fights criminal contempt charges. and summer sand and shark infested waters. enhanced technology is on the hunt where sharks have been on the attack. welcome to the lead. i m jake tapper. we start today with breaking news in our politics lead. president biden s approval rating hitting a new low in cnn polling. take a look. only 38% of people approve of the way joe biden is handling his job as president. 62% disapprove. this dismal number comes as president biden returns from his middle east trip. the white house touting the trip a success, saying the president renewed support for the region and set expectations that gas prices could steady in the coming weeks. but those successes in some quarters being overshadowed by this moment, biden fist bumping saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman, who the u.s. says is to blame for the slaughter of washington post journalist jamal khashoggi in 2018. biden trying to brush it off from reporters upon his return to the white house.
electors. presumably designed to create so much confusion the congress would kick the matter back to republican-led state legislators as to overturn joe biden s win in the states. it will explore the broader pressure campaign aimed at subverting the will of the american people. the first witness is the arizona state house speaker. aides say bowers will share critical new details about trump s demands and even harassment as the president sought to decertify biden s legitimate and legal win and republican-led arizona. the georgia secretary of state will also testify live. he famously went public with a phone call from trump. trump asking him to, quote, find enough votes to take away joe biden s legal and legitimate win in georgia and concoct an illegitimate trump win. another georgia election official will appear before the committee. you might remember sterling on december 1st, 2020. he publicly pleaded with trump to stop inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence.
Economy. A source of frustration for voters nationally, even as a huge number of those same americans say their own financial situation is actually pretty good. So whats the Biden Campaign supposed to do with that . Well talk about it coming up. Plus, israels apologies, doing nothing to stem the global fury over the killing of seven aid workers. The white house calling for accountability are from netanyahus government, but are harsh words all there is, or will World Leaders actually act . And Donald Trumps last ditch attempt to get the judge in his Hush Money Trial to throw himself off the case. Could it work . We begin with whats both the most obvious key to winning in november and also the biggest conundrum. The u. S. Economy. We have brand new polling that gives us important insights into just how important it is. Even as joe biden focuses his Campaign Message on abortion and health care. And donald trump is stoking fears about migrants at his campaign stops. Its a border blood bath
No question about that. We obviously respect andres decision not to continue operations at least for a time. Certainly we respect that. And others may make that decision as you talk about the world food program. Were not seeing any wholesale declination of humanitarian assistance, but yes, thats a concern. The more violent it gets for humanitarian aid workers, the less likely it is theyre going to be willing to take those risks, which means its more likely the people of gaza are going to suffer more. So yes, its a concern. Thank you. Secretary blinken during his presser in paris did not condemn the air strike even though as you confirmed there was a dual American Citizen who was killed. The French Foreign minister who was at the same presser did. You said youre outraged. Why is the u. S. Not condemning the strike . I think by saying were outraged, i think you can fairly characterize that as condemning the strike. Of course. Nobody wants to see this kind of violence happening to humanit
Calling on a judge to stop donald trump from continuing to claim fbi agents were involved in a plot to assassinate him during his search of his maralago home during the classified documents investigation. Trump made a suggestion in a Campaign Fundraising email and has been repeated by conservative media outlets. Late friday, smith filed a notion in judge Eileen Tenants court saying, those statements create a grossly misleading impression about the intentions and conduct of federal Law Enforcement agents falsely suggesting that they were complicit in a plot to assassinate him smith added that the false statements expose sba agents, some of whom will be witnesses at the trial, to threats of harassment. We have reporters covering all of the developments for you. We will begin with julie sirkin on capitol hill. Julie, welcome. The prosecutors request is different from a gag order, but what exactly are they asking of the judge . Reporter this is a first, let me just say, alex, in this case