the white house had been told to do something. we want to verify all of it. so that when we produce our report and we have the hearings, the public will have an opportunity to see for themselves. >> cnn capitol hill reporter melanie zunona joins me now. what do we know about the testimony? >> reporter: well investigators really zeroed in on the 187 minutes trump was publicly silent while supporters stormed the capitol building and learned a number of people from republican lawmakers, white house staffers, to trump's own family members were trying to get through to the former president and begging to call him off and he didn't, at least for those 187 minutes. liz cheney, the vice chair of the select committee asked what trump did or didn't do during that critical time period. take a listen what she had to say. >> committee has firsthand testimony now he was sitting in the dining room next to the oval office watching the attack on television as the assault on the capitol occurred. members of his staff were ble pleading with him to go on television, tell them to stop. we know mccarthy was pleading him to do that, members of his family, we have firsthand testimony his daughter ivanka went in at least twice to stop him, to ask him to stop the violence. >> reporter: this a significant revelation because someone very close to the president is talking to the committee, this isn't just someone with secondhand knowledge. whether that rises to something critical is to be determined but said today, if they determine a critical act was committed, they have no problem making a criminal referral to the department of and justice and that is something that could be include in a final report, aiming to release this fall. >> thank you so much for the latest on that front. >> and tonight, a series on new polls giving us a looks at psyches of americans nearly one year after the january 6 insurrection so let's dig into some of the more eye-popping findings. here we go, first poll we'll look at here, from cbs news, ugov poll. if you look at the numbers, 85% of democrats believed this was an insurrection. 21%, however, of the gop say that it wasn't an insurrection. that's not what they believe it was. 56% of those in the gop said it was defending freedom. so on to the next poll we have, abc news ipsus poll and as you see here, look at the divide. 93% of democrats, no surprise in a way say joe biden is a legitimate president, but then 71% of republicans here saying joe biden is not legitimate, not the legitimate president. that number has been steady over the course of this last year and just alarming that number is still 71%. look at this one, is it ever justified for citizens to take violent action against the government? u.s. adults overall, 34% and look at the divide here. democrats, 23% saying that it could be justified to use violence against the government and 40% of republicans saying it could be justified to use violence against the government and finally let's take a look at this poll here. in future presidential elections, what do you expect? 62% say violence over losing and you have 38% saying losing side will concede peacefully. over 38% saying that they expect the losing side will concede peacefully. wow. i want to bring in cnn political k commentator scott jennings, nice to see you, a majority of republicans don't consider january 6 insurrection, say violence justified against the government 40%, 70% say biden's presidency isn't lejgitimate. as a republican yourself how does this concern you? >> well the possibility for violence in the future, just had some earlier in the year and obviously this is a huge step up from where we've been at the conclusion of our elections. we have had previous elections where the other side didn't exactly accept it. democrats didn't accept trump, didn't accept bush. >> hold on, i got to stop you there. i'll let you go, just not making the equivalence there. >> my point is republicans didn't accept biden and then a mob of them went to the capital and escalated this lack of a election result so i'm concerned we've seen acceleration, the number of people saying my vote didn't win, therefore it must be stolen, therefore i must take an action, it's very concerning. it's not healthy for the country and everybody ought to be concerned about it. >> also a big difference scott, worth noting, you had the sitting president saying that the election was stolen which happened, obviously even before the election was saying this then leading up to january 6 and continues with that drumbeat, that messaging, that the election was stolen even though we know it wasn't and he holds more power now in the republican party arguably than ever before. why do you think that is? i mean, because i remember right after the insurrection, you know, republicans denouncing him, willing to call him out, and now, you know, he, they clearly have receded and that's no longer happening. >> well, he's still the leading figure head of the republican party and clearly, you know, signaling to people that he intends to run to president again, stayed active in politics, stays active keeping up with supporters and engaging in political campaigns. he has not faded off or retired. he is clearly endeavoring to come back and got a whole bunch of people in the republican party that want him to come back. some don't, and there will we a primary about which way to go in the future. i say he's the odds on favorite for nomination, i don't think he's get it without a fight but clearly a front runner, his for the taking if he wants it and my view, pamela, he violated oath of office on january 6, we'll reckon with that as a party on 2024, and makes it harder to reckon with if he's nominee than if he's not. >> all right scott, i know you like having the air time all to yourself but you'll have to share it with kyrsten powers, democrat. >> i'd be happy to share it. >> i know you would, just giving you a hard time. so kyrsten, we were just going over the poll numbers what americans think about the election and january 6 and democracy as a whole and it's pretty alarming to see some of these views. i'm wondering, do you think joe biden and democrats as a whole should be sounding the alarm more about all of this and the threat to democracy? >> well, i mean i feel like they are. i often hear people saying that, you know, nobody's talking about this when i feel like it's almost the only thing anybody's talking about. so i don't know that necessarily joe biden is going to be talking about it, but certainly something democrats have talked about and the prid has talked about it to the extent he has discussed voting rights, which is obviously very important in terms of preserving democracy and the concerns around the disability, really, of democracy right now so could they talk about it more? absolutely, and do polls like this make it more necessary to be talking about if? i would say yes. >> all right, and scott, i want to ask you this, earlier today, committee chair woman liz cheney told firsthand people were intervening with president trump to stop the violence at the capitol. listen to what she said. >> any man that would provoke violent assault on the capitol to start county electroral vote, watching television when they are rioting at the capitol is clearly unfit for office. >> said weeks ago, if he wins again it could be the fear of democracy. do you share that view? >> i do. >> so scott, do you agree with cheney's assessment, that trump should never be back in the oval office and his re-election could destroy the country? >> well i don't prefer him for 2024, i wish he would retire and the republicans would nominate someone else and move on from his era. i'm fearful he is going to run and be the nominee and we'll have to reckon with that if and when that occurs. do i think democracy will be destroyed? no, i'm not an alarmist in that way, he clearly, i mean, look, some of the things coming out he already knew. he whipped up a mob, stood by and watched the mob attack the capitol, ignored people pleegd with him. we already sort of new the extent everybody knew that was a disaster except for him and his failure to do anything about it, a darelection of duty. we'll see how it all works out in 2024, but i generally agree the things coming out of the committee should be considered by every american before voting in 2024. >> i think he poses a grave threat to democracy and look no further to the fact that he still has never conceded that he lost the election, so, you know, this is not something that has happened before and there's a r real hostility towards real and fair elections where the winner is the winner and the loser and the loser so i think he has shown his hostility towards democracy and a lot of members in the party went along it or at least felt what happened on january 6 was patriotic or was a form of protest when in fact, it was actually trying to stop the counting and certification of an election. so if that doesn't undermine democracy, i don't know what does. i think that we know some things about what happened on january 6, but a lot of it is speculation, so it is pretty big news if they're having the information that liz cheney has around what the president was doing, and i don't know that he thinks it was a disaster. i think, you know, that really is the question, right? that, did he actually like what he was seeing? so these are the kinds of things i think the committee is trying to get to the bottom of. >> yeah, that 187 minutes of inaction. >> so i want to ask you this, kirsten. congressman peter meyer one who voted to impeach donald trump in the wake of january 6 attack. now warning there may be no other option come 2024. listen to what he said. >> there is no alternative. there is no other path. and given how president biden, when had he was elected into office said he would be moderate and look for bipartisan solutions but then after, and quite frankly i blame the former president for this, after we lost the two senate seats in georgia and senate flips, it became an exercise in trying to be lbj or fdr-style presidency and enact change in the absence of any compelling mandate from the american people to do so that gave the rallying signal, created a very steep divide and at the end of the day, no other option right now in the republican party. a sad test -- >> what do you think about what you just heard from peter meijer there, kirsten? >> is he saying trump's the only option. >> also, he's putting some of the blame on joe biden, saying basically his administration is acting like the fdr administration -- >> yeah, i get that part, but the wasn't clear to me if he means and then the only thing we can do is bring donald trump back. >> also blamed trump, right, for biden, for the democrats having the majority? house and senate because of what happened in georgia. but i'm curious what you think of him putting the blame on joe biden, basically, for the partisan divide in this country. >> yeah, i mean the partisan divide in this country even before donald trump came on the scene but i would say donald trump poured gasoline on the fire. i don't know that joe biden has really done much more than try to get some programs implemented, passed through legislation, that hasn't passed. so the idea that, like, there's been this fdr transformation when in fact, joe manchin put a stop to it right before the election and may come back and be able to piece some things together but they'll have to do it with republicans or a smaller package with only democrats. so the idea that has caused division -- it hasn't even happened. so i think that's a little far-fetched. i don't really see joe biden as somebody really stirring the pot in terms of cultural division. >> very quickly, scott, what do you think about what he said that donald trump is the only option for 2024. >> well, there are a lot of options. we have a lot of people who would be far better presidential candidates, tim scott, rhonda santez, go down the line, lots of possibilities. so do the democrats and my view would be both parties are better off to move away from these guys, i think the country would be more satisfied with the next election if we did. >> thank you both for your time tonight. >> thank you. >> and when we come back, prince andrew is feeling the heat after his attempt to block a sexual assault lawsuit is thrown out by a federal judge. >> also tonight, new information on how the omicron variant could be worse for young kids. i'll speak to a pediatrician on the front lines in texas. you're in the cnn newsroom. ts pm is particular to you. you can eat pizza. you can even eat this, if you want to. and these... in the same... i mean, not at the same time, i wouldn't do them at the same time. no two plans are the same. when can i start? 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yeah, actually i'm taking one last look at my dashboard before we board... and you have thinkorswim mobile- -so i can finish analyzing the risk on this position. you two are all set. choose the app that fits your investing style. ♪ a sexual assault lawsuit against britain's prince andrew moving forward. manhattan judge says the prince must turn over key legal documents. brought by a woman who says she was forced to have sex with the prince at 17 after trafficked by convicted sex offender jeffrey epstein. prince andrew tried to argue that jafrie lived in australia 19 years and can't sue him in the u.s., but judge disagreed and oral arguments coming forward in the coming days. strongly disagreeing with the forms against him, saying he has no idea of ever meeting her. >> the world has now seen the photo virginia roberts provided taken by epstein, we understand in ghislaine maxwell's house. >> here's the problem, i've never seen epstein with a camera in my life. >> i think it was virginia robert's camera, she said a little kodak one she lent to epstein, she took a photo and you're on -- >> i don't remember -- i don't remember that photograph ever being taken. i don't remember going up stairs in the house, because that photograph is taken upstairs. and i'm not entirely convinced that, i mean that is what i would describe as me in that picture, but i can't, we can't be certain as to whether or not that's my hand on her, whatever it is, left side. >> cnn royal correspondent max foster in london tonight. >> reporter: pamela, incredibly difficult issue for the royal british family. monarchy can't seem to be interfering with the legal process, leaving it to prince andrew's team, trying on various levels to have the case simply dismissed. so one attempt was made on the groun gro grounds that the u.s. court doesn't have jurisdiction because jefre was living in australia. the next attempt to have the case thrown out comes on monday when a document will be unsealed. now, prince andrew's lawyers believe there is an agreement between dufre and epstein where she agrees not to pursue cases like this one against prince andrew, wait to see whether or not there's truth in that, because that document will be unsealed on monday, then on tuesday the judge in this case will look at the claims for dismissal and weigh them up. if the case continues from there, we're look at possible depositions or requests for them from prince andrew, his ex-wife sarah ferguson, potentially the dutchess of sussex as well. now one of the key claims is she had sex with prince andrew at ghislaine maxwell's flat in london, earlier at the evening, was at a night club, prince andrew denies ever being at the night club, says he was at a different restaurant elsewhere in london and said he had a medical condition that he could not sweat at the time. dufre's team asked for documented evidence of that condition but prince andrew's team says he doesn't hold those documents, it's a private medical matter and immaterial to the casing anyway. we'll see tuesday what the judge has to say about that as well, pamela. >> all right max foster, thank you so much. senior legal analyst, paul joins me now. so there's this hearing for tuesday, what do you expect? >> this is shaping up to be a very, very interesting hearing i think. because number one, judge caplain, he didn't actually say there's no merit to the motion to dismiss on what we call jurisdictional grounds, that the court has no right to hear the case, what he said is it was not pled properly by the attorneys in question and may be more evidence relevant to that that would develop during depositions and what not so we may hear prince andrews attorneys renewing that motion to dismiss at some point further down the line, but we're also going to see, i think, next week, this coming week, a lot more of the details regarding her allegations against prince andrew. as she outlines in the complaint, of course, she was a minor. she, and he forced her to have sex in london and in new york city and possibly in other locations like the virgin islands. >> and for those who aren't familiar with the story, explain why virginia dufrey is asking prince andrew to turn over proof that he didn't sweat? >> well this is, yeah, this is a bizarre thing, but he made a public statement that she, she made a reference to the fact that he was sweating profusely at some, one of these sexual encounters and he publicly said in an interview that he suffers from a medical problem that has to do with his ability to sweat. so whether he sweats or doesn't sweat is going to be a big issue in the case. >> and if this case advances, who could be interviews. i mean, do you expect the members of the royal family could be questioned about prince andrew? >> well, in theory, if they were in the united states and you could get jurisdiction over them, yes, that would happen. but of course, the royal family operates under special protection in the british isles and i'm rather doubtful we'll see the queen or anyone at that level testify for prince andrew. i think their attitude kind of is prince andrew is on his own in this lawsuit. you might see sarah ferguson come in because she was married to him at one time and may have relevant testimony, but in terms of compelling the royal family to come to the united states and testify, i don't think you're going to see that happen. >> paul callan, thanks so much and happy new year to you. >> thanks so much. at least one health expert says the omicron variant could be more dangerous for children, up next, i'll ask a pediatrician about that and about kids returning to classrooms. stay with us. he goes. old spice works harder for longer. hey derrick man, you gonna be much longer? 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>> we're seeing a lot of just starting off as symptoms for a cold, fever, really common for omicron, unfortunately can then esks late escalate into more severe symptoms, with respiratory often leading them to be hospitalized happen. >> is there a certain pattern here? those children hospitalized with omicron have comorbidities. >> well most of them do. we have to remember a lot of comorbidities are extremely common in children, asthma, one of them, obesity, common to see, and having said that, we do have a number of children admitted, absolutely healthy without comorbidities so that's something striking and certainly surprising to many who used to think it was only those are underlying health conditions who were vulnerable. >> so just to bottom line this, what is the key difference you're seeing in how the omicron variant is impacting children who end up in your hospital and previous variants of covid? >> i think it's really the sheer number of children getting infected. omicron is so much more contagious than the previous variants have been and families, you know, especially as we get closer and closer to the holidays that we're out and about, doing more things, i think a lot of the safeguards people had in place before had, you know, been lost. less wearing of masks but more socializing, especially in indoor areas so so many kids getting infected and when the sheer numbers go up, that percent unfortunately starts to get more and more kids put into the hospital. >> and then you had former fda commissioner scott gotlieb today saying the omicron variant may be more threat to toddlers because it appears to attack the upper airway more than lower airway, based on what you've seen would you disagree with in a assessment? >> i can tell you, a lot of our toddlers have certainly been admitted with those kinds of symptoms and even before covid, you know, a lot of the viruses started off as upper airway viruses but then could still lead into lower air way, but again, our toddlers are unvaccinated so extremely vulnerable and just sheer numbers as more of them get infected there's enough of them who get sick enough to warrant hospitalization. >> omicron is the most contagious variant we have seen. how worried are you about kids returning to the classroom this week? >> yeah, well for us this week and even next week, when our largest school system gets back, i think we are going to see our numbers increasing even more unfortunately as a result of that. here in texas, a lot of school districts do not require masking. the good news is some actually have that hadn't before but having said that, i think a lot of kids will be situations are where they're going to be exposed to the virus. those five to 11, vaccination rates in this area are about 15%, adolescents, maybe around 15% so i think we'll really see those numbers go up before it starts to plateau. >> you've seen patients in your hospital, is your hospital preparing before school is back in session, preparing for more of an uptick in young patients coming in. >> oh yeah, so here at texas children's hospital and in our outpatient pediatric clinics throughout the city, we've been preparing and actually prepare for surges like this even before covid started, have been preparing throughout the last two years of this pandemic so, you know, looking at extra shifts for our employees, physicians, you know, understanding the porngs of being available for our patients, we're seeing, in the office, telehealth visits, we are prepared but as the numbers continue to groerks it gets tougher tougher to keep up with the demand. >> so given all of that, for parents watching right now, what is your advice to them? >> well, i think the most important advice to them is that if you haven't vaccinated your children, do it now, don't keep delaying or procrastinating, the sooner you get your kids vaccinated, the sooner they get the protection they need. we understand most kids who get infected are doing very well, but you don't want to be the parent who's child doesn't do well and ends up in the hospital. nothing more traumatic than a parent to be in the hospital with a very sick child, so get your kids protected. in the meantime, be sure you and your children are wearing masks whenever around other people, especially people outside of your household. and getting back to school, i know that's something, got to get our kids back in school, but be sure everybody there is wearing masks as possible. talk to them about keeping the doors and windows open especially here when it's not that cold so we can get better ventilation and avoid taking your kids places where you don't need to take them where they're indoors or a lot of people, you don't know what their vaccination status is or habits are as far as protecting themselves. >> speaking of schools over the weekend, seen a number of school districts across the country announce transition to online learning at least a week or two, is that an approach you support, just given how transmissible omicron is? >> i would say it depends on the scenario, where extremely high transmission is happening, the schools are not prepared to improve their ventilation, then that might be an approach. but again, we really need our kids in schools. if we're talking one to two week delay to get past the peak of this i think that's reasonable but not certainly, something, as a pediatrician we're trying to promote kids at home. we want them back in the classrooms as soon sas possible. >> thank you dr. spinner for all the work you're doing in the pandemic, here in year three. truth eluded detectives more than 30 years, finally 13-year-old girl getting justice thanks to science and good old fashion police work, how the case is getting cracked next. for immune support. boost® high protein. ♪ i see trees of green ♪ ♪ red roses too ♪ ♪ i see them bloom for me and you ♪ (music) ♪ so i think to myself ♪ ♪ oh what a wonderful world ♪ does sinus congestion and pressure make breathing feel impossible especially at night? 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[sfx: voice relief] (announcer) carvana's had a lot of firsts. 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 totally different way to finance your ride. only from carvana. the new way to buy a car. well now a break-through in a murder mystery haunting top nypd detectives more than two decades. last hour, exclusive access as police re-open the cold case of 13-year-old soriano. here is part 2 of the behind the scenes reporting as an arrest was made and the people who worked so long on the case realized they finally cracked it. >> in november 2021, three years after handing in his badge, nearly 23 years since her killing, the city announced it made an arrest. >> ninalise was not just a statistic or case number, she was a vibrant child who should be with us today, enjoying life. >> reporter: a grand jury ind indicted 49-year-old joseph martinez on accounts of murder. his attorney says he is innocent. martinez identified with the help of this team and nypd forensic unit, after requesting dna in 2018, took on the laborious duty that the case meet the strict criteria the state requires for application. it took two years for the new york states crime lab to come back with a familial dna fit. the familial dna hit gave detectives the name of a convicted offender found in the state's dna data base. this means the forensic team would be looking for someone related to that person, as possibly being minaralise's killer. to help narrow down the possibilities, detectives formed a family tree and identified five male relatives of that offender. >> we look at their ages, the locations which they're residing. we look at the criminal history of the individuals. >> reporter: that helped eliminate two of the men who were too young at the time of the crime. inversion were then left with three, who they determined to be sons of the convicted offender. taking a closer look at the evidence, detectives realizrealized one of them, martinez lived in the minaralise's building at the time, and came back with a direct match. >> there's only one individual who deposited his dna on her front shirt. that is unequivocal. >> reporter: the city says this is the first cold case solved by usin using familial dna. >> what happens from this type of technology, you go from a list of 43 people to one. >> that big crater you saw in the middle of the moon, that's that crater there. >> reporter: martinez who was 27 years old at the time of the murderer also known as jupiter joe, gave sidewalk astronomy classes, encouraging kids and adults to see the stars through his telescope are online. >> astronomy, stars and everything she was interested in is something our suspect was interested in, on the internet going around talking about it so there's a connection there. >> reporter: detectives discovered another connection, old case notes show martinez tell police he saw her around the apartment complex getting around selling candy, when questioned in late november and denied physical contact with minaralise that's what they knew he was denying, ultimately sealing the case against him. >> he was fifth on the list of individuals i wanted to talk to. >> reporter: what does that say to you? >> it shows we were headed in the right direction. these cases are so difficult to do, so many setbacks and dead ends, to see this guy will stand in a courtroom and face justice, it's an incredible gratification. >> reporter: just to see the person brought in prison is good enough -- >> minalise soriano, a girl from lebronx, dreaming of rainbows and stars, no way her box would end up on a detective's box, a small reminder of who they are working for. >> i hope she sees all the people that cared. all the people who put in so much effort over so many years, eating meals off the dashboard of a car and that she -- that shy knows she wasn't forgotten. >> reporter: she was just 13, deserving of the life she ima imagined. >> i hope she's smiling at us. >> wow. thanks for bringing us that reporting. martyrs sore to all-times high across the country. what can be done and why? i'll ask the criminal justice, next -- hurry, offer ends january 3rd. 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 welcome to silversneakers. are you ready to get moving? 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>> we expect it to show with respect to homicide a somewhat more mixed picture in '21 than we saw in 2020. in 2020, nearly every city we looked at experienced a rise in homicide and in many cases, very large rises. this year the situation is somewhat different. we do have cities you've mentioned a few of them, we do have cities that are showing very, very large rises, albuquerque, new mexico, austin, texas, portland, oregon. we have other cities, however, milwaukee, boston, dallas, cleveland that are experiencing in some cases, sizable declines. so the homicide picture this year, though we have a long way to go is somewhat more mixed than what we were seeing last year. >> why do you think that is? >> i think in part it's because some of the conditions that appear to have been associated with the rise last year have subdued somewhat. the pandemic although with the resent omicron outbreak, you know, all bets may be off on that one but generally speaking through '21, the pandemic subsided somewhat and the population restrictions associated with it were reduced. the enormous concern over police violence especially after the george floyd murder in minneapolis, while that concern persists, it's fair to say has subsided somewhat. we haven't seen mass demonstrations of the kind we saw last year. this year, and that signiuggest confidence and trust in the place which was in a crisis mode last year may have settled a bit. >> a lot of cities i should say several that had activists push to defund the police on increase and homicides, do you think there is any correlation? >> i don't really. we're seeing cities where there are -- where the activist movement is quite strong with increases in homicide and we're seeing cities with, you know, with less pressure from the activist community showing increases and cities with activists and fewer activists showing declines. so now i don't think what we're looking at here is the impact of activism on homicide. i think what we're looking at is the slow and rather fitful subduing of some of the conditions that gave rise to the homicide increase we saw last year. >> there has been an increase in firearm related crimes. are further gun control measures needed? >> my personal view is yes, but i think we would be waiting a long time in many states for regulations to tighten sufficiently. there's a lot that can be done short of changing firearm regulations and if you'd like to talk about them, i'd be happy to do that. >> i do want to ask you one more question before we let you go. are there any other trends you and your group have noticed about the increase in crime? >> one trend we're looking at closely and we'll be looking at in our end of the year report coming out in mid january is what happens, what's been happening with property crimes. property crimes have been going down, actually, for many years in most places and certainly came down during the pandemic. we -- there are some preliminary indications suggesting the decline in property crime may be flattening out and indeed, some places we may be seeing increases and so we're going to be taking a look at property crime as well as violent crime in our next report due out in mid january. >> all right. richard rosenfeld, thank you for your time today. >> thank you. and a quick programming note for you, "friends, collaborators, legends." an unforgettable concert film, just call out my name area tonight at 9:00 here on cnn. your next hour of "newsroom" starts right now. nearly one year since the violent january 6th attack on the capitol. >> the committee has firsthand testimony he was sitting in the dining room next to the oval office watching the attack on television. >> the investigating committee revealing what former president trump's inner circle says he was doing as the riot played out. >> his daughter ivanka went in at least twice to ask him to please stop this violence and could have told them to go home and he failed to do so. it hard to imagine a more significant and more serious dereliction of duty. >> meanwhile, the omicron surge shattering records. over 400,000 cases a day. >> it's really one of these perfect storms with all of these cases coming in. >> more and more schools bracing for a shift to virtual learning. >> there is absolutely no way to keep omicron out of the schools. >> the surge still reeking havoc on holiday travelers. >> in the last ten days, 14,000 plus flights have been cancelled. >> experts say relief could be weeks away. >> by the end of february, we will be through this. i'm pamela brown in washington. you're live in the cnn newsroom. happy new year to you. we begin with breaking news, lloyd austin has tested positive for covid. let's get right to cnn's eva at the white house. what are you learning? >> reporter: pam, we jus