very good evening to you. late today the house of representatives passed legislation increasing the size of federal covid relief checks from the $600 in the recently passed cares act to $2,000. it goes now to the senate where many republicans opposed even the original $600. the president as you know refused to sign the cares act until last night saying he was holding out for the extra money.

this despite having shown little interest in the bill at all until after it passed congress. as a consequence, jobless benefits are now expiring for millions of americans. people like megan mayer a single mother in lincoln, nebraska with two teenagers to feed. >> i go to a discount grocery store and spend maybe $50 for the week for three people. it's been a really rough time and adjustment for my kids. i've just been trying to plug through it and get through it the best that we can and just been holding on for something better to come my way with help from the government. >> now she has to hold on longer. and it is a fact. this is because, a direct result of president trump and his 13th hour games. many will lose out on one week's worth of payments because of his

actions and will never get the money back. some may have to reapply for benefits and that takes time and has overwhelmed state systems. if the president truly wanted to help people, not just the unemployed who are counting on the cares act, he did have alternatives. he could have signed the bill on time and then pushed for more money or better yet might have learned -- leaned on his fellow republicans erl u and often and used his self-proclaimed deal making skills to get a better deal in the first place. he had months to be clear, months to do this. but he didn't. that is not all he chose not to do. he did not say a word about this being the deadliest single month of the pandemic. nearly 64,000 people dead already. he did not discourage people from traveling over the holidays paving the way for next month to be even worse. he did not address how slowly

this vaccination effort is going so far. nor did he send out a single tweet about this christmas bombing in nashville, tennessee or the work the federal law enforcement did in quickly identifying a suspect. as for easing the transition to a new administration here is what his successor said about that. >> we have encountered road blocks from the political leadership, the department of defense, and the office of management and budget. right now we just aren't getting all of the information we need for the ongoing, from the outgoing administration, in key national security areas. it's nothing short in my view of irresponsibility. >> so how has the president been spending his time in office these days? he continues to send out numerous tweets calling for the election for your votes to be overturned and he keeps fundraising to the tune of at

least 554 e-mails since election night many asking for small donations most of which to be clear go to his own leadership pac not challenging the election. of course he is still golfing. same as yesterday. as christmas day. christmas eve. and more than 300 other days at his own golf clubs since he took office. there is breaking news tonight. house late this evening voting to override the president's veto of the big annual defense bill. the senate takes it up later this week. the focus tonight remains on covid relief. reaction now to the house covid vote from a republican critic of the president, a rare one. congressman adam kinzinger of illinois. we spoke to him a short time ago. congressman, you've been very vocal, unusually vocal, almost uniquely vocal as a republican calling out efforts by president

trump and other republicans to overturn, in simplest terms, the election results. i just wonder, given the flack that you're facing as a republican and there are costs to this, right, i mean political costs. why? why are you taking such a forth right stand? >> all right. i don't want to sound like i'm trying to be overly virtuous but here's the reality. i decided to run for congress when i was in iraq in 2008-2009 and i said, you know, if we're going to ask young men and women to put their lives on the line for the country i'm going to run for congress and fight for it from the inside. i've always said even in my ten years in congress, you know, we have to be willing to make tough votes because we are asking people to put their lives on the line for the country so we have to put our careers on the line. this is especially so right now. this isn't about whether you like donald trump or his policies anymore. this is all about are you

undermining the very institution of a free and fair election that is so very important to the foundation of democracy and to the survival of this democracy that it is well worth putting everything on line to tell the truth? >> to your credit, you've called out this ongoing fight as a grifting operation right a self-interested attempt to raise money. when it comes to president trump specifically you tweeted, quoting here, my god, trying to burn the place down on the way out because you can't handle losing? no evidence, nothing but your temper tantrum and crazy conspiracies. embarrassing. what damage is the president doing here? because the fact is as you note some people still buy it, right? so you'll have a portion of this country who believes without basis that the election was stolen. >> i think the long term -- it is more of a long term damage.

i think in the short term, there's going to be a transition of power. it'll probably be not pretty in the meantime as we've been seeing. i do worry about the potential for violence on january 6th. i believe the damage here is if you believe your vote doesn't count and you believe the system is rigged and in some cases believe satan is running the u.s. government ultimately you are going to lash out not just on twitter but there are going to be people that lash out violently. you have these folks now that you see on twitter so again not real life but seeming to pine for the idea of a civil war. jim, is you've been to war torn areas. i have, too. i think people that say anything like that have no clue what war is. and the very heart medicine they rely on to stay alive will go missing if this country falls apart to civil war. >> you've seen more than me. you served on the front lines but i did cover it.

we've seen the consequences of civil war. it is real and not something that just exists in twitter land. you mentioned january 6th. the president is still calling for protests on that day. there was violence a couple weeks ago in d.c. when some of these supporters turned out here. do you sense at all that this drive is fading? the "new york post" today which has been in lock step with the president said, get over it. is it fading? you have sitting members of congress who sit next to you in the chamber who still say they will challenge these results on january 6th. >> i don't think the idea of challenging the results is going to fade because the reality is i don't -- i can't imagine any of these people except maybe brand new members of congress coming in who don't really understand how stuff works in terms of government i don't think any think this is a legitimate move but if they do it is frightening

actually. i think it's all about raising money. it's all about being the hero, getting the donations, getting followers so you can have some kind of influence. that is what this operation is. i'm not trying po both sidesism here but this happens all the time. you see the drama from the democrats and from the republicans. you raise money on fear. you create fear. all to raise money. and look. to some extent we do have to talk about the negative things in this country but when we only talk about that and we only are teaching our kids that america is some flawed country and that politics is all about who can yell the loudest and tweet the angriest how are we going to expect them to ever restore the sanity in politics that we grew up with? >> to your point if you are at home watch the fundraising e-mails and look for the fine print. look where that money can go. final question, president trump finally signed the covid relief bill.

that will send $600 stimulus checks to millions of americans. his delay in signing got him nothing but now you actually do have democrats voting as well to increase the payment to $2,000 something the president has pushed for. does that have any legs in the house or the senate? >> well, it is possible. i voted for the increase that passed just barely under suspension. i don't know what is going to happen in the senate. we're in a unique time where people need the money but here's the deal. the president never said his position from the beginning. it was all a guessing game. and by the way, also, nancy pelosi had an opportunity in the fall to get this done and she made it very clear it was about the election. so this isn't about pointing fingers. i think right now we just need a clean reset on how we do politics. start respecting each other again and grow up but that's probably wishful thinking. >> so if only we could teach our children better lessons by example. congressman adam kinzinger,

speaking for speaking tonight and for your service to this country. >> you bet. happy new year. more ahead this hour two top political operators lay out where this all goes from here and what the president might do between now and inauguration day. it is a question. later, what that dangerous new coronavirus strain could do if it takes off here in the u.s. want to sell the best burger in every zip code? add an employee. or ten... then easily and automatically pay your team and file payroll taxes. that means... world domination! or just the west side. run payroll in less than five minutes with intuit quickbooks.

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so the house tonight has green lit the bigger federal covid relief checks the president is pushing for but it is still unclear if it will get anywhere in the senate. the gop controlled senate. and either way, millions of americans are losing money they need right now due to his delay in signing the bill. they won't get it back. there is that, the pandemic itself, and the president's seeming obsession with overturning the election. your votes. joining us now our cnn political commentators democratic strategist and former republican senator rick santorum. thanks so much to both of you. senator santorum, the president delayed. if he had taken the simple step of signing this even on saturday night 24 hours before, folks would be getting money they won't get now because some of this is not retroactive. what was gained here? what was the point? >> it's pretty inexplicable to

me. the fact that he went ahead and signed these two bills there really isn't a good reason to have held off. he conflated the two bills, created a lot of confusion with people that somehow or another the covid bill had foreign aid in it which was not the case and it was a separate bill. it just seems like the president is angry and he's not acting in his own best interests in my opinion with these two delays and i don't think he is acting in his best interest when he ka imto veto the national defense authorization. the house overrode it. i think the senate will do the same and they should. there are very important things for the military that need to be done right away. as somebody who served on the armed service committee these are very important bills, compromise bills. the president supported it other than section 230 so it makes no sense for him to do that either. >> paul, you have an interesting confluence here do you not?

i see moments ago senator sanders is threatening to delay the senate vote overriding the president's veto on the defense bill in order to push for $2,000 stimulus checks as the president is. so you have this odd overlap in the president's goal and some democrats. does that go anywhere? in your view? or does it run into republican opposition in the senate? >> this is the problem. mr. trump has put his own party in a terrible bind. he says he is going to dalton georgia, great town, carpet capital of america on the tennessee border. maybe the most conservative place in georgia. he is going to campaign there monday for kelly loeffler and david perdue two senators. what do those senators do? georgia has fort benning, some of the greatest military installations in the world. do they vote for trump or the troops? do they vote for the $2,000 to

help the middle class that nancy pelosi and donald trump now support? or do they stick with mitch mcconnell and their leadership? this is -- trump is just -- rick makes a good point. he is not acting in his own best interest. i don't really care. he is not acting in the country's best interests. you are talking about military families, soldiers' pay. he has to be overridden on that in the national interest. that is not a partisan view at all. then the extra money for an emergency he is just hurting the people who are paying his salary and also his party's chances to hold the senate. >> senator santorum, do you see the political winds shifting within the republican party here with the president? i mean, you have at least the house voting to override the veto. those are not easy votes for republican house members to make to override a president who still remains popular among the republican base but particularly as we get closer to january 6th when the president is still pushing with some allies on the hill to attempt to block the

senate, rather congress affirming the electoral college vote. do you sense the political winds shufti shifting against him among republicans? >> well look. the national defense authorization act is widely bipartisan exercise throughout both in the house and the senate. these bills usually pass by great majorities. and i think the president just picked the wrong one. so i don't think that was a political wind shift. i just think he picked the wrong bill to veto. and on the other issues, look. i think it is pretty clear to everybody that the president is not going to win this election. that nothing is going to happen on january 6th to overturn it. and members are beginning to look past this election. and start looking at their own future. >> i mean, he lost right? let's call a spade a spade here. you heard president-elect biden and he is president-elect. this has been certified already in the states.

say that the current administration despite that is putting up in his words road blocks in the transition process. this is happening days after, you had a u.s. suicide bomber, right, on the streets of nashville. a couple weeks after it was discovered that russia carried out a deeply damaging, and they're still assessing the damage, of a massive cyber attack that the president still hasn't commented on. that has consequences. paul, does it not, for the safety of this country today? >> absolutely. you've written books on this, jim and senator santorum served on armed services. we have enemies in america. there are a lot of evil doers out there. we have enemies in iran, in north korea. we have enemies in china. we have enemies in russia. and then the nonstate actors isis, el al qaeda. they know we are vulnerable in these transitions. they bombed the u.s.s. cole in yemen in the final months of the

clinton administration and then attacked niefrn in the next months of the bush administration. our enemies know we are vulnerable in these moments. mr. trump and his appointees at the defense department to be putting up road blocks to president-elect biden being able to protect our country is really unconscionable. i guess i, you know, have come to expect the worst from trump but it's even worse than i expected. >> what is your answer, senator santorum? we've had many conversations through the years. it is a subject of bipartisan agreement, right, that russia does not have america's best interests at heart. that china does not, that terror attacks or violence attacks on american soil are not in america's interest. obvious statement. but you don't have the president getting out in front of this and saying definitively this will not stand. i mean, do republicans agree this is dereliction? >> you know, look.

i think the president is in a transition himself. and i think he is very clearly transitioned away from the day to day speaking out on issues. obviously his administration continues to function. they continue to operate. obviously the fbi has done a terrific job in nashville. it's not like his -- the people aren't doing their jobs. it is just the president isn't doing what we're used to which is commenting on everything every moment of the day. he seems to be fixated on the one thing that is this election. look, i understand the president looks at what happened to him four years ago and the prior administration investigating him and many people protesting and denying his winning of the election. >> yeah, rick, that's an unfair equivalency. president obama invited him to the white house. hillary clinton conceded the election.

>> understood. >> there is no challenge on the floor of congress to his election victory. >> there was. >> it is not an equivalency. >> there was but it didn't succeed. the point is, the president views this as i think, i could be wrong but i think the president views this as the other side getting a little bit of their own medicine on denying the legitimacy of his election. i think this is part of the president's grievances that he has about what happened to him and this is just coming forward at the time you would expect it to be honest with you. >> well listen. part of a longer conversation. there was a special counsel appointed who did discover wrongdoing and there were charges from that investigation. rick santorum, paul, thank you very much to both of you. >> thanks, jim. breaking news this hour. in america, as america set another record for people hospitalized with the virus vaccinations are stepping up. concerns persist over a new variant of the virus believed to have begun in england now

spreading around the globe and later you'll recall the jarring images from last march when dozens died in a washington state nursing home. we'll bring you an update from the epicenter of the first pandemic crisis. bottom line is, mom's love that land o' frost premium sliced meats have no by-products. (his voice) "baloney!" (automated voice) has joined the call. (voice from phone) hey, baloney here. i thought this was a no by-products call? land o' frost premium. fresh look. same great taste.

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virus. the death toll sadly approaching 335,000. and more than 121,000 people are hospitalized tonight with the virus surpassing the number set on christmas eve. even so, record number of passengers passed through airport screeners over the weekend. nearly 1.3 million travelers the most since the start of the pandemic. more numbers. the cdc says 2.1 million vaccine doses have now been administered so far but the administration official in charge of testing says he believes the number is in his words an under estimate of the actual total. concerns persist over the new variant of covid-19 first detected in the united kingdom believed to be already here in this country. perspective now from dr. leana wen, a cnn medical analyst. >> good to see you, jim. >> put this new variant into

context for us confirmed in canada today, showing up in other countries. it is not a new strain. it's a new variant. this is how viruses develop. how concerned should people be about this? >> i think people should be concerned. here's the good news. this new variant, the one in the uk as well as the one in south africa do not appear to be more virulent so if you end up getting this type, this variant, it doesn't mean you are more likely to be hospitalized or to die. the bad news is that it appears to be even more transmissible. this is already a highly contagious virus and also by definition we know if something is more transmissible more people are going to get it and more people will then be hospitalized and die from it. so i think people should be concerned though the good news is that the vaccines appear that they should work on this variant as much as before. >> that is good. the current vaccines still protect you or would protect people vaccinated against the

new variant. >> there is no reason for us to believe they would not be protected. those studies are still being done but most scientists would estimate that there is again no reason that they shouldn't work against these variants. >> vaccine is progressing. you already have the moderna vaccine and pfizer vaccine approved for emergency use. now novavax testing their vaccine against this new variant. tell us what this means about vaccine availability as you have more options in effect become available over time? >> this is a scarce resource right now in vaccines. and vaccine production is certainly a limiting factor. i am glad that nova vaccine is now starting their phase three trials here in the u.s. johnson & johnson, astrazeneca are two other companies that have already progressed quite far in their phase three trials as well. the more vaccines we have come online the better because that means the sooner we can reach herd immunity in this country

and around the world. >> okay. so far 2.1 million vaccines have been administered in the u.s. of course focused on front line health care workers beginning to go out into nursing homes. dr. fauci, who of course is, you know, very conservative in his approach to all this, he says that that likely under estimates the actual number of people who have been vaccinated but you're still concerned this is a warning sign that the vaccine is not being rolled out quickly enough. tell us why. >> i think a lot of us are having flashbacks to testing and ppe. remember when president trump and the administration said everyone who needs a test can get one or wants a test can get one. i'm not sure we're even close to getting there nine months into the pandemic or ten months into the pandemic. i'm concerned that this is just part of the playbook again of defusion of responsibility, basically throwing up our hands and saying well we the federal government did our part but then local and state health departments that don't have the resources are now not doing theirs.

i think also the speed, 2 million in two weeks sounds impressive but i did some back of the envelope calculations here. at that rate for a two dose vaccine for us to reach 80% herd immunity in the u.s. through vaccination will take us ten years at a rate of a million vaccines a week. or put in a different way, if we want to get there within six months we need to be doing 3.5 million vaccinations a day. not a million a week. >> to your point, this country's record on testing not a good harbinger of its ability to get this stuff out there and quickly. dr. wen, thanks so much. >> thank you. back in early march at the very beginning of this pandemic most americans were jolted into reality by pictures like this. video stretchers taken out of a nursing home in kirkland, washington where ultimately 39 deaths were associated with the coronavirus. remarkable pictures.

somehow today seem a lifetime ago. today the virus vaccine arrived at that very same nursing home a moment of hope? cnn's sara sidner is in kirkland tonight. >> that feels good. >> reporter: these were some of the very first people in the united states to go to war with the new virus without weapons to fight it. ten months into the pandemic they are finally getting the most powerful weapon available. a vaccine. what is this day like for you? >> what i feel right now is a new life. a new beginning. but a better life. >> reporter: this was the first epicenter of america's deadly coronavirus outbreak. what was your most difficult day? >> march 4th. >> reporter: this registered nurse chelsea ernest cannot get the memory of what happened that day out of her head. >> that was the night there were five ambulances in the parking lot. >> reporter: patients were dying or needed to be hospitalized. ultimately 39 patients died. ten died at the facility.

whose job was it to call the family members? >> there were many that had to call and either say they were going to hospital or that they didn't make it. >> reporter: the trauma of those days in march and the family members' cries haunts them all. that same month several members of the staff spoke to cnn. life care center said in the first few days they begged government agencies for help and received little. did you get what you need when you needed it? >> no. no. >> reporter: testing took days to get results then. now they have a rapid test that takes minutes. initially the staff was blamed for not controlling the covid outbreak by just about everyone. >> we got threats. roupt what kind of threats? >> all kinds of death threats. we ended up getting security. >> reporter: and soon threats of a loss in funding at a fine of $611,000 unless the facility

resolved problems found by inspectors. federal inspectors said life care failed to rapidly identify and manage all residents putting them in immediate jeopardy. state inspectors reported similar findings. life care center appealed. >> we knew what we had done was the best we could have done. >> reporter: in september a state administrative judge largely agreed saying the state provided relatively little evidence that the facility actually failed to meet any expected standard of care or failed to follow public health guidelines. the federal case is still pending. ten months after the initial chaos of the outbreak the closest we could get was a look from the outside in. in-person visits are still forbidden. the chairs outside patients' windows used by families to communicate in march are now a semipermanent fixture here. this facility is covid free right now but several of the nursing homes nancy butner oversees are not. >> there is not a day that goes by where i don't get a phone

call or a message that we have a new positive patient or staff. >> reporter: coronavirus is still killing patients. >> absolutely. >> reporter: still sickening staff. >> yes. >> reporter: which is why this day is one of the most hopeful they've had but for this physician's assistant the day was bittersweet >> i have one resident who last week asked me if she can get the vaccination. i said, sure. you can. unfortunately, she passed away. so i did promise her that she would get it so it is sad she didn't get to see this today. >> too late for her. sara joins us now. those images from that fass uci seem a lifetime ago. since the outbreak ravaged that nursing home how many americans have died in nursing homes across the country? because as you point out in the story that remains an enormous

concern. >> reporter: it absolutely is. and a great estion. look, the nurses and the staff here knew once they figured out what was going on that it was only a matter of time when testing became available that other nursing homes would find they had a problem, too. it turns out that up to date the numbers that we have so far from the federal agency that oversees nursing homes is more than 86,000 nursing home residents in america have died from coronavirus. jim? >> these are people's parents and grandparents. they are husbands and wives. sara sidner, thanks so much. >> sure. this crucial georgia senate run-offs are now just eight days away. run-offs in which democrats have historically fallen short. winning would effectively hand them the senate. up next i'll speak with democratic candidate john ossoff battling incumbent senator david perdue as the campaigns enter the final stretch.

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races that have seen more than half a billion dollars in ad spending so far. i'm joined now by one of the two democratic candidates jon ossoff who is facing the republican incumbent david perdue. mr. ossoff thanks so much for taking the time tonight. >> thanks for having me. >> there's been some reporting that senator perdue of course your opponent privately urged the president to sign this stimulus bill knowing that this weakened him in effect the president's opposition here. i wonder now that the president has come around does that remove for you an important talking point in this election? >> no, to the contrary i'm calling on senator perdue tonight to endorse $2,000 relief checks for the american people, to join president trump, president-elect biden, democrats, and members of his own party who recognize that the people are hurting.

credit cards are maxed out. rent past due. bills piling up. child care costs. prescription drugs that can't be afforded right now. people are hurting through no fault of their own. it's been eight months of our own government's catastrophic neglect and incompetence that has put so many american families in dire straits and perdue should come out and join president trump and democrats in supporting $2,000 relief checks. the senate should pass it within 48 hours. >> it's a remarkable confluence is it not that you have democrats and just moments ago bernie sanders is threatening to stop a vote to override the president's veto on the defense bill in order to push for $2,000 payments as well. are you saying the president got it right trying to hold out for $2,000 instead of the $600? >> it is not just president trump. president-elect biden and democrats are all pushing for $2,000 relief checks and it is what the people need. my opponent david perdue, just wrap your head around this, the same guy who was on the phone

with his broker buying medical and vaccine stocks to personally profit from this pandemic opposed even the first round of $1200 checks and now is touting a $600 payment like he saved the day? he has no concept of how much pain his own constituents are in. he needs to reverse his opposition to these $2,000 relief checks. it's what the people are demanding. he should join president trump and president-elect biden and democrats in supporting it and as i said the senate needs to act right now to pass these $2,000 relief checks. >> as i mentioned in the introduction, near half a billion dollars spending on this race by both parties but if we learn one thing from the general election november 3rd it is that spending a lot of money in senate races, there are a lot of races where democrats far out raised republican opponents but still lost the senate seats, spending money doesn't necessarily translate into votes right? i am just curious are you seeing money and resources focused in

georgia on what actually works which is registration, getting people out to vote? >> yes. look, we are making unprecedented investments in turnout, mobilization, voter protection. there is movement energy right now in georgia. democrats are excited. here's what people really need to understand. first of all, republican combined spending is vastly more than democratic spending. but more to the point republicans are filing a lawsuit after lawsuit to disenfranchise black voters in georgia. they're trying to segregate new registrants so their votes don't count like other votes. they're trying to remove drop boxes so people can't vote absentee. it is voter suppression at its worst. i am asking everybody out there to support our efforts to protect the sacred franchise in georgia and go to elect john elect jon.com so no vote is suppressed and no georgian

disenfranchised by these lawsuits. >> the president is going to georgia as you know the day before the election calling it a victory rally. another thing we learned from the general election was that the president's rallies work. they get people registered. they motivate republican voters. are you -- do you wish you saw more of president-elect biden and vice president-elect harris in the crucial final days before the run-off election? >> they both have been here and deeply grateful for their presence. i mean, president trump's rallies mostly just spread covid. here's the bottom line. we are at an inflection point in american history. we're in the midst of a public health crisis that demands aggressive relief payments to the american people that demands a redoubled effort to invest in the public health response. free testing and vaccinations, resources for hospital systems and nursing homes. we need to enact landmark civil rights and voting rights legislation and invest in infrastructure and clean energy to rebuild our economy and save our environment. we need to pass legislation that

tangibly helps people raising the minimum wage, relieving the burden of student loan debt. there is a lot of good we can do. but if we don't win these two races mitch mcconnell will block all of that. the stakes are so high, and they are trying to suppress black voters in georgia, trying it right now in court. i am asking people to help us protect the franchise here. >> jon ossoff we wish you the best of luck. thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you. still to come this hour new video of the christmas day bombing in nashville. look at the aftermath there. and the latest on the possible motive of the suspect who died in the bombing. want to sell the best burger in every zip code? add an employee.

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(kids laughing) (dog barking) ♪ sanctuary music

it's the final days of the wish list sales event sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down, zero due at signing, and a complimentary first month's payment. welcome back. we mentioned, at the top of the broadcast, that president trump has not spoken, publicly, about the christmas-day bombing in nashville. joe biden, today, however, praised first responders there and new video of when that bombing happened has just been released. it sounds like a war zone. a nashville police officer, just a short distance away, when that bomb went off. investigators know the name of their only suspect, just not the motivation. investigators say the suspect's mother has been cooperative, and one of the suspect's neighbors

tells cnn that, just before christmas, the individual told him, quote, i'm going to be so famous, nashville will never forget me. now, ac 360 does not typically name alleged bombers or show their pictures. we don't want to give these suspects the attention they often want. however, in the report you're about to hear, we do name the suspect, as investigators are still searching for more information about him. cnn's martin savidge has the latest. >> reporter: it's a blast that shook an entire city, and captured the attention of an entire country. the accounts of the first officers on the scene before that blast only add to the mystery of the man police believe was inside that rv. playing a recording. >> if you can hear this message, evacuate now. >> there is is a large bomb within this vehicle. your primary objective is to evacuate. >> reporter: there was, also, the music. the 1964 hit single "downtown." officer james wells heard the music, and a voice inside of him

told him to turn around. >> and then, the music stopped. and as i'm walking back, i just see orange. and then, i hear a loud boom. >> reporter: six metro nashville police officers are considered heroes for going door to door, and warning residents to get out before the blast. and some are wondering if there's significance about where the explosion occurred, in front of an at&t telephone facility. the blast knocking out phone and internet coverage to much of the region. did the alleged bomber have a paranoia of the new, 5g service? something widely talked about online. >> we are not in a position where we can speculate on that now. >> reporter: this new, cnn video shows federal agents combing through the rubble three days after the blast. authorities identified 63-year-old anthony quinn warner as the alleged perpetrator of the christmas-day bombing, and are still seeking information about his motivations. >> we are still following leads but right now, there is no indication that any other

persons were involved. >> reporter: the realty company where he did freelance i.t. work said, earlier this month, the alleged bomber told them he was retiring. in the community where he lived, residents say the first sign was something wrong was when law enforcement trucks showed up at his mehome friday night. neighbors knew about the rv, seen at his house. at 1:22 a.m., christmas day, hours before it exploded. >> he started moving it, like, about a month ago. but before that, it never moved at all. >> reporter: authorities say the alleged bomber was not previously known to them. >> he was not on our radar. >> reporter: somehow, he was able to gather the components and the material to make his powerful bomb, without ever triggering warning signs to law enforcement. >> unfortunately, it's not that hard, in this country, to assemble the chemicals and the equipment that you need to construct an improvised-explosive device.

>> reporter: you know, it was very quick, on the part of authorities, to be able to identify the bomber. but it's clear, jim, it's going to take them longer to try to discern what his motive really was. now, there are clues. for instance, where that rv was parked, directly in front of that very crucial, communication-switching building. was that the target? a lot of people are speculating it might have been. it's certainly curious why the vehicle was there, but authorities, right now, are not commenting, publicly, about it. but you can bet they are definitely looking into that aspect. and the other question. how did he get the explosives and the equipment he needed, without anyone apparently knowing? jim. >> yeah. the nashville mayor said earlier this morning, folks in nashville know that's the at&t headquarters. has been for -- for -- for hundred years. martin savidge, good to have you on the ground. thanks very much. >> more breaking news just ahead. as we report at the top of the program, the house votes to increase money in those stimulus

checks. and also, hand president trump a defeat on his veto of the government funding act. details when 360 continues. since you're heading off to school, i got you this brita. dad... i just got a zerowater. but we've always used brita. it's two stage-filter... doesn't compare to zerowater's 5-stage. this meter shows how much stuff, or dissolved solids, gets left behind. our tap water is 220. brita? 110... seriously? but zerowater- let me guess. zero? yup, that's how i know it is the purest-tasting water. i need to find the receipt for that. oh yeah, you do.

well, breaking news now from

capitol hill. as we reported earlier, the house of representatives dealt president trump a stunning defeat, tonight. voting with plenty of room to spare to override his veto of the national defense authorization act. they also passed a measure to increase stimulus payments from the $600 so far approved to $2,000. phil mattingly is there for us. big question, of course, one, on stimulus. going up to $2,000 for these payments. and will republicans in the senate, also, override the president's veto on the defense bill? >> jim, i will start with the former, first. because they are starting to do mingle a bit here. and yes, there is some interest in increasing those direct payments to $2,000. marco rubio, senator from florida, today, came out and said he supported it but it's not if there is republican interest. it's what is senate majority leader mitch mcconnell going to do? he will determine what happens next on those stimulus payments, if anything happens next. however,