>> didn't they have to move a buffalo game? >> they did. they went to detroit last month. elsewhere in sports on sunday, tom brady delivered a christmas day comeback. tampa rallying to beat the cardinals in over time. there were a few times he looked like the grinch more than the man in red. he threw a pair of interceptions to marco wilson in regulation. second coming while the game was tied 6-6 in the third quarter. but the fourth quarter, buccaneers down 10. tom brady, finds white to cut the lead down to 3 and from there, tampa bay would force over time. we have seen him do it time and time again, completed all six of his passes on the drive for 69 yards, coming up clinch when it matters. tapping off the 57th career game

winning drive. elsewhere, the dolphins tabing on the packers. it was 46 degrees at kickoff. that not bother the dolphins. tua touchdown in the opening quarter. second half, though, was all packers, aj dylan running this in to tie the game 20-20. in the fourth it was green bay's defense that came to life and might have saved the packer's season. going to be tough for them but they pick off tua three straight times. if these games are any indication, the final two weeks of the season are going to be wild. a lot of teams still in the playoff hunt right now. >> you forget one, the vikings. >> i wondered about that all morning. >> very excited. >> the packers and the rams. >> the rams aren't in it but they won 51-14.

>> rams, vikings i'm writing this down, i'll have it ready for next time. carolin, thank you. "cnn this morning" continues right now. ♪ it is devastating. it is going to a war zone. we have a real challenge right now where we have roads blocked. roads are blocked by emergency vehicles so that has made it extremely challenging for us. >> good morning, everyone. we are so glad you are with us here on "cnn this morning." don and kaitlan have the day off. sara sidner we are lucky she is by my side this morning. >> happy to be here. the city of buffalo is buried this morning by the worst winter storm in its history. the death toll has risen overnight. we'll take you there live. thousands of flights delayed or cancelled impacting millions of air travelsers.

over 10 million people are phasing a freeze alert this morning across the south, including parts of florida. a devastating winter storm burying western new york state. at least 17 weather-related deaths have been reported. most of those in buffalo. governor katy hochul requesting emergency disaster relief from the biden administration. a state of emergency remains in effect. this paralyzing weather event brought the region to its knees. more than 12,000 customers remain without power in erie county at this very hour. most of the outages are in buffalo and an additional 200 national guard troops have been deployed to western new york to assist with the state's emergency response. polo sandoval has been live all weekend for us. it is still snowing there, polo, how are you and the team doing? >> reporter: we're doing well, you know, but there are people here in buffalo that are

certainly having a very, very difficult time. travel is torturous in other parts of the country but buffalo, ground zero of this massive winter storm, it's nearly impossible. plus, it's also restricted right now with a driving ban still in place here in buffalo. they're going to obviously reassess. but the thing is we woke up to snowfall. there was break in the clouds over the weekend, we saw the sun so that gave utility crews an opportunity to go through some of the streets and clear them out, but the concern now is with this fresh coat of snow falling about an inch an hour, we are expected according to forecasters here, expecting potentially a foot of snow when everything is said and done on top of what we have received. that's fuelling the concerns right now and why the driving ban stays in place here in buffalo. just a little over a dozen deaths confirmed in and around buffalo. that's a mix of individuals that

experienced a medical emergency during the storm and ems couldn't get to them over the weekend and then you have two individuals, including a 22-year-old woman found dead inside of one of the stranded vehicles that were reported. hundreds of them over the weekend. but really we'll tell you everything, sara, is that the rescuers needed rescuing this weekend. that's why for the first time ever in the history of the buffalo fire department they were unable to respond to calls at one point over the weekend. but now the winds have subsided significantly. the temperature is at least manageable. and except for the snowfall, we are still continuing to experience these winter conditions here in buffalo. and the full relief may not come for another day or two, according to local forecasters. >> it's crazy to see that much snow still coming after the whole weekend. you're there with tom and nicole still, they have been out in

this for days. >> it's a true team effort. >> reporter: it sure is. >> thank you for being there. a buffalo family is grateful for the help of firefighters who came to the rescue in a big way and saved christmas. the family of six, including four children, 9 months, 2 years old, 4 years old and 8 years old were stranded after trying to find a hotel after being left without power. after being rescued, the firefighters invited the whole family to spend christmas at the firehouse with them. how picture perfect is that. joining us now i'm happy to have the parents along with joel and mike of the buffalo airport fire department. thank you guys. and you have the kids, including one sleeping maybe sleeping child. so perfect. >> yes. this is their first night so

they're kind of tired. this is they first night home so they're tired. but we wanted to get them on so you could see the family all together. >> what a beautiful blessed family you have. merry christmas to you guys. mom and dad -- >> thank you. >> merry christmas. >> how are you doing? if they're tired, i know you're tired. >> pretty tired but blessed. >> can you talk to me -- >> very blessed. >> what was it like? >> scary. >> it was -- it was very -- it was intense. we tried to keep it together for as long as possible, because we didn't want to frighten the kids. but i've never seen anything like it. it's almost like a cliche when you hear people say you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. but i can just describe it as it

was like looking at a white piece of construction paper. you couldn't see anything at all, like absolutely nothing until you were probably about a foot away from it. even cars with their bright lights on, you couldn't see anything. not yellow traffic signs, not orange traffic cones, you couldn't see anything. you couldn't see a stoplight. so you had to drive through the intersection praying, basically. >> and there you are, and you have your four kids. and i know as a mom that's all you're thinking about, right, is how do i get these kids to sa safety? >> absolutely. absolutely. when we lost power, we have electric allippliances and we l out in a country area of buffalo called williamsville. so when we lost power, because we have electric appliances we were unable to just like try to heat our house with our stove or

anything like that. and the conditions were deteriorating so bad. dropping in our home about 2 degrees every ten minutes. and because we had the children. if it would have been me and my husband. we would have tried to stick it out on our own. but because we had the children, that wasn't a choice for us. so we packed our bags as quick as we could. and just tossed in essentials and we jumped in the car and just tried to make it to a hotel. >> let me bring in the folks who helped you guys out. assistant chief is with us and mike. thank you for being here, what you did. assistant chief, let me begin with you and talk to me about the rescue experience and what you guys were able to do to pull off a little bit of a christmas miracle? >> we received the call a person who was having a medical

emergency in the tunnel and come to find out they had helped this family get into the tunnel, and then they in turn helped him after he began to have a panic attack. so when we got out to a tunnel that goes under the airfield, we found a lot of stranded motorists and people in need. so it took us a long time to get out there. firefighters were instrumental to bringing us resources and getting these people back to the firehouse. >> you see this family and you think they're coming with us, i'm going to take them to where i know it's safe. talk to me about that experience and then also, you know, pulling off a little christmas miracle for the morning. >> yeah, when we finally got to them, took us a little bit obviously because of conditions. they were one of the first vehicles we came upon, and d

demitrus opened his window and said please don't leave us. i said we won't but we have other motorists we have to attend to. so we walked to the other end of the tunnel, 20 or 30 more motorists at the other end, we scooped them up and organized a plan to get all these people back to our firehouse. and we tried to get a convoy back to the firehouse with pickup trucks in front and suvs in back, piling everybody in vehicles. we got about 40 feet out of the tunnel because that was our safe haven at the time underneath the runway and we were stuck. i was at the back of the pack behind the vehicles to make sure we didn't lose any. the first half made it back and we were stuck in the back. so it was time for an audible. so demitrus was shaken up, saying please don't leave us, i said i'll never leave you. at that time it was time to get

resources to help us out, so i requested from one of our local volunteer agencies highview fire department. they have an off road vehicle, so got ahold of them, they got to us. they said we'll be there as fast as we can. about 45 minutes they were there. we had to walk them back just so we could see. the visibility was zero. the drifts were four or five feet high at the time. so we made it happen. we were fortunate to be able to help people and kind of make their christmas. >> i bet those smiles from those kids made your christmas as well. dad, last word to you, what was it like waking up on christmas morning, i think santa came, right? >> santa came, it was very awesome. those guys were amazing at the firehouse. they treated us with nothing but love and welcomed us with open arms, we felt like family there. even cooked for the kids,

pancakes. it was a beautiful experience, something we'll never forget. we formed a bond with the guys, made it a beautiful christmas. >> the best kind of stories with a happy ending in the middle of real tragedy for other families who lost loved ones. thank you to all of you, especially you kiddos you're better than my kids would be on national television. merry christmas. >> merry christmas. >> go bills. >> thank you very much. >> go bills! >> sara. that is the christmas story we all needed this morning, though. a little bit of bad news for you, sorry to bring the mood down, more than 1,400 flights have been canceled nationwide leaving thousands stranded and frustrated thanks to frigid temperatures and black ice. atlanta has the most disruptions.

carlos suarez is live there with more. i see that families are there, they brought their dogs, which makes me smile but they are in line and waiting. what's happening at this hour? >> reporter: sara, good morning. you really cannot walk too far around this airport at this hour without running into a line. things really are a bit of a mess. there's one guy out here with delta airlines trying to sort things out for travelers but the airport, as packed as we've seen, and we've been here since saturday considering all the canceled flights at this hour, we're looking at 146 canceled flights and the lines, again, they're about as long as you can see them on this side here you have folks trying to drop off their bags, other folks need to see a ticket agent to get on another flight because their flight is canceled. by tsa precheck that is also the

longest we have seen throughout the weekend. when you look at the numbers across the u.s. as you said coming out to me, looking at well over 1,400 flights canceled because of the cold weather that has moved over a good part of the country. that number yesterday was well over 3,000 flights and we're talking about thousands more flights that have been delayed. we caught up with one guy trying to make it out to las vegas for a party but he wasn't able to do that. he came to the airport, making the line right now just to see if the airline can get him on a flight at some point this week. here's what he told us. >> leaving atlanta to vegas, got canceled and vegas to renao got canceled. so two separate flights got canceled today. i found out about my southwest flight while going to the kiosk for the delta, and the delta flight got canceled.

so i don't know, i'm in line right now hoping to get home today, if not tomorrow. >> and so he is now on his third flight with two airlines, again atlanta really has been one of the busiest spots when it comes to the overall number of canceled flights however denver international is not too far behind they're going back and forth. >> carlos suarez, thank you for joining us. >> sending them all luck that they get on flights soon. this morning 10 million people across the south remain under freeze alerts. the city of jackson, mississippi has once again issued a boil water notice as frigid temperatures trigger breaks in their water lines. that's the last thing they need, right martin savage, who joins us live. >> reporter: they've had a terrible year when it comes to water, a terrible number of years when it comes to the water system in jackson, mississippi.

but it was cold in the south here, the biggest problem is burst pipes and that's been the problem in jackson, mississippi. it's suspected that underwater main lines have ruptured. so on christmas day people had to line up to get water that was being delivered in a number of places within the city, water pressure dropped, that meant the filtration plant suffered, as a result a boil order in effect. remember back in august after heavy rains the system went into a partial collapse due to problems they have. these are systemic problems going back decades of neglect, improper funding. a number of investigations under way. the budget bill passed by congress, i believe $600 million they're focused on repairing the jackson water system but the city believes it'll take well over $1 billion to do that. it shows you the fragility of water in jackson and how it

continues to be problematic for the residents there. boil water until further notice. poppy. >> and so necessary for everyone and especially in a crisis like this. martin, thank you very much for the reporting. >> you're welcome. an update on former president trump's tax returns. the house ways and means committee is telling cnn they will be released to the public post christmas. melanie is live in washington for "cnn this morning." do we have any true idea? is there a date we're going to see the documents? >> reporter: we know it will be this week because this is the last week before democrats hand over power to republicans. this has been a four-year-long legal battle but we learned key information last week because democrats did release two reports about their investigation into the irs presidential auto system and what we learned is that the irs did not audit president donald trump in 2017 or 2018. the irs did not start auditing

trump until april 2019, the same day that chairman kneel asked for trump's tax returns. democrats also revealed how much or how little trump paid in income tax while he was president in 2017, for example, he only paid $750 in income tax. and in 2020 he paid $0 in income tax. and finally, democrats also revealed this pattern that trump had of generating huge net operating losses, carrying those forward for years so that essentially he could zero out his tax liability. but it is there's still a lot more we could learn from the tax documents. the committee is just taking time to redact them. we should learn more about trump's finances, how wealthy he is, how much he gave to charity so this caps off a four-year-long legal battle and a big victory for democrats and a loss for donald trump. >> interesting to see what are in those documents. thank you so much. ahead, the white house blaming the governor of texas

for shipping bus loads of migrants to the vice president's home in bitter cold weather. also ahead for us, how two women helped find a kidnapped 5 month old baby in indianapolis. . but that cough looks pretty bad. try this robitussin honey. the real honey you love, plus the powerfuful cough relief you need. mind if f i root through your trash? robitussin. the only brand with real honeyand e elderberry.

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this week, the supreme court is expected to rule on whether to keep the controversial trump era border restriction known as title 42 in place. it allows border officials to deny people the right to seek asylum. this as several bus loads of migrants were dropped off in front of vice president kamala harris' residence on christmas eve in 18 degree weather, many wearing t-shirts. a nonprofit group was prepared for the arrivals. the group's managing director wrote on twitter, my team spent christmas eve giving their best, supporting migrants that arrived at the border a different christmas for all of us. but i feel proud to count with

an amazing group of humanitarians. joining us is the managing director for samu. i thank you for coming on. can you give me a sense of what it was like. did any of the migrants have any idea where they were going? >> good morning, and thank you for having me. yes, a majority of them already reached their final destination. we had about 60% of those migrants headed to new york city to either shelters there or to meet friends and family. this is a pattern we've been seeing over the past couple of months. >> what did you and your staff see when you got there and experienced? >> so we were prepared for very cold weather so there were blankets available for migrants and we had a center ready to receive them. we had warm food and our team was there understanding that washington was not their final

destination and ready to help them move forward. >> the texas governor has not, at this point, said anything or responded to comments from the white house that they believe that governor abbott is responsible for sending the buses there. do you have any sense of, you know, how you decided they came from texas? did they tell you that? >> yeah. we got a heads up from one of the nonprofits at the border that the buses were headed our way. we were expecting them yesterday morning. but they showed up the night before. thankfully we had enough time to shift our logistics for christmas eve. >> what do you make of the fact that they were dropped off in front of the vice president's home? >> at this point, they've been doing that for so many months that we have the system already down and it's just another spot that has very little impact. we have buses on site ready to just move them quickly and get them to a safe place. >> do you think this is, as the

white house has said it, sort of a cruel decision being made with people's lives? >> well, there's two ways to look at it. the way they're doing it is extremely humane but there is a service to the migrants. a lot of them don't want to stay in texas. a large majority want to go up north so it gets them closer and away from places with very little connectivity into metropolitan areas where taking a bus is easier or a train or a plane. so if it's done correctly it can really help ease the tensions at the border. >> how is your staff able to support all the people coming in? >> we've been doing this for seven months now. we have a staff of 35 and we're able to take shifts so nobody is extremely over tired. doing this on christmas eve when you have a staff of latinos where that's our main celebration and it's extremely

taxing but they're all very happy to be able to share and give a little home and warm welcome to the migrants. >> the mie fgrants are here legally. as we understand it they're seeking asylum. what do you make of how they have been treated and what are they telling you about their journey? >> so the journey on bus is extremely long. they get not the best food. they get meals ready to eat, military food. so they're exhausted when they come here. and now because of winter they're experiencing very, very different temperatures than they're used to. so a shock of what's to come in the winter. and at the end, the hope they've made it to where they are and want to be and they're able to provide their family a better future.

>> el paso, i spoke to a council woman there who said no doubt there's a crisis and they are inundated with people, what can border states like texas do to streamline this process? >> absolutely. what they're seeing is much worse than what we see here. about three buses is just a small portion of what they experience on the day to day, if things like this are done in a coordinated and humane manner, it could be a good option for those border towns that are stru struggling. >> thank you for joining us and sharing the experience of those mig migrants and your work. >> thank you. amazing work they do. this morning, a family reunited after police located a missing 5-month-old in a stolen car in indianapolis. the ordeal began a week ago in columbus, ohio, when a mother went into a restaurant to pick up an order leaving her twin vehicle -- twin sons in the

vehicle with the car running. >> she was a delivery driver just picking up the order. >> she was doing her job. >> yes. she was working. and the twins, the babies are in the backseat, she comes out with the order and the car is gone and the babies are gone. this is december 19th. so on december 20th. of course, there's an all points bulletin. it gets on the news and there is a kidnapping suspect they're looking for. but on the 20th, one of the babies was found on the side of the road near the dayton international airport. so one baby was found unharmed, going to be okay. but where's the other one? and so, after that, on the very same day, december 20th, ironically, 175 miles away in indianapolis, indiana, a woman, she starts to have an interaction with this lady. she doesn't know who she is, but

they interact. exchange phone numbers, she drove in her car and afterwards she saw the picture on the television of this suspect and she said that's the woman i just talked with. she talks to her cousin, and they say look, we have to figure something out here. so they arrange a meeting with the alleged kidnapping suspect. they bring police in, there's an arrest. >> wow. >> and that happens on december 22nd. however, where's the baby? the other baby? and so, after that, the two women say, you know what, she dropped off a bus schedule in our car, let's go to the bus terminals here in indianapolis, see if we find a car that matches a description. they didn't but they got hungry, went to the pizza place thereby and there they saw the car, there was a baby inside, police were inside the pizza restaurant

eating because they had been searching too and had to rest. i want you to listen to what the indianapolis police department officials there at the scene and effectuated finding the baby have to say. >> it was time for us to kind of decompress because we were disappointed we could not find him. and then god opened up the he vans to us and almost took him and put him in our hands. surprised how well he responded considering the ordeal he had been there. >> now nala jackson is facing ex extradition back to ohio, charged with two felony counts of kidnapping. they are life felonies. but look at the ending to that story. >> as the officers said opened up the he havans.

>> a christmas miracle. >> with markets down and layoffs in recent months, the question on many folks' minds, is a recession on the horizon? i hate to use the r word this early in the morning but we're going to talk about it next. hey, it's ryan reynolds, owner of mint mobile. it's the holidays and the big wireless companies are busy spending billions on advertising. atat mint we're not into wastining money. so we bought this spiffy stock footage for $500. our footage also camame with another hand, so we can let you know if you switch to mint, you'll get three months free on all of our plans. even unlimited. feels like that deserves an exclamation point. whoa. easy, easy. i'd like to thank our sponsor liberty mutual. they customize your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. contestants ready? so ygo!only pay for what you need. only pay forhat you need. jingle: liberty. libty. liberty. liberty.

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welcome back to "cnn this morning." coming up, congress passing the first legislative response to the january 6th capitol attack making it harder to overturn a certified presidential election. but will that be enough? also, air-raid sirens and blackouts interrupting the first christmas in ukraine since the war began. we are live on the ground in kyiv. plus, conditions in buffalo, new york remain dire. after the city was pummelled with snow and strong winds. the governor calling it the most devastating storm in buffalo's long storied history. we'll speak to the erie county executive just ahead. 2022, we're still in it,

it's been volatile to say the least for the economy. just a few days to go, wall street ending on a down note there. investors hoping for a santa claus rally, fears for a recession and what that means for 2023. joining us now, mark stewart. good to have you. >> good to see you. >> recession or no recession, it's about what you're living, what you're feeling and have you lost your job -- >> absolutely. >> -- how does it impact your financial situation. >> people will argue we're already in a recession depending on how your life is at the moment. but i can say we will see a recession, the question is, are we going to hit those metrics three months from now, six months from now, a year from now. the white house seems to be pretty optimistic. it's pointing out to inflation cooling. solid jobs. yet the imf or the global

perspective says that people are hurting and will be hurting more. look, i think back to grad school. i remember my professors showing us these charts of economic ups and downs. things don't stay good forever, things don't stay bad forever. that's what we're licensing ri -- balancing right now. so we will hit a low point. >> my mother says if the you want change, just wait. i am impatient as we all are. the fed has raised interest rates time and time and time again to try i guess to deal with inflation has it worked? >> the white house is arguing yes, it's working. if we look at the data from last month, consumer prices did drop. you are looking to make things more expaensive to stop people from spending. this is interesting about inflation, and this is something that chairman powell has talked about. the longer inflation extends we

get used to it. we become used to paying outrageously high prices and then it becomes more difficult to quell. >> let's talk about working. >> what's that? >> we're all here working the day after christmas. >> this is dear to our heart. >> i'm not going to complain i took a week off. happy to be back. however, there's this great, fascinating op-ed in "the new york times" talking about america, versus especially europe. >> right. i was telling you, i spent some time working in the united kingdom and my colleague made it clear to me, mark, i enjoy working with you, i enjoy the projects we're doing but we have a clearly defined work day. and i think he said that to me to make it be known that you're in a different part of the world and the philosophy is different. the question is it's about productivity. are you getting as much done in the designated time compared to others and as we look into europe, you look at the chart right now, people are working

fewer hours in france, germany, and many other places but work is getting done, people may be happier. >> i thought this piece, krugman points out that the united states is unique among high income developed economies to have no legal requirements for paid leave or paid vacation. >> i was going to say, some companies, though, it may be a small amount are saying yes, you have to take time off now. maybe that's a lesson from the pandemic. i was texting with a friend of mine last night, she runs a nonprofit in nashville. and she shutdown her whole office between now and the new year. >> great. >> and that's part of the compensation package. that's a benefit. i don't know if we would have seen that a year ago or two years ago. i think there is some recognition that -- i hate to use this phrase work/life

balance it has importance. >> burn out is a real thing and people experienced that with covid and trying to balance all of these things. so i'm for the four day work week, can you make that happen? >> amen. >> we have our phones, we were talking about this on the break, we can do more at our homes and i think as i mature, as i become a more senior member of the workforce, i think i work smarter and i think a lot of people are realizing that too. >> thank you. >> thank you so much. president biden has had one of the most successful legislative years in decades. but does that success mean he is definitely going to run again in 2024? and a wave of smash and grab break-ins hitting retailers during the peak holiday season. how the crimes could be impacting what you pay in the months to come.

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♪ retail theft is getting more violent and dangerous across the country according to police who say the culprits are involved in organized crime rings. many of the crimes are caught on video. vanessa has the story. >> reporter: caught on camera. smash and grab break-ins giving retailers across the country a run for their money during peak season. this man seen openly dragging $5,000 worth of merchandise police say out the front door of a burlington coat factory in florida. >> he laughed in our face, the employees' face and had no regard. >> reporter: break-ins at walmart, jewelry stores and a toys for tots warehouse just before the holidays. >> we are missing about two thirds of the toys. >> reporter: this as retail theft has become more violent

this year, with 80% of retailers reporting more aggressive incidents. >> is it becoming more dangerous now? >> yeah. the suspects are becoming more violent. whatever products they're seeking they're going to get it. and those stepping in their way can be and have been harmed. >> reporter: for some small business owners 56% say they've been victims of shoplifting in the past year, forcing some to raise prices. >> november 17th this window was broken out. >> reporter: dana green said her store in virginia was broken into not once -- >> on november 27th they broke this window. >> reporter: but twice in ten days. >> the first time was shocking. the second time was even just more devastating to me. >> reporter: she estimates the thieves, teenagers some were

caught, took and damaged $40,000 worth of sneakers in her busiest shopping season of the year. >> as far as the damage to the windows and the store about $5,000 worth of damage, which is a huge setback. >> reporter: but isolated smash and grab theft is a tip of the iceberg. organized retail crime rings are what law enforcement is after. these networks can make millions off stolen goods. >> how big of an operation is this really? >> it's huge, like i get up every day, i go to work, these people get up every day with a mission to steal. >> reporter: organized retail theft is a large part of the industry's $100 billion in lost product. major retail executives from walmart and target are sounding the alarm. >> theft is an issue. it's higher than what it's historically been. if that's not corrected over time, prices will be higher. >> reporter: the irony, industry experts say, is that some of the very products stolen from store

shelves eventually make their way back and into customers' hands. >> as it works its way through commerce, it goes to wholesalers, to distributors, and then we end up buying it back. >> reporter: cnn new york. thanks to vanessa for that story. the winter storm blamed for 17 deaths now in western new york, most of those deaths are in the buffalo area, in erie county, to be specific. we'll talk to the erie county executive just ahead. a member of the january 6th committee now saying the electoral college reform should be congress' next priority. >> we should elect the president the way we elect governors, senators, mayors, representatives, everybody else. whoever gets the most votetes w. it's clinically provenen to moisturize dry skin for 24 hoursrs. aveeno® ♪

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the electoral college now, which has given us five popular vote losers as president in our history, twice in this century alone, has become a danger, not just to democracy, but to the american people. it was a danger on january 6th. there are so many curving byways and nooks and crannies in the electoral college, that there is strategic mischiefs. whoever gets the most votes wins. >> that was congressman jamie raskin pointing to what he calls

a need for electoral college reform as the next priority to safeguard democracy, this coming as the january 6th committee released the long-anticipated final report with the historic recommendation that former president donald trump be criminally prosecuted and not be able to hold public off fills again. in a "new york times" op-ed juliansizer, sorry, slurring your last name. he writes as with the water gate roadmap, the january 6th report doesn't put an end to the crisis of american democracy. if there is any criticize to be made of the committee's report, it is that it focuses so much on former president donald trump and his accomplices and does not do enough to emphasize the urgent imperative to move forward with institutional reforms to protect america's election. julian joins us now. you are the author of an

upcoming book and you've written many books. you're an overachiever. this one, myth america. you took a look at -- this is an 845-page document. so a lot to read. you compare this report to watergate. can you explain? >> sure. there was roadmap put together by a special prosecutor, leon jaworski in 1974, and he basically handed off this documentation to the house judiciary committee which was key fd that led toward impeachment. and watergate was a crisis of the presidency. i talk about what happens after water gate, after nixon resigned? we had almost a decade of political reform that tried to correct the political system from what was exposed. >> i think that's the question now. you raise the good point, what

happened after was a pardon. so i say that -- talking about nixon -- that brings up what one of trump's lawyers, tim parl tory said on cnn calling the criminal referral by the committee to the justice department, quote, worthless. he says it doesn't matter one bit. what you're talking about is the history of what happens in terms of reforming the system. >> exactly. congressman raskin is pointing to that kind of conversation. you don't just focus on the individual who did wrong, though that is extremely important. it's an important part of the january 6th report. you also have to look at how politics works. after watergate we reformed campaign finance. we reformed ethics rules. i think this crisis has revealed all sorts of vulnerabilities in our electoral system that really need to be addressed over the next few years. >> i want to talk to you about the timing of all of this.

watergate was a certain point in time. eventually many -- the republicans did end up saying enough. we are going to do something about. all the republicans are not on the same page with this. do you re, for example, electoral college reform? >> we just passed one reform and it had bipartisan support. that's the electoral counteract. part of this big omnibus legislation. it makes it harder to tamper with election results, makes it harder for members of congress to challenge the results from the state. it just passed. we need to think of this as a long-term project. not everything has to happen in the next year. reform has to happen in the next five or six years. i think more is possible, especially republicans feel they are suffering as a result of

former president trump at the ballot box. >> quickly, julian, before you go, i want your counterargument to what congressman raskin is saying. remind the people why the electoral college was reformed and the benefits it holds? >> the supporters say it supports smaller states. because you have this measure, smaller states get attention in elections. but there are many critics of that, they feel it's outdated and feel we should move to a more direct system. that's a very hard reform to achieve. we've tried it before. but, again, it's an important conversation we need to look at. >> it's about whether it represents the majority of the people in the country in part. julian zelizer, thank you for joining us. cnn this morning continues right now. we are in a