in a rare intervention, the former cdu chancellor angela merkel said in a statement, "i think "it isbound by this proposal our berlin correspondent damian mcguiness spoke to me earlier with the latest. it has been described as a historic moment in german as critics would describe it of the conservatives with the far right afd party. the conservative government relying majority of parliament wants. but relying on the afd is seen as a taboo that of power, which goes back to germany's history, and its the former chancellor, angela merkel, who was the leader of what we are seeing really is a huge row over this, and that row will only get bigger today. parliamentary motion. again the conservatives could want or look for together with the afd, lead the next government in just 3.5 weeks' time. in parliament and we expect fiery date expect fiery debate here today. and what do the polls suggest ahead of that election? has a strong lead with around 30%. this firewall means is that it is you start on local council, then together to support something like a parliamentary motion. the next electio

conservatives are deeply split on the deeply split on migration the former chancellor angela merkel made going to now in way they are going to go now in the election campaign. we have an election in three weeks' them and there is eserythind to play forget "*"*"'*" eserything to play forgo. " in parliament. dramatic day in parliament. it's going to be really to get the readout interesting to get the readout of has voted and how they of who has voted and how they voted in where support for friedrich merz has fallen ?7 e? :7up x: ngfvery up very the f whatf f whatho you election, what do you think, result does to his this result does to his ambitions to be the next chancellor? he ambitions to be the next chancellor?— ambitions to be the next chancellor? he is still way in the chancellor? he is still way - in the polls. - chancellor? he is still way - in the polls. his - chancellor? he is still way l - in the polls. his party ahead in the polls. his party is traditionally the largest has f f has there f has there for f has there for afthile. around 30%.f7 it's pulling around 30%. the difficu

including from angela merkel criticising her successor, friedrich merz, said wattie had was wrongry of rivalry, i thinkjoe is hit rivalry, but i thinkjoe is hit floor yesterday when tha7t that statement yesterday she has kept m because she has kept a low since leaving profile since leaving politics. has lit a fire under the this has lit a fire under the german election campaign and goes back to that one goes back to the fact that one of the central issues here, putting inside is issue, but immigration had an mae but mmcate" hadw ... ~ ~~ alongside economy, an mae but mmcate" had i iii ii i i ii topiciside economy, ah mae but mmcathh had i iii ii i i ii topiciside this economy, a central topic that this election all about in thank you for time. it is very there. what is your very fluid there. what is your understanding of what is at7 at the moment? i at t7e moment? . unfolding at the moment? in the press room next the party to the parliamentary party room. have been for . hours 7for . hours and for . hours and are waiting for 2.5 hours and are later and �*are later and the chancell

that is something angela merkel has written about. just to quote her in the end, she said xi jinping has become an actor that wants to see china as a military power but xi has not acted on that. rush: i will say to the audience, liana has written a number of articles recently about how china and russia pose a significant challenge for european security, try to wake up public awareness in europe of that reality. i want to ask one quick follow-up if you could be brief. it is this particular dimension of the question. what is the thinking in europe right now about the possibility of simultaneous multi-theater provocations in asia and europe, stressing european security? the possibility of a horizontal linkage between a ukraine or baltic scenario and a taiwan, south china sea scenario. in asia it does not seem so far-fetched anymore. how are europeans thinking about that? liana: the answer will frustrate you, even if it is a brief answer. this is very much perceived as a u.s. problem, not two conflicts that your past to address. the quest

church gro formere ol angela the former chancellor, angela merkel, was the �* of merkel, who was thearty, has criticised successor saying criticised her successor saying she views this as wrong. what we are seeing really is huge we are seeing really is a huge row over this, and that row will only get today. will only get bigger today. on wednesday, it was a non—binding motion. j motion. today, 77 parliamentary motion. today, they will vote on a law which thevmll-e�*e en e 'et-s' "be“ thevmll-e�*e en e 'et-s' "be“ the conservatives could e— 77 for support from the afd look for support from the afd to through parliament. it te posh threodh element tt — — ——— . ——~ w— all to posh threoqh panama"! gt)” . -- 7 - ..- .7 all about is all about limiting in itself is 7 topic, butrbeyond controversial topic, but beyond migration, it about this 7 together 77 together the afd, working together with the afd, which is really shaking up about? 7 about? is 7 about: is going about? is going to debate about who is going to lead the next government in 3.5 weeks' as you we face elections on february 23,

critics of friedrich merz of the conservative cdu, once led by angela merkel, have staged protests outsideave had immigration for - germany is a country of immigration, and we will remain a country of immigration. but we have to make sure that immigration to this country takes place in the labour market, takes place in society, can be integrated and does not become an immigration that just explain why this is so controversial a move. as you are mentioning, there is this post—war consensus in germany that a party work therfar right, 7 don't with the far right; they dept , ~ with the far right; they dept f ~ with the far right; they dept f ~ with the far right or cooperate with the far right or go into collision with them or past things, whether as leeeee eeet. {e'eee fiffieffief ee ' or leeeee eeet. ee'eee fieeeeef ee 7 or motions, with legislation or motions, with votes from the far right. the to be, as ou are mentioning, has already the so—called firewall breached the so—called firewall whee wednesday he pushed non—binding through this non—binding why this is collating motion. why this is col

in the around the m the uk, this is bbc across the uk, this is bbc news. which was once led by angela merkeline, then that will be a historic change. and months, have shown that the policies that he's the majority of the population. there's usually about two thirds or so that actually say there were very serious deadly attacks from people, um, with an asylum seeker background on, people so there's basically a dilemma there. does he go with what the majority of the population want? or does he stick to the old rules that you don't pass legislation with far right votes? and in terms of why we have seen the rise of the afd, partly obviously to do with immigration, but also more recent. germany's more recent history and the sort of class yes. the two main issues. the entire election campaign mostly on, on economic issues. and it was the latest attack that happened have basically triggered this recent, change. showed that the majority of the population also think that way. i mean, this is also something that that people sometimes forget that whilst there's some overlap, the conservatives and they

it began on energy policy and issues she has with renewable energy and angela merkel and these sortsthings and then immigration, the sort of woke mind virus sort of stuff set up for elon musk to bite on. it also went to hitler, the colonization of mars and whether either of them believe in god so it was a long and meandering conversation. that began with about 175 thousand listeners and reached a peak around the subject of immigration. when they were talking about energy for a while it went down to about 100,000, came back to 100 -- to 200,000 talking about immigration. this is a live event on a platform that did not bring much more than 1 -- more than 200,000 people listening to it and there are some dubious claims worth rectifying. he called her the number one candidate going into the selection and this of course is not true. they are the numbered two candidate with about 20% of the vote. there was also this long conversation about how hitler was not a far-right figure but a communist and a far left figure. i think very few people agree with that position in any community and it's

with angela merkel the former chancellor of germany, the former head of the cdu, going out against thisrade we had two church groups, two of the largest churches in germany against this. this is the christian democratic union. these are not people that tend to weigh into german politics. this is significant. for many, they would say the cdu is trying to imitate afd policies. people prefer the original and this could torch merz. on the other hand this is embracing a more pragmatic approach. the criticism from the afd is there is no conservative vote left in germany because if you vote for the cdu they will end up in coalition with spd and left, and he will not get progress. he is trying to undermine support from the afd and attract those voters. the other side is the spd and greens could've voted for this piece of legislation. this is something that could harm them in the polls break when you look at the latest polls, i wanted to bring one up from two days ago because this is significant. the cdu has lost a little support the last couple days. the final consensus will have to wait until

that is something angela merkel has written about. just to quote her in the end, she said xi jinping has become an actor that wants to see china as a military power but xi has not acted on that. rush: i will say to the audience, liana has written a number of articles recently about how china and russia pose a significant challenge for european security, try to wake up public awareness in europe of that reality. i want to ask one quick follow-up if you could be brief. it is this particular dimension of the question. what is the thinking in europe right now about the possibility of simultaneous multi-theater provocations in asia and europe, stressing european security? the possibility of a horizontal linkage between a ukraine or baltic scenario and a taiwan, south china sea scenario. in asia it does not seem so far-fetched anymore. how are europeans thinking about that? liana: the answer will frustrate you, even if it is a brief answer. this is very much perceived as a u.s. problem, not two conflicts that your past to address. the quest

and what a message that was to angela merkel and, and he was perceived as boorish and crude being so assertive that north stream too was financing war criminal putin and needed to be avoided. so over and over. and one final thing i grew up in the most british city in north america charleston. , so we appreciate our heritage. >> yes, sir. in the back. no, no, we we need for the viewers at home. >> thank you. thank you so much, wilson. i'm from georgia. you mentioned georgia. i'm at the fletcher school line diplomacy, but currently volunteering the country, not the neighbor. and as we speak there, around 200,000 georgians protesting against the brute force of the oligarchy. and i wonder what do you have to tell them? and also the prime minister, self proclaimed prime minister who said that your statement, recent statement could be disregarded as the new administration is coming to, to office and should we have any hope that the barry act will be progressing this week over the coming days? >> i do believe. but hey, back again, the people of georgia, i equate again. let's go back to tian

angela merkel's happiest day ever in her history was the day i removed him from there and put him in charge of the high level of intelligence and intelligent people but they were not intelligent enough to fool him. but he has been fantastic and he lives here. i don't know if you want to recommend some people are get together and recommend some people as a group. rick would be someone that i would certainly consider. and breitbart is fantastic, by the way and congratulations on that. i was so impressed with the fire fighters i met before. and they said, i asked them, how many of the hydrants or pumps were working? and a large percentage of them were not working at all and they had no water and those that did have water didn't have a lot of pressure. one thing that was missing, many of you have sprinklers over your living room and kitchen. if the sprinklers worked with pressure, you would've had a much different outcome. we have to work on that. in terms of that rick would be good or rick could had up a group of people to set up a commission. we are talking about a lot of money. and ke

. >> yeah, younger viewers may not remember when he came up and was the the hand massage of angela merkel from germany. >> it was just a bush man. >> yes, it was a simpler time. a simpler time. >> well, the look on her face, yeah. >> yeah, right. in fairness, it was not. >> yeah. all right. really, really fascinating. and i heard from an official, too. there's a very small room inside the national cathedral where all the presidents are held together before they walk out to something like this. so being a fly on the wall there also would probably be pretty interesting. still ahead here on cnn this morning are some key democratic senators getting on board with the new republican majority and pennsylvania senator john fetterman accepts an invitation to mar-a-lago. michael smerconish joins us live to discuss. plus, tiktok on the docket at the supreme court just days before a ban of the app is set to take effect. >> we'll take a look at tiktok. you know, i have a warm spot in my heart for tiktok because i won youth by 34 points. and there are those that say that tiktok has something to do with

i remember angela merkel's statement when trump was elected, lecturing trump and saying, "i'll be on the watch for violations of democracy." you don't see statements like that this time around from foreign leaders, who are eager not to be in trump's crosshairs. you know, the question is, is that going to serve as a deterrent to trump in any way or constraining him in any way, in the sense that while he has so many partners to work with, you know, it's a big question. there are many people who look at what s happened in countries that have gone through backsliding in democracy in recent years. there's the frame of, hey, listen, don't obey in advance. i was just speaking with a leader of the turkish opposition, interestingly, to erdogan to all these years. i asked him about christopher wray resigning. i asked him about, you know, what do you think about this debate that's happening in washington? he was uncategorical, which is really interesting. he said, "don't do it. don't obey. fight as long as you can. don't resign until you absolutely have to." i thought it was really interesting,

led the years of being led by the centrist chancellor angela a nd centrist chancellor angela and manage. friedrich merkel right—wingers and lower them back, those them back, potentially those who are about voting who are thinking about voting for a? by talking tough for the afd, by talking tough on migration. this tactic has worked in parliament and if not worked ianarliameht and if look at it is not you look at polls it is not clear whether it will work at the ballot box either. he has a today eelitieell�*g’e'ttdait'ife , . �* members of conservative conser7vative party did not his conservative party did not the line because it was a vote z— vote and i'm sure we'll named vote and i'm sure we'll get information about that get more information about that because the conservatives are split migration. the split on migration. the former chancellor merkel intervention yesterday an intervention yesterday calling the tactics of merz wrong which is unusual. and i think what very unusual. and i think what we're is the ase'fe seeing is the trying ase'fe eee'rhg ie the trying decide conservatives trying to decide

as angela merkel said in her book, do you think it works?it works?— think it works? it works potentially _ think it works? it works potentially in _ think it works? it works potentially in the - think it works? it works potentially in the short| think it works? it works - potentially in the short term. wheh — potentially in the short term. when you are marco rubio say here _ when you are marco rubio say here the — when you are marco rubio say here the three questions, does it make — here the three questions, does it make us _ here the three questions, does it make us stronger? is that how— it make us stronger? is that how or— it make us stronger? is that now or the long—term relationships that we have had? one thing — relationships that we have had? one thing about foreign policy as we — one thing about foreign policy as we have always looked at it from _ as we have always looked at it from a — as we have always looked at it from a cup _ as we have always looked at it from a cup will this be right for america the longer term? what — for amer