>> i think she would just be so happy. i was talking to someone last night on the phone and she obviously never got to see me even start competing in pageants, because i started my first year at the air force academy, and i just remember, i got a very special call from my congressman the night before she passed away, letting me know that i got early admission to the air force academy, and so it was just a very surreal moment, knowing that before she passed, she knew that i was going to achieve one of my biggest goals of going to the academy. and this, getting to wear this is all for her. and i hope that she knows that and the rest of america can see that as well, because really this entire year is dedicated to my mom, whitney. >> before we go, what were your classmates at the academy -- have you talked to any of them since this happened? i would love to know what their thought process is. >> yes, i mean, everyone was so supportive. i remember there were times at the academy when we were trying to work with my schedule on how i was going to make competing and being a cadet work. and so i have tons of students

and teachers that have been reaching out in support. and it really meant a lot getting messages from some of the women i went to the academy with saying, thank you for showing the country that we serve beyond our uniform. and that we can lead as women and out of it. and so i'm super excited to get to carry all of them with me throughout this entire year. >> madsison marsh, so many congratulations. i think your name is one we'll be talking about for years. thank you. >> thank you so much. "cnn this morning" continues now. roughly half of the iowa caucusgoers that made another choice. there is an appetite for a different leader z. >> can you make it that long? do you have enough money? >> we've never been a racist country. >> she needs to stop tiptoeing around this shall and needs to call it out. >> we've got to get back on to biden, not wasting a lot of time with these two. >> they won't punch back at him. if you actually want to be a leader, you have to be willing to stand up. >> donald trump is taking his campaign to the courtroom.

>> jury selection in the penalty phase of e. jean carroll's federal defamation lawsuit. >> we're going to get the most important witness, e. jean carroll herself. >> i'm going to go to one of these phony cases. >> you and jury need to send a message above and beyond whatever dollar figure you want to put on this. >> former trump associate roger stone caught on tape talking about killing democratic members of congress. >> urging violence in the lead up to january 6th. stone at the center of yet another controversy. >> well, good wednesday morning, everyone. i'm top of the hour, phil mattingly with poppy harloe in new york. the battle for new hampshire ramping up with only three republicans left standing, the front-runner, donald trump, continuing to balance the campaign trail with the courthouse and his legal trials. he is expected to attend day two of the defamation trial. he'll travel back to new hampshire where he'll be holding

dueling rallies with nikki haley, and ron desantis is ramping up his ground operation in just days left with what could be a make or break primary. the primary challenge is that trump can slam the door shut on this race with another dominant victory that resembles what he did in iowa. during his rally in new hampshire last night, trump making it clear he sees only one opponent standing in his way. >> ron desanctimonious. i don't even want to talk about him, i don't want to waste it. but i want to talk about nikki. this perception she's gone up, she's not tough enough. we have a country that's in such bad shape, we have to take it back. nikki haley is a disaster. i moved her to the united nations, and honestly, she was not a good negotiator. >> well, last night, desantis also sharpened his attacks on hailey during cnn's town hall. you see him there with wolf blitzer. he argued that nikki haley cannot beat trump after finishing third in iowa. >> she said and her campaign

said that there's only two tickets out of iowa, that the top two out of iowa would be viable and that she would finish at least second and then that would be the race. well, guess what happened? >> omar jiminez live in manchester, new hampshire, with us. good morning, omar. hailey has been betting so much on new hampshire. she's polling way above desantis in new hampshire. where are we just a little under a week out? >> yeah, i mean, really at this point, both ron desantis and nikki haley are trying to cut into trump's dominance, but it's really hailey that's better positioned here to actually give him a serious challenge, with polls at least in recent weeks showing her within single digits of the former president, which is a threshold that no other candidate has been even close to at this point. that said, polls are one thing, securing votes in these final days is something else entirely. the republican race for president is refocusing in new

hampshire, with all three candidates campaigning in the granite state after former president trump's landslide victory in iowa. >> do you think what happened in iowa is going to happen here in new hampshire? >> i think that is a strong possibility of "yes." >> reporter: florida governor ron desantis is sharpening his message to try to cut into some of trump's overwhelming gop support and criticizing his gop rivals for not debating in new hampshire. >> i'm the only candidate that actually agreed to come to new hampshire to debate. i'm the only one who's not running a basement campaign at this point. >> trump took a detour to new york to attend jury selection in the defamation case brought against him by e jean carroll before heading to new hampshire. the long line of supporters waited for him in the blistering cold to get into his campaign event. >> i said, will people show up? but they always show up. >> trump is trying to secure an equally dominant finish in new hampshire to secure his path to the nomination. >> we really got to get back on

to biden and beating the democrats and not wasting a lot of time with these two. >> meanwhile, hailey stis staki her campaign on a strong finish in the first primary state by courting support from more moderate voters. >> i am looking for an alternative republican to run against joe biden. >> reporter: her competitors say she can't win the primary without republican support. >> nikki haley, in particular, is counting on the democrats and liberals to infiltrate your republican primary. >> reporter: to win a republican primary, you can't rely on democrats coming in and changing their registration. you've got to be able to win republicans, you've got to be able to win conservatives. and she cannot do that. >> hailey's allies are hoping for a strong finish as she campaigns on a message of generational change. >> don't you think we need to have mental competency tests for anyone over the age of 75? these are people making decisions on our national

security. these are people making decisions on the future of our economy. >> we need to know they're at the top of their game. >> reporter: but hailey's also facing criticism for how she answered a question about racism in the united states during an interview tuesday. >> we're not a racist country, brian. we've never been a racist country. our goal is to make sure that today is better than yesterday. are we perfect? no. >> reporter: her campaign clarified her remarks in a statement writing, america has always had racism, but america has never been a racist country. now, that was something that hailey allies like larry hogan agreed with, and even ron desantis, when he was asked about it, despite, of course, periods like slavery and segregation, where racism was literally a fundamental part of this country. that said, all of these candidates are going to be back out on the campaign trail today, trump in particular is expected to start his day in court in new york before making his way here to new hampshire. poppy, phil? >> the 3/5 clause as well. there's a lot there, omar.

thank you very much. >> yeah. let's talk about it all. former state department senior white house adviser in the trump administration, matt mauers is with us, and steve duspres, who is backing nikki haley. good morning to both of you. steve, let me just ask for your response on that. the comments that she made on fox came a couple of weeks after she didn't say slavery is what caused the civil war. her campaign did put out that statement later. what's your response to it? >> yeah, i don't think that's a big deal in new hampshire. i think people understand what she meant, that we're not a racist country, but obviously we've had racism. i think it's a nonissue. >> matt? >> but one correction, governor desantis and president trump keep saying democrats are going to infiltrate the new hampshire primary. if you were a democrat and you wanted to switch your vote, you had to do it by a month and a half ago. only 3,500 democrats switched their registration from democrat to independent. so that claim is factually false

by governor desantis. >> i'm glad you brought that up. throughout listening to the piece, it kept popping in my head, it's important for people to note, that's not actually how it works. we first met when you were chris christie's man on the ground in new hampshire back in 2016. you ran for office in the state as well. what's your sense right now of christie getting out of the race? he had decent numbers in the state. does that change the dynamic. do those supporters all convert to hailey going forward? >> well, not all of them, but certainly most of them. and part of the reason is that if you're a voter who is looking at governor christie, up until about a week ago, given his message about donald trump, given where he's staked out ideologically, certainly more middle of the road, talking about the need for compromise, talking about need to bring people together, you don't have a lot of homes right now. it's an incredibly shrunken field. you're down to, essentially, two -- and with all due respect to ron desantis, half a candidate in new hampshire, where a new poll came out today,

showing him only apology at 5%. so you're naturally -- if you're inclined to support governor christie a week ago, your only home right now is really to support ambassador hailey, and she's seeing some of the benefit of that. a new poll came out today showing her moving upwards into the mid-30s. some of that previous polling had shown her in the high-20s, but she has a lot of room to catch up. and the challenge right now for her is that she has to both maintain that base she has of more moderate republicans, independent voters, while also now pulling some of those more conservative voters away from donald trump, who's getting closer and closer to that 50% mark. >> steve, phil counted and the tone from trump about nikki haley was conciliatory for 22 hours. is that right? >> a little bit more. >> it's a big -- almost day. >> yeah, he had a stopwatch. in all seriousness, trump has since then merged nikki haley's face in a sort of weird morphed photo with hillary clinton, and he's using dog whistles by using

her -- pointing to her and misspelling her given indian name. how does she need to hit back in the next six days to try to close that gap with trump in your state? >> well, first, i think we should note that president trump actually has a very good campaign organization this time. in 2016, he ran as a celebrity, 2020 as the incumbent, this year he has a very sophisticated campaign operation. but i think what nikki haley needs to keep saying is that i can achieve the trump agenda without the chaos, without the distraction, without the negativity, without name calling. and i think she's doing pretty well. obviously, having chris sununu, one of the most popular governors in the country out campaigning for her helps. and if you look back at -- i'm going to look at -- in 2000, it was the 17-point spread from mccain over bush, because the independents broke at the very last moment and added to his total and created that big margin. so i think that she has a lot of

room to grow. it's clearly do or die here. and like matt said, and i was proud to be a supporter and a friend of matt's for a long time, still am -- >> still a friend. >> still a friend. and i think a campaign supporter if he runs again, but i think he's correct. governor desantis really doesn't have to campaign here. in order to do well in new hampshire, you have to come across as likable, and governor desantis for whatever reason hasn't been able to cross that barrier yet. >> matt, last word before we have to go? >> i'll just say, i think in order to see an upset next week, we'll have to see a surge of independent turnout. governor sununu is very popular with independent voters, so he's got a lot of work to do in the next week, but i'm sure with supporters like governor sununu and steve, ambassador hailey has a chance to maybe close that gap. >> all right. matt mauers, steve dupree, still friends, which is a good development, appreciate you both. thank you, guys. >> thanks for having us. new insigh this morning about the call made to 911 requesting an ambulance to defense secretary lloyd austin's home on new year's day.

we'll have it. and despite low employment, cooling inflation and the state of the economy remains a hurdle for president biden heading into the general election. the president's top economic adviser's with us next to talk about that and a lot more.

the next trump economic boom will begin on november 5th, 2024. that will be an economic boom. and you know, the only thing that they have now is a stock market that's going up, and it's only going up because people think we're going to win the election. >> not the only thing that's good about the economy right now. just a point of fact. donald trump in new hampshire last night, campaigning on the economy. not giving specifics, said he would, quote, rescue the economy from what he calls disastrous spending policies by president biden. i will point out, the white house and many economists point to factual indicators that this economy is remarkably strong. they point to historically low employment, cooling inflation. the message is not breaking through in the polls. an abc news/ipsos poll out this week show just 31% of americans

approve of how president biden is handling this economy, and 56% disapprove and just 13% of americans say they've gotten better financially since the president took office. let's talk about that and some news with president biden's chief economic adviser, jared bernstein, the chair of the white house council of economic advisers. i know you don't like to talk about polls and are not in charge of the political operation. but there are still remaal pain in this economy for americans. what is the president going to do about that for americans between now and election day? >> great to be with you. i think the most important thing for us to do is to continue to execute on the president's vision to lower costs while maintaining the strong economy in the background that you just referred to. as you know, inflation is down two-thirds off of its peak. and some of the highest prices have come down, as well. in areas like airfare, milk, eggs, tv, toys, things like that. and that's been really important

to help give families some breathing room. but as you said, and as the president says whenever he talks about it, prices are still too high. so we have to continue to reduce junk fees wherever they see them, while maintaining the very tight job market. you will remember that economists assured us that we would be in a recession by now. in fact, the economy is growing with some real strength. real wages are up. that helps family's buying power. we just have more work to do to build on the progress we've made. we're even seeing some of that progress reach some of these polls and sentiment indicators that are improving. >> it's a fair point. many, many people said that recession, recession, recession, few said soft landing. and we may have achieved just that. talking about american families, we saw bipartisanship in congress yesterday in a really important way, releasing lawmakers -- working together to release a $78 billion tax package that would enhance the child tax credit, potentially lift about 500 -- let me check the numbers, a thousand kids out

of poverty -- >> 400,000, yeah. >> 500 when fully implemented. that's what i was pointing to. but also some tax breaks for businesses. i know it's not as much as the white house wanted, but will you guys get behind it? >> president biden is very proud as part of the child tax credit that was in his rescue plan. this cut child poverty nearly in half. that is a really smart investment. so, yes, we're very supportive of expanding the child tax credit. we would like to work to get it back to where it was when the president managed to have such a great effects in the rescue plan. we haven't seen all of the details of this plan. interestingly, it's paid for. so helping hundreds of thousands of kids get out of poverty, reaching 16 million kids with a more fair child tax credit, that sounds like a really smart idea to us. >> all right, so that's a yes. let's move on to some news that

you have. the consumer financial protection bureau this morning is issuing these new rules. it's not a surprise that they're urging you not to proceed until they can assess the economic impact on community banks and credit unions. explain how this works and why it's important. did we lose jared? oh, okay. we'll try to get him back and finish that conversation in a little bit. >> in the meantime, notorious trump ally roger stone under investigation for allegedly discussing assassinating democrats. who stone says is actually responsible for the comments. that's next. and e. jean carroll set to take the stand today as a jury is asked to decide how much donald trump owes her for defaming her. on monday, the chairman of

florida's republican party was ousted because he was under criminal investigation for sexual assault. yes, no one under investigation for sexual assault should be chairman of the florida republican party. they should be the republican nominee for president!

longtime and staunch donald

trump ally roger stone under investigation by the u.s. capitol police and fbi for allegedly threatening to assassinate house democrats. take a listen. >> it's time to before the election, we need to get the message to them. we're not putting up with this [ bleep ]. >> stone is referring to democratic congressman eric swalwell and congressman jerry nadler, who served as chairman of the house judiciary committee during part of trump's investigation. the website mediaite first obtained the tape. cnn has not independently verified its authenticity. zach cohen joins us now. zach, what are we learning about this? >> sources are telling me and my colleague kristen wilson that the u.s. capitol police and fbi are taking this seriously and looking into these comments that were made by roger stone in the weeks leading up to the 2020 election, but only surfacing now. look, as you know, fbi take threats against lawmakers incredibly seriously. and you know, based on the content of this reporting, it

certainly seems to fit this that bucket. roger stone is basically denying that he ever said this and that this has him even on the aid recording. he's calling it total nonsense, he accuses it of being ai manipulation and calls the whole thing absurd. but this is not the dpfirst tim that roger stone's comments related to the re-election have been under scrutiny. he was a close ally of former president trump. he was actively involved in various efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to evidence that the january 6th committee put forward, and he was at trump's stop the steal rally on january 6th. and he was also convicted as a result of robert mueller's probe we back when. his prison sentence was commuted by trump before he had to go to jail. but roger stone, a very familiar name popping up in a very familiar context. >> no question about that, have we heard anything from congressman swalwell or nadler? >> i'm told that neither congressman had heard or knew

about this recording before mediaite published it. but swalwell explicitly released a statement expressing deep concern about what he heard on this audio recording. he said the roger stone assassination plot recording may seem like the ravings of a wannabe gangster, but it's not. this threat and other threats of violence by trump and his supporters must be taken seriously, by not only law enforcement, but also by my colleagues. and phil, as you know, threats against lawmakers have been up in the times since january 6th 2021, and they seem very intent on looking into these comments by roger stone. >> great reporting, please keep us posted. zach cohen, thank you. this morning, u.s. officials bracing for retaliatory attacks from the houthis after striking houthi targets in yemen for a third time in the past couple of days. former defense secretary mark esper tetensions acrcross the reregio nenext.

new questions this morning about the call made to 911 requesting an ambulance to defense secretary lloyd austin's home on new year's day. in the call, the aide asks the emergency service to be, quote, discreet. listen. >> can i ask, can the ambulance not show up with lights and sirens. we're trying to remain a little subtle. >> yeah, i understand. yeah, usually when they turn into a residential neighborhood, they'll turn them off. is he reporting any chest pain at all? >> no. >> okay. did he pass out or feel like he's going to pass out? >> no. >> okay. and like you said, he's awake,

he's alert and oriented? he's tonot confused or anything like that, correct? >> correct. >> austin was admitted to walter reid hospital on january 1st. it was later discovered president biden, the white house, and congress were not notified until several days later. a review is underway of the handling of this situation. >> joining us now, former defense secretary under trump, mark esper. we want to talk to you a lot in the middle east, honestly, but given this news, given what cnn obtained here, you held this position, right? if this were you, you were serving as defense secretary, what do you make of that, asking his -- his aides asking for the ambulance to be discreet when it came to his home, given the broader context that not only did the american public not know for days that he was in the intensive care unit, the president didn't know, his own deputy didn't know? >> first of all, we're glad to hear that secretary austin is on the mend and he's back home.

continuing his recovery. i think it's well known that secretary u.s. is a very private and personal man. clearly his staff knew this as well, and whether or not he told them to do so, this is how staff acts on your behalf. they try to enhance that and meet the needs and expectations of the boss. that's something you have to be very careful of in these roles. and so this is clearly what is compounded, you know, the troubles, the initial not notifying of elective surgery, then going into the hospital, then it continuing, staff not being notified and the president not being notified. this is kind of the culture that has been built up around him, that he recognized, took responsibility for, and said he's going to address. >> turning to what is happening in the broader conflict in the middle east. we've now seen three different u.s. strikes against houthi targets in the last week or so, responding to weeks of drone attacks from them, missiles

fired at u.s. assets and commercial ships in the red sea. we've even seen u.s. service members injured, at least one critically. do you believe that this strategy is now the right one? the u.s. has said, if you cross this line, we're going to respond. there was a line crossed. now the question is, should there be more strikes like this from the u.s. what will it achieve? >> well, first of all, you can't state something and then not follow up on it. it shows lack of resolve and weakness. secondly, i thought the strikes, while good, were long overdue. i don't think you can allow a terrorist group like the houthis to strike commercial shipping, threaten united states navy warships with impudent ping it was the right thing to do. our goal ultimately is deterrence. they are not yet deterred. i think when the pentagon announced the strikes last week, they said the aim was to degrade and disrupt the houthi's ability to conduct strikes. i believe they've done some of that, but clearly a good chunk of their capacity remains and i

think we should continue doing so until we completely degrade their capability to do it or ultimately achieve deterrence. i would argue that we should go after their command and control sites as well, and that would also add to it. but i think this is going to take a while unfortunately, until we get them to stop commercial shipping. and look, the fact is, people will argue, well, we just shouldn't do it, we can't do it, and my view is, what's the option. you just can't allow 12% of commercial trade, 12% of traffic to get disrupted through this vital trade. and the economic harm it will do around the world can be measured in dollars and time. >> for sure. i want to show you this new video of houthis dancing on the deck of the galaxy leader ship in the red sea, the same ship houthi rebels seized at the end of last year. when you talk about deterrence again, the question is, how do you deter that? the reason that they are carrying this out is because of

the u.s. support for israel in its war against hamas. and that support is not going to wane, so do you believe that these houthi rebels about to be declared as a terrorist organization by the biden administration can be deterred? >> well, we don't know, but we have to try. they vecertainly have an appeti for conflict with the united states. it's part of their philosophy. they subscribe to the same shia view of the united states and israel that iran does, you know, death to israel, death to iran, death to the united states. but at the end of the day, i would say this repeatedly, iran is supplying supporting and funding all of these activities. whether it's the houthis in southern yemen in yemen, hezbollah, hamas, the shia militia groups in iraq, you name it. we have to get together the western democracies and the arab states, quite frankly and figure out a plan to deal with iran, to staunch these flows of weapons and material and funding going

into this country. or else this will continue. the cycle of violence and terrorism will go on for another four decades. and that's what we're up against. >> quickly, the biden administration is about to re-designate houthis as a specially designated global terrorist entity. not specifically a foreign terrorist organization, but this is something that they rescinded, that the trump administration had put in place, right at the end. i think it was january 11th, and the biden administration came and undid that. now they're redoing it. why does it matter? what difference will it make? >> well, with i think it makes a difference because it will apply a certain amount of sanctions on the houthis. you know, the ability for the united states to trade with them, to deal with them. it will place other constraints, as well. i think it was a mistake to withdraw the sanctions in 2021. the other part of this, while they designated one set of sanctions, the specially designated global terrorists, the biden administration are not

applying it to former terrorist organizations, which are far stiffer. they have federal penalties. the concern is that it might somehow prevent or scare off humanitarian dprups. it seems to me that we can find a way to carve that out while still applying the full weight of u.s. sanctions on the houthis. and by the way, i don't think that the u.s. sanctions are sufficient. the western democracies and others supply sanctions on the houthis to stop this bad behavior from them. and to tell their acts on the red sea shipping. >> the reason the biden administration rescinded that was because they thought it would hamper getting aid into yemen. as you point out, conditions have certainly changed a lot since then. secretary esper, thanks very much. >> thanks, poppy. former president trump inspires stream feelings from those who love him and certainly those who don't. some of those who love him are cashing in and becoming hubs of pro-trump communities. >> when trump was indicted for

all of these different things, did people stop buying his merchandise? > no, they y wanted morore. why?

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ it is no secret that donald trump supporters are quite loyal. they often wear that loyalty on their sleeves, literally. every time he holds a rally, the crowds are decked out in trump memorabilia. skirts, hats, scarves, gloves,

you name it. you ever wonder where trump's most fervent followers get all of that stuff? cnn's elle reeve spent some time inside a store that used to be a church where trump is a religion. she wanted to learn more. >> the mug shot was really hot. and this stuff lasts probably about two months, it stays really hot. but the first week that the mug shot came out, we sold like 2,000 t-shirts. >> what's that? >> that's a trump's balls. >> okay. >> reporter: whitey taylor runs a busy trump store in boonsville, a town fewer than 500 people in southwest virginia. we visited a week after christmas, with the iowa caucuses just days away. taylor predicted trump would win the republican nomination and then business would really boom. >> you can only get these here. >> how much?

>> $20. >> customers were bullish, too. what the super fans bought offered some insight what they want, politically. the merchandise is not just campaign slogans, it's defiant, even vulgar. buyers that end up being mad at the state of america and think there's one guy who will fix it. when trump was indicted for all of these different things, did people stop buying his merchandise? >> no, they bought it more. >> why? >> because they knew it was like russian collusion, this is all just made up bull [ bleep ]. he has gained a lot of people because of this administration that we have now. >> do you get people coming in saying that? >> definitely. they'll just come in and say, never again will i be that stupid, you know. >> hi! welcome to the trump store! >> what have you observed about what people are looking for? >> people want our economy better. they're very skacared, i think, because of the way things are going. they feel like where we're at right now is like stagnant. >> were you interested in politics before trump? >> yes! and you know, it's strange,

because i've always been democrat. >> really? >> yes! so i am a firm believer in believing in a person and system that's going to make positive changes. i think in the past, i have made some quick judgments about my voting, so i'm very more selective and more thought put into it. >> what's coming up right now? >> who knows. the more the democrats talk about maga crazy people, something will spin off. within 150 miles of here, if anybody gets comfy, they bring them here. >> why'd you come in today? >> get some trump stuff so i can advertise and support him. '06/'08, i lost everything i had. but i barely survived i don't know how i did. it's coming. >> do you think trump can prevent that? >> i think he can. i think he can put the brakes on

it and turn it around. >> i often wonder what encourages people to be a democrat, because i don't see a lot of kindness, i don't see a lot of help for our country and i see a lot of talk and no action. >> he got into this business at the very beginning of trump's takeover of republican party. taylor's an attention seeker and he prayed to god to guide him while selling racing merch at the daytona 500. >> my son said, dad, what's god telling you. i said, it's to support trump. i said, i'm going to order a thousand t-shirts, he said, just order 100. i said, go big or go home. if god's telling me i'll sell every one of them, if not, we'll throw them in the trash. on the front, hire the vets, fire the idiots. >> taylor opened the store in

the fall of 2020 inside a 100-year-old church. after the election, the big seller was "stop the steal." do you think the election was stolen? >> there is no doubt the election was stolen zpl. >> and what did you think of january 6th? >> it was a bad thing, but if you look back, they were led in. they still should have never gone inside. you never go inside somebody's house or a house, a public house. >> reporter: does that complicate what you think of trump at all. >> no? >> why not? >> definitely not. he definitely didn't tell them to go and store the house. >> would you have interest in running the store if trump weren't so controversial? >> i doubt it. i like his controversy. we need something we can laugh about and be happy about it. there's liberals that think that they can come in here and actually tell me what to do. the last one was a professor from unc. she would just tell me what a great job biden is doing, i tried to tell her to leave. >> reporter: but do you not appreciate her coming in and wanting to mix it up a little bit. >> i love it, but she didn't want to hear what i have to say,

she only wanted to hear what she had to say. >> reporter: you say you want to re- re-name this town trump town? >> why not. >> do you think other people will support you? >> not really, but it's good controversy even if it never happens. >> elle reeve, cnn, boons mill, virginia. and the biden administration proposing a new rule that would reduce bank overdraft fees. it could save american families, they estimate, $3.5 billion a year. about $150 per household. back with us after a slight technical delay is jared bernstein, the president's top economic adviser. i appreciate you for sticking around and coming back. >> i appreciate you. obviously, the banking lobby is not a big fan of this. they want you to hold off, see what it might mean. they're concerned what it might mean for credit unions and other smaller banks, community banks. why is this necessarily, do you think?

>> well, we start from the premise that junk fees are trash and it's time to take out the garbage, when companies sneak hidden fees into families' bills, that makes it harder for those families to make ends meet. that's why we're taking, as you said, new action to close a loophole that allows some of our biggest banks to charge excessive fees on overdraft loans. this only applies to our largest banks with assets over $10 billion. and these banks typically charge fees on these overdrafts that are well beyond the amount of overdraft itself. this is how a $4 coffee on your debit card can end up costing $40. by closing this loophole, we can cut that average fee by half, saving families, as you said, $150 a year for an average family affected by this. $3.5 billion, if you accumulate all of those savings up. that seems very think?

i >> just to be clear some of the changes the banks have made because they've been criticized, bank of america 35 to $10, jpmorgan it's only above $50 of an overdraft, we give you a day to rectify it. you're saying that's not enough? >> no. in fact, that's an important point because some of the banks you mentioned have done the right thing, but a lot haven't. there are about 175 banks that would be affected by this, that again, with assets over $10 billion. i think it's interesting you mentioned some of the lobbyists coming out against this. the banks you've mentioned that have cut their overdraft fees so they wouldn't be unnecessarily hit have been highly profitable so you don't need to rip your customers off to make a profit in this business. if you do you might think about a different business model, as far as president biden is concerned. >> i appreciate you coming in. we'll ach watch where this goes.

chair bernstein, thank you. >> thank you. many americans focus on weight loss to start out a new year. what does our weight tell us about our health? dr. sanjay gupta joins us next with the answers.

so, someone watching their new year's resolution or everyone watching was to lose weight for new year's, reach new health goals. there is a new season of dr. sanjay gupta's "chasing life" podcast and digs into what weight tells us about our health more than a decade after the american health association labeled obesity a disease. >> the health condition which increases the risk of debates, heart disease and cancer and has proven to be culturally complex. joining us chief medical correspondent and host of

chasing life podcast dr. sanjay gupta. look, this is an issue i feel like everyone thinks about constantly, particularly heading into the new year. first episode focuses on the relationship between body weight and our health. how should we be thinking about weight as it pertains to overall health? >> well, as you mentioned, it's complicated, and, you know, it's something we've been thinking about for a long time, but about a third of the nation's adults in this country could be classified as obese, which when you're growing up, how many people did you know that was obese? it's changed a lot. add another twist over the last few years, which is the new weight loss medication, ozempic and wegovy and mounjaro, everyone knows these medications now, and they cause people to lose a lot of weight. does it also make them healthier? the answer seems to be yes. so there's a lot going on here. what is sort of interesting for a long time, 200 years or so, we looked at something known as bmi, body mass index, to sort of

determine is somebody actually too heavy? and now we know that that is a really very overly simplified measure. it was created for belgium soldiers and has little relevance. i predict it's going to go away. how do you draw the connection between weight and health? that is what we wanted to explore this season. we're excited. our first guest dr. fa tooen tema cody stanford from harvard and asked her about this issue starting off. here's how she answered. >> can't just judge the book by its cover and assume that someone is larger is unhealthy and someone that is lean is healthy, right. that's the assumption that people make. i call that practicing street corner medicine. we're going to coin that today on the show, sanjay. i want to look beneath the surface of the individual and see what's going on because someone who is lean may be very unhealthy and someone who is heavier may be healthier.

>> so she is talking about essentially saying okay, now we're going to look under the hood of a patient, which is what she does, and she's a medicine doctor. let me show you a few parameters you would also look at. again, you have to do a little bit more digging, but what is their waist circumference, for example, their blood pressure, triglycerides, hdl, the good cholesterol, and blood sugar. in particular, these are the factors that she says in combination with weight, you have to sort of really evaluate to determine someone's health. >> you do. i wonder, those are some of the things they look at. how does this all change how doctors work with patients on their health? you're right, sanjay, every year, growing up, going to a physical, they tell you your bmi. >> right. well, i really think, and i'm just predicting here, bmi will become a thing of the past. it's too much of a gross over

simplification. something interesting is that when you look at these weight loss medications, you look at lifestyle changes, even look at things like bare attic surgery, these are some of the tools. . for a long time people said it has to be lifestyle almost unequivocally because people can always lose weight just by consuming less and moving more, and what we're starting to see is there are different types of overweight and obesity, different classes. you can call them class a, class b, class c, and they respond to different things. there's some people who seem to respond better to lifestyle changes and others who don't. i think what the challenge is for a lot of doctors, especially obesity medicine doctors, is trying to figure out which class of people, class of patient they're actually dealing with. these medications, again, i think people are very bullish on them because of the extreme weight loss and how many people they can potentially benefit very, very quickly. >> all right. i learned that