>> of taylor swift. of taylor swift and all the air time she's getting. that's all i was saying. >> oh, yes. i know. i mean, it's -- they're very aware of it. it did seem a little bitterness from the last player there. but also other players really embracing it and loving it. >> coy, thank you. have the best time. >> thanks, buddy. >> you got it. >> "cnn this morning" continues now. 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. >> nikki haley, not backing away from her argument that the american president shouldn't be in their 80s. good morning, everyone. top of the hour. i'm phil mattingly with poppy harlow in new york. what it comes to what we're watching, it's clear. a border crisis, a presidential campaign and clash on capitol hill all captured in the split screen of two votes over the course of the next two days. today house republicans will try

to impeach homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas. they succeed, it will be the first cabinet secretary to be impeached in nearly 150 years and it's a move questioned by constitutional scholars. >> over in the senate, the only bipartisan bill to address the unprecedented surge of migrants at the southern border is now on the brink of defeat before a key vote tomorrow. republican opposition is growing as donald trump and republican leadership launch an all-out war to kill the deal. trump issuing this new warning to republican senators if they dare vote for this bill. >> i think it probably would mean the end of their career. this is a democrat trap. it's a trap for republicans that would be so stupid, so foolish to sign a bill like this. this bill can't be signed. >> even if the senate manages to pass the border bill, speaker -- house speaker mike johnson is

making it abundantly clear that the house will not even consider it. >> we did read through it, laura. it did not take long to realize that this is dead on arrival. there's no way we could bring this through the house. what it would do is actually further incentivize illegal immigration. the bill itself would do more harm than good and that's why we said, it's a nonstarter over here in the house. >> let's start things off with lauren fox. lauren, let's start with impeachment. if leaders are moving to the floor, i assume they assume they have the votes to get it through. but that means they'll kick to the senate. the senate democrats know what they're going to do? >> yeah. they are confident over in the house republican conference they'll have the votes later today to go ahead and impeach secretary of homeland security alejandro mayorkas. the question, like you noted, is what are senate democrats going to do with that once it comes to their chamber. they have a couple options at their disposal. and aides and members who i talked to last night say that there have not been any final

decisions made. the reality is democrats view this as blatantly political, but at the same time, they acknowledge that there are actual constitutional and procedural issues that they are going to have to deal with. senator chris murphy, who has been very busy trying to negotiate that bipartisan bill. he views this as just a political exercise. but at the same time, senate democrats are likely not going to be able to just ignore it. their options really are to move to quickly dismiss this, if it comes over to their chamber. to go ahead and refer it to a committee, either a standing committee or create a special committee to go ahead and investigate it. but that does take resources. or their third option, have a very quick senate trial. they are going over pass precedent, trying to decide what their next steps will be. we won't hear from them until this is signed, sealed and delivered to the house. >> can you talk about the pros pecks of border bill in the senate. just getting through the senate.

i know what will happen in the house. >> reporter: yeah. republicans had a conference meeting last night to discuss this issue and the prospects for actually advancing this tomorrow do not look good. right now mcconnell signaling to his republican conference that they should vote their conscience. they should do what they think is best. that is likely going to mean that most of them are not going to be voting to advance this bill on the procedural vote tomorrow. however, it's not just republicans who have issues with this. here is senator padilla of california. >> it's not something that i support, both for reasons of what's in the package, like trump era policies regular border closures, lack of due process but also for what's not in the bill. you know, historically we have bound border proposals with legal pathways, for example. not a single dreamer will receive relief through this measure. >> reporter: and you see there that this is a problem on the

fringes of the right and the left. and not really even the fringes anymore in the republican party. possible that senator james lankford does not vote to advance it tomorrow. we are waiting to see where he will be on this bill. obviously schumer still expected to go ahead and put this on the floor for procedural vote tomorrow. but again, it is all eyes on the united states senate as what looks to be the best opportunity that they've had in decades to fix the immigration system is about to go up in flames. >> can you speak more to lankford there. he was so crucial in crafting this. >> yeah. but it's also a reflection, right, of the realities of the republican party because there are so many members of his conference who seem to be concerned. look, we're going to get a lot more this morning from members when they are back in washington and we hear from them. a lot of them were still not back last night given the fact the senate wasn't supposed to be scheduled to be in yesterday. so we'll have a better sense this morning and this afternoon

after yet another republican lunch as to where the conference. >> it will be interesting to watch. lauren fox, busy day in the halls. thanks. also new this morning, nine u.s. ambassadors to countries in the endopacific region are urging congress to pass the senate's foreign aid package. the ambassadors writing, quote, governments are watching what we do at this pivotal moment in history. in the face of challenges from the people's republic of china and threats from an increasingly aggressive north korea, we will stand firm in our support to our friends. joining us now is one of the ambassadors who penned that letter the u.s. ambassador to japan, rahm emanuel and served as president obama's chief of staff. we just read through the letter. so glad you're with us this morning. why the urgency and the need to write this? >> well, look, our allies are a force multiplier. this is one of the most challenging regions of the world. and very specifically while the legislation deals with obviously ukraine, the border, funding to

israel, also taiwan, it also is a sign right now as the senate takes up this legislation, our allies and our foes in this region, are going to take our measure. when the chips are down, does the eyes stand by its word? and we thought all of us who were at the conference and you have myself as an ambassador to japan, you have nick burns, ambassador to china, and countries between from republic of korea, india, philippines, vietnam, all spoke with one voice. this is a crucial time, the friend and foe in this region will take our measure. we think it's very important obviously to follow through on our word and our commitment to our friend and then also to follow through on our word and our commitment to make sure our enemies know we're serious when we're serious. that's why this was so important to all of us coming back from the conference decided to speak with one voice about this. >> mr. ambassador, i was struck by two things in the letter.

one the point you're making is one that has been made repeated by mitch mcconnell, that people are watching. allies and foes alike. and mcconnell, who used to have total grip on his conference, doesn't seem to have that anymore. and kind of akin to that, these types of letters particularly given the individual signed on both politicals and nonpoliticals on this letter, used to have a major impact on these debates. you were on capitol hill. you were chief of staff. you knew when a letter like this landed a couple years ago, everyone took notice and could change the dynamic. do you think this could change the dynamic in the current congress? >> well, i do think the letter will still take notice. i do think a number of the senators who have actually visited here, democrats, republicans, first of all, we call china here a country that is setting the pace for our competition. we are a permanent pacific power and presence here in the pacific area. china is watching what happens.

so is north korea. so are the countries that are aligned as allies and treaty allies of ours and those somewhat the middle but also aligned with us. and leader mcconnell is not wrong. they're watching. much of this legislation goes and funds different parts, whether it's the theater in ukraine in europe, whether it's in israel or the middle east, a section obviously for taiwan, a big section on the border. but do not think that it's only about there. this is going to be -- you have issues here from the south china sea to the taiwan straits to the korean peninsula. affecting many, many allies and treaty allies, friends as well. they are going to watch this. prime minister security conference said what happens today in ukraine can be the indo-pacific tomorrow. that is true. and they're going to take our measure. they're going to take a response and that's why all the ambassadors from the united

states, career ambassadors who made their career there, political appointees who have worked up like senator udal, myself, mayor garcetti from los angeles decided to all speak with one voice to the u.s. senate that knows this vote matters. it doesn't just stop at the borders of ukraine. it doesn't just stop on the conflict in the gaza strip. it will impact china. lit impact north korea. it will impact allies. and anybody that wants to believe that that's not true is actually not -- dealing with the full deck as it relates to that problem and the challenge. and america will be measured here. there's going to be a test. it's not just a test on whether you get cloture vote. it will be a test of the united states here. that is why all the ambassadors decided to speak up. >> mr. ambassador, the commander of the u.s. pacific fleet told the senate armed services committee just last week that you bring up china and how closely they're watching. i thought what he said, though, was really telling.

let me read people part of that testimony. quote, instead of seeing the ukraine conflict and deciding this is too hard, the chinese intention is to take note of the actions of russia in order to affect a short, sharp conflict that presents a fate come plea to the rest of the world. to people who weren't listening to that but are listening to you this morning. that's why i asked you at the beginning, the urgency of this now, you write about when the chips are down, everyone is watching us. >> yeah. look, there's friend and foe are watching technology, different types of drone warfare, sea drone warfare, how ukraine without a navy has been so effective against the russian navy. they'll be lessons learned from the battlefield. there will be lessons learned from the urban situation in gaza. diplomatic efforts, strategic efforts, military erts. friend and foe in the most important region in the world that we think is the biggest challenge we'll face economically, technologically,

strategically, politically is china. all eyes are to see when american makes a commitment will live up to that commitment. that is why every ambassador across different countries, some political, some not -- some are career, decided to speak up and sign something that they don't often do because this vote is not just another vote. it is not one of many votes. sit a vote in which the character, the quality of america when we give our word will be measured by friend and foe alike. >> yeah. it is a very noteworthy letter and also comes at a moment where fascinating thing is there's 70 plus votes for this in the senate on what you're talking about and 350 in the house. and no one can figure out a path forward. this letter of course an effort to try to dislodge that. ambassador rahm emanuel, thanks for your time. more rain on the way for california this morning after an atmospheric river unleashed a powerful storm and record rain fall, leaving at least two people dead from toppling trees. >> flash floods, landslides

swept building and vehicles down rivers of mud. 35 million people this morning are under flood threats. meteorologist chad myers is live for us again in los angeles tracking all of it. we were with you yesterday talking about what was to come. now we've seen what came. what can you tell us on the ground? >> reporter: well, the roads are open. you can see these two cars just going by right now. i'm telling you right now that this car isn't going to be moving any time soon. the dirt and debris is all stuck under that. that will take a shovel at least. it looks like a mud road really. it looks like something i grew up in nebraska when it rained. but this was the other side of the road where the mud still -- this is up the canyons. these are dirt mountains, dirt hills. i can see it from that way to that way and all that water rained on top of it. 11.81 inches of rain fell in this location in 48 hours. and it washed all of this down the hill. all of this down into the cars, under the cars, into the homes. this is a big mess. this is going to take some heavy

equipment to pick this bad boy back up. this is a lot of mud up and down this street. so the people here are still dealing with it. the heaviest rain right now is down into san diego county. we saw what happened down there just a few days ago with the previous storm. that willexacerbate what we had. now a couple three inches will be falling on to that land down there. we are going to make more flooding here. this is not over. it is still raining. it is still raining. this is raining more than a hurricane. when the hurricane comes and goes, at least it's over. this, guys, will not stop. >> chad myers for us in los angeles. thank you. king charles getting treated for cancer. what we do and don't know about that diagnosis. also, breaking overnight, country star toby keith died at the age of 6 2. we'll look back at his life and legacy. ♪ let's have a party, let's have a party ♪

breaking news this morning and sad news, country singer toby keith died after a battle with stomach cancer.

♪ i should have been a cowboy ♪ ♪ i should have learned to roll around ♪ >> keith's family saying he died peacefully with his family around him. >> he was diagnosed in 2022. the family says that he fought his fight with grace and with counselor. he was just 62 years old. he is sur vvived by his wife, three children and four grandchildren. we will continue to remember his life throughout the morning. united kingdom waking up to these headlines this morning after the royal family announced that king charles has cancer. the type of cancer remains unknown. but a royal source tells cnn it is not prostate cancer. remember the king had been treated for enlarged prostate just days earlier. he is stepping back from public appearances as he undergoes this treatment now. >> cnn also learned that prince harry is heading back to the uk to see his father. joining us to talk about all this is erin, who co-hosts "its

dynasty" podcast and murologist at orlando health. erin, what more are we learning how the news was actually received when this actually all came out? >> well, charles found out a week ago. the first thing he did is he called -- you know, he called his three siblings, the duke of edinburgh, princess royal and duke of york who is no longer working royal and two children. prince harry decided he is going to come visit. and you know, it's -- -- so far his wife queen camilla and princess anne have been committed to going out and doing as much of the events as they can and even on the weekend he was -- filmed going to church on sunday. the palace trying to reassure people that he's -- he is facing a challenge but it's -- he is still like up to the task. >> doctor, it's actually kind of rare that we find out this much about the current health of a

royal. this is more than we found out about the queen, for example. he was discharged from hospital just last week because he was treated for this benign prostate enlargement. interestingly prostate cancer has been ruled out. so from those two things, where does that leave you this morning? what questions do you have? >> well, what we know for sure is that he has a form of cancer. now whether that cancer was found incidentally when they were doing his prostate procedure. when we're inside taking care of the prostate, there's other organs around the area, like the bladder, yur rooet ra. but at the same time, maybe this is something that was found on some follow-up imaging or lab work. so there's a lot of speculation, on what kind of cancer is it? what kind of treatment is he starting. all we know right now is that he has a form of cancer and initiated treatment. what his prognosis is, what his stage is, i think those are all things that we just don't know yet. >> yeah. you make an important point about the unanswered questions here despite the fact that, to

poppy's point, they did provide more information than they traditional have in some cases. doctor, do we have a sense of as erin was noting, they made a show that he will be able to do his duties behind the scenes, not in the public. duties as much that he is capable of doing that. can someone with a cancer diagnosis, even though we still have questions about what it is, be able to carry the kind of load that he has in his day to day work? >> absolutely. i have thousands of patients in my own office that we diagnosis with cancer on a yearly basis that are able to do all the things that they want to. whether it's work or whether it is be with their family. as he moves forward with the treatments, will the treatments cause side effects? or if the cancer progresses, then that may limit his ability to perform and ability to do the work that he wants to do. but we're not there yet. right now it seems like the way we saw him out on -- out in the open that he's -- he looks normal. how he does over the next couple months is still an unknown. but most people with cancer, if

it is caught early, they will be able to get the treatments that they need. usually there's a very good life expectancy to follow and they should be able to perform the work that they need to perform. >> erin, prince william interestingly was going to be out of the public eye, not carrying out the public duties until easter, helping with things at home because princess kate was in hospital for two weeks. now that changes. now he will be the front, forward-facing face of the monarchy. do you have any sense of what that will be like for him? >> well, you know, it's actually a coincidence i think maybe intentional we found out yesterday that william was going to come back earlier than anticipated. there are certain duties that only william and princess anne can carry out. specifically investitures where people are knighted. he is coming back tomorrow morning to windsor castle and going out for a charity. you know, he had said in the past we were hearing reports in the british press that he wanted to be 100% focussed on his family, at least until princess kate was settled in after she

spent 13 days in the hospital. and it seems like a pretty -- it's like she has a long recovery ahead of her at least until easter. but, you know, i think it's -- the proof they have always had to balance being a member of sort of like a family that is for the whole united kingdom versus being a private family. they're changing the way they balance the two responsibilities. >> thank you very much, erin. good to have you. doctor, thank you very much. just hours from now, house republicans will try to impeach homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas. >> donald trump and house republican leaders are launching an all out war. house minority leaders hakeem jeffries joins us next to talk about all of it.

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>> reporter: hours before the sun is up over san diego, we get on board for a rare look at border security from the pacific ocean. >> four to five foot seas out there. >> okay. >> so we're going to be gettings toed around. >> reporter: we plan for a few minutes to get set up. >> which way would you prefer -- >> reporter: but off to the side, we noticed the crew already getting word of movements on the water. >> jet ski just passed. >> follow them. so you can see -- try to apprehend them. >> reporter: something is up. >> just on the other side of this. >> reporter: suspected migrant smugglers are about to make a drop. >> 200 yards on shore right now. >> reporter: suddenly, we're 0 to 60 on the water, that is fast. and cold. this is a side of u.s. border and custom patrols you don't often see. for good reason. border patrol on land, these agents handle the sky and seas.

part of amo, air and marine operations. >> just off our beam heading right for the beads. >> what does it sound like a boat or jet ski? >> they don't have a visual of it. radar contact eastbound right behind us back here. >> reporter: headed our way, so they kill the lights. and we wait in the dark. >> pursuit is coming right to us right now. >> this way? >> yeah. >> reporter: after a few minutes, still nothing. seems the suspected smuggler on a jet ski turned back. >> there's a lot coming. we're constantly busy. >> what we see at the southern border, land crossing, people coming right up to border patrol agents wanting to surrender themselves. you don't see that here. people are trying to get away from you as quickly as possible. >> a lot of times we're getting people that don't want to be caught because they carry criminal records, they're members of a gang. then you get family yunits, too the smugglers convinced this is a safe and easy passage. >> reporter: in the past year, the agents say it's become increasingly deadly, but like

drug trafficking, migrant smuggling is a business. >> they're reckless with their lives. they're reckless with other people's lives. >> do we know, are they connected often to cartels? >> at a smaller level, yeah, this is all cartel driven. >> reporter: they often launch in the dark of night, leaving from various points along the mexican coast. once they cross the maritime boundary line, the ocean border separating the u.s. and mexico, the smugglers usually head to the beaches of san diego county where they drop off the migrants. though more recently, they've ended up cruising even farther north, to places like malibu. >> can actually see the boat right here just sitting on the shore. >> reporter: just before 2:00 a.m. tuesday, roughly two dozen migrants scattered from this boat as soon as it hit the beach. border patrol was able to detain 19 of them. the rest, somewhere in malibu, more than 130 miles from the southern border. and if you look closely, some of the remnants of a long journey.

you have cracker remnants, food wrapper left behind, orange and banana peels and trash bags in there. a lot of the times the migrants will wrap themselves in those trash bags to keep warm. even some leftover fuel canisters. hours later -- another beach landing. a videographer in la jolla captures it in the surf. watch as this boat runs ashore. several suspected migrants then hop off. they sprint towards the beach side homes. cbp says their still searching for them. the boat left stranded. officials tell us the number of incidents along the southwest coast is up threefold over the last five years. and they say migrants like these often pay tens of thousands of dollars for a one-way ticket on the open ocean. and you'll have people, captain, actually try to swim? >> they often do it at night and under fog. and sadly it's tragic some of them don't always make it. >> reporter: that's where the coast guard comes in. we join them on a deterrence

patrol, positioned just north of the maritime line. a view of the southern border i have never seen before. >> right in front of us, that's mexico. >> reporter: the coast guard focussed on primarily keeping folks align. to do that you need to keep the lines of communication open. >> we all speak on the same frequency. so, when somebody gets notified, we're all notified at the same time. >> 28 nautical miles. >> reporter: that frequency also shared by the cbp air assets, watching and tracking from above. >> so when we do detect a target, i hook it. so the system is now tracking it. and we get everything down here, right? the coordinates. where it's at. how fast it's going. >> reporter: that information relaid to kcrews on land and se. >> you have to be prepared for anything on the water, doing that at night, pitch black, six foot seas. it can be very challenging.

>> reporter: moments like these where boats filled with migrants rush towards the shoreline a near nightly occurrence now. >> over the last three years we have seen increase in smuggling. they don't understand the peril that these smugglers are putting them in. it's the callous nature of their operations and how they just don't care about human life. >> reporter: we spot another team about to take off just as we touched down. forecasting the smuggler's schedules and routes impossible. so the agents work all hours. living in the dark does wear you out. now it's nice to get sun now and tlen. >> reporter: physically, emotionally securing our border especially on the ocean takes a toll. but there are perks, like clocking out at sunrise. >> yeah. that looks pretty. >> my favorite time of the day. >> reporter: david culve-r, cnn, san diego, california. >> what a report, david. thank you very much for that. well, just hours from now house republicans will try to impeach the homeland security

secretary alejandro mayorkas. hakeem jeffries is here to talk about all of that and a lot more ahead.

later today the house will vote on a resolution that would make homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas just the second cabinet secretary in history to be impeached. the vote is expected to be quite close, but republican leaders belief they will be able to wrangle enough to get it across the finish line. the white house last night forcefully condemning the effort. writing, quote, impeaching secretary mayorkas would be unprecedented and unconstitutional act of political retribution that would do nothing to solve the challenges our nation faces in securing the border. cnn learned senate democrats are

still weighing to respond if mayorkas is impeached. move to dismiss it quickly given their view it's blatantly political. this comes, of course, as a major bipartisan border bill including significant aid appears on track to fail in the senate this week. republicans oppose the deal including donald trump attacked as too soft. even though it features some of the most stringent border security restrictions congress has ever considered. house speaker mike johnson, well, he outlined why he is against the deal. >> border patrol agents, officers, long-time veterans of the agency, and they said you have to fix asylum. you have to fix parole. you have to end the catch and release, the mass release of immigrants around the country, illegals around the country as has been happening and restore remain in mexico. you also need elements of the wall being built. i don't believe the senate bill, as i explained, meets the criteria necessary to solve the problem. >> joining us now is house democratic leader congressman hakeem jeffries. congressman, mr. leader, we

appreciate your time this morning. i want to start there. because i think the question right now both with what the house republicans would be willing to do, where senate republicans are, is there any path forward given the significance of what's in this package? do you see one right now? >> well, we have a broken immigration system. and common sense dictates that we should address it in a comprehensive and bipartisan way so we can have a secure, a strong and humane border. for months the extreme maga republicans were demanding that democrats sit down and have a discussion about ways to address the challenges at the border. under the leadership of senate schumer, that's exactly what has happened. and now, because the house republicans have been ordered by donald trump not to do anything to fix our broken immigration system, they are walking away from the issue and in doing so, they're walking away from the

american people. >> if you were able to get this bill on the floor in the house -- i think it's notable that majority leader scalise is saying we're not even going put on the floor. not going to say they're put it on the floor and kill it and vote for it. if it got to the floor, do you think it would pass? >> well, let's cross that bridge when we get to it. it certainly is the starting point for conversations for house democrats and should be the case for all of us here in the congress who recognize that we have a broken immigration system and that we need to fix it. it should be done in a manner consistent with our values as a nation of immigrants and as a nation anchored in the rule of law. but what the extreme maga republicans have done, is basically to say, we would rather chaos prevail than exercise the common sense that should exist in a period of divided government and sit down with democrats led by president biden to have a conversation

about the path forward. >> the reason i ask about potential passage if it got to the floor, you have essentially become a default speaker on some level in the last couple of weeks as many of the bills that have passed have required a suspension of the rules. meaning two thirds of lawmakers need to vote. democrats are providing the majority of all of those vote. and i'm not sure right now, given how far senate democrats have gone on this, in terms of restrictive border measures, that all democrats would be on board. in fact, senator padilla was saying to our colleague abby phillip last night. take a listen. >> it's not something that i could support both for reasons of what's in the package, like trump-era policies of regular border closures, lack of due process but also what's not in the bill. historically we have bound some border enforcement proposals with some legal pathways, for example, not a single dreamer will benefit or receive relief through this measure. >> the chair of the congressional hispanic caucus

also announce herd opposition to it. what the senator is saying is accurate. i haven't seen democrats move this far on this issue. it's not comprehensive in how the term was always understood. i think there's questions from some about whether it is humane. you're talking about whether or not it's humane. what are you hearing from the members of your caucus? >> we're going to sit down other the next few days and have a conversation about the path forward in terms of fixing our broken immigration system and fixing the problems at the border. today we're facing a sham stunt, impeachment effort i should note that was demanded by donald trump and being led by marjorie taylor greene. what does this impeachment effort have to do with fixing the challenges at the border? absolutely nothing. but it's another example of the fact that house republicans aren't really interested in

solving those challenges. we are ready, we're willing, we're able to sit down with our republican colleagues and have a conversation about fixing our broken immigration system, addressing the challenges at the border, making sure that the border is strong, it is secure, and it's humane. >> when you talk about impeachment, white house official pointed out that in the impeachment report it says, quote the committee, through these articles of impeachment, begins the process of deporting secretary mayorkas from his position. you know, i think it's not subtle the fact that secretary mayorkas is the first immigrant from his family to serve as a dhs secretary. when you hear that, what do you think? >> well, it's outrageous and consistent with the type of xenophobic rhetoric that maga republicans in this town have become known for utilizing and deploying. certainly that's been the case since 2015. again, what does the impeachment

of secretary mayorkas have to do with building a healthy economy? nothing. what does the impeachment of secretary mayorkas have to do with addressing the inflationary pressures that have existed on the economy since the shutdown of the economy as a result of the covid-19 pandemic? nothing. and it has nothing to do with fixing our broken immigration system. and so, we, at this point, really need our republican colleagues to choose to walk away from chaos, which is what they want, and per vaers of chaos, of function and extremism, and join us in a common sense approach to meeting the needs of the american people. >> was it a mistake for the white house to tie immigration, this extraordinarily volatile and attractable issue to its national security -- significant national security request with ukraine, indo-pacific and israel? >> that was a decision that was made by the previous speaker who

made clear that he would not -- or republicans would not provide any support for democratic ally, ukraine, in its war against russia and pushing back against russian aggression without us dealing with the issue of border security. that was a decision that was made by republicans months ago. they've held up our national security priorities based on a decision that they wanted to have a discussion about the border. but then, when donald trump stepped into the situation, because for political reasons the reasons do not want to address the challenge at this moment, they're walking away from their own idea. >> immigration has become such a central issue. i think democrats and republicans alike acknowledge that it is a significant problem down at the border. there's a special election going on. you talk about the economy. you talk about the legislative wins of the biden administration in the house in the first two years of this administration.

people are talking about immigration up in new york 3. our colleague manu raju is usually trailing you with a microphone was up there for a piece earlier this week and tom suozzi, your candidate was talking about it. does it concern you that it's a problem for your candidate up there? >> certainly a problem for the republicans a in the point in time that there is a bipartisan bill that has been introduced and negotiated over a period of several months, supported by conservative senators like lankford and that the republicans are walking away from it. tom suozzi is running for all the right reasons. ultimately the people of the third congressional district will make the decision as to the best path forward. but we know that tom suozzi is someone who wants to come back to washington to solve problems, to fix the challenges that are confronting the american people, and to work in a bipartisan way. we need more of that, not less. but unfortunately the extreme maga republicans have shown no interest in working with house

democrats to address the challenges facing the american people. >> do you think voters are as keen observers of the legislative process that they will key on that, right? this has been such a significant issue, republicans had such an advantage. now they'll say now they're blocking that bill. do you think people are paying that close attention to this? >> i think the american people understand the difference between common sense and cynicism. and this is a cynical, political effort by republicans. donald trump has been very vocal about the fact that he wants the extreme ma grk a republicans in the house to block any effort at fixing our broken immigration system and i think the american people see that for exactly what it is, a reckless, political stunt. we're going to continue as democrats to put people over politics and to fight for the issues that matter, lower costs, growing the middle class, safer communities and getting things done. >> house democratic leader hakeem jeffries. we appreciate your time. thank you.

>> thank you. >> really important conversation on quite a significant day ahead for them. secretary of state antony blinken is the middle east to discuss post-war plans for gaza. nikki haley versus a couple of, quote, grumpy old men. is it working? it's become a rallying cry. we'll discuss.

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ditch the other guys and you'll save hundreds. get a free line of unlimited intro for 1 year when you buy one unlimited line. and for a limited time, get the new samsung galaxy s24 on us. it is becoming a hallmark of nikki haley's strategy, lumping

donald trump and joe biden into, in her words, the grumpy old men category. she believes it is time for a youth movement. she's been pounding home that message in her home state where she still trails donald trump, a wide margin in the polling. kylie atwood has been talking to voters on the ground. >> reporter: 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: nikki haley not backing away from her argument that presidents shouldn't be in their 80s. >> mandatory mental competence tests for people over 75 years old. >> reporter: it's been her pitch to voters since day one. >> why are we allowing ourselves to have two 80-year-olds who can't serve eight years, who both are diminished whether in their character or mental

capacity? >> for six weeks. remember that one? >> reporter: that's what voters will say if they see you and joe on the ballot. often to an audience filled are retirees, like this bar in hilton head, south carolina. >> i just don't think our country should be with somebody who's going on its way out. when we still have so much young blood. >> reporter: for 69-year-old maureen bolter, the idea of moving to a younger generation is fascinating. south carolina had an influx of almost 40,000 retirees, and haley is betting they get her argument. >> i think older people see it too. they know we need a new generational leader. >> reporter: 61-year-old anna memo is one of them. >> whether it's the biden ticket or the trump ticket, i do feel it's very important to look at age and consider age and cognitive skills.

>> reporter: but not everyone considering the state's former governor found it to be the best. >> i do think that we still have people that are 78 and 80 that can be senators and representatives. >> reporter: for edward spiers, currently an undecided gop voter, it's just a part of the game. >> she wants to be elected. a younger candidate. i would do the same thing. that's just strategy. >> reporter: do you find her arguments about age and not wanting an 80-year-old in the white house offensive at all? >> no. it's just politics. >> reporter: and for older trump supporters, even those interested in haley, like this couple, who moved to hilton held nine years ago -- >> she's a neat person. we read her book. >> reporter: -- the tactic of going after trump's age isn't a decisive factor because they are set on voting for the former president. >> casting the seniors, that's not right. we're individuals. >> reporter: but if it wasn't

the age thing, it's not like you would go for her if she let that argument go. >> the trump weren't running, yes, i would. i'm stubborn. >> reporter: as you can see, a pretty wide range of responses to haley's age argument, but her campaign is doubling down, out just this morning in south carolina with a new ad that says that trump is old, that he's running to settle old scores, clearly doubling down on this message of their age argument as they try and reach as many south carolinian voters as they can. >> so good to hear from the voters. that's what matters, especially in that state right now. thank you. up ahead, a majority of americans want former president trump's federal election trial decided before the election. we'll break it down.