omicron variant. then the one test that could derail olympic dreams. athletes take us there you the intense covid protection process that one doctor calls a public health extreme. welcome to "the lead." we start with the world lead. president joe biden saying he would consider leveling personal sanctions on russian president vladimir putin if putin gives the order for russia to invade ukraine. sanctions directly on putin himself, he means. this as the kremlin maintains some 100,000 russian troops strategically positioned near its border with ukraine. the white house says a russian invasion appears imminent. in the meantime, russia is accusing the u.s. of escalating tensions by putting 8,500 u.s. service members on heightened alert. they're on stand by. not ordered to deploy. though the biden administration says two factors could quickly change that. one, if nato decides those u.s. service members are need in the eastern europe, and two, the actions, of course, of vladimir putin himself. here's the pentagon press secretary earlier today. >> if there's another incursion into ukraine, i would believe that could drive nato and some of our allies to make other forced posture decisions that they haven't made yet. >> today cnn clarissa ward spoke exclusively, that russia has very little to gain from this situation. let's bring clarissa in from ukraine. the foreign minister was also sensitive about potential deals being made for ukraine without ukraine's input. >> reporter: that's right. i think what you're seeing here, a classic case of ukraine not being sat at the negotiating table and understandably feeling a little bit vulnerable as a result. there have been some differences. it is no secret between ukraine's leadership and some of the actions and rhetoric that we've seen coming from the u.s. and the white house specifically. the foreign minister told us, they are in lock step from now on. they just want to make sure that the u.s. continues to keep up this strong rhetoric and robust response. take a listen. >> reporter: the latest u.s. weapons arrives in ukraine. on board, 79 tons of lethal aid, including nearly 300 tank armor piercing javelin missiles. as the u.s. doubles down on its support of ukraine. as many as 8,500 u.s. troops are now on high alert to be deployed to eastern europe to join nato forces. a decision ukraine's foreign minister said he welcomes. >> i think it is a message to putin that, listen, whatever you're trying to achieve, you get the opposite. if you want us to withdraw from central europe, our response to your escalation is reinforcing the flank. >> some suggest this might anger putin and escalate the crisis further. are you concerned about that? >> well, if we learned anything from '20 and '14, that it is a flawed logic to handle president putin from the perspective that, let's do nothing in order not to make him angry. no. this is not how it works. strength, resolve, deterrence. these are the three elements that work with putin. >> reporter: on the other side of the border, yet another show of force from russia's military with the missile systems on display. the russian defense ministry says the exercises are, quote, to check the troops' battle readyness. few here have any doubt that russia is ready to go to war. but the question remains whether that is its intention. >> so do you believe there will be a military escalation here in ukraine? >> this depends. i cannot read president putin's mind. >> can anyone? >> no. i don't think anyone can do that. we are literally in a situation where anything can happen. >> how does putin at this stage de-escalate without using face? >> we shouldn't really care how president putin will save his face. for one simple reason. because he himself, he put himself in this situation. if russia is willing to act in good faith, there is a possibility to walk out from the negotiating room and say we made a deal. >> but kaleba warns that they will not be pushed into concessions. >> we will not be in a position of a country that speaks out, here's the instruction of the big power. no. we paid a lot including 15,000 lives of our citizens to secure the right to decide our own future. our own destiny. and we will not allow anyone to impose any concessions on us. >> reporter: with all sides dug in, the prospects for a diplomatic solution are dim. but ukraine's leadership says the cost of failure would extend far beyond these front lines. >> if the united states leadership fails here, it will be a clear message to the contesters of the united states, that america is a different country now. and they can push. and in the end, if they push, i'm afraid that it will be the people of america who will feel the repercussions of that push. >> reporter: he went on to say if someone does come here demanding concessions from the ukraine, and they feel, by the way, that ukraine has already given much in terms of dealing with the russians in previous diplomatic agreements and discussions that have been had. he said simply, if someone comes is that demands those concessions, he will call the protocol officer and have them accompanied back to the airport. so not mincing words and not pulling any punches. >> all right. thank you. so for that report. here to discuss, ruben gallego of california. he's on the house armed services committee and he served in the iraq war. thank you for joining us. let's start with that exclusive conversation with ukraine's foreign minister. he does not want to see any deals made behind ukraine's back. given that, if russia were to invade, do you think the u.s. and nato need to consult ukraine before they decide on any kind of response? >> absolutely. you cannot override a country's sovereignty in order to gain peace with an aggressor nation like russia, especially considering russia has been there the whole time. our job is to help ukraine deter russia. make sure that russia understands there will be some really costly, some really costly consequences. whether it is kinetic, troops dying, and we should be doing that in conjunction with ukraine. >> you served in war. it is not an abstraction to you. when you hear that 8,500 service members are on stand by, possibly heading to eastern europe and who knows where else, do you think that's an appropriate decision from president biden to put them to stand by? >> i think it is important. i've done some of those in my younger days. more importantly, we're doing it not to just deter russia but to really bring confidence on our allies. especially on the eastern front. they're severely worried about what will happen. whether russia will roll through ukraine and allow the soviet bloc nations. this is why the chairman of the subcommittee on special operations intel, i authored the baltic security initiative that gave $150 million to our baltic country so they could defend themselves. they are on the front lines and they are worried. they're worried that russia will not stop at ukraine. that they will continue with their aggressive actions all through eastern europe. >> what do you say when a constituent says to you, why are we even involved in this? ukraine is not a nato country. we don't have any economic interests, this is russia's business. why are we even talking about deploying american service members to that area? what do you say? >> we already have men and women deployed to that area. number two, stability in europe is entirely dependen on what happens in ukraine. it is not going to end well. we've seen in history, especially in the last century, that a land war, especially massive land wars in europe will always somehow involve us. so it is the best thing we can do for stability, economic well being, that we deter russia instead of findings ourselves in a war that we may have to be more seriously involved in. our standing in the world does matter. we can't let a democratically elected government in ukraine be overrun by an autocratic government without doing anything. that says that it is free game. they can break all the rules that we have established over the last 150 years and start rolling through other countries. specifically, i guarantee you china will be looking at what happens in ukraine and trying to take example to what they should or should not do in taiwan. >> we know the darrel of homeless is monitoring possible russian cyber attacks, perhaps on u.s. banks or american utility companies, in case there is a military escalation. how easily could russia cripple american infrastructure if it wanted to? >> look. i think at any point, our infrastructure, our cyber infrastructure could be attacked. the most important thing you can do besides the safety measures is for russia to understand that those types of actions will have severe consequences. there needs to be deterrence in every aspect, especially when it comes to the cyber world where russia thinks it can act with impunity. so any time of aggression should be met with consequences. that's the only thing russia understands. they're not the victim here. they're the aggressor here. in order to keep them in line, they have to understand that aggressive actions will have aggressive consequences. >> before you go, congressman, you told cnn that fellow democrats had been encouraging you to launch a primary challenge against democratic senator kyrsten sinema in 2024. today punch bowl news reported that you met with some of her donors last weekend in new york city. you haven't ruled out a primary run. at this point, what is stopping you? >> well, number one, we need to focus on 2022. especially here in arizona. senator kelly to get reelected. i have a big legislative agenda i want to continue working on. but 2023 is around the corner. when '23 arrives, i'll be publicly an announcement. in the meantime, i want to make sure arizona trends the right way and i'll have meetings to anyone interested in talking to me about that race. it has been everyday arizonans, labor unions, a lot of the groups that have helped turn this a blue state. that decision will come in 2023. did those donors say they would challenge you? >> yes. i've gotten that assurance. all over the country and in arizona. the determination will be basing everything on number one, what the voters of arizona want. and number two, really talking to my family and making that decision in 2023. >> democratic congressman ruben gallego. thank you. boris johnson ate his cake. then he's still standing. but elton john is being forced to cancel his concerts. cozy and precocious. with 465 fresh, clean, craveable pairings, find a youou pick 2 for any mood. panera, the familiarar made fantastic. >> woman: what's my safelite story? >> vo: my car is more than four wheels. it's my after-work decompression zone. so when my windshield broke... >> woman: what?! >> vo: ...i searched for someone who really knew my car. i found the experts at safelite autoglass. with their exclusive technology, they fixed my windshield... then recalibrated the camera attached to my glass so my safety systems still work. who knew that was a thing?! >> woman: safelite has service i can trust. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ ♪ life can be a lot to handle. ♪ this magic moment ♪ but heinz knows there's plenty of magic in all that chaos. ♪ so different and so new ♪ ♪ was like any other... ♪ it was a tragedy. with knockoff batteries, little miss cupcake never stood a chance. until, energizer ultimate lithium. who wants a cupcake? 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works on that too, and lasts 12 hours. 12 hours?! who studies that long? mucinex dm relieves wet and dry coughs. in our healthy today, pfizer announcing it has started clinical trials for its omicron specific coronavirus vaccine. it is has already started manufacturing the shot. it could be available as soon as march if it gets the correct signoff. >> i don't think there's a chance that we will eradicate this. >> reporter: but dr. fauci says a national turn around could be a week or two away when it comes to the omicron surge. the world health organization is hoping the emergency phase of the pandemic will end this year. >> i think normal will look like many of these peaks and valleys of surges. >> reporter: nationwide, hospitals are now lower than a week ago. but deaths are higher than a week ago. while omicron cases are often mild or without symptoms for most vaccinated adults, the country is now averaging more than 2,000 deaths daily above the delta peak last september. >> i think most of us would like to see the number of deaths drop to about 100 deaths per day. . in case, it will put you at par with approximately the number of deaths we see from the flu on a monthly basis. >> reporter: the advisory board is recommending a fourth covid shot for all adults, citing the effectiveness of boosts while pfizer announces the specific vaccine is in public trials. a universal vaccine able to target future variants will bring us the closest to normal. until then -- >> we need to develop an idea about how we sort of go back and forth between protecting ourselves, protecting others, and kind of keeping those good habits going if we want to have a new normal. >> reporter: what that looks like is sparking everything from debates to court battles. in new york city, sarah palin allegedly flouting covid-19 restrictions by dining inside a restaurant while unvaccinated on saturday. and then testing positive on monday. delaying her defamation trial against "the new york times." an attorney for pale declined to comment. in new york state, a state judge blocking the governor's mask mandate. the department of education rejecting the ruling saying, schools must still follow the mask rule. and another stage goes dark. sir elton john testing positive for covid, delaying two concerts in dallas. and jake, when it comes to vaccine mandates for big businesses, the biden administration announcing they are withdrawing the regulation that was targeting businesses of 100 or more employees. that move, of course, after the supreme court blocked the rule earlier this month in a closely watched decision. jake? >> thanks so much. joining to us discuss, chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta. why would we need an omicron specific vaccine if we're starting to see cases and hospitalizations fall off and it seems likely that there will be another variant that comes after that? >> that's a good question. we're finding ourselves in these positions where we're working on developing these things but they don't really arrive at the time that we need them. we've seen them with therapeutics, with the testing, and now with this omicron specific booster. a couple things. each time there's been a new variant they've worked on specific boosters. we haven't needed them because the existing shots have provided a lot of benefit. that's good. the numbers may drop off by march or april when this booster may be available, but we've seen evidence of the shots waning in terms of effectiveness. so early spring and summer? probably not. those are two reasons they want to keep this in the back pocket. we don't know whether the trial will demonstrate that an omicron specific booster is of any more benefit either. those are the two main reasons. might there be a resurgence? >> the u.s. has followed israel in a lot of ways in terms of how we respond and deal with this virus. today israel's covid advisory group recommended a fourth vaccine dose for all adults. do you think that will ultimately happen here? if you do, how soon? >> well, i think this dove tails on what we were talking about. i think they do want to see if a fourth shot is necessary, what kind of shot should it be? a shot of the existing vaccine? or should it be specific? we'll bev following israel's data pretty carefully. the early data on fourth shots did not paint a very compelling picture to actually recommend that across the board. they did have this advisory group which has recommended this fourth shot. but we have to hear from the ministry of health on that. i think it will depend. can you make a case that the fourth shot is definitively decreasing infections? decreasing symptomatic illness? we know right now, people who have the booster tend to have pretty good protection from those things as it is. >> let's talk about boosters. there is this new pre print lab study that shows that omicron neutralizing antibodies last for at least several months after a booster. this comes on the heels of other studies showing how effective booster shots are. what is your main takeaway from this new study? >> well, i find this really interesting. if we can show the data looking first at cases and then looking at symptomatic illness. they come paired unvaccinated, the far left, to fully vaccinated, two people who have been boosted. so the middle column is two shots. the big discrepancy is clearly between the unvaccinated and the vaccinated. period. so we talk about boosters and you can understand why. there is an incremental benefit from getting the booster. but really, this is still a story about the unvaccinated versus the vaccinated. to your specific question. if you look at the time frame now and you look at, okay, it has been at least six months since i've had my shots, versus within six months, and then add a booster. if you got your shot six months ago, more than six months ago, look at your protection. 57%. that's against hospitalization. fully vaccinated, less than six months ago. 81%. a significant jump. if you add the boosted, it gets to 90%. so what this is saying is yes. the vaccine effectiveness does wane. it does make an impact. >> so shockingly, average daily deaths have now surpassed the peak of the delta surge. the u.s. is averaging nearly 2200 deaths every day because of the virus. how much worse do you think it will get because of the turn-around? >> well, it's tough to think about. the cases, as we've seen in many parts of the country, have started to decline. a little bit of a mixed picture in the united states. you have different areas of the country that are behaving differently. you can see on the map of the united states where hospitalizations are still going up. and that's obviously a concern in those orange areas. one thing i will say quickly, if i can show you how omicron is behaving, if someone ends up getting sick from omicron, a lot of people getting infected and ending up in the hospital. overall, the chance of being admitted to the icu or dying is still lower with omicron. the reason the number are so high is because this is such a contagious virus and so many people are getting infected. so less lethal but more contagious. >> all right. thanks so much. what happens when the january 6th committee talks to one of the country's most prominent deranged conspiracy theorists? we'll tell you next. some of my best memories growing up, were cooking with mom. she always said, “food is love.” so when she moved in with us, a new kitchen became part of our financial plan. ♪ i want to make the most of every meal we have together. ♪ at northwestern mutual, our version of financial planning helps you live your dreams today. find a northwestern mutual advisor at nm.com ♪(music)♪ at aetna® we're shifting medicare coverage into high gear with benefits you may be eligible for when you turn 65. benefits that may include dental, vision, and hearing. aetna medicare advantage plans call today to learn more. it's still the eat fresh refresh™ and subway's refreshing everything like the new honey mustard rotisserie-style chicken. it's sweet, it's tangy, it's tender, it never misses. you could say it's the steph curry of footlongs. you could, but i'm not gonna. subway keeps refreshing and refreshing and re... i didn't know my genetic report could tell me i was prone to harmful blood clots. i travel a ton, so this info was kind of life changing. maybe even lifesaving. ♪do you know what the future holds?♪ (vo) america's most reliable network is going ultra! with verizon 5g ultra wideband now in many more cities. hey, it's mindy! downloading a movie up to 10 times faster than before. whoa! is that done? 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(vo) verizon is going ultra, so you can too. just in in our politics lead. the justice department is giving the first indication that the individuals behind the effort to push so call alternate electors, fraudulent elector that's would have declared donald trump the winner in states that he decidedly lost, these individuals are under federal scrutiny. the senior correspondent joins us now live for this story. you just spoke with the deputy attorney general for an exclusive interview. what did she have to say? >> reporter: we know that a number of state have been looking at these fake electors that were sent out by people associated with donald trump. for the first time, we're hearing from the deputy attorney general what the justice department is doing about that. take a listen. >> we've now learned that there was a big effort by the former administration of senior people in the former administration to interfere with the vote counts on the state level. voters want to know whether enough has been done to deter partisan interference in election results. what can you say to assure people? because there's very little that we've seen publicly said by this department on this issue. >> well, first, on the issue you raised in terms of fraudulent elector certifications has been reportedly received. prosecutors are looking at those and i can't say anything more on ongoing investigations. but more broadly, look. the attorney general has been very, very clear. we are going to follow the facts and the law wherever they lead to address conduct of any kind and at any level. that is part of an assault on our democracy. >> and jake, part of what is going on beyond what happened in 2020, we know there are a lot of people driven by those false hoods about election fraud who are making threats against election workers. we talked a little about that and one of the things that the deputy attorney general said, we saw one indictment against someone last week. she said to expect several more. >> all right. evan perez, thank you. also on our politics lead, the latest person to meet with the house select committee investigating the deadly january 6th insurrection. jones telling listen orders his podcast that he pleaded the fifth amendment almost 100 times. let's get right to paula. >> reporter: well, jake, he met with the committee on monday. he spoke on his podcast where he described it as intense and said he did indeed take the fifth nearly 100 times on the advice of counsel. why would he do that? he said the questions were reasonable but he didn't want to answer all of them for fear of perjuring himself. >> i'm the type that tries to answer things correctly, even if i don't know the answers. and they can then claim that's perjury. about half the questions, i didn't know the answer to. and a bunch were emails i had never seen. and planning things i'd never seen. at least from memory. >> temperature panel asked him repeatedly who his white house contact was to help with the planning and organizing rallies in the days leading to january 6th and he denounced any suggestion that he was involved in planning violence during the insurrection. jake? >> all right. thank you. appreciate it. coming up next, the extreme covid protection measures which could cost some athletes who have been training for their life times chance at realizing their olympic dreams. stay with us. -legitimate and ge- can be transformational. daddy! for the best audio entertainment and storytelling. audible. we're getting destroyed out there. we need a plan! i have a plan... right now at t-mobile customers on magenta max can get the new iphone 13 and t-mobile will pay for it! upgrade to the iphone 13 on us. in our national lead, police in miami beach, florida, are investigating after anti-semitic flyers were found. the city's mayor saying they cannot just sit by and assume it is an act of harmless stupidity. as the reporter tells us, the mayor is taking new steps to try to protect all faith communities while the investigation heats up. >> reporter: this is what hate looks like. a flyer delivered in the middle of the night to more than 200 miami beach homes, according to city officials, targeting jews, falsely claiming the public health response to covid is being original strayed by jewish people. >> at first i thought it was targeted to me. i started looking around and seeing it on every house. this shocked a lot of people that have lived on the island for more than 50 years. >> reporter: the mayor of miami beach, a city with a large jewish community called it pure garbage a. display of hate yet again. >> we won't pretend it doesn't exist. we'll stand up and say screw you. it is garbage, what this guy or these people did. we have to say that. if right thinking people don't speak out against this kind of stuff, then people begin to think it is okay and normalized. >> we're already living in a moment where we've seen a remarkable rise in anti-semiettic incidents. we have more than just a few years ago. and this weekend we had these anti-semitic fliers dropped in six different states. >> reporter: over the weekend in san francisco, police officers captured the flyers. in colorado, flyers now under investigation, distributed in denver. the adl also reports flyer distribution in wisconsin, maryland, and texas over the weekend. meanwhile, at a rally in d.c., anti-vaccine activist rob f. kennedy jr. -- >> even in hitler, germany, you could cross the alps into switzerland. you can hide in an attic like anne frank did. >> he has cynic apologized. his wife tweeted, it was recommend rehencible and insensitive. the atrocities should never be compared to anyone or anything. his opinions are not a reflection of my own. the anti-defamation league reports a sharp increase over the last decade in anti-semitic incidents. the dangerous rhetoric concerning city leaders. >> when any group that has hate thrown against them, prejudice thrown against them, vile false hoods against them, have a reason to be concerned. it is just one part of a continuum. one who is willing to put flyers over 200 homes in the dead of night. are they willing to throw a rock through a window? are they willing to use a weapon? >> reporter: and you know, jake, as i've spent time in this community today. i talked to the mayor, a local rabbi, the neighbors here, there is definitely a sense of fear and vulnerability but also a need to call this out for what it is. to indicate out as hate. police tell me they are working the fbi now. they have located the rental car they believe to be associated with it. the mayor says they have some pretty solid leads here and feels confident they will get to the bottom of who is responsible. jake? >> all right. in miami beach, florida for us today. thanks. in our national lead, some sad and awful news out of new york city. the second nypd officer shot while responding to a domestic incident on friday has died. officer mora was only 27 years old. he and fellow officer jason rivera, also killed did you go the incident, both were shot when a suspected gunman opened fire at an apartment. a third officer shot the suspect who later died. new york's mayor calls mora a hero and says our hearts are heavy. our city is in mourning. coming up next, a police investigation underway involving the british prime minister's birthday party. we'll explain why. ake never stood a chance. until, energizer ultimate lithium. who wants a cupcake? 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>> reporter: he's had some practice now of responding to allegations during strict lockdowns for the rest of the country. he said he welcomes the investigation because he wants clarity for the british people and he hopes this will draw a line under it. i think he's backed into a corner. from what i understand, downing street not welcoming this investigation. it's i i must say as a sign of the severity of the political damage he's in, i was speaking to his allies this morning. they thought this news of a police investigation into the prime minister on downing street might provide them with a slight reprieve from the other investigation, looking into whether or not he broke his own covid rules. they thought it might delay the preliminary investigation they were concerned about. then it dawned on them that the looking of police investigating downing street was not particularly good or at advantageous and now they're concerned about it. but the head of the metropolitan police that she would only be investigating such historical allegations. these parties that we're discussing occurred in 2020, 2021 if they were serious flagrant braexs of the coronavirus guidelines. she thought it might undermine faith or trust in the law or be committed by people fully aware that they were committing offense. >> and more broadly, how is this playing out for prime minister johnson politically? >> well, it has been said many times that the prime minister has a number of political lives. i like to think of him as a political vampire. he's defied convention and expectations before. i think this could be sounding the death nell of his premiership. in the united kingdom, i think triggered by a certain number of letters being sent by his own mps into a committee. if that happens, there is a vote of no confidence in the prime minister. at this stage, most people i speak to say they're very close to that threshold. and the jury is out whether boris johnson would survive that vote of no confidence. but jake, where this particular scandal to a prime minister who has been by so many, the fact the key aspects of his political brand that made him an historic election winner and a charismatic politician. his rule breaking have become the very architects of his own deepest political danger. >> just a reminder to our viewers. he was going to these parties allegedly at the same time his protocols were not letting people to go funerals for their own loved ones, et cetera. thank you. so. appreciate the reporting. in our sports lead, the covid impact on the upcoming olympic games in china. athletes and team officials are getting a jarring greeting as they arrive in beijing. security personnel at airports and train stations in full protective gear. then a rigorous process to protect olympians which can take quite a toll. >> reporter: for winter olympic athletes, just getting to beijing is as nerve racking as competing for gold. nearly 3,000 athletes will be gathering under the strictest counter measures. they trained their entire careers for this moment. but a positive covid test could derail it all. >> one positive test will do us in at this point. it is super stressful. i didn't know until the last couple months. >> reporter: the u.s. skier have been isolating in utah for the last month. they live in separate homes. social distancing distance on the mountains. >> no one has looked each other in the eyes. i have not been anywhere other than inside this house for the last month. >> reporter: she even wears a kn-95 mask on the slopes. >> i treat everyone like they have covid. and it creates a lot of anxiety in my life but hopefully gets me to china. >> reporter: athletes have to test negative twis. one within 96 hours and another 72 hours before departure. then daily tests in beijing. organizers are relying on sensitive. that cr tests which mean recently recovered but healthy athletes could potentially be isolated or barred from competing. >> they've gone to the public health extreme. that test is so sensitive. it is picking up remnants of the virus. you are not contagious to anyone else. >> organizers are not taking any chances. the host country is sticking to its zero covid policy where just one case can trigger lockdowns and mass testing. during the tokyo summer olympics here, 41 athletes test told positive for covid. at least two dozen had to withdraw from competition. with omicron, it is inevitable. some athletes will lose their chance to compete. >> they could go to a facility until they get two consecutive negative tests which experts say could take weeks. olympians will be completely separate from the rest china. part of what organizers are calling a closed loom system. bubbles with dedicated shuttles and they're all connected by high speed rails. british skeleton racer was there last fall for training. >> everything we did, training, eating, sleeping was all within this bubble. it felt incredibly organized. >> reporter: ahead of the game, she's self-isolating. while she knows what to expect in the beijing, it is the next few days that are the most intense. >> i've jumped all these hurdles and i'm trying really hard to do all the right things now so that i can get to beijing safely without covid. >> reporter: for athletes this year, just stepping foot into the olympic bubble will be a victory. the american tells me, even when she gets into beijing, she's staying on guardtion socially distanced, away from parties. even as a journalist, the past few weeks have been full of careful and sometime stressful separation. but for beijing, this is all part of the man to keep covid out no matter the cost. >> thank you so much. we appreciate it. we'll go inside the never issued trump executive order that could have theoretically delayed joe biden's inauguration and perhaps upended american democracy and who knows what else. that's next. 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