his decision to retire five minutes before meeting with his players. saban said it basically came down to his age. >> to be honest, this last season was grueling. a real grind for us to come from where we started to where we got to. it took a little more out of me than usual. when i was young, i could work until 2:00 in the morning and get up at 6:00 and be there the next day and be full of energy and go for it. but when you got a little older, that gets tougher and i'm sure a lot of people can relate to that. >> i'm only 40 and i can relate to that. so congrats on an amazing career. he certainly will be missed. >> i still have not yet hit 40 and, yeah, i mean -- i guess it just gets worse. andy scholes, thank you very much. have a great weekend. thanks to all of you for joining us.

have a wufl weonderful weekend. i'll see you live from iowa and neglect testify temperatures coming up on monday. don't go anywhere, "cnn this morning" starts right now. good morning, everyone, i'm phil mattingly with erica hill in new york. poppy is off. the u.s. and uk carrying out multiple strikes against iran-backed houthi rebels in yemen. we heard why president biden decided to order the strikes, and concerns the direct involvement could lead to a wider conflict. there's a strong response globally and here at home. a group of democrats fiercely criticized launching the attack without congressional approval. donald trump fouledinding a to be heard. what trump said that the judge asked his lawyer to quote, control your client. "cnn this morning" starts right now. this is cnn breaking news.

>> and that breaking news on this friday morning, growing concerns about an escalating conflict in the middle east after the u.s. and british militaries launched retaliatory strikes against multiple houthi targets in yemen. new video released by the uk defense ministry over the course of the last several hours, five people were killed and six injured according to a houthi military spokesperson. a u.s. military official says a significant percentage of houthi assets were destroyed. 16 locations were hit including a command center, weapons depot and launch centers that were targeted. >> this comes after weeks of attacks on commercial ships in the red sea. attacks that have forced 2,000 ships to divert thousands of miles around the red sea. that is causing major delays and directly impacting the global economy, and the u.s. for weeks has tried to prevent the israel-hamas war from spreading conflict in the region repeatedly warning the houthis about possible retaliation.

>> it doesn't stop. there will have to be consequences, and unfortunately it hasn't stopped but we want to make sure that it does, and we're prepared to do that. >> those warnings have turned to action, and president biden has not ruled out more military action, saying, quote, i will not hesitate to direct further members to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary. we have team coverage on this important morning. experts are standing by and natasha bertrand is at the pentagon. there have been warnings for weeks that this could happen. it has happened. what are the expectations going forward? >> the houthis are already responding and they are saying that they are going to retaliate, the extent to which they actually can after the strikes last night remains unclear. the houthi deputy foreign minister released a statement saying, quote, our country was subjected to a massive aggressive attack. america and britain will undoubtedly prepare a heavy price and bear all the dire

consequences of this blatant aggression. the houthis had been warned for several weeks and months that if they did not stop then the u.s. would not hesitate to strike back, and would not hesitate to take action to make them stop. of course the u.s. was able to pull together the coalition of countries to support a response, a very controversial one, one that was actively debated within the biden administration for quite some time because they were hesitant about escalating the war any further and hesitant about upsetting a delicate truce that has been brokered by the u.s. and inside yemen for the last several years. the houthis are an iran-backed group that emerged in the '90s out of the yemen civil war. the members belong to a branch of shia islam. they are a powerful group. over the course of several years of a war with saudi arabia, the saudis were not able to degrade

them to the point that they were no longer able to control that significant portion of yemen. the question now is will these massive strikes really over 60 locations were targeted, over 60 targets hit by 16 locations in the u.s. and uk, is that enough to degrade the houthi capabilities to continue the strikes on red sea shipping. that remains an open question. a senior military official did say last night that the percentage of the targets that were hit is quote, significant, phil. >> natasha bertrand, live from the pentagon. >> let's bring in analyst for the "new york times," david sanger, and military analyst, and retired air force colonel cedric leighton. good to see both of you this morning. i picking up where natasha left off, one of the things he wrote that stood out was the real need.

the credibility of u.s. power was on the line. an imperative to establish deterrence, because the calls for deterrence were not working. when will the u.s. know whether that was effective and that goal was achieved? >> it's a really good question because the fine line is establishing deterrence and the provocation of a continuing war. that's been the debate taking place within the white house for weeks now. they could have done these strikes two weeks ago. they could have done them two months ago. the reason they didn't want to was that they were concerned about opening essentially a third front in the war. obviously gaza's one, increasingly lebanon and the hezbollah attacks there are second, and here they wanted to do something that would basically quiet this problem. and of course it's the red sea problem that is going to most

affect consumer prices. it's the red sea problem that's going to most affect whether shipping resumes. we now have seen a wide variety of companies say they can't get parts or can't get parts on time because they've had to close off red sea. >> yeah, it's a hugely consequential geopolitical issue right now. colonel leighton when you step back and look at the scale of the operation last night, a joint operation with the u.s. and its allies, what does it tell you about the intent here? >> the intent, i think, and good morning to you, is to make sure that the houthis really can't cut trade in the red sea, transit through the red sea, and so as a result of that, the way that they did this was really designed to hit the houthis hard, hit them once or maybe twice and then hopefully that will be it. but i think we have to be prepared for more actions to

happen for the houthis to respond to one way or the other because they will have some in spite of the substantial strikes, they will have ways to try to reach out and attack shipping in the red sea and in other areas as well. >> colonel, to that point, what are you watching for, then, in the coming days, and where are you watching? >> what i'm looking at, erica, are, you know, some of the movements that the houthis are going to undertake. you know, are they going to be able to repair some of their damaged radars to their airfields, are they going to be able to launch drone strikes? that's probably one of the most important aspects of this. are they going to be launching cruise missiles and ballistic missiles against the targets in the red sea, and will they also try to go after targets in saudi arabia or even israel as a result of this. and will others join them. will the iranians show their hand? i don't think they will at this point in time, but it's definitely something to watch, and will other iranian proxies

also join in this? those iranian proxies extending from iraq to lebanon to gaza, they could potentially do something. hamas in gaza is going to be occupied with the israelis but others are going to be able to do something that could upset the balance perhaps in iraq, perhaps in syria, and perhaps in other parts of the middle east. >> david, we know white house officials informed congressional leadership in advance of these strikes that they were going to be happening. however, you did hear from some house democrats in particular who are raising serious concerns about the legal authority behind this, using the words real retaliatory and defensive, we'll hear the rationale. listen to what ro khanna had to say. >> the constitution requires if there's not an imminent threat of self-defense that he has to come to congress and here we know by your own reporting that this has been going on since

december. he's assembled an entire international coalition. he certainly should have come to congress so we can discuss whether this actually could put more american troops at risk. i'm concerned about retaliation in iraq, and whether it could draw us into a middle east war. >> david, we could have a six-hour discussion about war powers and how this has been operated over the course of several decades, moving away from congress, but do you think those concerns have merit? >> there is some merit to them, but the fact of the matter is the war powers act has rarely been used in advance of these things. what you'll see is the president issue a notification probably in the next few hours about why he engaged here. i don't think the president is going to have a hard time making the case. it was a week ago that we saw the houthis open fire on u.s. navy helicopters and they responded by sinking those three ships, and there were a barrage of 21 missiles and drones that

came in the direction of american forces, but i think the president is going to be able to establish a pretty good case for why he took these out on the ground. the fact of the matter is, the lesson we learned from dealing with the somali pirates and other cases is you have to actually get at their on-shore facilities. and the question cedric raised correctly is have they gotten enough of those to hobble the ability of the houthis to come back, and there's the bigger question of iran, which is obviously that we are not striking inside iran, but it's iran that is at least coordinating if not controlling these groups. >> david sanger, cedric leighton, appreciate your insight as always. bringing the campaign trail to two courthouses, this week, donald trump will be on the campaign trail this weekend, in iowa. and two polls narrowly beating trump in a key swing

state. those numbers just ahead.

it is brutal in iowa, the state facing life threatening winter weather this morning, with three days to go before the republican caucus candidates cancelling events, and the weather could impact turnout.

monday's caucuses are set to be the coldest on record. front runner donald trump is returning to the state this weekend after wrapping his civil fraud trial in new york, speaking both in the courtroom and of course outside. >> this is a political witch hunt, the likes of which nobody's ever seen before. they owe me damages for what they've done. we didn't have a jury. we had no rights to a jury. >> cnn's eva mckend is live in des moines braving the elements this morning. so much focus on the weather and how it could impact turnout ultimately. >> well, erica, iowans are used to the cold, but these blizzard conditions are tough. i can tell you from being out here this morning, the roads are treacherous. it's very very windy. nikki haley forced to cancel her events. excuse me, not cancel her events this morning, shift them. they're going to be tele town halls, that means that iowans can call in to find out more about her vision for america.

meanwhile, governor ron desantis, vivek ramaswamy, they are staying the course for now, but that of course could change in the hours ahead. blizzard conditions hitting iowa, bringing the campaign trail to a halt on the eve of former president trump's return to the state. >> i have got to tell you, y'all, it is cold outside. >> the national weather service says life threatening winter weather is expected it hit the hawk eye state with windchills bringing temperatures as low as 45 degrees below zero. >> temperatures are dropping, you know, my florida blood is adapting. >> reporter: nikki haley cancelling all of her campaign stops friday, opting for telephone town halls. >> we are a country in disarray, and the world is on fire. and the only way we get out of this is if we elect a new conservative leader to carry us

forward and leave the negativity and baggage behind. >> reporter: desantis continuing to slam haley, likening her performance at a cnn debate to hillary clinton. >> it was me versus hillary, i mean, nikki. >> reporter: and criticizing the large campaign donors supporting her. >> she has not gone all 99 counties, doesn't like to interrupt the voter, they just spend, spend, spend, and somehow that's going to do the trick. that's not the way it works. >> reporter: at one event in iowa, desantis battled not just temperatures, but climate protesters. >> this is what's wrong with the college system right there, that's exhibit a. >> reporter: trump will hold his final events in iowa this weekend after spending thursday in a new york courtroom. speaking during closing arguments in his civil fraud trial. >> this is a political witch hunt, the likes of which nobody has ever seen before. they owe me damages for what they have done. >> reporter: the former president making the legal cases

against him his central campaign pitch, falsely claiming they're orchestrated by his political opponents to interfere with the election. >> every time somebody sees me in court, remember, joe biden and his thugs that surround him did it. they're trying to get a man in office that can't put two sentences together. >> reporter: next week, trump says he'll attend the start of the defamation case brought against him by e. jean carroll. the judge in that case has found trump guilty of defamation. this trial is just to determine damages. last year trump was found liable of sexually abusing carroll after she accused him of raping her in the mid-1990s, an accusation trump denies. and iowans are really showing their resolve despite this weather at a campaign event last night voters asking governor desantis about his policy

positions on social security ukraine. so with just three days left, iowans, some of them still making up their minds here, still vetting these candidates, not letting the weather and these frigid conditions deter them from getting out and caucusing on monday. poppy, excuse me, erica. >> no worries. but thank you, now go get warm, you and your team. >> let's bring in cnn political analyst, lee carter, and cnn political analyst and anchor, john avlon. they're iowans, do we really think the weather is going to have some massive effect? >> the coldest i have ever been in my life and the hottest i have been in my life are both covering the campaigns in iowa. they're used to it. but it's a gauge of intensity. if you're not really interesting to caucus, they'll stay home. >> it's fascinating, this race

for second place, how much of an impact this well worn message from donald trump will have at this point. i mean, i've lost count of the number of times, we talk about the grievances and witch hunt, yet here we are again. >> it was spot on to say the sfr piece center piece of the campaign, this is a witch hunt against me, everybody look at me. it's actually a smart strategy for republicans because that is what donald trump's base likes. it's what motivates them. we know that the trumps who have been campaigning in iowa, even though it doesn't look like they have been campaigning, donald trump has not been in iowa, but his sons have been in iowa. one of the things that they have said over and over again is you need to come out. you need to show your political force. you need to show your loyalty to prove that i'm the leader. i know, john, you find that funny. to show that i'm the leader of this country, but also so that we can take revenge on my enemies.

however, that is not a smart play for the general election. one, because the american public have very strong feelings about the idea of putting somebody who is under multiple indictments in office. the same thing that he's using to propel him to the front of the primary, the republican primary may be the same thing that is his down fall in the general election. >> i think there's a nuance, though, in what he's trying to say. in one way, it is all about him. there's no way, there's a lot of that. but there's also this other message he's getting out there saying that they're coming after us. there's been a big shift in his language that i have noticed that it's no longer about me. it's about us. they're coming out all of us, and i'm going to be the one that's going to fight for us. they're coming after republicans. they're trying to silence us. they're trying to force us. they're trying to force their opinions down our throat. and it really resonates. the republicans are saying that's true. they feel like they're being forced to believe certain

things, whether it's through esg, the woke wars, they all feel like they're being forced to believe whatever it is the other side wants them to believe. and they want a fighter. 70% of americans want a fighter in office and donald trump is trying to play into that. >> can we dig into that. what elise is pointing out is what you see in the numbers, very clearly. the genesis of it, whether or not those people are being attacked. whether or not they feel like as trump says, they're going after our religion, which there's multiples. is there validity to it? why does it land? it's true, it shows in the numbers. >> it's a huge mistake to deny what people feel. it's important to unpack why they feel it. right? if you've got a grievance culture. donald trump is saying, i'm not being prosecuted. i'm being persecuted. rarely is he accused of nuance. my trump-centric world is a

proxy for your victimization. i think there are places where the left has a blind spot about how frustrated people feel about what they perceive as being indoctrinated in cultural ways. the dei, tiptoeing around work, and things that are measures of a society that's evolving but people are kicking back on. in many cases because they feel it's illiberal. this is not the level at which most people are saying that's why i support donald trump. instead, it's, you know, he's going to punish his enemies. it's a visceral reaction. in many cases, this goes back to the deepest parts of history, this is part of a larger cycle we see about existence to multiracial democracy, and that's what he's an avatar of. >> we could keep drilling down on this all day. i want to ask about nikki haley, too. i think what's fascinating is what we're seeing in iowa. as eva pointed out, she's not cancelling the events, she's shifting them so that you can call in. "the washington post" pointing out in her events she has actually cut down the length of her speeches yesterday. it went from 45 minutes to about

20. she wasn't taking questions. could that be to minimize gaffes. is it a smart move. should you be taking questions at this point. >> a lot of people that i talked to on the ground said she found her voice and confidence. sometimes theby say, you know, f i had time, i would write memory moes. maybe she's getting her point across in a stronger way. a lot of people say she's found your groove. >> but not taking questions. it's different to cut down your speech. >> why open yourself to that distraction in you're making a closing argument. it's your argument. she has been taking questions the whole time. i think she's hitting her stride as a candidate in many respects, i do. >> it's also a moment to, again, this is a race for second. we all know who's winning the outcome in iowa, but in part, in having this, john, i know you're not a true believer. >> no, i just -- >> got to give everyone a chance. >> don't react to his reactions.

>> but his reactions are the best. >> they are good. >> but i think part of what's going on with nikki haley's strategy is, again, minimizing gaffes, but also saying desantis is not worth her time, and i think that's important. and it's part of this larger idea of, you know, for those voters who are kind of iffy on trump, those republicans voters who are iffy on trump, they want someone who projects strength and stability. right now, desantis does not do that. nikki haley is trying to step into the space for the number two spot in case anything goes wrong. >> we have a lot more to get to. stay with us. we have news makers this morning, you're likely going to want to hear from. senator joe manchin is weighing that possible third party run, and former house speaker nancy pelosi will join us. we'll get their takes, of course, on the state of the 2024 race and a lot more on this busy friday morning. this morning, you might have thoughts on this, a group of

republicans pressuring speaker mike johnson to walk away from a bipartisan spending deal struck with top democrats, why, and what exactly comes next as a partial government shutdown looms. >> one of those again. plus, a class action lawsuit filed against boeing after a chunk o chunk of the plane, it's tough to forget, ripped off last week. we have more on that lawsuit, and the quality control investigation that is now underwrway.

this morning on capitol hill, hard line conservatives are pushing speaker mike johnson to walk away from a top line spending deal, a review that threatens to derail bipartisan talks to keep the government open. >> i didn't come up here to spend more money than nancy pelosi as a republican, and i'm not going to be a part of it. >> cnn's lauren fox is live in washington for us this morning. so we have exactly one week now until this partial government shutdown, lauren. republican opposition here, i mean, how much jeopardy is this deal in? is this going to tank it? >> let's walk through the time line a little bit. on sunday night, we saw that

speaker mike johnson unveiled a top line spending agreement with majority leader chuck schumer. yesterday morning, however, he was met with a number of hard line conservatives who are pushing him to walk away from that deal. that deal obviously is a long-term investment in the country's funding deadlines. it's to ensure that there isn't a government shutdown and yet, despite reaching that agreement, mike johnson had those members in to have a conversation. now, johnson emerged after that meeting saying he'd made no commitments to them. this just shows you that he's really in the middle of this fractious republican conference and in the middle of a fight. members are saying johnson has no other choice but to stick with the deal he cut. here's representative don bacon with me yesterday. >> the country's got to govern. we want stability. you know, the alternative is going to be a shutdown or, you

know, this long cr, the agreement is the best way forward, and i supported the speaker yesterday publicly and in the conference, and i'm going to ask him to hold on to the agreement. >> meanwhile, even if they stick with this agreement, appropriate tors are warning there's not enough time to write the bills. that means they need to have another short-term measure to get them over and pass that friday deadline coming up next week. majority leader chuck schumer took procedural steps on the floor last night to ensure that the senate will move to make sure that there is a stopgap measure in place but that just shows you that right now, johnson has one week to go, and it's not clear which direction he's headed. >> it is something. lauren, appreciate it. thank you. phil. we're back to our breaking news this morning, the u.s. and uk carrying out strikes against iran-backed houthi rebels and yemen. why this area is so important. you see the level of strikes there, and why so much is at stake globally.

why the conflict there impacts us here. stay with us.

there is growing concerning this morning act an escalating conflict in the middle east on the heels of these u.s. and british military strikes overnight targeting multiple houthi targets in yemen. now to break down what the

development means not just for the region, phil, but the world, and that is how the growing concern comes from, how it spreads. >> no question about it. and there's a reason why the biden administration sought for weeks to avoid the moment we're in right now. there were warnings, public and through back channels trying to get the yemen rebels to pull back, the houthis to pull back. the acute focus and the u.s.-led action is tied to the rebel group from a tiny war torn nation. an area that serves as a geopolitical and economic lynch pin, you see the scale of the strikes that have come from the houthi rebels over the course of the last several years. now a response, why, lest starts with the global economy. officials point to the waterway as the main route for 12 to 15% of world trade. that's a huge number. what does it mean? since the houthi attacks began, the largest shipping companies in the world have steadily moved to halt transit through the red sea. what has that led to? well, that has led to a drop of

20% of more in red sea activity. that's according to lloyd's list. it marks the start of a potentially cascading effect, which the world bank outlined in a report this week. this is important to note warning in that report that energy supplies could be disrupted leading to spikes in applies that could turn over to other commodities that would heighten global tensions and at an inflation high moment, economic uncertainty. in the month before the u.s.-led strikes that happened last night, the volume of containers transported through the red sea plummeted. that's not an error. that's the line. by more than half. almost at 70% of the usual volume expected is where how much it has dropped. that has led to a dramatic increase in the cost to ship goods. look at the spike right here. you see the spike to ship a 40 foot container. that sounds a little bit in the weeds here. however, that is critical. explain why in a second. it has more than doubled since november. it's true, economic officials

warn it's only a matter of time. >> a significant amount of what transit inputs, so it's fuel, it's ingredients, it's components that enter into the manufacturing sector. so the impact on just in time manufacturing processes will be even more significant and have a longer term impact. this confusion and disturbance is going to take months to correct. >> so why were u.s. officials so wary of striking the rebel group directly despite increased pressure from allies and those who had concerns about how they were operating? in a region that is already clearly aflame in the wake of the october 7th and the gaza war, the escalation was viewed as particularly acute, the risk of escalation. the houthi rebels are one of many iranian proxy groups that launched attacks since the start of the war.

there have been attacks in syria, attacks that the u.s. has responded to. iran is suspected of supplying houthi rebels with weapons, and iranian intelligence has been critical to enable them to attack u.s. and allied ships in that region. key allies in the region. most notably saudi arabia have quietly urged the u.s. to show restraint over the course of the last couple of weeks, and that's critical here. it gets to the geopolitical volatility that serves as the backdrop to all of this. take a look at this. this was the scene in 2019, one of the best protected places on earth, one of the largest energy hubs in the world, houthi strikes on saudi arabia that resulted in this and happened over the course of several years, one example of the group's reach that has over the course of the last several years not just included saudi arabia, it's also included the uae and bahrain as well. obviously concerns in saudi arabia. those strikes, part of a war that had raged since 2015, a civil war, a proxy war, killing hundreds of thousands, leaving

80% of the population depend on aid. it was the biden administration that play add central role in a 2022 truce, that has continued to hold since. the risk now center stage, so too is the risk of iran, not just behind the houthis but the proxy groups in syria and iran, he hezbollah and lebanon, and the fact that they may escalate, and that's the greatest concern in a moment when an unstable region sits perilously close to the break. >> such a great explain e phil, thank you. president biden set to head back to pennsylvania told as new polling shows him in a tight race there with donald trump. take a closer look. >> it's getting serious, and i think it needs to be made --

in just a couple of hours, president biden will travel to the battleground state of pennsylvania to make his

economic pitch. pennsylvania, of course, crucial to biden's 2024 chances. and there's new polling in the state that shows him in a tight race with donald trump. it's actually the first in pennsylvania to also show him with a slight lead over the former president. >> in a new social media video president biden reacting to trump saying he hopes an economic crash happens this year. >> when there's a crash, i hope it's going to be during this next 12 months because i don't want to be herbert hoover, the one president, i just don't want to be herbert hoover. >> he's acknowledging that my economy is doing pretty darn well because he doesn't want that to continue. >> john avlon and lee carter are back with us now. that's actually kind of like an agile social media strategy to some degree, but i think the bigger question that we have all had and talked about ad nauseam, the message hasn't connected, is it going to change now? >> so this is why pennsylvania is so important because pennsylvania is one where joe

biden has roots. he has talked about, you know, his relationship to the state. it was a huge part of the 2020 strategy. and 2016, pennsylvania, we saw it got kind of blown off, and it had dire consequences. you know, we've said for a long time that how goes ohio, so goes the nation, but maybe the phrase should be, how goes pennsylvania goes the nation. it's also a space where he can come out and he can specifically talk about a thnumber of differt things, in part because pennsylvania is a good representation of kind of the full diversity of the country, class, race, ethnicity, religion, all of these things, and he can talk very specifically about the kind of infrastructure programs, the job programs, you know, they have rehabilitation programs that are going into the streets and churches and into public parks. so these are all of the things that are both hitting with pennsylvanians but also that biden really needs to do as part of this larger messaging strategy. >> the entire logic of biden's candidacy originally was pennsylvania. he's the boy from scranton,

neighboring delaware, he's got to win, you know, pennsylvania, and the fact that this is the first poll in a long time showing him up is good news for the biden campaign. it's necessary news, frankly. >> it's absolutely necessary, and i actually was surprised to see he wasn't winning pennsylvania, not only was 2020 so important, was pennsylvania so important in 2020, also in the midterms with what happened with fetterman, dr. oz, the governor, it really has been squarely going to the left, and so the fact that there was any polls suggesting that trump was having a surge to me was a big surprise. i think this is very important news for the biden administration. >> you bring up sort of all of the things that are available to the biden campaign in terms of messages and people who they can hit. what's fascinating to me, though, we know this economic message is not hitting. part of that is because of the way that people feel, and we have talked about it so much. numbers are one thing, how you feel is something else. do you see any indication, john, that the campaign itself has figured out how to talk to the feelings instead of the numbers. >> not yet, but i think that,

you know, that social media valley of saying that trump's rooting for a depression crash, and b, de facto acknowledging that the economy is strong is a step in that direction. they haven't come up with the sticky stats and sound bites that you need. trump always hammered home the economy. the biden team hasn't done that as much. they need to. another thing, a lot of the landmark accomplishments of the administration, the chips act, the infrastructure bill, those folks haven't been felt yet. biden has talked about the middle class. the middle class needs to feel they're improving under the economy, and the piece of legislation may do that. >> kwhawhat i think is interest and i'm making too much of a social media video that's clearly staged but doesn't that kind of capture the entire strategy, donald trump says a thing, biden responds to a thing, and that's how they get people to key in on the election and the contrast here. >> i always see the person as reacting as losing, right, so i think biden's strategy is very

reactionary. i don't think he is the one setting the agenda. everybody cares about the economy, let me talk about the economy, it's not that bad. it's better than you think. it's never been better, and people are saying you don't get it. so i think he's really got to be more of a pace setter, rather than a reactionary, and, you know, him going out to pennsylvania right now is a really important move, and he hasn't found his footing on the economic message. things are hard, but here are indicators to to say this is the right direction. >> is america better off than we were three years ago, in january of 2021, the answer is yes. >> that's not the message, though. >> but it should be. >> yeah. and to that point, right, the campaign doesn't seem to, i don't know if it's because there's so much going on in the world, right, but to your point about it being reactionary, the campaign doesn't seem to have found a way to talk about through their surrogates, here's

why you should stick with me for fours years because these things are going to get forward. there's tno forward looking vision. >> the biden campaign could learn from trump is that trump always said, i see you, i hear you, i feel you, as he was hammering economic things, and this is the place where biden has an opportunity to step in in pennsylvania and say, i hear you, i understand and i have a plan to fix it. >> thanks, guys, very much. police say the judge presiding over donald trump's civil fraud trial was the victim of swatting. there's been an up tick in the prank calls. a u.s. coalition carrying out air strikes against iran-backed houthi rebels, the u.s.s. getting i involved inin tensnse situatioion in the r re.

there are new details this morning about the bomb threat at the home of the judge who's presiding over donald trump's civil fraud trial.

police say the threat was unfounded and it was a swatting incident. you're hearing that a lot more these days. swatting is the dangerous practice where fake emergency calls were made, that cause s.w.a.t teams to show up at homes. they have seen an uptick in the disturbing trend. cnn's rene marsh has more. >> they claimed that i had shot my wife. >> ohio's attorney general dave yost. >> they had shot their spouse and that they had somebody else tied up. >> and georgia lieutenant governor burt jones, both police say, targets of a dangerous trend on the rise called swatting. it's a hoax where the caller makes a panicked false report to 911 about a violent crime in progress at their target's home. triggering a large police response with armed officers like the one georgia state senator clint dixon experienced when he says he was swatted on christmas day. >> i went to the front door and opened the door and answered the door and was met by six officers

that were carrying ars. >> congresswoman marjorie taylor greene says she was targeted the same day. the police report says the caller told an emergency dispatcher he shot his girlfriend and greene's home was the scene of the accident. >> the intent is the harris the individual that's the subject of the swatting call, but there are serious consequences potentially, officers responding quickly to the scene, thinking there's some major crime in progress, which puts the person who is the subject of the swatting at risk. >> in a divisive and toxic political environment, both republican and democratic political figures seem to be increasingly the targets. many of them viewed by trump supporters as political opponents. this sunday, d.c. police responded to a 911 call for a shooting at the home of the federal judge in donald trump's election interference case. the police report says once units arrived they realized the

judge was not injured, and there was no one in her home. last month, jack smith, the justice department special counsel overseeing two cases over donald trump was swatted, a law enforcement tells cnn, so was maine secretary of state, after she ruled trump ineligible to appear on the state's ballot, and hours before thursday's closing arguments, a bomb threat at the home of the judge presiding over trump's civil trial. >> these threats of violence are unacceptable. they threaten the fabric of our democracy. >> reporter: in may, the fbi set up a database to track swatting cases for the first time. since then, the agency says it has received more than 500 reports. finding the perpetrators who often mask their caller i.d. data can be difficult, and that's why political figures who have fallen victim to the crime are urging congress to ask. >> if there was a federal law on the books, given that this person is calling from another

state that you would have that jurisdiction and hopefully be able to apprehend those folks more effectively. >> reporter: as elections draw near, states are doing what congress has not. last year ohio passed a law making swatting a felony, and georgia has drafted similar legislation. it's not just high profile political figures falling victim to swatting, it runs the gamut from jewish and other religious institutions, government buildings, schools, to election workers and members of the military. now, law enforcement stresses that this is a dangerous hoax. they point to a 28-year-old kansas man who was actually killed after someone called in a fake 911 emergency about a hostage situation at his home. rene marsh, cnn, washington. >> so scary. "cnn this morning" continues right now. white house confirming that the u.s. and a handful of its allies including the united kingdom have carried out military strikes against multiple houthi targets in