has been rocked by violence since monday when a high-profile gang leader escaped from prison and yesterday what happened was just astonishing. more than a dozen armed men stormed a state-owned tv station during a live broadcast. you can see armed even with explosives. the employees were taken hostage while viewers watched it play out on air. police eventually arrested the 13 gunmen involved, safely freed everyone at the station. let's get to patrick oppmann tracking all of this for us. patrick, what is happening there? what does this all come down to?

>> reporter: well, that attack on the tv station was just one of multiple attacks that took place across ecuador. for years now, we've seen ecuador, it was not a country that was primarily involved in the drug trade become more and more of a key piece of real estate for the drug cartels to move cocaine primarily through ecuador on to europe and the u.s., and those cartels have been battling each other and the government for control of ports and areas to move the drugs through. yesterday, though, was really something astonishing, though, where you saw attacks on police, prison guards, on hospitals, on university, and then this just astonishing assault on a tv station in guayaquil where the assailants came in, they had bombs, gren raid ins, guns -- gren raid ins and guns and tried to take over the tv station to get their message out. they're very angry with the government for declaring a

national emergency, declaring a curfew, putting the military in the streets and they essentially tried to get the military to back off. the military is searching for, more than 3,000 police and soldiers, searching for one of the largest gang's leaders who walked out of prison. he was noticed missing on sunday. really speaks to the sense of lawlessness many ecuadorians have been complaining about for a long time. we've seen in the last 24 hours is the military saying that they are not going to put up with this and the government saying they're treating these groups, these gangs, as terrorist groups, and they will go after them with every weapon in their arsenal. regular ecuadorians saying there is a before and after as they watched the hostage situation unfold for a while, live on tv, that they cannot go back to the lawlessness that they have been living with for so long, the sense of helplessness, and their country needs to deal with the gang situation before it gets

any more out of control. >> yeah. any more out of control. patrick oppmann, thank you. that was just terrifying. all right. right now, ron desantis, nikki haley, preparing for a head-to-head debate on cnn tonight. up next we'll speak live to a desantis surrogate from haley's home state of south carolina about their campaign strategy there. .

tonight ron desantis and nikki haley will face off in the final republican debate before the iowa caucuses. this is a cnn debate. jake tapper and dana bash will be moderating in des moines. joining us is south carolina senator josh kimbrel, he is a

surrogate for the ron desantis campaign. senator, thank you so much for being with us. people who listen very carefully there might have noticed that i said you, a state senator from south carolina, where nikki haley was the governor, is here on behalf of ron desantis. why is that? >> we just lost him. >> you just lost me? it was really a great question. a shame you missed it. are you back? senator? has been in iowa campaigning on behalf of ron desantis quite a bit, but as i did say, he is a south carolina state senator, which might make for an interesting answer if we get his audio back, about why he chose to support governor ron desantis and not south carolina governor nikki haley. can you hear me? >> i've got you now. good morning. it's always fun to do live tv. good morning from south carolina. you're right. a lot of people raised eyebrows when they hear a south carolina senator endorsing the governor of florida over the former governor of south carolina.

there's a reason. i'm a native south carolinians. lived here my whole life and involved in politics even during the haley administration, and ron desantis is a conservative that haley always claimed to be. governor haley unfortunately campaigned as a conservative, didn't really govern as a conservative and governor desantis campaigned and governed as a conservative. there's an authenticity play here. >> sometimes live tv is more fun than other times, i was going through your twitter feed and you reposted this tweet from a conservative writer who said a vote for donald trump in the gop primary is essentially a vote for joe biden in the general since trump cannot mathematically win in the general. you are helping guarantee a democratic victim. why don't you think donald trump can win in the general election? >> well, look, it's more that i think ron desantis is a stronger contender in the general election. if you look at florida, governor desantis won florida by 15 or 20 points -- >> you posted a tweet that said

donald trump can't win. why do you think donald trump couldn't win in a general. >> going into this election, dynamics have shifted. i think the former president -- i think he could still pull out a win if he's the nominee. i don't want it to be close. i want to win by not just a field goal, but a few touchdowns. with ron desantis, you have the governor i'm not worried about it being close. if it's not close there's no question and if you have states like potentially virginia, certainly georgia, arizona, pennsylvania, those states are in play with the governor of florida as the republican nominee, where they may not be with any other candidate including governor haley. i think ron desantis represents the best chance for the republican party to recapture the white house over joe biden, and to win by a few touchdowns not just a field goal. that's my ultimate goal and that's why i think if you look at what happened in 2022 in florida, look, nationally last year, back in 2022, we were talking about a republican wave we expected. that didn't happen. the only place it did happen was in florida and governor desantis crushed it and took a purple state made ate red state it's no longer a swing state anymore. we need that kind of leadership

on the national level to be sure that it's not a close election in novemberf of this year and make joe biden a one-term president. >> iowa is up first on monday but one week after is new hampshire. a brand new cnn-unh poll shows governor ron desantis isn't in first, second, third, or fourth place in new hampshire, but he's down in fifth place, 5%, behind vivek ramaswamy. why do you think that is? >> well look, new hampshire has always ban moderate state in the early nominating process. iowa is always a conservative startoff and then new hampshire and my state of south carolina. in 2000, george w. bush versus john mccain, bush did well in iowa, everybody said he's on his way to the nomination. he didn't do well in new hampshire. mccain won new hampshire. all the narrative and every major media outlet mccain is surging and the favorite for the nomination and going to cruise into south carolina and win. of course that's not what happened. george w. bush ended up winning here because we're a

conservative state and bush went on to be the nominee and president. i'm not worried about new hampshire. i think iowa is a greater test for conservatives and a more conservative state that's going to more mirror the values of south carolina than new hampshire. ultimately, even in new hampshire, we keep hearing about the haley campaign pretty well encouraging democrats to go and primary for her there in new hampshire. ultimately if you have a lot of crossover, democrats voting in a republican primary, in a state that's already moderate, i'm not really worried about new hampshire. i view it as certainly important we need to compete everywhere, iowa matters and south carolina is the firewall. >> very quickly, senator, if ron desantis were to drop out at some point, do you see yourself supporting donald trump or nikki haley? >> ? i -- i think he's going to win iowa tonight. i'm not going to answer that premature question. i think ron desantis will lead the matter. >> thanks for sticking with us.

appreciate it. kate, back to you. >> that is a good question. coming up, boeing ceo acknowledges a quote/unquote mistake in comments after alaska airlines' terrifying mid flight incident. what the ntsb is now saying about that today. we'll be back.

the national transportation safety board says it expects a preliminary report in less than a month on what caused the door plug of an alaska airlines flight to blow off the plane on friday leaving a refrigerator-sized hole minutes after takeoff. boeing grounded most of its 737 max 9 planes indefinitely as authorities inspect them. this as the ceo of boeing is acknowledging that the company's so-called mistake but won't specify exactly what the mistake is, and the ntsb wants to know the answer to that, too. >> i have a lot of questions on that statement we don't know. we've been focused on the door plug and on the surrounding structure. so i did ask for clarification, but i -- i haven't received

anything yet. >> we will all be waiting nature that, especially those passengers on the plane and staff, as well. a source with boeing says the company believes the issue started in the aircraft's manufacturing supply chain. let's get to pete muntean. pete, as you look at this investigation, there's a lot that we don't know. but there are some clues in the investigation so far, correct? >> reporter: really big clues. remember that max 9s are still grounded by the faa pending new inspections by airlines. airlines are still waiting on guidance from the faa, and the faa says it's reviewing guidance from boeing. boeing's ceo, dave calhoun, acknowledging the company's mistake after this dramatic an in-flight blowout. here's the issue as you mentioned -- calhoun did not exactly say what the mistake is. you hear ntsb chair jennifer homendy say this morning that she wants to talk to boeing's ceo but they have not spoken

yet. one question investigators will ask boeing is whether or not they had any previous problems with the door plug, that is the part of the left side of alaska 1282 that shot off with an explosive bang on friday at 16,000 feet. remember, this is a door that's visible from the outside of the plane. normal window, wall, and seats inside the plane. what is critical here are the bolts that essentially keep this part from shooting off. both alaska airlines and united airlines say they've discovered loose bolts as they prepare for these faa-mandated inspections. united noted possible installation problems. want you to listen to now part of this company-provided excerpt from boeing's all-hands safety meeting held yesterday and ceo dave calhoun told employees that boeing will be a huge part of this investigation. >> i got kids, i got grandkids, and so do you. this stuff matters. everything matters.

every detail matters. we're going to approach this, number one, acknowledging our mistake. we are going to approach it with 100% and complete transparency every step of the way. >> reporter: so far it's an incredibly controlled message there boeing. this is the last black eye for the company following issue after issue with the max line. two max crashes abroad led to this 20-month grounding in the u.s., an issue with the flight control system. since then it's had quality control issues. spirit arrow systems is the contractor that build the fuselage. they could be a party to the investigation. this is a new airplane, rolled off the factory floor only back in october. >> pete muntean, a lot of people don't know, they probably do now, that you're a pilot. you're watching this really closely. i thought the statement from the ceo was touching but left a lot of questions, and the ntsb is watching closely.

i know you will be, too. thank you so much. john? live pictures right here from the u.s. capitol. moments from now the first steps from house republicans to impeach the secretary of homeland security.