good to be with you. i am chris jansing unfolding right now, a nightmare travel day for families traveling home after the christmas holiday after passengers are left stranded in airport terminals and drivers face heavy traffic on the roads. we'll take you live to the busiest airport in the country for an update. then how retailers made out this season and if inflation

impacted spending habits then we will speak to judy chu about the overall state of our economy. and then today the supreme court could hand down a critical condition that could impact the southern border, and we will take you live to el paso we begin marking one of the busiest travel days of the year, both on the roads and in the air after people are scrambling to get home after the christmas holidays, and a blizzard is contributing to problems today alone more than 1,300 u.s. flights have been delayed, and near nearly 2,900 have been cancelled, and a bulk of that coming from southwest airlines, and it's not just airline travelers facing a daunting journey home

according to aaa, today and tomorrow are expected to be the most congested days on the road as travelers mix with commuters back to work after the holiday joining us now, blayne alexander, and then blayne, i was caught up in the middle of it a couple days trying to get back to new york describe the scene you are seeing now >> reporter: chris, you know it firsthand, you can expect asome turbulence or delays, and what southwest passengers are seeing is unprecedented, and it's something the ceo is acknowledging, he has never seen disruptions quite like this. you talked about 2,900 or so cancelations today, and more than 2,500 of those are from southwest airlines, and we are talking about 300 or so across the other major airlines as well

so they are certainly having issues, but the lion's share, the bulk of them are repeated cancelations from southwest, and so much so considering the fact they canceled 70% of their scheduled flights yesterday, and southwest said last night they are only operating at one-third of their normal flight schedule, and they acknowledge it's unacceptable and apologize to their customers, and they say weather is to blame, and they did everything they could to put personnel in place, but they cannot control the weather the department of transportation is weighing in now saying they are concerned about this and they are going to be look into whether this massive amount of cancelations is something that was within the airline's control or out of their control, chris >> i have to tell you when my flight got canceled there were people like me that shrugged and got a hotel room and there were

people walking down the concourse literally screaming at the top of their lungs that was just one day. some of these folks have been delayed for days what is the mood around there, particularly around southwest? >> reporter: i have got to say i have seen a fair share of that you see the southwest line there behind me, and it's a healthy line we have been here since before 7:00 this morning and we have seen people constantly filling that line. i talked with people about an hour ago, and one said he got a text at 3:30 in the morning saying the second leg of his flight was canceled, and he was trying to figure out what to do. i talked to one couple trying to get from new york to los angeles and found up here in atlanta, and you may ask how that happened they wound up taking a bus, and they got a bus ticket from new york to get out of the state and trying to have better luck down here so far they have not been able to rebook, and the kicker is they could not get home to their

2-year-old son to have christmas with him it's important for people who have had their flights canceled, southwest is offering a refund or a flight voucher to use at a future date. >> one of the folks that was on my canceled flight decided to drive from cleveland to new york in the nighttime i don't know i would have done that how are the roads today? >> reporter: roads are significantly better nationwide, but that might be all about to change because metro is building in the areas, and here in the baltimore area, we are seeing delays and it's the biggest travel days by year by car, and people are done with christmas and heading to new year's plans, and more than 100 million people will travel by car this week 90% of them are traveling by car. that number may be increased because of the issues we see in the air, but we talk to some

folks today that said they are happy to be driving and not flying take a listen. >> so far it's cold, and we left new york and it was eight degrees. my sister is in new orleans trying to get home to d.c. and can't get back home. >> reporter: you are glad you are not flying with all the delays >> i wouldn't do that anyway we are going to fly next month, in january, so i am nervous about that, but you are right, the delays are crazy >> reporter: some good news from our friends over at gas buddy, and they say the national average is 3.10 a gallon, and it's the lowest we have seen in more than a year and a half. >> you may need to pack your patience as well as your credit card thanks for being out there for us today for more on this i am joined by msnbc meteorologist, michelle

grossman how are things looking in the air and on the roads how is the weather picture >> we are looking good in the east, and out west we are watching a major storm talking about buffalo, we are looking at intense lake-effect snow bands al ao throughout the day we will see the winds switching, and that's on radar. as we go throughout the day, look at the east in the middle of the country lots of sunshine it's still chilly, looking at temperatures well below normal and that will change tomorrow. it's out west, and we are looking at a major story, heavy rain and mountain snow, and could see flooding rain from seattle to san diego, and that's due to an atmospheric river. this will stay in place through sunday, and we will see flooding conditions in terms of the air, we will see some concerns as we heard from blayne and gary, and looking good from boston to philly and

minneapolis, denver, dallas, houston, all in the green. we will see major delays if seattle from san francisco and also from los angeles. that's for today look at what happens tomorrow. sort of the same scenario. the east coast looking good and the midwest down to portions of the southern plains, and we are looking for the potential for major delays from san francisco and los angeles and phoenix, and the east coast still looking good we could see stronger thunderstorms in the southern plains houston, you could see slowdowns on thursday. then as we near friday we are looking at the same story with the west coast looking wet as well we will introduce rain into the ohio valley. we are looking at torrential rainfall rainfall rates of three quarter

inches of rain we will look at three feet of snow in some spots this is moving into the rockies tomorrow, so the heavy snow shifting into the rockies. it's snowing and raining and also windy we are going to see wind-driven snow and wind-driven rain, and winds up to 70 miles per hour. this is going to last for the next several days, at least into the weekend for many of us back to you. >> let's hope we have perfect weather when new year's eve hits thank you so much. appreciate it. straight ahead, did inflation deter holiday shoppers this year? coming up i will talk with a member of the house small business committee about the economy and whether it's really on the mend. plus, the latest on the humanitarian crisis at the border how soon could a decision come down on title 42 and what would it mean for the many people stuck in lim ibon el paso?

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we're starting to get an idea of how well retailers did during the christmas shopping season a new mastercard spending polls report said sales were up 7.6% this holiday, but there were higher prices thanks to inflation. black friday sales were up 12% from last year, and online sales up 10.6% during the same period. joining us to talk about it, business reporter, david chung how much of this is inflation so things cost more >> i have more numbers for you, when you look at black friday and cyber monday sales, they broke records and that is pretty good, right? when you consider that everything is more expensive this year and those types of measures are looking at the dollar amount, it's a wash so if retail sales are up 7.6%,

and prices are up 1.6% year over year, it's not as good as the numbers look on the other hand, you might be surprised to say that number is higher than i expected because if inflation was crunching on american wallets, economists are saying it's not a blockbuster report when it comes to the retail numbers, but at least it was not worst than expected given what is going on in the economy. >> at least consumer confidence has not tanked >> it has not, but you are starting to see signs that shoppers are getting more conservative and mindful of how they are spending. if you take a look at how americans are opening their wallets in the black friday peak holiday season, you are seeing they are -- they have the same budget as they did last year, and analytics said it's something around 1455 of how much they wanted to spend, but

inflation will stretch across your gift giving, and people are having to make compromises, and you wonder if that's going to extend in 2023, as inflation remains high and it's coming down, but will they remain more deliberate and tighter-belted as they spend >> how much of that might be related to interest rates, if people are not paying off every month knowing their credit card interest rate may be a little higher >> credit card interest rates are at a record high, and 15.55% is the average rate, and that's something you don't want to miss a payment on because that will hurt i talked to a lot of shoppers this season -- >> you were at the mall yesterday. >> a lot of people saying i am aware the interest rates are high, and i will deal with the interest rates after the fact and that lines up with what we have seen in the overall retail

sales being pretty okay, and not all that great but not all that bad either as we get into next year, you will see consumers starting to have issues paying down the debt, and remember, the fed is not done with the interest rate hikes and will continue. >> thank you always good to have you on set with us. and to continue the conversation, judy chu sits on the small business ways and means committee. happy holidays what is your assessment of how small businesses what are you hearing i think the commerce says 80% say the holidays is the most important time of the year what are you seeing in the congressional action >> as a member of the house small business committee, we are aware that access to capital is one of the biggest issues for small businesses when times are tough, they need

that bridge loans to make sure they can have the payroll costs met as well as the costs for good met that's why insuring that capital is very important to us. our sba loan products are very accessible to those who need help they offer longer repayment times as well as -- as well as lower interest rates the thing that i have championed is the community advantage loan, which is especially designed for underserved businesses, and that's those that may have a harder time gaining capital through the private sector these are loans guaranteed by the government, and they are for those who may have lower credit history, veterans, people of color, women these are very accessible loans

that anybody that qualified can access easily. >> so busy times on that committee, but you are also on ways and means which is set to release the tax returns of former president trump can you give us an update on when those may be public >> i think it will happen anytime now. i was shocked when we had our hearing, which was last week, and we found that the irs did not comply with its own mandate to conduct its annual audit of the presidentand the president's tax returns. this is an audit that has been in place since 1977, but they had not complied with president trump's audit, and they started only one mandatory audit and did not complete any of them we voted then from that hearing to make his tax returns public, but right now they are going through the tax returns and

making sure that any private information is redacted such as social security numbers. but i expect them to be made available anytime soon >> when you say anytime soon, can you give us a better indication as to if that's days or weeks do you think there are in the documents that will surprise the american people? >> i think it will be a matter of days. it will be before the end of the new congress, but actually what happened was the chair of ways and means can see the documents themselves, and then he gave the report about the documents to us, so we have not seen the forms themselves, but we have gotten a very excellent summary. as you can see here, there were two years in which the president only paid $750 in taxes, and in 2020 he only paid zero in taxes.

we got a summary of the red flags in trump taxes that should have been followed up on, such as claiming mammoth business losses, and possibly claiming as business deductions, things that should have been just personal expenses loans to his kids, that really should have been possibly gifts. therefore he should have paid taxes on those gifts rather than deducting the interest from those loans. also, charitable deductions, such as conservation easements on his properties for which he did not provide substantiation there are many red flags that we saw and those should be followed up on. >> can i ask you what your assessment of the irs is if something gets red flagged -- take donald trump out of it.

if somebody pays only $750 in taxes, and if there are not supporting documents for the deductions taken, and the average american says i give a big percentage of my income every year is the irs, as it is currently configured and is it staffed capable of handling these fairness issues? >> fairness is a huge issue right now. over the last decade, republicans have starved the irs of the resources it needs. as the result, the tax auditors of auditing people have declined by 30%, and the actual audits of high-income americans have declined by 70%, so the act that democrats passed, we gave $80 billion for the internal revenue

service to be able to handle the audits more fairly, and there will be more audits of those making over $400,000, and those making under 400,000 will not be increased in the fair audit system, and we will make sure the government gets what it should get from the high income earners of this country. right now, actually, we have lost $7 billion over the last decade from those who have not paid their taxes >> thank you for taking the time we appreciate it >> thank you when we come back, we will go live to chilly, el paso, texas, where the humanitarian crisis continues to unfold at the border what we are hearing from the many migrants there and what an imminent decision on title 42

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power e*trade's easy-to-use tools like dynamic charting and risk-reward analysis help make trading feel effortless. and its customizable scans with social sentiment help you find and unlock opportunities in the market it's the subway series menu! 12 irresistible subs... like #11 subway club. piled with turkey, ham and roast beef. this sub isn't slowing down any time soon. i'll give it a run for its money. my money's on the sub. it's subway's biggest refresh yet. just coming into our news room, moments ago, a judge sentencing the ring leader in the kidnapping plot against

gretchen whitmer he was sentenced to 15 years, and for planning to blow up bridges as part of his escape plan fox and his fellow conspirator, barry croft, were convicted for leading the plot just before the 2020 election. danny, i know we just got this in walk us through the decision 16 years for adam fox. what did the judge have to consider here? >> 16 years is a really good outcome for adam fox, because his sentencing guidelines, and this is a complex formula, and it starts out by calculating the base offense level and the person's criminal history. it spits out a number. then you have all of thine aggravating factors, and fox had

so many of them that the recommended sentence guideline range was light, and it was the highest you could get in federal court. since about 2004, i think the supreme court rendered the sentencing guidelines advisory only so the judge has to calculate them but the judge is not bound by them. anything under a life sentence for adam fox was a win a sentence like this is a huge win, and it may not feel like a huge win, which it rarely does you will get usually about a 15% reduction for each year for good time, but there is no parole system in the federal prisons, so you are going to have to do most of your time. when you are in federal prison, you are mostly there for the duration >> help us put it into the big

picture text how important is the argument that sentencing needs to send a message against what we all know is a growing threat of domestic extremism? >> that's what the government argued in their sentencing memorandum you have the ring leader enhancement, and domestic terrorism enhancement, and it's the highest level of severity. one of the other things to point out is whether it's terrorism or bank robbery, a conspiracy that fails still has to be punished in the american system, because obviously we don't want to give people a break just because they are bad at planning or unsuccessful, or the government law enforcement stops the crime before it happens. we absolutely punish conspiracies and attempts even if they have not completed the

object of the conspiracy i mean, the terrorism enhancement with all the other enhancements, and even if they are a first-time defendant, somebody with zero criminal history gets a life sentence you can say fox dodged a bullet if he is only spending any number of years in prison. >> thank you we are waiting for the crucial supreme court decision that could help decide the fate of tens of thousands of asylum seekers stuck in limbo at the southern border. the court is weighing whether or not to end the trump era policy known as title 42 used to turn migrants away from the border, and now many have been forced to camp out on city streets joining me now, sam brock, live from el paso, texas, and phil

rucker, an msnbc political analysts what are you seeing at this hour, sam? >> reporter: the images, chris, that you showed were from overnight and it's family getting stuck in the middle. we are outside of a church here in el paso it's the church right now, chris, handing out hot coffee and protein and they are so grateful to receive that i was speaking with a mother who has five kids under the age of eight, and instead of a school or daycare, they are all in the flu and living with that on the streets right now. this is the supreme court, expected to weigh in one way or the other today. on what could be decision day for title 42, there are signs of distress all over the streets in el paso and thousands camping out. it's clear not just from their faces or blankets or scars, and it's the battle scars.

caesar said the mexican cartel was trying to extort him for money as he was waiting to cross over he says an opportunity to come to america legally on december 21st would happen, and on that date the expiration of title 42 would receive a stay from the supreme court, and the question now is for how long. the court says a decision could come today as to whether or not it remains in place, and migrants show me cracked cell phone screens, detailing their haunting journeys, or scabs from frozen nights and burns suffered on train cars. most people we speak with are from venezuela and a handful of other countries, and it's because title 42 allows asylum seekers from some countries and not others >> currently, green lighted,

nicaragua and cuba, potentially forthcoming, venezuela and the so-called northern triangle of central america. >> it's estimated a quarter to one-third of all people coming to the border right now are currently being blocked by title 42, and that's with border crossings at this highest level this fiscal year, 2.76 million, in modern history. chris, looking at the latest numbers, there's somewhere in the neighborhood of 13,000 encounters across the southwest border, and that, of course, is without title 42 being lifted, which may happen and the situation behind me right now, all these folks, trying to figure out how to stay warm in the course of the night and get the food they need to feed their children >> phil, let me bring you in we saw the passage of the

ominous bill and a last-minute push for title 42. whatever the supreme court decides on this, is it likely to quiet things or is it going to be a hot issue in the new year as republicans take control of the house? what are we looking at in terms of immigration >> i think, kris, we should expect this to be a hot political issue for weeks and months and even years to come. obviously we are awaiting word from a supreme court later today or later this week, and that will have an immediate impact on the ground, as you just saw in sam's report the political issue will continue here in washington. president biden has vowed to have a much more human immigration policy but has seen the crisis at the border the last couple of years with surges as various moments with migrants coming across, and there needs to be a humane approach to help

the families and republicans are emboldened to stop the families from crossing and have tougher policies, and as they take the majority in the house of representatives, we can expect republicans to enact laws. they may not make it through the senate or get signed by the president, but they will be a messaging attempt at a minimum to keep this issue at the forefront of peoples' minds. >> we have seen it, though, for not just days, weeks and months, but for years. i was fascinating to see the poll earlier from the times, a majority of democrats and independents, and 46% of republicans believe the u.s. should offer asylum to people fleeing persecution. as we know, a look at guns or any number of issues, the polls don't always align with what congress decides to do is there anything in the current environment that suggests there

could be any kind of compromise at all >> i think some sort of a bipartisan compromise on immigration is probably unlikely given the polarized political seat we are in keep in mind, chris, we are going to be beginning the new year with discussions about the next presidential campaign, and the republican primary field is going to start taking shape. former president trump already announced as a candidate, and what we know from years past in politics, immigration and border enforcement is huge for the republican voting base presidential candidates that will try and win support of the republicans in the primaries will play out immigration, and propose extreme policies in order to galvanize hard-core republican supporters, and i think that alone is going to be an impediment to the compromise that could be potentially here in washington and in congress. >> sam, given the uncertainties

there are, and also listening to your reporting and how people have been there, again, not just for days and weeks but in some cases for months, hoping to get into the country, is there anything you are hearing that suggest to you that the cold temperatures, the lack of food and water and, you know, basic, you know, a roof over your head is going to deter any of the folks that you have seen, that you have had conversations with? >> reporter: no, because i think any deterrence that might happen, chris, will be short term it has taken folks to get here months, and i spoke with a man that took five months, and they are not thinking about what is happening on the ground right now, and temperatures are at 20s and 30s, and many folks do have telephones and they are seeing on what is going on, on the ground in real time

it's not as if cold temperatures right now are going to prevent people who are scared to leave, to take their kids thousands of miles across terrain with their kids >> sam brock, phil rucker, thank you so much. we are fast approaching the one-year mark since russia began it's assault on ukraine. when we come back, richard engel with how we got to this. point, and how ukraine is in a fight for its sovereignty. stroke, heart attack, or death. even at your a1c goal, you're still at risk ...which if ignored could bring you here... ...may put you in one of those... ...or even worse. too much? that's the point. get real about your risks and do something about it. talk to your health care provider

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and pain in psoriatic arthritis. and no routine blood tests required. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. otezla can cause serious allergic reactions. it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. tell your doctor about your medicines and if you're pregnant or planning to be. doctors have been prescribing otezla for over 8 years. don't hesitate. ask your doctor about otezla today. a new face of the war in ukraine could be on the horizon with ukraine under attack now for 307 days president volodymyr zelenskyy has secured aid following his trip to the u.s. last week as we look ahead, but we also want to

look back at how things started, how they escalated and where they stand now, and importantly, how incredibly resilient the ukrainian people have been here's nbc news chief correspondent, richard engel we want to warn you, though, some of what you are about to see is graphic >> reporter: in the twilight hours of february 24th, president vladimir putin took to russian state television to announce a special military operation that aimed to demilitarize and denazify ukraine. minutes later explosions rocked ukraine's capital of kyiv, and missiles rained down on the country and russia's massive military moved across the border putin's special operation was clearly war. although putin denied intentions to invade his neighbor, he said

it was part of russia and demonized ukraine's leaders. this time condemnation came quickly. >> putin's choice to make a totally unjustifiable war on ukraine will have left russia weaker and the rest of the world stronger >> wide-ranging sanctions were rolled out but did little to deter. russia's military ten times the size of ukraine's moved swiftly to sir round kyiv. but cracks in the russian army began to appear. the ukrainians organized and fought back. civilians banded together, and many took up arms to defend their country. it seemed vladimir putin had not

accounted for the will of the ukrainian people an unlikely hero, volodymyr zelenskyy, and the nation rallied behind the comedian turned politician and now wartime later. russia focused its attacks on eastern ukraine. moscow called it a change of strategy for the ukrainians it was a major victory, but any celebrations were short-lived as russian forces withdrew from around kyiv, atrocities of war crimes on a massive scale emerged. and that pattern would continue in other liberated areas russia has repeatedly denied its soldiers are responsible why do you think this is happening that there are now thousands of allegations of russian war crimes here,

thousands of them? >> something was, you know, something was broken with mentality with them. >> reporter: in the east and in the south, russia's bloody campaign continued with putin's forces firing missiles and artillery to hammer towns and cities, often indiscriminately tens of thousands of ukrainians citizens killed. ukrainian troops have used help to liberate large parts of eastern ukraine and then the southern city, as the ukrainian military moved in, soldiers were

given a hero's welcome president zelenskyy called the liberation the beginning of the end of the war >> how are you feeling today, mr. president? how are you feeling? >> very well >> reporter: how is this moment for you? >> the moment is very important. that's the biggest city occupied since february, and now it's free, so ukraine came and i am happy. >> reporter: there's still no end in sight as the conflict nears one year, and putin ememploys a new target, ukraine's infrastructure as temperatures plummet he could not take ukraine as quickly as he hoped, and now he is trying to starve and freeze the country into submission.

>> thank you to richard engel for his extraordinary reporting throughout the year. and then what strict quarentine rules in one country and for the economy at large

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a major change to china's zero-covid policy, the country deciding to remove the mandatory quarantine for travelers almost three years after the country closed its borders the change will begin january 8th, but it comes as china struggles to contain surges of covid cases, raising concerns a new strain could emerge. and back here at home, the impact of vaccine hesitancy. the "washington post" reporting the country is seeing a resurgence of measles and the chicken pox. let's bring in the doctor for national preparedness from colombia university. a lot of business leaders in china are happy about this, a lot of world business leaders see this as a step forward for the second largest economy in the world. but from a public health standpoint, what do you make of this change? >> good morning.

yes, this is a dramatic change in china and china's covid policies have been driven by politics, public impressions, et cetera, and a fair amount of dishonesty china put out its own vaccine which actually doesn't work anywhere near as well as the other vaccines available in the west, including a new one developed out of the university of texas but these vaccines are available, china chose not to use them and then they went into an extremely strict policy of shutdowns and quarantines to try to prevent more widespread concern with covid rising in china. the problem is that we don't actually know what the data is they say 90% of chinese population is actually vaccinated we have no idea whether that's true or not. they're claiming very low rates of mortality from covid. we also don't know whether that's true or not whatever it is, right now we

have a covid mess in china that won't easily be cured. and by the way, it's a problem for all of us, if china's covid gets out of control, more and more development of mutations will put the west and other parts of the world at great risk if they move from china to anywhere else. >> and let me ask you about that big "washington post" story about vaccine hesitancy. it's something you warned about, you've been concerned about for a while. now about one-third of parents say there should not be a requirement to vaccinate children with the mmr vaccines, even if it may create a risk for other children and adults in order to attend public schools that is up 16% since 2019. this vaccine hesitancy, what we're seeing with measles, what we're seeing with chicken pox, what do we need to know about it >> well, you know, there's always been an anti-vaxx movement in the united states

and it's been very small however, one of the legacies of donald trump was to mount this essentially anti-science, anti-vaccine campaign, which is now resulting in an absolute worldwide major anti-vax movement it's politically driven, ignorance driven, supported by all kinds of misinformation that's available on social media, and people are very confused and the more we implant these messages of the vaccines don't work or may cause complications, all of it has been disproven, yet all of it is getting a major foothold in the u.s. and elsewhere in the world. >> always great to have your perspective and knowledge here thank you so much. happy holidays to you and the family that's going to do it for me after a busy two hours we'll have more news after this quick break.

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good day i'm cory kaufman at msnbc headquarters in new york our top stories, millions of americans begin to dig out in the areas hardest hit by deadly winter weather. >> and southwest airlines cancellations continue to pile up as the carrier tries to reset after a disastrous holiday. >> also this hour, ukraine's leaders make a push for peace as vladimir putin's faltering invasion enters a new year. >> and we'll discuss house democrats' plans for lif