lyricist himself. no new friend in congress, covid matches, videos depictings the murder of a colleague. the mood at the capitol is toxic. is civility dead and gone? but, first, moment ago, president joe biden addressing the growing omicron covid surge. he says there is more work to do to get covid tests to every corner of the country, and his new mantra for governors, if you need help, just ask. biden is also careful to say that history is not repeating itself. >> this is not like march of 2020, the beginning of the pandemic. we're prepared and we know what it takes to save lives, protect people and keep schools and businesses open. we just have to stay focused and continue to work together. my message to the governor is simple. if you need something, say something. and we -- we're going have your back any way we can. >> the president's words come as the u.s. nears an awful repeat covid milestone. daily cases approaching 200,000 per day. i want to get straight to cnn's john harwood outside the white house. john, the president did answer a question. what was his overall message today given where the country stands right now? >> well, it was a message to stand with the governors, express some solidarity. he got a welcome greeting from asa hutchinson, the republican governor of arkansas who said the president's remarks last week to try to depoliticize the response to the virus were helpful. this is something that has plagued the covid response from the beginning, a partisan divide in terms of masks, in terms of testing, in terms of vaccinations. that's still a problem for the president because even though 200 billion -- excuse me, 200 million americans are fully vaccinated, many have been boosted, you have a hard core of vaccine resistance principally among republicans, and that in combination with a shortage of tests has made this holiday season difficult. what the administration is hoping to do is they have ordered up those 500 million tests that will be available for free to americans who order them off a website. they have invoked the defense production act to try to ramp up testing. they created pop-up testing sites, all those things have been inadequate for the current moment, but the administration hopes once we get past the holidays that the governors are going to find in their states that those tests are more readily available than they are now. that's something that we need to try to cope with this omicron surge. >> yeah. >> no question about it. john harwood at the white house where the president is about to depart for rehoboth, delaware. as we mentioned, cases are at the highest point in nearly a year, almost 200,000 new reports daily. that's up 47% in a week. the rate of positive pcr tests nationwide now a whopping 12.5%. now omicron is cancelling college bowl games along with pro sports and forcing airlines to pull thousands of flight do you to staffing short afscme. cruise ships are returning early or changing course due to outbreaks on board so how long will this surge last? >> we're certainly going to continue to see a surge for a while. i fully expect that it will turn around. i hope it turns around as sharply as what we've seen in south africa. >> joining me now is professor williams hazeltine, an infectious disease and president of access health international. professor, that's right where i want to start. i want you to pull up the cases per capita as it pertains to south africa versus the united states. we've seen some positive news and just how quickly there's been kind of a turnaround in the cases in south africa. what do we expect in the united states in the coming months? do we expect a similar kind of turnaround once we hit peak? >> well, of course, we've gone through this before. we know that the pandemic peaks, the infection rates peak and then fall over but the u.s. is very different from south africa. we're a much bigger country. we are geographically in terms our weather quite diverse, and we've seen it starts in the northeast it is a did in the extreme north and then it moves to the west and then to the south. this is moving a little bit farther, but it gets spread out for a longer period of time. i would say if it peaks in a month's time in south africa, it will be perhaps three to four months here, so we're in it for a while. >> and given that timeline, look, i think everybody has started to shift their focus a little bit from case counts particularly given the vaccination rates to hospitalizations and deaths, and can you see u.s. hospitalizations at this moment are down over 30% from where they were at peak of dealt a. i know it's a lagging data point to some degree. what is the current -- what are the current numbers telling you? >> well, the current numbers tell us that at this point in the pandemic of omicron, it doesn't look like the hospitalization rates will be as high. that's for the vaccinated people mostly. we don't know what's going to happen to the unvaccinated people, whether it's the same as delta, worse than delta or better than delta but since many people have been vaccinated, it means that hospitalization rates are going to go down, but it doesn't tell you the whole story. one of the things we really have come towns is even if you have a mild infection, you may get long covid, and long covid is a very serious thing. we now know it can last over a year so 10% to 0% of people who think they have, you know, dodged a bullet because they have got it and they are fine, they may have some other problems. i think it's a big mistake to change the way we count. we need to know where the infection is, how it's spreading, and we need to have that information. now it's like the weather. you want to know how many people in your area are infected so you can moderate your behavior. if there's a lot of people infected, you want to stay inside like a thunderstorm or even a tornado, so you really do want to keep the number -- keep counting the number of people infected. the number of people hospitalized, hopefully won't be as many. >> you know kind of the importance of data and being able to operate based off of that in terms of guide lines. there's been a lot of confusion over the evolution of cdc guidelines generally. the agency just last week shortened the isolation period for health care workers. dr. fauci told cnn this morning that they are considering expanding that to the general population. take a listen. >> the idea about cutting down the period of quarantine for people who have been exposed and perhaps the period of isolation for people who have been infected is something that is under i would say serious consideration. >> professor, the president was just asked about this saying he said he will listen to his medical team and public health team which obviously dr. fauci is a part of. is shortening the quarantine period, is that wise? do we know concretely how long someone is contagious with covid-19? >> personally i don't think it's wise. this infection is a dangerous infection. it has medium and long-term effect and the period in which poem remain infected can remain quite long. the countries that have controlled covid deaths assume that it's two to three weeks, so shortening it as short as five days, even to seven days, is taking a risk i don't think we need to take. for maybe critical workers, if we actually need them and we don't have doctors and nurses, maybe then for those workers, but i would be pretty conservative on shortening it. that's my own opinion based on looking at data around the world. >> and before we go, i only have a couple of seconds left. new year's eve obviously a couple days away. dr. fauci is urging folks to stay away from larger gatherings. what's your take on things? >> he's exactly right. this is not a time -- i can tell you, personal experiment, living in the new york and connecticut area, i can't tell you how many of my friends are negative one day and positive the next. people who i've, unfortunately, interacted with, who we have tested the day before, the next day they call me up, we're infected. it's happened to me at least three times, four times already. it's a dangerous time, and i would recommend against joining any large crowd. stay home this new year's eve. >> professor, thanks as always for your time, sir. we appreciate it. >> you're welcome. thank you. coming up next, there is hope for the president's agenda this holiday season, at least among a few democrats. the suggestion on how to keep the build back better bill alive coming up next. subway's eat fresh refresh™ has so many new footlongs. refresh! here's how they line up. we got the new chicken & bacon ranch, new baja steak & jack, and the new baja chicken & bacon, aka “the smokeshow”" save big. order through the app. ♪ my name is austin james. as a musician living with diabetes, fingersticks can be a real challenge. that's why i use the freestyle libre 2 system. with a painless, one-second scan i know my glucose numbers without fingersticks. now i'm managing my diabetes better and i've lowered my a1c from 8.2 to 6.7. take the mystery out of managing your diabetes and lower your a1c. now you know. try it for free at freestylelibre.us (burke) this is why you want farmers claim forgiveness... 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"washington post" reporter sun min kim, cnn correspondent john harwood and national politics correspondent eva mccann. you heard what senator cardin said there and something that senator cardin said yesterday that grabbed a few headlines in what the process may be going forward. take a listen. >> are democrats hoping to scale it back even more or passing various passes as stand-alones may be attracting senator manchin or even some gop on some of these issues? >> well, that's a strategy decision that's being negotiated. we are open to a way to reach the finish line. >> so i want to deconstruct that a little bit. they are open to whatever way gets things to the finish line, but the idea of breaking things into pieces, there's a reason they are doing it all at once, and it's because they don't have any republican support, so what is the process to the best you've kind of did i vind in talking to folks the last couple of weeks. >> right? >> i mean, the best way to get what they want and passed is basically figure out what joe manchin can support and get on board with that, because breaking the build back better -- build back better package into different provisions is going to present numerous hurdles for democrats who are looking at this as their kind of one big shot at a major transformational legislative package before the mid terms. you know, there was some chatter before the break about how potentially maybe the child tax credit could be a bipartisan effort, but once you start getting into the nitty-gritty of legislating you'll run into differences between the two parties in terms of whether you want to, you know, require or make a work requirement or not, so the best shot for democrats right now i think what democratic senior aides, democratic lawmakers are still hoping, is that everyone can kind of cool off after the christmas break and that particularly joe manchin and president biden can come back to the negotiating tabling in january. >> john, i wanted to ask you, cooled off all the time. congresswoman jayapal a critical player had an opinion piece in "the washington post" where she said in part taking an executive action will also make clear to those who hindered build back better that the white house and democrats will deliver for americans. the congressional progressive caucus will soon release a plan for these actions this. idea of executive action, obviously there are significant limitations to what the white house could do. is there a possibility that the white house may pursue something along these lines in the weeks ahead? >> i doubt it. i think that's not any better of an option than the one that ben cardin was asked about over the weekend about breaking it up. i'm not sure you get anything by breaking it up. remember, they already broke up the initial biden agenda into two pieces, the infrastructure bill and build back better. there are not ten republican votes for anything significant joe biden wants to do, so it seems pretty clear that the way to get something done is to figure out what it is that joe manchin is willing to vote for and then try to get 50 votes into with kamala harris as the tie-breaking vote you. >> mentioned the vice president. she had an interview with cbs and i want to play some sound about senator joe manchin from the vice president. take a listen. >> i'm not giving up. the president is not giving up, and frankly the stakes are too high. >> do you feel that senator manchin is playing fair with you? >> i think the stakes are too high for this to be in any way about any specific individual. >> the temperature, it has been reduced, to say the least, but what is the posture of kind of showing you hearing from administration officials and democratic leadership after a blowup seven, eight days ago? >> we saw after senator manchin basically blew this whole thing up on fox news a week ago with the white house come out with a strong statement, and it was a departure for what they have done for many weeks, and i think they are now returning to that to kind of treating senator manchin with kid gloves. i think president biden has long been intentional about not ostracizing him or demonizing him, even when he was faced widespread protests to move on this bill, and i think they realize as a practical matter that they have to return to that position. >> yeah. you need 50 votes. joe manchin is number 50. pursue everything as such. guys, we'll get back to you in a few. coming up ahead, a new window into what the january 6th committee is after. carvana's ha. 100% online car buying. car vending machines. and now, putting you in control of your financing. at carvana, get personalized terms, browse for cars that fit your budget, then customize your down payment and monthly payment. and these aren't made-up numbers. it's what you'll really pay, right down to the penny. whether you're shopping or just looking. it only takes a few seconds, and it won't affect your credit score. finally! a 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days left in 2021 and the january 6th committee is still left in local quicksand with its most high-profile can after president trump asked the supreme court to step in and block his records. it's unclear if steve bannon or mark meadows or if any other high-profile trump ally will come before the committee. we did learn something important in a weekend court challenge. the committee subpoenaed information directly from a bank, in this case jpmorgan, as part of it effort to track and trace the money that paid for the stop the steal rallies that morphed into that capitol mob siege. i want to go straight to capitol hill and cnn's ryan nobles. ryan, you've been covering every twist and turn of this. what did that say to you when you saw it? >> reporter: phil, we've known for some time that the committee was very interested in the money trail. they have a specific team within the committee called the green team that has the specific mandate of ferreting out where the money came from and who spent it and what it was spent on and what role that played in the insurrection on january 6th. it's also the distinct possibility that they could be looking for criminal activity, that perhaps some of the money that was encouraged to be raised for the specific rallies that took place around the capital was actually not spent that way so there's a lot of different avenues that the committee is looking for as it relates to money and how it was spent, but the big question as you point out is how difficult is it going to be to get access to that information because of all the lawsuits that some of these subpoena targets have been filing. lawsuits not only to prevent them from coming in front of the committee but also lawsuits to prevent these records from being handed over from some of these third-party groups like bank companies, social media companies and telecom companies. phil, it may not be an issue of whether or not the january 6th select committee has the authority to do so under law. they could very well win all of these lawsuits. it's really more an issue of timing. they are up against a deadline here. they need to get their work done before the mid term elections because if republicans are successful it's likely they will shut down this committee or change its scope in a big way of the right now you can see all the allies of the former donald trump throwing as much legal work as they possibly can against the wall to try and grind the gears to a halt of this committee. so far it's not been successful, but this has to play itself out here over the next couple of months to see whether or not the committee will get any of the information they are looking for. phil? >> the clock is ticking. ryan nobles for us on capitol hill. thanks so much. and i want to bring in on that note cnn legal analyst elie honig who joins our conversation. elie, one of the things i'm trying to figure out, as ryan noted, we've known they wanted financial information. they thought it was critical. follow the money is the oldest adage in washington investigations at this point. what do you think they are trying to get here? what do you think that -- whatever they secure here, if they do, could actually move this case towards? >> yeah, phil, i see two areas of relevance for the bank records. it's not only the oldest adage in washington, it's the first thing you're taught as a prosecutor pull the bank records. figure out where the money went. here they are trying to do two things. here, first of all, flesh out the story behind january 6th. who funded this and who handled the money? where was it disbursed? you have to know this in order to have the full picture and there's the possibility of potential crimes and fraud f.money was raised, for example, on one pretense donate to stop the steal and then that money was used for other purposes if people pocketed it or used it for other reasons, that could be wire fraud. now, of course, congress can't bring a criminal charge but if they do find evidence of potential crimes they can send that over to the justice department. >> yeah. it's going to be something that we're all watching, and i know you, elie, rutgers fan i information, and one of those lawmakers is congressman jim jordan, including some of his conversations with donald trump on january 6th of which there have been multiple versions of. take a listen to this version. >> i spoke with him the day after, i think after. i don't know if i spoke with him in the morning i just don't know. i'd have to go back -- i mean, i don't -- i don't know that -- when those conversations happened, but -- but what i knowsy spoke with him all the time. >> that was as clear as mud, but there's been multiple version of that. eva, i want to ask you. when you think about the idea of committees going after lawmakers it raises a lot of concerns inside congress but where does this head where committees subpoena lawmakers? >> well, it's a strategy that the committee captain take lightly. it adds a whole new dynamic when you're subpoenaing members of congress, your co-workers basically and it turns up that temperature in the body at a time when it's already high but they have determined that this is a necessary step forward, and, you know, in addition to this, we have seen members, they call themselves part of the advance team, right, in congress, republican members of congress closely aligned to former president trump, and so i think the question is in the weeks ahead, the pressure on these members works are you, who are you committed, to who is your allegiance to, to the country, to getting to the bottom of what happened on january 6th or to the former president? >> and sung min, you're up there every day, the fact that it's been past the boiling point from january 6th and beyond. our colleague dana bash interviewed fred upton on "state of the union" and the idea of whitewashing january 6th. take a look at how they do things. >> watched poem go down to the mall and heard the noises and watched what was happening. it was real and shocking. >> is it shocking to you that so many republicans now are being told it wasn't what you saw? >> well, you remember the conversation that's been recanted a good number of times when kevin mccarthy called the president and said call the troops of course, you know. stop this stuff, and the response was along the lines i guess they care more about the election than you do, kevin. >> so i guess, since you talk to these folks every day, is that reality or is this just kind of a public posture that some trump allies have when behind the scenes they were all there. they know what happened on january 6th. >> i mean, you walk around the capitol and you see signs of january 6th in so many ways. up until very recently, there were still panes of window glass that were shattered from the rioters that you could still see when you walk in and out of the capitol. obviously when you walk around the house chambers you see the metal detectors that were put in after the insurrection because the lawmakers feel that some of their own colleagues may actually be trying to hurt or kill each other, so what happened on january 6th is very real, and you see kind of just how when we get -- when we get further and further away from the day the more and more incentive that republicans have to downplay or even whitewash what happened. the perfect example of that is ketch mccar think, the house minority leader who did put the blame on former president donald trump immediately after the election but then just a few days later just really started walking back from the former president's role in perhaps provoking these rioters, but i think that's kind of also the role that the january 6th committee is playing here in addition to their investigative role just to really kind of paint a fuller picture what have happened as so many members of the republican party had trying to really change that history of what happened on that awful day. >> and you mentioned the changing of the history, and eva you got at it, too, kind of the advanced team of trump aclitz inside the house republican conference who are not had a majority of the conference but by far get more attention than the vast majority of the conference, and there's a clear move of trump outside al toys get more of them in. take a listen to boris epstein, a close trump outside adviser and what he had to say. >> all of these establishment dinosaurs who have no room in today's maga environment have decided it's time to move on, and it is, because the -- the maga movement, the war room posse, the maga movement and, yes, president donald j. trump has full control over the republican party. >> you know, there's a great piece in the newspaper today about how, you know, they are recruiting canned diets primary people that would line up more with the marjorie taylor greenes and matt gaetzes and i want to go back to you, eva, in terms of how this plays out. >> the fighting among the republicans and the tension to define the party as slowly about proximity to trump has been fascinating to watch. i have covered the ohio republican primary, the pennsylvania senate republican primary, and it has become sort of a necessary part of running, and -- and, you know, it defies logic. the party that says that they are concerned about cancel culture cancelling conservative members who champion conservative policies but don't necessarily want to align themselves with the former president. >> john, and i want to follow up with that because you have a really good column this week about the progression of the republican party and how it compares to the president's first 11 months in office, like primarily who these guys are replacing, they are replacing conservatives like toomey and rob portman if they win their elections and what it means if josh mandell or dr. oz or the theme are replacing them. >> that's right, and i think it's important, phil, to remember that this is, yes, about trump and the grip that he has over the party, but it extends far before trump ever came on the scene. this is significantly about within the republican party, a group of too many, principally white evangelical christians, who think the country, once respected aspect of their culture is slipping away from them, economically, cult rath rally. we're on the way to becoming a majority minority country and the fear and desperation of those white conservatives, most notably evangelical christians, is fueling the celebration with the party. fouling the mago movement. he rode that into power and he's promised to roll back the changes and make america great again, and that's significantly what we're talking about here. >> and we'll watch it play out in the republican primaries in particular throughout the next couple of months. thanks very much, guys. ahead, a now conflict as donald trump pushes back against vaccine skepticism and a vaccine conservative calls 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(soft music) ♪ you can call it funny. you could call did ironic, don't you think? former president donald trump says if you want to stay out of the hospital you should consider taking the covid-19 vaccine. it's responsible, science-based talk who steered often into conspiracies and half-baked hey i heard this might work ideas, but one conservative commentator now says trump is wrong on vaccines. why? because he's old and he apparently couldn't pay attention to message boards. >> he just genuinely believes that the vaccines are good, and he believes that because he comes from a generation like peoply oftentimes you forgot like how old trump it. he comes from a generation. i've seen other people that are older have the exact same perspective. they came from a time before tv, before internet and before being able to conduct their independent rest i believe also that he only reads the mainstream media news, believe it or not i do not believe that trump reads or par takes in any other news sources. you know, i don't believe that trump is on the internet. >> we should note that science supports the former president and fantasy supports candace owens. i just -- i chuckle because it's -- look. i appreciate the idea that the trump -- that trump can't do his own research on the internet because he's not on the internent but i appreciate that scientists are doing research in labs. what impact has this had? >> first of all, never too late to make a difficult situation better so i think the country should be grateful that trump said the things that he said which us a note were science-based and when you do that with a certain segment of the republican party you're going to get a negative react. candace owens is a kook so she gave a kookie reaction and i think the more significant thing was not her reaction but the fact that donald trump said something positive dealing with the pandemic. >> worth noting that the president got the vaccine, got a booster and talked about it more in public but is always taking credit for operation warp speed. he took credit again when owens pushed back. take a listen to the exchange. >> yet more people have died under this covid, by the way, under joe biden. >> right. >> than under you and more people took the vaccine this year so people are questioning -- >> the vaccine work but some people -- the once that get very sick and go to the hospital are the ones that don't take the vaccine, but it's still their choice, and if you take the vaccine you're protected. people aren't dying when they take the vaccine. >> eva, candace owens put out that video because of the pushback that the former president was getting. does cause a major rift inside trump supporters that he's taking this position? >> i'm not sure it lfnlt i think for the former president whatever advisers are advising him on this, he needs to keep listening to them. one of the reasons that so many americans put their confidence in joe biden was because they thought that president biden took the pandemic more seriously and that the former president didn't take it seriously enough, and now that he's indicating that vaccines work, that's the message that the country need so whoever he is listening to, whoever is in his ear on this issue her, needs to keep listening, and i don't think he'll receive a lot of blow back from his supporters. >> the biggest question -- the most difficult question is does it change vaccination rates against those who are against them? >> obviously you're looking for a validator such as the former president to reach out to vaccine skeptics. public health officials have said those are more like local officials like your local doctor. if the former president can get a few more or dozens more to become vaccinated, that's great, but, again, with all of his history of fourthing public health protocols when he was in the presidency and on the onset of the pandemic, i don't know how much credit he actually deserves. >> clearing of a very low bar. thanks, guys. >> some members of congress holiday wish list, less toxicity and more unity. will it ever happen? a closer look straight ahead. there is no place like home y'all! and these people know that there is no place like wayfair. i never thought i'd buy a pink velvet sofa, but when i saw it, i was like 'ah'. and then i sat on it, and i was like 'ooh'. ooh! stylish and napable. okay now. i can relate to this one. i'm a working mom with three boys. 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my panel is back with me. i don't want to be the morality police or the civility police. i think the bigger question is what this means in terms of how washington works and operates. eva, i want to start with you because congresswoman dingell played a voice mail in that interview with dana bash. take a listen. >> you've got them old and [ bleep ]. you're as old and ugly as biden. you ought to get the [ bleep ] off the planet. you [ bleep ]. they ought to arrest for treason. you and every one of your scumbag friends. i hope that your family dies in front of you. i pray to god that if you've got any children they die in your face. >> like charles sumner was beating on the senate floor. we've hugly times in washington. this just seems to be at a different level in terms of how often it's happening right now in this scale to which it's happening. what is your sense of things, eva? >> that's certainly what members of congress are saying. that voice mail is very chilling. i do wonder though how much this hot rhetoric is a play for cameras. sometimes i see republican and democrats walking the capitol talking to each other joking. people with very different political ideologies so i wonder how much of this is show. even if it is, it has real world implications because people like that who call in to the congresswoman, they are taking this very seriously. i will say this though. the way back is for members not to engage in a popularity contest or to be a foot soldier for anyone but to remember why the people sent them there, to legislate, right? that is why we elect these members, to legislate, and once they get away from the politics of personality and remember their mission and their focus we're going to see a return to civility. >> i think one of the things, at least in talking to members -- you talk more to them than i do on a daily basis is that the voice mails you just heard from congresswoman dingell are starting to break through. they are used to taking flack. they are used tock criticized but that's a visceral, personal, violent voice mail, and i think that's been the thing that i picked up from members like, whoa, this is very different and kind of a scary moment. >> right, right, and these threats are certainly anecdotes of them are on the rise, and certainly concerning to many members. you know, obviously there are other members of congress who have had to walk around with security aside from the leadership that normally have a detail with them, so it's certainly a concern, and i think another point of concern, too, is that a lot of times a lot of this very coarse, very offensive and very violent rhetoric is coming from the members themselves, and there isn't enough of a condemnation from members of their own party about that rhett ring. you know, we're talking about representative paul gosar's, you know -- the image that he tweeted a few weeks ago depicting violence towards another member. the fact that that isn't just being overwhelmingly condemned is shocking and certainly i'm sure is contributing to this. i'm hoping that tempers -- tempers will cool as soon, but we'll have to wait and see. >> that's the one thing i wanted to get to before we close with john is what fred upton said, and it's the member-to-member thing that's the big pest difference now that's the big difference than ever before. take a listen. >> got metal detectors going on the house floor. we get real nasty threats at home. the tone gets, you know, tougher and tougher, and it's -- it's a pretty toxic place. i've never seen anything like this before. >> this is a question, the member-to-member distrust and concern to some degree fear, have you ever seen anything like this in your time in washington? >> i've never seen anything like it, and i think we need remember. it's not had a symmetrical problem. the messages that fred upton are complaining about and debby dingell are coming about are coming from the same play, the political right and for the same reason that the fbi says white nationalism is the biggest terrorist threat that the united states faces, the same kind of people who stormed the capitol on january 6th, that's where the most intense vitriol is coming from. it's not evenly spread between both sides. >> yeah. that's a great point. this isn't a both sides thing and it's not we just understand anime thing, and thanks for your time. a hearing today for the truck driver sentenced to 110 years in prison for a crash that killed ten people. we're coming up live in denver next. i'm jonathan lawson here to tell you about life insurance through the colonial penn program. if you're age 50 to 85, and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three ps. what are the three ps? 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what will covid bring in six months, a year? if you're feeling anxious about the future, you're not alone. calhope offers free covid-19 emotional support. call 833-317-4673, or live chat at calhope.org today. are you a christian author with a book that you're ready to share with the world? get published now, call for your free publisher kit today! in just minutes, a colorado district attorney will ask for a dramatic change to the sentence for a truck driver blamed for a fire to 28-car pile-up that killed four people, a judge sentenced the man to 110 years for vehicular homicide and reckless driving. now the d.a. wants to reduce that to 20 to 30 years. cnn's lucy kafanov joins me now from denver. lucy, what are we expecting from this today? >> reporter: phil, in just a few minutes the status are hearing is expecting to kick off. we're not looking to a ruling in this case. we'll likely get a new court date for the court to reconvene to decide what to do next, but what we're talking about is essentially a plan that could get 90 years off of the man's sentence, according to the district attorney alexis king. she's not looking to overturn the conviction but rather asking the court to reconsider that lengthy sentence, potentially reducing it to 20 or 30 years. now in a statement she said that medeiros made active choices that resulted in the defendant of four people, serious injuries to others. she added the shorter sentence reflects, quote, the appropriate outcome for that conduct. at issue are the colorado mandatory minimum sentencing laws that require sentences for each count to be served consecutively rather than concurrently which is how the 27 counts turned into more than a century in prison for the now 26-year-old driver. that's a sentence, by the way, twice as long as some murder convicts. his attorney has been calling for legal reforms when he spoke to cnn earlier today. take a look. >> law doesn't between people like mr. medeiros who is not a danger to society and other people that are sentenced to life that are a danger to society, and i think the law needs to make those kinds of exceptions and understand that there is a difference between mr. medeiros and those other kinds of people. >> thanks to lucy kafanov for that reporting. jessica dean picks up our coverage right now. hi, everyone, i'm jessica dean in washington, d.c. in for aprila cabrera today. the new year is now just five days away, but when it comes to covid-19, a 2022 is shaping up to be deja vu all over again. new cases are soaring once again, up nearly 50% in the last week. this time fueled largely by the omicron variant, but while cases are