with as many as 175,000 troops. ukraine's defense minister warning that would lead to a bloody massacre. it has been a crucial 24 hours as the president also infuriated china by announcing a diplomatic boycott of the beijing winter olympics. matthew chance live for us on the ground in ukraine with our top story. this is a hugely consequential day in u.s. foreign policy. matthew, can you hear us? all right. i think we're having, obviously, some technical difficulties. we're going to try to get matthew back up there from ukraine on what is a huge day for president biden. this phone call, this video con consequence call that he is going to be having with vladimir putin. january 6th was practice. donald trump's next coup has already begun. that is a warning in a terrifying report in the "atlantic." quote, the next attempt to overthrow a national election may not qualify as a coup. it will rely on subversion more than violence. if the plot succeeds, the ballots cast by american voters will not decide the presidency in 2024. thousands of votes will be thrown away, or millions, to produce the required effect. the winner will be declared the loser. the loser will be certified president elect. barton gelman is with us now. your piece is fascinating. it is a huge warning. as you point out in it, you say donald trump may have lost the election, but right now, the balance of power is shifting towards him. you say this very much could result in him being elect ed, a you see at the state level these weaknesses being exploited. what are you expecting? >> what i'm expecting, and what i'm seeing, is that republican operatives around the country, at the state and local level, are changing the rules of how you count election votes. in such a way that the politicians will be in charge. the politicians who are running for these positions, from all the way down to precinct levels and county levels and state levels, secretaries of state, election officials, are participating in the big lie. that says that donald trump really won the last election and was deprived of the white house by fraud. and some of them are explicitly saying they would not have certified biden's victory, despite the votes of the voters in the last election. they are signaling that they would not certify a democratic victory in the next election. you put that on top of a growing, mass political movement that is tolerant of and even eager for violence in a significant minority of the trump supporters. you have an explosive situation. >> you also say democrats, big-d. abig d and little d, are not doing enough. tell us about that. >> joe biden gave a speech in july, in which he said that this voter subversion is the biggest test of our democracy since the civil war. that would signal something that would sound like a presidential priority. but biden and his people are not making a priority of protecting democracy. they clearly are valuiing infrastructure and social spending and climate and a number of other priorities above democracy. they are not treating this as an emergency, and i think they're going to regret that. >> what's the result of that? not treating this as an emergency. >> the result is that no one is defending democracy. people are noticing the gradual creep of changed election laws. but, i mean, let's just be clear about it. the traditional way of trying to cheat in an election is suppressing the votes of people you don't like. and the republicans are doing that. with 34 changes of law in 19 states. but, now, they're also changing the rule of who counts the vote. if you're in charge of who counts the vote, then anything is possible. >> barton, in this piece, you introduce us to a man named richard patterson. he is a former firefighter from new york. tell us about richard and why, actually, i think what stands out most about him is that he is not unique, right? he is representative of trump supporters. >> well, he is. he is one of tens of millions of people who have been persuaded by conservative propaganda, that trump won the last election. he is absolutely certain of it. there's nothing he wouldn't put on the line to defend that proposition. he gave me reasons, and i walked through those reasons one at a time and showed him how he was the victim of misinformation. that those reasons were not factually accurate. he just kept going from one to the other. he was convinced in a way that was invulnerable to evidence. he lives in a county where the share of the white population is in decline. polling shows that that fact, the decline of white population, the belief that whites are being replaced by black and brown people in the united states, correlates most closely with support for two propositions. one is that biden is not a legitimate president. the other is that violence is justified to rectify that. >> barton, it is a phenomenal piece. it is so interesting. i encourage all of our audience members to take a look at it. it is also part of a series the "atlantic" is doing here in this special issue, talking about the risks that democracy is facing. we really appreciate you talking with us about your piece today. barton, thank you. >> thank you. we've been talking about one of the most crucial foreign policy moments in the biden presidency to date. in a couple hours, the president will speak to vladimir putin about the russian troop buildup on ukraine's border that could approach 175,000 troops by next month, with plans, u.s. intelligence says, to invade ukraine. cnn's matthew chance has been doing some of the most important reporting on the ground in ukraine. math yathew joins us now. what is the very latest? >> reporter: well, the latest is that the expectations are out there for what this call is going to involve. it is taking place in about, i think, three hours from now. the kremlin already played down expectations, saying don't expect a breakthrough when it comes to this video conference call with u.s. president biden. but the russians have also s spelled out clearly what it is they want. what they've said is they want an ironclad guarantee, a legal guarantee, that ukraine, the western military alliance, will not expand any further eastwards to bring in ukraine. they want a public announcement about that and a treaty that would involve that. they also want to resist efforts by nato countries, particularly the united states, to build up nato military infrastructure in ukraine as well. it is not enough for russia, for ukraine, just not to join nato. it also wants to make sure nato miss missile systems, other things like that, are not deployed to ukraine so ukraine becomes a forward operating base, if you'd like, for the western military alliance. it's not clear at all what strategy or what president biden is going to discuss with them in terms of how he can -- what russia says are real security concerns. but i think it is true that everybody involved wants to avoid a russian invasion. the united states certainly wants to avoid it. the ukrainians definitely do. i think the russians would probably prefer to have their security concerns met as well, rather than have to embark on the expensive and costly campaign of a military invasion of ukraine, with all the consequences of that. so there is quite a lot of impetus to try and find some kind of compromise to get out of this crisis, john. >> certainly, matthew. again, good to have you there to report on what the ukrainians want. we're just waiting to see. we're waiting to see what president biden's approach will be. it is not totally clear this morning, as matthew reported, for the call in three hours. we'll cover all of this. thank you. instagram is rolling out new features aimed at addressing the mental health concerns of many of its young users. actually, the parents of the young users. a take a break tool reminds users to stop looking. chief business correspondent christine romans joining me with this. is this for real? >> look, they're trying to roll out this feature to take a break, to help you take a break from their own platform here. when you've been scrolling for too long. you've got to set the time. after 10, 20, 30 minutes, you'll get a reminder to take a deep breath, write something down, to check a to-do list, to listen to a song. zb instagram also planning a stricter approach to what it shows teenagers and will nudge teens to a new topic if they've been dwelling on one for too long. it is meant to keep, particularly teenagers, from falling down rabbit holes that could be harmful to their mental health. is it real? yes. it is a start though. instagram says it is going to tweak and improve into next year. this has been a big problem for instagram, highlighted by whistleblower frances haugen's document dump this fall. she told congress instagram knows it is dangerous for teens' mental health, and instagram profits from sending you down the rabb pit it holes. the chief will face congress tomorrow and they'll discuss yo young users' mental health for sure. >> in the "wall street journal" overnight, i saw natural gas prices, which many use to heat their homes, has dropped 40% since october? >> that's right. important relief for consumers. remember there had been worries that home heating bills could double in places this winter? those concerns are, frankly, melting away. warm temperatures and more production sending natural gas prices down more than 10% just yesterday, down 40% since the october peak. this is critical relief for household budgets. at the very same time the other gas bill, the one at the pump, is stabilizing. the average for a gallon of regular is down 4 cents to $3.35 a gallon, the lowest since october. still up from last year, but the prices are cooling here in the near term. >> up a lot from last year, from when people weren't driving in the middle of the pandemic. it is important to note, because there was so much, you know, frustration, people angry about the rising prices. they've gone down or stabilized the last month. >> absolutely. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. one of donald trump's most loyal allies, devin nunes, announces he is leaving congress for a job on trump's payroll. why he might have his work cut out for him. the justice department suing the state of texas. why the doj says new congressional maps there are racist. and as the clock ticks for the answers on the omicron threat, we're joined by a variant hunter on what he is seeing here in the u.s. we'll see what is being discovered. toothpaste goes deep inside the exposed dentin to help repair sensitive teeth. my patients are able to have that quality of life bacack. i recommend sensodyne repair and protect with deep repair. we strip in the community garden. i've been stripping here for years. i strip before take-off. breathe right strips open your nose for relief you can feel right away, helping you take in air more easily, wherever you are. your mission: stand up to moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. and take. it. on... with rinvoq. rinvoq a once-daily pill can dramatically improve symptoms... rinvoq helps tame pain, stiffness, swelling. and for some, rinvoq can even significantly reduce ra fatigue. that's rinvoq relief. with ra, your overactive immune system attacks your joints. rinvoq regulates it to help stop the attack. rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious infections and blood clots, sometimes fatal, have occurred as have certain cancers, including lymphoma, and tears in the stomach or intestines, and changes in lab results. your doctor should monitor your bloodwork. tell your doctor about any infections... and if you are or may become pregnant while taking rinvoq. take on ra. talk to your rheumatologist about rinvoq relief. rinvoq. make it your mission. learn how abbvie could help you save on rinvoq. the living room slash yoga shanti slash regional office slash... and this is the basement slash panic room. maybe what your family needs is a vacation home slash vacation home. find yours on the vrbo app. this is the tempur-pedic® breeze° and its mission is to make sleep...feel cool. so, no more night sweats. no more nocturnal baking. or polar ice cap air-conditioner mode. because the tempur-pedic breeze° delivers superior cooling... from cover to core. helping you sleep cool, all night long. save up to $500 on select adjustable mattress sets during the tempur-pedic black friday event. learn more at tempurpedic.com congressman devin nunes announced he is resigning from congress in the coming weeks to become the ceo of former president trump's new media and technology company. this comes as the shell company facilitating trump's new venture announced it was being investigated by the s.e.c. for potential violations of securities law. joining us now, cnn political analyst and national political correspondent for the "new york times," jonathan martin, and cnn political analyst as well as the managing editor of "axios," margaret talib. i want to start with devin nunes, and forgive me, but i'm an old guy who was obsessed with the house of representatives a long time. devin nunes is poised to become the chairman of the house ways and means committee if republicans take control, which looks very possible if not likely. he is giving up chairman of the most powerful committee on earth, right, to run a media company which barely exists and is under investigation. >> yes. >> what am i supposed to make of that? >> congress isn't what it used to be. this is someone who is sort of a would have been the peak of his legislative, you know, age range and career, sort of the old framework of what it meant to be in congress. he is approaching 50. led house intel. he'd be in line to lead house ways and means. we know because of redistricting he is about to lose that district. he would have had to run in a different district. >> he probably would have won. >> 100%. so why the shift, right? because the power in being a conservative republican today, many people think, and the former president thinks, is in the media. it's in how do you galvanize an audience? how do you lead a movement? also, if you pull the frame back a little bit, is there -- is this a breakaway moment for conservative media, to just create a completely parallel audience outside of twitter and facebook and, you know, cable news and network news. >> can i say, i think what you're saying is really important here. in the republican world right now, being close to donald trump, carrying his water in whichever way, is more important. you are more powerful than being chair of the tax writing and financial committee in congress, which has enormous power with billions of dollars here. being trump's friend is more important. >> i don't think that is a uniu universally held belief, but it is certainly an argument for a segment of the republican party. and devin nunes, who entered congress 20 some years ago, is not the devin nunes of today. >> right. >> he is not kind of a centrist, lean right player from an agricultural county in california that wants to build his power base from there. he moved closer, more and more -- not just more and more right, but more and more to trump over the last five years. that is -- that is where he is aligned now. >> jonathan? >> yeah. i think, also, i would just add that if you're devin, it's probably more fun. you spent the last few years totally invested in this kind of trump, inc., media structure world. that has become what you really are passionate about. are you going to do that? are you going to be invested in the arcana of the tax code? important but dry issues. i just think in this era, that is less rewarding for somebody like him. taking a further step back, john berman, and think about the long-term incentives here. two congressing at es at the h the ways and means committee could lead to a lucrative career in washington on k-street. he is giving up long-term, money-making opportunities. by that, the next five years, by taking this gig. it does tell us, i think, something about the gop culture in the trump era and where the incentives are. >> the "it's more fun" explanation. >> there's something to it. >> it's more fun. let's take an eye, if we can, and put it on texas. because you have the department of justice now, you know, looking at gerrymandering when it comes to texas. and this isn't the first time that we're seeing the doj really be at odds with texas, which is texas republicans. >> right. it does show that this administration is willing to confront some of the states who are, obviously, taking this to an extreme, the reapportionment. that gives democrats, progressives especially, some heart. you hear of the grumbling all the time on the left. the biden administration is not aggressive enough to step in and stop what they believe are these anti-democratic, small-d efforts. from a doj, yes, we are willing to engage and fight fire with fire. >> margaret, the question there, and we heard from barton gellman, is this enough? >> this will be the first time around that the pre-clearance, the old rule where you had to get permission from the justice department to go ahead and attempt to redraw the districts like this, the first time where that's not going to be in play because of a supreme court decision from back in 2013. so what biden -- what the attorney general, merrick garland, is saying is, basically, this redistricting never could have occurred if our justice department had the ability to say no. so i think it is going to be a real test of what kind of teeth the justice department has to have fairness. although the growth in texas has been almost entirely driven by non-white population growth. mostly by hispanic and latino population growth. the districting plan does not reflect that. the question that is going to be litigated now is, is that okay? can politicians rule the day, even if it means running against all of the demographic patterns that are driving this growth? >> people shouldn't expect an answer before 2022. it probably won't affect the districts in the next election but maybe long term. margaret, i want to ask you this. as someone who had a heck of a bout with covid yourself, mark meadows, the former president's chief of staff, has this new book coming out. maggie haberman looked at it and reported the details. meadows reports that trump's battle with covid was way, way worse than the white house ever let on. >> yup. >> in fact, they more or less lied about it, maggie feels, over the course of time. blood oxygen level was at 86%. he was in his t-shirt with muffled hair and bloodshot eyes, getting regeneron in his veins in his bed. really bad shape. >> yeah. you know, i think it is really important. i mean, i remember atd the tim because he was getting r remd remdesivir, which you don't get that and go home afterwards. you stay in the hospital. the regimen he was getting made all the reporters covering him very skeptical about whether his health was in actually a much worse place. and the reporting -- well, the disclosures of this book seem to validate that. i got covid after that, but i know that if my blood oxygen level had been 86%, i would have been in the hospital a long time before then. it would have been an emergency phone call and an ambulance pickup. so i think there are concerns. the reason why anyone should care about this now is because if there is a 2024 campaign, we see now a pattern that the public story, the public messaging is much different than what's really going on behind the scenes. if that's true about a president's health, it could be true about other things. >> you know, i think that -- we're getting in live pictures. that's president biden and dr. biden visiting the world war ii memorial in washington, d.c. today is december 7th. this is the 80th anniversary of the japanese attack on pearl harbor. president and first lady there approaching the wreath . also this week, the death of bob dole, 98 years old. really, the last member of the greatest generation. one of the last serving members of the greatest generation that had been in the u.s. senate. today marks the beginning of the u.s. involvement in the asian theater of world war ii. every year that passes, we lose more and more people with a direct connection. the president and first lady paying their respects to the memory, which will never fade, brianna. >> powerful. >> isn't it? >> 80 years on, still is. >> 80 years. you know, keeping those memories alive, too, right? >> good for him. back to what we were discussing when it comes to former president trump and what we're now learning about, his health. >> yes. >> i think that if you're in the washington press core, the white house press core, to be honest, had he died, which he was at risk of, dr. reiner made that clear when we had him on, it would have been surprising maybe not to the white house press core. they knew something was amiss, but the white house wasn't telling them. it would have surprised the heck out of many americans though. >> yeah, because the information they were given was not reflective of the reality of the president's health. now, we're looking at the images of pearl harbor. reminds me that there is a long history in this country of presidents not being honest about their health. this is not necessarily explicit to president trump, but, obviously, like many things, they took it to their own new level. i was really struck reading the passages in meadows' book, how far he goes to make clear that they were not telling the truth. you know, this is presented as a book that is a trump loyalist book. he's offering details there, guys, that you don't necessarily have to tee up in the public domain. i'm thinking about what john mentioned, laying there in the t-shirt in the bed. >> messed up hair. >> images president trump wouldn't want out there. beyond that, trump walking to the helicopter, being so weak that he dropped something on the way because he couldn't hold it. he was so weak. why is meadows offering these kind of, you know, tidbit, insider details, in an otherwise, you know, loyalist book? it seems more of a tell-all there. it is interesting. >> as maggie haberman pointed out, president trump blurred this book. his quote on the book. i suspect he regrets that very much indeed. >> important. read the book, guys. read the book. >> margaret, jonathan, great to have you. thank you guys. the clock is ticking on finding out just how significant the omicron threat is. we're going to hear from a doctor who tracks viruses next. and what could the former chief of staff to mike pence tell the january 6th committee? we're going to speak to someone who also served the former vice president. ♪ limu emu... & doug ♪ ♪ superpowers from a spiderer bite? i could use some help showing g the world how liberty mutual c customizes their car insurance so they only pay for what they need. 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here is dr. anthony fauci. >> thus far, it does not look like there is a great degree of severity to it. but we really got to be careful before we make any determinations, that it is less severe or really doesn't cause any severe illness comparable to delta. thus far, the signals are a bit encouraging regarding the severity. >> joining me now, the chief scientific officer at hackensack meridian discovery for inno innovation. he helps to hunt and identify new variants. so glad you're here, doctor. one of the things i think is misconstrued in the public, new variant, they automatically assume the sky is falling. we don't know. dr. fauci says we're waiting for more information. he says at least what we're looking at now, the cases may not be severe. as someone who studies variants, why might that be? why is it something that we do see historically sometimes, that variants mutate away from sev severity? >> we know, in general, when we look, for example, at drugpatho reduction of mutations reduce the fitness of those pathogens. makes them less pathogenic, less virulent. for viruses, we often see that as well. as you start accumulating mutations, that the viruses can become less pathogenic, less transmissible. in this particular case, it may well be that the virus has increased transmissibility, but it doesn't necessarily mean it is more pathogenic. we just don't know. >> you can have both. you can have increased transmi transmissibility, in other words, it spreads faster, but could be less severe? >> absolutely. we have a number of viruses that are highly transmissible, but they don't cause very severe disease. that's what we'd like to see here if this virus persists. of course, for all of us, we'd like to end this pandemic and eliminate this virus, but unders understo fundamentally, if it mutates to a state where it is highly transmissible but, rather, you know, poorly pathogenic and doesn't cause much disease, or severe disease, we'll be fine with that. >> how many variants are there? >> yeah, there are lots of variants. we've been tracking variants since the beginning of the pandemic. we do that by sequencing, by doing analysis. as the largest health care in new jersey, we have a large web of sites where we receive virus from. you know, people come in, they're sick or, you know, they're not true. they test positive. we then analyze those viruses. we analyze every single one. we do sequencing. since the beginning, we've looked at hundreds, if not thousands, of minor variants. we talk about variants of concern. those are the ones that potentially can increase transmissibility or escape immune surveillance. >> one thing we know for sure is there will be more. >> there absolutely will be more. i mean, that's what we can absolutely guarantee. there will be more variants. by the way, variants of concern, we focus on travel-related variants, and we were concerned about delta coming from india, concerned about beta and gamma coming from south africa and brazil. the reality is, we're homegrowing variants as well. >> omega, zeta, theta could come from new jersey. >> come from new jersey. come from new york, which is, prior to delta which is now 99% of what the viruses are we see, that's exactly what we were seeing. >> dr. perlin, we're lucky we have you hunting and looking for them. we are grateful for the work done in southern africa identify omicron early so measures could be taken. >> it is an extraordinary surveillance system, one we need to carefully look at. it would be very nice to emulate that here. >> appreciate it. doctor, thank you very much. >> pleasure. new witnesses testifying to seeing graphic scenes at a millionaire's mansion. schoolgirl outfits, voyeurism, and why jeffrey epstein needed to have sex three times a day. next, cnn is on the ground for a firsthand look at communities submerged under floodwaters. >> this used to be the central shopping area in town. as you can see, completely destroyed. ♪ ♪ 'tis the season to break tradition in a cadillac. don't just put on a light show—be the light show. make your nights anything but silent. and ride in a sleigh that really slays. because in a cadillac, tradition is yours to define. so visit a cadillac showroom, and start celebrating today. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (sha bop sha bop) ♪ ♪ are the stars out tonight? (sha bop sha bop) ♪ ♪ ♪ alexa, play our favorite song again. ok. ♪ i only have eyes for you ♪ what's strong with me? i know when i'm ready for a rest day. so i can be ready for anything... tomorrow. find out what's strong with you with fitbit sense and daily readiness. want to save on your home internet? xfinity is proud to support the emergency broadband benefit program. for a limited time, you may be eligible to qualify for a credit of up to $50 a month toward your internet service through this program. that's right! you could qualify for a credit of up to $50 a month toward your internet service and equipment. for even more value, switch to xfinity mobile, and you could pay as little as $15 a month for wireless. click, call, or visit a store to learn more. the world's newest nation is drying up and sand drowning at same time. biblical flooding in south sudan, displacing hundreds of thousands of poeople. triggered by the worsening climate crisis. clarissa ward is in south sudan with more on this developing humanitarian crisis. tell us what you've seen. >> reporter: you know, brianna, what's really extraordinary about what's happening here is that these floods hit back in the summer, but the waters are just not disappearing. the situation is getting worse and worse. 800,000 people already affected. hundreds of thousands forced from their home. disease spreading. the next rainy season is just five months away. just four months ago, this was a bustling town of 11,000 people. then the floods came. biblical in scale. leaving it submerged underwater and largely cut off. as we arrive, there are few signs of life. just some belongings stashed in the treetops. the only protection from the waters that have inundated much of south sudan. so this entire town has been flooded since august, and the waters are still getting higher and higher, even though the rainy season is now over. hi! a group of women catch sight of us and want to talk. hi. where are your homes? have you homes been destroyed? >> reporter: they survived years of vicious civil war here, but these floods may pose the greatest threat yet. they tell us their crops have been completely destroyed. so what are you living on right now? what are you surviving on? the lilies? >> yeah. >> the water lilies? >> yeah. >> are people getting sick from the dirty water? >> reporter: many people have wa water-borne diseases. the wells are covered, so we have to drink this water. while south sudan is no stranger to seasonal flooding, unity state hasn't been hit like this since the early 1960s. scientists say the floods have become much more intense and unpredictable in recent years, in part because of global warming. james! hi, james. james is one of hundreds of thousands who have been displaced. he agrees to show us what's left of his family home. oh, my god. that's your motorcycle. >> yes. >> reporter: nothing is left, except for his children's drawings on the walls. since the conflict erupted, we've never had a rest, he tells us. we've been constantly running, displaced. our children have had no relief from the dangers. now, he is forced to flee once again. the journey to the promise of dry land is long and arduous. the lucky ones travel by boat. most swim or wade, moving slowly but purposefully through the muddy waters. some push makeshift floats piled high with family members and possessions. we come across a group of women whose raft is stuck in the mud. the men of the family have gone to try to save their livestock. narika tells us they left their destroyed home four days ago. have you been pushing this raft for four days? yes, they tell us. along the way, they say, their food ran out. how old is your baby? >> five to six months. >> five to six months? are are worried about your children? >> reporter: yes, i'm worried, she says. that's why we keep moving. they still have several miles to push before they reach this narrow strip of dry land. according to unicef, some 6,000 people have now settled here, completely dependent on aid to survive. >> they don't have enough food for them to eat. >> reporter: they don't have bathrooms. they don't have food. >> nothing. >> reporter: more people are arriving every day? >> people are continuing to come. >> reporter: you're doing everything you can, but is it enough? >> this is not enough. that is the reason why we are calling for donor communities. to be sure that children get to schools, get health care. we need to make sure we prevent them to die. >> reporter: as the stagnant, infected waters continue to rise, so do diseases like diarrhea and hepatitis e. malnutrition in children is now at its highest level since 2013. those who make it all the way to the state capital find little sanctuary. some of the main roads have been turned into waterways. cars replaced by canoes. just a mile further, the ghostly remains of what was once a commercial hub. this used to be the central shopping area in town, as you can see. completely destroyed. according to authorities, 90% of unity state has been impacted by these floods. here, the effects of climate change aren't a hypothetical problem in the future, but, rather, a real disaster in the present. >> we are fighting to get the waters in and out to reach here. >> reporter: the minister concedes local authorities were completely unprepared and are now unable to cope with the scale of the crisis. >> we don't have anything sufficient for survival. >> reporter: how long can you cope as things stand? >> we don't know. we're just worried about the next rain because we are told the water behind me will not go now. it will not recede or dry up. it'll take a while. >> reporter: they don't have long. the next rains are expected in may. if the current waters don't recede, the fear is that this area will be wiped off the map. they're trying to hold back the encroaching waters, but the handful of diggers are no match for the vast flooding. breaches are common, leaving many with no choice but to take matters into their own hands. hastily vising protection for their own home, as the waters quietly continue to rise. you know, it is important to remember, as well, that south sudan is the world's youngest country. when we're talking about things like climate change, this is not a country that has been a major contributor to global emissions. there are only, roughly, 125 miles of paved roads here in sudan. yet, it is this country that is really paying such a heavy price for the effects of global warming, as we have seen. the fear is that the situation is only going to as you heard from minister lam there, they simply cannot cope. >> the pictures you're showing us and the fact that this flooding has been occurring for months with the waters still rising, it is unbelievable. is this the new normal, clarissa, for sub-saharan africa? >> reporter: well, this is what the fear is, right, brianna, because unity state hasn't been hit by floods like that since 1964. they had to get boats up to deal with the floods for the first time. this is new. flooding has been, you know, a normal phenomenon here in south sudan. but at this level of intensity, absolutely not. and as i mentioned before, it is a compound effect. so next rainy season, which starts in may, this country will be even less equipped to deal with it. and we're literally talking about an entire state potentially being forcibly displaced from their homes. that raises a huge source of secondary issues that could knock on from that. this is a desperate situation and very much sadly it is only getting worse. >> flooding is a permanent state that is not normal. clarissa, such an important report, thank you so much. still ahead, joe biden and vladimir putin, what is at stake in their crucial call this morning? and steven spielberg's west side story banned. more on where and why. this holim shine like never before. >> life matters even more e tha love. this is how we shine. ♪ find the 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your rheumatologist about rinvoq relief. rinvoq. make it your mission. learn how abbvie could help you save on rinvoq. this is the new world of work. each day looks different than the last. but, whatever work becomes, the world works with servicenow. shocking testimony at ghislaine maxwell's sex trafficking trial. a woman who claimed jeffrey epstein sexually abused her said maxwell set up the meetings and talked about epstein's carnal needs. k kara scannell joins us with the latest. >> reporter: we heard from the second of the four accusers in the sex trafficking trial of ghislaine maxwell. she said she met maxwell in paris when she was 17 years old and she wanted to be like maxwell. she said that she tried befriend her, they would hang out at her london home and maxwell said she had to meet her boyfriend, jeffrey epstein. maxwell, she says, lured her into giving epstein a massage and kate said first time she saw epstein naked, maxwell was standing right beside her. she said during that massage, she alleged she was assaulted by epstein and that began a series of massages that ended up in the same sort of alleged abuse. now, kate also testified that maxwell had complained to her about epstein's voracious sexual appetite. maxwell asking her if she knew of any other cute young pretty girls like her. and that kate said when she was in palm beach that maxwell had laid out on her bed a school girl uniform and said it would be fun if she served jeffrey epstein tea in it. kate said she did serve epstein the tea, didn't know how to say no and that also resulted in sexual assault. now, the cross examination on this witness was pretty aggressive, maxwell's attorney suggesting her memory was damaged by substance abuse, and that she was seeking fame for speaking out and coming forward with these allegations. and now kate under questioning by prosecutors said aside from this alleged assault, the hardest thing i ever had to do, this is the hardest thing i ever had to do and i'm here because i don't think there is anything more important, especially now that i'm a parent, than demonstrating to her that i can stand up for yourself, and demonstrating that the truth is important. the judge said the jury can consider this testimony, but they cannot convict maxwell on this testimony because kate was of the legal age of consent when this alleged assault took place. the jury also learned some information about what the fbi seized in the 2019 raid of epstein's manhattan mansion. they learned they recovered binders of cds and bins of hard drives. the jury is expected to see what is on some of those cds today, john. >> a lot going on here. thank you so much for that. spider-man star tom holland is swapping his web shooters for dancing shoes. he will portray the legendary actor, dancer and singer fred astaire in an upcoming biopic. ♪ astaire and dance partner ginger rogers are one of the most popular teams in movie history. the fred astaire role may be a natural fit for holland. he did start his career on the london stage in billy elliott the musical, which is about a boy who just wants to dance. ♪ the sharks and the jets won't rumble anytime soon in the gulf. steven spielberg's brilliant reimagining of "west side story" has been banned in saudi arabia, the united arab emirates and other gulf nations. this is the decision that is reportedly over a transgender character in the new cast, who is played by a nonbinary actor. ♪ ♪ until the end ♪ r&b supergroup boys 2 men is get the musical movie treatment. it will be based on the music of boys 2 men, known for their emot emotional ballad peppered with an a cappella harmony. and bts taking a rare break from performing. the group is taking a vacation, their first since 2019, to, quote, enjoy ordinary and free everyday lives. good luck with that. the boy band will return in the spring with a kickoff concert in seoul to mark the beginning of a new chapter in their music. they're like the most famous people on earth. i'm not sure anything they do is just going to be regular. >> they're so famous. i'll be honest, i don't know a lot about kpop, but i have socks that kyung lah bought me as present in the last few years. boys 2 men, i was right back in seventh grade at my junior high dance, the end of the road, that's how they always end the dance, you know. >> mine was stairway to heaven. a little bit different. >> not too much. "new day" continues right now. good