their son juan, jr., describes the connection between his parents this way. it wasn't two souls, it was one. may they rest in peace and may their memories be a blessing. thanks very much for watching. erin burnett out front starts right now. >> out front next, the growing crisis in texas. the death toll rising as millions brace for another night of near freezing temperatures. the state facing major water and power crises, plus florida's governor on the defense after vaccination sites are set up in some of the state's richest communities and now he's threatening to pull more sietes if people don't like it. we're going to take you to a battleground state where the soul is getting deeply personal. i'm erin burnett. the suffering intensifying in texas this hour.

millions about to endure another night of near freezing temperatures, many with no power, no heat and no water. again, a picture speaks a thousand words. this family burning a child's building blocks to stay warm. houston's mayor warning power outages remain a, quote, major, major concern, as 13 million texans are now being told to boil water for fear of mass contamination, or have no water at all. this is the scene at a park in houston. let me remind you again that this is houston, texas. people are getting in line, a long line just to fill up buckets of water from a spigot. in the united states, houston, the fourth biggest city in this nation. this is what we are seeing. this is a failure at every level. across texas there is now a dangerous shortage of food. people freezing as they wait hours just to get into a store and once inside, this is what it's like. wherever you are, austin, mckinney, fort worth, houston. look at this. shelves bare and amidst all of

it, a marie antoinette moment in the form of senator ted cruz. the senator choosing to get out of town and head for sunshine and the 3w5beach. here is cruz in cancun, mexico, heading back to texas after being caught heading off for a vacation. seen two hours ago, exclusive interview on the jet way, full bag packed for a long weekend. earlier he blamed his children for the trip. very clearly was kind of saying, his daughters asked him to take a trip with friends. he was going for the night. well, just moments ago cruz spoke to reporters about his vacation. >> we left yesterday. the plan had been to stay through the weekend with the family. that was the plan. i started having second thoughts almost the moment i sat down on the plane because, on the one hand, all of us who are parents have a responsibility to take care of our kids, take care of our family. that's something texans have

been doing across the state. but i also have a responsibility that i take very seriously of fighting for the state of texas and, frankly, leaving when so many texans were hurting didn't feel right, and so i changed my return flight and flew back on the first available flight i could take. i couldn't take a morning flight because the current restrictions require a covid test. i had to get a covid test this morning before i could get on a flight back so i took the first flight i could get after getting the covid test. >> okay. just to be clear here, senator cruz is claiming he had second thoughts the minute he sat down on the flight. that's because people were taking his picture on the airplane. so he knew that he was caught, all right. let's just be clear about this. we all know what happened, okay. he got caught. the storm that wreaked havoc across texas is part of a system

affecting 100 million people across the northeast. i want to talk about this. ed lavandera is in dallas. ed, tell me what you know now. >> reporter: well, the governor here in the state of texas has faced a week of blistering criticism. and after all of that, he says today that he accepts responsibility for the issues at ercot, the state's power agency. he once again leveled severe criticism at the top executives at that agency who assured him the state would have enough power to get through this winter disaster. we know now that wasn't the case. texas is bracing for another dangerously frigid night. >> we are not yet out of this. we will not stop until normalcy is restored to your lives. >> reporter: as another winter storm barrels in, the governor is requesting a major emergency declaration.

>> what a nightmare. oh, my god. >> reporter: local officials are fed up and fearing the worst. >> the truth is that right now we're just trying to keep people alive and safe for the next two days. >> we expect to see that death count rise. >> it is a mass. it is a mess. >> reporter: while power is being restored through much of the state, some 13.5 million texans are now facing water disruptions. >> i'm out of candles. for a little bit of light. can't charge batteries. >> reporter: at grocery stores there are long lines and empty shelves as food supply chains buckle. >> you can't find food. when you do, you have to stand in a line four or five hours. this is ridiculous. whoever is in charge of this, they need to run them off because that's not right. >> i'm taking responsibility for the current status of ercot. >> reporter: governor greg abbott is upping his attacks.

they were hired to manage more than 90% of the state's power grid. he says it had assured him it was prepared. >> ercot failed under each of the measures they said they had taken. texans deserve answers about why these shortfalls occurred and how they're going to be corrected and texans will get those answers. >> reporter: ercot c.e.o. says it prevented a catastrophic power grid failure with no time to spare. >> it was seconds and minutes. given the amount of generation that was coming off the system. >> reporter: others are blaming abbott on his low cost power supply because of the national grid. >> the choice isn't people freezing in their homes. it is to acquire winterization of equipment like all other 49 states do. >> reporter: one other official who left the crisis entirely was

senator ted cruz. exclusive video shows the texas republican quickly returning tonight from a family trip to cancun. he was photographed departing houston yesterday. cruz says his daughters wanted to take a trip so, quote, wanting to be a good daddy flew down with them. and he added my team and i will continue using all our resources to keep texans informed and safe. and, erin, at the peak of this disaster this week there were 4.5 million homes that didn't have power. that number tonight is down to about 337,000. so a dramatic change just in the last 24 hours. and the governor says he is also calling on state lawmakers to make it mandatory for power generators to add the weatherization to protect those plants to keep them working in such freezing conditions. but they've had decades to do that, years to do that. and it's too little too late for this storm. >> i mean, it certainly is. such damage. ed, thank you. i want to go now to texas state

representative john rosen that will rosenthal who represents northwest houston. you lost power 40 hours among millions of others in your state. i can see the hole in the wall behind you. i believe that's related to that. major issues right now for people who even have power back, right? pipes that burst and people lining up like at a well in a country that even lacks potable water. i have to remind people this is the united states. people lining up at a well to get water. what is your biggest concern right now, representative? >> so, first, thanks for having me on. my biggest concern always is for our people first. and so until they are safe and warm and have water to drink, you know, we're moving from third world status to second world status right now. texas prides itself on being the energy capital of the world and

we can't even light up our houses. so first concern is with our constituents. once we get them safe, then we can start addressing some of the solutions that we need to look at. >> you're giving me flashbacks to when i was doing a report in nigeria. it was the same thing. all the power in the world and you couldn't keep the lights on. it was the whole point. i can't believe we're seeing it here in this country now. i know, representative, you worked in the oil and gas industry 25 years, so you know the specific details of the situation. and tonight governor abbott is slamming ercot, the electric council of texas, saying that there is going to be an investigation. and then he went on to say this, sir. >> i'm taking responsibility for the current status of ercot. again, i find what is happened unacceptable. >> so he says that i'm taking responsibility for the current status. how much do you read into that? is that enough? >> well, it is a welcome change

from his statements over the last few days, and it's a good start. nowhere near enough, you know. ercot, the electric reliability council of texas, is appointed by him. so -- and they're actually controlled by the public utility commission. the utility commissioners are appointed by abbott. but all of it is directed by policy. it's all directed in statute. so our unregulated and disparate system is all a product of decades of history and to say now -- >> to be clear, those people he put on the oversight board, they don't even live in your state. they don't even necessarily live in the country, right? >> that's correct. and i've already brought a bill -- when i found this out, i was alarmed. i'm here in the district in my house experiencing the same stuff that our residents are

experiencing. and instead of making frivolous statements about windmills while our people are freezing or flying off to cancun while people in the state are suffering, i'm here with the constituents, living with them, experiencing what they experience, and i'm going to bring -- i'm going to bring that voice to austin in this session. and one of the first bills that i'm filing about this is to require the commissioners, the board members of the public utility commission and ercot must all reside in the state of texas. i can't believe they live out of state. >> i can't believe you even have to do such a thing. i agree with you. i think it's shocking to anyone listening. i appreciate your time and thank you very much. you mentioned people jetting off to cancun. i want to go to dana bash. let's talk about senator ted cruz. i've been looking for the word throughout the day and it got more complicated. what is the word that captures all of the things about ted cruz today? shameless, stupid, the temerity,

audacity. he gets on a plane to cancun, he's forced to turn around because he's busted in all the pictures, the world goes crazy about it. he tried to have people believe he was always coming home, a good dad. the statement, our girls wanted to take a trip with friends. wanting to be a good daddy flew down with them last night, nothing about why he came home today, he was dropping them off. now he admits i end tended to stay through the whole weekend because that information leaked out from his, quote unay-unquot friends. is anyone buying what ted cruz is selling today? he a no. i'll give you a wordy hear a lot. it's hutzpah. >> that was the word. does that capture it? >> i mean, not one word i think captures all of it because it's a complex event that we are watching here. and, look, he did end the press conference that you played earlier. he said he made a mistake. it took him a long time to get to that place.

and you said that you suspect that the reason he sat down in his seat and started to think that maybe this is a bad idea is because people were taking his picture. i mean, you know, he's a very well known figure. first of all, look at him. he's wearing the flag of texas on his mask. so it's not like he's trying to go incognito. but the thing that is -- well, there are a lot of remarkable things. one of the things i was told today, erin, is that some of his own senior staffers didn't know he was going to take this trip. and, therefore, there wasn't time to or there wasn't a preparation in place to at least try to explain it, which is part of the reason why it was so clumsy and muddied and just almost laughable, the variations of the attempted explanation. because there wasn't really one. the one, the explanation is he had the ability and the wherewithal, you know, to get

out of houston, to get out of texas, to take his family somewhere warm, which is fine unless you are the united states senator representing texas and it is the biggest disaster in the state's history. >> i mean, it's amazing. sort of what made him just completely blind to this? it's pretty shocking. dana, you know, there is also the fact that he loves to call people out for this very thing. you know, back in the day he told chris christie, go back and sit on the beach, the former governor went on the beach and sat with his family. k-file spotted in december, ted cruz going after the mayor of aus austin adler for taking a trip to mexico. hypocrite, complete and utter hypocrite. mayor adler took a private jet with people to cabo and telling

austin to stay home if you can. so much irony. >> and hypocrisy and everything else that goes with it. the fact is as you have been reporting on every night and we have been seeing on cnn throughout the week, it is really, really bad there. and on top of it -- i mean, i've talked to texas republicans -- these are not democrats, republicans who are telling me how even before this with ted cruz, how angry rank and file republicans are with their own party leadership. the governor and, you know, on down because of the fact that they have not been up front, they haven't been communicative. so adding to that the imagery and the ridiculousness of this ill-fated trip. >> just -- really, the dumbest thing he's ever done. did it with his eyes wide open. thank you very much, dana. and next, 16 republican senators are up for reelection

in two years. so as of tonight, do they stand by minority leader mitch mcconnell who is in a public battle with trump? we asked every single one of them and wait till you hear what they said. plus encouraging news about the pfizer vaccine and the protection that one shot provides. cnn learning the fbi and the u.s. attorney's office in brooklyn are scrutinizing new york's governor andrew cuomo and his handling of nursing homes during the virus. >> announcer: erin burnett out front brought to you by sleep number. don't miss the sleep number event only at a sleep number store or at sleep number.com. ti. can it help me fall asleep faster? yes, by gently warming your feet. but, can it help keep me asleep? absolutely, it intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both effortlessly comfortable. will it help me come out swinging? you got this. so, you can really promise better sleep? not promise... prove. and now, during the ultimate sleep number event, save 50% on the sleep number 360 limited edition smart bed.

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♪ tonight a tale of two states. record cold, in texas thousands of people in the dark without power now for the fourth day. dallas-fort worth on your screen. neighboring arkansas hit with the exact same storm, power, though, fine across the state. there is this video, i showed it to you last night and i have not forgotten, it is incredible. this is the state line right in the middle of this highway. texarkana, arkansas on the right, that road completely cleared. on the left, texas, covered in snow. cars crawling by and not even able to pave, much bigger problem than just the grid. republican governor from arkansas. i appreciate you for coming on. look, you got hit with this storm, some parts of your state not as hard as others. but just that image that i

showed there, why is there such a difference in terms of what we're seeing and hearing from the ground? you don't have people lining up for water in your state. on something as basic as paving the roads, you manage to pave the roads. >> well, we've been hit with a very severe storm. we've got 12 inches of snow on the ground. we've had record low temperatures in arkansas, freezing. this is very unexpected. and we had a challenge with our regional energy transmission as well. but we managed our way through it. part of it is that we're in a multi-state compact and where our regional energy transmission is combined with the flow of many different states, that we work together to make sure we can cover the high usage areas, and that we can meet demand. we still had challenges. i think there's a number of lessons that we're learning from this. we've got to diversify our

energy s make sure it's weatherized, because much of our natural gas comes from texas. so when they have problems that hurts our natural gas supply here as well. >> right. >> so we've got to do that part of it in addition to making sure we increase the supply. >> well, look, i understand there's lessons to be learned and you're saying that. i do think, though, it speaks for itself, the decisions you made about the grid. but just that very simple thing about paving, right, paving isn't some complex grid situation. plowing, i'm sorry, plowing a road is a basic thing. you were able to do it, texas wasn't. we just saw the image there. i want to ask you, governor, because before you were a governor, you were a three-term congressman. you were an impeachment manager in president clinton's trial. you know congress, you know washington. former president trump has repeatedly attacked senate minority leader mcconnell. he called him a dower and sullen

political hack. some say ignore trump. lindsey graham is slamming mcconnell. here he is. >> president trump is a consequential member of the party. if mcconnell doesn't understand that he's missing a lot. >> do you agree with senator graham's side? what do you think mcconnell should do? >> i couldn't disagree more with what senator lindsey graham has said. he has said that the gop cannot win in 2022 without former president trump. he has indicated that he defines our party. and certainly he has a huge following in our party, but he cannot define this for the future. we have to define ourselves based upon our principles and what has brought us such success in the past and what the people -- electorate has responded to.

and so we have to win in 2022 based upon our principles, our philosophy and how we win the voters. communication is a big part of it and we have to give outreach to the trump supporters. they're a huge part of our republican base, and we have to identify with the issues they are concerned about, but it doesn't have to be defined by one person. it can be defined in many different ways and we can energize those voters, so i disagree that that is an essential parts of our election strategy for 2022. >> and yet as you know, kevin mccarthy has gone down to mar-a-lago. we found out trump turned down nikki haley's request to meet at mar-a-lago. she was the former ambassador to the u.n. she was seen as the front runner

for the republicans. haley refused to call out the lie that the election was stolen. she told politico, well, he believed it happened and he believed he was wronged, so it is what it is. she did change her tune after the deadly insurrection, saying his actions will be judged harshly by history. and now he refuses to even meet with her. is that something that she should rue and regret or no? >> well, i think it reflects the fact that it's hard to play the middle road on this. you know, in an ideal world you can state the truth, which is that former president trump bears a great deal of responsibility, key responsibility for what happened at our nation's capitol on january 6. that is the truth. we ought to be able to say that. at the same time, we don't have to ignore him for the future, but it's going to be difficult. and people are going to have to take a side on this. they're going to have to determine whether trump is going

to dictate the future of the party or whether our principles and many other leaders are going to shape the future of our party. and you've got to make that decision and we should not be defined by one person, particularly a person who has made such an egregious mistake as what we saw happened on january 6. >> well, governor, i thank you and i appreciate you for coming out and saying those things so bluntly. hopefully some like senator graham will hear you, take your queue. thank you, governor hutchinson. >> thank you. >> next florida officials blasting governor ron desantis' decision to set up vaccination sites in certain areas. his response is a threat to take away doses. and the fbi and the u.s. attorney's office in brooklyn now scrutinizing governor cuomo's handling of nursing homes. how much trouble is he in? . it just cleans better, so your family can use less. hello clean bottom!

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tonight a county commissioner in southwest florida admitting that she chose two of the richest and predominantly white zip codes in her county to receive vaccine doses. she said she was doing exactly

what republican governor ron desantis wanted. she asked workers to put her on the list to be vaccinated. one source calling this a, quote, v.i.p. list. out front nikki freed, florida's agriculture commissioner, top democrat in the state. commissioner, this is pretty incredible. she is admitting all this, saying it chose two affluent zip codes to receive these vaccines. then ostensibly wanted to get on the line herself. she's admitting all this. >> yeah, it's pretty outrageous, erin. this is a public health crisis. there is absolutely no excuse for why the governor and the commissioner is using politics in order to give out these vaccines. and this is corruption at its worst. this is why people don't trust the system. and just to give you another statistic, right now in the state of florida, 3.7% of the black population has been vaccinated while 9.7 of the

white population has been vaccinated at this point. so as the governor is rolling out the red carpet for his donors and political allies, he's pulling the rug out from the minorities from different minority communities and communities of color. >> i mean, there is bipartisan outrage over what happened here, commissioner. one republican commissioner saying, quote, you're taking the whitest demographic, richest demographic in manatee county and putting them ahead of everyone else. the optics are bad. really bad. i'm really disappointed. that's the sentiment you have. the point is it shouldn't matter if you're a democrat or republican. it's a problem. here's how governor desantis responded a. he if manatee county doesn't like us doing this, then we are totally fine with putting this in counties that want it. and we're totally happy to do that. so anyone that's saying that, let us know. if you want us to send to sarasota next time or charlotte or pasco or wherever, let us know, we're happy to do it.

>> what do you say to that? >> it's outrageous. it's absolutely ridiculous the fact he's using these vaccines and how they're being distributed as a political tool. there is absolutely no reason why an elected official should be using their power to put their family and their friends and political allies before the public good. that's a public service is supposed to be about, serving the public, that's the public as a whole. we're looking into it and seeing what other measures we can take to hold the governor accountable and to make sure that this vaccine is being distributed equally across our entire state. this is just outrageous and borderline illegal. >> it's interesting, though, one final point to you. he doesn't seem to care republicans are criticizing him. why is he so emboldened? >> this has been his m.o. in this administration. it's his way or the highway. he doesn't care what people think about him. doesn't care about the citizens of our state. this is how he operates and he just doesn't care.

he's going to keep bullying forward until somebody stops him and that may be 2022. >> commissioner freed, thank you so much. >> thank you for having me on tonight. >> i want to go to dr. john happen weiner who advised under president bush. the person admits they did it, puts it in the rich white zip codes and puts herself at the front of the line, admitted, and desantis says, so what? you're mad? i'll send it somewhere else. >> yeah, it's just outrageous. what it really highlights for me is the gross disparity -- well, in health care all over the united states, but also in covid. we know that covid has disproportionally affected the african-american community. african americans are almost three times more likely to be hospitalized and almost two times more likely to die from

covid than white people. it's even worse when you look at the hispanic community. and as your previous guest alluded to, a recent report from the kaiser family foundation has shown that white people in this country are vaccinated at about three times the rate as vaccinations for hispanic people and twice that for the african-american community. we need to be reaching out to these communities. we need to be proactively taking vaccine into the kinds of zip codes we're not reaching the people. the mayor of washington, d.c. is doing that, proactively targeting parts of the city where vaccine hesitancy is strong and where large numbers of people have not yet been vaccinated. and that's what i expect from the governors all over the country. that's what i expect from the governor of florida. >> certainly not what's happening there now.

>> right. >> doctor, let me ask you about the pfizer and j&j vaccine. one dose may protect solidly. it is a two-dose vaccine. johnson & johnson is a one-dose vaccine, in may, may become a two-dose one. the question is, gosh, there's a lot we don't know here. why do we not know all of this? >> we don't know. we developed the vaccines at rocket-fast speeds. no vaccine has ever been developed as quickly as this, so we've done the trials that we needed to do to understand whether they're safe and effective. you know, if we had years to do this, we'd have all these answers. so we're kind of figuring this out as we go along. so the intriguing question about the pfizer vaccine is if you look at the data and you exclude people in that trial after the first dose but before the first dose would have been effective, so it takes awhile for the

vaccine to create antibodies. if someone gets covid two or three days after they received their shot, they just haven't had time to become immune. but if you look at two weeks after the first shot, when people are really starting to develop immunity, and you look at -- and you compare that -- those patients, those patients have about 92% efficacy rate from that one shot of that vaccine. so the question is if we want to extend the amount of vaccine available right now, why not focus on giving first shots to people and worry a little bit less about when the second shot comes. >> right. >> it's an intriguing strategy, right. >> it certainly is. and i know one that's being discussed, controversial to some, but being discussed especially if they're all going to need booster shots, just go ahead with the sing many. dr. reiner, thank you very much. next new york democrats looking to strip governor cuomo of his emergency powers. democrats.

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tonight new york governor andrew cuomo facing backlash for his handling of nursing homes in the pandemic. state lawmakers looking to strip the governor of powers he was granted during the pandemic. it comes as the fbi is looking into how this was handled. out front, jesse mckinley, albany chief for "the new york times." he has covered governor cuomo for years. jesse, you have all this. you have all these people saying strip the governor of the emmy award he won for his press conferences every day. it's a loud, loud chorus right now. how much trouble is the governor in? >> well, i have said the emmy is the least of his worries at this point. the news last night that the federal agents out of brooklyn and the eastern district of new york are looking into his administration, must have been troubling for the governor and his associates. new reports out tonight make it sound as though those investigations were probably

prompted in the last couple of weeks as recently as last week after his top aide said they didn't know what to do with this information, that they basically froze in the face of request from the federal government, although they did later provide information to the trump justice department. but those remarks seem to have [ inaudible ] -- >> and it sounds like we might have just -- that shot may have just frozen. we'll give it here a second to see if we can get him back. think we're going to get him back, guys? hold on, we're hitting refresh. it's the way it goes in the covid vaccine issues. give us one second. no? no, okay. we're going to get him back. take a break? no -- break, we're going to take a break because i don't want to miss a second of this because i want to talk to him and also the astronaut. the gop is playing out in crucial battle states. one of the senators voted to convict president trump.

plus nasa unveiling the first pictures from perseverance. this is what it's looking at, mars just hours ago. we'll be right back. and other money managers don't understand why. (money manager) because our way works great for us! (judith) but not for your clients. that's why we're a fiduciary, obligated to put clients first. (money manager) so, what do you provide? cookie cutter portfolios? (judith) nope, we tailor portfolios to our client's needs. (money manager) but you do sell investments that earn you high commissions, right? (judith) we don't have those. (money manager) so what's in it for you? (judith) our fees are structured so we do better when our clients do better. at fisher investments we're clearly different.

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do it. says, quote, they get along. does that help or hurt governor cuomo? >> perhaps in solitaire confinement. keep in mind donald trump and andrew cuomo have known each other. he was complementary of his performance. in newsmax, he did take swipes at the governor, he could have saved lives. but donald trump's main source of vitriol seems to be for his fellow republicans. >> amazing how that goes. all right, thank you very much. i appreciate your time, jesse, thanks. thanks for dialing back in. and in other breaking news tonight, republican senator pat toomey defending his vote to convict president trump. writing in a new op-ed, and i quote the senator. because of president trump's conduct, for the first time in american history, the transfer of presidential power was not peaceful. and it comes as another retiring republican senator richard burr

is facing growing backlash in his state over his vote to convict trump. ryan nobles is out front. >> reporter: north carolina, a battleground state at the center of the fight for the soul of the republican party. >> we're all in different stages of the grieving process. >> reporter: a conflict that has intensified after retiring nor richard burr voted to convict president trump during his second impeachment trial. >> mr. burr. >> guilty. >> mr. burr guilty. >> reporter: that decision drawing a swift rebuke from the north carolina gop which voted unanimously to censure burr. >> republicans across north carolina, the party leaders that i talked to, were shocked and disappointed with senator burr's vote. >> reporter: burr who has served in the senate since 2005 says the reprimand showed the state party had, quote, chosen loyalty to one man over the core principles of the republican party. but among republican party voters in the state, support for trump remains strong.

>> i wouldn't change my vote at this point because i still believe in his policies. but i'm also disappointed in some of the things that he's done. >> and now burr's impeachment vote could complicate the race to replace him as the party debates its future with trump no longer in the white house. former congressman mark he's hammered burr's vote and is courting trump's support but hopes to appeal to all republicans. >> where there's places to create some separation on what i believe is the best path forward i'm going to continue to do it. but at the same time i am a big enough person to separate personalities from the policy at times. >> reporter: the gop primary here could get crowded. former governor pat mccrory who's currently hosting a radio pam in charlotte, has not ruled out a bid. >> i'm not going to play the game of republicans fighting each other. i've been a strong supporter of the former president. and his policies -- we've got to fight for his policies.

>> reporter: some republicans are talking up the prospects of lara trump, the former president's daughter-in-law. she could be a leading contender, especially in the aftermath of the impeachment vote. >> my dear friend richard burr who i like and have been friends to a long time just made lara trump almost a certain nominee for the senate seat in north carolina to replace him. >> reporter: a bid by lara trump would only magnify the former president's role in the north carolina senate primary. but while republicans in the state still back trump, there are signs his presence might not be welcomed by all. especially following the capitol insurrection lafst month. >> yeah, it was disgusting. yeah, it was very demoralizing. i voted for trump and i was mad at myself. >> reporter: in fact, nearly 6,000 republicans in the state changed their party affiliation in the two weeks after the riot. democrats in the state are watching and hoping the gop divisions last through next year's midterms. >> the republicans are in the midst of a civil war and north carolina is ground zero for that

civil war. >> reporter: and burr's impeachment vote has really made the republican primary process for the 2022 midterms an open season. three of the people that we talked to for this story could potentially be candidates. mark walker the former congressman has already announced his plans. both former governor pat mccrory and the current republican party chairman mark wiley refused to say whether or not they have ruled out a run, meaning they could potentially run. erin, all told there could be as many as ten republicans running for the gop nomination for senate in 2022. >> incredible. all right. thank you very much, ryan. and next, an amazing accomplishment. nasa landing its rover, "perseverance," on mars. former nasa astronaut is going to walk you through it. allergies don't have to be scary. spraying flonase daily stops your body from overreacting to allergens all season long. psst! psst! you're good. new projects means new project managers.

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perseverance has landed. that's the incredible first image from the mars rover from nasa touching down on mars at 3:55 eastern time this afternoon. after what nasa describes as those final seven minutes where they just have to rely on the technology, the seven minutes of terror. >> touchdown confirmed. perseverance safely on the surface of mars. [ cheers and applause ] seeking the signs of past life.

>> among those watching and thrilled was my son, niall. he watched all day for hours waiting. and there it is. it's landed. sharing the joy that i think everybody felt watching that great success for nasa. joining me now is an astronaut, done many spacewalks of his own. astronaut michael massimino. all right, mike, so this is an incredible achievement. right? on every possible level. but it literally is landing -- it was going 300 million miles to land in like a pinprick of a location, right? but a place where there might once have been a river delta on mars. >> yeah, absolutely, erin. and thanks for having me and covering the story. it's a great story. yeah, it arrived right on time. right at the very moment that it was supposed to. it made that journey and arrived right on time. it was an old lake-bed about the size of lake tahoe, which makes that area very interesting because water was once there. there may be signs of life underneath the surface. maybe some water underneath the

surface. they wanted to explore there. but it was a very difficult place to land. and that's why they had to rely on so much autonomy and high-tech stuff that we have available to us now to do these types of landings because it had to work without people being involved and it all just came off wonderfully. >> and you have this goal, right? of people going to mars and doing so. they say in the next decade or so or it's going to be more. but tell me what this perseverance is going to do to make that possible. i know it is incredibly more sophisticated than its predecessors including "curiosity," which is still roving around out there. >> yeah. and in addition to the landing technology, that miracle of engineering that made this happen today, now the science takes over and that's also a lot of advanced instruments and discovery potential on this new rover. so we're going to be looking for -- when you talk about sending people there, what do people need? we're going to be looking at things that people need like water. is there water present there? maybe under the surface. we're also going to be looking

at ways to create oxygen out of the afrmsz atmosphere, which is primarily carbon dioxide. with k. we take the oxygen out of carbon dioxide so we can make breathable air for people to be able to breathe once we go visit mars when we do get there? and then also looking for signs of life. we're pretty sure there's nothing on the surface of mars but maybe underneath the surface there might be fossilized evidence of some microbial life from ancient times. a lost interesting things are going to be accomplished by this rover. >> it's pretty stunning. you mentioned oxygen. i know it has a little -- i guess it was described as a toaster sized technology. it's literally going to practice creating oxygen. and it's also got a little helicopter. what's that going to do? >> yes. that is really cool. this is the first time we're going to be having a controlled flight vehicle flying around another planet. it's a different atmosphere. it's a much thinner atmosphere than earth. so the aerodynamics are really tricky. when i first heard about this years ago i was like how is that going to work but they figured tout and they're pretty confident it will work. if it works it's going to be a

great technology to have because now we can send aircraft, a helicopter around to do surveying. rovers traditionally move very, very slowly. if you can get something up in the air and have it look around and look for sights that you might want to explore a little bit more, it's pretty exciting stuff. great technology that enables science to occur. >> all right. well, thanks very much to you, astronaut mike massimino, and to jet propulsion labs, by the way. great program over the past five weeks for kids. anybody from there watching we all really appreciated that who participated. thanks. and thanks to all of you for joining us. anderson starts now. erin, thanks so much. good evening, everyone. breaking news tonight on the suffering in texas and the texas senator who decided to leave it all behind for a long weekend at the ritz carlton in cancun. first, though, the impact on millions of texans not named ted cruz. of record cold weather and the devastation it's brought on the power grid, gas and water systems in the state. here's what it means for them. gas lines, people driving 50 miles then waiting on line for a few gallons of gasto