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 language

about my recollection of events. there's even reference that i don't remember when my son died. how in the hell dare he raise that? i'm well meaning and an elderly man and i know what the hell i'm doing. i'm the president and i put this country back on its feet, and they made a conclusion, i did not break the law, period. thank you all very much. >> good morning, everyone. so glad you're with us on this friday. i'm poppy harlow with phil mattingly. what a press conference. that was president biden firing back after the special counsel's report ignited new and embarrassing questions about his mental fitness. the special counsel did exonerate biden for classified documents but his report included eye-popping details. >> they claim biden couldn't remember what years he was vice

president or when his son died. he describes the president as a sympathetic elderly man with a poor memory who would be impossible to convict. mj lee pressed the president on the concerns surrounding his fitness to be president. >> for months when you were asked about your age, you would respond with watch me. then the american people have been watching and they have expressed concerns about your age. >> that is your judgment. that is your judgment. that is not the judgment of the press. >> they expressed concerns about your mental acuity. you told me you believe there are many other democrats who could defeat donald trump. why does it have to be you now? >> because i'm the most qualified person in the country to be the president of the united states and finish the job i started. >> a sharp and fiery press conference, but biden's attempt at political press control may have backfired when he confused the presidents of mexico and egypt during that press conference. trump just had what you could

probably say his best day of 2024. on the glide path to the gop nomination after scoring another victory this time in nevada and it looks like the supreme court might take his side in the fight in colorado. >> mj lee joins us live at the white house. the president obviously wanted to address that and speak last night. he did. you asked such important questions. what is the white house doing now about all of this? >> reporter: they're pushing back. you saw the president pretty peeved as he was pushing back on the suggestions he has memory problems, recall lapses, and the issue, though, is not just that they think some of these details are gratuitous and unflattering. it is that they speak to a broader concern that voters have raised about his mental acuity and about the fact that they simply see him as too old to be president. you know, the lawyers in this report yesterday that came out said that these references to his memory problems were inappropriate, and we had a white house official saying that

they thought these references were simply out of line, and they said when robert herr came to the white house back in october, remember, this was the same weekend that the israel war broke out, that he said to the president, look, i'm going to be asking a lot of questions from a long time ago. just try to do your best to recall some of these things from a long time ago, and he even thanked him for doing this multi-hour interview in the middle of an international crisis. and they said look, of course the president was understandably distracted, given everything that was going on that weekend. but that doesn't speak to a broader sort of memory problem that this report alleges the president has. >> mj, in the president's remarks about the report itself, there's some things he said that didn't match with the report. what were they? >> a couple things from our colleague, daniel dale, that i think are worth highlighting on air. for one, the president said that everything that was discovered in his home were in filing cabinets that were either locked

or able to be locked. well, the report says yes, there were some documents that were inside of cabinet drawers, but there were other documents including ones related to afghanistan found in an unsealed and badly damaged box inside the garage, some of these photos obviously show the bad shape that some of these things were in. he said there were notebooks too that were unlocked drawers in the office and den of the president's wilmington home. something else that the president said. he said none of the documents were high classified. but if you look at the report, it specifically says that some of these documents were marked as top secret sensitive compartmented information, which is a high level of classification and there were some notebooks that contained information that were also at this level. just the last thing i would point out, too, the president said in his remarks yesterday that he didn't share any classified information with his ghost writer. this is a ghost writer who helped him work on his memoir.

well, the report explicitly says the opposite. it says the president shared information, some of which were classified, with this ghost writer and read from some notebooks including notes that came from meetings in the situation room. so clearly, the president is trying to defend himself, but there were some comments that were contradictory to the details that were in this long report. >> all right, mj lee, very interesting night at the white house last night. another win on the other side of the aisle for trump. the former president victorious in nevada's caucus. nikki haley chose not to be on the ballot. the u.s. virgin islands also held caucuses. trump dominating haley by a 3-1 margin, locking up the territory's four delegates. >> trump also seems poised for a significant win in the supreme court. they seemed skeptical of bid to keep the former president off the ballot.

>> what about the idea we should think about democracy? think about the right of the people to elect candidates of their choice, of letting the people decide? >> why should a single state have the ability to make this determination, not only for their own citizens but for the rest of the nation? >> the justices largely avoided talking about the january 6th insurrection. trump taking a victory lap last night in nevada, lashing out at president biden after a special counsel report found that he willfully retained classified documents. >> kristen holmes is in harrisburg, pennsylvania, where trump is preparing to address the nr aa tonight. it was a big day for the former president, his campaign. what are you hearing from his team about what tonight is going to bring? >> reporter: well, phil and poppy, arguably, this is the best 24 hours that donald trump has had since he announced his third bid for the white house in november of 2022. his team knows that, and they're all feeling very good.

starting with those supreme court arguments. donald trump watched as we all did. i'm told that he told his advisers he was pleased. and that he believed as many of our legal experts did, he was poised for a victory in the supreme court. something he talked about at that nevada rally last night. take a listen. >> 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 interesting day and a very beautiful day, perhaps. i think it was really a beautiful sight to watch. >> reporter: so shortly after reveling in those arguments, donald trump was given nothing short of a political gift with that special report. he seized on the opportunity, doing what donald trump does, which is blurring the lines. he said jack smith should drop the case against him, that he, donald trump, was more cooperative than president biden, which we obviously know not to be true. trump was so uncooperative that

the fbi had to issue a search warrant of his home to return some of the documents. none the less, he still went out there saying it was a two-tiered justice system. and the end of the day was him winning his big win in nevada, a state in which the gop party has largely become the party of donald trump. so yes, it was a good day for the former president who is running again for the white house. now, the one thing i will point out because i think this is very notable. donald trump has spent much of his campaign seizing on the opportunity to call joe biden incompetent. to say he is bumbling. one thing you have not heard from him is mentioning any of the lines about biden's mental fitness when he's talking about the robert herr report. he's leaving it to allies now. unclear that's going to change, but it's notable given he has campaigned largely on the fact he's stronger than joe biden. >> kristen, thanks for the reporting. and joining us now, democratic congressman from new york, daniel goldman.

i wanted to ask you, behind closed doors at the house democratic caucus yesterday, i'm told the president gave a preview to how frustrated he was with a little more maybe less tv friendly profanity to some degree. are you aware -- did you get some of that information last night before that hastily called press conference? >> i did not personally get that. i think he met with leader jefferies and some of the other leadership members. but what i did understand from talking to folks at the white house is that part of the problem and part of the frustration with special counsel herr, a republican appointee, cherry picking very few remarks from a five-hour interview, is that there are other occasions where president biden demonstrated tremendous recall of very specific conversations from years and years ago that were not included in the report.

and given the very, very flimsy evidence that the special counsel relied on to even say that he willfully retained the classified information, it does appear as if this became a justification for the special counsel's investigation. and that in order to inure himself, a republican appointee, from criticism by republicans because he did not charge president biden, who cooperated fully, whereas donald trump was charged, partially because of his extreme obstruction of justice, he wanted to deflect from his ultimate decision. and i think that's why this report is misguided both in its conclusion and its excessive editorializing. >> i think the rationale that the special counsel's team used for talking about the mental acuity or talking about whether or not he remembered specific things is in the report, it says

at trial, president biden would likely prebt himself to a jury like he did in our interview as sympathetic, well meaning elderly man with poor memory. they were trying to back up the statement in their decision, particularly with the notebooks that he shared with the ghost writer, why they believed they could not win in trial on the issue of willful retention and dissemination. you don't think that backed it up? >> but it's unnecessary. no, no, first of all, the evidence that they gathered that he knowingly and willfully retained classified information while he was a private citizen, which is necessary and the special counsel discusses that, is based on such thin evidence. and when you're talking about notebooks versus actually marked classified documents, that's a significant difference, because president biden is part of his job took copious notes, some of it must have been on classified information, some unclassified,

and he understandably believed his notes were his, and they didn't have classified markings on them. that's a big difference. and so what you really need to look at is what marked classified documents did he possess that he knew he possessed and maintained. and the notion that his own credibility or recollection would have anything to do with the evidence which was plainly insufficient, is a fallacy. and not only that, but you're assuming that the defendant in this case would testify at trial, i was a prosecutor for ten years. i did not consider the defendant's credibility at a witness. i may have considered the defendant's credibility in explaining the evidence and whether or not it would rise to the level of knowing intent. so this was extremely gratuitous, unnecessary, and just a political pot shot in the middle of an election year when the special counsel knows it's two elderly men who are running for president, and this one who

was appointed by donald trump wanted to make showure he got h licks in. >> do you think the president helped himself in his response? >> i do. i think what the president standing out there really powerfully explaining how absurd it is that there would be accusations that he would not remember when his son died, which was, you know, such a critical moment. and it was important, i think, for him to show as he did in answering the question about the middle east, how much of a grasp and how experienced and wise he is, especially right now on foreign policy issues. and i spoke to him on october 7th when i was in israel a couple hours after the hamas attack. that was the day before this interview began. and he demonstrated an unbelievable mastery of this entire region. he had already reached out to a number of different leaders.

he understood all of the vortexes and all of the issues and tension points. this is someone whose age has a tremendous benefit in his experience and his understanding and his knowledge of foreign policy. >> certainly. >> going back many years. >> i think that was the message he was trying to get across. >> that's been to the benefit as he's rallied allies in europe in ukraine and dealt with a difficult situation. >> i understand. what it also created was a moment where he mixed up mexico with egypt, and to be clear, a couple hours later, donald trump thought the leader of hungary was actually the leader of turkey. this is just a moment at a time where voters are concerned. i know the president pushed back on that. people get frustrated about that, but it's just true. >> yeah, it's also true that speaker mike johnson went on mp mp and confused iran and israel, which is a much more significant

mistake than president cici as being in mexico. i'm not going to sit here saying mike johnson has no memory loss or he's ill equipped to be speaker of the house because he made an obvious incidental tangential mistake. it's wrong to think that because president biden made a simple incidental mistake that everyone understood what he was referring to, that that has anything to do with his mental acuity. and especially when you're now trying to compare him to another elderly man who is charged with four indictments, who doesn't believe that the law applies to him, and makes all these mistakes. nancy pelosi, nikki haley, you know, donald trump makes more mistakes on this stuff than joe biden does, and for some reason, the media doesn't want to focus on that, but he's a danger to our country, donald trump, whereas joe biden has been a tremendous asset to our country as our leader. >> i want to ask you one more thing on a different topic before i let you go.

elise stefanik, she is a member of your new york delegation. a republican conference chair. you two have tangled a bit, particularly over the issue of january 6th. she had a sit down with kaitlan collins last night, where she's on the short list for vice president. had she been vice president on january 6th, 2021, would she have done what mike pence did? she made clear her answer was no. i'm interested what you think of that. >> i think it is unbelievably revealing and incredibly shameful. she issued a statement on january 6th castigating and chastising those who attacked the capitol, saying they should be prosecuted. she has now erased that statement and is now going back and saying that she would have overturned a lawful election if she were the vice president. so you not only have someone at the top of the ticket who is overtly anti-democratic and

wants to be a dictator. but you have someone vying to be his vice president, who knows better, frankly, who is also willing to go along and overturn a lawful election. that should scare the american people. because that is anti-democratic, and that is going to lead us down a very, very dangerous road if there's a yes person as vice president who will do whatever donald trump wants. >> dan goldman, always appreciate your time. thanks. >> thanks, phil. important conversation with him. three words reveal possible rifts that are bigger now. the words mean everything, really, between the u.s. and israel. president biden blasting israel's military conduct in gaza, calling it last night over the top. we'll take you live to tel aviv to hear hour israeli officials are responding. >> one of the five marines killed in a helicopter crash has been identified by his family. alex langen was onboard the

chopper that went down on a flight from nevada to southern cali california. his family told an affiliate being a marine meant everything to the sergeant. he just got married a month ago. the other marines have not been identified. we'll be right back.

this morning u.s. support for israel is in its war against hamas is showing some signs of cracks. certain a big change in rhetoric. president biden leveling his sharpest rebuke yet of israel's military conduct in gaza.

listen. >> 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 stearving. a lot of insnlt people who are in trouble and dying. it's got to stop. >> nic robertson joins us live from tel aviv. look, nic, we talked about it earlier. when i heard that, i thought that was a major, major moment in a press conference that has gotten a lot of attention. what are israeli officials saying about what the president said last night? >> reporter: well, perhaps because it has got a lot of attention, they haven't addressed it directly yet. in fact, they have yet to say anything about it. they may wait a few days to choose their words. they're also look back to december, just when the major ground operation was beginning in khan younis that is still going on, that was early,

mid-december when it got going. back then, it called the bombing indiscriminant, and at that moment, you felt the same thing, maybe this will make a difference. we know antony blinken when he was here was doubling down to hear from the israeli generals in charge who was prosecuting the war on the ground to know how they're going to protect civilians in rafah, the u.n. officials are saying that there are areas and parts of gaza that are now close to famine. there are about 300,000 people who lived in rafah, about a million displaced living there now as well. it's right on the border with egypt. the egyptian foreign ministry is saying any push of ground forces into the area could precipitate a situation where the gazans are trying to get over the fence into egypt. that would be a different kind of calamity. right now, we don't know if the idf is going to go in. the prime minister certain positioning himself and said that just two days ago that the

ground forces are ready to go in. is that part of his negotiation tactic with hamas or is that for real? is that really going to happen? i think the president has taken him at his word at the moment it appears. >> nic robertson, thank you. we'll call it a rant from russia. vladimir putin speaking to former fox news host tucker carlson for nearly two hours. full history lesson in his version. what putin revealed about his relationship with president biden, whether evan girsh covits could be released in his invasion of ukraine. >> you know this probably may sound strange given the current situation. but the relations between the two peoples will be rebuilt anyway.

exclusive. biden administration officials running drills to prepare for potential threats to the 2024 election. they realize how severely limited a federal response would be to rampant disinformation, deep fakes and harassment of election officials. it comes in the wake of the ia robocall ahead of the new hampshire primary that mimicked president biden's voice. >> voting this tuesday only enables the republicans in their quest to elect donald trump again. your vote makes a difference in november, not this tuesday. >> one official warns, quote, now.e in uncharted territory we're joined with exclusive reporting. talk about what you have learned in terms of training exercise, what the government is doing to try to prevent this as much as it can. >> we got an inside look at kind of fly of the wall perspective

of the white house situation room drill in december where senior officials from the fbi, dhs, the department of homeland security, cia, were confronted with a couple startling scenarios. what do you do if there's violence at the polls on election day? and separately, what do you do if there's a sort of nebulous deep fake, a fake video of a senate candidate destroying ballots and you eventually trace it back to the chinese, how do you alert the public? when do you tell them without causing panic? a lot of really fraught discussions. no clear answers, however sources tell cnn that the senior officials mostly opted to defer to state and local election officials in taking the lead on public messaging for a couple reasons. the public trusts those officials more in their local communities. they run elections. and the feds are also balancing this need to warn the public

about a national security threat, but if they can't determine that it's a foreign actor, they're wary of infringing on free speech, especially around an election. it's a very difficult conversation that we got a first-hand look at through sources briefed. >> that last part is what i wanted to ask you about. it is a very fine line that a lot of people wonder if you can define it, it has certainly gotten more difficult to do so in the wake of 2020 and everything we have seen since. how are national security officials weighing how to respond to disinformation? >> well, again, look, the foreign actor attribution would really help, because then you're not -- it's a clear threat, and just to be clear, even if they do determine russia or china is behind something, post-2016, post-2020, every disclosure is scrutinized, every disclosure of intelligence is at risk of being called a political move of some point. so there are national security threats that they're very clear

on, but then how do you make sure that it's not blending into what if there's domestic voices involved in that. so it's a very fine line, and this is the first such drill that's occurred with these senior officials. and it's something that they're going to continue to try to work out the kinks because there are a lot of kinks to work out, phil. >> important exclusive reporting. thanks very much. election interference did not come up in tucker carlson's interview with russian president vladimir putin, but putin did reveal he has not spoken to president biden since russia invaded ukraine almost two years ago. putin also said he believes an agreement could be reached to release "wall street journal" journalist and reporter evan gershkovich, he was arrested on espionage charges that are unfounded. he's being held in prison in russia. listen.

>> translator: we're willing to solve it. but there are certain terms being discussed by special services channels. i believe an agreement can be reached. >> the "wall street journal" has released a statement in response. saying evan is a journalist and journalism is not a crime. any portrayal to the contrary is total fiction. we're encouraged to see russia's desire for a deal that brings evan hope and we hope that brings his rapid release and return to his family and our newsroom. joining us, susan glasser and phil mud. phil, i want to start with you because president putin in different parts of the interview seemed to allude to the individual that we have known through sourcing was somebody he wanted was putting on the table for a potential swap here. can you walk through how u.s. officials are trying to figure out how to make that work? >> yeah, i think there are a

couple things going on, a parallel between what he said about the "wall street journal" and what he's saying about ukraine. in both circumstances this is a great opportunity for propaganda for putin. that is in both circumstances he's saying look, it's not just on me. it's not my fault. we were not the aggressor in ukraine. we're not totally at fault with the "wall street journal." this is a spy in terms of the "wall street journal," and the ukrainians are the aggressor. we're willing to make a deal if you guys are reasonable. i think the propaganda piece to the west and russia is putin is ready to make a deal and he's not the only player at the table. it's up to the americans too. >> susan, this part of the interview that putin told tucker carlson talking about the situation in ukraine and where it goes and potentially how it ends. listen to this. >> this endless mobilization in ukraine, the hysteria, the domestic problems. sooner or later, it will result

in agreement. you know, this probably sounds strange given the current situation. but the relations between the two peoples will be rebuilt anyway. it will take a lot of time, but they will heal. >> that was really striking to me, and i wonder what struck you when you heard it. >> well, look. yeah, sure, vladimir putin is open to a deal, to the extent that ukraine and the west should capitulate to all of his demands. the idea that relations are going to heal between ukraine and russia when russia's leader goes on and on in an interview and explains why ukraine does not have a right to exist historically speaking, that tells you a lot about putin's mindset, but i think the success that putin has had is really actually in creating more of a

national unity and a national identity for ukrainians as a result of his denial of their very statehood. we heard that at great length in that tucker carlson interview. he went on and on with a sort of bizarre version of history in which it goes all the way back past the grand deutschy of lithuania. he repeatedly had grievances from the year 1654 and, you know, basically asserts the right to ukraine because empress catherine the great of russia took over part of the territories in modern day ukraine in the late 18th century. again, what does this mean in a practical sense? i did not hear any specific sense that vladimir putin is acknowledging reality. what i heard is that he would like the west to abandon its support for ukraine and to aseed to all of his terms. >> phil, that is what i was going to ask you.

this is around two hours, the history lesson susan was talking about ran 38, 39 minutes. that's a good writer for you. i'm interested if there was anything you heard in this that you thought was newsworthy or that as in your former life would have given you some indication of something you wau wanted to pursue. >> there is one piece that struck me. that is timing. why would you do this now? i'll probably read too much into it, but i'm a cia analyst. that's what we do. you're looking at the divisions in the american congress that might widen over time between those who want to support ukraine and those who don't. there's division between parties and presidential candidates going into an intense american election. there are divisions between potentially the americans and nato, and problems in ukraine. ia saw in the past week, ukrainians changing out generals. if you look at timing you could read into this if you're an analyst and that's what i do, putin sees blood in the water,

an opportunity to drive a wedge going into an election and his driving of the wedge over time is only going to intensify. he sees a chance. >> phil mudd, thank you. susan glasser, we appreciate you. >> coming up for us, changing gears in a major way, we talked a lot about taylor swift and the super bowl, but there are a lot of really impressive women playing a big role in the big game. we'll talk about them next. and new overnight, a girl was pulled alive 60 hours after a deadly mudslide buried him under mud and debris in the philippines. it's killed at least 11 people. more than 110 others are still missing. the rescued girl is now being treated. it provides them with a sign of hope.

this ad? typical. politicians... "he's bad. i'm good."

blah, blah. let's shake things up. with katie porter. porter refuses corporate pac money. and leads the fight to ban congressional stock trading. katie porter. taking on big banks to make housing more affordable. and drug company ceos to stop their price gouging. most politicians just fight each other. while katie porter fights for you. for senate - democrat katie porter. i'm katie porter and i approve this message. growing up, my parents wanted me to become a doctor or an engineer. those are good careers! but i chose a different path. first, as mayor and then in the legislature. i enshrined abortion rights in our california constitution. in the face of trump, i strengthened hate crime laws and lowered the costs for the middle class. now i'm running to bring the fight to congress. you were always stubborn. and on that note, i'm evan low, and i approve this message.

why do you think everyone is so fascinating with you two? >> i think the values that we stand for and just, you know, who we are as people. we love to shine light on other, shine light around the people that help and support us. and on top of that, i feel like we both have a love for life. >> that was kansas city chiefs star travis kelce, weighing in on his relationship with pop star taylor swift, something that has captivated america. planning to rush back from her concert in tokyo to make it to the big game on sunday. it taylor swift effect is helping fuel a surge in female viewership for the nfl. >> it league is noticing, brands are noticing, the cosmetic company nix will air its first super bowl commercial starring

cardi b. there will be an ad with kylie kelce and encourage women to play sports. >> joining us is our favorite person, kerri champion is joining us. i love businesses trail where the people are going. and where the people are going are making very clear there's a surge in viewership because of taylor swift. it's a different type of viewer. also, it's elevating women without any question in a sport that's traditionally dominated by men. >> you know, i think it's a beautiful thing. i know of the taylor swift effect and i think i cracked the code here. i had a chance to talk with someone who is a celebrity expert, if you will, in that culture. and they said this about taylor swift, which i find very interesting. she is something and someone that we all can talk about. she relates with young girls who are 8 years old, right?

then you have women who are, you know, upwards of i say 8 to 80 to say that she covers every single genre if you will, every age gap, every generation. taylor is someone everyone can talk about and we're watching this real pop culture moment in real time. i think it's great for women's sports. it's coming at a perfect time. i would even argue it's been happening since last year, if i'm honest with you guys. women's sports have been taking off. >> yeah. as you were talking, we were playing part of that dove ad. and if people couldn't read it, it talked about knocks don't keep girls out of sports, low body confidence does. we together can help them. and i love this message targeted toward women. i just wonder how important you think this is going forward for all the little girls watching on sunday night. >> you know what, great, great, great observation. there have been so many different campaigns, especially within women's sport to promote

positive body images. i remember strong is beautiful was something that was very popular for women in tennis. it featured serena and other women that were also very honest about being body conscious. it's so important that young girls are seeing themselves no matter what they look like, they're seeing themselves as someone that is beautiful, that is strong, and there is strength in having these different attributes. i love that dove is leaning into this. and you know, we'll bring it back to this taylor swift of it. i think this young group of fans she's introducing to the nfl, i mean, roger goodell even talked about it on monday. the nfl commissioner says guess what, me and my wife and our two daughters went to two swift concerts. taylor swift is a great performer, and i think that yes, she is helping viewership. and i would like to see more of it. she's a great gal. and i'm watching and i'm like roger goodell went to two taylor

swift concerts? so i'm like, wait, what world are we living in? >> i was like, holy cow. that's a great headline right there. hey, i have to ask you -- >> i was like -- >> i have to ask you because it was the album that defined my years in high school, one of the greatest albums of all time, called confessions. the guy who made that album is the halftime show. talk to me about usher. >> phil and poppy, i know you guys have been working really hard and you don't have time to follow my instagram, but here's a quick story. last night in the midst of doing all the different work i had to do, and different events you have to show up here because there's so many things going on, a friend of mine says hey, usher is having a listening party. would you like to go? i was like -- so we had an opportunity to sit and talk to usher last night. we're so excited, we don't know what to do. >> i'm so mad.

>> are you jealous? >> yes. yes. you're the absolute best. thank you so much for waking up early for us, even if i'm really mad you hung out with usher and i didn't. always a pleasure. >> just one thing. bye, you guys. >> of course, we're going to start, who let the dogs out. we have puppies in the house. it's the happiest moment of our week, without any question. this puppy bowl is about to be the biggest ever. we'll explain next.

hello. >> this is thea. >> this is marcie. >> this is the best segment of the week, the super bowl is not

the only major sporting event happening. watch this. >> we have two-time champs team woof, led by offensive genius coach kyle shanahound, and this pup, the stakes would not be higher as these two teams prepare to go head to head for the world championship, and an opportunity to walk away with the most celebrated award in all of puppy sports. the legendary lombarkie trophy. >> 20 years of finding dogs their forever home with its largest call to adoption event yet. whimpering, he wants to go home with you. more than 100 four-legged friends will battle it out on the field on sunday. >> and the referee is with us now and three representatives of a game that will be played

tomorrow. denny, marcie, i'm probably going to steal, and thea. let's start with what this game is actually all about. >> i'm going to get your betting odds and all that stuff, but what should people be thinking. >> the puppy bowl is a miniaturized football game played on super bowl sunday. we're on at 2:00 p.m. eastern. every single one of the pups is up for adoption. 131 total pups this year. they compete, they play football, they coach, they run the cameras. i have a puppy assistant ref. we have puppies taking pictures. they're everywhere and the puns are endless. by the way, you're getting a taste of what life is like when we do puppy bowl. by the end, every single one is adopted. that's the best part. >> who came up with the idea? we were talking about it beforehand. who came up with this, because it's always the kind of thing my kids want to watch every super bowl. what's the genesis? >> we have an escape artist, but that's okay. 20 years ago, this came up as i

think the original counterprogramming. animal planet knew you couldn't compete with human football, but put cameras on a bunch of puppies. it became a surprise hit and we have millions of people tuning in every year. >> that's amazing. also a big goal is these are about three month old pups. >> what you're watching is what happens on puppy bowl. this is called dog collar tackle. >> can denny play? >> of course. denny might pancake these guys. let's see what happens. >> how can people adopt them? >> it's so easy. go to puppybowl.com and it will connect you with a shelter. we have 73 shelters participating this year across 36 states. one of them, of course, is best friends. >> can you tell us about these three? >> we have denny, marcie, and thea. they're about three months of age and they're up for adoption. you can go to their website to find out more information. >> do people bet on this? >> as a referee, i'm really not

allowed. >> and i never would. ethical concerns. how should i be watching the game? >> we only started keeping score ten years ago. we divided them into team rough and team fluff. up until last year, the teams had each won four championships. last yeae two teams were tied at the end of regulation. we went into overtime, called rovertime. and team fluff came out with the victory. ruf is coming out as the underdog. they might have a slight edge. >> how do you decide who's on what team? >> it's a very strict vetting process. the draft, a combine. >> we do it all, skills tests. >> you have been doing this for 13 years. >> yeah. >> how did that start? >> which is an eternity in the dog world. but no, 13 years of joy and love. the game keeps getting bigger and bigger every year, and i get to watch it. when i first started, we only

had 59 dogs. we doubled it and continue to grow every year. >> i'm concerned, did we lose a dog? >> right behind you. >> now she's actually gone. >> probably in the control room. >> talk about the importance of adoption for people who want a dog and are trying to decide. >> here it is, we're on national tv, it's not hard to get those puppies adopted but every single one of those come from a litter. we also feeching special needs dogs as well. you'll see dogs that maybe were born without limbs, we're just trying to shine a light on the idea that dogs, these guys will get adopted. their siblings are still in the shelters and the shelters are overcrowded now more than ever. during covid, there was a huge uptick in adoption. >> as a mom of an adopted dog, we had little kids, best thing i ever did. thank you. cannot wait to watch. >> best part of our week. can't wait to watch.

you can watch puppy bowl this sunday, february 11th, at 2:00 p.m. eastern, 11:00 a.m. pacific on animal planet, true tv, max, discovery plus. really everyone our parent company owns. cnn news central will start after this break.

growing up, my parents wanted me to become a doctor or an engineer. those are good careers! but i chose a different path. first, as mayor and then in the legislature. i enshrined abortion rights in our california constitution. in the face of trump, i strengthened hate crime laws and lowered the costs for the middle class. now i'm running to bring the fight to congress. you were always stubborn. and on that note, i'm evan low, and i approve this message. this ad? typical. politicians... "he's bad. i'm good." blah, blah. let's shake things up.

with katie porter.