it s 4:00 in the east. a stunning comprehensive brand new piece of reporting that really amounts to a first drafrt of history for merrick garland s justice department a piece of reporting that answers questions we ve been asking for years now questions that have dogged doj for many many months why did it take so long for d.o.j. to investigate? the first formal step into probing the campaign to overturn the 2020 election. the criminal inquiry now into the fate of electors did not take place until april 2022 more than a area after the insurrection and well after the january 6th select committee had begun to uncover a complex multipronged plot and democracy with donald trump in the driver s seat. the washington post is reporting in the immediate aftermath of the january 6th insurrection, acting u.s. attorney michael sherwin, senior justice department officials and paul abbate quashed a plan in the u.s. attorney s office to directly investigate trump associates for any links to
today on inside politics a cold campaign reality. blizzard conditions in iowa mean chaos for republican candidates trying to reach every voter they can. the crucial question, how much will the dangerous weather impact turnout on caucus night? plus, firing back. president biden ordered airstrikes against iran-backed rebels who have been firing at commercial ships, fuelling fears that the middle east could be on the edge of an all-out war. and, i don t hate her. that s the faint praise some iowa republicans are giving nikki haley. we will hear what some voters are really thinking in a brand-new focus group. i m dana bash. let s go behind the headlines and inside politics. we start in iowa, which is under a blizzard warning today. it is freezing there. now, i m sure you re thinking, duh, it is january. obviously it is cold in iowa, but this is different. it is brutally cold. historically cold. so cold that iowans are being told not to even take a step outside, and it
julie: thousands and thousands of migrants are currently trekking through mexico headed for the southern border right now as we speak. it is the largest caravan in over a year and it comes as law enforcement at the border is struggling to process a record number of crossers. i m julie banderas in for harris today and you are watching a special edition of the faulkner focus. this migrant march north comes ahead of secretary of state antony blinken s trip south tomorrow. he will sit down with the mexican president and identify ways both countries will address border security challenges. but the new york post editorial board is not so hopeful calling out the president s lack of action writing this, i quote. biden can stop migrant caravan heading to the border if he cared. the administration s inaction can be seen in the historic numbers at the border. more than 241,000 migrant encounters so far this month alone. approximately 79,000 known gotaways. republican congresswoman
today on inside politics, donald trump hanging onto commanding leads, his rivals are running out of time to catch up but one of them is starting to see a narrow path to a major upset. let s make a deal, senators are racing to get new border security measures. president biden facing pressure on one of the toughest problems to solve. democrats have never been this nervous about biden s chances, we will ask the pollster who elected bill clinton. i am jim acosta, let s go behind the headlines and inside politics. four weeks from today, the first republican voters will make their voices heard, the iowa caucus is 28 days away, most of the major candidates were crisscrossing those states this weekend and are back at it today. the ones not named donald trump hoping to survive surprise finish, we have a lot of new polls this weekend, that will tell us what the challenges are for some of these gop rivals. they have been pouring all the numbers, what are you seeing right now? let s st