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From MSNBC anchor and New York Times bestselling author Katy Tur, a shocking and deeply personal memoir about a life spent chasing the news. “By the time I was two years old, I knew to yell ‘Story! Story!’ at the squawks of my parents’ police scanner. By four, I could hold a microphone and babble my way through a kiddie news report. By the time I was in high school, though, my parents had lost it all. Their marriage. Their careers. Their reputations.” When a box from her mother showed up on Katy Tur’s doorstep, months into the pandemic and just as she learned she was pregnant with her second child, she didn’t know what to expect. The box contained thousands of hours of video—the work of her pioneering helicopter journalist parents. They grew rich and famous for their aerial coverage of Madonna and Sean Penn’s secret wedding, the Reginald Denny beating in the 1992 Los Angeles riots, and O.J. Simpson’s notorious run in the white Bronco. To Tur, these family videos were an inheritance of sorts, and a reminder of who she was before her own breakout success as a reporter. In Rough Draft, Tur writes about her eccentric and volatile California childhood, punctuated by forest fires, earthquakes, and police chases—all seen from a thousand feet in the air. She recounts her complicated relationship with a father who was magnetic, ambitious, and, at times, frightening. And she charts her own survival from local reporter to globe-trotting foreign correspondent, running from her past. Tur also opens up for the first time about her struggles with burnout and impostor syndrome, her stumbles in the anchor chair, and her relationship with CBS Mornings anchor Tony Dokoupil (who quite possibly had a crazier childhood than she did). Intimate and captivating, Rough Draft explores the gift and curse of family legacy, examines the roles and responsibilities of the news, and asks the question: To what extent do we each get to write our own story?

MSNBC anchor Katy Tur opens up about her unique and turbulent childhood and the emotions she went through after her father came out as transgender. She shared her family stories during an interview about her new book "Rough Draft" with CBS Sunday Morning.

CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten said Tuesday night on CNN that President Biden was doing worse than Jimmy Carter on inflation and that American people were "holding him responsible." Host Anderson Cooper asked Enten about inflation and how bad it really was for Americans. The CNN reporter said it was "awful." "How people feel about it is even worse, I mean you look at the consumer sentiment right now and what do you see? This is the worst consumer sentiment ever measured by the University of Michigan going all the way back to 1952," Enten said, referencing data from the University of Michigan that was posted on the screen. He also noted that inflation got Carter and "killed that presidency" and that the Consumer Price Index was the worst it's been in a midterm cycle since 1974. Enten noted Biden's disapproval rating on inflation was over 70% and that Carter's was at 66% when he was in office. "When you're doing worse than Jimmy Carter's doing in the minds of Americans on inflation you know that they're holding you responsible for the conditions that are currently on the ground that are hurting Americans in their pocketbooks," Enten said. He said that while it was not a surprise, Americans "much more trust the Republican Party" on inflation. Inflation hit 8.6% in May, reaching a new 40-year-high. Enten also emphasized that inflation was the driver behind the negative views of the president. "Obviously for Democrats, any comparison to Jimmy Carter at this stage for President Biden, it's not a great comparison," Cooper said. Enten agreed and added that inflation was the number one issue for voters ahead of the midterms. He said that in looking at the generic congressional ballot ahead of the midterms, Republicans had the best position "basically, of all time at this point in a midterm cycle." Politico reported that the White House was worried the parallels to the Jimmy Carter presidency were going to stick with the administration amid skyrocketing gas prices and inflation. The president is also very frustrated about his approval rating dipping below former President Donald Trump's, who he believes to be the "worst president," Politico reported.

CNN host Don Lemon joined "New Day" on Wednesday to discuss his interview with White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre the previous night, during which she criticized his questioning. Jean-Pierre laughed off a question from Lemon about Biden's mental fitness amid reporting from The New York Times about members of the Democratic Party having concerns about Biden's leadership ability. Lemon said it was his job to ask these questions and Jean-Pierre's job to answer these types of questions as a spokesperson for the administration. The CNN host said that people should know the "health, history, both physically and mentally" of the president of the U.S., and noted that journalists and media pundits "certainly" questioned former President Donald Trump's health. He said that the president is a "nice man" but he is going to be 80-years-old and as a man in his 50s, Lemon himself has "trouble recalling things." "I’m not as sharp as I used to be. And the job of President of the United States is a really, really tough job," Lemon said. "I'm sure he's up to the job, but it is my job as a journalist to ask." Lemon said that Biden's answers during interviews were not "succinct" and that "he has trouble sometimes connecting and his answers sometimes don't make sense." He emphasized his belief that that knowing and asking about the mental health and fitness of the president is important heading into the 2024 election cycle. "And so I think we need to really think about that. Younger people being more involved in the political process, younger people, of course, can be involved in the political process. But we need to think about at a certain time in one’s life, perhaps they should think about that, and that includes Donald Trump as well, who is not far behind the current President of the United States," Lemon said. CNN's Dana Bash asked Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., on Sunday if she would support the president in 2024. Ocasio-Cortez said, "We will cross that bridge when we get to it." "That's not a yes," Bash pointed out. The Democrat representative took to social media after the interview and called Bash's question a "curveball" in an Instagram story post. She said that she could have handled the question better and that she was taking notes on Sen. Bernie Sanders', I-Vt., ability to refocus the conversation. "Why are we talking about a hypothetical 2024 race when the midterm elections haven't happened yet?" Ocasio Cortez said in her Instagram story. Former adviser to Barack Obama David Axelrod told the New York Times that Biden's age would be a "major issue" going in to 2024. Jean-Pierre emphasized on Monday that the president was indeed planning to run again in 2024. The president has said in the past that he would run only if was in "good health."

"The View" hosts Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg and Sunny Hostin shut down guest host Alyssa Farah's claim that a "red wave is coming" in November amid high gas prices and skyrocketing inflation. "Here's what I would warn, the red wave is coming. Republicans are going to win the midterms short of something unforeseen that I cannot predict now," Farah said. Behar said, "you don't know that." Farah pointed to polling, high gas prices and inflation. A poll released in early June found that Americans rank inflation as the "most urgent issue" facing our country. "Lets wait and see what the people voted. I understand what you're saying," Goldberg said. "Lets remind people it's up to them to make this decision." The hosts discussed former President Donald Trump's influence over the Republican Party as Tuesday's primary elections saw one Trump-endorsed candidate win and another lose. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C, was victorious over Trump-backed candidate, Kate Arrington. However, Rep. Tom Rice, R-S.C., lost to Russel Fry, who was endorsed by the former president, in South Carolina's 7th district Republican primary. Hostin said that she believed people were paying attention to the Jan. 6 hearings and that she agreed with Behar. "We don't know that red-wave is coming because that red-wave is based on a big lie," Hostin continued. She praised President Biden for his "solutions" to the baby formula shortage crisis, inflation and gas prices, and said that Republicans "at every single turn" have been voting against the solutions. The national average for the price of gas hit $5.014 on Wednesday. The average hit $5 per gallon on Saturday. "They've been voting against it so that we can't solve those problems, and I think that's disgusting on the part of your party," Hostin said, turning to Farah. Farah said she would "push back" and declared that it isn't "enough to run" on the idea that had the Build Back Better bill been passed, things could be different. She said that economists came out against Biden's plan and argued it would have made things worse. "We've got to solve this," she continued. "This is the job of the president. He's doing what he's supposed to be doing," Goldberg said. "Yeah, maybe your account is lower, but you have more money after you had no job for two years then you had before. So you have to balance and look at what everything is. So in the upcoming months, keep your eye on what's going on, keep your eye on who has the solutions and if the solutions are doable and why they're not getting done. That's what we're supposed to do. We are the only thing between total ridiculousness in this country, and getting out lives back in some sort of order." The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 8.6% in May from a year ago. The president sent a letter to oil CEOs on Wednesday, threatening the use of "emergency powers" if they don't increase the supply of gasoline. In addition to placing blame on Russian President Vladimir Putin, he placed some blame on the companies high profit margins. "Your companies and others have an opportunity to take immediate actions to increase the supply of gasoline, diesel and other refined product you are producing," the president wrote in a letter to oil companies. "My administration is prepared to use all reasonable and appropriate Federal Government tools and emergency authorities to increase refinery capacity and output in the near term, and to ensure that every region of this country is appropriately supplied."

Democratic National Committee (DNC) member Steve Simeonidis said Monday night on CNN that President Biden shouldn't run for reelection because of his low approval rating and because people will be looking for a "change candidate" in 2024. CNN's Erin Burnett noted that Simeonidis is a supporter of President Biden but asked why he doesn't believe the president should run for reelection. The member of the DNC praised the president's actions on ghost guns, the infrastructure bill, and his efforts in Ukraine. "The problem is, he's not and his administration is not effectively communicating those wins, which is part of the reason you're seeing his approval rating hover in the thirties," he said. The New York Times reported on Saturday that Democrats were concerned with Biden's leadership and many believed he "should be cut loose in 2024." Burnett pressed further, noting comments by David Axelrod that were included in the Times article, headlined, "Should Biden Run in 2024? Democratic Whispers of ‘No’ Start to Rise." "The presidency is a monstrously taxing job and the stark reality is the president would be closer to 90 than 80 at the end of a second term, and that would be a major issue," Axelrod told the New York Times. Simeonidis was also quoted in the article, saying, "to say our country was on the right track would flagrantly depart from reality." He also said that the president should announce that he would not run in 2024 "after the midterms." "It's a host of factors," the DNC member told Burnett. "The first being that the approval rating is not where it should be at this point. But also more importantly if you look at the polls with regards to the direction of the country, less than a quarter of Americans think that our country is on the right track. With polls like that, people are going to be looking for a changed candidate. There's not going to be looking to vote for an incumbent with approval ratings down in the thirties." A Monmouth University poll found in May that just 18% of Americans believe the country is heading in the right direction. Burnett also asked about former President Donald Trump throwing his hat into the ring and the possibility of a repeat of the 2020 election. "Does that change your view?" she asked. "No, I mean no matter who the Republican nominee is, if ‘16 and ’20 are any guide it's going to wind up being a fascist. Our democracy is going to be at stake, the stakes could not be higher. And in that situation, every Democrat should want to put the best nominee forward. Just because we were successful with one plan of action in 2020, things are much different in 2024," he warned. Simeonidis said that in 2020, candidates could campaign from one location, and that 2024 is not going to be something candidates "can win remotely." "In this situation you're going to have an 80-year-old man with the most pressure-cooker job on the planet needing to also full time run a nationwide campaign which is a significant ask," he continued. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY., joined CNN's Dana Bash on Sunday and was asked if she would support Biden in 2024. The Congresswoman said that she was focused on winning the majority in 2022 but said "we'll cross that bridge when we get to it." Bash responded, "That's not a yes." "You know, I think we should endorse when we get to it," the New York Rep. continued. "I believe that the president has been doing a very good job so far. And, you know, should he run again? I think that I… you know, I think it's … we'll take a look at it." A CNN political analyst said on Sunday that the chatter among Democrats about Biden possibly not running in 2024 "weakens his ability to govern." "I think two things are true. Number one, if gas wasn't $5 a gallon and inflation wasn't 8.5 percent, people would be still talking about whether Biden was the strongest person to pit against Trump, which is what this has always been about," Margaret Talev said on CNN's "Inside Politics."

Discussing speculation over whether President Biden would run for reelection in 2024, "The View" host Joy Behar said Tuesday that David Axelrod, a former adviser to Barack Obama, should "keep his mouth shut" about president's age. "David Axelrod should keep his mouth shut. And you know what, Ronald Reagan's rule was thou shall not speak ill of a fellow Republican. And I say onto you, David Axelrod, do not speak ill of a fellow Democrat," Behar declared. Guest host Alyssa Farah brought up Axelrod's comments in a New York Times article from Saturday, headlined "Should Biden Run in 2024? Democratic Whispers of ‘No’ Start to Rise." The New York Times reported that many Democrats were concerned with Biden's ability to save the party heading into the midterms and into 2024. "The presidency is a monstrously taxing job and the stark reality is the president would be closer to 90 than 80 at the end of a second term, and that would be a major issue," Axelrod told the outlet. "In asking the question, who is most fit to beat Donald Trump, because that man should never be president again, I'm not sure its Joe Biden," Farah said, adding that she didn't think Biden has the same "sharpness." Co-host Whoopi Goldberg said that we need someone who can get the country back "in line" and said that she's more interested in which Republicans have a shot. Sunny Hostin said that she hopes it's not Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., because she believes "he handled COVID miserably." "I think he's a fascist and a bigot," she continued. "I hate this talk about, I think people saying he’s too old, I mean, you know, if the former, you know, twice-impeached, disgraced president thinks he’s such a young spring chicken I mean he’s going to be 78 when Joe Biden is 81. I don’t like this ageism argument," Hostin said. She said that there were plenty of Democrats that have "verve and energy" and noted she would like to see Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., run because "he's really pretty to look at." She also said she would like a presidential ticket with Vice President Kamala Harris and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, saying that their "brain power alone would obliterate" Trump or DeSantis. "Ronald Reagan had Alzheimers as a younger man," Goldberg claimed, adding that its more about "what you can get done." "Biden doesn’t get the credit he deserves for steering the country through the worst of the pandemic, passing historic legislation, pulling the NATO alliance together against Russian aggression and restoring decency and decorum to the White House," Axelrod also told the New York Times. "And part of the reason he doesn’t is performative. He looks his age and isn’t as agile in front of a camera as he once was, and this has fed a narrative about competence that isn’t rooted in reality." Biden was 78-years-old when elected president in 2020, making him the oldest in U.S. history, and would be 82-years-old by the time the next president is selected.

The co-hosts of MSNBC's "Morning Joe" were so eager to troll the former president and their ex-bestie Donald Trump that they rushed to bolster the viewership of the first primetime January 6 hearing by making a far-fetched comparison to mock the audience of his hit NBC programs. Thursday marked the first of several hearings being conducted by the House Jan. 6 Select Committee to lay out what its investigation discovered looking into the events that led up to the pro-Trump riot that erupted on Capitol Hill. The hearing was broadcasted live on many of the biggest networks including ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC and CNN. Early numbers indicate that roughly 20 million viewers collectively tuned in for the political programming produced in consultation with former ABC News president James Goldston. On Monday, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski were overly giddy to tout those numbers at the expense of Trump, who is known for his fixation on the size of TV audiences. "Mika, did you know that about 20 million people across America watched Thursday's primetime hearing?" Scarborough playfully asked. "And as the Times points out, those 20 million viewers is in the ballpark with big television events like Sunday Night Football." "Oh, my God!" Brzezinski exclaimed. "But I want you to compare those 20 million viewers with the biggest ratings Donald Trump garnered for his reality show," Scarborough said. "Morning Joe" then pointed to numbers showing 20 million viewers topped the "7.6 million" Trump received when he hosted the final season of NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice" and the "4.6 million" he earned for the final season of "The Apprentice," all while displaying an image of Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., laughing as she stands above the former president. "Wow, so these hearings trumped that," Brzezinski said. "I'm not very good at math… but if you look at the last season of ‘The Apprentice,’ Trump got 4.6 million and Liz Cheney got 20 million… and then ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ that season got 7.6 million ‘cause you know, after ’The Apprentice,' you know, only 4.6 million for a primetime show that he said was the greatest ever, they had to start getting celebrities like, like Gary Busey and other people on to get people watching, right?" Scarborough said while chuckling. "Because Trump was 4.6 in primetime on a broadcast…" "Small," Brzezinski interjected. "Really small, but anyway, so look at these numbers again," Scarborough said before re-airing the stats on the screen. "It's pretty significant. So, like, you know, if Trump said that ‘The Apprentice' was like one of the most popular shows of all time, that's great." The MSNBC program also went on to cite the 11.76 million viewers who watched the final game of the 2021 World Series, the 11.78 million who watched the NBA Finals as well as the single-digit audiences that tuned in to "American Idol" and "Survivor," all to argue that there is a huge public interest in the Jan. 6 hearings. No one on the "Morning Joe" panel acknowledged that holding up the hearing's viewership, which aired across several networks, to the "Apprentice" programs that only aired on a single network is far beyond comparing apples and oranges. The last major multi-network event that had roughly as equal exposure as the Jan. 6 hearing was President Biden's first official State of the Union address in March, which earned 38 million viewers, trouncing the Democrat-led committee's primetime debut. President Trump's final SOTU address in 2020 also bested the hearing, reaching over 37 million viewers, something "Morning Joe" would rather avoid acknowledging.

Despite Democrats controlling the White House and both chambers of Congress, MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle demanded to know Sunday what plan Republicans have to "combat inflation." Inflation hit a new 40-year high in May with the Labor Department announcing Friday that the Consumer Price Index rose 8.6% from this time last year, after the Biden administration spent months claiming inflation would be transitory. On Friday's episode of "Morning Joe," Ruhle claimed Republicans "want" higher inflation because it's better for them politically. She said, "But we need to remind our audience that Republicans, they’re not offering any solutions. They’re saying ‘Inflation is terrible, blame the White House.’ They’re not offering you anything better." On Sunday night she took her GOP-focused message to Twitter, tweeting in all caps, "WHAT IS THE REPUBLICAN PLAN TO COMBAT INFLATION?" The tweet received backlash from various commentators on Twitter. Tim Young, a conservative author and comedian, responded to Ruhle, asking, "Why aren't you asking the current President what his plan is?" Similarly, Greg Price, a conservative political operative, asked, "Wouldn't this be a better question for the people currently in control of the government?" Robby Starbuck, a GOP Congressional candidate in Tennessee, responded in all caps, "NOT SPENDING TRILLIONS & TRILLIONS WHILE IN AN ECONOMIC CRISIS ESPECIALLY ON THINGS THAT ARE LARGELY GLOBALIST MONEY LAUNDERING SCHEMES TO BENEFIT THE LEFT AND DRILLING MORE OIL ON AMERICAN SOIL WOULD BE A GOOD START! THANKS FOR ASKING!" Margot Cleveland, senior legal correspondent for The Federalist, answered the MSNBC host’s question, tweeting, "Win back the Whitehouse and both chambers of Congress." Kyle Becker, a conservative media commentator, tweeted, "This is what the mainstream media does instead of holding Democrats accountable."

Former Obama adviser Steven Rattner and MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough praised Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., for derailing President Biden’s Build Back Better Act because interest rates would be even higher if the costly bill had passed. Rattner joined MSNBC’s "Morning Joe" to discuss inflation as the liberal network’s on-screen chyron noted it had reached a four-decade high. "This is what we’ve been warning of, this is what happens. I was wondering why it was taking so long, but you flood the economy with too much money, with too much government debt, with too many government programs, too much defecit spending, this is exactly what happens," Scarborough said. "My God, I just wonder what would have happened if progressives would've gotten their six-trillion dollar wish earlier this year." Last year, Manchin famously declared he would not support "spending trillions more" on social programs amid a dispute between the moderate Democrat and party leaders and effectively killed the massive social policy spending bill known as Build Back Better. At the time, Manchin said he "made clear to the president and Democratic leaders" that it would be the "definition of fiscal insanity" to greenlight more spending despite funding shortages for social security and Medicare. Manchin also cited concerns about the potential impact to inflation and the shaky U.S. economic recovery. Rattner, a former Treasury Department official under the Obama administration, agrees in hindsight. "In an ironic way you almost have to thank Joe Manchin for blocking that because $6.5 trillion of spending in this economy would make these numbers look small," Rattner told Scarborough. "I wouldn’t even say ironically thank Joe Manchin, you can just thank Joe Manchin if you’re glad that interest rates aren’t even higher," Scarborough said, referring to the Fed's rate hike to try to tamp down spending. U.S. consumers ratcheted up their outlook for where inflation will be one year from now, according to a key Federal Reserve Bank of New York survey published Monday, a potentially worrisome sign for the central bank as it tries to tame white-hot prices. The median expectation is that the inflation rate will be up 6.6% one year from now, matching an 11-year-high recorded in March, according to the New York Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Expectations, which dates back to 2013. Three years from now, consumers would see inflation hitting 3.9% – unchanged from last month. The new projections come on the heels of a scorching-hot Labor Department report that showed the consumer price index, a broad measure of the price for everyday goods, including gasoline, groceries and rents, rose 8.6% in May from a year ago, faster than expected. Prices jumped 1% in the one-month period from April. It marks the fastest pace of inflation since December 1981.

Listen to this article 0:00 / 2:43 BeyondWords MSNBC host Joe Scarborough praised the bipartisan gun control plan made in the Senate on Sunday, comparing the actions to Abraham Lincoln ending slavery. Opening Monday’s "Morning Joe," co-host Mika Brzezinski quoted President Biden calling the agreement a "step in the right direction." Scarborough lauded the move as incremental "progress" similar to Lincoln’s steps to abolish slavery. "And it is progress. Slow progress but progress. I'm sure you know, I'm sure you've studied. Abraham Lincoln was often criticized for moving too slowly toward ending slavery. Abolitionists like Frederick Douglass noted the view from the abolition ground, Mr. Lincoln seemed tardy, cold, dull, and indifferent. But Lincoln was an incrementalist because his enemies were absolutists in their support of slavery," the MSNBC host explained. Scarborough urged liberal viewers to stay patient because this proposed agreement was a step towards "wildly popular" gun control measures like "universal background checks, raising the age of buying assault weapons from 18 to 21 and enacting red flag laws in all 50 states" that "could slow down and eventually stop mass killings in schools." Even though the agreement didn't go as far as Democrats wanted, "progress was made," the host stated. Scarborough then went back to equating legislating away gun rights to abolishing slavery. "Lincoln once said of his often criticized march towards emancipation, and it being too slow, ‘I am a slow walker, but I never walk back’. May we all keep walking forward together toward a day when our children can again go to school without the fear of weapons of war and mass shootings," he implored. Ten Republicans and 10 Democrats struck a deal in the Senate on Sunday to enact a "commonsense" gun control package. The framework agreed upon included increased funding for red flag laws, mental health and school safety measures and enhanced background checks for gun buyers under 21 years old. Since the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, Democrats and liberal media outlets have aggressively pushed for stricter gun control, including banning guns and repealing the Second Amendment. But Republican Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas said on Fox News on Saturday that it was "very hard to legislate away" less common violent events like mass shootings. "It's very hard to legislate away these anomalies. These mass dramatic shootings, which are very different from your regular gun violence, which is usually committed by a very specific subset in inner cities, and gangs, and drug cartels and drug gangs. But this mass shooting thing is really, really difficult," he told host Brian Kilmeade.

The Jan. 6 committee has begun a series of public hearings following a year-long investigation into the attack on the U.S. Capitol in 2021 "Life, Liberty & Levin" host Mark Levin slammed the Jan. 6 "sham" hearings on his show over the weekend, calling it an "abomination" to the U.S. political system driven by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her party's hatred of former President Donald Trump. “This is a sham. This will go down in history as a dark mark on the American political system. You can’t see it now, the mob is in control, the mob runs the media, the propaganda is full-throated, you can’t be it now. But history has a way of sobering events, and we will see this one day is the outrageous attack on our system, on the prior president, on scores of people that it truly is.” “It’s an abomination to the American system. Not just of justice, but our congressional and representative system.” What more can be added to that? Exactly right.

Washington Post congressional reporter Marianna Sotomayor said Sunday during ABC's "This Week" that it could be too late for Democrats on the economy as the midterms approach. Host Martha Raddatz asked the ABC panel about a New York Times report from Saturday about President Biden potentially sitting out 2024. "That's not a good headline," Raddatz said of the piece, headlined, "Should Biden Run in 2024? Democratic Whispers of ‘No’ Start to Rise." A New York Times reporter said in May that a lot of Democrats don't believe Biden will run again in 2024. ABC News political director Rick Klein said that the White House wasn't "too concerned" about it because the "whispers" weren't "shouts" and that "people aren't saying it very loudly." He noted that there was no obvious person who could step in and that not many Democrats believed Vice President Kamala Harris would be the right fit. He also said some Democrats believe that Biden did beat former President Donald Trump in 2020 and that he could do it again. "They are going to continue to signal that they get it when it comes inflation and gas prices, and they think the president's standing is closely tied to how people are living their lives and if they can show progress, show that he met the moment, show that he gets it, show that he is addressing it, they think the numbers can get enough better that maybe the midterms aren't quite as bad as it looks right now and that will change perspectives around 2024," Klein said. Sotomayor said that the president changed his tone a little with inflation. "In the beginning a lot of Democrats were saying, hey look, the economy, it's doing great, it's the best in, you know record number of years. And people weren't feeling that. People were saying why are you telling me its good when all of these prices are going up?" she mused. "So you are starting to see Democrats shift the messaging a little bit to talk more about and have that empathy but whether that it is a little too late. But it could be a little too late for a lot of these people that are saying we need help now," she continued. Inflation, gas prices and the economy remain at the forefront of the 2022 midterm elections as the national average hit $5.01 per gallon of gas on Sunday. After dipping slightly in April, inflation hit 8.6% in May, reaching a new 40-year-high. Shelter costs increased 0.6% in May, marking the largest month-over-month increase since 2004.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., did not answer yes -- and instead focused on this year’s midterms -- when asked if she would support President Biden if he chooses to run for re-election in 2024. In an appearance on CNN’s "State of the Union" Sunday, Ocasio-Cortez was asked about her feelings about the president seeking a second term, and she responded very delicately. "I just want to ask about President Biden. He is saying he's going to run again in 2024. Will you support him?" CNN host Dana Bash asked. "You know, if the president chooses to run again in 2024, I mean, first of all, I'm focused on winning this majority right now and preserving a majority this year in 2022," Ocasio-Cortez said. "So, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it … I think if the president has a vision and that's something certainly we're all willing to entertain and examine when the time comes." To that, Bash noted, "That's not a yes." "You know, I think we should endorse when we get to it," Ocasio-Cortez responded. "I believe that the president has been doing a very good job so far. And, you know, should he run again? I think that I… you know, I think it's … we'll take a look at it." "Right now, we need to focus on winning a majority instead of our presidential election," she added. Earlier in the interview, Ocasio-Cortez defended her decision to endorse progressive New York state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi, who is trying to unseat incumbent Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Malone, representing New York’s 18th congressional district. The move was criticized by one-time Barack Obama campaign manager Jim Messina as counterproductive for the Democratic Party, which risks losing control of both houses of Congress in the 2022 midterm elections at a time when the Supreme Court is also reconsidering its landmark abortion ruling. "I think right now there are a lot of voters at home that have quite a bit of anxiety about the enthusiasm right now in terms of turnout for the Democratic Party," Ocasio-Cortez said, advocating for candidates who are "able to excite a base" amid the party’s changing dynamic. "We need to have a generational shift in the United States Congress in order for us to have a policy shift in the United States Congress."

FOX NEWS' DECISION NOT TO CARRY PRIMETIME JAN. 6 HEARINGS: The co-hosts and guest co-host Lindsey Granger react to the network refusing to carry the Jan. 6 committee's live hearings Thursday night, but still discussing them without commercial breaks.

This column is about the media, and this moment exemplifies America's two parallel tracks of media. So if you watched Thursday night's hearing by the House's 1/6 committee, shown live by most of the major TV networks in the United States, let me tell you what I watched on right-wing TV at the same time. The prime-time hearing began at 8 p.m. Eastern time. When Rep. Bennie Thompson gaveled the hearing to order, Fox News host Tucker Carlson ignored him. Carlson declared that the "ruling class" was giving "yet another lecture about January 6." He called the hearing "propaganda" and reveled in his refusal to air it. "They are lying," he said, "and we are not going to help them do it." Carlson then lied himself: He said "if something noteworthy happens" at the hearing, "obviously we will bring it to you immediately." But his show did not do that. When Thompson said January 6 was "the culmination of an attempted coup," Carlson asked why the news media cared at all. He barely mentioned Donald Trump, even though the former president's plot to undermine American democracy was the focal point of the hearing. Instead, he talked a lot about Democrats and questioned why other networks were committing "collusion" with the House by televising the hearing. "Because the Democrats and the left are desperate," his guest Jason Whitlock said. When Rep. Liz Cheney revealed many of the committee's findings for the first time, Carlson said everyone knows that America "could face some real problems real soon;" implied that Congress shouldn't be wasting its time on the 1/6 investigation; and called Thompson and Cheney "lunatics." Carlson sounded like an amateur magician who tries to distract kids when a performance falls apart: "Look over here, not over there." He said, "Gas is over five bucks. Inflation is higher than it's been in the lifetime of most Americans. Violent crime is making cities impossible to live in, and more than one hundred thousand Americans ODed on drugs last year. Why isn't there a prime time hearing about any of that?" nam Fox ignored its own role All evening long, Fox downplayed the violence of January 6 and dismissed the revelations about Trump's conduct. The network also ignored its own role in promoting false claims about the election before the riot and the committee's publication of private messages between some of its hosts. When Cheney read a text exchange between Fox stars Sean Hannity and Kayleigh McEnany from the day after the riot, with Hannity urging "no more crazy people" and "no more stolen election talk," Carlson showed the live coverage on other networks and made fun of those networks. He did not mention anything about the texts. Newsmax, Fox's right-wing rival, actually showed most of Cheney's remarks, but cut away for analysis from pro-Trump commentators. The network's banners also promoted Trump's talking points and, at times, Newsmax's own app. Back on Fox, when the committee showed a never-before-seen video of the Capitol being attacked, with terrifying images from surveillance cameras and other sources, Carlson's producers showed sterile live shots of the hearing room, but not the video. One of his banners said "TODAY'S HEARING IS POLITICAL THEATER." When the video concluded, Newsmax's Rob Schmitt said, "we saw a lot worse in the summer of 2020, spurred on by comments from the other side of the aisle, that burned major cities in this country down. Where's the hearing on that? Well they don't have that hearing, because they don't care about your life, where you live." When Sean Hannity began his Fox program at 9 p.m., he did the same thing Carlson did: He showed silent live video of the hearing and talked over it the entire time. Hannity said the hearing -- still in progress -- was "the dullest, the most boring" Democratic "fund-raiser." He didn't play a word of what Cheney said. He focused instead on security lapses and laid the blame directly at House speaker Nancy Pelosi's feet. When the committee swore in its witnesses, Fox's banners called the hearing a "SHAM" and an "ANTI-TRUMP SHOW TRIAL." When injured police officer Caroline Edwards described how she was tear gassed outside the Capitol, The Federalist editor in chief MZ Hemingway tweeted, "Is the Soviet-style show trial still going on?" When Edwards described "carnage" and said she was "slipping in peoples' blood" outside the Capitol, Hannity said the hearing was a failure: "They overpromised, they underdelivered." Somehow he claimed to know that already, even though he was on live TV during part two of the hearing. And no, he never acknowledged his own texts or his own role as an adviser to Trump. When the hearing concluded, and analysts on the other networks absorbed the enormity of what was presented, the pro-Trump media narrative was already baked. On Newsmax, Schmitt dismissed it as a "completely one-sided hearing about something that happened a year and a half ago." On Fox, the banner on Laura Ingraham's 10pm show said "JAN 6TH COMMITTEE FLOPS IN PRIMETIME." "Don't get me wrong..." Why does the right-wing media opposition matter? Because it ensures that the country stays on two wildly different tracks of information. "Don't get me wrong: These hearings are crucial and every American should be watching them," The Atlantic contributing writer Tom Nichols wrote Thursday. "But the alternate reality that about forty percent of us live in will never be breached by actual facts." The Dispatch senior editor David French estimated that "tens of millions" of people still don't understand "the reality of January 6 in large part because the news outlets and personalities they trust are deliberately lying and/or withholding the plain truth about Trump and that dreadful day." Of course, Fox News said days in advance that it would not show the prime time hearing on its flagship network, but it was still extraordinary to see the network follow through on its ignore-the-news plan. Mediaite's editor in chief Aidan McLaughlin did not hold back: "The footage of horrific violence being aired right now is why this hearing isn't airing on Fox News. So they can lie about it," he tweeted. Fox's actual hearing coverage was relegated to the Fox Business Network, which has a tiny fraction of the main channel's viewership. The coverage also streamed on Fox Nation and was available to Fox broadcast stations. Notably, however, Carlson and Hannity's shows did not point to those outlets or promote those options. They did not put a box in the corner of the screen pushing to the news. Instead, Bret Baier tweeted a reminder that he was on Fox Business, and critical replies piled up.

Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi held her weekly press conference today in the Capitol Visitor Center. Below are the Speaker’s remarks: Speaker Pelosi. Good morning. I just left the Floor voting for the bill – called the ‘Red Flag’ bill, but the Extreme [Risk Protection Order Act] – the legislation to give people the authority, the power. Why wouldn't you – if you knew that a family member or someone else made disturbing comments to you or menacing comments on the internet – why would you not make sure they did not have access to guns to do harm to themselves or someone else? It will be bipartisan – in addition to the legislation which we passed yesterday. I was very proud of the bipartisan work that was done to pass this legislation. Of course, we're prayerful about what the Senate may come up with and are eager to hear what that is and to work together with them to turn it into the law of the land to protect the children. It's always, as I say, of, by, and For The Children. Little did we know when all of this started so many years ago that children would be testifying to – bearing witness to murder in their classrooms and the measures that they had to take to protect themselves. So, For The Children, we were pleased that yesterday we were able to pass legislation to [raise] the age for someone buying an assault weapon. Now, mind you, to buy a pistol you have to be 21 years old, but to buy an assault weapon you have to be 18. So it is a handgun, a handgun, 21 – an assault weapon, 18. Raise the age – raise the age so that everyone has to be 21 years old, and we take assault weapons out of the hands of teenagers. Again, we were very pleased to have the legislation passed in a bipartisan way for the safe storage of guns, banning high‑capacity magazines, which are designed to massacre. We're glad to have the two bills that – two pieces, initiatives that were executive orders under President Trump – the bump stock loophole, closing that, and under President Biden, the ghost [guns], enshrining both of those into law rather than just as executive orders. So we're very pleased at the progress that was made on the Floor of the House and are eager and prayerful as to what the Senate, in a bipartisan way – for legislation that can pass the Senate, that can make a difference to save lives For The Children. I'm also pleased that the Senate had a bill to proceed with the PACT Act. This is so important to our veterans and therefore to our country. The PACT Act is legislation that we passed in the House and sent to the Senate. They had 86 votes to clear the way to proceed, and hopefully that – they will proceed soon. What that is, is to say that our veterans, our men and women in uniform, who have been exposed to burn pits will now have an opportunity to have the respect, the care and the opportunity they need to help – help them. Many of them have cancer. So in other words, not to have to have them prove to an almost impossible degree that they were there and that it happened. Jon Stewart has taken the lead on this. You probably saw some visibility about it. We passed it a while ago, but the Senate overwhelmingly, in a bipartisan way, has voted now to proceed. We are also working – now, next week, we will be having legislation on the Floor that will talk about how we lower cost, how we address inflation and how we reduce the deficit. I'm very pleased that we'll be bringing up the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, which is a bill to address the supply chain shortages that we have. When supply is short, costs are up. That important legislation has already passed the Senate, so we will be passing it in the House. We had our own version here, but in the interest of proceeding, we're going to take up the Senate bill that lowers costs for American consumers. We are also dealing with issues that relate to agriculture coming out of the Ag Committee, whether we're talking about more competition and a spotlight on what's happening in poultry and meat and all the rest of that. When we are talking about lowering cost at the pump, we have already done our price gouging legislation and market manipulation legislation, but we will also be doing more in terms of legislation to lower the cost of – to make further action to lower prices by making it cheaper, cleaner, Unleaded 88 more available. And again, that's something that springs from a large number of Members in our Caucus that, in many states, has already been making a difference. So it is, again, inflation, lowering cost, reducing the national debt – very important. Addressing the needs of our veterans, which is an ongoing responsibility that we have. But there's absolutely no question that this week has been very much about gun violence. If you go back a month or so, you might not have predicted that that would be all‑consuming now. But it should be all‑consuming all the time, because as – people talk about this as happening again and again and again. It really isn't. It's happening once, continuously. It's always happening, and we have to make it stop. And this legislation that we passed yesterday is very powerful in making a difference. Hopefully, some of it will be part of the – what the Senate does. But we don't know. It's their negotiation, and we look forward to it. We have great confidence in Chris Murphy, our former Member of the House. He has made this his life's work – part of his life's work in Congress, having suffered the Newtown massacre in his district, as I say, where little children practically just out of diapers were shot down. So we talked about gun violence, protect our kids, what we did yesterday. I just want to say this, because I don't know if you saw the hearing yesterday – and you wonder why anybody who had seen the hearing might not be more supportive of stopping the violence. But Miah Cerrillo, she covered herself in her friend's blood so she could pretend to be dead during the Uvalde shooting. A little girl. A little girl. Again, in my own district, a fifth grader – she lost both of her parents in gun violence. Separate instances, fifth grade. She spoke at a rally about stopping gun violence. Little children are testifying. But yesterday, again, Zeneta Everhart, her son, Zaire, was shot four times. He survived, almost killed – he survived what they viewed as a racist massacre. And I'll just close by saying, we were so honored to have the presence here this week of Gabby Giffords, such a heroine for us in our country, such an inspiration, challenging the conscience of the Congress to do something. And in our own Congress, Lucy McBath, who suffered the loss of her own son, being such an inspiration and challenge, again, to the Members to do the right thing. I think that both of them made a big difference in our success yesterday and as we go forward. Any questions? *** Q. Madam Speaker? Speaker Pelosi. Yes. Q. On January 6th, the Committee tonight, do you believe the Committee will be able to reach the big chunk of Americans who have decided they just don't care about this anymore? Speaker Pelosi. I don't think that that's the case. First of all, let me just thank the Members of the Committee. They have been hard at work doing their patriotic duty to seek the truth, and we will see that revealed. I don't know – I've kept my distance from the Committee, so I'll be watching just as everyone else is to see the presentation. I believe that tonight will be sort of an opening of the narration – the narrative of what happened as an assault on our Democracy, on our Constitution, on our Capitol, on our Congress in a very violent way for a specific purpose: to undermine the Constitution of the United States on a day set aside for the peaceful transfer of power. Q. Can I rephrase that then? Do you worry – let me rephrase that then. Do you worry at all that there is this chunk of people who have decided the work of this Committee isn't particularly important – Speaker Pelosi. I don't know – I don't know that. I do not know that. I know that there are people who would like it to go away, some of them in this very Congress. But I don't stipulate to what you have said, no. Q. Madam Speaker? Speaker Pelosi. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, what have you got? Q. Madam Speaker, I was wondering what the status of the Senate bill that protects Supreme Court Justices is in the House? Speaker Pelosi. Yeah. Well, we – Q. And your thoughts on Justice Kavanaugh and what this will – Speaker Pelosi. Right. We had – well, the Justices are protected, as you all know. We are awaiting language from the Senate so that we could be completely up to date as to what they wanted to do. That's in the works. Mr. Hoyer is running that show. And we had hoped that we could do it today, but we certainly will do it the beginning of next week. Q. Madam Speaker? Madam Speaker? Speaker Pelosi. Yes, ma'am. Q. Cassie Semyon with Spectrum News. California had very low turnout on Tuesday for the election. Speaker Pelosi. Oh, you're talking politics now? Q. Oh, yes, we're talking politics. Speaker Pelosi. Okay. Well, we do that at a minimum under the Dome. But anyway. Q. But I ask you if you worry that the Democrats' message is getting lost when it comes to voters. Kind of talking about what Garrett mentioned, you know, do you think people are disinterested in politics due to what's happening – Speaker Pelosi. No, I don't at all. In fact, what I see is something quite different. Now, sitting here in Washington, D.C., you may draw some conclusion based on sitting here in Washington, D.C. But what we see around the country is real interest in what comes next. They're very concerned about our Democracy. They're very concerned about our freedom, whether we're talking about a woman's right to choose or the freedom to walk down the street without – or send their children to school without being endangered. They're very interested in the kitchen table issues, which have always been the heartbeat of the Democratic Party: how we're going to pay the bills, pay the rent, pay for food, pay for education, whatever the subject is. The issues that keep people awake at night are the decisions they make at that kitchen table. So we see something quite different. And I don't stipulate to your characterization of the public mood or yours. I do know that elections that happen now have a lower turnout than those that will happen in November, and we expect to have a big turnout in November. And we have absolutely no intention of losing the House. Q. Madam Speaker? Speaker Pelosi. Yeah. What have you got? Q. Madam Speaker, the most recent bills that passed yesterday passed on a bipartisan basis. And on top of that, you just had the red flag legislation that – Speaker Pelosi. Yeah, and that's bipartisan. Q. Right. And that's bipartisan, too. What – how do you think that that portends for the future of the bills in the Senate that they could pass on a bipartisan basis? Are you in any contact with any of the Senators about it? And how confident are you that one piece of legislation – because it looks like the red flag legislation is going to pass, or there's going to be some red flag law in the Senate. How positive that – Speaker Pelosi. Well, you know more than I do. I don't know what will come out of the negotiations in the Senate. Q. But how positive are you about this? Speaker Pelosi. But I have confidence in those who are negotiating in good faith on both sides of the aisle, and we're eager to see what that will be. Hopefully, it will contain some of the measures which we think are life-saving in our legislation. But I don't know what their negotiations are because they are privy to the Senate. Yeah, Jake? Q. Madam Speaker, could we drill down on that a little more. They seem to be talking about red flags, school safety, mental health, bolstering the mental health network, incorporating juvenile records into background checks. That's the broad outline of what they've said. Speaker Pelosi. Is that right? Q. Yes, it is. Speaker Pelosi. You know more than I do, because I don't – I speak – I don't – I don't have that knowledge about what they may do. But I will say this: that if it's life-saving and can make a difference and they have bipartisan support for it, then we would welcome it even though it won't be everything that we want. But we cannot have subterfuge. We can't have them say, ‘Well, it's about this and it's about that.’ No, it's about guns. And it's about other things, too. But we cannot avoid the fact that it's about guns: their availability, at what age and what condition in terms of the person who's – yes, sir. Q. Do you think that – in light of these hearings that are coming up, do you think that, in the fall, that democracy, that what happened last January is on the ballot, or is it these kitchen table, pocketbook issues that you mentioned that a lot of Americans are dealing with right now? Speaker Pelosi. Thank you so much for asking a substantive question. It's so refreshing. [Laughter] Who let you in here? I don't know. I think it's always about the kitchen table issues because these are the – what moves somebody to vote? Yes, it's about our Democracy. That is on the ballot. They assaulted the Capitol. They are undermining the elections by under – by voter suppression and nullification of elections and the rest. And people expect us to take care of that. But they really want to know what we are doing in their interest and how they can manage for their families. It's always been about that. It's always been about the kitchen table issues. And that's what the Democratic Party is – no boardroom, corporate boardroom table, but the kitchen table. So as you have seen, we have passed legislation in the rescue package that put money in people's pockets with the Child Tax Credit – got children safely in school, people safely back to work, shots in arms – at a time when we had to move quickly to do so. And again, now what we're talking about is how we can lower cost. When you have – this President has overseen eight million jobs created. Now, the private sector plays a major role in that. But this is historic. No [other] president can make this claim: that in this short period of time, nearly eight million jobs were created. Unemployment was reduced in half. Wages have gone up. Many families now say – into the 70’s – they no longer fear a $400 emergency. It was that high before – that they did fear a $400 emergency would upset their whole monthly budgeting. So things have improved. But inflation has gone up, and we must address that because the cost of food and the price at the pump – now, the price at the pump is affected by shortages, some of it caused by Putin. Part of this is Putin's Price [Hike] at the pump, not all of it, but most – much of it. When you have lower supply, you have higher cost. That's just the way it is. So we have to recognize it. We have to mitigate for it. And that's part of what next – we have been doing, but we'll continue to do next week when we address the cost of food and agriculture, making it less expensive for farmers. For example, fertilizer. Fertilizer largely comes from Russia and places like that, so it's more expensive to farmers to have fertilizer. It increased their cost. It increased the cost of food. So it's all – so much of this is connected. You cannot separate what's happening in Ukraine from the price at the pump or the cost of fertilizer. On the other hand, you have to address it. And I think elections, to your question, are always about that. Our responsibility is to protect our Democracy. It's the oath of office we take: to protect and defend the Constitution and all that that implies, the freedoms that go with that – whether that's a woman's right to choose or all of the other things that are exposed because of this decision, where they're questioning the value of privacy in our Constitution, whether they're questioning precedent in terms of actions of the Supreme Court. It's important, dispositive of the vote, is what happens at the kitchen table. Q. So it sounds like you think that's going to be a bigger issue for voters, the referendum on how Democrats have handled these issues, as opposed to whether or not the former President – Speaker Pelosi. It's not as opposed. No, it's not as opposed. Q. But a bigger – a bigger role – Speaker Pelosi. No, it's not as opposed. I'm just saying, what people think about our country is one thing. Look at the polls. How many people support – how many people support raising the minimum wage – 75 percent, 80? How many percent – gun violence protection in terms of the legislation we're talking about – 75, 80 percent? How many people support so many things that we're talking about? Is it dispositive of their vote? That's really the question. So yes, people are concerned. It may be – contribute to how they decide. But the – as James Carville said, ‘It's the economy, stupid.’ No offense to you. I'm just quoting him. Just quoting him. [Laughter] It is always what that is about. And this President has been just a champion for America's working families. He's been a champion on the kitchen table issues. And that's what campaigns are about, to get the message out. So we will be mobilizing at the grassroots level, owning the ground with a message of hope and optimism For The People and, again, with the intellectual, personal and other resources necessary to do so. I feel – I feel pretty positive about it all. I'm optimistic, and I always am. But I – it is essential that – not only that we win that argument at the polls, but we win that argument in the policy debate as well, because it is For the People, For the Children. Thank you for your question. Thank you. Q. Madam Speaker, how can you say that the Justices are protected when there was an attempt on Justice Kavanaugh's life? You said the Justices are protected, but there was an attempt on Justice Kavanaugh's life. Speaker Pelosi. And he's protected. He's protected. The Justices are protected. This issue is not about the Justices; it's about staff and the rest. The Justices are protected. You saw the Attorney General even double down on that, double down on that. Q. But this is about security for the Justices. An armed man showed up near Justice Kavanaugh's house to try to – Speaker Pelosi. We're working together on the bill that the Senate will be able to approve of, because that's what – we can pass whatever we want to. We want it to be able to pass the Senate. So I don't know what you're talking about, because evidently you haven't seen what the debate is – not debate, but what the language is. There will be a bill. But nobody is in danger over the weekend because of our not having a bill.

"The View" co-host Whoopi Goldberg said Thursday that "both sides" were guilty of rhetoric similar to Sen. Chuck Schumer's, D-NY., about Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch in 2020. Goldberg noted that Schumer apologized for saying that the justices "will pay the price" and that he shouldn't have used those exact words, adding that they would face political consequences. "In this climate, don't we all have to like, take a beat and really pay attention from both sides? Because we both are guilty of it. Both sides are guilty of doing this, of speaking and then some crazy stuff happens and you're reminded that there is folks out there who are, you know, who are listening to what you say. There are consequences to what you say and you should be more careful," Goldberg said. nam Co-host Joy Behar pivoted to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and criticized him for demanding that the House pass security protection for the Supreme Court justices. McConnell slammed the House for blocking the security bill on Wednesday. Behar claimed that McConnell was worried about security for members of the high court and not about passing legislation in response to the shootings in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas. "We should condemn and not condone any violence against any public official whether we agree with them or not, and it should not just be the Supreme Court. There's also federal judges. There was one in New Jersey, Judge Salas, whose son got killed," guest host Ana Navarro said. Co-host Sunny Hostin interrupted and noted that Justice Sotoymayor was "threatened" after Judge Ester Salas' son was killed during an armed attack on their home in 2020 by a disgruntled attorney. "You didn't hear Mitch McConnell wanting to pass any legislation then," she said. Referring to Kavanaugh's would-be murderer, Hostin declared that "the reason that he showed up to Justice Kavanaugh’s home is he was upset about the leak, the Supreme Court opinion’s leak. Not about what Schumer said two years ago." She then slammed McConnell for "politicizing" the incident. Behar said that they have to "pull something out of their behinds." Navarro added that "nobody" pays attention to what Schumer "said two days ago." "I do," Behar remarked. An armed man was arrested near Kavanaugh's house in Maryland on Wednesday. He was carrying a knife, pepper spray and a gun. The would-be assailant made violent threats against Kavanaugh, according to the criminal complaint. The suspect told police that "he was upset about the leak of a recent Supreme Court draft decision regarding the right to an abortion as well as the recent school shooting in Uvalde, Texas," and said he thought Kavanaugh "would side with Second Amendment decisions that would loosen gun control laws."

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, attacked Texas Republicans as being responsible for the deadly school shooting in Uvalde that killed 19 children and two adults in May, saying they had blood on their hands. While appearing on MSNBC’s "The ReidOut" on Wednesday, Crockett condemned her state’s governor and other Texas Republicans as culpable for refusing to pass gun control. "Listen, I think where you’re going wrong is you’re looking for some logic to come up out of Greg Abbott. We have seen over and over and over, I mean in, your intro, what did you talk about? You talked about the things that they called special sessions," Crockett said. "You talked about their priorities, and listen, let me be clear. I don’t want anybody to have any questions. The blood of these children is on the hands of the Republicans in the state of Texas period. No question about it because let’s talk about who has been in control in the state of Texas for at least the last 30 years. It’s been Republicans and their failed policies," she added. She reiterated, "We need protections. We need an assault ban period on the federal level. That’s the only thing that’s going to put a check on Texas because Texas doesn’t see this as a priority. They could care less about those children." Crockett also suggested that the reason Texas Republicans and Gov. Abbott don’t care about gun reform is because the victims of the Uvalde shooting were mostly Hispanic. She reiterated, "We need protections. We need an assault ban period on the federal level. That’s the only thing that’s going to put a check on Texas because Texas doesn’t see this as a priority. They could care less about those children." Crockett also suggested that the reason Texas Republicans and Gov. Abbott don’t care about gun reform is because the victims of the Uvalde shooting were mostly Hispanic. "Let me be clear about one other thing. We talk about Buffalo and we talk about the racial component but nobody is bringing up the fact this was a school of Brown children. So I have some questions related to that as well. Would it be different, because that’s the same thing we saw in El Paso, because it was Brown people that were targeted? Would it be different if they were not Brown little children? Would they care a little more? And the reality is that the state of Texas is a majority-minority state and we need to start looking out for all Texans no matter what color they are," Crockett said. Crockett’s words echoed past comments from media pundits who attacked Republicans as blood-drenched "barbarians."

During a Wednesday discussion about President Biden's upcoming interview with late night host Jimmy Kimmel, CNN media analyst Bill Carter said that the president could use some "exposure that may not be too, you know, challenging for him." "New Day" host Brianna Keilar asked Carter what he thought the president was "hoping to achieve" in appearing on a late night show while suffering from low approval ratings. The president is set to join Jimmy Kimmel on Wednesday for his first major interview in over 100 days. "Clearly this is an appearance meant to, you know, give him a forum where he can be relaxed and maybe have some laughs and joke around, and you know it will be a positive thing for him," Carter said. He added that with late night shows, presidential candidates usually do it for exposure purposes but that it is rarely done by sitting presidents. Former president Barack Obama was the first sitting president to appear on late night TV. "I think Biden could use a little bit of exposure that may not be too, you know, challenging for him. Although I would expect that Jimmy Kimmel, who is certainly a guy he expects to be sympathetic, will probably, you know, find some questions to ask him that were kind of serious questions because that's expected of him," Carter continued. Carter said that former President Donald Trump didn't appear on any late night shows while in office and rather went after the shows like they were "committing treason." Carter said Obama was a "coveted guest" on the late night programs. "Biden has not really done that and I think, you know, his advisers have been looking for ways to get him out there and to have him be more public and this is certainly a way to do it," the CNN media analyst said. He told Keilar and co-host John Berman that Kimmel told him that the president had always had an "open invitation" to come on the show in Los Angeles. He said he didn't think it was some "let's get a strategy together type of thing." Carter also said that it was a decision based on the fact the president was going to be in LA for the Summit of the Americas and Kimmel's open invitation. A Politico report from 2021 called out the president's lack of media appearances in their "West Wing Playbook." The president has been criticized throughout his time in office for his lack of direct media access. His last major network interview was on Feb. 10 with NBC's Lester Holt. The Associated Press knocked Biden in January and noted that the president has done considerably less media interviews than any of his five predecessors. Other critics said the president might be better in a one-on-one scenario with a reporter. A network reporter told Fox News in April that the president could stand to do more one-on-one interviews. "I would send him to the southern border, to New York City to drive around in a cop car with [Mayor Eric] Adams, send him to a grocery store to talk to a family about inflation. I would put him out that way and then let him do interviews, one-on-one on local channels, in the 25 or 30 districts that matter. The national debate doesn’t matter in congressional races. What matters at the end of the day is he helping people in the swing districts win or lose," he said.

CNN's law enforcement correspondent downplayed a violent threat against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh after an armed California man was arrested outside Kavanaugh's home in Maryland, early Wednesday morning. Whitney Wild’s initial report on CNN at 11 am EST wondered if the man "had a weapon at all," and did not disclose the violent threat. Law enforcement officials and other networks were already reporting the man was armed with a knife and a gun and admitted to wanting to harm or kill the Supreme Court Justice. "We don't yet know what the nature of the threat was. We don't know what language the threat was or what kind of weapon this man might have had, if he had one at all, because the information at this point is just so thin," Wild began, while the chyron below her read, "Man with weapon detained near Justice Kavanaugh's home." The reporter went on to warn about political violence from "both sides" of the abortion debate, after the Supreme Court draft opinion poised to strike down Roe v. Wade was leaked to the media last month. "This certainly contributes to this overall threat with landscape we've been talking a lot about," she stated. "This is an extremely passionate issue. There are emotions on both sides. Federal officials have made clear over and over they believe the risk truly comes from both sides of this abortion debate." "People are angry, they might seek to use the abortion ruling as a justification to cause violence and that puts the Supreme Court justices, their staff and other members of this judiciary, especially the Supreme Court, at risk," the CNN reporter concluded. Hours later, Wild updated her report to include that the man was indeed armed with multiple weapons. Nicholas John Roske, 26, of California, was later charged with attempted murder. According to a criminal complaint and affidavit filed in federal court in Maryland, Wednesday, Roske said he purchased the gun to kill Kavanaugh and himself. Roske told police he was upset at both the fate of Roe v. Wade and attempts to loosen gun control laws after the Uvalde, Texas shooting. Pro-choice activists have protested outside the home of conservative justices since the leak. Several groups revealed they still planned to protest outside Kavanaugh's home Wednesday night, despite the violent attempt hours earlier. Several pro-life centers and churches have been targeted by pro-choice activists as well. An abortion activist group calling themselves "Jane’s Revenge" has taken credit for several acts of violence, including alleged firebombings of a New York pro-life clinic this week, a Wisconsin pro-life group last month, and vandalism of Seattle-area and Washington D.C. crisis pregnancy centers.

During Tuesday’s episode of CNN Tonight, guest panelist Ana Navarro lost it when The Dispatch editor-in-chief Jonah Goldberg tried to put America’s recent mass shootings into "perspective." After Goldberg cited accurate school shooting statistics and asserted that we shouldn’t be trying to "paralyze" American parents "with fear" over their children’s safety, Navarro yelled at the conservative commentator and accused him of turning children’s deaths into a "statistic." She then urged viewers to get their "a—es in gear" and "call your senators" so that they can change gun laws. The volatile segment began when CNN Tonight host Laura Coates addressed Goldberg and his reactions to actor Matthew McConaughey’s White House speech pushing for gun control. She remarked to the panelist, "You pushed back a little bit," before letting him explain himself. Goldberg admitted he agreed with "Everything [McConaughey] said" but clarified, "if we’re going to start telling people that they should be scared that this could happen to them, we should at least put some of this in perspective." Goldberg then delivered a controversial statistic, "There are about 54 million kids who go to K-12 in America. In the last 29 years, 170 kids have been killed in school shootings." He provided one more point so that his fellow panelists might understand. "If we’re going to tell people they should be terrified about their kids being dropped off at school, we should remind them their kids are more in danger on the drive to school, statistically, than they are at the school." Navarro, a frequent co-host on ABC's The View, lost her patience by this point. She interjected, "No, no, no … Jonah, we can’t do this." She then declared, "A child’s life cannot be a statistic. You can’t tell the parents of Joaquin Oliver of Parkland, you can’t tell Fred Guttenberg, you can’t tell my cousin —." Goldberg argued, "But that’s moral bullying. I’m making a basic point to say that you shouldn’t tell people that they should be terrified." Navarro shot back, "If it were your child, it would not be a statistic. It would be a tragedy you would never, ever recover from." Goldberg replied, "You’re making it sound as if I don’t have compassion for these people. Of course I do!" After the increasingly tense conversation moved to "car seat laws" and Navarro’s point that the government regulates driving to save children’s lives, she loudly insisted the U.S. government does nothing to save school kids from shootings. Navarro exclaimed, "This is one of the only places where not doing anything has become status quo and something as a country we accept. And Shame on us for accepting that!" Navarro has made the same point in other media appearances. She then yelled at Goldberg, "And I’m not morally bullying you. I’ve children I care about. And you do, too!" Goldberg protested once more about not overblowing fears of "random madmen shooting up schools." Navarro was having none of it. "You’re making this into a statistic conversation, instead of about the fact there’s children being buried in coffins adorned with Superman decals!" Still Goldberg pushed back, saying, "But if you’re going to take that moral outrage and then tell people they should be paralyzed with fear this is going to happen to them and their kids, you are doing them a disservice." While wagging her finger at Goldberg, Navarro loudly declared, "I am not telling they should be paralyzed with fear. I am telling they should pick up the phone and call their senators and telling them it’s been ten years since Sandy Hook and that we haven’t done anything. It’s a national shame. So, paralyzed with fear and paralyzed with acceptance and resignation is what we’ve been for the last ten years." She then concluded her tirade with a demand that Americans get after lawmakers to change gun laws. "It’s enough of that. No more paralysis. Get you’re a--es in gear and call your senators," she yelled.

"The View" co-host Joy Behar said Wednesday that gun laws will change in the U.S. "once Black people get guns," while discussing congressional action on gun control legislation. Guest host Lindsey Granger argued that people on both sides of the political aisle need to sit down, debate and find common ground on issues such as gun control and terrorism and "make real progress." Co-host Sara Haines reiterated the discussion the hosts had with Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., on Tuesday. Murphy said that getting gun control legislation passed in Congress is going to require a give-and-take between Republicans and Democrats. Behar said that members of the Republican Party have said that "taking those AR-15s off the market" was a nonstarter for them. "It's all about the guns, alright," Behar continued. "Let me give you a story," Granger said. She described a man in Connecticut that witnessed a home invasion at his neighbors house. She said that the man built his own AR-15 because the state of Connecticut doesn't allow you to buy them, but that you could abide by their rules to build them. "He has one in his house to protect his family because he never wants to see that happen again. He is a Black man, it's odd, most AR-15 owners are former military, 35-plus and married," she said. "They're not just crazy people." Behar interrupted and said, "here's the thing, once Black people get guns in this country, the gun laws will change. Trust me." "That's what happened with the Black Panthers," co-host Sunny Hostin said. "Know your history." Granger said that Black people have been buying guns and that Black gun ownership increased in 2020. "Here's the bottom line to this," co-host Whoopi Goldberg said. "We all need to get off our a---- and get out and vote." Goldberg said during "The View" last week that she "doesn't want" all of the guns, but emphasized that she wants to ban AR-15s. Haines asked Murphy on Tuesday if the Republican Party was going further right amid Rep. Chris Jacobs', R-NY., announcement that he would be dropping out of his reelection campaign after being criticized for supporting an assault weapons ban.

Joy Reid railed against Republicans yet again during Monday's episode of "The ReidOut," accusing right-wingers of intentionally creating an atmosphere of animosity so strong to ensure no Democrats can feel safe. "[If Republicans] had anything to do with it, there would be no place in this country where any of us should feel safe. That's our punishment," she said. Reid began her tirade of accusing the GOP of ramped up aversion by highlighting party members' discomfort with a more progressive society, arguing that their "anger" has "corroded into something more like hate." Reid then accused the GOP of "openly flaunting the idea that, because they’re not happy in and don't feel affirmed by a more socially liberal, modern, multicultural and more secular America," that they say "no safe spaces" should exist. The "ReidOut" host lambasted the party for allegedly thriving off "demographic panic," "rage" and "alienation," – potentially referencing recent controversy surrounding the "Great Replacement" theory – and for using this "dangerous combination" as fuel for justifying that Democrats "should feel afraid." Reid called on talking points, including claims that Republicans promote laws and policies that "make" women carry pregnancies to term and that they do not consider or care about rape and/or incest in the process. She also cited Republicans' disdain for Critical Race Theory, their push for increased border protections and their frustrations with COVID-19 vaccine and masking mandates. "Set aside ideological or emotional safety," she said later in the segment, "We're not allowed to feel physically safe anywhere in America thanks to Republicans’ ironclad partnership with the blood-soaked NRA which long ago quit the gun safety business and has been working for decades to make sure that the most lethal arms get into as many alienated 18 and 19-year-old incel hands as possible." Reid went on, listing places where Republicans' alleged partnership with the NRA have kept Americans from feeling safe, including at the supermarket, during church services, at the hair salon, hospital and others. "Whether you are in high school or you are ten – and in the fourth grade – in America, and only in America, you are literally rolling the dice every time you leave your house or drop off your kids at school," she said, adding that Americans have to "pray" that today is not "[their] day" to meet an "angry, alienated American man who has an AR-15."

During an interview late Tuesday morning, "The View" co-host Sara Haines asked Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., if the Republican Party was "going further right" during a discussion about gun violence and whether Republicans were participating in the negotiations in Congress. Co-host Sunny Hostin asked Murphy if the Republicans involved in the gun legislation negotiations were actually serious or if they were just trying to run out the clock ahead of the midterms. "Maybe I'm being naive, but I really do believe that the Republicans participating in these negotiations are negotiating in good faith. Senator Cornyn and I were part of negotiations that went into the wee hours of last night and well we are very different in our views we do both agree that we are not willing to do anything that compromises peoples Second Amendment rights. We are focused on keeping weapons out of the hands of dangerous people and I think we can find agreement on that," Murphy said. Murphy has been involved in gun control negotiations between Republicans and Democrats in the Senate in the wake of the Uvalde, Texas school shooting. He noted that Democrats and Republicans cannot find agreement on an outright ban of assault weapons. Co-host Sara Haines asked the senator about Rep. Chris Jacobs, R-NY., who dropped out of his reelection campaign after voicing his support for a Democrat-led push in Congress for gun control legislation. Jacobs announced he was dropping out after receiving backlash from Republicans for saying that he would vote in favor of an assault weapons ban. "Back in 2018, in Florida, a really red state, a pro-gun state that passed the legislation, not one of them had any backlash politically speaking from voting for that legislation. So now in 2022 we have somebody that has to drop out because of it. Is the party going further right, will this have a chilling effect going forward in these midterms?" Haines asked. Florida passed legislation in 2018 that increased the gun purchasing age for long guns to 21-years-old, included red flag laws and imposed a three-day waiting period. Murphy said that the Republican Party was at the negotiating table because there is a "public urgency to act." "I think Republicans understand that this is good politics. That it's going to be really hard to go back to their constituencies and say that they rejected a pretty reasonable offer to tighten up our nation's firearms laws that's completely compliant with the Second Amendment," Murphy said. Murphy delivered an emotional speech on the Senate floor after a gunman shot and killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde. He begged Congress to act on gun control, asking "what are we doing?" The senator also urged President Biden to stay out of gun control negotiations occurring in Congress, saying that senators "need to do this ourselves."