on the line but also moments of humanity when we see representative susan wilde who thinks she's going to have a heart attack locked in the balcony of the house chamber and suddenly somebody puts their hand her shoulder saying we're going to be okay, representative jason crowe and putting his hand on her shoulder saying we're going to be okay. >> thank you very much for the way you're telling this story. the documentary is "january the 6th." you can stream it all on discovery plus next thursday. >> and "cnn this morning" will continue right now. good morning, everyone. we're glad you're with us. it is 8 a.m. eastern. i'm poppy harlow. kaitlan collins, it is december

28th. welcome to "cnn this morning." >> southwest airlines now facing federal scrutiny as thousands of passengers remain stranded, some for more than a week. southwest today has already cancelled 60% of their flights and the ceo now issuing this video apology. >> i want everyone who is dealing with the problems we've been facing, whether you haven't been able to get where you needed to go or you're one of our employees, to understand that we're doing everything that we can to return to normal operations and also hear i'm truly sorry. >> the supreme court has decided to keep in place the border restriction known as title 42 and the legal challenges the court will hear in february, it

now could be months that the migrants desperately seeking asylum could get the way to enter the united states legally. >> and it's revealed that former white house aide cassidy hutchison said she saw mark meadows burning documents in his office about a dozen times. she also told the committee there were several discussions in the white house involving qanon conspiracies. >> and russian forces have killed thousands of ukrainian forces. on tuesday they destroyed a maternity ward in kherson fortunately after doctors delivered two babies. fortunately no one was killed in the attack. >> a woman from buffalo, new

york jumps into action and uses facebook live to get a man the medical attention he needed. we'll be talking to her just ahead. >> we begin with the major melt down still under way at southwest airlines as the airline comes under federal scrutiny. more than 2,500 flights have already been cancel today as thousands of passengers are trying to figure out how they're going to get to their destination and where their baggage is. >> meltdown is the right word. this is an unacceptable situation. you look at the number of passengers stranded and how hard it is even to get someone on the phone to address it. southwest is unable to locate where their own crews are, let alone passengers and baggage. the ceo pledged they will not only meet but exceed the

standards and commitments that they've made in the past and that we're in a position it enforce. nick, atlanta has experienced a lot of after-effects from this meltdown. what else are you seeing? >> reporter: more and more cancellations today. the cascade of cancellations continues for one more day. we'll want to look at some of the numbers here. the meltdown has created, according to their data, 15,000 flights have been cancelled and as of wednesday morning, 62% from been cancelled, amounting to more than 2,500 flights. yesterday the ceo issued an

apology saying this issue was really caused by a myriad of factors including antiquated technology systems, shortage of staff as well as winter storms. this is the southwest airline flight line today. it's not many people. it punctuates how many flights have been cancelled. for those that have been scheduled on flights that have been schedule to take off on time today, they're not yet breathing a sigh of relief. this family says they won't be happy until they're scheduled to take off on time. i spoke earlier to a woman who didn't want to go on camera tell me she slept in the atlanta airport for the last two days, she's trying to make it back to columbus, ohio. she said southwest has not given

her a refund for her nantucket a -- ticket and she doesn't have money to get back home. >> it's expensive to get your flight cancelled. thank you. >> we still see the bags behind you, so many. what are you seeing? >> bags on top of bags on top of bags and you see staff here trying to do something about that. i did some ear hustle, aka eavesdropping being and i did hear somebody say we have got to get these bags organized better. it seems they're organized by destination. there is a sign that says

hawaii. there were more bags over here yesterday. there's another sign that says witch saw. an wichita. yesterday there was an announcement over the p.a. telling passengers if mid way was not their final destination, the crew would not pull bags. instead those bags here would continue to their final destination. we spoke to a young lady traveling from las vegas to chicago, she said she was stranded. finally when she arrived back here in chicago, she waited in behind two hours to retrieve her luggage. listen in. >> you find your bag and then the lord just took me on up there and found them, girl. >> where was it? >> they're just out everywhere. they're all -- i had to walk and i said, lord, i know they're here and i got all four bags.

>> four bags. we did see her walking around searching for the bags. meanwhile we talked to other travelers who have been waiting 14 hours for their luggage. saying "pack your patience" has a whole new meaning for a lot of folks in the middle of this shutdown. >> denver's airport has cancelled more flights in the last two days than any other airport in the united states. southwest customers have been told more than 20,000 bags remain unclaimed. one traveler in the city approaching the turbulent situation with a bit of humor writing a sign why is covid

better than southwest? because it's airborne. joining us is the director of communications for the denver international airport. alex, i'm going to guess you did not write that sign but you've been dealing with so much of the fallout of this, so have your colleagues. 90% of the flights in denver are southwest flights, we are told. you said to us throughout the storm all six of your runways remained open. you said your team can clear a runway in 15 minutes or less. are you saying the cancellations you've seen had nothing to do with the storm at that came across the united states? >> well, there's no real way to know. our delay and cancellation database doesn't say whether it's the maintenance of a flight or whether it's weather delay or maybe a staffing issue. however, we did see due to those extremely frigid temperatures,

lots of our airlines were having issues and right now we're seeing the ripple effects of that, especially with our partners at southwest. >> you're the director of communications. have you ever seen anything like this before? >> the only thing remotely close of the bomb cyclone. do you remember that? >> yes. >> yes, we had lots of slumber parties at the airport but this is beyond that. >> the baggage is the issue that seems to be the big fallout, the next hurdle you have to deal with. what's the plan to try to process all of that? >> so the airport has given space to the airlines that have lots of luggage, including southwest and that's where they're organizing. so they're figuring out process and we're supporting them with that. you know, our hope is that we can get folks to where they need to go.

the holidays are over. people need to get back to work. >> do you have a sense how long it will take to get this many customers reunited with this much baggage? >> we don't. but we're supporting southwest in any way we consideration including what do we need to do? do we need to move that luggage else somewhere? we're working on that. >> how has it changed airport operations? i imagine restaurants and stores having to stay open later than they typically are. what kind of an impact has it had on airport employees? >> absolutely. that's a great question. a lot of staff have sacrificed their own holiday time so we could extend our hours with our shops and restaurants and also with our emergency teams who packed up late-night gifts to passengers and passed out snacks and water. it was a team evident that required folks to sacrifice a little bit of personal time. >> you talked about how the airport is working with southwest to ease the pain

customers have been feeling. the ceo of southwest is apologizing to those who booked flights with southwest. do you think southwest has done enough to address concerns that flyers have? >> this is something that we haven't seen before and i think it's a really good lived experience that we're all going to learn from and how can we move forward together as one big air network. as you know, once things happen in the air, it affects all of our airports and all of our airlines. >> the directioor of communications for denver international airport. thank you for joining us. you have so much going on. >> she has great attitude dealing with all of that. >> the challenges are far from

over. for people living in buffalo, new york, the death toll there is higher as authorities are checking homes and cars for people stranded. at least 31 have died in eerie county as the city of buffalo tries to dig out of nearly 52 inches of snow. a very sad morning again as these numbers go higher, athena. >> reporter: good morning. we just got word that there are another seven deaths. we are specking another briefing at about 10 a.m. at least the temperature is rising. i'm not a weatherman but this is 32 degrees, it's freezing and it's only supposed to go above freezing in the coming days. that is something that should

help somewhat with the clean-up that still continues. some city services are coming back. the mayor tweeting earlier about several bus lines are going to be open, rail lines opening at 11, but there is still a lot of work to do. you can see behind me snow piled up on each side of the street. you probably can't make it out down the block, there's a man blowing the snow down the block. we saw yesterday huge piles of snow blocking doors to various buildings, whether they were businesses and homes and cars buried in feet of snow. we know some of the people who have lost their lives in this terrible storm were found in vehicles, trapped in vehicles. that is going to be something that authorities are going to be out looking for. they said the last couple of days have been focused on making sure they can clear at least one lane of traffic on every single street in the entire city of buffalo in order to make sure

major operations can function. among those dead are people who suffered a delay in emergency services getting to them. and they want to make sure grocery stores can reopen, like tops and wegman's, can still get supplies coming in on truck. the focus will be on searching these cars and checking on people's homes and clearing the roads. part of that is because as we get closer to the end of the week, temperatures are supposed to get to the 50s. that could cause a lot of snow melt if the knsnow hasn't been cleared. they're strategically moving the snow in order to avoid flooding. the good news is the snow has stopped after another inch and a half yesterday and four feet of snow has fallen this week from that storm. >> they have so much work ahead of them.

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consent with justice brown jackson. he goes on "we are not a court of law. we are a court of law, not policy makers of last resort. president biden responding to the ruling saying his administration's hands are tied. here's what he said. >> the court is not going to decide until a new term. >> so let's talk about this with the deputy director of the aclu immigrant rights council who took this to the high court. i think gorsuch's dissent is

interesting. >> in fact, the states went to the supreme court and didn't even argue that this was necessary for covid. just as a border management tool and i think the justice was absolutely right. if you want to talk about revising the asylum policies at the border, we can talk about that and we're in favor of putting in a fair system but you can't continue to misuse the public health laws. >> what's the next step here? >> the next step is we'll go to the supreme court and we're hopefully we'll win but ultimately the merits of title 42 will not be there so ultimately this needs to end. title 42 does not allow you to federa even if you present yourself

legally. there is really harm going on. mothers and fathers are being picked back across the bridge in mexico holding their children's hands into the mexican cartel. there are thousands of documented cases of rape, torture, persecution, even death. this is horrific what's happening and there's no longer any public health justification. if you want to debate border management policy, debate that but let's not misuse a public health law. >> and it's accurate that congress hasn't addressed this since 1986, during the reagan administration. the republican-led states, 19 who have prevailed for now, quote, the greatly increased number of migrants will necessarily increase state's law enforcement and education and health care costs. they're saying we can't bear the

costs of this. how do you think you prevail when the court hears this out more fully. >> i hope hopefully the courts will say what justice gorsuch says. the policy was not intended to regulate the border. i think people are overstating what's happening at the border. if you close the border, of course there will be a temporary influx of people but ultimately it will even out and the federal government has more than enough reach sources to deal with this. >> is there a plan to use it? >> i think they do have a plan but i think title 42 is exacting a as cr as a crutch.

we saw the ukrainians processing 100,000 people. we can do this. it's sort of where there's a will, there's a way kind of thing. i think there's no question they can do it. i think the ngos in other states around the country can help but we can't have a system where there's zero asylum. >> and you are obviously not in support of title 42, which means that people seeking asylum can just get rejected and pushed back. >> exactly. >> but what do you make of the biden administration that in the campaign in the early days was all about repealing it, then changed when many more migrants were coming over the border and wanted it and now back? >> we're happy that the biden administration was on our side in this battle but ultimately the biden administration has not been great and the border and that's troubling. i think at the end of the day we have to have some asylum system, unless you're in favor of no one

getting asylum, no matter how much danger they're in, even if the persecution is racial, religious, political, you can't keep title 42. the other thing i would stress is this is a system in place to move people out quickly, that it at least gives people an asylum hearing. it called expedited removal. if you don't apply for asylum, you can be out in hours. if you apply for a hearing, it could be -- >> we're in favor of having a more efficient system but the initial screening is very quick. that can be done in a week. if you don't have a credible claim, you're gone. it's only people with credible claims that's put into the larger system. let's reform the larger system. >> what should the biden

officials do differently? >> i think put more border officers at the border. i think congress needs to put more resources in. it's all about these families. if you would see these families at the border answered know cnn has been down there all the time, these families walk over the border and they just sit down with their little children wanting to apply for asylum. they're not bringing drugs, they're not a danger. let's move some of the entorzment resources into processing cases. >> thank you so much for being with us. >> thanks for covering this. >> of course we will. >> next up, explosive testimony from the january 6th committee, cas cassie hutchinson and her boss who was burning documents in his fireplace during the very sensitive times of the trump administration. we'll talk to a colleague of

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this morning we're getting new insight into what happened during the final days inside the trump white house. former aide cassidy hutchinson said she witnessed mark meadows burn documents in his fireplace in his office around a dozen times between december 2020 and mid january 2021 when trump actually left office. hutchinson told the committee throughout the day he would put more logs on the fireplace to keep it burning and recalled rough a dozen times when he

would throw a few more pieces of paper in with it. hutchinson instructed some to keep meetings closed. some of the meetings were off the books. journi jo joining us is former press secretary sarah matthews. we should note you resigned after what happened on january 6th. are you surprised to hear what your colleague testified about mark meadows burning documents in his office? >> it doesn't surprise me. he was consistently one of the biggest enablers of trump and just hearing from folks that i worked with who were often in the room with him when he was with president trump, he usually didn't push back on trump. so it doesn't surprise me to hear he wasn't acting in accordance with the law. >> can you remind viewers what

kind of chief of staff mark meadows was. you said he was a huge enabler of trump. what was it like working underneath him? >> yeah, i think i consistently felt like that he didn't necessarily look out for the staff and that his biggest concern was just protecting his own reputation or protecting himself in the eyes of the former president and trying to always make sure that he was ap appeasing former president trump and staying on his good side. >> in the white house you have to preserve those documents. you can't throw them away like you would a regular piece of paper in your home and in accordance with the presidential records act. >> correct, yes. all of the white house staff were aware of this, something they tell you on day one and they show you the bags that you would place documents in that needed to be burned if they were

sensitive material, but that was only if they were copies. one of the things with the presidential records act is if they were the original copy, that is not something you can dispose of. that's what will be interesting to learn is were those documents that mark meadows was burning in his fireplace original copies and what was the nature of those documents. >> and another revelation from the transcripts that we got yesterday was from judd deer who said in the week after the election he heard gossip around the building, meaning the west wing, that trump was considering conceding and strongly considering inviting the president-elect and the incoming first lady to the white house. had you ever heard that gossip when you were there? >> i hadn't heard that gossip necessarily, but i had heard

some gossip in terms of behind closed doors and private meetings president trump would admit to staff that he had lost. he would kind of slip up and acknowledge the incoming administration and things like that. so it seems like in those weeks after the election, he was aware that he had lost but then as the weeks went on, he clearly didn't want to leave the white house. so he started pursuing any theory he could, even if there wasn't evidence to support those theories. >> and how did that change the attitudes of your colleagues who were working there, who they had, by the way, acknowledged that he lost the election, yeah, we're going to be leaving the white house come january. what was it like? how did staff and your fellow colleagues react to seeing trump act in that manner? >> a lot of people were disappointed. his obsession with trying to

overturn the lebs and not being able to accept the fact he lost started to put a shadow on all of the accomplishments he had done over the last four years and so a lot of the staff was encouraging him to focus on touting his accomplishments and highlighting his legacy in those final weeks of his administration, but obviously he chose to not do that and chose to sole live focus on trying to overturn the election and that was disappointing for a lot of folks, myself included, and so i think then on january 6th when hele f failed to act and was kif inciting an insurrection, i ultimately chose to resign because i was disappointed with his behavior on election day and on january 6th itself. >> and there was testimony inside the west wing about qanon, lawmakers like marjorie taylor green discussing qanon

supporters coming to support him on january 6th. what had you heard about those conversations, if anything? >> i hadn't heard anything specifically relating to qanon. i knew marjorie taylor green was visiting the white house and having more close contact with the president as she was about to become a congresswoman in that following congress, but i think that it just shows that in those final weeks of his administration, he started to listen more closely to people who were feeding him things that he wanted to hear and conspiracy theories and stopped listening to the better advice and counsel of some people who were trying to tell him there was no evidence of the election being stolen. >> sara matthews, thank you for joining us. >> thank you so much. well, doctors in ukraine are delivering babies moments before a russian air strike hits their maternity ward. we'll have live reporting from

the ground next. before we begin,

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you can see the vatican there. this comes as this morning we are learning retired pope benedict is, quote, very sick. that's pope francis asking for prayers for his predecessor. delia gallagher joins us from rome. what are you hearing on his condition? >> well, caitlin, it was a surprise this morning when appropriation francis asked for priors for pope benedict. >> translator: i want to ask you for a special prayer for pope emeritus benedict who sustains the church in his silence.

>> just after that, the vatican issued a statement saying in the last few hours his health had deteriorated due to his age and pope francis went to visit the pope emeritus just after making those comments. that is all we have at the moment except to say that the vatican would not be making this public were it not serious. we are standing by for updates and we'll have those for you as soon as we get them. >> relentless shelling has hit a hospital maternity ward where five women had just given birth and they completed a caesarean section. this is not the first time a maternity ward has been targeted and hit.

what do you know? >> reporter: that was just one strike of many on the city of kherson, which was liberated since the 11th of november. it has been since relentlessly pounded. last night 50 separate strikes on the city itself. in addition to that maternity ward in the hospital, there were strikes on a bakery, kindergarten and residential apartment buildings as well. and really since right before christmas on the 24th of december, there was a massive russian barrage on that city which killed at least ten people and more than 50 others. and in fact, the bombardment on kherson over the last 24 hours is actually lower than the average, which by cnn's count is runnin

running at about 60 to 70 a day. poppy? >> we appreciate the reporting. glad you're on the ground. >> coming up, a woman pleaded on facebook live to get man that she saved on the street during the freezing winter storm the medical attention he so desperately needed. she's going to join us live next. up do not want to miss this. >> joe ready to go. he needs to go because he needs medical attention! he needs medical attention! . e had enough. she took mucinex instasoothe sore throat lozenges. show your sore thrhroat who's boss. mucinex instasoothe. works in seconds, lasts for hohours.

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i've called the national guard. i have called 911. i've called everybody. agents keep telling me i'm on a list. i don't want to be on a list. i don't care about nothing else. this man is not about to die here on 9/11. this man needs help. >> this is a buffalo resident who is being hailed as a hero. she was at home with her boyfriend on christmas eve as a deadly winter storm was battering western new york when she heard a cry for help. it was 64-year-old joe white, who goes by joey, and is developmentally disabled and lives in a group home. he found himself caught in the storm outside of autrey's home

after his sister believes he tried to walk home in blizzard conditions. when she found him, he was in pain, understandably scared and showing signs of frostbite. she brought him inside and got off his clothes and began warming him up with a hair dryer. after her calls went unheeded, she knew he needed serious medical condition. >> he had this bag on his hands. it was frozen to his hands, okay? i cut it off. after i cut it off, when i cut it off, his hands, i turned around and i had to blow dry the ice off of him. >> after that, neighbors came over to help plow the snow. they wrapped joey in a blanket. she rode with him to the

hospital. >> thank you to y'all very much. i'm right here. you okay? i love you, too, sweetie. nothing's going to happen. just breathe, breathe. >> he remains in icu this morning. he has fourth degree frostbite. his sister, who is grateful for autrey's help says -- yvonne will join us here this morning. we're soautry. sha'carri you are a hero for saving him. i want you to recount what it was like to find him and bring someone that is a stranger to you into your home as this storm was under way. >> it was very -- it was very devastating. very devastating. heartbreaking to see someone to helpless and just needed some help. >> and you made him pancakes, right? tell us what it was like. >> yes, he actually woke me up on christmas morning, i told him the day before christmas i said,

joey, looks like if you're going to wake up with me on christmas. he said to me, okay. can i get a bruce lee shirt? i said, yep, we can. so christmas morning happened and i heard, hey, hey. i'm like, yeah. he was like are you going to make my pancakes? i said, yeah, i will make you pancakes. >> the ultimate caregiver. >> can you tell us, yvonne, how your brother is doing? how is joey doing? >> i spoke to the hospital probably about 35 minutes ago. at this point he's sleeping, so obviously i didn't want to wake him up, i will call him in a little bit, but he's still the same, they're still watching him, fourth degree burns. his voice, i spoke to him yesterday, he's very weak. he sounds very sad, but guess what he wanted to do, my dear, facetime. so i told him when i go there i will check his phone because i just got him a new phone a little while ago and we will see if we can hook that up so we can

talk to everybody and see everybody. he's sad and he's scared. >> oh. >> i know. i hate to hear that. he's been through so much. luckily sha'kyra was there to help him. are you worried what would have happened to your brother had sha'kyra not about there to help? >> petrified. honestly, honestly, i'm sure he would have perished. like i told joey, we gained a family. i'm looking at my sister. i'm looking at trent who is my brother and now i'm thrilled because i have three nephews, and that's -- that's how i feel because this woman just -- just what she did, above and beyond for a stranger, what she did is just heart warming and it makes me cry. i mean, both of us were crying for two days. >> yes, we were. >> i think we -- we in the media and just a lot of people talk about how divided this country

is and it is. but let's not forget folks like you and shakira, what you did. i think we would like to say i would do the same. i don't know. i don't know if i would. where did that come from in you? >> paying it forward. how i was raised. my family always taught me to have compassion and that's what i did. i just had to jump in. i just had to jump in and do what i can do and i tried to as long as, you know, to help them come to me, me and -- me and his sister just, you know, we bonded over the time throughout the course of the time of being with me. i made sure to make her at ease, to make him feel comfortable, i sent her multiple pictures, we called, we facetimed. the very first time we facetimed he did not understand. he said, hey, what is that? what are you doing? i was like it's facetime. he was so surprised. he couldn't understand it. throughout the time my family, my little cousins, my children,

because everybody was stranded, we all facetimed them and i let them know, we would say, hey, guys, here is joey. he would smirk and he would smile and everybody said, hi, joey. we just immediately brought him in like family. i would do it 100 more times no matter what the situation was. i'm glad i was able to have power, i'm glad i had food, i'm glad i had heat. i'm just so thankful that i was able to give back and actually pay it forward, you know, to him, to his family, to show other people, you know, we have to work together. regardless of the color that we are, regardless of the age, just jump in and just do it. just do it. i'm just so glad that joey at least know his sister's phone number. because when he started saying phone numbers i didn't know it was real but when i called it and when i called it the first time she didn't answer but when she answered the second time it was like a weight lifted off of our shoulders immediately and we began to start working together

because outside of that it was just me and my family working together. so i would do it again and i'm so grateful i was able to save his life. i'm grateful that trent was able to pick him up and bring him in here. my father encouraging this, like i said, at least it was like maybe we can put him in a vehicle but he needed more. he needed more than that. we had to help him and i'm so grateful that we did and i just hope other people in other areas that they have a devastating storm or anything, if you see something, help somebody. you know, this wasn't even about my life, it was truly about him. i just wanted to do the right -- >> sha'kyra, do you feel like you've gained another family member in all of this? >> for sure. for sure. that's uncle joey. >> uncle joey. >> joey is going to hold you to that, my dear. he's going to hold you to that. >> i know. >> he said these are my best friends, yvonne.

>> i just got a text from a friend who is trying, you're bringing people to tears. second of all, you know there's got to be a reunion of all of you. >> for sure. >> we want to be there. cnn wants to be there. >> yes. >> okay? >> yes. >> i believe something is in the works. >> what did you say, yvonne? >> i believe something is in the works, but we're trying to work it out because, i tell you, the first thing i'm going to do is give my sister a hug. >> yes. >> and i know it's going to be heart felt. we're very similar. we're very similar and that's the sweetest part, our favorite movie is "pay it forward" and we love the disney channel. you don't find people like that that often. >> you don't. you don't find people like either of you. we just -- we love this story and the minute we saw it we were so grateful to the local buffalo outlet that picked it up first and we are so grateful that you guys came on to share it. sha'kyra, we are so grateful for you, for what you did. i mean, it's an amazing show of

what people can be like when they are their best selves. so thank you both for being here. we're rooting for joey, we hope that he recovers and he's back soon and you can all be together. >> and we will see you at the reunion. >> okay. >> if disney is listening i think y'all deserve a trip to, you know, disney world on them. thank you. >> well, i mean, we -- >> thank you. >> there is -- we are taking cards for joey at dcmc. >> okay. keep us posted on how he is doing. >> okay. hon. thanks. >> thank you both for being with us. >> well, that's a way to end it, right? i'm so glad she found this story, by the way. >> i love this story. >> good job. >> good things come from twitter sometimes. >> thank you for joining us this morning. "cnn newsroom" starts right after this break. we will see you tomorrow. triedg with it, everybody. now i sleep with inspire. inspire? no mask? no hosose? just sleep. learn more, and view important sasafety informatin at inspiresleep.p.com

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