approach the game. that's all i can ask of myself. >> final ly, your beloved baltimore orioles may soon have a new owner. they agreed to sell the baseball team he's owned for more than 30 years to a billionaire that includes kal ripkin jr. price tag $1.7 billion. that's ten times they made in 1993. the sale has to be approved by the other owners, who are set to meet next week. but seems to be some positive reaction there in baltimore. hope things go well for your orioles. >> if ripkin is going to be more involved, i can't see baltimore anything other than which seems like we have gotten an answer to that question. coy, thank you so much for that. thank you to all of you for joining us. i'm kasie hunt. don't go anywhere, "cnn this morning" starts right now.

♪ good morning, everyone. glad you're with us. i'm poppy harlow with phil mattingly in new york. we begin with breaking news overnight, house republicans inching closer to doing something that has not been done in nearly 150 years, impeaching a cabinet member. house committee overnight passed the impeachment resolution against alejandro mayorkas. live on capitol hill with where this goes next. speaker mike johnson says the senate's bipartisan immigration deal is absolutely dead. and today, we could find out exactly how much of donald trump's donor's money went towards donald trump's legal expenses. sources say it's in the tens of millions of dollars. "cnn this morning" starts right now. ♪ we begin with the breaking news overnight, for the first time in 148 years, house republicans are barrelling towards the impeachment of a

cabinet secretary. >> this is what's going to happen, the house of representatives is going to impeach secretary mayorkas and there is absolutely nothing anyone can do to stop it. that's going to happen. >> it certainly seems that way. the early morning party line vote, legislative dysfunction. across the capitol, board of security package in decades now hanging by a thread. republicans line up to kill it at the behest of their likely presidential nominee, donald trump. instead, they're choosing to pursue two articles of impeachment against alejandro mayorkas, an effort is questionable at best and even republicans acknowledge it stands no chance in the democrat-led senate. all as the border crisis continues unabated. this place is so god damn dysfunctional. >> there's that. lauren fox is live in washington. talk us through what happens

next. >> reporter: yeah, now this heads to the floor. what you're seeing from republican leadership, they do anticipate this could come to the floor as soon as next week. of course they have to ensure they have the votes. they have a narrow two-seat majority, which means they really don't have much wiggle room here to lose republicans who might be on the fence about impeaching mayorkas. you have heard from people like ken buck they still aren't ready to back this effort. >> in my view, secretary mayorkas has not committed that. i am a lean no at this point. i'm still open minded. i've always talked to the homeland security staff on why this impeachment should go forward. i'm leaning no, but i haven't made a final decision. >> reporter: i pushed the chairman mark green yesterday whether or not he's confident they'll have the votes once it goes to the floor. they're still continuing to work on that. he also told me it doesn't really matter what the vote count is because in his view the important thing is that republicans do their duty and move forward with this, but of

course it does matter what the vote count is because if republicans aim to try to impeach mayorkas and fail and can't bring it to the floor because they don't have the votes, that would be a massive misstep for gop leaders. >> can we walk across the capitol, you've been covering the negotiations so closely over the course of the last couple months. it seems like before it sees the light of day, this is dead. what is the next play? >> we have not seen legislative text. when you're waiting and waiting and waiting to actually see what is inside a bill and that text to become public, you start to wonder. is this ever going to see the light of day, like you noted. i asked senator chris murphy, the lead democratic negotiator yesterday. what is the hold up right now? his argument is republicans need to make a decision, do they want to move forward or don't they want to move forward given the fact that there has been so much backlash coming from the house of representatives, coming from donald trump to this package.

right now, republican leadership is debating whether or not to shelve this process and instead of moving forward with a bill to help ukraine, israel, taiwan, that is tied to this border security package, perhaps they go back to the drawing board, take the border security package out of it and try to move along just israel, ukraine and taiwan on its own. of course, that is a different strategy than what many conservatives within the republican ranks wanted. but those same conservatives are the one saying we don't like what is emerging in this border deal. nothing has been decided yet, but obviously that is going to be the thing to watch today on capitol hill. phil, poppy? >> for sure. lauren, you got your hands full. thank you for all the reporting. joining us now former republican strategist, chris whipple and democratic strategist basal. thank you for joining us. something the president said in nevada that i thought ran contrary to what we're trying -- what republicans on capitol hill

are trying to say outloud. take a listen. >> there is zero chance i will support this horrible, open borders betrayal of america. a lot of the senators are trying to say respectfully they're blaming it on me. that's okay. please blame it on me, please. >> we're not doing this because he's telling us to do it, no, no, that's exactly what they're doing. i appreciate it. my bigger question is to take a step back, tom is running the special election up here in new york for house seat for george santos seat, last ten days it's become a lot easier to campaign on immigration as a democrat because we have a plan to point to. >> right. >> when you look at numbers, does this end up helping democrats if republicans kill this at the behest of the former president? >> it might end up helping democrats, except there was a great piece in "new york times." >> such a great piece. >> it walks through every step of the way. he had a philosophy he was going to go out there and he was going to be a champion of the people. that he was going to show that government worked.

and it hasn't worked. and at every turn it hasn't worked. i think it's really on the biden administration's hands. now they're going at this moment saying we have the plan, we need republicans but we wouldn't do it before and now it's all republican's fault, donald trump's fault, et cetera. i don't think the blame game will work. they have to come to the table with a solution. the republicans are trying to say, look, we were saying this all along. now it's too little, too late and we need more. now, at the end of the day, it's going to be -- it's going to take a little bit for this to turn around. it might benefit democrats a little bit, but i really do think it's republican's issue. >> at the end of the "times" piece ended so well and sort of telling us where we are. they write he appears, meaning biden, ready to run more as a leader, determined to keep people out and less as a champion of displaced people, pointing to biden's comments. look, this legislation gave me more powers at the border were

signed today, i would shut it down and fix it, quote. talk about the evolution of biden. >> it's important to remember that on literally the first day of his administration, he submitted a legislation proposal to deal with immigration. republicans never had any interest in solving the problem. they want to use it as a political ka july. they will have handed a gift to biden. they will have turned what was a liability into a political advantage for biden. the ads, the political ads, just write themselves. you can imagine just biden saying, look, i crafted a bipartisan proposal to help solve the problem at the border and stem the flow of illegal drugs into this country. but the maga republicans killed it. why? because they're not interested in solving problems. they're interested in chaos. and they want to run on this issue.

i think it's a political winner for biden. i would be running that ad relentlessly from now until the election, if it goes down. >> can i ask you a question on this. this was the line that republicans used all weekend. he has the power. we don't need to give him the power. does he have the power? >> not to the extent they think he does. tied up in court or failed in court. 33 of the 35 trump-executive orders from his administration either were defeated in court or were very much hanging in the balance when biden came in and undid a lot of them. the other issue is funding. they need money to remain in mexico to do a lot of these things. hr 2 the republican bill doesn't have the money inside of it. where are you going to get the money. part of the proposal biden put forward had $14 billion for the money. he wants to direct it in different places but you don't have the financial wherewithal and the courts are an open question. >> that argument doesn't hold as much water. >> no, it's tenuous at best. >> can we zoom out a little bit because the concern i have with

all of the republican hand wringing around immigration, where was the accountable when two southern governors put human beings in buses and sent them north. there is a tremendous lack of accountability from the very same republicans that have complained that they have no legislative record, yet they have an opportunity to actually pass a bill that they have -- that we haven't passed of its nature in 40 years. and choosing not to do that. joe biden has signed more executive orders on immigration than donald trump did. but he doesn't get credit for that. what he's actually doing is trying to manage a crisis in a more humane way than donald trump did. remember the so-called muslim ban? because you had individuals that were so willing to do what he wanted to do, they didn't even think through the implementation and the outcome of something so dramatic and so draconian. so my sense is that, yes, i think for some democrats biden's language is a bridge too far.

it is true that in tom swa si's essential election in district 3 in new york, republicans are now using immigration to go and attack him in a suburban community that really isn't seeing what they're seeing right over the border in new york city. but i also think this is part of a larger strategy where republicans can't talk about reproductive rights like they were, so now they're talking about immigration policy. that really is what it comes down to as a strategy for 2024. >> but immigration has been something they have been talking about since 2016. donald trump ran on five things, one of which was the wall. immigration is something they have been talking about. to be fair, the accountability on the governors with their stunts going up to -- sending -- bussing, you know, immigrants -- >> it worked. >> it worked. it got the attention of a lot of americans and also a lot of these -- the democratic mayors are saying we need to address this issue now. so by all accounts, you could say that it actually was effective. >> i don't think putting people on buses and not telling them

where they're going to go and just dropping them off in cities, their intention and they said this, was to spite new york and chicago and boston, these liberal cities because they wanted to show people what the problems were at the southern border. and i get that. >> and they did. >> but i get that. but instead of trying to craft this sort of larger package of policy that actually could support these migrants coming into the country, they want to spite people. and that's not policymaking. that's just the politics. >> you have 6,000 people sleeping in facilities that are meant for 1,000 people. what are they supposed to do? >> it's a crisis, isn't it? let's fix the problem. let's fix the problem. let's not just have this conversation where we're saying we're going to draft this, we're not going to do it. because i guarantee you after 2024, we will not be hearing about this in the same way. ronald reagan had a policy on amnesty. where is this now?

>> well, you could argue that '86 policy set off the next three decades of being completely intractable. >> you see what happens when an administration and a community, particularly the evangelical community decides they want to wrap their arms around an immigrant community, it can be done. >> no, that's very true. we have a lot more to get to. we're not letting you leave because i love this panel. stay with us. president biden says he has made a decision about how his administration will respond to the drone strike in jordan that killed three u.s. soldiers. what we're learning this morning. also new developments surrounding the special prosecutor in donald trump's election interference case in georgia. why he no longer needs to testify about an alleged improper relationship with the district attorney fani willis.

♪ so this morning we're learning more about how much donald trump's pacs have spent in donor money to cover his legal bills over the last year. an exact dollar figure will come out later today when the filings are made. sources say the pacs have already spent $50 million to cover the four on going investigations he's facing. our alayna treene joins us with more. not his own money. it's staggering, isn't it? >> reporter: oh, it is a staggering sum, poppy.

$50 million is a huge amount of money. like you mentioned, this is money coming from his political action committee, essentially donor money that is being used to underwrite his legal fees. now, save america is the main political action committee. funding his legal bills and his legal expenses. remember, that is the group that actually had a flood of donations come in immediately after the 2020 election when donald trump was railing against and making false claims of widespread election fraud. so a lot of that money they had in the bank already before he even launched his campaign. but, $50 million is a lot of money. i think what i'll be looking for when these fec filings drop later today is exactly how much are they able to pay for this on their own versus how much is donald trump having to pay for this. we know that he's already had to pay roughly $5 million in the first e. jean carroll trial that he faced. this is not $5 million. this is a lot of money. and so i do expect we'll see

just with the math and the numbers that we have already, of course, we expect to see more of that later today in these filings. it does seem like donald trump is going to have to foot some of the bill for this. and of course, that is something that he is loathe to do. donald trump hates paying his lawyers. he's -- he has a history of really stiffing lawyers. so i think that is something that we'll be watching for. just another thing, just to give you a comparison of the amount of money that his legal expenses are costing, nikki haley spent roughly the same amount of money or raised the same amount of money, around $50 million over the past year. so this is just money that's going toward donald trump's legal fees. again, a huge sum of money. and that number is only going to grow. he has four criminal indictments. if any of those cases go to trial, that number is only going to grow exponentially. so that's something that the trump campaign has to deal with as they look to how can they fund this moving forward. >> not to much the appeal they already said they're going to file in the e. jean carroll case. thank you very much. appreciate it. the embattled special

prosecutor in donald trump's georgia election interference case has reached a temporary divorce settlement just one day before a hearing where he would have had to answer questions about an alleged inappropriate relationship with fullen county attorney fani willis. trump is pointing to this affair. cnn nick valencia joins us now. trump's team still trying to get the case dismissed. can you explain what actually happens next here? >> reporter: yeah. good morning, phil. it doesn't mean that those efforts by trump's attorneys to dismiss the case go away. what it does mean, though, is that the special prosecutor nathan wade avoids a potentially embarrassing day testifying in court. that was expected to happen today at a previously scheduled divorce proceeding. wade was expected to field questions about his alleged romance with his now boss fani willis. but he avoids doing that. this temporary agreement, though, that's what it is. it's just temporary. it does not mean that wade will have to -- does not mean that

wade is fully in the clear or for that matter fani willis is in the clear having to testify at a future divorce proceeding. he won't have to do that for now. the attorney for his estranged wife tells us that this temporary agreement has to do with alimony and attorneys fees. but they still have to divide assets and property. this is what they're telling us here in a statement. while this negates the immediate need for a hearing, it does not settle the case. we're focussed on the hard work of moving the case towards resolution, whether that is through settlement or trial. neither nathan wade nor fani willis have directly responded to these allegations that they were involved in an alleged romance, but fani willis is on the clock. she does have to respond to these written -- in writing to these allegations. the judge has given her a friday deadline to do that. phil? >> much more to come. nick valencia, keep us posted. the most powerful iran-backed militia group says it will suspend.

president biden setting his sights on trump territory. why his camp believes florida is still in play for him.

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♪ president biden has a plan for retaliation this morning. the president holds iran responsible for sunday's attack on a u.s. outpost in jordan, an attack that killed three american soldiers, 40 others injured. biden spent much of monday huddling with national security advisers, weighing his options. he spoke yesterday outside the white house saying he knows what he will do but that he is not seeking war with iran. >> yes. i don't think we need a wider war the middle east. that's not what i'm looking for. >> natasha bertrand joins us live at the pentagon. i was a little bit, i don't know, surprised when he came out and said yes, obviously acknowledging we don't want a war with iran, but what do you know about what the yes might mean? >> reporter: well, look, poppy, the pentagon obviously has spent a lot of time presenting the president with different options how he could respond. it appears he has chosen a course of action here. but interestingly that course of action doesn't necessarily have to be on one day or against one

target or even just one method here. according to national security counsel spokesperson john kirby he said it is possible what we are going to see is, quote, a tiered approach, not a single action but multiple actions over time. the chanllenge is going to be calibrating that response so it deters these iran-backed militant groups from continuing their many attacks on u.s. and coalition forces the middle east but does not spark a war with iran, something the administration and president biden right there said they are trying very hard to avoid. >> natasha, we know there are multiple iranian proxies in the region. have any specifically responded to what happened here? >> reporter: yes. interesting development, hezbollah, one of the main-backed militias that has been attacking these attacks released a statement yesterday saying that, quote, we are announcing the suspension of military and security operations against the occupation forces in order to prevent embarrassment to the iraqi government. we will continue to defend our

people in gaza in other ways. they have a lot of influence within the iraqi government. the u.s. has responded by launching air strikes against hezbollah inside iraq, something the iraqi government has condemned very clearly. this is clearly a potentially a sign they want an off ramp here, but pentagon press secretary pat rider said yesterday he will believe it when he sees it. here is what he said -- >> we have seen those reports. i don't have a specific comment to provide other than actions speak louder than words. i don't think we could be any more clear that we have called on the iranian proxy groups to stop their attacks. they have not. and so, we will respond in a time and manner of our choosing. >> reporter: the general consensus here at the pentagon, of course, is that three american service members died and therefore there has to be some kind of response by the administration, a sentiment

shared, of course, by president biden and his team. the federal reserve board holds their first meeting of the year on interest rates. a decision they're expected to make. how it could impact you at home ahead.

♪ welcome back. well, this morning the president of europe central bank is warning what a second trump presidency could mean abroad.

here is christine lagarde. she sat down with our very own richard quest. >> i've read your words on what you said about the election of donald trump. >> uh-huh. >> very carefully. >> uh-huh. >> and at one level it's an impeachable, pardon the phrase, in the sense that you were merely stating the obvious. if he's elected, he has a range of policies that would be very difficult for the european values. but the fact that you said it, the mere fact that you said it, where most people are running for the hills to say nothing controversial. do you regret saying that? >> no, i don't. >> is he that much of a threat to european values? >> i don't. first of all, i think being constantly politically correctly and perfect in that respect is a risk of not seeing the reality and preparing for it. and i think that if you look at

what those years were when trump -- when mr. trump was president of the united states, looking at his program now, shouldn't prevent you from understanding that there could be threats and there could be issues for which the europeans should be prepared. >> what happened four years ago, during the last trump administration, with the question of tariffs, with the saber rattling, i mean, you are really saying, if i understand you, don't be surprised if it happens again, certainly not now. we've been warned. >> that's correct. and therefore let us prepare for that. let us prepare for potential tariffs, for potential harsh decisions that would be unexpected. so let us be strong at home. >> before we move on, can i quickly ask you, you keyed on this interview. those who covered business for years you know christine lagarde and her role in financial markets. but why -- explain to people her kind of role and presence and

why what she says matters so much. >> because she speaks more candidly than anyone in that position. because richard was able to drag the sort of truth out of her. and because it's very much a reality. i think before trump was elected the first time these were threats. and then when he was president, you saw what that actually could mean. and now she's saying, this could likely happen if he wins again. be prepared for it. sure up, we have time to prepare for it. but even this weekend "the washington post" reporting on trump telling some of his inner circle he would be open to 60% tariffs on goods from china. people need to understand what that means for you at home, for your budget and wallet and what that would mean for the broader economy. believe it when you hear it. >> she is one of the few to say it outloud. fascinating interview. thanks to richard quest for that. today the federal reserve will hold their first interest rate of the new year and expected to keep things steady at the moment. two years of rising rates helped the broader u.s. economy get on a stronger footing.

inflation has slowed the job market has remained robust. >> federal reserve signaling cuts, maybe four, five cuts this year. we'll see. they're trying to temper expectations about when that would happen. fed gomp christopher waller says he sees, quote, no reason to move as quickly or cut as rapidly in the past. what does that actually mean? cnn economic commentator katherine ranpel. talk to us about the significance of the fed, this first meeting and what it means for everyone at home. >> sure. so, the fed is meeting today or has been meeting actually the last couple of days. as you note. and everybody wants to know what they're looking at. and what they're looking at is the same data everybody else is examining, the state of the economy. and the real question is how hot or cold is the economy today. and there's some conflicting data on that. so the kind of things they'll be considering, what's happening to prices obviously on lots of

consumer's minds. what's happening to other broader measures of economic activity, gdp has been stunningly strong last couple quarters, beating expectations and what's happening to the job market, phil mentioned, has really held up. let's dig into some of those numbers. so, on inflation, this is the chart of the fed's preferred measure of inflation. it strips out energy and food prices. i know that matters to consumers, but for the purposes of the fed, those are pretty volatile. they want to see the underlying numbers. and you can see, it's come down quite a lot. it's still above where it -- where the fed would like it to be. their target rate is around here. we're still a little above that even if we've come down quite a bit. beyond that looking at the job market, here is some data that came out yesterday, a different measure of the job market, looking at how many jobless workers there are per job opening. so it's a ratio.

and you can see it's very low. there are fewer than one worker available per vacancy in the united states. that's close to historic lows here. again, sign of a hot economy rather than one that potentially needs to be stimulated through interest rate cuts. >> katherine, jay powell is considered one of the more candid fed chairs, which is a very low bar. >> yeah. their job is to never make news. to be as boring as possible. >> what are you expecting? i think more importantly, when or if the fed does cut rates, what is that going to mean for consumers? >> sure. so let's talk a little bit about what to expect today. so jay powell is going to be talking today. they're releasing a statement. and the real question is are they going to cut rates today? and if you look at where markets are placing these odds, they do not think it's going to happen today.

so this is where markets are today. you know, 98% chance there is no change. however, as you pointed out, the fed has signaled it may start cutting rates at some point this year. a lot of market participants think, you know, there's a pretty decent chance that they'll start cutting as soon as march. 40% chance or so. and so they will be paying very careful attention to what's in that statement. any tiny tweak of verbage in that statement to indicate their timing as well as the press conference that happens later today at 2:30 when chairman powell will be taking questions from journalists about how he's viewing the state of play and how he views the economy. now the question about what this means for consumers is a great one. so, interest rates, what the fed controls has a lot of knock-on effects for other consumer products. so things like the price of your mortgage, if the fed cuts rates, you might expect that that will

feed into mortgage rates as well as car loans. car loans again also benchmarked against the fed's funds rate. then you also have things like credit card interest rates. those will be affected as well. >> katherine, i know this is an odd demand, can you pull up the jay powell picture again. i think that really underscores the effusive nature of his pros. you're reading him perfectly. we have no idea what he's going to say. katherine -- >> i think i told the producer, can you get a photo of jay powell looking cryptic. i think that's probably every photo of jay powell. nikki haley has no path to the republican nomination because she lacks maga support. how nikki haley is putting a twist on trump's slogan, mana, make america normal again.

♪ welcome back. political action committee supporting trump spent about $50 million on his legal bills last year. remember, those -- that's not trump's money. >> donor's. >> that's donor's money. this is according to sources familiar with the matter. that is a lot of money. it would normally be used to promote a candidate through their political campaign. "new york times" points out, it's about what nikki haley's pac raised in total last year. >> haley took the opportunity to go after trump. another reason donald trump won't debate me his pac spends $50 million in campaign legal fees. you can't beat joe biden if he's spending all his time and money on court cases and chaos. according to reuters, robert bigalo says he gave trump $1 million for his legal fees and promised to give affiliated super pac 20 million on top of

that. >> back with us, lee carter, chris whipple basal. the number is astonishing. we'll know from the fe k fec fi what it is later. nikki haley says, you know, this is another reason why he can't win. but this -- we proved that these cases just help him raise more money. >> well, look, when it comes to money, obviously you would much rather be joe biden than trump. he is paying 83 million or will pay 83 million to e. jean carroll. there would be upwards of 350 million in new york. but at the end of the day, you know, i think there's going to be -- this is inside baseball. i think at the end of the day, there will be more than enough money to go around. they're going to spend trump and biden who are going to be the nominees, are going to spend way upwards of a billion dollars on the campaign.

i think the bigger challenge, especially for joe biden, is to figure out exactly what he's campaigning on. i mean, to -- i wrote an op-ed the other day arguing that he hasn't clearly defined why he's running for a second term. and i think he -- i think he needs to do two things. he has to campaign in poetry and pros. the poetry is spelling out in no uncertain terms the threat to democracy that donald trump unquestionably poses. but the pros is reaching people where they are, around the kitchen table. and biden is potentially terrific at that. and we know he can do that. he hasn't done it so far. i find that kind of odd. but i think he needs not to talk about bidenomics, which is a wonky, recitation of his achievements. he's got to talk about -- he has to be honest with voters who feel that prices are higher. look, i get it.

prices are higher on a lot of stuff. and here is what i'm going to do to change that. here is how we're going to do -- here is how we're going to bring those prices down. here is how far we brought them down already. just level with voters about what they're feeling in their pocketbooks. and we can talk about all the other -- all the other issues as well. but, i think that's just a really critical one. >> can i follow up on that, though, just because your book on the administration i read with great interest at the time because i was covering the white house, great frustration when you had stuff that i didn't know about. but you are so inside the building and inside his team, your point that you don't know why he hasn't been able to do that yet or why he hasn't necessarily done that yet. what is your sense as to why? >> well, it's early days, of course. as we all know, who ran the 2020 campaign so successfully and his message guy are now over there and they've joined the campaign. and i think things are going to change. i think there's -- you know,

every -- there's a certain -- in every incumbent re-election campaign there's a certain defensiveness, there's a certain -- you know, they're thin skinned people over there. and i think there's a reluctance to really acknowledge, to be totally candid, about things like inflation. they don't want to talk about it. but i think in this case they're going to have to. and i think that -- i've talked to more than a dozen presidential campaign managers for my next book, which i'm working on now. they say that, look, especially in swing states, people can accept higher prices if they think you have a plan to bring them down. >> yeah. >> that's going to be really important. >> can we talk about elmo in this context. yes, i mean the red furry sesame street animal. tweeted this -- animal? >> we'll go with that. >> tweeted this, elmo just

checking in. how is everybody doing. biden had a response basically, empathic response, i get it, times are tough. but the reason i bring this up in all seriousness is because this is the environment. the responses were unbelievable that people sent in, talking about how they're not doing well, many of them. what help they need. really reflecting the mental health crisis in this country. that's the environment elmo elicited from people. that can often be very challenging for an incumbent, how people feel. >> especially when that incumbent says things like the economy has never been better, thing have never been better. it seems like you're out of touch with the experience of the american people. the american people are saying things have never felt worse. 70% of the americans are saying the country is going in the wrong direction. they're feeling the pain of the economy. they're feeling the pain of inflation. they're feeling the pain of the immigration crisis. they're feeling the pain of war

everywhere that they turn. it's just a very difficult time. and this moment we need an em path. it's refreshing that someone checks in, how are you? it's refreshing for people to feel connected because so much of what's going on in this country is because we feel completely disconnected from each other. we can behave so badly. we can rail on each other because there's a lack of connection. and these kinds of things i think are really refreshing and reminders that we're all humans and we're in this experience together. >> this is biden's great strength. that's the irony here. >> he is an empath. >> this is him. if you talk to people in his inner circle, it's a very small inner circle, those who have been with him for decades say if you want somebody who is empathetic, will sit on the rope line and listen to people's stories for hours it's joe biden. where is the disconnect? is there one? >> i do think there's a disconnect. there's a lot of focus on the numbers and the metrics. but are you really tapping into the economic aspirations of

americans? can i buy a house? can i buy a car? >> housing is so expensive. >> right. i teach at a college campus. a lot of the young students are very concerned about their ability even in a great job market to be able to get a job that actually pays them a certain amount of money. you're trying to get an apartment in a city like new york -- >> forget it, as a young professional, you're paying not 30% of your income, which is typical, you're 50 to 75%. so i think that the empathy comes with not just trying to convince voters that the numbers are good but that your life can be better. which is what presidential campaigns are about. their aspirational. >> and i think something else that biden needs to do, particularly when it comes to young voters, tell me if i'm wrong, but gaza is just a real problem. and you know, last time i was at the white house talking to some senior advisers there, i had just had breakfast with my son.

and he told me that the only thing people under 30 are talking about is gaza. and this could reach lbj in 1968 proportions if the white house isn't careful about it because it's really a big issue. and i think that biden having had israel's back on october 7, he's in a perfect position to now say enough. you know, to publicly denounce the near indiscriminate shelling of gaza. that will be key for him. >> it's something they're certainly aware of and how quickly they can end it is absolutely critical. i hate when i hear you're having breakfast with senior advisers. that's always problematic. working on other books. "gate keepers" i still have dog eared pages from that book which is excellent. appreciate your time, you guys. >> thank you. ahead, more on the big breaking story overnight. house republicans are now a step closer to impeaching homeland

security secretary alejandro mayorkas. we're life on capitol hill.

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this morning, tributes are

pouring in for the legendary chita rivera. her long-time publicist confirmed the news. >> for nearly seven decades he acted, sang and danced her way to ten tony nominations, all while shattering barriers for latina entertainers. our elizabeth takes a look at her remarkable career. ♪ >> reporter: chita rivera in "kiss of the spider woman" one of two tony-winning performances for the broadway icon, who won a third for life time achievement. with a record ten tony nominations, rivera's career spanned decades. ♪ come on babe why don't we paint the town ♪ >> reporter: in iconic productions like "chicago" and "bye bye birdie," "chicago"

becoming a celebrated film in 2002, earning catherine zeta-jones an oscar. she wrote on instagram, from dreaming of being you as a little girl, then meeting you and then being deeply connected to you. there will never, ever be anyone like you, chita, ever. dim the lights on broadway. ♪ >> reporter:ry vary is perhaps best known for originating the broadway role of anita in "west side story" which won oscars in 2022 and in 1962. rita told cnn that chita rivera is eternal. we were sometimes mistaken for each other which i viewed as a badge of honor. born in washington, d.c., rivera began training as a ballerina at age 9.

>> chita is, hello, how are you. it's so nice to be here. delores is, what is it you want? it's a darker side. i believe delores is responsible for me having a career. she's the guts. >> reporter: rivera whose father was puerto rican became a triple threat blazing a trail for other latinas. . in 2002, she was the first latina to earn a kennedy center honor. >> she has broken barriers under broadway lights -- >> reporter: and awarded the presidential medal of freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor in 2009. ♪ she worked into her 80s most recently appearing in netflix "tick tick boom" a 2020 film directed by lin-manuel miranda who told cnn she was the trail