this morning, president biden's age and memory in the

spotlight of a 2024 race. new details on biden's reaction to the special counsel's stinging report and the gop's new push to have the president removed from office. new body cam video of migrants attacking two new york city police officers. and the white house is cracking down on election threats ahead of the 2024 presidential election. new reporting on thohow the bid administration plans to combat deepfakes and misinformation. kate bolduan is out for the day. i'm sara sidner with john. this is "cnn news central." behind closed doors, new details about president biden's angry reaction in a private meeting after the special counsel's report exonerated him of legal wrongdoing but then put

in the report that he wouldn't be charged because he's an elderly man with memory issues. the special counsel wrote on biden's diminished faculties and memory and even went on to say that he didn't remember even within several years when his son beau died. the president was livid about this reportedly. in a meeting with democrats in virginia, he lashed out saying, how could i effing forget that? katelyn polantz is following the details for us. kate len, we saw his emotional response to all of this. and then you have this report that came out that exonerated him but then threw in this barb about his memory. what else came out in this report? >> we listened about an episode where joe biden did willfully and retain classified materials,

even though he was not going to be charged and will not be charged as a sitting president or even if he were to be a private citizen and not the president of the united states right now. that finding primarily was based around joe biden's conversations with his ghostwriter in 2017 that he had handwritten notebooks still in his possession, in his private residence. he told the ghostwriter he found all the classified documents down stairs or all the classified "stuff" downstairs. he had kept information from his vice president about afghanistan, the military, foreign policy, and that was something that the ghostwriter should not have been privy to or that joe biden should have had after he left the vice presidency. now, part of the rpg that we saw that he is not he is not being charged is the special counsel found this wasn't a tribalable e before a jury and putting that damning assessment politically saying at trial mr. biden would

likely present himself to a jury as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory. sara, you don't usually see assessments like that from a prosecutor in writwriting, but do here because we have the spoups report in the hands of congress. >> katelyn polantz, thank you so much for that reporting. a lot of folks will be talking about this. >> and they are talking about it on capitol hill. as you might expect, republicans are jumping all over this. lauren fox is there. lauren, what are you hearing? >> reporter: yeah, republicans not really seizing on the details of this report, but instead seizing on a very specific piece of writing that you all have highlighted this morning, which is that joe biden will not be charged but because the special counsel felt he was a well-meaning elderly man with some of those issues.

republicans were quick to react to this because they're viewing it as a political issue they can seize on as part of your election messaging. you had senator lindsey graham, a republican, who's known joe biden for many years because of their work in the senate. here's what he said yesterday. >> so, the summary of the special counsel about the status of president biden was unnerving. i mean, people from all over the world are going to read that. and one of the defenses was he's a nice man who's elderly and can't remember. i mean, that's the special counsel's observation. yeah, i tri not to say anything about -- beau was a great man. listen, i'm not going down that road. but now, i don't know what to tell people. i mean, the special counsel's observation was pretty stunning. >> reporter: and republican

leadership in the house not mincing words, writing in a statement, "among the most disturbing parts of this report is the special counsel's justification for not recommending charges, namely, that the president's memory had such significant limitations that he could not convince a jury that the president held a mental state of willingness that a serious felony requires." now, democrats are defending the president up here on capitol hill. in fact, one of his close allies from delaware, tom carper, told me yesterday he's never seen any memory issues in meetings he's had with the president. also senator chris kuhn saying the same thing, no concerns about the president's memory. but this is a serious issue the democrats will be asked about repeatedly not just over the next couple days but in the next couple months as the election looms closer. >> flauren fox, thank you. joining me for more on the

special counsel's report on president biden is cnn political analyst and washington bureau chief for "the boston globe," jackie kucinich, and cnn political analyst and white house reporter for the associated press, sun moon kim. thank you for being here. there is good news in this report for the special counsel, biden not being charged with anything by the special counsel. but the bad news is the special counsel talking about his mental acuity and memory. jackie, this particular report, it's pretty rare for someone to start talking about someone's mental health or mental acuity when they're talking about a criminal -- potential criminal act. but it's sort of used in a way that it's because of it that he is being, if you will, exonerated. what is this going to do to president biden politically, do you think?

>> one of the most damaging thing that can come outin a campaign is a weakness. we know from votering seeing polling that president biden's age is something that people are worried about going into this presidential campaign. and so, the fact that it really did hit on that, it is damaging, and i think it's one of the reasons -- you saw the president so angry and his lawyers and just across the board about the v verbiage used because from the campaign on up, everyone knew this would be used against him politically. >> i'd like to ask you to respond to that, your thoughts on this report at this time as we are hurtling into the middle of an election year.

>> i think the timing issue is brea interesting because remember that we are still in february of an election year. this is not july. this is not an october surprise. i think that is one of the several factors or one of some of the factors that are heartening democrats right now, that, had this happened much later in the election year, it could be incredibly damaging. it still remains, too, thinking with that dynamic in mind, everyone assumes we're kind of already in general erection mode. everyone has been looking at the trump/biden matchup, that rematch headed into november. what jackie said is right. it is not just a creation of the press. we talk to voters over and over at the a.p. and other news organizations as well. jackie's organization does that as well in those early states. this is a concern voters bring to us, whether president biden is fit for office. i do think his really fiery attitude -- and i was in the

room with him last night when he was talking to reporters -- is something that democrats have wanted to see. they have wanted to see him fight back and get passionate. i have never seen him that angry before, sara, and i think that is something that did hearten some democrats last night. >> he was angry and emotional because beau biden was brought up, and there are people who may look at that and say, wow, that was a punch to the gut. jackie, politics is politics. people will look at this report and say potentially is this political. on the flipside, you've got donald trump and the people who support him no matter what who look at these 91 counts that have been brought against him that are criminal counts against him, and they're saying much of the same thing. do you think that biden will have people that will do the same, will say this is pure politics?

>> whether or not this was meant to be a political document, it will be used as such. you heard biden's allies say exactly that, this was meant to be used against him. whatever the intention was, i don't think that matters at this point in the grand scheme of things because of how it's already being used. i'm sure there are already fund-raising emails, hit send moments after this came out, probably from both sides but particularly from republicans. >> republicans in congress of course are seizing on this already, calling for biden to be ousted using the 25th amendment. do they have a case there, or is this another big political talking point? >> i mean, it's a political talking point. it's not going to happen. republicans will find things like jackie said, parents of the report, and yaelly use it

against the president politically. you saw comments from speaker mike johnson on down reacting that way to the report. and i think the really important reaction here today and in the days ahead and the weeks ahead is how democrats choose to react to this, not just the biden campaign, not just kind of biden's inner circle or his broader circle, but the democratic party writ large. in some of my early conversations with people in the party, there does seem to be, you know, some sense of needing to rally around the president at this time. they saw the report as gratuitous, perhaps inappropriate. but we'll see if that sentiment sticks. >> we'll see if the h.e.r. report backfires surrounding president biden and he gets angry and starts coming out very strong as he's on the campaign trail. we will all be watching what happens. jackie, seung min kim, thanks for coming on. biden administration officials are running drills to prepare for any potential threats to the 2024 election. we have seen an exclusive

reporting. seven people have been indicted following an attack on new york police officers outside a migrant shelter. we have new body cam video.

prosecutors in new york releasing new body cam footage of people accused of attacking nypd officers outside a shelter near times square. the body camera video appears to show the moment police asked a group of men to clear out and stop blocking the sidewalk. overhead, surveillance video is providing another picture of one of those men struggling with an officer, which ultimately leads to a scuffle between that man

and police. and a few second later, you'll see here, others join in the fray. seven people have been indicted in connection with this incident, and four have been released without bail. let's get to cnn chief law enforcement and security analyst john miller, former deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism for the nypd. you look at this case, at this video, and you have four people who have been let go right now? >> it's interesting. >> it seems unusual when you see this body cam video of an officer being attacked. >> it does. and, you know, the announcement of the indictments yesterday is for seven people, a sum total of whom i think one is in custody. >> right. four were released without bail. even though felony assault against a police officer was eligible under new york state's very progressive bail reform act laws, the judge in that bail

hearing reminded the prosecutor that one of these individuals has two open cases, meaning they're already out on release and they've been charged again. but they -- to no avail. police sources say they got on a bus with false names headed to the mexican border, but since they're released on their own recognizance, there's no legal hook to chase them on. we'll see, do they show up in court on march 4th or don't they? >> right. this is where people started talking about reform. this tends to blow up politically, for sure, when they start looking and seeing some of this video and finding out that people were able to potentially leave the state, maybe. >> but that's why, in this kind of confusing morass of issues, the district attorney elected to take a step forward and release this video. alvin bragg, the manhattan d.a.,

is making the point this is a confusing incident. you have assault involving multiple people. not everybody's actions are exactly the same. some people used more force than others. some people switched clothes afterwards, which may have confused identifications of different suspects, and we're trying to proceed judicially within the officer's policy. not sure that argument took and that people have developed sides in this. >> right. i want to talk about the mayor saying people shouldn't have been released but says his hands are tied regarding where they are and regarding the rules that have been put in place. does this create a big issue for law enforcement as you go forward when they see something like this? obviously, morale will be an issue and has continued to be an issue. but there is this issue of trying to reform the justice system, and there will be things that are hard. >> so, this has been a pull with law enforcement for a long time, which is the complaint that under the new reform laws you

can literally walk into a store, take as much stuff as you want, step outside, meet a cop, get a ticket, not have to show up for court. and there's no incentive to stop that. >> no big consequence. >> the bail reform lawyer v laws were based on the idea of trying to achieve less racial disparity within the criminal justice system, and the jury is, no pun intended, still out on whether it's having the intended effect or whether it's just driving up other kinds of crimes. >> when something new happens, there are always wrinkles, problems, an effort to make the system more fair. there are problems with the system. but ultimately vly, we know how this works. things swing back and forth depending on public sentiment and who gets into office. >> we've seen this movie before. >> love having you on. appreciate it. john? this morning, we have a cnn exclusive report on what the biden administration is doing to prepare for potential threats to this year's presidential election. officials are running drills on

how to respond to things like deep-fake videos and artificial intelligence and to find out how limited a federal response would be. cnn's cybersecurity reporter sean lingas has the details on this. what have you learned? >> we have a fly on the wall look inside the room as some of the most senior national security officials in the government prepare for election-related chaos. this is a preparation. they're drilling, so they're prepaying pairing for worst-case scenarios. one scenario is what if violence breaks out at polling stations on election day? that would be a state and local issue. another is what if there's an ai-made video of a senator destroying ballots in an election he was in? the answer to that was also difficult because the public right now really does not trust the federal government on messaging, so they're leaning

hard on state and local election officials to do that messaging. one u.s. official told cnn "we're all effing tied up in knots right now dealing with deepfake threats." there's an jong going wrenching debate about how you best respond publicly to something where you may not be sure who's behind it. is the deepfake from a foreign actor or a domestic one? and free speech issues come into play. >> lisa ling, thanks for sharing that with us. ahead, president biden offering one of his sharpest rebukes yet of israeli's military conduct in gaza, qualitying it, quote, over the top, this as a critical aid bill inches forward. plus, haiti, rocked by anti-government protesters, apgerred by gang violence just

experienced it most violent month in more than two years as levels of poverty and despair deepen. we have much more on that story ahead.

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. two leading candidates for senate. two very different visions for california. steve garvey, the leading republican, is too conservative for california. he voted for trump twice and supported republicans for years, including far right conservatives. adam schiff, the leading democrat, defended democracy against trump and the insurrectionists. he helped build affordable housing, lower drug costs, and bring good jobs back home. the choice is clear. i'm adam schiff, and i approve this message. president biden says israel's military conduct has

been, quote, over the top. this is the sharpest criticism yet from the president, who's generally avoided voicing disapproval of israel. with me now is congressman adam smith, the ranking member on the house armed services committee. great to see you here in person. >> good to be here. >> what in your mind is "over the top" when it comes to israel's conduct? >> the biggest problem is -- first of all, i didn't say that, the president said that. the biggest problem is what is the future for the palestinian people? the need to destroy hamas or significantly degrade hamas, no doubt about it. but there has to be a future for the palestinian people in gaza, in the west bank. this is a future that the netanyahu government has not articulated, even as they continue to press for the military campaign. so, i wouldn't say it has been over the top. they're trying to deal with a very, very violent enemy that wants to destroy them. but their lack of a plan for helping the palestinian civilians going forward has undermined their ability to succeed in their mission. >> you don't the it's working.

>> i would say it's undermined their ability to ultimately succeed in having a safe and secure israel, because if there's no future for the palestinian people, that empowers hamas and other extremist organizations and undermines the ability to cut a very necessary peace agreement with saudi arabia. saudi arabia is ready to go, but they've said you have to start the palestinian people down the path to some kind of future. so, that needs to be worked on at the same time that you're working on the military side of it. >> let me move a little on the map to ukraine. what direction do you think vladimir putin's war on ukraine is going? >> right now, vladimir putin is going to try to take as much of ukraine as he possibly can. if it gets to the point where he can't go forward and stops, i think a negotiation is possible. but right now, he thinks he's winning. and he is not going to stop at where he's at in ukraine. that's the great fear, which is why it's so important to get aid to ukraine now so that they can stop putin and russia from

moving forward from where they're at in ukraine and force that negotiation. >> he thinks he's winning. do you think he's winning? >> um, no, not long term. it's significantly undermined russia's military this capability and their standing in the world, and at the moment he's stalled. he's stalled in eastern ukraine and along the southern border. but the key part of this is maintaining a sovereign democratic ukraine. the current situation is not great. look, ukraine as a country should exist where it was in 1991. the moment that's not possible, so at a minimum we need to maintain a solid, democrat, sovereign ukraine, we can't do that without further sup fort them. >> you are a high-rarning elected democrat. >> you say that in a way that's ominous. >> you may not think so in a second. you're not living in a vacuum with the special counsel's report on president biden with his age and his mental health.

he called someone the president of mexico. >> two things about that. i've sat in meetings with the president, spoken on the phone, talked about incredibly complicated subjects, the one we just discussed here. at no time did i think he wasn't completely on top of that very complicated situation we talked about, what's happening with israel and gaza, between russia and ukraine, how do we deal with the southern border. there's been no moment where i'm, like, mm, he doesn't know what's going on. does he occasionally say the wrong word? certainly. on the way over here, i was thinking in an interview with neil cavuto, i called him steve. i have no idea why i did that. i know his name. that doesn't worry me so much as does he know what's going on in the world, and i'm confident he does. >> are you confident looking around the country that president biden is the best democratic candidate to defeat donald trump? >> look, i'm not going to kid

you on one point. it is a challenge, as old as he is. it is, without question. he's fully capable of doing the job. he's doing it well. he does not have the normal strength to do rally after rally and conversation after conversation. that will be difficult on the campaign trail, but as i've said before, president biden may not be the best campaigner in the world. he's doing a good job as president. i'd rather have someone who's good at the job and not great at the campaigning than the other way around. but it's going to be a challenge to win that campaign. >> because he is so old? >> i don't know if it's just that or the way he communicates or the way his campaign goes. but clearly, yesterday's press conference, as you said, i'm a senior democratic politician, i've been doing it a long time, that's not the way you want to do it. he was frustrated. there was not a clear agenda of here's my explanation. it didn't go well. no doubt about that. that needs to get better. but again, the most important

thing is, is he on top of the economy? look at how we have managed -- everyone said we were going to be in a reception. we're not. now, there are still affordability crises. we have to make housing and food more affordable, but he's negotiated a very difficult situation, coming out of the pandemic, dealing with a series of international crises, in a way that's been very coherent and has moved the policy forward. there's no doubt in my mind he's capable of doing the job. messaging, very complicated. if you've never run for office, i like to think of myself as a reasonably articulate person. i've done this a long time. i've been in press conferences, in town hall meetings where i went -- i -- you -- i shouldn't are said that. you try to fix it and you make is v it worse. it is not as easy as it looks. >> congressman adam smith, we are thrilled to have you here with us. >> thanks for giving me the chance. ahead, the supreme court leaning toward donald trump's arguments in the colorado ballot

case. we'll discuss that coming up.

with maybe donald trump's best day of 2024 under his belt winning the nevada caucus and finding he could possibly fend off a blockbuster challenge to his eligibility on the colorado ballot. the supreme court justices appeared to be poised to side with him potentially by a wide

margin. now the now hard, the debate a state's power and the 14th amendment and how soon they might do it, super tuesday less than one month away, and primaries have already begun. cnn justice correspondent jessica schneider has the latest on this. jessica, what do we expect and when, a harder question, do we expect a ruling on this? >> sara, it could come at any point. we're probably talking a matter of weeks here because the justices understand the urgency. the primaries are well under way. you said super tuesday about a month away. and the calendar is barreling toward the general election. what's interesting is we have seen the supreme court move very rapidly in somewhat similar circumstances. it was back in the year 2000 the supreme court actually decided bush v. gore one day after hearing arguments. now, granted, that decision came during a very chaotic time with the recounts in florida, which they halted. and of course it was just weeks before the inauguration. so, there was a bit of a

different circumstance there. but in this case, these nine justices also know that time is of the essence here, so we could see something really in a matter of weeks here when often these big decisions might take until june. it probably won't be that long. we saw from the arguments yesterday that it really does look like there would be a solid majority to rule in trump's favor, to overturn what the colorado supreme court did in taking him off the ballot there. there was a lot of pushback and skepticism from several of the justices, conservatives and liberals alike. and the skepticism in their view was that it's unlikely the 14th amendment would really confer this kind of power on states to take individual people off the ballot that they themselves, the states, have deemed ineligible insurrectionists. so, here's more from the justices to see how they were agreeing. >> 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?

>> these are difficult questions, and you look right at section 5 of the 14th amendment, as the chief justice said, and that tells you congress has the primary role here. >> if there's an ambiguity, why would we construe it to, as justice kavanagh pointed out, against democracy? >> and really, sara, the court doesn't even need to get to the court, if she's in this case, whether trump engaged in insurrection, whether that would disqualify him from the ballot. instead, there's a lot more off-ramps and narrow issues this court could decide, you know, like whether it's up to congress to enforce this ban instead of the courts, whether this ban even applies to the president. so right now the justices will be deciding how they are going to, you know, write their opinion in what does seem like a win for trump. sara? >> jessica schneider, you are all over this. thank you for your reporting. with us is former manhattan

prosecutor jeremy solange. when this happened yesterday, it was the biggest legal headline that lasted about six minutes. then the biggest headline now is the special counsel report exonerating president biden, saying at least they will not press charges or bring charges with him handling the documents. but the issue is how he chose robert herr to explain why. did he paint outside the lines, in your view, when he included what democrats to be editorializing about the president's age? >> there was a generous amount of editorializing, no doubt. but i'd rather be an indictment of my memory and ability to understand certain things than an indictment of a grand jury. no doubt the special counsel pointed to president biden's age, his ability to remember things and that it would be convincing before a jury that, you know what, maybe this is a regular guy. but it went a little more than

one would expect. >> when you talked about that and said, well, you'd rather have this than a grand jury saying, okay, you're indicted, but there is politics at play here. >> of course. >> and it is being used politically. i'm just curious if you've seen something like this, not when it comes to a president but a special counsel talking about such personal things as he couldn't remember the date, as he says in the report, of his son's death. >> the relevancy of that should not -- it should not have been there in my opinion. you look at jack smith, no matter where you fall on the political spectrum, you don't see that behavior. but you also have to recognize, and i'm sure you played one way against the other way, but this is a trump appointee out of maryland, u.s. attorney, pardon me. is that in play here? it could be. but objectively, it's the right decision even if there is some editorializing. it's a right decision based on the interviews and the facts and the materials they covered. >> there's a lot in there that

does point out the contrast between the case against donald trump and the noncase against president biden. explain. >> absolutely. these are two distinct cases. you have one person, president biden, who proactively says i found this national archives, i need to return this to you and let me get it to you, as opposed to former president donald trump who says i'm going ignore that subpoena and certify it was all done correctly, then a search warrant has to be executed to secure poex nenchly more documents. there's a vast divide between president biden and former president trump objectively. >> stark, stark differences, which is why you are seeing stark differences in the court, not in public opinion, but actual criminal court. thanks for coming on. >> absolutely. >> john? >> john. >> sara. >> good to see you. the top u.n. official the warning of a dire human rights crisis in hay tay has the

country just experienced its most violent month in more than two years. we'll take a deeper look at haiti in what is becoming a failed state.

new this morning, the violence in haiti is reaching horrifying levels. 800 innocent people were killed, injured, or kidnapped just last month alone making it the most violent month in two years, according to the u.n. protesters furious over worsening gang violence and poverty are calling for the prime minister to resign.

>> reporter: a state on the brink of collapse. haitians are once again rising up in protest, demanding presidential elections that were promised but never delivered. it's been nearly three years since haiti's president was assassinated. power vacuum, gangs exacting brutal violence on the population, have overrun the capital, port-au-prince. the current prime minister, ariel henri, had been urging calm and says he will not step down, but swaths of the population are rising up against him. he took control of the country after being chose bin the president shortly before his assassination. a 2022 cnn investigation revealed that investigators believe henri was at the center of it, and a judge overseeing the murder case told cnn that henri was a main suspect in moise's assassination, something henri has denied often. he wrote in a series of tweets, "the division their tactics to

seed confusion and impede justice from doing its work serenely will not stand." but henri is largely seen as an illegitimate leader by the haitian public. the final straw, he promised to move forward with long-delayed election, citing a deal with representatives of political parties, but the elections never came. henry now saying elections will be held when the unrest and violence finally subside. protesters are calling for him to step down. and amid desperation, some haitians are rallying around a polarizing figure, guy philippe. >> we have a government that has no respect. no one loves them. everyone knows he's helping the gangs. killing innocent people. kidnapping. >> reporter: the current haitian government denies these

allegations. in haiti, the self-proclaimed former police chief rose to prominence after leading a coup that resulted in the ousting of then president jean-bertrand aristede in 2004 followed by an unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 2007. he was only recently repatriated to haiti after serving six years in a u.s. federal prison after taking a plea deal, admitting to taking bribes from drug smugglers. today, his words still galvanize a public frustrated by gang violence, corruption, and economic despair. for more than a decade, haiti has suffered through an unrelenting wave of catastrophic crises, a catastrophic earthquake where more than 200,000 believed killed brought the island nation to its knees. soon after, haiti's misery compounded at u.s. peacekeepers meant to bring stability transmitted cholera, leading to a large-scale outbreak that

killed more than 10,000 people. in the following years, haiti was continually rocked by political instability, the situation finally reaching a fever pitch with the assassination of the president in 2021. several people have been arrested and are custody for their alleged roles in the murder. warring gangs asserted control over much of port-au-prince, disrupting the supply chain of necessities and displacing scores of civilians. kidnappings on the streets have become routine hazards of life. gang violence has stretched into the rural reaches of the island, the u.n. says. in 2023, the u.n. documented over 8,400 direct victims of gang violence, up 122% from 2022. >> i cannot overstress the severity of the situation in haiti, where multiple protracted crises have reached a critical point. >> reporter: the gangs operate with impunity as political deadlock renders the government

toothless and the national police force struggles for control. >> translator: the haitian people can't take it anymore. i hope that this is the last time i speak before you before the deployment of a multinational security support force. the haitian people have had enough of the armed gangs' savagery. >> reporter: but international efforts to restore security have also faltered. for now, demonstrations led by philippe continue to gain traction, the protests fueled by despair over the state of their lives in a state barely able to function. i spoke with the opposition leader guy philippe. he said he'd been through a harrowing ordeal. we'll have much or on what he said on "the lead" with jake tapper. new reporting that president biden was cursing behind closed doors when he saw the special

counsel's report. he has an appearance later today with the german chancellor. what does the white house plan to do to move beyond all this?