this just in. maryanne williamson is suspending her campaign for the nomination arrest ten months of campaigning. a quick note. i will be covering at the supreme court. that starts at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow. for now, cnn news night with abby phillip begins.

the definitive autopsy of washington's latest failure to govern. that's tonight on "news night." good evening. i'm abby phillip in new york. for months, for years, for the better part of a decade, the republican party has made the border issue number one. they've demanded change, legislation, any kind of fix. and there is in fact a crisis on the border, whether democrats want to admit it out loud or not. new laws are needed to keep up with the influx of migrants. the problem is republicans latched on to this issue for political reason and there's proof on it. to explain how to border deal died the quickest of deaths, i'm going to use the inverdict pyramid to convey the who, the what, when, where, and why.

republicans ended up tanking the very time of legislation that they demanded. first and foremost, the who. of course, donald trump. the where? capitol hill. the why and the when, republicans will tell you that they're rejecting this deal because it doesn't go far enough. even though it's the most conservative bipartisan immigration bill in recent history. but that excuse is just a cover. the main reason that they don't want this bill is because donald trump doesn't want to give joe biden a legislative win during an election year. it's that simple. not only is trump actually admitted this out loud but so have his allies on capitol hill. >> joe biden's approval rating is at 33%. why would we do anything to try to help improve that dismal number with a border bill being drafted in the senate that isn't really serious about border

security? >> if you need any more proof, it was donald trump who once said, it's the job of congress to solve the border. >> the only long-term solution to the crisis and the only way to ensure the endurance of our nation as a solvent country, is for congress to overcome open borders obstruction. >> now, back in the fall, republicans refused to support any more aid for ukraine or israel unless that money was allocated for the border. they were essentially holding foreign aid hostage so a group of bipartisan senators, the ones trying to govern. they got together over the last few months to try to bridge the divide. they reached a deal backed by key players for everyone from mitch mcconnell to the border patrol union. then in the course of just a week, poof! trump sabotaged the deal effectively killing him. by the way, this isn't the first

deal, bill, or even law that trump has threatened to blow up many times without any real replace many in mind. there was obamacare, the iran deal, the paris climate acovered, dhaka, the 2020 stimulus. this week a conservative advocacy group went full or well, or marty mcplay the, however you prefer your history to be rewritten. then this. senators and the biden administration can no longer camouflage the truthful they're leveraging the border crisis and the means of our allies in israel and taiwan to extract more than $60 billion on additional unaccountable aid for ukraine. first of all, ukraine is an al, an ally of the united states. and second, that is a lie. >> any package has to begin with the security of our own border. we have to attract real policy

change at the border and that's a necessary condition to anything we do going forward. >> i've made very clear from day one that our first condition on any national secury spending package is about our own national security. >> i will not help ukraine, taiwan or israel until we secure a border that has been obliterated. >> we're not going to consider the other package of israel and ukraine aid, even though i support both of those until and unless we deal with the border. >> there's broad agreement on support for ukraine, israel, indo-pacific. we've got to get something on the border. >> i think it is important for israel, for ukraine, for taiwan, and also, to secure the border. >> i also find it fascinating that mike johnson is dismissing the border patrol's endorsement of this deal considering his own previous words. >> you don't need to take may

word for it. listen to the deputy chief of the u.s. border patrol. the president should come to the border. what an idea that would be. >> just to get back to our inverted pyramid, here's the how of it all. this party, the republican party, has now become maga. and trump leads it despite the very real possibility that he could be a convicted felon and soon. >> is donald trump calling the shots here, mr. speaker? >> of course not. he's not calling the shots. i'm calling the shots for the house. that's our responsibility. >> well, if he's not calling the shots, he is calling mike johnson. >> how often do you speak to him? >> pretty frequently now. every few days or so. he and i have been talking about this pretty frequently. i talked to him the night before last about the same subject. >> also, on the how, there is

the echo chamber. the right wing outlets that hammer home this border crisis hour in and hour out, but especially during election years. >> you judge with your own eyes if the united states is being invaded. >> stunning exclusive new fox video of a train, packed car after packed car, filled with clearing people from all over the globe coming our way. >> foreign nationals are breaching our shores by boat and then sprinting through the beaches and just disappearing on to the streets. >> there is nothing more or less than an invasion at the border. >> we are being overwhelmed. there is no word to describe this except invasion. >> terrorists and others are coming across our southern border, not to mention the scourge of fentanyl killing americans. >> we do have an invasion and they've refused to keep us safe. >> except that same urgency for any kind of solution suddenly becomes much less urgent just in

time. when maga decided the whole thing can suddenly wait until november. >> after all of their cable news appearances, after all those campaign photo ops in the desert, after all those trips to the border, this crisis isn't actually much of a crisis after all. sunday morning, there was a real crisis at the border. monday morning, that crisis imaginally disappeared. >> and finally, what now? well, this was probably congress's best shot at getting a deal done. getting something done this year. it also made it less likely that level-headed lawmakers will even want to work together in the future since doing so evidently makes them a target. >> i had a popular commentator four weeks ago that i talked to that told me flat out, before they knew any of the contents of

the bill. nothing was out at that point. that told me flat out, if you try to move a bill that solves the border crisis during this presidential year, i will do whatever i can to destroy you. because i do not want you to solve this during the presidential election. >> so the autopsy shows that this wasn't an honest policy disagreement. everyone working in good faith toward a solution. it was a red-blooded political murder. the clues are there like in the game. it was donald trump over at mar-a-lago holding the bull horn who ordered the hit. for more, i want to bring in former south carolina governor and former republican congressman mark sanford. we've heard words like chaos and embarrassment. how would you describe the last 24 hours for your former republican colleagues in the house? >> well, to state the obvious, a

mess. both on the house side with the failed impeachment attempt which was about messaging and what would happen or not happen on the border and consequences there of. and on the senate side with the bill crumbling and falling apart. it's, i think it is probably a more complex story than the one you made out. it has been messy over the last 24 hours. >> this bipartisan deal was declared dead by mike johnson in the house. yet other republican members were ready to negotiate to get something done. at the end of the day, everybody has to be willing to give up their sacred cows. democrats certainly did. they gave up honestly quite a lot. is this a leadership failure of congressional leadership, particularly in the house to come to the table? >> i don't know about a

leadership failure. i think it is a couple things. one, a reminder of trump's clout within republican circle in washington. i think that's real. i think it is a reminder of the weakening grip that the, that mcconnell has on the senate side. historically, he's had a very strong hold of his leadership. you saw that w the way that fell. the hand seemed to be weakening. most of all, i think it shows well beyond the fine print of the bill just zero trust on either side. in fairness to the republicans. i'm not a maga guy and i'm certainly not a trump supporter. in fairness to where those folks are coming from, at the membership level, people are saying, wait a minute. biden had the tools. he dismembered a number of policy that's were working under the trump administration. there were far fewer encounters during that time. you can have laws. but if the executive doesn't

actually implement them, they don't do you any good. it is well beyond the confine. we passed this thing. what if they don't push it in the last 10, 11 months? 10 months of this year? and i think that that is probably the most telling of all. and take this notion of certain triggers being hit after the 4,000 apprehensions per day, you know, for seven consecutive days. a lot of people that's a giant loophole. >> to be clear. that's not what that provision is about. it is encounters. i think the number is 5,000. it is encounters which is not anybody coming in at all, actually. so look, i take the point that you're making. >> you're encountering them because they're crossing the border. you wouldn't be encountering them without crossing the border. >> you can encounter -- if

there's an encounter, they can be sent back across the border. that doesn't mean they're coming in. >> that is one and the same. >> you're saying people are being let into the country and allowed to stay. that's not necessarily what that number means. take it from senator langford. he's the one who tried to correct the record on that very point. he's the republican who negotiated this bill. my point was only separately, the lack of trust is one thing. but it's pretty clear that this bill had some really stringent border provisions. the main reason even mcconnell acknowledged was an unwillingness to do it in an election year when it seems that trump would be the nominee. so maybe it's about biden but it seems a lot of republicans have acknowledged, it is more about trump. >> i wouldn't dispute that. for many republicans, it is. if trump says that's north and that's south and go in that

direction. i would concede that. the only point i'm making in fairness to some house and senate members who had legitimate disagreement with the bill based on what heritage foundation, what those groups have that, whether it was from a standpoint of sanctuary cities or ngo funding or a threshold to certain trip wires being hit that they felt uncomfortable with. and i would give former members that pass in terms of belief. again, i take it back to one thing. there is a broken level of trust in believing that the biden administration will helpy implement the policy given our last three years of history. >> i would add one more thing that's broken, and that's congress. they have to pass laws. that's their job and they can't seem to do it. thank you very much.

>> yes, ma'am. by the way, who was that commentator who threatened james langford as he just revealed? he just revealed himself. that's ahead. plus, hours from now, the supreme court showdown. tell justices will hear the case about whether donald trump should be kicked off the ballot. and in georgia. tonight trump's lawyer accuses fani willis of racism and wants the judge to dismiss the case.

tonight it's the calm before court. tomorrow, donald trump's 14th amendment fight, a fight to stay on colorado's ballot goes on to the justices' docket. the "wall street journal" board has weigh in the on arguments. they write a rain in-0 decision would send a unified message to the country that colorado is wrong on the law. joining me now to discuss that, the justice correspondent and columnist for the nation magazine. he also hosts a new podcast. contempt of court. what do you think will happen tomorrow inside that court? the journal seems pretty confident that it will be essential dismissal of

colorado's case. >> what i think will happen, what i think should happen, are two different things. what i think will happen is the republican justices, all six of them, will defend their boy and keep trump on the ballot. but that's going to require them to abandon their own principles. if we think about what republicans say they care about. the original definition of the constitution. reading the texas it is written, and giving states the rights to determine their own ballot access and voter initiatives, right? on all three of those levels, the 14 amendment is clear, insurrectionists should not be allowed to run for office. the original meaning of the 14th amendment when it was written meant exactly that and colorado has determined in its own states rights court that trump is an insurrectionist, ineligible for the ballot. if the republicans were honest with their own philosophy, they will kick trump off the ballot. what we'll see tomorrow, ago when will happen tomorrow is a level of intellectual gymnastics

from the conservatives that i swear, simone biles will copy in paris this summer. that's how much twisting and turning they're going to have to do to keep trump on the ballot. >> so here's one option that is available to the court. they could altogether avoid this question of did trump engage in an insurrection. do you think they'll do that? >> again, they should. and this wasn't reported as much as i wish it had been. colorado had a trial. all right? it's not just some random person that said i think trump is an insurrectionist. colorado had a trial. there was evidence. there were witnesses. the colorado court determined that trump was an insurrectionist and all the colorado appellate court did was apply that trial court decision to colorado and federal law. so there's no reason for the court to overturn the finder of fact in our system, which is the

district trial court. but again, what they should do, and what they will do, are two different things. because the conservatives on the supreme court are now and have always been concerned about the political outcome of their decisions, as opposed to the law underpinning their decisions. so in this case, because their pet conservative philosophies do not get them the outcomes they desire, we will see them achew those principles to get the outcome they desire which is that trump stays on the ballot. >> so in another of the cases that trump is facing, his lawyers are arguing in georgia that the d.a. there prosecuting him acted improperly when she said this. listen. >> i hired one white man, brilliant, my friend, and i haired one black man, another

superstar, a great one. oh, lord, they're going to be call this. first thing they say. oh, she's going to play the race card now. but isn't it them playing the race card when they only question one? why is the white male republican's judgment good enough but the black female democrat, not? >> here's the argument that the trump lawyers are making. that she, quote, stoked racial animus. what do you make of that? >> the republicans are overplaying their hand. why agree with what willis is saying. the black man she had a relationship with and the white man she allegedly didn't have a relationship with. if they had a relationship with all of them, maybe we would have a different conversation. if they had a relationship with not no of them, we would have a

different conversation. republicans are overplaying their land to suggest that what that was was stoking racial animus or in some way, impinging her ability to prosecute the case. there is simply no evidence that fani willis paints white people or orange people or whatever we call the people standing trial in her court, and they have brought no evidence of that. they have quotes they don't like. so this is what is happening in the georgia case. republicans found something that they think fani willis did wrong, which in some ways i think she did wrong. and then they are overplaying that hand to try to get 19 people out of their charges in a case where people have already pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the voters of georgia. and that's the part that is ridic

ridiculous. >> i guess it is a situation that fani willis put herself in to some extent. great to have you on. and breaking news tonight. the u.s. says it has killed the terrorist who was responsible for the deaths of three american troops. there's new video of that strict. plus, families of hostages are livid after benjamin netanyahu rejects a cease-fire counter offer by hamas. i'll speak to a relative of one of those hostages about it, next.

tonight, the united states takes a terrorist allegedly responsible for the deaths of an american service member off the board. the pentagon confirmed that it tracked and targeted a hezbollah commander to baghdad. and the drone did the rest, hitting his suv. now cnn teams heard at least two loud explosions, back to back around 9:30 baghdad time. there are no indications of collateral damage or civilian

casualties. also tonight, dismissals, decisions and solution with potentially deadly consequences for those families caught in the middle of a mideast war. benjamin netanyahu is a hard no on a hamas counterproposal. it would have paused the bloody war that has been-on going for 45 days and guaranteed a gradual release of the hostages held by terrorists. netanyahu called it crazy after vowing complete victory not side of gaza. it is devastating news for dozens of families awaiting the return of their loved ones, and also, the millions of palestinians living under siege. joining me now, her brother is a hostage. i can only imagine that it is really difficult to hear that there will be no counter

proposal. one of the other families suggested that this might not end with the hostages coming home at all. do you feel that way? are you worried about that? >> on one hand, yes. it was a difficult day. and i think the press conference held by the prime minister, our prime minister, laid out clearly that the current counter proposal is not acceptable to israel. these were statements that were similar to what president biden said yesterday and secretary of state blinken said today. i take it also worth a grain of salt because we know there will be negotiations tarting torment in egypt. that israel will send representatives there. so my hope is what was said in a press conference will not translate to actual policies. and hopefully behind the scenes, israel continues to negotiate for the release.

>> do you think netanyahu and his government are doing enough to prioritize bringing back your family member? >> i think the government is not cohesive. there are members of the government who seem to oppose any proposal that is on the table. whether it is one proposed by israel and its allies or one that comes from hamas. i believe members of the war cabinet, they are pushing for a deal. the prime minister in meetings with families, and in other statements does say this is a primary objective, still a primary objective. i want to believe them, that this is what they're trying to do. tell win to push for our policy makers to do what they can to provide counterproposals on their own and understand that victory alone in the battlefield will not provide victory for our society.

it will be for israel because it will lead to a breakdown of the social contract that binds us together as citizens. >> that's such an interesting observation on your part. when netanyahu talks about absolute victory, do you feel like he really has a plan? and do you agree with whatever plan that might be? >> i'm not a policy maker or a military strategist. i'm not there at the decision-making table so i can't comment on what plans are being executed. i think, the rhetoric is directed to public, to actual policies and the implementation of the policies. i think israel has a right to defend itself. the citizens who were savagely attacked and attacked by there organization since its foundations because its goals are destruction. at the same time, they need to

prioritize what can be done in the short term and the long-term plan. and we need to remember any actions on the battlefield, they argue that military action is an extension of politics. of diplomacy. so that might need to be part of the equation. >> what would you say to your brother and all those is the nil gaza? >> i want to stress that we do meet them on a regular basis so we can tell them what we feel. provide criticism. provide our demands as well. we do it with other ministers and we do it with policy makers all around the world. i did it here in the u.s. my other members of the family, they are traveling in europe. what we say is that irrespective of the long-term goal with hamas, you need to understand

prices will need to be paid for the failure of october 7th, civilians who were abducted from their home. the failure to bring them home early enough because they're going through torture, abuse, violence, deprivation of food, water, sanitation. so that's what we share with them. and other members of the cabinet know everything. from what i can see, we see that they understand our pain and they're empathetic but we need to see results sooner than later. my brother-in-law doesn't have time. time is of the essence for them. every second in captivity is an eternity. >> i hear your frustration and that i know anyone listen kg hear that, too. thank you for joining us tonight. we certainly hope that your brother-in-law is brought back safely. >> thank you. just in, president biden is

making it clear who he believes this election is really about. >> plus, why is he refusing to do a super bowl interview? i'll speak with his campaign about both topics, coming up next.

great party, carlene. you must have blown your budget. not exactly. you have great wine, name brand snacks, tons of meat. and where did you get this imported cheese? hello? grocery outlet bargain market getting ready to watch your team play the big game?

or still sad they didn't make it? either way, scan to save big. . tonight, new and scathing comments behind closed doors give a look through the glass at the biden campaign's strategy to win in november. keep donald trump's flame in his mouth. now, biden ticked through a check list of trump comments at a new york fundraise order mass shootings on immigration, he challenged all republicans to show some spine and decide to serve the country, not their maga master. and i'm joined now by michael

tyler, the communications director for president biden's re-election campaign. thank you for joining the show tonight. the primary results from last night confirm a decisive victory for president biden. we should note, technically, he is not actually running unopposed in this race. i wonder, does the campaign, do you think the candidates like dean phillips are hurting the president with his constant attacks, and by virtual of that, the democratic party? >> well, listen, this campaign is focused on the general election and taking on donald trump at this stage in the race. nevada is an indicator of the president's strength right now. it builds upon the enthusiasm that we saw in states like new hampshire with the grassroots write-in effort. in south carolina, black voters tuned out to the tune of 96%. you get to nevada and you continue to see that growth. >> i want to play what president biden said this week about the

border deal that basically is now dead in the congress. listen. >> i'll be taking the issue to the country. the voters long that just at the moment we'll secure the border and fund these other programs. trump and the maga republicans said no. they're afraid of donald trump. >> this is true in a certain sense that trump opposed the bill. a lot of republicans opposed it. it is true that a lot of democrats opposed it, too, including some that i've spoken to. isn't that part of the reason why this is not happening? pressure from the right and the left? this is not happening for one reason and one reason alone. donald trump closhose to blow u the process. biden said deliver me a bill that helps fix our broken

system. that's what the senate did in a bipartisan manner. then enter donald trump. he blows it up because he's not actually interested in securing the border. he doesn't care about solving it. he only cares about serving itself. he's talking about erecting camps and ending birthing rights. >> how is president biden going to simply just run on what trump might do when the border really is a need for actual intervention right now? is he not going to have to show that he has done something the deal with what is in fact a crisis at the border? now a crisis in a bunch of cities inside the united states? >> he will continue to present solutions, right? >> but he doesn't plan to actually do anything differently as president? he's just going to call for

solutions? >> the president is doing everything he can to solve this on his own. what we need is legislation, federal legislation through congress to act. the reason that is not happening is donald trump is trying the blow up the process. he thinks it help him politically. clearly donald trump is standing in the way right now. >> in new york there will be a special election that will be held in the coming days to replace embattled congressman george santos. that candidate in the race told manu raju that he does not want president biden to come to his district. he said it won't be helpful. it is just as unhelpful as it is for the republicans. what is your reaction to that? >> my reaction is every time that joe biden and joe biden's vision has been on the ballot in 2020, 2022, just last fall in 2023, it has won.

so the choice for the american people is exactly the same. joe biden who wakes up every single day fighting for the american people and donald trump and his maga extremism only concerned about one thing. they don't care about how much damage they cause as long it is a serves donald trump and list own personal interests. so that's their choice. >> in a nut choice, you're saying the candidate there is wrong? >> i'm saying when it come to the 2024 election, it is between joe biden and donald trump. we are confident when we present that choice to the american people, they'll side with joe biden. >> before you go, i want to ask but the super bowl. the president is passing up an opportunity to reach what could be more than 100 million viewers during the super bowl itself. maybe 10 million or so.

why would he pass the opportunity to speak directly to the american people when all of those eyeballs are turned into one big event? >> i think the american people when they tune in, they're tuning in to watch the niners take on the chiefs. they're not tuning in to watch politics. >> they have for a lot of other presidents. president obama, even president trump did those interviews because it was a major opportunity. here's what former obama adviser david axelrod said when i asked him this week. >> i don't know why they didn't accept it but it plays into trump's hands. because his case is that somehow biden is overmatched, that he is not in command. and this just goes to the narrative. >> is david axelrod wrong about that? >> we won't win or lose by chasing shiny objects in 2024. pregame interviews during the

super bowl when nobody is watching flag to watch politics. we'll win the election by taking it directly to the voters who will decide the election. we're confident that we have the candidate with the vision, the message, and the accomplishments who will continue to make the case directly until november. >> all right. i have a feeling we'll see a lot more of that in the coming months. >> thank you. it was a moment that played out on live tv. the new york city vigilante group talking about migrant crime and then tackling a man they called a shoplifting migrant. there is only one problem. he was not a shoplifter. nor was he a migrant.

it was supposed to be a made for tv moment. is that a, fox news interviewed they had at the new york city based vigilante group for targeting migrants. they were the discussing migrants in your city, when something like this happened. >> guys, we just took down on a the migrant guys on the corner of 42nd and seventh. >> can you panda camera? >> they've taken over, they've taken over. >> yeah -- >> you got your key open, guys.

>> it's out of control, out of control. >> later, he was brought back for an update. >> he had been shop lifting first. a guardian angel stopped him, he resisted, and let me say, we gave him pain compliance's mother back in venezuela suffered the consequences. his face was in the concrete -- >> according to the new york city police department, none of that is true. a senior reporter at cnn oliver darcy is here to tell us what actually happened there. oliver, fox news a very willingly stepped into the setup. >> i think this is representative of how the fox news universe, really, the right-wing media universe at

large operates. they high basin, rate right. hours later, the story falls apart. in this case, there is no migrant. according to the new york state police department. there was no shoplifting, according to the police department. this guy was a differing in the camera shot, and there was an altercation before this happened, again, before the police department. the story falls apart, and then they move on. like it never happened. fox news was hyping the reporting on the front page of their website. the story gets quietly edited. they don't get a correction on it. he does not mention that the entire episode goes viral on his show was built on a lie. he just moves on and he is going back to more anti immigrant rhetoric, to say difference. tory >> it's pretty remarkable that this random person caught up. earlier today, we should a video of senator -- talking about the conservative commentator directing him before working on the border

deal. now we know who that person is, who is it? >> it's a right-wing radio host. the name does not even matter. the two important points to make here, one, it shows that there were a lot of republicans and maga media allies of donald trump did not want the vote to pass. they did not care what was in it. they said the vet came before they had any details. that is number one. number two, i think it shows how powerful these right-wing media figures are. people might wonder, why do we talk about these people? it's because they are in the driver seat at the republican party. they hold the keys to the car. it's not mitch mcconnell, mike johnson, they're in the backseat. they hope it does not crash. these guys are the ones dictating where the republican party goes. if you want to understand why donald trump has a firm grip on the republican party, why so much of the republican party believes these lies about the election, and so many other things, you need to understand the heavily polluted information environment in which they are getting their news, and that is coming from

people like jesse kelly, coming from like sean hannity who saw there, and i explains why the republican party is where it is right. now >> it used to be the power of lawmakers and special interest groups. it's just people -- a podcaster reddish no, what have you. oliver darcy, great to see you, thank you for staying up late for us tonight. >> thank you for staying up late with us and watching. you can watch me and laura coates tomorrow night at ten pm for a special coverage of trump's ballot battle at the supreme court and also the republican caucus. is sick around, laura coates live starts next.

great party, carlene. you must have blown your budget. not exactly. you have great wine, name brand snacks, tons of meat. and where did you get this imported cheese? hello? grocery outlet bargain market getting ready to watch your team play the big game? or still sad they didn't make it?

either way, scan to save big.