joining me now, reuters's jeff mason. great to get into this with you, jeff. in the 2022 midterm election. andates candidates the former president has endorsed that will be the first step no. doubt they are also thinking and said they are thinking about his own next steps in terms of running for president again in 2024. so that money is going to be both a kind of a show force for the mid terms, but also potentially for the next presidential cycle. >> is that money earmarked specifically and exclusively for the kinds of things you just mentioned? or could the former president use that money for personal expenses, things that crop up? i mean, does it have to go to political causes? >> it's a good question. i believe the answer to that is yes, because it was brought in by the super pacs that are raising money in his name. i don't think that's the kind of money that could go to personal expenses. >> legal, or whatever it could be. >> i imagine they will be watching that closely. yeah, exactly. >> things he owes we have former chief of staff talking about trump's p

. >>> joining us now, jeff mason, reuter's white house correspondent. the president released a statement saying this in part quote when i came to office i inherited a deal cut by my predecessor which he invited the taliban to discuss at camp david on the even of 9/11, 2019. it imposed a may 1st, 2021 deadline on u.s. forces. how can you interpret that statement being made, a genuine assessment from the white house, from your perspective. critics are take it doesn't quite fly. >> i think it does two things. i think the president there is laying out the fact that he felt like his hands were tied in some ways that president trump teed up this decision for the country and that president biden, when he took over, had either the option of continuing with what president trump had laid the groundwork for or reversing course and sending a whole bunch more troops back in afghanistan. that was not in line with his own foreign policy vision. he proceeded with the withdrawal and now the consequences of that are clear. i think there is a political aspect to him sayin

and jeff mason, white house correspondent for reuters, sits next to me in the briefing room. ime. jeff, i want to start with you. this is a procedural vote. anytime you are over 60 moving the ball down the field, it is a positive thing. how does the administration view what's happening with the senate and this bill? >> reporter: number one, think it is going to happen, it is a victory for biden once it does. they have been cautious. it has taken awhile. we know president biden has been watching from delaware and will probably come back early from what was to be vacation, turned into a long weekend to be around as negotiations or as the talks about the bill go forward. number one, the fact that this passed procedural hurdle is a great sign, and great sign for bipartisanship which is important to this president. that may change, is going to change with the reconciliation bill. but this piece of actual infrastructure is something embe able to claim was done with support from both sides. >> people questioned whether that was possible for months on end. one of the interesting eleme