2023. one-party rule in washington is ending and accountability is coming. >> the question is, but will he lead those efforts? good morning, everyone. kaitlan is off and on assignment. poppy is here. good to see you. >> good morning. >> good morning, how are you doing? >> good. good. new year. >> yeah. >> getting back in the swing of things. >> we're a little rusty after the holidays. >> house republican leader kevin

mccarthy is scrambling to gain the votes he needs to be speaker even after making major concessions this weekend, it still might not be enough. the suspect in the machete attack on three police officers in times square,vestigators dis handwritten diary. what it says. plus this. eight and a half years for the organizer to kidnap and kill me, that's a significant sense. >> we have gretchen whitmer's reaction to the sentences handed to the man who plotted to kidnap her. hear what she told our own kaitlan collins. let's begin in washington. house republican leader kevin mccarthy will be taking the race for speaker to the floor officially tomorrow in what could be the most dramatic house speaker election. he's made a number of concessions so try to get the number of votes to succeed nancy

pelosi. will we see the first floor fight as it's called in 100 years. let's turn to harry inton. what do you think? >> let's talk math. right now the gop's 2023 majority is 222, seats majority of house seats is 218. so the gop votes mccarthy can lose is four. he can lose four. so let's look at his math problem, right. he can only afford to lose four republicans. there are five hard-line republicans against him. there are another nine who are unsatisfied with his compromises. right now the total against him is 14 or more and he can only afford to lose four republicans. so right now that math isn't there. and you know, we look essentially at what he has agreed to do so far. this is one of the things he's agreed to do.

agreed to reduce the threshold for the motion to vacate the speak ership. the current rule is majority of the majority party, over 110 votes for the motion to vacate. one change he's agreed to, as few as five. >> lauren boebert, for example, wants it to be one needed. i don't think our voters know what it is. what is it? >> the idea you can get rid of the speaker. it's basically the motion to get rid of the speaker, get the thing going on the floor, it's a parliamentary procedure. but this isn't important in so far as what it could mean for kevin mccarthy in terms of getting him out. because you can get him out whether he gets to the majority. he's speaking to the fact he's having a difficult time securing the votes in order to become the speaker in the house of representatives. >> what happened 100 years ago?

>> well, essential -- well, what i will say is, essentially what we have essentially seen is -- i want to jump actually five years ago -- >> okay. >> excuse me, seven years ago. i want to jump to -- mccarthy has been here before. he's been at this point. >> with paul ryan. >> he couldn't get the votes. and this time his math is more difficult, he has a smaller majority now, 222 than back then at 245. but as you pointed out the gop had a more popular alternative, paul ryan. this speaks to the problem if it's not kevin mccarthy, who the heck is it? the real issue is when we talk about speakers and talk about can they put together that majority, what we know is how big is the potential first-time speaker's majority. look how low kevin mccarthy's

is, 222. the smallest majority since 1931 for a potential first-time speaker. so he has much smaller room for error. you spoke about paul ryan, 245. that's way, way more. >> it also doesn't have to be a member of the house. >> it doesn't. >> i know that's crazy. but it doesn't. >> we'll see what happens. but the fact is kevin mccarthy still has a lot of problems. >> thanks for the math help, harry. this morning, president biden facing a new year with a new divided government, planning to kick things off with a message of partnership as he's joined by republicans to tout the massive $1.2 trillion infrastructure law that he signed in 2021. arlette saenz is live in st. croix where biden is about to wrap up his vacation. look at it, it's so gorgeous there. an optimistic live shot, assignment because it's so beautiful there. but an optimistic message.

will biden be able to navigate a gop house? >> reporter: you know, we've been lucky to spend the past week here in the virgin islands and president biden is preparing to head back to the new political reality in washington. an era of divided government. but for his part he wants to show that he is willing to work with republicans and across the aisle to get things done in washington. and that is why he is going to try to show case the bipartisan push when he travels to kentucky on wednesday. there he will be joined by republican senate minority leader, mitch mcconnell and ohio's republican governor, mike dewine. they'll be there to tout the infrastructure law passed last year and how the funding helps a bridge connecting kentucky and ohio, it k078s as he's trying to make this bipartisan push. in biden's world this is how government would work, republicans and democrats

cooperating to pass legislation. but he's fully cognizant of the republican resistance that lies ahead specifically in the house as republicans are set to take control there tomorrow. >> is biden playing up this whole bipartisan thing for voters closer to an announcement in 2024, do you think? >> reporter: you know, this bipartisan push is as much a practical one about getting things done in washington as it is a political one. biden and his advisers long felt talking about bipartisanship is something that will resonate with voters, particularly independent voters who might be frustrated with the division they've been seeing in washington. it was a hallmark of his 2020 campaign and likely to be another hallmark as he's potentially readying for another run. advisers say that decision will be coming in in the next few months. >> thank you, arlette. appreciate it. new this morning we have details about the 19-year-old suspect in the new year's eve machete attack. this happened right near times square, the incident leaving

three nypd officers injured. law enforcement tells cnn the suspect also carried a handwritten diary in which he wrote about his desire to join the taliban in afghanistan and desire to die as a martyr. john miller is here. it's terrifying. they work so hard to protect and fortify times square for new year's eve and this what's. what do we make of what we know so far? is this potential motive? >> i think based on the diary and based on the travels of trevor bickford, it looks like he intended to go to times square to commit this act, and that he intended to target police. >> listen do they -- we know that nypd is the best at this, best at terrorism and all these attacks. how do you plan for something like this, someone coming to swing a machete at your head, you know? >> it's something that they've seen before. if you go back just a few years

to the thompson case, a guy walking down the street, there's four police officers standing there and he attacks them with a h ha chet. this was another terrorist inspired case. in this case you have a case of a man who takes the train down to maine, on his way to miami, stops in new york, checks into a hotel and shows up in times square with the machete. this is where the system works. you can't get into times square with a backpack, machete, but that doesn't seem to be his intent. the intent seems to be attack police officers on the perimeter. >> yeah. >> so the perimeter and the event and the police were the target. >> now they will be looking into, right, john, was he a so-called lone wolf which dhs has pointed out as one of the number one threats or acting as part of a broader group, right? >> right. and for right now, based on all they know, based on interviews

with people in maine, his family and so on, it appears he's acting alone. it also appears this was a somewhat spontaneous decision because his -- his -- he came with all the luggage for the travels that he had planned to make, which didn't include you know, this stop for an attack in new york city. but on december 30th, you know, nypd sent out a bulletin saying i.s.i.s. and other groups are posting propaganda saying new year's eve is a chance for lone offenders to attack targets in the u.s. you don't know who's on the other end of that propaganda. >> that's right. don't get too comfortable especially when it comes to the terrorist attacks. can we talk about idaho and the killing of those four

university of idaho students. his name is bryan kohberger, he is facing very serious charges after being arrested in pennsylvania. what do you know about -- can you tell us anything about that? how officials tracked him down, what took so long? people have been waiting for -- >> months. >> -- like almost two months? >> so that's not unusual in the cadence of a major homicide case. you start with nothing, you go from the clues, what do the clues give you? dna at the scene, unknown contributors there. how do you figure out who the unknown contributors are? then you get a lead on a white car. then you start to search for who has a white car. you have an individual 15 minutes away at another school who gets in a white car and drives 38 hours across the country with his father. and a tip comes in on a white car. you're able to make that dna match. so sometimes these things are

incredibly rich with a lot of leads that go nowhere. that's what's happening in idaho. then one lead clicks in, pieces fall into place over basically just a number of days. >> did you see this coming? as i was sort of watching, i was away on vacation, people were saying i did not see this coming. >> the arrest? >> yes. >> oh, him. >> the arrest, him, how it all came about, people thought it was possible a random attack. >> i saw it coming, i said it was reporting. if you look at the reporting here, the team on it, veronica and jean and everybody else, you talk about there's going to be a break in the case and it's going to come from the unknown contributors of dna, a tip, a lead, they're going to collide, come up with an answer, so that was the normal part. if you asked me three weeks ago when we were having these discussions would i guess that the accused offender would be a

masters degree student in criminal justice who studied serial killers on his way to a ph.d. at another college where he was going to be the assistant professor in three other classes in the coming semester about killers and murderers and motives, i would have probably said that's the criminal minds primetime tv version but life imitates art, art imitates life and we're seeing elements of that in this terrible tragedy. >> be terrible for these families, these four young victims. >> thank you very much. we have this this morning, new video showing the catastrophic flooding in northern california. thousands of people are gra grappling with power outages and impassable roads after record setting rainfall. watch. >> worked for the fire department for 21 years this is the most significant flooding i have seen in this area in 21

years. >> at least two deaths reported in sacramento, emergency crews rescued multiple flood victims by helicopter. this is highway 101 in the bay area. it is submerged. this was downtown san francisco. almost 6 inches of rain fell there saturday. making it the second wettest day on record for the area. we'll have much much more on this straight ahead. cnn is live on the ground in california. so make sure you stay with us. poppy? the airlines trying to get back to normal, especially southwest hoping to begin the new year with a new, better normal. southwest still recovering from a disastrous week, long holiday travel meltdown that left tens of thousands of customers stranded across the country. let's get to pete muntean live at reagan national airport. a nightmare ended for many southwest travelers. how are things looking overall for the airline industry today? >> reporter: the pressure is

still on airlines, poppy, especially considering the fact that today is supposed to be one of the biggest post christmas days of the holiday travel season. we've seen cancellations pretty small so far today. just checked flight aware, 270 cancellations nationwide, half from southwest, way down from what we saw during the highs of the meltdown last week. look at the board here at reagan fas national airports, almost all flights are on time. now southwest has a chance to prove itself, especially considering so many people are going to be flying today. think about this, travel experts say they have a really big chance to refund people in a quick way, that is priority number one. but also, i want you to listen now to employees who say they know that southwest needs to repair its reputation along with that back end infrastructure that caused the meltdown in the first place. listen. >> i think initially it's going

to cause some damage, of course, a lot of upset people not getting to their christmas plans, one of the most important days of the year. so completely understandable they're going to be upset. i do encourage them though to give us another shot. i think we're going to end up fixing this going forward. you know, it takes a large weather event to make this happen. and the pilots union is going to be pressing the company very hard on making sure things get fixed. >> reporter: one big priority by southwest airlines getting all of these bags back to folks who lost them in the first place. this is the scene right now at reagan national airport. this pile has gone down significantly of lost bags since the start of the meltdown. but still seeing piles across the country, in oakland, el paso and passengers need to get refunded too, so the story is not over just yet, poppy. >> where's your refund, right, pete? >> reporter: where is my refund,

that's right. i had a flight cancel between san francisco and san diego over my holiday break, i was off last week, i submitted it online, southwest southwest.com/traveldisruption. i took a rental car and put in a $300 expense for that. >> we missed you last week, great week to take off mr. transportation correspondent. >> very smart. we both traveled over the last week or two. did you see the luggage just sitting there. >> the sea of orphaned luggage. >> it was unbelievable. hope enveryone gets it back and gets compensated. congressman-elect george santos set to be sworn in to congress tomorrow despite the lies he made about his basically entire background and family. why there's still no response from house republican leadership. plus russian forces starting the new year escalating the

assault on ukraine. how ukrainian officials say they are fighting back. that's straight ahead. wait. you're a night manager and mom and birthday cake baker? so adding “and” student might feel daunting. natitional university is here o support all your “ands.” national university.

he's going to have to consider resigning. he's got two choices, one he can try to politically ride it out, we've seen that happen in washington d.c. or he can take the tougher choice, which i think, look, own every lie that he's made, apologize to everyone and anyone for as long as it takes. >> so that was the outgoing republican congressman kevin brady, not holding back what he thinks about congressman elect george santos what he should do after his web of lies were expose crickets from the house gop leadership. scru scrutiny looming over this, the long list of lies, intensifying

as well as state and federal investigators conduct separate investigations. joining us maggie haberman, errol lewis. as i was off this is the only thing i paid attention to. this is what everybody is talking to. happy new year to you. my one question, how did this happen? >> we're all used to see public officials who shave the truth, lie, and so forth and so on. this is a whole other dimension, a different order of magnitude where he invented everything from his name to -- almost everything, his work life, education life, his mother's life, grandparents' life. all completely invented. it's unusual to run into somebody like that, and we don't have a system, even the informal parts of our system, media vetting, opposition research, party mechanisms and so forth we

don't have mechanisms for catching or trapping something like that because it doesn't happen. >> at the same time usually there's one mechanism that will catch something. there's the media, the rival opponents, the national republicans and local republicans, i don't think that's getting talked enough about, and that's republicans who saw the guy run two years ago, what were they aware of, willing to tolerate in the hopes to see how far it would go in this climate, the other thing we've never seen is silence like this from leadership. as you see kevin mccarthy in his battle to stay alive and become the next speaker he has been incredibly quiet in part because he needs every vote. no reason to believe that santos is not going to get seated, i believe he will get seated and the investigations continue. >> he has to. >> there's no mechanism in the house for getting rid of him. that's something people haven't understood. and there could be a law enforcement effort to get rid of

him and i think we'll see focuses on that, but i can't remember any time where there has been even a fraction of this and leadership has been so quiet in either party. >> this is some of the quietest. as you say, the constitution says if you're 25 years old, you've been in the country as a citizen for 7 years and you live in the state, that's it. and the house doesn't get to pick and choose who gets to stay. >> that's right. but there's also just what's right and what's wrong. and when you speak up when something is so wrong, he took american tragedies like 9/11, like the pulse nightclub shooting, and used them to his benefit to gain sympathy and get elected. i wonder what you think it says about our culture of lying and accepting lies. >> in the old days, poppy, he would have -- don't you think he would have -- >> there would have been more shame. what do you think? >> it's deep in american culture, think about a play like

"the music man" the con man who comings to town and tells everybody what they want to hear, in this case you have this guy, you like pets i have a pet charity that saved 3,000 animals. he doesn't. at one point he's the son of a black father. every piece of voting support he can pick up. >> he's not a jew, he's jewish. >> do you hyphen it? >> we should get used to the idea that these creatures exist, the people who come to town and tell everybody what they want to hear and we have to figure it out. we have a system that the justice system is cranking up. we have an attorney general, federal prosecutors looking into him. the nassau county district attorney saying if any crimes were committed we'll prosecute.

the media is ramping up. it's going to have to catch up with the political system and, you know, in about 24 months at the latest the voters will have a chance to fix it. >> the culture of lying, this is something obvious trump normalized. say what you want, lie about whatever, and just double, triple, quadruple down and refuse to back down. it may work for a lot of people, usually just worked for trump. do you think it's going to work for george santos? >> he's going to be seated and then we'll see what happens with the investigations. errol is right, to make the point, lying is not new in american culture and politics. >> to this extent -- >> not to this extent. i can't think of a precedent for this. i have covered politicians who have lied, lied to me, to voters, padded their resumes, we've never seen something like this. i don't think you would have seen silence like this as you

have pre-trump. i don't think you would have seen this level of sort of just ride it out and see what happens, but everything is about party tribalism now and that's a lot of what we're seeing. >> this is the thing that everybody is talking about. give us more time with the segment. you are a member -- you cover politics in new york. >> yes. >> i live out on long island and the leader on long island did this. covered this story. what happened to the local media that it didn't catch all of these lies or were not interested enough? i don't know. you tell me. >> i asked that very question. there are -- there's at least a paper i believe in oyster bay that did catch some of this and published some of this. but the way things work, it's got to be sort of moved up the chain you know, i mean, i'm based in new york city, spectrum news, a small piece of this district is in new york city so we sort of paid some attention to it. >> queens. >> queens.

but it wasn't our thing. we'll let the newspapers and the folks on long island they'll have the main piece of it. a local paper did, but it didn't get moved up to say, news 12 or whatever the local cable station is. >> news 12. >> and then you have the big new york affiliates covering the metro area, all of new york city, plus a piece of long island. it wasn't anybody in particular's job it was only after "the new york times" focused on it, it just happened to be after the election that you started to get the investigative resources and sort of the breath and the reach. so this is another chapter in the long-standing tragedy of the collapse or decline of local news. >> it is that. because the reality is, you know, especially in this news environment, congressional races are rarely treated as top priorities, unless they are marquee races and this is an example where it fell through the cracks. i don't think it's a great excuse for any of us, but

largely it's a death of local media story. >> what does kevin mccarthy do? what do the republicans do? >> mccarthy continues foe cushioning on kevin mccarthy and trying to become the speak er. >> whoever is speaker has to say something. >> they need one vote from george santos. >> and after that they're done? >> no committees, sit in the corner. >> that's right. >> and try to marginalize him and to your point in two years we'll do it again and i think the democrats will approach the race differently. it's hard to see george santos surviving a re-election, assuming he makes it that far but i think basically they try to leave this as a problem they don't have to deal with. >> dodge the reporters, two years of running away from reporter questions. >> they've gotten good at it. >> i know. >> is it possible for him to hide from reporters? >> santos? >> he's talked to a lot of other people. >> when he's seated he's going to be walking in the halls. >> i think it's going to be different. when you get the crush of

reporters who are, you know, on you at that moment. i think that's -- >> manu, going after you with the mic. >> how do you -- my name is trent wilson and i'm, you know, jewish from -- how do you -- you just make it up, i went to harvard, graduated top of my class. it's like the love it segment on snl. >> yes. catch me if you can. there's a degree in which part of the failure in catching this, it's inconceivable to me that a candidate like this existed, probably inconceivable to you. media outlets still do give candidates to some extent benefit of the doubt not thinking everything here must be not true, so let's poke at it. >> thank you very much. >> fascinating conversation. we'll watch this saga out to see what happens. up next we go live to kyiv,

ukraine where they are forced to dodge missile strikes while ringing in the new year. kaitlan is in washington, maybe she can get an interview with george santos, because she will chase him down, right, hopefully and sat down with michigan governor gretchen whitmer, what she is saying about her second term and the violent threats against her. >> they weren't planning to ransom me, keep me, they were planning to assassinate me. and the plot has been covered as a kidnapping plot. then own it support your immune system with a potent blend of nutrients and emerge your bestst every day with emergen-c hey, man. you could save hundreds for safe driving with liberty mutual. they customize your car insurance... so you only pay for what you need! whoo! weotta go again. only pay for what you ed. ♪liberty liberty liberty♪ ♪libey♪

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welcome back to "cnn this morning." happy new year. coming up for us, what we are learning about the suspect in the killing of those four idaho college students and how investigators were able to track that suspect down. also take you live to california where dangerous flooding has forced entire communities to evacuate. and we'll tell you about an embezzlement scheme inspired by a cult classic. a man facing serious charges for

recreating the plot of "office space". ukraine's capital of kyiv is on high alert after the military shot down at least 20 aerial targets overnight. officials say russia is targeting critical infrastructure in the region like power and water services. kyiv's mayor joined a group of soldiers in bakhmut on new year's eve. we go to ben wedeman. the campaign of terror has not slowed down. what are you seeing from the ground? >> reporter: as you said, there's the 20 drones fired at kyiv overnight, some did damage critical infrastructure so authorities in kyiv are calling upon people to limit as much as possible their use of electricity. that in addition to over the new year's weekend more than 45 of

these iranian-made 135 drones were fired. these are drones that explode upon impact. they're sometimes difficult to intercept for the air defenses. now over the weekend, one person was killed in the new year's eve barrage that took place. and another person has died as a result of the wounds that they received during the barrage. so that does appear that the russians, basically four out of the last five days, have seen these barrages aimed at the ukrainian capital. the air defenses are working but they're not able to take out all of these incoming drones that the russians seem to have in fairly decent supply. although ukrainian officials are saying that, according to their intelligence, the russians are running out of missiles and drones to fire. but you wouldn't know it here in kyiv. >> all right. ben wedeman on the ground in

kyiv, thank you very much. we appreciate that. straight ahead. we'll show you an interview with michigan governor gretchen whitmer before her inauguration. kaitlan sat down with her. what's at the top of her agenda as she starts her second term. plus this. >> wait, mom, dad, did you hear this, michael b. jordan dead at 35? 35. >> stop it, you tripping. >> 35. >> you playing. >> what what what? >> after pranking his mother angela bassett's son is apologizing after taking part in this viral and disturbing tiktok trend. we'll tell you what's going on ahead.

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leading our beautiful state. i will be a governor for all michiganders and work with anyone who wants to solve problems and get things done. >> that was michigan's democratic governor, gretchen whitmer being sworn in yesterday for his second term just daying after the two men were sentenced on federal charges in the plot to kidnap and assassinate her. kaitlan collins got to spend time with the governor at her home in lancing, michigan on inauguration day at the governor's mansion. here's her reporting. >> so they've only ever known the governor's mansion. >> they've only known this beautiful place, yes. >> reporter: inauguration day starts with can hekibble. >> how are you feeling today? >> i'm excited, second term. we have a new legislature, a whole new environment here. going to get some really good stuff done. >> reporter: it's 7:30 a.m., the

governor's pumpkin oatmeal bake is on the kitchen counter and she's surrounded by her family. she said she wasn't always confident this day would come. >> there was so much chaos politically and in the environment. i didn't know if i would, you know, get an opportunity to serve for four more years. i never imagined i'd win by almost 11 points and and come in with a new legislature. >> reporter: whitmer defeated her opponent decisively and with democratic control of the state house and senate for the first time in 45 years is viewing her term differently. >> do you feel battle tested? >> it's hard to rattle me now, i will say that. we've had challenge after challenge. but yeah, i do. i'm more comfortable in my own skin. >> congratulations. >> thank you. >> reporter: today starts her new term and a new mission. while it still includes fixing the roads, whitmer is leading

the public charge protecting abortion rights in part because of her own daughters. >> they better be able to make their own decisions about their bodies and have protections under the law. that's why, as a mom, so much of what i do is driven by my own situation. having daughters, i think is -- makes it sharper and more urgent than if i didn't have them. >> reporter: those daughters don't always love having the governor as mom. >> it's been a little weird, not going to lie. >> everybody knows. >> yeah. >> you were talking about everybody sees you on the street, on tinder i see pictures of people with my mother. >> that's weird. >> it's really -- >> do you -- are you like, that's my mom? >> no, no, no. >> no! >> she does not admit. >> reporter: as whitmer's national profile has grown so have the threats against her. >> absolutely. i'd be lying if i told you i'm unfazed by it. >> reporter: whitmer was sworn

in days after two men who led the plot to kidnap and possibly kill her were sentenced to prison. >> 19 1/2 years for one of the organizers of the conspiracy to kidnap and kill me, that is a significant sentence. i think it's important to understand, i'm an ordinary person, i've got an extraordinary job. i have served in extraordinary times. i'm a mom, i'm a daughter, i'm a -- an average person trying to serve my state. >> reporter: whitmer has chafed as how the matter has been described as a kidnapping plot instead of assassination attempt. >> they weren't planning to ransom me, they were going to keep me and assassinate me. there was one person who showed up on, you know, supreme court justice's lawn and turned himself in and it was covered as an assassination attempt. >> the ordeal made whitmer question remaining in public service and she was shocked when

her opponent used it as a punch line on the detail. >> gretchen whit mer is good at taking businesses for hostage and holding it for ransom. >> what went through your mind? >> how craven and how there are some people who care more about winning an election than the health and safety of our democracy and our fellow americans. >> reporter: as whitmer takes her oath of office and begins her second term, it will also be her last due to term limits. >> i do think people can have some great takeaways from what we did and replicate it in other states. the best way i can contribute to the national democratic party is be able to be someone they can point to and say this is what happens when you elect democrats. >> reporter: but the governor brushed off speculation she'll seek a future white house bid. >> i'll be honest with you, kaitlan, i have not spent a lot of time thinking about that, no. >> you spent some time thinking about it? >> because people ask me. so briefly.

>> reporter: so what's next in four years when she leiaves the governor's mansion? >> i'll stay engaged in one way or another, i don't know if i'll run for anything but i'll be engaged. >> she said it before. >> when i left the legislature, eight years ago, i never thought i would run for office again. i know enough about myself to know if there is something that needs to get done and there's a role i can play, i will want to play it. >> do swear or affirm -- >> reporter: for now the know c focus remains on the job she was just sworn in to do, governor for the state of michigan. >> i have no plans other than to spend the next four years serving the state as governor, with a democratic majority for the first time in a long time and to get things done here in michigan. >> two thoughts, great

interview. what did she have, pumpkin oat something on the counter. >> yes. the dogs, it seems like that's all we do, i don't know if that part was 7:00 in the morning. >> you never see them in their own environment. >> i thought it was great. kaitlan did a good job of personalizing her, showing her as a professional and as you said, the back story of her life. >> but you spent some time thinking about president, i'm kaitlan collins you can't get that past me. it was great. kaitlan will be back with us tomorrow -- actually, she'll be in washington with a lot of great interviews for the first time. >> 118th congress. >> here we go. also ahead on "cnn this morning," our interview with governor whitmer's history making pick for the michigan supreme court, she is the first black woman -- >> who did that interview? >> i don't know. i don't know. to sit on the state's highest court. in 2022, to have the first

black woman on the michigan supreme court, i don't say that with glee -- >> rights. >> -- it's unacceptable. >> we're also going to take you live to northern california, where historic flooding is leading to water rescues and evacuations. try this robitussin honey. the real honey y you love, plus the powerful cough relief you need. mind if i root througugh your trash? robitussin. ththe only brand with real honeyand elderberry.

♪ ♪ that song from the legendary pointer sisters, their 1992 hit "i'm so excited." anita pointer, known for neutron dance and jump. the 74-year-old died on new year's eve at her home in los angeles. she was surrounded by her family

after a battle with cancer. the family released a statement saying, quote, heaven is a more beautiful, loving place with anita there. >> after i found out, i went through the internet looking at all their performances on variety shows, like the sonny and cher show. they were so, so talented. their interview with joan rivers. they started out as gospel singers. >> amazing. >> so we are thinking about the pointers, the entire family. we're also talking about this. there's outrage across the internet over a viral tiktok trend that some say has gone too far. kids pranking their parents by lying and telling them celebrities have died. >> holy [ bleep ] allison janney dead at 63. >> no! oh, my god!

>> george clooney dead at 61! >> no, no. don't tell it to me like that. >> i'm so sorry. >> y'all kris jenner dead at 67. >> no! >> you see on the screen. angela bassett even fell victim over the weekend when her son told her her "black panther" co-star michael b. jordan died. >> did you see this? michael b. jordan dead at 35. >> huh-uh, huh-uh, huh-uh, huh-uh. >> 35. >> you're playing. >> what, what, what? >> joining us with more on this, cnn entertainment reporter chloe m milas. good morning to you. >> i saw this. >> it's so weird and bad omen.

>> angela bassett is particularly upsetting. >> because of chadwick boseman passing away. let me break it down for you. this trend on tiktok -- as we know, a lot of tiktok trends go incredibly bad. this is dividing people, like you both said, because it is such a terrible thing to joke about. celebrity deaths can happen over the holidays which is what makes it more believable. we've lost some of the greatest like george michael and others during the holiday season. these young kids trying to get these reactions from their parents. with angela bassett's son slater who is 16 years old, his joke went incredibly badly and really struck a nerve for his mother who, as we said, lost chadwick bozeman, her "black panther" co-star to cancer. her son slater took to social media to post an apology. here is a little bit of that. >> i apologize to michael b.

jordan's entire family, extended family and him directly as he is an idol of mine. taking part in a trend like this is completely disrespectful. i hope this can be a teaching lesson for anyone who uses social media as a source of entertainment to understand your actions can have consequences that extend beyond. >> the #dlebity death prank has over 200 million views. i read on "newsweek" it could be upward of a billion views. many are wondering if tiktok should step in, should put disclaimers on these videos and maybe tell kids that this is really not a good idea. >> he's 16. it's a good lesson for kids to realize what happens on social media -- >> has impact. >> bad karma and bad energy to put out there. >> good for him for saying i was wrong. >> jeremy renner.

what happens? is he going to be okay? >> he is in critical but stable condition. not many details at this moment. he was involved in a snowplowing accident, just himself. no other individuals involved. we're tracking this. we reached out to his team for comment. we know he is in critical condition right now. we'll keep you guys posted on that. >> praying for him for sure. thank you, chloe. cnn this morning continues right now. good morning everyone. welcome to "cnn this morning." by the way, happy new year. >> you were so great. >> thank you. >> i stayed up as late as i could. you and your sparkles and the three dogs and your mom. >> thank you. my family. it was a little messy, but new year's eve is a little messy. it's all good. >> it was very human and beautiful. >> you're sparkly this morning.

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