Threat. The acting u. S. Capitol police chief telling lawmakers that some of the extremist groups involved in storming the capitol are preparing for another attack, and this one even deadlier. We know that members of the Militia Groups that were present on january 6 have stated their desires that they want to blow up the capitol and kill as many members as possible with a direct nexus to the state of the union. Wow, they want to blow up the capitol. That is the quote. There is not a set date yet for President Bidens state of the union, but the fact that these are the same people who participated in the deadly insurrection, talking about a very specific event and a plan, really should stop us all in our tracks. It comes as we are learning the number of people who stormed the capitol that day was much bigger than previously known. Chief pittman revealing there were more than 10,000 rioters who entered the capitol grounds. 800 of Them Breaching Security at the Capitol Building itself. And according to congressman tim ryan who was in that hearing today and will be my guest in just a moment, the u. S. Attorneys office is now looking at allegations that members of congress and their staff gave tours to rioters before the attack. An attack that was bigger and more violent than what officials were prepared for. I witnessed insurgents Beating Police officers with fists, pipes, sticks, bats, metal barricades and flag poles. These criminals came prepared for war. I received chemical burns to my face that still have not healed to this day. These are the words of the Capitol Hill Police officer and former Capitol Police chief. Members of congress, both democrats and republicans have heard this testimony about an insurrection that was incited by President Trump, and yet tonight a growing number of republicans in congress refuse to even acknowledge that trumps lie that the election is stolen is exactly that, a lie. Cnn speaking to more than two dozen house and senate republicans, many of them refusing to speak the truth and call trump out. Even now. Manu raju is out with this new reporting. Manu, these lies from republicans blindly defending trump even more stunning since we are now being told there is threat of another attack, right, tied to a specific event, an incredibly specific in its premise. Reporter and a lot of these republicans are in Donald Trumps in the corner of donald trump making very clear that the former president still has a commanding hold on his party. So for all the talk of this party being divided, there is really only a small fraction of republicans who either are speaking out or calling out donald trump or say the party should move on from the trump era. A wide variety of them are either saying that there is something there that donald trump lied that the election was stolen, saying there are irregularities that need to be investigated or saying that there is nothing to push back on. They would not say that donald trump should not say that the election is stolen because we expect him to do just that. When he goes before the conservative Political Action conference this weekend, the conservative Activist Group just in the last few days when donald trump has emergeed he still has conten contended the election was stolen. That is something he could say this weekend bringing the issue back into the fore. Republicans are saying its time to move on, but they will not say directly the election was not stolen. We saw that happen over the weekend number 2 republican Steve Scalise refused to say the election was stolen and others are in the similar position. Erin, the clear sense is that republicans, despite what happened here, despite what they all experienced, the deadly riot on january 6, still wont say he has any blame for what happened. Manu, thank you. Out front one of the lawmakers you saw at this hearing, democratic congressman tim ryan of ohio, chair of the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the Capitol Police. Congressman, i appreciate your time. I want to ask you more about manus reporting in a moment. First, this is a disturbing warning from the acting Capitol Police chief. Trump supporters are planning another attack, to coincide with President Bidens address to congress, to blow up the capitol what the Capitol Police is warning about. What else do you know about this . Well, this is the first were hearing about it. You know, we get the threats all the time, erin, as you know. And unfortunately some of us get used to hearing them. But this was especially egregious and its scary. I mean, the scariest part about the whole thing, these are americans. This isnt some foreign entity. This isnt al qaeda or the taliban or some other group that is trying to strike and hurt the United States. These are our own citizens. And so weve got a lot of work to do here in our own country and our job is to make sure this capitol is protected and that the job of the committee that i chair and were going to make sure that it is protected. Our reporter has been talking to a lot of people going to the rallies toward the end. Qanon believers. Hes talked to them and hes reporting theyre not pushing a Conspiracy Theory, that donald trump is going to regain the presidency on march 4th, and then theres going to be executions. Let me just play what some of them have told him. President trump will take office as the 19th president of the United States on march 4th under the restored republic. Executions will be happening on march 5th. Thats a big statement. And im really looking forward to it. So just so people understand, this Conspiracy Theory bear with me, everybody is rooted in the belief that an 1871 law turns the United States into a corporation. So any president elected after that is illegitimate. Thats how they get to the 19th president. So the last person to be sworn in was ulysses s. Grant, that was march 4th. It sounds crazy, it is crazy. This is make believe. But the idea of an insurrection sounded like make believe before january 6th so how concerned are you, congressman, that the gops continued refusal to call out trumps lies could cause Something Else to happen . Well, two points. Were going to make sure that this capitol is protected. Thats why we are continuing to keep the fencing up. The National Guard is still here. Were going to keep it that way until we have a real plan to move forward that general honore and others are fund, this capitol is going to be safe. This gets down to leadership. And the fact that Steve Scalise and other very powerful republican lawmakers will not condemn this, will not, you know, tell these people that this is an illusion, they are create thing out of thin air, its not true, theyre perpetuating the lie the election was a fraud, this is a problem with leadership. If the leaders dont give them oxygen, if the leaders say, no, this is wrong, like john mccain did at that one town hall when he was running for president. Yes. No, maam, i can hear the words right now. No, maam, no, maam. He stood up. Thats what leadership is about, and we cant find a leader like that here. Even leaders that say the right thing still vote the wrong way. We need some leadership in our Republican Party right now. Im sure youre referring there to senator mcconnell. Let me ask you one other thing, though, speaking of your colleagues. Our case file has reported that anthony, conservative activist and close ally of congressman Marjorie Taylor greene was a member at the rally. Here he is. We were all there. It was not antifa, and it was not blm. It was Trump Supporters that did that yesterday. Im the first to admit it. Being one myself. So there he is and here she is talking about him in the past. I told you my Friend Anthony a guerrero, my Friend Anthony, hes a dear, dear friend. Anthony is my great, great friend, hes one of my best friends. I am telling you support this man. Support him. So, congressman, what do you do with that . A sitting member of Congress Calling a man who admittedly stormed the capitol in a violent mob, one of the greatest guys i know, one of my best friends . I dont know. I dont know, you know, what you do. This is obviously her probably saying this before she was elected member of congress and she was elected, and so were limited as to what we can do. And in america, youre free to say pretty much anything you want thats not going to hurt somebody, and she you know, but is endorsing this persons values, and that person attacked the Capitol Asknd was part of t insurrection and part of the domestic terror attack. We dont know what to say. Were in Uncharted Waters here and thats why we have a fence around the capitol right now. Because you have members of Congress Like her that are condoning and basically pumping up people who stormed the capitol. And lets hope there wasnt any deeper connection there. Tha thats being investigated now in the tours. Thats in the hands of the u. S. Attorney here in d. C. That is looking into those tours that were given maybe on january 5th by members of congress. So well see what happens if theres any connection there. Right. Obviously referring to the investigation of tours members of congress may have given to people who were part of the riot the day after, in those days just after. Thank you so much, congressman. I appreciate your time. Thanks, erin. And next, senator Mitch Mcconnell who tore into trump, saying that he provoked the insurrection and is entirely the blame for it. Well, wait until you hear what he just said whether hell back trump if trump is the partys nominee in 2024. Plus the battle over the minimum wage. Some threatening they wont vote for the Relief Package if it doesnt include 15. It is probably now reached the midatlantic. That is my guest. Try hypnosis. Or. Quit cold turkey are you kidding me . instead, start small. With nicorette®. Which can lead to something big. Start stopping with nicorette® visible is wireless that doesnt play games. Its powered by verizon for as little as 25 a month. But it gets crazier. Bring a friend every month and get every month for 5. Boom 12 months of 5 wireless. Visible, wireless that gets better with friends. Retirement income is complicated. As your broker, ive solved it. Thats great, carl. 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Trump adviser telling our jim accosta that the former president will push his false claims about the 2020 election in his first public Speech Since Leaving Office and that speech is coming when trump headlines the conservative Political Action conference. It kicks off today. Sources tell cnn trump has been spending his days at maralago contemplating the run in 2024, plotting revenge on anyone who crossed him as he prepares to make his return to the National Stage this weekend. Jim accosta is out front live in orlando where trump will be speaking at cpac. So, jim, look, this is a huge event on the calendar every year, right . This is the real coming out party for the republicans every year, who are they going to put out on that stage. Hes the headliner. What more are you learning . Reporter thats right, erin. I think the theme of the cpac could be the mouth will rise again. I mean, this is going to be the return of donald trump to the political stage. It is going to be the return of the big lie. Jason miller, Senior Adviser to the expresident told Me Today Donald Trump will be talking about his false claims that the election was stolen from him, but jason miller said it will be talked about in the context of election reforms. But, erin, i mean thats really using code words. If you look at the agenda for this cpac thats taking place here in orlando, usually takes place in d. C. , because of the pandemic its down here. If you look at the agenda, several of the sessions that are going to be taking place here are built around these ideas that the election was stolen from donald trump, that joe biden stole the election. Thats obviously not the case. Weve been talking about this for many weeks now. In addition to that, erin, if you look at the speakers list, they are almost all speakers who have the trump seal of approval. Donald trump, jr. , his girlfriend kimberly guilfoyle. Even ted cruz and josh hawley, two republican senators who essentially tried to assist Republican House members in their efforts to overturn the results in the 2020 election. Typically that kind of behavior would be punished at a political conference. At cpac its rewarded. Who is missing from the cpac . Youre not going to see Vice President mike pence and youre not going to see the former u. N. Ambassador nikki haley who has gotten into it with donald trump in recent weeks. I talked to the organizer for cpac earlier today. He said they were given the indication nikki haley was going to appear at cpac and then she pulled out. Another sign of this rift, this fracture inside the Republican Party. But inside trump world, erin, there is not unanimity as to whether or not this is a good idea for all of this to take place. In the words of this adviser, yes, its good for donald trump, but, no, its bad for the Republican Party. And when i asked this adviser, do you think donald trump is going to go ahead and bring up these election lies once again, he said, of course, donald trump is going to bring up these election lies. When has he ever faced any consequence for what he does . Why stop now . Erin . All right, jim, thank you very much. This is depressing. Christine todd whitman, former governor of new jersey is with me, also the former Epa Administrator under george w. Bush and michael smerconish. I saydee pressing because you look at this conference because its a time for republicans to define what their party is. The list, ted cruz, josh hawley, don junior, kimberly guilfoyle. This is a list of his nearest and dearest. Trump is the king of cpac. Right now those are defining themselves as republicans have decided theyre trumpers. There is no Republican Party. They havent set up they stand for nothing except what Donald Trump Tells them, and unfortunately right now hes becoming more dangerous. It is dangerous to keep repeating this great lie. We have cases over and over the Supreme Court just dismissed two of the allegations. Nothing happened. This was one of the fairest, best elections given all that was going on that weve had in years. And by cpac doing this, buying into this, giving these farright people, qanon people, the donald trump people this kind of a platform is hurtful to the country. I mean, its worse than hurtful to the party. There is no party any more. Its trump. Its a personality cult. But its dangerous for the country. So, mike many, you heard jim accosta Trump Adviser hes going to go ahead with the big lie on sunday. Go ahead with that. Cpac is going to include that lie in many different ways. Im sure ted cruz and josh hawley will cloak it in their election irregularity language as they do to signal what they want to signal. How dangerous is it, michael . Well, cpac is damned if they do and damned if they dont because this is where the base of the party rests. I mean, that interview tonight that Mitch Mcconnell gave where within two weeks of being so condemning of former President Trumps role in the insurrection on january 6th then when asked, oh, but if hes the nominee will you support him . Sure ill support him if hes the nominee. Which is it . Do you believe he perpetuated an insurrection . If so, how in the world can you say, youd ever be supportive of that person. Its a conundrum. Let me play what Mitch Mcconnell said to your point about how hes going to support trump if hes the nominee. He said in an interview on fox news. Here is senator mcconnell. If the president was the partys nominee, would you support him . The nominee of the party, absolutely. Okay, heres the whiplash michaels referring to because here is Mitch Mcconnell. The man gave the speech of his life condemning donald trump for breaking apart the country and here is Mitch Mcconnell just weeks ago. A mob was assaulting the capitol in his name. These criminals were carrying his banners. Hanging his flags and screaming their loyalty to him. What in the world does mcconnell get by now saying, okay, forget the speech of my life and what i said. Ill support the guy. Look, Mitch Mcconnell is the ultimate politician. All he cares about is keeping his position and he wants to be back in leadership. So hell play whatever side he thinks he can. This is a narrow hole in the needle hes trying to thread. I dont know if he can get away with it. The one good part of all this, if you look at registrations, republicans have been losing registration. People have been moving to the independent column because they dont support all of this. Yes, his Trump Supporters are vehement and thats why the senators and Congress People ought to know, they know how dangerous these people are. They didnt care if they had gotten into the halls of congress before the members had been taken away, they would have gone after and beaten up all of them. They didnt care republican, democrat. They wouldnt have known the difference. So weve got to be concerned about this, but theyre not. Its all about their political future. Never mind the country. Never mind the rule of law. Never mind the constitution. Well perpetuate the lie if thats going to get us votes. At the end of the day i dont think it will be enough votes in the general election. Well see. Mitt romney was saying in terms of the nomination today, michael, if the vote was now he would get the nomination from what the governor is saying. But we have reporting from jim accosta, michael, that one of the things trump is most worried about is all of these legal issues he faces. The new York District attorney we found is in possession of the Tax Records Trump had fought to keep private. Theyre out. They now have millions of pages, millions of pages, okay. You obviously have a legal background. Is there possibly something there that could doom him . Well, ive been saying consistently that if hes healthy, if hes solvent and if hes unindicted, then he stands to be the Heir Apparent again to be the nominee in 2024. But, you know, youve got to believe in millions of pages of tax returns in a relatively subjective area for example, the appraisal of commercial real estate. If they want to find something there, theyll probably be able to find something there and it will be a lot more than just the way in which for Accounting Purposes Hush Money was treated on a tax return. Right, right. Very much to your point, right, these things these are obviously criminal. Thank you both very much. I appreciate your time. As were speaking here, we do have Breaking News. The u. S. Launching an airstrike against iranianbacked militias in syria. A significant event tonight. This is the first known Military Action taken by President Biden. This strike coming after three separate Rocket Attacks in the past couple of weeks against American Forces in baghdad in which a civilian contractor was killed, an american serviceman, along with eight other contractors were wounded in another one of those attacks. Lets go to Oren Liebermann out front at the pentagon. Orrin, we understand these are the first strikes taken by President Biden. Tell us about what youre hearing. Reporter exactly, this is the first known strike under president joe biden. It comes against iranian militias and the sites they use in syria. We learned from a u. S. Official a short time ago, it was one target with multiple sites on the target used by iranian backed shia militia for weapons smuggling. Battle assessment as a result of the strikes, that is something wed expect perhaps in the coming hours or coming days to get a sense of aa what was targeted and b what the result was. It is important to get a sense of the scale of the attack. This is not apparently an attack on a major site. It was an attack on a site meant to send two separate messages. First trying to deter the iranian backed Shia Militias from attacking u. S. Coalition forces and a response to the previous attacks over the course of the past weekandahalf or so. One in baghdad and one at the Air Base North of baghdad. This is the Biden Administration, it seems, sending a message to those iranian backed militias. Even if the Biden Administration hadnt pointed a finger and said yes, its this specific militia responsible, it was clear from the white house, the State Department and the pentagon that they held iran largely responsible for these attacks and said it was iranian weaponry used in these attacks. It also seems because of the relatively small scale of the attacks it was an attempt not to escalate the situation, especially as the u. S. And iran try to figure out the diplomacy and the moves around Irans Nuclear program. So a small calculated strike, it seems, well certainly keep you posted as we learn more about what is the first known Military Strike carried out by the Biden Administration. Oren, thank you very much. I want to go to phil mattingly. Phil, this is the first known strike by President Biden. What are you learning as to why they chose now . Why now . Reporter it needs to be viewed through the context, oren laid out a piece of it. How the administration is viewing iran. That is the elements of irans malign activities outside their country. In this case syria, the Rocket Attacks targeting u. S. And coalition forces, but also through the context of what the u. S. Is trying to do relate to the iran nuclear deal. Obviously, erin, it was just last week that the white house, the administration announced they were open to having talks with iran again through the p 5 plus 1 that led to the original iran nuclear deal. So trying to do two things at once here. Trying to keep the proxies in check, trying to make clear to iran, even in a small calculated scale that they are paying attention, that they will strike back. While they are also trying to reopen talks themselves. This has been a delicate balance over the course of the first couple of weeks as the administration has tried to do what the president said he was going to do during the campaign, which was an effort to reestablish or realign themselves with the jcpoa while also being cognizant of the fact the jcpoa didnt necessarily address many of the issues that not only the u. S. , but u. S. Allies have about irans action outside the deal. The ballistic missiles, the malign activities outside of the iranian space itself. So you can see the battle starting to play out now. 9 question is is this it for the United States . Do they believe this matches up with the Rocket Attacks that occurred the last couple weeks . And what does this mean in terms of irans willingness to sit down with the p5 plus one. They have shut out nuclear inspectors over the course of the last week, continuing to move away from the deal. Those are the questions that need to be answered, but obviously the Administration Answering back now and well have to see what happens next, erin. Thank you very much. I want to go to lieutenant general, former commanding general for europe and david axelrod, and former Senior Adviser to president obama. So, what do you make of the timing of this strike . Obviously doing your first strike is something that you know is going to be significant, pickup headlines, make a statement. This is what President Biden has chosen to make that statement with. Id say it is a proportional response based on the attack at the airport that oren talked about on the 15th Of February where a contractor was killed, several people were wounded. And it was an attack on the u. S. Base in a very peaceful part in the Kurdish Republic. And whats interesting about this is there have been other attacks. There is continual harassment by iranian militia. This is a signal so it is a proportional response to the iranian government. It is disconnected to a degree from the nuclear efforts that President Biden is going to attempt probably in the near future as phil just said. I have to tell you, this is just interesting to me because there are dozens of iranianbacked militias within iraq and within syria. They have been harassing u. S. Forces. The Iraqi Government is tired of these iranian militias, but they cant do as much about them because of the political implications there. But it in my view is a very good response by the new administration to what has been happening in terms of the iranianbacked militias attempting these kind of strikes against the United States forces, the 2,500 or so that are still in iraq. So what the message is, david, theyre showing were going to be tough on you. Just because we may want to renegotiate, work on the nuclear deal again, dont misunderstand that for, okay, do whatever you want with impunity. Is that what theyre trying to accomplish with it and will it work . Well, its a message to them and a message to other allies in the region and to players here in washington as well that just because they want to move forward on an agreement to try and limit the Nuclear Program in iran doesnt mean that theyre going to turn a blind eye to aggressive behavior on the part of iran. So it is both as the general says, a proportional response to an attack or a series of them, but to one in particular, but it also is a message that theyre not going to get a pass simply because these talks have been offered. So, general, let me also ask you, it comes in the context of David Ignatius column in the Washington Post, he laid it out very well. The progress iran has made on its accomplice tick missiles capabilities is stunning. They have made significant progress. What does this do regarding that . Youre going to try to renegotiate the nuclear deal. That wasnt even included inside it. I think if you recall back during the obama administration, the jcpoa was the first step to negotiate with iran. They knew quite frankly that the nuclear deal was broken from the rest of the malign activity of the iranian government in the area. Its going to be very difficult to renegotiate some of those things to get back into that agreement. But i think this is President Biden signalling we are for separating the Nuclear Activities that we have to discuss with the potential malign activities in the region. I think we want to come back together with iran, but we will not allow these kinds of Harassing Attacks on u. S. Forces and the disruption of the Iraqi Government as well. And if i may, erin, i said before the Kurdish Republic and that the Kurdish Regional government, im sorry for misstating that. Its interesting that secretary blinken spoke to Prime Minister barsani about the attack on the 15th Of February. I think were probably get being the green light not only from the Iraqi Government, also the Kurdish Regional government on these attacks. So, david, in the context of this its pretty significant President Biden also today spoke to the king of saudi arabia. And this is ahead of a highly anticipated report from the director of national intelligence, right, where theyre going to be, theyre going to be telling us a lot of background information, what gave them reason to say the saudi crown prince, Mohammed Bin Salman was directly responsible for the massacre, the murder of the Washington Post columnist jamal khashoggi. He spoke with the counsel prince, giving him all the authority. So biden wouldnt do that, but the call tonight says nothing about khashoggi. It appears it didnt come up in the conversation. Trump would have been crucified, in fact he was appropriately so. What is President Biden trying to do here . Well, first of all, human rights was mentioned and im sure that they are aware that hes about to release this report that is very damning. Right. And that report is undoubtedly going to stir some interest in congress about taking further action. So i think theyre trying to balance the saudis are, in fact, strategically important in that region. Interestingly, by the way, another thing that came up there was the president s assurance that he would help try and prevent attacks on the saudi on saudi arabia by iran. They have also been subject to missile attacks. So i think hes trying to balance accounts here, but theres no doubt that the release of the report itself is pretty heavy blow to the saudis and there is likely to be action that follows that. There certainly will. Highly anticipated come as early as today. The air strikes are today. It could come tomorrow, any time were going to be getting that full report. I appreciate both of you. Thank you. Good to see you, erin. Next Breaking News, Senate Parliament arian ruling in what is a highly anticipated decision about raising the minimum wage. Saying it cannot be included in bidens covid Relief Package. 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The Senate Parliamentarian ruling democrats will not be allowed to include a minimum Wage Increase in their covid relief bill. They, of course, have been pushing for one to 15. It is a big setback for some democrats who were hoping to get this increase by using the Reconciliation Process to get this whole thing through. Manu raju joins me on the phone. Manu, this is a big blow for many of the progressives who have been pushing for this hard. Tell me what youre hearing. Reporter yes, huge setback. The democrats made this a key part of the larger 1. 9 trillion covid Relief Package. Even joe biden the president has pushed for the increase in the minimum wage. What is ruled tonight by the Senate Parliamentarian, this cannot be part of the covid relief bill. Democrats are using a Budget Relief Process that is essentially avoiding republican efforts to block this bill. They are trying to pass along party lines. Because they are using the budget to pass the overall 1. 9 trillion package, they have to adhere to the very strict rules under the senate to ensure that no, quote, extraneous measures are added as part of the underlying bill. And what was ruled tonight, the senate rule keeper, she determines what is allowed and what is not allowed. She determined that it was not allowed to include the minimum Wage Increase as part of this overall package. So, now, what does this mean . The house will still move tomorrow to pass the overall 1. 9 trillion bill that will include the Wage Increase, but then it will come over to the senate where it will essentially be stripped out. The question will be what did democrats do from there . Their options, erin, are very limited. Almost certainly this will not make it into the final package and progressives who have been pushing for this hard will have to decide whether they can live with Everything Else in there because at the moment this is not going to survive and almost certainly wont get onto joe bidens desk. Erin . Manu, thank you. Lets go to phil mattingly. Philip, just to be clear, President Biden knew he was the one who expected this to happen. But the progressive democrats, they were banking the farm on this and getting this through. What is the reaction from the white house tonight . Reporter look, thats a key point. The president has alluded several times in the course over the last couple weeks he expected this to occur. As a 36year veteran of the United States senate, he has some idea how the rule operates. Not just the president. White house advisers ive been speaking to the last few weeks were expecting this to happen, counting on this to happen. They knew if the 15 minimum wage was in the bill the Senate Democrats attempted to pass, they had a votes problem. They did not have 50 votes to pass a bill, a 1. 9 trillion bill with the 15 minimum wage. There are two Senate Democrats that are opposed to this provision, and so to some degree they were banking on this happening and did not necessarily have a great plan b if it was allowed into the bill itself. I think the big question, and manu kind of hit on this, does this create problems with progressives particularly in the house. Ive been talking to a number of Congressional Democrats in the last several hours as everybody was waiting with baited breath for this decision to come in. The expectation in the senate was this would be okay. Democrats in both chambers have made clear they will try and move a stand alone minimum wage bill, one that will be blocked in the senate. The Bigger Picture here of this is President Bidens cornerstone legislative agenda item. 1. 9 trillion. This is several major, major sweeping policy initiatives to address the dual Public Health and Economic Crises that this one provision being struck wont sink the bill. The big question now is in the house. I will say from the white house perspective, at least what ive been told by advisers over the course of the last several weeks, they expected this to happen to some degree. They were hoping this would happen. They are supportive of the 15 minimum wage. The president put it in the proposal. But they understood the math issues that they had in the senate and almost needed this to occur. It has occurred now and i think the big question right now, particularly with the house set to vote as soon as tomorrow is where the progressives come down given they know this is not going to be in the Senate Proposal and they know that President Biden and the white house are still going to be behind this with or without the 15 minimum wage. The question is they have to have the ability to put the minimum wage separate. I would presume thats a whole nother fight that easily could fail. Whether they have the votes for this without it now. All right, thank you so much, phil. I appreciate it. All right. That Breaking News. Next a warning that a new strain of coronavirus that is likely more resistant to treatment is now spreading through the northeast. And californias governor gavin newsom facing the possibility he could be recalled. It is not just republicans upset now with the once popular governor. Is on verizon 5g ultra wideband. Available in parts of many cities. Its ridiculously fast. Buy Samsung Galaxy s21 5g. Get one on us. Only on verizon. Start the year smiling at aspen dental where new starts happen, every day. Get Exceptional Care at every step, unparalleled safety at every visit, and flexible Payment Options for every budget. 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This has concerns tonight about a new coronavirus variant that has a mutation that may weaken the bodys response to vaccines as well as the effects of Antibody Treatments in covid patients. It comes after two teams of researchers have detected the variant as growing across new york city and the northeast. Out front, david is director of the Research Center of columbia university. He led the team that detected one of these variants. You said the variant is probably spread beyond new york city and the northeast. Tell me more about it and why you think that may be. Good to be with you, erin. Because we know that there are many, many cases that we have detected. And by the time we find so many cases undoubtedly the virus has spread beyond. And then if you look at the global database that contain the sequences, viral isolates, one can see viruses being reported from the midatlantic region. So we know it has spread beyond just the new york area. So, tell me about the variant. We hear it could be more resistant to vaccines and to other Antibody Treatments. What are you seeing specifically with it that has you so concerned . Well, for the past couple months we have been studying the variants from abroad, from u. K. , south africa and brazil. We thought we would poll the samples in Columbia Medical Center do see if we had such variants. When we polled and once we sequence the entire virus, we notice yes, there are some u. K. Cases, south african and brazilian cases. But the predominant variant we found was a local home grown variant with a critical mutation that resembles the mutations found in the brazilian and the south african strain. And we have characterized those variants before. We know that mutation would knockout three of the four Mono Clon Clonal Antibody Treatments with emergency use authorization. And we have previously shown that that mutation would decrease the activity of the antibodies in folks who have been immunized with the vaccine. So that a substantial decrease in Virus Neutralizing Activity could so look, these are very troubling things, right . Its important to know about them, but of course its very troubling. Let me just ask you one other point because you talk about you found the south african variant, you found the brazilian variant, you found the uk variant but the real one that you found was just a homegrown local variant. Youve talked about an alarming rise. My understanding is looking at your research in just the past two weeks in the number of cases. So do you think its more transmissible or just now youre looking for it . Well, i could only share with you our observation. So the first detection was in november. And then there are scattered cases in december. And then by early january it was about 3 of the covid19 positive samples within our hospital that we studied. And then we just saw it going up and up. And the recent couple weeks its up to 12 , 13 . So the rather rapid increase is alarming. You could suspect that it might be more transmissible. But we dont have evidence to prove that at this moment. Incredibly sobering information but Important Information for us all to hear. Doctor, i appreciate your time. Thank you. Thank you. Next, California Governor Gavin Newsom could soon be fighting for his political life as a recall fueled by his handling of covid gains steam. Newsom is the one thats Running California right now with an iron fist. E talk to my manager. Next, carvanas 100 Online Shopping experience. Oh, man. Carvana lets people buy a car get this from their couch. Oh, how disruptive. No salesman there to help me pick out the car i need. How does anyone find a car on this site without someone like us checking in . Shes a beauty, huh . Oh, golly laughter i can help you find the color you want. That sounds nice. Let me talk to my manager. vo buy your next car 100 online. With carvana. 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Reporter Stacy Edwards works in restaurants, an industry devastated in the pandemic. The object of her ire . Governor gavin newsom, who has mandated statewide restrictions on businesses to stop the spread of covid. What do you want to tell the governor about the kind of pain that youre in . Oh, gosh. Yeah. Thats an interesting question. Yeah. Its been very hard. Youre going to make me emotional. But were talking about starting a family and buying a house, and those are all things that are having to wait because of this. Reporter on the other side of the table i voted for gavin newsom. Reporter andrea hedstrom. She says shes a lifelong democrat who so admired newsom that she named her son gavin. Do you blame the governor for the condition that the state is in . I do at this point. Newsom is the one thats Running California right now with an iron fist. Looks like a good one. Reporter these californians seething after a year of shutdowns have found a political outlet. These look like three valid signatures on this form. Reporter the recall petition. This is just in one day . This is only part of one day. Reporter petitions sorted by county, then delivered to be officially counted. Warren heatley launched the recall 2020 campaign the sixth recall attempt. The other five failed to qualify for the ballot. Against the democratic governor who won by a landslide in 2018. This is your fivestar spot for a smorgasbord of information. Reporter Public Records show this recall is dominated by conservative donors, money that pays for this Radio Program broadcast from the heart of liberal los angeles. Its friday night at the french laundry. Reporter thats a dig at Governor Newsoms blunder. Caught diagnose maskless at this exclusive restaurant while telling his residents to stay home. Hes since apologized. But its dinged his popularity. But with californias covid case numbers dropping, newsom is pushing to reopen schools, easing restrictions on outdoor dining, and opening the first joint statefederal mass vaccination sites in the country. And in a sign of newsoms political strength do you have a lot of orders . Reporter napa valley Restaurant Owners like Cynthia Ariasta who says she lost half a Million Dollars in Wage Production and sued newsom for the shutdown is not willing to sign on to the recall. Who would take his place anyway . I would much rather see this as a real wakeup call that ive got some things to fix. The future reporter the Recall Leader says his group hasnt backed a replacement. First up, getting enough signatures. We dont know whos going to take the seat. We feel very strongly that somebody more competent is going to take that position. So kyung, how feasible is realistically that Governor Newsom will lose his job . Reporter well, lets start with the registration numbers. The Voter Registration numbers. Democrats essentially outnumber republicans 2 to 1. Gavin newsom won by a landslide in november. So it is going to be difficult, especially with democrats consolidating around newsom, for a challenger, especially if that challenger is republican and backed donald trump to win in this overwhelmingly democratic state. Now, the other question, though, is will it make the ballot . Will this recall make the ballot . What you see here is this is one of the many sites around the state where theyre collecting signatures. Recall proponents say theyve collected 1. 8 million signatures. That exceeds the 1. 5 to make the ballot. They have to verify those signatures. Theyre aiming for about 2 million signatures and are on pace to do so, erin. They are feeling confident that they will indeed make the ballot. But again, a very different question than whether or not the governor survives this politically, erin. Thats pretty incredible, all of this happening. Kyung, thank you so much. And thanks so much to all of you. Ac 360 starts now. Good evening. We have Breaking News on two fronts tonight. A big decision on raising the minimum wage and the first known use of Military Force by the Biden Administration. We begin with that with air strikes. The target was in syria. The message appears to be aimed at iran. Cnns Oren Liebermann has been working sources at the pentagon, joins us now. What do we know, oren . Reporter anderson, a short time ago u. S. Aircraft struck a site in syria that defense Officials Say belonged to iranianbacked Militias Operating in syria. The site they say was used as a Weapons Smuggling Site by two Shia Militias backed by iran using iranian weapons. And that is why thisit