some dying in snow buried cars, others in homes with no power. conditions so bad rescuers needed rescuing. and the travel nightmare continues for thousands of americans, so far more than 3,000 flights have been canceled today, the majority are southwest flights. plus, how a toy and a car led police to find a kidnapped baby. welcome to the lead i m phil mattingly in today for jake tapper. we begin with the rising death toll from the vicious winter weather across the country. at least 49 people across nine states have died from storms, at least 27 of those deaths are centered in buffalo, new york, and surrounding erie county which were hit with a blizzard, winds so fierce they reached hurricane strength, rescuers had to be sent out to help stranded rescue crews facing, quote, some of the worst conditions that any of us have ever seen. many roads around buffalo remain impassable, driving bans still in place in some areas as crews try to clear the streets to restore power
frustration intensely. and we will be getting through this together very soon. also today, the white house is slamming texas governor greg abbott after 140 migrants from texas, including babies and children were dropped off at the residence of vice president harris in frigid temperatures on christmas eve. the latest on the battle over title 42 waged by republican governors this hour. and the federal warning that migrants, not to cross the southern border. with polls shows donald trump s power over republicans waning ahead of 2024, other potential contenders including florida s ron desantis, and former vice president pence are making moves to make their candidacies official we re watching that but we re going to start with the weather that we were just mentioning, the deadly snowstorm, joining us right now, nbc news meteorologist angie lassman. where are we at right now, angie? it was a rough weekend. it was. and a holiday weekend at that. a lot of people trying to c
the attack on the capitol. high-ranking lifelong republicans, notable members of the former president s staff, detailing how he watched television as the violent assault unfolded. officials say he never called law enforcement or the pentagon to put an end to the violence. and while video evidence showed rioters hanging on every word from the then-president, we learned that trump initially refused to use the word peace when he finally sent a tweet to that mob. it was the then-vice president, mike pence, who ultimately called in the national guard as rioters were chanting to hang him. previous testimony revealed president trump thought pence, quote, deserved those chants. last night we learned that members of mike pence s security detail called loved ones in the midst of it because they feared they wouldn t make it out of the capitol safe and alive. to hear that was just stunning. and last night republican congressman adam kinzinger wrapped up the hearing with this messag
through a period of high inflation like this one. it s painful. paychecks are not going as far. if you adjust wages for inflation, they re getting smaller. the president is right to call out the fact that this report does not capture the fact that gasoline prices have started to cool off. the national average is 4.63 a gallon. down 40 cents from the record high. two things to remember here, one, it s not like prices at the pump are cheap. no one is doing a victory dance about $4.60 gas, and ftho, this is not just about prices at the pump. it s about food. housing prices. there were record price spikes last month from beer, to cleaning products, men s suits as well. this is an economy wide problem, and unfortunately it s getting worse. how come you didn t mention me for hair cucuts. yeah, why not? no reason. there was no reason. okay. does this raise the risk. it does. the federal reserve is going to be under more pressure to step up the war on inflation. step in l
right now as the last 100 days of this midterm election cycle a growing crop of republican politicians had some merged to challenge donald trump s once rock-solid grip on the gop. managing to channel his political example without publicly kissing his ring, or dissing him outright. the presumed front runner in that pack being florida governor ron desantis who over the last year has turned the sunset sunshine state into the epicenter of our cultural wars. in doing so he has built an impressive maga friendly resume, attacking progressive businesses in the state, turning its education system into the political battleground, and conjuring cultural bogeyman to legitimize laws that silence queer experience, lack experience, anything that might offend white conservatives. and it appears to be working, where matters. most money, and momentum. with desantis reported to be supplanting trump as some of the biggest conservative donors, and media outlets appear to be jumping off the trum