another show, kristen. but, you know, i'd be genuinely curious about how republican voters or even not republican voters see this idea of billionaires with the former with the current president. right. it's, uh, um this this this is a new form of populism. and i'm just curious as to how it looks. >> i think he's bringing a bunch of really successful people who are doing great things for the country into the white house and saying, let's do more of them. i think as long as the things he's doing are things that people say, i see benefit for myself in this. i think it doesn't matter how rich the people are. he's standing with. yeah, yeah. >> i mean, i think, look, it could work. and i think democrats, contrary to popular belief, who want a great america as well. i do think that one of the things that he's got to think about over the next couple of days, couple of weeks, is lowering costs, inflation, housing, health care, child care, school costs. that is still the primary reason that people stay in washington, d.c. so all this anti-woke rhetoric is good for the base, but people still want to see their costs go down. >> fair enough. all right, guys, thanks very much for joining us this morning. great to see all of you. thanks to all of you at home for joining us as well. i'm kasie hunt. don't go anywhere. cnn news

central starts right now. breaking overnight. taking aim at diversity, equity and inclusion. >> the trump administration announces sweeping layoffs to take effect today. >> a once. >> in a. >> generation. storm shattering. >> snow records. >> across the south and along the gulf coast. >> just look at those pictures. tens of millions. >> of people. >> remain under. >> winter weather alerts. >> still, this morning. >> and a potential. >> big break in the investigation into high profile home burglaries. authorities making arrests that might be tied to the break in at the home of cincinnati bengals quarterback joe burrow. i'm sara sidner with kate bolduan and john berman. this is cnn news central.

>> and breaking overnight, we are just hours away now from a major government layoff or at least furlough from the new trump administration and a brand new memo the white house is directing that all diversity, equity and inclusion staff across all federal agencies be placed on paid. excuse me? paid leave. effective immediately. that's 5 p.m. today. so not really immediately, but at 5 p.m. today with dei offices, trainings and websites all set to shutter. this follows sweeping executive action taken by president trump after his swearing in to end these diversity efforts. cnn's alayna treene is at the white house for the latest on this. what kind of numbers are we talking about, elena? >> i mean, look, there are expected to be hundreds of employees in. >> the federal government who. >> are part of this diversity. >> equity, inclusion. >> you know, effort and umbrella that they have now all being directed or will be directed, as you mentioned, at 5 p.m. today, that they are no

longer going to have a job. i want to just walk you through some of this. and of course, as you mentioned, this comes just a day after donald trump had issued that executive order on monday, just moments after being sworn in to the white house. so the the memo says that, quote, no later than 5 p.m. on wednesday, that agency should be or agency should be notifying these different employees that they are no longer going to be employed with the federal government and that they would be placed on administrative leave, effective immediately, as you said, effective 5 p.m., and that the agency takes steps to close and end all daca initiatives, offices and programs. again, this comes after that order on monday where donald trump essentially this order said, quote, dismantle the dei bureaucracy. and this includes environmental justice programs, equity related grants, equity action plan, equity initiative. so look, just to put this into context, as someone who covered dozens of donald trump's rallies and his campaign for the last two years, this is a promise that he had made

repeatedly on the campaign trail. when i talked to donald trump's advisers behind the scenes, they did say that this was something he wanted to do immediately. it was going to be one of his day one priorities to end these programs. now, it's unclear really how this is going to impact some of these agencies. obviously, like i said, there are predicted to be around hundreds of these different employees who fall under this umbrella. so we'll have to see how that ends up working out long term. but this is a message that donald trump, i'm told, wanted to make clear very early on that he was no longer going to be supporting these policies, that he didn't believe they were effective. way for real hiring. >> you know, on the subject of inclusion, the president didn't seem to like the inclusive rhetoric from a bishop at the prayer service. elena, what's going on with that? >> that's right. and i was there yesterday outside during that final inaugural moment for donald trump when he was at the washington cathedral. but look, this bishop, bishop budde, is someone who is very well known

on the the website for the episcopal church, that she is someone who welcomes lgbtq issues, welcomes immigrants and refugees into the church. it's not just her, i should say the episcopal church. that is their long standing policy, but she is someone who has been an advocate for it, the church says. and yesterday we really heard her, she said during her sermon that she wants donald trump to have mercy on all of these different people, something that garnered a visible reaction from both president donald trump and vice president j.d. vance. during that service. we spoke with her last night on cnn. i want you to take a listen to what she said. >> and i was speaking to the president because i, i felt that he has this moment now where he feels charged and empowered to do what he feels called to do. and i wanted to say, you know, there is room for mercy. there's room for a broader compassion. >> and it should be significant

movement on the part of tiktok. >> now, john, we did hear directly from donald trump, both immediately after the service when he was asked by reporters, he said that he didn't think it was a great service and that he didn't like what bud had to say. and then he posted this overnight. early in the morning, he called bishop a radical left hardline trump hater. he later went on to say that she is, quote, not very good at her job. she and her church owe the public an apology. and so definitely something else that's kind of really permeating this morning. donald trump really having this visible and now public reaction online to that service yesterday. john. >> right. alayna treene for us live at the white house this morning. thanks so much, kate. >> and also, as promised, president trump is shaking up the justice department. multiple sources telling cnn now that top prosecutors in the department have been sidelined. >> we've learned at. >> least 20 career officials have been reassigned. cnn's evan perez has much more on this reporting. it kind of goes

along the line of what elena and john were just talking about. evan, what are you learning about this shakeup? >> that's right. >> kate. good morning. look, the elections have consequences. and certainly the justice department is going to be one of the first places that will feel the changes that donald trump has promised to bring here to washington. as you pointed out, there are about 20. there are more than 20 career. some of them very senior career lawyers at the justice department that have gotten instructions to essentially report to a new task force that is being set up now inside the justice department. it's seen as an effort to sideline these prosecutors. these are people who work in the national security division, which traditionally is insulated from the political shifting winds, as well as lawyers who are who handle extraditions and immigration matters. all of this, of course, as the department really takes a sharp turn. you see this going beyond just the just the justice

department headquarters here in washington. the trump administration has also installed a number of loyalists at important u.s. attorney's offices. for instance, in the d.c. u.s. attorney's office, ed martin, who is an activist on the stop the steal movement. certainly a big supporter of the president, very public, vocal supporter of the president, is now in charge of that office. you can see in some of his tweets that he is put out there on social media. you know, he is advocating for for freedom for people who may have been arrested for protesting against pro-life facilities and things like that. so those are the types of people you have. john durham is being installed as the acting u.s. attorney in the eastern district of new york. he's the son of the former special counsel by the same name. and danielle sassoon is also is now in charge of the southern district of new york. so those are the folks who are being put in. there's also a

close aide to jim jordan has now been moved over to the fbi. there's a lot of changes coming there. of course, we're waiting for kash patel to have his hearing for fbi director kate. >> evan, thanks so much for your reporting. sara. >> all right. ahead. >> florida just. >> set a new record for snowfall. a record shattering winter storm is wreaking havoc across the south. now. new warnings from first responders as the death toll rises. plus, president trump's crackdown on migrants has begun and fear is coursing through the migrant community. cnn on the ground in a small texas town where as many as half of the children at the public school could lose a parent to deportation. >> if there were. >> to be. >> mass deportations. here in this city. what would happen to it? >> it would be quite empty. i think. >> there's a. >> lot of people here that. >> don't have status., that. keep a lot. >> of the businesses, the

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the bitter cold and heaps of snow descend. there is also rare beauty in it. parts of florida were turned into virtual snow globe. it's usually white sandy beaches. you can see here in pensacola a white, snowy scene. that city, along with new orleans and mobile, alabama, all broke snowfall records on tuesday. right now, new orleans has seen more snowfall this month than anchorage, alaska. cnn's ed lavandera is in houston for us. and meteorologist elisa raffa is tracking the latest on this storm. ed, i got to start with you. you've been in houston for every single weather event that you could possibly think of, from hurricanes to floods. and now to snow. how's it going? >> well, you know, actually. >> not too bad. >> yesterday, i think for most people in the houston and. >> southeast texas. >> area, it was a fun day, a rare day of being able to

enjoy. >> an actual. >> snow event and to kind of put everything into perspective. i was out at a hill yesterday watching a bunch of kids sledding down a little hill, or what passes for a hill here in texas, and it was interesting that there was no sleds involved. there were like pool inner tubes. so it kind of gives you a sense of how kids here had to make do with what they had to enjoy the snow day. but the snow has stopped falling, and the concern here, though, to get a little bit more serious, is that there are still we're still well below freezing, about 2324 degrees here this morning. and the concern and the urging from city officials and emergency teams all across this region is to continue staying off the roadways. all that snow that fell yesterday has iced over on many of the roadways across the southeast texas region. and officials here are warning people that even though the sun might be coming out, just be aware of what the road conditions are still like as they wake up this morning. yeah.

>> essentially they're going to be driving on an ice rink um, so the message is clear from us that please stay off the roadways, stay off the overpasses by driving on those roadways. you're not only putting yourself at risk, you're putting first responders at risk that have to go out there and other people that are unfortunately, on the roadway. >> so, sarah, the good news is, is that by late morning, close to around lunchtime, the temperatures will get back above freezing and the sun will be out. so if that happens, all of that will begin to thaw out and make the roads a little bit safer. but here, at least for the day, we're still seeing closed schools across the region closed for the most part today as well. the airports here in houston are slowly starting to reopen this morning, so things are starting to come back to normal. but the beauty of that winter day is starting to pass very quickly. sarah. >> yeah, it's almost like,

don't let the beauty fool you. there is some potential treacherous traipsing around there. everybody needs to be really, really careful in that. folks. not used to those kinds of scenes there in houston and across the south. let's get now to alisa, who is tracking all of this. this is really bitter cold. and i keep seeing this, this video online from from florida. it's incredible to look at, but it's really dangerous. tell us what you're learning yeah. >> so mind boggling to see snow next to the welcome to florida sign. but we're going to deal with that melting and refreezing that i was talking about for the next couple of days. we hit records in florida for the state. you could see bourbon street and ice skating rink. right now, they don't really have the plows and materials to clean up the streets here. so for a place like new orleans, we're looking at that refreezing potential in the overnight through the next couple of nights. we do get temperatures back towards average as we go into the weekend. temperatures back up to 60, where we'll find more of that melting. but you

had ten inches of snow for parts of new orleans. here's a look at the cold alerts. a lot of the east coast here this morning with these temperatures dangerously cold. we're looking at that temperature right now at zero in cincinnati, 15 in atlanta it's 24 in new orleans. tack on the wind chill. and we've got these realfeel values below zero in some locations feeling like -19. in detroit, only a wind chill of four in atlanta, 18 in new orleans, 20 in houston. so again, some of that bitter cold and that will keep that snow settling in for the next couple of days. we do find the temperatures getting above freezing. we were headed 40 degrees on thursday in atlanta, still well below the average new orleans 37 today, getting into the 40s by thursday and friday still well below the average of 63. but again, whatever melts during the day could refreeze at night. so you need to be careful through the next couple of days. sara. >> yeah, normally 40s in any of those places is like, everyone freaks out. this is an

enormous, insane storm bringing both beauty and danger with it. elisa raffa thank you to you and of course, to our ed lavandera touadéra out there in the elements. jon. >> this morning schools, churches, hospitals all stripped of their protective status. the trump administration making sweeping changes on his immigration plans and breaking overnight, stunning news from the british royal family. prince harry gets a full and unequivocal apology for phone hacking connected to rupert murdoch's newspaper group. we're hearing a huge payout as well. >> as. >> my grandfather's. >> randy miod the. >> hatter for over 75 years now. he's got so many life experiences that he can share. >> finding the exact date. >> on ancestry that our family business was founded was special. >> to share with. >> my grandfather. >> welcome to. >> tackling life with fred. >> and sydney. brought to you by experian. >> question number one. who was on their phone. >> more think i gotta say you

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>> except ben. >> what have we done? >> the joe schmo show all new tuesdays at nine on tbs. set your dvr now. >> all right. we do have breaking news. just a short time ago, a full and unequivocal apology to prince harry from rupert murdoch's newspaper group for hacking his cell phone and what they call unlawful conduct from private investigators. this is a stunning development. just before this was all set to go to trial. let's get right to cnn's max foster in london for the very latest on this. good morning. max. >> yeah, it wasn't an easy apology to get. i have to say, john, it's taken years. and this is part of prince harry's wider issue with british tabloid culture. the way they gather evidence, he says, illegally. and people just have to live with it because the newspapers are so powerful that they, the ordinary people, many ordinary people that have suffered in the same way as him haven't been able to carry out cases like this. so this was about him representing many other people who had suffered in the same way and trying to change

the culture. he wanted accountability, not from the reporters necessarily, but from the bosses of these organizations going right to the top. and that in this case, does go to rupert murdoch. and a sense of accountability that they knew about this culture of illegality and actually allowed it to happen. obviously, there are specifics here which the newspaper groups would deny, but this is how he interprets it. after this settlement outside of court. so this is the apology from news group newspapers, which is rupert murdoch's uk arm, offering a full and unequivocal apology to the duke of sussex for the serious intrusion by the sun between 1996 and 2011 into his private life, including incidents of unlawful activities carried by private investigators working for the sun. they also refer to princess diana and the invasions into her privacy as well, which is all part of harry's narrative and his issues with how she was treated

and how he was subsequently treated as well. let's hear from his barrister, david sherborne today the lies are laid bare today. >> the cover ups are exposed and today proves that no one stands above the law. the time for accountability has arrived. >> so there you have it. um, john. and what they want next is a police investigation. they want this to be a criminal case. so they've gathered all sorts of evidence which wasn't actually presented to the court in the end, because it was over before it even began. but they got evidence they think showed criminality and they want convictions. >> a very interesting development, as we said, a very full and abject apology. max foster in london with the latest. thanks so much, kate. >> top secret access without top secret vetting. new details on how the trump administration is skirting the rules on

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fact that they're sending fentanyl to mexico and canada. >> how soon on those tariffs? >> uh, probably february 1st is the date we're looking at. >> and those that comes just a day after he also threatened again to slap a 25% tariff come february 1st on mexico and canada. and when it comes to china, just a reminder that during the campaign, donald trump promised as much as a 60% tariff on all goods coming from there. so stand by to stand by, sarah. >> all right. this morning, members of the intelligence community raising the alarm after president trump announced some incoming white house staffers could soon have access to top secret information before being fully vetted. trump issued the temporary security clearances, blaming in part stalled background checks. cnn national security reporter zach cohen is joining me now. zach, is this a consequence of the trump administration failing to file administrative paperwork, as we heard, as he

was coming into office? or is this really about a bureaucratic backlog for security clearances that trump is blaming? >> yes. >> sarah, president trump is. obviously blaming. >> the biden administration and career officials for this so-called backlog and delays in processing these security clearances for incoming. >> white. >> house officials. but the reality is, is that the trump transition team and donald trump's incoming team waited until the last minute to submit the names of these staffers for vetting and submit the proper paperwork to do so. one source put it to me this way you can't start the process until you have the paperwork. and again, the trump team waiting until the last second to do so. and that created a problem. officials involved in the vetting process really working in that week leading up to inauguration to try to process the names and the paperwork that they did have some turning around these this vetting process in about 24 hours. so it shows you the pace at which they were really trying to hustle to get these people vetted and cleared. but ultimately, on his first day in office, donald trump issuing this order and saying, look, it doesn't matter if you've been fully vetted or maybe not even

vetted at all. i'm going to grant you a temporary six month security clearance, which would give some of these white house officials access to the most closely guarded secrets, despite the fact that basic vetting has not been done on them. >> i do want to ask sort of what the risk is here. what you're hearing from members of the intelligence community, both current and former. >> yeah. sources did describe a variety of risks, including that foreign intelligence partners, allies of the united states, may restrict what intelligence they share with the u.s., knowing that these people are in place in the trump administration, knowing that they have access to highly classified information, but they have never gone through the vetting process. the other problem and issue, potentially, that this raises is that these individuals have not been vetted for potential security vulnerabilities. that raises a really big counterintelligence concern, and something our sources have described as really the primary issue here. >> all right. zachary cohen, thank you for your reporting on this. kate. >> there are new allegations this morning against the

president's pick to be defense secretary. pete hegseth, now accused of being abusive against an ex-wife. this comes from an affidavit given to the senate armed services committee by hegseth former sister in law, danielle hegseth. cnn has obtained a copy of that affidavit, which reads in part from danielle hegseth. quote i have chosen to come forward publicly at significant personal sacrifice because i am deeply concerned by what pete hegseth confirmation would mean for our military and our country. now, in this sworn statement, danielle hegseth also said that samantha hegseth at times feared for her safety and had a code word if she needed help to get away from her husband. danielle hegseth says samantha used the code word in a text to her in either 2015 or 2016. now an attorney for hegseth denies the allegation. but let's talk about this. joining us right now is a member of the senate armed services committee, democratic senator tim kaine of virginia. senator, thank you for being here. what is your reaction to this new allegation?

>> kate, it's completely consistent with other material that the committee had. >> available to us and other witnesses who have come forward, who have shared their own experiences, their direct knowledge of this situation with committee members. ow, many of them have been too afraid to go public. but danielle hegseth, who i did not know, have not met or not talked to her until i saw this affidavit yesterday. her account is very consistent with other accounts we're hearing, and that's why we are encouraging our colleagues. don't rush on this one. we think this latest confirmation of erratic and irresponsible behavior by pete hegseth would make him very, very dangerous as a secretary of defense. and we need to get to the bottom of these allegations before we try to rush a confirmation vote. >> i want to remind people of some of your line of questioning of pete hegseth that got a lot of attention when it happened during his confirmation hearing. let me play this. >> did you ever engage in any acts of physical violence against any of your wives?

senator? absolutely not. but you would agree with me that if someone had committed physical violence against a spouse, that would be disqualifying to serve as secretary of defense, correct? senator? absolutely not. have i ever done that? you would agree that that would be a disqualifying offense. would you not? senator, you're talking about a hypothetical. >> pete hegseth denies that that allegation denies this new allegation. you said it was confirmation of behavior. samantha hegseth, the ex-wife in question with this affidavit, told nbc news there was no physical abuse in my marriage. this is the only further statement i will make. what do you do with that, senator? >> well, she said physical abuse. she didn't say there was no abuse. there's all kinds of abuse. people who undergo abuse by a spouse are very aware that abuse can come in many forms. the affidavit alleges. physical abuse samantha hegseth says there was no physical abuse, but she

characterized it that way in her affidavit. what we have is this we have a secretary of defense who two marriages broke up because of serial infidelity. he would not say spousal abuse was a disqualifying offense. that was an easy question, kate. i asked him if a sexual assault would be a disqualifying offense. he would not say that it was. i asked him whether publicly being impaired at the workplace because of alcohol would be a disqualifying offense. he would not say it was. when you ask somebody a question that's very simple about something that should be a disqualifying offense, and they won't agree that it is, then it makes you go back and look at the allegations made against that individual. we've got to take these things seriously. this is not a minor post, and the witnesses categorical denials, which are frankly in contrast with what we're hearing from witnesses and his refusal to acknowledge that these serious kinds of allegations would be disqualifying, if true, should make the senators

really take the time before they vote on confirmation. the republicans are trying to rush this through, potentially over the weekend. don't rush it. take a look at this and see whether this is an individual who is fit to lead the strongest military in the world. >> do you have any sense yet that this is swaying any republicans to oppose hegseth in terms of his full vote? >> kate, i can't i can't really speak for my republican colleagues. i do know this. a number have said that they would support him unless other allegations come out and they've they've qualified their support based on the record as it is. will this latest report. and i believe there could well be others because what happens is when you have a hearing like this and somebody denies behavior, folks watching the hearing who are aware of the behavior then start to come forward. well, wait a minute, but you've denied something that i know to be true. i think

that's why danielle hegseth came forward again. i don't know her and i've not spoken with her. but why would this affidavit be filed now? she saw hegseth deny that he had ever done anything wrong, but then refused to say it would be disqualifying if he had. that's why she's come forward. and, you know, i think there might be others as well. >> also, we have learned again, sitting on the considering the committee you sit on and and what you cover, we've learned that the commandant of the u.s. coast guard was just fired, removed. and the way it's described as is over leadership deficiencies and operational failures, a dhs official told cnn that admiral linda fagan, quote, failure to address border security threats and excessive focus on diversity, equity and inclusion policies is also what led to it. what's your reaction to this news? >> i'm very troubled by it and other moves that the president is taking with the military. in the first day or so you saw, the president was, you know,

was really focused on a day one activity of removing the portrait of general mark milley, who was the previous head of the joint chiefs of staff. he wanted to remove that portrait from the walls of other heads of the joint chiefs and the pentagon. that was important for him to do on day one. remember, this was a president who was the only president that i'm aware of who ever vetoed a defense bill. he vetoed a defense bill in 2020 because he didn't like renaming bases that had been named after confederates. so he didn't like rewriting history. but then on his first day, he wanted to rewrite history by removing general milley's portrait. i think that the the firing of the head of the coast guard, other actions that he's taking are the hegseth nomination demonstrate a desire to politicize the military. the nation's military should not be politicized. >> you talked to my colleague manu raju about all of the pardons that are happening, and it caught my attention. you said in that you were disappointed over president biden's preemptive pardons in his final minutes of several of

his families. do you think that move by biden eliminated the moral high ground over criticizing donald trump's pardons of january 6th? defendants? >> um, kate, i was disappointed. i don't think you should pardon family members. i didn't think he should have pardoned hunter or family members. there's a difference between preferential treatment for family and condoning criminality. you know where i'm standing? right behind me here and just down 1 or 2 levels is the delaware door, where a friend of mine, howie levengood, who is a virginian, worked here as a capitol police officer for 15 years after having grown up in the building. his dad was the sergeant at arms. he was here on january 6th after the attack on this place that had been a pillar of his life. he used his service revolver to die by suicide a couple of days after the attack, because of the attackers that donald trump unleashed on this place, the fact that he would pardon people who were responsible for my friend who was a virginians

death, so many of them who committed criminal behavior just condones future criminality. i wasn't happy with the biden family pardons, but they are. they're infinitely different and of lesser magnitude than the pardons of january 6th protesters who attacked this democracy because president trump urged him to. >> senator tim kaine, thank you for coming in. john. >> all right. this morning, president trump's promise of mass deportations causing panic and anxiety among immigrant communities. the administration issued new directives, including one that would let authorities arrest people near and inside places that had previously been considered off limits. that includes schools and churches. cnn's ed lavandera visited one texas city now preparing for these raids. >> good morning. >> cactus elementary. >> every school day at cactus elementary

starts like this. >> and you. >> see moments of. >> patriotism and reflection with a high energy dose of inspiration from principal t.j. funderburg. >> why are we here? >> you do that every morning. >> yes, sir. >> when i looked out on the student body this morning, i mean, it's quite something to think that we're in the texas panhandle. and that's what your student body looks like. >> it's always. very eye opening to people that come here. we've got 13, 14. >> different languages. >> all these different cultures represented. and yeah, we're up here in the heart of the texas panhandle. >> everybody thinks it'd be farming, ranching, country and kids and cowboy hats. and we've got just about a little bit of everything. >> the population in cactus, texas is about 3000 people, but the diversity is staggering. there's an african restaurant, safari restaurant, and halal meat. there is an asian grocery store. there's a mexican butcher shop. there's a guatemalan grocery. there's also an islamic center. what draws so many immigrants and migrants here to a community like this is the work. and it

is brutal, backbreaking work. there is a meat processing plant that runs 24 hours a day. there are dairy farms that run nonstop. these are the kinds of jobs that the united states economy and food supply rely on every day. it's also the kind of work that only immigrants, by and large, are willing to do. there are towns like cactus, texas, all over the country. and with president donald trump promising to carry out mass deportations, a sense of fear and uncertainty looms over these streets. what are you hearing specifically from people? >> um. >> they well, they're scared. they they don't know. >> if they're. >> going to be able to stay here. you know, a lot of them have been here for decades. they've built their lives here. their kids are here. you know, everyone they know is here. >> elizabeth oliveros grew up in cactus, the daughter of immigrants who became citizens and earned their living working in the city's meat processing

plant. she went away to college, became a lawyer, and moved back to cactus to work as an immigration attorney. if there were to be mass deportations here in this city, what would happen to it? >> it'd be quite empty. i think there's a lot of people here that don't have status, that keep a lot of the businesses. the smaller businesses that aren't here running. so if immigrants leave, i don't know where they're going to find workers as hardworking as some of the immigrants. >> as we walk the streets of cactus, it was clear that most residents, regardless of their immigration status, didn't want to speak with us on camera and especially didn't want to talk about president trump's deportation dreams. >> you know. i don't like politics. i don't. >> like the fear among many in this town and other agricultural communities across the country. is that vital food production would be paralyzed and communities torn apart. the meat processing plant here says it only hires people authorized to work under different

management. in 2006, the plant was raided by immigration authorities. about 300 people suspected of identity theft or being in the country illegally were detained. many of them deported. elizabeth oliveros remembers the day clearly. >> i was in elementary school and i remember they had to keep us because they didn't know how many of us or parents were gone. and a lot of my friends, their parents were. gone. wow. they got deported. >> nine the children at cactus elementary are mostly oblivious to the political storms brewing outside the school walls. principal t.j. funderburg is bracing for whatever comes next. >> it's just the unknown that scares me to death. >> he says. as many as half the kids in the school could have undocumented family members. these are the kinds of places where the reality of mass deportations could play out to the people who are going to be making these decisions about deportations, whether it's

mass deportations, just broad or targeted. what's your message to them? >> just i mean, come talk to me. come, come meet these kids. um. i think, you know, i know there has to be. there has to be rules. there has to be checks. there has to be balances. but it can't just be paper. this community of of people that have come together, that are here now from all these different countries, all these different places, we can do amazing things if we work together. >> our thanks to ed lavandera for that insightful piece. all right. ahead, a possible break in the series of burglaries at the homes of pro athletes. was this the work of a transnational gang? a routine traffic stop may lead to some answers. that story and more ahead.

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what could be a break in the investigation into burglaries at the homes of several pro athletes? authorities are looking in to see if four chilean men arrested in ohio at a traffic stop are tied to the break in at the home of cincinnati bengals quarterback joe burrow. cnn sports anchor coy wire is with us now. what are you hearing on this coy? >> hi, john. good morning to you. this big break could be coming because of an old shirt and a ball cap. while burrow, his name was, wasn't mentioned explicitly. authorities in clark county, ohio, say officers found lsu attire and bengals gear in the suspect's car when they were pulled over for a traffic violation back on january 10th. the bengals qb burrow played his college ball at lsu. now, according to the affidavit, officers also found two center hole punches tools typically used in burglaries. the men all face charges, including patterns of corruption and gang activity. police also say all four are in the u.s. illegally, which could tie into the larger picture. investigators say they've arrested members of at least

six south american burglary organizations, five based in chile. burrow is one of at least nine pro athletes whose homes have been targeted in recent months, even prompting the fbi to send a message to teams and players warning them about the break ins. let's get to some highlights. in the nhl, we had some role reversals by the rangers last night against the ottawa senators. first up, matt rempe, better known for roughing up the opponent, but shows he's got the scoring touch. two slick move burying his first goal of the season to go up three nothing in the third. then igor shesterkin gets in on the act. john, the rangers goalie doing his best impersonation, throwing down the gloves and getting into it with ottawa captain brady tkachuk. after katchouk went a little too hard into the net. rangers win five nothing. make sure to tune in to the nhl on tnt and max tonight. as the reigning stanley cup champs, florida panthers take on the kings in l.a. puck drop at 10 p.m. eastern. and jon, congrats to three baseball legends being

elected into the hall of fame. mariners legend ichiro suzuki, all star closer billy wagner and cc sabathia. >> all worthy. ichiro. never seen a player like that in my life. coy wire great to see you. thank you very much, sarah. >> all right. president trump is taking a harsher stance on russia as he is trying to make good on his promise to end the war in ukraine. >> you've called for a ceasefire in ukraine. if vladimir. >> putin doesn't. >> come to the table. >> to negotiate with. >> you. >> will you put additional sanctions on russia? >> sounds likely he went on to say that russian president vladimir putin is destroying his country by not making a deal. >> and china's xi jinping and russia's vladimir putin held a virtual summit just hours after trump took office, with xi promising that china and russia relations will, quote, continue to glow with new vitality. joining us now, former u.s.

ambassador to ukraine john herbst. thank you so much for being here. lots of developments in this. on trump's first full day. and now what will be his second full day in office. he has changed his tone with russia from from complimenting putin to being critical, saying putin is destroying russia by not making a deal. and you heard there that sanctions could be possible. how do you think putin is going to respond to this kind of messaging? >> it's it's pretty simple. putin has not changed his objectives vis a vis ukraine, which is to take effective political control of the country. if trump in fact pursues this initiative diligently, designed to stop the war and to let ukraine survive and even have a security and prosperity that's objectionable to putin. so trump is now coming to terms with the fact that putin is not interested in real compromise, where zelenskyy has said that

he's willing to accept territorial compromise. >> i want to ask you about this because it's been said so many times by president trump. he has promised he will end the russia-ukraine war in one day in just 24 hours. what is the reality here? >> well, i think trump has begun to connect with reality on the timing. when he said a couple of weeks ago this could take 3 or 6 months. and i think he's now saying he's he's asking ambassador kellogg to do this within 100 days. i think that's also extremely ambitious. it took two years to create a ceasefire that ended the hostilities in the korean war. 70 years ago. if trump wants a fast and durable peace, and he says he wants a durable peace, he's going to have to ratchet up pressure on putin substantially. not just sanctions, but he needs to let putin know that american aid to ukraine will continue because putin believes he can continue, albeit at the horrendous loss

in russian and north korean lives. take more ukrainian territory. if we make clear that we're going to help ukraine stop further russian advances on the battlefield. putin may have may have incentive to seek a real peace. all right. i do want it. >> i do want to ask you, ambassador, about the entrance of china and its impact on all of this. you know, president xi jinping has vowed to take his country's ties with russia to a new height. and and the two countries are saying, look, we're pushing towards a new world order. how could china play a role in this? and does it make it more difficult for the united states and its involvement? >> there's no question that chinese backing for this russian aggression has enabled putin to continue, even when he was unable to achieve a quick victory. now the chinese are supporting the russian economy. the chinese are sending dual use technology, which has military application. it's worth remembering that the previous administration also thought they could persuade china to tell russia to stop

its aggression. they failed. i suspect that the trump administration may try and have the same result. china is not interested in ending putin's war in ukraine. >> i do want to ask you what you would advise donald trump to do as he is trying to end this war. what could a deal look like? >> oh, we've seen unofficially elements of a russian, excuse me, of a trump proposal. they demand compromise from the ukrainians, and that compromise includes giving up some territory, at least de facto, and at least a moratorium for 20 years on possible ukrainian membership in nato. and they require compromise from putin. and that includes trump's talked about arming ukraine heavily. once a deal is made to deter future russian aggression, and he's talked about having a demilitarized zone between russian and ukrainian troops to be filled by european soldiers. those two aspects require putin e