Ago. In his message, saying america will stand with you until freedom and democracy are restored. Were going to go live to caracas in just a moment, but were also keeping an eye on the white house right now. As President Trump is meeting as we speak with the Top Democrats in congress. Meeting to try and come together to do something about the nations aging and crumbling infrastructure. But crumbling and lets be honest, beyond repair, could also be the perfect way to describe the current relationship between these leaders. Can they strike a deal . If their previous sitdowns on any indication, it will not be easy. Kaitlan collins is at the white house following all this for us. What are you hearing about this meeting between the president and Democratic Leaders . Well, kate, we know its under way right now. We saw nancy pelosi and Chuck Schumer arrive at the white house not too long ago, and now the question is, can they agree on anything related to infrastructure . Right now, the president is in there meeting with several democrats, not just the two leaders of the party but also several other members as well. There were no republicans invited to todays meeting. Of course, infrastructure is something that has actually had bipartisan support. We have seen lawmakers from both sides of the aisle want to come together on this. The question is whether or not compromise is going to be hard for them because not only have they not agreed on infrastructure, but right now, they cant agree on disaster aid or Prescription Drug prices or anything of the like. Of course, this is going to foreshadow whether or not they can get anything done in the next 18 months. Kate, the obvious backdrop here is all the oversight requests coming from democrats right now that the white house and the Administration Overall have been fighting aggressively. We have seen it escalate in recent weeks, not only with lawsuits filed by the president , by his children against some of the records questioning some of the demands wanting the president s financial records, so the question is whether or not thats going to come up in this meeting and cause sparks to fly. One person in that meeting is richard neal, who has been going after the president s tax returns, wanting them from the irs to be handed over. Thats a deadline that the treasury has missed twice now, and right now, the treasury secretary says its still something he is reviewing. So whether or not that comes up in the meeting is still an open question because, kate, you cant ignore the last time that President Trump, Chuck Schumer, and nancy pelosi were all in the room together was when President Trump walked out of the meeting during the Government Shutdown negotiations, and then the meeting right before that where they brought the cameras in and you saw this aggressive back and forth between the three of them that was just simply stunning. The question right now is whether or not thats going to happen today or whether or not theyre actually going to be able to make some substantive progress on infrastructure. Yeah, i think that last bit is a very big question. Regardless, you know, with so many folks, even if cameras arent allowed in, with so many folks in the room, well be hearing about it on the way out. Great to see you. Thank you so much. Well keep an eye there. I want to head to venezuela where an attempted coup is under way as we speak. Opposition leader juan guaido declaring early this morning that the beginning, declaring this morning the beginning of the final phase of operation freedom. That is how hes putting it against the longtime president , Nicolas Maduro. A tense situation developing as we speak. There are reports of gunfire on the ground. You see guaido there in the middle of it. Im joined now by cnns chief international correspondent, Clarissa Ward, shes been watching all this. The protest has been going on for a long time. This is different. What is different, though . Kate, this is absolutely different. And i think we first knew and understood that it was different when we saw this video that guaido released at dawn this morning, where he was standing alongside opposition activist lopez. Hes been under house arrest for some time, so the fact that he was released gave an indication that at least certain elements of the military have defected to support guaido, that they actually took part in releasing lopez. And then we have now seen also at this air force base National Guardsmen wearing blue arm bands in support of guaido. The question really, though, is, kate, as guaido calls on people to take to the streets, to support his movement, to topple maduro, and call specifically on the military and different elements and the senior echelons of the military, which has staunchly supported maduro in the past to defect, has it reached a Tipping Point . As a Critical Mass been reached . At this stage, we simply dont know. What were seeing and hearing on the ground clearly an intense situation. Escalating. Reports of live fire from our own cnn team on the ground. Tear gas being lobbed at the protesters. Tear gas, kate, we have seen that in the course of many of these protests, but live ammunition, thats not something we have seen before. Meanwhile, president maduro showing no signs of backing down. He has been busy on twitter saying nerves of steel. We are still in control. This coup attempt will not succeed, and we will win. The u. S. , of course, throwing its lot firmly behind guaido and his supporters. Urging the military to join that movement, but the real question, i think, kate, becomes did the u. S. Know that this was going to happen . Could guaido have attempted something this bold without having their approval or at least tacit knowledge of it, kate. Thats a very interesting and important question, clarissa. Sure to be one of many as we have been watching this play out in real time right now on the streets of caracas. Clarissa, stick with me. I want to go to the ground. We have been trying to reconnect. It can always be tough in these kind of chaotic situations. I believe we have reconnected with stefano who is joining me by phone. Can you hear me . Yes, i can hear you loud and clear. And im speaking to you from alt omeara square, the center of an area of caracas. Here is where hundreds of supporters of juan guaido had been gathered since the early hours of today to show their support for the Opposition Leader. And to demand yet again the end of the rule of Nicolas Maduro. Here is where a few minutes ago, juan guaido himself took the stage and spoke, saying that it has been heard loud and clear, and speaking where members of the armed forces, members of the National Guard, and this is a key Significant Development of today. The first time we have seen members of the military, active members here in caracas saying that they recognize juan guaidos leadership and they are rea ready for Nicolas Maduro to step down. You had heard, you have seen shots being fired on the streets. Do we know where it was coming from . Who was doing the shooting . Yes, we witnessed live shots being fired just a few feet from us. These were the result of an exchange between members of the military who have joined the side of juan cueto aquai guide also of Nicolas Maduro. Its here in the heart of caracas, and there has been tension since the early hours of today. Molotov cocktails and tear gas have been fired by the two different sides. Some members of the military defected and joined the side with juan guaido. That caused an armed altercation. We heard live shots. We witnessed live shots being fired just a few meters from us. There were shots fired on both sides. Can you give me a sense as youre on the ground and were watching it from all the cameras we can, just what is the feeling there at the moment . I mean, among people that are around you. Is there determination, tension, fear . Whats the sense youre getting right now in the middle of all this . There is definitely tension, but there is also a lot of expectations and also a lot of enthusiasm because for months, the opposition supporters of the antimaduro have wanting guido to show he has support. Finally, it seems to be happening right now here in caracas. Something different from themany marches that were seen so far here. So theres a lot of excitement around, a lot of nerve as well because we have yet to see how many military members have joined the side of guaido. Exactly. What is the level of support amongst the military leadership and on down . Thats going to be im just watching these pictures and trying to figure out whats happening. What exactly is the level of support from the military leadership as this continues in the coming hours. Its going to be obviously critical in how this plays out. Maduro obviously says they have this on lockdown. Maduros foreign minister just responded to the Trump Administration saying the Trump Administration needs to be quote unquote hands off venezuela. We can see this is not calming down. This is only, only growing in tension right now. Thank you so much. Please be safe. Well check back in with you as things develop. Doing amazing work. As we continue to watch the pictures coming out of caracas and what is really an uncertain situation playing out. Joining me right now is cnn Global Affairs analyst, contributor to the daily beast, kim dozier, and david sanger, from the new york times, and also a Cnn National Security analyst. David, as stefano and clarissa were mentioning, members of military leadership are standing with and supporting juan guido. If the military is split, some supporting one side, some supporting the other, what does this mean in what were seeing today . Its all a question of where the momentum is. Thats very difficult to tell from this distance, kate. Juan guiaido has one shot in th timing of doing this, and he clearly made a judgment that enough of the military would break away. But we have seen misjudgments made before in other circumstances. For example, what happened in turkey two and a half years ago when we saw an uprising where we thought the military was breaking away and it turned out most of the mil ended up staying with the government. So in this case, the issue is what made juan guaido believe this was the moment. I think clarissa got right at the central point, which was did he have coordination or help or guidance from the u. S. Or intelligence from the u. S. . Is there some kind of a plan to get maduro out of the country, similar to what happened in the philippines so many decades ago, so that this could actually proceed. That actually has been a question on my mind as well. What was the Tipping Point . Why now . And kim, guaido earlier today said, well, just moments ago said this about it all. Our determination is and always will be the way we have been doing it. Peacefully and in accordance with our constitution. But honestly, are there any guarantees this is going to be peaceful . No guarantees whatsoever. It really does come down to who do the venezuelan generals fear most . Another crackdown by maduro, the past crackdowns have killed ranks and ranks of senior officers. Or have they received some sort of assurances from the united states, from others, that if they take this action, they wont be prosecuted, they will be part of the new administration, whatever that administration is. Now, when you saw the defection of the Venezuelan Defense attac attache, thats what you heard about from venezuelan officers to the opposition, to u. S. Officials, trying to determine which way to split when this day came. Now, what theyre probably hoping to see is a large number of venezuelans on the street so that they can say, look, we have no choice. We have to go with the mass of the venezuelan people. So far, while the pictures are pretty dramatic, we havent seen mobilizations as big as in the past. So then david, what do you think maduros move is here . Well, maduro has clearly tried to make sure his military leadership is together and with him. And can put this down. But he also understands the risk that there are already more than 50 countries that have backed guaido. If he does this too violently thats no small thing. Dozens and dozens of country. Thats right, 50 countries is a lot. Its not quite as much as what the Trump Administration was hoping for when they backed guaido. At this point, guaidos two biggest backers are russia, which has sent in maduros im sorry, maduros biggest backer is russia, and of course, cuba, which has been very active. So its not clear to us right now that the presence by the russians or the cubans is enough to actually make a difference for maduro at this point. And so guaido may think his moment comes, but kim has it right. If you dont see the size of protests and people on the street that we saw just a few weeks ago, then this may not be the right moment. And if you dont see the military break, its certainly not the right moment. Were watching this play out in real time. And where the momentum is is going to depend on how many people we see on the streets of venezuela that were looking at right here in the coming hours. We just honestly, this is one of those moments, you know guaido and maduro as well are keeping their eyes on the pictures on the streets. Thats this entire story right now. Thank you guys very much. I really appreciate it. Well keep our eye close on this throughout the hour. And the day. Coming up for us, though, still, are we seeing getting to 2020 politics, are we seeing a biden bounce . Yes, its early. We know. A snapshot in time. We know. The former Vice President surging in a new poll. The first since he declared his candidacy. Well bring you the first look at the new state of play in the 2020 democratic field. Thats next. Plus, President Trump is proposing sweeping new changes for Asylum Seekers. What does this mean for the crisis at the border . Here i g goin down the only road ive ever known like a drifter i was born to walk alone keep goin man you got it if you ride, you get it. Here i go again geico motorcycle. 15 minutes could save you 15 or more. Tired of constantly battling lingering smells in your home, like pet, shoe, and body odors . For longlasting, continuous freshness, try febreze plug. Febreze plug provides 1200 hours of freshness, with a unique dual Chamber Design that alternates between harmonized scents for a continuous renewal of fragrance. Plus, febreze plug is formulated with odorclear technology, which cleans away odors instead of just masking them. For freshness youll notice week after week, try febreze plug. If you have a garden you know, weeds are lowdown little scoundrels. With roundup sure shot wand you dont need to stoop to their level. Draw the line. The sure shot wand extends with a protective shield to pinpoint those pesky bedfellows. It lets you kill whats bad right down to the root while comfortably guarding the good. Draw the line with the roundup sure shot wand. Roundup brand. Trusted for over 40 years. It is the First Complete look at where the democratic field stands right now. And joe biden is looking good. The new cnn poll, the 1st conducted entirely after biden jumped into the race, shows that the former Vice President is the clear frontrunner. 39 of democrats or democratic leading independents say biden is their choice, their top choice for the nomination. An 11point jump from a month ago, and more than 20 points ahead of his nearest competitor, senator Bernie Sanders. Where is that bump coming from . Today, biden kicks off a twoday trip to iowa. Thats where we find cnns jeff date i left my heart in cedar rapids zeleny. Biden is starting the day on top. What are you hearing . No question joe biden is coming into iowa in a different position than he ever has been during his virtually three decades on and off of running for president , as the frontrunner. But think back to 1988, he didnt even make it to the iowa caucuses. In 2008, he dropped out the day after the iowa caucuses. So much has changed. A, democrats are looking for a strong candidate to defeat President Trump. Joe biden says he is that candidate. Hes coming in with the glow of a frontrunner. Hes coming in with the air of someone who can immediately sort of command control of this race. Now, he has to prove that all of this speculation is actually real. Kate, one thing that is clear in that poll is that even though 36 of voters nationally say they will definitely support their candidate, about 6 in 10 say they are still open to changing their minds. That, of course, is the challenge for joe biden. To show voters why he is the candidate to defeat President Trump. But he certainly does not have the endorsement of barack obama, his partner in the white house for eight years. But listen to a Campaign Video that biden Team Released this morning. This is an extraordinary man. With an extraordinary career in public service. Somebody who has devoted his entire professional life to service to this country. The best part is hes nowhere close to finished. Thats not an official endorsement, but boy, it sounds like the support from president obama and aides to president obama say theyre aware hes using his voice and image and they have no problem with that, but president obama is watching this race from the sideline. Kate, the question is, can joe biden win the big one on his own . It all starts today here in cedar rapids. Yes, can he get past iowa . Can he get further than he has in the last two attempts . Well find out. Great to see you, jeff. Joining me now, cnn politics reporter and editor at large, chris cillizza, its great to see you guys. Chris, lets start on the polls. Polls are a snapshot in time. Its early in the race, but this poll tells you at least at this moment what voters are interested in. What stands out to you . Polls are a snapshot in time, youre right, but you would rather be at 39 if youre joe biden than 28 where he was a month ago. You have to be happy if youre biden or a biden supporter. Ill note, if you dig a little into that poll, whats fascinating is that bidens lead is largely predicated on his lead among nonwhite voters. Hes at 39 to sanders 15 . Hes at 50 among nonwhite voters. Remember, as barack obama proved in 2008, nonwhite voters in democratic primaries make up an absolutely huge influential chunk. Yes, iowa and new hampshire, where jeff is in iowa today, very white state in terms of its democratic primary vote, same ing new hampshire, but south carolina, the third voting state, hugely influential. The black population has a huge role to play there. I think biden has to be happy because it suggests that the twitter Democratic Party is not the Democratic Party. What . That is the biggest breaking news of all time. Put the breaking news s cir up. Thats something his candidacy is premised on, and our poll suggests theres real facts to back up that. Other questions in the poll that grab my attention and others was the question on who do voters want to hear more about. I thought that was fascinating. Kamala harris leading in that. They want to hear more about kamala harris. 23 said that. And the quality that matters the most right now to who they eventually will support is essentially electability or who can beat donald trump. And that was at 46 . What should other democrats who are running take from those two points that were looking at right there . I think they really need to emphasize the kind of candidate they will be against donald trump and to the former Vice President s credit, hes done that essentially from day one. Hes done what no other candidate really had done, used his launch video to make that direct contrast with the president. You see every single day since the Vice President announced, President Trump has talked frequently about him. I mean, yesterday, again, he tweeted about biden. He tweeted about pittsburgh and how its doing better under his presidency. Keeps calling him sleepy joe. Clearly, trump thinks biden is at least a formidable candidate. Perhaps hes afraid about his electoral strength, particularly in the blue wall states that the president was able to win over democrats from in 2016. I think what democrats are going to increasingly do now, and youre already seeing this with candidates such as senator sanders and senator warren is creating that contrast with biden. I think that, i mean, this is a democratic primary that does at least for now want to be fought mostly on ideas and policies. So youre not going to hear them yet go after biden for, for example, how he handled anita hill, but youre hearing these very sharp jabs about the kinds of policies that the Vice President has supported in the past. I thought Bernie Sanders interview last night on cnn was particularly striking in that he kept saying over and over, look, biden supported nafta. I opposed nafta. He supported the Transpacific Partnership under the obama administration. I opposed that because im on the side of workers. I think thats a contrast youre going to hear from more and more candidates in the coming weeks and months. Ill add quickly i want to play that because you are absolutely right. A really important moment that happened for this democratic primary last night when sanders was on with anderson and ripped the bandaid off, taking the frontrunner on directly. But let me play this for our viewers. I think when people take a look at my record versus Vice President bidens record, i helped lead the fight against nafta. He voted for nafta. I helped lead the fight against pncr with china. He voted for it. I strongly opposed the Transpacific Partnership. He supported it. I voted against the war in iraq. He voted for it. So you know what i thought when i heard that, chris . I heard that was a lot of the argument that Bernie Sanders was making against Hillary Clinton in 2016. Its going to be the argument that and a lot of it worked, candidly. Its against the establishment democrat, which is look, you say all these things because you know the party is where it is now, but i, Bernie Sanders, have been voting and doing these things for my entire life. Thats the argument. I will say, you used the word before the clip, you said attacking the frontrunner. Thats important to note because Bernie Sanders is going after joe biden because of where its an acknowledgment of where joe biden is right now. If Bernie Sanders didnt think joe biden was the frontrunner, he probably doesnt attack him, and he doesnt attack him as directly. Biden is in a place hes never been before, clear, if not favorite, definitely the clear frontrunner right now, which means youre going to take a ton of incoming. And also another good reminder, chris, exactly to your point. When politicians and candidates say they dont listen to polls or look at the polls, theyre not telling the truth. Ridiculous. Youre ridiculous. Good to see you guys. Thank you. I had to do it. Coming up for us, charging people for attempting to flee violence in their home countries. Thats part of President Trumps new plan for Asylum Seekers. Just as his new acting Homeland Security secretary is on the hill right now facing tough questions on this, and i mean, you can imagine, a slew of other topics. Well get to that. An incompleteb from any one else. Why accept it from your allergy pills . Flonase sensimist relieves all your worst symptoms, including nasal congestion, which most pills dont. And all from a gentle mist you can barely feel. Flonase sensimist. You can barely feel. Pardon the interruption but this is big now at tmobile buy any Samsung Galaxy s10 and get a galaxy s10e free their medicare options. E people go to learn about before theyre on medicare. Come on in. Youre turning 65 soon . Yep. And youre retiring at 67 . Thats the plan well, youve come to the right place. Its also a great time to learn about an aarp Medicare Supplement insurance plan, insured by Unitedhealthcare Insurance Company. Heres why. Medicare part b doesnt pay for everything. Only about 80 of your medical costs. This part is up to you. 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Text titlex to 22422 President Trump overnight proposing sweeping changes to immigration policy, specifically rules in terms of requesting asylum in the united states. This comes as the new acting secretary of Homeland Security is on capitol hill testifying before congress for the First Time Since taking over. Very quickly, he started facing very tough questions about the administrations zero tolerance policy that led to so many family separations at the border. Kevin mcaleenan said recently that that policy wasnt worth it, but his boss, President Trump, as we know, threatened to bring the policy back. Heres what the secretary said just this morning. The conditions where a child might be separated from a lawful parent or guardian at this time are extraordinarily rare. Its happening for less than two per day, even though we have 1600 plus families arriving per day. Theyre for the safety and welfare of the child. Its being done very carefully, in extraordinarily rare circumstances. Thats the only time the separation occurs. The operative word in what youre hearing from the secretary is at this time. Because thats not what was happening before. Ges jessica sunischneider has been keeping a close eye. Mcaleenan is doubling down on the urgency of the situation. What hes calling a crisis at the border, and he started off with the numbers here. 103,000 migrants cross the southern border in the month of march alone. That was the largest single month total in more than a decade. And mcaleenan put it bluntly. He said the system is full and all resources are well beyond capacity. So heres what dhs is proposing. This week, the agency plans to make a supplemental budget request from congress because mcaleenan says theyre set to run out of funds before the end of the fiscal year in just a few months. Mcaleenan said that any of those new funds appropriated by congress will go to humanitarian needs like migrant processing facilities, also increased detention capacity, and interestingly here, he also foreshadowed a new legislative proposal that could be sent to congress to address what he calls the drivers of the humanitarian crisis. Its clear here, kate, the administration is amping up its plans when it comes to addressing immigration and the flood of migrpts. Also, then, the changes with the asylum rules. What do they mean . These are proposed changes from the president. He wants the attorney general and dhs acting secretary mcaleen mcaleenan to sign off on it in 90 days. It would make asylum claims a lot more difficult. The president wants all asylum applications adjudicated in 180 days. Thats a very tall order given the fact that theres already a months or years long backlog with the limited amount of immigration judges, and then the president wants to institute a fee for asylum applications. Currently, its free to apply for asylum. The administration in making these proposals are citing the surge in numbers here. Apparently, the number of migrants claiming credible fear when applying for asylum, kate, the Administration Says it has increased 2,000 . They see not only the migrant surge approaching record numbers but also those applying for asylum as well. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Joining me now is lee gallagher, the lead attorney battling the Trump Administration in court over family separations at the border on behalf of the aclu. Thank you again for being here. I want to talk about where we are with the family separations in a second. What is your reaction when you hear this proposal on changes to asylum . What does it mean for the people youre working with . I think its just another attack on Asylum Seekers. People need to remember a few things. First of all, people need to remember the history. Right now, its Central Americans who need our help, but its been other groups in the past. Its a very dangerous road to stop helping people seeking refuge. These specific proposals are very dangerous. People fleeing with the most serious crimes are often the ones who will be most destitute, leave quickly, and then to get here and say we might look at your asylum claim, but you have to pony up the money. The other thing is Asylum Seekers want to move quickly because they want to move out of this limbo status, but you cant have a hard deadline without allocated sufficient resources to the system. Theyre putting all their resources into these political maneuvers, saying were cracking down, but no resources into more asylum officers, no immigration judges. Thats the real crisis, the administration is not allocating resources. On the asylum judges, i have heard that from left, right, and center. If you want to speed this up, they are overtasked. Thats where to put it it. Exactly. On family separations, we heard there from the acting secretary of Homeland Security, and he had said in a recent interview, he said he does not think family separations are worth it. He doesnt think its on the table anymore, but thats in contrast to the president has threatened to bring that policy back. Do you take comfort in hearing that from the acting secretary . You know, we will take comfort for now. But we will obviously be closely monitoring. I think a few points are important for people to know. The government reported 3,000 separations. Thats an astronomical number of families separated. Now, we just find out there could be potentially thousands more. The government said we dont want to try to find them. The court said you have to find them. The government said it will take two years to find them. The court said no, you find them. I want to make sure people dont forget what youre pointing out. We knew about this, 3,000 children separated from families, and then it came up there were thousands and thousands more they had not acknowledged. They didnt even maybe know or did not acknowledge were also separated in the system. They want two years to even identify them, not getting them back with their families, and the judge who has been working with you all on this now says six months. Six months, and on a rolling basis. He expects most of them to be given to us well before six months. We will be monitoring, and the judge importantly said i want to be on the phone with the head person at hhs doing this every 21 days. The other thing i would push back on a little from the clip is family separations are occurring. Theyre not so rare. Hundreds and hundreds. And when theyre saying well its only in individual cases where the child is at danger, were seeing people separated for past traffic convictions or illegal entry. Not violent felonies, not something that would suggest the parent is a danger to the child. Were very concerned with ongoing separations, not just the past ones. We will be back in court on that as well. Youre never going to leave court, the way this is turning out. Real quick, do you have a number yet . Has the government given you a number, every child is a number. Do you have what the thousands is that theyre going to be trying to identify . No, and when i crossexamined them on the stand last week, they candidly admitted they have no idea. So right. I dont thats why were going to undertake this process and every case has to be reviewed to see if theres been separation. They have no idea how many were separated. Even if they all need to be sent back to their home countries and deported with their parents, they need to be identified. For sure. For a lot of reasons. Prabl practical and historical. Thank you. Please come back on. Thanks for covering this story. I appreciate it. Coming up for us, attorney general bill barr is still threatening to skip a highprorofile hearing on the mueller report. Will he show up, will he skip, or will lawmakers be faced with an empty seattle and send him a subpoena . Well discuss in a second. In my ethnicity i have all sorts of things that i never would have imagined. Ancestrydna was able to tell me where my fathers family came from in columbia. Its just been a reconnection to my roots. 20 million members have connected to a deeper family story. Order your kit at ancestry. Com. To a deeper family story. With peak season berries, uniqcreamy avocado. And a dressing fit for a goddess. Come taste what a salad should be. 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Everyday progress to save 30 on all the medications we carry. So go directly to petmeds. Com now. Welcome back. I want to get back down to the streets of venezuela where as we have been discussing throughout had hour, theres been breaking news. Protests breaking out. An attempted coup under way by Opposition Leader juan guaido. We have been watching opposition protesters in the streets, and we saw violence breaking out in the streets. Im going to warn you, this is very disturbing. A military vehicle running into the crowd, not only running into protesters but running over, it appears running over some protesters in the streets of caracas. That is playing out as we speak, and that just happened as we were speaking. I think were trying to get connected with a reporter on the ground. Stefano has been watching this. Now im seeing fire. They have now attempted to light one of the military vehicles on fire. As were watching the protests, as we have been discussing, this has been a tense situation throughout the morning. The question has been all along, what level, how violent would these protests be. Juan guaido has called for their position and their demonstrations to remain peaceful, as he has said they called for and their position has been all along. What were seeing right now, though, is anything but peaceful. Military, looks like a line with the graininess of the video, its hard to see, but it looks like a line of military on one end of the street, protesters on the other. For some reason, what looks like these military vehicles, whatever reason they were provoked or not, going into the crowd. We can probably rack it back up and show you what happened a moment ago. I believe we have reconnected with stefano. Youre in caracas as well. This is what were watching, this really disturbing video is playing out at another section of the city. But what we just saw was a military vehicle running into the crowd of protesters and appearing to run over some of the protesters there in caracas. Yes, tense moments here. Tense moments from the early hours of today. Just a few hours ago, we have seen military forces loyal to Nicolas Maduro and those military forces were going to juan guaido and the opposition. Right now, we are its difficult. A [ inaudible ] as we can tell, for all of our viewers, as you can understand with the chaotic situation, cars honking, everything thats going on, it can be difficult to keep the connection. Were looking at, i mean, i can see as weve been watching this video, this shot coming in all morning, this is escalating even more than what weve about seeing throughout this hour. A much bigger Police Presence has been building, and you can see Water Cannons coming from one top of one of these military vehicles. Looks like they are backing up to get back, you know, in formation as the protesters have been continuing to approach them. Guys, let me know when you have Clarissa Ward or any of our other reporters on the line so we can get them in. Also, if we can rerack to show that moment when lets replay this for you, everybody. And, look, we dont know we dont know what was happening before before this moment, but we do know that as the protesters are there, the police are on the other side of that. What looks like a highway, and that military vehicle very clearly driving straight into this crowd of protesters. I think Clarissa Ward, our chief international correspondent, is back up with me right now. Clarissa, we know that these protests can be tense. We know that theres always a potential of violence. Thats always horrible to see. Absolutely, and we have seen the use of tear gas. We have seen Water Cannons being used in venezuela throughout the course of this protest movement. But theres no question, kate, that what were seeing today is a very meaningful escalation. I mean, you can really sense the tension hearing the reports from cnns own reporting on the streets there who has actually seen, you know, live ammunition, gunfire being used. Now youre seeing im just looking down at the pictures as i talk to you on the screen, those images of military vehicles, and theres clearly a sense of its chaotic, and because its chaotic, its very difficult to get a clear picture of exactly what is happening. Who in the military has defected to join the side of guaido . Have any generals committed to the movement of guaido . What does this mean Going Forward . Where is maduro . Why havent we heard more from him the president , Nicolas Maduro . Put out a tweet saying nerves of steel. We will win, but at this point people would expect to see something from him if indeed, as he says, you know, this is that the situation is in control. People would expect to see something from maduro, a televised statement or something speaking to his claim that he still has control over the people. Another wild card, kate, that people will be wanting to know is where do the russians stand . When will they weigh in . Of course, Nicolas Maduros most important outside backer is russia. Russia has committed an enormous financial lifeline to the maduro government and to his cronies, and and as weve seen before, they have taken a very promaduro stance, but are they willing as the pressure ratchets up as potentially more military elements defect and join guaido . How will that affect their calculation . Traditionally when weve seen russia backing its allies, whether here in venezuela or most noticeably in syria with bashar al assad, they are willing to go that extra mile, and they are willing to stay the course. That raises the question of what will the u. S. Do, kate . Yeah. How serious is the u. S. About how committed are they to guaido . Weve heard President Trump say over and over again that military force is an option, that it is on the table, that the u. S. Does stand by its commitment to guaido who they have recognized as the lawful president of venezuela, along with, by the way, more than 50 other countries. This is definitely an infliction point. Yes. Reporter and the question is has it reached a Critical Mass . Has it reached a Tipping Point, and what are the outside players willing to do to ensure that their man survives . Kate. Thats exactly right. As we were discussing earlier in the house, the momentum here could be shifting moment to moment, and where the momentum lies oh, my gosh. Theres the video again as were looking at the military vehicle running into the crowd. It looks like running over at least one protester as you see people gathering around trying to carry someone away, and then youre going to see another military vehicle come through and the protesters trying to light it on fire. Looking down, as you were saying, clarissa, as we were watching this violence breaking out. Once again this happened moments ago. Just looking down and saw that that leaders here in the united states, not only from the administration but over on capitol hill, is they are watching this very closely. Marco rubio has been speaking out, been a very forceful critic of the maduro presidency and just wrote about this very indent. The entire world watched a National Guard vehicle ram into a crowd of protesters, he writes. How far will leaders of the military allow this assault on their own people to go in venezuela . So we know its not only being watched. Its being watched everywhere. What you and i are watching together play out on the streets of venezuela. Were going to continue watching this. Well have much more of this breaking news. Stick with us, guys, after this. Itso chantix can help you quit slow turkey. Along with support, chantix is proven to help you quit. With chantix you can keep smoking at first and ease into quitting. Chantix reduces the urge so when the day arrives, youll be more ready to kiss cigarettes goodbye. When you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Stop chantix and get help right away if you have changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts or actions, seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking, or lifethreatening allergic and skin reactions. Decrease alcohol use. Use caution driving or operating machinery. Tell your doctor if youve had Mental Health problems. The most common side effect is nausea. Quit smoking slow turkey. Talk to your doctor about chantix. Welcome to inside politics. Im john king. We begin the hour with dramatic breaking news. A coup attempt today in venezuela. A coup attempt that is getting fullthroated backing from the trump white house. Dramatic figure tours coming into cnn just moments ago. You can see them right there on the streets of caracas. A venezuelan National Guard tank running over antigovernment demonstrators in the caracas streets. The Opposition Leader juan guaido says todays operations are different what hes calling operation freedom says has the support of military leaders