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♪ setting up barricades, security cameras newly installed after trump called for protest on social media and rallied his base, to quote, take our nation back. >> he believes this is a very big political plus for him which is why he is fanning the flames. >> if they want to go after donald trump and have solid evidence, so be it. michael cohen is far from solid evidence. >> i have facts. i have the truth. i have the documentation. xi jinping and vladimir putin will meet for a second day of talks at the kremlin. >> this is a critical time in russia's ip investigation of ukraine. and xi is framing himself as a possible peacemaker. >> is there going to be a substantial chinese contribution to the russian war effort or is this just a bunch of talk. that remains to be seen. ♪ the federal reserve begins meeting today to decide whether to raise interest rates again.

>> it's about who is going to be vulnerable as interest rates rise. that could be companies. it could be consumers and entire countries. >> the u.s. banking system is s significantly more secure than it was in 2008. the question, of course, is whether or not people believe that. >> the second largest district in the nation, more than 1,000 schools in all, shut down by this strike. >> we need to make a living wage. >> i believe this strike could have been avoided, but it cannot be avoided without parties at the table. ♪ cracked in the air. deep center field. thomas in the move. it's off the wall. ohtani is in to score. here comes the winning run! japan turns it around on its last breath! >> were they excited there? >> they went nuts. it was one of the greatest games. if you watched that walkoff, it was amazing. >> a snapshot of what's on the menu.

this morning we'll start with police ramping up security in new york city and washington, d.c. as former president trump calls on his supporters to protest and take our nation back. so here we go. it can be a tale of two cities. today is a day trump claimed that he might be arrested and police set up security fencing around the u.s. capitol and manhattan district attorney's office. to be clear, the manhattan d.a. hasn't actually said if or when criminal charges might be coming in the stormy daniels' hush money investigation. cnn has learned the nypd has told all of its officers to be in uniform and ready to deploy today in the event that something does happen. so let's hope it does not. we want to bring in now our senior legal affairs correspondent paula reid here with us covering the twists and turns. i don't know how you keep it all together as to what case you're covering here, because there's tl have been so many. >> a lot of caffeine. >> listen, it's not really tongue in cheek, it's a lot. there's a lot, right?

>> yeah. >> what did we learn yesterday as it relates to the manhattan's d.a.'s case? >> this was a dramatic day. this was the last-ditch effort by the trump team to try to prevent an indictment. they asked prosecutors to bring a witness to attack michael cohen's credibility. of course he is the witness really at the center of this hush money investigation. and this witness, this is someone who is well known in trump's circles, represented rudy giuliani and steve bannon. his name is rob costello. back in 2018, federal investigators were looking at the hush money investigation, these two costello and cohen had many different conversations. costello says during those talks cohen told him that it was cohen's idea to do the hush money payments. that directly contradicts cohen's subsequent statements about how this all went down. now, after he testified, costello gave a little press conference of sorts. he addressed reporters. let's take a listen to what he said and how it contrasts with

what michael cohen says. >> the only thing i'm doing is trying to tell the truth to the grand jurors. listen, if they want to go after donald trump and they have solid evidence, so be it. but michael cohen is far from solid evidence. this guy, by any prosecutor standard, i used to be deputy chief of the criminal division in the southern district of new york, i wouldn't have touched a guy like michael cohen, especially if he's a convicted perjurer. >> i have truth. i have the documentation. let me rephrase that, the district attorney has the documentation in order to validate every single statement that i've made. >> so filing their closing arguments in the court of public opinion, the grand jury, at that point, don, we don't know if they have any more witnesses. we don't know if and when they will vote on a possible indictment. the only thing we know right now is if there is an indictment this week, the former president's team said any initial appearance or arrest wouldn't take place until next week. >> it's interesting that you

have bob costello saying michael cohen is not credibility. but is bob costello credible? >> look, i dealt with bob for a long time. he represents rudy giuliani, he represents steve bannon. in my experience, as a reporter, he has never steered me wrong. but, he has come under scrutiny for some of his decisions and in other investigations. but ultimately, it's up to the grand jury. it's interesting they could have called michael cohen to rebut his testimony and they didn't. will this be enough to change the grand jury's mind? unlikely, but it certainly made for an interesting day at court. >> this is truly everyone is watching and waiting. and you're covering it. thank you, paula reid. appreciate it kaitlan? >> how did we get here given this is something that has been reported for years now. so for more on this i want to bring in an investigative reporter at "the new york times," was a member of the pulitzer prize winning team at "the wall street journal" that revealed the hush money deals involving trump and the co-author of the book "the fixers, the bottom feeders,

crooked and porn stars who created the 45th president" quite a title there. but you have been -- you were on the team that broke this story working at "the wall street journal." i think it's important to walk back through it. it is something we have been talking about since 2016. a lot of investigations into trump. so kind of tell us how all of this got started, how we found out about the entire stormy daniels moment. >> absolutely. this is -- it is a long story and starts 17 years ago in 2006 at a golf tournament in lake tahoe in nevada donald trump was playing in this celebrity golf tournament and meets stormy daniels. he see a picture at the golf tournament. he invited her to dinner at his hotel suite after the tournament and they slept together. then he promised her that he would put her on "the apprentice." he never did that. then flash to 2011, trump is sort of waging a kind of run for president, you know. he tried several times.

people said it was a publicity stunt. stormy is upset she didn't get on "the apprentice" tries to make money off of her story of sleeping with trump. she is unsuccessful. gets a deal to sell it to a magazine but michael cohen, trump's fixer threatens the magazine and it never gets published. >> okay. >> then 2015, trump is running again for president. >> actually running this time. >> actually running. and is actually doing kind of well. and so basically stormy sees another opportunity and tries to sell it again through her agent in early 2016, but she can't sell it. >> no one is interested. >> no one is interested. trump also has known about the fact that she's out there all this time. he's not bought her story, not tried to silence her until we get to a month before the election. >> right. >> this is a critical timeline. this is like a critical juncture, entire saga. >> this is really the crucial point that is what makes this

potentially a campaign finance violation because "access hollywood" tape comes out a month before the election. and trump is heard on tape talking about groping women. it's horrifically damaging to his campaign. so at that point, stormy's people come out of the wood work, it comes out now he slept with a porn star, it will be really damaging to him. and so michael cohen, his fixer -- >> so they're pitching it to the enquirer this time? >> yeah. david pecker, the publisher is a friend of trump's. previously just a couple months before that paid off a playboy model to be silent. karen mcdougal said she had an affair with trump around the same time stormy daniels slept with him. they're involved trying to help trump keep this quiet. so they refer to michael cohen. the fixer.

and so -- >> which is just three days after his story is broken. >> so this timing, the fact that she had tried to sell it for all these years and couldn't, but only now three days after access hollywood, a month before the election, trump now is willing to buy this story. that's what prosecutors will argue makes it a campaign finance violation because that shows that it was related to his campaign and not just to protect his wife or something like that. >> but was her assumption that they were going to publish this story? she didn't know at the time, her and her agent, they were buying the story to kill it to not let it be published? >> stormy knew what she was doing. >> she knew they were buying it and wasn't going to become public. >> she basically wanted to make money off this, at least to get some benefit because she felt she had been cheated after he promised her to put her on "the apprentice" and never did. >> what's at the heart of this? cohen pays her the $130,000. he has a signed copy of the agreement we can see here. dd and pp the aliases that were

used to represent trump and stormy daniels. >> that's right. >> of course then the election happens. trump wins. and trump reimburses cohen, as we later learn, once he's in office. >> exactly. trump agrees to pay michael cohen monthly installments and calls them legal fees, which they were not because michael cohen did not have a legal retainer. he actually didn't do any legal work for trump while he was president during this period of time. so that's what alvin bragg the manhattan d.a. is going to say were false business filings at the trump organization, saying that they were legal fees when, in fact, they were just a repayment for hush money. >> now we have robert costello used to be adviser to michael cohen that paula was talking about there who is the one who is now actively rebutting what michael cohen is saying. >> that's right. robert costello after cohen basically is under investigation, he hires costello who is a friend of giuliani, trump's lawyer at the time, to try to help him get a pardon. and it doesn't really work out. they weren't really pardoning

people. and costello and cohen had ale faing out. so now costello is used by trump to try to undercut cohen's credibility. >> and we wait to see what happens with the indictment and what the actual charges look like if there are any charges. really important to look back at all of this. thank you for that refresher. >> thanks so much. >> great reporting on this, michael. >> that was a great layout, but triggering, bringing all of that back what happened in those years. here we are now. thank you, kaitlan. thank you, sir. so happening today, tens of thousands of los angeles school employees will begin a three-day strike. this includes bus drivers, cafeteria workers, janitors and other support staff. the impact stopping classes for half a million students. workers say they have been unable to negotiate a new contract for nearly a year. and accuse the district of unfair labor practices. teachers have said that they will honor the strike and not cross the picket lines. also this morning, the federal reserve walking a pretty fine line as it is weighing its next move to tackle inflation.

this two-day policy meeting coming in the midst of the biggest banking crisis the u.s. has seen since 2008. what is the fed going to do? cnn's christine romans is here with her crystal ball to tell us. it's a really tough position for them to be in because they're deciding quickly right after all of this has happened. not like we had a lot of time to marinate on this banking crisis. >> it's completely cloudy at this point, the crystal ball. the fed has to look at every piece of data up to the moment they make this decision. reminder, this affects every single one of us. this affects the borrowing costs if you borrow money on a credit card, for a home loan, for an auto loan. but also it affects the economy. it affects jobs growth and clearly affects the banking system because all those rate hikes there have put strain on the banking system. here is the menu of options, right? no rate hike, there are a lot of people saying that it would be prudent to pause right here. most people think it will be 25 bases points. but a case for no rate hike.

pause after all of the stress in the system. the con of that, though, it could spook the markets. it could be telling the markets, hey wait a minute, you told us inflation was issue number one. what do you see in the banking system? 25 bases points is the conventional wisdom, shows the fed is serious about financial stability and fighting inflation. inflation is triple what it would like to see in terms of consumer prices. outlier is 50 bases points rate hike. it's what the european central bank did a few days ago because they wanted to show they were very serious about the fight of inflation. overall inflation is the most important issue. i don't think many people think there would be a 50 bases point rate hike. >> i want to quickly get your reaction what treasurer secretary yellen will say where she's talking about the reaction from the federal government to what happened with svb. she talked about their intervention being necessary to protect the broader interest

banking system. similar actions could be warranted if smaller institutions suffer deposit runs that pose the risk of contagion. basically saying, further rescues of depositors could happen. >> that's a consensus i talked to a couple people who said don't think this is done because i keep saying do we put -- have we put a line under this crisis? and i think the consensus is the federal government has more it could do to prevent a run on confidence, if necessary. and they stand ready to do that. so i think that that's her telling the world, look, we are on duty here. we see these strains in the system. we know that fear can spread even when there aren't reasons for the fear to spread. fear is a very toxic thing in the banking industry. and the fdic the treasury, the federal reserve are all standing ready with whatever tools they have to make sure fear doesn't overcome fundamentals in banking. >> you said a few days ago. it's like a few minutes ago things change so quickly. >> i know. the past 12 days or 11 days -- >> it's been three months, christine. >> two weekends in a row of just

everyone in banking -- everyone is working around the clock. >> non-stop. christine romans, thank you. we'll see what they do. vladimir putin, xi jinping about to hold their second day of talks at the kremlin. xi says that he is there on a peace mission. why the white house isn't buying it. that's next. like indulgent memory foam, and ultra-conforming innersprings, for a beautiful mattress, and indescribable comfort. for a limited titime, save $300 on select stearns & fostster® mattresses. couldn't use cpap. now i have this. inspire is a sleep apnea treatment that works inside my body with the click of this remote. no mask, no hose, just sep. learn more and view important

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♪ so the biden administration denouncing chinese leader xi jinping's visit to russia saying it gives the leader more cover to commit more crimes in ukraine. white house fears china might send russia lethal weapons. that's a concern. jeremy diamond live at the white house. good morning, jeremy. xi and putin will meet at the kremlin next hour. what is the white house watching for? >> reporter: well, don, the u.s. is watching these meetings very closely for a number of reasons. but if you listen to u.s. officials over the last 24 hours or so, one thing that they've really honed in on and expressed concerns about is the notion that china could reiterate its calls for a cease fire in the war. and that's not because u.s. officials don't want to see the fighting end in ukraine.

they say the fighting could end if russia simply pulled out its troops. but that's because u.s. officials say a cease fire would merely serve to ratify territorial gains in ukraine and give the russians time to regroup and rearm and then choose to restart the war at a time of their choosing. tony blinken, the secretary of state, said that it would essentially amount to a tactical move by russia supported by china. and u.s. officials really want to dissuade the world of this notion that china is some honest peace broker in this conflict. the secretary of state noted just yesterday that china -- that the chinese president is traveling to russia just days after the international criminal court issued an arrest warrant for vladimir putin on war crimes charges. he said that xi's visit essentially gives putin more diplomatic cover to continue committing war crimes going forward. one other thing u.s. officials are watching for is this possibility that china could decide to provide russia with lethal weapons for its conflict in ukraine. that's something chinese officials so far have not

decided to do, but also u.s. officials say they haven't taken it off the table yet. we'll see if perhaps that's one of the outcomes of these meetings. >> thank you very much. jeremy, reminding us the sun is coming up. only time we get to see it when we go to a live shot to see what's happening. the sun is up. >> good to know. as we talk more about what the white house is watching this morning, xi and putin's second day of talks about to begin. the kremlin says the two leaders had a thorough exchange of views. that's the word they used. over more than four hours. and all of this m kos as the japanese prime minister travelled to kyiv to met with the ukrainian president zelenskyy there. joining us now for perspective is "washington post" columnist josh rogin, also the author of the great book "chaos under heaven, trump, xi and the battle for the 21st century." good morning, josh. we have been watching this. you so closely watch every word these two leaders say given it's so highly choreographed. they barely mentioned the invasion of ukraine.

>> right, kaitlan. that's for a very simple reason is that president xi jinping hasn't condemned the invasion of ukraine. in fact, they blame the united states for the war in ukraine. this just goes to show you that the white house has a lot of very good reasons to be skeptical as the ukrainians do that the chinese government could be any sort of arbitrary or impassioned negotiator here. i mean, let's face it. these guys are celebrating a war crime. they're celebrating the abduction and kidnapping of thousands of ukrainian children. they are defending that -- the words -- speaking of words, the words that president xi said that china and russia stand ready to guard the international order. okay, to stand guard over a world order that makes it safe for war crimes and repression and autocracy. yeah, i think the chances that china plays a useful role in peace negotiations here are slim to none. >> all right. so having said that, then, you wonder how can china -- xi take

on this role of peacemaker as they are considering sending lethal weapons to russia. is he really taking on the role as peacemaker if he's considering sending weapons? >> right. i think, don, what i'm saying here is it's a ruse. he doesn't mean it. that it's meant to distract us from the fact that china, even before they send any weapons to russia, is supporting the russia war effort in ukraine in a number of ways. they're buying the gas. they're helping them bust the sanctions. they're sending a bunch of drones and other nonlethal supplies to the russians invading arm army and standing next to vladimir putin for the victory lap for being indicted to war crimes is about a big of signal they can send what they are saying and doing are two different things. yes, they say they're a peacemaker. we have a lot of good reasons to suspect that's not true. >> slight of hand there. >> clearly. josh, one thing, though, is white house is watching this is to see if china publicly calls for a cease fire here. that's something that's broached

during this meeting. i asked john kirby from the national security council about this yesterday. this is what he told us. >> so if they call for a cease fire, you believe ukraine should and will reject that? >> yes. we do. we would reject it as well. we think that's an unacceptable outcome right now. >> essentially arguing if there was one right now it would give russia the land it invaded so far, give them time to potentially regroup. what did you make of the white house's stance on that? >> right. i think basically they're correct that a cease fire advantages russia and disadvantages ukraine at this stage of the war when we're expecting a new fighting season in the spring and summer. there will be a new fighting season. what's funny about that is that vladimir putin doesn't -- isn't for a cease fire either. he has no intention of obeying any sort of cease fire. so just goes to she you how flimsy and disingenuous this chinese peace push really is. and there's going to be more fighting. we're going to enter a very

bloody spring offensive and then a very bloody counteroffensive. the question is, are we going to give the ukrainians the means and the resources needed to prevail in that conflict to save their democracy so they don't find themselves in an even worse position next year. and i think when we talk about a cease fire, what we're talking about is that time is not really on ukraine's side. that as it goes, the longer this goes on, the worse off they are. and that's why i think there's a big debate both in congress and inside the administration frankly about whether to speed up the assistance so they can win faster because if we let this go on for too long, eventually these lines will get dug in and that spells disaster for the ukrainians. and horror for the people living on the russian side of that line. >> yeah. and they have major concerns about how much ammunition they're burning through in ukraine as well. josh rogin, thank you so much for joining us with your perspective this morning. >> any time. all right. this morning, crowds, chaos, gun violence have all been plaguing miami beach this spring break. what city officials are saying

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♪ you're getting a live look at ocean drive in miami beach this morning. it looks so peaceful, right? but that is also 7:30 in the morning there. the city council, though, is trying to keep that peace for the rest of the spring break season ahead. they chose not to impose a city curfew for this upcoming weekend despite the two fatal shootings that happened in recent days. cnn's carlos suarez is live in miami beach nfor cnn this morning. why not impose a curfew for this weekend? >> reporter: well, kaitlan, good morning. so some of the city commissioners out here said that they did not want to punish tourists that are coming in this weekend as well as businesses for what happened last weekend. it's a move, a decision that the city's mayor couldn't have disagreed more with. he said this was, quote, a big mistake. in the end, all that the city of

miami beach is going to do moving forward right now is limit some alcohol sales. when the chief of police was asked whether this makes the city safer, he said he didn't know. >> reporter: miami beach commissioners voted not to impose another curfew this upcoming weekend after last weekend's violence. >> we have a real problem with the number of people that are coming and the guns that are coming. >> reporter: the city manager issued a state of emergency and a mid night curfew on sunday after two separate deadly shootings and, quote, exce excessively large and unruly crowds flooded the city. >> declarations themselves are usually impactful to those of us who run businesses here. my clientele, primarily an international crowd, i'm going to have to give them a refund. and it hurts. >> reporter: the commission debated extending the curfew this weekend.

>> these aren't spring breakers. they're lawbreakers who don't police, don't respect law, don't respect innocent lives. and i need to follow the recommendation of our law enforcement when they tell me that they need this emergency order to protect our city. >> this whole notion of, you know, we got to do something. we did this crap during covid, right? let's be real. if it's not going to make a difference, don't punish the businesses that will be affected by this and their employees. >> reporter: some commissioners argued it's usually the third weekend of spring break that sees the most violence. and that it was unfair to punish the crowds this weekend. in the end, they voted to have liquor stores close at 6:00 p.m. the city is also preparing to deal with crowds from two major music festivals this weekend. speaking to vacation goers, some admitted that they were out past curfew. >> i make sure my surrounders are safe. i make sure i'm with a best friend a close friend and my phone is charge. >> reporter: but you broke

curfew. >> i didn't know there was curfew. >> reporter: some said they felt safe. >> i feel safer here than my country. so, i'm not that worried. of course, later in the night, we are going to the hotel, not staying in the streets. but we don't feel unsafe here. >> i think if you play safe and do what you're supposed to do and just be mindful of your area around you, you're fine. >> reporter: and so the chief of police was asked whether alcohol played a role in either of the two deadly shootings here on ocean drive last weekend. and the chief of police said it did not. it's important to note here that the commission is still giving the city manager the power to declare another state of emergency, if necessary. so she would be able to impose a curfew if needed. kaitlan? >> carlos suarez, thank you so much. we heard from the mayor saying they didn't ask for spring break and didn't want it. we will speak to mayor joining

us live for what's happening in the latest. the governor in florida, ron desantis, has something to say about donald trump's legal troubles but probably not in the way the former president was hoping. >> i don't know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of allege aid fair. i can't speak to that. ♪ ♪

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i know you have some new details here. so what arguments are trump's lawyers trying to make exactly? >> reporter: well, look, they're trying to throw out all of the work that this special grand jury did over months and movnth. they're saying the district attorney is biased and that she should be disqualified from any potential prosecution. they're saying the judge, who oversaw the grand jury, made a number of bad calls in how he was overseeing this panel. they also took issue with media interviews the judge did including one with cnn. and, of course, they took issue with the foreperson for the special grand jury going on a media blitz, insisting she had tainted the jury pool. let's take a listen back to some of the things she was saying about the special grand jury's work and the potential indictments they may have recommended. take a listen. >> we definitely heard a lot about former president trump. and we definitely discussed him a lot in the room. and i will say that when this list comes out you wouldn't --

there are no major plot twists waiting for you. >> now there were multiple indictments. she wouldn't say whether or not donald trump was on that list. look, you tainted the jury pool. this whole process basically has been ruined. we should toss the entire work product of this special grand jury, don. >> the question is, fani willis, watching what is happening in new york today and everyday, watching it very closely. do you think it could have an impact on the georgia case? >> reporter: well, they're paying attention. but of course, don, as you know they're looking at the potential racketeering charges. this is a complicated case. if that's what they decide to bring. they won't bring it until they're ready. they won't rush ahead with charges because they sense the d.a. in manhattan may be moving ahead of them. but they are paying very close attention to the security situation and the security preparations going on in new york so they can take some cues for when it comes time to announce whether they'll bring charges or not in georgia. >> all right, sara murray, thank you very much. appreciate that. >> thanks. also this morning, florida

governor ron desantis has now broken his silence about former president trump's potential indictment. here is what he said. >> i don't know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair. i can't speak to that. but what i can speak to is that if you have a prosecutor who is ignoring crimes happening every single day in his jurisdiction and chooses to go back many, many years ago to try to use something about porn star hush money payments, you know, that's an example of pursuing a political agenda and weaponizing the office. >> desantis now has not announced that he is running for president yet. he is currently, though, still trump's most serious potential 2024 rival. he had been under pressure to weigh in on the looming indictment. trump responded to those comments by lashing out at

desantis on his website truth social, warning that the florida governor might also one day face false accusations in the future as he is better known. joining us now for perspective is cnn political analyst and national politics reporter for "the new york times" -- >> that was real, real shady. >> he could have taken the route that we have seen pence and other republicans take where they just criticized the prosecutor here. he made a point of highlighting the underlying conduct. >> he did. it came after a couple days of the trump yuniverse trying to pt pressure. he made the kind of shady comment saying, oh, i don't know anything about that. i can't speak to that. and i think it is in line with what we have seen him do so far. when he had that -- not having drama in his administration, about projecting himself as a serious florida governor, the comments he made right after that, i'm more concerned about what's happening here in florida. his comments today fit within the narrow lane we have seen him try to criticize trump on, which

is just in terms of personality, just in materials of maybe drama but staying away from the ideological fight because he does not want to come off as fully anti-trump. >> you know trump is not going to like that, though. >> no. >> touched a nerve. so now what? >> yeah. we have seen trump lash out immediately as you said on truth social and trump allies will try to seize on this. but i think that the problem for desantis isn't just donald trump's campaign. it's that the other contenders are also looking at him. you've seen folks like nikki haley, you have seen other prospective 2024 nominees point their view at desantis recently. it hazmatered. you have seen desantis do a slip in early polling. now that could be just people after the midterms when he was getting really rave reviews for those re-election, coming back to earth. we know that polling is super early at this point. but we have seen desantis increasingly on the defensive and that has shown up in the evidence quantitatively. >> he has to be careful.

>> he does. >> trump is clearly testing the resolve of people who normally defend him. trump jr. was not happy with what desantis said. desantis thinks that dems weaponizing the law to indictment president trump is a manufactured crisis, referencing what you said, and isn't a real issue. pure weakness and now we know why he was silent all weekend. >> this is the wedge that the trump universe will drive and comes out of that america first language. i was just at cpac they talk about the doj and fbi and defunding them as priorities for their political movement. so trump there is trying to stoke that lane of the base to say, although desantis has really reached out to you and kind of made overtures to the maga wing, this is not your candidate. the candidate only for these folks is donald trump. but that's not the majority of the republican base. desantis is trying to pull off some of those people. but he knows that really where he's going to make his bread and butter will have to be the republican electorate at large and you have him not fully coming to trump's defense. let's remember, he is unique in

this race. he was not in the last administration. he might be a little more free to come at trump more directly if he decides to do that. >> well, he is saying, i have got to spend my time on issues that actually matter to people. >> yeah. >> so he's going -- can he continue the question is to walk this line where he avoids discussing, criticizing trump? >> to me this is the biggest question about governor desantis and this candidacy. from this time we have really seen him rise through set plays from the governor's office. he's made these announcements. released them to friendly media. he's really carefully cons constructed a rise in the conservative world. but when you're in a campaign, and there's news coming day to day, when donald trump is sucking up so much of the news cycle, he has to respond much quicker and it's not going to be on issues he is on the home base. that's the kind of question for the candidacy going forward is can he focus on those issues from florida as he's saying as donald trump sucks up more and more space in the republican

primary. it's a careful line that he's trying to walk. at least right now. >> and the other test is how republican candidates are trying to attack desantis, but not trump. i mean, nikki haley has this op ed out about ukraine and obviously what desantis said his position was. she said more surprising is the weakness from some on the right. they said the u.s. shouldn't care about ukraine because this isn't our war to fight. some call a mere territorial dispute. this has it backwards. >> i wonder who she's talking about. >> the day by day, this is -- >> aren't desantis and trump aligned on ukraine. >> what nikki haley is looking at, desantis is trying to straddle both lines, get some of the haley base, moderate republican voter, she's trying to peel those folks off to make herself more of someone consider the top tier trump contender. she's i think the thinking here is that whether donald trump has his base, she may not win over, she can maybe pull folks off of

who are supporting desantis and that's why you have seen her focus a little more on him rather than the former president where there are much more complications with his base about how you can attack him. >> yeah. >> that's going to be tough. >> it will be tough. they're all really one foot in, one foot out and donald trump is someone who has two feet in at all times. >> because people love trumps they love him. people who love desantis, they love him. trying to peel off -- it will be tough. we'll see. >> thank you for joining us here. also this morning, california is getting ready for another round of flooding. not what people there want to hear. but we are live with how storm weary communities are preparing. >> what is going on in california? and we're just moments away from china's xi jinping and vladimir putin meeting behind closed doors in the kremlin. we're live in moscow and ukraine. that's next. ♪ and we'll come to you with a replacement you can trusust. >> man: lolooks great. >> tech: that's service on your time. scschedule now. >> singers: ♪ safelite repairi, safelite replace. ♪

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facing a serious flood threat as yet another of what's known as an atmospheric river is going to bombard the state. it's not only threatening heavy rain and snow but hurricane-force winds. some people have been fleeing homes as officials are worried roads could become impassable. live from san bernardino, stephanie, we can see from your rain jacket. what are conditions looking like? how are officials brace to go deal with this yet again? >> reporter: we are on the 12th sif atmospheric river to hit. it's really windy this morning. that's part of the issue. they are take the wind gusts could be up to 75 miles per hour in the mountain ranges and it's about 50 miles per hour in the lower areas. right now where i am which the cajon pass, if you were able to go up north of me, that would be the area that goes through the mountains and take you up to the

15 into vegas. right now all of this, you can't see it because it's still so early here, the san gabriel mountains and san bernardino mountains mountains, bracing for two to five more feet of snow up in those reigns. officials have been asking people to have supplies for two weeks just in case they are stranded there. they are asking them to stay off roads. on top of that, there is a threat level of flooding that is three out of four because of this much rain. think about all of the praigs t precipitation that has fallen in california. the ground is saturated and that could lead to flooding. some communities in california are already being evacuated before the storm comes in. this is just the beginning of this system, kaitlin. >> yeah, wow. just the beginning. they want people to video two weeks of supplies. stephanie elam, please stay safe. so the climate time bomb is ticking according to the u.n. enter governmental al panel on

climate changes report. that ice is melting fast. of course, the science is not new. but in report paints a very stark picture of where the world is heading, noting that no nation is on track to keep the promises that they have made. cnn's chief climate correspondent mr. bill weir joins us now. good morning. biggest take away from the ipcc report? >> how much time has been wasted. how much these reports have evolved over 40 years, this is the sixth in 40 years and is unequivocally stark. we are committing suicide by fossil fuels and the amount of effort and speed it will take to head off the worst disasters is stunning. especially compared to the action today when you have got the willow project approved by the united states, china approving 80 plus new coal projects. the actions of the leaders of humanity doesn't match the warning. >> no nation, right. >> right.

>> what are some things that could be done? >> this is the blue ribbon science, thousands of studies from around the world. what could make the biggest difference the quickest. the big three are get renewable fast, solar and wind prices are coming way down. the seener off coal-fired power plants the better. stop cutting down forests. we are beginning to realize how important natural eco stnls to drawing down washen and helping biodiversity. and then help developing countries avoid deforestation and take care of the communities that depend on the forest and build more efficient buildings. i insulation in your house could probably save more of the planet than a lot of things in your life. >> the ipcc now believes it won't be enough to cut back on oil gas. but an entire industrywill be n pull a trillion tons of carbon

out of the sky. >> humanity has put a trillion extra tons of carbon into the sea and sky. now it's not jenough to get off of oil and gas. we have to capture that carbon and lock it back into the slow cycle, under rock or seabeds. this industry is just kicking off. inflation reduction money will unlock a lot more now. but this is the very tiny beginning of this industry when you have to build the oil industry in reverse. all the smokestacks pumping into the sky, take those and put them back in the earth. >> amazing. so the u.s. is now actively studying something called stratospheric solar intervention to buy time for this global decarbonization. what is that and is that realistic? >> this is a growing debate. the idea of mimicking a volcano. w volcano /* it lowers the temperature, the shade of a a year for a couple of years with no real ill effects.

they want to do this with airplane, spray sulfur particles high in the sky like where the china balloon was. if you turn down the sun for a couple of years, that givers time to decarbon niez. scientists say it's dangerous, they say it shouldn't be studied at all. you will hear more of this. the longer it takes forlt big fossil few interests to get onboard. that's where the help is needed. exxonmobil, the most profitle companies in the world these days, they are not going gently away from their business model. >> of course not. a lot of money. >> thank you, sir. "cnn this morning" continues right now. ♪ president xi is traveling to

russia after the criminal court issued an arrest warrant for president putin suggests that china feels no responsible to hold china accountable for the atrocities in ukraine. instead of condemning them, they would provide diplomatic cover for russia. >> good morning, everyone. poppy is off. that's the secretary of state there weighing in because just minutes from now that high-stakes summit at the kremlin is set to resume as chinese president xi jinping is going to meet with president putin behind closed doors again as the war is raging on in ukraine. something they barely made mention of. we will take you live to moscow. >> that is internationally. domestically, we have a lot going on. donald trump claims his own arrest is coming soon and now police are on alert in new york city and d.c. a tale of two cities, what's happening here. this is happening as the former president calls for protests. and this morning one of the nation's largest school districts about to shut down as thousands of teachers and

workers are going to go on strike. coming up, what it means for more than 500,000 students there. we start where moments from now two of america's most powerful rivals, russia's president putin and china's xi jinping are set to meet inside the kremlin behind closed doors. it's a high stakes summit that the entire world is watching. it could have implications for what's happening in ukraine. this into cnn. a senior ukrainian official says discussions are underway to organize a call between xi and cnn president zelenskyy. that would be the first conversation between those two leaders. in a competing display of support, we are seeing the japanese prime minister on the ground in kyiv right now as this meeting in russia is going on. live team coverage with correspondents in russia, ukraine and taiwan. we start with cnn's senior international correspondent matthew chance in moscow. you have this nor reew reportin about the call between the leader of china and president zelenskyy. this is something the white house had wanted to maken.