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 amazing.

coy, thank you. have so much fun out there. >> thanks, buddy. >> we will see you monday morning. and "cnn this morning" continues now. >> they have expressed concerns about your age. >> that is your judgment. >> they -- >> that is your judgment. >> president biden hailing the special counsel for saying he will not charge him with mishandling classified documents and tearing into him for language in his report about his age and mental sharpness. >> the president of mexico el sisi. >> the most damaging things that can happen in politics are things that reinforce a meme out there that is hurting. >> you that was a major gaffe at a moment when he's pushing back on i'm good. the historic supreme court arguments about whether donald trump should stay on colorado's ballot. >> signaling it is unlikely to allow the state of colorado to kick him off. >> questions about whether the states have a role to play here. there was some sense this provision of the 14th amendment should be different. >> the chief justice is under enormous pressure to build consensus across party lines.

>> i hope that democracy of this country will continue. >> i hope the justices see through his lies. good morning, everyone, it is the top of the hour, it is also friday, finally. i'm phil mattingly with poppy harlow in new york and we are watching one key thing in 2024, donald trump was just handed a huge political gift as president biden is facing down new questions about his age and mental fitness. special counsel exonerating biden for his handling of classified documents discovered in his delaware home and office, but the report includes several eye-popping details. the special counsel claims biden couldn't remember what years he was vice president or when his son beau died. and it describes the president as a sympathetic and elderly man was a poor memory who would be impossible to convict. >> biden fired back in a emotional and hastily called news conference at the white house last night. his attempt at political damage control may have backfired especially in the moment when he

confused egypt with mexico. meanwhile, trump just had his best day of the year. he is on a glide path to the republican presidential nomination after scoring another victory in nevada and it is looking like the supreme court may very well take his side in this battle over colorado throwing him off the ballot. let's start with mj lee live at the white house. mj, good morning. you were there at the press conference, you asked probably the most important questions of the president. what's why you are sense of things this morning? >> reporter: well, you know, poppy, there was never any question among white house advisers here that whenever this report came out it would be used as political ammunition and the president himself in this last-minute press conference making clear that he believes this investigation was politically motivated and fueled by politics and that he vehemently rejects some of the most scathing allegations in 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. these assertions are 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, 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'm 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 injure judgment. >> they -- >> that is your judgment. 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 believe 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 when he passed away. >> reporter: and one white house official i spoke with last night said that these references in the report to these memory lapses were way out of line and they said that when robert hur interviewed president biden back in october, remember, this was the same weekend that the israel war broke out, that hur said to the president, look, i'm going to be asking a lot of questions from a long time ago, try to recall some of these things to

the best of your ability, and that he even thanked the president for doing the interview in the middle of an international crisis. the official did acknowledge that that weekend when this war was breaking out the president was understandably distracted but that that did not signal any kind of broader issues about memory or recall. guys? >> mj lee, thank you, from the white house this morning. >> let's bring in doug heye, former associate counsel to president george w. bush and kate benning field. kate, i will start with you on this. i'm less interested in the strategy or what they were trying to do here and more interested in, you know, the president better than pretty much anybody we have on air on a regular basis. when you watched last night what came to mind in terms of where his head was at but also what he wanted to convey? >> yeah. well, look, he was angry about -- he was incredibly angry

about [ inaudible ] -- about beau. that he thought that was incredibly out of line. you could see and i could see watching him the emotion and the anger that he felt in having that incredibly personal moment in his life sort of questioned in some way that felt political and frankly incredibly cheap. it was clear to me watching him last night that that really upset him and i thought it was actually a good thing for him to go out and set the record straight on that. i thought the two things that worked last night were, one, his very honest and raw and emotional response to the beau piece of this, and two, you know, i thought he showed some feistiness and ultimately i think showing a little feistiness and scrapping a little bit, it does combat the age perception. i mean, when he's going back and forth and speaking from the heart and showing fire, that's one thing that he can do to combat the notion that he's too old for the job. i thought those were two things that worked in what he was doing last night and i think -- i

think what he was trying to convey, trying to push back on some of the substance, but also just, you know, show overall -- put in context that some of these swipes were out of line, that they were potentially politically motivated and show that fire in the belly. i do think he did that. >> jamille, to you. robert hur in this special counsel who led this investigation, the report found -- you know, said in it the reason we're not going to criminally charge bide season because there was no willful intent, no criminal intent, not to mention a major difference people need to remember as they hear trump saying two-tiered system of justice, trump did not go sit down with the special counsel in his case the mar-a-lago documents, biden did in the middle of an international crisis. what are you thoughts this morning on this? >> well, it's exactly right, there's a very different set of circumstances that took place with donald trump and his removal of classified documents down to mar-a-lago and the way he retained them and the like. that being said, it is important

to note that rob hur indicated that president biden knew that he had taken those documents, knew that he had kept them and knew that he was disclosing them to at least one person in the course of his post vice presidency time. so that's obviously very damaging. when you add on to the fact the questions that rob hur raises about president biden's current capability to describe the situation, to remember events and then unfortunately to kate's point, you know, the way the president performed just last night mixing up the presidents of mexico and egypt. i mean, this is a real challenge for the president, it's going to cause him difficulties in the upcoming election and that's going to be a challenge for him going forward without a doubt. >> trump called orban the president of turkey last night. >> 2024 is awesome. doug heye, it was fascinating texting back and forth with people and watching the response obviously on social media, what was your -- when you saw it as a

political hand, as a message guy, what kind of came to mind for you? >> look, i was reminded of a night in august of 1994 when i was a few miles away from here at meriweather post pavilion seeing frank sinatra towards the end of his career. "come fly with me" was awesome and sin stra was jabbing in the air and it was great. 10, 15 minutes later he struggled to remember the words from "my way." what's what the "washington post" reviewed of the concert. when joend was feisty and punching back when talking about his son, that comes from a place of passion but ultimately he says i remember well the rosary from our lady of -- and his voice trailed away and he stopped and stood mr. motionless for a few seconds. that's what voters take away from this. he messes up people's names, donald trump messes up people's th names. these are both people in

cognitive decline. it's why poll after poll says we don't want to see a rematch of this. we have donald trump as the resistable force, joe biden as the movable object and voters are dissatisfied this may be their choice come november. >> kate, it is the voters in terms of the polling, nbc's latest poll, 76% of folks said it's a major concern, the president's mental and physical health. if you were in there in the room still in the biden white house, what would you suggest he do over the coming months to change that perception? >> get him out there more, not less. i think the more he's out the more he's out interacting with people, the more people see him in his element, talking to people about what's going on in their lives, expressing empathy, you know, when people see him out and about, it -- you know, it takes the focus off of any one given slip of the tongue. i mean, look, doug is right, we are all going -- we are all going to mess up names, we're all going to misremember dates, obviously as you said, poppy,

trump literally did this last night with viktor orban. i don't think a slip of the tongue as last night the president was explaining in great detail what he's doing to try to ease the humanitarian crisis in gaza is in and of itself something that voters will look at and say, oh, well, he screwed up sisi's name so he's too old to be president, but he has to be out there, he has to be talking to people, making the case for his presidency for the second term, taking it to trump which he's very effective at doing and also puts that fire on display which pushes back on the notion of age. the short answer is get him out there more, no the less. >> from a legal perspective or at least how a special counsel is supposed to work, the fury that you heard behind the scenes from white house officials last night was there was no reason to put the kind of -- in their view -- editorialized commentary about the president's state in the interviews in this report. are they off on that or is that a fair criticism? >> i think that's exactly wrong and the reason why is the reason

that robert has cited not to pursue the prosecution was not that the president didn't commit a crime, what rob hur says is he willfully retained classified documents that he shouldn't have and knowingly did that. the challenge is he said he can convince the jury that he was an old man that didn't really remember what was going on and he had to explain that theory of the case why he didn't bring charges. laying that out was not a political effort. rob hur is a long-time prosecutor, he is a serious guy. i think nobody could really claim that he is a politically motivated actor. he's saying, look, here are the reasons why i chose not to prosecute the president, they are good reasons, they are not about his decision to retain the documents which was illegal, they're because he could convince a jury maybe he forgot about them and he had to lay out the case for y that's why he laid it out, not for political reasons and not to help donald trump. >> thank you guys very much. yes. yes. >> can i say one thing. he says there's a shortage of

evidence, there's important context there, throughout the report he repeatedly says he didn't charge joe biden because there is a shortage of evidence. it's important to have the contention. >> hey, it's the weekend. got time to read 300 pages, people can read it all for themselves. seriously, you should read t thank you. supreme court signaling it appears to be on donald trump's side in the colorado dispute. we're going to speak with the head of the group trying to keep trump off the presidential ballot in that state ahead. and in the race to replace george santos in the house it is heating up just days before voters hit the polls, highlights from the candidates' first, the only debate. that's ahead.

the blockbuster challenge to keep donald trump off colorado's presidential ballot, well, supreme court justices did seem pretty skeptical of it during oral argument yesterday, during more than two hours before the supreme court several justices including some of the more liberal justices posed pretty tough questions to the lawyers opposed to trump. listen. >> we've been told that if what

colorado did here is sustained other states are going to retaliate and they are going to potentially exclude another candidate from the ballot. what about that situation? >> they were listing people that were barred and president is not there. >> your position has the effect of dis enfranchising voters to a significant degree. >> this question of whether a former president is disqualified for insurrection to be president again is -- just say it -- it sounds awfully national to me. >> let's bring in noah book binder, president of citizens for responsibility and ethics in washington. that is the group representing the voters challenging trump in this case. i'm so glad you are here this morning. just what kagan said there, to start off with, why should a single state decide who will be president of the united states, after you -- you were in the room, you were at the court

yesterday. when you left did you think your side would prevail? >> well, look, we knew from the very beginning that this was -- this was going to be a tough climb. this is an extraordinary thing that we are asking courts to do. it's an extraordinary thing because we have never been in this situation before where we had a former president of the united states engaging in insurrection. of course there will be a lot of tough questions, there have been tough questions at every stage in this case, left thinking that these justices as we expected they would are taking this very, very seriously, are digging hard into the issues here. we very much expect that as they continue to look into it that they will continue to take it seriously, we believe very strongly that the law is on our side and the facts are on our side and we will see where it goes. >> right. but that's a very different thing than the question that i

asked which is when you left you felt that you were there, you heard the whole thing, did you leave thinking it's more likely than not what you prevail? >> i'm not really -- you know, wasn't really thinking about predicting outcomes. >> okay. >> i think that, you know, obviously we faced a lot of tough questions. we expected to face a lot of tough questions, but, you know, we think that the answers were very effective, we think the judges are going to -- are going to think hard about those answers, they're going to look hard at not just our brevis but the elitist briefs from experts across the political spectrum saying this is a provision that clearly applies, clearly applies to presidents and it clearly can be effectuated by states. we know that's an issue that the court expressed some real concerns and questions about. we think the law is ultimately on our side. >> i just want to tick through a couple of the key arguments just starting with justice alito,

concern that if trump is removed from the ballot it might encourage political retaliation and abuse of the 14th amendment in the future. right. the court may be deciding a case about colorado but this is precedent for the country. >> that's right. well, i mean, this question about if you find that donald trump engaged in insurrection won't we have attempts to remove other people for having engaged in insurrection all over the country. ultimately i don't think we find that to be a particularly persuasive concern. we have gone for 150 plus years without any insurrections in this country, without any attempts to remove anybody for insurrection because there haven't been any. and this question of, well, but people could now say that all kinds of things are insurrections, that's why we have courts. we have sought to say in this litigation that a standard for what constitutes an insurrection

and what constitutes engaging in insurrection is appropriately high. if somebody brings a frivolous case against somebody else saying they also engaged in insurrection, that's why you have [ inaudible ] -- that's why you have courts that consider evidence and we're not overly concerned that suddenly everything would be called an insurrection because that's not the way the war works. >> noah, finally, i thought rob roberts' question on the 14th amendment was really interesting. he said the whole point of the 14th amendment was to restrict states' power so wouldn't that be the last place you would look for authorization for the states. do you believe that your counsel murray was able to overcome that? >> i mean, i think he did an extraordinary job in really exploring the nuances there. that certainly is a real thing that judges -- the justices need

to grapple with, that of course coming out of the civil war thinking about the limits of state power, but what we're talking about here is our election system and the constitution gives control to the states over our election and so if you are going to challenge somebody's valid eligibility, it essentially has to be done through the states. and what i think that jason murray was very effective in saying is that we can't have a situation where there is no avenue for effectively challenging whether somebody engaged in insurrection and was therefore disqualified. this is the one we've got and we've got to use it. >> noah, thanks very much. noah bookbinding for joining us. it was fascinating and really riveting to listen to and you got to be there in the court. i'm mildly jealous. >> absolutely. >> thanks very much.

just mildly. >> just mildly. >> candidates trying to replace george santos went head to head in their only debate. we will have the highlights next. and ahead i sat down with notre dame basketball legend muffet mcgraw about so much, especially that viral moment she made we be she said men rule the world. hear it all straight ahead. >> women need female role models, we need more women leaders, we need to see more women in power.

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

the election to fill george santos's empty seat in congress in coming occupy on tuesday. very high stakes contest and the two candidates aim to go replace santos had their one and only debate last night. they clashed on issues like immigration and abortion and the attacks got personal at times. >> you promised never to deliver when i promise i deliver. >> how are you going to do it? tell me how you do t how? how are you going to pass legislation. >> i know how to work. >> how? tell me how. just tell everybody. everybody is listening. tell us. >> do you know the difference between me and you? you are a talker, i am the person who will deliver when i promise i will deliver. you're very good on talking. very good on talking. >> the result of this race could narrow an already slim majority for republicans in the house. it will be closely watched for what it means for november.

miguel marquez has been covering this entire race, up, down, backwards, forwards, joins us now. what did you see last night and what did you take away from the one and only debate? >> tom suozzi is a very good retail politician and she has a great resumé, but is untested in this world. she was on the defensive for much of the night. i think suozzi, if you had to say somebody won, he probably did better at keeping her on the defensive, but she must have tied him to joe biden, the squad 50 times throughout the night while he tried to keep the ghost of george santos alive throughout the entire debate, but there was no bigger issue -- there was abortion, gun control, israel all came up. they fought and discussed -- the salt tax, the state and local tax deduction and reinstating that was the biggest moment where they really got into the most intense fighting. of course, it was about taxes. but immigration more than anything, the debate started

about that, here is a little taste of what they discussed on the immigration issue. >> in 2018 when i was in congress i was one of only 18 democrats that voted to fund i.c.e. when people said, let's abolish i.c.e. i was only one of 18 democrats, i went against my party. >> when you were in the majority in congress you voted to open the borders, you created migrant crisis. as a county executive you are in charge of this county, doesn't matter what the commissioner will tell you. in the end you make that decision. >> so did anyone win this debate? i don't think it changed any minds. he kept her on the defensive, she held her own throughout it. but he did keep that sort of -- the george santos thing from the beginning of the night to the very end, this idea of transparency and how much she has answered questions from the press, debated only one debate so far. so i think that will be on voters' minds as they go to the polls next tuesday.

>> everybody will be watching. miguel, great reporting as always. i want to bring back in lee carter, errol louis -- hi, errol. what did you think? >> it was spirited and very interesting. it was almost like a partisanship versus policy where mazi pilip was arguing anything any democrat did, you should associate it with my democratic opponent and not voight for him for that reason. he urged people to stayed a more moderate position. one indication of how suozzi tried to steer to the center was that moebd was in town in new york city a few days ago, suozzi said do not come to this district, do not campaign with me. this is a district joe biden won by eight points a couple years ago. that's how much partisanship in this district especially around immigration has exploded in the last couple years. >> abortion was also an issue. i want people to listen to that exchange that they had over abortion. here it is. >> i'm asking you very clearly are you pro choice? >> i made it again, as a

person -- >> u.s. just say you're pro choice. >> i mazi pilip i'm pro-life, this is me. >> it sounds like you're saying you're pro choice but when you say you're pro-life. when it comes to the laws you say you're not going to tell people what to do but you support the supreme court decision, you are on the conservative party line. >> just because i was endorsed by the conservative line doesn't mean i'm going to agree with everybody they're going to tell. >> how do you think she did that that exchange? >> you know, i don't think it was the strongest moment of her performance, but i don't think it's going to do much to change people's mind. it really does seem like this election has really become about immigration and i think -- >> that's all that matters in this fight? >> and it's risen over the economy, risen over all of these other issues. i can't help but wonder when you look at the polling suozzi say head by 3 points within the margin of error, when you see the surge of immigration being the concern you can't wonder what direction it's going to be. i think suozzi has an advantage

because of the anti-santos sentiment we've been hearing and how strongly that came out when you talk to people in that district, voters are just so adamant that they don't want to be sort of characterized and known as the santos district and i think they've done a pretty good job of keeping that narrative alive, but at the same time this immigration concern is so fascinating to me, especially as we were talking about in a community like great neck, in a community you are looking at. why is it so important to these voters? but no doubt it has taken over the number one issue. >> we will draw explicit direct conclusions from tuesday to november immediately. >> exactly. >> it's a bellwether. >> really people will. >> thanks, guys. an emotional reunion between the man who received a heart transplant and its donor's family. how a fallen hero went beyond the call of duty still saving lives today. it's ahead.

a new york firefighter going beyond the call of duty by being an organ donor. now one man says he's grateful that the heart of a hero lives on inside him. cnn's brynn gingras has more. >> it's -- it's part of me. i mean, it feels like it belongs there. >> reporter: richard grell now has the heart of a hero. >> most generous donor family. i am truly sorry for the passing of your beloved family member. i was told a heart transplant was my only option for quantity and quality of life. >> reporter: but he only recently found that out. >> on your mark, get set, go! >> reporter: so tell me who was billy, what was he like as a

husband, as a firefighter? >> i think the word i keep using for everyone is passionate and a big personality. >> reporter: billy moon, a new york city firefighter served for two decades. >> when they leave the house you know it was always be safe, i love you, and you know that there's a risk involved. he fell while preparing for a training exercise. unfortunately, you know, it was an accident. >> reporter: he continues to save lives even in death. >> he donated his heart, his liver, his lungs and both his kidneys. >> five lives saved, i would think the heart is a special one. it's kind of encompasses how everything that was him. the kids had asked are we going to meet the heart -- we would really like to hear the heart. >> i'm taking extra special care of this beautiful new heart. >> when he wrote the letter i was able to say you really want to meet the man that has dad's heart? they were like, yeah. >> hi. >> hello, hello. god, thank you so much. >> reporter: nearly a year after moon's death his family got that

chance. >> you can hear it. awesome. >> right next to my dad, it feels like i was right next to him because when i was doing it i could hear his heartbeat. >> yeah. >> meeting billy's mom i sat there and i thought the heart that's inside of me was also in billy. but his mom was the one that -- that made the heart so i had a direct connection to his mother. >> he had that philosophy of you can't take it with you when you die and he wanted to make sure that he was there for other people. >> i'm crying, why are you crying? >> because i'm alive. and i'm so grateful. >> reporter: thanks to one last heroic act. brynn gingras, cnn, new york. >> what a story. all right. well, for millions of

americans super bowl is all about the commercials, next how some companies are spending up to $50 million to get a 30-second spot on air. >> the bowel is not the only game in town. an event that's going to the dogs truly ahead.

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remember when you used to be a pepper lady. >> wasn't it the cinnamon sisters. >> paprika girls. >> no that's absurd. >> hey. >> hi. >> oh, okay. >> have we met? super bowl weekend is upon us and if you are one of those people who is more interested in the ads than the big individuals wearing pads, we have inside info for you. stop laughing. sunday's super bowl commercials feature a mini "friends" reunion for uber eats and jason momoa channeling ""flashdance."" that's not all. so many spoilers, everything else that's on the table. first, how much are companies spending on these ads? what celebrities are we looking for? >> good morning. i have new reporting out today and the numbers are shocking. it shouldn't be so surprising that big stars like jennifer aniston and jason momoa are

making big bucks but an agent told me celebrities are making $25,000 all the way up to $10 million for these super bowl ads. now, these ads take one to two days, so not bad work if you can get it, right? now, for the advertisers who are putting on these commercials, the talent fees are just one piece of that. so if you are spending up to $10 million on one star, well, then to produce the whole ad can cost anywhere from $15 million to $50 million. now, we all remember ben affleck in that dunkin' donuts commercial last year, it was genius, right? i have reporting that says that ben affleck made close to $10 million for that ad. now, he also served as director and producer behind it, but he's not the only one. larry david who in 2022 appeared in an ad for ftx, he also received around $10 million. now, that extreme number is rare, but if you are a household

name i have learned from my sources that you are not going to be appearing in a super bowl ad for less than $1 million. i have heard that there are two stars this year who are making over $5 million. >> those numbers are amazing. i also find the way that they're gearing these ads towards women this year, largely because of the taylor swift effect, to be absolutely fascinating. >> yeah, it is, but, you know, i hear, poppy, that the ads were largely sold. before we knew that taylor swift may make an appearance at the super bowl. now, we all know that taylor's first appearance at a game was september 24th, but i hear from sources that all in the ads for cbs were nearly sold out by november, long before we knew that the chiefs would be there. but like anything, that taylor touches, it turns to gold. ratings will be at an all time high this year largely because of her. >> elizabeth, we know you will be talking and will be talking about it on monday. >> can we talk about larry

david, that commercial when he was like ftx won't work and he was wrong about everything, he was right about everything. the special counsel report on president biden's handling of classified documents sent shock waves through washington. we will speak to a democratic congressman just ahead.

so despite being one of the winningest coaches in the history of the ncaa, notre dame legend mucht mcgraw learned the most from losing. she grabbed the attention of the world when she lamented the lack of equal opportunity for women across america and after leafing the court, she has a message for those running the country and

for us parents at home. i sat down with the former notre dame women's basketball coach for our latest coaching life series. >> women need female role models. we need more women leaders. we need city more women in power. i was the first woman to coach a lot of my players because they grow up with all these guys. >> awesome job. >> we expect different things from women than we do from men. from a woman, we're expecting compassion and sympathy and empathy. i have to be all those things at once, and tough. enough, but not too tough. >> exactly, we're walking the tightrope. they're like, stand up for yourself, speak up for yourself, but you better be humble because we're a team player. >> hot you allow is what will continue. a motto that has guided two-time ncaa champion muffet mcgraw in basketball and in life. >> as women, we get a lot of i call them little paper cuts. we go through our day. somebody says something and you

kind of let it go. you're in a meeting and you get talked over. you know, the supreme court had to change the way they do oral arguments because the female justices were being talked over. >> papercuts, really interesting. >> little slights. >> slights that embolden the history making former notre dame women's basketball head coach. >> notre dame coach muffet mcgraw made news before her team's game, addressing an issue far beyond basketball. >> notre dame's coach muffet mcgraw is taking on gender inequality in sports and just about everywhere else. >> and led to the clip heard around the world. >> i'm getting tired of the novelty of the first american, the first female governor of the state, the first female african american mayor of this city. when is it going to become the norm instead of the exception? we don't have enough women in power. girls are socialized to know when they come out, gender roles are already set. men run the world. men have the power.

>> you had it. >> i did. >> what do you make of the reaction to that? >> we got on the bus and somebody said barack obama just retweeted what you said. i was whoa. i got a letter from hillary clinton, which i had on my fridge for about five years. i'm just so tired obeing the first. men don't have that. we're always looking for somebody to shatter the glass ceiling and make another break, do something we haven't seen before. when are women going to coach men's teams, make more strides? >> just months after leading the fighting irish to the 2001 ncaa title, 9/11 changed everything. while on the road recruiting, mcgraw was originally scheduled to be on united airlines flight 175. which crashed into the world trade center. but one of her assistant coaches changed her plans. >> he kind of convinced me to do it, and like you saved my life that day because i would have been on that flight. that went to new york. >> when you saw what happened

what did you think? >> first i thought, how do they not see that building? just ran into the building. and it was emotional. >> still is. >> mm-hmm. >> did it change how you live your life? >> i like to think for the better that i appreciated things a little more. i think that's why i'm not afraid to speak out on certain things. >> it has been my great honor to represent the university of notre dame these past 33 years but the time has come for me to step down. >> muffet mcgraw has left the sidelines but she's not done teaching. >> one, two, three. >> trying to use my platform for women, for social justice, for women having the right to choose what happens to their own bodies x i think trying to be a spokesperson for all women. >> let's talk politics. >> i would love to be in politics, but i don't want to run. i don't want --

>> you gotta. >> i want to be appointed to something. >> not how it works in this country. >> i hate where we are politically right now in this country. >> then why not try to change it? >> we're so divided. all you hear about from candidates is what's wrong with the country and who's at fault for it. they blame, they never take responsibility. there's no accountability. >> what do you think about congress as a team? >> if i had to say one thing, i would say do your job. do the job we hired you to do. do the job you got elected to do. >> you have to give a little bit. you're not always going to get exactly what you want. it's about building consensus, doing what's right for the people. >> sounds like congress needs a coach. >> yeah. >> you haven't failed very much in your life. you have talked about losing and how that weighed on you. but how do you think about failure? do you think it's important? >> absolutely. failure is how we grow. that's what we learn from. we learn so much more from a loss than we do from a win. >> a lesson in losing from one

of the winningest coaches on the court, and something she thinks us parents should let our kids do a little more of. >> parents don't let their kids fail. that's the problem we're having with this generation. parents fixed everybody. >> everyone gets a participation medal. >> everyone gets a trophy. they're snow plowing the road, make sure there's no bumps in the road. what are we doing? we're not teaching them how to handle adversity. the life lessons you learn, the discipline, the work ethic, how to persevere, how to be relentless in going after your goals. and it teaches you about mental toughness. you learn patience waiting for your opportunity, you learn so many great skills that are going to help you in life. >> i learned a lot from her. now i'm going to go home and let my kids fail. >> a strategy. and a good one. best series. >> thank you, friend. >> cnn this morning continues right now. i know there's some attention paid to some