for joining me. and thank you to the cnn this morning team for having me as well. what are you watching for today? >> just babies. i mean, honestly, like, i can't think. i still my kids are seven and 11 and i'm still sort of baby crazy. i'm not having any more, uh, that it's hard to top that. >> although my youngest is one, so that still makes me tired to look at that. it's still too close to home. >> and i have teenagers, so, you know, the world is a little bit different than with babies, but with many of the same anxieties. >> kendra. >> i my kids are going to school today. i'm just very excited. >> i've ruined it. you asked a sincere question about the news, and i'm sorry. i but i'm just talking babies. >> it's as good a place as any to leave it. >> morning television. >> kendra. brad, we appreciate all of you this morning. thank you again to the team and for casey for having me. i'm kayla tausche. cnn news starts right now.

>> america's top diplomat face to face with russia. the highest level talks between the two countries since before the war in ukraine began. and the first serious discussions over ending that war on ukraine. now nearly three years old. >> we have brand new reporting. >> on the terrifying landing at toronto pearson international airport upside down in burning a delta flight completely flips over on the runway. all 80 people on board survived. and we're standing by for an update from the vatican on the condition of pope francis in the hospital for what appears to be an extended stay in the most serious health threat of his papacy, sarah worked a double on the night shift. i'm john berman with kate bolduan. this is cnn news central. >> and breaking. >> news overnight.

>> high stakes. >> talks between the u.s. and russia are happening right now in saudi arabia. secretary of state marco rubio sitting down with top russian officials for the first time since russia invaded ukraine nearly three years ago. notably, not at the table right now. is anyone from ukraine or america's european allies? but the closed door talks? they are critical to the future of the deadly conflict and the future hopes of a democratic ukraine. we are standing by to see what comes out, what news, what word, what sign comes out of that room this morning, just as we also see a very stark split screen playing out those civilized talks to end the war. on one side and the other, word from ukraine that russia is intensifying its attacks as we speak. and we're also learning new details about the american just freed by russia hours before the talks began. cnn's matthew chance is in riyadh following all of this. matthew, what is the latest? what are you hearing? >> well, these talks have been continuing for a good three

hours and 15 minutes. there's a working lunch underway right now where members of the u.s. delegation, including marco rubio mike waltz, national security adviser steve witkoff, the middle east envoy, they're sitting opposite their russian counterparts, sergei lavrov, the russian foreign minister, yury ushakov, who is a presidential adviser to vladimir putin on foreign affairs and to some extent kirill dmitriev as well, who's the head of the russian sovereign wealth fund. he's been playing a part as well. look, i mean, i think there's a slight difference of comms coming out of both sides as to what the purpose of these talks are. the u.s. are going into this saying they're trying to suss out essentially whether the russians are serious about negotiations to bring to an end the the war in ukraine. considerations there, of course, when it comes to resolving that three year old conflict occupied ukrainian land, how much of that will be kept under russian control, and how much will be returned to the ukrainian state? ukraine's path to nato membership, or whether or not it will join nato, something that the americans

have already said is likely not to happen. peacekeeping troops. obviously, there's going to be a big, long front line between russia and ukraine. if an end to the war takes place. and it's going to require a lot of international peacekeepers to make sure those violations don't take place. and of course, russian sanctions and trade. russia has been hit by crippling sanctions over the course of the past three years because of its full scale invasion of ukraine and other issues as well. so so that's the the u.s. agenda on the russian side. they're sort of got much less of a focus on ending the war, more of a focus on that being one of the issues that has to be resolved as part of a general normalization of relations between the united states and russia. and so the russians are very keen on the economic aspect, getting sanctions lifted, restarting economic cooperation with the united states to try and sort of boost the economy, which has been suffering over the course of the past three years. there's also that outstanding issue of a presidential summit between president putin and president trump of the united

states. the kremlin is saying that we'll have more information on that potentially at the end of these talks. kate. >> matthew, it's great that you're there on the ground covering all of it for us. thank you so much for your reporting. john. all right. new this morning, new resignations in washington, this time at the social security administration. sources tell the associated press that acting commissioner michelle king has stepped down over a request from elon musk's team to access social security recipient information. king's departure is the latest as concern grows about how musk and his people are operating. let's get right to cnn's alayna treene at the white house for the latest on this. elena, what are you learning? >> well, it's as you said, john. acting commissioner of the social security administration, michelle king, has resigned from her role after facing pressure from staffers working with the department of government efficiency to try and access some of these highly sensitive systems, you know, including social security numbers. et cetera. getting into some of that data. it's a trend we've

seen now with a lot of these different agencies, a lot of these highly sensitive systems that these doge staffers are trying to gain access to, causing a lot of consternation among employees within the agency. but look, just to dig in a little bit more about king. she was someone who worked for decades at the social security administration, at the agency. she was named last month as acting commissioner, but she resigned over the weekend. over, you know, this spat with the department of government efficiency. now, we know that, as i said, this comes as really we've seen so much criticism and skepticism from all corners of washington, from capitol hill to the courts over whether doge has the legal authority to do this. also, for questions of of violations of privacy rights and whatnot. we saw that play out kind of yesterday as we were reporting that doge staffer was trying to gain access to the highly sensitive irs taxpayer system. so this continues to be something that we are seeing kind of this push and pull from people who are questioning whether doge has the authority to do this. now, as for social

security itself, i mean, this is such a big issue. one, it's one, of course, that has become really a political flashpoint in recent years. we know that president donald trump has vowed to protect social security, but he also really provided few details over exactly how he would do that and try to solve for the agency's looming insolvency. now, just to give you a sense about the importance of social security, we know about 7 or 72.5 million people, including retirees, disabled people and children receive social security benefits. just to give you, you know, the context of how important social security is in this country. i want to read for you a statement, though, from white house spokesperson harrison fields. he said, quote, president trump is committed to appointing the best and most qualified individuals who are dedicated to working on behalf of the american people, not to appease the bureaucracy that has failed them for far too long. as we're hearing from him, the white house, everyone kind of supporting this effort is the same idea that, you know, they

have tasked elon musk and those working under doge to go into these agencies to hunt out what they are referring to as waste, fraud and abuse. but again, we'll see how this plays out, because this is just the latest agency to kind of fall under this, this skeptic, the skeptical, the skepticism around whether or not this is something that they should actually be doing. yeah. >> john, how much and whose data should they have access to? alayna treene at the white house. thank you for your reporting this morning. new details in the investigation into what caused a delta flight to crash and flip upside down, and how all 80 people on board managed to survive. and a meeting that could determine the future and the fate of new york city mayor eric adams, the new york governor who has the power to remove him from office, could address that as soon as today. and the epic rematch is set. two juggernauts set to take the i.c.e. night after fight after fight after fight. we can objectively say go usa.

>> cookbooks. >> corporate fat cats. >> swindling socialites, doped up cyclists then yes, more crooked politicians. i have a feeling we won't be running out of those anytime soon. >> a new season of united states of scandal with jake tapper. march 9th on cnn. >> speak now. >> or forever. hold your only took for our cough liquid. >> unlike robitussin dm, delsym liquid offers 12 hours of cough relief all day or night. delsym cough crisis averted. >> at harbor freight, we do business differently from the other guys. we design and test our own tools and sell them directly to you. no middlemen, just quality tools you can trust. at prices you'll love. >> the darkness of bipolar depression made me feel like life was moving on without me. >> then i found a chance. >> to let in the light. >> discover caplyta. unlike some medicines that only treat

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>> well, john, a few things. >> investigators have a few factors that are really working in their favor. first of all, the plane is intact. so they'll have easy access to the flight data recorder as well as the cockpit voice recorder. they're going to be able to interview the pilot, the copilot, the crew to get their input into what happened. but even with all of that, it still could be some time. john, before we have an exact cause of what went wrong here. >> come on. >> dramatic moments captured on the runway at toronto's pearson airport as passengers escaped from a delta commuter jet which had just crashed and flipped upside down. one by one, passengers ran for their safety. one says all seemed normal as the aircraft was on final approach yesterday afternoon. then suddenly a hard landing. >> when we hit, it was just a super hard like hit the ground

and the plane went sideways. and i believe we skidded, like on our side and then flipped over on our back. where we ended up, there was like a big fireball. >> we didn't really know anything was the matter, or at least i didn't until like the second we hit the ground. um, there was no, like, real indication of anything. and then, yeah, we hit the ground and we were sideways, and then we were upside down, hanging like bats. >> flight 4819 was inbound from minneapolis carrying 80 people on board. >> cleared to land. two three 4819. >> air traffic control cleared the crj 900 to land. already? questions if weather could have played a role in the crash. wind gusts at the time reached almost 40mph over the past week, toronto hit with nearly two feet of snow. >> this is an active investigation. it's very early on. it's really important that we do not speculate.

>> what we can. >> say is the runway was. dry and there was no crosswind conditions. >> canadian officials say 18 people on board were injured. the incident comes as the aviation industry, still reeling from recent accidents involving an american airlines commuter jet and a military chopper near washington, dc. a medevac jet in philadelphia and a bering air flight near nome, alaska. passengers on board flight 4819 say it is remarkable everyone survived. >> just feeling lucky and happy. i got to give the person i didn't know sitting next to me a big hug, that we were okay, and see my friends who were here to pick me up from the airport and give them a big hug. and yeah, get home. who knows when, but get home and give my family a big hug. >> yeah. >> incredibly lucky. the transportation safety board of canada will be heading up this investigation. the ntsb will be

lending their part to help out in the investigation. in the meantime, two runways here at pearson will be closed over the next few days. as the early stages of this investigation get underway. john. >> all right. jason carroll for us in toronto. so many questions. still such remarkable images. it's wonderful that all 80 people on board survived. thank you jason. we've got exclusive new cnn reporting on a covert cia operation. flying reaper drones over mexico, and the leader of a cult like group known as the zizians has been arrested after the group was connected to a string of murders across the country. >> i'm mornings, cough congestion. >> i'm feeling better all in one. and done with mucinex kickstart. >> headaches better now. >> mucinex kickstart gives all in one and done relief with a morning jolt of instant cooling

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>> nhl on tnt. >> you guys got a pretty good group there. >> wayne gretzky. >> he's the goat that keeps the light. >> up there. anthony carter. he's definitely the. >> grinder of the group. hank's a man. rocket always looks dapper. they're all a bunch of beauties. >> watch nhl. >> on tnt. and stream. on max wednesdays. >> this morning we have. >> a cnn exclusive to bring to you. the cia under president trump, has been covertly flying drones over mexico to spy on drug cartels. that's according to officials with knowledge of the program, underscoring how aggressively the trump administration is moving to crack down on immigration and also on drug trafficking and shifting counterterrorism resources to the u.s. mexico border and beyond. cnn's natasha bertrand has this reporting. she's joining us now with much more on this. and what more are you learning, sasha? >> yeah. >> kate. so current and former officials tell me and my colleagues, katie lillis and zach cohen that the. cia. under president trump. >> has been covertly flying. >> mq nine reaper drones over mexico to spy on drug cartels. now, this is all part of

trump's dramatic reorientation, as we know. >> of national security assets to the southern border. and cnn has previously reported that the u.s. military was flying spy planes in international airspace to monitor cartels. but these drones are actually flying over mexico and inside mexican airspace, which is a significant development. now, these were these more recent flights were communicated to congress by the trump administration using a particular notification reserved for new or updated covert programs that the cia intends either to conceal or deny. so that's another difference here from the military flights. now, when we asked the cia for comment, a spokesperson declined to comment specifically about the drone missions, but said that broadly, quote, countering drug cartels in mexico and regionally is a priority for cia as part of the trump administration's broader efforts to end the grave threat from narco trafficking. director ratcliffe is determined to put cia's unique expertise to work against this multifaceted

challenge. now, these drone missions obviously also come amid very heightened tensions between the u.s. and the mexican government, especially as mexican officials are already fielding questions about why the military spy planes have been flying missions near their border in recent weeks. and mexican president claudia sheinbaum and other senior mexican officials have also emphasized in recent days the importance of sovereignty and intelligence sharing. and they've noted that the spy plane flights are occurring in international airspace to kind of calm their public. but obviously, these drone missions are taking place in mexican airspace itself, and mexican officials did not respond to our request for comment about this or whether they're even aware of these drone missions. now, we should also note that these mq nine drones that are being used for the missions, they're not currently armed, but they can be equipped with payloads to carry out precision strikes, which the u.s. pretty regularly does to target suspected terrorists in syria, iraq and somalia. the trump administration, as we know they are preparing to treat transnational drug cartels as

terrorist organizations. but that designation hasn't officially been made yet. still, you know, some current and former officials say that designating cartels as terrorist groups could potentially lay the groundwork for these kind of direct u.s. strikes against mexico's cartels and their drug labs, which would obviously be a very significant escalation. not there yet. but these drone missions, of course, obviously very significant. kate. >> mhm. natasha, thank you so much for bringing us that reporting this morning. still ahead for us survivors of the toronto plane crash. they're speaking out this morning describing how they were hanging upside down from their seatbelts. the word from experts today on how upgrades to this type of plane involved likely helped avert a much worse disaster. and we're also standing by to hear from the secretary of state, marco rubio, after his first sit down with russian counterparts today. >> cookbooks. >> corporate fat cats swindling socialites, doped up cyclists,

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that's me. that's also me. >> i see. >> and free frame adjustments for life. >> and that's included in. >> the $95. >> oh. >> welcome to warby parker. >> welcome back. >> have i got news for you. >> news saturday. >> on cnn. >> so how did this happen? that is among the many questions this morning about the delta passenger jet that quite literally ended upside down after a crash landing at toronto's airport monday. passengers on the flight from minneapolis mean they found themselves hanging from their seatbelts as they saw fire explode outside their windows. all 76 passengers and four crew survived were seen walking on the ceiling of the jet to escape

to safety. 18 injuries were reported, though, according to the president, the head of the airport, they're not life threatening and now, understandably so, a huge investigation is getting underway. joining us right now is cnn aviation analyst miles o'brien and cnn transportation analyst, former inspector general for the department of transportation, mary schiavo. thank you so much for getting up this morning for us. miles, what are what are your questions this morning about this? >> well, i have a series. >> of them, kate, as i look at the video of this aircraft as. it landed. it appears it it. >> didn't flare. >> this is what happens as you get closer to the ground and the. >> pilots pull. >> back on the wheel or the yoke to slow down the rate of descent, that aircraft would be descending at about 7 or 800ft per minute. and as you get closer to the ground, anybody who. flown up and say pull back ever so slightly to reduce that rate of descent to make for a

smooth landing that appeared not to happen here. now. why was that? was there some sort of what we call wind. >> shear. >> which is a sudden change, an abrupt change in the wind speed, which could have dramatically reduced the. was there some other factor? but even. >> even with. >> that. >> it's extraordinary to see the collapse of that landing gear. that must have indicated a lot of impact. or maybe some problem with the landing gear itself. >> miles, i'm just being told, mary ann miles i'm just being told from the control room. we have some new video in. i'm not sure both of you can see our live air, but we're going to play it for everyone. let's watch it together. this is the moment that the plane is coming in. oh. miles is this seems to speak to what you were just talking about is is what traditionally would happen as the pilots are bringing it in at this last minute. and just look

how hard that impact is. >> yeah, it's a hard landing, to be sure. there is no evidence of what we call the flare to arrest that descent. uh, they were coming in, and it was a stabilized approach up to that point, at about 7 or 800ft per minute. it's a little mystifying to me that that would cause that level of destruction. so was there something else that happened that that increased the rate of descent the last minute, perhaps some meteorological condition? or was there some problem mechanically with the landing gear? >> mary, what are you thinking about this morning? when you see this new video, you see the other video, you hear the accounts of the people and the fact that 18 people were injured, but everyone was able to survive and get out of this. >> well, and then there's yet another video circulating out there. it hasn't been confirmed, but it sure looks like this. and you can see the plane from the

right hand side, and you can see that moment of impact. you can see the the wheels break off and you can see the right wing snap, which then would further explain why the plane cartwheeled the left wing is still, at least for a while before it too gets damaged. it's going to have lift. it's going to cause that plane to cartwheel. and you can see that now. my questions will go back a little bit before that. i am curious about the communications with air traffic control. air traffic control did give crosswind warnings, did give wind warnings. there were both metars and other weather forecasts. and then the tower said something very strange to me. it said, you know, you might have a bump from the previous aircraft. did the controller mean that the previous aircraft reported wind shear reported really rough landing, or could it be? and it just can't be because they aren't allowed to land aircraft that closely. could it be some kind of a of a wake vortex? i mean, that is not

allowed. air traffic controllers must have significant space. and then of course, if there's wind shear, one would expect. and toronto pearson is a very advanced airport. they do have wind shear detection equipment. if there was any kind of wind shear warning. so i agree completely with with miles and i still have questions, i back it up a few more minutes just to see what happened in the in the minute before this. very bad. as miles said. pancake landing it there was no, uh, attempt to flare at all, which slows the plane down and put your back wheels on the runway first. >> yeah, it's so. i'm always so thankful to have both of your expertise on this. i want to play for everyone. how? one of the passengers described what he experienced. he was sitting in the 10th row of the aircraft. let me play this. >> we were coming in, and i did notice that, like, uh, the winds were super gusty. the snow, uh, had kind of blown over the, the

runways. and when we hit, it was just a super hard, like, like hit the ground and the plane went sideways. and i believe, uh, we skidded, like, on our side and then flipped over on our back where we ended up, there was like a big fireball out this left side of the plane. >> mary, what do investigators. the good thing that the investigators have, they have an intact plane. they have a lot of survivors. everyone surviving that they can interview. after all of this, what do you take from what you hear from that one passenger? >> well, from that one passenger describes what we're now seeing on all these videos that are surfacing. and these videos are very helpful. but of course, the investigators are going to, you know, look at the condition of the plane. as miles said in recent maintenance. and anything related to that aircraft. but they're also going to be looking at the aircraft limitations. every aircraft has its own limitation. you know, bigger planes have larger wind

tolerances and crosswind tolerances. and this one's you know, it was right on the cusp, uh, crj 900, it's rated for if the runway is slippery. not not much more than 15 knots or all the way up to 37 knots. so the investigators are also going to look, if this plane was performing within the parameters that this plane is rated to perform in. >> miles mary, thank you both as always. thank you so much. there. just beginning this investigation. and as we go, let's play. let's show that video one more time. this new video that we've just gotten cleared, this new video. and let's watch this just one more time to see this new angle that we're getting of what became an amazing moment. i mean, the video to see with the plane that you see, that fireball, that black smoke that just explodes up and how hard that plane impacts the runway. much more to come. that investigation very clearly just getting underway. john.

>> all right. >> more breaking news. just getting word that the meeting between russian and u.s. officials over the fate of ukraine without ukraine being there, that first meeting in saudi arabia just wrapped up the first description we're getting from it is from russian officials who are calling it positive. let's get right to cnn's senior international correspondent, frederik pleitgen, who is in moscow this morning. fred, what are you hearing? >> hi there. john. yeah. >> the meeting apparently. just adjourned. and you're absolutely right. the first information that we're getting is from the russians. and one of the ones who's speaking is one of their chief negotiators, yuri ushakov, who is also a senior kremlin aide. and he used the russian words to describe it, which means not bad. that's how the russians are describing it. ushakov saying that all of the serious questions between the two countries, between the u.s. and russia, were discussed at that meeting. he also says that it's not clear that any headway was made on any of those topics. but he does say at least the two sides talked about it. so it

seems as though it was a very open discussion. the other big thing, of course, that everybody is asking is whether or not any headway was made on a direct, face to face meeting between president trump and the russian president, vladimir putin. and on that, the chief negotiator for the russians, saying that it's not clear whether such a. week. so that was something that was floated. but the russians are saying they don't necessarily believe that that is going to be the case. so we're waiting to get more information. but certainly the russians are saying that this happened in a very constructive atmosphere. at the same time. of course, john, we know that the russians have been pushing for this meeting to be about more than just trying to end the war in ukraine. now, our own matthew chance last night spoke to one of the negotiators, kirill dmitriev. and here's what he had to say. >> we had some meetings with trump team members, and all i can say is that they are great problem solvers. and i think president trump is a great problem solver. and also his

team is a team of great problem solvers. >> what has that team promised you here? have you have they given you an indication about what they're going to give you? >> no. i think the promise is let's have dialog. let's figure out the best solution for our countries, for other countries, for the global community. maria torres-springer. >> now, john, the russians are saying that these discussions are going to continue with lower level diplomats, especially on the question of trying to find an end to the war in ukraine. and again, one of the things that we've been seeing, one of the differences we've been seeing from the u.s. side and from the russian side, of course, we know that the trump administration has been speaking about their main goal being ending the war in ukraine. the russians, for their part, are saying that for them, that is one of the things that is on the agenda for them, but they are envisioning basically a complete reset of u.s. russian relations, including sanctions relief in the future and including better diplomatic and economic relations between the u.s. and russia as well. john. >> well, they might be on the road to getting that. fred. what was the russian term again, that was used to describe the

meeting? >> kniplova not bad. >> all right. very well. there you have it. frederik pleitgen terrific reporting from moscow. thank you very much, kate. notably john berman not trying. not a chance. not a chance. we'll get you by the end of the show. the path forward. that is what the democratic governor of new york is saying. it is time to discuss today when it comes to the democratic mayor of new york city. that is because governor kathy hochul is now considering whether she will take the extraordinary step to remove mayor eric adams from office. the governor announced the meeting after four of the city's top officials just quit in protest, saying that they could no longer serve under eric adams. and this is all connected to the federal corruption charges he faces and the alleged quid pro quo he was offered by the trump administration and a top justice department official directing prosecutors in new york to drop the case against adams. cnn's gloria pazmino has much more on this. and there is so much going on. first and foremost, what are you hearing

about the meeting that the governor is now called? >> well, look. >> the governor. >> is going. >> to call this meeting. it's going to be held here in manhattan today in her manhattan office. and there are some top democrats that are expected to attend, according to my sources, they include congressman hakeem jeffries, the reverend al sharpton, congressman greg meeks. also, some members of the city council, the city council speaker, as well as the city's comptroller. they're going to be individual meetings. some of them will be held in person. some of them will be held virtually. for those who may be in washington, d.c. but the governor has made it clear that she is seriously weighing this decision. and it's a little bit of a shift from what she had said about a week ago, where she said that it would not be very democratic to remove the mayor from office. but clearly, we've learned a lot of different things since that last statement. so now the governor is saying that she is seriously thinking about it. she's convening with the city's leaders, notably the city's black leaders. that is very much of her political calculation here. it is not a small thing to

use her executive power, not only to remove the mayor, who was duly elected by the people of the city of new york, but also the second black mayor in the city's history. now, as you said, this was, uh, you know, this was as a result of these four top officials announcing they were stepping down from the adams administration yesterday. these are four career public servants, highly regarded in the city's government circles. in fact, they were put in there after the last time we saw a rash of resignations when the mayor was first indicted last september. and this was all of the governor's effort to kind of bring some stability to the office. so now we're seeing that stability go away. so we'll see what happens after today's meetings. there are two things on the table. whether the the governor uses her executive power or whether they convene what's called an inability committee. and that is essentially new york city's version of impeachment. but it would require a certain amount of votes and a process that's

never been tried in the city's modern history. so both options are a bit are a bit challenging. >> and he is up for reelection. we're also waiting for a federal judge to decide what to do with the dismissal request from doj. i mean, there are so many avenues here. what's what's eric adams saying about all of this? >> so he's stood pretty defiant so far. he's made it clear that he does not plan on stepping down. he has repeated a phrase that he has said since he was indicted. i'm stepping up, not stepping down. and he hit the church's circuit this sunday. he attended a couple of different services and spoke about how he is facing this. take a listen. >> dancing on my grave. >> right now. every news headline, every report, every calling. it is over for him. and i want you to be clear. >> right. >> come on. you want you to hear so many rumors and so many things. you're going to read so much. i am going nowhere.

>> nowhere so pretty defiant tone there. but the fact of the matter, kate, is that the mayor is really just cratering support. many of the city's lawmakers, state and local officials have said that he should step aside for the good of the city. others calling on the governor to use her executive power so his support is just dwindling, dwindling by the minute. >> laura, let's see what happens today. thank you so much for your reporting, john. all right. this morning, for the first time in 53 years, southwest airlines is announcing layoffs. it plans to cut 15% of its corporate staff. that's about 750 jobs. the layoffs will begin in april. they will include mostly corporate employees, as we just said, and is expected to save the airline $500 million over the next two years. investors have been pushing for leadership and policy changes in southwest, including the recent reversal of its open seating policy. all right. we are standing by for a new report from the vatican this morning. the pope is in the hospital as he faces the most

serious health situation of his papacy. and that's no banana. a venomous snake was found in a box of bananas at a grocery store. new hampshire might never be the same again. >> after this. >> cnn business update is brought to you by invesco qk. let's rethink possibility. invesco distributors incorporated. >> what took you so long? i'm sorry. there was a long line at the thai place. >> you get the sauce. >> i like. >> of course. >> with a. >> man. >> i wish. >> the future isn't scary. not investing in it is nasdaq 100 innovators one etf. before investing, carefully read and consider fund investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and more in prospectus@invesco.com.

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>> i asked you here tonight. >> it's because it's a buffet of all you can eat. butterfly shrimp and sirloin steak. >> that is the. >> reason i thought it's because i made varsity. >> you did? of course you did. >> of course you did. >> i'm oren liebermann. >> at the pentagon. >> and this. >> is cnn. >> all right. new this morning, the acting commissioner of the social security administration, michelle king, is stepping down after she refused to provide staffers on elon musks team with sensitive personal information about americans who receive social security benefits. now, this resignation happened after 14 attorneys general filed suit to stop musk and his team from accessing sensitive data at a number of federal agencies. with us now is the attorney general of the state of connecticut, william tong, one of the attorneys general that brought this lawsuit. mr. attorney general, thank you for being with us. first, just describe to me exactly what this suit is over. specifically. >> yeah. >> good morning jon.

>> good to see. >> you again. >> this suit is about. >> stopping donald trump. >> from letting an. >> unelected billionaire, elon musk, and his army of tech bro. >> wannabe stormtroopers. >> from tearing up the federal government and accessing sensitive information. now this suit, there are two suits. there's doge one. and i was in federal court with tish james, the attorney general of new york, on friday seeking a preliminary injunction. in that case, we already have a temporary restraining order. but the case in front of judge chutkan in d.c. is about the appointments clause. and so in the constitution, it says if you exercise significant authority, you've got to be confirmed. nominated by the president but confirmed by the senate. that didn't happen here. his appointment, his work is in utter violation of the u.s. constitution and the appointments clause. >> all right. now, as for the fate of this suit, as everyone who listened, almost everyone who listened to the arguments observed, judge chutkan seems skeptical of the argument you were making for the temporary

restraining order on the basis of the fact that she indicated you had no specific or not enough specific evidence of harm to get that order, she said. you were basing it on media reports. what's your response to that? >> yeah. >> so i don't agree with that. obviously. i think she sees it the way we do on the merits and knows that the that doge and elon musk and his army of hackers pose a grave risk to connecticut, to people in our state, to this country. and of course, now we see michelle king, the administrator of the social security administration, resigning. we see doge seeking access to the irs and taxpayer specific taxpayer information. we know they're already canceling contracts, the department of education and of course, treasury. so the immediacy is there. it's real. and we hope that judge chutkan sees it our way. >> so there was a statement released overnight, um, from joshua fisher, who is the director of the office of

administration here. an interesting memo put out that seems to address at least your your argument that musk is in a role without being confirmed. number five, on this declaration of joshua fisher from the office of administration. it says in his role as senior advisor to the president, mr. musk has no greater authority than other senior white house advisers. like other senior white house advisers, mr. musk has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself. mr. musk can only advise the president and communicate the president's directive. they liken it to to anita dunn in the biden administration, just an advisor, not one who needs to be confirmed. what do you say to that? >> yeah, there are tons of tweets by elon musk saying that he has tremendous power over federal spending. so it's another example of, you know, they're just making stuff up. they can't they can't seem to shoot straight on this. and and if, if the point that they're making is that elon musk doesn't actually have any authority hasn't been confirmed by the senate, you know, doesn't have any role. well,

that's our argument. that's the point. you've got to unelected billionaire running amok with unchecked power over information that's vital to states. uh, private information that belongs to people in this country and will do great damage to the united states of america. and so it's as if john, donald trump came down to the studio right now and said, hey, john berman, you're a good guy. why don't you go over to, uh, nuclear research facility for the u.s. army and just do whatever you want? you know, the most secure nuclear research facility there is? of course, we would all have a problem with that. and and parachuting. elon musk and his army of hackers into a number of federal agencies with unfettered access and control is similarly damaging and dangerous. >> all right. attorney general of connecticut, weili tong, thank you so much for being with us this morning. appreciate your time. thanks, kate. police in maryland have arrested the leader of what is being described as a cult like group

called the zizians. 34 year old jack lasota was taken into custody sunday and charged with trespassing, obstruction and also had a firearms charge. the group that he has been leading has been linked to several homicides, including the murder of a border patrol agent near the canadian border in january. their goals of the. the goals of the group are not entirely clear, but online writings span topics from radical veganism and gender identity to artificial intelligence. and another member of the group are scheduled to appear in court today. u.s. and canada are gearing up for a rematch thursday in the four nations faceoff championship. canada seeking revenge apparently after saturday's loss in quebec that had been dubbed. that has been dubbed fight night because three fights broke out within the first nine seconds of the game. the u.s. went on to beat canada 3 to 1, and in that one. the coaches are now previewing what it could all now

mean for thursday's rematch. >> i would anticipate. >> the next one. >> will be as every bit as competitive, if, if not more. and now. >> it's win one more game. >> it just happens to be against the team that beat. >> us after. >> the fireworks that went. >> off on saturday night. >> so. >> um. >> i think. >> it should be a pretty good. >> made for. >> tv event. >> competitive. fireworks, brawling. thursday's game. for thursday's game, the puck drops at 8 p.m. in boston. a valentine's day surprise that probably no one ever, or especially any grocery store worker, would want. an employee at a new hampshire market found an only mildly venomous snake inside a shipment of bananas. a state fish and game official says the snake is a two foot long, ornate catie that is native to ecuador. the good news if bitten by one of these guys or gals, it would not be fatal.

but it can cause some pain and swelling in humans. experts say the snake was not harmed and has been given to a local reptile handler. so only like slightly ouchy and bad. john. yes. no one likes swelling. all right. new details this morning on how pope francis is doing. the 88 year old pontiff is at a rome hospital. he has been there since friday. let's get to barbie nadeau outside the hospital for the very latest on his condition. what are you hearing this morning, barbie? >> we did get. >> a very brief and quite curated update from the vatican spokesperson, who said he had a tranquil night. he ate breakfast this morning and has been reading some newspapers. now, we haven't gotten any other details than that yet today. but of course, he's just two days into this new course of treatment. this is a third course of treatment. they've tried for this this respiratory infection. before he came into the hospital on friday, he was on a course of medication. then they put him on antibiotics. we were told yesterday that wasn't working. so he's on a new course. so

second day into that, fifth day into the hospital. everyone's hoping, of course, that this is going to be what helps him recover from this. but of course he's got a complicated clinical profile. he's 88 years old, he has mobility problems and he's missing half a lung. so all of these things are complications as he goes forward. but of course, you know, there are a lot of people concerned, not just catholics hoping that he gets better. and i'm sure he's got the prayers of the world behind him and supporting him. and we're expecting another update in about five hours time. john. >> all right. five hours, as you said, the world wishing him well. this episode seems a little different than the ones we've seen in the past. uh, barbie, the vatican called it a complex critical condition. our christopher lam saw him last week and said he looked okay, but sounded bad. it was hard for him to talk. how is it that he's been conducting his duties? >> well, you know, he's been compromised in the conducting these duties for the last couple of weeks before his hospital admission and several occasions he couldn't actually read his

prepared statement. he had to hand them to someone to read them for him. and now we saw this a couple of years ago, too. i mean, he seems to be quite susceptible to these respiratory infections. not quite as bad as we've seen this time. but, you know, the vatican is a fine oiled machine. there is a backup and a backup and then a plan b and c, so you know these things. the church will go on even if the pope can't read his prepared documents. but of course, everybody's very, very concerned. he's in very, very bad health. and this is a scare. this is a definitely a scare, john. >> yeah. we will wait and see to read this update and hear it in five hours, because every shift in language from the vatican is so important. barbara, thank you so much for your reporting on this, kate. back here. a bitterly cold blast of arctic air is set to move across the united states this week. the storm system already creating dangerous conditions. snow, ice, brutally cold temperatures in several states, including parts of kentucky and west virginia, which was just hit by deadly flooding. cnn's derek van dam has much more on this. i mean, i

was remembering the images we're seeing coming out of kentucky and the flooding that they saw there, and now this. what are you watching? yeah. this is yeah. >> this is going to be a critical next few days for people who are recovering. >> from the. >> flooding that's ongoing. look, it's cold already across some of the hardest hit areas kentucky, tennessee, parts of southern indiana into virginia, west virginia. but i want to point your attention towards what's coming. look upstream, we call that. that is across the northern plains. that cold arctic air mass is going to descend on those very areas that have been hit hard by the recent flooding. and to complicate matters, there is a snowstorm impending across the region as well. looking at the windchill values across the northern plains, you will get frostbite in ten minutes. if you step outside with those types of values below zero. just incredible. the extreme cold alerts they extend from the border of canada all the way to mexico, and they will shift eastward with time as this cold