i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. starts now. crar see you tomorrow the news with shigt starts now a supreme court vacancy for president biden to fill. i'm shepard smith. this is the news on cnbc >> justice stephen breyer set to step down. >> his intention is to step down at the end of this term. >> nbc's pete williams first to break the news he's with us tonight on the impact to the court. who will the president nominate? an early look at the potential short list for what could be america's first black woman supreme court justice. >> we will uphold the principle

of nato's open door. >> the u.s. rejects one of russia's main demands. the formal response delivered as the world waits to see what vladimir putin does next stealth omicron. the new covid sub variant uncovered. why experts say it's no cause for alarm. plus a potential way to detect who is at risk for covid long haul a royal in american court. prince andrew says let's go to trial ready to raise interest rates. how soon the hikes are coming. a mystery in california. who is the snake burglar live from cnbc, the facts, the truth, "the news with shepard smith." >> it's one of the most significant decisions any president can make, one that outlasts presidencies and has ramifications for decades to come, nominating a supreme court justice. president biden is getting his

first and possibly only what happens to do so and leave his mark on the nation's highest court. nbc news has learned justice stephen breyer plans to retire the announcement we're told could come as early as tomorrow. people familiar with this decision says he's planning to stick around until the senate confirms his replacement president biden would not confirm the decision today when reporters questioned about it today at the white house >> every justice has the right and opportunity to decide what he or she is going to do and announce it on their own there has been no announcement from justice breyer. let him make whatever statement he's going to make, and i'll be happy to talk about it later. >> at 83, justice breyer is the oldest supreme court justice president bill clinton nominated him to the high court more than 27 years ago a judiciary committee overseen

none other than senator joe biden confirmed him to the seat. breyer is one of three remaining liberal judges his retirement would mean president biden can appoint a new justice who could serve for decades. for that reason, progressives have been calling for justice breyer to step down since president biden took office. on the campaign trail, the now president committed to choosing a black woman for the seat. >> the fact is what we should be doing -- we talk about the supreme court, i'm looking forward to making sure there's a black woman on the supreme court to make sure we, in fact, get every representation -- not a joke, not a joke i pushed very hard for that. >> pushing very hard for that. democrats on capitol hill including senate majority leader chuck schumer is promising to move quickly on the president's nomination as soon as he makes one. we have complete coverage tonight. cnbc's kayla touch chi, nbc's

sahil kapur and scotus blog media editor katie barlow with the impact on the court. first, nbc's pete williams who broke the news today what do we know about how justice breyer came to this decision >> we're told he made this decision within the past couple weeks, deciding to step down now, while the democrats have both the majority in the senate and control of the white house if he waits much longer after the midterms, that's no longer a done deal. there was a lot of pressure on him you may recall, last term for him to step down all the trucks that drove around the supreme court that said breyer retire. i think that just stiffened his resolve to stay. now he can read the calendar he knows this town, how it works. he's a former senate judiciary committee staffer. he's seen the process from all sides. i think he decided that now is the right time after 28 years on the court. >> he'll still be around to rule on some really big cases this

summer. >> absolutely. this doesn't change anything about the pending cases. of course, the cases that have already been argued, he's already voted on those they're just in the process of writing the decisions. but, yes, he'll be present when the supreme court hands down the big decision on abortion and on other cases including gun rights, religious freedom, environmental law. it's going to be one of the most momentous terms in decades he'll be around until the summer. >> pete williams, thanks so much people familiar with the nomination process are selling nbc news that preparations at the white house are ramping up they say they expect president biden to pick someone for the seat relatively soon cnbc's senior correspondent kayla tausche. >> reporter: the white house saying president biden stands by the campaign pledge to nominate a black woman to a lifetime appointment on the supreme court and pointed to the diversity of

judicial nominees the president has already installed on the federal bench. >> does the president believe the current makeup of the court accurately reflects america's demographics >> he has nominated a historic number of judges who are people of color, his store -- i don't know if it's a historic number of women, but the majority of the judges he has no, ma'am named are women. that speaks to his desire and his interest in having courts around the country that look like america and represent the experience ps of america. >> reporter: president biden nominated 62 women to the federal judiciary, including 19 black women. possible replacements for justice breyer, including to nbc news include judge ketanji brown jackson whom the president interviewed specifically before her appointment on the district court of appeals leondra kruger

jim clyburn backed judge michelle childs from his state a potential legacy defining pick after a series of policy defeats and before the consequential midterm election that could cost democrats their majority president biden's own experience with this runs deep, chairing the senate judiciary committee for eight years and witnessing the failed confirmation of judge merrick garland in 2016. as to whether all 50 democrats will unite behind the president's pick, the press secretary told me today that's the hope. >> kayla, thank you. dremocrats say they're ready to move quickly and say they can get the nomination through without a single republican vote as long as they stay united. they might pick up a few sahil kapur covers congress. the challenge really might be workable this time, no

>> that's right, shep. democrats are planning to hit the gas in the senate on this confirmation process they have a razor-thin 50/50 which gives them control of the senate floor which leaves majority leader chuck schumer with the decision on when and how to process a vote on this final nominee on the floor of the senate democratic leaders are using words like speed, expeditiously, moving quickly let's listen to what schumer had to say about this. >> in the senate, we want to be deliberate we want to move quickly. we want to get this done as quickly as possible. >> the rule was ap bol lished in 201. there are republican senate torts who are likely to be in play who have supported judges and justices supported by democratic justices in the past, that includes susan collins and lisa murkowski, as well as lipid

see graham of south carolina who supported president barack obama's two nominees, pointed out that elections have consequences the three names that kayla just mentioned, jackson, kruger and childs, are currently seen as most likelyto be on the short list as for the confirmation process, the most recent nominee, amy coney barrett was processed in just 27 days the historical average is closer to 6 days. it will be up to democrats to decide based on the fragility of their majority how quickly to move this. >> sahil kapur, thank you. katy, justice breyer seen by so many as the court's chief pragmatist is that what the court is losing here >> they are, and the court is going to shift dramatically. he's been on the court for almost three decades losing the senior-most member of the liberal wing and one of the most senior justices on the

court is going to shift not only the full court but what the liberal wing looks like. and justice sonia sotomayor will shift the liberal wing and how they express themselves. >> the nominee obviously won't change the balance on the court. between picking a liberal or a centrist, what does the president have to weigh there? >> the president is going to be looking at a number of factors, but as kayla reported, he's already appointed a number of diverse candidates, more so than his predecessor. he's gotten 42 judges confirmed, including those with backgrounds as public defenders, which we see an overwhelming number of prosecutors as judges. one of the names at the top of his list, judge ketanji brown jackson would be a different type of voice in the room that is perhaps more liberal than centrist he's already demonstrated an interest in appointing those judges to the federal bench.

he'll likely continue that trend with this pick. >> katy, anything can happen likely is this the only justice the president has an opportunity to nominate? >> i'll never say never when it comes to the supreme court i remember that valentine's day weekend in 2016, as i'm sure you did, when justice scalia passed away and surprised all of us, the same when we were at the dinner table in september of 2020 and justice ginsburg passed away even when justice anthony kennedy made his announcement. by all accounts, all the justices are healthy, fully vaccinated and they enjoy their jobs there's no indication that any of them are going to step down or president biden would have another bite at the apple. >> katy barlow after a busy day on scotus blog later more on the legacy of justice breyer from someone who knew him very well, the first african american woman to clerk for him. her thoughts on who should

replace him. a written response to demands from russia, the united states offered a diplomatic path forward. now the world waits for the kremlin to respond again, and we lay out the events that got us here singer neil young issued an ultimatum to spotify either his music goes or joe rogan goes today the streaming service made a decision

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public, but the biden administration has made it crystal clear that some of russia's demands are non-starters, like barring ukraine from ever joining the nato alliance. secretary of state blinken doubled down on that today after america's response was delivered. >> i can't be more clear nato's door is open, remains open and that remains our commitment whether they choose the path of diplomacy and dialogue, whether they decide to renew aggression against ukraine, we're prepared either way thank you. meanwhile, the russians continue to ramp up military exercises near ukraine's border. here you can see russian tanks participating if drills in a region that borders eastern ukraine. russia sent more fighter jets into belarus putin has been pouring troops and vehicles and military equipment into belarus russia is also flexing its naval muscle near ukraine.

russian warships deployed to the black sea for a mock battle involving anti submarine ships it comes as russia and ukraine held four-way talks with germany, france and in paris with french president emmanuel macron pushing for a diplomatic solution how did we get here to the brink of war things have escalated quite quickly. it was just three months ago that a russian troop buildup along ukraine's border started raising fears of an invasion on december 7th, president biden held a video call with president putin and warned him there would be severe consequences if he invaded ukraine. putin insisted he had no plans to attack. on december 17th russia issued a list of demands of its own for the u.s. and nato to lower tensions throughout the month, russia continually denied plans for an invasion while at the same time mask more and more troops and

holding military exercises near ukraine. on january 14th, the white house accused russia of sending operatives and saboteurs into ukraine to stage a false flag attack to justify an invasion. then last friday the first shipment of lethal military aid from the u.s. arrived in ukraine to help bolster the country's defenses then on monday, the pentagon announced more than 8,000 troops were preparing for possible deployment to eastern europe to reenforce nato's eastern flank now, some 100,000 or more russian troops armed with tanks and helicopters and artillery are at key locations along ukraine's border russia claims the u.s. and nato are the aggressors, and there still hasn't been a diplomatic breakthrough for analysis, evelyn farkas, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for russia, ukraine and eurasia under the

obama administration these hostilities have added up quickly. putin provokes, the west responds putin blames the west. are we playing his game? >> shep, first of all, thanks for having me on putin has a long history of using military intimidation to gain political and economic control over states. he's occupying 20% of the territory of the republic of georgia. you might remember in 2008 russia invaded its neighbor georgia under the bush administration he also occupies -- he has bases in mole dove va, a breakaway region called transeastria he's used to using that military car, that bully coercion to get his way politically. now he's trying to get his way not just vis-a-vis ukraine itself, because he won't stop there. he's been very clear in his communication to the united states that he essentially wants

flat toe to be defanged, essentially more or less powerless, to counter russia, to deter russia he's really challenging the international order because his violation of ukraine's sovereignty starting with the annexation of crimea really runs counter to the bedrock of the post world war ii order which says that borders cannot be altered using military force. >> you know, the white house has really laid out all the possibilities from cyberattacks to russia putting a puppet government inside ukraine. they're trying to prevent a shocking surprise. how do you really see this playing out? what's put stint likely to actually do? >> i'm afraid he's not going to just take the diplomatic course, because while the administration has given them an answer in writing, as you said in the opening, they're not going to compromise, as you also said, on key core principles, nato is a collective defensive alliance. we're not going to dismantle it

because it keeps all the members safe now we find out that russia actually is a threat and these recent deployments to belarus on the border with three of our allies, it's problematic what is he going to do i think it's likely he's going to take military action. with vladimir putin you never know until the last minute until he makes the decision. he's likely to do something small. i don't think he's going to overrun the whole country because that is riskier, but we can't rule it out. i think he'll likely take donbas, the region where they've been fighting anyway and maybe the canal outside of crimea because he needs the water from there. >> new to these kind of hostilities is this brand new chamber of pro russia commentary on american greatly listened to media that plays on military bases all over the world how concerning is that to you?

>> it's incredibly concerning, shep we've seen -- frankly speaking, the russians kind of started it. that started and teamed up with far right networks and far right individuals in the united states in 2016 to try to meddle in our elections, and they did have some impact on the election outcome, although how much is hard to tell, but certainly on the division in our country. frankly speaking, hosts like tucker carlson -- i'll say it -- on fox news who is buddy buddy with viktor orban from my parent's home country. viktor orban has basically said he's an illiberal democrat, which means he's not trying to be a democrat. the defending of russia and what they're doing is very dangerous. we don't need the american people confused about what side we're on we're a democracy. thankfully we have members from both parties understanding what

russia is doing is dangerous to our interests. >> evelyn farkas, so good of you, thank you. omicron, you may have seen some headlines about a new sub variant of omicron so the details on what it is, meg tirrell has some answers for us and a bomb cyclone with the power of a hurricane happy january. the extreme forecast and the weirdness of how they don't really know who is going to get really know who is going to get what, but thers into ♪♪ hey, do you know if i work sunday? sure do! clover does that. who are you? he's from clover. clover does that so i can do this. i like that green. chef, can we hire another hostess? umm... psst. yeah. i was gonna add an exclamation point.

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there are new and encouraging signs that the omicron surge is -- you can see the infections have begun declining steadily over the past week and a half or so hospitalizations trending in the same direction across the country more than 140,000 people are in hospitals with covid

that's a 7% drop from a week ago according to the hhs data. deaths remain horribly high right now, but they'll likely decline soon since deaths usually lag a few weeks behind cases. many health officials say it's still too early to tell whether omicron will be the last disruptive surge but today dr. anthony fauci appeared optimistic. he said we could be nearing the point where there's enough protection against a future variant. >> if you get enough protection from either infection plus boost or infection plus boost again or vaccination with boosting hopefully, that you'll get a level of protection in the community that, even if you get another variant that you will not see a surge associated with that variant, but you'll have enough background immunity to protect against it. >> that said, you may zoo seen alarming headlines about a sub

variant, something called stealth omicron. it's been detected in dozens of countries including the u.s. cnbc's meg tirrell >> the reason it's sometimes referred to as stealth omicron is because it doesn't have the same marker as the original that makes it stand out on pcr tests, but it is still detectable as covid. right now more information is needed, but most experts agree ba.2 appears to be more transmissible than the original omicron. it's rising quickly in denmark and many other european countries, some suspect it will become the dominant variant in the u.s. even though the proportion of cases there is currently low, the other key questions are, is it more severe and will current immunities stand up to it?

both of those questions need more research. virologists say early evidence suggest it's not more severe, and they expect previous infection with omicron and the vaccines and boosters should provide protection will this lead to yet another surge? it's early to say. but one of the researchers in south africa who first alerted the world to omicron notes that ba.2 is growing there even as cases are coming down overall. the thought is most likely not a new surge, but scientists will keep watching. >> meg, there's also new research on long covid, covid long haul and a potential way to figure out who is at risk. >> yeah, a new study that looked at a couple hundred patients with covid identified four potential risk factors for the longer term effects, hype 2 diabetes, how high the level of virus is, react investigation of another virus called epstein barr and the presence of

autoantibodies more work is needed but researchers say the findings could help guide clinical trials to find ways to treat and prevent long covid in a separate study, scientists identified a marker in the blood that may be linked with long covid, suggesting it could be possible to don't a blood test to determine risk for the condition. that's also a ways off but progress. >> we'll take it, meg. thank you. elon musk does it again. today he had a tweet that launched a fast food company into the crypto game and the fed chair jay powell signaling an interest rate hike is coming. what the move means for skyrocketing inflation and for your wallet as we approach the bottom of the hour and the top of

weather alert. a powerful nor'easter set to slam the northeast the question is who gets how much it seems they don't know new york they say could get a dusting or a dumping because forecasters say it's likely the storm will become a bomb cyclone and give some people somewhere a lot of snow. winter storm watches already in effect for friday up and down the i- 95 corridor from virginia to maine the nor'easter set to bombard that area with snow. forecasters say it could range from a few inches to several

feet arctic air priming the region for snow people waking up tomorrow to freezing cold temperatures seer use minus 7, boston minus 2. new york city a balm any 9 degrees. it ooh tess bottom of the hour, time for the top of the news. >> will prince andrew find himself in an american courtroom? the demand from his lawyers if his sexual assault case is not dismissed. justice breyer stepping down his former clerk weighs in on possible replacements. but first, the federal reserve planning a major step to beat back rising inflation it's a move that many economists expected today the federal reserve chairman jay powell signaled the fed's intention to raise interest rates in march. it would be the first increase since december of 2018 the rate is now just above zero.

speaking today at a news conference, the fed chair said inflation is a major problem for the economy. >> a really significant threat to strengthening the labor market in the form of anticipation is high inflation also high inflation is staking away the benefits of some of these large wage increases we're seeing. >> wall street didn't like that. the dow plummeted again, closed down nearly 130 points, a more than of 00 point drop from its lofty numbers earlier in the session. the s&p 500 down 7. the labor department reported consumer prices jumped in december 7% from a year earlier. that's the biggest increase in nearly four decades. steve leishman, how will the rising interest rates help beat back rising inflation? >> well, by raising rates the

fed is going to make it more expensive to buy a home, finance a car and people will pay more on their credit card bills mortgage rates are already up about half a percentage point. still people shouldn't panic, shep the expectation now is that the fed's policy rate will only rise to 1% this year. remember, it was around 1.75% before the pandemic. rates will still be low, just not as crazy low as they were during the pandemic. >> steve, what else will higher interest rates affect? >> they're going to affect the stock market, they already have, with treasury bonds paying such low interest rates, many investors bought stocks instead. you could have some people sell stocks and buy treasuries. that means stocks, especially the most highly valued ones will come off somewhat. we're already off the all-time highs of the stock market by 10 to 15% depending on which index you look at.

that's a painful selloff >> steve leishman, thank you boeing 787 dreamliner's problems hitting the bottom line hard that's in other news making cnbc on the money. the choppy ride for boeing continues. the company reporting its third consecutive annual loss today. the red ink fueled by a series of manufacturing flaws in the 787 dream liner. they caused major delays in deliveries the plane maker forced to take nearly a $4 billion hit to compensate customers boeing shares down nearly 5% today. british luxury carmaker bentley, the latest to bet on the electric vehicle market. the company announcing it will invest more than $3 billion in the next ten years to develop high-end, climate-friendly cars. the first electric bentley expected to roll off the line in

2025. a new crypto coin from elon musk and mcdonald's. the tesla ceo said he'd gladly eat a happy meal on tv if they would accept dogecoin. mcdonald's responded, only if tesla suggests grimace coin, one even jumping 285,000 percent after the joke tweet. spotify removing neil young's music after he demanded the streaming service pick between him and joe rogan. the podcast host has been accused of spreading misinformation about covid and vaccines neil young's music catalog spans more than five decades and includes hits like "heart of gold" and "harvest moon. the artist gained millions of plays on spotify in an open letter posted to his site today, neil young said the

platform has becoming a damaging force for misinformation and lies about covid a representative for spotify issued a statement writing in part, we wants all the world's music and audio content to be available to spotify users we have detailed content policies in place and we've removed over 20,000 podcast episodes related to covid-19 since the start of the pandemic. now neil young said, you can't stream my music. more now on our top story tonight, justice stephen brier planning to retire from the supreme court according to people familiar with his decision the announcement could come saz soon as tomorrow nbc news has learned the white house is ready to move quickly justice buyer spent nearly three decades on the court progressive groups called for him to step down almost as soon as biden took office justice breyer said last year he didn't know when he planned to retire he's known as the court's more

moderate liberal ustice. he says he believes in interpreting the constitution based on practical consideration changing with the times. robin landhart former law clerk of justice breyer. thanks so much you worked so closely with him what was his impact on this court in your estimation >> i think for this court, the impact the justice has had has been tremendous. first of all, he's had many important decisions across the time of his time at the court. but beyond that, i think behind the scenes what people can't see is the role that the justice plays in connecting with his fellow justices, trying to work through problems, trying to get

to consensus on issues i know recently there have been a lot of discussion about the justices and difficulties that they may be having i know justice breyer, his whole -- his entire period at the court has been about trying to come to consensus and move forward in a positive way. >> in a 2001 interview, you said his legacy will be trying to bring people on the court together across all perspectives and across all politics. did he continue to accomplish that even when our situation got a lot more polarized >> i think that he certainly continued to reach out to o others i can't speak for the other justices, but i know he certainly did not give up on

that agenda. >> how can president biden best honor justice breyer's legacy? >> i think by identifying and selecting a new justice who will have the kind of impact in terms of thought, approaches to solving cases that come before the court, being responsive to the challenges, the changes that the country is experiencexperieg justice breyer always talks about being practical, about being connected to people on the ground, his notion of sort of active liberty and his approach to democracy what justice breyer brings is definitely something that i hope

that the president will be looking at and looking for in a new justice. >> robin lenhardt, thanks so much, good to see you. prince andrew in an american court? today he officially denied allegations that he sexually assaulted virginia due fray. part of the documents filed in a new york court he demanded the civil case against him be moved to a trial by jury. why would a british royal ask an american court for that? plus, refineries, landfills and chemical plants in three states now a target of the epa the new action jus

the queen of england's son, prince andrew, is demanding a jury trial and formally denying

allegations that he sexually abused a girl trafficked by jeffrey epstein. virginia giuffre claims she was forced to perform sex acts with the royal. she says prince andrew abusesed her in 2001 at the london home of ghislaine maxwell she's been convicted of sex trafficking and helping epstein abuse teenager girls she also claims the prince abused her at epstein's homes in new york city and the virgin islands. prince andrew is denying he was a co-con spirit tore presence andrew's attorneys have accuse tds giuffre for seeking a payday her lawyer shot back and said they were victim blaming nbc legal analyst danny cevallos is here. legally, danny, is a jury trial

a smart move for prince andrew's defense? what are they doing here >> this is actually a pretty common thing when you answer a complaint. the mantra is essentially raise it or lose it. even if he may not want a jury trial in the future, better to assert it and demand it now. you're absolutely right. this may not be a jury pool, there may not be one in america that would be favorable to prince andrew or the andrew formerly known as prince andrew. >> in the court filing he does admit he met epstein several times and epstein and maxwell attended the prince's 40th birthday this is a known known. could this move backfire >> no, when you're answeringa complaint, you have to basically admit the allegations that are true you can admit part of them and deny part of them. also what's interesting are what are called affirmative defenses,

these are part of the use it or lose it category if there are defenses you plan to raise, it's a good idea to bring them up in the initial pleading and, shep, one of those defenses is the defense of consent. in other words, the allegation by prince andrew is that anything that giuffre is complaining about, she may have consented to it. that is not necessarily a defense he'll raise at trial as i said before, you have to use them or lose them. going forward, i find it hard to imagine that he'll say that she consented to what happened to her. >> these people hung out with a lot of the most powerful people on the planet. you've got to wonder what could happen if they got this thing into court. >> absolutely. that's one of the things that a deposition with the wide-ranging rules of discovery, you can ask about just about anything that could lead to the discovery of something that would be admissible at trial. that means almost anything is on

the table. an ambitious questioning attorney may just want to find out who was at every single party that might have anything to do -- >> think of the names, think of the names, danny think of who could show up there in the pandora's box. >> we already know there are some names that were sealed for a long time. maxwell, for example, has stopped fighting to keep those names secret some don't seem to mind. others probably mind a lot if their names come out even those names that are sealed, there could be more beyond that. we really don't know whose names we may hear in this trial. >> danny cevallos, thank you. president biden signing an executive order to make sexual harassment in the military a crime. congress acted last month to approve an overhaul of kind of the way the military handles sexual assault and rape cases. lawmakers agree that independent military prosecutors should handle the cases instead of commanders as happens now.

the push to change the system gave gained momentum after a fellow soldier at ft. hood killed army specialist vanessa guillen her family says she was sexually harassed before her death on the base and she was afraid of retaliati retaliation. the san jose city council is one step closer to approving a first of its kind requirement for gun owners gun f gun owners would have to carry liability insurance. it would force gun owning households to pay a yearly fee of $25 plus administrative costs. the proposals are part of a gun control plan that the mayor there released last june, but guns rights activists objecting. they say taxing a constitutional right is illegal the idea still needs approval

and a legal reading before it goes into effect next month. the epa announcing a series of actions to address environmental issues in three gulf coast states, louisiana, mississippi and texas. it's part of a broader federal effort to help low-income and minority communities that are disproportionately affected by decades of pollution the epa administrator says the agency will conduct unannounced inspections of chemical plants and industrial sites, once suspected of polluting both air and water. he said they've also earmarked more than $600,000 to buy mobile equipment to monitor air pollution. those units mr. be deployed along an 80-mile stretch of louisiana, known as cancer ally. it sits along the mississippi river and is home to many chemical plants, oil and gas refineries in some of those areas the cancer risks are much higher

the epa issuing a warning to jackson, mississippi officials saying the state capital must finally fix its aging and overwhelmed drinking system the report that many brits say could sink their prime minister is delayed again. but boris johnson had plenty of spicy stuff to say today, defending his record in parliament and his political fate is hanging in the balance. plus the snake burglar is back, or should we say front his signature move, slithering along the floor to evade cameras and sensors. and sensors. he's already stolen a safe fl ♪♪ hey, do you know if i work sunday? sure do! clover does that. who are you? he's from clover. clover does that so i can do this.

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the u.s. coast guard is still searching for at least 38 people after a suspecting smuggling ship capsized in a storm. it happened four days ago off the coast of florida the search began after the coast guard said a crew of sailors spotted this man sitting atop a sinking ship he said the boat set sail from the bahamas on saturday and capsized shortly after due to bad weather. the survivor says nobody on board has been wearing lifejackets. the coast guard confirmed at least one person has been found dead from the wreck, but they found nobody else. homeland security officials say they've launched a criminal

investigation. disaster relief to tonga an australian naval ship carrying supplies arrived on the island nation today. about two weeks ago that volcano erupted under water triggering tsu tsunamis australian officials say the naval ship brought helicopters and engineering equipment plus some medical supplies, but there's a problem. the australian defense minister say more than 20 people on board the vessel tested positive for covid. they're being isolated and showing mild symptoms or none at all, but the tongan officials are worried. they've officially had just one case back in late october. australian officials say they plan to deliver aid in a covid-safe way. boris johnson's job as the prime minister could very well rest on the result of a report

by a woman named sue gray, the senior civil servant investigating what the brits call party-gate. we've reported she's looking into the alleged parties during covid lockdown at number 10 downing street over the last two years. that final report was expected to be publishedtoday, but sue gray has yet to submit the report to the embattled prime minister or so we're told. today boris johnson defied calls to resign. he defended his government's record in a feisty performance. >> many people may want me out of the ray the reason he wants me out of the way because he knows this government can be trusted to deliver. we've taken the tough decisions, we've got the big calls right and we're, and in particular i, am getting on with the job. >> well, the british tabloids, ruthless as always the ""'s headline, the prime minister waiting on his fate

the daily star with a tomb stoem that lies here lies the prime minister's credibility and lies and lies and lies. john craig is the chief political correspondent for our sister network sky news in the uk he's there in london sue gray said to have finished the report yesterday, expected to be published today. what's the delay, john >> three things really she's talking to three groups of people the first is lawyers to make sure it's all legally watertight the second is what we call in the uk hr, human resources people that's the people who look after the welfare of staff, in this case civil servants who may be mentioned in the report, criticized and possibly face disciplinary action. thirdly, the metropolitan police now in a shock move yesterday. they announced they were going to have a criminal investigation. that's why it's not yet we're

told, be handed to boris johnson, the prime minister. that's why he hasn't had a chance to put his side of the story, his defense in the house of commons yet. >> for people watching on this side of the pond it's all very curious. we wonder if the prime minister's conservative party members have been waiting for this report for weeks. what might inspire a vote of no confidence that could leave him without this job >> what would really spell trouble for the prime minister is if the report shows or even suggests that he has been dishonest, not told the whole truth to mps in the house of commons. the prime minister's questions earlier today, asking about the ministerial code and does he think it applies to him? one of the key bits of the ministerial code is that, if you lie to the house of commons, then you're out. that's it. some of the prime minister's supporters have argued that these are relatively trivial

matters. what really would land the prime minister in big trouble is if it turns out he's told lies to parliament. >> parish the thought. jamaica's bobsled team qualified for the olympics for the first time in 24 years tonight their dream of competing at the beijing games is in real jeopardy the reason is they don't have their olympic passes our sister network sky news is reporting the passes were shaped to jamaica, but the team has been training in europe. now fedex reportedly tried to fix the mixup and ship the passes to the uk, but they haven't showed up yet where now meets next jamaica's bobsled team scheduled to fly to beijing on friday. without their official olympic documents they won't be allowed to compete at all. that means they have just hours to track them down the games set to start next week. snake burglar has struck again. he's been robbing local businesses in riverside, california there he is in surveillance video.

the robber's signature move, slithering on the floor like that police say he does that hoping motion sensors don't pick him up back in december a local salon owner said snake burglar stole a safe with with $8,000 along with a cash register and hair products she told nbc 4 los angeles >> i was like why are you sliding on the floor >> because he's the snake burglar. back in december, two other riverside businesses also reported a thief with the same slithery thing going on. earlier this month, a gold dealer spotted what appears to be -- you decide it's very similar, on the floor there. this time he made off with tens of thousands of silver the store's owner sais no arrest yet. police are asking anyone who recognizes this sort of movement and activity, maybe the sneakers or the socks, to please give them a jingle.

50 seconds left on a race to the finish nbc news learned supreme court justice stephen brier peyer pla return at the end of his term. we're waiting for rgs president vout's response after the united states delivered written answers to his demands about ukraine. it comes as russia ramps up military exercises and amasses troops near the ukrainian border an interest rate hike could come as soon as march to tackle inflation. now you know the news of this wednesday, january 26, 2022. i'm shepard smith. follow us on the graham and follow us on the graham and twitter if you'd be so kin

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