i beat him once, and i will beat him again could lewis: let's bring in brian stelter, author and mediaator thanks for coming on the program. these two slip-ups. what is your assessment? brian: this will haunt president biden as long as years in office, or as long as he is campaigning for reelection. and it contributes to discontinue defection from his own democratic party. we are up to about 20 elected officials, members of congress who have called for him to step aside. one in the past hour or so confronted biden directly on a zoom call that was organized for biden to hear from house lawmakers. this crisis is not going away. i think that two-week period of hell for biden between now and the press conference, we will look at that is one distinct period of time whether crisis erupted. now we are heading into a more prolonged a chapter where biden vows tuesday in the race, but the concern does not abate. lewis: and you are an expert in media and narrative, aren't you, and those slip-ups, you could argue if they had been made other times throughout the last couple years would have gone la

. >> lawrence: kayleigh, brian stelter did a piece in vox yesterday did the media botch the biden agehave read the full piece this morning. i found the whole thing to be fascinating. one of the things as joey alluded to they talk about it being a right wing conspiracy. it's no longer a conspiracy at this point. >> joey: it never was. it never was. >> lawrence: something that we all saw. we were just covering it as it happened. but then later on in the piece, he talked about that even the reporters that wanted to go out on a limb and do, you know, a slight article about it, there was was immediate pushback from the white house. and they did not like the pushback. they did not like losing access to the white house. so, essentially we have an entire press corps that either thought it was going to help the republicans or were more concerned about their access to the presidency, and the parties that they were going on. you know, i just think that is not a way for our press corps to conduct themselves, i mean, you took the darts, the arrows, every single day, they suggested that donald trum

and brian stelter is still with us.of kamala harris, just talk us through what exactly is going on with clips like that online? basically, she has been turned into a meme. people find how wacky, nonsensical quotes really relate and funny. she has got this kind of raucous love that people love and people always say she's like a favourite aunt, who is a bit zany and simply more relatable and funny than biden right now. i can and simply more relatable and funny than biden right now.— than biden right now. i can see that but how much _ than biden right now. i can see that but how much of— than biden right now. i can see that but how much of that _ than biden right now. i can see that but how much of that transfer, - than biden right now. i can see that but how much of that transfer, is i but how much of that transfer, is this just a niche call nor the internet or is there something wider though? internet or is there something wider thou~h? ., , ., . internet or is there something wider thouh? ., , ., ., . though? no, it is

[applause] >> from the same if it former cnn sources host brian stelter joint "texas tribune" festival or in chief sewell chan and "usa today" washington. she susan page for discussion on trust in national news. they talk about how partisan politics have impacted national news credibility, ways to build trust with news consumers, fact checking and the media landscape heading into the 2024 election. >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome brian stelter, special correspondent of "vanity fair" and for most of reliable sources cnn. [applause] >> good afternoon and thank you to our host today for bringing us all together on this lovely afternoon. i'm going to set up our next conversation and bring up our next panel by framing the conversation about the national news media. we heard some tremendous insights about the local media environment and how to help communities feel see and feel represented on the local level. now we talk a bit about national. we have so much more in common than we have a part but sometimes, oftentimes, it is hard to see the commonalities. that's why i was thankful fo

entertainers are playing a big role in this november's presidential election, joining me now is brian stelter, vanity fair special correspondent and former cnn chief media correspondent, brian, it's great to see you this morning brian, i mean, celebrities often aligned themselves with certain candidates, right in this time, we have gen z's, charli xcx, who affectionately called kamala harris brat. it's a compliment if you don't know what it means, it's bobby and viral memes we also have on donald trump's side, hulk hogan, who gave that enthusiastic intro to trump at the rnc. i mean, young people are traditionally not known for being reliable voters, right? but it seems like they're really paying attention to this election cycle, how crucial will it be to capture the gen z and millennials vote? >> right? i think it's one of the big changes in the past week. we've lived through a month of extraordinary change. and because of kamala harris and her ascension a lot of that energy among people has been unleashed. it's like a champagne bottle was corked and it's suddenly been popped open and you're

brian stelter. thank you very much for joining us coming up next.ks the president's call for supreme court term limits, but not in congress plus we have more breaking news. one of vice president harris's vp contenders has now removed himself from that list. that's tonight i shall not seek and i will not accept the nomination of my party pretty for another term as your friends, 1960 years, sunday at nine on cnn, you will never smell better everywhere. >> like you will with looming. it's so easy to use just a pea sized amount like this rubs in like a lotion controls odor for three days, pits, feet, privates, anywhere you have odor but wish you didn't know before you say isn't that what's soap and water is for? i'm here to tell you that your shower doesn't work as well as you pick it up? and lumi is clinically proven to work better than a shower with soap give lumia, try and see what happens because your body has never been so odor free as it will be with lumi. it's one lesson it's named worry about with decks calm g7 managing your diabetes, just got e

i've been speaking with brian stelter, a media commentator and special correspondent at vanity fair,bc. house democrats holding this private zoom conference and several reporting they would call on president biden to drop out of the race. this is already a leaky dam for president biden. at what point do you think this might start to burst? i would say in the next few hours. monday morning east coast time when congress reconvened, when lawmakers are back physically together on capitol hill, this will be a major test for president biden. we're talking here sunday night into monday morning. the next few days are the ultimate test for the american president because many of the whisperers, for the american president because many of the whispers, many of the the private conversation, they will either start to become public now or they mey never become public at all. the fact congress is back in session is the staging ground for what could be a very real rebellion against biden. conversely, it could be a moment where this starts to fade away. my bet is it is going to be the former and we wi

. >> and from the same event former cnn reliable sources host brian stelter he joined texas tribune editor-in-chiefd usa today washington bureau chief susan page for discussion on trust and national news. they talk about how partisan politics have impacted national

[applause] >> from the same if it former cnn sources host brian stelter joint "texas tribune" festival or in

former cnn host brian stelter says the media did not dodge the story.hose to ignore it. she will choin us life. what is the 4th of july without joey chestnut. today he will be in a special hot dog eating contest against soldiers at fort bliss. joey chestnut will be here to tell us all about it. we have a busy "fox & friends" 4th of july. over to you, carley. >> carley: how cool you will be interviewing joey chestnut. that's awesome. >> lawrence: what a great thing to do with iewlt hot dogs. he said i'm going to hang with the soldiers. that's how you do it. >> carley: you are not wrong about it. it was a little scandalous to side with a vegan hot dog brand and he is not doing the nathan's contest but then he says you know what? i'm going to one up everybody and hang out at fort bliss and have great time with our military. >> lawrence: he silenced us all. >> carley: he silenced all the haters. we love joey chestnut and love is he going to be on "fox & friends." see you "fox & friends." >> lawrence: see you tonight too. >> carley: we will get to that later

on the context, democratic strategist mary anne marsh, special correspondent for vanity fair, brian stelter. donald trump has announced jd vance — thejunior senatorfrom ohio — as his running mate for the republican ticket of the 2024 us election. the former president made the announcement on social media. mr vance, who was once a critic of mr trump, has since become one of his most trusted defenders on capitol hill. police in spain say that human remains have been found on the island of tenerife near to where the british teenager jay slater went missing. the 19—year—old, from lancashire, hasn't been seen since he disappeared last month. a formal identification has yet to take place but spanish police say that "all evidence suggests" the remains are those of the missing teen.

. >> and from the same event former cnn reliable sources host brian stelter he joined texas tribune editor-in-chief and usa today washington bureau chief susan page for discussion on trust and national news. they talk about how partisan politics have impacted national news build trust with news consumers, fact-checking a tscap heading i4 election. gentlemen, please become brian, special correspondent, vanity fair andrs cnn. [applause] >> good afternoon andu to our hosts for bringing us all togetherovy afternoon. i will set up our next conversation and bring up our by framing the nvwe heard insights about local media and how to help communities feel seen on the local level. now we talk about national. so much more in common then apart, but oftenis hard to see the commonalities. that is why i am for earlier this week for the clips because it was a moment where people felt a sense of belonging, community, commonality and it was nusth. ketball championship, the country rallying around caitlin clark. another moment of unity, we have more in common. i'm struck by those examples becausos national events.

you heard this afternoon about the state of local news and then a little bit later from brian stelter talking about the state of national news and right now, i'm going to talk for a few minutes about the state of digital media. the story of digital media sort of follows the trajectory of a tale as old as time. it's a story of hope followed by disillusionment and then the last stage is redemption although i'm not sure with the redemption. so let me go back to the hope for a couple of minutes. you may recall or some of you may recall or some of you may be too young, that back in the mid-to late part of 2010, the world was a pretty exciting place when it came to digital media. google really did bring the world's information to our fingertips. we connected with old friends from high school or other parts of our life on facebook. we had access to so many incredible videos on youtube. and when it comes to news, it was revolutionary. you may remember the arab spring in 2010-and 2011, the miracle on the hudson. the ways we had access to information because people on the ground with access to

. >> jason: today on cnn brian stelter made this argument about the biden interview. astoundingly, jim, the white house is almost portraying this interview as a cognitive test. like it's some sort of televised doctor's appointment. it is both the most viewer's career stephanopoulos but biden. as you said the presidency is on the line here. yet, at the same time it's only one interview. it's not nearly enough compared to what biden has to do more broadly. >> jason: doctor, trump just yesterday said that he was the first black woman to serve with a black president. and certainly a television -- with biden, yeah. it certainly could not have been -- certainly doesn't replace a true cognitive test administered by a doctor. >> no. clearly it doesn't. but, isn't it interesting that the debate was supposed to be the big thing. and if he did well in that, great, and if he did poorly on it, that was the end of him. now, it's this interview with stephanopoulos. and then after he filibusters that, it will be something else. the goal line just keep moving. but it's very clear to a

brian stelter says it is not enough.atch this. >> this reminds me of the old phrase about putting a band-aid on a bullet wound. an interview at this point would be a band-aid on a giant gaping bullet hole. this body, president biden, is bleeding out and a single interview will not change that. i think instead of just an interview, think about another debate. think about a rematch between trump and biden. think about a series of press conferences. think about a series of town halls. that would be a little bit more, i think, in the realm of what might help at this point. >> julie: another debate, series of town halls. put the band-aid on a bullet hole. he said if he could, he would. and that is such an important point to make. if he could, he would. they have damage control, they have had plenty of time to plan damage control and he hasn't done anything. if he could, he would. the reason why is because he cannot. >> 100% cannot. i don't know anyone who will unsee that debate. it doesn't matter if he has a good two-hour pre

will the earlier this afternoon from the local news and then you heard a little bit later from brian stelter die about the state t of national news. right now i'm going to talk for a few minutes about the state of digital media. the story of digital media, sort of falls the trajectory of the tale as old as time. it's one a story of hope followed by disillusionment and then entered the last stage is redemption, although not sure where we didn't yet. let it go back to the hope a couple of minutes. you may recall or some of you may recall or maybe some of your students are too young but back in the mid to late august and early part of the 2010s, the world is a pretty exciting place when he came to digital media. google really did bring the world's information to our fingertips.rl we connected with old friends from high school or from other parts of herr life on facebook. we had access to some incredible videos on youtube, and when it comes to news it was revolutionary. you may remember the arab spring in 2010 2010 and 2011, then the hudson, the ways with access to information because people on

>> thank you for a >> susan page, stool chair, brian stelter, thanks for a fascinating 40 minutes. >> thank you, david. this great. [applause] >> could somebody help me up. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more including comcast. >> are you thinking this just a community center? is way more than that. >> comcast is parking with 1000 community centers to create wi-fi enabled its own so students can get the tools they need to be ready for anything. >> comcast supports c-span is a public service along with these other television providers giving to a front row seat to democracy. >> on saturday, 21 for republican republican presidential nominee former president trump and his vice presidential pick of ohio senator j. d. vance will hold a campaign rally in grand rapids, michigan. this will be former president trump and senator vance first first-round after official accepting the nominations. watch live starting 5 p.m. eastern on c-span, c-span now our free mobile video app or online at c-span.org. >> american history tv saturda

[applause] [applause] and from the same event of a pharmacy and it level sources tells brian stelter, he joins texas tribune editor-in-chief chan, usa today washington bureau chief, susan page were discussion on trust and national news and talk about how partisan politics of impacted the national news credibility ways to build trust with news consumers and fact checking in many landscape heading into the 2024 election. >> ladies and gentlemen please welcome special correspondent it feared former host reliable sources cnn. [applause] [applause] good afternoon and i think you to our audience today for bringing as altogether this lovely afternoon and i'm to set up her next conversation and bring up our next panel and by the national news media tremendous insights just know about the local media and how to help communities feel seen and represented on the local level and we talk a bit about national and we have so much more in common than we have a pardon sometimes often times, it is hard to see that it is hard to see the commonality and that is why was thankful for monday and thankful fo

joining us now, brian stelter wrote the book network of lies, the epic saga of fox news, donald trumpican democracy. brian, the murdoch family named lachlan -- murdoch formally named lachlan as his heir back in 2018. so why is this happening now? it's like it seemed like it was all about lachlan obviously for the last five years and the other kids are kind of sitting on piles of money. but they weren't in control of anything. >> that's right. the other kids had $2 billion each. they had to go play with her piles of money. but all of this was all up until the day rupert murdoch dies, death is coming for us all one day and rupert murdoch is now making plans for after he dies because basically for decades we've all been under the assumption that in the event of rupert's death there will be a power struggle for control of fox and the rest of his umpire, because all of the adult children, the four adult kids each get one vote over control of the company. basically think about it this way, if it's three against one and lachlan murdoch is the loser, than the other children could take over an

the interview tonight, you heard brian stelter say, it's a live doctors interview to see if his cognitionaped interview, absolutely not that. should he at this point have a cognitive exam? yes. not necessarily because he is the president, just because he showed. anyone at his age said, especially if he is expected to have executive function. he is the executive of the united states of america. he absolutely should. it is very disheartening that he has not been complete the honest. to echo what lisa said, i don't get is the biggest scandal, his decline, that's not the biggest scandal. it's the media cover-up of his decline over the last several years, and in my opinion that's the biggest scandal piazza be to use that over 65, so would it be fair that any candidate over six to five demor republican -- >> dr. saphier: medicare recommends, that is why it is covered by medicare. president biden has not been having it. even if he had it come are they going to disclose that to the united states when they still want him to be there? they may not. >> going to have to talk about this during the bre

brian stelter going out and having some health food they are, he is eating i yam out of the local saladis, right now? look, feeding time at "those of you" having fun at the cove. they have a cove outside of the arena as they call it. there is joy enjoying a nice sprig of water. that's it. >> jesse: cowboy fans are the worst, look at this guy, total derelict, you can catch me come i have to close my door toprol my window up. nice try, takes him on a wild high-speed chase. sorry, dude. here come the handcuffs. you are under arrest. probably not his first time. go eagles. tonight jesse watters prime time, asking people on the street, should job item drop out? >> who is more mentally fit to be president? >> donald trump, 100%. from the greatest man that said that, and the trump tower, is it a biden tower? no. >> jesse: you can't beat that, there is no biden tower. judge. >> judge jeanine: it's time for... ♪ ♪ i have to change that picture. today is national pecan day. and to celebrate we have some peak on pi to indulge in before we take off for the rnc next week. dagan, everybody else did.

last hour, i spoke to brian stelter, seen its former chief media correspondent course still coverage media quite closely. here's what he had to say about the debate tonight astoundingly, jim, the white house is almost portraying this interview as a cognitive test, like it's some sort of televised doctor's appointment. >> the white house and the biden campaign have raised the stakes for this interview as if it was not already important enough. so it is both the most important interview of the interviewers career, stephanopoulos, but most importantly, for biden, as you said, his presidency is on the line here i mean, the trouble is right, it's not a cognitive test, it's an interview, and it's to your point it seems your view is that that by itself is not going to change voters impressions here that's correct. and every day is going to be another cod test for biden. that's the burden of it. look at what happened yesterday, jim, this didn't get as much coverage as it might have. but every speech that biden gave, whether it was at a rally or for the july 4 ceremonies, it was picked apart.

check this one out over here.br brian stelter going ouian sttyau and having some health food there. w, ote have let's see who. loo this is right now. >> look, they're feeding time at the view, having fun at the cove. they have a cove outsideat the view arena, as they call it. okay. there is joy enjoying a nice spring of water. yeah, yeah, that's it. >> very good.ce yeah. >> cowboy fans are the worst. look at this guy. total derelict . come he goes, oh, you can't catch me. i have to close my door to roll my windoi have to prolw up. >> yeah. nice try. takes him on a wild, high speed chass him on a wilde. >> oh, sorry, dude. here come the handcuffs. you're under arrest. probably not his first time. obably ngo, eagles. tonight, jesse watters. primetime. johnny asked people inpl the street, should joe biden drop out? >>reet, shob ite who's more ment to be president? >> donald trump 100%. from the greatest man that said that and the trump towers do. >> is it up by this hour? noit , wall. you can't beat that. awesome. : you can't there's no biden to. it's timeninejudge, for i keep saying i

so let's continue this conversation joining us now, brian stelter, students, former chief media correspondent, now, a special correspondent for vanity fair. brian good to have you on this morning, you wrote a piece for the atlanta journal constitution with different focus for this debate. and that is george stephanopoulos, and that he will be watched as the headline says there as much as joe biden, quoting you, the longtime journalist and former politico has been on both sides of a crisis tell us what the stakes are here. i imagine he will be judged in large part based on how much he pushes to some degree yes, because today, doorstep annapolis is all of us is every journalist in the country's also many voters who want answers from this president. astoundingly, jim, the white house is almost portraying this interview as a cognitive test, like it's some sort of televised doctor's appointment. the white house and the biden campaign have raised the stakes for this interview as if it was not already important enough. so it is both the most important interview of the interviewers career, stephanopo

so today on cnn, brian stelter made this argument about the biden interview. >> have a look. lmos astoundingly, jim, the white house is almost portraying this as a cognitive test, like it's some sort of televised m doctor's appointment. it is both. the most important interview of the interview was careeosr. u stephanopoulos but most importantly for biden, as you said, his presidencylot biden. v the line here. and yet at the same timeie, it's only one interview. it's not nearly enough compared to what biden has to do. >> more broadly. doctor, president trump just w yesterday said that he was the first black womarst blacn te with a black president and a. television set with biden. >> yeah, and it' certas it certl could not have been. it certainly doesn't replace a true cognitive testit administered by a doctor. >> now, clearly, clearly, itd to doesn't. but isn't it interesting that the debatthe bie was suppol to be the big thing and if he did well in that great. y wasand he did poorly on it, that was the end of it. now it's thi wits interviewl be with stephanopoulos. and then a

. >> i'll put it on the screen from brian stelter, who, who is a former colleague of both of ours. he said, after talking to top reporters at the white house, beat, what emerges is a far more for nuanced picture. the national media wasn't dodging the story. the biggest newspapers in the country published lengthy stories about biden's mental fitness. the public wasn't in the dark about biden's age. most voters, 67% according to gallup, thought he was too old to be president even before the debate. but questions about biden's fitness for profits were not emphasized as much as they should have been that's the third option. the stories should have been tougher. the volume should have been louder. do you buy into that? >> i mean, isn't that always the case with every story where the public has faced a failure of credible well-reported information. it's always nuance, it's always difficult. brian's right. but still the public did not get at the information that it deserved from new media okay, final question for jill abramson. >> now, will there be an over correction? will every sneeze b

you all a a bit earlier from the state of local news and then you heard a little bit later from brian stelter type of the state of national news. right now i'm going to talk for a few minutes about the state of digital media. the story of digital media sort of follows the trajectory of a tale of old einstein. it's one the story of hope followed by disillusionment and then in theory the last stage is redemption although not sure what the redemption is shipped. let me go back to the hope a couple of o minutes. you may recall are some of you may recall a maybe some of you are too young, but back in the mid to late aughts and part of the 2010s, the world is a pretty exciting place when it came to digital media. google really did bring the world information to our fingertips. we connected withps old friends from high school or from of the part of her life on facebook. we have had access to so my incredible videos on youtube. and when it comes to news it was revolution. youu may remember the irish spring in 2011, the the miracle on the hudson in ways we had access information because people on the

biden campaign aides tried to stop clooney from publishing that op-ed, joining me now to discuss brian stelter good morning, special correspondent for vanity fair and a longtime friend so first of all, you hear this and you see this oped from george clooney of all people who just helped raise a bunch of money for the biden campaign. is this going to open the floodgates you think for other donors to come out, or at least to stop giving money to the biden camp? yes and we've already seen that from some hollywood type, some producers some i don't want to call them be listers. but compared to george clooney, everybody is a, b or c or d, lester. we have heard from some of those producer type, some other stars. but george clooney, let's face it, he's one of the ten or 12 most famous men in the world. his words carry real weight and he knew what he was doing, right in this hotbed, right. speaking on behalf of many of his friends. you don't remember in grade schools era when we all learned about icebergs and how only the top of the iceberg appears above the water. there's usually a lot more underneath

go plenty to talk about tonight with my panel, scott jennings, jamal simmons, karen finney, and brian stelter so jamal, which biden do you believe the one who is privately saying that he's not going anywhere or the public pronouncements from all these other people that maybe he's thinking about it all of these things could be true. first of all, i imagine people if you have a meeting with him at 11:00, you might feel one way if you haven't meeting with him, if five-thirty, he may fear another way because that's just how people are. but the reality is, if you're running for president, you are running all the way in until you decide or not, but you cannot do is have a crack in the armor because once you signal that the game is really over so one of the interesting things overnight, karen, is that aoc, who has stayed behind biden. >> she's not she's very transparent about that. she's not like saying joe biden is the best possible candidate. democrats could have a but she is saying that based on the circumstances right now, she's the best so they're going to get and here's part of her rationale f

that report in the journal, emily glaser, also with us special correspondent for vanity fair, brian stelter and chris whipple. he's the author of the fight of his life inside joe biden's white house. emily, you and your teams spoke with more than two dozen current and former white house staffers? how did they try to manage president biden and what we now know are signs that he's aged, especially in the last three years of his presidency well, abby, for any president since reagan up to this term, in there presidency, biden has had the fewest news conferences and interviews. he has had the smallest number of meetings with lawmakers since his prior years before, and that's according to visitor logs, and we've talked to a number of lawmakers and major donors that feel like even though there are some good days it's where biden is sharp and detail-oriented. there are more and more bad days where he's forgetful. he doesn't really have his words speak very well and they feel like they're even more of those bad days and they're getting worse i mean, chris, you've also reported extensively on this pr

the interview tonigh to t, you heard brian stelter say it'll be you know, it's a live doctors.s a veyou know, a doctor's intew to see what his cognition is. no, it's not. it's a daytime taped interview . it is. absolutely not that. noould htd he at this poin have a cognitive exam?he yes. not because he's necessarily the president, just because he shoul isd anyone at his age should, especially if he is expected to have executive function. >> he is the the executivetates of the united states of america. he absolutely should. and it is itof. he a is disheartening that he has not been completely honest. to echo what lise thea said. i don't think it's the biggest scandal that, you know, his declin te has been.t you know, we have that's not the biggest scandal. it's the media's cover upt se of his decline over the last several years. in my opinion, that'vears, ands the biggest scandal. but you said over 65. so would that be fair then? that any candidate, over 65, democrat or republican, these two candidates, that medicare president, by cognitive evaluations at your exams, d by that's

brian in stelter. he's with us right now. n i i'm i'm guessing as a studious observer of morning television, that's an understatement on your part you probably saw what the president said just a short while ago, how stunned ru, that joe biden is saying to these nervous democrats out there, hey if you've. got a problem, challenged me at the convention yeah. >> and i saw one reporter from semaphore saying biden's offering a murder suicide pact. he saying if you tried to take me out, you're going to take all of us out and i think that is an accurate assessment. this incredible moment we're in gym, it does make a lot of sense. so to have biden working the phones, do three more interviews, this is what people were calling for a week ago. they were saying, why isn't he working the phones? why isn't it calling it a television and radio shows that abc interview last friday night, it was relatively low rated. it did not change the calculus does not change the dynamic of this race or that situation for biden. so he's been more aggressiv

high-profile interview here in the coming days ryan stelter or former coworker and current vanity fair special correspondent, is with us now. i wonder brian, if you think sitting down for an interview would do the trick i've been making calls about this briana for the last 24 hours. i've heard from a lots of white house correspondence, network executives. there certainly is a lot of interest in an interview that would be a prized interview right now. but this reminds me of the old phrase about putting a band-aid on a bullet wound. an interview at this point would just be a band-aid on a giant gaping bullet hole. this body you president biden is bleeding out and a single interview is not going to change that the news in the last couple of hours is just even more for him. i think instead of just an interview, think about another debate, think about a rematch between trump and biden. think about a series of press conferences think about a series of town halls that would be a little bit more, i think in the realm of what might help at this point. but an interview, it's abandoned on a believable yeah. i guess that's my question is does he need