>> this is the good news in this, despite the virus' resurgence, the president said vaccinated americans can celebrate christmas and the holidays safely. while, however, sending a dire message to those who still have not had their shots. >> if unvaccinated, you're at a higher risk of getting severely ill from covid-19, getting hospitalized and even dying. >> the surge in cases has led to a scarcity of hospital beds in some pockets of the country. in houston, doctors say that infections have tripled there in just days. to help the white house is mobilizing 1,000 more troops to deploy to hospitals who may need help. and 500 million tests, they promised, they cannot come soon enough. we're seeing long lines in many cities, some people even turned away as wait lists for testing grow. walgreens and cvs announcing a limit to how many tests can be purchased at once. jeremy diamond is at the white house, shimon prokupecz is at a pop-up testing site in new york. first, to the white house, jeremy. so, this testing relief, half a billion tests, how soon can folks like you and me ask for these and have them sent to our homes? >> well, listen, i was on a call with senior administration officials yesterday and they said that this site will come online sometime in january. and the first tranche of those 500 million rapid tests will also go out next month. that will not be of any comfort to americans who are struggling to find tests right now. and that was something that the president addressed yesterday as well. making clear that he acknowledged that there is not enough testing in this country, but he believes the 500 million tests will help. he did get a little bit defensive when asked about whether or not this was a failure, insisting it was not, and claiming that nobody could have predicted how quickly this omicron variant has been spreading. the 500 million tests was one of several measures that president biden announced yesterday. he also talked about sending -- establishing new federal testing sites, with one of those testing sites being established in new york city this week. a thousand military service members being mobilized to be deployed within the coming weeks to states that are dealing with surges. half a dozen emergency medical teams have already been deployed or i should say emergency medical teams have been deployed to a half dozen states that are dealing with surges to help hospitals that are overwhelmed. but ultimately president biden was aiming to give a message to an anxious and frustrated nation. the president offering a message of reassurance to those who are vaccinated, saying they should not be concerned about getting serious illness or hospitalization as a result of this omicron variant. but warning those who are unvaccinated that they do face those serious risks and that they're putting the country at risk as well. telling them it is their patriotic duty to get vaccinated. >> that's what the science shows. shimon, new york is a city where there is big demand for testing. that's good. people want to know if they're infected so they can get treated, not expose family members. what is the city doing because many of those testing facilities have been overwhelmed. >> reporter: overwhelmed. some of them shutting down. one of the most popular places people go to, city md, saying that several locates of their locations were closing to help deal with some of the staffing issues. and also to protect some of their staffers who have been overwhelmed by the demand and the need in testing. many people now going to locations like this, these are vans, privately owned companies, that are now doing testing, have been doing testing here in new york city for the past several months. certainly they have not been this busy. these are one of the privately owned companies doing it. today, the mayor is saying there are 112 sites now across the city that they have opened up for people to go and get tested. the mayor also saying a key point is that if you're fully vaccinated. they don't want you hiding. they don't want to shut down, the mayor saying he wants people out and about to be careful, of course, but there is no plan in place to shut the city down. he wants people out and about living their lives, but he wants them doing it carefully. what is going on here in the city is that there is this increase in positivity rate, we're now over 11%. 14,000 people testing positive just in the city. it is down a little bit from the previous numbers of 15,000. but no doubt, you look around the city, and you look at lines like this, the demand for testing is certainly going to continue as we get into the christmas holiday, jim. >> it is remarkable that that unanimous message there is keep living your life, right? no one is shutting anything down you hear that from the new york mayor, the president. thank you very much. fbeginning today, the uk is cutting the self-isolation period for most breakthrough infections, that is people who have been vaccinated but still get infected from the current ten days to seven days as long as people test negative for two consecutive days. they hope this will ease staffing shortages and allow families to gather for the holidays. elizabeth cohen joins me now. this is interesting because dr. fauci, he said yesterday, on cnn's air, the u.s. considering shortening the quarantine period, particularly for healthcare workers. is there consideration more broadly in the u.s. about shortening quarantine times? >> dr. fauci talked about shortening the isolation time, the time you isolate after being diagnosed with covid. dr. walensky is also mentioning it. i think you'll probably agree that in this pandemic, when officials say something is being considered, often that means they are headed in that direction. and that it will happen. so this is not -- this is of interest not for sort of in a general way what are they telling people to do, it is because of essential workers. we don't want to run out of doctors, don't want to run out of nurses, don't want to run out of people who keep the airlines going. let's take a look at a letter that ceo -- the ceo of delta wrote to dr. rochelle walensky, the director of the cdc. he requested that isolation for fully vaccinated people with covid-19 be shortened from 10 to 5 days. he said, of course, there should be a test before ending that isolation as you mentioned, as there is in the uk. and he mentioned that over 90% of delta's workforce is vaccinated. do we really need to be keeping these people out for ten days, that could possibly hurt essential services doing what they need to do. we mentioned the uk, let's look at what they're doing. the uk just decided to shorten their isolation time for people who are vaccinated. and got covid from 10 to 7 days. unvaccinated people with covid still have to isolate for ten days. that's because there is more concern that they could get sicker and are at a higher risk for spreading it to others. jim? >> understood. interesting to watch. elizabeth cohen, thank you very much. all right, joining me now to answer your and my questions, dr. paul offit, a member of the fda's vaccine advisory committee. great to have you back. first, big picture. we talked a couple of weeks ago very early in the omicron wave, i'm curious what you learned since then in looking at the data from south africa, israel, what we have begun to see in europe and also here about how serious illness omicron causes. have you learned anything? is it pointing towards the direction that this might cause less severe illness? >> right, i think we learned from south africa, their experience. what happened with -- in south africa, was initially they had a big wave of the beta variant or the south african variant had a dramatic increase in cases, dramatic increase in hospitalizations, in deaths. that settled down. then they had the delta variant, dramatic increase in cases, dramatic increase in deaths and dramatic increase in hospitalizations. then omicron came in, half of what they had seen before, and very little increase in deaths, which is almost identical to what you see now in new york city. i think the reason that happened in south africa and the reason it is happening in new york city is now with between people who are naturally infected or people who have been vaccinated or both, you're seeing a blunting of serious infection caused by omicron. not so much mild infection, because even if you have gotten two doses of an mrna, at higher risk of mild infection than you were for the previous variants. the booster dose offers you additional protection against mild -- but know that two doses of an mrna vaccine does offer a pretty significant protection against serious illness. the answer always is get vaccinated. and israel tells you what the future is. israel now has a. lags -- in this country would be 35 deaths per day. get vaccinated. people are tired of talking about this pandemic. i'm tare tired of talking about pandemic. we can end it by increasing the number of people that are vaccinated. >> we are still seeing an enormous disparity between the experience of the vaccinated and unvaccinated including with omicron. it sounds like you're saying and i don't want to push it too far in a corner because data can change over time, the initial indications are some good news around omicron. >> right. i think here is the data you would like to see generated. rochelle walensky said, we have 40 people in the united states who have omicron, ten of them have never been vaccinated. 30 of them have been either received one or two or three doses of the mrna vaccine. great. that's 400 people, will become 4,000 people, will become 40,000 people and more. let's see of people who have never been naturally affected or vaccinated what is the nature of the illness? is it as serious as delta? did it matter whether you got a third dose in terms of protection against serious illness or mild illness. let's generate the data. >> so in response perhaps to some of this good news, you are seeing the uk shortening the quarantine period from 10 to 7. you're seeing dr. fauci saying for healthcare workers, perhaps for others, we shorten it here in the u.s. perhaps even from ten days to five days. is that smart? is that going to happen? >> i think it is smart. i think it is going to happen. there was a study done where they looked at people who were vaccinated who had mild disease and they compared them to people who were unvaccinated who had mild disease. though the amount of virus that was shed in that first day or so was the same in both groups, that those who were vaccinated shed less virus for a shorter period of time. that wasn't looking at omicron and we can certainly generate that data for omicron. it makes sense. >> okay. final question, you raised the possibility that omicron could prove to be a good thing, becomes dominant very quickly, but dominant in a way that causes less severe illness. and i wonder what you learned in the last couple of weeks and granting that it is early do you feel that way, are you more confident, perhaps, that's an outcome here? >> well, illness is never a good thing. what i would say is if it ends up being there is -- that omicron just causes a lot of mild disease, what that does then is it sort of -- that naturally boosts your immunity, and if it is doing it with a small price, meaning very little in the way of hospitalizations or deaths, that's great. the people who are going to suffer this are the people who are unvaccinated. if our hospital is any indication that it is, considering what is going on in the world, the people who are hospitalized are the unvaccinated. get vaccinated. >> that rule has remained the same throughout. it is always good to have you help us weed through all this. >> thank you. one new study found that breakthrough covid infections may lead to so-called super immunity for vaccinated people. i'm going to speak to the doctor behind that study who says this could be the endgame of the pandemic. plus, just in, u.s. economy grew by 2.3% last quarter, better than expected. still down significantly from the first six months of the year. we'll break down the numbers, what they mean. president biden says he thinks he can get something done on build back better with that man, senator joe manchin. a woman who fights for the poor in manchin's home state of west virginia joins me live with her message for the senator. ♪ ♪ to all the kisses... ...that led... ...to this one. celebrate every kiss, with kay. 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. ray loves vacations. but his diabetes never seemed to take one. everything felt like a 'no'. everything. but then ray went from no to know. with freestyle libre 2, now he knows his glucose levels when he needs to. and... when he wants to. so ray... can be ray. take the mystery out of your glucose levels, and lower your a1c. now you know. try it for free. visit freestylelibre.us it's our holiday savings event on the sleep number 360 smart bed. what if i sleep hot? ...or cold? no problem, the sleep number 360 smart bed is temperature balancing so you both sleep just right. and it senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both effortlessly comfortable. so, you can really promise better sleep? yes! you'll know exactly how well you slept, night after night. we take care of the science. all you have to do is sleep. and now, save up to $500 on select sleep number 360 smart beds. plus, 0% interest for 48 months. only for a limited time. to learn more, go to sleepnumber.com at vanguard, you're more than just an investor, you're an owner with access to financial advice, tools and a personalized plan that helps you build a future for those you love. vanguard. become an owner. some good economic news. the u.s. economier economy per slightly better over the summer. cnn's chief business correspondent christine romans joins me now. i was explaining to folks, this was during the quarter during an annualized rate, faster earlier in the year, average probably above this, tell us what it shows about the direction of the economy. >> in that quarter, those three months you had the delta variant rearing its ugly head, late summer, and you also had the expiration of all the cash payments to businesses, the forgivable loans to businesses and the cash payments to people. the covid stimulus. extra jobless benefits. all of that went away. that's why you see the economy didn't grow as strongly as it derr did earlier in the year. it is about the trend. the first quarter, 6.3% to start the year was very strong growth. that is an aggressively growing economy. and then 6.7% for the second quarter. again, very strong growth. and then this hiccup in the third quarter and we're sk expectinexpect ing growth picked up in the fourth quarter again. on average for the year, you're looking for the best year of economic growth, the best year since the reagan administration. now, the big hold winds are economists say build back better may be dead, so they're trying to downgrade their expectations a little bit in the beginning of next year. omicron, we still have a lot of concerns and uncertainties about what happens with the omicron virus. and whether people pull back a little bit, consumer spending and businesses have to pull back again. not restrictions, government restrictions, people and businesses pulling back because of the spreading virus. we still have covid to deal with. but on balance, this is the strongest economy since the reagan administration, inflation is the problem, the fed is worried about. economy growing so fast that they need to cool it down next year. >> people still rate the economy as the worst since the carter administration. the disconnect between the numbers and how folks are feeling it and perceiving. >> covid exhaustion. and those grinding higher gas prices that just really weighs on people. but i'll point out, gas prices down 11 or 12 cents since the peak. gas prices have been coming down a little bit. maybe people will feel better. >> we'll see. christine romans, thank you very much. >> you're welcome. president biden remains confident that the center really of his domestic agenda is still on the table, expressing optimism that democrats will, quote, get something done on what is known as the build back better act. the white house holding out hope after senator joe manchin announced he would not support the sweeping spending bill, which aims to reshape the social safety net and democrats say lift millions out of poverty. >> you strip away all the dignity of a parent, looking at their child, i'm not joking about this. imagine being a parent, looking at their child, and you can't afford, you have no house to borrow against, you have no savings, it's wrong. but all the things in that bill are are going to reduce prices and costs for middle class and working class people. >> amy joe hutchison is a community activist in joe manchin's home state of west virginia. she advocates against poverty and for working single mothers in particular. good to have you on this morning. >> good morning, jim. thank you so much. >> let me ask you this, on the ground, how do, in your view, the provisions from the build back better act, particularly things like the child tax credit, the subsidies for the affordable care act, prospect of universal pre-k, how does that impact families and how does that having that taken away in your experience impact them for the negative? >> you know, jim, the big talk here in west virginia is that the child tax credit payments actually elevated approximately 50,000 children across the poverty line and so we're devastated and heart broken that senator manchin decided to not support that and he just single-handedly put all 50,000 of those children back across the poverty line. it was a devastating blow to be quite honest. here in west virginia, we lack infrastructure and care. so we hear a lot of talk about how people should pull themselves up by the bootstraps, so but we don't have an in infrastructure and care for child care. it is not affordable. it is not accessible. just from the mere geography of west virginia, there are people without child care options there in their state. this would have been life changing for so many west virginiaens. >> west virginia is an interesting state. it is a deeply red state. has a democratic senator in joe manchin. but uses and benefits from a lot of federal subsidies on things like this. senator manchin has made the argument that the child tax credit, for instance, needs to be means tested, income limits, et cetera, to make sure it is going to people who need it. in your experience, during the time it has been in place, has it been getting to people who need it or been going to anybody who wants it? >> no, it is absolutely been reaching the people who need it. it is a lot of people who will never qualify for any sort of assistance to be able to afford child care. here in west virginia, child care for one child private pay costs more than a year's tuition at west virginia university. it is ridiculously expensive and just one more obstacle for people to join the workforce. one example. >> the senators hearing some disappointment, not just if his colleagues in washington, but from his home state. we heard coal miners union encouraging him to pass build back better for the climate provisions in there. do you see him moving on this from your perspective as you communicate, you and others, communicate the needs to the senator? he's not dumb. he's been in politics a long time. he knows to listen to his constituents. >> i think maybe that's the part i'm most disappointed in. you know, one of the biggest struggles has been able to really get senator manchin to hear the people who are benefitting from this, you know from the child tax credit. it is just very difficult task and i have yet to be able to do that. we have gotten as far as the staff, but we never had face to facetime w time with the senato >> how about inflation? inflation hurts the poor the most, right? it is things like gas going up, or groceries, prices going up, you know, it is a regressive tax in effect by nature, senator manchin also concerned that pumping more money in the economy will increase inflation. i wonder if you're seeing that too. >> we're seeing our gas prices here right now. but here is the thing, jim, the child tax credit payments, whenever we're collecting stories from folks about how it is really helped them, the first thing to come out of their story and experience is that the ability to buy food. we have people out here in west virginia with bachelor's degrees and human services working for $15,000 an hour. is now they're talking about how they're going to have to go back to skipping meals so their kids can eat because they don't qualify for any of that assistance. >> $15 an hour, you're saying? >> no, $15,000 a year. >> a year, sorry. gotcha. >> $15,000 to $20,000 with bachelor's degrees in the state. one of the problems is low wage jobs. when you have low wage jobs and families, i don't understand how anyone can assume you won't need some sort of assistance at some point. but new we have this large pack of people, this large group of people that are considered working poor, and so this is really a relief for them. they're out here, they're filling their freezers and filling cabinets with food, you know. they're able to have their kids signed up to play sports and just all these experiences that their children are not typically able to have. and in that clip, from president biden that you played, when we did speak with manchin's staff last week, that's one thing moms brought up. how exactly is it and how do you let your child know all the time you can't afford the extra things? >> well, i get it, some folks beyond the extra things, right, just getting the basics. amy joe hutchison, thank you for joining us this morning. >> thank you, jim. i think one of the things that i really like for everyone to realize is that build back better not being passed just took away our bootstraps. >> we'll keep talking and see where this goes in the new year. still ahead this hour, encouraging news from a study on breakthrough infections that shows that despite getting covid-19, there may be a super immunity, a silver lining. and we're moments away from the opening bell on wall street. futures down despite that gdp report that just came in higher than expected, 2.3%. wall street hoping stocks continue. the turn around today, despite uncertainty among the spread of the omicron variant, all three indices on track for double digit gains this year. 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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because there has been an essential question throughout the pandemic as to how long immunity post infection lasts as compared to immunity post vaccination. >> right. that's a very good question. and, of course, we haven't had the time to study this longitudinally since we just did the study. one aspect is that the immune -- though antibodies wane over time, people develop a memory response, right, so six months or a year down the road, if we fast-forward and get reexposed, you get a much better immune response because of the memory phenomenon. >> okay. now, to be clear, this study was prior to the omicron variant. do you expect similar results with omicron or do we just not know? >> well, we don't know directly. we haven't studied the omicron variant directly. we're work on that now. what we did see was that when you take the folks with the augmented immunity, compared with those who are just vaccinated, and you test the serum against different strains, alpha, delta, et cetera, in all cases the combined immunity did better against -- to neutralizing those variants. it is a -- it seems to be a general principle. it should work with the omicron as well. >> now, you're not suggesting that people get infected, are you? you're saying this a byproduct. you're not telling anyone to lower the guard. >> that's right. there is nothing in these data that suggests that we should either -- some people say, well, if that's the case, should i bother getting vaccinated. >> right. >> you definitely need to be vaccinated. nothing in the data suggests you should avoid vaccination. on the contrary, we need that combined immunity. by the same token, we would never recommend trying to get covid in order to avoid getting covid. that would be self-defeating. if you -- it is much better not to get infected. if you do and you're also vaccinated, then hopefully your infection will be milder and you'll have a good immune response. >> just briefly, does this point in your view to the potential end of the pandemic? as more of the population is both vaccinated, but also many folks getting exposed? >> that's right. that's exactly one of the things we have our eye on. about half of the world population had at least a dose of the vaccine. more infections are unfortunately happening. and as new waves and surges come, many people get disheartened. they think that maybe we're going to have endless cycles of infection. it feels that way. but what we're saying here with these results is while actually as more of the world becomes immune through the two means, vaccine and natural infection, we're going to eventually have a world population that is much stronger and able to fight off the virus. i think that what we're saying here is this will taper down the epidemic and the severity in its destructive nature. >> one can only hope. dr. marcel curlin, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. still ahead, chinese president xi jinping used the past year to consolidate power at home and flex his military might around the region. congressman colin allred who just visited taiwan gjoins me live on what the u.s. can and should do to counter er china' moves. it's the season of smiling. and at aspen dental, we make it easy to gift yourself the smile you deserve. new patients, start today with a full exam and x-rays, with no obligation. if you don't have insurance, it's free. plus everyone saves 20% on their treatment plan with flexible payment solutions for every budget. we're here making smiles shine bright so you can start the new year feelin' alright. call 1-800-aspendental or book today at aspendental.com 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. ♪ [text alert] ♪ son of a bi— beth? 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>> it was an honor to meet with president xi, incredibly progressive. i think she is preparing for some kind of forceful invasion of some kind. they are having to scramble their air force every day to respond to chinese incursions into the air space. the chinese are doing that on purpose to try to wear out the air force. they're doing other aggressive actions to try to wear down the people of taiwan. when i was there, i found their resolve to be very strong. they want the united states' help in keeping that status quo in place. >> for folks at home who don't know this is a thriving democracy, a thriving economy, it also happens to make a good 85% of the semiconductors in everything we carry around in our pockets. do you believe the u.s. is doing enough both economically, but in terms of armed sales and other military support, to deter a chinese invasion? >> you used the right word. we have to deter them. we don't want to have this conflict. but folks in taiwan are preparing themselves to defend themselves and we certainly have our military in place in the pacific region to respond to anything. we have the most powerful military in the world. but in my opinion, the way we're going to be able to respond to china and prevent them from doing something that i think is not in their interest or anyone's interest is economically because they rely on our marketplace. they rely on the democracies that we're also allies with to sell their goods to, whether that's japan or australia or india. we have so many allies in that region. and we can bring together, i think to try to use our economic power and our power as democracies that have thriving economies to try and box them in. >> as you know, taiwan is a friend, it is not a treaty ally. there is no defense agreement to come to their mutual defense if they're attacked. do you believe -- the u.s. is, by the way, agnostic on the way it describes what it would do if china were to invade militarily. do you believe the u.s. should be willing to defend or help defend taiwan militarily, put u.s. forces at risk? >> i think we're prepared to defend taiwan if necessary. we don't think we should see any forceful invasions of any country around the world, whether that's ukraine, with the russians, or taiwan by the chinese. and so this is something that we all recognize that we have seen in the last century, when countries start rolling across borders and using tanks and armies to go in and create some of these conflicts, and that led to world wars. we don't want any of that to happen. so we're trying to deter them, part of that is by being strong. >> yeah, listen, history has shown folks like to invade one place, they kincan invade anoth. the chinese and russian governments perceive the u.s. as weak today. divided at home, political dysfunction at home, and also a tendency to withdraw from the world stage. as you were visiting taiwan, do you believe china judges the u.s. to be weak? >> i think every day they're making a risk calculus, and part of that calculus is how strong is the united states? how strong are we internally? how committed are we to the rules based order that we set up. the reason why we kept this system in place is because it allowed the world economy to flourish, to avoid world wars for decades and we did it. we led it. we're at the heart of it, our own instability does harm our foreign policy. and our adversaries around the world are watching very closely. they watch things like january 6th, very closely. they're watching our upcoming elections very closely. we have to understand our democracy is the linchpin for so much of what happens around the world. and we protect it here at home first. >> i want to ask you about another issue close to your heart. that is suicide among u.s. military veterans. you you co-sponsored bipartisan legislation to create a pilot program to help prevent veteran suicides. i wonder, i speak to a lot of veterans and i heard that post exit from afghanistan, there was a real crisis perhaps still today among many afghan vet veterans in particular, who wonder what their sacrifice was for. i wonder if you're seeing and hearing of the same thing and what you think needs to be done about it. >> yeah, this has been a traumatic time for our veterans. it certainly has. and as a member of the committee, we have been watching this closely and every veteran we lose to suicide is one too many. and we know that we're still losing on average 17 veterans a day to suicide. and that about six of them have sought care at one of our va health facilities prior to taking their own life. so we know we have to plug some of these gaps that are allowing folks to come in to be seen for maybe physical health issues but not getting the whole comprehensive mental screening that could allow us to step in and hopefully prevent that suicide. studies have shown that by taking a more targeted approach to this, we can get in there and we can prevent some suicides and that's something we're trying to do. >> well, we wish you luck. it is important work. congressman colin allred, good luck on that. we wish you and your family a very merry christmas. >> happy holidays to you too, jim. >> thank you. still ahead, michael flynn becomes the latest to defy the house committee investigating january 6th. the committee weighing its next step with him as well as a republican congressman who has refused an opportunity to sit down. we'll have an opportunity coming up. when love finds us, this is how we shine. ( ♪ ) you found the one. now find the ring at zales, the diamond store. ho ho ho! not again. oh no. for the gifts you won't forget. the mercedes-benz winter event. get a credit toward your first month's payment on select models. ray loves vacations. but his diabetes never seemed to take one. everything felt like a 'no'. everything. but then ray went from no to know. with freestyle libre 2, now he knows his glucose levels when he needs to. and... when he wants to. so ray... can be ray. take the mystery out of your glucose levels, and lower your a1c. now you know. try it for free. visit freestylelibre.us ♪ ♪ you are my fire ♪ ♪ the one desire ♪ ♪ you are, you are, ♪ ♪ don't wanna hear you say... ♪ ♪ ♪ i want it that way ♪ ♪ feel stuck and need a loan? move to sofi and feel what it's like to get your money right. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ move to a sofi personal loan. earn $10 just for viewing your rate — and get your money right. ♪ e. this just in to cnn. four people who organized the pro trump rally just before the capitol insurrection are suing the jianuary 6th committee, to block their phone records. michael flynn announced his own lawsuit for the same reason. republican congressman scott perry, a sitting lawmaker has denied a request to sit down for a voluntary interview with the congress he serves for that january 6th panel. cnn's paula reid is in washington. paula, this was a voluntary request to a fellow lawmaker here. is there any sense they would take the next step of formally subpoenaing perry? >> it's possible. in response the committee stopped short saying they would issue a subpoena, only saying they would use other tools at their disposal. as you noted, what's so significant is perry was the first lawmaker who was contacted by the committee as part of this investigation, and his refusal to voluntary cooperate raises questions about whether or not lawmakers will now attempt to subpoena a colleague. some republican lawmakers said targeting a member of the gop would be a step too far. now, in a tweet perry suggested that one of the reasons he didn't want to voluntarily cooperate is he believes the committee is illegitimate and not duly constituted under the u.s. house of representatives. jim, a federal court has already rejected a similar argument about the committee's authority made by former president trump. this is not the only issue or controversy facing investigators. as you noted, there's a lot of on going litigation, over half a dozen lawsuits challenging various aspects of this investigation. in the most recent batch of lawsuits we're seeing people trying to block the committee from obtaining their phone records. four people connected to organizing the pro trump rally on the ellipse that preceded the capitol insurrection, they're suing to block the committee from obtaining their phone records. interestingly, they do reveal they have answered questions from the committee about the rally, ability what they saw and heard that day. their lawsuits to block the committee from obtaining their phone records comes as former trump national security adviser mike flynn and right wing media personality alex jones have also sued, arguing these requests are overly broad. both flynn and jones say they don't intend to answer or give any information to this investigation. if they do sit in to answer questions, they intend to invoke their fifth amendment right. >> a whole host of people are complying despite the ones defying it. paula reid, thank you. in about 30 minutes, president biden has a meeting at the white house on his efforts to help speed up the supply chain. where do things stand just days from christmas? are you going to get all your presents? we'll bring you an update live. ♪ find the perfect gift 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 at vanguard, you're more than just an investor, you're an owner with access to financial advice, tools and a personalized plan that helps you build a future for those you love. vanguard. become an owner. let's get ready for jalapeñoooo popperrrrs! can you hand me some potato skins. theyyyy're loooaded! turns out, michael buffer speaks like that all the time. and it turns out the general is a quality insurance company that's been saving people money for nearly 60 years. and in this corner, coconuuuut shriiiiiimp! for a great low rate, and nearly 60 years of quality coverage - make the right call - and go with the general. let's get rrready for garlic breeeaaad! very good wednesday morning. i'm jim sciutto. to be clear. no shutdowns, no lockdowns. right now the u.s. is seeing a big increase in new covid infections. with that, a major surge in some parts of the country in demand for testing. president biden laid out his plan to fight the fast-spreading omicron variant, a plan which includes several new measures to expand both testing and vaccinations. as americans begin to gather for the holidays, president biden reassured them he will not close down the country, saying those who are vaccinated can celebrate safely while sending a sharp message to those who still don't have their shots. >> almost everyone who has died from covid-19 in the past many months has been unvaccinated.

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