hello. i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 bm here in washington. 9:00 p.m. in moscow. 3:00 a.m. wednesday in seoul, south korea. wherever you're watching from around the world, thank you for being with us. donald trump's choice for transport secretary, elaine chao. she's married to senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. the president-elect decided on key positions that could affect americans' health care. republican congressman tom price from georgia is his pick for health and human services secretary. price is the chairman of the house budget committee and was an early trump supporter. he's an orthopedic surgeon and a staunch critic of obama care.

and sima verma is founder and ceo of a health consulting firm and worked with mike pence revamping medicaid in indiana. outside trump tower in new york city is phil mattingly. what more can you tell us about the latest cabinet picks? why were they chosen? >> reporter: wolf, look at importance as they we are tain to policies and agendas of the president-elect. these thee fill in nicely with key issues the president-elect made promises ob througho s thr campaign. house republican leading the way on an alternative, tom price. he sundaunderstands the policy.

talk with republicans on capitol hill, why they like the pick and oh fu obtrusive with praise, necessary to grasp, repealing the affordable care act and figary w finish --figure a way to reteal, and same for elaine chao. and what the president talked about throughout the campaign a large infrastructure proposal. elaine chao will run point on in a, having somebody of her kaw calib caliber understanding how the federal government works and close with the senate majority leader seen as a net positive not just inside trump tower but within republicans on capitol hill. >> as you know, donald trump lieutenant have dinner with mitt romney tonight. what does this say about the intrigue, the possibility mitt

romney could emerge as the secretary of state? >> reporter: interesting to watch these other cabinet picks roll out with little to no drama at all. most of them lauded by republicans across the board. not so much with the secretary of state position. we've been watching the last 72 hours as all sorts of names bubbled up. people came in to meet but mitt romney is the individual that stands out. it's no secret there are individuals inside the president-elect team, kellyanne conway and others, opposed to the idea of the 2012 nominee joining the cabinet. still, mitt romney will be the first individual who has had a second face-to-face meeting with the president-elect during this transition process. this isn't any meeting. a one-on-one, principles-only dinner tonight in new york city. does this mean he's got the job? when you talk to transition officials, they say, no. no decision has been made yet, but it's very clear despite the very clear opposition inside the transition operation, mitt romney, at least at this point, wolf, still in the running.

>> do we know where they're having dinner? >> reporter: we don't yet. we know there will be a dinner and it's going to be off-site. we haven't been told the specific location. chasing the president-elect throughout this transition process can sometimes be a harrowing and surprising endeavor. we'll definitely let you know when we figure it out. >> reporter: hope they let the press pool in the motorcade to follow the president-elect wherever he's going. they have to go inside for the private dinner. let them enjoy their dinner but the press pool, we all know, should be part of that motorcade. wait outside and make sure everything is okay. thanks so much, phil, for that report. more on the trump transition from our panel, joining us, associate editor columnist for real clear politics. jeff zeleny with us from cnn and chief political analyst gloria borger as well. talk about first of all some of the appointments of the choice of tom price to be the secretary of health and human services. he is a physician himself.

>> right. very involved in crafting alternatives to obama care. he believes it needs to be repealed, but actually has ideas, conservative ideas, for replacing it. he has laid out a plan, and he has brought it to congress already. where you give tax credits to people to buy their own insurance. establish health savings accounts, and so this is somebody that, and one the reasons paul ryan, speaker of the house is so pleased. no learning curve for tom price when it comes to obama care. he's ready to go on day one. he has said -- his plan is quite conservative but also made the case that he's open to compromise, if need be, and we already know that, that the president-elect has talked about keeping, allowing people to keep provisions that say you can't be denied insurance for preexisting conditions or keeping your adult children on your plan. >> he says he was influenced by

president obama in that meeting. kids, children up to the age of 26. >> right. >> can remain on their parents' health insurance programs as part of obama care. what do we know, jeff, about seema taking over head of medicare and medicaid services? >> seema verma. from the same state as the vice president-elect and has overseen these in the state of indiana. not a surprise. this is the trump administration and not the confirmable position. someone working on this, but it also shows what role of influence mike pence, the vice president-elect has on all this. very close to tom price. alongside him in the house. i think these taken together show, a., they are serious about doing something about this as a major issue and, b., that the

vice president-elect is very is in1r06r78ed. tom price, a member of congress, somebody people are very familiar with. even though democrats won't agree on this, republicans don't need democratic votes for this, these confirmations. >> interesting. you make a good point. mike pence, clearly, has the president-elect's ear. very influential and emerging with some of these picks and i asame very influential having elaine chao announced as the new transportation secretary? >> elaine chao comes to this ready to go, just like tom price. elaine chao served in the bush administration as labor secretary, well versed in legislative battles that go on between the executive branch and legislative branch, her husband being senate majority leader and a consensus pick everyone is thrilled about and i know several trump supporters and surrogates also are really applauding his pick. i think that mike pence is a really interesting part of this.

he took over the transition effort. has been, was far more influential in sort of trump's ear guiding him during the campaign, before the election, and then i think than people realized. mike pence was a fan of the romney pick. probably going nowhere and the dinner a final good-bye. looks like this entire thing was an effort to humiliate him. i'm absolutely surprised, always full of surprises, but if romney -- makes it over the finish line, i'd give a lot of credit to mike pence. >> i'm not so sure. i talked to somebody involved in the transis last night who said to me that the romney dinner was quite meaningful, but cautioned me that throwing petraeus into the mix could potentially up-end everything. but that pence is not pushing for romney. >> right. >> necessarily. >> not a heavy hand. >> but supportive of the idea. i think what you see is mike pence, excuse me for using a

yiddish term, kind of aie yenta here, fixing people up and bringing them in, seeing how they get along with donald trump. all of these policy people, for example, people that pence is familiar with. >> at least one-on-one meeting, the dinner tonight. advisers can say what they want to say, but this is something that is donald trump's choice and something very personal to him. any speculation what this means, we're going to have to hold off for a while. the idea he invited him there, i would be surprised if it was just, see ya later. i think he's keeping an open mind about it, what romney intimates say. frankly saying they don't know. if romney asked, he will almost certainly serve, it's in his dna. >> certainly is in his dna. with the exception of bob

corker, chairman of the senate foreign relations committee, we know the history of mitt romney, the words exchanged during the campaign with rudy giuliani. there's apparently a lot of foreign business entanglements that could be a problem during the confirmation process and we know the conviction of general petraeus, that could be a potential problem during confrontation. bob corker, a.d., the one that seems the safest to sail through, first of all, his own committee and then the senate? >> i agree, and i think it's interesting. he was in the veepstakes a bit and actually took himself out of it. he would be a good fit for the job and you are right. it is a safe choice of all of these other. i think rudy has problems, even those closest to trump are worried he couldn't pass the vet. pap tray is brings umm s up the hypocrisy you campaigned guess hillary clinton and both rudy giuliani and general petraeus bring that to the table. surprised we haven't seen more

meetings with corker and surprised no meeting with josh bolten. other dark horses i believe could still end up being the pick we haven't paid the most attention to. >> corker the safest selection right now. >> sure. in terms of being confirmed. absolutely. and safe among the people who are criticizing romney and supporting romney. falls in the middle there. again, this is going to be a choice donald trump is clearly not in a hurry to make here. naming up a of these om people, wants to give it time. sure, safe if the idea was to confirm quickly. >> what we know about donald trump, loyalty is key. the fact romney is even on the docket here as potential secretary of state is a big deal. i'm wondering whether the conversations are about loyalty? and about the campaign, and, look, you did this. i'm the boss. if you disagree with me, will you go out there and say what i tell you to say? and the answer i'm sure from romney would be, yes.

he's used to being the boss. demands that of his own people, but i -- i wonder whether donald trump is looking for a way to get there, because his gut may not be there yet? because he understands what -- what kellyanne conway is saying. he gets that. >> he authorized her to go out there on the sunday shows and utter those words about mitt romney, which were pretty tough. >> not the only one that feels that way. >> and senior adviser there right in the middle of all this. >> right. she is, but as she pointed out, not making the decisions. >> very unusually open in some respects sort of, you know, arguing for this. there's a preside to romney a con side of romney. again, donald trump knows, but i think gloria is right. he spent so much time with governor romney. you know everything about him and i think that having that one-on-one face-to-face i was told a meeting of just the two of them. no advisers or spouses, a time to ask for loyalty. interesting breaking bread

tonight. >> and one piece of history here, which is romney is often govern pd by what his father did. his father george romney served in richard nixon's cabinet, and then ended up quitting the cabinet. and he was hud secretary. and he ended up quitting the cabinet over a policy issue. and writing nixon now a famous letter how he disagreed with him and think about that in the back of donald trump's mind, in the back of mitt romney's mind, that his father left rather than be disloyal. >> we'll see what happens. what happens at that dinner tonight. i suspect donald trump, the presidents-elect is getting closer and closer to a key decision. coming up, investigators are searching now for a motive in the attack of the ohio university stabbing. what we have found. new information. and a secret ballot cast tomorrow whether nancy pelosi keeps her job. some members of congress came

out in support of her rival, congressman tim ryan. standing by to join us live, the latest from his perspective on this enormous battle emerging over the house democratic leadership race. we'll be right back. can help you take on a new job, or fill a big order or expand your office and take on whatever comes next. find out how american express cards and services can help prepare you for growth at open.com.

in ohio state university, columbus, ohio, students are back in class today after that terrifying rampage that wounded 11 people on campus. police are trying to pin down the motive as details emerge about the attacker. authorities say abdul razak ali artan appears to have posted a message on media shortly before ramming his car into a group of people on the sidewalk and charging at others with a knife. the post reads -- "my brothers and sisters i am sick of seeing my muslim brothers and sisters being killed and tortured everywhere." you have a guest, someone who has spoken with the family. is that right? >> reporter: that's correct. this is hasan, a community leader here in the somali community. straight to the question. one of the big questions right now is, why? police are looking at terror as a possible motive. you've talked to the family. could you shed some light on

what they think happened? >> first of all, the somali community condemns this horrific action. the senseless violence. we've been here in ohio the last 20 years and have never seen any problems at all, and this has been a very shock, become a snok our community. a shock in our community. as you moengsed, not only the family but the whole community, in columbus, we are feeling, this is a bad time for us. secondly, as you mentioned, i met the mother and saw her last night, and she told me that her kid was a normal kid. he went to school yesterday morning. she was not expecting him to commit any crime or anything, and then she was absolutely -- you can imagine somebody -- >> reporter: any idea what made him snap? >> really, no. she doesn't know. my kid best of -- she's been here two years and already has

two graduated college. imagine somebody two years ago, third year in college? good education. good family and never had a problem. so she hadn't experienced any change. >> reporter: there was no change leading up to this event? nothing weird she noticed? >> that's what she told us, really, and she was scared for the community itself. the backlash. because, you know, these things -- when things happen, we always see people, around the nation. last week i was watching, and somebody shed -- other people, and then all of a sudden, yeah. so this is very bad for us. >> reporter: any idea what inspired him to do this? >> really, we don't have an idea. law enforcement are investiga investigating the case. they are working on it. i am not in law enforcement. i met the mother and community-wide, spoke to many people and haven't seen anybody

tell me any different, you know, information. >> reporter: any sign of inspiration of some sort? >> motivation or other thing, really. >> reporter: thank you so much. appreciate it. wolf, back to you. >> rosa, thank you. more now. joining us, paul cruickshank, "agent storm: my life inside al qaeda" and kimberly dozier, cnn global affairs analyst, contributing writer at "the daily beast." and complaining about muslim brothers and sisters persecuted and an a reference to awlaki, the cleric killed in a u.s. drone strike. do you believe this is an act of terror? >> short answer, yes. very strong indications that this was indeed islamist

terrorism. calling for relentless campaigns against the united states, as a hero, saying that he believed in retribution against the infidels, believed a billion could be killed. this was clearly, according to his own words an act of islamist terrorism, and also calling on the united states to make peace. it appears with isis. to stop these kind of lone wolf attacks. he attacked civilians, he was imbuing these attacks with a clear terrorist objective. >> as a minimum, do you believe, kimberly, he was inspired on social media, for example, by the likes of anwar awlaki to go out and commit murder -- didn't kill anybody but certainly tried to, ramming his car up on the pedestrian sidewalk and once the car stopped getting out with a butcher knife and starting to slash pedestrians? >> officials i spoke to were scrubbing his social media to

see if, did he have contact, visiting websites? >> one thing is contact. another is inspiration. was he inspired as a minimum? obviously, if there bwas a dire contact or exchange from al qaeda, al shabaab and other terror group more significant yrch. >> yet the only post was the day of the attack. they're looking for signs prior to this they could have spotted. they're trying to find out, was he self-radicalized or in communication with someone? they also are interviewing family members. one of the things that, as we just heard from the interview, that they would look for beforehand was, had his behavior changed? he seemed to have been masking that at home, according to his own mother. so they say to themselves, well, how could we have spotted this? he came in as a refugee with his mother. he would have been interviewed

as part of the family unit by officials, but there is no follow-up at this point. a couple years down the line, to visit these refugees nap is something considered in congress but legislation that hasn't passed. >> the trump administration will be more forceful in those reconsiderations, if you will. he was only 18 years old. third-you're student at the ohio state university. seemed like a very bright kid, graduated with honors. only in the united states since 2014. the feel originally from somalia, ended up in pakistan and after a thorough vetting i assume was allowed to come to the united states. >> we see that time and time again. the vast majority never get involved in any violence, but obviously we've seen a very small minority high have. he was just 16 when he came into

the united states. maybe not radicalized at all. maybe pretty reasonly he was radicalized. that facebook posting, the language he used, suggesting he been deeply influenced by this jihadi -- also talks about the oppression, the killings against muslims in an area the united nations drew attention to saying last week a campaign of ethnic cleansing by the regime there against muslims in the north of the countposting that tipped hi boiling points. why blame the united states on this? under the obama administration, sanctions were lifted last month. >> clearly, he was spending a lot of time, i assuassume, on sl media learning about alleged atrocities going on against his

fellow muslim brothers and sisters and even his family, if his parents weren't aware, something was going on inside of him that compelled him at that moment yesterday to start slashing people, if you will, a horrendous, horrendous act. guys, we'll continue our analysis and get more information. thanks for joining us. coming um, we're less than a dayy way from learning who will lead house democrats? nancy pelosi trying to hang on to her seat but ohio congressman tip r tim ryan believes he's best for the job to take on president-elect donald trump. he's standing by live. we'll discuss, when we come back.

president-elect donald trump prepares nor his inauguration adding to his cabinet, house democrats preparing to decide in nancy pelosi will continue on as their leader challenged by ohio congressman tim ryen in a secret ballot tomorrow. monitoring votes tomorrow, a sense of a breakdown, manu raju? a lot of people saying they're supporting pelosi but othering says it's one thing to say you support pelosi but another to vote for pa loelosi in a secret ballot? >> reporter: you're right, wolf. no way to know how the numbers will break down. members supporting nancy pelosi and just under a dozen saying they would publicly vote for challenger tim ryan's there are

194 democrats occupying seats in the house next congress, and those members will get a chance to vote in this secret ballot election tomorrow. we know heading into tomorrow, nancy pelosi is the favorite heading into there. a lot of loyalty, raised a lot of money for members. that said, wolf, there is considerable angst within the caucus whether or not the party has a right strategy to take back the majority. not necessarily 2018 but in the 2020 elections. pa localsy suggesting making changes to leadersh shship stru to bring in new voices, including freshman members, part of the leadership team, but congressman ryan sharply criticized some of the changes nancy pelosi was trying to further consolidate power as the democratic leader. see if any pass mustard tomorrow, trying to lock down commitments to undecided

democrats. >> we'll watch that voigt tomorrvoigt -- vote tomorrow very very closely. joining us, congressman from ohio, tim ryan. thanks for joining us. >> thanks. >> do you think you have a shot at beating nancy pelosi tomorrow? >> yeah. i think we're within strieking distance. i can tell you that for sure. a lot of members haven't committed or are being very, very quiet and could break either way coming into the last 24 hours and the vote's tomorrow morning. so i feel really, really good about the campaign we've run. i think we've been very clear. i think we've been very respectful of leader pelosi but need change and we'll see if my colleague agree tomorrow. >> supporters say she's great at raising money. that doesn't always translate into picking up seats in the house. you lost in 2010, '12, '14, '16.

what about the argument she's a great fund-raiser for democrats? >> the leadership position in and of itself bring as great cachet to the fund-raising network, whether you're democrat or republican around the country. they said the same thing about paul ryan. would he be able to raise at much as john boehner and he ended up raising more. quotes from republican donors saying, if there's enthusiasm, energy, if there's a plan, hats how you generate money. plus, we've not tried to raise low-dollar donations across the country. done a little, but significant numbers have not come in. that needs to be an approach i would bring to this leadership position. >> what's your biggest problem with nancy pelosi? >> we're not winning. like i said, we're down 60-some seats since 2010. the smallest number in the democratic caucus, in 87 years, wolf. we've gotten slaughtered throughout the country. two-thirds of state legislatures, 33 governors, lost

everything in washington, d.c. soon lose the supreme court after trump makes his appointments. we've got to hit the reset button and start over. winners win, wolf, and we've got to start winning. i'm worried that the democratic party is going to be accepting of being, of failing. of not figuring out how to win again and we have to do that. >> specifically, what would you do differently than what nancy pelosi would do if re-elected? >> first of all, we've not had an economic message. trump won because he had a robust economic message and we don't have one. we try to slice up the electorate and talk to people, you know, whether they're male, female, black, brown, white, gay, straight. look, everybody wants a good job, and sometimes we focus too much on minimum wage jobs as opposed to higher jobs and those wanting to get into the middle class and as far as the congressional democratic campaign committee goes, 180

million millennials. they could bump our numbers four and five points across country. one example. we have no idea what's going on, we're not winning and need to make changes there as well. >> the fact that house democrats did poorly once again in 2016, most recent election. who's do blame? nancy pelosi? would it be the president of the united states? couldn't generate that kind of support, or hillary clinton who failed in her own base to win the presidency? >> there's enough blame to go around, wolf, for everybody. look, we lost. i don't hang 2016 around leader pelosi's neck alone. there's plenty of blame to go around. clearly democrats do not have an economic message. we need to have one. we need to have one to move forward and what we've got to do. go into 30 or 40 congressional districts and figure out how to win in the south. how to win in rural areas. how to win in places like ohio, michigan and wisconsin.

we haven't done that, and we better figure that out or we're going to be a minority party for a long, long time. >> if you lose tomorrow, congressman, what do you see your role in the party, in the house of representatives? what's your future? >> i have no idea. i haven't looked much past tomorrow, wolf. we've got 24 hours to go in this campaign. running really hard. burning up the phones, having meetings getting endorsements and we can talk about that maybe at the end of the week, but i think we've got a good shot at winning this thing. >> like 198 or so democrats in the house of representatives. you need -- simple majority to be elected. minority leader, right? >> that's right. >> how close do you think you are right now to getting say, 100 of your colleagues to support you? >> within striking distance. like i said, very, very close. >> what does that mean? striking distance? >> part of the game here, wolf, not to give away your numbers. doing this a long time, you know. keeping our number close. have a lot of commitments, more than most think and i think a lot of surprised faces tomorrow.

>> the fact this is a secret ballot, that presumably helps you. light? >> big time. big time. you know, i'm not going to hurt anybody who's not with me. and when the person in power sometimes is able to use other tools to keep people in line. >> congressman, tim ryan, check back with you tomorrow. thanks so much. >> thanks, wolf. >> big vote tomorrow morning. coming up, the president-elect says jailtime is perhaps the correct punishment for burning the american flag. what his words could mean, that and more, when we come back. so corporate put you up in a roadside motel. but with directv from at&t, you can download then binge watch your dvr'd shows from anywhere. that makes you more powerful than whatever it is you just stepped in. or that friendly dumpster diver outside. i wouldn't sit there. it's your tv, take it with you. now you can watch your dvr anywhere, at no extra cost, with directv from at&t.

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as president-elect of the united states donald trump continues to add to his cabinet another issue that's come to his attention, though, today involves flag burning.

trump says it should about crime here in the united states. he tweeted this -- nobody should be allowed to burn the american flag. if they do, there must be consequences. perhaps loss of citizenship or a year in jail. exclamation point. the u.s. supreme court ruled that burning the american flag is protected under free speech, and in a 2012 interview with cnn, the late justice antonin scalia explained why. >> if i were king, i would not allow people to go about burning the american flag. however, we have a first amendment, which says that the right of free speech shall not be abridged, and it is addressed, in particular to speech critical of the government. >> our jonathan turley is professor of law at george washington university. thanks for joining us. >> thanks. >> you studied the issue

closely. scalia, obviously taking a different position than the man who greatly admires him, the president-elect. >> that's right. in 1989-1990, the court ruled you couldn't restrict free speech for flag burning saying flag burning is a form of political speech. perhaps the all miultimate form political speech. scalia was historical in terms of purpose and history of the constitution and it's interesting, because donald trump has really cited scalia as his model for the supreme court. but what president-elect trump is suggesting can't be done. he's got to get through not just the supreme court but the constitution itself. he can always move for a constitutional amendment that was done in 2006. he can also try to change the supreme court. he has the seat open of one of the people, scalia, who voted to protect that type of speech. >> all of those initiatives are difficult, but that was a 5-4 rulie ining saying you can burn

american flag, part of free speech but foreign justices disagree. minority? >> always close. '89 close, '90 close. earlier ruling in the '60s that was close. people like errol waarl warren to agree. if you startcr krill nam -- criminalize free speech. do we want to start? something that happens literally a handful of times each year. five maybe seven time as year. do we want to change the constitution for that? or do we want the court to say certain types of free speech can be criminalized and who determines which speech crosses that line? >> stripping someone of citizenship is not a simple procedure either, unless the person wants stripped of his citizenship? >> that's right.

the curious thing of protecting the symbol of our rights by limiting our rights. that's a rather odd response to a very small problem. >> jonathan turley of george washington university law school. thanks very much. >> thanks, wolf. coming up, the u.s. is aurgtly prepaaurgt urgently preparing for the necessary threat of war in outer space. we have details. you'll want to see this, when we come back.

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the next war the u.s. potentially faces is taking shape a hundreds of miles above us in space. our chief national security correspondent jim sciutto gaped rare access to classified u.s. military command and operations centers. he investigates the new weapons built to disable or destroy u.s. satellites in ha cnn special report that airs later tonight "war in space." >> reporter: this is the nightmare scenario -- chaos on earth as our adversaries disable and destroy our satellites in space. the first shots in the first space war. >> explosions in space that no

one will hear. >> reporter: peter singing wrote about this dire scenario in his book "ghost fleet" and he now advises the department on just this type of threat. >> you are now in world war iii so besides losing your ability to take out money from an atm, your nation is in world war iii. >> reporter: this is not fantasy, this is the future, a future for which the u.s. is now urgently preparing. >> if you say is it inevitable, the answer is probably yes. >> reporter: general john heighten, until recently the head of u.s. space command, has been promoted ed td to lead st command, charged from from leading nuclear warfare to cyber warfare to war in space. >> any time human beings have come to new territory and contested it, conflict has

followed. human beings forever have wanted to explore what's beyond the hill, the horizon, as we go out there, there's always been conflict. conflict into the wild west as we move into the west. conflict twice in europe with horrible world wars so every time humans physically move into that, there's conflict and in that case we'll have to be prepared for that. >> jim sciutto is joining us now. jim, why does the u.s. military think a war in space may be inevitable? >> partly the point general highten made there, this is kind of the natural course of human events. it's contested space up there and that leads to competition but in addition to that it's because the u.s. believes our adversaries look at us and say that the u.s. is more advanced therefore we're more dependent on space and and i for things we deal with everyday, stock market transactions, banking, etc., but our military really is. it's soed a vanced when you think about the bombs we drop, the way we communicate, the way

our soldiers in the battlefield, they have laptops, they can see the battlefield based on space assets. our adversaries see those advantages and say, listen, if we get into conflict we'll have to take those advantages away from the u.s. and that's why they're making advances in this direction. >> and the enormous fear is that china and russia, they've already sent weapons up in space. >> at least testing them or things we fear are weapons and it's things like satellites that can move and satellites that have been stalking our satellites. they'll show up around a sensitive military communications satellite and other bit in very close way, about a mile away, which is very close when you're going 17.5,000 and hour. then it has the ability to ram into the satellite, take it out, it could use lazars, there are lasers being tested that could blind or destroy satellites. there are missiles that could be fired from earth. the chinese put a satellite up that has an arm on it that can

steal satellites out of space, take them out of commission. when i started this project i thought they were conceptual things but they're already floating around in the skies above us. >> does the u.s. have similar capability? >> the u.s. won't say. what they will say is they haven't made the decision to deploy those weapons. that the u.s. wants to keep space a peaceful environment but we know they've used rockets to take down satellites in space and that what's interesting if you watch the documentary tonight, we hear the first public comments from senior u.s. military faciitary officials sa is a direction me way want to go. >> it's amazing they gave you this information. >> i think they want the public to be aware that it's a threat but that they're doing something about it. >> jim sciutto reporting for us. to our viewers in united states and around the world, you can watch the prehere of the cnn special report "war in space, the next battlefield" it airs

later tonight 9:00 p.m. eastern on cnn. coming up, we're learning new details about a plane crash in colombia that killed at least 75 people. and the few that survived. [vo] quickbooks introduces jeanette. and her new business: i do, to go. jeanette was excellent at marrying people. but had trouble getting paid. not a good time, jeanette. even worse. now i'm uncomfortable. but here's the good news, jeanette got quickbooks. send that invoice, jeanette. looks like they viewed it. and, ta-da! paid twice as fast. oh, she's an efficient officiant. way to grow, jeanette. get paid twice as fast. visit quickbooks-dot-com. custom t-shirts and other great products for all of life's events.

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generosity is its oyou can handle being a mom for half an hour. i'm in all the way. is that understood? i don't know what she's up to, but it's not good. can't the world be my noodles and butter? get your mind out of the gutter. mornings are for coffee and contemplation. that was a really profound observation. you got a mean case of the detox blues.

don't start a war you know you're going to lose. finally you can now find all of netflix in the same place as all your other entertainment. on xfinity x1. brazil has declared three days of mourning after a plane carrying members of one of the country's top soccer teams crashed in the mountains of colombia. 75 people were killed, six survived. we're told the charter flight took off from bolivia and minutes before the end of the flight the pilot declared an emergency due to an electrical problem before losing contact. players, coaches, journalists, and invited guests of the soccer team were on board. the team having a cinderella season and was set to play in the first leg of the south american cup finals tomorrow. that's it for me, thanks for watching. i'll be back 5:00 p.m. east american the situation room.

the news continues right now right here on cnn. wolf, thank you. hi, each, i'm brooke baldwin. you're watching cnn on this tuesday. thanks for being with me. donald trump's cabinet is becoming clearer and clearer. the president-elect has tapped long-time washington players for two slots and he's working on a short list for the most prominent position, secretary of state. more on that job here momentarily. we did just find out he will be meeting with governor romney for dinner along with his wife and governor romney's wife. first let's get to the latest nominations here. trump has named he laelaine cha be transportation secretary. she used to serve as labor secretary under president george w. bush. as forhe