texas, tonight with the very latest. omar, good evening to you. hundreds of thousands of texans still without power. 13 million don't have access to clean, running water. the conditions are improving. i know it doesn't sound like it but what's being done to deal with this massive crisis tonight? >> yeah, don. those that have power back are maybe more thankful for it than they've ever been. but those that don't are huddle together for what is going to be another night of freezing temperatures here in texas. now, governor greg abbott may have been a little too optimistic this afternoon, saying he hoped that no location would be without power this evening. as you mentioned, that number is still in the hundreds of thousands across texas. but what we're now learning is going to be a longer-term issue is the water. we're in a boil-water notice here in austin, and people here are being told that it is going to be a multi-day process until they get water back to a reliably safe level. so, again, they're being told to think in days instead of hours. >> yeah. so, omar, officials are admitting today the texas power grid was seconds or minutes away from catastrophic failure and a complete blackout. what are you learning about it? >> reporter: that's right. we heard this first from congressman mark feessy who represents parts of dallas and fort worth. he said he had heard from an executive that we were minutes away from a catastrophic failure. what that means instead of a days long blackout, which is what we're experiencing now, you're looking at a potentially months long blackout. that's what we heard from the ceo of the energy reliability council of text, ercot as it's known, who also says it was a 1:00 a.m. decision to start imposing blackouts to reduce the demand on the overall energy grid. and that may have been the factor that led to still suffering, of course, of what we saw over the course of this past week. that can't be overlooked. but they are saying that it could have been so much worse. >> listen, omar. as texans were dealing with the unprecedented emergency, their senator, the person who represents them, ted cruz, caught a flight to cancun. this is what he said first. >> yesterday my daughters asked if they could take a trip with some friends, and heidi and i agreed. so i flew down with them last night, dropped them off here, and now i'm headed back to texas and back continuing to work to try to get the power on. what's happening in texas is unacceptable and a lot of texans are hurting. >> so that was clearly a lie. here's how his story changed just a few hours later. >> we left yesterday. the plan had been to stay through the weekend with the family. that -- that was the plan. i started having second thoughts almost the moment i sat down on the plane because on the one hand, all of us who are parents have a responsibility to take care of our kids, take care of our family. that's something texans have been doing across the state. but i also have a responsibility that i take very seriously of fighting for the state of texas and frankly leaving when so many texans were hurting didn't feel right, and so i -- i changed my return flight. >> and now text messages obtained by "the new york times" seem to provide the real story. what do you know? what can you tell us, omar? >> reporter: yeah. so the backpedaling continues there where we're now gaining insight to what was happening in private as senator ted cruz's constituents were watching him leave amid a crisis in his own state. now, these are text messages obtained by "the new york times" from his wife, heidi cruz, reading that their house was freezing, as mrs. cruz put it, and she proposed a getaway until sunday. she invited others to join them at the ritz-carlton in cancun where they had stayed many times, noting even the room price this week, $309 a night, and that it's good security. so obviously the slap in the face is to the hundreds of thousands and the millions that are under a boil-water notice or at least having water issues. someone who should have been their leader is leaving them amid this crisis. and it is a luxury that his constituents, at least many of them don't have. those that are huddling together tonight. those that are figuring out how they are going to boil water. those that are dealing with what is none other than a failure of infrastructure here in the state of texas. >> omar jimenez, thank you very much. i appreciate your reporting, sir. be safe out there. i now want to bring in douglas brinkley. he has been without water and power in austin, texas, for days. so, douglas, we see the candles again and the flashlight behind you. first of all, it's good to see you. i hope you're holding up well, and i know it's below freezing in austin tonight. >> yeah. we're holding up well in my family. the water has been off for just days, and this whole boil-water scenario is real. our power had been off all day. about two hours ago, the power came on, and it was a lot of cheers. people in our neighborhood walking out and getting to see lights. then it went back down again. so there's still rolling blackouts going on right now. but the whole state is in a sense of real crisis, don. the roads of austin have not been plowed properly. most businesses are shut because people can't go anywhere, so you've got look for the one lone pizza place that might be open to serve utility workers or the one grocery store when you get there, there's nothing left on the shelves. >> boy. i've got to ask you because as a historian you look at what politicians are doing in the now and comparing it to previous acts that politicians have done. so i've got to ask -- i've got to get your take on senator ted cruz's marie antoinette moment. what was he thinking? >> he was thinking about ted cruz. he was thinking about his own hide, and i found it very funny that he's wearing a texas flag around his mouth and is trying to go a little incognito but the press saw him at the airport. but he always talks about the alamo as being texas. so even if you take the john wayne version of the alamo with davie crockett and jim bouie and the line on the sand in texas that you don't leave when dire circumstances arrive, ted cruz, if he were at the alamo, davie crockett would have been going, where's ted? we can't find him. the answer would have been, he's flown off to cancun. it's a horrific look for a politician when the big freeze is going on here and people are suff suffering, looking to parlay it into a resort vacation in cancun. >> do you think he's going to face any real consequences for this failure, or do you think texas is going to forgive and forget? >> the dirty secret in texas is ted cruz isn't very popular. i know you wouldn't believe that. he gets re-elected, and like greg abbott, the governor, is. since we talked last night, don, i was proud of abbott for at least admitting and taking some personal responsibility. but erco is not going to be -- you know, the electric -- you know, the electric council here is going to be under a lot of trouble this year because, you know, all of their generators have frozen. they should have been winterized, and they weren't. and it's going -- the blame's going to go around the state because now we've got water, sanitation. you're going to have people dying because they don't have electricity that needed different types of, you know, things to keep them going. they needed the energy, fires. things happen when you have a big manmade disaster. this wasn't a winter disaster. this was done by the electric reliability council of texas, who is dysfunctional during the crisis. >> i want to get your take on this, and folks at home, look at your screen. i don't think you can see it unless you're watching on your phone, douglas. but today we saw people waiting in line at a houston park to fill up water buckets or water from a spigot while the perseverance rover traveled nearly 300 million miles to mars. how can we land on mars and we can see the lights, you know, on the running water in texas, right? we can see the lights on and the water running. we can't see the lights on and the water running in texas. >> because the electric reliability council of texas is about texas, and it's about greed. it's about taking shortcuts. it's about not providing infrastructure. it's about not winterizing generators. going to mars, you have the jet propulsion laboratory in pasadena. you've got nasa. and they are -- the federal government invest in it. texas is this weird only state that controls all of its energy, doesn't do energy sharing. i think the electric reliability council of texas is going to have a lot of lawsuits. you're going to have trial lawyers galore looking at this and, you know, even companies should be able to get hazard pay, people that are working at a grocery store or something that are weathering horrific conditions just to keep these cities humming. >> well, douglas, there's so much in there because, okay, they're not on the national grid, which is -- you know, do that, but then you get this. but they could have winterized all of that because there are wind turbines in places that are a lot colder than texas. they're running just fine. you know, the natural gas and oil and other places that gets a lot colder than texas all running just fine. >> thank you, don, for saying that. that's the key. what they do in texas is they shortcut people. they're making a gamble while people are making rich. and the people of this council we're talking about, who knows where they're at? they're not even in state. this is just like a cartel making money and they short circuit the people. they do that by saying, what's the odds of a winter storm? screw it. let's not put the extra money into winterizing. but you know what? we're living in the age of climate change, and these kind of winter storms are more frequent. so it's a real recklessness of, you know, of the company and the utilities and at least governor abbott has spoken out and said, yeah, it's really rotten. and ted cruz gets to be the fool of the moment with his, you know, cancun junket. >> yeah. if we just looked, you know, in prox proximity, look at canada. it gets a lot colder than texas. look at where we are right now. the electricity goes out sometimes when there's a storm, but nothing like what we're seeing right now. that is just unheard of. >> because the fossil fuel industry is that strong. it really is a texas cartel. they like natural gas. they like petroleum. they make it hard on other alternatives. but, yes, they do much better in the north. new jersey does better with their electricity through winter storms. texas is just out to lunch right now. >> thank you, douglas. be safe. we wish you well. hope the power comes back on. thank you very much. >> okay. i want to check back in now with a texas mother of five. three children with special needs, who has been devastated by the texas power outages, and she joins us now. it's so good to see you. last night we were by phone. now i get to see you and your beautiful family. thank you so much. when we spoke last night on the show about how hard the situation is hitting your family, and one of our viewers reached out to help today. so tell us about that. >> well, first of all, i want to say thank you to everybody. we've just had an overwhelming response from all over the world. all your viewers. we had a viewer, mr. raymond boyd, reached out, and he was able to use his diamond membership and pull some strings, and he got us into a hotel. the light has not been back on at the house. it came on for three minutes, and then it powered back down. but there's a smile on our face tonight because we're sleeping warm, and we just want to say thank you to everybody's who has reached out to us. we've had -- i can't even tell you. we've had from canada to virgin islands to california and new york, everywhere. >> i'm so happy. i'll really relieved that you and your family -- and i didn't know how to react last night because i'm sitting here talking to you, and, you know, as people at home, i want to do something. i don't know what to do. but i'm glad that just through this platform that i'm sharing, that people got to hear your story and you got to safety in a hotel. but last night must have been incredibly difficult. >> it was horrible. it was horrible. we went to bed -- i went to bed in tears. we just didn't know where we stood and what the next day held for us. but we woke up in the morning, and we woke up to a knock at the door and somebody delivered chick-fil-a breakfast to us. it's crazy because there's people from all over the world and all over the u.s., outside of texas and inside, that are reaching out to us and helping us. and it's really a bummer when you see your own senator -- you see ted cruz, and i heard him. i saw him in an interview and he quoted. he said, i was just trying to be a good dad. but, you know, in this moment, it felt like our dad ditched us and left us to fight on our own. >> wow. so i think it's really cute that your kids keep looking over at the tv to see themselves. hi, kids. listen, i know you lost multiple boxes of your children's insulin due to power outages. do you have what you need now? >> we do. we do. the local diabetes association reached out to us, and they're helping us work with our insurance company so that we can get reimbursement because it's a disaster. so we're on the right track, and thanks to you and thanks to the viewers and to humanity, it's just been -- it's overwhelming, and i think i haven't smiled in a few days, but everyone put a smile on our faces. >> that's great. do you have any idea of when you're going to be able to get your power back and then back into your home? >> i'm hoping tomorrow because i've been in communication with our neighbors, and it's been going in and out. so it's out right now, but we're hoping that tomorrow -- we're hoping. >> yeah. thank you. thank you so much, sylvia. thanks, kids. >> thank you! >> thank you! >> it's so nice to meet you. stay warm, and i hope you get lots of meals, and you can go look at yourself on tv right now. all right. you guys be well. >> thank you and god bless everyone out there. >> thank you so much. did you hear that? we felt like our dad left us. president joe biden speaking to the governor of texas tonight. what will that call mean for hundreds of thousands of people who are suffering? lysol laundry sanitizer kills 99.9% of illness-causing bacteria detergents leave behind. proven to kill covid-19 so we just have some breaking news here tonight that president joe biden has spoken with texas governor greg abbott tonight about the devastating storms, the situation that's happening in texas. biden telling the governor that the federal government will work hand in hand with state and local authorities in texas to get relief to the people who need it. again, this is news just in to cnn. it's good to see both of you. it's good that they are coordinating and working together because folks there really need the help. john, what can you tell us about this phone call between the president and the governor? >> joe biden doing as president what americans expect their presidents to do. nothing extraordinary. earlier today his aides said they had sent generators down, 60 generators to help public facilities power themselves. they are sending water. they're sending blankets. they're preparing to send diesel fuel as well. the president's approved a state of emergency. tonight he talked to governor abbott, extended the sympathy of the administration and the american people to what texans are going through and said he was going to try to mobilize additional federal agencies to h help. governor abbott today asked for the declaration of a major disaster, which would unlock some long-term aid, recovery aid for texans. so this is -- it's not an extraordinary gesture by the president. this is what presidents do to lead in times of crisis, and that's what president biden did. >> ana, i want to ask you about ted cruz because i know you are furious. people in texas are freezing. he goes to cancun, bending himself into pretzels to explain it. go. what do you think? >> i think he is a piss poor excuse for a public servant. the word is public servant. it is not spring breaker. and for an elected official to abandon his state while millions of his constituents are freezing, are sleeping in their cars, are melting snow to flush their toilets, are burning their furniture in order to keep warm, it's the height of irresponsibility, of hubris, arrogance. i mean i just -- i run out of words to describe what i think ted cruz did. and then to come back and blame it on his daughters? i mean doesn't he have like a dog he can blame for eating his homework. he's got to blame it on his two little kids, a 10-year-old and a 12-year-old said, dad, let's go to cancun? i mean come on. you know, it's -- it's an insult to his constituents. and, look, we all know he's not an electrical engineer. we all know he's not going to fix the electrical grid. but you're from louisiana. i'm from florida. when there are catastrophes of this nature, natural disasters, you want to see your local, your state, your federal government working in tandem. you want to see your federal officials there, present, caring, showing solidarity, transmitting the message to the federal government of what they need. you want to see people like chef jose and world central kitchen and the many, many organizations that are headed down to texas to help the people in need. what you don't want to see is your senator jetting off to a nice warm, you know, five-star hotel in, you know, mexico in the middle of a pandemic. i mean, look, what can i tell you? i apologize to mexico. we didn't send our best people. maybe this might be a good time to build that wall. >> so, john, listen, in all seriousness, though, cnn is learning that some of cruz's senior aides didn't know he even went to mexico until the pictures started to show up on social media. he's trying to spin it like he felt bad about leaving, but he has blamed other politicians. ana talked about the hypocrisy, like austin mayor steve adler, chris christie for vacationing in times of crisis. does he take the american people for complete idiots, for fools here? >> well, you know, don, it's not the kind of thing that you would brag to your aides about, especially if the aides lived in texas and were going through what the other constituents would go through. you might sort of try to slip out unnoticed. look, ever since ted cruz came to washington in the senate, his republican colleagues recognized when he cast himself as the one who was going to bring down obamacare and cast the republicans who knew that couldn't be done and said so as weaklings. they knew that he was the purest kind of political opportunist. he is going to take shots at people when he can, whether it's his own colleagues or whether it's the mayor of austin who is a democrat, who went to mexico earlier this year during the pandemic when people weren't supposed to travel, and of course ted cruz took a shot at him. he's taken a shot at president obama for having played golf or chris christie for having gone to the beach. a politician like ted cruz takes whatever he can use against his opponent and in terms of his own behavior does what he can get away with. he was not counting on getting photographed and people learning what he did, but now he's gotten busted. >> which is even more stupid, john, because he spent a hell of a lot of time on social media trolling people like seth rogen and alexandria ocasio-cortez. so somebody who is as twitter savvy as ted cruz should know better. look, i've met ted cruz several times. my five-pound poodle knows more spanish than he does. so if he's going to be going to mexico, you know, i should teach him a few words like -- means lie. hip ocrita means hypocrite. coward, and i could go on and on and teach him a few more choice words in spanish that might come in handy for when he goes off for one night to drop off his chi children. >> thank you both. i appreciate it. next, brutal winter storms battering the country and disrupting the covid vaccine effort. what will it take to get back on track? plus black congressional staffers coming out from behind the representatives they work for to tell the country about the trauma of the insurrection. i'm going to speak with them next. ighed down? it could be a sign that your digestive system isn't working at its best. taking metamucil everyday can help. metamucil psyllium fiber gels to trap and remove the waste that weighs you down. it also helps lower cholesterol and slow sugar absorption to promote healthy blood sugar levels. so you can feel lighter and more energetic. metamucil. support your daily digestive health. take the metamucil two week challenge and feel lighter and more energetic. sign up today at metamucil.com. hey, i just got a text from my sister. you remember rick, her neighbor? sure, he's the 76-year-old guy who still runs marathons, right? sadly, not anymore. wow. so sudden. um, we're not about to have the "we need life insurance" conversation again, are we? no, we're having the "we're getting coverage so we don't have to worry about it" conversation. so you're calling about the $9.95 a month plan -from colonial penn? 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>> well, it's going to push things back a little bit. these weather delays are inevitable. the good news is when the weather is really bad, people stay home. and when people stay home, the rate of infection remains pretty low. so i'm not worried about these temporary delays in getting vaccine out based on weather. however, in a place like texas where there's been serious infrastructure damage, we need to know whether their vaccine effort is going to require federal help, whether the federal government needs to build field vaccination centers and bring in generators and freezers there to get them back online because their infrastructure has been very grievously damaged by water from ruptured pipes, et cetera. so if texas needs help, they should ask for it. the federal government and fema should be there if necessary to set up field vaccination centers. >> thank you, doctor. see you soon. >> my pleasure. the capitol insurrection was terrifying, but for black people on the hill who watched confederate flags and symbols of white supremacy paraded through the capitol, the riot had a whole other level to it. black congressional staffers are speaking out right here, next. zinc, other minerals, and herbs. take on your day with airborne. so this is new tonight. six capitol police officers have been suspended. another 29 under investigation for their alleged actions in the january 6th riot. that according to a spokesperson for the capitol police. the insurrection we saw that day was a national trauma, right? but for those who were at the capitol facing the mob that day, it's personal. as rioters marched with white supremacist symbols black congress members and staffers watched in horror. joining me now three staffers who were there that day. i'm so glad to have all of you gentlemen on. thank you so much for joining. so tell me about what you went through that day and what you've been feeling ever since. >> mr. lemon, thank you for having us on tonight. this platform is very therapeutic for both of us -- all of us who have been through that. january 5th was -- >> 6th. >> on january 6th, i ended up going to work, and i was not expecting an insurrection. i was going there to witness history with the congresswoman i work for, stacey plaskett, and come to find out that we had an insurrection that happened at our job. i didn't go to work that day expecting an insurrection. i expected going there to see the ballots that the united states people voted for joe biden and kamala harris to be certified, not an insurrection. >> yeah. >> it was a very emotional day at that time, but it was like night and day. >> yeah. well, i thought you got the date wrong, but you said january 5th was the anniversary of your fraternity, right? and then the next day because you were celebrating, and then you went through this, and there you go, the folks going into the capitol there. remington, you lived your life trying to avoid violence and racist encounters. this has arrived right at the capitol, right at the place where you work. >> yeah. mr. lemon, i want to echo what mike said. i'm so honored to be on with you and share this story. let me just say that that was the most egregious display of syco sycophants that i've ever encountered and i'm from the south. you know there's a specific type of people when they're incensed, you avoid them because the danger that's associated with their ignorance knows no bounds. because of that, seeing those types of people lay siege to the seat of our democracy brought a unique fear and created a unique disposition because, like, you couldn't really going anywhere. then you also thought the capitol was the most fortified in america, if not the world. so it was a day full of conundrums, and i definitely pray and hope that we never have to experience that again. >> there was, i would imagine considering the paraphernalia they had, the confederate battle flags, the camp auschwitz t-shirts and all of that, there was a certain vulnerability. i'm sure every member of congress and their staffers were feeling vulnerable, but it must have been a specific vulnerability and a specific feeling especially for black staffers there considering the racist attitudes that were storming that capitol. >> absolutely, don. thank you so much for having us on to share our piece on that infamous day. it was egregious. but one thing i want to say is the writing was on the wall for this. throughout the tenure of the former president, donald j. trump, he has been race baiting and instigating matters such as this since he was in office and even before when he was campaigning. when we look at charleston, when we look at charlottesville, when we look at the black lives matter protests, the peaceful protests that happened on the capitol grounds, his disposition, his demeanor was always pushing for something this egregious. when we look at michigan, where there were plots to kidnap the governor, these were all setups, precursors to what we dealt with, and it was extremely vulnerable because these were people that had a particular view of the african-american community. >> what do you think of them, the comparison to black lives matter protests and this? you hear certain people saying, well, you know, there was rioting, and the rioting and the protests not the same things. what do you think of that comparison? is that upsetting to you? do you think it's a fair comparison? >> it's not upsetting to me. it's more of the same. this is what we expect. it's a deflection. it's a group of people that don't want to be held accountable for their actions. it's upsetting, but it's not shocking. it's not surprising. throughout our history and up until this point, i mean what else should we expect? this is what we've seen over and over and over and over again. >> mike, what is it like going back to work in that capitol? >> it's -- you got to take it day by day. i mean we're now living, working in a fortress. when i would go to work, it was -- you know, i'd get off the metro. i'm right there in my door, and i can go in. now i have to show my i.d. two or three times to get in, and i'm walking around with military that have their hand on the trigger. you know, i have a friend who is in the military, and i came home the other day. i was like, wow, they have their hands on the trigger and he explained that to me. i didn't get that, but we're living in a fortress. the place i worked at before january 6th i thought was the safest place in the world. and it's the safest place in the world now because we've got 10,000 military protecting us, and it shouldn't be like that. we've got to take it day by day because we've got to push through. we've got to work. that's our job. that's what we're here for. >> remington, talk to me about the sense of trust. has that been shattered since the insurrection? are people on the hill now suspicious of each other, even colleagues? >> i'll tell you that that is definitely -- the trust has been violated. i had republican friends and friends who worked for members who, you know, had alternative beliefs. but now i choose not to make communication with them. a lot of the members are experiencing trauma because of the support that their colleagues gave to the insurrectionists. and i think that it's a unique dynamic that's been created now. i'm very cautious, very skeptical of, you know, people who may have that alternative disposition because you never know what they're capable of. you never know when somebody is planning an additional insurrection or something similar. you never know when you're life will be put in immediate danger again. so definitely keeping our wits about us, and it has truly changed the dynamic of capitol hill. >> there are many heroic stories of law enforcement who defended the capitol and the people in it, but it is troubling that dozens of officers are now being investigated for their alleged roles in the riot. does this change how you view the officers who are in d.c., in the capitol to protect people, jabeer. go ahead, mike. >> i'm kind of og because i brought these two brothers into this. i kind of feel sometimes a little responsible because they didn't ask to be into that. ja beer got his job with sheila jackson lee because i worked there before and so do remington. these brothers didn't expect that. we expect the capitol police to protect not only members of congress but staff too. these two brothers just know they were coming to do a job. so to see -- you never know who is who in this country, and definitely on capitol hill. and it just comes to show that these capitol police, we kind of -- i'm speaking for myself, not for who i work for. but you can't trust anybody sometimes on capitol hill. you don't know who is who. and that's just the way it is. >> jabeer? >> do you mind if i jump in here? >> yeah, go for it. >> it adds an extra level of stress, especially as a black staffer. many of us have come from inner city environments where we've seen co-conspirators maybe being police officers. you see police brutality. and as you're advancing your life not only for yourself but for your family and you move to d.c., you know, as a young staffer, and what we expect to be one of the most fortified places in the world, and you're dealing with more of the same. that is -- it's traumatic. >> well, i want to thank you gentlemen for joining. i loved hearing your story. i wish we could have met under better circumstances. but continue on to do what you do and just thank you so much. i appreciate it. >> don, we want to say collectively thank you for letting us talk because this is therapeutic for us to talk to at least another brother about what we're kind of going through because we don't get to do this all the time. and you wanted to be a part of our story and amplifying it. we thank you, brother. anything you need from us, let us know, okay? >> thank you, mike. thank you, jabir. thank you, remington. thank you, gentlemen. really appreciate it. we'll be right back. >> we appreciate you. swollen, painful. tremfya® is approved to help reduce joint symptoms in adults with active psoriatic arthritis. some patients even felt less fatigued. serious allergic reactions may occur. tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. tremfya®. emerge tremfyant™. janssen can help you explore cost support options. i want my kids to know... tremfya®. emerge tremfyant™. they come from people who... were brave. and took risks. big risks. bring your family history to life, like never before. get started for free at ancestry.com do you have a life insurance policy you no longer need? now you can sell your policy, even a term policy, for an immediate cash payment. call coventry direct to learn more. we thought we had planned carefully for our retirement. but we quickly realized that we needed a way to supplement our income. our friends sold their policy to help pay for their medical bills and that got me thinking. maybe selling our policy could help with our retirement. i'm skeptical, so i did some research and called coventry direct. they explained life insurance is a valuable asset that can be sold. we learned that we can sell all of our policy or keep part of it with no future payments, who knew? 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(soft music) ♪ hello, colonial penn? a devastating week in texas gets worse as the state confronts its latest water. this as the severe weather in the u.s. is causing delays in covid-19 vaccine shipments and deliveries. nasa's rover perseverance lives up to its name completing a 300,000 mile journey to mars. welcome to all of you watching here in the united states, canada and around the world. i'm kim brunhuber. this is kr"cnn newsroom.

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