>> producers? >> make we can go down to the pool zmch pool. they're working on it. "cnn this morning" continues right now. this is quite an early wakeup call for people in southern plains. you know, the great plains are, i guess, are ready to start producing tornadoes already. >> a wakeup call for a lot of people over the country, very, very bizarre and dangerous weather that we have been dealing with over the last week or so. good morning, everyone! tornadoes in the middle of the winter? we're traukcking a powerful sto after it tore through oklahoma and buried southern california under feet of snow. toxic train disaster in ohio, the toxic soil has to go

somewhere. how several states slated to receive that soil are pushing back. also this morning, the fallout keeps growing for the creator of dilbert. more newspapers dropped the comic strip after the cartoonist went on a racist tirade. >> all that in just moments. we begin with a destructive winter storm on the move. >> two houses. >> the storm unleashing multiple tornadoes in oklahoma and kansas. one of those tornadoes tore through norman. shredded homes and injured at least 12 people. hurricane-force winds whipped up massive blinding dust storms in texas. this is a scene in lubbock. the storm buried parts of southern california under more than six feet of snow. take a look at these snow totals near los angeles and san diego. more than 90 inches of snow recorded at mountain high, a winter resort about an hour and a half outside of l.a.

warmer parts of southern california were battered by heavy rain and flooding. a helicopter crew had to rescue this driver from a jeep caught in the floodwaters. look at that. and this driver had to climb up on top of his roof. wh the freeway turned into a river and his convertible became swamped. straight now to chad meyers in the cnn weather center. chad, wow. where are the storms headed next? >> you know, the storms that move through norman, oklahoma, about eight hours ago have rolled through st. louis. i challenge you to drive there that quickly. the interstates don't go in a straight line. that is a very quick moving storm. at times the storms were moving at 90 miles per hour. the storm itself and then the winds, obviously, in memphis, texas, category 3. here's the storm moving to the east. behind it, wind advisories.

winds going 55 miles per hour f you're driving with that wind, you may not need to use the gas. there is athe he is ver weernlg for today. something else that is going to go on the colder side of this storm, it will be snow. snow for new york city. snow for the catskills for sure. and even snow tonight into tomorrow for boston. it may be a train day for tomorrow for a lot of you across the northeast because the roadways may be very slow. don? >> all right. chad meyers, thank you, sir. >> the epa is green lighting contaminated soil and water shipments out of east palestine, ohio, this morning where that train carrying toxic chemicals derailed. that waste has to go somewhere. it is headed to two ohio cities for disposal. the agency halted shipmentes to michigan and texas on friday after officials in those states complained that they had no prior warning of hazardous materials coming into their jurisdictions. miguel marques is on the ground covering this story. he's here with us now. thank you. great job.

>> thank you. helping us understand what the people there are living through. so they got to move literal tons of soil. and now it can't go to texas and michigan. >> it's a real indication of how everything that is happening in east palestine is having this effect everywhere. high school teams cancelling games in that area. michigan and texas that normally receive the toxic materials. waste water an/or soil to dispose of it properly now it's become -- it's hike everyone is glowing in east palestine. they're not. the town is getting through this. it is going to take time. it will be a long -- a long time in digging wells and figuring out which way the plume of water moves. they have air quality monitors in town. they're picking up no issues with air quality. it's going to take time. people are frustrated.

et it gives the town a real black ic eye but they appreciate the attention it is bringing to east palestine. >> explain this plume. what do you mean? >> so not only do the chemical spill but there was water next to the tracks and they piled fire water on top of that as well. it created this massive area and tons of water, you saw the dead fish. you saw the dead frogs and dead birds. lots of them did die in the immediate area. that water now seeps into the ground. so they have to dig wells around that to figure out which way under the ground that plume of toxic material will move if it moves. and so that's what they're dealing with right now. >> thank you. >> do you -- we had last week, friday, the head of the ntsb on. she had an urgent plea. stop with the politics. this is about answers for the

people. what do the people you talk to there want? >> they just want it cleaned up. they want to get back to their normal lives. it's a really -- it's a town that was very, very well to do back in the days when they were making tons of pottery there. it's falling on harder times. the whole area has. it is starting to come back. there is lots of new economic work being done in that area. but they feel like any sort of progress they were making is now been -- being reversed. so they want the politics to go away. this is also an area -- >> do they care if the president goes? >> i don't think they really care. this is -- >> it shows up. >> this county where east palestine is voted for donald trump by 68% in 2016. by 71% in 2020. the signs for him, they love donald trump. joe biden could be out there in a, you know, in a hard hat and protective gear digging up toxic muck, i don't think it would

move the needle very much. but they're doing, you know, pete buttigieg met with the mayor privately after that meeting. the mayor who had been very critical of the administration said, you know what? i'm more satisfied than ever. i'm cautiously optimistic that not only will we get through this but east palestine will be better because of it. >> yeah. >> and he doesn't claim to go. it does bring a spotlight to it when the president goes somewhere. the there is no denying that. >> it's a spotlight. and i think that no one is injured, no one was killed in this thing. i think those are considerations that they make. they say they're not going now. but i think, you know, in two weeks, three weeks, i think things may look different. who knows? >> thank you, miguel. >> you got it. >> speaking of politics, the house gop lawmakers going to investigate the biden administration's flawed response to the disaster this morning. the transportation secretary pete buttigieg made the trip to east palestine last week.

president biden has said he has no plans to go there prompting republicans to demand accountable. m.j. lee is live at the white house this morning with that. m.j., good morning. the white house responding. how are they responding to these investigations? >> don, on these new threats of investigations and oversight from republican lawmakers, the white house is saying there is politics at play. and there's a good amount of hypocrisy, too. they're pointing to the prior administration and also some of the very same house republicans as having supported in the past deregulation of environmental protections and rail safety measures broadly speaking the white house has been on defense about this east palestine train derailment that took place more than three weeks ago. the administration has faced a lot of questions about whether it acted with enough speed, whether it has been engaged enough. that is why we have seen the white house insist over the last few days that within two hours

of learning about the accident they had federal agents out on the scene and actually taking in what had happened and also over the week, the white house saying various federal agencies were going literally door to door to various residents in east palestine to do health surveys, to pass out information so they know exactly what they can do if they're concerned about their health and have questions. but there is no question that the white house is making a full effort right now to try to quell some of the criticism that the federal agents, government has not been fully engaged in trying to deal with this problem. >> you heard, m.j., our conversation about the biden administration and the president saying so far no plans to go yet. anything that might change that? >> the white house doesn't feel like a presidential visit is necessary. we saw the white house talking about how the president still has been consistently engaged, has been reaching out to local leaders and offering federal help. and then as you talked about

with miguel there, transportation secretary pete buttigieg visiting last week. this that is an effort to send in something that is a big name. he got criticism for not going there fast enough. to miguel's point, we'll have to see what the situation on the ground is like in a couple weeks from now because that might require that the president himself visit and really show that he is personally invested in getting this problem under control. >> m.j. lee at the white house. thank you. appreciate that. >> also this morning, director of the cia says the u.s. is confident china is considering providing weapons to russia to use in ukraine. officials are going public with that intelligence and hoping to deter china from doing so. >> we're watching very carefully and there is no more experience

for the evolution of the war than xi ping has. >> director burns says it is ris risky for china to do so. they're warning how the u.s. would respond if china did take that fate fall step that they believe will prolong the war in ukraine. >> beijing will will have to make its own decisions about how it proceeds, whether it provides military assistance. if it goes down that road, it will come at real cost. to china. and i think china's leaders are weighing that as they make their decisions. >> china needs to realize if they want to be the superpower they claim they want to be, they want to sur plant the u.s., then they have to respect the rule of law or nobody will respect them and their own laws. >> joining us now is cnn contributor and new yorker staff writer who covers china closely and has had profile of president xi and president biden. you're the perfect person to have on. this i think one question that people have is if china does

decide to take this step which they have not done so yet, what does it say to you about how the chinese president is viewing putin's situation and really just the international order overall? >> i think that's the key point. this is a demonstration, a bit of a tell that the chinese leader xi believes he can not afford to allow putin to fail in ukraine. they have forged this tight bond. it's kind of circumstantial bond based on the fact that they both feel the sense of hostility towards the united states. but if if in fact putin fails if, russia fails in ukraine that, begins to draw into doubt the project that china is engaged in which is to try to make a case that the political system, the autocratic system is a rival to the western system. and so the decision to come forward by the united states and talk about this intelligence is a sign that u.s. takes very seriously the risk that china is on the cusp of making this choice.

>> yeah. >> this is what they told me about the lack of communication with his counterpart in china. >> i think it's really, really important to make sure that we maintain the lines of communication open. i think leaders need to be able to talk to each other to avoid misperceptions and manage crisis and so this is really important. >> so we hope that the minister will have a change of heart and schedule that call. >> when is the last time you talked to him? >> the last time that i talked to him is a couple months ago. >> what are the consequences of that lack of communication? >> exactly as you said. that is really astonishing to know that the united states at

the highest level of our military kmancommand does not h somebody on the other end of the phone that is picking it up in china. the great power co-existence and competition having that hotline is essential to prevent an accident from becoming a calamity. one thing that the u.s. wants most of all right now is to get the chinese back on the phone in a regular reliable way. and if that means going public in saying, look, we're paying close attention, let's make sure this doesn't become the next great conflict, then that's what they're going to do. >> so much of this is the looming of the cold war over this. i love what you wrote in your piece in the new yorker yesterday. you talked about how different it s they said that it is up $2 billion a year. of u.s. trade with china is now $2 billion a day. as we see this and we see the decisions president biden is weighing and also how gop candidates like nikki haley are

waeg weighing in on china. is it a more complicated situation? >> it s i think with we talk about the cold war as americans, it's a good news story for us. we won that cold war. this is a very complicated moment. we're integrated with china's economy in a way we've never been with a rival in the world on this scale. and we have to be realistic. china is not going away tomorrow. it's not about us or them. honestly, its about us and them. and figuring out a way that we can contest their moral vision of the future and also put in the kinds of guardrails, the kinds of channels of communication that prevent us from getting into a conflict that we don't want. >> yeah. on another note, evan, you spent a lot of time with president biden before i ran for president in the last election. you wrote a book about the run. he didn't declare he is running this imtoo. he seems to be saying, as he told david last week, he has a few other things he wants to get out of the way to finish before he seems to make that announcement. what is your sense of, you know,

his process? what is going through his mind in your view right now? >> he doesn't make this kind of a decision in a hurry. he can drag it out longer than the advisors would like. look, at the end of the day, the thing that is most important from his perspective in making this choice is does he think he is the best democrat to be able to run and win? they're trying to show they're making the investment and can bring people back into the workforce. he quwants to tout a few more numbers. if he is the one that can win and there is nobody better, then i think you're likely to see him take the plunge. >> i think it is happening sooner rather than later. thank you for your great perspective on two krit he cannily -- critically important issues. >> a major drug bust in arizona.

3,000 pounds of methamphetamine and large quantities of heroin and cocaine. the dea says the drugs have a street value of $13 million. investigators also ceased 50 fire arms. arizona's attorney general wards that fentanyl is blooding the border. listen. >> yes, this is a significant bust. but there is a lot of this drug coming across the border. it's killing our kids and destroying and tearing our families apart in arizona. but it is also impacting the rest of the country. and so we need every law enforcement agency, every attorney general along the border. of but i also across the country to be laser focused on stopping this fentanyl. >> and just look at the numbers. look at your screen. to are years drug overdose

deaths proprescription opioids are rising in the u.s. there are 10,000 opioid related deaths. 22 years later now, they climb to more than 80,000 deaths from this year. >> wow. >> good they made the bust. terrible it's happening. good they were able to seize so much of it. let's hope they get more of it off the streets there. dilber dropped from hundreds of newspapers after the creator goes on a racist rant. he advocates for segregation. editors say it was an easy ccall but hear who is defending the creator next. safelite makes it easy. >> tech vo: you can schedule in just a few clicks. and we'll come to you with a replacement you can trust.t. >> man: lookoks great. >> tech: that's service on your time. schehedule now. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair,, safelite replace. ♪

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newspapers across the country are dropping the dilbert comic strip after scott adams went on a tirade calling black americans a hate group and advising white people to stay away from them. we have the story this morning. good morning to you. what is up with this? >> good morning. basically, he is doubling down on the comments he made earlier this week saying that they were

completely taken out of context and the newspapers, though, that ran his strip for decades are now severing ties with him saying that this comments were part of a racist tirade. >> you know, nearly half of all blacks are not okay with white people, that's a hate group. >> was the comment that may have e ended ended scott adams' newspaper career. he said it's okay to be white and leaving the other 47% to say they disagree or not sure. the anti-deaf nation league noted that phrase has a long history in the white supremacist movement. >> the best advice is get the hell away from black people. >> he continued to double down throughout the show. "the washington post," "los angeles times," and usa today among the hundreds of newspapers that denounced adams and quickly pulled dilbert.

>> it was, frankly, an easy decision. we found the remarks hateful, hurtful and just crossed the line. >> reporter: not everyone agrees. twitter ceo elon musk coming to a adams' defense saying the media is racist. he tweeted he was only advising people to avoid hate and suggest that cancellation of his cartoon signals that free speech in america is under assault. >> we believe in free speech. we believe in creating a place for differing points of view. but there is a line that gets crossed where things become racism. and that's not an area where he choose to traffic in it or participate in. >> we reached out to the company that is responsible for distributing the comic strip. i have to tell you, after watching hours and hours of his latest streams, it's hard to gauge exactly how worried he is.

i'll tell you why. he loves attention. he actually said it over the weekend on one of the streams. he also recognized that he was completely aware that this was basically going to open up the floodgates and when he made these bombshell remarks. he is getting a bit of what he wanted. the question, will it be more than what he bargained for since he said he expects to lose a majority of his income in the coming days. >> there are many people when people are taken out of context or need explaining. but his comments were -- that's not with these comments. >> he called them -- >> he didn't say that's what i meant to say. >> he calls it useful provication. he wanted to start a conversation. there are many ways to start conversation about race nix america that doesn't include calling black americans -- what he called them. so i think this will be certainly one to watch. as you continue to hear major newspapers not just here in the u.s. but around the world dropping the strip, what will he do next? >> it's important to note that the poll that started all this,

that he was talking about, they were not talking about their data. the there is few cast doubt on how accurate it is and what it looks like if people are trying to change the outcome of it. i think that is also an important context of what he is even talking about in the first place. >> really. does he say he is being canceled? >> that's what he said. i wonder if he is perhaps seeing himself as sort of this free speech martyr. again, we'll have to see as more of this newspaper drops the work after decades, over 30 years. >> yeah. >> free speech comes with consequences. >> thank you. >> all right. also this morning, the theory that covid-19, the pandemic started with a lab leak in china has now been in a new development. the energy department updated its assessment saying it was the likely cause. the intelligence community is deeply divided over it. we'll tell you more next. >> and a boat carrying more than 140 migrants destroyed by the rocky waters off the southern coast of italy, women and children this morning among the dead. the we have the tragic details

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welcome back. one poll that kmoests can agree on is there is no agreement where the u.s. economy is heading. we're here to make sense of the varying outlooks. also, florida grofrn ron desantis releasing another book this week. is this a step in his bid for the white house? and snow in southern california. we're tracking this storm. take a look at this new video just in from norman. two homes with roofs ripped off. neighbors will now have to pick up the pieces. also this morning, new intelligence prompted a notable change in the department of energy's report on what most likely caused the coronavirus pandemic. the energy department says that a lab leak is the most likely origin according to this updated report. but there is really important context here. sources tell cnn the agency says they have low confidence in the

assessment. that usually means that information is not reliable enough or really kind of just too fragmented to make a did he fintive judgement the. the fbi has come to the same conclusion with moderate confidence. several other american agencies believe the pandemic started with natural transmission. they also have low confidence in those atesments. the cia still undecided. so a major question is will we ever know the origin? that is obviously vitally important. our national security reporter is joining us this morning. two better to talk to about this about. natasha, when we get this update from the department of energy, the major question that i have that a lot of people have is what changed? why are they making this assessment even if it is low confidence? >> it's a great question. and the bottom line is that we just don't know what new

intelligence the department of energy has gleaned here to make them change their opinion, right? previously, they did seem like they were undecided. t they shifted this assessment that it generated in a lab. it is a low-confidence assessment. that indicates the intelligence was not strong enough for them to make any kind of more definitive judgement about where this virus came from. it is notable. it adds, right, to the split that we're seeing in the in intelligence community about where this virus originated. we don't have fliany good answe as to where this came from. the u.s. has had difficulty in getting china to cooperate with this investigation. without that on the ground presence by the u.s. intelligence community by scientistses in wuhan, it is really difficult for the intelligence community to have

any real smoking gun as to where this virus originated sure to say intercepted communications which they don't have at this moment. >> david, you went -- you're one of the few people that have gone to lathat lab in wuhan. how do you feel about that visit? >> i look at the video that you've been playing and you see just how many security guards are out there in front of the wuhan institute. the other us is specked leak is from the wowuhan cdc. when we would go, for example,

we have in the lobby of the hotel that we're staying at, half a dozen security agents, as soon as they would see us, they would fall us out the door and then around the city in wuhan. a city that is larger than new york. you talk about 11 million people. and trying to get information there was next to impossible. as soon as we get close, security would wave us along. i made more than half a dozen attempts to talk to some of the scientistses involved at the wiv, the wuhan institute of virology. they stop responding altogether. it is interesting to note though the location. if you look at the circumstantial evidence, it is overwhelming. so while the concrete science data is there, there is no smoking gun, the circumstantial envir evidence is. there this is looking at the juice geography. this is thought to be the original outbreak location. that place was secured as soon as we were there in january of 2020. and remained that way until this day really. they're starting to reopen it slowly. but then you hook at where the

wuhan institute of virology is from that market, it's about 30 minutes drive. the cdc lab is two blocks from that market. that in and of itself is one of the things you have to look at and it raises a lot of questions to this day. >> it's interesting. you, you know, you are saying this. i remember the beginning of this. we were doing all the diagrams and maps about where it started. do you remember all of those things? it's gone from the market to now the lab. the lab to the market. and back and forth and back and forth. even this weekend the national security adviser jake sullivan is saying that, you know, that the intelligence community remains divided on the matter. i'm just wondering what china is saying:

saying:. >> yeah, they are responding saying this is unlikely this emerged from a lab. of course, the w.h.o., biden administration, western governments have said it is impossible to get a definitive explanation here without your full cooperation. i want to read you a sentence from the 2021 intelligence community report that found really no definitive evidence either way primarily because of beijing's lack of cooperation, the ic and the global scientific community lacks clinical samples or complete understanding of data from the earliest covid cases. china's cooperation most likely would be needed to reach a conclusive assessment of the origins of covid-19. without this on the ground analysis by the u.s. by western governments and by really anyone who wants a definitive explanation here of what happened is going to be really difficult to come to that final judgement. the. >> david, everyone -- go ahead. >> yeah. everyone wants to know what to do to prevent this from happening again.

>> yeah. in order to know that, you like to know the origins of. this but it's become so politicized within china. one of the most sensitive issues. it's very unlikely that you'll ever get to that level of cooperation that natasha is talking about. the chinese look at this as something that has become so severely politicized and a geopolitical issue that they launched their own propaganda campaign against it. it has been relentless. they point to a lab outside of washington, d.c., for and they say there is a lab leak we're talking about but one in the u.s. the u.s. army, one spokesperson from foreign affairs in china said brought it over to wuhan in 2019. no evidence of that. that is something they're putting out in the narrative to muddy the waters, to sew doubt and have blame here. they did have a field study. it happened in january of 2021. the who went there and, yes, as the chinese pointed out this morning, they said it's highly unlikely this started from a lab

in wuhan. but w.h.o. also asked to go back for a phase. two the chinese said that is not going to happen. they denied that request. and even early on as the w.h.o. field team was there on the ground in wuhan, guys, they were denied a lot of the data firsthand. imagine trying to investigate a crime scenen that was pointed out by one of the investigators and you're sent there a year later after it was heavily sanitized and essentially wiped clean. >> obviously, there is an origin. it could have been, look, there could be a number of things. it could have started in the lab and then the market could have been a spreader. maybe into the community. so hopefully we'll figure it out. hopefully. >> maybe. >> all right. natasha and david, thank you both for that. great conversation. really is an interesting look. the intelligence leaders are going to testify in front of congress. they'll get asked about all of this. >> thank you. this morning, 62 migrants are dead and dozens more feared

missing after a ship wreck in the rough seas off southern italy. the vessel broke apart. migrants from afghanistan, pakistan, somalia and iran were onboard. rescuers say around 80 people were saved from the water clinging to pieces of the boat. the president says the tragedy could have been prevented. >> translator: it is a day grief for our country. this is a struggle that falls into a general indifference. it is a region that welcomed people. last year we welcomed 18,000 migrants but we can't be abandoned by europe. this type of tragedy should have been avoided the day before and not lived how we are living it today and how we will live it tomorrow. >> many of the migrants were fleeing very difficult conditions including poverty, violence, and war. coming up, is the economy primed for robust growth or

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from xfinity. home of the 10g network. okay, take a look at this. of this is snow in saint clair. it is barrelling across the country. we'll keep a close eye on it. devastation in oklahoma in particular. meantime, the consensus about the u.s. economy right now seems to be confusion. right? everyone's confused. a new national survey of economists shows that the outlook for the future varies widely from recession to robust u.s. growth. c cnn anchor cross-ihristine rom.

>> i have never seen such a diverse census. you look at these are business economists. they work for companies and big think tanks. the job is to inform corporate america about what is happening in the economy. this is their forecast for gdp for this year, 2023. that should be the first one there, right? down 1.3%. that's a recession that hurts. to up to 1.9%. that is meaningful growth. and for next year, barely moving. a robust 2.6%. you really have the most diverse bunch of statistics that i have ever seen in my career. >> tomorrow is a huge day at the supreme court. >> it is. >> tell us why. >> president biden's student loan forgiveness. he was going to forgive $20,000 in student loan debt for people that meet a certain income range. he said what is so important about that student loan

forgiveness. listen. >> all this means that people start finally crawl off that mountain of debt to get on top of the rent and utilities, to finally think about buying a home or starting a family or starting a business. when this happens, the whole economy is better off. >> well, when this happens, it's more like if it this happens. the supreme court has to take this up this week. it has been challenged here on constitutional grounds. what is really interesting to me is for 40 months, student loan payments are paused. that is really important for a lot of families. at the end of the process, the supreme court can make a decision and the supreme court goes -- and the student loan payments can pick up again. we're looking at a lot of economic uncertainty. it is really a crucial moment here for the president student loan paydown plan.

>> so they're hearing arguments tomorrow. this is important to 43 million people. but when they're going to hear this tomorrow, we're not going to find out until june or july. >> we're looking for any kind of indication that it will kind of question the justices are asking about this particular thing. i will say that the energy -- the education department has been working on income based repayment changes and asking for feedback from the public on those. so there are some things that the white house is trying to do, some fixes behind the scenes, some simplification that i think will matter a lot to people with student loan debt. but there is more than a trillion and a half dollars in student loan debt in this country. it is a big, dangerous bubble. even if there is this student lean forgiveness plan, the supreme court were to allow it, you have to talk about the problem that made all that debt in the first place and how we're going to fix it going forward. this is a conversation that is really just beginning. >> and affects people that can't afford it the most, minorities. the. >> yeah, exactly right. >> just saddled with debt.

there are others, but for the most part, majority. thank you. >> nice to see you. >> good to see you as well. >> so florida governor ron desantis releasing a new book this week. is this an unofficial launch to his much anticipated bid for the white house? i think i'm ready fofor this. heck ya! with e*trade you're ready for anynything. marriage. kids. college. kikids moving back in after college. ♪ finally we can eat. ♪ you know you make me wanna...♪ and then we looked around and said, wait a minute, this n't even our stroller! (laughing) you live with ur parents, but you own a hoe in the metaverse? mhm. cool...i don't get it. here's to getting financially ready for anything! and here's being single and ready to mingle. who's ready to cha-cha?! ♪ yeah, yeah ♪ using the finest materials, like indulgent memory foam, and ultra-conforming innersprings,

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wa watch. >> florida is proof positive that we the people are not destined for failure. >> desantis wins. he has made a promise and he's making good on a promise. >> florida is leading the nation. we are the nation's fastest-growing state. we rank number one in education freedom. we are number one in economic freedom. >> so, steve corridorno has been reporting on all of this joins us now. the music is a little crazy there, but steve, we'll talk about all of that. but the point with this book and this new video, that's the question. when will he announce his run? not is he going to, but when will he? >> exactly, don. you don't release a book like this unless you're seriously considering running for president and all of the steps he is taking lately seem to point in that direction, as well. last week, he held what looked like campaign rallies in pennsylvania, in staten island.

just outside of chicago. last weekend, he huddled with a bunch of his political advisers and donors in palm beach, where the subtext of the entire event was his political and presidential aspirations. and now, this book comes out tomorrow. he's got a whole book tour planned, too. he's going to be across the country, rolling it out. he's already promoting it on conservative media. really, you're seeing the sort of cogs working on what a presidential campaign might look like. >> i was, steve, reading your great piece last night about desantis' book that he wrote more than a decade ago, which was interesting. it was like, basic -- not really about him and his life. it was a sort of step-by-step critique of president obama's assent to the presidency. you wrote, it's a destructive window into desantis' governing beliefs which at times seem to collide with his current leadership style but may soon inform his platform as he seeks higher office. what does it tell us?

>> yeah, and that book was called "dreams from our founding fathers," which obviously sounds a lot like president obama's memoir, "dreams from my father," and it was a full-throated defense of the tea party, of limited government, of separation of powers. it was really critical of president obama for, you know, he said, overreaching and using the bully pulpit to force his political views on people and using executive powers in ways that we have not seen before in the country. and that was his case. you know, and flash forward more than a decade later and governor desantis has often led in that style. you know, he is using the power of the executive branch to force his will on a lot of state institutions and businesses here. he was critical of obama, the sort of messianic language around obama, and the last ad of his campaign for governor last year was a suggestion that god made him on the eighth day.

so really, you see the evolution from someone who was very committed to sort of constitutionally limited principles to what he has become, which is very much in the trump style of using as much of the executive power as you have to get your agenda across. >> and obviously, one big question that remains about desantis that the republicans have is what he looks like on the national stage. how he's tested there. a main audience for this book also seems to be donors, which is going to be something that all of these republicans who are running for president will be going after. you know, he talks about how his view on corporations, how they should respond to what he refers to as this woke culture. obviously, we saw what he did with disney and the way he's basically framing florida. you know, what did you read into that, over how he handled that and how that translates to what he would look like on the national stage? >> well, when you talk about donors, kaitlin, it certainly hasn't scared some of them away so far.

we've seen some of the biggest donors in the republican party from the last midterm cycle already pouring money into his campaign. he has received $4.5 million from three different donors in the last month alone. he has $71 million left over from his previous campaign. a lot of that came in the form of checks that were greater than $100,000. so as far as scaring off the titans of industry who are -- who might be a little per tes about what he did with disney, so far we're not seeing that. in fact, this past weekend in palm beach, like i said, a lot of these people were huddled up with him, right in trump's backyard. these are people who gave to trump in previous cycles, now aligning himself with desantis as he ramps up his activity. >> steve contorno, thank you very much, sir. appreciate it. "cnn this morning" continues right now.

i got up and then the wind just threw me back. and i'm screaming. it was like a blizzard inside the house with all of the debris flying. and i was screaming for my kids. you know, because they were in their bedrooms. and i didn't know if they were hurt or anything. >> just awful to hear that. it's the worst feeling to wake up to. good morning, everyone. that is oklahoma city where tornadoes, floods, more than 6 feet of snow. we are seeing a destructive winter storm that is wreaking havoc as it moves east. we're going to take you live to oklahoma where a powerful tornado touched down, as you just heard from twhat woman there. plus, there is growing fear that china may sell weapons, a lethal aid to russia, what we're now hearing from the head of the cia. and where did covid actually come from? the white house is responding to a new u.s. intelligence report that points a finger at an accidental lab leak in china.

we'll get to that in a moment, but we'll start this morning with the massive winter storm that is unleashing extreme weather as it tears across the united states. multiple tornadoes touched down overnight in oklahoma and kansas. one of them ripped through the city of norman, just south of oklahoma city. it shredded homes, picked up cars and tossed them. the storm pummeled southern california with huge amounts of snow and rain. some places were buried under more than 6 feet of snow. you can see the videos here as freeways were turning into rivers. this driver actually had to climb on top of his porsche after it became swamped and he was left stranded. just north of los angeles, several rvs were swept into a river when the river bank eroded and gave way. more than 7 inches of rain fell in ventura county, that's northwest of los angeles. a helicopter crew had to rescue a driver from a jeep, as you can see here. his car go stuck in these fast-rising floodwaters. ed lavendera is live on the ground in norman,