federal government. plus, in the next 30 minutes, president biden takes his political fight to florida, home to his biggest potential rivals. and devastation in syria and turkey, almost unimaginable as the death toll closes in on 20,000. we re live in turkey where one of our reporters just witnessed an incredible rescue. but we start with some explosive moments in those hearings we just mentioned, both democratic and republican lawmakers going hard at the biden administration and its officials for not doing something sooner about that chinese surveillance balloon. the truth is i got a problem with the chinese balloon flying over my state. by the administration s logic, we would allow the chinese to fly surveillance balloons over the pentagon or other sensitive sites near populated areas. as an alaskan, i am so angry. i want to use other words, but i m not going to. i want to bring in nbc s ryan nobles who s on capitol hill and michael crowley as the diplomatic c
hello, and everyone, welcome to cnn newsroom. right now there is a desperate search and rescue operation under way across turkey and syria after a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake ripped through the two countries before dawn. the death toll now tops 2,700 and will like will keep rising as crews dig through the rubble. more than 120 aftershocks hit after the earthquake, including one almost as powerful as the earthquake itself. buildings crumbled to the ground. people feared trapped inside. others having to run for their lives. rescuers having to reach those who are stuck under piles of concrete and debris, like this boy in northern syria. you can just make him out buried under the wreckage. thankfully he was pulled the safety. rescuers also pulling this little girl from the debris in another syrian city. the u.s. and other countries are offering whatever help they can. and president biden said he has directed his team to provide any and all assistance immediately. cnn s juman
good saturday morning, everyone. and welcome to cnn this morning. i m amara walker. and i m boris sanchez. all eyes on the sky this morning as a chinese spy balloon continues drifting over the united states. where it is expected to go and why the white house has not ruled out shooting it down. and a brutal blast of dangerously cold air sweeping across the northeast. in some places it will feel like 50 to 60 degrees below zero. where we re seeing the cold air and when things will start to warm up. plus new developments in the tyre nichols case, why another officer is out of a job and why some first responders are now losing their licenses. plus important new testimony in the alex murdaugh trial, twists in the case and what it could mean for murdaugh s defense, coming up on cnn this morning . hi, everyone. if you are not keeping track, it is saturday. not time to go to work for most of you. february 4. thanks for waking up with us. i m amara walker in atlanta. an
following new details about that chinese spy balloon traveling across the country. new video into the cnn newsroom showing the balloon now hovering over asheville, and charlotte, north carolina in the last hour. and it could make it out to sea at any moment. the balloon was first spotted over montana on wednesday. china claims it s a civilian research vessel that blew offcourse, but the u.s. isn t buying that, calling the balloon s flight over u.s. soil an irresponsible act. secretary of state antony blinken postponing a planned trip to beijing in response. cnn s oren liebermann is at pentagon for us. oren, officials say the balloon doesn t currently seem to present a threat, but why is the pentagon also preceding with caution on it? reporter: so the pentagon has said for now that it will not be shooting this down, because of the risks from two different perspectives, first there s the risk to what s below, blow something up at 60,000 feet and that could be scattered over q
over the skies over asheville, north carolina. now it s possible one of the latest known tracks of the balloon as it flows eastward heading towards the atlantic ocean. more video into our newsroom just a short time ago shows that over clover south carolina, that is a neighboring city of charlotte north carolina, and this is international drama playing out in realtime as u.s. officials ponder their next move. just moments ago, president biden responded to a question about it. listen closely. mister president [inaudible] balloons [inaudible] we re going to take care of it. joining me now is it mr. bce vest of gated reporter dan. dan, what is taking care of it mean? any words from the u.s. officials about these ladies reported sightings? based on what the pentagon has said before right, they said that they were not ready to shoot down when it was overland because they were worried that this really large balloon would break up into debris, and dangerous piece of of debris