what he texted. in stark contrast from each other? >> yeah. anderson, nick valencia, thanks. the news continues right here on cnn >> it's thursday, february 20. happy week here right now on cnn this morning the supreme court agree agrees to hear donald trump's absolute immunity arguments, throwing his 2024 trial schedule into turmoil, plus yet another legal challenge for trump for an illinois judge booting the former president off that state's ballot will look at that and a deal to keep the federal government open is going to have a vote in a matter of hours or still the threat of a shutdown looms all right >> 05:00 a.m. here in washington, a live look at the united states supreme court, the center of it all this morning morning. good morning. i'm kasie hunt. it's wonderful to have you with us. >> we're going to start there. the supreme court agreeing to decide whether or not former president donald trump is immune from criminal prosecution for the actions he took on and leading up to january 6, it's a move that the court made that plays right into donald trump's deflect and delay strategy. and it really is a big win for the former president who's doing everything legally possible to push his trial dates past the november election. the justices are going to hear arguments in late april on this a ruling not expected until late june. meanwhile, in illinois judge has removed trump from that state's ballot based on the 14th amendment's insurrectionist ban. the former president's legal team has a narrow window to appeal the decision. the supreme court's already considering whether states have the right to remove a candidate from the ballot. joining us now to discuss all of this is white house reporter catherine lucey. catherine, good morning to you. it's great to be here in studio with you in-person for sure. so this decision by the supreme court is in many ways a gift to donald trump because it really does delay the start date for this this trial really late in the summer. we expect >> how is the >> trump team viewing this? how is the biden team viewing this? what are you hearing from your sources? >> this certainly, as you said, it plays right into trump's strategy, which always has been trying to lay all of this as much as possible. it means that the earliest probably if this were to go forward, we late summer at that point, the republican convention has already happened. early voting starts in some states in september, right? so it really pushes this right into the general election season. so this is what trump's team is looking for. they want to keep pushing these things off as much as possible. the biden folks, they want to draw contrast between themselves and trump. you see them doing this very aggressively now, trying to show his what they argue is his leadership compared to trump's chaos. they're going to continue doing that. these trials remain in the news whether or not they're moving forward the legal chaos surrounding him is there. they're going to continue doing that regardless. right? >> so the justice department has a policy generally not to interfere in presidential elections. i mean, that's it's usually considered in the context of deciding to indict someone or not. right. and there is obviously a lot of criticism of james comey around this back in hey 16. if we're looking at a labor day trial in the jack smith case, what do they do? >> i don't i think we re such uncharted territory on it free thing here. >> i mean, look a point, like the number of >> trials stacked up, the number of different proceedings, state courts, federal, et cetera. so i think we'll have to see how that plays out, but you're right. hey, it's just we've never seen anything like this before and how it impacts i mean, to pull it back, how it impacts voters how voters see this. we do see in polling that there is a difference for some voters depending on whether this is a trial versus a conviction. so that's why they are trying to keep pushing all of this stuff off, right? >> i mean, innocent >> until proven guilty, right >> so the president, the former president, put this on social media last night, he says without presidential immunity, a president will not, president will not be able to properly function or make the decisions in the best interest of the united states. presidents will always be concerned and paralyzed by the prospect of wrongful prosecution and retaliation. after they leave office to just talk about the arguments here for a second. i mean, again, we're in unprecedented territory. the supreme court is now going to have to decide, okay. our presidents immune and potentially under what circumstances the dc circuit was pretty clear in how they decided this. we should underscore this is trump appealing that decision mean they called him citizen trump, right? in those arguments, the prospect was raised that a president could try to use american military resources to try to assassinate a political rival, right? i mean, the potential examples here are pretty stark how do they thread the needle here? i mean, it does seem like they're going to have to make if they're going to give him any immunity from prosecution, they're going to have to make a distinction somewhere i'm sure that's where i >> i mean, i do think we've seen lower court's ruling this >> they've been pretty clear >> we >> have to see how the supreme court fuses. we haven't really seen them in a space like this before, so we have to, we're going to have to see how this plays out. oh, i hate to keep saying territory so outside the realm of anything we've seen, but it does. i think also it puts them between this and the other colorado the other cases in kyiv mentioned yeah. but the colorado case about whether or not he can start from the ballot. it just puts the court in the center of the election in a way we haven't really seen what since 2000, right? it puts, it puts them in the middle of this campaign. >> yeah. i mean, i think to certain extent, i was a little bit surprised, honestly, because when we were covering the arguments around this live, there seemed to be this or i should say, when we were covering the live arguments around the ballot cases, right. because the court is also involved in deciding is it started in colorado. we're now seeing kind of expand illinois did this yesterday. the court heard arguments about okay. should donald trump be kicked off the ballot under the insurrectionist ban, they seem very inclined to decide to keep him on the ballot to tell states you can't do this. he's not necessarily been convicted of anything yet, et cetera and then the flip side of that was going to be well, they could have just denied hearing this immunity thing altogether. they could have led the dc circuit courts stand and that would sort of kind of split the difference because you're right, like the court itself is honestly facing a crisis of confidence. if you look at the numbers of people who trust it do you think how do you think that is going to play into our politics overall, if it starts to feel to americans as those supreme court has decided the election and americans don't want to see that, right? and you're right, polling shows less confidence in the court than in past eras in america and just less confidence in systems. i think broadly. and so you do potentially have a situation where people don't feel competent in results and we know that can have real consequences. >> yeah, for sure. all right. catherine lucey. catherine. thank you very much frankly, being with us this morning, i really appreciate it. >> all right. coming up here on cnn this morning, replacing mitch mcconnell, top republicans in line to be the party's next senate leader plot plus wildfires in texas out of control, burning over 100 miles of power lines. and vladimir putin speaks to russia's parliament what he's saying about the war in ukraine next one, our change. how you see the world when data to the bottom of the world every sunday night, cnn's best journalists tell the whole story. the whole story with anderson cooper, sunday at eight on cnn works hard at our one is twice as hard when you take it again the next day. so betty could be the barcode beat conduct let's be more than our allergies. >> and for fast allergy relief with a powerful decongestant tries their tech d >> fashion moves fast. >> so we partner with verizon to take our operations to the next level with a custom private 5g network, we get more control of production efficiencies and greater agility. >> that's enterprise intelligence. >> it's your vision, it's your verizon >> we're building a better postal service all parts working in sync to move your business. bulwark with the streamlined shipping network and new high-speed processing and delivery centers. >> for >> more value, more of a liability, and more on-time deliveries the united states postal service is built for how you business and how you business is with simple, affordable, and reliable shipping usps ground advantage. >> are you embarrassed by your bathroom well, it's time to stop hiding your bathroom. jacuzzi bathroom model can install a beautiful new bath or shower that you can be proud of in one day. and they'll do it at a price you can afford. in fact, there's never been a better time to call. we're giving you 50% of installation and postponing all payments for up to one year. >> having someone uses bash hours, definitely an embarrassment. i am so excited and proud of my home, but not letting someone go in there >> it's so pretty in new and the tub is so deepen uk can't wait to just like a climate and just lay there. >> i did not like my bathroom before and was embarrassed by it >> yeah >> this is unbelievable. it is stunning. i can't believe it. >> i loved the way that the shower turned out and i cannot believe that they did it in one day jacuzzi has been making water-filled great for more for the 65 years. so, you know, it's a brand you can trust for an at-home sanctuary, you'll love for years to come. just look at these gorgeous custom designs. plus, we offer free in-home design services to build the bath of your dreams, right? 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>> what i think it's interesting just seeing him. he doesn't always hold these addresses. he tends to get up there and speak to the nation as it were when he has something to say and he's got a lot to say. it has got a lot of momentum behind him, of course, in ukraine, these pushing frontlines forward. so just seeing that sort of confidence i think is quite symbolic general themes coming out there. one of them essentially, his usual one, that america basically needs to get over itself. it doesn't rule the world anymore. i did pick out a couple of things which i thought were interesting. he saying that russia needs to strengthen its western border referring to how sweden and finland joined nato. so he sees that as a defensive move that's how he's spinning it anyway, he says concerns about russia attacking europe all the thoughts of total ravings of lunatics. the other one, casey, i know you've been talking about this recently. this idea that russia thinking about putting nukes into space i saying these are planted stories by the us. he actually criticized the us for blocking russian proposals, which included a draft treaty on preventing weapons in outer space that they prepared as early as 2008. so he's essentially suggesting that the us actually isn't saying no to knutson space and projecting onto russia is false, but usually these are just obviously putin's words, right? >> i mean, we do and i will say like the headline in the ft is about leaked files that russia set a low bar for the use of tactical nuclear weapon i just want to note this is what i'm looking at here at cnn reporting, you might, you might have better idea than i do about where we actually stand on this, but i mean, i do think from often from our perspective and from the perspective of republicans, democrats, i talked to here in washington. i mean, i don't think there's a view that what putin says is credible, right? but like the point is that he's trying to send a certain message. but i'm interested, max. we understand a lot of how he talks and he does he can speak in english. this is obviously for a russian audience. how is he balancing the optics of this in terms of the audience that he's talking to for something like this. >> it doesn't have to balance all that much because most of the russian media just tell his story that lay a lot of the independent media has gone away, so they're not sitting there with critical analysis of it and you've got all of his people listening to him. there, including religious leaders the conversation in washington, i think it doesn't change, does it? because as long as he's repeating the same lines is he would say that i didn't think it really does change the conversation march, but in terms of russia is just about over the long term building his momentum as a tough guy, a winning tough guy, the one taking on the west. he talks a lot actually about the brics countries which were traditionally the developing nations who worked together as a group, saying that they've got this massive cart, the world economy now. and that's all speaking to the same thing is compare its more powerful than the g8 therefore, the west is becoming weaker. he's on the winning side. that's the entire narrative right? >> weak versus strong. i mean, it sounds like someone else that i all right here in the united states, max foster live for us in london. max, thank you. as always, i really appreciate it >> more than >> 30,000 people have been killed in gaza since october 7, according to the hamas-controlled palestinian health ministry, that number underscores a horrific months-long ordeal for the palestinian people. israel's airstrikes have displaced nearly the entire population and created a devastating humanitarian crisis. israel estimates about 10,000 hamas fighters have been killed since october 7, more than 1,200 people in israel were killed during hamas's attacks on that day. and more than 250 were kidnapped and taken hostage in gaza. all right, up next here, wildfires in texas turning deadly, destroying homes and almost every direction. plus hunter biden on capitol hill scolding republicans for trying to impeach his father bragg room deals, cia sequence of fairs >> bribery, corruption, prostitution there's so much more to the store in knighted states of scandal with jake tapper sunday at nine on cnn, not flossing. >> well, then add the wo of listerine to your routine. new science shows. listerine is five times more effective than floss at reducing plaque above the gum line for a cleaner, healthier mouth >> this three >> feel the world hey, as liz got you going through it, grad new column for q or asthma attacks. nikola is a once monthly add-on injection for severe eosinophilic asthma, not for sudden breathing problems plus allergic reactions can occur, get help right away for swelling of face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing, infections that can cause shingles have occurred. don't stop steroids and less told by your dr. tell your dr. if you have a parasitic infection may cause headache injection site reactions, back pain and fatigue. and that's going to asthma specialist if new cola is right for you good question is you're going to be anything leftover >> oh, absolutely. >> my kids don't know what they want. you know, who knows what she wants >> with empower. we get all of our financial questions answered so you don't have to worry empower. >> what's next >> when migraine strikes, you're faced with a choice except the trade-offs of treating or push through the pain and suffering we've you rally, there's another option. one, dose quickly stops migraine in its tracks, treated anytime anywhere. without worrying where you are or if it's too late, do not take a strong cyp 3a4 inhibitors, allergic reactions to draw, they can happen. most common side effects are nausea and sleepiness migraine pain relief starts you asked about uvalde. learn how abby could help you save my store, my design business or exploding. >> but my old internet was not letting me run the show. so we switched to verizon business internet. they have business gradient you're not nationwide. >> make the switch. it's your business, it's your verizon >> they are some of the hottest videos on social media. those videos claiming to instantly get rid of bags under your eyes. so net figure rowe is here to tell us why she's says this one is for real, this one is for real. >> and what >> it does is it tightens and list the appearance of bags underneath your eyes. and not only does it work on the bags that works on the appearance of her those feet fine lines and wrinkles. >> try it today for only $14.95 plus get free shipping. this it flexa durham trial.com, or call the number on your screen. >> i won't let my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis symptoms define me emerge as, you with trump via most people saw 90% clear skin eye for months. and the majority stake clear eyed five years. >> cbs allergic reactions may occur, can fire, may increase your risk of infections for your ability to fight them. tell you dr. if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to emerge as you emerge trim phi it asked her dr. about trump hi. >> rose sparks engineered for the spontaneous a dual action formula with the active ingredients of viagra and see alice faster acting when i was your age, we never had anything like this. what? 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yeah, kasie, unfortunately, time is running out for firefighters and cruise on the ground to actually take advantage of the relatively calm and more ideal weather conditions compared to what's coming this weekend. we do think that fire weather behavior will become a little more challenging as we head into the weekend. and i'll show you why first and foremost, this is mind-boggling, at least as a meteorologist to watch how quickly this fire erupted and spread. this as a spit sped up, time-lapse satellite imagery of the hotspots within this fire. as it stands over 850,000 acres charged so far just from that one fire, the smokehouse creek fire in the panhandle, hutchinson county in east word. that is roughly the size of the state of rhode island. can you imagine having that burn through your community, your neighborhood very, very impacted so what does the weather having to store will conditions get better? will they get worse while i alluded to the potential of fire behavior this weekend, we do have some precipitation heading towards the texas panel and handled right now a rain-snow mix, depending on where you're located. but most of our computer models only put a trace if nothing at all, for the greater amarillo region and points to the north and east, what's more concerning for me is the fact that the temperatures are going to warm. we're going to see the relative humidity drop and we're going to notice the winds pick up those, that is really the accommodation. we do not want to see as we head into the weekend with a 3% contained fire and over 850,000 acres of the landscape already burned. here's the relative humidity map. notice the shades of brown starting to enter into the western portions of texas and the oklahoma panhandle so that is dry air and it has all being fueled by a large storm that's moving into the west coast by the way, we're going to be measuring feet of snow across the sierra nevada mountain ranges this weekend? yeah, that's incredible. well, could bury homes, could bury cars. this is a very impactful storm for the lake tahoe region >> all right. be careful out there. our weatherman van dam, derek, thank you very much. >> all right. our next hear donald trump gets a big boost from the supreme court in the special counsel possible we put him on trial before the november election, plus a judge in illinois booting trump off the ballot. and former president's next move. that's ahead >> stay tuned the takeover $39 off our original price on the complete set of stack master cookware, it's our best deal ever. don't ms it has your old set of pans lost their slick his everything good, vague, done burden, and stick, you know, you need to do but the prices are so high, it's obscene, real good, ready to stack up as savings with stack mastered by granite stone. it's a kitchen full of the most durable ultra non-stick cookware at the most affordable price anywhere. plus it stacks to fit all in one place. it takes up a fraction of this space. now, make your family five-star was at that delicious and leave no oil or butter needed snack master cookware is constructed from a heart aluminum plate and coded three times with our durable, ultra non-stick granite stone finish. their other than rated up to 500 degrees and come with vented tempered glass that's lids to prevent boil over plus all stack master cookware is 100% metal utensil and dishwasher safe. look, you'd expect to pay over $400 for a professional well, let me cookware said, but during this special tv introduction, you can get the complete stack master ten. pete said, not for 400, 300, or even $200, but for the factory direct price of just five easy payments of 39, 99, but wait, it gets even better. we're going to slash one payment you get it. oh, we're just for easy payment and so if 39, 99 step master curve where it comes with a ten year warranty, but watch out, we're still slashing for everyone who calls her goes online to order today. granite stone is slashing another payment that's right. not five, not four, but three easy payments of 39, 99 gets you the complete set of stack master cookware. that's it. the savings of over $39 at the best deal ever. and just what you thought we were done will ship your entire order. that's right free shipping ordered oh do you order call 1800 to eight that's 1800 to 841873. or order online at my stack master.com. >> this is one, a smile and this is your john deere ones here, who's tractor he gets straight to work and easily connects to everything she needs to break new ground in turn, a raw piece of land e to place her family can call home >> every one >> series tractor is built to put you at ease you just have to get in the seat, learn more at john day your.com slash getting the seat. >> so would you get to nashville hot tenders and three mandarin orange tenders what about you think classic tenders for but a flash ramp for? 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while he was president the united states. this, the question here is much weightier than that. i mean, help us understand what exactly it is that the trump is claiming he can have immunity. he should have immunity from that's exactly right. so it really comes down to official acts. and so the question that's supreme court actually grant cert for as to whether and to what extent former president enjoys immunity for official acts in office. and if you look at the special counsel's indictment, if you look at the dc circuit opinion or january 6 report, we're really talking about acts outside of the presidency. so from my campaign, whether it be to call georgia and look for 11,000 votes or to do a fake elector scheme, things of that nature, which don't really fall under the purview or arguably under the purview of the presidency. and so former president trump is saying that he enjoys immunity for all conduct as a president. and i think that's a real distinguishing factor is going to be what isn't official conduct of the president and what is not. >> were you surprised at all that the supreme court decided to hear this case? i mean, there was a line of thinking that they would just deny cert is the phrase that you'd use. but basically they would say, look, we're going to let the dc circuit opinion that he is not immune stand and they decided not to do that. >> well, there was precedent for the supreme court did not take the case, right. so trump v. thompson, our case, they didn't grant cert to review. our subpoena of former president trump's records. i wasn't surprised like this it's a fundamental question that deserves to be answered. we need to know to what extent does a president or former president's actions enjoy immunity? i think this is a question that's never been answered by the supreme court. and so the clarity from the court will be much needed. i think the fact that special counsel asked for this in december and it was a grant that now and end of february, beginning of march. that's where the questions start to come in and were there might be some analysis of like, could we have gotten here sooner rather than where we are now? >> because the reality is this likely delays any trial in this case until around labor day, which is the height of the november election. what's your view of i mean, should the justice department have accelerated this indictment? i mean, they did it took them several years. i mean, obviously the committee investigation also extended over the course of that period of time, but i mean, can you help us understand why the timing was the way it was in terms of when jack smith decided to indict. whenever you're going to bring charges of this nature, you have to be tight in your investigation and it takes a long time. and so i'm not going to protect the timing from the department address this at all. these are pretty the complicated charges, especially from a former president. i think the timing part, it's going to be entering see how it plays out. i think the department is going to push forward with the case, even if they get a ruling at the end of june, beginning of july, and judge chutkan's already said that she's not going to allow the political campaign side to impact her decision making in this trial at like she i think she analogized it is by defendants have jobs, right. and so we could possibly be seeing trial start at the end of august or beginning of september timeframe and going through the election. and there'll be entrusted see how that plays out with evidence coming out as we get to the election. >> very intense and very briefly, the justice department's sort of policy to not interfere in elections, which basically means they don't want to indict very close to an election that you think that applies to a trial >> so that's what we're in a matter of first impression. right. so we'll see, but i think there's one thing that you can notice that its defendant who has been delaying here, right? it's not like the department of justice delayed and then decided to indict right before the election is the defendant who has been delaying. so i think we're in a different posture where if you do go to trial in august you can say it was the defendant's own doing in pursuing these appeals and delaying so on >> very, very interesting. marcus childress, thanks very much for joining us. i really appreciate your perspective >> all right. let's go now to capitol hill because it does look like a partial government shutdown has been averted. told me you've heard this before for now, republican house speaker mike johnson confirmed to reporters that a vote on a continuing resolution to avert the shutdown is going to take place today. he also downplayed the fact that he is again putting a short-term resolution on the house floor >> this is just the process here to allow us to our city are 72. and that's why we came to this point. this is for the process to allow us gone and not jam people with large piece of legislation to having a chance to review. so i think all right. >> today's vote extends funding for six agencies to friday, march 8. so we're literally punting this a week. okay. >> it would extend the >> deadline for other agencies that were up against march 8 deadline to march 22. okay. so they've got a couple more weeks joining me. i'll discuss republican strategist rina shah and congressional reporter for the hill mychael schnell. >> ladies. thank you so much for joining us this morning. >> michael. >> i was talking >> to one of your compatriots and the hill press corps yesterday morning about speaker mike johnson and how this was android estereo from punchbowl. he basically argued that people are criticizing mike johnson behind the scenes for not being able to make a decision and when i read this and think, okay, we're going to kick the can at least previously when i would cover these things and still be standing in the scrums like you are now like the kamble get kicked six months down the road, right now, we're kicking it like one week at a time. i assume this is going to go forward today, but like, how do we solve the bigger problem here? >> yes. so johnson this entire time has been under pressure by his right flank to move these single subject appropriations bills. that's what we've been hearing for the past few months as he's under the gun right now to finish that job. that's why we're seeing this short-term spending bill because he wants to just buy them a little more time to get the job done on those bills and then they can launch into fy 2025 negotiations. lawmakers have been very eager to note that we are still trying to figure out fiscal 24 legislation five months in to the year, right? this is something that's unnatural. you don't typically see it come this far ahead. but again, mike johnson is under pressure from his right flank to push for these conservative policy wins and the single subject appropriations bills, he experienced the ouster of his predecessor for because of republicans were not happy with how we see dealt with government spending. so now he's really trying to see if he can appease them as far as a cat. >> yeah. but i have to say rein it like this has become normal, right? the cr to crispr, this governing by crisis. i mean, do you think that they can and actually do what michael is talking about considering? i mean, johnson has like the most narrow majority i've covered in the years that i've been doing this. i mean, his job is hard for many reasons. >> right. and so the etic t has get it done with ramming things through. and that's just not how we operate. so i think buying time like this, though it's a very limited window of time. he's got i think go back to these the chaos caucus. there are still that's what they are. gaetz and company. they ousted his predecessor for the very same reasons. and they're not gonna be happy with anything. so the idea right now is he's got to hold steady until november and that's just common knowledge. but going bigger and larger about what these bills mean, talking so that the heaviness, the things that are on the line, if something fails tonight, there's four bills that really make today's potential shutdown very dangerous. but again, this has been normalized and that's what i'm most worried about. you got a lot of people on the hill right now and the republican side, they don't want to pull the levers of government because they want to shame democrats, right? that's just obvious. >> but the >> speaker has got to make sure that we get these agencies funded and we don't put again, the federal government in peril, which is now part and parcel with how politics that also continual. i mean, how many times have we had this company this is the fourth time, just in the past six. this is a fourth time were starting down dunk level. okay. >> that's where we are. all right. i'm going to talk to both of them to about we've got this other massive headline on capitol hill. it really is the end of an era in washington. mitch mcconnell senate minority leader, announcing wednesday, he's going to step down as the republican senate leader. just gonna do it in november father time remains undefeated no longer their young man sitting in the back hoping colleagues would remember my name it's time for the next generation of leadership >> wow, many senate republicans, even especially those who've been critical of mcconnell, they see this announcement is a chance for fresh start watch i don't think there is a great deal of respect shown to him inside the lunch to intervene arrow. but you've been you've been sharply critical i appreciate the fact that he's announcement now to give our conference the time to really sit down and decide what our mission needs to be. what are our goals? >> i'm looking for somebody who's going to bring fresh vision and who wants to put working people at this party wants to be a majority party, but they don't want to do anything that actually helps majority >> that. of course, the indy fatigable manu raju, speaking there to senator ron johnson, i mean, michael, it is seismic. this change. but i also think thank it had gotten to the point where it was it was feeling inevitable not only was mcconnell acknowledged that his quote was basically you know, and father time you can't that never changes. he knows that he's kinda at the end of where he is in his career, he achieved the goal of being the longest serving senate leader in history. and honestly his party has leaving him. i mean, he after january 6, had this heartbreak with donald trump and he has watched colleague after colleague after colleague go kind of honestly crawling back >> and he has yet to do it. what did you see unfold yesterday? >> two things my colleague explain this. i think a really succinct way, it was shocking, but unsurprising, shocking because mitch mcconnell is a fixture of the senate. he's been there since the 1980s. he's been in leadership for 16 years, passing mansfield as the longest serving senate leader in february. so to not to think about mitch mcconnell not in leadership is really shocking idea, but on surprising for two reasons, at his age, which she acknowledged she just turned 82. he's had some public health struggles, including those two freeze ups last year, that concussion after he suffered a fall. but the second thing is that the republican party is moving away from his ideology of conservatism and of republicanism. you've seen more of the maga movement and america first, we've seen that particularly with the debate on capitol hill over ukraine aid, something that he recognized in his speech saying, i have flaws, but it has in politics is not one of them. and i recognize that, right? and i recognize the politics of my parties moving away from me. he is openly recognizing that last year we saw the first ever challenge to his speakership, rick scott mounting that unsuccessful challenge, only ten votes, but still the fact that it was there sort of had those rumblings of, hey, there there's a new perspective here and it may not be one that mcconnell holds. so ultimately he's going to step down from leadership will see who succeeds him if it's sort of one of the maga inspired lawmakers or one of the three johns who is more likely to do it. two of them who are closely aligned with mcconnell, but at the end of the day, shocking, but really unsurprising. >> rina, i mean the reality too is that the senate and i know you worked in the house and you you've been with mcconnell and in private settings, but we've also seen the house have a much quicker sort of slide towards donald trump than the senate. but it is happening in the senate. and i think it really helps explain the timing of this. i mean, november does it actually kind of an odd time to step down because while yes, the elections in november, the congress goes until the end of the year, right? so it seems very clear to me that this is very much about the presidential election. >> well, i think it's mixed here, and i think we shouldn't be so quick to jump to conclusions about this being entirely about trump. i think he's realized his own mortality audie. he recently lost his sister-in-law very tragically. and i think again, the health scares have also factored in, but also every time he goes back to kentucky, it gets a little tougher for him. i'm from next door, west virginia, and i have seen him in settings in kentucky, which have been really contentious. that's not something he's used to. that's not easy for an octogenarian to deal with. people come let me get you angrily and really raging against you, you being that icon of everything that's failing for them. and that's what he's had to contend with. so he leaves with a solid legacy, but i i wouldn't be so sure that things will change as much. he's really i hate to use this word, but he's groomed the next-generation john thune has been around him like mine my goodness, as if they were brothers or a son, if you will. i was hoping he would choose somebody like joni erns to have a little bit more visible. she's been around, but again, i think a likely successor is john thune. but again, dune came out endorsing trump, which is a good thing, but he's also got problems like cornyn where he was backing that 95 billion billion dollars foreign aid package. and that's not popular with trump world as we know, these are the three johns on the screen that we think are likely successors here. but i have to say not none of them. barrasso probably as the one with this sort of profile that fits trump while also being part of the outgoing administration. the other two a potentially i could see them facing some issues will see. all right. mychael schnell, rina shah. thank you both very much. >> all right. the supreme court is going to hear donald trump's claim of absolute immunity. how big a win is this for the former president? 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with a little kung fu strength and by connecting my devices to the most powerful force of all. skadoosh. hah, huh? cool right? amazing. harness the power of xfinity internet and stay connected to the things you love. ah, they'll be like this for hours. hello dad, hello dad, hello da. uh-oh. good bunnies. ahh! manu raju on capitol hill. >> and this is cnn >> close captioning brought to you by in vet help call 180071 to o. do you have an invention idea, but don't know what to do next call in vienna today, they can help you get started with your idea called now 8007100 hero to zero >> i'll come back the supreme court agreeing to hear the former president's claim of absolute immunity from criminal prosecution, further delaying the federal election subversion case. one source tells trump's team views the court's decision as a win for now, the supreme court will hear the arguments the week of april 20 seconds. cnn's alayna treene joins me now, she covers trump for us. alayna, thanks so much for being here. of course so help us. i mean, clearly, it sounds like the trump team thinks that this is a win for them. why and what have you heard from your sources? >> they do. and of course, a win for now. i think is the important thing to note because who knows how this will ultimately play out, but it's a win because it helps them in their ultimate goal of trying to delay this trial. that's really their biggest push here with all of the cases that he's facing, they want to delay them as long as possible and ultimately, i mean, if they have their way well, after the 2024 election in this helps at least punt it to the summer, if not beyond and from my conversations with them, they really look at this as they genuinely believed that this is a sign of interfering in the election if they have this trial right before the november election, and part of it too is if this is pushed even and closer to election day, they do believe it'll help at least in their arguments with voters that they view this as election interference. they think that that will play up donald trump's argument and help him at least on the political side of it, even if it's not helping on the legal side. >> so let's play this out. i mean, basically we got arguments in april. the supreme court term. they take a summer break. right? right. so typically we get the toughest cases at the end of june, right kim, imagine how intense those days are going to be weighing. often the most contentious one is the very last one that they decide that potentially puts a trial heading into august, late summer labor day that is really when the electorate is actually engaged. i definitely by the political argument in terms of the primary, he's been able to very successfully make it right. is there any thinking that like putting these legal problems on display, right. as independent voters have to decide what they're going to do is potentially bad for him because it seems like it could be oh, absolutely. >> mean, obviously >> they don't say that publicly, but of course there's that concern behind the scenes. i mean, there's a couple of things that they're concerned about. one is juggling all of the different cases at the same time while he's trying to launch or potentially launch a general election campaign. it's they very much expect him to be the republican nominee. the other part of it is the financial the last back. this is going to cost a lot of money and we know that donald trump's team is already feeling the financial strain of all of his legal bills. that's only going to get worse with a trial. so they're gonna have a money issue then the other thing is the substance of this case. i mean, they still do not know how this is going to play out with general election voters. there hope and their belief is that it will continue helping, particularly obviously among republicans to boost him. but they're not sure if that will actually be the case with general election voters and they still haven't solved for that problem, right? fascinating. all right, so let's change gears a little bit because the other big story we have unfolding today is these dueling visits to the border, president biden and president trump, both going there on the same day right? like how reality television, but it's actually real, right? >> or what screen, right? i mean, it does yes. well, reality tv president and flashing back to donald trump planning in new hampshire and a helicopter. >> either way. now this is going to be in fact, i was with trump on the border when he went back in. i must have been 2015 and it was a similar kind of like mass, mass media event >> what do they make up? the fact that biden is going to go on the same day. i mean, what was their reaction when you call them and said like, hey, did you see that the president is going the same day as trump is? >> they were definitely surprised. they had been planning this for some time. obviously, you don't just have a former president go to the border and not have the security preparations and everything else that goes with it. >> and they are >> arguing, of course, you know, how much should we put stock in this that the former president or excuse me, that president joe biden is chasing him to the border. we've heard donald trump use that rhetoric in interviews at the only reason he's going is because he knows donald trump is going. of course, the white house argues that's just not true. it is very, if it is just a coincidence, a very weird coincidence that it's the same day. >> but look, i >> mean, very rare that those kinds of coincidence that current politics, but i let it i will argue, i mean you were talking about being there in 2015. this is the same exact rhetoric that donald trump, you use the fearmongering, the playing on the fears of people about the border, the type of people who come over the border you're going to hear him today in his remarks, donald trump talk about crimes that immigrants crossing the border are committing really playing on those fears the exact same type of things we heard that helped propel tell him into the white house in 2016. that's where you're going to hear from and it will be interesting. i mean, he's going to be meeting with texas national guard. he's going to toward parts of the border including shelby park, which is something they've closed down. actually, it's right by the rio grande hell do an interview with fox news. i'm sure you can expect some of the things i'll be telling sean him kennedy later today. but this is their key argument as well. i mean, donald trump really believes that immigration is one of joe biden and democrats biggest oldies, as much spotlight they can put on the issue by some of the showmanship i go into the border. it serves his camp that's why it's interesting to me the white house is decided it's almost like the more they're talking about this, the bigger of a losing issue. but on the other hand, he can't ignore it. only in a train. alayna, thanks very much for being with us. i hope we come back soon. >> all right. time now for sports, iowa star caitlin clark adds another career record to your the most points by any women's college basketball player ever. andy scholes has this morning's bleacher report. andy, good morning. >> morning. kasie, you know, the season a milestone is just continuing last night for caitlin clark he's now got one regular season game left this sunday, just 18 points away from becoming college basketball's all-time leading scorer, men's or women's. but clark was in minnesota last night? >> and >> she added all going. she hit a logo three early on and then moments later, she would do it again. i've been to the fourth quarter, clark hitting her eighth three of the game and with it right here, she passed it says linette woodard for the most points and major women's college basketball history. what are played for the jayhawks from 77 to 81 and women's sports was governed by the ai aw, the end cwa to go over women's sports in 1981, but didn't carry over a player's staff, but many still recognize watered as the true record holder, but now it's car. she finished with 33 points, 12 assists, and ten rebounds, and i was 48 point win over minnesota. and afterwards, clark said she's able to do what she does because of the foundation played by waters >> i wouldn't have the opportunity to be able to do what i'm doing every single night if it wasn't for people like her and obviously there's so many great players across the board so i'm just really thankful and grateful to have those people that have come before me. but i think it just shows title nine is not that long ago. 50 years is not that long ago. and i think it just still shows the room that we have to improve and where women's sports is going is a really great place. >> all right, so up next for clark is pete maravich's all time square boring record and college basketball, clark is going to need 18 points at home sunday on senior day against second ranked ohio state's gonna be a great game. a pistol pete's record at lsu has always been very highly regarded, especially we considering he did it in only three seasons with no three-point line, either brown jayson, meanwhile, orchestrating the largest fourth-quarter comeback of his 21 year career last night to the lakers were down 21 points early in the border to the clippers before just storming back lebron's going 19 of his 34 points in the final period, including making five threes. he singlehandedly outscored the clippers in the fourth quarter and lebron came up with the big defensive player in the final seconds, forcing quiet, entered into a really tough shot. lakers win 116 one-twelfth and lebron channeling yogi berra afterwards saying it ain't over till it's over >> the main thing in america and keep executing the game is not over, ever over until it's double zeros, which we see up there. so we just have fighting kept in different of stops, make some shots >> kasie, amazing. lebron, 39 years old, year, 21 and still compute what he's doing out there on the gourd. >> always make makes me feel like i've done nothing with my life at 38, andy. thank you very much for that. i'll see you tomorrow. and coming up next hour here. the big surprise from an illinois judge, donald trump's next move after getting booted off the state's ballot sports this morning, brought to you by safelite, your vehicle glass, and >> recalibration experts what's my safelite story >> i'm a >> photographer and when i'm driving, i see inspiration right through my glass. so when my windshield kraft it had to be fixed, right? 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