it has a doubling time of anywhere from two to three days. right now in certain regions of the country, 50% of the isolates are omicron, which means it's going to take over. >> so here's some of the good news. so far, data shows that cases of omicron may be less severe, especially and this is important for those who are vaccinated and boosted. get those three shots. but hospitals are already stressed. in ohio, more than 1,000 members of the national guard have been dispatched to help nurses and doctors deliver care. the demand for covid tests is spiking as well with hours-long lines at some sites. the latest surge in infections has been canceling some sporting events, live shows, holiday parties, but other things are going on and the tsa says that air travel is up by nearly double from a year ago. new york state the original epicenter you'll remember of this virus back in 2020 is reporting a third straight day of record cases, that is they haven't seen anything this high throughout the pandemic. but so far, new york city's time's square party still a go for new year's eve. jason carroll in new york and elizabeth cohen, medical correspondent gathering new information with the data coming in. jason, new york is an interesting case here, right? we remember the scenes early in the pandemic and a lot of the scenes we're seeing now reminiscent of that. tell us what you're finding. >> reporter: absolutely, and as you can imagine and we can see why there are a lot of grave concerns here in new york city. health officials keeping a very close eye on those covid numbers, which as you know, jim, continue to go up. if you look at what's happening in new york city, look at the numbers here, covid cases more than doubled compared to last week. most of the cases when you look at the hospital charts, you look at all the medical information that's coming in, most of the cases coming from those who are unvaccinated. however, despite the rise in cases, medical officials also say that they're not seeing a rise, substantial rise in the number of hospitalizations or deaths. meanwhile people across the city have been going out, trying to get tested ahead of the holidays, waiting hours in line trying to get tested. some of those going into drugstores trying to get those at-home kits, finding that they've been sold out, unable to get them. this morning, new york city's health commissioner spoke to cnn, weighed in on this issue and talked about what the city is trying to do to meet that need. >> we did see unprecedented demand over the last few days. we ramped up testing, doing more testing per capita than just about any other place in the world, and we're going to continue to ramp it up to be able to meet it. for example we're adding additional testing sites throughout this week, we have a total of 89 across the city sites and distributing half a million test kits through community-based organizations, we'll keep building upon that to meet the demand in the coming days. >> a lot of eyes are on times square. new york's mayor bill de blasio says as for now things are a go in terms of the ball drop but he is going to weigh in on his final decision, that will happen before christmas. organizers are telling everyone who is going to be out here that you must be vaccinated, show proof of i.d. they are not requiring that people be masked at this point, but they are strongly encouraging it. jim? >> so many decisions like that for communities around the country coming up. okay, elizabeth, so jason highlighted the data there. it remains a case where it's largely the unvaccinated who are getting severely sick from this, that's with delta which dominates here. omicron is coming. moderna has new data how the booster shot protects against it. what are you learning? >> so what we've learned from moderna is that their booster that's out there, it does increase antibodies but it's unclear how effective those antibodies will be at protecting you against omicron. so let's take a look at what moderna put out this morning. the booster that's out there now, the one that anybody can go out to a pharmacy or wherever to get it is 50 micrograms. it boosted antibodies in lab tests that they did. however, 100 microgram booster got the antibodies up higher and the effectiveness of either dose against omicron is unclear how effective it is and unclear if it is effective how durable that efficacy would be. now, i want to give a bottom line here, which is that the booster did increase antibodies, so get a booster if you're more than six months out from your second shot, even if it doesn't boost as much as we would like, it still boosts antibodies higher than if you didn't have a booster. so get vaccinated, that's the most important thing, get those first two shots, and certainly get a booster when it comes your time. jim? >> consistent advice from the doctors on those vaccines and boosters. elizabeth cohen, jason carroll, thanks to both of you. to dig deeper, dr. mathu, primary care physician and health specialist. thanks for taking the time. >> good morning, jim. >> first i'm going to ask you to speak to the audience like they're your patients here to some degree. folks are having questions, saying wait a second, i'm vaccinated. i may have been boosted but hearing of breakthrough cases, infections with people who are vaccinated and boosted. tell us your advice. how should folks receive that information? >> absolutely, jim. i think i answer that question multiple tumimes a day. people are tired and sick of hearing this but if you are unvaccinated, you are open to a lot of negative consequences from covid, not only long covid but severe illness, death and being in the icu for weeks. if you are vaccinated and you are boosted, even if you get a breakthrough infection, jim, most of these infections are mild. i spoke to four patients over the weekend of different ages, all of them with breakthrough infections and boosted. they are recovering at home. people will listen to this and say but they're still getting infected. infection, jim, is very different from disease. so if you wear that vest as i've said multiple times, your chance of really surviving and not developing consequences from covid even with omicron is significantly high. >> and we see it in the data. jason carroll had it in his piece, the spike in hospitalizations largely among the unvaccinated. what we're seeing now is the data, and an ecdotanecdotally. we have family and friends testing positive, largely still delta, right, that's happening in this country, so what does that mean when omicron, which we know is even far more transmissible, when it hits here with full force? >> right. can you imagine two strong dominant variants existing, coexisting at the same time? now typically what happens with the viruses, one tries to outdominate or if you will, kind of shift the other variant to the side. initially my thinking, jim, was because we were pretty certain initially that the south african data was showing that the cases are mild, i have to confess that i didn't think that the omicron variant could be as dominant, but now we know that it is at least four times more contagious than delta and listen to this, jim, the fact that it's doubling every two days, if you're 100,000 cases by christmas, a week later, by new year's eve, we could be over 400,000 daily cases of just omicron, and even if we find out that the cases are mild, it's a numbers game. if you take a small percentage of those people that get hospitalized and maybe even go to the icu and die, it's still a significant number. >> understood. okay, for folks who watch this show frequently, they know i always like to try to take the good with the bad. in south africa, we're already seeing cases having topped off and starting to come down, in other words, it burned through pretty quickly there. i wonder, do you see a silver lining in that, in that it comes so quickly, it comes to dominate quickly this variant, but also burns out more quickly. does that make sense? >> it makes complete sense, and yes, if there is a silver lining and a blessing in all of this, typically a wave that hits us very quickly, that cases go up, very steep manner but on the other side, they also come down rapidly. now, good and bad, jim, with that, the good is the fact that yes, if we can brace the storm, we can get back on the other side fairly quickly, and i'm thinking that by third week of january, our cases should go down, but here's the bad side. hospitals still have to absorb the surge, jim. we're going to have covid patients and non-covid patients showing up at the same time requiring immediate care, and that is my biggest concern, 70% of health care workers are depressed, are anxious. can we survive another winter surge, that's my biggest concern. >> we'll have a doctor on later in the show in one of those overwhelmed health care facilities already. dr. matthew, thank you for walking us through it. >> thanks, jim and merry christmas. >> merry christmas as well. israel, a country that has often been at the forefront of fighting this pandemic is adding the u.s., canada and eight other countries to a no fly list as it takes steps to head off the spread of the omicron variant. journalist elliott gotkin joins us live from jerusalem. what does this mean for the hundreds of thousands dual israeli-u.s. citizens? >> they can still come to israel. it just means when they present their israeli passport after that, they have to go into seven days of quarantine. the first of those days will be at a designated quarantine hotel and after they've signed an agreement promising to have their movements tracked they can go to whichever address they're staying at for the remainder of their isolation period. they can still come to israel. it means they have to self-is late and the reason israel is adding the u.s. and all the other countries to its ever-expanding red list because it wants to cut off the main source of omicron in the country, which has been people returning to israel from overseas. the majority of the 175 identified cases of omicron in israel so far have been traced to people who have come back to israel from overseas, and that goes also for the 380 suspected omicron cases so far. jim? >> understood, elliott, thank you so much. we'll be staying in touch. still ahead this hour i'll speak with the ceo of a michigan hospital system who says its admissions are higher than at any other time in the pandemic, impacting staff as well as patients who need care for non-covid issues. plus this is officially a no. senator manchin single-handedly sinks the build back better plan. fellow democrats are saying they're going to make him go on the record with that no vote. this hour, closing arguments begin in the trial of ghislaine maxwell, the woman accused of helping jeffrey epstein abuse underaged girls. a preview of what to expect today. and this is for new and existing customers. upgrade to the iphone 13 pro and airpods both on us. only at t-mobile. ♪ this holiday, let them shine like never before. ♪ ♪ ♪ this is how we shine. ♪ find the perfect gift at zales. the diamond store. i've spent centuries evolving with the world. that's the nature of being the economy. observing investors choose assets to balance risk and reward. with one element securing portfolios, time after time. gold. agile and liquid. a proven protector. an ever-evolving enabler of bold decisions. an asset more relevant than ever before. gold. your strategic advantage. ♪ and i'm gonna keep on lovin' you, ♪ ♪ 'cause it's the only thing i wanna do. ♪ turns out everyone does sound better in the shower. and it turns out the general is a quality insurance company that's been saving people money for nearly 60 years. ♪ 'cause it's the only thing i wanna do ♪ shaq: (singing in background) can't unhear that. for a great low rate, and nearly 60 years of quality coverage - make the right call and go with the general. ♪ [text alert] ♪ son of a bi— beth? if it's “i thought we said no gifts” season, it's walgreens season. senate majority leader chuck schumer says the build back better act will get a floor vote early next week, but the hallmark piece of legislation packed with democratic priorities has little to no chance of passing at the moment. senator joe manchin announced he cannot support, he'll vote no on the nearly $2 trillion spending bill. >> i cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation. i just can't. i've tried everything humanly possible. i can't get there. >> you're done. this is a no? >> this is a no on this legislation. i have tried everything i know to do. >> that moment on sunday morning television a surprise to the white house and democratic leadership, cnn's lauren fox joins me from capitol hill. lauren, we've talked about this for years it seems. what is the path forward, is there a path forward? >> at this point, chuck schumer, the majority leader saying the path forward is they have to vote. he made it very clear in his statement released this morning that members can't just say where they stand on television. they have to show the american public where they stand on the senate floor. so that is what lawmaker also do sometime in january when they return for the new year. there's a question mark whether or not there's any pieces here that could be picked up and reassembled that senator madge join would support. i think right now there is some bad faith in the negotiations between the white house and joe manchin and the white house made it very clear yesterday that they feel like the senator went back on his word in that blistering statement that we know was approved by the president himself. part of the issue here was the way this was announced, senator joe manchin going on fox news on sunday morning making this news and having his staff alert white house staff just about 30 minutes ahead of time, given the fact that manchin has had such a close relationship with the president, given the fact he's probably gotten more face time with the president of the united states than anyone else in the democratic caucus, that was a major blow for president biden. so right now, the question mark, what will his colleagues do? you heard earlier john yarmuth, chairman of the house budget committee, someone who wrote this legislation, here's what he said. >> i wish he would just tell us what he wants, what he would be satisfied with. we've never gotten that answer from him and meanwhile 222 democrats in the house and 49 democrats in the senate have been working in good faith for six months or longer, trying to get this very important piece of legislation done. i think the arrogance on the part of senator manchin who thinks he should have total say as to what gets passed. >> reporter: one striking piece of this entire thing is the fact it's not just progressives who are frustrated with senator manchin. it's also some moderates. i saw yesterday a statement on twitter by representative abigail spamberger, a front line democrat moderate deeply frustrated with manchin's position. there is a feeling front liners in the house already took this vote and want to see some kind of legislative action come from that. they don't want to have walked a plank for no good reason. jim? >> there was a lot of plank walking in the lead-up to this and looks like folks are falling off now. lauren fox on the hill, thanks so much. joining me to discuss what happens now, senior political analyst david gergen, also adviser to presidents nixon, ford, clinton and reagan. >> good to be with you. >> the white house between a rock and a hard place, slimmest of majorities, it's 50/50 in the senate. nothing gets past joe manchin or kyrsten sinema, who raised questions or objections. do you think it's dangerous and if you were advising joe biden now do you think it's dangerous to make an enemy of joe manchin? whether you want to get pieces of bbb through or say your judges, you still need that vote. >> absolutely. i think that it's time for the white house to take one or two days so-called scorch to earth response attacking him from every level but ultimately they do need it and what i think will be in the president's best interest, take your shots now for a couple days and let this thing quiet down over the holidays. come back and figure out can we break this into pieces? there are reports as many as 14 different pieces you could bring together and see if you can't get them passed, for example, tax policy, if you get that, i think you've got a good shot at that. you've got something on education and preschool. very importantly on climate, as you know, jim, this is not just weakening the president's hand here at home. this below the water line is hurting the president overseas as well. stockholm we pledged all sorts of things on climate but it was based on getting this bill passed. >> it's a great point. it's a great point. what does the u.s. word mean on the international commitments. >> you start breaking it up say and perhaps you start with the child tax credit because that's going to expire very soon here. >> right. >> play devil's advocate for a moment. people like the public polling shows pieces of bbb. controlling prescription drug prices, they like expanding medicare benefits, they like universal pre-k but they associated the massive plan with something really big and expensive. could there be political advantage to passing smaller bills? >> yes, i think so. at least you would get focus and right now this is a massive bill and hard to set up a message this massive with this many pieces and i think if you had two or three key things that are top priority and one from each one of these areas, then i think that you can take that to the public and really put pressure on the congress, go past these things. it would allow them to go into the midterm with something to show for all their effort. they'll pay a huge price because they're in charge and not yet running the show. i think they took a huge gamble in the white house to do this. to have that now go south for him, you know, has hurt him badly his public presentation, he's no franklin roosevelt that we've now learned but he can be joe biden and he can be joe biden doing important things for the country he can talk about and other democrats can talk about cutting into the mid terms. >> that was going to be my next question, what is the damage to joe biden's leadership here, right, because he made commitments to both wings of the party. trust me on this. i'll get this through. >> yep. >> so let's say you're advising joe biden, what do you tell him to do. cool off for the holidays, come back jan 1 and do what? >> cool off, reach out quietly on the phone to various people, start rebuilding pathways to manchin and others. there are reports other senators who would just as soon not vote on this, just as soon not be held responsible in their back home for voting yes on this bill. i don't think, it's not just joe manchin that's involved here. there are a number of other players. i think the president's best bet is to quiet his folks down, regroup over the holidays, let the good cheer and the goodwill of christmas and the holidays change the environment, and come back to the new year with fresh hope and fresh way to do this. >> like a good old family argument, let it cool off. >> absolutely. >> come back in the new year. david gergen, thanks so much. >> thanks so much, jim. senator manchin's rejection of the build back better act prompted goldman sachs to cut its forecast for u.s. economic growth in 2022. cnn chief business correspondent christine romans. christine, this is the other side of this, right? you had republicans and frankly many americans worried build back better would add to the economy and increase inflation and goldman sachs acknowledging saying there's an economic growth cost. >> absolutely. you look at the investments specifically tax credit near term uncertainty here going into family's pockets not there in january. that is money out of the economy. so you look at some of the pieces lowering drug costs for people, capping how much they have to pay for day care, child care and free universal pre-k, investments in working families economists thought would juice the economy into the new year and now looks like that's not going to happen. many of these investments now maybe they're dead in the water, we don't know what's going to happen next year but it means gdp for the first quarter to be more than 2% down from 3% and 3% in the second quarter and 2% in the third quarter, trimming all of those forecasts. senator manchin is concerned about inflation. there's no relief on that front to give him some relief in his mind for passing some of these things. something interesting about the child tax credit, that is first and foremost here as an economic driver. 93% of the children in west virginia received that enhanced child tax credit. joe manchin saying he didn't know how to explain all of this to the people of west virginia. the people in west virginia many, many families, most families will have less money, they will have less money at the beginning of the year because this is not going to be tucked into that build back better and passed. >> the administration estimated the tax credit cut child poverty by 50%. immediate real world impacts. christine romans thanks so much. >> you're welcome. stock futures are responding, not surprisingly to the build back better news not positive at all. look at the numbers there, just minutes from the opening bell on wall street, all three indices are down, especially the dow, investors concerned as well that new shutdowns, precautions tied to the omicron variant will have a negative impact on the economy. moderna stock is expected to get a bump today as new data shows its booster dose does increase covid antibodies. power e*trade gives you an award-winning mobile app with powerful, easy-to-use tools, and interactive charts to give you an edge, 24/7 support when you need it the most. plus, zero-dollar commissions for online u.s. listed stocks. 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( ♪ ) this is how we shine. at zales. the diamond store. from the very first touch, pampers, the #1 pediatrician recommended brand, helps keep baby's skin drier and healthier. so every touch will protect like the first. pampers right now court is back in session in the sex trafficking trial of ghislaine maxwell, the long time confidant of jeffrey epstein. attorneys will deliver closing arguments and the judge will give instructions to the jury. they are expected to begin deliberating today. juror also only have the next two days to deliberate before a court closes thursday for the christmas holiday. kara skinell is following the case and has more. >> closing arguments get under way in the sex trafficking trial of ghislaine maxwell. the prosecution will try to tie together the testimony of the witnesses, four are accusers, women sexually assaulted by epstein when they were giving him massages. these women testified ghislaine maxwell helped recruit them, arrange their travel and their massage appointments and at times participated in the alleged sexual assault. then maxwell's attorneys will have a turn to address the jury saying she's scapegoated, the only reason why she is on trial is because jeffrey epstein isn't. he died by sue identify awaiting trial. they are expected to attack the credibility of these accusers saying they were motivated by money and the memory that took place 20 years ago is faulty. maxwell faces six charges and as much as 70 years in prison if convicted of all accounts. >> very important trial. closing arguments begin in the trial of former police officer kim potter. potter you remember is charged with manslaughter after fatally shooting daunte wright during a traffic stop near minneapolis in april. she claimed she accidentally grabbed her gun instead of her taser. cnn correspondent adrienne broaddus in minneapolis. what do we expect in the coming days? >> reporter: we expect closing arguments today, each side, the defense and the prosecution will make their final push trying to persuade this jury to believe their side. let's start with the prosecution. during the course of this eight-day trial they focused on potter's training. she became certified to use that taser in 2002, and every year after, she was required to undergo additional training to become recertified. by contrast, the defense is arguing that daunte wright's actions led to his own death. the defense said it was a mistake that potter did not mean to grab her gun but was going to grab her taser especially noting the body camera video when we heard her yell "taser, taser, taser." she talked about that moment on friday, and she called that traffic stop chaotic, and under cross-examination by the prosecution, she wept. listen in. >> you didn't make sure any officers knew what you had just done, right? >> no. >> you didn't run down the street and try to save daunte wright's life? did you? >> no. >> you were focused on what you had done, because you had just killed somebody. >> i'm sorry it happened. >> reporter: that initial stop was initiated because daunte wright allegedly had one of these hanging from his rear view mirror a car freshener in the shape of a tree. in the state of minnesota it's illegal to have anything obstruct your view. potter said had she been working alone that day she never would have pulled wright over. >> the origin of the stop raises policy questions as well. adrienne broaddus, thanks so much. get vaccinated or get covid the warning from a wish wish hospital ceo sounding the alarm, now that a fourth wave of coronavirus has hit the state. he'll join me life. you'll want to hear his account, coming up. son of a bi— beth? if it's “i thought we said no gifts” season, it's walgreens season. ♪ 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. 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>> reporter: no big changes yet, jim. remember early in the pandemic, there weren't many changes very quickly to begin with. so many people are having that go/no go discussion but we're seeing millions of people are still going regardless of these new infection rates. the tsa screened 2.12 million people at airports across the country just yesterday. that is the fourth straight day that we've seen higher than 2 million people at airports nationwide, in fact the number on friday the highest number we have seen since the monday after thanksgiving. it's clear a lot of people have a lot of confidence in traveling right now. there were long lines at airports across the country yesterday from austin to atlanta to boston. dr. anthony fauci says it's important to weigh the risks right now if you're going to travel especially considering how quickly this new variant spreads. here's what he said. >> clearly, when you travel, there is always a risk of increased infection. that goes with respiratory illnesses but if people need to travel and want to travel for the obvious family reasons during this holiday season, if you're vaccinated and you're boosted, and you take care when you go into congregate settings like airports to make sure you continually wear your mask, you should be okay, but we are going to see breakthrough infections, chuck. there's no doubt about that. >> reporter: aaa anticipates 109 million people in total will travel 50 miles or more between thursday and january 3rd. the tsa just updated its forecast, it says a total of 30 million people will fly between today and january 3rd, the busiest day probably on thursday, december 23rd, followed by that day after new year's, january 3rd. we will see if there's any real dip in these numbers if these forecasts actually turn out to be true. airlines did say that as infections ticked up, as the a.m. variant reared its head, there was a bit of tapering off in ticket bookings. we'll see if that comes to pass, jim. >> you'll be watching, pete muntean at reagan international, thanks very much. hospitals in michigan are struggling under a fourth wave of coronavirus infections. delta to be clear still driving a majority of hospitalizations, but experts say that omicron is spreading faster, infecting more people. so joining me now to get a sense of how this affects things on the ground, bill nans, president and ceo of bronson health care in southwest michigan. good to have you on. i against the first thing i want to get clear here because this is so important to the messaging, right, as to what we all can do. you look at the severe cases that you're seeing, the ones that are requiring icu and so on and hospitalization. principally unvaccinated? >> good morning, thanks for having me. to answer your question, yes. 70% to 75% of the covid inpatients that we currently have are unvaccinated. about 90% of those patients in the icu are unvaccinated. so getting vaccinated is incredibly important. >> so if as the numbers seem to show to this point, that the surge we're seeing in this country is still largely driven by the delta variant, in other words, we have not been hit by the worst of omicron yet, even as it begins to show up in most states around the country, where you are, you're already overwhelmed today. what do you look like in two weeks and four weeks' time? >> it's a great question, jim. so we are definitely concerned. bronson has four hospitals, skilled nursing facility, and currently all of our facilities are at or near capacity, and so as we think about what's going to happen a couple weeks after the holiday season and we've got congregate gatherings, et cetera, we're very concerned. our staff is already tired, beleaguered. we have very compassionate health care heroes that have been giving it their all for the last 21 months so we're concerned about this next wave. >> so for many people, right, they don't see what you're seeing. and the truth is that for most people if they're vaccinated, they're not going to get hospitalized. they may get breakthrough infections and have some symptoms but not ending up in the hospital, not thankfully going to die. where you are first of all you see folks getting overwhelmed, you see people dying and other health conditions not being treated as a result. can you explain to folks at home who are watching this what it looks like where you are? >> yes. absolutely. so currently we have this influx of covid positive inpatients. what it means is they're crowding out other patients who want to have surgery, want to have procedures, because they can't get in. it means wait times are actually increased, as we continue to care for patients with covid. so it's a really tough scenario. >> so let me ask you this. if the white house came knocking on your door and said what do you need us to do to help you weather this, right, because the big policy question now is, do we go back to a similar response that we had earlier in the pandemic when no one was vaccinated, right, or are more targeted responses, for instance should we spend more time focusing on incidents of severe illness as opposed to just purely new infections? what would you ask for? what kind of help would you ask for from policy makers at the state and the national level? >> great question. three things. one, i think the cdc guidelines are solid. we need to continue to follow the guidelines, wear your mask indoors. i don't like these things as much as anyone else but it's the right thing to do. get vaccinated. we see that those who are vaccinated, those who received their booster aren't coming into the hospital at the same rates. i think the third thing, and this really is a message that i want us to get across the nation. this current pandemic is a pandemic of kindness. i think we have forgotten that we're all connected regardless of race, color, creed, religion, political affiliation, we are all connected and so i think that message is critical. our health care heroes, if t feels like they've been forgotten. i'm humbled to watch these men and women who have worked tirelessly for the last 21 months often pulling extra shifts without a break, as many are going home and celebrating for the holidays our health care heroes about be in our facilities caring for patients they need a break. our department of defense is helping to give us a break but we have to continue to follow the guidelines and everyone needs to be vaccinated. >> you need help from the military to respond to this. bill manns, best of luck to you and the folks working with you. >> thank you. still ahead this hour, thousands of key texts and communications are now in the hands of house investigators as lawmakers look into the january ofth 6th insurrection, who was involved and what was revealed, coming up. feel stuck with credit card debt? 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ask your health care provider today about once-weekly ozempic®. oh, oh, oh, ozempic®! you may pay as little as $25 for a 3-month prescription. ♪ this holiday, let them shine like never before. ♪ ♪ ♪ this is how we shine. ♪ find the perfect gift at zales. the diamond store. republican congressman adam kinzinger says that the january 6th committee is investigating whether former president trump committed a crime with his involvement in the deadly january 6th riot. this comes as the lead turnover stop the steal rally as it was called handled over thousands of text messages and other communication records to the select committee. they include his interactions with members of congress and trump's inner circle in the days leading up to the riot. paula reid joins us now. the committee is zeroing in on the president. liz cheney has raised the possibility of obstruction charges based on the president's inaction on that day. is that the limit of the specific charges they may be looking into in. >> reporter: that is the one specific charge, obstructing a federal proceeding. liz cheney has referenced suggesting that is what they're focused on, but i don't want to get too far ahead of what kinzinger told our colleague jake tapper. let's listen to what he said when pressed on the question of whether the committee believed that trump xhocommitted a crime. i don't want to go there yet if he has. that's a pretty big thing to say. we want to know, though, and i think we will by the end of our investigation and the report is out have a pretty good idea. we'll have on the public record anything the justice department needs maybe in pursuit of that. >> reporter: of course this committee cannot file criminal charges. they would have to hand over any evidence of potential criminal conduct to the justice department and it would ultimately be up to the attorney general, merrick gar land, whether to pursue charges. if they were to bring a criminal case against trump, they have to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. histo historically, trump does not email or text. his closest associates are reluctant to testify against him. if this is something the justice department wanted to pursue, it could be an uphill crime. kinzinger has also pointed out the fact the committee are focused on the days and weeks leading up to january 6th. and they have received thousands of text messages and communications from allie alexander and organizers of the stop the steal rally. among the communications are messages from lawmakers and members of trump's inner circle. alexander is such a key witness for the committee looking into the days and weeking up to january 6th because he can potentially help them understand how is this rally organized? how was it funded and erupt into violence? we could see more witnesses this week. >> how it was organized, who helped. paula, thank very much. moments apg, president biden arrived back at the white house. he is meeting this morning with his covid-19 team of advisers as concerns grow about the omicron variant. details on how he's planning to respond, the message he's preparing to send tomorrow, those are coming up. because you're forever connected by love... two touching center diamonds, representing the connection you share. forever connected. the perfect gift to give this holiday. exclusively at kay. from the very first touch, pampers, the #1 pediatrician recommended brand, helps keep baby's skin drier and healthier. so every touch will protect like the first. pampers it's the most joyous time of 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. small businesses like yours make gift-giving possible. now, comcast business has an exclusive gift for you. introducing the gift of savings sale. for a limited time, ask how to get a great deal for your business. and get up to a $500 prepaid card with select bundles when you switch to the network that can deliver gig speeds to the most businesses. or get started with internet and voice for $64.99 per month with a 2-year price guarantee. give your business the gift of savings today. comcast business. powering possibilities. very good monday morning to you. right now, some new covid precautions back in place in some cities as the country sees a major spike in new infections. the u.s. is now averaging 130,000 new cases per day. that's up from just 70,000 at the beginning of november, almost doubling. it is important to note the omicron variant is not yet driving the surge here. this is still largely delta. data shows that cases of omicron, the good news, may be less severe for those who are vaccinated and beasted. . >> we are going to see a spike in cases and that's because omicron is incredibly transmissible, and, you know, we have to be prepared for that. but there will be a stark difference between experience of those who are vaccinated and boosted versus those who are