new york. we have a lot of news to get to on this busy friday morning including a seismic development in the special counsel investigation into former president donald trump. his vice president, mike pence, appearing before the grand jury probing his former boss s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to a source familiar with the matter. this morning, new reaction including this from a member of congress who investigated the capitol attack. i think that the vice president has a lot of information. i have no doubt really that he answered the questions openly, honestly, and fully. plus, russia unleashing on ukraine overnight with the worst strikes in weeks. the death toll still climbing at this hour. we re on the ground in that war-torn country with a live report. and later, extreme weather, the iconic yosemite national park closing over fears a massive snow melt could lead to unprecedented floods. intense flooding also suspected to have caused this train dera
quote, irrelevant to the contempt of congress case against him. that is set to begin next week. the doj wrote, quote, the defendant s sudden wish to testify is not a genuine effort to meet obl gigations, but a last-ditch attempt to avoid accountability. bannon s reversal comes after he received a letter from former trump that waives executive privilege, but new court documents show that an attorney for former president trump actually spoke to the fbi weeks ago and contradicted bannon s claim that the former president had invoked executive privilege over particular information or materials, so who is telling the truth and who is not? more on that in a moment. also, in the january 6th public hearing that is tomorrow, this is the next one, the panel is expected to focus on how the violent mob came together, the rule of extremist groups in the deadly insurrection, and any connections of those groups to trump s inner circle. a former spokesman for the oath keepers, a far right
fears that a massive snow melt could lead to a major flood risk. california s sierra nevada region, which includes yosemite valley saw unprecedented snowfall this winter season. in some areas 300% more than usual, and with the temperatures climbing a big melt is already underway. joining us now is yosemite fire park ranger, nancy phillipe. tell us about the conditions there right now and your biggest fear. sure, good morning, ana. of course things are constantly being assessed. we ve got crews out, we keep saying we re all hands on deck since we ve been experiencing this winter storm, and going through the valley yesterday, which is the part that we re closing as a section of yosemite valley tonight at 10:00 p.m., there is some just localized flooding, a little bit of water on the roads, a couple of campground sites impacted. safety is, of course, our biggest concern, and that is why we are putting that temporary closure in effect tonight.