good game. going to be a great test. it is a battle of colorado. but they made it -- >> there you go. colorado 23 point favorites in that game. but why would you make deion sanders mad? i don't know. >> yeah, we've covered a lot of ground in this sports segment. taylor swift, deion sanders getting angry. i want to go back to the first story because, i mean, what did normally let me down so hard, both of them this year. it's awesome. >> hey, it's eagles and niners in nfc unless the cowboys. you can't count them out after that week one performance. >> andy, thanks very much. thanks to all of you for joining us this morning and all week long. have a wonderful weekend. i'm kasie hunt, "cnn this morning" starts right now.

♪ good morning, everyone. very glad you're with us. it is a friday. there's so much news impacting the heartland especially. a lot of big news to get to. five things to know for this friday, september 15th. auto workers on strike. union workers for the united auto workers hit the picket lines in three states after their contract expired at midnight. hunter biden indicted after his plea charges fell apart. three charges including possession of a firearm and making false statements. also, house speaker kevin mccarthy dropping the f-bomb while staring down another revolt from inside his own party as the clock ticks down to another potential government shutdown. cnn is the first american network on the ground in libya after deadly flooding has left thousands dead. the united nations says most of those deaths could have been avoided. and we're tracking hurricane lee. it's expected to make landfall near maine this weekend. starting today, coastal new england is bracing for heavy rain, high winds and flooding.

"cnn this morning" starts right now. ♪ so this is our big headline this morning. we have been talking about the fact that this may come, the white house did not expect it. but it happened. breaking overnight for the first time in history, auto workers now on strike against not one, not two but all of detroit's big three automakers at the same time after the companies failed to reach a deal with the union by midnight. more than 12,000 workers have already walked off the job and three targeted straights at plants in michigan, ohio and missouri. united auto workers union president tells cnn more plant will join this strike if their demands are not met. he says workers have not received their fair share of record profits while ceos have gotten huge raises. >> you heard the ceo of ford say

that it would bankrupt them if they met your demands. what did you think of that? >> i think it's a joke. they could double our wages and they could not raise the price of vehicles and still make billion of dollars. they like like everything else that comes out of their mouth. >> are more facilities going on strike? >> if they don't take care of our members they will. >> reporter: the repercussions are not just between the union and. it could cost the u.s. economy more than $5 billion. we have team coverage this morning on this very consequential breaking news. we're going to talk to a member of the union. rahel solomon will break down the economic unit. arlette saenz has reaction from the white house. let's start with vanessa yurkevich, live outside the ford plant in wayne, michigan. vanessa, you're around the employees, you're around the union workers. what's the feeling among them now that this is very real? >> reporter: yeah. historic day for the auto

industry. and historic day for these workers. many of them who did not know if they were going to be on strike today. but at 12 midnight the word was given there will be a strike against the big three. we are here outside the ford michigan plant in wayne, michigan. and i want to bring you in to the conversation with austin johnson. he has been with ford for two years now. he's been here since midnight, since the first moment of the strike. you know what the union is asking for. you know why you are on strike tonight. do you support that? >> of course. i support everything the union is doing for me. and bill out here as long as i have to be. so. >> reporter: one of the big, key components is wages, cost of living. they want to make sure they preserve jobs in the ev transition. for you personally, what is the biggest issue you want to see resolved?

>> probably the tier wages, the tier gaps. i'm a tier 2 right now. i would rather have that for me doing the same job as somebody that's making more than me, i would hope to make the same wage as them. >> reporter: this is your first strike. you're 21 years old. what do you think about this movement? it's been so strong. the union has been so resilient in their demands. what are your thoughts about what you're going to be seeing? >> i'm glad we're all here, we're all united and hopefully we come to an agreement. so that's it. >> reporter: you'll be out here how long? >> as long as i have to be. that's it. >> reporter: thank you, austin. >> thank you. >> reporter: guys, listen, from the company's perspective, gm and stellantis saying they are disappointed by this strike. they feel they put historic offers on the table. ford saying even they put a new proposal on the table as recent as a couple days ago. and they heard back at 8:00 p.m. last night with a counteroffer from the union, but that offer,

according to ford, was just a slight dip in the 40% wages that the union was initially asking for. ford, poppy and phil, could not meet those demands and the union made it very clear to the automaker, unless their demands were met, they were going to strike. and here we are. day one of what is expected to be a strike that may go on for a little while, guys. >> one of the things, vanessa, so interesting the approach by the union is to maybe strike at more plants without notice. and the head of the union has said, look, that is to give us leverage in these negotiations. three plants today, could be many more in a few days. >> reporter: yeah. this is a strategic plan. this is a targeted plan. the union picked these three plants across these three states because they are assembly plants. they know if they take down certain plants across the country, that's going to cause a

ripple in the supply chain. so these are all ice engine facilities, not ev facilities which we heard so much about. but that could escalate. the union using this as a tactic. if they do not feel like they are moving forward with negotiations, they'll strike more targeted plants which could have an even greater impact on all three automakers, guys. >> vanessa, we know you've been working around the clock on this story. thank you. we'll get back to you, soon. phil? for weeks the white house including the administration officials directly to you, poppy, said this would never happen, it would never get to this point. including wally on this show four days ago. >> four days from a potential strike. is that still the belief of the biden administration. >> no strike? >> yep. that's where the president is. >> i want to turn now to arlette

saenz live on the north lawn of the white house. there's the kind of public posture and behind the scenes here the work that the white house has been trying to do, deputizing a top adviser to work on this over the course of now i believe several weeks. talk to me what the feeling is inside the west wing given both the political and economic repercussions here. >> yeah, phil. certainly an issue for the white house that they have been watching very closely over the course of the past few months. president biden himself had expressed optimism that this would not end in a strike. now he is waking up this morning, six hours into a united auto worker's strike as these negotiations fail to produce a contract. now, in the final hours, president biden was engaging with the parties on this issue. white house was not direct party to the negotiations, but president biden did hold calls with the united auto worker's president and the leaders of the auto companies to check in on the status of these

negotiations. you had gene sperling, top economic adviser to the president, acting as a go between between these companies and the ua-w as these talks were under way. but one of the focuses right now, while we haven't got a direct reaction from the white house since this strike took place, one of their focuses heading into the day will be trying to see if there's a way to blunt any of the economic impacts of this strike. of course, there are concerns about what this could mean for the supply chain, what this could mean for higher prices. of course the political challenge to the president as well who has touted himself as the most pro union president, someone who is trying to change -- improve conditions for these auto workers and other unions as well. this will all be part of the challenge the calculus for the president heading forward as a strike continues into the day. >> it's a significant issue for the president and his team. they will obviously need to do more work. stay with us. poppy? in toledo, ohio, nearly

6,000 auto workers off the job at a stel lan tis plant. joins us now one of them mark kidd, committee member. mark, thank you very much. look, you guys said this is going to come if you don't meet our demands. the automakers did not meet your demands. do you think you're going to be on strike for a while? >> well, we all hope not, but we're all willing to take it as long as we have to. >> what does that mean, as long as we have to? do they have to meet all of the -- >> well, until we get a fair contract. that's what we're all after out here is making sure we get some of the concessions back we lost back in 2009. w. yeah. we should remind people, and phil we both covered this a lot, that back during the financial crisis of 2009 and the bail outs of the automakers they gave up a lot of things that now, mark, you guys are trying to get back. this isn't just about wages going up, this is about a lot of concessions that were made over

a decade ago. >> that's correct. talking cola, pensions, it's across the board. >> to that point, mark, the contrast between what the uaw leadership did back then in an effort to save the companies completely versus what the leader of the uaw has been doing now is very striking and very intentional and comes from that period of time you're talking about. his leadership, his strategy, what's the feeling about that as this has now become a reality? >> oh, the feeling is great. the line was drawn in the sand a long time ago. these companies knew what our intentions were months ago, if not longer. you know, this is the only way we're going to get those things back. the companies came to us -- or came to the uaw back in 2009, look, we ain't going to make it. the uaw gave in and gave them all these things on good faith

that some day it would come back. now these companies are making record profits and we're trying to get back the things that we gave up to help them. >> mark, what's the level of concern over the course of the last several months, the big three have been expanding their inventory to some degree in preparation for this. i know you all have an assistance fund that's pretty large that should be able to last for a period of time. but that the automakers are willing to wait you out on this. >> i can't really touch too much on that. you know, here in toledo we build the world iconic jeep wrangler. it never stops selling. as long as sells stay up, i don't see them being able to hold out that long. but then again i'm no expert at that kind of stuff. >> mark kidd, we're glad you joined us this morning. please come back as this develops. thanks again. >> all right. will do. thanks. we'll be joined by the former ceo of chrysler coming up next hour. >> who was there during the auto

bail-out. >> he was. >> people don't recognize. the genesis of all of this ties back to that. and you can't talk about this without that context. we'll continue to follow the strike throughout the course of the morning. also, another first, the justice department has indicted the child of a sitting president. what are the next steps for hunter biden? >> this and house speaker kevin mccarthy staring down another right wing revolt. what's driving the infighting within the republican party. that's next. flex any style... with hairspray ththat flexes with you. new trtresemmé hairspray. so get relief fafast. only tylenol rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. they release medicine fast for fast pain relief. and now, get max strength topical pain relief precisely where you need it. with new tylenol precise

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well, it is a moment for history. this morning hunter biden has become the first child of a sitting president to be charged by the justice department. that historic indictment comes after his initial plea deal you'll remember collapsed when a federal judge raised questions about the details. hunter biden is facing three charges over a gun he bought in 2018, a period when he is said he was addicted to crack cocaine. all together, he could face up to 25 years in prison. cnn's katelyn polantz joins us now. the first question now that this has happened, what's next? could there be more charges at that point? >> reporter: yeah, phil and poppy, there is a special counsel overseeing this who is still investigating, as far as we know. and what happened here in this case, it's been really long road for hunter biden, an investigation that's been going on for five years around him on a number of different fronts, not just what was charged yesterday. but what was charged yesterday, what he is indicted for, it's three charges around a gun that

he bought from a dealer, a colt revolver in 2018 in wilmington, delaware. and the charges are about him certifying to that firearms dealer that he was not under the influence of any illegal drugs at the time and wasn't addicted to any illegal drugs. now hunter biden said publicly that he was a drug user around that time. and so, what the federal government is doing now, what the justice department is doing is they're saying it was false. the statements that he was making as he was trying to obtain this weapon. and then also he should not have been in possession of the gun. gun control laws that they are enforcing on the books here. now, that is only a portion of the hunter biden investigation. much of the investigation for many years has been around possible tax crimes. and he had been planning to go through the court system, plead guilty or have some sort of deal with the justice department that fell apart just a few weeks ago. and those deals were about both

this gun situation as well as tax crimes. and so now we are waiting to see what happens next for hunter biden. but this now is going to require him to come from california, over to delaware, and face these charges. >> just sticking on the gun charge for a moment. it was really interesting to hear his defense counsel, abby lowell on with erin last night talking about multiple defenses they're going to put forward. one has to do with the constitutionality now of bringing a charge like this, which phil and i are especially fascinating by. how are they going to defend him? >> reporter: it is a fascinating issue in the legal system and politically how we interpret the second amendment and gun control and how often these sorts of issues are prosecuted. how much these laws on the books are brought. so abby lowell with erin burnett last night on cnn, hunter biden's defense attorney. here is what he had to say about all of the different ways they believe they could challenge this case now that it's been

charged. >> three things that people should pay attention to. first, this charge brought today violates the agreement the government made with hunter biden. that was a stand alone agreement different than this plea. second, the constitutionality of these charges are very much in doubt. and third, if it got past those two, we don't think it would, were ever a trial on the facts, we don't think the facts are as your expert today thought them to be. there will be a defense. >> reporter: so abbe lowell is a lawyer who goes to trial. he had a history of success in the past in big cases. he does try cases, not like some lawyers that just make deals sometimes. but the things he wants to challenge here is the fact that hunter biden seemed to have an agreement with justice department that went into court, fell apart. he wants to try to make that happen. also these questions around the second amendment the courts are still looking at. >> it will be really fascinating to watch. thank you. let's go to the white house. our correspondent arlette saenz

back with us. any reaction from the white house on this? we heard the president say in past months, my son did nothing wrong. his son is now indicted this morning. >> reporter: yeah, well, the white house isn't reacting exactly specifically on the indictment. instead they are just referring reporters to the justice department, trying to keep this as an independent or arguing it's an independent investigation that they are not going to weigh in on. but this is certainly also a personal matter for president biden. back in july, he really felt there was about to be some relief around the corner as they thought that hunter biden was about to wrap up some of the legal sagas around him, but then that was delayed after that plea deal fell apart. and now his son is facing an indictment. of course, president biden is incredibly close with his son hunter. he had him here at the white house. even as some democrats privately expressed concerned about keeping hunter so close amid these investigations. but this is also coming just two days after president biden -- house speaker kevin mccarthy

announce head was calling for a formal impeachment inquiry into the president even though the house committees didn't turn up any evidence to show any direct ties between president biden and his son hunter biden's business dealings. this could be a political problem heading into 2024 for the president, as republicans continue to try to put these issues regarding hunter biden front and center. >> arlette saenz, thank you very much. turning from the white house to capitol hill where a dramatic split among house republicans has all of congress in a deep freeze after a fiery three-day return to the hill from the august recess, house republicans failed to rally around any government spending bills at all, with just over two weeks before a government shutdown. speaker kevin mccarthy is now facing renewed threats to his speakership from those within his own party. house freedom caucus demand significant cuts. cuts dramatically outside an agreement already reached between speaker mccarthy and

president biden. mccarthy admitting he's, quote, not quite sure what they want as freedom caucus members continue to threaten to oust him, holding hostage government appropriations and all as a defense spending bill, traditionically the lowest hanging fruit couldn't get to the house floor this week before republican leaders had to pull it. to be clear, these are not bipartisan bills that would lead to an actual outcome. bare minimum for a majority they should be able to pass. not so much. mccarthy plans to push forward with a short-term stopgap spending bill to prevent a shutdown. daring his far right colleagues to, quote, move the f-ing motion. the key contrast is across the capitol building they shepherded a steady effort to do their work. this week alone, they advance a three-bill spending package with huge bipartisan votes twice. that's hung up in procedural issues but it has been a dramatically different approach. cnn's lauren fox has been working behind the scenes

covering all this drama over the course of the last week and to some degree years. lauren, there have been meetings between house republicans trying to figure out a path forward. what are they considering and is that going to work? >> reporter: yeah, phil. it's a moving target for all of the reasons that you just outlined. you know, multiple sources that i talked to yesterday were clear that there are some conversations happening between different factions of the republican party in the house of representatives to try to find any consensus on any spending bill to try to move the process forward. now, what they were eyeing and it is a moving target once again, yesterday was a short-term cr that included some spending cuts as well as increased border security. the idea was that the main street caucus, which is full of a number of republicans who come from different parts of the republican party, was trying to negotiate with the house freedom caucus. obviously some of the most hard lined members of the republican party, and they were trying to

find some consensus keeping leaders in the loop as to what their negotiations were producing. but they didn't come up with any result as of this moment. this just gives you a sense of the struggle ahead. as you noted, this is a fight over trying to find consensus among republicans in the house, in order to find an ultimate solution, in order to avert a government shutdown, you're going to need a solution with republicans and democrats in the house and senate. so there are so many moving pieces right now, phil. and so many members that i talked to on both the republican and democratic side of the aisle yesterday said they're getting more and more concerned that a shutdown may also be unavoidable if negotiations keep going in this direction. phil? >> lauren, that's such important reporting. you and i covered these issues in the capitol for so many years. this is different. i don't think i have ever seen anything like this. this is definitely different. means you're going to be busy the next couple weeks. lauren fox, thank you. also a lot of new developments this morning in

several legal cases against former president trump. first, in the georgia elections subversion case the fulton county judge overseeing it said prosecutors cannot try all 19 defendants together. that means trump will not be tried next month with two of his lawyers sidney powell and kenneth chesebro and likely wouldn't face trial until next year. the civil fraud case right here in new york, this is a case brought against trump, his children and the trump organization by the attorney general of new york latitia james, a judge agreed to an emergency request by trump's lawyers to put that trial temporarily on hold and that raises questions whether it will begin next month as planned. the federal election interference case, special counsel jack smith argued against trump's request that the jung tanya chutkan recuse herself. he's saying trump had taken her comments in the capitol rioter case out of context in order to manufacture allegations of bias. and this is really interesting, new overnight, nbc news asked trump if he had considered pardoning himself in any of the federal cases.

here is what he said. >> mr. president, if you were re-elected, would you pardon yourself? >> i could have pardoned myself. you know what, i was given an option to pardon myself. i could have pardoned myself when i left. people said would you like to pardon yourself? i had a couple of opportunities that said you can do it if you want. i had some people said it would look bad if you do. i think it would look terrible. let me just tell you, i said the last thing i would ever do is give myself a pardon. >> presidential self pardon is untested legally. experts very divided on its constitutionality. phil? we're now six hours into the united auto worker union's historic strike. rahel solomon is standing by with how this could impact the economy and you at home. and right now, tropical storm warnings are in effect for new england as hurricane lee creeps toward the east coast. our weather team has the latest on this system. that's next. stay with us. the only smart bed in the world that actively cools, warms,

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♪ so really a historic morning in america. for the first-time ever the united auto workers union is on

strike against all three of the big u.s. automakers at the same time. this comes as contract negotiations with ford, general motors and stellantis are deadlocked. the current contracts expired at midnight. this is a targeted strike. that means 13,000 auto workers or less than 9% of the union are striking. the union is threatening to expand that strike without notice if their demands are not met. the two sides presenting very different accounts of what has happened in these negotiations. listen. >> on august 29th we made our first offer almost two weeks ago to the uaw. we made three offers since then. and we had no genuine counteroffer on any of those. in fact, we were so concerned about the lack of feedback that bill and i decided to make the last company this tuesday personally. and when we walked in the door we found that shawn fain wasn't there. >> let's talk about what good faith is.

they had our economic demands for six weeks. we told them from day one we expect a bargain now, not wait until the end. they waited until last week. we had to file unfair labor practice charges on two companies to get them to come to the table. so they waited until the last week to want to get down to business. shame on them. and what they're saying is complete bs. >> so what does this mean for you? how does this affect the broader economy? let's bring in rahel solomon. that's the key question. >> it really is. and the answer will really depend on duration. how long this strike really lasts. we heard phil at the top of the show talk about this estimate of $5.6 billion provided by anderson. that would be if a ten day strike. this includes things like loss pay, losses to manufacturers but also suppliers parts. >> all the workers. >> i would have to double check that on their analysis because they actually did this before they announced it was going to be three simultaneous. that's a really good point. but another way to think about it mark zandy, chief economist of moodies a full strike would

be the equivalent of shaving off 0.2% of a percentage point from g-dp. he admits that's modest. but meaningful when you think about some of the other head way issues that we're having, right? you think about, for example, student loan repayments starting again. you think about, for example, oil being back above $90 a barrel. there are a lot of head winds happening simultaneously, so meaningful. if it feels like there have been more strikes than usual. it's not just your imagination. >> there have. >> so i talked to art wheaten and i asked him, what's behind this? he runs the labor program at cornell. he said there are a few things. it's not just limited to the u.s. so, chief among them, of course, is high inflation rates. just the higher cost of living. but also, it's a really tight labor market. workers feel like they have the upper hand, so they're making these demands. also, public support for unions has been steadily increasing. >> it's up, right? >> exactly. >> covid-19 in the sense of people rethinking their

work/life balance and whether they're willing to come into the office and that sort of thing. >> one of the key demands here is about a 40% wage hike over a number of years. they point to the increase the ceos these companies have gotten over that many years. but broader picture, where do auto workers in the union wages compared to other u.s. workers? >> it's a great point. so if you look, this is according to the bls, bureau of labor statistics, government data, auto workers do fall behind the average worker. you're looking at 27.99 on average. where as the average worker is looking at about 33.82. so you have to also remember that for these auto workers who took the concessions because of the financial issues that some of these automakers were having, this was obviously before inflation. so, that's -- >> inflation is a key part of this. >> that's a great point. yeah, exactly. >> thank you, rahel, very much. phil? >> the numbers are so fascinating and critical here. we have been talking about this but people are now starting to key in on why this is such a big

deal in this moment. also this morning, parts of coastal new england and eastern canada are bracing for hurricane lee. it's now a category 1 tomorrow and it's expected to lash the coastal areas with powerful winds, heavy rain and high surf conditions. meteorologist allison chinchar is tracking this storm. allison, where do things stand this morning? >> pretty much the same as we stood last night. we haven't seen much in the way of changes. sustained winds 85 miles per hour. it's moving to the knorth at 16 but it's a large storm in terms of its size. they extend out from the center but 300 miles on each side. your talking about producing some big impacts even though it technically won't make landfall in the u.s. itself, more likely than not going to make landfall into atlantic canada. the track still shows it pushing up in towards more of the bay of fundy region of canada as we head into the weekend. rain is still going to be a big factor, however, though still for portions of the u.s. because

of that size, because it's able to be so large in size in terms of winds and also those outer bands. we are looking at widespread amounts especially across maine and new brunswick, looking at widespread 2 to 4 inches. some spots could pick up 5 to 6. and areas farther south, portions of massachusetts, connecticut, rhode island, also looking at a couple inches of rain. the key there is that for a lot of those states the ground is already saturated. it's not going to take much to cause additional flooding. another concern is going to be the winds. you have tropical storm warnings up and down for many areas along the coast. that's going to be in combination with those wet, soggy grounds. potential to bring down some trees and power lines. >> allison chinchar, keep us posted. everybody watching this heading into the weekend. thank you. there is new reaction this morning to the justice department's indictment of the president's son hunter biden, including from someone who is facing his own legal troubles. ♪ >> it's a sad situation. nobody should be happy about this. glucerna protein smart with 30 grams of protein

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my cholesterol is borderline. so i take garlique to help maintain healthy cholesterol safely and naturally. and it's odor free. i'm taking charge of my cholesterol with garlique. ♪ something this country has never seen before the department of justice has filed criminal charges against a child of a sitting president. special counsel david weiss indicted the president's son, hunter biden, in connection with the gun he bought in 2018. he is charged with three crimes, two counts for alleged false statements that he made on the form while purchasing that gun.

a third count for possessing the gun while they claim addicted to crack cocaine. >> congressional republicans continue to pursue their impeachment inquiry into president biden. all of this is happening, of course, at the 2024 election on the horizon. here is what gop front-runner donald trump had to say about the indictment. >> it's a sad situation. nobody should be happy about this. >> republican candidate vivek ramaswamy also weighed in saying the indictment is, quote, smoke screen. don't fall for it. joining us now cnn legal analyst jennifer rogers, former special assistant to president george w. bush scott jennings and attorney bakari sellers. thank you for joining us on a friday morning. jennifer, i want to start with you. the kind of legal elements of this case. what we have seen from hunter biden's defense team and the discussion in the wake of this indictment. do you believe this case would have been charged to somebody else? >> these charges that they used

here are virtually never charged. so the answer to that is probably no. >> why not? >> well, it's just very rare. i mean, you do charge prohibited persons possessing guns frequently. we did it southern district of new york with convicted felons. but to charge someone who is an addict, it's hard to prove factually. what does it mean to be an addict? put someone on the stand who used drugs with them? why is that person going to testify? all sorts of factual issues. legally now in the wake of the supreme court's bruin case, these criminal statutes that prohibit people from possessing guns. courts across the country have been ruling those constitutional. factual and legal issues. i hope what happened here they ran out of time on the statute of limitations. it was expiring. >> it's up next month. >> you want to give a little cushion there just in case. that's what happened to precipitate this indictment in the moment. my hope is they will go back to the negotiating table. this case, as we see from what

donald trump has zero jury appeal. juries will hate this case. a guy who, you know, five years ago when he was an addict, now he's clean and sober, had a gun for 11 days, never loaded, never used. the jury is not going to like that. they should resolve this. >> bakari, politics in a moment, but i think jennifer brought up something really interesting and that is what the supreme court did last year in their big guns and second amendment case may have changed the whole ball game here because they changed the bar and the standard and sort of expand what had the -- how they read the second amendment and that could really help hunter biden here. >> yeah. i think that ms. rogers articulated well the issues with this case especially in light of the supreme court ruling. the fact is i actually represented somebody for lying on an application about a year ago. the difference between that case and hunter biden's case, it was because he was out on bond for alleged domestic violence and

other things. that was a different type of issue. and he ended up being sentenced and served. it was a plea deal of 18 months. that was a different set of issues than it is with hunter biden. i think the problem that republicans have in trying to lift this up and trying to target hunter biden is two things. the first thing is that addiction touches nearly every family in this country. we know hunter biden is an addict. we know these charges are flimsy. and i think that most americans will see through it. the second thing to charge this president's son with this bad behavior when you know individuals like ivanka trump and jared kushner and donald trump jr. actually pilfered washington, d.c., manipulated and grifted their way through d.c. when they were in the white house with no accountability, i think it rubs people the wrong way. so that's just kind of the playing field of where we are today. >> just point of fact, they have not been -- the individuals you just name have had not been

charged with crimes. >> obviously hunter biden is tied to the impeachment inquiry, which is not about the gun charge but in terms of the ties to his father and what republicans allege, i was interested in something the former president said last night in the snip pet of the interview released by nbc about the genesis of this impeachment inquiry. take a listen. >> i think had they not done it to me, then i'm very popular in the region, they like me and i like them, the republican party. perhaps you wouldn't have it being done to them. and this is going to happen with indictments, too. fake indictments. and i think you're going to see that as time goes by. you're going to see republicans when they're in power doing it. >> quick correction, that was obviously his interview with megyn kelly and nbc interview as well. the idea this wouldn't have happened if they had not impeached the former president twice, when democrats were in charge, isn't that kind of undercut the whole theory of the case here as to why they're pushing forward on this inquiry?

>> yeah, absolutely. if you're going to go forward with this, which by the way i think they should. this is an impeachment inquiry. they're not impeaching joe biden yet. i'm dubious they ever will honestly. this is a souped up investigation and it's an investigation for good reason, i might add. if you're going to move forward, you have to do it under pen by evidence, by we turned over every rock. here are the documents. here is the narrative. here are the things that prove the narrative that we have. that's how you win the public opinion fight at the conclusion of an investigation. painting a very clear equation for the american people. a plus b equals c. the way you lose a public opinion fight would be to say, they did it to me. now we do it to them. and you know, basically i view politics in goth as a mechanism to punish my enemies. that may thrill some parts of your base. that is not how you're going to win a public opinion fight over this. so if that becomes the narrative, that will be a problem for the republicans. if they choose to go down the

path of finding facts and documents and actual information, which i think they have so far, that will be good for them. but it's hard for the house republicans to do that because, as we know, donald trump sort of sets the public opinion narrative of the republican party when ever he opens his mouth. >> bakari, step back for the week. it's friday. and the week for this white house and for president biden has been a week of a union strike they said they didn't think was going to happen. an impeachment inquiry launched, and now an indictment of the president's son, which has never happened in history. the president hasn't said much, but over the past few months here is what he has said about his son hunter. >> my son did nothing wrong. i did nothing wrong. i carried out the policy of the united states government. in rooting out corruption in ukraine. and that's what we should be focussing on. >> my son has done nothing wrong.

i trust him. i have faith in him. impacts my presidency by making me feel proud of him. >> should the white house, should the president, say more now after this indictment? and how do they navigate these three big head winds? >> i think that they're saying everything they should. my daughter was still asleep because she sleeps like a teenager although she's 4 when i left the house and my son was awake. i kissed him and said, daddy is going to work. we love our children. that's what we do. and even if you're president of the united states, you never want to see harm come to your children. you never want to see your children go through this process whether it's politically induced or not or if your child is an addict. i deal with these parents and children every single day. you never want to see them go through this. you just want to hug them and love them and believe in them. and i think that, you know, above all, i think a lot of times in this country we see president of the united states, united states senator, and we forget that they're human beings. even before he's president of the united states, joe biden is

a husband and a father. i think he shows that quite often. there's nothing more to say. he's not going to interfere in this investigation. i think that the special counsel did what he was supposed to do knowing there was no deal and the statute of limitations was running. and so here we are. i think a deal will get worked out. but no. joe biden doesn't need to meddle. the only thing he needs to do is continue to wish and pray for the health and mental health of hunter. that's all he can do. >> thank you very much. well, ahead, cnn is the only u.s. network live on the ground in libya where our crews are witnessing firsthand just sheer death and devastation from that catastrophic flooding. stay with us. >> reporter: it feels like a war zone. it feels like a bomb had gone off here, a big bomb had gone off here. libyans tell us they're used to war. they're used to death. they're used to loss. but nothing could have prepared them for this.

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♪ >> translator: hours before the floods came, the situation seemed manageable w local authorities keeping the flooding under control. however, the rupture of the dam caused a huge problem and resulted in a flooding killing many people. it's a tragedy. >> new this morning the united nations says most of the thousands of deaths from this catastrophic flooding in libya could have been avoided with proper warning and evacuation. just think about that. they didn't need to happen is what they're saying. meantime, relief workers are struggling to bring crucial aid to an area stifled by political divisions and also the debris on the ground. doctors without borders says thousands of people have been killed. red cross says thousands more are missing. after a 22 foot wave demolished. cnn is the only network life on

the ground in libya. thank you for being there. you have covered so many tragedies, war zones, compare this to those. >> reporter: you know, poppy, our team was just discussing this. we have all covered natural disasters before, but none of us have seen anything like this. we drove in late last night and even during nighttime in the dark you could still see the destruction. and now, during the day, this is just utter, utter destruction. and it really feels like you're walking through a war zone. massive bombs had gone off here. this is what people here would tell you. you know, you've got several cities along the libyan coast that were impacted by storm daniel, by the flooding over the weekend. but nothing like this, what people are describing here as this catastrophe.

what happened in derna, as you know, those two dams that burst. and you have the flood waters that swept through the heart of the city, washing out entire buildings, neighborhoods, homes, infrastructure, families. and brought it all down here to the sea, to the mediterranean. i mean, this is just -- it's very difficult for us to really move the camera around because of the communication issues, the communications were disrupted in the city, so our connection is not very stable, but looking into the sea, poppy, what we see here is people's lives in there. you see homes. you see door frames, windows, furniture, clothes, cars, everything. and they are still right now searching for dead bodies, bodies that are still washing up on the shore six days after this

tragedy happened. right now, libyan officials are saying about 5,000 people have been killed. there's still 10,000 people unaccounted for. officials they're speaking to say they don't expect to find any more survivors right now. and what you've got here where we are, all these volunteers from different parts of the country who are working, who are trying to assist in this recovery effort, and it is such a tough task. they're telling us they're not equipped to deal with something like this. they don't have the means and capabilities to do this. one young man i was speaking to just a short time ago just describing how people were just tying ropes to themselves and holding each other as they would dive into the sea and start pulling out body after body. this one young man telling me in one day he pulled 40 bodies just by himself. and right now, the volunteers here are saying, look, they need heavy equipment. >> yes. >> you have cars that are stuck

in there. and they don't know how many people are still in there. they're worried that there are people still, dead bodies, of course, in these cars. they want help, they want diving equipment, they want diving equipment to try and get -- recover as many bodies as they can. they have had some international support. we have seen some teams here on the ground, the turks were already out on a rubber boat just a short time ago. you have helicopters in the air. but it is nowhere near enough, poppy, to deal with this disaster. >> and i know you can't move the camera. the connection is unstable, but just so you know, our viewers are seeing these devastating images as you're reporting for us on the ground. the fact that they need this heavy equipment, things that would normally come largely from the international community, that is all complicated, is it not, because the government there in eastern libya, not recognized? >> so this has been a big concern, poppy, that aid would

be slow to come into this part of libya. the country obviously divided east and west. this is not an internationally recognized government. it has been getting some support from members of the international community. but again, people are telling us, it is nowhere near enough. but we've heard from aid organizations saying another major obstacle for getting aid and relief into derna is the logistics. it is the roads. trying to get here. i mean, for us, traveling from ben gaza to derna and that's usually a three-hour drive, it took us more than seven hour last night to get into the city because so many roads and bridges were damaged and destroyed. but when we talk about the divisions in this country, poppy, and this is a country that has been bitterly divided. this is a country where city has been fighting city, east as been fighting west for more than a decade now. but what we see, you have so many people from all parts of the country that have come

together here to help the people of derna, the people of eastern libya, in dealing with this. one woman i spoke to a short time ago saying this catastrophe has united us. and it seems it has, at least for now, poppy. >> i'm so glad you said that because in the worst disasters, it is what can bring out the best in humanity. it is invaluable to have you and your team on the ground. thank you for making the journey. we know you will stay there and keep reporting on this. we appreciate it. phil? cars floating in the ocean. door frames. people being pulled out of the sea? that is what they're dealing with. >> and i think almost as importantly when you see it, you cannot ignore it. that's why jomana being there and showing that is so critical. pay attention to these things. they matter to people. ahead, our breaking news coverage of the historic auto strike it's going to continue. we'll speak with the former ceo of chrysler what he thinks should and could be done. stay with us. bob evans mashed potatoes. farm fresh potatoes blended

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