0 twitter @jaketapper. that's it for me and the lead. i will leave you in the capable hands of one mr. wolf blitzer who is right next door in the situation room. >> thanks, jake. democrats and republicans awaiting word on the decision from chris christie. for the first time, we hear the voice of the boston bombing suspect. how a 10-year-old stopped a home invasion robbery and sent the suspects fleeing. we're starting with a political bombshell from chris christie christie. he announced at a quick news conference today about replacing frank lautenberg who died yesterday. instead he surprised the political world and both parties by not appointing a replacement at all. our national political correspondent jim acosta has the latest information for us. jim, how did governor christie explain his decision? >> governor christie set a special election to fill a open senate seat was all about the people. but democrats and republicans argue, it's really all about him. >> good afternoon. >> chris christie made it clear, that it was his authority and his alone to decide when the voters would be able to replace their late senator frank lautenberg. >> the right thing is to let the people decide, and let them decide as quickly as possible. >> in a big roll of the political dice, christie set the election for october. the governor argued it wouldn't be fair to apoint a republican successor. as many in the gop wanted him to appoint a successor. >> i understand the political advantage that would come to me if i was the soul person who decided who represented new jersey for 18 months. i didn't feel comfortable doing that. >> reporter: his decision for a special election wreaks of politics, because it comes three weeks before the governor is up for re-election. christie is just trying to keep cory booker, the heavy favorite for his party's nomination off the november ballot. >> i'm cory booker, and i love newark. >> reporter: why? because a big democratic turnout for booker would help yes, sirty's opponent, who admits she's not that well known. >> i know that names can sometimes be tough to pronounce. let me be clear, this guy is bono, i'm barbara buono. >> there's no political purpose of this. >> reporter: democrats point to the special election's cost estimated at nearly $24 million. the democratic governor's association said in a statement, governor christie might not know or care how many millions of taxpayer dollars the special election gambit will waist. the people of new jersey do. christie's move can actually help booker, who's already raising millions and sounding like a candidate. >> we have to reform a broken immigration system. deliver marriage equality to all americans, and bring sanity to our national gun safety laws. >> that may explain the differing reactions from the democratic and republican leaders in the senate. >> i won't question the path that he's chosen. >> i'm happy with what he's done. >> and the governor all but admitted to reporters he's managed to spice up his own race. >> for all of you who are board with the governor's race, i've solved your problem. >> yes, he has. as for who christie will name as lautenberg's temporary replacement until the november election, no decision has been made, meanwhile, a senior adviser to cory booker said the mayor will make his decision at the appropriate time, but acknowledged he is very likely a candidate. some republicans are furious about this, wolf. one top gop strategist told me, it would have been helpful had christie waited until 2014, that's not going to happen. >> certainly not going to happen now. let's dig a little deeper right now with john king and our cnn contributor. how much is this going to hurt the governor with republicans out there? as jim reported, he could have named a republican right now to serve out the rest of lautenberg's term. >> he could have. he said state law strongly encourages him if not requires him to move further. the republicans already didn't like him, they think he's too middle of the road. too friendly to obama. guess what, chris christie doesn't care many that's part of the great calculation. he thinks this is the right thing to do to get an elected senator as soon as possible. he thinks it's the right thing for him politically. he separates the two. if cory book er wins -- he want a big win on election day to propel him into the possibility of 2016. >> if he would have had that special election in november, it could have hurt other republican candidates. cory booker could have brought up other democrats to vote in november? >> it looks like he had three options here, right, he chooses someone who serves until next november, that helps republicans in the senate, helps the republican party at large. he could have picked someone who served until election day this year, that may have helped cory booker, that may have made the margin by which christie is likely to win this race by a little less. his third option was to benefit chris christie most. so look, i don't think if you look at christie's career, if you look at the moves he's made. what he wants to do is be president, have will biggest re-election in a blue state as possible so he can go to the republican primary voters in 2016 and say, i won big in new jersey. you have to look at this move in that context alone. >> it's been a while since there was a republican senator from new jersey. i guess it's going to be a while longer before there's a republican senator from new jersey as well. >> hold on for a moment. i want to have another discussion with both of you in a moment president obama didn't just double down, he tripled down today, in his ongoing battle with senate republicans over judges. he nominated three people to one of the country's most influential benches, leading republicans to accuse him of court stacking. our chief white house correspondent is joining us. jessica, what's the latest battle? >> president obama is pressing a new front in his battle with republicans. this one on terrain of the president's choosing, the courts. >> the president of the united states -- >> in the rose garden, sounded like a campaign season attack against do nothing republicans in congress. >> what's happening now is unprecedented. for the good of the american people, it has to stop. >> a feisty president obama named three democrats to the d.c. circuit court and demanded quick action from the u.s. senate. >> what i'm doing today is my job. i need the senate to do its job. >> the d.c. circuit court is sometimes called the second highest court in the land. past members who have ascended to the supreme court include justices robert scalia, thomas and ginsburg. it also decides whether regulations can stand. this year it could rule on clean air, gun control and terrorism cases. >> this is not about principled opposition, this is about political obstruction. >> he's right, it's about politics. on both sides of pennsylvania avenue. the president complains, senate republicans have been keeping his nominees off the bench. >> congressional republicans, cynically used senate rules and procedures to delay and block qualified nominees from coming to a full vote. >> the president is trying to cram the court with democrats. >> they want to use the nuclear option to pack the d.c. circuit so we can pack the president's big agenda. >> there are 81 vacancies on the federal court. there are only 27 nominees pending. the president has not nominated anyone to fillmore than half the seats. so he's responsible for some of those vacancies. as for republican objections to the rest? >> that's one more example of our government's basic inability to get anything done. >> if the judicial fight is another way for the president to try to refocus the conversation away from the recent controversies and focus on congressional inaction, a topic that really does bother the american people. another way the president did that today. he flexed his own executive muscles and issued five five executive orders from the white house. >> jessica yellin at the white house. let's continue our conversation with john king and ryan lizza. >> he's been criticized from the left for not paying attention to the courts. he hasn't been as aggressive in pushing his nominees as he could. on the other side of this, if you look at the numbers, the republicans -- it's very rare for a minority party that does not control the senate to have obstructed as many judicial appointments as republicans have. it's complicated how you judge these things, from what i was reading today, they really have gone beyond what previous parties have done when they're out of power. there is a group of young senators, mostly on the democratic side who are sick of the filibuster, who are pushing harry read. republicans are playing a dangerous game here, they're pushing some of these younger democrats into going into this nuclear option. >> can the president beat the republicans on these nominations? >> that's a tough one to call right now. right now he's got the numbers. he has the numbers. to summon his own party, you see john mccain say that on the budget. we're supposed to govern, we're supposed to have both. what the president did today, as jess noted, two women, an african-american, putting pressure on the republicans, heading into the election year. you're not only holding up my nominees, you're going to hold up the brand again. up next, what happened in a closed door congressional hearing in benghazi today. elijah cummings is standing by live. he's here to talk about what lawmakers learned. and the bombing suspect from boston, the emotional phone call to his mother in russia, she reported it, you'll hear it right here. i want to make things more secure.