necessarily common for women or immigrants to speak out. may they rest in peace, and may their memories be a blessing. thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." you can always follow me on twitter and instagram at wolf blitzer. you can tweet the show at cnn sit room. erin burnett out front starts right now. >> out front next, a bone chilling threat tied to the state of the union. talk of blowing up the capitol by the same people who took part in the deadly insurrection. plus trump's 2.0, tonight republicans kicking off the largest gathering since the election and they have picked trump to headline it. he is looking for revenge. wage wars, a $15 minimum wage could threaten the covid relief bill. the struggle. and good evening, i'm ability. out front tonight, a chilling

threat. the acting u.s. capitol police chief telling lawmakers that some of the extremist groups involved in storming the capitol are preparing for another attack, and this one even deadlier. >> we know that members of the militia groups that were present on january 6 have stated their desires that they want to blow up the capitol and kill as many members as possible with a direct nexus to the state of the union. >> wow, they want to blow up the capitol. that is the quote. there is not a set date yet for president biden's state of the union, but the fact that these are the same people who participated in the deadly insurrection, talking about a very specific event and a plan, really should stop us all in our tracks. it comes as we are learning the number of people who stormed the capitol that day was much bigger than previously known. chief pittman revealing there were more than 10,000 rioters who entered the capitol grounds.

800 of them breaching security at the capitol building itself. and according to congressman tim ryan who was in that hearing today and will be my guest in just a moment, the u.s. attorney's office is now looking at allegations that members of congress and their staff gave tours to rioters before the attack. an attack that was bigger and more violent than what officials were prepared for. >> i witnessed insurgents beating police officers with fists, pipes, sticks, bats, metal barricades and flag poles. these criminals came prepared for war. >> i received chemical burns to my face that still have not healed to this day. >> these are the words of the capitol hill police officer and former capitol police chief. members of congress, both democrats and republicans have heard this testimony about an insurrection that was incited by president trump, and yet tonight a growing number of republicans in congress refuse to even acknowledge that trump's lie that the election is stolen is exactly that, a lie.

cnn speaking to more than two dozen house and senate republicans, many of them refusing to speak the truth and call trump out. even now. manu raju is out with this new reporting. manu, these lies from republicans blindly defending trump even more stunning since we are now being told there is threat of another attack, right, tied to a specific event, an incredibly specific in its premise. >> reporter: and a lot of these republicans are in donald trump's -- in the corner of donald trump making very clear that the former president still has a commanding hold on his party. so for all the talk of this party being divided, there is really only a small fraction of republicans who either are speaking out or calling out donald trump or say the party should move on from the trump era. a wide variety of them are either saying that there is something there that donald trump lied that the election was stolen, saying there are irregularities that need to be investigated or saying that there is nothing to push back on. they would not say that donald

trump should not say that the election is stolen because we expect him to do just that. when he goes before the conservative political action conference this weekend, the conservative activist group just in the last few days when donald trump has emergeed he still has conten contended the election was stolen. that is something he could say this weekend bringing the issue back into the fore. republicans are saying it's time to move on, but they will not say directly the election was not stolen. we saw that happen over the weekend number 2 republican steve scalise refused to say the election was stolen and others are in the similar position. erin, the clear sense is that republicans, despite what happened here, despite what they all experienced, the deadly riot on january 6, still won't say he has any blame for what happened.

>> manu, thank you. out front one of the lawmakers you saw at this hearing, democratic congressman tim ryan of ohio, chair of the house appropriations subcommittee that oversees the capitol police. congressman, i appreciate your time. i want to ask you more about manu's reporting in a moment. first, this is a disturbing warning from the acting capitol police chief. trump supporters are planning another attack, to coincide with president biden's address to congress, to blow up the capitol what the capitol police is warning about. what else do you know about this? >> well, this is the first we're hearing about it. you know, we get the threats all the time, erin, as you know. and unfortunately some of us get used to hearing them. but this was especially egregious and it's scary. i mean, the scariest part about the whole thing, these are americans. this isn't some foreign entity. this isn't al qaeda or the taliban or some other group that is trying to strike and hurt the united states. these are our own citizens. and so we've got a lot of work

to do here in our own country and our job is to make sure this capitol is protected and that the job of the committee that i chair and we're going to make sure that it is protected. >> our reporter has been talking to a lot of people going to the rallies toward the end. qanon believers. he's talked to them and he's reporting they're not pushing a conspiracy theory, that donald trump is going to regain the presidency on march 4th, and then there's going to be executions. let me just play what some of them have told him. >> president trump will take office as the 19th president of the united states on march 4th under the restored republic. >> executions will be happening on march 5th. that's a big statement. and i'm really looking forward to it. >> so just so people understand, this conspiracy theory -- bear with me, everybody -- is rooted

in the belief that an 1871 law turns the united states into a corporation. so any president elected after that is illegitimate. that's how they get to the 19th president. so the last person to be sworn in was ulysses s. grant, that was march 4th. it sounds crazy, it is crazy. this is make believe. but the idea of an insurrection sounded like make believe before january 6th so how concerned are you, congressman, that the gop's continued refusal to call out trump's lies could cause something else to happen? >> well, two points. we're going to make sure that this capitol is protected. that's why we are continuing to keep the fencing up. the national guard is still here. we're going to keep it that way until we have a real plan to move forward that general honore and others are fund, this capitol is going to be safe. this gets down to leadership. and the fact that steve scalise and other very powerful republican lawmakers will not

condemn this, will not, you know, tell these people that this is an illusion, they are create thing out of thin air, it's not true, they're perpetuating the lie the election was a fraud, this is a problem with leadership. if the leaders don't give them oxygen, if the leaders say, no, this is wrong, like john mccain did at that one town hall when he was running for president. >> yes. >> no, ma'am, i can hear the words right now. no, ma'am, no, ma'am. he stood up. that's what leadership is about, and we can't find a leader like that here. even leaders that say the right thing still vote the wrong way. we need some leadership in our republican party right now. >> i'm sure you're referring there to senator mcconnell. let me ask you one other thing, though, speaking of your colleagues. our case file has reported that anthony, conservative activist and close ally of congressman

marjorie taylor greene was a member at the rally. here he is. >> we were all there. it was not antifa, and it was not blm. it was trump supporters that did that yesterday. i'm the first to admit it. being one myself. >> so there he is and here she is talking about him in the past. >> i told you my friend anthony a guerrero, my friend anthony, he's a dear, dear friend. anthony is my great, great friend, he's one of my best friends. i am telling you support this man. support him. >> so, congressman, what do you do with that? a sitting member of congress calling a man who admittedly stormed the capitol in a violent mob, one of the greatest guys i know, one of my best friends?

>> i don't know. i don't know, you know, what you do. this is obviously her probably saying this before she was elected member of congress and she was elected, and so we're limited as to what we can do. and in america, you're free to say pretty much anything you want that's not going to hurt somebody, and she -- you know, but is endorsing this person's values, and that person attacked the capitol asknd was part of t insurrection and part of the domestic terror attack. we don't know what to say. we're in uncharted waters here and that's why we have a fence around the capitol right now. because you have members of congress like her that are condoning and basically pumping up people who stormed the capitol. and let's hope there wasn't any deeper connection there. tha that's being investigated now in the tours. that's in the hands of the u.s. attorney here in d.c. that is looking into those tours that were given maybe on january 5th by members of congress. so we'll see what happens if there's any connection there.

>> right. obviously referring to the investigation of tours members of congress may have given to people who were part of the riot the day after, in those days just after. thank you so much, congressman. i appreciate your time. >> thanks, erin. >> and next, senator mitch mcconnell who tore into trump, saying that he provoked the insurrection and is entirely the blame for it. well, wait until you hear what he just said whether he'll back trump if trump is the party's nominee in 2024. plus the battle over the minimum wage. some threatening they won't vote for the relief package if it doesn't include $15. it is probably now reached the mid-atlantic. that is my guest. try hypnosis... or... quit cold turkey are you kidding me?! instead, start small. with nicorette®. which can lead to something big. start stopping with nicorette®

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germ proof your car with armor all disinfectant. kills 99.9% of bacteria and viruses. breaking news. former president trump resurrecting his big lie. trump adviser telling our jim accosta that the former president will push his false claims about the 2020 election in his first public speech since leaving office and that speech is coming when trump headlines the conservative political action conference. it kicks off today. sources tell cnn trump has been spending his days at mar-a-lago contemplating the run in 2024, plotting revenge on anyone who crossed him as he prepares to make his return to the national stage this weekend. jim accosta is out front live in orlando where trump will be speaking at cpac. so, jim, look, this is a huge event on the calendar every year, right? this is the real coming out party for the republicans every

year, who are they going to put out on that stage. he's the headliner. what more are you learning? >> reporter: that's right, erin. i think the theme of the cpac could be the mouth will rise again. i mean, this is going to be the return of donald trump to the political stage. it is going to be the return of the big lie. jason miller, senior adviser to the ex-president told me today donald trump will be talking about his false claims that the election was stolen from him, but jason miller said it will be talked about in the context of election reforms. but, erin, i mean that's really using code words. if you look at the agenda for this cpac that's taking place here in orlando, usually takes place in d.c., because of the pandemic it's down here. if you look at the agenda, several of the sessions that are going to be taking place here are built around these ideas that the election was stolen from donald trump, that joe biden stole the election. that's obviously not the case. we've been talking about this for many weeks now. in addition to that, erin, if you look at the speaker's list, they are almost all speakers who

have the trump seal of approval. donald trump, jr., his girlfriend kimberly guilfoyle. even ted cruz and josh hawley, two republican senators who essentially tried to assist republican house members in their efforts to overturn the results in the 2020 election. typically that kind of behavior would be punished at a political conference. at cpac it's rewarded. who is missing from the cpac? you're not going to see vice president mike pence and you're not going to see the former u.n. ambassador nikki haley who has gotten into it with donald trump in recent weeks. i talked to the organizer for cpac earlier today. he said they were given the indication nikki haley was going to appear at cpac and then she pulled out. another sign of this rift, this fracture inside the republican party. but inside trump world, erin, there is not unanimity as to whether or not this is a good idea for all of this to take place. in the words of this adviser, yes, it's good for donald trump, but, no, it's bad for the republican party. and when i asked this adviser,

do you think donald trump is going to go ahead and bring up these election lies once again, he said, of course, donald trump is going to bring up these election lies. when has he ever faced any consequence for what he does? why stop now? erin? >> all right, jim, thank you very much. this is depressing. christine todd whitman, former governor of new jersey is with me, also the former epa administrator under george w. bush and michael smerconish. i saydee pressing because you look at this conference because it's a time for republicans to define what their party is. the list, ted cruz, josh hawley, don junior, kimberly guilfoyle. this is a list of his nearest and dearest. trump is the king of cpac. >> right now those are defining themselves as republicans have decided they're trumpers. there is no republican party. they haven't set up -- they stand for nothing except what donald trump tells them, and unfortunately right now he's becoming more dangerous.

it is dangerous to keep repeating this great lie. we have cases over and over the supreme court just dismissed two of the allegations. nothing happened. this was one of the fairest, best elections given all that was going on that we've had in years. and by cpac doing this, buying into this, giving these far-right people, qanon people, the donald trump people this kind of a platform is hurtful to the country. i mean, it's worse than hurtful to the party. there is no party any more. it's trump. it's a personality cult. but it's dangerous for the country. >> so, mike many, you heard jim accosta trump adviser he's going to go ahead with the big lie on sunday. go ahead with that. cpac is going to include that lie in many different ways. i'm sure ted cruz and josh hawley will cloak it in their election irregularity language as they do to signal what they want to signal. how dangerous is it, michael?

>> well, cpac is damned if they do and damned if they don't because this is where the base of the party rests. i mean, that interview tonight that mitch mcconnell gave where within two weeks of being so condemning of former president trump's role in the insurrection on january 6th then when asked, oh, but if he's the nominee will you support him? sure i'll support him if he's the nominee. which is it? do you believe he perpetuated an insurrection? if so, how in the world can you say, you'd ever be supportive of that person. it's a conundrum. >> let me play what mitch mcconnell said to your point about how he's going to support trump if he's the nominee. he said in an interview on fox news. here is senator mcconnell. >> if the president was the party's nominee, would you support him? >> the nominee of the party, absolutely. >> >> okay, here's the whiplash michael's referring to because

here is mitch mcconnell. the man gave the speech of his life condemning donald trump for breaking apart the country and here is mitch mcconnell just weeks ago. >> a mob was assaulting the capitol in his name. these criminals were carrying his banners. hanging his flags and screaming their loyalty to him. >> what in the world does mcconnell get by now saying, okay, forget the speech of my life and what i said. i'll support the guy. >> look, mitch mcconnell is the ultimate politician. all he cares about is keeping his position and he wants to be back in leadership. so he'll play whatever side he thinks he can. this is a narrow hole in the needle he's trying to thread.

i don't know if he can get away with it. the one good part of all this, if you look at registrations, republicans have been losing registration. people have been moving to the independent column because they don't support all of this. yes, his trump supporters are vehement and that's why the senators and congress people ought to know, they know how dangerous these people are. they didn't care -- if they had gotten into the halls of congress before the members had been taken away, they would have gone after and beaten up all of them. they didn't care republican, democrat. they wouldn't have known the difference. so we've got to be concerned about this, but they're not. it's all about their political future. never mind the country. never mind the rule of law. never mind the constitution. we'll perpetuate the lie if that's going to get us votes. at the end of the day i don't think it will be enough votes in the general election. >> we'll see. mitt romney was saying in terms of the nomination today, michael, if the vote was now he would get the nomination from what the governor is saying. but we have reporting from jim

accosta, michael, that one of the things trump is most worried about is all of these legal issues he faces. the new york district attorney we found is in possession of the tax records trump had fought to keep private. they're out. they now have millions of pages, millions of pages, okay. you obviously have a legal background. is there possibly something there that could doom him? >> well, i've been saying consistently that if he's healthy, if he's solvent and if he's unindicted, then he stands to be the heir apparent again to be the nominee in 2024. but, you know, you've got to believe in millions of pages of tax returns in a relatively subjective area -- for example, the appraisal of commercial real estate. if they want to find something there, they'll probably be able to find something there and it will be a lot more than just the way in which for accounting purposes hush money was treated on a tax return.

>> right, right. very much to your point, right, these things -- these are obviously criminal. thank you both very much. i appreciate your time. as we're speaking here, we do have breaking news. the u.s. launching an air-strike against iranian-backed militias in syria. a significant event tonight. this is the first known military action taken by president biden. this strike coming after three separate rocket attacks in the past couple of weeks against american forces in baghdad in which a civilian contractor was killed, an american serviceman, along with eight other contractors were wounded in another one of those attacks. let's go to oren liebermann out front at the pentagon. orrin, we understand these are the first strikes taken by president biden. tell us about what you're hearing. >> reporter: exactly, this is the first known strike under president joe biden. it comes against iranian militias and the sites they use in syria. we learned from a u.s. official a short time ago, it was one target with multiple sites on the target used by iranian

backed shi'a militia for weapons smuggling. battle assessment as a result of the strikes, that is something we'd expect perhaps in the coming hours or coming days to get a sense of aa what was targeted and b what the result was. it is important to get a sense of the scale of the attack. this is not apparently an attack on a major site. it was an attack on a site meant to send two separate messages. first trying to deter the iranian backed shi'a militias from attacking u.s. coalition forces and a response to the previous attacks over the course of the past week-and-a-half or so. one in baghdad and one at the air base north of baghdad. this is the biden administration, it seems, sending a message to those iranian backed militias. even if the biden administration hadn't pointed a finger and said yes, it's this specific militia responsible, it was clear from the white house, the state department and the pentagon that they held iran largely responsible for these attacks and said it was iranian weaponry used in these attacks.

it also seems because of the relatively small scale of the attacks it was an attempt not to escalate the situation, especially as the u.s. and iran try to figure out the diplomacy and the moves around iran's nuclear program. so a small calculated strike, it seems, we'll certainly keep you posted as we learn more about what is the first known military strike carried out by the biden administration. >> oren, thank you very much. i want to go to phil mattingly. phil, this is the first known strike by president biden. what are you learning as to why they chose now? why now? >> reporter: it needs to be viewed through the context, oren laid out a piece of it. how the administration is viewing iran. that is the elements of iran's malign activities outside their country. in this case syria, the rocket attacks targeting u.s. and coalition forces, but also through the context of what the u.s. is trying to do relate to the iran nuclear deal.

obviously, erin, it was just last week that the white house, the administration announced they were open to having talks with iran again through the p 5 plus 1 that led to the original iran nuclear deal. so trying to do two things at once here. trying to keep the proxies in check, trying to make clear to iran, even in a small calculated scale that they are paying attention, that they will strike back. while they are also trying to reopen talks themselves. this has been a delicate balance over the course of the first couple of weeks as the administration has tried to do what the president said he was going to do during the campaign, which was an effort to reestablish or realign themselves with the jcpoa while also being cognizant of the fact the jcpoa didn't necessarily address many of the issues that not only the u.s., but u.s. allies have about iran's action outside the deal. the ballistic missiles, the malign activities outside of the iranian space itself. so you can see the battle starting to play out now.

9 question is is this it for the united states? do they believe this matches up with the rocket attacks that occurred the last couple weeks? and what does this mean in terms of iran's willingness to sit down with the p-5 plus one. they have shut out nuclear inspectors over the course of the last week, continuing to move away from the deal. those are the questions that need to be answered, but obviously the administration answering back now and we'll have to see what happens next, erin. >> thank you very much. i want to go to lieutenant general, former commanding general for europe and david axelrod, and former senior adviser to president obama. so, what do you make of the timing of this strike? obviously doing your first strike is something that you know is going to be significant, pickup headlines, make a statement. this is what president biden has chosen to make that statement with. >> i'd say it is a proportional response based on the attack at the airport that oren talked about on the 15th of february where a contractor was killed, several people were wounded. and it was an attack on the u.s.

base in a very peaceful part in the kurdish republic. and what's interesting about this is there have been other attacks. there is continual harassment by iranian militia. this is a signal so it is a proportional response to the iranian government. it is disconnected to a degree from the nuclear efforts that president biden is going to attempt probably in the near future as phil just said. i have to tell you, this is just interesting to me because there are dozens of iranian-backed militias within iraq and within syria. they have been harassing u.s. forces. the iraqi government is tired of these iranian militias, but they can't do as much about them because of the political implications there. but it in my view is a very good response by the new administration to what has been happening in terms of the iranian-backed militias

attempting these kind of strikes against the united states forces, the 2,500 or so that are still in iraq. >> so what the message is, david, they're showing we're going to be tough on you. just because we may want to renegotiate, work on the nuclear deal again, don't misunderstand that for, okay, do whatever you want with impunity. is that what they're trying to accomplish with it and will it work? >> well, it's a message to them and a message to other allies in the region and to players here in washington as well that just because they want to move forward on an agreement to try and limit the nuclear program in iran doesn't mean that they're going to turn a blind eye to aggressive behavior on the part of iran. so it is both as the general says, a proportional response to an attack or a series of them, but to one in particular, but it also is a message that they're not going to get a pass simply

because these talks have been offered. >> so, general, let me also ask you, it comes in the context of david ignatius' column in the washington post, he laid it out very well. the progress iran has made on its accomplice tick missiles capabilities is stunning. they have made significant progress. what does this do regarding that? you're going to try to renegotiate the nuclear deal. that wasn't even included inside it. >> i think if you recall back during the obama administration, the jcpoa was the first step to negotiate with iran. they knew quite frankly that the nuclear deal was broken from the rest of the malign activity of the iranian government in the area. it's going to be very difficult to renegotiate some of those things to get back into that agreement. but i think this is president biden signalling we are for separating the nuclear activities that we have to

discuss with the potential malign activities in the region. i think we want to come back together with iran, but we will not allow these kinds of harassing attacks on u.s. forces and the disruption of the iraqi government as well. and if i may, erin, i said before the kurdish republic and that the kurdish regional government, i'm sorry for misstating that. it's interesting that secretary blinken spoke to prime minister barsani about the attack on the 15th of february. i think we're probably get being the green light not only from the iraqi government, also the kurdish regional government on these attacks. >> so, david, in the context of this it's pretty significant president biden also today spoke to the king of saudi arabia. and this is ahead of a highly anticipated report from the director of national intelligence, right, where they're going to be, they're going to be telling us a lot of background information, what gave them reason to say the saudi crown prince, mohammed bin salman was directly responsible for the massacre, the murder of

the washington post columnist jamal khashoggi. he spoke with the counsel prince, giving him all the authority. so biden wouldn't do that, but the call tonight says nothing about khashoggi. it appears it didn't come up in the conversation. trump would have been crucified, in fact he was appropriately so. what is president biden trying to do here? >> well, first of all, human rights was mentioned and i'm sure that they are aware that he's about to release this report that is very damning. >> right. >> and that report is undoubtedly going to stir some interest in congress about taking further action. so i think they're trying to balance -- the saudis are, in fact, strategically important in that region. interestingly, by the way, another thing that came up there was the president's assurance

that he would help try and prevent attacks on the saudi -- on saudi arabia by iran. they have also been subject to missile attacks. so i think he's trying to balance accounts here, but there's no doubt that the release of the report itself is pretty heavy blow to the saudis and there is likely to be action that follows that. >> there certainly will. highly anticipated come as early as today. the air strikes are today. it could come tomorrow, any time we're going to be getting that full report. i appreciate both of you. thank you. >> good to see you, erin. >> next breaking news, senate parliament arian ruling in what is a highly anticipated decision about raising the minimum wage. saying it cannot be included in biden's covid relief package. and i'm going to talk to a doctor who helped discover a new strain of coronavirus in new york city, the northeast, now maybe the mid-atlantic. he's warning this new variant

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the senate parliamentarian ruling democrats will not be allowed to include a minimum wage increase in their covid relief bill. they, of course, have been pushing for one to $15. it is a big setback for some democrats who were hoping to get this increase by using the reconciliation process to get this whole thing through. manu raju joins me on the phone. manu, this is a big blow for many of the progressives who have been pushing for this hard. tell me what you're hearing. >> reporter: yes, huge setback. the democrats made this a key part of the larger $1.9 trillion covid relief package. even joe biden the president has pushed for the increase in the minimum wage. what is ruled tonight by the senate parliamentarian, this cannot be part of the covid relief bill. democrats are using a budget relief process that is essentially avoiding republican efforts to block this bill. they are trying to pass along party lines.

because they are using the budget to pass the overall $1.9 trillion package, they have to adhere to the very strict rules under the senate to ensure that no, quote, extraneous measures are added as part of the underlying bill. and what was ruled tonight, the senate rule keeper, she determines what is allowed and what is not allowed. she determined that it was not allowed to include the minimum wage increase as part of this overall package. so, now, what does this mean? the house will still move tomorrow to pass the overall $1.9 trillion bill that will include the wage increase, but then it will come over to the senate where it will essentially be stripped out. the question will be what did democrats do from there? their options, erin, are very limited. almost certainly this will not make it into the final package and progressives who have been pushing for this hard will have to decide whether they can live with everything else in there because at the moment this is not going to survive and almost certainly won't get onto joe

biden's desk. erin? >> manu, thank you. let's go to phil mattingly. philip, just to be clear, president biden knew -- he was the one who expected this to happen. but the progressive democrats, they were banking the farm on this and getting this through. what is the reaction from the white house tonight? >> reporter: look, that's a key point. the president has alluded several times in the course over the last couple weeks he expected this to occur. as a 36-year veteran of the united states senate, he has some idea how the rule operates. not just the president. white house advisers i've been speaking to the last few weeks were expecting this to happen, counting on this to happen. they knew if the $15 minimum wage was in the bill the senate democrats attempted to pass, they had a votes problem. they did not have 50 votes to pass a bill, a $1.9 trillion bill with the $15 minimum wage. there are two senate democrats that are opposed to this provision, and so to some degree they were banking on this happening and did not necessarily have a great plan b if it was allowed into the bill

itself. i think the big question, and manu kind of hit on this, does this create problems with progressives particularly in the house. i've been talking to a number of congressional democrats in the last several hours as everybody was waiting with baited breath for this decision to come in. the expectation in the senate was this would be okay. democrats in both chambers have made clear they will try and move a stand alone minimum wage bill, one that will be blocked in the senate. the bigger picture here of this is president biden's cornerstone legislative agenda item. $1.9 trillion. this is several major, major sweeping policy initiatives to address the dual public health and economic crises that this one provision being struck won't sink the bill. the big question now is in the house. i will say from the white house perspective, at least what i've been told by advisers over the course of the last several weeks, they expected this to happen to some degree. they were hoping this would happen. they are supportive of the $15 minimum wage. the president put it in the proposal. but they understood the math issues that they had in the senate and almost needed this to

occur. it has occurred now and i think the big question right now, particularly with the house set to vote as soon as tomorrow is where the progressives come down given they know this is not going to be in the senate proposal and they know that president biden and the white house are still going to be behind this with or without the $15 minimum wage. >> the question is they have to have the ability to put the minimum wage separate. i would presume that's a whole 'nother fight that easily could fail. whether they have the votes for this without it now. all right, thank you so much, phil. i appreciate it. all right. that breaking news. next a warning that a new strain of coronavirus that is likely more resistant to treatment is now spreading through the northeast. and california's governor gavin newsom facing the possibility he could be recalled. it is not just republicans upset now with the once popular governor. is on verizon 5g ultra wideband. available in parts of many cities. it's ridiculously fast. buy samsung galaxy s21+ 5g. get one on us. only on verizon.

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covid's still a threat. and on reopening schools, we know what happens when we don't put safety first. ignore proper ventilation or rates of community spread, and the virus worsens. fail to provide masks or class sizes that allow for social distancing, and classrooms close back down. a successful reopening requires real safety and accountability measures. including prioritizing vaccines for educators. parents and educators agree: reopen schools. putting safety first.

new tonight, the director of the n.i.h. saying new variants pose a risk of another coronavirus surge. this has concerns tonight about a new coronavirus variant that has a mutation that may weaken the body's response to vaccines as well as the effects of antibody treatments in covid patients. it comes after two teams of researchers have detected the variant as growing across new york city and the northeast. out front, david is director of the research center of columbia

university. he led the team that detected one of these variants. you said the variant is probably spread beyond new york city and the northeast. tell me more about it and why you think that may be. >> good to be with you, erin. because we know that there are many, many cases that we have detected. and by the time we find so many cases undoubtedly the virus has spread beyond. and then if you look at the global database that contain the sequences, viral isolates, one can see viruses being reported from the mid-atlantic region. so we know it has spread beyond just the new york area. >> so, tell me about the variant. we hear it could be more resistant to vaccines and to other antibody treatments. what are you seeing specifically with it that has you so concerned? >> well, for the past couple

months we have been studying the variants from abroad, from u.k., south africa and brazil. we thought we would poll the samples in columbia medical center do see if we had such variants. when we polled and once we sequence the entire virus, we notice yes, there are some u.k. cases, south african and brazilian cases. but the predominant variant we found was a local home grown variant with a critical mutation that resembles the mutations found in the brazilian and the south african strain. and we have characterized those variants before. we know that mutation would knockout three of the four mono clon clonal antibody treatments with emergency use authorization. and we have previously shown that that mutation would

decrease the activity of the antibodies in folks who have been immunized with the vaccine. so that a substantial decrease in virus neutralizing activity could >> so look, these are very troubling things, right? it's important to know about them, but of course it's very troubling. let me just ask you one other point because you talk about you found the south african variant, you found the brazilian variant, you found the uk variant but the real one that you found was just a homegrown local variant. you've talked about an alarming rise. my understanding is looking at your research in just the past two weeks in the number of cases. so do you think it's more transmissible or just now you're looking for it? >> well, i could only share with you our observation. so the first detection was in november. and then there are scattered cases in december. and then by early january it was

about 3% of the covid-19 positive samples within our hospital that we studied. and then we just saw it going up and up. and the recent couple weeks it's up to 12%, 13%. so the rather rapid increase is alarming. you could suspect that it might be more transmissible. but we don't have evidence to prove that at this moment. >> incredibly sobering information but important information for us all to hear. doctor, i appreciate your time. thank you. >> thank you. next, california governor gavin newsom could soon be fighting for his political life as a recall fueled by his handling of covid gains steam. >> newsom is the one that's running california right now with an iron fist. e talk to my manager." next, carvana's 100% online shopping experience. oh, man. carvana lets people buy a car-- get this-- from their couch.

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kyung lah is out front. >> reporter: the fuel for these mailers, for the volunteers trying to recall california's governor, frustration. >> i reached my final straw when i lost my job for the third time in november. >> reporter: stacy edwards works in restaurants, an industry devastated in the pandemic. the object of her ire? governor gavin newsom, who has mandated statewide restrictions on businesses to stop the spread of covid. what do you want to tell the governor about the kind of pain that you're in? >> oh, gosh. yeah. that's an interesting question. yeah. it's been very hard. you're going to make me emotional. but we're talking about starting a family and buying a house, and those are all things that are having to wait because of this. >> reporter: on the other side of the table -- >> i voted for gavin newsom. >> reporter: andrea hedstrom.

she says she's a lifelong democrat who so admired newsom that she named her son gavin. do you blame the governor for the condition that the state is in? >> i do at this point. newsom is the one that's running california right now with an iron fist. >> looks like a good one. >> reporter: these californians seething after a year of shutdowns have found a political outlet. >> these look like three valid signatures on this form. >> reporter: the recall petition. >> this is just in one day? >> this is only part of one day. >> reporter: petitions sorted by county, then delivered to be officially counted. warren heatley launched the recall 2020 campaign the sixth recall attempt. the other five failed to qualify for the ballot. against the democratic governor who won by a landslide in 2018. >> this is your five-star spot for a smorgasbord of information. >> reporter: public records show this recall is dominated by conservative donors, money that

pays for this radio program broadcast from the heart of liberal los angeles. >> it's friday night at the french laundry. >> reporter: that's a dig at governor newsom's blunder. caught diagnose maskless at this exclusive restaurant while telling his residents to stay home. he's since apologized. but it's dinged his popularity. but with california's covid case numbers dropping, newsom is pushing to reopen schools, easing restrictions on outdoor dining, and opening the first joint state-federal mass vaccination sites in the country. and in a sign of newsom's political strength -- >> do you have a lot of orders? >> reporter: -- napa valley restaurant owners like cynthia ariasta who says she lost half a million dollars in wage production and sued newsom for the shutdown is not willing to sign on to the recall. >> who would take his place anyway? i would much rather see this as a real wake-up call that i've got some things to fix. >> the future -- >> reporter: the recall leader says his group hasn't backed a

replacement. first up, getting enough signatures. >> we don't know who's going to take the seat. we feel very strongly that somebody more competent is going to take that position. >> so kyung, how feasible is realistically that governor newsom will lose his job? >> reporter: well, let's start with the registration numbers. the voter registration numbers. democrats essentially outnumber republicans 2 to 1. gavin newsom won by a landslide in november. so it is going to be difficult, especially with democrats consolidating around newsom, for a challenger, especially if that challenger is republican and backed donald trump to win in this overwhelmingly democratic state. now, the other question, though, is will it make the ballot? will this recall make the ballot? what you see here is this is one of the many sites around the state where they're collecting signatures. recall proponents say they've collected 1.8 million signatures. that exceeds the 1.5 to make the

ballot. they have to verify those signatures. they're aiming for about 2 million signatures and are on pace to do so, erin. they are feeling confident that they will indeed make the ballot. but again, a very different question than whether or not the governor survives this politically, erin. >> that's pretty incredible, all of this happening. kyung, thank you so much. and thanks so much to all of you. "ac 360" starts now. good evening. we have breaking news on two fronts tonight. a big decision on raising the minimum wage and the first known use of military force by the biden administration. we begin with that with air strikes. the target was in syria. the message appears to be aimed at iran. cnn's oren liebermann has been working sources at the pentagon, joins us now. what do we know, oren? >> reporter: anderson, a short time ago u.s. aircraft struck a site in syria that defense officials say belonged to iranian-backed militias operating in syria. the site they say was used as a weapons smuggling site by two shia militias backed by iran using iranian weapons. and that is why thisit