first time i connected with kim, she told me that her husband had passed. and that he took care of all of the internet connected devices in the home. i told her, “i'm here to take care of you.” connecting with kim... made me reconnect with my mom. it's very important to keep loved ones close. we know that creating memories with loved ones brings so much joy to your life. a family trip to the team usa training facility. i don't know how to thank you. i'm here to thank you. so president biden says the quiet part out loud. what now? tonight on "laura coates live." so it all went down behind closed doors by people who want him to win the most. president joe biden making an admission of sorts, saying, quote, if trump wasn't run, i'm not sure i would be running. we all know he entered the race over what happened in charlottesville, talking about battling for the soul of the nation. it was obvious to everyone then that trump was the catalyst. but tonight's statements are feeling a little different for some reason, maybe because he was in a room full of donors. maybe because his campaign has wanted to focus on health care this week and his desire to have another four years to finish the job he started. and the question people are asking tonight when you already have the polling by the way that shows that people might not be too thrilled with a rematch between the two of them is it a lack of enthusiasm on his part? or is it just recognizing on his part that trump represents an ongoing threat to our democracy, which he has alluded to a number of times? now in 335 voters are going to let him know. tonight they have done a little bit of damage control since that quote sneaked out. a little while ago he was pressed if he would still be running for president if trump wasn't running for president, to which he said this. >> would you be running for president if trump wasn't running? >> i expect so. but look, he is running, and i have to run. >> okay. well, there might have been some conversations i bet on air force one because people running his campaign, well, how did they respond when they heard what he said, with a big old yikes. that's a quote, apparently. look, we know the president has been looking at this election as a kind of existential battle for american democracy. it's a message we've heard from him before. >> democracy is at stake. and let there be no question. donald trump and his maga republicans are determined to spread anger, hate and division. they seek power at all costs, are determined to destroy this democracy. i cannot watch that happen, nor can you. this is the united states of america, and the united states congress extreme maga republicans trying to undo virtually every bit of progress we've made. >> well, that was all from this year. how about the argument he made when running back in 2022. is already similar, right? the then candidate signaled to aides that he would be a one-term president. we know that's no longer the case. remember back when a prominent adviser told politico at the time, quote, if biden is elected, see going to be 82 years old in four years and he won't be running for reelection. hope he didn't play the lottery on that crystal ball. biden himself even said this out loud. there is that campaign again during the campaign in march of 2020. >> look, i view myself as a bridge, not as anything else. there is an entire generation of leaders you saw stand behind me. they are the future of this country. >> well, we've got to that bridge, and he is crossing it all the way into the election of 2024. he did beat donald trump once, but is he the only one who can do it again? >> i think we have enormous opportunities. and i think i just want to finish the job. >> we made a lot of progress so far, but we got to finish the job. >> folks, we have to keep going and finish the job. >> joining me now, cnn anchor and chief political correspondent dana bash. dana, it's so great to see you tonight. man, there is so much happening. i'm so glad to be able to pick your brain in this moment. look, we all know the point that he is making, right. we know what he is trying to say. but how is that supposed to energize voters when you hear the president of the united states saying you know what? if he weren't in the race, i wouldn't be here. obviously i'm paraphrasing. but what does this mean? >> it means another day, two days, many days of headlines that joe biden and his campaign did not want. they were feeling pretty good about the fact that donald trump gave them a gift in saying that he was going to run on taking obamacare away and other issues like, i don't know, democracy. and this was a gaffe. i mean, it just was. joe biden, ever since -- this is nothing to do with age, laura. i covered him when he was way younger in the senate, and that is classic joe biden. he also does tend to be a lot more candid when he is at these fundraisers. they're private fundraiser, even though they are open to the press. and, you know, i was thinking about this. you remember when he first ran back in 2020. >> yeah. >> his whole thing was i'm coming out of retirement because of donald trump. i'm coming out of retirement because of charlottesville. >> the battle for the soul of the nation. >> exactly. and the people coming out of the woods with talking about the replacement theory and all of that. so my sense is that he thought he was just kind of building on that. but it certainly didn't come out that way. and that's not me saying that. just basic reporting that i've done even since those words were uttered by the president. there is a lot -- if you can somehow get a sense of cringe through a text message, that's what's happening. and i'm sure you understand what i mean. even more. they're worried. they're worried. >> your interview with congresswoman pramila jayapal, i'm sure you know this, dana, it has gone absolutely viral, and i want to play a part of it just to jog your memory, as you well know. listen. >> have you talked:00 it since october 7th? >> absolutely. i've condemned what hamas has done. all of the actions, the rape, of course. but i think we have to remember that israel is a democracy. that is why they are a strong ally of ours. and if they do not comply with international humanitarian law, they are bringing themselves to a place that makes it much more difficult strategically for them to be able to build the kinds of allies to keep public opinion with them. >> with respect, i was just asking about the women, and you turned it back to israel. i'm asking you about hamas. >> i already answered your question, dana. i said it's horrific. >> well, now she is having to backtrack, saying tonight, quote, that she unequivocally condemns hamas' use of rape and sexual violence as an act of war, unquote. what does this say about why now she is saying? was she under pressure to say this? is that's what's happened? >> yes, i mean, in a word, yes. that word that you just used from the statement that she released earlier this evening, unequivocally, that is the word that many of her colleagues, i would say even most of her colleagues were hoping that she would say. and you can kind of tell in the interview, i wasn't sure, i wasn't expecting her answer to say yes to condemn the brutal -- this is what we were talking about, the brutal, barbaric rape, mass rape of women on october 7th, israeli women. and then to sort of turn it back to israel. but i think what it does underscore, laura, is something that i know you've been reporting on, i've been reporting on. i've been reporting on it since before october 7th, but it has exploded since october 7th which is a growing -- well, the hostility towards israel by progressives who genuinely understandably believe in palestinian rights. that has been going on for a long time. there are some in her own caucus who will not condemn hamas, who will go off on tangents and say that israel is engaging in genocide. she is not one of them. she has very, very clearly condemned hamas, has called it a terror attack, and has also spoken out very forcibly against antisemitism. so as the caucus chair, she has been trying to walk a line. but i think the situation that she is in speaks to the larger turn that is going on inside the progressive movement about this issue. >> it's such an important topic. we heard obviously senator chuck schumer to that effect just last week on the floor of the senate talking about all that is taking place. well, in diplomacy these day, we know the word "but" is particularly fraught. thank you so much, dana. it's always a pleasure to pick your brain and gain all of your insight. thank you so much. >> thanks, laura. well, now i want to bring in cnn political commentator ashley allison and former republican congressman charlie dent. i'm glad that both of you are here. i first want to play again for a moment what biden had to say. his walking back his comment earlier of look, i probably wouldn't be running if donald trump were not rung. i'm paraphrasing, o there and a little bit of damage control. listen. >> would you be running for president if trump wasn't running? >> i expect. so but look, he is running. and i have to run. >> okay. so you know we like to analyze and overanalyze words in washington, d.c. and beyond. are people being too critical of what he said and how he said it? or is that the interpretation that many might here that i got to do it. what do you think? >> well, a couple of months ago when he was deciding whether or not he was going to run for reelection, he said that he was going weigh a couple of options and who was rung, meaning donald trump was going to be one of those things he considered. and so i think he just -- he is reiterating it. is it something that needs to be said right now? probably not. it's not the best -- it's not the best thing to say right now, because the reason why people run for president is they think they are the best one for the job. i think joe biden does think he is the best person for the job. right now the democratic party is endorsing him because -- well, some people are running against him. but they aren't really holding a primary for anyone to challenge him. so i'm not surprised he feels i'm running because donald trump is rung. the first time he ran, he said the same thing. i have to protect the soul of this nation, and we have to stop donald trump. and he thought he was the best person to do it, and guess what? he did it? >> of course running from my home state of minnesota, in slamming the initial comments, he called it downright delusional and then pointed to biden's low approval ratings. when you heard the comments, did you interpret it in the same way? or was it a continuation of look, i'm the person who can actually beat him. because i have. that's why i have to run. >> i thought it was not an elegant comment. if you asked why you're running for president, it's because i have a great agenda, a terrific agenda and lots more to do for the next four years. and by the way, my opponent is a menace to the u.s. constitution. not saying i got to run because he is running. maybe we are overanalyzing it, but he should have an answer as to why he is running for president better than what he give. i think philips is right to smack him on it. >> he was in a room of people who wanted him to win. at the same token, it is unfair to think he is the only one. you heard from people like senator joe manchin, who is talking about whether he'll run as a third party or otherwise because he doesn't want to take away votes from biden in favor of trump or be that spoiler. congresswoman elizabeth warren, the former congresswoman has talked about her contemplation of what is ahead. and in fact, she talked to anderson cooper earlier tonight and said that she is considering not necessarily a third party run, but that she'll do all that she can to prevent trump from getting that victory. when you look at the landscape of all of this, obviously he is the republican front-runner among those left in the race. everyone is considering donald trump right now, right? >> yeah. i mean, when you look at who is in your party right now running for the nominee, chris christie, he said he is running because we have to stop donald trump. >> right. >> well, some of the people who also say that aren't even in the race anymore because they didn't do so well, like asa hutchinson, and other folks that are still here, they haven't condemned trump as much as they perhaps should the. but people are thinking of donald trump. people do presume he is going to be the republican nominee. i will say i still think that there could be a primary caucus surprise like what happens a lot of times and it duds get drug out until tuesday, or super tuesday. i do think people are looking at donald trump. all eyes are on is this going to be a trump-biden rematch. >> i want to ask you, i former congresswoman liz cheney is contemplating that third party run under a traditional republican value. she is being very clear about a disconnect between what trump espouses and making a new party, not necessarily a third party, but a new party of sorts that would go back to maybe your father's republican. it would be your own republican frankly. would you support that? >> i think liz cheney is right to talk about an independent movement. some might call it a third party movement that could aright center left the center right. i think the center of the country has been largely ignored in this country. the extremes are being catered to by the parties. and so i think liz is right. and no labels is setting her up nicely, actually. no labels is trying to secure ballot access in all 50 states for some type of a fusion ticket. and i think elizabeth cheney might fit the bill for that whether republican or democrat. we could talk. it could be a larry hogan or a chris sununu. who knows? i'm not sure who the democrat might be, but i think there would be plenty who would be willing to jump into this because i think a lot of people in the center of the country want to be able to vote for somebody other than donald trump. i didn't vote for him in '16 or '20. we want to be able to vote for somebody. biden, two-thirds of the country thinks one candidate joe biden is too old, and the other donald trump is too crazy. what part of the message aren't the parties hearing? >> what's the saying? jokers to the left, here i am stuck in the middle with you. who knows. thank you so much. look, the director of the fbi says he is blinking red warning lights every single place he turns. next, we'll talk about what is scaring the director of the fbi, and also he says the threats are greater than ever before. we're working around the clock to identify and disrupt potential attacks by those inspired by hamas' horrific terrorist attacks in israel. i've never seen a time where all the threats, or so many of the threats were so elevated, all at the same time. >> would you say there is multiple blinking red lights out there? >> i see blinking lights everywhere i turn. >> fbi director christopher wray waving a huge red flag about the threats of attacks on the homeland, saying that threats to the u.s. have reached unprecedented levels since october 7th. let's talk about now with donnell harvin, intelligence for the district of columbia and former associate white house counsel to former president george w. bush, handing intelligence matters. i don't feel very comfortable having the fbi director having unprecedented or novel moments that he's never seen before. not a ring endorsement of our collective safety. why is this happening now, particularly post october 7th here in the united states? >> you know, he is clearly harkening back to george tenet, who actually testified to the 9/11 commission about the system blinking red. and so he's really honing in on two types of threats. the first an international threat from foreign terrorist organizations, or ftos that have sworn attacks against the u.s. and are trying to inspire people within the u.s., which is the second one, the domestic threat coming from people who are inspired by the events that are going on in israel, hamas' mis and disinformation. when you look at the threat picture, it's rare you have from overseas as well as from the homeland simultaneously. >> if he is seeing blinking lights everywhere, sadly they're not agents everywhere, nor the workforce power to handle everything. that might be a national security huge threat. >> i mean, darnell is exactly right. there are threats from the outside. the world is essentially on fire. we have a war in the heart of europe. threats from china and the like. and on december 31st, we're about to lose our most critical collection tool, section 702 of the foreign surveillance act. if congress doesn't act in the next three weeks, we're going lose our best ability to collect on these very terrorists, these very foreign threats. that's going to be a disaster. if the system is blinking red and this tool goes away, red is even close to color we're going to face with potential threats. >> how is the tool being used right now? >> so what we do, under section 702, we collect against foreign intelligence targets overseas. it can't be used against americans, only against overseas threats and only non-americans located overseas. >> what about social media? is that developed in that conversation? >> open source isn't the use for this. you can collect open source on the internet. anybody can go out there and read it. this is for the emails, the phone calls of terrorists, spies, foreign government officials and the like. >> well, speaking of social media, of course, a lot of the information that is coming in that can either radicalize people or further divide people, and foster a lot of the disinformation and outright lies with an eye towards propaganda is happening online. when you look at that, and see how it is flourishing, how public sentiment is based on it in so many ways, what concerns you? >> you know, the world is upside down. i woke up two weeks ago and i saw that bin laden was right and bin laden letters were trending. i didn't know what world i was in. when you can radicalize normal american, especially our youth, to take to the streets. you have american youth dressing up like a terrorist, waving the hamas flags in the streets of our cities on the campuses, you have a problem. it all stems from the internet. it's unregulated. it penetrates, it's mis and disinformation. it penetrates deep into the social media networks. it's almost impossible to bring these people back from the brink. what we don't know is if anyone is going to act on it. that's key. that's key to the fiez za as far as people may be communicating with foreign terrorist organization. we saw that in the mid 2010s with icy communicating actively with u.s. persons here on our oil as well as looking at what people were doing on social media and see if they're radicalizing to violence. >> i know you report that tom cruise moby about deciding whether you have actually committed the crime and can they act on your thought that you might do something. we don't want that to happen in the country, obviously. but this idea of what might happen is the real conundrum to law enforcement, when you you've have all the threats that are posed, if some are existing, and figuring which to identify, and thinking at some point is there a deeper conversation about surveilling american citizens as a result? >> that's exactly right. look, on this point about what's happening online, a lot of this is happening on tiktok. a chinese owned and operated platform. it's no coincidence this kind of radicalization, that all these americans kids started getting into happen on a chinese-built platform. the algorithm encouraged that. on the question of surveying americans, that's exactly right.