Bidens third state of the Union Address, we speak to White House Press secretary, Karine Jeanpierre. Amna and residents of texas towns destroyed in historic wildfires struggle with the loss and the long road to recovery. Ive never seen anything like this. And weve had wildfires before and pretty devastating ones. But the extent of the damage here is profound, it looks apocalyptic to me. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by Consumer Cellular, this is sam, how may i help you . This is a pocket dial. Well, somebodys pocket, with Consumer Cellular you get nationwide coverage with no contract. That is kind of our thing. Have a nice day. A successful Business Owner sells his company and restores a historic jazz club with his fund. A raymondjames gets to know you. Life, wellplanned. The Walton Family foundation, working for solutions to protect water during climate change, so people and nature can thrive together. Supported by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation. Committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. More information at macfound. Org. And with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Geoff welcome to the newshour. Nikki haleys bid for the white house is over. Amna the former South Carolina governor suspended her campaign today, setting up a rematch between President Biden and former President Trump. Speaking in charleston this morning, haley did not promise to back her partys likely nominee. Ms. Haley it is now up to donald trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him. And i hope he does that. At its best politics is about bringing people into your cause, not turning them away. And our conservative cause badly needs more people. This is now his time for choosing. Amna to discuss what comes next in the race for the white house, im joined now by republican strategist kevin madden, who worked on mitt romneys president ial bids. Good to see you again. Lets start with nikki haleys announcement today, what do you make of this . Kevin i think the math became obvious and nikki haley realized and her campaign realized she did not have a path to the nomination. It is pretty startling if you look at trumps numbers and how dominant he was in the public and president ial primary. 64 of the overall vote, 24 contests versus nikki haley who won two, and 90 of the delegates good there is a voice for nikki haley and candidates like her and the party, but it is clear that right now it is a Donald Trump Party fueled by a maga base. The Haley Campaign came to that realization based on the numbers i saw yesterday. Amna to. Saw Outgoing SenateMajority Leader Mitch Mcconnell endorse this or trump officially even after previous criticism. Heres part of what he said. Sen. Mcconnell i said on february 25 of 2021, shortly after the attack on the capitol, that i would support President Trump if he was the nominee of our party, and hes obviously going to the nominee of our party. Amna haley has not endorsed mr. Trump, do you think she will . Kevin i think she will ultimately but it will be an endorsement that will feel like an extraction over a long period of time. Clearly first of all the open wounds of a president ial primary will take some time to heal. But i think if shes looking to still have a voice in the party and still play a role in the direction of the party, and ultimately playing a role in unifying the party, which has its divisions, would be in her best political interests. Amna where to her supporters go . She had a number of people backing her although her delegate counted not compared mr. Trumps. She ended up with 89 delegates compared to his 1031. Where does the money she raised and her backers go . Kevin i think backers and voters are not a monolithic block for nikki haley. Shes made an incredible impression on a lot of Republican Voters but shes not yet a movement candidate. I dont think these voters are calcified around nikki haley and waiting for a signal from nikki haley. I think they are up for grabs for donald trump. He will have to work hard to gain their support and win them back especially if he wants to win. But some of them will go for president joe biden. The profile of the nikki haley voter is the swing voter and they will determine who wins or loses. Amna does former President Trump need them . To hear him today in his online reposed in response to yesterday, it doesnt sound like hes courting them. He said nikki haley got trounced last night, much of her money came from democrats. I hope she stays in the race and fights it out until the end. Not exactly an appeal to haley voters. Kevin first of all, we remember the 2020 election, it came down to about 30,000 voters across six states. All of these folks count. You want to get as many of these haley voters as possible to win. But if today was the starting pistol for the general election and you look at how donald trump tried to appeal to the swing voters and how joe biden tried to appeal to them by saying he wants to be a uniting force for republicans, democrats and independents, you have to give the edge to biden toward winning these voters. Amna when you look at where the party is in the fact that mr. Trump is the presumptive nominee , he beat out more than a dozen challengers and nikki haley beat out most of them as well, as a woman of color, made history, beating President Biden in some hypothetical matchups. But the party said we are going with the guy who lost to biden and is facing criminal charges, twice impeached. What does it say to you . Kevin a lot of those general election polls they showed nikki haley winning. They were not necessarily reflecting a primary electorate. Primary electorates are much less interested in bringing people together and finding common ground. Primary electorates are much more interested in trying to find a candidate that will fight the perceived opposition on the others. That i think is why donald trump won this primary so resoundingly, which is he spoke to those voters in said he will be a fighter for them. I think it tells you that donald trump has a firm grip on the party, yet he has not done the work needed yet to really build out an appeal to the broader big middle of the american electorate. That big middle is caught between what i would say is the 47 yard lines of american politics, they will decide who wins or loses the election. Amna kevin, always great to talk to you. Geoff after President Bidens strong showing in last nights contests, one of his long shot challengers, dean phillips, suspended his campaign today. Now with super tuesday in the rear view, the president s focus turns to tomorrows state of the Union Address. I spoke earlier today with White House Press secretary Karine Jeanpierre about what to expect from President Bidens highprofile and high stakes speech. Karine jeanpierre, welcome back to the newshour. Sec. Jeanpierre thank you, geoff, so much for having me. Appreciate the opportunity. Geoff so tomorrow night marks President Bidens third state of the Union Address. But you could argue that this one is freighted with significance because its essentially the hard launch of his reelection campaign. And this is a president who is facing sinking poll numbers, concerns about his age, a progressive base thats been splintered over the humanitarian crisis in gaza. How is the president aiming to use this speech to address those concerns, while also conveying his vision for the future . Sec. Jeanpierre so look, the president , as you just stated, third state of the Union Address, he sees this as an important moment to talk directly to the American People. Just think about it. Hell be talking to americans who will be sitting on their couch, sitting in their kitchen table. Having that direct conversation, millions of americans are going to be tuning in. And he understands this moment, how critical it is, how important it is. Hes going to talk about the last three years. We have seen some historic achievements from this administration of the last two years. If you think about it, the infrastructure bill, a bipartisan bill in the last administration, it was a punch line. Now were going to see infrastructure over a decade. You think about the pact act thats going to help veterans and their families. That was actually done in a bipartisan way as well. But you think about the American Rescue plan was only passed by democrats, which got the economy back on its feet because when he walked in, it was a tailspin that was happening. And so the americans, the president is going to really speak to the American People. Theyre going to hear from this president , and hes going to talk about the progress that he wants to continue to make. The president is an optimistic person. Hes going to talk about the future. Hes going to give his vision. We got to continue to grow on that, lower cost for the American People. Give them a little bit of breathing room thats so important. We see how womens Reproductive Health is under relentless attack by republicans elected officials. So hes going to talk about that. Our democracy is under attack. Yes. We are at an Inflection Point here. Our democracy. We got to continue to fight for that. Making sure corporations, the wealthiest among us, are paying their fair share. He always puts the middle class first. He understands how important it is to deliver for the middle class. So there are a lot of issues here that he wants to lean into. Geoff ive spoken with democratic supporters of his, who make the case that in some ways, what matters more than what the president says is how he says it. Does he appear energetic . Does he appear to be vigorous . Given the fact that poll after poll shows that majorities of americans have serious concerns about his age. How attuned is the white house to that . Sec. Jeanpierre i mean, look, heres what i would say to that. This is a president talking , about the achievements hes made in the first three years hes done more in the first , three years than president s have done in in two terms, in their two terms. I mean, that is just a fact. And what weve seen in the data, what hes been able to accomplish, thats what this president has, has been able to do. And why has that happened . Because it takes experience. It does. It takes someone who has been in the senate for 36 years, been Vice President for eight years, and you see that experience because hes been able to deliver for the American People. Geoff and yet there is this persistent disnnect between the president s objectively popular policies like student debt relief, reducing Prescription Drug costs, capping junk fees, etc. , and his underwater approval ratings. Whats the white houses theory of the case as to why that is . Sec. Jeanpierre so look, here is what i will say. You just said it every issue that the president is working on is popular. Whether its student loans, whether it is making sure that we are dealing with gun violence in a way that really helps to save and protect communities, save our young peoples lives. He was able to get a bipartisan deal on a gun prevention deal , that we hadnt seen in 30 years. Thats also important. Dont want to forget that. Beating big pharma. In that inflation reduction act, he was able to put forth a piece of legislation that obviously is a law now that really fights back big pharma, and make sure that medicare is able to negotiate for itself. And thats something that Americans Care about. Look, we understand what americans have gone through this past three years. It is incredibly complicated. And we get it. We get that its going to take a little bit of time for americans to see what this president has done. Geoff hasnt the president been saying that for the better part of three years, that once the American People start to feel the impact of these policies, once the American People start to see these shovel ready Infrastructure Projects begin, then theyll fully understand the impact of the work that ive been doing. Hes been saying that for years. Why hasnt that shifted . Sec. Jeanpierre i understand that. But i also understand and we also understand that it takes time. You asked me what the president s going to say, what hes going to do tomorrow. Hes going to lay that out. Hes going to lay out the achievements that hes done in the last three years. It is so important. 20 million americans are probably likely to tune in tomorrow. That is important. That is critical. This is part of messaging, connecting with the American People, being able to say that over and over again, lay that out very, very clear for the American People. And thats what hes going to do. We see this as an important opportunity to talk directly to the American People. The president is certainly, certainly looking forward to that. Geoff that is White House Press secretary Karine Jeanpierre, thanks so much for your time this evening. Sec. Jeanpierre thanks, geoff. Appreciate it. Amna in the days other headlines the head of the Federal Reserve again talked about cutting Interest Rates this year but only after more signs that inflation will keep falling. At a house hearing, Jerome Powell noted that price hikes have definitely slowed from the 40year highs of 2022. But he said the central bank does not want to act prematurely. Chair powell we think because of the strength in the economy and the strength in the labor market and the progress weve made, we can approach that step carefully and thoughtfully and with greater confidence, and when we reach that confidence the expectation is we will do so some time this year we can then begin dialing back the restriction on our policy. Amna for now, inflation remains slightly above the feds target of 2 percent, on an annual basis. In haiti, politicians began trying to form a new governing coalition as the caribbean nation remained largely paralyzed by gang violence. The gangs have demanded that Prime Minister ariel henry step aside or face a possible civil war. The u. S. State department called today for henry to respond. Mr. Miller we are not calling on him, or pushing for him, to resign, but we are urging him to expedite the transition to an empowered and Inclusive Governance structure that will move with urgency to help the country prepare for a Multinational Security support mission to address the security situation and pave the way for free and fair elections. Amna henry has been abroad, but he flew into puerto rico last night, because haitis main airport is closed. He was taken through customs, then driven away in a convoy. A missile attack by houthi fighters in yemen killed three crew members on a commercial vessel today and forced the others to abandon ship. They were the first deaths since the iranianbacked Group Began Targeting ships in over the war november in gaza. Separately, video from the indian navy showed sailors fighting a fire on another ship. The owners said it was hit by a houthi missile. The u. N. s Migration Agency reports a Record Number of migrants more than 8500 died on land and sea routes last year. That was up nearly 20 percent from a year earlier. The biggest increase came in the mediterranean, with people fleeing conflict in the middle east and north africa. Back in this Country Police patrolling new yorks subway system will soon be joined by the National Guard after a series of violent crimes. Governor kathy hochul announced today that 750 guard members will conduct bag searches and deter people from bringing weapons into the subway system. Gov. Hochul this has to end. New yorkers deserve no less. And to those who are feeling anxious whenever they walk through those turnstiles, we will stop at nothing to keep you safe. You and your family members. Amna overall, crime in new york has dropped since the pandemic, but just last week, a passenger slashed a subway conductor in the neck. The house passed a spending package of 460 billion today to avert a partial Government Shutdown friday night. The legislation funds five major departments for the rest of the fiscal year. The senate is expected to approve it as well. A second package including defense spending has to pass before march 22. And, on wall street stocks managed modest gains after mondays big losses. The Dow Jones Industrial average added 75 points to close at 38,661. The nasdaq rose 92 points. The s p 500 was up 26. Still to come on the newshour how sudans civil war has created a massive hunger crisis.