portions of mississippi and alabama or live in the weather center. awarding to the west, vladimir putin says he will station nuclear weapons in belarus. and risking it all for the american dream, a rising number of pregnant women and minors make the dangerous trek through panama for a chance at asylum in the us from cnn center. cnn newsroom with laila harre. we begin with a massive cleanup underway in the southeastern us after powerful storms that spawned deadly tornadoes barreled through mississippi and nearby states friday night, at least 26 people were killed and dozens injured. the secretary of homeland security is set to tour the area later today and in the past couple of hours, president biden approved the mississippi governor s request for a major disaster declaration to get federal disaster. eight. flowing as quickly as possible. the mayor of heart hit rolling fork saying his city is gone. here s congressman bennie thompson, describing the destruction in his home stat
top of the hour now on cnn newsroom. i m john berman. this morning president biden reassuring americans that the u.s. banking system remains safe. this despite the failure of two significant banks within 48 hours. silicon valley bank and signature bank have now been taken over by federal regulators. all customers who had deposits in these banks can rest assured. rest assured they ll be protected and they ll have access to their money as of today. that includes small businesses across the country that bank there and need to make payroll, pay their bills and stay open for business. no losses this is an important point. no losses will be borne by the taxpayers. the president emphasized the customers will be fully protected while the bank s managers and investors will be held accountable. he also outlined the emergency measures his administration took to protect the bank s customers. cnn s priscilla alvarez is with us. look, a lot of this is trying to ease the anxiety
silicon valley bank collapsed on friday, and the government of the state of new york shut down signature bank last night, claiming signature was on the verge of collapse. the federal government has since taken over that bank. president biden rushed out to the cameras this morning before the markets could open to try to calm the american people. he insisted there s no need for the public to worry, that their money is safe and the economy will not suffer. america can have confidence that the banking system is safe. your deposits will be there when you need them. every american should feel confident their deposits will be there if and when they need them. let me also assure you we will not stop at this. we ll do whatever is needed. the concern now is whether this was just the first part of a larger financial crisis and whether other banks or the markets will take a major hit in the coming days and the move by the biden administration to guarantee that the funds in those fail
tonight. we have a dangerous winter storm bearing down on most of the country tonight. we have millions of americans on the move traveling for the christmas holiday and the storms are brutal. they are unleashing frigid temperatures. you have blizzard conditions and very strong powerful winds. the airlines are canceling thousands of flights. tonight as we are waiting for the final report from january 6th committee which is still not here, we have transcripts from star witnesses and like cassidy hutchinson that show she testified that she felt pressured by trump allies not to cooperate with the committee or questions and instead possibly just risk contempt. an incoming republican congressman now saying he will address discrepancies shall we say in his biography as allegations are mounting that he falsified his resume and family background before being elected. let s begin with the powerful winter blast bearing down on most of the country. it is being called a once in a generat
collier or county, florida, where 911 services are down as search and rescue efforts continue across the state. rachel: search and rescue efforts still underway across the state as 30 people have been confirmed dead with 27 deaths in florida alone. more than 1 million people many florida still without power. here with us today is representative greg steube, he s from the house foreign affairs committee, and, of course, he is from florida. what do you know about this leveesome because we ve been getting conflicting reports, congressman. so i talked to the sheriff and, unfortunately, he couldn t join you because he could give you an update. if they were trying, northport from police and the sarasota sheriff s department has been trying to get people out on boats and and airboats, and they were actually using that intersate area to go back and forth and bring individuals from their homes to the interstate because that was the only way to get them in and out either by airboat o