it's it's thursday, january 30th, 2025. this is "cbs news mornings." breaking news. midair collision. a passenger jet and a military helicopter crash outside washington, d.c. >> just praying that somebody's pulling her out of the river right now as we speak. right now the desperate

search in the frigid potomac river for any signs of life. good morning, i'm michael george. a massive search and rescue operation is under way near washington, d.c., by air and on the water. hundreds of first responders are scouring the potomac river for any possible survivors. sources tell cbs news at least 19 bodies have been recovered along with one of the plane's black boxes. a regional american airlines jet from wichita carrying 64 passengers and crew was coming in for a landing at reagan national airport when it collided with an army black hawk hawk chopper carrying three people on a training mission. natalie brand is at the airport with the latest developments. this is just a horrific tragedy. what do we know right now? >> reporter: reagan national airport remains closed until later this morning while this highly complex rescue operation continues.

it involves more than 300 responders, both federal and local, from around the region. and it's expected to extend into the coming days. earth cam video shows the moment a commercial passenger jet and an army helicopter collided in midair just before 9:00 p.m. near washington, d.c.'s, reagan national airport. >> both the helicopter and the plane crashed in the river. >> reporter: now a frantic search for any survivors in the frigid waters of the potomac river. >> it's a highly complex operation. the conditions with extremely -- the conditions out there are extremely 4 rough for responders. it's cold. >> reporter: the flight from wichita, kansas, was approaching the airport with 60 passengers and four crew members on board. >> i know that flight. i've flown it many times myself. so this is a very personal circumstance. >> reporter: this man told a local affiliate he believes his wife was on the plane returning from a business trip. >> texted me we were -- they

were landing in 20 minutes. the rest of my texts didn't get delivered. that's when i realized something might be up. >> reporter: the army says the black hawk helicopter involved similar to this was on a training flight with three service members on board. in a statement, president donald trump says he's monitoring the situation. separately on social media, he questioned the actions of the helicopter and air traffic control prior to the collision. >> i know the president is incredibly concerned about what's happened today. i'm sure we'll hear more. >> reporter: multiple agencies are investigating including the pentagon, fbi, federal aviation administration, with the national transportation safety board taking the lead. we're expecting our next press conference here at reagan around 7:30 this morning. meanwhile, american airlines has set up a help line for the families impacted. and u.s. figure skating put out a statement this morning saying sadly it can confirm several members of its skating

community were on board the flight. they were returning home from a training program. the statement goes on to say, we are devastated and hold the victims' families closely in our hearts, michael. >> all right. natalie brand at reagan national airport. thank you. the head of american airlines put out a video statement offering their condolences. >> this is a difficult day for all of us at american airlines, and our efforts now are focused entirely on the needs of our passengers, crew members, partners, first responders, along with their families and loved ones. >> and right now we want to go nicole sganga also at the airport. nicole, can you talk about the rescue operation under way right now? >> reporter: absolutely, michael. it was 8:48 p.m. when that first alert sounded from the faa tower. within ten minutes the first of the first responders were on the scene and in the water. now a sprawling, massive search

and rescue effort under way with over 300 personnel from d.c. police and fire, ems, u.s. coast guard, national park police, all operating under a unified command. and officials have described the conditions out there as complex, rough, and cold, with noaa reporting that that icy potomac water is 36 degrees. what we know now regarding the search and rescue now recovery efforts that under way, 19 bodies pulled from the water. law enforcement sources we've been speaking to on the scene saying that debris in addition to some of those human remains have been washing up alongside the potomac river. we also know as you stated that investigators have found at least one black box, hoping that answers some of the questions here. and one of the officials at a press conference moments ago, senator roger marshall, told me that he is saying a prayer for all of the families impacted.

take a listen. >> been in medicine for 40 years and been around different scenes, been in the military. and you know, we're not seeing ambulances leave. we're not seeing life watches going out. and i'm just not very optimistic. i think it's just -- it's a tragedy, a horrible situation. we can hope beyond hope, but i think it's been four, five hours now since that plane went down. and i'm not seeing any ambulances leave. >> reporter: and the senator, also a physician, just painting that real stark reality for us. he said he was off to visit some family members in nearby terminal two who are now congregating to hear any sort of news from first responders. here at the airport, many planes were grounded and canceled altogether. in fact, 19 planes that were headed for dca ended up having to be diverted to nearby dulles. we know that operations are at a standstill here until at least 11:00 a.m. michael? >> all right.

nicole sganga at reagan airport. thank you. let's bring in jarred hill with more on the investigation. midair collisions are extremely rare. we haven't had a major crash in the u.s. in 16 years. what safeguards are in place to prevent this from happening? >> there are so many safeguards put in place to try and stop this from happening. one is a tcas, mandated since 1989 in all airline cockpits. it would sign an alert, provide some kind of auditory messaging there to try and make sure that folks know that if there is someone nearby, they can try to avoid each other. there's also what you're looking at, the radar system that air traffic controllers have access to. this is something that would -- we're seeing here showing the helicopter, it seems, approaching that jet -- that commercial jet there before that collision happens. they're in constant communication with each other. one of the questions here is with that tcas system.

what we know from robert sumwalt, a cbs news transportation safety analyst and a former chair of the ntsb, he says that this is a system that will not give off that auditory warning below 500 feet. the question here is whether that might have played a role in maybe not get something sort of notification within the cockpit of the jet. >> every day reagan air traffic controllers talk with both military and commercial aircraft. can you talk about how that communication works? >> yeah. as you mentioned, this is something that happens on a regular basis, consistently trying to make sure that the traffic flow is as smooth as possible. they're accustomed to dealing with military aircraft as well as commercial because of the type of region that we're talking about in the d.c. area. one of the things with this is that they typically work on different frequencies. the military aircraft and the commercial aircraft. the question here, though, is obviously what went wrong, something obviously did not go as planned.

the investigation here is just beginning. we'll hopefully get some answers at some point. >> all right. jarred hill. thank you so much for joining us. and stay with cbs news for updates on this tragedy any time of day. coming up ahead, other news of the day including breaking news from the middle east where hamas is freeing a new round of hostages. and president trump's plan to open a detention center at guantanamo bay. ay. mom where's my homework? mommy! hey hun - sometimes, you just need a moment. self-care has never been this easy. gummy vitamins from nature made, the #1 pharmacist recommended vitamin and supplement brand. arghh! [explosion] ugh! here we go again. wait there's a red hulk now? excuse me... what do i do about this? we use tide oxi boost. it's a lifesaver. the most powerful clean in any universe. lookin good. thank you. see captain america: brave new world.

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they were freed on saturday. civilians arbel yehoud and gadi mozes are expected to be released soon as well as five thai hostages in exchange for 110 palestinian prisoners. israel also reportedly demanded that hamas clarify the conditions of hostages sheri bibas and her two boys. under the deal they are to releasiving children and females first. there were grave concerns last weekend. president trump is ordering a detention center to be opened at guantanamo bay, cuba, for those of what he calls the worst criminal immigrants in the u.s. illegally. trump signed a presidential memorandum instructing the pentagon and department of homeland security to prepare guantanamo bay to receive criminal immigrants. >> we have 30,000 beds in guantanamo to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the american people. some are so bad we don't trust the countries to hold them because we don't want them coming back. >> border czar tom homan says u.s. immigrations and customs enforcement would run the facility. trump announced his plans for

guantanamo yesterday during a ceremony to sign the laken riley act into law, named after the georgia nursing student killed by an undocumented man from venezuela. it gives federal authorities broader power to detain and deport undocumented immigrants accused of crimes. he signed an order for federal agencies to fight anti-semitism in the u.s. including on college campuses. it calls for the prosecution and deportation of international students found to be hamas sympathizers. and in another executive order, trump said u.s. schools would lose federal funding if they don't stop teaching what he defines as critical race theory and other material dealing with race or sexuality. robert f. kennedy jr., president trump's choice to lead the health department, will face a second day of grilling from senators. yesterday in a contentious confirmation hearing, he struggled to answer questions about programs that impact tens of millions of americans. cbs' erica brown reports from capitol hill.

there's been -- >> reporter: senators critical of hhs secretary pick robert f. kennedy jr. did not mince words. >> you frighten people. >> reporter: kennedy has a decades' long record of controversial views on health and medicine. in his opening remarks, he emphasized his agenda to make america healthy again and tried to clarify his stance on vaccines. >> news reports have claimed that i'm anti-vaccine or anti-industry. i am neither. i am pro safety -- [ shouting ] >> reporter: senate democrats forcefully pressed him on the issue. >> are you lying to congress when you say you are pro vaccine or did you lie on the podcasts? we have all of this on tape. >> reporter: republican senator tom tillis of north carolina gave kennedy a chance to reframe. >> are you a conspiracy theorist? >> that say pejorative that's applied to me. mainly to keep me from asking

difficult questions. >> reporter: new hampshire's democratic senator grilled kennedy on his views on abortion. >> when was it that you decided to sell out the values you've had your whole life in order to be given power by president trump? >> senator, i agree with president trump that every abortion is a tragedy. >> reporter: kennedy struggled to answer questions about how he'd reform medicare or medicaid, inaccurately claiming the latter is fully paid for by the federal government. he advocated for healthier foods without widespread bans. >> if you like a cheese -- a mcdonald's cheeseburger, diet coke, which my boss loves -- and i -- you should be able to get them. >> reporter: kennedy will face another round of questioning before the senate committee on health, education, labor, and pensions thursday. erica brown, cbs news, capitol hill. and hearings will also begin today for kash patel, trump's controversial pick for director of the fbi. ahead, new hints about our planet.

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eye specialist at isitted.com here's a look at the forecast in some cities around the country. ♪ there's new evidence that ancient asteroids might have delivered the building blocks of life to earth. a nasa probe brought back samples in 2023. now scientists who analyzed the dust, soil, and rocks say they contain amino acids, the chemical ingredients needed for life, and evidence of water, as well. a brawl breaks out during a township meeting, and bob menendez is sentenced. those are some of the headlines on the "morning newsstand." cbs new york says former new jersey senator bob menendez was sentenced to 11 years in prison on federal bribery and corruption charges. menendez was convicted last year

of accepting cash, gold bars, and a luxury car from businessmen in exchange for political favors from the egyptian government. a tearful menendez told the judge he lost everything he cared about except his family and called the judicial process political and corrupt and asked president trump to reform it. his wife faces trial on similar charges later this year. and cbs chicago says an illinois township board meeting ended abruptly when a fight broke out. the fight started after a man made derogatory comments about township supervisor tiffany henyard. he was confronted by her supporters including her boyfriend. henyard ended up involved and was thrown to the floor. up next, a super bowl ad preview. this one involves a famous scene from "when harry met sally." ha" but sometimes, you gotta put on your game face. that's why tylenol provides fast, effective pain relief.

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here's a look at the forecast in some cities around the country. ♪ ♪ netflix is bringing back a new version of "little house on the prairie" some 40-plus years after the original series first aired. the new show based on the books by laura ingalls wilder is part hopeful drama, part

survival story of the american west. actors meg ryan and billy crystal went back to katz's deli for a new super bowl commercial. >> can't believe they let us back in this place. no good? >> no. >> the duo re-enacted their famous scene from 1989's "when harry met sally" for hellmann's mayonnaise. actor sydney sweeney also makes an appearance. the movie is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year. coming up, special coverage of the deadly aircraft collision near reagan national airport. tony dokoupil will be live at the scene. hat it's really like when our skin touches wool... you see why we need downy free and gentle with no perfumes or dyes. it not only makes your clothes softer, it is gentle on your skin. it breathes life into your laundry.

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this morning tragedy near our nation's capital. the first commercial airline disaster in the u.s. in 16 years. you're watching "cbs mornings." i'm tony dokoupil near the scene of that crash where an american airlines flight