DC Plane Crash: New Details, New Footage
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It's Friday, January 31st, right now on CNN This Morning. We do not know enough facts to be able to rule in or out human factor, mechanical factors. New details and new footage, the latest on the investigation into the worst U.S. air disaster in decades. Plus, new video exclusive to CNN showing the moment of the collision.

And a dangerous recovery, first responders battling icy waters and mangled wreckage as they recover the victims from the collision. And... They put a big push to put diversity into the FAA's program. Pointing fingers, President Trump lashing out at DEI just hours after the deadly collision. And... Can you say the words, "Joe Biden won the 2020 election"? Joe Biden was the president of the United States.

A combative confirmation, Vermont Senator Peter Welch joins us live as the president's cabinet nominees face a barrage of questions on Capitol Hill. 6:00 a.m. here on the East Coast, this is a live look at Ronald Reagan National Airport on the waters of the Potomac. We are expecting the recovery efforts there to resume

Good morning, everyone. I'm Casey Hunt. It is wonderful to have you with us as we continue this morning to cover the latest on the investigation into the deadliest air disaster here in the U.S. in decades. CNN obtaining two new exclusive videos overnight. These are both cell phone videos showing surveillance camera replays of just how the collision unfolded.

So let's look at the first video. You can see the Black Hawk helicopter is going to enter on the left-hand side of your screen, and it moves towards Flight 5342, which is on the right. A bright explosion erupts, and the plane and the helicopter both spin out of control, crashing into the river below. You see the splash.

The second video appears to be a surveillance video from the airport itself. It shows the helicopter moving along the river with the plane on a final approach to the runway. And you can even see the light from the helicopter and the plane shining down onto the water. Then the collision and the explosion sending both aircraft careening into the Potomac River.

There were 67 people in total on those two aircrafts and all of them perished. Recovery operations are expected to resume this morning. Sources tell CNN that about 14 people remain unaccounted for in the river as they suspended operations late last night. The mud becomes an intense problem. The severe lack of visibility means that they are going through an aircraft in Braille. And when we're going through an aircraft fuselage, it is torn apart.

NTSB investigators have recovered both the voice and data recorders from flight 5342, and they hope to have a preliminary report ready within the next 30 days.

As part of any investigation, we look at the human, the machine, and the environment. So we will look at all the humans that were involved in this accident. Again, we will look at the aircraft, we will look at the helicopter, we will look at the environment in which they were operating in. That is standard in any part of our investigation.

Of course, as the investigation unfolds, those who are impacted by this tragedy are just beginning to process this immense loss. We've been through tragedies before as Americans, as people, and we are strong. And I guess it's how we respond to it. When you find out, you know, you know some of the people on the plane, it's even a bigger blow.

That was, you may recognize her, the figure skater, Olympian Nancy Kerrigan, because the U.S. figure skating community learned that 14 of the victims on board that plane that collided with the Army helicopter, they were coaches, young skaters, and their family members coming back from a skating event in Wichita. And of course, it's an unimaginable loss for all of the friends and family members who've been left behind. Those 67 people lost to this disaster.

What did we also see yesterday, though, is that just a little over a week into his second term in office, President Trump was confronted with this national tragedy. It's a moment when our presidents often unite the nation and console those who are suffering. Here's what we heard from our president yesterday. I put safety first. Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first.

And they put politics at a level that nobody's ever seen because this was the lowest level. They put a big push to put diversity into the FAA's program. Mr. President, you have today blamed the diversity element but then told us

that you weren't sure that the controllers made any mistakes. You then said perhaps the helicopter pilots were the ones who made the mistakes. It's all under investigation. I understand that. That's why I'm trying to figure out how you can come to the conclusion right now that diversity had something to do with this crash. Because I have common sense, okay? And unfortunately, a lot of people don't.

After he made those remarks in the briefing room, President Trump was asked to clarify his comments. And he was asked if he was planning on visiting the site of the disaster. Do you have a plan to go visit the site or meet with any of the first responders? I have a plan to visit, not the site, because what did you tell me? What's the site? The water? Or to meet with the first responders down there? I don't have a plan to do that. Do you want me to go swimming, he asks.

Upon hearing about President Trump's comments yesterday, I want to share with you what our CNN aviation correspondent, Pete Muntean, had to say about it. And here's why. Pete is a pilot himself. He is someone who loves flying despite knowing just how dangerous it can be. Both of his parents were pilots, and he actually lost his mother in a plane crash. Here's what he said on our air yesterday.

It is so, so soon, way too soon to make any sort of indictment or insinuation that air traffic control was to blame here, that hiring policies were to blame here, that the pilots of the Black Hawk were to blame here. This is something that investigators will have to go through not only on the scene, and they are there now doing the Lord's work. This is only the precipice. And so for the families that are going through hell right now, and I know this because I've lost my mother to a plane crash.

This made it even more hellish. What was that? I just cannot, I'm sorry to get angry, but what is the point of making some sort of speculative, wide-ranging, rudderless claim about anything about hiring at the FAA?

All right, our panel is here to discuss. Michael Warren, senior editor at The Dispatch, Kendra Barkoff, former press secretary to Joe Biden, and Brad Todd, CNN political commentator and a Republican strategist. Welcome to all of you. Brad Todd, I want to start with you on the president because this is something we have seen from Trump. The word blame kept coming to my mind as I watched that press conference yesterday because much of why Trump has been so successful as a politician is because of...

the politics of blame. He blames people. He blames other people. He blames that's just what he does in situations like this. He levels blame. Pete, I think, said it incredibly well. What is your perspective on how the president handled the moment yesterday and whether that was the right thing for our country? Well, Donald Trump's good at a lot of things. One thing he's bad at is being a mourner.

Yesterday was the day when the president needed to be a mourner and needed to lead the country in mourning, and he's really bad at that. I think before he went out, he should have gone and watched President Reagan's speech after the Challenger disaster where Peggy Noonan had written for him a poem, which Reagan knew, about them slipping the surly bonds of Earth. The poem's called High Flight. It was a moment for poetry yesterday. There's going to be plenty of time to argue about the FAA's policies and DEI and other mistakes it's made, but yesterday was definitely not that time for

He's just more comfortable in combat and confrontation. I think he takes situations where mourning is in need and tries to shift it out of mourning into a battle that he's more comfortable with. It was the wrong key yesterday. Kendra? I mean, that's...

That's exactly it. I mean, the lack of compassion, the lack of empathy with him. He had a real opportunity to go out there and to talk about these families who have lost loved ones. And the ability to not have any sort of compassion, to not even say that he was going to go and meet with the families who have lost their loved ones. It is sort of uncomprehensible that this is where we are and this is our president and

- Is it incomprehensible though? I mean, didn't we know going into this that this was what this was gonna be like if President Trump was back in the White House? - Yes, but also this happened across the river from where he lives currently in the White House. And it's just, it is unbelievable that you can be so tone deaf and not realize, okay, the first thing I should say is something about these lost souls.

I think it's worth noting he did at the top of the press conference say that this was a national tragedy and that, you know, he did try to express some semblance of that. But it was also very clear that he had prepared all of this other material and all of the ways in which he was going to blame various things. Michael Warren, it does seem to me and I.

You already invoked the great Peggy Noonan, who we often read from on this show. And she I think she wrote this column actually possibly before the crash actually happened. It was published afterward, but it's really focused a little bit on what happened earlier in the week with the funding freeze and some of the other things we've seen from the Trump administration. But she wrote this for all the talk of the new professionalism in the Trump administration.

operation. They have to get used to the chaos again and ride it. She's talking about Republicans in Washington, tempting the gods of order and steadiness. After one week, they concluded the first administration wasn't a nervous breakdown and the second is a recovery. Again, they're on a ship with a captain in an extended manic phase who never settles into a soothing depression.

yeah i mean it's a great writer and there's 39 years ago this week that the challenger disaster happened and that speech really you know uh you saw a president rise to the occasion in that i don't know i agree with you casey i don't know why we're surprised

uh that donald trump this is not a strength of his uh to sort of rise to these moments we saw this in his first term uh quite a few times there's there's a weird phenomenon when you're watching donald trump respond to this where it almost seems like he's not the president in that moment like he's a commentator maybe on a show like this uh sort of you know talking about

those thoughts as they come to him. And it's just not the place that Americans need their president to be right now. The other thing is, I'm a reporter, I like to work with facts, and I think David Singer at the New York Times pressing him on that disconnect between him saying, "We don't know what the facts are. We don't know why this happened." And that's what the investigation is for. It's over the president to say that,

and then to draw a conclusion, to find that blame, I think that's the role of the press is to press them on that disconnect. And I was glad to see that happen in the briefing yesterday. - When disaster is one thing, the public will allow a government official to say, "We don't know yet." They understand you don't know yet. And it's important to say what you don't know and as much as what you do know. And then to come back and revise that as quickly as you can. It's really kind of one of the easier jobs in politics, believe it or not, is disasters because all you have to do is tell you what you know.

And that was the procedure yesterday. I was going to say, that briefing yesterday sort of triggered back to 2020 COVID for me personally. And him walking out to the briefing and talking about how drinking bleach is okay for people.

COVID. Injecting bleach. Injecting bleach, yeah, exactly. Excuse me. But it's one of those things where it's so far-fetched and all he has to do is, we're looking at the science, we're looking at things, just take a second. Well, and to that point, I mean, Brad, isn't that version of Trump that Kendra is talking about the one that lost the election, right? Like more than perhaps any other reason why Trump was thrown out of office in 2020? Unpredictability has always been an Achilles for him. And

I think action has always been his strength. And I think you've seen a lot of action in the first week that voters like. And I think going back to that action plan of these things I've said I'm going to do, now I'm going to do them, and I'm going to do them swiftly. I think in some ways he got in a hurry here. Obviously, DEI and some reforms of agencies and changing out personnel is a big part of his agenda.

There's time for that. There's time for that in the next couple of weeks, even. It doesn't have to wait. He doesn't have to wait until the summer. It doesn't seem like the public is necessarily not with him on a lot of the things he has to say about GDI, but that doesn't mean that, like, in the morning of people... It's not what you do 12 hours after a plane crash. All right.

On that note, just as we conclude this conversation here, which has obviously been a political one, I think I just want to bring it back to the family members and friends and loved ones of those 67 people who perished in that plane crash. And there really are no words that any of us can give them to make it better or to

to change it, and we're talking here about leadership in times of crisis and what that means. And Brad actually referenced Ronald Reagan and what he had to say in a moment of incredible national tragedy and the words that he had to say about the people that perished then. And to end here, we'll just leave you with those words as we remember the victims of this tragic crash. We will never forget them.

nor the last time we saw them this morning as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God. I'm CNN tech reporter Claire Duffy. This week on the podcast, Terms of Service, Natasha Shule is a cultural anthropologist who studies technology design and addiction. So I'm 53. If I'm scrolling on some form of social media, it's going to be Facebooks.

She has some answers about why we're so hooked on our devices and some steps we can take to curb our infinite scroll. Follow CNN's Terms of Service wherever you get your podcasts.

All right, welcome back. Rain in the D.C. area here today as crews are trying to recover the remaining victims in the frigid Potomac River after that deadly collision between the American Airlines plane and the Army helicopter. Our meteorologist Allison Chinchar joins us live with more on this. Allison, what will first responders be facing today?

Right, so they're going to be dealing with a lot of rain 'cause this isn't just a small section. You can see this huge cluster of rain right through here on the radar, and most of that is going to funnel its way across the mid Atlantic as we go through the day today. So the temperature right now 48th windchill 38 degrees.

So it feels a lot colder with that wind in place. Again, temperatures will be warming back up, but the rain is also just going to stick around for much of the day. It's not just Washington DC that will see the rain much of the mid Atlantic, but even stretching down into the southeast places like Knoxville, Atlanta, even up until Philadelphia and New York. Also looking at some rain showers, some snow on the back edge. So Buffalo Cleveland looking at the chance for some snow as well. But all of this clears out by tomorrow morning.

On the West Coast, we are bracing for multiple atmospheric rivers that will be impacting the West Coast over the next few days. Some of them very strong atmospheric rivers. We're looking at a level four for this area right around San Francisco and some of the neighboring communities just slightly to the north of that. It's not just rain, but it's also snow. Several of these areas, especially the higher elevations, expected to get 6 to 12 inches, some spots as much as 20 inches total.

All right, Allison Chinchar for us this morning. Allison, thanks very much for that. All right, coming up here on CNN this morning, those painstaking recovery efforts set to resume this morning on the Potomac River. Dive teams battling really difficult obstacles underwater, plus Democratic senators questioning some of President Trump's picks to lead cabinet agencies. I'm going to be joined by one of those senators, Vermont's Peter Welch. This is terrible and it's graphic, right? But they encountered...

people inside the plane still strapped in their seats and they weren't able to remove them right away. Our divers and the Metropolitan Police Department's divers dived continuously for five hours in these frigid cold temperatures.

Recovery efforts are going to be intensifying in the Potomac River this morning as divers continue the search for the remaining victims of this tragic collision. The teams are facing significant challenges underwater in near zero visibility, even though the twisted fuselage rests in just a few feet of water. The mud becomes an intense problem. The severe lack of visibility means that they are going through an aircraft in braille.

And when we're going through an aircraft fuselage, it is torn apart. So every foot, every six inches that you move, there's a potential of another snag, some potential injury for the divers.

And joining us now is retired Navy captain and Navy diver, Bobby Scholey. Bobby, good morning. Thank you so much for joining us. I just have to say, imagining the horrific scenes that many of these divers are going to be encountering is very, very difficult to think about. And I am just struck by how much we owe our first responders because the things that they do for us in the wakes of these tragedies is just phenomenal. And I'm hoping that you can kind of take us

inside and help us understand what it is like in a situation like this, especially when you are also facing incredibly adverse conditions, freezing water that makes it even harder to do this really, really difficult job.

It is. It's a very difficult job, Casey. Thanks for having me on board. This is one of the hardest jobs that I think divers end up doing. And unfortunately, we get called upon to do this more than we like to think.

It's hard, rigorous work to do. You heard in your previous piece that, you know, it's cold, it's dark, it's a lot of hazards with the twisted metal and the aviation wire and that sort of stuff. So physically, it's a hard job. Emotionally, it's a hard job, too. For a lot of divers, you're just...

in the mission and you try not to think about the mental aspects of the job and you put that on hold until after the mission is done. I think a lot of us would say that, you know, we don't think about that until much, much later. But that is something that comes into play and leadership has to deal with that and make sure that their divers are taking care of all their first responders obviously have to

be aware of that and take care of those aspects. The weather that's coming in, of course, is going to make this job even tougher physically. And it's just something that we really need to give our first responders and our divers a lot of credit for.

Absolutely. Bobby, can you tell us what else they're looking for? I mean, we know that the so-called black boxes, the voice and data recorder from the plane have been recovered. What other things will divers look for in a situation like this that might help us understand more about why this happened?

- Well, in my experience, the National Transportation Safety Board has wanted to get back every piece of the aircraft, looking for something that might've

been a cause of mechanical error. I'm not saying that that would factor into this investigation, but there's all sorts of things that could lead up to just any explanation. Of course, they'll want to get the rest of the victims, which is a priority, and they've got the black boxes. But there could be other factors, pieces of equipment that the crew might have been using, and just anything that might have

played into this equipment, communications equipment that might have been a factor in this investigation. So all of those individual pieces of equipment and even the overall structure of the aircraft might be part of the investigation. So the National Transportation Safety Board is going to really lead the way

to what the divers are going to recover. But if they're going to want to recreate the aircraft, then they're gonna have to bring back as much as possible, including small pieces that the divers might have to recover from the mud of the bottom of the Potomac. - All right, Bobbi Scholey, thank you very much for spending some time with us this morning. And again, a thanks to the teams that do this really, really difficult work, appreciate it.

All right. Still ahead here on CNN this morning, another round of contentious confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill. Senator Peter Welch joins us live after he grilled President Trump's nominee to lead the FBI. Your boss has said that General Milley, who served us with great distinction, I happen to have great admiration for, should be tried for treason. Do you agree with that? Senator, everybody's entitled to their opinion. The only thing that matters at the FBI is whether the law is followed.

This week on The Assignment with me, Adi Cornish. The truth is that many of us warned about this. Reverend Gabriel Salguero, pastor of The Gathering Place in Orlando, Florida. What are the kinds of messages you have been getting? I got a call from somebody saying that they're not going to go to church because they're afraid. Many pastors are concerned that it will impinge on our religious liberty to serve immigrant communities and mixed status communities. What does it feel like to be on the front lines of the immigration debate?

Listen to The Assignment with me, Audie Cornish, streaming now on your favorite podcast app. All right, I want to turn out of Capitol Hill. A number of President Trump's controversial nominees appeared before Senate committees for their confirmation hearings yesterday. Is Edward Snowden a traitor to the United States of America? That is not a hard question to answer when the stakes are this high. Senator, as someone who has served in the reform—

Is Edward Snowden a traitor to the United States of America? As someone who has worn our uniform... I'll go on to my questions.

That was the president's pick to be director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard being grilled by Senator Michael Bennett. Also on Capitol Hill yesterday, the Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy for a second day of questioning and the FBI director nominee Kash Patel. They were sharply questioned by Democrats and Republicans alike. It was some of the most direct skepticism we've seen from Republican senators over the president's nominees yesterday.

To date, my next guest, one of the senators who questioned Patel. Patel, of course, a staunch Trump ally who has to date refused to acknowledge a simple truth. You understand what I'm asking you. Can you say the words Joe Biden won the 2020 election? Joe Biden was the president of the United States. But what's so hard about just saying that Biden won the 2020 election? What's hard about that?

Senator, as I've said before, that President Biden was certified and sworn in, and he was a president. I don't know how else to say it. Well, the other way to say it is he won.

Joining us now is one of the men you just saw there, Democratic Senator Peter Welch of Vermont, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Senator, good morning. Thank you so much for being here. He couldn't say, didn't say, that Joe Biden won the election. What does that say to you about how he may run the FBI? Well, the biggest challenge if you run the FBI or you're the Attorney General is you have two clients. One is the Constitution and, of course, the other is the President.

And those two positions, I think, are the hardest, because you have to have the capacity to say no if you have a president who asks you to do something illegal. And we know that Trump regards the Justice Department and the FBI as my Justice Department. He's made very explicit threats that he wants to use that power to prosecute political adversaries.

And what both Patel and Pam Bondi did in response to this question of who won was give the Trump-approved answer. They can't. He will not allow them to say that Biden won the election. And it gives, I think, a lot of us a lot of apprehension about what will they say when the president, if he does, asks him to do something that they shouldn't do that would violate constitutional rights of an American citizen.

Senator, I also want to ask you about what we saw from President Trump yesterday in the wake of this absolute tragedy, this mid-air collision between the American Airlines jet and the Black Hawk helicopter.

What was your reaction when you heard President Trump blame DEI potentially for this crash? Well, I was pretty horrified. I mean, you know, we heard that diver talking about just the incredible tragedy. And you've got 67 families where they're grief-stricken, and they want any little bit of information they can get about those last moments of their loved ones and how they are. And they're now underwater, strapped in.

And the president says something that's absolutely false, no basis, and frankly, cruel. So I was really shocked on a human level that there'd be such disregard for the emotional tragedy and suffering of the families. Sir, there have been two major things in the last week that have sort of underscored the

how Donald Trump is going to govern here that represent potential risks to him. First, the funding freeze that was poorly understood and very quickly had to be walked back after it was on front pages and local newscasts across the country. And then, of course, this response yesterday to this national tragedy

One of the questions I think a lot of Americans are asking right now is, where are Democrats in pushing back against the president? This is something that Democrats have really been struggling with since Donald Trump won the election, won the popular vote. What are Democrats going to do to push back after the events of this week?

Well, let's just have a reality check here. One, the president is starting to show what his style and approach is going to be. And we are pushing back on that. This across-the-board cut with no heads up to anybody has been extraordinarily disruptive. Now, what the president says is he likes the chaos.

But, in fact, it inflicts a lot of cruelty because you've got all these people. You know, you're going to bring your child to Head Start and you get a note you can't come in. You're a mom who has a dental appointment that you finally got through Medicaid and it's canceled.

That is just really a harsh thing to do. And it's, by the way, illegal. So we're saying that. We're speaking out. But also, the effect of this, as people start to see that Trump talking about his concern for everyday folks

is actually false, that he's doing things that really hurt everyday folks, in addition, by the way, to the price of eggs going way up under his short term in office. That's going to help us, and we're going to be speaking out loud and clear as long as we can. The other reality is,

The Republicans got to pay some attention to this. They have the votes. They've got 53 in the Senate. They've got the majority in the House, and they've got the presidency. So he has a bully pulpit. But what we're seeing is that those price of eggs, that kind of cavalier disregard for the people on that flight who died. Do the Republicans want to join us in sticking up for everyday Americans? I hope they do. All right. Senator Peter Welch, I really appreciate your time today. Thank you very much for coming on the show. Hope to see you again soon.

All right, coming up here after the break, our panel will be back on one of President Trump's most controversial picks, Tulsi Gabbard grilled by Democrats on Capitol Hill. Plus, Michael Smirconish is here. We're going to discuss the president's reaction to Wednesday night's deadly air collision and how it compares to past presidents' responses to tragedies. These astronauts knew the dangers and they faced them willingly, knowing they had a high and noble purpose in life. Because of their courage and daring and idealism,

we will miss them all the more. I too want to express my heartfelt sympathies for the citizens of New York, those on the airplane,

those whose houses were damaged, those who were hurt on the ground. This investigation is being led by the National Transportation Safety Board to make sure that the facts are fully known to the American people. New Yorkers are resilient and strong and courageous people and will help their neighbors overcome this. May God bless the victims and their families.

That was then-President George W. Bush talking to the American public in November of 2001 after 260 people died in what became the deadliest single airliner crash in U.S. history. On Wednesday night, the midair collision over the Potomac became the deadliest aviation incident since that 2001 crash over Bell Harbor, Queens.

Yesterday, President Donald Trump took his turn as consoler in chief. He did share brief condolences, but then he quickly pivoted to what he speculated to be the cause of the incident. DEI policies that he says lowered the hiring standard for air traffic controllers. When questioned about how he could be so sure that was the problem less than 24 hours after the tragedy, here's what the president said.

That's why I'm trying to figure out how you can come to the conclusion right now that diversity had something to do with this crash. Because I have common sense. It's Friday, so that means Michael Smirconish is here to discuss. He's CNN political commentator and of course the host of CNN's Smirconish. Michael, good morning. Thank you very much for being with us. This has obviously been a very difficult period of time for these families of the victims. It's a hard story to cover. President Trump

decided he needed, wanted to speak to the American public yesterday. What went through your mind as you watched that press conference unfold? He wants to control the news cycle. Even amidst a horrific, catastrophic event, the highest priority is that it's about him.

It was on a day when, as you've been discussing, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was back on Capitol Hill, Tulsi Gabbard, Kash Patel. A lot of news, potentially negative news relative to those three controversial high profile picks.

Every ounce of oxygen spent talking about DEI yesterday and today, where it seemingly has no place based on the facts that are known, is one less moment that we're discussing those nominations. And I do believe that it's all connected. I mean, when they all came out yesterday, I found it unusual because, of course, he has a role to play as Consular-in-Chief. And he started down that path.

And then I found it unusual that, you know, he was followed to the podium by Vice President J.D. Vance and also the Secretary of Defense. Although obviously there's something there to be said about the role of the Army helicopter. Secretary Duffy's role, totally appropriate, appropriate.

But putting it all together and everybody sort of echoing that same message, I found myself wondering, what do they know? Why are they talking about DEI? There must be some element of this that they're aware of. And then Caitlin Collins asks the appropriate question.

And he was diminishing in his response to her totally appropriate question. It's what what was begged of the situation. And it became obvious that, no, there's there's seemingly no connection. Now he's causing people to wonder, well, what do they look like? You know, three families together.

are suffering the loss from the Army helicopter. And he's turned this into a situation of, are they white? Are they black? Are they male? Are they female? When seemingly it's got no place. The helicopter was in a position where it shouldn't have been, it seems. And that's it. It's a human factors story, not a story about race, gender, ethnicity. But he wanted to control it, and he did. Well, and Michael, you know, I think it's also worth mentioning

saying here that, and our Pete Muntean very eloquently on our air earlier, we played his comments. You know, he became visibly angry and he explained that he was angry because he had been, he knows what it's like to be in that position. He lost his mother in a plane crash. And to have that kind of speculation become the focus before all the facts are known, when in fact these families are

are grieving still. I mean, the number of hours that had, it was less than 24 hours had passed from when these planes plunged into the river to when the president stepped to the podium. I think it's worth reminding viewers, let's just watch a little bit more of what previous presidents have said in times where the country is collectively grieving and trying to support the families among us who are grieving the most in these situations. Let's watch.

We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them this morning as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God. To all those carrying on this dangerous work, to the families and loved ones of those still missing, our prayers are with you. The majority of those who died today were children, beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old.

Of course, those presidents talking about the Challenger explosion, the Oklahoma City bombing, and of course, the horrible events that unfolded at Sandy Hook. And Michael, I think it's also worth noting that in the past when presidents have failed this test, and I would say that George W. Bush did in the wake of Katrina when he said, you're doing a heck of a job, Brownie, as Americans were suffering. The American public has chastised them for that. They have been chastened.

For that, is this something I mean, we have not seen that really happen with Donald Trump. And maybe this is just another one of those instances on a long log of times when he does something that's outside of our expected norms and people don't really care. What do you think?

So the news cycle is just a fire hose of information and it's very difficult even for me. And this is all I do. I eat, sleep and drink the headlines and immerse myself in the news. There's a lot going on and it's hard to stay on top of it. So for somebody, so for somebody who has a normal, a normal job, right. And they're, they're doing something and getting a little bit of news.

My greatest fear is that his narrative now takes hold. And so last night I had to go and watch. How is this being reported? Let's say elsewhere.

And they were parroting his line. It had become a conversation about diversity hires. And I'm saying this is insane. He said it. They parrot it. And now for half the country, that's what they're going to take away from this. And maybe there's a story in here eventually that relates to DEI. I don't think so. But it sure as hell not the story yesterday or today.

All right. Michael Smirconish, always grateful to have your perspective, sir. Thank you very much for being here on this Friday. And do remember to tune in to Smirconish tomorrow morning, 9 a.m. Eastern. It's right here on CNN.

All right, let's turn out of this. Some of President Donald Trump's most controversial cabinet nominees faced that intense questioning on Capitol Hill this week, and it came from both Democrats and Republicans. The hearings put Republicans who are skeptical of President Trump's nominees on clear display. Democrats also grilled the nominees over past controversial statements like,

Whether the president's pick to lead the Health and Human Services Department, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is skeptical of vaccines, and if Director of National Intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard thinks Edward Snowden is a traitor. My sole focus, commitment, and responsibility is about our own nation, our own security, and the interests of the American people. I want to make certain that in no way does Russia get a pass in either your mind or your heart

or in any policy recommendation you would make or not make. Senator, I'm offended by the question. Did you say that Lyme disease is highly likely a materially engineered bioweapon? I made sure I put in the highly likely. Did you say Lyme disease is a highly likely militarily engineered bioweapon? I probably did say that.

To get confirmed on the floor, nominees can only lose three Republican senators if all Democrats oppose their confirmation. My panel is back. Brad Todd, can you just give us the line on the Senate GOP right now in terms of these nominees? I know Tom Cotton came out and was supportive of Tulsi Gabbard ahead of the hearing, which seemed noteworthy. There also seems to be some interaction between Republicans.

If Tulsi gets through, then Kennedy has more issues. What is your understanding of the landscape right now for these two? Well, that's one of those vibe things. You know, I mean, most presidents lose one or two, but nobody loses more than one or more than two nominees. Matt Gaetz is already gone. So there is some sense that history dictates that Trump won't lose more than two.

I don't know if that bears any resemblance to vote counting. I think Tulsi Gabbard's hearing was a little rough. I mean, you have to be able to say Edward Snowden's a traitor to win over the Hawks in a hawk party. I think that was a mistake on her part. I think RFK Jr.'s hearing to me was the most entertaining, but it was a big mistake by Democrats. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders made him more confirmable. There's nobody in the Republican who Republicans dislike more than Elizabeth Warren, and it's for all the right reasons.

But she should have gone with RFK and said, you know, look, I agree with you on abortion. I agree with you on affirmative action. I agree with you on guns. In fact, I like you more than any nominee Donald Trump ever has. If she wanted to sink him, she should have hugged him. But she doesn't get that. She wants to make soundbites for the left. And I know that. And that's what she's all theater for her. I thought that made that hearing a circus entertaining, but it may be a strength in RFK. Let me.

play for you one moment Brad from Bill Cassidy of Louisiana who's a physician and who is probably the most closely watched Republican on the RFK nomination. Let's take a look. Will you reassure mothers unequivocally and without qualification that the measles and hepatitis B vaccines do not cause autism? Senator, I am not going into the agency with any... That's kind of a yes or no question because so if you're

Because the data is there. And that's kind of a yes or no. And I don't mean to cut you off, but that really is a yes or no. If the data is there, I will absolutely do that. Is Casti going to vote no? And are there more with him?

It's possible. It's possible. I think there are probably 10 to 15 Republicans who have real qualms with RFK Jr. Most of them have qualms because of his ideology. He's been a liberal Democrat for most of his career. He's closer to Elizabeth Warren than he is to Bill Cassidy on ideological questions. I don't know. I think Donald, he has a following. He was additive in the campaign. He brought voters to Donald Trump. People are trying to be respectful of that, but they do have qualms about him. I

I did not think RFK Jr. would be in any trouble when this week started. I was really struck by Cassidy's questioning in this. I do think before this week there was a possibility that some Democrats might actually vote for him, and maybe that still will be the case. I don't know.

I was much more interested, I think, in the Tulsi Gabbard hearing. I think there are a lot of indication from that hearing and from the reaction to her answers that there are Republicans. Susan Collins and Todd Young are the ones everybody's watching. I think we should watch what their words, what they say. They're on that committee. If they don't vote for her, it doesn't get out of committee. I don't think it goes to the floor. John Thune has to have a conversation with President Trump after that if she falls in committee.

I think overall, the Democrats seemed much more organized this week in their lines of questioning than they did when Hegseth first came up. And I thought that RFK really just fumbled his answers, both with Republicans and Democrats. And look, I think everybody can agree that our health care is in crisis. There are a lot of problems that need to be fixed.

I just don't think the Democrats, and it clearly seems that some Republicans think that he is the one to fix it. And it is scary that a person who is out there making these comments about our health care system is apparently taking nicotine while he's doing it. This is somebody that apparently is supposed to be out there talking about health care and what is right and what is wrong. And from what I have seen, that he was doing some sort of nicotine patches while he was doing it.

Zins will help him. The zins will help him politically. A lot of zins on Capitol Hill. Yeah, that's right. I will just say he could not identify the various parts of the Medicare program. Also, that was another. That's something we didn't even do his homework. Touch on today. All right. It has been a very long week. It's the last day of the week. It is the last day of the month of January. Thank the Lord. Thanks to our panel. Thanks to all of you for joining us. I'm Casey Hunt. CNN News Central starts right now.

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