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Family Loses Home to Devastating Texas Wildfires; Alabama Governor Expected to Sign Bill Protecting IVF Access; Rumors Swirl Over Whereabouts of Catherine, Princess of Wales; Lebron James Pounds NBA's 40,000-Point Club. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired March 03, 2024 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- history of New York, more than Franklin Roosevelt, more than Teddy Roosevelt, more than Mario Cuomo, more than anybody.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST (voice-over): But unlike his illustrious predecessors, Spitzer would only last one year in office before self- destructing in a way that absolutely no one had foreseen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DANNY FREEMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Don't want to miss it. "UNITED STATES OF SCANDAL" airs tonight at 9:00 on CNN.
But the next hour of CNN THIS MORNING WEEKEND starts right now.
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FREEMAN: And good Sunday morning. It's Sunday, March 3rd. Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. I'm Danny Freeman.
JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everyone. Good morning. I'm Jessica Dean. V Victor Blackwell and Amara Walker are off this morning.
And here's what we're watching for you today.
FREEMAN: Super Tuesday sprint. It's down to the wire for the Nikki Haley and Donald Trump campaigns. The former presidents sweeping three more states this weekend while making a controversial comparison.
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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I stand before you today not only as your past and hopefully future president, but as a proud political dissident and as a public enemy of a rogue regime. This is a rogue and dangerous regime.
(END VIDEO CLIP) DEAN: Plus, lifesaving help from above. The first wave of aid from the U.S. air lands in Gaza as the U.N. now warns, hundreds of thousands of people there are on the brink of famine. Where the ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas stand now, that's ahead in a live report.
FREEMAN: And fire and ice. The biggest wildfire in Texas history still raging out of control this morning, while parts of California are buried under feet of snow.
DEAN: And royal mystery. Where is the princess of Wales, Kate Middleton?
It's all coming up on CNN THIS MORNING.
FREEMAN: All right. Let's begin here though. We're about to see a critical week play out on Capitol Hill and beyond. Super Tuesday, just a couple of days away.
On Thursday, also, President Biden will deliver his highly anticipated State of the Union Address. He's at Camp David right now with key advisers to prepare that speech.
DEAN: He'll address the nation hours before another partial government shutdown deadline. And there it is, a live look at Capitol Hill right now,
Congress passed a stopgap measure last week, but it only funded the government through March 8. Now the good news here is, it is looking more likely that we're going to avoid a shutdown as congressional leaders announced a package of full-year bills will be enacted before that deadline.
FREEMAN: Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley are making the final two days before Super Tuesday count, with a flurry of campaign stops. Trump earned more delegates on Saturday, meanwhile, winning the Idaho and Missouri caucuses, which followed his wins in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Michigan. But Haley says, she's still the best choice against President Joe Biden
DEAN: CNN's Steve Contorno explains their strategy on the trail.
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STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Jessica and Danny, former President Donald Trump held rallies on Saturday in North Carolina and here in Virginia, two states that will vote on Super Tuesday.
But even though these contests are just around the corner, he was more focusing on a likely general election rematch with President Biden, focusing especially on his recent trip to the border and what he saw there.
TRUMP: Biden's conduct on our border is by any definition a conspiracy to overthrow the United States of America. You know, he talks about democracy, he is a danger to democracy, he is.
Number one, he goes after his political opponent, which nobody's ever done in this country. They do it in third world countries very well. They do it but they're not going to succeed with us. They're not going to succeed. It's making us stronger. It's making us stronger.
Biden and his accomplices want to collapse the American system, nullify the will of the actual American voters that establish a new base of power that gives them control for generations.
CONTORNO: Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley campaigning Saturday as well, this time in North Carolina, where should continue to make the case that she would be more electable than Trump in a general election, pointing to a new poll that shows her with a ten- point lead over President Biden.
NIKKI HALEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think there's another "New York Times" poll that shows us. I think Donald Trump squeaks by and we went by ten points. If you look at the Hispanic numbers in that, it's off the charts. It's double digits. We continue to make ground.
CONTORNO: Trump, meanwhile, added to his delegate count on Saturday, CNN projects that he will win off 32 delegates awarded in the Idaho caucuses, all 54 delegates awarded in the Missouri caucuses, and then Michigan held a convention as well where they awarded President Trump 39 delegates, bringing his total to 247. He is well on his way to the 1,215 he will need to secure the nomination.
[08:05:02]
And, Jessica and Danny, many of those will be awarded on Super Tuesday.
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FREEMAN: Steve Contorno, thank you very much.
And, of course, it's a crucial week for President Biden as he looks ahead to what will almost definitely be a tight reelection race. He is preparing to deliver Thursday's State of the Union Address and he has a tough sell to make.
DEAN: In a "New York Times"/Siena College poll, support for Biden lags behind Trump in that general horse race, 43 to 48 percent among registered voters. Today, the president is huddled with his closest advisers to fine-tune the speech.
CNN reporter Camila DeChalus is following how his team is strategizing for this moment.
It's a big audience so he may be able to reach.
CAMILA DECHALUS, CNN REPORTER: That's right.
Well, President Biden knows that he really wants to use the state of -- address just to really just talk and try to make this an opportunity working directly appeal to the American people. Now, at this time, we likely know that he's going to try to tout -- use this opportunity to tout his administrations accomplishments, talk about the economy, and use the State of the Union Address to just use this stark contrast between himself and paint this contrast between him and the Republican Party. And even Donald Trump himself.
And we saw that play out time and time again on the campaign trail, where Biden has tried to paint a picture of what a possible second term under Trump would look like. And make the argument of why he Biden it just better suited for this role.
And so well likely see him trying to play on those lines and do this again, knowing that this is a big televised event, we can directly appeal to the American people -- Jessica, Danny.
DEAN: Camila DeChalus for us, thanks so much.
And joining us now for some analysis on all of this, CNN's chief congressional correspondent and anchor of "INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY", Manu Raju.
Good morning, Ron -- Manu.
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
DEAN: Thanks for getting a little extra early today.
Let's start with Super Tuesday. It's always a big -- a big importance in an election year. What do you think we're going to learn this Super Tuesday?
RAJU: Well, at some point, the delegate math is going to get too difficult for Nikki Haley to overcome them. And assuming Donald Trump continues to rob to victory to get the similar margin of victory that he has been getting, it says -- essentially, he'll be on his way to clinch the nomination probably by mid-March. So when Nikki Haley decide to drop out by the middle of the week, that is one of the big questions. Another big question, how much will Donald Trump go? How far will he go in uniting the Republican Party.
Already, we've seen a lot of high-profile officials in the GOP. People have been resistant to Donald Trump come his way. Some have not yet done so. And I have spent the week also talking to a lot of Republicans about this. Some of them said it is time for the party to unite. Others are not with Trump just yet.
DEAN: Yeah, it was interesting to see Lisa Murkowski and Susan --
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SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): Republicans by Republicans continue to tear each other up. I mean, we need to focus on President Biden. He's our common opponent.
I understand people have their differences with Trump. You always have the different some people who run always had their differences with the people who win. But, you know, I mean, I think its time to unite for Republicans.
RAJU: Is Nikki Haley hurting Trump right now by staying in this race?
HAWLEY: Well, I don't see what's being helped. I mean, I don't see -- at this point, I don't see what -- how it helps the party, helps the cause.
RAJU: Are you endorsing Trump yet? I mean --
SEN. JONI ERNST (R-IA): He hasn't called. So --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: She said he has not called that. The question will who -- will he call after super Tuesday?
And also the question, Jess, as you know, the margin of victory -- Trump's victory will be important because it will determine how much the word he has to do to unite the party ahead of November. And how many of those voters will simply vote for Joe Biden or sit out of the election. All key questions on Tuesday.
DEAN: Yeah, for sure. And interesting to see Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins coming out for Nikki Haley at this point in time. But, yeah, we'll see how it all unfolds on Tuesday. I also want to ask you about the government shutdown deadline. I feel like this is -- we're just on a treadmill. It's just -- it's a wheel. We just keep climbing it, and going around at it.
How much frustration is there among the House GOP right now with how this is being negotiated?
RAJU: Enormously. I mean, look, this was last year's legislation. They were supposed to be done with this in October 1st. They extended government funding temporarily a verdict, temporary extension, that short-term extension last fall, that led to the ouster of Kevin McCarthy, then Mike Johnson came in as the new speaker the House, and they had to do another short-term extension.
At that point, he said in December, no more short-term extensions regarding funding. Well, they've done to more and now they're heading into another deadline in Friday and Republicans, I talked to make are making clear, they're not happy about it.
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REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): Well, I've kind of brought back the nickname house of hypocrites because our conference was all about no CRs, no CRs, no mini buses, no omnibuses.
RAJU: What did you get policy-wise for getting rid of McCarthy?
REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): Well, he's told me -- that this speaker is telling me the truth.
RAJU: I'm talking about policy. I'm not talking about character. BURCHETT: Well, under this speaker, too, he's -- with the former speaker leaving early, he's really put us in a very bad spot.
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So the speaker's just having to maintain.
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RAJU: And that last comment, Governor -- Congressman Tim Burchett, who was one of the eight Republicans who voted to oust Kevin McCarthy. Now, Johnson will also face a lot of pressure as he ways how to handle funding for Ukraine. He has scuttled a bipartisan Senate aid package, but we are learning about new efforts in the House to try to put together a package. Johnson has kept the door open to that effort, even as he has faced pressure from those same hardliners to not give another dime of funding for Ukraine. All part of the GOP tension going forward.
And we'll get into the details of that later this morning in "INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY" -- Jess.
DEAN: Yes, much to -- much to talk about there.
Manu Raju, always good to see you. Thanks so much.
RAJU: Thanks.
DEAN: And don't miss "INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY". It's coming up at 11:00 a.m. right here on CNN.
FREEMAN: Turning now to the Middle East where the first U.S. airdrop of aid is now on the ground in Gaza. Three American C-130 aircrafts dropped 38,000 meals along the Gaza coastline. Now, President Biden said Saturday though that the amount of aid flowing into Gaza was not nearly enough, and that the U.S. would insist that Israel allow more aid trucks into Gaza.
DEAN: Sources saying ceasefire talks are expected to resume today in Cairo, a U.S. official tells CNN, Israel has, quote, basically accepted a six-week ceasefire and hostage this release proposal in Gaza. But it is now up to Hamas to agree to that deal.
CNN's Jeremy Diamond is live in Tel Aviv.
Jeremy, what is the latest this morning or this afternoon where you are on these ceasefire talks?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDEN: Well, Jessica, we're up against a real time crunch here. I mean, in just a week, the holy month of Ramadan begins, and that is basically the clock that negotiators are racing against at the moment.
And while there has been significant progress over the last couple of weeks. There are still some major gaps that remain, but nonetheless, a Hamas delegation we're told has just landed in Cairo to continue those negotiations.
This comes as Israeli officials are still waiting for Hamas to provide a list of remaining hostages who they would release under this potential six-week pause in the fighting that would see dozens of Israeli hostages release.
Israel is also waiting for response from Hamas to the ratio of Palestinian prisoners that they would like to see release as part of this deal. The United States sees that lack of defined category of hostages who would be released as one of the major sticking points that still need to be resolved. But were also hearing from a high level Hamas source now about what they're sticking points are in their view, they see it as Israel needing to agree to a path at least to some kind of a permanent ceasefire as part of these talks, as well as a path to seeing Israeli troops withdraw from Gaza and the return of displaced Palestinians from southern Gaza to the north of Gaza.
But all of these gaps still very much need to be closed. And well see whether or not Hamas provides us some kind of a he response to the latest framework of those talks -- of that potential deal in those negotiations today.
But as this is still going on, the Israeli military still continuing being its military campaign in Gaza. We've seen an aggressive series of strikes over the weekend, killing 90 people over the past 24 hours alone according to the Palestinian ministry of health. The Israeli military for its part, says that it has killed 30 militants in the previous 24 hours. And were also watching as the efforts to ramp up aid to Gaza, in particular to northern Gaza, are ramping up.
The United States, conducting a series of airdrops yesterday, dropping 66 bundles containing 38,000 meals from three C-130 planes but we know of course that that's just a drop in the bucket compared to the enormous humanitarian need. Particularly in northern Gaza, those efforts set to continue to ramp up in the coming days and weeks -- Jessica, Danny.
FREEMAN: Jeremy Diamond, as always, thank you very much for your reporting. Really do appreciate it.
All right. There's still plenty ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING. First, the biggest wildfire in Texas history has already scorched a swath bigger than the state of Rhode Island, and it's still burning. We'll have the new critical fire danger for thousands of people, plus one family's personal story of rebuilding from the ashes, straight ahead.
DEAN: Also, legislation to protect IVF clinics could be a law and Alabama in a matter of days the woman who was conceived through IVF joins us later to share her personal story. And why she's voting for President Biden to protect the process.
Plus, a new Jewel in NBA King LeBron James' crown.
And college basketball phenom Caitlin Clark set to shatter a new record of her own in just a few hours.
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DEAN: This morning, strong winds, heat and dry conditions continue to fuel wildfires in the Texas panhandle. The devastation has simply been enormous. The largest of the fires, the Smokehouse Creek Fire, has burned hundreds of structures to the ground, left at least two people dead and killed countless livestock.
FREEMAN: More than 1 million acres have burned, many people left with nothing.
For more on this, we have CNN's Ivan Rodriguez. He's joining us now from Fritch, Texas.
Ivan, you know, we've been speaking you all morning. So much devastation behind you.
Tell us about what you're looking at.
[08:20:02]
IVAN RODRIGUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, Danny, now the sun is out, you can really get a sense of the vastness of how much was burned behind me. You can see its really burned as far as the eye can see and from where I'm standing in this vantage point, I can really see all around Hills, all of them seem to be burned for miles on end.
Here to my life used to be a storage shed, some -- my left here, you can see what appears to be children's bicycle and then other personal belongings that at this point it's hard to make out just since everything's been so destroyed. Now, not only have so many people lost their home, but also thousands of cattle have been lost because of this fire as well.
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller says he also expects more cattle to be lost.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SID MILLER, TEXAS AGRICULTURE COMMISSIONER: We've lost over 3,000 head, which is a very small number. That will double or triple easily. We've got cattle that were going to have to euthanize because the damage to their hooves, their otters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RODRIGUEZ: Miller is also asking people to donate hay or money to help people who lost a lot of livestock. And he can -- he says people can also donate online.
Now, in terms of the fire itself, it's still under investigation. Crews are also hoping that after this weekend that can make more progress on containment. Right now, it's still at about 15 percent.
FREEMAN: Ivan Rodriguez, thank you very much for that report. I apologize for those sound in the studio here in New York. There's a fire alarm system. We'll wait for a moment before that to go from them will continue speaking with one of the families who are impacted by this Texas fire.
We'll be right back.
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[08:26:08]
FREEMAN: Apologies for interruption. We've just been having fire alarm tests here in New York. As you can hear, actually, there's another one happening right now is were coming back on the air.
A pause for a moment because we do want to get back to covering those fires in Texas, but as you can hear we have a bit of an issue here. I'm going to toss back to Jessica right now who's just in the other room. Jessica.
DEAN: That's right.
So, you're going to keep hearing that. But let's go to Allison Chinchar right now.
She's in our weather center.
Allison, fill us in on this winter storm in California. And what's going on in Texas.
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah. So let's take a look at what we've got.
You can see these snowfall totals are incredible and the storm has not yet over. Numerous locations picking up at least three feet and we anticipate another entire foot of snow may fall before this system finally ends later on today. And through the next few days, here's a look at all of those winter weather alerts. You still have the blizzard warnings and that's not just for the snow, but also the wind component because that's going to bring visibility, excuse me, down to practically zero in some of these locations, especially where you get those really heavy bands of snow coming down.
You've got the rain a little bit closer to the coastal regions here, but you can see a lot of that very heavy rainfall right up there through the sierras and spreading into Nevada as well.
Like I said, some of these areas you're looking at snowfall rates at four to even six inches an hour. And then you're getting multiple hours of this snow over and over. Now, not every hour will be like that. There will be some later hours, maybe up to about just one inch an hour, but gradually all of that snow is going to spread eastward. So other states, Utah, Colorado eventually going to start to see more of that moisture spread in there.
But in the short term, some of the biggest concerns, especially across California, you're talking impossible travel anywhere if you're crossing over a lot of those areas, whiteout conditions and the damaging winds, not just for the reduced visibility, but also the potential for power outages. And then finally, well start to see an end to this guys once we get to about Wednesday or Thursday, we'll finally start to see all of that snow come to an end.
DEAN: All right. Allison Chinchar, thanks so much for that update.
FREEMAN: All right. We want to turn back now to those fires in Texas.
The McCain family is just one of those who's lost their homes to the fires. On their way to survey the damage to their home, their toddler, Addison was left confused about what happened to her house. Take a listen
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why are you crying mommy?
UNIDENTIFIED BABY: I want our house
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You want your house? We'll get another house. Okay
UNIDENTIFIED BABY: Okay.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FREEMAN: Joining me now is Tyler McCain.
Tyler, I just want to say I'm -- I'm so sorry for you and your family's loss and that video with your daughter. I know, I've seen it. I know many thousands of others have seen it. It's just heartbreaking.
Where -- where do you begin to explain to her what has happened to your family?
TYLER MCCAIN, LOST HOME IN TEXAS WILDFIRE: You know, we've been doing our best. My wife and I -- to, with all, with all the girls, I had three daughters and it's taken a lot to just try to get them to know that everything's going to be okay because every day -- you know, they're missing certain things they had, especially Addison.
She -- she done -- you know, have -- it's up and down for her. She loses that hope. You could see it on her face. She'll -- it's just -- it's just hard. You see her heartbreak every time she remembers something that she lost.
FREEMAN: Tyler, can I ask you when you knew that it was actually timed to evacuate?
MCCAIN: Yeah. We had -- we had a feeling that the fires were getting closer the morning -- the morning of we woke up and it was just completely surrounded by smoke.
[08:30:00]
And I'm a very cautious person, so I already started packing bags at that point before we get an evacuation notice. But what really got us was we live across the street from a field and you can actually start to see the flames in the distance in the field. And that's what eventually made us pack up and take off somewhere else.
FREEMAN: And tell me, what was going through your mind when you look across this field that you've seen 100 times before, a normal part of your day in life there and then see flames coming across.
MCCAIN: I didn't know how fast it was moving. So those kind of (INAUDIBLE) at that point we you know, I obviously chose flight. We -- it was fear, but at the same time I had the kids, so it would just more or less let's just get everybody out of there and then we'll figure out what to do from there.
FREEMAN: Tyler can I ask you, what was it like coming back to see the damage the fire had done to your home and community?
MCCAIN: The anticipation was the hardest part because you didn't know what you're coming back to especially like just driving into town, you're getting closer and closer to where the fires were and you see more and more houses that are destroyed.
But even in the back area, there's houses that are completely fine. So until I saw my house, it wasn't -- it wasn't real -- it wasn't you know, that that possibility like, you know, we're all going to come back for a jog down the street. All these houses are burned. But ours are going to be just fine because we've drove up that block 100 times, thousand times and the house is fine.
But then you see it. And there's nothing there. And that's whenever the realization sets in, like, ok, yes, were in a crisis.
FREEMAN: Tyler, can ask you what is the next step for you and your family? I mean, what are you even thinking about right now?
MCCAIN: The only thing I can do is just worry about today. I know that's a hard thing to do because there's so much that I'm going to have to do with rebuilding and everything else. But it makes it a lot easier because the community that we live in has been so, so helpful. You know, there's over 600 families that have lost their homes and everyone is working together.
I had somebody reach out to me yesterday on Facebook offering to help me and my family find specific things for the girls, and I find out later that she actually lost her home.
So you know, people working together like that. It's making everything easier to go day by day and then the rest of it figured it out.
We'll rebuild and that's our plan.
FREEMAN: Tyler, I am so, so sorry for what happened to you and your family and your community. But I'm so thankful that your leadership and thoughtfulness made sure that your families stayed safe during such a dangerous fire. Thank you so much for your time.
MCCAIN: No problem.
DEAN: Coming up as Alabama state lawmakers push to protect IVF providers, we're going to speak to one woman who wouldn't be here if it wasn't for IVF. How she says the fight for reproductive rights is shaping her vote in November.
And be sure to stay with CNN for "STATE OF THE UNION" at the top of the hour. This morning, Dana Bash will be joined by DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Again, that's right at the top of the hour, right here on CNN.
[08:33:33]
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FREEMAN: One person was shot by police outside of the Six Flags over Georgia amusement park on their opening day on Saturday. It happened after park security had to join police in escorting a large crowd of over 500 people off the property after police said they were running through the park and fighting.
When the crowd got outside the park, police say an unknown number of suspects fired at them. An officer shot back, hitting one of the suspects who was then taken to the hospital.
In a statement, Six Flags over Georgia says they are disappointed by the incident, but they reassured their guests that strong security measures are being taken throughout the park.
DEAN: This week, Alabama's governor is expected to sign a bill into law to protect IVF access. That legislation was approved by the Alabama House and Senate after the state Supreme Court ruled that embryos are children. And someone who destroyed them could be liable for wrongful death.
The Alabama attorney general's office has now stated that it has no intention of prosecuting IVF providers or families utilizing their services, but still, multiple providers have stopped providing care as a result of that ruling.
Joining me now is Matilda Bress. She is the senior executive writer for American Bridge 21st Century.
Matilda, good morning. Thanks for getting up early with us.
I know you just wrote an op-ed titled "I'm an IVF baby and I'm voting for Biden to protect that process". For people who haven't read your op-ed, tell us a little bit about your story you are the product of IVF.
MATILDA BRESS, SENIOR EXECUTIVE WRITER, AMERICAN BRIDGE 21ST CENTURY: I am.
Thank you so much for having me.
[08:39:39] BRESS: This is an extremely personal issue to me. My parents went through six IVF attempts to be able to have my twin brother and I which means that five times in a row they picked up a call from their fertility doctor. And had to hear the gut-wrenching sentence of I'm so sorry, but you're not pregnant.
And so to see these Republican attacks on IVF, to see the so-called pro-life party attack the very process that created my life, that created my brother's life, it's heartbreaking.
DEAN: And I talked to some people, one woman in particular who lives in Alabama who was in the middle of treatment and went to Texas in order to make sure she gets her eggs retrieved and the embryos created.
And what was so frustrating for her and others in her position are was the fact that they are trying to make a family that they want to bring life into this world, and that that has been so upsetting and frustrating to them that they aren't able to do that.
BRESS: Absolutely. And you know, this was really the consequences of actions from Republicans, right? From Donald Trump and his handpicked justices overturning Roe v Wade.
You can draw a direct line from that decision to where we are now, which is we are now in a country where state-by-state these states can bring up these cases. These states can ban IVF and its disappointing for me to see that it's not just Alabama, right?
You have the Speaker of the House, and 125 House Republicans who have signed on to the Life at Conception Act, which is a ban that uses the same language that the Alabama Supreme Court did. And if passed it would ban IVF nationwide. It is not just in Alabama it is across the country and largely it's led by Republicans.
DEAN: And we have seen as I was saying, when I was introducing you, that the Alabama legislature has worked to try to put a fix and to protect IVF that the governor is expected to sign that. We saw former president Donald Trump say that he supports it.
And yet Matilda, this continues to be a major issue, political issue that we're going to see as we go into this general election.
BRESS: Absolutely.
And you know, I think its clear right now that the consequences are catching up with Republicans, right? That they are now trying to run from their records. It's why we're seeing the NRSC in different Republican organizations beg their candidates to put out these vague I support IVF statements.
Meanwhile, they're backing bills that would ban it nationwide. That's why we're seeing Senator Tammy Duckworth, a Democratic senator introduce a bill into the Senate to try and federally protect IVF and a Republican blocked it. So I really think you have to dig deeper than these kind of vague
tweets and statements that Republicans are putting out in the hopes that they'll essentially con voters into thinking they can be trusted on reproductive rights.
And you have to look at the record. And the record is that Republicans are doing everything they can to attack reproductive rights.
And I don't think voters are going to fall for that con. I think they know that the only way to protect those rights to protect those reproductive freedoms, including IVF, is to support President Joe Biden in November.
DEAN: All right. Matilda Bress, we have to leave it there. But thanks so much for your time this morning. We appreciate it.
BRESS: Thank you so much.
FREEMAN: Still ahead, where is Kate Middleton. The Princess of Wales, has been out of sight since Christmas Day and questions are swirling about her whereabouts following her abdominal surgery.
Stay with us.
[08:43:08]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FREEMAN: Britain's King Charles has been out of the public eye since announcing his cancer diagnosis in early February. And now rumors are swirling regarding the health of Catherine, the Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton.
DEAN: She had abdominal surgery in January. She's been recovering in private since then. She has not been seen in public since Christmas Day.
And her husband, Prince William, also bowed out of the memorial service for his godfather last week, adding some speculation to the princess' condition.
CNN royal commentator Emily Nash is here this morning to help put some of the social media rumors to rest. And Emily, there are a lot of rumors swirling out there and certainly she has a right to recover in privacy after a medical procedure.
But she's also a woman that they had in front of cameras and photographers within hours of birthing all three of her children in full hair and makeup.
So I think a lot of people are wondering where is she.
EMILY NASH, CNN ROYAL COMMENTATOR: It's a really big question and, you know, we just have to reiterate what the palace has said all along, which is that this was not going to be a quick recovery. She wasn't due back in public until easter at the very earliest. We're expecting to see her in April.
And this is a really different situation to those memorable photo calls (ph) outside the hospital each time she gave birth, you know. She's not taking this time-out for fun. This is because she's had some serious surgery and it's requiring a long recovery.
And understandably, that's not something she needs -- she felt the need to put on public display. So it's an altogether different situation.
FREEMAN: Emily, if I can jump in here, I'm curious has the palace addressed these rumors are released a statement recently regarding her health.
NASH: Yes. Look, they were forced to put out a kind of statement or just at least responds to questions on this. And it was just again, to reiterate that she continues to do well in her recovery.
That as they said all along, this was going to be a three-month process, and I think what you have to remember is that the Prince and Princess of Wales lead an incredibly private life on the whole, although we do see them on a regular basis and they have these very public moments.
[08:49:47]
NASH: Day to day they're able to go about their business with no intrusion whatsoever. So people shouldn't really read into the fact that they haven't seen a car shot of her or, you know, an image of her walking around. Not least because she lives on private property. She lives on a private part of the King's Windsor estate.
And so this for them is normal, you know. She will be seen when she's back and well, to be back out on public duties.
DEAN: And when Prince William had to bow out of that memorial service, that's when the palace then put out a new statement saying she's still continuing to do well.
Do you get the sense at all that -- that their advisers and the people around them are surprised by all of this -- all the rumors, all of the Internet, the Reddit threads, all of that, that has kind of blossomed around her absence and as she's recovering?
NASH: Absolutely. I think it was a case of, you know, (INAUDIBLE) and the world's gone a little bit crazy. And this is unfortunately what happens in our modern era when you have an information vacuum.
I think part of the issue has been the transparency with which Buckingham Palace has dealt with the King's illness. You have to remember he's head of state. He has a constitutional role, so it's important for him to be seen even if he's not as active as he normally is.
Kate, you know, is the future queen. She has no constitutional role. She's a mother of three young children, and she's going through a difficult process. So you can't really compare the two.
But understandably there has been a little confusion. On the one hand, one of the royal households has been very open about what's going on and creating photo opportunities for the king, for example, with the prime minister.
On the other Kensington Palace is keeping things absolutely private, even down to the reason for Prince William, pulling out of that memorial which certainly left a lot of royal writers rather jittery in the current climate.
FREEMAN: Emily, just before you go quickly, I understand that also Queen Camilla is taking some time off from royal duties, so with a lot of the high-profile members kind of down for the count, who is filling in for a lot of the duties that they do have.
NASH: Well, we're going to see Prince William out again this week, this coming week later in the week. And the Princess Royal, Princess Anne, who is, you know, regularly one of the hardest working members of the family in the annual tally of royal engagements, and the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.
So I think, you know, the Queen has had an incredibly busy start to the year. Let's not forget, she's in her late 70s. She's come to this very late in life and she's also dealing with her husband's illness and the fallout from that.
So I think no one can begrudge her a small break while she takes some time to recuperate herself. But it, you know, goes without saying that the royals are a lot less visible than they would normally be at this time of year, this moment.
FREEMAN: Emily Nash, thank you so much for your expertise and for squashing some of those rumors for now. Appreciate it.
NASH: All right.
FREEMAN: Still ahead. Still ahead -- we'll talk about a different member of royalty, King James, the milestone Lebron reached last night that no player has ever reached before. Stay with us.
[08:53:01]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FREEMAN: All right.
Tell me if you've heard this sentence before. Lebron James made NBA history last night.
DEAN: Yes. And in this club he is one of one, the only player who ever scored 40,000 points.
Coy Wire joining us now with a little perspective on that, it's a lot.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: It's mind blowing. If a rookie were coming in and scored 24 points in every regular season game the 20 years straight without ever missing a game, they still wouldn't score 40,000 points. Lebron has been that good for that long.
James entering just nine shy of the mark last night and dressed to the nines for the occasion. It wasn't a matter of if but when. And the when came early in the second against the Nuggets with a pretty spin move and smooth layup. Teammates jumping up and the crowd did too. His family there to see another milestone.
Lebron finishing with 26 on the night, although the Lakers lost to the Nuggets, Lebron is still embracing this milestone.
LEBRON JAMES, NBA PLAYER: Being the first player to do something that's pretty cool in this league. Because you just know the history, you know, the greatest come to the leagues and then you see some of the greats on the floor. Tonight, I was ready to compete for that stiff.
But for me to main thing is always the main thing. And that's to win. And I hated that it had to happen in a defeat, especially versus a team that played extremely well basketball and we play some good brass. Watson and I we were unable to close it out so. Bittersweet but very -- I enjoyed every moment tonight out on the floor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: All right. College basketball's all-time points record may be broken just hours from now. University of Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark needing just 18 points today to pass Pete Maravich's NCAA all-time scoring record of 3,667 points. Clark averaging 32 points per game this season.
It's also senior day in Iowa city so this is her last regular season game in front of home fans. They're playing the number two team in the country, Ohio State.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAITLIN LUCK, IOWA HAWKEYES GUARD: Lucky to be in this position. And for people to be so invested in what I'm going to do and a fanbase that care so much about it. And obviously I'm very thankful for the support.
And it's bittersweet, right. This is -- I'm lucky that we do senior day after the game's over. I think that's very important. But my main goal is beating Ohio State. I think we're all just super excited for another opportunity at them.
Obviously my focus is here, you know. My goal is to win a national title. That's plain and simple -- that's what I want to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: All right, listen to this. The average ticket price is $571. The most expensive for any women's basketball game ever, college or pro according to Tickpick (ph). [08:59:52]
WIRE: Finally the next generation of NFL stars showing their skills at this weekend's NFL combine. Former Texas wide receiver Xavier Worthy breaking the 40-yard dash record. That's 4.21 seconds, a blink of an eye.
If your favorite NFL team needs a Lamborghini to throw passes to, Worthy is your guy. I mean, that's quicker than the hiccup as they say.
FREEMAN: Oh man -- so, so cool. Coy, I think you can run that right?
WIRE: Oh, way back in the day.
Yes. Totally cut around that pass.
FREEMAN: Coy Wire, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
WIRE: You got it.
FREEMAN: And thank you so much for joining us this morning. Really appreciate your time.
DEAN: It was great to be with you. "STATE OF THE UNION" is next.
Have a wonderful day.
