mattingly, and his use that to essentially portray him as a criminal.nal, and to make himself seem like a hero. this group seem to agree that this person is a hero. have they responded to the naacp to explain why they're treating a police officer who killed and innocent young woman who had done nothing -- broken no laws, why they are treating him as a hero? >> they have, and that's kind of the things that we want to find out. they're saying that they want to have an open dialogue with somebody who was there at that night of the incident. why not bring out breonna's mother? why not have other people that were there? so, we want to find out why it was important for them to have mr. mattingly, and why was it a thing, because this is something that should have a different context. and having him to be there, to promote his book, or to talk about the situation we, the search stances, we feel is very disgusting to be able to do that. >> and i can tell you, there's a reason why we're not showing any images of the book. we're not gonna try and sell off of all o

cnn's phil mattingly joins us with the latest on that. any indication that the white house is going to publicly fill in some of the gaps here? >> if anything, anderson, according to senior white house officials i've been speaking to the opposite is more likely the case. they'll maintain this posture of not saying really anything at all about the way this investigation plays out. the way it was complained to me about their current approach it needs to be by the book. and given the fact an investigation is under way, they do not want to engage for risk of, one, potentially upsetting those doing the investigation. and two, ensuring there's no sense somebody's trying to shift how things may go. now, that doesn't mean there's not significant work under way inside the white house right now to prepare for this moment. just keep in mind over the course of the last couple of days the special counsel was not even on the radar. now it is a reality. they're working with both a small team of advisers for president biden but also inside and outside law

phil mattingly, thank you so much. of course, we will stay on top of this developing story. >>> and still ahead, a massive tornado outbreak leaving a trail of death and destruction across the south. hundreds of homes and businesses damaged. and one corner says searchers, quote, keep finding bodies. live in hard-hit alabama. >>> the 6-year-old boy accused of shooting his teacher. turns out officials might have been warned the child had a gun prior to the shooting. even if you got ppp anand it only takes eight minutes to qualify. i went on their website, uploaded everything, and i was blown away by whahat they could do. getrefunds.com has helped businesses get over a billion dollars and we can help your business too. qualify your business for a big refund in eight minutes. go to getrefunds.com to get started. powered by innovation refunds. now adt professionally installs google nest products... cool. you're all set. so your home is safe and smart. we're gunna miss you. you can check in on your home. arm the system, we sh

i picked ken mattingly.nteresting that he gets -- you know, he's so much a part of the mission getting ready and gets pulled from the mission and he becomes vital to this solution at the end and i just like there story quite a bit. >> a few years later you were in another movie with tom hanks, "the green mile." what do you think of tom hanks? >> i love tom hanks. he's a wonderful guy and he's been a good friend all these years. we did three movies together during that '90s period with the "green mile." we haven't really worked together since but we've stayed in touch. he's a wonderful guy. he's been a great supporter of my foundation. he's a caring person about the military and what not. he's done great things and proud to call him a friend. >>> when we come back, the turning point in gary sinise's career and what it's like to be a consecutive in hollywood. do conservatives in the entertainment industry need a support group? er? oh! no problem! hey, cam? wow! same deal! yeah! it's kind of our thing. what if

phil mattingly is "outfront." phil, you've not new reporting on all this. what are you learning?in talking to sources familiar with the matter is the president was not aware that these documents were being held in one of his offices, an office he hadn't used since 2019, and did not become aware of documents with classified markings until his personal attorneys as they were closing out that office in november, called the white house counsel's office to inform them of what they had found. when you talk to people who were involved in this, one thing they try and underscore, and it's implicit in the white house statement earlier confirming that a review is currently underway is the key differences they view between what former president trump is dealing with right now and what former president biden -- they don't disagree with the problematic nature of having classified markings outside of the white house or outside of a sensitive or classified location where you're supposed to be reading them. but, however, what they do make very clear in the white house counsel's statement is that

phil mattingly and kaitlyn . lants. >> period of >> peter strzok and s.e. kcupp are with us. although there were no new answers about the perspective on the investigation, it was said the president will cooperate with the investigation. jean-pierre would not say whether that would include sitting for an interview with the special counsel's team. can the team get to the answer of the president's knowledge and intent without that interview? >> no, i don't think so. i mean, look. there's a very logical and investigative path. it's pretty straight forward that the fbi and doj have done time and again. it's figure out the total of what the classified information is, make sure you have it all back and set aside figuring out what the damage may or may not have occurred in terms of an intelligence context, and there's the straight forward similar investigative path of how did it get there? how did they place it there? what did he do? did they know who was in there? who had access to it? at the end of the day, you need to sit down with the person who ultimately had ownership of this.

phil mattingly, melanie zano in a, asia rasko, andly ann caldwell. you heard manu, brought his rabbit's foot there, nice timing. 15 ballots to get elected speaker, a lot of the work falls to the gentleman we saw there, steve scalise. as the majority leader he's the discipline air rounding up this rule package they'll vote on later. if you're going to have new spending, you got to cut. that's what the republicans demanded. no pay as you go, it's cut as you go. forces the debt limit vote, that's must-pass legislation. the united states government could default requiring lawmakers to declare single subject of bills meaning none of these sweeping bills that do a little bit of everything. are they done here? do they understand what they did last week and like, okay, took 15 ballots, now let's show that we can do our business? or -- >> republicans are really starting to come to terms with these concessions. still getting texts now asking me from republicans what's in -- what are some of the deals, can you confirm this, we're hearing this. they still don't

phil mattingly, cnn, the white house. >>> the u.s. justice department will have to decide whether to appoint another special counsel to deal with the mishandling of classified documents. >> his lawyer discovered a dozen documents at pence's home in indiana last week. the review is underway into how they got there. >> pence has repeatedly said that he had no classified documents in his possession. he has not yet announced whether he plans to run for u.s. president in 2024 and that could be a factor in how his case is handled. >>> meanwhile, elon musk tweeted that he met with republican house speaker kevin mccarthy and hakeem jefferies on thursday to make sure the platform is fair to both parties. >> mccarthy, who just turned 58, wouldn't comment on what was just discussed other than to say musk came by to wish him a happy birthday. it focused on twitter and how it handled a story belonging to the u.s. president's son, hunter biden. they. >>> in the coming hours, california authorities will release recordings related to the attack on pa

let's go to cnn chief correspondent phil mattingly at the white house.ident biden reacting to this encouraging economic news? >> reporter: wolf, particularly timely economic news given the president was already scheduled to give a speech primarily directed at his economic efforts up to this point and his economic proposals going forward. a speech expected to and ended up doing exactly that in terms of draws a sharp contrast with house republicans's it wases to a degree a road map of messages you'll hear the president deliver over the course of the next couple weeks in visits to multiple places in the leadup to state of the union address. more than anything else you've heard from the president the belief that despite turbulent first two years despite inflation high in many minor crises on the economic front over the course of the first two years, there's edgedvidence thi are coming together. >> economic growth is up stronger than experts expected at 2.9% we're growing. jobs -- jobs are the highest in -- number highest in american history and wages are up

phil mattingly, cnn, the white house. >>> republicans are in a frenzy about what aboutism calling for a special counsel to investigate president biden just like the government is doing with former president trump. andrew mccabe says republicans have a point. >> i agree with the republicans. there should absolutely be a special counsel appointed to review this matter. so let's think about it. the special counsel, there's nothing magical about a special counsel's legal authority. they have the authority to investigate and look at crimes. the whole reason to put a special counsel in is when the public would be reasonably concerned that an investigation had been -- might be, could be, possibly was tainted by politics. there is certainly that concern here with the attorney general making investigative decisions over the guy who appointed him, president biden. so, you know, it absolutely calls out for a special counsel and i think it goes a long way to addressing some of that criticism that the ag's receiving right now from the republican side. i think they should handle each investigation

they pledged full cooperation, jake. >> phil mattingly at the white house for us. thank you so much. >>> joining us is mike turner, the brand-new chairman of the house select committee on intelligence. do you think attorney general garland made the right decision appointing a special counsel, not just a special counsel but one who had been a u.s. attorney under donald trump. >> he had no choice because he had so unevenly handled this. the it is so uneven with former president clinton and hillary clinton and president trump's house being raided and then we have president biden who has documents in his home for a period of six years. having appointed a special prosecutor for the trump issue, he had no choice but to do this. he's lost a tremendous amount of credibility as a result there was such an over abuse of discretion in the way the trump issue was handled. >> there is a significant difference in the sense that classified documents are classified documents. whoever has them, they should be dealt with appropriately. from what we can see, president biden and his te

let's go to our chief white house correspondent phil mattingly with an update for us.use? >> reporter: the house judiciary committee republicans immediately responded on twitter, the justice department saying why is the justice department so scared to comply with their investigation? it was a very political response to some degree from the justice department's perspective is tied to precedent in terms of how they're operating. you can expect political responses from the white house too, when it comes to the two house republican investigations that are currently underway right now, as it relates to the classified documents. up to this point, the white house has not responded. but i am being told right now that the expectation is the response is going to much track with what we have seen from house republicans from what we have seen. one official telling me that based on some of the new exceedingly pro-trump members that were added to the committees, it shows those committee also be more of a sideshow than anything else. to some degree, it will be a political agenda, not

phil mattingly standing by for us. what's he have to say about the drama unfolding in congress?o democrats, it's not hard to pick up some level of amusement by what they've seen transpire on the house floor, a new house majority unable to get out of the starting blocks at this point. the president is not among that group. he's made very clear that he's taking, a, no enjoyment in this whatsoever, and he thinks there are more broader implications for what it may mean over time. take a listen. >> it's embarrassing for the country. i mean, literally, you have a congress who can't function, it's just embarrassing. we're the greatest nation in the world. and we've had a lot of trouble with the attacks on our institution already. and it's just -- more than anything else. >> reporter: while that's a deep-rooted worry when it comes to the president. he's several times noted how critical the perception of the rest of the world in terms of how the u.s. can operate particularly in the wake of the last three or four years, how he views that at this moment in time. he's given the sense things

cnn's phil mattingly has more on the developing story. >> reporter: president biden on the world stage but grappling with a serious problem back home. the high stakes leadership in mexico overshadowed by biden's handling of classified documents. ten classified documents discovered in november in a personal office no longer in use. among documents a source tells cnn, intelligence memos and topics involving ukraine, iran and the u.k. >> we want this to be a gathering place. >> reporter: at the university of pennsylvania biden center. the white house in a detailed monday night statement saying the white house counsel was immediately notified. the national archives recovered the materials, quote, the following morning. the justice department also notified triggering a review from u.s. attorney john lausch. the investigation has been completed and submitted to merrick garland without echos of the case tied to biden's predecessor. >> upholding the law means applying the law evenly without fear or favor. >> reporter: donald trump's failure to overturn documents leading to an unprecedented fbi

let's go to our chief white house correspondent phil mattingly.use reacting behind the scenes to the discovery of these classified documents at mike pence's home? >> reporter: wolf, white house officials have been watching the developments throughout the course of the day even though they didn't weigh in publicly even though they didn't want to talk about an ongoing matter under federal review. behind the scenes, there is sense of advantage and clear parallels they saw between what the president is facing now, a former vice president who haddoh hadh had documents unknowingly taken. sounds like what the current president is facing at this moment. the fact the former vice president happened to be republican certainly helpful given the political lens things have been viewed through. your point about the idea of a contrast but between former president trump and biden, white house officials have not been subtle trying to draw the clear contrast between two very different cases over the course of the last several weeks and this helps under score that po

phil mattingly, cnn, the white house. >>> there's much more to come on cnn.e the latest on the controversy surrounding a new york public representative who admits to lying about his resume. >>> details on a killing when we return. >>> am why kyiv believes that's a sign the war is not going well for moscow with the assignment of a new general. i'i'll have a”" wewe're talking about... rooty tooty fresh 'n fruity i'm going to get the rooty tooty fresh 'n fruity the rooty tooty fresh 'n fruityty i think i'm going to have e the rooty tooty fresh 'n fruity yep, it's back. for a limited time. the six dollar rooty tooty fresh 'n fruity combo. 2 eggs, 2 bacon strips, and 2 fruit topped pancakes. only from ihop. download the app and earn free food with every order. >>> recently elected new york representative george santos is facing an escalated backlash about his resume. >> at least six of his fellow republicans calling for him to step down. others say there's no way he can govern effectively. so far house speaker kevin mccarthy is standing by him. cnn's chief congres

phil mattingly, cnn, the white house. >> phil, thank you so much for that.or more on the growing controversy over president biden's handling of classified documents, we have cnn's errol louis with us this morning. it's always good to see you. let's start with the two special counsels investigating the sitting and former president over the handling of classified documents, a historic moment. this has never happened before. >> good morning, boris. that's exactly right. and it's certainly unfortunate. i think future holders of the office will certainly be very clear about what's supposed to happen with classified documents. is it apples? is it oranges? is it serious? is it not serious? what makes it so difficult, boris, by definition, we can't have a full thorough going of what the doubts are or how important they might be. it's either a criminal charge or a mystery. right now we're in the mystery phase of all of this, and it's not going to be good for the white house for sure. >> there are significant differences between donald trump's leaking of classified do

phil mattingly, cnn, the white house. >>> phil, thanks for that. exclusive new details about the roughly 12 classified documents discovered at former vice president mike pence's indiana home. multiple sources tell cnn the documents include background briefing memos that were prepared for pence's foreign trips. they may have been overlooked during the packing process because they were tucked into old trip binders. now according to this source, pence classified briefing materials would not have been visible unless the packers went through those binders page by page. >>> to this story now, school administrators repeatedly failed to act after they were notified three times that a 6-year-old student was carrying a gun in school. that claim coming from the attorney for teacher abby zwerner. she was shot in the chest by that child in her classroom three weeks ago in virginia. the cnn's brian todd has the latest. >> this should have never happened. it was preventible, and thank god abby is alive. >> reporter: the attorney for abby zwerner, the teacher shot

let's bring in phil mattingly. the stories of mishandling doc documents. how has the white house reacted to this. >> making clear this is an ongoing matter. privately, they are very cognizant over what's been happening over the last several hours. when you talk to people inside the white house they recognize there's a political element here in terms of having another example of the situation that really kind of consumed the presidency over the course of the last several weeks. one from a republican vice president in this case. that shows very clear parallels. two, a sense for the republicans attacking the president and his actions while he was vice president or in the wake of his presidency on capitol hill they have to look at one of their own doing the exact same thing. probably more broadly, white house officials again not weighing in publicly, but they recognize the political -- idea here when you compare two different vice presidents leaving, they had no knowledge that these classified documents were in their possession, the parallels is important to u

phil mattingly, cnn, the white house. >> phil, thank you for that. >>> house republicans ready their own investigations, cnn looks into how joe biden's son used his name to make money. >>> instead of pushing george santos to quit, they just appointed him to two committees. why. >>> chaos on the court. hrp [woo hoooo!] ensure max protein, with 30 gramams of protein, one gram of sugar and nunutrients for immune health. my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis... the tightness, stinging... the pain. emerge tremfyant®. with tremfya®, most people saw 90% clearer skin at 16 weeks. the majority of people saw 90% clearer skin eveat 5 years. serious alleic reactions may occur. tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. emerge tremfyant®. with tremfya®... ask your doctor about tremfya® today. (vo) give your business an advantage right now, with nationwide 5g from t-mobile for business. unlock new insights and efficiency, with leading ultra-capacity 5g coverage. t-mob

and sitting with me here tonight, is cnn's phil mattingly, also retired senior cia operations officer, douglas london, offering author of the great new book the recruiter, out in paperback as we speak. also, national security attorney bradley moss, and cnn 's mj lee who's been covering the president while in mexico city. i'm glad you are all here right, now i'm gonna leave it to you mj, because you are where the action is with the president in the united states. of, course what is on everyone's mind is the dates here. we're not just finding out the president just found out. why did they not allow people to know, or tell this earlier? >> yeah, you know laura, as much as you just heard the president address this issue for the first time in press conference in mexico city. that is the one question that he really didn't, answer and it is a question that the white house isn't answering either. the question being, that if the biden team, excuse me, new and found these classified documents at a private office, where they should have been been going back to november. why are we only learn abo

right now let's bring in our chief white house correspondent phil mattingly.he revelation of classified documents found at the president's former office here in washington has clearly overshadowed his trip to mexico right now. he is about to face questions from reporters there. we'll have live coverage of that coming up. but set the scene for us. >> what you're looking at right now is where the president's focus has been and where white house officials have wanted it to be over the course of these last two turbulent days, given the revelations tied to those ten classified documents that were discovered in an office. the reality remains that for the president and his team, we're about to hear from him, this has been about this north american leader summit. critical issues, none more so than immigration. obviously energy, economic issues and trade, sit-down bilateral meetings with both justin trudeau and the mexican president, lopez obrador. now the three will come out. each will give a statement, and the expectation, wolf, as we see each take a question from a

cnn's phil mattingly is over at the white house for us. but let's begin first with our own jim sciutto. jim, can you walk us through what we are talking about here? what are these tanks, and where are they coming from as it relates to what's going into ukraine? >> reporter: abby, this is a significant move and let's begin with what the capabilities are. this is a german leopard tank then you have the u.s. sending abrams as well. first thing to say about this, highly capable, it's an offensive weapon, not a defensive weapon and the ukrainians hope here, their aim is to use this as a weapon to retake territory, not just defend, but retake materiality inside its country captured from russia so let's look at the countries that are going to be sending these in. you have the u.s. as you noted, the president announcing 31 abrams tanks, germany sending 14. uk sending 14. poland, some other countries sending a handful too. now, those are not insignificant numbers, but keep in mind you add those up, you're below 1 00. when you put that into context

we get more this morning from cnn's phil mattingly. >> i'm here today to announce the appointment of robert herr as a special counsel. >> reporter: for president biden the dramatic escalation of a perilous moment. >> it was in the public interest to appoint a special counsel. >> reporter: attorney general merrick garland appointing former u.s. attorney robert herr as special counsel to reveal a lot more detail about an issue biden and his lawyers kept quiet for weeks and desperately tried to manage since the story broke four days ago. >> people know i take classified documents, classified materials seriously. >> reporter: special announcement coming after biden's second public statement about a second set of classified documents found at a second location. >> as part of that process my lawyers reviewed other places where documents might -- from my time as vice president were stored and they finished that review last night. they found a small number of classified documents at home in my personal library. >> reporter: garland's time line shows -- >> we're cooperating fully, cooperating

cnn's phil mattingly reports. >> we do not have different rules for democrats or republicans, attorneyimpartiality. >> we apply the facts and the law in each case, in a neutral, nonpartisan manner. that is what we always do and that is what we do in the matter is they referring to. >> as two investigations, one of the current president and one of a former president grip a divided country. after another weekend, new discoveries and new questions. president biden again ignoring those questions as he arrived at the white house monday, facing the reality of an escalating investigation into his handling of classified documents. >> the fact is the fbi conducted this search, not his attorneys. that really ratchets the investigation up. after the fbi spent more than 13 hours searching his wilmington home, discovering even more items with classified markings. >> at worst, this is sloppy and it is an oversight floating of the law by someone who has been in government for 50 years. it gets worse because it could be a severe, severe problem with our national security. >> the search coming with coo

phil mattingly, cnn, the white house. >>> battle over raising the u.s.ional debt limit is heating up as the government officially hit the ceiling on how much it is allowed to borrow to pay its bills. that threshold was reached on thursday at $31.4 trillion. ist secretary yell been warns te is a global ricksk of default. here is what she told christiane amanpour. >> failure to make payments that are due, whether it is to bond holders or to social security recipients, to our military, would undoubtedly cause a recession in the u.s. economy and could cause a global financial crisis. >> hard line republicans who control the house with a slim majority are demanding spending cuts before they will vote to raise the debt ceiling. it is a position the white house won't consider saying in a statement, quote, house republicans should think very hard before they spend months telling the american people that they want to reverse the best unemployment rate in 50 years in order to slash medicare and social security. >>> lead investigator examining the leak of a u.s. su

phil mattingly, cnn, the white house. >>> phil, thank you for that. president biden's handling of the classified documents is another item on republican's growing list of investigations into the administration. the new gop majority in the house is planning a new select committee to investigate the fbi and the department of justice. republicans want to investigate what they call the weaponization of the federal government against conservative. proposed committee is one of the key concessions kevin mccarthy made to hard right members. >>> preparing measures to cut down the number of crossings at the southern border and making it easier. if they say they're both smart. >> this has been the greatest migration in human history. we're trying to make it easier for people to get here, opening up the capacity to get here, but not have them go through that god awful process. >> the president also said the u.s. will work to help improve conditions in the nations the migrants are coming from so they won't feel they have to leave in the first place. >>> investigat

chief white house correspondent phil mattingly joins us now, with what he said can you tell us? >> white house officials have been very clear. they put out a statement from the white house counsel's office, there is going to be very little if anything they would say, as the justice department review continues to play out but the president gave his version of the event, events that -- white house counsel's team, and also this response when he discovered that these documents existed. take a listen. >> people know i take classified documents, classified information seriously. when my lawyers -- university of pennsylvania they set up an office for me a, secure office in the capital, four years after being vice president i was a professor at penn. they found some documents in the box in, a locked cabinet. or at least a closet. and as soon as they did they realize there were several classified documents in that box. and they did what they should have done. they immediately called the archives. it is easy to call the archives and turn them over to the archives and i was briefed about t

phil mattingly, cnn, the who us. >>> sources tell cnn the u.s. is finalizing a $2.5 million aid package for ukraine. the highlight is expected to be stryker vehicles, capable of moving infantry across a battlefield and mine-resistant vehicles known at mraps. volodymyr zelenskyy says shipments cannot come soon enough. he spoke to the world economic forum by video link. he says russia is exporting terror and a large number of ukrainians have lost their lives. first, claire, where is the apprehension here on sending this equipment? why does ukraine need specific items? >> you see the latest u.s. package according to sources is tailored to the fighting in the east. we're seeing different armored vehicles that can improve their maneuverability across the battlefield and get them closer to the russian front liknes. a concern in ukraine is they are still outgunned. russia sustains advantage in weapons, military equipment, and russia could be getting ready to mount a new offensive. president zelenskyy spoke about how he expects russia to bring new irania

phil mattingly, thank you very much.a very moving ceremony at the white house. >>> let's discuss what's going on with adam schiff of california. congressman, as usual, thanks for joining us. i will get to the january 6th anniversary. first, let me get to the major historic events unfolding where you are in the house of representatives. do you believe kevin mccarthy when he says he will have the votes tonight to end this historic standoff for speaker of the house? >> well, i always take what kevin mccarthy says with a big grain of salt. he may have the votes. we will find out in a couple of hours. what he will have the votes for is a very diminished speakership, one that may not be capable of govern ing their own members. it may lead to government shutdowns. it may lead to defaulting on our national debt. i have grave concerns about just what that speakership will mean. i think the problem kevin mccarthy has had is his own members don't trust him. part of that goes back to january 6 where he did a complete flip-flop suppo

wolf. >> phil mattingly at the white house.nk you very much. >>> let's discuss this and more with our senior legal analyst elie honig and david axlerod and analyst maggie haberman. a senior political correspondent at "the new york times." david, le met start with you. the biden white house has been unable to fully explain the delay in disclosing the discovery of these additional classified documents. if you were advising president biden right now, and we know you used to advise president obama, what would you tell him to do right now? >> well, look from arks political and communications standpoint, the essence of crisis communications is to get everything out as quickly as possible and go from there. and that hasn't happened here. for whatever reason. you know, the original discovery was made, it took several months to learn about that. a second discovery was made on december 20th. and so -- and i think it is created problems perhaps more problems than they would have had if they would have been more forthcoming from the beginn

chief white house correspondent phil mattingly joins me now.taposition of the white house observing january 6th while house republicans edge closer and closer to electing a speaker who was part of the big lie that led to january 6th, it's pretty remarkable. >> yeah. and a number of the insurgents, some of those who have flipped their votes, voted against certifying the election. many of them were key players in the efforts to spread former president trump's lie and perpetuate that lie in the course of the lead up to january 6th. while the president did not mention at all what's happening on the house floor, it is just very clear how these things tie together. there is a thread here, and it actually gets to the idea that the president was trying to convey today during his remarks, and the real effort to elevate these 14 individuals. these were not just individuals from the day, from the attack on the capitol. there were certainly law enforcement officials who received these medal, but this is about the thread and the lead up to january 6th, star

with me in studio to share their insight, phil mattingly. lauren barron-lopez and tia mitchell. he'll be on the road today then goes to baltimore then new york city and that's the message he is going to be spreading. the economy is doing pretty well. looks like we can avoid a recession, the president is going to say, unless republicans mess it up. am i right? >> it's a very contrast-driven message. i think white house officials have reviewed the proposals republicans put on the table, not just kind of what a hess and circus it looked like on the floor to get their leadership in place but it's been like christmas gifts for them on a day-to-day basis in terms of whether it's a national sales tax proposal or whether some republicans want to go after entitlement programs. every single day they feel like they have something to talk about, elevate and polls poorly for republicans and well for them and the president will highlight that as well but underscores why white house officials before all of the classified documents information came out and became a huge part of that every day w

it's still not clear how this happened. >> david gergen, phil mattingly. >>> george santos apparently caught in yet another lie. this one about his mother and where he was on 9/11. >> and alec baldwin charged in the shooting death of a film crew member. reelance teams with more agility. ♪ ♪ the old way of working is deadeder than me. ♪ ♪ we'll scale up, and we'll scale down ♪ ♪ before you're six feet underground. ♪ ♪ yes, this is how, this is how we work now. ♪ i was born here, i'm from here, and i'm never leaving here. i'm a new york hotel. yeah, i'm tall - 563 feet 2 inches. i'm looking for someone who needs a weekend in the city, who likes being in the middle of it all. you hungry? i know a place, and a few others nearby. it's the city that never sleeps. but hey, if you need a last-minute spot, i got you covered. >>> the web of lies surrounding congressman george santos is growing more and more outlandish by the day. the long island republican now facing very serious questions over a claim his own mother died as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attack. cnn's eva mcken has the latest.

let's go to cnn's phil mattingly, at the white house, for more on the decision of getting germany on board. it's a big change is their will and provide ukraine for the war and, with what button was wanting to deliver with that. with the direct knowledge, behind the scenes of the last several weeks, they appointed several times the number or the, president, pointed to the durability of the driving force behind that policy shift, behind that decision, to deliver those u.s. tanks at all. something that u.s. military had not recommended, something that and i. c. e. officials here at the white house are very wary of doing. they didn't believe it was the best use of capabilities, in terms of the battlefield dynamics that are currently in play. but, it really gets at the central driving force behind how president biden has viewed this war, throughout the 11 months it has been ongoing. and, also, in the months before then, and it was with reasons, and predictions, and they're up to this accountant this point. they're saying this isn't one weapon system, or capability. it is about maintaining

so for president trump, let's start with president biden has a new strategy according to phil mattinglys that they're going to do is attack house republicans and not really get into the details of it all. what do you make of the strategy? >> it makes sense. the reason why it makes sense is because they're not dealing with good faith actors on the other side. it is incredibly easy i think for people to hear the words classified documents, president and compare the two situations and even if biden comes out favorably, which of course he does, there is people remembering a magazine, one person did everything right, the other person did everything wrong. >> lots of deep cuts today. >> that's a magazine in my house. >> i got it, too. very genx panel. >> the point is it's still not the conversation the biden administration wants to be having. they want to say look, it's different in a quick way and want to be able to say but the people who are making this argument, republicans in congress are not talking about this in a good faith way. they want chaos. they want destruction. look at the way t

let's bring in cnn's manu raju on capitol hill, phil mattingly is at the white house but woe begin with evan perez. tell us about the timing of this announcement by the attorney general. >> reporter: allison and victor, the new special counsel investigating the biden documents is robert hur. he is a former u.s. attorney in maryland and someone who served under the trump administration. the attorney general making it clear that part of the reason here to do this was because of the regulations in the justice department which require for an investigation like this to at least show that it was being handled independently. of course we know there is an ongoing investigation of the former president, donald trump, and his handling of classified documents. i'll run you through just a bit of the timeline. we got a lot of new information from the attorney general in that press announcement just in the last hour. this all began according to him on november 4th when the archives notified the justice department that these documents had been turned over, that they had been found a couple of days earl

. >> let's start with phil mattingly at the white house where the biden administration is struggling to get this crisis under control. >> on the first full day of a president under investigation, and an attempt to focus on business as usual. >> you know, we meet a remarkable moment in our lives. >> welcoming prime minister kishida to highlight a shift in the pacific nation security posture. as he ignored questions about the special counsel now investigating his handling of classified documents after his time as vice president. his press secretary continued to deflect or declined to answer critical outstanding questions. >> i'm not going into think specifics from here, if you have any questions related to the review or -- i refer you to the department of justice or my colleagues over at the white house counsel's office. >> reporter: for biden who has hane tained this -- >> people know i take classified documents and classified materials seriously. >> reporter: and it has mushroomed into a crisis just over five days. >> we're cooperating fully and completely with the justice department

let's go to our chief white house correspondent phil mattingly.n is clearly already touting all of these late numbers. >> reporter: they were numbers that couldn't be more perfectly timed for a ten-day push to the state of the union where the president will be on the road four different times and all four of those stops will focus intently on the economy. on the economic recovery and now the view that the economy remains both durable and resilient despite very clear concerns and in some cases predictions of recession. those are important points because the president now is making very clear that there is a contrast between what house republicans now in the majority are putting on the table and what his administration accomplished in the first two years and wants to accomplish in the years ahead. something he detailed when he was in virginia today. take a listen. >> economic growth is up. stronger than experts expected at 2.9%. [ applause ] jobs, jobs are the highest in in american history and wages are up and they're growing faster than inflation.

cnn's phil mattingly has more from the white house. >> reporter: as president biden and the white house counsel's office described the initial discovery of ten classified documents, documents that were turned over to the national archives and the justice department, justice department review ongoing, they never actually weighed in on whether there could be additional documents out there. as that was happening, there was actually a very quiet but very intensive review ongoing by the president's legal team to see if there were any. in fact, there are. a second set of government records has been discovered. some of the government records, they are, indeed, classified. the president and his team never said there weren't any other documents out there. they only spoke about the initial set of ten classified documents. to some extent they have been very careful not to say anything about what may be out there. >> there are no assurances you can provide at this point that there are no other classified documents out there at any other office? >> again, this is an ongoing process so i'm going to l

let's go to our chief white house correspondent phil mattingly who is joining us with details on a verystakes meeting between president biden and speaker kevin mccarthy. phil, what is the president's message to the new republican speaker? >> just a few moments ago when the president arrived back at the white house from baltimore, it's the exact question i posed to him. he said samely, show me your budget and i'll show you mine. what that drew echoes of was a position by the white house and congressional democrats by saying if republicans plan to want to negotiate, they need to put a plan on the table. here is the rub, wolf. white house officials have made it clear there's no desire to have a negotiation. they believe a debt ceiling increase should be a clean increase, one that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle from both chambers decide to pass on their own without any negotiation, without any effort by white house officials to make concessions. i think that gives you the best window into what this meeting on wednesday is going to be. this is a moment where both sides are very dug in.

they just want this to and to a certain degree. >> for mattingly, thanks, back now with the panel.mean it is interesting to hear from president, biden is obviously an institutionalist, searched for many years, does he benefit from this? does the white house benefit from this? from just a political standpoint? >> i think that biden was elected in certain ways as an antidote to the chaos of the bush years, because he is an institutionalist and seen as a calming influence. i think democrats did better than expected in the midterm elections, for the same reason there is a contrast between trump and some of the extreme election denier candidates. and biden has a calmer influence, and so, the contrast, year phil, said they didn't intend to set up a contrast, if they didn't they should claim they did because it was pretty deaf to be out there yesterday in kentucky with mitch mcconnell and governor -- dedicating a pretty deft and appropriate as well to be out tomorrow commemorating the january 6th and because it obviously was a huge important day, but the contrast is going to be clear, and

cnn's chief white house correspondent phil mattingly has more on team biden doing damage control. >>sident biden again ignoring questions as the investigation into his handling of classified documents intensifies. >> we have a couple of special guests. >> reporter: as the head coach and star guard of the golden state champion wars made their apoorns in the briefing room before a white house scrambling to get its footing -- >> you guys can ask me this 100 times, 200 times if you wish. i'm going to keep saying the same thing. >> reporter: a not so subtle effort to turn the page on a perilous moment for biden. >> the president has confidence they reached out to the archives. they reached out to the department of justice. >> reporter: sources saying biden plans to stay focused on his schedule and agenda. >> the president is going to stay laser focused on delivering for the american people. >> reporter: further away from any commentary like this. >> by the way, my corvette is in a locked garage so it's not like they're sitting out on the street. >> reporter: the probe in its early stages

sitting with me here tonight is cnn's phil mattingly, also retired senior cia operations officer douglas london, author of the great new book the, recruiter. it is out in paperback as we speak. also national security attorney bradley moss and cnn's mj lee who has been covering the president while in mexico city. i am glad that you are all here right now. let's begin with you, mj, because you are where the action is for the president of the united states. of course, what is on everyone's mind is the dates here. we are not just finding out that the president has just found out. why did they not allow people to know or tell this earlier. ? >> i yeah, you know laura as much as we just heard the president address this issue for the very first time at this press conference in mexico city, that is the one question that he really didn't answer and it is a question that the white house isn't answering either, the question being if the biden team knew and found these classified documents at a private office where they clearly shouldn't have been, going back to november, why are we only learning ab

cnn's phil mattingly is following all of this.hil, what is the president saying about it and do we know anything new about the next steps in this investigation? >> reporter: bianna, white house officials since monday night and the release of a white house counsel statement laying out the details of what they know up to this point, they have made clear, there are limitations to what they believe they can say going forward, which means there's not going to be a whole lot they'll say going forward. last night in mexico city before coming back to washington, the president did address the issue for the first time. this is what he said. >> people know i take classified documents, classified information seriously. i was briefed about this discovery and surprised to learn that there were any government records that were taken there to that office. >> reporter: the president making clear he was not aware that those records had been there, and he also made clear last night that he still does not know what is actually in those records, what

>> phil mattingly, appreciate. we're joined now by former deputy assistant, elie williams. senior legal analyst and former federal prosecutor, elie honig. also with us, cnn special correspondent jamie gangel, who did some reporting on this. and cnn senior political commentator david axelrod, former adviser for obama. ali, let's start about, legally, is this helping the deal? >> potentially, a big deal, both for biden and trump. now, there is a lot we need to know, anderson. and the details matter here. there could be a lot of differences between the two scenarios. most importantly, joe biden no? what was the purpose? how did these documents get there? how many were there? were they co-operative, or where they obstructive? on paper, those could make the difference between something that is criminal or not criminal, but we don't live on paper, nor do prosecutors. and we have to look at this, and i look at this through a political lens, and reality lens, which is he is merrick garland, who ultimately is going to have the say here. who is known for nothing more than -- nothing

phil mattingly is at the white house tonight. view from president biden. >> reporter: the white house officials have made very clear, they don't want to engage on this issue. as the president said several times, this is a republican issue. this is not my problem at this point in time. and to some degree the public actions we've seen from the president have very much tracked with that, holding his normal schedule, trying to really demonstrate on unintentional contrast on some level that the white house is working on the implementation of the major laws they passed in the first two years, talking about policy issues, laying out in detail kind of a roadmap what the president is going to be doing in the months ahead, as house republicans can't seem to get their act together on the first issue they need to deal with. behind the scenes, officials make clear they're watching this very carefully. you've seen the president go through an evolution of emotions as he's watched this play out. i think there's certainly been a level of confusio

phil mattingly just finished up in the white house briefing. phil, your take aways? >> i think after more than a week of kind of as you noted rolling explanations for what is happening, incomplete information, shifting explanations to some degree, one thing you can pick up at this point in time is the white house settled on a response and trying to get footing under it. that response will not include answers to a number of the questions that are still outstanding. white house officials making very clear that so long as this investigation by special counsel remains under way, they believe they're very limited in their ability to respond. the white house also saying that despite those frustrations that held about the scale of the response, how things were actually addressed, the president still maintains confidence in his team. take a listen. >> i can tell you this. the president has confidence. i can tell you this. the president and his team rightfully took action when they learned the documents existed. the they reached out to the archives. they reached out to the de

as cnn's phil mattingly reports for us, white house lawyers are not ruling out a future sit-down between the president and the department of justice. >> reporter: president biden, again, ignoring questions about the investigation into his handling of classified documents. >> we have a couple of special guests. >> reporter: as the head coach and star guard of the world champion golden state warriors made their appearance in the briefing room. >> something we don't take for granted. >> reporter: for a white house scrambling to get its footing -- >> you can ask me this 100 times, 200 times if you wish, i'm going to keep saying the same thing. >> reporter: -- a not so subtle effort to turn the page on a turbulent and perilous moment for biden. >> the president has confidence. they reached out to the archives. they reached out to do the department of justice. >> reporter: the sources saying biden plans to stay focused on his schedule and agenda. >> the president is going to stay laser focused on delivering for the american people. >> reporter: and far away from any more public commentary like