just moments ago we saw defense secretary lloyd austin at the pint gonent gone for the

time since his medical procedure. what he's saying about the attack that left three dead. and an allegation from a voting machine company saying it was defamed in 2020, the accusation that conservative news network engage thid in cril activity. and should convicted murderer alex murdaugh get a new trial? is hearing is under way. and what a former juror just testified to. this is c"cnn news central." moments ago defense secretary lloyd austin back at the pentagon. he spoke about the attack that left three u.s. service members dead in jordan. >> let me start with my outrage and sorrow for the death of three brave u.s. troops in jordan. and for the other troops who

were wounded. the president and i will not tolerate an attack on u.s. forces and we will take all necessary, as actions to defend the u.s. and our troops. >> so they believe the attack was carried out by iranian backed militia group. iran denied any vochlts. in addition to the three killed, at least 34 others wounded. eight had to be evacuated to the medical center in germany and we have learned they are in stable condition. natasha bertrand is at the pentagon with the latest. >> reporter: yeah, so we are learning a bit more details now about the status of those wounded service members. eight of whom were medically evacuated and they are now in stable condition which is a positive sign. but three u.s. army soldiers we're told were killed in this drone attack on a small outpost in northeast jordan. a u.s. base called tower 22.

it is unclear at this point just which iranian backed militia was responsible for this attack. the u.s. is jerry pointing the finger though at these iran backed proxies trying to determine which group was responsible for this particular drone attack. because there have been over 150 attacks on u.s. and coalition bases by these iran backed proxies just since october alone. previously they resulted only in injury, mostly minor, but this is the first time that they have managed do what u.s. officials say was their goal all along, which was to kill u.s. service members. national security council john kirby did say he believes at this point the u.s. assesses that this group was supported by hezbollah, an iraq backed proxy, but they are still working to get more specificity on exactly which group carried out the attack. he did say when it comes to a response, president biden is still weighing his options. >> i certainly can't deny the

fact that there have been a series of attacks now increasingly lethal over weeks and months which is why the president is going to be reviewing what the appropriate response is going forward. we don't want to see these attacks continue. and we want to make it clear that they are unacceptable. and we'll do what we have to do to protect our troops, our facilities, our national security interests in the region. those are the options the president is weighing and we'll take it very, very seriously. >> reporter: now, the question now is what is the response going to look like, is the u.s. going to attack the iran backed militias narrowly or go broader and perhaps attack iranian assets themselves as some republican lawmakers are calling for. so we'll watch closely about how the u.s. responds to this provocation. >> natasha, keep us posted. we don't yet know who was responsible for the attacks but donald trump is blaming president biden. and slamming him for the southern border crisis.

trump seizing on these events to help sell his general election message. kristen holmes is joining us from washington, d.c. trump seems to be focusing his campaign attacks at this point, sometimes they are random and all over the place. he is presenting himself as the cure to all of these issues. what are the things he is telling voters now? >> yeah, i know we are just tuning in, but as somebody who has followed it the last year, this is something he has been selling for quite some time, he could fix everything. part of this is general election messaging as you said. we talk about foreign policy. donald trump himself had a chaotic tenure in the white house. however, he has sought to turn the tables and messaging on joe biden saying it is actually joe biden's tenure marked by chaos saying that none of the things that happened overseas is real and of course this attack wouldn't happen if he was still in office. this is all part of a larger tactic we've seen from donald trump when he is campaigning

which is really playing into people's fears. and there is nothing that he has really doubled down on that more than with immigration. keep in mind as he says biden is weak on immigration, that there is this problem at the border that biden caused, it is also at the same time that donald trump is trying to kill off a senate compromise bill that might make th things easier on the border. take a listen. >> i did such a good job with the border that the border wasn't an issue. and now i'm saying the border is in play like it has never been in play before. please blame it on me 7. please. they were getting ready to pass a very bad bill. and i'll tell you what, a bad bill, i'd rather have no bill than a bad bill. there is a 100% chance that there will be a major terrorist attack in the united states. >> so obviously playing to the fears on the terror attack. but when it comes to the bill,

whether or not donald trump thinks it is a good bill, sure, but the other part is self preservation. we know donald trump wants to run on three main topics. economy, crime and immigration. and there is a concern among trump and his allies that one of those arguments could go out the window, that being the economy. we've seen that it is ticking upwards, still people in the middle of the country are feeling that inflation. but where are we going to be before november? that leaves immigration and crime. immigration then being a core issue of donald trump. so again, whether or not he believes takes good bill, he needs to run on immigration. so if there is something that will fix what is going on at the border, that does not help his 2024 presidential bid. >> a lot going on. crime also going down as well. we'll see what happens and you'll be watching it for us. appreciate it. and joining us now to talk more about a lot of that reporting is democratic senator from massachusetts senator warren. thank you for coming in.

let's start with the border negotiations. james lankford who has been key in it the negotiations respect the way he described the text that is still being written is there is the bill focusing to getting us for zero illegal crossings, it increases the number of agents and asylum officers, increases detention beds so we can quickly detain and then deport individuals. they are finalizing the wording of course still. do you think this is a deal that you will support? >> we have to see what the final details are. and i have to read it carefully like i do with everything that comes in front of congress. i've long argued had we need comprehensive immigration reform and we need to make sure whatever we do is consistent with our values, consistent with u.s. law an consistent with international law. but the real threat here is the one you identified just now, and that is donald trump. who says there is a problem at

the border but he wants that problem to get worse, to continue to be a problem so that he can run on it next november. that is another example of donald trump trying to put his own political interests ahead of the interests of the united states. he says he is out there cheering for an economic recession knowing that it would put people out of work, knowing it would cost people their savings. but that is what he wants because he thinks that it will help him come november. you know, this is a man who puts himself first. and puts the united states of america way behind that. >> if what we've heard from donald trump trying to tank this deal, if that is what holds republicans in congress back from supporting this deal, what does that say to you? >> you know, that really should say to all of us who do republicans put first? you know, for a long time they

just put the millionaires and billionaires first. but now it is donald trump first. and then the millionaires and billionaires behind that and then the rest of the country behind that. they are not a party that is talking about how to make things better, safer, how to make our economy grow better hear in the united states. they are a party that is all about politics and all about political theater designed to try to flatter donald trump. that is not good for our country and in fact that is a real danger to our country. >> i want to ask you about the economy. you just sent a letter to the chairman of the federal reserve calling for the fed to cut rates and also hitting him pretty hard. a part of what you wrote is that the fed's decision to raise interest rates rapidly and keep them high has resulted in higher costs for home purchasers, hire rents and reductions in new home and apartment building. and in this letter you call the rates astronomical. do you blame jay powell for

this? >> let's back up just a little bit and get the overview here. first i want to give great credit to president joe biden and to the democrats who continue to invest in america and americans. and what is the consequence of that? we have a strong economy, rising gdp, and low unemployment doing better than any of the other wealthy nations in the world. so two thumbs up for that. but the problem we've got is that because jay powell raised interest rates so fast, it actually has increased costs for families. look particularly at home mortgages. so that now we've seen home mortgages just explode in terms of the rates and that increases the cost of housing for families all across this country. it also increases costs for renters. because it means that fewer people are willing to invest in building new housing and building new apartment buildings

and that keeps rents high. so i want to see costs come down for families and the best way we can make that happen is for jay powell and the fed now to start lowering those interest rates. >> do you think -- if joe biden deserves credit, joe biden deserves two thumbs up for the handling of the economy, do you also think jay powell deserves two thumbs up? because '23 was the year of the much predicted and never materialized recession. we're talking about the quote/unquote very nearly impossible to obtain soft landing in the fight against inflation. >> fair enough, but let's look at all the factors that were at play here. one is that joe biden and the democrats made an investment in our people and have continued to with things like the investments now in clean energy. money that keeps flowing into

our economy. that made our economy strong. the second is look at the reasons that we saw prices go up. part of it was supply chain kinks. we finally have begun to unkink those. rising oil prices. oil prices have come down. and going after the giant corporations on price gouging who have increased their margins, their profit margins, and said that they were going to use inflation as a cover to raise prices. we now have a government that has gone after them. and that means we've had a stronger economy and more push from the biden administration to get costs lower for families. the biggest obstacle in the way right now is the fed with these high interest rates because they are keeping housing prices high, a i and i should also also increased costs of buying a car

because most people have to finance. >> do you think the hikes were necessary in order to get to where we are now, that the top is still not popping off when you are looking at inflation? i mean, it is not great, but it could be a whole lot worse was the fear. >> let's remember on inflation, six out of the last seven months, inflation has been below 2% which was the fed's target. but keep in mind, there were a lot of things that were causing prices to go up. jay powell and the fed have just one tool and that is interest rates. but there are a lot of other things that affect prices in the economy. like price gouging. like supply chain tanks, like whether or not the government is investing in the economy. president biden used all of those tools. it helped bring prices down. and as i've said, what is happening now is the fed is actually increasing costs for families by keeping those

interest rates high. inflation is down. come on, fed. turn it around and drop those interest rates. make it possible for a first time home buyer to get out there and get into the housing market. make it possible for someone to move out of where they are and move somewhere else. make it possible for more apartments and more rental units. make it possible so that part of the economy to get prices under better control as well. >> an important meeting this week i believe and also then the big march meeting which everyone has their eyes on to start seeing potentially a cut in rates. thank you for your time. >> you bet. a new lawsuit by voting machine company smartmatic alleges that execs from t television network oan may have engaged in criminal activity. we'll discuss. and right now, alex murdaugh back in a south carolina

courtroom hoping to get a new murder trial. one juror just testifying that, yes, a clerk did influence her decision to convict murdaugh of murder. what it could mean for a retrial.

pro trump head work one america news is accused of

engaging in criminal activities while promoting lies about the 2020 election. accusations are part of a lawsuit vote by the company smartmatic. marshall cohen helped break this story. what exactly is this allegation? >> this is a very notable allegation and this is a pretty wild story. according to court filings, after the 2020 election, the president of oan, charles harring, sent a spreadsheet to sydney powell claiming to contain passwords of smartmatic employees. this is at a time when oan and powell were both promoting baseless conspiracy theories that smartmatic had rigged the 2020 elections. the details about this spreadsheet have not been public before. we pieced together the story from three different court cases stemming from the 2020 election fallout, one of those cases smartmatic is suing oan for defamation and then a recent

filing smartmatic referenced this email between harring and powell. not clear how he got the spread sheets and if they were authentic, but smartmatic means that oan executives may have engaged in criminal activities because they appear to have violated state and federal laws regarding data privacy. let me be clear about this, oan denies any wrongdoing. charles babcock, an attorney for the far right network told cnn in a statement that, quote, this vague accusation is a clumsy attempt to smear oan and to divert attention from smartmatic's own misconduct. now, this email was sent in january 2021, timing is so crucial. it was sent one day after the voting systems in coffey county, georgia were breached by some of sydney powell's associates there. they were looking for evidence that would back up their voter fraud claims. sydney powell has pleaded guilty

to state charges in georgia stemming from that breach. >> marshall cohen, a spreadsheet with passwords. interesting coach. there. thank you so much for sharing your reporting. happening right now, convicted murderer alex murdaugh back in a south carolina courtroom trying to convince the court he should receive a brand new murder trial. murdaugh's attorney claims a court clark rebecca hill tampered with the jury that found him guilty of murdering his wife and one of those jurors has testified that the clerk did influence her decision. dianne gallagher is outside the courthouse. and you've followed this case from the beginning and now in a second phase. this is fascinating that you have a juror that has now told the court that she was influenced? what can you tell us. >> reporter: and like almost everything in the case surrounding alex murdaugh, this comes with a caveat as well. first of all, an absolutely

shocking moment, the first juror called today on the stand when being interviewed by the judge said that she did hear the clerclerk of court talk about the a le al murdaugh and she said that she was influenced by the commentary. take a listen. >> was your verdict influenced in any way by the communications of the krerk clerk of court in case? >> yes, ma'am. >> and how was it influenced? >> to me it felt like she made it seem like he was already guilty. >> all right. and i understand that. that that is the tenor of the remarks she made. did that affect your finding of guilty in this case?

>> yes, ma'am. >> reporter: that is key right there because the judge had set a very high and narrow standard that she couldn't have just said comments, but those comments had to directly influence jurors to make them vote guilty when they ren exercised that verdict last year. now, i will tell you that we are on juror number nine right now, that is the only juror thus far that has said that they had their vote influenced by becky hill. the others have said that they didn't, but there are two additional jurors who said that they heard becky hill making remarks about alex murdaugh and the case ahead of time. here is the caveat i was talking about. this particular juror who was just on the stand that you heard also issued a signed affidavit earlier. many of them did. and in that affidavit, she said

that it was the other jurors who pressured her not -- made her feel like she had to vote guilty. the judge asked her about that, said if it was more accurate and she answered yes. the judge would not allow any clarification. of course the attorneys for murdaugh saying both can be true at the same time. but at this point we're not getting any further clarification on that. >> this is big. that one juror, it only on takes one juror to have a hung jury. so this is a very, very big deal and could have the judge decide that new murder trial is in order. but we'll have to wait and see what the judge does. dianne gallagher, i know you got into court. thank you for all your reporting. the target deck now under review. president biden weighing his options to respond to the deadly drone attack that killed three u.s. service members. what could be coming now. and royal palace says that the princess of wales is home after her nearly two week hospital stay following

abdominal surgery. details next.

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you may know adam schiff's work to protect the rule of law, or to build affordable housing, or write california's patients bill of rights. but i know adam through the big brother program. we've been brothers since i was seven. he stood by my side as i graduated from yale, and i stood by his side when he married eve, the love of his life. i'm a little biased, but take it from adam's little brother. he'll make us all proud as california senator. i'm adam schiff and i approve this message. this morning defense secretary lloyd austin vowed that the deadly drone strike on u.s. troops in jordan will not be tolerated. three u.s. service members died, dozens more injured. with us now, our cnn military analyst. general, great to see you.

we were speaking with jim sciutto who had sources within side the military establishment saying one thing they are trying to determine is how the drone, that one way drone got through and hit this installation known as tower 22, which you can see is right in the northeast corner of jordan between syria and iraq. do you have any thoughts on that, do you think this is a oneoff or maybe some kind of technology gap the u.s. has to deal with? >> well, john, i think it is a technology gap. let's be frank. there is anti-drone capabilities that are out there that allows you to monitor, teedetect, identified and after beyond that point, there are efforts that are in place and capabilities that are in place that allow you to then go after those drones such as microwave capabilities that will eliminate or burn out electronics, you have laser capabilities. there are nets, hardcore nets. also you've got jammers.

you have gps spoofers as well that tells the drone it is in a different location than it is. what the united states has not done is deploy these anti-drone capabilities. they exist, but we haven't gotten them out there. that is number one. number two, this is a known location. u.s. has been there for a while. these are targeted. enemy knows where we are. it is a static location so it becomes very, very vulnerable. as a result of those two very sadly these casualties and these deaths are not unexpected. >> so when we talk about the range of the possible u.s. responses, i have a map which shows just how many troops are in the region. it is thousands and thousands. we're hearing from u.s. officials, they believe this was an iranian backed proxy. where and how do you think the u.s. will respond here? >> it is all about attribution, right? we have to figure out the

intelligence now is marching down the path to determine with a level of certainty who directed it and then who actually executed this strike. the united states will not go after targets within iran, that is fair to say. there are certainly targets where proxies are located, where inventories are located, where fighters are located. may not be the same location as where the eveninventory or capa is located. so you need a robust target list and there needs to be a sequence of attacks that take place. the response minimally cannot be a one and done. there has to be a very strong, very crushing blow. it won't eliminate the capacity, but you then need to see how the enemy responds and then go after the responses. that is the notion of action, reaction and counter action which is the construct that you use in a planning and execution environment. >> so obviously this is iranoff here.

general marks says the u.s. he does not think will strike inside iran. but iran has proxies inside iraq, inside syria, inside lebanon, inside yemen here. can you target those proxies and also tar get iranians at the same time? >> yes and yes. and the united states should. clearly you don't want to strike everywhere. if you try to strike everywhere, you will dilute yourself and you will strike nowhere essentially. so in this particular case, the strike that came after tower 22 and caused the casualties and the deaths, that needs to be responded to very, very precisely. don't try to solve every problem all at once. make a very hard, very precise strike and then keep up the pressure against those that did this strike. simul simultaneously, we have a presence in the red sea that will continue. but don't escalate that. there are laws of

proportionality. the united states pays attention to it and in this case we need to do that here. >> general marks, always great to see you. thank you very much. the united states could be getting ready to have another gold medal now from the winter olympics of 2022. what a russian figure skater and a new dopinge ing ban have to dh it.

two senior british royals are out of the hospital. king charles waving as he left after following treatment for an enlarged prostate. an hour before that, kate

princess of wales went home after her 13 day stay in the hospital. she had abdominal surgery. kensington palace not saying exactly what it was for. her recovery is expected to take months still and she will not return to royal duties until sometime after easter. the russian figure skater at the center of the doping allegations has officially been slapped with a four year ban and retroactively disqualified from those games. the governing body overseeing the whole thing found that she was guilty of doping after she tested positive for a med kag used to increase endurance. but still unclear what the verdict will mean for the russian team who won gold in beijing. it could go the gold to the united states which came in second. final decision will be made by the ioc and international skating union. and the kansas city chiefs are headed back to the super bowl for the fourth time in the last five years.

super bowl lviii in las vegas is going to be a rematch now of the 2020 thriller against the 49ers. the 9ers crushed the hopes and dreams of people across the world specifically talking about detroit lions fans which included my husband last night pulling off the big win after they were trailing by 17 points for quite some time in that game. >> poor detroit. never been to a super bowl. anyway, happy first day of tax season if you want to get more depressed. hours ago goat irs officially started accepting and propcessig individual tax returns. and this year you have the option of filing with a brand new free system called direct file. but the agency had its work cut out for it because the irs processed more than 260 million tax returns for 2022. let's bring in irs commissioner. thank you for joining us. please don't audit me.

we got a big day starting today. a lot of people talking about the super bowl. no, that is nothing. it is the beginning of the tax season now. and not just any tax season. you guys have over at the christ, a new way to file that could save people some money. tell me about it. >> today is our super bowl, sara. we're excited at the irs. we've been hard at work getting ready for filing season, making all kinds of improvements to help taxpayers if they need our support. as you mentioned, one of the big changes this year is a new option we're piloting to -- for those taxpayers who want to file electronically for free. and right now if you were to go to irs.gov and search free help, you would see a whole list of different ways that you can file for free. and what we're doing is we're adding another option to that list. small pilot this year, it will be in 12 states starting in mid march for simple tax returns. but we're excited to add another

option for taxpayers. >> this could save people even though they go to these different tax preparation companies and they can -- now they can do some of this themselves it sounds like. i do want to ask you, americans who are slightly annoyed, they got smaller refunds last year after some of the pandemic policies kind of expired, and the tax credits returned to past levels. daniel, i don't know, this year you can show me the money? is it going to be better? >> i can tell you this, last year the average refund was over $3,000. and i would expect this year average refund will again be thousands of dollars. i mean, for many americans, the process of filing your taxes will be the biggest financial transaction you made and biggest check you will receive all year. i will urge taxpayers to file electronically and select direct deposit. that is the best way to get your

refund fast and we can get it to you within two to three weeks in most cases. >> that electronic filing does happen really fast. like all of a sudden there is something in your bank account that you are not even paying attention and there it is. so that is a good way do it. i want to talk to you about things i've been hearing. chatting to a trump voter, she was concerned about one thing, and irs sending people to knock on doors when they agree with public policy. let's listen to what she said. >> i'm here pre-dominantly because i want my children to have a future with freedom. no more censorship, no more irs showing up at your door every time you disagree with the narrative. >> now, i have never heard of the irs showing up at the door when you disagree with anything. what are you thinking about these accrusations and is there ever a time when the irs would show up at your door unannounced? >> well, first i'm glad this issue is coming up because it

allows me to renounce that earlier in 2023 we announced an end to unannounced home visits. so if someone is knocking at your door, it is not the irs. and that is important because one thing that i'm very worried about, and i worry about it every tax season, is scams. filing season is when bad actors come out of the wood work. they have promises of fake tax benefits or false threats of a tax penalty that doesn't exist. sometimes they show up at your door. often they call you. well, i can tell taxpayers, first of all, if it is an unannounced visit, it is not the irs. and second, the irs will rarely call you. and in the rare exception that the irs does call you, there are things that we'll never do. we will never demand immediate payments using a prepaid debit

card or gift card. the irs will never demand immediate payment and threaten to bring in law enforcement to arrest or deport you. i would encourage taxpayers to go to irs.gov, search free help. we have a ton of information on scams, the latest scams and tricks, what to be on the lookout for. and by staying educated, you can avoid these scams and protect yourself and your family. >> that news of the average refund was $3,000, that is a lot of money which is why the scammers come after you. so good to know the irs won't come to your door unannounced, you said it here live on cnn. i so thank you for coming on and making tax day or the beginning of tax season kind of exciting. appreciate you. >> absolutely. thank you. he called it the irs super bowl. is alzheimer's disease transmissible? there's brand new evidence that suggests that some cases may

have been caused by a medical treatment.

early onset dementia cysts -- symptoms symptoms in a hand of adults may have been connected to a discontinued medical treatment they received decades ago as children. meg terrel is gathering more i had to read this a few time to really grasp. dementia transmission is scary. grasp. that is scary. >> the headline is really frightening. if you look at the details, you see this is a discontinued treatment, not a current risk to anyone. but really sort of a scientific marvel. we know that alzheimer's, of course, is characterized by buildups of proteins in as beta-amyloid. what they are

looking at here is the fact that years ago between 1959 and 1985 , there was a procedure done, which essentially harvested human growth hormone from cadavers and what they say is that in some of those people, they must have had alzheimer's disease and beta-amyloid protein that was harvested and prepared to be used as treatment for children with human growth hormone that then was injected into more than 1800 people and they found that 30 years later in five people have found alzheimer's disease was connected to this treatment. >> thank you so much for bringing these details. >> thank you for beingng w with insidede politics s is up p nex.