>> okay. >> joining us now to discuss is astrophysicist neil degrasse tyson. he is the author. >> if i could track santa. >> down. >> to the. >> city. >> how can they not find these drones? >> and. we've had a lot of really wonderful times here on the show, and hopefully he will button his shirt if he comes on at 4 p.m. bakari, looking at you, i do want to take a second though. there are so many people. my favorite thing about television is that it is a team sport you cannot do it with. there are literally dozens of people who work on this dc, atlanta, new york across the country. i want to take a moment to thank all of them. our tech crews, our booking folks, the makeup artists that help everybody look their best every day. it really does take so much, and i'm so grateful. they, of course, are going to be continuing to work on what you will see here with my colleague audie cornish, who will be here at 6 a.m. doing cnn this morning. and i do really hope that you will join me at 4 p.m.

eastern time every day for the arena. thanks to all of you for joining us. you are my panel. thank you all guys for being here on my last show. it's been wonderful to have you be part of all of it. thank you. i hope you i'll see you at four as well. i'm kasie hunt. don't go anywhere. cnn news starts right now. >> totally astonished. the kremlin. this morning. totally surprised about just how quickly president trump has made concessions to vladimir putin. and we have new reporting on when a meeting might take place between the two. >> and all night. vote-a-rama might sound fun. depending on your definition of fun, but what it means is senate republicans, they make a big step forward in advancing president trump's agenda, and it now sets them up for a showdown with the republicans in the house. >> over canada. a thrilling

overtime win, an unprecedented championship after a bruising game. and it all leads to top level diplomatic taunting. i'm john berman with sara sidner and kate bolduan. this is cnn news center. >> happening now. trump forgotten who the dictator is. a stunning rift in unity among the world's richest nations. as president trump refuses to say two words every other g7 leader wants to say those words. russian aggression this morning. the u.s. does not want that phrase included in a joint g7 statement that's being drafted right now. as ukraine approaches its three year mark of the war. as one western official put it, there is a lot of concern at equivocating. who is responsible for the war? the answer is russia. there was no concern

exactly a year ago when the 2024 version plainly stated. russia's war of aggression several times calling it russia's illegal, unjustifiable and unprovoked full scale invasion. all of this capping a whirlwind week that left russia rejoicing and europe alarmed. but this morning, ukraine's president zelenskyy is expressing some hope after meeting with president trump's envoy. cnn's alayna treene is at the white house. but first, let's go to nick paton walsh, who is in kyiv for us this morning. um, this is a lot to take in and a lot of fear there in ukraine. what is the lensky saying about all this so far? >> yeah. >> let's just be quick to recap here. we've gone from a us-russia summit that appeared to be about a larger washington moscow entente. with ukraine's peace somewhere on the list of things to deal with, to an extraordinary 72 hours of insults being traded. zelenskyy gingerly. i think having to

correct trump's statement that ukraine started the war and that zelenskyy had 4% polling rating existential questions here in kyiv that they simply couldn't allow to go unanswered. he kept saying how much he respected trump when he said trump was in a different space. and then we had that litany of mistruths from trump about him being a dictator, refusing elections, how money had been stolen here. but that all really got in the way of the key thing here, which was kyiv's first real grasp with the part of the trump administration involved in these peace talks. the ukraine envoy, general keith kellogg. he's been here now for two days. we understand he's still in country leaving potentially in the next 24 hours or so according to the plan. and i would suspect that negotiations are indeed continuing. there's been a lot of suggestions that they're hashing through details of this. rare earth minerals deal, a isa soares deal that trump so urgently wants signed essentially to pay united states back for aid that's already

being given. but i think we've heard from zelenskyy after that spat. now, the real way to call it a bid to put things back on track, said that the meetings with kellogg were productive. here's what he said last night. >> general kellogg, general kellogg, our talks restore hope. we need strong agreements with america, agreements that will really work. i gave instructions to work fast and very much even handedly. >> now. i mean, what is this deal going to have? actual security guarantees for the future, promises of aid for the future? the original text all about paying back past aid. remarkable, really, given the biden administration gave that and all of this a distraction from the daily death on the front line where russia is advancing and even from the peace deal that trump said was so seminal to his policies here, that essentially seems to be

underway with the russians in riyadh. but without ukraine, it's pretty much everyone involved here at the table agreeing to whatever's proposed. slim chance it will stick. sarah. >> yes, depending on what kellogg says. but really, it really depends on what donald trump says. nick paton walsh, thank you so much. i really appreciate your reporting there from kyiv. john. >> all right. this is all coming to a head as the leaders of france and the u.k. are coming to the united states. of course, those countries are now seemingly at odds with the u.s. on the positions towards ukraine. let's get right to alayna treene at the white house for the latest on this. what's the expectation from these meetings, elena? >> well, look, there's a couple of things. one, of course, is you're exactly right, john. he is at odds with both french president emmanuel macron as well as the united kingdom's prime minister, keir starmer, both of whom are coming to the white house next week. he's the president's going to be meeting with macron first. actually, he will be the first european leader to come to the white house and meet with the president since he was sworn

into office. they're meeting monday. starmer and donald trump meeting on thursday. but look, one of the key things and we've heard this from both of these european leaders in recent days, is that they want to try and convince donald trump why it is so important to show the support for ukraine that they believe the president needs to be showing and really standing up to putin. we heard macron say some of this yesterday. he did a live q&a session on streaming, and he essentially said that he's going to come and tell the president you cannot be weak in the face of russia. take a listen. >> to what i am going to. do is that i'm going to tell him, basically, you cannot be weak in the face of president putin. >> now, john, he also said that essentially with with china, for example, he said, look, it's not just about russia here, the way that the president of the united states responds to putin in this moment will be a signal to other adversaries like iran, like

china, noting that how can you tell china they can't invade taiwan if you're not going to say that russia was responsible for invading ukraine? all to say these are going to be high stakes meetings. really the next turn of this wheel and all coming as we're still trying to learn when and if the president is going to be meeting with putin himself. as of yesterday, john, in my conversations with white house officials, they said they do not have a date or a location set for that. so we're still trying to gather, you know, when that might happen as well. >> john alayna treene at the white house, a lot going on there this morning. thanks so much for your reporting, kate. >> including this legal wins overnight for donald trump. a judge rules his doge efforts can move forward with the mass firings of federal workers for now. so what this decision means for tens of thousands of jobs and why the judge said that he didn't have authority to hear the case. also today, luigi mangione, the man accused of the brazen murder of the united

health care ceo. he'll be back in court, his first court appearance since he was arraigned. and it was an incredible rescue. a driver pulled from a car engulfed in flames. and the tearful moment, now that she is reunited with the people who saved her life. >> cookbooks. >> corporate fat. >> cats swindling. >> socialites, doped. >> up. >> cyclists then. >> yes, more crooked politicians. >> i have a feeling. >> we won't be running out of those any. >> time soon. >> a new season of united states of scandal with jake tapper, march 9th on. cnn. >> with flonase. allergies don't have to be scary. spraying flonase daily gives you long lasting non-drowsy relief. flonase all good. >> i don't play for money. before my mom passed, she told me to play big play for

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really has been a week of many legal victories for the trump administration. a federal judge yesterday cleared the way for trump's doge efforts to continue mass firings of probationary federal workers. workers who have been on the job for roughly less than a year. that judge declined a request from a group of labor unions to block temporarily his firings of the federal workers and other actions targeting government workers. the judge said he lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case. here's part. federal district judges are duty bound to decide legal issues based on evenhanded application of law and precedent. no matter the identity of the litigants or regrettably, at times, the consequences of their rulings for average people. now, this is just the latest of a series of wins for the trump administration, as it's faced a flood of lawsuits over its break it now and clean it up later approach. joining us now is cnn senior legal analyst elie honig. for more on this first, elie, let's start with what i was just talking about, that that big ruling last night. what do you see in it?

>> well. >> kate, the technicalities matter a lot when you're talking about legal cases. so this related to doj's effort, their plan to lay off thousands of primarily probationary federal employees, meaning newer federal employees. a group of labor unions sued to stop it. and the judge said, you don't have jurisdiction. i don't have jurisdiction as the judge here because federal law says if you're a federal employee and you want to challenge the conditions of your employment or your firing, you have to go through a series of internal administrative hearings actually intended to benefit those employees. and what i found so interesting about this ruling is the judge went out of his way to say he's not a fan of what musk is doing. he said. it's causing disruption and chaos. and i should also note this judge is an obama nominee to the bench. so these cases are not referendums on do you like doge or not? these cases are about specific legal issues. >> let's talk about kind of the rest of the week or what's really happened in the week. as i mentioned, there have been other wins and important ones for for the trump administration

in their efforts and those and executive orders this week, which ones stand out to you? >> well, two others from the same federal court in d.c. again, two different obama nominees. one of them, by the way, is judge tanya chutkan. you'll remember her from the trump prosecutions. not a fan of donald trump, but both of those judges rejected efforts to try to block doge from accessing privacy and other data that's contained in the federal government. and in both cases, the judge said, i can't we can't stop doge from accessing this data because a there's no evidence they've illegally accessed it. b there's no evidence they've illegally disseminated it or made it public. and so we can't grant what's known as an injunction. we can't block this on some speculative future theory that maybe they'll violate the law in the future. so once again, you have two more judges, obama nominees, not trump fans, but they rejected these challenges on technical but important legal bases. >> it also but it wasn't all wins for the trump

administration this week. and i want to walk through the he continues to lose in his effort to get rid of birthright citizenship. that seems to be the one that has hit roadblock after roadblock. where is this headed? >> yeah, so trump has lost every single court case relating to his effort to undermine birthright citizenship. the big development this week is now. trump had already lost several cases at the district court level, the trial court level. this week we saw the first time, the next level up, the ninth circuit court of appeals rejected trump's effort to block birthright citizenship. and so that leaves us potentially one step away from the u.s. supreme court. i do think one way or another, this effort by trump will end up in front of the supreme court. it relates to a very core 14th amendment constitutional principle that gives anyone born in the united states automatic citizenship. i think trump is going to lose this one. i think he's going to continue to lose this one, including at the supreme court. it's right on the face of the 14th amendment. we have 150 plus years of practice that establishes that trump is wrong. and so he has continued to lose here.

>> is there a trend that you see in all of this? >> yeah. here's the trend i would urge people to keep in mind these cases are not about whether what donald trump is doing elon musk doge is doing is wise or unwise, whether it's good government, bad government, smart, idiotic, whatever. that has nothing to do with this. and the judges went out of their way to say this. these are about specific legal issues, jurisdiction, standing. is there irreparable harm. and so keep that in mind. these are not cases that are thumbs up or thumbs down. they're not referendums on the policy here. to paraphrase james carville, it's the law, stupid. you're not stupid, kate. but i mean, generally. >> that is a that is a misquote of the james carville, but an appropriate one in this regard. but what you're saying is important to keep in mind, because as each, yeah, ruling comes down, everyone can everyone we're seeing is spinning it their own way. so what is actually happening here is an important thing to keep in

mind. thank you ali, it's great to see you sarah. >> all right. a warning about how president trump's latest power grab and his executive orders could discourage military leaders from following the law versus following their orders. and a stunning late night overtime loss for team usa. sufficient to say this battle is a lot more than just on the ice. >> the champions. >> my friend. >> is that coffee in the cup there? >> john? >> you know what it is. it's canadian. >> it's the news. >> welcome back. >> but it's also kind of not the news. >> we don't fact. >> check here. we don't care, man. why is all the information on this show so terrible? >> have i got news for you tomorrow at nine on cnn. >> hi, susan. honey.

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greens.com. >> the whole story. >> with anderson cooper is. >> a five. >> time emmy winner for long form journalism. this week, microsoft founder bill gates joins anderson for a special one on one. the whole story with anderson cooper sunday at eight on cnn. >> all right. developing this morning, the canadian prime

minister is taunting president trump. or is it trolling? maybe both. this after a thrilling overtime win in the championship game of the first ever four nations face off. let's get right to cnn's andy schultz. let's start with the hockey, which was, i got to say, awesome. yeah. the whole. night was so good, john. and this four nations face off tournament. >> it was supposed to just. >> be an all star exhibition, but it really. >> turned into. >> like, an olympic gold medal type of atmosphere. both the u.s. and canada, wanting to win this game. >> badly. >> and president trump even calling the team before to give him a little pep talk. >> i'm a hockey fan, i love hockey. the talent, the skill that you have is is crazy. and just go out and have a good time tonight. and i just want to wish you a lot of luck. you really are a skilled group of people. it's an honor to talk to you and get out there, and there's no pressure. >> whatsoever. >> yeah, and an awesome moment before the game in boston as the crowd at td garden singing the

national anthem together. now, canada would take an early lead, but auston matthews would find brady tkachuk for the equalizer. now the game would go to overtime tied at two, and the u.s. had a great chance to win it. jordan binnington, though, blocks matthews. then he. snags tkachuk rebound shot. binnington 31 saves. none more important than those two. and moments later, connor mcdavid proving why he's the best player in the world with the game winner. don't want to leave him open in front of the net. canada goes nuts as they win the four nations title. >> just to see the. >> reaction, just. >> to know what it means to us. you know, i know it's just a quick tournament, you know, and it's not an olympic gold medal or anything like that, but it means the world to our group. as you can see, everybody battled so hard all week. so, um, yeah, it was special. connor's the best player in our game. >> and. >> um, for him to put it in like that and in such a intense atmosphere, obviously in a

hostile environment for canadians, um, was special. and, um, yeah, hopefully he can do that again next year to. >> canada. prime minister justin trudeau celebrating the win on x afterwards, saying you can't take our country and you can't take our game. so, john, there was a lot of patriotism and politics behind this game. but you know, as i mentioned, it was supposed to just be an all star exhibition. and i tell you what, it likely is going to go down as the best all star format we've ever seen. and something, you know, fans certainly want to see moving forward in any sport baseball, basketball, take notice. hockey just fixed it. hockey just fixed it. you can too. andy schultz, great to see you. thank you very much. all right. >> overtones. undertones. so many tones going on with that game. >> lots of tones. >> again, may i reiterate it was a meaningless game though, but it was everything. apparently i

love it, right? it was so good coming up for us. elon musk and his chainsaw. the wild antics at the big annual conservative conference, his promise to continue slashing and cutting more as some republicans start facing real questions about those cuts from their own constituents. and our birkenstocks. works of art, i say yes, you get to ponder that question. well, we tell you about the legal battle now over that exact question. >> you'll love this. centrum silver is clinically proven to support memory and older adults, so you can keep saying. >> you mastered it. >> you fixed it, you nailed it. you did it. >> with centrum. >> silver. >> clinically proven. >> to. >> support memory in older adults. >> the tempur-pedic breeze makes sleep feel cool. >> so no more. >> sweating all night or blasting the air conditioning. >> because the temper. >> breeze feels up to ten degrees cooler all night long during our presidents day sale, save up to $500 on select

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>> that's one( 800) 269-9522. >> this show. >> is all. >> completely fake and. >> everyone knows what's going on. >> what the. >> except. ben. >> what have. >> we done? >> the joe. >> schmo show all new tuesdays at 9:00 on tbs. set your dvr now. >> this morning, two words are causing a major divide among g7 nations. those words russian aggression. that is the phrase the trump administration refuses to include in a g7 statement which addresses the third anniversary of the russian

invasion of ukraine. apparently, the president does not want to call the russians aggressors. with us now is cnn senior military analyst, retired navy admiral james stavridis, former nato supreme allied commander. he's a partner in the carlyle group, a global investment firm, and he serves on the board of advisors for a handful of defense related companies. i want to get to the g7 in a moment, but first, i want to hold up the cover. i don't know if you can see this admiral of the new york post this morning, the rupert murdoch new york post, very supportive of president trump normally. but on their cover today, they show a picture of vladimir putin and it says this is a dictator following, of course, president trump calling vladimir zelenskyy a dictator. what do you think of that? >> well. >> i. think they. >> should have put up these. >> are dictators. >> and put up photographs of. >> kim jong un. >> nicolas maduro of venezuela, uh, daniel ortega of nicaragua. there are a lot of dictators. and by the way, sometimes those dictators fail and lose. think

bashar al-assad of syria, a monster who's now given shelter in moscow. so i love that cover. i would have expanded it to these are dictators and make the point. there are some truly bad actors out there in the world. volodymyr zelenskyy is not one of them. >> no. and one wonders, you know, we're alexei navalny still alive. we're boris nemtsov still alive. any number of the people who fell mysteriously out of windows in moscow, or officials who were killed around the world, what they would think of labeling zelenskyy, but not putin, a dictator. >> indeed. and by the way, just in terms of disclosures, we should point out i am personally sanctioned by the kremlin, and i'm very proud of that. john. i have 50 medals. 28 of them are from foreign nations, stemming from my time as nato commander, commander of southern command. i could not be prouder to be

sanctioned by the kremlin for all the reasons we're discussing. >> have you ever been sanctioned? sanctioned by ukraine? >> no. i think i'm, uh. i'm safe on that one. uh, i will say back to zelenskyy. i think he is a heroic figure, not a dictator. and, john, i just go back to three years ago, almost to the day, as russian tanks were rolling into his country. ah, cia director bill burns went to zelenskyy and said, you can't hold out. your country is going to fall. the whole country. let us give you a ride. we'll put you in a helicopter. we'll take you out of your country, go to warsaw, form a government and exile, zelenskyy said, and i quote, i don't need a ride. i need ammunition. that's a pretty good line. >> so i'm going to actually move past the idea of taking

russian aggression out of the g7 statement, because it does seem like you'd be more than willing to call it russian aggression. and let me ask you about this so-called mineral deal that the united states keeps pushing for, because there's some reporting this morning that the u.s. is going back again, maybe having revised some of the language here and pushing zelenskyy, and maybe he's considering it. is the idea of a deal completely out of the question or some kind of agreement on ukrainian minerals? and should it be included in these talks? >> i think it is not outside the boundaries of normal behavior for countries to look at. okay, we're going to come and help you over here in zone a, and therefore you can help us in zone b. uh, zone a, of course, would be military assistance. we've got a lot of that. and while we're on that subject, by the way, john, uh, the vast majority of all of that money the u.s. spends on weapons for ukraine actually goes to u.s.

defense companies, that's worth knowing. that's not a check. we hand the europeans, goes to our own defense industrial base. uh, that money, i think, can reasonably be coupled with the idea of let's also pursue commercial opportunity. that can be a win win to help ukraine reconstruct itself. i think we are capable as a nation, and the ukrainians of holding both those ideas together. >> right, with security guarantees, which were reportedly not part really explicitly of the first memo that was handed to them. admiral james stavridis, apparently safe from ukrainian sanctions. we appreciate you being with us this morning, sarah. >> all right. thank you john. new this morning. legal experts now warning one of president trump's latest attempts at a power grab could dissuade military commanders from refusing to follow illegal orders. it's all tied to the executive order trump signed tuesday, giving him greater control over independent federal agencies that some order and

same order includes language giving him and the attorney general the power to interpret the law. and that has caused new worries about his possible interference with the military's justice system. cnn's natasha bertrand has this new reporting. what exactly are the concerns here? because they sound like really big ones. >> yes, there are legal experts told my colleague haley britzky that this all stems from that executive order issued by president trump this week. that seems to give him huge power to interpret the law, which these experts fear could cause military commanders to be dissuaded from refusing unlawful orders. now that executive order says that trump, quote, shall provide authoritative interpretations of law for the executive branch, of which the defense department, of course, is a part. now retired air force colonel who previously served as the air force's chief prosecutor, told cnn that he worries about this chilling effect that this could have on military judges and the military justice system, saying, quote, i can definitely see people

hesitant to fulfill their duties because they're afraid trump will have them punished. now, a concern that we heard was that military commanders who typically might consult their military lawyers on an order if there are any legal questions, could simply stop doing that and just follow a trump directive. given the sweeping new executive order. and we should note the question of whether secretary of defense hegseth would push back against any illegal orders issued by trump was a key part of his confirmation hearing before the senate in january, but he sidestepped questions about it by saying that, quote, i reject the premise that president trump will be giving any illegal orders at all. now trump, of course, he already has the authority to interfere in the military legal process, and he notably did. so, if you'll recall, in his first term in 2019, by issuing pardons in high profile war crimes cases, with hegseth encouragement against the advice of pentagon leaders, cnn reported at the time that then defense secretary mark esper and other senior military leaders told trump that his

actions could damage the integrity of the military justice system. but, you know, experts said that the impact of this could actually go even beyond the uniform code of military justice and could actually impact the civilian workforce and defense contractors to potentially creating political pressure on things like federal contracting, safety inspections, promotions and demotions. as another former air force judge told us, quote, i worry about the cascading effect of legality. sarah. >> wow. natasha bertrand, great reporting. thank you so much for that. all right. elon musk used a chainsaw to drive home the massive cuts he and his doge team have made to the federal workforce. >> this is the chainsaw for bureaucracy. chainsaw. >> ooh, ooh. >> okay, then that was musk in front of a cheering crowd at the conservative political action

conference, or cpac in maryland, celebrating the purge that has left thousands of people out of work. let's discuss now with cnn political commentator karen finney and democratic strategist matt bennett. all right, matt, i don't think i've ever seen an administration celebrating cutting jobs, even if it is the federal government. is the point just to be cruel to the government workers whose jobs he has slashed? >> yeah. >> it kind. >> of seems that way. i mean, they they keep celebrating. >> all of these firings. >> they're firing people in unbelievably. >> mean and. ridiculous ways, accusing them. >> of misconduct. >> that whether they're, you know, stellar employees. >> but i think the most important thing to keep in mind is that a narrow plurality of americans voted for trump because they thought he would restore order to what they thought was chaotic inflation, crime, the border. and this is the very essence of chaos. he is firing essential personnel, people that do things like air

safety, tsa, fight wildfires, park rangers, people that americans want on the job, keeping them safe from avian flu. the, you know, researching cancer and alzheimer's. it is insane the way they're going about this. and they have taken a chainsaw, not a scalpel, to what they claim to be waste in the federal government. and that is the opposite of what americans were voting for. >> karen, what did you see in this illustration of. chainsaw? i don't know cheering. chainsaw musk. >> yeah it was absurd. but it was also a. >> flex of. >> a man who has. >> absolutely no idea what he's doing. >> we saw you know, when he took over twitter and there was chaos. and i agree with what matt said. it's chaotic. but, you know, it's this machismo that he seems to think is cool, right? i mean, you know, he had the sunglasses on, but it's not

cool because here's what's also happening. this is impacting cities and communities around the country. this is not just you know, this is going to be one of the best civics lessons americans could ever get. because when you talk to i was just on the phone yesterday with some folks in tucson, arizona, and they're talking about how depressed people are in tucson and phoenix because so many people who actually work for the federal government have been laid off there. we're expecting there's about another 30,000 people, for example, in kansas city who work for the federal government in different capacities. these are people who, as matt pointed out, they're experts in what they do, whether it is working for the national parks or scientists and researchers or doctors. but the impact that it's going to start having on communities, both in terms of unemployment and in terms of, you know, other businesses, small businesses that support those employees. i think that's where, again, and

we're already seeing it in our cnn poll, right, that people are feeling like the trump is not doing what he said he would do to bring down inflation. he said he would do it on day one. and instead they see this. you know, they're starting to see their communities be impacted. soon. they're going to also see services. and then you see elon musk, you know, walking around the stage glorifying it with a chainsaw. >> i let me speak to that because you talked about what's happening in arizona and in deep red georgia. the atlanta constitution journal. let me pull up this headline here. um, it shows that one of the gop representatives, rick mccormick, got quite a surprise when he walked into a town hall. this is what he heard with people really upset about some of the things, including the cutting of jobs at the federal level. um, in their community. this is what he heard. >> when you talk about presidential power, i remember

having the same discussion with republicans when biden was elected. the funny thing is, the funny thing is. that the funny thing is you're sitting. >> that is that is outright booing there that you hear when you hear him talking about presidential power. matt, to you, what does this tell you about how. republicans, what republicans may face in 2022, if things keep going the way they are? >> yeah. you know, for karen and me, that is hauntingly familiar, because in the summer of 22,009, when the tea party was just getting going, and the summer of 2010, democrats were facing that kind of blowback in the town hall meetings that they were going to. i think it's going to be worse for republicans because, as karen and i have been saying, the things that these guys are cutting are things that people want and need, and it's only going to

become more apparent to them as this goes on. we've only been doing this for a month. if you look at the kinds of things that he's cutting, take for example, uh, 9/11, first responder fund, which the republicans proudly, you know, passed. they just cut a whole bunch of people running the first responders fund, which republicans in new york are panicked about. so you are going to see an increasing number of house and senate republicans freaking out because they're going to go home and they're going to get an earful like that from their constituents saying, what are you doing? you're creating unemployment in our communities, and you're cutting essential services that we desperately need. >> yeah, it's interesting, though, because some of this is what donald trump ran on, although the thing that he ran on the most was the economy and immigration. and now you are seeing the response to what is actually happening. karen finney, matt bennett, thank you so much. i really appreciate it, john. >> all right. overnight, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu vows revenge in a trump administration official is

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>> vote-a-rama makes it sound almost fun. it happened in the senate while you were sleeping, and a lot happened. we'll get to that. the end result, though, senate democrats were able to force republicans to take some uncomfortable votes. republicans get what they want in the end, but the democrats, they made the whole part is the whole process is basically a ritual that is as old as senate time, where democrats or republicans, they can force votes on a litany of things like tax breaks for the most wealthy to make people take awkward votes. here's senator mark kelly. >> we're debating who. >> in. >> this country is so rich. >> that they. >> don't need a. >> tax cut. >> um. >> that one didn't pass. >> so here is my proposal. can we at least agree. >> among all. >> of us that no. one making. >> more than. $100 million. per year should get a tax cut? the

median income. >> in this. >> country, mr. president. >> is about $80,000 per year. and it would take 1245 years for someone making the median income in america to earn $100 million. that's about 15 lifetimes. does somebody that rich need a tax cut? i don't think so. >> in the end, they vote on a slew of things. all of those things they know are not going to become law. but that's not even the point. the other end result senate republicans take a big step forward in pushing trump's agenda ahead, as they eventually adopted a budget blueprint. after this night of vote-a-rama fun. and now the real fun begins again. depending on your definition of fun. that's where that's what brings us to cnn political analyst jackie kucinich, also the washington bureau chief for the boston globe. i know this is your definition of fun, jack. i know, i know, but. >> i will never be fun. >> doubt.

>> never. >> exactly what did we get from the vote-a-rama last night? if people were sleeping and they wake up, they should know what? >> and this is the the plan b, the. >> skinny budget. >> if you will. and this. >> is a big. >> victory for. >> senator john thune, the majority. >> leader. >> and senator lindsey. >> graham, who. really pushed. >> this, uh. this skinnier version of what the house is pushing now, it's oh, now we go to the hard part, right? they got this through. you go to the house. they want to they want to pass something that's much larger that who knows what they'll get over the floor because of the very, very, very slim majority in the house. and they have to have the same bill to move forward. so we'll see what happens down the line. but right now, john thune has to be, you know, when he wakes up and maybe an hour, he's probably up though. um, he's he's got he's got a lot to be happy about that. they got this over the line. >> how much more complicated did

things get? it was like it was a flare up. and then it kind of went away. when president trump came out and surprised, definitely surprised. senate republicans, in endorsing the house version. we've got these two strategies. in the end, everyone out there that's listening, it's basically, are they going to put all of donald trump's legislative priorities into one bill, or are they going to break it up, which then also means it will require more time? house wants to go big. senate wants to break it up. donald trump endorsed endorsed. obviously the big version. did it complicate things really. in the end? >> well he he also puts he kind of threw the senate a bone around 6:00 last night when he posted on truth social that, you know, they're doing a good job. they're moving in the right direction. he has sent very mixed signals on this, for sure. um, but you saw a lot of the the house bill a lot of senators believe could open them up to a lot of political attacks because there is an assumption that

there could be medicaid cuts in the house version of the bill. not to get too in the weeds here. um, but that is something that you're hearing from senate republicans that, you know, they, they don't want or some of them don't want. so really, the devil is going to be in the details. and you're right, kate, there was some complications, but i think a lot of senate republicans know, know that trump can change his mind. uh, the flip of a coin. and they and so they got kind of a tacit endorsement for what what they pushed through as the plan b bill. if the house is not able to get their version over the line. >> yeah. we'll see now that the committees need to start doing their work, coming up with the exact dollar amounts, who's going to get more? who's going to get less. and then we'll see. just the fun ensue between where house where house republicans get to talk trash about senate procedure. and senators can say, just stay quiet over there. that's exactly what we're going to be seeing. it's good to. >> see all the time.

>> exactly, exactly. it's good to see jack. thank you john. >> all right. this morning. israel is vowing to make hamas pay for what they call what they call the full price for not returning the remains of hostage shiri bibas. as promised, the mother of two was supposed to be among the four bodies returned yesterday, along with both of her sons. israel says forensic testing indicates it is not her. it is unclear who it is. this morning, an emotional reunion between a woman and the people who saved her life. a cement truck crashed into aimee ruiz's vehicle, setting it on fire. body camera video shows an officer breaking the window and an off duty firefighter pulling her to safety. after a couple days, she got to meet them again. >> i don't care, thank. >> you guys enough for my life. there's no words to describe. there's no word big enough. there's nothing. i really didn't think i was. >> going. >> to make it out of there with. >> how bad it was. i seriously thought i was going to die in there. when i saw that they were trying to get someone out. i can't drive by and not do something. >> the crash happened after ruiz

had dropped her children off at school. so this morning, her birkenstocks, just comfy, crunchy sandals or actual works of art. germany's highest civil court ruled they are. shoes. the 251 year old shoe maker sued competitors for selling cheaper imitations, saying its designs are copyright protected. works of applied art. germany's federal court just disagreed and dismissed the case, ruling that birkenstocks design lacks artistic achievement. >> you felt. >> that arch support? >> i agree. clearly that ruling made by people who have never worn the wonderful santos sarah. >> wow. we're going to have to bring joey jackson in on that one, because i think he's going to have other things to say about birkenstocks. but first. happening today, the man accused of killing the united health care ceo will appear in court this afternoon. luigi mangione will face murder and terror charges for the killing of brian thompson on december 4th. mangione has pleaded not guilty to the state charges, but if he is convicted, he faces life in

prison without the possibility of parole. now you will remember. how could anyone forget the week long manhunt for thompson's alleged killer? it really did captivate america and even beyond, and led to widespread support for mangione after he was caught. cnn legal analyst joey jackson is joining us now. all right. so today is we've got two different charges going on here. this is the state charges, correct? >> that's right. >> sarah. yeah. so what happens today? >> good to see you. >> good morning sarah. what happens today is that he'll be in. >> state court. >> now remember the state court. they indicted him on 11 different counts of different things. when you say indictment, right. a grand jury convenes 23 of them. they vote not guilt or innocence. they vote to establish a. has there been a crime committed? and b, has he been the person that, in their opinion, committed the crime? simple majority needed having voted out that indictment. what now happens is that the case proceeds. and part of that is the exchange of discovery. what does

that mean? it means evidence. information that the defense needs to prepare the case. and so today, i'm sure the judge is going to want to know where we are with that new york state. what you do is you file a certificate of compliance. if you're the prosecutor indicating that you've transferred the discovery, defense needs it to defend the client, to challenge certain evidence. and so i think the judge will want to know what the status of that is. last point and that's this. remember there's the federal prosecution which is also going on. he's in court for that next month charged with stalking. and you murder with a firearm. and then, of course, you have the pennsylvania issue, right where he was originally arrested. so you have a lot of discovery information that needs to be proffered to the defense for the case to proceed. >> you're mentioning all these different facets and all these different cases. how do they decide who goes first or does it all happen sort of in the same time frame? how does this work? because his defense attorneys are going to have to prepare for all of these things. >> without question. so i think what happens is you'll have some interagency cooperation. and i think everyone would agree that the nature of the offense and allegation in new york

should take priority. right? he was certainly captured, as we know, in pennsylvania. he was sitting there at 9:00 in the morning having breakfast when someone noticed him. and then, of course, he was arrested and charged with various offenses, fake i.d., having the firearm, et cetera. but he was then extradited, meaning brought back to new york. and that's where the crime happened. alleged crime as it related to the see. the chief executive officer. so i think that new york state will go first. right. because they have jurisdiction potentially. we'll see a federal prosecution depending upon what happens in that case. and i think pennsylvania will get last priority just based on the nature of the offenses that were committed there, which, again, was the fake i.d. having the firearm itself lying to the police and related charges. but new york, i think. >> there are so many bits of evidence that the public has already seen. we will have to, you know, watch what happens. but obviously the defense is going to try to get some of that kicked out of court on whatever bounce.

>> yeah. >> reasons that they can'