good mornings, everyone. welcome to cnn this morning. sunday, february 11th. also known as the super bowl sunday. >> indeed. >> i'm amara walker. >> i'm victor blackwell. cnn exclusive this morning about the riff that is growing between the president and the arab american community over the u.s. stance on a cease-fire in gaza. community members have postponed a meeting between the vice president, kamala harris, and some leaders there. this comes after a meeting last week between senior administration officials and community leaders in deerborn, michigan. some say they walked away unsatisfied. i spoke with one of those leaders who attended the meeting. this was yesterday on "first of all." >> we were very clear that we are committed to the same message we have been talking about for the last 124 days so we are here and we were

consistent with our message. it was a very frank discussion. we did not mince words and we made it clear to the biden administration that unless we saw policy change, there would not be any follow-up discussions as a result of the meeting we had this week. >> joining us now is white house reporter camiladechalis. tell us about the reason for putting off this meeting with the vice president? >> well, they said there was a multitude of reasons. one of the biggest reasons was they were concerned about the backlash they would receive and also that they did not want to be perceived as speaking for the arab american and muslim communities. cancellation comes after senior white house officials met with michigan leaders in the arab american and muslim community there. it really signals how there's still this high tension between

the biden administration and arab american and muslim leaders that feel frustrated by how the white house is not fully supporting a permanent cease-fire in gaza at this point in time. victor, amara. >> what is the biden administration doing to try to mend the relationship? >> reporter: well, i think one of the biggest things that they've just made clear is the fact that they know that they are open to having open dialogue and communications with arab american and muslim leaders throughout the country. they have expressed interest that they are interested in holding more conversations and conducting these type of meetings. now i've even spoken to several arab american and muslim voters across the country and they say they are not satisfied with how the biden administration is handling the israel and hamas conflict and the leaders they're calling to meet with have also said while they're meeting with the biden administration and open to having these conversations, they're also

going to be pushing for them to be supporting a permanent cease-fire. >> camila dechalus, thank you very much. the rhetoric is ramping up. the white house released a memo saturday citing various instances of people describing president biden sharp and alert as republicans are piling on to a special counsel report calling his age and mental acuity into question. donald trump tore into biden's handling of classified documents in south carolina saturday. >> said he was a disaster mentally. he willfully stole gigantic numbers of classified documents, willful. but because of his condition mentally -- is this guy going to make it to the starting gate, seriously? >> nikki haley handed out mental

competency competency tests in south carolina. we have more. >> reporter: amara and victor, donald trump set foot in south carolina on saturday for the first time this year and he delivered a clear message to his supporters, which is that south carolina is his to lose. donald trump and his team have increasingly saw this state as a place where they would deliver the final blow to nikki haley's campaign and that's in part because of his continued success in the polls. he's consistently had an overwhelming lead over nikki haley in recent months but also because of the intensity they've seen in the ground. on saturday i can tell you the venue was packed. they had many people who were not able to get in because it hit capacity very early on. i think that just gives you a sense of how they're viewing the energy from his supporters in the palmetto state. despite that confidence from donald trump and his team, trump still ramped up his criticism of nikki haley on saturday. he even went so far as to

question the absence of her husband on the trail. take a listen. >> where's her husband? oh, he's away. he's away. what happened to her husband? what happened to her husband? where is he? he's gone. >> reporter: now victor and amara, i want to be very clear, michael haley, nikki haley's husband is deployed in africa. the that's why you have not seen him appear alongside her on the trail. it's also worth pointing out that melania trump, the former first lady, has not been appearing or any of his court appearances thus far. we really only saw her when she appeared alongside her husband when he launched his white house bid in 2022. look, donald trump did not just go after nikki haley, he also really tested out some of his general election rhetoric against president joe biden that included attacking his protection of the southern border and ramping up his decision not to charge biden

over the handling of the documents while questioning biden's mental fitness. alina trine, south carolina. >> both haleys responded to trump's comments about his absence. michael haley posted a meme on x that said the difference between humans and animals, animals would never allow the dumbest ones to lead the pack. you can see a wolf there in the background of that tweet. nikki haley had this to say. >> if you mock the service of a combat veteran, you don't deserve a driver's license, let alone being president of the united states. >> also on the campaign trail, former president trump celebrated the failure of the bipartisan border security deal in the senate while in south carolina saturday. >> we also had another massive victory that every conservative should celebrate. we crushed crooked joe biden's

disastrous open borders bill. crushed it. >> and it may take another bill as well. the senate is working through the weekend to craft the foreign aid bill but trump has signaled he will oppose that one, too. >> joining us now is cnn's senior congressional correspondent manu raju. great to see you. good morning. >> good morning. >> we saw trump taking credit for sinking the bipartisan bill and now he's taking aim at the foreign aid bill. we have seen how powerful or how much control he has over republicans in congress. does that mean that this bill stands a chance at all? >> well, there will be an interesting bill. the senate will pass this. it is 9 the $5 billion. it includes aid to ukraine, aid to israel and taiwan. it does not have new border policy measures because you're right, donald trump effectively tanked it. he urged republicans to kill it. senate republicans killed it

because they said they would not pick it up. now this does not have any border policy measures. this aid package is moving through. essentially it's going to pass by the middle of this week and put this bill in the lap of the speaker of the house mike johnson who has not said how he would deal with this. they are confronting their own divisions. last week we saw them miscalculating the votes on the house floor. they expect to have the votes later this week. that has caused a number of finger pointing in the ranks including over the former speaker of the house, kevin mccarthy. he's no longer a member of congress and that impacted their vote total. you saw a back and forth play out over house republicans over the last several days. >> it's really unfortunate that kevin mccarthy quit. >> you kicked him out first. >> no, no, i kicked him out of the speakership. i didn't kick him out of congress. >> there are 434 other people

who are willing to do the job of congressman without being the speaker. kevin mccarthy was the only one who said if he couldn't be speaker, he was going to leave. if kevin mccarthy had been here, that would have been helpful in the vote on the mayorkas impeachment. if george santos -- >> how much this has to do with kicking out mccarthy to begin with? >> it wasn't helpful, put it that way. that was not a -- not a good day for congress and it wasn't a good day for the country either. >> and the narrowness of the new majority under speaker of the house kevin -- mike johnson is what's caused so many issues for him, including in trying to pass any legislation. but do expect this effort to impeach mayorkas to happen again on tuesday. they'll get one more vote when the house majority leader, steve scalise, who's recovering from cancer will turn. that's why they plan to push it through by the slimmest of margins to make him the second cabinet secretary in history to be impeached. >> what about the fallout that

continues over the special counsel's report about biden's memory? how are democrats responding to it? >> well, some are defending him very aggressively. some are side stepping the question altogether. a number of vulnerable democrats that we have spoken to have made it clear, amara, that they have no desire to get into this topic knowing how complicated this could be for them politically, but there's a debate among democrats about how aggressively to target special counsel. you're seeing the white house go against it. >> there's a difference between reality and perception. trump is elderly. close to 0. he has had his gaffes of his own. biden is facing a perception problem. tell us about what's on tap for "inside politics sunday," manu. >> reporter: we have new reporting coming out. eight republicans are voting for his ouster. they are facing blow backs.

primary challenges, donors. we could dive deeper into that dynamic. we also look into the senate republican leader, mitch mcconnell and some blow back he is getting as he is supporting the emergency foreign aid package that has caused him some blow back among members on the far right of his own conference though senate republicans did have a very good week last week in their effort to try to take back the majority. lastly, i also speak to the embattled senator robert menendez facing corruption charges. it's been recently revealed a confidential informant taped his conversations and that he responds to those revelations as well later this morning. >> all right. a lot to look forward to. manu raju, thank you. you can catch much more with with manu later this morning. "inside politics sunday" begins at 11 right here on cnn. super bowl sunday. finally here. live look at allegiant stadium in las vegas where thousands of fans will watch the kansas city

chiefs play the san francisco 49ers coming up later today. the chiefs fourth super bowl appearance in five seasons. a win today could cement their status as a football dynasty. for the 49ers tonight, it's a chance to redeem themselves after losing to the chiefs in the super bowl liv in 2020. with thousands more people packing the stadium and so many more in vegas for the big game, security is understandably increased here. cnn's josh campbell has more on the efforts to keep everybody safe. >> reporter: victor and a.m. -- a.m. ma remember, they have a massive deployment of law enforcement officers. physical scanners for anyone going inside the stadium. there will be explosive detection canines and sensors that sniff the air for any type of chemical, biological or nuclear type of threat.

that's all happening on the ground. in the air there will be a temporary flight restriction instituted about an hour before takeoff. that will be enforced by military fighter jets. one area of particular concern for law enforcement pertains to drones. drone technology is very cheap to obtain. there are a number of ways bad actors could cause harm by using drones. they have brought in counter drone technology. impressive technology. it allows officers to electronically take control of a drone, drop it out of a sky or move it away from a populated area. authorities point out anyone caught flying a drone near the stadium faces potential prosecution as well as over $30,000 worth of fines. law enforcement says they haven't identified any specific threat that gives them concern but they say they will be ready. >> there is no known specific or credible threats to the game or any of the events surrounding super bowl. as always, you'll see an increased security presence, not only around the stadium on game day but also around all of our

other events. >> we have fbi personnel stationed in our own emergency operations center and every other command post-op perfect rating throughout the las vegas valley. we are monitoring and sharing anything that indicates a potential threat. >> now, guys, the work of law enforcement and they have to get all of these people home. every security screening checkpoint will be open for a period of 48 hours. of course we know that not everyone leaves las vegas leaves a winner. especially for the crestfallen fans on the losing team, tsa making their exit a little bit smoother. >> josh campbell with the report for us. thanks so much. still ahead, a stark warning in the middle east. saudi arabia vows very serious repercussions for israel if it storms the city of rafa. we'll go out to the region. plus, democrats slam the

biden special counsel report as politically motivated. it's what some democrats have said about the special counsel in the past that is raising eyebrows. are you someone that watches the big game for the commercials? big companies are spending a lot of money this year. ahead, a preview of the star-studded ads that are costing millions.

after israel declared its intentions to launch a ground offensive, qatar rebuked prime minister benjamin netanyahu's plans. they appealed calling for intervention to avert what they deem as a potential genocide. >> saudi arabia and the uae voiced concerns about the potential israeli military operation.

cnn's jeremy diamond is in tel aviv tracking all of this. the what are you learning? >> amid widespread international concern, they're doubling down on the plans vowing to carry out the next israeli military ground offensive in that southernmost city of rafah where 1.4 million palestinians are currently estimated to be living. that's more than half of gaza's population living typically where 300,000 actually reside. the israeli prime minister saying hamas is ensconced in that city, that it is hamas's last bastian and that the only way to achieve what he has described as total victory over hamas would be to carry out a military offensive there. at the same time owe is vowing israel will provide, quote, safe passage in the city of rafah to

move further north. where exactly is not clear. here's the israeli prime minister when asked that question. >> the areas that we've cleared north of rafah, plenty of areas there. we are working out a detailed plan to do so. that's what we've done until now. we're not cavalier about this. this is part of our war effort to get civilians out of harm's way. >> reporter: but with so much widespread damage in most parts of gaza, in particular north of rafah, it's very hard to imagine what conditions those 1.4 million people would be living in, where exactly they would be moved and the fact that the israeli military has been preparing and considering a potential military offensive in rafah and does not have a clear plan of what it would be doing with civilians is raising enormous concerns. the united states saying they had as of late last week had not seen evidence of serious planning for the civilian population in rafah saying it

would be a disaster if a military operation would be carried out there without that serious planning, multiple arab countries, including qatar and saudi arabia warning of an imminent humanitarian disaster, warning of very serious repercussions should israel move forward with this operation. a hamas spokesman telling alaxa tv that a military offensive would amount to, quote, the destruction of negotiations that have been ongoing or a potential cease-fire and the release of israeli hostages from gaza. those negotiations are very much still ongoing with a major summit expected in cairo on tuesday. of course, the question is whether or not such a deal could forestall, could prevent such a military offensive, at least for the 1.4 million people in rafah, that's certainly the hope. >> jeremy diamond in tel aviv. thank you. still ahead, democrats are

slamming special counsel robert hur's report. they initially cheered his appointment not too long ago. we'll talk about what changed.

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.

democratic leaders are railing against the special counsel. robert hur found that while the president did mishandle top secret files, he did not pursue charges because he said a jury would look at the president as an elderly man with a poor memory. democrats are calling robert hur's report gratuitous and politically motivated. joining me is michael zeldin and leah wright ragour. welcome to both of you. leah, let me start with you. these democrats who are criticizing him now were lauding him just a few years ago. i'll start here with senators from maryland, chris van holland and ben carten when he left the u.s. attorney's office in maryland said rob upheld the

finest traditions of the office and the u.s. department of justice and faithfully followed the facts and the law. congressman raskin just last year said he was a trustworthy lawyer who will get to the bottom of it. the here's raskin now. >> if i were the president, i'd be very frustrated too because most of that report was just a partisan hit job completely editorializing about the president. remember, the special counsel's role is just to determine whether or not there's proper cause to go forward with prosecution and he said that no criminal charges were indicated and there should be no prosecution. that should have been the end of it. >> tune change. is this inconvenient contradiction or what else do you see here? >> i actually think it's a reflection of how democrats went into the appointment of hur from the very beginning, which is that if you notice the larger context of those earlier comments, which were, you know,

effusive and many, they were within the context of praising hur for being a bipartisan choice. so there was a lot of emphasis on hur being a very good lawyer who also happened to be a republican and also happened to be a die hard trumper or part of the maga world. and this is something that democrats tend to do over and over again, particularly in cases like this. they really emphasize the bipartisan nature of say in this case investigations as a way of saying, look, we're impartial. we're above it all. when they go low, we go high, that kind of thing. so now the chickens are coming home to roost. the same person that you praised because you're trying to praise this kind of bipartisan framework has come out and said, you know, all of these things that you're now trying to recategorize and reclassify as partisan. it's all of those problems that come from being, i think, overly generous and trying to appear nonpartisan in the beginning that are now taking root and now democrats have to scramble and

figure out how do they undermine the very thing that they once praised. >> i will point out the republicans in 2016 loved jim comey when he was so critical of then secretary clinton but then when he released the documents -- they didn't love him when he didn't charge her and then loved him when he talked about the emails before the election. michael zeldin, let me come to you here. just the concerns of what is revealed in this report. and of course there are concerns among democrats about the lapses of memory and calling him an elderly man with a poor memory. if it it's all true, right, that the president did not remember when his son died, if the president could not remember when he was vice president, don't we want to know that? are we -- should we want to know that these challenges are happening? we are so critical of

republicans from the trump administration when they hold secrets about trump and save them for their books. should we be happy that we now have this in this report if it's true? >> not in the context of a special counsel's report. in the context of an election where people are out on the stump talking and being interviewed by reporters about politics, absolutely. in the context of a special counsel report, special counsel is supposed to make determinations about whether or not laws are violated. i was a special counsel. i investigated george herbert walker bush. our report said we found no basis for criminal responsibility. hur did the same. he said, we find no charges would be warranted. the biggest problem is this one sentence that said were we to charge him, even though no charges were warranted, he would likely present himself to the jury as an elderly nice guy with a bad memory. hur has no idea how biden would present himself to a jury so

he's offering speculation and on the basis of that speculation he's concluding that charges aren't warranted. that's not what his job is. his job is to say did he willfully possess? did he willfully distribute? can i obtain a conviction and sustain that conviction? if i can't, then the case is done. we don't need him to editorialize about the mind of a prospective juror when he has no basis to offer that observation. >> leah, is this a wash? when we talk about age and mental acuity. president biden, former president trump, they would both be octagenarians. we've seen mistakes come from the former president as well. is one any better or worse for the candidate or the country over the other? >> let me explain why this moment is actually incredibly troubling. the problem isn't necessarily is

biden's memory good, is donald trump's memory good, are they too old or something like that. the problem is it's reinforcing pre-existing stereotypes that people held about the current president and that they don't hold about donald trump. we've seen in the past the way in which dwsh the way in which reports like this can actually reinforce people's pre-existing be beliefs. people thought hillary clinton was too elderly, too sick and she fell in this interesting moment and it exploded, right? people took that to heart. also, the comey report which was released before the 2016 election. these things had influence on the report. so i think here why it matters is because people have pre-existing views about joe biden and his age and so hur is calling into that and buying into that. the so the best thing that can actually happen right now is for somebody like joe biden to

combat those stereotypes and those rumors through his actual appearance. he's already started to do that trying to show that he is actually more together than this report would say. it also matters, i think, for him to make the argument -- for him to make an argument about what he is capable of doing in terms of wisdom and experience. it's the same thing that trump has tried to do and it's really the same thing democrats should do in order for him to be back on track. >> michael, let me ask you about the releasing of the transcripts of the interview with the president. the house oversight committee is demanding the special counsel's office release those. the white house has said that it's not off the table. just from a legal perspective, not politically here, on the law, on precedent, on doj norms do you think it should be released? >> well, if it contains classified information, then it can't really be released. >> redacting that. >> hur was asking biden -- if biden was being asked let's talk about this document or this

process and it's classified, then they can't release the documents. if it's not classified information, if it's just the process, then perhaps that's up to the justice department to determine whether they want to release that stuff. they did release a lot of interviews in january 6th and otherwise what mulligan did a lot of interviews, didn't release them. victor, the problem that we have is that the special counsel has initiated this conversation and that's not what he should have done. this should have been initiated on the campaign trail. we saw this, you know, leah says about democrats, i don't know, but it was true with republicans as well. when muller said in his report if i could have said that the president, talking about trump, didn't commit a crime, i would have said so. now there was outrage by republicans. muller was beloved by republicans. he issued this equivocal

statement that if he didn't commit a crime i would have said so but i can't say so. essentially accusing him of committing a crime but not saying so. that was terrible. republicans properly criticized them. democrats are proper to criticize hur for this gratuitous statement about what is in the mind of a perspective juror, we're now in this conversation about what does joe biden need to do to talk about his mental acuity because a special prosecutor has been raising these issues. that's not what he should have done. that was his mistake. >> michael, leah, thank you both. we'll be right back.

six people have died in a helicopter crash in california's mohave dessert this weekend. they include herbert wigway, his wife and their eldest son. nigeria's access bank has confirmed the death and an official described them. officials say the former chair of the nigerian stock exchange was killed and access bank has been a long-time sponsor for several shows on cnn. the reward for information leading to the arrest of a suspect in tennessee stands at $100,000. the blunt county sheriff's office is looking forward to tracking down kenneth dehar. kenneth mcgowan was shot and killed. a second deputy was injured after returning fire.

dehar's brother was arrested. he's accused of helping the suspect after the shooting. he's being held on a $1 million bond. mike gallagher of wisconsin says he will not seek re-election days after he refused to impeach alejandro mayorkas. he is facing fierce criticism and is the latest republican to announce an exit from congress. house speaker mike johnson had hoped to oust mayorkas to punish the biden administration over the handling of the migrant crisis at the border. up next, some people watch the super bowl for the game, others watch for the commercials. we will be watching for the halftime show, i have to say. we will preview one of the biggest days in sports and entertainment. tune in on tuesday, cnn will have live coverage on the election to replace former congressman george santos. will the slim republican majority shrink even further in the house? how will this shape november's

election. it starts at 8 p.m. tuesday night eastern on cnn.

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.

if you are making guacamole, there is great news when it comes to stocking up on those avocados. >> they are usually so expensive. thanks to good weather and no interference from cartels, gustavo valdez has more. >> slice, diceed or smashed, any spgs way you cut it, the avocado has become a staple of the diet and every year an essential snack at super bowl parties. most of this creamy fruit satisfying the cravings of football fans in the u.s. comes from trees like this in southern mexico. the main producer of avocados.

it hits $2.8 billion in 2021. they say they want to make as much money as they can so they work as long as they are allowed. 12 hour shifts in this warehouse. >> translator: we see a 25 to 30% increase says edgar. he says the add voe kad does must arrive in the state for distribution about two weeks before the event to ensure they are ripe in time for kickoff. this year there was a jump in demand for avocados in the u.s. but that doesn't mean that fans will be paying more for the guacamole. >> he explains the weather cooperated for the current bumper crop which will keep prices down and they also avoided problems with the drug cartels that operate in the

region. in 2022 the united states temporarily suspended imports of avocado from mexico after a usda inspector working in the avocado warehouses received a threatening phone call. reduced weather is fueling demand for the fruit and the industry is ready to meet the demand because the mexican government expanded the region. he says for super bowl weekend mexico sends 100,000 metric tons of avocados ensuring that regardless of the colors on the field during the super bowl there will be green in your party bowl. gust gustavo valdez, atlanta. more than 110 million people are expected to watch the super bowl tonight and of course the halftime show with r&b superstar usher. ♪ ♪

>> and it's not just the halftime show or taylor swift in attendance that's driving the ratings, many are excited about the commercials. ♪ ♪ >> is that jason mamoa? >> that was jason mamoa. >> oh, wow. >> that was that grab. so the whole thing about that -- >> yeah. entertainment reporter. jason mamoa does something to me where i can't even focus. lisa france is here. back to jason mamoa. >> please and thank you. >> yeah. so the whole thing is a t-mobile home internet commercial and they're playing off of flash

dance. at the end of that you see jennifer biel, the star. that's why they pulled zach brad's shirt down to give a little off the shoulder. she suggests next time jason mamoa should do the skit with his shirt off. yes, please. yes, please. >> t-mobile has an ad as well that's getting a lot of attention. let's play a little of that. was that the t-mobile ad? >> that was the t-mobile ad. >> let's play the uber eats ad. >> sir david and i are going to be in a little commercial. >> be honest. >> i am. >> be honest. >> okay. it's a big commercial. >> tell them what it's doing. >> david, i'm trying. >> okay. it's during the big baseball game. >> super big baseball game. >> or was it the hockey bowl? >> hockey. hockey bowl. >> i love it. >> that's obviously reference to the documentary. >> right.

where he kept telling her to be honest about what she was talking about. be honest, victor, you wanted us to show that t-mobile ad again. >> i mean, if there's an opportunity. >> but uber eats is genius to do that because so many people were talking about it. that became a memeed moment and they -- for uber eats they have jennifer aniston and jason schwimmer. when you remember something, you forget something. she forgets they worked together for ten years. it's pretty cute. it's a pretty cute ad. >> what's the other one elf. meghan markle? >> that's the thing. they wanted to see her because it involved some of the "suits" actors. it's pretty funny. i love it. >> his boss was overspending on money. >> she's wasting company funds on over priced funds. >> there you have judge judy, of course, in beauty court. those are some of the stars of

"suits." people want to see meghan markle back with her "suits" co-stars, people were like, yes, maybe meghan markle is going to be there. the but gina torres was there looking flawless in that makeup. >> we absolutely want to see usher. >> absolutely. >> halftime show. what is on the set list. what do you think? >> so there's a lot of debate. people on social media, everybody has their theories. reportedly he's gotten them to give him two additional minutes. instead of 13, it's going to be 15. i want to see everybody and all of the things, that's the other thing people are hotly debating. who's going to show up as his special guest. he's had so many special collaborators. alicia keys was seen. people want beyonce because they did love in the clubs. justin bieber. he has to do yeah. >> i would love to see caught up, if he can do that. lisa france, thanks so much. >> thank you. >> we'll be right back.

king charles has appeared in public for the first time since his cancer diagnosis. he attended church this morning aside queen camilla. >> buckingham palace announced monday the 75-year-old royal will be stepping back from public duties while he undergoes treatment for an undisclosed type of cancer. thank you so much for joining us this morning. >> "state of the union" is next. have a great super bowl sunday.