santos. house speak, kevin mccarthy telling cnn santos will face an investigation from the house ethics committee. >> so ethics is actually investigating right now? >> yes. >> but mccarthy later clarified saying santos is simply the subject of complaints to the committee. now an investigation would be a major escalation in the santos saga. republicans acknowledging that it could even lead to his expulsion from congress and comes in the context of tonight, the "state of the union." santos' guest there is a man named michael winestock, a man who worked as a lawyer at ground zero during 9/11. he said he's been let down from his law firm after accepting the invitation. we have as of yet gotten no response. thanks so much for joining us. our special coverage of the "state of the union" begins right now.

good evening. in the white house president biden getting ready to face a newly divided congress and the american people at a pivotal moment in his presidency. we will soon leave from the u.s. capitol to report on the state of the union and make an argument for a run for his second term. >> and i'm jake tapper. we are counting down to president biden's big speech about an hour from now and his entrance into the house chamber where republicans are now in charge for the first time since biden took office. new house speaker kevin mccarthy will be seated behind the president, a visible reminder of the political pressures on president biden as the gop led house challenges his agenda and launches a slew of investigations. president biden is expected to try to use his biggest national tv audience of the year to test the waters for his 2024 campaign message. new excerpts of the speech reveal that he will make a direct appeal to americans in

economic pain as he tries to make the case that the united states is better off under his watch. >> among the most anticipated moments tonight we're told the president is planning to address his order to shoot down that chinese spy balloon after it surveilled the u.s. for day. we'll see how far he goes in discussing what actually happened as well as the increasingly tense u.s. relationship with china. and emotions may run high when president biden makes an urgent new push for policing reform. the parents of tyre nichols, the young man who was fatally beaten by officers in memphis, will be in the room as guests of the first lady. our correspondents are standing by at the capitol, at the white house, and in a key battleground state. let's start with cnn's chief white house correspondent phil mattingly at the white house. and phil, what more are you learning about the big themes in the president's speech. >> reporter: jake, in his speech that runs at least an hour long at least in the rehearsals at the white house three words are what the president comes back to

over and over again. holds three words, finish the job. ethey made clear this is a literal prime time opportunity for him to run through a laundry list of accomplishments they believe have transformed the u.s. economy, but they are also keenly aware many of those accomplishments either haven't been felt by the american public or still in the process of being implemented. that is where those three words will be critical. the president wanting to lay out why he believes the state of the union in this moment and injury strong but in the years ahead will be even stronger based on what he has laid into place during the course of those first two years. talking to white house officials they understand the importance of this moment both in telling the american public what the president has done but laying out that groundwork keenly aware this isn't just about tonight or the year ahead, there's certainly an election campaign looming. >> let's go to manu raju on capitol hill right now. and what should we expect from

republicans this evening? >> reporter: speaker mccarthy has told republican members there will be millions of people watching and not have any sort of distracting gaffe that undermine this moment. instead he wants to project a middle of the road image for his party. in fact mccarthy over the last several election cycles has tried to recruit candidates for moments like this, more ethicily diverse. and mccarthy has tried to convey to his members he'll act politely. he does not want to see any of his members have any sort of outbursts like we saw in 2009 when congressman joe wilson yelled out you lie against

barack obama when obama delivered the address about health care to a joint session of congress here, jake. so mccarthy, too, recognizing a lot on the line as republicans and americans are watching their actions closely as well. >> all right, manu raju, on capitol hill, thanks so much. and i'm joined by moy panel right now. abbey philip, let me start with you. what do you think the overall goal is for president biden for tonight's speech? >> every president has a captive audience during the "state of the union" address. he's basically going to be asking the american people to trust him. and the way white house officials have put it to me is that this is about saying we are not done yet, and they're not going to shy away in this moment because the question has been are they going to be giving a rah-rah speech about where the economy is or about how much they've done and how much they've accomplished this laundry list of items? they're not going to shy away from that, but the idea they want to convey is that they need

more time to finish the job as phil was saying and also that he's not giving up on this congress, even a republican led house, that they still want to work with republicans, that he still has items to check off on his to-do list from executive actions but also the implementation of this i think is going to be really key. they still want to show that they can govern which actually a key contrast point that they want to make with republicans. >> can i just translate that? this is the launch of campaign 2024. >> yes. >> that's where we are. we're going to hear about unity. we're going to hear about the soul of america. we're going to hear the president try to say the economy has been better on his watch. i'm told by someone familiar with writing the speech that do not expect red meat attacks on maga or maga republicans. but at the end of the day this is about joe biden launching his next campaign.

>> they may not have red meat, but there is a lot of talk about contracts which is a nice way of saying that they will point out that some republicans want to cut social security, some republicans want to cut medicare. republicans are talking about not raising the debt limit unless. 38 million people watched the president's speech last year. if they get anything close to that it'll be probably the biggest live audience the president gets this whole year. so this is clearly even though they say it isn't, a campaign speech. there was a poll that came out today in "the washington post" fascinating. 62% of americans don't think the president has accomplished very much or maybe nothing at all. they need to say these two improve your life, the other fall basically a third of democrats and democratic leaning independents talk about only they want the president to office while almost two thirds don't want him to run for

office. he needs to come off as vigorous and ready for six more years on the job. >> it might as well be four more years or six more years, that's the translation. and how does he address the doubts in the country he's physically up to the job? i think that's a huge challenge. and when he says fix the job the president wants to do things on the economy like the child tax credit, things on policing, more things on guns, things on immigration. none of that is going to happen in the next two years with a republican house. it's not just going to happen. when he says finish the job he says let's get through the next election, re-elect me. what is he saying? there's not going to belot of bipartisanship, but one big question how is the president talking about china? the american people have years have been aware of the china challenge. the balloon over the skies last week gave the president an opportunity to talk about his leadership. he has to sell them on russia and ukraine but now he has to sell them on a policy towards china, and that is an area many republicans are ready to work

with him if he sounds tough and he brings them to the table. >> what i've heard they haven't revamped the speech around this balloon incident. there's a little exasperation in the white house about how this has all played out, but they think this is proof of their sort of toughness on china on identifying the balloon when the previous administration didn't. look, to be fair biden has been talking about china -- he has been from the very beginning talking about china as a competitor of the united states and also talking about the need to strengthen the country domestically in order to compete with china, so i think that will be the theme. but, you know, i was told -- i was asking, you know, are you guys going to tout you shot down a balloon? i'm told, look, they didn't go back and say oh, we've got to rethink this whole section because i think biden has been consistent from the beginning. >> can we talk about the other side for a minute and that is

the republican perception. as you said at the beginning kevin mccarthy has told his conference to behave. let's see for how long they behave. >> he'll take two hours tonight. >> in 15 ballots he has a core group that has does not behave and i'm told there'll be a lot of push back. we shall see. straight ahead we're going to talk live with representative a alexandria ocasio-cortez. our "state of the union" coverage is just getting started. stay with us. we'll be right back. now adt professionally installs google nest products... cool. you're all set. so your home is safe and smart. we're gunna miss you. you can check in on your home. arm the system, we should go. manage your system from virtually anywhere. (thump) (scream)

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we are standing for president biden's departure from the white house as he prepares to speak the to nation and set the stage. when he arrives at the capitol he'll face an arguably more hostile crowd with republicans now in the majority in the house. i want to go to dana bash at the capitol with special guest representative alexandria ocasio-cortez. >> reporter: thanks, anderson. and congresswoman, thanks for joining me. what do you expect to hear and what do you hope to hear from the president tonight? >> i hope to hear a really strong vision from the president

about not just what we've done so far but also our plans on executing on the enormous successes we've had in the last one to two years between the inflation act and american rescue plan there is still implementation and execution to address our priorities around climate, taxing the rich and so much more. so i'm really looking forward to hearing a lot of specificity how we plan to implement legislation that we in congress were able to successfully pass. >> so there was implementation of what was passed before when you were in the amajority. now you're in the minority, but do you still have an expectation he's going to talk about the some of the progressive ideas and policies that you've been pushing, that even though you couldn't get a lot of it done when the democrats were in power. >> no, i think so. i think it's important for the president to lay down a very strong plan and ambition. and i think there are some encouraging aspects. i think we may be hearing a little bit -- there's been some early data we may be hearing a

bit, audacious plans on taxing the rich, stock buy backs and i think these are really strong markers that are important for us to put down because even though they are progressive they are also overwhelmingly popular among independents, democrats and even some republicans as well. >> so on that note, this is the first time you're going to be in that chamber or that you're here as a member of the minority not the majority. what are your expectations, the real expectations about working with republicans on maybe not some of those tax issues because i don't think a lot of them will but other issues? >> so i sit on the oversight committee, and every once in a while there are very odd alignments in something that we find in common, sometimes going after defense contractors that are defrauding the government. even at the end of last term we had a hearing on bipartisan approaches to cannabis,

decriminalationization, legalization or general laws as well. i think it's going to depend. this margin is very slim, though, and that plays into the advantage for democrats because if we can just pick up two, three, four republicans out of several hundred of them, then we might be able to have some openings where we can pass legislation that possibly impacts peoples lives. >> i want to read you a line from the president's speech tonight, part of the excerpts they've released. to my republican friends if we can work together in the last congress there's no reason we can't work together in the new congress. >> i mean, i think that there may be some republicans that are willing to work with the administration. i do believe that kevin mccarthy has already demonstrated a struggle in keeping his caucus together, which, again, all of that plays into potential openings in the next one to two years for democrats to exploit. i -- i introduced an amendment to a republican bill recently

around oil drilling, and some of those amendments were around oil banning, stock buy backs of oil companies that had been profit tearing in the last year but also other things about meeting net emissions and i was shocked it picked up a republican vote, but you only need three more beyond that in order to pick up a governing majority. >> you talked about speaker mccarthy he's obviously going to be sitting around the president tonight. there are now a majority of republicans around the chamber where you'll be sitting. what are your expectations just of the feeling in that room? >> you know, i think we'll see speaker mccarthy i think had some trouble corralling his own caucus. and so while he may have had some guidance around being disciplined and being respectful, we'll see if his caucus really follows suit. you know, i think he's also been struggling with this narrative around republicans possibly attempting to cut social security and medicare. and while on one hand he's

saying that's not going to happen, on the other the math simply does not work for their proposals unless they do do that. and so i'm interested in seeing what his response is to be to some of that. >> reporter: the president is going to be effectively making his case for another term tonight. is that something you're going to be listening for and eagerly listening for? >> i think that all leadership, again, it's about that strong, ambitious vision. and if that is the subtext of tonight i think one of the things we're going to have to hear is a commitment to really big, bold, animating ideas. whether it's around climate, whether it's around racial just, whether it's around abortion rights i think we are going to have to hear a very forceful, big, animating exciting vision if that is one of the -- you know, one of the subtexts. >> that's what you want to hear in order for him to get your support in 2024.

>> i think the american people need for any potential candidate -- and again, this is an official speech he's delivering as president of the united states, but i do think that in any candidacy we need to see what the plan is for the future. >> and you're not ready to say you support him? >> well, i got here through a primary process, and out of deep respect for that i never try to jump ahead of it, but i would enthusiastically support him if he were the democratic nominee. >> reporter: okay, congresswoman, thank you so much. appreciate your time. anderson, back to you. >> dana, thanks so much. we expect the president to leave the white house any moment with his speech and any last minute revisions in hand. the president will make his big entrance at the top of the hour. you'll see it all here live on cnn. stay with us. we'll be right back. to deliver more great tasting options with less sugar or no sugar at all. in fact,

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retail banking in california by j.d. power. president biden is about to exit the white house and head to the u.s. capitol to deliver the "state of the union" address. right now members of congress are gathering at the capitol for

the president's speech. it's taking on even more political significance this year obviously with the president preparing to launch his bid for a second term. going to get more on what the president needs to accomplish tonight especially in key presidential battleground states. zef zeleny is in one of those states right now in medication, wisconsin. you've been talking to voters there. what are you hearing? >> well, anderson, president biden is going to be stopping here tomorrow, the first stop to sell the "state of the union" address. these are his supporters. people want him to do well. can he continue in this role? i talked to one woman said who said wouldn't it be lovely if we could have someone run for president that isn't in their 70s or 80s. that is one of the challenges here tonight to make the case, yes, he has the agenda, but more than that he the fire to still do the job. that's why he's coming here to wisconsin tomorrow, to florida on thursday on and onto make the

case he's still up for the task. of course he would be the oldest president -- he already is the oldest president to serve but should he serve the duration of his term he would be 86 years old. that was the thing that came up again and again can he do his job a second time? >> thanks very much. back here now with the panel. da david axelrod, if you were advising the president -- there have been some excerpts he talks about i feel your pain. he's obviously going to talk about his accomplishments as well. >> he has to do. there's a compilation on every president especially presidents who don't feel enough credit to tout the laundry list of things they have done for them. that is a mistake. you want to tell a story about the journey the country's been on. and we've been through an ordeal. you know, when he took office we were in a terrible position, and he's led us through that. and he has to talk about how the

things he's done are meant to lay the groundwork for the future. and the future is very important. you heard representative ocasio-cortez talk about this. i think particularly when you're 80 years old and thinking of running for re-election, you need to paint a picture of a vision for the future and talk about the things you've done in service of that vision. the other thing i'd say, anderson, is he will be facing this different audience with a republican majority in the house. i saw the excerpts that he has released. i think he's right on target there. i think he needs to engage in some jujitsu. we know how rabid some of those folks are. we saw it on the floor just, you know, a few weeks ago when we were all sitting together during the speakership fight. i think that saying, hey, we can destroy each other or we can try and work together and i know -- >> some of the excerpts he's talking about basically america

is back on the economy, on covid, on democracy, but a lot of americans don't feel it if you look at the polls. >> absolutely, there's an abc "the washington post" poll that has 4 in ten americans feeling -- they're actually still feeling the pain of the financial situation. he's also got a bit of a delicate dance he has to do. we just saw representative ocasio-cortez give a kind of tepid answer on whether she would support him. he has to keep the left most flank happy but also appeal to independent and moderate republicans, which it looks like he's trying to do in some of these early currents. but, again, if he goes too far in policing reform he's going to lose with potential independents. it's a delicate dance and 6 in 10 voters don't necessarily want him to run again. >> dana bash asked her if she would support biden in a

re-election. she says she has deep respect for a primary. >> that was not a happy moment for the biden team. but i think tonight can be a happy moment for joe biden. i get he can't get out here and act like everything's perfect, but it would be hard not to brag if i were joe biden. i think americans can have some room for some hope. 500,000 jobs just last month, 12 million jobs in two years. that's more than any president has done in four, the biggest climate investment ever in human history, gun reform, marriage equality, infrastructure reform. the guy has done a bunch of good stuff. i agree with you you've got to brag on it the right way, you've got to humble brag -- >> i think most people like 16% think they're in better shape than they were two years ago. i think objectively the economy is much better than it was two years ago, but people aren't feeling and you have to hook up

with people where they are. >> i agree with you, but i think sometimes can we take yes for an answer in terms of we did get stuff done. and i hope joe biden is not afraid to point to the good stuff in america. >> i don't think you have to worry. >> cbs did a survey and asked americans to describe the "state of the union." the top three answers given, declining, divided, weak. the tv audience is to expected to be mostly biden approvers. >> as we wait for the president to leave the white house our "state of the union" coverage continues in 30 seconds.

okay, president biden has just walked out. he's in the beast to take him to capitol hill with our count down to president biden's "state of the union" address. as we watch the president leave and go back to the white house. phil, what more are you hearing about the president's remarks tonight? >> reporter: anderson, the president has been working on his speech throughout the day and rehearsals and working on final edits. in terms of his ability to connect would have been abstract though very major. one constituency in particular sometimes in public but more so in private the president has started talking about the idea of limousine liberals, this idea that a constituency of the republican party that wants to

do big things but doesn't necessarily remember the neighborhood where they came from in terms of how the president described things. blue collar workers trying to engage in what used to be a core constuff waens of the democratic party and has moved away in recent years. in fact, in the president's speech himself he'll address it directly saying too many people have been left behind or treated like they're invisible. you remember the jobs that went away and wonder if a path exists for you and your children. i get it. and part of what the president will be reviewing in that section of his speech is review what they'll do from an economic perspective to those blue collar workers, those union workers is the person the president believes has moved most. he's going to be directing this speech to, that's who it's to. not the 535 members of congress or us in the media.

it's those individuals, anderson. >> yeah, we just saw vice president harris walking in members of the senate, mitch mcconnell walking in. phil mattingly, to that point one of the other lines of the speech that's been released in advance and the president saying this is blue collar blueprint to rebuild america and making a difference in your live. stressing that blue collar in that sentence. >> look, that's president biden. he's the guy from scranton. this is joe biden. this is middle class joe. it's to some degree become a caricature as who he was as a senator, president, and vice president but also a persona he maintains both publicly and privately and his top advisor knows resonates most to the american people. not just laying out a laundry list of accomplishments but trying to tell a story, knit together a narrative. these legislative accomplishments are not one off,

they actually knit together from an economic perspective. in telling that story through the factory openings, through the manufacturing jobs all together and connecting them to the blue collar workers that's the president's goal and what he'll be trying to do. >> phil mattingly, thank you. let's go back to wolf. >> anderson, waterwatching members walk into the house of representatives. they're getting ready to listen to the president of the united states. this is truly a historic moment right now. give us a sense of what you're seeing. >> reporter: i'm standing next to the reception of senators coming in. we started watching vice president kamala harris walking in and now we have senators here of delaware and vermont. but they get representation here just like any other senator. so you can see the mood is a bit jovial as they're starting to get here. >> that's a real senator.

>> that's right, senator fetterman, what do you think about your first "state of the union"? >> just looking forward to this. >> so you see we have members who have been here before and those who are just starting, and they're going to witness their first "state of the union" like now senator john fetterman of the commonwealth of pennsylvania. we're also going to wait for the dipl diplomatic corp, and we also expect to see members of the supreme court, wolf. >> yeah, we're looking at the vice president. of course she's now the president -- the president of this senate. i assume she and kevin mccarthy will be shaking hands as she gets up there. there they are. he reaches out to the vice president, and they'll be seated right behind the president of the united states. this is really a very, very dramatic moment we're watching right now. >> reporter: it's also an incredibly difficult moment because of speaker mccarthy

you're seeing there. when president biden enters in a few moments they're going to say mr. speaker and not madam speaker. and so that really is going to be the biggest difference in this "state of the union" address tonight, it is the fact he is dealing with a new republican majority. and the white house has not, you know, shied away from that at all. we heard phil talking about how they crafted this speech. they also spect president biden to call for more progress. they also say he's going to draw a very distinct line between democrats and republicans when it comes to the economy. that has shaped up to be one of the biggest differences. senator mcconnell there one striking contrast is senator mcconnell and president biden have a very different relationship than -- >> look who's there. take a look and you see george santos right in the middle of the screen, the republican from long island who's very, very

controversial. >> reporter: controversial indeed and this was one of the perks he was elected to do. i'd be interested to know if he's president for the next "state of the union." dana has the best seat in the house on a night like this where she gets to talk to people as they walk in on the floor. and i've spent the last, you know, maybe half dozen plus state of the unions in the chamber, and it is a rare moment. it is a rare chance to get to watch republicans, democrats, people who don't often interact with each other, how they talk to each other in this kind of setting. and i do think the atmosphere in the room is going to tell us a lot about both how the white house wants to present things but also how republicans are going to be willing to receive it. it does seem like the message we're getting from the white house in terms of how they're going to frame the speech is to rise above, rise above the partisanship, rise above the

squabbling defined washington frankly over the last few years and instead try and focus on things that can be accomplished. they will blame house republicans largely i would say if in fact they're not able to get anything done. which, wolf, you've covered this town enough to know divided government it is always difficult to get things done. and i think also the noise behind us may indicate the president and his motorcade -- >> once the motorcade is going to arrive here, casey, it'll be right behind us. there's chuck schumer. >> you see senator schumer there, senator tim scott as well. senator schumer, i met with him earlier. of course senator pelosi there in a very different seat. one big question coming out of this for a lot of these lawmakers -- >> here comes the motorcade. >> our viewers can see it on the top right-hand screen is the

motorcade happening right behind us pulling into the capitol here to bring president biden into this scene where you can obviously see members of congress -- he'll be seated of course by the time he gets into the chamber. >> the members of the house are there. the members of the senate are there, and theria see the presidential limousine, the beast as it's called arriving here on capitol hill. >> one thing we were talking back to police reform you've seen all these things presidents want to accomplish, actually what came out of it, what were the tangible take-aways, police reform is going to be the big question. i saw senator schumer today. he expressed cautious optimism about those things happening with senator cory booker and some republicans on capitol hill. we'll see what that looks like. speaker mccarthy that says it all. >> we shall see. there's the speaker and the the vice president. they're getting ready to listen

to the president of the united states. jake, let me go back to you. >> thanks, wolf. we're just watching the house chamber as so many americans. there of course the new speaker kevin mccarthy with the vice president kamala harris. jamie, these speeches, these state of the union addresses often are known for having an emotional moment. we remember it in president trump's first address to congress there was the gold star wife of a fallen marine. are you anticipating any this evening especially with the family of tyre nichols in the audience? >> no question about it. and just to go back, that's an actually for those of us to remember a relatively recent thing for guests who served with ronald reagan when he had i think lenny sputnik who had rescued someone from the plane crash out of the potomac --

there's always i think emotional moments whatever side of the political divide you're on. i also think it's just fascinating to see who's talking to whom. there was a moment a little earlier where mitt romney was talking to george santos. when we first came back we saw kamala harris and kevin mccarthy talking to each other, but for a while they had not been talking -- it's just sort of interesting to see the interplay on the floor in these moments before it begins. >> absolutely. let's go to manu raju who is in the house chamber. manu, tell us what you're seeing. >> reporter: a lot of buzz in this room, a lot of energy here. this is different than what saw in particular the covid era, a lot of damp mood in this room but different here. in part because so many members here are new to this chamber, so many freshman, their first time experiencing an event like this,

a lot of new senators and house members all in the room. and you mentioned the very controversial congressman george santos sitting along the aisle. he's moved around a little bit but he'll be in a position potentially to shake hands on his way in. mccarthy and harris they have been having a conversation. right now kamala harris pointing over to the visitors gallery as members are greeting each other, and right now the mood very light in this room. but of course that could certainly change depending on the kind of remarks joe biden gives here in just a matter of moments, jake. >> that's right. and we're watching individuals come in. john fetterman, the brand new senator from the commonwealth of pennsylvania there, the larger gentleman towards the back there. and right in front of him, of course, is senator josh holly,

bernie sanders making his way down the aisle. do you think president biden is going to have much to say about the downed chinese spy balloon that's been so much the focus of the political world and geopolitical world in the last week? >> i think it'll be interesting to see how specifically he addresses it. there's really no question china is going to be in this speech. china is going to be a huge part of his foreign policy picture he's painting here. but the question is will he use the chinese spy balloon to draw a contrast between what he did as president and the previous administration or will he acknowledge it and move onto the geopolitical issue he's wanted to talk about? >> abbey, i want to jump in and talk about the picture we just saw a moment ago of kevin mccarthy with vice president harris. i think it's fair to say i have never seen as much bad press as kamala harris has gotten in the last week. i mean just savage story in a

number of newspapers. not only about the -- i just finish his book called surrender. >> and the gentleman in the hat is paul pelosi, the husband of former speaker nancy pelosi. >> and wrestled the weapon away in monterey park. >> and jay, you were talking about emotional moments. you should remember we are less than a week past tyre nichols' parents burying him. so this is a very -- an event in very close proximity to a really searing moment for them and also for the country. so i think that as emotional moments go, that will be a pretty significant one. and i will be curious to see how bipartisan the acknowledgement is for this family given what they've been through. but given how partisan this talk

about police reform has been. >> if i can just finish the point i wanted to make about kamala harris, she's very important politically because there's been a lot of talk as we discussed earlier about the fact that only in 3 in 10 democrats and democratic leaning independents feels comfortable with joe biden running for president. one of the problems democrats are going to face is that his vice president is even more unpopular as he is and has even lower standing in public opinion polls, and you can just see republicans as biden gets closer to the nomination and we assume is going to keep kamala harris on the ticket, the republicans will start making the argument you're talking about an 82-year-old man serving until he's 86, and if anything were to happy god forbid kamala harris becomes president. that'll be an issue for republicans during the upcoming election. >> john king, biden is going to call for house republicans to work with him. we've seen as the camera has

flashed onto the floor of the house some house republicans that can barely work with house republicans much less with the democratic president. >> you were just looking there at george santos. he's wearing a gold tie. you have the speaker confirming the early process of the house ethics committee investigation into him. you see matt gaetz and some of the people who helped deny kevin mccarthy the speakership ballot after ballot. marjorie taylor greene there, she has no interest in working with joe biden. she has very few big policy proposals she herself has advanced. so that is a challenge for the president. kevin mccarthy has an interesting at least making a good impression with the american people. he said he had a good meeting with the president on the debt ceiling and he wants to show himself to be a responsible member. this is a big night for him and the question is can he keep people together? is it a disrespectful disagreement with the president?

do you just stay seated or you can grown a little bit, or is it more of a circus atmosphere? so it is a big test. kevin mccarthy in the last week has essentially told his republicans let's get through this moment, let's show the american people we're serious. can he keep them together tonight, so the challenge tonight is obviously the president of the united states will speak to the american people. but kevin mccarthy has a challenge here in his introduction as speaker to the american people and as leader of what can be cantankerous and that's a polite word. >> one of the first things he did -- we just saw a brief image of her on the floor of the house. one of first things mccarthy did as speaker was kick congresswoman ilhan omar off the house foreign affairs committee. dana bash, you were among the team of reporters that got to have an off-the-record briefing with speaker mccarthy earlier today. any suggestion of what he told his caucus, how he told them to

behave or how he might want to be able to work with president biden or senate democrats in the future? >> well, the behavior he and our colleague manu raju has said he was very clear with his conference that he wants them to behave themselves. we'll see if that plays out. but the image that you're seeing right now on our screen, jake of -- that's bono and paul pelosi we should say. that's quite an image of bono and paul pelosi speaking there. but the image of kevin mccarthy -- >> a joint session will come to order. >> reporter: -- was very much on his mind. and now you hear the speaker for the first time doing the formalities of the "state of the

union" and doing it next to the vice president of the united states. as i was saying before, jake, he is very focused on trying to have people perceive him as respectful of the president, of the presidency. doesn't mean he's going to stand up and clap at everything. definitely don't expect that to happen, but he is cognizant of the fact that he is going to be on camera and representing the republican party, that he wants to be seen in a different way than it has been in the past couple of years. >> right. although we should point out one of the reasons why it has to look the way he wants it apparently to look is because he himself has been engaging in election denialism for president biden. so he may want his caucus of the house republican congress to be seen as respectful of the

presidency but he voted to deny electoral votes. even though that may be two years ago we can't put down that is history, indeed recent history. one other thing to think about when we listen to vice president harris and kevin mccarthy, these are roughly two people who came up at the same time in california politics. mccarthy in the prez no area, i believe, and harrison in the san francisco area. there's a chairman of the joint chief of staffs, general mark milly. we'll be seeing all sorts of officials from across the administration including from the u.s. supreme court. anderson? >> jake, back with the team here in new york. scott jennings, i mean for the >> yeah. he's in rough shape. his own party doesn't want him to run. the american people don't want him to run. there's serious reservations

about re-electing a president who will be 86 years old at the end of the next term. and i don't know where you go from here. he has -- he is going to talk about some things he's gotten done. the american people don't believe it. they don't feel it. you can feel in the country the market demand for a new generation of leadership. i think that about biden and think that about trump. that would be the best possible thing he could do for this country. one weird trick for having an 80% approval rating by tomorrow morning, give ten-minute speech, flip on the aviators announce i'm not running again and stroll out the front door. he would almost be a hero for having the guts to declare victory and turn this country over to the next generation. >> yet, a lot of people said that before the midterms about what the democrat's prospects. >> just keep underestimates joe biden. just keep doing it. the reality is, my wing of the party didn't think he was going to be able to get through the primary. we thought he would drop out after iowa. he got the nomination. he got the job. he's doing the job. so i think that tonight is a

night, let's hear from the guy. let's hear what he has to say. i think he will get a chance to make the case. the one open sore that he's got to address, though, is the issue of police reform. this is a painful part for the deep part of his base, the black community is still hurting and grieving. he doesn't have to die on the hill of the most -- the biggest bill ever, but listen, he could -- co-responders, data base for bad cops, executive order, sum up in trump's executive order, could bring people together on that and get another miracle pulled off. i just think that people keep underestimating joe biden. he keeps winning. >> yeah. look, i have to agree. i think when you look at his legislative accomplishments, look when he purged the oval office of trump and restored some sense of normalcy and decency to it and calm, i think those are all strengths for joe

biden. i don't know how you -- the age issue is a difficult one to overcome. and that's -- >> diplomatic court coming in. >> and that's what -- and that -- these polls what you see is democrats with 82% say they approve of the job he's doing. 58% say they don't want him to run again. that's not about his record. they approve of his record. >> i don't underestimate him. he runs and we nominate trump, he will probably win again. >> the polls don't necessarily show that. there's a new abc poll that has trump outperforming head to head with biden. usually having worked for a vice president, you would say a vp is really just for an electoral boost in an election. that's not case uniquefully a case of biden/trump head to head. he's in his 80s, trump is 78. the number two you're voting could this be the president tomorrow. as chris wallace said, kamala harris has been getting a swath

of bad press. doesn't have core legislative or policy achievements in her portfolio to point to. kind of taken on unwinnable things like the border crisis. so that's a challenge that i'm not sure he's prepared to address. >> well, we're here to talk about the state of the union. since we're talking about the election, one of the interesting things about it is, i mean, nobody is more antithetical to donald trump than joe biden. probably nobody needs him in some ways more than joe biden. i think he is a guy who joe biden feels he can beat. and i think joe biden feels if donald trump doesn't get the nomination, that he'll tear your party down. and that's not a far-fetched notion. >> yeah. they're like two magnets stuck together that you find in the back of the utility drawer in your kitchen. you know you should throw these things away, yet you keep putting them in the drawer and shutting it. you mentioned police reform. i want to talk about another issue he is apparently going to mention which is a good thing. the 20th anniversary of the

pepphar. save 25 million lives in africa. good issue. >> introducing the members of the supreme court right now. how likely is it that the president will talk about abortion? >> i think it's -- i would be shocked if he didn't. i mean, that's an issue where he has a huge majority in the country who supports some form of abortion rights and where there's a sense that states out there that have gone too far. i mean, he's -- and there's a real interest in sort of regularizing abortion rights in the country. i'm sure he'll address it. it would be surprising if he didn't. >> ketanji jackson brown just walked in. >> let's go back to jake in d.c. jake? >> the five supreme court justices of the nine who just walked in. including the chief justice of the united states, john roberts and elena kagan, brett kavanaugh, amy coney barrett and ketanji brown jackson. this is obviously her first

state of the union, having just recently joined the court. phil mattingly at the white house, what more can we expect from the president's state of the union address this evening? >> before we get into that, jake, i do want to note that we do have word on one of the always outstanding questions heading into these final moments before the president starts speaking, that's which member of the cabinet is the designated survivor, a white house official says the designated survivor for this state of the union address will be marty walsh, the labor secretary. those unfamiliar with kiefer sutherland or the tradition here, one cabinet official will stay outside of the chamber, given the president, the vice president, the speaker of the house, all of the senior leaders that are in the capitol building just in case if something happens there there is somebody outside that could have continuity of government. always a cabinet official. gina raimondo was the designated survivor last year. this year it's marty walsh. interestingly enough, labor

secretary is a very key member of president biden's economic team and several of the key items the president will be details tonight will have some ties to what the labor department does. but he will be the one outside of the chamber, jake. >> that's right. we're seeing the first lady of the united states, dr. jill biden walk in right now. the fist lady is usually somebody who gets bipartisan support, no matter whom her husband is. and there she is, sitting right next the second gentleman of the united states, doug emhoff, the husband of vice president kamala harris. among the first lady are as we were referring to earlier, a number of individuals, often picked from public notice or public life or the news, who represent a specific story, represent a specific cause. we saw not only paul pelosi there but the ukrainian ambassador to the united states. >> mr. speaker, the president's

cabinet. >> here is the cabinet of the united states. we will see -- we should note that marty walsh will not be there the secretary of labor is about to leave the administration. i'm kind of surprised he's not there. there is the secretary of state, anthony blinken, who recently cancelled his trip to china because of the chinese spy balloon controversy. he was supposed to go to china and have a high-level meeting with chinese leaders. and he cancelled that trip. there is janet yellen, the treasure secretary. behind her the secretary of defense, retired general lloyd austin. there is, of course, attorney general merrick garland, many democrats criticized for not acting strongly or more forcefully enough when it comes to prosecution of president trump. he recently appointed special counsels to take over the investigation into both biden and a separate one for trump.

there is deborah holland, secretary of the interior and, of course, there is the -- there is -- i was going to say xavier becerra coming up in the back with the department of health and human services. you know, what's interesting, jamie, is marty walsh is leaving the administration for a pretty curby job. he will be head of the national hockey league's player's association. that's why i thought he wasn't going to be here. this will be his last state of the union as a member of the cabinet. we can also see denis mcdonough for the secretary of the department of veteran's affairs. >> right. i actually thought the same thing because of the nhl, but this is his last moment of note before he's leaving. i just want to talk a little bit about the supreme court justices for a second. it's always interesting to watch them in these settings because they try not to be political. you won't see them clap.

you don't -- but the chief justice has often said that he doesn't really like to come to these things because they're political. but he's come to many of them. i think he has one -- >> he has come to every one. >> one of the records. something like 18. >> even during the covid year when almost nobody came, he was the only supreme court justice who came. we see there the secretary of transportation, pete buttigieg, secretary of energy. you're joining us, you're one of the preeminent biographers of joe biden. what is going through his mind in this very unique landscape with a new republican-led house and this newly-heightened challenge from china, not a new challenge, but newly-heightened? >> you know, there are moments for a political speech. we heard some of thoiz recently from him during the midterms and may, in fact, be hearing more of that kind if he does run for