new head coach. the team giving baltimore ravens defensive coordinator mike mcdonald a six-year deal. the 36 years becomes the youngest head coach in the nfl replacing pete carroll,s who was the oldest. the ravens were the first team ever to lead in scoring defens sacks and take aways in the same season. the commanders are the only team with a head coaching vacancy. you're on the ground in d.c. what are the fans saying? are they worried they are ever going to get a coach? >> the commanders have been through a lot. they really have. can i ask you, though, the thing i'm obsessed with is travis and taylor. he was on this podcast saying he has to get his head in the game. what do you make of it? >> i'm sure at this what do you make of it? >> it's the super bowl, he's done it before. not worried about travis kelce. >> he sure is. andy scholes, thank you so much. thank 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. u.s. officials believe iran may be getting nervous about the proxy groups it funds going too far, after a cruise missile launched by the houthi rebels came within a mile of a destroyer. the one group of voters giving president biden the edge, we're going to explain who they are. and social media ceos taking a bipartisan beating on capitol hill accused of failing to protect our kids online. mark zuckerberg publicly apologized. it's not enough for many of the families who have been harmed. "cnn this morning" starts right now. ♪ and we begin with news this morning that we are learning iran's leaders are getting

increasingly nervous about their proxy forces in the region after they killed u.s. troops. u.s. officials tell cnn's deadly drone attack in jordan caught iran by surprise and concerned its leaders according to u.s. intelligence. we're learning a cruise missile filed by houthi rebels in yemen came within one mile before hitting a u.s. destroyer before it was shot down a few days ago. it's the closest a houthi attack has come to an american warship. all of these underscoring a serious question over how much control iran has over the militias and fighters it has been funneling weapons and money to. they have quote, widely varying degrees of loyalty. we're going to start with natasha bertrand. what more have you gathered about the intelligence on iranian leadership? >> we are told the u.s. is seeing signs that iranian leadership is concerned by the recent escalations by proxy groups.

iran does not have perfect command and control over the proxy groups that exist in iraq, syria, and the houthis in yemen. what we're told is when the islamic resistance which u.s. officials said is responsible for the drone attack that killed three u.s. service members on sunday launched that drone attack and ended up killing three americans. that really kind of was a wake up call for teheran, and it made them nervous, and they are not seeking an all out war with the united states, and they have for that reason been trying to calibrate their approach in a way that harasses u.s. and western interests in the region via these proxy groups but doesn't necessarily back the united states into a corner where it feels forced to respond in a specific way, by striking iran directly. that's something the iranians don't want and something the united states does not want either. the other part of this is that the iranians are increasingly nervous about what the houthis are doing in yemen because the houthis have significantly disrupted the global economy with attacks on commercial

shipping and that risks angering some of iran's closest allies, only allies including china and india. china has called for the attacks to stop and the problem here is that the iranians ahave probabl the least amount of control over the houthis than any of the proxy groups. is iran going to be able to reign them in. they have an incentive to because of the fact that it's not good for iran's bottom line to be alienated key allies, phil. >> it's been interesting to follow the fact that iran does back them and supply money and weapons, et cetera, but doesn't have total control over the decisions they do, and what they do. also this comes after the white house is formally assigned blame for that drone strike that killed three u.s. service members in jordan. how imminent, though, is the u.s. response? >> that is something that we don't know yet. the administration has been signaling that this response is

going to be multilayered. it is potentially going to be sustained over time, and just yesterday, the administration fingered the islamic resistance in iraq, which is, you know, an umbrella group of these iran-backed proxy groups for this attack in jordan. they stopped short of assigning direct blame to one of the groups. john kirby, the national security council spokesperson said we should expect to see a response that is complex and potentially longer term. here's what he said. >> we'll respond on our own time, on our own schedule. i would also caution you not to think that the first thing you see, we talked about publicly seeing, the first thing you see won't be the last thing. >> now, again, the u.s. does not want to go to war with iran, and they have said that very publicly, so the question is now, how are they going to calibrate their response in a way that hits the iran-backed groups and prevents them from being able to attack u.s. forces

again while also avoiding a direct regional war and confrontation that embroils the u.s. for a long time. >> thank you so much for the reporting at the pentagon. also new this morning, a dozen united states and japanese warships including aircraft carriers have put on a military show of sorts. exercises occur regularly in the area but the timing is notable. flare ups in the middle east threaten to steer focus away from china's military build up in the south china sea. >> this comes as fbi director christopher wray issued the starkest warning about china's ability to attack critical u.s. infrastructure at home here. listen. >> china's multipronged assault on our national and economic security make it the defining threat of our generation. china's hackers are positioning on american infrastructure in preparation to wreak havoc and cause real world harm to american citizens and communities if and when china

decides the time has come to strike. >> the defining threat of our generation. after a big thing happened this week in terms of xi guaranteeing biden that they will not interfere in the '24 election. >> the infrastructure has been a concern of homeland security, and christopher wray with a jarring and visceral warning. obviously the chinese ministry of foreign affairs pushed back on it, said it's not exactly true. it underscores the complexity of the moment. we talked about the drills that are ongoing in taiwan. that is the focal point of president biden's foreign policy over the course of the last three years. once again, the administration is locked in another crisis in the middle east. >> there's no shortage of complexity. from foreign policy to politics. a new quinnipiac poll shows joe biden in a 6-point lead over donald trump in a hypothetical matchup. the our senior data reporter,

t harry enten tells us it's the biggest lead in a year. >> it's a different story in a hypothetical and unlikely but not impossible matchup between biden and haley. the pole shows biden losing to haley by tofive points. haley is seizing that. because of it, donald trump loses big and we end up with president kamala harris. >> joining us now, natasha alford, former republican strategist, lee carter, and shelby talcott. lee, you're going to need to explain all of this to us. we say this when there are bad numbers, good numbers, regardless of the candidate, it's a snapshot in time. i when you looked into, like, deeper into this quinnipiac poll, what stood out to you in the numbers. >> there's a couple of things. first of all, this is an outlier poll compared to the other poll. is this the outlier or the beginning of a trend. it could be a trend. we saw the courtroom antics last week, and it could be playing into how people are react ing.

independent voters broke 52-40. that's a 12-point lead. also with women. women support biden by 58%. he has a 22% advantage with women up from 12 point margin just a month ago. those are both really significant numbers and deciding factors and both independents and women are the ones that break for nikki haley on the other side. and so i think that's going to be really really interesting to watch. now, all of that said, when you look at the real clear politics average, the 538 average, all of the polls that are out there. trump is ahead by a couple of points. i'm trying to see, is this a momentum moment. i think it could be an early indicator that some of the things that happened over the last few weeks are damaging trump. >> you're fascinated by the spread among female voters for biden. >> yeah, it's interesting. remember, the biden cam han has made things like abortion a

focal point of this election, particularly against donald trump, and so it makes me wonder, is this, as you said, a trend? is this something that female voters are starting to tune into a little bit more on a national level. and from the biden campaign's perspective, obviously this poll is really good, but it's also showing in their eyes that that sort of messaging is working, and obviously we're going to see longer term, if it is, in fact, working. on the flip side, i think this is a warning sign for donald trump's team, and one way that they are, you know, privately sort of trying to garner more female voters is by their potential vice president pick, and one of the arguments i heard from aides is donald trump should pick a woman because it might help him with that demographic. >> if you look at the ad that played in the nfl, we're talking about a doctor who says that she was somewhat apolitical, right but when she was forced to have

to make a decision about her life and health, she was motivated to support joe biden. i think this is, again, an opportunity. women who maybe were open to going in either direction or didn't see themselves as political are being forced to make a choice as they think about how this impacts their life. >> 7 in 10 independent women say the primary thing that's going to motivate them the most is actually the women's rights issues that are on the ballot. 9 in 10 democratic women say that's going to be a really challenging issue for republicans. the other thing i want to point out about this poll, though, is that at the same time, another poll came out that did the seven swing states and had donald trump ahead in every one of those seven states between 3 and 8 points depending on the state. >> and that's where elections are decided. >> that's where elections are decided, looking at the stats versus the final score. you have to look at it state by state. >> we're in a choose your own adventure point. >> sounds like a fun ride,

unless you think about the future of the country riding on it, to some degree. >> there's that. >> i think the interesting thing for me is this bolsters two theories of the case, nikki haley's theory of the case, and joe biden's theory of the case. and donald trump, we have heard this from campaign advisers has been able to succeed in the republican primary. the idea that he can't beat joe biden started to dissipate over the course of months. does this give nikki haley another chance at that very argument. >> of course. one of her core arguments has been the electability argument. i would beat joe biden by more than donald trump. voters should vote for me because it's a safer bet. at the same time, it hasn't registered because there are so many polls showing donald trump ahead of joe biden, and joe biden's poll numbers are still suffering and so i don't think this one poll is enough to sway republican voters particularly after donald trump won iowa and new hampshire so big. but it does back up that core

haley argument that she is more electable than donald trump. >> this poll answers a question for me, too, about why joe biden has been getting all of the blame and none of the credit for the work that he has been doing quietly. 46% of voters saying that they judge the economy by how much goods are in the store, right wh, when they check out the eggs and milk we keep hearing about again and again. i think that explains how they have been making the judgment, when you compare that with how joe biden has been selling his impact on the kpeconomy. so again, more insight joe biden may want to pick up on when he thinks about messaging. >> stay with us, we have a lot ahead. house lawmakers passing a $78 billion bipartisan, that's right, bipartisan package on wednesday at least in the house. the bill would expand the child tax credit, restore a number of business tax credits, boost funding for affordable housing and disaster relief. lower income families would be

able to claim more of the tax credit, and those with more than one child would receive the same credit for each of their children. it would provide more help to the low income families of roughly 16 million children. more than 80% who don't receive the full credit right now because their families earn too little. now the measure heads to the senate where there are load blocks. republicans could block the bill with the filibuster over fears it would help president biden get reelected. republican senator chuck g grassley passing a tax bill means he could be reelected and then we won't extend 2017 tax cuts. this isn't the tax credit that mailed out checks. that's not actually true. >> a couple of things, one, this would, if they could get it through and signed by the president, the white house said they would back this, lifts 500,000 kids out of poverty. okay. other thought is, which chuck grassley says that, do you think that means it isn't going to get through the senate? >> i think it's dicier than it

normally would be for a bipartisan tax package. the house getting this through, particularly how they did it, al a adds a level of momentum. there are policy,ies in this. the 2017 tax cut, they are thinking long-term, whether or not they can reauthorize long-term. there are tangible effects to the child tax credit. that shouldn't be ignored. america with only 49 states, not going to happen, but nikki haley giving texas, well, just listen to how she answered the question on texas and any secession talk. that's ahead. and tears and apologies in an explosive senate hearing about keeping kids safe online, suffering families, they say it's not enough. we'll explain next.

mr. zuckerberg, you and the companies before us, i know you don't mean it to be so, but you have blood on your hands. you have a product -- [ applause ] -- you have a product that's killing people. >> we had a hearing yesterday on capitol hill, the senate judiciary committee, both democrats and republicans, just grilling the ceos of five major social media companies about the risks that their platforms pose to teens, families who have experienced the dangers of social media firsthand, lost

their children because of it. they were there. >> as a collective, your platforms really suck at policing themselves. >> your product is killing people, will you personally commit to compensating the victims. >> children are not your priority. children are your product. >> the ceos defended the steps they have taken to try to make those sites safer, listen to them. >> mental health is a complex issue, and the existing body of scientific work has not shown a causal link between using social media and young people having worse mental health outcomes. we're going to continue to monitor the resource, and use it to form our road map. >> people who have been ha harassed. >> tiktok was among the first to empower parents to supervise their teens on our app with our

family pairing tools. >> you have my personal commitment that x will be active and a part of this solution. >> there are several heated moments during the hearing, including one that led to this shocking moment from meta ceo mark zuckerberg. >> you're on national tv television, would you like now to apologize to the victims who have been harmed by your products. show him the pictures. would you like to apologize for what you have done to these good people. >> go through the things that your families have suffered, and this is why we invested so much, and are going through efforts to make sure that no one has to go through the types of things that your families have had to suffer. >> let's bring in cnn senior media analyst, sara fischer, what was stunning about that moment is so many of the responses felt so canned and

prepped and familiar to past hearings, that seemed genuinely impromptu, and yet it wasn't an apology for what meta has done, it was an apology for what people had gone through. what was your take from that? >> that was the big moment of your hearing, phil. to your point, it was so sudden. we weren't expecting an apology like that. but i think my take is that none of it really matters if i'm being honest with you. the senate has introduced a bunch of bills to protect children online. none of them have gotten passed. every time you have a hearing like this, you have to shrlug a say is this going to amount to anything? i don't think so, what it does is create a spectacle to hope to gain momentum to pass bills. i don't think this does anything than create viral moments. >> that's really sad for these families. >> it is sad because they are victims of a lot of issues. it's not just child sexual material but things like

bullying and mental health like you have heard during the hearing. these families want answers. the problem is without any sort of regulation being passed you're leaving solutions to the players, the big tech firms, and they have introduced a few things. they want to get ahead of regulation, their businesses are not inspired to be protecting kids, their businesses are inspired to make money, publicly traded, stock matters. so unfortunately, i don't think we progressed a lot in this hearing but we are talking about it, and that in some ways is a little bit of a step forward. >> can you explain what you're describing right now as an astute and nuanced observation of what happened yesterday legislatively. these are moments they can put on campaign web sites, moments they will get news clips for. it doesn't move the ball forward legislatively, all while the companies are cutting efforts trying to get out in front of them. and they have lobbyists at the same time. explain people who watch josh hawley, sheldon whitehouse, who

say how can they not get together and find an agreement on something? >> they have only done it once in the past ten years. they passed one bill on child sex trafficking. for these other issues, they don't need to be taking priority for the senators quite frankly as something like passing a budget or something like passing something for their constituents that's specific to their states. this is the type of issue where they will get a lot of applause and a lot of support from constituents if they address it, but passing a bill on it doesn't help them politically. that's why i think you see them using it as an attention grabber but not moving bills forward. internet policy is extremely complicated. if you move or change one law, you may upend the internet. lawmakers know there's tha lot people in districts and states to rely on the internet for their jobs.

>> there's a way to adjust, we'll talk to dick durbin about this later, but to adjust what you're talking about, and not completely get red rid of it. what made a difference with cigarettes and tobacco execs who faced similar grilling years ago on the hill was lawsuits. when the states sued them. that's what makes the difference, and you have some ags suing them. do you think that's ultimately what it's going to take to change things? >> i think it's data. with the tobacco industry, we have enough science to prove that cigarettes caused cancer. right now, we don't have enough si science and data that social media leads to harms. we know it's a factor. to be able to put laws and restrictions on these industries for courts to be able to say that these lawsuits, a lot of class action lawsuits were viable. you would need to have proof, and right now that proof is

risky. the federal government wants to make ai generated robocalls e illegal. the ftc announced the television protection act after the ai call told voters not to vote in the primary. the agency wants to give states new tools to go after bad actors behind those calls. fulton county d.a. fani willis under fire but refusing to step down from georgia's election subversion case, next. we're also learning more about what motivated a pennsylvania man to allegedly decapitate his father and post it all online.

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well, new reporting this morning, fulton county district attorney fani willis does not plan to step down from the georgia election subversion case after allegations emerge that she has had an inappropriate relationship with the lead prosecutor she hired on the case, nathan wade. she's faced intense scrutiny and calls to resign or pull herself off. our zach cohen has interesting reporting on this. he joins us this morning. it isn't just about a relationship. what it's about is payments, how he was paid, with taxpayer money. she's standing her ground. she's not going anywhere? >> that's exactly right. multiple sources are telling me that fani willis is digging in. she's going to take her chances, argue this in court. it's going to be up to the judge to decide whether or not to disqualify her, and as you mentioned, these are not just

allegations about an improper rom romantic relationship. trump and codefendants are saying fani willis improperly used taxpayer dollars to fund vacations for her alleged lover, nathan wade. she's going to have to address these questions in open court. she weighed and several others were subpoenaed to testify publicly on february 15th when there's a hearing about this entire issue. it remains to be seen. as of now, fani willis not voluntarily taking herself out of the game. >> when you say she's going to take her chances. what kind of risk is that? are chances high that everything will go the way she wants it, 50/50, where does this stand right now? >> i talked to sources on both sides of the case, they say it's an up hill battle to get fani willis disqualified from the case. that doesn't mean they can't hurt her politically, trying to undermine the credibility of the case by attacking her personally, by attacking her romantic life allegedly, by, you know, raising these questions

even if the evidence doesn't necessarily prove what the allegations are. really, i think the day the legal ramifications here, it's a low risk but the political ramifications could be very high for willis specifically. >> thank you, zach, great reporting. this morning, three people have died, and nine others were injured in idaho after a boise airport hangar under construction collapsed late on wednesday. the city released a statement saying five of the survivors are in critical condition and described the scene as catastrophic. >> i don't know what caused it. but i can tell you that it was a pretty global collapse that occurred in the main structural members came down is fairly catastrophic. >> first responders worked through the night to rescue those who were trapped. we'll keep you posted as we learn more. wall street was hoping for an interest rate cut after seven straight hikes. that didn't happen. what the federal reserve says they're waiting for, that's ahead. and matt gaetz plans to introduce a voluntary

resolution, that donald trump never incited an insurrection. an important note, the resolution means absolutely nothing, it is purely for show, and to suck up to some degree. it would send a message. we'll be right back. former president trump has been telling people that he's more popular than taylor swift and has more committed fans. i'm not sure trump has more committed fans, but he definitely has more fans who have been committed. >> if taylor swift told her fans to storm the capitol on january 6th, they would have succeeded. they would be running the country right now.

the federal reserve holding interest rates for the fourth time in a row. 11 times since march of '22 to combat record high inflation. fed chair jerome powell says he's confident inflation is moving toward the 2% target. still, he wants to see more certain that it will continue in that direction. that has investors wondering when the central bank will begin those rate cuts. officials have rejected the cuts would begin in the first quarter. yesterday, powell pushed back on those expectations. >> based on the meeting today, i would tell you that i don't think it's likely that the committee will reach a level of confidence by the time of the march meeting to identify march as the time to do that.

but that's to be seen. so i wouldn't call, you know, when you asked me about in the near term, i'm hearing that as march. i would say i don't think that's probably not the most likely case. >> powell said it is not -- doesn't look like the fed -- the fed is, i should say looking for better data, but instead, a continuation of this better data. he also says lower rent costs could help make the case. new overnight, tesla ceo elon musk says shareholders will move immediately on moving the company's legal home to texas. after a judge rejected a $56 billion pay package in a court decision. the lawsuit was filed by a shareholder who argued for overpayment. it is not clear when the vote will be held. musk lashed out in a social media post, quote, never incorporate your company in the state of delaware. tesla's corporate headquarters were moved to texas from california in 2021. >> fair to say we're both kind

of obsessed with this story. this is what we talk about, by the way, folks. really quickly explain to people the back story on why elon musk took a pay package like there, a big risk. >> structurally it was designed in a way that was giving him money to take risks and hit high hard to reach incentives. >> almost impossible to reach. >> and he hit them. >> which should be how you hit pay packages. it's super interesting, you can geek out and read about it if you're as interested as we are. meantime, the 2024 presidential candidates might be running different styles of campaign, but they all require the same thing. money. donald trump's campaign cash reserves to the end of the year were more than double nikki haley's. super pac money will continue to play a big role for both of them but there are questions in the main one backing haley. federal filings show that sfa raised $50 million in the second half of last year, and spent 63

million, ending year with 3 1/2 million in cash. >> the group continued to spend in january, $9 million in independent expenditures, including tv time in south carolina, and haley appeared on the breakfast club wednesday hitting a wide range of issues, including the boarder and what's happening in texas between governor abbott and the biden administration. haley was asked on her views on texas seceding, here's part of that. >> let's talk about what's reality, texas isn't going to secede, that's not something they're going to do. i think laws should be made as close to the people as possible. it empowers the people. if texas decides they want to do that, they can do that. but i don't think that if that whole state says we don't want to be part of america anymore, that's their decision to make. >> let's bring back our panelists. we'll get to the secession, i guess. >> she was asked about it.

>> i know, she was asked about it. it's like bizarre that we're talking about it in general. >> yes, true, but she was asked. >> you're right. >> i want to ask about the campaign money. we scour fec filings every quarter for signs of things. the haley super pac, it's burn rate, i know they're raising right now, what did that tell you when you look at where fsa was and haley's campaign. >> i think haley's campaign is in a better position, 14.6 million, compared to her super pac, but the funding with the super pac is a really big red flag to me, particularly when you see that despite donald trump's spending a huge amount of money with some of his pacs for his legal fees, he still has a substantial amount in the bank from a campaign perspective to go up against her in this primary, and so it kind of indicates that, yes, haley still has all of the support and she is riding or has been riding some of this momentum, but it

seems more limited than donald trump, which is exactly what we're seeing with the results in iowa and new hampshire. at the same time the take away for me is with donald trump's legal bills, it just is representative of how big of a problem these legal issues are for him, and are going to continue to be. i mean, in 2023, he spent $50 million. that's $50 million that he could be spending against joe biden or against nikki haley in this primary. that's a huge deal. and i think it's going to continue to be a huge deal. >> he could also use, if he wanted to, his personal money to pay his lawyers. point of fact there. what's interesting about nikki haley fundraising is this is going to change for her, big donors who were maybe on the fence, the reporting was, like have gotten in behind her, held

another big fundraiser for her. is that emblematic of what she could see going ahead in this quarter and the next. >> there's not momentum behind any one candidate, it doesn't seem, the millionaire class seems to be going different directions and we're watching donald trump or watching nikki haley sort of the court these. >> the question is were her big donors going to pull back after not winning hey and new hampshire. >> some seem to have, and some not to. i'm with you, the super pac at 3 1/2 million dollars is a surprise to me. i expected to see more than that. and i expected to see a little bit more momentum there. but, you know, it's hard to say, and donald trump, you know, to the point about the $50 million that he's spending on court cases, he's running his campaign from the courtroom, and so as much as he is spending all of this money on it, he could be spending in other areas, when i talk to voters, i had this one voter that i was talking to who said he fought for me, now it's my time to fight for him. like they're looking at this as something to like get behind,

and he's rally people around this idea. it's so fascinating. while, he's spending money on court cases, but it's working to his advantage with some of his base. >> my initial thought was if you're a small dollar donor, and you think your $20 is going to a legal defense fund, you'd be pissed but it's the opposite. >> let's get to charlamagne, and the breakfast club, i found it interesting. the question that he asked related to secession to nikki haley was would you use force against texas if they tried to secede over the border issue. haley was like this isn't going to happen. if they want to, they can. i'm not sure what to read of it. do you have insight? >> it's important to note, tex-it, like brexit, is a movement that's been around for a while. nikki haley has addressed this question before in 2010. she gave a similar response in

terms of whether state haves rights to secede. i think the bigger moment is we are in a very divided time in the country. we're hearing talk of national divorce, right, marjorie taylor green has introduced the sort of rhetoric, and nikki haley had an opportunity to be yunified in te moment. she gave a pandering answer about state's rights. we know that states rights are often used to defend things like segregation in the past or even now, taking away voting rights, abortion rightings. -- rightins. >> such an interesting point, especially with the person delivering it was the governor of the first state to secede. i think that adds to what her answer could have been. >> that's right. whoever is preparing her around these questions regarding history, american history, where

we stand, i mean she is missing opportunities to really make strong statements, and again, to be a unifier, and it's coming across as somebody who's going to lead us backwards and not forwards. >> thank you, guys. this morning, margot robbie opening up about not getting that oscar nod for best actor for "barbie," also this. this is very much like the ballot you just turned in, right? >> exactly. >> and what do you notice about this ballot? >> the person i wanted vote for isn't on the ballot. >> why are you talking about nevada, there's a lot of confusion in nevada this morning, why the front runner is not on the state's primary ballot. we're going to talk about it next.

by all accounts, donald trump is going to win nevada's presidential delegates but a contest between a state run primary and a republican party run caucus, that's creating confusion. >> it's really confusing. some say that because of clever maneuvering by the state's republican party, it adds up to, quote, vote rigging, our kyung lah investigates. >> it's going to be very confusing for people. >> i don't understand why we're doing it that way. >> in nevada's primary, republican voters are finding there's something missing. donald trump. >> this is very much like the ballot you just turned in,

right? >> exactly. >> and what do you notice about this ballot? >> the person i wanted to vote for wasn't on this ballot. >> do a lot of people understand what's happening this time in nevada? >> i don't think so. i didn't. >> donald j. trump. >> reporter: at his nevada rally, former president donald trump said no need for concern, just go to the caucuses. >> do the caucus, not the primary. the primary is meaningless. >> reporter: nevada passed a law in 2021 that switched from caucuses to a primary system that trump didn't want to run in. so now trump is participating in the party-run nevada caucuses on february 8th. nikki haley is running in the state-run primary two days earlier. outside of this trump rally, his voters were still trying to make sense of the duel system. >> in nevada, i think it's going to confuse a lot of people. >> reporter: only the results of the caucuses award delegates towards nominating the republican presidential candidate. the state party sets that rule. it's why trump's campaign is

pushing the caucuses. if you're lost, you wouldn't be the only one. >> we're trying to talk to people about the caucus versus the primary. >> there's a lot of confusion. >> it is confusing because i got the information but it does not tell you when to vote. >> reporter: you're looking up the difference between the two. >> yeah, caucus, primary. >> i still don't know why he's on there. >> reporter: former clark county republican chairman voted in the primary but knows it doesn't matter. >> i believe that they set up the caucus because they wanted to assure that donald trump was not embarrassed in nevada and secured nevada's vote. this definitely smells of rigging the caucus on behalf of donald trump. >> reporter: he's talking about the leadership of his state republican party. some of those leaders just happen to also be criminally indicted by the state for attempting to falsely certify that trump won nevada in 2020. he did not win.

all six fake electors have pleaded not guilty to felony charges. michael mcdonald, nevada republican party chairman and close trump ally. >> we will deliver you 100% of delegates for the state of nevada to donald j. trump . >> reporter: and jesse. last november, we caught up with a caucus road show held by republican party leaders jim degraffenreid and jim hindall. >> make sure we're choosing the most competitive, representative candidate to be our nominee. >> reporter: former state gop chair and lifelong republican doesn't buy any of this. what does it mean, though, if you have these indicted fake electors who are also behind pushing this caucus? >> how do you trust it? to me it comes across as a

complete pro trump scam. plain and simple. it's sad, and it's disappointing. i think really they have disenfranchised the republican voter. >> reporter: since nevada's primary doesn't award delegates, the best nikki haley can hope for is bragging rights. donald trump, he's the only major name left in the caucuses, which will award 26 delegates. kyung lah, cnn, las vegas. >> our thanks to kyung for a great piece which is still kind of confusing. >> slightly less confused this morning. up next, we're going to dig in deeper to the new poll that shows president biden leading donald trump in a hypothetical general election matchup. where the polls show the president struggling ahead. the european union has reached a deal on a $50 billion economic aid for ukraine. after the sole hold out viktor orban signed off on the agreement. it includes a yearly review if needed. additional ukraine funding from

the united states continues to be stalled in congress. back in a moment.

i think he's having a midlife crisis i'm not. you got us t-mobile home internet lite. after a week of streaming they knocked us down... ...to dial up speeds. like from the 90s. great times. all i can do say is that my life is pre-- i like watching the puddles gather rain. -hey, your mom and i procreated to that song. oh, ew! i think you've said enough. why don't we just switch to xfinity like everyone else? then you would know what year it was. i know what year it is.

so margot robbie is opening

up about her oscar snub, the barbie star didn't get nominated for best actress this year, confounding, i agree. 2023's biggest block buster, earning $1.5 billion around the world since its release in july. it was produced by warner brothers pictures, which like cnn is subsidiary of warner brothers discovery. according to a deadline at a sag-aftra screening, robbie said there's no way to feel sad when you know you're this blessed. greta gerwig, the first female director with a billion dollar movie. gerwig didn't get nominated for best director. robbie weighed in on that, obviously i think greta should be nominated as a director because what she did is a once in a career, once in a lifetime thing, it really is. >> "barbie" wasn't complete snubbed. the movie earned eight oscar,

they both said they're disappointed margot and greta were left out. robbie remained positive about the whole thing, kind of her approach throughout, and kind of similar to what "barbie" would do in this situation. >> such a class act. "cnn this morning" continues now. the existing body of scientific work has not shown a causal link between using social media and young people having worse mental health outcomes. >> this is about getting accountability. >> we're doing an industry leading effort. >> your product is killing people. >> nothing will change until the courtroom door is open to victims of social media. >> new u.s. air strikes targeting iranian-backed houthi drones in yemen. >> we're told a houthi missile came within a mile of the u.s. destroyer, before it was shot down. >> u.s. officials believe iran