friends. it is wednesday, december 27th, i m willie geist. joe and mika have the morning off. a lot to get to including israeli forces shifting military efforts to southern and central gaza with officials warning the war could take many more months. and hours from now, antony blinken and alejandro mayor kas are set to meet with mexican president obrador. plus donald trump continues to claim he should be immune from any prosecution surrounding his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. we ll have the latest there. also ahead, bus drivers across the country increasingly under attack on the job. we ll dig into an alarming trend and what officials are doing about it. with us this morning, jonathan lemire, susan paige, and retired four star navy admiral james stavridis. good morning to you all. let s begin together with israel expanding the ground invasion in gaza. this as the united states continues to urge israel to protect civilian lives and shift to a more low intensity oper
hazardous conditions as members of both parties call for more safety regulations. shaw admitted that the company s current systems are lacking. it is clear the safety mechanisms in place were not enough. the events of the last month are not who we are as a company. so shaw s company is now responsible for not one but two high-profile train derailments in ohio in just a matter of weeks. according to one senator on the committee, 20 derailments involving a chemical spill over the past eight years. this week, the ntsb launched an investigation into norfolk southern s safety practices. cnn s sunlen is on the scene. you re here in washington. i mean, these senators in this hearing today, they did not go easy on shaw. reporter: they certainly did not, kristin. you could sense their frustration as they were asking some very sharp questions of the ceo, andy shaw, of norfolk southern, and they went right after him about the accountability, trying to hold his feet to the fire at
one pilot s quick decision that may have averted a disaster. just the latest incident in recent weeks, including a near collision in new york. the state of emergency extended in eastern ohio 48 hours after a train derailment and fire. schools closed, thousands told to evacuate or stay indoors. the warning now about dangerous chemicals. an arrest in a horrifying synagogue attack in san francisco. the suspect accused of firing a handgun loaded with blanks. the attack coming just days after a man allegedly threw a molotov cocktail at a new jersey temple, leaving jewish communities on edge. we re tracking a new cross country storm dropping a foot of snow in the west with severe winds and flooding rain heading east this week. rob marciano times it out. our emotional interview with a widow of an american medic killed in ukraine. why she says he dedicated his life to helping others and a russian defector speaks for the first time about the atrocities he witnessed by his own
test. test. test. test. . . . hello and a warm welcome to viewers joining us from the united states and all around the world. i m paula newton here on cnn newsroom days after shooting down a suspected chinese spy balloon. u.s. officials currently a second object has been shutdown in alaska grief and devastation in turkey and syria as hopes of finding survivors fade following monday s powerful earthquake, brazilian president sits down for an exclusive interview. live from cnn center, this is cnn newsroom, with paula. for second time less than a week, u.s. fighter jets have taken down an object flying over american air space, i want you to take a look at this, officials say the latest one was shot down friday over frozen water near alaska s northern coast. and that apparently was on the order of president joe biden, smaller and not as well equipped as the chinese surveillance balloon, this object was at an altitude of 40,000 feet. not posed apparently a risk to civil
not simply a democracy at. we re but something that could actually destroy american democracy, another hour of velshi begins right now. hi begins right now. good morning, it is sunday january the 8th. i am ellen kevin mccarthy s new election as the speaker of the house, it was a historic one if not exactly for the best reasons. the first time for a speakership was divot sided on a multiple, ballots are where occurrence in the scope of all american history. mccarthy s bid this year was only the 15th time that has happened, it was 15 ballots but it was only the 15th time that it is happened. there were only four other instances when the volker shut went on for longer, all of which were in the 1800s, which was an era in which political parties were influx and factions were ideologically split over the issue of slavery. take the 16th congress as an example. henry clay was initially elected as the speaker at the start of the term and 1819 but, he opted to step down in the midd