wanted, so i had no doubt. but as everybody knows, i believe there was election fraud last time, so i just wondered are we going to have a fair election this time? and it appears that we did because trump got elected. >> and do you think he's going to pardon you? >> i know he's going to pardon me. >> reporter: and there is a debate now as to who and how many people trump should pardon. his former vice president weighing in saying that he didn't believe the president should pardon anyone who assaulted a police officer on january 6th. but there's a whole movement that's built- up around this, john, as you saw people gathering around the d.c. jail where they have for 800 nights. some even wrote this book, a how to, a guide for president trump.

very soon donald trump arrives in washington with a sy heading to the white house for president biden's invite. the coming sit-down between two very recent rivals. and the president vowed to fire him in two seconds. special counsel, jack smith may not give trump the chance though. smith is planning to resign before trump takes over. plus, the first inflation report since the election. his big promises from the campaign trail. this is cnn news central.

all right, we are standing by for president-elect donald trump to land in washington following a series of big and some surprising announcements about his administration. but this coming up. this is a huge day. trump will meet with the senate majority leader. but right now, we don't know who that will be. very shortly, republican senators will vote and someone other than mitch mcconnell will win the top spot in the senate for the first time in nearly 20 years. also this morning, donald trump will visit the white house at the invitation of n. now trump did not extend that invitation four years ago when he lost to biden by 7 million votes. he has still not conceded the 2020 election, but it is an understatement to say biden is taking a different approach this time. let's get right to kristin holmes standing by in washington, where donald trump will arrive in about an hour or so. it's a

big day. >> reporter: this is probably one of the biggest moments in the transition. of course, we're going to see these cabinet picks. of course we're seeing the policies that are forming. but this is the beginning of the peaceful transfer of power. again, as you said, not something that was awarded to joe biden when he came into office in 2020. donald trump lands, he will then go to a hotel on the hill and speak with speaker mike johnson. after that, he is going to meet with joe biden. we expect at some point to see a spray or some video of the meeting, both with joe biden and the house conference. after that, we know that he's going to go back to mar-a-lago in florida. in that time period, somewhere in the schedule, he is going to meet with the new senate majority leader. donald trump has not weighed in on that race. we know a lot of his allies have. they're pushing for florida senator rick scott, but he himself has steered clear overall. the one thing to

point out here, and there's so much that goes into this trip, is this is a completely different washington than donald trump left in 2020. it's also a completely different washington than he arrived in, in 2016. if you look at 2016, yes, donald trump still had control over the senate, republicans did, as well as the house, same as now. but donald trump didn't have a lot of allies. the house wasn't full of people aiming to please the former president, now president-elect. we're seeing donald trump's takeover of the republican party and the shift in washington. 2020, he essentially stormed out of the white house, never to greet biden, never to have a conversation, and certainly did not participate in the peaceful transfer of power. so what you're seeing right now is a completely different world, particularly here in washington, than what we have seen in the past when donald

trump has been here. >> that's for sure. kristin holmes, you will be there all day watching these twists and turns. keep us posted. thank you very much. absolutely. joining us right now, senior military analyst, lieutenant general mark hurtling. thank you so much for being here. let's talk first about some of the flurry of the job announcements that donald trump has made in the last 24 hours. maybe the most surprising is his pick for defense secretary, which is fox news host pete hegsath. to remind viewers of your service, you served in the u.s. army, you retired as leader of the seventh army. what is your reaction to this pick as donald trump's secretary? >> kate, from the very beginning, first of all, good morning, from the very beginning i said there's a couple of key players in the government, but especially ours

that deal with national security. that is the secretary of state, cia director, nsa. having said all that, those are all tough positions. the military does not make it a habit to comment on the credentials of different appointees or nominees. that's what congress is for. that's what the senate does in terms of their oversight. but the military does support as best they can, whoever is nominated. and tries to contribute to their success. now that's the party line. but having said that, the department of defense, the biggest federal agency has a lot of requirements. three million people. $800billion budget. there are right now, kate, 180 soldiers deployed to overseas locations. 100 ships that are helping with freedom of navigation. you have the requirement for the secretary to go with congress to understand -- have them understand what's going on in the defense community. message to the american people, contribute to decision making

in terms of crises. so yeah, it's a big job. so the person who is placed in that job should have some really good credentials in terms of national security and governmental actions as well as caring for the 3 million people that are part of the department. >> do you think, from what you know, i don't know if you know pete hegseth personally, but from the credentials, he was commissioned as a captain in the army national guard after he graduated from princeton. he was awarded two military stars and a combat infantry badge. are those the kind of credentials you think would be setting the department up for success? >> it's a tough question to answer, kate. i'll say dots. it depends on the situation. what i've just described to you is an individual that needs to understand how to run a large bureaucracy and a big business. i give him kudos for

serving in the military and having two deployments as a lieutenant and then a captain on his record, but the question will be -- and people will watch and the congress and senate will ask, how are you going to run this organization? what are your feelings on national security? what are your engagement techniques? he's following a guy, a four star general lloyd austin who many people say shouldn't be the defense secretary, because he was recently in the military, who has done masterful things in terms of pulling together organizations in ramstein in ukraine, and has dealt with capabilities in terms of engaging and building their military. so again, i go back to the statement. the military doesn't comment on their credentials, all we try to do is participate in their success. >> i would never say something that you're telling with me

your level of expertise is not a great answer. i will take what i can get when we're having our chats. let me ask you about this wall street journal article, that the trump administration is considering a draft executive order, which obviously on its face means this is not finalized, but still -- the draft executive orders would establish a warrior-board of retired senior military personnel with the power to review three and four star officers and to recommend removals of any deemed unfit for leadership. what do you think -- some of my questions are, and i have a lot of them on this, what do you think that isn't happening that they're trying to fix with this that doesn't already exist within military structure? and what would this warrior board be looking for in officers they're vetting? >> i don't know, kate. and that's a key question, and it's an important question. but what i will tell you, you just described a couple things.

many americans, to include those many in the military are not aware of the constitutional issues and the related processes used to promote people. the constitution gives congress broad powers over the armed forces. the congress is told to raise and support armies. that includes recruiting, retension and promotion. having been promoted through the ranks, i know how difficult those promotion boards are, by both the military board that promotes people, as well as the army, and navy, and secretary of defense in submitting promotions to the senate for approval. so congress already has oversight. we've seen that most recently with senator tuberville who created such approval by not promoting flag officers. one more thing, the president has the ability to fire a general if he or she is

not doing what the president wants him to do. so the key question remains, what is -- as you just asked, what are they trying to fix with this board? does the constitutional roles assigned to congress still apply? or is there an attempt to override the constitution? how do the services and the trump-appointed service secretaries and secretary of defense, now doing this promotion process, and as you just said, who will make up this so-called warrior board that will see things that many, many vetting processes may not see, and say this man or woman is not fit to serve as a 3 or 4 star general. finally, kate, i will say one more thing, how much will this damage the world's greatest military, and our civilian military relations? that's what concerns me a little bit. this additional requirement by the president, and i read the

washington journal article several times, and couldn't figure out whether it's a draft or just is some thought pieces to put some more capability for the president to influence this, but truthfully, he already has a lot of people influencing the process in the first place. >> you raise so many important questions. one things we know is a transition official told "the wall street journal" it is one of the numerous executive orders under review by trump's team. so stand by for that one. breaking this morning, we have learned that special counsel jack smith plans to step down before donald trump can fire him. but before he goes, we could get a bombshell report on his investigations into donald trump. this morning, a key vote behind closed doors that could help shape donald trump's second term, and chicken wars. why kfc is suing a rival.

new reporting today that special counsel jack smith is going to resign before donald trump takes office in january. smith wants to finish the bulk of his investigations against trump before he leaves, so he leaves with nothing behind, and nothing unfinished i guess. even before he won the election, donald trump vowed again and again from the campaign trail he would be firing smith, quote unquote within two seconds of becoming

president. cnn's evan perez is watching all of this for us. what are you learning about smith's plans going forward? >> reporter: kate, look, the mechanics of this are still being worked out, but the incoming president won't have to go through the trouble of firing jack smith if everything goes through plan. under the special counsel of regulations, he is required to produce a report to the attorney general. now merrick garland, the attorney general now has said he plans to release that report. he plans to release it to congress, and a version of this would be made public. but how we get there is part of the discussion right now, behind the scenes, between the special counsel, his team, and the attorney general. here's how it would work. they have to wind down these cases, and how that is done is still something that they're working out, according to the special counsel, they're going can to update the federal courts on december 2nd of how they want to do that. so then, the other

question remains whether he has to submit his report to the intelligence community for them to clear it to be released to the public. now a lot of this stuff that is in -- that jack smith gathered for his investigation is already cleared by the intelligence community, because they were going to use it on a trial, which, of course, will never happen. so that's part of what the discussions are behind the scenes, whether he has to submit that report to the intelligence community, kate. >> so he completes his work. and then he leaves. and then what? you have to assume that the trump administration, or allies in congress aren't done with it, though. >> nope. they are not done with him. that's where this begins. the former president has already said multiple times he wants to not only fire jack smith, but also he wants there to be an investigation. he has raised a possibility of special counsels to investigate his political opponents, and he

wants there to be an investigation of this investigation. so we anticipate that members of congress, republican members of congress, are going to take up that issue. and so it won't be long before perhaps next year where jack smith will be required to appear before congressional hearings. again, while they investigate the investigation. kate. >> and we covered the investigation and the investigators. get ready, buddy. thank you so much for your reporting. so republicans are two seats away from reclaiming a historically slim majority in the house. what that means for donald trump's promises and his second term agenda. and also, we're just learning who will be joining in his meeting today with lawmakers -- will be joining donald trump in his meeting today with lawmakers. that's coming up. and lunchables, now off the menu for schools across the country. the long standing health concerns that led to this decision.

breaking news just in. we have just learned that elon musk will be joining donald trump today with his meeting with house republicans this morning. how he weighs in, and what influence he has, well, we'll standby for that. it also gets us to the house majority. it remains undecided with some house contests still not called. but right now, it's looking more and more likely, that republicans will maintain control of the house. putting republicans on the cusp of being in control of the house, the senate, and the white house at the same time. though republicans in the house are two seatses away from acclaiming what would be an

historically slim majority in the chamber. that's where cnn wanted to come in.. >> the gop leads in just 222 house races. of course, we haven't called all of those yet. but they lead in just 222. how small is that, kate balden ? how small is it? i looked at all the house majorities that started going back to when we had 50 states. remember, alaska and hawaii were the last two added. 222 would tie for the lowest. but of course, we haven't called all those 222. i was looking at a few races in california, where republicans lead that might go the other way. if we get down to 221, that would be the lowest ever going back to since we had 50 states, and of course, it could drop even lower, given that donald trump has decided to pluck a few folks from his

cabinet. so the bottom line is, we're talking razor, razor, razor-thin at this particular point, looking at what the house might look like come january. >> is it razor thin? >> it is razor thin. >> is it this a real word? congresses? >> sure it is. >> i have never te congresses. >> i go through the thesaurus looking for words that are rarely used. >> what would this mean for the republican agenda, and what the republicans in the house want to do, which also means donald trump's agenda? >> this past house had a very thin majority, very similar to the one i think we'll be looking at this coming january. how many bills did this house pass? the fewest in 50 years. down 40% versus the 40 year average. so the bottom line is, when you're working with such

a thin majority, it's very hard to get things passed. although the republican conference is still pretty united there are still a few folks who might be able to throw something the other way when you have such a slim majority to work with. >> just look at the last time. what does all of this mean for then, for special elections that are sure to come early in the trump term? >> we already believe there are going to. waltz' seat is safe. >> remind them. these are current members of the congress joining the white house staff. >> stefanik to be the ambassador. and stefanik's seat probably won by trump by about 20 points. i'm not sure that seat is necessarily safe. but waltz' seat certainly is. in the median election, the

democrats outran clinton's margin by 15 points, including flipping a seat in southwest pennsylvania that donald trump won by 20 points. so the bottom line is, when you get these special elections that come up, a lot of times democratic turnout will be extremely high. republican turnout might be low. don't be surprised if that house majority shrinks even further. >> it gets even thinner. >> razor, razor, razor-then, the sharpest razor used. >> which harry clearly doesn't use. just kidding. >> let's bring in the former campaign manager for hillary clinton and sarah chamberlain, a republican strategist. i want to start with the news at the top there, which is we just learned that elon musk is going with president-elect trump today when he meets with house republicans. elon musk, who just got appointed head of this

outside group that's going to look at government efficiency. elon musk who is recently sort of living at mar-a-lago. >> reporter: who knows, but i'm actually pretty comfortable with that as of right now. i think elon musk is a big businessman. i think he'll be helping donald trump in many areas. so i'm not surprised. plus, you know, to be honest, the conversation might have been a little awkward, if it's just president trump with president biden, all the history there. so i think elon musk adds a little buffer to that. >> to be clear, we think elon musk is going to donald trump's meeting with house leaders. i don't know if musk will go to the white house, or if he's even received an invitation for that. but elon musk, unelected, now with a lot of authority and perhaps conflicts of interest. you know, billions of dollars in

government contracts, traveling almost everywhere, it seems with president-elect trump. >> reporter: yeah. he appears to be the first best friend, you know, to be clear, lots of presidents have had very close relationships with friends outside of government. but this one seems to be quite outside the norm, you know, they've just announced the department of government -- what is it, efficiency? and there's a lot of questions around that. how is that going to work? it's outside government, who's going to fund that? what kind of access are they going to have to the various agencies? he seems to have a lot of input into appointments and nominations. he made himself clear that he prefers rick scott to be majority leader in the senate. this man has a lot of influence. and you're right, john. he also has a lot of government contracts. he also has a lot of businesses

that rely on regulation or a lack of regulation from the government. so it will be very interesting to see how this plays out once president-elect trump takes office, and what his role will be. not just at the doge, but sort of -- with the regulatory agencies. >> so, sarah, as we outlined. a lot going on in washington. go ahead, sarah. >> reporter: i want to go back. i do have to know, he was extended an invitation to join him at the white house. sorry. did not realize it wasn't public. but we are thrilled he's joining. he will be with our house members. elon musk was extremely helpful in getting a lot of them reelected. so i think that's kind of a thank you as well. >> to be clear, are you saying you know for a fact that elon musk is going to the white house, sarah? >> i don't know if he's going. i do know for a fact, he was extended an invitation. so i do know that. all these

numbers from last night -- >> i'm just saying, if he goes, i would love to be a fly on that wall in that meeting for sure. >> there's a lot of reasons to listen in there. sarah, with all these meeting, whether elon is there for all of them or not, what does donald trump need to accomplish by the end of today? >> certainly, a healing relationship with biden, i'd like to see. but with the house members, which is where main street really s, trying to bring the two factions to together. the republican leadership, they have the largest caucus on the hill, with the freedom caucus, trying, as you mentioned, with such a small margin, trying to bring the two of them together so they can sit down and get some legislation passed. that right now is trump's number one priority. there was a dinner on monday with the speaker and with the different groups from the hill, from the house. so that's his priority. hopefully, we can get that accomplished. >> and just, patti, i do want

to reflect on a moment that donald trump was extended an invitation that he himself did not extend four years ago. he never invited biden to the white house. put yourself in president biden's mind, if you can, today. being willing to do something, generosity that was not extended to you. >> well, look, i think this meeting is very, very important symbolism for our country. you know, that sort of peaceful transfer of power. even after a very, very -- i'll say vicious, and hard-fought campaign, where personal attacks were thrown on both sides, to be fair. but this is what makes america great. and, you know, president biden, for, you know, despite what many are saying that he shouldn't have run and all of the things, he is a traditionalist, and he loves this country. and the fact that he, you know, stretch

out his -- this invitation and this olive branch is not surprising to me in any way, shape, or form, this is who he is. and again, i'm glad trump accepted the nomination -- the invitation, and i'm glad that they're sitting together with elon musk, maybe, and talking about what the priorities are moving forward. >> all right, great to see both of you. thank you very much. all right, just in. a brand new report on inflation. what does it say and what does it mean for you? and this morning, kentucky fried chicken suing a competitor for using the phrase original recipe.

all right, breaking news, we just learned that the fbi has arrested a man for allegedly leaking highly classified u.s. intelligence documents about israel's retaliation attack plans against iran. according to court documents, the alleged leaker was arrested in cambodia, and charged by the justice department for willfully retaining and transmitting national defense information. much more as we learn more on that. and breaking just moments ago, brand new numbers on inflation. cnn's matt egan is with us. what do they say? >> yeah, john, this is a step

in the wrong direction. hopefully just a temporary one. we learned consumer inflation prices increased 2.6% in october, that was exactly as expected, but it does mark an acceleration from the prior month, where we had a three year low at 2.4%. it also breaks a streak of six straight months where inflation was easing. it's important when you dig into these numbers and zoom in, you see prices only increased by 0.2% between september and october. it's not an alarming increase. it does suggest part of this is being driven by the calendar. what i mean by that is inflation was falling pretty rapidly a year ago, that was going to be hard to live up to. but when you look at the trend, you can see that we've had a lot of improvement from two and a half years ago, when we had inflation at 9%. gas prices were at $5 a gallon. but look, getting back to normal, getting back to that 2% goal was never going to be easy. there was always going to be some bumps along the way. looking further

at some of the details here, there's some good news. we saw that prices declined between september and october for a few things, including gasoline, clothes, new cars were unchanged. some of the bad news is we did see a price increase for used cars. that could be related to increase in demand related to the hurricane. also, the cost of housing, shelter, that continues to be a big problem. one of the questions we get a lot is why don't people feel better if the inflation rate goes down? prices are going up, but they're just going up at a slower pace. moody's has found the typical american household has to pay $1,100 more a month for the same goods and services than they did at the beginning of 2021, all because prices have gone up. the big question today is whether or not this inflation report is going to be good enough to let the fed cut interest rates again next month, and we'll have to wait

and see. >> matt egan, we just may have someone who can see into it. >> joining us now is the former treasury secretary under president clinton. what's your reaction to this report and what should people take from it? >> this was about what people expected. if shows that inflation is not where it was a couple of years ago. all kinds of bottle necks have eased. the fed has tightened policy, but it also shows that we're not securely at the feds 2% inflation target. and so we've learned from the election, just how toxic inflation and high prices and high interest rates are to the american people that causes them great anger, great disillusionment with institutions, creates a dynamic

that's very strongly anti-incumbent. so the lesson that policy-makers both in the executive branch, the president, the secretary of the treasury, and in the fed need to take away from this is that we've got to stay focused on the inflation problem. frankly, i don't think there's enough focus on the inflation problem, the fed has been in too much of a hurry to cut interest rates, and much too much of a hurry to promise future interest rate cuts. they keep giving signals that they're going to cut them a lot, and then having to walk those signals back, that's what's happened in the last two or three months. and i think the biggest lesson in all of this is for president trump. if he carries through on what he said during his campaign, there will be an inflation shock signaturely greater than

the one the country suffered in 2021. he has promised, if you add it all up, more than $10 trillion in tax cuts relative to the current trajectory. he has called into question by politicizing the credibility of the fed. he said that the dollar needs to go down, not up, raising the price of every imported good. and much more importantly, on the supply side, he's called for pushing up all kinds of prices by putting an across the board tariff on, which will raise the price not just of imported goods, but of american goods that use imported goods as an input. also raise the price of goods that have to compete with imports. and look, i think every sensible american thinks we need to do more to secure our border, but if you're talking about deporting millions of people, that is an

invitation to labor shortage, and bottle necks. so i hope that he will get the message from this election, and adjust his program, so that it is not inflationary and i certainly hope that if his program is inflationary, it will not be accommodated by the federal reserve. >> when you talk about this inflation shock that could come from these policies, what we saw during the campaign was, he was not quiet about what he wanted to do. you listed out some of the things that he has promoted during the campaign in terms of tariffs, tax cuts, mass deportation. when you add all of that together, then you also look at the side by side of -- this is what a lot of americans voted for. this is what helped him get elected, at least in part. what do you think people are missing if you think it could be so damaging if it all was put in to

practice? >> i don't think people are professional economists. i don't think people trace through the impacts of policies like deportations or tariffs for the inflation rate. we don't rely on people to figure out what kind of nuclear reactor is going to be safe, and we don't rely on people to do complex economic analysis. and look, there are no certainties. economic forecasts always have errors in them. but i think there would be a very strong and very widespread view that if implemented, these policies are inflationary. now i think many people hope that these policies are being used as threats to get other countries to reduce their trade barriers. that they're being used to send signals with respect to immigration. and

that it won't actually be these policies that will be implemented. we'll have to see. what i can say quite confidently as an economist, is that if these policies are implemented, it will mean a substantial increase in the price level. and substantial increases in the price level, we've seen how people react to those. you know, in many ways we're seeing something we've seen before. the large checks that were sent out in 2021 were what people wanted. they just didn't want the consequences that came with it, in terms of increased inflation. the job of responsible leadership is not simply to stick your finger in the air, it's to think about what policies will be in the long run interest of the

country. and i have to say that economists fight and disagree about many things, but the idea that this program, cumulatively, bashing the fed, raising tariffs, sending workers home, bloating budget deficits, the idea that it is a highly inflationary program -- that generates about as much consensus among people who follow economic things as any proposition i can remember in the 40 years i've been doing this. >> and in an industry where there often is not consensus, that says quite a lot. larry summers, it's always good to have your perspective, thank you so much. new reports this morning that melania trump will not move into the white house full time with her husband. so what does that mean for her role as first lady? and what does it tell us about the first marriage? and a new ruling by a

louisiana judge, actually a federal judge, blocking a controversial law requiring public schools there to display the 10 commandments in classrooms.

this morning, multiple sources tell cnn that melania trump is unlikely to move back into the white house full time in january. so what does this mean, exactly? with us now, senior cnn white house producer, betsy klein. great to see you. what are you learning on this front? >> john, melania trump spent four years in office, bearing a willingness to buck tradition,

and this time around, she's sow showing that will be no different. she's skipping that customary meeting with jill biden as their husbands meet in the oval offices. sources are saying that is part of a prior scheduling commitment related to her book. but we're also reporting that she is unlikely to move to washington full time in january when president trump takes office. and that is because she is going to likely be splitting her time between palm beach, where mar-a-lago is, and new york, where barron trump is in college. now those same sources tell us that she is likely to be at the white house for major events, and she will develop her own platform and priorities. >> this is going to be like a long distance marriage? or a part time first ladyship? i know that melania trump, and you've covered her for a long time, handles all this in a pretty non-traditional way. >> certainly. and it is unprecedented for a first lady to not live full time at the

white house, but it shouldn't be a surprise to any long time observers of melania trump. her preference is not to be publicly involved. internally, among the trump team, sources say that they're okay with that. there is not a lot of internal backlash there. and we've also learned that she's really telegraphed this over the past two years, has really taken a much less active role in the campaign. she was on hand for the announcement back in 2020, and was on stage at madison square guarden, and on stage with the family on election night, but that's it. but make no mistake, melania trump is a constant voice in her husband's ear, giving him advice. there's this misconception that she's the secret resistence during the first four years. that is not the case. she's incredibly aligned with her husband. other headlines to watch this morning, a federal judge now says a louisiana law that

would have required every single classroom in the state to display the ten commandments says it violates the first amendment. the measure was supposed to go into effect on january 1st but it is now temporary blocked. the judge calling it unconstitutional on its face. also writing in the decision saying the law is coercive to students and for all practical purposes, they cannot opt-out of viewing the ten commandments when they are displayed in every classroom, every day of the year, every year of their education. well immediately after that, louisiana's attorney general says she plans to appeal. this court likely to go to the u.s. court of appeals to the fifth circuit, one of the nation's more conservative courts. and sorry kids, or maybe you're welcome. lunchables will no longer be on school lunch menus across the country. kraft heinz announced it will remove the meal kits because of low demand. "consumer reports" tested the school version of

these meal kits and found extremely high levels of sodium. even higher levels in the school kits than those sold at grocery stores. oscar winning actor, denzel washington, revealing there may be a new "black panther" film in the works. revealing that even before marvel has plans for a third installability. the new movie, denzel washington says the film's director is writing a part for him. washington also talked about his future acting plans, saying that he doesn't know how many more films he's got in him, and he's going to make it matter. so he wants to be selective about his remaining projects and choosing roles he hasn't done before. >> he's got a lot of work still left to do. let's hope he keeps at it for a while. this morning, a game of chicken, you might call it. kfc is suing fast food rival, church's, for using the words "original recipe," in its ads.

a lawsuit it says was filed on behalf of all fried chicken lovers. cnn business and politics correspondent is here. >> church's texas chicken has launched advertisements saying they're returning to their original recipe. they started this recipe in 1952, but kfc gets wind of it, and say we also have an original recipe, and it's trademark. they sent a letter saying you need to stop using this phrase, because we have trademarked it. they never hear back. so they file this lawsuit, essentially saying that you're going to be confusing customers by using original recipe over two chicken brands. you're also taking our intellectual property and ultimately, it's going to impact, in some ways, their bottom line. so they want to protect it at all costs. now church's texas chicken has 1500 stores and restaurants worldwide. kfc has 30,000. but of course, this is more than

just about a phrase. it's about money at the end of the day. yum brands, which owns kfc reported in the third quarter that u.s. sales fell by 5%. that's the third straight quarter of losses. so ultimately, in this lawsuit, they're also going after an undisclosed monetary impursement, as well as asking the judge to tell church's texas chicken to stop using this phrase. ultimately, though, the company, church's say they cannot talk about this right now, because there's ongoing litigation, but of course, if you're a customer watching these advertisements, you might get a little confused and say, well wait a minute. who does have the original recipe? i will note that kfc did trademark it in 1952, so it's not like they did it recently, but they also had this original recipe in the '50s. so both of them coming up with this at the same time, however, kfc deciding