departing this once and "washington post" is saying two other aides are exiting soon. former trump white house chief of staff reince priebus with this context. >> one thing to have a little white house drama that happens in every administration but another thing that you are completely ineffective. the bigger issue is this. these two people, the president and vice president, are completely unusable on the campaign trail. >> harris: i mentioned the white house press briefing coming up. this is where we find peter doocy in the white house briefing room. peter. >> to your point we haven't seen that kind of exodus from the white house among biden staff but across the driveway at the executive office building there are a handful of vice president harris aides who either are leaving or have left. white house official tells us about symone sanders. she has served honorably for three years first as a valuable member of the president's 2020 campaign and member of his transition team and deputy assist tabt to the president and senior advisor/chief spokesperson to the vice president. the vice president's approval ratings have been steadily declining from 50% in june to 40% approving in the most recent november fox news poll. portfolio is huge addressing root causes of migration, fixing voting rights, leading the space council and murmurs about dissent among the v.p. the vice president insisted she can handle whatever president biden asks her to do. >> so you don't feel misused or underused. >> no, i don't. i am very, very excited about the work that we have accomplished but i am also absolutely -- absolutely clear eyed that there is a lot more to do and we are going to get it done. >> president and vice president say everything is fine in public but remember about 2 1/2 years ago they were rivals in public. harris. >> harris: well they were, weren't they. we will look forward to the back story, whatever that is. we'll look forward to your questions for jen psaki. we'll take it live. >> i'll ask. >> harris: tammy bruce is a fox news contributor and host of get tammy bruce on fox nation. my first guest today in focus. you have a lot to say about this and interesting to hear reince priebus give us the perspective on what it could mean behind the scenes. >> he touched on the fact that biden and harris are unusable and not because of their staff. let me suggest that they really had nothing to work with. but the problem is -- as we heard as peter confirmed she actually worked with both the president and the vice president. symone sanders who is the one most recently to leave. the problem here is that she worked during the campaign, three years, first with bernie sanders and then with joe biden. but that entire campaign was about hiding, was about making sure that questions didn't have to be answered, that questions weren't asked, that it was about pretending. that might work during a campaign. then you get into the white house with real life, life and death. afghanistan, economy, energy, and when you have individuals who have been ushered through with a team that has worked to keep them protected without having to answer questions, that becomes the problem. so when there is real serious dynamics you don't know what to tell them or how to handle it and you also don't know that the people you are working for don't know what they are doing because no one has been challenged, no one. this is the natural end result. >> harris: just another thing symone sanders is someone we both know from covering bernie sanders and all that. he is one of the most outspoken people and doesn't dodge questions. he asks his own question sometimes. he likes to talk. this is the polar opposite in terms of hiding and doing the walkaway. it is also at the other end of the spectrum politically in just how far left symone sanders might have been when she walked into this administration. >> even in one of her statements didn't make sense. when we think about kamala harris being a problem of the her letter stated some kind of word salad about undoing what has happened before and -- it was a wordy kind of sentence that made no sense at all and i thought oh, that's part of the problem. let me bring you into this. i'm sitting here, this show is a success because of you and your personality but you have a team that's working with you. but they know you. you make sure what you want is known. so they are facilitating what you want and who you are. that didn't exist -- it existed with sanders. it doesn't exist with joe biden and kamala harris. the team has to have someone who has a vision. >> harris: it is also about the people who tune in every day. all about him. look at her polling. look at kamala harris's polling. i talk about a wider team. the staff departures are parts of her problem. there are reports of a rivalry between kamala harris and her transportation secretary pete buttigieg who will take over the mantel of the party when joe biden is done. now the two of them are hitting the road together today, this morning, to sell the 1.2 billion infrastructure package. a stage show of unity or business as usual. what do you think? >> i think the democrats are still trying to figure out what -- what 2024 looks like. there is this sense of maybe they don't know each other. maybe they will do better together. you can hear them trying to figure out who the top level is, how do we make this work? >> harris: can they do better together? he has supply chain crisis, she has the border. reports are we thought it was coming, they just put the trump policy back in place ordered so legally stay in mexico policy. so that's the direction they are going in. so really buttigieg and kamala harris will look more like what? >> they will look more like double the problem. this is a man who -- for democrats. this is a man who refers to roads and bridges as racist. a woman who laughs and doesn't answer any serious questions. they won't suddenly find a fusion of genius and being able to answer and of vision of being able to be -- all of these individuals have been raised in the democratic party that expects nothing of you and that is about theater, it's never about feeling comfortable with someone who has a vision and power on their own. it is fascinating to watch. >> harris: republicans can take advantage of that. >> they can if they wanted to. politically i still don't see the advantages they can take when it comes to my column today is about they smash and grab looting in washington through legislation. we see this happening in cities across the country. the democrats have these wild wish fantasy theories they implement that destroy people's lives and they are so obsessed that they can't stop themselves. it is almost like an addiction. no matter what kind of damage they create. this buttigieg, harris, biden dynamic is a perfect example of the disaster and catastrophe it created. >> harris: republicans can just step back and watch the dumpster fire. >> they can but they should take advantage of explaining it and taking ownership of how it can be better and what they can do differently. >> harris: always an opportunity. cnn's prime time anchor chris cuomo speeng out for the first time since the network pulled him off the air calling it an indefinite suspension. new documents revealed cuomo tried to dig up dirt on the women who accused his brother of sexual harassment and he also used his journalism sources to try to shape the coverage of the story about his brother. reports today cnn chief jeff zucker said it was the last straw. here is chris cuomo on his radio show. >> it hurts to even say it. it's embarrassing. but i understand it. and i understand why some people feel the way they do about what i did. i have apologized in the past. the last thing i ever wanted to do was compromise any of my colleagues. >> harris: despite the outrage over the revolution media analyst brian stelter said his co-worker could be back on the air in a few weeks. >> media critics calling on cnn to take action. colleagues at cnn mad at chris cuomo for putting the network in a tough spot and wanted to see action. you have a lot of viewers, though, who are ticked off he is off the air. cuomo is on the bench for now heading into the holiday season. possible he will be on the bench for several weeks and possible he will be back in january. >> harris: part of the problem, too, from reports on jeff zucker is that he felt lied to. tammy bruce, stand by. we have the white house press briefing questions beginning now. let's watch together. >> 24/7 health and medical teams are learning more about the variant and we'll assess if additional restrictions need to be put in place. >> the israeli p.m. bennett -- [inaudible] talks should be haltened and stressed iran is conducting nuclear blackmail. what is the u.s. response and any consideration canceling the talks? >> every country including our friends in israel is entitled to their own point of view. our view is a diplomatic path forward and continuing to pursue a diplomatic and opportunity for diplomatic discussions to have greater access to return to mutual full compliance with the jcpoa continues to be the right path forward. go ahead. >> the president is making includes requiring insurance companies to pay for at-home over the counter tests. to reimburse customers for the tests. will the government reimburse the insurance companies or do the insurance companies need to cover that cost? >> it is a very good question, jeff. as you know and may have seen in the background call last night or i will provide additional information. we expect to have the final rules on this and have this implemented in mid-january. i expect additional details how it will work and the functioning will be out in that timeline. >> that question is just not answerable yet. >> i will check and see with the covid team if it is. there is typically a rulemaking process done through h.h.s. that will provide additional clarity on the implementation. >> separate topic. any updates on white house plans to arrange a call between president putin and president biden? lavrov said moscow will take measures to insure its own security if the u.s. and allies -- >> we hardly refuse to have discussions with the russians. the secretary of state and foreign minister of russia had a discussion today and discussions at a high level with the russians. the president continues to believe in the benefit of diplomacy at a leader level as you have seen over the course of the past 10 to 11 months. i don't have anything to preview or announce as it relates to call or engagement between president biden and president putin. >> following up on this minnesota news. given the fact that this individual began experiencing symptoms on november 22, tested positive on november 24th. it would suggest there has been community spread of this variant for at least the last 10 days within the united states. is that the white house's assessment and to what extent does it change your understanding and approach to combating this new variant? >> we need to be careful from the government and from the media as well about how we assess and attribute community spread or what has happened here. there is -- there was information put out by the minnesota public health department. i would reiterate a couple components of that. many of you may have seen it. in case you haven't. there is an individual, adult male a resident of hennepin county was vaccinated. developed mild symptoms on november 22 and sought covid-19 testing november 24. the symptoms have resolved. the minnesota spoke with minnesota public health department. he attended the new york city 2021 convention at the javits center from the 19th through 21st. any contract tracing would be done through the cdc and public health officials as well. but i would also note that the minnesota public health department will do a press conference at noon and expect they would have additional information. important question about contact tracing and what we anticipate i just want to rely on the public health officials to speak to that. >> are you aware of any other cases of the omicron variant in the united states other than the minnesota and california case? >> we have been very transparent hopefully you would agree about providing that information as it becomes available. it typically comes through public health departments and provide it themselves first but we are in close touch every single day with state and local public health authorities. not that i'm aware of. officials i would note as dr. fauci has said over the course of the last week every day we do even the restrictions we put in place won't prevent this variant from coming here, it would just flow. that was the objective. we accept there will be more cases and we know it will be the case and why we're focused on doing everything we can to fight the virus and variant. >> president biden has repeatedly promised to shut down the virus and wanting to end the pandemic. is that still possible? does he still believe that is possible or are we starting to shift now especially with the rise of this variant to perhaps accepting that we need to live with covid for years to come? >> first i would say there is a lot we don't know about the variant yet and that is challenging and frustrating. i understand for americans and all of you. and we want to give the space and time for the public health officials who are working 24/7 to assess and provide guidance on it. there are a range of options as dr. fauci has spoken to and our medical experts have spoken to. it could be less deadly. it could be more. we don't know. so i just want to say we -- that's the next step in this process. the president and you will hear him speak to this today continues to believe if we build on the bold steps that we've taken to date. if we continue to make the vaccines more accessible, to increase testing, increase masking we can return to a version of normal in this country and what everybody wants and would like to see. >> about the reimbursements for rapid test. it can be a cumbersome process. why not just try and subsidize the price of these tests as some other countries have done? >> first i would say we are approaching a little differently from some other countries. this isn't exactly what you asked. we see the fda process of reviewing and evaluating the efficacy as the gold standard that is a high bar in our view. that's important to abide by that. our medical team looked at a range of ontions. we want to make testing more accessible to people across the country. there are four times more tests available now than there were in the summer. we'll continue to build on that. this is a step that was -- our team agreed was possible to do now and we'll continue to build on it. >> yesterday you said you were confident we won't see a shutdown. the house is -- a small group of senate republicans are objecting. do you still have the same level of confidence today we won't see a shutdown? >> the good news that i think you all saw today and put out a statement of administration policy supporting the swift passage of hr6119 which was basically a deal struck this morning. we still feel there is time for lawmakers to set aside political games and enact the short term continuing resolution to fund the government through early next year and allow for time for a full year budget agreement which is our objective. there is still time to do that and of course it's up to congress to do that. we are confident they will take steps to keep the government open. >> there is still time but not a lot of time. have you started to take steps to prepare for a possible shutdown even if it is going to last through the weekend? >> sure. there are steps taken by omb, budget team that are standard and they are not steps taken out of an assessment or evaluation of what is possible or the legislative possibilities. they typically start engaging with agencies about a week in advance of any scheduled timeline for government funding. they did that as of last friday. they had another scheduled time to engage with agencies today. so that is standard operating procedure and that's underway. but again our objective is to prevent the governmentdown and it is up to congress. >> administration says the u.s. and mexico have reached a deal restart the remain in mexico program started under president trump. is that something your administration is fighting in court. the president railed against this policy, called it dangerous, inhumane saying it goes against everything we stand for as a nation. how he feels about having now to see this move forward? >> as you noted, secretary mayorkas and the president have repeatedly said that this program is -- has flaws and has human costs, both in resources and personnel away for other priority efforts and failed to cause the root causes. deeply flawed. that's why we stopped enrolling individuals in the program day one and issued a memorandum in june terminating the program. secretary mayorkas issued another memorandum explaining his decision to terminate the program in october. as you noted we're in a situation where we are under a court -- abiding by a court ruling and so that's what we are working to implement at this point in time. there are some key changes and exemptions. the department of homeland security announced this morning and can speak to. but our view of the program has not changed. we're working to implement under the court order. >> another testing question. you said you want to make testing as affordable and available as possible. in addition to requiring insurers to cover at-home tests, is the administration doing anything to make in-person pcr tests more widely available, more affordable. as anyone who had to get a pcr test or a rapid test knows it can be hard to find one and expensive and especially getting the quick test is very, very hard. >> part of the plan is president is announcing is free tests, 50 million tests we'll make available at community health centers and rural clinics to insure they are broadly available in a range of places where people can go and access them. and again this is part of our effort to build on what we've already done to date. we made $3 billion worth of investments to accelerate the production of rapid test and expand capacity. when the president took office there are zero available. now eight. this supply will quadruple this month from where we were in the summer and we'll continue to build on this. this is a step to make it more affordable for people at home but also make them more widely available at a range of locations, community health centers, roour all health clinics so people can go find them. >> on abortion, based on what we heard at the supreme court yesterday, is the white house concerned that this supreme court is about to overturn roe v. wade? and what if anything are you doing to prepare for that possibility? >> i'm not going to make an assessment how the supreme court will rule. what i will say is the president is committed to working with congress to the constitutional right to safe and legal abortion as protected by roe and announced his support for the women's health protection act and urges congress to pass it and i would reiterate something i conveyed yesterday. he believes that mississippi's law violates women's constitutional rights to safe and legal abortion. every american deserves reproductive healthcare. we don't pre-determine how the supreme court will rule but supports codifying roe through congress and something they can act to do. >> do you think that's a real possibility? >> there is a bill currently the women's health protection act and ordered congress to pass it. >> aides have announced either that they are leaving the vice president or will be leaving soon. is the vice president not satisfied with the staffing that she has had so far? or do people just not want to work for her anymore? >> i would say working on a presidential campaign. may be covering one too, to be fair and working in the first year of a white house is grueling and exhausting and rewarding. many of the team members you are referencing. i would just note there has been an announcement about symone sanders departing but hasn't been official announcements about others. i would leave it to them and the vice president's team to make any additional announcements. in my experience and if you look at past precedent it is natural who staffers who have thrown themselves into a new job are ready to move on in a few years. this is applicable to these individuals. it is an opportunity as in any white house to bring in new faces, new voices and new perspectives and i expect you will hear more from the vice president's office in due time. >> this is not a case of bad headlines about the vice president and a decision being made to shake up the staff to fix an image issue? >> peter, i think i spoke to it and i would note and i'll speak to symone since i knew her before and she has announced and i knew her before she joined the biden campaign sitting on many panels with her on cnn sets and knowing someone like her, she joined the campaign early on as many of you know, been a part of this for 2 1/2 or three years. she is somebody and anybody who spends time with her knows she is whip smart and she has charisma coming out of her eyeballs and will do plenty of interesting things in the world in the future. she will always be a part of this biden/harris family and only natural after a couple of years to be ready for something new and that's what happens in my experiences in the past in woulss often. >> does the vice president think staff are to blame for her not making meaningful progress on the big things like passing voting rights or addressing the root causes of migration? >> the vice president is grateful to all the staff who served her and also understands the excitement and grueling nature of working on a campaign and working in a white house and again as i noted earlier, it is also an opportunity to bring in new faces and perspectives which is a very positive thing. >> big cities are dealing with smash and grab robberies, a record number of police officers shot and killed this year. what is president biden going to do about all this lawlessness? >> peter, i would say one, the president proposed additional funding in his budget over the funding that had been proposed by the prior president to increase and support local police departments. make sure we keep cops on the beat, and we insure that local communities are working in partnership to crack down on crime and any dangers they see in their community. it's one of the steps. we've also worked with a range of come unteals across the country on strike forces, something we've talked about in the past and continuing to implement that from the department of justice. the president absolutely believes community police forces can have an important instrumental effect in helping keep communities safe. >> does the president think crime is up because of the pandemic? >> many people have conveyed that and also one of the reasons that -- one of the root reasons crime -- root causes of crime in communities is gun and gun violence and we've seen that statistically around the country. >> when a huge group of criminals organizes themselves and want to go loot a store, cvs, nordstrom and home depo, you think it's because of the pandemic? >> yes. >> i want to follow up -- >> harris: that is quite the exchange. peter doocy comes ready with questions we want to know about. the lawlessness breaking out in many democrat-led cities, most of them are. the lawlessness he was talking about is more than the inconvenience of having some things that you can't get your hands on at the store to purchase. it is about danger and the violence of crime that can come along even unexpectedly. for jen psaki and the white house taking those questions from peter doocy she talked about community police and how they help in those instances. that is not the kind of conversation that we have necessarily heard consistently from the white house. in fact, not to muddle too much together but when there have been disagreements at school board meetings, the d.o.j. and f.b.i. were called in. they can't call in some more resources where 20 people storm a home depot to help out the people inside, the workers, the shoppers? it is questions. peter did a great job there. of course he hit hard this idea there has been word of an exodus at the vice president's office, particularly among her communications team and the white house press secretary was talking about how particularly the most high profile exit is symone sanders and she was first on the campaign and will always be part of the biden/harris family. but she cited it was years that she had been. the term for everybody right now is months as staff for kamala harris. if there was previous service on the campaign psaki is counting that. a lot to get to. it ties into where we're going next, where the president is on all of the questions about this variant. you heard jen psaki confirming the second case of the omicron variant. she gave some specific details that have been reported on. confirmation from the white house, too. she said that this was a person in minnesota according to the minnesota public health who was vaccinated and found to be positive of covid over the holiday. the thanksgiving holiday but days before had previously traveled to new york city at a convention here. and yesterday we found out that there was the first confirmed case in california. now they will look at all of this but you and i both know after living for nearly two years with this killer virus, it doesn't know travel bans and restrictions and all of that. it is what it is. it is killer, makes people very sick and can be on the move if those people are on the move. in fact, new testing restrictions are what biden wants to announce today. for american travelers and he wants to extend mask mandates for public transportation. again peter doocy at work pressing dr. fauci on new burdens for americans but not for illegal immigrants coming across our southern border. watch. >> that's a different issue. when you talk -- we still have title 42 with regard to protection at the border. there are protections at the border that you don't have the capability as you know of somebody getting on a plane, getting checked, looking at a passport. we don't have that there. >> harris: meanwhile the president down playing the supply chain crisis again, which the new strain of covid could make even worse. >> the president is still in denial about what his reckless spending policies have done to our economy. families all acontrols arkansas are starting to face tragic sources between paying the mortgage, heating the home, paying for gasoline, buying kids an extra christmas present or two. that's a direct result of joe biden and the democrats' reckless tax and spend policy. we have had the pandemic for two years. we didn't have inflation until joe biden and the democrats took office and largely shifting the blame. >> harris: senator cotton laying out the layering of problems right now in the supply chain crisis. i mentioned how the variant plays a role because of restrictions and if you tamp down more on workers and your workforce is already dwindling, what kind of effect could that have coming up in the next three weeks? it gives a fresh round of political ammunition to both political parties as well. congressional correspondent aishah hosni looking at that part of the coverage from capitol hill. >> good morning to you. you are absolutely right. there are a number of vocal critics here on the hill including senator rand paul, who fired off some fresh frustration this morning over these new restrictions that come ahead of a full picture of this new variant accusing even dr. anthony fauci of leading this white house more as a political bureaucrat rather than a public health official. watch. >> first reaction, gut reaction as soon as they hear something we must act, we must do something. it is usually to control your behavior. you can't do this in your business, restaurant, hotel or tell you you can't travel. this is devastating to the world. >> the politics of covid goes on as the inflation crisis continues. democrats are arguing that this new variant is yet another reason to pass their massive social spending plan they say it would pump the economy with more covid relief money. that's on top of the nearly $5 trillion already allocated for the pandemic. and some developing news, harris, on the battle over the federal vaccine mandate. a group of republicans led by senator mike lee of utah are threatening to use a government shutdown to stop this mandate from going into effect. a lot of talk happening on the hill today. senate minority leader mitch mcconnell doubling down just this morning saying there will be no government shutdown. instead he would rather take the legislative route to address the federal mandate. >> next week we are going to have a vote on vaccine mandate prohibiting that regulation from going into effect. i think it has a decent chance of passing the senate. we won't shut the government down. it makes no sense for anyone. no one on either side this is its a good idea. >> he will need to round up 10 republicans to avoid a crisis. >> harris: interesting what may come into play to talk about how judges are dismantling that mandate over and over and over again. left and right. aishah, thank you, good to see you. a "washington examiner" op-ed titled biden's contradictory covid policies are getting worse. somehow biden has decided covid policies should be more strict now that we have a vaccine than before it existed. well, unless you don't want to fire your employees before christmas or unless you are an illegal immigrant, crossing the southern border, that is a different issue according to dr. anthony fauci. in "focus" right now my next guest plans to introduce a bill that would prohibit employers from asking about their employee's vaccination status and from discrimination based on their vaccination status. republican congressman brian mast of florida is here now. first of all, explain how it would work and why it's critical to you now. >> obvious why it's critical. we have the federal government telling employers they have to mandate that their employees get vaccinated. we have know that fundamentally this is a violation of civil liberties. it is the most rampant growing form of violation of civil liberties that our country has seen in decades and it is being put forward by the government. we need to go out there. unforpt naturally enshrine in the land of freedom, independence of liberty we have to enshrine into law you are not allowed to go out and tell somebody they have to get a needle put in their arm and take about the government says they have to take. it is fundamentally against america. >> harris: congressman mast. how much does it play a role that there is at the judge level a look at this saying no, that mandate cannot stand by the president of the united states? >> one, that's outstanding that we have judges looking at this and saying yeah, you can't do that to americans. but what we just saw in the press briefing was the court jester for emperor biden saying if you wear masks a little bit longer, if you get more inoculations then maybe we can go back to quote, some version of normal. not normal. let me give her a spoiler alert. florida is back to full normal. second spoiler alert, we're never going back. third spoiler alert, america is never going back either regardless of what the emperor says. >> harris: one quick follow to this and i'll move to the next point. when congress gets involved in something like this, how do you think that helps at that level ahead of the mid-terms? does this become part of the nomenclature as you go into elections? >> undoubtedly it does. you have to let the constituents know what is it that you fought for? above all, did you fight for the ideology that america should represent to the globe that you get to go out there and prepare for your own life and live your own life and bear out the consequences of your own life? that's the freedom this country affords. when you wake up under 15 stars and 13 red and white stripes you get to decide what you do that day or what you don't do. the government is trying to take that away by fiat and something we need to go out there and run on every single day. did we stand by or did we not? if you didn't, it's time to go. >> harris: fascinating. the details you reminded us of in your great state of florida are worth the entire nation noting as we face a new variant right now. economy cooking, numbers the lowest in the nation of covid positives. representative mast, always great to have you in "focus." thank you. another house democrat is jumping ship. there are a lot of people exiting. talking about the vice president's office, look at this. oregon representative and chair of the house transportation committee has announced he is retiring. he is now the 12th house democrat to do so ahead of the 2022 mid-terms. republicans say they're hopeful they will take back the majority. both of them. not just the house but the senate, too. cnn with the headline. democrats have a retirement problem. "politico" saying majority blues. house dems not done limping for the exit. excerpt from that piece reads this way. democrat landmark bills are getting neutered in the senate. they've already started a brutal round of redistricting as president joe biden's approval ratings nose-dive. sean hannity not holding back, he never does. >> joe biden is a disaster. policies are terrible, brain is barely functioning, america is now facing several major crises. he has caused every one and all of them have been preventable. republicans, independents, democrats are desperately looking for a better way forward. >> harris: power panel. jason meister former trump advise re board member and leslie marshal. >> jason, top line thoughts. >> it is clear to me democrats are preparing for the mid-terms and they understand they have a choice. they can either quit, be fired, or they are going to be in the minority. when you have over 71% of this country thinking that we're headed in the wrong direction and the gop has the largest lead over the democrats in over 40 years, you know that something has gone wrong. and you saw virginia. it was a five alarm fire. so the democrats have failed america on every reasonable metric. you look at the southern border, afghanistan, covid, supply chain, inflation, gas prices, the list goes on and on. it is no wonder that democrats want to jump off the titanic. >> harris: interesting. because in new jersey there was at least a two-alarm fire for the incumbent phil murphy. he was able to squeak it out. some of the same issues came up with the republican coming out of nowhere and making it a competitive race down to the end. leslie. >> with regard to democrats leaving. 11 republicans leaving. 19 democrats have announced. 12 of those 19 won their district like jackie spear and karen bass by 20, 30, 40, 50 plus percent margins. the seats won't flip red. i think it is cyclical and historical. when you have the president in power as a republican they lose seats. when the president in power is a democrat they lose seats. that i'm not surprised about. i'm also not surprise ed when some people don't get policies past. in oregon's first district they haven't been republican prior to 1975. more than half the district is democratic. a lot of universities there. the left race he won it by a slim margin. >> harris: every president knows that first round if it's your second term second round of mid-term elections will be messy and they do lose seats. what is different about this to me, jason, is the fact that we could see a situation where the senate is in play, too. that republicans could end up with both houses of congress because the majorities were so close and nobody talked about that. biden and his administration thought they had a mandate or they said that early on. that is not what squeaky close means. >> there is no question. joe biden really has become the greatest surrogate for the republican party and why everyone at every stadium is singing the song let's go brandon. the other thing i think is if play like you said is the senate. i think the democrats are in a huge uphill battle going forward. i think americans are waking up to the policies that have -- that are inflicting their lives with pain. >> harris: what you just said i want to repeat it. biden has become the greatest surrogate for the republican party. your quick thought on that, leslie. >> i think that we will see in 2024 that donald trump will be once again for the democratic party. that's the problem republicans have. democrats have a split within their own party. republicans have a battle between the moderate republicans, the old school republicans, mitch mcconnell republicans and those people that seem to worship at the altar of donald trump. so i would say whoever is at the top of whatever party tends to be beneficial to the opposition when you have an election and mid-terms right now are a lifetime away. >> harris: quick rebuttal, jason. we have to go. >> there is no question that joe biden is far better of a surrogate for the republican party than donald trump ever was for the democrats. donald trump's policies, his policies advanced americans' lives across every single metric. >> harris: it's interesting you say that. now we are looking at the policy at the border that president biden within the first few hours of his presidency undid, the remain in mexico policy. because we're in trouble down there. we have so much going on at our border. all right, good to see you both. leslie and jason, bring you back. thank you, liberal squad member alexandria ocasio-cortez taking on house minority leader kevin mccarthy with some extremely explosive language just as the so-called news outlet is set to public a series of fawning essays of aoc. >> president biden: the number three guy from new jersey on seniority as a conducter grabbed me. i thought the secret service would blow his head off. big deal, joey, you know how many miles you traveled on amtrak, joey? >> harris: so cringey. president biden telling tall tales again and again that have been debunked. he keeps telling them. what in the world is that all about? kat timpf in "focus." alice loves the scent of gain so much, she wished there was a way to make it last longer. say hello to your fairy godmother alice and long-lasting gain scent beads. try spring daydream, now part of our irresistible scent collection. [energetic music throughout] what's strong with me? i know when i'm ready for a rest day. ...so i can be ready for anything... tomorrow. find out what's strong with you with fitbit sense and daily readiness. mom, hurry! our show's gonna start soon! i promised i wouldn't miss the show and mommy always keeps her promises. oh, no! seriously? hmm! it's not the same if she's not here. oh. -what the. oh my goodness! i don't suppose you can sing, can you? ♪ the snow's comin' down ♪ -mommy? ♪ i'm watching it fall ♪ watch the full story at www.xfinity.com/sing2 >> harris: new york democrat alexandria ocasio-cortez attacking house minority leader kevin mccarthy? she is accusing him of enabling threats against a minnesota congresswoman ilhan omar and other women of color. she tweeted people truly don't understand the scale, intensity of volume of threats targeting at ilhan omar. kevin mccarthy is so desperate to be speaker that he is working with his ku klux klan caucus to look aside and allow violent targeting of woc members of congress. this cannot be ignored. the comments come as we learn "new york magazine" has provided essays on her focusing on the rare authenticity and the role her beauty plays. kat timpf is a fox nation host and co-host of gut field and quite lovely. that's not the actmen that people who voted for her are looking for. >> as a piece of literature i'm not sure i'm interested in reading a fawning, perfectly fawning profile or series of thing about anybody. except me. everybody feels that way about themselves. but to read something you want to be a bit more dynamic than that than just a book of how she not only is perfect but looks perfect. i can't imagine that being an interesting read. >> harris: what do you make of the whole idea with her throwing seriously called the caucus among the republicans the kkk. >> i don't think it helps ilhan omar at all. i think you should condemn the death threats against anybody and her but you don't have to like kevin mccarthy to not believe he is a klan leader. that's an extreme thing to sai. we're talking about that because it is so extreme and not talking about what happened to ilhan omar at all. >> harris: that is a critical point. it always is that, right? it becomes about the person who takes up the most oxygen in the room. between those two it is aoc. the fawning article. what would you want to see? we have so much going on in this country now. it was an opportunity for alexandria ocasio-cortez to say let's focus on the border issue. she went down there and took pictures a few years ago outside the cages that were in place under the democrat president. >> look, i think that she is a very interesting figure. i think that she commands a lot of media attention for a reason. i think also that i'm just interested in more dynamic look at anybody. nobody is perfect obviously. not even me. >> harris: all right. let's get to this. president biden again repeating a debunked story just yesterday. watch. >> president biden: i used to drive a tractor trailer and so i know a little bit about big trucks. >> that's great. >> president biden: i only did it for part of a summer but i got my license to do it. >> harris: i used to drive a tractor trailer. not the first time he told that story or told a toll >> i had a house burn down with my wife in it. when i was vice president the secret service didn't want me to travel on the train. one of the senior guys on amtrak says joey, baby, grabs my cheek. i thought the secret service would blow his head off. i swear to god, true story. i said no, no, he is a friend. he said big deal, joey. you know how many miles you traveled on amtrak, joey? this day 30 years ago nelson mandela walked out of prison. i had the great honor of being arrested with our u.n. ambassador on the streets trying to get to see him on robin's island. >> i pinned silver stars on soldier in the upper konar valley in the middle of a firestorm. this guy climbed down a ravine, carried this guy up on his back under fire and the general wanted m he to pin a silver star on him. >> harris: you know, the most jarring part of that has to be when he says swear to god true story. to be fair the president has corrected some of those comments but he repeated the falsehoods on multiple occasions. i'm walking it back but i'll walk back into it. >> i think he does this so much that nobody bats an eye anymore. it isn't normal at all. you said swear to god, that definitely gets me and the truck. it's so specific. i know a lot about driving truck but only for one summer and all these specific details. is this happening in his head? why such a specific lie and you say it again and you are super spifs i can about it. >> harris: some is hurtful. the family of the train employee has said time and time again it wasn't possible for that to have happened because of the timing of it. and that that person is deceased. it is actually hurtful every time he tells that story that isn't true. >> absolutely. a lot of this stuff is impossible when he says the house burned down with his wife in it. but then she got out alive. if the house burned down with her in it she is not getting out alive. that's how it works. he have ing, the sort of standa just set differently. >> right. a lot of people talk about how president trump was not a normal president. he was not a normal president. this was supposed to be return to norm. this is not normal. >> harris: i know you are keeping up the with the vice president's stories and top line thoughts. >> she didn't get a single delegate for a reason. put her as vice president and she isn't popular either. nor was she before. >> harris: she breaks the real. good to see you. thank you for watching "the faulkner focus". "outnumbered" is after the break. veteran homeowners- looking to improve your home? borrow up to 100% of your home's value with the newday 100 va loan and take out up to $60,000 or more. veteran homeowners- have you been spending more time at home? imagining the possibilities? like a bigger kitchen, a swimming pool for the grandkids, or a backyard deck. your va home loan benefit and the newday 100 va loan make it possible. value you can take out up to $60,000 or more. with home values at all time highs, now's the time to call. your record label is taking off. but so is your sound engineer. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. indeed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job description. visit indeed.com/hire as i observe investors balance risk and reward, mai see one element securingn. portfolios, time after time. gold. your strategic advantage. >> ♪ ♪ >> the vice-president's office is rocked by another high level staff shake-up. this time it's one of her most trusted advisors. a woman who helped spearhead the harris approach to the border crisis. her departure comes amid growing questions about the vice-president's future with speculation her chances of becoming president are dwindling. this is "outnumbered." i am kayleigh mcenany joined by harris faulkner and emily compagno and jillian