staggering jump as high as 54%. that's according to new analysis. and price tags continue to spike in part thanks to kinks in the supply chain. william la jeunesse is live with more. >> trace, you can see three large cargo vessels behind me getting unloaded. like you said, it's a choke point. the president said extending hours from five to seven days is a game changer. his port czar says he doesn't know when the part is going to go 24/7. that's dependent on a lot of factors including people going to work and getting off unemployment. the local dmv has to begin to deal with the backlog. the shifts here, there's about 60 ships in port here. there's about 78 ships beyond the breakwater getting a berth. according to the port czar, they're going to help streamline the system. others are not so optimistic. >> with all due respect to president biden what he just ordered is too little too late. >> so it's not normally like this. so normally ships from china and japan would cruise in to the port and get off-loaded. right now the wait time is two to three weeks offshore. it's turned into a big parking lot in the pacific. you're going to be basically have everything from dishwashers to diapers. it's going to impact not just availability of christmas but also prices, trace. that is something that is -- that we have looked forward to. >> thanks, william. here's joe concha, fox news contributor and gerard baker, editor at large from the "wall street journal." gentlemen, thanks for coming in. william, look at the prices. we're talking about rent, grocery, gas, heating bills, furniture, housing, restaurants, alcohol, it's all open. the white house chief of staff ron klain said the following here. most of the economic problems we're facing, inflation, supply chains, et cetera, are high class problems. we wouldn't have had them in the unemployment rate was 10%. we would have a much worse problem. gerard, your thoughts. >> i hope people struggling to meet their bills meet their gas bills paying higher. gas line prices, 40% increase on last year for things like rental cars or 10, 11% increase for children's shoes or 20% increases for household appliances. i hope they're regarded as a high glass problem. this is different levels of engagement for understanding what is going on. prices are going up, inflation is rising at 5% a year. people are not able to meet their obligations. if that's a high class problem, then i'm afraid ron klain and others are living in a different world. >> yeah, you talk about ron klain and others. the others, people like don lemon who said the following. watch. >> yes, people want their things but it's also indicated that the economy is doing well. people want to buy things that is backed up. so let's look at the part that hey, the economy is great. people can buy things. they're out and about. they want to buy gas. fine. >> that's a little spin. >> it is spin. i'm trying to make people feel good. >> it's all fine, joe. ron klain says it's a high class problem. don lemon says it's fine. >> if i had the house on the water like don lemon has in long island, i would think it's fine, too. i can absorb this sort of pain when i'm making millions of dollars a year to have one of the lowest rated shows in cable news. ron klain, to say this is a rich people's problem, this is from a smart guy. i mean, the argument that rich people only buy gas for their cars -- i put gas in my 15-year-old car yet. it cost $50. used to cost 30 last year. maybe the people that are putting gas in their car, they drive to the store to buy meat, fish and dairy. food prices are up there. they get home and see the apartment that i have, i have another monthly increase that is coming. the financial pain is inescapable. to americans it's real. it's elitest, out of touch and will hurt this administration unless the president says, yeah, i know that was my chief of staff but they don't speak for us. we understand the pain of all americans. they haven't done that yet. let's see if it happens in a couple minutes. >> yeah, the concept of president biden saying look, the private sector needs to step up and help us as if this was the private sector's doing. what do you think? >> yeah, the democrats say they're going to fix everything. everything is the problem that the government can fix. they come in, they don't fix the problems. they make them worse and then they say it's the private sector's fault. we want to go back on this idea that inflation is a good problem to have. if that's the case, the more inflation you have, the better off you are. tell that to the people of venezuela or germany from the 20s when inflation reached millions percent. it's more important to correct the idea that inflation is a sign of a healthy economy. you need to increase supply of goods. we're not increaing supply. things like energy, the joe biden administration are cutting supply. they're making it harder for states to produce natural gas to produce oil. that's one of the reasons that energy prices are going up so much, because of the regulations, the tough approach they're taking there, the obsession with the green agenda. they're pushing up the prices. it's not a sign of health. it's a sign of severe damage to the economy. >> here's what i don't get, joe. we have seen the president live a couple times in the last 24 hours. once, he talked about the supply chain crisis and two, he talked about covid. neither time did he take a question. if you're trying to exude confidence, that's not the way to do it. you have to stand up and take some questions about some of the issues facing this country. >> sure. i think back to 2009. you had barack obama trying to get obama care over the finish line. he went out and campaigned after the campaign, after his president, campaigned for that particular legislation. he would take questions sometimes. but this president, time and again, when you see him making a scripted speech, you know that just like -- give me a great running back in the nfl. he runs off the stage faster than i have ever seen him move. that's not him deciding to do that. that is his handlers saying don't take any questions. we don't want to get in anymore trouble. the guy that got more votes than any presidential candidate history has trouble making his own arguments? he's been in politics for 50 years. he can't explain how he's going to do certain things and how he is going to solve problem? it's cowardly. the only thing that comes to mind because it is. >> the running back is austin eckler. he's underrated but amazing, joe concha. >> i have harris on my fantasy football team. >> roll tide, nadjee harris. thanks, gentlemen. we will bring you the white house's response to this as soon as the briefing gets underway. also breaking today, once at the top of south carolina society, alex murdock is behind bars facing felony charges for stealing insurance settlements following the slip and fall death of his family's housekeeper. the attorney fighting to bring justice to the family joins me exclusively next. >> have five dead bodies. my clients that now have to face the prospect that their mother didn't die the way they said that she died. now they learned that it's $4.1 million that was misappropriated from them. with our service,nefits but the va home loan benefit is a big one. by refinancing up to 100% of your home's value, you could take out $50,000 or more. you could use that money to pay credit card debt and other expenses, plan for retirement, and get back on your feet financially. call newday usa right now. your mission: stand up to moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. and take. it. on... with rinvoq. rinvoq a once-daily pill can dramatically improve symptoms... rinvoq helps tame pain, stiffness, swelling. and for some, rinvoq can even significantly reduce ra fatigue. that's rinvoq relief. with ra, your overactive immune system attacks your joints. rinvoq regulates it to help stop the 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farm-fresh taste. plus, superior nutrition. because the way we care is anything but ordinary. ♪♪ baaam. internet that doesn't miss a beat. because the way we care is anything but ordinary. that's cute, but my internet streams to my ride. adorable, but does yours block malware? nope. -it crushes it. pshh, mine's so fast, no one can catch me. big whoop! mine gives me a 4k streaming box. -for free! that's because you all have the same internet. xfinity xfi. so powerful, it keeps one-upping itself. can your internet do that? >> trace: a stunning development in the murdaugh histories here. alex murdaugh, an attorney arrested and charged with two felonies for keeping millions of settlement money. his housekeeper fell down a flight of stairs to her death in 2018 and the $4 million was settlement money. we're talking about $4 million of insurance money that allegedly alex murdaugh appropriated here. his lawyers say -- >> we'll get to the murders in just a minute. you believe he intends to cooperate in this? >> no. quite frankly, it's more spin by alex and his lawyers. we have not been able to serve alex with any pleadings in this case. he was supposedly in georgia in a treatment center. now we find out today he was in florida. alex could have cooperated even when he was in a drug treatment center with giving us information. we had to find our information in documents from other sources. so it's a bitter sweet day for me, my partner and the family. we don't hold any illusions that he's going to cooperate. >> trace: but he did say that he acknowledged that he helped orchestrate his own murder. so the hitman says no, he wasn't a part of this. going back, the whole idea that the satterfield family, the money, they lost their mom, lost the money, does this also maybe reopen the fact that the allegation is she tripped over a dog and fell down a flight of stairs, does this investigation possibly reopen at some point? >> well, they are looking at that. what they have been focusing on is the civil case, our claims that we brought. i said from the by beginning that this case was going to be the epicenter and would start the domino effect to bring down alex and it did. because it's an easy provable crime. we have the checks, know where they -- it's breach of truth, it's death. we don't have to stretch our imagination to know that it's probably income tax evasion. he didn't report that money. it involves banks. so i don't think this is the end. i think this is the beginning of the charges that will be brought against alex in this matter. and i think he's going to have a whole host of problems along with other people that let this tremendous breach of truth take place. >> i know this is not your bailiwick but you talked about the dominoes falling. and alex's attorneys are saying yes, he's a person of interest in his wife's death and his son. what do you make of that? >> nothing that he's not capable of at this point in time. supposedly staged his own death, which we all have questions on whether he was trying to do that or just divert the attention away from himself regarding the other deaths that have taken place. he's clearly a thief. we know he's a liar, a thief. he filed a false police report. we know he was about to file a false insurance claim. notice that he's incapable of doing at this time. it's a sham. this is a guy that was well-respected by our bar, judges, everybody in the community. there's no bottom for him at this point. >> trace: they were south carolina royalty. thanks, eric bland. thanks for coming on. >> thanks for having me on, trace. >> trace: also breaking today, the u.s. marine that lambasted military leaders over the chaotic and deadly accident from afghanistan pleading guilty in a court martial hearing. lieutenant colonel stuart scheller was removed after a series of videos criticizing the biden administration and calling for superiors to resign after a suicide bombing in kabul airport killed 13 service members. his lawyers said this about scheller facing the consequences of his actions. listen. >> he's looking forward to the opportunity to put this to rest and to come out, accept responsibility. this case all began with a demand for accountability. what he's going to do today, he's going to show the pentagon what it looks like to stand up and take accountability for your own actions. >> trace: more on this as we get it. parents in loudoun county virginia calling for action today. >> the department of justice is interesting in the coming and goings of the people of loudun county. we look to open title 9 investigations into loudoun county public schools. >> that man, fight for schools founder, ian pryor joins us next. people everywhere living with type 2 diabetes are waking up to what's possible with rybelsus®. ♪ you are my sunshine ♪ ♪ my only sunshine... ♪ rybelsus® is a pill that lowers blood sugar in three ways. increases insulin when you need it... decreases sugar... and slows food. the 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of an alleged sexual assault. the incident was supposedly reported within minutes but members of the loudoun county school board were not aware of the specific details of this incident until it was reported in media outlets earlier this week. still, parent activists say the superintendent should resign and president biden's attorney general should step in. >> what we watched unfold this week is horrifying. since we don't expect the answers to be forthcoming and lost trust in what superintendent zeigler said and most of what the school board says, we're calling for the following. one, the loudoun county school board terminate scott zeigler as superintendent. >> trace: we'll get to the rest in just a minute. ian prior let that group and worked in the trump administration's doj. ian, thanks for coming on. we had parents saying the school board new about this sexual assault. in that news conference, there's people yelling at you saying you don't have proof, you don't have proof. do you have the proof they're asking for, ian? >> well, you know, we don't have direct proof in terms of them under oath making a statement admitting it. you can draw the lines with a lot of the evidence that has come out. in their own statement, loudoun county public schools says the school board didn't have specific details of the incident. if they didn't have any details of the incident, loudoun county public schools would have come out and stated that no one on the school board knew. they didn't do that. also, there was nothing in the statement saying that the superintendent didn't know. so draw the conclusions, extrapolate from that statement. seems clear that someone on the loudoun county school board knew about this. >> trace: yeah, that's the question. the superintendent of the schools, they're pretty privy to a lot of this information. the school board, could be an argument for the school board not knowing. the superintendent needs to know this. you think there's a compelling case that he absolutely knew about this? >> i think absolutely. there's law that this kind of things needs to be reported up the chain to the superintendent. the sheriff's office sent out a statement, the loudoun county public schools sent out a statement saying they're working together during the investigation. if they're working together during an investigation from may 28 to july 8, how does the superintendent not know about that investigation? how can he go out there and say i'm not aware of any records of a sexual assault in a bathroom if they're communicating with the sheriff's office to help resolve this? >> trace: i want to play this sound bite from the father who accused the board of covering up his daughter's sexual assault and get your reaction. watch. >> we were under the impression from the prosecutor that this sexual predator was being held on in-house arrest with an ankle monitor and would not return to school until the court sessions were done. you know, you're innocent until you're proven guilty. i understand that. but we do have to protect everyone at the same time. >> trace: i can imagine the agony of the father there, ian. talk about the next step. this is the school district that the doj is trying to intimidate to get these parents to, you know, to forget about critical race theory. your final comments. >> we called for two additional things. an independent law firm to come in and do an independent investigation to what happened, recommendations on how to fix it and a public report. two, for the department of justice and the civil rights division to open a title 9 investigation into what happened here in loudoun county public schools. you know, leader mcconnell has already stated in a letter that he expected attorney general garland to answer questions related to loudoun county in the up coming senate judiciary hearing. i assume this would come up. >> trace: a title 9 hearing is fair and appropriate. thanks, ian prior for coming on. >> thanks, trace. >> trace: still ahead, david asher as we continue to follow the quest for answers on covid origins and the pentagon's software chief that resigned his post warning that china is on a path to global dominance and it's time for america to wake up. next! tgage rates you've been waiting for are here. the newday two and a quarter refi has the company's lowest rate in history. 2.25% with an apr of 2.48. save thousands every year. plus there's no money out of pocket and no up front fees. newday is holding the line on interest rates so every veteran family can save. call now. i'm not getting through the pandemic just to end up with the flu. i asked for fluzone high-dose quadrivalent. it's the #1-used flu vaccine for people 65 and older. fluzone high-dose quadrivalent is the only vaccine approved by the fda for superior flu protection in adults 65+. i'm not letting my guard down. fluzone high-dose quadrivalent isn't for people who've had a severe allergic reaction to any flu vaccine or 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the pentagon. good afternoon. >> good afternoon, trace. the air information's first chief software officer says u.s. technology is operating at a kindergarten level. the pentagon says they're taking the threat from china seriously. >> this is something that the secretary has spoken to that the entire leadership of the department is focused on. we know there's a lot of work to doing but we're committed to doing that work. >> nicklaus is not a political appointee. he joint the pentagon in may 2018 to become the assistant secretary of the air force for the first software officer. he says the pentagon is saying the right things but not enough action. he said -- >> in a statement the air force says mr. chaillan resigned and then he moat with us for an interview. he said -- >> defense secretary lloyd austin spoke about the matter this summer. >> china's leaders have made clear that they intend to be globally dominant in a.i. by the year 2030. beijing already talks about using a.i. for a range of missions from surveillance to cyber attacks to autonomous weapon. >> the pentagon is not doing enough to counter china on land, sea, air and space. >> let's bring in nicholas chaillan, the former software officer that resigned last month over what he sees as a lost battle between the u.s. and china in cyber space and artificial intelligence. thanks for joining us. a couple of points that lucas made. one, you're not a political appointee and two, you're not saying we've lost the war. though we're on the verge of losing. is that a fair assessment? >> yeah, effective will i'm saying is if we don't wake up right now and don't take action and keep waiting and using all of these excuses not to take action that china will catch up with us in ten years from now, which is absolutely false, we have no chance of catching up. >> trace: yeah, it's interesting to me. you heard the defense secretary, lloyd austin talking about china. he used a phrase saying china's pacing challenge that they're keeping pace with us. you don't think they're keeping pace. you think we're here and china is up here when it comes to artificial intelligence. >> yeah, absolutely. they're leading and moving faster. the critical piece to under with a.i. is the more data you get and the faster you can deploy that data and use the artificial intelligence capabilities the faster they improve. what you'll see is a drastic increase of pace. that compounds over time. so what you see as well, a lack of urgency in the department of defense where, you know, leaders, like i said, talking the talk but not walking the talk. we are not agile and using the best practical assets of the commercial side. the commercial side is leading on a.i. we have access to many of these companies. they're not working with the dod and don't understand the threat that china is posing. >> trace: if i question to you would be, sir, if we're on the verge of losing this war to china, why would you resign? >> we have great successes over the last three years. i also demonstrated that we can't get this done and we can put a.i. over the top. at the same time, we're seeing no action. i kept pushing from within the pentagon for three years the urgency that we have and i keep seeing a lack of action. so i thought at this point, there's a better use of my time to get back to work from the outside and push these improvements so we can win this fight. >> trace: mr. chaillan, i have to go. the bottom line. what is the the biggest threat we face by losing this battle? >> it's an big threat if we don't win this. if we don't win it, there's no future for our kids. look at a.i., automation right now and fighter jets with a.i. that beat the u.s. pilots when flying jets. we have no fighting chance at winning the next battle if we don't have dominance in a.i. >> trace: the fight is crucial. thanks, nicholas. we appreciate it. breaking right now, steve bannon facing possible criminal charges. the committee investigating the events at the capitol on january 6 have schedule add vote tuesday to recommend a contempt of congress charge against the former trump adviser. bannon had been summoned to testify before the panel today, but did not show. he said his communications with the former president are protected by executive privilege. if convicted, he faces a fine and up to a year in prison. dr. david asher that led the pompeo state department investigations into covid origins on the new cast of scientists tapped uncover. what happened in wuhan. he's next. got a couple of bogeys on your six, limu. they need customized car insurance from liberty mutual so they only pay for what they need. what do you say we see what this bird can do? woooooooooooooo... we are not getting you a helicopter. looks like we're walking, kid. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ [swords clashing] - had enough? - no... arthritis. here. new aspercreme arthritis. full prescription-strength? reduces inflammation? thank the gods. don't thank them too soon. kick pain in the aspercreme. >> trace: the world health organization forming a beefed-up team to investigate the origins of covid-19 in china. they called it an important moment and warning this is our best chance and may be the last chance to investigate the origins of this virus. in a moment, david asher that led a probe during the trump administration on whether the new team can overcome beijing road blocks. first, benjamin hall live in the u.k. benjamin? >> the last who investigation reached no real conclusions of its own other than to say at some point somewhere covid came from a bat. china also hampered that investigation. nevertheless, the who insists they're going to try again, another attempt to discover where the virus came from. 26 unpaid scientists from 26 countries including the u.s. and china have been chosen and asking for support. >> i would ask everyone, countries, journalistics and everybody else do create a little space for that discussion to happen. because this is probably right now, our best chance. it may be our last chance to understand the origins of this virus. >> among the team is a dr. katherine martha, a leading expert on lab safety which indicates they're open to the possibility of the lab leak. despite the fact that she discounted the idea. off the team is dr. peter daszek who had ties to this wuhan lab. preempting the announcement, china says that they would analyze 200,000 blood samples to traces of covid. china also said they would do the analysis itself and not allow foreign scientists to see the data. china said that their contributions to the who effort are or and highly unlikely they'll get inside china and scientists believe that this investigation will yield any significant results. trace? >> trace: thanks, benjamin. let's bring in david asher that led a state department task force that led into the origins of covid-19. thanks for joining us. benjamin points out the last go-round of this was a failure. a joke for all intents and purposes. you have issues with the makeup of this new team. tell us why. >> well, you've got the russians and you have the cubans and you have the chinese all contributing their award-winning scientists and the us gets one person from cdc who is not necessarily the right person from what i've been told by certain people. you know, let's assume that it's one good american citizen. we fund who up to about 22% of its budget and we get one person on a team? it's another outrage. what is new from the world health organization? except there's at least an attempt here to look nor what they call disease x. doesn't mean they'll get a covid-19 origin. so they're just looking for the next one, which i'm glad somebody is standing by. the chinese getting away with this one, they'll do another one. >> trace: a spokesperson for the u.s.-china embassy said the conclusions of the china who joint study report had been recognized by the international community and must be respected and implemented. future studies can only be carried out on this basis. sounds to me that like china is saying we're going to set the terms and we're going to have a say in the outcome. >> well, they say in the outcome of everything. we've had no say, no independent access. we are the world here. let's face it. this is a wuhan white wash as we discussed in the path being perpetrated be i the chinese government at a precise and expansive level that it basically implies that math is guilt. there's no reason to -- they won't give you samples. they're going to analyze the blood. what is so secret? why won't they tell us? you know, it's in their interest. it's because it's not. guess what? that's why we have to be worried about the next one. >> this is from sanja gupta on joe rogan's show talking about the wuhan lab leak. watch this. >> clearly as you said earlier, where there's smoke, there's fire probably. can i say conclusive will? no. part of me thinks we may never know. >> trace: may never know because networks like where sanja gupta works and big tech shut it down for months saying it was nothing more than a conspiracy. your final thoughts on this. >> even though people have come around. "the washington post" now says that there's a decent chance of a lab leak and we have to get to the bottom of it. we need answers to the past in order to prepare for the future. the future will be dark if we can't get the chinese to cough up evidence. if we don't, the nih and the u.s. government could tell the truth to our own people. >> trace: thanks. breaking news out of the white house. let's bring in jen psaki. listen. >> the legislative agenda that we're trying to get these things across the finish line. that indicates the president's clear commitment and will enable him to have a strong seat at the table, regain the united states seat at the table. >> and chuck schumer said he plans for a vote next week to try to advance the voting rights bill. given that that vote is coming up, what additional steps does the president plan to take on votes rights. should it fail, what will the administration do? >> josh, ensuring that voting rights legislation becomes law remains a top priority to the president. we have to do it, we must do it. it's not an option not to do it. the president talked with members of congress about his commitment to this. he asked the vice president to run the effort to make voting right as reality across the country. you've seen her take a number of action. i expect the president to be engaged the coming days and he will advocate to get this done to protect our democracy and protect people's fundamental rights. >> you have about 10,000 john deere workers on strikes and a number of other strikes going on. how concerned are you about the impact on the economy and the supply chain and do you have any plans to intervene? >> we of course are not going to speak to any individual ongoing potential labor actions as a standard. i will note the president and the vice president say that this is the most pro union administration in history. they will continue to govern and lead with that in mind. they both feel that the ability for workers to organize, collective bargaining and the right to strike, which is one part of collective bargaining are fundamental rights. it also the responsibility of management and the union to bargain. that's why unions are around and the role that they play. we know that in healthy economies, employees must compete for workers. we're seeing that. as unemployment drops, we're shifting to a market where workers have more bargaining power. that's a good thing for workers to have more bargaining power and choose more. workers can push for higher wages and more dignity and respect in the workplace, this has long been a fundamental value for the president and something that he will support across the country. >> secondly, how much longer are you willing to wait for the budget talks to reach a conclusion? is there a sense of inpatience here? >> i wouldn't put it in those terms. what i'd say is the president is eager to get things done for the american people and to deliver on what he's promised. so as i said yesterday, the time for negotiations is not unending. wire eager to move forward, eager to deliver on what he promised the american people, which will result in addressing some of the issues i touched on earlier, making child care more affordable, adjusting the climate crisis, making sure kids have clean drinking water, broad band is accessible, repairing roads, rails and bridges across the country. eager to act. i wouldn't say it's inpatience. it's an interest in moving forward. >> thanks, jen. is this the president's possession that those that defy congressional subpoenas related to january 6 should face prosecution? >> that has been raised as an issue by what we've seen happen in congress. it's the purview of the department of justice to see if there's any criminal decisions. they handle exclusively those decisions. so i point you to them. >> does he think those that defy the congressional subpoenas as related to something so important that he's not going to exert executive privilege that they should face penalty? >> why you're asking the questions, it's been raised by the committee, the january 6 select committee about criminal actions on criminal referral. that is something that is between them and the department of justice, independent agencies that make those decisions. >> citing the upcoming election for governor in virginia, senator mark warner says they need to vote on the election bill. does the president agree with that sentiment? >> the president wants to get both pieces of legislation passed. that requires having this majority of votes in congress to get that done. that's what he's working on. >> how about senator warner? >> no. >> go ahead. >> he asked about the concern at the white house about these strikes and the potential impact on the economy. is there worry right now as we're seeing in different parts of the country, different industries that this could have a significant impact? >> i have not heard that expressed by our economic team at this point. >> 0 on the timing of negotiations, the white house announced the president's trip to europe. nancy pelosi says an october 31 deadline. does the president think it will be completed by the time he least at the end of the month? >> i'm not going to set timelines here. we don't feel the time is unending. we feel it time to move place to have a unified package but no timelines today. >> and will the president live if negotiations are still going on on capitol hill? >> i'm not growing to set a new timeline today. we want to move it forward as quickly as possible. >> thank you, jen. following up on the questions of january 6. i though you have spoken to the decision by the white house council's office. has there been any concern about there's a shoe on the other foot and the other party says there's extraordinary circumstance and they want to hand over documents? >> i can assure you this president has no intention to lead an insurrection -- >> part of -- you can understand your opening a pandora's box here -- >> we don't see it this way. i understand why you're asking this question. we talked about it last week. it's ultimately important for people to understand and remember that january 6 was an incredibly dark day, one of the darkest days in our democracy. there was an insurrection on the nation's capitol. we're talking about getting to the bottom of that. doesn't everybody want to get to the bottom of? democrats, republicans, everybody. we're going to assess and review as is standard the documents and any efforts to expert this on a case by case basis. we'll update you as the processes proceed and we'll continue as it relates to executive privileges to evaluate that on a case by case basis as every white house has in the past. if you look back at past presidents, democrats and republican, there's not a precedent with what this committee is trying to get to the bottom of. the uniqueness is important. >> and negotiating with congress on the president's agenda, the timetable isn't open-ended. anything new you can say about what the president himself has done this week to engage in those negotiations? >> the president hats been on the phone with members getting updates from his team and senior members on their conversations and discussions, eager to hear where there's agreement and disagreement and how to shake things loose. >> and what you anticipate. >> i like the setup. >> the decision by the agency to approve specific vapes, vaping cigarettes saying they're appropriate nor public health.what does the president make of that decision and does he support taxing e cigarettes? this is an element of the build back better pay for. does he still up port doing that? >> it's not something that he proposed originally. obviously -- >> some democrats -- >> it's important for context. he didn't propose that. the fda approved some e cigarettes. i would point you to their comments. the president supports the independent review and process of the fda. beyond that, i'm not aware of proposal for taxing cigarettes from here. >> thank you, jen. ron klain retweeted a message yesterday, not once but twice, that inflation issues are high class issues. some of the sharpest price increases over the last month include products that every american buys, beef products, chicken, eggs, gasoline, furniture, the list goes on. why would ron klain tweet that and would you agree that that's a little bit -- >> you think two tweets means more? for context, what ron klain retweeted was a tweet from the former chairman of economic advisers, jason furman, where he said for full context, which is important, most of the economic problems we're facing, inflation, are high class problems. he said we wouldn't have them in the unemployment rate was 10%. we would have a much worse problem. so i think the point here is that while there's some critics -- what some of these critics are saying, we don't flow if they're saying what they thought was great when the unemployment rate was double what it is today or people locked in their homes hand gas prices were lower. we're at this point because the unemployment rate has come down and been cut in half because people are buying more goods, because people are traveling and because demand is up. because the economy is turning back on. so jason furman is more than capable of speaking or tweeting for himself and providing any additional context. but what the point is here is that we are at this point because we've made progress in the economy and what would be worse in our view is if the unemployment rate was at 10%, people were out of work, hundreds of thousands of people were still dying of covid and people were able to lose their homes. that's the full context. >> that's a much more eloquent way of putting it than a high class comment in that tweet. it's not the first time that ron klain's twitter has done sharp criticism. is that something that the white house is addressing at all given this push back, criticism >> it is not a top priority at this point in time. the chief of staff is out there speaking on his own accord to members of congress to the media frequently. as any chief of staff does. i think it is important also for anyone here to be able to top points that they find interesting. that is the purpose of public speech. speak other remedies that we were going through yesterday, obviously some actions from the white house and disagreements that the private sector is calling for more federal action on some things like commercial driver's license, easing restrictions. what is the hesitation? why hasn't this happened yet? some of these actions are taken right now at a certain point, it will become too late and it's problem will bottleneck further. >> they actually have been happening. the department of transportation has been supporting state for months and months. they returned to even exceed prepandemic commercial driver's license issuance rates which will allow more people to have commercial driver's license so they can drive trucks and more drugs they can move goods across the country. in 2021, an average of 50,000 commercial drivers licenses and learners permits were issued each month with 14% higher than