questioning today in the aleck murdaugh double murder trial, and closing arguments could come within days. we re learning more about what the feds are now doing to help the people of east palestine, ohio, the scene of that toxic train derailment, and now health concerns are spreading beyond ohio. we ll explain. plus, the department of energy says it found the likely source of the covid outbreak, but the intelligence community still doesn t agree about the origins of covid. and new reporting this morning on how child migrants are being dangerously exploited working brutal jobs in factories that made products we use every day. we ll talk to the journalist behind this new york times investigation. this morning 56 million americans remain under winter storm alerts as huge parts of the country are recovering from a weekend of extreme weather. right now tens of thousands are still in the dark after a string of storms caused destruction in the heartland with nine tornad
congress and trying to restore confidence. and cut ties with china or be banned. that is what we are watching this hour. thank you for being here. i m kate bolduan, and first to capitol hill where secretary treasury janet yellen is trying to assure the american people and the senate that the monetary system is sound. and they may get to the president s budget, but in light of that, her appearance there is taking on new appearance, because she is the first biden administration official to appear before the senate, and this is after the global financial markets have been rattled by another problem. credit suisse has been propped up by over $54 million from the swiss bank. this a look at where it is standing right now as christine romans is watching all of this for us. first, christine, start with janet yellen who is testifying now. she is speaking to congress, but speaking directly to the american people telling them that your money is safe here, and we have taken steps to
sanchez. i m amara walker. thanks for joining us. i ve been checking the poll enforecast every day. it hasn t been good here. how about you? we may be getting the cherry blossoms. here s what we re watching. the white house rolls out another $400 million in aid as fierce fighting continues in the eastern part of the country. our alex marquardt has a look at the bat tle for bakhmut. it sounded like a freight train going by the house. at least ten people are dead after severe storms hammer the south. where we re seeing impacts from that system this morning. alex murdaugh will spend the rest of his life in jail. the judge s worjs for murdaugh during the sentencings and why the former south carolina lawyer will likely find himself in court again on dozens of other charges. also, cnn still in east palestine, ohio, as residents there begin to recover from that toxic train derailment. they care about their food. they want to know what they re getting. they want to kn
hovering over the northern u.s. plus, do you know what negative 60 degrees feels like? well, tens of millions from the northern plains to new england are under alerts for what could be some of the coldest windchills in a generation. and an nbc news exclusive, new reporting on why more than half a million migrants living in the u.s. are in legal limbo. migrants telling us quote, i couldn t believe what i was seeing. fresh outcry over another police killing. a double amputee missing both his legs trying to run from police. in just minutes, president biden expected to address those huge numbers in the latest jobs report released just this morning. what those numbers mean for our economy. we begin this hour with the pentagon on alert. nbc news was first to report that the u.s. is monitoring a suspected chinese surveillance balloon that has been hovering over the northern u.s. a witness in billings, montana, captured this footage on wednesday the same day the pentagon sa
meanwhile, the trump desantis rivalry is heating up. we ll show you how the florida governor responded to the covid criticism. we ll look at the rnc s 2024 playbook as party leaders want to double down on an issue that lost them the elections in the midterms. running straight into loserville. and today, president joe biden and speaker kevin mccarthy sit down at the white house in hopes of ending the standoff over the debt ceiling. plus reverend al sharpton joins us live from memphis ahead of his eulogy today for tyre nichols. good morning and welcome to morning joe, it s wednesday, february 1st. along with joe, good to have you back. good to be back. willie and me. we have jonathan lemire, u.s. special correspondent for bbc news katty kay is with us. and member of the new york times editorial board mara gay. so we start with today s high stakes meeting between president joe biden and house speaker kevin mccarthy. their focus, ending the standoff over the debt ce