he talks about a death march from one prison camp to another. my grandfather wrote they knew that the russians were advancing on starlight. as they marched through the snow the men were collapsing all around them and my grandfather writes how they carried each other on their backs. they made make shift slides and i have one of the shoes my grandfather wore on that march and it sits in my office at home. my little boys, leo and luke, three and five. we talk about him like he is still alive today. >> it is so amazing he wrote this for your family. it's so important and i know it is really meaningful for you. >> everyone will learn more with the miniseries and is starring austin butler. everyone will soon learn that these young men did during world war ii. >> you do travel with an entourage and a whole group of

men in uniform. >> active duty pilots are here with us today. i roll deep, and you guys. >> talk about an entourage. there they are. >> thank you guys. thank you, chloe. >> look of the draw is out today. by the book and chloe, congratulations. >> cnn this morning continues right now. we had 70-degree weather and now it is again cold and all over the place. >> we are out here on our own and usually the plows come by and it seems like we are being forgotten about. >> is not just the whiplash of

warmth and cold. it is dangerous and it can be deadly. good morning, everyone. from the mountains of california to the streets of new york city, back to back winter storm staring across our nation. coming up. the dangerous situation unfolding in some mountain towns. will the supreme court scrapped president biden student loan forgiveness program? his education secretary joins us live ahead of today's crucial oral argument. the white house ordering government agencies to delete tiktok from all phones and devices. they only have 30 days to do so in the chinese government is hitting back. we will show you the fiery response coming from beijing. coast-to-coast winter storms pummeling the nation right now. nearly 50,000,000 americans under winter weather alerts here in the northeast while the west coast deals with another barrage of heavy snow. blinding white out conditions forcing interstate and major

roadways to shut down in california. this is a live look at the san bernardino mountains were some towns have been cut off and buried under several feet of snow. residents say they are running out of gas and baby formula. in the sheriff says supplies are critically low in grocery stores. >> we are running out of baby formula. we are up the creek right now if it goes on for another two days where they don't come and plow us. >> there is no gas to be found up here. >> a live look from hartford, connecticut and from manchester, new hampshire. so stay safe out there on the roads. very snowy, icy and dangerous conditions. new york city getting its first major snow of the season. athena jones out it in central park. good morning, adina. how is new york and what is up? >> reporter: good morning. take a look around central park

. this is a site new yorkers have not seen here in the city all winter. this is the first significant snowfall here in new york city. up until now central park had only received less than 1/2 inch. as of midnight we just got under an inch bringing the grant snowfall total to 1.3 inches so far this winter. that is not very much. we will get an update and we expect one shortly. already some new yorkers are fed up with this weather. listen. >> we had 70 degrees weather and now it is again cold and all over the place. >> snow is building up on my face. >> enough already. >> exactly. >> and total snow and sleet accumulations in new york city are expected to be 1-4 inches and we know it will be a messy commute with slick roads. elsewhere we see the city

setting records. milwaukee some more than 2 inches of rainfall and that is a record. wisconsin, some saw 1.5 inches and six hours and in california storm system brought heavy rain and high elevation snow stranding folks, as you mentioned, in san bernardino mountains and the white out conditions we saw in the sierra mountains and some kids in orange county stranded at science camps. at least because the snow, which you see now is more like a freezing sleet is expected to stop much earlier, don. >> looks beautiful but looks can be deceiving. very dangerous as well. athena jones in central park. thank you, athena. also new cnn reporting this morning, the department of energy's assessment that covid-19 most likely came from a lab leak in china is still a minority view within the broader intelligence community. with the varying theories on the

virus' origins continuing to swirl, what's the take from the medical community? joining us now is one of the biggest members of the medical community, cnn's chief medical correspondent and host of "chasing life" podcast, dr. sanjay gupta. sanjay, i feel like we have been talking about this for so many years now. and still there's no definitive answer. there's two theories about it. basically that it spread from animals to humans or this one that is now gaining traction with this update from the d.o.e., that it spread from a lab in wuhan. what kind of evidence or investigation -- what else could be learned given what we have seen from the chinese government to prove definitively what exactly this was? >> yeah. look, it's been three years now that this question has sort of been out there. and some of the new evidence that prompted i think this report from the department of energy that there was coronavirus research happening in these labs, frankly if you're a reporter covering this, we have known that for some time. i mean, this type of research has been happening in those labs.

in fact, one of the lead researchers xi jingly is known as the bat lady, 20 years of coronavirus research happening there over the last 20 years since sars really that research has been happening. to answer your question, though, i think there are a few things that could make this knowable. i think the answer is knowable. one is that, you know, if there was coronavirus research happening, how closely linked were the coronaviruses that were being researched to covid? you know, you got to sequence the viral samples. similar, identical, related? that would be a really important piece of data. testing blood samples of the people who worked in the lab. if this was an accidental leak, it is likely the people in the lab were most likely to have been infected first. we understand that some blood samples were taken, but we have never seen the results of what those samples showed. then obviously like a full forensics investigation into the lab. with regard to that first thing, you know, the idea of looking at

the virus samples. there was a data base that basically had all the data on what coronaviruses were being studied. we have asked for that many times. it's been asked for. one of the investigators on the world health organization investigative team i specifically asked him about this as well. listen to how he answered. >> have you been able now then as a member of the w.h.o. team or in any capacity to look at that data? >> no. >> that sounds concerning, peter, if it is as serious and we're trying to be as thorough as possible, maybe it amounts to nothing, but i think the fact that you still haven't seen that data base, it's just going to raise a lot of eyebrows as we go forward. >> well, rightly so. i think that china should be more open about the things that they've not released. >> and therein lies the problem. so, you know, i think the answer again is knowable, but unless they're forthcoming about the

data, transparency about the data, we may not know. and i think that's been the real rub for the last three years now. >> sanjay, it's important to know that you've been doing your own reporting on this. some of it we just saw and you have spoken to several former officials who also have support that the lab leak theory, skepticism or skepticism on the outbreak timeline. what do you know about this? what have they told you? >> well, it's speculative certainly. there is no smoking gun here. i think it was interesting when i spoke to dr. robert redfield more than a year ago, close to two years ago now, it was interesting to sort of hear his perspective on why he believes the lab leak theory is the predominant theory. and it wasn't because there was some definitive evidence, but more based on his background as a physician, someone who studies these viruses. he believes that there was differences in terms of how this virus behaved right out of the gate. and keep in mind as you listen to this, he was the cdc director at the time.

so, he may have had access to information that the general public did not. take a listen. >> i do not believe this somehow came from a bat to a human. normally when a pathogen goes from to a human, it takes a while to figure out how to become more and more efficient in human to human transmission. i just don't think this makes biological sense. >> so he's basically saying, look, viruses typically when they start circulating, they start really slow. this thing sort of came out and spread like wild fire very, very quickly. and for him, that was at least some evidence that it had been sort of in the lab for some time and that's why it was able to start becoming so contagious so quickly. >> sanjay, switching gears, season 3 of your podcast "chasing life" is out. and you look into how social media and screen time is affecting all of our health. i love you talk to your girls

about all of this as well. share a little bit with us. >> this has been really fascinating. you know, everyone knows that screen time probably is a problem for them, whether you're a teenager or an adult. we spend too much time on our phones. and what's amazing is that, look, these phones have not been around that long. so, a lot of people now researching this trying to look into how much time are we spending on phones. what can we do about it? interesting one piece of data that jumped out at me, the average person will pick up their phone to look at it 300 some times a day. >> oh, wow. >> you're constantly doing this. and breaking that cycle, that initial cycle of, look, i don't even know why i'm picking up my phone, i'm just doing it, was a really important thing that came up over and over again. katherine price wrote a a book about how to break up with your phone. ask these three questions. every time you pick up your phone, what for, why now and what else? what else could i be doing

instead. it's sort to bring your brain back online for a second to you're not mindlessly starting to look at your phone. >> yeah. >> i thought that was really interesting, something i have been doing already in my life. i have to tell you, you mentioned my dlee daughters. i did interview my three teenage daughters. some of the most intimidating interviews i think i have ever done. but magical as well just sitting there and talking to your kid for an hour and a half, no phones, no interruptions is a really interesting thing. and i asked sage, my oldest, she's 17, about when she becomes an adult, would she do things differently? and i want you to listen to this and i'll tell you, it was humbling for me as a dad to hear this. >> when i have kids of my own, if, i don't think i want to let them be on social media as early as i was. >> huh. >> and i think i would want to not restrict what they can go

on. i just want to teach them to be a little bit more responsible with their amount of usage, not what they view, but how much they view because i think i'm a lot better with it now, but i think when i was a little younger, i was on my phone a lot. >> wisdom from a 17-year-old. >> yes. >> it's a little bit -- yeah. it's a little hard to hear that because you think you're being a good dad, letting her use her phone and she's saying basically, hey, look, in retrospect, probably it was too much. and i think you live and learn here a bit. >> yeah. >> i've been wearing my watch. i have an old -- not an apple watch, an old school watch and i have been wearing it out to dinner and on the weekends intentionally so i don't look at my phone to see what time it is because that's i think what we do a lot. little by little. >> yeah. i have two phones. i'm wondering, does that mean i look at my phone 600 times a day, not 300? >> probably. >> probably. sanjay, cannot wait to listen to the podcast. thank you so much.

>> thank you. >> thank you. >> you got it. >> listen also to the sixth season of sanjay's amazing podcast, so good "chasing life" wherever your get your podcast. now the u.s. marshal service scrambling to protect what it says is sensitive information after becoming the latest government agency to come under a cyberattack. spokesperson saying the apparent ransomware attack potentially compromised a wide range of information that includes reports by process servers, administrative information, and personally identifiable information about subjects of investigations, third parties and some employees. it's at least second significant cyber incident to hit federal law enforcement agencies this month. the fbi had to contain malicious activity on part of its computer network. there's no immediate indication the two attacks were related. also this morning, the white house is giving federal agencies the next month, 30 days, to remove tiktok from all government issued devices. federal contractors must also

meet the same standard. they've got 90 days to do so. u.s. officials are concerned that the chinese government could pressure tiktok's parent company known as bite dance to hand over user information to potential intelligence or disinformation purposes. experts have said that the type of access is possible but there's been no reports of it so far. still, it remains a major concern for u.s. officials. a chinese official is responding to this move this morning saying, quote, is the world's most powerful country, the u.s. needs to be more self competent instead of being so afraid of an app loved by young people. the fate of the biden administration student loan forgiveness program heads to the supreme court today. up next, we'll ask the education secretary miguel cardona what the 26 million americans who already applied for that program should expect. ♪

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americans, but it was put on hold by lower courts before any forgiveness was granted. now it is facing legal challenges from two different groups. cnn's renee marsh joins me now live. good morning, renee marsh. is there any indication that anxious borrowers can expect a ruling? >> yeah, that's what everyone is going to be waiting for. good morning, don. we know that today is justices will hear these arguments, but we likely won't get the ruling until late june, early july. that's when the justices usually release their rulings. but just in about another hour or so, we do expect to see borrowers and advocates from around the country outside of the court because which ever way the court rules this case will undoubtedly affect their personal finances. >> on board my flight headed to d.c. for the people's rally for student debt cancellation. >> reporter: 25-year-old sabrina traveled from new york to washington, d.c. to rally outside the supreme court when justices will hear oral

arguments on the legality of president biden's student loan debt relief program. six republican-led states and two texae the administration does not have the authority to cancel the school loan debt of about 40 million americans. but the biden administration says congress gave the secretary of education expansive authority to alleviate hardship for student borrowers during a national emergency, like the pandemic. on the eve of the arguments, advocates already outside the court for a case that could change the trajectory of their lives. >> my first student loan bill it was about $350 of a payment. and i hadn't secured a job at that point, and so for me, it felt really unpossible. >> reporter: she graduated from college in 2019. she has nearly $30,000 in student loan debt. when the pandemic hit, repayments were paused. she could now contribute to household costs for the home she shares with her parents. when the biden administration

extended the pause this past august, multiple lawsuits followed. the program was halted and is now before the supreme court, leaving sabrina in limbo. >> my family would be eligible for up to $50,000 of student loan cancellation. so as a whole family, that's huge. >> reporter: federal data shows america's student debt crisis is multigenerational, spanning from recent grads to grandparents. with 2.6 million borrowers, over the age of 62. 72-year-old vietnam vet cecil hamilton is one of them. >> i never got the amount paid off. >> reporter: in 1977, hamilton says he took out a loan for an associate's degree for $5250. nearly five decades later, he still owes nearly the same amount. >> i thought i would have a good job and a home and all the things that people like to have.

and then enter retirement on a good note. but instead, i'm back in the hole again. so i'm just surviving as i go. >> reporter: he says despite the government garnishing 15% of his social security disability payments for the loan he defaulted on, interest and fees made it impossible for him to put a dent in the principal. while the loan forgiveness program would help people like hamilton, that vet that you saw in the piece there, he says he still can't ignore the harms that his debt has caused over the last 40 years. he has really bad credit, never been able to buy a home, has not been able to provide for his children the way he wanted to. so don, even if he gets the good news at his age, almost the damage has been done for him. >> rene marsh, thank you for that. appreciate that. >> sure. >> that reporting with uz great and nebraska's attorney general will be arguing on behalf of the

six republican led states suing to stop president biden's plan for student loan debt relief today. he just published this piece in "the wall street journal" describing biden's use of emergency status as a, quote, pretext to claim breathtaking authority. he goes on to write national crises are problems to be navigated not opportunities for amassing presidential power. let's talk about this with miguel cardona, education secretary, he is right the middle of this. good morning, mr. secretary. and thank you. >> good morning, great to be with you. >> so let's begin with the people. that's what matters, right, the 43 million americans who have federal student loan debt, your administration estimated about 40 million would qualify for this program. if the supreme court does not rule in your favor, do they have any avenues for relief? >> well, first of all, you know, we're sharing our case today. we feel very confident in our case, in my authority under the hero's act, to provide relief over 40 million people across the country.

people like the story you shared, teachers, nurses, veterans, thousands and thousands of veterans need to get back on their feet after this pandemic and we're fighting for them. >> but there is no avenue for relief if you do not prevail under the hero's act, right? >> well, we feel confident in our case. the department of education since day one the president has been very clear he wants to make sure we're putting our students first, borrowers first and provide pathways to higher education that doesn't break the bank, doesn't require people to give up on their dreams of buying a home, starting a small business because of college debt. we're working on fixing broken systems, but we feel confident that this plan is legal based on the fact that it's off of the pandemic and the economic impact that the pandemic caused. >> let's help people understand the legal basis for your argument here because you guys believe that you have the authority to do this under the hero's act, that was passed in 2003 after 9/11 in the wake of and as a result of 9/11. the text of the statute says

that you, as the education secretary, have the power to waive or modify a federal student loan program to make sure people are not placed in a worst position financially quote because a war or other military operation or national emergency. what is the national emergency you are predicating this on? >> once in 100-year pandemic that shut down our country for some time and, to me, that's a national emergency. i can't recall any other time as an educator where we had the impact in our schools, our businesses. look, let's face it, the government has helped corporations in the past. we provided funding for small businesses to help them get back on their feet after this pandemic. why is it that people are fighting it when we're helping blue collar americans, veterans like the one you saw, get back on their feet? >> i don't disagree with you that main street always deserves the most relief. but this is a legal argument and you have to prevail on the law.

the congressional budget office says this is going to cost $400 billion over the next 30 years. the crisis absolutely, covid crisis, but listen to the president's own words when he was speaking to "60 minutes" saying the pandemic is over. here he was. >> the pandemic is over. we still have a problem with covid. we still doing a lot of work on it. it's -- but the pandemic is over. >> can biden tell the country the pandemic is over and then you guys argue before the justices today that this is a current, on going national crisis? >> yes, we can. i'll tell you why. we're pleased and -- listen, as aneducator, as a father, i'm glad schools are resuming and things we're managing better. doesn't mean covid is gone, means we're managing better thanks in large part to the work of this administration to make sure vaccinations and testing is available to everyone across the country. with that said, the economic

impact of the pandemic is still real. when i travel the country and i talk to folks, they're still reeling in from the economic impact. i mean, talk to anyone who is struggling right now to pay their bills. this relief will allow them to get back on their feet a little quicker. what we're trying to do here, too, poppy is prevent defaults and deling wensies that happen after emergencies or pauses. try to help folks get back on the feet. >> even the president himself in a cnn town hall in milwaukee last year questioned and actually laid out the limits of his authority. listen to this. >> i'm prepared to write off $10,000 debt, but not 50. >> mr. president, let me ask you -- >> i don't think i have the authority to do it by sign of a pen. >> then speaker pelosi said this in 2001 about the limits again of what you can do without an

act of congress. here she was. >> people think the president of the united states has the power for debt forgiveness. he does not. he can postpone. he can delay. but he does not have that power. that would -- that has to be an act of congress. >> she later said in 2022, actually we do have this power. but you can see those are two key people in the administration and the then speaker saying there are limits to this authority. that's the real legal question here. how far can a president go? >> right. well, look, the president i think was targeted relief. 90% of the dollars in this benefit would go to people making under $75,000. so it's not a wholesale cancellation of loans. we're targeting to people who need it most. and you know, with regard to whether or not there's authority, the last administration used the same authority to pause the student loans. if that administration can use it, we can use it as well to make sure we're providing

targeting debt relief those who need it most and affected most by the pandemic. >> look, look, this is $400 billion. this is why those republican senators wrote in an amicus brief to the court, other americans will have to pick up the tab to the tune of $2,500 per taxpayer. and you know the other argument in this case because there's two arguments made before the court, is that you are picking and choosing. that you're picking those with federal student loans and not those that are -- have private loans. how do you respond to that argument that folks say where is our relief? >> right. we can control our loans. we can't control other loans. i think it's very hypocritical for some who are making an argument that we shouldn't do this because some of them have received debt relief themselves. i know one representative has received over $1 million in debt relief last year or the year before and is now arguing against $10,000 of debt relief

for veterans? please. that's hypocrisy. so it is the right thing to do. 40 million americans are waiting. and we have the legal authority to do it. >> i hear you. look, at the crux of this is how much power does the president have. where is the legal authority? should this have gone through congress, through an act of congress with the power. secretary cardona, we will listen to oral argues at 10:00 a.m. eastern before the court. thanks very much. >> thank you. coming up, the 2020 election lies that fox news personalities told their viewers and what fox chairman rupert murdoch admitted about them under oath.

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♪ the billionaire chairman of the company that owns fox news is now admitting under oath that the host on the network promoted the false narrative that the 2020 election was stolen. annage knowledgement we're learning because of a lawsuit filed by anyone onvoting systems. rupert murdoch. parts of the deposition compared

with what the hosts were saying in realtime, telling people who were watching on air. one of the questions he was asked was, you're now aware that fox endorsed times this false notion of a stolen election. murdoch answered, not fox, no, not fox. but maybe lou dobbs, maybe maria as commentators. the lawyer asked, question, we went through fox host maria bartiromo, yes, come on. >> sidney, we talked about the dominion software. i know there were voting irregularities. tell me about that. >> that's to put it mildly. the computer glitches could not and should not have happened at all. that is where the fraud took place. >> then murdoch was asked, what about fox host janine pirro, he answered, quote, i think so. >> the president's lawyers alleging a company called dominion, which they say started in venezuela with cuban money a

back door is capable of flipping votes. >> another question posed to murdoch, fox business host lou dobbs, his answer, oh, a lot. >> this president has to take, i believe, drastic action, dramatic action, to make certain that the integrity of this election is understood or lack of it, the crimes that have been committed against him and the american people. >> what about fox host sean hannity, murdoch's answer, a bit. >> it will be impossible to ever know the true, fair, accurate election results. >> in a statement to cnn yesterday, we should note that a fox news spokesperson said, quote, dominion's lawsuit has always been more about what will jep rate headlines than what can with stand legal and factual scrutiny. the network's attorneys are also arguing that fox's coverage was

protected under the first amendment. our cnn senior media reporter oliver darcy is following this. they're selectively pulling parts of this that we'll be talking about. even if you look at what they have pulled and look at these answers, it seems to paint this picture that they knew that they were pushing this. some of them knew but they were doing it because they wanted to keep the audience there. >> that's right. i think this exposes that fox news really has from the highest levels really no regard for basic news ethics. i mean, behind the scenes, we are just continuing to see that the highest ranking executives, rupert murdoch himself and the highest-ranking host, sean hannity, lou dobbs or lou dobbs former host, tucker carlson, itet cetera, et cetera, they knew the lies they were pushing were just lies. rupert murdoch in his deposition in this legal filing revealed he says in hindsight he wishes they did more to tamp down these

election conspiracy theories. and of course, hindsight is 20/20, but it really didn't take a news genius in the aftermath of the election to understand the ramifications of undermining the u.s. integrity of the u.s. electoral system, elections system. what it took was someone with a spine and someone who put the country, the republic, the democracy ahead of their own pocketbook. unfortunately rupert murdoch doesn't appear to have been that person and now he may have to pay a big price in this dominion voting systems lawsuit. >> what about the folks who may consider fox news organization and touting the journalism of fox news, this obviously does not hold up, right? this is the most egregious thing that you can do as a journalist, mislead people and then force them really into an insurrection on falsehoods. that is what came out of this. >> news networks are supposed to

inform viewers. >> you call them a news organization? >> no. because news networks are supposed to inform viewers what's the truth. in this case we know that fox news knew the truth and refused to not only tell their viewers but they actually fed them lies to keep their audience because of the financial incentive. that's not what news networks do. that's what maybe, you know, propaganda outlets might do, but it's certainly not what a news network would do. and i would note that a lot of these revelations, just on their own, would be major scandals that any actual news network, for instance, this legal filing says that rupert murdoch gave jared kushner advanced copies of biden's ads really giving him an edge over the other campaign. that's not something a news network would do and if that happened at a news network, it would result in an investigation and likely disciplinary action, perhaps a firing as a result of that action. at fox news, this comes from the

top. >> yeah. and debate strategy shared with kushner as well, it says. let me just end on this because it comes down to as was said in here, not red or blue, it's green. in the filing, murdoch said carlson's decision let mike lindell, founder of the mypillow guy come on his program and push these conspiracy theories and lies was not a red or blue decision it was a green decision. >> yeah. you don't have to take it from me. rupert murdoch himself is saying the financial incentive was deriving coverage here. he's saying it was a green motive, green as in money. i mean, i know that we knew a lot of these things before these legal filings came out, but it's really just damning to see it in black and white, coming from the horse's mouth itself. >> it wasn't just the mypillow guy they questioned the judgment of letting rudy giuliani on the air and other election deniers

and conspiracy theories. >> they privately trashed these people. rupert murdoch said it was horrible that rudy giuliani was advicing trump, they allowed them to go on the air to peddle these election conspiracy theories to their audience and rupert murdoch's own words it was because of a financial incentive. >> it wasn't just advising him, he was his attorney. >> very good point. oliver, thank you, very, very much. also this morning, russian president putin is currently meeting with his federal security service. what is he saying? we're live in moscow next.

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conversation with our melissa bell, yellen warned what may happen if china were to provide lethal aid to russia. >> u.s. administration believes that china may be considering delivering lethal aid to russia. what would the consequences be for beijing? >> we have been extremely clear that we will not tolerate systemic violations by any country of the sanctions that we've put in place that are intended to deprive russia of access to military equipment to wage this war. and we've been very clear with the chinese government and have made clear to chinese firms and financial institutions that the consequences of violating those sanctions would be very severe. >> happening now, russian president vladimir putin is meeting with his federal security service where he is expected to have a, quote,

serious talk with them, that is according to the kremlin spokesperson, dmitry peskov. let's go to fred pleitgen in moscow. good morning to you, fred. we just heard from putin. what's he saying? >> reporter: yeah he just finished his speech, poppy. it was quite interesting. he thanked the federal security service and acknowledged they were active on the front lines in the ukraine war. he said that he would like to thank especially the ones who were active on the front lines. i think one of the interesting things that he took from that is that he also acknowledged that there were some who were killed on the front lines in ukraine. the other interesting stuff that he said is that the entire speech was really him ripping into the west, ripping into ukraine, but then also saying how important he thinks his intelligence service is especially in this areas that are occupied by russia. now, of course, the russians say these territories have been annexed these are now part of the russian federation, but he essentially urged to set up the intelligence service in these places and make it stronger because it was going to be such an important place.

he also claimed there were attacks by the ukrainians inside those territories and said it was up to russia's intelligence services to thwart those attacks and stop those attacks. so really the russian president really in a very important speech that he gave there at the federal security service of russia talking about how important that agency is, how important it is to be against some of the attacks they're taking place by the ukrainians, as he put it. and really, poppy, what we're seeing the russian president do over the past couple of days is really trying to rally some of these special services here in russia, just yesterday was the day of the special operations forces here in russia, where he told them how important he thinks their work has been. you can see, as things drag on here in russia, the russian president really trying to rally not just the russian military forces but some of those special services as well. obviously as things are going difficult on the battlefield, pob pi. >> very quickly before you go, the airport, st. petersburg airport totally suspended operations for an hour this

morning. why? >> reporter: yeah. it was -- that was a really strange thing. the airport in st. petersburg where they suspended operations saying unidentified object in the skies that had been detected. they opened it then later. there was talk that apparently some jets might have risen from the russians to see what was actually going on, but it was quite a while that the air space there was closed. later the russians came out and said that falsely some radio stations had been hacked and were broadcasting that there was an air raid alarm. they claim it wasn't true. the air space is open once again, but certainly was an interesting incident that took place there this morning. >> yeah, to say the least.elect. you are looking at a live picture of voters getting ready to line up to cast their ballots. we are going to break down the mayoral race getting national attention with david axlerod next. >> i remember those chicago days and piles and piles. look at this. of toxic dirt dug up in east palestine, ohio, as house

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♪ good morning. thanks for sticking us with. this hour on "cnn this morning" we have the newsmakers at the forefront of the biggest stories and national conversations. we will take you live to the toxic drain disaster cleanup still underway in ohio. transportation secretary pete buttigieg is going to join us live as house republicans are launching an investigation into his response. and new this morning, we have fresh cnn reporting on why the department of energy now believes that covid, coronavirus

leaked from that lab in china. the former white house response coordinator dr. deborah birx. and cnn goes one-on-one with comedian and political firebrand bill maher. jake tapper ca tal tapper talke. part of his fascinating interview coming up. we want to begin in east palestine, ohio, the epa chief is set to arrive any moment now. crews are working to clean up the toxic waste from the train derailment that happened february 3rd. the agency recently approved four site for incineration, three in ohio and one is in indiana. we are continuing to track all of this. obviously, we have been live on the ground in east palestine and we will continue to follow that as this cleanup is underway, what it looks like going forward. >> of course, that happened on

february 3rd and they are still reeling with what's happening there. residents, some saying they are afraid to drink the water, worried about seepage. miguel marquez was on yesterday talking about all of the water they pumped into this fire and then, you know, that has to go somewhere and they are concerned about toxins. miguel marquez right now from east palestine with the latest there. where do we stand on this issue right now? >> reporter: we are seeing lots of both soil and water pumped out of east palestine and the most toxic area of this train derailment to four different locations, three in ohio, one in indiana. we were in east liverpool 20 miles south of here where that solid waste is being taken and it sounds like they are making pretty fast headway through moving the most toxic material out of that site. this is -- i want to show you. this is the epa director is back

in town for the third time or the administrator is back in town for the first time since this derailment happened and he will be meeting with businesses here in in east palestine, concerned about the black eye that this incident has given the town itself. it is a town that is struggling to sort of regain its former glory and this does -- certainly doesn't help. the mayor saying that after all of this that he is hopeful that they will not only get through this, but they will emerge stronger. epa administrator meeting with teachers and students today, business leaders, also going over to the site to see sort of the work that has been done and where we go from here. back to you. >> yeah, and those are the big questions everyone in the community has, where it goes from here. miguel, we know you will be covering it. thank you. >> joining us the transportation secretary pete buttigieg. secretary, mr. secretary, thank you for joining us. appreciate it on "cnn this morning." is this cleanup in your estimation happening fast enough? is there a deadline when all of

this contaminated material will be removed from east palestine? >> well, it has to be driven by safety. but it is definitely something that is moving swiftly. epa is on the ground as they have been from the very first stage of this situation, and of course you've got a lot of water, a lot of soil, a lot of material that has to be moved, has to be disposed of and all of that has to be done safely. the epa administrator will be on the ground again shortly. on our side in the department of transportation we are focusing on lessons learned when it comes to rail safety. the reality is the freight rail industry wielded a lot of power in washington. this is a moment i believe we can raise the bar in terms of what we expect and what we require from freight railroads so that fewer communities have to go through when the people of east palestine are dealing with right now. >> let's follow up on that. you said water, oil and material

that needs to be disposed of. nearly 5,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil, close to 2 million gallons of liquid waste removed from the site bound for epa certified owe locations in ohio, one in indiana, as a matter of fact. speaking of the shipping process, the safety of the royal roads, what can you tell us about this process and is this shipping process save, mr. secretary? >> epa sees to making sure that all of this is held to an extremely rigorous standard. those certifications are not something they just give out. and they work with parties that are very experienced in dealing exactly do these types of materials. certainly not something that is taken lightly. i know this is getting direct attention from the highest levels of epa because it is a concern in the community and people have questions about where this material is going, how it's being disposed of. it's beingdl