♪ welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. it is thursday, december 16th, and i'm brianna keilar with john berman. the dilemma facing colleges and really the whole country as coronavirus cases are shooting up and cases are definitely shooting up, rising quite a lot here. cornell university encapsulating the situation. 1,000 new cases reported on that campus. the university president reports they are seeing no severe cases among students, none. so what is the most important medical headline here? is it 1,000 new cases, is it no severe cases, and what is the right reaction to these events? cornell, princeton, middlebury college all are moving fall semester final exams online. nyu says it strongly encourages students to take their finals from home as well. but is that necessary with almost no severe cases? several schools issued booster shot requirements in recent weeks. >> this as flu and covid cases are on the rise, which led to growing concern that health systems could be overwhelmed this winter. coronavirus hospitalizations up 43% from a month ago. the cdc projects virus deaths to increase the next four weeks. however, the number of fully vaccinated americans surpassed 200 million earlier this month. more than 60% of the population the past week. the doses being administered jumped 35% from the week before. dr. january say gupta joins us now. i'm obsessed with what is going on at cornell. it poses all the questions we have to be thinking about right now. they have 1,000 new cases in a week, which is a lot. they shut down. but the university president sends out a statement that says, i want to provide reassurance that to date we have not seen severe illness in any of our students. so to me, i'm trying to figure out what the headline is here and how we process this. is it 1,000 new cases, or 1,000 new case but none are serious? >> right. no, i'm with you on that. you know, both things potentially can be true. you could have a very contagious virus. that might be causing less severe disease. but here's the issue. we still don't know the full denominator of what we're talking about here. you're talking about college students. theres been these outbreaks among athletes as well. younger, healthier parts of the population. and we know that even going back to the original strains, people who are younger and healthier were less likely to get sec in the first place. but what is the true denominator here? and also when you have so many people still dying today. 1,300 people have died every day. hospitalizations up, as you mentioned. 120,000 new cases. we are still in the middle of the viral storm. so the idea they may be less likely to get sick, that may be true. we saw that in south africa as well, especially among younger and healthier people. what about older people, the graph you see on the screen, this is mostly unvaccinated people, still taking up hospital beds with covid. >> as we are watching the numbers, i wonder what you are looking for in the next few weeks, what you want to know about omicron and what's concerning you. >> you know, i think one of the biggest things still is that this does appear very contagious. i don't know if we have the graph that shows what the beginning of delta or omicron looked like. basically, these are the important questions. we know the acceleration has been more rapid with this versus delta. will it now outcompete delta, will they sort of coiexistcoexi two viruses. and it truly less severe? how about things like long covid? is it still as likely to cause long covid type symptoms even if it's less severe? and then the impact obviously on immunity overall. vaccines and infection acquired immunity. we know in south africa, a lot of people were getting omicron despite the fact that they were infected before. does infection acquired immunity with a previous variant was not as protective? what about the vaccines? those are big questions still. . >> you know, dr. fauci, i heard him with wolf yesterday say boosters are the best bet right now. the best thing you can do -- first of all, is get vaccinated. but get boosted. >> let me show you some of the data they were relying on for that. if you look at omicron and delta specifically and the protection over time, the first few weeks when you have both these variants side by side, the protection is pretty good. it's in the high 80% range. as you sort of progress over time, blue is omicron there. you can see how it significantly dips off. but then the question was, what about the booster? how much more does that offer in terms of antibodies? and it goes up significantly. that's two weeks after the booster is the far graph on the right. and it does offer a lot of protection. keep in mind that even in the past there was a delta-specific booster that was worked on. even a beta-specific booster that was worked on, ultimately not needed because they found the existing vaccine, if given as another dose, seemed to provide enough protection. >> so, sanjay, the important stuff here. yes, there's omicron. yes, rise in cases. what about holiday parties? jessica rose writes, how do we deal with holiday parties? >> yeah. i mean, this is something that we have been thinking about a lot as a family as well. i think there's a few things, you know, the vaccines obviously, if you're vaccinated, boosted, it makes it a much safer environment for people who are vulnerable. people may be coming together multigenerational over the holidays. that is a first step. but i would add in other layers here as well. again, testing is something that we're still not doing enough of. we still don't have great vision on exactly how widespread the problem is. there's good testing available now even over the counter that can tell you whether you are contagious. getting the right kind of masks going to indoor public events where you aren't sure of vaccination status. that's particularly important. and ventilation. i keep a carbon dioxide monitor, a poor man's ventilation measure. you can tell just how much your ventilation is increasing or decreasing at any given time. again, vaccines lead the way. but there are other things to help make the party safer and are not that obtrusive. >> co2 monitor. put that in your bag of tricks there. susan blalock wants to know this. if a person travels by plane to my house for a holiday, will a rapid covid test detect a virus that my guest has picked up that day? >> the answer is probably not. because it does take some time usually for even a pcr test to pick up somebody who has been newly exposed. i think, though, this gets back to sort of the value of testing a little bit. if someone is sick, they should stay home, obviously. coughing, sneezing, if they have symptoms. if you are not sick, you feel fine and you've been vaccinated, now the question is, i think i'm good to go, but am i really? those are where the rapid tests can play a role. they may not pick up every particle, but they can usually turn positive when someone has enough of a viral load to be contagious. if the question is am i contagious, that is a good test to get and can answer that important question. . >> that's what susan needs to know as she tries to get ready for the holidays. sanjay, thank you so much. >> you got it. thank you. meteorologists say record heat for december is fueling severe weather across the central united states. in response to the tornados that devastated the midwest last week, fema manager said this might be our new normal. >> and this is going to be our new normal. and the effects we're seeing from climate change are the crisis of our generation. >> as i said, it may just be the new normal. joining us now, cnn chief climate correspondent bill weir. >> hi, john. >> bill, i was in kentucky. the idea that you have these really warm temperatures in december interacting with cold fronts here, what's going on here? >> john, there was a tornado in minnesota last night, in december. if you wrote some dystopian disaster movie you would dismiss it outright. thunderstorms on the north shore of lake superior in december. and that's just a little taste. 55 reports of hurricane-force winds overnight that broke the record of last year. we live in the age of broken record breaking. one is set. it is broken days or weeks later and we sound like a broken record saying this is not going to stop. dust storm in colorado, 100-mile-per-hour winds there. it looked like a dust bowl. softball-sized hail in nebraska. sierra getting too much snow at once, not enough to fix the drought. enough to make a lot of headaches there. oh, and a super typhoon hit the philippines with category 5 winds, with nine-foot storm surge. this is the result of a hotter planet. some folks think i don't live in the global south. i'm nowhere near the coasts. this is what happens had all the warm supercharged air hits the jet stream and spins it. it is like putting a baseball in a pitching machine. and you saw the results firsthand. those poor souls in kentucky are picking up the pieces and will be for a year. >> this is different. this is different than we have seen. you see in kentucky, greenland, minnesota. it's different. >> the term act of god has been a legal insurance term. these are acts of humanity. these are unnatural disaster that scientists have been warning us about for a very long time. and unfortunately they don't seem to sink in. we have the capacity to normalize and politicize awfulness. exhibit a is the pandemic we're going through right now in which health scientists are getting the same sort of abuse that climate scientists got for a long time. but this is not going away. and even if everybody, you know, parked their cars tomorrow and, you know, rode horses and skate boards to work, greenland is not going to stop melting. that's already baked in. and to add a nice cherry to op of your holiday discussions, there is a tkphraeurber in a glacier in antarctica, it is melting from below within the next five years. >> thanks for that christmas cheer, bill. >> sorry. >> when we talk about what's happening in the midwest, hurricanes in the fall. one of the direct impacts is the intensity. . >> too much of the things we need, source of life, water. rain bombs in hawaii. i was just filming there. we saw the blizzard warnings in hawaii. and what's happening in the west now with these mudslides deluges of rain, dumps of snow after so much drought. the soil can't absorb it. and it's this knock-on effect. and i'm afraid we will be headed for the day when the president would visit a natural disaster area when there was only one at a time so he was able to do that. we need to wake up to this, john. this is not getting better. >> it's a sober message, bill. i appreciate the message. happy holiday? >> you have to keep hope alive. >> those in the right wing who have had it with congresswoman liz cheney. >> and congressman jim jordan was one of the lawmakers who texted mark meadows what he wanted the vice president to do. a louisiana judge facing questions after a video with racist language, her using it. it surfaces. the drug she is now blaming for using the "n" word. 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former president before, during or after the attack on the capitol? >> of course i've talked to the president. i've been clear about that. i talk to him all the time. i talked to him that day. i've been clear about that. i don't recall the number of times. >> was it before, during or after. >> i talked to the president after the attack. >> not before or during? >> right. >> and you -- >> i've been clear about that. . >> actually, he had not been clear on b that. this is jim jordan in july. >> did you talk to the former president that day? >> i've talked to the former president umpteen times, thousands. -- not thousands, countless times. i never talk about what we talk about because i don't think that's appropriate just like i don't talk about what happens in republican conferences. i talked to the president numerous times. i continued -- >> no, i mean january 6th. >> yes. i have talked to the president so many -- i can't remember all the days i've talked to him. but i have certainly talked to the president >> a day after that, even with time to think about his answer, jordan again flustered by the question. >> did you speak with president trump on january 6th? >> yeah. i spoke with the president last week. i speak with the president all the time. i spoke with him january 6th. i talk with president trump all the time. that's -- i don't think that's unusual. i would expect members of congress to talk with the president of the united states when they're trying to get done the things they told the voters in their district to do. i -- i'm amazed that people ask this question. of course. like i said, i talked to him last week. . >> on january 6th did you speak to him before, during or after the capitol was attacked? >> i would have to go -- i -- i spoke with him that day, after -- i think after. i don't know if i spoke with him in the morning or not. i just don't know. i would have to go back -- i mean, i don't -- i don't know that when -- when those conversations happened. but what i know is i spoke with him all the time. >> so to summarize, jim jordan was sure, then unsure, and then a month later in august he couldn't recall. he said it twice actually that he couldn't recall. maybe you recall this. just five days after the insurrection, trump awarded jordan the medal of freedom, one of the highest civilian honors a short time before he was helping to plot a coup. republicans really wanted jim jordan on this january 6th committee. instead, he is now a potential witness. >> certainly his texts are part of the record. congresswoman liz cheney facing the wrath of her party and fox entertainers after she exposed them texting to then white house chief of staff mark meadows during the capitol insurrection. >> what's really going on with liz cheney and the media, the diminutive media. . >> text messages. liz, are he lease yours. >> i actually don't care to read any of their text messages because they're all so aggressively boring. >> i don't think liz cheney likes us. >> i don't think she likes us either. >> i don't know why. i don't know why. >> joining me now is republican party state committee man mcginley from cheney's home state of wyoming. thank you so much for being with us again. why do you think liz cheney seems to bother them so much? >> that's a great question, john. you know, i've been following this closely. representative cheney is representing republicans on the january 6th committee, which i think is great. what we need to get to is the truth. and if the truth shows the president was involved, then we need to know that. if this committee exonerates the president, great. again, we need to have republicans represented and we need to see the truth. what does it tell you the two we heard from are so uncomfortable with liz cheney? >> well, that's frustrating. i saw some of those messages. you know, listen, a lot what was happening january 6th. we had not seen that before. people will sometimes say and do things they didn't really mean. in the situation you to discuss it, what is the meaning behind it. is there a bigger picture we need to know about? or was it just misspoken messages. again, that's the purpose of this committee, and i do hope we get to the truth on it. >> what do you think as you see more and more of these text messages? what is your opinion as we have seen them so far? >> i'm watching cautiously. i really have to believe and hope our government, our leaders are looking out for the best interest of the people of america. i hope that the media is unbiased. i really do. on both sides of this topic. you know, i'm not on the committee. i'm not seeing the data firsthand. i don't want to make judgment on individuals until we see the full message, the full picture that comes out. and i hope we do. i hope everyone has the same motive. not just looking to condemn someone, to throw someone under the bus but say how do we prevent this? how can we come together and say january 6th was wrong. no one really thinks january 6th was a good thing in any way, shape or form. so how do we prevent that? who was involved? was it just a small group, members of government, could more have been done, could the president have stepped in and stopped this. that's what's important. >> i'm not so sure you're right, no one thinks it's a good day. i think as time goes on there are those who are celebrating it almost. the former president among them, celebrating january 6th. be that as it may, i want to talk about liz cheney because she is from your home state. you know her. you have worked around her for a long time. what do you think it is that is driving her? it can't be easy to stand up to your party. >> you know, i can't even imagine what representative cheney is going through right now. good for her to have the courage to speak up for what's right and what she believes in. i think sticking to the constitution and our constitutional values. as republicans, we believe in law and order. even if it doesn't fit our narrative, that's what we believe. you have to have the courage to speak up, to say how can i do better. all of our elected officials should do that. even if it doesn't fit the narrative, they should speak up and say, this is what's right for the people of my district. this is what's right for the people of my state. and this is what's right for the people of my country. it's not one team versus another. we're all americans. and every representative should think what's best for america first. we are seeing that from representative cheney. i truly believe that she believes something very bad happened here and she wants to get to the truth. >> joe, i have to ask you, if you had to bet your house right now, one year from now, will this be liz cheney's republican party or jim jordan's republican party? which do you think? >> given -- that is a wonderful question. you know, if i could predict that, you know, i'd be in a much different position here. it will be interesting, that's for sure. i think representative cheney is starting to gain a lot of momentum. i think her steadfastness on sticking with constitutional values is helping. i can't really relate to what representative jordan is speaking to, you know, with representative cheney, we'll see. we are seeing a growing number of younger individuals, young republicans relate to what representative cheney's message is. >>. >> joe mcginley, appreciate your time again, as always. >> thank you. this morning, the president's build back better plan hitting a major roadblock. what it means for millions reliant on the new child tax credit that's about to expire. and san francisco's mayor sick and tired of the crime surge that is plaguing her city. >> time for it to come to an end. more aggressive with the changes in our policies. and less tolerant of all the bullshit that has destroyed our city. >> don lemon will be joining us with his reaction ahead. find your breaking point. then break it. every 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google. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ all right. just in, moments ago, the white house announced a new plan to train, recruit and retain thousands of trucker positions as part of the efforts to reduce the supply chain crisis, slowing the shipment of goods around the world. joining us now is transportation secretary pete buttigieg. mr. secretary, thank you for being with us. what exactly is this plan and why is it needed? >> so this is needed because it's a very important part of addressing supply chain issues. as you know, we have seen supply disruptions since the beginning of the pandemic. we have been working on them since the beginning of this administration. now, a lot of the attention is what's going on with the ships and the ports. we have been doing a lot of work there. a lot of issue has to do with trucking capacity in all parts of the country. remember, these truck drivers are the definition of essential workers. you can't do that job from home, you can't do it over zoom. we have absolutely depended on them from getting everything from vaccine supplies to christmas presents where they need to be. but we are at a moment where we don't have the trucking capacity we need. so we're teaming up with the department of labor, taking a number of steps across the next 30, 60, 90 days and beyond. in the near term, a lot of it is taking down some of the red tape that gets in the way of people who want a career in trucking, being able to get tested for a commercial driver's license, for example. in the long run, frankly we need to do more to make this a secure, well compensated and well respected jo be. we will be looking at that too. >> that is one of the big problems here. a lot of the issue has been retention. it's not new hires. it's retention. truckers don't want to stay in the job. they may have better opportunities as this economy recovers. >> a lot of times when truckers are waiting to pick up a load, it can take hours, they're not necessarily paid for that. and the compensation structures are a real issues. we have a lot of people willing and ready to join the profession. we are working hard to clear the red tape in the short-term. it will be a leaky bucket unless we do more to make sure this is a job where people want to stay, build careers. that means listening to truckers and what they have to say. we'll be spending more time with them. virtually joining a gathering in south carolina today. again, this is part of our partnership with the department of labor. this is largely about making sure this work pays and is supported. down to practical issues. like the availability of parking, bathrooms. we've got to do better to support the truckers who supported us through the pandemic and throughout the economy. >> little changes can make a big difference in terms of quality of life. another issue in the last couple of hours has to do with removing lead from water pipes in homes. and this could affect up to 10 million american households. >> absolutely important to get to work right away on this. this is one of the most important parts of the infrastructure law, even if it's a little bit unsung because it is not as well understood as roads and bridges. the bottom line is this, there is no safe level of lead in drinking water for children. it can cause developmental damage that lasts a lifetime. and i can't think of a better use of a dollar than to invest it in preventing a child from getting lead poisoning. what you will see is largely using the resources made possible in that law that the president just signed is everything from making sure we're addressing pipes that go to homes to working with schools and making sure there is not lead exposure there either. this is critically important. and the president is committed to making sure that we take care of every one of these lead service lines in the country. because every parent should know a glass of drinking water is safe and their child is going to be okay. >> we learned overnight, manu raju spoke to senator joe manchin. the senator does not support, as it stands now, extending the child tax credit unless somehow it is paid for, unless something else comes out. does not support it as being part of the build back better plan. your reaction to that? >> well, we believe in the child tax credit, believe it's good policy. there is negotiation under way how to get this and other elements of the president's economic package through. i believe we will. i think we will because it is so important to the american people and so important in terms of our economy. look, whether we're talking about the child tax credit, provisions that are going to reduce the cost of child care, or something i'm very excited for in the transportation field, which is the reduction in the cost of electric vehicles. all of these things, reducing costs at a time like this and putting money in families' pockets, especially as we continue to see the effects of inflation, incredibly urgent. and i believe it will get done >> are you disappointed in senator manchin? >> this is part of a very large, very complex financial package. i think we will get through this. when we do, adding this to the historic effects of the infrastructure law that we are already putting into action, this season of legislative action i think will be remembered as one of the most productive and important in modern times. >> the ceos of southwest and american airlines testified they didn't think masks were necessary anymore in flight. the former surgeon general said he was disgusted by those comments and that it was reckless. your thoughts? >> we will continue to take our cues from what the cdc and other public health experts tell us. we know masks are an effective means of snowing or preventing the spread. look, i think we are all impatient with them. i feel that. obviously i travel a lot. especially at a time when we have uncertainty with new variants coming and going. it makes since to err on the side of caution precisely so we can continue to have an economy and aviation sector that's thriving. you think about how close to the brink the american airline sector came, for travelers to be able to keep traveling. keeping that up, means taking the extra precautions. that's why they are there. and they are there to save lives. transportation secretary pete buttigieg, thanks for being with us. >> good being with you. urban meyer fired after 13 games. which of several scandals sealed his fate. and throwing a wrench into sports. what is the best way to save the season while also keeping people safe? 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. when you really need to sleep you reach for the really good stuff. new zzzquil ultra helps you sleep better and longer when you need it most. it's non habit forming and powered by the makers of nyquil. new zzzquil ultra. when you really really need to sleep. 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. switching wireless carriers is easy with xfinity. just lean on our helpful switch squad to help you save with xfinity mobile. they can help break up with your current carrier for you and transfer your info to your new phone. giving you a fast and easy experience that can save you hundreds a year on your wireless bill. visit your nearest xfinity store and see how the switch squad can help you switch and save. get $200 off a new eligible 5g phone when you switch to xfinity mobile. talk with our helpful switch squad at your local xfinity store today. breaking overnight, after less than one year in jacksonville, urban meyer has been fired as jaguars head coach. this comes after a year full of controversy and losing. the owner saying this in a quote. after deliberation over many weeks and thorough analysis of the entirety of urban's tenure with our team, i am bitterly disappointed to come to the conclusion that an immediate change is imperative for everyone. regaining our trust and respect was essential. regrettably, it did not happen. we have to be clear what the latest thing was. former jaguars kicker told the tampa bay times that meyer kicked him. he said while i'm in a stretch position, a lunge, comes up to me and says, and i'm quoting, hey byshut make your effing kicks and kicks me in the leg. why was this the final straw? >> it was too much for the owner. it has been a tumultuous season for the jaguars. the strength coach had been accused of racist behavior. along with all the other who tried to slide that in under our noses. one of several incidents was the well-publicized incident earlier in the season when he declimbed to take the team flight home with his team, with his players, decided to stay in columbus. and of course there were viral videos of urban meyer with a woman not his wife sitting on his lap dancing. the owner took the rare stance of rebuking urban meyer publicly. it was clear at that point all was not well. there was an article on nfl.com detailing several instances of urban meyer just displaying awful leadership, bullying, you might say, telling his assistant coaches they were they are losers, that he was a winner. and then the josh lambo being kicked. i saw owner khan yesterday and he said simply stay tuned. this is what we were staying tuned for. 12:35 a.m. in the morning, urban meyer officially, mercifully fired. how are players responding to this and how do you make sense of this, ian? someone with such a good career in college football imploding in the pros? >> it's just a different sport. it's just a different way of coa coaching. they don't have recruiting. urban meyer was a fantastic recruiter. he didn't have to be a great coach. just amass talent as possible, sell the players on what you were going to build, and have more talent than anyone else. that is something he did extremely well. two, at least back when he was a college coach, you could treat players terribly and they didn't have much option for where to go. they didn't have any option except just stay there under scholarship and try to perform for him. that was what a lot of players did in the nfl that just -- that just doesn't happen. players speak out too much. players have certainly much more rights, much more opportunity to be treated as humans. urban meyer did not do that. and so one of the most successful coaches in college football history comes to the and is a complete and utter absolute disaster. this should have ended when it did. the only question is why did it not end earlier. >> hopefully this message is heard loud and clear in college as well and not just the pros. ian rappaport, thank you. several colleges close because of covid. what vladimir putin and xi jinping just did to thumb their noses at america. and martin luther king families says no celebration. what they are asking congress to do instead. in this week's "impact your world," we visit a dallas nonprofit that is helping refugee women stitch together new futures in the united states. >> when we take the time to invest in refugee women, we are really investing in the future thriving of our community. when refugees arrive, they have been through the trauma in their home place. so they need extra resources and you have to go about that help in a different way. this is a nonprofit social enterprise. we hire refugee women and train them to sew at a professional level using industrial machines to equip them with skills that prepare them for the workplace, and during that training they are making a line of women's and children's clothes and we sell that clothing in the marketplace to help generate revenue to support the organization. we're also providing them with wrap around services. the other skills that they will need to really be self-sufficient here in america. >> good job. >> english classes, computer literacy classes, mental health services and financial literacy classes. >> after coming here i learned i can be treated without discrimination. stephanie and vickrey company have given me motivation and courage to enter society, to ensure and help me find friends. it is a good feeling. the shooting at oxford high school in michigan that left four students dead and several others wounded has once again prompted calls for national legislation aimed at curbing gun violence. the prosecutor in that case took the rare step of charging not just the alleged shooter, but his parents, charging them with involuntary manslaughter for allegedly allowing access to the gun. joining us now is democratic congresswoman alisa slotkin, she is introducing the safe guns, safe kids act which would require gun owners to keep firearms away from children and would impose a penalty of up to five years in prison for parents of a child injures themselves or others or uses the gun to commit a crime. congresswoman, thanks for being with us this morning. >> thank you for having me. >> can you tell us about this bill and also tell us how you plan to clear the almost impossible hurdle of getting ten republican senators to support it. >> yeah. well, the bill came out of the last two weeks. it has been over two weeks now since the shooting in oxford and just being at church services and vigils and funerals and meetings with the community, you know, they're still in shock, they're still in crisis response, the one thing everyone agreed on is that the parents in this case really, you know, from an outsider's perspective seemed to abet their child being able to do this, by buying him a gun, when they knew he had problems. i think, you know, one of the things that we tried to do was build a piece of legislation that would be different, frankly, than a lot of other gun legislation. i'm trying to build it bipartisan from the ground up, build it with the support of law enforcement because the one thing i think everyone agrees on is we should keep kids safe. and all the bill does is basically say if you buy a gun, legally, which is your right, then -- you know that there is children in the home, especially if you're a parent, you have a responsibility to keep that safe and away from children. that could be a $10 gun lock, that could be a $25 gun safe, that could also be a secured location in your home that children can't get to. and then if that child, if you leave it wantonly around your house and the child takes it, harms themselves, harms others, commits a crime, you should be held responsible for that. that's what it means to be a responsible accountable gun owner. >> it does seem, if you pay attention to some of these shooting deaths or injuries of young kids that this happens a lot. there is a gun laying around, a small child gets a hold of it and does serious damage or even kills a sibling or someone they know. how many prosecutions do you think this would lead to? how many cases are there of these shootings with third parties are getting access to guns because it wasn't secure? >> yeah, i think we have hundreds and hundreds of kids we know are killed each year because of a child getting their hands on a gun. and either intentionally or accidentally firing it off. we know guns are stolen and used for crime, all the time. and so we think it would be impactful, the thing that really affected me in this legislation was talking to our prosecutor in oakland county, who was able to make this rare charge against the parents because she has what seems to be a mountain of evidence connecting them to knowing about their kids and knowing about his issues and still giving him the gun. so, you know, not every prosecutor has that. not every community is going to have that. so we wanted to give some space for a law so a prosecutor doesn't have so much need for documentation in order to have some accountability for the adults who clearly failed this child. >> it was essentially, it appears, a straw purchase, right? that he shouldn't have owned this weapon but his father purchased it, the mother talked about it being for the child, there is no safe storage law in michigan where this happened. we should point that out. doesn't that make it difficult to prosecute? i wonder how the community, your community is responding to that? >> yeah, so actually we have the very similar almost exactly same law has been introduced by senator rosemary bear, the senator who represents oxford, michigan. she coincidentally introduced it this summer before the shooting. we're working hand and glove to make sure we have options in the state, options at the federal level. i think it is important to have both because the federal government has special authority over interstate commerce, particularly of weapons, so we want to make sure we have our bases covered and that's, you know, we all want to keep children safe, right. there is a special emotional connection when you see children killing children and i think that's what's sort of keeping us motivated on this. >> yeah, look, our hearts go out to your community as you said. you've been attending vigils and services. while i do have you here, congresswoman, i want to ask you about something that has developed, which is that russian president vladimir putin and chinese president xi jinping held a virtual summit yesterday, a virtual love fest we could say because afterwards xi was saying that president putin and i have maintained communication in coordination on major issues to steer china/russia relations. we formally support each other on issues concerning each other's core interests and the safeguarding of our respective national dig sit. i'm very much looking forward it our winter olympics meeting and would like to join hands together with you for the future and so on and so on. what concerns does this raise for you, this overture, this partnership between russia and china? >> well, what concerns me is they clearly did this to irk the united states and to bug us, to, you poke us in the chest. it is childish, they're going over the top. but we have seen increased cooperation between the chinese and the russians, particularly on things like military exercise in the pacific. we have to watch it. but, you know, i was just in taiwan over thanksgiving. the chinese did not like that. but the president of taiwan was really inspirational and she said, look, you know, these countries, they have much bigger militaries than we do, they have much bigger force presence, much bigger countries than many small countries in the world, but at the end of the day, people do not want to live under authoritarian governments. they want to live in freedom and they want to have democracy. and i think that while they showed this big demonstration of brotherly love yesterday, it is because i think they know that they have got to cling together as some of the only authoritarian places in the world, and we shouldn't take the bait. what i do think is we need to make sure if russia puts one more foot into ukraine, we slap them back with serious, serious sanctions and a serious response, even more serious than what is being proposed right now. >> all right, we'll be watching for that. congresswoman, thank you so much. >> thank you. first lady jill biden and second gentleman doug inhofe laying a wreath and visiting the victims and first responders of the november parade attack that killed six people and injured more than 60. cnn's kate bennett joins me now. you had a chance to speak with them. >> reporter: i did, john. this was a really difficult day, and part of what's going on in the country, we had the president visiting tornado victims, the first lady and the second gentleman in waukesha, new covid variant coming, there are lots of things affecting the country, i asked them how does the country heal if so much is going on and here's what the first lady said. >> and joe was showing up today in kentucky, doug and i are showing up here in waukesha, you know. these are terrible tragedies that have happened and we need to heal our country. people, they're not only hurt physically, but also emotionally and that's why we came to waukesha. >> yeah, i think what we saw here today and in the face of this unspeakable tragedy, this community coming together, and you can really feel it and nothing to do about politics or anything, only had to do about this community coming together to help each other get through this, but also now as we're seeing today, to just to heal. so it's inspiring. >> reporter: you unfortunately are speaking from experience in terms of tragedy, families that have lost people. what do you say, what did you say to the four families that -- to help them? anything you could pass along or share with us? >> i think that, you know, they have shown us the resilience and they keep going. they find purpose. and i think that's the way that you deal with a tragedy, you know, look at the grannies, they already have been out again, the high school band has already been out again. and i think that's one way that certainly our family has found to heal. >> just switching gears, you're both the messengers of the administration. you have been to more states i think than both of your spouses individually. what does it feel like to be the surrogates? is it something that you knew was coming for