remained relatively lower than previous peaks. some good news there. still, this new surge is causing major disruptions to daily life. thousands more flights cancelled today. airlines seeing critical staffing shortages brought on by covid, and the surge is also impacting sports. several college football bowl games cancelled. others now seeking replacement teams as the virus sweeps through the nation. the nhl, the nba and the nfl all forced to postpone some games, and this morning president joe biden joining his pandemic response team's meeting with the national governor's association. while he says the u.s. has made great progress, biden at mitts there are still some gaps in our response. >> 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. we went from no over-the-counter tests in january to 46 million in october, 100 million in november and almost 200 million in december but it's not enough. it's clearly not enough. if we had known we would have gone harder quicker if we could have. >> we have correspondents and exports standing by to break this down. let's go first to cnn's nadia romero who is live at atlanta's hartsfield-jackson airport, one of the busiest in the world. nad yeah, thousands of flights have been cancelled or delayed over the last few days over the christmas holiday. it's caused a lot of disruptions for travelers. where do things stand right now. >> well, jessica, you're really seeing a domino effect. when you have this omicron variant that's spreading as quickly as it is in this country and around the world you anticipate some challenges and we have definitely seen them over the past couple of days over the holiday weekend and today. more than 900 flights cancelled just this morning, and that number keeps rising every time we check back. we also see those challenges. if your flight wasn't cancelled or delayed and you make it inside of the airport, then you're going to encounter long lines at tsa security checkpoints because they are having staffing shortages. let's say they want you to get something to eat inside. a lot of the shops are closed because they are having are staffing issues. i even spoke with the cleaning lady inside the airport and she said, listen, we were offered double pay, double time to come in during the weekend and people still didn't show up so this is a big impact in almost every part of your travel journey. i did speak with one person who said he was going to make the trek from the u.s. he flew in from taiwan earlier this week and he spent some time here in atlanta with his family. now he's on his way to tampa to go to the beach before he heads back to taiwan, and he explained some of the challenges that he's faced trying to do all of this international travel and also keeping himself safe. take a listen. >> last year was a lot easier. i came here last year for christmas as well, and it was a lot smoother than it is now with the restrictions, especially from taiwan. there's a lot of traveling restrictions so we had to make sure we got pcr-tested the day before which was a hassle but once everything got completed it's pretty much -- you know, once you get to the airport and everything checks out it's seamless. a lot more stricter in taiwan. a lot more stricter. there's mass regulations and pcr testing and so on and so forth. the u.s. is more relaxed and with more people being vaccinated here they can ease their restrictions more than taiwan. >> so jessica, you heard all the challenges and the differences between the different countries. a lot of people talking about what it took for them to be able to get on these flights to see their family and friends, but they all told me they were going to do whatever they needed to do to see their family because for many people it's been since before the pandemic, since christmas in 2019 that they were able to see their family and friends. jessica. >> years without seeing them. nadia romero for us. thanks so much, and the rapid rise in cases remains a major concern. senior medical copter elizabeth cohen is here now to break down these numbers, and elizabeth, the cases are rising, but we're not seeing the same steep jump in hospitalizations. walk us through what we're seeing here. >> what we're seeing here, jessica, is a highly transmissible variant that thank goodness does not seem to cause severe disease in the same way that delta or its predecessors did. let's take a look at these graphs. if you look at this one. on the left-hand side are cases from a month ago. that dot on the right-hand side, that's now. in the course of a month we've gone from 75,000 cases a day in the u.s. to about 200,000 cases a day. that's a huge jump in just one month. now let's take a look at hospitalizations. you'll see that that number is going up but much more gradually. it's not the same surge that we've seen in cases, but there is a fear that we are going to see hospitalizations rise more sharply soon. our colleague kaitlan collins spoke earlier today with dr. anthony fauci. >> well, i do hope that we do have the net effect is a diminution in the degree of severity but the sheer volume of cases that we're seeing now. yesterday we had 214,000 cases. even with the diminution and severity, we still could have a surge on hospitals, particularly among the unvaccinated. >> and speaking of the unvaccinated, this graphic, jessica, is like a punch in the gut. take a look at this. when you look from a month ago, vaccinations have gone down. the number of people getting first shots has gone down from 425,000 a day to 170,000 a day. that is a huge decline. now to talk a little bit about what dr. fauci just said, what he means is when you get a huge number of cases, which we're already seeing and it's going to get bigger, even if a small percentage end up in the hospital, a small percentage of a big number can still be a very big number and put a real strain on our hospitals. jessica? >> yeah, no question about that. elizabeth cohen for us, thanks so much. let's talk more about all of this. joining me now is cnn medical analyst and former baltimore health commissioner dr. leana wen. always wonderful to have you on and sort through all the new information we're getting. just talked through some of the new numbers. we know that omicron cases are fueling the rise in cases. to you how is this particular moment in the pandemic different than where we've been before? >> well, we have a lot more tools at our disposal compared to before, and one of the great things that is emerged in the last several months is for us to see how much science has really delivered. we actually have all the science that it takes to end the pandemic. we have oral treatments available. even though they are not scaled up yet. we have testing available, even though that's not scaled up and vaccines that are widely available and free even though there are people who have, unfortunately, not taken them so the key at this point is that the science is there, but we now need to convince people to get vaccinated and we have to do our best with the federal government leading the way to scale up treatments and tests because that's what's going to get us through this time. >> right. we heard from president biden earlier today that they are doing that with the testing, they are ramping it up. we also have new year's eve coming right around the corner. so many people man to get together. a big time for celebration, of course. this morning dr. fauci said he'd stay away from larger events. i think he was talking, you know, 50, 70, dozens of people. do you agree with that assessment at this point? >> i have a more nuanced assessment and i think it really depends on the medical circumstances in your household and for people who are close to you. so if you are immunocompromised or live at home who is immunocompromised or unvaccinated young children i would definitely advise to stay away from large events or any events where there are people around you of unknown vaccination status. omicron is everywhere and if you're attending an event you have to assume people around you are carrying i'm cron and you may not know it. if you're particularly medically vulnerable stay away from those events. on the other hand, if you're generally health, fully vaccinated and boosted and everybody in your household is the same, you can make a decision that i think is reasonable to still go ahead with your new year's eve plans and then before you go visit an elderly relative in the nursing home or somebody else who is medically vulnerable then you quarantine and get tested before seeing that person, and, of course, if you're unvaccinated, definitely do not go out and mingle because you could be at risk to other people. at this point in the pandemic, our assessment and guidance to people has to be nuanced and has to meet people where they are in terms of their own individual medical circumstances. >> do we need a risk assessment based on your individual circumstance, it be sounds like. dr. fauci also saying today that the administration is seriously considering shortening the isolation period for essential workers who test positive, and we've seen them recently do this with health care workers. how do you feel about that? where do you think the right answer is? >> i think it's really important that we shorten the isolation period for a couple of reasons. one is that we are facing a potential collapse of our critical infrastructure. if police officers, firefighters, ems, if our food service workers, if they all are out because of isolation or karen teens, we have a big issue on our hands when it comes to workforce and so shortening the isolation period will help to preserve our core infrastructure as it's helping to do with our health care infrastructure, but other reason is there are a lot of people who are just now not getting tested because they don't want to be out for ten days. omicron is so omnipresent that so many people are testing positive and so we need to really incentivize people to get tested rather than giving them this powerful disincentive which is ten days. a lot of people can't afford to be out of work or not see their family for ten days so if we're able to shorten it five days with a negative test, that would help increase compliance and in the long run i think it would help us to rein in covid even more. >> yeah, to shorten it to five days. with eseal see what they do. always great to have you on. thanks so much for taking the time. >> thanks, jessica. the case that has sparked a massive outcry and allegations of unfair punishment is in the spotlight today. will the judge reconsider a 110-year prison sentence for a truck driver killed in a crash that killed four people? a hearing on that sunday way right now. plus, a spokesman for former president trump is now suing in an effort to stop the january 6th select committee from getting his bank records. what are investigators looking for? a hearing is under way right now in the case of a truck driver sentenced to 110 years in prison for a 2019 interstate crash that killed four people in colorado. the severity of the sentence has gained national attention sparking calls for review. millions have signed a petition and even the district attorney is asking the court to consider a lighter sentence. the driver told police he was going 85 miles per hour when his brakes failed and he crashed causing that deadly 28-car pile-up. cnn's lucy kafanov is following developments for us this afternoon. lies, whaus what's the latest? >> reporter: well, jessica, i'm actually monitoring the hearing on my laptop right now. this is a virtual status hearing, a scheduling hearing so we're not expecting a ruling in this case but we're likely to get new dates for the court to reconvene to hear out this matter. the broader issue here is a plan brought by the district attorney that could get 90 years off the man's sentence. the district attorney is not looking to overturn the conviction, but they are asking the court to reconsider that lengthy 110-year prison sentence, potentially reducing it down to just 20 or 30 years. now, she said in a statement that me deerz made multiple active choices that resulted in the death of four people and serious injuries to others adding that the shorter sentence reflects what she calls an appropriate outcome for that cop duct and what's at issue is the colorado mandatory minimum sentencing laws that require each count to be served consecutively rather than concurrently which is how the 27 counts he was charged to turned into more than a century in prison for the 26-year-old driver, a sentence twice as long as murder convicts in the city. his attorney calling for reforms on cnn earlier today. take a look. >> the law doesn't distinguish between people like mr. me deerz 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 kind of exceptions and understand that there is a difference between mr. medeiros and those other kinds of people. >> and i'm still monitoring this here on my lap. it looks like they are still deliberate. we do expect the district attorney to issue a short sentence -- a short statement, pardon me, after this procedural hearing is over. jessica? >> we will keep an eye out for that. thanks for the update. sure do appreciate it. let's talk more about this case with a criminal defense attorney and former head prosecutor in new jersey. shan wu is a defense attorney and former federal prosecutor. wonderful to see both of you. shan, let's start with you. how rare is it to see a case where both judge and d.a. are out here saying we want a lighter sentence? >> it's pretty rare, and i think bob will agree with this. i think this is real on the prosecutor originally. it's not like they were surprised by the mandatory minimum sentences and they could have considered what kind of charges to bring, so it is rare for them to be in agreement about this, but, you know, this is because of the huge public outcry over the obvious gross severe disparity of the sentence, and really i think the judge could have done something. if the judge had simply chose not to follow that, yeah, technically that's an illegal sentence, but who is going to appeal it in this case. the defendant is not. it would be up to the prosecution to appeal it and they are feeling the heat right now. >> and bob bianchi, want to make sure i say that right. shan was just talking about this, the judge bound by these minimum sentencing guidelines, and i know that you have very strong feelings about these minimum sentencing guidelines. did this case expose some of the flaws in that system? >> it absolutely does. i'm so glad i have an opportunity to be here. thanks, jessica, for this. as a former head county prosecutor, it may sound counterintuitive. most us, only 21 in the entire state. we were appointed by the governor so it wasn't an elected d.a. system so we didn't have to worry about the court of public opinion but we used to lamont neve with the mandatory sen tension and moreover you're taking away from the junction the ability to sentence within the rule of reason, like a case like this, and every day it seemed to me that had a politician would catch on to a case that was really dramatic and didn't represent what goes on mostly in the community and they would want to pass another mandatory minimum law, and it would ensnare people like this particular defendant who don't deserve to be in jail for this period of time and i used to use the question is all we're doing is stacking people like cord wood in state prison because these feckless politicians refuse to remove themselves from this banner of tough on crime and rather have sentences options where judges and prosecutors are hamstrung and constrained and can give more reasonable sentences so this case is clearly exposing how good people can get caught up in the system and i listened to democrat politicians and have gone through republican politicians and begged themed and begged them to stop off the mandatory minimums. each one is an equal opportunity offender nod concerned about justice. >> the d.a. brings these charges knowing it could lead to this sentence because that is the mandatory minimum. how much leeway do they have and how important is that in a case like this? >> prosecutors have enormous leeway with discretion. it's really unfettered and we see that all across the country each day where you see unfair results with that when they have chosen to bring cases, for example, historically racial violence has gone unpunished. they haven't brought police shooting murder cases, so they have a huge amount of discretion so that's why i'm putting it on the prosecutors here which is if they knew that that would be mandatory minimum laws that this could result in a sentence of over a century they should have weighed that in considering what kind of plea bargain offer or what kind of charges to bring, so it's not as though they are being blind-sided by this and their discretion is really unfettered. >> it's interesting insight into that. millions of people have signed an online petition asking the colorado governor to reduce the sentence or even grant clemency here. i want you to listen to what one of the brothers of one of the victims said about that last week. >> he should stay out of it honestly until the court proceedings have been done. we were told the day of sentencing that the -- there was a review in progress and it would be done through the court system and the sentence would be considered and more than likely reduced and for the governor to get involved before that process is done i think would be inappropriate. >> bob, do you agree with duane bailey, the brother there? should the governor be getting involved here or stay out of it? >> i think the governor should stay out of it until the court ultimately comes down to what its sentencing is because the governor needs to know what clemency they are giving or specifically what reduction they are locking are notch bringing out this question of prosecutorial discretion, it's trow. prosecutors call the shots. when you have a person who is engaged in an accident only, doesn't represent a it can danger to the community, as a prosecutor because of the broad power you had, if you wanted to, you could have found a way to wiggle this down to a more appropriate. it's only when plus millions of people send something in. if i felt it was a just result i would stand up against the couple million people petition. we should not be here in the court of public opinion depending on the sentence. we decide on facts, laws and circumstances. >> thanks to both of you. >> great to see you. right now we're monitoring potential verdicts in two she-profile trials ongoing. in new york jurors are deliberating in the sex traffic case of ghislaine maxwell, the close companion of jeffrey epstein charged with six federal counts including sex trafficking of a minor. the jury in that case heard from more than 30 witnesses, including four women who say they were sexually abused by epstein when they were under 18 and that maxwell facilitated and sometimes participated in that abuse. maxwell denies the charges but faces up to 70 years in priss op if convicted on all counts. in california, deliberations in the elizabeth holmes fraud trial continues. the former silicon valley executive is charged with defrauding doctors and parents by claim to have blood technology that never came to fruition and holmes claims she always believed in the technology while acknowledging some mistakes and bad judgment. she faces up to 20 years in prison. we'll keep an eye on both of these trials and, of course, bring you any updates as soon as we get them. still to come this afternoon, what a new lawsuit against the january 6th committee tells us about where the committee is focusing its investigation. that's next. 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[ yelling ] wayfair is my therapy. amen, kim! yup! i'm hiding from my kids, as we speak. ♪ ♪ do your eyes bother you? because after all these emails, my eyes feel like a combo of stressed, dry and sandpaper. strypaper? why do we all put up with this? when there's biotrue hydration boost eye drops. biotrue uses naturally inspired ingredients like an electrolyte, antioxidant, even your tears' own moisturizer. and no preservatives. these ingredients are true to your eyes' biology. see? bio.true. what does a foster kid need from you? to be brave. to show up. for staying connected. the questions they weren't able to ask. show up for the first day of school, the last day at their current address. for the mornings when everything's wrong. for the manicure that makes everything right, for right now. show up, however you can, for the foster kids who need it most— at helpfosterchildren.com . it's said you want the truth follow the money, and it appears the january 6th investigators are on that trail with at least one witness. trump spokesman taylor buttiwicz is suing in order to block access to his financial records. he's produced hundreds of documents and has given hours of sworn testimony, but this lawsuit is especially significant because it reveals the committee's first subpoena for bank accounts that we so far know of. let's discuss this now with cnn legal analyst norm eisen. he was special counsel for house will democrats in donald trump's first impeachment trial, and he was also the white house ethics czar during the obama administration. norm, lovely to see you. thanks so much for being with us. first, i just want to know what you make of this news, that they are subpoenaing these financial records. >> hi, jessica, thanks for having me back. the committee is pursuing a mosaic of evidence. all the different bits of evidence, large and small, that can tell the story of what happened on january 6th, the insurrection and the run-up to the insurrection and, of course, as you point out one of the important parts of understanding how this terrible, unprecedented event in american political history, and donald trump's role in it, and that's by following the money. apparently the committee believes that there will be some indications of how the insurrection or the planning for the insurrection may have been funded or not. we'll see as they pursue this money trail. >> mm-hmm, and your description of this as a mosaic is so apt because we are seeing them and who they are interviewing, it really spans. it's lawmakers. it's people like mr. buttiwicz and others. who else do you want to hear from when it comes to this committee? >> of course, we need to understand the events of january 6th. we've seen recent effort to get to those who may have been in contact with former president trump or during the run-up or even during the event. that's members of the house of representatives, jim jordan, scott perry. the committee needs to pursue the evidence and then we need to know about the planning. that's the infamous war rom. they were getting red for a war at willard hotel. we need to know about contacts. mr. rudy giuliani was a part of that. we know the president was and former president was in contact with him and others in that war room and, of course, ultimately donald trump himself. i expect the committee will take a hard run at him without getting dogged down on the legislation. >> he's trying to slow it down by going through the courts. how could you think they will try to get at hem and put through that. we invited pen president trump to come and testify. p and also because you can't do the research without trying. we note former president would fight that. jessica, most importantly because if they can't get him, they need to get his documents, and they are very close. they have won two rounds of critical to get the critical records now and the supreme court needs to move with equal speed. it's been moving very quickly. >> will have i let you go. what do you think the supreme court will do? they have an option as to whether to take this case or not. the lower courts have said that president trump does not have a kate here. what think the -- the house of representatives have about asked to make a decision as to whether or not they are going to take it by mid-january. they should take it quickly and reject it quickly. the former deputy could langer headache a portrait of heavily sutout of the office. they should say no to the former president and as many said there's only one president as a time. thanks so much. >> appreciate it. president biden about to end up of his latest. what's the strategy now? as a professional bull-rider i'm used to taking chances. but when it comes to my insurance i don't. i use liberty mutual, they customize your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. wooo, yeaa, woooooo and, by switching you could even save 665 dollars. hey tex, can someone else get a turn? yeah, hang on, i'm about to break my own record. yeah. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty. ♪ . as 2021 winds to a close, it's clear president biden will end the year without movement on a major legislate goal, his build back social policy plan. democratic leaders still insist that bill is not dead, saying they are going to continue to negotiate despite senator joe manchin making it clear he will not support it in its current form w.mow now is cnn melanie zanona. melanie, what do we know about these discussions heading into the new year? >> democrats are not giving up on build back better just yet. there are discussions under way currently about how to keep this bill alive, and one idea under consideration is to break the bigger package up into smaller chunks. for example, doing a stand-alone bill on the child tax credit with the idea being that perhaps smaller pieces could win over holdout joe manchin. senator ben cardin has been outlining the strategy in recent days. fake had a listen. >> our democrats are hoping to scaling it back even more or passing various pieces of stand-alones may be attracting senator manchin or maybe even some of the gop on some of these issues? >> that's a strategy decision that's being negotiated. we're open to a way to reach the finish line. >> i think our best strategy is to find a common spot where all democrats can agree and move that legislation. that's what we're trying to do now. that's what the negotiations are about between the president and joe manchin and the speaker of the house and the majority leader in the senate. >> as you know, jess, the problem with that strategy is democrats have only one chance to use the fast track reconciliation process which have enabled them to pass bills in the senate for 451 votes so essentially they need republican support if they want to pass these stand-alone bills and it's clear that there's not much republican appetite to help pass joe biden's agenda and that's why you're hearing on progressives calling on joe biden to enact a backup plan. jayapal called on the president to start using executive issues to use things like climate change and prescription and biden is limited with what he does with his pen and anything he does with executive action can be overturned by a future republican president. not a good option for democrats right now but they are holding out some hope that they can at least notch some smaller scale victories in the new year. >> it will be interesting to see what senator manchin is willing to negotiate on. thanks so much. from the "squid game" phenomenon and an akeel comeback, we'll count down the biggest entertain stories of the year. can you guess what tops the list? 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>> reporter: and denied legal liability in response to scores of lawsuits against him. but the tragedy has the industry considering change. >> i definitely want to, you know, step in to figure out, you know, how can we fix this in the future. >> reporter: number seven. a grammy the weekend calls the grammy's corruption. after his smash album "after hours" is shut out of the nominations. not even his hit single blinding light was honored. grammy's said the omission wasn't intentional and later dump nominating committees. relying on a popular vote among the recording academy. >> history-making night for beyonce and taylor swift. >> the show went on where women reign supreme. a record for a female artist. number six, the return of adele. ♪ go easy on me baby ♪ >> her album '30" is the fastest selling album of the year, besting every other title in just three days. >> i think all day people will be going -- that is all you're going to hear. >> after a six year absence, fans can't get enough of adele. >> as roughly ten million people tuned in to her cbs special, which included a concert and an oprah interview. >> i'm nearing my goal of like finding my happiness. >> and if that weren't enough, adele a announced a 2022 vegas residency, becoming the hottest ticket on the strip. number five, the jeopardy host controversy. after a search for alex trebek replacement. >> they hired their own executive produceir. >> who is mike richards. the answer is no longer host of "jeopardy "jeopardy jake tapper. >> but then his comments on a podcast resurfaces. richards stepped down sand apologized but the lack lash continues and less than two weeks later he gave up his executive producer show and left the show. number four "squid game", becoming the biggest series ever at launch. >> hundreds people heavily in debt enter a game to win a huge pile of cash. if they lose a game, they killed on the spot. >> netflix said it was viewed by 111 million accounts in less than a month. and fan recreations like this one in the united arab emirates shows the world has worldwide appeal. from bts to parasite, and now "squid game", the sorkin fleens seems here to stay. number three, the box office bounces back. behind power houses like spider-man, no way home, and shang xi and no time to buy, the box office emerged from the pandemic topping $20 billion worldwide. in north america, theaters doubled their haul over 2020 passing $4 billion. still way behind 2019's $11.4 billion. but the resurgence came with growing pains as studios use streaming platforms to pick up the slack. >> black widow biting back today. >> after releasing on disney plus at the same day of theaters alleging it could cut into her profits. both sides eventually settled. >> number two, the alec baldwin movie set shooting. he discharged a prop on "rust", killing halyna hutchins and injuring the director. >> she was my friend, the day i arrived i took her to dinner. >> movie fans were stunned, left to wonder how this could happen on a fictional set. >> think there was some complacency on the set and -- >> as authorities investigate, speculation swelled. >> i let go of the hammer and bang the gun went off. >> baldwin set down with abc professing his innocence and fuelling the drama over what went wrong. >> the gun was supposed to be empty. i was told i was handed an empty gun. >> and the number one entertainment story of 2021. >> the free britney povment and the end of britney spears' life in a restrained life since 2008 under the control of her father through a conservatorship. >> he was so open and vulnerable. >> but a "new york times" documentary energize the free britney movement and put a spotlight on the courtroom. [ crowd chanting ] fans rallied outside of the l.a. courthouse until the moment they've been waiting for. later spears thanks her fans and shared what life feels like as a free britney. >> with an atm cash, with cash for the first time, it is little things for us women but it makes a huge difference. >> and many wonder if britney will do a sitdown interview which might make our list next year. we'll cover the top stories from hollywood, i'm stephanie elum. >> thank you all for joining me this afternoon. the news continues next with alisyn camerota after a quick break. this is your home. this is your family room slash gym. the guest bedroom slash music studio. the daybed slash dog bed. the living room slash yoga shanti slash regional office slash classroom. and this is the basement slash panic room. maybe what your family needs is a vacation home slash vacation home. find yours on the vrbo app. ♪ when it comes to autism, finding the right words can be tough. finding understanding doesn't have to be. we can create a kinder, more inclusive world for the millions of people on the autism spectrum. go to autismspeaks.org. i brought in ensure max protein, with thirty grams of protein. those who tried me felt more energy in just two weeks! 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