hello and a very warm welcome to our viewers join you us in the united states and right around the world. i'm isa soares and here's what's on "cnn newsroom." >> the united states capitol police as an organization is stronger and better prepared, but we've got to keep working at it and making it safer and safer and safer. >> i would hope that he would do the right thing and come forward. anchor sean hannity's call by the house committee to

voluntarily cooperate in the inquiry into the attack on the u.s. capitol. new cdc guidance brings confusion and frustration for many and we'll break down the new guidelines for you. prince andrew is trying to get a sexual assault law against him thrown out. the judge is skeptical of the arguments. we're live for you in windsor. >> announcer: lives from london, this is "cnn newsroom" with isa soares. welcome to the show, everyone. it is wednesday, january the 5th, and there are new revelations and new requests from the house select committee investigationing the january 6 attack on the u.s. capitol as he we approach, of course, the one-year anniversary of the insurrection. we have learned the panel is looking for cooperation from this man on your screen, fox news host shean hannity after

receiving dozens of messages sent to and from former white house chief of staff mark meadows. texts like this one exactly a year ago. hannity wrote, very worried about the next 48 hours. now, the pam says his messages show advance knowledge about the planning for january the 6th, and here's what hannity said on fox news one day before the capitol riot. >> a big day tomorrow, big crowds apparently showed up to the point where the west wing could hear the music and the chanting of the people that were there already, and this all kicks off in the morning tomorrow. >> well, the house committee also cited a separate text from december 31st of 2020, when hannity wrote to meadows saying, quote, we can't lose the entire white house counsel's office. i do not see january 6 happening the way he's been told. after the 6th he will announce they will lead a nationwide effort for voter reform integrity. go to florida and watch joe mess

up daily. stay engaged. when he speaks, people will listen. well, hannity isn't the only one the committee wants to hear from. they are hoping to speak with former vice president mike pence. cnn's ryan nobles reports for you from washington. >> reporter: there are many conversations that the january 6 select committee would like to have with key players in the events leading up to the riots that took place here almost a year ago. among them, sean hannity, the fox news commentator, a close political adviser of the former president donald trump. they sent a letter to hannity this week asking him to voluntarily appear before the committee and answer questions about the communications that he had with white house officials, with members of congress, and the former president himself. and in that letter, they outline a series of text messages that hannity exsent to meadows, jim jordan, members of congress where he expressed real concerns about the rhetoric and the movement that was being made by

the white house around that time to attempt to get the vice president, mike pence, to stand in the way of the election certification results. now, it's unclear if hannity will comply. this is not a legal request. they're asking him to come on his own accord, but it does stand to reason that if he decides not to, that the committee could take that next step of forcing him to comply through a congressional subpoena. his lawyer, jay sekulow saying there are first amendment issues involved in this request and that he and his client are reviewing what the committee is asking for. now, hannity is one thing. they are also interested in pence. they'd like to talk to the former vice president mike pence. bennie thompson telling me in an interview that he wants to hear about pence's experience on january 6th. >> the vice president could not leave the capitol of the united states because of the riot. he was sequestered in an area in the capitol.

so his life was in danger. i would hope that he would do the right thing and come forward and voluntarily talk to the committee. >> reporter: now, to be clear, thompson has not sent pence a formal request asking him to appear voluntarily, or a subpoena. they'd like pence just to come in on his own to sit down and say that he's ready to answer questions about the days leading up to january 6th. they want to know not just about the pressure campaign, but also just the day to day tiktok of what happened on january 6, how he was ushered out of the senate chamber, was forced to be protected. and they also want to hear from his security detail. it's clear pence plays an important role in this process. the committee already has spoken to several of his close allies, including his former chief of staff marc short, who was with him on january 6, and keith kellogg who once served as his national security adviser. so the committee continues to cast a wide net as they look for information leading to what went

wrong on january 6th. ryan nobles, cnn, on capitol hill. well, cnn's chief media correspondent brian stelter points out hannity texted his concerns about trump in the run up to the insurrection and afterward. yet he said nothing publicly to his viewers. >> hannity is not commenting about this. he's not saying a word about this. he's pretending it doesn't exist. but his messages do exist. er that not just about the days before the riot. they're about the days after the rye olt. i wonder how was trump muzzled days after the riot. why is it congress did not remove him from office after he incited a riot. what happened on those pivotal days. here's hannity on january 10 saying i had a pretty bad call with him. why didn't you tell your viewers about that call? why didn't you call that fox newsroom and say, we've got an emergency on our hands? >> important context from brian stelter. meanwhile, donald trump has called off his press conference

january 6, instead deciding to speak at a rally. the former president is irritated by the media's lack of interest and a lot of negative feedback. several outside advisers and republican senators urged him to cancel thursday's event. this is the rally of supporters more receptive to his message than the media. and donald trump is facing two more lawsuits from police officers for his role in the january 6 insurrection. the officers claim the former president directed the attack, which left them injured and emotionally traumatized. one is a scalp to police officer. two others are members of the d.c. metro police. trump already faces six civil suits related to those riots. an attorney for trump did not respond to cnn's request for comment. but be sure we'll stay on top of that story for you. now, security is ramping up in preparation of the january 6 attack on the u.s. capitol. the homeland security secretary says there is a heightened

threat level, but he isn't aware of any credible threats tied to the capitol. he said the police would be able to defend against another mob-like attack. our paula reid has the story for you. >> reporter: just days before the anniversary of the january 6th insurrection, u.s. capitol police chief tom majnger addressed his embattled department. >> the united states capitol police as an organization is stronger and better prepared to carry out its mission today than it was before january 6th of last year. >> reporter: a report last month by inspector general michael bolton found that only about a quarter of the 104 recommended changes to the u.s. capitol police following the january 6 riot have been implemented. but today manger said 60 other reforms are in progress. >> there is no question in my mind, looking at all of the recommendations, that intelligence, operational

planning, and getting our civil disturbance unit up to where it needs to be were the three biggest issues. those were the ones we worked on first, and those were the ones that frankly are largely completed. >> reporter: still the department faces daunting challenges. at least four january 6 responders have died by suicide over the last year. the department also has not been able to fully address staffing issues. it has lost over 130 officers through retirement or resignation after january 6, and the force is still about 400 officers short of where it needs to be, and those who remain still have scars from the attack. >> this whole past year has been very difficult. >> reporter: sergeant was assigned to guard the west entrance of the capitol on january 6. today he reflected on that haunting experience. >> so, the magnitude of what we

encountered was something like i never experienced myself, not even when i was overseas in combat. >> reporter: he was out for months because of injuries sustained during the insurrection, and still grapples with trauma from that day. >> when i returned to the capitol on november 3rd, i hesitated before going in, to be honest. for a moment i thought it was going to be gut wrenching to even take the first step out of my car. >> reporter: manger said he is aware of some events plans for thursday, but there is no intelligence that indicates there will be any problems. the department of homeland security chief also said he is not aware of any specific credible threats on the anniversary of the insurrection. paula reid, cnn, washington. and, of course, we'll have much more ahead on the january 6 investigation, including how

lawmakers are pushing forward with prosecuting some of the rioters. do stay with us for that. and we are following developments on the korean peninsula, pardon me, where south korea's joint chief of staff said north korea has fired an unidentified projectile into the sea off the east coast. in a tweet, japan said the projectile that fell into the water wednesday morning may have been a ballistic missile. this marks the first projectile launched since north korea said it test fired a submarine missile, you remember, back in october. and still ahead right here on "cnn newsroom," the cdc updates its guidance on testing and isolation for the people recovering from covid. we'll break down the new recommendations for you. plus, we are learning what we're learning from a new study in israel about the effect of the fourth covid vaccine dose. we're live in tel aviv with the latest. that's coming up. when they're sick, they get comfortable anywhere and spread germs everywhere.

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we'll bring up for you, the seven-day average of new cases is more than 550,000 on tuesday. that's topping, of course, the previous day's record. new data shows that hospitalizations have now surpassed september's peak during the delta surge. now, the department of health and human services says i.c.u. beds are at least 95% full in more than one in five hospitals. and the cdc says that omicron variant is up to three times more infectious than the delta variant. meanwhile, excuse me, the biden administration is facing even more criticism for its new guidance on the covid isolation period, what some are calling inconsistent recommendations for testing. cnn's kaitlan collins has more now from the white house. >> reporter: the cdc has now updated its guidance when it comes to what you should do after you've tested positive for coronavirus, but it may not do much to clear up the confusion that was generated last week when they cut that isolation period in half, from ten days to

five days, because right now the cdc is still saying that you can leave isolation after five days without taking a rapid test and having a negative result, as long as you continue to wear a mask in public. they do add some qualifiers to that now, saying you should avoid travel, getting on airplanes. you should avoid restaurants where you obviously cannot wear a mask or avoid gyms where you can't wear a mask either. they are adding caveats to that guidance but they still haven't recommending a rapid desk. however, they say if you take a rapid test on day five and the result is positive, you is this stay in isolation five more days, kind of making the guidance where if you don't take a test and you don't get a positive result or negative result obviously, you could leave isolation and wear a mask. but if you do take a test and you have a positive result, you need to stay in that isolation period. of course, this comes under criticism from health experts outside the administration who said they believe it should require a rapid test negative to

leave the isolation period. that's similar to united kingdom and other countries, not one you are seeing from the cdc so far as they face a lot of criticism over the confusion they have caused. of course, this comes as we are facing a nationwide shortage of rapid tests. something president biden noted with his covid briefing team on tuesday that has also frustrated him. kaitlan collins, cnn, the white house. >> thanks, caitlan. meantime, recommendations for cdc covid isolation will end up causing more confusion among people. have a listen to this. >> i think it's pretty clear that a person who is infected with the omicron can be highly infectious to other people. that if they are involved in any kind of activity that is high risk. if they're a nursing home attendant, if they are in health care, if they're working at, you know, chick-fil-a, where there are a lot of people. they really ought to test at day five to make sure they're not

infectious. still wear a mask whether you're negative or not. >> i think there is an imperative to try to shorten the time of people in isolation, particularly for hospitals and clinics and airplanes and all sorts of reasons. but most people will not be infectious at five days, but some people still will. so i think the better message would have been five days and then a rapid test or better yet, two days in a row to have negative rapid tests before you come out of isolation. they also need to strengthen the message about wearing a mask. >> meantime, chicago public schools have canceled classes for today. after the city's teachers union voted to move to virtual learning, the union's vice president says teachers are facing extreme staffing shortages and aren't being given the tools to keep their students and themselves safe from covid. union members are refusing in-person teaching until january 18th or until the two sides actually reach an agreement. the school district calls it an unfortunate decision that harms students as well as families and says any teacher who doesn't

report to school on wednesday will not be paid. now, u.s. data shows americans are still quitting their jobs at an historic rate. 4 1/2 million workers resigned in november, pushing the quit rate to 3%, which matches the high from september. there wra more than 10 million jobs. the hospitality sector were the most likely to resign. and if we have a quick look on wall street, how markets ended, industrial firms brought the dow to a fresh high, rising more than 200 points. the s&p stayed about the same. big tech did slide somewhat, bringing down the nasdaq by more than 1%, 1.3% as you can see there. israel's prime minister says he's more confident a fourth dose of vaccine is safe. new data shows the fourth dose boosts antibodies five fold, meaning a drastic increase in

the body's ability to fight infection as well as severe symptoms. the country is offering the pfizer biontech booster to health care workers, immunocompromised as well as people over 60. israel's daily infection rate has increased ten fold. let's get more. he elliott joins us for even more. the study is preliminary on the fourth booster, but it does seem very promising. what does this mean going forward in terms of perhaps being more readily available to other age groups here? >> reporter: isa, it does seem promising, certainly prime minister naftali bennett in announcing the news at the hospital that was carrying out the study, he was calling this big news and very good news. and certainly it would seem also to support the country's decision to roll out this fourth dose of covid vaccine or second booster, if you will, to the over 60s, health care workers and people with suppressed immune system.

but as you said, we do need to err on the side of caution. they have not been peer reviewed and more data will come out as the stud city ongoing. of course, they will also be looking closely at the data from the impact of a fourth dose on these high-risk groups which began new year's eve with people with suppressed immune systems, a few days later on over 60s and health care workers. if history is any guide after initially targeting high-risk groups, the doses are then rolled out to the rest of the population. but ultimately it is not the prime minister's decision, not the government's decision. it is a decision for the health ministry director general who i would imagine will also be looking closely at this data as will other countries around the world grappling with unprecedented levels of infection. i should say one final note, isa, on tuesday israel's daily covid caseload did hit an all-time high of close to

12,000. >> which is what we're seeing very much across europe and the united states as well. elliott, great to see you. thanks very much. and still to come right here on the show. >> i think it's a complete joke. >> a man charged in the attack on the u.s. capitol is defending his actions, saying he was just a patriot. we'll hear more from him next. and a judge will soon decide if a sexual assault case against prince andrew. what's more at stake and will this legal matter reach a critical point. we're live for you in windsor next.

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welcome back to "cnn newsroom," everyone. i'm isa soares. if you're just joining us, let me bring you up to date with our top stories this hour. the committee investigating the attack on the u.s. capitol on january 6 wants to hear from fox news host sean hannity. newly released text messages sent by hannity to former president donald trump and his advisers before and after the insurrection reveal just how much he knew about the attack as well as trump's state of mind. lawmakers are also looking to speak to former vice president mike pence. the committee's chairman told cnn he'd like to know the details about his evacuation from the u.s. capitol. a formal request to pence has president been made, but the panel is hoping he'll come forward voluntarily. meanwhile, former president donald trump is facing two new lawsuits filed by police officers who were at the u.s. capitol on january the 6th. they allege trump directed the assault that left them injured. cnn spoke with one man charged

in the capitol riot who says he doesn't believe he did anything wrong. jessica schneider has the story for you. >> if you ask me if i'd do it again, i want to say yes, but then i question back in my head would i. >> reporter: former proud boy josh pruitt describes his past year as an emotional train wreck. >> i didn't feel like i did anything wrong. but knowing the consequence that came out of it would be the part that would make me question. >> reporter: prosecutors have laid out an array of evidence against him. pruitt can be seen confronting capitol police officers after walking in through the shattered front doors. and inside the capitol pruitt is caught smashing a sign. all of it leading to eight federal charges against him, including counts for destruction of government property and acts of physical violence. but pruitt defends his actions that day, clinging to the big lie that former president donald trump continues to spread and saying he has no plans to plead guilty. >> i was just a patriot out

there, you know, protesting against what i think is a stolen election. trying to send me to prison for a few years over this i think is a complete joke. >> reporter: are you concerned you could, in fact, be sent to prison? >> i am concerned. >> reporter: pruitt is a meteo -- among the 700 people sentenced in the capitol attack, 30 getting jail time. >> the first week in january i have to report to prison. >> reporter: jenna flew a private jet to washington and notably boasted that storming the capitol was one of the best days of her life. her lack of remorse, in part, prompted a judge to impose a 60-day sentence after she pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. the judge saying he wanted to make an example of her after she shamelessly tweeted she wouldn't get jail time because she has blonde hair, white skin and did nothing wrong. >> all 600 people arrested are wondering what's going to happen to them. prison can happen.

>> reporter: several of those sentenced are expressing remorse. erik got 45 days in jail after pleading guilty to just one count of disorderly conduct. federal judge james boastberg admonished him for trying to undermine the peaceful transfer of presidential power, what he calls one of the country's b bedrock acts. there is no excuse for my action. i can't tell you how this has twisted my stomach every day since this happens. another rioter got three days in jail. he lost his family, his job and his place in the church community after january 6. i am embarrassed, i am ashamed, he said. the hurt that i have caused to other people, not just to myself, has left a permanent stain on me, society, the country, and i don't want to be ever remembered for being part of that crowd. josh pruitt, though, still isn't willing to admit guilt or cooperate with prosecutors.

video of pruitt pledging to become a member of the proud boys in november 2020 went viral. pruitt says prosecutors are asking him to help make the case against other proud boys facing conspiracy charges, but he claims he no longer associates with the extremist group. >> i don't have anybody to throw under the bus nor would i anyway. and i just -- what i'm saying doesn't fit their narrative because they would like me to come forward and say that it was planned, and i'm like, no, it wasn't. everybody thinks that people had all these plans of going in the building. not to my knowledge. i was in touch with some pretty right-wing people, and we never heard anything about that. >> reporter: while pruitt waits out his next court date, spends most of his days inside his nashville apartment wearing an ankle bracelet and abiding by a 9:00 p.m. curfew except when he's working as a bartender, something that is approved by the court.

pruitt expects his case to go to trial and says he still stands by the big lie. >> i do believe -- for sure. >> reporter: and do you still believe that? >> i still believe it. >> reporter: and pruitt isn't the only one. i spoke with several accused rioters on the phone, all of whom declined to talk on camera. they cited their ongoing cases or their desire to step back from the public glare. but the handful i spoke with told me they still believe the election was stolen. some are even disputing that it was just pro trump supporters who stormed the capitol building on january 6th, falsely telling me members of antifa were also involved. meanwhile the fbi is still trying to identify more than 350 people who they say committed violent acts on capitol grounds, so still a lot more of this investigation still to come. jessica schneider, cnn, washington. and, of course, on the anniversary of the january 6 insurrection at the u.s. capitol, cnn has a look at the heroes who protected u.s.

democracy. join jake tapper and anderson cooper live january 6 one year later, if you're watching, in washington, d.c. friday in hong kong only here on cnn. now, a federal judge in new york says he'll soon decide whether a civil sexual assault case against prince andrew will move forward or be dismissed. virginia giuffre is suing the prince claiming he sexually assaulted her when she was under age. the duke of york denies the allegations, and his lawyers argue 2008-9 agreement between giuffre and jeffrey epstein shields the prince from prosecution. good morning to you, max. of course, the prince's lawyer is looking to get the case dismissed on the grounds of this 2009 agreement, but the u.s. judge didn't seem very convinced yesterday by those arguments.

>> reporter: well, the judge was listening to all sorts of different arguments there getting into the weeds whether this 2009 agreement is even relevant to this case. where the judge seemed to veer towards the giuffre side of the argument, he pointed out this was a secret agreement until monday this week. it was only meant to be seen by giuffre and by epstein, and, therefore, as a result of that context, only giuffre or epstein can enforce it. epstein's dead. giuffre certainly isn't enforcing it, and prince andrew arguably isn't able to enforce it because he wasn't party to that secret agreement. so that seemed to be something that the judge was acknowledging in the hearing yesterday. he's going to go away, consider his ruling and come back, he says, very soon. but this is in legal terms, so that could be a month. we don't really know what very soon means. he wasn't being very specific. but his interest in speaking to

u.s. legal experts last night, because that's actually quite an unusual view of these types of agreements which are very common, i'm told us in u.s. courts. and if he does fall on giuffre's side saying this is a secret agreement, only she can enforce it, andrew can't, that would set a precedent in u.s. legal agreements. so it's interesting either way. but andrew very much focusing all of his efforts right now on trying to get this case dismissed altogether and avoiding going to trial, which could be in september if the case continues. >> yeah, and if the case does continue, max, how damaging could this be for the prince and, indeed, for the royal family here? >> well, the longer it goes on, the more damaging it just is to the brand associated with these allegations, being associated with the sort of tactics that you do get in court and trying to get the case dismissed is never good for the royal family. the monarchy is meant to be independent, staying well clear of what could be argued to be

legal interference, and not getting involved officially. at the time the scenes trying to work out with andrew. he's not being seen in public at all because they know those pictures would get in the papalers and it will all blow up again. he still has certainly military titles which give him a formal role and there is lots of talk within the military about him having to give them up. the queen could strip him of those titles. i don't think that's really her style, but there may come a point where andrew thinks, let's get out of the headlines as much as i can, and resign from those titles, although he may think that's not the right thing to do as long as he's an innocent panel. he hasn't been found guilty of anything yet, isa, and he denies all the charges. >> max foster for us this morning outside very sunny windsor castle there. thanks very much, max. now, the omicron variant is shattering records all over the world. hospitals under tremendous pressure. we'll analyze the comparison in hong kong when we come back.

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now, the explosion of covid cases driven by the super contagious, of course, omicron variant is causing alarm as well as confusion right around the world. france has set an all-time record for daily infections since the start of the pandemic with more than 270,000 on tuesday. authorities warn that figure could soon hit 300,000. italy, meanwhile, has reported its highest number of daily cases on tuesday. some 170,000. that coincides with the record spike in testing. in okinawa, japan, local officials are debating whether emergency measures are needed after an omicron outbreak. they are blaming an american military base for the surge in cases. the u.s. is you apushing back o that. another chinese city dealing with a lockdown, this time the

neighborhood has launched mass testing. 30 million people in xi'an remain under stay-at-home orders. let's put it in perspective. cnn's ivan is tracking it in hong kong. we'll begin with jim bittermann in paris. we're seeing france grapple with rapid covid cases. meanwhile, macron seems to be battling the unvaccinated with some very unusual and colorful language. >> reporter: well, i would say colorful is kind of an understatement actually, isa. the fact is that president macron was speaking to editors from one of the widely circulated papers here, la parisian, last night. he's going on a war path against the unvaccinated. he said they are not great citizens. if they're not, they're irresponsible, and he said that his strategy now is to -- a

french way of saying piss off, a little stronger than that, but in any case, to anger the various people that are not getting vaccinated. about 10% of the population still hasn't gotten vaccinated. and he's going to do that with these changes, the strategy, the changes in the health pass rules. the health pass will become a vaccination pass, and it will be required for all kinds of public activity including going to bars, restaurants, travel, that sort of thing. and people will be encouraged, if that's the right word, to get themselves vaccinated if they're not already. he said, i'm not going to put them in jail. i'm not going to forcibly vaccinate them, but they're going to be on notice that they won't be able to go out for a drink or meal or go see a cinema after the 15th of january when he'd like to see this get into place. isa? >> i like that you said encourage, jim, there. let's go to ivan in hong kong. and, ivan, what we have seen the

last few days, in fact weeks, is china's zero covid strategy really taking a toll, i think it's fair to say, on the population who have endured in the case of xi'an, city of xi'an, something like two weeks of lockdown. now there is a new city facing the same fate here. >> reporter: that's right. look, you have france with hundreds of thousands of new cases a day. china, the country with the world's biggest population, it's down to a couple dozen cases nationally a day. but the hot spot for weekess, which is xi'an with less than 2,000 covid cases, zero covid deaths since the beginning of december, and yet some 13 million residents have been under strict lockdown since december 23rd. they're not even allowed to cross the threshold of their homes to buy groceries. and the numbers are starting to come down, just 35 new locally transmitted cases on tuesday. but we are anecdotally hearing really disturbing cases.

one, for example, of a woman who tried to get into a's hospital because she was in pain, eight months pregnant. video showing her bleeding onto the pavement, not allowed into the hospital, according to this post. and then subsequently suffering a miscarriage. cnn has reached out to the hospital. they have confirmed that the woman was not allowed in, but they are investigating the incident. they turned her away due to the government's covid-19 regulations. and even though the internet and social media so strictly censored in china, there are many other cases of similar disturbing reports of people who are going hungry because they can't get groceries. women who can't get menstrual pads, for example, deeply concerning, and that's part of the price that residents have to pay due to the government's campaign to completely eradicate any of the virus whatsoever in mainland china.

>> very disturbing indeed. it begs the question, of course, how long a population could go on with this zero-covid strategy. thank you very much, ivan watson, jim bittermann for us in paris. now, hours of icy gridlock finally came to an end. drivers stuck on the highway in virginia finally getting moving again. and they've got stories to tell. that's next. ishwasher's fault. simply add finish jetdry 3in1 to rinse, dry and shine your dishes. solve 3 problems at once with finish jetdry 3in1. do you struggle to fall asleep and stay asleep? qunol sleep formula combines 5 key nutrients that can help you fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer, and wake up refreshed. the brand i trust is qunol.

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now, interstate 95 in eastern virginia is open again after a severe winter storm stranded travelers. the state's transportation department said all vehicles have been removed. but that's after some drivers had been stuck in their cars in the freezing cold for more than 12 hours, many without food or water. truckers came to the rescue. one handed out bottles of water and a bread delivery truck opened its doors to hand out loaves you can see there. another long-haul truck driver had a two-day food supply and generously shared it with a neighboring motorist. senator tim kaine, this was his view, the usual two-hour drive into washington turned into a

27-hour ordeal. he described how he got through it. >> you know, it was kind of a survival challenge. how do you keep yourself warm? and you have to figure out the stray an-- strategy. turnoff the heater, try and catch some sleep, in about 20 or 30 minutes it gets so cold in the car you have to do it again. >> two hours turned into 27. the next guest is one of those drivers who was stuck on the highway in virginia. we spoke to sean stratford yesterday while he was stuck on i-95 and he joins me now. sean, it's great to finally see you at home nice and warm. tell us how long your journey took. >> all told, ended up being 40 1/2 hours from florida to new york. the vast majority of that time spent not moving at all in virginia. >> and how long, give our viewers around the world how long would that normally take?

>> i was looking to do it in about 18 to 20 hours, depending on traffic and, you know, bathroom breaks for the dog and me. a little longer than i was expecting. >> when you and i spoke yesterday, you were pretty positive given the situation, because you were facing, of course, really cold weather, and making sure that you stay warm, that you had enough gas in your tank really. >> yeah, at that point i was pretty positive after we spoke. a glimmer of hope, they let us go and i drove over some not very well plowed roads. looked like we're moving. we moved about 8 miles, and then we stopped again for a number of hours. it was still closed. i'm surprised they didn't usher us off the first exit and let everyone drive ahead, it was another waiting game until the other exit was cleared, exit 33. i felt good right after i spoke to you, and i felt less good later in the day, let's say.

>> okay. i'm glad i got you at a good time. you weren't driving by yourself. you had a puppy with you. how did you manage in terms of food, drink, go to the toilet even? >> he was actually pretty calm. occasionally, the one bright side to your car not moving at all is you get out and walk the dog as much as you need, folks can't honk at you because there's nowhere to go. luckily i had some water with me, some energy drinks to help me stay awake. i believe i ended upstanding on u.s. 1. i'm pretty sure that's senator kaine. i was a little upset. we all got ushered off exit 133 to highway 1, and we were kind of left on our own. there was no police presence waving us back on, or tell you when the highway was open again.

you had some people you could see turning down roads that they ended up finding out, no, you can't get on 95 yesterday. you had to go roughly 30 miles. it took quite a while. it tried all of my patience, i'd say. >> i'm glad you are home and warm and your puppy is well. he's gorgeous. >> thank you. >> thank you for taking time to speak to us and, you know, it could have been worse. you could have been traveling with children. >> yes. >> sean stafford there for us. thanks very much, sean. great to hear from you. >> thank you very much. that's in 6. >> now, some of the coldest air of the season is about to impact millions across the united states, and another round of snow is headed for the northeast. let's check in with meteorologist pedram javaheri. good morning, pedram. >> yes, isa, we're watching what happens happ-- what's happeningr the great lakes region. winter alerts certainly support it with cold air in place. supporting not only heavy snow showers, but blizzard-like

conditions across parts of the dakotas. look at this. person areas of michigan, parts of wisconsin as well as minnesota. widespread coverage of 2 to 4 inches of snowfall. a few pockets taking you as high as 18 inches of snow over the next 24 to 36 hours. that's just one element of the wintry weather we have in store. the gusty winds certainly going to be in place, at times gusting to 45, 50 miles an hour in the advisory zones. the arctic air is going to be the talk of town. this is one of the coldest air outbreaks of the season so far. not just for areas of the great lakes, but even potentially into the northeast by the time we get to, say, friday and saturday afternoon. but how about this. look at the temperature trend. in chicago, the high of only in the lower 20s on wednesday. 17 and eventually 15 degrees. those are the afternoon highs across this region before we warm it up come saturday. eventually that cold air does arrive across the northeast. new york city may be the subfreezing territory saturday

afternoon. even atlanta, temperatures down into the lower 40s after they were touching 80 degrees this time last week. so, again, big changes in store over the next several days. that's one element. there is a secondary system that we are also following that is pushing in across portions of the south. we think this will go sometime thursday into friday. could bring with it another round of snow showers across a lot of these areas around the mid-atlantic region or very hard hit in recent days. right now our model is not in perfect agreement about the placement of the storm, the amount of snow it will produce, but we do think it will have a chance to produce snow a little farther to the north. so some of these areas like new york and philly didn't see much in the way of snowfall could pick up a couple of inches as early as friday afternoon into saturday. we're going to watch that carefully. the temperatures, 44 in louisville, 24 across chicago. tampa, florida, not too bad. around 75 degrees. isa? >> thank you very much, pedram. now, the winter weather in the u.s. is contributing to even more flight cancellations.

flight aware says more than a thousand flights were canceled on tuesday. it is the 10th consecutive day we've seen that many since christmas eve taking the total to 20,000. airlines aren't just battling the elements. they have also faced staffing shortages due to covid-19 as well as high demand, of course, over the recent holidays. and that does it for me here on "cnn newsroom." thanks very much for joining me. let me know what you thought of the show. tweet me or send me a message on insta. our coverage continues on "early start" with christine romans and laura jarrett. they'll have much more, of course, on the january 6 investigation. i shall see you tomorrow. bye-bye.

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good morning, everyone. it is wednesday, january 5th. it's 5:00 a.m. in new york. thanks so much for getting an "early start" with us. i'm laura jarrett. >> good morning, laura. i'm christine romans. hello, everybody, welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. we begin with breaking news overnight in chicago where the third largest public school system in the country has followed through on its promise to cancel all classes today after the teachers union voted to refuse to show up for work in-person. teachers said they were

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