Protein with 30 grams of protein. Those who tried me felt more energy. It just two weeks. Here, ill take that ensure not to protein 30 grams, protein one prim sugar, 25 vitamins and minerals, and a new fiber blend with a prebiotic. Closed captioning brought to you by mesobook. Com our firm has offered a free book about mesothelial for over ten years mesothelioma is really all we do. 80087 to 4901 stepping down as leader, senator Mitch Mcconnell shaking Up Washington with his decision to step aside as republican leader in november after years as the most powerful republican on capitol hill. And Hunter Biden Biden in the hotseat, the president s son appearing in the republican led Impeachment Inquiry into his father as he insists that his father had nothing to do with his Business Deals and an outofcontrol wildfire tearing through texas. The second worst. So far in the states history. One official describing homes as burning in almost every direction. Were following these major developing stories and many mor to Cnn News Central we are following some Breaking News and that is that Mitch Mcconnell longest serving Senate Leader in history, says he will be stepping down as the republican Minority Leader in november. Here he is on the senate floor just minutes ago father time remains undefeated no longer their young man sitting at about hoping colleagues would remember my name its tom the next generation. Of leadership lets get right to cnns lauren fox on capitol hill. Lauren, this was a historic moment that we just witnessed. How are his colleagues reacting on capitol hill . Yeah, you saw on the floor behind him that Mitch Mcconnell had really just a small audience of republican senators joining him on the floor as he made that announcement, several of his car colleagues telling our colleagues waiting off the floor that they werent aware he was about to make this announcement or probably more senators would have been present, but our colleague he ted barrett, did have a chance to talk to senator john cornyn, whos seen as someone who could potentially succeed. Mitch mcconnell as the leader of the republican can party. And ted was pressing him as were other reporters on whether or not he planned to vie for that role. He said today is not the day to have those conversations. Another person spotted on the floor john thune, the number two republican right now in the senate, and another person who is largely seen as potentially being able to fill connell shoes when he steps aside as republican leader in november, but it was really this amazing moment as mcconnell went to the floor and made clear that one the talents that is under appreciated in washington is knowing when it is time for new leadership and certainly hes referring to many lawmakers. He sued stay in their roles for perhaps longer than they should have. He also was making a clear that hes not going anywhere just yet. He is not planning to step aside as leader until november and he argued that he still had plenty of disappointment for his critics that hes going to look forward to in the months ahead. Certainly he is someone seen on the republican side as a longserving, respected leader, someone that people listened to within his party, but he wasnt shy on the floor or about the fact that some of the most pressing issues that he has been pushing for, including aid to ukraine has really put him at odds with many members of his own party saying that he isnt perfect. He has a lot of flaws, but the one thing that he does get is politics. And i think hes acknowledges the fact that the Republican Party was really shifted beneath him, even as he has continued to view his role as making sure that the us has universal and Global Impact packed on the world stage. Brianna boris. All lauren, thank you. And lets bring in cnn, senior political commentator, Scott Jennings to talk a little bit about this. You are of course a Campaign Adviser to Mitch Mcconnell. You have long been in the orbit of Mitch Mcconnell. Whats your reaction to that . The news . Well, im certainly sad for him because you can tell the emotion in his voice that this was a hard decision to make. But im also happy for him that hes making this decision on his own terms and that hes doing it for the reasons that he thinks all right for the country. And i was incredibly moved by his speech. I had a chance to talk to them on the phone a little earlier today and hes at peace with the decision looking forward, frankly to the next couple of years, when youre not in leadership, it often frees you up to do some things that are more issuebased and things you really care about is as opposed to having to run the whole conference. And i know hes looking forward to that. I think hes likely to have a senior role on the Appropriations Committee specifically dealing with defense appropriations. And one final note, i think hes very much looking forward to continuing to be the leader of the faction of republicans who still believe in sort of the reagan Foreign Policy objectives of making america a superpower and a force for good in the world. And so im im, im, im happy for his career. I mean, the longevity hes had, hes the longest serving senator in the history of kentucky, and hes the longest serving party leader in the history of the United States senate. I mean, its its a heck of her career for a guy who Ronald Reagan once introduced as michel donald, had a Campaign Rally in 1984 to come this far and to live through as much as hes lived through is pretty remarkable. Scott, he did become emotional talking about his wedding day falling on Ronald Reagans birthday. He spoke a few sibley of President Reagan at a time where as you noted, the Republican Party is shifted away from so much of the principles and the ideals of that era. He also mentioned that as a younger man, he hoped that colleagues would remember his name. Theres no doubt scott that his name is going to be remembered, but im curious from your perspective what his legacy he will be as a us senator well, i think the longevity of holding the Leadership Position is certainly you cant overlook that given you got it in 2070, lived through the tea party undulation. Hes lived through the trump undulation i mean, he really has maintained a position of leadership through a lot of turbulent things over the last several years. So i think thats number one. Number two, certainly the courts i think one of the accomplishments hes most proud of is his role in helping get conservative judges on the bench. And that of course includes the Supreme Court. I think that is a proud accomplishment for him. And number three as a national matter, i think he really is leaning into his traditional role as being a hawkish us senator, somebody who believes that america is a force for good in the world. And even though the isolation is in our party are ascendant right now, he believes that that viewpoint, that reagan viewpoint deserves to be promoted and defended. And i think hes very proud of his work on that back home in kentucky where i live and where ive known him for the last 28 years. Hes very proud of all that. Hes been able to deliver to a small rural state. I mean, kentucky wouldnt have much influence over the last 40 years, if not, but for the leadership and influence of Mitch Mcconnell. So hes very, very proud of what he does for his constituents as well. Theres some big ticket items that hes got left to work on though, but i think theres Foreign Policy idea that the notion of what it means to be a global superpower is really on his mind and i know hes going to spend a lot of time on that all right. Dropping some hints there, perhaps Scott Jennings, we will see what comes of that. Scott. Thank you so much for talking to us about mcconnells especially having spoken to him on the phone earlier today. And our cnn senior political analyst, Ron Brownstein is with us now to talk about this mcconnell is someone who has tried to channel i think trump, right . Hes tried to channel some of the force behind trump, but hes often really provoked the ire of donald trump just kinda by being Mitch Mcconnell, right . And the way that he is, i wonder how you think this is going to affect the republican conference in the senate. And just the congress overall. Well, you know mcconnell is obviously an extremely consequential, but also complex figure his policies, as boris was alluding to, are shaped by the reagan era. His policy views, what, what matters to him most his tactics have been trumpian in the sense of the ends justify the means his decision to block Merrick Garland and 2016, obviously had a huge implication for the court, but it also changed the senate in a fundamental way. It made it a far more, i think in confrontational places, obviously heading in that direction over years. But that is a breakpoint in american history, not only in terms of the court but also in terms of the senate and then the bookend to that of pushing through Amy Coney Barrett when voting had a radio the gun in 2020, and he had, you know, this kind of this rationality created that you cannot fill a Supreme Court seat an Election Year by the opposite party his stepping aside is significant of the broader trend, which is that if donald trump comes back in a second term, the internal republican resistance to his most extreme ideas he is, is crumbling and, you know, even when he was president between the congress and members of his own administration, there were people who pushed back on a lot of ideas that pushed back, i think. And what youre seeing in mcconnell, the elevation of mike johnson to the speakership, all of it it is telling you that that internal resistance will not exist in any meaningful way. I think in a second trump term, if he wins and if he does part of it could be attributed to mcconnells itself. I found it interesting that scott described mcconnell surviving the tea party and trump undulations, the implication there being that its a wave that will eventually crest and go away yet mcconnells deciding not to convict trump in that second egemen that he opened the door for early, perhaps a permanent change to his mcconnell always view. I think mcconnell through his career, i said the ends justify the means, and i think he believed that convicting trump would have torn apart the republican coalition. And even if he personally wanted to do it, he was unwilling to take that risk. It is important to understand that what he represents an a policy sense is on the declining side of the Republican Party. A majority of republican senators voted against the aid to ukraine. A majority of Republican House members last fall voted against the aid to ukraine senator from missouri, eric schmidt, tweeted the day of that vote. When mcconnell was on the losing side of the democratic, of the Republican Party. But the winning side overall, he tweeted 15 of the 17 republicans elected since 2018 voted no. And again, it goes back to my, to my first point, the trend in the Republican Party is in a trumpian direction. And the idea that they would be the adults in the room who are institutionalists who resisting many of the more extreme things that he wants to do, whether its withdrawing from nato or minimizing our participation or doherty massive militarized doortodoor deportation that force is going to be a lot less powerful and a second trump term. And mcconnells stepping aside, i think is just acknowledging that reality and the reward for having been in the adult in the room is now ridicule and essentially staying on his record by fellow republican yes, exactly. Ron brownstein appreciate the analysis. Thanks for having me so the other big story on capitol hill today, hunter biden sitting for a closeddoor deposition thats right. Set to be grilled by some of his harshest republican critics. And this could make or break the gops effort to impeach President Biden over these allegations that he was involved in his dons foreign business dealings, which is something that is very much fallen apart here recently. Yeah, absolutely. In his opening statement, hunter biden confronted those claims head on. He said in part quote, im here to day to provide the committees with The One Uncontestable fact that should end the false premise of this inquiry. I did not involve my father in my business cnn chief Legal Affairs correspondent paula reid is live for us on capitol hill. A polo walk us through what else lawmakers heard from the president s son so far boris, ill remind you this is happening Behind Closed Doors. There are no cameras, so were relying on our sources and Law Lawmakers to describe what exactly is going on here. And its as if not surprisingly, its as if members of both parties werent even attending the same hearing the large group of democrats came out earlier youre told us that this was an embarrassing spectacle, that what theyd seen so far appear to be a waste of government time and money are republican nancy mace, she came out and she described hunter biden and as being defined and dishonest, but she did note that at least at the time she came out a few hours ago, she said that he had not invoked his Fifth Amendment that is significant because he is of course, facing two separate criminal probes. And we expect there will likely be another break, so will likely get an additional round of details, but the only really got hunter biden to sit down Behind Closed Doors to answer questions by making some concessions. One is that this is not being filmed and the other is that were going to have a transfer Script Release and were told that that could come within 24 hours. Thats really what were going to need to get the full picture of whats going on in this hearing, which as you noted, an introduction, it really is a make or break for gop lawmakers who so far have not been able to produce any clear evidence linking President Biden to his sons foreign business dealings. Know and what was sort of a tenuous bit of evidence certainly one that was not iron clad. The central claim that republican hinds made about hunter biden and then former Vice President joe biden turned out to be fabricated by an asset with these extensive ties to russian intelligence, do republicans have any other evidence to support this investigation well, this is the big question because they have released most of what they have and there does not appear to be a lot of there are there there is also clearly an effort to conflate the bidens, including hunter biden and james biden with President Biden, and i press Chairman Comer on that earlier today as he entered the deposition room, lets take a listen to that exchange the bidens in talking about President Bidens specifically what evidence do you have it in prominent prominent offer some corners. We have two checks. You biden received two payments. We failed this through subpoenaed bank records to payments. You pretty steps between the check and the steps are called moneylaundering. Thats what the steps are called. So what hes referring to, those checks, those are repayments. So one from his brother, james biden payment to President Biden when he was not in office, he was not a Vice President or president at that time. Good. They havent put forth any evidence to prove that President Biden engaged in there. He alleged money laundering, corruption, influence, peddling, if thrown around a lot of allegations, but they have not been able to provide direct evidence and its not clear sure that theyre going to get it from todays hearing, especially as you noted, when the key witness who alleged that President Biden and his son, hunter, received millions of dollars and former bribes is now facing singh charges for lying for fabricating those statements. Yeah. And paula, we should point out those two payments that comer is alleging republicans on the Oversight Committee have evidence that those were loans that were being repaid. So they actually have evidence contradicting the very allegations that they are making. Nevertheless, theyre making im paula reid, keep us posted, are actually coming out right now. So i think renewal update yeah, keep us posted on what youre hearing. Paula reid. Thanks so much. Lets break this down with cnn legal analyst carrie cordero. Carry. Does this go anywhere toward proving any actual illegality . By President Biden not from what weve heard so far. And in my view, this deposition shouldnt even be taking place. Theres really no justification for hall playing in the president s son based on the evi