what s he blaming the criticism on? racism. it s kind of like the fani willis defense. curtis sliwa on the ground in new york will join us in a few minutes. also, what are the cocaine hippos in columbia and why are they causing chaos? we will have the latest on that story. it was another bizarre blunder for your cognitively struggling president who needed help from a reporter today. it was pretty bad. take a look. there is some movement, and i don t want to choose my words. there is some movement. there has been a response there has been a response from the opposition. yes, i m sorry. from hamas. that s your president. this is far from joe pa see only blunder this week. speaking at a campaign event in vegas on sunday night he seemed to be a little confused and dazed once again. take a look. right after i was elected i went to a g-7 meeting with all the nato leaders. it was in south england. i sat down and said america is back. a man from germany, i mean france, looked
dangerous people s hands. also this hour, breaking news, a showdown in international waters. the u.s. navy says they stopped iran from suspected attempts to seize two oil tankers. and just 48 hours ago, scorched earth, the new unofficial hottest day in human recordkeeping. we re going to begin the hour, though, with the number 351. that s the total number of mass shootings in the united states so far this year according to the gun violence archive. it affected many american cities this july 4th weekend. a shooting at a block party on sunday in baltimore left two dead and 28 injured. in philadelphia, five were killed including a teen boy. and more than a thousand miles away in fort worth, texas, three people died after gunfire broke out. on independence day, a celebration turned tragic in louisiana leaving three people dead. police there say it was hard to reach victims because of so many parked vehicles belonging to families and friends in the crowds. in our nation s capi
america reports. already, more than 150 cancellations and 1700 delays today as folks are trying to get back home. the national flightmare has been causing major chaos at airports close to a week now. bill: pete buttigieg, the transportation secretary claims everything is back to normal but bad weather could slow things down even more, especially in parts of the plains and the midwest, gillian. gillian: right to jonathan serrie now, he joins us from atlanta s heartsfield jackson airport. how are the lines there looking this hour? hi there, gillian, as you can see behind me, long lines outside the main tsa checkpoint but they are moving along rapidly. much of the activity is taking place on the concourse as passengers transit from aircraft to other aircraft. what s going on nationally, according to the tracking service flight aware, more than 1700 flights into or out of the u.s. have already been delayed today, and more than 150 have been canceled. those numbers are exp
arguments used by donald trump to fend off the cases popping up cross the country challenging his place in the 2024 ballot. it is an existential threat to the one thing that donald trump sees as the way out of all his legal problems, winning the presidency. a brand-new brief to the supreme court alongside other prominent lawyers like george conway, michael luttig calls for the justices to take the 14th amendment very literally. they say, quote, because section 3 emerged from the hallowed ground of the civil war, this court must accord section 3 its fair meaning, not a narrow construction. mr. trump incited and therefore engaged in an armed insurrection against the constitution s express and foundational mandates that require the peaceful transfer of executive power to a newly elected president. in doing so mr. trump disqualified himself under section 3. regarding trump s argument the so-called insurrectionist ban can only be applied after a candidate is elected, luttig and
i m victor blackwell. welcome to cnn newsroom. we re hours away from president biden s state of the union address tonight, his first to a divided congress. instead of nancy pelosi over the president s left shoulder, it will be speaker kevin mccarthy. the speech is expected to draw the largest television audience for the president this year. americans will hear biden lay out why he believes the state of the union is strong as he said last week. he s expected to talk about lowering inflation, improving infrastructure and getting past the worst of the pandemic. he s also expected to talk about america s stand against china. of course just days after an american fighter jet shot down one of its supply balloons. the president will likely increase the urgency for congress to act on policing reform and an adult weapons band. all of it will be a test run for his re-election bid. phil mattingly is with us now. what more should we expect from the president tonight? you know, vict