good saturday morning, everyone. and welcome to cnn this morning. i m amara walker. and i m boris sanchez. all eyes on the sky this morning as a chinese spy balloon continues drifting over the united states. where it is expected to go and why the white house has not ruled out shooting it down. and a brutal blast of dangerously cold air sweeping across the northeast. in some places it will feel like 50 to 60 degrees below zero. where we re seeing the cold air and when things will start to warm up. plus new developments in the tyre nichols case, why another officer is out of a job and why some first responders are now losing their licenses. plus important new testimony in the alex murdaugh trial, twists in the case and what it could mean for murdaugh s defense, coming up on cnn this morning . hi, everyone. if you are not keeping track, it is saturday. not time to go to work for most of you. february 4. thanks for waking up with us. i m amara walker in atlanta. an
msnbc headquarters in new york city. we got a lot to get to this hour. first a community in mourning as michigan state university remembers three killed during a mass shooting monday. students still trying to process the violence. all of us are numb to the whole situation. we have lived this our entire lives. i m still processing it. i honestly don t know if i can ever take a step foot into na union anymore. you see it on the news, but you never think it s going to be your school. and in fact, it is their school. we re learning more about the victims now as well, 20-year-old brian fraser was the president of his fraternity, 19-year-old ariel anderson, an aspiring surgeon, and 20-year-old alexandria verner, an all state athlete studying biology. police are still investigating the motive. we are learning more about the suspected gunman, ahead, the details about his criminal background and the chilling details that his father is now sharing. also this morning, fear a
what the voters want? at the same time, it s a legal challenge, not a political one, that may pose the biggest danger to the only other declared candidate, donald trump. what s the special counsel s latest request from a judge say about the possibility that trump faces criminal charges? and we re watching the white house where the president could face questions from reporters just a few minutes from now. under pressure to talk publicly about the shootdowns in the sky. new nbc reporting about the internal debate over whether he should answer those questions. so a lot going on on this wednesday, but we start with republicans facing critical questions about the future of their party as newly announced presidential candidate nikki haley hits the campaign trail for the first time, officially giving the gop something they haven t had in nearly seven years. an alternative to donald trump. we re ready, ready to move past the stale ideas and faded names of the past, and we are m
report. we have a lot to cover in our second hour of chris jansing reports, let s get to right to it. at this hour, demanding answers, nearly two weeks after that massive train derailment in eastern ohio, residents are growing more worried about the safety of the air they breathe and the water they drink. ahead of what s expected to be an emotional town hall meeting tonight, what the governor and the epa administrator said today on msnbc. and in an emotionally charged buffalo courtroom, a man lunged for the gun room just before sentencing in the mass murder in buffalo. later in the program, i ll be talking with the son of one of the victims. and nbc s shaquille brewster reporting from michigan state after the deadly shooting. trymaine lee covering protesters targeted governor ron desantis in florida, and nbc s julie on capitol hill. but first, students are set this hour to return to one of the buildings where the shooting at michigan state university happened. msnbc s
. good to be with you, i m katy tur, former vice president mike pence is putting up a fight. a moment ago in minnesota, he told reporters he is pushing back on special counsel jack smith s subpoena requiring him to testify about january 6th. pence is citing the speech and debate clause, something normally reserved for sitting lawmakers. my fight is on the separation of powers. my fight against the doj s subpoenas very simply is on defending the prerogatives that i had as president of the senate to preside over the joint session of congress on january 6th. for me, this is a moment where you have to decide where you stand and i stand on the constitution of the united states. yesterday if you were with us, you would have heard former federal prosecutor paul butler tell us that argument, that speech and debate clause would be a good academic paper for a law student but not as good of an argument in court. after all, pence was not a legislator, technically. he was vice presi