their love story is great. >> i love it. yeah, i don't have a problem with it. i feel like it's all part of the game and it's all the game that we play and a guy starts dating a girl who happens to be the biggest star in the world and he's a bad ass o.b. on the field, part of a story, but at the end of the day i've shared this with a few people i've talked to privately, is just all that goes away, you play the game so you know at this level, all that stuff goes away. you have to strip it all away and you have one intention and one focus and that's just to ball out and play the game. >> man, that's one good looking bald dude, isn't it, casey? >> two. two. >> we will see how this all plays out. thank you very much. thank you, kasie. >> that was some great tele television, coy. a great way to finish out the week. have a great weekend at the super bowl, don't bet too much

money on an on field proposal between travis and chelsea -- kelce, taylor. thanks to all of you for joining us, i'm kasie hunt, have a wonderful weekend. "cnn this morning" starts right now. good morning, everyone, it's friday and we're so glad you are with us. president biden defiant after a special counsel report questioned his memory and mental acuity the president insisting his mind is fine and he is still the most qualified person in america to be president but did did that news conference backfire? the president sharpening his criticism of israel calling the conduct in gaza over the top. and the supreme court appears to be leaning in favor of trump and his bid to be on the colorado ballot. "cnn this morning" starts right now.

donald trump just had his best day of 2024 as president biden grapples with new and embarrassing questions about his mental fitness, a special counsel exonerating biden for his handling of classified documents but in the report dealing potentially a huge political gift for trump. in it the special counsel claimed biden couldn't remember what years he was vice president or when his son beau died. >> now, it describes the president as sympathetic, elderly and a man with poor memory who would be impossible to convict. biden furious and firing back in an emotional hastily called press conference at the white house. the attempt at damage control could have backfired when i mixed up egypt with mexico. trump notching another victory in nevada. it's looking like he might secure a big win with the supreme court with that ballot with california throwing him off the ballot. we start off with mj lee live for us at the white house.

mj, you were inside the room with the president last night. what was your sense of things? >> reporter: you know, phil, there had been this special counsel investigation hanging over the white house for well over a year now and there's this quiet expectation and this hope that it would come out really sooner rather than later, biden advisers always expected whenever it did come out that it would be used as political ammunition and president biden himself in this pretty extraordinary press conference making clear how much and how vehemently he pushes back on so much of this report. >> how in the hell dare he raise that? >> reporter: a fiery president biden flashing anger and frustration after an explosive investigation into his handling of classified documents was finally made public. >> i've seen the headlines, since the report was released, about my willful retention of documents. this assertion is not only misleading, they're just plain wrong. >> reporter: just hours after special counsel robert hur released the findings of his

15-month investigation, the white house hastily adding presidential remarks from the white house tuesday night. biden taking issue with not only the media's coverage of the report, which concluded no criminal charges would be brought -- >> i was pleased to see he reached a firm conclusion that no charges should be brought against me in this case. >> reporter: but also bristling at the many allegations in the report of biden struggling with memory problems. the special counsel writing that biden would likely present himself to the jury as a sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory. >> i am well-meaning and i'm an elderly man and i know what the hell i'm doing. >> how bad is your memory and can you continue as president? >> my memory is so bad i let you speak. >> reporter: but in that same setting biden mixing up the president of egypt with a different world leader as he discussed the situation in gaza. >> the president of mexico, el sisi, did not want to open up

the gate to allow humanitarian material to get in. >> reporter: critics of the president quickly seizing on the unflattering descriptions of biden in the report, but the president trying to swat away broader questions about voters' concerns about his age and mental fitness. >> mr. president, for months when you were asked about your age you would respond with the words "watch me." >> watch me. >> many american people have been watching and they have expressed concerns about your age -- >> that is your judge. that is your judge. >> the publish -- >> that is not the judgment of the press. >> they expressed concerns about your mental acuity, they say that you are too old. mr. president, in december you told me that you believed there are many other democrats who could defeat donald trump so why does it have to be you now? what is your answer to that question? >> because i'm the most qualified person in this country to be president of the united states and finish the job i started. >> reporter: one line of questioning in particular from special counsel hur deeply angering the president. >> there's even reference that i don't remember when my son died.

how in the hell dare he raise that. frankly, when i was asked the question i thought to myself it wasn't any of their damn business. let me tell you something, i don't need anyone -- i don't need anyone to remind me of when he passed away. >> reporter: and we heard from the president last night and expect to continue hearing from the white house about the distinctions that robert hur made between his handling of classified documents and how donald trump has handled those issues including consenting to multiple searches, quickly turning over the documents, sitting down for a multihour interview, but when he was asked whether he would have done anything differently, this is what the president said, he said he takes responsibility for not having seen exactly what my staff was doing. in other words, he says he wishes that he had overseen all of the transfer of these documents himself. phil and poppy. >> mj lee, not only great

reporting but such important questions you posed to the president yesterday. thank you very much for that. >> joining us to discuss all of they are roll lewis, former republican strategist lee carter, john avalon and former federal prosecutor jeffrey toobin. errol, what you heard from the president at the end of that piece was real, that was not a manufactured fury, my understanding according to people who were in the room behind closed doors at the house, democratic caucus a few hours prior he had been for profane and saying the exact same thing. he was mad. did he help or hurt himself at the press conference last night? >> it will vary from viewer to viewer, i thought it was good for him to show who he is. this was not handlers, this was not pollsters, this was joe biden, you know, sort of letting everybody know kind of where he's coming from and how he feels. i think that makes him seem for youthful, more engaged, more human, more relatable. there are pollsters who will tell you differently, it will play differently when you get it looped into a campaign ad, but i think it can only help to have

him do what i think a lot of us all know which is that, yes, this is somebody we haven't seen before, a president who is up in age, and that means there are going to be verbal flubs, there are going to be questions that are raised. how he responds needs to be how he wants to respond, not what pollsters think, not what some ad down the road is going to try to portray, but who he is and what he's doing. i think authenticity wins out over a lot of different problems in this case. >> i think there's a lot to that. i think in politics and in life the best defense is a good offense and you get ahead of the story, you don't just let the narrative be. that's going to create some inn forced errors, he is a man of a certain age and time moves in one direction and so that's something he is going to have to deal with. to assuage fears you can't hide him, he needs to you can at that to the american people directly and take questions. i think that's the right thing and ultimately the smart thing to do. >> as a prosecutor did robert hur and his team cross the line here? the white house case is you already explicitly laid out why

you're not going to prosecute biden. it is unnecessary and over the top to list out all these things why you think a jury would be sympathetic to him. >> well, part of that report was an outrage, was a disgrace, i mean, the idea that he would make such a big point of biden being elderly is not something a prosecutor needed to do. that report didn't have to be 300 pages. i mean, that report showed that merrick garland, again, made the classic democratic mistake which is i know, i will appoint a republican, a republican partisan, to investigate and that will give us credibility. no, it never works. james comey trashed hillary clinton in very similar way when he said we're not going to pursue charges, he then trashed her. what hur did was exactly the same thing. he exonerated him, but with the other hand raised these really

unnecessary points. >> that's what i'm wondering. unnecessary, you would never need to put that to help justify why you're not going to bring a case. >> the issue in this investigation was criminal intent. that's the difference between the trump case and the biden case, but when biden's people discovered classified information in the -- one of the offices, they called in the archives, they cooperated with the fbi and they told the truth. donald trump lied and obstructed at least according to the indictment, extravagantly, endlessly. that's what a prosecutor should be talking about, not -- not biden's elderly qualities. >> and i do think that's what's going to be lost in all of this because at the end of the day what's happened is there's a narrative that's been reinforced. the narrative out there eight in ten americans believe that joe biden has mental -- mental fitness issues in running for president, including five in ten democrats. so when you have that kind of a

narrative that exists people are only going to take away that he's elderly and has -- they have questions about his mental fitness. they are not going to talk about criminal intent. and then the other challenge that we have here is that 79% of americans say that there's a two tiered system of justice so without the -- without people coming away saying this is about criminal intent and saying this is about age, that's going to be reinforced an will give more steam to the trump opposition. >> yeah, i think you're right, that's already hearing a talking point for republicans. it's important to understand and underscore there is not a two-tiered system of justice. the justice department and special counsel on a sitting president appointed a republican in an attempt to appear to unbiased which it seems to be itself a partisan thing. it is not true that there is a two-tiered system of justice. so i don't think we want to treat the perception as sacrosanct we want to address it with facts. >> they are also prosecuting the

president's son currently. the justice department in the polling i think it's important what you point out because there is a perception in some within the administration, seems the president had some last night, this is a media mob thing. you talk to voters, they ask about this. people find out i covered the white house they ask about this. >> right. >> given that's the baseline and this just happened, how do you turn that around for them? >> i wish i had a clear answer. a lot of people are saying that the answer is let's just let him be out there more so people can make the judgment for themselves. in some ways what he did was really smart, he needed to get out there and show his emotion and vim and vigor but he couldn't afford to make any mistakes. now what's going to be replayed in everybody's mind from yesterday, is it going to be the feisty joe biden who said, you know, to peter doocy i shouldn't be talking to you or is it going to be the mistake that he made confusing egypt with mexico? i fear for him that the answer is going to be that what people will take away is the gaffe

rather than the vim and the vigor that he displayed. it's a tough call because i think the only way that he counteracts this whole thing is that people see him more and they've been seeing him less. >> i mean, the whole thing with the gaffe is that it has to confirm what people suspected in a way that is substantive and meaningful. so it's not great that he said mexico instead of egypt, but i think we all -- >> do you think? are you going out on a limb there, errol. >> seriously, what substantive harm to foreign policy springs from that. >> that's a great point. >> oh, come on. it's a big mistake. >> i think errol is making a big point, it's the difference between a slip and a mistake and mistakes have consequences. >> it's not the first. >> it's not great. >> it's not the first. >> gerald ford going way back in a presidential debate saying that poland is not being influenced by the soviet union. that's a problem because that's a substantive problem. >> then he actually turned out to be right because that's what solidarity and --

>> come on. come on toobin. >> now we're going towards the direction -- >> i think we need to talk about poland in the 1980ss. i'm sorry. >> that was the second topic on the panel. a lot more to get to. worth noting donald trump said victor or band is the leader of turkey last night. also last night another victory for donald trump in a race decide before a single vote was cast. the former president winning nevada's caucuses last night. nikki haley chose not to be on the ballot. haley did appear on tuesday's primary ballot, she lost to the option "none of these candidates." the u.s. virgin islands also held caucuses last night. trump trouncing haley there by a three to one margin for the territories for delegates. making it an even better day for the former president the supreme court appears to be leaning trump's way in his fight to stay on the colorado ballot. we'll talk about really a historic hearing it was. and former fox news host

tucker carlson granted a one on one interview with vladimir putin. what the russian leader said about ukraine and jailed u.s. journalist evan gershkovich next.

and former fox news host

our supreme court hopefully

will be doing something in terms of helping our country and preserving democracy. we have to preserve our democracy. and i think they had a very -- very interesting day and a very beautiful day perhaps. i think it was really a very beautiful sight to watch. >> that is donald trump speaking in las vegas overnight after winning the caucus in nevada. he is talking about the supreme court's oral argument yesterday about whether he should remain or be kicked off the ballot in colorado. this case centers on whether trump's role in the events of the january 6th insurrection disqualify him for running for office again or holding office under the 14th amendment insurrectionist ban. >> the supreme court justices appear poised to side with the former president. >> this question of whether a former president is disqualified for insurrection to be president again is -- just say it, it sound awfully national to me. >> the thing that really is troubling to me is i totally understand your argument, but they were listing people that

were barred and president president is not list. >> our great panel having solved poland's history is back with us now. jeff, i want to start with you. there seemed to be a fairly unanimous opinion outside of the court that the arguments did not go well for colorado, did go well for trump. do you believe that's the case and if so why? >> 100% i agree with the case. in fact, i have rarely seen a contested case where the political breakdown did not -- was not reflective in the oral argument. this was close to unanimous. justice sotomayor, a little harder to read, but the other eight, every argument that was put out in favor of the disqualifying the trump candidacy, you know, went nowhere. was he -- was he covered by section 3 of the 14th amendment? did colorado have the right to

do this? is the process that they followed correct? all of those arguments seemed to go in the direction of letting trump stay on the ballot. from painful experience i don't usually like to predict the outcome of supreme court cases based on oral argument. i'm going to make an exception and say this was a slam dunk victory in the offing for the trump campaign. >> look, due respect, i think obviously trump's team did have a better day of it, but i was troubled by some if i think so. first of all, this is a national issue it's not a state issue. when justice brown jackson said there's a question whether it's covered under the officers of the court, that's a knowable thing if you look at the debate over the ratification. one senator asked another senator in the record does this cover the president and he said yes of course it does that's why it's any office. there are some things that are knowable that should have been and presumably were part of the

brief. i think politically and as a practical matter the justices were looking for bipartisanship and probably an off-ramp but they can't just shut the door on what the constitution says. >> this was, errol, the most significant case the supreme court weighed in on in terms of the presidency since bush v. gore. it sounds like they're going to decide we are not going to determine the presidency here. >> that's right. >> what i found robert's questioning on the 14th amendment and states rights really, really interesting and what he wants here is unanimity for the reasons that he has always wanted people to perceive this court as not political. i wonder how important you think that is here for democracy. >> it was extremely important. i mean, there should be some clarity around this. the main thing that the court can give us on this is some clarity. i thought what they kept come bag k to whether or not this is self-executing, do we need an actual law and procedures to bring this to life, not to say that this section is null and void or not relevant, but you've

got to have a procedure, like, when and how do you get declared an insurrectionist, when and how do you get a chance to maybe rebut that if you think you weren't an insurrectionist. they raise good and important questions. then the practical side of it, which reminds me of bush versus dpoer, they were openly asking are we going to let 50 states determine on their own who can and can't appear on a national ballot. the answer is of course you can't. >> this case was interesting. it's not as important adds the immunity case that is coming down the pike. the only states that were going to throw trump off the ballot he wasn't going to win anyway. >> maine. >> maine, colorado, perhaps other blue states. however, the issue in the case that was just decided by the d.c. circuit is can donald trump be tried before the election in the january 6th federal case in washington? that's the case that could put donald trump in jail for years and that case either will or will not go to trial based on

what the supreme court does perhaps as early as next week on issuing a stay. >> if they take it. >> if they take it. and that is more important frankly in the outcome of this election than whatever they did yesterday. >> i think it's really significant in this moment, now, that this is happening because you've got trump now saying this is a beautiful hearing, this is a beautiful thing that's happening in the supreme court. now, let's just think for a minute. this is somebody who said there's a two-tiered system of justice, we can't trust the legal system and now he's saying i trust the supreme court completely, this is amazing. well, 42% of americans don't trust the supreme court. i think this is really, really significant because coming out of this i think republicans will maybe start to have some faith in the system. >> wait. do you think if the court rules against donald trump he's going to not change his mind and say the court is terrible? >> he will completely -- no, but i think once he -- then we're going to talk about immunity and when he loses that case then

it's going to be terrible again, but i think what's significant is you can't -- americans have been hearing about donald trump and not from donald trump for the last couple of years. he's sort of been underground, we've all been talking about him and we haven't heard from him directly. now we're starting to hear from him directly and we will see and hear these inconsistencies and i think that's going to be really important. right now he's saying it's beautiful when it's in his self-interest, in two weeks he is going to be saying how horrible it is again. it's important we see these -- >> and also the way donald trump talks about the importance of defending democracy know that he has lied based on his record. >> stay with us, everyone. i really want to know if the supreme court is going to take the immunity case. we will know pretty soon. >> we will know -- also new this morning indictments after that attack on nypd officers outside a migrant shelter. new body cam footage shows how authorities tracked down the suspects. also tornadoes hitting the midwest, wisconsin saw its first

ever february twister. more on that ahead.

new this morning prosecutors in new york releasing body cam footage of nypd officers being attacked last month outside a migrant shelter near times square. the video you're watching shows the officers' perspective as police ask a group of men to clear the area. overhead surveillance video

provides a clearer picture one of the men resisting arrest which led to a scuffle between the man and police and seven men total have been indicted on assault charges. it's not clear how many are migrants. really severe weather, thunderstorms across the upper midwest dropping at least two reported tornadoes in illinois, another one was seen in wisconsin. it's the first time a february tornado has ever been reported in that state. watch this. >> then the tornado hit and everything exploded. the windows blew out, the down stairs, it was rumbling like a train. >> large hail, high winds, also downed trees and damaged multiple homes and businesses across the region. meteorologist derek van dam has been tracking all of it. we're seeing all of these firsts as weird things are happening too here. it's got to be 60 degrees tomorrow in new york city in february. >> yes. well above average. we need to mark that that this is the first february tornado in wisconsin. that is significant, right?

three tornadoes overall across the midwest yesterday. you saw one of them in southern wisconsin just really impressive, impressive sight for this time of year. now, what do we need for tornadoes in the middle of february? you need warmth and a very moisture laden air mass and that is what we have. 150 potential warm temperature records from the midwest all the way to northern new england through the end of the weekend. this was part of a larger trend. look at this map, every single red dot you see here across the midwest and into new england are locations that have had their warmest winter to date and that is very significant, especially considering that that warmth is centered across the great lakes. we did the numbers, we've calculated that we've had near record ice cover across the great lakes sitting at 5% we should normally have about 37% of the great lakes covered in ice right now, only saginaw bay and the green bay region. this has major implications on let's say the fishing industry, for instance, the economy of the

great lakes and it's part of a wider trend of declining ice pack across the great lakes since records began in the middle of the '70s. so see this warmth, it will shift to the east coast and this is kind of the fingerprints of climate change written across this story. phil, poppy. >> we see it every day. derek van dam, thank you. tucker carlson's interview with vladimir putin, we have reaction from ukraine straight ahead. and what donald trump's potential vp pick says what she would have done if she was in mike pence's shoes on january 6th. stay with us.

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welcome back. russian president vladimir putin getting a platform from former fox host tucker carlson in moscow, sitting down for a two-hour interview. at one point putin suggests that the u.s. should negotiate with russia over this whole war in ukraine. listen to this. >> translator: wouldn't it be bet tore negotiate with russia, make an agreement, already understanding the situation that is developing today, realizing that russia will fight for its interest to the end. and realizing this actually return to common sense, start respecting our country and its interests and look for certain solutions. it seems to me that this is much smarter and more rational. >> joining us now sara fischer and fred pleitgen who is in ukraine. fred, i want to start with you. for two years western media

outlets including cnn have been asking for sit-down interviews with president putin. when you watch this why do you think putin and his team agreed to it? >> reporter: well, i think they agreed to it because they thought it would be beneficial for them. that's something that the kremlin did say before this interview took place. they say they feel there is no benefit for them for communicating as they put it with as they call us traditional western media. they say they believe that western media is biased against russia. some of the reactions we've been getting this morning from the kremlin they seem pretty pleased with what happened there in that interview, what transpired in that interview. they say, the spokesman for the kremlin, they believe this interview will be studied in the future, they say other media outlets are jealous of this interview. there's been reaction from the ukrainians, they say this is little more than a justification attempt as one presidential adviser put it of the genocide against ukrainians, he said. it was quite interesting because i've been communicating with a journalist that i know inside

russia and he referred to tucker carlson as vladimir putin's microphone stand and essentially said this was little more than a mono slowing by vladimir putin. we did have long phases of vladimir putin essentially trying to give a lesson in history in the whole thing. one one of the interesting things that we picked up on is when he said he hadn't actually spoken to president biden his russia's invasion of ukraine for the full on invasion of ukraine took place and said he believed president biden's support for ukraine was a catastrophic mistake as president putin put it. >> it was important, sara, for vladimir putin to be asked about detained "wall street journal" reporter evan gershkovich. tucker asked him about that and if he would allow him to be released and come home to the united states. putin said no and then he said this. >> translator: we are willing to -- but there are certain terms being discussed by a special services channels. i believe an agreement can be

reached. >> what is your reporting this morning on evan as all of us think about him, as his family awaits and waits for him to come home? >> you can't trust those words, poppy. i mean, the whole game for the past year as they've been wrongfully detaining evan gershkovich is that they've been op opaque, they will say one thing and will negotiate in another way. there is no progress at this point. for vladimir putin to come out and sort of suggest that in this tucker carlson interview seems as a way to dodge the one hard question in that interview. i'm at a journalism conference right now in charleston, south carolina, and the person managing the release for evan gershkovich, paul beckett on behalf of the "wall street journal" made this point directly yesterday which is that you cannot trust anything that the russian government is saying in regards to this release because the opaqueness is part of the strategy, the misleading words is part of the strategy and for tucker carlson, by the way, to be the one western journalist to get this type of

access to vladimir putin suggests that putin knows this is going to be an interview where he can manipulate the moderator. this was a huge fail on behalf of american journalism, it was a platform for putin and it's disappointing for everybody that cares about evan's safety. >> fred, another -- since you are in ukraine i definitely want to ask you. you've been reporting, you and the team have been reporting for several weeks it was likely there was going to be a switch at the top of the ukrainian armed forces, the commander in chief was replaced as you've been reporting was going to happen. yesterday russia is responding to that. what's happening on the ground there? >> reporter: yeah, you're absolutely right that commanding general was released. this was something that happened late last night which certainly to us seemed like a coordinated move that had been placed. they said this was part of a larger shakeup. they want to switch things around in their military because they understand on the ground things are very difficult for them. one of the interesting things that zelenskyy said is that the counteroffensive as he put it

had not achieved the things that ukraine wants it to achieve and also in light of the fact that, for instance, military aid from the united states is quite uncertain at this point in time, they believe that they need to switch to what they call new technologies like, for instance, unmanned systems and they believe that a new person on the top there was will have to implement that. that new person has so far been the commander of the land source forces, the ground army of ukraine, very successful in the offensive in kyiv, less successful eastly in the east of the country where ukraine's forces have been bogged down. that's one of the main tease from the ukrainians, they've understood they can't get into a slugfest, a fighting match with the russians, they need to try to be more agile. >> fred pleitgen and share ration thank you so much. president biden calling israel's military conduct in gaza over the top. the significance, real significance, of these words,

that's next. also right now a manhunt is under way in tennessee after a deputy was killed, another injured. what we know ahead.

some stunning -- maybe not stunning, maybe just candid comments from one of the favorites to become donald trump's vice presidential pick.

kaitlan collins spoke with elise stefanik last night and asked her what she would do if she were in mike pence's shoes on of the day of the insurrection. >> had you be vice president on january 6, 2021 what would you have done. >> i would have stood up for the constitution. >> what would you have done if you were the vice president. >> i would not have done what mike pence did. i specifically stand by what i said on the house floor and i stand by my statement -- >> so you would have rejected the reach. >> there was unconstitutional overreach in states like pennsylvania and i think it's very important that we continue to stand up for the constitution and have legal and secure elections which we did not have in 2020. the tens of millions of americans agree with me. >> back with us to discuss are john avalon, errol louis and lee carter. there's a reasons tens of millions of americans agree with her and i would note that the pence team did a significant amount of legal analysis and research before making the decision of what authority he did or did not have before he

acted. john avalon, when you heard that what did you think? >> i think it is -- it is the triumph of ambition over integrity. i think she is trying to clearly curry favor with an audience of one and she is doing -- she's desecrating the idea of defending the constitution. let's be very clear. she did not stand up for the constitution when she voted to overturn the election after the attack on the capitol. that was about kowtowing to donald trump for political favor out of fear of the very base that just attacked the capitol. so when donald trump says it's important we stand up to defend the integrity of our elections or defend our democracy, that's bizarro world that means the opposite of what he's saying and that's what elise stefanik said to catalin collins. it's sinister that all the people in the veep stakes are saying they would have overturned the election if they were mike pence as a qualification test.

>> there is no reason why she had to answer it that way. i accept exactly what you're saying in order to, you know -- the former president puts loyalty above all else and so i think that was a message to him. i don't think -- and i really don't think that it helps her at all. i mean, with a base, with anybody else, she didn't have to say it. i think a lot of folks at the time respected mike pence for what he did and i think it was -- i think it was completely unnecessary. >> among other things it's at odds with the statement that she released on january 6th when it happened after she was cowering in fear like many of the other people. >> she scrubbed it from her website. someone sort of tried to bring up, hey, this is what you said on that day and what she had said was that it was a criminal act, that people should be prosecuted and people should be held accountable. she has since scrubbed that from her website. >> a note of why it's so important what she said to kaitlan and kaitlan prefaced this with you're reported to be on the short list for trump's vp. it matters what she says, particularly to that answer. >> it matters a lot because if

people don't believe in the integrity of our democracy, we've got nothing. and i know that donald trump has been out there talking about this, but that should not be the centerpiece of what we're talking about, that shouldn't be the criteria for which we're pick ago vice president. it's absolutely -- i find it -- i find it extremely dangerous. >> it is dangerous. i mean, look, the fact that donald trump's election lies have become the litmus test for the republican party is sinister and absurd and we shouldn't get numb to it. we shouldn't get numb to the fact that the hyper partisanship and polarization has gotten so bad that people who want to rise in their party feel that they need to embrace a lie and a fiction. >> i want to talk about biden and the change in words that he used when talking about israel in gaza. listen to the president last night. >> the conduct of the response

in gaza -- in the gaza strip has been over the top. there are a lot of innocent people who are starving, a lot of innocent people who are in trouble and dying and it's got to stop. >> errol. >> yeah, i mean, that's him talking both domestic and international politics. he's saying now publicly what we knew they were saying privately, which is that they were trying to sort of put some limits and some guardrails on israel's actions in gaza. now he's saying it publicly in part because he understands that in the democratic base there's been a lot of protests, there's been a lot of discouraging signs that people are either going to stay home, including in key states like michigan or they're going to actually vote against him. this is somebody who is trying to stop a regional conflict from spinning out of control as well as preserve his chances for getting reelected. >> to me it's damage control. i mean, i think it's -- he took a stand and now he's sort of going backwards.

when you look at some of the polling i think in particular the one if i were him i would be most concerned about is that 18 to 29-year-old lack of support he's gotten since his position on israel. he has lost -- erdogan that demographic by 20 points in 2020 and now he's behind by 17 points, just over this issue alone. we've seen how many protesters he has had at his different events just on this issue and i think he's trying to do damage control. i think the authenticity of it will be under question, i'm not sure it's going to help him. >> the fascinating thing is for all the heat and light on that press conference last night that was the one moment when i went, oh, wow, that is a big deal what he just said. errol louis, lee carter, thank you. john avalon, man, why did we let this happen? >> love you guys. >> because he has important things to continue to do. john, today is injure last day. >> yeah. >> officially at cnn but you will be back on the air with us. >> i'm sure i will. i hope so. >> you're such a joy, not only

do you make history fun. >> i try. >> -- for us, i learn from you every day and you are just such a good human. and that's what matters. >> i'm mostly partial to your wife, because she's fantastic and you draft off her much like i do mine, but you have been -- i told you this last night, you've been awesome to work with, in my six months up here in-person, i know we knew each other prior, but your energy for -- and your intellectual curiosity for every single day gets me going in the morning and i appreciate that because it's very early in the morning. >> it is early and i have loved being with you and this extraordinary team and the extraordinary crew for so long for so many years. it's not a chore to get up this early, it's a joy because of the camaraderie and the community and the important work that you all and cnn does every day. so it's been an honor and here is to a new chapter and a new adventure, but it's been an honor. >> thanks, guys. super bowl sunday just two days away not that we're

counting down or anything. ahead a preview of the big game in las vegas and taylor swift mania taking over the city. after he spent time with his father just diagnosed with cancer prince harry made a surprise appearance at the nfl honors awards show. >> good evening, nfl. it's an honor to be with you all tonight. i really love -- i really love how you stole rugby from us and you made it your own instead of passing it backwards just pass is forwards.

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a little more than two days to go until super bowl sunday. coy wire live in las vegas with more on the big game or is it the swift mania surrounding it? coy, good morning. >> that's right. hi, poppy. good morning. i covered about a dozen super bowls i have never seen so much focus, so many questions about something going on outside the lines. the most watched television program in america has more hype and intensity as the sports and entertainment worlds collide. >> shout out to the newest members of the chiefs kingdom, taylor swift, who has officially reached the super bowl this her rookie year. >> shout out to tay. >> thanks for joining the team. >> reporter: the nfl and loads of fans are embracing this romance. one thing you can bet on is that taylor swift is good for

business. nfl viewership hitting all time highs this post season. >> she's rewriting the history books herself. i told her i will have to hold up my end of the bargain and come home with hardware, too. >> if you're screaming at taylor swift saying she ruined it you are just a loser. >> why is everybody so mad about it? >> this anger, this says nothing about taylor swift, it says everything about the men bothered by it. >> it's pretty clear that this has all been quite divisive, some supporting tay tay, but others -- ♪ baby now we have bad blood ♪ >> we are boycotting any t. swift songs. i have in on my running play list. but my oldest son max and i are big swifties, nope, she's dead to us this week. >> listen to this, taylor's favorite number is 13. >> this is my 13th grammy. which is my lucky number, i don't know if i've ever told you that. >> this is super bowl lviii, 5

plus 8 is 13, the game is playing played on 2/11, 2 plus 11, 13, seriously, though, this will be taylor's 13th game this season leaving some conspiracy theorists to think the nfl is scripted. >> i don't think i'm that good a descriptor or anybody on our staff. >> has this first ever vegas super bowl matchup be tailor made? >> reporter: some online saying getting to the chiefs in the super bowl so swifties can boost ratings was the nfl's plan all along. some are questioning where taylor will sit during the game as travis kelce's mom donna told us she's sitting in the stands, suites range 39,000 to per ticket taylor has been seen in a suite in patrick mahomes' wife brittany, his salary is $56 million so probably could afford a suite. make of that what you will. >> it's going to be