read a series of frantic text messages from january 6th aloud. messages pleading with meadows to convince his boss to do something about this. barricades, attacking officers, smashing through windows, and pushing through doors. >> as the violence continued, one of the president's sons texted mr. meadows. quote, he's got to condemn this shut asap. the capitol police is not enough, donald trump, jr., texted. meadows responded, quote, i'm pushing it hard. i agree. still, president trump did not immediately act. donald trump, jr., texted again and again, urging action by the president. quote, we need an oval office address. he has to lead now. it has gone too far and gotten out of hand. >> the texts show that the same fox news hosts and members of the trump inner circle who have now spent months downplaying the insurrection were, in fact, on january 6th begging the former president to call off the rioters. >> multiple fox news hosts knew the president needed to act immediately. they texted mr. meadows, and he has turned over those texts. quote, mark, the president needs to tell people in the capitol to go home. this is hurting all of us. he is destroying his legacy, laura ingraham wrote. please goet him on tv, destroyig everything you've accomplished, brian kilmeade texted. quote, can he make a statement, ask people to leave the capitol, sean hannity urged. >> so, speaking of hannity, mark meadows appeared on hannity's show last night. you might think the two would talk about these text messages. but no, meadows did, however, mention the text on newsmax. >> we've tried very hard in a very transparent and accommodating way to share nonprivileged information. >> right. >> and what we found out tonight is that not only did that just get disregarded, but then they tried to weaponize text message, leak them to put out a narrative that, quite frankly, the president didn't act. and i can tell you, the president did act. this is all about -- you it's not about holding me in contempt. it's about coming after president donald trump. >> cnn's ryan nobles has more from capitol hill on all of this. >> reporter: christine and laura, first the headline. for the third time, the january 6 select committee has voted out of their committee a referral of criminal contempt of someone with a close association to the former president donald trump. this time someone who is as close as it gets, his former chief of staff mark meadows who has now defied the committee's request to sit before them at a deposition. that's the most tangible piece of information that came out of monday night. but we learned so much more about the broader investigation here. things that were revealed from these 6000 documents that meadows shared with the committee, that the committee wants to know more about. text messages that meadows shared with members of congress, with fox news personalities, with others, the children of the former president donald trump, all either, a, trying to encourage him to find a way to prevent the democratic process from moving forward. these were in the days leading up to january 6th. and on january 6th, people pleading with him to do something to convince donald trump to tell his supporters to back away from that riot at the capitol. now, this is all part of the committee's case that they're building for this criminal contempt referral. yes, the committee believes that meadows is in contempt, but it's not ultimately their decision. it will ultimately be a decision of a jury of meadows' peers. his situation is different than steve bannon or jeffrey clark, former d.o.j. official. he was chief of staff. he worked in the executive branch. there may be things he knows about that he can't share because it's protected under executive privilege, but the committee believes that he is using that in too broad of a sense, and the fact that he's handed over these documents, that he's talked about it in the book that he has written makes him available to them to ask questions. this is what pete aguilar, a member of the committee told me about where they believe their contempt argument can be made after the hearing that took place on monday night. >> the supreme court has made very clear that executive privilege is not absolute, and that's exactly what mr. meadows is claiming. and the fact that he sent us all these documents shows that he understands that he doesn't enjoy absolute privilege. these were non-privileged documents that he sent according to he and his attorney, and he should have to come talk about them. >> reporter: what happens next, the full house is expected to vote on this contempt referral as soon as today, as soon as tuesday. then it will then be sent over to the department of justice that will decide whether or not they will prosecute mark meadows. there is a bit of the a wonder whether or not merrick garland and his department will take that step. but regardless, there is so much more that we know about this investigation. keep in mind meadows was in regular contact with a group of republican members of congress. we don't exactly know who they are. the committee told us about which fox news personality he was in communication with. they told us about which members of the trump family meadows was in touch with. those members of congress have still not been revealed, but you can bet that it will be a big part of this investigation as they go forward. laura and christine? >> all right, ryan, thank you for that. now, one of the more remarkable messages to meadows came from one of those unnamed lawmakers. as congressman schiff pointed out, the person was more concerned about failing to flip the election than the riot that happened the day before. >> this is the last message i want to highlight, again, from a lawmaker in the aftermath of january 6th. if we could cue graph number 3. yesterday was a terrible day. we tried everything we could in our objection to the six states. i'm sorry nothing worked. the day after a failed attempt to stop the peaceful transfer of power through violence, an elected lawmaker tells the white house chief of staff, i'm sorry nothing worked. that is chilling. >> all right. it is time now for three questions in three minutes. so let's bring in former federal prosecutor michael zeldin, host of the podcast with michael zeldin. nice to see you bright and early this morning, sir. >> good morning. >> these messages paint a clear picture of what people close to trump were thinking and what they were saying. they don't spieak directly to te president's mind-set and his intent. what stands out to you most from this evidence? >> it seems to me the clear implication from trump's inaction is that he enjoyed what he saw on the television, the siege on the capitol. he felt that this was in his political interests. that's why in the face of all of these beggings of him to act, he refused to act. i think that he was happy with the outcome, thought it would help his chance to have this election set aside. >> certainly the implication, but it does seem that we need that connective tissue, right, michael? it does seem that's going to be the next link. if the committee manages to actually talk to meadows or talk to others around him who can sort of fill in the picture here. but put on the defense hat. i know you're a former prosecutor, but pretend you're representing meadows. you've already released these thousands of pages of documents. what is your strongest ground to claim executive privilege, to keep you from having to actually testify and sit for a deposition? >> i would say that my client has done nothing to violate executive privilege, that he is standing by the former president's request that he not disclose anything that implicates executive privilege. he has not done so. all of that which he has turned over to the committee is non-privileged communications. once the committee said to my client that they intend to ask him about privileged information, he had no choice but to not show up. >> you think that's the case even when he's talking about conversations that -- he's relation conversations he had with potus. he says, i talked to trump and trump thinks x. trump thinks the vp can flip the election. you think he hasn't waived privilege there? >> he can't waive privilege. the only person that can waive privilege is the president. biden has waived the privilege. meadows can't waive the privilege that exists with the president. i don't think there is a credible claim that meadows has waived anything that he can't waive. i hope that's not too legalistic, but it's kind of like attorney/client privilege. the privilege of law is with the client, not the attorney. the attorney can't waive that privilege for the client. here meadows can't waive that privilege to trump. trump standing by his right to assert this privilege, and we'll have to wait to see what the supreme court says about it. >> so meadows would be the second person held in contempt if the full house agrees. how do you think the justice department will act? >> i think this is a pretty straightforward case because of meadows' wholesale refusal to show up. he has non-privileged testimony that the committee wants. and notwithstanding any good faith disagreements about executive privilege protected communications. there is a whole host of information that the committee has set forth that they want from meadows. and when he refused entirely to show up, i think he acted in contempt of congress. and i think that the d.o.j. can bring a charge against him, setting aside the executive privilege disagreement, and saying his conduct is legally contemptuous because he refused to answer questions about non-privileged information, information that he, as we've discussed, he has already given forward in the public domain and to the congress itself. so i think it's a pretty straightforward case should they decide to go there. >> all right, we'll see what the justice department does with it and we will have you back to break it all down. michael zeldin, thank you. >> thank you for having me. up next, a survivor recalls the moment a deadly tornado destroyed her home. and the military takes action against troops who he roo fuse covid vaccines. coaching. new workouts. and screening for colon cancer. yep. the american cancer society recommends screening starting at age 45, instead of 50, since colon cancer is increasing in younger adults. i'm cologuard®. i'm convenient and find 92% of colon cancers... ...even in early stages. i'm for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your provider if cologuard is right for you. hello, for the last few years, i've been a little obsessed with chasing the big idaho potato truck. but it's not like that's my only interest. i also love cooking with heart-healthy, idaho potatoes. always look for the grown in idaho seal. ♪ 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>> brian, so glad you're there for us to bring us that story. awful. hand guns and tasers take center stage at a high-profile police shooting trial next. and new demands from the man who might just be the most powerful man in washington. and we do not mean president biden. representing the connection you share. forever connected. the perfect gift to give this holiday. exclusively at kay. kim is now demonstrating her congestion. save it slimeball. i've upgraded to mucinex. we still have 12 hours to australia. mucinex lasts 12 hours, so i'm good. now move! kim, no! mucinex lasts 3x longer for 12 hours. before nexium 24hr, anna could only imagine a comfortable night's sleep without frequent heartburn waking her up. now, that dream... . ...is her reality. nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts, for all-day, all-night protection. can you imagine 24 hours without heartburn? 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an eye on today. after months of investigation into the capitol riot probes, the january 6 committee voted unanimously to hold trump chief of staff mark meadows in contempt of congress for defying the panel subpoena. the full house could vote decide whether to send it to the justice department. >> texts messages received during the riot as well as donald trump, jr., fox news personalities and white house officials, they all begged meadows to get the president to tell his supporters to go home. president biden plans to visit kentucky tomorrow to see the widespread tornado devastation. the weekend outbreak of twisters left 88 people dead in five states. over 100 people in kentucky alone still unaccounted for this morning. starting tomorrow, all of california will be under an indoor mask mandate. the new policy will cover residents and policies that don't require markets for indoor public settings. health officials say california has seen a 47% increase in covid cases since thanksgiving. they removed 27 active duty service members for refusing to get the covid vaccine. any service members refusing to obey the vaccine order would face disciplinary actions including discharge without separation pay. hundreds of sex abuse survivors have reached a $380 million settlement with olympic gymnastics and the olympic committee. several stars said they turned a blind eye to larry nassar, the former national team doctor who received decades of prison time for abusing hundreds of girls for decades. no u.s. military personnel will be punished for the august drone strike in kabul that killed ten civilians. seven of those victims children. defense secretary lloyd austin made recommendations to improve procedures, but that did not include holding accountable those who made what the pentagon called a mistake. all right. it's now time for three questions in three minutes. let's bring in cnn political analyst margaret, managing editor at exuotsuri. good morning, margaret. so great to see you. >> good morning, ladies. >> good morning. so, for months we've seen different personalities on another cable news station whitewashing the january 6 insurrection. we now learned that behind the scenes they were actually sending all of these breathless text messages to mark meadows, trump's former chief of staff. just take a look at this. >> i have never seen trump rally attendees wearing helmets, black helmets, brown helmets, black backpacks, the uniforms that you saw in some of these crowd shots. >> everyone knew going in today that this crowd was going to be massive. they knew there were hundreds of thousands of people that came to town. we also knew that there's always bad actors that will infiltrate large crowds. >> the fbi will infiltrate groups whether it's al qaeda, and they'll unwind before it takes place. >> we know what that means. the texts on the side panel were there were small. it basically shows this has all been b.s. all along. we know laura ingraham is saying things like this is going to ruin trump's legacy. not that this is so bad for the nation. police officers are getting hurt. this is going to ruin trump's legacy. >> we shouldn't say cable news any more when talking about certain players. it's not news. >> propaganda. >> yeah. >> there was a question in there somewhere for you, margaret. i promise. >> look, to watch the hearing last night and to watch liz cheney read these texts into the record, the texts obviously speak for themselves. they paint a very different picture than the ones that the former president and his allies have been trying to convey for most of the past year, and they show that his own family and some of his closest advisers and supporters in entertainment programs and on -- in the media understood that it was a very different picture. and apparently were quite alarmed by what was happening and the fact he wouldn't do more to stop it. what i'm really struck by is if you watched mark meadows on fox news last night, none of that was discussed. he wasn't even asked about those matters and sean hannity who was interviewing him didn't acknowledge his own role in it. so if you are an american, one of millions of americans who is getting your news from a conservative news channel, you may not actually know what these texts say and have a full picture of what's happening. >> there are hours of that news channel that are entertainment, propaganda entertainment. >> or even if they did know it wouldn't make any difference. >> we also learned last night an unnamed lawmaker apologized to meadows for failing to stop the vote count, writing this, we tried everything we could in our objection to the six states. these messages are damning for meadows and potentially bad for other sitting members of congress. >> that's right. and i think, you know, don't forget, mark meadows was himself a member of congress who during his time in congress would absolutely have pushed back against any potential witness who didn't want to cooperate in the hearing. i think the revelations in the report sunday night and in the, in the remarks before the vote last night certainly give us a much fuller picture of the documents that meadows did turnover to the committee before he stopped cooperating. what they don't do is show us what he may not have turned over and the committee itself has said they are concerned that they may not have a full picture of what was in personal emails, personal texts, unencrypted meadows used turned over to the national archives. i think what has been turned over gives a much fuller picture of the former chief of staff working in concert with sitting members of congress and working in concert with the former president and state legislatures to try to coordinate a very systematic pushback to the election results, efforts to try to block that certification of a legitimately elected president, joe biden. and having a lot of contact with folks who would end up storming the capitol on january the 6th. >> so, margaret, then what's the committee's next move here? the messages are bad. but even if d.o.j. indicts meadows like they did steve bannon, it's about punishment, not about getting more information. >> you know, that's right. i do think that the committee has made a point of talking about how many dozens or hundreds of people already have cooperated. it does seem that they have a number of text or email communications, other communications that they'll be piecing together to try to have an understanding of do they have half of a conversation and not the other half. >> yeah. >> but ultimately they are facing two challenges. what will people willfully turnover and how much time do they have? they know it's a time they're racing against. >> we know meadows did not talk about the text messages on fox but he did on newsmax. >> weepized. >> cherry-picked to paint a picture of the president. >> so give us the full picture. >> margaret talev, political analyst, thank you so much. the most pivotal swing vote senator joe manchin is signalling major changes would be needed for him to support president biden's sweeping social safety net expansion. accommodating manchin's demands could deliver a fatal blow to democratic leaders' hopes of getting this bill passed in the senate before christmas. cnn's jasmine wright is live in washington with more on this. many jasmine, good morning. what is manchin's goal here? what's driving this? >> reporter: well, look, he is deeply, deeply concerned about a couple different things, including the size and the scope of this bill. president biden in a highly anticipated call yesterday, he spoke to manchin. productive and constructive, those were the two words manchin spokesperson and biden spokesperson told reporters afterwards really describing the call. i don't know, laura, if that sounds to you like two men on the precipice of making a deal, but still this call came at an essential time. remember, we are days away from that deadline you just mentioned from senate majority leader chuck schumer wanting to passion the $1.9 trillion expansion package by christmas. with manchin both publicly voicing his concerns over things like the effect it will have on insulation, energy producers, this massive bill, those odds are decreasing. white house press secretary, when previewing the call, remember, this is their second call they've had in about a week. we learned of another call they had late last week, but white house secretary, when describing the call, she said she wouldn't view it as a negotiating table, but still wishes two people who have been in public life a long time coming together for a conversation. take a listen. >> the president is going to speak, looks forward to speaking directly with senator manchin about -- in making the case for why the president feels this legislation should move forward. he feels that they have always operated, their conversations have always operated in good faith, and he expects this to follow that same, that same approach. >> reporter: so there was psaki talking about the approach. she earlier declined to tell reporters what his message is to senator manchin. he would keep it private but discuss it at a later time as they barrel towards the deadline. after the calls of biden officials and manchin officials, the pair decided to come back in the coming days, rather, try to make some movement on president biden's very big bill. but again, they are still under this really harsh deadline just days away were the odds decreasing every day. laura? >> all right, jasmine, thank you for staying on top of it. covid outbreaks in the nfl and nba next. and chronicles emerging from the deadly kentucky tornadoes next. >> you flew from this spot here? >> all the way over -- ♪ breeze driftin' on by... ♪ if you've been playing down your copd,... ♪ it's a new dawn, it's a new dayay,... ♪ ...it's s time to make a stand. start a new day with trelegy. ♪...and i'm feelin' 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(vo) reflect on the past, celebrate the future. season's greetings from audi. the death toll from the series of tornadoes that ravaged the heartland this weekend keeps rising. in kentucky it's now up to 74 people. governor andy beshear says an additional 109 residents remain unaccounted for. officials say at least 14 people were killed in four other states. amid all the devastation, the wrecked homes, wrecked businesses, harrowing tales are emerging like this astonishing story a woman told cnn's ed lavandera. >> in a millisecond we were no longer in the bed or in our house. we were on the ground all the way over there somewhere. >> reporter: like on the other side of those cars? >> like over this rubble on the ground in mud. with absolutely nothing near us. >> reporter: so you flew from this spot right here -- >> all the way over -- >> reporter: -- the rubble over there. so this is the area. >> yeah. >> reporter: you're probably close to 200 feet away. >> i think being on the mattress saved us because for the most part of flying through the air, we weren't just flying through the air. we were on the bed. >> reporter: that's one of the most unbelievable things i've ever heard anybody surviving. >> it's insane. i can't believe me and my kids are okay. i can't believe there's no broken bones on my children. >> ed has more now from the town of dawson springs. >> reporter: christine and laura, the mayor here in dawson springs, kentucky, says 75% of this city has been decimated by the or tornado that ripped thro here friday night. 15 people where dawson springs are located were killed in the storm. most of the people from the neighborhood we're reporting from. in fact, the last victim we know about was pulled from the rubble of this apartment complex you see behind me. and the great concern right now is just how long it is going to take to rebuild. and for many of the residents here, hundreds of residents who live below the poverty line, how will they be able to rebuild or what are they going to do next? the mayor here says about a third of this city is below the poverty line, so there is real question as to whether or not the federal aid and insurance money that they have even have insurance, how much is that going to help them in rebuilding their lives. so now several days after this storm's passing and everybody coming to terms with what has happened here, the reality of what the future is going to look like is becoming a much starker question. christine and laura? >> all right, thank you so much for that, ed. let's get a check on cnn business this morning. look at tuesday markets around the world, you can see atheists shares closed lower. europe is now open, narrowly mixed. on wall street stock index futures leaning down just a little bit here. stocks closed lower on monday. tech stocks took the biggest hit. the nasdaq fell 1.4%. the dow and the s&p 500 both closed about 1% lower. still, halfway through december, the s&p 500 is up 24% so far this year. inflation, though, issue number one, consumer prices as you know for just about everything are rising the fastest in years. we're going to get a read on prices from producers to add to that picture. the fed is the official inflation fighter making this week's two-day meeting critical. the fed bank has started reducing its covid support cutting bond support by $15 billion a month. fed chief powell expected to widely accelerate the pace and give us hints when the fed will shift gears and start raising interest rates. critical aid for low income families could end this week unless congress acts. parents will receive their last monthly payment of the expanded child tax credit wednesday unless lawmakers extend it for another year. eligible families have received about $300 for each child since july as part of the democrats' $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill passed last year. democratic leaders want to extend the payments as part of the build back better plan, but that plan faces opposition from west virginia senator joe manchin over its $2 trillion cost. >> my friends, $200 in chips. >> woo-hoo, big bet for a big man. >> that scene from vegas vacation. shot at the mirage hotel and casino. the legendary mirage name may not stay. it will be licensed royalty free for three years while it rebrands. all right. despite being down four starters due to covid-19 protocols, the rams knocked the cardinals out of the top spot in the nfc playoff race. andy scholes has this morning's bleacher report. >> good morning, christine. so, nfl teams tested vaccinated players and staff once a week. most do it on mondays. yesterday there were 37 positive covid-19 test results across the league as the highest number among players since the pandemic began. rams cornerback jalen ramsey and tight end were added to the covid list, not able to play against the cardinals. in the third quarter tied at 13, matthew stafford, play action going to go deep. it's van jefferson for the 52-yard touchdown. stafford had three touchdown passes. his dad coach wasn't happy his son scored. after getting an on side kick, the offense was confused. murray gets sacked by donald to end the game. rams win 30-23. the nba postponed because of covid outbreaks in the organization. hence players and additional staff members are in the league's health and safety protocols. this is the first time the nba has postponed games this season. the nhl also dealing with an outbreak within the calgary flames. the league postponing their next three games after six players and one staff member entered the nhl's covid protocols over a 24-hour period. the nhl made the announcement warning of a likelihood of additional positive cases coming in the coming days. all right. on the court, warrior superstar steph curry now just two three pointers away from breaking the all-time nba record. he finished five for 15 from beyond the arc for the pacers last night. 26 points in the game as golden state rallied for a 102-100 win. curry spoke about what it's like being so close to history. >> i'm enjoying the moment. you knock on the doorstep, it's pretty surreal, but it's also, just let it happen. >> and curry likely to break the record tonight on the nba's grandest stage, madison square garden against the new york knicks. you can watch that game 7:30 eastern on our sister channel tnt. reggie miller calling the game. ray allen who curry is going to pass, expected to be in attendance. christine, the get-in price at madison square garden going for 500 bucks. take your boys. it will be a nice night. >> no, i'll watch that one on tv. thanks a lot. nice to see you, andy. all right. thanks for joining us. i'm christine romans. 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