Vice president harris doorstep right here in washington. And a cnn exclusive. The former white house Chief Of Staff mark meadows has complied with a subpoena in the u. S. Justice departments January 6th Investigation, potentially escalating the legal danger for former president trump. Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. Im wolf blitzer. Youre in tthe situation room. President biden is touting the agreement that prevented a crippling National Railroad strike, even though its not a done deal yet. Tonight were learning more about his role in the talks. Lets go to cnns White House Correspondent mj lee. I am very pleased to announce a tentative labor has been reached between the Railway Workers and the railway companies. Reporter tonight a Major National economic crisis averted. This agreement is a big win for america. Reporter representatives for freight Rail Companies and unions for thousands of rail workers reaching an 11th hour deal, warding off a Worker Strike that was expected to begin at the stroke of midnight on friday. This is a win for tens of thousands of rail worker, and for their dignity, and the dignity of their work. Reporter key negotiators descending on washington, d. C. On wednesday for talks hosted by Labor Secretary marty walsh. The final breakthrough announced after a marathon 20 hours of highstakes negotiations that extended late into the night. Compromise reached on a number of major issues. Like Working Conditions for engineers and conductor, Wage Increases, staffing shortages, and scheduling rules. Because of the labor agreement, those rail workers will get better pay. 24 Wage Increase over the next five years. Improved Working Conditions, peace of mind around their health care by capping the costs that workers will have to pay. Reporter the tentative deal marking a major victory for the biden white house. President biden himself had increasingly inserted himself into the talks in recent days, calling the negotiators directly to try to get them out of the impasse. After spending the day at the Detroit Auto Show on wednesday you all know im a car guy. Biden calling into the still ongoing meeting at the Labor Department after returning to the white house in the evening. We knew that if this became a strike, that it would severely cripple the supply chain and the economy. The possibility of a rail strike had already canceled some Long Distance trains and alarmed administration officials. A strike could have created crippling Supply Chain Disruptions and wreaked havoc on an already fragile economy as the white house continues to grapple with stubbornly high inflation. Thinking agreement allows us to continue to rebuild a better america with an economy that truly works for working people and their families. There is just no overstating how important it was for this white house to avert this rail strike. A huge sigh of relief here at the white house for dodging what could have been a really tough situation both politically and economically. Of course, this is a white house that is still dealing with issues like inflation that remains stubbornly high, and just generally a pretty fragile economy. So the last thing that this white house wanted were more obstacles that could have gotten in the way of the economic recovery. Wolf . Youre absolutely right. Mj lee at the white house, thank you very much. I want to go to Cnn Transportation Correspondent pete monteen. Amtrak was bracing for possibility of a strike. Whats the impact on Train Commuters tonight . Wolf, amtrak says it will fully return to normal Train Service tomorrow, even though some trains were still canceled tonight. Remember, this was going to be the first impacts if a rail Worker Strike did ultimately happen. Amtrak had planned to cancel all of its Long Distance routes, every corner of the country, as well as State Sponsored Trends on ten different lines. The issue was twofold. First, that many of the Long Distance routes take days to complete and would have overlapped with the start of a strike. Also, that 97 of amtrak routes rely on freight rails, which would have been impacted the most if rail workers walked off of the job. The same with Commuter Rail systems across the country. Were hearing from chicagos metra. It says trains that were canceled tonight will run as scheduled. Passengers dodged a huge bullet here, wolf, with this deal that has now been struck. A huge bullet indeed. Pete muntean over at union station, thanks very much. Lets discuss what has happened and what is going on with a key figure in the negotiations, the Labor Secretary of the United States, marty walsh. Mr. Secretary, thank you so much for joining us. As you fully understand, the white house clearly celebrating right now. But this is still a tentative deal to avoid what you said would have been a catastrophic disruption. How soon do you expect this agreement will pass . And is there any chance you believe mr. Secretary this deal, god forbid, could still fall apart. Well, first of all, thank you for having me tonight, wolf. There is 12 unions that were talking about on the rail system, and theyve all reached an agreement actually, 11 have reached an agreement. There is still one theyre working a little bit on to get that into the hands of the membership. What happens now is it will be floating over the next six weeks to two months different radification dates. The two we negotiated last night and came to a deal they will get that information out to their members over the course i think its within the next six weeks. They will have town hall meetings. They will have caucuses. They will talk to their members. Theyll explain whats in the document, whats in the contract. And then there will be a democratic ballot that will go out to the members and the members will vote yes or no. In my years of doing Labor Negotiations and being around the Labor Movement and seeing contracts, both as a union leader and also as mayor of the city of boston, this is a good contract. There is a lot in here. There is a lot that the union can be very proud of what they negotiated. And quite honestly, there is a lot in here for companies too about recruiting and retaining people. So i view this as a winwin situation with the contract. I feel good. Obviously, the work has to be done now to get ratified. But i feel the chances are very positive of ratifying these contracts. I know, mr. Secretary, you were involved in some 20 hours of negotiations. Only yesterday, one official told cnn your role, im quoting now, was part mediator, part motivator, part guy who blocks the door if they try to leave without a deal, close quote. Can you take us inside that meeting . What were your main sticking points . Yeah, it really was about keeping both sides in a conversation. This negotiation was going on for well over two years. The president had to appoint a president ial Emergency Board to come up with a framework that we worked off of yesterday. It really was about really three or four major issues. And what i suggested was we take one at a time. And we get that one we put it aside and move forward. And thats what we did. And the unions and the companies worked very hard together. There were two separate rooms they were caucusing in and going through the different information. But at the very end, at 2 30 in the morning, both sides came in to me. Both were dug in on a particular issue. Both sides agreed to kind of take their foot off the gas a little bit on that issue. The union was able to secure some needed days that they wanted time off for their workers. The company was able to get some language. And quite honestly, thats how a negotiation goes. And around 5 30 5 00 this morning, we had initials after the unions brought it back to their boards to get their committees for the contracts. They initialed it. And now we take the next step. As you know, President Biden describes himself as the selfproclaimed most pro Union President in american history. And this is indeed a big moment, very big moment for unions in the United States. But can the u. S. Economy, mr. Secretary, afford the threat of more strikes with inflation still skyhigh right now and the risk of a recession clearly looming out there . Well, to be quite honest with you, as a labor person, i think when we get to a strike, there has been a breakdown at the table either on one side or both sides. And id prefer to see these contracts negotiated at the table and not lead to a strike. And i think a strike doesnt help a lot of people. It might give you a little leverage for a little bit of time. But i know there is a big strike going on with nurses in this country right now that are being treated unfairly. There has been threats of strikes. And a lot of strikes have been prevented, quite honestly. But i think strikes do impact our economy, but also strikes are the last resort of a union to take when a negotiation breaks down. My advice to people is to stay at the table and talk. In this particular case with the rails and the unions, they were talking, but they were at the table, but they werent in my opinion, they werent as focused for a long period of time on getting this thing done. And yesterday, i said to them on tuesday night if they dont get an agreement, i expect them in my Office Wednesday morning, and were not leaving until we get a contract. And that was my intention. If i didnt have a contract by 5 00 in the morning, we would have stayed. If i didnt have a contract by now, i would still be there. But the unions and the companies were able to come to about a agreement, which is great. And certainly the president is very relieved because this this negotiation goes way beyond the workers and the companies. This goes to the american economy. Yep. This prevents growing inflation. This prevents layoffs. This prevents disruption in supply chain. This would have this strike would have caused so much havoc and chaos in our american economy. And right now we dont need that. What were doing right now the white house, as an administration, were battling to bring Inflation Costs down, bringing gas prices down. In the present past major legislation to build up the infrastructure and move our economy forward. And were still hanging on to people. Im grateful. It would have been catastrophic, no doubt about that. Labor secretary marty walsh, thank you so much for joining us. Just ahead, the white house is Familying Southern republican governors for bussing and flying migrants to the northeast, calling it, and im quoting now, a premeditated political stunt. Stay with us. And now were providing 88 Billion Dollars to support underserved commmmunities. Helping us all move forward financialllly. Pnc bank see how we can mamake a difference for you. Choosing a treatment for your chronic migraine 15 or more headache days a month, each lasting 4 hours or more can be overwhelming. So, ask your doctor about botox®. Botox® prevents headaches in adults with chronic migraine before they even start. Its the 1 prescribed branded chronic migraine treatment. So far, more than 5 million botox® treatments have been given to over Eight Hundred And Fifty Thousand chronic migraine patients. Effects of botox® may spread hours to weeks after injection causing serious symptoms. 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Learn all the ways to save with amazon. My name is austin james. As a musician living with diabetes, fingersticks can be a real challenge. Thats why i use the freestyle libre 2 system. With a painless, onesecond scan i know my Glucose Numbers without fingersticks. Now im managing my diabetes better and ive lowered my a1c from 8. 2 to 6. 7. Take the mystery out of managing your diabetes and lower your a1c. Now you know. Try it for free at freestylelibre. Us this. Is a glimpse into the notoodistant future of lincoln. Its what sanctuary could look like. Feel like. Sound like. Even smell like. More on that soon. The best part . The prequel is pretty sweet too. U. S. Attorney for massachusetts says she wants to talk to the u. S. Justice department about Florida Governor ron desantis sending migrants to Marthas Vineyard. Cnns Priscilla Alvarez reports desantis spent taxpayers dollars to send dozens of migrants and their families, including children, to the island in massachusetts on private jets in what critics call a political stunt. Reporter tonight, dozens of migrants are set to spend the night on Marthas Vineyard, sent there by floridas Governor Ron Desantis as part of his promise to send migrants to democratic cities. Our message to them is we are not a sanctuary state, and its better to be able to go to a sanctuary jurisdiction. And yes, we will help facilitate that transport for you to be able to go to greener pastures. Reporter on wednesday, the republican governor sent 50 migrants, all from venezuela, on two privately chartered airplanes to Marthas Vineyard, a small island off the coast of massachusetts. Every community in america should be sharing in the birds. Reporter but municipal officials and Lawmakers Said they received no advanced notice of the migrants arrival and scrambled to respond. They were taken totally offguard. A private chartered plane, evidently there were two, not cheap. Reporter the flights are an affront to Biden Administration over its handling of the u. S. mexico border. Over the last few week, Texas Governor greg abbott and Arizona Governor ducey have sent thousands of migrants out of state, an effort thats cost them millions of dollars. Just this morning, 100 more migrants arrived by bus from texas and were dropped off in front of Vice PresidentKamala Harris home at the naval observatory. In a tweet, abbott criticized harris claim that the border is secure. Democrats, though, were calling the actions a political stunt. Two republican governors, one using Taxpayer Money for chartered jets and reportedly his own Video Photography to capture this for his own political benefit, taking advantage of women and children, men who didnt know where they were going. Reporter Immigrant Advocates in florida are also condemning desantis actions. This shameless action hoisted upon our defenseless people fleeing persecution and violence is a mere political ploy in his quest for power and wont go unnoticed. Reporter and the people at the center of this all are seeking asylum in the United States, sharing stories about the treacherous journey to the border. Translator only the bus left us here, and now. They didnt tell us where we were, but they left us here. Its very difficult to bring a child here. Its eight days of child through the darien jungle, something extremely difficult. Translator there were three options, washington, utah, here, massachusetts. Whatever was available, the plane left and brought us here. While desantis sees the flights as a solution weve worked on innovative ways to be able to protect the state of florida from the impact of bidens border policies. Reporter others do not. The fact that fox news and not the department of Homeland Security, the city, or local ngos were alerted about a plan to leave migrants, including children on the side of a busy d. C. Street makes clear that this is just a cruel premeditated political stunt. Reporter now wolf, weve also learned that the flights that arrived in Marthas Vineyard originated in texas, and its unclear whether anyone boarded in florida