idea can lead to an excellent company, lead to a wonderful ipo. >> also can lead to jealousy, people not liking people who succeed, and people who go after you. >> and that's -- >> right? >> it seems to be the american way. doesn't it? >> i thought that things were going along just great. a wonderful family. a beautiful daughter. a fantastic business. >> what have you had that was a failure? you have been so successful. there has to be something that didn't go right. >> in business, not much. >> not much? >> no. >> martha stewart was at the height of wealthy and glory. she could do no long. and then something like this happens. >> questions these days from martha stewart. >> a federal prosecutor says that she is among those under investigation for suspected insider trading. >> all of a sudden here was

martha stewart, a picture of perfection, and she is under investigation by the feds. it was shocking. >> indeed. tune in, the final two all-new episodes of many lives of martha tua tonight 9:00 p.m. eastern and pacific only on cnn. hello, everyone. thank you for joining me. we begin this hour with several developing stories. severe storms are sweeping into california. an atmospheric river is inundating the state and expected to bring heavy rain, hurricane-force wind gusts and potentially life-threatening flooding. nearly 40 million people are under flood watches right now and evacuations are underway in some areas. we have live coverage of this major storm. also, new developments at the u.s. southern border. republican governors from more than a dozen states showing

their support for texas. the state is feuding with the federal government over the border crisis and access to the border itself. texas officials refusing to tear down barriers despite a u.s. supreme court order. we will have the latest from the ground. and new reaction from the latest u.s. strikes in the middle east. the u.s. and u.k. hitting at least 36 houthi targets in yemen on saturday. houthi rebels vowing to retaliate. and it follows u.s. airstrikes on iran-backed militias in syria and iraq. a response to a deadly attack on u.s. troops in jordan. all right. we begin with new evacuation orders over the threat of mudslides in los angeles county. the second of back-to-back storms bringing potentially life-threatening floods to california. now portions of the owens brush fire burns scar zone must evacuate through tuesday. strong winds and intense rain causing flight delays and cancellations at san francisco's airport.

and leaving more than 180,000 without power across the state. cnn's camilla bernal is live at the los angeles river and meteorologist alisa rafa is tracking this major storm system from the cnn weather center. camilla, you first. it looks like the wind gusts are starting to pick up. >> reporter: hey, fred, yeah. a little bit of wind and some light rain. but really authorities saying sh these are the last hours here in los angeles county where people can get ready for the storm. they are asking npeople not to travel, to maintain just an eye on all of the information to make sure they have an emergency kit in place, and if you're under those evacuation orders, they are asking you to pack your things and go to a shelter or go to a friend's house. the concern here in the los angeles area near the river areas flood and the canyons, because of the high potential for dangerous debris, for

landslides. so people in those areas need to know or need to make the move as soon as they can. there are evacuation orders in los angeles, santa clara county, san jose, also ventura county and santa barbara county, classes in santa barbara county have been canceled tomorrow. so really authorities telling people to keep an eye out and be prepared because overall we are expecting power outages throughout the state. so authorities telling people to prepare to be without power, maybe for a few hours or even longer if that ends up being the case. the idea here is to get everyone as prepared as possible. officials here in california say they already have about 8,500 people ready to go in case things get worse. that includes swift-water rescue teams, helicopter teams, and just people ready to go in case the situation gets worse. in the meantime, though there are many people here in los

angeles, and around california, who are preparing, going to grab maybe sandbags from their local fire station because that really is some of the things you can start doing now before the storm comes. i want you to listen to what one l.a. resident told me. >> we have done a lot of work around the house and now we've got the sandbags that will hit some of the places we think there will be an excessive amount of flooding. we have had heavier storms a few weeks ago and we had a little bit of flooding outside in the yard into the neighbor's yard, and we decided this time, since the storm is going to be a lot heavier, or expected to be a lot heavier, that we would sandbag a lot more. >> reporter: and we are waiting for officials to give us the latest information in a press conference soon. they are asking people to take it seriously because the next couple of hours, next couple of days things could get dangerous here, fred. >> indeed.

camilla, thank you so much. alisa, what should people expect weatherwise? >> we are looking at that intense flooding. incredibly gusty winds and the possibility of landslides. so an active next 24 to 48, even 72 hours. you could see the kind of plume there that just continues to pull into parts of central and northern california. and you see the little lightning strike. that is where the center of the storm is and it's deepening and it is intensifying and the winds are picking up. a lot of the heaviest rain from san francisco into sacramento there. that's where we have had problems in the air with problems at the airport in san francisco. wind gusts have already been 75 to 80 to 85 miles per hour in some of those mountain peaks. just incredibly gusty. that's knocking out power. latest count is over 180,000 customers without power. in l.a. and san diego, huge population centers, too.

this is that high risk of flooding which is incredibly rare not just for california, but really for the entire u.s. fewer than 4% of our days have that excessive high risk. but they are responsible for 80% of the flood damage and 40% of flood deaths. it's not just today. we have a high risk that includes los angeles again tomorrow as that heavy rain just continues to pile into southern california. it's a multiple day event here. we are looking at dangerous and life-threatening flash floods, river and urban flooding, mud debris and landslides in the barn scars and downed trees and power lines. look at the wind warnings. all of that deep red there gusts up to 80 miles per hour. the first time ever hurricane-force winds for the central coast of california. you can see the winds packing in there today and tomorrow. so you could see the rain and notice in southern california how it lasts for days on end. look at that firehose of moisture with that hov eavy rai

through tuesday, fred. >> what makes this storm system so unique? >> it's packing so much rain because it's stalling over such a long amount of time. that l.a. got 2 inches inches of rain that last system. this event alone, parts of the l.a. area could see over 8 inches of rain. to put that in perspective, l.a.'s annual rain for the entire year they get about 12 inches f we get 6 inches, that's six months worth of rain. anything more than that, we are getting near annual totals. incredibly heavy rain from the system that is stalling, toppled with the wind and the snow. you just got multiple threats here, fred. >> all right. thank you to both of you. appreciate it. now to the middle east. the u.s. is vowing to continue operations in the region after they carried out strikes against iran-backed militias in yemen saturday. u.s. central command says the strikes were conducted in

self-defense and included houthi anti-ship cruise missiles that were preparing to launch. the strikes hit 36 targets across 13 to locations. they were aimed at military storage facilities as well as other weapons used by the houthis to attack shipping layups in the red sea. a day earlier the u.s. launched a series of airstrikes on iran-backed militias in syria and rockefeller and that was in retaliation for last week's attack in jordan which killed three american soldiers. cnn's jeremy diamond is in tel aviv. are we getting a sense yet of the kind of impact that is making? >> reporter: well, it is hard to judge right now exactly what the impact of the strikes was. we know that the intention was to try to degrade the houthis' capabilities to continue launching these attacks on ships in the red sea, but here are the facts that we know. 36 targets struck at 13 different locations. launched from u.s. and british warships as well as fighter

jets. what they were targeting was deeply buried weapons storage facilities that the houthis have as well as missile launchers and air defense systems, and jake sullivan, the national security advisor, says he believes these strikes had, quote, good affect in reducing the houthis' capabilities. this is the second largest strike we have seen the u.s. and the u.k. carry out on the houthis since that initial strike on january 11th. but we know that after even that first strike, which was larger than this one, that the houthis have remained determined to continue carrying out these attacks on commercial as well as u.s. navy warships in the area. and in fact these strikes perhaps they were as significant as they were because it came after a week during which the houthis launched a significant number of drones as well as missiles targeting those commercial vessels as well as u.s. navy ships in the area. >> and u.s. secretary of state

antony blinken is set to arrive in the middle east for his fifth trip to the region since october 7th. how might this visit be different? >> well, you know, three and a half weeks ago when the secretary of state came here, he was focused on hostage release issues, focused on trying to prevent this regional -- these regional skirmishes from escalating to a full-on regional war and also focused on longer-term peace and security of the regional, and yet right now he is focused on those very same issues. it is against a slightly different backdrop. there has been a lot of progress the last couple of weeks to move forwards the next hostage deal and we know that the united states is the -- the israelis, egyptians, qataris agreed to this framework that humid is looking over and a response from hamas could come while the secretary of state is in the region. we know that as it relates to trying to prevent this war from escalating further in the region that it comes against the backdrop of these attacks that the united states has carried

out not only against the houthis and yemen but also against iranian proxies in iraq and syria. so there is -- there are a lot of really critical issues for the secretary of state to be addressing here and notably these are thorny issues sticking around for weeks now that the secretary of state is going to try to alter in some way this week. fred. >> jeremy, thank you. all right. let's bring in lieutenant-general ben hodges, former commander of u.s. army forces in europe. good to see you. are these strikes on houthis significantly degrade tharg abi degrading their ability to attack ships in the red sea? >> it's hard to tell if they have been degraded. honestly, i don't see how they are. you know, what our great air force and navy are able do is incredible. the number of strikes they are making simultaneously, multiple countries. it's incredible. but that is not going to solve our problem. what i miss in all of the

conversations and analysis is what is america's objective here? what are we trying to accomplish -- >> i thought that was the -- i thought that was the objective, which was to degrade their abilities. >> that's not a strategic objective. that's -- that's a -- these are tactics, policy decisions about whether or not to strike something. what is the strategy that actually drives it? what is the end state that we are trying to create in the middle east? it's got to be something more specific well, we want peace. obviously, freedom of navigation for commercial shipping, that is a strategic interest of the united states. but just going -- and i am not against killing all of these terrorist organizations. but there needs to be a strategic purpose that this should help accomplish, and i don't hear what that is. >> so there are two different -- you know, two things going on here, right? i mean, in terms of the shipping

channels, that's one issue that you just mentioned and the continued threats there in, you know, the aidan sea and read sea. separat separately, retall tear strikes as a result of the three u.s. soldiers killed in jordan. do you see those as separate missions or do you see it as one giant mission by virtue of being in a similar region and involving, you know, say, militia groups? >> i think these are -- all should be considered as parts of a larger whole. that is america's interest in this region? what is the end state that we are trying to accomplish with our allies and partners in the region, by the way? of course, what iran is doing -- remember, iran is the most important and reliable ally to russia. who is benefiting the most from all of this u.s. attention being diverted to deal with iranian

proxies, the houthis or hamas or hezbollah and the others? it's the kremlin. the kremlin benefits from all of this. so our strategy all out to be about isolating iran so it cannot support russia, so it cannot support these various proxies that really cannot do much without the resources and support they get from iran. so i think that we have to clarify what is our objective, and then apply the necessary resources to do that. >> understand. all right. lieutenant-general ben hodges, thank you so much. >> thanks for the privilege. coming up, nikki haley's bold move. will her late night cameo help her pull off a win in south carolina? and the high stakes, u.s. supreme court hearing that could have major implications for the 2024 presidential race.

. president joe biden is heading to las vegas today for a campaign event ahead of nevada 'primary on tuesday. it comes after biden cruise today an expected but still significant win last night in south carolina. it was his first official primary victory of the 2024 campaign season. with me to talk about all of this and more is julian, a cnn political analyst and historian and professor at princeton university. and lanhee chen, a former policy director for mitt romney. great to see both of you gentlemen. >> nice to be with you. >> biden won easily in south carolina, picking up just over 96% of the vote against two long shot challengers. so what are the takeaways for

the biden campaign after this win? >> well, it shows once again there isn't really a contest for this nomination. the democratic party, there are divisions. there is disapproval, is behind him, and, you know, he still is pulling the votes he pulled last time around in 2020. so i think he feels good. it closes the door to more conversations if this is going to be a 1980 somehow with kennedy challenging carter back then. that's not happening this time. >> voter turnout for yesterday's south carolina primary was low and recent polls have shown that biden support among african americans is down compared to the past. how concerned should the biden campaign be about enthusiasm, especially among this critical voting block? >> well, i think this is their single biggest challenge, frankly, is getting voters who

are part of that base, part of that democratic base, getting them engaged and focused on the task at hand. so that's not just african american voters. we are seeing it with hispanic voters. we are seeing it with younger voters. so you the big question in any election in terms of the outcome, in terms of how well a candidate performance is always how enthused and how interested that base of support is going into an election. so i think the biden campaign has reason to be concerned. they are going to have to figure out a way to motivate those voters and it really encourage them. some tv this comes naturally. donald trump being the opponent i think will certainly create some measure of motivation. but the campaign has to do its work as well to make sure those key constituencies show up if president biden wants to do well in november. >> a new poll from nbc news finds former president donald trump narrowly leading joe biden 47% to 42% in a hypothetical 2024 matchup and that poll also found that biden, you know, with

a 20% deficit on handling the economy. why do you think the president has been unable to get voters to give him credit for some of the positive elements of the economy, such as low unemployment and strong jobs numbers? >> some tv has to do with the way americans get their news information. people have talked about the impact of tiktok, for example, and younger voters, which presents a more negative view of the economy than the numbers suggest. part of it is, even if the numbers are good, there are real problems there. inflation has raised prices. many americans perpetually feel that security, economically, is not what it was. and i think those numbers register in the kind of polls. and finally, we live in a polarized era, and i think that polarization affects how many americans are going to hear and see the numbers. i think he is going to have to win, frankly, despite these

numbers rather than changing them. >> and, lonnie, let's talk about a republican candidate here, nikki haley. you know, making a bold move with a surprise appearance on "saturday night live" last night. take a listen. >> i was curious. what would you say was the main cause of the civil war and do you think it starts with an s and ends with a "lavery"? >> yes, i probably should have said that the first time. >> so, lonnie, how might this rest with voters? sometimes people love to see charisma, self-deprecating, you know, some of, i guess, you know, the former president trump himself doesn't necessarily like, you know, "snl." many of the, you know, his base and many conservative republicans aren't that keen on it either. but what might this appearance do for a nikki haley? >> well, look, i think it was

nice, a nice move. i think it was actually a bold move in some ways because you are putting yourself into an unscript -- relative unscripted environment, an environment maybe where you wouldn't expect to get easy questions, obviously. they are going to be poking fun at you. at this stage of the campaign, it's important for nikki haley to put herself in these positions, to be out there presenting herself as at the alternative to donald trump in the republican party. it may not have an impact on the primary race. we will have to see. certainly, in order to turn the tide, she has to be in these situations where she makes herself known to voters. voters want to know who they are voting for fundamentally. that is the most important element of this. and think allowing people to get to see that part of her, maybe seeing a different side of her, i think it's a net positive and something that i think critics of nikki haley would say she didn't do enough of going in new hampshire a few weeks ago. i don't think she wants to make the same mistake twice going into her home state of south

carolina on february 24. >> you talked about the younger voters, apathetic. might get some of them excited about the race if they find humor in it, too. all right. thanks so much. >> thank you. all right. today in the border town of eagle pass, texas, governor greg abbott hosted and talked with about a dozen republican governors as he continues his standoff with the federal government over access to the border. what he had to say about the immigration battle between texas and the federal government.

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. releasing the final text of a long-awaited bipartisan deal aimed at addressing the crisis at the southern border. it's part of a massive national security package that has been months in the making and it comes as more than a dozen republican governors from across the country have received a briefing from texas governor greg abbott in the town of eagle pass. that city has become a flashpoint in the immigration crisis. the governor's visit comes amid a battle with the white house over the state's construction of barriers on the border. texas is continuing to build the barricades despite a u.s. supreme court ruling in favor of federal access to the border. cnn's rosa flores is in eagle pass, texas. rosa, you had to run over to the meeting. you are back in front of the camera. what did you learn? >> reporter: fred, well, this was quite an extraordinary press conference because texas governor greg abbott and these about dozen governors said that they are banding together for state rights. in other words, that states have the right to enforce border policy. now, that's extraordinary because the supreme court has

upheld that immigration is a federal function. with these governors, they are saying that they are side being what texas governor greg abbott is doing. now, i'm in shelby park. >> this is the park that the state of texas took over a few weeks ago. imagine central park around the country, this is their central park in eagle pass. and with the state, what they did overnight one day is they wrapped it with razor wire and they blocked the entrances with gates and they plopped humvees and soldiers with long guns. and so this community no longer has access to their public park. and border patrol was also denied access. so i asked governor greg abbott his rationale for not allowing border patrol to gain access to this park since what he is arguing is that the federal government is not enforcing border policy. how can border patrol enforce

border policy if they don't have access? here's what he said. take a listen. >> to be clear, from the very beginning and to this moment they have access to the boat ramp and access to the razor wire area if anybody's life is in danger. on top of that, however, the area where we are is an area where the federal government was using to further criminal activity. they are involved in violating the federal laws of the united states of america on this land. we will not allow this land to be used for illegal purposes. >> reporter: now, fred, to fact check the governor there, we are not aware of the federal government doing any sort of criminal activity in this park or along the river. what i can tell you is, from being the border reporter that gal that goes from border dtown to border town, border patrol agents, the brave men and women

that work along the border, they enforce the federal laws that are in the books right now. do those laws perhaps need to be updated? absolutely. most likely. the last time that comprehensive immigration reform happened in the country was 1986. ronald reagan was president. but again, fred, these are about a dozen governors and their stance is that they stand with the state of texas in the states enforcing immigration law. fred. >> rosa flores, thank you so much. in eagle pass, texas. all right. in this breaking news right now. we are learning new details about the u.s. airstrikes against targets in iraq and syria following the deaths of three u.s. soldiers in jordan. joining me is cnn's pentagon correspondent oren liebermann. what are you learning? >> we are getting a first battle damage assessment of the u.s. airstrikes in iraq and syria. four locations in syria. three in iraq. worth noting this is the first

time the u.s. has struck both countries simultaneously. normally it's one or the other. but that was the powerful ponce that president joe biden, the administration had promised after one week ago an attack in jordan killed three u.s. service members and wounded scores more. as for that battle damage assessment. >> the u.s. carried out strikes on 85 targets. nearly all, 84. so all but one were destroyed or functionally damaged according to two u.s. officials looking at that battle damage assessment. a complete post-strike analysis is still underway. it's only a couple days since the strikes were carried out and they are still working on the number of militants and casualties as a result of these strikes. but as of right now, no indication that any iranians were killed in the strike. the reason i say that specifically is because the u.s. had said these strikes targeted iran's islamic revolutionary guard core and affiliated

militias. wh no members of the irgc were killed as part of the strikes. the administration was under criticism because it took five days to military to the drone strike that killed three u.s. service members. the administration pointed out that the weather was one the big factors and friday was the earliest opportunity to carry out the strikes. still it appears there may have been time for iran and the proxies to move around personnel. we will learn more in the days ahead. of course, also important to note that president joe biden, defense secretary lloyd austin, the national security advisor all said that those strikes on friday were just the first step of the u.s. response for the drone attack that killed three u.s. service members. they won't say how else or what else will be targeted as part of the response. that's something we are very much waiting to see here. but again the first indication, the first battle damage assessment as a result of those strikes carried out on friday.

>> oren, thank you so much for that reporting. and we'll be right back.

officials in chile are expecting the death toll to rise from wildfires that are ripping through parts of the country right now. just moments ago officials announced at least 99 people have died and a mayor of one hard-hit city estimates that nearly 400 people are missing. a state of emergency has been declared as smoke rolls into central regions of the country forcing some to leave their homes. the fires come as chile is in the midst of a summer heatwave. scientists say climate change and hot dry el nino conditions are blamed for making the wildfires possible. and tonight cnn takes youto the far corners of the earth for a report on the climate crisis.

bill weir embedded with researchers exploring how the crisis is impacting wildlife. take a look. >> finally get chance to go ashore and are greeted by thousands of penguins. how can you not love penguins? my little boy is obsessed with penguins. and i'm obsessed with penguins because they walk like my little boy. they are like toddlers on land. so chill and curious. we had a logjam of the passengers on the ship because a penguin was in the middle of the trail. got to be respectful of the locals. this is their neighborhood. we're visitors. our delight turns to worry as we learn that these birds are building nests for chicks that have no chance of survival. the warming climate brought enough freakish spring snow this year it delayed nesting season for weeks. chicks born this late won't have

enough time to grow feathers and fat needed to get through winter. of course, what connects these little guys to the seals and the whales is crill. they need sea ice to reproduce and feed. the problem is, the sea ice is going away down here. and scientists are really concerned about what that means for the future of these ecosystems. >> bill, you're killing me here. chief climate correspondent bill weir, i mean, first close encounters with the whales. now with the penguins. i mean, makes me think happy feet, except this is a very sad commentary about what is happening, you know, with our penguins. so you've got to see up close and personal. tell me more. >> yeah, it is just whot place, it's so wonderful. you see waterfalls and you realize, wait, there shouldn't be waterfalls here. it's really changing fast at

both ends of the world. before i could mourning on the penguins, i talked to experts. turns out that is the one species thriving amid climate change because they are moving with the changes, moving their nests south. other species, chinstraps or rock hover penguins are trying to raise chicks in flooded ancient nesting zbloens and the numbers are crashing. there is a lesson for humans. a humpbacked whales are the most adaptable whale. they are in every ocean. we saw one a mile from times square a couple years ago, came up the hudson river. there is a limit because of that sea ice and crill. i learned so much. my mind was blown dozens of times making this special. beautiful but also gave us concrete signals of what is happening to our planet. and we are connected to these distant creatures, as odd as that sounds. >> humans need to pay attention. if wildlife is having a hard time surviving, you know, it

means that we, too, have challenges. >> yes. >> we need to address those challenges that wildlife is meeting up with. so you touched on that, you know, okay, well, penguins are adapting. the food source is still really important, so while they are adapting, you know, crill is in short supply or dangerous with that. what are they doing about food? >> well, there is actually new stresses now. so the whale industry, industrial whaling has largely gone extinct. now these big pods of whales are competing with crill fisheries. the other animal that likes it are humans for omega-3 supplements, we use it as fish food and pet food. so there was just a couple of months ago the first ever high ocean treaty looking to protect the antarctic peninsula. there is enough crill and it

would be great if we got more whales on the planet the more the better, they suck down carbon, seed the oceans, create marine life with their pooh everywhere theg. there are already mechanisms in place to try to protect these places before they are all gone. that would be grim for a lot of reasons. this is a baleen whale. sorry, a minke whale. anyway, lots of good stuff. >> hey, real quick, we are seeing that video again, i wanted to ask you yesterday, but, you know, there were the images. i guess are you all tagging -- are they tagging those whales? >> it looks like it with the cross bows. those are actually pregnancy tests. they use these cross bows with a little hollow tip to take a plug of blubber, like a mosquito bite to the whale. they get so much valuable date out of that, stress hormones,

toxins. pregnancy rates are the best way to sell how the good ice years relate to new baby whales. that's the best testament to healthy population there. so it was so cool chasing these big guys around saying, hey, can we take a little pregnancy test? >> right. amazing. >> really powerful. >> i know. we will see it all this evening. i was getting a little anxious. i had to find out now instead of waiting for tonight to find out what that was about. i am going to watch the rest. bill weir, thank you so much. all-new episode of "the whole story with anderson cooper" one whole hour, one whole story tonight 8:00 eastern and pacific only on cnn. we'll be right back.

two leading candidates for senate. two very different visions for california. steve garvey, the leading republican, is too conservative for california. he voted for trump twice and supported republicans for years, including far right conservatives.

adam schiff, the leading democrat, defended democracy against trump and the insurrectionists. he helped build affordable housing, lower drug costs, and bring good jobs back home. the choice is clear. i'm adam schiff, and i approve this message.

oh, the stars are out and on the red carpet, even if that red carpet just might be a little soggy in some places. the grammy awards kicking off in a few hours. parts of l.a. and a good part of southern california under a lot of heavy rain. show organizers have cancelled the limo cam due to the weather, so we won't see the celebrities getting out of their cars. i would like to bring in elizabeth -- who is braving the weather there in los angeles. it's really serious, this weather, very potentially dangerous. however, in this case, the show is going on. tell me more. >> reporter: the show must go on. and i wish that i could take credit and say that i was braving the weather. but the red carpet is entirely tented, fred. as you see around me, there is a full roof over here.

so, we're actually staying dry. the stars will be quite warm and toasty. but where this can end up posing a problem is traffic. we know that l.a. traffic is a disaster as it is. now you add in the rain and the potentially very serious weather. are the stars going to make it on time? i've got to tell you, this would not be the first time that we saw stars show up late. in fact, we just spoke with the executive producer of tonight's grammy show, who spoke about all the chaos. take a look. >> reporter: music's biggest night is one big concert. fun for us -- >> you never know what's going to happen on a live show. >> reporter: -- nail biting for executive producer ben winston. >> i always say that doing these shows is like running off a cliff and just, like, hoping that the parachute opens. >> reporter: last year, beyonce missed her first award, stuck in l.a. traffic, as was bad bunny, nearly throwing off the whole

show. >> he's pulling his jacket as he beginning because literally someone drove into traffic in a golf cart, grabbed bad bunny, and he got there with seconds to go. >> first time she's ever been on the grammys, which is crazy for me in a 60-year career. >> reporter: in hay grammy first, u2 will perform and present an award from the sphere in las vegas. and taylor swift could set a grammy record. but will see her on stage? >> taylor is tricky because she's got a show in japan a few days later. only three artists in the world have won album of the year three times, stevie wonder, frank sinatra, and taylor. if she was able to win this year's album, that's the first time anyone's ever won four. she will be a big part of it. >> a moving 16-minute inmemoriam is planned, with four formers.

expect unplanned surprises too, like that awkward ben and jen shot that went viral last year. >> i actually think was really unfair of them because i watched them. i was at all 20 cameras. they were up dancing having the time of their lives. it was just unluckily consider them that that one moment. >> reporter: and winston says prepare to be shocked by the final presenter of the night. >> they are a absolute global icon. i think jaws will drop to the floor. the only condition they gave is that it's a surprise. >> you know, only ten awards are going to be presented during the live show because they have to save time for all of the performances. but right now, as we speak, there are the rest of the awards that are being handed out. and our own cnn film, a documentary about little richard is nominated. we just caught up with the director on the red carpet. let's take a look.

>> reporter: "lilittle richard never received a grammy during his career. he is the architect of rock and roll. and there are so many artists who owe their careers to the example, sound, and the performance that he gifted us. >> reporter: really an incredible career, of course made so much history. and tonight we are going to see history made on that grammy stage. fred? >> well, indeed. all right. go lisa. hopefully this is little richard's night. okay. elizabeth wag meister, thank you so much. thank you so much for joining me today. i'm fredricka whitfield. "cnn newsroom" continues with omar jiminez after this.

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