>> you that's just mean. >> can you talk about the important things? taylor swift. >> there was this whole thing about how often is taylor swift shown in games? in fact, it was sort of the -- look in on her when she said, get the camera off of me. how often is she actually shown? this is my conservative estimate. i kept count of it yesterday. there were five appearances she made not including halftime. her air time was 33 seconds. post game she shared a lovely kiss with her lovely beau, travis kelce and will she make it back to the super bowl in time? she has to get back from tokyo. tokyo to vegas flight is 11.5 hours. he'll make it back in plenty of time, thank goodness. >> a private jet helps. >> yes, it does. >> sitting with a stopwatch. watching the game. we appreciate you, my friend.

we shall respond. president biden's promise and threat after a drone attack killed three american soldiers in jordan. >> an explosive new allegation from a voting machine company that says it was defamed in 2020. did a conservative news network engage in criminal activity? >> and disgraced former attorney now convicted killer, alex murdaugh is back in court this morning for a hearing that could determine if he should get a new trial. we're live in south carolina. i'm sara sidner with kate bolduan. this is "cnn news central." this morning, president biden is vowing to respond at a time and place of his choosing

after the drone strike yesterday killed three american service members at a u.s. military base and outpost in jordan known as tower 22. u.s. central command says the strike may have originated from syria. in addition to the three killed, at least 34 other service members were wounded in the attack, and eight of them had to be medic evacuated from the base to get higher level treatment. the islamic resistance of iraq, a coalition of several iran-backed militias has claimed responsibility for the strike. iran has tried to distance itself from the attack, denying direct involvement, but again, these are iran-backed militias we're talking about here. cnn's oren liebermann is at the pentagon, and arlette sainz is at the white house. the way he put it, they're trying to work through attri attribution. what are you hearing? >> reporter: it was a group from

hezbollah, carrying out multiple attacks on u.s. forces in iraq and syria. we have seen to date about 160 attacks on u.s. forces in iraq and syria. many of those, the u.s. pins on hezbollah, but we have never seen an attack like this. a single one-way attack drone at tower 22 in the northeast corner of jordan, essentially where jordan and iraq meet syria there. targeted near a living quarters at the facility that killed three u.s. sol jdiers and wound approximately 34 other service members. eight of those had to be me medevaced. it was possible the number of injured soldiers goes up because sometimes it takes a while from symptoms, from traumatic brain injury to develop here. the u.s. very closely watching that. one of the key questions here, of course, not only certitude or certainty on what group was responsible. the u.s. looking for that, but also how is it that a single drone managed to evade u.s. air defenses at the facility? president joe biden, defense

secretary lloyd austin and others have vowed they would respond. biden was briefed on several of those options yesterday from austin as well as the national security adviser jake sullivan. so we'll see which one of those he chooses, but clearly there is pressure on the white house, and the defense department to respond here sending a message not only to these iranian proxies there that operate and have targeted u.s. groups or u.s. forces in the past here, but also to iran itself, even as iran denies responsibility here. it is iran that funds, arms, trains and supports these groups in the region. >> yeah. they really wouldn't exist without iran. what else is the administration saying this morning about what they could be talking about here? >> kate, president biden is weighing his options this morning as his team is trying to chart out the course of action to respond to these -- this attack which resulted in the death of three u.s. service members. president biden yesterday called

the attack despicable and holy unjust, and vowed that there would be a u.s. response saying that the u.s. would respond in a time and manner of its choosing. big question now is what exactly that response might look like. could president biden perhaps take a more limited response similar to some of the action that is we've taken in the wake of similar attacks in the region, the things like striking weapons or supply infrastructure tied to these iran-backed militant groups or could president biden decide to take things a step further? there is certainly pressure coming from capitol hill including from some republican lawmakers who want to see him more directly take on iran. one such post on social media came from senator lindsey graham who said that the president needed to hit or run, and hit them hard, but earlier today, national security council spokesperson john kirby said this is really the beginning of the conflict in the middle east began.

the president has worked trying to prevent it from widening. that is something kirby reiterated this morning. take a listen. >> we don't seek a war with iran. we're not looking for a wider conflict in the middle east. in fact, every action the president has taken has been designed to de-escalate, to try to bring the tensions down and this attack, very, very serious. certainly escalatory, and we'll take that serious, but i won't get ahead of the president's decision one way or the other. >> as oren noted just yesterday president biden was briefed by national security adviser jake sullivan and lloyd austin on the attack and what responses they could take. those are conversations that are expected to continue today, but of course, it is important to note that there have been more than 150 attacks on u.s. and coalition forces in the region from these iran. backed militant groups in iraq in syria, but what makes this

different and escalates the situation is the fact that three u.s. service members died raising the stakes for president biden as he's charting out the course of action to respond. >> good to see you. thank you as always for us. as oren just pointed out, our tower 22 is right there where jordan and syria and iraq all meet at a point. you could see where iran is, and this morning, iran is denying it had any role in the attack. a spokesman for the country's foreign ministry said regional resistance groups do not take orders from iran. ben wedeman, he is in beirut in lebanon where hezbollah, an iranian proxy wields tremendous power. what are you hearing this morning? >> reporter: well, what we're hearing from lebanese officials and western diplomats is they are very concerned that this situation could very easily get out of control.

they're worried that the united states might overreact. certainly we've heard some of these calls from republican members of congress that they want the united states to hit iran. the problem is iran is not, for instance, iraq in 2003, but it was already sort of crippled by sanctions. the iranians have been very good at getting around sanctions and developing their military capacity. they have -- they are pro-iranian militias in syria, in iraq, here in lebanon, the houthis in lebanon, and all of these as we have been saying now for quite sometime have been keeping up the steady drum beat of strikes on u.s. forces in syria and iraq, and of course, the yemenese are targeting navigation in the red sea. the united states has struck back multiple times against all of them, but the problem is that

there is mounting pressure in the united states to go for iran which of course, the iranians are saying that they aren't giving orders to these various groups, and most observers in this part of the world believe that in general, many of them act on their own following, general guidelines provided by the iranians. now this strike in jordan that is the first incident where u.s. military personnel are killed certainly raises the stakes, but diplomats we've spoken with here believe that the real solution to this situation would be for the united states to rein in israel, bring the war in gaza to an end which would dramatically lessen the tensions, and certainly reduce the very real possibility of this low-intensity regional war going into something much, much more dangerous, john. >> ben, thank you.

>> all right. joining us now, retired air force general phillip breedlove, the former nato supreme allied commander in europe. all right. looking at the situation which is getting more and more worr worrisome, how do you think the united states should respond after something like this? this is one in a series of things that has happened, the attacks on u.s. troops. a. >> good morning, and thanks for having men to. one of the problems is the words we're using and retaliating and this is all shooting behind the target. the real question is a policy question. what are we going to get in front of this problem rather than behind it? we know, and it's been said. our president even talked about it yesterday. all roads start in iran, and all roads lead back to iran.

of course, iran is denying it, but this is very straightforward, and the decision is, will we change our policy to seize and take the initiative and get in front of this problem rather than sit back and retaliate? 160 attacks. we're behind the problem right now. >> let me ask you something because everyone is talking about whether or not this is going to turn into a huge conflagration in the region, but isn't this already a slow-burning war, though not officially one? it is happening, correct? >> well, you just have to look around and pay attention, and you see that there is a conflict, and as we said, i don't want to repeat, but all roads lead from iran and back to iran. iran has the initiative and is pressing the attack. we say in the business that the enemy gets a vote.

we would like to say we're not going to do this or we're not going to do that or we're working to keep from widening this war, but the enemy gets a vote and iran has made its vote. >> we are looking at a map showing where u.s. forces have been attacked, and where some of these tensions have risen. i do want to ask you. what is the u.s. to do? at what point do you think that iran will be the target as opposed to its proxies? >> well, several commentators have said across the last two days, you don't have to strike directly into iran. the land mass of iran. there are many iranian targets that are out there. maritime, oil business based, go plots. other things that iran values highly that the united states could consider as legitimate

targets. listen. remember. 160 attacks and now we have dead american soldiers, heroes, and we have to decide when we're going to get in front of this problem, and that may mean striking important targets that iran values. >> that's a really interesting take as you sort of look at the region, but how big might this get? you've got syria. you've got iraq. you've got iran, and you've got the issue with israel and hamas all happening at the same time, and there's a battle between saudi arabia and yemen in the region. i mean, this is not looking good. >> so i would say that when things get interesting in the world, the world needs leadership, and i would say that the world needs western leadership, and what we have seen i think you'll agree with me is this is growing and

growing and growing, and it is absent, strong leadership in this region, and so i think the real question goes back to what is our policy? are we going to adjust our policy? or are we going to let the enemy continue to drive the fight? and as you have pointed out correctly, allow this war to continue to grow. >> president biden says there will be a response to this. we're all waiting to see what that might be. general philip breedlove, thank you so much for coming on and giving us a real in-depth idea of what could happen and maybe what should potentially happen in your mind. th thank you. i appreciate it. kate? nikki haley tells donald trump to man up. how the two are battling each other now, and also president biden. new cnn reporting is also coming in at the head of the network, oan is accused of criminal activities while promoting 2020 election lies. what the voting machine company

smartmatic is alleging in a multibillion dollar lawsuit against the network. and the super bowl is set. what's about to happen in vegas, and why lots of people are wondering about taylor swift's travel plans. we'll be back.

now to the campaign trail where donald trump and nikki haley are weighing in on the deadly drone attack in jordan. trump is blaming president biden for the attack that killed three u.s. service members, and this morning, haley is calling on the united states to retaliate. >> we lost three heroes because biden was scared of his own shadow. the very first strike that hit, you punch and you punch back hard. what they should be doing is going after every ounce of

production of those missiles. wherever those missiles are, you take that out. >> cnn's eva mckend joining us from south carolina this morning. eva, less than a month to go into the primary that is going to happen there. what kind of messaging are you hearing from both candidates? we just heard a little bit from nikki haley about the drone strike. >> reporter: well, sara, in resisting this pressure campaign for her to drop out of this contest, what we're hearing from nikki haley is her feeling really emboldened to go after trump pretty directly, more forcefully than ever before, and for all the things she is calling him, whether it is thin-skinned, unhinged, something that stuck out to me is her characterizing him as overly sensitive because we, of course, know sara, that is a criticism often leveled at women, and so she is turning

that concept right on its head, but listen. she is telling voters here in her native south carolina that she can offer conservative leadership without the kind of chaos that the former president inspires. let's listen. >> i know him well, and i know that when he feels vulnerable, when he feels threatened, he lashes out, and you saw the night of the new hampshire election. he literally had a temper tantrum on stage, and it's because he knew that he had told everybody we were going to be 30 points down, and we weren't. >> reporter: now south carolina still trump country. he has a huge base of support here. so much so that last night at her rally at coastal carolina university where we were, several times there were interruptions, hecklers, and those were trump supporters, as well as a handful of them standing outside of the venue itself. so she still has an uphill

battle here in her home state, but i will tell you, sara, we had the opportunity to speak to a lot of voters, conservative women at her rallies over the weekend, and they said they did not like that they felt as though trump and the larger republican establishment was sort of bullying her. i even spoke to one woman who told me she supported trump in 2016, and then she supported biden in 2020, and now she's supporting haley. that's something the republican establishment has to confront. there are conservative voters that are not comfortable with sort of this coronation of the former president that seems to be happening. >> we're hearing those lines from her as well. eva mckend, thank you for all of your reporting. this is of course, her home state. let's go over to john. with us is andrew boucher, the chairman of the charleston republican party. donald trump is calling haley

unhinged and overly sensitive. how far do you think he can push that with voters in south carolina? >> i think the voters of south carolina understand that, you know, this is going to be h hard-fought fight for the next four weeks, that the candidates are going to have to come in and earn every single vote and that politics ain't bean bags. >> one of the things that nikki haley that caught some attention is after this $83 million liable verdict against donald trump in the damages trial for e. jean carroll accusing him of sexual assault, $83 million, all the primaries and all the republicans were dancing around these legal problems. nikki haley says, i trust the jury in the $83 million case. how will that play down where you are? >> well, i think it remains to be seen. governor haley's been trying to get a one-on-one with president trump since day one, and now she has it in her home state of south carolina, and i think she's taking her message to the voters asking for their support,

and we've got just under four weeks to go. that's plenty of time to carry a message to voters and try to win them over. >> yep. >> but i will say that donald trump has a very deep base of support here in south carolina. you know, he was on the ballot here in 2020, and it's been since 2014 that governor haley was actually on the ballot. >> so there's no party registration in south carolina which i always get, though i've covered four or five primaries, and in republican races, it hasn't come into play. there's no democratic race. talk to me about the impact of that no registration, the idea of an open primary. >> there are folks who like to be able to vote in different primaries. as a party, we push to have close primaries, but we don't have registration by party. everyone just registers to vote and they get to vote in whichever party or primary they want to.

it could be a wild card. usually it doesn't play a huge role. there's not a lot of discrepancy, but it's something we are keeping an eye on. >> four weeks is an eternity. what's the vibe right now in general? when you walk out onto streets, are people talking about the campaign? >> people are talking about the campaign. they're doubling back with the candidates to try to figure out exactly, you know, what the positions are, what the, you know, what the approach is. what they like about different candidates, and they're going to make an informed vote. south carolina, you know, no republican has been elected president of the united states since 1980 without winning the south carolina primary. >> didn't newt gingrich win in south carolina? but that's an aside. 2012. >> to be elected president of the united states. >> i understand what you are

saying right there. you had only winners from south carolina end up winning the presidency. excellent point. andrew boucher, thank you so much for being with us. appreciate your dtime. kate? is secretary of state meeting at state with foreign leaders key to any success to further negotiations to fget moe hostages out of gaza. we have more on the, quote, significant gaps after the talk over the weekend. and convicted murderer alex murdaugh will be back in court. why he says he deserves a new trial after he was found guilty of killing his wife and son.

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going to show you live pictures right now. this is at the state department where any moment secretary of state tony blinken is going to be -- he's already meeting with, but coming out before cameras while he is meeting with the qatari prime minister at the state department. now the two are trying to find some path forward to get the remaining hostages out of gaza, all still in the hands of hamas, and also they are seeking some path forward toward ending the war altogether between israel and hamas. yesterday the cia director bill burns, he met with his israeli counterpart in paris to try and push forward there. you can see on how many fronts the united states is trying to work this to get some forward motion. that meeting was described as constructive which is exactly how john kirby described those talks this morning on cnn, you. the word from paris is that significant gaps remain. joining us right now is a former ambassador, ryan crocker. he served as ambassador to, well

everywhere that is critical right now. ambassador lebanon, kuwait, pakistan, afghanistan, and he's now a nonresident senior fellow. ambassador, let's jump right in. if we hear tony blinken speak, we'll listen in and hear what he can tell us, but the range of paths forward here with regard to the hostages includes a phased release of more than -- of the more than 100 remaining hostages in gaza exchanged for thousands of palestinians in israeli jails and a suspension of the war for potentially two months. i've heard you say before that there are no good options in the middle east. does this seem like the most likely good/bad option? >> i think it is, kate. the release of the hostages is, i think, critical to any movement forward toward a broader settlement or even a sustained pause in the fighting.

so i think the administration is rightly putting all its efforts into trying to broker a -- a hostage for prisoners swap. it will be as we've seen already very difficult. >> absolutely. adding in the possibility of the normalization of israel/saudi relations in exchange for the creation of a palestinian state -- i'm talking about obviously the longer term goal or reality as part of one of these paths to bring the war to an end. do you think that that is even possible? the long-sought goals in the midst of all of this? >> i think a saudi/israeli norma normalization is going to be somewhat easier than a fully sovereign palestinian state, and although the saudis have said that a two-state solution is a requirement for them, i think that they would stop short of

that. it's important to remember here that the palestinians don't have a lot of friends in the arab world and saudi arabia is not among those friends. so i think an end to the fighting and some political progress might be enough to allow the saudis to move forward. >> can you put it into perspective how -- what a huge moment that would be? >> well, it would be huge with saudi arabia joining egypt, jordan, the united arab emirates, bahrain and morocco, you would have a critical mass of the arab world at peace with israel. and given the saudis' enormous capabilities, and using oil for ill as well as good, that would change the entire dynamic of the middle east. >> let's talk about the dynamic currently. you have three u.s. service members killed in that drone attack in jordan. the first known american fatalities from hostile fire in

the region since the hamas terror attacks. president biden says they will respond. i want to play for you what john kirby, how he talked about it this morning. >> we don't seek a war with iran. we're not looking for a wider conflict in the middle east. in fact, every action the president has taken has been designed to de-escalate, to try to bring the tensions down, and obviously this attack, very, very serious. certainly escalatory on behalf of the groups and we have to take that seriously and we will. the efforts haven't worked. why do you think that they have not, and what do you make of the calls now once again from some republicans, i guess i'll say specifically that the response needs to be to target iran inside iran? >> you know, i think the measured approach to the administration has taken has been right. again, there is no good choice here. clearly we don't want to

escalate this into an all-out war that evolves over a period of time. we have to take action now that we've lost troops to iranian-backed militias. it is key to note here that it is iran we're fighting. it is not the arab world or any specific component of it. one of the extraordinary things about this whole process is what has not happened, that we have not seen the arabs join in, in any meaningful way in the fight or in the case of those arab states that have relations with israel taking steps to break those relationships. so this is about iran which is of course, a pariah in the arab world as well. i think we've got to be very careful about taking measures to attack inside iran. i'm sure the target deck is under review right now, but i think there are meaningful targets that we can hit in a way

that can affect the capacity of their ability to hit us outside of iran, and i think those should be exhausted before we take the very major and fateful step of attacking inside iran. >> thank you so much for taking some time for us today. john? now this morning, the voting technology company smartmatic is accusing executives that the pro-trump network, one america news of, quote, engaging in criminal activitying while promoting the 2020 election. the president of the network z sent an email to sidney powell reportedly containing the passwords. what have you learned here? >> good morning, john. this is a pretty wild story indeed so. according to court filings after the 2020 election, the president of oan, charles herring, sent a

spreadsheet to former trump lawyer sidney powell claiming to contain passwords of smartmatic employees. this came at a time when oan and powell were promoting those baseless conspiracy theories that smartmatic had rigged the 2020 election. the details about this spreadsheet have not been made public before. we pieced together the story from three different court cases stemming from the 2020 election. in one of those cases, smartmatic is suing oan for defamation and in a recent filing, smartmatic referenced the email between herring and powell. it's unclear how herring got that spreadsheet or if the passwords were real, but smartmatic says this all means that oan executives may have engaged, quote, in criminal activities because they appear to have violated state and federal laws regarding data privacy. now john, oan denies wrongdoing. i want to be very clear about that. charles babcock, an attorney for the network, told cnn in a

statement that this, quote, vague accusation is a clumsy attempt to smear oan and avert attention away from smartmatic's own misconduct. that email was sent in january, 2021, just one day after the voting systems in coffey county, georgia were breached by some of sidney powell's associates and powell has pleaded guilty to state charges in georgia stemming from that breach. john? >> smartmatic's got a lot of legal irons cooking. what else is cooking? >> they have targeted a wide swath of the right-wing figures that basically turned on a fire hose of disinformation of 2020. you can see here. news max, fox news, sidney powell, mike lindell, the my pillow ceo, and they got a boost last week too, john when a state judge in new york city ruled that they can expand their fox news case to not only go after fox news, but also fox

corporation, the parent company. that could really ratchet up the pressure for the murdochs as smartmatic tries to hold them accountable for this 2020 disinformation. john? >> great to see you. sara? still ahead, you are looking at live pictures behind me of a courtroom in south carolina where a judge is considering its convicted filler alex murdaugh, if he should get a new trial. what went wrong in the trial that has him serving two life sentences, the murder of his wife and his youngest son. also the latest on the isis claim attack on a church in ist istanbul. more than 47 people have been arrested. the video from inside that church on the other side.

you're looking at live pictures inside court right now of convicted murderer alex mauer daug. h -- murdaugh. he's back in a south carolina courtroom in an orange outfit trying to convince the court he should receive a brand-new murder trial. murdaugh's attorneys were claiming that the court clerk, rebecca hill tampered with the jury that found him guilty last year of murdering his wife and his son. a judge will examine those jurors this morning, but the clerk is expected to be grilled. diane gallagher is in columbia, south carolina. what should we expect to hear in court today particularly, and how long do you think this might go on? >> reporter: so sara, for how

long it might go on, the judge said that she hopes to get all of this wrapped up today. this is a very unusual -- auniqe proceeding that we are seeing here. alex murdaugh will not be on the stand. this time, we are looking to hear from that clerk of court, becky hill. in december, murdaugh said their client needed a new trial because they discovered evidence that becky hill, the clerk had tampered jury in order to secure a book deal and television appearances that she shouldn't have had if there had been a mistrial. these alleges appear in a signed affidavit, but this afternoon this is the first time we're going to hear her speak on this, and the presiding judge, retired south carolina supreme court justice jean toll, well, she has set a very, very narrow standard on what can be admitted during this hearing. basically the defense must prove

that the potential misconduct including any sort of comments from hill, made the jurors change or influence their verdicts so they then found him guilty. so that is a very difficult thing to prove, and that is important because 11 of the 12 jurors are going to be examined by toll this morning. one juror had a conflict in their schedule. so they were actually examined by the judge on friday, and up until literally right this point, we haven't been able to talk about what was said during that examination so as to not influence those other jurors in any way, but i can tell you that the judge asked that juror about seven questions in about a five-minute span. very important key here, the jurors said they did hear hill say things like, oh, it's very unusual for a defendant to testify like this or this is going to be an epic day or an important day, but key here. they said that hill's statements had no impact on their verdict. they answered no to that

question, and again, this is an uphill battle for murdaugh's attorneys here. they had tried to include -- they tried to include a dismissed juror, an alternate juror, and the judge said no on this. we anticipate they will take just about today, but they have set aside three days in case this takes any longer. the change here, they determined if the jury was tampered with, alex murdaugh could go on trial again for the murders of his wife and son. >> this case just seems to keep in the public eye. the entire country was watching the story and the story of his son and wife. we'll see what happens today. dianne gallagher, thank you. you've followed this from the going. take that, haters. taylor swift is going to the super bowl and the world might never be the same again. also, we're getting word this morning the princess of wales is back after two weeks in the hospital. we've got new information about her condition this morning.

not just any whiteboard... ...katie porter's whiteboard is one way she's: [news anchor] ...often seen grilling top executives of banks, big pharma, even top administration officials. katie porter. never taken corporate pac money - never will. leading the fight to ban congressional stock trading. and the only democrat who opposed wasteful “earmarks” that fund politicians' pet projects. katie porter. focused on your challenges - from lowering housing costs to fighting climate change. shake up the senate - with democrat katie porter. i'm katie porter and i approve this message. also on our radar, the

former irscontractor who leaked donald trump's tax returns will be sentenced. he pleaded guilty after prosecutors said he leaked donald trump's tax returns with two news outlets li. littlejohn faces a maximum of five years. there was a deadly church attack in istanbul. one person was killed after two masked gunmen opened fired during a sunday's service launching a large-scale investigation. i.s.i.s. has claimed responsibility for the shooting. the princess of wales is back home after spending 15 days in the hospital according to information put out by kensington palace. princess kate is making good

progress after abdominal surgery. a source has maintained it was not related to cancer. it has been suggested she has weeks more to recover at home. no word on when she'll return to royal duties. john? heart break for the detroit lions who blew a 17-point lead to the 49ers in the nfc championship game. coy wire was at the team's watch party in detroit. that had to turn into the worst party ever in detroit. they need a hug. >> reporter: they need a big old hug. lions fansed waited their whole lives for this moment. let's check out the highlights. the watch party at ford field was full throttle. they were up 24-7 at halftime. then the 49ers overcoming the

largest halftime deficit in conference championship history, scoring 27 unanswered points in the second half, led by christian mccaffrey and brock purdy rallying from 17 points down. they're back in the super bowl with a chance at a record-tying sixth super bowl title. the lions fans couldn't believe it. they told us how they were feeling after that historic collapse. listen. >> defeated. very upset. we thought we were going to take it home this year. >> speechless. heart broken. somethings i just don't understand like why we didn't go for the field goal. we blew a 17-point lead. >> reporter: now the chiefs are playing in the super bowl for the fourth time in five years. taylor swift's boyfriend travis

kelce has the most career receptions in the playoffs. kansas city can become the first team to repeat as champs since the patriots did it 20 years ago. patrick mahomes is just 28 years old. he's trying to become the youngest quarterback to win three super bowls since tom brady won his third at 27. taylor swift has a concert the day before the super bowl. many are wondering if she's going to be able to make it. it's in tokyo. with the time change and the 11 1/2 hour flight she should have plenty of time to get there to watch travis kelce and the chiefs take on the 49ers. did this chiefs team give you vibes of those patriots glory days, john? >> it's the exact same thing, that they will find a way to win. they may not be the best team on paper walking on to the field, but you have a feeling by the end of the game they'll be on

top. as for taylor swift's travel plans, as long as she doesn't get a middle seat from tokyo, she should be okay. >> reporter: yeah, she should be all right. she's going to rock that concerts. the chiefs will probably win the super bowl and she's not going to sleep that night. do they have middle seats on private jets? >> exactly. i know you're a romantic. it's nice to see love prevail. corey, thank you. still ahead, defense secretary lloyd austin returning to the pentagon today after his hospitalization. it comes as the u.s. mulls its response to a deadly drone strike that killed three troops in jordan. we'll haveve more on t this.