material witness who can speak to trump's mind-set, not only during the insurrection, but in the weeks that followed as he pushed false claims that the election was stolen. now mccarthy says he will not cooperate despite saying that he has nothing to hide. >> the gop congresswoman liz cheney, the committee's vice chairwoman, will not rule out sending mccarthy, her colleague, a subpoena. >> we know that leader mccarthy was pleading with the president to tell people to go home when police officers and others were being beaten here at the capitol. so, you know, i wish that he were a brave and honorable man. he's clearly trying to cover up what happened. he has an obligation to come forward, and we'll get to the truth. >> he's clearly trying to cover up what happened. cnn's john harwood starts us off this morning in washington. >> reporter: there is a major development overnight in the select house committee investigating the january 6 capitol insurrection. the committee requested voluntarily the testimony of house republican leader kevin mccarthy, who spoke to then president donald trump during the january 6 insurrection. so he clearly has relevant information to provide. mccarthy refused, said tonight that the committee was engaged in an abuse of power. said he would not voluntarily comply. this is not surprising, the reversal. kevin mccarthy said a few months ago he would be willing to testify. now he says he won't. of course, in the aftermath of the insurrection he condemned donald trump's actions on january 6th. he has since turned tail after going down and visiting mar-a-lago and making common cause with president trump whose support he needs to become house speaker if republicans win the house in november. >> this is someone who clearly has information. he talked to the white house and to the president leading up to january 6 on their efforts to overturn the election results. he talked with the president by public reporting on january 6th. and he was concerned about the safety of the capitol after january 6th. all of those are key bits of information that we feel are important. >> the question now is whether the committee will be able to compel his testimony with a subpoena. challenge, of course is that that will take an extended legal battle that requires months. and there's only a few months left for this committee to engage in its investigation before we have the elections in november, which could, of course, result in republicans taking over and the select committee being shutdown. so, some drama, kevin mccarthy said he's not going to cooperate and the question now is whether there is any way of making him do so. laura and christine? >> john harwood, thank you for your reporting. it's time for three questions in three minutes. let's bring in michael zeldin, host of the podcast that said with michael zeldin. good morning. >> good morning. >> let's start with what mccarthy knows. it seems he knows quite a bit. on the day of the insurrection, listen to what he told cbs. >> you said you spoke with the president. what did the president say he would do? >> he had put a tweet out there. i told him, you need to talk with the nation. i was very clear with the president when i called him. this has to stop and he's got to go to the american public and tell them to stop this. >> now, he says he was clear with the former president. that's the sanitized version of the story because we know from our own reporting and from others at the time, they had a shouting match. they were screaming at each other. how does mccarthy possibly get out of telling the committee what he knows about all this? >> well, he shouldn't be allowed to get out of it. his notion that the committee is not engaged in legitimate activity, that it is not legislative in its purpose or there is some executive privilege all are meritless. and the committee should require him to come in and give his testimony. he, a person who wants to become speaker of the house, should feel ashamed of the way he's behaving. >> you mentioned privilege there. just quickly, michael, there is no executive privilege here. the whole point of executive privilege is to prevent executive officials with the ability to have frank conversations, a conversation between the president at the time and a member of congress shouldn't be protected, right? >> correct. this was not a privileged conversation. and his notion that it could be in any way is just fallacious. >> michael, in the past mccarthy has indicated he would be more than willing to cooperate with an investigation. now that he's saying he won't, how should the committee proceed? >> well, i think they should speak to him and his counsel and encourage him to come in again. if he still stonewalls the committee, the committee has to consider subpoenaing him to appear. i just don't think you can let him or anybody else get away with it, especially someone who is as pivotal as he is to the storeyed line that the committee is trying to investigate. >> pivotal to the story line. and as you mentioned, someone who could become the leader of the house if republicans take back the house in november. the american people have a right to know what happened here heading into those midterms. also want to ask you about some disturbing reporting that cnn has learned about trump allies who went as far as sending fake election certificates to the national archives. it's this whole idea of the rogue electors, which is one of the doomsday scenarios john eastman laid out in the memo. these are people claiming trump won seven states that he lost. some of these came from top officials in each state. is this an avenue you think is worth the committee looking into? we understand it's something that's piqued their interest. >> the committee should look into it, but so should attorneys general, district attorney and the department of justice. you're submitting a false affidavit to the national archives. it should be investigated by all of those parties. because you cannot let this big lie be continuously perpetuated by anybody because it undermines the fabric of our democracy and the committee has to take legislative action in response to what happened on january 6. this is part of that story. >> michael zeldin, so nice to see you this morning. thank you so much for your time bright and early. >> thank you. the secretary of state for michigan, one of the states where that happened, is going to join "new day" this morning. speaking of subverting the election, the effort to undermine local elections driving big money. the brennan center shows secretary of state incumbents running in georgia, michigan and minnesota have been more than doubling their fund-raising compared to the 2018 and 2014 midterms. georgia's brad raffensperger who resisted trump's calls to, quote, unquote, find votes for him. he has quadrupled his fund-raising over 2018 which puts him second to heist. >> they had at least one candidate questioning or denying president biden's win in 2020. the brennan center says at least 163 republicans who have embraced trump's big lie are running for statewide positions administering elections. all right. he is in. at least for know. novak djokovic is officially the number one seed in the australian open men's singles draw, but he's still waiting for immigration officials to decide whether he can stay in that country. the drama continues here. cnn's paula hancocks joins us live from melbourne. paula, do we have any sense of when the immigration minister will reach a decision? and what's taken so long here? >> reporter: well, christine, the assumption was he may say something today. that hasn't happened. so it's 9:00 p.m. here now. it's likely to be tomorrow at the earliest. but, of course, the australian open starts on monday, so in some ways he's running out of time to decide that he does want to personally intervene and revoke the visa of novak djokovic. now, we know that novak, when he actually admitted to lying on the declaration form and admitted to going to an interview when he knew he was positive with covid, also gave a number of documents to the officials as well. so presumably they're going through there. that might be slowing things down. now, we heard from prime minister scott morrison today. he was asked obviously about djokovic. most people here can talk about it at this point. but he was talking about how having a visa approved is different to being allowed into the country and having your vaccination situation approved because that has been one of the arguments that djokovic has made. he did say the policy has not changed. you have to be fully vaccinated or you have to have a watertight medical exemption. and he expects the government to uphold that policy. it's his immigration minister alex hawk who is going to make the ultimate decision. and also when it comes to the australian open, tennis australia has now announced the number of tickets will be capped at 50%. the covid situation is getting worse in australia. numbers are starting to rise, so they're trying to cap the number of people going into the stadium to 50%. christine? >> all right, paula, thank you so much for that. keep us posted when we hear anything from the immigration minister. sticker shock. americans paying more, a lot more, what the white house says about the hottest inflation in nearly 40 years. at morgan stanll collective of thought leaders offers investors a broader view. ♪ we see companies protecting the bottom line by putting people first. we see a bright future, still hungry for the ingenuity of those ready for the next challenge. today, we are translating decades of experience into strategies for the road ahead. we are morgan stanley. nyquil severe gives you powerful relief for your worst cold and flu symptoms, on sunday night and every night. nyquil severe. the nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, best sleep with a cold, medicine. psoriatic arthritis, made my joints stiff,... ...swollen, painful. emerge tremfyant®. tremfya® is approved to help reduce joint symptoms in adults with active psoriatic arthritis. some patients even felt less fatigued. serious allergic reactions may occur. tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. emerge tremfyant® with tremfya®... ask you doctor about tremfya® today. to support a strong immune system your body needs a routine. centrum helps your immune defenses every day, with vitamin c, d and zinc* season after season. ace your immune support with centrum. now with a new look! maybe it's another refill at your favorite diner... or waiting for the 7:12 bus... or sunday afternoon in the produce aisle. these moments may not seem remarkable. but at pfizer, protecting the regular routine, and everyday drives us to reach for exceptional. working to impact hundreds of millions of lives... young and old. it's what we call, the pursuit of normal. ♪ ♪ (vo) this year, t-mobile for business is here to help you hit the ground running. when you switch to t-mobile and bring your own device, we'll pay off your phone up to $800. you can keep your phone. keep your number. and get your employees connected on the largest and fastest 5g network. plus, we give you $200 in facebook ads on us! so you can reach more customers, create more opportunities, and make this the best year for your business yet. visit your local t-mobile store today. better skin from your body wash? try olay body wash with skincare super ingredient collagen! olay body wash hydrates to improve skin 3x better, from dry and dull to firm and radiant. with olay body, i feel fearless in my skin. all right. sticker shock, pandemic prices soaring at the end of 2021. a key inflation measure hitting a new 39-year high. consumer prices in december rose 7% from the year before, the fastest annual pace since 1982. the first term of ronald regan. from november to december, they rose 0.5%. that's the slowest growth in months, so people looking for a peak were happy to see that number. that's because energy costs fell for the first time since april. but everywhere you look, higher prices, higher housing costs, more expensive used cars and trucks, those were the biggest drivers of last month's jump in price. food costs also up, price rose nearly all major categories for grocery categories. stripping out volatile food and energy, core inflation rose 5.5% annually. that's the biggest jump since 1991. but even if these prices are red hot, real important here, they're still nowhere near the historic highs of the 1980s. inflation peaked in the spring of 1980, double here at 14.8%. >> so the big question i know everyone always asks you, christine, when will this get better. white house official tells cnn there is no crystal ball for when exactly inflation will peak. the biden administration says it's trying to keep prices under control, but the uncertainty could mean trouble politically as americans feel the strain in everyday life. cnn's phil mattingly is at the white house with more on this. >> reporter: christine and laura, for president biden's top economic advisers, there were no surprises that made clear inflation is still very high, near four decade highs at this point. it was expected they were ready for it. but it doesn't lessen in any way, shape or form the degree of the impact right now. both on the political side of things, but also on the policy side of things. the politics are very clear. the american approval of president biden's economic numbers the course of the last several months has dropped dramatically and white house officials are keenly aware of that. whether they believe inflation is here to stay or whether they believe the people are focused on the wrong elements of what has been a robust economic recovery doesn't matter if the american people aren't feeling it. but it has been a robust economic recovery coming out of the pandemic, something the officials continue to highlight, like brian deets. >> for typical people working thinking about their household budgets, for many of them, they've never seen a labor market that offers as many job opportunities as they have right now. for people in the bottom 40% of the income distribution, wages are up which creates more opportunities. >> reporter: they believe this lines up with where economists are. inflation will decelerate over the next several months, over the next couple quarters. but that doesn't help them on another area that is extraordinarily important. the reason his trillion dollar build back better has not been approved, joe manchin, whose primary concern is inflation. obviously the report on wednesday didn't help those concerns. if that cornerstone proposal doesn't move through, democrats will certainly lose the one thing that a lot of democrats heading into the midterm elections in november wanted to point to as results, as rationale to bring them back to washington. as long as covid is out there, so long as prices are still high, the president's numbers as reflected by his approval numbers the course of the last several months are going to be hurting. christine and laura? 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what are you watching for today? >> reporter: yeah, this is the first time russia and ukraine will be around the same table. it's a big table at the osce. 57 different nations. geographically they cover vancouver to vladivostok. the chairman of those talks, the polish foreign minister said the risk of war in this region is at its greatest in 30 years. we heard yesterday at nato, we heard monday, in geneva as well, the russians refusing to compromise on their position about wanting to ban ukraine from joining nato and wanting nato to pull back to 1997 lines. i asked the nato secretary-general jan stoltenberg, where was putin in this. where is the compromise when he demands to talk about nato and ukraine and membership and nato pulling back forces to the east? >> nato allies made it clear in which case we are ready to sit down and discuss, make compromises, talk to the russians on arms control. but also made very clear we are not willing to compromise, for instance, on every nation to decide. >> reporter: right now the ball is firmly in the kremlin's court? >> yes, we are waiting for the answer to our proposal to convene the meeting on important issues. >> reporter: shortly after that interview, i met with the deputy foreign minister for russia, alexander guskov. his view when i said the ball is in the kremlin's court, he said no, it's not, it's in nato's court. it's down to them to make the next moves. >> nic robertson, thank you so much. okay, 25 minutes past the hour this thursday morning. you know her face, but do you know her whole story? a new cnn original "reframed, marilyn monroe" airs sunday at 9:00 p.m. the nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, best sleep with a cold, medicine. i don't just play someone brainy on tv - i'm an actual neuroscientist. and i love the science behind neuriva plus. unlike ordinary memory supplements, neuriva plus fuels six key indicators of brain performance. more brain performance? yes, please! neuriva. think bigger. does your plug-in fade too fast? try febreze fade defy plug. it has built-in technology to digitally control how much scent is released to smell first day fresh for 50 days. la la la la la. 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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committee investigating the january 6 riot, calling the probe an abuse of power. the committee has asked mccarthy to come in for a voluntary interview and provide details about former president trump's state of mind during the capitol attack and in the weeks that followed. will he play? novak djokovic now officially the number one seed in the australian open men's singles draw. but he's still awaiting a decision from immigration officials whether he can stay in the country. the investigation into his vaccination status and inconsistencies in his paperwork has gone on for days. biden administration officials will meet with tech companies like apple and google today over national security concerns involving their software. critical vulnerability emerged last month that could have exposed hundreds of millions of devices worldwide. the armour on the film "rust" is suing for negligence in the shooting of cinematographer halyna hutchins. he blames the company for providing live bullets mixed in with dummy and blank rounds. uncle sam wants you and he's willing to pay. the u.s. army is increasing the bonus that highly skilled enlisted soldiers receive, that's up from the previous maximum of 40,000. soldiers will need to enlist six years in order to qualify. ♪ '60s pop icon ronnie spector has died. her family said she died after a brief battle with cancer. she was 78. they are sending a wave of medical teams to help six states overwhelmed in hospital clinics. ohio, coney island in brooklyn, rhode island hospital in providence, henry ford hospital outside detroit, university of nem new mexico hospital in albuquerque and they will depress overwhelmed hospitals and free up health care providers for other lifesaving care. jim justice is not doing well. that's how his chief of staff describes the governor's condition after justice tested positive for covid on tuesday and started receiving treatment at home. brian abraham told the west virginia gazette mail the governor is trying to put up a strong front, but the disease is affecting him. there is a small glimmer of light at the end of this omicron tunnel. the average number of cases looks like it may be starting to plateau, holding steady for the first time in about a month. but the number of americans dying of covid still creeping up now. it's almost 1700 each day. but the cdc director thinks those deaths may not be primarily from omicron. >> i believe right now that those deaths are still the lagging deaths from omicron -- i'm sorry, from delta, the lagging deaths from the delta wave. we have seen, as you noted, the death rates are down from omicron of about 91%, and we will need to follow those deaths over the next couple of weeks to see the impact of omicron on mortality. >> the number of critically ill patients just keeps climbing as i.c.u.s fill with unvaccinated covid patients. kentucky, alabama, indiana, new hampshire have less than 10% of beds remaining. in mississippi, the state is requiring medical centers to transfer some critical patients to prevent overburdening any hospital. utah hospitals also filling with covid patients. the university of utah briefly turning ambulances away last week. >> in this moment in time, i'm already dramatically under staffed, and now with the increase in staff out due to covid-related reasons, i am unable to care for the patients that we need to. i had three nurses leave because they can't do this again. they feel like we're going backwards. >> in minnesota the state is waiving regulations that normally restrict hospitals and nursing homes that want to add beds. health officials say the public and health as well by doing their part in getting vaccinated. >> we're going through this and our empathy is taking a hard hit. we will fight and take care of every patient that comes through our walls. imagine a 50-car pile up on the interstate and the roads are really icy and car number 51 is coming in, right. and that car that's coming in, they've been warned the roads are icy. it's slippery. why are they going into that? >> i'm deeply concerned about schools the next two weeks. i'm deeply concerned because of staff outage on this. >> minnesota public schools temporarily moving to online learning tomorrow through january 27th in response to significant staffing problems there. california also temporarily changing rules, making it easier to hire substitutes to deal with the teacher shortages driven by this latest surge. >> this will allow us to extend the amount of time people can stay in a classroom and sub, and it will allow some flexibility in getting people into those jobs quicker. so, and it will allow for retire ease to sub longer. >> indianapolis middle schools shifting online for the rest of this week. in quebec, first time covid vaccination appointments have spiked after an announcement that anyone who was unvaxed would be fined. 90% of residents have had the first shot, but those who haven't, they're still a burden on the public health system. the fine which has not been specified, by the way, does not apply to those who are medically exempt. prime minister justin trudeau said they are extending the rule to the rest of the country. the pandemic widening the wealth gap in the divide between rich and poor countries may grow for the next decade. that is according to the world bank. the gap had been narrowing the last 20 years or so. the world bank predicts increased human suffering and instability because poorer countries have less ability to obtain and distribute vaccines quickly and they tend to have limited access to debt markets to cushion the economic pain. and inflation could be more of a problem for rich countries. higher food prices are more of an annoyance. for poor countries, they can cause mass starvation. to capitol hill now and the fight for voting rights. president biden will meet with senate democrats over lunch today as they try to plot a path with how to overcome the gop filibuster on this. former president obama also now throwing his weight behind peng shuai -- president biden's efforts. senate majority leader chuck schumer plans to layout what happens next in the uphill battle. he may have found a bit of a loophole. tell us more. >> reporter: laura, a loophole indeed. now, bear with me. for the senate and house to vote on any sort of bill, there's a lot of procedures that go or happen before they are able to vote on these bills. so i'm going to get a little bit in the weeds. the way this is going to work is the house is going to take up probably as soon as today an amendment on a bill that has nothing to do with voting rights legislation. it actually is related to nasa leasing under utilized property to private groups. they are referring to this, democrats are referring to this as a, quote, shell bill. that's how this is going to work. once the house votes on this, it will strip that legislation of its existing language and then replace it with the text for the freedom to vote act and the john lewis voting rights advancement act. the voting rights legislation, the bills we keep talking about. then the house would then pass the bill and send it to the senate as a, quote, message. this essentially allows senate majority leader chuck schumer to put it on the floor for debate without any republicans being able to block debate on this legislation which is what is happening any time they want to debate the bill on the senate floor. this is essentially very similar to what democratic leaders did last december when they wanted to raise the debt ceiling. they followed a very similar procedure to vote and raise the debt ceiling to avoid defaulting on the nation's debt. so that is what's happening here. you mentioned, laura, former president barack obama's op-ed in usa today. i want to read a little about what he said because it really shows where democratic leaders are right now with voting rights legislation. he wrote, quote, protecting our democracy wasn't always a partisan issue. but even if senate republicans now refuse to stand up for our democracy, democrats should be able to get the job done with a simple majority vote. no single piece of legislation can guarantee that we'll make progress on every challenge we face as a nation, but legislation that ensures the right to vote and makes sure every vote is properly counted will give us a better chance of meeting those challenges. but really, the problem here, the bigger picture here, laura, that i really want to emphasize is that even if the senate ends up debating voting rights legislation on the floor, there is still this problem of the 60-vote threshold to break the filibuster. and what democrats want to do is have a filibuster carveout, which means they could pass it as former president barack obama just wrote in his op-ed, simple majority. no republicans support the legislation. but the problem here is senator kirstjen cinema and joe manchin do not support a filibuster carveout even though they've been meeting and having countless meetings with their democratic colleagues behind closed doors. they have not come around to that, laura. that is the biggest problem here. even if they debate it, what happens next if they don't support that filibuster carveout? laura? >> daniela, just quickly, do we know whether senator manchin or sinema will be at the meeting with the president? >> reporter: sometimes senators don't show up. i imagine when the president comes to the hill, everyone makes an effort to see him, laura? >> seems like today is the day to show up. daniela, thank you. we'll be right back. 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[music: “you can get it if you really want” by jimmy cliff] when you have xfinity xfi, you have peace of mind built in at no extra cost. advanced security helps keep your family protected online. pause wifi whenever for ultimate control with the xfinity app. and family-safe browsing gives parents one less thing to worry about. security, control and peace of mind. with xfinity xfi, it's all built in at no extra cost. an apology from boris johnson, but is it enough? >> mr. speaker, i want to apologize. and i know the rage they feel with me and with the government i lead. when they think that in downing street itself the rules are not being properly followed by the people who make the rules. and though i cannot anticipate the conclusions of the current inquiry, i have learned enough to know that there were things we simply did not get right. and i went into that garden just after 6:00 on the 20th of may, 2020, to thank groups of staff before going back into my office 25 minutes later to continue working. i believed implicitly this was a work event. >> calls grow for the british prime minister to resign. that apology for attending a bring your own bottle party at 10 downing street, a party while his country men and women were in strict lockdown. salma abdelaziz is in london with the very latest. how is that apology going over here? >> reporter: christine, finally, finally, after weeks of reports of christmas parties and garden parties and bring your own booze parties all taking place in 2020 in the height of the pandemic in this country, finally an apology from the prime minister. but it's a kind of sort of sorry. he did say he apologized for the way the public saw this, but at no point did he actually admit guilt, did he actually say that any covid rules were broken. he kicked the can down the road and said all that will be determined by an inquiry, and that's why the opposition called him out immediately. take a listen. >> after months of deceit and deception, the pathetic spectacle of a man who's run out of road. >> here, here. >> his defense -- his defense that he didn't realize he was at a party -- [ laughter ] -- is so ridiculous that it's actually offensive to the british public. >> here, here. >> he's not apologized, mr. speaker, for breaking the rules and breaking the law. he's sorry because he's been caught. >> here. >> when my constituents were making unimaginable -- unimaginable decisions, he was hosting a boozy party in downing street. so how does he think he can still maintain the one rule for him and another for the rest of us? >> here, here. >> he cannot, and he must resign. >> here. >> mr. speaker, i defer to the answer i gave earlier on. >> that line in parliament that he didn't know if he was at a party or work, that's become fodder for memes across this country. just log onto social media. but still it's not the apology his critics wanted. it is a massive about face. a huge u-turn for a prime minister who has so far denied, denied, denied. it begins to tell us how much prime minister boris johnson feels he is barked into a corner. two implications we need to watch. politically can he survive this? can he hold the support of his own party. already cracks there, calling for his resignation, and politically publicly, how does he win back hearts and minds? he now has the lowest approval rating since he took office. this really might be too little too late. >> all right, salma, thank you for following it for us. fascinating there. thanks. all right, the wife of beloved actor and comedian bob saget breaking her silence as she mourns his death. kelly rizzo releasing a statement saying, my whole heart, bob was my absolute everything. i'm so completely shattered and in disbelief. i'm so deeply touched by the outpouring of love and tribute from our friends, family, his fans and his peers. when the time is right and when this news is not as raw, i look forward to sharing more of bob with the world. >> saget was found debt in his orlando hotel room sunday just hours after performing a two-hour stand-up routine. a source says that saget did contract coronavirus last month, but says any link of it to his death is completely speculative. saget even joked about it trying to bring some levity to the situation just days before he died. >> it is not good. it does not feel good. i have it. >> yeah, that's not good. >> i don't know if i have delta -- i might have had a combo. maybe at one point they were working together. i don't know. >> a delta combo. >> at one point omicron was opening for delta, but omicron got so big. >> yeah, they switched -- >> the medical examiner has said there is no evidence of drug use or foul play in this case. looking at markets around the world, we can see asian shares closed mixed. europe closed -- opened, rather, narrowly mixed. stock index futures on wall street for the morning are pointing a little bit higher here. gains wednesday for the three major u.s. stock averages despite that key inflation measure hitting the highest level in nearly four decades, that's right, december's consumer prices up 7% from the year before that. that is the fastest since 1982. but this was expected. this is why it didn't bother the stock market, right. this was largely in line with expectations. they knew it would be shockingly big. and investors are already anticipating higher interest rates this year to combat that inflation. investors get more inflation news today with december's producer price index. that's prices at the factory level. laura. all right, novak djokovic is now officially the number one seed in the australian open despite all the drama over his visa status. andy scholes has more in this morning's bleacher report. so, andy, i know you always want to win a competition, but can you imagine the pressure on the person who has to play against him? >> well, i mean, they'll probably have a lot of people rooting for them. that's the good thing about going against novak djokovic. the question is over when djokovic will be allowed to stay in the country when the tournament begins on monday. djokovic is listed as the tournament apartments number one seed. he is set to face off against fellow serb in the first round. the draw was delayed 90 minutes without explanation. the australian minister still considering whether to deport the world number one player who is not vaccinated against covid-19. djokovic is seeking a men's record 21st grand slam title in the tournament. all right, to the nba, the two best teams in the eastern conference squared off last night. the nets, kyrie irving scored nine points. this was just a two-point game at halftime. but kevin durant, james harden taking this game over in the third quarter. they combined to score 52 points as the netsz win in a blowout 138-112 six-time pro bowler coming back to help his time. the rams signing him to address a glaring need of safety. he suffered a season ending knee injury. and taylor is in the concussion protocol. he turned 37 last week. hasn't played in the nfl since 2019. the rams host the cardinals in the wild card round on monday night. finally, the new york yankees officially introducing the first woman to manage a team in the minor leagues. rachel will lead the tampa, low class affiliate when the season begins in april. the 34-year-old is a former softball player. been working in and around baseball for more than ten years now. despite the progress being made, she is aware of how some have reacted to her barrier breaking journey. >> i don't understand the negativity. like, if you know my story and you have a pulse, i think it's pretty hard not to get behind what's going on here and i just -- if you know yourself and where you came from, i just -- it doesn't really matter. that's how i kind of deal with the negativity or anything i hear coming my way. it's hilarious to me because it's the american dream. >> ten years ago when balkovec was struggle you to get a job in baseball, her sister suggested she change her name from rachel to ray on her resume. she did that, and actually got some calls. she changed her name back to rachel because she realized she didn't want to work for someone who didn't want to hire women, and balcovec said great to see progress being made now. 11 women going to be in uniform. >> she put it so well. anyone with a pulse realizes this is a good thing and long overdue. >> congrats to her. >> absolutely. thanks, andy. nice to see you. >> thanks. like a plot from a film, a letter from an american g.i. is delivered to his family 76 years after it was mailed in germany. written by 22-year-old army sergeant john gonsalvez dated 1945, it was addressed to his mom and opened 76 years later by his wife angelina. >> i couldn't believe it, and then his handwriting and everything, you know. it was just so amazing. >> wow. angelina and john didn't know each other in 1945. they were married in 1953 and had five sons. john died in 2015. the letter was found, get this, in a pittsburgh post office and delivered just before the holidays. from a beautiful love story, then to this. christie, have you ever had a date you thought would never end? you cannot compete with this one. a 30-year-old woman in china said she went to a blind date because he wanted to show off his cooking skills. but just as he was about to leave, the whole neighborhood was placed on one of china's snap coronavirus lockdowns. stuck at her date's home for days, the woman started posting videos of this surreal experience on social media showing the guy cooking and cleaning, all good things, christine. but she said he was a little boring. he was a little inarticulate, to use her words. and it's unclear whether she's still at his house. >> that is quite a blind date, i would say. >> can you imagine? i mean, i guess it gives you a sense of what the person is like, you're stuck inside during covid lockdowns. but gees. >> covid is just everything, right? it's it's broken everything, even the first date. thanks for joining us. i'm christine romans. >> i'm laura jarrett. 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