and jake sullivan, the national security adviser, said they are going to stay in touch with their russian counterparts to go through detail by detail what the consequences would be if russia did invade ukraine. >> kaitlan collins, thanks. let's bring in under secretary of state for political affairs, victoria newland. secretary newland, thanks for joining us this afternoon. national security adviser jake sullivan told reporters that the u.s. does not think that president putin has yet made a decision on whether to invade ukraine. why not? >> well, among other things, i think that president putin wanted to talk to president biden, wanted to better understand where we are and where our allies are on some of these issues. and that was why it was extremely important for our president and for other leaders in europe to be very clear about the extreme consequences that will result for russia if they move aggressively against ukraine again. >> in the previous hour, we interviewed congressman mike turner of ohio, he's on the house intelligence committee. and he said a lot of the threatened steps in terms of lethal aid for ukraine in terms of sending u.s. troops to allied countries, in terms of having sanctions ready, that all sounded good but sounded too much in the future. that these things should be happening now. why, in fact, are they not happening now to deter putin from the invasion? >> jake, what is happening now is intensive consultations with our allies and partners on the kind of response that could come immediately and in a very painful way should putin move. and then to put those things in the window so putin can see them and so that his people can also understand that this highly unnecessary war will not only be bloody, it will also be extremely painfully economically for the average russian and the russian state. >> a half dozen sources tell cnn the biden administration is considering evacuating u.s. citizens from ukraine should russia actually invade. how many americans are we talking about? do we know how many american citizens are legal permanent residents are in ukraine? >> the number of americans in ukraine fluctuates around christmastime. we tend to have more as people come to visit. there are also a number of dual nationals, but, you know, it's in the 10,000 to 15,000 person range. but obviously with regard to any kind of military contingency, we also have to be thinking ahead and not be caught flat-footed. >> would that evacuation process happen immediately after an invasion? is there some specific place where those citizens and dual citizens and legal permanent residents should go? should they all go to odessa? what's the plan? >> as has happened in the past, jake, if we are concerned about imminent hostilities in ukraine, we will begin warning u.s. citizens as we do all around the world, as we are currently in ethiopia, as we did months and months ahead of the evacuation in afghanistan that it's time for them to find their way home. >> this afternoon you testified that the u.s. is watching for the potential that russia could invade ukraine through belarus sch is just north of ukraine or russia might mask its forces as belarusian forces. is putin using the russian/ukrainian border as somewhat of a smoke screen? >> russia currently has forces on three sides of ukraine, which is not a scenario we've seen before. some 100,000 troops now with an estimated plan for almost double that. and as you know, belarus has a very long border with ukraine. what we have not yet seen, but which we could see are u.s. forces coming down towards ukraine from belarus or, as i said today, masking as belarusian forces. we've seen the increasing dependence that belarusian president lukashenko has on putin, so putin could demand that he return the favor. >> it's only been a few months since the chaotic u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan. if the u.s. ends up sending troops to ukraine in any way, as advisers, trainers or whatever, how concerned are you that we could be watching a repeat of afghanistan in our near future? >> jake, that's four levels of hypothetical that i'm not going to go into, but what i will say is that the u.s. has provided some $450 million this year alone in security support for ukraine. and they are going to need that if they are confronting russian forces, and they are a very strong security partner of ours because our commitment to their sovereignty and territorial integrity and independence is unwavering. >> under secretary victoria newland, thank you. let's discuss with my team here. julie, let me start with you. national security adviser jake sullivan told reporters today the u.s. does not believe that putin's mind has been made up about invading ukraine. you've covered putin for years. do you think that's true, and is this somebody whose mind can be changed by the threat of serious action by the u.s. and nato? >> well, as we saw with the first time he invaded ukraine in 2014 when he illegally annexed crimea and started this drawn out conflict in the eastern part of ukraine he tends to make his decisions quite quickly in a kind of knee-jerk manner. i think he is, as is his want, weighing his options and we'll know if he has decided to invade ukraine when he invades ukraine. that's how we'll know he's decided. >> evan, you wrote a great biography on joe biden. how momentous was this conversation today for joe biden? this is somebody who has been a little bit more hawkish than his former boss president obama, not in terms of direct military confrontation, but in terms of more direct aid to the ukrainians, et cetera, twhen comes to putin. >> part of this is that he has a fundamental lack of trust in vladimir putin's intentions. his word. there's this famous moment which we sometimes recall when joe biden visited vladimir putin at the kremlin and said i looked into his eyes and he didn't -- you don't have a soul is what he said. you don't say that to that many foreign leaders. a decade later here they are facing this moment of incredible negative potential. this could put a cloud over the biden administration. they are trying to prevent this from becoming a catastrophe but it's not a case in which he's working with somebody who we trust who he can say let's try to work around the edges. he's fundamentally trying to threaten a guy without doing it as directly as a threat might sound. >> that's interesting because a top bush official said on this show a few years ago that they wished they had stood up to putin more after he took away part gaffof georgia, the countr georgia. biden was almost suggesting today that we're going to -- i'm going to be tougher against you than obama was when he said we're going to do things we didn't do in 2014. >> it is interesting that jake sullivan mentioned what obama did and didn't do in 2014 because the point man on ukraine under the obama administration was none other than joe biden. and he was intimately involved in managing the ukraine portfolio after the invasion of 2014. i think the georgia analogy is an apt one. you have the russians, the foreign minister of russia, sergey lavrov, saying this could be like georgia for you guys and what happened then was russia turned up the pressure with troops on the border handing out russian passports to people in georgia across the border and turned up the pressure so high that the georgians inevitably stumbled, shot at some peace keepers and gave them the pretext to invade. lavrov is overtly warning, we can try doing this thing again. so i think that's the reason georgia in 2008 and what could have been done then is on people's minds. >> although i think it's pretty clear that u.s. troops are off the table for joe biden, don't you think? >> that's absolutely right. one of the things, even though you hear him making tough statements, joe biden has been very skeptical about the application of american force. specific ally troops on the ground in ukraine. in 2014, i traveled there with him and he talked about the conversations he had with ukrainian officials where he said in effect we're not going to be putting troops here. and they weren't happy about it. so this is consistent with his broader approach. he does not want to extend american forces more than he has to so the goal now is to try to use these other tools, financial instruments, sanctions, other ways you may get the russians to change their behavior. >> to that end, you know, he just ended one war, right? he just took americans out -- american forces out of afghanistan. starting another one in a foreign country that a lot of americans, i think, couldn't locate on a map, would not really be in keeping with that mission. the other thing is that it highlights how absurd this crisis is and how much it is a product of putin's paranoid imagination. he imagines that nato troops on the ground in ukraine, that american rockets are in ukraine pointed at russia and they're not. none of that is true. nobody was talking about admitting ukraine to nato. nato doesn't really want ukraine and putin is saying but give me a legally binding guarantee that you won't do it and is creating all of this over something that isn't happening. if that makes sense. >> yeah, no, absolutely. it does seem to me like this will be a test of the biden doctrine. biden is somebody who has been very skeptical of the use of american force when it comes to afghanistan, when it comes to iraq, when it comes to ukraine. not that the u.s. military couldn't accomplish the mission. just that it's -- you know, this isn't world war ii. >> right. exactly. and also this is a proof of his ability to read the other person across the table and figure out what is actually going to pick the lot. julia has written about vladimir putin's paranoia. that's the central ingredient here. what joe biden had to do was get him to understand, the united states is not seeking to invade russia any time soon. and i know that can sound like a thing that we don't even need to announce, but if you are vp everywhere, insulated, tut off from a lot of information, that's something you need to hear from an american president. >> great to have you here. appreciate it. coming up, new details about just how sick donald trump was with covid revealed by his own chief of staff. we'll talk to a top trump official who was there. plus, dramatic moments with the actor on the stand. the tense moments in the jussie smollett trial as the defense rests. stay with us. no family needed. (dad vo) is the turkey done yet?! (mom vo) here's your turkey! (vo) visible. switch and get up to $200. ♪ limu emu... & doug ♪ ♪ superpowers from a spider bite? i could use some help showing the world how liberty mutual customizes their car insurance so they only pay for what they need. (gasps) ♪ did it work? only pay for what you need ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ spider-man no way home in theaters december 17th ♪ ♪ ♪ (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 ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ every business is on a journey. and along the ride, you'll find many challenges. ♪ your dell technologies advisor can help you find the right tech solutions. so you can stop at nothing for your customers. in our money lead, finally some economic relief, however minor. americans are paying a little less at the pump after weeks of rising energy prices. a new report finds the national average price of gas dropped 4 cents in the last week to $3.35 a gallon. still pretty high. natural gas prices are down 40% since october's peak. let's get right to cnn's matt egan. let's start with the gasoline prices. why is this going down now? >> well, that's right. gasoline prices have finally stopped going straight up. and this trend really began last month on rumors that president biden would release barrels of oil from the nation's strategic petroleum reserve. by the time that break the glass moment actually happened, oil prices were down by 10% fromme their peak and that has started to trickle down to gasoline prices which move with the lag. the national average down to $3.35 a gallon. that is not cheap, but it is a seven-week low and it is moving in the right direction. the other big factor here is covid. fears about omicron really sent oil prices crashing after thanksgiving. there were really big worries about what that would do to the economy. thankfully some of those covid fears have started to fade in recent days but that is also driven oil prices back up. so, jake, the fact we're seeing oil rebound, it calls into question how sustainable the relief at the pump is really going to be. >> this dramatic decline in natural gas is a bigger deal, i think, than these 4 cents a gallon for gas going down. and it's a good sign for home heating costs, as we come into the winter here, right? >> absolutely. that's a bigger deal. much more dramatic. just two months ago we saw natural gas prices hit a seven-year high. there were all these worries about a shortage of natural gas and what we've seen and you can see it on that chart is they're down by 40%. 40% in two months. now natural gas is still up sharply on the year but finally been knocked down. this is mostly due to mother nature. families haven't had to crank up the heat as much as usual because temperatures have actually been warmer than usual. so that has lowered demand. also we've seen stronger production of natural gas. this has allowed inventory levels to get back to normal levels and it's reduced those fears about natural gas and running out of supply. but, jake, we have to point out the obvious. it's early. winter hasn't even officially begun yet. so if we do see temperatures drop and stay low, we could see natural gas move up. big picture, jake, i do think that there is some positive news, some glimmers of hope for inflation weary americans. >> let's discuss with my panel. jackie gus ie gusinich. happy burth day. >> thank you. >> will this be enough, the small reduction in gas prices? >> you have to look at what's going to happen week after week, right? one week of relief, twwhen it comes to gas prices isn't going to be enough if come february your heating prices are through the roof. if wages are up, it doesn't -- you don't really break even if all the everything else is more expensive. it cuts into money you can save. so it, i think it's too soon to tell and they can message as much as they would like but until things actually stabilize and come down, it's going to be problematic for them and for their allies in the house and senate. >> in the previous hour, congressman mike turner of ohio, the number two republican on the house intelligence committee told me he would be interested in taking the number one job now that devin nunes, the ranking republican on intelligence is going to become ceo of this trump media and technology group, whatever it this is. but what's so amazing about this is nunes was in line to be the next chairman of the house ways and means committee. explain to our viewers how big of a gig that is that nunes is walking away from. >> it's one of the most prestigious committees in the house. it has, you know, purse string power. it has power in general. it has control over tax policy. you see how influential the ways and means committee has been over the course of biden's agenda just this year. the current chairman neill is one of the top negotiators in the house in terms of what has gone into build back better. >> he can kill something with a wave of the hand. >> he can. >> that's the kind of power that nunes would have had. it's something -- even when you are a rank and file member, you really fight to get on ways and means. it's very exclusive committee. and so it's just shocking that someone who was in line, knowing that republicans are favored to win the house, would decide that they have other priorities. >> what do you make of it? >> famously paul ryan wanted to be ways and means chair more than speaker. that was seen as a more appealing role. people wait ten years -- >> he'd probably still be in congress if he'd done that. >> people wait 10, 20 years for that kind of a role. it's indicative of the decline of congress. they ceded a lot of the power of the purse. they've cedede war powers to the executive branch and the house in particular kind of looks like a crazy town these days with some of the members, the discussions being had. i can see why it's not as appealing. for devin nunes, i think he'll look back and regret this decision and realize he could have had a bigger stake in u.s. history had he stayed on ways and means and not gone to this upstart venture. >> one of the reasons might be that they are redistricting in california and they might have made his district, which is a pretty strong republican district into a more competitive one but they haven't made any final plans out there. so how much do you think that was a factor? >> i'm not one of the people lamenting or sourful that nunes is leaving the congress. >> i didn't hear any, for the record. >> it shows you the bizarre world we live in. i'm sure -- it's the bizarre world that we live in where going off and running a start-up media company is more important than being the most powerful tax writer and trade negotiator in congress. and so i think what we're seeing is on behalf of the republicans, they just -- the republicans in congress, the elected leadership seem to be afraid of the population they're supposed to be governing. they're afraid of donald trump. this fear about all of them in how they engage the national politics, and they would rather be outside throwing bricks than inside building a house that everybody can live in. >> it's certainly easier, right? than actually legislating. >> jackie, we've been getting more details about trump's coronavirus diagnosis from mark meadows. first we learned trump tested positive before the debate against biden. now we know that trump's blood oxygen level dipped to dangerously low levels and the white house tried to hide all of this. are you surprised? >> i think there was a lot of reporting at the time. the white house was trying to say that it wasn't true. that a lot of this was happening. but the fact of the matter is that the american people deserved to know what was happening with the president's health. for so many reasons. and his obsession with not looking weak apparently trumped everything. alyssa can speak more to it than i can because she was there and can probably explain what the thinking was, but it certainly seems like his personal -- you saw the doctor even lied for him. >> yeah. >> his personal feelings really outplayed what the country -- the best interest of the country. >> you were here last week expressing outrage this was hidden from the american people, hidden from you, even though you were the communications director. meadows said he arranged for four dosed of the monoclonal antibody drug to be sent to the white house in secret. he got approval for the president to receive the treatment. we have reporting that trump is not happy with meadows about revealing all of this. why do you think meadows is doing this? >> well, what i am most stunned by is the commander in chief, anyone in the chain of command or line of succession, their health is not just about their health. it's the public's information as implications for the whole nation. for some reason some around president trump did not understand that. back when this was taking place. i do recall that day extremely well when we were told he is in bad shape. the president is not doing well. i stood out to walk to -- >> this is after it's been revealed? >> it had been public the night before, and seeing him walk, i feared for his well-being and if he'd even make it. he's an older man. to hear all this in retrospect, why did we not tell the public that. there's no justification. there's no good rationale and i'm not surprised that former president trump is disappointed to hear it. he doesn't like to look weak. he was very sick as are millions of americans who get covid. >> that was the thing. there was some speculation when he had covid that perhaps it would change his mind and the messaging he was putting out into the world might change, and it didn't. the fact this could have been a teachable moment was squandered as so many americans were sick and dying from the coronavirus. >> this is indicative of how they see the world and do their politics. they have this vision of america that's so brittle that we can't take the truth about the president being sick. americans can take it. we're a strong enough country we can figure it out. this sinnis indicative of how t goench. are we going to hide from the things that are going to make the country stronger and face our flaws or have the courage to stand up and fight for the things? >> it's notable that we should note that when biden went to get -- i think it was a colonoscopy and he was under that they did the whole thing where the vice president kamala harris took control and she was in charge and not only did trump have a colonoscopy we've learned and did not do that with mike pence, he was really in bad shape, i mean, luckily he survived, but he was in bad shape and they didn't do that with the vice president, which would have been appropriate. >> right. and they did not make clear to the american public and to the press how in bad of shape he was, which shows all these institutional norms, these steps of being transparent, about the office and the most powerful person in the country, that the trump presidency, the trump administration decided not to do that the whole way through. >> i remember saying to the president and his team at the time, benjamin netanyahu is wearing a mask, vladimir putin is wearing a mask. it's not weak. it's doing leadership. that position didn't prevail but people were telling him that. >> thanks one and all for being here. new data just released on how effective the covid vaccine is against the new omicron variant. stay with us. i got the awesome new iphone 13 pro and airpods, and t-mobile is paying for them both! and this is for new and existing customers. upgrade to the iphone 13 pro and airpods both on us. only at t-mobile. ♪day to night to morning,♪ ♪keep with me in the moment♪ ♪i'd let you had i known it, why don't you say so?♪ ♪didn't even notice,♪ ♪no punches left to roll with♪ ♪you got to keep me focused♪ serena: it's my 3:10 no-exit-in-sight migraine medicine. it's ubrelvy. for anytime, anywhere migraine strikes, without worrying if it's too late, or where i am. one dose can quickly stop my migraine in its tracks within two hours. unlike older medicines, ubrelvy is a pill that directly blocks cgrp protein, believed to be a cause of migraine. do not take with strong cyp3a4 inhibitors. most common side effects were nausea and tiredness. serena: ask about ubrelvy. the anytime, anywhere migraine medicine. to see my ancestors' photos was just breathtaking. wow, look at all those! what'd you find? lorraine banks, look, county of macomb, michigan? oh my goodness... this whole journey has been such a huge gift for our family. ♪ ♪ '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. ♪ ♪ your shipping manager left to “find themself.” leaving you lost. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. indeed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job description. visit indeed.com/hire 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. new in our health lead, the first glimpse of an answer to a question on many people's minds, will the existing vaccines protect us against the new omicron variant. researchers in south africa just released new insight. let's bring in cnn senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen. this new study is focused on the pfizer vaccine. what does it have to say? >> that's right. i just got off the phone with the lead researcher in south africa on this study. and he said, look, what our study showed is that, first of all, small study, and it was in a lab, but this suggests that this is an escape variant. this is a variant that knows how to some extent outwit the vaccine, but he said he feels pretty confident that if you are fully vaccinated, you will -- that this vaccine will -- that the vaccines will help protect against severe disease. and that's what we look for vaccines to do. he said significant protection. that's what he expects from the vaccine against this variant. now will it protect you from getting infected and a little bit sick? he is not as confident on that. he doesn't think that's necessarily going to happen. but he does think that even with this variant that people who are fully vaccinated will get significant protection. it's interesting, jake, because they don't have pfizer as a booster in south africa so he couldn't test it that way but he did say that he thinks the booster would be even better. would give even more protection. >> what about people who have already had coronavirus? >> right. so he said that what he found was that people who had coronavirus and got vaccinated, that that was better. that that was really a good situation to be in. so again, this variant, it knows how to be an escape artist to some extent. it's giving a challenge to the vaccine much more so than the delta variant did, but he still is confident that vaccination will provide significant protection to people against severe disease. still has more studies to do, but that's what he is thinking based on this one small study in the lab. >> a new axios/ipsos poll found only 1 in 4 americans are planning to cancel travel plans. only 1 in 4 canceling indoor dining. i heard this and we don't know that omicron is more dangerous. is it really wrong that so few folks are planning to changing their plans or their behavior? >> jake, that's a great question and i think the answer is, it's not really so much about whether or not you travel. it's about the precautions that you take. so let's go through what those precautions are. first of all, the cdc is clear, if you are not vaccinated, you should not be traveling. it is not safe for you. it is not safe for other people. and when you do travel, you need to wear a mask, whether it's at the airport or on a train or in an airplane and also protect immunecompromised family members. i think we forget about this group way too much. folks with cancer, other people. protect them. make sure that you're wearing a mask around them. take other precautions with them. they are very vulnerable. >> elizabeth cohen, thanks so much. jussie smollett, the actor accused of staging a hate crime against himself was on the stand again today. where things got a little tense. stay with us. mobile app so you can quickly check the markets? yeah, actually i'm taking one last look at my dashboard before we board. excellent. and you have thinkorswim mobile- -so i can finish analyzing the risk on this position. you two are all set. have a great flight. thanks. we'll see ya. ah, they're getting so smart. choose the app that fits your investing style. ♪ hi, my name is tony cooper, and i'm going to tell you about exciting medicare advantage plans that can provide broad coverage and still may save you money on monthly premiums and prescription drugs. with original medicare you are covered for hospital stays and doctor office visits but you have to meet a deductible for each, and then you're still responsible for 20% of the cost. next, let's look at a medicare supplement plan. as you can see, they cover the same things as original medicare, and they also cover your medicare deductibles and coinsurance. but they often have higher monthly premiums and no prescription drug coverage. now, let's take a look at humana's medicare advantage plans. with a humana medicare advantage plan, hospitals stays, doctor office visits and your original medicare deductibles are covered. and, of course, most humana medicare advantage plans include prescription drug coverage. in fact, in 2020, humana medicare advantage prescription drug plan members saved an estimated $8,400 on average on their prescription costs. most humana medicare advantage plans include a silver sneakers fitness program at no extra cost. dental, vision and hearing coverage is included with most humana medicare advantage plans. and you get telehealth coverage with a zero-dollar copay. you get all of this for as low as a zero-dollar monthly plan premium in many areas; and your doctor and hospital may already be a part of humana's large network. if you want the facts, call right now for the free decision guide from humana. there is no obligation, so call the number on your screen right now to see if your doctor is in our network; to find out if you could save on your prescriptions, and to get our free decision guide. humana, a more human way to healthcare. in our national lead, the defense has wrapped its case and testimony has concluded in the trial of actor jussie smollett. the former "empire" actor faced tough questions from prosecutors today as he attempted to dispute the accusations that he staged a fake hate crime against himself and then lied to chicago police about it. cnn's sara sidner joins us now live from outside the courtroom. things got pretty tense between smollett and the prosecutor during cross-examination today. what happened? >> you've got that right, jake. yesterday smollett was on the stand. this is the second day on the stand. he spilled a lot of his personal and intimate details. today it was fireworks in the courtroom because the prosecutor was cross-examining him. now as you know, smollett is facing six counts for disorderly conduct for allegedly planning and participating in his own fake hate crime. and then saying it was perpetrated by trump supporters and then lying to police. those are the allegations against him which he has repeatedly refuted saying that he is innocent of the charges. smollett said it was his former trainer and trainer's brother, the osundairos. the prosecutor was trying to find inconsistencies in his story and make those very clear to the jury. and here's how he did it in one instance. he talked about what the osundairos testified under oath. yes, indeed, it was jussie smollett who planned this and that they were simply carrying out an attack that they were paid for. the prosecutors focused in on this particular inconsistency. it has to do with that noose. we all saw that video when police came in of the noose around jussie smollett's neck the night that he says he was attacked. the prosecutor said, why did you or did you take this noose off and then put it back on so that you could dishevel the noose make it look like there was. he said i took it off and put it aside and put it back on when police arrived because i was told by one of my colleagues that i needed to preserve the evidence. so prosecutors then said to him, well, then how do you explain this particular thing that you told abc's "good morning america." >> so when the police came, i kept the clothes on. i kept the rope. >> so you had the rope on the entire time? >> it wasn't like wrapped around but, yeah it was around because i wanted them to see. i wanted them to see what this was. >> he simply acknowledged that he did say that in the interview but it was inconsistent with what he said on the stand and the prosecutors said that was an inconsistency he could not explain. >> sara sidner, thanks so much. the progressive push to change the supreme court is getting more attention today. the bipartisan commission established by president biden to look at reforming the supreme court unanimously voted to adopt its final recommendations this afternoon but progressive democrats might be a bit disappointed. a draft of the report shows intense disagreement over the idea of adding more seats to the high court. supreme court analyst joan joins us. the draft of this report is nearly 300 pages long. what are the main things we should be paying attention to here. >> okay. on the court expansion question, which is why this commission was set up because this was president biden's compromise. a commission rather than saying he supported court expansion or what some call court packing. profound disagreement on that. essentially a nonstart are. term limits. there was some bipartisan support for term limits like 18-year terms. but that's a really practical problem for them. how would they roll them out and also there's a constitutional problem. >> you have to amend the constitution. >> the constitution says that a justice is appointed for life, conserved for good behavior and the only time a justice could be removed is through impeachment. exactly how would justices cycle in and out. so those were the two big ones. but then the panel also looked at things like court transparency, recusals, when the justices might have a conflict of interest and not tell anyone anything. so even though they couldn't even agree on whether there's a legitimacy problem with the supreme court right now, they put a lot of issues on the table on those 300 pages. >> do we know why the commission doesn't seem to be making any concrete recommendations? >> it says that wasn't part of its charge. as you probably remember when president biden set it up, he initially said he was going to ask for recommendations but then in april when the commission was established, then 36 members, they finished with 34 members, their charge was not to make recommendations, and i think that's because they weren't going to be able to make recommendations, frankly. >> and the report was put together by a commission of legal experts appointed by president biden. what's the real world impact of their conclusions, do you think? >> to do anything really big and substantive you'd need congress and the president. there's no real buy in from joe biden to change things or from the majority in congress. but, jake, you know who this could change slightly? nine people on the supreme court. they could look at this and look at some of the issues raised about mysterious late night orders, lack of transparency on issues and they could actually maybe start addressing those things internally. for example, one issue that was raised was the fact the justices do not abide by an ethics code, at least formally, that lower court judges have. and they might internally start to think about actually having an ethics code. that at least is formalized for them. >> joan, thanks so much. coming up, dozens killed. houses buried under ash. thousands of innocent people displaced after a massive volcano eruption. that's next. r bath, it fits your high standards. why have over two million people welcomed bath fitter into their homes? it just fits. call now or visit bathfitter.com to book your free consultation. (chloe) wireless family plans save you money, but then you have to deal with family. so i got visible. get unlimited data for as low as $25 a month. no family needed. (dad vo) is the turkey done yet?! (mom vo) here's your turkey! (vo) visible. switch and get up to $200. you booked a sunny vrbo ski chalet. with endless views of snow-covered peaks. ♪ ♪ a stove that inspires magnificent hot cocoa. and a perfect ski-in ski-out. but the thing they'll remember forever? grandpa coming out of retirement to give a few ski lessons. the time to plan your get together is now. ♪ ♪ find it on vrbo. for people living with h-i-v, keep being you. and ask your doctor about biktarvy. biktarvy is a complete, one-pill, once-a-day treatment used for h-i-v in certain adults. it's not a cure, but with one small pill, biktarvy fights h-i-v to help you get to and stay undetectable. that's when the amount of virus is so low it cannot be measured by a lab test. research shows people who take h-i-v treatment every day and get to and stay undetectable can no longer transmit h-i-v through sex. serious side effects can occur, including kidney problems and kidney failure. rare, life-threatening side effects include a buildup of lactic acid and liver problems. do not take biktarvy if you take dofetilide or rifampin. tell your doctor about all the medicines and supplements you take, if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, or if you have kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis. if you have hepatitis b, do not stop taking biktarvy without talking to your doctor. common side effects were diarrhea, nausea, and headache. if you're living with hiv, keep loving who you are. and ask your doctor if biktarvy is right for you. ♪ you pour your heart into everything you do, which is a lot. so take care of that heart with lipton. because sippin' on unsweetened lipton can help support a healthy heart. lipton. stop chuggin'. start sippin'. in our world lead, rescue workers in indonesia continue to dig through thick layers of hot ash after a volcanic eruption on saturday. paula, are rescuers still finding survivors at this point? >> reporter: well, jake, they were for the first couple of days, we're really not hearing about that so much anymore and everything is working against the serarch and rescue teams at this point. there is very bad weather. strong winds and heavy rain. and of course, the volcano did erupt once again on tuesday, which had to suspend those efforts and that mixed with heavy rain as officials worry they could see new rivers of hot lava. now, at this point, we know that at least 34 people have been confirmed dead. there were dozens though still missing. and search and rescue teams are not giving up. they are still trying to dig through the thick layers of ash and debris. that ash though is now starting to harden. so it is making it more difficult. we know also that a key bridge was taken out, which has hampered the efforts. when you look at some of these images, you can see the hardened ash reaches to the rooftops in some of these neighboring villages. we heard from survivors who were trapped but were able to come out. we've heard from officials of those in vehicles that were unable to get out. there was just no chance of escape as this happened all so quickly. other survivors as well talk of having to run through hot ash and lava to get to safety. now, many of the injuries we are hearing about in keeping with what you would expect from a volcano, are of burns, but at this point, the search and rescue teams are simply not giving up even though they have to continue to suspend their efforts. now the issue with this was the fact that it was so unexpected. it is one of the more active volcanos in indonesia, but it wasn't predicted, which did not give many a chance to evacuate. at this point, we know thousands have been displaced. we know thousands of homes have been destroyed. dozens of schools have been destroyed. indonesia's president touring the area to see what the government could do to try and help, but at this point, it is still very much a search and rescue operation. but officials do point out that there are many data for those teams trying to find survivors and quite often, they have to suspend their efforts. >> paula hancocks, thank you so much. up next, how some world war ii veterans are marking today's 80th an verse ary of the attack on pearl harbor. stay with us. yep! subways got so much new like the new turkey cali fresh, that they couldn't fit it in their ads. so, they bought space on your jerseys. go long italian b.m.t.® it's the most joyous time of the year. especially at t-mobile! let's go to dianne. i got the awesome new iphone 13 pro and airpods, and t-mobile is paying for them both! and this is for new and existing customers. upgrade to the iphone 13 pro and airpods both on us. only at t-mobile. this is your home. this is your family room slash gym. the guest bedroom slash music studio. the daybed slash dog bed. the living room slash yoga shanti slash regional office slash classroom. 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. ♪ ♪ my songs know what you did in the dark ♪ ♪ so light 'em up, up, up light 'em up, up, up ♪ ♪ light 'em up, up, up ♪ ♪ i'm on fire ♪ ♪ so light 'em up, up, up light 'em... ♪ 80th anniversary of the japanese attack on pearl harbor. according to the department of veterans affairs, fewer than a quarter of a million u.s. world war ii veterans are still alive. every passing anniversary of the date, which will live in infamy, grows more and more important. >> it is a hero's sendoff eight decades in the making. jack holder was enlisted in the navy as a machinist. frank was a navy machine. david russell was on the u.s.s. oklahoma and 101 cass phillips was a radio man on a flying boat. >> that the japanese have attacked pearl harbor. >> when japanese fighters and bombers started their attack on pearl harbor. they're among 63 world war ii veterans boarding this american airlines flight to hawaii. >> pearl harbor means a lot. >> this is an all-volunteer mission that organizers say is critical. when they started planning, four more pearl harbor veterans were supposed to be on board. 97-year-old walter flew large transport planes in the pacific now his daughter is flying him to hawaii. >> i can't even, i don't even have words for it because it's just such an honor and never in my wildest dreams would i think that i would would be doing this. >> in hawaii, they paid homage to the sunken u.s.s. arizona, where more than 1,000 sailors. 101 ira watched the attack in horror from a nearby ship. >> it's hard to say what the feelings are. you're scared. you don't know what's going to happen next. >> a go fund me for his visit to pearl harbor exceeded its goal by more than $6,000. one more member of the greatest generation, grateful to see this 80th anniversary. >> thank you, thank you, from the bottom of my heart. it was very generous, unexpected, and very kind. and i am forever grateful. >> the president and the first lady commemorated the day by visiting the world war ii memorial here. they laid flowers in honor of her father, who was a navy signalman in world war ii. that trip from hawaii returns on thursday and time is of the essence to honor these veterans. the youngest in that group is 93 years old. 12 of them are over so o 100. >> thanks so much. it's that time of the year when the stars come out to honor some of humanity's best. now more than ever the world needs heroes. this weekend, join anderson cooper and kelly ripa as they honor the hero of the year. it's the 15th annual all-star tribute. it's sunday at 8:00 p.m. eastern on cnn. if you ever miss an episode of the lead, listen where you get your podcasts. our coverage continues with wolf blitzer in "the situation room." thanks for watching. breaking news. the white house says president biden was direct with putin as he warned of new economic sanctions and other punishment if russia invades ukraine. we're breaking down their video faceoff and whether it's tamping down fear of a bloody massacre. also breaking, the january 6 committee is threatening to hold mark meadows in contempt of congress now tha