we will tell you where donald trump will not be on april 29th. that's the date of this year's white house correspondents' dinner. it's traditionally attended by the president. this year the rsvp is in and he's not going. we'll tell you why. and the dnc has a new chairman. and the leader of the party is in a twitter war with the president tonight. but first, cnn can now confirm that the head of the house intelligence committee was asked by the white house to reach out to the media in an effort to knock down stories about the trump campaign's ties to russia. that news follows exclusive cnn reporting that the white house asked the fbi to do the very same thing but the fbi said it could not. also, the president and his new national security advise are not quite in agreement when it comes to putting labels on potential terrorists. elise has that.

>> reporter: donald trump's new national security adviser wants a more moderate approach than the president himself. and general h.r. mcmaster held a meeting with his staff at the nsa several days ago. according to several people who attended the meeting, he said the term "radical islamic terrorism" is unhelpful because terrorists like isis are perverting the religion and their behavior is un-islamic. both the president and flynn frequently used the term to describe jihad terrorists. mcmaster made the comment that this plays into their propaganda. and this is a religious war against islam and that hurts u.s. efforts to work with muslim allies to defeat terrorist groups. we are told mcmaster had a strikingly different tone than mike flynn who was forced to resign last week after the controversy over his discussions with the russian ambassador. now in contrast, president trump who has praised vladimir putin, mcmaster said russia was an adversary. so all of this repudiation of

president trump's language and word view, the president doesn't seem to be that bent out of shape about it. the white house acknowledging a difference of opinion on language but not about the approach to fight terrorism. president trump does seem to be impressionable to the opinions of his aides and so career staff, many of whom agree with mcmaster's world view, are hoping he can push a more moderate u.s. foreign policy. officials say his arrival and his discussions with staff are really boosting morale, which was sinking under flynn. we'll have to see whether his views will carry the day. elise lavits, cnn, washington. >> elise, thank you so much. i want to get jaime metzel in here to talk about this. he's a former staffer from the senior security council. and jaime, tell me a little bit about, i guess, from the vantage point of having had experience on the nse, and then as you look

at h.r. mcmaster now being on, you just heard elise's report, he sees things a little different than president trump. how do you see that working out? >> well, first on the national security council, the national security council, as you know, was established in 1947 to really bring all of the branches of government together. and the president needs the national security council and especially the principles committee to make sure that he or she some day is getting the best possible advice for making very, very important decisions. and it's been very important since 1947 that the nse is not politicized. and that's why there's never been a political commissoir. and if that is changing, and it looks like it is based on the executive order from the trump administration, that's very, very concerning.

at the same time, h.r. mcmaster coming in, he recognizes that the president is going to need the best possible unpoliticized advice. and there's all kinds of opportunities for political inputs in the white house. but if the advice is being politicized or if the members of the national security council are afraid to truly speak their mind, it's not just that the administration suffers, the country suffers. and that's something that is very concerning, but the shift from flynn to mcmaster certainly appears to be a very positive step in the right direction. >> i hear democrats and i hear republicans saying they feel that this is a step in the right direction. and i think just to make clear for people what can sometimes maybe be a little opaque to them, when talking about the national security council and the president chairs the meeting of the national security council, you know, he's chairing a meeting of sort of, like, the top folks, right? and that's what has been changed a little bit.

where steve bannon has been added. we should mention under president obama, his top aide, david axelrod, would attend the meetings but he was not on the principle committee formally like steve bannon is. and you mentioned the positions like the joint chiefs of staff, the director of the intelligence, those are two of the folks who have formally, at least, been pulled off the principles committee. do you think or see mcmaster adding them back in, either formally or maybe not formally, but essentially doing that? >> well, certainly general mcmaster will want to have, as many rational actor in the white house would want to have, the director of national intelligence and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff participating in all principles committee meetings. those are critically important figures in our system of government. so i can say with all certainty

that general mcmaster will want that. and the question is, will this nonsensical maybe is the right word, executive order that takes them off of the principles committee and adds steve bannon, who is separate from his positions that he's expressed, which are extremely questionable, but let's put that aside for a moment. but having a political co commissoir on the committee is what they do in order to politicize the advice leaders are getting and to make sure that everybody recognizes that you're being watched. and we don't want to have a system like china or the soviet union. we have our great tradition that has served us well. and i'm from missouri and they say if it ain't broke, don't fix it. and we have a good system. >> but you look at mcmaster, i

no know that you and many others draw comfort from him being in this conversation that was reported where he said this description -- you know when you're talking about isis or you're talking about al qaeda, to name it radical islamic terrorism, not being helpful, is that something -- i mean, what does that tell you about his philosophy, but also about how he will be able to counsel president trump if they see this differently? >> well, certainly general mcmaster is somebody who has a stellar reputation. not just as a phenomenal military officer, but someone with tremendous courage who actually studies the courage anden even the lack of counselor that american military showed during the vietnam war. so he is going to speak his mind and especially to the president and internally. but there are big differences of opinion. and this issue of whether the

words radical islamic terrorism should be used, that dates back to even before the campaign. and so he is going to have to be part of a little bit, i mean, civil war is too strong of a word, but there is going to be a struggle inside the white house for who holds sway. and eventually, over time, the bannon faction and the mcmaster faction, i think, will have to have somereckoning. and we don't yet know, but whatever happens will have implications on the country. >> jaime metzl, thank you. we appreciate it. the democratic party has a new leader and is in a twitter war with donald trump tonight. how does tom perez plan to guide the dnc to go against donald

trump in the second term. more "newsroom" after this. playing the hero: priceless don't just buy it. masterpass it. ♪ ♪

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democrats made a big decision today in their party in how to react to the defeat of the 2016 election. ryan nobles was there in atlanta. >> yeah, brianna, it was a big afternoon here as the democrats picked their next chairman. and it will be tom perez. but it wasn't easy. perez fell one short vote on the first nomination before capturing it in the second ballot. but he understands this is a fractured party. that's why he brought up the man who came up second, minnesota congressman keith ellison, and made him the deputy chairman. take a look at that moment. >> i would like to begin by making a motion. it's a motion that i have discussed with a good friend.

and his name is keith ellison. and the motion i would like to make to the body is a motion suspending the rules, if i may, to appoint keith ellison deputy chair of the democratic national committee. [ cheers and applause ] i'm not sure -- [ cheers and applause ] tell me the phrase i'm supposed to utter? that was mine? okay. did i hear a second?

>> hear! >> all for? >> yeah! >> opposed? wait a minute. the silence -- the silence is deafening. the motion passes. congressman -- >> reporter: perez and ellison have a big job in front of them, not only for democrats in the white house, they are for the governorship and will give a true check to donald trump. >> ryan nobles, thank you so much. joining me now is someone who casts a vote for the chairman of the democratic national committee. congressman barbara lee from california. and we should note, congresswoman, you voted for

your colleague, keith ellyson. so you were in the keith camp. so i wonder what your reaction was to your guy losing, even though we should point out he's the number two. >> first of all, this campaign for chair was run with character and conviction. i was a very proud supporter of congressman ellison. he's an unbelievable leader. he cares about our party. and i'm so proud that our new chair, mr. perez, chairman perez, appointed him deputy chair. because that is an indication of party unity. and i certainly know we have a lot of work to do with regard to party building. but i think, given the fact that we're coming out of here united, we're going to win some elections because both of them are going to be leading this party. >> there's a big challenge to this. in the last several years, democrats have lost governorships, they have lost seats in statehouses.

and hundreds and hundreds of th them. and those are the incubators that could have been talent that could eventually run for president, right? and then you have redistributing, fund-raising, keeping the party relevant, can you talk to some of these challenges and how you see the party working toward them? >> you're absolutely correct. and this means that we cannot do business as usual. and one thing i know is that tom perez and keith ellison are working on a grassroots strategy, a door-to-door strategy, we have a plan that we must execute in result to gentlemen andering. and this is a party of in inclusion. but i tell you, we had a panel of young people who had organized the marches. we had this panel yesterday here at the meeting, the dnc meeting, and the momentum, the movement,

young people have to be engaged. and we have to convince them that they have a home in the democratic party. that means we must listen to them. we must engage them to encourage them to register to vote to win the house in two years and in the senate. and we have to make sure that donald trump's agenda is not perpetrated really on the american people. >> in speaking to that, you are a co-sponsor on a bill that urges the removal of steve bannon from the national security council. you say that his big gotted ideology threatens our international standing. you know, obviously, this isn't something that's really going to pass. because republicans control the house and certainly the

republican-controlled senate isn't going to take this up. and so tell me what the point of this is. it's obviously symbolic, even though it's not normally congress' role to get involved in something like this. >> whether it passes or not, that's not the issue. we have to make our statement. we have to be that point of resistance. and we have to galvanize the public and educate the public with regard to the dangers of having a steve bannon, you know, a white nationalist, a supremacist, on the national security council. no experience. his ideology is un-american. so the public needs to understand that. so part of what we are doing, and we have over 70 co-sponsors, we have to make sure that the resistance movement and that the people have some information and have a vehicle to organize around. also, with regard to the democratic party and our dnc, unanimously, my resolution was adopted here at the dnc meeting

saying that steve bannon must be removed from the national security council. this is a very dangerous moment. and steve bannon is a very dangerous individual in the white house. >> how much of the messaging for the democratic party is going to be rallying around opposition to donald trump versus rallying around a cohesive message for democrats, sort of, i guess, the negative for your folks versus the positive of something to believe in, not just something to not believe in? >> well, first of all, we have to make sure that we resist donald trump's un-american agenda. we have to make sure that our democracy is preserved. and when you look at what is taking place as it relates to the russian influence in our elections and in the investigations that must move forward, we have to resist and make sure the public understands the dangerous moment that we're in with this trump administration.

secondly, we have to preserve and protect health care for 30 million people. so we must resist the repeal of the affordable care act. there's no way we are going to allow 30 million people to lose their health care. >> but it seems, congresswoman, they are saying it's not going to happen. and it seems clear that republicans are stymied for a way to repeal it. it sounds more like they are going to tinker with it, which is actually something hillary clinton supported doing, changes, obviously not repealing. >> but people are resisting in the streets. there's a movement that has developed and the young people who are raising their voices around all these issues. that's why, perhaps, they're backing off now. but also, we have so many other issues to address. look at the entire religious ban that he's attempting. the wall that he's proposed to build. you know, the immigration policies that he puts forth, the deportation, the fact that i.c.e. raids now are occurring. so there's much to resist.

>> but what is the difference there, i also want to know, because when we look at deportation numbers, president obama deported almost a million more people than george w. bush. >> when you look at what has taken place in terms of the trump administration now, this net has been cast more broadly. you know, when you're talking about people who have committed heinous crimes, yes, the obama administration prioritized them for deportation. but when you look at what this administration is doing, families are scared. young people are terrified. this net is cast much too broad. we should be working on comprehensive immigration reform. and so we have to resist this agen agenda. it's an un-american agenda. and we have to protect our constituents, that's our very first priority. >> congresswoman barbara lee, thank you very much, joining us from atlanta where she joined the vote for the new democratic

chairman. and donald trump has revealed that he will not be at the white house correspondents' dinner. only a handful of presidents have missed this event while in office. richard nixon being one of them. his former speech writer and lawyer is going to join me next. you're live in the "cnn newsroom". th princess cruises your most extraordinary moments happen when you feel small. when you're completely outnumbered, overshadowed, and outshined. so what if you dared to explore this great big beautiful pond. what if you dared to feel small. princess cruises. come back new. whfight back fastts, with tums smoothies. it starts dissolving the instant it touches your tongue. and neutralizes stomach acid at the source. ♪ tum -tum -tum -tum smoothies! only from tums

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president trump is skipping the white house correspondents' dinner, an event that started back in 1920. president trump tweeted earlier, i will not be attending the white house correspondents' association dinner this year. please wish everyone well and have a great evening. mr. trump will be the first president to miss this dinner in 35 years. the last was president reagan who skipped in 1981 while he was recovering after being shot. reagan still called in by phone, however, and i want to talk about what this means for an already contentious relationship between the press and the white house. with me now is economist ben stein who served as a speech writer and lawyer for president richard nixon. and he worked on the other side as a journalist. ben, i suppose you're not particularly surprised by this development. >> i'm not surprised and i'm not disappointed. i'm not surprised because donald trump is a punching bag in the mainstream media.

and i don't blame him for wanting to go and be a punching bag in person. >> did you hear what he said yesterday at cpac where he's talking about the media? >> yes, i saw some of it on cnn as i was surfing, yes. >> so he said -- he said that he called the media the enemy of the people. which is what he said on twitter, so he said that out loud. he accused the media of making things up, of making up sources. is that -- >> sorry, i beg your pardon, i'm sorry. >> is that -- is that something you would give credence to? or what is going on with what he's saying? >> i wouldn't say all the media are the enemy. look, every day you pick up "the new york times," every day they're slamming, slamming, slamming him. i'm a great fan of cnn. i watch it quite faithfully every day. cnn is slamming him, slamming him, slamming him. every day they are looking for a scandal. they are turning the woods

upside down looking for a scandal. they are hoping, i think, to do what they did to nixon a long time ago. and i still haven't found any real scandals. and with all due respect, i don't blame him for being furious at them. and i think he's got a lot of company. i'm out there giving speeches all around the country all the time, people, an awful lot of people are not great fans of the media and they see the media as an unelected aristocracy who are dumping all over the mainstream of america. and i think mr. trump has a lot of company. >> do you think some of what goes on is self-inflicted by mr. trump? >> mr. trump is not the smoothest operator. i mean, he's not bob hope. and he's thin skinned and fires right back. no doubt, there's no doubt some of it is self-inflicted, but i think the general idea that the press can just hack and hack and hack away at the president, that

he's expected to sit there and take it, is not a sound idea. and i noticed day after day, week after week, everything is negative. not one positive response. here's a guy who picked a person generally among the legal profession, and i have a awful lot of lawyers who have been elected, like the supreme court justice, we hope, he's doing what his constituents asked him to do. >> may i counter that, ben, because -- >> please, of course, that's why you are there. >> when gorsuch went up to speak to the democratic senator, we covered in depth the fact that gorsuch said something that endeared him to democrats. and that actually a lot of establishment republicans appreciated. and it actually, many people thought, tempered gorsuch or revealed him as they felt to be a moderate, that they think he is. how are we covering this in a negative way? maybe a nuanced way?

or donald trump goes to the african-american history museum and he talks about countering bigotry and we cover that as well. >> you did cover that. that's one or two of hundreds of stories, most of which are extremely negative. and god bless you for doing the positive stuff, but look at the way they slammed him for not covering immediately the desecration of the jewish cemetery outside st. louis. i mean, this is a guy, and look at the way the media is endlessly playing him as an anti semitic. his own daughter went and converted to judaism, and he's never slammed them. there's no evidence of it at all. i think with the greatest respect, and i appreciate you pointing things out where i was mistaken, but with the greatest respect, this is a guy they are just smearing, smearing, smearing all the time. i don't blame him for wanting to

fire back at them. if he were as smooth as ronald reagan, he would handle this smoothly. but no one will be as smoothly as ronald reagan. >> you think the press is trying to do to him what they did to richard nixon. >> yes. >> so give us your perspective on that, because a lot of people look at what happened to richard nixon and they say, it was what richard nixon did to himself. the tapes from oval office show six days after the watergate break-in, he was discussing, himself, a cover-up. you know, the smoking gun tape. so how did the media do that to richard nixon? >> the media picked one tiny little thing that he did, one tiny, tiny little thing he did. >> what tiny little thing? >> one tiny little thing which was to discuss a cover-up. he didn't do the cover-up. he didn't follow through with the cover-up payments, he just discussed it. this is a guy who brought more peace to the world than any president in the 20th century, open relationship with china,

the limitations with the soviet union and leading to an agreement. ended the war in vietnam, brought on the prisoners of war and saved the life of the state of israel. and so -- >> so you think the watergate scandal and what was uncovered was phoey. >> it was not a good thing. compared with his achievements, they are doing the exact same thing to mr. trump. whose achievements compared to mr. nixon's are nil, but they are trying to undo him basically before he gets started. i think it's just extremely unfortunate. the country has real problems. and for them to be focusing on trying to bring down this guy before he's even gotten started is a serious mistake. we have real problems. >> ben stein, thank you so much, sir. we certainly appreciate you joining us. and coming up, president trump talks a lot about his cabinet. he's often blaming democrats for stalling confirmations, but is he losing sight of other

important positions, like 2,000 others to be exact? a cnn review shows that's how many vacancies mr. trump still needs to fill and most of them do not need senate approval. we have more on that next. with directv and at&t, stream live tv anywhere data-free. join directv today starting at $35 a month. no extra monthly fees. for millions of baby boomers there's a virus out there. a virus that's serious, like hiv, but it hasn't been talked about much. a virus that's been almost forgotten. it's hepatitis c. one in 30 boomers has hep c, yet most don't even know it. that's because hep c can hide in your body silently for years, even decades, without symptoms and it's not tested for in routine blood work. if left untreated, hep c can cause liver damage,

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are you randy? that's me! awesome! surprising. what's not surprising? how much money erin saved by switching to geico. everybody comfortable with the air temp? i could go a little cooler. ok. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. donald trump has been president of the united states for just over a month now. according to the cnn review of the available data, he's got 2,000 jobs in his administration yet to fill. some of the vacancies require senate confirmation, but the vast majority do not. dave cohen is a professor of political science at the university of akron at ohio and co-authored this book, "buckeye battleground: ohio campaigns and elections in the 21st century." professor, how unusual is this, but what are the difficulties of having these -- this many vacancies? >> well, first of all, it's not

unusual that the presidents take a long time to fill all of the positions that they have to. once they transition into office. i mean, it could be up to a year to get all of those positions filled. and every president runs into this challenge. the trump administration has been pretty lax in terms of appointing people to these positions. for example, "the washington post" tracks some of the real key positions in the cabinet. 500-plus positions. the trump administration has appointed only 34 people to these position, and only 14 have been confirmed. that's a pretty slow pace. and there are some serious implications to that. that is, you know, besides the fact that the cabinet is not filled, a lot of those deputy cabinet and sub-cabinet positions that are really, really crucial to actually running our execive brtive bran those positions are unfilled as well. >> he complains the democrats

are getting in the way of filling his cabinet. and he's had delayed on his part for appointing people, as you have noted, and also a delay in some of the background check paperwork. should this have been something that his transition was more on top of? >> well, first of all, his transition is right up there with the worst transitions in history. i would say it's probably the worst transition we have had previously, probably the clinton administration had the worst transition before that. and honestly, it was like the keystone cops were in charm. and for a while you had chris christie in charge of the transition and all the work that he did, the new transition folks came in and literally threw it in the wastebasket. so the transition team was way behind to begin with. but, you know, our democrats are slow walking in some cases probably, but there's an issue with a lot of his appointments. and the fact is, many of them haven't had their paperwork

together. many of them have been very kfrkfr controversial. and in some cases, the president has vetoed people like rex tillerson because some of these people have been critical to him at some point in the past, whether it be during the campaign or during the transition. and so there's a whole host of reasons why the positions aren't being filled. but he is lacking. >> if you don't have these deputy cabinet positions filled in the sub-cabinet positions filled, how does that hinder governing? >> it very much hinders governing because -- everybody -- sorry, most people are focused on the high-profile cabinet positions. and these are important positions because they set the basic policy for that cabinet department. and they are the ones that have to lias with the president.

but those below the deputy cabinet are the ones that actually run the departments. a cabinet head is not a day-to-day administrator. it's the people below them that are the day-to-day administrators of the departments. we are talking departments that have some of them, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people. and it seriously enhampers the ability of the federal government to be able to run. and we're talking about the department of state or the department of defense, that can be a serious issue. >> it certainly is a national security of diplomacy. david cohen, thank you so much, from the university of akron. we appreciate it. and coming up, a cnn exclusive report on the war against isis. u.s. soldiers now are the closest we have ever seen to the fighting on the ground in mosul. i accept i don't race down

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and medications you take. using invokana® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. it's time to turn things around. lower your blood sugar with invokana®. imagine loving your numbers. there's only one invokana®. ask your doctor about it by name. u.s. soldiers are looking to help the iraqi troops near the front lines of mosul. the iraqi forces are targeting western mosul, but officials are worried about the hundreds of civilians living there. the battle may soon be all around them. ben wedeman is in iraq this weekend. >> reporter: brianna, we're hearing from residents inside

the city that isis is beginning to round up families to use them as human shields. we're also hearing from residents that isis fighters are starting to consolidate in west mosul's old city, perhaps to make a final stand. now, as iraqi forces are pushing into the city, they are getting critical assistance on the front lines from the americans. american soldiers are setting coordinates for isis positions. just a little over a mile away from the extremists. they never fired their sniper rifle but used it to identify targets. nearby they assembled a drone. the pentagon officials say u.s. service personnel are operating ever closer to the action.

the bombardment of western mosul is intense and steady. the iraqis are fighting helicopters and blast isis targets inside the city. resistance has been stiff because isis fighters realize they are cornered. they are surrounded, he tells me, there's no escape. either they die fighting or they surrender. the airport on the southern edge of the city is in ruins. the runway strewn with concrete blocks. the fighting is proceeding at an accelerated rate. the iraqi forces may be ek eageo avoid a repeat to liberate the eastern part of the city.

taking mosul airport was really just the first step. now these iraqi forces are heading into the city proper. that's when the real battle will begin. a battle in which americans may play an even greater role. and this battle couldn't end soon enough for the hundreds of thousands of civilians still inside the city. they are in dire conditions. we are learning that the markets are now almost empty of food. the heating fuel is going for $40 a gallon. and that people are drinking water out of wells and the river. brianna? >> ben wiedeman, thank you. a toxic nerve agent took out kim jong-un's half brother. so who supplied this weapon of mass destruction in?

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we are back with a terrifying turn in what's become an international murder mystery malaysian authorities now confirm that a highly toxic and banned nerve agent you may have heard of known as vx was used to assassinate kim jong-un's half brother. today police raided an apartment in connection with the investigation and they also interviewed one of the women accused of carrying out the hit. south korea has said from the

start north korea is behind the murder and if that's true it means one of the most dangerous, unstable regimes in the world now has its hands on a weapon of mass destruction. clarissa ward reports. >> reporter: some of the last moments of kim jong nam's life. he approaches airport security to complain that someone grabbed his face and he's feeling dizzy. he's escorted to the airport medical clinic. a malaysian newspaper shows him slumped over in his chair, apparently unconscious. he dies before reaching the hospital. in a twist that reads like the script of a hollywood thriller, malaysian authorities now confirm that the half brother of north korea's dictator was killed by vx, an internationally banned, highly lethal nerve agent that can kill within minutes. >> if you get any of it on you, you are dead. there is nothing a doctor can do for you. you just die.

you get a microscopic dot on you of vx and you die. >> south korea is pointing to the volatile north korean state and the leader himself as the prime suspect. the dramatic assassination took place in broad daylight, moments after kim entered the crowded check in hall. malaysian police claim two women who can just be made out here wiped kim's face with some kind of liquid. one of the women can be seen walking off wearing a bizarrely eye-catching lol t-shirt. two female suspects, one from indonesia and one from vietnam are now in custody. it gets more surreal. indonesian authorities say one of the women told police she believes she was participating in a prank for a tv show, a claim malaysian officials dismissed. >> these two ladies were trained to swab the face. after that they were instructed

to clean their hands. >> the hunt is now on for these four north korea suspects who left the country on the day of the attack. among them a senior official with the north korean embassy in kuala lumpur. in yet another bizarre twist, police said someone tried to break in to the mortuary where kim's body is being kept after which they stepped up security. >> we know who they are. no need for me to tell you. >> why would north korea's erratic leader want his own half brother dead? of more concern to u.s. officials is how the dangerous dictator got his hands on one of the most deadly chemical weapons in the world and what else he could do with it. >> it is a nerve agent that's terrified intelligence agencies in the west for a long time because it is so lethal. saddam hussein was accused of having it. in fact he didn't.

they couldn't figure out how to weapon niize it. what disturbs me is they have figured it out. would he use it on south korea, on the united states? there is no way for us to know. >> reporter: clarissa ward, cnn, london. >> thank you. coming up after the break, breaking news from new orleans. a crash near a mardi gras parade. we'll have the details after a quick break. we have a question about your brokerage fees. fees? what did you have in mind? i don't know. $6.95 per trade? uhhh- and i was wondering if your brokerage offers some sort of guarantee? guarantee? where we can get our fees and commissions back if we're not happy. so can you offer me what schwab is offering? what's with all the questions? ask your broker if they're offering $6.95 online equity trades and a satisfaction guarantee. if you don't like their answer, ask again at schwab.

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>> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> we have breaking news right now on cnn. what looks like a major accident at a mardi gras parade in new orleans. witnesses say a truck plowed into a crowd of people watching the parade. as many as 14 people are reported injured. 12 of them critically. we have no reported fatalities at this point. this is something that happened in the mid city section of new orleans, not far from the french quarter. a source says the crash appears to have been caused by a drunk driver. of course we are watching this incident very closely. we will update you when we learn more. up next on cnn, "the history of comedy," back to back episodes. at 9:00 eastern "the funnier sex" and then "the comedy of real life." have a great week.

remember when comedy meant males doing jokes about females like wives and mothers-in-law. well, the tables have turned. >> the idea that chicks aren't funny, i hate to tell you, it's still very much a thing. >> there are some people that can't get their heads around what they don't know. >> i said i wanted to be a comedian. she said, or maybe it's better if you just die. >> i think they thought of women as a different species. >> very few ladies are capable of being comedian. >> so everybody is like, here's somebody who thinks she can do it. >> this is a great argument that women are doing much better work than men.