status quo or undermine peace and stability across the taiwan strait. that's obviously more muted than what we have gotten from chinese state media. according to chinese state media, xi told biden during this call, if you play with fire, you get burned. i asked this official whether that was perceived as a direct threat. the answer i got back was that the administration is not going to parse metaphors coming out of beijing. >> mj, do we know if they discussed russia's invasion of ukraine? >> reporter: we do. we are told that they did discuss russia's invasion of ukraine. but the readout again from the white house on this one was not terribly detailed. they said that the two leaders talked about where things stand, possible concerns where things could go in ukraine. this senior administration official telling reporters that they didn't see any particular breakthroughs on this front. obviously, the very big context here is that beijing has so far not condemned russia for its

invasion of ukraine. and i will just end by saying that according to officials, there was a discussion of a possible face-to-face meeting going forward. there's no timeline for that, but they are going to follow up and set up that meeting. >> mj lee, thank you. let's turn now to selena wang in beijing, gathering chinese reaction to joe biden and xi jinping's phone call. what did china have to say about mo pelosi's possible trip to taiwan? >> reporter: while the readout did not specifically mention pelosi, they gave a strong warning about playing with fire when it comes to taiwan. in that readout, xi jinping said, we firmly oppose taiwan independence and interference of external forces and will never leave any space for taiwan independence forces in any form. if you play with fire you get burned, and i hope the u.s. side can see this clearly. america is sending in one of its top politicians to taiwan, is

treating taiwan more like an independent country that. is a clear red line for beijing. this is concern that xi jinping could make a rash move that includes a show of military force in order to not appear weak at home. this is also a very sensitive political timing in china, because we're just three months away, a few months away from a key political meeting when xi jinping is expected to seek an unprecedented third term. on the other hand, i have spoken to many experts, including here in beijing, who say all of this coming from beijing, this is just fiery language. china does not actually want to escalate or risk a military conflict, and it is not in a position to do so, especially with all the challenges at home, given the pandemic, and the economic devastation from that. of course, they say if beijing were to make a move on taiwan, they would do it on their own terms and timeline, not someone else's timeline. >> what else did the chinese government have to say about the

call? >> reporter: well, they did call it candid and in depth. we did hear this often used phrase, that the united states is basically miscalculating, misjudging the u.s.-china relationship. and that america should not see china as this key strategic rival. they said this does not help the global development tha, and the other key point is from beijing's perspective, they see all the moves nato is doing, they see this as trying to suppress china's rise and trying to stifle them. so xi jinping here warning that, look, the way you're looking at this relationship is not right. don't see us as your main rival. jake? >> thank you so much. should speaker pelosi move forward with her trip to taiwan, the pentagon is developing a plane to keep her safe.

cnn's barbara starr joins us now from the pentagon. what do we know about this security plan for the speaker if she goes to taiwan? >> reporter: what pentagon officials are telling us is this is typical that they would develop a stand by security plan, that they would have assets in the region if needed, so the aircraft carrier "ronald reagan" is in the south china sea with its wing of aircraft on board. there are other aircraft in the region, other ships, satellites that can be moved into place to keep an eye out for any chinese military moves. you know, right now, the pentagon is adamant that they do not expect hostile action from the chinese. they just don't see that in the cards. but that said, what is so interesting, just a short time ago, my colleague oren lieberman and i have been told that chinese warships are already shadowing that aircraft carrier "the ronald reagan" in the south

china sea. it is a typical move by the chinese. they often shadow or trail u.s. ships in the region. but china very much sticking now clearly to its standard play, to go ahead and do that, the u.s. sticking to its standard play, to keep its ships and aircraft in the region, nobody is backing off. u.s. officials are saying don't look for hostility. what they do worry about is miscalculation, with so many ships, so many aircraft out there. they don't want any inadvertent accidents or unsafe, unprofessional encounters. the chairman of the joint chiefs general mark milley has been tracking all of this. he says that chinese dangerous aggressive, if you will, actions in the region are way up. so that is a concern. jake? >> barbara starr, thank you so much. joining us now is congressman jason crow, a member of the house armed services committee.

thank you for joining us. the white house says these phone calls with president xi are important to help maintain a personal relationship with china to avoid future conflicts. do you think this two-hour phone call did anything to lower tensions between the two countries? >> it's always good to be talking than not. you know, joe biden has a long history with president xi. and understands him, knows him well. so good to be talking, and we are adversaries with china right now. we're competitors with china right now, no doubt about that. but we also have mutual interests. we have to make sure that we avoid escalation on flashpoints, that we pursue mutual interests. so it's good to be talking. >> a chinese news agency released their version of a summary from a call. on the issue of taiwan, it says the position of the chinese government and chinese people on the taiwan issue has been consistent. and if you play with fire, you get burned. i hope the u.s. side can see

this clearly. how much stock do you put in china's warning here? that's a pretty tough thing to say, given that speaker pelosi is planning on going to taiwan. >> yeah, i don't put stock in that. they can say what they want. we're the united states of america, we're in a position of strength and we don't let other countries tell us when and where we can visit our partners and friends. i went with speaker pelosi to ukraine to visit president zelenskyy in april. this is what we do. we reach out, we show up around the world. we are the leaders of the free world. and we're not going to let other people tell us what we can and can't do. >> cnn's steven colinson warned about potential consequences if pelosi does go to taiwan. china has warned it will take forceful measures will pelosi visits. there is speculation in washington that china might

shadow her u.s. military plane with fighter jets or send aircraft flying over taiwan itself. a highly volatile scenario, fraught with the possibility for miscalculation. how concerned are you about that? >> we're very good at this. the united states department of defense does this all the time. you have congressional delegations, or used to, going into afghanistan. we go into places of africa all the time. we've been to ukraine numerous times. when you are a leader, you go where you need to go, and you visit. that's never without risk. but that the the cost of leadership. that's what you do. you figure out how to mitigate that risk. you work with the professionals at d.o.d. and with the administration to do it re respo responsibly. we just don't let other countries veto that with threats and deciding what we're going to do. we set the terms of our engagement and we mitigate that risk and make sure we put guard

rails in place. that's what we will do if speaker pelosi decides to do this trip. >> senator minority leader mitch mcconnell said if she doesn't go to taiwan, it will be seen as weak, as acquiescing to china's bombast. >> one thing i know about speaker pelosi, she does what she wants to do. what she needs to do, what her obligation is. so if the logistics and timing work out, there's a lot of things that go into this aside from diplomacy and chinese power politics. there's a lot of considerations that go into it. if she does do it, it will be done well, she will be a great ambassador along with other members of the delegation, and i have confidence they will represent the united states and support our partner in taiwan. >> it's not just her trip to taiwan. there are other issues the u.s. is having with china. biden is considering whether to ease those trump era tariffs and escalated chinese military

activity in the south china sea. do you think today's call with xi jinping worked to solve any of those other problems? >> i wasn't on the phone and i haven't seen a readout of the call yet. so i don't know. i know joe biden has spent many decades dealing with chinese leaders, leaders around the world. he has a great team surrounding him. again, engagement matters, but we live in a very complicated, volatile world. there are no simple issues any more, whether it's russia and ukraine, china and taiwan, issues in africa, south america, central america. it's all complicated and that's why having good leaders in the right roles matter. >> congressman, thank you so much. coming up, new reporting on the justice department's investigation into january 6th. the possible challenge from donald trump as federal prosecutors are preparing for. but first, the new warning aimed at slowing the spread of monkeypox and the concerning data coming in about testing for the virus. stay with us.

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number of sexual partners for now. and although the cdc says there's only a small number of cases diagnosed outside the population of men who have sex with men, it's important to note that anyone can contract this virus, which primarily spreads through close contact. this as the demand for monkeypox testing in the u.s. is shockingly low, despite more than 4,600 reported cases across the united states. let's bring in elizabeth cohen. explain this lack of demand for monkeypox testing that's meant to help get this outbreak under control. >> reporter: right, jake. it's crucial to have good testing, to get a handle on this outbreak. and the numbers are just growing and growing. so there's a real consertd effort. the cdc learned its lesson from covid and has lots of capacity. but what's happening is these labs are not getting a lot of samples from doctors. they're just not being sent in. one of the five commercial labs is mayo clip o clinical laborat.

they can process a thousand samples a week. so far, they have gotten 45 over the past two weeks. that's it. egis, another lab, they can do 5,000 a week, but they haven't gotten any. and this as monkeypox cases are climbing. if you take a look at this graph, you'll see the numbers are going up, up, up. a month ago, there was about 250 cases. now, there are, as you said, about 4600. so it's that those numbers are just climbing and climbing. there's a real need to get this under control. it's unclear why doctors aren't sending many in. part of the problem is you mentioned this is an outbreak mostly among men who have sex with men. a lot of those men go to sexual health clinics. 50% of those clinics can't use these private labs because they don't have enough money. >> over the weekend, w.h.o., the

world health organization, declared monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern. the u.s. has yet to do the same, despite the increase of known cases. why the wait? >> reporter: the secretary of health and human services says look, we have capacity at labs, we have quite a bit of vaccine out there. let's see how the response goes. there's some people who are thinking, you know, they ought to be doing this sooner rather than later. when you declare an emergency, you get funding, you can get some of the bureaucracy that goes away. and states will report data to get the outbreak under control. but it scares people when you say that. people will think, this could be another covid when that is not the case. monkeypox is not going to be another covid. it spreads much more slowly. it's much more difficult to get monkeypox. but the american people, you know, years into the pandemic, might perceive this as being something sort of more of a

terrible wildfire kind of outbreak than it would be. >> after weeks of delay, the fda signed off on 800,000 additional monkeypox vaccines. do we know where they're being distributed? >> states and cities are allowed to order these vaccines, jake. they're going to be distributed according to where there are the most cases, and also where there are the most men who have sex with men at high risk of monkeypox. the lack of testing is the issue there, because how do you know where there are the most cases? but let's take a look at the number of vaccines that are needed and the number that are going out there. so the cdc says that 3 million doses are needed for the eligible population. that's 1.5 million people who would be eligible, and they each need two doses. 300,000 doses have been distributed. another 800,000 are expected this week. but that's not even half. if you put the 300,000 and

800,000 together, that's not even half after what is needed. there is not enough vaccine out there for everyone eligible. >> elizabeth, thanks so much. coming up, two big developments coming in on the justice department's investigation into the january 6th investigation. stay with us. and effortlessly adjusts for your best sleep. tells you exactly how well you slept. your sleepiq score. our smart sleepers get 28 minutes more restful sleep per night. so, you can be your best for yourself and those you care about most. and now, save $500 on the sleep number 360 c4 smart bed, queen now only $1,299. lowest price ever! only for a limited time. (energetically) you guys are crushing it! see how the 8 grams of healthy protein in land o' frost premium meat gives you energy and keeps you full? let's get those buns toastin' bread. cheese. 10ore. go! ♪ i'm getting shredded! ♪ make t smart choice. land o'frost premium meat. if you have age-related macular degeneration, there's only so much time before it can lead to blindness.

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we're back with our politics lead and two major developments in the justice department's investigation into january 6th, include thing news. first on cnn, a former justice department staffer who worked with jeffrey clark, is now cooperating in the probe. jeffrey clark is the man who trump wanted to install as his attorney general when other top officials were pushing back on

his voter fraud claims. evan perez joins me now. tell us about this justice department staffer, why this is a big deal. >> reporter: jake, he worked with -- very closely with jeffrey clark. this is during a time late in december of 2020 when this effort to try to find a way to support former president trump's claims that there was vote fraud, certainly enough vote fraud to try to delay the certification of the election results. klukowski is now cooperating with the justice department. he had his electronics searched several weeks ago and now fully cooperating. we have a statement from his lawyer, who says we've been fully cooperating with the justice department and with the select committee, and we will continue with that cooperation. he now adds, jake, to the number of people who are cooperating. of course, we know cassidy hutchinson has been cooperating

with justice department prosecutors. and it really gives you a sense that prosecutors are trying to make sure they talk to as many people as possible who were involved in this effort to prevent the transfer of power. >> evan, you have new reporting on actions that prosecutors are preparing to take to force former white house officials to testify about trump's conversations and actions around january 6th. >> reporter: right. jake, this is about executive privilege, and we know that the prosecutors are trying to go deeper into the ranks of former white house officials, people who would have had direct interactions, direct conversations with the former president. now, we know this showed up recently in the testimony -- grand jury testimony of greg jacob and mark short, the aides to former vice president pence. they were in very key meetings, including one on january 4th, 2021, when the former president was pushing pence to find a way

to delay the certification or not certify the results of the 2020 election. we know that during their appearance before the grand jury, both jacob and mark short declined to answer certain questions about their direct interactions with the former president. what we expect to happen, jake, is that the justice department is going to go to court and fight this out. they expect they're going to win this court fight. the former president, if he decides to litigate this all the way to the supreme court, there could be some delays. but this is really untested, the idea of a former president, how much power does he have to try to shield his conversations when he was president at the time? especially in a criminal investigation, jake. >> what does this tell us, these interviews, about where the justice department is in this criminal investigation? >> prosecutors, these criminal prosecutors at the justice department are honing in on

former president trump's direct actions, the action that he was taking to troy to prevent the transfer of power and remain in office. you can tell that this is -- we can tell that this is part of the investigation that is still really at the beginning, jake. but we know that other parts of the investigation, the parts having to do with jeffrey clark, john eastman, appears to be in a much advanced stage, because we have seen searches of jeffrey clark, of course, at his home. they took his electronics. we know john eastman, they stopped him outside of a restaurant and searched his telephone. so we know that those parts of the investigation are at a more advanced stage. when it comes to things directly having to do with trump, it appears that the prosecutors are in a much earlier stage. >> evan perez, thank you. today, president biden is urging democrats to act quickly. joe manchin and chuck schumer unveiled the long sought-after

agreement yesterday. they say the bill would lower health care costs and combat climate change and reduce the deficit. manu raju joins us now. tell us what obstacles this bill will face, do they have 50 votes for it yet? >> reporter: not yet that. is the biggest obstacle yet. senator sinema, someone who helped scuttle parts of the build back better bill because of her concerns over tax structures. this deal was cut ex-cclusively between joe manchin and chuck schumer. sinema has refused to say where she will come down. she's declining to comment, she would not answer questions about it today. she did not even go to a senate democratic caucus meeting where they discussed these issues. her office is waiting for the senate parliamentarian's review of this bill to move ahead. that is the other big obstacle

here, jake. the senate parliamentarian needs to decide whether this can pass muster under the senator's budget rules. if she does say that, then the bill can pass along straight party lines avoiding a filibuster, meaning they don't need any republican votes to get this done. so these are the two cheap hurdles. but chuck shumer is optimistic this will move ahead after he and joe manchin reengaged in talks and cut this deal. manchin told me and other reporters today that he was alarmed at the inflation numbers that came out in june, mid july about the june numbers. that's why he initially stepped back. but he continued to talk and a deal was reached. take a listen. >> that 9.1 came in, i just can't do it. our tempers are getting ahead of us at times. by monday, we passed each other and said something, hi, how are

you doing? you still upset, this and that. i said, this is ridiculous. let's recalibrate and see if something can be done. to his credit, he said okay, and he put his staff with our staff and we started talking and told him what we thought could work. >> reporter: and the other big question, if it gets out of the senate, what will happen in the house? a handful of democrats from northeast states are concerned how these tax provisions have been dealt with, namely whether or not to allow for the deductions of state and local taxes and increase the caps put in by the gop tax law that hits their constituents. so uncertain whether those votes will be there, but democrats are optimistic they'll get there. >> it seems as though this deal has had ripple effects on other legislation. >> reporter: we saw that earlier today when house republican leaders tried to get their members in line to oppose this bill, to bolster semiconductor chip production in the united states. it was waiting action in the

house. they said because of this manchin/schumer deal, they wanted members to scuttle this bill. two dozen republicans joined democrats and that bill passed. and yesterday, senate republicans reversed their position and blocked legislation to allow veterans who have been exposed to toxic burn pits to get access to health care under this legislation. but republicans are denying the connection between the manchin/schumer deal and their decision to reverse their position. they simply want amendment votes. right now,'9 it appears that ca get revolved next week. >> let's discuss with our panel. first, i am curious as to your take on the biden administration trying to say we're not in a recession, even though the traditional colloquial definition of a recession is two successive quarters of negative

gdp growth and we're in that. they're saying the job growth is too strong to be a recession. what do you make of that? >> i think they would be better off saying something more like, if this is a recession, we're hoping it will be mild and we're doing our best to make it as short as possible. the problem contesting the definition of a recession is voters make their own judgments about the conditions they're under. voters have been unhappy with this economy, and it begins to sound like the president and his team are arguing with the votes about how they're feeling. that's not good position to be in. >> there is a risk as looking as though they're in denial. >> yeah. i think they should be talking about what they're doing to strengthen the economy. this week is a week where they have a great story to tell. the job market is strong. and so i don't think the average person gets caught up in these definitions. so i don't think it's worth them trying to have that fight with

the media. they should be talking about what they're trying to do to strengthen the economy. >> let's talk about the manchin/schumer deal, which took everybody by surprise, including democrats in the senate. do you think this could pass? i feel like i have told this story a hundred times before. now we'll hear from the parliamentarian, which is important, of course. >> there could be bumps along the way, as there always are, with big pieces of legislation. this is sort of the last train out of town. and sometimes when it's the last train out of town, democrats -- or the party in charge running the train station finds a way to make it happen. and usually it's like a thursday night, and it seems like it's going to be impossible and magic happens. the timing is not thursday, but there's a recess. and that can cause magic. >> i think it will pass. senator manchin is a shield or has been a shield for senator sinema. he's already leaked some information, including she might

support this minimum corps orat tax rate. if she no longer has that shield of manchin, i just think the pressure of the knives being out and some kind of a primary contest against her would be so sharp. and i spoke with a prominent democrat who said it will be hard for the moderates to vote against it because of the deficit reduction measures, and the progressives are never going to vote against these climate provision. if pelosi was able to get the vote, i'm told she's confident she can ultimately get the votes for this. >> a lot of people probably don't understand why senate republicans, excited about this chip bill, you know, to have more semiconductor manufacturing in the united states, would hear about this deal between manchin and schumer and then say, oh, well then i'm not going to support the chip bill.

like they don't get it. >> yeah. you know, maybe the public's right. the thing is, this is the sort of thing people mouth off when they're frustrated, and when the other side is making gains that they don't want them to make. but actually, that kind of pretty petty tit for tat retaliation doesn't happen that much. you were talking earlier about this causing a ripple. that's right, it was a ripple, not a wave. there were a lot of republicans that voted for that in the house. i don't think whether bbb or some vergssion of this reconciliation bill passes is going to pass other legislation. >> it's beyond petty. petty like, that's trivial. the fact that they would turn around and vote against that bill, that conversation with jon stewart just reminds you they are willing to play politics with people's lives. we were talking yesterday on your show say thing bill is a

big win. for america. >> i don't think that's a retaliation thing. this is going to get taken care of over the weekend. >> the burn pit bill. >> and the spending problem that republicans have is going to get fixed. >> so just to remind people, jon stewart did a good job explaining the issue. pat toomey doesn't want this money to be discretionary, but mandatory, meaning you have to spend it on burn pit health for veterans, you can't -- and it's just a technical thing, that a lot of americans don't understand. >> what americans see is that this bill that was on a glide path hits the skids. and americans have a very low view of congress, and it's things like this where it doesn't make sense from the outside, why in the world would this suddenly be a problem? and then come monday, they'll probably resolve the problem and you have a weekend of really bad headlines like congress can't get its act together, republicans, you know, got in

the way of this thing that would help veterans. sometimes it boggles the mind. >> you know what appears to have happened here? after all these years of watching the master tactician, mitch mcconnell, maneuver and on the floor in these parliamentary procedures, that chuck schumer learned something. he moved the bill first that he knew republicans would support on china competition, waited hours, and kept completely secretly this other big block buster deal he knew they would hate, cut the bill, put the bill out. it's not even a draft, it's a final bill, and now the republicans are retaliating and self-emulating, voting against these bills like burn pit. >> a lot of republicans say there isn't actually -- that's not why they're retaliating. but i do wonder, look, pat toomey has always had this objection to this legislation, but as jon stewart pointed out, it already passed.

>> toomey was opposed to it when it passed 82-14. >> we only got the cbo score that says it was $680 billion, not $280 billion in june. it was before that final vote. we all know that people don't focus on every aspect of legislation. sometimes they don't focus on it until late in the game. that's what happened here with republicans. again, i think this is going to be resolved and it will be independent of what happens to other pieces of legislation. >> one other thing, you said you think this is going to pass. pelosi's warning of land lines, warnock warns about republican booby traps. are you saying it's going to be easy? >> i don't think it's going to be easy, but i think ultimately it will pass for the reasons that i outline. now, there are very clearly going to be challenges, even the ways and means chairman, ritchie neil, is on the record being against the carried interest provision.

hedge fund managers, you know, investment folks, pay a lower tax rate, like 15%, and it would just be -- so this would just be evening it out and making them pay a normal income tax rate. this has been toxic in the past. i know, i got on the wrong side of chuck schumer once when i wrote a story about him and why he wasn't supporting doing away with this. and so there's also all of these other provisions that northeastern republicans or democrats want to see passed on state and local taxes and mortgage deductions and things like that. >> i think this helps the democrats cutting their losses. this is going to be a difficult election for them. one of the things this does is they get new health care subsidies that keep people from getting premium hikes right before the election. so i'm not in the camp that says this is going to help the

democrats. i think it will help them cut their losses. >> thanks, one and all. coming up next, the remarks from donald trump as he tried to defend and hype the tournament founded by saudi arabia starting tomorrow at his golf course. whwhen you have technology that's easier to control... that can scale a across all your clouds... we got t that right? yeah, we got that. it's easier to be an innovator. so you can do more incredible things. [whistling]

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using less or a lot less oral pain medicines. and improved quality of life. ask your doctor about salonpas. it's good medicine. seen this ad? it's not paid for by california tribes. it's paid for by the out of state gambling corporations that wrote prop 27. it doesn't tell you 90% of the profits go to the out of state corporations. a tiny share goes to the homeless, and even less to tribes. and a big loophole says, costs to promote betting reduce money for the tribes, so they get less. hidden agendas. fine print. loopholes. prop 27. they didn't write it for the tribes or the homeless. they wrote it for themselves. when i make decisions as a leader, it's not about me or the folks that are here. it's about the next seven generations coming behind us,

making sure that they have the ability to move forward. prop 27 will help small rural tribes like mine get a seat at the table will be transformational for my tribal members. taxing online sports betting gives us an opportunity to really enhance the lives of our tribe and strengthen the future of our people. vote yes on prop 27. former president donald trump trying to defend his partnership with the saudis regarding the liv government tournament, just told an espn reporter "nobody's gotten to the bottom of 9/11, unfortunately." an asinine comment coming as 9/11 families are protesting the saudi funded tournament at trump's resort.

much of the funding for 9/11 and 15 of the nine hijackers were, of course, saudi, as was osama bin laden. obviously, the 9/11 commission and fbi would disagree with the comment. it prompts the question, who does trump think was responsible for 9/11? he doesn't think the saudis were responsible at all? paula sandoval is following the tournament where trump and golfers are focused on the green. >> reporter: former president donald trump teeing off in a pro-am in new jersey amid controversy testing both the sporting world and international relations. the third event of saudi backed liv golf starts friday, attracting big-namath leets with millions in guaranteed paydays. bubba watson reportedly the latest to join in. the breakaway league has drawn criticism over concerns it provides international legitimacy to saudi arabia's regime, which has been accused

of human rights violations for years. it includes a 2018 killing of jamal khashoggi. u.s. intelligence maintains the saudi crown prince approved of the on participeration that tar journalist. >> it is a stunt bought and paid for by the kingdom of saudi arabia. >> reporter: critics claim it's using this league to he wlp improve saudi arabia's image. >>ky confidently say that change is happening and what we do is having a positive effect. >> reporter: families of 9/11 victims point to saudi arabia as home of the 15 of the 19 hijackers responsible for the terror attacks. though the kingdom denies that involvement. >> i lost my husband in the north tower. >> reporter: donald trump's golf club, just 50 miles from ground zero. the former president defending

the tournament to espn today. >> nobody has gotten to the bottom of 9/11, unfortunately. >> reporter: it's the first of two liv competitions on trump's properties. >> we welcome healthy competition. the liv saudi golf league is not that. >> reporter: the pga has suspended golfers who have joined liv. >> if it were backed by any other entity, it would be a rival tour. in this case, there's a direct business relationship between each of these golfers and the saudi regime. >> reporter: the families of those 9/11 victims expect to speak out again tomorrow. they maintain they're holding every president responsible since the attacks of 9/11 for not doing enough to hold the saudis responsible for their alleged role in the attacks some 21 years ago. the tournament gets underway tomorrow here in bedminster as planned. >> palo, thank you so much. an alarming warning today from the governor of kentucky,

hundreds will lose their homes. just one of the effects of the climate crisis, that's next. [acoustic soul music throughout] [acoustic soul music throughout] [acoustic ul music throughout] [acoustic soul music throughout] [acoustic soul music throughout]

to our viewers in the united states and around the world. welcome to the situation room. in our earth matters series the climate crisis is making wildfires more frequent and more dangerous. bill weir reports from california now where the wildfire season is already unprecedented and things could soon get even worse. >> reporter: it actually started right around here? >> started over here. this ridge over here. >> reporter: okay. >> in the first 24 hours, this fire grew 10,000 acres. >> reporter: put that in perspective. that's crazy fast. >> crazy fast. >> reporter: the oak fire is the

biggest fire in california. and because fire season winds haven't really started blowing yet, there are almost 4,000 firefighters here from all corners of the state. they managed to keep flames out of yosemite national park, but not the smoke. and they say they won't fully contain this blaze for weeks. >> what makes this oak fire especially scary, though, it devastated a lot of land really fast and the winds aren't howling like they would be for santa ana or diablo. >> that's correct. we're in extreme conditions but things could get worst. >> reporter: a healthy forest needs occasional fire to renuve jats itself, but ever since world war ii smokey the bear has been preaching fire suppression and across much of california all this fuel has been loading up over the decades. a fire drought really, just in time for the old-fashioned drought. a 22-year mega drought. this combination now making californians rethink everything they know about property values

and insurance markets and defensible spaces. >> the course of my career i've seen the biggest fire happen year after year after year. it's impressive. >> no offense, you don't look like a grizzled veteran, but it's not the years, it's the fires these days. >> the fires, yes. >> to that fact, you know, these fires have been happening within the last 10, 15 years. you can go back to, you know, 2003 and then all of a sudden something happened. >> reporter: i wonder about folks who live in amazing spots like this, a great find in the '70s when the fire like this was once-in-a-lifetime. >> sure. >> reporter: now it's once every couple years. >> yes, sir. >> reporter: could you see it changing the psychology of folks in these wild places? >> it takes a special person to come live out here and we just hope if you decide to live out here, you learn thou prepare yourself, prepare your property, prepare an emergency escape plan and create some defensible space

like you see here. this person did a great job at clearing out some combustible vegetation and brush away from the fire. >> reporter: the numbers are staggering, jake. 22 helicopters, 300 fire engine, 81 bulldozers, but in the end, whether they save your house, could come down to how much yard work they have to do by your house. it's the new age of living with fire. jake? >> bill weir, thank you so much. from fires to floods, extreme weather taking a real toll. that's next. stay with us. that a specific t formula can help reduce the risk of dryry amd progression. ask your doctor now about an areds 2 supplement. . big game today! everybody ready? alexa, ask buick to start my enclave. i just love our new ala. dad, it's a buick. i love that w alexa smell.

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. also in our earth matters series, more than 8 inches of rain from overnight and this morning inundated eastern kentucky, killing at least three people, knocking out power, transforming roads into rivers and forcing swift water rescues. preliminary data shows the river in whitesburg, kentucky, rose 20 feet in a matter of hours. kentucky's governors expects

hundreds will lose their homes and more rain is expected tonight and tomorrow. follow us on twitter and instagram and facebook and the tiktok if you miss an episode, listen to "the lead" from where you get your podcasts. our coverage continues with mr. wolf blitzer in a place i like to call "the situation room." happening now, the justice department is preparing for a court battle to force top trump white house officials to testify about their conversations with the former president on and around january 6th. stand by for exclusive new details on this new phase in the criminal investigation. and it's official, the u.s. economy shrinks again. raising fears of a recession. but the white house is pushing back. i'll speak with former treasury secretary larry summers, who sounded an early warning on inflation last year. also tonight, there'