the united states explode. members of the january 6th selection committee reveal actions. just days before the u.s. marks a full year since the insurrection. we want to welcome our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i m wolf blitzer, you re in the situation room. we begin our coverage this evening with the latest on the omicron surge now seriously disrupting everyday life across the united states. cnn s alexandra field is joining us from new york right now. alexandra, americans are trying to keep some sense of normalcy, but the virus is causing all sorts of problems for schools and businesses. reporter: really we re facing cascading problems that should continue for weeks to come, wolf. that includes for travel. nearly 18,000 flights canceled since christmas eve. part of that is weather, a lot of it is covid, none of it will help up soon. as the governor of new york put it bluntly, we are not in a good place. if you look at the up tick, it s almos
top of a brand new hour. it is good to be with you. i m victor blackwell. and i m alisyn camerota. the u.s. begins 2022 with a winter blizzard and a viral blizzard. more than 20 million americans are under weather alerts from the southeast to new england. this is the region s first major snowstorm of the season. in the meantime, the omicron variant has driven the average new infections to a record breaking 404,000 a day. hospitalizations are rising at a slower rate, but we are now learning that there are 100,000 people in the u.s. in hospitals with covid. this double hit has led to major disruptions, schools and businesses and travel. one major airport has ordered a ground stop because of the severe weather, and that is on top of the 17,000 plus flights that have been cancelled since christmas eve from staff sickouts because of covid. we begin the hour with cnn aviation correspondent pete muntean at reagan national. first, talk about this ground stop, and when potentially
a year ago this week? new insight this hour into what the january 6th committee is learning. and looks and sounds like a page from the old testament. we re going to find out why fish were literally falling from the s sky. welcome to the lead. i m jake tapper. we start in the health lead. major new announcements from the food and drug administration today about pfizer s covid vaccine. the fda today recommending the pfizer booster for teens ages 12 to 15. shortening, for everyone, the recommended time between your second pfizer shot and the booster and okaying a third dose for some immunocompromised children between 5 and 11. more than 115 million americans have been fully vaccinated with the pfizer vaccine and now the cdc is going to meet this week to decide whether to sign off on the fda recommendations as parents are stressing about sending their kids back to school given the recent spike in pediatric hospitalizations due to covid. though we should note almost all of t
forced. the new executive memo issued by president biden i had no legal effect. speaking of the president will be ringing in the new year at home in wilmington, delaware, as americans spend countless hours and long lines testing for covid. the administration scrambles to distribute home testing kits around the country for the demand. the cdc director michelle is taking heat tonight for suggesting the agency new quarantine isolation guideline for asymptomatic cases more closely follows behavioral science. it really had a lot to do with we thought people would be able to tolerate. leading to more confusion help officials in michigan announcing the state will not follow the updated cdc guidance opting to keep current recommendations while they wait for more information from the cdc. we began tonight with ghislaine maxwell sex trafficking trial period and found guilty on five oh six federal charges against her including recruiting teenage girls to be sexually assaulted by jef
welcome to the lead. i m jim sciutto in for jake tapper. we begin with breaking news, former minnesota police officer kim potter found guilty of manslaughter after roughly 27 hours of jury deliberations. potter shot and killed 20-year-old daunte wright during a traffic stop last april. she mistook her firearm for a taser. it was all caught on body cam video. taser taser taser! i shot him! oh, my god! oh, my god! so chilling to see those images. potter s sentencing is scheduled for february. since she has no criminal history the state of minnesota s guidelines recommend a sentence between six to eight and a half years in prison and/or a $30,000 fine. she is unlikely to face a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. cnn s omar jimenez is following the case since earlier this year and joins us live from minneapolis. omar, i wonder how did kim potter respond to hearing this verdict? reporter: well, jim, kim potter, when this verdict was read, was very calm, did not show mu