hello, everyone. i'm bianna golodryga. welcome to "cnn newsroom." we begin with the surprise shakeup in the senate.

democrats are now down one member. kyrsten sinema of arizona announcing today that she is leaving the party, becoming an independent. three days ago, democrats clinched a clean majority in the chamber, gaining a 51th seat with their re-election of senator raphael warnock in georgia. sinema explained her decision to our jake tapper. >> i know some people might be a little surprised by this, but actually, i think it makes a lot of sense, you know, a growing number of arizonans and people like me just don't feel like we fit neatly into one party's box or the other, and so like many across the state and the nation, i've decided to leave that partisan process. you know, i -- i just -- not worried about folks who may not like this approach. >> senator sinema declined to address jake's questions about whether she will run for

re-election in 2024. lauren fox joins me now. lauren, we know that the white house had a heads-up, and we know that senate leader schumer had a heads-up as well, but how will this impact the democratic majority in the senate? >> reporter: well, her colleagues always knew, right, that she was independent, that they could not always rely on her to line in -- line up in lock step with them when it came to key votes like doing likes like getting rid of the fili filibuster. that was one of the controversial issues she did not want go along with democrats on. this doesn't change a whole lot in terms of how the senate is going to workday by day, and she did address that with jake in her interview. she still is going to keep her committee assignments, and in a statement from majority leader chuck schumer's office, he said this. "she asked me to keep her committee assignments, and i agreed. kyrsten is independent. that's how she's always been. i believe she's a good and productive senator. i look forward to the majority senate. we will maintain our new

majority on committees, exercise our subpoena power, and be able to clear nominees without discharged votes." aka moving those nominees much more quickly than they were in that 50/50 senate. so looking forward, this is not going to change a whole lot day-to-day in the senate, but this is a very symbolic move and it's something that sinema felt she needed to do, and we should note she did not say if she's running for re-election, but if she were going to run orfor re-election, that's just around the corner. >> thank you. the former communications director for senator sinema, is currently vice president at rock solutions. john, as someone who knows the senator and described as mercurial by members of both parties over the past few years, what do you make of this decision? >> yeah, thank you for having me, bianna. i would say that this really is senator sinema's registration catching up with the reality,

that she's exhibited over the past few years in the senate. even in the house, before she was elected to the senate, she was always quite independent-minded. she laid out a lot of issues with partisanship in this partisan issue that i think a lot of americans will find resonance with. as lauren rightly pointed out, i think people are zeroing in on what will stay the same which is equally important today, the balance of power in the senate by all accounts will not change. nor will her values or her voting record. that's a voting record that is 100% pro-choice, that's supportive of lgbtq americans and of dreamers, and it will allow her, i think, to have a potentially even bigger platform with which to get some of these bi big bipartisan deals accomplished in the senate. >> have you spoken with her since this announcement? it's just in the past few hours, but i'm curious if you have been in touch with her, if you knew

she was toying with this idea. >> it was not a surprise to me, i'll say that, and i am in touch with her as both a former staffer and now i count myself as a friend and a supporter of hers. it's -- you know, what's interesting about this if you talk to me, and i think i can speak for a lot of folks who know her, who have spent a lot of time working with her, this is a big decision, but it's really not a surprise. for all intents and purposes, she's operated as a democrat, and when i first was aware that she was seriously considering this, i sort of thought to myself, yeah. this is a natural extension of who you have always been, and, you know, there's certainly -- i don't want to discount folks who are upset with this decision, but at the same time, i think in the long term this may be a decision that really releases some of the pressure on both sides of this equation between senator sinema and with the folks who were trying to exert pressure on her to be someone

who she really never was. >> i want to bring in mike broomhead. he's the arizona talk show host to join this conversation. mike, good to have you on with us. what is your response to this news? as someone who just watched and covered one of the most contentious midterm races and elections in the state of arizona, do you agree with kyrsten sinema's assessment that this is what so many arizonans want to see, the direction of politics take? >> i think this was -- yeah. i think it was a smart move for senator sinema. i think that when you saw how she ran her campaign, she said, i'm going to be independent just like arizona. i was one of the people that questioned whether that was true or not, but she's won a lot of people over in the sense that she has truly done that, and if you look at the demographics, i live in maricopa county is, where phoenix is, our largest county, the number one demographic by a small margin is independent voters, and it's the fastest growing in the state. so i think when she says this is kind of a national extension of

what she's done in the past, i think it also shows the democrat grachdegraphics in arizona. the fastest growing group is independents. >> to what drove this decision, let's put that aside because there's the argument this could help her politically if she decides to run again in 2024. she's not polling well with democrats in the state. we're hearing more and more that ruben gallego spoke publicly and said he views this as a selfish move on her part because she fears a potential primary from him. what do you make of that argument? >> well, you have to remember that, you know, i come from the side of the aisle where john mccain was th-- thrived here in arizona. he was not popular with the republican party leadership in arizona, but he won elections by double digits every time he ran. just because the party leadership isn't saying they're in support of things, doesn't mean the democrat voters wouldn't vote with her along with those independents she needs. i think it's a smart move

politically because it avoids that primary process. >> john, what do you make, given how close you are with the senator, and you had been there when the white house was not singing her praises and supporting her the way they have been today, and deciding how her voting percentage, and how much she's voted alongside -- 93% alongside with the president's agenda. that counters with how they have viewed her in the past as really a thorn to the party's side. i'm just curious what you made of that. >> yeah, you know, mike's exactly right in terms of the arizona landscape that senator sinema represents here in the senate. i watched -- i have kind of a front row seat as senator sinema was at the table negotiating these big, bipartisan deals. it ranged from infrastructure, to the first gun safety and mental health bill to protecting gay and lesbian couples who are

married. i honestly think that for all the hubbub and back and forth, senator sinema and biden and his team have a good working relationship because of that reason. i think you can see that in the statement the white house put out today, but there's no denying, and it's really hard to look at these past few years, especially, and not see not just in the democratic party, but i frankly think in both parties, that every day it gets a little bit harder to be around that table, to strike that sweet part of bipartisan compromise for moderates in both parties because of the partisan pressure that's pulling elected leaders to the edges. that's what i think really animated this decision from senator sinema, to hear her talk about it. it's something i saw as well, and honestly, i think it's something that kind of transcends both parties, but i think this will set her up for success to keep pursuing those kind of bipartisan deals that could renew americans'

confidence that our government can work. >> mike, in her op-ed, she reiterated that in becoming an independent, she had, quote, joined the growing numbers of arizonans who reject party politics, from the broken partisan system in washington. i'm just curious because there are those that suggest that this announcement could lead the republican party to once again put in a far-right candidate up for the 2024 election cycle if, in fact, we do see kyrsten sinema announce she is running for re-election. >> yeah, and i just say that the party leadership in the republican party is as fractured as we've seen, or disconnected from the republican voters as we're talking about with democrat voters and, you know, what they -- the lesson that has to be learned by republicans in arizona is that if you are not speaking to independent voters, you have no chance. the independent voters have shown to be such a huge group that you have to reach those voters, and if you don't, you're going to lose, and hopefully after what's happened here in arizona in this election cycle, they going to learn that lesson.

>> all right. mike broomhead, john labombard, thank you for joining us. we appreciate your time. >> thanks for having us. >> thanks. well, we are following a critical showdown in federal court today. the justice department has argued that donald trump's team should be held in contempt for failing to comply with the subpoena to turn over all classified documents in the former president's possession. trump's legal team said it conducted searches in four locations just before thanksgiving and found two more documents with classified markings at a storage unit in florida. jessica snyder joins us. what did you learn? >> reporter: it's not open to the public. our team is staked out at the courtroom, but they're unable at this point to get a lot. our lawyer for several media outlets has asked this judge to open up the proceeding, but this is of such critical importance because it does represent a

major clash and essentially culmination, and trump's lawyers over classified documents, hundreds were seized by the fbi when they searched mar-a-lago in august. doj we learned that it isn't confident it has all of those records back. they're asking a federal judge to hold trump in contempt of court for failing to turn over all of these classified records. we'll see how this plays out, but if the judge agrees with doj, they could impose a daily fine for refusing to comply with returning classified documents and this constant back and forth with doj and team trump, we've learned that another sticking point is that no one from trump's legal team is willing to sign off on an attestation that all classified documents have been returned. that's a real problem for the doj saying, hey, trump team. why can't you at least tell us, you know, 100% if all of these documents have been returned?

so bianna, this has already been a long legal fight where doj has been working for months, if not, a year to get these back, and they're taking this big step here asking this judge to hold trump in contempt. all of it happening in a nonpublic hearing right now. so we'll see what else develops over the rest of the afternoon, bianna. >> listen. trump's lawyers can't be blamed for not wanting to sign that document given that they were burned for doing just that over the summer. jessica schneider, thank you. well, wnba star brittney griner is back in america after a high-stakes prisoner exchange with russia. paul whelan is still detained in a prison cell in russia. i'll speak with paul's brother david whelan up next. and later, investigators in north carolina are applying for search warrants tied to the attacks on two of the state's power substations. we'll have more details straight ahead. maybe it's pererfecting that special place that you want to keeeep in the family... ...or passing down the familyly business...

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after spending nearly ten months in a russian prison and penal colony, wnba star brittney griner is back on american soil and a free woman. she touched down in san antonio early this morning. >> she has been reunited with her wife, cherelle. u.s. officials who met her on the ground said she was in very good spirits, appears to be in good health. >> she was then taken to brooke army medical center for a routine health administration. biden turned over viktor bout. alex marquardt joins me now. what more do we know about the process that led to her release and the biden's administrations continued efforts now to bring home paul whelan who of course, is still detailed in russia? >> bianna, we know this was a

lengthy process. they've described the negotiations as difficult. of course, the administration had hoped that bring home both griner and paul whelan. griner as you mentioned had been in detention for some ten months. paul whelan has been imprisoned in russia, locked up for four years. the administration had said back in july that they had made what they called a substantial proposal to get both of them home, and we later learn thad that proposal was in exchange for viktor bout. of course, widely known as the merchant of death, someone who had been sentenced to 25 years in prison by a federal judge. someone who many in the justice department did not want to see released, but in the end, the russians said that they would only do a one for one deal, and it was viktor bout and it was not a choice that the americans had to make. it was viktor bout for brittney griner, that paul whelan would not get out because he was accused of espionage, charges he denies. here's a little bit of what the

white house's john kirby said today. >> they put him in a different category because of these sham espionage charges, and just there was no way to get him into this deal with mr. bout. so we are going to keep working on this. we now have a much better understanding of where the russians are on him, and so we're going to use that knowledge and that context going forward. we're going to keep at that task. >> bianna, the russians from what we're told wanted a spy for a spy, and a person that they had repeatedly requested according to reporting by our colleagues was a man by the name of vadim krazakov. he was part of the fsb, and he's been locked up in germany for the past several years, convicted of murder, convicted of murdering a georgian citizen on georgian soil. the russians wanted him back. the u.s. made an outreach to the germans to see if that would be possible. the germans rebuffed that, and made it clear that that wasn't

going to happen. the u.s. we understand floated a number of other names, and so far have not been successful. the white house denies that they are back at square one, but clearly, bianna, there is some kind of reset here. the administration officials saying that they're trying to get creative. they're looking at all kinds of different options in terms of who they might be able the offer to the russians in order to get paul whelan back to the u.s. bianna? >> interesting. putin also himself a former spy, clearly wanting to take care of his own. alex marquardt, thank you. well, i'm joined now by david whelan. he is paul whelan's brother. david, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us today. you know, it's understandable that there's been so much attention given to brittney griner and her return and what her family is going through, but i was struck that almost every single person who talks about brittney griner, whether it's an administration official or even her own family just in the last hour. i spoke with sheila jackson lee,

and they all reference your brother as well, that there's no conversation that ends without bringing up his name and their fight to bring him home. i'm curious to get your reaction to that, and whether you find that comforting. >> i do. we noticed it ourselves. from almost the very start i would say, that every time we heard anybody talking from brittney griner's supporters, her advocates while she was in wrongful detention, they were always very gracious about bringing paul into those discussions, and i think it's really helped. i mean, you know, i'm not sure it's necessarily made an impact on a macro level. i can't measure that, but for our family, it meant so much to know that they understood that we were all sort of in this together, not necessarily that the cases were intertwined, but we were experiencing the similar deprivation of a loved one. >> and we know the u.s.'s stances that your brother was wrongfully detained. russia is rgecharging him with espionage, and as we heard from u.s. fiofficials, that puts himn a different category from

brittney griner. i'm curious to get your response to this news that not only did russians want virktor bout back but they wanted german prison. your reaction to that, and did you understand why the u.s. said they would not broach that with an ally with germany? >> i think the russians have been talking about the -- the kremlin has been talking about their media for awhile, and so i was not at all surprised that might be a potential ask, and also that it was completely impossible. i mean, i just can't even imagine that any country would release an assassin in exchange for paul. so yeah. i think it's difficult to know what the next steps are. i think it'll be interesting to see what the u.s. government comes up with. >> we heard from former president trump in responding to this news of brittney griner coming home. i'm not going to get into his comments b you it was interesting to hear from his

former national security adviser john bolton say that the possibility, and i'm quoting from him. the possibility of a bout for whelan trade existed in 2018, but it wasn't made for very good reasons, having to do with viktor bout. first of all, did you know about this possibility back in 2018, and what do you make of bolton's comments? >> you know what? we hoped that that was on the table, and i don't know that we knew that. i just really can't recall anymore, but we knew that viktor bout and there was another person they continued to harp on. it was going to be one or both of those people. i'm not surprised it was a potentiality. i'm not sure why it would have been off the table because of mr. bout. he seems to have been an aging criminal, and i'm not sure what ongoing threat he poses to anybody. >> he just had a few more years left i believe in his prison sentence. it's no surprise i would imagine you agree that this dilemma has turned political here in the

united states. there are some in the republican party who suggest that this was a wrong deal to make, and that it makes the united states look weak, and that it puts more americans in harm's way to have sent viktor bout back home. what is your take? >> well, i think the white house has shown leadership, and i think some people aren't able to cope with displays of leadership. they made a decisive action. it brought an american home. i think that is what any american should expect the u.s. president to do. so from that perspective, i think that that -- things have worked out the way they should. now if people are complaining about, you know, wrongful detentions and encouraging them, i think some of the people who are complaining about it if they're in congress or in u.s. agencies have the ability to do something about that. we've seen in the executive order that president biden put out last summer that there are people tasked now to come up with strategies to deincentivize wrongful detentions and i think that lawmakers, agencies get involved in that and find ways. have a plan so that when an

american is detained, rather than after an american is detained, they have something that they can put into place in order to bring that person back as quickly as possible, and to punish the countries, and there aren't that many of them who engage in this sort of practice. >> negotiations were at a low point just a few months ago, and this deal came about just in the last 72 hours. we heard from vladimir putin today, but obviously you can't take him at his word, but he said that future prisoner swaps were still an option, and the united states does appear to be more optimistic about other ways to bring your brother home. is that reassuring for you now as we approach four years since he had been arrested? >> yes. the gentleman who just was speaking said exactly what i was thinking. you know, it's a reset b, but is not going back to square one because they have exhausted some possibilities, the u.s. government has in their discussions with russia about paul and about how to get paul home. so they've really sort of cleared the forest a little bit, and i think they have maybe a better sense of some of the paths going forward. certainly they've moved some

things off the table because the russian government isn't interested in them. so, you know, i'm optimistic that the u.s. government has the creativity to solve this problem. they certainly have the energy and the biden administration has shown they have the will to bring paul home. we'll continue to expect them to do that. >> the grace that you have shown to the gripner family as they have welcomed their member home without your brother has been welcomed. we hope you know the whole country is here thinking about you and your family as we approach the holidays now and one more year without your brother. hopefully this will be the last. david whelan, thank you. >> thank you. new details in the investigation on the attack on two power stations in north carolina. investigators are now applying for search warrants. we'll have those details up next. e plan. ♪wow, uh-huhh♪ advantntage: me! can't wait 'til i turnrn 65! take advantagege with an aarp medicare advantage plan... only from unitedhealthcare.

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right now in north carolina, the power is back on, and authorities have applied for search warrants as they investigate who is behind the attack on the state's electric substations. sources tell cnn authorities are honing in on two potential

extremists' motives. cnn's whitney wild has the latest on the investigation. what more do we know about these search warrants? >> reporter: at this point, we know very little. we just know that they have at least been applied for. we don't know if they have been approved. we don't know if they have been executed. we don't know how many, and we don't know what they're for, but it shows that law enforcement is continuing to move at a rapid pace. they're doing whatever they can to try and find the person or people responsible for shooting these substations saturday night, for causing a massive power outage that lasted five days here in moore county. meanwhile, law enforcement really pushing the public to try to help them generate as many leads as possible. they're offering an up to $75,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest of the suspect or suspects responsible here. they're canvassing the area trying to collect as much video as possible from the cameras that may be affixed to nearby homes, trying to collect as much information as they can. possibly someone might have caught the suspect on video or

would have otherwise relevant information. law enforcement says that they are fielding hundreds of tips, bianna. so the hope is they will have a very solid break in this case very soon. back to you. >> keep us posted, whitney, on anything that you hear as far as developments there. thank you. well, fresh off the repeal of the u.s. military covid vaccine mandate, officials warn the move could have adverse affects on military readiness and ability to deploy around the world. ♪ this... is the planning effect. this is how it feels to know you ha a wealth plan that covers everything that's important to you. this iwhat it's like to have a dedicated fidelity advisor looking at your full financial picture. making sure you have the right balance of risk and reward.

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military officials and expert. s are sounding the alarm over what could happen if the u.s. military's covid vaccine mandate is repealed. under the national defense funding bill that passed the house yesterday, servicemen and women would no longer be required to get their covid shots. joining us now is cnn's oren lieberman. what are officials most concerned about now? >> reporter: officials we spoke with can't think of an example and certainly not in recent memory in which a military vaccine requirement has been undone or rescinded in its entirety. there are certain vaccines that are required only for certain areas such as the anthrax vaccine, but the officials we spoke with can't remember an example in which the military or its civilian leadership in congress has simply said, this vaccine mandate is no longer required. now the military is waiting to see what the final wording here is, and that's because slight changes to the wording as it goes through the amendments process could change the effect it has on the military.

there are a number of ripple effects that the military and the services are preparing for. the first one, and this is a key question, is readiness. if you have a force that's not vaccinated against covid and you suddenly have an outbreak as we've seen both in the military and in the civilian world, that might affect a unit's ability to be deployed if you have a number of people who are sick, whether that's an emergency situation or simply as part of an exercise, and that gets to the heart of the military. the military's ability to maintain its readiness so, that is one key question. there's also the question deployability. can you deploy unvaccinated service members? that contains tens of thousands of service members such as japan. this might have an effect. it is of course, necessary to note that all of the services in terms of their vaccination rates are in the high 90 sz. 96, 97, 98, but there are 30,000 service members separated because of the mandate and others who are going through

religious accommodation requests. one of the other key questions is the precedent which this sets if this is simply overturned. do service members look at this and say, i might not have to follow a lawful order as long as there is some political charge to it or a question over whether it really is a lawful order, whether that's a legitimate question or not. all of this is what the military is looking at, as this plays out on the hill. >> yeah, and you touched on this earlier, but what happens to those 8,000 or so service members that have either -- that have been discharged over the vaccine and not taking it? >> at the time moment, that's an open question because it depends on the language that comes in the national defense authorization act, but there are a group of republicans who are pushing for them to be reinstated with back pay over the course of the last several months. so that is one possibility that the pentagon may be preparing for, but again, it depends on the wording which is why the pentagon is being very careful in what it says at this point. >> all right. we'll be watching closely. oren lieberman, thank you. from coast to coast, cases

of the flu are surging. today the cdc said more than a third of flu-related hospitalizations and deaths were reported in just the last week. cnn's jacqueline howard joins us to break down the numbers. i know officials are bracing for a surge ain hospitalizations after theholidays. what are they telling you? >> reporter: there's a reason why flu activity in the united states is still very high, and here are the latest numbers from the cdc released just this morning. so we do know that so far at least there have been 13 million flu illnesses. about 120,000 people have been hospitalized due to flu, and we know there have been 7,300 deaths and sadly, bianna, 21 of those were pediatric deaths, so in children. that's where we are right now, and if you look at this map of respiratory virus activity across the country, all but seven states as you see on this

map are experiencing high or very high levels of activity. the blue is the highest, and then the dark red is where there's high activity, and only seven states, again, are not having this high to very high respiratory activity happening. so we are hearing from many health officials across the country. they're encouraging people. get your flu shot if you haven't already. the measures such as washing your hands frequently, and some health officials are encouraging people to put masks back on, and even in new york city, the health department there is urging residents to wear masks indoors while in public, and in crowded public places because of these high levels of respiratory virus activity right now, bianna. >> yeah. i can just say anecdotally, that will be harder to get people to put their masks back on, the ones they have taken off the past few months. >> exactly. >> there's an update to pfizer's two in one flu and covid

vaccine. what can you tell us about that? >> reporter: we know that pfizer and biontech are talking about you could get a two in one. what we've heard is that the fda has agreed to fast track the review of this vaccine. what this means is while they review the data, it will be an expedited process so we could see sooner than later this process of pfizer applying for authorization for this combo vaccine, and bianna, i can tell you we have been hearing from several vaccine developers about this combination approach. novavax is another company that's working on a combo vaccine, and moving forward as we see this possibly develop into an annual shot, we could be getting our flu shot and covid shots in one moving forward. bianna? >> streamlining it would be a game changer. that is true. jacqueline howard, thank you. >> absolutely.

well, the fifa world cup semifinals are starting to take shape as croatia stages a stunning -- i mean stunning comeback and beats brazil. we'll tell you the details to that game straight ahead. - looks like you paid too much for your glasses. ... who? anyone who isn't shopping at america's best - where two pairs and a free exam start at just $79.95. bobook an exam today. ♪ my relationship with my credit cards wasn't good. i got into debt in college and, no matter how much i paid, it followed me everywhere. between the gh interest, the fees... i felt tpped. so i broke up with my credit card debt d consolidated it into a low-rate persal loan from sofi. i finally feel like a grown-up. break up with bad credit card debt. get a personal loan with no fees, low fixed rates, and borrow up to $100k. go to sofi.com to view your rate. sofi. get your money right. ♪

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the quarterfinals are under way right now in the world cup with the netherlands battling argentina for a spot in the semifinals. now earlier today, there was an epic showdown between croatia and brazil that went to extra time and penalty kicks. brazil's championship dreams were ultimately crushed though. cnn's world sport anchor patrick

snell is following all of this for us. patrick, it's over for brazil. i thought nemar was going all the way. i hadn't forgiven croatia for beating my sweetheart team japan. talk about what was happening and what's happening right now. >> oh, bianna, yes. a dramatic day at the fifa world cup. heartbreak for brazil right now, but i want to get viewers updated on the very latest. another enthralling match taking place. argentina, lionel messi and argentina, currently 2-1 up against the netherlands. i'm glancing at the game as we speak. lionel messi with a penalty, but just getting one back for the netherlands giving them real earlier, heartbreak as you said for the brazilians against croatia. what a story croatia is. a population of just 4 million people. since they competed in their first ever world cup, at france

'98, they've got to three semifinals at least in the span of 24 years, incredible stuff. and all of this after they went 1-0 down. neymar scored the first goal of that game, approaching halftime of extra time. a wonderful goal from neymar. but the c-- croatia gets back i it. first shot on goal. it goes to the penalty shootout. there are the scenes in rio de janeiro as their fans cannot believe it. it wasn't meant to be like that and this the other side of the coin a short while ago today. fans not able to believe it, i don't think. because not too many thought they were going to get through. i tell you what, you should never underestimate the croatians.

who will they play in the semifinals? we shall see. back to you. >> the streets of brazil are just quiet, quiet right now. >> somber. >> argentina, they are watching very closely as well in these final two minutes or so. so we know we have two more big quarterfinals tomorrow. tell us about that. >> yes, we certainly do. we're keeping a close eye on these two games. i make no apology to tell you, i'll be following england. england is taking on the defending champions, france. england looking to win it for the first time since 1966. i should make that clear. and also -- but morocco, just an incredible story. morocco taking on portugal. and morocco seeking to become the first african nation to get to the semifinals of a world cup. they take on portugal. will ronaldo start the game in that one? we shall see. >> i don't know.

i'm sick of his antics. i think they did just fine without him. we will be watching and rooting. patrick snell, thank you. arizona senator kyrsten sinema leaving the democratic party and registering as an independent. what this means for democrats who just secured a slim majority in the senate. that straight ahead. from s santa claus, indiana to snowflake, arizona. from garland, texas to north pole, new york and everywhere in between. we're holiday ready with fast and reliable delivery, serving every address in america. the united states postal service. the ergo smart base from tempur-pedic responds to snoring - automatically. so no hiding under your pillow. or opting for the couch. your best sleep. all nigh every night. expeence the mattress ranked #1 in customer satisfaction by j.d. power,.

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(brent) people love subaru just because it stands for much more than just a car. (vo) through the share the love event, subaru retailers have supported over seventeen hundred hometown charities. (phil) have i witnessed and seen the impact of what we do? you bet i have. (kathryn) we have worked with so many amazing causes and made a difference. (vo) by the end of this year, subaru and our retailers will have donated over two hundred and fifty million dollars to charity. (brent) it's about more than just selling cars. (phil) the subaru share the love event going on now.

>> announcer: cnn heroes is brought to you by subaru. go to cnnheros.com and donate now to any of this year's heroes. for many, this time of year is about giving back. but cnn heroes salutes ten extraordinary people who put others first all year long. the star-studded gala airs live this sunday at 8:00 p.m. eastern. have a look. >> it's the time of year to be inspired and honor some of humanity's best. ♪ >> we have found homes for almost 3,000 dogs. >> our community used to be the

community drug house. >> i want my grandchildren to have it better than what i have it today. >> i have always wanted to serve other people. >> human suffering has no borders. people are people and love is love. >> joining anderson cooper and kelly ripa live as they present the 2022 hero of the year. >> join me in honoring cnn hero of the year -- >> cnn heroes , sunday at 8:00. >> don't miss cnn heroes this sunday at 8:00 p.m. eastern only here on cnn. for the first time ever, u.s. currency will bear the signatures of not one but two women. janet yellen was at the fort worth bureau of engraving and printing to do the others.

yellen is the country's first female treasury secretary, malerba is the first native american woom tman to have her signature on currency. the new bills will go into circulation next month. and someone made a lot of money for some old bones. not just any old bones. this is a 200 pound t. rex skull dubbed maximus. it's about 76 million years old. today it sold at sothebys for a little over $6 million. the auction house was expecting to fetch up to 20 million. 6 million is still a lot of dough, though. thank you so much for joining me today. "the lead" starts right now. just as we thought the