>> yeah. yeah, it was after -- after he gave me the gift with my name on the jersey, he surprised me with a facetime with jay-z. >> that is so cool. can you just quickly tell me what that experience was like, because that was your first nfl game, right, where you were heckled and then you go to this f game in a whole different way. >> it's like my friend said, i think i peaked because you can't go from how amazing that game went and how my experience was with meeting robert kraft, facetiming jay-z, sitting in the suite, going out on the field. one thing that did make me feel good is going out on the field and everyone chanting out "jerry." people recognizing me, it was an amazing experience. >> you are an example, sir. >> i bet you even made bill belichick smile. >> i don't know about that. >> that was one thing -- that was one thing that made me happy, him walking up to me with a smile on my face and giving me

the handshake. that one i will treasure. >> jerry, may we all be like jerry in 2023. thank you very much. >> thank you. thanks all of you for watching. thanks for getting up early. >> yes. you're fun. >> we will see you back here tomorrow morning. "cnn newsroom" starts now. good morning, everyone. i'm jessica dean in washington. jim sciutto is off today. we are going to begin this morning with parts of the country trying to dig out from what's been both a dangerous and historic snowstorm. 200 additional national guard soldiers deploying to western new york today as the blizzard has now led to the deaths of at least 17 people there. >> we now have what will be talked about not just today but for generations, the blizzard of '22. we are still in the throes of this very dangerous

life-threatening situation. >> nationwide more than 1,500 flights already canceled this morning, about the same amount delayed. that's only adding to the backlog from the holiday weekend, but we do have progress in terms of power and that's a big one. about 60,000 homes remain in the dark this morning, that is down from more than a million on friday. more than 12,000 of those homes without power are in western new york and many without heat after the storm dumped nearly 4 feet of snow there. a driving ban is in buffalo as roads are impassable with zero visibility. buffalo could still see another 14 inches of snow with alerts still in effect tomorrow morning. we are monitoring a briefing from officials later this hour. right now cnn correspondent polo sandoval is reporting from there, we're also joined by erie county sheriff garcia. polo, let's go to you first.

walk us through what the conditions are that you are seeing. you have been there throughout the weekend, you have really seen it all at this point. >> reporter: and the fresh coat of snow that we received in the early morning hours certainly is not going to help. nonetheless, we have seen those plows out in full force not only here in buffalo, but in communities around the city here. the suburbs got particularly hit hard. you are talking people basically have been stuck in their homes all weekend, so officials are sending out those crews as soon as they could to make sure they could provide some kind of help. this is what it looks like right now, we saw a plow truck go through here a short while ago. you mentioned the guard members, jessica, they are going to be such a tremendous help for first responders, many of whom have been working for at least two days straight, if not more. you see this has been an all hands on deck situation as they work to respond to calls for help over the weekend. as we heard over the weekend from erie county officials, that this was the first time in the fire department's history that

they were unable to guarantee a response to any kind of medical emergency and, sadly, we did see -- or we did hear from authorities who confirmed that among the people who died as a result of this storm are individuals that could not receive help from ems during the height of that storm when these roads were just impossible to drive. i mean, you can even look beyond your hood, that's how bad the situation got here today. so today there is hope that as those weather conditions do continue to improve, even if it's just a little bit, they're going to be out there to provide any kind of help for folks who need it. jessica, back to you. >> so many people probably do need it. polo, thanks for the update. let's go back now to sheriff john garcia. great to see you. how serious are things this morning? we know as polo was just talking about the death count is sadly standing right now at 17. is that still accurate and are deputies still conducting rescues? >> good morning, jessica.

unfortunately the numbers are going to surpass the blizzard of '77 and it is a first responder and sheriff here in erie county you have a situation where you're unable -- unable to respond to emergency calls, medical calls. i know the fire departments and ems and everyone felt the same. what we're doing today is we're assisting people to doctors, nurses, hospitals, and we're assisting patients to dialysis. so the roads are finally starting to open because the winds died down, but with the 70 mile per hour winds we had zero visibility which was compounded by the amount of snow. it was the worst i have ever seen. >> it just sounds horrific and sounds like based on what you are saying, unfortunately, that death toll may go up when this is all said and done. and you mentioned that emergency crews just simply couldn't get to where they needed to go, that

they were having such a difficult time navigating the roads. i know one erie county official told my colleagues earlier this morning that the buffalo fire department historian said that this storm was the first time ever that they couldn't respond to emergency calls because of how severe those conditions were. i know you said that now you can kind of get through the roads and they are a little more passable. what issues do you think you will continue to run into and do you expect even with that additional snow that you will be able to get to where you want to go? >> yeah, so about half the county has lifted the driving bans, but i urge people to stay home because our plan is to assist the department of public works and, you know, getting through the streets and they need to clear the roads, but that's -- that's so emergency crews can get through. now, there's going to be a lot of welfare checks, jessica, and unfortunately i have a bad feeling about that. i think that toll is going to go

up. again, you know, when you have 420 ems calls that are unanswered, it's just gut wrenching. you know, buffalo, we deal with snow all the time. back in november during thanksgiving we got bombarded with snow, but the conditions were different because with the gusts of wind, i could tell you firsthand, zero visibility. i couldn't see 2 feet in front of my vehicle. we had to rescue deputies. we brought in snowmobiles, utvs, atvs. when fire rigs are getting stuck, that heavy equipment, you can imagine what happened to the public. people went out and what we had this time around is so many people got stuck. so now you're answering calls to rescue motorists and it takes assets away from assisting people and being proactive. >> and our hearts just go out to all of you. such a really tough and terrible

weekend for so many people. i know for the first responders as well who were just trying to get to as many people as they possibly could. i know there's been an update to the power situation over the weekend the substations it sounded like were just freezing, they were literally having to go in and thaw those out. what's the update on power because so many people didn't have heat. >> yeah, so, you know, i can't believe the great work that the men and women of nsec did. they couldn't go up on the posts with 70 mile per hour winds. they were dealing with the power lines that were on the ground. now with the winds having died down, the amount of people without power has decreased. and, again, that's -- it was gut wrenching when you're getting calls where families are with their kids and they're saying they're freezing. maybe the dad and someone went to get gas for the generator so now we're assisting them to get back to the house. it was just, you know -- the wind was the biggest issue. the wind was the biggest issue

for downed trees and power lines and zero visibility. >> that wind is truly something. all right. sheriff john garcia, thank you so much. we are thinking about you guys and of course we will continue to monitor that update we are expecting within the hour. thanks so much, sheriff. >> thank you, jessica. all right. we want to go now to cnn's carlos suarez who is live at atlanta's international airport. carlos, so many people, of course, trying to travel during these crazy weather conditions, not to mention the holiday weekend. what are you hearing from people this morning? >> reporter: jessica, good morning from an incredibly busy airport here in atlanta. over 150 flights have been canceled today, leaving hundreds of passengers really with no place to go. this is kind of how things have looked like the entire morning we have been here. it's been the busiest i have seen this airport and we've been here since saturday. you are taking a look at just

what some of the poor airline folks are having to deal with at this hour. we are just at the delta terminal, so this is really only about a quarter of the airport and you can see just the shear number of folks that have showed up to this airport. a lot of these folks are on flights that have been canceled. now, when you take a look at this overall number of flights that have been canceled across the u.s., going into the new week, well, we are looking at well over 1,500 flights that have been told they are not going to be taking off anytime soon. that number was at about 3,000 just yesterday. of course, this problem isn't impacting travelers only in the southeast here, it's affecting a good number of folks across the country because of all of this cold weather. there's one passenger in detroit who made it in from europe, she's stuck at an airport and here is what she told us. >> we came from paris, we were supposed to go straight to minnesota but for some reason we end up being here. >> this is not minnesota.

>> no, totally not minnesota. we stayed here for two days. we are trying to get out today. >> are you feeling good about it? >> i'm dying to get to my house and to my bed, yes. this is terrible. >> reporter: and so if you are not stuck in line trying to get rebooked, well, you have to make a line to drop off your luggage, you have to make a line to see if you can get to your gate and then of course you've still got to clear security. that's just a few feet from where i am right now. again, it's also the busiest we have seen it in the entire morning. seems like that crush of holiday travel is making its way across a good part of the country, folks just trying to get home, if they even were able to make it out in time for the holidays. jessica? >> quite amazed there, and already a busy travel time. before you even add in these weather conditions. carlos suarez for us in atlanta, thanks so much. let's go now to meteorologist chad myers, he's standing by in the cnn weather center. good morning, chad. i think a lot of people are now

wondering what comes next? >> a warm up. >> great. >> a significant warm up. i mean, buffalo will get to 50 by the weekend. that's some help, but obviously some of that snow is going to melt, some of it's going to melt too fast, you have to make sure the drains are ready to take the water or else your roads are just going to freeze. something else that's going on in the airports, too, i've been noticing this morning, some of the planes and the crews are not where they're supposed to be. there is a plane in atlantic city but the crew is stuck in chicago, you can't get that crew on that plane because it's not going to get there. so this is going to take a long time to filter through. buffalo had 43 inches of snow on the ground as of yesterday morning, we're still waiting for the update from this morning, that number is likely every 50. why does that matter? because if you add a few numbers to this, 93 or so inches of snowfall this season, the normal is 95. for the entire winter. and it's still snowing. they probably had between 6 and

10 inches of snow overnight to add to that 43. here comes the snow still, it's the cold air coming over the warm water, big snow just on this side of the lakes, big snows in this art of ontario as well. there's a lot of snow around barry and places north of there, coming off of lake heuer ron and lake superior. there is the warm up, it's going to move to the east, even denver gets over 50 today. buffalo 49 and 50. chicago even a little bit warmer. jessica? >> the warm up on its way. chad myers, thanks so much. the supreme court could rule as soon as tomorrow on whether the trump-era border restrictions known as title 42 can stay in effect. in the meantime el paso, texas, is under a state of emergency as thousands of migrants arrive ahead of that ruling. over the holiday weekend some were forced to sleep outside in the freezing temperatures. at least 300 people spent christmas eve at the el paso convention center. in washington three bus loads of

migrants were dropped off at the front door of vice president kamala harris's door on christmas eve when it was 18 degrees outside. the white house now blaming texas governor greg abbott. cnn's camila bernal is joining us from el paso. priscilla alvarez is here with us in washington. camilla, let's start first with you, what is el paso doing to accommodate this influx? >> reporter: well, they opened up the convention center, they're doing everything they can to house people in city-run shelters, but the problem is that a lot of these migrants don't want to go through the proper process, are not going to the border patrol processing centers, and instead they have to come to this shelter. the shelter is over capacity. they have had as many mothers and children inside of that shelter, but the rest of the people that don't fit inside of the shelter have to be out on the street. that's why you see so many of them trying to stay warm with as many blankets as possible. the city did put a bus here and

minutes because it really has days here. i talked to these migrants and they tell me i'm cold, you know, this is not what i expected, but they also say they want to be in this country, that they will do everything they can to stay here, even if it means sleeping out on the street. a lot of them are scared to go through that process because they know they can quickly be sent back to mexico or to the country where they came from and that's what they're trying to avoid here, so they say they will sleep out in the streets if that's what it takes, jessica. >> camila bernal in el paso, texas. priscilla alvarez is here in washington with us. we have these bus loads of migrants that were dropped off at the front door of vice president harris' home. what has been the biden administration's reaction to all of this and also to title 42 and what comes next for that? >> the white house put it quite bluntly in a statement over the weekend where they called it a

quote, cruel, dangerous and shameful stunt. as you mentioned dozens of migrants were dropped off in d.c. over the weekend, there have been groups assisting them on the ground giving them blankets to shield them from a cold snap, 18 degree weather. those groups who have been providing that assistance for some time now pointed toward texas, they said the buses came from texas, they were supposed to go to new york city but were diverted because of the weather there. they said this is part of the stunt that texas governor greg abbott has been pulling for months now as buses have arrived on almost a weekly basis including to harris' home. the administration in the meantime has to keep preparing for what may happen at the border when title 42 lifts, if and when it lifts, and that includes helping cities like el paso and also keeping an eye, especially at the white house, at the supreme court and what they decide. ultimately it will be up to them whether the title 42, those restrictions we talked about, whether they will end within a matter of days or whether this is going to take months. >> and you will be watching that, priscilla alvarez for us,

thanks so much. still to come this hour, china sends dozens of aircraft into taiwan's air defense zone, the largest in months. we will be live at the pentagon with details on the implications. plus, christmas on the front lines. ukrainian troops share a meal, some by candlelight, as russia continues to bombard the country. i will speak live with a member of ukraine's parliament amid new reports this morning that a ukrainian drone was shot down deep inside russian territory. and later brazen smash and grab robberies caught on video and law enforcement says these incidents are on the rise all across the country. what it means for the prices you end up paying at the store. will you make something better? create something new? our dell technologies adadvisors can provide you with the tools and expertise you need to bring out the innovator in you. ♪ ♪ a bunch of dead guys made up work, way back when. ♪ ♪ it's our turn now we'♪ ♪ we'll build freelance teams with more agilit ♪

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back pain, and fatigue. ask your asthma specialist about a nunormal with nucala. new this morning south korea scrambling fighter jets and attack helicopters after north korean drones entered the country's air space. the south korean defense minister says its military fired at the five drones, but it cannot confirm whether any were

shot down. china's latest large scale military drill is escalating already high tensions with taiwan. taiwan saying as many as 47 chinese jets and drones crossed over into their air defense zone on sunday. incursion comes days after president biden signed a law to help taiwan modernize its military. cnn's oren liebermann is at the pentagon in morning. how significant this action by china and what's the u.s. doing in response? >> reporter: the pentagon sees these actions by china as a way of essentially raising the bar of what's normal, trying to establish a new normal for the actions china takes around taiwan such that that higher level of military activity sort of becomes the baseline and that is what's worrying, that is what the pentagon has launched not only over the weekend but over recent weeks. china launched 47 aircraft into taiwan's self-declared air defense identification zone and that means that 47 of those aircraft crossed the median line

of the taiwan strait. taiwan says there were 71 total aircraft that china launched in -- rather around taiwan, but a number of those didn't cross that crucial centerline of the taiwan strait. china said these exercises as they called them on sunday were in response to provocations from the united states, though not specifying what specific provocations there were. crucially this comes after joe biden signed the national defense authorization act that had a number of measures for taiwan specifically to help taiwan. take a look at this. crucially a defense modernization program for taiwan's military as well as a contingency weapons stockpile for weapons on taiwan in case there were a conflict, a military engagement or an all out effort by china to try to take taiwan by force. it also authorizes the president to give taiwan up to $1 billion in weapons and munitions. china always looks at those as

provocative and generally responds when there is an announcement of a foreign military sale of u.s. weapons to taiwan. so you can see this in that broader line of china trying to carry out exercises, trying to show the force of its own military within ever you see or shortly thereafter seeing efforts from the u.s. to aid taiwan's military and strengthen taiwan's military. jessica? >> oren liebermann at the pentagon, thanks for that reporting. this morning ukrainian military officials are warning of possible retaliatory strikes after an attempted drone attack led to a deadly blast at a strategic russian air base. in security footage you can hear and see the flash from that explosion early this morning. russia saying it shot down a ukrainian drone in the city of ingles.

the explosion killed three russian service members. and joining me now from kyiv, a member of the ukrainian parliament. kira rudick. grade to have you this morning. thanks for being with us. we know that this is the second time this month that we have seen ukrainian drones call damage at this air base, well inside russia's borders. how would you say the use of drones have changed the landscape of this war? >> hello, thank you so much for having me. well, it's safe to say that this war is an artillery war and also a drone war because drones are being used for attacks on different types of infrastructure, drones are being used to figure out what's happening and drones are being used for different kinds of investigation missions. so this is one of the really life-changing things and

historic things that is changing the landscape of all the wars that are going to happen since right now. it will be drone wars. >> and president zelenskyy in his christmas message urged ukrainians to have patience and faith, but he also warned that putin is going to try to make the coming winter months what he called dark and difficult. this has been, you know, the fear and anticipation for so many. how is your country preparing for that? >> well, we are absolutely sure that we are maybe one or two steps away from complete blackout. more than 50% of energy infrastructure have been destroyed during the last two months of russian constant attacks on the infrastructure. what this means for people is that we have lights and electricity, a couple of hours a day. we have running water sporadically and the heating is

also something that you get as a luxury. this was throughout the country and it gets worse and worse after every attack. we know that we will survive this war, that we will go through that, but we also know that it can get harder, especially when the weather becomes much worse every single day. we are getting into the real winter and what the president is warning us about is that we have to be ready for all kinds of situations. the electricity will be absent for weeks, that we have to be prepared with water, with food, but honestly we are already ready to do that. we knew that this was coming. we knew that putin's attempt was to break us and break our spirits and honestly it is hard. it is hard for people not being able to go through like basic comfort of the life, but we also know that once we will go through that we will become even stronger and we will push russia back and our goal for the next

year, our mission and our wish for the next year is the victory and restoring of our sovereignty. >> i hear the determination in your voice and i think it's shared by so many ukrainians who have held off russia for nearly a year now against so many odds and you're talking about what you're about to endure, which is a very extreme -- extreme winter conditions without heat or with very little heat, with very little, if any, electricity, that sort of thing. do you still sense -- it seems to us hearing you, president zelenskyy in washington, d.c. last week, that the resiliency continues, that there is grit and determination that ukraine can continue on. is that the sense that you hear from the people that you're talking to, your neighbors, your family, others there in ukraine? >> absolutely. we know that no matter how hard it is, we are not going to be bent by this and we are not going to be broken by this.

we prepare for the worst and we extend our areas of stability. so not only you have to take care of yourself and your family and your neighbors, but also think about other people who will need heat, who will need charges, running water. this is why we are setting up the points of unbreakability where people can get warm food, warm clothing, charging devices and spend some time in the warmth. this is happening not only from the governmental side, but people are doing it themselves, sharing with whoever needs it. people are annoyed because it is hard, but they are annoyed at russia and they understand that this is an attempt to break us and an attempt to make us doubt that we are fighting for the right course and we have no doubts. we know that we are fighting for our own survival, for our country, and we will make sure that we will go through this winter together, this is our

goal. >> kira rudik for us, thanks so much. we appreciate it. >> thank you. glory to ukraine. >> thank you. still ahead this morning, republican congressman-elect george santos in the spotlight for inconsistencies in his resumé and family history, including his now contradicted claim that his grandparents survived the holocaust. he is expected to address those questions this week. more when we come back. do? ♪ what will you change? ♪ will you make sosomething better? ♪ will you creatate something entirely new? ♪ our dell technologies advisors provide you with the tools and expertise you need to do incredible things. because we believe there's an innovator in all of us.

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>> -- is impassable in most areas, while mains may have a lane open for emergency traffic or two, most secondaries as well as side streets have not been touched yet. this is primarily because the efforts were going towards opening up areas around hospitals, around nursing homes, around other emergent care locations. we also were assisting in life-saving response, so highlifts were going out with ambulances so save lives. i will give you an example of that. an individual woman who was able to get to ecmc, who was going through a complicated pregnancy, could not be handled at ecmc, needed to go to a children's hospital. we had one of our county contracted highlifts leading the way, making an area that was otherwise impassable passable to the children's hospital. i have the very good news to

report that the pregnancy went well and the baby was born safely. example of the work that's being done. life safety was the first and primary issue that we've been dealing with. most abandoned cars in the city have unfortunately not yet been towed. there are cars everywhere. everywhere. pointing in the wrong direction on roads. they have basically been plowed in, they need to be dug out and towed and it's going to take time to clear those. while some have been towed, not every one. tractor-trailers as well, there's tractor-trailers, there's abandoned buses on roads. so it's a very, very tenuous situation still in the city. the suburbs are better, but there's still a driving ban, not just in buffalo, but also in a.m. hers, clarence, evans, hamburg, west seneca and the city ofwanna. they are all in agreement the driving ban will not be lifted anytime soon. expect the driving ban to be in

effect for those communities through the daylight hours at least. that is because conditions are bad. main roads may be open but they are for emergency travel only. unfortunately we still have a lot of travel of individuals who do not appear to be doing anything other than joy riding or going to a friend's house. they are not emergency personnel. i spoke to individuals today, including supervisor brine culpa who said that the amherst pd are going to go out and stop people at intersection, see if they have emergency travel authorization and if they don't they will ticket them and send them them back on their way. police have been working around the clock on life-saving measures, they have not been going out there ticketing people, but though they're going to because truthfully you are harming our ability to recover and you may be the reason that we are not able to get an ambulance to a location because cars are still getting stuck out there. conditions are bad, especially after the snow that fell in the overnight hours.

some neighborhoods in these towns do have snow removed, but others do not or it's too dangerous because they still do not have it curb to curb and they have 8 to 10 foot drifts -- >> you're listening there to an update from buffalo, new york, on that history and deadly storm. we know that the death toll right now standing at 17, a sheriff there in the last hour telling us he does -- once they do more welfare checks -- expect that number to rise. we are hearing from county executives urging everywhere to stay off the roads there in buffalo. some of them more passable now it sounds like, but they are still working to just get first responders able to get around and do the work that so desperately needs to be done. we're going to take a quick break. we will be right back. will you make something better? create something new? our dell technologies advisors can provide e you with the tools and expertise you need to briring out the innovator in you. dry skin is sensitive skin, too. and it's natural. treat it that way with aveeno® daily moisture. formulated with noishing, prebiotic oat.

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new york republican congressman-elect george santos says he will address the public this week over allegations he fabricated part of his resumé. he has come under scrutiny in a "new york times" article that claimed parts of his biography were fake. cnn went on to confirm those details and added inconsistencies about his claim his grandparents were holocaust survivors. cnn correspondent athena jones is in new york following the latest on this. what is santos saying ahead this have official response that he's promised? >> reporter: good morning, jessica. he is not saying much, just that he's going to say something, we don't yet know what day it's going to be. he put out a tweet late last week saying to the people of new york 3, the district that he won, i have my story to tell and it will be told next week. i want to ensure everyone that i will address your questions and i will remain committed to deliver the results i campaigned on. public safety, inflation, education and more. but here is the deal, santos has a lot to answer for. he has been accused of

misrepresenting his biography, his resumé, reported in the "new york times" and cnn has found multiple discrepancies and inconsistencies he needs to explain. during the campaign santos repeatedly referred to himself as a latino jew or half jewish. he said his grandparents fled ukraine during the holocaust and changed their names, converted to catholicism to survive. he said he had degrees from baruch college in new york and an mba from nyu and had worked at citi group and goldman sachs. there are no records of any of this and santos has not provided any. in fact, cnn's reporting shows there are indications that both of his parents -- grandparents were born in brazil, not ukraine. these are issues that raise a legal and ethical question and some are calling for an investigation. dan goldman who is a congressman-elect, another incoming congressman in new york wants the eastern district to new york to investigate santos for at least two potential

federal crimes, conspiracy to defraud the united states by spreading false information, disinformation and filing false at the same times to the federal election commission. goldman said that the republican party leadership needs to respond to this and say whether they think santos is fit to join their caucus. kevin mccarthy so far has not given any response. >> no response from republican house leadership. athena jones, thanks so much for that reporting. i want to bring in molly ball, national political correspondent for "time." always great to see you and have you on. we know that kevin mccarthy is not responding to questions about santos right now. he's working to become speaker with this very small majority that they have, four seats, santos, of course, helping to give them that victory to take back the house. what do you think happens to carlos santos? -- sorry, to george santos. excuse me. >> george santos, yeah. great to be here. i think it depends a lot on what he has to say this week and i think a lot of republicans in both new york and washington are

really sort of on tenterhooks to see whether or how he can provide any sort of explanation for, you know, his pretty much totally made up resumé, it seems, you know. he has not elaborated as athena was saying on what the contents of that explanation will be that he promised in that tweet last thursday. kevin mccarthy is busy trying his hardest he can to get those votes to become speaker so he really feels like he has bigger fish to fry and would prefer not to be dealing with this. so the republicans in washington there have been some republicans, you know, locally who have called on him to provide some sort of explanation but republicans in washington have pretty much ignored this story, feeling like they really wish they didn't have to deal with it. >> right. and i want to talk a little bit about the january 6th committee, we know one member of that committee is saying that the next priority should be electoral college reform. we can listen to that. >>. 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 are opportunities for a lot of strategic mischief. >> and we know that in the big spending package there was reform to the electoral count act, which is different than from jamie raskin is talking about there but goes hand in hand with it. do you think there is enough support in a republican house to address electoral college reform at this point? >> well, the short answer is no, but the longer answer is i am actually -- i've been surprised that there haven't been more democrats raising this issue about the electoral college in the nearly two years since january 6th or even, you know, since the 2016 and 2020 elections, both of which, you know, were complicated by the

electoral college. you did have a lot of republicans using the possibility of some kind of electoral college reform or elimination as part of their rationale for supporting the electoral count act, saying if we don't get behind this relatively modest reform to the way presidential elections are conducted at the federal level, that we fear that liberals are going to start going after the constitution, but it would take in all likelihood a constitutional amendment and that is why you haven't heard more emphasis on trying to reform or abolish the electoral college, which i think would be quite unpopular if you were to poll it with the american people, but which isn't really an issue on a lot of people's radar and because it's such a high bar to amend the constitution isn't something that any kind of, you know, democratic or liberal political an rat tus has really put a lot of effort into tackling. >> right. it's a huge, huge, huge undertaking. molly ball for us, great to see you. thanks so much. >> thanks for having me. still ahead this morning police across the country warn

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the holiday season highlighting a surge in retail theft across the country and in many cases the suspects are getting more violent. scran -- vanessa yurkevich reporting. a run for money during peak season. this man seen openly dragging $5,000 worth of merchandise out of the front door of a burlington coast factory in florida. >> we laughed in our face and laughed in the employees face and they have no regard. >> reporter: break-ins in at walmart and jewelry stores and a toys for tots warehouse. as retail theft has become more violent this year with 80% of retailers reporting more aggressive incidents. >> is it becoming more dangerous now? >> yeah, it is definitely -- the

suspects are becoming more violent. whatever product is that they're seeking, they're going to get it and those that step in their way could be harm and they have been harmed. >> reporter: and for some small business owners it is getting worse. 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 jean said her store was broken into not one once, but twice in ten days. >> the first time was shocking, the second time was even just more devastating to me. sfwl sfwl >> reporter: she estimates the thieves took and damaged 40,000 dorls worth of sneakers during the busiest season of the year. >> as far as damage to the winder windows and the store, about $5,000 worth of damage

which is a huge setback for a small business. >> reporter: but isolated smash-and-grab theft is just the tip of the iceberg. organizer retail crime rings is what law enforcement are offer. these networks can make millions off stolen goods. >> how big of an operation is this really? >> it is huge. just like i get up every day and go to work and these people get up every day with a mission to steal. >> reporter: the industry theft is a large part of the $100 billion in last product. retail from walmart and target are sounding the alarm. >> theft is an issue. if that is not corrected over time, prices will be higher. >> we expect it will reduce our gross margin by for man $600,000 for the full year. >> reporter: some of the very products stolen from store shelves eventually make their way back and into customers' hands. >>s it aworks through commerce,

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it is the top of the hour. 10:00 a.m. here in washington, d.c. i'm jessica dean. jim sciutto is off today. we're going to start in western new york where the governor said that a historic blizzard has turned into a, quote, crisis of epic proportions. driving bans still in place this morning in several cities including buffalo. and as they try to dig out, 200