kaitlan? >> yeah.o, newark airport looked more like a port than an airport with all that water rushing in overnight. of course, in new york, this is the first flash flood emergency. not a warning, it's an emergency. and the first time this has ever happened here in new york city. and the metropolitan transit authority is now reporting people were on the subway as this was happening. you've seen these images of water rushing down the stairwells while people were trying to get on trains. they were stuck on these trains for several hours. they had to be evacuated. so we are going to go to shimon prokupecz live in a subway station right now. what are you seeing down there? are any of these lines even running right now? >> reporter: so, i'm just under ground from where you are, kaitlan at 42nd street in times square. it's just been packed here all night. i've been here since i would say around midnight. and it just stayed this way. let me show you what's going on here so you can see for yourself. many of th

good morning, kaitlan.verstate the magnitude of what happened last night by a 5-4 vote for women in texas, for constitutional rights nationwide and for the justices themselves and their relations with each other in a very bitterly divided set of opinions the justices let -- explained why they had not intervened the night before when this texas ban on abortions went into place. and as you say, remind our viewers that it's essentially a six-week ban on abortions. most women don't even know they're pregnant at six weeks. and the law in texas had an unusual enforcement mechanism in which state officials aren't the ones who are going to ensure this ban but rather private citizens have socially been deputized to report and bring a case against anyone who assists, aids and abets a woman with -- who is more than six weeks pregnant to have an abortion. the justices had let this take effect at midnight a day ago and last night with two minutes before midnight, kaitlan, the justices issued this opinion. the five conse

>> good morning, kaitlan. we are now seeing some damages and i'm getting reports of damages across the area. i talked with my regional administrators in both region 2 and region 3 this morning. flooding and some individuals that needed to be rescued. we're now going to get more information as the light takes break and we see what the damages are. ida is going to continue. she's been leaving her track across the country, and so we're still not out of the woods. we're still seeing some impacts up in the new england area. >> how stretched are you at this moment, administrator? because there are people who surged into louisiana and the south to deal with ida when it made landfall. the power company is still trying to get power on. meanwhile, what's left of ida causing problems in the northeast. so how stretched thin are you? >> john, we've got a lot of personnel that are ready to respond. we have surged several teams into louisiana. but as i visited mississippi, the impacts there weren't quite as bad as they could

>> reporter: kaitlan, good morning to you.hat nearby river is slowly -- it's still a big concern here. the flood waters that actually overtook this whole community where i'm standing, those flood waters are rapidly receding. that river is a source of concern as the drenching rains from wednesday, it caused the levels in that river to reach something they hadn't seen since 1999 when hurricane floyd devastated the area. and now, as we get a clearer picture of the devastation and the heart ache, communities like this will take some time to get cleaned up and back on track. >> reporter: the remnants of hurricane ida overwhelming parts of the northeast and mid atlantic with flood waters. >> this storm was a biblical proportion. it came fast and furious. >> reporter: a race against time for first responders working in overdrive to save people from their homes. pennsylvania, emergency crews conducting thousands of water rescues. >> the water started gushing in so i head around the back door. the water was raising so high i had to win

kaitlan, john, back to you?> thank you so much, polo. >>> so thousands of rescue efforts have taken place in pennsylvania as officials rush to save lives and clean up from the damage caused by the flooding. joining us now for an update is randy padfield the director of pennsylvania emergency management agency. thank you so much for being with us. we saw so much video of these dramatic water rescues from all over the state, randy. can you give us an update on the status of these rescues? >> good morning, john and kaitlan. and thanks for the opportunity. so, right now overnight we've continued to see some water rescues occur, but most of the rivers have peaked or crested and are starting on their way down. we do have some that are still in flood stage or approaching flood stage. so the numbers of rescues have gone down, but over the last 36 or previous 36 hours literally there were thousands of rescues that occurred across the state with most of the impacts occurring in the southeast. >> literally thousands? >> ye

i'm kaitlan collins in for jake tapper.nd we begin this hour in louisiana where president biden is expected to speak any moment after touring communities ravaged by hurricane ida and meeting with state and local leaders. those hardest hit towns including laplace where many neighborhoods are still swamped with water. more than 800,000 hopes and businesses across the state still have no power five days after the storm. as victims deal with their destroyed homes, temperatures continue to swelter. right now in baton rouge, for example, the heat index is 105 degrees. we're covering the aftermath of ida all over the country. miguel marquez in new jersey, ed lavandera in louisiana, and arlette saenz is live at the white house. arlette, i want to start with you. what has been president biden's message while he's been on the ground today for several hours? >> reporter: president biden has had a message of support, both when it comes to the federal resources that the administration is leveraging in response to hurricane ida, as well

kaitlan and john? >> it's so sad, gary, to see people hanging on to literally anything they can find in these moments. as officials say grand isle is unin habitable after the damage that ida did. thank you, gary, for joining us this morning. >>> we have some new video in which gives a sense, i think, of the power of this hurricane. what you are seeing there, your eyes are not deceiving you, is a cow stuck into a tree, right. this is saint bernard parish where employees were trying to do what they could to get this cow out of the tree. obviously it was swept in by the flood waters. it just, a, shows the strength of the storm and how high the water was. i think also in some places, cows and trees is a sign of the apocalypse. >> it's heartbreaking. cows and horses, to see this, these are animals that normally are really good at weathering storms. it's just a sad image of what they're dealing with. they're literally using a saw to try to get this cow out of a tree is just a sign of what people in louisiana

kaitlan, we just learned about the president's booster shot the last couple of hours. why today and why on camera? >> reporter: yeah. reporters are walking no the room to watch the president get this booster shot on cameras, of course. the reason that's happening on camera is the white house wants to use this moment to send a message to the rest country for those eligible based on what the cdc and the fda have authorized so far that they should be getting their booster shot. obviously the president is over 65 years of age so he qualifies for this, and so this will be his third dose of the pfizer vaccine after he got that first one last december. he got a second one in january and now he'll be getting the third one on camera and making remarks about it as well as they are trying to make this push to get people who are eligible to get that third dose of the vaccine. of course, right now that's just for pfizer. there are certain subsets depending on your job and your age and when you got your first shot of who was actually authorized to get that vaccine as others who got

kaitlan? >> right. we want to see the data. a complicated situation, but elizabeth, thank you for that. >> that's right. >>> so, covid and sports a huge intersection there. jacksonville jaguars head coach urban meyer acknowledged that a player's vaccination status has influenced the team's decision on its final roster cuts. >> everyone was considered that was part of the production. let's start talking about this and then also is he vaccinated or not. can i say that that was a decision maker? certainly in consideration. >> a spokesman tells cnn after hearing meyer's comments they opened an investigation. look, this has to do mostly with players on the bubble here. the nfl has some extremely restrictive covid rules where if an unvaccinated player tests positive or is in close contact they'll miss games. if you're player right on that line and you're not vaccinated, it makes sense for a team to use that in the decision-making process. >> yeah. he said it's not the sole reason why they were cut but it cert

kaitlan collins is standing by over at the white house. first let's go to our congressional correspondent, ryan nobles. ryan, the big question tonight, will there be a vote on infrastructure? >> reporter: well, they say there's going to be, wolf. but we're not exactly sure how they're going to pull it off. in fact just the last few minutes the house majority leader, steny hoyer, who controls the action on the house floor, said that we shouldn't expect a vote before 9:00 tonight but they still intend to vote on this bipartisan infrastructure plan. how they get there, though, remains an open question, because at this point house progressives remain steadfast in their desire to vote no on this piece of legislation unless they get some sort of firm commitment and guarantee on the much broader $3.5 billion reconciliation package, that massive expansion of the social safety net that the government provides to american citizens. the big reason they're at an impasse right now is because of two key senators in the united states senate, that's west

if that would help anyone, it would have been kaitlan, who would be hailed as a first amendment hero. trump didn't like my answer, he wanted her gone and was about to head to the press briefing room himself. he became irate and it is hard to describe his wrath. it was terrifying for me for one. you're weak, he yelled. you're a loser. you are useless. did you -- first off, your reaction to that, did you know if -- did you know any of this was happening behind the scenes? >> no, we knew none of this at the time, we had no indications. there were incidents where i would get calls two minutes before the briefing started saying the president is deeply unhappy with something you said on television a few moments ago or a report you had earlier today, so essentially be prepared because he's walking into this room unhappy with you. and that was an instance where he had says the president was event in the room, but he obviously always watched these briefings from back in the west wing and was clearly unhappy with what we were asking. i think it is deeply revealing of the president's stance towa

cnn chief white house correspondent kaitlan collins is with me now. kaitlan, the white house had to expect that there would be these legal challenges, these challenges from republicans, but they expect they still will be able to enforce these new mandates, i expect. >> reporter: yeah, the president, you saw that defiant response that he had this morning when he was asked about these republican threats to defy his new mandates and his new proposals that he laid out yesterday. and we should note there are two different things happening here, because one is this executive order that the president signed yesterday. that is a vaccine mandate for federal employees and contractors who do business with the federal government and like you said, there is no longer an option to test out of that. you must be vaccinated if you want to work for the federal government and they have about 75 days or so to comply with that since yesterday when the president signed that executive order. the other thing here is this rule that is still being crafted by the department of

let me bring in cnn's lauren fox on capitol hill and kaitlan collins at the white house. i don't know where this leaves us, lauren, because how can there be a vote today if they aren't there? >> digging in here, ana, i think one thing that was very notable about this press conference that was just held with the progressives is that jayapal is coming just a little bit over an hour after manchin revealed that 1.5 trillion is his top line. also a document circulating that cnn has confirmed the authenticity of that included a lot of details about what manchin would accept when it came to climate change, when it came to tax policy. it was the kind of document that maybe was going to be the catalyst or the change agent to get progressives to go along with the bipartisan infrastructure bill on the floor that we expect to still happen today or at least that was the plan this morning. instead what you saw there was progressives saying it's not enough. they are willing to negotiate. they want to keep talk, but they want the bill to pass out of the senate, that big social safety net

let's bring in cnn's chief white house correspondent kaitlan collins.nd, kaitlan, president biden today seemed pretty confident that his proposed mandates will survive legal challenges from republicans. >> reporter: yeah, he did, jake. right away you saw several republican governors saying that they believe that this is overreach, that he has new measures that he wants to put in place are unconstitutional. but when the president was asked today about some of these threats from republican governors to sue over these new measures that the president wants to take to vaccinate more americans, he seemed to brush it off. >> have at it. look, i am so, um, disappointed that particularly some republican governors have been so cavalier with the health of these kids, so cavalier with the health of their communities. this is -- we're playing for real here. this isn't a game. >> reporter: the press secretary jen psaki said they were expecting a lot of the pushback that they got in response to what the president laid out yesterday, jake. but it's not clear how these

i'm here with chief white house correspondent kaitlan collins. >> again thank you for having me. >> it's great to have you back. >> and we have breaking news this morning, a seismic shift on abortion rights. as of this moment, roe versus wade essentially up ended at the stroke of midnight the most restrictive abortion law in the country went into effect in texas. it essentially bans all abortions after six weeks. six weeks before most women even know they are pregnant. now this law gives private citizens the right to sue doctors or anyone else connected to a woman getting an abortion for as much as $10,000. all they need to do is help. it could be a lyft driver to take a woman to a clinic who could be sued. the timing on this is once a fetal heart beat is detected. >> so this law is in effect for now because the supreme court didn't act on a request to block it. through their inaction, the justices left the tightest abortion restriction since roe versus wade to be enforced. and the landmark decision itself could now be in jeopardy. joining us to talk about all this is cnn chief legal ana

i mean, so, kaitlan, you heard manu say, right? i mean, president biden's agenda could completely collapse. i mean, that is what's at risk here. what is the thinking there? given this situation. >> yeah. the agenda is basically hanging in the balance at this point because you are seeing these progressives warring with the more moderate members of their party over what the next path here is going to look like. and so, the white house has been deferring to the house speaker when it comes to the process but i do think that they realize the very real consequences here. and of course, they are hoping that it works out. they are having these constant phone calls between staffers and lawmakers and lawmakers and their staff. and of course, even the president, himself, meeting with these lawmakers. he was supposed to speak to senator manchin today. we know, of course, that the white house staff went up to capitol hill to speak with senator sinema and her staff. and there is even a chance the president, himself, could go to capitol hill tomo

kaitlan collins is "outfront" at the white house. kaitlan, sounds like the president is relishing this fight with the gop. >> reporter: erin, he was certainly expecting it when he unveiled the measures yesterday. it didn't take long to see the governors pushing back and they knew it was coming. you're seeing the president call out republican governors as you said. he may not always say their name and po explicitly and that's part of the broader shift as he's growing increasingly more frustrated with these republican governors standing in the way of vaccinating more americans or encouraging more americans to get vaccinated but with the people yet to get vaccinated. yet describing it as a paifailu asking 80 million americans to do so. it is remaining to be seen how this will play out for private companies because it's still being drafted by the labor department and not officially unveiled yet. a lot of details are in flux how the enforcement is going to work, who is going to pay for the test ifs you're a worker at a company and choose

kaitlan collins, cnn, the white house. >> kaitlan, thank you so much.or three questions in three minutes. let's bring in the washington bureau chief. someone who knows about sausage making which is sadly what we need right now. jackie, let's start with infrastructure first, take it in pieces and go slow here. >> on infrastructure, it seemed like the plan all along from progressives was to have some sort of leverage here. that now seems to be slipping away if they go ahead with hard infrastructure before human infrastructure. bernie sanders weighing in here for a lot of progressives. listen to what he said. >> we have to pass the reconciliation bill. and my fear is that if the dual track agreement is broken and we only pass the infrastructure bill in the house, i suspect we will never get to reconciliation or that will be significantly watered down. the infrastructure bill is passed alone in the house, we lose whatever leverage we now have and that would be a big mistake. >> so, you heard him right there, leverage. how do they get out of this mess? >> th

so she needs to bring them on board and right now, she just does not have the votes. >> okay, so, kaitlan, president biden is meeting with those two key democratic senators, kyrsten sinema and joe manchin as we said. this isn't the first time he's spoken to them. is president biden now taking the lead in these negotiations? >> reporter: he is to a degree and that is when it comes to this topline number because as house speaker pelosi indicated to her caucus last night, it's president biden who is negotiating with them on what they want this topline number to look like and as of last night, there had not been an agreement on what that figure should be. we should note, senator manchin is here, just a few moments ago, jen psaki at the press secretary said when she came out of the briefing that senator manchin was still here and senator sinema was here meeting with president biden. she's just returned to the white house in the last few moments if it gives you a sense of just how ongoing these discussions are, but what the white house is not saying is whether or not they came to an agreement o

kaitlan, who did the president see and what was accomplished? >> reporter: anderson, it was the damage up close. keep in mind, this is his second trip to somewhere that was hit by ida in a week. last week it was louisiana. today he traveled seven or eight states up to the north and to the right to see new york and new jersey. it was devastating, anderson. it's really hard to overstate the level of damage that we saw especially when we got our start in the lost valley neighborhood of manville, new jersey this morning. there were stacks of debris, anderson, in every single yard. some of them were taller than i am. it was rotted dry wood, ruined furniture, children's toys that were covered in mud. i even at one point saw christmas ornaments littered across the ground. just every house that had been devastated by the flooding that they saw last week. in new jersey and some areas turned into fires and explosions. the president at one point was talking to one woman who we also spoke with as well when they came up to the reporters and the cameras who l

kaitlan, thanks a lot. -let let me bring in dr.een marty, professor of infectious disease at florida international university. and dr. lance van gundy, he works in an emergency room in iowa dealing with the surge in covid patients right now. good evening, to you both. and thank you for joining me. let me begin with you, dr. marty, because you advise the miami-dade schools on masks even in the face of florida governor, ron desantis, signing that executive order banning mask mandates at schools. and now, these reports that 15 people in the district -- teachers, staff members -- have died from covid in the last ten days. how concerned are you about where we are in this pandemic tonight? >> so, i am extremely concerned about what we have been experiencing. please, bear in mind that the people who are reported to have died acquired covid quite a few weeks ago. so it's not really reflective of exactly what's happening right now. that -- that's -- that's a really important thing to bear in mind. we -- we are getting a slight decrease in o

kaitlan collins, cnn, the white house. >>> some republican governors are vowing to fight back. greg abbott of texas denounced what he called an assault on private businesses and is vowing to halt what he calls a washington power governor. and tate reeves said that the president's move is unkons tougs al and terrifying. he added this is still america and we still believe in freedom from tyrants. and that was echoed by montana's governor who slammed the vaccine mandate at unlawful and unamerican and gross federal overreach. >>> attitudes towards vaccinations are frustrating health officials including dr. anthony fauci. here he is. >> i am frustrated and the reason is we do have the tools to end this. i mean, i've been in situations in public health situations where you didn't have the tools to end something that was devastating people with regard to illness and death. that is very frustrating. it is frustrating in a different way when you have the tools and you have the wherewithal to get to the end game of where you want to be, but you don't implement them. so, yes, i am i belie

cnn's kaitlan collins reports now, that includes the president getting his own covid booster shot onevision today. >> reporter: president biden getting one boost today while hoping to inject a different kind into his domestic agenda. >> victory is what's at stake. >> reporter: the president's proposals on the line as democrats race to solve feuds within their own party over the path forward for his multi-trillion-dollar plan. >> three things to do -- the debt ceiling, continuing resolution and the two pieces of legislation. if we do that, the country will be in great shape. >> reporter: biden noting the monumental challenge ahead of him and warning the timeline could slide even further. >> it may not be by the end of the week. >> reporter: house speaker nancy pelosi was already forced to delay a vote on the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill until thursday because she needs more time to ensure progressive democrats won't sink it. >> you know, i'll never bring a bill to the floor that doesn't have the votes. >> reporter: progressive house members want firm commitments from the

. >> c kaitlan, meanwhile, the other key moderate, kirsten sinema, wrapped up, i believe, her fourth meeting at the white house in the space of two days. what's coming out of these meetings? >> reporter: yeah, alisyn, this actu actually happened on the hill but you're right, it's the fourth meeting the white house has held with her, which speaks to the level of importance they're applying to these conve conversations. they know what she will support will come down to how a lot of this shakes out, in addition to senator manchin rejected what house speaker nancy pelosi has called for, to get that legislative agreement by tomorrow. that would obviously include a top line number. and that has been what president biden and his aides have been talking about, as they are negotiating with senator sinema, with senator manchin, two key moderate holdouts and house speaker nancy pelosi has indicated that biden is the one taking the leap when it comes to negotiating that top line number. so far, he has not convinced manchin or sinema to come out and say publicly what's the number they're going to

kaitlan collins joins me to talk about the president's trip to the memorial.morial is decades in the making, but i understand going there was very important to president biden and first lady biden. it is not the first time they've been there. >> it is not. it is somewhere we have seen president biden speak before, commemorating the 9/11 attacks, of course before he was actually the commander in chief, jake. when we talk to aides at the white house about what exactly his plan was for 9/11, how he was going to mark the 20th anniversary of the attacks, they talked about desire to go to all three of them. i think one thing that's clear, you're not hearing the president deliver a set of remarks today. the white house said because they wanted to let each of these events speak for themselves, let the moment and focus be on those lives that we lost and families of the victims today, so that's why you're not hearing from president biden himself today. he did record a video the white house released last night. in that video he tried to take it as a bigger picture of 9/1

now as cnn's kaitlan collins reports, the who us is going all in on biden's top domestic priorities atreporter: in moments president biden will return to washington where a series of health, economic, and legislative challenges are facing him. >> let's keep going. let's stick together. let's remember who we are. >> reporter: the u.s. military has left afghanistan, but the white house is still trying to get dozens of americans out of the country. >> we believe it's around a hundred. we're in touch with all of them. >> reporter: on top of that, the president is confronting a dramatic new rise in covid-19 infections. he'll give a major speech wednesday as several states are running out of icu beds. >> the thing to do right now is to pull out all the stops on everything we can do to prevent new infections. you're going to be in a situation where you're going to have to make some very tough choices. >> reporter: the surge is creating new uncertainty and causing biden's poll numbers to drop. 52% of people now approve of the way he's handling the pandemic, down 10% from 62% in june. the presi

people just hadn't even envisioned in their wildest imagination this would have happened. >> and kaitlanthink it is really significant that president biden who was then a senator 20 years ago has decided to visit all three locations, new york, shanksville, and he is going to wind up here at the pentagon, to commemorate this moment. >> yes, he is visiting all three, and it is interesting, who, what, and where was the president at that time, then senator biden actually spoke with the president that day because he was of course the chairman of the senate foreign relations committee on a train from wilmington to washington, his daily commute and on the phone with his wife, dr. jill biden, of course now the first lady, who told him that the second plane had hit. and he was on the train as that happened. he went to capitol hill, he was trying to get in the building, and what he recounted in his memoir, one of the first things that he wanted to do was get in there and make people think it is business as usual and he wanted people to feel that sense of calm in the wake of such dread and he said

. >> so, casey, that doesn't sound like the kind of trust that kaitlan was talking about there. do you think enough democrats will move in the next day to make this happen? >> my top line thought is here that democrats control government because joe manchin got elected in west virginia, and kyrsten sinema got elected in arizona. those are not easy things to do. democrats are staring down a midterm election where they're likely to lose the house and they face increasing challenges in the senate. this is their one and only shot. i think that's what the house speaker and the president are banking on here in setting up this situation where there is pressure on progressives to actually stand up and say, okay, we're going to do this, we are going to trust that there will be something big on the other side. now, that said, you know, moderates have not been willing and the conversation had been very much around what is the top line number of this bill, how much are we spending, that shifted a little bit in recent days and it has become more about, okay, how are we going to balance the p

kaitlan collins, cnn, the white house. >>> joining me now is jessica levinson, a professor of law at loyola law school and host of the "passing judgment" podcast. good to see you. i want to get your take on this. from a legal standpoint, where do you think this mandate is the most vulnerable? >> so i think the mandate actually is not vulnerable. i would actually like to start with that, by saying in terms of whether or not it's vulnerable, i think it stands on pretty strong grounds. where is it the most, i would use the word maybe not vulnerable but new, it's sweeping, we have never used osha, we have never used the power of the federal government, to mandate vaccines for this many people before. that doesn't mean that it's legally weak. it just means we've never seen osha, for instance, that was established 50 years ago, impose vaccine mandates to this extent. and it's new, but that doesn't mean it's illegal. >> who would have the standing then to challenge this? >> yeah, i think the most likely group would be employers, who would say look, you're reaching into my private business,

to kaitlan's point, there is a piece of moderate destruction.ssives are going to be unwilling to go along with that plan unless that $3.5 trillion -- or the human infrastructure package, the budget bill goes along with it. so what's going to happen now over the next two weeks, and it is a pretty tight time line, is going to be some intense behind-the-scenes negotiations between the moderates and the progressives to come to a place where all sides feel comfortable voting for both packages. now this is not going to be easy because they seem to be so far apart in that bottom-line number. joe manchin saying he's only going to be comfortable with something that he believes the government can pay for in the range of 1 to 1.5 trillion, whereas bernie sanders said $3.5 trillion is the base line. so we're going to have to see how this time line plays out over the next couple of weeks. >> all right, ryan nobles on capitol hill, thanks. >>> after the supreme court failed to block it, there's a new fight to stop the toughest abortion ban in the country. sta

let's start with cnn's kaitlan collins and the white house's latest calculations on how to get this all done. >> a last-minute attempt to salvage president biden's domestic agenda is now under way. >> we're obviously at a precarious and important time in these discussions. >> reporter: biden canceling a planned trip to chicago today as his top legislative aides headed for capitol hill to meet with a key democratic holdout. arizona senator kyrsten sinema. >> -- feel the progressives can trust manchin and sinema? >> i'm not going to speak for what they require to get the vote across the finish line. >> reporter: they have yet to say what price tag they'll get behind when it comes to the massive social policy and climate change package. frustrating their progressive colleagues. >> if someone won't show you their cards you don't know what you're doing. and that's the real problem. we need manchinema to do their jobs. >> reporter: without a firm commitment that moderates are a yes on both plans, progressive democrats are threatening to vote no on the separate infrastructure bill tomorrow. an

our chief white house correspondent, kaitlan collins, got details for us.et with key senators today at the white house once again. what's the hold-up right now? was there any progress made? >> well, wolf, clearly not enough, if the president is canceling this trip to chicago tomorrow, which was supposed to be a pretty brief trip on vaccines. but he clearly feels the need to stay here at the white house, as he is spearheading these negotiations, including, of course, the two meetings you noted that he had today with two moderate democratic senators who are really at the center of all of this. that is senator joe manchin and senator kyrsten sinema of arizona. and when manchin emerged from his meeting with the president that he said lasted about 90 minutes, he said he did not make any commitments to the president when it comes to the price tag of that much bigger reconciliation package. that's the one democrats are arguing over what exactly it's going to look like, given it's expected to be a massive package that has to deal with a social policy package that a

. >>> so let's begin with cnn chief white house correspondent kaitlan collins. of everything i've laid out, which is president biden's top priority? >> reporter: i think coronavirus is probably top of mind for the white house right now. we know president biden is going to give a major speech on that this week. also, alisyn, as you noted he has several things on his plate when he comes back to washington tonight following this holiday weekend. and tomorrow you will see the president go to new york and new jersey. both the states he has declared states of emergency and disaster declarations under way there right now in an effort to help with what we've been seeing on the ground. and a lot of this he is going to tie to what he did in louisiana touring the damage there which is, of course, climate change. and his domestic agenda, something that we know will be at the forefront when lawmakers are back here in washington. but, alisyn, it's not just that. he is still dealing with afghanistan, even though the u.s. military is long gone from there. there are still about

kaitlan? >> of course not, because it is something that has happened many times in the past. us this morning. >> right. >> so, georgia is now seeing more covid hospitalizations than at any time since the pandemic began with 6500 people in the hospital. >>> my next guest went to a political rally attended by congresswoman marjorie taylor greene to try to encourage people to get vaccinated. joining us now is dr. john cowan, a neurosurgeon, he lost the republican primary to taylor greene. thank you for being with us. you went to the political rally where marjorie greene was speaking to convince people, i think there was a mobile vaccination clinic there. how people did you get on board? >> good morning. thank you for having me. we didn't get anybody to take the vaccine that morning, but what we did do was put a positive spin on getting vaccinated. the folks who were there saw that leaders in the community had already got vaccinated. that the face of the vaccine was their neighbor, their relative, people who treated them in other circumstances. i operated on a lot of folks who we

kaitlan, we just learned about the president's booster shot the last couple of hours.

welcome to "inside politics," it kat kat katelyn kaitlan collins. >> we want to get the little texts in the womb who has a heartbeat to see their full potential. >> the texas law bans abortion after six weeks of now exceptions of rape or incest. private citizens can sue those who performs the procedure. plaintiffs can receive as $10,000 bounty. democrats are pushing back on the supreme court's decision but there is little they can do. >> the supreme court making a decision that it did and not only disrespected women but it disrespected the supreme court and its formal decision. one week back to washington, we'll be putting roe v. wade on the floor of the house. >> joining me now with their reporting is jackie from "the daily beast." joan, i want you to put this in perspective that we got in the supreme court this week. >> it was. i don't think we canover state how big this was. with the new court, we saw roe v. wade was definitely going to be diminished but we didn't think it was going to happen this fast. i did not think a majority of this course would want to be gained as much as i

i'm kaitlan collins in for jake tapper here on "the lead." our coverage continues right now though with wolf blitzer in "the situation room." >>> happening now, breaking news. president biden is getting an up-close look at the hurricane damage in louisiana and says he knows people are so, so frustrated. many are pleading for help as they struggle with the lack of power and fuel during sweltering heat. >>> also today, suffering in flooded parts of the northeast. the death toll climbing to 50 as the damage from the multiple tornados is revealed. >>> and america's jobs recovery hits a road block. the president says the delta variant is to blame for the very disappointing numbers. i'll ask the labor secretary marty walsh how the administration hopes to turn things around. >>> we want to welcome our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." ♪ this is cnn breaking news. >> first let's get the latest on president biden's tour of hurricane-ravaged louisiana. our senior white house corres

the ceremonies are under way, i want to discuss what's going on, i want to bring back dana bash and kaitlane last several month, the enormous pressure on president biden to release classified documents involving saudi arabia, 15 of the 19 hijackers were saudis, and there's a lot of concern, what's in that classified information, that the u.s. has decided all of these years to keep quiet? >> and today it is obviously about the family and that's is the first thing we have heard from them for years, to push for the declassification of the documents, they want to know about the saudi connection, they want to know what these classified documents say, and it's been something that has been, something brought up with every president since president bush, and remember in 2019 then attorney general bill barr did not move to declassify those documents saying they needed to stay classified to protect national security, that was something that stunned a lot of these families, and it was a campaign trail promise from president biden to move, he said he would err on the side of disclosure, when it came to

chief white house correspondent kaitlan collins back again.n you came up here. >> it's been a very, very busy week. >> eventful is one way to put it. look, these storms just devastating. this morning the death toll is rising after

let's go back to chief white house correspondent kaitlan collins with the details.l workers, this is for private businesses. >> reporter: this is separate from that executive order we were talking about earlier that is going to be basically a vaccine mandate. this is an emergency temporary rule we are expected to get in the coming of weeks from the department of labor, saying that all businesses that have 100 or more employees will have to ensure those employees are vaccinated or they will have to be tested once a week if they are not vaccinated. that is a significant rule coming out of the labor department and it is something the president is going to announce during this speech. this rule that we are expected to get in the coming weeks from the labor department, the white house estimates it could affect up to 80 million workers in the united states. that is incredibly significant and the fact this appears to be the way they have decided they can compel private companies to get their employees vaccinated. we know that is something they have struggled with. we know

. >>> welcome to "inside politics sunday" i'm kaitlan collins in for abby philips. an anniversary comes after america's longest war ended in afghanistan. yesterday the nation paused to reflect on 9/11 and remember when americans united in the face of tragedy. >> i saw millions of people instinctively grab for a neighbor's hand and rally to the cause of one another. that is the america i know. >> union is what makes us who we are. america at its best. to me that is the central lesson of september 11th. >> overnight the fbi declassified a 16-page documents regarding connections between the 9/11 hackers and the saudi government. some pretty big redactions and doesn't draw any definitive conclusions but does come after biden signed an executive order to make public for years what has been secret. the fbi work the alleged logistical support and a suspected saudi intelligent agent in l.a. provided to at least two of the hijackers. victims' families have pressured biden to release more information after previous have refused to do so. cnn's melanie zanona and cnn's jeff ze

the white house confirmed to kaitlan collins tonight that president biden hasn't gotten his booster evend got the second dose months ago. he's exactly in the category of people they said should be getting another shot so if you were advising the president, what would you tell him? >> if i were advising the president, i would have already boosted him. the data is pretty clear. over a period of about -- after about six months, the efficacy of these vaccines wanes and probably the group at biggest risk for an adverse outcome are the elderly. prior to vaccinations, that was the largest number of deaths were in the elderly but 80% of all deaths occurred in people in age 65 years old. the president fits into this category. we need to boost the elderly. israel is doing it and shown data that suggestions you can increase the efficacy against delta from where it is now about 40% after two shots to 86% in the elderly and really no time to waste. there is -- there needs to be more of a sense of urgency in getting the booster shots out to the highest risk people in this country and i believe the eld

. >> let's go to kaitlan collins "out front "tonight at the white house. good to viehave you. the biden administration taking heat from them. what is the administration saying. >> reporter: they say it's confusing because everyone has that september 20th date in their mind of when they got pfizer and moderna they're going to get a pooster booster shot potentially. the white house pushed back saying all along this relies on fda and cdc approval for this to actually go forward. still, it does stand people are raising questions about booster shots. some people are already hitting that eight-month mark so they are raising questions whether or not they need to be getting a booster shot, but of course, all of this will come down to the fda and the cdc making that decision, and right now what we are expecting according to sources inside administration is that pfizer will get the go ahead for the booster shot but it might be a it willlittle bit delay. that is something the white house is dealing with and that we'll likely hear from this week when we get a briefing from the covid-19 of

with me in studio dana bash and kaitlan collins. what will we hear from the president at a time of many parents this is it, this is past labor day now. everybody's back in school. if your kid is under the age of 12, cannot get a vaccine, you're wondering. the president is going to talk about schools and private companies and federal employees. we're going to get more on mandates and testing, specifically what new? you don't have a big speech like this if the current plan is working? >> right. the white house knows it's not working. it was not that long ago that president biden came out and talked about what this summer they were hoping was going to look like. he added caveats at the time but it still looks a lot different than what they had expected. they're billing the speech internally as a pretty big speech, substantive about what exactly they are hoping they can do to change this stalled vaccination rate we're seeing across the u.s. that is fuelling what we're seeing with the questions about hospitals. they're saying it's a six-

kaitlan? >> they're worried how to control because those are very big questions. dan simon, thank you very much. >>> and cnn's coverage continues right now. thank you for joining us this morning and letting me fill in. >> you'll be back. >> tomorrow. >>> very good wednesday morning to you. i'm jim sciutto. breaking overnight, what could be the beginning of the end for roe v. wade in this country. as of midnight last night, a new law in texas which bans all abortions six weeks after conception took effect in that state. this after the supreme court and a federal appeals court failed to take emergency requests from providers to stop it. many women do not even know they're pregnant until after six weeks. also, a disturbing detail, the new law would allow any private citizen in the country to su'a abortion providers or anyone who assists pregnant women in texas seeking an abortion. opponents argue the law immediately and catastrophically reduces abortion access in texas. all this as the supreme court is set to rule on another abortion case next month which could have

. >>> kaitlan collins, thank you for coming and playing this week. >> thanks for having me. it has been such a great morning. i've learned so much during the mornings that we've been here. and thanks to brianna for letting me sit in for her. >> we had an historic storm. no shortage of news. you were great. speaking of having you on, from the white house. >> yes, i'll be back in my perch. >> cnn's coverage continues right now with jim sciutto. >>> very good friday morning to you. i'm jim sciutto. the devastating aftermath of a storm, this morning at least 48 people across six states are confirmed dead. others are missing. this after the powerful remnants of hurricane ida just thrashed and flooded parts of the northeast. listen to this reality. many of those people who died drowned in their own homes, in their own cars. right now the threat from rising rivers is expected to continue throughout the weekend. in new york, officials rescued more than 500 people from flooded buildings, streets, even subway stations. in pennsylvania, massachusetts and new jersey, at least eight torn

first joining us now, kaitlan collins, cnn national politics reporter evan mccann and analyst casey huntdid overnight is very significant when you're talking about the bipartisan infrastructure bill, this $1.2 trillion plan passed and president biden's domestic agenda, it may be $3.5 trillion, it's probably going to be less than that. up until now, they said they had to be passed together. president biden promised that. nancy pelosi overnight said, you know what, no. not anymore. infrastructure is coming up for a vote on thursday. and we're going to separate the two. how significant it that and how does the white house view things on this this morning? >> it is incredibly significant. it is a major reversal of what pelosi and schumer and the president have been saying for the last several weeks. and so i think it came because there really was no other option when you look at what nancy pelosi was facing. and so she is someone who has known for her maneuvering. t the reality of the matter is they're not going to have that reconciliation pac

manu raju, kaitlan collins, thank you, come back to us as soon as anything breaks. we have a lot to discuss. >>> joining us now cnn chief political analyst, gloria borger, and david axelrod, host of "the ax files." i just want to start with you because this does kind of harken back to the obamacare vote and all of the hand wringing or you know, that led up to that, whether or not to go big and bold or go incremental, and i remember all of those debates, and you were so closely linked to all that. and so what's going to happen? i mean, this is the same type of thing. do you hold out for big and bold, or do you just take a bird in the hand with this bipartisan infrastructure bill? >> i'm told -- i remember when two trillion or a trillion and a half would be pretty big and bold. all of a sudden the biggest plans ever are not big and bold. i am very sympathetic to those who want to get as much as possible into this reck reconciliation bill. progressives see this as a once in a lifetime opportunity, and i think they are concerned about what happens after 2022 and whether

my colleague kaitlan collins said he spoke to senator manchin by phone. there's been a series of meetings over the last several days and they were expected to continue at least by phone over the course of the morning. one thing to keep in mind when it comes to how the president approaches this moment in time he has implicit trust in speaker please, and he's never going to go in a different direction than she's going. she's made very clear for the morning the direction she's heading and the white house is not going to verge from this point but they are also very clear about where things stand. >> keep us posted if things happen in the hour i hear. with me is politico's heather keagle and margaret tallos of axios and npr's asma hallett. capitol hill is your beat. let's listen to the speaker. first bringing a bill to the floor to keep the government knowing and then bring the infrastructure bill to the floor knowing members of her group will vote no. >> i think we're in a good place. we're making progress. i can't stay here too long because i have to deal wi

with me to share reporting and insights on this remarkable hearing, cnn's dana bash, kaitlan collins, olivia national and jessica chambers, a lot to unravel and a lot of policy and a lot of substance and disagreement. remarkable public candor about the inner decision-makings at the pentagon and a lot of politics. the generals repeatedly testified that they recommended 2,500 troops stay in afghanistan. they thought that was the best way for the situation. some said maybe as many as 35 up. senator tom cotton of arkansas made reference to an interview with george stephanopoulos where the president said no, no one said to me that i can recall about keeping troops. no one said that to me that i can recall. the republicans are saying the president lied to the american people. >> and two of them testified they recommended keeping 2,500 troops there. what i imagine the white house would point to is that caveat, that i can recall. however, i don't think that's going to be a solid defense is why would you not be able to recall something that's so critical advice over how you're conducting this