so where in the world is kaitlan collins? there she is right now. standing by live in atlanta.ad she's going to give us a sense of the mood on the ground this morning. >> but we can tell you, democrats are ecstatic. some at the rave that don just mentioned. no, that was the celebration party for senator raphael warnock. winning, beating herschel walker. helping democrats not just gain control of the senate, they had it but get a tighter grip on the senate they had it. john berman is at the wall. >> it has been a bad month for donald trump, his family business found guilty of a criminal tax fraud and a criminal referral to be headed to the justice department. is this the comeback trump had hoped for? >>> plus this. >> we want to make sure we get this right. that's our objective is that the final product is something we can feel confident about. >> that is congressman pete aguilar sitting down with kaitlan collins, as the january 6th panel signals referrals to the department of justice. >>> cnn projecting senator raphael warnock has defeated trump-picked republican challenger, he

i'm kaitlan collins.to be clear, the voting figure doesn't include those who cast their ballots during the days of recall voting. senator warnock said he thinks works still needs to be done to stop what he called the suppression of voters. >> just because people endured long lines that wrapped around buildings, some blocks long, just because they endured the rain and the cold and all kinds of tricks in order to vote doesn't mean that voter suppression does not exist. it simply means that you, the people, have decided that your voices will not be silenced. >> joining us this morning is georgia's secretary of state brad raffensperger. furst i'd like you to respond to what senator warnock told his supporters last night. >> there's no truth to voter suppression. yesterday we had 1.6 million vo up who showed out to vote. that's the largest turnout we've ever had for a mid-term election. yesterday the average wait time was about two minutes. the longest wait times were 12 to 14 minutes. we had a few county, one

the source is telling kaitlan collins that they made the offer to the justice department, and the justice would be highly unusual for the fbi to come in and observe a private legal team to do a search like this. they participated in law enforcement searches, but it would be very unusual to participate in a search being done by the legal team. we don't know what the resolution will be. the government believes there are still documents that are missing, despite the hundreds that the fbi brought back from the search in august. >> we may have the same question. if they find other classified documents in these properties, is there potential criminal exposure for the former president? >> reporter: there is potential criminal exposure right now. the government believes that not all documents were returned. of course, jim, you know, the first subpoena was for all documents marked "classified." then weeks later, the fbi went to mar-a-lago and found hundreds of such documents. on its face, the former president already has legal jeopardy, because he was disobeying a grand jury opinion. >> real quick

kaitlan collins, thank you so much. let's say right now, we'll be joined by a key election official right now, the chief operating officer at the georgia secretary of state's office, gabriel sterling, who many of you probably got familiar with during the 2020 election and the 2021 runoff. gabe, good to see you again. let's talk about the pace of the vote counting. when do you think we'll know the winner? will it be tonight? >> again, the voters vote for a reason. we have no idea what they do in those booths. what i do know is we have the big counties in. the absentee votes in. places like givewynnette. we expect most to get to the 2.5 million mark, it will slow down some and it depends on what is out and how the turnout was today. we have record turnout today. record turnout in the early voting. record usage of absentee ballots. so the people in georgia were very excited to vote. and one thing i was very proud of with all of our voters, nobody was discouraged from voting. nobody said i feel like my side will already win

so where in the world is kaitlan collins? there

kaitlan collins, it is december 28th. welcome to "cnn this morning." >> southwest airlines now facing federal scrutiny as thousands of passengers remain stranded, some for more than a week. southwest today has already cancelled 60% of their flights and the ceo now issuing this video apology. >> i want everyone who is dealing with the problems we've been facing, whether you haven't been able to get where you needed to go or you're one of our employees, to understand that we're doing everything that we can to return to normal operations and also hear i'm truly sorry. >> the supreme court has decided to keep in place the border restriction known as title 42 and the legal challenges the court will hear in february, it now could be months that the migrants desperately seeking asylum could get the way to enter the united states legally. >> and it's revealed that former white house aide cassidy hutchison said she saw mark meadows burning documents in his office about a dozen times. she also told the committee there were several

. >> you're on twitter -- >> is kaitlan collins on twitter?>> when i go on now, there's so many ads. i don't look at the ads. >> they have to make money. >> have you noticed more ads on twitter? >> i haven't. when it comes to this account i follow it. i think twitter is a good tool for reporting, it has flaws, but with this there are moments it would say he landed in florida, we would ask who is he meeting with? former president trump? >> and he's a public figure. >> i've seen that account, that -- you know, the tracker account. i didn't really think anything of it. he is a public figure. >> and you can track other private jets. not like it's just elon. there's other accounts you can track the tail number that belongs to someone wealthy. sometimes if you see someone getting on the plane, you can say they're close to a vice presidential candidate. >> you see how much she loves twitter? >> i see that. >>> up next we'll talk about the male exodus from the workforce and influx of women. we'll find out what is behind the shift. >>> new cnn polls ab

he spoke to kaitlan collins who is live in atlanta. >> senator warnock's runoff win last night was historic. gives democrats a 51-49 advantage in the senate. we'll tell you how significant is that one seat majority what does it mean? we have a team of reporters and analysts to break down the big win for democrats and the implications it could have for the 2024 presidential race. >>> this morning we are following significant developments in the trump investigations. we will be joined this hour by alvin brag, the manhattan district attorney, as he moves to jump start another criminal inquiry and off of a big win against the trump org just yesterday. >>> also, cnn was there as a prisoner swap happened in ukraine, dozens of soldiers returning home just before the holidays. >>> we begin with democrats delivering one final blow in a brutal midterm election cycle for republicans. cnn projecting raphael warnock defeated herschel walker in georgia's runoff election. president biden calling warnock to congratulate him and tweeting georgia voters stood up for democracy. warnock thanking supporters wit

sources are telling me as well as kaitlan collins that that was all, that was all they found with classification markings. of course, as you pinted out, this has been going on for quite some time now. >> what do we know or do we know anything about who this team was that conducted the searches, whether they were just working for a law firm? there's a certain protocol i would assume considering the sensitive material? >> frankly, we don't know a lot about the team of two who went through these four properties and conducted the searches. we know the lawyers commissioned them to do so. this is part of trying to satisfy the justice department concerns that not everything had been handed over. and it does sound like when they came across these documents with classification markings that they did take pains to ensure that they were returned quickly to the fbi. so even though trump may have handled these things haphazardly when he left the white house, it does sound now that they're doing subsequent searches they're trying to handle these documents with care even though there are certainly plenty on th

sources have told kaitlan collins that the justice department was invited to come observe the simps,to at least try to satisfy the judge that the subpoena was not being disobeyed. the trump team is very concerned about the legal jeopardy that the former president has. >> and add another element of legal jeopardy, we also have a jury convicting the trump organization of all 17 counts of criminal tax fraud. is it clear yet what this means for how -- how the trump organization is ability to do business going forward? >> probably not, not well. the fine is not substantial. it's really just on the corporation. where i really fault the d.a.'s office is not having taken a hard line with mr. weisselberg and really insisting that he go to trial or cooperate against donald trump. he's really the person that knows the most, but the d.a.'s office entered into a deal where he only has to serve 15 months in prison and doesn't have to cooperate against donald trump, even though it's obvious that he took all of his cues from donald trump. where this goes individually for donald trump, at this point

in case these documents are in one of the other properties according to a source who talked to kaitlan collins and offered the justice department a chance to come in and observe the search at bedminster, doj declined but, ana, this just points to the exposure that the trump legal team believes that the former president has on this issue. >> so if more classified documents were found then what? is trump's legal team required to turn them over? >> yep. >> or at least alert the justice department? >> oh, yeah, they absolutely would have to because, again, there is a subpoena that they were supposed to satisfy which is to turn over everything in their possession that was marked as classified so if they found any additional material, they would need to turn that over. >> but does that help his legal case then? >> it's not clear. i mean, look, the fact remains that this is still an ongoing investigation and the justice department believes that there are still documents missing and they've been telling that to the trump legal team. >> okay, let me ask you a quick question about the january 6th commit

. >> let's talk about that with "cnn this morning" anchor kaitlan collins.yed a role in helping herschel walker in this runoff. tell us more about that. >> what john was just laying out there is potentially critical to what we see actually happen tonight. i actually spoke with a voter earlier, who is one of those over 200,000 voters who went to the polls in november. they voted for brian kemp, but they did not vote for herschel walker. if more of them had, obviously we would not be in this situation. there would not be a runoff in georgia tonight. but this voter that i spoke with earlier who had voted for the libertarian candidate for senate back then actually went and cast his vote for walker this time around. he said it was a difficult decision. he said he made it difficult to look the women in his family in the face. but he wanted to cast his vote for walker because of the power balance in the senate. and he said that governor kemp coming out and stumping for walker and doing those fundraisers for him and cutting those ads for him is part of what factored

. >> the reporting from kaitlan collins and sara murray is these stored records were some of the thingsestion of who packed them, how they were packed, who saw them. that's something that investigators will be looking at. >> all right. it continues, kaitlyn polantz, thank you so much. >>> still to come, right now on capitol hill, house lawmakers convening. a vote expected to day on the legislation that would protect same-sex and interracial marriages in the country. we'll take you live to the capitol next . i have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. now, there's skyrizi. with skyrizi 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months, after just 2 doses. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine or plan to. ♪ ♪ it's my moment so i just gotta say ♪ ♪ nothing is everything ♪ talk to your dermatologist about skyrizi. learn how abbvie could help you save. nexium 24hr prevents heartburn acid before it begins. get all-day and all-night heartburn acid prev

kaitlan collins, one of the things that the associated with president zelenskyy talked about probably to those members of congress who may be skeptical or frankly unwilling for the u.s. to continue to push a court court support in the american people were frustrated the amount of people, he said your money is not charity, it's an investment of democracy and global security. >> that line, i think, is one of the key lines for the entire speech. and i say, very quickly, i covered trump, it is so stunning to me to see president zelenskyy and the house of representatives speaking in the same place to impeach trump into does it a 19. and the circumstances he had tonight. >> we have artillery, yes. is it enough? no. earlier say we have one patriot missile, a yes, we will ask for more. he was very candid about what he wants and what he thinks he needs, helping accelerate what he thinks he needs for the ukrainian victory by giving them what they so desperately need. -- and he's very candid about what he wants what he thinks he needs. and hoping accelerate what he wants to be this ukrainian vic

kaitlan collins, one thing president zelenskyy talked about to those members of congress who maybe skeptical or frankly unwilling for the u.s. to continue to pour support to the people who are frustrated he said your money is not charity, it is an investment in democracy and global security. >> that line i think is one of the key lines from the entire speech but can i say quickly, i covered trump, it is so stunning to me to see president zelenskyy in the house of representatives speaking in the same place that impeached trump in 2019 over a conversation he had with zelenskyy and the circumstances he's being welcomed back into tonight but on that note about what the support means, he also was candid today in two moments where he said there we have artillery, yes, is it enough, no. an earlier saying we're getting this one patriot missile but, yes, i'm going to ask for more and candid about what he wants and what he thinks he needs and helping accelerate what he wants to be the ukrainian victory by giving them they need and to the moment of being an investment we're not asking for u.s. troops.

now, zoe lofgren was on the cnn this morning and kaitlan collins asked her about it.e's what she said. >> so they'll get the transcripts and evidence when the public gets the transcripts and the evidence. is that right? >> that's correct. it will be very soon. >> what's the reason for waiting to turn that over? >> well, you know, we had a series of interviews that we wanted to pursue without having leaks and dribbling out of information. we've now completed all of our interviews. >> hey, john, so that's very interesting for a member of congress to be concerned about leaks coming from the justice department. i know you will have a reaction to hearing that come from a member of congress, but, look, i mean, this is a serious issue for the justice department because they want to be able to see whether people answered questions differently when they testified or when they provided testimony to the committee versus what they say to the fbi. >> lack of trust, it's a bipartisan thing across the town. evan perez, grateful for that reporting. >>> ahead some important first on c

let's bring in kaitlan collins. from when you were a white house correspondent during the trump years. what are they telling you? >> reporter: what stood out to me is what we heard from hope hicks, one of trump's closest advisers saying that she had been concerned about two years ago that if he did not move on from his false claims about the 2020 election, that it was going to damage his legacy, and jake, it's notable that two years later, those are still concerns that are present in trump's inner circle of advisers. in recent days, he has been advised by others, that he has to move on from 2020, and his presidential run cannot be successful if it's centered around his election grievances and they have been urging him to adoc adopt a new message if he wants to be successful in the republican primary that we are approaching and seeing others getting into the field in the next several months or so, but i don't think that warning is being heated based on what i have heard from these people. they also don't believe that