Doing to shore up the support in the early states and there is a Comfortable Lead in the nationwide poll, his is very aware of the fact that when cop serve tiffs are polled even if they say that they support donald trump many of them are still interested in alternative options and theyre trying to get support and trying to rally up the team here with the people. The other thing i want to point out is michigan, talking about general versus the primary and he is looking towards the General Election with this stop in michigan and particularly looking toward these Union Workers. I am told when he gets his prime time remarks outside of detroit and it will be to current and former Union Members and crurret uaw workers striking with their families and they have not endorsed in this race. In 2020 they endorsed joe biden. They have not endorsed in 2024 and donald trump has been speaking about this on truth social and his team believes that while hes had complications with unions in the past, he can turn on the Biden Administration with the green electric vehicle plans saying that those are going to kill ons and then saying that donald trump himself is prounion. Whether or not that will work remains to be seen and this is a group of people that in a General Election trump does believe he can siphon words off of. Youre a pro. If its that loud in your microphone, weve been there and we know. Trump is in South Carolina, hes got a couple of contenders, nikki haley and tim scott who are from South Carolina. Exactly, and nikki haley, the former governor of South Carolina and who serve as u. N. Ambassador in the tlurump administration has been gaining ground and shes in second place in the South Carolina polls. As kristen was saying, yes, the former president has his eye on the long term hoping to have a rematch with President Biden and he has to win the primary first, and there was a sense of are they taking things for granted too much . But just the Travel Schedule in the last week or so, theyre trying to knock down that idea by being in South Carolina today, going to iowa on saturday. Hes triing to essentially stop the potential rise of anyone, but the michigan trip is so interesting because in 2016, of course, the former president won michigan and he beat Hillary Clinton there in 2020. He lost by more than 120,000 votes and even though rank and file union member, some supported him, exit polls show that he didnt fare nearly as well as joe biden and thats why this is so fascinating tomorrow. The visit from President Biden to michigan and then on wednesday a year from now, depending on what deal they get, god forbid the strike will be over, is this going to be a central piece of the map or is michigan sort of turning blue as we saw in the midterms last year . Thats what happens tomorrow and wednesday. Its actually pretty interesting and whatever resolution with the strike happens. Michigan has been such an interesting place. I remember Bernie Sanders winning in the primary there unexpectedly. It was bizarre. You and i covered it. Thats right. Its been such an interesting place that has been unconventional for itself and to that point, kayla tausche. You have President Biden there on the picket line with uaw workers tomorrow. Its not just about autoworkers, right . They really set the pace for the middle class. This is about fighting for the Heart And Soul of the middle class. So what is the white house saying ahead of his big trip . Brianna, this is President Biden putting his money where his mouth is. Hes long called himself the most prounion president in history and the white house says thats why he is going to be doing something in their words, that is historic and joining the picket line directly with those workers and the white house took pains today to say that it is not to be seen as an endorsement of the specific terms that uaw workers are seeking. Heres how the president secretary put it in the last hour. Im not going to get into negotiations and this is for the parties to negotiate and im want speaking to whats on the table. What weve said over and over again, we believe there is an opportunity for a winwin agreement. Corporations having record, you know, making record, you know, deals, there should be a uaw should have a Record Contract and thats what the autoworkers deserve. Thats what workers deserve more broadly. Theres a reason the white house is walking such a fine line here. Its because since the early days of his presidency, biden has eked out a position that unlike donald trump hes not going to put his thumb on the scale of thirdparty negotiations be they Justice Department investigations or independent Labor Disputes and in this particular case, theres an independent labor board that has two dozen cases filed by the united autoworkers that are currently pending and that board is a pointed by President Biden, and even so, the white house knows the politics of this are very powerful especially with the endorsement of uaw hanging in the balance and the direct invitation from the unions president outstanding. So, jeff, we have both biden and trump planning to visit Union Workers in michigan and whats interesting is the support for Union Workers is fairly bipartisan around the country. So will they approach it similarly or differently . I think, by and large, its been historically more of a democratic vote and this popular strain thats been coursing through the party in the era of trump certainly has been up for grabs, if you will, and some of those very areas there north of detroit and Mccomb County and of course, the home of the reagan democrat, if you will. A lot of those reagan democrats are trump republicans and they will approach it differently in the sense that President Biden has tools at his disposal that will help negotiate and they pulled back somewhat from that and the Acting Secretary and Gene Sperling who has been tasked with this, but the former president is just going there to give a speech at a rally and he has no skin in the game in terms of what he can do to resolve this. Thats a very good point and back to Kristen Holmes at the Trump Campaign event, yeah, he has some fans, the former president does among these Union Workers. Theres no doubt about that. He did get very harshly rebuked by the uaw president sean fain who essentially characterized donald trump as part of this Billionaire Set that is profiting off of the labor of people like the autoworkers. I wonder if you think hell address anything like that or if he has to push back on any kind of narrative like that. This is what you will hear from donald trump and what im hearing from his advisers is the narrative of proworker and not necessarily prounion and what he says and what his team says to me is yes, they understand that the president of the uaw came out and rebuked his trip calling him a billionaire and theyre not trying to appeal to the president of uaw. They believe that the people that they are going to try to appeal for appeal to are the rank and file. They understand that as jeff noted that traditionally democrat Union Workers, the Working Class Have voted democrat. They know that they are not going to win over every single worker, but what they are trying to do is to paint themselves as proworker and projob and a lot of this will be focused on the Biden Policies particularly around the environment those green policies and talking about Electric Vehicles. Im sure you noticed that donald trump who speaks regularly about Electric Vehicles just in the last several weeks has started all of the time about how they are killing jobs. That is all part of the strategy to paint him as projob, prowokker to say essentially that all he wants is to keep jobs here in america and just to give you an idea. Just moments ago he continued talking in South Carolina how they were going to start drilling for oil in the u. S. Something obviously trying to appeal to his base here and talking about, again, getting the jobs here in the u. S. This is something that he is going to be hammering home particularly when he is in michigan and particularly in the middle of this strike when again, they believe that this is a block of voters that they cannot win every single one, but can they just take some of them away from joe biden in a General Election . That is where theyre going to be looking at several different pockets of demographics and this is one that they believe they can get voters from. It is a battleground, Kristen Holmes, thank you so much, jeff, kayla, thank you, as well, to you. Still to come, embattled senator bob menendez remains defiant after being indicted on Bribery Charges and hes calling it the biggest fight yet and how hes attempting to explain some of the evidence against him next. Plus, the historic hollywood Writers Strike may be ending and the Writers Guild of america reaching a tentative deal with the studios. How soon can the writers be back at work . Well have that and more on cnn news central. With six kaydays to go unti the government shuts down, Speaker Mccarthy averts a shutdown by working with democrats which could cost him his speakers gavel. The other route he caves to Gop Hard Liners which ensures that hell keep his job as speaker, but would make any house bill Dead On Arrival on the senate side. With mccarthys Power Struggle Set to tie up uncle sams cash flow, the white house is pouncing on the plan to extremist republicans. Cnns melanie zanona, are the hardliners call the shots here . Thats the reality of the razor thin majority that Speaker Mccarthy has been working on all year and that is why weve seen a consistent pattern from the speaker where he consistently caves to his right flank and gives them nearly every concession and this time it might not be enough. Kevin mccarthy has been trying to rally his members over the shortterm Spending Bill that is loaded up with conservative priorities and he has argued that they need to strengthen their hand in the negotiations with the senate in order not to get jammed with something theyre not going to like from Chuck Schumer, but hard liners are digging in and theyre also using donald trump to justify he is jumping on the fray calling for a government shutdown. Because Kevin Mckarthy is trying to deploy his message and hes trying to ramp up pressure on his members to fall in line. Lets take a listen. Well, you have to keep the government open. If people want to close the government it only makes them weaker. Why would they want to start paying the troops, the Border Agents or the coast guard . I dont understand how that makes you stronger and i dont understand what point youre trying to make. We have a border thats wide open today. They say its getting worse each month under joe biden. We have Border Agents, you saw this morning bloodied. Why would you want to stop paying those individuals . I couldnt understand somebody that would want to do that. And of course, one way out of this would be for Kevin Mccarthy to work with democrats and work with the senate and in fact, Chuck Schumer has taken steps for the senate to pass their own shortterm Spending Bill that would likely include things like disaster aid and ukraine money which would potentially tee up a massive showdown with the house, and for Kevin Mccarthy it may ultimately to come down to him choosing to keep the government open or keep his speakers gavel, brianna . Are democrats inclined to help him out or is he inclined to help them out . Kevin mccarthy will not go down the path and he said he has refused to work with democrats and whether they will step in to protect him from a vote to remove him which is what hardliners are threatening if he votes with democrats its a risky gamut for them, as well. They dont want to be seen as saving Kevin Mccarthy especially after Kevin Mccarthy launched an impeachment and theyd be willing to protect mccarthy if and this is a big if, if hes willing to put a good faith effort to put a bipartisan deal on the floor. Yes, some of them would be willing to help him, but it would come at a cost. It would. One he may not pay. Melanie, thank you very much for that. Jim . Later this week senator bob menendez will be in court on Bribery Charges. Today, though, he made his first Public Comments in the face of this federal indictment. In short, he is staying put, he says, despite growing calls for him to resign including from members of his own party in the state of new jersey and congress, as well. He also responded to the most salacious piece of evidence in that indictment, the stacks of cash found in his home. For 30 years i have withdrawn thousands of dollars in cash from my personal Savings Account which i have kept for emergencies and because of the history of my family Facing Confiscation in cuba. This may seem oldfashioned, but these were monies drawn from my personal Savings Account based on the income that i have lawfully derived over those 30 years. I look forward to addressing other issues at trial. Cnns Kara Scannell, she was at that briefing. Thats how he explains the cash. Did he explain the gold bars or the mercedes convertible . No, he did not explain the gold bars or the mercedes convertible or the other allegations in this indictment. He did try to say that some of his actions and the allegations t that he had received hundreds of thousands of dollars to aid through new jersey businessmen and also to aid the government of egypt. He did address the issue of egypt saying his record on capitol hill has been one to try to hold egypt accountable and not doing things that would aid them saying he was holding the line on giving them military aid. He was trying to draw a distinction between the allegations and what his Public Record is, but certainly, that is going to be a fight that he will have in court. He made clear today that he is not going anywhere, and that hes not backing down and saying this will be the big of the fight that hes had to face despite already facing Corruption Charges in 2018 and ultimately surviving them politically and both legally. Menendez saying hes not going anywhere. Heres more of what he said. I understand how deeply concerning this can be, however, the allegations leveled against me are just that. Allegations. I recognize this will be the biggest fight yet, but as i have stated throughout this whole process, i firmly believe that when all of the facts are presented, not only will i be exonerated, but i still be new jerseys Senior Senator. And as you heard hes saying that he believes he will be the Senior Senator when all of this is over and that he is not stepping down despite facing shes serious allegations, and jim, you know, The Big Question here is hes up for reelection next year. Is he going to run . Menendez would not answer that question as numerous reporters were shouting it at him as he was leaving that briefing. Whats the time line for his various appearances and upcoming trial . So menendez, his wife and those three new jersey businessmen are due in court on wednesday where they will face charges and go before a judge. That will be the potentially the first time that hell be asked to sht a plea in this case and hell enter a plea of not guilty. From there, the way that this plays out with these cases is it will go through this process, a Legal Process and it will be months or perhaps a year before we have a trial date if he does continue to fight this. So this trial will be overlapping with any potential reelection campaign, if he also goes to move forward with that route, too, jim. It will be quite a story to watch, Kara Scannell on top of it. Thank so much. Breonna . Lets talk with jamil, the former assistant to National Security