>> live in the cnn newsroom.

i am jim acosta. palestinians say they have nowhere to go after israeli prime minister directed the israeli military to evacuate the population of the last major city not occupied by the idf, calling it the last bastion of hamas as the cities under siege after a series of israeli airstrikes have reportedly killed dozens, including three hamas militants . the u.s. intelligence -- joe biden lashing out against merrick garland after a searing special counsel report called him an elderly man with a poor memory. joe biden is telling advisors that merrick garland did not do enough to rein in the report. in south carolina, getting personal between donald trump and nikki haley, despite his widely in the polls for the primary, donald trump is taking shots at nikki haley, mocking her for being absent while he is employed, her husband mocking her for having absent

while he is deployed. i have a little bit of a cold. let me take a quick sip of tea. it is a saturday evening, i think that is okay. i needed that tea 30 seconds ago. donald trump said, michael is serving our country, something you know nothing about. continually disrespecting the sacrifices of military families, has no business in commander-in-chief. donald trump has mocked people serving their country in uniform. what you make of this? >> part of the strangeness of the republican primary. that language from nikki haley is in line with much tougher criticism she is offering of him on a variety of fronts. that simply was not there in

all of 2023 when she had the forum of republican debates in the state of iowa and new hampshire, the early stages of the race when immediate attention was most intense. she was not criticizing donald trump anywhere near the terms she is across the board. it is not just her. general john kelly, who served as the chief of staff of donald trump, and the department of homeland security, that donald trump is confirmed in statements that he referred to military service members as losers and suckers. is john kelly going to go on camera and discuss that rather than issue a statement? donald trump has had this -- guard of defenders in conservative media , but the republicans inside the gop coalition who have reservations about his conduct and behavior and inclinations have not been telling their voters, sharing those concerns with their voters in an

unvarnished way. >> will donald trump pay a price for this? >> i think it depends, a lot of it is baked in, he already is paying a price. a president in joe biden whose approval rating is stuck at 40% but the two of them are in a dead heat, joe biden runs further ahead of his approval rating than presidents are typically able to do. we saw that in 2022. but the real question is, whether those senior officials in a donald trump administration , like general kelly, bill barr, john bolton, are they going to go out in a more visible way and share their concerns with the public. they believe donald trump is not fit to be president. the question of whether they will be willing to say that in a highly public way will answer

your question of how much cost there is for him. >> earlier today, donald trump was taking credit for taking the bipartisan border deal. let's listen to that. >> this week, we also had another massive victory and every conservative should celebrate. we crushed cricket joe biden's disastrous open borders bill. micah johnson did a good job and the group did a great job in congress and we crushed it. we saved america from another horrific joe biden the trail. >> in the previous hour, i tried to press a congressman, tim burchett come on this, he would not accept that donald trump pressured the republicans into killing us. he did not want to go there. but isn't that the case? >> sure. this is a trump party. you know, it is important to

look, not only at donald trump's action but what the alternative is. because of the way the republican primary has played out, and the narrative i was talking about, it has been little debate about donald trump's agenda for a second term . he has put forward a much more specific agenda compared to what he ran on in 2016 or 2020, and one of the areas most militant and specific, are his plans on immigration. he has said on friday night, at the nra, within moments, within moments of taking office, he would begin a mass deportation program. stephen miller has put out extraordinary detail about how they will do this with large-scale raids in major cities, moving people to internment camps in texas and removing them from the country in constant flights. i talked to a former i.c.e.

members who said what to hundred 50,000 law enforcement was more people to run the camps . one of the ways they're talking about doing this, openly and explicitly, requisitioning national guard troops from red states and sending them into blue states whose governors will not cooperate. you talk about the national guard from texas or arkansas going into the west side of chicago, potentially, to deport people. think about how that may play out in practice. could you imagine scenes of federal law enforcement and national guards from out-of- state in conflict with local police that are defending a church where migrants have rushed for safety? the question of what a second donald trump term would mean, across the board, has not been engaged by anyone, including joe biden and certainly not by the other republicans. it is an open question, how much a part of the debate will

that be between now and november. >> the senate had an unusual weekend session this weekend to try to pass the ukraine, israel , and taiwan. will donald trump take that deal as well? this afternoon in south carolina , he was saying to russia, go ahead and invade nato countries if that is what you want to do, if these nato countries are not putting enough money into nato. he will not defend them. he says, as president, if they are attacked by russia. you juxtapose that, speaking with the daughter of ronald reagan, the late president, that is not ronald reagan's republican party. >> no, trump does not have to take the steellike direct intervention, because so many republican senators have moved in that direction. there may be 10 willing to move this forward in the remnants of the ronald reagan party that saw the u.s. standing up

against aggression, russian aggression, as a central part of the gop identity. you know, this is part of what i was saying, we are not really at a point where there has been much discussion or debate about what a donald trump second term would mean. he says he would settle the ukraine war within 24 hours. most people understand that to mean he would force ukraine to accept russian control over a significant part of the country by threatening to cut off aid. i think that is one of many critics in the republican party in vision. it is one of many. we could talk about tariffs. we could talk about using the insurrection act, to send federal forces into blue cities to fight crime, or roundup the homeless, there is a broad array of issues on which he has laid out a very specific agenda that has not been addressed

much yet in the context of this presidential race. >> there have been other things in the news over the last several days and i am glad that you are highlighting the issues because that is where voters will be looking to try to parse out where they will stand when it comes down to these two choices coming up in november. thank you very much. coming up, donald trump's lawyers in front of the supreme court trying to keep him on the ballot in colorado in a scathing special counsel report for joe biden and donald trump on keeping confidential documents. the white house team was reportedly scrambling to do damage control. we will talk about that next. you are live in the cnn newsroom.

merrick garland is facing fresh scrutiny from his boss

after receiving special counsel report called joe biden an elderly man with a poor memory. joe biden reportedly telling advisors that merrick garland did not do enough to rein in the report. joining me now on all the legal limits, so many, let me start with the first, your sense of that special counsel report by robert hur , obviously, the big headline is, they will not prosecute the president for classified documents. but to include this mention of, hur's assessment of the mental fitness of joe biden, is that out of bounds? >> it is out of bounds, he is not a doctor and joe biden is right to be angry with merrick garland because the special counsel still reports to the attorney general and merrick garland had a chance to, not

just rein in the conclusions of the report, but that language is not proper, out of the norm in the justice department. eric holder is opining and when i worked for the attorney general, i worked on independent counsel investigation and that is not the language you put in there, you stick to the facts, his opening should have been the summary, that they look at evidence and they found there was insufficient evidence to find the crime. >> what do you think? >> there is this weird thing that democrats do, they think that, if they appoint republicans to investigate them , they will somehow get credit for it. it never happens. barack obama appointed jim comay head of the fbi and jim comey sabotaged the campaign of hillary clinton for president. merrick garland appoints someone who was a trump appointee to investigate president biden.

he does what the evidence demands, which is, this not be a criminal case, but at the same time, he inflicts political damage on president biden. i don't know why merrick garland come out of all the lawyers in the united states, had to choose this one. but this is what happens when you appoint people who have political agendas against your boss, to investigate your boss. >> there is this question of, something you and i discussed, for some time now, the pace with which merrick garland, the justice department, the special counsel's office, brought forward these cases against donald trump. a lot of this i think is frustrating president biden. are we starting to see a merrick garland legacy take shape?

has enough time past for you to offer your own judgment as to what happened with merrick garland's time as attorney general? >> unfortunately for merrick garland, people's perception will shape his legacy, whether he took too long on the donald trump issues, whether he made a big mistake by appointing these republicans to do the investigation, including the hunter biden investigation. merrick garland has done a lot to try to repair the justice department and has succeeded. there is movement on the civil rights section, he brought back to normalcy, no one will criticize him for being partisan. the problem is, in meeting so far backwards, it has become a partisan problem which has hurt his legacy. >> but that is exactly what republicans have done. they have called him a partisan. over and over again.

donald trump calls him a partisan. he says the justice department is westernized against him, not true, but it shows that merrick garland had this naove belief that, if he acted to bend over in a nonpartisan way, he will get some kind of credit for it. he has no credit for it from donald trump. and he has jeopardized the political standing of his boss by appointing a republican. this mythology that you get credit from republicans by being nonpartisan. they were going to attack him no matter what and that is what they have done. >> earlier today, donald trump was complaining about the fact that joe biden was not charged in the classified documents matter pertaining to him, while he was. you can bend over backwards all you want, at the end of the day, it may not satisfy the most partisan of partisans, but

in the special counsel report, it lays out this is why joe biden was not charged and it makes mention of, this is why donald trump was charged. >> it does do that very plainly. i have some qualms about why he did it that way. it gives donald trump a roadmap to say, he did this, i did that, -- >> was that a good thing to include backs >> i do think it was a good thing to include because there are such profound differences will between -- between what donald trump and what joe biden did, for people who are not familiar with it , when joe biden's people discovered there was classified information in his office where he worked, after his presidency, they called in the archives, they cooperated, they turned over everything, they behaved entirely appropriately. donald trump did not return a multitude of classified

information and, when he was asked to return it and subpoenaed to return it, he not only didn't return it, but he obstructed justice and told people to lie about the nature of the storage of the classified information. that has been charged against him in florida. the differences between the two , on the question of criminal intent, are enormous. >> i am sure we will continue to talk about this in the days ahead. i don't think the controversy over this special counsel report has died down. great to see both of you tonight and thank you for your time. coming up, joe biden says israel's campaign in gaza has been over-the-top as the idf is prepared to back with more than 1 million people from the city of rafa.

you can make money the hard way as a bullfighter or a human cannonball... or save money the easy way, with xfinity mobile. existing customers can get a free line of our most popular unlimited plan for a year! not only will you save hundreds but you'll also be joining millions who have connected to america's most reliable 5g network. sure is a lot safer than becoming a stuntman for money.

get a free line of unlimited intro for a year when you buy one unlimited line. plus, get the new samsung galaxy s24 on us.

president biden delivered his sharpest rebuke over israel's military campaign in gaza. >> the conduct of the response in gaza , in the gaza strip , has been over-the-top. there are a lot of innocent people starting, innocent people in trouble, dying. it has got to stop. >> these comments as the israeli military prepares to evacuate civilians in the southern city of rafah force next read operation with one! -- 1.3 million people taking shelter there. colonel cedrick lang, what do you make of this evacuation operation? is that feasible? can you put it in the context of what joe biden said the other day ? for all the talk of

joe biden mixing of egypt and mexico, everything he said at the news conference, one of the most significant things he said, this has been over-the- top. what the israelis have been doing in gaza. >> absolutely . that clearly showed that joe biden was in command of that situation because, what he is seeing, this is a divergence from his normal comments on israel. what he is saying, what the israelis have done is not in concert with u.s. policy, not in concert with international law, and not in concert with proper military procedures. the idea of eating able to evacuate 1.3 million people, civilians out of an area that is very small into somewhere else where we don't know where that is, strikes me as completely unrealistic. >> this is where they have been moved to in many cases.

>> exactly. most come from northern or central gaza , basically the original population of rafah was 152,000 people. now they have 1.3 million people and approaching nine times the size of the original population of that town. the egyptians are not going to open the border because they don't want these palestinians to become a permanent part of their population which they fear will happen if historical precedent is on their side. you look at where these people may go. the only thing the israelis can do is move them back to areas they had originally come from. the israeli military, the idf, is still conducting operations in those areas and it is not safe for them in central or northern gaza. there is no place for these people to go unless they move them into israel which i don't see happen . >> officials in gaza say one dozen officials were killed in rafah by an israeli strike and

israel says they killed two hamas militants. talk about how much longer do the israelis need to prosecute this campaign in this fashion to achieve their military objectives? from your point of view, and how is that going to impact these civilians moving forward? can you make an assessment from where you are sitting that maybe they have about achieve as much as they are going to achieve and not a lot left to do ? that the military standpoint of, going into these areas, bombing and doing his house to house operations they are doing. >> one of the things we talked about earlier in this military campaign, the idea they have run out of targets from an air perspective on the ground, it is a little bit different. the israelis have leveled 85% of gaza, severely damaged or destroyed 85% of buildings, level them completely. in an area with 2.3 million

people living there. when you look at that effort, there is really not much more of a military perspective that they can achieve the one thing they are lacking is the actual capture or killing of the supreme leaders of hamas that are in gaza . that would be their ultimate goal. you do that kind of a mission with special operations forces, with strikes like we did in iraq against the hezbollah. that is the kind of thing that should be done. but this is not what the israelis are doing. they are taking a sledgehammer to a flight and that is a problem. >> thank you. for many children living in ukraine, every day is full of uncertainty, going to school are filled with moments of terror as children are suddenly rushed into bomb shelters. we have a glimpse of that.

>> reporter: extra special braids is what the six-year-old wants for school. simply going to school is special here. it is dangerous. so dangerous they had to move classes underground. for many children, this is the reality of the school day, they go down into the subway, because everyone else in the city is not safe. the city built classrooms, they call it the metro school. how are you this morning? >> i am fine. how are you? >> reporter: we will not hear anything, she says, what, i ask, the bangs. bangs happen nearly every day, the russian army shelling the city, killing and wounded hundreds since the beginning of the invasion. but down here, children can be children. the classrooms are soundproof. locking out not just the noise

of a white that is still running but also the thunder of the war that has already affected these youngsters so much. on my birthday, for some reason, a war broke out, she tells me. february 24th, 2022, all she wanted was to celebrate her fifth birthday. but russian troops were storming the city. i would say -- reporting on the russian side of the border, i saw the invasion firsthand. on the receiving end, instead of the birthday party, she and her friends had to go to the bomb shelter. i even started crying, she tells me, i thought it would be the end. they try not to talk much about the war in the subway school but the children coming back now have been scarred for life, the teacher says. they have the look of adults who have already experienced hardship. experiencing the hard

days and months of the war. there are no regular functioning schools in the city. either the subway or online classes. the city does not believe that will change anytime soon as they are building bunkers because children here would not even have enough time to get to an air raid shelter, the mayor tells me. the s 300 missiles reach the city in about 35 to 40 seconds and no air alarm can work and the only way out is to build such underground facilities. back at the subway school, every day, a minute of silence for those killed by the war against ukraine. but the kids sing the national anthem, showing the russians and their leader, no matter how

many missiles they fire, ukraine is growing stronger in the future brighter every day. coming up, who will replace george santos, voters go to the polls on tuesday and we will break down the numbers. counting down to the super bowl, we go live to las vegas next. stay with us. you are live in the cnn newsroom.

it may not be as consequential as the presidential race, but new yorkers are biting their nails over who will replace george santos. democrat tom suozzi against republican mazi pilip . it has been a better race and considered a tossup. joining us to run the numbers are our senior political data reporter. how is this race

shaping up? >> reporter: as someone who watches and listens to new york television, how many ads are they putting on tv? i am sick of it already. take a look at this poll that came out from siena college late this week. tom suozzi with a small , tiny advantage over mazi pilip. a four point advantage . this is a district that is a swing district, joe biden won by eight points in 2020, but in the midterms, the republican candidate for the house, george santos, won by eight. the gubernatorial candidate, he won by 12, the republican. the republican senate candidate won by four. a district has swung back and forth between democrats and republicans, and a lot of people are looking to the seat, giving you some medication where the political winds are going at this point with tom suozzi limited -- leading and

limited polling did it but i don't have to tell you that a four point lead, especially in a special election with a potential snowstorm on tuesday which could impact election day turnout, not something i would necessarily take to the bank. at this point, it is a race too close to call but, if you had a slight bit of pressure on one side of the scale, it would be on the democrats. >> this will go back to get out the vote, they will have to do the work. a lot of democrats say even as the polls look rough for the president, democrats do better when looking at actual voters like in this third congressional district in new york. what are using to support that? >> reporter: exactly right, in the off year elections in 2023, democrats did pretty well, winning the kentucky gubernatorial race and control of the house of delegates in virginia, holding on to the virginia state senate. if you look at the polling data into

2024, donald trump versus joe biden, registered voter polls, donald trump winning in most of them, in a new york times poll, but look in on the likely voters or those certain to vote , you see all of a sudden joe biden doing better and that matches what we see in the special elections for the off year elections where the democrats do better. new york 3 is emblematic of what we are seeing in the polling nationally, democrats doing better when you look at the people who will actually turn out and vote, instead of the wider universe of registered voters. traditionally speaking, democrats do better when turnout is higher but that may not be the case going into 2024 as it may be republicans who do better when turnout is higher and, if the turnout is smaller, given we have two candidates not very well-liked, that may be the case and maybe joe biden does better than you expect

looking at the registered voter polls . >> let's talk about the super bowl. i am not a huge gambler when it comes to betting on sports. what are the fun bets? what are the numbers? 49ers are favored? i would take that bet, i think that chiefs will win. >> i was talking with your executive producer and talking with my girlfriend's sister, they like the prop bets. what are these? let's say we want to bet on whether a player cries during the national anthem, how many beers are sold, who will the super bowl mvp thank first? mother, brother, god? >> taylor swift? >> exactly. a fun way to get involved with

the game if you are not a big nfl fan. >> what prop bets will you be making? can we ask mark xp mac how about gatorade back -- can we ask? >> how about gatorade? >> very good. i like the classic green gatorade. do they still have that? >> yes i will get you one. >> just don't dump it on my head. thanks. our sports correspondent is there ahead of the showdown. sorry for the tomfoolery, i know you have been waiting. what is the vibe 24 hours

before kickoff? am i crazy to take the chiefs? >> we are at the fanatics blue carpet, the most star-studded event of the entire weekend. we have been speaking to superstar athletes and celebrities, getting their predictions, a lot of people are choosing the chiefs. the ceo of fanatics chose the 49ers. patrick mahomes in his fourth super bowl in justice sixth season as the starter. only 20 years old, if you can get number three, could he catch tom brady at seven? >> i have only won two super bowls. people in front of me before i get close to tom. be your best every game, i try

to play my best football and hopefully it is good enough to win a third super bowl. i just have to be the best me i can every day, and next year, and at the end of my career i can say i am close to tom a. >> reporter: taylor swift wrapped up her tokyo concert series earlier, coming this way, one person anxious to meet her is the big diesel, shaq who walked by and i caught up with him in his annual super bowl extravaganza. he says he has one goal at the super bowl, meet taylor. >> i have always been a travis kelce fan, would love to meet taylor swift. never met her. congratulations to both teams, a chance to play for a championship, i did that six time, won four. i am a cowboys fan.

>> has taylor swift been good luck for the chiefs? >> yes, they are in the super bowl, aren't they? looking forward to shaking her hand. >> we will wait and see if that happens you went through all those numbers with harry, i got one, 16 of 19 super bowl winners have been wearing white jerseys. 49ers are wearing white, but four years ago, that chiefs were wearing red, they won. >> that is amazing. you are speaking to a superstitious god about sports, if i wear the same redskins were commanders hat, i will wear it every sunday and hope those vibes -- crazy. there is a lot to that.

andy, thank you. have fun. we will be right back.

two leading candidates for senate. two very different visions for california. steve garvey, the leading republican, is too conservative for california. he voted for trump twice and supported republicans for years,

including far right conservatives. adam schiff, the leading democrat, defended democracy against trump and the insurrectionists. he helped build affordable housing, lower drug costs, and bring good jobs back home. the choice is clear. i'm adam schiff, and i approve this message. growing up, my parents wanted me to become a doctor or an engineer. those are good careers! but i chose a different path. first, as mayor and then in the legislature. i enshrined abortion rights in our california constitution. in the face of trump, i strengthened hate crime laws and lowered the costs for the middle class. now i'm running to bring the fight to congress. you were always stubborn. and on that note, i'm evan low, and i approve this message.

mcdonald's is acknowledging it's time to put affordability back on the menu and more options need to be added. its stock took a hit after the giant reported a recent drop in visits by its key customers. people who make $45,000 a year or less and many are complaining. >> is $3 worth of food, this for reference is a potato, which you can get four to five pounds of these for $3. >> supposed to be dollar menu, bu budget friendly. when did y'all get uppity? i need y'all to take it back down. >> na tthaniel, you do notice t prices have gone up. it's not just mcdonald's. t it's a bunch of these places and

you have to think that people who depend on places like mcdonald's for an affordable option, they're really taking a major hit. >> they are, jim. you think about fast food restaurants. they're supposed to be cheap. but it's not anymore. mcdonald's prices this year have increased 10% and that's a higher rate than we're seeing at supermarkets and restaurants. so, mcdonald's is really facing trouble. people are not eating there as much. instead, they're buying groceries and eating at home. and so this is a real burden for mcdonald's and they're going to have to find some different ways to adapt to this. the customer called out $3 hash browns. we've heard of an $18 big mac meal. yes, it kind of causes outrage on social media, but it impacts mcdonald's brand. >> yeah, $3 for hash browns. come on. that is totally crazy and out of control. how is mcdonald's reponsponding? >> the ceo acknowledged this

week they have some affordability concerns among customers so what we're going to start to see them do is they're going to be adding more items to their dollar menu. it used to be just a dollar. now it's $1, $2 and $3 items. so more hash browns, chicken mcnuggets. and this a common tactic among restaurants and grocery stores to add more discounts. not necessarily to lower the prices but to just bring back more of the discounts. so we're not necessarily going to see the price of a big mac meal drop or some of these other meals but more discounts and specials particularly on the dollar menu. >> yeah. that's what you see when you go to some of these chains. those combos. there was a time when you would think oh, the combo, i'm saving money here. it's a combo. i'm not going to name drop again, but some of these chain, those combos are pretty darn

expensive. $8, $9, 10, 11 bucks for a combo. any sign these prices might tick down? >> this got us thinking. what are the other things that were supposed to be cheap but inflation has killed. one that comes to mind is dollar stores. there's no such thing as a dollar store anymore. now it's, 1.25 stores. dollar tree. this couple of years ago, they increased their prices to 1.25. what about the $1 pizza special especially here in new york? you can't find a dollar pizza anymore. it's just about impossible. so, yes, inflation has hit a lot of the things that are supposed to be cheap, but there still a few things it hasn't. the costco 1.50 soda hot dog combo. that's a big deal.

two buck chuck at trader joe's. that's also been killed. planet fitness' $10 a month monthly membership. that hasn't changed in 30 years and of course, the 99 cent arizona ice tea still going for 99 cents. >> do not touch that $1.50 costco hot dog. over my dead body. do not do that. it's great stuff. thanks a lot. still ahead, nikki haley says say it to my face. hear her response moments ago. former president trump's attaattacks on her husband. her husband is serving overseas. we'll show you some of these comments in a few minutes. stay with us. you're live in the c"cnn newsroom."

growing up, my parents wanted me to become a doctor or an engineer. those are good careers! but i chose a different path. first, as mayor and then in the legislature. i enshrined abortion rights in our california constitution. in the face of trump, i strengthened hate crime laws and lowered the costs for the middle class. now i'm running to bring the fight to congress. you were always stubborn. and on that note, i'm evan low, and i approve this message. two leading candidates for senate. two very different visions for california. steve garvey, the leading republican, is too conservative for california. he voted for trump twice and supported republicans for years, including far right conservatives. adam schiff, the leading democrat,

defended democracy against trump and the insurrectionists. he helped build affordable housing, lower drug costs, and bring good jobs back home. the choice is clear. i'm adam schiff, and i approve this message. you are live in the "cnn newsroom." i'm jim acosta in washington. tonight, it is getting personal between donald trump and nikki haley two weeks before south carolina's republican primary. the former president is taking personal shots at haley rather