here in the united states and all around the world. it is thursday, january 20th. i'm john berman. brianna is on night duty this week. kasie hunt with me to mark one year into the biden presidency. >> what a day. >> the white house working the phones, twitter, email, trying to make clear the president did not somehow create a permission structure for russian leader vladimir putin to launch some kind of incursion into ukraine. his remarks raised immediately alarm in kiev. the president spoke in stunningly stark terms of what he sees as a likelihood of annen incursion. he said he would be willing to break up his signature domestic agenda bill, where he refused to say the next election would be legitimate, one where he confessed surprise in the lingering power of donald trump. but the most immediate concern is clearly ukraine. >> his comments come at a tipping point there as russia nearly completes its buildup of forces along the ukrainian border. an invasion, biden suggests, is all but inevitable. >> russia will be held accountable if it invades. and it depends on what it does. it is one thing if it's a minor incursion and we have to fight about what to do and not do, et cetera. but if they do what they're capable of doing with the force amassed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for russia. my guess is he will move in. he has to do something. >> less than an hour later, the white house scramble to go try to clean up those remarks saying in a statement, president biden has been clear with the russian president if any russian military forces move across the ukrainian border, that's a renewed invasion, and it will be met with a swift, severe, and united response from the united states and our allies. jeremy diamond and senior international correspondent matthew chance in kiev, ukraine. let me start with you, jeremy, at the white house. what do we know at this hour senior >> reporter: president biden, on the eve of his one-year anniversary, trying to outline his last year in office has been one of progress and acknowledging there have been challenges. the president acknowledging shortcomings on the testing fronts, the coronavirus, even as he insisted that overall he believes that he has done remarkably well in addressing the coronavirus pandemic. he also made news on the build back better agenda, acknowledging that he will need to break that up into pieces. but he said he believes he can pass big chunks of his agenda. the president, for the -- perhaps in the strongest terms so far, really laying the blame for his stalled agenda at the feet of republicans in congress, saying that he encountered more opposition, more obstruction than even president obama encountered when president biden was vice president. that came hours before it was not republicans necessarily who, yes, they opposed the voting rights legislation, but it was democrats. the democrat's failure to unite democrats that prevented senate rules changes from going forward. of course the big news from president biden's news conference was his comments on russia. the president sparking an outcry in ukraine after he suggested that a minor incursion by russia would perhaps not meet the full force of devastating sanctions that president biden has promised to exact on russia. the white house cleaning that up, insisting it was referring to actions by pair military forces, cyber attacks by russia, but ultimately making clear that any movement of russian troops across the ukrainian border into ukraine would elicit a swift and severe response not only by the united states but allies as well. >> he alluded and talked about nato, which is very problematic in this standoff. jeremy diamond, thanks so much. >> ukrainian officials reacted with shock with what president biden said. matthew chance is on the ground in kiev. matthew, it's been so interesting to hear from you in realtime the ukrainian reaction. >> reporter: yeah. absolutely, john. look, as soon as president biden made that distinction between a minor incursion and a full invasion and suggest said that a minor action by the russian military, incursion into ukraine would elicit a lesser response than a full invasion, my telephone just lit up with people texting me, ukrainian officials saying they were shocked and stunned by what they heard. usually, remember, u.s. officials talk about the crushing sanctions that will be imposed against russia if there's any kind of military action at all. this nuance, this sliding scale of, you know, lesser sanctions for a lesser incursion has never been made public before. i understand behind closed doors in the united states that's always been something that has been considered. it's certainly not something they put out there publicly. the big concern expressed by one official i spoke to last night is this offers vladimir putin a green light. in his words, to enter ukraine at his pleasure i think was the phrase that he used. of course remember a limited incursion in ukraine's east, possibly expanding the rebel-controlled zone or seizing a land corridor that connects the rebel zone with crimea, if you're familiar with the geography at all. many analysts feel that is vladimir putin's preferred option. so the idea that he could do that and only elicit limited sanctions by the united states is something ukrainian officials feel may encourage the kremlin to press the go button. john. >> matthew chance in kiev. please keep your ear to the ground and let us know what you hear this morning. you're in one of the most important positions in the world right now, so we appreciate it. >> very much so. joining us now washington bureau chief susan page and national security analyst and white house and national correspondent for the "new york times", david sanger, who of course we saw question the president yesterday at the news conference. david, let me start with you on that very point. because, as we just heard, from matthew chance, this was not received well in kiev. i was very surprised which the president said what he said about potentially having a minor incursion here, acknowledging that an invasion may be all but inevitable and talking about the fact that nato may not be united in response if that incursion was minor. what is your analysis of what we saw yesterday and how it will impact the border? >> kasie, i was surprised that he said it in in public. a gaffe in washington is a saying what's true in public is the saying. >> true. >> nato is not completely unified on these issues. they're unified about what happens if russia moves to seize all of ukraine back. as matthew suggested before, there are not many people who think that is putin's preferred way of doing this because he knows that that will result in an insurgency and he will be stuck there as the coast union was stuck in afghanistan in the 1980s. so the most likely would be that he would take some of the russian-speaking areas around cr crimea. and the president clearly has been briefed on that and was probably talking about it a little more honestly than he should. i think the fact that he said this now probably means that the united states and its allies will have to go react more strongly, even if there is a minor incursion. we won't know if it's minor or major for some time. >> that's really interesting that perhaps this created a situation where the response needs to be even stronger. susan, a gaffe is a truth said out loud. but diplomacy and national security does require precision of language. and when you telegraph that nato is not united, when nato unity is actually the main thing that needs to be projected to vladimir putin, how much of a problem does that create? >> later in the news conference, in reference to a different topic, the president said he needed to act more like the president and not like a senator. in this case he was acting like a senator. a senator could have taken that question and given that answer and we would have quoted it and it would have been fine. but a president does not have that luxury because every word is parsed. everyone around the world is listening to it and taking cues from it. one thing i think is damaging for president biden in terms of this answer is one of the promises he made to americans is competence, competence and experience in his administration, including in foreign policy. and i think this is -- this risks raising questions, once again, about the competence of his administration, as did the afghanistan withdrawal. >> one of the other thing that has dogged president biden is a perception perhaps of weakness. i have spoken to democrats who are worried that he potentially appears weak. do you think that's what we saw yesterday if you're vladimir putin watching that news conference? did president biden project weakness to the russian president? >> well, i think that putin pretty well understood what the range of options are and how they may split nato. to the degree that he got confirmation of his view that there are splits in nato, then perhaps so. but i thought overall the president in his response was actually pushing back on putin pretty hard. it was interesting to see where he took this question. i asked him about whether or not putin wanted to have a cold war resumption. he answered by saying, well, i don't think he wants to go back into a full-scale war. and then preceded to describe where putin was sort of jammed in between the west and china. and in some ways he almost described putin as a somewhat weak figure who is making quick, tactical decisions rather than big, strategic ones. and i think that was an effort by the president not to declare that putin was 10 feet tall. but the speed at which the white house had to go clean up the comments on a minor incursion versus a bigger one, shows they're concerned that the terminology would make the president seem weak or give putin a pretext. >> i think that may be what stings the white house the most, susan. the president has a comprehension of that region. you got the impression that putin got it too. there was a tacit understanding between these two men about a tougher stance in some ways towards russia than maybe before, which is why i think the idea of a cleanup on something like this stings internationally but also, as kasie said, stings domestically. the last thing this white house wants is an image that people have to clean up after this president. >> i think that's right. of course this is one of the reasons i think the white house has had so few of these big formal news conferences at the white house. this has just been the second one of his presidency. kudos to the president for standing up there nearly two hours and taking questions, including from reporters he knew would ask him very critical questions. so let's not forget that he did that. but the risk of doing that is that there's some things that you leave that you are going to have to clean up. >> david sanger, we appreciate it. susan page, stick around. we will have much more to talk about and the implications of what it all means this morning. also, a major development overnight into the investigation into january 6th. the supreme court just basically completely dismissed arguments from donald trump. and now the january 6th committee has its hands on key white house records. what have they learned already from what happened on january 6th? plus, senate democrats suffering a major blow. senators manchin and sinema join republicans in syncing filibuster changes to the voting rights bill. and an anti-vax folk singer wanted covid on purpose. what happened when she finally got it. brand, even when your clothes look clean, there's extra dirt you can't see. watch this. that was in these clothes... ugh. but the clothehes washed in tide- so much cleaner. if it's gogot to be clean it's t to be tide hygienic clean. ♪ i see trees of green ♪ ♪ red roses too ♪ ♪ i see them bloom for me and 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[a vulture squawks.] there he is. only pay for what you need. ♪liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty♪ i always dreamed of having kids of my own. ♪ ♪ now i'm ready for someone to call me mom. at northwestern mutual, our version of financial planning helps you live your dreams today. developing overnight, a major legal setback for former president donald trump. and now the house select committee on january 6th has a whole lot of new crucial information in its hands. the supreme court, in a near unanimous decision, we believe to be 8-1, cleared the way for the january 6th select committee to obtain more than 700 pages of trump white house documents from the national archives. these records could shed light on the events leading up to and most importantly, the events taking place during the attack on the capitol. joining us now cnn legal analyst, former u.s. ambassador and former house judiciary special counsel in trump's first impeachment trial, norm eisen. i guess i want to get through the legalism indications firsthand. the supreme court basically said we don't even have to decide whether or not a former president has the right to executive privilege if the current president doesn't think so. we don't have to decide that because the appeals court on the merits of the case, said even if trump was president he couldn't keep this stuff secret. >> that's right, john. we've tracked this case for the past three months since it was filed in district court. and sad that trump was not going to succeed. he's failed at every level. and the reason he has failed the supreme court road last night is because he simply did not make the showing that he needed to make in order to have these documents held back. it's a balancing test when you're talking about executive privilege, the right of a president to hold back documents. and you've got to show an overwhelming, compelling need for each individual document. and sometimes even a paragraph for a line on a document to be held back, and he just failed to do it. so once again, trump was brought down by lousy lawyering. >> of course we did come close to something much worse happening january 6th. let's talk about the contents of what's happening in this package of documents. what do you think is going to be most valuable to the january 6th committee? what are they going to learn from these documents from the archives? >> well, the contents of the documents, i think, are going to provide further depth to the mosaic. they're putting together all the pieces of this terrible falsehood. one of the worst in american history that that election was stolen. and we saw the violence of january 6th erupt as a result. now they'll have call logs, they'll have memos, they'll have speech drafts, they'll have emails and other material from the core people in the white house who were talking to the president about this big lie. i think it will help them to advance the narrative. look, they're clearly building. y uft this week we have seen them going deeper into the president's inner circle, getting phone records of his son, of kimberly guilfoyle, subpoenaing rudy giuliani. so all roads lead to donald trump, what he knew, what he did and didn't do. these documents will help them very likely make the case and lead to dramatic televised hearings and a report that may very well have a criminal referral or referrals, including against the former president. these documents are absolutely critical inside information. >> ambassador, this includes visitor records. this includes call logs. does that mean once and for all jim jordan will find out how many times jim jordan and donald trump talked on that day while the capitol was under siege. who walked into the oval office maybe and tried to get the president -- the former president, to call off the mob. is that the kind of thing there will be clarity on? >> there will be all of that and more. although, john, we have to remember that the president sometimes used a variety of devices. these materials won't necessarily capture every communication. but, yes, you're going to be able to tell the story if you are the members of this committee in minute b-by-minute second-by-second detail. and the minute the president knew, that he was told over and over again that these claims he was making were false. that he knew, for example, in georgia, where he is under criminal investigation, it may shed light on that, that he knew when he said to the georgia secretary of state, just find 11,780 votes, that those votes didn't exist. that he was calling for an alleged criminal election fraud. so that kind of evidence is going to be powerful in the hearings and in the report that the committee will issue with possible criminal referrals. . >> all right. norm eisen, thanks very much for offering your insights, mr. ambassador. we appreciate you being here >> thank you. >> look how much the committee has learned from the stuff that mark meadows and others willingly turned over. >> right. >> what could be what the white house and former white house didn't want to turn over. >> if they are trying to protect this to the point where it has to go up to the supreme court, there has to be something in there they don't want us to know. a senate change to pass voting rights failing overnight. sit no surprise who joined with republicans. and a surprising development this morning. the fbi searches a democratic congressman's home. what were they looking for? 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we are nowhere closer to passing the president's agenda. where do senate democrats go from here? that is the major question. >> a lot of frustration among the democratic caucus. worth noting, that speech took place as the democratic president was giving a news conference at the white house. no longer following old rules of decor up to say your piece before the president is finished. lauren fox, thanks very much for your reporting. president biden facing backlash after saying this about the legitimacy about the upcoming election without the voting reforms he needed. >> oh, yeah, easily legitimate. imagine if trump had succeeded in convincing pence to count the votes. >> 2022. >> imagine if those attempts to say that the count was not legit. you have to recount it and we're going to discard the following votes. sure. i'm not saying it's going to be legit. the increase -- the prospect of being illegitimate is in direct proportion of us not being able to get these reforms passed. >> joining us now cnn political commentator and special assistant to george w. bush, scott jennings. back with us, washington bureau chief of "usa today", susan page. obviously, the former president was criticized for questioning legitimacy of the elections and undermining the legitimacy of the elections before, during and after they happened here. now, president biden refusing to say the upcoming elections will be legitimate. how could he or should he? >> i think scholars were very dismayed by the president's comments here. of course if we have learned anything in the past year or so, it's the fragility of our democracy, the need to protect it. and president trump, the most dangerous thing president trump has done is convinced millions of americans that the 2020 election wasn't free and fair, that they can't trust the election to be legitimate. democrats have said you can trust the election process, it was free and fair. and i understand president biden's point that he was pushing very hard for the voting rights bill. but to sow doubt among his own followers whether they can trust the election returns the next time around is something that worries a lot of people who want to make sure that americans believe what has been the truth, that they can trust our elections. >> he seemed to have the base of his party in mind as he answered that question, as opposed we have heard him talk about the importance of the moment and of defending our democracy. scott jennings, from a political perspective, i mean, you know very well how this hurt republicans in georgia when the former president was saying, hey, you can't trust this. and there were a lot of people who stayed home because they didn't think or believe their vote would be counted. what are the potential political ramifications of this in addition to the ramifications for the health and safety of our democracy? >> well, you raise an excellent point, kasie, about the georgia elections. if you give your party the idea that somehow it doesn't matter if you vote, hey, it turns out some people are listening. republicans, at least in some cases, were listening in georgia. i suspect some democrats were listening to joe biden yesterday. the larger implications are what happens in 2022 and 2024. to prespin what looks like it will be a good year as a republican is illegitimate and prespin the idea that if i can't get re-elected that's illegitimate. we are on a long escalator of parties trying to raise concerns about elections of not just congressman and senators but commanders in chief. to me, the clear way to clean this up today is for joe biden to call up chuck schumer and nancy pelosi and say, we're pivoting out of this voting rights thing. we have the reform the electoral act and give something germane to january 6th. they like to do this law. they used it on bush and trump. and i suspect they will want to use it in 2024 for republican wins that. will be a way to pivot out and do something that is germane to january 6th and not just to the heating of his own political party. >> he didn't specific live say if i don't win that it is illegitimate. >> he said it all depends. he said it all depends. he said it all depends. that's not a good answer! >> i know. it leads me to my next question, though, scott. which is this. you well know there are candidates running for office who will control election apparati, if that's the plural, in arizona and other places, who are running on a lie, running on the idea that 2020 was illegitimate. how do you, if you are president biden, deal with the possibility that you will have -- you might very well have people in office who you know have lied about elections and have promised to enforce lies about election. how do you answer that question, scott? >> the defused nature of our elections is what protects our elections. you have boards of elections, county clerks, secretaries of state. i know you're making predictions about what might happen in this election. i don't know if that's going to happen or not. as you know, i don't agree with casting doubt about the ill legitimacy of our election. >> i know you don't. >> it is what protects the sapbtity of our elections. if i were joe biden, i would absolutely cast absolute confidence in the gentlemen legitimacy of the way we do it. and not tell people if you don't do it my way, a, they are illegitimate. and, b, you might be a racist. i hear you on the republicans. you know where i am on that. but you cannot add fuel to that fire on the other side of the equation and keep us on this long escalator of delegitimizing our democracy. >> scott, while we have you here, can i ask about the ways mitch mcconnell raised during the press conference yesterday. president biden continued to say they are friends. he also said he was surprised by how intransigent. they have been. why are earth were you surprised that mitch mcconnell didn't want to go along with this? >> first of all, it's not true. the biggest accomplish joe biden has, in my opinion, is the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which was delivered unto him by a bipartisan group that included mitch mcconnell and the united states senate. biden can't tout that now because the progressives don't really like it. they don't love it because they didn't get the rest of build back better. but his accomplishment was thanks to romney, portman, and a bipartisan group in the senate. it is not true there is complete in trance skwrepbs. why be surprised that they don't want to enact his bipartisan agenda. i thought that answer was completely ridiculous. if he wants to do things with bipartisan support, shaoe do that. reform the electoral count act. it seems to me the reason republicans are being intrance gentlemen is because he is going after an agenda in a closely divided government. >> i think it will be an interesting fight to follow coming up in congress. . >> susan page, scott jennings, thank you both very much e. so, just days after martin luther king day, florida is pushing a bill that critics would shield white people from guilt about america's racist history. and just discovered, what they are calling the twilight zone of coral reefs. could it hold the secret to saving the world's under water life? 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>> look, it's a theme that we have heard not only here in kentucky but across the country. they have gotten damn good during this pandemic. they have hraefrpbd to do a lot more with a lot less and done it on the fly. all of that comes at a price. owingsville, kentucky. the coronavirus, rolling stills, a heavy burden for health care workers. >> i have held the hands of people dying of covid. i have been within the covid ward. i've had close friends lose their lives even at my age. i've had somebody, like i say, who was a mom to me, lose her battle. there's not words of what experiencing right now at the health care forefront. >> reporter: dr. banks is the physician at the clinic here. the battle now the highly infectious omicron variant, more patience and 134 some days less staff. . >> it definitely puts a strain on an already strained system. we have a 40% reduction in staff today due to covid or covid exposure. with that, everybody else here has to pick up a significant amount. >> reporter: at st. clair's main hospital in moorehead where we visited in september, health care workers are still battling the virus and false information. >> i think a lot of our patients just need to be talked to. let them know the truth, talk to them, answer their questions. a lot of them are just fearful of it. >> people you treat, this he come in not believing they have it? >> some of them don't believe they have it. they don't believe it's a real thing. i've heard that. >> reporter: with a third of kentucky kwrapbs test, the state smashed its record case count, more than 72,000. the unvaccinated or partially vaccinated accounting for 80% of those cases. 85% of hospitalizations and more than 83% of deaths. sherry kahn, diabetic and asthmatic, now has coronavirus, too. she had one dose of the pfizer vaccine. she said if not for that, she might be in worse shape today. >> that asthma will knock you down. if you can't breathe, you better be getting somewhere. >> with covid on top of it. >> huh-uh. the way i can understand, i didn't have it bad like some people. >> right. >> because some people won't take shots like that. >> not sure how she picked up the virus, she said once released -- >> i'll get that second shot, yeah. i'll go to my doctor. >> reporter: and despite the sharp rise in cases, one bright spot. >> it seems that in general it is a milder disease versus delta, we have a lot of hospitalizations because of the sheer numbers. the number of people on ventilators, requiring respiratory support are lower than they were in delta. >> reporter: still health care workers here, working harder, longer and with seemingly no end to the pandemic or the nation's bad mood. >> everybody just needs to try to be a little more patient and be kinder with each other. everybody has got their own struggles, whether it's where they work or what they're dealing with their families. people has had losses personally. we all need to work to be kind er i think. >>. >> i was struck by the possess similar. usually they see the light at the end of the tunnel. they feel it has only gotten longer. they have no way if another wave is on the horizon. john. >> they have been through so much. they're only human at this point. we have asked them to be super human and have for two years now. miguel, you are super human. thank you for bringing us these stories. >> reporter: you got it. fbi searching inside a congressman's home. what did they want? 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the stars were out. you had 15 players with at least 30 points, tied for the most of any day in nba history. nobody had a bigger night than joel embiid. did it fast as well. tied his career-high with 50 points, 12 rebounds in 27 minutes of action. he joined klay thompson as the only player in nba history to score 50 or more points in less than 28 minutes. philly winning that one. tonga trying to recover from the volcano eruption. their most recognizable athlete peta taufatofua has set up a go fund me page. peta says his home is unrecognizable. >> when you are there in tonga, everything is lush. it's green. it's blue. it's full of life. but you look at it now and it looks like 1910 black and white film. everything is just covered in ash. >> peta has raised 145,000 to help his home country. he still has not been able to reach his father after that tsunami. >> i have a lot of concern about what we're not seeing. so hard to get there. very little communication. i don't think the world knows the scope of the damage there. thank you for that report there. super important. "new day" continues right now. ♪ good morning to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. it is thursday, january 20th. i'm john berman. brianna on night duty this week. kasie here to mark one year of the biden presidency. >> happy to be here with you, john. >> reassure the world that the president did not just give vladimir putin permission to move troops into ukraine. his remarks at a news conference raised immediate alarm in kiev where our reporters are fueling responses. the president spoke in stark terms of what he sees as a likelihood of a russian invasion. that was on top of other major developments. for the first time he said he would be able to break up his signature domestic agenda bill, one where he refused to say the