we are following breaking news. sum it up this way -- life today on capitol hill is something. a wild scene unfolding as house republicans were starting to move toward holding the president's son in contempt of congress for defying a subpoena to appear and testify. as the house hearing got under way, the target of that investigation, hunter biden, surprised the committee and walked into the committee hearing, leading both sides to effectively start shouting and accusing each other of essentially saying what are you so afraid of. melanie zazona seeing all of it unfold. she joins us again. thrill these at risks -- theatrics are common on the hill. this was unusual. >> reporter: yeah, and it's important to remember that this hearing was already going to be contentious. if you take a step back and remember that house republicans are recommending that the

president's son be held in contempt of congress for refusing to appear for a closed door deposition back in december. but hunter's surprise appearance today ejected even more chaos and drama into the already contentious situation. i want to listen to an exchange that happened moments ago. let's listen. >> first, my first question is who bribed hunter biden to be here today? that's my first question. second question -- you are the epitome of white privilege, coming into the oversight committee, spitting in our face, ignoring a congressional subpoena to be deposed. what are you afraid of? you have no balls to come up here and -- >> mr. chairman? point of inquiry -- >> mr. chairman? >> if the -- >> the lady is recognized. >> if the gentlelady wants to hear from hunter biden, we can hear from him right now, mr. chairman. let's take a vote and hear from hunter biden. >> i'm speaking. are women allowed to speak here -- >> hold on. hold on. order. order. order. >> are women allowed to speak in here or no? you keep interrupting me.

>> order. >> so clearly some fireworks there at the start of the hearing which is still going on. republicans making the argument that this is just a political stunt and a distraction from hunter biden and that he has not complied with the terms of their subpoena. but democrats meanwhile pointing out that hunter biden was right there in the audience, and if they wanted to hear from him he could have testified under oath in a public setting which hunter biden has said he was willing to do. democrats also made the point during the hearing that there have been several republicans who are defied congressional subpoenas including last year when the january 6th select committee wanted to hear from a number of house republican lawmakers. so there was a contentious back and forth. but that hearing is still going on. we're expecting to last a quite as democrats make a push for amendments and republicans push back. >> absolutely. okay, so what is this going to mean for this push to hold hunter biden in contempt -- it's unclear to me. >> reporter: yeah, i mean, this is not going to change the

outcome of today. both the house oversight committee and the house judiciary committee are expected to advance a resolution that would refer hunter biden to the doj and hold him in contempt of congress. that outcome is not expected to change just because hunter biden showed up today. now, whether that changes the doj's calculation because ultimately they're the ones who have to determine whether or not to hold him in contempt, that's a different question. but after the hearing, hunter biden was in there for about 20 minutes. he left and then his lawyer made a prepared statement and spoke for about 20 minutes and reiterated the point that hunter biden is willing to talk, but only publicly. let's listen. >> the republican chairs are command deering an unprecedented resolution to hold someone in contempt who has offered to publicly answer all their proper questions. the question there is what are they afraid of?

>> reporter: yeah, so this showdown really has been months in the making between house republicans and the president's son. as republicans have struggled to prove their argument that the president profited or made policy decisions based on his son's foreign business deals. it came to a head today and likely only going to keep going in the months ahead as republicans try to m-- to pursu an impeachment inquiriy. >> thank you. joining us se cupp and representative bakari sellers. we often see drama -- capitol hill. that was unscripted drama which is your specialty. >> a reality show. >> you do reality shows. >> bravo. >> that was the kind of stunt you see on a reality show. the republicans were surprised when hunter biden showed up. >> i think everyone was surprised, right? i can't speak to -- as norm did, the sort of legal strategy of

showing up like this. politically wow. on the plus side, i think he got to make republicans again look pretty unserious for taking so much time to target hunter biden and joe biden. on the other hand, and i think you asked this question, this is the last thing that joe biden wants right now. he'd rather be talking about trump's legal problems, not hunter's legal problems, and coming in unannounced like a reality star at a housewives reunion. like look who's here with the receipts. i mean, way to take all the oxygen out of every room in washington, d.c. >> let me play a smidge more. this came from democrat jared moskowitz who was pointing out that there are republicans including republican members of congress who have defied subpoenas. listen. >> my colleagues who talk about lawful subpoenas, i appreciate the gentlelady's -- the gentlelady from south carolina

who voted to hold people in contempt. you can get my vote for contempt. i want you to show the american people that you're serious. here is the subpoena to representative scott perry who did not comply, i'd like to enter this into the record. here is the subpoena for to mark meadows. i'd like to enter this into the record, who did not comply. here is the subpoena to jim jordan who did not comply with a lawful subpoena. i'd like to enter that into the record. here is the subpoena for mo brooks who did not comply. i'd like to enter that into the record. here is the subpoena to mr. biggs who did not comply. i'd like to enter that into the record. and here's the up to mr. mccarthy who did not comply. i'd like to enter that into the record. there's an amendment coming to add some of those names into the contempt order. you vote to add those names and show the american people that we apply the law equally, not just when it's democrats, it's a crime when it's democrats but when it's trump and pluresident

trump and it's fine, show that not everyone is above the law. >> there was a lot of entering into the record. >> rightfully so. it shows the unserious nature of house republicans. i think regardless about what you believe about democrats and republicans in this country, there is as much as democrats get branded as one thing on one side, there is this belief that republicans cannot lead and it's chaos. today reinforced that. i want to push back on the notion that it was unscripted. i think there were people who got the heads-up. i think jamie raskin knew something was happening, and you saw congressman moskowitz actually be prepared -- >> he seemed ready. >> seemed ready. didn't seem like he was startled by. it you saw hunter biden left, and as the kids say, he left marjorie taylor greene on red. he did not respond to her. it was her time to speak, and he's like, "i'm out." he walked out and gave her the same respect that she gave him. and so i think it was a good day for hunter biden.

he availed himself to the committee. he said i'm here if you want me to talk, the american public. i'm here, why not? most republicans don't know the rules of the rules committee. i don't know the rules of the rules committee. i'm like, you know, if you want to hear the man speak, call him up. he's there. let him speak. i think most americans say he's here, why not let him speak, or we'll call your bluff. >> maybe half scripted. if that's a thing in the reality world. >> it is. it is. >> okay. se and bakari are here to talk about the cnn debate that's taking place in iowa. nikki haley and ron desantis. they risked their lives flying in in the weather. bakari did, for analysis. i want to get to that here. what do they need to get out of this debate tonight? >> well, let me focus on nikki haley. >> okay. >> she has two choices tonight. she can try to reach out to independents and moderates by appearing more sane than ron desantis and trump. she should lump those two together and act like the sane alternative. what i think she's going to do

instead is try to appeal futily to the manage wing. and they might try to outright each other. a good strategy for ron desantis but not for nikki haley. that's what i'm watching for tonight. >> i think nikki haley has to show that she can be presidential. i don't know if that's possible, but she has to attempt to show that. i think she's going to try to run against donald trump for that particular sliver of the party, and that's not going make much sense. i think the danger is the person who is actually not on the stage. i think vivek ramaswamy is actually -- don't laugh. >> doesn't this mean we don't have to talk about him? that he's not on the debate stage tonight? >> i hear you. i hear you. but i actually think that the danger for both nikki and ron desantis is slipping to fourth in iowa. then it's game over. then we have cameras in iowa next monday actually covering -- i'm out of the race speech from one of them. they have to finish second and third. they have to finish strong. at the end of the day this is jv. the person who looks like they're going to win is not there. >> right.

right. >> a fair point here, iowa, monday, the kickoff to the campaign season. normally that campaign season is months long. this could be days, literally days. >> they're fighting for their lives. >> ten days. this could be over very, very quickly. i want to, if you will, take a bite at this here, if -- let's start with ron desantis, if it's going to be more than a few days or one day, what needs to happen between now and the end of january for him to actually stay in this race? >> he needs something that he has not been able to capture for the entirety of his campaign -- momentum. he needs a good headline on top of a good headline, and that snowball effect that nikki haley has managed to find, donald trump has found it for sure with all of these legal stories cascading. has never been able n that momentum horse. so he needs a good finish in iowa, second, maybe third, but i would say second. and then he needs a decent showing in new hampshire. i don't think he's going to have

one. >> if in the latest cnn poll he's in fifth? >> if he can't convince people out of iowa that this isn't the only place in the whole country that i am, you know, a plausible candidate, his candidate will be over pretty soon. >> my prediction is that monday night ron desantis is out of the race. i think monday night based upon this -- tonight he's going to have to be a star. again, i'm not sure he's capable of that. he has to separate himself from nikki and donald trump, and that's difficult in one night on one debate stage. i think next monday he's making a speech saying that i'm no longer running for president of the united states, i'm going to focus on being governor of florida, and try to position himself to be vice president. >> he can't be vice president, though, they both -- both donald trump and ron desantis live in florida. for him to be on the ticket -- sorry to digress here -- one has to move away from florida which is impossible for the governor of florida one might think and donald trump in mar-a-lago. you have a constitutional issue here. so again, it's -- >> a live fact check. thank you for -- >> sorry.

he called me short in the break. that's for that. >> another correct fact. >> bakari, se, thank you so much. the courtroom is the campaign trail for donald trump. donald trump headed to iowa from this washington, d.c., hearing, but he's going to be back in court tomorrow again. the court/campaign trail tomorrow, possibly even giving the closing arguments in a civil fraud case. defense secretary lloyd austin now saying his secret hospitalization was due to a private battle with prostate cancer. we're getting new information about the diagnosis and why the white house had no idea.

happening now, chaos on capitol hill this morning. there was the chaos that we saw in a committee room where hunter biden showed up to a house oversight committee that was meeting to hold him in contempt for not showing up for a deposition. he went to the open hearing. chaos ensued. we saw that. what we have not seen was behind closed doors this simmering republican discontent bordering on a revolt against the new house speaker, mike johnson. we're just getting new details about that. cnn's lauren foxx joins us from capitol hill.

what happened? >> reporter: yeah, house republicans met on capitol hill to discuss the spending agreement that was announced over the weekend. there was a lot of hard-line pushback against speaker johnson -- he was sick of listening to them drivel on about a planned surrender. those are his words. he also said that he never thought that speaker johnson should have been hired in the first place. that was in response to a question about whether or not johnson should keep his job given the fact that he cut a spending deal that looks a lot like the one that mccarthy cut as part of the debt ceiling negotiation over the summer. now one thing is becoming very clear, that there are a number of hard-liners who are disappointed with the negotiation that johnson entered into with chuck schumer, the majority leader in the senate, but there is also a sense that many of them are not ready to take the step to try to offer that motion to vacate that ended

kevin mccarthy's tenure. i talked to matt gaetz who led the effort against mccarthy. he said now is not the time to try to offer that against johnson. he said he's disappointed, he said it's time for johnson to fight but said it's too soon to make moves like that one. >> too soon. the question is if ever. we will see. lauren foxx capitol hill. keep us posted. thank you. sara? tonight, ron desantis and nikki haley going head to head in iowa in the final republican debate before monday's iowa caucuses. yep, it's finally here. that primetime match-up happening here on cnn. it will happen tonight. you see that little thing in the right-hand corner, that's nine hours and 39 -- you've got a lot of time before this happens. get your popcorn ready. donald trump will also be in iowa but not on the stage with his top rivals. instead, he is participating in his own solo town hall. cnn's eva mckend is joining us from inside the debate hall. you have been talking to people,

seeing things ramp up. what can you tell us tonight? >> reporter: sara, this is shaping up to be a fierce debate. that's because there are still voters in iowa that are undecided. governor ron desantis, nikki haley, they are trying to appeal to those voters, make the case for why they are the clear trump alternative, policy differences. those should also come into focus tonight. and we're hearing from governor desantis' deputy campaign manager who sort of telegraphed governor ron desantis' plan for the evening. and that is to try to push haley into answering questions that they feel as though she has previously evaded. so we could get some fireworks. i will tell you from being out on the campaign trail that things have intensified in recent days. take a listen. >> i like being underestimated. so you know, i could sit here and say this, but you know what, i think that being the underdog

suits me better. so buckle up, i think it's going to be an interesting ride. >> we have been waiting for this. i've done 150-plus town halls, and it has come to this moment. don't complain about what happens in a general election if you don't play in this caucus. it matters. >> reporter: so just five days until the caucus. i know one thing for sure, sara, iowans going to be watching closely. >> they will. eva mckend, thank you for all of your reporting out there. try to stay warm. it is freezing in iowa. one person avoiding tonight's debate stage having nothing to do with the temperature, i believe at least, is again the frontrunner. donald trump skipping the debate. but we know that tomorrow he is planning to be back in new york and back in a courtroom voluntarily appearing at the civil fraud trial against him. kristen holmes has much more on this. you're getting new reporting on all of this and the strategy for

donald trump this week. >> reporter: that's right. we are learning now that not only is donald trump planning to appear in the new york courtroom, he is actually making plans to speak during the closing arguments in that new york civil case. now here's where things currently stand according to our sources -- donald trump and his legal team have been in negotiations with the judge to allow donald trump to speak. i know from talking to senior advisers this is something that donald trump has expressed interest in doing. where things stand right now is that the judge has indicated that he is inclined to let donald trump participate in these closing arguments, but with some restrictions. we are told that trump did not want to agree to any restrictions. so as of now, we are unclear whether or not he will actually be taking part in those closing remarks. to be clear, wouldn't just be him. his legal team would be there, as well. i do want to give a few caveats here.

we have heard from d-- from trump's team time and time again and from donald trump that he is going to appear in court. last month he said he would be part of the defense -- the final witness and give his testimony only to cancel last minute. so this is by now means a done deal. and even if they go through all of the legal checkmarks, it doesn't mean he's going to speak. he could change his mind at the last minute. his team could say he's not doing that. part of this is because this is meant to be a distraction. it is the day after a debate. it is an opportunity for donald trump to suck all of the oxygen out of the race at a time when nikki haley and ron desantis are scrambling, fighting for that second place. so all of this really plays into how donald trump has been maneuvering around court and politics and using these court appearances as part of his campaign. the other thing to point out here is this comes after what we saw yesterday which was really lackluster appearance by donald trump. by that i mean he didn't have the same media fanfare that he has in new york. now they are stepping it up,

saying he wants to participate in his closing arguments in new york civil fraud case. obviously we are waiting and seeing, this is developing. we will let you know as soon as we have information as to whether or not this is a done deal. kate? >> great reporting. thank you for the update. making also more proof that the legal strategy, the political strategy are one and the same for the trump campaign right now. john? >> the courtroom is the campaign. meanwhile, hunter biden made this surprise appearance on capitol hill. what his attorney sitting right there is now saying about this move.

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join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today. an unexpected appearance followed by a quick commit, but he did -- exit, but he did show up. hunter biden shocking the oversight committee by showing up at his own contempt hearing just briefly. they were just starting debating if they should hold the president's son in contempt of congress for failing to comply with a subpoena last month. he sat in the front row for a few minutes before leaving just as abruptly as he arrived. i want to bring in defense attorney and former federal prosecutor shan wu. we are looking at the video of hunter biden walking into that committee meeting. was this a good idea for hunter biden to show up even though he didn't testify or say anything? but he was there.

>> yes, i think it was a very clever legal move by his team. obviously has some good public relations and political optics to it, as well. but his showing up really muddies the legal waters some because he is there versus completely blowing off the subpoena and not showing up, pulling like a steve bannon type of maneuver. and so it makes it harder ultimately for someone making a decision whether to prosecute him for contempt as to whether there is solid legal grounds for that. and that could either be doj or maybe, you know, attorney general garland will farm it out to the special prosecutor weiss in that case. definitely muddies the water some because they have to take into consideration if he's tried to comply, if there's been these efforts at accommodation that usually happen, and there's a long history of his team being in touch with them. hasn't been just radio silence, and now this adds to that muddied water. >> i do want to ask you,

congresswoman nancy mace of south carolina used harsh words, rude i think is probably the best way to describe how she went after him. but then you had a response from democratic congressman moskowitz who talked about the many people, her fellow republicans, who had subpoenas, congressional subpoenas, that they ignored, mark med oats, jim jordan,an an biggs, kevin mccarthy. there's the list my friends, of republicans who just ignored the subpoenas, and they were not put in contempt of congress. how do you square this when you see -- is this purely political at this point when you look at the differences here? >> most of that is purely political because they're deciding whether or not that they want to hold their own colleagues in contempt. and of course they have a little bit of, you know, cover their

own butts because they're thinking if this happens to them, maybe it could happen to me sometime. they don't want to do that. on the prosecutorial end, i think if we look at the examples of meadows and scavino, i think it was, those are instances where contempt was referred to the doj. they didn't do it. probably the off-ramp they use sudden there had been negotiations, there had been an effort at accommodations. meadows i think had turned over documents. didn't look like a cut-and-dried case. i think unfortunately for hunter bi biden, garland has shown themselves so worried about being criticized for favoring the president's son that he might lean the other direction and lean toward adding contempt to the basket of charges they've already put on hunter biden. >> because he is facing other charges, and that is definitely a legal battle there. i want to go just quickly to mo moskowitz has been speaking to msnbc. i want people to hear what he has to say after that

contentious hearing. >> seeing how he came and did the press conference last time, i mean, you know, that was a pretty aggressive strategy. my colleagues, frankly, across the aisle should have expected something based on that previous move by hunter. that being said, i think it was pretty smart for him to come and show the american people that -- that my colleagues across the aisle don't want the truth to get out, they just want to continue to spin. >> so i think you're probably in agreement with that, a smart move on biden's part just by showing up. what does that show the doj? the congress members who were not expecting him? >> i think for the congress members first, it puts him in an awkward bind it makes them vulnerable to saying why are you afraid to have him testify in open court. there's a good -- not open court, open hearing. there's a good practical reason to not want to put him out fresh with no private preparation because your time is limited,

you don't know what he's going to say. it's hard to have good questions. in an onticks standpoints -- optics standpoint, they look bad that way. legally, it muddies the water legal for doj. here's someone in negotiations saying they're willing to be here. and more the kind of time, place, and manner is not to congress' suiting. so anne-mariely i think that -- normally i think that would be a no brainer. doj would not prosecute such an contempt. normal has not been the standard when it comes to the hunter biden charges. >> his attorney after court, hunter biden's attorney, said that they have given five different offers to cooperate and were ignored. so all of that will have to be taken into account if and when there is some decision from that congressional hearing, and then of course the doj. shan with. thank you so much. you jumped on camera after seeing all that madness up there in capitol hill. we appreciate you. >> good to see you. >> okay. coming up for us, defense secretary lloyd austin reveals

he is being treated for prostate cancer and why the white house pushed the pentagon to say more. also, jets quarterback aaron rodgers trying to grab attention once again. the latest on his fight with jimmy kimmel.

administration officials tell cnn senior white house officials pushed the pentagon to release a statement on defense secretary lloyd austin's condition barely a day after learning about his hospitalization. he was hospitalized on new year's day after a rare complication from surgery to treat prostate cancer. chief medical correspondent dr.

sanjay gupta. walk us through the surgery that austin had and the complications. >> yeah. so first of all, he's 70 years old, and he was having routine screenings for prostate cancer. he didn't go in with some problem and get this diagnosed. routine screening in early december showed that he had evidence of prostate cancer and the decision was made to have surgery. and they decided to do that operation over the holidays, john, which a lot of people do so they can recover over the holidays. a few weeks later he had surgery, december 22nd, sound like that goes fine. general anesthesia. as expected he went home the next day which is typical. what happened next, though, is where the story takes a bit of a turn. he started to have significant problems at home, abdominal pain, hip pain, leg pain, and ended up going back into the hospital on january 1st. at first they diagnosed this urinary tract infection but realized there's something more serious. he goes to the intensive care unit, and they find he has fluid

collections in his abdomen. one thing about fluid in the abdomen, john, it's not supposed to be there. when it's there it can cause your intestines to become paralyzed, what happened to him. that warranted all this other treatment that he needed the next several days. probably very uncomfortable few days for him. by january 5th he was resuming normal duties, they say. >> how common is this for people who get prostate cancer surgeri? >> i would say it's -- these are known complications, but pretty rare. you know, whenever we do an operation on someone bleeding and infection are always listed as possible risks. when you look at the removal of the prostates and look at how often these complications occur, 1% to 2% of the time, john. >> what are doctors saying about the defense secretary's long-term recovery? how long is it going to take? >> well, you know, he's back to normal duties. so my guess is over the next few days he's probably going to be getting out of the hospital. importantly with regard to his

cancer, it's -- really good prognosis. if you catch these cancers early, which is sound like he did, and also maybe a bit counterintuitively. but if an operation is performed, that usually is a sign that the cancer was not as aggressive. because if it starts to spread outside the prostates -- prostate, surgery's not always the answer. the fact they did the operation suggests it was localizeded to the prostate, it's gone. the prognosis is excellent. one thing you know, we've talked about before, prostate cancer pretty common among men. one in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer. one in 41 men will die of prostate cancer. it's much higher among black men for all sorts of different reasons, from genetics to less screenings. but two times almost more likely to be diagnosed and more than two times more likely to die. so these are important sort of messages for people out there, a reminder to get tested. >> you mentioned the treatment, the surgery in this case can sometimes actually be a positive sign because it means they think

they can get at it. how common is surgery, and have these guidelines changed? >> yeah. so it's not the only sort of path forward when someone is diagnosed. first of all, screenings aren't even recommended in people over the age of 70 because they say, look, if we find at at this point the likelihood that it will be a problem in your life is much lower. but even for younger men, you know, unless you have a family history or something it's not something that's necessarily often done. you could watch this, as well. say we're going to keep an eye on this cancer and see if it changes over time, something known as watchful waiting. then there are other options like radiation to try and treat these. they opted for surgery which, again, to this earlier point, probably meant this was a very localized, easy-to-remove tumor. >> all right. again, there is -- there is something that all men of a certain age have discussion with their doctors, important information. thank you so much. sara? >> you got it. >> i just have to say, don't we

love sanjay gupta? he is honestly the best. >> he's all right. >> john! sanjay, when you come in next time, i will have a word with john so he can be on his best behavior. all right. speaking of being on best behavior, coming up, new york jets quarterback aaron rodgers attempting to explain away his unfounded claims that jimmy kimmel was associated edd with jeffrey epstein which kimmel slapped back felt we'll bring you the latest on what he had to say and the controversy there. to duckduckgo on all your devie

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other stories on our radar this hour -- its one of the largest houthi attacks over the red sea in recent months. u.s. central command says the navy shot down 21 houthi drones and missiles over the red sea tuesday launched from yemen. now secretary of state antony blinken has a now warning today. >> we've made clear, we've been clear with more than 20 other countries that if this continues as it did yesterday, there will be consequences. we've also repeatedly tried to make clear to iran as other countries have, as well, that the support that they're providing to the houthis including for these actions needs to stop. it's not in their interests to see the conflict escalated. and we're not the only ones who sent that message to iran. >> blinken is currently on his fourth trip to the region since the october 7th terror attack by hamas on israel. blinken remains focused on keeping that war from expanding to become a bigger regional

conflict. alexei navalny in court for the first time since being transferred to a siberian penal colony. you see a picture here. navalny is the chief critic of russian president vladimir putin. of course he went missing for two weeks last month, reappearing thousands of miles from the jail he'd long been held in. and during this court appearance, he spoke via video. the hearing comes after navalny gave insight yesterday also on social media into life at the remote penal colony. dripping with sarcasm commenting about his educational work there and morning walks he's forced to take when it's negative 13 degrees outside. a man who was rescued after being trapped for six days in his wrecked truck has been reunited with the people who saved his life. these are new photos released of matt rehm from indiana meeting with the first responder and two fishermen who fond him. rehm almost died in that truck,

surviving on only rainwater until the fishermen came upon him. he did have to have one leg amputated due to the injuries he suffered. but still, he is beyond happy. >> survival is everything. even though he is under threat of being sued, nfl quarterback aaron rodgers is not apologizing to jimmy kimmel after bahinting that the late, late host was associated with accused sex trafficker jeffrey epstein. the jets star was back on the pat mccaffey show tuesday after making that claim. but rather than try to clear the air, rodgers instead insisted he was not accusing kimmel of being a pedophile. listen -- >> as long as he understands what i actually said and that i'm not accusing him of being on a list, i'm not stupid enough to accuse you of that with absolutely zero evidence, concrete evidence, that's ridiculous. >> so what was he trying to say?

i don't know. kimmel addressed the growing feud saying he would accept an apology from rodgers but doesn't expect the injured quarterback to offer up one. that was pat mcafee, by the way. because apparently i haven't been watching enough there on that show. you all know him. joining me with more is axios senior media reporter and cnn media analyst sarah fisher. aaron rodgers, hot water is -- i don't know, the lightest of terms here. jimmy is really angry about this. and he should be. >> yeah, and as a jets fan, i think there are a lot of fans annoy good this. you recruit -- annoyed about this. you recruit a high- profile star, now he's injured accusing people of things, it's not a good look for the team, nfl, espn. having him on air accusing an abc star, remember disney owns abc and espn of doing something like this, it makes everyone look bad. no one looks good.

>> why hasn't espn said anything? they've been silent. like you said, espn, abc, same company. >> i think one of the reasons is that they're paying pat mcafee a lot of money to license his show and the reason they did it is because they want espn to be in the zeitgeist. this is a pretty old cable network. they're competing against companies like barstool and bleacher report that are now and hip and internet friendly. and so when they license his show, the deal was we're not going to mess with the content. for them to come out and make a statement, i'm assuming we don't want to put pat mcafee in a place where he is unhappy with his parent owner of the show. the challenge is that puts -- others talent in a precarious position, right? if you're jimmy kimmel, you're looking at your parent company and saying why aren't you here to defend me? they have to walk a fine line. right now i don't know that silence is doing it. we'll see if they come out in the next few days. >> the other thing is defamation lawsuits can be really expensive. sara fischer, thank you so much

for coming on and explaining that to us. appreciate you. >> pat mcafee, $85 million for that show on espn. >> not chump change. >> 85 million reasons to handle this carefully, shall we say. thank you all for joining us. this is "cnn news central." "inside politics" up next. to duckduckgo on all your devie

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