diplomatic and political support to moscow for a long time. especially since the beginning of this war. there is an economic relationship between them. chun china is one of the biggest energy users. you know with, this kind of political rhetoric saying look, countries like lithuania and kazakhstan and ukraine are not religious and it adds legitimacy to this question that they can invade them at will and not have sovereign territory. i think it is well received in russia. it's a lot further than moscow has gone. >> matthew chance, great to have you here at the table this morning. >> all right. "cnn this morning" continues right now. >> families are safe out of sudan after a week of heavy fighting. >> the remaining americans are

being told to stay in place while the state department and pentagon try to work out how they might be rescued. >> there was a 72-hour cease-fire on the broad question of whether it could collapse. >> what really could make this conflict much worse is if these two sides are supported by the external allies. >> will it be deja vu all over again in the 2024 presidential election? >> he's the right person to fix the problems that we face to undo all the damage by biden. >> they may be popular in the box office but not at the ballot box. >> he stood up for women of america and he stood up for our democracy. >> low poll numbers, people second guessing him. this is where this man eats dinner. >> may day. may day. >> and federal aviation administration is investigating two separate fires on american airlines flights. the. >> this flight never even got off the ground. >> nobody knows what is happening. it's the first instinct is the plane is going to blow.

>> one of the most recognizable store fronts is closing up shop. beth bad & beyond filed bankruptcy. 14,000, that's how many of the nonseasonal workers are at risk of losing jobs. >> a grown man's jam! >> off the pin down. got it! >> shot clock winding down. just gets it off! it goes! crossover three. he got it! the minnesota timberwolves stave off elimination. >> we're going back. see you in denver. >> nuts. i know you have been watching. >> i was getting off the train here in new york right when the knicks game was ending yesterday. all the fans are pouring out. i'm like there with my bag. everyone is coming out. >> they were all sober, right? >> yeah. it was 4:00 in the afternoon. >> it is all right there. timberwolves, a lot to be happy about for new york. >> a lot to be happy about and to discuss this morning. so good morning, everyone. welcome n we're so glad you

could join us here on "cnn this morning." the united states launching a daring rescue operation to evacuate americans from war torn sudan. that's where we begin today. the pentagon says special forces swooped in to the capital in help coul helicopters to pick up u.s. embassy staff and families. troops were on the ground for less than an hour. the rescue mission was fast and clean. this is a photo of secretary of state anthony blinken watching the tense operation unfold. he says all u.s. personnel in sudan were safely evacuated. the u.s. and other nations have been scrambling to evacuate the citizens as fighting wages between two factions. 16,000 americans are estimated to be living in the country. many of them duel citizens. straight to cnn's senior international correspondent mr. sam kiley. that is where the rescue operation was launched. sam, hello to you there. afternoon, 2:00 in the afternoon

to you. what more are we learning about this mission? >> the u.s. forces are based here for under the africa specialists part of the pentagon. they launched this mission which was the in the vanguard of a multinational series of missions launched by countries from as wide from europe all the way to japan. the japanese standing by bringing in their forces, trying to bring their people out. the americans flew from here in to ethiopia. refueled and then flew very, very low indeed and relatively slowly over a huge distance to the sudanese capital. they're flying low so they cannot give any chance to even undisciplined elements trying to shoot down the aircraft. they had no gunfire going in or going out. there was a sort of cease-fire

in place. but that really wasn't holding particularly well. it clearly did not come under fire. and they pulled out some 70 plus embassy officials and families plus a handful of internationals. that led the way for a british evacuation. they traveled with the americans into khartoum. that is a road move. we saw quite a few road moves by the french, british and others in to collect the people and bring them out to a military airfield on the outskirts of the sudanese capital. the focus now, don, is what to do about the remaining population there, particularly of americans, 16 to 19,000 estimated americans p of sudanese people are trying to get away from the fighting. the problem is where to run to. it's an extremely messy situation in khartoum. the government forces are using aircraft to bomb locations inside their own capital which are being held by rebel forces

or so-called rebel forces. you have this caldron trying to run it. a lot of focus in planning for some kind of an operation to get people to port sudan. the americans have been told remaining there to try to join convoys. there was 70-vehicle convoy run recently that made it through to port sudan. you need vehicles. you need fuel. you need food and water. >> sam kiley, thank you. next hour we'll be joined by john kirby. >> a lot of questions from him. also in washington, kevin mccarthy is confident he has enough votes to pass the debt limit bill that he unveiled. passing it this week, he said. >> we do have a small majority.

only five seats. the smallest we ever had. i can't imagine someone wanting to go along with biden's reckless spending. >> joining us now is a congressional correspondent. lauren, the big question is does he have the votes? we heard him yesterday saying that. are they still rounding out the people that said they were skeptical of this? >> yeah. i mean there is still a little bit of work left to do, caitlyn. the team working over the weekend to try to shore up support for this republican only plan. they would like to mach massive spending cuts. kevin mccarthy facing a week on capitol hill as he tries to rally troops around this proposal. like he noted, he can only afford to lose four republican members. en that is a huge gamble for this speaker. he is trying to make the point to the white house that republicans are united. he has to go to the floor and show that is the fact. they also made the case this is the week they're going to vote. you can expect if there is a delay, that also sends a signal

to the white house that republicans are not backing the speaker's plan. thi th things to watch, conservatives are asking changes to be made to the legislation. leadership has said this bill is what it is and that if they make any changes that satisfy the right flank of the conference, they could sacrifice and lose some of the votes. >> yesterday i was watching state of the union. and senator amy klobuchar said she believes the white house should negotiate with republicans. what is your sense of the likelihood of that happening? >> they're trying to thread this needle. they argue the fight over spending should happen in the appropriations process, not on the debt ceiling.

a clean debt ceiling would not pass the u.s. senate where you need a number of republicans to join with democrats. that is why this vote is so significant this week. it really provides the test case of whether or not republicans are going to be able to bring the white house to the negotiating table. caitlyn? >> lauren fox, a lot going on capitol hill this week. we'll check back in with you. thank you. >> meantime, team biden preparing to make it official. 2024, that is. cnn learned the president and advisors are finalizing plans, detailing biden's interest in a second term. edits are being made to a campaign video announcement set to be released tomorrow. it comes as new polling finds just 26% of americans think biden should run again for a second term. 70% say he shouldn't. among democrats, 51%, the president should not run for a second term. that mirrors the findings of other recent polls showing lukewarm support for biden's re-election bid.

in the nbc polling, half of those who opposed a biden run say his age is a big reason for that. >> all right. pay attention to this. these are frightening moments for passengers aboard two american airlines flights in recent days. both captured on camera. okay. it is believe that a possible bird strike sparked an engine fire on a flight over columbus, ohio. look at that. that was on sunday. >> and then there is this one from a separate incident. this is on thursday. we have details on both of these. good morning to you. what are investigators saying about these incidents? >> good morning, don. the good thing is nobody was hurt in either of these incidents. american airlines flight 1958 just took off from john glen columbus international airport in ohio. on its way to phoenix. passengers knew something was wrong. this 737 apparently hit one or more birds.

started to make a pulsing noise loud that you could hear it from the ground. aviation enthusiastists whipped out cameras and took this video. can you see the flames pulsing out the right engine there of that 737. listen to the flight crew as they declare an emergency and start to head back to columbus for an emergency landing. listen. >> may day, may day. may day. american 1958. we have a bird strike. engine failure. >> 1958, roger. can you make it back to the runway? >> yes. >> they fly just fine on one. they were able to make it back to columbus. the bad news here is that bird strikes are not going away any time soon. 1700 reported so far this year.

17,000 reported last year. one thing that may be happening,izer for pilots to report bird strikes. gone are the days of the mountains of paperwork. they can do it online now. the other good thing here, don, the bird strikes very rarely end in injuries. maybe power play. >> pete: maybe .1% caused injury to a passenger or pilot. but this is really just bad news for the bird, typically, and also good news for the flight crew who is able to do this very successfully and get this plane back on the ground with no problems. >> so these increasing incidents, whatever the cause,cause, this is head of the acting head of the faa, billy nolan is stepping down after one year what is next? >> there is a leadership vacuum. the biden administration needs to put forth a nominee that will take the helm of the faa as they're going through the problems. one of the biggest problems the faa is facing is now admitting a shortage of air traffic

controllers which could cause flights to be delayed even more at new york's three main airports, newark, laguardia and jfk and the faa is asking airlines to scale back service to those airports. will we'll find out at the end of the month just how severely airlines will scale back service to those airports. really something the faa needs to tackle here and they need a long term head to figure out that problem as well. >> pete in bash wawashington, d. thank you. >> parents and children in did any land watched as a dragon went up in flames during the park's show saturday night. ♪ >> oh, my gosh. >> it's on fire. >> park goers capturing that dramatic scene on video. the park stopped the show' music. you see fireballs falling. the entire thing went up in flames. representatives for disney say they were able to safely evacuate the workers and

visitors near the ride. fire crews came to put out the flames. they're looking into what caused this. the dragon certainly put on a show on saturday, not the one people were expecting. >> i was going to say, they got a show, didn't they? >> not what they thought they were getting. >> glad everybody is okay. >> indeed. hunter biden striking back this morning with a new and aggressive move his lawyers are making next. this is a tempur-pedic mattress and it's designed to help make aches and pains a thing of the past... by relieving pressure points and supporting your body in a way no other mattress can. experien the mattress ranked #1 in customer satisfaction by j.d. power, four years in a row bath fitter is a better way to remodel your b. a custom-made watertight fit and high-quality materia mean a beautiful tub, and a great value. bath fitter. it just fits.

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hunter biden's lawyers are going on offense, striking back against his accusers brand new this morning, cnn has learned his legal team is demanding an investigation into why a trump aide had his banking records. and they also want an ethics probe of republican congresswoman marjorie taylor greene. let's bring in our paula reed. good morning. this is a new -- i mean, they've been taking this aggressive path for a few months. this is significant. >> that's right. over the past few months, as the criminal investigation into hunter biden appeared to stall and as republicans took over the house and made it clear that hunter biden was going to be a focus, hunter biden's legal team

decided to take an aggressive and litigious approach. we have multiple letters they're firing off. the first one as you noted, is to the treasury inspector general seeking an investigation of former trump aide garret ziegler. the legal team alleges that he has obtained and posted suspicious activity reports known as sars. they point to the fact that on a podcast late last year ziegler claimed to have an insider, jp morgan who is helping him obtain this. biden's legal team says this is a conspiracy to illegally post the records. we have reached out to an attorney for ziegler. we're told by a source familiar with hunter biden's legal strategy that he has been a top focus for them in this more aggressive approach. they also filed a lawsuit again ziegler taking he was harassing members of biden's team. the other letter that they're reaching out, foreign ethics inquiry into representative marjorie taylor greene.

her public comments and allegations she made against hunter biden. now we have also reached out to the representatives' team. we have not heard back at this time. >> hunter biden, paula, is set to meet with the doj later this week. what does this mean for the investigation? >> that's right, don. we broke this news on friday. there say meeting expected this week between hunter biden's legal team and a group of attorneys at doj. this is a routine meeting. the this was ranged at the request of hunter biden's legal team. they reached out seeking an xwup date. they received a routine, what is described as a routine invitation to come into doj and discuss the case. now also in attendance, in addition to at least one top career justice department official, will be the trump appointed u.s. attorney. he's been overseeing the investigation into hunter biden. begs a lot of questions. what is going on with this investigation? it's been going on since 2018. but our latest reporting is that they have narrowed the charges

down to potentially some tax crimes and possibly one count of false statement related to the purchase of a weapon. but that's been the status of the case since last summer. there are no public developments. he has not been charged. unclear he ever will be charged. but we're told by a source this meeting this week is unlikely to reveal the final disposition of the case. >> all right. so then you will keep reporting. paula reed, thank you very much. we appreciate it. >> a lot of questions in that investigation. also today, a january 6 protesters he is center of a far right conspiracy. the ray epps has been the target of rite whing conspiracies that he was an fbi informant. he is now coming forward telling his story on "60 minutes." >> what happened next at peace circle where protesters first overran police is seen as a smoking gun. epps pulled this agitated rioter aside and said something.

conspiracies say he was giving marching orders. because seconds later, this happened. the first capitol police officer goes down. >> whoa. whoa. as closely as can you remember, what exactly did you say to him? >> dude, we're not here for that. the police aren't the enemy. something like that. >> did anyone from the federal government direct you to be here at the peace circle at this time? >> no. >> no one from the fbi? >> no. >> your old comrades with the oath keepers? >> no. >> in a statement to 60 minutes, the fbi told them, ray epps has never been an fbi source or an fbi employee. police say at least nine teenagers are recovering from injuries after shots were fired at an after prom party in eastern texas.

authorities responding to a disturbance at a jasper home early sunday where they found multiple people injured between the ages of 15 and 19. no one suffered life threatening injuries. the jasper county sheriff's office says that they are following leads on several persons of interest. can panicked moments at a basketball tournament in texas after someone reported an active shooter. watch this. [ gunfire ] >> shooter! >> as parents, players, coaches seen fleeing for their lives at the tournament. it was in mansfield sunday afternoon. someone yelled shots fired leaving everyone to run for cover. police are vektinvestigating a future where someone had a gun but did not actually fire shots. officials haven't said whether they have anyone in custody. no one was injured. all tournaments, though, have been canceled. just awful to see that. you can see the panic.

>> at a basketball tournament on a sunday afternoon. >> all right. >> mortgage fees about to change for potential home pibuyers and the rule can be based on your credit score. >> and he had sheeran is going to head to trying again over claims of copyright infringement. we'll play the song for you and see what you think. t kitchen tool? my brain. so i choose neuriva plus. unlike some others, neuriva plus is a multitasker supporting 6 key indicatorors of brain health. to help keep me sharp. neuriva: think biggeger. sometimes you're so busy taking care of everyone elsee you don't do enough for yourself, or your mouth. but eventually, it will remind you. when it does, aspen dental is here for you. we offer theustom dental treatments you need, all under one roof, right nearby. so we cabring more life to your smile... and more smi to your life... affordably. new patients thout insurance can get a free complete exam and x-rays, and 20 percent off treatment plans.

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ceo jeff shell is out after a complaint of inappropriate conduct. >> i had an inappropriate relationship with a woman in the company which i deeply regret. he didn't specify who the woman is or details about that investigation. shell, of course, had been name the ceo in january 2020 after he led creation programming in distribution for nbc universal's film and entertainment division. comcast which is nbc universal's parent company. they're set to report the first quarter earnings on thursday. cnn reached out to come tast and

nbc universal for comment. we have not got a comment back. >> if you're looking to buy a home mortgage fee cobbs changing as soon as next month. our chief business correspondent is with us now. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> why? >> so, look this is all an effort to narrow that homeownership gap in america. we have a very difficult gap between low income and higher income families. there's a raushl homeownership gap. low income and first home buyers, the rules are meant to make it easier for them to buy a home. the mort ggage fees are changin may 1st. it is mind numbing. there is up front fees for loans. they will change. they relate to credit scores and down payment amounts and in some cases, this is getting a lot of attention online, a higher credit score borrowers may pay a little more on the up front fees. lower credit score borrowers play less. overall, it does not make sense to try to have a lower credit score.

i mean, that's not -- you're going to pay more if you have lower credit score. this is trying to narrow that gap between the higher credit score borrowers and lower credit score borrowers. >> people say they feel they're being punished if they have a higher credit score. >> that's what year haurg. you're hearing people say, look, wo i won't pay my bills so i get a lower credit score. overall, it does not mean it's better to have a lower credit score. can you argue if it's fair or if it works. thats what a lot of people are talking about. is this a good idea? that is separate. if you have a higher credit score, want to say this, if you have a higher credit score, you pay less. overall, you pay less to borrow than somebody for lower credit score. that is how the system works. >> can we talk more about real estate? because the conventional wisdom is interest rates are high. everybody is waiting for the rates to go down. people in the real estate world

will say -- they will say if you should just buy now even with a high interest rate and then refinance. this is the best time right now to buy the prices are, like, really great for buying. >> it depends on who you are and what you need the home for. right? i keep hearing that the swiss bank that, is mortgage rates. they ticked up a little bit on some strong economic news. 5.5% seems to be the sweet spot when you ask people. that's what they're waiting for. they want rates to go back to 5.5% or so. the best thing for somebody who is trying to buy a home, if it's in the zip code you want, where you want to be and the time is right, that's why you buy a home. i think we're getting used to the 6% mortgage rates. a year ago this was so shocking that the rates were up. so that is keeping people out of the market. now people are getting a little more used to it. they figured out what they can afford to buy. you can afford to buy less this year than last year because of the higher rates. i think rates have stabled out here. i that i is making people feel

more comfortable about buying. >> all right. cool. by the way, everybody. everyone is sniffling. >> there is so many pollen in at the air. it is so pretty outside. >> i woke up this morning and it was 40 degrees. >> cold. >> no. >> put on the corduroy this morning. >> thanks for the tissue. >> you're welcome. >> nice to see you. >> this is happening again. remember it happened with pharrell and then robin thick? jury selection is going to begin against ed sheeran. he is being sued over one of his songs. the plaintiffs claim copies one of ""marvin gay's -- marvin gays classics. here's the song. listen. ♪ darling i will be loving you

till we're 70 ♪ >> and marvin gay's let's get it on. ♪ let's get it on oh, baby ♪ ♪ let's get it on ♪ >> okay. so last year sheeran fought a lawsuit that accused him of copying another of his hits "shape of you." this is what he said about the case after the case was dismissed. >> i'm in love with the shape of you, we push and pull -- >> there are only so many notes and cords used in pop music. coincidence is about to happen if 60,000 songs are being released every day on spotify. it no, ma'am an entity. i'm not a corporation. i'm a human being, father, husband, son. lawsuits are not a pleasant experience. hope baseless claims like this can be avoided. >> all right. so that was after another one. so, i don't know. what do you think? >> i don't hear it.

the similarity between the two. but that's -- >> you've not heard the similarities before and they had massive settlements over it. >> do you remember the family, i think marvin gay's family, sued over "blurred lines" because it sounded like keep on dancing. >> this is the one that they -- this is not the family this time. this is actually the person who wrote the song. we shall see. >> we shall see what happens. speaking of lawsuits, the naacp is now suing the state of mississippi over what it says is separate and unequal policing in the city of jackson. we have details on that lawsuit ahead. >> also, a literacy crisis in the united states. more and more children struggle just to read. we'll tell you about a whole new way of teaching that is giving teachers and parents hope.

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naacp suing mississippi's governor and other officials over new laws that expand control of policing and the judicial system in the city of jackson. the governor signed the legislation into law friday. in a statement, the organization said, quote, the laws represent a state takeover of jackson and strip residents of right to democratically elect leaders. good morning to you. critics say that these changes put white conservatives in control of a city where the residents are 80% black. >> the new laws are certainly creating a divide here. some people hope that it's going to save the capital city in the spike of crime. others are seeing echos of a racist past. supporters of these new laws are pointing to the homicide rate in jackson which has doubled over the past decade.

peaking in 2021. the so many side rate, 12 times the national average. making jackson one of the deadliest cities in the u.s. let's dig deeper into the new laws. what they're going to do is allow the state of mississippi to expand the reach of state-controlled police to the entire city of jackson. now, this is a force that has not dealt with city law enforcement before. it is a force that does not answer to local officials but rather to state appointed leadership. now the flip side of these new laws also the judicial system, major changes coming to that including establishing a new court within the boundaries of a new capital complex improvement district. so the judge there, that's going to be piappointed by the republican state chief justice. and the prosecuting attorneys are going to be piappointed by e republican state attorney general. we heard from the governor who signed the bills into laws on wednesday who did that signing. listen.

>> i want what is best for jackson. but for us to continue to see young kids getting culled in the streets, for us to continue to see property crimes that are happening here that are causing businesses to leave, we've got to make sure that we have law in order. >> and, don, as you mentioned, at the heart of the controversy really is representation. the legislators who introduced these bills now laws represent districts outside of jackson. the state legislature is primarily republican and white. jackson is primarily democratic and over 80% black. the naacp filed a lawsuit on friday. here's what they he is really quickly. elected officials in mississippi want to help address the results of the negligence and improve lives of jackson residence, they should start completing improvements to the water system, no the undermining the constitutional rights of the

citizens. don? >> isabel, thank you. >> one in three kids in america right now cannot read at a basic level of comprehension. it is so startling. concerning. one in three american children are behind on reading. this is according to a key national exam. that has some schools rethinking their approach to teaching our children, again, embracing the basics, fonices. athena jones is looking into it all of this. i cannot believe that statistic. >> it's stunning. you know, i think we can all agree, the important thing that schools should be doing is making sure our children can read, that they're literal and leave school able to read. i've been looking into this over the past week. what i found surprising, many schools have been using unproven flawed theory to teach children to read. it's not working. >> my name is judy b. jones. >> before this school year, had this 8-year-old was struggling to read. now -- >> she's reading everything. >> i just like b and that's all.

>> i can't do it. i can't spell. i can't read. now it's, oh, i know how to sound this out. and i know how to read this. >> reporter: the third grader at panther valley elementary school in it rural pennsylvania had a hard time learning the basics of reading. her school had introduced a in you curriculum a few years ago based on the balance literacy theory, an approach used in some cl classrooms. rather tharn learning to sound out letter combinations, also called phonics, teachers focused on cueing, asking them to use context and other includes to figure out words. >> this explains what each syllable means. >> reporter: this teacher at first embraced this new approach. >> but then as we started kind of digging deeper and getting into the instruction, you know, we sort of noticed something was missing. >> reporter: how did it work? >> as they're reading, they are

supposed to look at the picture. oh, what's this word? look at the picture. do you know a word part? what could that word be? what word would make sense there? so, they were not actually reading the letters. they weren't reading the words. they were guessing. >> reporter: that didn't work. >> we realized very quickly that students not acquiring the skills to sound out words. they were not learning to read. >> reporter: by year end, just a quarter of panther valley's third graders could read at grade level. just one in three fourth graders was at or above proficiency in reading last year. with the nearly four in ten performing below basic level. >> it's a social issue for all of us. and it's an equity issue across america. >> but a shift is under way. education week records over the last decade, at least 29 states and the district of columbia have begun to require an evidence based approach. >> mississippi started back in

2013 when they enacted legislation and policies around requiring teacher prep programs to base their training on the science of reading from 2013 to 2019. they have 10 points gained. >> reporter: at panther valley elementary, principal robert palazo also changed course, replacing balanced literacy after trying it for just a year and a half. >> good job. cold. >> cold. >> syllable? >> we've seen students in third grades decoding skills, meaning sounding out words increase from 20% at grade level in the beginning of the year to approximately 60% currently. >> reporter: dream began the year reading at a first grade level and is now closer to a mudd middle or end of second grade level. she and her mother couldn't be more proud. >> this is what she wants. this is what she likes. she loves to read. she's eager to learn. i can't wait to start fourth

grade. i can't wait to -- you know, to do all of this. because she's not below level no more. >> the mother said she doesn't have low self-esteem anymore. she can actually read. reading is foundational for the rest of your education. we know that more than half the states are now requiring more of a focus on the science of reading. these are tried and true, proven methods to teach reading like sounding out letters and words. this is the way many of us learn to read. this comes from parents that saw what was going on during the pandemic, watching kids trying to learn to read and they're thinking, that's not how we learned. what is going on here? so, really interesting. >> decades and decades of, like, facts that show phonics work. so then why not? >> it's stunning. sort of theory took hold. it took off. and people become very much committed to it and don't want to backtrack. the thing is, you know, kids have to be able to recognize new words and be able to sound them out. >> and you may be guessing at pictures.

>> it is pushed by big education companies too, right? >> yeah. >> there is also money and business involved. >> a good look at that. thank you. also this morning, a dangerous rescue operation by u.s. special forces evacuating american diplomats and their families out of sudan. the thousands of americans citizens that are still there trapped. we're going ask the white house what their plan is to get those people to safety. and a florida sheriff going head-to-head against a group of neonazis spreading hate in his town. >> you're trying to crush a radical group of cowardly scum bags. unity and sunshine destroy it. >> that is sheriff michael shipwood. he speaks his mind. there he is. he's going to join us after the break.

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. today, jury selection is going begin in the trial of the man who is accused of going on that deadly rampage inside pittsburgh' tree of life synagogue. that was in 2018. a shooting that left 11 people dead. it was the deadly anti-semitic attack ever to happen in the united states. that's according to the antidefamation league. cnn's danny friedman is live in pittsburgh this morning. danny, obviously, for the victims and their families, this has been such a long time coming. what are we expecting during this trial as it's getting kicked off today? >> well, kaitlan, let me orient you for a second. we're in downtown pittsburgh right now, outside the federal courthouse. we're about five miles away from squirrel hill. it's the neighborhood where the tree of life synagogue was and where that horrific shooting happened about four and a half years ago. we're expecting jury selection to begin today, really within the next hour or so. and as you said, it's been a long, contentious road to the start of this death penalty case, but i want to bring viewers up to speez as to how we

got to this point. this started on october. the 27th, 2018. robert bowers arrived at the tree of life synagogue armed with multiple guns. and there were members of three jewish congregations actually worshiping that morning at the synagogue at the time. at that point, prosecutors say that bowers opened fire on the synagogue and opened the synagogue and started shooting. and prosecutors also say that bowers said he wanted to kill jews during the attack. and also, prosecutors found more anti-semitic posts online attributed to his name. bowers was charged with murder and other -- or i should say multiple hate crimes in addition. and because of that, this is a death penalty case. now, bowers has retained defense attorney judy clark in this case. if that name sounds familiar, judy clark has represented other high-profile death penalty defendants in the past, that includes the unabomber and tsarnaev from the boston

bombing. federal prosecutors have not budged on that issue. jury selection begins today. this trial could go as long as july. kaitlan? >> and of course, we're just thinking of everyone there. i remember being there, covering that in the aftermath when the president went and visited there in squirrel hill, just the way that community responded was really something to see. we'll pay attention to this trial closely. danny, thank you so much. the hate and fringe conspiracy theories pushed by the tree of life shooting suspect have not gone away. they are spreading. they are increasing. one example, "the washington post" reports that hundreds of anti-semitic flyers were dropped along the street from the day -- across the street, i should say, from the daytona 500 and prompted one of the suspected gunman's online rants. that's the same location where neo-nazis held up signs like this, henry ford was right about the jews, that's what one read. the sheriff there isn't taking

it anymore. he's naming and shaming the people behind the hate speech, even though it's put a target on his back. watch. >> when you're trying to crush a radical group of cowardly scum scumbags, unity and sunshine destroy it. there's a lot of people in this room and a lot of people around this country of the jewish faith who are on their hit list. they try to besmirch your character. try to put death threats out on you and threaten you and your family. well, i wear that as a badge of honor. because i, too, want to shut my big mouth and put a bullet in the back of my head. go for it! that's my message to you. >> wow! saying "go for it" did not fall on deaf ears. three men have now been arrested for making online threats against chitwood. one allegedly said, just shoot chitwood in the head, murder him. another said, i will kill

chitwood, mark my words. and another, i'm going to shoot mike chitwood. how is he responding to all of this? he's greeting them at the airport. >> tyler, i'm volusia county sheriff mike chitwood. welcome to volusia county, florida. >> thank you. >> enjoy your stay. >> well, sheriff chitwood joins us now. thank you for being here. it's so astounding to us, sitting here watching what you faced, i think to everyone watching, to how you respond. as i understand it, this is not just about the threats to you. this is about threats to your family, right? the people that didn't choose to be in the position that you're in. >> yeah, that's correct. and i've been doing this for 34 years. and good morning and thank you for having me on. my family, my daughters, my grandkids, my parents didn't sign up for this. but when you've got a bunch of cowards that hide behind the anonymity of social media, you know, they crank up their base through that. >> does the tactic work to name

and shame, to greet them at the airport, right? because you obviously want to bring this to light, but i think you really want solutions, you want this to stop. >> i want it to stop, and i don't know if history is on my side of being able to end the hate. but what we can do is, when you turn the camera on to them and you put up their arrest photos and put up their criminal histories, and really show the community what a rogue gallery of criminals and thugs they are, it kind of sets a different light on who you're dealing with. >> you know, we remember this press conference that you held back in february. and there were a lot of explicit examples of what was going on in the anti-semitism in your community. it's very hard to listen to, but i think it's important, so we're going to play a short part of this for people to wrap their heads around. >> leave our country and go back to israel. you know where you bombed palestinian kids? where we fund you stupid jews,

$8 billion a year. >> can you imagine? you don't have to, because it's happening. how common is stuff like that there? >> it wasn't common, and i think that's what really set me off. i feel like my community, a home invasion robbery occurred. a segment of my population was targeted for their lnlg. i'm not going to stand for people to be targeted for their regi religion, their beliefs. >> you have proposed a law that would make anti-semitic remarks a felony. does it have a shot at becoming law? >> it's house bill 269. i expect it to be signed some time this week and it enhances penalties for what you just saw. if you go on private property, which is what we're seeing and drop off hateful literature targeti ing someone for their

rel religion, it's a felony. if you get up in somebody's face with a bull horn and start screaming anti-semitic remarks to them, it's felony stalking. so we're really looking forward to this. >> you have previously been a supporter of former president trump and the number of hate groups surged 55% under the beginning few years of his presidency. that's koaccording to the southn poverty law center. he is the gop front-runner for 2024. i wonder if you have any message to him on this front or if you think he bears any responsibility? >> just from where i sit, when charlottesville happened, and the former president said, there were good people on both side, that was the whistle call and it was okay to be extremists. and whether you burn a police car up or out there trying to wipe out a race or religion,

that's extremism. there's no such thing as left or right. >> so your message to him in this campaign? >> you've got to help us here, mr. president. you've got to help us, if you become the president, you've got to help us. you cannot be coddling and cozying up to these far extreme groups that want to destroy america. >> thank you, sheriff, not just for this, but for what you do, what you're standing up for. it means a lot. >> thank you. >> thanks. cnn this morning continues now. hug it out. hug it out. >> there's a reason they're hugging it out. good