and it includes history. listen. >> i have made no decision except one. the person i will nominate will be someone with extraordinary qualifications, character, experience and integrity. and that person will be the first black woman ever nominated to the united states supreme court. it's long overdue in my opinion. i made that commitment during the campaign for president, and i will keep that commitment. >> get to our chief white house correspondent kaitlan collins at the white house. the president said he didn't want to share much about what comes next but he shared an historic deal. >> it's also notable he put a timeline on here saying he will, his intention is to let everyone know who his nominee is by the end of february. so what that is going to kick off internally at the white house is a very extensive process of vetting. and the president has already -- he said he's been looking at the backgrounds of potential replacements. he's going to study this carefully. he'll look at their records, past cases, meet with them in person as you typically see presidents do with potential nominees. often here at the white house to meet with them in person. something they can really make a difference in who a president selects to put on the supreme court. a meeting in person to make sure, to talk about their records, to talk about what they see themselves being on the supreme court and on the bench. of course, what a moment this is. and i think what president biden was saying there is just how seriously he's going to take this saying it's one of the biggest constitutional responsibilities he believed that is bestowed to a president. to put someone on the supreme court who is there for decades. and also the president noting the history he himself has had with justice breyer. this will be a big process that kicks off in this white house. this is a white house pretty familiar with the supreme court confirmation. because several of the people who work inside this white house have been involved with it intimately before. president biden himself has the unusual experience as well of serving as the senate judiciary chairman, something he cited there at the beginning, talking about presiding over justice breyer's hearing. and the question whof he is going to pick. the short list, it can grow, and, of course, all eyes will be looking to see not just the confirmation process and how quickly it happens, as manu was talking about, but first and foremost, who the pick is going to be. >> who the pick is going to be. that's the president's challenge. abby phillip, as we close the conversation, i'm in a tug of war with myself. we're on "inside politics." you anchor "inside politics sunday." you can focus on this and the dramatic impact it could have on the politics in midterm election year. in some ways that feels like save that one for tomorrow. what about the history here? it's long over due in his opinion to put a black woman. steve black went through the numbers. to put a black woman on the supreme court is a huge historic deal. politics aside. and yet you can't ignore the politics. >> yeah, look. we dont know what the impact is going to be on the midterms, but as we have talked about so many times, this is a president who was elected largely because black voters rescued him in a democratic primary where he was basically believed to be toast in south carolina. that's why he is sitting in the white house today. and so to make this promise and to keep it is critically important at a time when we're hearing more and more from voters. they want to see biden keep more of his promises. but i'll also say one more thing, john. the president said something or alluded to some things that are very important. first, there's the promise of putting a black woman on the court. but the second thing is that he promised to restore, you know, civility. promised to restore normalcy to washington. he was very clear that he wanted to seek the advice of bipartisan senators, republicans and democrats. and not just ram this thing through. the last four supreme court battles that we've had here in washington have been brutal partisan affairs, and you hear biden today seeming to signal to the american public that he's going to try the best he can to make this perhaps less so. now will it be -- will that be how it turns out? i don't know. i think you could probably argue it won't be, but biden also knows that he has to keep that promise, too. he's been accused a lot of being very partisan recently. and i think today he made it very clear that he wants to reach across the aisle even on this issue of the supreme court, which is incredibly partisan in this era. >> that's a fascinating point and an interesting point as we begin the next chapter. we'll watch as the process plays out. not only who, how it might impact the court and how deep the politics get. abby, manu, joan and steve as well. appreciate the hustle of all our reporters and analysts. don't go anywhere. thanks for your time on "inside politics." we'll see you back here tomorrow. ana cabrera picks up our coverage right now. hello. i'm ana cabrera in new york. thanks for joining us. much more news here in the newsroom, including what we've been discussing. the major historic announcement at the white house today involving the supreme court. we're also tracking the u.s. economy, which just grew at its fastest rate since 1984. of course, there's still inflation and other problems for americans. we'll discuss with white house national economic counsel brian diets. the ball is in putin's court. russia has the written responses from the u.s. no concessions. troops remain at the ukrainian border and just this morning, the initial response from putin's spokesman, quote, there are few reasons for optimism. at stake, a crisis that president biden warns could lead to the largest invasion since world war ii. the top of the hour, president biden is due to hold a phone call with ukraine's president. let's get to cnn's nic robertson in moscow and cnn national security correspondent kylie atwood at the state department. nic, first to you. the kremlin says it won't rush to judgment. it is going to digest these letters and make an informed decision in terms of their next move, but clearly the u.s. is not giving putin what he wants. what are you hearing? >> yeah, we heard that from the kremlin spokesman. we heard it from the foreign minister sergey lavrov saying on the core issue, whether or not ukraine can become a member of nato, nato pushing back forces to 1997 lines, he said we haven't got satisfaction. he did say that there is good reason to believe we can have a serious conversation about some secondary issues. you know, arms control, troop deployments, those sorts of things. he indicated that was an option. it's this moment where president putin has to decide how he can sort of manage the optics of, if he's going to move forward diplomatically, do that when he hasn't got what was originally offered. and i don't think we'll have to wait too long. they indicated no answer today but in the next few days when they've worked out a new position. president putin making a significant trip today to st. petersburg to lay a wreath at the site of the siege of lenen grad which is something that is seared into the collective memory of all russians, particularly the elder generation, like president putin's. sieged during the second world war. close to 900 days, close to 800,000 people died during those incredibly tough years. and, of course, at the time not long after, president putin grew up in the rubble of what was leningrad and has become st. petersburg. founding memories have come out of the ashes of the second world war and where we're at the the moment is really the point where he decides, does he really want to push russia back to where it stood after the second world war and what the soviet union achieved there in terms of lapped gains and influence. and that's where his sort of -- it appears to be, his setting his targets potentially for his legacy. certainly said that in his writing about ukraine. so this is really the moment of choice for him. we've said that many times. and he knew this response like this was coming. but we're going to hear that in the next few days. and the foreign minister here speaks tomorrow. that will give us a better view of what is coming down the track. >> kylie, the u.s. must have known that russia wasn't going to be psyched on their written response. what is the u.s. preparing for? >> the u.s. is diplomatically speaking right now in waiting mode. they have put all their cards on the table. they have said these things repeatedly over the last few weeks. now the russians have it in written form. basically the state department is just waiting to hear from the russians here to see if there are things where they think they can continue working together on. and the russians for their part have said they'll not respond today but they would respond in short order. so that's where the diplomats are right now in terms of that diplomatic path. but the other aspect of this and secretary blinken spoke to this yesterday, is that the biden administration continues to sharpen, to develop those costs that they will inflict on russia should they invade ukraine. so that is really what they are focused on now. getting -- making sure that they are in lockstep with allies in europe. making sure that they have china on board to inflict some of these costs. secretary blinken spoke with his chinese counterpart just today on this. and looking forward, the german leader is going to be visiting the white house at the beginning of february. that is another opportunity to make sure that the u.s. and germany, where there has been some daylight on this issue of nord stream 2 are able to sync back up together and make sure that they are sending a united signal about the cost to russia. and then, of course, there is the military side. the pentagon still working on what it would look like if those troops who have been put on high alert actually head to europe and when they would need to do that. >> and in terms of timing by russia on any potential action, the kremlin announced today that putin will travel to turkey to meet with president erdogan and turkey says that will be after putin returns from the beijing olympics. do these two putin obligations buy more time for diplomacy? >> yeah, this is an overture by president erdogan in turkey. he seems as a member of nato, he seems to be trying to cast himself here as a mediator between, you know, perhaps russia and the rest of nato, russia and the united states. i think the response from the kremlin was sort of diplomatic, polite to erdogan who has been making noises like this for the last few weeks. the kremlin have sort of pushed it off down the line saying let's think about this after the -- after the beijing olympics. but they've also said as well, let's look at it after this trip when we see where we are coming out of the pandemic. and that kind of gives the kremlin quite a window here to say, okay, if we need to use this diplomatic overture, it's there available down the line. but i don'ting they're ready to go for it yet. certainly president erdogan needs every kind of political lever he can use at home to keep himself in power to keep his influence international and this he can certainly use to his advantage but it doesn't seem to be coming soon. >> nic robertson and kylie atwood, thank you both. still ahead here, breaking today, the u.s. economy just grew at a rate we haven't seen since 1984. of course, it's not all rainbows and butterflies. we'll discuss with the director of the white house economic council, brian deets. and stormy daniels is on the stand and the man accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from her, her lawyer, michael avenatti, will soon be uf to cross-examine her. stay with us. t a quote today. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ with our unique tub over tub installation in just a day, bath fitter doesn't just fit your bath, it fits your busy schedule. why have over two million people welcomed bath fitter into their homes? it just fits. bath fitter. call now or visit bathfitter.com to book your free consultation. ever get a sign the universe is trying to tell you something? the clues are all around us! not that one. that's the one. at university of phoenix, you could earn your master's degree in less than a year for under $11k. learn more at phoenix.edu. e misinformation darling joe rogan over one of the most beloved living songwriters of our time, neil young. the streaming service is removing neil young's music after he gave them an ultimatum. choose my songs or give covid misinformation a platform. cnn chief media correspondent brian stelter is following this for us. spotify is in the process of removing neil young's music so it appears they have taken a side. >> that's right because joe rogan, at least for now, is more profitable, is more valuable to spotify. this vint audio company made a big bet on rogan's podcast, paid him tens and tens of millions of dollars to come over to spotify and in his program, he interviews lots of people about lots of things, but there has been this constant, consistent theme of covid skepticism, vaccine skepticism, bringing on guests who make misstatements about vaccines and that has caused doctors, experts, others to be very concerned. i think neil young probably read this news coverage, read about this issue and decided to take a stand. the only leverage he had was his music. now spotify choosing rogan over young and it's a really interesting dividing line, ana, about how much moderation platforms should do or should not do. young might want other artists to follow him and today sirius xm they said they are going to have an exclusive special neil young channel on sirius xm. so you see the marketplace in some ways working this out. he's gone from spotify. but he's on sirius xm in a special way. maybe that's a good free market solution. but then this issue about rogan and misinformation still stands. >> right. so has spotify actually addressed that misinformation that's happening on joe rogan's program? >> they have always been very -- they've always avoided talking about this, to be honest. when we send requests for comments, when we ask for interviews, spotify has remained mostly mum. the position they essentially take is, we have lots of different kinds of music and podcasts for lots of different kinds of fan groups. that's great in entertainment. where it gets more complicated is when you're talking about public health crisis. and that's why companies like youtube and other big platforms have taken strong stands against disinformation. against lies. we talk about misinformation ana. we should be using the word lies. discredited information. complete lies. that's what some of rogan's guests have peddled but for spotify, they think he's too valuable to take action. >> and yet that misinformation really can be the difference between life or death. brian stelter, appreciate your reporting. let me bring in dr. leana wen, the cnn medical analyst and former baltimore medical commissioner. also the author of "lifelines: a doctor's journey in the fight for public health." doctor wen, first your reaction to spotify sticking with rogan and his covid misinformation. >> yeah, it's really unfortunate. i agree with brian that we should call out this type of misinformation for what it is, which is active disinformation and lies. and let's also talk about the consequence of this disinformation. we have more than 2,000 americans who are dying every day still due to this pandemic. the pandemic is not over. the danger here is not just that joe rogan has been peddling treatments that aren't actually treatments. it's that he is dissuading people from getting safe and effective vaccines. which are leading to preventable deaths. disinformation takes away people's ability to make informed choices for themselves and their families. and it's really dangerous. >> then you have the newly appointed surgeon general in florida, dr. joseph lapito, refusing to say if vaccines work against the coronavirus. listen to this exchange at his confirmation hearing yesterday. >> do you believe vaccines work? >> i consider vaccines in the same way that i consider other medical therapies. what we care about clinically is whether they are safe and effectively. >> do you believe that vaccines in fighting against a pandemic like covid-19 are effective? >> the question is a scientific one and one that is answered with data. >> just a yes or no. do vaccines work in fighting against covid-19? yes or no? >> as a scientist, i -- i am compelled to answer the scientific question. >> scientifically, do vaccines, do the vaccines work against preventing covid-19? yes or no? >> yes or no questions are not that easy to find in science. >> so he ended up saying that vaccines do provide protection against death and hospitalization, less so against infection. but this is florida's top health official. should this have been a difficult question for him to answer? >> no. and that is a straight yes or no answer. i mean, that exchange was really difficult to hear because here is this doctor, who is well trained, well qualified, essentially twisting himself up in knots because he knows that he was appointed by someone whom seems to be against vaccines in some ways and doesn't want to be -- doesn't want to say something that's counter to the governor of florida. and that's really unfortunate. i mean, this position is clearly outside the mainstream of medicine, public health and science. we now know from hundreds of millions of people around the world that the covid vaccines are safe and effective. they substantially reduce the risk of severe illness and the chance of infection and, therefore, transmission to others. we as physicians have an obligation to the community, to the patients we serve to be honest and to answer a straightforward yes or no question with, yes, these vaccines are safe and effective. >> we all need that clarity as the laymen, right? we aren't the medical experts. we rely on people like you and people in his position to give us the information that is most important and to provide that clarity. meantime, former alaska governor sarah palin also made headlines this week when her defamation trial here in new york was delayed after she tested positive for covid. last night, however, she was spotted dining outdoors at a manhattan restaurant. again, she was just diagnosed with covid. dr. wen, if you're diagnosed with covid, is it safe to go to a restaurant if you dine outside? >> no, it is not. what the cdc guidelines very clearly state is that for the first five days after you are first diagnosed with covid, you should be isolating. you should not be in public. five days after that you are able to go out in public but only if you are wearing a well-fitting mask the entire time. she certainly should not be dining with others. the cdc says you should not be dining with others in the second five-day period. outdoors is certainly better than indoors. if you're still sitting next to people, across from people, i just don't think it's a responsible thing to be with others when you know that you are actively infectious for covid-19. so, please if you are diagnosed with covid, please stay home. please follow isolation guidelines. please don't spread the infection further. >> let's turn to boosters. they increase protection against omicron. we don't know yet how long that protection lasts. but listen to what the chief medical officer at moderna said here on cnn this morning. >> if you get vaccinated with the moderna vaccine and then get boosted, you get a nice good level of protection with antibodies against the original covid virus strain. and also against the omicron strain. but what we see by six months is that those levels begin to fall. >> so he just gave that six-month sort of timeline here. should people expect to need another booster in six months? >> i don't think we know the answer to this yet. we definitely know that the first two doses are not enough. that you definitely have to get a third shot. so five months after you get pfizer or moderna or two months after the one-dose johnson & johnson, you should be getting a booster. we don't know whether additional boosters are going to be needed. even if antibody levels drop there are other elements, t cells and b cells that may remain robust. we need to collect more data before showing whether additional fourth boosters are needed. more than half of americans who are eligible for boosters have not yet gotten them. please get that third dose or if you got the one dose j&j vaccine, it's really time to get an additional dose of something else. >> dr. leana wen, i always appreciate you. thank you for taking the time. new evidence that the economy is on the right track. it just grew at its fastest rate since 1984. so what does this mean for inflation? i'll ask the director of the white house national economic council right after this. 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(giggling) ♪3, 4♪ ♪ ♪hey♪ ♪ ♪are you ready for me♪ ♪are you ready♪ ♪are you ready♪ the u.s. economy showing remarkable resilience. bouncing back from the pandemic-fueled recession of 2020. a new gdp report shows the economy grew 6.9% in the final quarter of 2021 compared to the year before. now for the full year, 2021, gdp grew at 5.7%. and that is the best full-year showing since 1984. ronald reagan's first term. let me jog your memory of that year, 1984. rising star by the name of prince topped the charts with "when doves cry." the game of tetris first dropped. wendy's taunted competition with the question, where's the beef? and joining us now, president biden's top economic adviser brian deese. he's the director of the national economic council. brian, great to have you here. we can all celebrate the positive economic news that we got today. but still too many americans are feeling really good about their personal financial situation. what do you say to those americans who are paying more for the basics like gas and groceries and are struggling to make ends meet right now? how should they manage their day-to-day? >> well, what i'd say is first it's important to reflect on the historic progress. as you just noted, strongest growth in nearly 40 years. and in the fourth quarter we saw some positive news of companies rebuilding inventories which suggests progress in moving supplies through the supply chain. and at the same time we have a real challenge of getting prices, price increases down and that's affecting families. and so what we are focused on every day, the president is focused on is how do we build on this historic progress? historic economic growth and job growth, wage growth for those at the bottom of the economy. how do we build on that while also getting prices to normalize. and that's about getting our supply chains unstuck. it's about lowering those kitchen table costs that a typical family faces by providing some relief on child care and health care and prescription drugs and creating a more competitive economy where we have more businesses competing, which actually helps reduce prices and increase options for consumers. in all of those areas, the president is focused on trying to move the ball forward and trying to build on historic year of 2021 and keep this recovery going strong. >> you don't get an "a" for effort, though, right? and that's not happening. you're not making the progress that is desired by the american people by the president and/or administration. so when is that relief going to arrive? >> well, we're making a lot of progress on all the areas that i suggested. as you say, we are living through an extraordinary pandemic-induced economic recovery where there are fits and starts. it's not a direct line. if you look at supply chains, we worried and there was a lot of concern this holiday season people wouldn't be able to get the goods they wanted. we worked hard, working with the ports, truckers, shippers and that didn't happen. as i said, we've seen in the latest data, both the prices data and the gdp data suggests that businesses are moving more inventory through the economy. that will position us well here going forward. and we have legislation in front of congress right now that would provide direct relief to american families. lower the cost of child care. lower the cost of health care and prescription drugs which is a core economic issue for our country right now. so we're focused on those issues and focused on making progress where we can. and i think what we're going to see is, as this economic growth continues, as this economy progresses, we'll see these prices normalize and people will see that in their pocketbooks as well. >> a new gallup survey shows nearly 80% of americans worry inflation will get worse in the next six months. 50% expect inflation will go up a lot. are they wrong? >> if you look at most professional forecasters, it's consistent with administration estimates. they are that the price increases will moderate over the course of 2022. and that's because a lot of this is being driven by these supply chain challenges. take one example. about a third of the price increases, the entire price increase is due to the cost of cars. used cars and new car prices are up significantly and we know why. it's because our auto companies can't build enough cars to meet demand because supply chain challenges have kept semiconductors from being produced in sufficient quantities. we have a direct solution for how to solve that. we're working with congress and hopeful the house will pass, move legislation to the floor next week that will help address that issue. so we know that there are places that we can work to address these supply chain issues and, you know, our hope and certainly the expectation of most forecasters is that we will see moderation in those prices over the course of the year. >> we can all appreciate the car example that you use, but not everybody is in the market for a new or used car and yes that's an area where inflation has really, really been felt. but we heard from the fed. they're going to take action. we know that they're going to pivot on interest rates to address inflation. does the white house view that as a cure all? >> the federal reserve has an incredibly important role to play. and our view is that, number one, it's important that the fed have the independence and the space to make these judgments. unlike prior administrations, the president is reinforcing the importance of the independence of that institution. they have really qualified people at the helm at the fed. the president has nominated five individuals of extraordinary breadth and credentials so we're hoping the senate will move quickly to confirm them. and certainly the recalibration that the fed is undertaking is appropriate given these circumstances. and what we can do on our side as the fed operates and makes those independent judgments is work to try to address these issues. lowering the cost that families face. unsticking these supply chain challenges and together those two things will help provide the economy a clearer direction going forward. >> you mentioned there's legislation before congress. i assume you're talking about the build back better act which we know became completely stuck with senator joe manchin saying he does not support it, period. the child tax credit was part of it. it cut the monthly child poverty rate by 30%. that's nearly 4 million children who were pulled out of poverty and that credit ran out on january 1st. the white house, will they make a push for a separate stand-alone extensionion of this? is that a priority? >> well, that extended child tax credit is still going to people. monthly payments ended but those individuals who are eligible can actually get the remainder of their 2021 child tax credit by filing their tax returns right now. but more generally, if your concern is prices in the economy right now, which is certainly a concern for the white house and this president, then the most immediate and direct action is to lower costs that families are facing, child care, health care, prescription drugs, and do that in a common sense way that's fully paid for. doesn't affect or put upward pressure on inflation. that's what we're trying to work with congress to do. and that's what is the economic need for the country. we had about ten ceos here yesterday running america's largest companies. everything from general motors to cumins in the industrial midwest and they all said that providing direct support to familiar lees to get more people working and to help lower those costs would be the most effective thing for the economy right now. so this is an economic issue, an economic necessity. and if the concern is prices, that would be a direct answer to that concern. >> brian deese, i appreciate your time. thank you so much for joining us. >> thanks for having me. this just in. senate minority leader mitch mcconnell just reacted to supreme court justice stephen breyer's retirement announcement. why the leader who held up merrick garland's hearings and pushed through amy coney barrett's confirmation says president biden doesn't have the mandate to nominate anyone from the, quote, radical left. don't settle for products that give you a sort-of white smile. try crest whitening emulsions... ...for 100% whiter teeth. its highly active peroxide droplets... ...swipe on in seconds. better. faster. 100% whiter teeth. shop crestwhitesmile.com. rob did his best to manage his constipation with belly pain day after day. but after realizing it was ibs-c, he found another way. and finally said yess to adding linzess. linzess is not a laxative. it helps you have more frequent and complete bowel movements, and is proven to help relieve overall abdominal symptoms belly pain, discomfort, and bloating. do not give linzess to children less than two. it may harm them. do not take linzess if you have a bowel blockage. get immediate help if you develop unusual or severe stomach pain. especially with bloody or black stools. the most common side effect is diarrhea, sometimes severe. if it's severe, stop taking linzess and call your doctor right away. other side effects include gas, stomach area pain, and swelling. could your story also be about ibs-c? 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[limu emu squawks] he'll be back. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty. ♪ before discovering nexium 24hr to treat her frequent heartburn... claire could only imagine enjoying chocolate cake. now, she can have her cake and eat it too. nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts for all-day, all-night protection. can you imagine 24 hours without heartburn? i don't just play someone brainy on tv - i'm an actual neuroscientist. and i love the science behind neuriva plus. unlike ordinary memory supplements, neuriva plus fuels six key indicators of brain performance. more brain performance? yes, please! neuriva. think bigger. supreme court justice stephen breyer has made it official. he is retiring. last hour, breyer appeared alongside president biden for his announcement. president biden had these words. >> justice breyer has been everything his country could have asked of him. and he's appeared before -- when he appeared before the judiciary committee almost three decades ago, we all had high hopes for the mark he would leave on the history, the law and the constitution. and he's exceeded those hopes in every possible way. >> the president is now set to fulfill a key campaign promise. to select the nation's first black woman to serve on america's highest court. here's a look at the short list. and while biden has not selected a pick yet, he'll make a pick by the end of february. joining us now, gloria borger, supreme court biographer, joan biskupic and elliott williams. gloria, big moment. big day. and listen to what senate minority leader mitch mcconnell said about this vacancy a short time ago. quote, the president must not outsource this important decision to the radical left. the american people deserve a nominee with demonstrated reverence for the written text of our laws and our constitution. we know both biden and his chief of staff ron klain have decades of experience with the supreme court confirmation process. gloria, how does that impact their strategy. >> look, what mitch mcconnell is telling you is, this is going to be the line we're going to use in the midterm elections. that whomever is from that list and you showed the pictures, is going to be a product of the radical left. i mean, it's completely predictable. i think mitch mcconnell says it because he knows he has to say it. it's also very clear to me that manchin and sinema, the two people who have given the democrats heartburn over the build back better proposals are people who generally will support a president's nominee for the supreme court. so i think the democrats, rightly so, want to get this done pretty quickly. you heard the president himself today say about a month. and mitch mcconnell will do what mitch mcconnell does. this is not a surprise. it's going to be the talking points. and then they'll move on. >> joan, the nation's first black woman on the court. there may not be an ideological shift with this, but this is a shift. >> it really is, ana. and it is quite an historic day. as you said at the outset. we've had 115 justices in some 230 years, and never a black woman on the court. so just that is going to be so important to many people out there. and justice ruth bader ginsburg used to say it was wonderful when schoolchildren could come into the courtroom and actually see two women sitting on the bench. now there will be many more. it's just because of the times now and that will be important to people looking at the court. the other thing is there will be new youth. justice breyer is 83 years old. presumably the president will choose a woman who is in her 40s or 50s. so that will change. and then ana, i know you've heard this many times over the last two days. there's a common adage that's attributed to the late justice byron white. you change one justice, you change the whole court, and that is so true. that whoever comes on will cause the other justices to sort of reorient around each other and one thing that will change is that justice stephen breyer is, right now, someone who wants to work the middle. he wants to find consensus at the middle. and the only two who will be left who work that way are chief justice john roberts and justice elena kagan. and the question will be, will this new individual add to that sort of middle seeking group or will it mean that the court becomes a much harder, very dominant six-member conservative court versus three liberals on the left. >> elliott, representation matters. having diverse perspectives, diverse backgrounds and experiences, that can make a difference. how do you see a black woman changing the dynamics behind the scenes, among the justices, to have a black woman's voice and perspective, whether it's the cases they choose to accept or how the court debates law surrounding those cases to how they ultimately rule? >> look, the court will, number one, be more reflective of america. not even close to being reflective of america, but much closer. beyond the fact, the glaring fact of a black woman being put on the court, something that president biden has done in his entire time is diversify the backgrounds of people who end up being put on the bench. for years it was people like me who were former federal prosecutors or law partners who were being in the court. now you're seeing more federal public defenders, academics and so on being names. the short list of individuals involves state judges, federal judges, academics and so on. public defenders. so a diversity of experience and even that is itself a big change for the supreme court. which tends to have justices of a certain mold. not just frankly racially or as a matter of gender. so that's a profound change that we just haven't seen yet. >> and gloria, one could say this opportunity for the biden administration to pick a supreme court justice, this could be a breath of fresh air for an administration that needs a win right now. and we know how important black voters were to biden's presidency. first getting the nomination, then the white house. and he has some work to do with those voters now, according to pew polling, among black voters. in april of 2021, he had 89% approval. right now, it's dropped to 60%. do you think this could move the needle back up? >> well, certainly among black leadership who has really been pushing for this and pushed for this when he was a candidate. i think 60% is not bad. and i think it will certainly -- african american voters looking at the first black woman on the court is an important historic moment. but i think voters -- black voters like everyone else want but i think black voters want to feel good about the economy and what the if the has done for them, et cetera, so it's not just going to be this. and also, don't forget, this is happening pretty early. it will happen, say, it will happen way before the midterm elections. the president wants to get it done quickly, so you really, it's hard to gauge at this point, but what i can say is it certainly doesn't hurt. one more thing i want to point out, and joan and elliot can really talk about this, is that the three liberals on the court will now be women, so they're going to have their little female caucus, the women's caulk, and maybe the justices won't mansplain them as much. >> that feels like a good place to end. gloria borger, joan, strong women's voice the last word. >> i was tempted to say, well, actually, gloria, but -- >> you're good. you're good. >> oh, thank you all. joan, elliot, gloria, appreciate you all. six hours. that is how much time attorney turned defendant michael avenatti says he needs to cross-examine his former client, stormy daniels. daniels is on the stand right now. we'll have details next. with up to 50% more lotion, puffs bring soothing relief. a nose in need deserves puffs indeed. america's #1 lotion tissue. tony here, from creditrepair.com. let's talk credit. what are you doing to improve your credit? do i need to improve my credit? that's up to you, but, a difference of 30 points could save you $60,000 or more over the course of your home loan. go to creditrepair.com. you're a one-man stitchwork master. but your staffing plan needs to go up a size. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. indeed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job description. visit indeed.com/hire for people who could use a lift new neutrogena® rapid firming. a triple-lift serum with pure collagen. 92% saw visibly firmer skin in just 4 weeks. neutrogena® for people with skin. happening right now, adult film actress stormy daniels, who claims to have had an affair with donald trump years before he was president, is on the witness stand right now as part of a criminal trial of her former lawyer. michael avenatti represented stormy daniels in several matters involving the former president. now, daniels claims avenatti defrauded her, specifically hundreds of thousands of dollars she was owed in a book deal and since avenatti is now representing himself, he will soon have the chance to cross-examine. let's discuss with criminal defense attorney sara azari. sara, avenatti says he plans to cross-examine daniels for six hours. how do you see this going down? are you expecting fireworks? >> on a six hours? i mean, this is michael avenatti on full display, going for the jugular, but he did spend two days to cross-examine a former employee in a similar case in california involving embezzlement from client funds, so i expect he's going to take the six hours but you have to understand that typically, even though we overestimate the time we need with witnesses, and i'm the queen of that, it really doesn't take that long. i mean, this is something that could be done in two or three hours, but of course, for him, it's six. more importantly, i think, ana, what this will be is the cross-examination is both awkward and very effective. it's awkward because he's going up against a former client, and he's confronting and cross examining her. but it's very effective because he has what most of us trial lawyers don't have, which is this intimate witness familiarity. for over two years, they were partners in crime. they went up against donald trump for his hush money payments and campaign finance violations, and now they're adversaries, and he knows better than anyone, even if he had a lawyer, that lawyer, what triggers her, how to poke and prod and elicit and trigger her in a way that potentially could make her testimony fall apart. but again, it's a pretty easy case for the prosecutors in the southern district of new york. they typically bring financial crime cases that they know will lead to a conviction and this is four transactions, $300,000, it's really not that complicated. >> you talk about the history of these two, taking on then president trump and you'll recall, daniels has been dragged by trump in the media for years. how do you think that might impact the jury here? >> well, i think there's been a lot of bias elimination that went on in the voir dire. the jurors were asked, for example, about how they feel or their attitudes towards an adult film star, you know, whether that would be used against or harm her credibility and much like that line of questioning, there has been questions about the political aspect of this, and you know, the jurors' political views and what stormy daniels meant to donald trump for so long, so i'm pretty confident that both sides have had the ability to pick a jury that's fair and impartial to the best of their ability. >> do you think avenatti will then testify in his own defense? >> that would be even more awkward, because that is when a pro se defendant is wearing two hats. he's answering questions, being cross examined by the prosecutors, but he's also wearing the hat of a lawyer on his own behalf, making the correct, hopefully, evidentiary objections and motions so that, i think, will be most awkward and of course, this judge, ana, has admonished him that he's not going to take a back door way into taking the stand. either he takes the stand or he evokes his fifth and remains silent but he's not going to testify in the line of questioning that's directed at the multiple witnesses that he is going to cross-examine or even witnesses that he might put on direct. >> remind us the charges that he is facing. >> he's facing fraud, basically, under federal law, and that involves embezzlement. you know, four different transactions amounting to $300,000 where these funds allegedly were not -- they did not belong to him. they were stormy's advance on a book deal, and then he falsified a document, allegedly, to receive these funds into his client trust account. then he took the funds out of that account and put them in his personal and business accounts, paying for his ferrari, his jet, et cetera, and i think back payroll. but regardless, it's going to turn on the prosecution's ability to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that these funds did not belong to him, that they were daniels' funds, that he falsified this document and willfully misappropriated these funds for his own personal use and that it was without her knowledge and authorization. that's why daniels's testimony is important, because she's laying the foundation for her lack of knowledge and lack of authorization, making this embezzlement. i think it's a fairly easy case to prove. >> just quickly then, what would be the punishment if convicted? >> under the sentencing guidelines, there's this report that half of those monies were actually eventually turned over to daniels, but under federal law, it's not about actual loss. it's about the amount diverted, so here we're dealing with $300,000, even if it was really $150,000. so with the $300,000, you look at the sentencing guidelines, looking at two or three years, potentially more. >> okay. >> because it's a sophisticated way to commit a crime. >> sara azari, thank you so much. i'm going to hand it off to victor and alisyn right now. ♪ >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. hello, i'm victor blackwell. good to be with you. >> i'm alisyn camerota. president biden will soon make his first supreme court pick. today, justice stephen breyer officially announced he will retire after 28 years on the nation's highest court at the end of this term. now the question becomes who will be justice breyer's replacement? president biden says he will revealisho