>> kyung lah, thank you so much in sacramento. diane in nashville, tennessee, that is a city still recovering from the bombing on christmas day. what preparations are being made there? >> reporter: that's right, fred, and look, we're here at the state capitol. there was just a shift change, it appears, with the tennessee state police who were out here guarding the state capitol grounds. at this point they've been mobilized to come out here, they've been out here all day. they have these barriers up to make sure no one is going to get into this particular building, but there is a planned protest planned here today. uts it's called the nashville free event. that's where those protests take place, nothing so far. right now it's tourists and law enforcement out here on the grounds. there was a planned protest for today. it has yet to materialize at this point. there was a concern, of course, because of that fbi bulletin of potential violence in the capitols and armed protests. we're looking at a dozen individuals already arrested rela

here to discuss, patricia murphy, political report with "atlanta journal-constitution" and kyung lah.e you hearing from republicans on the ground about this? >> reporter: well, republicans are believing in a it is certainly achievable. that's a line we are hearing from republicans, but here's the thing. they also know it's upping the pressure on them to get out the vote actually on election day among the gop base. they are hoping that the president's arrival the day before election day is going to help sort of juice that turnout, especially in the rural areas where they are really relying on higher turnout. the 3 million number you're talking about, john, it is something being interpreted here, especially by someone like stayedie abrams, black voters are outperforming from where they were in the general election. they are not taking it to the bank until they see the turnout on the gop side on election day, so still too early to say, but those are eye-popping numbers. 100%. patricia, georgia recount reported record-high hospitalizations yesterday. governor kemp is reopening some field

you heard kyung's report there. how far does the gop go? how long do they stay on this path before, as former republican senator jeff flake puts it, normal, regular, rational people move away from the republican party? >> i don't have the answer to that, but i can tell you that the longer they hold on to donald trump, the longer they are in fear of donald trump, the longer they are complicit with donald trump, the longer they let donald trump get away with abuses of power and crime that he committed while president, the longer this will last. there are people, there are regular people who watch state media, who listen to their congresspeople, who trust their congress people, who absolutely believe these things. so it becomes very difficult to argue with somebody that there is not a deep state being run by a bunch of celebrities and people who are molesting children. it sounds so insane, but it's almost difficult to argue against it. but, look, don, it's going to go on. this level of fringe is going to go on as long as republicans continue g

kyung lah, cnn, scottsdale, arizona. >> wow. what a piece, kyung.much. >>> the uk government said it was hopeful the country could cap its covid deaths at 20,000. ten months later the country has lost 100,000 lives to covid. we'll take you to london ahead. want to sell the best burger in every zip code? add an employee. or ten... then easily and automatically pay your team and file payroll taxes. that means... world domination! or just the west side. run payroll in less than five minutes with intuit quickbooks. university of phoenix is awarding up to one million dollars in new scholarships through this month, because hope fuels opportunity. see what scholarship you qualify for at phoenix.edu [ thunder rumbles ] [ engine rumbling ] ♪ [ beeping ] [ engine revs ] ♪ uh, you know there's a 30-minute limit, right? tell that to the rain. [ beeping ] for those who were born to ride, there's progressive. s british prime minister boris johnson is striking a somber tone as they become the first european nation to record the first 100,000 deaths. cnn's salma de

let's go to kyung lah in atlanta. kyung, what are they doing in the time hours?well, they're looking at the clock. they're seeing the window close. i'm told by both campaigns that they are using every available minute to get their voters out, watching that clock again. we are hearing from the warnock campaign, a senior aide says that he has been doing what they are characterizing as, quote, marathon call-ins. he is specifically targeting black radio, gospel radio, local tv interviews trying to reach anyone, those eyes and ears to the polls. he's focusing on the markets of atlanta, albany, columbus, macon, savannah and augusta. as far as the ossoff campaign, he is in the middle right now of 25 local media interviews, again, black radio, local tv as well, and they also were able to push out 1.5 million direct calls from the campaign to voters trying to get them to the polls. this sort of direct contact is where the ossoff campaign has focused their resources. they say they were out spent on television but they believe this will pay off in direct voter outreach as f

we begin our coverage this hour with cnn's kyung lah in georgia. kyung, we are down to the final hours until this crucial senate run off election in georgia. and that's where you heard from vice president-elect kamala harris this afternoon. what's she saying about this explosive audio? >> reporter: yeah, and let's remember why she matters so much here because if the democrats are able to flip these two seats in georgia, these senate states and these democratic challengers win, then it would be vice president-elect kamala harris as the vice president, she becomes a tiebreaker and the democrats effectively have control of the u.s. senate and the house. so, that is what is at stalk here, and that's why you are hearing her really go after the president about this audio. here's what she said. >> have y'all heard about that recorded conversation? well, it was certainly the voice of desperation, most certainly that. and it was a bald, bald-faced bold abuse of power by the president of the united states. >> now, let's review what has happened here in the s

kyung lah, cnn, scottsdale, arizona. >> our thanks to kyung for that. >>> meanwhile, this.ve report finds that congresswoman marjory taylor green has pushed some insane and evil stuff online. how will her congressional colleagues respond? we have the cnn investigation, next. a capsule a day visibly fades the dark spots away. new neutrogena® rapid tone repair 20 percent pure vitamin c. a serum so powerful dark spots don't stand a chance. see what i mean? neutrogena® i'm a performer. always have been. and always will be. never letting anything get in my way. not the doubts, distractions, or voice in my head. and certainly not arthritis. voltaren provides powerful arthritis pain relief to help me keep moving. and it can help you too. feel the joy of movement with voltaren. ♪ ♪ 2020's done a new era has begun so keep pushing forward... because this is twenty twenty won make a different future start different at godaddy.com >>> a republican member of congress repeatedly indicated support for executing prominent democrats. the oregon republican party passed a resolution calling t

you've heard from kyung's report.now you've been covering this for a long time. 3 million early votes cast already, a record for a runoff in georgia. it would seem that that's benefiting democrats so far. black turnout up. turnout down in white rural areas. so what is the energy you're feeling on the ground right now coming into tomorrow? >> you know, it was kind of a prerequisite that democrats improve on their november showings in many of those urban areas if they were going to have a shot in the runoffs. they did that in early voting. we saw that increased vote shares in democratic counties, fulton, cobb and the like and we also saw that black vote share increased, young voters increased and they found a number of voters who did not vote in the november election who came out for the runoffs. those are reprerequisites for the runoffs. but we know republican voters are not trusting the early vote system so republicans are banking on the in person vote to make it up on tuesday. particularly in regions like dalton. and

kyung lah, cnn, savanna, georgia. >>> joining me now is lisa rem, host of "morning edition." lisa, wonderful to see you. i normally hear you on the radio so it's great to see you in person. >> thank you so much. great to be here. >> it's going to be a big week for american politics and georgia is in the middle of all of this. what do you think is really going to change the tide in this senate run off? is it turnout? and crucially, who comes out? who is energized and in what numbers? >> that has been tremendous, 3 million early votes cast and thousands and thousands more are expected to come tuesday. but right now, everyone is talking about this phone call that president trump supposedly made. and there's audio of it calling secretary of state brad raffensperger kind of asking him to tweak the numbers a little bit in his favor. he's still smarting off about this presidential election and how it turned out here in georgia. the timing is terrible. like i said, everyone seems to be talking about that and not the key candidates in this all-important race. it has a lot of people sc

kyung lah, cnn, savannah, georgia. >> i want to discuss this further with less ein london. head of the u.s. and americas program at chatham house. hi, good to see you. >> thank you, robyn. >> the u.s. president asking electoral officials to find votes. what was your reaction listening to that? >> well, extraordinary, deeply upsetting. we've become accustomed to seeing the president of the united states of america chipping away at democratic norms but i think this takes it to another level. after an election that's been very legitimately conducted but fraught with allegations of itsiits illegitimacy by the president and those surrounding him and in the runupup to the january 6 vote it's distressing and an abuse of power. were it not for an election that already voted the president out of power we'd see cause for an investigation, and for a potential impeachment on the basis of this. >> yes, i mean, you heard kamala harris say this was an abuse of power. people said this is authoritarian instincts laid bare, the edges of extortion, this is about stealing an election, those ar

kyung lah, cnn, scottsdale, arizona. >>> thanks for your company. "early start" is up next.yourselves a wonderful day. robinhood believes now is the time to do money. without the commission fees so you can start investing today, wherever you are — even hanging with your dog. so, what are you waiting for? download now and get your first stock on us. robinhood. when you switch to xfinity mobile, you're choosing to get connected to the most reliable network nationwide, now with 5g included. discover how to save up to $300 a year with shared data starting at $15 a month, or get the lowest price for one line of unlimited. come into your local xfinity store to make the most of your mobile experience. you can shop the latest phones, bring your own device, or trade in for extra savings. stop in or book an appointment to shop safely with peace of mind at your local xfinity store. >>> welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. this is "early start." i'm christine romans. >> i'm laura jarrett. it's tuesday, january 26th. it's 5 a.m. here in new york and breaking

kyung lah is on the trail in peachtree city. so how does this last campaigning look this weekend? >> reporter: well, they're crisscrossing the state and focusing on turnout, at least the republicans are really leaning in heavy on trying to get their voters out to the polls on tuesday on election day. the reason why they're emphasizing this so much is because of what you just said, fred. the democrats have been overperforming and this is based on republican analysis and democratic analysis. that they have been showing up at a higher rate in early voting, emphasis on early voting here than they were in november 2020. that's why today, you're hearing this from the republicans. so we don't have that sound available for you, but what senator purdue is saying at his home as you were mentioning because he came in contact with someone who is covid-positive is that he is anticipating that there is going to be a million people who show up on election day and that the bulk of them will be republican. that is his hope, that he is saying today. senator loeffler saying republicans have all got

kyung lah, cnn, peach tree city, georgia. >>> nathan gonzales is the editor of inside elections, andins me now from washington, d.c. he is also elections analyst for qq rollcall. nathan, you called it. you were saying, one way or another, this is going to be an historic week to start 2021 on capitol hill and in washington. set the stage for us. i mean, how peculiar and historic are these events going to be? >> well, before we get to tuesday's races in georgia and later with the electoral college ratification, we have sunday, which is swearing in of a new congress, a very narrow house majority. there is going to be a vote for the speaker of the house, which i expect nancy pelosi to win again, but i think it's going to be close based on the two parties after these election results. and so, it's quite a way to quick things off. by the time we get to the electoral college ratification, it's going to be historic, one way or the other. in the end, joe biden is going to be sworn in as president of the united states, on january 20th. this letter, by these republican senators, is -- i don't s

kyung lah joins me from atlanta. both perdue and kelly loeffler were set to campaign with trump monday ahead of the runoffs. how is this going to play out? >> reporter: the short answer is we simply don't know. there are a lot of questions about the senator, when he is coming back, when contact with the covid positive person was. we don't have that information now. the latest we are getting from senator perdue is the senator himself. here is what he tweeted. he tweeted this several hours after the news became public. he tweeted thanks to everyone that called, texted, reached out. bonnie and i are at home, feeling great, getting ready to ring in the new year with a whole lot of virtual campaigning. hope you all have a safe, happy, healthy new year's eve. the emphasis there is on virtual campaigning. we're days away from the election that's going to determine the balance of power in the u.s. senate, alison, and we don't know if he is going to return to the trail. >> early voting ended yesterday. what are you hearing ab

kyung lah reports, from atlanta. >> reporter: we are getting new numbers from the secretary of state here in georgia that shows more than 3 million georgians have, already, voted. this is all before election day, on tuesday. democrats are welcoming that news. st stacey abrams, the well-known democrat who ran for governor in georgia, says it is an early sign democrats are doing well. >> i would say that it's incredibly gratifying to see so many turning out. we are pleased with the level of energy and excitement. especially, given how often pundits were discounting the likelihood of democrats performing in a runoff. according to current analysis, we are running at, or ahead, of where we were in 2020 november election. but we know this is just the beginning. we still have to get to election day, and i don't count anything, until it's done. >> that early-vote number is adding pressure on the gop who, also, believes the democrats are outperforming what they did in 2020, in november 2020. they need to bring out more of their voters, on election day. and a lot of gop are pinning their hopes

cnn's kyung lah has more now from savanna, georgia. >> reporter: well, democrats are seizing on that call between president trump and georgia's secretary of state, calling it undemocratic. we heard from vice president-elect kamala harris who was here in savanna stumping for the two democratic challengers, hoping to flip those two senate seats on tuesday. >> have y'all heard about that recorded conversation? well, it was, yes, certainly the voice of desperation. most certainly that. and it was a bald, bald-faced bold abuse of power by the president of the united states. >> when the president of united states calls up georgia's election officials and tries to intimidate them to change the result of the election, to disenfranchise georgia voters, to disenfranchise black voters in georgia who delivered this state for joe biden and kamala harris, that is a direct attack on our democracy. and if david perdue and kelly loeffler had one piece of steel in their spines, one shred of integrity, they would be out here defending georgia voters from that kind of assault. >> it's hard to miss what

kyung lah, cnn, atlanta. >>> joining me now from atlanta is comedian and political pundit kyle special. douglas and the head comedy writer for the ricky smiley morning show. thanks for joining us. >> nice to be here. >> reporter: so you went out to atlanta's hip-hop community and spearheaded a voter drive that flipped georgia from red to blue. now you're trying to do the same in tuesday's two crucial senate runoff elections. do you think you can do it again? >> well, yeah, i would like for most if not all of that credit to go to stacey abrams and her organization who kind of spearheaded everything. we just followed her lead. but i do feel very confident we have over 3 million votes that have already been cast in this runoff election, which if i'm not mistaken which is a historic achievement. that's an astronomical number for a runoff. i really think people are energized. i think people do understand what is at stake right now. >> so what all did you do to convince atlanta's black community to get out and vote and show them that their vote counted? >> well, one of the things we've done

let's bring in kyung lah in savannah, georgia, and john harwo harwood. any response now from the white house? >> reporter: no, not yet, but honestly it's hard to imagine what they could say that would matter at all. we have the president on the tape, the white house chief of staff was also on that call. >> it's up too republicans whether they want to tolerate that. we're used to a spectrum between conservative to liberal. now we have a spectrum which is lies versus truth, which is insane versus sane, which is authoritarian versus democratic, un-american versus american. a lot of talk from the republican party about the original intent of the framer. the original intent was the people of the united states were sovereign. what we have seen from president on this tape in crystal-clear terms is he is leaning on someone of his party, on the basis of the fact that the person is of his party, and pressuring him to change election results. it doesn't get any clearer than that, fred. >> he said, and you're a republican, and he says it's criminal for -- and a risk

k kyung law has more. >> reporter: this is the storming of the capitol you may not haveers breached the capitod assaulted police less than a month before this. the insurrection in washington d.c. >> usa! >> reporter: as former president donald trump faces a second impeachment trial charged for his role in inciting the deadly d.c. riot. >> it was a sham impeachment just like the first one. >> reporter: the oregon republican party defiantly defends trump. >> patriots are not going away. the president is not going away. >> reporter: the state party pasted a resolution condemning ten house republicans that voted to impeach trump calling it a betrayal. then dived into this conspiratorial lie about the insurrection that there is growing evidence that the violence at the capitol was a false flag operation designed to discredit president trump. >> this is a time for choosing, a time for choosing what you believe and stand for and not for just giving lip service to being a republican. >> reporter: that's not helping to win over more republicans says oregon republican state representative david b

kyung lah, thank you. >>> tensions between the u.s. and iran are ratcheting up with the anniversary tomorrow with the most powerful military figure. we'll take you inside the threat assessments being made next in the cnn newsroom. ms. so when you need to show your cold who's boss, grab mucinex all-in-one... and get back to your rhythm. feel the power. beat the symptoms fast. and sweetie can coloryou just be... gentle with the pens. okey. okey. i know. gentle..gentle new projects means new project managers. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a short list of quality candidates from our resume database so you can start hiring right away. claim your seventy five dollar credit, when you post your first job at indeed.com/home. for members like martin. an air force veteran made of doing what's right, not what's easy. so when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. that's how you do it right. usaa insurance is made just the way martin's family needs

let's get to cnn's kyung lah in georgia and start in georgia. president trump using today's critical senate elections in georgia as a threat on this call, what has the reaction been like there on the ground? >> reporter: actually trying to pay attention to reverend warnock as he's speaking and we just heard from the other democrat. so reverend warnock is one of the democratic challengers for the two runoff seats. jon ossoff is the other candidate for the senate seat. two democrats who want to flip these two seats. ultimately, which would tip the balance of control in the senate to democrats, and we just heard ossoff say this about what he thinks about the call, that call you just played, ana. he said "that is a direct attack on our democracy and if perdue and loeffler, who are the two incumbent republican senators, had one piece of steel in their spine, one shred of integrity, they would be out here defending georgia voters from that kind of assault. so very strong words from one of the democrats. we are anticipating that reverend warnock may al

kyung lah, the early voting numbers look to be roughly in line with the pace in november. so what does this mean in terms of the incumbents versus the democrats? >> democrats are feeling very pleased about that number. they are looking at data that shows, and the gop is also looking at the same data, and they say that so far, it does look like democrats are outpacing how they did in november, even though the overall number of people who voted is slightly lower here than it was in november 2020. so democrats are taking all of this in stride saying this is very good news. but as far as everything you've just been talking to mark about, it's been difficult for the two republican incumbent senators, kelly loeffler and david perdue, to keep everything together, to keep that focus on tuesday. and remember, the balance of power in the senate is what is going to be determined on tuesday. so there has been a tremendous amount of candidates here criss-crossing the state. in addition to the candidates who are on the trail. three of them are on the trail. one of them, senator david pe

. >> and kyung law joins us.the mayor entertaining qanon and frankly, he's kind of playing coy with it but clearly, believes in this and is promoting this. how has it impacted the town beyond alarming people or has it? >> reporter: well, yeah, there is some vacancies, unusual vacancies on the city counsel and city manager suddenly left. there are some vacancies among the city counsel for a variety of different reasons they have puck publicly said they fear it may be connected to the mayor and what he's said about qanon, and the reason why this particular community anderson is so sensitive to it, this politically is a bellwether county. this is dating back to 1980, this county has picked the u.s. -- voted with the u.s. president who ultimately won. so this is a bellwether county, very moderate. extremes here are just really rare. >> kyung law, appreciate it. >>> for perspective a new cnn contributor, kathleen author of "bring the war home." kathleen, thanks for being with us. you've done extensive research on qano

kyung lah, thank you so much.hese races, harry, we had so much fun earlier this week, we decided to do it all over again. >> sure, why not? >> you make statistics so fun. so let's get to it. senator purdue off the campaign trail in the final days of a close race. how much could this hurt him? >> it can't help him. if you think about the coronavirus, look at this general election exit poll. i think it gives you a good understanding, which is that if you believe that the efforts to contain the coronavirus were going well, won by 75 points. if you thought the efforts to contain the coronavirus were going badly, you voted for john by 71 points. so the more the coronavirus gets in the news the final few days, the more i have to think it hel hel helps osof. >> it makes it more obvious to his supporters this is something impacting him in his state but this comes as republicans likely need a heavy election day vote, given the early voting data, right? >> that's exactly right. as ryan nobles was reporting, you can look at

kyung lah is here with us.been the reaction from the democrats who you are following crisscrossing the state just ahead of this upcoming runoff election. >> reporter: it's turning a lot of heads here, but we don't have an official response yet from the campaigns yet of jon ossoff or raft yet warnock. kamala harris is expected to speak in a couple hours. biden will be here tomorrow. president trump is scheduled tomorrow as well -- just two days away. a lot of attention being paid to the state of georgia. as far as brad raffensperger, the secretary of state, we don't have an official response from him quite yet, but i want to turn your attention to this tweet a few hours ago. the secretary of state tweeted this -- respectfully president trump, what you're saying is not true. the truth will come out. that tweet was in response to the president's tweets questioning the results here in georgia, and just a few hours later, fredricka, "the washington post" was released of that phone call. >> ominous warning about what

kyung lah, cnn, atlanta. >>> i spoke to james davis, a political science professor and director of thepolitical science at the university in switzerland and asked him whether visits to georgia by the president or president-elect will make a difference. >> it sounds like the democrats are doing well enough as it is. so i think, you know, vice president biden or president-elect biden, he will come in and try and close the deal. i think where there needs to be some momentum for the republicans is -- well, they need the momentum, right? they seem to be lagging behind. and the president, as your correspondent just said, has to stay on message. but he really isn't able to do that. we see already overnight he's been tweeting that these special elections, these runoff elections are illegitimate and illegal and it seems hard for me to understand how on the one hand you're championing democracy and on the other hand trying to undermine the legitimacy of the elections. i think the republicans have to be nervous today. >> we also are hearing about this lawsuit trying to compel the vice president t

>> kyung lah, thank you. >>> as they hunt for the person they say planted pipe bombs that day.turn. i discovered my great aunt ruth signed up as a nursing cadet for world war ii. you see this scanned-in, handwritten document. the most striking detail is her age. she was only 17. knowing that she saw this thing happening and was brave enough to get involved and do something— that was eye opening. bring your family history to life like never before. get started for free at ancestry.com robinhood believes now is the time to do money. to life like never before. without the commission fees so you can start investing today, wherever you are — even hanging with your dog. so, what are you waiting for? download now and get your first stock on us. robinhood. these folks don't have time to go to the post office they use stamps.com all the services of the post office only cheaper get a 4-week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again. i'm erin. -and i'm margo. get a 4 we've always done plus p things our own way. a digital scale charted

kyung lah is joining us from peach tree city, georgia, outside of atlanta, and republican senator kelly loeffler is holding an event this afternoon. we know loeffler was campaigning alongside senator ted cruz. he is leading this coalition of senators and joining senator hawley, but senator loeffler isn't on this list. is she taking a position, and how is she handling this division within the party just days ahead of this critical election? >> reporter: well, very simply, ana. she's ignoring it. what they're trying to do is focus on delivering the message to the base and trying to get them to turn out for this election on tuesday. and here's why. because they need president trump to inspire the base to come out. the president is a powerful force noamong supporters who wod potentially vote. i'm at a loeffler event and over here you can see some people wearing red hats. the other side, throughout this crowd, there are red hats. they all say, trump, and then over here, you can see that's a trump flag that's waving. they are not showing up in loeffler or perdue shirts. and it's a difficult d

thank you very much. >> reporter: and was re-elected. >> just lost kyung lah.ntinues right now. i'll see you tomorrow. thanks so much. >>> welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." we're following breaking news. less than two hours from now, the house of representatives will deliver to the u.s. senate an article of impeachment against former president trump, charging him with incitement of insurrection in connection with attack on the u.s. capitol as lawmakers were certifying the electoral college votes. trump is the first american president ever to be impeached twice. meanwhile, president biden is pushing ahead with his agenda

kyung lah, cnn, atlanta. >> james davis is the professor at the university of munich. good to see you. thanks for speaking to us. >> good morning. >> good morning. i hope it is a wonderful year for you. we are looking day by day. monday is not far away. georgia, you know, is expecting the vip. mr. trump and mr. biden to come in. do you think they can create momentum for supporters particularly with voter turnout? >> it sounds like the democrats are doing well enough as it is. i think, you know, president-elect joe biden will come in and try to close the deal. i think where there needs to be momentum for republicans is -- they need the momentum. they seem to be lagging behind. the correspondent says the president has to stay on message. he has been tweeting overnight that these special elections or runoff elections are illegitimate and illegal. it seems hard for me to understand how on the one hand you are championing democracy and on the other hand trying to undermine the legitimacy of the elections. i think republicans have to be nervous today. >> we also are hearing

. >>> i'm kyung lah in sacramento where the security posture here remains high.t there is a six foot hyphens that is completely surrounding the capitol on the steps, the entranceway to the capitol, you can see police cars, chp vehicles as well as officers all around the building, but in a sign that the protests here did not materialize, those street barriers are just now starting to come down. >> thanks to all of our correspondents for those updates. >>> we move to coronavirus. overnight we learned of more than 1700 new deaths from the vi virus. new administration takes over this week in washington with its own 234u7d plan to combat it. the pandemic will get worse before it gets better. >>> nearly 4,000 deaths a day. almost 400,000 deaths total by the middle of february. we expect half a million deaths in this country. and we still yet haven't seen the ramifications of what happened from the holiday travel, from holiday gathering in terms of high rates of hospitalizations and the deaths thereafter. so, yes, i think we still have some dark weeks ahead. >> we're in

. >> on this very important day, kaitlan collins and kyung lah. kaitlan, we're waiting to see what he says in that message he taped last night, waiting to see what the pardon list will look like and whether it's just long and interesting or whether it's long and shocking. your colleague pam brown, our colleague pam brown, saying as of now nothing outside of the norm, nothing terribly shocking on there, but what do we know? >> reporter: and that would be outside of the norm given, of course, what we've heard the last several weeks of what the president is considering doing when it comes to this final act, these pardons and commutations. we don't know if it will be today or later this evening. this is something donald trump does before leaving office tomorrow. he has taped a farewell address, but that's a taped message. it's not a prime time address from the oval office that you've seen previous presidents give on their way out the door. what is shocking is how quiet he has been, john. he taped that message last tuesday. we are expecting him to pard

joining us, chief political correspondent dana bash, phil mattingly, and kyung lah. dana, the georgia election official, gabriel sterling, he was an amazing fact checker. he went point by point totally, totally discounting the president's crazy conspiracy theories. watch this. >> the reason i'm having to stand here today is because there are people in positions of authority and respect who have said their votes didn't count and it is not true. the president's legal team had the entire tape. they watched the entire tape. from my point of view intentionally mislead the senate and voters and people of the united states about this. they said there are 2,423 that voted without being registered. let's be clear about this. you can't do it. they claim that 66,248 below the age of 18 voted. the actual number is zero. 4,926 past the registration deadline. again, it is zero. there's no shredding of ballots going on, that's not real, not happening. potential hacking of dominion equipment during a senate hearing last week, that didn't happen either. secretary raffensperger doesn'

kyung lah is tracking this. are there voters to be persuaded today?er: i don't even know if this was ever a persuasion event. it was really always about getting out the base here in georgia and what they're trying to do by bringing top of the ticket into the state is to make a final push to get everybody out of houses and get to the polls on tuesday. in just a couple hours, we are expecting president-elect joe biden to take the stage making that push. it is control of the u.s. senate. it is also his legislative agenda at stake. the president-elect here to encourage democrats to get out. we're seeing the democratic challengers crisscrossing the state, jon ossoff, reverend raphael warnock talking to voters, bringing up directly the phone call the president had with the georgia secretary of state and blasting that call. all eyes, though, the big event today will be what happens 9:00 tonight when president trump takes the stage in his own rally in dalton, georgia. this will be the very first time we see the president making any sort of public response sin

cnn's kyung lah has the report. >> reporter: this is the storming of a capitol you may not have seen.d the oregon state capitol and assaulted police. less than a month before this. the insurrection in washington, d.c. as former president donald trump faces a second impeachment trial, charged for his role in inciting the deadly d.c. riot. >> it was a sham impeachment, just like the first one. >> reporter: the oregon republican party defiantly defends trump. >> patriots are not going away. the president is not going away. >> reporter: ten house republicans who voted to impeach trump, calling it a betrayal. then dive into this conspiratorial lie about the insurrection, that there is growing evidence that the violence at the capitol was a false flag operation designed to discredit president trump. >> this is a time for choosing. but it's a time for choosing what you really believe and what you want to stand for and not just giving lip service for being a republican. >> reporter: that's not helping to win over more republicans says oregon representative state department david brock smith.

. >> just lost kyung lah. our coverage continues right now. i'll see you tomorrow. thanks so much. >>> welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." we're following breaking news. less than two hours from now, the house of representatives will deliver to the u.s. senate an article of impeachment against former president trump, charging him with incitement of insurrection in connection with attack on the u.s. capitol as lawmakers were certifying the electoral college votes. trump is the first american president ever to be impeached twice. meanwhile, president biden is pushing ahead with his agenda and his quest for bipartisanship. in his first news conference of his presidency a while ago, he pledged to, quote, eliminate the vitriol. he didn't rule out passing his relief bill without republicans but says we'll see how negotiations go. manu raju joins us now. the article of impeachment will be marched to the senate in a few hours. walk us through what happens. >> reporter: former president donald trump

still with you, kyung, you mentioned kelly loeffler. she boasts of voting with president trump 100% of the time. and it had been scheduled that she would be appearing alongside president trump when he is to come to georgia tomorrow. might that be a little difficult for her now, given these tapes, the president talking about undermining the election? and if the election, georgia election is illegal and invalid for the president, why not for the down ballot races as well? >> reporter: exactly. and that's really what we're talking about here. what the republican senators need are for the voters to trust the system enough to go out and use that very system that the president is talking about as being invalid or being illegal, and vote. now, republicans are behind the eight ball slightly, because what we've seen from data analysis of who has voted so far in early voting, are that democrats are outperforming how they have done in november. in november 2020. democrats are pleased with their turnout so far. republicans believe it is achievable

kyung the bill because you don't know me you pushy. from the powerful green gang one man stood out his name do you shang. regime change selected your genius in ipoh of history yes a new book eat it and if the sampler guns there do you think you must get put. in 1021 the chinese communist party was founded inside the french concession the french authorities were scared and approach to you sharing. their phones suck you need to beg. ministers show contest on the presidency because he can see to say listen his machine or. see good signals or. the yak all through the phones. the niggers he's going to appear with practically yup. the french asked do you shang to reestablish order inside that concession in exchange the trafficker would be allowed to take over all of the concessions opium dens. if you group. recalls his office. to take her. once comfortably installed do you shang offered his services to the ambitious chinese general. as head of the army of the kuomintang the chinese nationalist party she aimed to reify the country to do so he

. >> kyung law, appreciate it. >>> for perspective a new cnn contributor, done extensive reporting on author of "bring the war home." kathleen, thanks for being with us. you've done extensive research on qanon. does any of what you heard surprise you? >> i should clarify, actually, i think not anybody has done extensive research on qanon specifically, but what we're seeing is qanon is sort of a new version of something that's much older and much more familiar to people who studied the history of extremism. as long as we have had conspiracy theories about the endangerment of white women and children by a cabal of wicked elites, we've seen these crop up over and over and over again in different parts of the militant right back to something like the protocols of the elders of zion in the early 20th century, if not before and it's cohaerent with things like white power movement and conspiracy theory in the 1980s and militia movement in the 1990s. we're seeing in someways, very new and different in the speed of radicalization and in some ways, it is a through line that gives us a way to un

we have kyung lah. tuesday senate runoffs in georgia were a big part of this call. how are all of the campaigns now responding to this stunning audio? >> well, we're just getting a new response from the chairman of the georgia republican party and he just posted this, david schaefer, on twitter and he's claiming that the president will be filing a lawsuit claiming that this phone call between the president and the secretary of state was illegally recorded. i want to make clear, we haven't seen the content of these alleged lawsuits, but the chair of the georgia republican party is now tweeting that the president has filed two lawsuits, a federal suit and a state suit against the georgia secretary of state. so we'll have to look into that. that's one response that we're just getting in now this evening after that astonishing recording of that telephone call between the president and the secretary of state. as far as why i'm here, i'm here in savannah, georgia, and this is an event that democrats were at both of the candidates, the democratic challengers who want to fl

but if you know at some point tonight, kyung, where are they awaiting results?d warnock and mr. ossoff? >> reporter: well, you mentioned that ryan was at gop headquarters. there is no democratic headquarters. i'm actually standing at a backdrop of atlanta at a higher lookout point. and the reason why i'm here is because democrats are not gathering. they're fought going to gather inside, because of covid. they are not anticipating, also, erin to have any kind of results tonight. they saeanticipate it will take while to count these voetstes. thank you, anderson? >> and a writer for cnn politics and a "new york times" national political reporter in georgia covering the race. candidates out in final moments making their case. what are you watching tonight? >> i think i'm watching a few things. number one, watching the black turnout. right? we saw that the black turnout in the early vote was making up a larger share of the electorate than it did at the equivalent point in the general election's does that hold true when we have the actual election day returns? another