talking tonight with gloria borger and bob woodward and robert costa, authors of "peril."t, i want to go back to someone robert mentioned before the break. namely, the night before. i want to review a few tweets sent today in preparation for this conversation we are having tonight. quote, i am going through old notebooks tonight from the peril project. the january 2021 box of notebooks. here are some notes. one year ago tonight, i was outside the willard wandering around with pen and pad pressing proud boys, oath keepers, monitoring the crowd. the city was otherwise empty. trump was in the oeval office with pence. then i saw black cars arriving at the hotel. city empty, freezing cold, rats everywhere, willard a hot spot. maga clashing with police there, rowdy, back of willard, black cars. follow. later, we went back and forth on whether to include the detail on the book and decided against it. extraneous. it is always nice to have more material than you need unless, of course, it is all about threats to democracy. robert, i can tell you there were plenty of rats on the str

let's discuss with chief analyst gloria borger. gloria, what will you be watching for at his press conference? >> i'll be watching for a dose of humility. he's done this before. but a president who has to say, look, we miscalculated on omicron. we didn't expect it. we didn't have enough tests. i doubt he's going to admit that he spent too much time trying to negotiate build back better, in which case it looked like he was being led by democrats rather than leading democrats. but the big thing i'm going to look for is a president who is ready to say, okay, we're going to need a course correction. this is what we're going to do. we are going to try and pass parts of build back better rather than the whole plan. we're going to try and get prescription drug benefits, which people want. universal pre-k, which people want. and most of all, i think, he has to kind of take the reins and look like a competent leader. i think throughout this first year, lots of questions have been raised about competency. i think it goes all the way back to t

i want to bring in chief congressional correspondent manu raju and analyst gloria borger. gloria, we heard some strong words, mitch mcconnell calling the president's speech unpresidential, calling it a rant, saying, i did not recognize the man at the podium yesterday. the gloves are off. >> it's beyond the gloves being off. i think we could safely say, and i think manu might agree, that mitch mcconnell has gone nuclear on this issue of the filibuster and personally took offense at the president's speech yesterday, which he called incoherent, incorrect and beneath his office. and this gives you a clear indication that mcconnell and republicans are going to fight tooth and nail on voting rights, that they want nothing to do with a carve-out of anything on the filibuster. he effectively called these tactics dishonorable. i might point out, you know, this is coming from a leader who did not give merrick garland a hearing when he was nominated for the supreme court, but that was another day. so you can say that the senate is at war right now, and mitch mcconnell has decided that

gloria borger joins us now, jeffrey toobin. what have you learned? >> former deputy white house press secretary has been subpoenaed by the committee because he was in the white house january 5th and january 6th, and they believe that he can shed a lot of light about the president's state of mind during those two days. he was involved in issuing, say, releases from the white house, also about the violence, about the insurrection. i think there's a question about whether he was there when the president taped his infamous video to the american public. but specifically, one thing they point out that is so telling is a meeting inside the white house on january 5th. the president called in his staff, and you could hear the crowds outside. and the president said to his staff, you know, there's a lot of anger out there right now. and then he also said and asked them, what are your ideas for getting the rinos, republican in name only, for getting them to do the right thing tomorrow? how do we convince congress? so this is what he is telling his staff, and tha

let's bring in chief political analyst gloria borger and elie honig. makes sense they want to speak with him. the significance now. and there are a couple of nuggets in this letter that's released, this press release about what they already know about his engagement with the former president. >> and what they already know is what he's said publicly. he's told colleagues that he had disagreements with the president. he told news organizations as much. and so what the committee is saying here in their letter is, as is readily apparent, all this information bears directly on president trump's state of mind during the january 6th attack as the violence was under way. so he is somebody who is a firsthand witness here who spoke with the president, who argued with the president. he's a leader, a republican leader in the congress. and they believe that his testimony is hugely important to them to say, okay, what was the president's state of mind? now, obviously, there's a privilege issue here because he was talking to the president. the president is going to s

joining us now, gloria borger, supreme court biographer, joan biskupic and elliott williams. o what senate minority leader mitch mcconnell said about this vacancy a short time ago. quote, the president must not outsource this important decision to the radical left. the american people deserve a nominee with demonstrated reverence for the written text of our laws and our constitution. we know both biden and his chief of staff ron klain have decades of experience with the supreme court confirmation process. gloria, how does that impact their strategy. >> look, what mitch mcconnell is telling you is, this is going to be the line we're going to use in the midterm elections. that whomever is from that list and you showed the pictures, is going to be a product of the radical left. i mean, it's completely predictable. i think mitch mcconnell says it because he knows he has to say it. it's also very clear to me that manchin and sinema, the two people who have given the democrats heartburn over the build back better proposals are people who generally will support a president's nominee

let's discuss with our chief political analyst, gloria borger, and the former republican governor oftrump's skin? >> well, governor desantis has said -- or has not said that he wouldn't run if donald trump were to run for president. he hasn't gotten out of the way of donald trump. donald trump believes that desantis is an ingrate because he believes that desantis wouldn't be where he is without donald trump, and there are lots of other potential republican candidates who have come right out there and said, look, if donald trump runs, we're not even going to think about it. but ron desantis isn't one of them. >> governor desantis, governor kasich, hasn't said he'll step which former-president trump calls the magic words, according to "the new york times." does trump expect all other republicans to essentially bow down? >> yeah, i'm sure he does, wolf. but i'm with gloria. you know, i mean, the height of arrogance for desantis to think that he could challenge the king, you know? but you know, when you run -- when you run for public office u make a decision, am i better than the people

joining us now, cnn chief political analyst, gloria borger. lso cnn contributor and former ambassador to the czech republic, norm eisen. gloria, the letter, i mean, what do you make of it? it really did seem to lay out where the committee is headed with the investigation as we mentioned, the former president's state of mind and his intent. >> yeah. i think it really does provide a roadmap. it tells the story of where the committee is going to go. i don't think it is a coincidence that the committee mentions in this letter the president's state of mind. three times. because they want to find out from mccarthy what the president's intent was before, during, and after the insurrection. and they believe, of course, that mccarthy, having had all these conversations with the president, with his staff, can shed some light on it. but there is another bread crumb in this letter that i don't think we should overlook, and that is over the question of obstruction. the letter asks, did president trump or his representatives discuss or suggest what you -- me

. >>> let's discuss with cnn's chief political analyst, gloria borger, and cnn political commentator, david axlerod, i spoke with th-- there's an obstructionist portion of the senate that keeping him from passing anything. he can't get the filibuster out. how deeply should the president lean into this we've got to reset. i know there are challenges when we hear from him at the top of the next hour. >> you know, i think something jeff said is really important, which is that you can't panic in moments like this, i've lived through moments like this in the white house, and i remember when people were writing barack obama off, and you have to recognize there are these valleys and troughs and we are going through a major crisis. i don't think you can overestimate the impact of three winters of covid and what that has done to the national psyche, what it has done to our economy. he's navigating through some pretty choppy waters here. i think the trick is to claim the credit for the successes he's had. yes, he's reduced unemployment by 40% from 6.4 to 3.9, but inflation is at a 40-year high,

with us now, cnn senior political analyst john avalon, gloria borger and olivia troye, she was an advisoro mike pence when he was the vice president. olivia, i want to start with you because in those moments, we saw, i think, for the first time in many of our lives, how fragile democracy was. we had taken it for granted and we saw how quickly the guardrails had come down and we might have lost it that day had a few guardrails not held and i'm wondering a year later if you think that we're in any better position today. >> no, unfortunately, i think we're actually in a worse position, because while i had hoped and wanted to believe that the events, the narratives that led us down the path to the january 6th event and the tragic moment would cease and that would be a moment of reckoning, especially within the republican party. the damage that was being done and what was happening here across our country. and we saw this and lived this firsthand, watching these horrific images that we're watching again today. but i think those narrative and that messaging has continued and in fact, they've do

. >> let's bring in cnn chief political analyst gloria borger and scott genjennings. it happens sometimes. we're in separate rooms. you have a new piece talking about this tug of war. >> what is the party supposed to do who had donald trump who hugged vladimir mir putin and republicans stoods back and le it happen. trusting him over the cia and now all of a sudden trump is gone. he's complaining about biden's weakness but not saying what the united states should do in ukraine. republicans are sort of there. you have a group of republicans who are serious foreign policy experts wo are trying to find a way to do sanctions against re russia to come up with something bipartisan in the congress and then you have folks like marjorie taylor greene who wants to go to war with ukraine to protect his son and himself. you have tucker carlson raising questions on fox. why should we be on the side of ukraine over russia to which a republican congressman replied because ukraine is a democracy. you have this kind of turmoil inside of the republican party and there's no sort of one f

chief legal analyst jeffrey toobin, gloria borger, we just heard jessica lay out what's happening at the supreme court, some of the reasons perhaps behind this decision, but this is big news for the biden administration and for democrats. what do you see as the impact? >> i also see it as big news for the country. it is a history making moment when you step back and say that joe biden as a candidate pledged to appoint the first black woman justice, and he intends to do that. and it is something that the country has never seen before. we all know as we've been talking about this morning that it will not change the ideological balance of the court you just pointed out but it will change the way the court looks. and i think we cannot understate that. and politically you asked for the democrats, of course this is an opportunity, it is an opportunity for the president who has disappointed lots of members of his base about what happened with voting rights, and he can now say i am going to fight the good fight, and i am going to get this nominee through and on the bench. >> so, jeffrey, glo

let's discuss this with gloria borger and jeffrey toobin. make of this draft executive order instructinging the dechts secretary to actually go out and seize voting machines? >> well, it is more evidence about what the state of mind was inside that white house. it is more evidence pointing to the fact that people were interested in promoting a coup. when you look at what happened this week, wolf, take a look at the commit tee. winning that really important case in the supreme court. getting the 700 packages of documents. i'm told there's possibly more to come from archives. this is a committee trying to reconstruct what happened the day before january 6, for those 187 minutes on january 6 before donald trump acted and the aftermath of january 6. this will give them a treasure trove of information where they will look at the president's intent and whether he tried to obstruct in fact their investigation and looking at the legal issues on the other two invests i'll let jeffrey talk to that but they have a special grand jury now in georgia abou

let's bring in now cnn's chief political analyst gloria borger and ella williams, the former is a assistant attorney general under president barack obama. good evening to both of you. hi, gloria. i'm going to start with you. >> hi don. >> sure. >> some are saying this nominee won't face as tough a confirmation is going to be. they're really underestimating how nominating a black woman is triggering some on the right. what do you think? >> first of all i think no confirmation battle is ever easy, particularly in this kind of environment. obviously it depends on the nominee. but let's set that aside. what you just played from fox news is so disgraceful to me because what you had there was an anchor denigrating the qualifications of all of these qualified women by mocking george floyd's sister. it's -- it's disgraceful. it's insulting to any of those potential nominees. and i think what that does is, for republicans who may have ideological differences and likely with anyone that joe biden nominates, right, it lowers the debate. it's -- it's -- i mean, it's hard to find words to describe how d

radio host for metro news talkline in west virginia, and gloria borger, cnn chief political analyst. oria, let's start with you. we heard what jerry gonzalez says, we don't need any more speeches, we need action in washington. the president called this a defining moment. he had a defining moment speech six months ago at the constitution center in philadelphia. why is the president delivering this now, considering there's not been much progress on getting legislation passed in the six months since? >> look, if all had gone according to plan, from the white house point of view, they would have passed the american rescue plan, which they did. they would have passed their infrastructure bill, which they did, and then they would have passed build back better, which day didn't, and then they would have gone to voting rights. so what they've clearly decided to do since build back better is really on the back burner, they've said, okay, now is the time we have to do it. and you understand this as well as i do or anybody who's looked at politics. they understand that the window is closing. the

so i want to go to gloria borger now, our chief political analyst. you hear ryan reading that text message. quote, i've been trying for the last 30 minutes, literally stormed in the outer oval to get him to put out the first one. it's completely insane. you know, the context here is meadows said he would cooperate and isn't, but his top aide now is and answered six to seven hours of questions without once pleading the fifth. that seems to be very significant, right? this is a person who knows a lot about meadows and the president. >> yeah. he knows a lot because he was there. he's an eyewitness. and, you know, there are a lot of people in the white house who are cooperating. they're not politicians. these are people, like williamson, who's young, who was working for mark meadows, shown there, and he was in a lot of meetings. you know, these are the people, and you know this, erin, these are people who stand against the wall when the big folks are sitting around the table and they observe everything. and you look at that email exchange and you can jus

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. >> for more perspective now joining us gloria borger and evan osnos. and we should note everyone appearing on the set tonight has tested negative for covid in the last 24 hours, which i'm very happy unt. >> me, too. >> what did you make of what brett stevens was saying. >> i think joe biden could run again if donald trump runs and they'd both be two old guys. >> could he get rid of some of his status? >> well, i think he's not going to, and i think he may do a lot of retooling. but it's interesting what brett was talking about he thought of himself as transformational and overwrite his mandate. i think that's all true. when he first started talking about his candidacy he was talking about being a transitional president. remember i'm just going to be the bridge to the next generation. in talking to people at the white house i think what changed all of that was covid. and he thought there was such a crisis in the country that they had to do more than he could have ever imagined. and so you have the american rescue plan and build back better, which was to

. >>> joining me is cnn kmeef political analyst gloria borger.i want to read some of the headlines the president is facing and that the white house is sensitive to which is "the washington post" saying the long side inside biden's declaring popularity as he struggles with multiple crises. politico, dems stare down another failure to deliver for their base, and axios stating biden's epic failures. >> i think you'd have to call it something like a defensive crouch because they're playing defense right now. even though folks in the administration when i talk to them will talk rightly so about how many jobs they've added, the progress they've made on vaccines, et cetera, et cetera, they are being hit in the face with inflation, with foreign policy crises, and on the pandemic, which used to be joe biden's strong point, the public is now not giving him as much credit and they're much more worried about the economy and, by the way, he's also pleading independent voters, and those are the people who were so important to him because they believed he was g

gloria borger. thank you.re to discuss, a member of the house select committee investigating the capitol attack. we know that judd deere, the former white house press second for donald trump, issued the statement the day after the insurrection. what else do you think deere can tell the committee? >> well, i think this is important for three reasons. one, judd deere was talking about a tainted election way before january 5th and january 6th. he continued to amplify discussion. as gloria just mentioned, the meeting on january 5th in the oval office is something that we feel needs to be discussed. we want to hear his thoughts, what his takeaways were related to that meeting. and wednesday that he had a hand in formulating the strategy and some of the media discussions on the day of january 6th and the president's response to that rose garden address. so those are some things that we feel are important. that need to be shared. our mandate is to get to the truth and we feel that having a conversation with mr. deere

. >> joining us now former federal prosecutor and jonathan whack row and gloria borger, welcome to you. ronaldo, let me start off with you, that the a.g. balked at this charge of seditious conspiracy. first, when you look at the evidence, is it going to be an uphill climb to prove this or is it clear in the indictment they have a very strong case? >> well i think there is plenty of evidence. the statements we heard from the defense counsel i think were very foolish a minute ago. i think there is plenty of evidence that they forcefully were entering congress, that they were engaging in that sort of activity. the evidence in the indictment is more than sufficient to prove that. i do think, though, that as evan was saying the justice department has reason to be concerned, there is not a of case law regarding the statute so i could see they're being legal hurdles. i certainly think that the defendants could potentially serve certain legal challenges. as to the bottom line facts here, they're very strong and the justice department charged a number of different crimes here. so even if they a

. >> well, ryan nobles, gloria borger, elie honig, thank you for helping us understand this breaking news. "the lead" with jake tapper starts right now. >>> might the u.s. be about to turn a covid corner? "the lead" starts right now. covid cases could -- could be peaking in parts of the u.s. which means they could -- could -- be coming down soon. this as top health experts warn every american could end up being exposed to omicron. >>> plus, the january 6th committee just invited a new ghost their party. they're asking the top house republican kevin mccarthy if he feels like voluntarily cooperating. >>> and match point for novak djokovic. a decision on the tennis star's fate in the australian open could come at any moment. >>> hello and welcome to "the lead." i'm jake tapper. we begin in our health lead. a new warning from the top health experts. today dr. anthony fauci, and the acting fda commissioner say omicron is so efficient at spreading that almost everyone in the u.s. will at least be exposed to it. even if you're vaccinated and boosted. that does not mean, of course, that ever

>> so this is along with our colleague, gloria borger.ve learned that mark short, former chief of staff to former vice president mike pence, very quietly last wednesday went into the committee in person and testified, i am told, quote, at length for clarity. he was subpoenaed to come in and i'm told that any documents he handed over were also under subpoena. just to remind everybody, i mean, this is mike pension's most loyal top aide. he was with mike pence in the oval office on january 4th when trump and the lawyer, john eastman, were trying to pressure pence to overturn the election. and marc short was also with former vice president pence at the capitol on january 6th. >> when the crowd was channting hang mike pence. >> yes. for the record, the committee has declined to comment. i reached out to marc short and he has also declined to comment. >> one would think that short would not do this without at least former vice president pence saying it's okay. what might this mean for pence potentially cooperating with the committee? >> so no q

joining me for more is gloria borger and susan glasser and presidential history tim naftali. gloria, jeremy laid it out very well, how biden expolitician sitly is putting this on donald trump with a way we have not heard the president really speak. what do you think of what he said? >> well, first of all, i think it was a remarkable speech and i think it is a speech that he gave for history. i think clearly after a year in office and you look back on january 6th till today, donald trump is the major figure in the republican party, the litmus test of the republican party is whether or not you believe that the election was stolen. donald trump is now picking candidates for republican party. he is the leader. and after that year in which joe biden has been president, i think he took this opportunity to come out and say, look, i have to take a stand on this and i am telling you what i believe and what occurred and i am telling you that donald trump is a charlatan, he's a loser, he is somebody you should not believe, and this is not the way our democracy works. the people who invad

outfront now, gloria borger, cnn chief political analyst, john avlon and jamie gangel, our special correspondent. john, let me start with you, former speechwriter yourself. you see president biden address the nation today with real passion in his voice that we frankly have not heard before in an address like this from him. how important was this moment? >> it was an historic moment and he met the moment with the strongest speech of his presidency to date. he was strong. as you said, he was resolute. and there was vivid language that not only condemned the former president for the actions he took that led to the insurrection, but redirected the energy of the moment towards defending our democracy. with imagery like holding a knife to the throat of our democracy, that's language that will stick in people's minds and hopefully help us straighten our civic backbone to meet the future together. >> gloria, president biden talked about democracy and talked about the importance but he also put the blame, called it out and was very clear. something that again until now we have not heard him do like this.

outfront now, gloria borger, our chief political analyst and elie honig who wrote "mahatchet man, howode and corrupted the justice department." gloria, criminal is why this is getting attention because it is a criminal procedure. she said she expects to decide on whether to bring charges against trump in the first half of 2022. so it took a while to get to this point, but now it looks like it's going to move relatively quickly. what do you read into that now that she can now seat a special grand jury? >> well, erin, any person who is a subject of a specially convened grand jury has legitimate cause for concern. this is serious stuff. this is a natural and necessary step forward in the investigation. it does not guarantee any particular outcome. what's different between today and yesterday is now the d.a. has subpoena power. i don't know -- i can't for the life of me figure out why it took a year for her to do this, but now she has the ability to force people to testify, to force people to turn over evidence. by the way, we've all gotten used to people casually brushing off congression

i want to go now to former republican congressman frances rooney, and gloria borger, our chief politicaln, let me start with you. you know, the committee says they have these details. they are going to at some point put details out that actually show the firsthand reporting that president trump was sitting in the oval office and in the dining room and people came in -- ivanka trump, twice, pleading for him to do something. he refused to do so as the riot was underway. so, we are hearing this now. and the actual evidence is going to be presented. will any of your colleagues who, thus far, have been unmoved become moveable on this? >> you know, i don't know what it's going to take to -- to get republicans to become statesmen, again. this entire situation of hiding behind trump and giving him a kitchen pass for the behaviors that he exhibited at this critical juncture are very disheartening to me. this country needs to know what happened. i think we know what happened but we need to have the evidence to prove it up and the committee needs to act hastily so that they can't run out the clock

he spoke to our colleague gloria borger, and said quote we are reviewing the committee's letter and we'll respond as appropriate. >> so, i understand the january 6th committee chairman also wants to speak directly with the former vice president? >> that's true. so, bennie thompson told our colleague ryan nobles today that the committee would like to speak to mike pence. so, the question is will mike pence cooperate? we don't know the answer, yet. but i think it's important to point to the following. there are three people very close to mike pence who are cooperating. his former chief of staff mark short, his former counsel greg jacob, and his former national security adviser keith kellogg. those three people are very close to mike pence. they would not be cooperating with the committee without his blessing, so if i had to guess, i think mike pence will cooperate in some way with the committee. >> jamie gangel, appreciate it. thank you. perspective now from white house chief correspondent kaitlan collins. also, andrew mccabe, former fbi deputy director and cnn senior law enforcement analys

let's go to chief political an list gloria borger and laura coates, former federal prosecutor. so, gloria, what are the chances ha hannity cooperates? >> i don't know. it's -- you know, um, i texted with jay sekulow and he didn't give away any secrets. he said he is hannity's attorney and he said, look, we are reviewing this. the committee was so careful in their request because hannity is, after all, a broadcaster on television every night. and they are worried about first amendment concerns, obviously. and first of all, they said we want you to cooperate voluntarily. we are not going to ask you about the things you say on tv. we are not going to ask you act any commentary you may have made. and obviously, these aren't issues of privilege, of course, 'cause he was texting other people inside the white house. what's so stunning to me, though, is that it's clear that hannity, um, was saying to them stop this. stop this. let him go off to florida and become a spokesman for election reform. don't talk about the election anymore and how worried he was about january 6th. so, we know

. >> i want to go now to gloria borger, chief political analyst, along with david gregory, also political analyst. so, david, obviously, this is, you know, i reference the alexander book. remember, terrible, no good, very bad, horrible. i am putling them in the wrong order but that is the situation here, right? the voting rights push this week. you know, goes all the way to georgia to give the speech. knowing he doesn't have the votes. and now, the white house is left trying to say well, he didn't mean to call anybody who was against this exact bill and this exact way segregationists and a racist. um, that's not -- it's -- to say the obvious, what they want to spend their time doing. covid testing. you got democratic senators sending a letter to the white house saying what the heck is going on here? so -- this is coming, you know, a lot of this, from his own party. stacey abrams didn't even show up at the speech in georgia. i mean, it is all sides of his party. >> yaerks it's worse than a bad week. i mean, if it were just a bad week, there would be some reason for hope. he is politically

and ceo of the naacp, he was at biden's speech today in atlanta and our chief political analyst gloria borger, of course. so, ben, senator manchin, obviously, has been clear for, you know, time and time again, he is not changing his stand on the filibuster. senator cinema not onboard, either. so it doesn't seem there is a chance that biden makes headway on voting rights as it stands right now. so the current president of the naacp -- derek johnson -- issued a statement tonight saying quote, while president biden delivered a stirring speech today, it is time for the administration to match their words with actions. um, and that's the criticism coming from the naacp. do you think it's merited? has biden tried to do enough here? >> derek and i were there to -- today together along with jesse jackson, al sharpton, many leaders from georgia. and we stand united with -- with all the voting rights leaders in georgia about the need for the words today to lead to actions. clear on that. what i hear from manchin in those comments i think is different maybe than what you heard. he said he is open to rul

let's discuss with our chiefly political analyst, gloria borger, she is still with us.ur chief legal analyst jeffrey toobin and senior legal analyst laura coates. there you see the cover just pursuit, a black prosecutor's fight for fairness. we are going to have you back, laura, to talk about the book tomorrow. but let's get to this marmg decision by the u.s. supreme court. jeffrey, how significant is this decision? >> well, what's significant is that the court didn't just reject the former president's position. they really gave it the back of their hand. this is a one-paragraph opinion. it's unsigned. there were -- the only dissenter was justice clarence thomas who didn't even write an opinion. so, it was an 8-1 opinion. all three of trump's appointees voted against his position. so, um, the -- the principle that only the incumbent president, um, should be in the position to exercise executive privilege -- that, more or less, was the basis for the decision. but i mean, it -- it is somewhat surprising to me that the court dealt with what is a fairly substantial constitu