safe. it was a simple question for this top doctor wouldn't answer. why democrats walked out of his confirmation hearing and refused to vote. good morning, everyone. it is thursday, january 27th. it is 5:00 a.m. here in new york. thank you for getting an early start with us. i'm laura jarrett. >> i'm christine romans. good morning, everyone. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. >> we begin here with a thunderbolt in washington, d.c. the retirement of supreme court justice stephen breyer. the liberal justice is expected to formally announce his decision at a white house event with president biden as early as today. more on that in just a moment. now, as for his replacement, the president has promised to make history here, naming the first black woman to the high court. >> such a move could serve as a political lifeline for democrats hoping to motivate the base before midterm elections this fall. but for now, many in the party are breathing a sigh of relief. at 83, breyer was the oldest member of the court and had been under intense pressure from the left to step down while mr. biden still has a path to replace him. while the president will likely get his pick on the bench, the country now faces what is sure to be another bitter supreme court battle. cnn's jessica schneider starts us off this morning in washington. >> this is a retirement progressive groups have been pushing for the past year. but justice breyer brushed aside those calls last june, but now with just months until the midterms and with republicans promising they would thwart a biden pick if they win, justice breyer has potentially injected some political calculation into this decision to retire. justice breyer has been on the supreme court for 27 years. but he was in politics before becoming a judge. he worked on the senate judiciary committee for the democrats, and investigated watergate in the 1970s. so he understands the political realities of this situation. justice breyer also said over the past year he would consider two things when deciding whether to leave. his health and the court. so with no known health issues, it is clear that the court's future is his main reason for leaving. he's talked repeatedly about the importance of the integrity of the court, and the danger of public faith in the court eroding if it became too political. but there is probably some political calculation in this decision. justice breyer will stay on for at least the end of the term, which ends in june, because, of course, there is still a lot of work for the court to do. huge issues are pending, including the fate of abortion rights and gun rights. but now the real work begins at the white house, presumably they have been vetting candidates, they eventually have to choose a successor for justice breyer. president biden did say on the campaign trail he would choose a black female as his supreme court pick. there are several names at the forefront of that list, including 51-year-old ketanji brown jackson. she's currently on the d.c. circuit court of appeals. also 45-year-old leondra kruger who sonis on the california supe court. democrats are pledging to move swiftly on any confirmation, they're pointing to the last justice that was put on the supreme court, named by president trump, amy coney barrett, and her lightning fast confirmation process, just four weeks. so democrats are looking to mirror that for this successor to justice breyer. christine, laura? >> thank you for that. president biden and justice breyer are expected to appear together at the white house later today. the two men go back a long way. as you can see here. then senator biden, chairman of the judiciary committee, questioning breyer at his supreme court confirmation hearing back in 1994. >> here to help us put this historic moment in context this morning, cnn white house correspondent john harwood and kevin russell, a partner at goldstein and russell, who clerked for justice breyer and regularly argues before the court. good morning to you both. so great to have you. john, i want to start with you, the official line from the white house is that it is up to a justice to decide when to step down, but this in reality may be the president's only chance for a supreme court nominee. he needed this badly. >> look, this is something that is welcome to the white house, as justice breyer told our colleague joan bescoupic last year, he doesn't live on pluto. he understands the political process, he was getting a lot of heat, nobody wanted to repeat on the democratic side what happened with ruth bader ginsburg, who decided to stay, even though she was quite elderly. and ended up passing away during donald trump's term and as you just heard, in four weeks they -- republicans pushed through amy coney barrett, tilted court from 5-4 conservative court to a 6-3 conservative court. justice breyer is making sure, he's 83 years old, in good health, but you never know what's going to happen. he's now making sure that joe biden is going to be able to appoint someone who can be on that court for decades. it is welcome also for the white house in the sense that this is a fight that they're going to win. and it is a fight that will unite the democratic party. as he has political trouble, one of the problems is democrats see him not succeeding, he's got some choices that can succeed. i think the early front-runner is going to be ketanji brown jackson, whato was just months o confirmed with 53 votes, that is a sign that she could win confirmation again. and so, again, joe biden has now got it fight after so many fights that he couldn't win that he can. >> kevin russell, you clerked for justice breyer in the mid-1990s. you know him well. what do you think tipped the scales for him to retire? >> i think he's publicly said for a long time he didn't want to die on the court. he is getting up in years. i agree with other folks who suggested that he doesn't want to have the experience that justice ginsburg had. he cares deeply about the court and about his legacy at the court and i'm sure doesn't want to be replaced by somebody who has dramatically different views about the law than he does. at the same time, i'm sure it pains him that his retirement timing is going to be perceived as at least in part motivated by these political considerations. he more than hardly, more than any other justice, believes and wants the public to understand that the court is not a partisan political institution. and he thinks that the public's perception of it as a political institution undermines its legitimacy and he's been very concerned that this is undermining the comfourt's abil to play its role as the final interpreter of the constitution's protection for individual rights. >> john, we all remember how fast justice amy coney barrett got confirmed. do you think chuck schumer will be able to pull off the same deal here with whoever president biden picks to replace justice breyer? >> well, he certainly wants to do it fast, laura, but he doesn't need to do it as fast as mitch mcconnell did with amy coney barrett because there was a looming deadline of the election, which compelled the republicans to act fast. but chuck schumer is using that as a precedent to say we can move this very quickly. i think if they do it by the end of the supreme court term in june or july, that will allow justice breyer to serve out his term and then let the successor take his place. kevin makes a very good point about partisanship. i understand the reluctance of justice breyer to have the court perceived that way. sadly, that ship has sailed and the public views the court as a pretty partisan institution, for very good reason, because it acts as a partisan institution and the partisan machinery is going to gear up and it is going to give joe biden a nominee probably by the end of the spring. >> kevin, that do you think justice breyer's lasting legacy will be? >> i think, you know, his judicial philosophy is almost unique on the court in that he isn't a strict texturalist, it is hard to pigeon hole his philosophy other than to say he cares deeply about how the court works as part of a broader government that is supposed to work for people. so he is deeply interested in the practical consequences of the court's decisions on how the government works, on how people's lives are improved, in a way that almost nobody left on the court is. he doesn't think you can define the meaning of a statute or the constitution just by staring deeply into the text. he wants to know how it is going to work in the real world and he cares about the opinions of others. expert agencies and the government, his colleagues, and even law clerks. he was very interested in talking through legal issues with just about anybody who would listen, because he just deeply loves the practice of being a judge. >> okay, kevin russell, thank you so much. john harwood, stay with us. a lot more to discuss. like the federal reserve, gearing up to raise interest rates soon. the central bank, it did not hike rates wednesday, but noted the economy is now strong enough to end easy money policies. >> the economy no longer needs sustained high levels of monetary policy support. that's why we're fashion out our asset purchases in ways we expected will soon be appropriate to raise the target range for the federal funds rate. >> yeah, the fed here is an inflation fighting mode, plans to raise interest rates multiple times this year, first one likely in march. rates have been near zero since the pandemic began. the fed slashed rates in march 2020 to help the economy. higher interest rates will help combat persistent inflation, which powell expects to cool over the course of this year. on main street, this affects everyone, higher rates affect borrowing, raising costs for mortgages, credit cards, auto loans, student loans, mortgage rates back to prepandemic levels. wall street tumbled after policy suggested the fed may hike rates faster. coming up, secretary of state antony blinken says that the u.s. delivered a response to moscow's demands amid military buildup near ukraine. how russia's responding. plus, stormy daniels set to take the witness stand against her former lawyer, michael avenatti. what will happen in court today while he's defending himself? 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(burke) seventeen-car garage you got there? ♪we are farmers♪ ♪bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum♪ the u.s. has delivered its written response to russia aimed at deterring an invasion of ukraine. secretary of state tony blinken says he expects to have a discussion with the russian foreign minister in the coming days. cnn's nic robertson joins us live from moscow on this. good morning. what exactly was the u.s. message in this written document? >> reporter: yeah, this was the message that was designed to say that nato was keeping an open door, but there were areas that the u.s. and russia could actually have discussion, you know, on possible arms control agreements, on possible reciprocity, on troop movements, et cetera, et cetera. we have now in the past few minutes heard from the kremlin spokesman that president putin now has this in his hands, that he has read it, but the readout we're getting from the kremlin is has a hint of dissatisfaction in it. they are saying the spokesman is saying that it doesn't really seem to take into account russia's real concerns here, which was nato and its open door policy and ukraine's ability to join nato in the future. so first blush here, the kremlin saying that the president of the country is processing it, but it doesn't appear to have everything that they wanted. but the spokesman also said but let's not rush to make a judgment. he said it is going to take a little while to process our opinion. and our position on this. he said there will be a fairly quick response. he said as well that that response may not come today. also the russian government hasn't yet decided, he said, whether they're going to make this response publicly. they may just make it directly to the united states without going public with their position. they have been very public up to now. and indeed the foreign minister has said today again that russia would respect the united states' wish that this written response would not be made public. however, sergey lavrov also said that the document that the united states returned to the russians had been shared with nato and shared with ukraine, and therefore in his view it would be very likely that the document would be leaked. senior state department officials last week thought that it potentially could be leaked by the russian side too. >> all right, nic robertson, thank you for your analysis as always. so russian and ukrainian negotiators agreed to keep working toward peace in eastern ukraine, working toward a permanent cease-fire. diplomats put a positive spin on four nation talks in paris wednesday. emphasizing the common goal of unconditional peace. sam kiley is live in kyiv for us tracking developments. negotiators report progress here and the parties will meet again in a couple of weeks. >> reporter: yes, it is potentially rather confusing for everybody, this in say sense is a side show to the main event. you got the russian pressure on ukraine, the potential for an invasion or expansion of the area that is being talked about in those peace talks that you referred to. that's called the donbas region in eastern ukraine, which has been seized effectively by russian-backed rebels. now, there was a cease-fire agreement signed in minsk that has been observed largely in its breach. people are dying on an almost weekly basis. and the effort being made in this multilateral talks known as the normandy process is to try to dial down the violence there, get a cease-fire in place, which might in a sense symbolically help the wider issue, which is the persistent and the view of the united states imminent threat of an invasion of the wider ukraine. in an effort by vladimir putin's russia to seize yet more territory in their neighbor. >> sam kiley, walking us through all the developments. thank you, sir. laura? happening right now, munich's archbishop is responding to that disturbing report of sex abuse within the catholic church. we have a live report on that next. and the man who wants to be florida's surgeon general can't answer a basic question about covid. that's just ahead. do your eyes bother you? my eyes feel like a combo of stressed, dry and sandpaper. strypaper? luckily, there's biotrue hydration boost eye drops. biotrue e uses naturally inspired ingredients. and no preservatives. try biotrue! for rob, it took years to find out why his constipation with belly pain just wouldn't go away. despite all he did to manage his symptoms... day after day. still came the belly pain, discomfort, and bloating, awful feelings he tried not showing. finally with the help of his doctor it came to be, that his symptoms were all signs of ibs-c. and that's why he said yess to adding linzess. linzess is not a laxative. it helps you have more frequent and complete bowel movements, and is proven to help relieve overall abdominal symptoms belly pain, discomfort, and bloating. do not give linzess to children less than two. it may harm them. do not take linzess if you have a bowel blockage. get immediate help if you develop unusual or severe stomach pain. especially with bloody or black stools. the most common side effect is diarrhea, sometimes severe. if it's severe, stop taking linzess and call your doctor right away. other side effects include gas, stomach area pain, and swelling. could your story also be about ibs-c? 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>> reporter: we haven't seen this kind of missile testing binge by kim jong-un, christine, since at least 2019. we haven't seen anything on this scale. this could be north korea's, if not their busiest, one of their busiest months ever for ballistic missile tests. six weapons tests, sometimes launching two missiles at once, talking about ballistic missiles from the ground, ballistic missiles from a train, cruise missiles launched two days ago, and earlier this month north korea launched hypersonic missiles, which have glide vehicles on the warheads allowing either nuclear or conventional warheads to make unexpected turns, making them almost impossible for u.s. missile defense systems to shoot down. we have been speaking with analysts asking why is north korea doing this, why now, just about a week before the open ing ceremonies of the beijing winter olympics? hosted by their neighbor and their patron economically and politically, china. and analysts are saying this very well could be a message from kim jong-un to the biden administration that they want to be taken seriously, that they want negotiations on their terms, to lift sanctions. in fact, the biden administration imposed some new sanctions on north korea after those purported hypersonic missile tests earlier this month. north korea said it will only cause their response to be even stronger. this is really raising questions, christine, about what could potentially happen during the winter olympics in north korea. >> yeah, absolutely. >> reporter: by north korea during the winter olympics. >> i get it. quick question about the biden administration, antony blinken, president biden, what is the next move on this? >> reporter: well, they were talking actually overnight, antony blinken and secretary of state -- sorry, the chinese foreign minister, they were talking about not only the issue of north korea, but also talking about ukraine, and talking about u.s. involvement here in taiwan from the chinese perspective, they want the region to have as little militarization as possible this applies to the korean peninsula and ukraine as well, where china said that russia security concerns are reasonable and need to be resolved as quickly as possible. on the issue of taiwan, they said, christine, as they said repeatedly, the u.s. is playing with fire if it tries to move too close to this self-rule democratic island. >> thank you so much, nice to see you, will. thank you. all right, ahead, an unvaccinated sarah palin returning to the restaurant that didn't check her vaccine card. which she obviously wouldn't have because she's not vaccinated. why she keeps dining out with covid. lay someone brainy on tv - i'm an actual neuroscientist. and i love the science behind neuriva plus. unlike ordinary memory supplements, neuriva plus fuels six key indicators of brain performance. more brain performance? 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>> reporter: well, remember, laura, democrats have the majority in the senate, so if they want to move quickly, they can. and it is just as you said, you know, senator susan collins remembered, of course, referred to when justice amy coney barrett was confirmed, that only took about a month from the moment then president donald trump announced her as the nominee and then she was confirmed by the republican majority in the senate. that is what democratic leadership, senate majority leader chuck schumer is looking for as a model for a time frame to replace justice breyer to -- excuse me -- to the bench. now, also remember that the democrats have the majority, but it is a 50/50 split, so every single democratic senator snnee to get behind whoever joe biden nominates to replace breyer and the vice president kamala harris will be the tie breaking vote. democratic leadership are urging president joe biden to nominate a black woman to the bench. but it is, as you said, some republicans, of course, are looking to possibly obstruct this nominee from being confirmed, but one key republican senator lindsey graham, who sits on the judiciary committee, he conceded in a statement yesterday that it is going to be incredibly difficult for republicans to get in the way of democrats trying to nominate and confirm a justice to the bench. this is what he said. he said, if all democrats hang together, which i expect they will, they have the power to replace justice breyer in 2022 without one republican vote in support. elections have consequences. and that is most evident when it comes to fulfilling vacancies on the supreme court. now, another question on people's minds is whether these other key swing votes in the democratic caucus, senator manchin or senator sinema are going to get in the way of this nomination. and we don't expect them to. they supported every other lower court nominee that the biden administration has appointed -- or nominated. and the bottom line here being democratic leadership is looking to do this quickly and they will likely be able to. laura? >> what this shows you is how key for democrats those two wins, those senate seats in georgia were. this is the -- the supreme court is where you see this really come into sharp focus. danielle, thank you. at his confirmation to become florida's surgeon general, dr. joseph ladapo refused to answer this simple question about covid vaccines. listen. >> just a yes or no, do vaccines work? >> as a scientist, you know, i am compelled to answer the scientific question. >> scientifically, do vaccines, do the vaccines work? >> yes or no questions are not that easy to find in science. the most commonly used vaccines in the united states, which would be the pfizer product and the product that was developed by moderna have been shown to have relatively high effectiveness for the prevention of hospitalization and death, and over time relatively low protection from infection. >> so, this went on for some time, this gymnastics. dr. ladapo's refusal to just say yes, unequivocal yes there, prompted florida senate democrats to walk out of that hearing. let's bring back cnn white house correspondent john harwood. john, how can something so simple be so complicated? is this florida politics today where you go out of your way not to alienate anti-vaxxers? >> it is not just florida politics, christine. it is a sad and tragic fact in our politics that ignorance, aggressive, dangerous ignorance, has become a central part of the republican party's response to this virus. dr. ladapo may be a fine physician. no doubt that he is. but he is a menace in this position because he, like governor desantis, is unwilling to stand up and communicate to the public the fact that these vaccines work. you saw that he sort of eventually got around to it, relatively high degree of effectiveness against hospitalization and death. well, guess what, that means they work. but he won't say that for political reasons. and, you know, the republican political apparatus, the conservative media communications apparatus for votes and for money is spreading dangerous messages to people. they're killing their own people, and it is a tragedy. but that's where we are as a country. >> so that leads perfectly to our next topic here, john. sarah palin, spotted out last night at the same new york restaurant that did not check her vaccination card over the weekend. this time she was dining outside. i guess that's a good thing, but as we know, she is unvaccinated, proudly so, and at least as of monday a federal judge told us that she had covid. we don't know exactly when she tested positive, we don't know when she knew she had covid. as of monday she had covid. which means when she was dining out last night, she was supposed to be isolating. what is the point she's trying to make? >> look, sarah palin was the leading edge of aggressive ignorance in the republican party when john mccain put her on the republican ticket in 2008. that's her brand. and she is fulfilling that, continuing to act in that way. and she doesn't care, you know, she's part of a big segment of the republican party that is deliberately downplaying the virus, that pretends it is not a significant thing. again, endangering people who admire her. and endangering herself. but that is how they roll at this point in the country's history. and she is heedless of the restrictions. and is going to proceed that way. and we see that in much of the country. in much of red america, you got people who are simply ignoring health guidelines, ignoring the urge to get vaccinated. it is endangering the entire country. that vaccine resistance is significantly responsible for the persistence of the pandemic in this severity that it is persisting. >> also, what is the restaurant doing? they know she has covid, it has been widely reported. they have staff to protect, they have other patrons to protect. i get she's outside. i get that makes it better. but this just seems unacceptable for the people who have to serve her. >> yeah. let's talk about this next one, neil young, the music legend, demanded his music be removed in spotify after he said, the music giant had to choose between him and joe rogan since spotify hosts that podcast, the joe rogan podcast. he's been spreading all these lies and misinformation about covid vaccines. you think other artists will follow suit here? >> i wouldn't be surprised if they do. you know, neil young is at a point in his career where he doesn't -- probably doesn't need revenue from spotify. it sort of depends where others are. but this is another manifestation of the same phenomenon. joe rogan is communicating misinformation and ignorance, endangering the people listening to him for reasons including making money and also, you know, it is possible that he is deluded enough that he believes some of this stuff, like aaron rodgers, the quarterback, spouting nonsense about vaccines, you know. we're seeing this all over the landscape. you see it on fox news. you see it from joe rogan, hear it from robert f. kennedy jr. there are a lot of dangerous people out there who are not accepting the fact that these vaccines protect people from dying from covid. but the structure of information in our country is rewarding people on one side of the spectrum for saying things that are dangerous. and that's -- it is sad. >> you call it dangerous, aggressive ignorance as part of the sort of republican platform now. there is also a mania that is weaving its way through there, you see characters getting talked about, right, for being so outrageous and there is something that is fuelling that too that i think someone will write a paper about some day in grad school. right now we have to live through it. john harwood, thank you so much. nice to see you. >> you bet. british prime minister boris johnson trying desperately to hold on to his job as police investigate several downing street parties during covid lockdowns. according to the latest polls, nearly two-thirds of the british people want johnson to resign. salma abdelaziz has been following every twist and turn of this for us in london. we have been saying that it is do or die here for the prime minister. what is the latest? >> the prime minister appearing to buy himself more time. i know i promised you yesterday that investigative report, the sue gray report, which is supposed to outline, provide a detailed blow by blow of what occurred on each of these parties. and most importantly how much did prime minister boris johnson know. we were expecting that gray report yesterday. downing street this morning saying they still have yet to receive it. but that report itself is now becoming part of the controversy, because, yes, although it is an impartial report, gray's boss is johnson. so he gets to decide when the report will be released. and most critically how much of the report to release. now, prime minister boris johnson evaded that question in parliament, when he was asked if he would release it in full because there are indications, worries from opposition lawmakers that the prime minister would withhold parts of the report, only release the summary potentially. and this is important, because this is the evidence his party needs to make that decision. does he stay or does he go? christine? >> salma, thank you. i know you'll be following it for us. thank you. coming up, "jeopardy" champ amy schneider's winning streak comes to an end. the question that stumped her next. possible at 40,000 feet. instead of burning our past for power, we can harness the energy of the tiny electron. we can create new ways to connect. rethinking how we communicate to be more inclusive than ever. with app, cloud and anywhere workspace solutions, vmware helps companies navigate change. faster. vmware. welcome change. 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is it boston? new york? philly? significant variability based on the track of the storm system. the models have wanted to shift this a little farther to the east. if that's the case, of course, it could reduce the amount of moisture and reduce the amount of snowfall across the region. there are other areas where the models want to put this in the ideal zone. look at the breakdown here. american model, almost nothing for new york city. european model, as much as 6, 8 inches of snowfall with boston getting in on the action. what we do know, plenty of wind in the forecast as well, so we're going to be watching this carefully as the forecast continues to get fine tuned. guys? >> thank you so much. to global stock markets, this thursday morning, asian shares closed down, big drop in tokyo, almost 2% in hong kong. europe has opened nearly mixed here. on wall street, stock index futures are pointing lower here. stocks fell wednesday after the fed suggested it may hike interest rates faster than investors expect. the fed chief jerome powell said there was quite a bit of room to raise rates before it hurts the economy. the s&p 500 lost just a fraction, the nasdaq flat. higher interest rates eat into corporate profits and the fed says hikes are coming soon, likely in march. a new era of higher rates will help the fed combat persistent inflation. that inflation coming to some of america's favorite comfort foods. kraft heinz raising prices for oscar mayer hot dogs and velveeta cheese and maxwell house coffee, kool-aid and capri sun drinks. expect 5% more for hot dogs and cold cuts. up to 20% more on the drink packs. breaking this morning, world number one tennis player ash bharti punching her ticket to her first ever australian open. andy scholz es has the sports report. >> a special moment for ash barty. australia is her home, a dream of hers to win the aussie open, a win away from making it happen. cruising to a straights win over madison keys this morning in the semifinals. the first australian woman now to make it to the aussie final in 42 years. the 25-year-old, the reigning wimbledon champ and won the french open in 2019. winning the aussie open would be extra special for her. barty awaits the winner between danielle collins and swiantek. collins, an amazing comeback for her this year after collapsing on the court last year. and undergoing surgery to remove a tennis ball-sized cyst from her ovary. that match is going on this morning. chiefs fans are still basking in the glow of their roller coaster overtime playoff win over the bills on sunday. and they're turning their victory into a positive for buffalo as well. fans in kansas city raised more than $255,000 to buffalo's children's hospital. most of the donations are in $13 increments, marking the 13 seconds it took the chiefs to tie the game at the end of regulation. the donations are being made through bills quarterback josh allen's charity, named after his late grandmother. there is a wing at the hospital there named after her. pretty cool that the chiefs fans are doing that. bills fans have done that in the past, when something positive happened to them, they made donations to the other team's charities that are important to other team members. so cool way to do it. >> nice to see. andy, thank you. all right, after 40 days and 40 nights, it is game over for "jeopardy" champion amy schneider. >> you looked at this for a long time. no response. you're going to lose $8,000. you're going to finish in second place with $19,600. amy schneider, congratulations, what a run. thank you for the two months you spent with us. it was very special. it was remarkable. >> her impressive run ended wednesday, but she isn't walking away empty handed. lau lau laura, she won just under $1.4 million, that's incredible. she will be back for "jeopardy" for the tournament of champions this fall. >> she said the best part of this year was meeting her girlfriend and that "jeopardy" was the second best thing that happened to her. >> that's cool. all right, late night took a few jabs at long time liberal supreme court justice stephen breyer's announcement that he's stepping down. >> if you haven't heard justice stephen breyer, who is 83 years old, is reportedly planning to retire at the end of this session. he says he's retiring. i think we know what was really going on. he's pregnant. he's having an old baby. >> clear breyer's been thinking about this. during the last case, the only question he asked was when's nap time. >> you heard that right, he's retiring from the court. but there is rumer he's going to be the next quarterback for the tampa bay buccaneers. he can still do it. they're a very forgiving organization. >> he loves his job and he's fulfilled by his job. so retirement here really telling about the atmosphere, right? >> interesting to see what he actually says at the white house today. >> thanks for joining us. i'm christine romans. >> i'm laura jarrett. 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