and now we have to finish for the american public because it took this long. now we learned how to govern. so now we ll be able to get e the job. positive spin on things.e the dam could finally the be breaking in the battle for the gavel, as we re calling it. gavel.kevin mccarthy inching t a little closer than ever to capturing house speaker, but he s still coming upo a little short. mccarthy was able to flip r 15 out of the twentyhold one republican holdouts, but its wasn t enoug h. he needs a few more votes to save yours truly from the embarrassment of callingembm kevin speaker for the last feww, months. but right now, the republicans are taking are time out until 10 to gorge on pizza and figure out a plan pizza. y been mccarthy has reportedly been cutting deals and offering ngconcessions to win overver ke the never kevans. yet he apparently stilvil haapps some work to do. several believe that one earns the position of speaker by raising enormous sums of money. thatth
good morning to you. i m jessica dean in washington. jim sciutto is off today. we re following several major stories this morning. overnight ukraine rocked by a barrage of russian missiles. the defense minister saying it s the most massive missile attack since the invasion began in februariment we know power is out in several regions including parts of the capital kyiv. we ll be live on the ground ahead. plus, the u.s. reinstating covid tests for travelers coming from china as beijing drops its own restrictions despite an overwhelming surge in cases. a fresh apology from southwest airlines today, plus new steps the airline is taking to reimburse passengers whose holiday travel was ruined. still more than 2,300 southwest flights canceled today. we re told the scheduling nightmare could end as soon as tomorrow. let s begin this morning on the ground in ukraine. cnn senior international correspondent ben wedeman is in kyiv. ben, you saw firsthand some of this damage. tell us
good afternoon. i m sara sidner in for victor blackwell. welcome to cnn newsroom. the january 6th committee just released yet another big batch of witness interview transcripts from their investigation into the capitol insurrection. the new list includes interviews with 19 witnesses including the former president donald trump jr. and kimberly guilfoyle, christina baab, stephen miller and those to try to overturn the election like doug mastriano. cnn s paula reid is joining me now. you re going through this. i know it s a lot. there are hundreds of people with many, many pages of transcripts. what has stood out to you so far? reporter: well, we have the support of a big team combing over this. sara, i want to start with some of the revelations in the transcript from donald trump jr. specifically, the transcript reveals new details about text messages that the former president exchanged with then white house chief of staff mark meadows. we ve reported on some of these t
here. now, the hard work begins. i may not know all of you, some of you are new, but i hope one thing is clear after this week: i never give up. pete: that s the truth. it happened just after midnight last night after 15 rounds of voting, the house elects california republican kevin mccarthy as the speaker of the house. emily: mccarthy taking the gavel in a late night session as the gop looks to get to work. will: alexandria hoff is live in washington with more. good morning, alexandria. reporter: good morning. it took 14 failed votes flipping more than a dozen holdouts and a final tally taking place just after midnight but speaker mccarthy has the gavel and we have the 118th congress sworn in early this morning. that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter so help you god. i do. congratulations, you are now mcellroy members members of the 118th congress. reporter: it is conclusion of drama-filled four days of vo
ahead on cnn newsroom, pulling out all the stops in pennsylvania. president biden teaming up with his former boss, barack obama, to get the pblue vote out, whil trump rallies republicans. it seems he has a new nickname for his most likely challenger to lead the party. we ll have details plus analysis from a former member of congress for the state. and destruction left behind in america s tornado alley. the latest from cnn s world weather center. announcer: live from cnn center, this is cnn newsroom with kim brunhuber. first, we are following a developing story out of eastern africa. a commercial aircraft of an unknown number of passengers has crashed into lake victoria in tanzania. the plane was owned by precision air, which said a rescue operation was now underway for possible survivors. the airline said it went down near their airport located on lake victoria s western shore. the president of tanzania has taken to social media to urge calm while rescuers work at t