millions of people are still under a winter weather alert. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer in washington, and this is "the situation room" special report. let's begin with what we're learning about that 11-hour hostage drama at a texas synagogue. the fbi calling it terror, terror targeting the jewish community. our senior national correspondent is on the scene for us. update our viewers, ed, on the latest. >> reporter: wolf, in a couple of hours members of the beth israel synagogue will come together for the first time since this ordeal that they've all experienced, essentially together. they're going to come together at this methodist church in the nearby town of south lake for a special service. this as many of the congregants are still coming to terms with the ordeal from over the weekend. the final moments as hostages escaped from inside the beth israel synagogue was captured by a photo journalist when cnn fill knit wfaa. the hostages are seen racing out a side door. the hostage taker briefly appears, pointing his firearm in their direction. the rescue people, which arrived at the scene just hours earlier, moves in. an explosive device detonates and gunfire rips through the air. shortly after it's announced the hostages were safe and alive, the hostage taker dead. the rabbi says the situation was quickly deteriorating. >> the last hour or so of the standoff he wasn't getting what he wanted. i made sure the two gentlemen who were still with me, that they were ready to go. the exit wasn't too far away. i told them to go, i threw a chair at the gunman, and i headed for the door. all three of us were able to get out without even a shot being fired. >> reporter: law enforcement officials have identified the hostage taker as 44-year-old malik faisal akram, a british citizen. law enforcement sources tell cnn akram arrived legally in the united states in late december at jfk airport in new york, eventually making his way to texas where he spent three nights at this dallas homeless shelter in the days leading up to the hostage standoff. on saturday morning, akram showed up to the synagogue, rabbi walker thought he was someone who needed shelter. >> it was during prayer, while we were praying, and my back was turned. we face toward jerusalem when we pray. right before he revealed himself, but this was plenty of time in. i hear a click, and it could have been anything, and it turned out that it was his gun. >> reporter: akram's voice could be heard on the live stream of the sabbath services. >> i'm willing to die in this, all right? i am going to die. >> reporter: the rabbi credits the law enforcement training he's received for saving their lives. >> they really teach you in those moments that when your life is threatened, you need to do whatever you can to get to safety, you need to do whatever you can to get out. >> reporter: wolf, the brother of the suspect says that his brother was suffering from mental health issues. law enforcement authorities say that he was driven, in part of the motivation, to get the release of a woman named siddiqui, a known jihadist, who was known for attacking u.s. service members overseas. she is being held here in the north texas area in federal prison. >> ed lavandera on the scene, thank you very much. let's discuss what's going on with jeffrey cohen, one of the synagogue hostages. thank you so much for joining us. our hearts go out to you and your family and everyone else over there. what a horrific ordeal you went through. how are you doing, first of all, as you try to process this? >> thanks a lot, and i appreciate the thoughts and prayers that are coming our way. how am i doing? well, about as good as can be expected, i guess. you know, last night i got a full night's sleep, which is good because saturday i got basically none, and i'm eating and everything. but you know what, the emotion is just below the surface and it's always going to be there, or at least it will be there for a while. and the rest of us are doing okay, too. >> i know all this started, with your rabbi actually welcoming in the stranger when he showed up at the door, giving him a cup of tea. can you walk us through the moments you first realized that you were all being taken hostage? >> yeah, you know, right before the service began and i got in, rabbi pointed this guy out to me and i went over to say hello and welcome him. and there's all the signs that you look for, the darting of the eyes, the shaking of the hands, the sweating. he didn't have any of that. he was on the phone, he was smiling, he said hello. and then as it was just reported, we finished a section of prayer, we're standing doing that, and then when you finish you sit down. and a moment later, i heard that very distinct click of an automatic handgun, the slide being pulled back. it didn't make sense. it was a sound that was out of context. and rabbi charlie was looking over at him as well, and very soon after that, he jumps up and he starts screaming, and i knew that we had a problem. i dialed 911. i keep my phone next to me during the service. i dialed 911 and i turned the phone over so the screen was down and left it there and walked down that aisle toward where he wanted us to be, and i both tactically and strategically positioned myself on the aisle closest to the door so that we did have a clear shot out. you know, that training that we had -- really i should say a course, it wasn't really training, that in an active shooter, that's what saved our lives. because it taught me to be aware of my surroundings, to know where the exits are, and then the rest of that is run, hide, fight, and that's what we did. we made sure that the system, the situation was as in control as we could. at one point the terrorist let us call our families, so i made calls to my wife, my daughter and son and basically told them there's a gunman here, he claims he has a bomb. things don't look good right now. i love you and remember me. i also made a short facebook post that said something to the effect of there's a gunman here, it doesn't look good, remember me and -- excuse me a sec, and fight hate, because that's what this is. and my hope was if somebody saw it, they would be able to relay to law enforcement authorities, to the fbi, to whomever, that we were there and we needed some help. >> so what was this gunman's demeanor, jeffrey, as the hours went by? this continued for 11 hours. >> yeah, it was really quite interesting, wolf. the first hour he was pretty agitated. he wanted this woman released and he wanted to talk to her, and he thought -- well, he said point blank, he chose this synagogue because jews control the world, jews control the media, the banks. i want to talk to the chief rabbi of the united states. and of course there isn't one. at one point i told him nice and calmly, in the uk you do have a chief rabbi, i don't remember who it is now. but it used to be -- my gosh, i've quickly forgotten. anyway, we don't have a chief rabbi in the united states. we're somewhat independent, and he wanted to talk to one specific rabbi out of new york, and rabbi charlie was able to find her phone number somehow and we called her and left her a message and said what was going on. she called back and he spoke very briefly with her. his demeanor changed not too long after that and he became much calmer, maybe because he thought he was going to get what he wanted. and it changed from more attack to i'm going to die, i'm going to let these guys go, but i'm going to die here and that's okay. me and my sister. and at some point later on, i asked, when was the last time you spoke with your sister, and he said i never have. that's when i realized this is not his biological sister, his sister in islam. now, in that last hour, as you heard earlier in the interview with rabbi swalker, that in the last hour, half hour, he degraded, devolved from being relatively calm to being very agitated, extremely agitated, to the point where it was -- it concerned us. up until that point we were very willing to wait for law enforcement to do their thing. at that point we knew we had to get out. at one point he even said i'm going to put a bullet in each of you, get down on your knees, at which point i glared at him, i raised up in my seat, i may have sha shook my head and i glared at him and i mouthed no. that was the first time that we had been not subservient to him, and he pulled back. the aggression kind of made him pull back. he sat back down. i think that's when he put down his gun and went to pour his soda. i didn't actually see that. but that's when rabbi charlie yelled run and threw the chair at him. my friend got one step in front of me. he was the guy who had been feeling poorly, so i grabbed him under the arms and pushed him out. as a matter of fact, in your wfaa footage, initially they were saying two people got out. that's because i was holding him so close. i'm the guy in the blue shirt. and rabbi was behind us. we got out the door and they ran forward, i was running, and i tripped and went down hard on my knees and face, knocked my glasses off, and so i started crawling under the hedge row that is there, because i could go into the neighbor's yard. i thought i was far under it, but later i found out i was pretty exposed when he came out and shook his gun around. i heard him, but i didn't see him. when he went back in, one of the fbi agents yelled run to the front, run to the front. and i got up and i ran and, you know, i mentioned this to somebody earlier, coach williams would have been proud of me because i probably gave my best 40 ever. and then it was over. we heard the loud bang of the breach less than 30 seconds after. i want to make it clear two things, we were not released, we were not rescued, okay. we escaped, and we escaped because we kept presence of mind, because we made plans, because we strategically moved people. at one point when my friend, who wasn't feeling well, got up and was pretty bad off, kind of got him to move over, sit down next to me. i got up and i rubbed his shoulders and whispered in his ear the exit is right over there. and then when we brought the pizza in. instead of putting it on the tables in the back, i motioned for rabbi charlie to come sit with us so that we could all be neatly in line with the exit. and that was critical, because five, six steps at most we were out the door. and having this training that was, in this case, was done by the secure community network, it absolutely saved our lives. you know, the other thing that i want to bring up is this guy was not the shooter that we hear about all the time that wants to just come in and shoot all the jews. this was not him. he came here, he came to us, he terrorized us because he believed these tropes, these anti-semitic tropes that the jews control everything, and if i go to the jews, they can pull the strings. he even said at one point that i'm coming to you because i know president biden will do things for the jews, i know president trump will do things for the jews. and we need to be aware and call out when we hear these throw-away comments that are made by people that, you know, they're not really racist, those individual people, we know them, they're our friends, our neighbors. but they don't realize how much potential damage those little things do to someone who is mentally unstable. it builds up until this guy really believed that if i go to the closest synagogue, that if i go to the closest synagogue and i take jews hostage, they will let this woman out. he really believed that. and that's scary. >> it certainly is. jeffrey cohen, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. we are so, so thrilled that you and the others and the rabbi all got out safe. we are really pleased that you took this course on how to deal with this 11 hours of terror you had to go through. but thank you so much for spending some time with us. we will continue this conversation. we appreciate it very, very much. good luck to you, good luck to everyone in your congregation, beth israel, we appreciate it very much. and we have a quick programming note for all of our viewers. tomorrow at this time, i'll speak live with rabbi charlie sit walker, tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. eastern right here in "the situation room." just ahead, confusing guidance coming in from the cdc regarding isolation and it's frustrating americans right now who are grappling with covid-19 as the omicron variant surges nationwide. this is "the situation room" special report. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ with chase security features, guidance and convenience, banking feels good. chase. make more of what's yours. some of my best memories growing up were cooking with mom. so when she moved in with us, a new kitchen became part of our financial plan. ♪ ♪ find a northwestern mutual advisor at nm.com ready to turn your 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ring fund. that photographer? he's looking for something a little more zen, so he's thinking, “i'll open a yoga studio.” and as for the father of the bride? he's checking to see if he's on track to do this all over again... and again. bank of america's digital tools are so impressive, you just can't stop banking. in the tlhroes of the omicron surge, the cdc is discussing safety guidance. doctors, thank you for joining us. the cdc director walensky admits to the "wall street journal" that she hasn't adequately con trade the uncertainty surrounding the covid-19 pandemic, when a failure of messaging can literally mean life and death for so many people, just how important is it to communicate clearly? >> well, it's very important. i think, actually, if you look back at the 2009 influenza pandemic, richard besser was the head of the cdc and this was a worldwide pandemic with flu that killed thousands of people in this country. every other day he was on television answering questions from the media. he was a model really for how to do this. it's hard. this is hard. it's always easy in retrospect. i thought that dr. besser as head of the cdc then provided a model for how best to communicate. >> dr. jha, the cdc is advising people who have recovered from covid-19 that they can stop isolation after five days, but they should avoid being around what makes up about 80% of the u.s. population who are deemed high risk, that includes anyone, for example, who is pregnant, diabetic, immunocompromised. the list goes on and on. does that guidance make sense to you? >> wolf, the cdc is in a challenging position because there's so many people infected right now, and a vast majority of them are not isolating at all. so cdc is trying to find guidance that people will do that will reduce transmission. i think five days is when people are most contagious, so that's critical. beyond that, i think it's essential that people wear high-quality masks and avoid high-risk situations. we're trying to walk a fine line here. >> because the numbers are horrendous, indeed. dr. offit, early data coming from israel shows a fourth dose of the covid-19 vaccine does yield an increase in antibodies. should scientists consider giving fourth doses to at least high-risk americans or americans 60 and over, which is what is going on in israel, about a half a mill israelis have now received the fourth dose? >> no, i don't think they're there yet. if you look at the fourth dose, while there was an increase in anti antibody titres, it was less and i think we're getting to the point of no returns. though i do believe in the third dose for high risk, people in facilities or have multiple comorbidities. what a third dose gets you if you're a healthy young person, for example, is about three months of increased neutralizing antibodies to lesson your risk. i just don't understand why we have the third dose for young, healthy people. and i think now when you're starting to talk about a fourth or fifth dose, we're ignoring the obvious here, we just keep trying to better protect people who are already protected against serious illness instead of focusing our effort on people who are unprotected, the unvaccinated. >> interesting. dr. jha, i just spoke in the last four with congressman ro khanna of california, who suggested you would make a great choice to lead the cdc. i want you to listen to what he told me. >> i think we need someone like dr. ashish jha, who is compassionate, has been right on most of the calls, who understands that we need to be fast when it comes to masking and testing and getting that out there. there are others as well. but i do think that we need strong, empathetic leadership in that position. >> so what do you say, dr. jha? >> i would say if i had to pick a cdc director, it would be someone named rochelle walensky. i said that when she was chosen and i feel that way today. we have a fabulous director managing an extraordinarily difficult circumstance. i'm happy with the leadership we have now. >> thank you, as usual, for joining us. dr. offit, thanks fou as well. coming up, a battle to protect voting rights in the united states is overshadowing today's celebrations of civil rights leader martin luther king jr. i'll ask the president of the naacp what he cease as a path forward in this very passionate and critically important debate. your skin isn't just skin. it's a beautiful reflection of everything you've been through. dove body wash, with 5 skin conditioning ingredients, boosts skin's ceramides renewal for hydrated, visibly moisturized skin. renew the love with dove body wash. i may be close to retirement, but i'm as busy as ever. and thanks to voya, i'm confident about my future. voya provides guidance for the right investments. they make me feel like i've got it all under control. voya. be confident to and through retirement. ♪ limu emu and doug.♪ and it's easy to customize your insurance at libertymutual.com so you only pay for 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>> well, let's be very clear, the senate must do their job. and it's not about two senators who align with the democratic party, it's about all 100 senators. in 2006, the reauthorization of the voting rights act was passed and 16 members of the senate are still in place now and they're plans and they're refusing to move this forward. so i'm not interested in the blame game. we're looking for voting right protections. it's not about a partisan issue, it's not about who is right and who is wrong. it's about ensuring that we can uphold our constitution and protect our democracy. >> senator, kyrsten sinema sweeted out a list of opportunities to give back this mlk day and you replied to the senator, you replied there's actually a really great event happening this week that you should sign up for. it's called pass voting rights and it's taking place in the u.s. senate. i know you've met with senator sinema. how does she justify her opposition to getting this done right now? >> well, we are tone-deaf to excuses. there's other things that we are concerned about, how people use this moment, the legacy of dr. king, and his words, and yet are willing to move forward through actions to live up to the very things he was talking about, a more inclusive society, equal protection under the law, and protecting the rights of voters. and that's what this is about. and unfortunately senator sinema and the republicans are posturing as if they are doing good deeds and saying good things, when in fact the best deed that she can do, that all of the senators can do, is pass voting right protections. >> as you know, the former president trump has overtly stoked white grievance. let me play just a small portion of his fact-free message on saturday. listen to this. >> the left is now rationing life-saving therapeutics based on race, discriminating against and denigrating white people. in fact, in new york state if you're white, you have to go to the back of the line to get medical help. think of it. if you're white, you go right to the back of the line. >> how disturbing, derrick, is it to hear this former president blatantly claiming it's white people who are being discriminated against? >> i'm waiting for the republican party to actually stand up and stop embracing this white supremacist. i'm looking forward to the business community to finally stand up and not look for tax consideration and address what's taking place. we must as a society not allow his nonsense to continue to poison the political landscape. that's why we're seeing what we're seeing with voting right protections. his poison has created and paralyzed far too many members of the republican party. they seem as if they're completely terrified and scared of him. this is white supremacist behavior bull conner style. we must move beyond that. w we are looking for the business community, republicans, to finally stand up, denounce this foolishness, protect the rights to vote so we can move forward as a society together and not devolve into tribalism. >> thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you. just ahead, no austrailian open for the tennis star novak djokovic after his deportation over covid vaccination requirements. new mucinex instasoothe. works in seconds, lasts for hours. you booked a sunny vrbo ski chalet. with endless views of snow-covered peaks. 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(music) ♪ i think to myself ♪ ♪ what a wonderful world ♪ ♪ if sweat is your body's natural way of cooling itself down, then condensation is a beer's natural way of saying “drink me.” - hiring is step one when it comes to our growth. we can't open a new shop or a new location without the right people in place. i couldn't keep up until i found ziprecruiter. ziprecruiter helps us get out there quickly and get us qualified candidates quickly. they sent us applicants that matched what i was looking for. i've hired for every role, entry-level technicians, service advisors, store managers. ziprecruiter helps me find all the right people, even the most difficult jobs to fill. - [announcer] ziprecruiter, rated the number one hiring site. try it for free at ziprecruiter.com once upon a time, at the magical everly estate, landscaper larry and his trusty crew... were delayed when the new kid totaled his truck. timber... fortunately, they were covered by progressive, so it was a happy ending... for almost everyone. national university has been focused on the future of higher education for over 50 years. we believe the future is accessible, so we offer four-week classes, online options, and over 75 career-focused programs. and we believe the future is affordable, so we offer scholarship opportunities that help make earning your degree possible. ♪ ♪ national university. your future starts today at nu.edu. inner voice (sneaker shop owner): i'm surprising my team with a preview of the latest sneaker drop. because i can answer any question about any shoe. but i'm stumped when it comes to payroll. intuit quickbooks helps you easily run payroll in less than 5 minutes... ...so you can stay... one step ahead. we're following some tension in the trump world, with the former president sparring with long-time ally florida governor rick desantis, who has criticized some trump administration covid decisions, including the march 2020 lockdown. let's discuss with our chief political analyst, gloria borger, and the former republican governor of ohio. what is it about governor desantis that seems to get under trump's skin? >> well, governor desantis has said -- or has not said that he wouldn't run if donald trump were to run for president. he hasn't gotten out of the way of donald trump. donald trump believes that desantis is an ingrate because he believes that desantis wouldn't be where he is without donald trump, and there are lots of other potential republican candidates who have come right out there and said, look, if donald trump runs, we're not even going to think about it. but ron desantis isn't one of them. >> governor desantis, governor kasich, hasn't said he'll step which former-president trump calls the magic words, according to "the new york times." does trump expect all other republicans to essentially bow down? >> yeah, i'm sure he does, wolf. but i'm with gloria. you know, i mean, the height of arrogance for desantis to think that he could challenge the king, you know? but you know, when you run -- when you run for public office u make a decision, am i better than the people that are out there that are thinking about running? that's the way thought about it when i ran for governor, when i ran for congress, when i ran for president. and i think he has decided that he is capable of doing this job. who knows how it is all going to work out but i wouldn't get out of the way for anybody, and just knowing a little bit about desantis, i don't think he gets out of the way for anybody, either. >> you know, gloria, what are the chances you think that ron desantis decides to mount a primary challenge to trump in the event that the former president runs? >> well, twho knows? i mean, he is running for re-election as governor, first. and i am not so sure he wants to get in a big spat with donald trump right now. since he is running for re-election, but who knows? he's got a big war chest around 70 million bucks so that certainly helps. and he is clearly someone who's taken on the former president indirectly, by kind of implying that he wished going back to march of 2020 that maybe they ought to have rethought the lockdowns then. so, you know, he seems to be unafraid and that donald trump doesn't like it. so, who knows? >> you know, it's interesting, governor kasich, despite this feud, trump and desantis are cut basically from the same cloth to the never-trumpers. do you dthink it makes much of difference which one is potential at the top of the republican ticket? >> i think first of all, i want to make a point when desantis runs for re-election, i don't think he is going to get a lot of votes out mar-a-lago. secondly, wolf, as you know, politics is never a straight line. it is up and down. the tectonic plates are always shifting and what it looks like today is certainly not what it is going to look like in a year, let alone three years. so it's gonna be interesting to see how this all works out. but um, you know, the more, the merrier is what i like to say. it's good for wolf blitzer. >> you know, one thing i think trump is it not like is that in all these straw polls that are being taken, and we know they are not worth much except donald trump looks at them. and desantis does very well. and if trump is out of the picture, desantis is -- is number one and he doesn't want anybody in his way, and he believes everybody, the water should part. and that he can just kind of glide into a nomination, should he decide to pursue it. and believes that detan tis should be somebody that should be grateful to him, and put aside his own political wants for donald trump. >> gloria borger, governor kasich, guys, thank you very much. we are going to have more news just ahead, including winter-weather wreaking havoc right now along the east coast as millions of americans are bracing for more disruptions. get decision tech. for insights on when to buy and sell. and proactive alerts on market events. that's decision tech. only from fidelity. the new ww personal points program. changed my life. you look great. no two plans are the same. you can even eat this and these in the same. i mean not at the same time. join now, pay later. get three months free at ww.com hurry! offer ends january 17th. that was quick. and rewarding. i earn 3% cash back at drugstores with chase freedom unlimited. that means i earn on my bug spray and my sunscreen. you ready to go fishing? 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[limu emu squawks] he'll be back. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty. ♪ states of emergency up and down the east coast of the united states where a powerful winter storm is impacting millions with power outages, travel nightmares, and flooding. let's go to our national correspondent, jason carroll. he is working the story from new york for us. what can you tell us, jason? >> reporter: well right now, where we are in new york, wolf, just a little wind and some flurries but a much different story to the north and further to the south where people are still dealing with the effects of severe winter weather. millions of americans still under winter-weather alerts, as a massive storm continues its march northward leaving in its wake, treacherous roads and widespread power outages along the east coast. virginia, georgia, north and south carolina, all, under states of emergency. drivers in the southeast, warned to stay off roads on this holiday, as freezing temperatures caused by hazardous conditions from virginia to north carolina where a tractor-trailer slid off this icy overpass. outside of raleigh, two people died after their car struck trees and a median. meanwhile, snow and high winds pummeled parts of tennessee and georgia where this homeowner was awoken when a tree crashed into her condo in atlanta. >> we heard a loud bang and we went to assess our bedroom and found the other bedroom completely collapsed in, um, everything. and then, we went outside to find our neighbors and make sure everyone else was okay. it's a nightmare, it is actually really terrifying. >> reporter: in southwest florida, tornados destroyed dozens of homes. much of the damage, near ft. meyers. >> it was turning the house upside down. i thought i was looking down at the floor, and i was actually looking up at the sink that was turned over on me. i looked up at the blue sky and i said, satan, today ain't the day. >> reporter: thousands in the southeast, still without power and while new york city and boston were spared the worst of the storm, buffalo is buried under more than a foot of snow. pittsburgh, also,gating blanketed. air travel snarled in the region, as wintery conditions cause thousands of flight cancellations over the weekend into monday. >> tried to get a few extra flights. i had one tomorrow morning, that one was cancelled too. so i switched tomorrow afternoon and hopefully that one isn't cancelled. >> reporter: and wolf, it's not over yet. another round of severe weather possibly bitter cold and snow, expected for the northeast by the end of the week. welcome to january. >> yep. good point. jason carroll reporting. thank you. and to our viewers, thanks very much for watching. i am wolf blitzer in the situation room. this martin luther king jr. holiday is special as we honor the life and legacy of the great civil rights icon, and it's worth remembering dr. king's immortal words "darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that." hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that. "erin burnett outfront" starts right now. out front next. biden's dire warning. the president making his case that the right to vote is under attack, just hours before washington prepares to take up voting rights. but are his warnings falling on deaf ears? plus, russian troops arriving in belarus ahead of a massive training exercise. this as putden now has 120,000 troops along the ukraine border is he about to invade? and troubling new details tonight about the hostage taker at a texas synagogue. good evening, i'm erin burnett. welcome to a special eeg digz of

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