how worried should the white house be concerned about this? >> the white house should be concerned. there are a lot of voters around the country who are critical to the president. of course, african american voters, black women in particular are now looking aushlgd and saying what exactly did we get for this loyalty and support especially when it comes to voting rights that the president had been backing but not as vocal about in the last few months. let's remember i pressed president biden and said why are you not behind a voting rights carveout to the filibuster, and he did not want to get behind that. he's, of course, since gotten involved and behind it, but jim clyburn says this is something he should have dub. that said the president is very much popular with african american voters. he was very, i think, honest in the idea, this is a problem of my own makings. he was genuinely saying, i need to do better going forward. i think the white house are going to be trying to double down on the idea that he'll have black support in this country. >> and david plouffe, the president was

white house counsel. he was reported to have said that at a january 3rd meeting in the oval office where trump was discussing the possibility of installing a new attorney so that he can use the justice department to basically force the falsification of the election results. we knew, previously from other testimonies that cipollone had threatened to resign at that meeting. over that prospect of the justice department being used in that way. these new text from mr. hannity would seem to suggest that the white house counsel also threatened to resign even earlier than that. four days earlier than that. as early as last new years eve. what was that threat to resign about? also, from the text from mr. hannity that was released by the investigation tonight, it would appear that the white house counsel also was renewing those threats to resign on days later. on january 5th, the night before the attack on the capitol. acrding to the taxthat threat to resign would appear to be a response to the pressure that was be

house chiefs of staff gives klain high marks. >> he's been a really effective white house chief. i think if you asked all the former living white house chiefs of staff, and i have, about ron klain, they will tell you no one has ever been more qualified for the position. >> reporter: and for now biden isn't eyeing a staff shakeup. >> are you satisfied with your team at the white house, sir? >> i'm satisfied with the team. >> reporter: so there's no staff shake-up on the horizon but there is a change in some strategies the white house is employing, specifically passing the build back better plan the president has talked about breaking that up into chunks. and ron klain himself is talking about a change in strategy, talking less publicly about individual meetings, that was a lesson learned from some issues that happened with senator joe manchin. and president biden himself says he'll be involved less directly in those negotiations. raising the stakes for ron klain in the coming year. >> appreciate it. >>> coming up next new reporting what the house select committee wants to ask the

>> it was his second solo press conference at the white house since taking office. compared the one he had around march of last year, the president admitted some things that were misjudgments on his part. thanks he thought the white house could have done differently, including making sure more tests were widely available for the coronavirus. he talked about how he genuinely did not expect republicans to obstruct as much of his agenda as they have so far. some people may be surprised to hear him say that considering that during his campaign, he ran saying he was someone who could create a this bridge with republicans. he could get washington working more like it used to. a lot of democratic candidates ran against him in the primary saying tt would not be the case. washington had changed and what he remembered during his senate years was not possible. you have seen that frustration fr biden more and more. yamiche: we will definitely talk about his surprise at the gop opposition. i want to ask a follow-up, what is the thinking way comes to equity as it distributes test

i've been around for a long time with the dnc, with the white house. i have never, ever seen it when there was not friction between the white house and the dnc. i remember wasserman schultz, i remember don fowler, terry mcauliffe. these people have always had friction because there are people out there raising money -- by the way, i just saw this morning that last month we had the highest -- broke a record last month for fund-raising. last year highest ever in a non-election year. does jamie get any credit for that? all i'm saying is jamie i believe is right in that generational gap that we need to be running the dnc. he has the experiences, he's been out there, he's run for office, he knows what it's like to lose and pick himself up. he was raised by his grandparents. he was the one that got the scholarship to go to an ivy league school and came back to his high school to teach. he has everything we need for this party. i would hope that we just come together and start talking about this president's accomplishments, which have been great. >> congressm

house including chuck schumer and elizabeth warren asking the white house to move the memo that the education department put together looking at the legal authority to cancel student loan debt. i wondered do you have a response to that? >> let me first say no one has been required to pay a single dime and federal student loans since the president took office over a year ago and i will also add to the country is seeing one of the strongest economic recoveries in history and announced in december to give cesome breathing room for severl months for those who are still coping with of the pandemic. the education department will continue to work to ensure a smooth transition to repayment and i would reiterate the president supports congress and members who sent the letter and others defending him,tt a bill that would provide $10,000 in debt relief and he continues to look into what debt relief actions can be taken administratively. i would also note in terms of loans that have been forgiven since the president took office beyond the paws on repayment, a total of $15 billion in a fitting m

our white house correspondent, kimberly hoggard as more the u. s. president is set to have a telephone call with the ukranian leaders, the landscape.

it's not the white house itself. but they contact the white house. so yes, that was my contact. for the fifth and sixth. caroline wren. and that's what i called white house contact. and she's there that day behind the stage with the trumps and the family. >> have to say that -- i find it funny that he goes and, he pleads the fifth. he says, look, i don't wanna -- and then he goes on his show, and there's this woman, caroline wren, i can give you her cell phone number if you want. you get a sense here that this is not nothing, even to someone sort of pugilistic as alex jones. >> right, you can see how careful he is being here, because jones is not someone who's necessarily known for his position and karen terms of how he frames things. he is trying to speak in a way that's not gonna cross any boundary. i think he's talked about very loosely about his connections to the white house on january 6th and what he's saying here is, will actually, it wasn't directly with the white house, it was a person who is a fund-raiser, who was herself connected to the white house. so he's really tr

house chief of staff had said at a white house meeting on january 3, that he would resign as white house counsel. he was reported to have said that january 3 meeting in the o vaul office. where trump was discussing the possibility of installing a new attorney general so he could use the justice department to basically force the falsification of the election results. we knew previously from other testimony that he had threat nds to resign. at that meeting over that prospect. about the justice department being used in that way. these new texts from hannity released tonight suggest the white house counsel also threatened to resign. even earlier than that. four days earlier. last new years eve. what was that threat to resign about? also, from the texts from mr. hannity released by the investigation tonight it would appear the white house counsel also was renewing the threats to resign. on days later on january 5. the night before the attack on the capitol. according to texts that threat to resign would appear to have been a response to the pressure that was being put on vice president pence.

cnn's jeff zeleny is at the white house. so jeff, what are we expecting to hear from the president in an hour? >> well, alisyn, and victor, president biden obviously knows well the challenges before him. he's watching this unfold in realtime with the voting rights legislation he has been pushing for made a priority is likely to fail this evening, hours after his press conference. that is sort of a sign of the limits of presidential power. but he also has been in this town long enough to see that things go up and they go down at the white house. at this moment, he believes this is a moment for a reset, to reset the -- just the very fact that he has command of all the challenges going on. talking to a white house official just a short time ago, this is how they framed what the president plans to do at the press conference. he will tap his accomplishments no doubt, but will also lean into some of those challenges. the official tells me this, the president knows there's much more work to do. he's going to level with the american

you say the white house unlike clinton's, this white house, is not broken. >> you know, sometimes there are really compelling reasons to change things up. when bill clinton was one and a half years into his presidency he was dead in the water. the white house was disorganized. he couldn't get anything done. leon panetta came in and turned the white house around and set the stage for re-election. this white house unlike clinton's really isn't broken. ron klain runs a tight ship. he manages up and down well. there's been, there have been almost no leaks, no warfare. you can argue with decisions he and biden have made from afghanistan to build back better to voting rights, but he runs a smooth white house. there is no sign that biden has lost faith in him. >> so then when is a staff shift warranted then? i mean, even ness and what can't it fix? >> well, this is in many ways a tale of two presidencies. the first six months when this white house was firing on every cylinder in my opinion and then it started to go south with afghanistan and then with the emergence of the delta variant followe

at the white house. and it is a significant moment for president biden. it's also a rare one. very rarely do you see a sitting president ever sort of honor and vet an outgoing supreme court justice. that in itself will make today significant. in terms of the timeline, as you noted, the white house does agree that they want this process to move, not so much quickly but they want it to move deliberately in the days and weeks ahead going forward. and the president has been on this decision for many months, even dating back to his transition where some of his top advisers presented him with a formal presentation of some of the best potential candidates for this selection. you know some of those names, among them the 51-year-old interest the u.s. court of appeals, the district circuit here in washington, d.c. there on the left, judge ketanji brown jackson. she clerked for justice breyer and was confirmed last summer with 53 senators supporting her, all 50 democrats as well as three republicans, which could ma

the white house tapped the strategic oil reserves once. will do they it again? this is a big global market. >> given the geopolitical concerns coming into light, the fact that it's not impossible that if russia makes some action into ukraine, u.s. could issue sanctions. we've already seen russia play with europe in terms of its natural gas shipments to europe. will russia do the same with oil? so i think it would be a poor time to tap the spr simply because the spr is for strategic reserves and we may need those. but i don't really think that the president gets a fair rap for this. there's nothing any president could do regardless if they were on the right or the left side of the political spectrum. a president can't really overpower global fundamentals when it comes to the price of oil. >> all right, patrick, head of p petroleum gas. so nice to see you. >> thank you. >>> a stunning discovery off of coast of tahiti. a coral reef found blossoming in what's known as the ocean's twilight zone. let's bring in cnn meteorologist derek van dam. what's the plan to keep

white house. we've seen how it has played out before, the last three justice that is were confirmed to the court. john, we are getting the first reaction from the white house now, from press secretary jen psaki who has tweeted it has always been the decision of any supreme court justice if and when they decide to retire and how to announce it. that remains the case today. we have no additional details or information to share from the white house. though, of course, typically these announcements are something that are done in conjunction with the white house, they typically communicate beforehand this is something that a justice wants to do. we're still waiting on the details of how justice breyer has decided to do this. of course he is someone who has close ties to this white house. some of his former clerks are top aides here inside the west wing in the biden administration. and so, of course, this is a significant moment for this white house and for this president to be able to make a decision p

that indicates that for some reason the white house thought the white house counsel will leave. and we have reporting indicating the white house counsel had threatened to do just that. so what did sean hannity know? committee also writes, quote, it also appears from other text messages that you may have had a conversation directly with president trump on the evening of january 5th and perhaps at other times regarding his planning for january six. sean hannity even talk to donald trump about a january six plan the night before it happened. what did they discuss? there was this other part of the leather that also just make my head turn. it appears that sean hannity may also be talking to members of trump's cabinet about possibly removing him from office. quoting the letter again. later on january six, you texted to meadows press coverage relating to a potential effort by members of president trump's cabinet to remove him from office under the 25th amendment. as you may recall, secretaries devos and child both reside following the presidents conduct on january six, ousted members o

what is the thinking at the white house? >> certainly they are not focused on january 6 but democrats and strategists have said a lot can be accomplished through this january 6 committee getting to the truth of what happened that day but also have said it is a good reminder of the way things were under the previous trump administration and potentially as people go to the polls in november if there is something like this out there reminding them of the chaos of those days and the lies of that time period could certainly help democrats. in the white house what they are focused on is they seem to think they have a messaging problem here and if they can get the messaging right, get the president out there as we heard him indicate in the press conference he is going to do more of, traveling across the country, trying to get out of the white house bubble, they feel if they can get the messaging right they can address the sagging poll numbers. as you mentioned there are a lot of bright spots in the economy. the white house advisers

house and his white house chief of staff? >> sometimes in meetings when we need a translation what the president needs or wants or asking for, ron knows exactly what he's thinking. >> reporter: chris whipple, an expert on white house chiefs of staff gives klain high marks. >> i think if you asked all the former living white house chiefs of staff, and i have, about ron klain, they will tell you no one has ever been more qualified for the position. sf >> reporter: and for now biden isn't eyeing a staff shakeup. >> are you satisfied with your team at the white house, sir? >> i'm satisfied with the team. >> reporter: so there's no staff shake-up on the horizon but there is a change in some strategies the white house is employing, specifically passing the build back better plan the president has talked about breaking that up into chunks. and ron klain himself is talking about a change in strategy, talking less publicly about individual meetings, that was a lesson learned from some issues that happened with jesenator jo manchin. an

en family calling the white house home. we'll introduce to you willow next. >>> a new family member has the run of the white house. yes it's willow. a tabby cat. the white house says first lady jill biden met the 2-year-old farm cat when willow jumped on stage and interrupted her campaign event. dr. biden named the kitty after her hometown of willow grove, pen opinion. willow joins the biden german shepherd commander. the first white house feline since george and laura bush had a cat named india. >> that's a smart cat to jump during the campaign. >> willow knows. >> rambling is here what's coming up. >> a lot happening this friday night. the dangers of our letting our infrastructure fall into disrepair. president biden speaking of the bidens visiting a site of a bridge collapse in pennsylvania. he hopes the benefits of the infrastructure bill can help the economy. >> this is the first time in the country's history we dedicated national program to repair and upgrade bridges. >> plus, there are more than 250 bridges in the ba

how much do you think the white house is going to lean into it? how much can lean into it, given that the ukraine crisis has not gone away? >> no and the ukraine crisis may be heating up here in the next 24 or 48 or 72 hours. president biden and his national security team are obviously focused very intently on what directions they are going, if and when that invasion into ukraine could occur. and what the u.s. response could be. but they welcome the distraction, the supreme court vacancy. it certainly is a political issue that could work in his favor at a moment when the president really needs a lifeline. he has had a very low approval rating right now. it's been a very difficult year. and it's coming off of a rather difficult few weeks, with the failure of build back better to pass in the senate. and the sort of prolonged pandemic that we are experiencing here in the winter, with the omicron variant. and so the white house is very much looking to talk about a different issue and try to come up with some political momentum here in terms of the sup

the white house pushback was immediate. national security council spokesperson saying president biden communicated to zelensky exactly what he's communicated in public for months. let's bring in kaitlan collins. what happened? >> that's a great question, john. it soeems the only thing everyoe agreed on is this call was very long. an hour and 20 minutes between president biden and president zelensky yesterday afternoon. that line from zelensky saying there are no disagreements, i just understand what's happening in ukraine and he understands what's happening in the u.s. seemed to suggest he believes he knows better what's happening in ukraine than maybe some american officials have suggested. and, of course, we know that during this call, one point of contention was whether or not a russian invasion of ukraine is imminent. president biden has said publicly he does think eventually that is what russian president putin will do. that he'll go into ukraine. he said that in front of the world watching at his press conference here

republicans demanding answers, a white house official yesterday said yes, white house diverted taxpayer money meant for covid testing to the border. thanks for joining us. i'm elizabeth macdonald. "the evening edit" starts right now. ♪. elizabeth: we begin with this, trump, trump is ready to rock and roll. we've seen what is happening in the trump section of the country as quinnepiac is reporting an historic plunge in biden's job approval, just 33% approve of biden, 53% now disapprove. the white house getting slammed today for trying to topspin as a good thing the numbers inside of a 40-year high inflation report now at 7%. shoppers from coast to coast posting videos and photos of empty store shelves. edward lawrence is in washington with more. edward. reporter: well, liz, the last time inflation rose this high this fast the movie "e.t." was just released. when you're looking at a 7% year-over-year cpi inflation number that gives more ammunition to the federal reserve to raise interest rates starting in march. look inside the numbers. where are some of the increases? all types of gas

i'm going to take back my white house. president clinton said i'm a prisoner in my own white house. the staff had taken over. he reasserted himself and changed the staff. i don't really know whether biden is in fact behind all of this or he's a prisoner and has to change the staff. who knows? people close enough to interact with him every day would know that. >> martha: one of the interesting steps is with black voters and the approval with black voters. it's down from 78% in april to 57% right now. i don't think democrat candidates can expect to win with a 57% number like that with african american voters. this is a drift that we've seen. we saw more support for president trump with african american voters and american voters what do you think about that, joe? >> i've never seen a number like that before. 57% as far as the black vote in a democratic president with a democratic house and senate. you look at the hispanic vote though, martha, that is more disturbing. i saw a poll, quinnipiac, that has him at 28% approval among hispanics. that is not sustainable in any way. mark talked

you were working in the white house. was it like you were having to deal with an alternative reality, having to humor the president? >> you know, that is actually a great question. i have never been asked that. but "no" is my quick answer, because i had been around it for so long, you get so entrenched in it and it just becomes a way of living. so at the time, no, this was just how we did things. now that i've stepped back, certainly, and i've kind of gotten to real life, yes, it's crazy to think about. but at the time, no, this is just how things operated and you went about it every day. you had so many fires to put out, i don't think we could stop and think a lot of times. >> so we know you recently cooperated with the january 6th committee. and according to "the guardian" you told the select committee that trump hosted secret meetings in the white house residence in those days before january 6th. and look, i know there are some things you can't say, but can you at least confirm this? is there anything you can tell us

this announcement came at a good time for them there at the white house. i'm curious about how that timing and announcement was made? also at the white house is thinking about when they will get this done and how do they hope to make this a pivot for their communication? >> timing doesn't work for them it comes at a moment when the president is starting to get out from under these terrible poll numbers when it comes to inflation all these things and been dogging the administration. we know from our reporting that justice breyer did not feel forced out. this was a decision he made it certainly benefits the president. although he did just say at the year-end press conference he didn't stand a pretty poor job of reach out to black voters is give them a moment is going to make good on his campaign he promised to see jim clyburn is credited with rescuing his filing campaign make a strong push is on the short list to work through and shift away from the elements that have dogged this administration. one last quick word to you on that, harold. >> president reagan

house clarifying the president's comments on ukraine, it is now out from the white house. i could read it for you. clearly they realized they had an issue here with that comment on minor incursion, so let me read the statement in full. "president biden has been clear with the russian president, if any russian military forces move across the ukrainian border, that's a renewed invasion and it will be met with a swift, severe, and united response from the united states and our allies." it goes on. "president biden knows from long experience the russians have an extensive playbook of aggression short of military action, including cyber attacks and paramilitary tactics, and he affirmed today those acts of russian aggression will be met with a decisive, resip roke call response." sensitive to that idea there is disunity among the nato allies saying the nato allies are united. >> does that clarify what a minor incursion is? cyber as minor incursion? >> to the point of any -- one question had been, can he take a little bit of land, not a lot of land. but the statement says, any --

they are deep in the trump white house. they know an astonishing amount about what was going on inside the trump white house on january 6th, and they want to talk to va ivanka to learn more about two specific issues. one, they want to learn more about any efforts to try to pollo block the certification of the electoral votes and they want to learn about the pressure campaign on vice president mike pence. first they say they're interested in a meeting, that they have been told ivanka was at on january 6th in the oval office. there was a phone call between trump and pence where trump was allegedly pressuring his vice president to go along with his plan to block the certification of electoral votes. they want to talk to ivanka about what she heard on at least one end of that phone call. now, they also want to know why the president didn't just walk down to the briefing room. there's always a live camera there and reporters and call for an end to the violence. the committee says, quote, testimony they obtained indicates members

when he starts to speak, we'll take you to the white house. first, is election reform back on the table in the senate? what we're hearing about that, next. we're hearing about that, next as a professional bull-rider i'm used to taking chances. but when it comes to my insurance i don't. i use liberty mutual, they customize your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. wooo, yeaa, woooooo and, by switching you could even save 665 dollars. hey tex, can someone else get a turn? yeah, hang on, i'm about to break my own record. yeah. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty. ♪ this is the new world of work. each day looks different than the last. but whatever work becomes, the servicenow platform will make it just, flow. whether it's finding new ways to help you serve your customers, orchestrating a safe return to the office... wait. an office? what's an office? ...or solving a workplace challenge that's yet to come. wherever the new world of work takes your business, the world works with servicenow. ♪ when you

house ron klain because the white house came after him personally when he walked away from the table to sort of question does he keep his word and that angered him. these talks have taken off again. it's been a month since the bill was frozen and that's a real problem for the white house as they look to sort of potentially reset, try to get something done before the midterms, time is really running out and they don't have a main guy they need to vote on this bill in their corner to try to get it done yet. >> in the meantime, one of the problems for the biden administration is sort of they're in a tough spot. they tried to address a problem they thought they had at the beginning and turned into something else. here is the "new york times" editorial bored. the discomforting truth is the united states last year faced a choice between a projected period of economic pain and an economic recovery whose benefits are temporarily by high inflation. mr. biden made the right choice but it came at a real price economically for the nation and politically for him. we're heading into a midterm elec

it's shocking how often we change party control of the house, white house and senate in the first part of this century. only really one other time in history have we been this volatile. president biden, though, is approaching the one-year mark of his presidency, struggling to combat a covid surge, struggling to get major pieces of his agenda through democratic-controlled congress with those small majorities. the senate is right now debating the voting rights agenda on the floor. there is not enough support to get it passed leaving democrats fighting amongst themselves over rule changes that probably won't pass, either. there's also the weight of midterm history facing president biden and the democrats. the incumbent president's party has lost an average of 29 house seats ins first midterm election, republicans only need to flip five this cycle. most recently trump lost 40 in his first midterm and only one as president. the pace of all these democratic retirements suggest they kind of know which way the wind is blowing nationally and that's why they may be headed for retirement. remembe

. >> she says in the white house briefing, she was asked about it by our own reporter, jacqui heinrich, says she was commenting on a chiron on the screen, on our network screen in the moment she was delivering the interview. she said the banner had something about soft on crime consequences in it, and she said that it took the white house policies on crime out of context, she was asked about it and here was her response in the briefing room. >> if you look at fox on a daily basis, do you remember the four boxes that you had, that we had on all the tvs, so right now to give you a sense, cnn, pentagon, as many as 8500 u.s. troops on heightened alert, true, same on msnbc, and another about the market n and on fox talking about soft on crime consequences. i mean, what does that even mean, right? so, there's an alternate universe on some coverage. what's scary about it, a lot of people watch that. >> that was not her reaction in the white house briefing room, clearly, that was the actual interview, she did not reference the chiron, she referenced someone on our network, a colleague of ours

what should, ah, this white house do on the foreign policy? because i look at that as a very big self inflicted shot of, of the biden white house. yeah, i mean look, i think it's a, a momentary blip in what's going to be months and months of, of an intense battle. and i think that if the 2 things i discussed earlier, cove, it in the recover, that the sort of the politics of the democrats have to sort of exist in this framework of carbon recovery. you could argue that there's going to be a 3rd piece of that now, which is defending our democracy here and abroad. and that we've won it as democrats to elevate up these basket of issues about the need to preserve the west in our democratic traditions and all the things that we've tried to talk about domestically. but there's a real chance, i think, providing to show himself a leader of the free world here and to conduct themselves in a way that i think we can all be proud of. it would be great to see the republicans joining their president with the unified voice. and we know that may not happen, but

what is your view on how the white house projected himself in that moment and what are white house aides saying behind the scenes about any damage that may have been done? >> well, i think you can see why ukrainian officials are concerned about this. because they are living in a really delicate situation waiting to see what's going to happen. they want to see stronger action from the united states. the he would like them to go ahead and enact sanctions now as a deterrence. or he doesn't think it is enough to deter them. i viewed president biden's answer differently than a lot of people yesterday. i prefer when a president offers a candid assessment of what he thinks of the situation. and i think that is what david sanger and the other reporters in the room so successfully did yesterday. president biden said exactly what he thinks is going to happen there. saying he doesn't know putin has made a final decision. but in the end he thinks he will likely invade ukraine. nato allies not all being on the same page about what an invasion exactly would look like or what would compel him is reveal

but the white house has broadly been quiet about this. they have not wanted to politicize the process. they push back on the effort of some democratic activists, that they would try to give a shove to justice breyer throughout the process. and now, as evidenced by jen sake, speaking about it a bit publicly, there is going to be a lot of new focus on this administration, on this president, not just today but over the next several days and weeks of what happens going forward. i think it's notable going forward of the even divide in the senate that a lot of eyes are going to be focussed on two senators. sinema and senator joe manchin, who have almost single handedly been able to hold back some of the president's other desires as relates to legislative proposals. >> and argued extensively in front of the supreme court. your experience with the court and you understand the dynamics and the friendships that kpigs there. because there are broad friendships across partisan lines. but it's really notable. steve breyer, of course, the last of the b

white house counsel will leave. what communications or information led you to conclude white house counsel would leave? what precisely did you know at that time? the committee continues, quote, it also appears from other text messages that you may have had a conversation directly with president trump on the evening of january 5th, and perhaps other times regarding his planning for january 6th. we're aware of and interested in your communication to mr. meadows and others during the violent attack on january 6. as the rioters were attempting to occupy the capitol building. for example on january 6 you texted to mark meadows, press coverage relating to a potential effort by members of trump's cabinet to remove him from office using the 25th amendment. as you may recall secretary devos and secretary chou both resigned following president trump's conduct on january 6th. as did members of the president's white house staff. we would like to question you regarding any conversation you had with mark meadows or others about a

mark meadows and other white house staff, white house lawyers who were seeing some of the activity that the former president was making, was involved in in trying to overturn the election results. obviously, for the committee, this is a very important step because they have a limited amount of time and they're trying to put together a story, a narrative of what was happening, what was the president thinking about in those key times. kate? >> absolutely. thanks for laying it out. nick ackerman served apz an assistant special prosecutor during walterg watergate. you cal this a significant decision for the rule of law. tell me why. >> i think because if you took it from donald trump's standpoint, he truly believes the three people he appointed to the supreme court have to be loyal to him, that they owe him. he looks at it as a quid pro quo type of arrangement he's used to in business. the fact of the matter is these supreme court justices stick to the rule of law and in this particular case what they did is they relied on the 1974 decision of u.s. v. nixon where nixon tried to do the same

i will throw to jen psaki at the white house. she was asked about the economic recovery, the economy and she pointed to the omicron variant for why things may have slowed down. listen. >> because omicron was so highly transmissible, nearly nine million people called out sick in early january when the jobs data was being selected. during that same period of time and the week the survey was taken, the week of january 12 was at the height of the omicron spike so we just wanted to prepare, you know, people to understand how the data is taken, what they're looking at. >> trace: seems like here getting ahead of the jobs report to say things might not look so good because we were dealing with the spike in covid due to the omicron variant. is that fair? >> there's a growing concern that we'll see this bleed in the regular economy. you know, first it was a economic conversation. we talk about things like inflation that nobody cares about. now it's real. it's the grocery aisle. now it's oreos and its cheerios and smaller boxes. you know, y

nbc's mike memoli is at the white house. heidi przybyla is in washington d.c., and steven sample, an emergency physician at memorial hospital in jasper, indiana. good to have you with us. mike, we can expect to hear more about the measures this afternoon when the president holds his news conference. what more can you tell us about this new plan for masks and this new website for the tests? >> yes. certainly, the president is going to be wanting to make sure the american people now know that for all the questions about whether there would be enough tests for americans, they believe they solved that problem. we saw the white house beta test the new website officially launching today where you can go on and request four take-home tests to be shipped to you. the white house says they'll be shipped out in 7 to 10 days. this is not a small thing. we know especially with so many veterans of the obama administration and this white house, the past problems we've seen when the white house tries to launch a website of this scale, obvio

, or outside of the white house. >>> ahead of today's news conference, the white house announced its plans for free tests and free masks. the administration says it can distribute 400 million n95 masks to the public as early as next week, free of charge. they'll be available at pharmacies and community centers. it will also send out 1 billion, billion with a "b," free covid tests. you might be asking, how do i get mine. nbc correspondent chris jansing joins me how. chris, how do you get one? >> basically you log on. when obama rolled out, that didn't go so well with the website. the biden administration was determined they were going to make this simple. you simply go to covidtests.gov and you fill out a form. that will allow you to order four tests per household. the kind of tests that were so hard to get during the holidays of i did it, i went online at 7:00 and wanted to see, okay, would my grandmother be able to do this, would somebody not tech savvy to be able to do this. it took me a grand total of 40 seconds. all it involves is putting in your name and address and there you ha

we'll get to that in a moment but first a big blow to the white house covid strategy the u.s. supreme court today blocking enforcement of the president's vaccine and testing mandates for large employers ruling the requirements go too far. it is a decision impacting more than 80 million workers. but the court also leaving intact a separate vaccine mandate for most of the nation's health care workers the ruling is announced as the number of fully vaccinated americans reaches more than 208 million, close to 63% of the population. let's get late details now from gabe gutierrez. >> reporter: three days after the biden administration's covid vaccine or test mandate for private companies with more than 100 workers started to take effect, today the u.s. supreme court blocked it, writing that osha, the occupational health and safety administration, did not have the power to regulate public health the mandate had affected some 80 million americans, including james cockers' employees at his florida company. >> i saw this mandate from the beginning as the greatest example of government ov

now all eyes turn to the white house. president biden gets his first chance to shape the court after saying during the campaign that he would nominate a black woman. peter alexander is at the white house with the names already emerging >> reporter: tonight president biden preparing to wield one of the presidency's most consequential powers, picking a supreme court nominee, though saying little about it today >> 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. >> reporter: now the focus turns to the president's short list with the white house saying today president biden will stick to this campaign promise. >> 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 >> reporter: president biden has nominated eight black women to federal appellate courts so far and one of the top contenders for the supreme court opening comes from that list. 51-year-old ketanji

do you get that sense from people in the white house you talk to? >> president biden himself said he was hired to solve problems, but so many of these problems appear to be persistent certainly and await this white house did not expect, and when it comes to the covered crisis ere are legitimate questions as to why the white house was not legitimately prepared in terms of testing, there is a new effort to send out mass to families, why was that not started earlier given that dr. fauci talked about how he expected the winter to be pretty tough when it comes to covid. this is before people knew omicron was on the scene. the biden administration certainly believes it deserves credit for pivoting quickly, when they recognize there is a problem, to change plans quickly enough to address it, so that is what starting next week americans will be able to go online and request rapid at home covid tests, and they should arrive 7 to 12 days after their requested it, so the idea is any american family who needs at once: vitesse -- covid -- wants covid tests can g

philip wegmann real clear politics white house reporter. breaking news on the southern border tragic crash involving a texas department of public safety special agent. the latest on what happened there, next. welcome to allstate. where auto insurance now costs less. ♪ and savings like that follow you everywhere. ♪ now, save more with allstate. ♪ because better protection costs a whole lot less. you're in good hands with allstate. call a local agent or 1-888-allstate for a quote today. knowing where you came from, it gives you a sense of “this is who i am”. oh my goodness... wow, look at all those! you get hungry for more and then you're just like, “wow, i'm learning about my family.” yeah, yep. which one, what'd you find? lorraine banks, look, county of macomb, michigan? look at grandma... hey grandma! unbelievable. everybody deserves to know who they are and where they came from. ohhh...cool. this whole journey has been such a huge gift for our family. to make my vision a reality. i have to take every perspective, and see cle

house does not include this, but the chief white house correspondent for nbc news peter alexander has just reported, has just confirmed that even though it's not on the schedule president biden and justice stephen breyer are zoo to appear tomorrow together -- are due to appear tomorrow together at the white house, this will be presumably the formal announcement of justice breyer's retirement. again breyer and the president appearing together, not just meeting together, but doing some sort of event, the two of them at the white house tomorrow, we just learned that from nbc news. joining us now is our friend dalia, senior editor and legal correspondent, her article about stephen breyer's retirement is titled "the deep irony of stephen breyer's bare-knuckled exit from the supreme court," i think about stephen breyer in a lot of different ways, i never ever think about his knuckles bare or otherwise. it's great to see you. thanks for being here. >> it's good to be here on a day rachel when everybody is a little giddy, it is so rare i feel from the roses to the chug , chuckling, it's nice

what do they think about debating in the white house? >> there are a lot of questions that could arise. you could get a question the other way, for instance, your own tone of a sense of unity that you had in your inauguration. there is a lot of preparation for all sorts of questions. obviously a lot of the foreign policy challenges as well that we are facing on so many fronts around the world and certainly a lot to discuss and debate later today. >> fascinating moment for the president. we will all watch it together. appreciate it, seung min, laura, astead. >>> a talk about masking. who is joining? ♪ three times the electorlytes and half the sugar. ♪ pedialyte powder packs. feel better fast. some of my best memories growing up, were cooking with mom. she always said, “food is love.” so when she moved in with us, a new kitchen became part of our financial plan. ♪ i want to make the most of every meal we have together. ♪ at northwestern mutual, our version of financial planning helps you live your dreams today. find a northwest

>> we had a lawless regime in the white house, quite clearly. at the end of the day, what we were seeing in real time in public was a coup against the united states government. we had an acting attorney general, acting department of homeland security secretary, trump sent a retired lieutenant colonel white house functionnary over to be the acting secretary of defense along with four other incredibly uncertain lads who took over the policy director of the department of defense. you know, it's only two people who can give orders to u.s. arm forces, not the chairman general milley, but the secretary of defense and the president's commander in chief. that was what trump was up to. he was on the verge of trying to take over our government, and i think he get such pushback from some high-integrity, lawful people, not just in congress and the federal court system, but also throughout the department of defense, the fbi, and other agencies. but we were in great danger. >> many of us did not have any idea. we knew something bad was afoot, but we didn't kn

with the white house chief of staff. or with the vice president, or his staff. the committee, after all of that, goes on to assert, that trump actually did intend, he did want to, go down to the capitol himself. after he made his speech. riling up the crowd. he apparently wanted to lead the mob down the u.s. capitol personally. they said that they want to ask ivanka about that. the committee also asserts that they found no evidence that trump ever called for the national guard to be deployed, or for any other law enforcement effort to be made to protect the capital, over the entire scope of the day on january 6th. just goes on and on. these are all revelations about the committee, what they have found. i should also point out, it ends pointedly, with a reminder, to this trump, that all white house officials need to have their communications preserved and handed over to the national archives. clear implication that perhaps, her communications have not been adequately archived. and she needs to do that. but man, between the electoral, the forged electoral votes. f

against the party in the white house. the democrats have to create a choice, they can't just let it be a referendum in the biden administration. they have to make the choice stark. the choice can't be that the republicans don't have a platform. has to be that the republicans are crazy. that the republicans are pro insurrection. that they are anti-vaccination. and they have to find examples of that. trump being the main one. but ali, it is not so easy for republicans to say, well we don't care about that stuff trump is saying. they don't have the nerve to say that. in minnesota, a moderate state. somewhat swing-ish state. it was a republican governors. a week ago or something like that. and they each competed to be more loyal to trump then the last. that has to be wrapped around their necks. that has to be made to stick in the voters minds. this. you have a choice of two parties. one of them disappointed a little bit, sort of make some mistakes. and the other one is anti democracy. totally irresponsible. at the whim of don

the white house in waiting, the clinton white house in waiting didn't know whom to hire really. and, so, they did a bit of a talent test. they asked a couple of dozen people across the united states to submit writing samples. and i didn't want to. somebody put my name in and they reached out to me, i had a contract with ted copple who i adore at "nightline," and i didn't want to leave him. but they called me a few times and i said i'll go ahead and do it. what they didn't tell me is they stripped off all identifying information on the writers and then a panel sat down from the campaign, soon to be at the white house, and they chose the one they wanted and it was just one. and they chose 9. and so i showed up at the white house for an interview. the same day that ted copple was there for doing interviews, it was like a week after the inauguration. i hadn't told him that i was going there because i thought they were being polite just to tell me thanks for submitting this, we're going another direction, blah blah blah, and i didn't really want the job anyway. so, ted saw me, and of

the white house was not taken by surprise today. the president was given a heads up by justice breyer last week. was told the official letter would be a week or two down the road. where our friend pete williams broke the news that perhaps has accelerated that timetable. the letter is not delivered to the white house but could be any time and there's been some talk of an event in the coming days to announce the retirement but this is something the white house has been ready for, preparing and ready to seize. they believe they have heard from senator schumer that it can be done in a few months and would be a speedy process and one at a good time for the president reversing a negative slide here and a chance to sort of regain the footing, rally democrats around the cause and should be noted as a final point now senator manchin and sinema as thorns in the side of the president they have been voting for the judges and joe manchin always voted for democratic judges and hopeful this will get done. >> i don't mean to put you on the spot but

the white house is growing increasingly frustrated with the cdc director. what are you learning? >> wolf, as the pandemic continues to complicate essentially all walks of american life, there is significant criticism between the white house and other medical specialists directed toward the cdc. largely because of confusing communications about different rules, different guidelines. dr. rochelle walensky, a respected infectious disease expert is in her first government job. she's almost finishing her first year in that role at the cdc. she held a press briefing today, her first one, to acknowledge some of this criticism. she's right to work on her communications efforts. in fact, she's employed the use of an outside adviser to help her communicate this message better. there certainly is frustration from the white house at how the cdc in atlanta is making much of these decisions. but the president also acknowledged when asked earlier today at the white house if covid was here to stay. >> i don't think covid is here to stay. having covid in the environment and here in the world is p