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president biden fighting back, but not without some miscues. did his rebuttal of a special counsel report questioning his memory potentially make matters worse? the white house is about to face reporters again. we will bring that to you live. and donald trump facing some of his own problems. supreme court justices may side with him in the colorado ballot issue, but it's another case, one involving presidential immunity, that may be his most pressing problem. and big game, big bucks. celebrities are getting eye- popping paychecks for appearing in super bowl commercials. we are following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to cnn news central. ♪ ♪ ♪ president biden fuming after the special counsel report into his mishandling of

classified documents described him as, quote, an elderly man with a poor memory. biden was incredulous during in impromptu press conference last night, when he pushed back against the claims made by special counsel robert hur. while touting the fact that hur decided no criminal charges should be brought, biden lashed out in the face of newly- intensified scrutiny over his mental acuity. republicans are now seizing on it. some saying it is time to invoke the 25th amendment. let's take you now to the white house with cnn's mj lee who was at last night's heated briefing. mj, the president but anger on full display. you had a tense exchange with him asking him about this public perception that he has lost a step in his older age. >> reporter: i think you are right that the president was clearly fuming and furious last night. it is interesting, you know, watching him last night giving his remarks, taking questions from reporters, it was almost

as though the legal headline that was robert hur not going to bring forward a criminal charge, almost became a footnote. there was so much more focus on that description in the report that you referenced, robert hur saying that he was an elderly man with a memory problem. we saw the president very much pushing back on those accusations. but there were so many references in this report citing various examples of these alleged memory problems, including the president not knowing when he was vice president and that he didn't know when his late son, beau, had died. that line of questioning, in particular, was clearly what made the president most upset an angry. we are told that in private, yesterday, he was fuming about that and said, how could i effing forget that? we also saw him get emotional when he addressed this in the remarks last night. take a listen. >> how in the -- dare he raise?

that i talk to myself, it's none of their -- business. let me tell you something, some of you have commented, -- the day he died, the rosary -- every memorial day, we hold a service remembering him, my friends and family and the people who loved him. i don't need anyone, i don't need anyone to remind me of when he passed away. >> reporter: we also heard from the president, and i think this is something we will continue hearing from the white house, the distinction that robert hur made in this report comparing the way that biden handled the classified documents versus former president donald trump. the fact that they turned over these documents immediately, consented to multiple surges of his properties, the fact he sat down for a five hour interview back in october. but i think even that ended up getting relatively lost, boris,

compared to all the focus we saw yesterday on these memory issues. and the question about his age. >> mj lee live from the white house for us. thank you so much. i do want to play a clip for you now a vice president kamala harris who was just asked about whether she thought that the special counsel report was fair in its description of president biden as an elderly man with memory problems. let's listen to the vice presidents response, remembering that she is a former prosecutor herself. >> reporter: [inaudible] >> i am glad you asked. listen, i've been privileged and proud to serve as vice president of the united states with joe biden as president of the united states. and what i saw in that report last night, i believe, is, as a

former prosecutor, the comments made by that prosecutor were gratuitous, inaccurate, and inappropriate. october 7th, israel experienced a horrific attack. and i would tell you, we got the call's. the president and myself, in the hours after that occurred. it was an intense moment for the commander-in-chief of the united states of america. and i was in almost every meeting with the president in the hours and days that followed. countless hours with the secretary of defense, the secretary of state, the heads of our intelligence community,

and the president was in front of aunt on top of it all, asking questions and requiring that america's military and intelligence community and diplomatic community would figure out and know how many people were dead. how many are americans, how many hostages. it is the situation stable? he was in front of it all, coordinating and directing leaders in charge of america's national security, not to mention our allies around the globe. for days and up until now, months. so, the way that the presidents demeanor in that report was characterized could not be more wrong on the facts. and clearly, it was politically

motivated, gratuitous. and so, i will say that when it comes to the role and responsibility of a prosecutor in a situation like that, we should expect there would be a higher level of integrity and than what we saw. thank you. thank you for the question. [applause] >> the vice president clearly wanting to address that there. house republicans are seizing on the special counsel's report, suggesting president biden is unfit to lead, and using it to ramp up what had really been a flailing effort to impeach biden. one gop senator now calling biden's -- calling on biden's cabinet to remove him from office using the 25th amendment. let's go to cnn's melanie zanona live for us on capitol hill. the reaction from republicans was pretty swift. >> reporter: yeah. it was swift and sharp. republicans are trying to

allege there was a double standard, because trump was charged for his mishandling of classified documents, and biden was not, even though the report notes there is a key distinction here in that trump willfully did not turn over documents and try to obstruct justice. but the part of the report that republicans are highlighting the most is the section that says biden struggled to remember key details during his interview. the house republican leadership team put out a statement questioning the president's mental acuity, saying he is unfit to serve. and james comer, the chairman of one of the committees leading the impeachment inquiry into the president, put out a statement saying they are going to continue to investigate. while the justice department has closed its investigation, the oversight committee's investigation continues. he has also said, breonna, that they want to see the entire interview transcript. that is something republicans are demanding. we are expecting those calls to ramp up in the coming days. democrats have pushed back forcefully. they say the references to

biden's memory issues were totally out of bounds in that report and saying that they still believe biden is their best bet to take on trump in november, but no doubt these questions about biden's age is something democrats will have to deal with as they get closer to february. >> melanie zanona, thank you so much for that. the latest from capitol hill. boris? let's discuss now with a cnn senior political commentator and former obama senior advisor david axelrod, as well as cnn political commentator and former communications director for vice president harris, jamal simmons. thank you both, gentlemen, for sharing part of your afternoon with us. david, soon after these remarks, we heard from biden allies who argued that the president has historically had a habit of misspeaking. but i'm curious, from your perspective, someone who has worked with him closely, it is the jovita that you see today different than the joe biden you saw every day during the obama administration?

>> well, they are right that this has been part of biden's political profile from the beginning. he is a guy who speaks freely and sometimes commits gaffes. that was true in his 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s. it is the flip side of authenticity that has served him well. look, he is older -- he has 12 years older or more than when i worked, 15 years older than when i worked with him. yes, he's not exactly the same. i don't think president obama was the same at the end of the -- in the eight year than he was in the first year, but he had the benefit of experience that offset anything -- any aging that went on. but look, let's be honest about this. the reason that report -- gratuitous or not, and i think it was gratuitous for the prosecutor to put that language

in, it struck a chord because this has been something plaguing the president throughout this campaign. and before, the sense he has lost a step, that he is not with it. i think what the vice described is probably exactly the truth, which is behind closed doors, he is very competently running the administration. and there are -- there is ample evidence of that, the legislation he's passed, the relationship with nato and the way he pulled them together and so on. but, having said all that, public perception is formed by how you perform in front of the camera. on that, i think the president i think has lost a step and it has hurt him. it has created these questions that are the central challenge for him in this campaign. >> jamal, to that point. there were missteps last night. biden made inaccurate statements about the investigation, among them, he claimed none of the documents he kept were highly classified.

some of them were highly classified. he said he didn't share classified information with anyone, he is on tape sharing them with his ghost writer, or at least telling his ghostwriter that he has classified documents in his basement. and at this press conference help biden's case? >> i think the way this press conference was intended to work, and i think it worked in this way -- he was feisty, right? the thing about the president that even those of us who are in the white house came to know pretty well from our friends who were briefing him is the president can get in your stuff a little bit, right? he can poke, he can profit. he can ask for real questions and want to know the real answers about what's going on. i think it's probably true that he was not happy when he heard this, he read this report. what we saw last night is a feisty president. one of the things we also know about him, he is honest and has

got this competency of caring about people and trying to make sure. let me just say what mark milley said, who was the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. you engage with him frequently on 60 minutes. he is alert, sound, does his homework, reads the papers, does everything in advance. they are engaging on issues, very serious matters of war and peace in this age. i think this testimony from the vice president, the former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff tells you that america is in good hands. the question david raises, the question the voters raised, which david points, out is a very serious one about is this man, joe biden, really up to the job? but people who work with him the most closely you say the answer is yes. >> that may be true, but that perception, david, that you noted has been nagging him for months. and even though he was fiery last night, he did mistake the president of egypt for the president of mexico. i can't imagine that that all teared a lot of folks thinking at home. noticeably, as we are putting a

polling on screen, and there is a lot of folks, a majority, almost 75% of voters asked by cnn have serious concerns about his age and the impact of his age on his presidency. i am imagining that he's going to try to shake. that 200 plus days before election day. can he change public perception in that way? how? >> first of all. stories that are damaging in politics our stories that reinforce an impression. there is this impression of the president, it's been relentlessly pushed by republicans really for for -- more than four years. but these things become, they become bites on social media. you know, the mistake last night. they reinforce a theme. and that is a problem that his campaign has to cope with.

how you put them out there to show energy but then deal with the aftermath if he makes mistakes. donald trump is a gaffe machine himself. but, because he is energetic, these questions are not as profound about him. but, you know, he mistakes nikki haley for nancy pelosi and so on. how you deal with it is a real question, boris. obviously, they need to be on the offense and they need to make this a comparative race. because president trump has his own major liabilities that will play out during the course of this campaign. but the thing that -- more concern to me about the mistaking the -- calling the president of egypt the president of mexico was the way he reacted to mj when she asked a question that was completely legitimate, which is, what are you going to do about the fact

that so many people have this question? and he's not better and said, well, that's your opinion. no, mister president. it's not her opinion. it's the opinion of a lot of americans who only see you in front of a camera. they don't see you in the situation room. they don't see you in these closed-door meetings. they are drawing their conclusions from what they see. and, so the campaign has to strategize around that and put him in situations -- i am not sure that a group of hungry reporters shouting at him is necessarily the best way for him to communicate. they need to figure out how to use, him how much do you, somehow not to tire him out so that he makes more mistakes. but it's a big problem. one other point i want to make. last night, one of the things i heard that concerned me was, the president was disputing elements of the report, as you

guys mentioned. it is very clear, there is a transcript of that, of those five hours. and so, we know, he has now had -- he has made a carnivorous house republican caucus more so. they will chase him, they will chase this thing relentlessly and keep this story alive. that was another problem with the press conference last night. and one last thing, boris. i listen to the vice president, who was very compelling in her testimony. but it made me wonder, if you are the staff, why, in the midst of everything she was describing, do you then have the president sit down for a very consequential deposition? you know, if the president was weary in that deposition, she described why. i don't, know no matter whether the president is 80 or 50, i'm not sure that you go forward with a deposition in the midst

of a global crisis that the president is handling 24/7. that's a little confusing to me. >> it is worth pointing out that some of the descriptions from robert hur weren't just about the deposition. the difficult time, the strain the white house was under on october 8th and ninth, this goes back to conversations with biden was having with his ghost writer in 2017 where he was for getting things. jamal, i asked the last question and you want to say something. go ahead. >> first of, all i think this idea of him getting the name of a country wrong here or there, you know, just on sunday the speaker of the house mike johnson, 52 years old, was talking to meet the press and said we had eight to a rant package in israel. people make these mistakes on television. we all make them all the time. when we think about what the campaign has to do next, what the president has to do next, it's a very different world than it was in 2016 or 2012.

this is a world where the president has to communicate with people who are not watching regular television. they are scrolling through instagram and tiktok. i think the campaign is very clear that they are going to talk to these folks very directly in those environments. we have seen some viral videos that go out where people get to meet the president. i think he will see him doing some things where he is speaking very directly with voters, perhaps he may be in a smaller group. those could annoy the press because he is not joining press interviews like you did yesterday, but he's not going to sit down for every media interview, big media interview he gets asked. but he will go out and talk to voters. those voters will share those images and stories with our friends. that is how half the country is consuming their news. i think this campaign is different than ones we've seen in the past. they are learning those lessons and being creative about how to address them. >> i hope that we are not judged by the mistakes we make on tv, if we were, i probably wouldn't be here right now. jamal simmons, david axelrod,

thanks so much for being with us. >> thanks, boris. >> of course. still ahead, as president biden reviews israel's response in gaza as over the top, israel's military is planning a massive new offensive. we are live in tel aviv to bring you the latest. plus, the supreme court appears poised to keep former president trump on the 2024 ballot, but couldn't win in that case hints at a possible adverse decision in another for the former president? and, tucker carlson sitting down one-on-one with vladimir putin, getting the russian leader and hours along with platform just view his propaganda. those stories and much more next on cnn news central.

turning now to the war in gaza and israel's planned operation in part of the enclave were gazans were once

directed to evacuate to, rafah, which sits on gaza's border with egypt. today, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu directing the military to plan for the evacuation from rafah. he says israeli forces will enter that area to root out hamas from what netanyahu calls its, quote, last bastion. an estimated 1.3 million people live there, all crammed into makeshift tents, many of them on the verge of starvation. at least one aid group is fearing that rafah could turn into, quote, a zone of bloodshed. it's another dire warning about israel's campaign on gaza that has killed in nearly 28,000 people, according to the ministry of health and gaza, which is run by hamas. on thursday, president biden said this about the impact of israel's war. >> the conduct of the response in gaza, in the gaza strip has

been over the top. a lot of innocent people are starving, a lot of innocent people who are in trouble and dying. it has got to stop. >> cnn international diplomatic editor nic robertson joins us live from tel aviv. nick, has israel responded to that comment from president biden? >> i think what we heard from the prime minister today is a response to that. obviously, the presidents criticizing the civilian death toll inside gaza. i think that's very evident from what he says. and the prime minister has his office issued this statement, which, in a way, shift the focus from prime minister netanyahu on to the military, because they are saying, okay, military over to you, you come up with a plan. tell us, the cabinet, how you are going to execute our orders in rafah, where there is 1.3 million people doing, without

creating civilian casualties. however, i think the backdrop to this is that the military does have already a plan for trying to get civilians out of the way. and we've seen them try to do that in many parts of the country. thinking of khan yunis, where the military operation began a couple months ago. they tell areas of the population in certain districts that you need to evacuate and you need to do it now. this is the road you can use, and this is where you have to go. this refugee camp that is just growing and growing and growing in gaza. we but the reality of that scenario is civilians have been killed while they've been leaving their homes on the road. civilians have been killed in this supposedly safe area. and also, there were civilians that don't leave for any number of reasons, they can't, they are afraid, elderly relatives, all that sort of thing, and then they get stuck and caught in the line of fire. so, unless the military comes

up with a different approach, when the outcome could very much be the same. and you do get the impression from prime minister netanyahu's office that this is in a way is passing the burden of responsibility to the military. and the military say, we don't have our orders for going into rafah yet. i talked to some of the commanders. they look at the situation in rafah and that high density of population. it worries them because they know how hard it will be to execute their mission to capture and kill hamas where there are so many civilians. and the egyptian foreign minister just the other day said this could get so bad people in rafah could try to get over the border and come into egypt. 1 million people, half 1 million people, who knows what the number might be. but this is a scenario that is really worrying and the worries go outside of israel, they go into egypt as well. >> and that reverberates across the region and even here politically in the united

states. nic robertson, thanks so much for the update. >> let's discuss this further now with retired army brigadier general stephen anderson. general, it's great to have you. your expertise is logistics. you know have prime minister netanyahu asking the idf to drive a plan to evacuate well over 1 million people from rafah, something the white house says would be a disaster. is this even possible? what with this look like? >> thank you for having me, brianna. it would be possible but very difficult. i think it misses the point that nick made, in which netanyahu is trying to pass the buck to the military, to solve this problem for him. whereas this is a political situation. they need a political solution, a two-state solution. i mean, what's going on now in gaza? four months into this, you essentially have got a petri dish for growing future

terrorists going on in there. this is not a military solution at this point. we need to have a political situation solved. you need a two state solution. i mean, an occupation force like this down in rafah and all the rest of gaza plays right into the iranian hands. they can point out israel, the united states as hating them and everything they stand for. it also -- saudi arabia has a problem with this. they will not sign a peace deal with these real, as long as this is going on. the other thing is it's a math problem. there's only 10 million israelis. there are 2 million people in the gaza strip. there is no way they can occupy all the gaza strip effectively without having a major impact on their economy, their entire way of life. so they've got to do everything they can to come up with a political solution. >> you have, though, netanyahu calling rafah hamas's last bastion. you have israeli officials

raising the specter of taking on hezbollah in lebanon in a big way. these are not the words of officials who are talking about backing off. what do you think about what you are hearing and where this is headed? >> well, true, hezbollah is a real threat to israel north. they've probably got 25,000 soldiers out there. they claim to have 100,000 rockets. there are attacks happening up there almost every day. the last thing they need to do is open up another front with hezbollah. they do not need to take on hezbollah in any way, shape, or form. they need to solve the problem on the gaza strip, which is huge. they need to come up with a political situation, solution to this, a two-state solution. the other thing i would say, breonna, is they have yet to -- the israelis have yet to account for what happened on the 7th of november, of october, four months ago. it is still incredible to me that there is been no accountability from -- the most

significant let down in national defense by a country maybe in the history. it's almost inconceivable that they could allow the advance like the 7th of october happened. everybody sympathizes with israel, but they had about a three or four month window of opportunity there to solve this problem. after that, i mean, right now israel is turning into a political liability for president biden and the rest of the world is getting ticked off. and they've got to come up with a political solution now. they need to rescue the hostages and they need to develop a two-state solution that gives the palestinians self rule. >> general steve anderson, thank you so much. we appreciate your time today sir. >> thank you. >> ahead, we are standing by for the first white house press briefing since that scathing doj report. we know the spokesperson for the white house counsel's office is going to be joining the white house press secretary. so we are going to be bringing this to you live.

donald trump may face when lose rulings in a supreme court battles. the justices appear poised to side with trump in the historic ballad eligibility case before them right now. >> according to legal scholars, the high court might then be open to taking up his immunity case and rule against the former president. we have cnn's paula reid with us now. paula, these are two entirely different issues. why are some scholars connecting? >> they are connected by the same person in the middle. former president trump. two things can be true. this is a high court that's under enormous scrutiny. questions about ethics and partisanship and chief justices under enormous pressure to find, for example, in the

ballot, find some sort of opinion that can draw bipartisan consensus, likely very narrow. if you listen to the arguments yesterday, it's clearly possible he can do that. at the same, time you have two cases that are not equal in terms of their legal merit for the former president. ballot eligibility, also a strong argument for him, -- different outcomes across states, across the country. and this idea that you would allow states to strip voters of their choice of candidate it is one that is powerful, not only in the high court, because it's for case law to defend, that but also the court of public opinion. this idea of absolute presidential immunity. i know from talking to sources in and around the trump legal, team even they know that it is not a winning issue on the merits for them. and in many ways, they are litigating that issue, not only to try to exercise their clients rights to the fullest extent, but try to get the jack smith case delayed until the november election. what people want to, say maybe the supreme court will split the baby here. i think it is just the fact is

the law allows them to do that. trump has a strong case on ballot eligibility, far less of an immunity. i think people around the former president think is unlikely the supreme court will want to take up the ballot eligibility question. so the question is, how long does it take them to get an answer on what they are going to do? that, of the timing, really matters more than anything. the longer it takes, then the less likely jacks mitt can bring his case. >> it's fascinating, paula, that you say that in speaking to the trump legal team and people in that orbit, they share with you this acknowledgment that the immunity case has its flaws because when you listen to their testimony in court, thd a throwing some hypotheticals. the president, to take out their arrival. you are kind of locked into being, like maybe. you have to go through impeachment. they are boxed into a really untenable idea. of course, we want our presidents to have some protection and immunity so they can conduct wars, they can do their job without worrying about personal liability. but there has to be limits to

that. they have not been able to identify reasonable limits. that's why they are likely to lose at the supreme court if they even take up the case. >> paula reid, thank you so much for the update. we just got a two-minute warning from the white house that press briefing, we see the podium, there is set to start shortly. this is the first one since president biden's impromptu press conference last night. some mist steps and miscues for the president. we will see how the white house answers in just a moment.

all right, we're watching the white house briefing. here you see press secretary karine jean-pierre speaking. she is going over a couple of

topics and then she's going to be handing it over to the spokesperson for the white house counsel. this is going to be the first time we've heard from him. this is the first briefing we have heard since president biden's press conference last night. >> it was one in which the president made some remarks that contradicted details that were in the report. we have with us paula reid and norm eisman. norm, what did you make of the presidents remarks last night? a different moment, he seemed to go against what was in the actual details of the report, right? >> boris, it's not unusual for there to be some dispute around particular details of a special counsel report. the big takeaway is that the special counsel, robert hur, found there was no actionable misconduct here, that no laws were broken. president biden certainly agreed and is vehemently so that he hadn't broken any laws.

i think there is a legitimate discussion to be had. of course, it was the obama white house ethics czar. i was talking to the bush era ethics czar. we were surprised that the special counsel veered, in our view, gratuitously into comments about the presidents age and memory that are the most hot button political issues right now. there is a long-standing doj principle that prosecutors should avoid that kind of thing when they don't charge. former attorney general eric holder spoke about it as this sinks in we understand better some of why biden was concerned. i'm not justifying what he did with the documents. >> let's listen to ian sims at the white house. >> i will talk about a few things i think are important for you all to hear. and for the american people to hear. the president spoke powerfully about this last night. after a long investigation that turned over every stone and

explored every theory, the special counsel decided that there was no case there. notably, he said this would be true whether president biden was president or private citizen. the special counsel's assignment, when he was appointed, was to determine whether any criminal conduct occurred. he found it didn't. that was the finding. the case is closed. i want to read you something from none other than can star, who most people in this room will remember as the independent counsel who investigated former president clinton. after that investigation, here's what he said the congress. quote, what i see the conclusion as being is just a determination that no criminal charges would be brought. period, full stop. and that's it. it's all over at that stage, and quote. that rings true here. special counsel report goes on at length about the presidents unprecedented cooperation in this case. i want to share a few things about, that because i think it is very important. number one, when the classified documents were found, it was

self reported. the president directed his team to ensure that any classified documents were returned immediately. why did he do that? because the president takes classified information seriously. he always has. he did not intentionally take classified documents. he understands documents like that belong with the government. he never, never made any attempt to obstruct. number, two he took unprecedented action to get the special counsel what he needed. he opened up every room in his family home and his beach house for comprehensive fbi searches. the first time in history. he sat for two days of interviews, and interview that i will add, and the president talked about this last night, took place the day after the brutal attack on israel. the president was managing an intensive international crisis. you just heard the vice president talk about this. he answered dozens of follow-up questions to the special counsel in writing.

three, he didn't exert executive privilege over any contents of the report. he was transparent, he had nothing to hide. there was a long, intensive, and in many ways, yes, excessive investigation. but for context, you should all remember, in the case of former vice president mike pence, who had a very similar incident occurred right after president biden, the case was closed within a few months. it was a brief, one page letter to mike pence. but in this case, there was a 15 month investigation. the special counsel interviewed 150 witnesses. he sought and obtained 7 million pages of documents down to emails about moving trucks during the transition in 2016 and 2017. he spent more than three and a half million taxpayer dollars exploring every possible theory he could. and what was the result? he reached the inevitable conclusion based on the facts

and the evidence that there was no case here. this is important to think about in the context of how this report is being viewed and being covered. this is the first special counsel investigation ever that has not indicted anyone. the -- every theory was explored, but the facts and the evidence disputed them. the decision was that there was no case to be made. that reality, we also need to talk about the environment that we are in. for the past few years, republicans in congress and elsewhere have been attacking prosecutors who aren't doing what republicans want we. they have made up claims of a two tiered system of

why this report spends time over the past 24 hours, we've actually seen legal experts and former prosecutors come out and give their analysis. former attorney general eric holder said the report, quote, contains way too many gratuitous remarks, and is flatly inconsistent with long- standing doj traditions. the former acting fbi director said he had overseen many cases like this and, quote, you have to have explicit evidence of willful retention of documents

that's the perspective of seasoned legal law enforcement officials, and people with deep issues at the department of justice. unfortunately, the gratuitous remarks that the former attorney general talked about, have naturally caught headlines and all of your attention. they are wrong, and they are inaccurate. and they obscure a very simple truth that i want to repeat one last time. since i know it is hard to wade through 400 full pages. one, the report lays out example after example of how the president did not willfully take classified documents. the report lays out how the president did not share classified documents with anyone. the report lays out how the president did not knowingly share classified information with anyone. on page two, with him which i know you all read, the report argues that the president willfully retained materials, but buried way later on page 2:15, the report says, and i quote, there is in fact a

shortage of evidence on these points. 200 pages later, put simply, this case is closed, because the facts and the evidence don't support the theories here. the gratuitous comments that respected experts are saying is out of line, are inappropriate, and they shouldn't distract from the fact that this case is closed, and the facts and evidence show that they reached the right conclusion. with that, i'm happy to take questions. >> when did -- the presidents brief -- with the contents of the report? >> i was briefed by his lawyers. and >> in second, the president, as you mentioned again, you've obviously -- -- the were gratuitous. has the president -- 's confidence in merrick garland, after selecting -- to be put in this position. >> if the president spoke to this blast, i can't remember which of you asked him what his thoughts were on the appointment of special counsel,

and he at answer that i think thoughtfully and powerfully, and i don't have anything to add beyond with the president. said >> just day -- is important release of the entire transcript of his interview, to put to rest some of the things that you think are being overlooked. >> that's a reasonable question. i think that it is important to know that we are dealing with classified materials in this conversation, there are classified issues there. i don't have the announcement on releasing anything today. but, it is a reasonable question, and there are classified stuff that we will have to work through all of that. >> but once you -- get a redacted version, with the president support of the release, as long as you can obviously keep what needs to be kept secret secret? >> we will take a look at that, and make a determination. >> thanks again. >> two questions. first, you said at the top of the president -- takes information seriously, and the president said last night he never discussed classified material with anyone. but, the special counsel's report said that on three different occasions, he did discuss it with his ghost writer. i understand it didn't meet the

bar for prosecution, but how do you reconcile the president staying -- >> sure, well if you read the full report, it actually gets into each of those three instances. i think justin rightly points out that we are talking of three instances out of 250 pages of evidence that they are talking about, criticizing. i think it is important to look at those three examples, two of them are his own notes to himself in his personal diary, that he was reading about to his ghost writer, for his memoir, for a memoir about his life after his son beau died. and, he was reading these passages that he had written to himself, to share information with him, and he took pains, and the report lays this out, to express how sensitive some of the information was, and that we should be careful with it. and of those two passages from his diaries that he talked about with his ghost writer, more -- than there is no classified information in the book. and so i want to just make that point. and the second is, there is an allegation of willfully taking

a classified document that he talked about with his ghost writer. that is false. as the president talked about last night, he was again talking about a handwritten letter that he had sent to president obama, and facts to him, about the afghanistan troop surge. these are the presidents own personal writings. you know, the presidents own diary notes to himself. and i think there is an important thing to think about here. there is plenty of historical analogues. the most notable of which is ronald reagan, president reagan, whose diaries were very famously a subject of a lot of tension in the country. and the justice department knew that president reagan's diary said classified information, new it at the time. he took those diaries on, he read those diaries to people, he shared the actual physical copy of the diaries, which is this special counsel report talks about, joe biden never even gave custody of his notebooks to anybody. and, they never even asked for those diaries back, and they never launched investigation. and why is that? it's because historically, going back to the beginning of the country, presidents keep

diaries. we should want our presidents to be thoughtful and deliberative about the decision that they make on the most consequential issues of our time. and, we have entrusted presidents to be safe keepers of this information, and we have expressed great gratitude, including many of you in the press, when presidents share through books and other, things insights into their thinking and decision-making, and historical context. and so i think it is lost in the shuffle of all of this, that the president did what all of his predecessors had done, which was take notes for himself, to keep a diary of his own daily life, so that he could think back on these big moments of the time. and so, that's important to know about this allegation that there was sharing -- >> right, is it your contention that just because the president reroute classified material in his own words, and then share with somebody who didn't have the security clearance for it, that it was okay? >> well let's look at the

report, we talked a lot about -- this i understand it's long, 400 pages, i'm not sure how many people in this room have played -- page three, which i think everybody is asking about understandably says quote, mr. biden shared information, including some classified information with his ghost writers. but if you go to page 248, the report says quote, we conclude that the evidence does not establish that mr. biden will fully disclosed national defense information to his writing assistant. that's in the report, that's the conclusion that was made based on the evidence. and there's something else i want to add about this, because we have gone back and forth. on page one of the report, it says the president willfully retain classified mark documents related to afghanistan. but on page 2:15 of the report, it says quote, there is in fact a shortage of evidence on these points. on page five of the report, everybody read, that first few pages. it says quote, mr. biden's memory was success -- -limited. >> but here's something that

everyone should make sure that ac. elsewhere in the report he says quote, we expect the evidence of mr. biden's state of mind to be compelling, pointing to him providing quote, clear and forceful testimony. that is his comments on his state of mind later in the report. and so i think it is important to take the report in it's totality, and understand that in that report, the facts and evidence refute the theories that are floated that they -- >> may be we disagree on the -- if he is qualified. but there's one thing i want to ask you about, which is that his attorney has said that they were going to work on the process to make sure that none of this happens again. obviously, there's the potential that this administration has less than a year left, so i'm when or if you can detail -- what the timeline is on that, what you guys are considering for that type of process. >> that's a great question. i think that something that this issue a year ago brought to light, is that this is, unfortunately, a very common

occurrence in our country. the national archives has talked about how 80 different libraries and collections, just in the last decade or so, have called and said oh, we found classified documents in these papers. and they have a process that usually is to turn those back in. but then, we have the issue with president biden, immediately after that we had the issue with vice president pence. and i think it's important to understand that this is a common occurrence, and the president thinks that we should fix it. like, he gave all of these documents back, he knew he did not, that these governments should, the government should be in possession of these documents. and so what we are going to do, is the president going to appoint a task force to approve how transitions look at classified material, to ensure that there are better processes in place. so that when staffs -- are packing up boxes to try to get out during a transition as quickly as possible, at the same time and up until the very moment, that they are still governing and doing matters of state, they are going to try to make recommendations that that can be fixed. and he is going to appoint a senior government leader to do

that.